Chapter Text
There’s… something about Jihoon that Seokmin can’t quite place his finger on. For starters he’s blond, which wouldn’t be so weird if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone else who’s part of their soul sucking cubicle life were the type of people that would perfectly fit any “bland extra” roles. Not like they’d ever try out for it. No, that’d require at least some bit of personality to do so.
Okay, so maybe that’s a bit mean, but Seokmin can really only hear Mikyung tell the same three more stories about her perfect son so many times before he wants to rip his hair out. But even if they’re bland they’re nice enough, and the firm did hire him mid recession when no one else would, so. He’ll take the boring work days and mind numbing tasks if it means he can afford his rent and his groceries (at least most of the time), even if money’s still tight.
But Jihoon, well, Jihoon is different. His bangs are always in his eyes and he’s always in glasses, even if there’s never any lenses in them, and he somehow manages to look goddamn expensive despite them barely being paid more than minimum wage. Though he’d never admit it, Seokmin’s certainly thought of cornering him in a bathroom and demanding to know where he gets his clothes when he has to save a month’s worth of pay to be able to order a pizza - because hey, a bargain that good deserves to be shared. He’s personable too, even if he’s grouchy and sometimes even a dick, but Seokmin can’t blame him. Cubicle life brings out the worst in everyone, himself included. (Soonyoung and Seungkwan staged an intervention for him after a week of working as an underpaid lackey apparently due to his lack of smiles and change in demeanor. When he told them what his nine to five entailed, well, at least he didn’t have to pay for the tab that night.)
“Hey,” a voice behind him calls, spinning around to see none other than the devil himself behind him. He blinks a few times until his head isn’t in the clouds, offering Jihoon what he hopes is mostly a smile.
“What’s up?” Jihoon leans lightly against the edge of his cubicle, arm draped over the wall of the divider and other hand securely in his pocket. His sleeve rides up slightly and Seokmin catches sight of an edge of a nasty bruise, the rest firmly hidden under his shirt.
That’s another thing about Jihoon - he’s always hurt .
“Just thought I’d say hi to one of the few normal people who work here,” he says jokingly, lips pulled into a half smile with amusement coloring his tone. Seokmin shakes his head, running a hand through his hair before turning back to stare at the hell that is his computer.
“Hello to you too. I’d love to chat, but if I don’t have this deliverable in by 8 AM tomorrow I swear I’ll get fired. I can barely afford rent as it is.” Jihoon whistles lowly behind him before Seokmin hears him move, Jihoon winding up next to him as he mouths along to the words he reads on Seokmin’s computer screen. His expression scrunches up with disgust and Seokmin has to bite back a laugh, shrugging when Jihoon finally looks back at him.
“A complete company wide taxonomy?”
“Yep. And they only told me about it Monday.” Jihoon’s eyes bug, turning back to the screen before he looks at Seokmin once more, expression full of disbelief.
“An entire taxonomy in less than a week ?” Seokmin nods gravely.
“If you don’t see me tomorrow I’ll be trying to figure out which soup kitchen’s the best,” he half jokes, watching as Jihoon’s expression turns somber.
“I don’t think anyone could ever do this in this amount of time. Is there anyone that you’ve pissed off?” Seokmin shrugs.
“I figured it’s ‘cuz I’m too lively for a place like this.” Jihoon laughs suddenly, the noise seemingly startled out of him. When Seokmin glances at him next it’s to see him biting back a smile.
“I fear you might be right. I'll let you get back to it now, though. I’d rather not see you go.” Seokmin offers him a smile and waves as he leaves, turning back to the soul sucking work on his computer screen. Well , he thinks, I might as well try.
🦸🦹
He’s startled from his fervent typing by a hand on his shoulder, and he whips his head around to assess the threat. A heavy sigh leaves his lips as he pushes his headphones off of his ears at the sight of Jihoon behind him, the blond man’s hands up in a gesture of surrender and no longer in reach. He offers Jihoon an exhausted smile, only somewhat guilty for apparently scaring him - which, odd. No one really considers him scary, not even when he’s angry. Interesting reaction that he’s bound to overthink later aside, Seokmin finally addresses the other man.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were still alive. You haven't left your cubicle all day,” Jihoon says softly, probably aware of how much Seokmin’s head hurts and how ready it is to explode. He sighs as he turns back to his screen before he bothers to answer Jihoon.
“Oh, thanks.” He means it and he’s sure Jihoon knows that too. “I’m still alive, though I may wish I wasn’t.” Jihoon makes a small noise that Seokmin doesn’t bother to dissect, back to typing feverishly.
“How far are you?” Seokmin sighs, glancing at Jihoon where he’s saddled up next to him, his eyes narrowed as he reads over the words on the screen once more.
“Maybe halfway?” Jihoon grimaces, shooting Seokmin an apologetic look.
“Listen, if they can you tomorrow I’ll buy the first round.” Seokmin offers him the barest smile he can manage, turning back to his screen.
“Thanks. I’m gonna see what I can get done tonight but,” he lets out an Earth Shattering Sigh, unsurprised to feel his eyes start to well with tears. There’s a comforting hand on his forearm then, and when he looks over at him, Jihoon is watching him carefully.
“Don’t kill yourself over this.” Seokmin shrugs.
“We’ll see. I kinda can’t afford to live without it.” Jihoon pats his arm once more, grabbing a sticky note pad off of Seokmin’s desk and a pen, scribbling something down quickly.
“If you need literally anything, feel free to call, or text, or, ya know, whatever.” Seokmin looks at the sort of legible scratches scribbled down on the vibrant paper, shooting Jihoon a smile.
“I’ll try not to blow up your phone.” Jihoon nods, patting his arm once more before he stands.
“I keep odd hours, so don’t worry about it. But I’m gonna head home, unless you need anything?” Seokmin blinks at him before he shrugs.
“I should be okay. Thanks though, you really don’t have to do any of this.” Jihoon shrugs, pointedly looking anywhere but him.
