[oneshot] fix this hand in hand
Title: fix this hand in hand
Pairing: lay/xiumin
Rating: pg13
Genre: au, action, mild romance
Warnings: swearing, violence
Author: gdgdbaby
Notes: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. zhang yixing doesn't want any of it, least of all the responsibility. mutant/mama au, ft. a large helping of lu han. written for gollumpanties for the 2013 round of sncj_santa, originally posted here. 3,386 words.
"We should go see Frozen," is the first thing Lu Han tells him when Minseok's in the country again. His hair's an irritating honey blond, the color of a fresh draft of Tsingtao. "That new Disney princess movie. One of your kind's in it."
"My kind," Minseok repeats. He pops the trunk of Lu Han's car open and shoves his backpack inside. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean the main character's sister makes snow," Lu Han says. "Icicles and shit. Sounds right up your alley." They pull discreetly out of airport parking. Lu Han piggybacks behind a huge SUV to get out without paying.
Minseok looks it up on his phone. "I always liked Idina Menzel," he says, "but you're nuts if you think I'm gonna sit out in the open for two hours." Lu Han snorts. "Seriously. I can see the headlines now. Unregistered mutant outlaw picked up at movie theater watching musical allegory for his power. What a way to go." He slants his eyes over as Lu Han makes the sharp turn onto a service road. "I bet you have it downloaded on your computer anyway."
Lu Han gasps, indignant. "I'm hurt, Minseokie. You know I'd never do something so illegal."
"Uh huh," Minseok says, as Lu Han runs two red lights in a row. "All you're doing is attracting unwanted attention, you know."
"Baekhyun's in town," he says, speeding up. "We're fine."
Minseok sighs and leans back in his seat. "Why am I even here?"
"Joonmyun didn't tell you?"
"Nah, he just said to come. Paid for everything. I've been missing the food here."
"Could use your help with a project," Lu Han says. He sounds too careful now. His fingers clench around the steering wheel.
Minseok narrows his eyes. "Care to elaborate? What is it that you need me for?"
"Honestly, it's pretty standard recruitment. Just a bit of a conflict of interest on my part, so that's where you come in."
"Ah," Minseok says drily. "You fucked him."
Lu Han rolls his eyes. "Not even close."
Minseok never really planned on getting involved with a full-scale mutant rebellion. That was decided for him when he was forcefully ejected from a three-year architecture degree at HKUST because his blood work came back positive for the gene. Three weeks later he was on the streets, evicted from his apartment because his landlord "didn't want trouble." Kris was the recruiter in Hong Kong back then. He'd found Minseok in a bar downtown, making the ice in his tumbler crackle, and laid out his options.
"I heard the UN was trying to draft sanctions," Minseok said when Kris finished his pitch.
Kris lifted his heavy eyebrows. "And how long do you think that's going to take?"
In the end, it was the practical thing to do. The mutants set him up in one of their safe houses in Beijing and Minseok started training with Lu Han, a telekinetic whose first lesson involved lifting street food off unsuspecting vendors on Wangfujing Street. Now, Minseok's the recruiter. Last month he was in Canada with Henry and Amber to pick up a shapeshifter, and two weeks before that he'd helped bring a mind-reader in. Melbourne's beautiful in February.
Minseok's sitting in the safe house kitchen downing lukewarm ramyun when he finally asks. "So why do we want this guy so bad?"
"Yixing's a healer," Lu Han says. "Got the magic touch. You can see why it'd be helpful."
"Huh. Why didn't we bring him in before?"
Lu Han chews on his lip. "He does a very good job of hiding himself. He's been in the city for a while, though, so it was Joonmyun's call to go for it."
Minseok hums. "Know anything else?"
"His power manifested early, when he was a kid. Friend cut his face up during a soccer match and he healed it. Left a scar, though."
Minseok swallows and aims a chopstick at Lu Han's face. "Why can't you do this? You seem to know a lot more about him than anyone else does."
"I'm the one he healed," Lu Han says flippantly. Oh, Minseok thinks. He'd always wanted to ask about the lip scar, but never had the chance. "We used to be best friends. Our parents, they were mutants, too. Wanted us to prepare us for what was coming with the rest of the resistance, but Yixing-he's stubborn. He won't listen to me." His mouth jumps. "He knows exactly what to do to piss me off. It won't work."
Minseok puts his bowl down. "What makes you think I can do any better?"
