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The first thing that Namjoo notices about Jeongmin is that she’s almost as tall as Namjoo. It’s a rather superficial first impression, all things considered, but considering Namjoo didn’t get any sleep because of Jinsol’s sendoff party stretching into the early hours of the morning, it’s probably incredibly coherent. It’s a nice feeling, though, to have a new roommate that’s basically as tall as Jinsol; it’s rare to find tall girls anywhere, especially not people with a sort of comfort in being tall as Jinsol and now apparently, Jeongmin have.
The second thing that Namjoo notices, is that she’s muscular. Her arms are toned and defined, her thin tee clings to her flat stomach, and her thighs through her running shorts look like they could feasibly strangle somebody. She’s clearly a fitness freak, which is again. Not that much of a change from Jinsol, but Jinsol had never quite managed to put on muscle like this.
The third thing Namjoo notices, is that she’s hot. Not pretty, not delicate, not much like Yoonji, Heeseon or Jimin, but hot like she could lay down the law or something. It’s pretty awesome for a freshman, but before Namjoo can voice this, Jeongmin drops her bags and mouths “thighs” under her breath, somewhat in awe.
Namjoo pauses and looks down at herself, half-falling out of her bed, only a stained, stretched-out t-shirt and panties on. “Fuck.” she says, before covering her mouth and shoving her legs firmly back underneath the covers, “Shi--Sorry, I didn’t mean to swear and like. Scar you. Sorry.”
Jeongmin flushes a very deep red, and shakes her head so rapidly it’s almost a blur, before she runs out of the room, leaving her bags half sprawled over the floor. Namjoo grains and palms her hands over her face. It’s going to be a long semester, she can tell already
(X)
The thing about going to a university for gifted young women, is that there’s a high turnover rate. Either people are called out by prophecy to go and fulfill their destiny by defeating some minor monster terrorizing the land or they go out to become superhero vigilantes, because of their inability to stay still and not act when given earth-rending powers. Some disappear because of poorly regulated experiments gone wrong, others fade away back to the real world, suppressing their gifts, deciding that the gifted life is not for them. And the weirdest of all, is when they just leave, to go off to a different part of the world.
Jinsol had never been very good at being normal, not in the ‘real’ world and not in the gifted world. She’d gotten an opportunity to become a minor deity, in a small island off the coast of Norway by making the landscape blossom and grow and become fertile, and had immediately seized the opportunity, never one to miss out on something that could advance her, and it had left Namjoo’s dorm room in the cramped apartment woefully empty.
Luckily, the gifted institute, used to random disappearances, had had someone ready to move in. Jeon Jeongmin. Namjoo doesn’t know much about her, except that she’s a freshman, she’s involved in the physically talented classes just like everybody else in their little apartment, and that she’s tall, sporty, very highly-thought of by all of her teachers and extremely shy. She knows nothing about her, maybe she was just a little prude or something. Really.
But Namjoo really really hates to leave things festering. Yoonji and Taehee are the types to never talk about anything, ready to avoid an issue and never think about it if it’s even vaguely uncomfortable, but Jinsol’s just about drilled that out of her after three years of rooming together, and Namjoo knows, that no matter how difficult it is, it’s always the best option. Really. Even if the last thing she wants to do is face the very very hot Jeongmin, after basically flashing her on their first meeting.
So after showering quickly, and putting on a dress and leather jacket, Namjoo grabs Jeongmin, right before she can disappear wherever she can go, having unpacked mostly. “Wait!” Namjoo calls, gripping at Jeongmin’s letterman jacket, before Jeongmin can sprint out of the door. Jeongmin stiffens a little under her grip and turns to face Namjoo, her lips parting gently in surprise. “I’m really really sorry about this morning--”
“--afternoon--” interjects Jeongmin, under her breath, before looking horrified at herself.
“....afternoon.” Namjoo acknowledges, “I should have been awake to greet you and help you properly move in, but it was a long night. My previous roommate left for Norway, and we stayed up until 5am. Sorry. It was a weird start.” She smiles, a little sheepishly, “Wanna give it another try? Let’s grab a late lunch and talk? Get some groundrules set up?”
To her surprise, Jeongmin flushes again, a bright red that Namjoo really hadn’t been expecting, but nods, quietly, slipping her hands into her pockets. “Okay sunbae.”
It’s so cute and soft, and completely against what Namjoo had been thinking, that Namjoo stammers and turns around abruptly, so she can find her wallet, somewhere in the mess that is her desk.
(X)
Jeongmin, apparently, does not eat even the slightest bit healthy to get her muscle definition, because Namjoo watches in literal awe as she shoves about half of the noodles in her bowl into her mouth, and chugs from her extra-whipped cream, double-chocolate milkshake. With her black coffee, salad and miso soup, Namjoo watches a little in awe, as Jeongmin munches, big wide eyes and a slightly less spooked smile.
“So.” Namjoo murmurs, awkwardly, forcing herself to look down at her own food and stop staring at Jeongmin uncomfortably, and the way that she has a little bit of meat stuck in her teeth and is licking away the sauce around her lips, “What’s your power?”
Jeongmin blinks, low and slow, before shrugging, a little shyer. “Literally everything.” Jeongmin muttered, taking a loud slurp of her noodles. “I can copy powers, I guess. Touch somebody and haha, guess what it’s mine as well.”
