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it’s the end of the world and what do they do? they kiss
Jeno’s finishing up the laundry when he hears the familiar screech of the chairs being moved across the wooden floor. This prompts him to stop and deliberately sigh. In the corner of his head, he quietly thought, what is she up to now? Can’t she calm down for once? Besides, if Jeno isn’t mistaken, it’s a Saturday and his aunt starts her shift in an hour. She used to have the weekends off but with the sudden increase in casualties on the street, her shift hours have increased drastically.
Jeno doesn't blame her. Fewer supers pass the Trials and the higher demand for supers is hurting the police force’s pride. Jeno doesn't like going into politics that much, but from what he understood is that the police are even reluctant to handle the smallest crime. Thus, the domino effect. More work for the supers who are trying to live double lives and more casualties in hospitals.
Hopefully the conference Lee Tech. is presenting will finally conclude the months-long debate and hostility, and that finally, the two factions will find a compromise. Honestly, Jeno wants fewer civilians on the streets getting hurt. And judging by the dark circle underneath his eyes, he needs time to at least get the healthy ideal sleep hours a regular human needs.
(Jeno’s lucky enough that Aiden is off the clock and he doesn't have to do any guarding duty.)
Then again, he isn't your conventional human.
The floorboard creaks as he tosses what is left of his unwashed underwear in the washer. He grabs one of his old dumbells and places it on top of the shaking plastic appliance. Without a mass pushing the lid close, his clothes would pop out and cause quite the mess. The less household work he needs to do, the better. The more he has time to play at least one video game and do his homework.
Life for Lee Jeno is simple. Mediocre at most. He has decent grades, enough for him to get into a good university in the future, his aunt is a medical technician at a well-off hospital, and at night he works part-time. A part-time superhero.
Jeno’s not some hotshot rich playboy who has an underground lair where he could track villains and display his many arrays of super suits. No, it was far from that. In reality, Lee Jeno lives in a two-room five-story apartment building in the most basic neighborhood in the bustling city life of Nero.
So when he comes back to the main room, he is surprised to see the chairs, tables, and carpet moved to the side while the TV is still running in the background and he instantly knows something is wrong.
On the wooden floor, his aunt is crouching down, her hair in disarray as she’s muttering words Jeno could not quite catch. They sound familiar, yet, so foreign. But that isn’t the only thing that catches Jeno off guard, what he sees is the familiar pentagram on the floor. The chalk screeches as his aunt frantically sketch it
“Jeno—” she pauses, her eyes finally focusing once again. She’s looking at him, confused, unsure what she was just doing. She looks paler than usual, her green scrub suit is dusted with white particles from the chalk, even her face has traces of dirt and soot.
Speechless, Jeno stands frozen. He tries to speak, to find words, but the picture he sees is a little too much, and being a superhero has already given him enough weirdness in life to handle the most unconventional, but, this isn't something he’d like to see at all.
“I-it’s not— honestly,” she sighs, wiping her face with the back of her hand. There’s a paint of disbelief in her features, “something bad is going to happen. It's chilling, kid. The air is getting colder every passing second, the animals are fleeing, and sooner or later the world will either be quiet or screaming.”
There's a chill that shoots down Jeno’s spine. He rarely feels this and when he does, his instincts know better. The hairs in his arms start to raise—a warning.
“What?” he manages to croak. His aunt is looking at him with glassy eyes and Jeno wants to look away. He wants to forget. There’s a sting in his heart because, on days like this, his aunt reminds him so much of her .
Before his aunt could answer they felt a light tremble beneath their feet. Slowly it grew stronger, the walls started shaking and everything else started rocking back and forth.
Then he hears it. His head immediately fleets toward the television, what he sees is enough for him to drop the hamper on the floor. His aunt doesn’t even stop him. Jeno inhales sharply before slamming the door open, he runs out of the apartment, he doesn’t even wait for the elevator, and simply uses his ability to speed down the stairs.