“Trust me, I’d rather not be stuck here without you. I can only hear so much about Minkyung’s son before I scream.” Seokmin laughs, shaking his head and waving at Jihoon as he backs out of Seokmin’s cubicle.
“Thanks again, Jihoon. I really appreciate it.” He swears Jihoon’s cheeks redden a bit as he stammers out a response, practically high tailing away from his cubicle of misery. Seokmin shakes his head once more, stealing himself to keep on typing his massive document. He wants to get more than two thirds of the way done in some sort of attempt to keep his job.
The hours pass slowly, Seokmin’s eyes aching as he stares at the screen. His wrists join in too, and eventually the way his cheap dress shirt keeps pulling at his arms makes him want to go ballistic. He decides it’s worth a break, a glance at the clock telling him it’s well past 10 PM, and he gets up and stretches his back for the sake of it. He figures he should at least go and eat something, shucking off his dress shirt and untucking the t-shirt he has on underneath it, tossing on his baseball jacket and grabbing his phone and wallet. He looks at the sticky note once more deciding fuck it , adding Jihoon’s contact and texting him as he heads out of the building and into the brisk night air.
Jihoon? It’s Seokmin!
Haven’t died just yet ahaha
He stuffs his phone back into his pocket and starts walking briskly towards the convenient store, hoping that he has enough money for some sort of food in lieu of dinner. His phone vibrates in his pocket before he’s made it across the street, and he raises his eyebrows when he sees Jihoon has already responded.
Lee Jihoonie
ahh seokmin thats good
have you eaten? make sure you eat
Going now!!
Getting something from the convenience store before I’m back at it again 💀
Lee Jihoonie
you need more than convenience store food to get through all that boring ass shit
Seokmin furrows his brows at the statement but doesn’t bother responding in the moment, greeting the person behind the counter as he makes his way inside. He won’t say he hates being taken care of because that would be a lie, growing up with an adoring family really helped him grow accustomed to someone always looking out for him, but he’s a little unsure as to why Jihoon’s so suddenly concerned about him. He’s been pretty reserved since Seokmin started working there, and while their water cooler talk was a great break from the repetitive and almost treadmill like nature of their horrid workplace, he wasn’t so sure what compelled Jihoon to worry so much. Anyways, it’s been hard to get a read on him when half the time he stammers out an excuse and practically sprints to get away from Seokmin.
He’s in the middle of checking his bank account, thoughts about Jihoon dissipated as quickly as they had surfaced and replaced by the concern for being able to even afford this , when his phone starts to ring, eyebrows shooting high on his forehead as he looks at the contact. He answers it hesitantly, looking between the ramen on the shelf and wondering if it’s really what he wants.
“Hello?”
“Ah, Seok! There’s no need to sound like that!” Seokmin’s eyebrows raise even higher.
“Youngie, aren’t you usually asleep by now?” Soonyoung scoffs, but only after he gasps in offense.
“Whatever. A little birdie told me you’re working late, and I figured you haven’t looked anywhere but your computer for the past like twelve hours.” Seokmin hums, still caught up on the first part of his rambling.
“Who told you I was working late?” Soonyoung ignores him, his voice overly chipper.
“Buy yourself a banana milk or something and then go back to your building! I’m bringing pizza!” Seokmin is about to argue but the promise of pizza is worth the unexpected kindness. He’s not stupid enough to look a gift horse in the mouth.
“What kind?”
“Pepperoni, of course.” That kills any questions he has left, leaving the ramen aisle to head to the refrigerators.
“Do you want a drink? I think I have enough in my account for two,” he mumbles, patting his pockets out of habit and stopping when he feels something in his left front one. Confused, he reaches in to pull whatever it is out, surprised to find a few crumpled 10,000 won notes in his pocket. He’s been too poor as of late to forget about any and all money he has - even his change goes straight into his piggy bank at home (it’s really cute, shaped like a Zero from Nightmare Before Christmas, a gift from his sister while he was still in high school) - so he’s beyond confused at the sight of the money in his hand.
“If you have enough, I’d love a strawberry milk. Don’t worry if you don’t though.” There’s a weird noise on the other side of the line that tells Seokmin that he’s gotten into his car and the call is over bluetooth.
“It’s the least I can do, Youngie. How far out are you?” Soonyoung hums slightly and Seokmin can hear his blinker click on.
“Five at most?”
“Oh shit, alright. I’ll let you go so I can meet you back at the building then.” Soonyoung wishes him a quick goodbye before he hangs up. Seokmin grabs their drinks and pays with one of his crumpled notes, smiling at the worker before he takes off. He’s hurrying through the streets when he hears a loud noise, the sound something like metal twisting and scraping against itself and far too close for comfort. Cursing, Seokmin begins to run, turning onto his building’s street and hauling ass. He waves when he sees Soonyoung and his shockingly orange hair, turning to check that no one is behind him as he pulls out his ID to swipe them in the building.
“In, in,” he says hurriedly, ushering Soonyoung into the lobby and closing the door before he lets himself fold in half, hands braced on his knees in an attempt to stay upright, and pant.
“You good, man?” Seokmin nods, glancing at the windows before he tugs Soonyoung to the furthest part of the lobby away from them and gestures to the table in the corner.
“It sounded like that metallic villain dude was like a block away. I’d rather not be caught in that, even if it’d make a good excuse as to why this goddamn thing isn’t done.” Soonyoung’s eyes widen comically before he can school his expression into something more neutral.
“One sec, I forgot I had to call somebody. Get started, I got some cheesy bread too.” Seokmin’s eyebrows furrow as he watches Soonyoung walk towards the window, phone pressed to his ear.
“ What are you doing?!” Soonyoung hisses into the receiver, free hand pinching his nose until it moves to press against the space between his eyebrows.
“ I told you I had plans. ” He’s still hissing and Seokmin can’t help but to watch curiously even as he unpacks their food and drinks.
