Ch. 6

Accidental Arsonist 

  "Ah , they’ve been calling us" Seungyoon muttered hair standing in every direction, eyes still partially closed. 

One look out the window told Mino it was already pretty late. Sitting up he too checked his phone to see several missed calls, text messages and emails. 

    "Seunghoon said to check the news" Seungyoon said having put down his phone for a moment. 

    "Did something more happen?" he wondered hesitating to check because a part of him really didn’t want to know. 

Opening a few of his messages he began suspecting that this was about something else. 

    "The press.. Looks like we made the news" Seungyoon said in a low voice. 

    "Not just made the news.." he added, scrolling through page after page of pictures of them, slightly too sensational headlines and maybe most worrying of all: articles about their past. 

    "I wonder if work has released a statement" Seungyoon mumbled to himself. 

Both of them rolled slightly reluctantly out of bed. They had promised to meet up with Seunghoon and Jinwoo later in the day, and it was already really late. 

He watched as Seungyoon called Jinwoo. 

    "Yeah, he passed out. I found him on the floor bleeding" Seungyoon explained. He felt stupid to not have laid down when he had began feeling so unwell earlier. Hearing Seungyoon retell what had happened made him feel even worse. 

    "We saw some of the news, it’s all about us. What about the other cities though? Any attempts at dealing with it?" Seungyoon asked. 

He walked up closer to Seungyoon to listen in on Jinwoo’s reply. He explained that the Russian government had gone full offensive, firing at it with what they got of firepower after having evacuated half of St.Petersburg. 

    "They thought it worked, but the ground collapsed. Bringing in water from the sea. Now it’s flooded and no one knows for sure" Jinwoo finished. 

They looked at each other. One less worry, many more to go. 

    "Kyoto, Perth, Lima, Milan.." the list went on and on of cities still not having dealt with the threat looming outside their cities. "The states are on the offensive, the boss mentioned that Boston was dealt with and Chicago was next , but she didn’t say what they actually did" Jinwoo continued. 

    "They got the avengers though, no wonder they worked it out. If we had an actual god on our team we might.." he began, but Seungyoon gave him a look telling him to shut up. Unsure of what he had done wrong he stepped back waiting for Seungyoon to finish on the phone. 

    "Don’t go on about gods and all that to Jinwoo" Seungyoon said as soon as he hung up. 

    "Why?" he asked. Still a little offended that Seungyoon had treated him that way. 

    "As far as I know is he practically a fallen angel. A guardian angel. He did the guarding part too well and got banished here" Seungyoon said frowning as if he didn’t quite know what to make of it too. 

    "Who was he guarding?" he asked curiously. 

    "Who do you think?" Seungyoon replied arching an eyebrow at him for being so slow. He couldn’t see how there was an actual obvious answer to that. 

    "Seunghoon?" was his only viable option, but based on how they acted towards each other was it somewhat hard to believe. 

    "Bingo!" Seungyoon clapped. "Seriously though, I think we have only seen the beginning of what those two can do" 

It was already seven in the evening. Seungyoon went up to his apartment to get his coat while he dressed in something more appropriate than his slightly blood splattered t-shirt and then they were off. 

When they arrived at the main exit of the building was there nothing but chaos outside. 

Hesitating they lingered in the hall to make sure their ride was actually waiting before leaving. The cameras were already flashing at them trough the glass. When they stepped out something surprising happened. 

The crowd began clapping. 

There weren’t only reporters in the crowd, but ordinary people too. 

Smiling they gave them a short wave before making their way to the car waiting down on the road. 

    "That was unexpected" Seungyoon said putting on his seatbelt. 

    "Yeah, but we did potentially save the city earlier today" he replied taking one last look at the crowd. The news said nothing about what they had actually done, and to his big relief nothing about his backstory as an accidental arsonist. 

They were going to eat dinner at Seunghoon’s place. He said he got some exciting news, but knowing him that could mean more fighting so he weren’t really excited to find out what it was about. 

The car didn’t drive far at all. A quick fifteen minutes later and they stepped out in front of a tall building not far from the city center. 

A crowd had gathered here too, but there were usually someone there waiting for Seunghoon according to Seungyoon. This weren’t the first time he had been part of saving the city after all. 

Hurrying inside they couldn’t help but to notice a slightly different tension in the crowd compared to back at their place. There were more questions being yelled and the flashes of the cameras were so many they were momentarily blinded. 

