Title: Hero

Pairing: several.

Word Count: 2586

In this world, everyone had a superpower. Flight, super strength, invisibility. Anything was possible. Sanghyuk had once met someone who could change the colour of their skin to red, yellow, blue or anything in between. He’d gone to school with someone who could grow their fingers super long.

With all of these powers, it was only natural that super heroes and super villains also existed. As a child, Sanghyuk had loved watching the top heroes defeating the villains who dared to threaten the peace. He’d dreamed of being like them one day, dreamed of saving people just like them. People had always said that his blue flame was perfect for hero work, something that had made him glow with pride every time. That hero worship died when he realized that not all heroes are good. That the world just liked to pretend they were. That the media had no problem turning a blind eye when heroes messed up.

He’d been only nine at the time, happily walking with his mother, when it happened. A villain had shown up and started to cause trouble and his mother was quick to pull him into the nearest hiding place. The hero who showed up was one of the top ten heroes and Sanghyuk had been so excited to see the fifth best hero fight. He expected something amazing and, in a way, he got what he wanted.

The fight started and it was soon clear that the only one who was going to win was the ‘hero.’

Sanghyuk didn’t remember much after his hiding place exploded. What he did remember was short moments, quick pictures of chaos. He remembered seeing his mother lying beside him, eyes open and blood pooling around her. He remembered the other heroes arriving, rushing to help the victims while the one responsible only cared about the villain. He remembered being taken away on a stretcher, half-dead, while the reporters talked to the ‘hero’ and said how terrible it was that the villain had hurt and killed so many people.

Sanghyuk later learned he was one of only three people who survived the attack. One died of their wounds. The other accepted whatever the hero’s management offered them for their silence. Sanghyuk had told his father, had begged him for help so they could avenge his mom. His father had looked at him so sadly before telling him that there was nothing they could do. That no one would believe a child over a top hero.

That was the moment Sanghyuk gave up his dream of being a hero in favor of being a villain.

A villain who would bring about a change in the world, who would make it better.

Sanghyuk started small, worked his way up through the ranks. Villains quickly learned to respect him, fear him. He was surprised how easy it was to burn people to death, how quickly he took to killing anyone who was a threat to him. It wasn’t long before he started seeking out fake heroes and villains to burn. Sometimes he wondered if that made him evil, but he always rationalized these concerns away. He wasn’t killing good people after all, just evil ones.

At some point his little brother Jisung learned of what he was doing. He’d honestly expected his brother to be against it, to have a problem with what he wanted to do. Jisung had only been four when their mother died, he didn’t remember her very well and Sanghyuk and their father didn’t like talking about her. He didn’t have the emotional stake in this that Sanghyuk did. But Jisung surprised him by deciding to help him.

Together, the brother’s made quite the name for themselves, taking out both villains and heroes with their flames. Jisung didn’t take to killing as easily, but in time he learned to take lives as effortlessly as his big brother. After all, they only killed those who deserved it. It didn’t matter what the news said, they had never once taken the life of an innocent.

Those who were really paying attention noticed though.

Sanghyuk and Jisung were pleasantly surprised when people started making websites and blogs dedicated to praising them. It was flattering to see so many people crediting them with showing them the light. What was less flattering were the fans that either didn’t see or care about their message, people who only cared about the killing or how attractive the brothers were. They couldn’t do anything about that second group, but the first……

Well, they had a tendency to end up on the wrong end of the brother’s fire.

Luckily those kinds of people didn’t come around too often. Most who came looking for them were people who believed in their cause. These people offered them help however they could. Some could only offer the brother’s supplies. Others offered them a place to sleep for a night or two. A rare few offered something greater. They offered to fight alongside the brothers, to be their shield against the ever growing number of heroes looking for them.

That was how they found their beloved friends.

The first to join them was Taekwoon. He was the son of a hero, a good one. His father had died in a fight with a villain all because the hero he was working with was a careless fool, someone who cared more about fame and looking good then saving people. Because he was more popular than Taekwoon’s father, the news decided to ignore his mistake. Instead, they made it sound like a horrible accident that would have happened anyway.