“ I know I said dinner, but we’re just eating now . Just, clean it up for like half an hour, okay?” He pauses, his expression pinching in concern before he sighs. “Make yourself scarce then, they’re a hot head, totally unpredictable. I’ll text you when I’m good.” He sighs as he hangs up, offering Seokmin a strained smile.
“Everything okay?” Soonyoung shrugs, flinching when another loud metallic sound rings through the air outside.
“Peachy, don’t worry about it. Let’s eat before it gets cold,” he says as he claps his hands, pulling out the chair next to Seokmin and grabbing a piece of cheesy bread. Seokmin considers questioning Soonyoung further, but then his stomach growls and he decides he doesn’t care enough to bother. Besides, if Soonyoung’s already being so dismissive it’s not worth it to try and press - he won’t tell him anyways.
They’re chatting about nothing really, Soonyoung gushing over another hot person he saw today when an explosion sounds nearby. Both of their heads snap towards it before they go back to eating, the tension in their shoulders slowly easing as it stays silent outside. It’s once they finish that Soonyoung sends him a pitying look, glancing at the elevators behind him.
“You really gotta go back to work?” Seokmin sighs and nods.
“I really need this job. If it means an all nighter, well,” he shrugs again, forcing a smile when he sees Soonyoung’s pitying expression. “Don’t worry about it though, I’ll be alright. Go deal with whatever that phone call was.” Soonyoung lets out a heavy breath but doesn’t fight him, pulling Seokmin in for a quick hug before he pulls back and ruffles his hair.
“Call me if you need anything, I don’t care how late it is.” Seokmin just smiles at him, waving as Soonyoung takes their previously gathered trash and heads towards the door. Soonyoung waves back before he lets himself out and Seokmin sighs, riding the elevator to the fifth floor. He really doesn’t want to do this, especially when he knows he can’t finish on time. But, if it’s a test or something, he figures it’s worth it to do his damndest. That and he really can’t afford to lose this job. He checked his bank account, he knows he needs that next paycheck.
He opens Twitter and mindlessly starts to scroll, coming to a stop when he sees the reports of a fight occurring only a block or two from his work. It’s the weird metallic villain that he can’t think of the name of, something about silver or magnets he thinks, and the notorious hero Hoshi. There are a few other B Leagues there too, most likely trying to prove their worth to whatever the higher super-people corporation is and get their backing, however that works. He drops his phone face down onto his desk and flops into his chair, slipping his jacket off and placing it on his bag, pulling on his headphones to drown out the faint sounds of fighting from the battle that’s currently ensuing. No time for distractions when it comes to your paycheck.
The bag always comes first.
It’s what feels like years later that he finally decides to take a break, his phone having been vibrating off the hook for the past ten minutes helping make the decision for him. He picks it up, confused to see a shitton of missed calls and texts from multiple people - Mingyu, Soonyoung, Seungkwan, even Minghao and Jihoon of all people. Mingyu texts him once more so he decides that his messages would be a good place to start, confusion only growing as he reads them.
Mingoo
yo seok
are you still at work
seok
???
dude if you’re at work you need to leave
seok???
!!!
pls pick up
seok
pICK UP
SEOK
CMON
DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE
I'LL DRAG YOU OUTTA YOUR DUMBASS CUBICLE BY YOUR EAR
LEE
SEOK
MIN
ANSWER YOUR FAMN PDONW
???
I am still at work, why?
And why is everyone blowing up my phone?
Mingoo
dude pLS LEAVE RN
grab your wallet and take the stairs
i’ll explain everything once you leave
Seokmin’s eyebrows knit even further as he reads the messages, looking around in confusion. The office is still as dead as it has been all night, moon glinting cheerfully through the window. He turns back towards his desk to start responding to Mingyu when the hair on the back of his neck stands straight. It’s the only warning he gets before the building shakes violently, the floor lurching under his feet. His hands fly up to cover his head on instinct, sliding under his desk as fast as he can and yanking his headphones off his ears and onto his neck so that he can hear what’s happening around him. He grabs his bag from where he left it and yanks it into his lap before he stuffs his wallet and jacket in it, watching in gross fascination as bits of the concrete ceiling begin to fall. It’s a last second thought to turn his phone’s ringer on full volume and disconnect his headphones before he curls up into fetal position with his arms over his head, an explosion sounding throughout the building and the ground giving way underneath him.
Well, shit .
🦸🦹
“- agreed on property damage only! ” A voice rings through the rubble and Seokmin groans involuntarily. His face up on its own accord before he forces his eyes open, dust in the air greatly obscuring his vision. He coughs, his lungs aggravated by the amount of debris he’s been breathing in, waiting for his throat to tear itself in two. Only after he manages to get a grip on his breathing, he looks around where he is, unsurprised to find himself surrounded by concrete shards and plastic and wood splinters from what must have once been his desk. He can hear people moving around, angry grumbling echoing throughout the smolders of the building.
Wait, smolders? Seokmin blinks, eyes whipping around the area in confusion. Where’s the fire? He can smell smoke and cinders in the air along with the insane amount of dust from the building collapse and he can’t help but to panic. Despite everything, he somehow still has enough mental capacity to try and move slowly, first checking that his chest and shoulders aren’t pinned and then his arms. Sighing in relief, Seokmin finds his upper body with few injuries in minimal pain for having a couple of floors crash onto his head, blood sticky on his arms where he’s sure they caught on sharp edges. He goes to check his legs then, tossing his head back when he finally realizes what’s happened.
Seokmin’s not sure when or how he unfurled, but his left leg seems to have flattened enough for a giant cement block to pin it where it lies. Looking at it a little closer, he’s not sure that he unfurled at all - the piece spanning from his pelvis to his knee could’ve easily brought his leg down when it landed on him. It doesn’t hurt too terribly when he’s still for which he’s thankful for, but any attempts to try and move the piece off of him are fruitless, pain racing up his leg and hips whenever he tries to move anything, even when it comes to just trying to move his right leg out of the way. He tosses his head back against his desk and sighs at his predicament, hoping that help will soon be there.
