We Are Bulletproof

"Djinns are tricky," Ki Jun said, not sure how much to share with the kids. Like the fact that he'd never actually killed one himself. He knew their lore through other hunters and he knew it was possible to get rid of them. They had weaknesses like anything else on the planet. The problem was that they were dimensional creatures and they could warp things to their liking if they so wanted to. They could avoid having their weaknesses exposed or being caught by any human they didn't want to be caught by. That was what made them so damn rare to come across.

Ki Jun certainly never thought he'd run into one here.

"It's probably not one," he continued, but this time he was saying it out of hope. He didn't know what they'd do if it was a Djinn because they would have some serious issues getting them to switch bodies back if that wasn't in the plan. "But I suppose if it is, we could always find another one to counter the wish..."

Which sounded hopeless to him. Since one was rare enough to run into, a second one to counter everything... Well.

"I don't think you would accidentally wish something. They have to let you know what they are to do something like that." Ki Jun frowned, thinking over Nicole's question. Yes, Nicole. Although he kept switching them up in his head because they looked like one another. "Yes, I know a few magic experts. We're going to have to hook up with one of them ASAP."

He glanced at the two of them.

"Stay out of trouble. I'll try contacting somebody now."

(Since the plot is moving forward and past this, I am closing this and considering it finished.)

(Sorry about the major slowdown.)

"...I have a lot of enemies," Ki Jun was slow to admit. His gaze cut away and he slid an uneasy hand over the back of his prickling neck. Yeah, he had made a number of enemies in his line of work. That was partly why he was banished from seeing the kids anymore. Yet here they were, against their mother's wishes. It made him want to laugh but some other part of him also wanted to weep. After all, he agreed to the separation for their sake and yet, here they were, lining up for danger just like Ki Jun did as a young man.

Letting out a sigh, he looked around the hotel room and then swung his gaze between one child to the other. Strange, to see their mannerisms in different bodies. He ruminated over the question, although he didn't think what happened could be called petty. It was something major if they couldn't switch them back. Ki Jun could only imagine if he'd woken up in woman's body! Bad enough for twins... Fraternal twins.

Ki Jun looked up as Nicole--eh, Steven--snapped his fingers. Immediately, he pointed back at her (him) and grinned. "A Djinn! Now why didn't I think of that? They're powerful enough to alter the dimensions this way." He frowned after a moment. "But why you two, though? Did one of you wish you were the other...?"

"Oh, St--" he started--Oh, Steven, thank god!--but the words were cut off as Steven told him that Steven was on the bed. Uh, what? Excuse me? Was this some kind of joke between the two of them? Warily, Ki Jun entered the hotel room, looking back and forth between his son and his daughter. Magic certainly existed and he couldn't hide that fact from Nicole now--if what she said was true. They were... switched? Ki Jun remembered hearing something weird was going around town. They called it a delusion but... Well, they called anything supernatural something else when they didn't want non-supers looking too hard into it.

"No, he doesn't," he agreed with the fact that Steven wasn't much of a sailor-mouth. Nicole, however... She was turning out to be worse than some of the men Ki Jun worked with in the past, which said a lot, given some of the company he'd kept before. And that counted Joon-Hoo now. Ki Jun scowled just thinking about the bastard. He put up a hand and made a face, "And let's stop talking about third legs, all right?"

He believed them, though. Something happened to switch their bodies. He crossed his arms and faced the two kids who were both looking at him like he had all the answers. Normally, he thought he did. In this case...

"It's definitely magic," he said, which was just reiterating the obvious. "But I don't think Joon-Hoo did it. He's a pervert but I doubt he'd go this far over what happened. Besides, what purpose would it serve? He didn't punish me and I'm the one he should be pissed at..."

He laughed--he was winning. For some reason, racing his daughter to an ice cream shop made him feel more like he was ten again than a father but that was okay. It was nice to feel young again, with the wind in his hair and his laughter genuine. Smiling, he turned his head to see that she was closing the gap between them. Purposely, Ki Jun slowed his steps just as he got to the entrance and then he swept his arms out so that he could grab Nicky and swoop her up in his arms just as he had done when she was tiny.

"You're still tiny!" he marveled. All right, a lot bigger than she was when he left but she was still tiny enough for him to tuck in his pocket if he wanted to. He pushed the door open with his elbow.

"I think it might be a tie, Nicky. What do you think?"

(I'm going to say this is done since we've gone ahead with the twins switching and stuff and I like to have one per character to keep timelines straight in my chaotic head!)

As soon as he received the text message, he was on his way in an instant. Nothing could have stopped him from checking up on his kids, especially with this hectic time in Hazleton. Plus, there was the Steven business. Was something happening to him? Ki Jun hadn't had a chance to really spend time with his son since the shit hit the fan with Joon-Hoo. Did Steven need his help? Was that creep back?

As soon as he made it to the hotel, he was at their door in a flash... without a way to get in. He tried the door but of course it was locked. He raised a hand to the door and smacked it a few times with his open palm.

"Nicky? Stevey? Is everything all right in there?"

The Dad stare continued for a moment but he had no reason to disbelieve Nicole. She did seem to love her video games. And there were a hell of a lot of depictions of down and out people going to bartenders to talk their ears off. Ki Jun had never actually done it himself. He preferred to keep those things to himself. If he talked to strangers, it was about inane and innocent things like his children or whatever was playing on the television or what drinks they were drinking. Not much to talk about when it came to strange drunks.

"My taste buds aren't faulty," he protested immediately. Strawberries belonged on ice cream! Most fruit belonged on ice cream, if you asked him--and that didn't make him old and faulty! He watched her for a moment with a half open mouth before he moved to catch up to her, then intentionally put on a burst of speed to pass her.

