here it is, basically just a bunch of moments/scenes thrown together.

somehow this became more of a sns au than a superhero au but eh  oh well

(there will be bonus scenes later, hence why it's not put as complete yet)

warning: it's a real mess akskd oops
 

I
The same old breakfast. The same old walk. The same old building. Which would follow with him sitting with the people he saw everyday, as they handled whatever tasks fell into their laps. And, for a job which had a very interesting description, it was surprisingly boring. A job task usually meant going out, meet the same kind of people and handle them, then go back to base. 

Life had stagnated, yet Youngjae had no ways of breaking this dreary pattern. 

Until one day, where he happened upon a crying man outside of his workplace. At first Youngjae just stared, thinking of ways to get past the man without garnering his attention, but the work line's motto of ' always help the ones in need' kept flashing in his head like an annoying neon sign. He may not have clocked in yet, but his job required for him to always be on duty. 

He, begrudgingly, had to talk to the loudly sobbing man.

Youngjae tried very hard to school the annoyed expression from his face and approached the young man. “What's wrong?” He winced at his own tone, realising he sounded a little too harsh and maybe should have made his presence known first.

The crying man didn't seem particularly disturbed though, as he dramatically opened his arms wide and looked up at the sky with a tear-stained face. “They won't accept me to join their team.”

Oh. Probably a fanboy of sorts. Youngjae was fairly accustomed to those. 

“You need a superpower for that,” he said.

“But I do have one!” The man spoke back heatedly. He had gotten up and Youngjae noticed how, despite his swollen red eyes, he was quite attractive. Unconsciously Youngjae his lips.

“You do?”

“Yes! I'm like, super strong!”

Youngjae wasn't convinced, but also didn't want to dismiss the ridiculously hot man. Apparently, his face was conveying his real emotion as the man looked offended for a moment.

“Just watch!” He walked over to a car parked by the entrance and proceeded to, without breaking a sweat, lift it high above his head.

Youngjae was honestly impressed, and even a tad more attracted. “Then why wouldn't they accept you?” He questioned, more to himself than to the man. After all, their team definitely could use someone with super strength.

Once again the man looked depressed and sat down on the ground. “Because I don't have a tragic backstory. Every superhero needs one.”

“That's stupid,” Youngjae snorted. He himself didn't have one, though he did remember their leader, Himchan, once asking him about the saddest moment in his life. But Youngjae's saddest moment was his dog dying of old age. It had been sad at the time, but it was the circle of life. “I'll go talk to them, wait here.” Hope lit up on the man's eyes and he nodded enthusiastically.

-

“What?!” Youngjae's mouth fell open. “It's required?”

Himchan nodded, expression grave. “Yes, the Superhero Board of Directors need to approve your tragic backstory to be able to register as an official superhero.”

“But I don't have one?”

At this Himchan's expression changed, his eyes flickering and mouth pulled into an awkward smile. “Well, I may have told them that it was a brother of yours who died instead.”

“What the , Himchan??” So he only had this job due to lies? It was a stupid rule, but it still meant his trusted leader had kept something from him. What the .

He was absolutely livid. 

“Why?”

“Well,” Himchan's cheeks reddened, but his expression was serious. “You said you wanted to join and no man can ever say no to you.”

. , he was right. A curse and a blessing, this superpower. Working on half of the population in the world, and he could get whatever he wanted, but also it meant no man was ever genuine towards him and as a gay man this proved to be difficult when it came to romance. 

What a useless power, as a superhero. He almost never got to join the action. 

“I quit,” Youngjae announced calmly. “Apparently I don't fit in here, with my non-tragic background story and all.” Also he was mad, but it wouldn't be nice of him to be pissed at Himchan when Himchan couldn't resist Youngjae. Quite dramatically, unfitting of his previous calm tone, he grabbed his stuff from his desk and marched outside.

He had forgotten about the crying man and nearly walked straight into him. , this was another problem.

“So?” The man had cleaned up a little, looking more bright eyed. “How did it go?”

“Screw them,” Youngjae muttered. “We don't need them, we can create our own league. Let's go.”

Youngjae wasn't even surprised when the man followed without a single protest. 

-

They sat in Youngjae's apartment, an awkward silence between them after they had had a short introduction.

“Um,” Daehyun's eyes flickered between the wall and Youngjae. “Where do we start? Right on saving people?”

“No, we have to handle the business side first.”

Daehyun deflated. 

“We need a name. You need a superhero alias and a suit. Then there is all the admin-”

“I want to be called StrongDae!”

Youngjae blanked out for a second. “Strong...Dae? You sure about that?”

“Yes.” Daehyun seemed so cheery and excited, so Youngjae held back his comments about the name. It's not like Youngjae had any rights to make fun of a superhero name, he himself probably had the ugliest superhero name in existence.

“Well, you'll need to know my superhero alias then.” Youngjae sighed. “I'm known as Lovebird.” Oh god how much he hated the name, he had wanted something way cooler but the public had not let go of the pet name they gave him and he had decided to embrace it. He guessed it was his own fault, wanting a soft pink and white superhero suit with a bird-like wing over one shoulder (and down the arm) as the cape.  It looked fabulous, but it did make him look like a bird.

