Moonstrike 7: Family Business

“They’re not going to show up,” Ari predicted darkly.

Ji Min nudged her with her elbow and didn’t say anything.

“Why would they? It's only their last chance.” Ari bitterly scanned the crowd, mouth pressed into a thin line. “I am going to lose my shit if they don’t bother to come. We drove two hours to be here.”

Ji Min didn’t waste her time looking for their parents, instead typing up a response to Alex. He was pretending that he didn’t want to attend the bomb setting seminar at the villain conference, but she knew that he was dying to go. When she sent it, she put the phone in her pocket and noticed that Ari was still looking for their parents. She hid a sigh and steered Ari towards the seats.

They’d show up or they wouldn’t. Ji Min couldn’t let her mood rely on her goddamn parents doing the bare minimum. She’d spent too much time in her own high school years fighting disappointment.

Ari was in the angry stage. She didn’t know what was going on in Min Joon’s mind, but she’d probably find out today.

They found their spot in the stands and settled in for a long game. She and Ari shared a huge popcorn and a slushy.

“There he is!” Ari pointed so violently that some popcorn fell. Ji Min lunged to stop the box from falling and then tracked the line of Ari’s finger.

“Christ,” she murmured, watching her little brother take the ice. “He looks huge. What are they feeding him?”

“He’s gotten really into protein,” Ari said, giving an eye roll. She sniffled. “But it’s the pads, Ji Min, he’s not actually that big.”

She elbowed her little sister. “I know, I know.”

Still. It itched at the back of her mind as she watched her youngest sibling skate around like he was born to fly on blades. He was fast, wasn’t he? A warm coil of pride curled up in her chest as she looked at him. That was her baby brother, and he was good. She gasped and shouted along with the crowd as teenagers fought for control of the puck.

Min Joon never scored a point, but his team won 3 to 2 and she could tell that he was a good player. He pulled off his helmet and looked into the stands, directly at them.

Ji Min and Ari both waved frantically. He grinned at them, red-faced and with messy hair. Then a teammate clapped him on the back and his attention was back on the ice.

The sisters watched for a moment as the boys descended into savage celebrations, hooting and laughing about the finals they’d be advancing to after this. Ari broke it. “Did you look up when the next round is?”

Ji Min nodded. “It’s two weeks out, starts Saturday afternoon. You can get it off work, right?”

Ari sniffed as she pulled her sweater back over her head. “Yeah, I’ll be free.”

Ji Min blew air and nodded. She didn’t have to look around the crowd to know that her fucking parents had never showed up. “They said they’d be here, didn’t they?” She didn’t care, she didn’t. She cared that her brother probably cared.

“They always do.” Ari folded her sleeves in that persnickety way she had, making sure that the oversized sweater’s cuff stopped at her wrist bones. “They won’t even have an excuse. They’re just going to hope that no one asks them where they were. If we ask, Mom is going to have a story about a patient and Dad is going to tell us about his coworkers messing up again.”

“Are you gonna ask?” Ji Min asked wryly.

Ari just sighed. “There’s no point, is there?” She scrubbed at her face with a hand. “Wanna dump our trash and wait outside for him? I’m sick of sitting.”

That was fine for Ji Min, so they collected their garbage and left. Ari shot a message to their brother about where they’d be and asked him if he was going to go with friends or out with them. They got settled in the parking lot, leaning against Ari’s car while they watched fans and family stream out into the January air. After a while, Ari made a soft sound without looking up from her phone. “There was a superhero fight while we were in there,” she said.

Ji Min hummed acknowledgement. “Figures. Dr. Havoc again?”

“Probably,” Ari said, as bored as she was by that same old shit. They let the conversation die out from there while they waited.

Ji Min watched the fog of her breath hang in the air and imagined that it was cigarette smoke. Ji Min had never so much as held a cigarette, but she liked the smell of it. It made her think of the garage where she’d worked part time in high school, learning to take cars apart and put them together again.

She dismissed the fantasy after a moment. It was a silly thing to play act out. Ji Min was never going to touch a drug that she wouldn’t want her siblings to try out. They’d deny it, but they’d been copying her all of their lives.

Ji Min froze. She looked at Ari, her brilliant little sister with so much potential and most of an undergraduate degree in medicine.

