#pt 17

Wes, on the other hand, moved through the apartment like a ghost, cleaning up the remnants of the chaos—discarding bloodied towels, righting overturned furniture, bagging the empty chip bags and water bottles. He cooked simple meals, and the domestic act of making soup and eggs became a silent language of care. He’d leave a bowl on the nightstand for Sam, a plate for Danny.

They didn’t talk much, the weight of everything that had happened was too heavy to lift. But the silence was no longer hostile; it was a shared shelter, a fragile peace negotiated in the language of shared glances and small, practical kindnesses.

On the second morning, Danny’s phone, charging on the bedside table, began to buzz. Once. Then twice. Again, and again. The screen flashed with ‘MOM’ and ‘DAD’.

Danny’s breath hitched. The color draining from his face, his hand twitching on the blanket as if to reach for it, held back by an invisible force. A fine tremor started in his shoulders, a precursor to the full-blown panic that started to tighten his chest. "I… I have to…"

"You don't." Sam's voice was calm but firm, cutting through the rising static in his head. She was at his side in an instant, her hand covering his twitching one. Her touch was cool and steadying. "You don't have to do anything right now. You deserve time. Time to breathe, to get your bearings. You don't owe anyone your peace, especially not right now. And not them" Her dark eyes held his, an anchor in his sudden, silent storm. "Just breathe, Danny. In and out. They can wait."

He focused on her face, on the unwavering certainty there, and managed a shaky nod, dragging a ragged breath into his lungs. The call went to voicemail, but the silence only lasted for three precious, peaceful heartbeats before starting buzzing again, feeling more aggressive this time, making Danny tense once again.

With a swift, decisive movement, Sam snatched the phone from the nightstand, her thumb swiping across the screen to silence it completely. "There," she said, placing it face down on the dresser across the room. "No one’s calling, you don't have to worry."

Danny smiled crookedly at that but took a deep breath, feeling how it slowly helped him calm down. The tremor was gone and the tight feeling in his chest lessened. The bedroom door creaked open, and Wes peered in, his face etched with concern. He had a laptop tucked under his arm. "Everything okay in here? I heard…" He trailed off, taking in the scene, Danny, pale and breathing carefully, and Sam standing guard by the bed shooting blades to the phone on the nightstand.

"Just a nuisance call," Sam said, her tone leaving no room for argument. "Danny's handling it."

Wes's eyes darted from the face-down phone to Danny's strained expression, and understanding dawned. He didn't press. Instead, he lifted the laptop slightly. "I, uh… I've got some work to catch up on. Mind if I camp out here? The study chair is killing my back." It was a flimsy excuse, and they all knew it. He just didn't want to leave Danny alone.

Danny gave another weak nod, a flicker of gratitude in his exhausted eyes. "Yeah. Sure. Knock yourself out."

Wes settled into the armchair beside the bed on Danny's side that he dragged in the other night, not wanting to sleep in the other room without being able to check on Danny, but also wanting to let Sam have the bed.

The soft click-clack of his keyboard soon joined the rhythm of Danny's breathing, a new, mundane symphony of companionship.

A few hours later, Sam’s own phone chimed. She frowned at the screen. "I have a shift at the botanical gardens in an hour. I can call out." She said as she started typing.

"No," Danny said, his voice stronger than it had been all day. He pushed himself up slightly, wincing only a little. "Go. You already called out yesterday. We're okay here."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, her gaze searching his.

"Positive. Look." He carefully lifted the edge of the bandage on his side, just enough to show the wound. It was still an angry, blistered mess, a horrifying map of blisters and irritated skin. But the edges were pink and inflamed with fresh healing, not the sickening, corrosive green from before nor the black necrotic. "See? I'm on the mend. Go save the orchids or whatever."

Sam leaned in, inspecting it with a critical eye before sighing in reluctant acceptance. "Okay. Fine. But you," she pointed a finger at Wes, "you call me if anything, and I mean anything, changes. His temperature spikes, he starts glowing, he tries to get up and make a sandwich—you call me."

Wes gave a solemn, two-fingered salute from his laptop. "Yes, ma'am."

With Sam's departure, the last thread of the week's frantic energy snapped, leaving a silence that was strangely comforting. It was the first time they had felt this calm and truly in peace since the whole disastrous "fake dating" scheme began. They were left alone without a plan to follow, yet it felt nothing like those first, strained days were not knowing what to do felt like they were left to scramble to find some kind of directrice. Now, the quiet was a balm, and the lack of orders a relief.

So Wes’s typing resumed, a soft, rhythmic counterpoint to the steady sound of Danny’s breathing, and Danny let his head fall back against the pillows, his gaze tracing the dust motes dancing in a sunbeam that cut across the room.

They spent the rest of the day like that, wrapped in a companionable silence that asked for nothing and offered everything. It wasn't a celebration, and the road ahead was still long, but in that peaceful space, a foundation was being laid—one built not on lies or necessity, but on the quiet understanding that they didn't have to face the aftermath alone.