Namjoo blinks. Two things are in her head right now, and she can’t help but satisfy her curiousity first, to talk about the limitations and extents of a power like that. She can talk about the other bit later. “So, if I brushed against you when you have a power, would you just lose--”
Clearly having heard the question before, Jeongmin shakes her head, her ponytail slipping a little loose. “--Doesn’t work like that. They wouldn’t have sent me here otherwise, I wouldn’t be useful to this institute. No. I like. It’s like I learn that ability? Once I touch you, I got that power and can use it when I want?”
Namjoo’s eyes widen, she can’t help herself. “So you’re basically invincible, once you touch a lot of people with different powers?” That sounds. Sort of terribly familiar, and there’s something like a sinking sensation in her stomach.
Jeongmin shakes her head, taking another large bite of her noodles. “It’s like a lot. To toggle between shit. I get tired really easily, so I need hella stamina.”
“I can see that.” Namjoo says, without really filtering, and Jeongmin stops, mid-bite, turning a little red, and slowly lowers her chopsticks, head going meekly down. Namjoo can tell she fucked up, and immediately shakes her hands, a little panicked. “No, shit, no I didn’t mean to imply anything, it’s just an observation, I’m not judging or anything, you know, my previous roomie could fit a whole steak in her mouth--”
But at this point, her flailing and Jeongmin’s blushing has gotten so extreme that Jeongmin has stopped eating altogether, and Namjoo’s hands have managed to knock off her large cup of very black coffee, spilling it everywhere, with a loud clash and a hiss from Namjoo, as it impacts and burns most of her right leg.
The world slows for a little while, and Namjoo covers her face with her hands in horror and low annoyance at herself, before everything just sort of snaps back properly into shape, and the waitress has come forward, to clean up and check that the plastic shards haven’t hurt a customer. But Jeongmin, surprisingly quickly, reaches forward, and lets her hand hover over Namjoo’s legs. To her awe, the pain from the hot water burns fades away immediately and her soaked skin grows less red and scalded immediately, the red slowly fading away, like the rain dissolving the cherry blossoms in rain.
Oh.
Jeongmin yawns, loudly, but there’s a slightly pleased expression on her face, as she straightens up and bends down to help the waitress clean up. Namjoo, a little numbly, reassures the waitress that she’s not hurt and will absolutely pay for the spilled drink damage and that she’s very sorry, and once the waitress goes away, Namjoo leans over, and pats Jeongmin’s shoulder, gratefully.
“Thank you.” Namjoo says, seriously, because she’s basically not been very sensitive at all, and Jeongmin had still healed her. “I’m not really doing a good job of introducing myself or making myself seem like a put-together and nice person at all--” This makes Jeongmin giggle a little, but shake her head, “--but thank you anyway. I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to be judgmental at all.”
“You’re welcome, Namjoo-sunbae.” Jeongmin says, shaking her head, “You paid for food anyway. You’re allowed to judge a little bit, since it was on your credit card.”
Namjoo smiles a little ruefully. “Anyway. If you need any help with courses, I know physical powers courses can be really fucking hard. So you can come to me for that.” She took a large gulp of her soup, a little louder than she would have usually done, just in a quiet thing of solidarity. “As for roommate rules, my main rules are like. Be quiet for the most part. Turn off the lights when I ask, please. Please don’t startle me, or accidents happen. No smoking or drinking or experiments in the room, do that outside. No sexiling, seriously, I’m a third year, I need that room to study. Friends are welcome for the daytime, but gotta go by 10pm, unless they’re staying overnight, which I just want notice for? Sounds reasonable?”
Jeongmin nods. “Can I add something?” she asks, eyes a little wider, and when Namjoo nods, she smiles. “Clothes aren’t optional? I don’t think I can survive seeing so much of your thighs every day, unnie.” She grins at this, a little cheeky grin that fades nervously, when Namjoo stares a little too long, at how pretty the smile makes her look.
“Oh. Oh yeah.” Namjoo says, with a low embarrassed laugh, scratching at the back of her hair. “Clothing zone. That sounds good.”
Jeongmin’s laughter is extremely cute, and Namjoo feels just a little compromised. She can’t help but whisper “cute.” really quietly under her breath, a little acknowledgement of the feelings threatening to explode out of her.
(X)
It’s quickly apparent that Jeongmin is. Well. Jeongmin is a problem and Namjoo instantly hates herself for thinking it, because that’s not the real truth. Jeongmin is a sweetheart, who will absolutely stay up later to make sure that Namjoo can shower first, will play videogames on her bed all day if left alone, with wide pretty eyes, and is more than willing to listen to Namjoo talk about whether a soul is a tangible thing and if reincarnation invalidates prophecies altogether or validate them more, without a single complaint. Nope. Jeongmin is not the problem here. Namjoo’s reaction to her is.
The problem is that Namjoo has been assigned as Jeongmin’s mentor in the physically talented courses: which. Makes sense, considering Namjoo is her roommate and probably best equipped to help Jeongmin, but it’s extremely frustrating, to be in physical proximity to Jeongmin’s shy smile, and the way her skin glows after a good workout, and how she looks all sleep-puffed and confused after falling asleep practising her powers, and how her hair sticks on end when she annoys Heeseon too much by not doing her laundry. And Namjoo can’t escape, Jeongmin is always there, either at home, or at school.