“ Are you sure he’s still here ?” The voice is a bit louder now but when Seokmin goes to call out he only chokes on everything floating in the air, the sound of his ringtone joining the wretched noises. He can’t stop coughing, not enough to yell at least, but he manages to get enough of a grip on himself that he can search for his ringing phone, grateful to find it lodged between his bag and his chest. Despite still choking on every inhale Seokmin manages to answer the phone, Mingyu’s worried voice filtering in over the line.
“Seokmin? Seokmin! Are you okay?!” He coughs some more, panting against the edge of his desk and swallowing down his rising bile.
“I’m okay,” he grits out, a sigh of relief sounding through the line.
“Did you get out in time? I’m on my way to get you, I saw your building got taken out.” Seokmin focuses a bit harder, noticing that he can hear the sounds of traffic in the background.
“I’m pinned in the rubble somewhere. I think I might be pretty buried, I can’t see a lotta light.” Mingyu makes a panicked noise but Seokmin is quick to shush him. “Listen, there’s at least two people nearby,” he pauses to cough, feeling as though his lung is soon to make an appearance out of his throat, “I’ll get their attention and get outta here ASAP, don’t worry.” Mingyu makes a concerned noise this time but Seokmin ignores him when he hears shuffling nearby.
“Gyu, I’ll call you when I get out. The guys are nearby, but I don’t want my phone to die while I’m still trapped.” He hears Mingyu sigh heavily, sure that he’s white knuckling the steering wheel in frustration.
“Go then. But be safe .” Seokmin hums an affirmative little note, wishing Mingyu a quick goodbye before focusing on the scraping noise to his right.
“Hello?” He calls out as loudly as he can and bangs against the desk to the best of his abilities, the scraping noise stopping instantly.
“Seokmin? Is that you?” Seokmin can’t help but to laugh softly, relief flooding through him like a tsunami.
“Yeah, it’s me!” The scraping noise is back and even more intense now, the movement of the slabs filling the air with even more dust as the smoke begins to fully sear his nostrils. He can’t help but to choke on it once more, coughs echoing around the tiny space he’s trapped in in a sickening manner. It feels like a long time later when he can finally breathe enough to speak.
“Is there a fire?” He asks as loudly as he can, which isn’t very, a different voice chiming in this time to answer him.
“Yeah,” it grunts, bits of flickering light finally reaching him for the first time since he was buried, “But it should be far enough out that you’ll be fine.” He sighs again, letting his eyes close as he waits for the pair to finally reach him. Finally light floods his little cave, staining the back of his eyelids bright red where it graces them. He cracks his eyes open before forcing himself to blink multiple times, confusion clouding his thoughts. In front of him is Hoshi and who he thinks must be the hero’s cryptic number one sworn enemy - solely because of timing and nothing about how powerful he is, rumor is he can’t do too much - almost affectionately dubbed as Enigma by the public since the man is literally an enigma. He blinks at the two of them curiously, concern blossoming in his chest when he sees the way Enigma seems to be cradling his arm.
“Seokmin?” He looks back at Hoshi blankly, waiting for him to say whatever it is he’s planning on saying. “Are you okay?”
“Despite being pinned down and having a building come down on top of me? Peachy.” His words startle a laugh from Enigma, a tiny sense of pride filling his chest. He likes making people laugh, especially in these kinds of situations.
“Okay, let’s work on getting you unpinned then and we’ll work from there.” Seokmin looks at them carefully then, mind whirring as he decides if he really wants to out himself to the pair. He decides against it in the present moment - the less people who know his little secret the better, and Hoshi might be able to do the impossible anyways. With mild interest he watches as Hoshi scans the crude pieces of debris that surround him, no doubt checking their integrity before he starts to move things. Seokmin decides screw it , desperately needing a distraction from how the shifting slabs send little shots of pain through his pinned leg each time no matter how close or far away they are, turning towards Enigma with a concerned look.
“What happened to you?” Enigma seems to startle and jerk back when he realizes Seokmin’s addressing him, hissing when his sudden movement probably hurts him.
“The hero who took the building down didn’t bother to try and spare little ol’ me. I’m lucky I got away with just a broken arm.” Seokmin nods before he slams his head back into his desk, Hoshi having gone to move the slab off of his leg causing pain to surge through his entire body.
“Shit, you okay?” Seokmin pants as he nods, gritting his teeth and biting his tongue to keep the rest of his pained noises down. His breaths start hissing through his teeth every time they frantically leave his chest and he can feel tears cutting through the dust coating his cheeks, pain licking up his body from his poor crushed thigh. He wishes Hoshi would hurry up and just pry the piece off of him like a bandaid rather than the slow way he’s trying to ease it off of him, the pace making it even more agonizing. Some shifting and shuffling sounds to his right, and eventually a gloved hand encases his own, still warm even through the material. When he opens his eyes and looks, Enigma is not only squeezing his hand but watching him closely, his injured arm cradled carefully in his lap. Seokmin squeezes his hand back before letting himself go limp, glaring at Hoshi as he continues to move the slab little by little.
“Can you yank it off all at once?” Hoshi looks at him before looking at the slab, his expression considerate.
“I’m not sure, but it’ll hurt.”
“Not as much as you re-crushing my pelvis every time you move it.” At the sound of the words Hoshi’s eyes widen comically, hands leaving the slab instantaneously which allows the thing to drop down with full force and further crush Seokmin’s leg. Seokmin slams back against the desk again, free hand curled into a fist so hard that he’s shocked he doesn’t feel blood on his fingers.
“That,” he wheezes, “fuckin’ hurt , asshole.” Hoshi looks to Enigma now, clearly uncertain as to what to do.
“I can’t get the leverage to lift this without crushing him further or in other places, and ‘cuz of the angle I think I at least need another pair of hands to maneuver it. Either way, I’m kinda screwed.” Enigma squeezes Seokmin’s hand even as he glares at Hoshi, clearly unhappy with his words.
