Minseok is the first to wake up, as usual, and goes about preparing breakfast for the EXO-M members. After putting a couple of bread slices into the toaster, he goes back to his room to check if Luhan’s awake.

Luhan is rudely awoken from a nice dream about puppy dogs and bubble tea by the sound of his Korean bandmate screaming even louder than in their MAMA music video. “What’s going on?” He mumbles in Korean, and turns in the direction of Minseok’s horrified gaze to see their leader suspended in the air two feet above his bed.

“AHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT IS GOING ON WHY ARE YOU FLOATING HOW CAN YOU STILL BE SLEEPING AT A TIME LIKE THIS-”

--

“Guys, guys, guess what?” Chanyeol bursts out of his room in excitement, his hair even messier than ever.

“What?” Joonmyun asks tiredly. With Chanyeol, you can never be sure if it’s something like a new girl group debuting, or if he just discovered the baseball cap he was sure he’d lost a week ago.

Chanyeol takes a deep breath. “I…can make fire.” He announces, looking at them expectantly.

Jongin nods. “So can we, hyung. You see, they’ve invented these things called matches.” Joonmyun can’t help but admire their dancing machine’s ability to be sarcastic early in the morning.

“Oh…you.” Chanyeol shakes his head fondly at Jongin, too excited to be angry. “Check it out!” A flame the size of his fist appears above his hand.

“Woah.” Sehun’s chair skids against the floor as the youngest member scoots back in shock.

“You’re hiding a lighter somewhere.” Jongin scoffs.

“No, I’m not.” Chanyeol retorts and displays his empty hand dramatically. “Guys, I can make fire.”

“Oh my God, you can make fire!” Baekhyun screeches from behind him and runs up in excitement. “HOW IS THIS HAPPENING.”

Chanyeol smiles, pleased at his roommate’s reaction. “I don’t know! I just woke up and found out I was able to do it! Isn’t this awesome?”

Baekhyun nods in amazement. “Do it again!”

Joonmyun snaps out of his shocked state and starts freaking out. “This isn’t supposed to happen yet! Jinki-hyung swore that super powers wouldn’t happen until at least two years after debut!”

Kyungsoo goes back to bed.

--

Kris wakes up after hitting his head on the ceiling and is surprisingly calm about the situation. It takes Luhan five minutes to realize that their fearless leader thinks that this is all a dream.

“You’re not dreaming!” Luhan shakes him frantically. “You can fly!” Kris frowns, well, even more so than usual, because this kind of thing isn’t supposed to happen.

“Who can fly?” Zitao suddenly appears behind them, like a ninja. 

Kris jumps up in shock, and stays in the air.

Zitao’s eyes widen. “I’m going to call manager-ge.” He backs away slowly and then makes a run for it.

--

“Maybe it’ll just go away by tomorrow.” Kyungsoo suggests hopefully, unheard by Chanyeol and Baekhyun who are in the bathroom testing out what Chanyeol can or cannot burn. He’s already rescued his toothbrush.

Joonmyun moans inarticulately. Even if this were normal, the fact that it’s Chanyeol and fire is enough to freak anyone out. Their manager is currently at SM Entertainment discussing the situation with EXO-M’s manager and the company.

“Hyung.” Sehun holds up his phone. “Luhan-hyung says that Kris-hyung can fly.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jongin deadpans.

“Maybe it’s a rapper thing.” Sehun guesses.

“LOOK OUT!” A stray fireball whizzes towards them, and they run for cover.

“I,” Jongin declares, “am going for dance practice.”

“I’ll join you.” Sehun agrees.

--

“We won’t be going back to China until he’s, um, recovered.” Luhan reports in Chinese, and then in Korean, gesturing at the tall boy lying strapped to his bed. It was Zitao’s idea.

“How long will that be?” Kris asks, having regained his calm demeanor.

“Uh, they said it varies.” Luhan shrugs apologetically. “Apparently it took Super Junior three weeks for the super powers to go away, but SHINee’s only lasted for ten days.”

“And what about the rest of us?” Yixing inquires.

“I suppose we’ll have to wait to see if it happens to us too.” Minseok says.

Zitao looks excited at the prospect of gaining powers. He’s already heard about Chanyeol’s escapades.

Jongdae finally speaks up. “Dibs on Luhan-hyung’s power.”