The worst part that it’s only been a month and Namjoo knows all of these little quirks, so easily. Just like Jeongmin seems to know that Namjoo snores most when she’s eaten mexican the night before, hates having her stuff moved by anybody, and how much fashion means to her. It’s fast, and Namjoo doesn’t quite know how to feel about it, about Jeongmin’s eyes always being fixed on Namjoo, with something just a little more than normal attention. Something closer to devotion.
“The worst part,” Namjoo murmurs, from where she’d managed to carve out time for herself, away from Jeongmin, who’d been dragged out by Yoonji and Jimin, after Namjoo had mentioned, quite casually, that Jeongmin had never been to the Hang Drum inspired museum exhibit on the other side of campus, something Jimin had deemed a sacrilege, “Is that she’s so naive. She’s just. So small, unnie, I want to protect her. She’d never been to anywhere where there was a high concentration of gifted people, never. She doesn’t know anything, not about the history, not about what we’re fighting for. We had to tell her about the prophecy a while back, the one that basically tells us all about her. Why she’s so necessary. I just.”
“Isn’t she your height and can pull superpowers out of her hat like Heeseon can pull clouds out of the sky?” asks Jinsol skeptically, on the other side of the skype call, her face twisted into confusion. “It sounds like she’s much more likely to be protecting you, Namjoo-yah.”
Namjoo shakes her head, fervently. Jinsol never paid attention to prophecies, she wouldn’t get it. “You won’t get it until you meet her in person, everybody warmed up to her so quickly. I don’t think I’ve met somebody so eager to please, you know? That kind of enthusiasm...it ought to be protected, you know. It can so easily be hurt and destroyed. She doesn’t deserve that.”
Jinsol exhaled, and shifts onto her stomach, her beautiful face a little worried, even if she’s skeptical. “Namjoo.” she says, very softly, “I don’t see the problem here. If you want to protect her a little, then do it. If you want her to be less naive, then teach her. If you want to have more time away from her, just ask her, she won’t begrudge you that.”
“You don’t know that, unnie.” Namjoo says, throwing her head into her hands, “I just. I really mess up stuff with her, you know? I say shit that might hurt her, and I clarify afterwards, you know. But what if she takes it the wrong way, thinks I hate her? I would never ever want her to think that.”
Jinsol shrugs. “Namjoo. It’s your decision to make, I’m not going to tell you what to do.” And this is what Namjoo hates most about Jinsol, because she wants to know everything about what’s up with her, but she never ever gives Namjoo concrete advice. “But you have to think about why you don’t want to be around her. Is is because you’re actually spending too much time her presence and getting irritated? Or are you just sick of acting as something you aren’t for so long?” At this, Jinsol’s mouth quirks up a little bit. “Just communicate, Namjoo-yah, it’s not so hard as you want to make it out to be.”
“Unnie--”
“Be honest with yourself.” Jinsol says, firmly, “Are you going to delude yourself about how you’re definitely not the goddess that’s prophesied here and go to gallivant across the world having fun, or are you going to accept your fate and live your life forever stuck on a small island in Norway?”
“Unnie--” Namjoo says, a little nervously, because that sounds like something that ought to be addressed more than Jinsol’s ten-minute rant about Farikaal. But Jinsol just smiles, and hangs up, leaving Namjoo on her bed, just a little confused, which is how Jeongmin finds her ten minutes later, hair tied back in a cute set of braids.
“Unnie, unnie, they make music that sounds like space, why did you never take me before?” demands Jeongmin, flopping down at the foot of Namjoo’s bed, eyes wide and bright.
“There is no sound in space, space is a vacuum so sound can’t travel through it.” Namjoo says, a little on autopilot, eyes still fixed on Jeongmin’s braids, which she notices, have flowers in them, honest-to-god flowers woven in. That’s not fair.
“It’s not the sound of space, it’s what space would sound like. Like. Space aesthetic?” Jeongmin says, impatiently, and her fingers trail forward, a couple of centimetres away from Namjoo’s stomach, as she leans her head against Namjoo’s Ryan-printed bedspread. “Besides. If anyone could make a sound in space, don’t you think I could, unnie?”
A part of Namjoo wants to tweak her nose and call her a cocky brat, but the other part of Namjoo, the part that’s been winning way too often lately, just melts. “Yeah. Probably.” Namjoo’s traitorous hand sneaks out to tug at one of Jeongmin’s braids, fingers trailing over the pretty cherry blossoms, still somehow soft. “It would take a lot of energy though. Space isn’t a complete vacuum, it does have some particles, so in order to make those particles travel fast enough to hit each other, you’d have to speed them up so fast, they might break the sound barrier.”
“Sonic boom. But soundless.” Jeongmin giggled, leaning her head further into Namjoo’s bed, fingers creeping forward almost touching Namjoo, but not quite. Her neck was perfectly exposed, it was long and languid, and pretty and still sort of damp from the seat and the heat outside, and Namjoo wanted to press her fingers along her neck, just touch her neck and feel how Jeongmin’s voice would send vibrations down her fingertips.
Sonic boom.
“Sure Jeongmin-ah.” Namjoo says, lazily, and lets her eyes shut a little, dropping Jeongmin’s braid and edging away just a little, to keep herself in check. No bare touch.
It doesn’t stop her thinking about Jeongmin’s neck for another three days.
(X)
Sometimes Jeongmin finds it difficult to sleep and plays videogames into the night. She’s mostly quiet, but it’s sort of concerning, from a health standpoint. Even Namjoo sleeps more than Jeongmin at this point, and she’s drowning in coursework and her other duties. It’s not something that Namjoo often notices about people, but as it becomes more and more of a trend for Jeongmin to sit in her bed, her lights on under her covers, eyes open and slightly glazed at 3am, it’s harder to ignore.
