powerboys | I’m not afraid of bruising my knees

It was so cold here. Yoongi had his arms around himself, huddled in the corner of the room, teeth clenched to keep them from chattering. He was cut off from his powers and it was cold. It was difficult to even think past it, all he wanted was fire. Fire to warm himself up. Fire to end it all, maybe that too.

He had no way of telling how much time had passed since he'd been locked down here, only that he had given up on trying to get out. Sometimes they brought him food. Sometimes they took him to be experimented on. And right now he could hear steps again. He looked up when the door was opened, frowned when a boy who looked roughly to be about his age was pushed in, wearing the same uniform he was wearing.

"Huh?" He didn't get it.

Ten may have been nervous at first but the sight of another boy didn't scare him, it thrilled him. He missed people, friends, kids from school. It was so exciting that he didn't hesitate to approach the other boy, grinning widely as he bowed to the other. "I'm Ten. T.E.N. My number and my name." He held up his arm, the number ten tattooed across his arm neatly. "Nice to meet you."

He looked around, wondering if they were watching. They usually were. They were probably studying what they would do next. "We can't use powers in the cells."

"No, we can't." Yoongi looked at him, honestly overwhelmed. He couldn't remember the last time he had spoken to someone his age. Not ever within the facility, he knew that much. "I'm Yoongi. Min Yoongi." He had a number somewhere too, but he didn't want to identify like that. He knew who he was. He could still recite the address where he had lived. Kind of. At least he knew some of it.

"My power is fire. They are scared of it, I think. That's why I'm here. I've killed some of them." That was still so strange to wrap his mind around.

"You get used to it, don't worry." Ten smiled at him, not seeming afraid by that confession. He wasn't alone. The careless words of a child had led to many unfortunate accidents. Traumatic at first but now Ten was so numb to it all, he repressed it down. He didn't like to think about it, even if everyone here wanted to think about it. "We're strong, Yoongi-ah. That's why they're scared."

They were too strong. It was exciting. And now he had someone to share it with. He looked at Yoongi and met his eyes. "Did you kill them? The bad people?" The men upstairs, he meant, and illustrated it by gesturing.

"Yeah. I did. Some of them." Yoongi frowned, remembering it all too well. Then he pushed his sleeve up a little, holding his arm out to Ten. "You can see the burn marks where one tried to hold me."

He couldn't burn himself directly, but indirect burns were very possible, which was why he had quite a few burn marks. He was not the best at controlling his powers when he felt threatened, he knew that. "What's your power?"

He had to have a power too, if he was here and he said that they were strong.

Ten came close and looked at the burn, studying it curiously and gently touching the skin, it was almost healed and it felt funny - like wrinkles on an old man. He smiled and stroked it again. "So cool. It's so gross." Well, it was but in a cool way. "They're get new people, they do all the time. They're not worth saving if they're hurting you, just get rid of them."

Ten saw them as dolls he didn't want to play with so he had no real empathy or care when they ended up dead by his hand. "People do whatever I say when I say it."

"Huh." Yoongi thought about that for a while, trying to imagine what that would be like. "That's cool. But weird. You shouldn't do it to me, I'd not like that." He liked doing his own thing. But he didn't mind Ten touching him, he was very used to being touched and, hey, Ten was warm. "How long have you been here, do you know?"

Maybe Ten would have a better idea of these things than he did.

"I can't in here, silly. As long as we meet in here, I promise. If we meet out there, I dunno. I'll try but it's hard." He didn't know how to control it at all, he said things all the time he didn't mean and he lost so many people he actually liked yelling at them bad, awful things. He didn't want to scare Yoongi off but he hated to break a promise too.

"I've been here a few years now. They gave me away..." They couldn't handle him any more, his parents. They gave up and gave him away. He understood it, he was a lot to handle. "I've been here so long, I'm just so bored!"

"I'm cold." That was his biggest grievance, though, yes, he was bored as well. And he missed... He missed a lot. About being outside. Being with people.

He supposed Ten being here was something. Something good. So he gave him a smile and took his hand, squeezing it a little. "I think I'm your hyung." He couldn't know for sure, but Ten seemed young. So it'd make sense that he was his hyung. He seemed like he could use help. "I'll take care of you."

"I'll take care of you too." Ten shuffled closer before following his impulses and holding onto Yoongi, pulling him close so he could get comfortable and warm against him. "It'll be warmer one day soon, promise. You just have to get used to the game and play it properly." Once Yoongi learned, he was sure they'd let him use his powers to keep warm again.

"Hyung, I have no best friends here, no one else will play. Do you want to be best friends?" Then he could tell people that he had a best friend.

"I have no friends. We can be best friends." He wasn't exactly spoiled for choice here, but he also kind of liked Ten already. He was so open and readily affectionate, it made it easier to feel comfortable around him. Besides, he really did make him feel warmer. "We can share food and-- We can play."

He supposed. He wasn't sure how.

"Best friends. We'll play for sure." He nuzzled against Yoongi, soaking in this positive interaction so readily. It wasn't just that another boy liked him but another boy liked him and he could have no influence on him with the power dampener on. His hyung just liked him, no mind control needed.

