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If you were to ask Jiwoo, he would say he wasn’t sure what happened and how they managed to end up in this situation.
If you were to ask Wooin, he would look at you with a deadpan face, but secretly know it was Jisuk’s and Subin’s fault. He isn’t a snitch though, so he would not say anything at all.
If you were to ask Jisuk, he would tell you with all the confidence in the world, that it was Subin’s fault.
If you were to ask Subin, she would yell at you how it was all Jisuk’s fault.
Now you might ask yourself, what situation are they talking about? Well, at the moment, they were sitting in an office of the arcade they decided to go to.
With the police... And four angry teenagers with their parents, glaring at them.
It all started when Subin had the great idea to use their free day to go to an arcade. Jisuk immediately agreeing, ready to beat the shit out of her in all the games. So obviously the two calm ones of the group agreed to go. Jiwoo was so excited, since it would be his first time going to an arcade. Wooin didn’t have much of an opinion, since it would be his first time too, but he would go anywhere with his friends.
Once they arrived, Jiwoo and Wooin looked around and played some games together, while Jisuk and Subin went off to get competitive.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal afternoon, if there wasn’t some drama happening in their life.
So, while Jiwoo and Wooin were being their unproblematic selves, Jisuk and Subin started wrestling on the floor, after Jisuk accused her of cheating after losing 10 rounds in a row.
While doing so, they hit one of the couples standing close to them.
“Don’t you have fucking eyes?” the guy angrily yelled, only to get ignored.
Pissed off, he immediately joined the fray and hit Jisuk square in the face, making them come to a halt. The other couple, who seemed to be on a double date, came over to help their friend.
“The fuck you think you’re doing to my brother?” the second guy tries to threaten. Tries, because Jisuk and Subin have faced off against members of Frame, so some normal human threatening them is nothing but hilarious.
“None of your business you wannabe hot guy.” Subin sneered, looking down on them.
The boy seemed so enraged, that he tried to swing at her, but she dodged easily and hit him in the stomach. He went down immediately. His girl now joined in as well.
“How dare you, you ugly bitch.”
“Who are you calling a bitch, you fake ass blond.”
The girl screamed in embarassement and tried to hit her. Subin, knowing how much trouble she would be in, if she used even the tiniest bit of her powers, gladly got into a scratching and hair pulling match with the girl.
The second girl, who’s boyfriend was still down, saw the situation escalate and pulled out her pepper spray.
Jisuk screamed when hit with the pepper spray right to his face, coincidently not seeing the boyfriend taking a swing at him. Now completely enraged, he threw himself at the other boy and they started to brawl on the floor.
Hearing the commotion, Jiwoo and Wooin got there to be met with a scene of Subin and the girl verbally assaulting each other, while simultaneously scratching each other with dangerous looking nails, and Jisuk blindly punching a guy who tried to get him in a head lock.
Of course, Jiwoo tried to break the situation up peacefully, but the second guy, who finally stood up again, tackled him when he saw that they were friends with the two maniacs. To help Jiwoo, Wooin tried to get the guy off him, but his girl got in between and Wooin would never hit a girl. The girl saw an opportunity and hit him with a pepper spray as well, making him stumble back.
Jisuk, who got out of the headlock saw Wooin get hit and immediately kicked the girl aside, since his hands are rated E for everyone. The boyfriend saw this and let go of Jiwoo, who didn’t try to fight, since he doesn’t fight against people so much weaker than him.
So now Jisuk was fighting two guys, Subin was still screaming at the blonde girl and the second girl looked terrified.
Jisuk went over to Wooin, helping him keep his balance with his injured eyes.
Before they could decide to join the fight or not, an alarm was suddenly ringing. Everyone stopped for a second, to see the second girl standing by the fire alarm.
This didn’t stop anyone for long though, Jisuk and Subin now more pissed than ever, and the others too far into the fight that their pride didn’t allow them to stop. Jiwoo and Wooin did their best to stop Jisuk and Subin, but once they got into a fight, it’s almost impossible to make them change their mind.