“They say that if you can’t go to sleep, just lying down without any stimulus is still better rested that playing games and going around doing stuff.” Namjoo murmurs, as she gets into her bed, rolling over onto her stomach.
There are a couple of moments, before Jeongmin responds. “It’s fine. I’ll go to bed soon.” her voice, a firm dismissal.
“Sure you will.” Namjoo says, injecting the skepticism into her voice. “There’s music they have now, you know. To help with insomnia. Or ASMR. Have you tried any of that?”
Jeongmin looks up, and illuminated with light from her DS underneath the covers, she looks tired and exhausted and just a little terrifying. “Yeah. Yeah I have, unnie.” Then she bites her lip and despite the way the shadows extend across her face, she just looks soft and tired and Namjoo wants to help. Her heart aches, she wants to help.
Stretching a little, Namjoo lets her eyes flutter shut and starts speaking, her voice low and unmodulated. “Three thousands years ago, the world was old and young all at once. The people fought, the kingdoms rose and traded and the gifted wandered. Not all nomads were gifted, but it was practically guaranteed that all gifted wandered. It’s something about the way we’re programmed. We were searching for our quest, where we would be useful, where we would be needed. None of the gifted are really good at putting down roots anywhere. Like those walking trees Jimin was talking about one time. Even now, it’s really really rare to see one of us stay in one place for very long.”
Jeongmin doesn’t say anything, but Namjoo, through her closed eyes, feels the light blink out, of the DS and hears Jeongmin rustle a little in her blankets. Namjoo chances a sneaky look over to where Jeongmin is lying down and sees only the reflection of her eyes, glimmering in the dark. “Like. Like Jinsol-sunbae leaving?” asks Jeongmin curiously, and she’s rapt and intent and it makes Namjoo’s chest fill with something sort of bright and wonderful.
“Yeah. Like that.” Namjoo murmurs, “But among those wanderers was a famous one. Han Jumin. He was one of the best gifted warriors at the time, with his chariot and his speed, he was unmatched in all of Asia. Long epic poems were composed in his name, others cursed him, but he was talked about. He fought, not with beasts as the stories would like to pretend, but with other men, and other gifted. The thing at the time, was that the settled kingdoms used the nomads as their champions. Plied them with gold and treasure and companions and promised them glory and used them, like pokemon to play out their battles for them. He fought, he killed, and maimed his own.”
Jeongmin’s breath intakes just a little. Not like how she does when listening to Namjoo during the day, but a more muted way.
“And one day, he realized that he was a pawn. The story never says why he realized it, but I always thought it was that he looked into the eyes of the one he was fighting, and he realized their humanity. Heeseon always says that it was his lover, or his friend that he was fighting, that was what made him stop his rampage, but I like to think that he saw it before then, that he was able to comprehend the humanity of his own, that he understood finally, when he looked into the eyes of a stranger dying for a cause that was not their own. In any case, he fought back against his owners. The nomads united, the gifted united and fought and fought. And --”
There’s a soft whuffle from Jeongmin’s bed, and Namjoo can no longer see her eyes in the darkness. Her breathing is even and slow, soothing in a way that Namjoo hasn’t properly heard in awhile, and Namjoo smiles just a little. Asleep. She curls up into a ball herself and lets her brain regale her with thoughts of historical tales and freedom, until she too sleeps.
(X)
As much as Namjoo internally complains about constantly being around Jeongmin’s entire essence of being, Jeongmin makes research very easy. There’s very little that they know about how Jeongmin’s powers work, beyond that she has an inventory of powers, and that using them tires her out more significantly than it does for the original users of the power. It makes her a prime test subject, and as much as Namjoo sort of wonders about the ethics of experimenting how her roommate reacts to different stimuli, Jeongmin is very enthusiastic.
“Wouldn’t you want to know more about what you could do, unnie? If you can help me become useful...” Jeongmin smiles, that little gorgeous shy smile, and Namjoo can’t help but melt just a little, ready to do anything that Jeongmin asks of her.
They get to work. Namjoo drafts in some random gifted students in, with promises of credit and money and gets Jeongmin to copy their powers. They test the effectiveness of repeated exposure to the person’s whose power is being stolen; they test the amount of energy it seems to relatively take to use a power, depending on what bare body part was touched to obtain the power; they test the amount of energy is takes each time, to switch between a power, to see if it decreases linearly or exponentially. It’s long, and slow, and tiring, and almost always leaves Jeongmin an exhausted heap of sweaty young adult, that Namjoo has to take back to their apartment.
Jeongmin doesn’t complain about anything, ever. It’s one of those things that Namjoo’s just come to associate with her. She’ll maybe whine about Namjoo not telling her something earlier, but it’s never a serious complaint. Jeongmin never complains about herself, doesn’t seem to believe in that sort of thing, thinking it makes her weak. So she never complains about Namjoo’s slow pace when taking them home, or how she usually falls asleep in the early evening and fucks up her sleep schedule for the experiment, or whether it hurts or something is wrong.
Namoo sort of wishes she would, but Jeongmin is stubborn about that.
The filament cracks, and Namjoo winces, as Jeongmin drops her hand with an annoyed shake of her head, and a drawn-out rasp of annoyance at herself. It was the fifth time that the filament had broken for this experiment, unable to quite fully be complete with the level of precision it needed.
