Title: Fleeing Storms (2/?)
Author: omen1x2
Rating: R
Fandom: TVXQ, Super Junior
Pairing: JaeChun, HyukMin, (Sung)MinJae, more later.
Disclaimer: Like all fanfic writers, I twist reality to please me.
Summary: In a world where being different is terrifying, the different are sent away to a place where they can learn to be not-so-different. Steampunk AU.






Fleeing Storms
Chapter Two
By Omen-chan

The Institute, run by the Knightwatch, is used to teach troubled, different
young boys to how to better blend with normal society.
Rumors of experimentation and abuse have yet to be verified, and yet-
- Excerpt from an uncompleted political text.

Yoochun fidgeted uneasily, playing with the reins of his horse. Jaejoong had asked to go riding with him, but Yoochun had been waiting for almost two hours, and his roommate still hadn’t arrived. He’d never known Jaejoong to be late before.

Finally, a small figure, shoulders hunched and long hair blowing in the wind, arrived at the stables, startling Yoochun. He had been staring at the dormitory and the school, but Jaejoong had not come from either of them.

“Hyung?” Yoochun’s voice is soft and tentative as he takes in Jaejoong’s paler-than-usual skin and bloodshot eyes.

Jaejoong smiled up at him and held his hand out. “Sorry I’m late, Yoochun ah. Help me up?”

They had originally planned to race each other through the valley, but Yoochun didn’t say anything as he reached down to help pull Jaejoong onto his mare.


~❖~


“Hey, hyung,” Yoochun began, faux-casually, when they’d finally reached their room later that afternoon. “You said Hyukjae’s room is on the top floor, right?”

“Huh?” Jaejoong blinked down at his desk, and then turned to look at Yoochun, still half-dazed. “Oh. Yeah. He’s the king of the freaks.”

“Would you mind if I went and talked to him?”

There was a long pause while they both pretended like they didn’t know the answer, and then Jaejoong gave a weak half smile. “Why would I mind?”


~❖~


Yoochun chewed viciously on his lower lip as he made his way up the stairs. He’d been here almost three weeks, and he’d never seen Jaejoong like this. Jaejoong was always so vibrant and full of love that this sudden change (he’d been just fine this morning, Yoochun told himself ferociously) was terrifying. The only person he could think to go to was Hyukjae, because Jaejoong didn’t seem to want to talk about it.

Jaejoong had come from the training center, and Yoochun tried desperately to shove the horrible rumors about The Institute out of his mind. The Institute had been fine, nothing like what people whispered about behind closed doors.

Surely everything was okay. Maybe Jaejoong was just tired.

He arrived right outside Hyukjae’s room. Hyukjae had been there so long that he had actually carved his name right into the door, instead of using the placards outside everyone else’s.

Yoochun didn’t want to know. He didn’t. He didn’t want to know why Jaejoong was like this.

But he knocked anyway.


~❖~


Hyukjae looked almost as bad as Jaejoong had. When Hyukjae had opened the door, Yoochun had almost stared, surprised and worried. Was everyone like this? Had something happened?

And then he remembered how strong Hyukjae’s Empathy was, and that his close friendship with Jaejoong opened him up even further (Jaejoong had explained Empathy to him once, and Yoochun had been more interested in watching Jaejoong’s lips move than really listening, but some of it had registered).

Yoochun closed the door behind himself and leaned back against it, as if suddenly worried his legs wouldn’t hold him up anymore. “I- I…”

“You’re here because of Jaejoong, aren’t you?”

Nodding, Yoochun swallowed harshly.

“It’s not quite as bad as it looks. He just… He’s their favorite plaything.” At Yoochun’s wince, Hyukjae shook his head. “Not like you think. Most of them are all about learning and ‘helping’ people, and Jaejoong’s one of the rarest ones out there. No one had ever heard of anyone having two Gifts before, so Jaejoong’s the one they like to study most.”

Hyukjae waited as Yoochun focused his thoughts past that ominous “most.” He knew Hyukjae wouldn’t have used that word if he hadn’t meant it. “There’s something wrong with him. Is he… always like that… after?”