Her little sister was retying her hair. She looked up immediately, eyes narrowed in irritation.

“I think that you do it when you’re thinking about communicating with me,” she said. It took a moment to put the statement in context.

Ji Min groaned. She was doing the mind talking thing again.

“Yeah, you are,” Ari agreed, hiding amusement. “And yeah, I am thinking about my options.” She tossed her hair defiantly. “I would be good at it. And you could use a teammate that you like.”

“It’s not a great option,” Ji Min said, aiming for neutral. She was only working with the government so that they’d supply her for her personal vendetta. They couldn’t be trusted, even if they hadn’t actually figured out that she was a criminal.

Ari’s eyes went wide. Really wide.

Ji Min cringed.

“You’re a what now?” Ari said, tone dangerously flat.

“It was a joke,” she said, rolling her eyes and looking away.

“This conversation is not over,” Ari hissed. Concrete scuffed underfoot. “But there’s the boy.”

“Hello boy,” Ji Min greeted, latching onto Min Joon’s arrival with relief.

“The only boy in the world that matters,” Min Joon said with satisfaction, and threw his arms wide. “Victorious.” His brown eyes were shining in the streetlight.

“You’re soaking wet,” Ari complained, but she took the offered hug anyway. Ji Min grinned at him and took her turn next without complaint. She breathed him in, obviously fresh out of the shower. He smelled like the laundry soap that Dad bought, and the same shampoo he always used. But he was bigger than she was now.

She hid any maudlin thoughts she was having about how she used to carry him around the house before the hug ended. It was fine.

“Thank you guys for coming,” he said, and pulled back. He grinned like he’d never expected anything better to happen. “The team was going to go out for dinner together, but if you want…”

Ji Min picked her now soggy collar between two fingers and held it away from her body.

“You shouldn’t miss out, but we can drive you there,” Ari suggested. She dug in her pocket and jingled her keys.

“I could drive your car,” he said slyly.

Ari made a rude sound. “My baby? You want to drive my baby?”

“You can drive my boring car,” Ji Min offered, grinning mischievously.

He flicked his fingers at her in a double gun motion. “You say that, but I know you’ve done something to it. That’s not a normal car.”

Ji Min rolled her eyes and didn’t answer.

He was right. She’d changed out the engine for something more powerful and made a couple of fun little tweaks. But from the outside? Perfectly average and sensible.

“Where are we going?” Ari asked, opening her door.

Min Joon dove for the backseat like he thought Ji Min was going to race him for the worst seat. She gave him a judgmental look as she calmly opened up the passenger side door.

“The pancake place on 8th,” he said.

Ari made a sound of acknowledgement and turned the engine. Ji Min got buckled in and then felt something hard nudging at her shoulder.

“Plug my phone in?” Min Joon requested.

“Yeah, sure.” She did that and left it sitting beside her on the seat. It caught her attention a few seconds later when a message alert slid onto the screen– a DM from one of his friends, probably. She rolled her neck and made sure her own phone was on silent. “Anyone want music?” she offered, checking to see if she was hooked up to the bluetooth.

“Not this time, I just wanna talk.” Min Joon leaned forward to sprawl his arms over the back of her seat. “How’s school, Ari?”

“Kind of terrible, but I’m going to live. You wanna come up for the weekend after your finals are done?” Ari flicked on a turn signal and merged into traffic.

“I have a lot going on, I don’t know if my schedule will line up,” Ji Min said guiltily. “But if I can, I’ll be there. I’d love that.”

“Aww,” Min Joon cooed. “You two love me.”

Ji Min slapped at his hand and huffed.

“You think I’m adorable,” he continued, because he was the literal worst. “I’m the star of your heart, the apple of your eye, the most special boy in the whole continental-”

“Calm down, you’re a nerd,” Ari cut in. She made a rude sound.

“Coming from a future doctor?” Min Joon snapped back, obviously grinning. “You’re the nerd, Ari.”

Ji Min pursed her lips and didn’t chime in. Ari was the nerd.

“You’ve got a Moonstrike poster in your room,” Ari said.

She cringed, hard.

