exo: light a match, stand back, watch 'em explode

[rustle]

light a match, stand back, watch 'em explode
— Baekhyun/Kyungsoo, PG-13. 26000 words.
— Byun "Starburst" Baekhyun's words of wisdom: 1) fear The Cold, 2) even the most powerful supers also need help, and 3) there's no way to fight falling in love. (Superheroes au) (Warnings: age gap, mentions of violence )
— Written for kryaoi for chinguline 2014! Originally posted HERE. Also available on AO3. Thank you as always to F for the support, hand-holding, cheer-leading, and for being plain amazing — For some music, here's The Script's Superheroes.

"Breaking News: Super Squad member 'Starburst' almost killed in a heated battle against Pegasus! "Super Squad member 'Starburst' comes close to taking down and capturing supervillain Pegasus in a fight to the death in Hongdae, Seoul, South Korea. Nearly ten civilians are severely injured, and several establishments have been wrecked in the heat of the battle. Fan favorite 'Starburst' has been found amidst the rubble, unconscious, and has been taken to the Super Squad's headquarters for observation. Our prayers go to Starburst and the rest of Super Squad. Our sincerest thanks, as well, for keeping Seoul safe and sound from the evils of the supervillains. "We will miss you, Starburst. We wish for your speedy recovery. "And that's it for the KBS Breaking News. Thank you for watching." ☄ "Maybe they really should've retained your 'Miracle Boy' hero name." Baekhyun laughs, sounds coming out in choked wheezes. His body feels oddly heavy, limbs sore, the tips of his fingers numb, but otherwise everything is fine. It's just that being comatose for at least a year and a half takes its toll on your vocal chords, makes your voice box produce choked sounds instead of intelligible words. Baekhyun understands all of these – having to adjust, take it easy and ease his body back into normal superhero activities – but still can't get past his body only aging a few months instead of the same period of time that he'd spent half-dead on his hospital bed. The wonders of superbodies, Joonmyun had told him then, five minutes after he woke up. And our new technology that was developed by Fissure. Hey, Baekhyun, do you want to hear about– Then Joonmyun went on about how one of SM's top doctors took care of his almost dead body all those months, the amount of research they'd done on superbodies, et cetera et cetera. He simply stared at the empty space just beyond Joonmyun's shoulder, nodding like he understood half of the dorky science things Joonmyun rattled on about. It's fairly easy to explain – SM flushed the human out of the superbody and pumped Baekhyun with enough super things to bring him back to life. Pegasus almost killed him back there, two years ago, raising him to a great height and then dropping him. Psycho took control of Baekhyun's body, made the fall faster, harder. And that was how Starburst had turned into Stardust, far more tragic than the misspelling 'Starbutts'. With his senses only half awake, though, he feels as if he's more human than hero. Maybe he'll feel the effects of the sabbatical soon. "I still like Starburst better," Baekhyun says after a while. He groans when he tries to get up, and Joonmyun gestures at Sunyoung to get a wheelchair for Baekhyun. "Seriously, Miracle Boy sounds like a bad parody of Miracle Whip." "You like mayo, though," Joonmyun counters. He pauses for a while, then asks, "Do you want me to call your friends?" Baekhyun looks up, nods, and tries to smile. His cheeks feel too heavy. "Yeah, sure. That would be great. Thanks, hyung." ☄ SM hasn't changed much. There's still the same high-rise condominium up front, and the same steel-guarded headquarters underground. From the coffee shop across the building, Baekhyun watches people coming in through the front door and get sucked into a vortex. He twirls a coffee stirrer in his hand as he chews on nothing in particular. He'd managed to convince Joonmyun to not babysit him and let him spend some time alone. Two hours, Joonmyun had said then, tapping his watch, then reminded him that there were still tests to be done to make sure that he was ready to get back into the superhero saving spree. Fifteen minutes after and he's still alone in a table for three, without any trace of his super friends. A crackle in the background, and Baekhyun laughs. Speak of the devil. "Byun 'Starbutts' Baekhyun, in the flesh!" comes Chanyeol's greeting, followed by a warm hug. His skin is still sort of aflame, but Chanyeol's touch rarely ever stung or burned. At best, it was a comfortable warmth; at worst, it was impossibly cold. "Five years and your spelling still sucks. Need to upgrade your MS Word or something?" Baekhyun retorts, but still swivels in his position for a better fit. Chanyeol's face falls forward, into the crook of his neck. "Have they named you Microwave yet?" "Seven years," Chanyeol clarifies. "I can set you on fire right now, make you wish you didn't see the light of the day again after being out for two years." Chanyeol's breath is warm on Baekhyun's skin. Then again, everything about Chanyeol is warm. "I'll make sure you don't see another sunrise," he replies. To Jongdae, he says, "Hey Crackle. Glad you could spare some time for li'l old me." Jongdae plops on his seat and reaches over, fluffing Baekhyun's hair. "The Rice Krispies have been reunited!" Jongdae looks at Baekhyun's cup of coffee, worrying his bottom lip as if he's reconsidering something, then says, "Okay, cake's on Chanyeol!" Baekhyun meets Jongdae's hand in a high-five. Chanyeol snorts and mumbles, "I hate you two," then disappears to buy food. Two years sounds longer than it should be when it's Jongdae who's taking Baekhyun through every important event that happened while he was gone – Joonmyun was promoted to being the chief doctor of the supers, and the cute trainee who once walked in dancing naked in the training rooms finally graduated and had been put in a group with Joonmyun and Sehun. Chanyeol still had that photographer job of his in the daily paper, still part-time, while Jongdae no longer waited tables because almost everybody needs Kaminari to save their day. Turns out Seoul Weather Station employed him and made them their chief weather forecaster. In the evening, he and Chanyeol still went out to save lives and cats and dogs, and still ordered four servings of tteokbokki – "Just in case you decided to drop by," Jongdae says now, grinning. Chanyeol chokes on his coffee and flashes a v-sign in Baekhyun's direction. "Aww, you bunch of saps," Baekhyun croons, and Jongdae laughs through his nose. Chanyeol rubs slow circles on Jongdae's back, rests his hand on the slope just inches shy of Jongdae's ass. Baekhyun scrunches his nose. "You really missed me that much?" "Sort of," Chanyeol replies. "Peggy definitely did. Kept coming back to the SM building for weeks. I think he was heartbroken when he found out he almost killed you." "Ah, the things we do for love…" Jongdae nods solemnly. "I wonder what he'll do when he finds out," he begins, pausing to take a sip of his coffee. "When he finds out that you're–" Baekhyun leans back and cranes his neck. There's a gust of wind a couple of blocks away. "Well, news travels fast." Chanyeol and Jongdae exchange glances, and Baekhyun cracks his neck. He goes back to two years ago and focuses all of his energy on his hands. Heat rushes to the tips of his fingers, and the pads have now turned translucent. "Don't slow us down!" Chanyeol says over his shoulder. Baekhyun shoots him a wink. Chanyeol grins. ☄ The good news is that Baekhyun still hasn't lost his touch. He can still create mirror images of himself and control each and every single one of them, all while summoning crystals from the palm of his hand. The bad news is that the slightest distraction sets his abilities skyrocketing. The result: his duplicates running all over the place, taking longer than a minute to dissipate. Also, the tips of his fingers chipping off from when he'd wrapped crystals around his right hand. The duplicates didn't knock anything down, though, and his fingers had regenerated in five minutes. At his prime, his best record was a second; the worst, two minutes. "Considerably fast, but still – you need focus practice again," Joonmyun says as he examines Baekhyun's fingers. "And you need to control the current at the tips of your fingers. You nearly blinded people out there." "There should be a directive for humans to wear shades all the time," Baekhyun replies. He seethes when Joonmyun presses two fingers on his pulse, a cold sensation shooting up his arm. "Fuck– Hyung, warning please?" Joonmyun gives him a weak smile. "Sorry. Force of habit." Chanyeol and Jongdae join him again at the back of the ambulance, wounds bandaged and scar-stained cheeks fully recovered. "Your darling Pegsus says he'll come back for you," Chanyeol says, then rests a hand on Baekhyun's shoulder. Baekhyun winces at the tug of war between hot and cold and Chanyeol does him a favor, lets his hand fall to his side. "I said you're under strict parental patrol. Umma and appa don't want you dating strange men." Baekhyun laughs a little. The cold wave that had shot up his arm is more tolerable now. "Who's who, then?" Chanyeol wiggles his eyebrows at Jongdae, and Jongdae points an accusing finger at Chanyeol, shooting out some electricity in the process. Joonmyun groans. "I'm trying to heal someone here!" The tirade lasts a few more minutes, until an alarm sounds off, the display of Jongdae's wrist watch lighting up. "Hey Baek, we'll have to go. Duty calls," he says, frowning. He checks his watch again. "Sorry we had to cut this short." Baekhyun waves him off, but says, "Catch up soon?" Chanyeol bends his knees, gives him a quick hug before assuming his place beside Jongdae. "We'll let you know." Flame wings burst from Chanyeol's back and he extends his hand in Jongdae's direction, smiling. The look is familiar, and suddenly Baekhyun sees glimpses of a mission back in Japan. Chanyeol didn't have those flame wings then, but he could use the energy from his flame to run as fast as he could. So he reached for Baekhyun's hand, set himself aflame, and whispered, don't be afraid. Baekhyun wasn't, never was and never will be, and he simply nodded at Chanyeol as if in a go signal. To date, it was still the most dramatic end to a mission, the way they'd run from the outskirts of Tokyo all the way to Osaka. The sun was setting behind them, and the spring breeze tousled Chanyeol's hopeless hair. They were SM's most successful superhero duo. Chanyeol had kissed Baekhyun after they took down the time traveler hiding in Japan, and he kissed them again just before they reached the Japan headquarters. "I'll be waiting," Baekhyun calls out, but he's talking to air now and flame feathers falling to the ground. Joonmyun finally eases the pressure on his pulse and squeezes his arm. "Wanna grab something to eat? It's almost dinnertime." Baekhyun takes a deep breath and smiles. "As long as you're buying," he says, then pushes himself off his seat. Every part of him that Chanyeol had touched still stings. ☄ It's a take-out kind of night, the petri dishes and other medical tools that had once littered Joonmyun's desk now shuffled to the side in favor of good food. Three rolls of kimbap, some mandu, a serving of japchae and jjigae, and a platter heaping with kimchi – "For two?" Baekhyun remembers the lady at the cashier asking, and Joonmyun politely stepped in, saying, "Three." "Expecting someone?" Baekhyun asks through a mouthful of kimbap and kimchi. Joonmyun looks up from checking his phone and flashes a thumbs-up. "Girlfriend?" Joonmyun shakes his head. "Boyfriend, then?" Joonmyun cackles. "Don't be silly. You know the rules." "That's only for the supers wearing capes, hyung." Baekhyun nudges Joonmyun in his side. "C'mon, don't tell me you haven't gone out in the two years that I was half-dead. You're the most handsome person here next to me–" "Don't let Chanyeol hear you say that." "–and you're not going out on dates? Hyung, you can't be in a relationship with your doctor things forever." Joonmyun exhales loudly. "What if I love the skeletons so much?" "They won't love you back." Baekhyun motions for Joonmyun to part his lips, and Joonmyun follows in accord. "Sunyoung seems to fancy you." "Okay, that's enough kimchi for you," Joonmyun declares, then snatches the tiny plate away. "And yes, I am expecting a friend so leave some for him." "Ah, so it is a boyfriend," Baekhyun teases. He winks, then grins at Joonmyun. "Don't worry, hyung. I won't tell anyone." Baekhyun is well aware of rule #32 – caped crusaders must never get into a relationship with anyone, big or small, man or woman, human or hero. This is to spare the academy from having to deal with supervillains who exploit the supers' loved ones and use them to lure the supers into a sticky situation. The unspoken rule #32.1, though, is to never let anyone know that you're a relationship with anyone if you are a man with the cape. Act like you're single, flirt as much as you want. Never get jealous, and never date a fellow super. Emotions are always ten times more difficult to deal with when you're charged with super abilities. He likes to think he'd become a veteran at observing 32.1 when he was still actively fighting evil alongside Chanyeol. Who would've though that the dynamic duo "Starburst and Heatmore" were ever more than bros? Even Jongdae was surprised (mindfucked) when he walked in on them kissing in their flat. "Realistically speaking, though, who wouldn't want to get inside my pants," Baekhyun had said then, and Chanyeol simply wrapped his arms around Baekhyun's waist. Jongdae rolled his eyes and walked past them, setting the alcohol down on the table, and demanded pepperoni pizza. Chanyeol relented and ordered two. Somehow, the lack of secrets between Baekhyun and Chanyeol and Jongdae made their friendship even stronger. Thus, the Rice Krispies trio was born – Chanyeol as Snap, Jongdae as Crackle, and Baekhyun as Pop. "He's not my boyfriend," Joonmyun reiterates. "And don't you even think of teasing me in front of him. He will kill you." Baekhyun snorts. "You think that scares me, hyung?" Joonmyun seethes. "Fuck you." There's a light tremor for a while, coupled with a thick blanket of darkness. Baekhyun's breath hitches, but he senses no fear in Joonmyun. "I thought you weren't a fan of theatrics?" Joonmyun calls out to no one in particular, and then the light is back, the shaking is gone, and the door is slightly ajar. "Colds," comes a low voice. "I haven't taken my meds yet. Sorry for being late." The newcomer isn't anyone Baekhyun would mistake for a super. His bangs fall over his eyes, and his steps are small, almost as if they're measured and calculated. His black overalls are a complete contrast to his white coat that only reaches his thighs. Definitely not a doctor, Baekhyun muses. Probably one of those people who train supers, what with the slightly burnt sleeves. There's a small smile tugging the corners of his lips up and Jesus, those lips– "Starburst?" the newcomer says. He blinks at Baekhyun, then tosses his bangs to the side. To Joonmyun, he says, "Does the academy know?" "Everybody does," Joonmyun says, laughing a little. "News travels fast. Were you locked up in your cave again?? The newcomer scratches the tip of his nose. "Sort of," he mumbles. He turns to face Baekhyun, the small upward tug of his lips blooming into a smile. "It's an honor to meet you, Starburst." Baekhyun blinks a few times, tries to keep his eyes locked on the newcomer's eyes or maybe the outstretched hand, but the newcomer's lips take on an interesting shape when they part, revealing white teeth. "Just call me Baekhyun, please," he says, then, and takes the newcomer's hand, shaking it lightly. "The hero name is only for missions." "Baekhyun-hyung, then?" "Yeah, sure. Rub the age in." "I'm sorry," the newcomer says, laughing a little. "Do Kyungsoo. I control the earth. I used to do real missions but I've already stopped accepting field work." Hence the white coat and the cave thing Joonmyun mentioned. With a sickness side effect like that – wiping out light and making the ground shake with a sneeze – though, the academy's making a huge mistake by not letting his take the field. Or forcing him to get back on the field, at least; SM's pretty good at conning supers into doing things they don't want to do. Baekhyun shrugs. "You're not missing a lot. Just obsessive supervillains who don't know how to let go." "I ran into Psycho earlier," Kyungsoo says, then takes his place beside Joonmyun. "He was looking for you." Baekhyun snorts, then sinks his teeth in a piece of kimbap. Kyungsoo's lips are already red after three pieces of kimchi, it's ridiculous. "It's tough being amazing." ☄ Joonmyun enlists him in focus training the following day. "Three hours everyday, for three months," Joonmyun says – no, imposes. Baekhyun calls him out for power-tripping and Joonmyun simply pushes Baekhyun back in his seat with a small stream of water. Baekhyun groans, then, and says, "Abuse of superpowers! I'm suing!" "You can't even file your reimbursements," Joonmyun reminds him. He keys in a code and the steel doors slide to the sides, revealing an expanse of darkness in front of them. "Kyungsoo, turn on the lights." "I'm sick, hyung. Go away." "You didn't file a leave," Joonmyun says. Baekhyun snaps his fingers, trying to spark light in the area, but to no avail – his ability is of no use here if he has to keep the light he can produce to a bare minimum. "And you're not running a fever. Come on, I have coffee for you." The darkness lifts just a little, then, "Stop exploiting that knowledge." The light flickers for a moment, and Baekhyun looks up at the ceiling and sets the bulb to maximum brightness. Soon, the ground beneath him is sinking, until Kyungsoo extends a hand and pulls him out of the quicksand. "Don't do that again," comes Kyungsoo's greeting-cum-warning. There's none of the small smile Baekhyun had seen the night before, only tightness in the corners of Kyungsoo's lips and bloodshot eyes. To Joonmyun, Kyungsoo says, "No sugar?" "Just a tiny bit," Joonmyun says, grinning. Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him, and Joonmyun takes it back, saying, "I mean there's an extra shot in there. Come on, why would I want to dig my own grave?" "I don't know, hyung. You're weird." Joonmyun turns to Baekhyun, frowning, then says, "Fair warning: he's not the nicest kid in the block. He bites." Kyungsoo gives Joonmyun a wry smile and, the next thing Baekhyun knows, Joonmyun's sinking into the ground. "I bite really hard." Ant bites, so it seems, because Kyungsoo is patient enough a focus trainer that Baekhyun is almost reminded of when he was still starting out in the academy. They go back to level 1 aura focusing, where Baekhyun summons a speck of light at the tip of his index finger, then transfers the light to each of his fingers. Kyungsoo doesn't even wince when Baekhyun accidentally shoots up light and has it bounce off the four walls of Kyungsoo's lab. Instead, Kyungsoo remains with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his shoulders. "Try using twenty percent of your power and transfer a ball of light from one hand to another," Kyungsoo instructs. Easy enough, Baekhyun thinks to himself, but then Kyungsoo is unfolding his crossed arms and has his palms facing the floor. Sharp pieces of rocks begin to float up in the air and surround Baekhyun, and Baekhyun feels his breath hitch and the ball of light collapse on his palm. Soon, he's shooting out crystal shards, taking down one rock after the other, until there's a big brown wall in front of him – towering, intimidating. "Jesus– Fuck– Don't do that!" he exclaims, falling to the floor on his butt. The crystals shatter into smaller pieces, falling to the now neatly-pressed ground. "I was trying to focus!" "And distracting you is part of the focus training," Kyungsoo says. He's flexing his fingers. There are a couple of small cuts on his hands, but his eyes are focused and his lips are drawn to a thin line. "This is only the beginning, hyung. You can't let your guard down." "That's why I summoned those crystals," Baekhyun says through gritted teeth. "And what did I tell you to again? Play with the ball of light, right?" Baekhyun blows at his bangs. He walks over, reaching for Kyungsoo's bruised hand, then runs a finger over each cut. "I can't believe I'm letting a kid order me around." Kyungsoo's hand goes rigid, the pads of his fingers turning a bit cold. He clears his throat, then says, "Age isn't recognized in this facility, Starburst. There's only the trainer and the trainee." He unclenches his hand and runs this thumb where the biggest wound used to be. He smiles a little. "Thanks, hyung. But next time, just do as I say." Baekhyun sticks a tongue out at him, and Kyungsoo shakes up the ground a bit. Maybe not an ant bite, then; a dog bite would be more like it. Before the session ends, Baekhyun manages to play ball with Kyungsoo using a ten-inch light ball and not have it explode when Kyungsoo starts to summon rocks again. He loses it when the ground starts shaking, the intensity greater than before, and soon the ball of light explodes, donning the air with flecks. "Nice save," Kyungsoo mumbles, then offers a tiny smile. A small puff of light catches on the tip of his nose, paints Kyungsoo's cheeks a peculiar glow. Baekhyun just laughs. ☄ Kyungsoo stays seated for most part of the levels two and three training, bundled up as he summons one stone wall after another. This time, he tells Baekhyun to try to create a sculpture out of the stone wall. "Bricks are unacceptable. I'm not looking for too many details on the sculpture, though," Kyungsoo adds. He taps the wall twice and it takes on a darker color, one that Baekhyun only hopes doesn't make the wall more difficult to take down. "Nothing microscopic, either." "I'll make a bust for you, how does that sound?" Baekhyun asks, grinning, and Kyungsoo only rolls his eyes as he takes a sip of his coffee. "You can't move, though. Even the Renaissance sculptors had a hard time working on moving objects." Kyungsoo sneezes, and the ground shakes for a while. "Sorry," he mumbles. "And I'm as still as a rock." "Three hours, Do Kyungsoo," Baekhyun says, pointing at Kyungsoo, squinting at him. "You'll be proud of me at the end of the session." The reality is that Baekhyun is shit at art and that Kyungsoo is a complete asshole. Not even the full force of Baekhyun's light blast can take down the wall. He hears Kyungsoo's chuckles from a few feet away, albeit croaked, and huffs. This can't be impossible – there's still level 5, after all – but it's pretty damn close. Taking a deep breath, he holds up his index finger, focusing all of his energy on it. Soon, crystal wraps around the finger and the rest of his hand turns completely transparent. He can see his knees shaking through his clear arm. "Here goes," he mutters. He takes a step forward, raises his crystallized hand, and motions to chop the wall in half. But it doesn't get cut into two slabs. There's a dent, though, just big enough for Baekhyun to exploit. He wriggles his fingers and begins to run a thin line down the slab, again and again until he finally sees the other end of the room through the parting. "Are you watching?" he calls out, doesn't look over his shoulder. Kyungsoo's footsteps are too heavy to go unnoticed, though. "How do you feel about abstract art?" "The same way you feel about this training." "A pain in the ass?" Kyungsoo snorts. "Well, that also works." Kyungsoo is lenient when he's terribly sick, doesn't call Baekhyun out on using his power to glue chips of stone to the big slab Baekhyun is working on. Baekhyun cuts it close, finishing the bust three minutes before the end of the session. The result isn't exactly the most award-winning of busts, but it's okay – it's got eyes and a nose, a pair of ears and plump lips. It can pass off as Kyungsoo after taking a punch to the cheek too many times, but Kyungsoo's smiling now, not that tiny smile of his where only a corner of his lips tugs up and he has an eyebrow cocked but an open smile, teeth flashing, gums peeking. Baekhyun lets his eyes fall to the dip of Kyungsoo's upper lip. He gulps hard. "Do you have background in art, hyung?" Kyungsoo asks, tentative, bottom lip caught between his teeth. Kyungsoo's hood is pulled down now, and with the headband pulling his bangs back Baekhyun can see the dark circles under his eyes even clearer. His eyes haven't lost their focus, though, wide open, assessing, and Baekhyun slinks away a little, wrapping his arms around his body. "Nah, not really. I love finger painting though," Baekhyun answers, short and earnest. Kyungsoo laughs a little, but laughter turns into a low wheeze and the ground starts shaking again. "Knew it," Kyungsoo says after a while. He walks closer to where Baekhyun is, gives his shoulder a light pat, then walks past him. "This won't even pass off as Picasso." "Hey!" Baekhyun calls out, but soon the ground trembles again and it's Kyungsoo's rough laughter that fills the room. He doesn't know this room well enough yet, but if he follows that sound he won't have trouble finding his way out. So he closes his eyes, silences the light inside of him and walks straight ahead, careful steps in tandem with Kyungsoo's laughter. When the sound dies down, he hears the soft 'thud' of the door behind him. "Good job, Starburst," comes Kyungsoo's voice from beside him, soft and smooth. His grip on Baekhyun's wrist is light. "Welcome back to the academy." ☄ Joonmyun comes back from a meeting with the SM management and says to both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, "We're out of supers. I'll need you two to come with me." Psycho and Frost were spotted in Lotte World just a few minutes ago, cutting the line for Pharaoh's Fury and running by taking control of the person operating it. "Well, it wasn't confirmed to be the two yet, but come on, who else would do that?" Joonmyun says. He's driving at the speed of light and Baekhyun sort of fears for his life, but at least they're transparent right now. If they do run into any vehicle, they won't have to worry about casualties. No one reports ghost-related car accidents, after all. "I don't have a plan yet, but what's important is that we make sure they don't hurt anyone." Baekhyun clenches his fists. "I'll make sure they'll regret it if they do." Kyungsoo snorts, but lays a palm flat on his shoulder. "Don't overdo it, hyung. Remember, there are kids there." "Relax, kid." Baekhyun winks. "Hyung's an expert at this." An expert at making sure civilians are safe even with a battle going on around them, yes. An expert at finding villains in a crowd? Not so much. Frost's ice blue hair is almost always a giveaway, but Psycho might have made him change his do or made him wear a beanie. Supervillains, they need time to unwind, too. It's just villains like Pegasus who don't know the concept of rest. Baekhyun weaves through the crowd, adjusting his fake mustache. Joonmyun's turned his hair blond instead of its usual brown and keeps the collar of his trench coat up. "Hyung, who wears trench coats in this heat?" "Shut up," Joonmyun grumbles, then apologizes to a little girl he bumps into. "This was the only thing I had in my car." "Hyung, look at the ground," Kyungsoo says now, pointing at the thin sheet of ice leading to the other side of Lotte World. "Want to split up when we get to the other side?" "I wouldn't risk it. Those two are inseparable, anyway." Baekhyun traces the path with his eyes, then furrows his eyebrows when he spots two familiar figures. "And apparently, Jongdae and Chanyeol as well?" The concept of free time isn't foreign to superheroes, but to go out on a weekday and with a supervillain warning up is just crazy. The crowd has thinned considerably, and from where Baekhyun is he can see things clearer now. Chanyeol's red hair has been tamed a bit, and Jongdae is wearing a beanie over his bright yellow hair. They're wearing horrible floral shirts, though, and their hands are linked lightly, like they mean to hold hands but not really. "Well, they did file a vacation leave," Joonmyun mutters. Baekhyun's stomach lurches forward, tumbles. He shakes his head, then starts to walk in their direction until the entire ground freezes. "Shit–" Baekhyun slips, and purely on instinct he presses his fingers on the sheet of ice, palms glowing. Chanyeol looks over his shoulder and drops Jongdae's hand. "Baek… hyun?" The temperature drops. Psycho clears the crowd. Chanyeol and Jongdae pull their shirts over their head, revealing super suits. Kyungsoo keeps his grip on Baekhyun's wrist tight. "Hyung, don't forget, you can't over do it." Baekhyun gulps hard. His knees are shaking. It's probably from the cold. "I know what I'm doing, trust me," he mumbles, then tries to get up on his feet. "Trust Starburst. He won't let you down." ☄ Jongin manages to get them out of the blast just in time. Teleporting four people at the same time can be a chore, but Jongin pulls it off somehow. They stumble into the SM headquarters, wisps of white smoke disappearing around them. Joonmyun's mostly unharmed. It's Jongdae and Chanyeol who took the brunt of Psycho and Frost's attack. "Let's take them to my lab," Kyungsoo says, looking at Joonmyun. Joonmyun nods, swings one of Jongdae's arms over his shoulder, and Kyungsoo does the same. Jongin and Baekhyun take care of Chanyeol. Baekhyun looks over his shoulder, at the traces of blood they leave on the floor. This part of being a hero, he doesn't miss. In the lab, Kyungsoo and Joonmyun move like clockwork – haul Jongdae and Chanyeol over a hospital bed, rip their super suits open. Jongin excuses himself, saying he'll call Yixing and Sunyoung for help. Baekhyun keeps his hands in his back pocket, worries his bottom lip in an effort to keep all his thoughts to himself. He's got a few cuts and wounds, but nothing as serious as the ones on Jongdae and Chanyeol's bodies. His self-healing will kick in in a few minutes, give or take. If he could only stop fidgeting. Taking a deep breath, he finally gives in, asking, "Anything I can do to help?" Joonmyun pauses, looking over his shoulder. "You don't have full control over you powers yet. Can't risk it," he answers. There's a 'sorry' written in the way he furrows his eyebrows, in the way the tight corners of Joonmyun's mouth pull down to a frown. "And you're injured, too." "They need the energy more than I do, hyung." "Baekhyun," Joonmyun says, an eyebrow cocked and eyes fixed on him. "Your friends are running on 2% energy and while you have enough to at least jolt them back to life, anything over exactly 98% will send them comatose forever. Do you want that to happen?" Do you want them to suffer the same fate that you did, Joonmyun means to say. Baekhyun exhales loudly, then rolls his eyes. "Fine." "Course it through me, then I can regulate the transfer," Kyungsoo says. Joonmyun furrows his eyebrows at Kyungsoo. "His light can heal, hyung. I've seen it. My rocks can't." Joonmyun parts his lips a little, reconsidering, then looks away. "Fine. But if he screws up, Kyungsoo–" "He won't. He passed level 4 aura focus yesterday," Kyungsoo assures. He rests a hand on Baekhyun's shoulder, then says, "Do as I say." Baekhyun takes a deep breath, then nods. Step one: focus on the part of your body where you'll transfer all of your energy to with your eyes. Visualization always helps, after all, so Baekhyun raises both hands in front of him until he sees a wisp of white light envelop his fingers. Kyungsoo lays one palm on Jongdae's chest and the other on Chanyeol's, then turns to Baekhyun and says, "Now hold my wrists." The reach is difficult and awkward – Kyungsoo is already leaning forward, over the machines beside the beds – but Baekhyun makes it work, moves closer to Kyungsoo so that they're back to chest, and threads his fingers through Kyungsoo's own. "You never listen," Kyungsoo whispers, then lifts their hands so that only the heel of his palms touch Jongdae and Chanyeol. It's a painful ten minutes after that, with Kyungsoo's hands trembling after receiving the brunt of Baekhyun's power, but Baekhyun keeps his eyes locked onto his hands, the light at the tips of his fingers, his skin turning into a shocking white as he draws out more energy from his system and transfers it to the two. "Close your eyes, then let go," Kyungsoo says, and Baekhyun pulls away, turns off the light, slides his hands up Kyungsoo's arm. A violent gasp, then a low what the hell just happened in Chanyeol's worried tone. Jongdae coughing and saying, Baekhyun? What are you doing? Baekhyun rests his head on Kyungsoo's back, then grips Kyungsoo by the arms. "Never gonna do that again," Baekhyun says, and then his knees turn into jelly along with his senses. The last he feels is a pair of arms cushioning his fall and Kyungsoo's voice a bit pitchier than the usual, saying, Hyung? Hyung, don't you dare pass out again. Baekhyun-hyung– ☄ Vietnam, 2012. Baekhyun remembers it clearly – the way they'd brought down the building after trapping Psycho and Frost inside, Chanyeol circling the building while he's in flames and Jongdae giving him the extra boost. The icing on top is the light barrier Baekhyun wraps around the building, and then it's the most beautiful explosion after that – white and blue flames engulfing the villain headquarters, Jongdae's hair turning from a shocking yellow to a more golden shade. Chanyeol slipping an arm around Baekhyun's shoulder and pulling him closer, pressing his lips on Baekhyun's ears as he whispered, "We should do this again sometime, set the world on fire or something." "You're crazy," Baekhyun had said then. From the corner of his eye, he could make out Jongdae making faces at them, barfing. "But that sounds great." And then Jongdae summoned lightning, consuming them in the blink of an eye. Vietnam dissolved into light and Baekhyun fell back into Chanyeol's arms. The sound of thunder around them lulled Baekhyun to a peaceful slumber. "It's pretty risky to travel via lightning," comes a different voice. A stifled yawn, then, "I thought you'd be out for another year." Baekhyun blinks a few times and looks around, then focuses his vision on the person just beside him. Kyungsoo's bangs fall over his eyes and the rest of his hair is a mess, but his eyes are wide open, alert. He looks as if he had espresso with two bottles of energy drinks and ate three blocks of chocolates – high on energy but voice so strained and hoarse. His bottom lip is chapped and the tip of his nose is too red. He hasn't even recovered from his coughs and colds yet. "How are you feeling?" Kyungsoo asks now, leaning closer. He smells of medicine and ramyun. "Hungover," Baekhyun says in summary, but a more accurate answer would be 'like I've been run over by a truck thrice and kicked in the gut at least ten times while I'm hungover.' "Hungry, too," he adds after a while, then takes a look around. "How long have I been out?" "Six hours, more or less." "Chanyeol and Jongdae?" "Awake," Kyungsoo answers, then cocks his head to the left. Baekhyun follows with his eyes, stopping when he sees Chanyeol's familiar figure feet away. Jongdae's back on his feet, always the quickest to recover among the three of them, legs dangling when he gets on Chanyeol's bed and sits on the edge. Jongdae loves that, breaching private space and skinship, touching people's faces like it's the most normal thing in the world. From this distance, he can only make out the smiles and the laughter. The way Jongdae runs a hand down the length of Chanyeol's arm, too, and the way Jongdae leans in to press a soft kiss on the tip of Chanyeol's nose. "What?" Baekhyun tries to push himself off the bed until he feels the sting of the needle in his right hand. And then he remembers – Jongdae and Chanyeol in Lotte World, fingers intertwined, the dull ache in Baekhyun's chest. Kyungsoo holds him down with a firm grip. He blinks a few more times and Jongdae does it again, one hand cupping Chanyeol's cheek, and this time Baekhyun looks away. He fixes his eyes on his hands, his feet, Kyungsoo's empty expression. "Did you–" "You didn't see anything," Kyungsoo says. With his free hand, he pulls up a wall, and the lighting in the room dims. "Yeah, sure, I didn't. I just saw them about to suck face or something. That–" Baekhyun laughs, strained. He chokes on his own spit. For a moment, Baekhyun considers balling his hands into fists and standing from where he is to break the wall down, but he's plugged right now. "Jongdae wasn't trying to kiss the bubu away, right? Superheroes don't do that, right?" Kyungsoo doesn't answer, just looks down at his hand that is holding Baekhyun down. With a loud exhale, he asks, "Want anything to eat?" "Lots of candy," Baekhyun mumbles, then shuts his eyes tight in an attempt to erase the image from his mind. To just let the darkness tame the lights setting his senses aflame. The door closes in a soft 'thud' and the darkness doesn't lift. Baekhyun makes no effort to turn on the light, either. ☄ "You're so