After him came Woojin. The boy was so sweet and kind, a real teddy bear. The sweet boy didn’t have a horrible backstory, he simply believed in what the Han brothers had set out to do. Sanghyuk had been reluctant to accept him into their group, unwilling to turn something so good dark. But Woojin’s healing powers were far too valuable to pass up, so Sanghyuk ended up taking him in.

Bang Chan and Felix had traveled from Australia to join the Han brothers. Both had grown up being told by society that they were evil, that their powers could only belong to villains. They’d tried to use their powers of siren and decay for good, only for an actual hero to tell them what others had told them; they could only be villains. The ‘hero’ had then tried to kill them, claiming that it was best for everyone if people like them were taken out before they could become threats. That was the first time Felix had killed someone, but it wouldn’t be the last.

The pair had run after that, traveling from place to place until they finally found a home with the Han boy and their growing family. Felix and Jisung became fast friends while Bang Chan came to be a valuable friend and second in command to Sanghyuk. It wasn’t until meeting them that Sanghyuk realized the problem with society that they represented. He had, after all, been told that his power was perfect for hero work. With them in his family, Sanghyuk made sure that he would change that part of the world, too.

Wonsik had originally just provided a place to stay, but then his home was destroyed in the name of fighting a villain. Everyone insisted that it was a necessary sacrifice, that Wonsik should be grateful to be alive. Anyone with eyes could see that was nothing but bull. The hero didn’t bother paying for the damages and Wonsik ended up on the streets. That’s when Sanghyuk decided to return the favor and provide him with a place to stay. Wonsik never left.

They’d picked up Jeongin during a raid on a villain base. Taekwoon had been the one who’d brought the group to Sanghyuk’s attention and the fire user had refused to turn his back on the matter like the heroes had. Jeongin had been one of only seven children still alive and he had been the only one not driven insane by the experiments being run on them. Those experiments had left his telekinetic powers incredibly strong and volatile, thus making it impossible for Jeongin to return to normal society. Not that the youngest of their group minded, he didn’t have any family besides them.

Hyunjin’s power was like Chan and Felix’s powers; dangerous in the eyes of the masses. Sanghyuk wondered if that was why he could almost always find Hyunjin with the Aussie pair. He was especially close to Felix though and the two were often paired together on missions. Hyunjin would turn someone to stone and Felix would turn them to dust. It really didn’t come as a surprise when the pair announced that they were dating.

Hakyeon had come to the group with a hero in hot pursuit. Hakyeon hadn’t done anything wrong, not by choice anyway, but the hero didn’t care. No one cared about Hakyeon’s side of the story, about how a gang had forced him to steal stuff by threatening his family. Well, no one cared until Sanghyuk. Hakyeon had been grateful for the help and wanted to return the favor by joining Sanghyuk’s family, but he was reluctant to kill like the more active members of the group. Sanghyuk didn’t mind, Woojin and Jeongin didn’t kill either.

Hongbin had just shown up in their base one day, dragging his younger brother Minho behind him. Things had been tense until Hongbin explained why they wanted to join. Hongbin was enrolled at a hero-training school, but everyone there treated him as less-than because they thought his technopath abilities were useless. Minho wasn’t planning on hero school, his confidence in his invisibility practically non-existent thanks to the words of his classmates and teachers. Hongbin had argued that his attendance at hero school gave Sanghyuk access to something very important: information.

When asked why a hero-in-training would join villains, Hongbin had just smiled and pointed to Chan, Felix, and Hyunjin. They were all the proof he needed to know that Sanghyuk was going to make a better world. A world where people didn’t on other’s powers, where his brother wasn’t bullied for his dreams of helping people when he had a ‘weak’ and ‘useless’ power. Minho had just wanted a place where he belonged. He found that and more when he started dating Jisung.

Seungmin and Changbin were the next to join, less than twenty four hours passing between each approaching Sanghyuk. Seungmin was the son of a well-known hero, one credited with saving tons of people and taking down even more villains. What no one talked about was what he did behind closed doors. Seungmin had scars that would never heal thanks to that man, both physically and mentally. He’d originally just wanted the groups help getting revenge for everything his father had done, but once his father was dead he stuck around.