"Just be yourself," Lu Han says, eyes crinkling as he grins.
"Right," Minseok says, sighing. His stomach gives a loud rumble and Lu Han reaches into the fridge for another egg and packet of noodles. "Real helpful."
The address Lu Han gives Minseok leads him to some sort of upscale lounge in Wudaokou. Merchant Prince Club. Yixing must be doing pretty well for someone unregistered. Minseok hops the line with one of Joonmyun's cards, and the first thing he hears when he walks through the double doors is music-not typical club fare, electronica and bass, but the light patter of something classical, slightly jazzy, on a baby grand. He grabs a beer from the bar before gravitating toward the source.
The man sitting behind the keys has a soft face. His dark brown hair swoops low over his brows, and his eyes are closed as he plays. The veins in his neck stick out as he gets to a particularly passionate passage. His bowtie's askew. Minseok's hands itch to reach out and readjust it. He sits down at a table close to the piano and sips at his bottle.
Yixing's shift ends half past midnight. Minseok watches him disappear through one of the employee doors and come back out dressed down, simple dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves and dark slacks, and if it's possible his throat goes even drier. He's on his third beer by then. He drains the rest and follows Yixing out from a distance.
Someone stumbles green and sweating from an adjacent bar as Minseok slides through the entrance again. Yixing's halfway down the street before Minseok can blink. He helps her into an alley, past a gaggle of white tourists and two girls carrying Uniqlo bags. Minseok can hear Yixing murmuring in low Chinese as he draws closer. Minseok edges around the corner for a better view and sees Yixing's hand on her back. He asks if she's feeling better. She brings a hand to her head and nods yes before Yixing pushes her gently toward the other mouth of the side street. She totters out in a daze. A taxi speeds by and then she's gone.
Hm, Minseok thinks. "Neat party trick," he calls in Korean. Yixing jumps. Minseok probably should've expected the pulled-out handgun, but he's still surprised. "Whoa!" He reaches for the water in the pipes running past his head and it pops out with a hiss to freeze around the gun before Yixing can do anything else. He drops it with a yelp. "Whoa, there's no need for that, okay? I'm not with the government."
Yixing's eyes narrow, tense shoulders rising. "Who are you?" Korean makes his voice jump a clear octave. It's cute-or it would be, if Minseok had time to linger on it.
Minseok raises his hands and steps closer. "Does it matter?"
"I don't want any trouble. I haven't been doing anything illegal."
Minseok tosses a pointed look at the frozen gun on the ground. "Unregistered bearing of arms seems pretty illicit to me. You a soldier?"
Yixing deflates a little. "Not really." Minseok's close enough now to see the rapid rise and fall of his chest. "Who sent you?"
"Lu Han."
Yixing recoils a little. "He's still trying it? Did he tell you about what I did?"
"The soccer game thing?" Yixing's eyes shutter. "Yeah, he did. It's why we need you. Look, the resistance isn't that big yet-we're still in the recruitment phase. We need more manpower, and you're-"
"He's going to get hurt," Yixing interrupts. He brings his thumb up to chew on his nail, like he hasn't heard a word Minseok's been saying. "That asshole always gets hurt."
"Lu Han? He's fine, he's been fine." Minseok exhales quietly. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation-"
Yixing laughs. "You think I don't understand? I understand completely. Every day there are people snatched up from their own homes because they have powers. Who the fuck knows what the government's doing to them? I just want to live my life in peace, and I'm doing that just fine without joining whatever resistance you're a part of. I've heard the spiel."
"I saw what you did for that girl just now. We could use that." Yixing licks his lips and Minseok's head goes curiously blank. He wracks his brain for something more convincing and ends up with a lame, "With great power comes great responsibility."
Yixing, if anything, just clams up even more. "Life isn't a comic book," he murmurs, stepping away decisively. "Please don't come here again. It's my place of work. I'd rather not broadcast my location to the wrong people."
If Minseok was Lu Han, he'd probably use his telekinesis to bring Yixing in by force. Water's still draining steadily from the pipe he broke earlier. There's a lot he could do before Yixing rounds the corner, but he finds himself just watching him go.
"I told you he was stubborn," Lu Han says when Minseok walks through the door empty-handed. "Jesus, you smell terrible."
"Broke a drainage pipe earlier," Minseok mutters, peeling his jacket off. "He probably would've been more amenable to the idea if I hadn't mentioned you."
