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hyungwon would be more terrified about being blasted off the roof of the 63 building if it didn’t happen last month. and two months before that. and too many times before that since he started this job. honestly, it’s getting old.
the whish of air speeding by as he falls to his death is loud in his ears, but not as deafening as the screams of the people on the ground watching him go down, watching as doctor j, in his signature white lab coat with the tacky cape attached to the back and his stethoscope of evil™ hanging from his neck, hovers around the top floor, head tossed back as he laughs maniacally. hyungwon hates him not because he’s evil (although that is an issue), but because he’s such a cliché it hurts.
sighing, hyungwon tilts his head back and watches the crowded city street come closer and closer. there doesn’t seem to be anything nearby that he can use to cushion his fall. the last thing he wants to do is crash into a car. the most he can do would be to bend a telephone pole and latch onto it.
being the only hero in seoul who can’t fly is wonderful. ten out of ten.
“need some help there?”
hyungwon flinches, turning to face dark eyes shining through a black mask with yellow accents winging out from the side and a smug smirk. he immediately groans, wishing he could rub his hand down his face without disturbing his own white mask and revealing his identity.
“just kill me now.”
“give it a couple more seconds and you’ll die anyway.”
crossing his arms over his chest, hyungwon closes his eyes and sniffs. “i don’t need help. especially not from you, eclair,” he says.
the man flying next to him chuckles and then a second later hyungwon isn’t falling, instead pressed up against a firm chest.
hyungwon’s eyes snap open and he immediately looks down at the arms holding him bridal style as they float in the middle of the air. the screams of the people have turned confused with the appearance of the newcomer but no less frantic. he went from being shot off the top of a building by one villain just to be caught by another one.
“let go of me! i can save myself.”
the black and yellow suited man clicks his tongue, shaking his head. his black hair is artful mess, like he ran his fingers through it a couple times, and hyungwon hates to compliment the enemy, but he looks good.
as much as he can tell if someone who has a mask covering half their face looks good or not.
“you know, it’d be nice to hear ‘thanks for saving my life, eclipse’ for once. repeat after me: thank you, eclipse.” the villain sounds out the words like a parent coaxing their child to speak.
glaring at him, hyungwon turns up his nose. “i’m not saying it.”
eclipse chuckles and hyungwon would not be lying if he said he didn’t think that deep bass was attractive. he would just not be telling the whole truth.
“you’re such a—”
“eclipse!”
both hyungwon and eclipse look up at the booming voice coming from above. doctor j swoops down to their level, riling up the citizens.
“what is eclipse doing here?”
“they’re teaming up against the white prodigy!”
“where are the other heroes?!”
“white prodigy, you gotta keep fighting!”
hyungwon drops his head back with a heavy sigh as he listens to the screams. “neptune is never going to let me live this down.”
doctor j’s cape flaps behind him as he circles them once. “why are you holding on to this…hero?” he flicks his eyes to hyungwon with pressed lips that look more like a childish pout.
“thought it’d be more fun if he stuck around a little longer.” eclipse shrugs, inadvertently hugging hyungwon closer to his chest.
doctor j breaks character as he wiggles, throwing a tantrum. “but i could have won,” he whines. “my hypno ray actually works this time.”
hyungwon scoffs loudly, earning a frown from doctor j and a smirk from eclipse.
“it does!”
eclipse catches his eye and hyungwon shakes his head minutely, mouthing, it doesn’t work.
doctor j clutches his cape in his hands and whips it around with flourish. he flies back, pointing a stubby finger at hyungwon. “drop this fool, eclipse. together we can take over seoul,” he commands, apparently remembering to be threatening.
hyungwon tries not to scoff again. yeah, he’s the fool says the one with the cape.
looking between the two of them, eclipse finally settles on hyungwon. there’s nothing but unadulterated joy in his eyes, like he’s having the time of his life, and his grin is unwavering. “sorry, cutie, but i have no choice. bro code, you know how it is.”
hyungwon narrows his eyes. “don’t you dare.”
“i thought you wanted me to let you go. you’re welcome.”
and then hyungwon is falling again with only two things on his mind.
one: did eclipse just call him a cutie?
and two: why is he only one who can’t. fucking. fly?