When he opens the glass door in the lobby, what he saw on the screen is nothing compared to what was unfolding outside.
The skies were dark, with a battalion of ships looming overhead, the gray clouds above them letting little streams of lights pass through. The birds are scattered, people in disarray, the cityscape isn't like the Nero Jeno grew up in. This city is afraid, terrified, there is so much negativity going on—
Jeno almost curses.
Jaemin. He needs to find Jaemin.
Ignoring the screams and running of people around him, Jeno runs to the alleyway located a few meters away from their apartment building. When he finally reaches the abandoned telephone booth, he immediately grabs the phone and whispers his code— R04 Aiden and in a flash, he disappears into thin air.
The minute he arrives in the watchtower, the only person he sees is Haechan, wearing nothing but his pajamas and his hand gripping onto a steaming cup of coffee. He does not look pleased.
When the familiar female voice announces Jeno’s arrival, Haechan’s head snaps towards the entrance as Jeno materializes.
“You're late. Did you watch the news before coming here? Rookie’s mistake. You know the protocol,” Donghyuck fires at Jeno the second his feet touch the cold surface of the room. Huh, he forgot his shoes.
“Shut up, you know I’m the first one here,” Jeno grumbles, speeding towards his locker.
“For the kiddie meal yeah, all the supers have already dispatched. All hands on deck apparently,” Donghyuck stretches, his headphones hanging around his neck. In such a situation as such, Jeno’s glad Donghyuck isn't the type to panic or overdo things. Instead, he becomes more level-headed.
“Code Black?” Jeno asks as he seamlessly wears his suit.
“That’s right buddy.”
After doing so, Jeno grabs a pack of first-aid items from his stack. A pair of new throwing knives and finally his black gloves, different from white sleek ones. Donghyuck seems to noticed this, “Ooh someone’s going to use magic today—”
“It’s a katana,” Jeno murmurs, grabbing the sleek black weapon off of the wall.
Donghyuck simply whistles, “It’s a cool one. Anyway, chop chop little doggy. Someone needs backup.”
“Has Chenle passed by?” Jeno asks as he ties his boots and checks his comms one more time.
There’s a ferocious typing in the background before Donghyuck “Firefly City is on lockdown.”
“Fuck—” it slips out before he could stop himself.
“Worse,” Donghyuck replies grimly. “Jisung managed to shoot a video and send it to the labs for further investigation. This isn’t your typical A-list supervillain Jeno. It’s out of this world. Literally.”
Jeno halts, one eye covered with his contacts, the other still naked, “You mean those things outside are?”
The nod Donghyuck gives him is slow and understanding. Jeno and Donghyuck are safe in the hull of the watchtower but the superheroes outside and specifically the civilians trying to fend for their lives, terrified of the mysterious entity that has managed to breach their atmosphere.
“Shit, Jaemin,” Jeno murmurs. Finally, he wears his mask and lifts his hood, the katana hanging on his back, his suit on maximum heat level. Even though the sun is obscured by the hundreds and thousands of alien ships, he could still feel the star’s power course through his body.
“Okay enough chit chat, prince charming needs his knight and shining armor!” Donghyuck cheers while he throws Jeno’s earpiece at him while he jogs towards the elevator that will send him to the highest point of the tower.
“Aiden R04, Good morning ASA,” Jeno whispers before the doors hiss open, revealing a bright white room.
“You should really consider Taeyong’s offer to use the mini container. It must be a hassle to go here during an emergency just to get your suit—”
“Bye Haechan,” Jeno waves. If he saw the cheeky smirk on Jeno’s face Donghyuck would have added a
“Hey! At least think about it!” Donghyuck shouts, rolling his seat to face Jeno.
Jeno doesn't even get the chance to reply as the door slowly closes in front of him. He stares above and sees this one portion of the bright blue sky. Jeno, even though he has left the more superstitious side of his family, takes this as a good sign.
