Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the most beautiful moments darkness could be found. 

Everyone thought that they had done the right thing by releasing the audio file to everyone in the entire world, how wrong could they have been. Humans were the worst creatures that would ever exist. Within the next few months, the world had gone into chaos, with more missing people and murder cases. 30.000 missing people these past 3 days. It sounded insane. The Gifted XV had gone into hiding, many people wanted more information and others sought to harm them. 

Pang had never felt so guilty and exhausted in his entire life. Constantly on the run, losing friends and watching the world burn. 

Mon, Claire, and Punn had gone outside to get food for the next week while Ohm, Korn, Namtarn, and the twins went out investigating the new world. Pom and Chanon were long gone, they just suddenly disappeared as if they had never existed. Their current hideout was the basement of an elderly couple who seemed sweet enough to lend it out for a few weeks. Wave was sitting on the concrete floor with his laptop, his eyes jumping across the screen as he tried to get into the governments' network again. 

Pang looked at him from his mattress, his head slightly hurting from a headache. Wave had been by his side for almost 4 years now, he never dared to ask why. Even when his friends lost trust in him, Wave was still there. Even when the world burned, Wave would still wipe his tears calling him a cry-baby. 

"Wave." Pang started trying to get Waves attention.

"Mm?" Wave answered not looking away from the screen. 

Pang honestly didn't know what to talk about.

"Nevermind," Pang said laying down on his back. "Okay," Wave answered quietly.

A sudden noise from the basement window was heard. Pang sat up startled feeling nauseous, Wave let his eyes drift to the window too. "Cat?" He asked Pang.

Pang shook his head, he heard footsteps then felt his head fog. "Wave, we need to get out." 

Wave just nodded and went for the basement door. "Pang, the exit door is locked." Wave held onto a wooden table as best as he could coughing, out from the door window he saw 3 masked kids looking at him, they began to yell 'FUCK THE GIFTED!' and ran away.

"Fuck, the door upstairs is locked as well?! Wave, we need to break a window." Pang walked to Wave, his balance off and head dizzy from what he could guess was Carbon Monoxide, not only that but there were also sleeping gas.

Wave had fallen to his knees, "Pang," Wave said trying to fight for his life. 

"Wave!" Pang fell down in front of Wave trying to concentrate on grabbing his hands, but alas Wave slumped against him and he himself felt everything in his body become numb.

At that last second his body jerked and his eyes closed.

-~-~-~-

"Ai'Pang!" 

He gasped as he fell forward, his lungs clutching for air. His breaths fast and rasp, he looked around at his worried friends. His body was shaking, his head felt clogged and heavy. 

"Where-" He found a familiar pair of eyes looking at him worried, "Wave." He just said.

"You okay?" Wave asked handing an Ovaltine to him.

"What happened, you suddenly passed out for a good minute there," Claire said, she could obviously see the fear and confusion in him right now.

"Is this the school? Is this- what?" Pang saw the damaged laptop in front of Punn, "Is that Ms. Darins?" He kept repeating his last moments before death. 

"Yeah, about who spread out NYX-88? Pang, what's going on?" Mon asked her arms crossed. 

Pang looked at Punn and then directly at Korn confused, "But that was Korn? We already did this? Director Supot made Korn do it and P'Chanon gave it to Korn for him to do so? Guys?" Pangs' voice was desperate and confused, everyone in the room's eyes went to Korn, who looked equally as shocked. "We should be hiding, what if they come and kill us? Are you guys crazy? How is the school not blown up yet? Why didn't I die? Wave, you died." He knew this was a panic attack as his breaths became faster and his head became heavier, his body uncontrollable. A few tears fell down his cheeks as he held onto the table looking down, his friends to his rescue, very confused and worried.

"What do you mean I died?" Wave asked hand on Pang's shoulder.

Pang tried to control his voice, "Gas, anti-gifted, basement." He managed out before his lungs just made him breathe more air in.

"How did you know? You weren't supposed to know!" Korn looked at Pang with wide eyes. He was the only one not around him, Pang took a few deep breaths as per request by Ohm and Punn. 

"Korn, I can make you sleep." 

Korns mask of Supots order faded a bit, "What?" 

"Punn told me about it, some-" He had to take a deep breath, "Some juniors found a file in Nate's house and she had the blueprint of a machine that can get rid of the virus, but it will also get rid of your potential." He had stopped and couldn't stop shaking, his eyes felt red and burned out from crying. 

"Punn?" Claire asked, Punn just shook his head. 

Wave made Pang look up at him, "Tell me what's the date?" 

"February of the year 2022." He said.

"It's September of the year 2020." Wave said as Pangs' eyes widened.

"No, No way." Pang stood up, walking around the room and then back to his chair, "No. How?" 

Korn seemed like had abandoned his plans to walk away and sat down by the table, "What happens in the future?" 

As his friends bombarded him with questions it got too much and he walked out of the room slamming the door after him.

It was all too much, less than 30 minutes ago he was dying, holding Wave's unconscious body close as he took his last breaths. He held onto the railing and closed his eyes, a cinematic tear fell down his cheek out of frustration. How did he end up in the past if this wasn't all in his head, perhaps he was dead and this was his afterlife, being with his friends. But if it were time travel how did it occur.

He didn't have time travel as a potential.

"Argh!" He exclaimed out loud into the hallway with his hands in his hair. His headache was killing him, he was confused and didn't even believe he was here fully.

"Pang." A voice called out for him, the last memories of Wave's face sharpened in his memories. He turned around and saw Wave walk up to him. He didn't even think twice, he just embraced him, his arms holding onto Wave for his life. "Don't die again, don't let me see such an awful expression again."

He felt Wave pat his back awkwardly, "Tell me exactly what happened in your future and how come you're here then." 

Pang felt watched, so they went back to their shared dorm. 

Perhaps it was the familiar scent of his own old bed or the Ovaltine that made him calm down. Wave was sitting on a chair ready to give his full attention.

"I guess the juniors have already gotten NYX-88." Wave just nodded, "And after that, we called out each other because you had said that one of us was a betrayer. And it broke us apart, Korn was under the influence of Director Supot and- Wave, oh god, he committed suicide in front of me." Pang thought back to the shock and pain he felt watching his friend fall and hearing the bones break. He had wanted to die right then and there.

Wave had gulped, pushing his glasses up. "He survived because he can heal himself, but seeing that and then hearing Time dying was just the end of the world. No one wanted to talk to me, you were all mad at me for chasing after Korn and not telling you guys about it."

Pang felt fear rush through him, "Don't get mad at Korn or anyone. He just needs somebody to talk to and share his feelings with. He and Ohm became close in the last past months." Pang hands felt the bedsheet under him, he needed to calm down, usually, he just broke down alone while his friends were asleep and he didn't have to worry about them worrying. "I'm sorry, I'll calm down in a minute." He told Wave and looked down at his hands. 

"Pang, don't push me away. I suck at words of advice, but just, please talk to me when you're ready," Wave said from the room chair.

Pang gathered his feelings, the leader mask he was so good at putting on became visible. "I have to talk with Ms. Darin and Director Supot today, you don't need to accompany me." Pang left the room without another word.

"Ai'Pang!" Wave shouted at the closed door, he ran his hand through his hair and ruffled it out of frustration. Pang had left him yet again to do some sort of 'hero' act. He sometimes felt like a fool for always being there for him, he never actually knew why he wanted to be with Pang all the time, he guessed that's what best friends felt.

He couldn't bother trying to figure out his emotions today, so for the rest of the evening, he listened to music and ignored Korn and Ohm saying goodnight.

-~-~-~-

Pang interrupted a meeting between The Director and Ms. Darin. "I know your fucking plan, how you created NYX-88 and how you killed your best friend!" He pointed an accusing finger at Director Supot. The Director starring at him confused and shocked.

Mr. Pom walked over to him, "Pang, I will have to ask you to leave."

He pushed Pom away, "No! I will expose you! You used your potential on P'Chanon and my friend! Fuck you!" He couldn't stop a tear from falling as he spat curses at The Director.

"Pom, erase that from Pawaret," Supot ordered Pom, "I don't care how you know that Pawaret, about my past and my plans, but you can't stop me no matter what." Supot smiled.

Pang just noticed the ticking of a metronome, "You can't, Pom." He didn't get to say anymore before the sound of snapping fingers was heard.

Pom reached a shaky hand over Pang's head, how did he know about Non? How did he know about any of it? He decided to read Pang's memories before erasing them.

He got hit with a year and a half supply of memories of a future he never knew about, he had to grip his head and crumple together. All those fast-paced memories made him dizzy. He saw Pang get taken away unconscious. Supot didn't spare him an extra glance, just continued his meeting. 

Pang woke up from his coma-like state when one of the security men made him hit his head on a wall, "Sorry, kid," They said and kept dragging him to his room. He forced them to let go of him, saying he could walk himself. The security men didn't leave until he had gotten into his room.

"You're dismissed," He sarcastically said to the two big men, they didn't nudge one bit. The door closed smoothly and he sighed, so that didn't work.

"Pang?" He startled and turned around to the sudden light from a lamp.

"Hey." He whispered at the glass-less Wave sitting in his bed.

"We'll talk in the morning." Wave turned off the light and went back to sleep, turning his back to him. Pang just got undressed, went to the bathroom, and got into bed, careful not to wake to two others, Korn was listening to music and playing a game. He couldn't sleep that whole night, not wanting to bother Korn and not wanting to think too much about the past 24 hours. 

Wave had woken up early, Korn god knows where and the two others in deep sleep, he had decided to go to their meeting room earlier to do some research about NYX-88. Since Pang had started spitting random shit about their doomed future and how bad everyone was he wanted to do research himself. He trusted Pang, but right now Pang was emotionally unstable.

He quickly got in his clothes and went to the room, when he opened the door he was surprised to see Claire walking around anxiously.

"Claire." He greeted walking in and sitting down in his chair that he had claimed. Claire hadn't stopped pacing, he raised an eyebrow, "Claire, something wrong?"

"Punn won't talk to me! I don't know why! I don't know if I still love him the same, I do love him but maybe not in a romantic way anymore? He seems to distance himself more and more! He wouldn't eat the ramen I made for him and he wasn't in his room this morning!" Claire vented out fidgeting with her sunglasses in her hands. 

"Calm down, so Punn is acting different, in what way?" Wave tried to be social at 7 in the morning against his will.

"He just doesn't smile at me anymore! All after he went to talk to Ms. Darin!" It was like something clicked in Claires' brain, cause she suddenly just sprinted out the door.

"No problem." Wave huffed into the air. He really felt like a side character in everyone's story. Like a tool.

The first one to arrive was Pang, looking worse than the day before. They didn't greet each other, Pang just sat down a cold drink and an apple on his desk and sat himself down at the end of the table and drank his Ovaltine. 

He took the apple in his hand and stared at it, his thumb rubbing over the sticky label on it. His eyes looking at Pang whose head was looking the other way in deep thought. He took a bite of the apple and went back to his work. 

He hadn't noticed Claire and Mon who had just walked in, Claire walking over to Wave, leaning close and whispering.

"When did that happen?" 

"Shit! Ai'Claire!" Wave said startled, accidentally closing the computer. "What happened!?" He whispered furiously trying to restart the computer.

"Orange, Yellow... Pink." She said with a smile.

He pushed her off, "Shut up!" He accidentally said too loud for everyone to hear. 

The others in the room turned to him and Claire, he drilled daggers at Claire who looked pleased. 

When everyone gathered and planned their day, they separated into their morning classes. 

At lunch Pang was lost, he had suddenly lost where he was and his own thoughts were dragging him down, last time he had visited the canteen it was blown up and abandoned, the last day before they had to flee from the city. He remembered Mon being so scared that she had affected 4 unfortunate kids nearby, almost making them lose a friend. He saw himself in 3rd perspective using his potential to make them freeze and drop to the floor, making his friends back away from him slightly.

"Hey, snap out of that." Someone said.

"Punn?" He asked looking at his shorter friend.

"You're dissociating, I know the feeling all too well, get some food." Punn followed Pang back to an empty table. "Here." Punn slid his tray over to Pang who still looked lost.

"Thanks, I just remembered the last day here, I made you all scared of me."

Punn didn't ask directly into his memories, "And how did it make you feel?" Punn seemed like a professional.

"I was afraid too, I was scared of you all leaving me and afraid of losing myself." Pang held onto the fork a bit too roughly, Punn noticing.

"Eat now, the others will arrive shortly, Ohms class is extended and The Twins ate KFC in the room earlier." Punn half-smiled at Pang.

"Thanks." He could only say as he ate the food on the plate in front of him. 

He didn't notice some girls walking up to them, Punn kinda just looked at them confused. "Are you P'Pang?" One of the smiling girls asked, her friends were glancing between their phone screens and Pang.

Pang looked at the girls, "Uh, yeah." 

The girl in the front twirled her hair lock, "So, my friend thinks you're really cute! And we just wanted-" The friends shrieked suddenly.

The front girl turning to look behind her, looking pissed off but confused. "P'Toy just broke up with me!"

"They canceled our tickets!" The girls ran off frustrated. 

Pang looked behind him, "Wave." He saw Wave holding his phone tightly in his left hand, "Did you do that?"

Wave sat down with a bag of his own lunch, "Do what? Who were they? Fans of yours?" Wave almost spat out the words.

Punn looked really awkward, "Calm down, they didn't even get the chance before you came." Punn scratched his arm.

"Who said it was me?" Wave puffed, opening his box and taking a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

"Well, IT-Wizard, your phone's gonna get crushed if you hold it too tightly," Punn smirked at a pissed-off Wave.

Pang didn't pay attention to the rest of lunch, he thought about how to defeat Supot and The Minister without any of them knowing and canceling the Nation Wide Exam. He knew it was a difficult task, he needed Wave in on this.

In The Gifted class, Pom pulled him aside before class started, "Are your memories true?"

Pang just stared confused, "Well, yeah? If you're gonna ask how I ended back here don't ask, cause I don't know. And P'Chanon is just in a bad state right now, he seeks revenge on you, so be careful if you're gonna meet him."

He didn't wait for Mr. Poms response and just sat down next to Ohm who looked like he was holding back a question, "Yes, Supot made Namtarns mom hold her back because she could know the truth with one touch and that would ruin his plan." He sighed tired and drained.

"I was gonna ask you for a pen, but thanks." Ohm smiled awkwardly as he took the pen from Pang. Now when he thought about, why would he hold Namtarn back if her condition stopped her from developing her potential, she might know some of the truth and the past. But he knew the past and The Director didn't seem concerned at all. Perhaps he knew someone with Namtarns potential before. How dangerous must her potential be for Supot to be scared?

She could only look back through objects and people's memories, quite like Third and Pom. Would she perhaps be able to change past memories? That would make sense.

"Pang!" Pom said clear enough to cut through Pangs train of thought, "Can you tell me what chemical this is and its use?" 

Pangs eyes got caught on the picture of the chemical, body froze.

"Carbon Monoxide, Formula; CO, named The Silent Killer. Very dangerous gas that kills up to 500 people per year, it's less dense than air and is tasteless, colorless, and odorless. It can make a person sick and dizzy if inhaled directly and can be fatal which lead to unconsciousness and seldom death." Jack and Jo took turns saying each line.

"Thank you very much, Jack and Jo," Pom said.

Pang couldn't stop his eyes from drifting to Wave. Wave was writing down some notes, not noticing Pangs stare. Pang had to look away quickly not wanting to remember Waves voice calling out to him confused and helplessly, he just can't stop thinking. He wiped away a tear that had rolled down his cheek.

He hadn't noticed how he had scribbled messy notes down in his school notebook, ideas how to defeat Supot and Darin, how to fix everything, and in the corners, he had written 'I'm so lost' and 'I'm not supposed to be here'. 

He walked like a robot over to his shared dorm, having a plan to get Ms. Darin to spill out tonight.

Chapter Text

Wave had thrown worried glances at Pang the whole class, he saw the scared look when The Twins talked about Carbon Monoxide. When class was over Pang didn't talk to anyone and went out of class first forgetting his notebook. He took it hoping to deliver it to him at the dorm. Waves curiosity got the best of him and he opened the book and went to the last written pages. His worry only grew as his eyes scanned the crazy plans and words written on the page.

'Kill Supot? No, Jail, bad idea. You can't kill. Why why why.'

'Ms. Darn, confront at night. Get her to talk. Use force if necessary, I don't want to use my potential, but If I have to. I need to end this and get a better ending.'

He closed the book harshly and walked with fast steps towards their dorm. 

"Ai'Pang!" He called out but only heard the shower running. The clock was already 7 in the afternoon, he had skipped the Gifted meeting along with Pang. He could only sit and wait for Pang to get out of the shower.

After 2 hours of hacking and kicking his feet in the air, he grew a bit worried, the water hadn't stopped running. 

He went to knock on the door to the bathroom, "Pang? You clean enough?" When no one answered he took a deep breath and couldn't stop the slight color from rushing to his cheeks, "I'm coming in then!"

He looked down as he opened the door, did the idiot not lock the bathroom door?

"Shit!" He exclaimed as he looked up seeing no one but the showerhead wasting water. He turned off the water and cursed again. Pang had tricked him.

He began running towards Ms. Darin's office, how had he been so blind?

He heard voices talking inside the office, and he busted in without a warning, seeing Pang look directly into Ms. Darin's eyes as she stared back blankly.

"Ai'Pang! Stop this! You would never use your potential on anybody! Stop!" He stood in front of Pang, whose cold face broke down as he sat back down on the chair behind him. 

"I'm a traitor, I'm not your Pang, I just want it all to stop, I'm so lost." He sobbed wiping his tears away as fast as he could.

Ms. Darin shook her head as she got back to her normal self, "Pang, Wave. The Director or Minister isn't gonna stop. I'm not your enemy, but not an ally either. I simply follow orders as they are giving to me, I'm sorry, head back It's late."

Pang turned sharp to Ms. Darin, "You brought NYX-88 and didn't try to ever stop The Minister! Shut up, bitch!" He exclaimed, getting pulled out the door by Wave.

He couldn't afford to struggle. Wave pushed Pang against a wall, standing in front of him, "You can't just call her a bitch for following orders!"

Pang pushed himself off the wall, staring a bit down at Wave, "You don't know how much pain the whole school was in all because of that stupid virus! Sure, in the near future we found a cure, but-"

Wave interrupted him before he could say anything else, "You found a cure? Why didn't you tell us? Is it the one that can remove your potential as well?" 

Pang looked down in the ground, eyebrows frowning, "No, it was a harmless cure that you only need to take once. But the way we got it, we never were the same after." Pang could remember terror on all his classmate's faces, terror in his own face staring down at 3 dead kids.

"We had to suck others' potentials out, potentials which could heal in any form. You said you would sacrifice yourself, but we didn't allow it. Afterward, we made a plan, we didn't need much of the healing potential, we thought we didn't have to harm anyone. But it wasn't enough. Wave, do you know how bad healers kryptonite are? The worst, one would fall ill after healing 3 virus-infected, the second would vomit until she died, the third one went crazy the more people they healed. We cured 13 virus-infected up to that point. We decided the best way was to store the potential pure, but it could possibly kill the one with the potential which is what it did. We were naive, we wanted to fix what we had started, I used my potential to make them agree and sign a contract."

"That's when the more morbid hunt after us began. Those months we looked death in the eyes a lot, explosions seemed to follow us," Pang continued.

Pang was sitting on the ground against the wall now, holding his knees close to him. Endless tears running, his breaths uneven, and hands holding onto himself. 

Wave looked stunned, "Was I involved?"

"We were all in on it, you erased articles writing about it and deleted live footage and evidence. I'm sorry, you were only in on it because of me," Pang said not looking at Wave.

"Did you use your potential on me?"

With those words Pang's eyes shot up, looking angry and hurt, "Never! Never in a million years would I use my potential on you or the others. You just wanted to follow me, in your words, 'you promised to stay beside me even when things got really bad."

Wave looked away embarrassed, "I've must have been crazy."

The two didn't utter a word on the way back to the dorm.

Pang looked like shit and Wave didn't look better himself.

Pang crashed on Waves bed in the lower bunker bed, falling asleep fast. Wave sighed and took off his glasses yawning. The trip to the bathroom was a hazy trip and he just fell down besides Pang, not feeling like pushing Pang off the bed. 

Wave woke up when an alarm went off, his eyes opening slowly and brain kicking in. He felt awfully comfortable and then noticed the arm around his waist, "Shit! Ai'Pang!"

He pushed Pang off the bed and he groaned, "Why are you in my bed?" Pang said from the floor.

"Me? In your bed? You were the clingy one in my bed!" Wave reached for his glasses and styled his hair to the side.

"Huh?" Pang sat up and rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, sorry." Pang stood up and went to the bathroom.

"Why are you sharing a bed?" Ohm asked from the other bed.

"Pang crashed," He simply answered like it was normal.

It seemed to work when Ohm just gave him a confused look and went to the mini-fridge for some water. 

The meeting was silent, Punn wasn't there, neither was Claire. 

"Pang, you got any game plan?" Mon asked, balancing on her heels and sole.

Pang looked up from the chair he was sitting in, "We need to destroy NYX-88 and Supot. Ms. Darin is fucking with Punns mentality by making him copy our potentials, a group should comfort Punn and assure him we are his friends. Punn is very powerful, but he can easily hurt himself. Korn we can talk. I won't take my morning class, everyone go." 

Wave gave him an extra worried look before he went out.

Korn was sitting in a chair in front of Pang, "You said there's a way to make me sleep?"

"I actually lied," Pang started, Korn looking angry and confused standing up.

"You promised!" 

"There's not only a way, there are multiple different ways. The one I suggested got rid of your potential completely."

Pang had his hands in his pockets, looking at Korn he went on, "I can make you sleep with my potential, but I won't since I have promised to never use my potential on my friends. Another way is to take a special pill that will weaken your potential enough for you to sleep for up to 6 hours. You will be unconscious and not be able to wake up in those hours tho." 

"What if I give you permission to use your potential on me?" Korn looked at Pang desperate.

"Korn-"

"No! I am asking you to use it! Ignore that stupid rule! Just use it." 

"Stop! I won't!" Pang yelled, silencing Korn.

"Fine! If you can't use it on a friend, I'll become your rival!" With that Korn stormed out of the room.

Pang slumped back in his chair, taking deep breaths. 

He could never use his potential on loved ones. He had a girlfriend a few months back, she was someone he adored, he was close to her and when she asked him to use his potential on her, for her to be more daring, she went on and killed her dad. He was mortified and she hated him after that, broke up, and killed herself not long after. That's one of the reasons he would never use his potential on a friend or a loved one.

He had only told Wave about that, Wave had comforted him as best as he could after that.

He skipped lunch and went straight for his dorm, he needed to be alone to think.

Chapter Text

Wave had noticed Pang's absence at the lunch table, he went for Pang's classroom, but he was nowhere. 

"Have you guys seen Pang?" He asked his friends in their room, no one said anything. He pulled the green jacket closer to his shoulders and walked out of the room, walking towards his dorm. On the way, he saw Ms. Darin. 

"Wave," She said putting on a fake smile, he stopped but refused to speak, "Glad I met you, I would just like to reassure you we are finding a way to help the NYX-88 infected kids, please pass that onto your friends." 

"You're such a liar."

Wave turned around to see Pang, "Ai'Pang, where have you been?"

Pang ignored his question and stared down Ms. Darin, "There is not a permanent cure right now, you are the biggest fucking liar in this entire school, those kids brains will be turned into potatoes if you don't get Supot to fucking help them right now, I hate his guts but right now we either steal the pills or else you take me to talk with him." 

Wave held onto Pang's shoulder, "Think this through, is this really the right move?" 

Pang looked at Wave, "There's no other way, we can just get Ping to - sorry, I forgot she's not here." Pang shook his head, "We will just find a way to take the pills to the kids with or without Supot's consent." 

Ping? Wave thought, was it Pang's future girlfriend? He didn't know why the thought of Pang having a girlfriend made him uncomfortable. 

Ms. Darin seemed shocked, "Very well, I'll speak to The Director." She went on with her way.

Pang let out a breath he was holding, "Fuck." 

Wave tried to rest his hand on Pang's shoulder but Pang flinched away, "Sorry, sorry," Pang repeated silently, "I am just so stressed about doing this right, I'm sorry." 

"You don't have to work alone, you know? I can help, you can ask any of us." Wave reassured his friend.

"I don't wanna bother any of you too much, you all have your own life to tend to and I have a shitty future to prevent from happening, fun and all." Pang walked away towards the dorm.

He got pulled back by Wave, "You don't have to be alone anymore." 

Wave noticed Pang's emotions change and he backed away a bit until he hit a wall, Pang in front of him, "I have to do this alone! Last time I dragged you all down with me and people died because of me! I don't want to pull any of you down with me!" Pang stared into Wave's eyes, his own eyes getting teary.

Wave became silent, his eyes not moving away from Pangs, "Pang, they weren't your fault, I will help you, pull me down with you." Wave gently laid his hand on Pang's shoulder, Pang broke down again, his head leaning forward and down onto Waves shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Pang mumbled. 

Wave, who was awfully bad at cheering people up, held Pang and rubbed his back, "Yeah yeah." Pang was literally such a crybaby, he guessed being hunted down and dying could cause one trauma, how would he know.

Back at their dorm, Ohm was sitting on his bed playing a game on his phone, Korn was probably in his photo room. "Wow, Pang you look like shit," Ohm commented, looking down at his phone again.

Wave sat down on his chair, "He's just tired," Wave explained looking at Pang who made his way to the bathroom. 

Inside the bathroom, Pang washed his face, he had bothered Wave about his problems and he regretted it. He had thought about talking to future Grace about this, she could tell him if he had changed the future when he came here. They kinda both had the same goal right now. He sighed and stared at the mirror, he really did look like shit. Pang brushed his teeth and took a quick shower. 

When he got out Claire was inside their dorm, "Pang! Please go help Punn! Rooftop!" 

Pang's eyes widened and he ran out into the hallway, his mind went back to Korn and then his own experience. His feet felt like they caught on fire and he stumbled a few times as he neared the roof. He almost ripped the door off its hooks when he entered the roof, he saw Punn standing on the edge.

"Punn!"

He slowly approached him, Punn not reacting to him. 

"I don't know what you're going through, but I promise we will all help you with whatever's going on, just step down." Pang was now 3 meters from where Punn was standing.

"I told The Minister about you, I betrayed you," Punn said not turning around.

Pang had already seen this coming, "It's okay, he was gonna know one way or another, you did not betray me. Let's talk this out, okay?"

Punn began to shake, he was sobbing, "I'm terrible, I'm a terrible friend."

Pang reached out slowly and got a grab of Punn's shirt, he pulled Punn down and into an embrace, "It's okay, yeah? No one's hurt. You will be fine. We're friends, right?" Pang shushed Punns cries.

Punn could only hold onto Pang, not saying a word. 

Pang felt his insides shake with anxiety, he was so afraid of losing another friend to gravity. He held his friend tightly, "Don't do that again." 

"Why didn't you use your potential on me?" Punn sniffed and sobbed quietly into the other's shoulder.

"Why would I do that? Comfort is the best natural potential, I won't force my friends to do anything they don't want to do." 

Punn let himself sob on Pang's shoulder for some minutes more before the others came rushing onto the roof, relieved to see Pang with Punn. 