_________________________________________

The apartment fell into a deeper, more profound quiet after Sam left, inhabited only by the two of them. The silence was no longer empty, but filled with a comfortable, focused energy. Wes, finally free from the oppressive weight of an audience, dove back into the projects he'd abandoned during the chaos of his brother's visit. The soft, rapid-fire clicking of his keyboard became the room's steady heartbeat.

Danny drifted in and out of sleep, but during his waking hours, he was more present. His eyes, clear of pain-induced haze, would follow Wes's form. He watched the subtle signs of frustration—a tensed shoulder, a sharp tap of the backspace key.

"Read that last bit to me?" Danny's voice was rough from sleep, but his tone was clear.

Wes blinked, pulled from his concentration. He glanced over, finding Danny watching him, head tilted in question.

"The sentence you just deleted. Read it."

Hesitantly, Wes did. The words sounded flat and awkward aloud.

Danny was quiet for a moment, his brow furrowed as he processed what he'd heard. "It feels like you're skipping a step," he said, his voice low but clear. "You're telling me the town's main factory closed, and then you immediately say the future looks bright. It comes out of nowhere, like, Why is it a good thing? You need to connect the dots."

He shifted slightly, gesturing with one hand as he pieced it together. "What if you said that the closure, as bad as it is, is what finally forced the town council to approve that new green energy park they'd been arguing about for years? The disaster is the reason for the hope. You have to show the cause and effect, or it just sounds like you're contradicting yourself."

A slow grin spread across Wes's face as the missing piece snapped into place. "Yeah. Yeah, that's it. It needs a bridge." He murmured, turning back to the screen, fingers flying as he reworked the paragraph to weave the two ideas together. "Thanks."

Danny smiled lazily “No prob” and went back to quietly observe Wes.

It was a small thing, but it was real. They spent the rest of the day like that, wrapped in a quiet symbiosis. Wes related news, and Danny, from his nest of blankets, helped him spot the cracks.

This fragile peace held for the rest of that day, a quiet rhythm established between just the two of them. As evening drew in, Sam called, pulled away by the immutable demands of parents and her own life beyond the apartment's crisis-ward walls, she couldn't stay another day without it being problematic.

"But you'll update me?" she'd asked Wes through the phnoe, her voice low. "Everything. If he so much as twitches funny."

"Constantly," Wes had promised.

And he did. With Sam gone, throughout the evening and into the next day, Wes would pick up his phone, his thumbs tapping out quiet reports.

‘He’s asleep again. Color’s better’ ‘He's asleep. Breathing is even’. Or, ‘Ate half a piece of beagle. Says it's not sawdust’.

And always, a moment later, a reply would buzz back.

‘Good. Keep me posted’

It was a silent partnership, with Wes as the ground-level observer and Sam as the remote command, helping them both feel more in control of the situation and letting them breath knowing there was someone else who cared enough to look out for Danny.

The silenced phone remained face-down on the dresser. But on the second afternoon, after Wes reheated soup in the kitchen and brought it to the room for Danny, he heard it: the persistent, muffled buzzing of Danny’s phone, vibrating against the wooden dresser.

When he walked back into the bedroom he saw Danny with his jaw tight and his eyes pointedly fixed on the ceiling. He made no move to answer and Wes quietly left the soup on the side table and went back to the kitchen to retrieve his own phone.

The moment he grabbed it, it vibrated. Another text from Sam.

‘Everything quiet?’

‘Not exactly. His parents are calling’. He hit send.

“You can’t ignore them forever,” Wes said walking back into the bedroom, his voice soft.

“Watch me,” Danny replied, his voice rough with sleep and pain. The calls were a siren song of guilt and obligation, pulling at the edges of the fragile peace they’d built.

The phone fell silent. Wes’s phone buzzed again.

‘Do you want me to come over?’

Before he could answer or ask Danny, the bedroom was filled with the sound of ringing, taking Wes by surprise, since it was supposed to be silenced, he went and grabbed it. This time, the screen showed JAZZ’.

Danny’s eyes widened, ever since Jazz told him she knew about him being phantom, he made sure to always be able to answer her calls, he didn't want to make her worry more that she already did, and, he also wanted to make sure to be able to answer in case that she was in danger. A storm of conflicting emotions went through his face when he heard the ringtone.—dread, guilt, and a faint, desperate hope—crossing his face. He gave Wes a sharp, pleading look.

“I got it,” Wes said and answered, keeping his voice low. “Hey, Jazz.”

“What? Who’s this? Is everything— where’s Danny?”

“It's Wes. He’s right here. He’s okay,” Wes said, his tone calm but leaving no room for doubt about the seriousness of the situation, and mentally scrambling for the right explanation. He ignored the whole thing about why Danny was with him and the fake dating mess, it wasn't important at the moment. “There was an incident. At the lab. He got caught in the backlash. He’s been staying with me while he recovers.”

