What Doesn't Kill You: Chapter 6
Title: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
Pairing: HanChul, KyuChul, EunKiHae, KangTeuk, YeWook, other may appear in the future
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Action, Superhero (is that a genre?)
Summary: When Cho Kyuhyun was infected with the GAM Virus, he’d thought he was going to die. Everyone who got it did. If you contracted the virus, you were as good as gone. There was no treatment, no cure, and nothing to aid you toward a quick death. It was slow, painful, and most people committed suicide-or had loved one’s aid them in doing so-before the disease took them willingly.
Or that’s what he’d thought, anyway.
Notes: This chapter would have been out last night if Livejournal had been kind. But it wasn’t. It still isn’t. I’ve had to redo the entire chapter and put in hyperlinks in Microsoft Word…but it is here now.
Chapter 5 <-------- > Chapter 7
Character Profiles
Side Story: Siwon
Side Story: Hangeng
Side Story: Yesung
---
Kyuhyun had thought that after the pillow fight that he and Heechul were ok. Apparently he’d miscalculated something because the next morning Heechul avoided him and acted snippy and sarcastic as usual. He wondered if maybe that was just the way Heechul was. He hadn’t expected Heechul to be nice to him, but he’d certainly expected him to be a bit less…unapproachable.
He didn’t have too much time to worry about it the next day because Siwon dragged him to the gym with Yesung and Eunhyuk while the rest of the group began going over mission planning for their next job.
Donghae and Shindong had gone out to do some kind of reconnaissance, and Leeteuk was stuck in he and Kangin’s room after another “accident”. He’d gotten through four floors and had gone solid again and then had tried to walk out and had ended up phasing again only to crash into the bathtub of the next floor down and shatter his left elbow.
When they’d learned about this Donghae and Eunhyuk had all but forcefully quarantined Leeteuk away from anywhere that Kibum could be for fear that the younger man would try and take on Leeteuk’s injury as well. Leeteuk hadn’t been too thrilled with the idea of Kibum in more pain either and had stayed in his room, resting, since earlier that morning.
Hangeng was sleeping like usual, despite that he and Heechul didn’t have as much sex anymore. Now that they had bunk beds Heechul seemed to be using his top bunk as an opportunity to keep away from even Hangeng. Kyuhyun didn’t know if this was Heechul’s way of being considerate, of trying to keep Hangeng from being hurt by touching him, or if he just wanted to be alone.
Kyuhyun had given up on trying to understand how Heechul worked. He did know, however, that the knowledge that Hangeng and Heechul were having less sex pleased him. He just didn’t know why.
“If you don’t put in the mouth guard he’s going to kick out your front teeth.” Yesung intoned from the bench. He grabbed his water bottle and uncapped it, dunking it onto his head. He shook it off along with the sweat a moment later.
Kyuhyun barely managed to dodge the onslaught from a few feet away, grabbing his sweat soaked towel and using it as a shield. As he did so he took a sniff and almost gagged. The tang of old sweat mixing with new wasn’t a pleasant one. He’d forgotten to have the towel washed before.
Eunhyuk leaned over the ring at Yesung, not-quite pouting but not quite glaring either. “It makes my mouth look weird!”
Siwon, who stood at the other end of the ring, did a few experimental jabs. Eunhyuk eyed him for a few moments before he sighed in resignation, “hand me the mouth guard.”
Yesung threw it up and Eunhyuk caught it. Kyuhyun blinked, because Eunhyuk was holding the mouth guard but the mouth guard wasn’t there. It looked like he wasn’t holding anything. Eunhyuk shoved the piece of plastic into his mouth and gave an experimental smile and it was visible again.
“Is it only your hands that turn things invisible, then?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning back on the bench to watch the match. “I just wondered because of your clothes…” Not that he’d wanted to imagine Eunhyuk walking around in clothes that were invisible-he hadn’t, he really hadn’t, it was a mental image that he’d never be able to unsee.
“Yeah.” Eunhyuk didn’t expound on the topic because Siwon came at him and the match started. In the beginning, when Yesung had said that Siwon and Eunhyuk were going to fight he hadn’t really understood why. He’d figured that Siwon would win hands down. Siwon was muscular and fit and Eunhyuk was…skinny.
But Eunhyuk was also fast. Very fast. As long as Siwon wasn’t using his powers then Eunhyuk was clearly the more agile of the two and it paid off to his advantage as he danced around Siwon’s bulkier frame as the taller man punched. He managed to use as little movement as he needed to get out of Siwon’s way, trying to tire Siwon out before he went on the offensive himself.
Kyuhyun supposed he should have given Eunhyuk more credit from the start. He’d just assumed from everything he’d seen from the other man that he was clumsy, awkward, and a bit hopeless. He was really going to have to stop underestimating the others in the group, especially the“useless” ones. They seemed to make up for their lack of powers through other means.
No one here allowed someone else to take the slack. They all helped in any way they could.
Kyuhyun’s fingers curled tightly around the towel at his neck. He needed to practice, to get better, so that he could be useful too. He didn’t feel like he completely belonged here yet, but he knew that once he contributed then he’d be fully welcomed. Maybe that was why Heechul hadn’t fully accepted him yet? Because he hadn’t proved his worth?
Eunhyuk’s glove connected with Siwon’s chin, but it wasn’t a direct hit. It glanced off, and although Kyuhyun knew it would leave a bruise, Siwon didn’t seem hurt. The other man was barely caught off guard, swinging up his own right arm to punch Eunhyuk in the stomach.
Kyuhyun cringed at the sound, before he let his gaze drift to Yesung who was using this time to wrap his hands. Kyuhyun swallowed. He wasn’t looking forward to his turn.
“Eunhyuk, you’re leaning to your right.”
Yesung and Kyuhyun turned as Hangeng walked through the doorway, but Eunhyuk and Siwon remained focused on their fight. Eunhyuk did seem to take note of Hangeng’s advice, however.
“Kyuhyun.” Hangeng gave him a small smile. “Ryeowook is still in the debriefing room going over mission plans, but I figured that we could start practicing again.”
Kyuhyun nodded, practically leaping up from the bench. He’d do anything to keep from getting beaten up, even if it meant a headache for the next several hours. The last thing he saw as he followed Hangeng out of the gym was Siwon catching Eunhyuk in the jaw and the other man slamming against the ground.
He winced.
---
“This mission is going to take extensive reconnaissance.” Sungmin scanned the photographs of the building. “We need some new photos from different angles. And we don’t have the blue prints yet, do we?”
“Outdated ones.” Kibum held out the files. “They’ve done renovations since then.”
“Alright.” Heechul nodded, “We’ll send out Yesung and Ryeowook to get the blueprints tomorrow. Shindong can take photographs. Donghae will go with him.”
The group nodded as Kangin fiddled with his pen, clicking it open and closed, only half-listening to Heechul’s directions. It’s not like Heechul would need him for anything outside of the apartment. He never got to leave. Besides, Leeteuk needed him here after that accident…
Heechul leaned back with his own soft sigh, pursing his lips. “We acquired the guest list and there are several high-ranking officials in the GAM project that will be attending. The plan is to eliminate these men.” Heechul held out another stack of photos. “They control several lower-ranking departments. And this man.” He pointed. “He’s the one we’re going to question.”
Ryeowook blinked. “We’re kidnapping him?”
“Something like that.” Heechul replied offhandedly, eyes half-lidded.
“And…but…how are we going to get the information?”
“What do you think?”
Ryeowook swallowed but didn’t say anything. Torture wasn’t something he was comfortable with but he knew that if he voiced his opinion he wouldn’t get much sympathy. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand its relevancy. He did. He just didn’t like it.
He figured that he wouldn’t be on the “questioning” team anyway. He doubted anyone that wasn’t one of Heechul’s would be in that group.
“Getting him out of there without anyone noticing is going to be difficult.” Sungmin murmured. “We can hack into the security feeds, correct?”
“I’ve been looking into it.” Kibum nodded. “They’re on a new system that I'm not familiar with so it’s taking some time. Kangin hyung and I will try and get through the initial security by Wednesday.”
Kibum turned to Kangin, as had everyone else to see that he wasn’t paying any attention. He was still staring down at his pen. “Leeteuk-hyung needs to take some more pain medication.” Kibum announced softly, holding out the bottle.
Kangin blinked, pulled out of his thoughts by Leeteuk’s name. He gave a sheepish smile and a small nod. “I’ll, uh, go give it to him then.” He reached for the bottle and hurried out of the room, the others watching as the door closed.
“We won’t get him back till debriefing, now.”Heechul shot Kibum a disapproving look.
Kibum shrugged it off, looking back at his computer screen. “Kangin hyung has been worrying all day. He wasn’t helping much anyway.”
---
He was running. He was running and he didn’t know what he was running from. It hurt to breath, every inhalation sending a jolt of pain through his chest. Something was after him, behind him. He didn’t know what it was but he knew that if he looked back it would catch him.
He heard panting, and it sounded bestial, inhuman.
He was going to die. He was going to die. It was going to catch him and kill him and he couldn’t do anything.
A wall. If he went through a wall he’d be safe! The creature wouldn’t be able to go through a wall, would it? No. Only he could.