-~-~-~-

Pang woke up the next morning exhausted and cold, he could feel a tingle at the palms of his hands and an itchy feeling in his throat. He knew this was one of the many symptoms of him not using his potential for many days, his immune system would go down and freak out. 

As he got up and quickly got washed up for the day, he took his green jacket from the chair and took it on before leaving the dorm. 

He was the third one to arrive at their meeting room, the twins being the first, they were playing some sort of mobile game on their phone, Jack eating a sandwich, and Jo drinking water. He sighed as he sat down, his body sending chills down his own spine, he would have to do something about this, he didn't want to seem weak if he had to face the director again. 

He saw Wave storm into the meeting room, looking around before his eyes landed on Pang, "Hey-" Pang greeted confused, the twins looking up equally confused. 

"Ai'Pang! You took my jacket!" Wave made his way towards him, holding a hand out.

Pang held a hand in front of him to block Waves hand, "Technically it's mine, you kinda just claimed it yourself after I let you borrow it once," Pang shushed Wave.

Wave didn't stop his anger, "Yeah, but you never used it! I have used it more!" 

Pang sighed and got up, taking off the jacket, "You're so stubborn," Pang took the jacket behind Wave, still standing in front of him, "You should calm yourself at times." Pang draped the jacket over Waves shoulders and slapped Waves shoulder, "There, you happy now?"

"Oh my gosh," Claire said, holding down her sunglasses for effect. Wave turned around looking at Claire in panic, he gave her a stare and she just gave a smirk and stopped whatever she was gonna say.

Pang had sat down again, he sneezed and got a synchronized 'bless you' from Jack and Jo. Soon after the rest of The Gifted apart from Korn showed up, Punn looked awful.

Wave was still a bit grumpy from his jacket being taken from him, but he couldn't stop thinking about Pang draping the jacket around his shoulders, he looked up and saw the computer having searched for a website, 'What are different types of love?', he quickly made the computer shut down, perhaps he shut it down too fast because he got an electrical shock. He hissed in pain and rubbed his sore palms. 

"Wave you in on this?" 

Wave looked behind him at the others who waited for his answer, "On what?" 

Punn sighed, "We're stealing NYX-88 with the help of Time, you in?"

Wave wrapped his brain around where he was and who he was for a second, "Yeah, of course," He ended up saying nodding. His eyes lingered on Pang before he blinked confused away from him, why would he ever like Pang. He liked him as a friend, he would even call Pang his best friend, so why make everything complicated with these feelings?

Everyone kinda just skipped today's lessons, making all their teachers angry at them, but they had to talk a lot and get Time in on this, Pang had gotten some of the medication for the virus, and Time had already begun taking them making him a bit more himself. 

Wave's job was to help Pang and Ohm navigate their way towards the goal of all NYX-88 vitals, both in the ministry building across town and the school. Pang had made Pom get in on their plan too, which many from the group weren't happy about, but they trusted Pang. Pom drove Mon, Jo, and Claire to the ministry building. Wave had Punn who copied his potential and used it to help the other group at the ministry building.

Wave was of course a bit unhappy to know Punn was copying him, but he knew he needed the help. 

Time was in the room with Wave and Punn, having his own laptop where Wave had sent some maps to him. Time had the almost-used NYX-88 vital to find where the legit vitals were in the buildings, Pang had said Korn had given it to him.

Korn had said he needed to be alone at the moment and didn't want to participate in the mission. 

"In the room to the right for P'Pangs group." Time slid his finger across the laptop screen, Wave talked to Pang through an earpiece telling him the info and unlocking the door while disabling the security cameras for others to see, he navigated Pang to the Director's vitals in the school without any troubles.

There weren't many, but it was still at least 10 vitals of NYX-88.

"P'Punn, 2nd door to the left after the right corner," Time slid his finger across the new map with wandering eyes.

"Careful there's a security guard at camera 7B," Wave said drinking some of his Ovaltine.

Punn cursed and quickly made a camera explode from overheating in another room making the security guard turn around and walk into the room away from Mons group. 

Both groups came successfully back with the vitals without any scratch, Pom had to go to a teacher meeting, but he gave a smile at Pang. 

Time was tired and went to his room, wishing his best of luck to the group. Pang thanked him before he headed out, he went to Wave and Punn, "Thank you both, you were the backbone for this," Pang said looking between the two.

Wave looked up at Pang and then down at the laptop in his lap. "It's nothing," Wave said, he wasn't used to people thanking him, he became nervous. 

Pang asked Ohm to hide the vitals and asked everyone to sleep for the night, they had used more than 5 hours on this plus planning it all the whole day, everyone was exhausted. 

Wave and Pang were the last ones left, no one said anything. Pang coughed once and then twice, he felt light-headed. He decided to sit down on a chair till he felt better.

"You okay?" Wave asked his friend who had his head in his hands.

"I'm good, I'm good," Pang repeated and then sneezed.

Wave put the laptop aside on a nearby table and went over to Pang, pushing his hands away and checking his forehead, "You're sick." 

"I know."

Wave felt more confused, "Why don't you take care of yourself, idiot?"

"It's a side-effect," Pang answered looking up at Wave who looked concerned, "because I haven't used my potential in a long time, it's dumb." 

Wave tried to think of a quick solution, "Well, is it permanent?"

Pang nodded tiredly, "Until I use it so to say."

Wave thought for a while. "Use it on me then, just make me walk in a circle once or sit down on a chair or something." Wave pulled his chair closer to Pang to sit in front of him.

Pang looked panicked and shocked, "I can't. Not on you, not on my friends." 

"It won't be much, besides you've used it on me before," Wave reminded Pang, the other looked guilty down on the floor, Wave continued, "You don't have to talk about your trauma, but you're soon gonna be so sick you won't even be able to use it, so just use it quickly on me before I change my mind." 

Pang looked at Wave like he was crazy, but said carefully, "Stand up," Wave stood up instantly, "Give me your jacket," Pang felt a bit better, he took the jacket Wave had taken off. "Thanks! That's mine now!" Pang ran out the door, he heard Wave curse at him as he chased him to their dorm. Pang let out a laugh, it was the first time he had genuinely laughed for a while now.

Chapter Text

On the way to his morning class a few days after the stealing of the virus, Korn cornered him and dragged him into the bathroom stalls. Pang followed confused but willingly, his back got slammed against a wall.

"You said you didn't use your potential on friends!" Korn exclaimed up in his face.

"I don't-"

Korn punched him, not too harsh, but it would definitely leave a bruise.

"Ai'Korn! What's wrong with you?" Pang tried to get away from Korn to no avail.

Korn looked at Pang like he was the crazy one, "Is it because it's Ai'Wave? Is it because you two are dancing on flowers with each other? Are you guys not friends?" Korn spat at Pang, "Or do you just hate me that much? I will give you one last chance to use your potential on me." 

Pang struggled, "I'm not gonna lie when I say I used it on Wave, but he only wanted to help and-" 

"Just shut up."

Korn released Pang and walked away and out the stalls. Pang carefully touched the bruise hissing in pain, his reactions were too slow when he heard marching footsteps walking into the stalls, he didn't even get to struggle when they gagged him and knocked him out.

Pang woke up, not having a sense of how long he was out for, he was tied to a chair, gagged, and couldn't move. He panicked, not knowing if he was in big danger or this was an act of sicko revenge from Korns side. In front of him was a table, his hands were cuffed to it, not far enough to reach and untie his feet, his head was held back to the chair by a rope around his neck.

He could only watch as the door in front of him opened and The Minister walked in, Supot behind him. 

"Pawaret, you have caused quite some trouble lately." The Minister walked close to Pang, not looking too happy.

Pang said something which was muffled by the gag.

"Oh, how unfortunate, you can't speak, don't worry you're free to go." The Minister smiled, then frowned, "After you give me the vitals, and I won't let you stay in here in silence, did Supot ever tell you what we did to Yuth?"

Pang's eyes widened, were they really gonna torture a student? The minister of education really had some balls to do that, he did know Pang could report this to the police after he got out.

Supot smiled, "Don't look so shocked, I never agreed to this, tell us where the vitals are and we'll let you go. And to make it simple, we'll leave a piece of coal and some paper for you to write your answer on." 

The minister nodded to Supot and went out the door, he laid a piece of paper and a piece of coal in front of Pang on the table he was chained to. 

As Supot walked the same way the Minister did, Pang was left alone in silence. He decided to break all the coal he was given and crumble up the paper. He wished he had the potential to get him out of this situation right now, Pang felt powerless.

He must have fallen asleep because the next moment he had his arms tied behind the chair and neck free, cold water had been thrown at him, he saw 3 big men with a bucket and a cloth. He knew what was coming and tried to hold his breath as they forced water down his nose. The chair he found out, was a fancy office chair that could lean back if you pressed a certain button, unlucky for him this was now not a cozy chair but more like a torture chair for him. 

After a few punches and a kick to the stomach, they left him alone, tied back with chains and rope again, the stupid coal and paper in front of him again.

The next few hours or days felt like shit, every hour or every 2 hours, he honestly didn't know, they would come and torture him all they could, but this one-time Supot said something that made him lookup.

"I know all this physical torture won't make you say or write anything, perhaps you would rather write about your future?" Supot questioned, "Ah, let me make you a deal. I will remove your gag and stop the big guys from physically torturing you, instead, I will take over and visit you. I promise not to hurt you in any way physically."

Pang wrote a big 'NO' on the paper, "Too bad."

Pang was then forced to listen to some sort of hum sound, the first few minutes were okay, but when it kept going he felt like his whole mind started closing in on him. He could only close his eyes and hope for rescue. 

-~-~-~-

"We've looked for Pang everywhere, Wave, he's disappeared." Ohm anxiously walked around in a circle.

Wave was cracking his knuckles, his other hand gripping the green jacket around him, "Where's Time?"

Mon looked at Wave, "We want to find Pang as much as you do Wave and our first instinct was Time, but he's in a critical state in the hospital." 

Wave screamed in frustration and slammed his hand down on his keyboard, smashing it to pieces. 

He stormed off out the door, everyone didn't seem to care that Pang had been gone for 4 days without telling them, perhaps they didn't feel that Pang was in potential danger or that Pang shouldn't be saved. He held onto the green jacket tightly, his eyes looking down into the floor, he wanted to find Pang.

He bumped into someone and apologized quickly before he saw Korns eyes staring back at him.

"You!" Wave said accusingly, "Where have you been? Did you do something to Pang? DID YOU?" He screamed at the scared-looking Korn.

"What? Why would I ever do something like that? I haven't seen Pang!" Korn defended.

Wave could see right through his lies, he pushed Korn against a wall and punched him in the cheekbone, holding his neck, "Tell me where the fuck Pang is or I'll make you say it." Waves grip on Korn's neck grew tighter as the other boy tried to get Wave off of him.

"Fine!" Korn said, Wave releasing a bit but still holding on, "You guys are really inseparable, I saw Pang use his potential on you! And he refused to use it on me! So perhaps or perhaps not I've told Supot about Pang being from the future and about your plans to steal the virus." 

"You what?!" Waves grip around the throat became tighter as he saw red, a strong arm pulled him away, "Ai'Mon, I was interrogating him! He knows where Pang is!" Wave said angry looking at Mon.

"You were gonna kill him! Pang is probably out there doing his own mission, he is not in danger! And if he was he could use his potential!" Mon argued back at Wave. Wave's eyes bore into Korn's eyes before leaving the two alone, he could not stand these idiots right now. He knew Pang wasn't alright.

Wave entered the computer room and locked it after him, he didn't want anyone to interrupt him while he started using his potential. His hands frantically shook as he tried to find Supot on one of the school's many cameras and his hidden audio devices around the school. He caught Supot leaving the school on one of the outside lamp cameras and quickly ran out of the computer room to follow him. 

He ran away from angry teachers and perhaps made one or two kids fall in his hunt, he saw Supot get into a car and drive away. 

Wave cursed and almost gave up hope when he saw an electric car in the parking lot. He had never tried this before but it was now or never, he knew most of his potential relied on the internet, but what if he didn't need it and only needed a battery. Was that his limit?

Wave rushed over to the car, it was locked of course, but when his fingertips barely touched the door handle it swung up and he entered it, he could see Supots car drive around the corner. He took deep breaths and held his hands on the steering wheel, focusing on the engine and battery in the car, his eyes closed and he felt something move.

He quickly opened his eyes to see the car driving forwards, he focused on where The Director had driven and the car obeyed, Wave couldn't stop smiling at his newfound limit. 

After a few kilometers of slowly driving after The Director he stopped at what seemed like an old building, Supot might have gotten into it, so Wave parked 100 meters away from sight and ran towards the building. He sneaked his way into the building and didn't see much, he heard footsteps walking away from him which could be from The Director.

He hid behind things and looked for electronic devices if he had to escape and make a distraction, sure he may not have thought to get back up or try and think what if he got caught.

When he thought about it, this was really reckless and he wasn't usually a reckless person, perhaps the anger from Korn and the worry from Pang made him like this.

He had seen Supot walk into a room with a bowl of food, coal, and some paper. Very suspicious, he waited until The Director came out and walked out of the building before he started moving. He made his way to the door with quick movements, the door was locked. Instead of searching for a key he saw a brick in the ruined building and smashed the door handle until it gave out.

His heart was beating very fast, he could admit to feeling scared.

He opened the door slowly, his eyes widened when he saw his friend who looked unconscious, Pang was tied to a chair and a table.

He felt his heartbreak by the scene in front of him.

"Pang!"

He rushed over and tried to stir awake his friend, Pang didn't move. He untied the rope around Pang's feet and Pang's neck and ungagged him. His whole body was trembling in fear and he couldn't stop his eyes from getting a bit teary.

He slapped Pang's cheek softly, calling his name. Pang groaned in pain, the bruises on his face showed why. He tried to find something to cut off the handcuffs, but only found a bolt cutter in the corner and cut off the handcuffs, he would deal with getting them fully off later, they really needed to get out of here, wherever here was.

"Damn it, Pang." He cursed as he tried to lift Pang. He really struggled to get Pang outside in the car, but it was successful, Pang clearly in very much pain and half-unconscious.

Wave kept looking over at Pang on the roads to the school, "You really made me worry." 

He decided to call Punn for backup, Punn was of course shocked and worried when he heard about Pang's condition, but promised to try and find Ohm so he could meet them at the entrance.

Wave decided then to focus on the roads. When he parked half-assed, he saw Ohm waiting anxiously for them, he ran over to the car when he saw Wave getting out, carrying Pang's weight on his side. "What happened?" Ohm asked, looking at Pang and then Wave.

"I'll tell you all later, let's get Pang to the infirmary without drawing unwanted attention, right?" Ohm nodded and grabbed onto Pang and Wave, making Pang also leaning on him for support, together they carried Pang to the infirmary without any of the other students questioning anything.

The nurse wasn't there so they had to treat Pang themself, Pang was laying down on the bed, curling up in pain. "I'll try to wake him up, find rubbing alcohol and all the other stuff we need," Wave commanded Ohm. Wave had unlocked the cuffs around the wrists and saw the red marks they left, he gently felt the wrists if they were more hurt than they seemed. Thankfully they didn't seem that injured.

Wave then leaned over Pang slightly and shook his shoulders softly, "Wake up, class 8 kid! Wake up, idiot." Wave couldn't stand seeing his best friend in pain anymore, he checked Pang's temperature and found it blazing hot.

"Shit!" He cursed, Ohm, looked at him questioning, "We also need some cold medicine," Wave said. Pang curling up could be because he was cold, he could feel his clothes be a bit damp when he thought about it. What had they done to him?

He draped the green jacket over Pang, who stopped shaking a tiny bit, Wave considered that a win.

Ohm came back with all the medicine and pills and shoved it all down on a table, they both began to clean Pang's wounds and make him sit up. Pang's eyes fluttered slowly awake, his body started to flinch at every touch they showed him. Pang coughed dryly for a few minutes, Wave took that as a sign of a dry throat. He got a cup of water from the sink and made Pang drink it.

"It's us, Pang," Ohm said, trying to show he wasn't a bad guy, Pang looked at Ohm.

"Ohm?" His voice was raspy and almost unrecognizable, he must have had that gag in for so long. 

"Wave saved you, he was worried sick, we all were." Ohm continued, gazing up one of Pang's arms, Pang cringing in pain.

Wave looked at Ohm, "I wasn't worried sick, just worried." 

Ohm gave Wave a disbelieving look, "I don't care what you call it, but I would say you did it out of L to the O to the V to the-"

"Pang is in critical danger right now!" Wave changed the subject and kept cleaning Pang's face wounds.

Pang held onto Waves hand for a second, stopping it, "Wave, you do know I love you too, you're my best friend, thank you." Pang gave a weak smile that made Wave weak.

He blushed and stuttered out a dumb 'thanks no problem'. They were best friends,

What was the big deal?

After they got Pang into the dorm to rest up they told the others and Mon apologized to Wave. Korn wasn't there, he must have felt too guilty to show up, Wave might have punched him again who knows. Everyone was so shocked to hear how The Director had tortured Pang, that was a big risk, hurting a student.

Wave had started talking about the abandoned building when 2 security guards ordered Wave up to The Director. He looked back at the others who looked as pale as him, was this his death day? If Supot was willing to hurt a student, what would he do to Wave.

Supot was sitting in his big chair, smiling his dumb stupid smile like always, "You have been quite the driver today, Wasuthorn." Supot stated.

Wave chose not to answer that, he instead looked up at Supot, "You do know the consequences of hurting a student?"

The Director laughed for himself, "Do you know who I am? I can just make them focused on something else or forget about it via Pom. I got the world in my hands, Wasuthorn," Supot answered like it was pure logic.

"If that was all, excuse me." Wave stood up.

"Look at me." Wave turned his head unwillingly, already feeling the chill down his back. "I would like you to finish my job, poison Pawaret, he's pretty weak right now, thank you, you're excused."

Wave couldn't stop walking, he wanted to stop holding the syringe he was given by Supot, he wanted to yell and scream.

He wanted to stop himself. He took his glasses off laying them on the table and rubbed his eyes trying to make the headache go away. He wanted self-control back.

He saw Pang asleep on Waves bed in the lower bunker bed, he shed a tear and got control of his body as his knees fell to the floor. He felt his head tearing him apart every moment he wasn't doing what he was ordered to do. His scream must have woken Pang up, cause he was sitting up looking at Wave on the floor.

"Wave." Pang's voice was still a bit rasp and raw.

Pang sat down in front of Wave and held his cheeks to look at him, "What happened?"

Wave held the syringe tighter, it felt like there was a giant and tight headband around his head, "Help me," He muttered quietly, the ringing in his ears became louder, his hand with the syringe shaking, he felt control slipping and tears filled his vision.

Pang was helpless, he was trying to find out what was wrong, but Wave wouldn't stop hyperventilating and shaking, he had never seen Wave like this before.

He held Wave close, thinking it was a mental breakdown, he could feel Wave's heartbeat beating too fast, "It's okay, It's me, Pang. Let it go whatever's holding you down." He hadn't meant to use his potential, he wasn't even sure he was using it, but Wave calmed down a bit.

Wave's head fell onto Pang's shoulder, "Wave?" 

He found Wave passed out on his shoulder, he sighed and lifted Wave up to the bed, he yawned and fell asleep alongside Wave. 

Chapter Text

It was Korn who found the syringe, he then kicked the bunker bed where Pang and Wave were sleeping.

The two were asleep in each other's arms, Korn kicked again getting a groan out of Pang. Pang opened his eyes first, his eyes meeting Korns.

Korn held up the syringe, "What's this? Did The Director really torture you? Were you really kidnapped?" 

Pang hadn't expected Korn to show genuine concern, but his eyes showed that he was truly worried.

Pang nodded, "I don't know what that is tho, Wave had quite the breakdown yesterday, I'm concerned about him."

Pang had untangled himself from Wave and stood up taking the syringe with the liquid in it. "Maybe Wave knows what it is," Pang wondered inspecting the syringe, he saw Korn looking guilty.

"I'm sorry I said that to The Director, I didn't know he would torture you, that's unfair." Korn seemed sadder over this than Pang was.

Pang sighed, "It's really okay, I'm okay now, gone through worse. They didn't even do major damage to me other than the few punches and kicks."

Korn held up Pang's wrists, "They're bruised, did they tie you up here?" Korn looked at the pink marks on Pangs' face, "They gagged you so you couldn't use your potential," Korn said more to himself than Pang.

Pang nodded, "I will help you."

Pang saw Korns eyes light up and then look sad again, "I don't really deserve it do I? I caused you so much pain and harm, I don't think the others will accept me back in again, I don't know if I can accept myself-"

Pang pulled Korn into an embrace, Korn froze. "Korn, you do deserve happiness and normal life if that's what you want, but please don't think no one is there for you. Sometimes you need to speak up or talk over a few to be heard." Pang gave a final shoulder squeeze and let go.

Korn was looking down at the ground.

Wave stirred awake, his eyes blinking the sleep out and looking at Pang and Korn, he rubbed his eyes and sat up with his feet down on the cold floor, "Why is Korn here, he was the one that-"

"I know."

Pang looked at Waves confused expression, "Why aren't you mad at him?" Wave walked over to the table and put on his glasses. His head still hurt a bit, but he had no invisible hand making him stick a syringe into his friend.

He saw Pang with it, "The Director used his potential on me to poison you with the syringe, be careful of it." Wave took the poison and laid it on the table. "I tried to go against it and I think I passed out," Wave said, looking at Pang while speaking.

"You did, you were screaming and your body temperature was very hot, you seem better today. But one question, how did you go against his potential? The Director's orders are pretty strict."

Wave seemed to think hard, "I don't really know, I didn't want to hurt you, that's all. I still had control over my own thoughts."

Pang seemed very interested in this.

Korn perked his head up, "I got rid of Supot's control over me."

Pang nodded at Korn, "Because your desire to sleep was more important," Pang looked over at Wave, "What is your desire?" 

Wave blinked, his mind going over hundreds of thoughts, he shook his head, "It doesn't matter, what matters now is to keep The Director from taking the virus, he seems to be hopeless and does reckless things when he can't find them. Such as trying to make me assassinate you." Wave pulled his shoes on and stood up, "So let's go tell the others about my failed assassination attempt, now that I'm awake." Wave didn't even wait for a response, just took the green jacket from the chair and walked out.

Korn looked at the now-closed door, "What was that?"

Pang shook his shoulders and followed after Wave.

-~-~-~-

Pang had understood why The Director might have kidnapped him, he was the only one with the memory of where the virus was hidden.

Pom had erased both Ohm and his own memory of the hiding spot, making Pang the only witness. The Director may have tried to interrogate Ohm first and then Ohm had probably unwillingly said Pang had the memory of it. That's when Supot struck and tortured him, not because he was from the future, but because without the virus The Director couldn't succeed in his plan.

Pang looked up to see his friends discussing the new Marvel series, he coughed making the room quiet down. 

"As we know, The Director is frantically trying to access the virus at the moment, we need to keep pushing him back until he's at a one-way crossroad. I want you all to stay together at least in a pair of 2 until The Director is behind bars or dead. It would be unsafe if we were to walk alone. In the room, I was at, both he and The Minister would visit and ask for the virus, as I know they both have the same mindset about the future of The Gifted. We cannot let this happen, the next move in our plan is to keep the juniors safe, we need more pills for them all. I will come up with a more detailed plan later."

Pang's phone pinged, he looked at it and then looked around at his friends searching, "Where's Ohm?" 

Everyone looked around at each other, "I think he went back to his dorm because he forgot something," Korn said, his expression worried.

Pang gulped, his eyes meeting Wave, "Can you track down his phone?" Wave nodded and turned around to look at the computer, his hand touching the keyboard quickly finding Ohms phone's location. Pang noticed Waves off expression, "What's wrong?"

"This was the place I found you in," Wave said.

Pang looked closer at the map, "That does look like his old hideout, let's go, we only need 2 people on this, 2 people here can keep an eye out for us and come if we need extra help." Pang looked around.

"I can go with," Wave said without batting an eye.

"Thanks, Wave, but I need you to keep tabs on Ohm and me when we go to the house. Punn?" Pang asked, Punn nodded. 

Wave looked at Punn and then back at Pang, "Yeah, of course, good luck, don't get hurt again," Wave said the last part more quietly, only Claire saw the jealousy in his color, she smirked at him.

"Let's go," Pang and Punn exited the room, soon after everyone except Korn and Wave was left. 

"I'm sorry, I wanted to apologize for making you worried about your boyfriend... Ah! Friend! Sorry!" Korn smirked and quickly hurried out of the room.

"Asshole!" Wave yelled after him throwing an empty water bottle at the door. 

His eyes went back to the screen, he leaned back in the chair as he watched Pang's phone make its way to Ohms phone.

Pang was extremely worried when Punn started driving, apparently, he had learned this skill by driving cars in video games and watching Fast and Furious which sounded concerning. He was clutching onto the seat belt as Punn drove around a sharp corner, "You know you can slow down."

Punn didn't listen to him, "I'm the driver, you aren't." That was the only response he got.

When they arrived, Pang stepped out and had to hold onto the car door for a moment to calm his nerves, "You're more dramatic than Claire," Punn said looking at Pang, he locked the stolen car and looked at the building in front of them. 

When they stepped inside Pang heard a silent tick. He looked to his side and saw a metronome, he purposely pushed it off the table making it stop ticking.

"Mr. Pom." He said before seeing him, Punn stood behind Pang ready to strike.

"Pang, Punn, you really shouldn't be here," Pom warned them.

Pang stood still, "Where's Ohm?" 

Pom held out his right hand revealing a phone, "Is this what you were looking for?" Pom showed no emotions in his facial expression, Pang looked at the phone, and then Pom,

"But, you helped us get the virus?" Pang said confused, Pom refused to meet his eyes. 

"He made me get the memories back, he's at the school with Ohm, you're too late, your perfect future has crumbled, please give up," Pom begged his students.

Punn stood in front of Pang facing Pom, "After all Pang went through? You tell him to give up after that asshole tortured the crap out of him just to get the virus back? Do you think it's fair to stop here after all Pang has been through?" Punn got held back by Pang, Punn could be very defensive at times.

Pom's eyes hardened, "He did what?" Pom went closer to Pang who had let Punn go, "Are those bruises The Directors doing? But he can't do that." Poms's eyes saw the marks on Pang's wrists, "He tied you up?" Pom exclaimed.

"For 4 days!" Punn yelled angrily.

Pom was stunned, never in his life as a teacher had he accepted any form of violence on his students, he was a tool to The Director most of the time and he had accepted that role, but now after the bruises and ill things he heard that had happened under his vision he was furious.

The drive back to the school was tense, Wave had been informed that Ohm was in danger and had then informed the others. Pang was fidgeting nervously in the back seat, Punn looking out the window, not looking too good either.

Pom was concentrated on the road, he was the one who looked the worst out of the three, Pang could understand why. Their teacher really wanted the best for them, he just didn't know how to stand up for himself. Pang would have been mad at Pom if he didn't know him from the other past, he had seen Pom willing to sacrifice himself all for Pang to stay safe.

Pang saw a notification on his phone pop up, it was a text from Wave;

'Ohm is back, he says The Director has the virus'.

Pom was right, they were too late.

Pang met Punns eyes and Punn could already see the devastation in him and cursed, "You can't give up, Pang." 

Punn was right, he was back here to save his future, he needed to find a different approach to this now. Pang's worry didn't stop when he heard noise from all three phones in the car, Punn and Pang checked it out.

