In the aftermath of the battle for Gangnam-gu, fallen concrete and steel are strung across the streets as people collect themselves from yet another alien invasion and reassure each other of their continue existent but amidst the total chaos, Donghae stands firm with his arms crossed and scowling heavily at Hyukjae. “What do you think you were doing?” he demands, looking rightfully pissed.

"Saving you," Hyukjae says slowly and deliberately, just in case Donghae had forgotten the last hours of carnage and the near death experience that he was caught in before Hyukjae had swooped and saved his .

Donghae’s scowl turns to an outright hateful glare as if Hyukjae had revealed he’d killed Donghae’s entire family and danced on top of their body in celebration or something.

Hyukjae scratches the back of his head in confusion as he asks, “Did you not want to be save from the—?” he gestures wildly hoping to convey, ‘intergalactic catfish vampire and their freaky giant tentacle monster pet thing’, without having to actually say it, because this is Hyukjae’s life now and alien catfish that people’s life-force is supposed to be a normal day for him as Silver—a superhero that is part of the meta-human task force Knightmare.

"I could have handle it," Donghae insists adamantly. 

Hyukjae frowns. “With what,” he snaps, and then looks pointedly down at the small and slender black flashlight clutched in Donghae’s hand and up again. “A flashlight?”

Donghae narrow his eyes at Hyukjae as he lifts the flashlight up, flicking on the power switch and a beam of condense red light pours out like a pillar of pure energy. He walks over to a piece of collapsed steel that was displaced from its original home during the battle and looks down at it.

"My papa is a colonel of the WSDD and is also the head liaison officer between the metahuman’s community and the WSDD, so I certainly didn’t need your help, Silver," Donghae says, and swings his light saber—because really what else is Hyukjae supposed to call it—right at it and Hyukjae’s eyes goes wide as the saber cleanly and smoothly slices through the misshapen steel as if it was cutting through water. “And this is no flashlight.”

Occasionally, Hyukjae is reminded that Donghae’s family is equally weird and absolutely terrifying because who else would armed and teach their nineteen years old son how to use a class SS highly illegal military-grade weapon that Hyukjae had previously seen someone ripe through a ten foot tall giant robot, Donghae’s crazy family that’s who.

Hyukjae is profoundly glad that Donghae is just a normal human—normal, though, is really relative at this point in a world of metahumans, interstellar and interdimensional beings—and will never have a chance to decide if he want to become a hero or villain one day because either way the world may really be doom otherwise.

 "Oh uh, noted," Hyukjae says awkwardly, because saying ‘fine next time I won’t try to save your ungrateful ’ is not very hero-like. He’s too trained in public relations by the PR manager to make that rookie mistake, but Donghae’s definitely walking a thin line here.  

Donghae his head toward a dead lizardman laying on a pile of rubble and underneath it, peaking through its scaly armor is the handlebar of a bike.  

"I'm sorry?" he tries, wincing. He hadn't thought about it when he had thrown the giant beast against the wall when it tried to make a grab for Donghae, instinct had propelled him forward to stop it in any way mean from reaching Donghae.

Donghae tilts his head thoughtfully to the side. "Take me home then," he says after a moment.  

"What?" Hyukjae says, so thrown off that he nearly took a stumble back.

Donghae roll his eyes. "Since you mashed my bike, I need to find a new ride home now."

"Oh," he says, and then scans the field of debris for Avian. He eventually finds Avian hovering off the ground not too far off from them, carting off one of the lizardmen into a large steel container to bring back to their lab for study. "I can get Avian to take you so--"

"No!" Donghae is quick to protest, his mask of cool indifference broken temporarily. "You broke my ride so you should be the one to take me home."

Hyukjae frowns, brows furrowing in confusion. "But it would be faster if Avian take you home since I can't fly."

"Are you ditching your obligation to me after having mashed my bike?” Donghae demands heatedly.

In protecting you, Hyukjae didn’t quite say but it’s a near thing.

And the final blow deals by Donghae: "What kind of superhero does that?" Donghae might as well say: you're a complete for ruining my life and you’re not even going to do anything about it.

Hyukjae sighs, there's just no point in arguing with Donghae at this point not when he can be so obstinate and difficult at the most inconvenience of time.

“Alright, fine, just gimme a second here,” he says and walks off to get some privacy. He comms his commander, Avian, to inform him about the change of plan.