He turned, forcing the process, feeling his skin begin to tingle and his veins sting at the change as he stumbled through the cement to his right. It felt different, wrong. Like he was swimming in molasses. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Why wasn’t it happening faster? If he didn’t get all the way through the monster would get him-
He was on the other side, coughing, lungs burning. His skin felt like it was on fire.
“Hey, you ok?”
He looked up, blinking away tears. Kangin. Youngwoon. Safety. He let out a small sob and reached for the hand being offered.
The monster was there. It was behind Youngwoon. Oh god he needed to warn him! It was there! He opened his mouth to scream but at the same moment the floor seemed to open under him and he fell. Kangin grabbed for him, but his fingers went through his skin like air.
He was falling. No one could grab him. Falling, falling, falling. The monster was going to eat Kangin. The creature would kill him and he hadn’t been able to save him and now he’d never stop falling.
But he did stop. He stopped with a jolt of pain so excruciating that he couldn’t breathe.
Leeteuk jolted awake, and the sudden movement caused his arm to hit the bedside table to his left. He let out a soft yelp, trying to stifle the sound as he reached over and cradled the cast with his other hand.
He slowly took his hand away and stared at it. It’s ok Jungsu. You can feel. Your hand is solid. You’re ok. You’re ok.
He took a few shaky breaths and didn’t realize he was crying until the door opened and Kangin walked in and asked what was wrong.
“I…” Leeteuk cut himself off because his voice broke and he knew that if he continued he'd end up sobbing. He didn't like feeling this weak and afraid but he couldn't help that constant fear that one day he was going to fall and he'd be unable to stop. He felt Kangin’s arms wrap around him hesitantly, afraid to hurt his elbow.
“Hey,” Kangin’s voice was soft and calming. “I don’t know what happened but it’s alright. It was just a nightmare.”
“But it could really happen.” Leeteuk whispered hoarsely into his shirt collar. His chin was wet with tears and stuck to the fabric. It itched. “One day I’m going to fall and I won’t be able to stop.”
Kangin’s arms tightened around him.
“I won’t let it happen. I’ll always be there, Jungsu.”
Leeteuk wished it were that simple. He wished that Kangin would be able to touch him even when no one else could. That he’d be able to catch him and keep him from falling. He wished that it could comfort him.
But it was a lie. A pretty lie, and maybe Kangin believed it to be true, but it was a lie nonetheless.
---
“The encryptions used are trickier this time. They know something is up.” Kibum murmured to himself, fingers ghosting over the keys almost too quickly to process.
“You can do it, Bummie.” Donghae yawned, leaning his arms against the table and closing his eyes. “…imma take a nap.”
“You transformed several times. You should go and take a bath.” Kibum replied, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen.“It’ll help with the ache.”
“I know.” Donghae yawned again. “But I don’t want to move. Hyukkie should be coming up soon, right?”
“He just finished at the gym so he’ll probably take a shower. Why don’t you join him?”
“Too tired.” Donghae whined, curling up even further in the chair. “Reconnaissance is boring. All we did was walk around the park. I had to pretend to play catch too!”
“Don’t pretend that you didn’t enjoy it.” Kibum scoffed. “I’m sure you had the time of your life.”
“I like Frisbees more.” Donghae muttered with a slight pout, eyes still closed.
“Right, there are only certain balls Donghae likes to play with.” Shindong wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Ryeowook to blush bright red. Kibum’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink but he didn’t look away from the computer and pretended not to hear. Donghae was snoring.
“If any of that soup gets on the table you’re dead.”Heechul warned from the other side where he was looking over a set of photographs.
Shindong maneuvered the ramen cup into his lap, eyeing the table warily. He knew better than to test whether or not Heechul was joking.
“Before we begin debriefing, should we get everyone up here?” Sungmin asked from the whiteboard.
“Thanks to Kibum we won’t see Kangin and Jungsu for the rest of the night,” Heechul shot the younger boy an annoyed glare before continuing, “And Siwon, Eunhyuk, and Yesung are getting clean and I’m not going to have someone drag them out of the shower to get them up here. Eunhyuk smells bad enough after a shower, I don’t want him coming in here smelling like a diseased raccoon covered in trash.”
“Hyung,” Donghae pouted, cracking open one eye.“Hyukkie doesn’t smell that bad.” Kibum just snorted and continued going over the password encryptions on his laptop.
“I’ll go over everyone’s jobs and we’ll explain everything to the others as they come in.” Heechul closed the manila envelope containing the photos and placed it on the desk. “Most of this week will consist of undercover work. We won’t be going after the targets for a while until we’re absolutely certain we can get in and out safely.” They weren't going to have a repeat of last time. They'd been complacent and they hadn't spent enough time planning. That wasn't going to happen again.
“…by safely do you mean with minimal internal bleeding?” Shindong grumbled, and was rewarded with a rather terrifying grin from Heechul. Shindong sighed and took a bite of noodles.
“Someone’s bleeding?” Yesung poked his head into the room, hair still dripping wet.
“Ya! Don’t come near the equipment until you’re dry.” Heechul ordered, eyes narrowing as Yesung held up his hands in defense. A towel dropped onto his head as Siwon slipped in behind him, wearing only a pair of sweat pants and a towel hanging from his neck.
“Siwonnie you always know how to brighten my day,” Heechul grinned, winking, “Now if I could only get you out of those troublesome sweatpants.”
Siwon blushed a bright red and hurried to the other side of the table, keeping as far from Heechul as possible which only seemed to make the older man more amused.
“Does Hankyung hyung know you’re eyeing Siwon hyung like a piece of meat?” Kibum drawled, smirking to himself as Heechul huffed and Siwon quickly tried to cover his abs with his hands.
“We have meat? Where?” Eunhyuk chose that moment to stumble inside the room, still pulling on a t-shirt.
“And you, Hyukjae, you also know how to make my day. Keep that shirt on. No one wants to see your emaciated body.” Heechul called, going back to the files he’d been perusing while Eunhyuk stared, mildly confused as to what had just happened.
“Just sit down and don’t ask.” Kibum answered softly, pushing Donghae’s chair to jolt the older man awake. Donghae let out another soft snore and blinked sleepily, “Eunhyuk!” He spotted the thinner man and flashed a smile before giving another yawn. “What happened to your cheek?”
“Siwon and I were boxing.” Eunhyuk reached up a hand and tentatively touched the bruise forming on his cheek and winced. Kibum reached over but Donghae grabbed his hand, practically slamming it onto the table.
The sound echoed and everyone turned to where Donghae sat, no longer sleepy, expression serious.
“Don’t.”
Eunhyuk scooted a few inches to his right, keeping Donghae between them, also frowning. He looked a little surprised at Donghae’s outburst, but soon everyone else seemed to forget it and Donghae had grabbed Kibum’s hand and slipped it into his lap under the table, pretending like it hadn’t happened at all.
Kibum wrenched his hand out of Donghae’s grip with a soft, “I need to work” and went back to typing on his laptop, each pressing of a key sounding like the slam of a door. Donghae ignored it, and Eunhyuk tried his best to.
Heechul eyed them all before turning to Sungmin, “Explain the general layout.”
Sungmin nodded as Kibum overlaid the map onto the whiteboard. “We have the basic dimensions and blueprints for the main building. Renovations were done earlier on in the year and so we figure that security has changed on the inside at these points specifically.” Sungmin highlighted several areas with a red marker.
“Donghae, you’ll go in for a reconnaissance of the building’s new additions. Yesung will be on standby.” Heechul ordered, “Before the meeting there won’t be any Gifted in the area, only regular security forces so there shouldn’t be any problems with anyone who could spot that you were shapeshifting.”
Donghae pursed his lips and gave a nod, thoughtful.
“After going over the information that Donghae and Shindong got for us from their work earlier today and yesterday we have a pretty good idea about the guests that will be at the meeting.” Ryeowook piped in. “From the bugs that Donghae planted Kibum and I have been listening in on their conversations and it looks like they’ll be there to discuss plans for a new training facility.”
At the mention of a training facility Heechul, Sungmin, Siwon, Yesung, and Donghae all visibly stiffened. Heechul shrugged it off first, giving a slow smile. “Shindong, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Siwon, and Leeteuk will split into groups and go on recon for these individuals.” Heechul held out the file full of photographs. “You can pick your teams and your target. Kibum is working on hacking into the security interface and Kangin will help with that over the course of the week. Hangeng, Sungmin and I will continue finalizing plans for the actual mission.”
“What about Kyuhyun?” Sungmin asked, capping his marker.
“Until he has some control over his gift he’s more of a liability than anything. He’ll be training.” Heechul answered back smoothly before he leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Aish, I need some coffee.”
“I’ll get you some, hyung.” Ryeowook made to stand but Heechul waved him off, “I’m heading out anyway, I’ll get it.”
The door opened as Heechul stood, and Hangeng smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I just finished training with Kyuhyun. I told him to go and take a nap. Did I miss much?”
“Well, we all know our jobs, then.” Heechul announced briskly, turning toward the door, seemingly ignoring Hangeng’s question.
“Where are you going?” Hangeng called out, perplexed.