He heard a soft gasp “Mom and Dad called,” she said, her voice tight. “They were going on about the explosion, about the failed prototype, furious they couldn’t figure out what triggered it. They just kept saying they needed to ‘ask Danny if he saw anything’ assuming he was in his room. They didn’t even check, Wes. They have no idea he’s not even living there. I played along, but as soon as I hung up I called him. Is he really okay? Let me talk to him.”

Wes listened, his expression growing grim as Jazz related.The casual cruelty of it—that his parents' primary concern was a malfunctioning weapon, not their son's whereabouts or safety—settled like a cold stone in Wes's stomach.

“I think you should talk to her,” Wes said, his voice softer now. He held the phone out to Danny. "Your parents called Jazz. She's worried.”

Danny took the phone, his hand trembling slightly. He met Wes’s gaze for a brief second, a silent thanks for the buffer. “Jazz?”

He pushed himself up gingerly, a sharp hiss escaping his lips. He took the phone and walked slowly out of the bedroom and onto the small balcony in the living room, closing the glass door behind him.

Wes followed him to the living room, staying at the arch of the hall, and watched through the glass as Danny leaned heavily on the railing. He saw the tension in his shoulders slowly dissolve, replaced by the weary slump of someone finally setting down a burden they’d carried for too long.

When Danny finally ended the call and stepped back inside, he looked emotionally scoured, but the ever-present undercurrent of anxiety that had thrummed beneath his skin since he’d woken was gone.

Wes came close, worried Danny would sink or fall with how unsteady he looked, but Danny just handed the phone back to Wes without a word and seated carefully onto the couch, letting out a long, shuddering sigh.

“Well?” Wes asked, his voice gentle.

“She’s… she’s going to handle them,” Danny said, wiping at his eyes with the heel of his hand. “She’s going to call them back. Tell them she talked to me, that I’ve been crashing with a friend after a… a rough patch. That I wasn't aware of the explosion and that I need a few days of space. She’ll make it sound convincing, make them back off.” He looked up, with a shaky but genuine smile. “She… she said, to let her be the big sister for once”

The relief in the room was palpable. It was as if the very air pressure had dropped. For the first time, Danny had passed the burden of his parents, and the world hadn’t ended. He had trusted someone, and they had caught the weight.

Wes felt a surge of fierce protectiveness, not just for Danny, but for this fragile peace they had carved out. “Good,” he said, the word carrying more weight than any elaborate speech. “That’s… really good.”

He watched as Danny carefully lay back down, the movement less pained than before. The silence that settled over them was different now—lighter, full of potential instead of dread. There was hope, despite everything, things were finally righting by its own and they could stand back and let it happen.

_________________________________________

And the storm passed, now we get a real break and some hope for the future. Isn't it nice? Danny is finally learning to let others help and its turning out good. Don't be scared, there's no plot twist coming to ruin this, Danny deserves nice things too. (I say as I plan another story where he is gonna be 90% of the time miserable)

            There wasn’t much in the small room you had been placed in. Just a bed, a small nightstand and a wardrobe. Naturally you snooped through everything, trying to find anything that you could use to your advantage, but as you had suspected; nothing. It occurred to you while snooping through the draws, even if you were able to break out of this house, you wouldn’t know what to do from there. You don't have any sort of cell phone, you don’t know anyone's numbers and you have no clue where the base is actually located, so it's not even like you could just find you way back to seventeens base. Monsta X had to have some sort of way to get in contact with your boys. If they are actually as close as they had made it seem, they have to be in contact pretty often, right? Maybe your first step was to try and figure out how they got into contact with others. Seventeen all had cell phones, but you rarely saw them messaging anyone outside of their own group. Honestly, a majority of them just seemed to use their phones to play games. Then again, if Jihoon really was that good at tracking down people, maybe all you needed to do was get in the view of some sort of security camera and he would be able to find you. While that might make it look like you ran away, at least they would have a rough idea of where you were? Maybe Mingyu would come and find you? You decided this would be your first plan of action. 

            You stayed in the room for what seemed like an hour or two. If you wanted to make this plan believable, you couldn’t jump into action to fast. You heard a few of them in the hallway a couple times, but no one came to see you. Not even Hoseok. You finally decided it was a good time to get the ball rolling, so you ventured out of your room. You eventually found Hoseok in the kitchen, messing around with something in their fridge. The house itself wasn’t that big compared to seventeens. Afterall, Monsta X’s base was more or less a fancy apartment, but it was definitely on the small side. Hoseok stopped what he was doing when he saw you. 

“If I’m going to stay here than I expect to be treated like a normal person and not someone you kidnapped.” You declared, making Hoseok straight up and close the fridge. 

“Of course,” Hoseok said, “I never planned on treating you like anything other than a normal person.” 

“Good. Then if that’s the case I want to go shopping and get some stuff for that plain room. It’s too depressing.” You said. Hoseok thought for a moment, a tiny bit of skepticism dusted across his face. “Oh come on, even seventeen let me go outside every now and then. How else do you think I was able to go to the ball. On top of actually needing things I just want to soak up the city life. It’s been so long since I’ve been around other people. Plus, where am I going to go? You’ve been stalking me for years apparently, it's not like I’d be able to run away…” you mumbled. Hoseok seemed to be wavering a bit. Your plan was working. “Come on Hoseok! Let’s go out! I might not mind it here if we do fun stuff like this!” You say in a sing-songy voice. 

