Chapter Text
For most people, gaining their superpower is easy. They’d wake up on their 15th birthday with some new, magical ability or attribute. Minghao, Mingyu’s best friend, had sprouted wings. They were thin, diaphanous things, but they carried the boy with ease. It was simple for Minghao; all he had to do was wake up and poof! He had wings. They were hard to miss.
Mingyu wishes he had it that easy.
The night before Mingyu’s 15th birthday was restless. He tossed and turned, far too excited and nervous to sleep. He went through his mental list of potential powers over and over again, including some of his favorites. His dad, for instance, could turn into an indestructible, metal man. That didn’t sound like the coolest power, but it had saved Mingyu’s life from being ended by a drunk driver. The way his father had jumped in front of Mingyu’s seven-year-old body was so heroic and goddamn cool. Mingyu had always been envious of his father.
Mingyu’s mother, too, had a superpower that was nothing short of epic. She could play with emotions and bend them to her will. In theory, it sounded lame. If Mingyu hadn’t grown up with the woman, he would think so, too, but it was terrifyingly powerful. It felt almost like mind control. Mingyu couldn’t count the number of times that he had felt like cleaning the entire house or buying his mother some flowers with his extra birthday money. She didn’t do it often, but she did it enough that Mingyu knew not to cross her.
His mother had used her powers far more in her youth than she did now. In high school, she hardly attended classes but received As on every report card. “The power of suggestion” she called it. She was a cunning lady.
She drew the line at Mingyu’s father, however. She used her powers on him once and it blew up in her face. Mingyu doesn’t quite know what happened because she doesn’t like to talk about it, but apparently it was bad. His dad says that they almost broke up because of it.
So, there Mingyu was, restless and hopeful. He wanted a strong power that would strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. “Maybe I’ll be able to shoot lasers out of my eyes,” he began talking to himself— sometimes he’d do that when he was really worked up about something. Unfortunately, he was a bit too loud for the middle of the night. His sister banged on the wall, yelling something along the lines of; keep it down in there, will ya?
“Hmmm, or have superhuman speed and strength,” he continued, but this time a little quieter. “It’d be cool to have shapeshifting powers like Jeonghan. Damn, I’d kill to be able to turn into anyone I wanted to. I’d turn into a famous movie star or the President or… or… someone really rich and powerful! Then I’d take over their life and be loved and respected by all!” His voice grew progressively louder as he rambled to himself. His mind was moving a mile a minute.
Boom boom. There was a knock on the door. Mingyu grunted, and his sister opened the door. “Shut up, I wanna sleep. It’s like 2 am. Go to bed,” her face was deadpan, her hair was a mess, and there were little blue circles beneath her eyes.
Mingyu nodded earnestly until she closed the door. Then he chuckled to himself. “Just a few more hours,” he mumbled, shutting his eyes tightly.
Within minutes, he was asleep.
Mingyu woke to his alarm. He slung his arm over to shut off the annoying beeping, groaned, and dragged himself out of bed. Stretching, he walked over to the bathroom and began to brush his teeth. Still half asleep, he pulled on some clean clothes.
“Wait!” he yelled as he was tying his shoes. He’d forgotten about the date… he was now 15, and moreover, he was now superhuman. He rushed back to the mirror to check his face.
Pulling at the skin on his face, Mingyu got closer to his reflection. “Hmmm… seems to be the same as yesterday,” he sounded disappointed. Then, he remembered his list of potential powers, and went through them one by one in front of the bathroom mirror.
He couldn’t shapeshift.
He couldn’t turn into metal.
He didn’t even have wings, for goodness sake.
Mingyu sighed, pulling his backpack on. I’ll figure it out by the end of the day, he thought. Minghao had once told him that the best powers took the longest to discover. Mingyu hoped he was right.
“Hey champ, how’re you doing?” Mingyu’s father looked up from the newspaper he had been reading and smiled brilliantly at the boy. “How’s it feel to be 15?”
Mingyu gave the strongest smile he could manage and prayed no one would ask him what his power is. “Great,” he said, grabbing a bowl and filling it with cereal. His mother was seated at the other side of the table, reading something (probably a cooking magazine).
She looked up. Mingyu and his mother locked eyes and exchanged a wordless conversation. It probably had something to do with her power, but she was really good at gauging feelings. She could tell something was off.
Mingyu tried to look away, but he couldn’t. Oh no, he thought. His mother was using her abilities. He felt a wave of emotion… need. He needed to talk to his mom. It couldn’t wait.
“Hey mom, can I talk to you?” he asked. He didn’t mean to ask, but he couldn’t help it; when you aren’t controlling your emotions, you also aren’t controlling what your emotions make you say.
She got up from the table wordlessly, taking off her glasses. They stepped out of the room before Mingyu’s father could ask any questions. Once they were alone, she spoke. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know what my power is,” he said. He couldn’t help it; the words spilled out without his permission.