"He has gone insane, he has actually gone mad!" 

Wave had sent a screenshot of leaked footage of The Gifted Class XV from 2 years ago, when they first showed their potentials, it was all leaked on the schools' website. But of course, Wave had been quick to delete it, but he knew someone out there must have seen it. His theory was correct when he logged onto his social media, on Twitter people from lower classes were sending screenshots of the website before it was deleted and had written;

'The truth about The Gifted??'. 

It already had 30 likes and it was only going up in numbers before it was deleted by what he would think was Wave, but the tweets kept coming.

'Screenshots being deleted?? Is it perhaps one of The Superpower kids from The Gifted class?'

"Pom, they all know," Pang said defeated.

"What?" Pom turned his whole body around to look at Pang.

"The road!" Punn exclaimed pointing at the steering wheel.

Pom turned back around, "How?"

"Someone who has access to the school website, I will take my bet on The Director, but why?" Pang sighed leaning all the way back in his seat, tapping his foot nervously on the car floor.

Punn turned his phone towards Pang, "It's a trick for everyone to buy the new school water bottles." 

Pang took the phone and saw some more deleted text which had been under the video of the exposure.

"Maybe I can delete the leak from their memories?" Pom asked nervously.

"That's too many, also not everyone who saw it goes to this school," Pang answered as they drove into the parking lot.

As they all got out, Pang could see them getting stared down by the many students, he tried to ignore it.

One of the schoolgirls from the school news club came up to them with a small microphone, "Is it true what they send out about The Gifted Class?" 

Punn pulled Pang away and into the building alongside Pom who looked very much uncomfortable.

"Stay quiet," Punn whispered to Pang, he could only nod as he ignored the many eyes on them. They said goodbye to Pom as he had to go to the teacher's room, the two went into the meeting room and saw their other friends there. 

Pang's eyes met Waves and then Ohms, "Did he do anything to you?"

Ohm shook his head, "No, I'm not hurt, thanks, and you?" Ohm got up and made his way to Pang.

Pang shook his head, "I'm exhausted by all this, we had him in a corner and he escaped."

Pang walked over to his chair and sat down, "What are we gonna do now? Wave is really trying his hardest to delete everything-'' Mon asked but was interrupted by Pang.

"Stop, don't. It's too much to delete and it's already in their brains."

He looked over at Wave who looked back at him, absolutely broken, "But, Pang! We can't-"

"Please, stop, thanks for trying, but unless we can delete a mass amount of memories we can't do anything." 

"Are you giving up?" Korn asked.

"No, but we have to retreat, for now, try and stop the water bottles from being sold," Pang said, "I'll come up with a new plan, give me a few days."

He saw his phone light up and looked, he got up and excused himself.

Wave watched as Pang walked out the door. The others fell into a messy discussion about how to stop the water bottles and what to do now. Wave looked down at his hands, they were red, bloody, and irritated. He stood up and walked out, he ignored the students trying to get answers out of him and went to his dorm.

As he opened the door, he found Pang staring out of the window, he chose not to say anything and went to lay down on his bed, he took off his glasses and put them down on the nearby table.

Pang looked back at him, looking down at Wave's hands, "Your hands are bleeding."

"So?" Wave sighed, his arm falling over his eyes, he was too exhausted to tend to his wounds.

He had used his potential too much today, he heard the bed creak as someone sat down on it, "Sit up." 

Wave removed his arm and saw Pang with a medkit, he was holding a cotton swab in his hand, a bottle of rubbing alcohol was by his side. 

He sat up and his left hand getting taken by Pang, he hissed as Pang started cleaning his wound. "You tell me to take care of myself when you don't even take care of yourself."

Wave didn't say anything, he felt a sharp pain, "Careful!" He said to Pang.

Pang's thumb rubbed the dorsal side of his hand, "Sorry," He said softly and tried to do it more gently. 

Wave didn't know why he held his breath when Pang did that, his right hand moved up to his own cheek, feeling a bit warm. He panicked and took his hand back, "Thanks, I'll clean the other wound myself." 

"But, It'll probably hurt if you try to do it yourself, It's really no problem," Pang insisted, Wave had no say when Pang took his right hand and began cleaning.

Wave would usually isolate himself when he felt like this, but now he felt trapped, he couldn't do anything other than look at the other.

He remembered Claire's and the others teasing, was she really right. He thought it was crazy, he had never felt attracted to, well, anybody other than Ms. Nara. She was a bitch that he would never forgive. His feelings for Ms. Nara and Pang weren't the same, he wanted to find closure and acceptance from Ms. Nara, whereas with Pang he wanted to be around him.

He felt closed off from the world with Nara, but with Pang, he felt light and free. 

As all these thoughts came to him he could only feel one thing, fear. 

"Wave, you okay?" Pang asked, he had bandaged Waves hands up but had found Wave staring at him. Wave snapped out of his thoughts and retrieved his hands, he looked at Pang and then escaped to the bathroom.

Pang was very confused when Wave stormed off to the bathroom, he heard the door open and Punn walk in with a bag of what he could see was water bottles, "Here, store-bought water bottles and-" Punn showed the other bag, "A bag of that drink you like." Punn sat the two bags down on the ground, "Where's Wave? I thought he was with you?" 

Pang gave a look towards the bathroom, Punn followed his stare, "Okay, tell him to find me when he's done." With that Punn walked out again.

Chapter Text

Wave woke up feeling like shit, he had stayed up late last night and overthought everything. By his phone clock, he had only slept for 2 hours, as he dragged his body up in a sitting position and was careful to not wake the others, he made his way to the bathroom. Behind the door he let go of a breath he was holding, what was he even thinking?

He looked at himself in the mirror and splashed some water on it, perhaps these feelings would go away. Maybe if he distanced himself enough, maybe then his feelings would fade. Cause this would affect the plan, therefore it would be better to get rid of the feelings.

He was still the only one up when he walked out of the bathroom, even Korn was asleep, Pang had probably done that. He then glanced over at the green jacket, his eyes looking at the top bunk bed where Pang was asleep. He decided to take on a regular shirt for the day, he sure loved the jacket, but it was Pangs. He put on his glasses and headed out into the empty hallway.

Last night Punn had asked if he was okay because of course, Claire would tell Punn everything, she had told Punn to look closely after Wave. Wave cursed at Claire and had walked away from Punn annoyed.

He was startled when a person walked into the meeting room, "It's just me," Ohm said, in his hands a bag of lays.

"You were up early, something up?" Ohm asked.

Wave looked away and down at his bandaged hands, he met Ohms eyes, "No, what would be up? Why would anything be up? I'm fine! Yeah, don't ask stupid questions," Wave said annoyed.

Ohm smirked not quite believing Wave, he gave him a skeptical look, "Are you sure? Did you and Pang get into an argument, you practically ignored him all evening," Ohm pushed.

"Me and Pang?" Wave's voice sounded panicked, he had focused so much on finding an excuse he hadn't paid attention to what Ohm was saying.

Ohm was somehow now closer to Wave, "Wow, Wave, are you blushing?"

Wave pushed Ohm away, he turned around in his chair, "You're crazy."

Ohm stopped pushing, seeming satisfied with what he had gotten out of Wave.

Wave didn't concentrate on the meeting, lost in his own thoughts he searched for random research on everything and nothing, he could feel his wounds from the day before still sore. He turned off the computer and leaned back in his chair, "You going to class, Wave?" Punn asked him.

Wave spun around in his chair and saw Punn and him were the only ones left in the room, he got up. "Yeah, sure," He answered as casually as he could.

"Why aren't you wearing the green jacket today? It's not weekend." Punn eyed the shirt he was wearing.

"I can wear other clothes!" He huffed and stormed out of the room with Punn behind him.

"You should change to dress code, we already drag too much attention after the whole exposure, go change quick, I'll make an excuse for you," Punn patted Waves shoulder before heading to their first class. Wave sighed and went to his dorm to change, he avoided taking the jacket on still and went without an extra layer on for the day.

His classes were more intense, not because of the education or anything, but because he felt his every move watched. People whispered about him wherever he went and some even pointed at him, they were all theorizing what his potential was and some even knew it for some reason. He didn't feel safe.

Wave was hiding outside the school, where there weren't many students out, he breathed out and exclaimed when he saw a familiar face.

"Chanon?" Waves mouth quickly got covered by Chanons hand.

"Keep it quiet will you?"

Wave was surprised to see Chanon here in front of him, "Pang told me all about his friends, so you must be, Wave."

He pushed Chanon a bit away, he knew Chanon was alive because Pang told him, but here? At their school?

"What do you want here?" Wave said glancing at Chanons bag on his back.

Chanon took it off and handed it to Wave, "Delivery to Pawaret Sermrittirong, no but please hand it to him, he searched out for me and helped me a lot, these deliveries are the least I can do to help." Wave didn't get to ask him a question before Chanon ran away and over to his parked car.

He looked down at the bag in his hand, what was in this?

He didn't expect the bag to be so heavy when he put it on his back, but he slowly and slyly strode his way through the hallways and back into his dorm where he dropped off the bag. Pang could sort this out later, right now he was hungry.

Wave decided to eat in their meeting room to avoid any questions about The Gifted program and such. He still couldn't believe Supot had tricked the whole school into thinking drinking the school water would magically give them potentials.

He was surprised to see his other friends eating in their meeting room, Pang gave him a smile, he was writing in a notebook while eating his rice.

Wave gave a half-smile back, he sat down in his normal chair, setting his own plate down on the table, an awkward silence fell upon them all.

"So, you got a game plan, Pang?" Korn asked Pang, who was looking down in his notes.

"The only thing we can do is making Pom erase the memories one by one, tho we can't erase it from people from other schools or countries which have seen this. The least we can do is assure to put The Director in jail." Pang wrote something down and looked up.

Mon spoke up, "Honestly, we should kill him, dead, gone." Her friends turned their heads towards her, she shrugged, "He's a pretty bad person, we could end him if we wanted to, sure there's a fat chance we would get put in jail instead, but technically Ohm could just hide the body."

Mon did make a good point, but no one really wanted to have blood on their hands, only Pang looked up, "Of course!"

"Hey wait, I wasn't serious about killing him, Pang," Mon said panicked.

Pang stood up, "Not that, we have to strip him of his power, need to break him down until he's at tears, only then will we beat him."

Pang looked around at his friends who didn't seem so interested, he sighed and sat down, it was Punn who spoke up, "C'mon, we can't break him, let's focus on saving the innocent students."

Pang began to protest, "But he's the source of all this-"

"We have to take it slow, we can't keep attacking something that's stronger than us," Punn stated.

Pang could see Punns point, but he was so invested in ending it all, he couldn't see other ways to defeat The Director. He sighed and walked out of the room, his next class started soon anyways, he would talk with them later.

-~-~-~-

Claire had cornered Wave in the empty computer room, "Are you gonna tell me what you're hiding? You've been nervous this whole day," Claire said with crossed arms.

Wave looked up at Claire, "What are you- Really there's nothing going on."

Claire didn't seem to believe it, "I won't tell others if you made a mistake or something else, but I want to know that you're alright, I've never seen you this nervous, your purple is almost blinding me, and frankly, I hate damaging my eyes," Claire held up her sunglasses for effect.

He lightly kicked her left leg, "Stop that, I don't want to talk about it."

Claire pouted, wiping the dirt off her leg, "Is it really that bad?"

"Yes."

"Should I help bury the body?"

Wave rolled his eyes, "Not that bad, I'm- Fuck, I don't even know myself," Wave said sighing, "Use your damn potential on me, I don't want to say it."

Claire's face lit up as she touched his head carefully, he could hear a tiny gasp, "Wave! Are you actually-?"

Wave shushed her, hiding his face with his hands, "Shut it! I don't know! I don't know anything!"

Claire smiled and said in a lower tone, "When did you start liking Pang?"

"No! I don't!" Wave turned to Claire panicked, rubbing his face before lightly pushing his friend away.

"Wave, you totally head over heels for him, like a real Drama. This is a dream come true!" Claire exclaimed, sighing happily.

"What Drama?! And okay, I do like Pang, are you happy?" Wave admitted he could feel his heart beating a bit faster.

Claire turned to him and nodded, "Very much! I will help you, Pang will fall for you in no time!"

"No way are you doing that!" Wave said as Claire ran out the door, he clenched his fists and ran after her.

He practically ripped the door off when he entered the meeting room, Claire looking at Pang, "Pang! Wave wants to-"

Wave pushed Claire aside, "Wants to talk! About-" Wave looked frantically around the room, everyone stared at him and Claire weirdly, "-To talk about what was in the bag P'Chanon handed me."

Pang looked at Claire and then back to Wave, "Oh, P'Chanon gave me the pills that I'm giving to the virus-infected gifted juniors. I know The Director is planning to play the audio at the near exam, therefore those who have drunk the water and unlocked their potential will automatically get the virus and have to depend on the pills. I will hand the pills to them for free and P'Chanon knows where The Director stocks it and takes some and gives it to me. I do hope to find a permanent cure to the virus without hurting others," Pang said looking around at his friends.

"Were there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Pang asked Wave.

Claire smirked and spoke up, "Well actually what Wave wanted to say was-" Wave dragged Claire out through the door, Pang and the others looking after them confused.

Punn followed them both.

"Why would you try and do that?" Wave exclaimed, Claire was pouting, "But the drama! Romance! It would be the performance of the year!" Claire sighed happily.

"Romance?" Punn asked nearing them, Wave looked at Punn bewildered.

"Nothing, there's nothing." Wave excused himself and walked past Punn, but was grabbed by his arm and turned around.

Punn looked at Wave worried, "Did you have a fight with anybody? Was it Pang?"

Wave ripped his arm out of Punns grip, "Why does everything I do correspond to Pang every time!"

Punn backed off slightly, "Sorry, I was just asking."

"Wave, it's very obvious when you're in love," Claire said then covered her mouth dramatically, Wave gave her a death stare.

"Do you like Pang?" Punn asked curiously, Wave walked away not wanting to deal with that.

He was so tired of the news club trying to interview him and of his newfound feelings, he went to the roof to get some air.

He hadn't noticed someone walking towards him, "Wave?"

He turned around and was met with the last person he wanted to see, Pang was walking up beside him, "Claire told me."

Waves head turned around to Pang, he looked at Pang, "She told you?"

Wave would be under-reacting if he said he was terrified at that moment, he felt like his world was crumbling. "Mm, Yeah, she told me that you would come on the roof to sulk and that I had to ask you what was up."

Wave never felt such a relief, Claire could be a bitch at times, but she was still his friend.

"I'm fine." Wave looked up at the clouds, the sun setting beautifully and casting light beneath the clouds.

"You looked a bit tense back in the room, are you sure?" Pang looked at Wave who stared back.

Wave felt lost observing Pang's face, he noticed the way the sun hit his face perfectly and all the emotions in his eyes.

"Wave?"

Wave snapped out of his thoughts blinking, "Huh?" He asked.

Pang brushed it off, he then proceeded to take Waves hands and turn them around, "How are your wounds healing up?" Wave watched as Pang took off the bandages, his palms good as new, he then looked up to see Pang smile. "Hey! That's good, only took you 22 hours to heal up."

Wave and Pang's eyes met again making Wave pull his hands back to himself, he coughed looking behind them at the exit and then at the sun. "We should get back, dinner?" Wave realized that sounded awfully like a date and changed his wording, "I mean, we should get dinner before it gets too late."

Pang nodded and followed Wave back to their dorm room.

Chapter Text

Waves week got busier, with deleting the leaked Gifted video everywhere and erasing articles trying to write about the program, he had to deal with the school news club.

The most troubling part was that all of his friends somehow knew he liked Pang now, except for Pang of course. First, he saw Mon and Korn talking about it, Claire had probably as she would say it, spilled the tea to Mon. And Mon had told Korn, who told Ohm. Ohm whose mouth was too big had told the twins.

Wave tensed when he heard Pang excuse himself out of the meeting room, he knew when he turned around he was gonna get bombarded with The Question.

He sighed, closing his eyes, and breathed for a second before turning around.

It was Korn who asked first, "When are you gonna ask him out? You should confess!" Wave looked around for more questions, he was getting tired of this.

"No, but Wave, this is too cute, if you get rejected you can find a hotter person to date, not that Pang isn't hot, he probably is for you," Mon said looking at Wave who rolled his eyes.

"You guys are too much, I shouldn't have told Claire."

Claire gasped, covering her mouth, "You knew the consequences! I simply delivered the wonderful news." Wave turned around again in his chair and continued working, someone had their hand on Wave's shoulder, he looked up and saw Claire, "We'll create opportunities for you, don't worry!"

Wave did not trust his friends with this.

"We are literally in the middle of the worst thing that could happen and you want me to what? Hit on Pang? 'Oh, ignore the mass amounts of media trying to hunt us down, lets kiss by the sunset, Pang'," Wave said sarcastically.

Everyone turned when Pang walked inside the room with an Ovaltine in his hands. Wave saw his friends chuckle at the timing of the moment, he looked the other way hiding his blush. Pang didn't seem to have noticed their weird behavior, "Namtarn called, she will be back soon, I think she can help us a lot, she has practiced at home and knows her limit," Pang said, everyone turned to him.

Ohm knew this already but couldn't help but smile.

Pang walked over to Wave whose eyes were focused on the laptop screen, "Wave?"

Wave looked up at Pang, "That's good to- I'm happy she's coming back."

Wave fidgeted with a key on his keyboard not daring to look Pang in the eyes.

"Yeah, you two became close before the accident right?"

Wave looked at Pang again, "I guess, why?"

Pang looked at the computer screen, "I'm happy you're opening up to more people, after hell broke loose, you isolated yourself to the point where you didn't even speak for a whole week." Pang was looking lost in thoughts.

"I'm sorry," Wave really didn't know what else to say in this kinda situation, whatever he said wouldn't matter anyway, Pang couldn't let go of the future.

"But you're not that Wave, yet. Just don't push me away."

Ironic, Wave thought. He had a flashback from when he had said something similar to Pang.

The day went by without any further complications, no one had heard from The Director in a while, so they used the day for strategic thinking and plans. Pang was laying in his bed, while Wave was underneath in his bed. He sighed and looked out of the window, he did at times think about a world without the gifted, perhaps that world was better, but it was so impossible.

"Hey, Pang?" Wave asked, he kinda felt awkward and wanted someone to talk to.

"Yeah?" Pang answered from above.

Wave rubbed his neck, "Uhm... Who was Ping?"

Wave knew he had struck a nerve, and it was probably not the best conversation starter, but his curiosity had been killing him.

Pang jumped down from his bed and sat down on Waves bed, not even looking at him. "Ping, she was-" Pang sighed, he looked so deeply sad.

"She was a sister to me, her only goal in life was to help others. Her potential was healing, like she could heal almost any damage done on a human, physically or mentally. Ping was the one to help us a lot, we didn't think of the consequences." Pang inhaled, continuing.

"She would always come into the room with food and drinks, she was everyone's friend. One day her smile disappeared, she seemed to have mentally shut down. She was sent to a nearby hospital, which said she had several cancer cells, viruses, disorders, and a lot of other sicknesses. We all rushed there. Everyone cried when she died, at that time we found out that she hadn't healed with no consequences, but rather given all the sicknesses to herself. Her death was traumatizing." Pang looked sad.

Wave looked out the window, he felt guilty bringing that up when it obviously hurt Pang to talk about, "Did you ever find someone?"

He could see Pang smiling from the corner of his eye, "Why so curious all of a sudden?"

"Be grateful," he sneered looking at the other.

He saw Pang chuckle at his behavior, it made Wave look away, "Well, I had one, she was my only girlfriend before she died, I feel so guilty, she deserved better, it was actually you who told me she committed suicide, you looked so horrified, I know that feeling," Pang said, his eyes met Waves again, "I did love her, I could even say I adored her but not in a romantic way, and I know she knew, but she never said anything. I really cared about her."

"So you didn't love her like that? Have you ever- you know, ever- never mind." Wave got shy and backed out, he felt like he talked too much and shut his mouth, his feelings were spilling out everywhere and he needed to pack it together.

"I think I have, but it's all confusing," Pang gave an honest answer climbing back up in his bed.

Wave sat the whole night thinking about who Pang could have probably liked, maybe Namtarn, a match made in heaven, right?

-~-~-~-

"Why is the director being so quiet?"

"Can you tell us about your superpower and The Gifted Program?"

"When do people get superpowers?"

Wave had ignored these questions so much today, but right now he was backed into a corner, microphones up in his face and phone cameras pointed at him, the more time passed the more people came to look at him and yell. Wave felt hopeless, he even forgot his phone in his room this morning, how dumb of him.

"Now, that's enough." Pom's voice tore through the hurdle of kids, they stepped aside for him and he looked at Wave, who followed Pom willingly. After they had gone to the empty computer room Pom said, "You should be more careful, some of these kids are turning into anti-gifted, they will now use all methods to hunt you down because they think it's all unfair. Please inform the others as well and ask Pang to come to me in the afternoon."

Wave made his way to their meeting room quickly, almost everyone was here, they were talking about some new movie, he caught Claire's eyes who looked at Pang and then Wave, she was obviously telling him to make a move, but he refused. "Pom says to be careful around school since more of these students are turning anti-gifted with a strong will to injure us. Also, Pom wants to talk to you in the afternoon, Pang." He said professionally, his eyes looking around at everyone except Pang.

Claire coughed, "We should all head to class and meet back here."

Wave went to walk out when a hand-pulled his wrist and made him turn around, Pang was standing in front of him. His heart rate increased, Pang must have felt it and let Waves wrist go. "You've been trying to avoid me more, did I do something?"

Wave awkwardly put his hands in his pockets, "I have? But we talk every day?" Wave was very confused, had he avoided Pang?

"I know, but something is different, I don't know, maybe I'm tired." With that Pang left the room. Wave was left to his own thoughts and theories.

He couldn't concentrate anywhere, not even in classes, all the god damn students held their phones at them all at all times, if he wanted to be on a reality TV show he would have gone and done that.

His mood had gotten worse when he met his friends again, he didn't even say a word to them. Ohm had called him 'grumpy' which made half of his friends laugh, that didn't make anything better.

His eyes focused on Pang when he entered, Claire's eyes followed Waves stare smirking, she walked over to Wave and whispered, "Let me wing-women you."

Wave tried to grab her wrist but she dodged walking up to Pang, "Is something wrong?" Pang tilted his head at Claire, he looked behind her at the others who quickly looked away, acting like they were mid-conversation.

"Pang, have you ever thought about getting, I don't know, someone you can love and loves you?" Claire asked with a smile.

Pang looked at Claire with wide eyes, "Huh?"

"You know, maybe you should try to find someone, maybe then you would let go of all that anxiety and stress," Claire stated.

"This isn't time for jokes, we are mid-fight with our biggest enemy up to date." Pang looked completely calm, but of course, he was irritated.

Claire didn't back out tho, "I heard that some cute juniors admired you, maybe you should let yourself be happy."

Wave frowned, weren't Claire trying to wing-woman him?

"Stop! I do not have time for love, I do not have time to deal with anyone's feelings! I don't care if someone has feelings for me, I just don't care!" Pang snapped.

Everyone's eyes fell on the door that closed, Claire slapped him. "Ow?" He said looking confused at Claire, she looked furious.

"You dumb idiot! How dare you say that when Wave likes you?"

"Claire, you really shouldn't-" Punn said but was interrupted by Pang.

"What?" Pang looked at the door and then at his friends who looked awkward.

"Yeah, he really does, I would even say in love," Ohm told Pang.

"Does everyone know?" Pang asked his friends who all nodded, he sighed heavily.

Korn got up, "Do you like him?"

He looked at Korn, "I don't know, I haven't had time to sort out my feelings in these past months, but I remember right after graduating, I started feeling different towards him, I can't remember." Pang scratched his neck.

Claire looked at him, "Are you just gonna stand there? Go after him, you idiot!"

Pang quickly became aware and ran out the doors after Wave.

What had he expected from Pang? Wave knew he could never have anything, he had no right to be hurt, he had no right to tear up. His feet had run into the empty hallway, dragging him to the rooftop where he slammed his fist against some scrap wood continuously until his knuckles bled.

He felt torn apart, he broke down sitting in his place with the sun in his face. His tears were silent, maybe if he ignored his feelings he would get better. He could ask Pom to erase his feelings for Pang.

He decided that and went to exit the rooftop wiping his tears with his hand.

Someone opened the door and was now standing in front of him, he backed away from the person, "Pang," he tried to greet in a normal voice, but his voice cracked.

"Wave, Claire told me."

"Where to find me?" Wave joked.

"No," Pang answered, "About your feelings for me."

Wave looked up at his friend shocked, his whole life falling apart in front of him, Pang's hand reached out to wipe away a tear that had fallen from his eye.

"Please stop crying," Pang begged.

Wave felt trapped looking at Pang.

"Stop," Was the only word he whimpered out, he felt hopeless.

"What?" Pang asked, his hand still cupping his cheek.

"Stop doing this, stop knowing me and stop acting like this." Wave took off Pang's hand from his face and stepped back, "You should keep a distance."

Pang seemed to obey, "Wave, I'm not acting-"

Wave started quoted Pang, "If someone has feelings for me, I don't care."

Pang looked down but Wave wasn't finished, "Do you even care about me? I knew you would never return my feelings which is why I didn't want you to know about my feelings. And yes, I do like you if it still hasn't seeped in, I fucking love you! Did you hear that?! Why did it have to be you? Why can't I get anything."

Waves tears were blurring his vision and making droplets on the inside of his glasses.

"I'm so stupid," Wave said wiping his tears looking away from Pang.

Pang's eyes widened at Wave, "Wait say that again?"

Wave looked at Pang hurt, "Did you really ask me to repeat myself?" Wave asked.

"No, I remember you saying something similar at one point, It started there." Pang inhaled deeply, lost in his thoughts.

"What are you talking about?" Wave had stopped crying.

"In that month, when you stuck beside me fighting The Director as the only person - when your attention and energy focused solely on me, that's when I started having different feelings," Pang said looking at the clouds in the sky.

"What? Did I also have feelings for you in your past future?"

Pang seemed to think, "In all those moments leading up to my death, you never once even considered getting a girlfriend or boyfriend, you would always choose to work close to me, I always thought you were possessive when a random girl came up to me and then suddenly gasp as her phone lit up."

Wave smiled, then stopped, his eyes looking at Pang frantically, "You what? You had feelings for me?"

Wave stood up, Pang kinda leaned on the stone railing and sighed, "I think I did, I didn't get to unpack them before the school was attacked by mysterious explosions. Perhaps some guy testing out his new potential."

"What about now?" Wave asked sitting back down.

"Now as I'm recalling all this, I think I liked you too, I couldn't put words to it and then I tried to love someone who didn't deserve me, but I did like you too."

They both got quiet as a cloud blocked the sunlight, Wave honestly didn't know what to do or say, Pang had liked him back then? In the future? He should feel happy, but he still felt like he couldn't have what he desperately wanted.

"Can I kiss you?" Pang suddenly said out of nowhere.

Wave looked at Pang, "Huh?" He could only answer, what was Pang's deal?

Pang got closer, standing in front of him and holding Waves wrist gently.

"Your heart is beating fast," Pang said looking down at Waves pulse.

Wave looked down at Pang's hand holding and caressing his wrist.

"Pang-" He started saying, his eyes looking up and meeting Pangs. He knew that this should have been awkward, not only was Pang his best friend, but also his most trusted friend. But he felt normal, his cheeks felt a bit hotter, his hands a bit shakier, and his heartbeat was racing.