“Alright, alright fine. Let me go tell Shownu and then we can go.” Hoseok finally agreed. You jumped up and down and clapping your hands. 

“Yay! I’m excited! It’s been so long since I was in the city.” you say before he heads out of the room to find Shownu. Your heart was pounding in your chest. This was actually going as planned; you honestly couldn’t believe it was going this well. Something had to be wrong, there was no way it was going to work this well. Maybe it was going to go so well because Hoseok knew seventeen wouldn’t actually be able to find you. 

When he got back, he passed you a black baseball cap to stay “inconspicuous” but you seriously doubted that was going to stop Jihoon from noticing you. You headed towards the front door before you noticed a minor issue. 

“Uh, I don’t have any shoes…” you pointed out. 

“Ah right,” Hoseok sighs, “you can borrow an old pair of mine, they might not fit but it’s better than nothing. We’ll get you a new pair first thing when we go out.” He finally decides, already on the hunt for a pair. You nodded, and then suddenly felt like you had been struck by lightning. Of course! You only had one pair of shoes back at seventeen, you only ever needed one so there was no need to have more. They would see your shoes by the front door still and know you didn’t leave on purpose! They were going to be looking for you for sure! At least you knew Mingyu would at the very least. You felt like you could explode with joy upon realizing that there was a solid clue as to what had happened to you. Because of this you weren’t that bothered Hoseok's shoes didn’t fit you at all. All that mattered now was to find some surveillance cameras to stand in front of. 

Of course, as soon as the two of you headed outside, Hoseok began taking you through dark alley ways and sketchy back roads that wouldn’t have any sort of camera set up. It’s only natural that someone from the mafia would know how to avoid the cameras on the streets around their own house. You had sort of figured this would happen. However, there had to be at least one functional security system set up at the various stores you would be going too. One of them was bound to pick you up. Also, in order to get to these stores, you had to leave the back alleyways eventually. Sure enough, the two of you emerged from the dark streets and slowly started to enter a more populated area. You kept your eyes out for any sort of camera as well as possible without being too noticeable about it. You figured looking around at a new town was only natural, so you weren’t to lowkey about it in the end. 

“It’s a cute little city, isn’t it?” Hoseok said, clearly noticing you looking around. You only nodded, eyes flicking from him and then back to examine the area around you. 

“I think you’ll like it here. You always talked about how you wanted to live in the city back when we were in school together.” 

“You remember that?” You questioned. You don’t even remember much about what happened back in those days. After all you had been through it didn’t even feel like your past. You felt as if you had always been forced to live in someone else’s house. always trying to earn people’s trust to have a little bit of freedom. Always on the verge of being in a dangerous situation. 

“Of course, I remember, you were special to me even back then.” Hoseok exclaims. You gave him a weak smile back, trying not to show just how uncomfortable you were when you started to think about just how long he’s been stalking you. 

As promised, your first stop was to get new shoes. Thankfully, there were cameras installed in multiple places throughout the store, and you made sure to tilt your cap back just enough to reveal your face without catching Hoseok’s attention. You stared straight into each camera and prayed Jihoon would somehow see. After paying for the shoes, you were starting to think maybe looking into them wasn’t enough. You had seen in some tv show one time that someone had blinked sos to people until someone finally noticed. Thankfully, Morse code for sos was something you had picked up after watching so many true crime shows. You decided the next time you found a camera you’d try that. 

Throughout the entire shopping trip, you were able to find a good handful of cameras. Some were in stores, and some were outside along the roads. You weren’t sure if all of them were actually recording but it was worth trying anyways. Whenever Hoseok wasn’t looking you were blinking sos at them. There had been a terrifying moment when Hoseok had turned around to see you blinking up at the sky weirdly and asked you what you were doing. Thankfully your brain was feeling extra quick today, and you quickly lied that something had gotten in your eye and you were trying to get it out without rubbing it. You even went as far as to ask him if he could see anything just to be on the safe side. Had you not been secretly trying to get a message through to Seventeen, the outing would have been really nice. The city was pretty, and it felt so nice to be able to walk for a long time and get a constant change of scenery. You had really missed your freedom and being able to walk around like this. Your mind drifted to your coffee shop. How was everyone doing there? What would they say if you went back all of the sudden? You missed making all the different drinks and meeting new people every day. Deep down inside you knew there was no point in pining after it, because even if you could free yourself from both Monsta X and Seventeen, your life would never be the same. You weren’t even sure you would be safe if you left the country. Someone would find you eventually, so you were just going to have to make the best of it. And the best of it was with Seventeen.

Wonho paid for the last bit of shopping the two of you had done, and then you started the journey back to the apartment. Please, you thought to yourself, please god let one of those reach seventeen. Hoseok must have noticed your change in attitude as the two of you got closer and closer to the apartment.