Taking the elevator up to one of the top floors he noticed how the floor inside was see-through. It made his stomach turn violently and he couldn’t help but to wonder why anyone would enjoy this kind of design in a building this tall. Combined with the high speed the elevator was going at it made him feel ill. 

Seungyoon noticed and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning forward peering up into his face. 

    "Maybe you should have stayed back home" he said just as the elevator stopped letting out a loud Pingsound. 

    "I’m good" he said waving his hand weakly. "I’m good, really" he mumbled feeling relived to be stepping out on solid floors again. 

They stopped in front of Seunghoon’s door, ringing the bell after finding it to be locked. Seungyoon put a hand over the small camera on the door and leaned in for a quick kiss. 

    "Perk up!" he said cheerfully. 

Feeling his face flush with sudden color he reacted only a fraction too late to return the kiss before the door flew open. 

    "Finally you are here! The food is getting cold!" Seunghoon exclaimed having already turned his back on them walking back into his apartment. 

Following behind Seunghoon he gave Seungyoon one last look reminding him he had not forgotten about his cheeky spontaneous kiss. 

The table was sett for four, food and drink lined up in the middle. Seunghoon urged them to take a seat before going to get Jinwoo. 

Seunghoon quickly returned with Jinwoo in tow, typing on his phone but giving them an acknowledging nod as he walked past them to take a seat at the end of the table. 

He couldn’t help but to give Jinwoo one extra glance after the new information he had learned from Seungyoon. He had always though Jinwoo to be otherworldly beautiful and his powers only supported that theory. His huge shadowy wings were something he could never forget even if he tried. 

His thoughts was interrupted by Seunghoon telling them to dig in. He found several of his favorite foods on the table and soon they were all eating. 

    "Let’s finish quickly, they sent over something from the headquarters I want to show you" Seunghoon said having already cleared his own plate. 

    "It’s not that exciting" Jinwoo said taking a sip of his wine. "Let us eat without rushing will you" he added, picking at a piece of fruit on his plate. For someone wanting to eat in peace he ate very little Mino thought. 

His and Seungyoon’s hand brushed for a second under the table as they waited for Jinwoo to finish his strawberries. Raising an eyebrow at Seungyoon he couldn’t help but to break into a smile. Seungyoon was smiling an amused smile over at him and it made his heart dance. 

Seunghoon was on his feet now. Picking up the entire bowl of strawberries before pulling on Jinwoo’s shoulder. 

    "Walk and eat" he said, pushing Jinwoo in front of him. Jinwoo grabbed the bowl, sighed and set it down on a modern art figure by the wall as they exited the dining room.  

Every room in Seunghoon’s wast apartment was vividly decorated with bright art pieces. A dog came running up to them as they walked through a living room. He gave the skinny creature an affectionate pat before opening a door nestled between two huge bookcases. 

They walked into a smaller room with a table in the middle. On the table laid packages with hand written notes on them. 

One for each of them with their names on them. 

Opening them he wondered what it was inside them. The package was surprisingly heavy, yet somewhat soft. Finally pulling it out he realized what it was. 

    "We got matching outfits?" Seungyoon mused holding up his. It was white and silver with neon blue lines across the chest and arms. Taking a closer look at his own he found it to be similar, the white parts where grey however and the neon in a bright red color. 

    "Will it fit though, thats the question" Jinwoo mused from behind him. Wondering how it would work with Jinwoo’s wings he turned to look at Jinwoo’s outfit. It was white and silver like Seungyoon’s but with black lines. His lines weren’t linear like his and Seungyoon’s, but spreading out into a lightning pattern down his arms. 

    "Let’s try them on" Seunghoon exclaimed and no one protested. 

He made sure to sneak a few quick glances at his lover undressing while they changed, but was soon distracted by the slight issue with his suit. 

    "It’s too big" he said as it hung over his shoulders. 

    "Let me help you" Seungyoon said walking over. He pushed a button on his chest and the fabric automatically tightened around him. "Oh" he mumbled inspecting himself in the dark glass of one of the screens on the wall beside him. He weren’t really against body hugging outfits, but this was a bit out of his comfort zone. 

    "I think someone at the office is fan of spider-man" Seungyoon said laughing a little, looking at himself now. Seunghoon’s outfit seemed slightly bulkier which made no sense to him as he was the only one with proper defensive moves. It was specked with purple octagon patterns over his chest with grey and silver parts matching himself.