But he still saw his friend in front of him, he was safe and didn't have to worry about anything.

He barely registered the kiss, it was merely a peck on the lips which lasted 2 seconds, more or less.

He didn't even blink.

Pang was the one who pulled away quickly, his ears and cheeks red.

"Sorry," He repeated, avoiding looking at Wave.

Wave touched his lips gently, he then stood up and coughed. "Maybe we should- Maybe we should get down and go to sleep."

Pang turned around on his heels, rubbed his neck, "Yeah, Yeah, there's uh- There's some leftover pizza in the fridge, we could eat, yeah. Let's Go," Pang muttered walking quickly out of the rooftop door.

-~-~-~-

Wave was in his bed, his mind kept thinking about the rooftop kiss. Did this mean they were something more now?

He felt the bunker bed move as Pang made his way down the ladder. He didn't think about it much until Pang crawled into his bed, "Hey!" He whispered surprised when Pang made him scoot over, Pang then continued to hug around him like a sloth. "I didn't say you could sleep here!" Wave kept whispering at his sleepy friend.

"Let me cuddle you, I sleep better like this."

He sighed as he let Pang cuddle him, he slowly held Pang close too. He couldn't stop his heart from quickening, Pang noticed this.

Pang wriggled his way up to be face to face with him.

"Sweet dreams." Pang leaned in and kissed Wave in between his eyebrows. Wave felt like his whole body got filled with an electric feeling.

Both of them jumped when the opened laptop on the table lit up and emerged a loud opening sound, it even woke Korn and Ohm.

"Huh? What was that- Why are you sleeping together again?" Ohm questioned Wave and Pang.

"Did you do that?" Pang asked, Wave got out of bed.

"No, I have to touch them," Wave explained, he put his glasses on and sat down in the chair, he touched the laptop and scanned it through. "No one tried to hack it or anything, it opened automatically."

Korn rubbed his eyes, "Did you - I don't know, open it by accident?"

Wave looked at Korn like he was dumb, "Didn't you hear me? I need contact to be able to do that."

"Well, what did you do before this happened?" Ohm asked him.

Wave looked at Pang and then at Ohm, "I was asleep."

"We were in bed talking," Pang said over Wave, he stared back at Pang like he had committed a crime, "I mean, I kissed his forehead and that's when it happened." Pang earned a kick from Wave.

"I'm not even gonna question that," Korn said.

"But I am!" Ohm then exclaimed smiling, "Are you two a thing now?"

Pang looked at Wave, "I guess."

Wave didn't even answer, he looked deep in thought, "I felt like there was electricity running through me, like real energy." He looked up at Pang.

"Well, you two should recreate it." Ohm encouraged.

Wave hesitated, but Pang didn't waste any time. He went over to Wave, held his hands away from the laptop, cupped Waves cheeks, and kissed him between the eyebrows.

Wave felt the familiar electricity run through him and focused it on the laptop. He didn't know-how, but he felt the electricity stop in a certain place and stay there. As he turned around he saw the laptop having searched for what he ordered.

"How?" He said looking amused at the lit-up screen.

Pang stared at the screen as well, "You controlled it." He looked like he was gonna say something, but decided against it.

"Nevermind, I had a strange sense of deja-vu," His hand landed on Waves shoulder gently.

Ohm coughed, "Nice, I'll head to bed now, It's like 3 in the morning."

Korn had already gone to sleep again, leaving only Pang and Wave.

Wave looked up at Pang who was smiling, "What?" he asked.

"You look very cute when you smile," Pang said, Wave looked at the computer screen.

"I don't," He tried to defend himself.

"Aww," Pang hugged around his neck from behind.

"Let me go," Wave tugged on Pang's arm, he shook his head and held tighter, "C'mon, stop this. No time for joking," He said turning off the computer, Pang didn't let go.

"Say the magic words," Pang teased.

"Please," Wave tried, it only made Pang chuckle which made Wave's heart jump a beat.

"Say I L Y."

Wave jumped when the screen lit up again displaying a sticker of a bear holding up a sign saying 'I love you'.

"Huh? I didn't do that." Waves hands instantly went to see if someone tried to hack into it, but still, nothing showed up.

Pang's arms had frozen, his eyes blank as they stared at the screen, "Pang?" Wave shook Pang's arms that were still around him off.

Pang looked at Wave, "Yeah, I thought maybe I did that, I think we made a melt."

"A what?" Wave asked, a melt?

Pang pulled Wave towards the bed, his yawn told Wave he was tired, Pang was laying in front of Wave.

"A melt is when two peoples potential melts together as one, the only thing is that it boosts each potential to the max, where you also get the others potential and there's a 0.01% chance you get a whole new powerful potential, but from what I observed we only got the melt."

Wave looked at Pang, "So that means everyone can get a melt?" He looked concerned, if everyone did this and had a chance to evolve the world would end.

Pang smiled, "No, only people who trust each other deeply and have a special bond can do this, I hadn't even met someone with a melt before, I only read it from Twitter and such."

"So, we have a special bond?" Wave asked looking at Pang.

"Yeah," Pang pulled Wave closer snuggling up in his arms. Waves hand ran through Pang's hair but stopped at his neck where he felt a tiny bump.

"Pang, what's in your neck?"

Pang froze and felt where Waves hand was, "I don't know, isn't it normal?"

"No, cause it feels like a chip."

Chapter Text

Wave had somehow dug out the chip that had been hidden in Pang's neck, he had cleaned it and was studying it.

He had noticed some initials on it, -WW- It was engraved into the chip. As he inspected it further he gulped, this GPS tracker seemed to be handmade, and he only knew one person who knew this exact method for making a small tracking device.

WW, Wasuthorn Worachotmethee. He had made this.

Wave turned to Pang on the nursery bed, he was scrolling through his phone. "Pang, did you and I, in the future, get into a big fight?" He asked.

Pang looked at Wave laying his phone down beside him, "I don't think so, but I do wonder how if I got it in the future how it would have come with me to the past?" Pang groaned as he sat on the edge of the bed looking at Wave.

Wave shook his head and sighed, "Maybe internal scars are sent back, I don't know. When did you notice the chip?" Wave asked cleaning the table with a nearby napkin. The napkin was now stained with small dots of blood.

Pang had to think back and then answered, "Well, It was the morning after I had taken care of you, you were really down, didn't eat, sleep or drink. I got some in you and slept beside you to make sure you got a good amount of sleep, the next morning I woke up first, scratched my neck, and felt a numbing sensation in my neck. In my childhood, I had been injured a lot of times and gotten so many stitches, so I didn't question the numbing."

Waves eyes met Pangs, "Tell me, did I act any different towards anyone?"

"You were quite dramatic," Pang got a kick from Wave.

"Take this seriously," Wave didn't even smile at Pang.

"You really didn't seem to get along with Somchai," Pang sighed.

Wave looked confused, "Who?"

"My girlfriend," Pang looked down at the floor, "I already did tell you I never wanted a relationship." Pang shook his head softly.

Wave kicked Pang again, "Did I like you at that time? I get what I want and if there's an obstacle I will get competitive, you know that," Wave answered calmly.

Pang was the one looking confused now, "At that time? No, you couldn't have liked me, you were so obsessed with collecting data and how to fix the world, I don't think you had time to worry about me."

Pang looked genuinely sad, Wave decided to sit down beside Pang, "If I know myself, I would have realized my feelings by that time, I'm not dumb remember."

Wave shoved Pang's thigh with his own. Pang shoved back, "But I think I liked you at that time, tho I did try to push those feelings aside to focus on how to protect everyone."

"So you decided to get a girlfriend?" Wave rolled his eyes, obviously jealous.

Pang turned to Wave holding his hands, "Chai wasn't bad, I never even treated her like my girlfriend, she just decided to call us a couple one day and be all over me. I promise I never considered her my girlfriend, only a close friend who I cared about. And I didn't want to break her illusion, so I played along," Pang sighed moving their hands up and kissing the backside of Wave's hand, "I promise you, even tho I hadn't realized my feelings at that time, I would still try and make time for you."

Wave blushed and pulled his hand away, "Yuck, can you be more romantic, I just asked a question."

Wave pushed Pang gently back, Pang overreacted and fell backward on the bed with his hand over his heart, "I wanted to show you my undying love for you, now my heart is shattered, my dear boyfriend," Pang pouted, dramatically reaching his hand up in the air.

"Shut up, drama queen!" Wave smiled trying to push Pang off the bed.

They were rudely interrupted by Punn, who awkwardly coughed to get their attention.

"So you two can fuse your potentials together?" He asked straight forward, trying to ignore the obvious flirting going on.

Wave looked at Punn, "Well, I guess? I'm still confused, but what Pang has told me, only people with soul-connected bonds have this extra potential."

Wave looked over to Pang who nodded, "Yeah, I have never seen it happen in real life, tho I read some stories online. I don't think you can copy a melt tho, It's a very complicated thing and it would probably mess you up if you tried," Pang warned Punn, who looked disappointed.

"Can I see?" Punn asked the two, who looked at each other and then back at Punn.

"Uhm, hold your phone up," Wave ordered.

Punn held his phone up, then looked confused, "How did you do that?"

Wave looked up at Pang and then apologized, "Sorry, I forgot I also have Pang's potential now, I don't really know how to control that yet."

Pang patted his back, leaning into him, "I'll teach you." Wave smiled at Pang and pushed him away.

"You guys are gross," Punn said holding his phone up, "Just do your thing." Wave stared at the phone until it opened.

Punn looked at the phone, "You can control it without touching?" Punn sounded amazed.

Wave shrugged, "Guess it strengthens our potentials, we don't know our limit yet."

Pang stood up and went to grab some water, he tried to talk with water in his mouth.

"What?" Punn asked as Pang swallowed.

Pang shook his head sitting down beside Wave again, "Nevermind, just forget it," he looked at Punn smiling.

Punn gave a blank expression before frowning, "Huh?"

Wave looked at Punn concerned, "You okay?"

"I was gonna ask about you two fusing potentials? Korn told me about it," Punn said again, which made the two others concerned.

"Which alter is fronting right now?" Wave asked Punn who looked confused.

"Punn, The Leader and The Host, why?"

"Is the system okay?" Pang asked looking worried at Punn who tilted his head. 

Punn was looking very confused as the other two were, "Body is a bit tired, but everyone is okay at the moment? Why are you suddenly asking about that? Did someone force-front?"

Wave looked at Pang, "Did you maybe do that?"

Pang looked hurt, "No! I can't erase memories?"

Punn was still confused, "Is my memory erased?"

Wave pushed Pang, "You said 'forget it,' maybe that 0.01% chance happened? Dumbass!" Wave pushed Pang again.

"Okay! Punn I'm sorry I accidentally erased your memory, me and Wave share potentials, and apparently, we can also erase memories as a melt. Which is what you call a fusion," Pang explained quickly.

"What?" Punn said flabbergasted.

Pang nodded, "Yeah, I don't know how to explain it really, sorry."

Wave looked up at Pang, "If you or- I guess- If we can erase memories, can we make the other students forget about the Gifted?" Wave asked hopeful, but Pang didn't seem excited.

"It's not only the students of Ritdha, you know that. If we had to go along with that plan we would have to make the whole world forget and we can't do that," Pang sighed.

Wave looked down in the ground, "You're right."

"Wave, can you control electronics through wifi or can you also control them without an internet connection?" Punn asked curiously, it seemed he had a plan in mind.

Wave looked up at him, "I don't know, maybe? I haven't tried, Why?"

Punn then smiled and turned to Pang, "Can you control people's minds through a video?"

Pang looked up at Punn confused, "I don't know? What are you thinking?"

Punn sat down on the bed in front of them, "What if you can make a video where everyone who watches it forgets about everything they ever knew about the Gifted program? It would be world spread because who wouldn't want an update on The Gifted Class XV?" Punn sounded excited.

Wave looked hopeful again but Pang was doubtful. "We aren't sure that we can actually do that, what if it won't work."

Punn stood up, "What do you have to lose? Tell the others as soon as possible, they will all be happy, I promise."

Without another word, Punn left the room. The room got quiet after that, Pang thinking and Wave kinda looking around awkwardly.

Wave stood up and walked a bit back and forth before clearing his throat, "Let's go meet the others."

Pang didn't seem to react so Wave walked over to take Pang's hand and help him off the bed, "Let's go."

Pang looked down at their locked hands and smirked, "You like PDA?"

Wave let go of the other's hand, "I was helping you up, idiot." He turned his back to Pang, but couldn't help but smile.

-~-~-~-

The others seemed to like the idea of using their new melt as a way of making the whole world forget about them.

Pang was happy about this, but he still couldn't help but feel nervous, it was all so new, his feelings for Wave who was now his boyfriend, this new potential that could possible save them a lot of time. It seemed too easy for him, he felt like someone or something was gonna stop them if they ever tried going through with this plan.

He could feel Wave move his leg closer to his under the table, he knew this was a sign that Wave had noticed him being nervous.

He brushed it off and looked at his friends, "We can try this method, but we need to have a backup plan if it doesn't work."

"Have some faith in your true-love-kiss," Claire said to which Wave responded,

"Don't say it like that like it's some sort of Disney movie shit."

Claire pouted, "But Korn said you activated it by having Pang kiss you."

Wave gave a death-stare to Korn who smirked.

"I mean, it's true," Korn shrugged.

Wave groaned and looked away, "Pang's right tho, we need to have a backup plan," Wave agreed.

"Try to do it on the students at Ritdha High first. See how they react, do you have a video ready?" Mon asked the two of them who shook their heads, "Well, get moving! If you don't wanna do Ritdha first try getting some test students!"

The group decided on a backup plan, which was either: 1, hiding forever underground; Korns plan. 2, killing everyone, then no one would remember them; Mons plan. 3, blame Supot and flee the country; Ohms plan. Pang could safely say, those 3 would never get a say in the actual backup plan.

Pang had recorded a video in the dorm room, he had tried to stare directly into the camera, sounding demanding and cold. He had to reshoot approximately 7 times before he thought it was fine.

Wave had taken a shower, his hair wet and not bothering to dry it. He was on his own laptop, searching away about something when they heard a knock on their door.

Ohm jumped up and ran to the door, "Namtarn!"

He had exclaimed making the other 3 in the room look up to see Namtarn at the door.

She waved, "Hey!"

She had smiled before Ohm embraced her. Pang had gotten up and joined in the hug. Korn and Wave felt awkward about hugging and waved back.

"When did you get back?" Korn asked his friend.

"Last night, I'm staying at a hotel nearby, so I'll visit as often as I can to help you all," She said.

Namtarn turned to Pang, "Ohm told me you're from the future?" She looked so excited, he smiled meeting her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess so. I hope I can make a better future here," Pang said.

"If you need an extra shoulder to lean on, come to me. I know Wave can sometimes be stubborn, so you can gossip with me," Namtarn said ignoring Wave's complaints in the background.

Pang thanked her as she went on towards the girls' room.

The evening went by smoothly, the four of them watched a movie before heading to bed. Korn teased that they only needed 3 beds in the room now that Pang always insisted on sleeping in the same bed with Wave.

Wave had thrown a pillow at Korn.

The next morning Pang had gone through the video, crossing his fingers as he sent it to his first 3 test students, who were all from the news club. He had Wave beside him, ready to lock the test-students in the room they were in if it didn't work.

The others nervously stood by as they watched the security camera filming them react to the video, nothing seemed to happen but Punn pointed out the blank expression they had for a moment before they seemed to shrug and walk out of the room.

They had sent Korn out to question them and he had reported back that none of them were interested in The Gifted.

All of their friends smiled at the news, it meant that the video was good to go. Pang and Wave shared eye contact, whereas Pang nodded for Wave to do it.

He had taken a deep breath before laying his hands gently over the keyboard, he opened Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Line. He then proceeded to send the video out to perhaps 3000 people, they would all share it like wildfire.

Pang couldn't help but bounce his leg as he nervously saw Waves tweet with the video gain tons of interactions.

He thought back to when he recorded the message, he was still scared, he had never used his potential this widespread before, and what if Supot had another plan in mind. He sighed and looked around at his friends.

"Pang, it will work," Ohm reassured him giving an encouraging smile, which did make Pang feel better.

He felt Wave reach for his hand under the table, holding it while having the other hand on the laptop, he wasn't even looking at Pang while holding his hand. Pang couldn't help but smile at this affection, he squeezed Wave's hand to show he appreciated it.

Pang knew their plan had worked when two of the school's guards came and rushed through the door, their eyes fixated on Pang. He didn't even blink an eye when he stood up, his hand slipping from Waves, he willingly walked with them up to The Director's office.

The first thing he noticed when entering the meeting was Chanon and Pom.

Pom had fainted on the floor while Chanon stood beside The Director.

Pang quickly ran over to Pom and looked up at Chanon, "P'Chanon! What did you do? Did you do this?" He turned to Supot, "Did you brainwash P'Chanon?"

Once he had made sure Pom was breathing he got up and pointed a finger at Supot who didn't even move a muscle.

"Taweepong did it all himself, did you honestly think he wouldn't be angry at his best friend for betraying him? Sure, I was there to brainwash Pom, but who pulled the trigger?" Supot said in a monotone voice.

"Who held the gun?" Pang angrily said back, "You did! P'Chanon, why are you trusting Supot? The same person you wanted to expose all those years ago?"

Pang looked hopeless at a person he had looked up to, he really thought this time he could have changed Chanons views, but he was wrong.

Chanon met Pang's eyes, he didn't look very happy, not angry either, just sad, "Pang, I've been fighting my whole life, whether it was against the director, my best friend, or a battle between myself," Chanon walked over to Pang, "I'm tired, I'm so god damn tired, Pang," Chanon sighed, "He promised me a normal life after this, if I left him alone and never spoke to any of you after my last mission here," Chanon looked devastated.

Pang's breathing quickened, out of rage and betrayal, "What about the pills? Are they even real? Were you willing to kill 20+ kids for your fucking mission?" Pang exclaimed.

It was Supot who answered this time instead of Chanon, "No, they were real, but it will be the only supply I will give you for free. The Gifted students are still my students, don't forget that. I never wanted them to get the virus at this time." Supot smiled at Pang.

"What did you do to Mr. Pom?" He asked looking down at his teacher.

"I gave him the virus," Chanon said looking down into the ground.

Pang felt his heart drop.

It was all the same.

Nothing changed, no matter how hard he tried.

"Are you kidding me?" He said under his breath as a storm inside him grew.

Supot didn't even react when Pang went to grab his collar, "You don't even deserve death, you deserve to fucking be tortured until you lose your voice."

He didn't even notice he was choking Supot until a familiar voice called out and grabbed his hands.

With tears in his eyes, he looked over at his friend, "Namtarn."

He got dragged out by her, he didn't even struggle against her. He felt numb and empty, everything felt hopeless.

Chanon was right, he was tired too, but he was so close to shutting Supot down, yet he couldn't help but feel devastated.

It was Namtarn that snapped him out of it, "Hey! I don't know what happened, but breath!"

Pang inhaled sharply, he had now realized he had been hyperventilating, he had somehow managed to sit on the ground while Namtarn was also sitting down holding him.

He got himself together and pushed her a bit away, "I don't know what happened, it was all so sudden," he started breathing slowly. Pang struggled to try to explain it all to his friend, but she didn't seem surprised by Pang's rant about Chanons betrayal.

She sighed and made Pang look her in the eyes, "I knew P'Chanon would never forgive Mr. Pom. My memory came back along with P'Chanons feelings that day, he was so heartbroken seeing his friend doing what he swore to never do. He was also angry, but mostly sad." Namtarn looked down at the ground, Pang didn't know what to say. He got up, looking lost.

He decided to go to his own room, Namtarn didn't try to stop him, she probably knew he needed space at the moment.

Pang was on the way to his room when he suddenly felt someone pull on his arm, they sounded far away so he looked around.

His head felt dizzy like he could collapse at any point.

He reached out and grabbed onto something.

When he blinked he saw Wave in front of him, looking scared.

He felt his face fall, "Wave?" He asked confused.

"Ai'Pang! Wake up!" Wave was shaking him, Pang could see there were tears forming in Waves eyes so his instant instinct was to cup Wave's cheek.

"What happened?" He looked around.

His heart dropped.

In front of him were his friends kneeling down, looking down at the ground.

Like robots they didn't move a muscle, some may mistake them for dolls, that was how still they were.

He felt his whole body shake, "Wave, did I do that?" He was oh-so scared, he would never use his potential on his friends without consent, he wouldn't, right?

Wave looked back at them and then at Pang, he nodded. "I don't think it was you, you weren't yourself. You came into the room, not saying anything. Namtarn came to ask you what was wrong, that's when you suddenly grabbed her arm and demanded her to obey. She sat down instantly, not getting up. Everyone was shocked, Korn was the next and of course, Mon had to try to fight you which led to her kneeling. I was the last one left, you really grabbed onto my wrist tight, you probably forgot that people who melt cant affect each other. I had to shut you up when you ordered Ohm to make everyone in the room disappear, so I'm sorry I punched you."

Pang reached up to his cheek where, there indeed, was a spot that felt sore.

He probably deserved that, Wave kept on going, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Walking back to my room after meeting The Director?" Pang answered, he couldn't stand to look behind Wave at his friends.

Wave followed his gaze, "Yeah, you should free them." Pang did that and watched them all blink before looking up.

He should have expected Mon kicking him in the stomach, he fell down to his knees while Wave scolded her.

"Why did you do that Pang?" Punn looked at him betrayed.

Wave rolled his eyes, "Use your brain, Master. It was obviously The Director controlling him."

Punn rolled his eyes back at Wave, "Well, IT-Idiot, The Director can't affect Pang and Pang can't affect him, so whatever Pang did, he wanted to do!"

Pang held up a hand from where he was dealing with the pain of getting kicked, "Actually, that's how we 'won' last time, I ordered him to jail. When we got too emotional and unstable we can control each other."

Namtarn looked at Pang amazed, "You were having a panic attack in the hallway, could he have struck there?"

She smiled when Pang looked up at her, "You're a genius, I don't know exactly what he ordered me to do tho, it couldn't have been hiding everyone, that wouldn't work for long."

Pang stood up with Waves' help, earning an apologetic look from Mon.

They all turned when they saw Grace walking in.

"Nong?" Ohm asked confused at the junior.

Her eyes were focused on Pang, "I know you're from the future."

Pang stared back, "Old Grace?" He asked.

Future Grace sighed, "Don't call me old," She said.

Everyone apart from Pang and Namtarn looked shocked and confused, "Pang, what's going on?" Korn asked his eyes staring at Grace.

Pang looked at Korn, "Grace's potential is that she can speak to herself 30 or so years in the future, that future-self can also take over Grace's body."

He explained while Grace didn't even bat an eye, "Pang, Supot will find out about melting and be intrigued. Beware of him," Grace's eyes looked up at him.

"Wait, what's the future? What happened?" Pang of course knew his own future, but would it be different? Did he save everyone? Was his old future gone? Erased?

Grace looked away from him, "Supot won. He took over most of Asia and has everything under his control. He creates armies of Gifted Kids and uses them to conquer more land, he has not aged in 10 years. I believe he's immortal now, tho I don't know how he managed, but I do believe he's stealing potentials. I don't know what happened around the time of Class XV's graduation, I wasn't there, but I only saw the school close down. I thought we had won over him, but we got transferred to a bigger school where Supot was the new director. Around him were most of your class, Mon was his main bodyguard, she was not in control anymore tho, XV was not here anymore, only Supot," Grace ranted, with tears in her eyes she breathed and calmed down.

Mon looked terrified at this new information, "But, we can change the future? Right?" Mon was now standing up in front of Grace.

She nodded, "I do hope that with the information I give you that you can manage to change it. About your old future Pang," Grace had turned to him, "It's gone, don't worry about it."

Pang let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, he felt a bit more at peace. "Thank you." Pang smiled at Future Grace.

Grace stood still and blinked rapidly before looking up at Pang scared, "Did you see her?"

Pang could see she was shaking, so he tried to reassure her, "She's not evil, Grace. She's you, some of her views may be bad, but overall all she cares about is making a better future for you."

Grace looked around the room and then ran out of the room.

Pang sighed looking after Grace. "What the fuck just happened these past 30 minutes," Punn asked looking very confused, he was sitting down on a chair, his hands massaging his temple.

Claire looked awkward, "So that was Grace's potential?"

Pang nodded, "Yep."

The twins scratched their necks, "So, that was the future? It sounds kinda-" Jo started, "-shitty," Jack finished.

Pang was still smiling, "Yes, but it's different from mine, so that means I don't have to worry about that anymore."

Wave walked up to him, "How do you plan on beating The Director if he can not only control us but also you? Do you have a leverage of his? What if his plan goes through before yours?"

Pang shushed him, holding Waves hand up, "One question at a time, please."

"How do you plan on beating The Director when he has control over you?"

Pang went over to sit down on a chair, where his friends were listening to him, "He caught me off-guard that day-"

Wave interrupted him, "Yeah, but he clearly knows how to push your buttons, what if he uses me as leverage - or I guess, any of us as leverage to get you to do something stupid?" Wave asked.

Pang smirked at Wave's mess-up, he then looked serious at Wave, "Then I would go crazy and kill him."

Wave didn't seem amused, "But that would still count as your emotions taking over you, see we're all fucked, if we don't find a perfect plan, and what about the juniors? When will we ever cure them?"

Pang leaned back in his chair, "I'm working on it, I've been working on a safe way to do that for the past year. I don't know any plan yet, does anyone have any thoughts?" He asked out his friends who didn't say anything, it was Namtarn who spoke up. She had been very curious ever since she knew he was from the future.

"How did you travel back here?"

Pang looked down at the table, "I died, suffocated in Carbon Monoxide, gas poisoning." Pang felt Wave holding his hands under the table again, he felt the lump in his throat go away.

As Namtarn continued talking, Pang had leaned his leg against Wave, he could see Wave hide his bottom face in the hand he was resting on, he could see a faint smile on his lips, which made him smile.

"What if you can go back again?" Namtarn asked, everyone started talking over each other, but they shut up to hear what Pang was gonna say.

"What do you mean back?" He asked.

Namtarn shrugged, "You know, you wanted to leverage, what if you went back to when they first created The Virus? That's why this is all happening right? The big thing even The Ministry wants to use."

Ohm looked at Namtarn, "How do you know all this?"

Which made her smile, "Remember my potential, I hugged Pang when I came back and got all his information. Plus I accidentally touched The Director when getting Pang out of an argument with him, so I know all about his past."

Wave looked up at Namtarn, "You don't know if it will work? What do you want to do? Kill Pang to test out your theory? It could have just been a one-way trip and we can fix our own timeline, no need for fixing past mistakes." Wave held Pang's hand tighter, he was angry at this suggestion.

Pang didn't seem angry tho, which made him angrier, none of his friends tried to say something against it. He looked around at his friends feeling betrayed, "You guys aren't gonna say yes to killing Pang for fun!? Have you all gone insane! We are so close to defeating him!"

"It's a cool fantasy to have, oh to defeat Supot, that would really make our lives easier. Admit that we're a lost cause, maybe this is the only way to save us all, Wave." Ohm wasn't looking too happy about it either but he was agreeing with this crazy plan.

Pang squeezed his hand which made him turn towards him, "You aren't gonna die, not in my sight."