“She’s cool, and I’m confident enough in my masculinity that I can look up to female heroes,” Min Joon said airly. “She threw a fucking concrete ball at a man. She’s a maniac.”

Ji Min looked down at her knees.

“I looked it up,” her awful little goblin brother continued. “The red concrete balls outside that one store weigh two tons. Two tons! And that model of the moon was way bigger. I want to know what protein she drinks.”

“She doesn’t,” Ari said, a little too confidently. Ji Min wanted to kick her. “She probably just has a balanced diet, with vegetables and a mix of proteins.”

“Nah,” Min Joon dismissed. The backseat seat made a creaking noise and rustled as he adjusted.

“Based on the evidence that you don’t like vegetables or cooking?” Ji Min asked, a bit too much sass in her tone.

“Yes.” he agreed serenely, so maybe she didn’t overplay her hand. “Do you think she’s real?”

There was silence from the front seat. It felt very awkward to Ji Min. Ari might have been enjoying it.

“I mean, an actual hero,” Min Joon clarified. “Not like, a social media stunt that Hammer has going on.”

She could see that Ari was stealing a sideways look at her.

A few possibilities raced through her head. They could keep lying to him, or just change the subject. But why? He was eventually going to find out, especially if Ari ended up following her into the hero business. He’d be hurt and feel excluded.

“Don’t tell anyone, please,” Ji Min said, and ignored Ari’s giggle. “That’s me.”

Min Joon was dead silent. After a few seconds, he leaned up to put his face by hers. “Shut up,” her little brother said calmly. “It is not.”

Ji Min twisted to pat his hair. “It is, and I don’t drink protein,” she said. “I’m just better than you, little buddy.”

“I’m bigger than you,” he said, with towering dignity.

“I hate Hammer,” Ji Min continued. “I just hate his drag. Everything about him pisses me off so much. I can’t allow him to be happy.”

Min Joon groaned and leaned back. “That does sound like something you’d do,” he said unhappily. “Wow. And I can’t tell anyone that my sister is a professional hero- wait.” He sat up again. “You are a professional, right? None of that lame vigilante shit like the Raccoon or whatever?”

Ji Min let that comment slide by without thinking about it. “I would hit Hammer for free, but I get paid by the government now.”

Min Joon crowed and pumped a fist in the air. “That’s so sick.”

“Are you enhanced at all?” Ari asked, not looking up from the road. “I’ve got something coming in. I’m definitely stronger than I should be.” Her tone was a little envious. “Big Sister has some kind of telepathy, though-”

“So far only with you,” Ji Min protested modestly. “I don’t know how to use it on purpose.”

“Not yet,” Min Joon said, transparently jealous. “I’m just really cute and good at sports. Do you think that’s an early sign? Maybe it’ll happen for me later. Is it like a second puberty thing?”

Ji Min hummed. “Looking back, it started a couple years ago,” she admitted. “So, yeah, early twenties.”

Ari gave the road ahead a smug grin. “I bet I’ll be even stronger than you,” she said confidently. “I just know I’m destined for greatness.”

“I would smack you if you weren’t driving,” Ji Min informed her.

“That’s why I’m driving.”

Min Joon laughed in the backseat and slung an arm around the seat to half-hug Ji Min. “Wow,” he admired. “I love it. Maybe it’ll be a family business.”

“...Don’t tell Mom and Dad,” Ji Min said, because she should probably be specific. “I don’t really want their input on this.”

“No, yeah, of course,” he agreed, and squeezed the arm across her collarbone before withdrawing it. “We’ve gotta talk about this when I come. Three weekends from now, right?”

“Yes,” Ari agreed as she turned into the parking lot and picked a space to stop. “For sure. You don’t need a ride home? Should we eat here and wait for you?”

“Nah, I’ll get a ride from Fedi.” Min Joon threw open the door. “Bye, I love you!”

“Don’t forget your phone,” Ji Min blurted out, grabbing it and unplugging it. As she looked down, she realized that the most recent message was now one from Mom.

“I’m so sorry, we arrived late! How was y…”

Ji Min felt her expression flatten. Her brother pulled open her door and held out a hand. “Thank you, that is important to me,” he laughed.

She forced a smile and put the phone into his waiting hand. “Have a good dinner, and congratulate your teammates for us.”