They checked out each other making jokes and laughing. They looked like a proper team and it was really exciting for some reason. Deciding to mess with Jinwoo whom no one had joked about yet Mino walked over and poked him on the back. 

    "Let me help you with the zipper for your wings" he said seriously. Jinwoo started feeling his back angrily as soon as he said it. 

    "What do you mean zipper!?!" Jinwoo groaned in disbelief. It was only when he saw Seunghoon and Seungyoon’s faces he realized he was messing with him. 

    "Oh you!" he burst out, turning to face him. "That. Is. Not. Funny!" 

    "What? You wanted velcro?" Seunghoon teased walking over to Jinwoo. Hugging him from the back casually. Mino saw him sneak a hand into the thin splits of the suit up Jinwoo’s back, but decided to pretend not to have seen it. 

Seunghoon’s touch seemed to have calmed Jinwoo down a few notches although he was still frowning. Seunghoon then explained the communication system, how they were tagged with a gps tag, and that the fabric was water/temperature/acid repellent to a certain extent. 

    "Just don’t throw them in with your laundry" he joked at the end. 

They took a picture together, all four smiling at Seungyoon’s camera. 

    "So what about desert?" Seunghoon then suggested and they changed back into their regular clothes. 

They returned to the dining room where Jinwoo excused himself while they cleaned up to make a few calls and only returned when both he and Seunghoon were on their second bowl of ice cream. 

Seungyoon was playing with Seunghoon’s dog, it was a skinny little thing but it sure had a lot of spunk. It kept making laps around the table at an incredible speed. 

    "So I guess the party is over" Jinwoo said slightly startling them all.

They turned their attention to Jinwoo who had found the bowl of berries he had abandoned earlier. 

    "They have offered our help to Europe. After what turned out to be a catastrophic failure in Russia, well for diplomatic reasons.." 

Exchanging a serious glance with Seungyoon he felt his stomach sink. He would rather not go drown in some flooded abyss outside St.Petersburg just yet. 

    "So where exactly are we going?" Seunghoon asked getting to his feet as if they would be leaving in that exact moment. 

    "Barcelona, Spain" Jinwoo said. 

    "Then we can celebrate with some sangria when it's all done" Seunghoon said before walking down the hall.  

They watched him go before turning to Jinwoo waiting for more information. 

    "Why not Russia?" Seungyoon asked calmly. 

    "It’s still too dangerous. They are sending drones down there now. So that might be where we go next. This thing in Barcelona is small, but actually located inside the city, not outside like here" 

Nodding silently at each other they got up too. 

    "It’s actually below the metro subway line" Jinwoo added casually. As if it wasn’t particularly significant information. 

Chills spread up his back thinking about how the ground had shook back when they were fighting. If things got too out of hand then the city above them could come crumbling down on them while they were still down there.

    "When are we leaving?" he asked Jinwoo praying they still got time because he was still exhausted from the previous fight. He feared that his exhaustion also affected his powers which was.. not good. 

    "First thing in the morning" Jinwoo replied. 

Seunghoon walked back into the room then. He handed them a small silvery gadget which he explained went with their suits. 

    "It’s a prototype for something we have been working on based on my powers" he began and pushed the button on his own gadget. Why Seunghoon got one if it was based of his skills Mino didn’t quite get, but it sounded handy. 

He watched as half a purple orb sprung out from the metal tube in his hand. A small buzz could be heard as if an electric current fueled it, but in the hollow in the middle was there only purple light. 

    "It’s not properly tested, but it's better than nothing" Seunghoon said and threw a dog toy at Mino's shield. It bounced of and fell to the floor several meters away from him. 

    "Thank you" Seungyoon said sincerely and put it in his pant pocket. Seunghoon gave them both an acknowledging smile before turning towards the hall. 

    "We should all get some rest, the jet leaves at 6 tomorrow morning" Jinwoo said, walking them to the door.

Down in the car he and Seungyoon sat in silence. There was a lot Mino wanted to say, but he didn’t wish to seem too pessimistic. He had already voiced his worries once before that day. 

    "We will do our best and that will have to do" Seungyoon said suddenly turning towards him in his seat with a determined expression on his face. 

He only nodded, unsure of what would be the best reply. Deciding on aiming to lighten the mood he finally said:

    "Seunghoon said jet.. as in private jet do you think?" he asked. Flying in style made it all seem a bit more exciting. Even if they might be flying to their death.