“To check on the kid.”
---
Kyuhyun tried not to look up when the door opened. He figured it was Leeteuk coming to check up on him, or Ryeowook, or maybe even Hangeng to see if he was ok enough to continue after some dinner. He hadn’t expected to see Heechul or for the other man to calmly take a seat across the table from him.
He was a little angry-angry at the fact that Heechul had gone back to ignoring him and he didn’t understand what was going on-and more than a little happy that Heechul had come at all and very confused as to why he was happy.
He settled for concentrating on the numbers coursing through his brain and trying to fight off the oncoming migraine that had become an everyday occurrence. He’d gotten to the point where he could almost forget about the information and function enough to eat something and sleep, but it was always there, always threatening to break free and drive him mad.
He figured it wouldn’t be long before he went completely crazy because of this.
Heechul had settled into a chair, one leg crossed over the other, lazily scanning the papers that Hangeng had given Kyuhyun earlier that morning. Heechul looked him over calculatingly, his face expressionless. “How do you feel?” He finally broached.
“Like shit.” Kyuhyun bit back. “Like I live in a state of constant hangover.”
“As if you’ve ever had a real one.” Heechul rolled his eyes before he sighed at the exasperated look that Kyuhyun shot him. “Alright, what do you know about your power so far?”
“Can’t you find that out from Hankyung hyung? He reports everything to you, doesn’t he?” Kyuhyun didn’t know why he was acting like a bitchy girlfriend, but he assumed that it was stress, the fact that Heechul had ignored him earlier, and the roaring headache that had settled behind his eyes all mixed into one.
Heechul raised an eyebrow at Kyuhyun’s tone but didn’t comment on it. He assumed that Kyuhyun was being snappish because Heechul had been…less than civil to him lately. But he’d had a lot to think about and a lot to plan-not only for the upcoming mission but also for Kyuhyun’s power and how to help him control it. Thinking about Kyuhyun’s power and its implications meant thinking about his past and that was something that always put Heechul in a foul mood so he’d stayed as clear of everyone as he possibly could. “I’d like to hear it from you.” God, he sounded like some kind of parent.
Kyuhyun nodded stiffly. “…I can retain the information for twelve hours before I lose it.”
“Is it just activated through touch?” Heechul uncrossed his legs and then crossed them again. “If other parts of bare skin come in contact with something, is there any difference?”
“Only my hands.” Kyuhyun replied.
“Have you begun trying to organize the information as you obtain it?”
“Hankyung hyung, Leeteuk hyung, and Ryeowook hyung have been trying to help with that. I…I haven’t made much progress.” Kyuhyun didn’t like to admit that, especially not to Heechul. He expected the other man to make some kind of snide comment in response.
“It’s only been a few days.” Heechul assented, surprising Kyuhyun with his lack of teasing. “And none of them know much about this kind of thing.” He paused, “I knew someone with a similar power. I’ll try and help based off of what I learned from them.”
Kyuhyun nodded, taken aback. Someone else had his power? But if Heechul knew them, it meant they had been useful, right? And where were they now? He figured those questions could wait, because questioning Heechul about anything was always a risky venture. “So there’s a way to control it?”
“There is a way to catalogue the information in your mind as you gain it so that you aren’t overwhelmed.” Heechul patted the filing cabinet that rested beside the table. “The person used a filing cabinet but I suppose that’s a little antiquated for you. What do you usually store information in?”
“A flashdrive.”
“Well then.” Heechul reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashdrive. He tossed it to Kyuhyun, who caught it in confusion.“Get very familiar with that. I want you to know it so well that you can draw it from memory; every nick, scratch, and contour.”
“…why?”
“Because that,”Heechul pointed at the flashdrive, “is your key to staying sane. Before you can convince your brain to organize what you learn, you have to convince your brain that there’s a place to store it all. This is the physical of what you have to imagine here.” Heechul flicked Kyuhyun on the forehead. “Get started. In one week, we’ll see how well you’ve done.”
Heechul walked to the door, waving without looking back.
---
Kyuhyun spent the rest of the week stuck in the small room off of the shooting range, staring at the flashdrive that Heechul had gotten for him. He’d developed some kind of cold-Ryeowook attributed it to the weather change and the stress of training-and so a box of tissues and a cup of hot tea remained his constant companions.
He’d practically been quarantined from everyone else, at least those going on the mission, and any time he came near Kibum someone was shoving him away. Kibum seemed to have a habit of taking on everyone else’s colds if given the chance and he needed to be fully alert for the mission unlike Kyuhyun, who wouldn’t be involved.
Heechul dropped by every so often to check up on Kyuhyun. Ryeowook, Leeteuk, and Hangeng stopped by less frequently-Kyuhyun figured Heechul had said something about no distractions. Kyuhyun was grateful for the break in having to acquire information and focused through his sniffles on the small piece of technology on the table.
Heechul usually sat in the room with a cup of his own tea or coffee in a neat little Styrofoam cup with his book-The Art of War, Kyuhyun remembered it clearly now-or some files he needed to go over with everyone else. He always had his laptop with him and Kyuhyun guessed that he was messaging the others, looking over the information they’d gathered over the past few days, and making plans for the mission itself.
He always tried to enter and leave as quietly as possible and any time Kyuhyun made an attempt at conversation Heechul would casually remind him that he was supposed to be working.
Kyuhyun had given up two days in on trying to talk with him.
By the end of the week Kyuhyun was sick of the flashdrive. Actually, if he wanted to be honest, he’d been sick of it after the first few hours of staring. His notebook was filled with sketches of it from every angle, measurements-numbers had always been his strong point, and for him it was important in remembering how it looked-and little notes to himself, some of which were relevant to the flashdrive, others just complaints from the day before when he’d been unable to bring himself to look at the stupid thing.
“Hold on, Kibum is setting up the camera feed. I can’t see you yet.” Heechul grumbled into his headset, ending in a sneeze that made Kibum wince and mutter something about Lysol-ing the keyboard when they were finished.
Heechul also had a cold-Kyuhyun felt a bit guilty, because his own had stopped around the time Heechul's had begun. Heechul’s had seemed much worse, however. He’d spent the last few days (when he wasn’t watching Kyuhyun stare at a flashdrive) hunkered down on his bunk sleeping, Ryeowook and Hangeng taking shifts to get him up and eating and taking his medicine-which he often refused to take.
Kyuhyun had found himself dragged into the main conference room earlier that morning with the others that weren’t out on the physical missions. Heechul would have been if he didn’t have the cold, and he seemed a bit annoyed at that fact and had taken to directing everything via headset to the others.
Kangin was in the computer room. Usually that room was blocked off by a partition but it had been moved aside-Kyuhyun had thought it was a stable wall. Kibum sat a few seats away surrounded by his own set of screens, apparently hacking into a security feed if Heechul’s words were anything to go by.
Heechul and Hangeng were seated at the large table in the middle of the room, looking over the large screen on the opposite wall and the computer screens interfaced into the tabletop, files and photos scattered everywhere.
Kyuhyun sat on the leather couch in the small lounge to the side where he'd been told to stay out of everyone's way. He took a bite of the rice that Ryeowook had made that morning and chewed slowly, trying to ignore the flashdrive sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
“Kibum has almost patched me through-aish, I need more coffee. Hold on. Fine, Ryeowook, I’ll get tea instead.” Heechul mumbled into the headset, taking it off and heading for the door. Kibum looked up briefly but continued typing. No one else paid it any attention.
Kyuhyun’s gaze had followed the older man the entire way to the door and he blinked, finding himself staring at it several seconds after Heechul had left.
Why do people like him?
“Kyuhyun-ah, Heechul hyung isn’t a bad person.”
Kyuhyun blinked at Hangeng’s words and only then realized that he’d spoken aloud. Oh god, why had he done that? Had the others heard? Kangin and Kibum didn’t seem to be paying attention. Or perhaps they were just pretending that they hadn’t heard.
Kyuhyun supposed that he had to say something or else Hangeng wasn’t going to stop staring at him so intently. “I just don’t know why you like him so much.”
“He saved me.” Hangeng replied simply.
He’d saved him. He’d saved the others. Did that make him a nice person? No, it just meant that Kim Heechul was still human. It was probably the last shred of humanity he had. It didn't take away the fact that he was a cold-hearted diva. Kyuhyun pursed his lips. “…no offense, but Heechul hyung doesn’t seem to be that kind.”
“You don’t know him well enough yet.” Hangeng answered calmly, as if he were used to hearing people say that. “People who didn’t live in the training facility with him wouldn’t understand.”
You weren’t there that long, Kyuhyun found himself thinking angrily. He didn’t even know why he was annoyed about it. Living at the training facility wasn’t something to be jealous of. He should have been overjoyed with the fact that he’d never have to experience whatever it was that had fucked up the others so nicely.
But he felt left out. As if he was missing an important piece of the puzzle. He didn’t know if the other “useless” members felt the same but he couldn’t help but feel envious of those that had experienced that.
Or was it that he was just envious of those that had experience it with Heechul? And why did he want that anyway? He already knew that Heechul wasn't a nice person. Wasn't a likeable person in any way, shape, or form. Why did he care if he hadn't met him earlier?