Lu Han winces. "You want me to ask Joonmyun to bring in someone else?"
"Nah," Minseok says. "I got it. And tell Baekhyun I saw a bird flying around in confused circles when I slipped past the vision barrier, so his defenses are working."
"Tell him yourself," Lu Han says, amused, at the same time Baekhyun calls from somewhere above them, "Fuck birds, man, one of them shat on my shoulder yesterday."
Jongdae sends Minseok an encrypted file on the club the next morning. It's surprisingly hefty. Apparently the place was run by a couple of high-ranking government officials that were sympathetic to the mutant cause. Most of the clientele and the employees were either mutants or had reason to throw their lot in with them.
"There's something weird, though," Jongdae says over a secure line. "I'm trying to dig into it but China's firewalls are no joke. Give me another day or so."
"Sure," Minseok says. "Thanks for the intel."
"Stay safe," Jongdae says before he terminates the call. "Joonmyun-hyung says he can feel trouble brewing."
Yixing isn't working at the club that evening, but Minseok goes again to scope out the lay of the land, marks the quickest exit routes just in case. Wudaokou isn't the least accessible place he's ever been, but it's very touristy. Lots of possible collateral damage if shit gets difficult.
The night is winding down when Minseok looks up from his beer-Tsingtao, in silent honor of Lu Han's hair-and catches the eye of one of the patrons in the back of the lounge, in the cordoned-off VIP section. He looks vaguely familiar, but Minseok can't place his face. He manages to snap a blurry picture and fires it off to Jongdae, who texts back saying he'll run it through his system.
"Meet anyone cute tonight?" Lu Han says smarmily when he gets back. Baekhyun perks up from where he's slanted on the couch playing Halo.
Minseok rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Brought you guys leftovers from dinner, though," he says, lifting a plastic bag.
He's woken up at noon by the incessant pinging of his phone. There's a flashing urgent email from Jongdae, five missed calls and fourteen text messages about calling him back.
"What the hell," Minseok croaks into the phone.
"Listen to me," Jongdae says, more serious than Minseok's ever heard him.
Minseok shakes the sleep out of his head and sits up in bed. "What is it?"
"That guy you recognized, he works for the division of the government that specializes in taking mutants in," Jongdae rattles off. "I hacked into his account and the club is all a cover to draw people in, they were going to raid the place in two weeks during one of their Friday night specials, but hyung, he recognized you-"
Minseok scrubs a hand over his face, throat clenching. "What are you saying?"
"Remember the raid in Shanghai last year? He was there. He recognized you. They moved the date up. I think they don't want to give you the chance to call in the cavalry, the raid's today, I saw the departmental memo-"
"Fuck," Minseok says, and almost breaks his back leaping out of bed.
"You aren't going in there without back-up, Minseok," Lu Han says calmly when he explains the situation. "And there's nothing we can do about the others, we have to just grab Yixing and go."
"What? We can't just leave the others to-"
Baekhyun shakes his head. "Orders from the higher-ups. We can't risk it, and we don't have the right manpower in place. It's Yixing or nothing."
Minseok kneels down and tugs savagely at one of his shoelaces, frowning so hard his chin aches. Intellectually, he understands the rationale behind it. They can't afford to lose anyone they already have, and the whole purpose of the resistance was to train enough people to start breaking people out of mutant camps.
"I hate this," he says, straightening up again.
Lu Han's smile is tight. "I know."
Lu Han idles in the car a block south of the club. Minseok walks the rest of the way and slips inside with Baekhyun, everyone else blind to them until they pop up next to the piano and Baekhyun unmasks them. Yixing jumps mid-song. Baekhyun gives him a little wave before wandering off in search for alcohol.
Yixing takes his hands off the keyboard and stiffens when he sees Minseok. "I thought I told you not to come back here."
"What can I say?" Minseok replies smoothly. "I'm persistent."
Yixing's jaw clenches. "The answer is still no."
"I don't get it," Minseok says, and maybe it's the urgency of the situation or just the way Yixing's looking at him, hard and immovable, but frustration bleeds out of every pore like water through a sieve. "You can't hide here forever, Yixing. Someone's going to find you sooner or later. You'll be protected with us, and actually do some good in the meantime-"
"I just don't see the point of open resistance when you could work in the system," Yixing says. He's quiet but his voice carries the conviction of someone who's thought about this for a long time. "Rebellion costs so much. Money, resources, lives."