--

Kyungsoo wakes up the next morning wondering why it feels so cramped in his bed, and takes a while to realize that Jongin is spooning him and occupying more than half his bed space, effectively squishing Kyungsoo against the wall.

He squirms and attempts to push his roommate backwards to get more space. “Jongin-ah.” He calls the other boy in a gravelly morning voice. “Go sleep in your own bed.”

“But hyung’s bed is warmer.” Jongin mutters sleepily.

“You’re stunting my growth.” Kyungsoo retorts. “Come on.”

Jongin mumbles something unintelligible, and suddenly the pressure on Kyungsoo’s back is gone and there is blessed space on his bed once again. He shivers a little at the sudden lack of warmth, and pulls the blanket tightly around him.

--

Yixing discovers his healing ability when he accidentally heals the lump on Kris’ head that the older boy got after colliding with the ceiling too many times the day before. 

Jongdae and Luhan take to calling him ‘Unicorn-ssi’.

“You’re just jealous you don’t have powers yet.” Their lead dancer replies smugly. Luhan pouts and Jongdae looks sad.

Then Joonmyun calls them to ask if Yixing could please come over and do something about the burns that Chanyeol is inflicting on them all.

“A unicorn’s work is never done,” Yixing quips, and the others tag along.

--

“There you go.” Yixing lifts his hand off Sehun’s now-healed arm and lets Luhan fuss over the maknae.

“It’s not my fault.” Chanyeol says helplessly. “I thought it’d be easy to control, but sometimes the fire just runs away from me.” Baekhyun nods furiously.

“Kris-hyung can’t quite control his flight that well yet either.” Jongdae reports, earning a dirty look from his leader.

Chanyeol looks delighted. “YO waddup Krease.” He holds out a hand and Kris rolls his eyes but slaps the hand anyway. “See, I’m not the only one!” Chanyeol snaps his fingers and points to the Canadian, inadvertently creating a flame at the tip of his finger.

“Woah.” Minseok leans in closer to inspect it. “I can’t believe that’s real!”

“I know, isn’t it awesome?” The tall rapper waves his hands around in excitement, and the flame seemingly gets dislodged and flies towards Joonmyun.

Joonmyun lets out an unmanly shriek and flings his hands up uselessly. A burst of water from the kitchen sink tap shoots up in the air, colliding with the mini-fireball and making it fizzle out pathetically. The water spurt stops abruptly and the rest rains down on Joonmyun and Kyungsoo.

“Cool.”Jongin looks rather impressed.

Joonmyun stares at his hands in shock. Kyungsoo attempts to shake his hair free of water droplets.

“We should have a duel.” Chanyeol says seriously. “Fire versus water – it’ll be epic.”

Jongdae has to restrain Joonmyun from strangling him.

--

Zitao’s first experience of stopping time happens when Minseok and Chanyeol create an icy fireball – goodness knows how – that’s hurtling straight towards a hapless Baekhyun.

“Beef!” Zitao cries in alarm and stretches out his arm uselessly, only to see everything freeze in motion before his eyes.

He does a little backflip to celebrate the arrival of his power, and then gingerly pokes the icy fireball away from its original trajectory. Just as he’s panicking about how to set things going again, it just happens by itself, and Baekhyun is saved from being frosted or burnt over.

They blink in confusion. “How did you do that?” Minseok gestures wildly. “It was like you were moving super quick!”

“Um, I stopped time.” He explains, and later uses his power to sneak out of the dorm to go shopping without being noticed by any fans.

--

Kris isn’t really sure how to feel about his power of flight. It’s uninhibited and escapist and doesn’t seem to fit his stoic image, despite their music video. If anyone should be flying, it should be someone like Luhan who looks like an angel already, or someone like Chanyeol who relishes freedom more than anyone else does.

Luhan considers this when Kris explains his uncertainty to him. “I don’t really see the problem.” He shrugs apologetically. “I mean, look at Baozi.” He points to the oldest M member in the kitchen. “He’s one of the warmest people I know, and he’s got the power to make snow cones.”

“Hey!” Minseok scrunches up his nose indignantly. “I could freeze you to death if I wanted to, okay.”

“Aw, sure you could, Baozi.” Luhan smiles sweetly. 

“Contentment is the key to true happiness.” Zitao quotes solemnly.

“You’re all being supremely unhelpful.” Kris announces, standing up. “I’m going over to K’s dorm and consulting Joonmyun.”