predictable." Baekhyun feels his arms give away and the crystals he'd summoned for target practice crash to the ground. Kyungsoo cleans up at once, though, lets the soft ground swallow the shards, but cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun when they're face-to-face. Kyungsoo's got a bag of sweets in one hand and a container of assorted jeon in the other. His cheeks have taken on an interesting shade of pink – it must be cold outside. Weird weather. Autumn hasn't even hit yet. "I was getting bored," Baekhyun says now, then forms a ball of light at the tip of his index finger. He shoots a ray at the huge stone slab a few feet away and drags his finger up until he's drawn a square on the slab. The chunk falls over to the other side, creates a hole where Baekhyun had fired a ray of light. Kyungsoo winces at the crashing sound. "Please don't tell Joonmyun-hyung?" "He saw you sneaking out. Said you were, yeah, probably bored out of your wits." Kyungsoo sets the food down on his desk and throws a pack of Skittles at Baekhyun. "Or would you want to eat like normal people usually do?" "I can have candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Baekhyun says, grinning. He takes another pack to his face, this time M&M's. "And dessert." Kyungsoo looks at him for a while, then sinks in his seat and opens the contained filled with jeon. "Suit yourself." Kyungsoo sets aside one of each kind of jeon in the container for Baekhyun, though, and Baekhyun returns the favor, motions for Kyungsoo to open up so he can pop a few pieces of M&M's in his mouth. "Chanyeol and I used to do this after missions," he begins, then cracks a piece of chocolate between his teeth. "We'd buy as much candies as we could and eat 'em all in our dorm." "You never got accused of shoplifting?" Baekhyun snorts. "We buy out the whole candies section, not steal from the shop." He throws a few pieces of Skittles at Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo manages to catch them with his mouth. "Then Jongdae would barge in our flat and eat the candies we can't finish." Another take on the story would be Jongdae buying candies for them after a successful mission, then feeding both Baekhyun and Chanyeol while playing Skittles basketball. It's a three! Jongdae would say whenever he made a ringless shot, and sometimes Baekhyun open and close his mouth or press his teeth together at the same time that Jongdae releases a Skittle. Chanyeol would be kinder, feed Jongdae a couple of pieces then eat the rest, and Jongdae would just laugh, tongue and lips painted in rainbow. He'd never fight back whenever Chanyeol stole from his candy stash, but he'd spend a few good seconds jabbing Baekhyun's arm when Baekhyun broke a piece of his chocolate bar. Favoritism, Baekhyun would normally say whenever Jongdae let Chanyeol off the hook. Turns out he's been right all along. He tosses a Skittle in the air and shoots it down with a line of light, laughing. Maybe he was also given the gift of foresight. He should take that Supers Ability Test again. "Can't believe he wanted that candy, too." "There were rumors," Kyungsoo begins. "People saying they saw Heatmore and Kaminari–" "Chanyeol and Jongdae," Baekhyun corrects. "Their superpowers don't have anything to do with this." "That they saw them together late at night, after missions. Flying from one rooftop to another. Sometimes even dancing in air." Baekhyun spits out a red Skittle. They did that before, all three of them, but they fell back into a trampoline ten seconds in. "I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes earlier. I–" Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then looks up at Baekhyun. "I'm sorry, hyung." Baekhyun looks up at the ceiling, at the bulb casting them a soft glow, and turns the light out. He hears Kyungsoo's light gasp, the sound of Skittles falling to the floor, the current inside his body crackling at the loss of light around him. None of it takes more than a few seconds, but it feels like it has stretched on forever – the silence, the darkness, Baekhyun allowing himself a moment of respite. It's Kyungsoo who turns the light back on, Kyungsoo who lets the stone walls all around them crumble. "So, were the stone walls meant to give me a hard time?" Baekhyun asks, grinning at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo balls his hand into a fist but keeps it there, pressed close to his chest instead of making contact with Baekhyun's arm. Baekhyun feels cold. "It's part of the training," Kyungsoo answers, then shakes up the ground. "It's all a test." ☄ It's Baekhyun's clever idea to seek Kyungsoo's help on exacting revenge on the two. "Well, it's not revenge revenge," Baekhyun argues, then pops three M&M's in his mouth. He's slowed down on the Skittles consumption after opening the Peanut M&M's, but there's still too much left from last night. For a moment, he considers flooding Chanyeol's dorm with Skittles or drawing on Chanyeol's superhero costume with chocolate, but it requires too much effort. That, and he has zero skill in art as proven by the abstract art bust of Kyungsoo in his laboratory. "Just… y'know, trying to teach them a lesson. For forgetting I exist. Mostly Chanyeol, actually, because he's an asshole and he made a promise. Jongdae never promised anything but good food." "Did he promise you forever?" Baekhyun scrunches his nose. "Sort of. While teleporting back to the HQ." "Did you actually believe it?" "Why wouldn't I?" "Sucker," Kyungsoo mumbles. He snatches the Peanut M&M's pack from Baekhyun and helps himself to a few pieces. "I'm not playing pretend boyfriend. Go find someone else." "But you're my only friend!" Baekhyun groans, hooking an arm Kyungsoo's own. That's not true, though – there's Jongin but he'll probably ask for payment before saying yes. Sehun would probably just laugh at him then walk away. He tightens his hold even more when Kyungsoo starts waving his arm around. "What if I lose focus because I'm wallowing in pain and despair? What if I accidentally set your lab on fire or something because I can't control my emotions, much like the overwhelming sadness in my heart?" "Shut up," Kyungsoo says, frowning. Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at him as if challenging, you're really going to tell someone older to 'shut up'? The corners of Kyungsoo's lips tug down even harder. "Please shut up, hyung." "Come on, you don't even have to exert much effort! You just have to, well, actually stick with me the whole day and try not to flinch when I touch you. Easy, yeah?" Kyungsoo holds up the pack of M&M's and pours a generous amount into his mouth. The sound of crunching fills the silence for a while, and Baekhyun watches with morbid fascination as Kyungsoo licks his teeth. "That's much easier to do," Kyungsoo finishes, then stands from his seat, the pack of M&M's tucked safely in his pocket. "You'll let me die unhappy here?" "Don't be silly, hyung. You're Starburst. You won't die easily." "I heard heartache makes up 90% of deaths in the superhuman world." Kyungsoo laughs a little. Without coughs and colds straining his body, his laughter sounds bright, tugs at the corners of Baekhyun's lips and coaxes a smile out of him. "And you came back from the dead. You'll live, hyung. They've already moved on and you should follow their example." Baekhyun heaves a sigh. "I failed the 'Moving On' class, just so you know. Got stuck in level 3 moving on." "Between life and death?" Baekhyun thinks of Chanyeol running a hand down Jongdae's back, of Jondgae leaning close to press a kiss to the tip of Chanyeol's nose. "Close enough," he answers. After a while, he repeats, "Please, Kyungsoo?" It must be the M&M's, Baekhyun thinks, because the next thing he knows Kyungsoo is rolling his eyes and whispering, "Fine, fine. As long as I don't have to do anything weird." So he walks over to where Kyungsoo is, wraps his arms around Kyungsoo in a hug, and twirls him around. Never mind that Kyungsoo's whole body has gone rigid and rock-heavy, or if Kyungsoo's mumbling hyung, put me down like a mantra – Do Kyungsoo whose heart is as tough as stone actually agreed to play pretend boyfriend just so he could get back at Chanyeol, and all it took was a bag of chocolates. "You won't regret this," Baekhyun says, beaming. Kyungsoo shakes his head but doesn't let the smile on his lips falter. ☄ Baekhyun starts the mission by asking Joonmyun what Kyungsoo's favorite coffee is. Joonmyun doesn't ask why, bless him, but does reiterate that, "Remember, no sugar, not even a granule of it. He will find out, I'm telling you." Baekhyun shrugs but takes note of the reminder, anyway. If past experience with Kyungsoo is anything to go by, he knows very well that Kyungsoo actually has the ability to bury him alive. "As you like it," Baekhyun says as he places a cup of coffee in front of Kyungsoo. He removes the lid, holding Kyungsoo's gaze as Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows at him, and grins when he lays the cover down a few inches away. "Americano, no sugar, no anything. I watched the barista make the coffee so I'm 100% sure." "You do know that threatening anyone is against the superhero code of conduct, right?" Kyungsoo asks, but takes a whiff of his coffee anyway. A corner of his lips tugs up in response. "Are you accusing your hyung of threatening the barista?" Baekhyun fakes a gasp, and Kyungsoo kicks him in the ankle. "As far as I know, what I did is called 'observing'!" "Doesn't sound like it," Kyungsoo counters, laughing a little. He takes a sip, and the other corner tugs up. Now there's the smile that Baekhyun has come to earn whenever he completes a level of focus training. The day unfolds as it normally would, except Baekhyun eats breakfast on Kyungsoo's desk and almost gets kicked out of Kyungsoo's lab for making a mess out of his table. Joonmyun drops by, asking for a detailed report of Baekhyun's progress, and Baekhyun offers to demonstrate it, instead. "Do as I say," Kyungsoo begins, a palm flat on Baekhyun's shoulder, and Baekhyun sneers. He earns a jab on the arm, then, and accidentally releases a ball of light to the ceiling. "That's going on the record," Joonmyun teases. The log sheet remains untouched, though. But Baekhyun has never been the type to be tied down by rules, never the type to stick to the instructions. He follows steps one to three and improvises comes step four, enveloping the stone wall with a thick sheet of crystal. Holding his hand in front of him, he fastens his free hand on his wrist and focuses all of his energy on his palm. His fingers begin to glow, tiny balls of light hovering his nails. He looks to his side, waiting for Kyungsoo's go signal, and what greets him is an amused grin and slow nodding from Kyungsoo. "Now," Kyungsoo says, voice barely above a whisper. Baekhyun takes a deep breath and releases light with a flick of the wrist. Then the bulb in the room breaks and they hear light screaming outside. "I told you, the extra 1% will make all the difference," Kyungsoo reminds him, an eyebrow raised. Baekhyun flashes a v-sign in an attempt to apologize for the damage. They run into Chanyeol and Jongdae when they finally leave the lab, on their way to the cafeteria. "Hey there, lovebirds," Baekhyun says as a greeting, then hooks an arm around Kyungsoo's own. Joonmyun's immediate reaction is a cock of the eyebrow, then a faint what does that mean?, but Kyungsoo doesn't give him time to repeat his question. Instead, Kyungsoo drags them down the hall and to their seats, a table far from the buffet line but quiet enough for talking. Kyungsoo excuses himself for a while, saying he has to rub off Baekhyun's cooties, and Joonmyun slips right beside Baekhyun. "Wait, you're saying–" He looks over his shoulder, then continues, "Chanyeol and Jongdae are a thing? I mean, it's already confirmed?" Baekhyun snorts. "Am I really the only one who doesn't know?" "You were sorta dead for two years, hyung," comes a different voice this time. Jongin steps out of a cloud of smoke and squeezes himself between Joonmyun and Baekhyun. "Jealous now–" "No," Baekhyun interrupts. "Why would I be? It's not as if Chanyeol and I ever–" "Everyone knows," Jongin says, adding emphasis on the last syllable like it's taking too much effort to talk to Baekhyun. Baekhyun leers at Jongin, then yanks Kyungsoo by the arm when he comes back. To Jongin, he says, "I am not talking to you. We are not friends. I won't fix your bulbs at home." "Sure. I can buy new bulbs everyday, if I wanted to." Jongin quickly stands from his seat, using Joonmyun as a shield when Baekhyun raises a fist in his direction. "Abuse of power! I'm telling the management!" The truth is, Jongin's another one of those people who doesn't recognize rules, only uses them when the need arises. On a normal day, he probably wouldn't think of any other rule than the fifth – 'always wear a mask' – but his memory is impeccable. Ask him about the code of conduct ten years back and he'd be able to take you through the whole thing without even breaking a sweat. Ask him for directions, though, and he'll just offer to take you there instead. "Buy me lunch," Kyungsoo mumbles, but if the lilt in his voice is anything to go by then Baekhyun is sure he's teasing. "Hyung didn't bring money," he says right back. "Sorry, hun. You'll have to pay for our lunch today." "What good are you for if you won't buy me food?" Kyungsoo laughs a little, then stands up. Baekhyun keeps a firm grip on his arm, though. "What? I'm hungry." "They're walking in our direction," Baekhyun answers. Kyungsoo looks at him, just looks at him for a few seconds, then sinks back in his seat. "Help me out." "What do you want me to do?" Baekhyun snakes an arm around Kyungsoo and leans his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "Don't flinch," he says, looking up at Kyungsoo. From this angle, the dip of Kyungsoo's bottom lip looks uneven. "Look at me. Try to smile." From a corner of his eyes, he sees the two approaching. Kyungsoo turns his head to his side, then, leans close enough until his bottom lip touches Baekhyun's forehead. The contact isn't warm or electric, but it does send a funny feeling to the pit of Baekhyun's stomach. He takes a sharp breath when his insides turn, and his grip loosens just a little. Then Kyungsoo's leaning back, contact breaking, lips parting slightly as he swipes his tongue on his bottom lip. His cheeks are no longer numb, but they're too warm. It must be the excess energy in his system. "Like that?" Kyungsoo asks, like he's asking Baekhyun if he understood the aura focusing lesson or if Baekhyun is listening at all. The smug smile on Kyungsoo's lips doesn't help, only makes Baekhyun want to punch Kyungsoo in the face all the more or push him away. He nods in response, though, gulps hard when Kyungsoo hums. "It's a literal pain in the neck, though." Baekhyun straightens up and gives in to the urge to nudge Kyungsoo in the side with his elbow. Kyungsoo groans at the same time that Chanyeol takes a step closer to greet Joonmyun. He finds himself laughing just a little, the tension in his cheeks easing as he whispers, "Well fuck you, too, Do Kyungsoo." "That's not part of the agreement, hyung." Baekhyun rolls his eyes, then bumps his hips into Kyungsoo's. "Get up, kid. I'm buying you lunch. You're really cute." Kyungsoo's speech gets garbled somewhere between I'm not a kid and that's not a valid reason, hyung, but Kyungsoo does hold Baekhyun's outstretched hand, doesn't let go until they're already in line. "Thanks," Baekhyun says, grinning, and Kyungsoo just looks at him, eyebrows furrowed lightly as he worries his bottom lip. "Bibimbap with extra kimchi and yellow radish on the side," Kyungsoo answers, then looks away. He slips his hand out of Baekhyun's hold and digs them in the back pockets of his pants. "That's all?" Kyungsoo gives him a quick look, then, "Afternoon coffee, too." "Anything for my favorite," Baekhyun croons, and soon he's met with Kyungsoo's elbow in his side, twisting until he squirms and hits Kyungsoo right back. Kyungsoo is smiling, though, gums peeking, teeth flashing at him in a blinding white. He wages war against the light for the first time, squints until the light dims and makes it easier to study Kyungsoo's smile. ☄ They're training in the battle simulation room today, except Kyungsoo has taken control of the AI and is actually suited up for a fight. Baekhyun can't decide just yet if Kyungsoo looks taller or smaller in the blue overalls, but it's a welcome change from his usual outfit. They've chosen a rocky field for this particular session, and Kyungsoo hasn't stopped looking around just yet, grinning when he spots the details on the stone sculptures, the expanse of ground in front of them. "Don't go easy on me!" Baekhyun calls out from the other side of the room. There are solar panels up high, and the walls of the room are reflective. It's anybody's game, really – it's just a matter of maximizing the field and keeping an eye open for flashes of weakness. Kyungsoo taps his foot on the ground and the earth starts shaking. Baekhyun sticks up his middle finger in the air, unmindful of the feet stretched between them. "Thank you, you're such a fucking show-off!" "I'm just warming up," Kyungsoo says, smiling. The ground shakes again when he clenches his fists. First thing's first – Baekhyun summons a protective barrier around the field, shielding Joonmyun from the blows that might be thrown his way in the heat of the battle. SM hasn't fallen short on reminding them to keep casualties to a bare minimum, and Baekhyun's first order of business, as with any battle, is to put up a shield. He smiles when he sees both ends of the barrier meet at the top, then he turns his eyes to his hands, stretched out in front of him, palms glowing. "What's the goal?" Baekhyun asks. Level 5 aura focusing ended a few days ago, when he successfully took down the huge stone wall Kyungsoo had pulled up from the ground. Kyungsoo groaned then, but didn't forget to shake Baekhyun's hand. Then they'd gone out for samgyupsal with Jongin and Sehun in tow, ended up paying for the two. The perks of being the youngest. "No more moving targets?" "Knock me unconscious," Kyungsoo replies, voice flat like it's normal to issue a shoot to kill order for oneself. "Just enough to take me out for a couple hours." "I'll sweep you off your feet." "No flirting in the arena," Kyungsoo says. He chuckles, though, before shaking the ground another time. Baekhyun grumbles but smiles, nonetheless. Conversation dissolves into silence when they take their positions on