Black Swan (Kim Namjoon x reader)

Chapter 9

Somewhere between the walk from his place to the school, Namjoon managed to put on his usual disguise. His hair turned into a curly mess that covered his face and he planted the glasses on his face. While you were used to this look, you actually preferred his regular one. He's more relaxed and comfortable. From what you saw, he's like a new person you've never met when he's around the other boys. He's more carefree and confident. That cocky and know-it-all attitude slips out every now and then. He must be hiding quite a bit of himself from the public. It made sense. By all accounts, Namjoon was handsome, with his sharp eyes and full lips. If he didn't keep up the charades, he would be like a flower in a garden of bees at school.

You also thought you saw his height change. He was definitely much taller the night he saved you and when he was performing on stage. Or it could have been that he was intentionally slouching to make himself small and nonthreatening. In all the commotion, you were too busy not freaking out and worrying about being caught to watch him. You pictured that he jumped through a hoop while it was on fire, or he pulled a bunny out of his top hat. But judging by the crowd's cheer, you were sure whatever he did was amazing.

Your pace slowed and you couldn't help but cry. In one day, everything you knew about your life turned into a lie. Your parents, your identity, the world. The world that you thought was just black and white turned out to contain auroras. In that array of colors, someone probably wanted you dead for reasons still unknown to anyone but the Queen herself. You have no recollection of being in Etherio let alone meeting a queen. Whatever this is must be some sort of misunderstanding. But one thing was certain, you needed answers about who you are.

A car honk and something pulled you back. When you blinked, you saw that you were about to walk through an intersection with lights signaling it was not safe for pedestrians to cross. You looked back, it was Namjoon. You swore he was a mile in front of you the last time you saw him. "You pabo, do you really have a death wish?" he yelled through gritted teeth. "Forget Etherio, you need protection from yourself." He released your arm with a slight force and stormed off.

"Thanks," you sighed.

Namjoon shook his head as he pulled his hood up. How bothersome, he thought. All he ever wanted to do was to perform and live his life in peace between the two worlds. But now he has to protect this idiotic girl with no coordination or anything special about her besides the fact that none of their powers work on her. He didn't know why he couldn't stop himself from turning his back to you. When he saw you in the alleyway the first time, he could have killed you. Or when you were in Etherio, he should have let the Reapers suck the life out of you to save him from this trouble. Again, he couldn't. With the Reapers hovering over you and you just stood there waiting for your life to end, he thought of how pathetic it was. And how when he was a child, he would have done the same thing and wished someone would save him.

School went on as it always had. The only difference was that the students started chattering about the nature of the relationship between you and the nerdy quiet kid with shaggy hair. While he did his best to put on quite a bit of distance for you two, he didn't do a good job maintaining that boundary whenever anything happened. For example, when Haneul put her hand up to wave at you, he thought she might have been aiming a weapon in your direction so he threw a card at her that made her hand numb. When another student tried to tug at the end of your skirt, he wrestled that student to the ground.

"You need to stop this," you demanded. He sat across from you in the school's courtyard during lunch. With the chilly season approaching, there was no one else around.

"Stop what?" he huffed. "Saving your life? I would be glad too but unfortunately for either of us, I promised Seokjin I would look after you during school. I don't break promises. But you need to start paying more attention too. Not everything is what they appear to be."

"Do you sense something here?"

"No," he shook his head. He hadn't felt anything magical in this school in particular. However, he was wrong about you so there's a good chance his magic radar was broken. Nonetheless, he was confident there were no other magic users or creatures at school. "Seokjin told me he saw someone else near you, anyone could be a threat."

"Are his visions always accurate?"

"They're subjective, they change if the subject changes. But so far, he's been right about everything."

"Like what?"

"Natural disaster, the stock market, he saw me coming the night I left my home and already had my favorite meals prepared."

"You left home?"

Namjoon's eyes widened a bit, he hadn't intended to mention anything about his past. "It doesn't matter, I don't want to talk about it."

You nodded in acknowledgment, "Do you know what your powers are when you're born?"

"Typically, the mother will know if her child has magic or not. It's not an ordinary pregnancy so to say. It only lasts a few months and the mother stays in a sort of coma the whole time to preserve both of their energies. After the birth, the child will begin giving signs of their power. Jungkook turned into a bunny on his first night. His parents thought a witch cursed him or something," he chuckled for what felt like the first time in a long time.

"You seem really close to them," you pointed out.

"They're the closest thing I have to a family. Well, the kind that's loving and warm at least."

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged, a gesture that was cool and uncertain at the same time. There was a boyish presence about him, he never grew up. "Don't be, blood doesn't always run deep."