♥
( the first time eclipse saved his life was last year. the resident badies of seoul had just had some secret convention where they all shared shitty ideas about how to take over the world (or at the very least, korea) and decided to team up to put Grand Master Plan #148 into action. something about brainwashing shampoo.
they — they being mr. neptune (or ice ice baby as hyungwon likes to call kihyun when he’s not around to give him frost bite) and agent s., aka hyunwoo aka muscle for brains— had gotten word that three of the villains took over a factory and were testing their stupid shampoo on the employees, so they decided to put a stop to it. knowing that the bad guys in seoul were, to put it nicely, kinda shit at being evil, the hero trio decided only one of them needed to go. and after losing rock paper scissors, hyungwon was the chosen boy.
he just wasn’t expecting them all to be loitering in the first workstation he walked in, arguing over whose turn it was to pay for delivery. )
“is this really necessary?” hyungwon asks as he’s tied up and hoisted upside down over a churning vat of sickly green acid doctor j conjured.
“you’ll be lowered down every couple of seconds until you meet your doom,” solar flare says in that throaty voice that always makes hyungwon want to ask if he needs a cough drop, rubbing his hands together menacingly. he, doctor j, and atomic scream all cackle as they walk to the door. before he disappears down the hall, solar flare pokes his head into the room again. “at least wait until after dinner to try and escape. please and thanks.”
hyungwon sucks his teeth when he’s left alone. does solar flare know how fucking long delivery takes? and did he just imply that it’ll take longer than thirty minutes to hit the popping acid or did he forget that little detail?
“i can’t believe you walked straight in and got caught like this.”
hyungwon can’t really look down without straining his eyes but he doesn’t have to because eclipse flies up to eye level.
“you’re supposed to be smarter than this, prodigy.”
“neptune didn’t tell me you were a part of this.” hyungwon frowns, confused at the other man’s sudden appearance. he wasn’t out there with the rest of them when hyungwon walked in either.
eclipse was probably the most dangerous out of the badtastic four, having the most control over his powers and the most vision. he caused a lot more trouble in the city than the other bad guys and ever since the cosmic girls moved their headquarters out of the city, hyungwon has been the one to battle him the most. word on the street was that he was actually on the good side in his hometown but went m.i.a and turned up in seoul with a new name, a darker suit, and a penchant for destruction. no one has any idea on which hero he used to be, though.
“i’m not a part of it as much as i’m curious to see how this’ll work out.” eclipse absentmindedly runs his finger over the rope digging into hyungwon’s stomach. “how’s it feel being the damsel in distress?” he asks teasingly.
“shut it. i’ve had a rough day.” a rough week, really. between battling with his advising professor over the topic for his master’s thesis and trying to find a new job, hyungwon is tired. he would have rather kihyun or hyunwoo come tonight but rock paper scissors is law.
eclipse snorts. “obviously.”
“and it’s not like i’m stuck,” hyungwon continues. he’d cross his arms, affronted, if he could. “i can get out of this easy. but i’m not stupid enough to do it when you’re here waiting to put me back or something.”
“i just said i wasn’t with them.”
raising an eyebrow, hyungwon purses his lips. “you expect me to believe that? believe you?”
eclipse frowns the slightest bit before shrugging. he trails his eyes up hyungwon’s body to where his feet are bundled together and strung from a gleaming hook. he has to shift down to match the white prodigy’s steadily lowering body. “this thing is so slow. it’s like they want you to escape.”
“don’t say it like it’s a bad thing.” hyungwon sighs heavily. “look, éclair, can you go away? i’m starting to get nause—”
a sharp creaking sound catches their attention. hyungwon strains his neck to see the device he’s hanging from but can’t detect which part made the noise. eclipse glances up for a quick second, but he doesn’t look like he cares very much.
hyungwon turns his head to look at him. “did idiot #1 make this?” because it surely can’t be the factory’s property if it sounds that awful.
as soon as the question leaves his lips, there is a distinctive crack and suddenly he’s falling a lot faster. with a twitch of his fingers, he unravels his binds. he doesn’t even have a moment to panic about if he’s alert enough to move the pool of acid before thick tendrils of smoky black wrap around his midsection.
“what—” frantically, hyungwon flicks his gaze to meet eclipse’s completely black eyes, sclera and all. if he said he wasn’t a little bit absolutely terrified, he’d be lying. the feeling of pure darkness permeating through his suit makes his hair stand on end and dread settle in his stomach.
but eclipse only draws him away from the pool and sets him down a comfortable distance away from it. he calls the darkness back and hyungwon can’t help the shiver that rattles his body as he watches the smoky vines retreat into the villain’s fingertips with wide eyes.
he feels cold afterward but at least the dread is gone.
the shadows that had taken over eclipse’s eyes recede until hyungwon’s staring into his ordinarily dark pupils, mouth agape.
