Chapter Text
Taeyong tapped his fingers along to the beat of his favorite song as his driver pulled up to the front of his school. His insides were swirling with dread as he looked through the car window at the front steps of the school. It was his 16th birthday, and like every other birthday he knew that a bunch of annoying kids were going to be giving him overly expensive gifts trying to get close to him. It was all because of who his parents were.
Taeyong’s mother and father were a political power couple; his mother was even thinking of running for president. This made him something of a celebrity at his private school, even among all of the other spoiled rich kids. For some reason people thought that Taeyong was above the law and could do whatever he wanted… which was kinda true sometimes, but it’s not like he made a point of committing crimes for fun.
“Aren’t you going to go inside?” Taeyong’s longtime driver Minwoo asked. Taeyong couldn’t help but stare at the dark glasses framing Minwoo’s face; he was blind, but still had a fruitful career as a chauffeur, primarily because he was a Mutant. Mutants had been around for thousands of years (according to what Taeyong had read online at least) but they were first documented in the 1960s. Every mutant had their own superhuman ability that they were born with, and while it sounded cool it was also somewhat terrifying. Taeyong had seen mutants with hands growing out of their heads, or giant spikes shooting out of their backs or worse. Thankfully for Minwoo, his ability gave him an impeccable knowledge of his surroundings, even if he couldn’t see them.
“Yeah I’ll go I’m just not really all that excited for today,” Taeyong admitted.
“Your birthday has always been a sore spot for you,” Minwoo nodded in understanding, “Still, you should enjoy your classes today and have fun with your friends tonight. After all, you only turn 16 once,”
“I guess you’re right Minwoo,” Taeyong said with yet another sigh, “Well, I’ll see you later,”
“Do you need me to pick you up this afternoon?”
“Nah, a few of my friends wanna take me out to the mall right after school to buy me presents,”
“Ah, well have fun Taeyong,”
“Thank you Minwoo,” Taeyong said with a smile, actually feeling somewhat better about the subject. He walked into the school, hoping to avoid anyone who knew about his ‘special day’ as he made a mad dash for his locker. Unfortunately the second he rounded the corner, he came face to chest with his much taller best friend, Johnny Seo, “Oh, hey Johnny,”
“Happy birthday Taeyong! Welcome to the 16 and up club man!” Johnny’s voice echoed through the hallway, prompting Taeyong to shush him.
“Maybe you wanna say that a little louder? I don’t think they heard you in the Baxter Building!”
“Oh hush, you’re fucking Lee Taeyong, the most popular kid that’s ever gone to this school. Everyone knows its your birthday dude,” Johnny retorted. Taeyong rolled his eyes at that comment before Johnny continued, “Anyways, Ten and I are still taking you out later, so meet us by my car right after last period okay?”
“Alright, I’ll be there,”
Johnny waved goodbye as Taeyong grabbed his books from his locker. When he turned around there were no less than six other kids there, each holding a brightly colored giftbag with overly eager smiles stretched across their faces… It was going to be a very long day
…
Taeyong let out a deep sigh of relief as the dismissal bell sounded off; finally he was free… or at least, almost free. He still had to sit through being dragged to the mall with Johnny and Ten, but at least the three of them always had fun together. He made his way to Johnny’s silver sports car in the back parking lot, struggling to carry about 20 gift bags with him. Johnny and Ten finally came outside, talking and laughing amongst themselves.
“Hey TY!” Ten called out, waving frantically to Taeyong.
“Hey you guys. Do we have to hit the mall? I mean, I think I have enough birthday gifts,” Taeyong said, hoping they’d just give up and let him go home.
“Yeah but those gifts aren’t special, they’re not from your best friends,” Johnny said, hopping into the driver’s side of the car, “Now let’s get going,”
Taeyong shrugged his shoulders in resignation and piled his gifts into Johnny’s backseat before pushing them over to make room for himself. Before long, they were speeding down the highway in the direction of the largest mall in town.
“Okay, so first we need to hit up the jewelry store. I wanna get matching bracelets for the three of us! Oh, and we can have them engraved with our initials!” Ten excitedly squealed. Taeyong couldn’t help but smile; his friend’s excitement was infectious.
“Hey Johnny, I think your seatbelt back here is broken,” Taeyong said, but Johnny didn’t hear him since he cranked up the radio 2 seconds before Taeyong started talking. Taeyong went to reach forward and tap Johnny’s shoulder, but his attention was diverted by the sight in front of him, “Oh shit, Johnny look out!”
Just up ahead there seemed to be a car accident; four vehicles were crashed into each other, their frames bent out of shape and glass from windows and windshields scattered across the road. Johnny was already going faster than normal, so he didn’t have time to stop before slamming into a minivan at the back of the group, sending Taeyong hurtling forward out of the back seat and crashing through the windshield. He hit the pavement hard and rolled for at least ten feet before coming to a stop.
He lied there, completely immobile; what had to be excruciating pain only felt like a dull ache to him as the blood from his open head wound dripped down his face and he slipped slowly into unconsciousness. The last thing he recalled seeing before fading out completely was Johnny and Ten running over to him…
…
Taeyong’s eyes slowly fluttered open and the first thing he saw was a blinding light in his face. He had no idea where he was or what happened after the crash, but he could feel a subtle throbbing in his limbs. He craned his neck upwards, trying to get a better look at the room he was in. It looked like a room in a hospital or something, but he couldn’t be sure. A few moments later, a doctor walked into the room, confirming his suspicion.
“Excuse me, doctor? How long was I out for?” Taeyong asked, his voice coming out raspy. The doctor gasped in shock at the sound of Taeyong speaking. Her eyes were wide and her lips were trembling.
“Y-you’re… you’re supposed to be dead! What happened to your wounds? You had a litany of broken bones and a serious cranial fracture. You were pronounced dead at the scene of the c-crash and… well, your parents are on their way, but I suspect I’ll have very special questions for them now,”
“Wait, what?! You’re telling me I… died? That’s impossible!” Taeyong insisted, “I was just unconscious for a few hours!”
“There can only be one explanation for this,” the doctor said, shaking her head, “I’d have to run a few tests to be certain but… I believe you’re a Mutant Mr. Lee,”
Taeyong couldn’t believe what he was hearing; could he really be a Mutant? He’d never shown any signs of having superhuman powers before, though if what the doctor was saying was indeed true, it seemed like he’d just come back from the dead. There was no way that could be possible unless he had some kind of weird abilities. The more he thought about it though, he’d always healed a lot faster than he probably should’ve, even if he’d never sustained major injuries in his life.
“If I am a mutant, what’s going to happen to me?” Taeyong asked, the fear evident in his voice as he spoke.
“Well, I think your life will be very different from now on,”