“Where do you suppose we get an extra set of hands?” Hoshi shrugs, looking at Enigma’s arm in his lap.
“Can you warp it off of him?” Enigma cocks his head, eyes narrowed where they now stare at Seokmin’s leg.
“Maybe? It'd be easier if we had one of those telekinetic asses on hand though, I’m a little concerned about how well I can manage it without hurting him more. I can’t really finesse the movements with just one hand.” Seokmin feels his eyes widen, squeezing Enigma’s hand to call his attention.
“Warp? As in reality warp?” Enigma stares at him warily before he eventually nods. “So you’re a mutant?” Enigma blinks a few times before his eyes narrow.
“What is it to you?” Seokmin lets out a heavy breath, squeezing Enigma’s hand before he lets go again, turning to Hoshi.
“You don’t hate him for it, right? That’s why you’re enemies?” Hoshi’s eyebrows shoot up in disbelief, shaking his head adamantly.
“Good, cool.” He turns back to Enigma, ignoring the wariness in his eyes and pressing onwards. “How good is your warping people prowess? Like giving people extra strength or making them faster or upping their energy?” The supers trade glances before their narrowed eyes land back on Seokmin, obviously confused as to where the line of questioning came from.
“It's not really a warp thing but I can still do it. Why?” Seokmin squeezes his eyes shut as the slab on top of him moves again with the rest of the rubble, the concrete sliding and refitting itself together and sending up plumes of dust that threaten to choke them once more.
“We gotta be quick before this whole place goes down. Can you just, I dunno, supercharge me really quickly? I’ve got an idea,” he says, watching as the villain considers it.
“I hope this works,” he mumbles, and within a few moments Seokmin doesn’t care enough to pay attention too he feels energy start to course through him, akin to adrenaline in the way it surges through his bloodstream. Suddenly his leg doesn’t hurt so much, which he appreciates, reaching out to gently hold Enigma’s injured arm.
“This might hurt,” he says with an apologetic look, forcing his breathing to even out before he tries anything - trying to do this while already upset will only make things worse he’s found. Seokmin pushes his cooling blue light outward until he feels it realign the villain's bones and knit everything back together and ease it all back into place, the gruesome feeling making his stomach flip the same way it always does. He lets go when another wave of pain surges through him, loaned energy apparently expunged, pressing himself into the desk behind him as his lungs heave.
“Holy shit ,” Enigma mutters, and when he chances a glance at him it’s to see him wiggling his arm around in fascination. His eyes are wide behind his domino mask as he looks at Hoshi before his head snaps back to focus on Seokmin. “Dude what ?!”
“We can talk more once I’m out of a burning collapsed building,” he mumbles, blinking at Enigma a few more times before he sighs. “Though I might need you to lend me some of that energy or whatever again so I can fix my damn leg.” Both of their eyes bug at that, trading baffled glances much to Seokmin’s amusement.
“You can heal yourself ?”
“You can’t?” They don’t bother to rebut him, especially as the building groans and crumbles around them even more.
“Shit, Zi, help me out here,” Hoshi spits, Enigma, or Zi apparently, crawling into the little space and helping the hero to lift and pull Seokmin free from the slab. He has to bite his collar to muffle his screams, shocked that he doesn’t pass out from the pain.
“Fuckin’ nerve damage,” Seokmin grits, the supers both snapping their heads up to look at him. Whatever they’re about to say is drowned out by another wretched sound, the building heaving and lurching even further. He ignores the pair and focuses solely on himself, he really doesn’t have the time to do anything else, cracking open his eyes and sighing in relief when he sees his hands go blue. Gritting his teeth so hard he thinks they’ll crack, he starts at his knee, doing his best to ignore the pain as he feels his bones realign, his muscles going back into their rightful places and tendons seeming themselves together again. Most importantly, his artery opens fully and no longer keeps his leg starving for oxygen, his blood flow restored even if plenty of vessels have broken. The pain only gets worse the higher up his leg he gets, and by the time he’s at his hip he’s shocked he’s still able to do anything. His hands are so tense that he feels as though his fingers are about to snap, sure that he’s hyperventilating despite his best effort. But hey, literally no one has ever said fixing not only a crushed pelvis but nerve damage is easy. He feels the last piece align itself, the nerves calm and quiet now that they’ve been restored, and he can’t help but to go limp, focusing on his breathing with his eyes shut tightly.
“Woozi?” Hoshi asks, and Seokmin cracks an eye open to watch the villain nod, weirdly happy that he actually has the guy’s name.
“Yeah, ‘course. You okay to move?” He directs the last question to Seokmin who just nods, yanking one of his backpack straps over his shoulder and making sure his phone and wallet are in one of the pockets.
“Let’s get outta here,” Woozi says, and that’s the only warning Seokmin gets before reality begins to bend around them. He closes his eyes to stop himself from getting sick, only opening them when he feels solid ground underneath him once more. Blinking his eyes open, Seokmin ends up confused as to where they are besides a pitch black alley somewhere.
“I gotta make this a teaching moment,” Hoshi says on the offhand from beside Seokmin, offering him a hand to help him stand up. He finds his footing surprisingly easily, hip aching terribly but nothing more than that thankfully. Turning to Woozi, Seokmin gestures at the villain’s arm before he speaks.
“That might hurt for a while. I couldn’t do as good of a job as I usually do given the, uh, circumstances,” he says, watching the villain’s eyebrows knit together before a smirk finds its way to his face.
“If I’m not satisfied with my care I’ll let you know.” Woozi punctuates the words with a wink and Seokmin can’t help but laugh, especially as Hoshi groans and shakes his head at both of them.
“I think we might have to ‘escape’ from the rubble. You’re too dusty to pass off that you weren’t in the building.” Seokmin considers the words as he leans up against the wall behind him, pulling out his phone as it starts to ring again.
“I think we might be good on the sneaking me out part,” he says cheekily, swiping to the right and answering Mingyu’s call.