Pang looked at him with sad eyes, "I will fix my mistake and if I traveled here by dying, there's a chance I could travel again if we recreated it. Wave, this is a big move. This could be checkmate."

Wave pulled away from his own hand and stood up walking out of the room with tears in his eyes, Pang was planning on leaving him.

He was gonna be alone again.

Chapter Text

Wave had gone outside of the school to calm down, it seemed that their video had worked, no one seemed to bother him anymore.

At least that was okay now, but he still couldn't stop thinking about the next big thing in The Director's plan.

He had a juice in his hand that he had gotten from a nearby corner store and a bag of food in his other hand.

It was the weekend, so many of the students had gone home, but there were always students who stayed, perhaps they lived far away or because of personal reasons.

He had never talked with anyone about his parents really, Namtarn knew, but she didn't understand. And if he were to go back on the weekends he was gonna get set to doing chores and get yelled at for not praying enough. His grandparents never cared about him or anything he did, he was never good enough in their eyes. Even when he started getting high grades in school they said he could do better, and when he scored a 100, they acted like they didn't notice it.

He was done trying to please them, and he was done trying to be a better person around them. Ever since they believed some shit-ass teacher over him - no, even before then, he had disliked them to a big extent.

Wave had tried getting friends, but no one ever approached him. At first, they thought he looked small and nerdy, but after they were exposed to his grades he could feel the fear inside them whenever they looked at him. He had never bothered to learn any of class 1's names, why would he? It wasn't like they wanted him as his friend, and it was enough that they knew his name.

It was Pang that was the first one to intrigue him when he walked into him, accidentally spilling his food over him and he didn't run away. It was the annoying kid from his class that had saved Pang. Wave had after that kept a close eye on Pang, just as a hobby at first.

He was shocked when Pang had entered The Gifted Program, he saw him as a competition and he wanted to be the winner. It didn't matter what had happened back then, he had always found Pang interesting and that interest turned into a crush, which made him doubt his entire being. In the end, he did get Pang.

But now?

He felt torn, his friends had given up.

Even Pang, their leader, had given in to death, in hope that it would fix all their problems. Wave was smart enough to know this could never work. Even if somehow Pang managed to get the virus away and fix the past, would he still remain here? Or would he forget about everything? Both of these choices sounded horrible. He was less of an asshole than he was two years ago because of Pang, he had done everything to build up a friendship in his now-so-called group.

If that were to go away he would be devastated, who knows who he might become? A heartless person who only cares about improvements?

He was honestly hoping that everyone would be asleep when he came back, but of course, they were all up and on their phones. They were most likely playing some sort of game. Not only was it Ohm, Korn, and Pang, but Punn and the twins were in their room as well.

They hadn't seemed to notice his entrance, so he walked to the bathroom, tripping on the way.

He took off his glasses and splashed water in his own face, checking himself and then adding some sort of night creme that Claire had handed out to everyone, she had said she was only friends with people who took care of their image. Wave hadn't really cared about his image all that much, but then Claire had gone on about to him in private how handsome Pang would think he was, he had rolled his eyes at Claire but had since then started using it.

Not to please anyone, just a coincidence he started using it that day.

He held the shirt corners to take it off for a quick shower when he heard someone open the bathroom door.

Of course, it was Pang walking in, "I saw you trip," he remarked, smirking.

Wave looked away, "I did not trip."

"I'm pretty sure you did, you know it's okay and normal to trip." Pang went to grab his toothbrush.

Wave knew he tripped, he hated admitting he was wrong tho, "Get out, I have to shower," he jerked his head towards the door, Pang didn't budge tho.

"I could shower with you," Pang said straightforward. Wave tried to hide his blush and looked at Pang with wide eyes.

"Haha. Now, Get out."

Pang was whining when he was pushed outside the bathroom, Wave remembered to lock it this time.

In the bed that evening Wave was staring into space, he felt so numb. He didn't really feel like using his potential or scrolling through his phone, he sighed laying down on the bed. Korn and Ohm were asleep, Pang was on his phone. It turned off and Wave was now hidden in utter darkness, he felt the pain and fear from the past few months come back to him.

He noticed Pang move around and then climb down, he met Pang's eyes, they shared a moment before he climbed in beside Wave.

He didn't even argue when Pang got comfortable in the bed, this had been their normal for some time now. Pang pulled Wave close to him, running his fingers through his hair. Wave closed his eyes and hugged around Pang, if he was honest he was scared of losing this, of losing his safe haven.

He had really tried to control his tears, but everything was too much so he silently cried into Pang's side.

"I'm sorry," Pang whispered. Wave calmed his breaths but refused to answer. "It's my fault you're crying."

He got control of his voice and whispered into Pang's side, "Why?" He refused to look up at Pang, "Why are you giving up on everything you've worked for?"

Pang held Wave close, he could hear his heartbeat, "I'm not giving up, but if the only choice we have left is resetting it all, so be it. In the timeline I was in before, even tho we got rid of The Director, his plan was still successful. In this timeline, the future has changed and I don't think we can defeat him again, cause he's not the only one with such a twisted mindset. I wish we had more choices, I really do, but I will do everything to succeed in saving everyone."

"But you have saved me."

Wave hated sounding vulnerable, but goddammit he was desperate. He had gotten what he wished for and now it was disappearing forever, even if he was gonna forget about all this, he still didn't want to lose the present. Pang had gone quiet.

"You're so important to me, Wave," Pang started out, "I care about you so much, more than anyone. I want you to be happy, maybe you could finally live a real-life without any stress about potentials."

Wave pulled away to look into Pang's eyes, "And if it fails?"

"It won't," Pang said determinedly, "It will work, trust me." Wave trusted him, that was the problem, he trusted Pang so much they had melted together. He had loved too much, left his heart wide open and Pang had walked in and bought his whole heart.

He knew he was gone for him, he knew he would do everything for Pang. "I trust you, but I don't want you to die, is that so wrong of me?"

Wave was pulled up so he was face to face with Pang, noses almost touching.

"You're never wrong, but this will all be over soon." Pang stared into his eyes and Wave could do nothing else but stare back, his eyes red from crying.

His heart was breaking, his world was stopping, it was like the day he knew his parents died. When his new home was more like school than his actual school. When his room was a punishment and food a reward. His parents had never spoken about his grandparents, they never invited them over to anything. He could understand why they wouldn't have liked them, he understands it so much, he hates them too. They treat him like a punching bag, like a statue.

His parents had taught him mathematics when he was a toddler and coding when he was at the age of 4. He had always thought they did it out of love and they probably did love him, but they wanted another worker in their new upcoming startup company and later in his life, he was realising he had been used. That's when he had completely lost himself, he had broken his first laptop his dad had given him and cried for hours after, trying to fix it. He had strived for perfection, for validation after.

He wanted people to look at him, not as the nerdy kid who lost his parents, but as the school genius, everyone strived to be.

He knew he was gifted, not as in getting a potential, but gifted as in a genius. He had thought everyone was joking with him when they said the maths they were given was too hard, cause he had it easy. He had gotten a lot of girls trying to flirt with him, to get him to do their work, he had declined, not wanting to be used anymore.

Wave had been thrilled when he was getting picked for The Gifted Program, even tho he already had predicted it. He was even happier when he found out they were extraordinary kids, sure he had tried to find a logical solution to it first, but had eventually adjusted to it, showing it to the others in The Gifted Program.

"Please stay, stay with me," Wave begged Pang.

Pang shushed him, "Let's sleep now." He had leaned in and kissed Wave who closed his eyes as a tear fell. He returned the kiss and pulled away slowly, he was trying to breathe normally.

Wave felt Pang cup his cheek, "I love you, don't forget that." His own hand came up to hold Pangs, he felt tears start running down his face, hot and wet. He held back sobs and buried himself in Pangs embrace as he drifted off to sleep.

-~-~-~-

Wave felt heavy when he woke up, he was normally a light sleeper, up at 6 in the morning and fully awake not more than 15 minutes after.

But this morning felt different, his limbs and body were heavy and he fought his eyes open, the first thing he noticed was the absence of warmth next to him. He felt cold and the blankets over him were heavy.

He tore them off and forced his body to stand up, he stretched and looked behind him at the other beds. They were weirdly empty, he checked the bathroom but there was still no sign of his friends. He got dressed and knocked on Punn and the twin's room, but no one answered and there were no sounds coming from the room. He checked his phone clock and it was 9 in the morning, he thought it was weird.

He really thought they would all be in the meeting room, but to his surprise the room was empty, Ohm had hidden everything, even the table.

He had even ignored The Director when he asked what was wrong. To his surprise Supot walked away when he didn't answer him, he was probably as confused as Wave was.

Wave felt a bit panicky, he felt lost. He checked the group chat but no one had written anything since yesterday. Only a small amount of students walked the hall, chatting and laughing while pointing at their phones. He knew it was the weekend, but his friends wouldn't leave him behind, would they?

He tried calling Pang and then Korn, but no one picked up. He saw it ringing and then hanging up, were they avoiding him?

He let his fear take over him and saw the light flicker on the way back to his room. The laptop lit up at his will and he made it track down Korns phone, he saw it zoom in to a place he had been to before. In the place where Pang had once been kidnapped, his breathing stopped for a second.

He quickly grabbed his jacket and was out the door in less than a second. He held the jacket close, his heart beating fast as he hurried to the parking lot.

His eyes were scanning for an electric car, he felt himself sink further down the more seconds passed.

After a 5th scan he let out a frustrated cry, and at that moment a car started blinking and making noise. He looked up and stared at the car, to his luck it was an electric car he had influenced with his potential. He quickly opened the door with ease, his hands grabbing onto the wheel for his life, while the car started and began to drive flawlessly.

Wave was focused on the road, yet he couldn't stop worrying about what was going on.

He cursed his own driving when he almost hit a deer who ran out in front of him.

Wave was nervously biting his bottom lip and tapping the steering wheel, he felt his whole body freeze and his mind going over 100 different scenarios that could happen once he got to the location.

He saw 3 cars already parked outside the building, his feet were hurting but he could see Ohms shadow from a window, he ran to the door which was locked. He banged his whole body against it, but it didn't budge.

"LET ME IN!" He screamed, he did not give up that easily, he felt a presence at the other side of the door. He banged his fist against the door harshly not caring if his hand broke, he already felt his heart begin to break. "Please, please, please," He begged the door.

Wave collected himself and did not want to cry, so he kept hammering both his fist against the door until it opened, he was face-to-face with Pom who had a white mask on, he could tell it was a NASUM mask, which answered one of the scenarios he had thought about.

He tried to push past him, but Pom embraced him and held him there, "Be careful, you'll break your hands, take on a mask."

Wave struggled, but eventually gave in and broke down crying, punching Poms arms to let him go, "Please, please," he kept chanting, it was the only word he was thinking about.

Please let him be okay, please let me see him, please stay alive.

Pom held him tightly until Wave calmed down enough for Pom to let go and put a mask on Wave.

Pom still had a grip on his arms, "Wave, please don't interfere, we didn't want to involve you because we knew you would try and stop this. You know it's our only chance for a better life," Pom spoke in a soft voice to him.

Wave finally got himself free and turned to walk the other way, but was stopped by Punn, "Wave, you really don't want to see this." He walked past Punn, just to be face to face with Mon.

"Are you all gonna do this shit?!" He yelled out in the whole room, he looked around at his startled friends who didn't seem very happy.

He tried to push past Mon but she held him in place, "He said to not let you see this, he knows what he's doing, he said to tell you this, 'tell Wave that he will never be alone, that I will always be there, that he will always be loved by the people around him, I won't be gone and he will not remember me, but I promise to find you again. Tell him I love him, that I care.'" Mon had tears in her eyes as her voice broke throughout the speech.

Wave felt a tear fall as he pushed past her, the last person who blocked him was Ohm who was silently crying, the face that was optimistic even in the worst scenarios looked broken down and sad.

He pushed Ohm aside to look inside the window he was blocking. He felt his knee go weak as he saw Pang on the floor struggling to breathe and suffocating slowly. His knees gave out under him as he tried to look away, but he couldn't. He couldn't look away.

His hand touched the glass and tried to get Pang's attention to no avail.

Namtarn came to touch his shoulder, "He's going back to 1988 to fix the past, trust him."

He turned around and looked up at her, his body was numb and his head was screaming, "I do fucking trust him, but do you think I'm alright with this! Did you even think about the consequences or the failures? Do you even know it will work? What if he dies? I can't stand that, open the door please," he was now standing up, with tears in his eyes he grabbed her arm.

He was on the way to order her to open the door when someone behind him held the crook of their elbow in front of his mouth before he even could make a sound. He struggled to balance and punched the arm.

"Sorry, we don't allow you to use your potential here."

He felt his arms being held back too, the elbow was gone and he turned his head around to see Korn and the twins holding him back. Wave tried to kick them, desperate seeking back to the window. He didn't care how naive and whiny he sounded, the only person he could really trust and depend on was dying and so was he.

Wave stopped struggling, his heart was feeling heavy and his voice was hoarse from all the yelling he had done. So in a low voice, he demanded his captors to free him, he felt his arm get freed. Mon stormed over to him, but he glared at her which made her standstill. The lights went out as he neared the room, the room was dark and so was the room Pang was in.

He touched the door handle and turned it, he watched it slowly open.

He coughed when he felt a thick gas seep out of the room, his feet slowly walking into the room as his heart was beating as hard as it could. He heard his friends shuffle to the door as Wave entered the darkroom. His hand was shaking and his breath caught in his throat when the lights turned back on.

Pang was laying still, on the ground.

His eyes closed as blood ran from Pang's nose, Wave felt his whole body freeze. His eyes tearing up as he sat down beside the body.

Wave pulled Pang's body up and clung onto it, he really tried to not break down, but he couldn't help it. His whole world was breaking, his whole world was gone. Pang was gone and he had taken Wave with him, his body was still warm but he knew it would turn cold soon. Wave knew he was showing weakness to his friends who watched him cry.

He never wanted this, he knew this was a bad idea.

The only thing they had done was assisting a suicide, and he knew his friends knew too. He could tell by the way they gasped and sobbed, that they clung to each other as he clung to his special one. Oh, how he wanted him back. How he wanted to die right here and then, to be with Pang.

But he trusted him.

He trusted Pang.

Whatever might happen from this moment on could be a part of Pang's plan, whether the world stop turning or he would fall asleep and wake up with a new identity he might never know. He knew the dizzyness came from his large intake of gas in the air whenever he sobbed, but he couldn't bring his body to move away. Even if his mask protected him mostly, a thick heavy gas plus the loud sobbing could quite possibly remove some of the protection.

He might have clung too hard, cause he felt Pang turn into air.

His eyes looking with wide eyes around at where Pang's body should be, he felt someone enter behind him.

"This must be it, he has done it. Get out of the room now Wave, the air in there is very poisonous and it could make you unconscious," Namtarn warned from the doorway. He could hear an engine outside the building and Pom telling his friends about someone coming, but still, he couldn't move.

Wave still couldn't help but cry. No one held him and with his last breath before he started to faint he whispered,

"I love you too."

Chapter Text

Pang gasped and opened his eyes, his hands reaching for his throat as he coughed.

He felt like his lungs just started working again, he knew this feeling. The feeling of being reborn or surviving getting suffocated to death. He felt a bit claustrophobic tho, it was dark and he had kicked something over that sounded like a broom.

His hands searched around for something and he hit his head on what was probably metal shelves, he was most definitely in a janitor's closet.

He eventually found the door handle and opened it. In the well-lit room he stepped into he saw 2 people stare at him scared, they were sitting on a couch.

He coughed a bit more before the boy who looked in his 20s stood up, "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Pang looked back at the closet door scratching his neck, "The closet?" He looked around, "Is this 1988?"

The girl spoke up, "Yeah, why? How did you get in here? Where you in there long?"

Pang looked around, his eyes looking at everything in the room, his eyes landing on the guy, "What's your name?"

The guy looked skeptical at Pang, but answered, "You can call me Supot."

Pang was about to punch him when he remembered something that made him smile, "No, you're not. Almost forgot that part of the story," Pang huffed at the now confused-looking Yuth. "You're Yuth, wheres the friend you call Yuth? Might be a bit cold and nerdy?"

"Is he talking about Yuth?" Nate asked Yuth with a low voice, Yuth looked confused.

Pang saw another door open and a guy stormed in looking at Pang like he was some sort of alien, which he guess some people might call him.

"Who are you?" The guy he knew was Supot exclaimed at him.

Pang had stopped smiling, "Director, ah- Sorry, you're not that here. Supot, I'm here to end you."

Pang started walking up close to his enemy, "You should start by telling your friend the truth, about how you've lied to him." Pang looked back at Yuth who looked lost.

Supot was startled and walked backward from Pang, "You are a literal teen, who the fuck are you? I don't know who you are but stay away. Are you from the FBI? You can't make me confess anything," Supot was panicking and grabbed Pang's arm.

Supot was holding Pang's arm tightly as he desperately said, "You will leave and never come back or return to this place, whatever you know about me will be erased."

Pang chuckled at the pity attempt, he saw Supot stand back in shock, "You have no power over me, admit it, you're defeated. You should admit everything to your friend and how you're lying to The Ministry. You should also let Yuth have your girlfriend since they're a much better match than you two would ever be. Don't ever use your potential on others again, wait here until the police come," Pang was holding Supots wrist tightly.

Supot was so shocked he looked frozen.

"Who are you?" Yuth asked, behind him was Nate hiding.

He turned to Yuth smiling, "I'm saving you from betrayal, pain, and death. I'm Pang, Pawaret Sermrittirong."

Pang then told Yuth to take Nate home and never come back here, he left Supot in the room before walking through a door and into the testing room where there was the big wooden chair. He was in the same building he died in an hour ago. He walked slowly into the room and looked around, he was kinda amazed how he was actually back in 1988. He did wonder how he would get back to the future or if he had to live here for the rest of his life.

The room smelled of burnt paper, dust, and a strange smell of old books. It almost felt nostalgic, because it reminded him of his parents and their collection of old furniture and books.

He looked around the room and found a small knife on a nearby table. Pang then proceeded to inhale deeply before he cut open the stitches on his right forearm, he held in tears as he slowly pulled a small sound-chip out of the wound that had started bleeding. It was Punn who copied Wave's skills to make such a small sound chip. He knew he had to erase The Ministries memories of The Gifted here as well, so he and the others minus Wave had brainstormed. Korn had then come up with traveling the chip with him, with this chip he could make everyone forget about them. It was the same sound he had used before, he hoped it'd work again here.

The only thing he had to do was to install it in a laptop so it would automatically play when you pressed any button on the keyboard.

His hands were bloody from taking the chip out and now he was staining the laptop with his blood as he screwed in the screws for the bottom of the laptop. It was finally all done.

He sighed as he took a step back, he took the phone beside the laptop and tried to figure out how to use it. Meanwhile, he did that, he hadn't realized a shadow stalking behind him, he only realized once he was turned around and a fist collided his cheek and he got knocked back into a wall. Pang tried to fight back but two hands had found their way to his throat, squeezing. He was quite familiar with this feeling of no air.

"You little motherfucker," Supot said with dark eyes, he was smiling, "I called The Ministry and they will be coming to take you away since you're breaking the law by not going to school, I searched you up and nothing came up, so either you're a homeless fucker or you're from nowhere."

Pang's hand had slowly called 191 on the phone in his hand, he coughed but smiled back at Supot like a crazy person, "I prefer the term, 'future' instead of nowhere and good that you called them, all according to plan." He felt the line connect through and they both got startled when the police spoke through the phone, Supot looked scared and pushed the phone out of Pang's hand, accidentally letting Pang go enough for Pang to say the address before getting choked again this time tighter.

He was struggling but the police told him that they were on the way.

Pang started seeing black dots in his vision, his feet were no longer on the ground except for his tippy toes, the last things he saw and heard before he died again were police sirens and Supots panicked and scared eyes staring out of the window.

Even if he died now, he wouldn't mind. He had done everything he could and said he would. The one person he was thinking about now was Wave, in his last breathing moments he was always thinking about him. This time was different, he couldn't feel Wave's warm embrace as he slipped into unconsciousness, he couldn't hear faint crying or a dead body clinging onto him. He was now alone.

Alone.

-~-~-~-

It was almost normal at this point for Pang to open his eyes to him almost coughing his lungs up.

Dying was painful, it really was. But living again was more painful, not knowing what would happen, not having a clue what was gonna happen next, that was terrifying.

Pang was holding onto the walls around him, this time he noticed he was in a bathroom stall. No one was in the other stalls, he only found a bus newspaper with a date on it, February 2021. Final Exam season he thought as he walked out into the hallway. He didn't recognize any of the students here or the teachers walking through the halls, they did look at him whispering to each other. An 18-year-old was probably someone the teachers would remember since it was his graduation year.

He was roaming around when he saw a familiar face, "P'Chanon?" He asked as he approached the man, he looked better.

Chanon smiled as Pang approached, "Hello, are you a new student? Remember it's Mr. Chanon if anything," Chanon said adjusting his glasses. Pang looked at Chanon's clothes and the facial expression on his resting face, he looked happier.

"Yes, I am. Do you know where I can find Mr. Pom?"

"Non!" He heard a voice call out and he turned around to see his old teacher walk up to them with a smile towards Chanon.

Chanon jerked his head towards Pang at Pom who now looked at Pang, "Are you a new student? But it's the final exam season?"

Pang was speechless, his teacher didn't seem so guilty and so tense. He controlled himself to not hug them both on the spot. Pom had looked at Pang confused before pointing towards his Gifted badge, "What's that badge? It isn't Ritdha Highs' badge. It's against the school rules to wear custom badges. Here," Pom dug a hand in his own pocket and fished a badge up from his pocket and handed it to Pang. "Head to class now, yeah? I'll steal Mr. Non from you." Pom smiled as he walked away with Non, joking and laughing. It made Pang happy.

He looked down at the badge and saw it was a regular one, no class 1 or 8, just a normal school with no stress to be the best.

When he started walking again he bumped into someone, he looked up, "Oh, Claire, sorry," he casually said trying to switch out his badge whilst walking, his actions were stopped by a hand holding his arm back. It was Claire staring at him, he realized his mistake too late, "I mean- I just said- Do I know you?" He fumbled with his words.

Claire had gained quite the circle that had formed around them, guess she still had that potential, "Did you just say that? I know boys are crazy about me but this is another level of love confession," She laughed and so did the crowd around them. It didn't phase him one bit, of course, Claire was a drama queen still.

"But I don't have a crush on you."

"Sure, sweetheart, kiss my shoe and I will leave you alone," she pushed him back and lifted her feet half a meter off the ground.

Pang looked down, his eyes then meeting Claires again, "But I don't like you, because I don't like women, I'm gay."

The crowd went wild and started a big discussion among them, Claire looked shocked and then turned around and walked away. Pang looked after her, it was gonna be hard to befriend her again, maybe Punn could help. He watched as the crowd went away one by one slowly, he had switched badges when someone came up to him.

"Hello! Are you the new student?" He looked up and saw Ohm, he wanted to hug all his friends so much, but didn't want to mess with this timeline, he really didn't want to die again.

"I am, what class are you in?" He asked, he didn't see any class 2 badge on him, and as he thought this, he mentally kicked himself. It was gonna be hard to adjust to this new school.

Ohm looked at him confused, "Uhm, I'm in a lot of classes, Chemistry, Thai, Geometry, Physics, you know those classes." Ohm awkwardly laughed, putting his hand on Pang's shoulder, "Maybe we have some classes together. Why did you move here at this time? People are already spreading rumors about you, that you are a creepy stalker of Claires and that you're gay. Careful saying that, not everyone is accepting."

Pang looked around them as students quickly walked past them whispering to each other, he looked back at Ohm, "Word travels fast," Pang said looking down at Ohms badge again, "I'm really happy I got here."

They talked a bit as they walked to class, Pang following and laughing at Ohms jokes. He had missed Ohms's carefree personality, in his original timeline, Ohm had gotten very depressed, sure he might have tried to cover that up with jokes and pranks but Pang knew about his mental state. That's how Ohm had gotten close with Korn, those two helped each other and Pang could see it worked so he never tried to bring it up with Ohm. Now as he looked at this Ohm who didn't have to go through all that pain, he smiled. Because Ohm deserved a normal life.

The class was simple, maybe not for Pang since he spent most of the time holding back his laughter from Ohms's silly drawings.

Ohm had told Pang about the lunch, he was told it was very gross, but Pang knew Ohm didn't like uncooked rice and that was the reasons for his complains. Pang had gotten his tray of food and was gonna walk over to sit with Ohm when he tripped and spilled his tray over some poor guy.

"I'm sorry," he said as he looked up.

"Watch where you're fucking going, idiot."

"Wave," he said shocked, he quickly blinked and awkwardly laughed, "Yeah, yeah, sorry. I don't know you- I mean, I am an idiot, yes. You are so right." Pang knew he was messing up his words, but what was he gonna say to his boyfriend who he technically wasn't boyfriends with anymore. He wanted to hug him and say sorry, he wanted to tell him he's not alone. He knew that timeline was erased now, but the guilt followed.

He felt an arm around him, pulling him away, "You don't mess with Wasuthorn! One rule you should know as a new student. Don't mess with the 4.0's, the teachers love to praise them plus they make our school look good. Wasuthorn, let me tell you about him. 4.0 since diapers, people call him gifted and that would be an understatement. He is a genius in mathematics and computer science, a lot of people look up to him, but rumors have it he's an orphan, that he transferred here from another school where he got a teacher fired. So he has no friends here," Ohm whispered to him as they had settled at a table. Pang looked over at Wave who looked annoyed behind the laptop screen he was buried in.

"Why are you smiling?" Ohm asked as he turned around to follow Pang's stare.

"You should try to befriend him, he really needs it."

Ohm laughed at that, "Yeah, bet he does. Never in a million years will I try that, he's snobby, hard to talk to, very arrogant, did I say snobby? You go do it if you wanna talk to him so badly."

Pang got up looking at Ohm, who looked shocked at him, he was trying to say it was just a joke and tried to hold him back. But Pang was already seated at Waves table, "Hey, I'm Pang. Pang Pawaret Sermrittirong," he said as Wave stared at him.

"Why are you here?" was the only response he got.

Pang ignored everyone around staring at him, "Now you introduce yourself, like 'I'm Wave Wasuthorn Worachotmethee'. Go on say it," Pang encouraged his friend.

Wave looked around them before looking back at Pang, "You're a new student."

Pang nodded, "I am indeed new, hello."

"How come you know my full name then," he asked confused, Pang mentally kicked himself for the 10th time that day.

He looked around awkwardly, scratching his neck, "I saw it on the school's website," he really hoped that worked. It seemed to when Wave looked a tad bit more relaxed.

"Oh, yeah. Now get out of my face."

Pang leaned in and closed Waves laptop, he could see Waves face fully now, Pang had to fight back the urge to hug Wave and laugh, he had finally won.

Everyone around them quickly looked away from them when footsteps behind him approached. He turned around in his seat and looked up at a man, while people around them whispered. He caught one word, 'Director'.

Pang stood up, facing this new director who looked like he was in complete shock, "Pawaret?"

He squinted his eyes and chuckled, "Holy shit, Yuth, you became the director of this school?" he exclaimed clapping Yuth on the shoulder. "Congratulations!" He knew he was getting stared at by the bystanders and even Wave looked surprised and confused. Yuth looked around and made Pang follow him outside of the cafeteria.