"Just stay close to me, sweet boy. Let your best friend Ten keep you warm." Yoongi was his first real friend, he would do anything to keep him.

The first thing Yoongi noticed upon waking up was how cold he was. He hadn't had his power entirely suppressed in a while now, outside of transportation and as punishment, so he was not used to that sensation without knowing a reason behind it. So he was already alert by the time he opened his eyes.

He was on a bed - unusual enough - and the room was not white. There was a window without bars. It was unfamiliar and he could hear sounds that he was not used to. He blinked as he looked around, trying to hold his panic at bay. He didn't feel the mental links he had with both Ten and Namjoon. Not the press of Ten's will, not the presence of Namjoon's thought. That was enough to panic him. Where were they?

When someone came into the room, he was on his feet immediately, looking at the stranger. "Where is Ten? Where is Namjoon?"

"Hey, you're awake. Stay calm, it's all okay. You were rescued by us." Jimin informed the man with a pleasant smile, coming over to Yoongi and holding his hands up, trying to coax him into lying back down instead of standing. He only just woke up, after all. "Namjoon is in the clinic and Ten is still unconscious in the other room. We just wanted to give you all space while you woke."

They weren't sure if they were friends or not, what the circumstances were and they wanted chance to see them all individually first.

"It's okay, I promise. I'm Park Jimin! I'm a friend, I don't mean you any harm, Yoongi."

"I need Ten and Namjoon. Now." Yoongi wished he could call forth fire, could make this man fear him, because he didn't want to be placated. He took a step back to avoid Jimin's hand, his eyes narrowed. "Bring me to them."

What did he mean, rescued? And why was Namjoon in the clinic? More experiments again? He still had to recover from the last time they'd taken him. "I'm their hyung, you can't keep them from me. Who are you?"

What was going on? Calming down obviously wasn't an option.

"Still just Jimin, nothing more. I'm like you, I have powers but I was rescued too." Jimin didn't give up, he just wanted to try and calm him down as best he could. He didn't let Yoongi intimidate him, he wasn't that scared - if Yoongi attacked, he's just call out for Hobi, he was sure he'd come and save him. "They're really fine, I promise. Namjoon is just in the clinic because his nose was bleeding and our doctor wanted to make sure he was okay. Nothing bad."

He had a feeling that the clinic was a sore point. "Calm down a little and then you can see them. Okay?"

Getting out his phone, Jimin sent a quick text out to Jin, asking if he could bring Yoongi to see that Namjoon was fine. "I'm asking now, okay? See?"

"Where is Ten? You said Ten is here." He wanted Namjoon too, of course, but it was suspicious that he was only mentioning Namjoon now. Or maybe it wasn't suspicious and he was just paranoid, also very possible. "Where is he?"

Yoongi looked around, looked down himself, tried to find any hint for how his powers were suppressed or what exactly was going on here. Finally he pushed Jimin aside and ran at the door, trying to yank it open and yelling on the top of his lungs.

"TEN! TEN, WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"He's just sleeping! He's --" Jimin groaned in pain as the door was yanked open and hurried to try and hold Yoongi back but damn, he was so angry and he didn't want to hurt him or scare him. "Please, calm down. Ten is just lying down, he's fine."

Fuck, he was losing fast control here. "I can get him for you, just calm down. Hoseok!"

He was going to need some back up here, he didn't know what was best to do or where exactly Ten was so he didn't want to further this guys fears and make a mess of their trust.

Obviously, Hobi had already been on his feet to try and deescalate the situation when he heard the commotion, so Jimin's cry for him happened right as he entered the hallway. He immediately came at Yoongi, halting the panicked man's frantic search by pinning him against the wall and holding him still, mostly making sure he couldn't hurt himself or others.

Luckily he was stronger than him, so it wasn't much of a struggle, not that Yoongi seemed to want to hold still.

"I need Ten. Where is Ten?" Why couldn't he feel him in his head? "What did you do to him?!"

"It's just a power suppressor," Hobi argued, but Yoongi shook his head.

"No. No, I can't feel him. I should feel him." Never had there been a power suppressor that had taken away the connections he had to his friends entirely.

"These are strong, we made them ourselves. They're basically total neutralisers." They readjusted the ones the government had and created these, which just cut off all powers entirely, instead of just dulling them to the point of uselessness. "No one is being hurt or harmed. Relax. If you can calm down then you can see Ten and Namjoon but you have to stop this."

If he burst into the clinic like that, Jin would not be happy with them and God knows how Namjoon would respond. Maybe relief or maybe fear, he wasn't entirely sure.

"For your friends, please."

He reached his hand out and touched Yoongi's face gently, letting his powers gently calm Yoongi down as he took in his panic and replaced it with safer, softer feelings. "Relax."

"Fuck off." Yoongi said it calmly, because he didn't really have a choice about feeling calmer, but that didn't make him happier about having to be calm. He had spent too much time with Ten to not have all alarm bells go off when he was being coerced into something. "What do you want with me? What are you doing with them?"