At this Daehyun's eyes widened and he jumped up from where he was sitting. “Oh my god, I can't believe you're Lovebird!” He froze. “I mean, it makes sense and all, since you're so pretty. And like, I totally see why and all. It's just-” He paused. “So cool.”

Youngjae hadn't really done much as a superhero, if he were to be honest, his powers weren't always too useful. There had been times when his (old) league would desperately use him to convince some supervillains to go and give themselves up. It was only reserved for emergencies, seeing as being a superhero is all about flashy fights and all. Usually Youngjae wouldn't join in on the fights. He could hold himself up in a normal fight well, but not against people with superpowers sadly. Yet, despite his public appearances being few he had somehow acquired a pretty huge following. Which was probably due to his power, as most of his fans were men. Though, he also had quite a few female fans and those fans would often 'ship' him with his league mates 

Oh dear, when news hit he left Himchan's league there would be some heartbroken shippers out there.

“So, you're a fan?” Youngjae really hoped he wasn't, it could make their work a little harder. 

“Of course! The way you handled the case about the hostages was so cool! Just went right in there, and five minutes later every hostage was free and every robber turned themselves in,” Daehyun was nearly bouncing on his feet. “I can't believe we're going to be colleagues! We're gonna catch all the criminals and be a super-duo!”

“... Yeah, about that. My superpower might not always be too useful in the field, so we need equipment for when I'll stay at the base.”

Daehyun's eyebrows furrowed. “What is your superpower?”

Youngjae squirmed. “No man can deny me.”

“Oh, that's still cool! But how did you pass the tests from the Superhero Board? One test was all about showcasing your power and make sure it was flashy and impressive?”

“Tests?” Youngjae couldn't remember needing to do any tests. “I just stood before the Board and they instantly approved of me.” Well, they were a bunch of men, it wasn't too surprising. But even the only woman on the Board had approved, oddly enough. Man, the Board of Superheroes was really backwards when it came to equality.

“Oh,”  Daehyun seemed taken aback. “But it makes sense with your power. And they definitely didn't make a mistake, you're a good person, Youngjae.” He proceeded to put on a blinding smile, which made his eyes crinkle and cheeks bunch up. 

It was lethal and Youngjae did his best to ignore the somersaults in his stomach.

“I wouldn't necessary say I'm a good person,” he mumbled and had to look away before his cheeks would redden. “We should start planning.”

“Sure!”

II
It took two weeks to work it all out, and find a base. Youngjae had had to request money from the Board, and to get approval of a new league to be formed. He had, quite shamelessly, used his superpower to get them to agree and he didn't feel bad about it. He had thought the only woman on the Board would kick up a fuss because this went against all their regulations. Forming a league with only two people, with one of them not even being a licensed superhero? Wouldn't usually get accepted. Yet, Kim Yoohyeon had only asked if they planned to perform their duties and nothing more. She was definitely different from all the useless and old-fashioned dudes sitting at the board. He hoped this meant change would be coming soon, with her being the first sign. 

So, they got a base. A decent office space perfectly fit for two people. Youngjae also got the technology he needed, so he could guide and help Daehyun when he was out on missions. Things were looking good. 

Youngjae had made a webpage, which he had made public when tweeting it on his superhero account. He had 2 million followers, so word got out quick. Some of the headlines were fairly entertaining.

“Lovebird has flown out of the coop!”   

“Thousands of fangirls cry as their 'ship' has broken up” 

“Lovebird 3 Lightning Rod”

It was actually a bit worrying how many of the headlines were about him and Himchan, and their supposed romantic relationship. Sure, they had had like, once, but they definitely had not been romantically involved so he had no idea why he and Himchan was more popular than him and the other male members of his old League. 

His twitter, despite the shipping drama, was flooded with supportive comments.

With everything up and running, there was just one more thing left to do; Introduce Daehyun as his partner in their League. A league they had called League of Good after Daehyun had whined and whined until he got his way. Youngjae would call it LoG for short and pretend it stood for League of Gods. He was fine with Daehyun getting his way, seeing as he himself didn't really have any suggestions.

So, to introduce Daehyun to the public they needed to get him a suit and there was only one place for that.

It was there they spent Saturday afternoon.

“He needs a suit, fit for his superpower.” Youngjae hadn't even bothered to say hello to the tailor, just looking at the middle aged man with bored eyes. “And he's not approved by the Board, but if you don't make his suit I will tell your wife about the time you propositioned me.”

His power only worked for a short time, so using it wouldn't help when making a suit took days and he wasn't interested in coming there everyday.

“Young-”

“Of course.” The tailor hastily interrupted Daehyun, looking panicked. “So young man, any specifics? Colours, design?”

Daehyun shook his head. “No-”

“It better be fashionable, tight, and the colours should be black and red.” Youngjae spoke firmly; he had noticed how good Daehyun fit those colours and definitely wanted to see it more. “Mostly black.”