“d-did you…why…” hyungwon tries to steel himself and fixes eclipse with a glare. “what did you do to me?”
he can’t see it, but hyungwon assumes eclipse is raising an eyebrow at him from the quirk of his lips.
“save your life?” that’s definitely laughter in his voice. “you’d feel a lot worse if i did anything else. you know that.”
hyungwon does know that, but how can he accept that the. worst. villain. in. seoul. just rescued him from possible death out of the goodness of your heart. there has to be catch or something. “then what is it?”
“what is what?” eclipse sighs like he’s explained this to hyungwon a million times already.
“what do you want in exchange? why did you just save me?”
the amused smile returns to the villain’s face. “you’re welcome.”
before hyungwon gets a chance to press for answers, eclipse wiggles his fingers in a cute wave.
“see ya, prodigy,” he says, right before the shadows in the room grow until hyungwon can’t see a thing.
when light returns to the room, eclipse is gone.
♥
some english pop song is playing over the speakers of the cafe but hyungwon can barely hear it over kihyun’s incessant cackling. leaning back in his seat, hyungwon picks up a soft chocolate chip cookie and nibbles on it. it’s been three weeks since the thing at the 63 building, since eclipse caught and held him in his arms for not even five minutes before letting him fall again. fortunately, he was able to bend a light pole and grab hold of it before he could hit pavement and break all his bones. unfortunately, seconds later kihyun swooped in dressed in his two-tone blue mr. neptune suit, laughing ‘i heard you needed backup against j boy.’
and, true to form, he hasn’t let it go.
“is he still talking about what happened with you know who?” hyunwoo asks when he returns to their table from the restroom, wiping damp hands on light denim jeans.
“mhm,” hyungwon confirms, going for the world record of most bites taken to finish a palm sized cookie.
hyunwoo settles in the seat between hyungwon and kihyun and gently pats the telekinect on the shoulder. “let him live, kihyun.”
hyungwon looks at hyunwoo gratefully — both because it’s nice to know someone is one his side and because hyunwoo actually controlled his super strength for once.
“we all have our days where we fail completely at life. hyungwon can’t help that every day is like that for him.”
narrowing his eyes at the other two heroes now high-fiving each other, hyungwon throws his cookie down on the white plate in front of him. “i quit. i refuse to work under these conditions.” he stands up and grabs his laptop bag from the back of his chair.
kihyun snorts, flicking snow across the table at him. “sit down, asshole. you know we’re just messing with you.”
no one is paying them any attention to notice kihyun’s use of his powers but hyungwon glares at him anyway. their identities are a secret for a reason.
hyunwoo smiles up at him sweetly like the pure-hearted sack of fluff that he is and motions for hyungwon to sit down.
and hyungwon does sit.
but not because they told him to or because he loves them.
he’s only doing it for the cookie.
♥
“can you stop—” hyungwon briefly turns around to sneeze into his elbow, “—following me? i’m not even in any danger.”
the shadow along the wall that doesn’t match his own continues forward, disappearing around the corner into the next alleyway. a second later, a solid eclipse walks out, trying to arrange his ruffled hair.
“you’re not in any danger yet,” he says, glancing up at hyungwon with dark eyes.
sneezing again, hyungwon shoulders past the villain. what is he doing here? hyungwon isn’t even on a mission; he’s just patrolling the streets to make sure there isn’t anything amiss in late night seoul.
“you shouldn’t be out like this when you’re sick,” eclipse continues, easily catching up to the hero and walking alongside him.
“how did you find me?” hyungwon doesn’t bother trying to speed up, knowing there’s no point. he sighs, squeezing his eyes shut when his head throbs.
he is a little sick. but it’s nothing serious. as long as none of the other villains are active tonight, there’s absolutely no way he can overwork himself.
“and why are you so determined to help me all the time? we’re enemies.” hyungwon sneezes for a third time, groaning and rubbing at his nose afterward.