--

Despite the miraculous nature of recent events, Baekhyun isn’t happy. By now, at least nine of them have powers, and have no qualms about demonstrating them in front of him as he languishes in his powerlessness. He doesn’t want to complain, especially not in front of Chanyeol who looks like Christmas has come early whenever he practices his flame-casting ability, but enough is enough.

“It’s not fair.” He wails petulantly, banging his fist on the table in annoyance. They’ve all been ordered to stay at their dorms until their powers go away, and Baekhyun is itching for something to do.

“What’s not fair?” Sehun asks from his position on the couch where he and Luhan are playing videogames. A strange breeze from nowhere ruffles Luhan’s hair, and the Chinese boy bats at it in annoyance, nudging Sehun firmly on the shoulder to stop him from cheating.

“I was the one who wished for super powers – how come I’m the last to get any?”

Chanyeol’s face falls and he moves over to give Baekhyun a comforting backrub.

“What? When?” Kris frowns, wondering if he’s hearing the other boy correctly.

“On my birthday.” Baekhyun sulks. “My birthday wish. Mine.”

“But, but, didn’t you wish for all of us to succeed together?” Zitao’s lower lip trembles. Minseok hands him a newly-made popsicle to cheer him up.

“You…you wished for these powers?”Joonmyun echoes in astonishment.

“Yeah, it was my wish, and somehow everyone’s got powers except me!” Baekhyun grumbles. “You guys should be kneeling at my feet and thanking me.”

“No thanks.” Jongdae shakes his head. “My power’s lame.” It’s true, because there really isn’t much practical use for lightning when you’re an idol singer.

“You mean all this-“ Joonmyun waves a hand around vaguely, inadvertently creating a swirl of water in the air, “is your fault?”

“Of course it isn’t.” Kyungsoo points out reasonably. “Birthday wishes aren’t magical.”

“And yet now every time you dance, it feels like an earthquake’s hitting Seoul.” Jongin replies dryly, earning a glare from his roommate, who raises his foot an inch off the ground threateningly.

Yixing turns to look at Zitao. “You know, if you could turn back time to before Baekhyun made this wish, perhaps we’d be back in China by now.”

Zitao’s eyes widen at the prospect.

“That wouldn’t work.” Luhan calls from the couch, not even turning around to face the others.

“Why not?” Minseok queries, just to be contrary, even though he quite likes his icy power. He already has plans to make it snow in July.

“Because if Taozi travels back in time to prevent Baekhyunnie from making that wish, he’ll be preventing the event which allowed him to time travel in the first place. Then the motivation to turn time back will be lost and will never have happened. It’s the classic time-travel paradox.” Luhan shrugs. “Even if Taozi could go back in time, he probably couldn’t change it significantly. That’s the self-consistency principle.”

All the others stare at him like he’s grown horns. Zitao looks sad.

“Are you sure your super power isn’t being super smart, hyung?” Sehun asks suspiciously.

Luhan takes advantage of his distraction to win the videogame. “Silly Sehunnie.”

--

Kyungsoo wakes up in the middle of the night feeling cold, and sleepily wonders if Minseok’s sleep-freezing again. He shivers slightly and pulls his legs up in an attempt to get warmer. Then he hears a ‘poof’ and suddenly, Jongin’s disappeared from his own bed and appeared in Kyungsoo’s.

“Eep!” Kyungsoo gasps in shock and nearly bangs his head against the wall. Then again, considering how so many of them have already developed powers identical to those in their music video, it’s not actually that surprising.

“Jongin-ah!” He hisses, trying to wake the younger boy up so as to enlighten him about how he must have been sleep-teleporting to Kyungsoo’s bed for the past few nights.

“Hmm?” Jongin blinks sleepily, and Kyungsoo finds himself very aware of how heavy-lidded those dark eyes are. It’s no wonder he’s the visual of their group. Kyungsoo thinks of his own bug-eyed stare and sighs sadly.

Then Jongin’s breathing deepens and Kyungsoo realizes he’s fallen back to sleep. “I’ll just tell you in the morning.” Kyungsoo whispers before closing his eyes and snuggling into the warmth provided by the other boy.

Later on, Jongin admits that he already knew he had the teleporting power for a while, but didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to become their mode of transportation for the next week. 

--

Of course, Sehun and Luhan manage to pry it out of Jongin, and he finds himself facing a lot of whining and sad doe eyes made in his direction.

“We just want to get some bubble tea, but manager-hyung won’t let us leave the dorms.” Sehun begs cutely, ready to start some serious buiing-buiing action.