opposite sides of the arena. Baekhyun steps inside the blue box, hands ready to shoot out crystals or blasts of light, while Kyungsoo remains steady on the other side, standing still with his hands on his sides. The buzzer sounds off, and they both push themselves off the ground. Baekhyun aims a beam of light at the ground, and Kyungsoo jumps from one pillar to another until he's hovering Baekhyun. "Boo," Kyungsoo says, whispering in Baekhyun's ear, and the next thing Baekhyun knows he's hitting the wall, cement crumbling around him. The front of his shirt isn't stained, though. He looks up at Kyungsoo who's clenching and unclenching his fists. "So how much of your power was that?" he asks, voice cracking as he gets up from the rubble. Kyungsoo holds up one finger, then takes a few steps back when Baekhyun shoots light balls at his feet. "You've got to be kidding me!" "Stop talking and start attacking," Kyungsoo says, a corner of his lips tugged up. He's doing that lazy smile again, like pulling the other corner of his mouth up requires too much effort. "This isn't a playground, Starburst." "I'm just getting started– Hey, what's your superhero name?" "Doesn't matter." Another light shake of the ground, and Baekhyun forcefully pushes himself up. "Come on, I'm waiting." The problem with going up against someone who can control earth is that crystals are, 50% of the time, ineffective against rock solid things. Kyungsoo can make the ground absorb the force of the crystals, too, so that's another hurdle he has to overcome. A crack is a crack, though, so Baekhyun makes full use of that – he charges the crystals that have stuck to the stone slab Kyungsoo has pulled up from the ground, makes the shards carry as much heat as possible. The explosion is loud, the smoke thick, and shit, he should know better than to create a huge explosion inside SM's facility. He wipes off the layer of smoke with light, shooting a beam up at the ceiling and letting it explode into flecks in the air. Kyungsoo's down on one knee. His face is littered with scars, but his eyes are focused. "That's it?" Kyungsoo asks, challenging. "That's all you've got?" "Any stronger than that blast and you'll be toast," Baekhyun replies. "Exactly why this is focus and control training." Kyungsoo cracks his neck and brushes off the dust that has collected on his shirt. "Think you can try to knock me out in the next ten minutes?" "Fuck–" Baekhyun groans. "I'm good with goals but don't give me a time limit!" From the P.A. system, Joonmyun's voice echoes. "Ten minutes, Baekhyun. Any longer than that and we're holding the same session here tomorrow." So screw holding back because the guy on the opposite side of the arena is his trainer and, maybe, his friend. Baekhyun starts off with summoning crystals, taking down the shield Kyungsoo has put up around himself. Kyungsoo runs a few feet away, jumping from one pillar to another. Beyond Kyungsoo's shoulder, a steel panel of the wall glares at Baekhyun. He releases a beam, aims straight for the panel behind Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo's eyes widen as the light bounces off the panel. Baekhyun leaps over to where Kyungsoo is, catches Kyungsoo in a chokehold. Kyungsoo's not unconscious, not yet, but the impact of the blast is enough to make his defenses drop. The other side of being a light lord that most people don't know – being able to create illusions. Baekhyun presses down one hand at the back of Kyungsoo's head, flushes light in his system, straight to his eyes. If he's tapped the right part of Kyungsoo's brain then Kyungsoo must be seeing stained glass right now, his bed, his cave. "Sleep," he whispers in Kyungsoo's ear, and Kyungsoo's whole body goes limp, falls forward. He lands on one knee and a foot on the ground, Kyungsoo's lifeless figure in his arms. A few feet away, Joonmyun is clapping, an eyebrow cocked. "Haven't seen that trick in a while, Starburst," Joonmyun says, and Baekhyun lets the barrier come off, dissipating in flecks of light. "Man, he weighs a ton," Baekhyun grumbles when he feels the brunt of Kyungsoo's weight on his shoulder. Joonmyun mentions something about Kyungsoo's subconscious kicking in, an always-on defense mechanism that he's developed over time. Baekhyun presses on, though, carries Kyungsoo all the way to his laboratory, and wonders why Kyungsoo decided to stop taking field missions with an ability as great as this. Thinks of breaking down the stone walls Kyungsoo has build around him chip by chip, one by one. ☄ It's strange to be on the other side of the bed, the one doing the 'watching over' instead of being watched. It's only been two hours since Kyungsoo passed out, but it's long enough for Baekhyun to feel a tinge of panic. He was the one who put Kyungsoo to sleep, after all, but Joonmyun assured him that he'll be up in a few minutes. Relax. Joonmyun's voice wasn't shaking then, but his hands were, like he wasn't accustomed to plugging the wires to Kyungsoo. Baekhyun gave Joonmyun's arm a light squeeze and tried to smile. To be fair, Kyungsoo did instruct Baekhyun to knock him unconscious. When he finally followed instructions to a T, he got a friend in danger. Screw the rules. "Hey, kid, wake up," Baekhyun tries, frowns when he doesn't get a response. Kyungsoo is still motionless on the hospital bed, in his own laboratory. Baekhyun would laugh if he could, but Kyungsoo might come back from the grave or something and punch him in the face. He looks up at the ceiling, instead, and dims the lights. "I'm gonna kill you if you stay in a comatose forever, asshole," he mumbles, then tucks his chin on his folded arms. He keeps his eyes on Kyungsoo for the next few hours, watching every shift of Kyungsoo's muscles, a tiny hitch in his breathing. The next thing he knows, Kyungsoo's already poking the back of his head, and the sun is already setting outside the window. "How long was I out?" he asks, looking up, and Kyungsoo defers the question to Joonmyun. "How long has he been up?" "Long enough." "Just a few minutes ago," Joonmyun interrupts, then slaps Kyungsoo's hand when Kyungsoo begins to remove the wires plugged to him. "And you said you were still feeling queasy. Stop acting like a kid." "He is a kid," Baekhyun teases, sticking out a tongue at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo reaches over, gripping him by the wrist, but there's no threat in this – his hold is too loose, his fingers cold. If Kyungsoo hadn't just woken up from a coma then he might even be teasing. "I have, what, five years on you? Ten?" "Eight," Kyungsoo answers, then yanks Baekhyun closer. Joonmyun fusses with the IV on Kyungsoo's free hand. "But I can't feel the difference at all." Kyungsoo's face is close, close enough that Baekhyun can make out the tiny dot on the dip of Kyungsoo's lip, close enough that he can look at Kyungsoo in the eye through Kyungsoo's short lashes. Kyungsoo's eyes are big, so full of life, always filled with wonder despite the bored look he always fashions. When in doubt, steal a glance at Kyungsoo's lips – they never lie. Wrong move, Baekhyun tells himself as he allows his gaze to travel south, tracing the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose then settling on Kyungsoo's upper lip. They're swollen from sleep, a pretty shade of pink. "Show some respect," Baekhyun whispers. He balls one hand into a fist. "I'm gonna take up your lack of respect to the management." Kyungsoo licks his lips then leans back, scowling when Joonmyun finally pulls out the needle. "Give it up, hyung. It's a losing battle," he replies. To Joonmyun, he says with a smile, "Thank you. And thank you for the food, too." Baekhyun feels his fingers again, knees no longer shaking "Who's buying?" Joonmyun groans. "You two!" In the end, Joonmyun does buy them dinner, and they end up having a little picnic in the rooftop. It's blessedly dry and cool here outside, the perfect weather to eat hot food in, so Baekhyun soaks up the jjigae, Joonmyun's assessment of the practice session, Kyungsoo's quick glances, careful and tentative. When they take separate routes to their dorms, Kyungsoo reaches out and grabs him by his shirt sleeve. "Sorry for what happened," Kyungsoo says, eyes finally meeting Baekhyun's own. He worries his bottom lip, then continues, "You really did well. Congratulations." Baekhyun's stomach lurches, and he lets a giggle slip from his lips. "Thanks," he simply says, smiling, and reaches out to ruffle Kyungsoo's hair before going on his own way. The image of Kyungsoo's bright smile, teeth baring, haunts him in his sleep. ☄ To say that Chanyeol and Jongdae's superhero schedules are fully-booked is an understatement – their hero commitments overlap, but they still manage to deliver. "Our most prized duo, SM Academy's best superhero pair in a century," someone from the management says on the huge screen in the cafeteria, and Baekhyun lays his palms flat on his lap in an effort to not break the TV screen. Whatever happened to the dynamic duo, Starburst and Heatmore, that was able to take down five criminals in a night alone? SM made a truckload of profit out of the action figures they sold, the costumes for all ages. Heck, McDonald's even had special Starburst and Heatmore Happy Meal and McShake Fries. Nobody in the history of superheroes has ever done that. Baekhyun pops three fries in his mouth and chews noisily. Beside him, Kyungsoo mumbles, "The golden kids are here, your seven o'clock." "They were fighting evil just minutes ago," Baekhyun argues. He licks the cheese powder that has gathered on the corners of his lips. "They can't be here." Kyungsoo snatches the bag of McShake fries and says, "Look again." It's Chanyeol's bright orange hair that greets him when he looks over his shoulder. On a normal day, without adrenaline coursing through Chanyeol's veins, his hair takes on a sunset shade. During battles, it turns into a bright red that's blinding even for a light lord like Baekhyun. Chanyeol looks to his side, then nudges Jongdae as they laugh about something. Jongdae's is a tame shade of golden yellow now, instead of the bright shade it takes when he's supercharged with electricity. In a white shirt and blue jeans, they hardly look like superheroes. At best, they're wannabes trying to attract attention. Baekhyun scoffs, turns back to the screen and snakes an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulder. "Told you," Kyungsoo whispers, chuckling. Baekhyun growl at him but pulls him closer, anyway. In the two weeks that they've played pretend boyfriends to each other, Kyungsoo seems to have already developed a habit of not leering at Baekhyun at the first sign of body contact. He'll flinch and gasp, but for the most part he lets Baekhyun have his way, lets Baekhyun play with his fingers and his hair. After the show, he jabs Baekhyun on the arm and says, "You're disgusting." Baekhyun, too, has developed a response to that – "Isn't that our goal as a cute couple? Be disgustingly sweet?" "Don't you ever say that again," Kyungsoo snarls. A heartbeat, and then, "Please, hyung." "My feisty little cub," Baekhyun croons. Soon, he's choking and saying, "God-fucking-dammit, Kyungsoo!", one arm bracing his stomach as he recovers from taking a punch to the stomach. "Come back, you runt! You're not yet done feeding me ice cream!" "You have hands, hyung. Use them." "But I'm injured!" Baekhyun wails. He is, though – he'd broken three fingers after control practice in the afternoon, and his right arm is still sore from when he'd stopped a boulder from falling over him. He still has trouble with his power percentages, like his body has never been in good terms with control. Back when he and Chanyeol were still partners, Chanyeol had done most of the adjusting. Baekhyun simply had to stand there, summon a blast of light, and he'd leave the rest to Chanyeol. Chanyeol never complained, though. Kyungsoo stops for a while and looks over his shoulder. "You can lick it off the container." Baekhyun groans. "You are heartless!" Kyungsoo huffs, shoulders falling forward as he shakes his head. There's nowhere else to go, anyway – they're done for the day and Kyungsoo is a firm believer of the No Overtime Policy – so he turns around, starts walking back the distance between them, and plops down beside Baekhyun. "Wish I was," Kyungsoo mumbles, but it could've been anything. Kyungsoo eats his words the way Baekhyun eats french fries – messy. "A heartless, feisty little cub." Kyungsoo's hand hovers, the tip of the spoon grazing Baekhyun's lips. "Don't push your luck, hyung." Baekhyun grins. "I don't have to." Chanyeol and Jongdae are a few tables away, and he knows that only half of Chanyeol's mind is on that conversation. He's known Chanyeol long enough to tell that the way he slumps in his seat means he's only half interested, or that the way he tilts his head in the direction opposite Baekhyun's is his way of saying, I've got an eye on you, Byun. Don't make a mistake. So Baekhyun parts his lips, holds Kyungsoo's gaze as he clamps his lips on the spoon then pulls away, ice cream leaving the utensil. Kyungsoo doesn't waver, stays still, a corner of his lips tugging up. "You're a messy eater," Kyungsoo whispers, then reaches up to wipe off stray ice cream from Baekhyun's bottom lip. When Kyungsoo sucks in his thumb, licking off the ice cream that was once on Baekhyun's lips, Baekhyun finds himself taking a deep breath. He allows his gaze to travel south, to lock onto Kyungsoo's lips. Kyungsoo swipes his tongue on his bottom lip, chuckles. Baekhyun doesn't look away. ☄ Baekhyun somehow gets himself into a dinner date with Chanyeol and Jongdae. The good news is that they're paying and that he managed to rope Kyungsoo in, telling the two that he was going to introduce them to a 'good friend of his'. The bad news is that he managed to rope Kyungsoo in, which means two or more hours of torture just trying to coax a sweet remark out of Kyungsoo. "Just tell them I'm not that kind of boyfriend," Kyungsoo whispers as they walk to the samgyupsal place. Baekhyun snorts, and Kyungsoo slaps him on the arm. The blow leaves a warm handprint on his skin. "You're getting a hang of this boyfriend thing, huh?" Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow and laughs a little. "I'm a good actor. And I know how to clean my tracks." "Oh, you mean your teeny tiny paw prints?" Kyungsoo holds up a fist, but quickly throws an arm over Baekhyun's shoulder when Chanyeol turns around. "I'll rip your throat with my teeny tiny claws, hyung." Baekhyun leans his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder and nuzzles his arm. "You're such a sweetheart. I'm really, really touched." Kyungsoo and Jongdae take charge of cooking the meat, but Chanyeol makes everyone's lives easier, sets the flame to max and turns the meat into a nice shade of brown within seconds. The only downside is the burnt edges, but Baekhyun will take that over having to wait for food for too long. Kyungsoo places three slices on Baekhyun's bowl, stares at him for a while as if asking, you okay with this?, and Baekhyun nods. He leans close until their noses are just a hair's width from each other. "Feed me," he whispers, then scrunches his nose. "I thought feeding was a one-time thing." Kyungsoo looks away, then looks back, eyes settling on Baekhyun's lips. Baekhyun darts out his tongue and draws out a lick between his teeth. "And for dessert." "You're not old enough a dog to not learn new tricks, okay," Baekhyun grumbles. He holds the gaze, though, still smiling. "Come on, come on, come on–" Kyungsoo takes a slice of meat, dips it in gochujang, and presses the hot piece on Baekhyun's lips. "Open up, hyung." Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows, then laughs when the ghost of a smile surfaces on Kyungsoo's lips. "You're the sweetest." Chanyeol clears his throat, then, and asks, "So, you two… How did it start?" Baekhyun doesn't answer, just keeps chewing and tilts his head in Kyungsoo's direction as if asking him to do the storytelling. "He was a mess and I helped him sort out his shit," Kyungsoo says, improvising when he taps the tip of his chopsticks on Baekhyun's bottom lip. "I guess you could call it a teacher-student thing." Jongdae chuckles. "Oh? I thought it was an idol-fan thing, what with–" Jongdae's eyes grow wide, and Baekhyun squints as he tries to read that look. He hasn't seen this yet, not in the recent past. Jongdae's rarely ever startled by anything, always prepared to take a blow or any form of surprise. With lightning-fast reflexes, Jongdae's the last person you'd expect to be caught off guard. "So Baek, you graduated from focus training already?" "Full marks. Aced the exam." Knocked Kyungsoo out for a few hours and asked him out on a pretend-slash-practice date to make up for almost rendering Kyungsoo unconscious for a long time. It's a win-win situation, really, even if Kyungsoo acts as if he's itching to get out of this arrangement half the time. The smile on his lips always betrays his vacant expression. It's always the lips that give Kyungsoo away. "Almost flunked it," Kyungsoo says, teasing. His lips are slightly parted in a grin. "But he pulled through. Now he's taking control lessons just to make sure he's good to be sent out to do field missions again." "Shut up. We're not talking about field missions," Baekhyun grumbles. He stuffs two slices between Kyungsoo's lips, gulping hard as he watches Kyungsoo suck in the meat. He taps his chopsticks on his lips. "How are you two, though?" Chanyeol and Jongde exchange a look, then, "Good." Chanyeol moves closer, snakes a hand around Jongdae's shoulder and leans his head on Jongdae's own. "Couldn't be better." "Soju, anyone?" Kyungsoo asks, raising the bottle and looking around. Under the table, he reaches for Baekhyun's hand, squeezes Baekhyun's thigh until there's nothing that Baekhyun can feel but the force of Kyungsoo's grip, the warmth of his hand, the steady beating of Kyungsoo's pulse against his skin. He nods, pushes his shot glass in Kyungsoo's direction, and mumbles a thanks under his breath before taking a shot. He gives Kyungsoo all the extra yellow radish in his plate, in case Kyungsoo didn't get the message. Kyungsoo acknowledges by pressing a slice of meat on Baekhyun's lips – not sizzling hot, just the right kind of warm. Perfect for eating. ☄ Kyungsoo loosens up after a couple of shots, not inebriated but just the right amount of tipsy to laugh at Chanyeol's lame jokes. Jongdae's cackling, too, toeing the line between in denial drunk and really drunk, and the flush on Chanyeol's neck