Not even a minute later, security came and broke them up. Thankfully the two troublemakers had enough sense, not to use their powers on anyone in the facility, no matter how much they wanted to.
So now here they were, in the office of the manager. The other teenagers had all called their parents and the parents had called the police, since their children were all roughed up, except for the pepper spray girl.
Jiwoo pov.
Jiwoo wasn’t even really surprised, nor worried about himself. He had gotten in his fair share of trouble with the police, thanks to him living alone. And it’s not like they could talk to his parents, or that his mother would even care much. As long as he explained that he had fun with friends, she would probably let him get away with it.
Now his friends were a different story. Of course he was worried for them. Wooin has a bad history with doing illegal stuff and he hoped that the police didn’t have any information on him and his teacher.
Subin and Jisuk were a completely different story, even if they did get in trouble with the police, their families are powerful and wealthy enough to get them out of any trouble with authorities.
But he would not want to be in their shoes when Mr Inhyuk and Mr Park found out about this. Or even worse, Jiyoung and Subin’s grandfather.
So when the security guards asked for them to call their legal guardians, every single one of his friends paled or looked away.
Jiwoo also awkwardly laughed. His mom was somewhere overseas, in a different time zone, so he didn’t exactly have an official guardian either. And Mr Kayden and Mr Kartein are doing everything to keep their identities and location secret.
But then the two brothers and girlfriends called their parents, and started to tell a sob story, how they got attacked out of nowhere.
“That guy just punched me out of nowhere, look at this bruise!”, “Yeah and the girl tried to flirt with my boyfriend, after he came to help his brother and when I stood up for him, she scratched me and called me names!”, “My arm is broken!”
“Excuse me, you called me names first, bitch! And I would never flirt with that ugly weak bastard.” Subin angrily screamed back.
But with the clear difference in injuries, and the fact that Jisuk and Subin kinda did start it, it was hard for them to talk themselves out.
Not to mention the parents seemed to believe, that their children are the most well behaved and innocent kids on the planet.
With their luck, the brothers' parents even have connections with some policemen. This is when Jiwoo really started to worry. The police insisted, practically threatened them to call their parents.
Now Wooin wasn’t an option. His guardian is still a criminal, even if only in the awakened world. And Jisuk and Subin looked like they would rather go to prison, than call their guardians.
Jiwoo was fighting with himself. On one hand, he doesn’t want to be a burden to his mentor and physician (read, adoptive parents). But on the other, the police did threaten to put them into prison for the night until one of their guardians came.
“Um, most of our parents aren’t really available...” Jiwoo hesitantly told the two policemen.
“Listen kid, I’m sure you didn’t want this to happen, but you started a brawl in the middle of an arcade. And you’re all under-aged, so I'm sure you understand were I’m coming from.” in contrast to the other three, the policemen took one look at Jiwoo, and decided that he was too innocent for a fight. That’s the true power of a cinnamon roll indeed, Jisuk, Subin and Wooin thought in awe.
They all looked at each other. Wooin still having a deadpan face, but his eyes saying everything.
‘I won’t call my mentor.’
Jisuk and Subin had another glaring match, hoping the other would just call their guardian, but also understanding why none of them want to. As if on a secret code, all three of them looked at him. Jiwoo laughed awkwardly. At this they remembered that his mother is never home, so he wasn’t even able to call her, even if he wanted to.
While they were silently communicating how fucked they are, the parents got involved again.
“See, they don’t want to call their parents, because they know they are guilty of hitting our kids!”
Jiwoo had to admit, this was not making them look good. Did he really have to call one of them...?
He concentrated back on what was happening in front of him, when the blonde girl smiled at them and said, “Well, no wonder you don’t have any manners, your parents probably don’t care about you anyway.”