"How are you here? I saw you in 1988 and then you disappeared."

Pang smiled, "Because of my potential, I do hope you didn't develop further on Supot's project," he said crossing his arms.

Yuth shook his head, "Of course not, I don't think anyone has potentials here or knows about it apart from me, Nate, and now you. You are more than welcome to study here or look around, I forgot to thank you."

"I'm happy to hear that and I don't need to study, I already graduated, but I will gladly look around and see how much you have changed things around here. I'm so happy it's all over, I've been fighting Supot for 3 years or so, and even after, I fought the after-effect he had on society. Just remember I still have my potential so If you do anything I will not hesitate to use it," Pang threatened pointing a finger at Yuth who held up his hands in front of him.

"No need for threats, I also hope you won't have to use it here."

Pang's eyes drifted over to the window where he could see Wave work away on his laptop.

"You knew Wasuthorn?" Yuth asked with a smile, Pang looked at Yuth again, "Yeah, he was my best friend and boyfriend," he sighed noticing Yuth's eyebrow rise.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, I'm sure you can still try to befriend him, he might seem hard to talk to and absent, but he's lonely," Yuth explained looking inside at Wave before looking back at Pang.

"I know, he has some trauma when he was younger and it stuck with him," Pang looked up at Yuth, he then asked about his friends and if they still attended this school. Yuth did say yes to everyone except Jo and Punn, it made Pang worry.

The two of them noticed Wave approaching.

Yuth turned to Wave, "Wasuthorn, how may I help you?"

Wave looked between Pang and Yuth, "Ms. Ladda asked to see you." Yuth excused himself and gave Pang an encouraging smile, Pang hid his smile and turned to Wave who was already on his way to leave. "Wait!" He said which made Wave turn around looking annoyed.

"What?"

Pang walked up to Wave, "Are you good with research and computers?"

After a lot of excuses and promises, Wave had walked to the computer room with Pang. He knew he had left Ohm alone in the cafeteria and he promised to make it up for it someday.

He was looming over Waves shoulder and staring as Wave's hands typed away on the keyboard, "There's no Punn Taweesilp, he doesn't exist. There is an elder guy with the same surname tho," Wave said and pulled up a Facebook photo of an elder man.

Pang looked closely and then said, "Yeah, that's his dad, are you sure this guy doesn't have a child?"

Wave sighed looking up at Pang, "Why are you so interested in Taweesilp?"

Pang scratched his neck and looked away, "Personal reasons, please look into it."

Wave didn't look quite satisfied, but typed away and then pulled up another Facebook profile, "He doesn't have a wife, but I found his ex-wife. Those two did get a child first named Punn but after a hurtful divorce, the mother now with authority over the child decided to change the name to Techapon. The mother now with a new husband never said anything more about the father of the child."

Pang looked amazed as Wave pulled up old Instagram pictures and google photos of the family, "You are so awesome," Pang said holding onto Wave's shoulders from behind, he felt Wave turn his head around.

Wave said direct and cold, "Now tell me what you need this for?"

He met Wave's eyes, he had no idea what to say to this, he could tell Wave the truth or lie.

Before he could say anything the bell rang and everyone in the computer room walked out, Wave closed the computer down and stood up looking at Pang, "What class do you have now?"

Pang gulped and looked at Wave, "Uhm, what do you have?" He clapped himself on the shoulder for shifting the question.

Wave sighed and looked at his watch, "Calculus."

"Ah!" Pang exclaimed, "I do too, let's walk together," he smiled and walked out of the computer room, he might not be able to lie forever. He could always ask Yuth for help if he really needed it. But now he wanted to keep Wave safe even if this Wave didn't like him or saw him as a friend. He would still hold onto his own promise about taking care of Wave until he died. Well, he should change that to until he stayed dead.

He sadly didn't have time to ask Wave to search up Jo, but he could ask Jack if he ever met him in the hallway.

-~-~-~-

Pang had found out a lot that day.

Korn and Claire were a couple in this timeline, but he could clearly see it was only for the Facebook likes and attraction it got from the fangirls around the school. Pang knew Korn was sad about this, but it was better than nothing. Claire was a natural idol, she would always be, he kinda missed her advice at times. She didn't look like a wise person, but her pep talks worked wonders when he was down in the dumps.

Mon was in the material arts club, her determination to the club was inspirational.

He didn't see much of Namtarn but did find her asleep in the library when he had walked around the school. He had seen the juniors everywhere, and they seemed happy and healthy which made him smile.

Ohm was surrounded by a whole laughing crowd, he was really happy for him. Ohm was always a loner and outsider and most people find him weird and annoying at first, but you have to stick around him to really appreciate him. Ohm really needed friends and in this timeline, Pang could see his wish had been granted.

The weirdest thing was that he had only seen Jack walk around, Jo was nowhere to be found. He was really hoping Jo would be around, but Yuth had confirmed he wasn't attending. Maybe something happened when he changed the timelines. Jack was a girl-magnet, he looked very popular here, almost as popular as Claire. He was happy people noticed his friend's handsomeness.

Wave had opened up to him and even helped him in calculus, Pang knew he could make Wave fall for him again.

Pang was on the rooftop of the dormitory, he was looking out over the setting sun and inhaling deeply in.

Right at this moment was he finally free.

The burden on his shoulder was lifted.

Pang felt the darkness inside him slowly seep away and disappear. The grey world he had been seeing for so long now was finally beautiful and full of color again. He didn't feel 100% better, but it he hoped fixing everything would heal him over time.

Even in the darkest moments, beauty could be found.

Chapter Text

The days running around town were his favorites, he didn't know the thrill of being hunted down could feel so freeing.

Maybe this was the life he needed, he had all his friends with him and Pang. Pang was his best friend through thin and thick, he depended on him. He felt like he could only breathe when he was around him.

It was a month after some rogue kids blew up the school in an attempt to kill The Gifted XV.

He had really tried to delete everything, but it had spread too far. Pang was traumatized along with his friends, so he had to take on a leadership role along with Punn. He and Punn had begun to get along better, tho he knew, of course, he was better than Punn, maybe he could say Punn was better than all the others.

As they found a hotel without the "No Gifted allowed" sign, which now seemed to appear everywhere at the moment, they found out they had to sleep 2 together in the same room. His eyes went to Pang who had asked Ohm to share, who happily accepted. He clenched his fist that was hidden by the sleeves on his jacket.

Summer break had been hell, his grandparents hated the Gifted, said they had stolen all the food in the supermarket, and then blamed him because he was one of "those".

They had restricted all his electronics and cut the wifi. He had of course went to set up his own secret wifi and burrowed a computer from one of the nearby neighbors.

He was grumpy all summer, and spend most of his time reading the Gifted XV group chat and reading the news articles writing about the audio file. Some journalists had tried to contact Claire many times because her name was already out there, but she declined, making the news even angrier at them, starting to talk shit about them.

He had been stalking Pang's Facebook and Twitter because he was bored of course.

A new post popped up, he saw it and scrolled up. It was Pang subtweeting a person,

'Stop hearting my tweets, you're embarrassing me'

Wave felt fear run through him, he hadn't liked anything on accident, had he?

He checked the replies and saw his friends reply with laughing, but what really caught his eye was a user named @_Chai6awat they had a selfie as their profile picture which showed a beautiful girl their age, she had replied,

'Stop subtweeting me, dumbass 555"

She must have replied to the wrong person, but Pang had replied back saying,

'Then stop obsessing over me xx 555+'

xx? Did Pang really write xx? Who even was that girl, she wasn't their friend!

Wave used that whole night staking this "_chai6awat", she was their age, she and Pang had texted a whole lot.

They found each other through Twitter and had messaged every day. It was torture looking at the new messages popping up as he used a spy window to look at their chat.

The last chat he read was 'confession: You kinda cute tho,' and a reply from Pang, 'ngl u too 555'.

Wave didn't know what came over him, but his fist collided with the computer screen and broke it. His knuckles bled, but he barely felt it. His breathing was heavy as he dragged himself to bed.

That was not even 3 months ago, he had avoided stalking Pang's flirt, but he hadn't avoided keeping a close eye on Pang when he came back.

At first, they had planned to meet to discuss plans for universities, but Punn had sent out an emergency text with an attached video. It was the video where it showed the school of masked kids running around the school with bombs.

They all ran to try and stop it, but they only got to the cafeteria where Mon accidentally turned some of the nearby kids crazy.

Pang had to take control and ordered the kids down on their knees, which they obeyed. His friends had looked scared, but Wave had smiled, he thought it was awesome when Pang showed his true colors like that.

At their hotel Wave had gotten a room with Korn, he was fast asleep. After Korn had his potential removed, he was sleeping so much. If Wave really cared he would be concerned for his friend.

It was 3 in the morning and he was tapping his foot anxiously on the floor.

He decided to go to Ohm and Pang's room, his gut feeling said something was wrong.

Ohm opened the door, he looked like he had just woken up, "Oh, Wave-" Wave pushed past him and looked around, "Pangs not here, said he went for a walk for like 3 hours ago," Ohm said and yawned as he crawled back in bed.

Waves eyes pinned on Pang's phone, what kinda idiot leaves their phone at a hotel? He took it and walked out of the hotel room.

As Wave hacked into the phone he saw messages he had tried to avoid, 'I'm near that hotel actually! Let's meet!' _chai6awat had written.

Pang had replied with 'Yeah sure! Excited!'

Pang had really chosen girls over his friends, did he forget they were being hunted down at the moment? He should stick to his trustful friends and not some rando he tweeted with.

He made up his mind and tracked down the girl's GPS location. They weren't far from here anyway, but at 3 in the morning?

Wave grabbed his jacket from his own room, leaving quietly and running over to the place, he was out of breath when he got there. He was hiding behind a corner and listening to Pang talk to this girl.

His heartbeat was deafening his ears, but he heard this _chai6awat say, "Pang, we should date."

Wave cracked his knuckles slowly, Pang would never get in a relationship, not with all this madness going around.

"Somchai, I do like you, but I think-" Pang was rudely interrupted by this Somchai.

"Please consider it, I know now might seem like a bad time, but I do like you Pang and I believe you like me back." Somchai smiled while holding Pang's hand.

Wave had not expected Pang to smile back and nod while agreeing with her, she must have some sort of convincing potential, there was no way in hell Pang would have agreed on that.

Pang and Somchai walked away from their spot chatting while holding hands, Pang's phone in his hands was heating up from his own rage, he had no right to be angry.

Why couldn't he be angry? He could admit he was jealous, he could admit he was possessive, more than a friend should be.

Who did she think she was?

Wave jumped when someone grabbed his shoulder from behind, "Why are you stalking Pang?" Ohm asked smiling.

Wave really hated when he did that, "Asshole! I wasn't stalking him, I was worried he might have gotten lost." Wave shook off Ohm's hand and took a step back.

"If you're so concerned about him, why don't you plant a GPS in him," Ohm jokingly laughed, he saw Wave not laughing, "Wave? Are you sure you're alright? You've seemed off the whole time we met again," Ohm said seriously.

He smiled and shook his head, "I'm fine, thanks."

That night he picked up computer scraps and pieces and connected them to his own laptop. Ohm could be stupid at times, but he had his golden ideas at times, like this one.

Wave was sure this was gonna work, he could only hope no one would notice. Everyone had been assigned a mission except for him and Pang. It was his time to shine if he was doing this. Wave turned a cog from the hotel janitor's closet and waited until he knew the coast was clear, he put on a gas mask and unlocked the room smoothly. In his pockets were the tools needed to accomplice his own mission.

He saw Pang passed out in the hotel room chair with his phone on the floor, it had probably slipped out of his hands, he carefully picked it up and laid it on the table beside Pang.

He then made Pang lay with his arms on the table and brushed away his neck hair.

His heart was beating very fast as he took out a small scalpel blade he had stolen from a nearby hospital. He cut carefully, wiping away some of the blood that could leave any trace of his mission, he got up the mini GPS chip and put it in the wound carefully. He stitched the wound up and cleaned the blood. He also applied numbing gel on the wound for it not to hurt, and then covered it with Pang's neck hair that was thankfully still long enough to cover his traces.

He opened a window so the gas would seep out and closed any doors he had left open, "Sweet dreams," he whispered as he closed the door to Pang's room.

It had been 3 days where he had stayed in his room, even Korn was starting to be worried about him, joking that Wave had stolen his old potential. Wave didn't even react, he let alone spoke to anyone, they practically had to shove food down his throat and force drink him.

He knew he was beginning to look crazy, but he was busy trying to find out enough information about Somchai for Pang to break up with her. He still wasn't sure of her potential but from what he had gathered about her, it looked like she was a normal girl. But that was impossible, she must be something special.

But what made him stay up the last past days was the random messages Somchai would send him,

'Wasuthorn huh?'

'We should get to know each other

'You're Wave? Right? Pang told me about you'

'Hello??'

Wave didn't even know what to respond to that, 'fuck off kindly?'

He watched on the GPS tracker site he had made and saw Pang going to the same Cafe again, very likely it was together with Somchai. He decided to un-send her messages gently and block her. He didn't need any drama with her, she could kiss Pang if she wanted, why would he care.

The more days he stayed up the less stable he became, he knew this affected him mentally he wasn't dumb. His friend had seemed to ignore him now, didn't bother feeding him or making sure he got at least 1 hour of sleep.

Maybe he could depend on no one but Pang, maybe that was what he really needed to do. He quickly closed his computer when he noticed Pang nearing his room, Korn was out on a mission with Ohm.

He rubbed his eyes, they felt itchy and irritated.

Pang knocked before he entered, his eyes landed on Wave. In his hand was a bag of something and a bottle of water, his eyes looked concerned.

"Wave," Pang ran over to him, he must have looked dead with the eye bags under his eyes and his pale skin. Pang was immediately checking for fever or any sickness, "What happened?"

Wave almost dozed off when Pang touched him.

"I'm fine," Wave said hoarsely, having not talked for days and barely drinking water really made his throat feel like hell. Pang handed him water for him to drink, which he now happily took and drank.

"I don't know what you define fine as, but you aren't looking fine. You should take your contact lenses out, your eyes are red. I'm sorry I haven't checked up on you sooner, if I had known you isolated yourself I would have done it as the first thing," Pang took another chair to sit in front of him. His hand was in between Pangs getting warmed, he hadn't realized how cold he actually was.

Wave shook his head as he fought back tiredness, tears, and emotions from spilling over.

Pang had made him eat some of the food he had brought and then forced Wave in bed by tricking him with a hug.

Wave hated how Pang made him feel safe, he hated how he could never have this, he hated how he loved being the only one in Pang's arms, and what he hated most was the feeling of electricity going through him as he buried his face in Pang's embrace.

Maybe he had made Pang come here somehow, manifested it.

"I'm so fucked up, Pang," he whispered while Pang was cuddling up with him shushing him.

"It's okay, just sleep."

Wave felt a single tear fall as he fell asleep.

-~-~-~-

He jumped up in bed when he felt a phone vibrate, the first thing he noticed was that Pang wasn't beside him anymore.

His hands frantically grabbed his phone that was vibrating, it was his alarm that rang every 4 hours, in case he fell asleep. Pang must have turned it off once because he had slept for 8 hours, which was too much. He stood up and brushed off any dust on his clothes.

He grabbed a towel and took a quick shower before he turned on his laptop. Korn must have gone out to do whatever he did in the daytime. Wave found where Pang was and spotted two phone signals he recognized, one must be Pangs the other matched up with Somchai's. He cursed and grabbed his overcoat and room keys. He knew this was possessive, but if anything happened to Pang were he could have saved him he would blame himself for all eternity.

He ignored Claire and Punn in the lobby asking him where he was going, they were both probably shocked to see him outside of his room for once. He looked down in his hands where he held his phone, the map of Pang was showing he had to run at least 2 kilometers to get there. It looked like they were at the same cafe they always went to, probably getting all lovey-dovey.

Wave didn't even care he knocked over some people, they could have moved.

He was out of breath when he got to the Cafe, it was a "No Gifted" zone, so he wondered why Pang was in here. As he entered, trying not to look suspicious, he only saw Somchai sitting by herself.

He took a deep breath before walking over to her.

She looked up at Wave approaching her, he was looking around at the other people in the Cafe, "Wave, what pleasure do you have here? Didn't want to answer me over text, but was willing to talk to me in person?" She talked to him almost as if they had known each other for a long time.

"Quit the bullshit, where is he, what did you do to him?" Wave spoke calmly in a low voice to not draw attention.

She smiled as he took a sip of her coffee, "Pang?" She asked, looking innocent, "Don't worry, he's gone to the toilets, but you can wait here, I'm sure he is gonna be thrilled to know you know exactly where he is." Somchai had lowered her voice too, looking at Wave challenging.

He stared back saying, "You aren't even allowed here."

She didn't even blink as she answered, "You aren't either, my mom can kick you out if you want."

He noticed Pang at the cashier, probably ordering, "I will keep an eye on you, Thamirawat," He said before leaving through the door again.

Wave didn't trust Somchai, she was definitely planning something, he could see it in her eyes and how did she know his potential? Did Pang tell her?

He decided to stay close, he was not running back just yet in case she had planned to hurt Pang. He sat down on a bench, where he could still see the Cafe. After an hour he saw Pang and Somchai walk out smiling and laughing, he got up and followed from a distance.

He regretted that when he saw Somchai push, Pang, close to her and kiss him in the middle of the street, Wave was shocked and so were the people around them. He was this close to walk over there and drag Pang back to the hotel.

But he decided against that and started to run back to their hotel. But it was evening and the streets were even more crowded, it only fueled his anger more.

He wasn't the tallest so he was getting pushed around a whole lot, he tried to push back, but that would only make things worse, it got too bad at the end that he stopped.

"MOVE AWAY!"

He yelled as loud as he could, people instantly making a path for him, with blank expressions, Wave looked at them all scared. He trembled as he ran back to the hotel as fast as he could, he couldn't have done that. Only Pang could order people, he couldn't.

He would actually be like a God if he did that.

His back hit the door as he closed it behind him, Wave was breathing, trying to catch his breath.

"Wave?" Namtarn asked walking up to Wave.

"What are you doing in here?" Wave asked pushing himself off the door and walking into the room seeing Korn and Ohm asleep over some newspaper.

"Trying to help these two idiots research," Narmtarn sighed.

Wave went over to his closet and took out clothes, "Tell the others to pack, we have to move sleeping stations first thing tomorrow," Wave said to Namtarn as she walked up to him.

"Wave, tell me what happened," She said looking scared, he walked past her but her moves were quick and he couldn't pull away fast enough before she held his wrist. He shook her off, but he knew she had seen, she had seen it all, "Wave! You can't-"

"Shut up! You don't know anything! You don't know how I feel, you don't know the meaning behind what I've done! Don't talk to anyone about this!" Wave ordered the last part looking at her.

Namtarn looked like she was gonna say something but ended up looking scared instead. He locked himself in the bathroom until he knew his friends had left.

No one knew about what he had done aside from Namtarn, occasionally Korn would ask him if something happened but he always answered no.

He had researched about what he had done, and he found a bunch of tweets and posts written about random strangers, someone talked about undeveloped potential, and another about having a mixed potential because one's Gifted cell split up.

Wave was sure he didn't have that and undeveloped? He couldn't really say that.

He had come across one page talking about something called melting when you have equal trust between someone and 'melt together'. It seemed to be a rare occurrence, but 2 people had commented under saying they and their partner had accidentally done this unconsciously.

Wave had smiled when reading this because this meant he had a melt with Pang and that they both trusted each other very deeply. But it also meant they had a special bond and that he had beat Somchai, she didn't stand a chance against him and his bond.

At 4 in the morning he heard someone knock on their room door, he was the only one up so he opened the door.

"Pang," He said shocked, Pang looked at Wave.

"Oh, Wave, can I come in?" Wave stepped aside, he wasn't gonna ask why Pang was up at this time, but he was concerned cause it looked like something bugged Pang.

"What's up, Korn's asleep, he sleeps like a rock so don't worry about waking him up." Wave pointed towards Korn asleep.

Pang sat down on Waves bed, "I know you were at the Cafe," he started out, which made Wave freeze.

He didn't know what to answer, he wanted to say, 'yeah, your girlfriend is crazy and you two should break up'.

"I was?" Wave said looking away awkwardly, 'very smooth Wave, wow,' he thought to himself.

Pang looked confused, "I saw you leaving, Somchai said you had a chat, sad you didn't join us," Pang looked actually sad. Did Pang ask him to third-wheel?

Wave looked at Pang, "I didn't wanna interrupt you love-birds, you were having a date right?"

Pang looked uncomfortable, "Well, I wouldn't call it a-"

Wave interrupted him, "It's okay, what you do is fine, I trust you and you trust me."

"Of course I trust you, Wave," Pang answered looking confused, "Are you okay? I mean you seem better than yesterday, but if something is bothering you, tell me, I'm here for you." Pang smiled at him, making Waves heart jump.

Wave smiled, "I'm feeling very good."

His smile dropped when Pang's phone said a sound, Pang was instantly checking it, "Shit, I have to go now, get some sleep, heard you wanted to leave in the next few days, let's do that, okay?" Wave saw Pang leave his room without a goodbye. He couldn't help but feel like Pang left him for Somchai, again.

-~-~-~-

Wave was taking a stroll down the streets when his phone lit up with a text from a blocked number.

'Come meet me here', he recognized the IP address and was gonna ignore it, but then she texted, 'If you delete these you're gonna prove to me you can't own up to shit'.

He clenched his fist and walked over to the coordinates she had sent.

It was in a secret garden behind two buildings, she was sitting by a small tree with a book. He thought she looked like a nerd, but he was nice enough to not comment on it.

"Why did you want to meet?" Wave stated, not going within 2 meters of her.

She turned to him, "You've melted with Pang," she didn't look that happy saying that.

He smirked, "Jealous?"

Somchai then smiled, "It seems like it's you who's got a problem with me, The only thing I've done is get together with Pang and now you're all possessive of him, just a reminder he's mine and not yours." She got up and walked closer to him, "He would hate to hear how you used it on his friend? Wouldn't he hate you?" She made him back up to a building wall.

"That's your potential," Wave noted.

She looked around at their surroundings, her eyes landed on Wave again, "You guessed it."

Wave walked away from the wall, "To know others potentials and the latest thing they used their potential on."

His eyes met Somchai who was smiling, "Correct."

"It's actually a shame you two melted, I think me and him would be a better match," She chuckled as she continued her speech, "I do wonder if he'll trust you if he finds out about how you're using your potential."

She circled around him, he had enough and grabbed her shirt while pushing her back against the tree.

"What the ever hell did I do to you?"

"Stalking is one thing, being over-possessive over someone who won't ever love you back is another thing, and you know, Wave. That If I go down I'll take Pang with me, you don't deserve to have him, I do." Somchai didn't struggle to get out of her situation, she seemed rather pleased.

Wave saw red and looked directly into her eyes, lowering his voice

"I order you to break up with-" He was interrupted by someone else's voice.

"Wave? Somchai?"

He turned around letting go of Somchai, he looked at Pang.

"Pang," he said, he could see the confusion from Pang.

"Did I interrupt you two?" Pang asked innocently, it was Somchai who ran over by Pang's side.

"No, we were just talking, let's go, yeah?" She was all over him and holding his hand.

Pang looked back at Wave as he and Somchai walked away from him.

Wave walked in a circle and then went up to the tree and punched it with all his might, he let out a frustrated yell. He hated that bitch, he wanted her gone, everything would be better if she wasn't here.

When night fell Wave was still up, Korn had fallen asleep and Ohm was passed out on the floor beside Korns bed. Those two were actually very productive when they wanted to be. Wave was envious of that devotion, he was caught up in making sure Pang was okay to do half his job.

He had covered their tracks with the local news and the international ones, but his potential was wearing him down and he had to let Punn do his work.

Wave was casually watching a youtube video when he heard screaming from under the hotel, he quickly went to the opened window to check out the chaos that unraveling. His eyes widened when he saw kids with masks on with a grenade and firearms on them, he quickly shut the window and ran over to Korn and Ohm. He shook them awake and told them to pack their most valuable items quickly and get out of there.

He had a bag ready and went to the others' rooms. He didn't knock but used his potential to open them.

He shook Pang awake, "Pang!" He yelled, his hands were shaking, "We have to get out of here!"

Pang blinked his eyes, meeting Waves, "What? Why?" Wave didn't answer, just pulled Pang up, "They're gonna blow up the building."

He saw Pang's gears move in his head and then take Wave's hand and run out of the room, Wave could see the girls running out too. He heard them scream when they heard the first explosion, he tried focusing on Pang's hand that was holding his.

It seemed to make his heart beat faster which was no help in this situation.

They all had somehow managed to get outside the building with the other hotel guests as the building blew up and started falling apart.

The terrorists were gone and as he looked around he saw no one but scared people looking at the building go down.

The owner was talking to the police, he heard firetrucks coming in the near-distance and more police sirens headed their way.

Wave knew they had to start moving when he caught the police staring at them weirdly. They didn't have the best experience with the police, so it was better to move now than explain how it wasn't their fault for 5 hours.

Pang had also noticed the police and notified the others and slowly they had walked successfully away from the crime scene.

When they ran a few blocks down the road and turned a corner, only then did Wave see Mon comfort Namtarn who was crying into her shoulder.

Wave should have predicted the PTSD Namtarn had and would surely hurt the people who did this badly if he ever came across them. His friends were all getting their breaths apart from Mon who was trying to calm Namtarn.

Wave looked around at his friends and ended on Pang who was looking down in the ground biting the tip of his finger.

"Pang, we need to find a new hide-out, those kids were definitely anti-gifted who targetted us. We can't stay too close or they'll find us again," Wave said.

He heard quick footsteps approach their corner and his face darkened when he saw who it was.

"Oh my god, you're okay!" Somchai exclaimed looking at Pang, she was up all in his face.

Pang had his hand rested on her back, patting it, "You heard the explosion?" Somchai held Pang's hand and hugged him tightly, she nodded.

"Who's that?" Korn whispered to Wave who hid his clenched fist behind his back, he hid the way he wanted to punch the wall and tell Somchai to go fuck herself. How did she even get here this fast?

It was Mon who spoke up first, "Sorry, I don't know your relationship with Pang, but this isn't the right time to flirt with our friend, so kindly leave."

Wave hid his smirk behind his hand, he got eye contact with Somchai who frowned at him and then looked at Mon with puppy eyes, "I'm so sorry! I'm really concerned about my boyfriend," she wiped away a fake ear. Mon looked around at her friends, Wave rolled his eyes.

"Pang, you have a girlfriend?"

Pang stood there awkwardly, "I mean-"

Somchai interrupted him, "Yes, he does and I will take my leave now, I hope you all get better," Somchai pouted and then walked over to Wave leaning in close.

She lowered her voice and put something in his back pocket, "This is all your fault and this will be my first warning, don't try and break us up."

With that, she left and his friends started questioning him about what she had whispered to him, but he brushed it off and ignored the question.

Pang had also looked confused about the interaction but didn't question it.

-~-~-~-

They had quickly found a crappy motel nearby and got some rooms to stay in, this time Wave was staying with Pang due to popular demand.

Ohm had insisted on having a room with Korn to do more research, but he knew they would end up watching movie marathons and fall asleep not that much later. Punn wanted a room alone, but Namtarn had tagged along saying she would be out of the motel most of the time anyway to do scanning of the city and safety.

That evening Wave had looked at the piece of paper he had gotten from Somchai for the 30th time now, it was one word.