“Are you sure you’re okay to go on?” asks Namjoom, a little weakly. It’s been a long day, which is why she asks at all, even when she knows what the answer will be. And sure enough, Jeongmin just nods grimly and adjusts her braids. “I’ll get it this time, unnie.”
Namjoo exhales, but just flips to the next page of her clipboard. “Alright, go for it.”
Jeongmin is experimenting with light. It’s one of the professor’s powers, light manipulations and Jeongmin has been hugging and touching their professor’s hand a lot over a period of a fortnight, which has been shown to have the maximum effect for learning new powers for Jeongmin. She’s currently doing something really big and bold, trying to make a sharp laser-light display light up, centimetre by centimetre. It’s not like it’s that hard to do, but it requires tight control, to make sure it doesn't hit anybody or burn too bright and destroy some of the precious equipment in their room.
For a few moments, Namjoo truly believes that Jeongmin’s done it, that she can sustain it, and that’s she’s stronger than she looks. And then the light starts to sear, brighter and brighter, and Namjoo shuts her eyes from the pain of it.
“Jeongmin!” yells Namjoo, but her pupil doesn’t respond or do anything. Out of control.
There’s nothing to be done for it. She’d been avoiding it for so long, but it can’t be helped. Namjoo edges forward, navigating through her closed eyes, and closes a hand over Jeongmin’s. Immediately, the red tint of light vanishes from behind her eyelids, and Namjoo opens up, to stare at the blackhole her hands have created, the tiny containment device, the blackhole where Jeongmin is inside, somewhere, sightless, soundless, sensation-less.
“What...” Jeongmin’s voice is too loud and awkwardly pitched, but considering her state, Namjoo doesn’t question it, just lets go of Jeongmin’s hand, carefully and watches the black hole blink away.
Nothing happens, but Jeongmin inflates a little more with certainty, her vision coming back to her, before wobbling on her feet and falling to her knees, with a thud. Namjoo isn’t as shocked as she perhaps should be, she had a feeling that would happen. She doesn’t touch Jeongmin’s skin again, and ghosts her hand over Jeongmin’s shoulders reassuringly.
“It felt like nothing. Like nothing at all.” Jeongmin said, looking horrified. “Like there was nothing and I was nothing..” her voice is uncertain and she’s babbling and Namjoo draws back a little. To give her space.
“If you can become anything, do anything, mimic anybody. I can take away everything.” Namjoo says, quietly. “Sensory deprivation by black hole. Nothing can be sustained in there except what I want to be sustained.” Jeongmin turns to Namjoo, somewhat shocked.
“I didn’t get your power.” Jeongmin says, with a certainty. Namjoo wonders how it feels for Jeongmin, to gain a new power, how she knows, how she doesn’t, whether it’s a little like the inventory of powers in Dragon Age or something completely different, but doesn’t comment on it. “Why didn’t I get your power?”
“I’m not sure. But I can neutralize powers with this. I probably neutralized the copying, as well as whatever you were doing with the light once you lost control.” Namjoo explains easily, before leaning back on her knees. “Jeongmin-ah. That doesn’t matter right now, what matters is you lied about being okay and threw off the experiment. We have false data now, and you’re exhausted.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Jeongmin says, dismissively, her lips parting, with uncertainty. Her skin is soaked with sweat and she looks about three steps from falling asleep, but she’s still alert, stubbornly so, and it’s both irritating and endearing. “Unnie. If you can make black holes like that, aren’t you the person in the prophecy? The big one? The one they keep preparing everyone to fight against?” Unspoken between them was ‘the reason why Jeongmin was so important’.
“Not if I don’t get hurt.” Namjoo says, stiffly, drawing to her feet, her chest tensing in a weird way. “Jeongmin-ah. There’s--” she cuts herself off, Jeongmin’s brows have drawn downwards, into that stubborn look, which means that anything Namjoo says won’t go through properly, will be nodded politely at, and completely ignored. It’s not worth it now.
“Let’s go.” Namjoo shrugs off her jacket, and grips Jeongmin’s elbow using her jacket, pulling her completely upright. Jeongmin’s eyes dart down towards that touch, and there’s a look of abject despair filling her gaze and sorrow. It’s uncomfortable, Namjoo doesn’t like that look in Jeongmin’s eyes, and especially not when that look is directed towards her.
But she’s too responsible to just leave Jeongmin here, in the small experiment room that’s far from the other bigger laboratories in the rest of the building. She can’t leave poor, tired Jeongmin here, even if it’s the only thing her body feels ready to do, run far far away. So she looks away from Jeongmin, and they begin the walk back to their apartment in complete silence and avoidance.
Namjoo doesn’t sleep in her room that night, calling in her favour with Taehee to switch. Jimin gives her a nervous look and snuggles in with her, burying her hair into Namjoo’s chest, breasts pressing against Namjoo’s comfortably. It’s usually comforting, and it makes Namjoo smile.
She doesn’t really sleep any better in this room, yet.
(X)
The thing about prophecies was that they could be avoided, could be evaded. People liked to say that prophecies were self-fulfilling, but they evidently weren’t, because so many just hadn’t come to pass, because things had changed. Prophecies weren’t set in stone. Lots of magical and gifted people just couldn’t fulfill their quests and defeat their little minor monsters, and met horrible ends.