"The system won't work with you," Minseok says. He puts a hand on Yixing's shoulder. Yixing doesn't flinch, but his gaze winnows down on Minseok until it feels like he's the only other person in the room, just him and Yixing and the baby grand piano with its thousand-dollar varnish, their profiles reflected back at them in the ambient light.
Minseok opens his mouth to say more but that's when the sirens go off. Baekhyun materializes from over Yixing's shoulder and jerks a thumb toward the employee door. "Time to go," he says, and makes a beeline toward the door.
"What's going on?" Yixing says.
"I'll explain when we get out of the building," Minseok says, and drags them both after Baekhyun. Yixing puts up a hell of a fight, but goes slack when the yelling near the front entrance starts up. Last year, in Shanghai, there'd been sleep gas and smoke bombs involved. Minseok isn't taking his chances. Fire flares to life as one of the mutants tries to burn her way through the barricade of police at the front. A zing of bullets overhead. Minseok ducks as one of them rips through the flimsy fabric of his shirt and grazes his shoulder. He grits his teeth against the pain, pushes past the flood of people and drags Yixing through the employee door. Baekhyun's lounging in the corridor leading out back, an impatient look on his face.
"We have to get out of here. I can only keep them distracted for so long."
"This is a raid," Yixing says, a look of horror flickering across his face. He yanks his arm out of Minseok's grip. "I told you what would happen if you came back-"
Minseok shakes his head. "It wasn't us. You think the Chinese government mobilizes that fast? Yixing, I swear to God, they've been planning this for months. You have to come with us."
Yixing's mouth trembles. "I have to stay and help, there are people getting trampled back there-"
There's a resounding crash through the door, a twisting of wires and the plink of piano keys as they're trampled in the mayhem. A slam on the door. Baekhyun winces, touches an index finger to his temple. "You'll be captured," Minseok yells over the noise. "And then what good will you be?"
Yixing's eyes dart toward the door and then down the hallway. "It wasn't a soccer match," he says.
Minseok grabs his wrist, hands slick with the blood oozing from his shoulder. Yixing's pulse jumps against his thumb. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Lu Han getting hurt-me healing him-that wasn't because of a soccer match." Yixing swallows. Reaches out tentatively, a question in his eyes, and puts a hand to Minseok's shoulder. "There were some people in our neighborhood growing up that didn't-they didn't like what Lu Han could do. It scared them. This was back when he could only control with it his hands, the telekinesis, so they caught him by surprise in the library one day, tied him up and started-well. You know how kids are. I found them like that. Instead of calling for our teachers I heaved an entire metal shelf of books down on them. One of the kids got a pretty bad concussion. But Lu Han was still trapped, right? I hurt him too. So I fixed it."
"Not to interrupt this heartwarming chat," Baekhyun grinds out, "but we have to go."
The door slams open. Baekhyun pushes both of them towards the exit and runs after them. Minseok's breath rattles in his chest. They break out into the cool spring air, duck into one of the alleys to avoid a patrol car.
"Lu Han's parked a block away," Minseok says. "Are you coming with us or not?"
Yixing still looks torn. Minseok grabs him by the shoulders again and shakes him a little.
"I know you think you've made mistakes, but we all have. You can't keep everyone from getting hurt. That isn't your power."
Baekhyun pulls them behind the dumpster as another police car whizzes past. Yixing wipes Minseok's blood off on his slacks. His bowtie's askew. Minseok reaches out to adjust it.
"Will you come with us?"
Yixing's mouth sets into a firm line. "I don't have anywhere else to go," he concedes, and Baekhyun punches the air in silent victory behind him.
"Hey," Lu Han says, when they duck into the back. Baekhyun shimmies into shotgun and then they're cruising down the street. "It's snowing in April. Good to see you, Yixing."
"You're a fucking coward," Yixing says, but he sounds happy to see him, too.
"We should have a movie night," Lu Han says, pleased. "I have Frozen downloaded on my computer."