“I have to take Donghae’s home now but I’ll be back to help finish the cleanup,” he tells Avian.

“Fine, but take the Eldritch Horror," Avian says and Hyukjae can hear the frown in his voice. “Just make sure Donghae doesn't find out your identity or I’m going to banish you to Antarctica again."

Hyukjae swallows, nodding his head resolutely even though Avian can’t see it. He and a couple of other trainees were sent away to Antarctica for intense training session that had felt more like a punishment and a death trail but the worst wasn’t even the crazed mutated penguins and the fear of freezing to death, it was coming back home.

It was a tense week for Hyukjae when Donghae couldn’t contact him the entire time he was out and when Hyukjae finally got back, he refused to talk to him for another week until Hyukjae had groveled and bribed him to get back in his good grace, and that was after having made the flimsy excuse that his private school went on some survival retreat in the woods to build character or something like some new age practice where outside communications weren’t allow.

Donghae luckily had put it off as another weird notch against Hyukjae and his school, never realizing that Hyukjae’s school is actually a secret military compound training people like him to use their power to defend the earth.

This whole secret identity thing was becoming more annoying and complicated than Hyukjae had initially account for.

The Eldritch Horror is a sleek black thing of beauty and look like an ordinary sport car on the outside but the interior is always a warm and feels like a pulsing heartbeat as though you’re in the elly of the beast. Which might explain by the fact that the vehicle is sentient and very much alive and could eat you.

It’s one of the main transportation and battle vehicles that Knightmare have in their Amory; a glorified monster car and Hyukjae rarely have the privilege to drive it, so this chance should feel like a blessing but Donghae is sitting in the passenger side, looking outside the car window with a bored and bland expression his face as though he couldn’t be bother by Hyukjae’s presence next to him.  

It really does a lot for Hyukjae’s battered ego around Donghae.

The drive toward Donghae’s house is quiet and tense as Silver pretends to listen and take direction from Donghae toward his house like he haven’t visit there a hundred times before as Hyukjae.

Their conversation mostly follow the line of “turn right here,” and “keep going straight ahead,” so short and abrupt that Hyukjae wonder if Donghae would combust any moment if he had to be his presence anymore.

When they finally made it to Donghae’s home, a homey two storey Victorian manor that look like any other house in this suburban neighborhood, if Hyukjae didn’t know that the owners of this house were two of the most dangerous and known figures in the world of superhero and villain. And they’re Donghae’s parents.

Hyukjae at least have the dignity to Donghae out of the vehicle and to the front steps of his house and thinks, almost foolishly, that he can finally breath again now that Donghae is home, safe and sound, and should really be locked up because he can't keep doing this to Hyukjae.

“So, this is good-bye I guess and sorry again about your, uh, bike,” he says ineloquently, wondering when did his tongue became so useless.

Donghae just stares at him, expressionless and unmoved, and Hyukjae just sigh as he turns away, since there’s nothing else to say or do but his movement is stop when his suit is grabbed from behind, pulling him backward and spinning him around to face Donghae once more.

Hyukajae eyes widen as Donghae forcibly drags him in and Hyukjae, who has fought numerous foes with ten time more strength and mass than Donghae, finds himself weak against that pull. Hyukjae thinks dazedly that Donghae is either going to punch him in the face or—or that, and he doesn’t know which seem like the worst option.

He can’t even do anything about it, he doesn’t want to do anything about it as a soft kiss plants against his cheek.

And when Donghae draws back, there’s deep flush set on his face.  All trace of the pride and conceit from Donghae is gone, leaving only hesitations and light fire in his eyes, soft and fond as look at Hyukjae.

“A thank you,” he mumbles almost shyly, before dashing off into his house and slamming his front door in Hyukjae’s face, leaving Hyukjae to stand there in mortification and what-the-hell.

It’s a considerable time standing in front of Donghae’s front step, reexamining his entire life, before Hyukjae drags himself back to the Eldritch Horror numbly, ordering it to take him back so he’s free to safely have a meltdown.

Through dazed cloud of bliss and effervescent joy, because Donghae kissed him, kissed him, him of all people! His lungs felt like it’s going to pass out and his heart in shock like someone had rip into his chest and tear it out, because this is a side of Donghae he doesn’t see and Silver had the privilege to witness it. It’s so unfair that Hyukjae had spent what felt like his entire life pinning away for Donghae, only to have his other self-come along and stole Donghae just like that.