There was a long pause, and then Hyukjae shook his head, making Yoochun want to run right back out that door. “Sometimes they don’t really do much, and he comes back just the same. But some days, they wear him out, inside and out, until he collapses. He collapsed today.”

“He…”

“Go back downstairs, Yoochun.”

Yoochun fled eagerly.


~❖~


He wanted to run to the stables or even further, to gather his thoughts and calm himself, but he knew that wasn’t what Hyukjae meant, or what Jaejoong needed.

Yoochun stood outside the door for so long that Jaejoong opened it on him with an exasperated huff. Yoochun had forgotten that Jaejoong’s Empathy made it easy for him to sense him.

They stared at each other for a long while. Jaejoong still looked nothing like himself, but a bit of color had returned to his cheeks.

“Are you going to come in? Geez.”

Yoochun didn’t answer, instead pulling Jaejoong into a tight hug and burying his face into Jaejoong’s neck. He felt lips move against his ear, and moved closer.

“Big baby.”


~❖~


They were together with Sungmin and Junsu when it was finally Yoochun’s turn, a week later. Yoochun had been dreading it, and he’d started having nightmares. It was almost a relief when it finally happened.

Two Knightwatch apprentices Yoochun had never seen before stood in the doorway of the now empty classroom. “Park Yoochun sshi, please come with us.”

Yoochun’s heart beat faster, but it was nothing to Jaejoong’s reaction. Cards dropped to the table and Jaejoong’s face paled and his breathing sped. His eyes were so wide and panicked, like a startled horse, that Yoochun wanted to comfort him.

But the lackeys were waiting.


~❖~


There wasn’t much to it at first. He sat on a cold bench, trying to hold his hospital robe closed behind him. Just the same old tests, and after an hour of it, he wanted to ask sarcastically what they’d done with his old files, because surely they already had this information; it’s how he’d gotten there in the first place.

But finally, he was told to stand, and taken into another room, with a small handful of desks, and even fewer Knightwatch apprentices sitting in them. Yoochun wouldn’t let himself tremble, but he watched every one of them, and couldn’t control his flinch when one of them moved. He still held his hospital gown closed behind him.

“Park Yoochun sshi,” a voice, not from inside the room, but through a loudspeaker on the opposite end of the room, began. “Please note the beaker of water on the table next to you.” He hadn’t before, being much too occupied with watching the lackeys. “Please tip it over without using your hands.”

Yoochun focused on it and gave it a mental shove. With his nerves, it flew right off the table and crashed into the wall several feet behind it. He heard a flurry of pencils on paper, but didn’t look over again, instead focusing on the broken glass, and tried not to think of Jaejoong.


~❖~


They kept him for three hours, and by the time he finally made it back to the dorm, he was so exhausted he figured the only way to get to his room would be by crawling up the stairs.

But Jaejoong was waiting just inside the entrance. He didn’t say a word as he wrapped an arm around Yoochun’s waist and half-carried him up the stairs.

Hours later, after light’s-out, Jaejoong twitched and then threw off his blankets. Neither of them were asleep.

“Is it always like that, hyung?” Yoochun swallowed, and carefully turned his head to focus on Jaejoong in the dark room.

Jaejoong glanced back over. “Did they touch you?”

“No.” They had, of course, but not in the way Jaejoong meant.

“Then maybe for you, it will be.”

Despite his exhaustion, Yoochun was too scared to sleep. He’d had enough nightmares.


~❖~


A little before dawn, Jaejoong slipped into bed with Yoochun and held him tightly. Yoochun kissed Jaejoong’s cheek, just under his ear, and heard Jaejoong’s breath hitch.

They both slept through their morning classes.



~to be continued…~



A/N: I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I last wrote anything, but I’ve been too depressed to really feel like writing much of anything. Finally, I just sort of sucked it up and went “fuck it” and went ahead and finished this chapter. I’m sorry it’s so short, but I’m glad I managed to do something.


Chapter One | Chapter Three