Then, something strange happened. Her face softened and her lips drew up into a small smile. And, Mingyu remembers this very specifically; her mouth was closed. Still, he heard her voice. “It’s okay, sweetie. You’ll figure it out.”
His eyes opened wide and his mouth hung open. Had he imagined it? He couldn't possibly be hearing his mothers thoughts...
She could sense the shift in emotion. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Except, once again, her mouth didn’t open.
“I can hear you,” he said. His mother’s brow furrowed as she gave him a puzzled look. “No, I mean, I can hear your brain.”
Her eyes lit up. “That’s great! What am I thinking now?” She cupped his face with her hands and stared intently into his eyes, trying to force her thoughts into his mind.
Nothing. Silence. Mingyu hadn’t the faintest clue what she was thinking about. “I… I don’t know…” he said. He really didn’t.
She sighed, her eyes shifting to the floor. Then he heard her again, slightly fainter this time. “That’s okay. I love you anyway, even if you are lying about your power.”
Mingyu gasped. “I’m not lying about my power!” he exclaimed. His mother’s head snapped up. “I guess I can only hear you sometimes.”
She laughed. “That’s good! Great!” she said. She was ecstatic for her son’s newfound ability, even though they weren’t exactly sure what it’s limits were yet.
“Kids, the bus is here!” His father yelled from the kitchen. Mingyu and his sister got on the bus, and as the bus started to move, he had an unmistakable feeling of peace rush over him. Sometimes, his mom would give Mingyu or his sister a gift on the day of a big test. If they were stressed enough, she’d give them the gift of peace. He caught her gaze from the kitchen window. “Good luck, honey.” He heard her.
A few days later, and Mingyu still didn’t know what his power was. Minghao was over at his house— they were studying for a huge Chemistry test. Or, at least, they were supposed to be studying for a Chemistry test.
“So you can only hear some thoughts, right?” Minghao put his pencil down and got into a cross-legged position on the floor.
Mingyu didn’t look up from his textbook, but mumbled something affirmative.
“Okay, so have you thought about what the thoughts have in common? Like, why you only hear those thoughts and not other ones?” Minghao had his eyes closed, concentrating hard.
Mingyu shrugged, flipping the page over and chewing on his pencil. He was only half-paying attention, anyway.
“Here,” Minghao slammed a piece of paper on Mingyu’s desk. “Write down what thoughts you can remember.”
Mingyu looked up at the boy in surprise. It wasn’t often that Minghao got angry, but when he did, it was scary. There was this one time when they were in 7th grade, Minghao stayed up all night doing a 5000 piece puzzle in Mingyu’s living room. Mingyu had been shaken awake violently at 4 am to Minghao screaming, “Where is it? Where’s the last piece?” Mingyu must’ve lost one by accident. They searched for 3 hours, but couldn’t find the piece anywhere. That was the night Mingyu learned that there is nothing Minghao hates more than an unsolved problem.
He didn’t want to frustrate his best friend further, so he huffed and picked up his pencil.
Mom- I love you, even though you lie.
Mom- it’s okay sweetie.
Jeonghan- Joshua sings so sweetly.
Jeonghan- I love Joshua.
Some girl in my home ec class- I really like her hair.
Minghao- Jun looks good today.
Seungkwan- I hope my mom is okay.
Joshua (at Jeonghan)- I love you.
He handed the list to Minghao. After about a minute and a half of thinking, the boy snapped his fingers. “Got it!” he yelled. He started fluttering around the room like crazy, his little wings blowing Mingyu’s Chemistry notes onto the floor.
“What?” Mingyu asked, hopeful. Maybe he’d finally get some answers.
“You see what all these have in common?” Mingyu looked at the list in Minghao’s hand, shaking his head. “They’re all genuine expressions of love! Nice thoughts! Kind thoughts!”
Mingyu rolled his eyes. “I thought you were being serious,” he said, beginning to collect his notes off the floor and organize them.
“No, listen! I can prove it!” Minghao’s wings slowed down as he lowered to the ground. “Look at me, Gyu.”
Mingyu grumbled, but did what the flying boy commanded anyway. “What?”
“Can you hear this?” Minghao’s eyes narrowed as he focused.
Silence.
“Nope,” Mingyu said, popping the p. “See, I told you it wouldn— “
“Good, I was thinking about how much of a stubborn loser you are,” Minghao laughed.
“Hey, that’s not true!” Mingyu whined, pouting. He hated when Minghao was right (which was a lot).
“Is too,” Minghao narrowed his eyes again. “Now, listen.”
It was faint, but he heard it. “You’re my best friend.”
Mingyu’s eyes widened. “Holy shit.”
“Right? You heard it, right?” Minghao started to fly around again. Mingyu wished the ground would swallow him whole. “You’re like cupid!”
“Ugh, will you shut up!” Mingyu buried his head in his hands as the other boy snickered.
Mingyu would’ve liked anything more than this. Why did he have to be stuck with such a useless power? What’s badass about hearing people’s “nice thoughts”? Who cares about love, anyway?