almost reaches his ears already. Baekhyun's long gone after the first bottle, chin tucked on Kyungsoo's shoulder as he slurs, "They don't even look good together," but laughs whenever Kyungsoo cracks a joke. Kyungsoo gives him a quick look, then presses on Baekhyun's hand on his thigh when Baekhyun starts drawing patterns on Kyungsoo's pants. "You're drunk," Kyungsoo states. He asks for ice cold water for everyone, but Jongdae orders another bottle for them to consume. "Will you be okay?" Baekhyun snorts. "'s long as they don't PDA-ing the shit out of this dinner then yeah, I will." A hiccup, then, "Take me home?" "I don't even know where you live, hyung." "I can sleep in Joonmyun-hyung's lab or something," Baekhyun mumbles. He reaches for another shot, but stops midway when he looks up to find Chanyeol resting his forehead against Jongdae's, laughing lightly. "You're not taking that shot," Kyungsoo says, and moves the shot glass closer to his lips. Baekhyun lets his hand fall to the table, making sure to create noise, but they still haven't broken off, like alcohol has taken them to an entirely different place where they aren't Heatmore and Kaminari and they're not afraid to break rules. He hears Kyungsoo's loud gulp, can smell the scent of alcohol near his face, and when he turns his head away from the scene he's met with Kyungsoo pressing close. "Kiss me," Kyungsoo says, voice steady as the ground, solid as a rock. Baekhyun exhales. "You don't have to do this." "You expect me to watch as you beat Chanyeol-hyung up or something?" Kyungsoo snorts. "Emotional torture is better. You should know that." He does. He knows it too well. He knows the feeling of seeing your best friends almost sucking face just feet away not long after you've waken up from a coma. He knows the feeling of being replaced and being betrayed and it stings more than any wound he's gotten in battle. Like getting slammed down to the ground by Pegasus and being mindfucked by Psycho then being asked to do another mission without getting any rest. He feels used. "Sometimes, I think you're wiser that I am," Baekhyun whispers. Kyungsoo laughs a little, but stops when Baekhyun snakes a hand up his nape. "It's ridiculous." Ridiculous is Baekhyun leaning close until the tips of their noses touch. It's staring at Kyungsoo's lips, swollen from being bitten too much, too hard, and letting himself be dragged to one of Kyungsoo's bad ideas. It's considering kissing a boy nearly a decade younger than the is, the same boy who trained him and helped him with his focus and control. The same boy who reminded him of the limitations of his power and the wonders it can bring to him, as well. The same boy who asked to be knocked out for the sake of training and didn't even demand compensation. Byun Baekhyun has never been a fan of the normal, so crazy, ridiculous is right up his alley. He closes his eyes, tilts his head, and meets Kyungsoo in a brush of the lips. Kyungsoo's breath hitches. The way Kyungsoo kisses is… soft, patient, almost painstakingly slow, but only at the start. Baekhyun licks at the seam of Kyungsoo's lips, asking for access, and Kyungsoo tilts his head back as he yields. He sucks on Kyungsoo's bottom lip first, seethes when he catches the taste of alcohol thick on Kyungsoo's skin. Kyungsoo fights back after a while, pushing his tongue inside, licking the back of Baekhyun's teeth, the cavern of his mouth, tickling the roof. Baekhyun giggles, pinches Kyungsoo in his side, but Kyungsoo doesn't break off, presses on as he sucks Baekhyun's upper lip between his own, grazes his teeth on the skin just a little. Baekhyun pulls away when he feel his throat go dry, but leans back in for a few quick kisses – on Kyungsoo's top lip, the corners of his mouth, a last, noisy one of the tip of Kyungsoo's nose that makes Kyungsoo groan. "You're gross," Kyungsoo whispers. He's smiling, though, and his ears are a bright shade of red. "You're gross-er," Baekhyun retorts, sticking out his tongue. He pinches Kyungsoo's cheek before reaching for a glass of water. When he looks up, Chanyeol's looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. He sinks his teeth into the ice cold drink, lets the cold numb the dull, pleasant ache in his mouth. Kyungsoo pours him a shot, then raises his eyebrows at him, asking, "Alive?" Baekhyun looks at his shaking hands, licks his bottom lip and tastes Kyungsoo on it. He takes a deep breath and tears his gaze from Chanyeol, then answers, "Yeah. Pretty much." ☄ They make it to Kyungsoo's flat past midnight, after struggling with keeping Baekhyun on his feet. Kyungsoo isn't much help, also a bit too drunk to see properly, but they manage to crawl up the stairs anyway. Kyungsoo leaves a wet hand towel on Baekhyun's face, and Baekhyun only grumbles in response. "Please be alive and not gross tomorrow," are Kyungsoo's parting words before he leaves Baekhyun in his bedroom. Baekhyun doesn't stir until the door shuts close, until he hears Kyungsoo's footsteps fade into the distance. Bless Kyungsoo for not turning on the lights. He turns around now, lying flat on his back, and takes a deep breath. There's still the scent of smoke in his hair, his clothes. There's too much alcohol in his system. The image of Chanyeol and Jongdae almost kissing burns at the back of his eyelids. There's still the sting of Kyungsoo's lips on his own, cold and chapped. He buries his face in the pillow all the more. Damn, that boy can kiss. Kyungsoo could knock all the air out of his lungs if he wanted to, if Baekhyun would let him. Emotional torture is better, he hears Kyungsoo's voice in his head. He clutches at his chest, then wipes his face with the wet towel. He's too drunk for this. When the wakes up the following day, Kyungsoo is already gone but has left him a note and food on the dining table. "Control training after lunch. Don't turn up hungover," the note says. Then, at the bottom, "(Kimchi's in the fridge. Please don't eat everything.)" Baekhyun laughs a little and imagines eating kimchi off of Kyungsoo's pretty lips. He smacks his head, scowls at the impact. He has training in a few hours. There's no time to be thinking of silly things. ☄ They develop a weird sort of reward system over the next few days. If Kyungsoo doesn't threaten to throw pebbles (or boulders; it depends on his mood) at Baekhyun whenever Baekhyun cracks a lame joke, Baekhyun buys him food. If Baekhyun's silence goes on for more than five minutes, Kyungsoo buys him food. In the end, they take turns buying each other lunch and dinner, banking on the few times that they're in a good enough mood to pull off their deal. "Ten minutes! If I stay quiet for more than ten minutes, you buy me breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow!" Baekhyun says this time, on their way to the cafeteria after control training. Beside them, Joonmyun only rolls his eyes, but checks his wrist watch and mouths, Time starts now! Kyungsoo points a finger at him, parts his lips as if meaning to speak, but too late – Baekhyun makes a zipping motion and keeps his lips pressed together, winking before he resumes walking. "He won't make it," Joonmyun whispers, but Baekhyun still catches it. He scowls when Baekhyun nudges him in his side. "It's not as if anyone actually believes he can." Kyungsoo eludes the blow and bops the back of Baekhyun's head. "Is his second ability talking people's heads off?" "Close enough." Baekhyun stops in front of them, narrows his eyes, then flails his arms around. Kyungsoo scoffs. "How cute." Times like these when Baekhyun cannot use his words, he hits Kyungsoo on the arm, lands tiny jabs on it until Kyungsoo's erupting into a peal of laughter. He earns it quicker than the usual this time after pinching Kyungsoo in his side, and Joonmyun steps to his side to get out of Kyungsoo's way. Kyungsoo leans back against the wall, catching his breath, and Baekhyun takes a step closer. There's nothing but their feet between them, hot air from Kyungsoo's laughter keeping them apart. Chanyeol and Jongdae have just exited the cafeteria and they're a few feet away. Baekhyun leans in, traces the column of Kyungsoo's neck with a finger and rests in on the base of Kyungsoo's throat. He feels a gentle bob against his finger when Kyungsoo swallows the rest of his laughter, looks up at him through heavy eyelids. Kyungsoo licks his lips. And then he hears the rustle of Joonmyun clothes, the shuffle of his feet. Then he hears a soft gasp in Jongdae's distinct voice. There's a camera a few feet away that can capture footage even from a great distance, and his stomach is grumbling. He takes a step back and asks, mumbling, "What do you want to eat?" A corner of Kyungsoo's lips tugs up in a sly acknowledgement of his victory. "Japchae's fine. We can share, if you want," Kyungsoo answers, then pushes himself off the wall. Their knuckles brush when Kyungsoo walks past him, stopping only to look over his shoulder. "Come on, hyung. We don't have all day." "You're buying me dinner, though," Baekhyun retorts. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "I've been doing that for a week already, hyung," Kyungsoo says once they're shoulder to shoulder, falling in step. Baekhyun elbows Kyungsoo in his side, twists his elbow until Kyungsoo fights back with even more force. Chanyeol gives his shoulder a light tap and he only looks to his side to acknowledge the touch, doesn't drop his hand from squeezing Kyungsoo's arm even after they've already crossed paths. Instead, he keeps his hand there, pushing Kyungsoo inside the cafeteria all the way to where the food trays are as he whispers, "And dessert. You're buying me dessert." ☄ Joonmyun sticks a leg out just when Baekhyun stands to go to the washroom. Kyungsoo had excused himself just minutes ago, saying that Jongin was calling for help. Poor kid teleported in the wrong place. The academy's having him checked. Baekhyun had just nodded then, thinking what would've happened if he tipped off sooner than most supers, if the light ate him from the inside and turned him into shards. 10% superhero, 90% power. Still, that's not enough to keep him from tripping. He slaps Joonmyun on the leg when he lands on his knees. "Fucking ow!" "I don't know what you and Kyungsoo are doing but, whatever it is, it better be for work. Just work." Joonmyun crosses his arms over his chest. His eyebrows are knitted and his lips are tugged down in a twisted frown that makes him look three years older. Baekhyun gets up, massages the skin on his knees, and looks up at Joonmyun. "It is," he answers, because it's true – flirting is part of relationship building and is, in turn, a huge factor in having a great relationship with your trainer. Kyungsoo doesn't ask him to blow things up or knock him out anymore. The bust Baekhyun had created a month ago is still there, though, in Kyungsoo's lab, guarding the filing cabinet where his stash of snacks is. "It's just work." Joonmyun cocks an eyebrow. "Someone saw you two kissing while you were out with Chanyeol and Jongdae." Shit. "Oh yeah? That's funny." Baekhyun laughs for effect, but Joonmyun's sharp expression still hasn't waned. "What?" "Do you even know a thing about Kyungsoo?" Joonmyun asks now, dropping his hands to his sides. "Do you know how he activated his powers? Do you know that he gets cold easily and that he hates getting smoke in his eyes? Do you know that he doesn't let people in his flat unless he's known them for more than two years already?" Funny, he slept in Kyungsoo's bed a couple of days ago. And Kyungsoo said he turned the temperature down because Baekhyun was sweating in his sleep and moving around too much. "I know he likes Americano," Baekhyun answers after a while. "And hitting people." "His favorite color?" Baekhyun shrugs. "Black?" "Never mind, that's an easy question." Joonmyun shifts in his seat. The tension in his eyebrows eases, and he slumps in his chair before continuing, "What are you two doing?" Nothing that friends wouldn't do – they buy each other food after losing a bet, practice in the training rooms until Baekhyun clears a level of control training. Kyungsoo stays around to listen to Baekhyun's rants whenever Baekhyun's close to passing out as they climb the stairs to their respective apartments. Baekhyun, in turn, listens to Kyungsoo talk about the beauty in movement and how wonderful it is to see Joonmyun's startled face whenever he makes loose soil wrap around Joonmyun's feet. They kissed once, and they almost kiss on certain occasions. It's not as if there's been a need to do it again. So Baekhyun says, "Nothing," sits on his hands as he holds Joonmyun's gaze. He sucks in his bottom lip as Joonmyun blinks at him, and exhales. "Nothing at all." Joonmyun shakes his head, then ruffles Baekhyun's hair when he reaches out. "If you say so," he whispers. There's a wistful smile on his lips. Baekhyun breaks the eye contact and stares at his feet, instead, because he's shit at lying and at keeping a straight face. If Joonmyun ever remembers this less attractive trait of Baekhyun's, he doesn't bring it up, just lets his hand fall to his sides and sinks back in his seat. ☄ Pegasus joins them for dinner, barging through the doors while Baekhyun takes a piece of meat between his teeth. "You didn't bring your friends?" is Baekhyun's greeting, and under the table Joonmyun kicks him in his ankles. He doesn't yelp, though, just keeps his eyes trained on Pegasus, watching the villain's every move. The last time they went head-to-head and he looked away, Pegasus sent him flying, then plummeting to the ground. "Nah, they're busy," Pegasus replies, and stops right in front of their table. The air cools all around them, and the water in Joonmyun's glass starts to boil. "Oh, your old leader's got a temper?" "Not here, Peggy. Let's take this outside," Joonmyun says, smiling. He grabs Pegasus by the wrist, and soon Pegasus is flying out of the place, bursting through the ceiling. The thing about not having any recent field battling experience is that 'real' arenas aren't as smooth as they usually are. Out here in Insadong, where the roads are narrow and nearly everything is a piece of art that absolutely can't be broken, it's a tough call to determine the diameter of the barrier that they need. How about the whole place, then? Baekhyun tells himself, raising his hands up high. He can see Joonmyun's water whips hitting Pegasus' arms, sees Pegasus taking a blast of water to the face. Joonmyun will only be able to do so much when they're up there, in Pegasus' home court and too many feet off the ground. "We can't win an aerial battle," Kyungsoo mumbles beside him. Baekhyun scrunches his nose. "My beams can only reach up to a certain height. And hyung will freeze up there, Jesus–" He catches the sound of Joonmyun's scream, and when he looks up he finds Joonmyun's body falling to the ground. "Whoa, whoa, wait–" A white puff of smoke envelops Joonmyun and carries him safely to the ground. "That was close," Joonmyun says, breathing heavy and ragged. Jongin massages his shoulders, and Sehun sends out wind boomerangs, pulling Pegasus to the ground. "So, leader," Sehun says, voice choked as he applies more pressure to keep Pegasus down. "Do you have a plan?" It's a toss up between exploiting Jongin's teleportation ability and Sehun's gift of flight, really, but moving around in the air isn't the easiest thing to do. Jongdae has the widest attacking range but he's probably somewhere else right now. Chanyeol and Baekhyun have about the same range, except the blast radius of Baekhyun's light bombs is bigger. And Kyungsoo is stuck to the ground unless he climbs the pillars he'll summon. Baekhyun shakes his head, waves Sehun off. "You guys are not going to face him. This guy's mine." "Possessive?" Pegasus asks. Sehun summons a wind whip and Pegasus groans. "Yeah. I really missed you, bud," Baekhyun replies. To the others, he says, "Back off. I've got this." Joonmyun reaches out, gripping him by the wrist. "Baekhyun–" "No, hyung. I can't put you in harm's way." He shucks Joonmyun hand off with a wave of his arm and turns his eyes back to Pegasus. "This battle is mine." He lets light fill his senses, surge up his arms and legs until he can feel power in every part of his body. Sehun hasn't let Pegasus go yet, so he runs straight to where the villain is, grabbing him by the wrist and firing a light blast straight to the chest. Pegasus soaks it in, laughing, and aims a punch at Baekhyun's face, arm, chest, but Baekhyun keeps his grip tight, not willing to give up just yet. "Don't want your friends to help you, huh?" Baekhyun snorts, faces Pegasus with a headbutt. "I'm already dealing with you right now. I don't need more people to annoy me." The reality is that Pegasus is the stronger superpower between the two of them; it's just that Baekhyun has better technique that makes it possible for them to play evenly on field. Pegasus kicks him in the stomach, sending him flying back against a car. The crash isn't too bad – there's just a dull ache in Baekhyun's back, nothing serious – but Pegasus is flying back up, feet lifting from the ground. Then lightning strikes from above and hoops of flame tighten around Pegasus' figure, holds down his wings. Without the clump of feathers, he's just another action figure running loose. The one Starburst and Heatmore took down in the "Firelight" animation series. Baekhyun pushes himself off the car, apologizes to the guy driving it and to the headlights. To Chanyeol and Jongdae, he calls out, "I could've handled this alone, y'know. You don't always have to come and save the day." "Yeah. And you weren't greeting the car with your ass," Chanyeol grumbles. "Nice move, Starburst. That'll definitely save the day." He reaches out, grabs a fistful of Chanyeol's shirt. "You're all big talk, Microwave–" Jongdae grabs both of them by the wrist, sparks flying. "Kids, not here." "Look out!" The ground shakes and, the next thing Baekhyun knows, Pegasus is down and lying flat on his back, eyes wide in shock and a nasty bump burning a bright red on his forehead. "You better lock him up before he thinks of escaping," Kyungsoo mumbles from behind them, and Baekhyun immediately looks over this shoulder. The huge stone wall slowly sinks back to the ground as Kyungsoo dusts himself off and steps on Pegasus' wrist, then gestures for Sehun and Jongin to take the villain away. "A heavy duty cell. One he can't burst through if he so decides." Baekhyun drops his hands to his sides, then walks to where Kyungsoo is. No injuries, save for a light cut on the back of his hand. All battles leave scars, albeit small. "You didn't have to do that." Kyungsoo shrugs. "You can't tell me what and what not to do." He cracks his knuckles, then, "I missed fighting crime. It's pretty exciting." "I don't." Baekhyun looks over his shoulder, at Chanyeol and Jongdae. He locks his arms behind his back, stretching. He can hear his bones crack. "It's draining." Kyungsoo looks at him for a while, just looks at him, like there's something so interesting about the way Baekhyun quirks his lips or furrows his eyebrow. "Not when you're with the right people," Kyungsoo mumbles, and then he excuses himself to help Joonmyun scout the vicinity for casualties. Chanyeol and Jongdae begin to walk closer, looking for an opening, but Baekhyun shies away, turns on his heel and walks over to where the others are. His hands are shaking and his knuckles are bruised and he feels so fucking sore all over, it's almost criminal. It isn't anything a good sleep can't fix, but Chanyeol's words will probably haunt him all night like his face, this face of Chanyeol's where his eyebrows are furrowed and he's frowning and it's so convincing that he's concerned. He inches away when the two approach, then head off in a different direction. Beside him, Kyungsoo asks, "Hey, you okay? He looks at his hands and balls them into fists, thrusting them in Kyungsoo's direction. "Kiss the pain away." Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow and looks around for an audience, but he presses a light kiss on Baekhyun's fists, anyway. The touch feels so familiar, like there's a memory that's supposed to be there, at the back of his head. It's dark here and Baekhyun can't be bothered to turn on the lights, but he can make out the flush on Kyungsoo's ears, the pout, the way he rolls his eyes in contrast to his statement – "You better get that checked with Joonmyun-hyung or Yixing-hyung. Can't be too sure." Baekhyun breaks out into a grin. The stretch is awkward at the corners, but he pulls it off nonetheless. He doesn't look over his shoulder to check on Chanyeol or Jongdae, just keeps his eyes on the path ahead of him, walking to where Joonmyun is. These wounds, at least, are easier to tend to. He's experienced worse cuts before; this, and even the overwhelming weight of Chanyeol's stare, is nothing compared to those. ☄ SM's idea of a good punishment (or Joonmyun's, at least) is sending Baekhyun out to do small missions that require a lot of controlling and seeking help. The day after the encounter with Pegasus, SM sends him to the outskirts of Korea to help build a school for supers. "Reputation building," someone from the management reasoned out. Baekhyun wanted to laugh then because if they really wanted to build good reputation then why would they send their most rebellious super? It was a last-ditch effort at making Baekhyun regret being selfish. And much as Baekhyun wouldn't want to admit, it's pretty damn effective. Five in the afternoon and much cement-mixing after, he falls back to the ground, closing his eyes when the sunlight hits him. They've already finished building a section of the facility, thanks to Kyungsoo's assistance, but there's still so much to be done – the second floor, in time for the inauguration at the end of the week, and the underground tunnel where the teleporter to the HQ lies. And a playground, too, that he'd suggested to the construction workers. "I'll pay for it. These supers just need a place where they can relax," he'd said then, like he hadn't stopped earning a huge sum of cash when he fell into a coma. Kyungsoo cocked an eyebrow at him, hands on his waist. He said nothing, though, just stared at Baekhyun before turning around to pick up his shovel. "You really want to build that playground?" Kyungsoo asks now when he joins Baekhyun, lying on his back. The ground is blessedly warm, not the unbearable kind of heat but the kind that turns collapsing to the ground, back first, into a back massage. Baekhyun turns to lie on his side, head propped on his hand. "Do you want me to go into this really long story about my dark past?" Baekhyun asks, chuckling. and Kyungsoo only squints at him. "Fine, fine. Long story short, I grew up with parents who were nothing like real parents. But whatever, they got themselves blown up and the academy took me in." Kyungsoo looks to his side, eyebrows furrowed. "In battle?" Kyungsoo worries his bottom lip for a while. "Strange, that wasn't in– They were superheroes, too?" "Supervillains," Baekhyun corrects. The ground beneath him starts to sink, but Kyungsoo goes for the save and presses his palm flat on the round. "So I told myself, I don't want to be like them. Becoming a superhero is like my final fuck-you. And here I am how – still with SM, one of the academy's best heroes." He chuckles, looks up at the sky. It's clear today. Jongdae won't be too pleased, but Chanyeol probably will be. And whatever Chanyeol likes, Baekhyun does, too. Fire and light, shining up in the sky. Together, they're a disaster waiting to happen. "And here you are now, sinking to the ground," Kyungsoo offers. Baekhyun growls at him, jabs Kyungsoo in the gut with his free hand. "Helping build a superhero facility instead of fighting crime." "It's a noble job, okay." "I'm not saying it isn't," Kyungsoo says in defense. "I'm just saying, if you just let people help you then you'd probably be having the last fuck-you laugh and getting back to the streets to take down villains again. Your parents' old friends or something." "Ah, the villains." Baekhyun chuckles. "Pegasus was… sort of a friend from the past. I mean I knew him before he started attacking me, but that's about it. He's changed. The power ate him from the inside." Kyungsoo snorts. "Got feathers in his throat and got all the goodness choked down, yeah?" "That's… a nice way to put it, yeah," Baekhyun replies. He pushes himself off the ground, sitting up. He can feel his arms again, but only just – any exertion and he'll probably fall back to the ground. Kyungsoo follows, sitting with his legs crossed, shifts until they're face-to-face, knee to knee. "D'you think that will ever happen to me? If I'll ever combust someday? I mean, I think I almost went there two years ago–" He scratches the back of his neck. "Sometimes, I wonder if I'll actually–" "Be a walking flashlight instead of a superhero glowing 24/7?" Kyungsoo laughs, then shakes his head. "Probably not. You still have faith in humanity. Just not in some supers, yeah, but– I think that's the most important thing when you're given so much power. If you believe that you can do anything and everything without asking help from anyone, then chances are you'll turn and go bad. But if you still think you could use some help and actually believe that people can help you, well…" Kyungsoo reaches out, hand resting flat on Baekhyun's own. "There's still a hero in you there, somewhere." Baekhyun worries his bottom lip. "But back there, when we met Pegasus again–" "That was you wanting to keep the others from getting injured," Kyungsoo answers quickly. "And that was your pride acting up and telling you that you have to finish what you started." "Well, I do have to." Baekhyun spreads out his fingers, slips then between Kyungsoo's own. He can feel Kyungsoo's pulse on his skin. "I have a score to settle with him." "So let the team help you," Kyungsoo says. "You're not as strong as you were before. You can feel it, can't you?" He can – every waking moment, when he has to drag himself out of bed instead of getting up feeling refreshed, when he feels a bit too cold in summer when evening strikes. When he feels chills run down his spine when he's enveloped in darkness, when he's alone. It's strange because he's supposed to be a hundred percent superhero now, with all of the super things SM pumped him with. Maybe his body has gone into an extended transition period. "Sort of," he admits after a while. "I thought it was just an age thing." "It's a coma thing," Kyungsoo mumbles. "Also, your body telling you that you're less amazing than you were years back. A lot of things have changed, y'know. Two years can do a lot to you." Baekhyun giggles. "So you finally admit that I'm amazing. Ah…" He pulls his hand free from Kyungsoo's grasp, wiggles his fingers until he can feel them again. "I feel so accomplished! Best day ever!" Kyungsoo stays rooted in his spot, shaking his head but smiling, even as Baekhyun goes on about discovering new ways to project his powers. Halfway through telling Kyungsoo about his plans for the playground, he threads their fingers together, holds onto Kyungsoo for warmth as evening approaches. It's a funny fit, but it does lend him a bit of warmth even when Kyungsoo hits him with his other hand. So he hangs on a little longer, doesn't let go until they have to get up and head back to the academy. If there's any form of darkness that he feels comfortable with, it's the one in Kyungsoo's lab where he complains about the lighting being too dim. The one Kyungsoo brings with him, as well, an odd form of light in the way the corners of his mouth pull up, revealing a smile. ☄ Jongdae makes fixing electrical lines at the KEPCO headquarters look like play time. "It's fairly easy," Jongdae reasons out, picking up two worn out cables with gloved hands and double-checking if they're of the same color. "You take a pair and put them together, like this–" He draws the two close to each other, smiling, and his eyes turn blue. His hair's a shocking shade of yellow, almost white, and his entire body is glowing. Baekhyun shies away, but keeps his eyes fixed on what Jongdae is doing. "Then you bind the wires together, concentrate just the right amount of power to fix the broken cable." Once Jongdae is done, his hair turns golden again, and his eyes take on a warmer color. He places the repaired cable on the ground, then looks up at Baekhyun. "If there's anyone who can do this better than I could, it's you. You're the keeper of light." Baekhyun snorts. "I can light bulbs. You can predict the weather." "Don't let them hear you say that," Jongdae whispers, chuckling. "Said I needed to take a leave because I lost the prediction part of my ability. Living a double-life can be draining." Baekhyun snorts. It's more than draining, he wants to say – it drives you insane, makes you question what's real and what isn't. He looks at Jongdae and tastes blood at the back of him mouth, but the rest of his body feels at ease. He looks at his glowing hands, feeling sure of himself, but the sparks of the cables shake him up. Kyungsoo isn't moving the ground, isn't even here. There's no Kyungsoo to make sure he stays flat on his feet, or shake him up when tension overwhelms him. "Tell me about it," Baekhyun mumbles. He takes a deep breath, draws the two ends of the cable together. The extra 1% will make all the difference, he remembers Kyungsoo saying, so he's extra careful, gradually adding power by a pinch until the cables meld together. He doesn't let go for another ten seconds, binding the cable with a sheet of light, then he sets the cable down on the ground. "Just this life's already tiring as it is." Something in Jongdae's eyes flickers. After a while, Jongdae asks, "Wanna get back on track and do missions with us again?" His knee-jerk response is to snort; what he really means is I'm not sure, I'm not feeling 100% okay yet. It's not as if these small missions SM engages him in do much to ease him back into fighting crime, especially alongside old teammates. Friends who've sort of turned against him and turned to each other. "I'm not yet ready," he confesses. He scrunches his nose, scratches his nape with a finger. "I think I still need to practice more." "But the best form of practice is–" "Actually jumping right into the action, yeah," Baekhyun finishes. He digs his hands into his back pockets and slouches. "I don't know, man. This whole 'change' thing is still pretty hard to digest. I haven't even been alive for a year yet." "You were never really dead, Baekhyun." Just barely alive, Baekhyun thinks. The way Jongdae bites the inside of his cheek makes Baekhyun think that Jongdae believes the same. "Just… not around to be part of the action." "Much like being dead. Except being here, body and soul." "No 'mind'," Jongdae adds. He's laughing. Baekhyun is, too, no matter how dry and tight his throat feels. "Your mind's always elsewhere. In Lala Land. In the air." In the particles of light only Baekhyun sees. "Ew, please don't associate me with the Pegasus guy. I love the ground, thank you very much." Jongdae extends a hand in his direction, still gloved, but not any less harmful. Baekhyun shrugs to himself and thinks, why the hell not? So he takes it and shakes it until he feels electricity creep up his fingers. Jongdae has always been a twisted kind of warm. "Just the ground?" Baekhyun stomps a foot on the ground and waits for stronger tremors, but they don't come. Kyungsoo is miles away and he's stuck here with Jongdae. They only have a couple more cables to fix; they'd actually make a great team, if Baekhyun gave them a chance. "Just the ground," he repeats, throat clenching around the last syllable. He swallows. "Nothing else." ☄ They say the worst possible thing that can happen to a superhero is to get hit with coughs and colds. Baekhyun agrees, to an extent – these are the kinds of things that even heroes who can self-heal can't avoid. Get a nasty cut on your cheek and it's gone in less than a minute. Sniffle at the start of the day and, come afternoon, it'll only get worse. Baekhyun gets it, the semblance of balance in their super lives, but a cold is still a cold. His nose is stuffy and he can't do somersaults with a stuffy nose. Kyungsoo can't report to work with LBM and and intestinal flu, either. It's not as if he needs to see Kyungsoo or anything, just that it's been a week since they last had a real control training session and a week since he's last doted on Kyungsoo. It's already part of a routine he's not willing to change. "Is that contagious?" Baekhyun asks over the phone, purposely taking his voice an octave higher to sound like he's worried. Well, he is, if you consider pacing outside Kyungsoo's office and rapping on the door until Joonmyun told him Kyungsoo wasn't coming in 'worried', then sure, he is. His stomach lurches at the sound of Kyungsoo's scratchy laughter. Maybe Kyungsoo even passed on the intestinal flu to him via the phone lines. "Don't be silly," Kyungsoo croaks. The transmission chops up his words, draws out his syllables and makes him sound more in pain. "And it's gastroenteritis, not intestinal flu. I just have a fever and that thing at the same time." "Whatever. It's a mouthful." Baekhyun looks around for a while, then whispers into the receiver, "Want me to kiss the bubu away?" "I'm hanging up, hyung." "I'll drop by later, okay, cupcake?" Baekhyun says in a louder voice when he sees Chanyeol out of the corner of his eyes. Chanyeol takes a step forward, then backward, then changes routes. He's walking straight ahead now, in Baekhyun's general direction. He can be aiming for the vending machine, for all Baekhyun knows. "Awww baby boo, it's okay. I'll rub your tummy later and make juk for you–" Kyungsoo groans. "Everything was okay until 'baby boo', hyung. Just bring the juk and lose the pet names." "And we'll play airplane while I feed you–" "Bye, hyung." A click on the other end of the line, and Kyungsoo's scratchy voice is gone. He keeps his phone pressed to his ear, though, like Kyungsoo will actually call back, but all he gets is a short text that says 1204 west tower don't get lost hyung. He laughs a little, then runs a line along the screen with his thumb. There's a hint of gratefulness there, somewhere, maybe in the spaces in between or the delayed message from Kyungsoo that only says c:. Months after and he thinks he's finally reading Kyungsoo right, even in dim lighting. "Hey, Pop," comes Chanyeol's greeting. His super suit is ripped, but his face is perfect and his hair's glowing a bright red. Maybe Jongdae has passed on some of his recuperation powers to Chanyeol, or maybe Chanyeol has developed self-healing already. Same hero, new tricks. Everybody's growing up and moving on. "Hey Microwave. Great timing. I was just about to get some mallows." Baekhyun sidesteps, narrowly avoiding the jab Chanyeol throws at him. It's harmless, no flames lighting Chanyeol's knuckles, but if years of fighting alongside Chanyeol is anything to go by then he knows, with every fiber of his body, that he'll feel the ache of the hit all the way to the morning. "What, can't I ask for a favor now? What if I've been craving mallows the whole week? Will you let me die unhappy?" Chanyeol cracks up, smiles that eye smile of his that turns his eyes into half moon crescents. "Where are you planning to get mallows, then?" Baekhyun looks up, meets Chanyeol in the eye, and says, "Nah, I… actually have to buy juk." He laughs a little, scratches the back of his neck. "D'you know where I can order one for takeout? The city's changed so much while I was gone." Chanyeol blinks a few times, then reaches out to ruffle Baekhyun's hair. "Taking care of your sick boyfriend, eh?" "Oh God, you heard the whole thing." "Juuust a bit," Chanyeol assures. He winks when he finishes, then, "Hey, I'm sorry." They're halfway through walking to the exit, and Baekhyun stops in his tracks completely. The worst part of walking alongside Chanyeol is the fact that he can't see his face unless he looks up. The best part is exactly that, because then he won't have to deal with Chanyeol's silly expression. Today, Chanyeol's worrying bottom lip and his eyes are half-mast. He's kicking at the floor. Baekhyun snorts – Kyungsoo won't take too lightly to that. Kick the floor one more time and I'll make sure you kick dust into your eyes, he remembers Kyungsoo mentioning one time. He'd challenged Kyungsoo then, and even if the floor was completely tiled Kyungsoo still managed to summon dust and pebbles. Baekhyun steps on Chanyeol's foot, pressure just light but enough to make Chanyeol yelp. "Sorry for what?" "For everything." For not waiting long enough. "For whatever I had to do but didn't. For Jongdae." Baekhyun relieves Chanyeol of the pressure on his foot, then asks, "You're sorry for moving on?" He scoffs, shakes his head. "I should be the one saying sorry for being such a kid. I guess… I guess I just couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of everyone moving on and me still stuck in 2012." Chanyeol takes a deep breath, the flames of his hair completely still, and chuckles. "You wouldn't let me explain. I mean, you're either