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The Star Seekers, earth's mightiest heroes, one of many universes, have conquered all, and been through thick and thin. There was nothing that could come between them and defending the citizens of planet Earth. Of course, most of the villains have already given up once they have been foiled for the hundredth time.
But there was one that never showed its face again after the first time they met together and defeated it. The shadow known as temptation.
Now, it was a special occasion, for it was one of the youngest of the Star Seeker's Huening Kai's birthday. There were others on patrol, their proteges and other friends.
"Then I broke off its horn with my bare hands! I was fighting for my life!" Beomgyu boasts to a group of ladies, looking dashing in his newly tailored suit. Taehyun is beside him, drinking some grape slushie, though his posture is relaxed, his eyes are far away, as if focused on something else other than the party. He has his mask on but instead of his usual costume, he is wearing something smart casual, enough to be presentable.
"Beomgyu-hyung..." Huening Kai looks at them with exasperation.
Soobin looks at them unimpressed but while he may seem like he is above Taehyun's level of cool, he is no better than him, fidgeting a lot with his rings. He is also wearing a suit but the birthday boy can wear whatever he wants and he will have no criticism on this day so he appears in his favourite hoodie and pants. He was half tempted to wear his penguin slippers out but it was too clashing with his outfit so he opted out of it.
"Don't think they are very oblivious love birds, you are no different," Soobin muses.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Huening Kai chuckles, taking a sip of his grape slushie.
Soobin looks around as if looking for someone.
"Look, these few days, Yeonjun-hyung has been acting a little weird, no matter how happy the occasion is, I want you to think about it... okay?" Soobin asks.
"Huh?" Before Huening Kai can question him, Yeonjun appears out from the door behind them. He is wearing a suit too, his favourite dark blue coat and pants. Soobin's expression seem to complicate a little before distracting himself with a huge swig of grape slushie, hoping there would be something stronger to forget the fact that he only used to wear it for Soobin only.
Yeonjun's expression however was scrunched up in delight, oblivious to Soobin's existence at all but rather focused on what Huening was wearing.
"Please tell me you didn't even think about those penguin slippers," Yeonjun teases, reading his mind completely.
Huening Kai smiles cheekily, "I have it in my bag if you want to cuddle with it."
"That is dirty!" Yeonjun exclaims, wrapping his arms around Huening Kai's neck to mock choke him before leading him towards the food and away from Soobin.
Soobin didn't mind giving them some space, Beomgyu and Taehyun left to mingle somewhere else. He is unable to shake this chilly feeling down his back. It was in the middle of winter, but all the windows were closed and the heater was working well.
He looks out of the window of the party room, he can see the lights of the city they protected for years now. Things seemed peaceful on the outside but Soobin knew, that on the streets somewhere, was a battle between heroes and villains.
Taehyun's nagging voice telling him to relax returned to his brain as he finally noticed that he spilt a little bit of grape slushie on the floor. The event replayed in his brain but it was part of another dream and something else dripped onto the floor.
Soobin's eyes widen before remembering where he was.
Before he could even move to leave, a voice echoed throughout the party room.
"Thank you, everyone, for being here for Avy's birthday, thanks to everyone here in this room we can have this celebration of an era of peace," Taehyun exclaims, raising a glass of grape slushie to mimic a toast.
There were some endeared at the gesture and were ready to toast when the door burst open, leaving Soobin's ears to ring.
"Sorry- sorry- excuse me-" a man in bloodied armour stumbles into the crowd, some gasps and screams sounded as they parted for the injured general.
"Ko?" Taehyun asks, leaping down from the chair to go towards his friend but he stumbles back.
"Where is leader Soule?" he asks, panic in his eyes.
Soobin grits his teeth, the ringing still piercing through his head.
"What happened Ko? Calm down and let us know what happened!" Someone exclaims.
"It's... Taho... Taho is a demon!" Ko exclaims, pointing to Taehyun.
Everyone whips their head towards Taehyun whose eyes widen.
"Ko-" Huening Kai heard the accusation and was speechless. "What nonsense is this?!"
"Look! I'll show you!" Ko exclaims, tossing something at Taehyun.
Taehyun tries to dodge out of the way but it was water so the range was bigger than he expected, and he was still in shock at that accusation, a demon, something they have fought for centuries, him?
He hisses as the water hits his temple. Something hot spreads across his forehead.
"Ah! Demon!" Everyone screams and runs away from Taehyun.
"Taho?" Beomgyu whispers.
There was something wrong, the Taehyun they knew since they were kids, was growing horns on his head! His eyes turn bloodshot as he looks at Beomgyu with wide eyes.
"I-" his voice turns gurgled as he turns bigger.