Unbeknownst to our superhero, that the world is one step closer to death’s door
The thing about the apocalypse is that it is fictitious, mostly portrayed on the big screen with flashy events, millions of deaths, and the main character that never seems to die no matter how many times he gets hit by a flying tree or something.
In most apocalyptic stories, romance isn’t a centralized plot. The leading lady is mostly a damsel in distress that falls for the hunky main guy and that’s it. There’s no spice, no sizzling action, just two eyes staring and then suddenly kissing.
In short, boring.
It’s weird, thinking about it.
But what Jeno doesn't expect is getting hit by a flying tree straight in the face and being flung a hundred feet away. The cracks of the pavement digging against his back and the taste of iron assaulting his mouth.
He burns the tree off of him and flies to the nearest highest point of view. Luckily enough, the watchtower is still standing tall and proud. Although surrounded by millions of tiny little alien ships, its shields and security system are holding well all on its own.
To his right he sees Jaemin running after him, his goggles broken, his lower mask gone, and his hair a shade of grey from the powdered concrete, black from the burns, and blue from the highlights he always wore for work.
Jeno laughs at him, this was ridiculous. So ridiculous. It’s been three harrowing hours. Jeno could barely feel his feet nor lift his arm to punch anything or carry anyone else. The ear on his mask has chipped off and most of the supplies he brought have been dismantled. All he has left is his powers and well, Jaemin’s worried looming figure.
Today, they weren't Sae or Aiden, they were Jaemin and Jeno saving the earth from what seems to be the biggest threat known to man —an unidentified species from a distant planet.
And they are tired, so exhausted but the adrenaline is still there, pumping inside of Jeno’s blood, circulating throughout his whole body, pushing him to do more and to explore more— and then his eyes meet Jaemin’s worried ones.
And the world just stops. For a moment, Jeno feels the stinging on his right leg, a gash that isn’t deep but will be a bitch to nurse, and he just looks at Jaemin.
There are bruises and cuts all over his face, sprinkled in like little fragments. There’s one on his cheekbone, tiny collected ones above his left eyebrow, and then a slanted one just below his lips.
And Jeno feels something being tugged in his rib cage, slow and yearning. A hunger of some sort. It’s a small tingle that’s been bothering him for years but he never indulges it. Never found the need to. Understanding it was foreign to him, like being kissed underneath the sunlight, learning how flesh feels against another’s flesh, or being loved—the only love he ever understood was between him and the mask— a reminder of some sort, created to protect and to yield a power only granted by the fox’s desire. Passed through generation to generation until it ends? Does it end with him? A country bumpkin turned city boy? Oh, how devious.
Then there is her love, was it superficial? It could be, as Jeno recalls the cold hard rock against his frail young body, innocent but burned, called upon by the spirit to yield the power of the stars. And he saw so much yet it was too much for his little body to handle. For years he did nothing but heed their command, train till the very last drop of his sweat, lose all of his hours mastering it, yielding the growing surge of force in him.
All for what?
For everything.
Amongst the blur of everything—life, death, the stars, the sun, everyone; everything. Everything clears when it comes to Jaemin.
The way he smiles and stares at Jeno. Innocent, even. Harmless. He has it worse than Jeno. Demons, he has demons, whereas Jeno has the spirit of the foxes to guide him, Jaemin suffers from the shadows.
Opposites. They are different from one another, however, fate chose to play with their strings and pull them together, so tight that Jaemin is the first to form some sort of attachment.
It starts gentle, mysterious eyes lurking when Jeno’s not looking and then thunderous when he knows of Jeno.
Jaemin drops down into the crater Jeno’s body has created and outstretches his hand so that Jeno could grab onto it and finally stand.
So he grabs it. He lets his fingers against Jaemin's. The feel of Jaemin’s touch is warm, familiar. Unlike his usual cold fingers, this was comforting and a small reminder that there’s still something to look forward to. After this catastrophe, if there is ever an ever after, then he still has a million chances to do something right. That one thing that’s been bugging him for months.