“We can go outside a lot more often than when you were with Seventeen. We’re a lot closer to stuff than they are, so it isn’t as big of a journey.” Hoseok pointed out. You faked a very weak smile and nodded a little, your mind somewhere else entirely.

You spent the rest of your day milling about the house. None of the other members tried to talk to you, and you certainly didn’t go out of your way to talk with them. More often than not if they walked into a room that you were in, you would just end up leaving. You could tell they were all on edge because of you. Rightfully so too. You had practically become a member of Seventeen at this point, and they just kidnapped you. It wasn’t going to be received well. If they were all so on edge, why would their boss let you leave? He had to know that Jihoon was good at tracking people, right? Maybe he was purposely trying to have you found, or maybe he was just that confident no one would be able to pinpoint their base, let alone break in. You eventually found yourself in your room and ended up staying there for the rest of the night. You didn’t go down when Hoseok invited you for dinner, and you didn’t eat anything when he brought some food up for you. You had no reason to fake being overly complacent with them anymore. If your camera idea didn’t work, there was nothing else that would work. All that was left to do was to wait and see what came of your hard work. You were just going to have to survive a couple days with them, and then everything would go back to normal…hopefully.

When you woke up the next day, there was no reason for you to get out of bed, so you just laid there. You drifted back in and out of sleep, but the time you were awake was spent looking around the small room or listening to the movements around the house. After about an hour or two of lying there, you got hungry so decided to get up. Your entire journey to the kitchen you didn’t see any of the members, so you ended up helping yourself to a bit of food. You could have sworn you had heard the members walking around earlier this morning, but know the house was silent. You shrugged your shoulders and headed back to your room. You climbed back in bed and grabbed one of the books Hoseok had gotten for you and stayed that way for a long time.

This wasn’t like when you had first been taking by Seventeen. Then you were scared to do anything, scared to even move. You had felt betrayed and had no hope. But now, there was nothing but hope in you. You were positive Mingyu would come bursting through the doors at any minute and come rescue you. Having a reason to be hopeful in this situation really made everything different. You made it through the first time okay because everyone in seventeen was nice to you, or rather, almost everyone. Most importantly you had Joshua there to help. You had no idea how he made it through his kidnapping, without the comforting thought of being rescued or nice people.

Your second full day at Monsta X’s base had almost passed by. You still hadn’t heard anyone else in the house since early morning and were starting to wonder if you should go investigate. If no one was home, who was going to stop you from just walking out the front door? Eventually, you decided you should do just that. First, you checked all the other rooms upstairs. As expected, they were empty. Then you headed downstairs and started checking the other rooms. Absolutely no one was home, unless there was some secret room you didn’t know about. Hesitantly, you headed towards the front door. This was almost too easy, it had to be a trap. You slowly twisted the doorknob, as if at any second it was going to electrocute you. The doorknob twisted, but the door didn’t budge. You adjusted the various locks on the door, but even then, the door didn’t move. Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. It’s not like you could just slip out of a window either since you were so high up. You let out a loud grown and began pacing around the room. Within the next five minutes, noise began to come from the door. Someone was outside. All your senses went on red alert. You heart was in your ears and you felt like your breathing was the loudest thing on earth. If it had been one of the members, they would have just unlocked the door and walked in already. Was it someone else? Were you finally being rescued, or was it a third party all together? You didn’t know what to do, so you just stood there like an idiot.

There was more rattling at the door, as if someone was trying to pick the lock. You could make out some murmuring, so it had to be more than one person. The rattling felt like it was going on forever, and then the voices raised.

“Come on, we don’t have time for this! Here, move over.” The voice said. Your heart felt like it was going to explode. You knew that voice. Before you could do or say anything, there was a huge BOOM, and then the door creaked. One more strong BOOM and the door flung open, a part of the lock clattering to the floor. Along with the swinging door came none other than Mingyu. You instantly ran forward and tackled him with a hug, catching him off guard and making him stumbled back slightly. As soon as he realized it was you, if being tackled had bother him, it didn’t anymore. He wrapped around you and clung on as if you were going to disappear into smoke at any second. You were instantly surrounded by his warmth and comforting scent, and all your worries and stress melted away instantly.

 “(Y/n)! Are you okay? They didn’t hurt you, did they? I’m so sorry.” Mingyu gushed in a frenzy of words. You barely understood half of them he was speaking so fast.

“Mingyu, we need to go. Now.” Came Minghao’s voice. Mingyu didn’t wait for an answer from you. His brain was going a mile a minute. All he could think about now was getting you back to safety, he could talk with you after that. Before you knew it, you were behind pulled along at the speed of light by Mingyu, Minghao in front of the two of you, leading the way. The three of you were soon piled into a small car, and then Minghao floored it. Driving through a city can already be nerve wracking, but speeding through a city? Oh no, you were at peak anxiety. On top of that, you were still shell shocked they had found you. Even with all the hope that you had, there was still a part of you that had felt like no one would come to look for you, like the first time. Mingyu was talking in a stern voice with someone over the phone, relaying different bits of information to Minghao. You caught that they knew the current location of everyone in Monsta X and everything was going according to whatever plan they had come up with. All in all, you were safe now, you were going back home.