“think of it as good sportsmanship. i gotta look out for my favorite rival or the game isn’t fun anymore.”
hyungwon looks at eclipse just as the villain shoots him a boyish grin. hyungwon would not be lying if he said that smile had zero effect on him if it was also opposite day.
turning away, he crosses his arms over his chest. “this isn’t a high school baseball game. you’re trying to take over the city.” he tries to sound mean, but his voice is thick with illness and he’s still a little flustered at being given the title of eclipse’s ‘favorite rival’. he feels embarrassingly warm but it’s just because he’s sick. that’s it. nothing else.
chuckling, eclipse stretches his arms in front of his body. “i could have this city under my feet with a snap of my fingers. i’m really only in it for the chase.” suddenly, he turns the corner.
surprised and confused, hyungwon fumbles, unsure of if he should turn or keep going straight. he recognizes the group of students coming in their direction on the other side of the street just as a cold hand grips his upper arm and drags him to the left.
a familiar sense of panic hits, along with a spell of dizziness, and he stumbles. he’s steadied by two strong hands on his shoulders, the shadow hand around his arm returning to the villain’s shadow beneath his feet. even with it gone, although the panic leaves him, the dizziness does not.
eclipse tips his head down with cool, gentle fingers and hyungwon finds himself staring into worried eyes. he palms his forehead and confirms, “you have a fever, prodigy.”
hyungwon thinks he should violently tear himself away and finish patrolling but for being an evil villain, eclipse’s hands feel great on his warm skin. he can’t help it when his eyelids flutter shut and a soft sigh escapes his lips.
when he opens his eyes again, he’s sitting in front of the out of business karaoke house he and the other heroes remodeled into their secret base, wondering if any of that really happened.
♥
“you came.”
whirling around, hyungwon settles wide eyes on eclipse. the villain is dressed casually, in distressed black jeans and a superman tee covered by a light black jacket, although his mask is still on. he’s the complete image of relaxed, hands shoved deep in his pockets and leaning against the alley wall.
hyungwon feels a little stupid in his suit.
“or are you still on the hunt for the gem?”
averting his eyes, hyungwon shrugs. “i was in the area. thought i’d make sure you weren’t up to anything.”
eclipse shakes his head, smiling lightly, and pushes away from the wall. for each step he takes toward the hero, hyungwon comes up with a reason why this is a bad idea.
they’re enemies. eclipse is short. he still has the crystal. as an empathy, hyunwoo would notice hyungwon’s guilt. he’s short.
hyungwon finds out that eclipse has very (horribly evil, terrible, awful) soft lips when the moon is full and larger than usual and the autumn air is pleasantly cool.
if anyone was to ask how it happened, hyungwon would say that eclipse tripped over a shoelace and hyungwon graciously left their differences aside and caught him…with his face. and it wouldn’t be a lie if hyungwon crossed his fingers behind his back and went to church the next sunday.
nevermind the fact that eclipse is wearing buckled boots. or the fact that hyungwon is taller than him and would have to lean down for their faces to be level. or that fact that hyungwon reciprocates, melting into the kiss as if they aren’t pieces of two completely different puzzles.
♥
if hyungwon had to put the villains in order from most annoying to least, the list would be as follows:
eclipse (for obvious reasons)
atomic scream (that whole yelling? yeah, no)
doctor j (would be second if not for atomic scream’s unfortunate power)
solar flare (would be third if not for eclipse’s…everything)
♥
“are you afraid of the dark, prodigy?”
the deep chuckle settles in hyungwon’s bones stiff bones. he tenses, feeling the puffs of the villain’s breath on the back of his neck where his suit doesn’t stretch.
“you never grow out of that fear. even though you’re no longer a kid, i bet you’re anxious right now. nervous because you don’t know what’s around you.”
hyungwon scowls, whipping his head around to where he thinks eclipse is standing. before his eyes is nothing but black, darker than the back of his eyelids because at least then light bounces off his skin. he can’t see a thing and, admittedly, he is a little intimidated. his telekinesis is limited to things he can see; he can’t move something if he doesn’t know it’s there. he hadn’t made it very far into eclipse’s hideout before an alarm went off, sending the entire building dark. after that he tried to press forward despite not knowing where he was going and ended right in the arms of the enemy.
he can hear eclipse moving around him easily, literally in his element and unhindered by the thick darkness clouding the room.
“surely, prodigy, you didn’t think you could just waltz into my lair and snoop around without permission.” eclipse’s footsteps suddenly stop.
hyungwon can’t see him, not even the yellow of his suit, but he can tell the villain is right in front of him. “where is the x crystal?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
“ah, so it’s the crystal you want. and to think, for a second, i thought you were here to see me,” eclipse sighs disappointedly.
hyungwon knows in the back of his head that eclipse is teasing him, playing around because he has the upper hand. and he knows he shouldn’t rise to the bait but still hyungwon rolls his eyes and hisses, “why would i want to see you?”