“I hope no one else wanted anything,” Heechul reappeared with a Styrofoam cup in one hand and an unpeeled orange in the other.
“It’s not like you would have offered to get it.”Kangin grunted from the other room. “The princess wouldn’t waste her energy on us lowly peasants.”
Heechul snorted, flashing Kangin a wicked grin.“Quite true.”
Kyuhyun had almost choked on his rice the moment Heechul had walked into the room, wondering if he knew that Kyuhyun and Hangeng had been talking. Would the others say something? He quickly glanced around the room but everyone else seemed much more intent on their jobs that to tell Heechul that Kyuhyun and Hangeng had been talking about him, and Hangeng didn't look like he was going to bring it up.
Heechul had grabbed his headphones and slipped them back on, tugging on the microphone. “You there? Good. Kibum has the camera feed up. Do you have a visual on the target?”
Kyuhyun blocked the rest of the conversation out, sticking his spoon into his half-eaten bowl of rice and picking up the flashdrive.
He ran his finger of one edge-the edge with the small scratch that measured 0.4mm and an average depth of 0.02mm-and swallowed. Over the last week, even though they rarely talked, he’d felt like perhaps he and Heechul were becoming closer. He wondered if it was wishful thinking, but he liked to imagine that maybe Heechul didn’t hate him any longer and actually thought he could be useful.
And being useful to Heechul was equivalent to being loved, right?
And what’s what he wanted, even if he couldn’t quite understand why. He didn’t even fully understand what he wanted, or rather, he denied it subconsciously.
Because no matter what Hangeng said, Heechul wasn’t a good person. And Kyuhyun didn’t like guys. Nothing about the formula added up and Kyuhyun didn’t accept anything that couldn’t be added or subtracted or quantified.
He closed his eyes, still clutching the flashdrive tightly in his palm as he listened to Heechul’s voice, to Hangeng’s accented Korean and Kangin and Kibum’s offhanded comments.
Don’t think about it now. Focus on the task at hand. Make yourself useful. Stop thinking about Heechul! He let out a slow, shaky breath and his eyes flickered open.
He went back to memorizing his flashdrive with renewed vigor.
---
It was later that night that Heechul decided it was time to test how well Kyuhyun had memorized the flashdrive. Everyone had returned from their assigned missions. The last Kyuhyun had seen of them they were all either eating or heading to the bathrooms for a shower. He suspected by this point that most of them had gone to bed.
Kyuhyun wasn’t looking forward to touching anything. He twisted his leather-clad hands in his lap anxiously. He’d been gloriously headache free for over a week now and he was worried that he’d forgotten how to suppress it even that tiny little bit he’d learned before.
He figured that Heechul had chosen to do this late at night so that he could knock Kyuhyun out and put him to bed if Kyuhyun had some kind of mental breakdown. Kyuhyun didn’t know if he should feel touched that Heechul was being “considerate” or annoyed that Heechul probably didn’t think he could handle it.
Then again, he was just assuming all of this. Maybe Heechul had only chosen this time because it was the most convenient time for him.
“Hannie said you’ve been working mainly with numbers.” Heechul held out a sheet of paper. “These are some basic algorithms.”
Kyuhyun took the sheet of paper and placed it on the table in front of him, swallowing. His throat felt tight, and he realized the niggling feeling in his chest was fear. Afraid that he would fail and he’d never be able to take off these gloves again, afraid that Heechul would hate him because he couldn’t do it…
He slowly pulled off one glove.
“Remember that once you begin you need to focus on the flashdrive. You need to store the information there and keep it there. It’s going to depend entirely upon your mental strength.”
Kyuhyun nodded, fingers hovering over the page. You can do it. Come on Kyuhyun, just reach out and touch the paper! He swallowed again.
“I’ll be here if anything happens.” Almost comforting, as if Heechul were trying but not trying hard enough. His tone was indifferent, and the words sounded off. Kyuhyun also didn’t know if he wanted Heechul there when he failed, as he was certain he would do the first time. Even worse, what if he never managed to get this down?
He took another deep breath and touched the paper. Immediately numbers flooded his brain. He felt light-headed, and he reached up a hand to clutch his head-and suddenly his brain was filled with the chemical formula for his shampoo mixing with a complicated deterministic algorithm and his head felt like it was on fire.
He felt someone grab his hand away from his head and he supposed it was Heechul. Heechul was there right? But Heechul didn’t matter because the chemical composition of his shampoo was sodium lauryl sulfate with a co-surfactant of cocamidopropyl betaine in water and sodium chloride, and the quantum computation of a quantum algorithm of superposition was-
“Come on Kyu. Focus. Look at me. Look at me and focus.” Heechul grabbed Kyuhyun’s chin and turned him so that they were staring at one another. Kyuhyun wasn’t paying attention to Heechul, however. There was too much information swimming around his brain for him to comprehend much of anything.
“Store it away in the flashdrive.” Heechul ordered.
Kyuhyun swallowed. Through the haze of data he could imagine the small device. Now, how to get the information onto it? Ah, that’s right, save it in a word document. Copy and paste.
But the preservative in his shampoo was calcium propionate and the fragrance used was pentyl butyrate with the chemical composition of CH3CH2CH2COOCH2CH3, and Shor's algorithm or the simulation of quantum many-body systems was-focus! Focus! Heechul’s fingers were warm through his gloves.
Kyuhyun blinked sleepily, feeling drugged, but he found his brain going through the directions he’d given it. Copy and paste, copy and paste…
He didn’t know how long it took to do such a simple task. He could focus a bit more on his surroundings, like the leather gloves brushing along his jaw.
“Store it away. Focus.” Heechul’s voice was cool and calm. Kyuhyun nodded weakly, clenching his eyes shut and trying his hardest. Alright, save the file. Transfer it to the flash drive…and delete it from the hard drive.
Kyuhyun blinked and found himself staring at Heechul’s lips. “I…” he tried to speak but his voice was dry and the words never made it past his throat. He swallowed and tried again. “I think I did it.”
Heechul nodded slowly. “Put your glove back on.”
Kyuhyun did so gladly. He didn’t want to accidentally bump into anything. “Hyung, how long did it take?” It was a glorious feeling, to know that he could think without the fear of drowning in the information he'd just absorbed. He didn't even think about accessing the information to see if he'd "stored it correctly". He didn't want it to all come flooding out again.
“Three and a half hours.” Heechul replied, stretching. “But the more you get used to it, the faster you’ll be able to store the information.”
Kyuhyun blinked. Three and a half hours? It had felt like only a few minutes. It had been around ten when they’d started…Kyuhyun leaned back in his chair. The heady feeling from earlier was gone. He felt awake and alert, and there was no headache.
“I don’t think you should try and access any of that information until you’ve slept. If the information is gone by that point we’ll just start again.” Heechul had stood. Kyuhyun tried to follow but his legs gave out on him.
Slim fingers wrapped around his arms and held him in place. Kyuhyun shook off the wave of dizziness and clutched at whatever was holding him up, which he assumed was Heechul. He felt Heechul stiffen at the contact before he helped steady Kyuhyun on his feet.
“Go to bed.” Heechul ordered softly, and there was a strained tone to his voice. The moment he was sure that Kyuhyun could stand on his own he backed away, heading for the door.
Kyuhyun didn’t know why the thought of Heechul’s back scared him but he found himself speaking, words tumbling from his lips that he didn’t even understand. He just needed to say something to make Heechul turn around. “I wanted to ask…how come these gloves don’t affect me? Or you? Shouldn’t they…”
Heechul paused at the door and turned, his gaze drifting to Kyuhyun’s gloves and then to his own. He tugged on the leather encasing his ring finger and seemed to think his words over carefully.
Was it because he didn’t want Kyuhyun to know? He realized it was a stupid thought a moment later when Heechul answered him, sending him a look that read why are you asking me stupid questions right now?
“They’re a gift. One of the gifted at the facility had the power to make…cancellation objects. Whatever he infused with his gift became immune to other gifts. I brought a few pairs with me.”
“Oh.” Kyuhyun nodded, because there wasn’t really much else to do after that explanation.
“Go to bed. I’m a light sleeper and I always hear you when you come in late. I need my sleep.” Heechul broke the awkward silence before it could even begin, using that scathing tone that Kyuhyun had grown accustomed to.
The odd knot of anxiety that had formed in Kyuhyun’s chest loosened, fading as Heechul opened the door and left. He swallowed, letting out a long, loud exhalation.
What was wrong with him? Kyuhyun + Heechul did not equal anything pleasant. Kyuhyun + Heechul equaled discomfort and confusion and quite possibly death. The equation wasn’t adding up, no matter how many times he reconfigured it and tried to make it work.
He needed to stop thinking about it. There was nothing there to begin with, nothing to add or subtract or multiply or divide. Heechul disliked him and Kyuhyun certainly disliked the egotistical, snappy feminine man. There was nothing to like. Heechul + Kyuhyun equaled nothing because neither of them had any feelings for one another aside from indifference.
Math was Kyuhyun’s strong point.
So was denial.