busy with Kyungsoo or trying to avoid me." "Ah, about that…" Baekhyun looks away, fixes his eyes on his feet. "Well, Kyungsoo was, y'know, sort of an accomplice. He's not really–" "Oh yeah? But… the kiss–" Chanyeol's laughter dies down, turns into a light quirk of the lip. "You mean to say that was all for show?" Baekhyun nods, arms held up in front of him for when Chanyeol decides to hit him. "Dude, you were sucking face like you finally realized that you had feelings for him after everything he did for you!" Baekhyun squints. "You lost me after the sucking face thing." A flash of something Baekhyun can't quite remember, then Chanyeol's back, hair burning a bright wave, flames breathing life into his hair. "Not surprised. You were going at it for minutes or something, like a teenage couple." Chanyeol squirms. "Jesus, you disgust me." Baekhyun kicks him in the calf. "Thanks, man. I knew we were a perfect match." "What if you are?" "What do you mean 'what if you are'? I told you, that was all just for show. To get you jealous or something." Chanyeol cackles, and Baekhyun socks him in the stomach again. "We are not in that kind of relationship!" Chanyeol stops in his tracks a second time, eyebrows furrowed, like he's reconsidering something. And then it's gone and there's nothing but Chanyeol's bright smile, eyes aflame, the cut along his jaw healing. "Yeah, sure, whatever," Chanyeol says, then hooks a dirty arm around Baekhyun's shoulder. "C'mon, let's get your boyfriend some juk." "He's not my boyfriend," Baekhyun growls, and yet he's letting Chanyeol drag him to Lord knows where so he can buy good food. And yet he'd spent a good ten minutes trying to recall if Kyungsoo's allergic to chicken or beef or both. And yet he's checking his phone for any sign of life and texting Kyungsoo, hey don't die, u still have 2 eat my special juk so hungry i'm gonna die. don't take too long hyung patience, boo ;) whatever u hurt me so much ㅠㅠ "Sure, he isn't," Chanyeol singsongs. Baekhyun places two orders of dakjuk and extra yellow radish. He doesn't punch Chanyeol in the gut when Chanyeol catches him grinning at his phone when another message comes in. just come here and i'll kiss the bubu away whatever take care c: ☄ The worst part of having a psychotic supervillain as an ex-friend is that he knows your scent well enough to know where you are at any given moment. He bumps into Pegasus on his way back to the dorms, takeout food in one hand and a ball of light in another. "I told you, man, you have to let go. I've moved on now," Baekhyun says, voice cracking as he drops the food to the ground. Chanyeol slips from the scene, calls reinforcements. Baekhyun lets him because he still has somewhere else to be and the faster they take Pegasus back to prison, the sooner he can feed Kyungsoo with juk. "Got a date with someone?" Pegasus asks. He's lifted off the ground, grinning down at Baekhyun like Baekhyun's being short is the most amusing thing ever. Baekhyun rubs his hands, clenches and unclenches his fists. His palm starts to glow. "Gotta take care of a sick boyfriend," he replies almost too easily. "Angry leader or tiny guy?" Baekhyun shakes his head. "We don't talk about height in these parts, Peggy." A tight clench of the fists, and he feels power surge up his arm. "You're really asking for it, aren't you?" Pegasus cocks his head, grins. He never thought it was possible for someone else to have more teeth that Chanyeol. It's disconcerting. He jumps, using the force of his beams to push himself off the ground. Pegasus flies farther away, though, dodging the balls of light Baekhyun throws at him with relative ease. "You've got to try harder! Flap your wings!" Pegasus calls out, and Baekhyun throws himself onto Pegasus before the beam that had pushed him off the ground reaches its limit. All too familiar, he feels a shiver run down his spine. The only difference is that Baekhyun knows how it feels to die now and then come back to life. He clamps a hand on Pegasus' waist and sends a stream of light into Pegasus's system. Pegasus gasps, chokes, then kicks his feet in the air. Pegasus attempts to shake him off, but he wraps his hands around the villain's neck tight. He focuses energy on his thumbs and presses on the base of Pegasus' throat. "You talk too much," he whispers, before they start falling to the ground. He can still feel the shift of Pegasus' muscles, so he can't be completely out yet. He snakes one hand up Pegasus' nape, presses his thumb just under his spine – just enough pressure to knock him out, but not leave him in a coma for more than a few days. "So considerate," Pegasus mumbles. He spreads out his wings, feathers falling on Baekhyun's face. Baekhyun strains to keep his eyes on the other. "That's why you keep losing, Baekhyun. You'll never be able to bring me down–" He hears the whoosh of the wind and grins. "That's what makes me different," he says. He hooks one leg around Pegasus and wraps both hands around Pegasus' body, keeping him from using his wings. There's a good distance between them and the ground, about the height of three convenience stores, one on top of the other. Sehun's down there somewhere, unable to fly because of his back injury, but he trusts Sehun enough to not let them fall. If anything bad ever happens, Chanyeol can fly to where they are. If he isn't lucky then he can turn their bodies over so that Pegasus will receive the brunt force of the fall. Maybe then Pegasus will realize how awful it is to slam an ex-friend to the ground. But instead, stone pillars rise from the ground and Jongin teleports to the last pillar, catching Baekhyun by the back of his shirt. Wind whips shoot up, wrapping around Pegasus' wrist. Pegasus groans and mumbles a last bye, hun before getting pulled down to the ground by Sehun to be punished a second time. Back on the ground, Kyungsoo says, "So what part of 'take care' did you not understand?" Baekhyun dusts himself off, grinning weakly as he takes the containers of juk he'd set down on the ground minutes before. "Juk for you! Sorry for taking too long," he announces. Kyungsoo doesn't say anything, though, no sound above the collective noise around them that sounds anything like Kyungsoo's voice. He cranes his neck, looking over his peace offering. "I'm… sorry for putting the food down on the ground?" Kyungsoo huffs. "At least you let them help you this time." "Only someone stupid would attempt to take down Pegasus alone." Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, then sneezes. "Thanks for the juk," he says, then runs his fingers along the curve of Baekhyun's jaw. "Not hurting anywhere?" "Why, are you going to kiss the pain away?" "Don't push your luck, hyung." Baekhyun sways, pretends to go a bit too loose-limbed, knees wobbling. "Oh, please send some help– I'm in pain–" Kyungsoo picks him up by the arm, grip strong but not painful. Kyungsoo's hands are warm, his breath is warm, the heaving of his chest is uneven. Kyungsoo, sick in the stomach and maybe in the head, pink-eared, came out of his cave to rescue him and help him take down Pegasus. "Hey, Kyungsoo?" Kyungsoo looks to his side, peeking through his bangs. "Hm?" Baekhyun looks around for an audience, then leans close to press a light kiss to Kyungsoo's forehead. "Thanks." The grip on Baekhyun's arm tightens and he can feel the traitorous cold creeping up Kyungsoo's fingers. He doesn't laugh, though, only leans back as he watches a light flush crawl up Kyungsoo's neck, missing his cheeks. "Uh. Sure," Kyungsoo mumbles and drags Baekhyun forward, away from the lights and into a calmer part of the street. From a distance, he sees Chanyeol flashing two thumbs up and mouthing, Go. We'll take care of this. See you tomorrow. The dull ache in his knuckles lifts, and his chest feels oddly light. He turns to Kyungsoo, smiling, and whispers, "Come on, let's go home." ☄ Kyungsoo passes out shortly after they eat juk. Baekhyun tries to keep him awake, telling him about that incident with Jongdae back in KEPCO, but Kyungsoo's eyes giveaway halfway through. At least his fever's gone down considerably – 37.3 now, instead of the 38.7 it had been earlier. "You shouldn't have gone out to battle," he remembers telling Kyungsoo while wiping his face with a wet towel, and Kyungsoo just let him. Kyungsoo might have even mumbled a sorry. He runs one last swipe along the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw before rinsing the towel and placing it on Kyungsoo's forehead in a neat rectangle. He'll check back later. For now, he has to get rid of his own grime. Fifteen minutes and a couple of yelps after, he emerges from the bathroom. His wounds still sting a little from when he'd taken a couple of hits from Pegasus. It's never been the same since that near death experience, really – his hair grows slower, even his nails. The cuts no longer heal as quickly, either. He can still feel the force of the fall in his arms as he dries his hair. It's as if everything has slowed down for Baekhyun to figure things out easier, or maybe Baekhyun has been moving too fast all this time. He makes his way back to Kyungsoo's room, but stops when he catches a door slightly ajar. He hasn't seen this room yet. The last time he was here, he was too hungover to even stuff himself with food. He peeks inside and sends a sliver of light to the ceiling when he doesn't find the switch. "Hoooly shit," he mumbles under his breath. He takes a few steps back until he hits a wall, turning on the real switch for the lights. The room takes a softer, yellow glow, and from where he is he can see Starburst and Heatmore action figures, posters, all sorts of collectibles that SM has ever thought of. There's even that limited edition wall calendar they sold back in 2006 posted on Kyungsoo's wall. He runs his thumb along the edge of the calendar, then snorts when he sees the life-sized poster of the Rice Krispies trio. "Jongdae will flip when he sees this," he says as he eyes the poster from head to toe. Chanyeol's got his elbows on their heads, that asshole. He turns to his left and takes a step back. There's a limited edition Starburst costume in a glass case, one he remembers selling in an auction for typhoon victims. "I can't believe this–" The Starburst action figures lined up on the shelf, CDs of the TV animation's soundtrack, two cork boards filled with news clips with the name STARBURST in big, bold letters. He takes a step closer and squints as he reads the headline out loud. "SM hotshot Starburst saves sixteen-year-old from being beaten up in an alley, becomes icon of hope for young Koreans." There's a photo of him on his knees as he talks to the teenager. There's no sign of Chanyeol in the picture, so this must be from a long, long time ago. The kid looks familiar, though – messy hair, big eyes, plump lips. A smile so distinct that it runs shivers down Baekhyun's spine. Baekhyun scans the article for a name and takes a sharp breath. SM trainee Fissure receives threats from the supervillain community after taking down time lord 'Pluto'. "I would have died if Starburst didn't save me," says Fissure in an interview. "He's the hope of the new generation. He drops his hands to his sides, hangs his head low. Kyungsoo's twisted display of confidence, the willingness to give his own self up for the sake of Baekhyun regaining control over his powers. The way he looked at Baekhyun like he's spent years watching him, back turned and cape waving in the wind, body aglow. Baekhyun shakes his head. He shouldn't be here. He turns off the lights and closes the door behind him, slumping against the wall. It sort of makes sense now, how Kyungsoo had agreed so easily to Joonmyun asking him to keep an eye on Baekhyun and train him until he could fully control his powers again. "Because he's been watching over me." All this time, those two years that Baekhyun was out and unconscious, without any promise that Baekhyun will return from the grave. The same person who developed the technology that saved him is the same kid he saved when he was twenty-four. He was just starting out then. SM's secret weapon, that's what they called him. Then Baekhyun decided to make a show out of saving a kid in an alley and somehow landed in the front page of broadsheets all over Seoul. Kiss the bubu away, he'd demand from Kyungsoo if he could, but Kyungsoo's asleep now, body trying to fight the fever with every inch of his power. So instead, Baekhyun leans back until he feels a dull ache at the back of his head. One more thing they didn't teach in Super school: piecing secrets of other supers together. Figuring out Do Kyungsoo – hero name 'Fissure' – with Baekhyun's bare hands and heart. ☄ When Baekhyun wakes up the following day, Kyungsoo's already beaten him to it. Kyungsoo's on his feet, albeit backed against a wall, and he has a hand on his waist. The other one is trying to hold onto his mug. Steam softens Kyungsoo's features, tugs the small smile on his lips further up. There are five pimples on Kyungsoo's bare cheeks. Baekhyun sort of wants to map them out, but his body wants to slip back into slumber. He leans forward, burying his face in the sheets, then pushes himself up. "Hey, feeling better?" "Yeah," Kyungsoo replies. He takes small steps back to the bed, places his mug down on the bedside table before climbing back on. Instinctively, Baekhyun reaches out, pressing the back of his hand to Kyungsoo's forehead, his cheeks, the column on his neck. Kyungsoo sucks in his bottom lip and grabs Baekhyun by the wrist, pulling his arm down. "No more fever. I checked earlier." "You sure?" Baekhyun scrunches his nose. "You still look dead." Kyungsoo chuckles. His voice is still a bit scratchy, but he sounds better than he did last night, out in the crime scene with cheeks flush from fever and red ears. "You should go back to sleep, hyung." Baekhyun shakes his head. "Nope. Gonna watch over you until you're good enough to kick me out of your flat." Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow, but he doesn't throw him out. Instead, Kyungsoo grabs him by the wrists and pulls him up on the bed, face buried in Kyungsoo's chest. Kyungsoo is warm, for the most part, but that's the heat of sleep working its magic on him. At least he isn't scorching hot anymore – last night, Baekhyun couldn't touch him for a full five minutes. Then Baekhyun wrapped his hand in a layer of light. Only then was he able to give Kyungsoo a sponge bath of sorts. "Mm yeah, not sick," Baekhyun says, voice muffled in Kyungsoo's shirt, and Kyungsoo cards his fingers through Baekhyun's hair, massaging Baekhyun's scalp with the pads of his fingers. "I guess you're not too bad a doctor." "And so are you." Baekhyun sits up a little, but pushes Kyungsoo back against the pillows so they can lie together, his cheek pressed to Kyungsoo's shirt. Finding confidence and losing a bit of his lethargy, he gulps, then looks up at Kyungsoo. "Didn't know you… headed such a big project two years ago. What was it called? Ah, The Starburst Project." Kyungsoo stops massaging his scalp. He can feel the shift in Kyungsoo's muscles, the way his fingers grow cold. "How… How did you find out?" Baekhyun doesn't answer for a while, presses his ear closer to Kyungsoo's chest, listening for his heartbeat. It's not taking it usual steady beat, but it isn't racing yet., like Kyungsoo hasn't decided if he should panic or hang around long enough to listen to Baekhyun speak. He's still here, though, hand sliding down to Baekhyun's nape. He presses a palm on Kyungsoo's stomach. "I… sorta stumbled across your Starburst shine." Kyungsoo swallows hard, and he holds the gaze, feeling a bit more confident. "You should take down that horrible poster of the three of us, I'm telling you–" Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at Baekhyun. "Hyung. The story." "I saw the news clips. Read 'em all and… well…" He scrunches his nose. "I'm sorry I forgot I saved you before. As you probably already know, my memory is shit." Kyungsoo scoffs. "Also, your hearing skills." "Well yeah. That, too." Baekhyun draws lazy circles on Kyungsoo's stomach. He catches the tiny quirk of the lip and capitalizes on it, pressing down a finger and twisting it in Kyungsoo's shirt. Kyungsoo lets out a breathy gasp and slaps his hand, buries Baekhyun's face in his chest. Now there's the racing heartbeat, left of his chest, thumping against Baekhyun's cheek. "And thank you for nursing me back to life. You actually saved me back there." Kyungsoo shrugs, hums. The next thing he knows, Kyungsoo's got his nose buried in his hair. His first thought is, what if he hates people using his toiletries? His second, "Can I kiss you?" "Oh?" Kyungsoo leans back, cocking his head as he looks Baekhyun in the eye. He hasn't seen this in a while, a look of complete shock – eyes wide, lips slightly parted, a question in the curve of his mouth. Kyungsoo almost always has his shields up, impenetrable. The only time he doesn't have at least a thin barrier shielding him from the world is when he asks, in his sweetest possible voice, can I please have more yellow radish? "You're asking for permission?" "What do you think am I doing, kid? I mean–" Baekhyun frowns. Kyungsoo brings up a finger, taps Baekhyun's top lip thrice. "Can I? Not as a pretend boyfriend but just as– Yeah." Kyungsoo shrugs and leans back against the pillows. His hair is disheveled and his threadbare shirt sort of slips off his narrow shoulders and damn. Still sleep sticky and contagious, he shouldn't be this sexy. "Go ahead," he says, though, voice low and soft. Sunlight filters through the curtains, casts Kyungsoo a warm glow. Baekhyun reaches out, cups Kyungsoo's cheeks in his hands. Kyungsoo hiccups. There goes wall number one. Wall number two is their weakened limbs, but Baekhyun leans in, anyway, until their noses touch. Kyungsoo giggles, voice weak and scratchy. He doesn't push Baekhyun away. Wall number three is Kyungsoo snaking his hands around Baekhyun's waist, pulling him close until Baekhyun is sitting on his legs. Baekhyun hovers, lips brushing against Kyungsoo's lightly. Kyungsoo's cold hands slip beneath Baekhyun's shirt, one of Kyungsoo's not-black ones. "This one's my favorite," Kyungsoo whispers. He means the Mickey Mouse shirt, not Baekhyun, but Baekhyun sure feels fit to play the part when Kyungsoo parts his lips, too willing. Baekhyun presses closer, meeting Kyungsoo's lips. It feels nothing like their first kiss where they pulled off a great show in front of Chanyeol and Jongdae. This one's more gentle, unsure, like they're both testing the waters even if they're supposed to