'BOOM!'

At first, he had wanted to tell Pang immediately, but what if he put Pang's life in danger if he told him about it, he couldn't risk all his others friends' lives just for maybe breaking up Pang and his rival. He had to think about his next move carefully and look around for any anti-gifted lurking around this motel. He really hadn't expected Somchai to have connections with the anti-gifted, but here she was.

Wave let out a frustrated groan and leaned back in the old room chair.

"Are you okay?" Pang asked from behind him, he didn't turn around or answer, just got up and went to lay down on his own bed with his face down in his pillow. No matter how much he wanted to let it all out and say every frustrating thing that was happening to him, he couldn't.

He turned around in the bed and stared at the ceiling, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

Pang had moved and was now in front of his bed, "Your eyes are red again, you need to take your contacts out at night."

Pang was now sitting on the edge of the bed, in front of Wave who could only stare back. He knew his eyes were burning and what Pang said was right and all, but he hated the feeling of removing and inserting them. He would never get used to it.

Wave did obey by taking his contacts out and did some research on his laptop which was charging by the table.

His eyes caught the e-mail Korn and Ohm had sent him, talking about volunteering gifted teens age 17-18 who wanted to help them. What was even better was that according to Korn and Ohms's research the teens all had healing potentials and there was even a spreadsheet about them all and went into details about their potentials.

He was kinda impressed by them, he never thought they could do this.

Pang was more than happy to meet the 4 volunteers, they had texted the teens and they all responded within an hour excited. Wave hoped for the best, he was thrilled to actually do something again, but he still had a chilling feeling down his spine. He had harmed his friends throughout the years, almost making them kill each other by creating some crazy app.

He felt useless and numb. There was no pain, only self-doubt and he was drowning in it.

Wave did not sleep that night, he wasn't even doing anything other than sit up in the crappy bed or standing up on the floor or even closing his eyes laying in bed, everything seemed impossible. He was doomed to a sleepless night and he could do nothing. His eyes found Pang asleep in the dark, he watched Pang for the majority of the night, thinking and wondering.

When the light shone through the gaps in the closed curtains he knew he had to get himself ready for the day. No sooner after he heard rustling from the bedding area and Pang groaned. Wave walked out of the bathroom searching his small bag for a clean shirt. With a toothbrush still in his mouth, he let out a frustrated sigh and picked up a smelly t-shirt.

Pang was rubbing his eyes looking at him, "You can use one of mine," Pang's voice was raspy from his lack of water.

Wave eyes found Pang's bag and then looked up at him, "You sure?" Pang nodded from his bed and got up to open his bag, he threw a black t-shirt at him which Wave caught.

Pang then proceeded to occupy the bathroom.

Wave held up the t-shirt, it looked clean enough, he smelled it. It smelled like Pang, he smelled it again and then put it on quick, what was he doing. He was not gonna be weird when Pang was in a 6-meter radius of him. He stood up and packed his most valuable belongings away from sight. Today they had to meet up with the 4 volunteers and greet them and maybe talk about their plan and then their own team's plan.

With these new potentials, they could hopefully cure those who were suffering from NYX-88 and didn't have any more of the temporary cure. He knew Pang had a hero complex and maybe this would make him a bit more relaxed.

Maybe this could be the final win.

At the place they had chosen to meet at, they were met with 2 girls and 2 boys, he hadn't really caught their names, but he was happy they were willing to help.

They would have to locate and contact the victims and then they would either send a volunteer out or call the victim over here. Pang made them write under a contract, mentioning casually that they shouldn't think too much about it, after a couple of years with Pang he could see Pang had used his potential. Wave noticed one of the girls who were more eager than the others, she seemed bright and joyful.

Wave listened and caught that her name was 'Ping'. What a strange name, he thought.

The next few weeks were smooth and happy, nothing was happening and all the volunteers were happy to be of use. Ping would casually bring them snacks and foods to their rooms and sometimes stay to talk. Wave felt a close bond to her like she got him. He saw through her bubbly personality, she was sad. Very very sad, so sad that the pain was unbearable but you have to keep going because or else you might collapse.

Ping had one night revealed a big secret, something that really shouldn't be one. "My friends are getting sick after using their potentials, but they like to act tough and strong, so please let them stay, P'Wave."

Wave looked at Ping, "What? What kinda sickness?"

Ping looked uncomfortable and leaned in close, "Don't tell P'Pang, but Bell is at home very sick, after the last person she healed of the virus, she fainted. I know they are trying to seem mature and strong in front of you all, but I wanted you to know about Bell. Kay seems to vomit every evening when he comes back to our shared apartment. I don't know about Luke, but he isn't the same as he once was. I'm fine right now."

Wave was horrified, he had to informed Pang and make them stop using the teens, but Ping was begging him to keep it a secret.

"Please, Phi! We all love helping others and we aren't gonna die from this! I promise! I will keep your secret a secret too, please," Ping was holding his hands in between hers as she begged with tears in her eyes, Wave couldn't do anything but nod.

He did ask, "My secret?"

"The tracker in Pang, I can see people's scars and wounds when I touch someone, really smart to put WW on the tracker." Ping was looking serious at Wave, "But please keep yourself sane, I know you're paranoid and are scared to lose him. Keep in mind that you can't protect him forever."

Wave walked out of the room, he didn't need to hear anymore, of course, he could keep Pang safe for as long as he wanted.

He was gonna keep his promise, for now, if it got worse he would have to tell Pang about this.

He was tired and exhausted and for once he was looking forward to sleeping. No one had seen the anti-gifted around in a hot while, tho Pang was still going on dates with Somchai it wasn't as much as it had been. Wave had times followed Pang and kept an eye on the two love birds, Somchai had noticed him half of the times and smiled at him.

Tonight was one of Pang's date nights, so he was alone in the shitty motel room. His grandparents thought he had moved out and never tried to contact him again, Pang still had contact with his family, but kept it private. That was possibly smart of him, tho Wave did already know everything about Pang from researching in his first year, he needed to know the information of his classmates at the time.

Namtarn had to call her mother once a week to reassure her that she was fine, Ohm had apparently faked his death for some reason, he hadn't dwelled on Ohms family relations as much as he wanted to but he did know Ohm had a complicated relationship with his dad and brothers. He hadn't found information on the mother and could only assume she died or ran away.

Wave was ready to hit the hay when someone knocked on his door, with a groan he got up and opened the room door.

"What?" He said frustrated, looking up at Korn.

Korn looked serious and angry at Wave, "What did you do to Namtarn?"

Wave took a step back, "Huh?"

Korn stepped inside the room, "She was talking about your behavior, and I can safely say we have noticed it changing, but we are your friends and don't want you to run away. But she wanted to say something about you and stopped, when I asked about it she shook her head and looked scared. She said 'Wave' before she went back to her room. I don't mean to be rude, but if you hurt her or blackmailed her, I will have to tell Pang, and let's see what he says about that-"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Wave yelled at Korn with tears in his eyes, "I know I fucked up and It's all my fault! But don't tell me you haven't fucked up either! Maybe we should talk about how you started all this! You are the cause of the NYX-88 spread! And frankly, we would be fine and normal if you hadn't fucked up!"

Korn was stunned, "Wave, what has happened to you?"

Wave breathed heavily, the room lights exploded above them as Wave looked up at Korn, "Maybe you should jump off another roof and finally be successful in something for once in your life."

He watched Korn walk out of the room without another word and Wave fell to his knees sobbing. His hands fell to the floor and he felt something sharp dig into his hands, it was a piece of glass from the lightbulb. One of the lights was flickering and he could see the mess he had made.

He wiped his tears away and stood up, he needed some fresh air right now to calm down and walked out into the hallway.

Everyone had gone to bed and he was starting to feel guilty from saying that to Korn, but he had said something provoking to Wave which made him lose it. He would apologize tomorrow, tho a part of him said Korn deserved it.

He dragged himself up the stairs to the roof, he would always find comfort in roofs, the atmosphere and relaxing breeze of fresh air could do wonders for a headache.

The Motel was located a bit far out, but that was perfect, not many people lived around here and there were rarely any car sounds or chattering drunk people at night. Tonight was no different, once he reached the roof he was met with fresh air and a beautiful night sky.

The volunteers had an apartment 2 minutes away from the motel which made the work between them easy.

He stepped onto the roof and looked around.

His heart stopped, "Korn?"

His body froze, "Ai'Korn!"

And his feet ran as he watched Korn look at him and lean backward, his hand tried to grab onto him but missed by a millimeter.

The sound Korn made when he hit the ground echoed in his head and he finally knew how Pang felt when he heard this happening, this time Korn didn't have a potential that could save him, he was human and Wave had just caused a murder.

He was stunned as a tear ran down his cheek, "I didn't mean it," Wave whispered.

The terrible voice inside him told him that it was better this way and he could convince everyone Korn had done this himself, but Namtarn would know and then Pang would know and everyone would hate him.

With quick fingers, he called the only person he knew that could fix this.

"Nong Ping! Please come to the motel quickly and don't scream, please don't scream, please help me."

Ping was asking a lot of questions on the other line but did as he said, gasping when she heard Wave explain his situation, but did say she could try. Wave would have to go down to the place Korn fell and check for a pulse or breathing.

It was only a 4-floor building, so there was still a chance Korn had passed out from the hit.

Wave had never run so fast in his life, but he got downstairs without waking anyone up, he saw Ping run towards him from a corner.

He went to check for a pulse. It was weak, but there was still hope.

"Phi!" Ping said exhausted as she fell to her knees beside Korns body, "Pulse?"

Wave nodded and looked sorry, Ping didn't say anything but rested her hands on Korns's forehead, "He has 5 broken ribs, a broken leg, and a broken arm. His head is also damaged from the floor and has internal bleeding, he would die within 4 hours if I weren't here."

He watched as Korn's broken leg healed itself and Korn's chest begin to move again. The blood disappearing and the pain from his face turn into a blissful face.

Wave couldn't stop the tears from falling as he hugged Ping once she finished her work, "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, I didn't mean to, I bothered you and I don't know how to repay." Wave was saying things and letting it all out. Ping was rubbing his back and calming him down.

"I think you did know what happened, and I'm happy you told me the truth, get him inside, he most likely won't remember anything that happened within the past hour, so let him sleep in your room. Pang will most likely be out all night."

Wave stood up and lifted Korn up in bridal style, he wasn't the strongest or tallest person in the world, so this would be difficult, but this could be his punishment.

"Also, don't worry about repaying me, just keep your promise," Ping smiled as she waved and ran back.

Chapter Text

He made up a lame excuse to Korn when he asked why he was in Wave's room, he was grateful for Ping. She understood him and she was someone he trusted. Tho he couldn't help but worry if all the other volunteers were sick and all, why wasn't she sick?

No one knew about the roof accident, only Wave and Ping knew. 

He thought everyone was going okay, but later that week found out Kay died from vomiting too much, he and Ping informed the others and they all looked shocked and scared and quickly tried to come up with a new plan. Wave tried to say that they should keep going and that Luke still seemed okay.

He took back his word when Luke got put in a mental hospital after stabbing Wave in the leg with a ballpoint pen, thankfully he healed up after 2 days. Behind his back his friends all made a new game-plan, involving things that were very possibly illegal. Wave didn't know why they kept the plan from him, but it was probably because he had a close bond with Ping and didn't want him snitching their plan to her. Pang had apologized later and he had accepted it but was still angry at them.

The voice in his head said they didn't trust him and that they knew he killed Korn. Tho it wasn't true he was still on edge every time they referred to him or mentioned him.

At night they had sneaked into a hospital and stole a bunch of things they needed.

Korn and Ohm had contacted 3 other volunteers with healing potentials, Pang talked them into signing a contract and then Claire befriended them until they seemed calm around them.

Wave was not okay with this, but his job was to remove them from the internet and cut ties with their family. He hated this, he was against it, but he trusted Pang's plan. 

Wave had tried to offer his own potential as a solution since he also had a self-healing potential. Pang didn't agree and Wave knew why, he didn't want Wave to die.

He removed news articles talking about a robbery at the hospital they robbed and stopped employees trying to contact the police. His stress was building up and sure he might look calm doing the job, he wasn't. He had downed 6 coffee's the last 6 hours, one for every hour to keep himself awake. Pang hadn't even asked about his eyes or his sleeping schedule anymore, everyone was nervous.

He had told everything to Ping who was as concerned as he was, tho she seemed to agree to the plan more than he did. 

Over the next few days they had found a basement and taken the volunteers down there, they didn't question anything. They probably couldn't even if they wanted to, he could tell from Pang's expression that he knew there was no survival rate. 

Pang lied to himself a lot, Wave knew that. He tried to calm Pang by saying he would stay beside him even if things got really bad.

Wave wasn't there at the surgery, but he did hear whimpers from his friends and gasps. Pang came up the stairs and looked sick and pale, but he nodded to Wave which meant it was successful. Tho there were no survivors, they still got what they had worked towards getting. 

Wave felt sick in his stomach.

He had never wanted it this way, he was a pacifist for most parts and his friend group had been a no-violence zone for so long. He didn't know what had changed in their morality, but they were willing to kill 3 innocent teens to save some others, which he has to mention has a 70% chance of actually working. 

He wished the university he was gonna enroll in didn't close due to sudden dangers. Pang and he were gonna enroll together, and he was very excited about it, finally ready for a real normal life. 

The sudden dangers turned out to be a bunch of troubled gifted kids. They had burned down the university and no one had seen their faces, so the university had to cover for all the damages done to it. Wave had been so furious when he found out about it that he had turned off the electricity for 6 hours, complaints from his grandparents were heard every hour he didn't turn it on. He had wanted to be gone, not even knowing how to socialize and text his friends so he chose to hide under his blanket all day. He knew it was a dumb thing to be scared about, but when he texted he wanted it to be serious, not vent about his feelings.

Maybe that's why no one had wanted to be friends with him in his first year. 

Now as he was busy deleting things off the internet and shooting a glare at Pang who was drinking cold water he felt the sad feeling inside him grow. He knew it was all his fault all this, even if he wanted to blame others he really blamed himself for all this. He could have done so much more than stand by and watch. He knew he could have prevented a lot of things from happening, but he was a coward.  

He felt like a burden to his friends. 

At least he could do as they said until they threw him out. He turned around and saw Korn walk up from the basement with a terrified look and a bottle of what looked like blood.

"Is that?" He asked with a weary tone, Korn looked up at him but didn't answer. 

Punn walked up after patting Korns back and looking at Wave, "It's over, the cure is in the bottle, a drop into your blood and you should be cured of the virus." He could hear Punn trying to sound like a leader, but Wave saw right past it and saw how Punn was on the verge of tears. He should be grateful he didn't need to watch it happen, that he was in safety, hacking away.

The day finished quickly as everyone retreated to their rooms, Ohm had said he had hidden the bodies in the trashcans where they would get unknowingly get picked up and cast out without anyone knowing. 

Wave watched Pang flop down on his bed and not say anything. 

"Why aren't you sad?" Pang asked suddenly turning around so he was laying on his back.

Wave sighed and looked at Pang, "What makes you say I'm not?" He sat down on his own bed and kicked Pang's leg with his foot, "Because I don't cry doesn't mean I'm sad, but you knew this would happen, now we're murderers." Wave simply put it.

Pang sat up and looked at Wave, "Don't call us that, we're not, we wanted what was best and now we have it and everything will be okay!" Pang said looking down at his own hands which were folded, Wave thought it was a sad sight. 

"Stop lying," Wave said and caught Pangs' attention, "When you stop lying you will feel better, don't bottle things up and start saying what you really think."

He looked confused when Pang let out a small chuckle, "Are you the real Wasuthorn?"

"Hey!" He said pushing Pang, "Don't call me that! Why can't I encourage you?"

Pang pushed Wave back with his own foot, "Wasuthorn Worachotmethee."

Wave got up and grabbed a pillow, "Now you're asking for it." He slammed his pillow down on Pang who had grabbed his pillow and blocked it. 

Wave smiled for the first time in months that night. He finally felt like a real teen, finally feeling like he was normal. 

-~-~-~-

The smile didn't last forever.

He woke up with a text message from Somchai.

'10'

He was disturbed by Somchai texting him and ignored it until he got a message a minute later saying:

'9'

Wave froze for a second but quickly said to Pang that they needed to hurry out, he grabbed his bag and ran out into the hallway to warn his other friends.

By the time he had gathered what he hoped was everyone in the motel down and outside, he got a message saying:

'BOOM!'

Wave was frantically looking around at their surroundings and ignoring the people around him asking what was going on he looked back at the motel as the first explosion was heard. Everyone gasped as they clung to each other, he could only watch as his phone pinged.

'Last warning, stay away from Pang or else I won't warn you next time, xx'

How ironic, she had called him obsessed and possessive when she was the one doing all this shit.

Wave checked up on all his friends before searching for a new motel on his phone, he was stressing out and electrocuted himself a few times, but he could ignore the pain. Punn had walked over to him taking the phone from him.

"Tell me what is going on and I'll get us a place," Punn had lowered his voice while talking to not draw any unnecessary attention towards them. Wave looked around at his surroundings and pulled Punn a few meters away from the scene.

He was debating whether actually telling Punn or only tell the half-truth.

"Look, there's someone out to kill us, I saw some kids that dressed like the anti-gifted but I can't be 100% sure since they managed to stay out of security camera vision. It's up to you if you wanna tell the others about them wanting us dead and cause more panic among us than there already is. So I suggest being a good friend and tell us the place we can hide and relax in for at least a couple of weeks."

Punn gave in and sighed, "If you can promise that this won't happen again."

"Over my dead body."

Wave and Punn shook hands as they walked back to the group together. 

One of Punn's brothers was apparently crazy rich and had an empty house at the east of Bangkok, Punn did say that his family wasn't the closest, so he had to call his brother for the key.

Pang was gonna schedule a bus later in the day, so Wave and his friends didn't really have much to do except walk towards the middle of Bangkok and wait there until they had to catch the bus.

They had got away before the police arrived at the hotel, no one had said anything other than questions about Punn's brother's house.

Wave had gotten tired from walking around so much, he had wanted to talk with Pang, but he was on the phone with what he could guess was Somchai. He had been friends with him and stuck with him through thick and thin for almost 3 years now. Somchai had only been around for a month or so.

He knew he couldn't go back to his grandparent's house, but he would miss seeing his parents' picture frames. Sure, they hadn't been perfect, but at least they had cared to some extend. 

He wouldn't be here without them.

The city was buzzing with people, it looked normal, but he knew how crazy it could get at times. If you really looked closely you could see reality, someone walking but killing plants around them. Another person walking through a door without opening it. He knew this world was doomed because of their audio file.

The bus ride was fairly short, only 20-30 minutes and Wave had slept through it all. 

He knew Punns father's side was rich, so he had expected a giant mansion or some big summerhouse, not this slightly bigger looking normal house. Maybe Punn's brother didn't depend on his father's money.

Wave found out there were 5 rooms and a living room where someone could sleep if they wanted to sleep alone. Wave thought about that offer, but Punn had already offered himself to sleep there and no one had disagreed or complained.

Korn and Ohm had taken one of the upstairs rooms with a road view. Namtarn and Mon stuck together like they had done the past months, if Wave was being honest he had caught them having a moment once, but he chose to not say anything. He wanted them to tell him if there was something and they felt comfortable sharing.

Jack and Joe had of course wanted a room for themself, so Pang, Wave, and Claire were the only people left to share 2 rooms, and since Punn had decided to sleep in the living room there was gonna be a room with only 1 person in it.

Claire had looked between Pang and Wave and walked into the room and put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle.

"That leaves us," Pang said, "Let's go pack out our things and make a grocery list since no one else does it."

Wave followed Pang to their new room and went inside. It was a small room with a small table in between the bed separating them. He fell down on the bed, looking up into the ceiling. At times like these, he couldn't help but think about the future and what it looked it. In 2 years would they still have to hide? Would Pang accept his feelings? Or would he still be in a relationship with Somchai?

By the thought of Somchai, he sat up and leaned back on his arms, "Noodles."

"What?" Pang said confused looking back at Wave.

Wave pulled up a notebook, "Groceries right?" He wrote down a few things before Pang took the notebook from him.

"No one can read your handwriting, let me do it," Pang had said and started writing too. Wave watched Pang write, he was envious of that handwriting it was beautiful. He felt almost completely relaxed watching Pang's hands move the pen over the cheap paper.

Sometimes he had wished he had a normal life, maybe then he would have a better chance with Pang than he has now. Pang must have taken his sigh as a tired one and stopped writing.

"You should get some sleep, remember your eye contacts, and tell me if you're troubled"

With that Pang walked out and left Wave all alone on his own. 

Wave decided to pull up his laptop and look around the internet, he found small articles about them and deleted them. He felt useless at times like this like he didn't have a purpose anymore, that he was nothing outside of daily tasks and work. It was normal of him to feel like this, but lately, it had gotten worse. He didn't feel like he did enough, that no one really appreciated his hard work. 

He got up and walked out into the living room where Korn was sitting on a couch.

He neared him and was gonna walk into the kitchen when Korn spoke up.

"Wave, I know about what you did." 

Wave froze in his action and slowly turned towards Korn, "What? About what?" His heart was hammering against his ribs.

Korn pulled up his phone at a poorly filmed video of a crowd, the crowd then stood back when someone yelled. 

Wave grabbed the phone and watched it closely, it was a video of him when he ordered a whole crowd of people to move aside and then found out he melted with Pang later.

"Someone under the name of @_chai6awat send it to me, that's you in the video Wave." Korn took his phone back from Waves hands. 

Wave looked around like a trapped animal caught in a trap, "No, I didn't do it on purpose, it's not my fault!" Wave exclaimed stepping back. 

Korn stood up and looked at him, "Did you do anything more? Wave, please you can tell me anything." Korn tried to smile at Wave approaching him slowly. Wave felt sweat roll down his forehead, everything feeling too hot and too much, everyone was gonna hate him.

It was all his fault, he regretted everything, from tracking Pang to killing Korn. He wanted it all to be okay, but he knew he had to keep lying to be accepted and appreciated. He would do anything to feel valid, still, he couldn't help but feel like an impostor, a fraud. 

"It's not my fault, I didn't know - I just wanted, I-" 

Korn interrupted him, "Calm down, Wave, I can't understand you like this. Can you stop breathing so harshly?" 

Wave looked up at him with tears at the corners of his eyes, "What?" Wave walked up close to Korn, "I'm sorry, can you fucking understand me now?" He spat out right in front of Korn's face, "Or should I just shut up?" He didn't know what drove him to lash out at Korn like that, but those comments, while he had a breakdown, made him furious. If Korn wanted to tell him to stop crying for him, he would rather spit in his face and kick him in the nuts.

Korn had stepped back and Wave stomped outside where the weather was chilly.

He felt the regret from his little discussion with Korn a few minutes back come to him. He didn't hate anyone, but what if Korn thought that?

Wave let out a frustrated sigh and walked away from the house until he got a text message. It was a text from Somchai, he was gonna delete it until he saw her sending a photo of a picture taken of him right at this moment. He looked up at where the photo was supposedly taken but didn't see anyone. 

He saw Somchai sharing her location, which was closer than he was comfortable with. It seemed no matter how far he went, she would always be one step behind them.

It was upon a roof garden and the stairs up were a hell to walk on, half of the stairs were missing and others were overgrown so much you couldn't even see the step. Wave almost fell a couple of times up the stairs, why he even agreed to see Somchai was beyond his understanding, maybe he was that broken that he sought someone to discuss with. No matter how much he hated her, he could admit he was a competitor and he loved challenges.

She was stood turned away from him when he stepped a foot onto the roof, the wind was pretty windy up here, but the sun was setting beautifully on the horizon.

"It's fun, isn't it?"

Wave neared Somchai but didn't answer her so she kept talking.

Somchai turned around so the wind blew her hair backward, she was smiling, "Pang is so fun. You, my god, Wave you are the funniest to mess with."

She was chuckling, she was laughing. At him? Wave stopped a few meters from her, "Why are you laughing? What do you mean 'fun'?" 

Somchai stopped laughing, "I don't love Pang, I don't even like him, he's so self-righteous, 'friends, the right thing to do and yadda yadda', it all got boring real quick. I was honestly in it for the melt, but then you came and stole it from me. You little fucker," She laughed again before taking a step towards him, "You stole what I've been searching for. Do you know how hard it was to gain his trust over Twitter? When I first saw him and saw his potential I knew he was strong. Imagine having that power? What does it feel like?"

Wave took a step back when she neared him again. 

"You're crazy, how dare you use him like that? You almost killed us multiple times! What was that about? Leave us alone, since I apparently stole it from you why don't you go home again and never talk to any of us again?" Wave was scared, he wouldn't admit it, but it was all too much.

She didn't back up but was near him, "Because I can still kill you and steal you two's trust."

She grabbed his shirt at the right moment and pulled him close to the roof's edge, his heels on the edge.

Wave realized only then that this roof didn't have any railings on it and wasn't a hangout roof, just a normal one average people shouldn't be on. 

He grabbed onto Somchai's arms, "Let me go."

She smiled, "Why? You are nothing. Admit it, everything that has happened up to now is your fault. You know it yourself. Do you think your friends care about you? When did they last even willingly casually talk with you without bringing up your mental health or work?"

Waves strong grip on her loosened, "No, it's not my fault, stop - Just stop." 

Somchai was about to let go when her phone rang and she pushed Wave down beside her at the ground. He whimpered and stood up, brushed off some dirt, and walked away from the roof without looking back.

He knew he couldn't say any of this to his friends, since they wouldn't understand or take it seriously. Wave checked his phone and saw that it was 1 at night.

He was distracted by his phone and bumped into someone, "Sorry," he muttered and looked up at 2 grown-men looking down at him.

One of them chuckled before pushing him back, making him trip backward, "Such a scrawny kid, you should watch where you're going!" One of the men yelled at him. They were obviously drunk.

Wave took a step backward to get away from the scene he was making but stepped on someone's shoes. He didn't even turn around before he was pushed to the ground, his hands supporting his fall. Wave didn't even try to fight back as the 2 men yelled curses at him, kicking him a few times in his side while laughing at his pain. 

Today was not a good day.

The kicking stopped and he saw the 2 men run away. A hand reached down in front of him, he looked up. 

"Pang," he breathed out and took the hand that pulled him up. He held a hand at his own side, his whole body was hurting and he felt like throwing up. Pang didn't say anything the whole way back, he even offered to carry Wave in his arms, but Wave refused. He would really hate to draw more unwanted attention.

The way back was a blur and he found himself in the bathroom on his knees, on the ground while he was bent over the toilet. He sat back and he was given a pill and a glass of water.

"Painkillers for the pain, let me see your wounds." 

Pang was sitting down as well on the cold tiles in the quiet house. The moonlight shone in through a small window as Pang reached his hand up to touch Waves cheek. He hissed at the contact but didn't move away from the touch. 

Pang had opened the medkit and applied rubbing alcohol to a cotton swab while holding Waves chin gently. Wave watched as Pang's face neared him, he felt his breath getting caught in his throat. 

"How did this happen?" Pang finally asked the million-dollar question. 

Wave sighed and leaned back away from Pang's touch and hit his back on the cold tile wall. He looked up at the small window, "I don't know, I bumped into them and suddenly they wanted to beat me up. They had drunk a lot I would guess."