So Namjoo didn’t have to be the one whose black hole abilities voided the entire earth. She didn’t have to be. It didn’t matter that her powers matched those described, that her parents had seven times saved the Amazon forest from completely being destroyed, it didn’t matter that some professors refused to teach her, because they thought she was terrifying and that she wasn’t allowed to do much outside of the institute. It didn’t matter that Jeongmin matched the description of the person who would stop her, who would vanquish her, whose invincibility would overpower hers.
It’s fine. She just had to make sure she never got hurt in the sort of way that would make her evil. And she had to make sure that Jeongmin didn’t hate her, wouldn’t hate her.
Namjoo broods on this, over the day where they’re awkwardly avoiding each other. Everybody in the apartment can feel it, can see it and Yoonji follows her around for the day instead, with snarky comments, bitter insults and whiny stories about what Heeseon and Suran had done to her that day. Nothing quite like Jeongmin’s enthusiasm and bright words and big adoring eyes, taking in everything Namjoo talked about and showed her, and doing it even better.
“--and I say to her, ‘oh I’m a little cold’ and you know. I wanted her jacket, her jacket smells nice, and instead, she makes the clouds go away, the wind itself stops and the sun comes out of nowhere, and suddenly, we’ve been thrown into an unexpected heatwave which is probably going to affect the groundwater supply. Who needs climate change, when you have a girlfriend like that?” Yoonji says, and Namjoo, who’s been zoning out a little bit, laughs a little vaguely.
Yoonji exhales, long put-upon and stretches out, like a cat. “Namjoo, you’re really dumb sometimes.” she says, seriously. “Go talk to her, fucking hell.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Namjoo mumbles, not even bothering to try and deny anything. Jinsol might be her roommate and willing to listen to anything, but Yoonji is her best friend and knows how to cut through the swathes of bullshit Namjoo puts up around herself to make herself look like she’s competent.
“I like you. You’re cool, neat and whenever I talk with you, I make weird faces and whenever I talk about you, I constantly call you cute. You’re an awesome roommate, so please don’t make this weird. The prophecy thing isn’t gonna come true, you’re not going to slay me, so just kiss me a bit and let’s fuck, preferably away from the apartment so angelic Yoonji-unnie doesn’t have to hear us.” Yoonji prompts, dryly, stirring her drink, lazily.
Namjoo scowls and throws a napkin at her. “Seriously, unnie.”
“I was being serious. Mostly.” Yoonji sniffs, looking insulted. “Just talk to her honestly about how you don’t think you have to kill her or vice versa.” Her face suddenly brightens and she straightens from her seat next to Namjoo. “Actually, why don’t you do that right now? Jeongmin-ah?”
Namjoo starts, a little, and sure enough, at the counter of the coffee shop, are Taehee and Jeongmin, Taehee chattering about something with the barista, leaving Jeongmin to slouch uncomfortably at her side.
Jeongmin walks over, about halfway, before she sees Namjoo and freezes. But Yoonji just laughs, gets up while draining her cup and leaves, though not after pushing Jeongmin towards Namjoo’s table, whispering something in Jeongmin’s ear.
If Namjoo had been more petty or awful, she would have frozen Yoonji inside a blackhole or something for that, but that would be a misuse of earth-rending powers, so Namjoo just sulks and waits for Jeongmin to properly make her way over. “Hey.” she greets, a little pathetically, not looking up from the condensation along the edge of her iced coffee cup.
“Hi.” Jeongmin says, a little meekly. Namjoo looks up, despite herself, and starts. She’s wearing a flower crown and her skin is shiny, like it is after a good workout, but she’s also wearing a dress Which is weird for Jeongmin, who likes comfortable workout clothes, and it looked good, showing off her collarbones and her long legs.
“Cute.” Namjoo blurts out, before looking straight back down at her coffee, feeling her stomach churn at her ineptitude. “Your dress. It’s really cute. I love it.”
“Oh. Thanks.” Namjoo doesn’t even have to look up to hear the smile that must be splitting across Jeongmin’s face at that, shy and cute and pleased. “Unnie--”
“I’m not evil.” Namjoo cuts across her, before Jeongmin can say anything, unable to bear hearing the reproach or fear or worry that would be in her voice, once she recovers from the compliment. “Just because I can do that, doesn’t mean I’m evil. Your powers are awesome but you could still kill someone. You could lose control and someone could die, you could pick up an awful power and die. Does that make you anymore evil than another person? No. Just the same for me. I’m not evil, Jeongmin-ah, you have to believe me. Because it’s what we do that defines us, not what we could do. We’re not--we don’t have to fight at all. I don’t want to fight you, and I don’t think we will, if we both try to stick to the side of good--”
Jeongmin’s hand comes over hers, gently, and Namjoo freezes, and it takes the utmost amount of concentration to keep back the black hole that threatens to engulf her. Jeongmin’s lips are parted and she looks very serious, her jaw tilted upwards in a way that makes her look a little smug, a little cocky. “I know.” she says, the corners of her lips twitching upwards. “I know, unnie. You’re not evil, you couldn’t destroy the world if you wanted, even if you do destroy the lamp in our room too often for it to be coincidence.”
Namjoo pauses, and her stomach rolls just a little, as Jeongmin pulls her hand up and interlaces their fingers together, gently. There’s a sort of fascination to Jeongmin’s gaze, as she stares down at their fingers, Namjoo’s tanned, long fingers, just a little too veiny and with chipping black nail polish, compared to Jeongmin’s pale, pretty fingers, with too long nails and soft, soft skin.