“why? i thought we had something. a friendship of sorts.”
“because you saved me a couple times? when i didn’t even ask you to?” hyungwon scoffs. “absolutely not.”
“we had some good moments. you even let your guard down around me a couple times.”
hyungwon wants to deny that, but he knows it’s the truth. after being rescued by the darkness user — seven times, but who’s counting? — their hero-villain dynamic has changed. not a lot, but enough. sometimes they crack jokes at the expense of the other villains. sometimes they have these moments where they just…look at each other without saying anything. sometimes they toss harmless banter back and forth. never when the other heroes are around though. kihyun would probably trap him in a block of ice for the rest of eternity.
“that doesn’t mean anything,” he says eventually, but he’s fighting a losing battle.
eclipse clicks his tongue. “are you sure?”
“well,” hyungwon teethes at his bottom lip. “it doesn’t mean that i’d visit you for fun.”
the darkness seems to move around him, pressing in. it takes a moment for him to realize it’s because eclipse has come closer, decreasing the amount of space between them until hyungwon thinks he can feel the heat radiating off his body.
“wh—”
a booming sound makes them both go still.
hyunwoo.
he totally forgot about the plan. hyungwon was to go in first and after fifteen minutes, give hyunwoo the signal to come in after him. quietly. if he’s making all this noise, he probably thinks hyungwon has been captured. which he has, but that’s not the point.
eclipse hums contemplatively. “i suppose that would be your backup. you know, for being the good guys, you’re awfully destructive.”
“agent s forgets how strong he is sometimes,” hyungwon says casually before remembering what he’s here for. “just give us the x crystal, eclipse. it’s two against one.”
“it’s cute that you think that intimidates me.” the villain chuckles. “i can’t give you the crystal — it’s not even here, actually.”
it’s not here? but he took it. hyungwon knows he took it. there’s video evidence of him stealing it.
“you’re lying.” the hero narrows his eyes.
“i would never lie to you.”
there’s no particular feeling in the words, eclipse says them like it’s a simple fact, but still something in hyungwon alights.
“hyu— i mean, white prodigy!” hyunwoo’s call drifts into the room.
eclipse sighs disappointedly, and, in a flash, the room clears as if it was simply a matter of flicking the light switch.
the sudden light stings hyungwon’s eyes and he squeezes them shut. when he blinks them open, it’s to the sight of a worried hyunwoo running into the room in his red and gold suit.
agent s’ eyes scan around the room, stopping on hyungwon and eclipse standing beside a line of glass cabinets.
clicking his tongue, eclipse nods at hyunwoo. “sup.” he faces hyungwon and winks. “good luck figuring out where i put the crystal. next time, come without an ulterior motive.”
hyungwon and hyunwoo can’t do anything but watch as the villain sinks into his own shadow and walks straight out of the room, intangible in that form.
“what’s going on? are you okay? why are you so flustered?” hyunwoo questions rapidly, obviously unsure of what to do next.
“i’m not fluster-“ hyungwon snaps his mouth shut, cutting off his frantic denial. taking a deep breath, he ruffles his hair and tries to calm down. he hates how hyunwoo can read emotions. when his neck doesn’t feel as hot he says, “i don’t think it’s here. the crystal.”
“what? it has to be. why did he just leave? what was he talking about?”
shrugging, hyungwon walks over to join the other hero. “let’s just grab kihyun and regroup.”
♥
“so what’s going on with you and eclipse?” the discount human torch asks from where he’s tied up on the ground. he and atomic scream were up to trouble again. something about campfires. honestly, hyungwon doesn’t remember. it was probably dumb anyway.
as opposite forces, kihyun caught him easily and now they’re watching over him.
hyungwon kind of wishes he went with hyunwoo after atomic scream.
“nothing,” he answers quickly, hoping that starburst will get the message to shut. up.
it’s too late anyway, because kihyun turns his head to look at him so fast, hyungwon swears he has to have whiplash.
“what about eclipse?” he narrows his eyes, curious as to what the villain is talking about.
hyungwon shoots solar flare a glare that goes ignored. “nothing,” he emphasizes. so he’s been rescued by the villain four times and he’s starting to develop something of a soft spot for him. so what? there’s no law in the hero guide book against that. it’s nothing. absolutely nothing.
and that may be a lie. but hyungwon’s always had a bit of a problem with lying.