Inside Joke

***LEI***

I watched as Coby lunged at Blake, who caught him by the collar then tripped him with his own feet. Using the weight of the former, the latter brought him down to the ground with a grunt. I could only chuckle at Blake's tactics at the towering male. Coby though seemed to be not pleased with it because his fist started to blaze.

"Hey! No powers allowed!" Blake complained and looked at me. "He's using his powers!"

"You're a black belt with a 4th dan in hapkido while I'm a total amateur. It's only fair I use my powers!"

"Amateur? You're amazing at kendo!" Blake retorted.

"Do you see me with a shinai[1] right now?"

I sighed in disbelief. Coby was obviously still mad at Blake blurting about his engagement at one of our interviews. And from what I knew, Coby could really hold a grudge. He lunged once again at Blake who was already trying to run away.

It's quite unbelievable but yes, we have superpowers.

Almost two years ago, we got involved in a kidnapping incident and well, six of us awakened our powers first; Xander who gained the power of ice, Kyle with flight, Seven with the power to manipulate water, Calvin with lightning, Blake with light and me with the power of healing. A month later, the rest of my friends as well as my brother awakened superpowers too; Leo gained telekinesis, Seth had the ability to manipulate the wind, Tim could manipulate time, Coby had fire, Kai could teleport, Dean had super strength and could manipulate earth, and my brother, Chen, could pass through things and turn invisible.

Then there was also Artemis and Liu Fen who could do magic. Nobody else knew of course, except for Jessa since she went to Hainan with us, and it was an unusual thing to happen. We did not want any unwanted attention. Though Liu Fen once told us that people with superpowers and magic had always existed since a long time ago. They just decided to work in the shadows. Which was a good choice. From my years in Earth, I noticed people don't really do well with unusual things.

Of course, a K-pop boyband with the concept of superpowers actually having superpowers would be a big shock to the world so we had to keep it under wraps. Governments might capture us and turn us into lab rats. Oh the horror!

Back to the match between Blake and Coby...

"Okay, that's enough." I told the two. I headed to Blake and healed the burn he received on his arm, then slapped Coby's back while I was at it. "Idiots. What if you guys really get hurt for real while I'm not around? That does not sound good right?"

"I'm sorry hyung/aniki[2]."

"In moderation next time, okay? And less playing around." I reminded them and let them rest.

The two nodded and proceeded to put on their amulets.

The amulets were created by Artemis and Liu Fen to suppress our powers until we have total control over it. Although I could control mine much better than everybody else's and my powers weren't exactly destructive and dangerous but I just liked to reassure myself. My powers wasn't limited to people and if I'm careless, I could bring back a withered flower to its blooming self.

Anyway, the amulets had the form of a necklace but each of us had different designs. Mine for example was the head of a unicorn, Blake's was a blazing star and Coby's was a phoenix. It followed the designs from my past life and the ones we found in Liu Qing's tomb. The amulets were also created using the same material as Hauria's Book of Jade.

Liu Fen had it on stash. For whatever reason only he knew.

"Go outside and take a shower. Dean and Calvin said we're having Chinese styled hotpot for dinner." I informed the two.

At the mention of food their faces lit up and ran outside. The two were a few of the most gluttonous members of our group. I could only sigh and shake my head at their actions, then followed suit. I exited the secret room and arrived at the living room.

The place where Blake and Coby were practicing was actually a pocket dimension Artemis made (with Liu Fen's help) so we could practice using our powers in secret. Since she was the Witch of the Void, one of her domains was spatial magic. This meant, she can teleport and create a pocket dimension for inventory storage, which is very useful in ways more than one.

We all gathered around the table and started eating the hotpot Calvin and Dean prepared.

"At last… a proper meal after a long time of busy schedule!" yelled Tim. "And it's not delivery too!"

The youngest Chinese member sang praises at Calvin and Dean as he tasted the dishes they prepared. After dinner, Liu Fen and Artemis suddenly appeared in the living room while we were in the middle of watching a TV show.

"You're getting the hang of it." I heard Liu Fen praise her.

I could only scoff at the scene.

"Get off!" exclaimed Xander whom Artemis was stepping on.

"Right. Though let's try to teleport without squishing someone next time." Liu Fen reminded her.

Everybody just burst out laughing at what happened while Artemis ran behind me with her face red.

Once we settled down we just all sat down comfortably.

"So what brought you guys here?" asked Kyle to his sister who was eating the leftovers we had.

"Training." answered Liu Fen.

"I'm still a little unstable at teleporting other people with or without me so I asked Liu Fen to practice with me."

I locked eyes with Artemis when I caught her looking at me.

"And that's our cue." said Seven. "Let's go to the practice room. Liu Fen let us teach you our new choreography."

"What?"

A confused Liu Fen was dragged out of our dorm. Once they all left silence hung around the remaining people, Artemis and I.

"Uhm…"

"I saw your interview." she said.

"Oh you saw that. So what do you…? I mean, you're not mad, are you?"

"Hmm? No, not really. I'm not uncivilized and I understand if you deny being in a relationship with me when asked." she replied calmly which made me even more worried.

'Girls are scary,'

"R-really?" I asked nervously.

'Damn! I stuttered!'

"Yeah." she sat closer to me and held my hand. "As long as they don't link you with other women of course or force you to act lovey-dovey with some actress or female singer. Or even male ones for that matter."

"'Male ones'?"

"Yeah. You look like the Uke[3] type." I could see the glint in her eyes.

"What the hell…" her statement made me want to laugh but I held back myself and changed the topic. "I don't think the company will ever do that. They're afraid of you."

"Hn. I don't even attend the meetings that much." she said with a smug smile.

"You're still one of the major shareholders of MME you know."

"Twenty-five percent isn't even that much." she shrugged.

"You have no idea."

She rested her head on my shoulder and silence hung over us again. We heard the door open and saw Seth took a peek.

"Ah, you're not done yet. Sorry for disturbing you…" he slowly closed the door.

I locked eyes with her then we burst out laughing. It made me remember the time when Artemis and I became an official couple.

It was a year ago. After the pain-staking months of courting and flirting in secret, she finally agreed to be my girlfriend.

We were at the MME building rooftop when I asked her the question.

"Good lord. I thought you will never ask." she smiled. "Yes silly! I've been waiting!"

I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I just lifted her up then kissed her. It was a very serene moment, until the door opened and Tim came in with the rest of Guardians following him.

"Finally!" Kyle exclaimed. "I thought you two will just continue flirting or something. Thank god you're finally together."

"Truthfully, you're becoming a sore in the eyes. And I think it'll be worse, but we're still happy for the both of you." Blake commented.

"Err… guys?"

I was grinning but I wasn't happy and I was holding back my anger. Artemis on the other hand…

"You guys are such…"

"Oh you aren't done yet." Blake said with realization.

"Yeah." I replied with gritted teeth.

That night, the MME building was shaken with a mysterious and unknown explosion followed by a couple of screaming. But nobody really investigated it.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Artemis which cut off my trip to memory lane.

"Nothing. I just remembered something."

"Hmm… What is it?"

"Our first day."

"Huh? What's funny about–oh. Oh yeah it was kind of funny."

She chuckled as well. "We should probably let them return. They need rest you know and I don't think Liu Fen can dance."

"Yeah. We probably should."

Notes:

[1] shinai - a heavy bamboo sword used for practicing kendo.

[2] aniki - Japanese term for older bother, usually formal.

[3] Uke - usually used on yaoi (male-to-male relationships) which indicates the smaller, daintier, younger, or sweeter one between the partners.