---
Pairing: HanChul, KyuChul, EunKiHae, KangTeuk, YeWook, other may appear in the future
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Action, Superhero (is that a genre?)
Summary: When Cho Kyuhyun was infected with the GAM Virus, he’d thought he was going to die. Everyone who got it did. If you contracted the virus, you were as good as gone. There was no treatment, no cure, and nothing to aid you toward a quick death. It was slow, painful, and most people committed suicide-or had loved one’s aid them in doing so-before the disease took them willingly.
Or that’s what he’d thought, anyway.
Notes: This chapter would have been out last night if Livejournal had been kind. But it wasn’t. It still isn’t. I’ve had to redo the entire chapter and put in hyperlinks in Microsoft Word…but it is here now.
Chapter 5 <-------- > Chapter 7
Character Profiles
Side Story: Siwon
Side Story: Hangeng
Side Story: Yesung
---
Kyuhyun had thought that after the pillow fight that he and Heechul were ok. Apparently he’d miscalculated something because the next morning Heechul avoided him and acted snippy and sarcastic as usual. He wondered if maybe that was just the way Heechul was. He hadn’t expected Heechul to be nice to him, but he’d certainly expected him to be a bit less…unapproachable.
He didn’t have too much time to worry about it the next day because Siwon dragged him to the gym with Yesung and Eunhyuk while the rest of the group began going over mission planning for their next job.
Donghae and Shindong had gone out to do some kind of reconnaissance, and Leeteuk was stuck in he and Kangin’s room after another “accident”. He’d gotten through four floors and had gone solid again and then had tried to walk out and had ended up phasing again only to crash into the bathtub of the next floor down and shatter his left elbow.
When they’d learned about this Donghae and Eunhyuk had all but forcefully quarantined Leeteuk away from anywhere that Kibum could be for fear that the younger man would try and take on Leeteuk’s injury as well. Leeteuk hadn’t been too thrilled with the idea of Kibum in more pain either and had stayed in his room, resting, since earlier that morning.
Hangeng was sleeping like usual, despite that he and Heechul didn’t have as much sex anymore. Now that they had bunk beds Heechul seemed to be using his top bunk as an opportunity to keep away from even Hangeng. Kyuhyun didn’t know if this was Heechul’s way of being considerate, of trying to keep Hangeng from being hurt by touching him, or if he just wanted to be alone.
Kyuhyun had given up on trying to understand how Heechul worked. He did know, however, that the knowledge that Hangeng and Heechul were having less sex pleased him. He just didn’t know why.
“If you don’t put in the mouth guard he’s going to kick out your front teeth.” Yesung intoned from the bench. He grabbed his water bottle and uncapped it, dunking it onto his head. He shook it off along with the sweat a moment later.
Kyuhyun barely managed to dodge the onslaught from a few feet away, grabbing his sweat soaked towel and using it as a shield. As he did so he took a sniff and almost gagged. The tang of old sweat mixing with new wasn’t a pleasant one. He’d forgotten to have the towel washed before.
Eunhyuk leaned over the ring at Yesung, not-quite pouting but not quite glaring either. “It makes my mouth look weird!”
Siwon, who stood at the other end of the ring, did a few experimental jabs. Eunhyuk eyed him for a few moments before he sighed in resignation, “hand me the mouth guard.”
Yesung threw it up and Eunhyuk caught it. Kyuhyun blinked, because Eunhyuk was holding the mouth guard but the mouth guard wasn’t there. It looked like he wasn’t holding anything. Eunhyuk shoved the piece of plastic into his mouth and gave an experimental smile and it was visible again.
“Is it only your hands that turn things invisible, then?” Kyuhyun asked, leaning back on the bench to watch the match. “I just wondered because of your clothes…” Not that he’d wanted to imagine Eunhyuk walking around in clothes that were invisible-he hadn’t, he really hadn’t, it was a mental image that he’d never be able to unsee.
“Yeah.” Eunhyuk didn’t expound on the topic because Siwon came at him and the match started. In the beginning, when Yesung had said that Siwon and Eunhyuk were going to fight he hadn’t really understood why. He’d figured that Siwon would win hands down. Siwon was muscular and fit and Eunhyuk was…skinny.
But Eunhyuk was also fast. Very fast. As long as Siwon wasn’t using his powers then Eunhyuk was clearly the more agile of the two and it paid off to his advantage as he danced around Siwon’s bulkier frame as the taller man punched. He managed to use as little movement as he needed to get out of Siwon’s way, trying to tire Siwon out before he went on the offensive himself.
Kyuhyun supposed he should have given Eunhyuk more credit from the start. He’d just assumed from everything he’d seen from the other man that he was clumsy, awkward, and a bit hopeless. He was really going to have to stop underestimating the others in the group, especially the“useless” ones. They seemed to make up for their lack of powers through other means.
No one here allowed someone else to take the slack. They all helped in any way they could.
Kyuhyun’s fingers curled tightly around the towel at his neck. He needed to practice, to get better, so that he could be useful too. He didn’t feel like he completely belonged here yet, but he knew that once he contributed then he’d be fully welcomed. Maybe that was why Heechul hadn’t fully accepted him yet? Because he hadn’t proved his worth?
Eunhyuk’s glove connected with Siwon’s chin, but it wasn’t a direct hit. It glanced off, and although Kyuhyun knew it would leave a bruise, Siwon didn’t seem hurt. The other man was barely caught off guard, swinging up his own right arm to punch Eunhyuk in the stomach.
Kyuhyun cringed at the sound, before he let his gaze drift to Yesung who was using this time to wrap his hands. Kyuhyun swallowed. He wasn’t looking forward to his turn.
“Eunhyuk, you’re leaning to your right.”
Yesung and Kyuhyun turned as Hangeng walked through the doorway, but Eunhyuk and Siwon remained focused on their fight. Eunhyuk did seem to take note of Hangeng’s advice, however.
“Kyuhyun.” Hangeng gave him a small smile. “Ryeowook is still in the debriefing room going over mission plans, but I figured that we could start practicing again.”
Kyuhyun nodded, practically leaping up from the bench. He’d do anything to keep from getting beaten up, even if it meant a headache for the next several hours. The last thing he saw as he followed Hangeng out of the gym was Siwon catching Eunhyuk in the jaw and the other man slamming against the ground.
He winced.
---
“This mission is going to take extensive reconnaissance.” Sungmin scanned the photographs of the building. “We need some new photos from different angles. And we don’t have the blue prints yet, do we?”
“Outdated ones.” Kibum held out the files. “They’ve done renovations since then.”
“Alright.” Heechul nodded, “We’ll send out Yesung and Ryeowook to get the blueprints tomorrow. Shindong can take photographs. Donghae will go with him.”
The group nodded as Kangin fiddled with his pen, clicking it open and closed, only half-listening to Heechul’s directions. It’s not like Heechul would need him for anything outside of the apartment. He never got to leave. Besides, Leeteuk needed him here after that accident…
Heechul leaned back with his own soft sigh, pursing his lips. “We acquired the guest list and there are several high-ranking officials in the GAM project that will be attending. The plan is to eliminate these men.” Heechul held out another stack of photos. “They control several lower-ranking departments. And this man.” He pointed. “He’s the one we’re going to question.”
Ryeowook blinked. “We’re kidnapping him?”
“Something like that.” Heechul replied offhandedly, eyes half-lidded.
“And…but…how are we going to get the information?”
“What do you think?”
Ryeowook swallowed but didn’t say anything. Torture wasn’t something he was comfortable with but he knew that if he voiced his opinion he wouldn’t get much sympathy. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand its relevancy. He did. He just didn’t like it.
He figured that he wouldn’t be on the “questioning” team anyway. He doubted anyone that wasn’t one of Heechul’s would be in that group.
“Getting him out of there without anyone noticing is going to be difficult.” Sungmin murmured. “We can hack into the security feeds, correct?”
“I’ve been looking into it.” Kibum nodded. “They’re on a new system that I'm not familiar with so it’s taking some time. Kangin hyung and I will try and get through the initial security by Wednesday.”
Kibum turned to Kangin, as had everyone else to see that he wasn’t paying any attention. He was still staring down at his pen. “Leeteuk-hyung needs to take some more pain medication.” Kibum announced softly, holding out the bottle.
Kangin blinked, pulled out of his thoughts by Leeteuk’s name. He gave a sheepish smile and a small nod. “I’ll, uh, go give it to him then.” He reached for the bottle and hurried out of the room, the others watching as the door closed.
“We won’t get him back till debriefing, now.”Heechul shot Kibum a disapproving look.
Kibum shrugged it off, looking back at his computer screen. “Kangin hyung has been worrying all day. He wasn’t helping much anyway.”
---
He was running. He was running and he didn’t know what he was running from. It hurt to breath, every inhalation sending a jolt of pain through his chest. Something was after him, behind him. He didn’t know what it was but he knew that if he looked back it would catch him.
He heard panting, and it sounded bestial, inhuman.
He was going to die. He was going to die. It was going to catch him and kill him and he couldn’t do anything.
A wall. If he went through a wall he’d be safe! The creature wouldn’t be able to go through a wall, would it? No. Only he could.