Now this was a low blow, even Jiwoo got a little angry. He always had doubts why his mother left him for such a long time, and why he wasn’t enough for her. His friends had it a lot worse though, since all of their parents died. He could see Jisuk and Subin getting angry again, almost standing up to beat the shit out of her.
Her parents stood in front of her, “See how aggressive they are? My daughter only spoke the truth.”
“Everyone calm down.” one of the police sighed, “violence is not allowed here. As much as I hate this, if you can’t call your parents, we will have no choice but to detain you until they can get you.”
The teenagers smiled triumphantly, and the parents nodded in satisfaction.
Jiwoo couldn’t let it go on when he saw them put cuffs on his friends' wrists.
“Wait!” he called, just as Jisuk had been cuffed, “I can’t call my mother, but I can call my guardians. Would that also count?”
“Well, it’s better than nothing. Please call them, so we can get this done with.”
His friends looked at him like he was crazy. He wasn’t going to call one of THEM, right? He would never bother one of the most prestigious, powerful, respected and insane people in the world, for something like this, right?? Wouldn’t prison be better than what Kayden and Kartein would do to them, when they found out that they got Jiwoo in trouble?
Wooin went as far as to think that maybe it would have been better if he had called his criminal mentor. At least then he wouldn’t fear for his life now!
Jisuk had similar thoughts, while Subin was torn between wanting to see the most beautiful beings on earth and be scared shitless of their vengeful wrath for Jiwoo.
Jiwoo also wasn’t sure how they would react. Would they be annoyed? Disappointed? But it can’t be worse than getting thrown into prison, right?
The question was, which one should he call? Kayden would probably make the problem worse by fighting the police… but on the other hand, he probably wouldn’t care about them fighting civilians and wouldn’t be angry.
Kartein on the other hand, would probably get them out easily, but he would be pissed…
Then again, they’re always together anyway, so there really is no way for him to keep it a secret from one of them.
Looking up once more, he saw the policemen and parents look annoyed.
He smiled sheepishly, “If this building gets destroyed, I apologize in advance.”
His friends winced, while the rest looked perplexed, but before anyone could react, someone answered the phone.
“Something wrong Jiwoo?” a slightly panicked voice was heard.
“Hahah, no no, nothing tooo serious… Well, you see, we went to the arcade as I told you. And we may have gotten into a fight. NO NO, nothing serious, more like, a scuffle, with some other kids. Yes. Yes. Well, the police showed up… Oh Mr Kartein, you’re also there… I’m sorry. I know.”
The two troublemakers were already crying on the inside, because Kartein did not sound happy. At least Mr Kayden seemed to have the time of his life, from the laughing that could be heard in the background.
“One of our guardians must come before we can leave, so could one of you maybe get to the arcade? Oh yeah, the one near the supermarket. Thank you! And again, I’m so sorry for bothering you!”
He hung up the phone. “They said they would come any second.”
“Both of them?!”
“Don’t you mean minutes?”
Before he could even answer one of them, the door already got opened by an angry looking Kartein.
Everything was silent. On Jiwoos side, because no one had the guts to say anything to an angry looking Kartein, and everyone was trying to disappear into thin air.
On the side of the normal kids, because their brain seemed to have disconnected. And their jaws were on the floor. The one police officer had dropped his coffee. One mother tried to hide her ring and the husband seemed to have an identity crisis. The father of the boys didn’t have the same problem, he was obviously aware of his sexuality, if the blushing was any indication. Even the children were staring, and one of the couples seemed to have broken up then and there.
It didn’t get any better when Kayden strolled into the room, complete with his mischievous smile and tight jeans. If anything, the men in the room became really self-conscious about their looks.
Really, Jiwoo knew his Mentor and Kartein were good looking, but wasn’t this a little much. Subin didn’t seemed to think so, going from her admiring gaze.
Seeing as no one said anything, Kartein turned his angry eyes to Jiwoos group. “What the hell were you thinking? Did you already become just as much of a lunatic as your guardian?”
