When he was little, he’d thought gaining superpowers would be cool – the greatest thing ever. Better than getting to stay up until 9pm and even better than breakfast for dinner.

Of course, he’d been eight. He hadn’t considered that such amazing gains could come at a price.

Like urges. Strange, less than human urges.

Now, Hyukjae has wings. Not small and fluffy yet useless chicken wings, thankfully. He’d woken up on an ordinary Wednesday at the usual time, stretched with his usual reluctance to wake up early and knocked his alarm clock off the bedside table with his very much not normal wings. He likes to think they’re the wings of an eagle – strong, majestic and magnificent.

Ryeowook says eagles don’t have black wings. Hyukjae told him to get back in the kitchen and got a pan to the head for his efforts.

The rest of the group just thought it was cool. Jeongsoo had been concerned it’d be an inconvenience – can’t have wings popping out in a crowded bus or plane, he’d pointed out with an uneasy frown. Youngwoon’s only concern was whether he could knock someone out with them or not. Heechul wanted to preen them, and with Heechul came Gunhee and Gunhee had products. For hair.

It took a week for the ‘glimmering, shiny’ oils to wash out of his ruffled feathers.

Siwon and Zhou Mi had only one thought on their minds – how could they fit his massive wings in a tiny selca screen? Even iPads couldn’t manage despite their efforts.

Sungmin couldn’t care less about them but Saeun had found the entire ordeal hilarious and demanded pictures of the look on his face whenever he destroys 300,000₩ T-shirts. He still cries over that expensive jacket he’d torn beyond repair when Sungmin snuck up on him and shrieked in his ear. His wings had ripped out of his back and knocked Sungmin back but the er just rolled it off, snapped a picture and cackled.

Hyukjae still doesn’t quite know what to think of that.

Henry had begun calling him birdman, much to his dismay. No amount of scolding, bribery or insincere threats has deterred him yet. Donghee didn’t care much for his wings either once he realised he could fold them away and dance unimpeded, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t resist ribbing him about it at any opportunity.

Jongwoon had dropped everything in his arms – unfortunately, an expensive camera was included – tackled him into a hug and refused to let go until Hyukjae agreed to try and fly with him. He’d been successful on the third try and though it ended in him dropping Jongwoon into the Han river, Jongwoon had been too delighted to mind. He now refers to Fridays as ‘Flydays’ and is persistent enough that Hyukjae still flies him around.

The pictures had spread like a scandal – the hype and speculation was huge even before the videos got leaked. Any hope of keeping his wings a secret were blown within days of getting them. He’d worried it’d mean being pulled from Super Junior and thrown back into the army, but with other civilians gaining strange powers and cameras on him at least once a day, he’d luckily been left alone.

Han Geng had called him and taken over a minute to get any words out past his laughter. He’d to come to China just so he could laugh some more; though he’d been joking, Hyukjae took the plane like a normal person and flew to his window to surprise him instead.

The wings hadn’t improved his alcohol tolerance in the slightest. If anything, it reduced it. Even Jongwoon can drink him under the table now.

Kyuhyun found the whole situation hilarious. He’d taken pictures of his most awkward moments – getting dressed, ruining expensive clothes, knocking everything over – and sent them to as many idols as he could. To Hyukjae’s relief, that wasn’t many – but he’d never live knocking over the refrigerator down. Ever.

Even Kibum texted him out of the blue with a short ‘ to be you’. Hyukjae told him to eat . In a friendly way, of course.

Donghae’s reaction, though not malicious or teasing in any way, was perhaps the worst. He’d moved towards him slowly as if in a trance, wonder in his eyes as he the black feathers with such gentleness Hyukjae almost hadn’t felt the touch. As days went by and the fact Hyukjae had wings became less of an anomaly and more of a quirk, his touches had become surer and curious became full on petting. Unfortunately