As Donghae’s childhood friend and unspectacular Hyukjae, he’s Donghae’s confidante, his partner in crime, and his other half but even then he’s not good enough to have caught Donghae’s eyes and heart.  

Hyukjae known Donghae practically all his life, there’s not a second that he had lived that Donghae wasn’t there with him, but Silver only had to meet Donghae six times for him to win Donghae over.

Only as Silver, heroic and strong Silver, did Donghae think that this person might be interesting enough for him.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow.

As he contemplates his existence and tries to pick up his shattered pride, it’s not soon after that he get a flood of messages that blow up his phone.

guess what hyukjae?! i just kissed silver!!

Well not an actual kiss kiss, it was just on the cheek but still I KISSED HIM

HIS SKIN FEEL SO NICE

OMG

HYUKJAEEEEE

THEY’RE SO SOFT

IMMA DIE

HE’S SO AMAZING ;;;

Sometimes, Hyukjae finds it terribly awkward and ironic to be in love with his best friend who in turn has an embarrassing crush on Hyukjae's superhero alter-ego and is also playing some sort of cat-and-mouse game with him in the weirdest game of flirtation ever.

It’s not so much Donghae’s perchance for blowing hot and cold toward Silver drives him crazy—okay it’s also that—but Donghae, who has zero impulse control and regard for his own safety, throw himself in every dangerous situation if he even a chance of seeing Silver.

Most people run away from danger, but Donghae runs toward it if he know that’s where his goal is.

He’s the most difficult opponent Hyukjae has ever face, worse than any enemies Hyukjae had ever came up against.  Donghae is firestorm, an untamed inferno that fiercely burn through everything that he touch and when Donghae wants something he’ll go to the end of the world for it and Hyukjae guiltily never had much strength to deny him anything.

But he’s also fragilely human and the world is filled with maniacs and monsters, and Hyukjae falls along the line somewhere in there and he knows Donghae will be at risk if he’s with him. That’s why even when he’s just Hyukjae, boring old Hyukjae, he carefully keep a distance between them lest if it get out.

Hyukjae is only nineteen and the things he had seen and done makes him feel much older than his age, but he knows what it means to be in his line of work and for those he love if his real identity ever get out or know he got an attachment to this danger magnet-boy.

Donghae is his Achilles’ heel and there’s nothing Hyukjae could do about it, but Hyukjae really wishes that Donghae stop exposing himself like that because it make Hyukjae life a lot harder when he’s not only trying to only trying to save the world from maniacal villains but save it from the ferocity of Donghae’s crush.

Silver may not know how to handle Donghae, but Lee Hyukjae does and if there’s one thing Hyukjae is very good at, better than even fighting villains and alien invaders, is Donghae’s wrangling.

And that is something even Silver can't take from him.

A/N: Anyway, in my head Hyukjae been in love w/ Donghae a long time now (they are childhood friends) but he has reservation about expressing his feelings since his side job doesn’t allow romantic attachment w/o a death warrant sent out for Donghae so he rather not risk if in case anything go wrong /o\. they’re childhood friends but they moment hyukjae had uncovered his power he was whisked away to a secret superhero school and train to become one while Donghae has no clue about this and think it’s some mega weird elite genius private school lol /o\. Donghae is very much human and normal… which is make 1000% more hilarious bc he’s surrounded by extraordinary people (his parents were former famous superhero/villain in their hay day but now they’re retire; his best friend is the rising young hero silver; his ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ are… notable figure in the government and crime fighting) but the thing is while he’s very much a human Donghae is unperturbed and unimpressed by everything bc he been surrounded by SO MANY special ppl all his life than nothing amazed him anymore so he’s very level headed and cool in dangerous situation which DRIVES HYUKJAE UP THE WALL BC HELLO GIANT FIRE BREATHING MONSTER WHAT YOU ARE YOU EVEN DOING HERE DONGHAE?!!!! Anyway, I think Donghae always been subconsciously in love with hyukjae but sometimes when you know someone all your life you don’t realize how special your feelings toward someone is until ya know some kind of ‘revelation’ like i think he attracted to silver bc deeeeeeeeeeeeeep inside he sees similarity between silver and his hyukjae and that’s how his attachment started and he kinder superimpose hyukjae onto silver unknowingly bc hyukjae is always TOO BUSY FOR HIM in his super secret genius school but with silver he can chase him around the city and watch him fight crime and GET HIS ATTENTION sooo yea lol.