“Hey, who are you calling a lunatic. And I would never fight weaklings.”
“Oh yeah, you seem to find this situation hilarious though!”
“Come on, getting in trouble with authorities is part of being young.”
“Of course a delinquent like you would think that.”
Kayden’s eye twitched, and was about to retort, when one of the policemen seemed to get a hold of himself.
“You… You are this kids guardians…?” he was oddly red in the face, Jiwoo thought.
Kartein turned around, looking down on the guy. “Why else would we be here.”
The man gulped. Why did it feel like getting looked down on by an angel or something? Didn’t matter the tone, you can’t get mad at a face like that.
Kayden sighed, “Yes, we are his guardians while his mother is away. Now, what did you need us here for? Can’t you just give them a slip on the wrist and let them go?”
Looking at the terrifyingly attractive dark male was at least a little better, though not by much.
“Well… I’m sorry but it wasn’t just a little scuffle as the kid said, these kids got really bruised up. One has a broken arm.”
He gestured to the left boy, who hadn’t broken up with his girlfriend, but looked ready to risk it all for Kartein.
“Tch, so what? It wasn’t like they were the only ones fighting.”
“It’s not about the fighting, it’s about consequences. We can’t just let them go, without informing their guardians.”
“Yeah! How could we let those delinquents go, without knowing they’ll be punished for this.” the only father who didn’t fall under the weird spell that Kartein and Kayden seemed to have on the other occupants. Though he was pissed off because his wife looked to be drooling.
“Well then, now that we’re here, we can take them home and punish them accordingly right?” grumbled Kayden.
“Please, no one would believe you would do shit to punish them.” Kartein scoffed.
Kayden glared, but the policemen were thankful, because they had been thinking the same, but too afraid to say anything.
“I promise though, that there will be consequences, you can trust me.” he continued, and smiled at the individuals on the other side of the room.
He smiled. HE SMILED. Even Kayden forgot to be annoyed, and stared at Kartein with wide eyes. Subin had heart eyes and one parent fainted, but got ignored.
This time, the policemen who dropped his coffee recovered partially. “Well, if a man like you says he will take care of it, I’m sure there wouldn’t be a problem. Though, I could give you my phone number, if you need some help. With anything really.” he breathed. His colleague whipped his head around and stared at him with a slack jar.
“You can have my number as well, if you need any help with parental duties, or anything!” one mother called, ignoring the look of her husband.
Jiwoo would be worried about their marriage, if he wasn’t distract with the dark look coming over Kaydens face. Was he angry at Kartein for interrupting him? But why was he staring at the policemen and parents?
“That won’t be necessary, we got this.” Kayden growled, making everyone focus back on him.
It almost seemed like everyone forgot about Jiwoo’s group...
“As my partner” Kayden turned so fast, his head almost snapped,”said, we have everything under control.” Kartein concluded, and turned to the policemen. “So get those cuffs off of them.”
Both men didn’t dare argue, though one sighed in disappointment.
Jiwoo gladly stood up and went to Kayden, who still looked in shock at Kartein. Just as they were about to leave, the father of the boys chimed in. “Maybe we should go on a double date once? To discuss the situation of course.” he smiled at both Kayden and Kartein. His wife nodding in the background.
“Da-date?!” Kayden exclaimed, slightly too high. Kartein only sighed. Maybe he shouldn’t have said partner? It was just the easiest explanation why they were both Jiwoo’s guardians…
“We would also be interest in an evening meal. To talk about parental issues of course!” the other mother insisted, looking at her man, who seemed to get over his identity crisis and got the enlightenment, that he may be bi.
Jiwoo was dumbstruck with these reactions, just like his friends, who looked like they couldn’t believe their eyes. The other children seemed to just be in their own head, still looking at Kayden and Kartein, as if they had hung the stars in the sky.
But then he noticed, his mentors hand started to form into a fist, and faster than he could move, he interjected, “Mr Kayden, let’s go home already!”