“Hey Gyu, I’m okay.” Mingyu lets out such a loud sigh that Seokmin’s sure the supers heard it even from where they stand a few feet away.
“Good, that’s a huge fucking relief. Oh, I’ve got Hao with me. He was freaking out so much I didn’t think he should be alone.” Seokmin lets out a heavy breath, running a hand through his hair and making a disgusted face at all the dust that flies into the air, ignoring the duo's laughter.
“Okay, well tell him I’m fine. You’re in the car right? Can you come and grab me? I don’t wanna bother with the crowd right now.” Mingyu agrees easily and Seokmin looks at Woozi expectantly. “Hey, where even are we?” He swears he sees the villain blush slightly, his own head swiveling around in an attempt to place them.
“Oh, uh, two streets down from the building, I think. Hosh, don’t you have GPS built into that thing?” The hero blinks before he nods, tapping a part of his helmet. His eye pieces go dark to the point that Seokmin can no longer see through them, but he’s sure that the fancy tech somehow lets him see despite the color. He eventually smiles at them, relaying the street address with ease. Seokmin tells Mingyu then who rushes out a goodbye so he can find him himself, leaving Seokmin and the supers to their own devices.
“Hey, uh, thanks for pulling me out and everything,” he practically mumbles, kicking at the ground in front of him. When he looks at them, he’s honestly a bit surprised to see them both sporting relieved smiles.
“Glad we could help,” Woozi says softly, all of them freezing as another crash sounds through the air, a plume of dust rocketing into the air as presumably the rest of the building gives out. Seokmin lets out a sigh when nothing more happens, freezing when he hears a car in the distance grow closer.
“Shit, I have tear tracks on my face, don’t I,” he mumbles, yanking up the hem of his t-shirt and scrubbing at his cheeks and then moving to his entire face; Seokmin knows if Mingyu sees them he’ll absolutely freak . Only Seokmin stops when he feels a hand against his, a damp little towel placed gently onto his hand. When he looks at Woozi it’s to see the other blushing, pointedly not looking at him.
“I can do more than warp,” the villain mutters, probably in protest of Seokmin’s confused expression. He decides not to question it, mumbling a word of thanks before he scrubs at his face, glad to free at least his hands and face from the grime that coats the rest of him. He sighs at the feeling of being a bit cleaner, scoping out the cuts and bruises on his arms before deciding they aren’t bad enough to be dealt with in the present moment. Instead he pulls his jacket out of his bag and shucks it on, hoping that his cleaner appearance will help ease Mingyu and Minghao’s fear as much as possible.
“I’m glad to see you’re okay Seokmin,” Hoshi starts, reaching out and squeezing his arm, “But I really gotta condemn blowing up buildings in the sake of catching the villain or whatever. Especially when it gets people hurt.” Seokmin feels his eyes widen, grabbing the hero’s arm tightly.
“ ‘People’ . Who else got hurt?” Hoshi blinks at him, Woozi eventually speaking up when Hoshi doesn’t make a move to.
“Two janitors, Choi Joonho and Kim Sookja. They’ll both be okay,” Woozi adds and Seokmin relaxes slightly. He turns back to Hoshi then, sure that there’s a fire behind his eyes.
“They both have families , man, so make your point very clear. Sookja’s kids don’t need to become orphans just because someone was reckless, and Joonho deserves to meet his son rather than be buried under ten hundred tons of concrete.” Hoshi’s eyes widen before his expression hardens, patting Seokmin’s hand where it’s still gripping him so tightly he’s sure he’s leaving bruises.
“I will, don’t worry.” Seokmin only lets go then, hearing the promise behind the words. He watches Hoshi turn to Woozi and nods, the villain sighing before he makes some weird movements and Hoshi is no longer next to him. Seokmin looks at him then, ignoring the car pulling up at the end of the alley.
“He’s coming out from the rubble, makes for a better show.” Seokmin lets out a little ah , Woozi offering him a smile. “Go see your friends and go home. We’ll be in touch.” Seokmin raises an eyebrow at the villain but lets him have it, offering him a wave before he jogs towards Mingyu‘s car. He ignores how the ache in his hip gets sharper at the movement, far too focused on launching himself at and clinging to his friends.
The drive home is uneventful, filled with him texting all of his worried friends and easing their fears. He’s fine anyways, even if he’s certain that he has a horrendous bruise beyond the entire length of his thigh. But it’s fine, bruised and battered is better than dead, so who’s he to complain. Mingyu and Minghao don’t let him go home despite his protests, forcing him into borrowed clothes and curling up on each side of him. He appreciates it, especially when he wakes up in the middle of the night to the feeling of being crushed by a million tons of concrete, Mingyu and Minghao both holding him through his sobs. They’re some of the best friends he can ask for, if he’s honest, and he’s beyond grateful for them even if he doesn’t say it.
Mingyu’s reluctant to let him go home the next day but eventually relents when Seokmin promises to check in regularly. He has to go to work in the afternoon anyways so it’s not like he even can stay home and watch Seokmin like a hawk all day. Mingyu drives Seokmin back to his apartment, yelling at him to call later before he drives off. Finally alone, Seokmin breathes a sigh of relief, letting his happy mask fall into something much more sad. Taking the elevator up to the fourth floor and beyond glad that it’s working today, he opens his creaky door and sighs at the sight of his little studio apartment. He locks his door and hangs his keys, jacket, and bag up on the little hooks he has near the door.
First order of business: cry in a scalding hot shower. Seokmin hasn’t let himself truly break down yet, not in front of his friends in fear of worrying them more. He grabs some comfortable clothes from his closet and heads to his bathroom, making good on his promise to himself. Once the water’s gone cold and his tears have run dry he steps out, yanking on his hoodie and shorts - hiking them up to about his belly button in an attempt to keep the waistband from resting against the aggravated areas - as soon as he’s mostly dry, scrubbing a towel at his dripping hair.
