Chapter Text
She wishes she didn’t have this power.
Everyone had one, she knows that. It was inevitable, an unavoidable curse bestowed in some unknown genetic mishap some generations back.
Some people didn’t view it as a curse, but rather a miracle. Her mother’s eyes told her when someone was feeling sad, meaning Mina’s life had been full of happiness and love from both of her parents at even the slightest inclination of her being less than content. Her father’s eyes told him when someone was lying, making him able to pinpoint his patients at the hospital with a stern glare when they weren’t exactly straight forward with their dietary habits. It also meant Mina had been unable to rebel - no sneaking out from the house at 2am, no hanging out with friends under the guise of studying.
(She found it had shaped her into a very honest person, however, so she supposes she should thank him for that.)
The power their eyes gave them were harmless. Helpful, even, in their day to day life.
It wasn’t like that for everyone.
Some people’s powers drove them to the brink of insanity, crashing and screaming at the burden of something they didn’t want, of knowledge they couldn’t handle. Some people saw war, landscapes ravaged and burning at other’s hatred. Some people saw nothing at all, crying to the night sky for the reason as to why they were broken, unloved by the stars and moon alike.
Mina wished she saw nothing.
Instead, she saw a steadfast arrow embedded through people’s chests, forever pointing in the direction of the person they loved.
It wasn’t physical in any sense. It was a manifestation of her imagination, doing no harm to their innards or herself if she brushed past strangers a little too closely.
(She still flinched a little whenever her father pulled her in for a hug, shying away from the very real looking arrow that had been steadily aimed at her mother for as long as she could remember.)
It could have been worse, she supposes.
She finds this hard to believe when she looks into heart-broken eyes everyday, back hunched as the arrow in her chest points dejectedly towards the beautiful third year with cherry-red hair.
They’re in high school and heartbreak is inevitable, relationships fleeting and forgotten for the most part.
Momo’s arrow has been pointing at Nayeon for the better part of three years now, not wavering once.
She looks across the cafeteria, looks at the genuine grin embedded on her pretty face and her eyes drop to the arrow in her chest. It pointed to the boy with his arm around her, slung lazily across her shoulder as he pulled her into his chest in a tight embrace.
He didn’t have an arrow.
Mina takes another bite of her sandwich, tearing her eyes away from the couple and back onto Momo. It wasn’t her place to get involved, to play cupid in other people’s stories. She pushes her chocolate bar towards Momo, knowing that milky ways are her favourite and finally gaining her attention. She gets a soft smile in response, glee lighting up her face at the sight.
She might not play cupid, but she could be there to ease the hurt a little.
A body slides onto the bench suddenly, knocking into Momo and almost making her drop the unwrapped bar in her hand. She turns to level a glare at the intruder before it melts almost immediately, wide grin forming at the sight of Sana.
“Hey! Where have you been?” She half-yells, wrapping an arm naturally around the girls waist.
Sana blows a strand of hair out of her face as she reciprocated the hug, face flushed from hurrying over to them.
Mina tries not to wince when the arrow in Sana’s chest embeds itself in Momo when they hug, opting to take another bite of her sandwich instead.
“Mr Jung made me re-do the calculus test because I laughed halfway through the actual test from that text you sent me.” She pouted, scowling as she play-shoved her best friend away. “He thought I was cheating.” She mumbles after, unable to keep the scowl in place as her face breaks into a small smile.
Momo grins sheepishly, nuzzling apologetically against Sana’s arm.
“Forgive me?” She says in a babyish tone, and Sana’s nose wrinkles in disgust.
“Yes, yes, as long as you don’t do that awful voice again.”
“But you love this awful voice.”
The arrow in Sana’s chest quivers at the word ‘love’, some sort of visceral reaction to the notion. Sana sucks in a small breath that Momo doesn’t notice.
“Not really.” She retorts, easy and practiced and the two descend into playful bickering, squabbling on the other side of the table like petulant children.
It’s easier like this, Mina concedes, finishing her sandwich to watch the convoluted story of unrequited love play out in front of her.
It was kind of a taboo to ask other people about their eye powers. A lot of people regard it as very personal information, keeping their secret held tightly to their chest in a firm grasp. Some people are quite forward with it, disclosing their power easily as if it were their star sign or their birthday, able to laugh about it with friends and strangers alike.
Usually those powers were benign and light, not carrying the weight that Mina’s carried.
So when Mina found herself in a small circle of girls playing spin the bottle at a party, nestled away in the corner from the mass of teenage hormones spiralling in the center of the room, and Kim Dahyun boldly chose ‘truth’ in front of Im Nayeon, Mina shivered uncomfortably.
The quirk of her eyebrow was unmissable, eyes glazed over with alcohol and the arrow in her chest long since gone. That boy had cheated on her, one of the most public and dramatised break-ups the school had seen and Nayeon declared herself ‘way over that hot mess’ months ago.
(Every now and then Mina saw the echo of an arrow-shaped imprint in her chest, a shadow of a former love.)