The tailor wrote everything down hastily. “Okay I just need to take the measures and it'll be done in a few days.”

As Daehyun got his measures taken, Youngjae noticed how the other man was nearly shaking in excitement. In fact, throughout this entire process of creating their superhero team business, Daehyun had been enthusiastic about everything. He would also constantly talk about how excited he was to make a difference. Youngjae had never met anyone in this business as enthusiastic as Daehyun when it came to being a superhero, it was a bit refreshing. Maybe it's because Daehyun didn't have a tragic sob story to weigh him down, making him genuinely passionate and optimistic about this job.

Then again, Youngjae had no tragic back story either and he definitely only got into this line of work because it paid well and due to the exciting job description.

- 

A few days later they picked up the suit, and back at their base Daehyun looked like he was about to cry when he put it on. It was a very leather-y piece, showcasing Daehyun's strong and tempting thighs; Youngjae had to fight himself from drooling and instead looked into the shining eyes. 

“I'm- I'm a superhero now.” Daehyun said in a strange tone. “Well, not officially but I'll finally be able to help people. I'm-”

Oh god, Youngjae wasn't sure if he could handle him if he began crying. Youngjae was honestly really bad when it came to feelings, both expressing and dealing with them. “Um, yeah. We'll show them how we don't need a sob story to be able to do this job.” It was the main reason why Youngjae was doing this. It was a stupid rule, and he was pissed at Himchan for never telling him how he had lied.

“That's not what this is is about!” Daehyun walked forward and grabbed Youngjae's hand, encasing it gently in his warm and callous ones. “We are going to help people, do something good for the world. We are going to change lives, save lives.” He spoke passionately, eyes turning even wetter. Youngjae cringed a little, but stared into the domino masked face; masks covering the entire face was what supervillains wore, while superheroes could only use the ones that encircled their eyes and in reality barely hid their faces. 

“Uh, yes of course.” Saving people was nice too, Youngjae guessed. “Um, let's post a picture of you on twitter?” They had already made Daehyun's official account, now Youngjae would just have to link to it in a tweet. 

“Right! Get your suit on too.”

“Why?”

Daehyun rolled his eyes. “We are partners now, right? My first tweet should be a picture of us together.”

He was kind of right. Youngjae sighed and disappeared into the changing room, coming out minutes later in his getup. 

“Wow, you look even cooler up close!”

Youngjae rose an eyebrow, feeling how his white and very glittery mask moved slightly. No one really called his suit cool. Words like 'pretty', 'fancy', and 'fashionable' were more common. What Youngjae himself personally liked about his suit was how great his looked in it. “Let's just get this picture over with.”

Daehyun smiled widely and threw an arm over his shoulder, raising his phone high. “Say League of Good!”

Youngjae tried to smile, but in the resulting picture he looked more like he wanted to murder someone. Which was basically his constant mood.

“Damn we look cute. This is perfect.”

Youngjae wanted to argue, but then realised he didn't care. Nothing could be worse than the time his suit (a two piece) had revealed his tummy, which was a little pudgy, and it had hit the front page headlines the days after. “Lovebird's cute love handles”.  He had wanted to lock himself up and never see daylight again. After that Youngjae had requested for a new suit, a one piece. Never again would he do a two piece.. 

Youngjae sat down on his office chair, logging into the twitter app and heading to Daehyun's account. He hit follow and waited for the first tweet to appear.

“Posted!”

Youngjae refreshed and was met with the selfie of them; Daehyun's cheerful and friendly smile almost blinding him. The caption read 'Ready to save the world!! The wonderful @Lovebird24 has taken me under his wing and together we will make a difference!”

Oh god. Daehyun was too pure for this world. Youngjae ignored how his lips twitched, itching to smile. Instead he pressed 'reply with comment' and wrote 'Introducing my new partner and co-worker!'.  He hit tweet and watched as his mentions blew up. 

“Oh wow, I'm already getting a lot of followers,” Daehyun sounded surprised. His eyes were glued to the phone. “And some angry mentions about me being a homewrecker.”

A sigh. “Ignore those.”

“Now my mentions are flooded with the word 'Daddy'. Wow.”

“Oh my god.” Youngjae shuddered. “ bastards.”

Daehyun just seemed amused, watching his phone intently. Youngjae went into the biggest newspaper and wasn't surprised to see the headlines being about the new reveal. 

'StrongDae: Lovebird's new partner revealed'

A pretty decent headline, Youngjae was pleased.. No backlash yet. Though, when they found out he wasn't a licensed superhero there might be some drama. 

A notification of Daehyun having retweeted something popped up and Youngjae went onto twitter again, instantly paling as he read the tweet his new partner had retweeted and spread around.

'StrongDae? More like StrongDaeddy, amirite? ;)'

“Daehyun! Don't encourage them!”

“Oh come on, it was funny!”

Daehyun ended up trending, worldwide. Youngjae was re-considering his life and all the choices he had made; what kind of man had he just partnered with?