Yixing and Minseok exchange glances. Belatedly, he realizes his hand's still circled around Yixing's wrist. When he lets go, there's a set of bloody fingerprints left behind. Not the most romantic thing in the world-not that this is really a time for romance-but Yixing's smiling at him, and he's sitting in the backseat of car on the way somewhere safe. They have time to figure it out.
fin
Pairing: lay/xiumin
Rating: pg13
Genre: au, action, mild romance
Warnings: swearing, violence
Author: gdgdbaby
Notes: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. zhang yixing doesn't want any of it, least of all the responsibility. mutant/mama au, ft. a large helping of lu han. written for gollumpanties for the 2013 round of sncj_santa, originally posted here. 3,386 words.
"We should go see Frozen," is the first thing Lu Han tells him when Minseok's in the country again. His hair's an irritating honey blond, the color of a fresh draft of Tsingtao. "That new Disney princess movie. One of your kind's in it."
"My kind," Minseok repeats. He pops the trunk of Lu Han's car open and shoves his backpack inside. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I mean the main character's sister makes snow," Lu Han says. "Icicles and shit. Sounds right up your alley." They pull discreetly out of airport parking. Lu Han piggybacks behind a huge SUV to get out without paying.
Minseok looks it up on his phone. "I always liked Idina Menzel," he says, "but you're nuts if you think I'm gonna sit out in the open for two hours." Lu Han snorts. "Seriously. I can see the headlines now. Unregistered mutant outlaw picked up at movie theater watching musical allegory for his power. What a way to go." He slants his eyes over as Lu Han makes the sharp turn onto a service road. "I bet you have it downloaded on your computer anyway."
Lu Han gasps, indignant. "I'm hurt, Minseokie. You know I'd never do something so illegal."
"Uh huh," Minseok says, as Lu Han runs two red lights in a row. "All you're doing is attracting unwanted attention, you know."
"Baekhyun's in town," he says, speeding up. "We're fine."
Minseok sighs and leans back in his seat. "Why am I even here?"
"Joonmyun didn't tell you?"
"Nah, he just said to come. Paid for everything. I've been missing the food here."
"Could use your help with a project," Lu Han says. He sounds too careful now. His fingers clench around the steering wheel.
Minseok narrows his eyes. "Care to elaborate? What is it that you need me for?"
"Honestly, it's pretty standard recruitment. Just a bit of a conflict of interest on my part, so that's where you come in."
"Ah," Minseok says drily. "You fucked him."
Lu Han rolls his eyes. "Not even close."
Minseok never really planned on getting involved with a full-scale mutant rebellion. That was decided for him when he was forcefully ejected from a three-year architecture degree at HKUST because his blood work came back positive for the gene. Three weeks later he was on the streets, evicted from his apartment because his landlord "didn't want trouble." Kris was the recruiter in Hong Kong back then. He'd found Minseok in a bar downtown, making the ice in his tumbler crackle, and laid out his options.
"I heard the UN was trying to draft sanctions," Minseok said when Kris finished his pitch.
Kris lifted his heavy eyebrows. "And how long do you think that's going to take?"
In the end, it was the practical thing to do. The mutants set him up in one of their safe houses in Beijing and Minseok started training with Lu Han, a telekinetic whose first lesson involved lifting street food off unsuspecting vendors on Wangfujing Street. Now, Minseok's the recruiter. Last month he was in Canada with Henry and Amber to pick up a shapeshifter, and two weeks before that he'd helped bring a mind-reader in. Melbourne's beautiful in February.
Minseok's sitting in the safe house kitchen downing lukewarm ramyun when he finally asks. "So why do we want this guy so bad?"
"Yixing's a healer," Lu Han says. "Got the magic touch. You can see why it'd be helpful."
"Huh. Why didn't we bring him in before?"
Lu Han chews on his lip. "He does a very good job of hiding himself. He's been in the city for a while, though, so it was Joonmyun's call to go for it."
Minseok hums. "Know anything else?"
"His power manifested early, when he was a kid. Friend cut his face up during a soccer match and he healed it. Left a scar, though."
Minseok swallows and aims a chopstick at Lu Han's face. "Why can't you do this? You seem to know a lot more about him than anyone else does."
"I'm the one he healed," Lu Han says flippantly. Oh, Minseok thinks. He'd always wanted to ask about the lip scar, but never had the chance. "We used to be best friends. Our parents, they were mutants, too. Wanted us to prepare us for what was coming with the rest of the resistance, but Yixing-he's stubborn. He won't listen to me." His mouth jumps. "He knows exactly what to do to piss me off. It won't work."
Minseok puts his bowl down. "What makes you think I can do any better?"