    "Yeah I believe so and Barcelona is supposed to be a really beautiful city. I’ve never been to Spain" Seungyoon replied in an equally optimistic way.  

They returned home without having discussed the nights sleeping arrangements. Feeling heavy at heart he wished he had brought it up before they were in the elevator. 

    "You want to come up to my place tonight?" Seungyoon said with his back to him. 

    "Yeah" he replied trying to sound casual. "I’ll just go pack a bag for tomorrow first" he continued. His voice a pinch higher than usual. 

Trying to act cool he stepped out of the elevator at his floor. Swung the bag with his suit over his shoulder and gave Seungyoon a small wave as the door shut behind him. 

He thought he heard a snort of a laugh from Seungyoon for a second there, but whatever, he was a superhero, he should be allowed to act the role a bit before it was too late. 

He threw some stuff into a duffle bag along with his new combat outfit, called his father who had attempted to call him earlier in the day and sent an email to work apologizing for his absence. 

He hoped he could still return to his job when all of this was resolved, how and when that would be couldn’t say though. 

Then he locked his place up and went over to the elevator. The old lady with the dog stepped out of the elevator returning from her usual evening walk when the doors opened. 

She gave him a small pat on the arm and told him good work defending the city and added "I always knew you were a good boy" just as he gave her a small bow and stepped into the elevator. 

    "Good?" He mused as the elevator took him to the top floor "I don’t know about that" he said smiling to himself as he stepped out onto the landing. 

He had no intentions of being good tonight.

That would have to be reserved for the morning. 

He rung the doorbell once and debated between keeping up his cool act from earlier or just going for a kiss right away. 

When the door opened Seungyoon was standing there with his white shirt almost completely ed sipping on a can of soda. 

    "Evening" he said holding up his soda slightly while giving him a small nod. 

    "Give me that" Mino heard himself say while grabbing Seungyoon’s soda from his hand. He put it on the floor and pushed the door behind him shut with his foot before turning back towards Seungyoon. 

    "I weren’t done with.." Seungyoon complained but was stopped mid sentence by his kiss. "Oh well" Seungyoon mumbled into the kiss, smiling a little at his attempts to deepen the kiss. Biting his bottom lip and humming teasingly when he pulled away just a second to get a good view of his expression. 

By the time they reached the bedroom they were both breathing heavily, having lost most of their clothes on the way there. He only got his underwear left while Seungyoon also got that white shirt of his, although it was now almost completely ed. 

    "We were suppose to rest you know" Seungyoon said, pulling him by the hand towards the bed. 

    "That’s what beds are for" he replied pushing Seungyoon back onto the bed before climbing on top of him. He ed the last button of his shirt which was the bottom one right above his crouch. Making sure his hand brushed certain parts teasingly before returning to place a few more kisses on his favorite lips. 

He woke up in the morning slightly regretting not aiming to get more rest the night before. His body was aching and thinking back he made a mental note not to be so pushy and bold with Seungyoon the next time. 

At one point his power act had been toppled and like the last time he had been reduced to a trembling begging mess. Had he really begged? Rubbing his face in disbelief he groaned. It was almost embarrassing to think back on. 

Watching Seungyoon sleep, lips slightly pouting with a small furrow between his brows he found it hard to believe it was the same person who had taken complete control of him the night before. 

    "The duality is staggering" he mumbled to himself, rolling over to his side to completely take in the view of his sleeping lover. 

Tiny puffs of Seungyoon’s breath hit his face now that he was laying even closer. He reached out a hand to a few strands of hair away from Seungyoon’s face, but let it linger on his chin for a moment. 

He was amazed at how quickly they had become this close. To him at least it felt like they had always been together. They read each other body language really well and just one look revealed what the other was thinking. 

The whole issue with how their powers worked together intrigued him even more. How was it even possible. He wondered if what Seungyoon had done, using his powers to fuel his attacks could be reversed. If his powers could get even stronger with the help from Seungyoon then that might be just what they needed to end things faster. Things had worked out the last time though, so they might just try to replicate what they had done back then. 

    "If that’s even possible" he said to himself before putting his arm around Seungyoon, pulling his sleeping shape into a tight embrace. 

The next time he woke up it was to the sound of their alarm. Their "emergency rush directly to the airport" alarm. 