III
A few weeks went by, where Youngjae trained Daehyun and they went over safety instructions and a bunch of emergency and 'what if' plans. It was important to create a safe work environment and backup plans. It was a long, hard couple of weeks, but Daehyun had trained before this and was the definition of Superhero Material. It's insane how a backstory stopped him from getting his official superhero license. 

Then came their first job. Youngjae stayed at the base, watching through surveillance cameras placed around the city and and talking through the ear piece. The moment of truth; how would Daehyun work in the field?

The case was a simple robbery, with several masked people having entered the bank, chased all the customers out, and only keeping the work staff there.

Daehyun had arrived on the motorcycle Youngjae had deigned as their work related vehicle (it was cool and y). Daehyun in all that black and red leather, and on a motorcycle, was definitely a vision Youngjae would save (in fact he had taken a few screenshots as Daehyun whirred past cameras). 

“There are four guys,” Youngjae informed over the earpiece, watching as Daehyun used his super strength to jump up to the roof. Pretty neat. Daehyun could also endure more pain and didn't get hurt easily, so Youngjae observed calmly as his partner dropped down the glass ceiling in a flashy, over the top style.

The masked robbers all startled, training their guns at him, but before they could react he had grabbed one of them and thrown him into two of the ones standing together. The fourth was so surprised he did nothing as Daehyun approached and punched him unconscious. 

“Make sure the others are down for the count too.”

“Of course.”

Daehyun kicked each of the other three robbers, but got no response. They were knocked out cold. All the guns were stepped on harshly, breaking under Daehyun's feet.  He then turned to the workers and smiled widely. “It's safe now, you can go outside.”

One worker, the woman who had been the one putting money into a bag, burst out crying and ran to hug Daehyun. “Thank you.” She sobbed loudly, then backed off, bowed respectfully, and ran outside. The other workers all respectfully bowed as they passed him and mumbled thank yous.

“Okay, now you gotta exit. I recommend out through the window in one of the toilets.”

Having your identity hidden was important, and one of the main Superhero Codes, and the less media got their camera on you the better. Quick and anonymous exits were the usually go to route. 

Well, there were some flashy, and camera hungry, superheroes too. Himchan was a prime example of someone who loved a little bit of limelight. 

“On it.”

Even in the poor quality surveillance camera, Youngjae could see the pure happiness on Daehyun's face. 

And he was still smiling as widely when he burst into the base, pulling Youngjae into a tight hug. “I finally helped people! I did something good!”

Youngjae winced at the strong hug, feeling some air leave his lungs, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant. And Daehyun smelled really nice. “Yes you did, now let me go.” 

“Oh, sorry!”  Daehyun smiled sheepishly, then eyes lit up again. “I'm excited to do more of this. To help more people.”

In this city, it surely was needed. Especially with the amount of supervillains they had. Youngjae had actually considered getting a supervillain license for a short while, but realised he didn't have an agenda to push for. And what's a supervillain without an agenda? 

There was one supervillain, who was by far Youngjae's favourite, whose sole 'evil agenda' was to bring more cats into the world.  Moondancer was his name, and his power was changing into a huge werewolf at will. Which was funny because this was obviously a cat person. 

One time Moondancer had ed him in in a back alley after Youngjae had stopped him from unleashing one thousand cats into Hongdae. Youngjae had always gotten the weird assignments, but this one had ended on a very happy note so he couldn't complain.

(Afterwards, Youngjae had wondered if this meant he was a furry, but Moondancer had only been in his suit and not in his werewolf form so he decided it didn't count.)

“I'll make sure to look for more stuff for you to do,” Youngjae promised; he secretly wanted to see more of Daehyun smiling. Pure joy like this needed to be encouraged in such a dreary world. 

“Great!” Daehyun dropped down on the small couch, phone in hand. “There are pictures of me on social media! And I'm trending in Korea!”

Daehyun would definitely end up getting a huge following. There had already been a fanclub formed, which didn't rival Youngjae's, but still had garnered quite a lot of interest. 

The next weeks StrongDae grew into a common household name, as he stopped a bus running wild, kicked JB's (supervillain) , and went to a children's library to read from a book. People adored Daehyun, his enthusiasm and joy rubbing off on everyone around him. Somehow, Seoul seemed brighter than ever. Even Youngjae couldn't deny how his life had grown more colourful.

Sometimes Youngjae joined the missions, as long as they didn't involve guns or superpowers, and he got to kick some too. He truly loved beating idiots up, it made him feel relaxed in the hours later. He probably had some pent up emotions he should work through, but punching some douche in the face was pretty rewarding. 

And, as an effect of the two doing missions together, their fans would go crazy. Something Daehyun clearly enjoyed. He would find edits of them, poor edits with lots of hearts or cheesy romantic texts written on the pictures, and show them to Youngjae while he laughed. Worst thing? Daehyun encouraged the behaviour by tweeting pictures of Youngjae.

One time Youngjae had passed out on the couch, still in the suit, and Daehyun had taken a photo of his back and written in caption: 'Cute little birdie is tired after a long night<3'. Youngjae had woken up to a storm; texts from his family(who knew his identity), his former team members (he ignored them), and to media headlines questioning their partnership.