"Just be yourself," Lu Han says, eyes crinkling as he grins.
"Right," Minseok says, sighing. His stomach gives a loud rumble and Lu Han reaches into the fridge for another egg and packet of noodles. "Real helpful."
The address Lu Han gives Minseok leads him to some sort of upscale lounge in Wudaokou. Merchant Prince Club. Yixing must be doing pretty well for someone unregistered. Minseok hops the line with one of Joonmyun's cards, and the first thing he hears when he walks through the double doors is music-not typical club fare, electronica and bass, but the light patter of something classical, slightly jazzy, on a baby grand. He grabs a beer from the bar before gravitating toward the source.
The man sitting behind the keys has a soft face. His dark brown hair swoops low over his brows, and his eyes are closed as he plays. The veins in his neck stick out as he gets to a particularly passionate passage. His bowtie's askew. Minseok's hands itch to reach out and readjust it. He sits down at a table close to the piano and sips at his bottle.
Yixing's shift ends half past midnight. Minseok watches him disappear through one of the employee doors and come back out dressed down, simple dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves and dark slacks, and if it's possible his throat goes even drier. He's on his third beer by then. He drains the rest and follows Yixing out from a distance.
Someone stumbles green and sweating from an adjacent bar as Minseok slides through the entrance again. Yixing's halfway down the street before Minseok can blink. He helps her into an alley, past a gaggle of white tourists and two girls carrying Uniqlo bags. Minseok can hear Yixing murmuring in low Chinese as he draws closer. Minseok edges around the corner for a better view and sees Yixing's hand on her back. He asks if she's feeling better. She brings a hand to her head and nods yes before Yixing pushes her gently toward the other mouth of the side street. She totters out in a daze. A taxi speeds by and then she's gone.
Hm, Minseok thinks. "Neat party trick," he calls in Korean. Yixing jumps. Minseok probably should've expected the pulled-out handgun, but he's still surprised. "Whoa!" He reaches for the water in the pipes running past his head and it pops out with a hiss to freeze around the gun before Yixing can do anything else. He drops it with a yelp. "Whoa, there's no need for that, okay? I'm not with the government."
Yixing's eyes narrow, tense shoulders rising. "Who are you?" Korean makes his voice jump a clear octave. It's cute-or it would be, if Minseok had time to linger on it.
Minseok raises his hands and steps closer. "Does it matter?"
"I don't want any trouble. I haven't been doing anything illegal."
Minseok tosses a pointed look at the frozen gun on the ground. "Unregistered bearing of arms seems pretty illicit to me. You a soldier?"
Yixing deflates a little. "Not really." Minseok's close enough now to see the rapid rise and fall of his chest. "Who sent you?"
"Lu Han."
Yixing recoils a little. "He's still trying it? Did he tell you about what I did?"
"The soccer game thing?" Yixing's eyes shutter. "Yeah, he did. It's why we need you. Look, the resistance isn't that big yet-we're still in the recruitment phase. We need more manpower, and you're-"
"He's going to get hurt," Yixing interrupts. He brings his thumb up to chew on his nail, like he hasn't heard a word Minseok's been saying. "That asshole always gets hurt."
"Lu Han? He's fine, he's been fine." Minseok exhales quietly. "I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation-"
Yixing laughs. "You think I don't understand? I understand completely. Every day there are people snatched up from their own homes because they have powers. Who the fuck knows what the government's doing to them? I just want to live my life in peace, and I'm doing that just fine without joining whatever resistance you're a part of. I've heard the spiel."
"I saw what you did for that girl just now. We could use that." Yixing licks his lips and Minseok's head goes curiously blank. He wracks his brain for something more convincing and ends up with a lame, "With great power comes great responsibility."
Yixing, if anything, just clams up even more. "Life isn't a comic book," he murmurs, stepping away decisively. "Please don't come here again. It's my place of work. I'd rather not broadcast my location to the wrong people."
If Minseok was Lu Han, he'd probably use his telekinesis to bring Yixing in by force. Water's still draining steadily from the pipe he broke earlier. There's a lot he could do before Yixing rounds the corner, but he finds himself just watching him go.
"I told you he was stubborn," Lu Han says when Minseok walks through the door empty-handed. "Jesus, you smell terrible."
"Broke a drainage pipe earlier," Minseok mutters, peeling his jacket off. "He probably would've been more amenable to the idea if I hadn't mentioned you."