Nayeon leans across the circle on unsteady arms, teeth bared in a mischievous grin as Yoo Jeongyeon shoots an arm out to steady her friend. Everyone is waiting, all of the other eight girls watching the third year with curious eyes and baited breath as she paused in front of the naive first year.
“Dahyunnie,” she breathes heavily, “what’s your power?”
Someone gasps, more than one person Mina thinks, at the question. She can’t hear clearly over the sudden roar of adrenaline in her ears, reminding herself to only pick dare, dare, dare. Jihyo leans forward, pushing Nayeon back with an angry scowl as she chastised her, asking how could you ask such a question? with angry hand movements.
“I don’t mind.” Dahyun breathes shakily, laughing as eight heads turned to her in unison. She leans back on her arms, the picture perfect ode of nonchalance as she answers easily.
“I can uh,” she begins, wetting her lips quickly, “I can see love.”
The admission had Mina’s chest tighten painfully, eyes locked on the cheerful girl opposite her. The other girls exploded, echoing cheers of ‘that’s so cool!’ and ‘wow really?’ at the revelation. Even Jihyo joins in, though she still sends a warning scowl to Nayeon who grins like a child who wasn’t really in trouble.
Ever the daring Im Nayeon.
“How does it work?” Jeongyeon marvels, voice drowning out the other girls as they fall silent at the question. Mina wonders the same thing, absently thinks if it’s as painful as her power. She takes in the numerous arrows pointing from chests in the circle, feeling her own chest twinge at the absence of one from a certain chest in particular.
“It’s like, I can see when people are in love.” She states, glancing around the circle with a small smile. “People glow, like they literally glow.”
The girls around her gape in wonder, murmurs escaping their lips in amazement as Dahyun continued.
“I can’t tell who they’re in love with, though.” She says thoughtfully, finger to her lip as she thinks. “If you ever see me shielding my eyes when I look at someone though, then you know what I’m seeing.”
The girls laugh and Mina laughs with them, making eye contact with the seemingly easy-going first year across from her.
It might be a trick of the light, but Mina thinks she sees Dahyun’s eyes squint when they meet.
Mina bumps into Dahyun later, after she goes into the kitchen in search of another drink. She didn’t particularly enjoy drinking that much, but she had been dancing with Chaeyoung and Momo and her throat was more than a little dry at this point. She’d tried to convince them to come with her, but Momo looked like she belonged on the dancefloor as an old R&B song came on, hips swinging automatically to the nostalgic beat.
Chaeyoung was another story, opting to talk to the pretty Taiwanese transfer who Dahyun had dragged into their game of spin the bottle earlier. Mina thinks she sees the shaft of a fledgling arrow begin to sprout in Chaeyoung’s back as they begin conversation, so she shrugs off the rejection and makes her own way to the kitchen.
She passes Jeongyeon on the way, guarding the bottom of the stairs from immoral party goers in search of a quick lay. Mina pauses, decides to make conversation.
“Where’s Nayeon?” She shouts over the music, leaning in close to the taller girls’ ear.
Jeongyeon jerks a thumb up the staircase.
“She’s just getting changed.” She shouts back, stifling an eye roll. “Something about her outfit ‘not being eye-catching enough’, or something.”
Mina laughs with her. She’s not really sure why she asked for Nayeon’s whereabouts when the arrow in Jeongyeon’s chest waived unstably in the direction of her room, as if it wasn’t sure of itself yet.
She excuses herself, giving the older girl a quick hug as she pushed past more bodies to get to the kitchen. The hallway is lined with arrows, some stable, some not. Some are broken, drooping limpy towards the floor like they’ve been there a while. Mina ignores them all, breezing past the myriad of teenage hormones as she enters the kitchen, spotting Dahyun almost as soon as she enters.
“Hey.” she greets easily, not as loud as before as the music is more muted in this room than the hallway. Dahyun turns to her with a wide smile, tilting her drink in her direction.
“Hey Mina!” She shouts unnecessarily, turning back to rummage through the fridge. “Want a drink?”
“Yes, please.” She hops up on the counter, hopes it’s devoid of any spilled substances. The fridge door closes and Dahyun hops up next to her, legs dangling lazily over the counter top as her feet don’t quite reach the floor. Mina feels the cold press of glass against her palm when Dahyun shoves the drink towards her, leaning over to pop it open.
“Thanks.” She nods, taking a small swig of her drink. Dahyun beams in response and takes a sip of her own.
They both sit in silence for a moment, punctuated only by the muted thud of the music in the living room and the low hum of the refridgerator. Dahyun hums after a moment, placing her bottle down on the counter with a soft clink.
“It’s not that cool.” She admits lethargically, finally slumping forward. “The love thing, I mean. The party’s cool but, being able to see when someone’s in love…” She tapers off, unable to put it into words.
“I know.” Mina shuffles uncomfortably when Dahyun’s eyes turn to look at her, unused to seeing them filled with such misery.
“You too?” She whispers, and Mina can only nod as her grip around the bottle tightens. Dahyun laughs, the sound devoid of humour.
“What’s it like for you?” She questions dejectedly, leaning her head on Mina’s shoulder.