Changbin…….he didn’t talk about his past. One look at the scars peeking out from under his long sleeved shirt kept people from asking. Once you saw that, you didn’t really have to ask. Sometime he would start to talk though, he’d open his mouth and the words would start to come out. Every time, Changbin would stop before he’d even finished the fourth word. But it was alright. He was family. His past didn’t matter.

Jaehwan…….his joining was something else entirely.

He was a hero, a well-known and loved one. Sanghyuk had never really paid attention to him since all the information he had on the flight hero said he was an actual hero. The group never paid much mind to heroes like that. Their goal was, after all, to end the ones who didn’t deserve the title. So when the hero showed up wanting to talk…….Sanghyuk was curious.

Jaehwan claimed that he believed in their cause, that he wanted to help. No one believed him. They could smell the trap a mile away, but that didn’t mean that the hero couldn’t be useful to their cause. At one point, Chan suggested that they should try convincing him to join for real. Someone with a power like his could be useful after all. Sanghyuk saw no problem with at least trying, so the group made a plan.

It started simple with just introducing Jaehwan to Seungmin and Jeongin; the poster children for why heroes according to Changbin. After that, he met the ones who had been born with ‘evil’ powers. Finally, Jaehwan was brought face to face with the suffering brought on by careless and selfish heroes. Sanghyuk and Jisung’s dead mother, Taekwoon late father, Wonsik’s time on the streets. Being slapped in the face with the reality of the world shock Jaehwan, but it wasn’t what made him loyal to the group.

Jaehwan was alone in life, no family or friends. Just a management team that didn’t see him as a person with feelings, but as a tool. One that they had had since Jaehwan was a toddler. Sanghyuk made him feel like part of his family, the others welcomed him into their lives even though he knew that they knew he wasn’t really with them. As the months dragged on, Jaehwan became less and less willing to give his boss information. As time went on, he also started to fall for Sanghyuk which made him even less willing to help catch or kill the so-called villain.

Eventually, his boss noticed this and started to put more pressure on him. The message was clear, he had to pick a side. Hero or villain. Even though the life of a hero was all he’d ever known, the choice was easy to make. He went straight to Sanghyuk after making sure he wasn’t being followed. He apologized to everyone for trying to deceive them before asking to join. Begging actually. He was welcomed with open arms and he’d honestly never felt so happy before. Well, until later that night when he kissed Sanghyuk for the first time.

“The heroes are gonna be in a fit after that,” Jaehwan said as the group watched blue flames consume the headquarters of the number one hero from a roof top on the other side of the city. The building had always been the biggest thing around, so the fire would be seen by everyone.

Exactly what Sanghyuk wanted.

“Without their leader, they’ll be like headless chickens,” Taekwoon nodded.

“The power struggle should be interesting,” Chan spoke up, “who’ll take the title, number two? Or that new rookie Hongbin was telling us about? The kid considered to be the closest to becoming number one.”

“I hope it’s the kid,” Felix said, “He’s an actual hero.”

“They’ll probably follow number two, though” Seungmin frowned, “if he’s in power, nothing changes. Bad heroes can keep their jobs and don’t have to pay for their crimes. The kid would try to change things.”

“Let’s worry about that later,” Sanghyuk said as he and Jisung joined the others, “let’s focus on our victory now.”

“Yeah,” Jisung grinned, taking a seat between Minho and Felix, “tonight is for celebration. The corrupt king is dead!” The others cheered and all attention turned to doing as told; celebrating their win.

“You alright?” Jaehwan whispered, resting against Sanghyuk. This was, after all, the hero that killed his mother.

“I feel good,” Sanghyuk replied, “free. My second biggest goal is complete.”

“Now we just focus on bringing down everything else,” Jaehwan smiled, pressing a kiss to Sanghyuk’s cheek.

“I hope the world likes blue fire,” Sanghyuk laughed, “because they’ll be seeing a lot more of it.”

A/N: dude, I just started writing this and then I kept writing and writing and writing. When I was finished, it had turned into this. And hey, look! Stray Kids found their way into my writing again hahaha. Also, Jaehwan’s power…….in my mind it’s kind of like Hawks’ from My Hero. Actually, a lot of Jaehwan’s part in this comes from Hawks. Also………I’m working on a full version of this one, so……..expect to see that soon. And by soon I mean it’s right here.