It was after this that the social media, the fans, had started calling them the League of Gays instead. 

The last one was funny, but Youngjae definitely did not agree to Daehyun's infectious laugher about the whole situation. Youngjae had angrily sulked until Daehyun had apologised and promised he would be more careful in the future. It was a promise Youngjae was sure would be broken, but he still appreciated it. 

IV
Very rarely, but sometimes Youngjae got solo missions. They were very specific cases he knew he could only assign to himself, it had been the same back in Himchan's league. So, when a case like this popped up the first time in a long while he had been thrilled. A solo mission was the one time Youngjae actually felt useful. 

Daehyun too had seemed supportive, but worried when he learnt he would have to stay in the base and not be outside of the mansion Youngjae would infiltrate. 

“Wish I was there too,” Daehyun mumbled through the earpiece.

“It's better this way.” Youngjae had already infiltrated the manor, his training making him nimble and light, and good at climbing. He was walking through long hallways, in the middle of the night, and luckily he had already memorised the blueprints.  “I can't speak for a little while, just to be safe,” he warned.

“Of course.” 

The worry was evident, but Youngjae knew Daehyun didn't doubt his skills. 

Tall double doors entered his vision and Youngjae let out a breath; he had reached his destination. Carefully he opened the door, wincing as it creaked lightly, and he reached for his gun. Missions like these were rare, but Youngjae expertly approached the bed and pressed the gun against the sleeping man's head. Just as the man opened his eyes wide, Youngjae fired.

“Youngjae?! Youngjae what is going on? Are you okay? I heard a shot? , Youngjae answer me!”

Jesus christ. “I'm fine,” he whispered harshly, running down the hall towards his intended exit before anyone could see him. He had forgotten to invest in a silencer, so the shot had definitely woken up the entire mansion. Hastily he exited through a window, climbing down swiftly and running into the woods. He ran and ran until he reached the parked motorcycle, hidden away quite ways off.  He couldn't hear anything through the earpiece as he drove back to base, reaching it just as the clock rang 3am.

A worried Daehyun was pacing in the room, seemingly growing relieved as soon as Youngjae arrived. “You're not hurt, right?”

“No.”

“What happened?”

“The mission went perfectly,” Youngjae murmured. He reached for the gun on his hip, shielded away by his bird wing cape, and placed it on the table.

Realisation dawned on Daehyun. “You assassinated him.”

“Yes.”

“You can't do that, Youngjae!”And there it was, Daehyun using his scolding tone. The same one he used every time Youngjae might have punched a criminal one too many times. “There is a Never Kill Code! You could lose your license!”

“Nah, the board is fine with it.” No one had complained before. “People like him, we can't get them to prison. They'll get out again and keep doing the gruesome stuff they do. It's the only way.” Well, supervillains always got out of prison too, but that was a wholly different topic.

“But, you can't kill, Youngjae. You-  It's not right.” Daehyun sounded exasperated and almost desperate. “You're stepping into territory that could get you actually killed! Or imprisoned!”

“No one will imprison me.”

“It's still not right! I refuse to believe the board is fine with this! I'm calling a meeting.”

“What?? No-”

Youngjae had no ing idea how the hell Daehyun managed to call forth a board meeting at 3am, especially when he wasn't a licensed superhero. (When the news had hit, that StrongDae wasn't licensed, some purists had revolted and been mad. There had even been StrongDae Is Problematic threads on twitter, but most hadn't been bothered). 

Yet, here they stood at 4am.

Six tired old men, one tired young woman, and the two superheroes. Daehyun had just finished explaining.

“It's wrong, right?” 

Utter silence. No one said anything. Didn't even blink when Daehyun had claimed 'he kills people! Tell him that it's against the rules!”

The absolutely crestfallen look on Daehyun's face actually hurt Youngjae, making him feel bad. He didn't feel bad about killing the scum of a man, but he felt bad about disappointing such a wonderful person.

“Daehyun, remember my power.”

A new vigour breathed into him. He turned to the only female board member, Kim Yoohyeon. “You can't be fine with this, right? He is violating the Superhero Code 3: Never Kill.”

“Actually,” Yoohyeon leaned back on her chair. “I've been a fan of Lovebird's solo missions. I think this is needed and is something I'm heavily pushing in my campaign. Not every criminal can be apprehended, sometimes killing is a necessary evil.”

This caused Youngjae to smile; there was hope for the future, for this board to evolve, and for this job to get better. 

“His power does not affect me, but his method is approved by me. He knows to only use this method when it's absolutely necessary.”

Youngjae turned to Daehyun, trying to hide his smirk. “See-”

Oh.

Daehyun actually looked heartbroken. It hurt and a huge pressure appeared in his chest. Seeing Daehyun sad made him sad. He walked over to the man and put a comforting hand on the shoulder, squeezing it good naturedly. “Let's go for some night ramyeon and soju? It'll be on me.”

Daehyun nodded, but without any of his usual enthusiasm. Youngjae bid farewell to the board.