"That was water from the sin shrine! You have finally shown your true form demon!" Ko exclaims.
"Taehyun..." Huening Kai mutters, wanting to help but a hand holds onto him tightly. He was so focused on Taehyun that he didn't even know who was the one who grab him.
"Huening Kai, look at me," Huening Kai's eyes clears of tears as he looks at Yeonjun who looks down at him with a serious expression. "That is not your friend, it is a demon, now come on, we need to regroup with the others."
Huening was not hearing this right... he forcefully tugs at Yeonjun's hand. But his grip was too tight, any tighter and he feels like his hands would fall off.
"Hyung! That is our friend!" Huening Kai exclaims.
"Didn't you know? He was going to find out our secret, he was going to reveal it to the world, he had no right-!"
"Wait... what do you mean secret?! He was just hosting the party-" Huening struggles to keep up with Yeonjun as they burst out of the backdoor.
"Hyung! You're hurting me-" Huening Kai whines as he feels the feeling in his hand turning numb.
Yeonjun seems to snap out of it at his pitiful voice and loosen his grip, but still forcefully pulling him into a hug, which Huening allows him to. Not that he can overpower him with an almost broken wrist.
"You see what their reaction was to a demon... if he had told everyone there... there would be no way for us to be together..." Yeonjun mutters.
"What- I... I don't understand- I thought you and Soobin-hyung..." Huening Kai stammers, he starts to sweat as he futilely paws at Yeonjun's shoulders. Despite being bigger than him, Huening Kai was just as fragile and gentle even when Yeonjun had hurt him...
"You are all I need... they won't bother us anymore, no one will scorn us anymore... not when everyone else is out of commission..."
"Scorn...?" Huening Kai asks.
They were both going to survive and prove everyone wrong... Eugene will be the only star seeker member left, they will have no choice but to depend on him and Avys... was going to be his tamer.
"It's about time... you take power into your own hands..." A shadow of a dragon appears behind Yeonjun, Huening Kai's eyes widen in horror as the shadows engulf them.
"You played the fool all this time, you protected me, you never viewed me as a monster, and I want to rule this world with you..." Yeonjun replies, his horns growing and wings expanding, twice as big as Avy's own.
"Hyung... you... what did you do?" Huening Kai asks in a daze as he leans against the wall.
Temptation... when they were younger, it was easy to beat temptation, all they wanted was to be together... but when reality set in, the way they reacted to Taehyun... the chaos that continued inside... there was only ever one other person who remembered, who knew from the start.
He was the one who let the demon live.
"You see, you know, you are not as deaf as you appear to be, all those smiling faces, they were all fake, for show, everyone says the same thing, Avys was an unnecessary addition to the team and you know, your teammates all feel the same way."
A shadow figure of a dragon... talked.
Huening Kai's expression was pale as he looks beyond Yeonjun's kneeling form and wings towards the much bigger evil, its hands reaching out to give him something.
"You are the only one that tamed the darkness, yet they never can see your contributions, now is your chance... so what will you choose? If you go in there, Yeonjun here will be persecuted, or..."
The voice is sweet, calling out to Huening Kai, usually Taehyun and Soobin would be there to help him. But both of them are occupied inside the party room. The dragon has watched over them since they were young, it knows their team's weaknesses.
A chilling laughter echoes throughout the alleyway they are standing in.
"Hyung has always known what to get me for my birthday..." Yeonjun's wings trembled in excitement. The rare side of kai has appeared, when his voice lowers into a sultry tone, instead of the soft and gentle one, that voice can do things to people. A click could be heard from above and a rope falls limply in front of him.
"This year is no different," Huening Kai muses, lacking the previous meek posture or voice, he glares at the shadow before swinging the whip, and it crackles behind Yeonjun. The dragon yelps in surprise and in pain.
Huening Kai gently places a hand onto Yeonjun's head who is still kneeling onto the floor.
"You think you know everything, little dragon," Huening Kai muses he twirls his hands the shadow of the dragon roars as it was pulled into the tip of Huening Kai's finger. "Didn't know you were the type to be parasocial."
Huening Kai is the same old innocent looking boy as he slowly pulls Yeonjun up, even his wings are as bright and shining as ever.
"I will punish you later at home... for now go in and clean your mess," Huening Kai smiles sweetly.
Yeonjun cannot help but grin sheepishly, "As you wish," he places a kiss onto the back of Huening Kai's hand before skipping into the party room.
Huening Kai sighs, this hyung did it on purpose... just to mess with temptation. He looks down at the whip and instead of destroying it, he retracts it and keeps it. It will be useful for later... but for now, he has a facade to maintain.