Lu Han winces. "You want me to ask Joonmyun to bring in someone else?"
"Nah," Minseok says. "I got it. And tell Baekhyun I saw a bird flying around in confused circles when I slipped past the vision barrier, so his defenses are working."
"Tell him yourself," Lu Han says, amused, at the same time Baekhyun calls from somewhere above them, "Fuck birds, man, one of them shat on my shoulder yesterday."
Jongdae sends Minseok an encrypted file on the club the next morning. It's surprisingly hefty. Apparently the place was run by a couple of high-ranking government officials that were sympathetic to the mutant cause. Most of the clientele and the employees were either mutants or had reason to throw their lot in with them.
"There's something weird, though," Jongdae says over a secure line. "I'm trying to dig into it but China's firewalls are no joke. Give me another day or so."
"Sure," Minseok says. "Thanks for the intel."
"Stay safe," Jongdae says before he terminates the call. "Joonmyun-hyung says he can feel trouble brewing."
Yixing isn't working at the club that evening, but Minseok goes again to scope out the lay of the land, marks the quickest exit routes just in case. Wudaokou isn't the least accessible place he's ever been, but it's very touristy. Lots of possible collateral damage if shit gets difficult.
The night is winding down when Minseok looks up from his beer-Tsingtao, in silent honor of Lu Han's hair-and catches the eye of one of the patrons in the back of the lounge, in the cordoned-off VIP section. He looks vaguely familiar, but Minseok can't place his face. He manages to snap a blurry picture and fires it off to Jongdae, who texts back saying he'll run it through his system.
"Meet anyone cute tonight?" Lu Han says smarmily when he gets back. Baekhyun perks up from where he's slanted on the couch playing Halo.
Minseok rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Brought you guys leftovers from dinner, though," he says, lifting a plastic bag.
He's woken up at noon by the incessant pinging of his phone. There's a flashing urgent email from Jongdae, five missed calls and fourteen text messages about calling him back.
"What the hell," Minseok croaks into the phone.
"Listen to me," Jongdae says, more serious than Minseok's ever heard him.
Minseok shakes the sleep out of his head and sits up in bed. "What is it?"
"That guy you recognized, he works for the division of the government that specializes in taking mutants in," Jongdae rattles off. "I hacked into his account and the club is all a cover to draw people in, they were going to raid the place in two weeks during one of their Friday night specials, but hyung, he recognized you-"
Minseok scrubs a hand over his face, throat clenching. "What are you saying?"
"Remember the raid in Shanghai last year? He was there. He recognized you. They moved the date up. I think they don't want to give you the chance to call in the cavalry, the raid's today, I saw the departmental memo-"
"Fuck," Minseok says, and almost breaks his back leaping out of bed.
"You aren't going in there without back-up, Minseok," Lu Han says calmly when he explains the situation. "And there's nothing we can do about the others, we have to just grab Yixing and go."
"What? We can't just leave the others to-"
Baekhyun shakes his head. "Orders from the higher-ups. We can't risk it, and we don't have the right manpower in place. It's Yixing or nothing."
Minseok kneels down and tugs savagely at one of his shoelaces, frowning so hard his chin aches. Intellectually, he understands the rationale behind it. They can't afford to lose anyone they already have, and the whole purpose of the resistance was to train enough people to start breaking people out of mutant camps.
"I hate this," he says, straightening up again.
Lu Han's smile is tight. "I know."
Lu Han idles in the car a block south of the club. Minseok walks the rest of the way and slips inside with Baekhyun, everyone else blind to them until they pop up next to the piano and Baekhyun unmasks them. Yixing jumps mid-song. Baekhyun gives him a little wave before wandering off in search for alcohol.
Yixing takes his hands off the keyboard and stiffens when he sees Minseok. "I thought I told you not to come back here."
"What can I say?" Minseok replies smoothly. "I'm persistent."
Yixing's jaw clenches. "The answer is still no."
"I don't get it," Minseok says, and maybe it's the urgency of the situation or just the way Yixing's looking at him, hard and immovable, but frustration bleeds out of every pore like water through a sieve. "You can't hide here forever, Yixing. Someone's going to find you sooner or later. You'll be protected with us, and actually do some good in the meantime-"
"I just don't see the point of open resistance when you could work in the system," Yixing says. He's quiet but his voice carries the conviction of someone who's thought about this for a long time. "Rebellion costs so much. Money, resources, lives."