After a bottle of soju each, and one bowl of ramyeon, Daehyun's mood lightened a little, but he did become a really clingy drunk. “Jaejae, I'd rather you didn't kill.. You... you're too sweet to get your cute hands dirty.” He had his arm around Youngjae's shoulder and pressed their heads together. 

“Sweet? No one has ever used that word on me.”

Daehyun's eyes shot up, finally showcasing the passion which was so wholly him. “What? But you are! You think I didn't notice how you switched our office chairs so you'd have the slightly broken and uncomfortable one? Or how you always make sure the coffee is fresh and ready when I've been on a tiring mission?” Daehyun's speech was slightly slurred, but clear. “You do all these little things and they're so sweet and lovely and you're so sweet and lovely, the kindest and most caring person I've met!”

Youngjae awkwardly chugged his soju, glad the alcohol had already made his face bright red. It's not like he would do stuff like this for anyone, but Daehyun was just too nice and pure and deserved the world.

Also Youngjae was most definitely head over heels for him. Had realised it when Daehyun had talked a little too long with a pretty girl when they went out for coffee and cake. Youngjae had felt quite jealous, even if he believed it was a childish emotion he had not been able to deny it.

“You're amazing, Yoo Youngjae. I love you.” Daehyun mumbled the last part, sounding like he was ready to pass out.

Okay. “You've had too much to drink, let's get you a cab.” Youngjae ignored his insanely fast beating heart.

They didn't talk about this the day after, and Daehyun went back to his cheery self. Though he did comment 'I won't let you do any of those solo missions again'.

And Youngjae decided to argue about this another day. 

V
“Youngjae?”

“Yeah?”

It was a quiet day, with nothing to do so Youngjae was busy watching a film while Daehyun was browsing on his phone.

“Did you and Thunder Rod have a thing?”

Youngjae looked up from his film. “Uh, I slept with him once, but there were no feelings involved. Why?”

“Hmm,” Daehyun still didn't look up from his device. “There is a shipping war. People who ship us two, and people who ship you and Lightning Rod. StrongLove versus LoveRod.” He tapped a little on his phone. “It's trending.'”

“Jesus christ!” 

Then Youngjae saw it. Saw the way Daehyun's eyes were narrowed in concentration and thought. Oh no. “Don't you dare-”

Daehyun tapped the phone screen. “Too late.”

Hastily Youngjae opened his twitter and went on Daehyun's profile. 

A photo had been posted. One taken from one of their missions, the two with their back against the camera, but where Youngjae had thrown an arm around Daehyun's shoulders. 

The caption read: The best team.

It was actually cute and fairly innocent. Youngjae hit retweet before he started overthinking it. He was proud Daehyun actually didn't play along too far this time, he would sometimes encourage the shippers a little too much which would surely end in disappointment and heartbreak for both Youngjae and the shippers.

VI
Oh hell to the ing no.

No.

Youngjae slammed his hand on the table.

“What's wrong?” Daehyun had nearly jumped up from the couch, eyes comically wide.

“Read the bull article Superhero Daily.”

A few quiet minutes followed as Daehyun read and Youngjae churned in anger. A twitter notification sound finally broke the silence and Youngjae's eyes narrowed as he saw it was Daehyun who had tweeted something.

Glad the Superhero Daily seems to acknowledge that Lovebird is my cute sidekick ;)

“Jung Daehyun I will ing murder you!” Youngjae jumped up and surged towards the other man, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him violently. Well, trying to shake him violently, Daehyun didn't budge even one centimetre. Annoying super strength. “Ugh!” And the twerp didn't even have the decency to look up or seem bothered, he just kept tapping away from his phone. 

A new notification. 

Youngjae dropped down on the couch next to his annoying partner, eyes on his phone again.

Jkjk. Lovebird was the only one who believed I could become a superhero, and without him I would be nothing. He helped me realise my dream. He taught me everything I know, and he is the reason I get back safely from every mission. He truly is the best partner one could have. 

Oh.

Youngjae's cheeks heated up and his heart was doing the painful pulling feeling again. No words could be formed to explain how he felt, so instead he leaned closer and rested his head on Daehyun's shoulder.

They sat like that for an hour, a comfortable silence enveloping them as they spent time with their noses into their phones. 

VII
It had taken Youngjae an embarrassingly long time to realise.

Something he should have realised just days after he met Daehyun.

Daehyun was immune to his power. 

Sure, sometimes Daehyun would agree and Youngjae would get his way, but equally as many times Daehyun would get his way. Like, with the name. Or whenever Youngjae tried to ban him from tweeting certain stuff. Or the whole killing issue, which they hadn't discussed yet, but the way Daehyun had absolutely denied him when normal men would instantly agree. 

Youngjae had never encountered this problem before, and it left him bewildered. He liked it, it meant Daehyun was genuine towards him. But, didn't this also mean there was no chance in hell Daehyun could ever fall in love with Youngjae? 