He turned, forcing the process, feeling his skin begin to tingle and his veins sting at the change as he stumbled through the cement to his right. It felt different, wrong. Like he was swimming in molasses. This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. Why wasn’t it happening faster? If he didn’t get all the way through the monster would get him-
He was on the other side, coughing, lungs burning. His skin felt like it was on fire.
“Hey, you ok?”
He looked up, blinking away tears. Kangin. Youngwoon. Safety. He let out a small sob and reached for the hand being offered.
The monster was there. It was behind Youngwoon. Oh god he needed to warn him! It was there! He opened his mouth to scream but at the same moment the floor seemed to open under him and he fell. Kangin grabbed for him, but his fingers went through his skin like air.
He was falling. No one could grab him. Falling, falling, falling. The monster was going to eat Kangin. The creature would kill him and he hadn’t been able to save him and now he’d never stop falling.
But he did stop. He stopped with a jolt of pain so excruciating that he couldn’t breathe.
Leeteuk jolted awake, and the sudden movement caused his arm to hit the bedside table to his left. He let out a soft yelp, trying to stifle the sound as he reached over and cradled the cast with his other hand.
He slowly took his hand away and stared at it. It’s ok Jungsu. You can feel. Your hand is solid. You’re ok. You’re ok.
He took a few shaky breaths and didn’t realize he was crying until the door opened and Kangin walked in and asked what was wrong.
“I…” Leeteuk cut himself off because his voice broke and he knew that if he continued he'd end up sobbing. He didn't like feeling this weak and afraid but he couldn't help that constant fear that one day he was going to fall and he'd be unable to stop. He felt Kangin’s arms wrap around him hesitantly, afraid to hurt his elbow.
“Hey,” Kangin’s voice was soft and calming. “I don’t know what happened but it’s alright. It was just a nightmare.”
“But it could really happen.” Leeteuk whispered hoarsely into his shirt collar. His chin was wet with tears and stuck to the fabric. It itched. “One day I’m going to fall and I won’t be able to stop.”
Kangin’s arms tightened around him.
“I won’t let it happen. I’ll always be there, Jungsu.”
Leeteuk wished it were that simple. He wished that Kangin would be able to touch him even when no one else could. That he’d be able to catch him and keep him from falling. He wished that it could comfort him.
But it was a lie. A pretty lie, and maybe Kangin believed it to be true, but it was a lie nonetheless.
---
“The encryptions used are trickier this time. They know something is up.” Kibum murmured to himself, fingers ghosting over the keys almost too quickly to process.
“You can do it, Bummie.” Donghae yawned, leaning his arms against the table and closing his eyes. “…imma take a nap.”
“You transformed several times. You should go and take a bath.” Kibum replied, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen.“It’ll help with the ache.”
“I know.” Donghae yawned again. “But I don’t want to move. Hyukkie should be coming up soon, right?”
“He just finished at the gym so he’ll probably take a shower. Why don’t you join him?”
“Too tired.” Donghae whined, curling up even further in the chair. “Reconnaissance is boring. All we did was walk around the park. I had to pretend to play catch too!”
“Don’t pretend that you didn’t enjoy it.” Kibum scoffed. “I’m sure you had the time of your life.”
“I like Frisbees more.” Donghae muttered with a slight pout, eyes still closed.
“Right, there are only certain balls Donghae likes to play with.” Shindong wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Ryeowook to blush bright red. Kibum’s cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink but he didn’t look away from the computer and pretended not to hear. Donghae was snoring.
“If any of that soup gets on the table you’re dead.”Heechul warned from the other side where he was looking over a set of photographs.
Shindong maneuvered the ramen cup into his lap, eyeing the table warily. He knew better than to test whether or not Heechul was joking.
“Before we begin debriefing, should we get everyone up here?” Sungmin asked from the whiteboard.
“Thanks to Kibum we won’t see Kangin and Jungsu for the rest of the night,” Heechul shot the younger boy an annoyed glare before continuing, “And Siwon, Eunhyuk, and Yesung are getting clean and I’m not going to have someone drag them out of the shower to get them up here. Eunhyuk smells bad enough after a shower, I don’t want him coming in here smelling like a diseased raccoon covered in trash.”
“Hyung,” Donghae pouted, cracking open one eye.“Hyukkie doesn’t smell that bad.” Kibum just snorted and continued going over the password encryptions on his laptop.
“I’ll go over everyone’s jobs and we’ll explain everything to the others as they come in.” Heechul closed the manila envelope containing the photos and placed it on the desk. “Most of this week will consist of undercover work. We won’t be going after the targets for a while until we’re absolutely certain we can get in and out safely.” They weren't going to have a repeat of last time. They'd been complacent and they hadn't spent enough time planning. That wasn't going to happen again.
“…by safely do you mean with minimal internal bleeding?” Shindong grumbled, and was rewarded with a rather terrifying grin from Heechul. Shindong sighed and took a bite of noodles.
“Someone’s bleeding?” Yesung poked his head into the room, hair still dripping wet.
“Ya! Don’t come near the equipment until you’re dry.” Heechul ordered, eyes narrowing as Yesung held up his hands in defense. A towel dropped onto his head as Siwon slipped in behind him, wearing only a pair of sweat pants and a towel hanging from his neck.
“Siwonnie you always know how to brighten my day,” Heechul grinned, winking, “Now if I could only get you out of those troublesome sweatpants.”
Siwon blushed a bright red and hurried to the other side of the table, keeping as far from Heechul as possible which only seemed to make the older man more amused.
“Does Hankyung hyung know you’re eyeing Siwon hyung like a piece of meat?” Kibum drawled, smirking to himself as Heechul huffed and Siwon quickly tried to cover his abs with his hands.
“We have meat? Where?” Eunhyuk chose that moment to stumble inside the room, still pulling on a t-shirt.
“And you, Hyukjae, you also know how to make my day. Keep that shirt on. No one wants to see your emaciated body.” Heechul called, going back to the files he’d been perusing while Eunhyuk stared, mildly confused as to what had just happened.
“Just sit down and don’t ask.” Kibum answered softly, pushing Donghae’s chair to jolt the older man awake. Donghae let out another soft snore and blinked sleepily, “Eunhyuk!” He spotted the thinner man and flashed a smile before giving another yawn. “What happened to your cheek?”
“Siwon and I were boxing.” Eunhyuk reached up a hand and tentatively touched the bruise forming on his cheek and winced. Kibum reached over but Donghae grabbed his hand, practically slamming it onto the table.
The sound echoed and everyone turned to where Donghae sat, no longer sleepy, expression serious.
“Don’t.”
Eunhyuk scooted a few inches to his right, keeping Donghae between them, also frowning. He looked a little surprised at Donghae’s outburst, but soon everyone else seemed to forget it and Donghae had grabbed Kibum’s hand and slipped it into his lap under the table, pretending like it hadn’t happened at all.
Kibum wrenched his hand out of Donghae’s grip with a soft, “I need to work” and went back to typing on his laptop, each pressing of a key sounding like the slam of a door. Donghae ignored it, and Eunhyuk tried his best to.
Heechul eyed them all before turning to Sungmin, “Explain the general layout.”
Sungmin nodded as Kibum overlaid the map onto the whiteboard. “We have the basic dimensions and blueprints for the main building. Renovations were done earlier on in the year and so we figure that security has changed on the inside at these points specifically.” Sungmin highlighted several areas with a red marker.
“Donghae, you’ll go in for a reconnaissance of the building’s new additions. Yesung will be on standby.” Heechul ordered, “Before the meeting there won’t be any Gifted in the area, only regular security forces so there shouldn’t be any problems with anyone who could spot that you were shapeshifting.”
Donghae pursed his lips and gave a nod, thoughtful.
“After going over the information that Donghae and Shindong got for us from their work earlier today and yesterday we have a pretty good idea about the guests that will be at the meeting.” Ryeowook piped in. “From the bugs that Donghae planted Kibum and I have been listening in on their conversations and it looks like they’ll be there to discuss plans for a new training facility.”
At the mention of a training facility Heechul, Sungmin, Siwon, Yesung, and Donghae all visibly stiffened. Heechul shrugged it off first, giving a slow smile. “Shindong, Ryeowook, Eunhyuk, Siwon, and Leeteuk will split into groups and go on recon for these individuals.” Heechul held out the file full of photographs. “You can pick your teams and your target. Kibum is working on hacking into the security interface and Kangin will help with that over the course of the week. Hangeng, Sungmin and I will continue finalizing plans for the actual mission.”
“What about Kyuhyun?” Sungmin asked, capping his marker.
“Until he has some control over his gift he’s more of a liability than anything. He’ll be training.” Heechul answered back smoothly before he leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Aish, I need some coffee.”
“I’ll get you some, hyung.” Ryeowook made to stand but Heechul waved him off, “I’m heading out anyway, I’ll get it.”
The door opened as Heechul stood, and Hangeng smiled apologetically, “Sorry, I just finished training with Kyuhyun. I told him to go and take a nap. Did I miss much?”
“Well, we all know our jobs, then.” Heechul announced briskly, turning toward the door, seemingly ignoring Hangeng’s question.
“Where are you going?” Hangeng called out, perplexed.