Mingyu didn’t end the phone call until you were well out of the city, concealed in trees that no doubt concealed the base as well. There was silence for the first time since they had come to get you. You could tell Mingyu had a lot on his mind and judging by the sympathetic looks Minghao was giving him, he could tell too. After what felt like years of driving through the bumpy forest road, you finally come up to the base and Minghao stopped the car. You had never been so happy to see a building before. You were finally starting to feel like everything was right in the world again. The three of you got out of the car, and Minghao headed inside. Mingyu lagged behind, and so did you. He turned to face you with a somber look on his face. Before he could actually say anything, your emotions finally caught up with you, and you lost all control. You burst into uncontrollable tears, in a state Mingyu had never seen you in before. He didn’t know what else to do other than to hug you close to him.

“You found me…” you finally manage to choke out, making Mingyu pull you closer. “I was so worried you would think I ran away and wouldn’t try to look for me.” You sobbed. Mingyu doesn’t say anything, but doesn’t stop hugging you, giving your back small pats until you calm down a little.

“How did you find me?” you ask, pulling away a little to look at his face in the dim light of nightfall.

“Well, first of all, who would run away without their shoes? And that would be thanks to your quick thinking and Jihoon’s skill.” Mingyu smiled as he wiped away a stray tear.

“My camera trick worked!” You smiled.

“We would have found you even without that, but we were able to find you a lot quicker thanks to that. Smart thinking!” Mingyu chuckled, pulling you in for another hug. “He shouldn’t have been able to get you in the first place though. You shouldn’t have had to gone through that.” He said, his voice suddenly becoming pained. He buried his face in the crook of your neck, and there was silence for a moment.

“It’s okay, because in the end you found me.” You said softly. The two of you stayed that way for a while before Mingyu finally straightened up.

“We should probably get inside; the others are all waiting to see you. They were all worried too.” He explained.