Youngjae had never experienced true romance, as all the love confessions were surely influenced by his power. And, he didn't want a fake romance so he had never had a proper boyfriend. But, Youngjae was not likeable at all. No one could ever genuinely fall in love with him. 

It was depressing and uplifting at the same time. Finally there was a man in his life who could go against him, but for the same man to be someone who was definitely not ever gonna fall in love with Youngjae's grumpy and lacking personality.

Youngjae drank until he passed out, despite not liking alcohol all that much. 

VIII
“Hey, Youngjae?”

“Yeah?”

“I'm thinking I should change my superhero name.”

“Uh, to what?”

“StrongDaeddy.”

“... Daehyun no.

“Daehyun yes.”

“Don't you ing dare.”

-

The dared. Not officially, but one morning Youngjae had came to work and noticed a change in Daehyun's suit.

His cape had been bedazzled, and in big, glittering letters it was written “StrongDaeddy”.

Twitter blew up with photos from Daehyun's next missions and fans memeing the hell out of it. 

Daehyun was proud, while Youngjae wanted to cry.

IX
For the first time in years. 

An actual threat to Seoul had arrived and all Superheroes had been called to arms. (Even Daehyun had been requested despite not being an official licensed superhero).

A god damn alien invasion.

It had been five years since last time and it had been a storm then, it had been right before Youngjae had gotten his license so he hadn't fought.

Now he actually had to fight, and even Daehyun seemed stressed. Stressed and worried enough to not protest when Youngjae grabbed his gun.

These aliens would not accept their Never Kill rule. Killing would happen, as the board had issued a state of emergency. All rules of not harming, or killing had been abolished. There was Clear to Go sign on alien killing, as it was the same aliens like the last invasion and they had definitely not cared about human life at all. Of course, there had been the PETA (not to be confused with the animal related one) clearly protesting, as they stood for People for the Ethical Treatment of Aliens. No one really listened to them, not when this race of aliens would indiscriminately kill.

“Listen,” Youngjae said as they put their suits on. “My task will be to get civilians to safe areas, I can't really fight the aliens.” His power had a small chance of working. These aliens were just big jelly lumps and would slither everywhere. Youngjae doubted they had gender, so there would be no 'males' to convince. And his gun? Would be useless. He remembered the videos of how the aliens' jelly bodies wouldn't get affected by bullets, would keep slithering forth with dozens of bullets inside their see-through green-ish jelly flesh.. He still bought it, mostly to feel a little safe.

Daehyun nodded.

“Be careful, these aliens are not going to be interested in playing nice.” Youngjae worried Daehyun would be too soft. 

“I'll be careful.”

Good. 

Youngjae looked over at Daehyun who seemed ready. “Let's go.”

They went on the motorcycle together, with Youngjae clinging onto Daehyun's back as they rode down the street in high speed. The whole city was in wide panic, all vehicles driving away from the way they were heading. The touchdown had been the centre of Seoul, and it was going to be messy. Having almost reached the destination, Daehyun slowed down and let off Youngjae before driving off.

Okay.

Youngjae looked around, seeing countless of civilians run past in panic. This part of the city was still pretty intact, despite the sounds of battle not being too far away.

It was time to see if anyone needed help to get to safety. It would be slightly bitter to miss all the action, but Youngjae knew and respected his limitations. His strength lay in other areas and he was not ashamed of this. 

So he set out to help civilians who were crying and panicking so hard they could not move, talking to them until they calmed down enough to walk away from the danger zone. It was a hard job, since Youngjae wasn't particularly good at handling people and their feelings. It was easy if they were men, then he could just tell them to calm down and walk away. Children or women, he would have to actually talk to and listen and help. Luckily, he had learnt some skills from being with Daehyun. Daehyun was a warm and kind person who seemed to always know what to say, when it was needed. Maybe he had to admit there were some positive sides to working with the idiot.

Things were going all pretty swell, with only minor hitches. Once in a while Youngjae would stop, eyes trained at where the battle was taking place, and worry a little about Daehyun before he went back to his job.

Then things went to hell. Youngjae was busy walking through a large building, combing it for civilians, when he ran into an alien. Just one, slithering by itself through the empty halls.

It seemed to have purpose wherever it was going, and this concerned Youngjae. He would have left it alone, but something told him to follow it closely and quietly as he went down the narrow hallway. 

And his instinct had been correct. It had been chasing a young man, managing to corner him in an office.

.

“Hey!” Youngjae jumped out of his hiding place, gun raised. The green blob turned around, its round red eyes trained at Youngjae. “Dude in the office, run now and get the out.” The man instantly ran, not even sparing his saviour a brief look. The alien slithered closer, raising a slimy arm and firing off the laser gun. Youngjae managed to dodge just in time.

Okay, the man was most likely far away enough now. Youngjae didn't even bother firing off his gun, he just needed to get away too. He turned, intent on running away but instead was met with another blob.

He was closed in, one alien behind him and one in front of him. He was doomed.

, this is what he got for getting a superhero license instead of a supervillain one. Dying to save one insignificant dude.