“To check on the kid.”
---
Kyuhyun tried not to look up when the door opened. He figured it was Leeteuk coming to check up on him, or Ryeowook, or maybe even Hangeng to see if he was ok enough to continue after some dinner. He hadn’t expected to see Heechul or for the other man to calmly take a seat across the table from him.
He was a little angry-angry at the fact that Heechul had gone back to ignoring him and he didn’t understand what was going on-and more than a little happy that Heechul had come at all and very confused as to why he was happy.
He settled for concentrating on the numbers coursing through his brain and trying to fight off the oncoming migraine that had become an everyday occurrence. He’d gotten to the point where he could almost forget about the information and function enough to eat something and sleep, but it was always there, always threatening to break free and drive him mad.
He figured it wouldn’t be long before he went completely crazy because of this.
Heechul had settled into a chair, one leg crossed over the other, lazily scanning the papers that Hangeng had given Kyuhyun earlier that morning. Heechul looked him over calculatingly, his face expressionless. “How do you feel?” He finally broached.
“Like shit.” Kyuhyun bit back. “Like I live in a state of constant hangover.”
“As if you’ve ever had a real one.” Heechul rolled his eyes before he sighed at the exasperated look that Kyuhyun shot him. “Alright, what do you know about your power so far?”
“Can’t you find that out from Hankyung hyung? He reports everything to you, doesn’t he?” Kyuhyun didn’t know why he was acting like a bitchy girlfriend, but he assumed that it was stress, the fact that Heechul had ignored him earlier, and the roaring headache that had settled behind his eyes all mixed into one.
Heechul raised an eyebrow at Kyuhyun’s tone but didn’t comment on it. He assumed that Kyuhyun was being snappish because Heechul had been…less than civil to him lately. But he’d had a lot to think about and a lot to plan-not only for the upcoming mission but also for Kyuhyun’s power and how to help him control it. Thinking about Kyuhyun’s power and its implications meant thinking about his past and that was something that always put Heechul in a foul mood so he’d stayed as clear of everyone as he possibly could. “I’d like to hear it from you.” God, he sounded like some kind of parent.
Kyuhyun nodded stiffly. “…I can retain the information for twelve hours before I lose it.”
“Is it just activated through touch?” Heechul uncrossed his legs and then crossed them again. “If other parts of bare skin come in contact with something, is there any difference?”
“Only my hands.” Kyuhyun replied.
“Have you begun trying to organize the information as you obtain it?”
“Hankyung hyung, Leeteuk hyung, and Ryeowook hyung have been trying to help with that. I…I haven’t made much progress.” Kyuhyun didn’t like to admit that, especially not to Heechul. He expected the other man to make some kind of snide comment in response.
“It’s only been a few days.” Heechul assented, surprising Kyuhyun with his lack of teasing. “And none of them know much about this kind of thing.” He paused, “I knew someone with a similar power. I’ll try and help based off of what I learned from them.”
Kyuhyun nodded, taken aback. Someone else had his power? But if Heechul knew them, it meant they had been useful, right? And where were they now? He figured those questions could wait, because questioning Heechul about anything was always a risky venture. “So there’s a way to control it?”
“There is a way to catalogue the information in your mind as you gain it so that you aren’t overwhelmed.” Heechul patted the filing cabinet that rested beside the table. “The person used a filing cabinet but I suppose that’s a little antiquated for you. What do you usually store information in?”
“A flashdrive.”
“Well then.” Heechul reached into his pocket and pulled out a flashdrive. He tossed it to Kyuhyun, who caught it in confusion.“Get very familiar with that. I want you to know it so well that you can draw it from memory; every nick, scratch, and contour.”
“…why?”
“Because that,”Heechul pointed at the flashdrive, “is your key to staying sane. Before you can convince your brain to organize what you learn, you have to convince your brain that there’s a place to store it all. This is the physical of what you have to imagine here.” Heechul flicked Kyuhyun on the forehead. “Get started. In one week, we’ll see how well you’ve done.”
Heechul walked to the door, waving without looking back.
---
Kyuhyun spent the rest of the week stuck in the small room off of the shooting range, staring at the flashdrive that Heechul had gotten for him. He’d developed some kind of cold-Ryeowook attributed it to the weather change and the stress of training-and so a box of tissues and a cup of hot tea remained his constant companions.
He’d practically been quarantined from everyone else, at least those going on the mission, and any time he came near Kibum someone was shoving him away. Kibum seemed to have a habit of taking on everyone else’s colds if given the chance and he needed to be fully alert for the mission unlike Kyuhyun, who wouldn’t be involved.
Heechul dropped by every so often to check up on Kyuhyun. Ryeowook, Leeteuk, and Hangeng stopped by less frequently-Kyuhyun figured Heechul had said something about no distractions. Kyuhyun was grateful for the break in having to acquire information and focused through his sniffles on the small piece of technology on the table.
Heechul usually sat in the room with a cup of his own tea or coffee in a neat little Styrofoam cup with his book-The Art of War, Kyuhyun remembered it clearly now-or some files he needed to go over with everyone else. He always had his laptop with him and Kyuhyun guessed that he was messaging the others, looking over the information they’d gathered over the past few days, and making plans for the mission itself.
He always tried to enter and leave as quietly as possible and any time Kyuhyun made an attempt at conversation Heechul would casually remind him that he was supposed to be working.
Kyuhyun had given up two days in on trying to talk with him.
By the end of the week Kyuhyun was sick of the flashdrive. Actually, if he wanted to be honest, he’d been sick of it after the first few hours of staring. His notebook was filled with sketches of it from every angle, measurements-numbers had always been his strong point, and for him it was important in remembering how it looked-and little notes to himself, some of which were relevant to the flashdrive, others just complaints from the day before when he’d been unable to bring himself to look at the stupid thing.
“Hold on, Kibum is setting up the camera feed. I can’t see you yet.” Heechul grumbled into his headset, ending in a sneeze that made Kibum wince and mutter something about Lysol-ing the keyboard when they were finished.
Heechul also had a cold-Kyuhyun felt a bit guilty, because his own had stopped around the time Heechul's had begun. Heechul’s had seemed much worse, however. He’d spent the last few days (when he wasn’t watching Kyuhyun stare at a flashdrive) hunkered down on his bunk sleeping, Ryeowook and Hangeng taking shifts to get him up and eating and taking his medicine-which he often refused to take.
Kyuhyun had found himself dragged into the main conference room earlier that morning with the others that weren’t out on the physical missions. Heechul would have been if he didn’t have the cold, and he seemed a bit annoyed at that fact and had taken to directing everything via headset to the others.
Kangin was in the computer room. Usually that room was blocked off by a partition but it had been moved aside-Kyuhyun had thought it was a stable wall. Kibum sat a few seats away surrounded by his own set of screens, apparently hacking into a security feed if Heechul’s words were anything to go by.
Heechul and Hangeng were seated at the large table in the middle of the room, looking over the large screen on the opposite wall and the computer screens interfaced into the tabletop, files and photos scattered everywhere.
Kyuhyun sat on the leather couch in the small lounge to the side where he'd been told to stay out of everyone's way. He took a bite of the rice that Ryeowook had made that morning and chewed slowly, trying to ignore the flashdrive sitting on the coffee table in front of him.
“Kibum has almost patched me through-aish, I need more coffee. Hold on. Fine, Ryeowook, I’ll get tea instead.” Heechul mumbled into the headset, taking it off and heading for the door. Kibum looked up briefly but continued typing. No one else paid it any attention.
Kyuhyun’s gaze had followed the older man the entire way to the door and he blinked, finding himself staring at it several seconds after Heechul had left.
Why do people like him?
“Kyuhyun-ah, Heechul hyung isn’t a bad person.”
Kyuhyun blinked at Hangeng’s words and only then realized that he’d spoken aloud. Oh god, why had he done that? Had the others heard? Kangin and Kibum didn’t seem to be paying attention. Or perhaps they were just pretending that they hadn’t heard.
Kyuhyun supposed that he had to say something or else Hangeng wasn’t going to stop staring at him so intently. “I just don’t know why you like him so much.”
“He saved me.” Hangeng replied simply.
He’d saved him. He’d saved the others. Did that make him a nice person? No, it just meant that Kim Heechul was still human. It was probably the last shred of humanity he had. It didn't take away the fact that he was a cold-hearted diva. Kyuhyun pursed his lips. “…no offense, but Heechul hyung doesn’t seem to be that kind.”
“You don’t know him well enough yet.” Hangeng answered calmly, as if he were used to hearing people say that. “People who didn’t live in the training facility with him wouldn’t understand.”
You weren’t there that long, Kyuhyun found himself thinking angrily. He didn’t even know why he was annoyed about it. Living at the training facility wasn’t something to be jealous of. He should have been overjoyed with the fact that he’d never have to experience whatever it was that had fucked up the others so nicely.
But he felt left out. As if he was missing an important piece of the puzzle. He didn’t know if the other “useless” members felt the same but he couldn’t help but feel envious of those that had experienced that.
Or was it that he was just envious of those that had experience it with Heechul? And why did he want that anyway? He already knew that Heechul wasn't a nice person. Wasn't a likeable person in any way, shape, or form. Why did he care if he hadn't met him earlier?