be familiar with each other's mouths already. Then Baekhyun takes the leap, takes Kyungsoo's bottom lip between his teeth and sucks hard. Kyungsoo groans but fights back, sucking on Baekhyun's top lip, then the corners of his mouth. Baekhyun goes deeper, licking where Kyungsoo's teeth meet the roof of his mouth, and Kyungsoo's breath hitches. He memorizes these things, tiny details about Kyungsoo – the way his back arches when Baekhyun dips his head to suck on the underside of his jaw, the way he digs his nails into Baekhyun's skin in an attempt to choke down his noises. He can feel his thighs trembling and the dull ache in his jaw, but he presses on, licks and sucks and kisses Kyungsoo until there's nothing left on his tongue but Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo, Kyungsoo. He pulls away, lips swollen but tugged up at the corners. It hurts a little, but Kyungsoo makes it bearable, pressing staccato kisses on his lips, its corners, his cheeks and his chin. "Was that a 'get well soon' kiss or a 'thank you for saving my life' kiss?" Kyungsoo asks later, once they've broken off completely. Baekhyun's lips feel too heavy for speaking. He laughs a little. "A boyfriend kiss. A real kiss," he answers, curt. Kyungsoo's small smile blooms into a grin. He's just won the battle. "As simple as that." ☄ Baekhyun gets a wake up call from Pegasus at nine in the morning. It happens in a flash – one minute, he's talking to Joonmyun about wanting to master transforming his light energy into a tangible weapon, and the next minute Pegasus is scooping him from the ground, lifting him a few good feet from Joonmyun. "Is this your interpretation of sweeping me off my feet? Because lemme tell you, it's not the best," Baekhyun grumbles, and Pegasus chuckles in his ear and circles Joonmyun. The air thins around them. Behind the clouds, the sun shines brightly. Baekhyun cranes his neck, tries to hit Pegasus with his elbow but misses. His aim's always been shit pre-coffee. "C'mon, Pop, I'm doing us a favor. It's just you and me here, just like old times," Pegasus croons. Pegasus takes them higher, passing through the clouds. Baekhyun shivers. "You don't have the license to call me that." He kicks Pegasus' legs. "And we were never a thing, man. You're like a crazy, delusional girlfriend." Pegasus scoffs. "I'm really hurt." "Doesn't matter," Baekhyun mumbles. He looks down, catches Joonmyun's gaze and winks. "I don't care." He snakes his hands up, grabbing Pegasus by the neck, and presses his thumb on the base of Pegasus' throat. Pegasus' body gives a light shake, and he uses this opening to flush more light into Pegasus' system. He can feel the villain's muscles relaxing, shoulders falling forward. He goes deeper into Pegasus' system now – his nerves, his brain, memories of the battle they had a couple of days ago. The battle in Gangnam where Starburst turned into dust. Their first encounter where Pegasus tried to fly past the border and was captured by the Rice Krispies trio. Pegasus running, flying away from home and finding himself in an adoption center. Baekhyun's parents visiting them every so often. The visits coming to an abrupt halt because they had to chase after Baekhyun who'd gone to Seoul for superhero training. Pegasus' entire body shakes and his eyes fly wide open. "You motherfucker–" And then Pegasus pushes him away, kicks him to the ground, lets gravity work its magic on Baekhyun as Pegasus flies away from the scene. A whoosh of the wind, and then he's back on solid ground. "Thanks, Sehun," he mumbles without even looking over his shoulder. Joonmyun walks over, holds him by his arm and turns him around. "What happened up there?" He takes a deep breath, then looks up at Joonmyun. He can still feel the trembling of Pegasus' fingers on his skin, the sting of Pegasus' words. "Two things: first, I think I just graduated from being an illusionist to a telepath." Joonmyun furrows his eyebrows. Baekhyun gulps hard. "And I think I know how we can take down Pegasus once and for all." ☄ "Can you take me through the plan again? C'mon, Pop, one last time–" Baekhyun elbows Jongdae in his side but makes a loud kissing sound right after. "Ask your partner there, at least he knows how to listen," Baekhyun replies, but repeats the plan, anyway. Once Sehun and Jongin get back with intel on Pegasus' location, they surround the place. Chanyeol pairs off with Sehun in the event that Frost decides to show up, and Joonmyun and Jongdae take care of Psycho. "But remember, we don't have much time. Ten minutes, tops. And Jongdae, don't forget to charge the atmosphere. That'll limit his flight ability," Baekhyun reminds Jongdae. Jongdae winks in response. Kyungsoo slides right next to him and bumps their shoulders together. "You need me to do anything, hyung?" "Cheer for me. Pray hard. Maybe sometime between today and tomorrow, I'll develop flight as part of my power roster." A moment of hesitation, then, "How about a good luck kiss?" Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "You want to kiss my fist?" Baekhyun doesn't reply, keeps making kissy faces at Kyungsoo until Kyungsoo does introduce his fist to Baekhyun's lips. For a second, Baekhyun forgets that he's with the rest of the super team, and says in a voice too loud, "Thanks, kid. I thought I was your favorite?" The light flickers. The air turns abnormally cold. Joonmyun offers to buy dinner for everyone in preparation for the big fight and Kyungsoo looks around for an audience. Then he brings his fist to his lips, making a sloppy kissing sound. "Does that count? Baekhyun feels his cheeks heat up. If Kyungsoo ever notices, he doesn't call Baekhyun out on it. Instead, he pushes Baekhyun forward so they can catch up with the rest of the group. "Seriously, though, what do you want me to do?" Baekhyun hums for a while, then thinks back on all the months they've spent in the training rooms, Kyungsoo with his thinning patience and Baekhyun with pressing need to get back in the business. He thinks of finding himself again as he regains control of his power, thinks of discovering something new after that encounter with Pegasus. He thinks of Kyungsoo and his unwavering trust and loyalty, of bright eyes and his pretty lips. He threads their fingers together and thinks, maybe this part of the plan will work. They could work. "Remember the thing you did back in the restaurant? The pillars thing?" Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow. "Yeah. What about it?" "I… need you to do something like that. Except with a few tweaks." Baekhyun grins. "I need you to give me a boost." ☄ Pegasus, strangely nice as always, finds them instead of letting them seek him out. It's pretty convenient since Jongin and Sehun won't have to exhaust themselves just trying to track a supervillain down, but it's also rude when Pegasus attacks the whole establishment with a flurry of feathers. "Can't a hero eat in peace!" Jongin groans, then pops two more pieces of meat in his mouth before teleporting out of the restaurant. Sehun forgoes the samgyupsal but eats a few more pieces of kimchi. Joonmyun downs a glass of water in one big gulp. "Just like old times?" Chanyeol says, bumping his hip into Baekhyun's. Baekhyun looks to his side, reaching for Kyungsoo's hand. He looks back at Chanyeol and Jongdae, then says, "Yeah, but better." The reunion gets interrupted when the walls turn into ice, then explode all around them. Chanyeol's first instinct is to spread his wings; his second, to stretch his arms wide, trying to scoop up the three. "Okay, hang on tight!" And then they're lifting off the ground, heading to the ceiling. Lighting strikes from above and creates an opening for them. Outside, the sky is a thick blanket of darkness. It's the perfect time to take Pegasus down. "I brought my friends," Pegasus begins. "I was feeling lonely." His voice booms from feet away. Psycho's carrying Frost bridal style, it's almost funny, but then ice starts to tower over the little town. Chanyeol lets loose a stream of flame. Without the proper signal boost, he'll only be able to take down a section of it, maybe leave a nasty burn on Frost. He tries, anyway. Frost shivers a little. Baekhyun cracks his neck, opens his palms and shoots a stream of light down to the floor, the barrier slowly crawling up. There's a dull glow all around them. Step one. "This is like one of those club wars in high school, huh?" "I was one of the quiet kids, though." "Ah, it's always the unassuming kid who plans to destroy the world," Baekhyun groans. Beside him, Kyungsoo snorts. "You're really bad at moving on, aren't you?" Sehun walks over to where Chanyeol is, while Jongdae takes the spot beside Joonmyun. Jongin cracks his knuckles. Frost gets back to his feet, but his knees shake when he realizes they're too many feet off the ground. Step two. Pegasus shrugs. "I guess I just really want to finish what we started. You and me, Pop, just like the old days." "I told you, stop calling me 'Pop'. The Rice Krispies trio isn't taking new members." A few feet away, Chanyeol raises a thumbs-up, produces a tongue of flame at the tip of his finger. The skies begin to rumble. "Oh really?" Pegasus says. "I'll just have to force you guys to take me in, then." Psycho lifts a foot, and Frost leaps from where he is to the thin sheet of ice. Kyungsoo stomps and gives the ground a good shake. Baekhyun laughs a little. "I'd like to see you try." The first flash of light comes from Chanyeol who sets himself aflame. Sehun runs to where Frost is, circling him, and Chanyeol jumps then tackles Frost to the ground. The impact makes the ice crack all around them, and Kyungsoo quickly turns around to summon a stone wall, shielding them from the blast. Chanyeol grins at the intervention. Baekhyun almost misses the shelter as he shoots out beams at Pegasus. The cleanest shot he'd made is a light ball to Pegasus' face. It only makes him even more handsome than he should be. On the other side, Psycho takes a splash to the face and Jongin fastens him to the ground. "Move away!" Jongdae yells before pinning Psycho down, palms flat on Psycho's wrists. He's cloaked in lightning and his hair is a shocking shade of yellow. The next thing Baekhyun hears is the crackle of thunder and Chanyeol's flames. After that, a loud thud that feels a lot like Pegasus slamming him to the ground, then pulling him up to the sky. Baekhyun resurfaces, shaking his head. In the evening, his power isn't at its prime, but that doesn't mean he can't try. "You'll want to put me down, honey," he whispers, then slams his palm on Pegasus' face. His palm glows and every inch of him feels lighter than it should be. He tries doing it again, the memory digging thing, tries to reach Pegasus' mind. C'mon, buddy, there's gotta be something in here somewhere– Pegasus preparing for the fight, meeting up with Psycho and Frost to ask for their help. Pegasus staying the night in Psycho's place and Psycho fixing his trench coat. Anything useful, anything at all– Pegasus' face flashes right in front of him. The memories stop pouring in, and everything turns into white. "Stop fucking around with my mind!" Pegasus lets him go, then, and it's like 2012 all over again – the rush of wind against his cheeks, tousling his hair, the feeling of falling and the fear of hitting the ground. His first thought is shit, I can't die like this, not when I've almost defeated him; his second, I haven't tried hard enough yet. He opens his eyes and meets Kyungsoo's gaze. His throat tightens, but he still screams as loud as he can. "Now!" Thunder roars in the skies. Baekhyun can feel it now, the warm blanket of electricity around him, Jongdae's power coming into play. Pegasus slows down considerably, stuck between trying to flap his wings harder and looking over his shoulder to see if Baekhyun has caught up. Another peal of thunder, then pillars shoot out from the ground up. He lands on a pillar on one knee, then pushes himself up. Kyungsoo summons another pillar, and then another, and Baekhyun tries to keep up, jumping off each solid rock, inching closer to Pegasus. He's got just one shot at this, just one window of opportunity to take Pegasus down without Pegasus shutting himself off and turning his memories into dust. He kicks his feet in the air and grabs onto the edge of a pillar. The friction of his nails against the stone is painful enough to kick his senses into overdrive. He pushes himself up as quickly as possible, then jumps again – three more pillars if his calculations are correct. Three pillars until Kyungsoo reaches his limit. Three pillars until the gift of flight magically comes to him, if that's even possible. "Hey Peggy, membership's temporarily open!" Baekhyun yells. He makes his way to another pillar and Pegasus stops to look over his shoulder. The last pillar shoots up and he lands just inches shy of the edge. He takes a deep breath and jumps, takes a leap of faith, claws at air until he's able to latch onto Pegasus. "What do you think about joining SM?" he asks, breathing ragged. Pegasus tenses, and he presses one palm flat on the back of Pegasus' head. He summons every bit of power in him and focuses it on the palm of his hand, releases all of it until he feels Pegasus' body go limp. And then everything goes blessedly white, light, airy. Pegasus' memories start to fade. He can see Pegasus' childhood, running in the field with little Psycho and Frost. He feels the rush of air against his skin again, except he's falling faster. His entire body is numb. He closes his eyes and thinks of hitting the ground, closer to home. ☄ Chanyeol's laughter is the first thing he hears when he wakes up. The second, Chanyeol's strangled groan. It takes a few minutes before everything else clicks – the white walls, the steady beeping, four bodies hovering him, one of them being forcibly pushed back. "Get out, Chanyeol. You're taking up the entire room," a familiar voice says, and then everything comes to focus. Jongdae's hair is a deep shade of brown, and Chanyeol's flashing all ten million of his teeth again. Beside him, Joonmyun mumbles, "Finally." "Your best record so far," Kyungsoo whispers, then rests his hand on Baekhyun's. "3 hours, hyung. Not bad." "I did an hour before," Baekhyun complains. He chuckles, then winces when he feels a heavy pain in his ribs. The fall couldn't have been that bad, but it's not as if his body has been the same since his two-year-long coma. "Cut me some slack." "Is that some code for 'Go away, Chanyeol?'" Jongdae asks. Chanyeol tries to frown but fails at it miserably. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Joonmyun motions for the other two to leave the room. Chanyeol looks over his shoulder one last time and says, "Hey Pop, get out of bed soon. You still owe us dinner." The room falls silent when Joonmyun closes the door behind them. Kyungsoo moves closer, runs his thumb along the side of Baekhyun's hand. "That was really risky," Kyungsoo begins, voice croaked and rough. "You could've died." "Worst case scenario, I'd have slipped into another coma." Kyungsoo raises his fist, but drops it soon after. Baekhyun laughs a little. "Sorry. Bad joke. Wouldn't want to put you through that again." "Just… try to get some rest. We'll get you back in tip top shape soon." Kyungsoo gives his hand a light squeeze. "Shouldn't be too hard." Baekhyun smiles a little. He can feel warmth creeping back to his arms. It's a pleasant feeling. "D'you think I'll ever be good to take real field mission again?" he asks Kyungsoo after a while. His head feels heavy again, and he sinks deeper into the pillow. Kyungsoo cocks his head, gives him that lazy smile where only one of the corners of his lips is tugged up. Kyungsoo chuckles. "Maybe." Baekhyun threads their hands together in a last-ditch effort to keep himself awake. "Maybe?" "Probably," Kyungsoo answers after a while. The other corner of his lips tugs up. Baekhyun hangs on for a second longer. "Definitely." ☄ SM's an asshole for gathering them at seven in the morning for a mission deployment. The brief was that they had five different countries to cover, and Jongin had already volunteered to go solo. Joonmyun agreed to be involved again, taking Pegasus under his wing. "You're the only one who can handle him," someone from the management had said. Chanyeol laughed and Jongdae cackled then. Everybody knew Baekhyun was lying about the elite membership being open. Pegasus doesn't seem to remember anything, though, so Baekhyun breathes easily. "Pegasus and I are taking China, and Sehun will be working alone on the Malaysia case," Joonmyun says. "Any takers for Japan?" "We'll take it," Chanyeol offers, raising Jongdae's hand in accord. Jongdae only snorts in agreement. His hair burns a bright yellow. Baekhyun shifts in his seat, sitting on his hands to keep himself from moving around too much. "I haven't even had coffee yet," he mumbles, and Kyungsoo nudges him in his side. Despite Kyungsoo's bloodshot eyes, he looks completely at ease, like he's the one who's had more exposure to field assignments. Baekhyun nudges right back in frustration, twists his elbow in Kyungsoo's side until he earns a scowl. "That's it, I'm terminating this partnership," Kyungsoo declares. Kyungsoo motions to get up his seat, but hovers for a while, glancing at Baekhyun. In front, Joonmyun calls out their names and says, "Vietnam. You guys okay with that?" Baekhyun looks up, searching Kyungsoo's eyes for a response, but all he gets is light laughter at Kyungsoo pinching the tip of his nose. "Gonna beat you to filing the termination papers–" Baekhyun wheezes, then pinches Kyungsoo's stomach. "And you'll regret passing on this opportunity–" "Hey, you two, I was asking if you're okay with Vietnam," Joonmyun calls out again, louder this time. He isn't irritated; it's just too early. Maybe it's too early for Baekhyun to be having second thoughts, as well. "I'm okay with that, I guess," he says in feigned nonchalance, and then Kyungsoo's slapping him on the arm and dragging him to the front, laughter still bubbling on his lips. Baekhyun takes it all in – the sound of Kyungsoo's laughter, Kyungsoo's smile, the warm press of Kyungsoo's palm on his wrist and the steady grip that says, if you're gonna fake it then try harder, Byun. So when Joonmyun asks for the last time, Starburst and Fissure for Vietnam? he nods and takes the mission envelope from Joonmyun's hands, grinning. "Yes," he says, finality in his tone. He looks to his side, meeting Kyungsoo's gaze. His knees are shaking. Kyungsoo's smile is too bright for his eyes. "Starburst and Fissure, reporting for duty."