“So. We’re good?” asks Namjoo carefully, and her voice catches and it’s just a little too low in her throat, and Jeongmin’s fingers twitch a little in their grasp.
“Yeah. Yeah, we’re good unnie.” Jeongmin says, quietly, and they both smile at each other, just a little goofily.
“Okay, good, because I’ve got to shout at you about extending your power and taking responsibility for your own exhaustion, and I can’t do that unless we’re good.” Namjoo says, dryly, squeezing Jeongmin’s hand significantly. Jeongmin’s eyes widen and she looks vaguely betrayed, but she doesn’t let go of Namjoo’s hand or try to run away like Tahee or Jimin might have. Instead, she sulkily listens, lips pressed out in a perfect pout, and eyes trained firmly on Namjoo’s face, refusing to look away from her.
It’s a pride of sorts, Namjoo supposes, but all it does is make it harder to rebuke her for something she really needs to learn, not when Namjoo keeps wanting to press her fingers up to Jeongmin’s lips instead, part them gently and press bruising kisses to her neck.
She doesn’t, of course. But she wants to.
(X)
The problem with being around Jeongmin, is that for two individuals who are supposed to be so opposed and so antithetical to each other that they could destroy the world, Jeongmin is all too similar to Namjoo. They both sort of wear their heart on their sleeves, they’re both extremely hard working and not very good at drawing a line between themselves and their vocation, they’re both extremely passionate and very driven, and sleep far too late. But Jeongmin doesn’t say much, while Namjoo could talk enough to douse a fire, and Jeongmin is fair and muscled and soft, where Namjoo is tan, lanky and coarse.
They’re tiny differences in the grand scheme of things, but somehow Namjoo still obsesses over it, just a little bit, as she watches Jeongmin work. This time, they’re testing her super strength, something she’d picked up from her elder brother, while also testing her ability to switch between powers. It’s a timed thing, to see if Jeongmin can teleport to all of the stations and break the graphene blocks in a quick amount of time, and whether it’s consistent or flags as she goes. It’s an interesting experiment and one that Namjoo can’t help but note, feels very geared towards fighting, when they’ve both pledged to not fight each other.
Still, she helps time it anyway, clicking away at her stopwatch, obediently. Jeongmin’s fast, and as Namjoo expects, slows little y little, with each jump from station to station, until she becomes visible in her teleportation from place to place and looks a little more visibly exhausted. Namjoo shoots her a quick thumbs up at a station in front of Namjoo. Two more.
Zap. Zero point five-six seconds. Crrr--chnk! Three point two-five seconds. Zap. Zero point nine-eight seconds. Crr-chnk! Three point eight-eight seconds. Namjoo halts the stopwatch altogether, and starts a little in surprise, when Jeongmin zaps out, right in frotn of Nmajoo, a grin on her face.
"I did good, right, unnie?" she asks, eyes bright and wide, and reached for Namjoo's hands. Namjoo clasps her hands and leans in to pull Jeongmin into a hug.
"Yeah Jeongminnie, you did real good." Namjoo affirms, leaning into Jeongmin's back. Her jacket smells like roses and flowers and it's so hard to pull herself away, when all she wants to do is bury her nose into Jeongmin's neck and whisper praise into her tendons. It's scary but beautiful, the way she's learning and growing. Namjoo is so very proud.
"Unnie." Jeongmin says, turning around, with a wry grin, proud and smug, but inexplicably shy too, as she held Namjoo's hands still. "I'm going again. I'm going to do it faster. That wasn't a great timing, especially near the end."
Namjoo immediately loses her vaguely dopey smile. "That's a bad idea. You're tired. I don't recommend it."
"I just need incentive to keep hold of my control." Jeongmin says, firmly. Then her eyes widen a little, and she bites her lip, tugging it between her teeth and Namjoo's gaze is drawn there, inexplicably. She can't help it, Jeongmin is gorgeous and Namjoo is just wrapped up by everything she is and wants to be, of everything they could be together. "Unnie. If I win. If I beat my time and don't lose control. Will you give me a kiss?"
Namjoo blinks, slow and easy, but she can't say that she didn't half-expect this, didn't half-hope for the devotion in Jeongmin's eyes to turn into this, this idle interest and need, over time. She just. Hadn't thought she would be lucky enough. Doesn't know if she's enough of a prize for Jeongmin's control to stay completely perfect.
"You have to prioritize control, okay? We can work on time." Namjoo says, pulling her hands free from Jeongmin's. "Control it completely in a repeat-through and I'll. Yeah. I'll kiss you."
Jeongmin smiles, pretty and sweet and triumphant, and Namjoo sort of just wants to kiss her, despite the bad time, to just give in and lean in. But Jeongmin turns on her heel, away towards the course, back straight and determined, with that determination that makes her thigh muscles bulge a little with determination. "Oh yeah, unnie, I'm going to beat everything."
"Good luck, you baby." Namjoo teases, just a little, and Jeongmin lights up with that competitive spirit that fires them both up, though in a lesser way for Namjoo.
Namjoo grabs her stopwatch and starts timing again, as Jeongmin starts zapping around the room, strength through her entire being as she snaps down against the graphene in perfect form and moves, quickly, from one station to the next. It's strange. Namjoo doesn't know how she's doing it, except by sheer force of will and determination, but Jeongmin's truly faster than she was before.