“I hope no one else wanted anything,” Heechul reappeared with a Styrofoam cup in one hand and an unpeeled orange in the other.
“It’s not like you would have offered to get it.”Kangin grunted from the other room. “The princess wouldn’t waste her energy on us lowly peasants.”
Heechul snorted, flashing Kangin a wicked grin.“Quite true.”
Kyuhyun had almost choked on his rice the moment Heechul had walked into the room, wondering if he knew that Kyuhyun and Hangeng had been talking. Would the others say something? He quickly glanced around the room but everyone else seemed much more intent on their jobs that to tell Heechul that Kyuhyun and Hangeng had been talking about him, and Hangeng didn't look like he was going to bring it up.
Heechul had grabbed his headphones and slipped them back on, tugging on the microphone. “You there? Good. Kibum has the camera feed up. Do you have a visual on the target?”
Kyuhyun blocked the rest of the conversation out, sticking his spoon into his half-eaten bowl of rice and picking up the flashdrive.
He ran his finger of one edge-the edge with the small scratch that measured 0.4mm and an average depth of 0.02mm-and swallowed. Over the last week, even though they rarely talked, he’d felt like perhaps he and Heechul were becoming closer. He wondered if it was wishful thinking, but he liked to imagine that maybe Heechul didn’t hate him any longer and actually thought he could be useful.
And being useful to Heechul was equivalent to being loved, right?
And what’s what he wanted, even if he couldn’t quite understand why. He didn’t even fully understand what he wanted, or rather, he denied it subconsciously.
Because no matter what Hangeng said, Heechul wasn’t a good person. And Kyuhyun didn’t like guys. Nothing about the formula added up and Kyuhyun didn’t accept anything that couldn’t be added or subtracted or quantified.
He closed his eyes, still clutching the flashdrive tightly in his palm as he listened to Heechul’s voice, to Hangeng’s accented Korean and Kangin and Kibum’s offhanded comments.
Don’t think about it now. Focus on the task at hand. Make yourself useful. Stop thinking about Heechul! He let out a slow, shaky breath and his eyes flickered open.
He went back to memorizing his flashdrive with renewed vigor.
---
It was later that night that Heechul decided it was time to test how well Kyuhyun had memorized the flashdrive. Everyone had returned from their assigned missions. The last Kyuhyun had seen of them they were all either eating or heading to the bathrooms for a shower. He suspected by this point that most of them had gone to bed.
Kyuhyun wasn’t looking forward to touching anything. He twisted his leather-clad hands in his lap anxiously. He’d been gloriously headache free for over a week now and he was worried that he’d forgotten how to suppress it even that tiny little bit he’d learned before.
He figured that Heechul had chosen to do this late at night so that he could knock Kyuhyun out and put him to bed if Kyuhyun had some kind of mental breakdown. Kyuhyun didn’t know if he should feel touched that Heechul was being “considerate” or annoyed that Heechul probably didn’t think he could handle it.
Then again, he was just assuming all of this. Maybe Heechul had only chosen this time because it was the most convenient time for him.
“Hannie said you’ve been working mainly with numbers.” Heechul held out a sheet of paper. “These are some basic algorithms.”
Kyuhyun took the sheet of paper and placed it on the table in front of him, swallowing. His throat felt tight, and he realized the niggling feeling in his chest was fear. Afraid that he would fail and he’d never be able to take off these gloves again, afraid that Heechul would hate him because he couldn’t do it…
He slowly pulled off one glove.
“Remember that once you begin you need to focus on the flashdrive. You need to store the information there and keep it there. It’s going to depend entirely upon your mental strength.”
Kyuhyun nodded, fingers hovering over the page. You can do it. Come on Kyuhyun, just reach out and touch the paper! He swallowed again.
“I’ll be here if anything happens.” Almost comforting, as if Heechul were trying but not trying hard enough. His tone was indifferent, and the words sounded off. Kyuhyun also didn’t know if he wanted Heechul there when he failed, as he was certain he would do the first time. Even worse, what if he never managed to get this down?
He took another deep breath and touched the paper. Immediately numbers flooded his brain. He felt light-headed, and he reached up a hand to clutch his head-and suddenly his brain was filled with the chemical formula for his shampoo mixing with a complicated deterministic algorithm and his head felt like it was on fire.
He felt someone grab his hand away from his head and he supposed it was Heechul. Heechul was there right? But Heechul didn’t matter because the chemical composition of his shampoo was sodium lauryl sulfate with a co-surfactant of cocamidopropyl betaine in water and sodium chloride, and the quantum computation of a quantum algorithm of superposition was-
“Come on Kyu. Focus. Look at me. Look at me and focus.” Heechul grabbed Kyuhyun’s chin and turned him so that they were staring at one another. Kyuhyun wasn’t paying attention to Heechul, however. There was too much information swimming around his brain for him to comprehend much of anything.
“Store it away in the flashdrive.” Heechul ordered.
Kyuhyun swallowed. Through the haze of data he could imagine the small device. Now, how to get the information onto it? Ah, that’s right, save it in a word document. Copy and paste.
But the preservative in his shampoo was calcium propionate and the fragrance used was pentyl butyrate with the chemical composition of CH3CH2CH2COOCH2CH3, and Shor's algorithm or the simulation of quantum many-body systems was-focus! Focus! Heechul’s fingers were warm through his gloves.
Kyuhyun blinked sleepily, feeling drugged, but he found his brain going through the directions he’d given it. Copy and paste, copy and paste…
He didn’t know how long it took to do such a simple task. He could focus a bit more on his surroundings, like the leather gloves brushing along his jaw.
“Store it away. Focus.” Heechul’s voice was cool and calm. Kyuhyun nodded weakly, clenching his eyes shut and trying his hardest. Alright, save the file. Transfer it to the flash drive…and delete it from the hard drive.
Kyuhyun blinked and found himself staring at Heechul’s lips. “I…” he tried to speak but his voice was dry and the words never made it past his throat. He swallowed and tried again. “I think I did it.”
Heechul nodded slowly. “Put your glove back on.”
Kyuhyun did so gladly. He didn’t want to accidentally bump into anything. “Hyung, how long did it take?” It was a glorious feeling, to know that he could think without the fear of drowning in the information he'd just absorbed. He didn't even think about accessing the information to see if he'd "stored it correctly". He didn't want it to all come flooding out again.
“Three and a half hours.” Heechul replied, stretching. “But the more you get used to it, the faster you’ll be able to store the information.”
Kyuhyun blinked. Three and a half hours? It had felt like only a few minutes. It had been around ten when they’d started…Kyuhyun leaned back in his chair. The heady feeling from earlier was gone. He felt awake and alert, and there was no headache.
“I don’t think you should try and access any of that information until you’ve slept. If the information is gone by that point we’ll just start again.” Heechul had stood. Kyuhyun tried to follow but his legs gave out on him.
Slim fingers wrapped around his arms and held him in place. Kyuhyun shook off the wave of dizziness and clutched at whatever was holding him up, which he assumed was Heechul. He felt Heechul stiffen at the contact before he helped steady Kyuhyun on his feet.
“Go to bed.” Heechul ordered softly, and there was a strained tone to his voice. The moment he was sure that Kyuhyun could stand on his own he backed away, heading for the door.
Kyuhyun didn’t know why the thought of Heechul’s back scared him but he found himself speaking, words tumbling from his lips that he didn’t even understand. He just needed to say something to make Heechul turn around. “I wanted to ask…how come these gloves don’t affect me? Or you? Shouldn’t they…”
Heechul paused at the door and turned, his gaze drifting to Kyuhyun’s gloves and then to his own. He tugged on the leather encasing his ring finger and seemed to think his words over carefully.
Was it because he didn’t want Kyuhyun to know? He realized it was a stupid thought a moment later when Heechul answered him, sending him a look that read why are you asking me stupid questions right now?
“They’re a gift. One of the gifted at the facility had the power to make…cancellation objects. Whatever he infused with his gift became immune to other gifts. I brought a few pairs with me.”
“Oh.” Kyuhyun nodded, because there wasn’t really much else to do after that explanation.
“Go to bed. I’m a light sleeper and I always hear you when you come in late. I need my sleep.” Heechul broke the awkward silence before it could even begin, using that scathing tone that Kyuhyun had grown accustomed to.
The odd knot of anxiety that had formed in Kyuhyun’s chest loosened, fading as Heechul opened the door and left. He swallowed, letting out a long, loud exhalation.
What was wrong with him? Kyuhyun + Heechul did not equal anything pleasant. Kyuhyun + Heechul equaled discomfort and confusion and quite possibly death. The equation wasn’t adding up, no matter how many times he reconfigured it and tried to make it work.
He needed to stop thinking about it. There was nothing there to begin with, nothing to add or subtract or multiply or divide. Heechul disliked him and Kyuhyun certainly disliked the egotistical, snappy feminine man. There was nothing to like. Heechul + Kyuhyun equaled nothing because neither of them had any feelings for one another aside from indifference.
Math was Kyuhyun’s strong point.
So was denial.
---