 The others crawled out of their tents, still bleary-eyed from sleep. PJ had had the last shift, meaning he’d had less than an hour of sleep, so little that when he grabbed onto one of the tent poles to haul himself up, it immediately turned to multicolored dust and he faceplanted into the mud. "Dammit! Dammit dammit dammit, that’s the third tent this month!"  Dan sprinted over to his tent, sliding slightly in the mud. He ducked inside, stuffing the sleeping bags into packs and pulling the ties. He climbed out quickly, pulling the support lines and collapsing the tent, rolling it up tightly and shoving it into its place on his backpack.  He hefted it onto his back and looked around frantically. All the others were up at the point, desperately packing up. "Where’s Phil?" PJ called out, making eye contact with Dan as he ran over to the coals in the fire pit, stomping them out. "He’s fine! He’s trying to control it!"  "Shouldn’t you be the one putting it out?" Jordan asked, stuffing her own tent into her bag. Next to her, Mandy's eye bags were more prominent than ever, her eyes searching around for danger.  "Sorry, my powers aren’t exactly working at the moment, but don’t worry. Phil’s got it under control!"  A few meters away from camp, a tree burst into flames, the fire climbing up the tree faster than it should’ve.  "Go go go!" PJ called out, slinging his sack over his back. "This way!" He lead the charge out of the camp, and together, they sprinted through the dense foliage, desperately skirting around the trees and leaping over rocks, Dan with both his and Phil’s packs on his back.  It would have been very convenient is that was it. If they had been able to just run like a herd of highly coordinated deer, a team of renegades tearing through the forest, muscles flexed and breathing steady from the hundreds of hours of travel over foot they did every month. It would have been very convenient.  But their powers wouldn’t have it.  The first person whose powers turned on them was PJ. His powers were based on some aspect of creativity, which meant that when his heart raced his mind raced equally as fast and he had to concentrate to contain them, which was near possible when the adrenaline kicked in. He leaped over a rock, bumping into the side of a tree which immediately crumpled on top of his team in a pile of multicolored balls of crumpled paper. "Sorry!" He called back as the others waded through it, their bags thumping against their backs.  It was hard to tell whose powers went against them was hard to say, but it was likely Angie. Her messy hair tucked into a small beanie, she bounded over patches of damp leaves and past trees leaking sap. From the solids came liquids, crystals ranging from the size of sand to the size of a football poking out at every angle, threatening the other with their sharpened points.  Then came Seth, then came Troy with the leaves turning towards them pointedly, then came Jordan, the words run run run bouncing around everyone’s thoughts like a collective humming, pushing them to go faster, faster, faster, until the heat was beginning to die down and they knew that the fire was growing further away.  "Stop!" PJ announced, stumbling to a stop and doubling over against a tree, his lungs and heart working overtime after having just been in a deep sleep. The tree remained a tree, which meant that he had regained control of his powers, however temporarily.  Dan panted, looking back. Phil was still nowhere to be seen. "I have to find him!"  "We don’t have time!"  Just then, the wall of fire crashed through another layer of trees, growing far too fast and raging far too angrily for it to be naturally made. At once, pine needles rained down on them and the tree PJ was leaning against shattered into colorful stained glass, collapsing into the ground with a horrible shattering noise as glass shot out in every direction.  "Run!" Dan called out.  Mandy looked to the front of the group, who was already running, and then at Dan. Then she grabbed his hand, tugging him behind her as she began to run.  "No, let go!"  "You’re going to run straight into the fire and get barbecued! We can find Phil later, I’m sure he’s fine."  Dan twisted his arm around, pulling out of her grip. "Go, I’ll see you later!"  He turned and immediately ran straight into a glowing purple force field. But before Mandy could grow it bigger to completely block his way, he sidestepped it and jogged straight into the fire.  The fire didn’t burn him- per say.  It stung. It sizzled. It hit his skin and popped against it, broiling him and tingling uncomfortably. The heat in itself was nearly insufferable, and it hit his face like a wave. He craved to sink to the bottom of the lake once more.  He jogged back the way they came, jumping over falling tree limbs and trying to stay out of the biggest flames, which was nearly impossible. The heat didn’t bother him as much as it should’ve, but still he could feel his skin burn.  The smoke made his lungs turn black and his fear to rise up his throat.  He started running faster, knowing that he only had so much time left before the fire took over completely.  "Dan!" Before he could look up, a person barreled into him, attacking him with a bear hug. "What are you doing, your powers aren’t working! You’re going to get burned!"  Dan’s vision blurred from the heat, and his nose was filled with the stretch of burning. Phil’s arms were still wrapped around him, as warm as the fire itself, but more warm than hot. Dan liked being warm. He didn’t like being on fire.  "We have to get out of here," Dan said as if it weren’t obvious enough.  Phil nodded. "I can’t control it. I thought I could, but now it’s just feeding off of my power."  Dan looked around at the huge fire burning around him. It was burning because it had been lit, and there was wood and oxygen to fuel it. But it was burning as fast and as intense as it was because it had another kind of fuel: Phil.  "You’re really bad at controlling your powers," Dan noted, smiling with his eyes. "We should probably not try practicing again at nighttime. And... we should also probably get a bucket of water or something to keep nearby."  Phil scratched behind his ear. "I guess. I just kind of figured that this sort of thing doesn’t happen more than a few times in your life. I didn’t expect to cause  another forest fire."  Dan snorted. "Another one? You make it sound so boring." He felt a pain traveling up his leg, and quickly patted out the flame that had begun to climb his jeans. "We should go. I don’t actually have fire powers."  "On the bright side, this must mean your powers aren’t completely gone! You’re still heat resistant-ish. That’s good news, isn’t it?"  Dan tried for a smile. "Let’s go find the others. They’re probably worried."  He started walking away, but Phil quickly pulled him back. "Hey, wait. It’s going to be okay."  Dan bit his lip, doing his best to avoid Phil’s gaze.  "Maybe they’re just waiting for the right time to come back," Phil added. "When the time is ready. They might just need a little break, you know?"  Dan grimaced. "I’m fine. Let’s go."  "Wait," Phil said, pulling Dan close to his chest and kissing him quickly. "It’s going to be okay, I promise."  Dan's eyelashes fluttered. "Phil..."  "Now come on, we have to go. Otherwise, you’re going to literally be toast." ——-  They made their way out of the fire slowly, retracing their friends' steps. It wasn’t hard. Huge spikes of crystals had formed on the trees and in little clusters on the ground, and there was almost a visible trail of multicolored dust, courtesy of PJ and his abundance of creativity.  Finally, after a long walk, they got to the edge of the fire, which also happened to be the edge of the forest. A large field was splayed out before them, completely black with grass that appeared to have been burned a few days prior. The fire wouldn’t be able to continue past it.  They kept walking through the field and up the hill that followed, so steep they had to get on their hands and knees and crawl for part of it.  "They’re here!" Jordan called, just out of sight. Then her face appeared, and she offered her hand, helping them to their feet.  The others were sitting on the top of the hill, drinking from canteens and laying on the ground, looking up at the sunrise, clouded and hazy from smoke. "Glad to see you’re not dead," PJ expressed tiredly. "Oh, hi Phil. I’m guessing you have some idea of what started that fire?"  He was the level of annoyed that Dan knew not to mess with. PJ was generally very caring and seldom appeared to experience negative emotions besides a calm, understandable level of concern. This was not a calm, understandable level of concern, it was flat out, Dan-level annoyance. And when Dan was in that mood- when Dan had been in that mood- you didn’t touch him unless you wanted instant frostbite. Dan didn’t want to turn into a pile of rainbow-colored sand, so he figured the same root should be undertaken when it came to PJ.  "Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem," Dan defended studiously. "I’ve read that it’s actually healthy."  "It is!" Phil agreed quickly. "And so is exercise. We’re all going to be so fit!"  PJ was not amused. Luckily, he was also apparently too tired to get up from where he laid on the ground, his face pink from the heat and his sleeping bag nowhere to be seen. Dan wondered where it was for a moment, before realizing that the grass around PJ's head was speckled with glitter.  "Is it working?" Jordan asked, walking over to Mandy, who was sitting on the side of the hill, her hands reaching out to the fire at the end of the field and her nose crinkled with concentration. Dan followed her, standing by them as the two girls talked.  "No. I didn’t think my powers would be strong enough, but I had to try. I’ve seen something like it done before, but that was with a small campfire, and they had different powers than me."  "Who did?" Phil asked.  Dan squeezed his hand together, trying not to show how tense he was. He’d found out about Mandy's old friends, the other mutants who she'd traveled with before going off on her own. One glance at Jordan confirmed that she knew too.  "An old friend," Mandy said, waving the question away nervously. "It doesn’t matter."  It sounded like it mattered, but before Phil could press on, Jordan changed the topic of conversation. "So, what took you two so long? And Dan, why does it look like you made out with an ash tray?" ———  Dan and Phil went down to the river at the bottom of the other side of the hill, cleaning the ash and soot off of themselves in water that was so deep it went halfway up their chests. Then Dan floated in the water, looking up at the smoke-blocked sky.  The last time he’d done that, he’d thought of how he and Phil's powers paired them together, making them the equivalent of soulmates. At the time, he’d hated it. He didn’t feel that way anymore.  Phil was compassionate and loving, and as much as Dan hated to admit it, he was his best friend. Not to mention, their powers complemented each other perfectly, making it so Dan didn’t have to ever worry about freezing Phil-  He sat up and immediately submerged himself, sinking into the river like a rock. He pushed himself to the surface, spluttering but far more shaken by his realization.  If he didn’t have his powers, then it meant that he and Phil no longer complimented each other so perfectly. Before, he’d seen them as soulmates.  Now, the term friends felt degrading.    "Guys! Come up here, quick!" Jordan called.  They quickly swam to shore, pulling on their clothes and sprinting up the hill. "What is it?"  Mandy was sitting on the side on the same spot where she’d been earlier. Now, her eyes were wide as she stared at the forest in disbelief.  "What happened?" Dan demanded. The fire was out, and a thick black smoke rose from the forest. Fires like that went out much slower, usually at least a few days.  "We were watching the fire, when it just went out," Jordan explained, her voice steady as it usually was but a bit too fast for comfort. "It didn’t burn out, it was put out. As if someone put a lid over it."  Mandy was still staring at the forest in shock, and another emotion Dan wished he didn’t recognize so well. Terror.  "We have to go." She said quietly.  "We just made camp. PJ just got back to sleep-"  "No, we have to go. Now. If they find us..." her eyes widened even more, and Mandy rushed to her feet, taking her bow off of her back and squeezing it in her hands, loading it with an arrow but not raising it nor pulling it back. She ran her fingers along the carved designs, breathing shakily.  Jordan looked back to the forest, taking a sharp breath. "Tell the others. Let’s go." As Mandy ran off, Jordan looked at their doubtful expressions. "I don’t look inside her mind, I learned not to a long time ago. But right now, what she’s dealing with is real fear. And if the one person in this camp who’s proficient in long-range weaponry and has a purely defensive power is scared, then the rest of us should probably be too."  So they packed up and started their way down the opposite side of the hill, hoping that whatever was in that forest stayed there.  But what if it followed them?