"We are helping you. I know you won't believe that, but we freed you from that place. We want to give you freedom. No more lab."

"Then where are they?" He had a one track mind.

"I told you. Namjoon is that way." Jimin pointed down the hall where the clinic was and then pointed across the hallway to where Ten was. "And that's where Ten is. We're not hiding them, we just want you to be calmer for your own sake."

Jimin sighed, debating what he was supposed to do. Maybe they could go to the clinic, talk to Jin, see if he thought they'd all be ready to see each other and--

"YOONGI!"

Oh God, what now?

He turned his head towards where Ten was being kept and winced, hearing the other yelling. He looked at Hobi. "I guess we go see Ten first?"

"TEN!" Yoongi yelled back and Hobi had to laugh a little, doing his best to smother it. But he gave a nod.

"Sure, let's go. Come on, Yoongi. Behave." Hobi let go of him and gestured down the hall and, with a suspicious glance at him, Yoongi started walking that way, heart hammering in his chest. He needed to find Ten.

"They are a little codependent, huh?" Hobi whispered to Jimin, then walked ahead of them to unlock the door with his key card and let Yoongi walk into the room for his reunion with Ten.

"I think that's an understatement. I couldn't even have a conversation with him yet." Jimin rolled his eyes, looking behind him with a frown. "I wonder if Jin hyung is having better luck that us." Odds are, probably not, no.

As the door unlocked, Ten shot forward and held onto Yoongi, not just for his own sake but in an almost possessive display, arms wrapped tight around Yoongi as he shot a death glare at Jimin and Hobi, not sure what was going on but he hated it.

Still a bit out of it, having just woken up, he didn't realise he had a dampener on. Probably a good thing he did. "You two, go kill yourselves. Now."

"No, Ten! It's fine. I-- Let's figure this out first." Ironically, Yoongi was the less hot-headed one among the two of them, it was just that he was too focused on his worry to think about much else. He hugged Ten, running his fingers through his hair. He seemed unarmed, at least there was that. "Power-dampener. Stronger than what we know."

"Yes, but I guess that's a good thing, I quite like living." Hobi smiled at Ten, clearly not intimidated. "Why don't you two sit down? We can explain things to you."

"I need to see Namjoon." Yoongi kept to his priorities.

"You touch us again, you won't like living, I'll make sure of it." Ten threatened possessively as he kept his arms around Yoongi, not willing to back down to Hobi. He looked down at his wrist where the dampener was and tried to remove it, frowning as he tugged at the strap. "I'll sit down if you take this off? The fuck is this?" He didn't like not having his powers any more than he liked them - it was just what he was used to and without them, he felt like the world was beyond his control.

And then Yoongi brought him up.

"I'm sure Namjoon is fine." Ten dismissed, not that worried. "We have to focus on getting out of here, we can handle Namjoon later."

"Namjoon is with us," Yoongi said, quiet but definite. He didn't want to fight in front of a potential enemy, but he wasn't going to budge on this either.

Hobi sighed, ruffling his hair and shaking his head. "Now. Come on. We don't want to harm you, but we want to help. You haven't lived outside, not really, you'll need some assistance. Besides, the lab is probably looking for you. You were very high security specimens, you are worth a lot to them. And-- Yoongi, right? You should really try and listen. It's about your brother."

Yoongi froze, his eyes narrowing. "M-- My brother?" He gestured with his hand to indicate size. Jungkook was tiny. Had been tiny.

"Don't listen to them, they're lying." Ten had to assume they were, he didn't like the idea so he hoped it was a lie. Namjoon was bad enough, he didn't want more people added to Yoongi's life. He missed when it was just them, it was so much simpler then.

"Jungkook. Jungkookie. He's cute, he was the one who did the recon for this job." He also helped Hobi getting in but it had been a lot for Jungkook, he had to go home to Tae before he could really confront it. "He knew you were his brother right away."

He saw the name of a piece of paper and just knew right away.

"I told you about Jungkook." While Yoongi had shouted for Ten before on the top of his lungs, right now his voice stayed quiet, as if he didn't feel any need for anyone but Ten to hear him. That was his usual, he wasn't very fond of noise. Loud noise never meant anything good, in his opinion. "Jungkookie. I tried to keep him safe and they took him."

He got a hold of Ten's hand, linking their fingers together. "I need to see him. And Namjoon. If we are free, why can't we go and see Namjoon?"

"...I mean, you can. Doesn't seem as if Ten wants to." Hobi was just saying.

"If Yoongi goes, I go." Ten didn't want to but he would. He had to stay close to Yoongi, he couldn't lose him. He felt his grip slipping more and more every day and this damn brother was another complication he didn't need but whatever. He could handle it and deal. If these guys were telling the truth, they were out of the lab and safe so maybe he could talk Yoongi into running away with him? They could make it work.

And if Yoongi didn't want to... he'd just make him. For both their sakes.

"You can see Namjoon, he's across the hall but you had to be calm again." Jimin tried, gesturing at the two of them to follow. "I'm sure Jin is keeping him safe."

I’m not afraid of bruising my knees

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