Second order of business: nap for an undefined amount of time. Even with the sun beginning to set through his window, bright tones glinting off of his fire escape in a mimicry of flames, he still manages to sleep like the dead. When he wakes up it’s dusk, and he only drags himself out of bed because he really has to pee.
It’s after he’s hit the bathroom that he ends up in the kitchen and looking for food, not hungry even though he knows he needs to eat, when his ringing phone startles him from his thoughts. He grabs an apple that looks like it’s soon to be on its way out, squinting at the contact on his display before he answers.
“Hello?”
“Hey Seokmin,” Jihoon says, his voice weirdly relieved.
“How’re you?” He asks, mostly because it’s polite and his mother raised him well, washing his apple and drying it before he pulls out a cutting board.
“I’m fine. How’re you? You were working late last night, right? Are you okay?” He makes a confused little noise, putting the call on speaker as he moves to cut his apple into strips.
“Yeah, I already texted you. Did you not see?” Jihoon makes a weird little noise that tells Seokmin he hadn’t, and he can’t hold back his playful tuts.
“My brother needed help so I wasn’t really checking my phone, and you haven’t reached out since,” he huffs out and Seokmin can’t help but to laugh.
“It’s fine, I’m only teasing. I’m mostly okay, real nasty bruises and some cuts and scratches. I’ll live, even if my hip is mad about it.” Jihoon lets out a relieved little noise, a simple silence falling between them. It’s not awkward or anything, and even though Seokmin’s mother would tell you he’d talk to a trash barrel if he had no one else around, he doesn’t mind the quiet. He’s munching on his apple a little bit later, half sitting on a stool so that his hip can stay straight, it's the position that hurts the least he’s found, when Jihoon starts to talk again.
“You haven’t seen the news or checked your email today, have you?” Seokmin is instantly on edge by the question, easing himself up to grab his laptop from his desk.
“No, haven’t thought to. Why? Am I about to cry again?” Jihoon sighs and Seokmin’s stomach fills with dread. Clumsily logging onto his laptop, he pulls up his email and bites at his knuckle as he waits for it to load. He reads past the coupons and flyers, confusion growing as he passes uninteresting title after uninteresting title.
“Oh shit, you meant work email didn’t you,” Seokmin grumbles, opening a new tab and about to open the server when his eyes catch on an article with his crumpled work building as the main photo. He reads the title and feels his heart sink to his stomach.
“Are you talking about this article saying that the CEO was some sort of head of an evil crime slash murderous syndicate?” Jihoon sighs once more and Seokmin shakes his head, reading the rest of the article feverishly.
“Yeah. The email they sent out today says that they’re closing the company down - it apparently doesn’t do much despite all the bodies they have working there, and there’s not enough money to cover pensions or untaken vacations or really anything.” Seokmin heaves out a heavy sigh, burying his face in his hands and willing himself not to cry again. Not yet at least.
“Are we getting the last paycheck we’re due or there’s nothing for that either?”
“I’m sorry Seokmin. They froze all his personal money and the stuff in the company. They left us high and dry.” He feels his chest start to constrict, panicked about how far he’ll be able to stretch his meager pay from a week ago when he was already living paycheck to paycheck when his brain catches on something that makes him freeze.
“Did they freeze out benefits? Like our health benefits?” Jihoon makes a confused noise before he moves to answer.
“I think so, yeah. You said you weren’t hurt though?” His voice is growing more and more alarmed but all Seokmin can do is shake his head.
“No, it’s not me, I’m alright. It’s just,” he sighs once more, running his hand through his hair, sure that he splatters water everywhere (he doesn’t really care since it’s no longer the dreaded dust), “How well did you know the janitorial staff?” Jihoon makes a funny noise but indulges his question all the same.
“They made better conversation than most of the people on our floor, but not super personally.”
“That makes sense. Joonho and Sookja were on night duty and were in the building when it went down. Last I heard they were in the hospital.” Jihoon lets out a terribly heavy sigh and Seokmin can imagine him running a hand through his hair.
“I’ll check in on them, see if there’s anything I can do.”
“Let me know too.” Jihoon hums before he quiets, another silence filling the air. But this one’s sadder than their previous one, even if it ends up briefer.
“What’re you up to tonight? I told you I’d buy first round if you lost your job and, well, here we are.” Seokmin lets out a heavy laugh, checking his phone to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“As long as my friends don’t rudely barge into my apartment like I feel like they’re going to, nothing. But I’m not gonna lie to you, I don’t think I’m really up for the whole going out thing yet.” Jihoon makes a noise of consideration and he can hear some rustling on the other side of the line.
“You can come to mine if you want. I have a guest room and everything if you wanna crash here too, but I have a feeling my brother is planning on stopping by so that’s at your own risk.” Seokmin considers it, eyeing his tiny studio apartment and wondering if he risks having Jihoon over, especially if Soonyoung and Seungkwan are most likely to appear if they know he’s home.
“My friends are heathens, so if they figure out where I am they might show up anyways. I’d hate to spring them on you, they’re,” he trails off, trying to find a polite way to word it, “a lot, per say.” Jihoon laughs at that, the sound soft but still cheerful. “I’d invite you to mine but if they bring more than just themselves we won't all fit in my apartment.”
“We can always do a rain check, but I also don’t mind if your friends randomly show up. I still owe you that drink, and I do wanna make sure you’re good. I know you’re an adult and all and I’m sure you can take care of yourself but, well, it’s not everyday that your quote ‘ work husband ’, at least if you ask my brother, has a building dropped on their head.” Seokmin laughs for real this time, Jihoon joining in soon after. It’s, well, it’s nice to not only laugh with Jihoon but to speak with him outside the confines of work. He looks around his lonely apartment once more, thinking about how isolated he felt with the building crumbled around him, and decides fuck it. He should live a little, anyways.
“Nah, if you’re okay with it I’ll be over in a bit. I just gotta pack a bag and all. I expect we’re not going anywhere, right?” Jihoon hums in affirmative and Seokmin starts to hobble around his apartment, pain in his hip growing at the movement. He had half the mind to check it out but decides to wait until he’s off the phone with Jihoon, just in case he can’t muffle his screams.
