About sixty years ago, a meteor had struck Earth, decimating half of Russia and releasing a wave of radiation that had affected 0.001% of the world’s population. Soldiers, criminals, and normal citizens alike- all types of persons were given supernatural powers. Not everyone affected by the radiation got superpowers; sometimes their children got them; sometimes their grandchildren got them. “Sleeper genes”, the media had called it: mutated genes that activated powers in one generation of a family and not another. As if the world hadn’t just become confusing enough as it is.

    But the powers- they had a way of bringing out the worst in people. Seulgi had once learned in a philosophy class that if they could get away with it, most people would commit crimes. And as expected, with law enforcement that couldn’t keep up with the newly developed superpowers, crime rates skyrocketed through the roof. And out of all the chaos emerged a company.

    SM was already a very successful entertainment company with many celebrities under their wing when the meteor had struck. And in planning for the future, they had invested in a program focused on developing heroes- superheroes.

    It started off as badly as one would expect. With the pretentious name “The Gods Rising From the East” and costumes as flamboyant as their title, DBSK was ridiculed both domestically and internationally. After all, who would trust superheroes (superheroes were nothing but fiction), especially ones from a company that used to produce something as lowly as idols? There were lots of trial and error in the beginning- which really didn’t help build their support- but in the end, DBSK were the only ones who could pose any semblance of a challenge against superpowered criminals (“fighting fire with fire” were the exact words her instructor had used, if Seulgi remembered correctly). It took a while but true to their name, they rose like gods from the east. And with their rise came a new era.

    Now, thirty years down the line, there is Seulgi. Or rather, there is Helios.

.

    “Tonight’s pretty boring huh?” Seulgi hears Jinri say over their comms system. Seulgi hums in agreement. Tonight is pretty boring, but she’d rather deal with a boring night than a hectic one because she has school tomorrow morning and Mondays were bad enough without having to stay up all night fighting crime. At least the view is pretty, Seulgi thinks as she dangles her feet over the ledge of a thirty story building. The building was exactly in the middle of the sector she was assigned to watch- strategic placement plus a nice view; it's a pretty great spot, she thinks as the city lights twinkled down below. She never bothers changing watchtower positions and eventually, fans managed to figure that out, evident by the snacks and fan letters they left at the steps of the building. But Seulgi can’t complain as she lifts the visor of her helmet off and stuffs her face with a mostly warm donut into . It kinda makes her feel like an american cop.

    “Did you watch the new episode of Six Flying Dragons?” Seulgi asks before letting out an anguished whine as she accidentally drops the remaining part of her donut off the ledge. She helplessly watches as it falls down thirty stories and sighs; it was a really good donut.

    “Yeah!” the tech exclaims. “Isn’t Yoo Ah In so handsome? I’d totally-” Jinri gets cut off by a small beep and suddenly, her voice turns serious. “There’s a robbery on the corner of Twelfth and Ninth Street. Powers are involved.”

    “Got it.” Seulgi wipes the powdered sugar off of the corners of and her armor before standing up. She jumps off the ledge and dives downward in a spiral of orange fire.

    “Can you stop showing off so much, Iron Man?” Jinri teases in good nature.

    Seulgi grins. “Where’s the fun in that?”

.

    It turns out to be not just a robbery, but a full-out assault on the public. “Evacuate the civilians!” Helios yells to the police officers who have just arrived on the scene, distorted voice amplified by her suit. They immediately listen and start corralling everyone away as quickly as possible. One of the criminals grab a car by the hood and throws it at a group of screaming civilians- Helios wishes she could swear so badly right now. She kicks down a pillar of blazing white fire with enough force to melt the metal frame of the car into the pavement.

    “I really don’t like dealing with strongarms,” Helios mutters under her breath.

    “Tell me about it,” Jinri says over the comms system. “Don’t lose sight that there’s three of them.”

    “Got it.” Strongarms- people with super strength- are always a pain because they throw literally anything and everything and it’s even worse when they actually know how to fight because just one punch could potentially kill Helios. (But that applies to practically everything and everyone in this line of work. That’s okay, she’s always prepared for the potential of that happening-death.) Helios drops low in a practiced stance as the three men circle around her. (After all, there are no heroes in a world where heroes can’t die.) Fire engulfs each of her fists. (And Seulgi is a hero.)

.

    The desk feels cool against her cheek and the spring breeze is gentle, and it leaves Seulgi with a content sort of peacefulness- until Seungwan slams her textbook right next to Seulgi’s ear. “WAKE UP!” Seulgi jolts up, hair messed up and uniform disheveled. She blearily blinks, but sighs and puts her head back down once she realizes that it was just Seungwan.

    “Seungwan-ah,” Seulgi whines, voice slightly muffled by her hair and the desk. “Class hasn’t started yet. Just let me sleep until then, okay? Just five more minutes.” Last night was an absolute mess. Seulgi had ended her watch at two in the morning and ended up having to stay up even later because she broke a rib in that little scuffle with those strongarms, and had to wait for a healer to come patch her up. (She dislikes dealing with strongarms even more now. How dare they infringe on her already little precious sleeping time.)

    But Seungwan persists, lightly shaking Seulgi shoulder as if she hadn’t just slammed a textbook right next to her face. “But the teacher’s going to walk in any minute now,” she reasons. “Come on. Wake up. You can sleep during lunch. We'll go out and sit under the tree in the garden,” Seungwan persuades. “I’ll even let you use my lap as a pillow.”

    At that, Seulgi’s ears perk up. Seungwan’s lap is extremely soft. And warm. And belongs to Seungwan. “Promise?” Seulgi asks in a small voice. She lifts up a hand in order to initiate a pinky promise, head stubbornly remaining on her desk.

    Had it been anyone else, they probably would’ve laughed. After all, they were in high school now- practically adults- who on Earth pinky promises anymore? But Seungwan doesn’t and instead just links her pinky with Seulgi’s, gently pressing their thumbs together. “I promise,” she says in a soft voice, and if Seulgi wasn’t already in love with Seungwan, she’d fall in love in that moment.

A/N: The first chapter is here! It's a bit short and anticlimatic but it's mostly just setup so please just bear with me for a while. T.T This is my first multi-chap in a really long time because I have a problem with commitment, but hopefully I'll finish this. *Hopefully.