Mina takes a deep breath, swallows the tangle of emotions in her throat and blinks back the threat of tears.
“Awful,” she whispers, putting her own bottle down to run her hand through Dahyun’s hair. “I can see when people are in love, and who they’re in love with.”
A slender arm finds its way around her waist, gives her a little squeeze at the admission.
“God,” The girl next to her laughs again, bringing her other hand up to wipe at her eyes, “I don’t know what I would do if I could see who people loved.”
“It’s bad enough that I have to look at the girl I like and see her glowing brighter than the fucking sun, but to know who she was in love with?”
She let the unspoken words hang in between them, sighing heavily.
“You can see it right? Who I’m in love with.”
Mina nods uneasily, unable to verbalise her thoughts in this heavy moment. She opts to press a soft kiss to the crown of the younger girls hair as the first sob begins, bringing her other arm around to wrap her tightly in a crushing hug.
Dahyun clenches at the material of her shirt with both hands, pulling away with shaky breaths after a few moments to look at Mina with watery eyes rimmed red.
“Who are you glowing for, Minari?”
Mina can’t speak, the arrow in her chest pressing heavily against her heart and weighing down her words.
At some point at the party, something must have happened between Nayeon and Jeongyeon for Mina spies two arrows intercrossed comfortably when they sit side by side. She doesn’t question it, sends a quick text to Momo asking her if she wants to grab milkshakes that afternoon.
They both sit in Moe’s, sipping languidly on thick shakes as Momo sighs dejectedly across the table. She must know by now, Mina thinks, because the arrow in her chest is newly broken, snapped and splintered to reveal a hollow hole to the other side.
Mina lets her best friend decide if she wants to talk about it, and she does through choked tears and resigned sighs. Mina holds her hand over the table, letting trembling fingers clench her own in a near-painful grip.
She couldn’t play cupid, but she could mitigate the fallout.
They go back to school two days later, events of the party mostly forgotten as the more pressing matter of homework and finals come up. Nayeon and Jeongyeon are overwhelmed with the workload, complaining incessantly to their friends at every opportunity. The second years weren’t faring much better, their teachers dumping an ungodly amount of ‘bonus’ material to get them ahead of the game.
The first years watched them all descend into chaos, laughing and mocking them as they did so. Sana narrows her eyes at them, pulls Dahyun into a rough embrace and begins tickling her relentlessly.
“This’ll be you in a year you brats!” She gestures towards Tzuyu and Chaeyoung, who was standing behind the taller girl towering in front of her protectively. Dahyun was writhing on the ground in hysterics, her friends having left her for dead to Minatozaki Sana’s merciless wrath.
The smile on her face is genuine, smiling up at the older girl who had collapsed on her in a mutual fit of hysterics almost as soon as the ‘torture’ began. The unadulterated adoration filters through in times like this, when Dahyun forgets to censor herself, and Mina forces herself to look away when Sana’s body falls on top of the first year, unable to look at the arrow pointing firmly out from Dahyun’s chest.
Everyone is laughing at their antics, a much needed distraction from the heavy weight of school work and exams, and Mina finds herself laughing with them despite the arrow at the edge of her vision.
“I’m so sorry I had to waste your time like thi-“
“Dahyun.” Jihyo holds up a hand firmly, halting the girl’s apology mid-sentence. “Don’t apologise, I said I would help you and I am. This is clearly important to you otherwise you wouldn’t be asking me, and I wouldn’t be doing this unless I wanted to.”
Dahyun nods mutely, turning to fix the second year with a sly grin.
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re an angel?”
“A few times, actually.” The older girl quips, pinning Dahyun with a grin of her own. “Flattery won't work Miss Kim, you’re still going to have to do those chemistry equations yourself. I’m just here to help.”
“Oh come on Jihyo,” Dahyun whines, mock pout in place as she clasps her hands pleadingly, “Not even a little?” She pinches her fingers together, looking at the smile Jihyo failed to hide.
“Not even a little.” She echoes in a sing-song tone. Dahyun groans as they turn towards the library, not particularly looking forward to this necessary torture.
A body smacks into them, almost knocking Jihyo over in their haste and Dahyun’s arm flies out to steady the girl as another hand automatically stretches out to shield her eyes.
She had no idea who the other body was, barely able to see them past the brilliant luminent light they gave off.
Jesus Christ, they could power the sun with that amount of light, she winces behind her hand.
“Oh God, Jihyo, I’m so sorry!” A soft, familiar voice filters through her eardrums, making her drop her hand in shock. She squints blearily at the figure in front of her, slowly able to make out the pretty features of her friend. She steps back from the pair, watches as Mina worries over Jihyo’s well being and the matching, beaming light emanating from both girls’ chests at the interaction.
Dahyun’s mouth drops open in shock, looking at the warm smile adorning Jihyo’s face when she spoke to Mina and the accompany flare of light that followed. She was glad both of the girls were too caught up in each other to notice the blinded squint of her eyes as she observed them with a small smile, arms folded across her chest.
Sometimes her power really sucked, but as she watched accidental touches and tender smiles fall into place she thought that maybe there were some upsides.