CHINGUX 2014: light a match, stand back, watch 'em explode (2/3) for kryaoi
← PART 1
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:
→ PART 3
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:
→ PART 3