Thankfully, this distracted him enough, for Kartein to tell them off. “That won’t be necessary, we got everything under control, and will make sure, that something like this won’t happen again in the future.” he glared at Jiwoo once more, who laughed sheepishly.
“Let’s go.”
They all quickly left the office, only hearing sighs and was that a moan?
It didn’t take long for things to grow awkward. His friends seemed too intimidated to talk, and Jiwoo really felt bad for what happened.
“So, will we really be in trouble?” he asked quietly.
“Hah, as if! As I said, fighting is part of the youth!” Kayden laughed, in a better mood, now that the annoyances were gone.
“Tch, then does that make you a teenager? Would explain your behaviour sometimes” Kartein scoffed.
“At least I’m not acting like a grandpa. ‘I promise there will be consequences’ what are you, an old man?”
“It’s called being responsible, you wouldn’t know what that meant.”
Their banter continued, but Jiwoo was already used to it. His friends on the other hand, were not. They looked constipated, with how they couldn’t decide between shock, fear and awe.
“Is… is this how they normally act?” Jisuk whispered. Jiwoo nodded with a smile.
“Sooo, do you think they will tell our guardians?” Subin asked with defeat.
Jiwo laughed, “I doubt it. They hate dealing with other people, so they won’t go out of their way to tell them.”
Jisuk and Subin high-fifed and Wooin exhaled in relieve.
“But I never thought they would actually let us out so easily.” Jiwoo wondered.
The rest nodded. They all have gotten in a lot of trouble in their life, and never was it so easy to just walk out of it, without any consequences.
“Well, obviously. How do you think we got out of all the trouble we found ourselves in, huh?” Kayden smirked.
“You’ve gotten in trouble before Sir?” Subin asked in surprise. Jiwoo was also a little surprised. Sure, Kayden could be impulsive, but would he ever get in trouble with the police? Or was there even an awakener police?
“Please, have you met him?” Kartein scoffed smugly.
“Bitch.”, “Idiot”
“Anyway, what I meant was the trouble with smaller groups. They were always so indignant when I challenged them and won. Accusing me of cheating, those weaklings.”
“And you could always just walk away?”
“Well, sometimes I used violence to shut them up, but mostly, a few smiles here and there and some nice words were enough for them to let me walk away. Vator wasn’t completely wrong, a nice face can get you very far in the world.” he smirked.
“A nice face?” questioned Jisuk septically.
“Of course” Kartein challenged, “I got away from more than ten organisations yearly, just by giving them a fake smile and even that isn’t always necessary. I don’t use it as much anymore though, the amount of people asking for a date have gotten way out of hand, so I just started telling everybody to fuck off.”
“Ohhh” the four had stars for eyes. Jisuk and Subin already thinking of ways to use this. It wasn’t like they’re ugly. Though they’ll probably learn that Kartein and Kayden are a special case.
The group split shortly after, it was already dark outside. And everyone was tired from the day. And it felt too awkward to go to Jiwoos with two world rankers right there.
“Thank you again. And I’m so sorry I had to bother you…” Jiwoo looked down guiltily.
“What bother? It was actually pretty funny seeing all these people salivating over Mr. Noballs over here.” Kayden laughed. Jiwoo froze. This could get ugly.
“What did you just call me you dimwitted pikachu?!” Kartein raged.
“What, am I wrong?”
“At least I won’t have to make kittens with another cat!”
“Fuck you, as if I give a shit about Luterein.”
Jiwoo silently chuckled and left them to it. Looking back on it, the day wasn’t that bad. Everything got resolved, and with his two pseudo parents arguing as always, it felt like just any other day.
Though… Jiwoo can’t get the look Mr Kayden had when those people tried to get Mr Karteins number out of his head. Was he pissed that they were more interested in Mr Kartein than in him? But no… that looked more like… protectiveness? Jiwoo smiled to himself in his bed, yeah, Kayden and Kartein were good friends after all, no matter what they said.