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He watched as Danny carefully lay back down, the movement less pained than before. The silence that settled over them was different now—lighter, full of potential instead of dread.

A few minutes passed, the only sound the distant hum of city traffic. Then, Danny’s stomach growled, a loud, incongruous sound in the quiet room.

A snort of laughter escaped Wes before he could stop it. Danny’s eyes widened in mock offense, then a slow, genuine smile spread across his face—the first real, unburdened one Wes had seen since the explosion.

“Shut up,” Danny said, but there was no heat in it.

“I didn’t say anything,” Wes replied, his own smile widening. “But since you mentioned it… soup again, or are you finally sick of my culinary disasters?”

Danny made a face. “If I never see another scrambled egg or bowl of canned soup, it’ll be too soon.”

“Thank God,” Wes sighed dramatically, pulling out his phone. “My cooking repertoire was on its last leg. What’s your poison? Thai? That terrible pizza place you like with the weird crust?”

“The terrible pizza,” Danny said without hesitation. “Extra cheese. And garlic knots.”

As Wes placed the order, a comfortable silence returned. This wasn't the heavy, exhausted quiet of before, but something easy and shared. He set his phone down and looked over to find Danny watching him, the ghost of that smile still on his lips.

“What?” Wes asked.

“Nothing,” Danny said, shaking his head slightly. “Just… thanks. For answering. For the pizza. For… all of it.”

He didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t need to. The ‘all of it’ hung in the air between them, encompassing the bandages, the silenced phone, the defended peace, the shared, terrible week, and the simple, profound act of ordering terrible pizza.

“Anytime,” Wes said, and he meant it.