“God dammit,” Youngjae growled to himself, trying to find a way to escape. He could try to push past the alien, but these things were massive and he would probably just end up into its body (which would be absolutely gross and worse than death). He lowered his gun, knowing it was practically useless. The two aliens spoke in a weird guttural sound, closing in on Youngjae, then as the stench of their bodies hit his nose, something knocked him in the back of his head and he was out like a light.

-

When he came to it was evening, which meant hours had passed, and he was being carried around by an alien. In one arm it was holding Youngjae in an surprisingly tight grip despite the sliminess, and in the other arm it was firing its gun. 

“Release him!”

Daehyun?

Head pounding, Youngjae lifted his head and saw his co-worker standing there angrily, before the alien. God, Youngjae didn't know Daehyun would look so y when he was angry and the tight, leather outfits surely didn't help.

The alien just made some angry sounds. Or maybe it said something but who knows. 

“I've warned you!” Daehyun yelled before running towards them, eyes blazing. Every shot from the  laser missed as Daehyun ran too fast for the alien to aim properly. 

Youngjae got a first class view as his partner grabbed the top of the alien's body and quite literally ripped it in two. It was brutal, but Youngjae enjoyed the dedicated look on the handsome face and couldn't deny how his stomach swirled at the thought of Daehyun being so worked up because of him. Very attractive, definitely got Youngjae's blood flowing. And also the fact that Daehyun was strong enough to rip someone (something?) apart? Hot ing damn. 

Youngjae fell unceremoniously on the ground as the alien was ripped in two. He let out a grunt from the impact, knowing his arm would be hurting in the morning (it had taken the brunt of his fall). 

“Youngjae!” Instantly Daehyun had gone from angry to both relieved and worried. He kneeled down and pulled Youngjae's upper body into his arms. This surely looked like a dramatic scene from either a romance film or a film where the hero was dying in someone's arms. “Are you okay?” Concerned eyes peered down at him.

“Yeah.”

“Good.” Daehyun breathed out. “When I saw you being carried off like that I thought-” He choked on his words and his eyes teared up. Oh. Youngjae's heart fell a little. “I really thought I had lost you.”

“Well,” Youngjae coughed awkwardly, looking away briefly; he couldn't handle Daehyun looking so sad, it was breaking his heart. “Look on the bright side, you almost got the tragic back story you'd need for the official superhero license.”

A very loud and noticeable silence followed.

Youngjae chanced to look into Daehyun's face again, hoping to maybe see a smile from his (quite funny) joke, but was baffled to meet rage. 

“Don't ing joke about that!” Daehyun yelled.

Youngjae winced. “I'm 10 centimetres away you don't have to ye-”

“Shut up! I can't believe you're joking this!” He looked mad enough to cry. Youngjae felt horrible again. “I almost lost the love of my life and you-”

Wait. What. Youngjae's heart stopped and his eyes widened. Jung Daehyun loved him? Was it- “What did you just say?” Youngjae choked out. “You... You love me?”

Daehyun froze, seemingly realising what he had just blurted out, his cheeks reddening. “Yeah.” Despite his body language, it was spoken with confidence. “Yeah I do.”

A thousand thoughts swirled through Youngjae's mind, but it all was drowned out by the the beating of his heart. Without thinking Youngjae grabbed the back of Daehyun's head and pulled him in for a long, sweet kiss.

When they broke apart Daehyun's lips were pulled so widely apart it must have been hurting; the smile did not help on the fluttery feelings in Youngjae's stomach.  

“So you feel the same?” Daehyun whispered happily.

“Yeah.” Youngjae couldn't resist putting on a small smile, which was instantly covered by Daehyun's lips as he was pulled firmer into the strong arms. 

-

“Why doesn't my power work on you?” Youngjae asked, out of breath and legs tangled together.

“What do you mean?” Daehyun sounded just as winded.

“When I tell you to do something you never do it.” Youngjae knew his power worked only in a short time, but it worked for instant stuff; like making someone drop their weapon or surrender themselves to the police. But also he was irresistible, a passive power he guessed, since every man wanted a piece of his (and no his ego wasn't big, it was just the truth). 

“Are you joking?” Daehyun scoffed. “I'd do anything for you!”

Youngjae's eyes narrowed.

“Except kill, break any of the superhero codes, do anything ethically or morally incorrect, or do anything that would harm you.”

“Exactly!” Youngjae exclaimed. “You're just the normal type of whipped. So my power doesn't work on you.”

“Huh, that's weird.”

Youngjae guessed it would forever remain a mystery, but he blamed Daehyun's insanely strong moral code. He had never met anyone who was this kind nor this worried about rules. Must be why. 

Which was honestly a bit nice, his own morality was ambiguous at best and having Daehyun around might be good for him.

- 

The headlines the day after were, surprisingly, not about the alien invasion. 

Instead there were widespread pictures of their shared kiss, and twitter was blowing up. 

Youngjae and Daehyun didn't really notice, as they stayed in bed all day taking a well deserved vacation. 

When they finally decided to interact with the world again, Daehyun tweeted one simple tweet as a comment on the new development:

StrongLove always wins