“Yeah, all you have to do is pop us down, wait for us to buy the drinks, and then poof back here.” Luhan says persuasively. “It won’t take more than five minutes.”

Jongin looks to the others for help, but Jongdae just shrugs, while Kyungsoo outright sniggers at him. “I don’t even know if I can bring other people along.” He points out. “What if half of you gets left behind in the dorm?”

Everyone else in the room winces at the thought of being splinched in half. “You mean you haven’t tried bringing someone else with you?” Luhan tries again, grasping at straws.

Jongin raises a brow. “Are you volunteering to be the first, hyung?”

“Yixing-ge would probably be able to fix you back if anything happens.” Jongdae chips in helpfully.

“Fine, we’ll go ourselves.” Sehun grumbles, pulling Luhan along. “And we’re not buying you guys any!”

--

It’s nice walking down the street with Sehun, Luhan thinks, because they’re always accompanied by a light breeze. Sehun had suggested turning it up so as to deter other people from coming out and recognizing them. Luhan had countered that it wouldn’t be very civic minded of them to do so, and they’d have to depend on their sunglasses and hoodies.

They’re on their way back to the dorm when Luhan’s fingers happen to brush innocently against Sehun’s, and the younger boy accidentally drops his cup of bubble tea with a cry of dismay.

Luhan’s hand shoots out, and the cup miraculously stops moving in mid-air, as if waiting to be picked up. Sehun glances at Luhan in surprise before quickly grabbing the cup. “Nice save, hyung.”

“I didn’t know I could do that.” Luhan muses. “Chanyeol thinks that we our powers get kick-started in times of need. Just like how Joonmyun moved water to protect himself from fire.”

“I’m not sure you’d call this a time of need.” Sehun says doubtfully, eyeing his precious bubble tea.

“Of course it was.” Luhan smiles up at him and takes his hand firmly. “Come on, let’s go home.”

--

“Hey.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t turn around to acknowledge the owner of that oddly deep voice, burying his head into his pillow. He feels a hand land on his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks in concern, having knelt next to the bed to bring himself to the other’s eye level.

“No.” Baekhyun sighs. “When am I getting my power? I mean, I know it’s kind of lame because it’s the power of light, whatever that means, but…” He trails off, and Chanyeol feels kind of guilty for showing off so much in front of his best friend.

“You just have to be patient.” He forcibly turns Baekhyun around to face him. “Your power will come, and it will be awesome!”

“You really think so?” The vocalist sniffs pathetically.

“I’m positive.” He smiles, shifting into Happy Virus mode, and Baekhyun finds the corners of his lips tilting upwards as well. Chanyeol’s eyes look impossibly large and pretty up close, and Baekhyun unconsciously leans in closer.

“Dinner time!” Kyungsoo’s voice yells from the kitchen, and the moment between them is broken. 

Chanyeol stands up quickly and pulls Baekhyun up as well. “Let’s go and eat.”

Just as they step out of their room, all the lights flicker and go out. Multiple voices start asking what’s going on, and there’s a bit of cursing as some of them bump into each other.

“It wasn’t me this time!” Jongdae protests indignantly, referring to the blackout he’d accidentally caused a few days ago when his lightning short-circuited the building. 

Kris sighs. “We’ll just have to report it to the building manager and wait until they fix it.”

“What about dinner?” Kyungsoo asks anxiously. How are they going to safely eat his kimchi spaghetti without causing several more messy accidents that will end up being cleaned by him?

“Do we have any candles in the dorm?” Yixing suggests, thinking of Chanyeol’s fire.

“No, because someone confiscated them.” Minseok looks in the vague direction of where Joonmyun is, though it’s a little hard to clearly see the others’ faces at this point.

“He was endangering our safety.” Joonmyun retorts defensively.

“Hey, guys?” Chanyeol finally pipes up. “Baekhyunnie’s glowing.”

10 pairs of eyes shift to stare at Baekhyun, who is indeed emitting a soft light all over and looking at himself in excitement. “I’M GLOWING.”

“Yay! You finally got your power!” Chanyeol cheers, and everyone smiles. There’s even a suspicious sound of someone crying. It’s probably Zitao.

Baekhyun beams and the light intensifies, lighting up the entire room.

“Ew.” Jongin frowns and points to the two boys in a corner making suspicious noises with their faces stuck together. “Hunhan alert.”