"Why didn't you fight back?" Pang was nearing his face again, dabbing the cotton swab gently on his cheek. He bit in the pain and looked back at Pang. 

"I'm not a fighter," he answered. 

Pang sighed and made him look at him, "In those situations you need to either run away or fight back, you can't take the punches and hope for them to go away. Face them and stand your ground." 

They both sat in silence as Wave was fixed up. Wave could hear the cicadas outside of the house and could hear the wind blowing through the trees.

He looked up at Pang who was concentrating on opening the bandage to put on his wounds, he was struggling. Wave pushed Pang's hands away and opened the bandage himself, Pang looking embarrassed. 

Wave told Pang to go sleep and that he would clean up in the bathroom and brush his teeth. Pang complained but eventually did as he was told and headed off to bed. 

He sighed and stood up, holding onto the sink. 

This was not how his night was supposed to turn out.

-~-~-~-

Soon November was almost over.

They had made a secret online contract people with NYX-88 could print out and sign. After that, they could make an appointment and come to a secret place near Punn's house and get the cure. By now they had cured a total of 50 people of the virus, still, they got 15 requests a day and it was hard to keep it all in check.

Wave was in charge of all the online work and research to see if they were legit or some federal spy send to watch them.

He and Pang hadn't spoken much recently, he knew he should tell him about Somchai but he was so scared of putting his friends in danger. Since Somchai knew where they lived and what they were up to, thanks to her anti-gifted spy organization, she could strike at any point. He had made a small deal with her, that he would stay away from Pang and that then she would stay away from them.

If that contract was broken, all hell would break loose.

Wave had enough of the damages he was causing. Somchai might be holding the gun, but he was the bullet.

He had checked up on Ping daily and she said that her school opened up again and that she would be able to start enrolling again. He was happy for her, she would finally be able to live a normal life.

Everyone had started to be more relaxed in the small house, even Wave felt more comfortable. It was like they were back in the school dorms and he kinda liked it. He would get told to shut off his laptop at 4 AM by Pang who was half-asleep on the other bed.

Everything was going smoothly, there was only 1 time where there was a nosy reporter that had found the house and was taking pictures.

Ohm had scared him off and Mon had knocked him out while Wave took the camera sim and crushed the camera. Namtarn, who could now hide people's memories, used it to their advantage and removed the location of their hideout in the reporter's mind. Wave was kinda curious about when she found out she could do that. Tho it wasn't supposed to last long like Pom's potential, she was still powerful with this newfound limit. 

His birthday wasn't remembered and he didn't blame them since he never gave out that much personal information about him. Maybe it was better this way since he didn't want to be reminded of his birth and his parents. He would probably get emotional and cry and he hated showing people his emotional side.

The days had gone pretty cold and chilly. He had always been a cold person and that was one of the reasons he liked hoodies and jackets so much.

It was fortunate that he didn't catch a cold, he was grateful that the house had electric heating and didn't have to be warmed up by a campfire place. He knew that soon every store would start decorating their store with lights and put Christmas hats on their statues. He didn't really get it at first, but everyone seemed to enjoy this time around. He knew now that it was the time of Christianity and their holiday which was celebrated worldwide. 

He couldn't help but think of Punn and if he was gonna go home and hold Christmas with his family.

Wave could admit he didn't want any of his friends to go home because of safety reasons. 

Punn had looked pretty upset when talking to his dad on the phone one evening and had skipped dinner to sulk outside in the backyard. He had seen Punn switching a lot in the garden, standing still and then continue to walk around or swing on the swing. He was talking to himself too. 

Claire was on her way down there, but Wave stopped her, he knew Punn needed his alone space right at this moment. 

Pang had eventually gone outside to calm Punn down and hug him. Wave didn't know what they had exactly talked about, but Punn had gotten inside in the warm house. Pang had stayed with Punn that night.

Wave felt lonely in the empty room by himself.

Ohm had later that week gone out to buy lights for the outside of the house, but Wave had declined. Lighting up the house was not a good idea. Ohm had pouted and the next day Wave woke up to the whole inside of the house lighting up in artificial lighting. 

Everyone had laughed at Wave's reaction and Wave had then chased Ohm down the whole day to kick him. 

No one went home and that calmed Wave. Tho he couldn't help but be nervous every time Pang went out to see Somchai. One of the times Pang had gone out and didn't come back until the next day. Wave had gotten so nervous he had shut down the wi-fi and refused to open it again until Pang returned.

The GPS tracker he had made and put in Pang stopped working and Wave was too anxious to take it out and check it for damages. 

He had regretted putting it in and hated himself for it. Namtarn had tried to confront him multiple times, tho not talking he could tell from her stares that she wanted to talk about what had happened a few months back. He had ignored her every time, the guilt inside him was enough, he didn't have the need for her lectures.

He had asked Korn for the video he was sent to be a secret and luckily he had agreed but wanted to know more about it.

Wave actually forgot about Somchai for a good while and went into the small nearby town with his friends, ready to run and hide if necessary of course.

Pang had ranted about his favorite New Year food and how he missed his family but wanted to keep them safe. Wave had honestly not understood a thing Pang had said, his attention was focusing on Pang's smile and dimples. He knew he had tried hiding his feelings for a while now and it was all resurfacing now of all times. It was evening and the artificial lighting around town lit them both up well.

The worst thing was that they were alone wandering around, the others had either stopped at stores or ran off on their own. Pang had decided to stick with him and kept stopping to look at jackets and shoes. 

When they brought something to drink and had found a nice place to sit, they both watched the sun disappear behind the houses. 

Pang had pulled his phone out taking pictures of the sunset. Wave sat there silently drinking his hot coffee and didn't notice Pang taking a photo of him. He did eventually notice and tried to grab the phone. 

"It's just one picture! Don't delete it! Let's take one together, okay?" Pang had said, Wave disagreed but said yes after some convincing, he didn't really know what to do when taking a selfie so he looked at the camera straight with no emotions. Pang pushed him and made him at least half-smile, he had not seen why Pang wanted these selfies, but he liked spending time with Pang so he didn't try to be impossible.

None of them acknowledged when their knees touched, and Wave didn't question when Pang yawned and leaned his head on his shoulder.

His cheeks had gotten red, but he refused to say anything, hoping that they could stay like this for a little bit.

He should have seen it coming when Claire called and said that the house had blown up and was on fire. She had said only a crumpled up note was found which had the word 'BOOM!' written on it. Wave had immediately pulled Pang away from his shoulder and broke the news to Pang who looked shocked and they both made their way back to the burned-down house.

Punn had given Wave a look, as had Namtarn. 

Somchai had made him nervous again and he had tried contacting her, but she didn't answer anything and that made him furious. 

That anger didn't last that long, because no sooner was he called by the Bangkok hospital where he found out that Ping was in a critical state, they said that he was her emergency contact and apparently she had said he was her older brother, how he got away with that was beyond his understanding. He was running to the bus stop while his friends ran after him asking what had happened.

He had kept his cool all the way to the hospital.

His friends, after finding out what had happened, were devastated, Ping was a friend of them all and everyone was tired of tragedy after tragedy happening to them. 

The last past 3 months had been amazing, but they all kinda knew it wouldn't last long.

Wave was the only one of them allowed to see Ping in the bed since he was, to their knowledge, family. He broke down crying when he saw her state, she looked absolutely wrecked, all those tubes and wires connected to her made her look like some sort of cyborg.

He couldn't even breathe when he saw her condition on a piece of paper. 

Cancer, broken ribs, bleeding, several wounds and cuts, asthma and so much more. What made him shocked was one of them saying, intracranial hematoma and 5 broken ribs. He remembered from Pings doctor rants that intracranial hematoma was when there was an internal brain bleeding. With this information, he remembered what Ping had told him about the damages Korn had from the fall. 

His world came apart when he realized that all those people Ping healed, she damaged herself, and Wave had been a part of her death. He held her hand, sobbing down into the bed as he kept whispering apologies, wishing that she would wake up soon and be okay. Wave deserved to be on that bed more than her. Ping had wanted to help everyone, she didn't deserve this.

Ping died.

Wave wasn't invited to the funeral and frankly, he would have felt too guilty to go even if he was invited. Pang had comforted him the most, he could see how sad Pang was as well tho, which made his heart break even more.

He knew he shouldn't blame himself for this, but he couldn't stop. He felt that he had pushed it all by making her heal such a broken body. 

Pang seemed to try to ignore their loss and find a place to stay, everyone seemed to be broken and Wave was too. None of them felt like doing anything, and Pang had seen this and pushed his own feelings aside to help his friends survive. Wave really appreciated Pang's hard work, he liked how Pang could seem calm even if everyone was a mess. 

An elderly couple had agreed to let them stay down in their basement which was big enough for them all thankfully. They had said that they could get food themself and supplies, so the elderly couple didn't have to worry about anything. Wave did get a bad feeling from the feeling of the basement, but he stayed quiet, he was probably anxious about it all. 

He did feel lost, he couldn't work since his laptop burned down together with Punn's house. He hadn't gotten up from the mattress since Ping's death and he knew he looked and smelled bad. 

It was Pang who got him into the shower and even dried his hair in a towel. Pang then ranted about how everyone walked away from their hideout to have fun in the city because everyone was tired of hiding.

Wave knew Pang was worried about them all and to be honest, he was too. He couldn't afford to lose another one of his friends. 

He was sitting on a chair, his head down on the table, sulking when Pang came from behind him, "Hey, Wave."

He didn't even move, "Yeah?" He had asked not amused with life.

Pang didn't even say anything, he put something down in front of Wave, which made him look up and sit up, he touched the cardboard surface. His eyes lit up, "Is this?"

"Yeah, I hope it can replace your old laptop. Consider this a late birthday present." Pang had gone to sit down on his own mattress on the floor. Wave opened it up and found the cable to charge it, he felt the keyboard and admired the screen.

He heard a cough from behind him, "Should I give you and the new laptop some privacy?" 

"Asshole," he muttered as he closed the laptop and turned around, "I was gonna thank you, but I guess you don't deserve that now. How did you even get this model?"

Pang looked away, avoiding his eyes, "Just somewhere. Legal, very legal. I got it from a friend, who got it very legally." Pang looked obviously uncomfortable, so he dropped the question.

Wave stood up, not really knowing what he was gonna do. He wanted to hug Pang, was it because of the new laptop, for comfort or letting his worry go was hard to tell. His arms went under Pang's arms and rested his face on Pang's left shoulder. In this position, he could feel Pang's heartbeat beat against his. Pang was hugging back not saying a word.

"Your heartbeat is really quick, are you okay?"

Wave quickly pulled away, sitting back down in the chair and spinning around, "I'm fine. Thanks for the hug, I will sit here and start working." He wiped away a tear that had formed in the corner of his eye, he felt his cheeks warm and hands a bit sweaty. He would never admit to Pang that he was the reason for his weird behavior. 

-~-~-~-

It hadn't been that long since they first arrived at the basement.

Wave had been watching a few youtube videos when Pang came home from one of his dates with Somchai. He was looking awfully bewildered, which made Wave look up at Pang alarmed. 

Again were Wave the only one down in the basement, Namtarn had to go see her mother but would return again in a week, while Ohm had disappeared on them again. He would do that at times if he got stressed or a situation made him anxious, but thankfully he would always return after a few hours or days.

"What happened?"

Pang looked at him and sat down in front of Wave, he fell into Waves arms, "I fucked up big time."

Wave had put the laptop away and was focused on comforting Pang, rubbing his hand in circles behind Pang's back. 

"Somchai asked me to use my potential on her since she noticed I had been a bit sick, which I got from not having used my potential in a while. She said she trusted me, so she was willing to be used. She did ask for a request and I couldn't say no if It benefitted us both it only seemed like a quick way out," Pang said and was now laying down in Waves lap, he wasn't really crying anymore, he just looked sad.

He continued, "She asked to be more daring and I of course did as I was told, then I find out through the news the next day that she killed her own father. Wave, I made her do that! I made someone commit a homicide all because of my stupid potential!" 

Pang seemed so angry and sad by this and Wave honestly didn't know what to do. 

He hugged Pang until he seemed to calm down, "You aren't at fault here, she is. It was her intention to do that and sure your potential and order might have been a push, but it was her who did it. Don't blame yourself," Wave said and patted Pang's shoulder before letting go.

They didn't speak that much after.

A few days later Namtarn came back and announced that most universities would open up again in March. Everyone was thrilled, finally, they would be able to live a normal life. Wave tried to seem happy as well, but he wasn't used to happy endings, he felt that tragedy was always at the door, waiting to be let in. He had watched Pang's reaction, at first happy but then also pulled the same doubtful face Wave had.

Wave was out in the city to buy dinner for everyone who wanted to eat in the basement and not outside. 

His cellphone rang and he picked it up thinking it was Pang or Ohm. To his surprise, it was a stranger's voice.

"Wasuthorn?" He heard the other line say, he quickly looked at the unknown number and went into a more quiet alleyway away from other people.

He checked the alleyway before answering, "Who are you, how did you get this number?" 

The other line went silent before continuing and ignoring Wave's question, "You need to listen to me, It's about Chai. Somchai."

"What about her?" He was kinda curious about this now, "What did she do?"

"You know she killed her father. I am her ex."

Wave's train of thoughts stopped. An ex, what was even going on?

"You don't need to know my name, just know Chai has always been like this, even when we were together she would always threaten me whenever I spoke about breaking up. I wanted to break up because I didn't love her, but she insisted that I was leaving her because her father told shit about her. She blamed her father for everything, and that was only the beginning, the real bad things started happening when she lashed out at me an evening. She would cry and say that she would die if I left her. That I was tied to her forever and If I left I would regret it. I was scared," The voice spoke through the speaker.

Wave was absolutely weirded out, he knew Somchai was weird and messed up at times, but this was too much, "How do I know you're not lying?"

"I'll send you screenshots and conversations I've had with her, to this day she still acts like I'm her friend, no matter how many times I block her, she finds a way around it. And I know about you and Pang because she keeps texting me." 

Wave got a bunch of notifications suddenly with a bunch of screenshots, he quickly sorted through them while still on call with the mysterious ex. They all seemed legit since they traced back to Somchai's number. 

"I believe you, but why are you telling me this?"

The other line went quiet for a moment before saying in a low voice, "I've read about you guys in an undercover newspaper I'm subscribed to, with all the news getting deleted someone set up this. I read about your hideout, I know about what you can do and Pang. Chai has gotten out of control, I know about the explosions she has done and the group she has formed. She's a terrorist and you're the good guys, right? So the right thing to do is to kill her? You can do that right? I know you've done it before? Korn was his name?"

Wave gulped. He had completely forgotten about the paper newspapers. He had no control over that and he was an idiot for forgetting about that.

"Fuck," He said and was now scared. How much did the media know? How many people read this underground news? Did strangers who passed by him whispering about him? How many knew he killed Korn?

"I'll help you if you agree to try and take down the underground newspaper and all others who do such a thing." 

"Sure, If you're wondering about it, my potential is Pyromania, tho I can only use it when It's sunny."

The call ended shortly after this. 

Wave wanted to crawl up and hide in a hole forever. 

-~-~-~-

The next day he had demanded a meet-up with Somchai who agreed.

He was done with her games, he was gonna teach her a lesson and use his melted potential. He had held back for too long now, it was time to end it all. He was walking up the stairs to a nearby rooftop where Somchai was sitting, her back turned towards Wave, but he knew she could feel him walking.

She turned around and stood up, in her hands were a necklace. 

Wave looked closely and felt around his own neck, "Hey! That's mine!" He exclaimed and walked over to her, she held up her pointed finger and stopped him, holding the necklace over the rooftop edge.

"Asshole!" He said as Somchai smiled.

"Does it mean that much to you? What memory does it hold? Tell me, Wave."

Wave knew the meaning, but she was gonna use it against him. He reached out for it, but she made her grip on the necklace slip a little.

"Is it because you're an orphan? No parents? Huh? Did they love you? Have anyone ever really loved you? What about that teacher? You like older women because you lack a touch of parent love? Do you really like Pang or do you like his affection and care? You are a pathetic human, Wave. You do realize that? Which is why I'm doing you a favor, learn to let go and grow up." 

She let the necklace go and he watched it fall out of her hand and down towards the street.

His teeth were gritted and he pulled Somchai towards him and pushed her to the ground, she did that. And she was laughing.

"Oh, Wave, I know my boyfriend told you about me."

"Boyfriend? You mean your ex?" Wave asked, he was still hurt from his necklace, but he did not want to show any weaknesses. 

She sat up on the ground, "Yes. He's a manipulating bitch, did you really believe a word he said? I wanted to break up with him and he begged me to stay, he even said he would die if I left him. He was smoking and I hated that, it reminded me of my father and I hate people who resemble him. That's why I started seeing Pang, so he would back off, but obviously, I was wrong."

Wave hesitated for a moment, "I don't believe a single word you're saying, his evidence clearly lined up to you being in the wrong."

She sighed, "Did he tell you about his potential?"

"Pyromania."

She laughed and fell backward, "What a silly lie, of course, he would lie about that. He has the same potential as you, stupid stupid Wave."

Wave was very conflicted, of course, the possibility was there, but it was still a small percentage of chance of that. 

"Shut up! I don't care who's right or wrong! You are going to-"

Somchai interrupted him and sat up again, "It's funny, we're kinda the same." 

She got up on her feet, "My father made everyone in my school hate me and I was only 6, just started elementary. All because I caught him cheating on my mother, and he tried to gaslight me into taking his side. Of course, I told my mother and she was furious, so was my father. So he decided the punishment was to lie to my school and my friends' parents about me, and the next day no one wanted to talk or hang out with me. All through high school, the rumor spread, and I was bullied. When I graduated no one came and saw me, even the teachers didn't take my side. I was left out of everyone's life. My mother only knew the truth, but she had to keep quiet and ignore my complaints, tho I know she was happy when I finally got rid of him. So tell me, was I wrong for killing him?"

He didn't know what to say, does one tragedy have to cloak over the wrongdoings she had done later in life? No.

"You are a wrong'un." He would not try and sympathize with such a terrible person, "I don't care about your tragic backstory, it doesn't cover up all the people you have hurt and the things you have done. You blew up so many things and tried to hurt my friends multiple times."

Wave had finally shut her up.

"Break up with Pang and forget about us."

Somchai had slowly backed away and walked down from the roof.

Wave finally felt free. Why hadn't he done this sooner?

Pang had come to him the next day to tell him about how Somchai had yelled and cried at Pang and broken up with him. He hadn't really seemed sad, but he was probably in shock and it made Wave happy. Not many of his friends were in the basement since it was in the middle of the day. Ohm was asleep tho on his mattress, god knows what he did at night and day today. 

Wave knew this was the start of something new and he was thrilled about it.

He got another message from Somchai, just a shared location to the same rooftop they met at before. He had hesitated but thought that he could meet up one more time before cutting ties. 

The first thing he noticed was Somchai standing up close to the edge. He had stepped onto the roof when she began to talk.

"I wanted to be loved, I wanted Pang to love me because he's a good guy." He heard her sob, but he saw right through it.

"You're lying."

She chuckled and turned around, wiping away fake tears, "You are really cold-hearted. Yes, I have never loved him. He's not my type anyway. I must congratulate you for using your melt to the max yesterday, finally made me break up with Pang and even made me a bit irritated." She did not move away from the edge but still managed to make him annoyed.

"I only used it because it had to be done."

Wave thought back to yesterday and looked up at Somchai, "Wait."

"You're not supposed to remember me," He said accusing. Wave watched as her smile got wider and she laughed.

She took a single step forward, her hands in the hoodie she was wearing, "Wave, Wave, Wave. I almost had you fooled! 'Pang! It's all your fault! You made me kill my father! I hate you!'. You must say I'm a good actor when I made Pang cry, you should have seen how devastated his face was when he saw how his potential apparently had made me do such things. He never made me kill my father, I did it willingly. You never had control over me, cause my potential is shielding and blocking out everything, even stupid orders by potentials. It's very easy to find pieces of information about you and your friends in the underground newspaper and from other sources."

He stepped back, he felt his palms sweating. How had this gone over his head? He had focused on totally different things while Somchai was thriving above him.

"Aww, It's okay, Wavey-poo. I've thought about it, since nothing you've done the last past few months have meant anything why don't you jump off? I mean it's only fair for the pain you have caused your friends? Or would you like me to send the video of Korn jumping off to all of your friends?"

Wave's eyes shot up which made her chuckle, "You really are desperate for acceptance. Don't worry I can help you."

Wave stood back and watched Somchai pull something out from her inside pocket, he felt his heart rate increase fast.

In front of him was Somchai who held a handgun pointed at him.

"Wow! What the fuck?"

Somchai seemed calm enough, she was waving the gun around like it was some sort of toy, "Don't worry about it, It's not gonna take that long. Once you're gone, everyone will be happier. I will get to melt with Pang and be powerful for once, everyone will know that I can be successful for once in my life. Even your friends will finally be free and happy, I promise you that the other side is better than this shit-hole of a world, mind I say, you made it into one."

Wave couldn't help but blame himself for everything and he knew he was being ridiculous at times. This was not his fault, he hadn't blown up his friends.

"You're so petty. I heard about the time you tried to expose your whole class, guess you've always wanted this future? Is this your paradise? You know what they say, a good leader goes down with his country." He saw her load the gun and at that moment he jumped towards her and pulled her arms up away from him and then pulled down so hard that she let go of the gun. 

He took a step back and pointed the gun at her.

"Stop," He commanded and she held her arms a bit up in front of herself.

She took a step back, looking back at the edge. "You can't hurt me, you wouldn't hurt a fly, isn't that right?"

He didn't comment on anything she said. 

"You know Pang will go down with me if you kill me now. Or are you just throwing an empty threat at me? If you let me go maybe I'll stalk your friends a bit more." 

Wave had his trigger finger ready on the trigger, his arm was shaking. He had never actually held a gun before, and he had frankly hoped to never hold one, but here he was.

She took a step towards him but he warned her.

"Wave, I honestly expected for you to be a perfect rival. High-IQ, good-looking, big competitor, and stubborn. Instead, I was met with a desperate boy who seeks approval and acceptance from his shitty friends and whose most exciting goal in life up to date was to find a way to get rid of me. Don't lie, I made your life less boring. Everyone but me has used you for your potential, haven't you noticed? Even Pang has done it. You've lost, Wasuthorn. Give up," Somchai said while the wind hit her from the side, her blue faded hair blew behind her to the side.

"I will never lose, to fucked up scumbags like you."

The gun was louder than he expected, his rage had clouded his morals.

"Boom bitch," He said as he watched Somchai stumble backward and falling off the building. 

His arm slumped down his side and the gun fell to the ground, reality was hitting him. 

He had just killed another person.

"Wave! What the fuck did you just do? Why did you shoot her?" 

He looked scared back and saw Ohm appearing out of nowhere, "When did you come?"

"Just now! I followed you because Korn said you were acting suspicious! And he's god damn right, you just murdered Chai!" Ohm exclaimed terrified, his eyes were fixated on the gun on the ground, "Where did you even get a gun?"

Wave held back tears, "Just forget it please."

Again, he hadn't meant to use his potential, but it was out of his control and he just saw Ohm kinda reset. He had kicked the gun over and into some of the scrap wood laying on the roof.

Ohm looked confused at Wave asking why he was here on the rooftop, Wave answered that he didn't know and they never spoke about it again.

He had broken the news to Pang, telling him that she jumped off herself. Having to lie to him was the worst feeling, but what else could he do to not get caught.

-~-~-~-

No one knew about what he had done. It had been a month and everything had seemed to be okay.

February 2022. He could do this.

It was just a normal day where he and Pang were the only ones in the basement.

He was sitting on the floor a bit away from Pang looking at the protection of cyberattacks and watching fake hackers try to hack into very protected websites. They all looked stupid and that was one of the reasons he liked watching these videos so much, so he felt like he could brag about his skills.

Next month they were allowed to start going to university, he knew he was going engineering cause it was the only one he really liked. Pang had chosen communication arts for some unknown reason, if he was being honest, he wanted Pang to choose to engineer too, but he would never admit that to him. He had decided to finally confess to Pang once they started going to uni together.

He yawned and stretched, his head had gotten a bit foggy. Probably from the lack of sleep he never got.

"Wave?" He heard Pang ask, he turned around but Pang brushed it off and stopped talking.

Wave heard a noise and both of them looked up, he shook his shoulders and looked back at Pang, "Cat?"

He knew a lot of stray cats tended to walk around the house at night.

His head snapped around again when he heard footsteps and Pang demanded that they got out, but all the doors were locked. He was cursing as his eyes felt heavy and his knees began to wobble.

He heard some kids outside yell 'Fuck The Gifted'. 

Pang had caught him in his arms and he fell into the other's arms, heavy and paralyzed. He knew this was probably Somchai's revenge, she had warned him. She was gonna win and he had lost, tho he would never admit it. He opened his eyes and felt Pang fall unconscious in his arms and with his last strength, he took his laptop and threw it at the glass window.

-~-~-~-

He woke up in a hospital bed, his friends beside him worried and looking anxious.

"Wave!" Claire exclaimed making his friends rush to his side.

He looked around and sat up, he coughed once, "Where's Pang?"

No one said anything. 

"Where is he? Is he dead? No, he can't be, where? Next room? Tell me!" He yelled at his friends.

Ohm walked up to him, "You need to calm down. You saved yourself by breaking a window and letting the gas seep out, tho Pang-"

"I am calm! Just tell me!" Wave argued.

"He vanished, he just disappeared into thin air. It has been 3 days and he hasn't appeared again," Namtarn explained.

Jack and Jo were there and looked saddened by Pang's disappearance, "We tried to carry him to the hospital," Jack said, "But in our arms, he vanished," Jo finished.

Punn looked uncomfortable, "Wave, we know you maybe liked Pang a bit more than friends and we're sorry to announce Pang dead, but please don't freak out that we also know about your melt, you ordering Korn and shooting Chai."

Wave froze and felt like everyone was judging him and sprinted away and outside of his room, he ran to the elevator.

He only knew one place which could be his safe haven away from the world. 

The rooftops.

He was surrounded by daffodils on the hospital rooftop, the sunset in front of him. Even with Pang gone, the world was still going. Nothing had changed, only him. 

He had changed.

Wave fell to the ground and felt a tear run down his cheek, he was crying.

His phone was opened on the photo Pang had sent him of their selfie for 2 months ago, he kept looking at that face, he would never forget him.

How could he even be gone? How could he even trust what they told him? Who was to say Pang wasn't still out there searching for help.

He could not believe this.

Everything, all for nothing?

He felt a hand on his shoulder, "Wave, I'll help you hide your pain away."

Namtarn had made him turn around and look at her, she slowly held a hand on his head and he felt fragments of his memories get blurred out.

Wave wiped away a tear, "Why am I crying?" 

Namtarn went down and hugged him tightly, he hugged back confused, "What?"

"Ready for university?" Ohm asked him who also looked like he was gonna cry.

"What's wrong with you all? You look like you just lost someone, stop hugging me."

As he started university and engineering he always felt a part of him empty. Some of the pictures of his friend group had one mysterious member he never remembered, and his friends always said it wasn't an important person but he knew they lied to him every time. He even had pictures of him and the other together and he looked happy, whatever they were hiding from him must be important.

He distinctly remembered Somchai, he had hated her and he knew he shot her. But he really couldn't tell why he had despised her so much.

One day, in his dorm, he had woken up from a dream and suddenly exclaimed,

"Pang."