"I hope you have a big wallet," he taunted. "Because I have a big appetite!"

"Hm... and what do you know about bartenders?" He tilted his head and gave her his very Dad stare. A girl her age in this country shouldn't be in any bar, as far as he was concerned. (Then again, even if she was over 21, he would still have a problem with it--he couldn't help it. Despite how she held her own, he kept seeing the little girl with the mismatched pigtails and the dress flapping up as she ran after ducks at the park.)

"And hold on a minute, there's plenty of reason to put fruit on ice cream!" he protested, wagging a finger right back at her. "Haven't you ever had strawberries in syrup on your ice cream before?"

He kissed his fingers like a cartoon chef. "Delicioso!"

"Nothing wrong with being mushy with your old man, is there?" His smile was genuine, if slightly lopsided. He wanted to reach over and give her a half hug, the way he used to when she was tiny and sitting next to him on the couch. Now he felt he didn't know what lines were allowed to be crossed or whether little Nicky would appreciate them or despise him for them. Ah, he really didn't know his kids at all, did he?

He smiled at her, though. Her stubborn streak definitely reminded him of somebody. Now he did lightly put his arm around her shoulders, not too pushy about it, not forcing her to step closer, just enough to know that he was there but giving enough room for her to slide away if she didn't like it.

"You still like ice cream, right? Because there's a parlor that sells the best sundaes in town like three blocks from here!"

At the very least, he was glad to know that his ex-wife had raised a girl (woman) that could handle herself. The more he saw of Nicole now, the more he saw that she definitely wasn't the little girl he'd left behind. Maybe his being gone had helped pushed her to be the kind of person she was now. He didn't know how to feel about that. Of course, he wanted to be there. But on the other hand, he had to make the world a safer place for her and her brothers.

Now he felt he must have failed. The enemy wasn't just a number of monsters and non-humans. The enemy was closer than he had ever imagined.

The thought of his own colleague taking advantage of his son still made him sick. As he regarded Nicole's defensive stance, he had to wonder if she thought his message would be detrimental. Obviously, she was acting as gatekeeper to protect her brother. She wouldn't let Ki Jun even look at him if what he had to say next didn't sit well with her. That made him wonder what exactly they expected.

"I'm not angry," he said after a moment, rubbing the edge of his nose almost sheepishly. He felt like it shouldn't even be something he had to relay but if Steven was hiding, he must be afraid of him. "I'm not angry at him. I'm angry at that disgusting perv of a..."

He crossed his arms and made himself take a breath before he went off with a string of curses in front of little Nicky.

"I really don't know much about you kids, do I?"

"Ah, so that's what happened." To be honest, he had been afraid they both left Hazleton, that they decided this life really wasn't for them after all. Ki Jun would have been fine with that--disappointed, but perhaps also relieved. His ex-wife had some points when she said it was no life for a family. At the same time, he couldn't help swelling with pride, knowing that two of his kids had sought him out. (Did Nicky really seek him out, though? Or just Steven?) Either way! They had come to him and they wanted to work with him. And he wanted to show them the ropes.

Maybe it was irresponsible but it was hard for Ki Jun to justify it that way. Teaching them how to defend themselves against specific creatures that might harm them out there... Wasn't that a dad's job from the start? He could teach them everything he knew and they'd go on to teach their own kids. That way, none of them would be caught unawares.

Too bad none of that training taught him how to deal with creepy co-workers hitting on his young son.

"If I find him, we can double team him," he said with a grim smile. He had no problems with Nicole wanting to punch that asshole in the face. Hell, he'd kick the man in the damned balls if he saw him. Nobody was going to accuse him of fighting dirty when he told them what that creep did. But...

"But back to Steven," he said after a moment of thoughtful silence. He brought his hands together. "Any way you could send a message back to him? For me?"

This was distressing, to say the least. Not only had Ki Jun lost his hunting partner, but it also seemed he'd lost sight of his kids, too. After the entire affair went down, they all seemed to scatter and Ki Jun was left to think about what just happened on his own. Steven was... gay? He... was attracted to men? That part was easier to digest than the rest. His own partner had seduced his son. There was no doubt about it. A man his age and a kid Steven's age? Somebody had duped the other and it tore at Ki Jun for not seeing it.

Strange, how he wanted to dial up his ex-wife to speak with her about it. Did she know about Steven? Of course not. Or if she did, this was the reason Steven was here now. He was looking for love, acceptance. He didn't need his own father staring at him like he'd grown another head. It was just... he had an old fashioned up-bringing and some things were hard to let go of. He had mixed feelings because he knew what it was like to be young, to wonder, to think maybe things weren't so black and white. But he'd eventually grown up, and mostly, he'd grown out of such things.

Maybe Steven would, too.

But at the moment, he wandered downtown, hands in his pockets, lost. He was looking for his kids, it was true. But he was also struggling to define what he was feeling. Anger toward his partner--for sure. But... he didn't think he was angry at Steven. And if he was, it was more from the fact that his own kid didn't feel comfortable telling him about himself. Maybe because he knew you'd react badly. Would he have, though? If they just sat and talked about, rather than having him walk in on his son and his business partner together?

And his daughter. Nicole. Where did she fit into all this? She probably knew. Those two were always so close. Ki Jun frowned at himself. And when he looked up, he swore he saw her, his daughter, out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw that it was indeed her, in front of a shop across the street. Worried that he'd lose her or that she'd run if he called out to her, Ki Jun sprinted quietly across the street, then reached out and grasped her shoulder to turn her toward him.

"Nicky! Nicole," he amended. "I've been looking all over for you kids."

@Rin

Why not? Our trailer's not good enough?

What friend?

..no.
What happened?

You just said guess and then "she" so I guessed...