--

Chanyeol and Baekhyun begin discussing superhero names and designing costumes on paper using different coloured pens, the room dimly lit by the latter’s glow. Chanyeol is in the midst of debating over the pros and cons of having a cloak when Baekhyun prods him gently with a pen.

“Chanyeol-ah.”

“Hm?” The taller boy looks at him.

Baekhyun fiddles with the pen. “If I hadn’t gotten any super power, would you have gone off and been a superhero without me?”

“Of course not!” Chanyeol replies immediately. “How could you think that?” He waits for Baekhyun to smile before cheekily adding, “Every superhero needs a sidekick, after all.”

Baekhyun scowls and hits him. “I’m serious.” He insists. “Your power’s a big deal, and I think you’d feel the responsibility of saving the world, even if it meant leaving me behind.”

Chanyeol just shakes his head and smiles fondly. “Silly Baekhyunnie. We only got these powers because of your wish, and they’ll probably disappear soon, but we’ve been friends for much longer than that. I’d never leave you behind.”

Baekhyun swallows uncomfortably, aware of tears pricking the backs of his eyes. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Chanyeol murmurs as he leans in closer.

It turns out that Baekhyun glows a lot brighter when he’s being kissed.

--

Kris runs a finger down Chanyeol’s brightly coloured list. “You know, EXO-K could almost summon Captain Planet to save Mother Nature.”

“Who’s Captain Planet?” Sehun asks innocently.

Oh, the difference four years in age makes, Kris thinks sourly. Too bad EXO-K doesn’t have the last power needed for Captain Planet’s creation, being heartless, mindless, no one who care about-

“Anyhow, we should be saving the world with our powers.” Chanyeol interrupts. “We can be the EXO-Men! You know, like X-Men, but handsomer and with more talent.”

“And eyeliner.” Baekhyun reminds him.

“I stopped a car from hitting an old lady crossing the road.” Luhan volunteers cheerfully.

“Well done, my young Padawan.” Chanyeol claps him on the back proudly.

“I could zap criminals with my lightning.” Jongdae suggests with a gleam in his eye that has the others a little uneasy.

“Or freeze them.” Minseok adds.

“Do you think the reason you’re all so eager to be superheroes is because you want to escape from the pressures of being idols?” Zitao asks, stumbling a little over the slightly unfamiliar Korean words.

There’s a pause in the conversation. Kris shares a look with Yixing and considers the younger boy thoughtfully. 

“Nah, I just want to burn bad guys up.” Chanyeol shakes his head, noodle-like hair flapping madly around and making him look even more like a pyromaniac.

Joonmyun raises a brow. “I’m sure future police divisions will arrest us for not detaining Chanyeol at this moment and preventing him from being unleashed on an unsuspecting Seoul.”

“It’s the opposing elements talking.” Baekhyun says confidently as Chanyeol lets out a war cry and a scuffle ensues between him and their leader. Kyungsoo isn’t so sure, and tells Zitao to freeze time if the fight gets ugly. Yixing and Minseok start placing bets on the outcome.

Then Jongin poofs in with a swirl of dark smoke and stares at the spectacle in the living room. “What’s going on, hyung?” He asks Kyungsoo, resting his arm on the shorter boy’s shoulder.

“Chanyeol-hyung suggested becoming superheroes, Joonmyun-hyung made a snide comment, and now they’re having at each other.” Kyungsoo explains succinctly, and then tries to shrug the offending limb off. “You’re still stunting my growth.”

Jongin merrily ignores him and increases the pressure on his roommate’s shoulder. “That’s odd. I thought Joonmyun-hyung was mad at Baekhyun-hyung for wishing for powers in the first place.”

Joonmyun surfaces from the scuffle to stare at the dancer. “That’s right! Where is he?”

Baekhyun inches back and hides behind the taller and beefier Zitao, who unwittingly becomes a buffer between the two singers. Chanyeol scrambles up to defend his best friend while Kris tries to extricate Zitao from the melee. 

Jongdae joins the betting pool and puts 5000 won on Kris -slapping everyone into submission.

--

“I don’t really want to be a superhero.” Sehun says over the background noise.

“Why not?” Luhan asks in curiosity. “You could stop crime and save the world.”

Sehun shrugs. “I just want to dance. Besides, if we had to save the world, who knows where we’d be in the near future? I kind of like where we are right now.”

Luhan smiles brilliantly. “So do I.”