Zap. Zero point zero-nine-nine. Crr-chnk! Two point eight-five. Zap. Zero point one-zero-five. Crr-chnk! Two point eight three. Her braid is coming loose. Zero point one-zero-nine. Her arms are a little shakier as she snaps down against the graphene. Two point nine eight. Her baby hairs are puffing upwards. Zero point one zero eight. Her face contorts into a pained grimace as she kicks down against the graphene, twice. Three point zero five.
The lights flicker, and Namjoo gets ready to run forward to, press her hand against Jeongmin's shoulder and contain her and her disaster. But the lights come back, and she zaps to the last station. Zero point five six. Slams down. One point nine five.
She turns towards Namjoo, face glowing, bright and filled with her rejoicing. Namjoo can't help but grin, big and wide, and Jeongmin doesn't even bother zapping, just runs forward five steps and hugs Namjoo. It's more like she's using Namjoo to be able to stay upright, Namjoo notices, as she balances Jeongmin's momentum and stands them still, but she doesn't say anything, as she smoothes down Jeongmin's hair and allows her to catch her breath.
"You did so well, Jeongminnie, you beat all of the times and the expected times at some points." Namjoo soothes, patting Jeongmin's back, and Jeongmin nuzzles close into Namjoo's shoulder, a sated-happy smile on her face.
"I told you I could." Jeongmin murmurs, and her eyes dart upwards towards Namjoo's face, towards Namjoo's lips and Namjoo realizes, with a slow thump in her stomach that reminds her. Oh. Right. It's real. She'll be kissing Jeongmin. Her roommate. Her potential nemesis. Her pupil. Her friend. The one she's been hopelessly crushing on since the moment she saw her.
"Hey. Yeah. You did." Namjoo murmurs, and she's aware her voice has gotten lower and a little more hoarse. "Well done."
"C-can I?" Jeongmin says, and it's so awed, so wondrous as she looks up Namjoo, not quite devotion, more tempered yet more bright at the same time, and how could Namjoo say anything but yes, when she feels so wonderful being the subject of a gaze like that? Namjoo leans forward and presses her lips to Jeongmin, very chastely at first, and moves against Jeongmin's lips for a little while, to get Jeongmin a little more accustomed to the sensation.
Jeongmin's lips are sort of soft against her. Taste a little like salt and faded blueberry chapstick, and curve victoriously upwards, after a moment, parting easily, and Namjoo can't help but press inwards a little more, slowly move into a deeper kiss, coaxing Jeongmin out, letting them both move at a comfortable pace. Jeongmin's arms around her shoulders move upwards, to carefully press against Namjoo's neck, to steady the kiss, to keep them in place, to stop them floating away.
Namjoo's own arms move lower, to rest at Jeongmin's waist, to press her close, so she can feel Jeongmin's supple boobs pressed up close next to hers, so she can feel the way her legs are sagging a little, so the smell of flower is completely overwhelming. She kisses with a little more intent, nipping playfully at Jeongmin's lips and smiling into the kiss that follows. It's soft and small, and gentle and fun. Not quite a breathtaking, sweeping first kiss, but. Well.
It's so comfortable that Namjoo can't quite bring herself to mind, as she presses closer to Jeongmin and breathes in her presence.
"Unnie." Jeongmin whispers, bright and happy, against Namjoo's lips. "I got your power." And Namjoo wants to laugh just a little, because that's both preposterous, and absolutely seems like the only way it could be. They are both born in September, after all. Not quite opposites, but more. Flip sides of a coin.
"Think if we kiss enough, I could get all of yours?" asks Namjoo, feeling a little goofy. Jeongmin giggles, brightly, and leans forward, as if to propose that they test the outcome of that. Namjoo leans in and lets it happen.
(X)
Jeongmin's sprawled up on the couch in their apartment, when Namjoo makes her way out of the shower, absently towelling her blonde hair. She's playing video games and Namjoo throws the towel in Jeongmin's direction, as she sweeps into their bedroom, to put on a proper bra, under her shower tshirt.
"Unnie!" complains Jeongmin from the living room and Namjoo grins to herself, amused and soft. The shower's hot water has made her brim with energy, so when Jeongmin comes into the bedroom, petulance in her gaze, as she throws the towel straight back at Namjoo, her aim much more strong and whip-like.
The impact makes Namjoo land back on her bed, splayed over the covers, where she laughs, a little winded, and makes a rude gesture in Jeongmin's gesture. But Jeongmin doesn't return it or say something sassy about good examples. Instead, she stares at Namjoo intently, her gaze glazing over a little and Namjoo is about to complain about Jeongmin's wandering attention always seeming to happen when Namjoo speaks about things, when she realizes a little what her position is. Her shirt has raked upwards, revealing her upper thighs, and she’s not wearing bra, and her shower-tshirt is soaked through and her wet hair is draping over her shoulders.
Oh.
Namjoo straightens a little more, but doesn't get off the bed, preferring to slick back her wet hair a little more, in a way that looks a little more sexy. "If you're going to space out about kissing me, Jeongmin-ah, just come and do it, okay?" Namjoo murmurs, holding out a hand.
Jeongmin almost trips over herself to straddle Namjoo and the smile they exchange as they press their foreheads together and press their lips together is enough to make Namjoo disregard all thoughts of prophecies and opposites and world-ending powers. For now, they're just two girls stupidly in love, and their powers and the world can wait for as long as it needs to, for them to indulge in this.
Choices. That was that what was important, after all.