"The system won't work with you," Minseok says. He puts a hand on Yixing's shoulder. Yixing doesn't flinch, but his gaze winnows down on Minseok until it feels like he's the only other person in the room, just him and Yixing and the baby grand piano with its thousand-dollar varnish, their profiles reflected back at them in the ambient light.
Minseok opens his mouth to say more but that's when the sirens go off. Baekhyun materializes from over Yixing's shoulder and jerks a thumb toward the employee door. "Time to go," he says, and makes a beeline toward the door.
"What's going on?" Yixing says.
"I'll explain when we get out of the building," Minseok says, and drags them both after Baekhyun. Yixing puts up a hell of a fight, but goes slack when the yelling near the front entrance starts up. Last year, in Shanghai, there'd been sleep gas and smoke bombs involved. Minseok isn't taking his chances. Fire flares to life as one of the mutants tries to burn her way through the barricade of police at the front. A zing of bullets overhead. Minseok ducks as one of them rips through the flimsy fabric of his shirt and grazes his shoulder. He grits his teeth against the pain, pushes past the flood of people and drags Yixing through the employee door. Baekhyun's lounging in the corridor leading out back, an impatient look on his face.
"We have to get out of here. I can only keep them distracted for so long."
"This is a raid," Yixing says, a look of horror flickering across his face. He yanks his arm out of Minseok's grip. "I told you what would happen if you came back-"
Minseok shakes his head. "It wasn't us. You think the Chinese government mobilizes that fast? Yixing, I swear to God, they've been planning this for months. You have to come with us."
Yixing's mouth trembles. "I have to stay and help, there are people getting trampled back there-"
There's a resounding crash through the door, a twisting of wires and the plink of piano keys as they're trampled in the mayhem. A slam on the door. Baekhyun winces, touches an index finger to his temple. "You'll be captured," Minseok yells over the noise. "And then what good will you be?"
Yixing's eyes dart toward the door and then down the hallway. "It wasn't a soccer match," he says.
Minseok grabs his wrist, hands slick with the blood oozing from his shoulder. Yixing's pulse jumps against his thumb. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Lu Han getting hurt-me healing him-that wasn't because of a soccer match." Yixing swallows. Reaches out tentatively, a question in his eyes, and puts a hand to Minseok's shoulder. "There were some people in our neighborhood growing up that didn't-they didn't like what Lu Han could do. It scared them. This was back when he could only control with it his hands, the telekinesis, so they caught him by surprise in the library one day, tied him up and started-well. You know how kids are. I found them like that. Instead of calling for our teachers I heaved an entire metal shelf of books down on them. One of the kids got a pretty bad concussion. But Lu Han was still trapped, right? I hurt him too. So I fixed it."
"Not to interrupt this heartwarming chat," Baekhyun grinds out, "but we have to go."
The door slams open. Baekhyun pushes both of them towards the exit and runs after them. Minseok's breath rattles in his chest. They break out into the cool spring air, duck into one of the alleys to avoid a patrol car.
"Lu Han's parked a block away," Minseok says. "Are you coming with us or not?"
Yixing still looks torn. Minseok grabs him by the shoulders again and shakes him a little.
"I know you think you've made mistakes, but we all have. You can't keep everyone from getting hurt. That isn't your power."
Baekhyun pulls them behind the dumpster as another police car whizzes past. Yixing wipes Minseok's blood off on his slacks. His bowtie's askew. Minseok reaches out to adjust it.
"Will you come with us?"
Yixing's mouth sets into a firm line. "I don't have anywhere else to go," he concedes, and Baekhyun punches the air in silent victory behind him.
"Hey," Lu Han says, when they duck into the back. Baekhyun shimmies into shotgun and then they're cruising down the street. "It's snowing in April. Good to see you, Yixing."
"You're a fucking coward," Yixing says, but he sounds happy to see him, too.
"We should have a movie night," Lu Han says, pleased. "I have Frozen downloaded on my computer."
Yixing and Minseok exchange glances. Belatedly, he realizes his hand's still circled around Yixing's wrist. When he lets go, there's a set of bloody fingerprints left behind. Not the most romantic thing in the world-not that this is really a time for romance-but Yixing's smiling at him, and he's sitting in the backseat of car on the way somewhere safe. They have time to figure it out.
fin