Seungyoon jolted up from his embrace, shook his head and gave him a confused look. 

    "Right right" he said without having asked anything. Then he rolled clumsily out of bed walking completely towards the bathroom. 

Mino laughed to himself, but his mood soon changed when he got up feeling all kinds of aches. Deciding there was no time to wait for Seungyoon to finish in the shower he followed after him. 

    "You know there are four showers in this flat" Seungyoon said as he stepped into the shower with him. 

    "But I wanted this one" he replied letting out a sigh as the warm water hit his body. 

    "Why?" Seungyoon asked trying to squeeze in beside him under the water. 

    "Because this one got you in it" he replied feeling smug at his smooth reply. 

Seungyoon let out a small laugh in disbelief, but leaned in for a kiss all the same. 

    "Since when did you become such a smooth talker?" he asked between planting wet kisses on his neck and shoulder. 

    "Pfff" he said, pretending not to know what Seungyoon was talking about. 

In the end they had arrived at the airport almost an hour late. Their kissing had led to other things and then he had complained a bit over the state of his body after last night which had led to Seungyoon healing him. 

Now he felt decent concerning his pains and aches. Just maybe a bit over-caffeinated because they had picked up huge iced coffees at the airport starbucks. 

    "You finally arrive I see" Seunghoon said waiting for them by the gate. 

    "We brought you coffee" Seungyoon said in an apologizing tone, holding out the coffee as if it was a peace offering.

Seunghoon grabbed his coffee and lead the way into the plane. It was indeed a private jet and a fancy one at that. Taking places opposite from Jinwoo who looked to be half asleep under a big floppy hat they buckled in. 

Soon they were far up into the air, watching huge fluffy clouds clump together beneath them. 

    "It’s quite a long flight to Spain, so I figured we just relax and discuss our game plan when we are close to landing?"  

He had googled the city the night before only to see that it too lay close to the shore. If things went really wrong that city could potentially get flooded. Smashed and drowned. That was worst case scenario, or was it? He had a feeling getting killed by the actual creature might be even worse. 

Seunghoon had watched a couple of movies while Seungyoon had brought his lap top. He wished he had brought something to do because he was feeling restless. He blamed the coffee and it took everything he had to not start pacing the small open space between the seats. 

    "What is it with you? Nervous?" Jinwoo asked, lifting the brim of his hat giving him a concerned look. 

    "Too much coffee" he replied and stopped tapping his foot which he had only now become aware of that he was tapping. 

    "We got the report from the fight" Jinwoo said and brought up a tablet from a small bag beside his feet. 

He grabbed it from Jinwoo’s hands and took a closer look. It was pages upon pages about things he really couldn’t understand. He kept reading hoping it eventually would make sense. 

In the end he reached the conclusion. It stated clearly that it was an alien creature, not native to earth and their best theory was that the earth had been infected. The scientist blamed the increase of visitors from foreign galaxies saying they might have brought some stowaway unknowingly that had infected earth. 

He found this explanation to be somewhat reaching at straws, but then again, what other explanations could there be? Maybe the earth was reacting to overpopulation and killing them of to save it self? His own theories were as wild as the scientist it seemed. 

    "Doesn’t help us much this? Now does it?" he finally said handing the tablet back to Jinwoo. 

    "Not really no, but it’s still an interesting read" Jinwoo replied while putting away the tablet. 

    "Do you agree with their theory?" he asked. He noticed that Seungyoon lifted his head slightly after hearing his question. 

    "Not really, but then again I don’t have a better explanation. We saw it dissolving darkness into the air. As far as I know does nothing on earth do that" Jinwoo said slightly emoting the dust particles with his hands. 

    "I do, although its not dark" Seungyoon said turning slightly towards them. 

    "I guess thats why you are so effective against them" Jinwoo said simply. 

Exchanging one look with Seungyoon he knew that he was think the same as him.

It was definitely not that easy an explanation.

It couldn’t be. 

Authors note: Another chapter! Still going strong. I'm trying to adapt to your feedback while still doing my thing. I hope it's still an enjoyable read ^^ I'm always looking to improve and I really apreciate all your messages both here and on twitter. So are we excited to visit Europe? I figured it would be easier to pick somewhere I'm somewhat familiar with and Spain I've visited several times. 

Like usual thank you for reading and commenting, all my readers are precious to me *hugs* I hope I'll see you back here for the next chapter really soon!