So, if the world was really ending. Tomorrow, Jeno would cease to exist, the idea of Aiden turns into nothing but dust and the mere existence of this very timeline is a history untold, then maybe kissing Jaemin wouldn't be a bad idea.
It made perfect sense to do it, albeit the unromantic atmosphere, with flying aircraft and wailing sirens and the looming threat of death, nevertheless it just felt, you know, right.
But Jeno hated regret, the idea of it just turned his stomach upside down and Jaemin, he wasn't supposed to be in regret. He's something far more valuable than that.
So, like any sane human being out there living the last moment of their lives, Jeno tightens his grip around Jaemin’s hand and pulls him closer.
For his first kiss, it was pretty awesome. Despite the peculiar taste of debris, sweat, and a twinge of blood, it lived up to his expectations, though except for fireworks, Jeno hears bombs being set off and screaming. And even as ridiculous as it feels, they’ve gathered quite the audience. A myriad of small alien-like soldiers surrounds them, watching both of them exchange what is seen as passion and well eventually lust in the human eye. Alas, beggars can’t be choosers. It is Jeno's last day after all.
And all he ever wanted was to kiss Jaemin as if he means it—a slight nip on his bottom lip, a soft groan, fingers tickling each part of his skin, eyes shut—he’s scared. Terrified. If this is the last. It still scares him but it just feels so right to have Jaemin in his arms for his final moment.
The thing is, hours later, the world didn’t end.
This leaves Jaemin and Jeno standing side-by-side on top of what seems to be a leaning cell tower. They’re beaten and bloody but mostly they will still survive for the next foreseeable future.
Apparently, Neo found a solution, so did Jaemin, and just like a real-deal superhero sidekick tandem, they managed to find the alien’s weaknesses and drive them back to their own part of space—billions of lightyears away.
The silence is deadly awkward. It’s the first time the both of them have been quiet in each other's presence because bantering is their forte, kissing because the world was ending isn't.
It’s Jaemin who first speaks, throwing his goggles on the floor, completely crushing it with his heel. “We did it,” he rasps, his voice filled with disbelief.
“We did,” Jeno echoes back, eyes staring at the horizon. The sun is setting, the orange hue spilling across the cityscape. It reminds him of the first time he and Jaemin met. Damp hair, bruised rose, and a necktie. It was weird.
Should he bring up the topic or let everything be. Should he make up excuses, sure they won but Jeno’s plan after kissing Jaemin was to accept death with open arms, not to see the light and live to see the day.
But then he sees it, Jaemin’s smile. It’s clear and bright, like the skies. And Jeno thought it was worth it, he was ready for anything Jaemin says.
Jaemin starts to inch a little closer to Jeno, “So, back there? Is it what I think it was?”
Jeno doesn't dare to look at him. He bites his lips, kicking a piece of rubble, letting it free fall into the ground. This is his chance to make up excuses— no, it was just the heat of the moment. I didn't want to die without kissing someone or what are you talking about—
“Maybe,” the words slip out of Jeno before he could stop himself.
Jaemin hums, eyes focused on the sky. “Really? Well then, I’m thinking if maybe we can go on a date next week?”
Jeno’s head snaps so hard, he thinks he might've pulled another joint but never mind that, what the hell was that?
“So what do you think?” Jaemin asks head tipping to the side, finally facing Jeno. He’s mesmerized by how the golden sheer of the setting sun casts shadows in Jaemin's face.
There's a loud thump in Jeno’s heart and he's reminded why—
“Why not?”
“You don't sound so sure?”
“And what makes you say that I was the first one who kissed you.”
“Ha! So you do admit that you like me!”
“Just because I kissed you doesn't mean I— you know what never mind. Think what you want.”
“All right babe, can't wait for the date.”