“I’ll text you my address. If you’re driving, go ahead and park in one of the guest spaces in the garage, I’ll tell the attendant you’re with me so you shouldn’t have any trouble. Take the elevator to the lobby and I’ll wait for you there. Sound good?” Seokmin feels his eyebrows furrow at the word attendant , quite certain that no one on this side of town even has a garage to park in, let alone someone manning it. He doesn’t let it bother him too much though, agreeing to Jihoon’s plan with ease and saying a quick goodbye before settling on his couch. Seokmin tugs the waistband of his shorts and underwear down, poking and prodding at the angry purple and red skin in confusion. Even though it hurts nothing feels out of place, and he lets his hands glow blue once more as he gently rests his hands on where it hurts the most. His eyes widen when he feels his pelvis fuse back together, realizing that he’d been walking around with a fractured pelvis for almost 24 hours without realizing it. Shaking his head at his own foolishness he scans the rest of his leg, glad to see nothing else out of place. (He thinks of Woozi then, hoping that he didn’t do a similar half ass job healing his arm.)
Seokmin gets up then and wanders around his apartment, grabbing anything he thinks he may need before he leaves. It only occurs to him then that his car is parked in the lot nearby his office building, panic surging throughout him at the thought of a fifteen minute drive to retrieve it, let alone trying to walk there. He’s about to dial Jihoon and tell him the bad news when he realizes that he hadn’t taken his car to work yesterday. Dumb idea really, especially with him planning on working late, but there had been an accident on one of the main roads that would’ve taken him a good part of an hour to clear. He had taken the train instead, and honestly he’s grateful for his past self’s lack of patience.
Seokmin takes the elevator down to the lobby and climbs into his car, shooting Jihoon a text that he’s leaving and checking to make sure he told his nosiest friends he’s not home tonight. He ignores their downright weird responses and plugs Jihoon’s address into his phone, singing along softly to the radio as he makes his way to the richer part of town. His eyes keep growing wider at every high rise he passes, and he’s instantly made aware of the non branded loungewear he’s wearing.
Pulling into Jihoon’s parking garage is even worse, the attendant expecting him and letting him through technically without a problem, but he keeps blinking at Seokmin as if he’s waiting for someone to pull at a camera and tell him he’s on Punk’d . He shoots Jihoon a text after he parks his car as far away from what are clearly classy rich people models he can, stealing himself for the embarrassment he’s bound to feel as he rides the elevator up to the lobby. Jihoon grins at him when he sees him, waving him over frantically before pulling him into a hug once he’s in reach. He’s gentle about it too, probably not wanting to hurt Seokmin further, and he can’t help the warmth that settles happily in his chest.
“Glad to see you’re okay,” Jihoon says softly as he pulls away, looking him over a few more times before nodding. He grabs Seokmin’s hand and leads him through the lobby, glaring at anyone who dares to look at them even as he nods pleasantly to the staff. Jihoon brings him to a discrete door that he has to swipe and key in to, leading him away from what looks like a common area towards a shiny gold elevator. Jihoon rolls his eyes after he calls it, gesturing around him vaguely with a wave of his hand.
“Ignore all this. Blame my stepdad.” Seokmin looks at him quizzically but doesn’t bother to argue, following Jihoon and raising his eyebrows at the buttons on the door. They’re not labeled with numbers but instead words, things like kitchen or gym or entertainment written in a script like font. Jihoon jams the LJH button and swipes his card, leaning back as the elevator shoots upwards faster than any one should. Seokmin stumbles before he can grip onto the elevator rail, looking at Jihoon with raised brows.
“Why the hell did you ever work for that dumbass place?!” He can’t help but ask, Jihoon laughing at him before he drags him out of the elevator and into a weird sort of genkan with another locked door in front of them. Seokmin toes off his shoes and follows Jihoon to the door, another keycode required as well as a plain key. When Jihoon looks at him and sees his expression he shrugs, leading Seokmin into the rest of the house.
“My brother’s some kinda a big shot, hence all the security, and even if my stepdad doesn’t really owe me anything he can’t help it. He really likes to take care of us. He treats us all as if we’re his own kids, even if it technically is only Cheol. It’s not really my money though, even if he won’t let me turn down the housing.” Seokmin nods before his jaw drops, the hallway that they were in giving way to the biggest and most gorgeous apartment he’s ever seen. He’s on one of the top floors for sure, the view of the city below him incredible. There’s a balcony off the living room and so many windows that Seokmin wants to scream, a TV bigger than any he’s seen domestically. Everything looks expensive and Seokmin can feel himself grow self conscious in his old lounge clothes. He eventually looks at Jihoon again, the blond shrugging at him before walking over to a, holy shit , built in bar fully outfitted with all of the top shelf liquors one could want.
“You can toss your bag down wherever you want,” he says on the offhand, opening the built-in fridge Seokmin hadn’t seen due to its wooden disguise to make the rest of the bar look seamless, pulling out a bottle before he turns to Seokmin again.
“What kinda drink do you want?” Seokmin blinks at him, trying to remember what his bar order used to be before he swapped to beers alone his sophomore year of college when cash started getting tight.
“Uh, whatever you’re having?” Jihoon raises an eyebrow and Seokmin realizes how in place he looks amongst his surroundings. Even in simple loungewear, Seokmin can tell Jihoon’s outfit costs more than his rent, an uncomfortable sensation making itself home in his gut. Despite Jihoon being in a cutoff shirt that reminds him far too much of those testosterone filled gym bros that make the women in his gym uncomfortable, Seokmin can tell his sweatpants are Gucci even before he turned around and Seokmin could see the logo on the back pocket. Even the hoodie that’s haphazardly strewn across the couch probably costs more than his entire grocery bill, the uncomfortable feeling in his gut only growing. It makes sense that Jihoon hails from a place like this, the same way it makes sense that Seokmin hails from such a tiny and sorta ratty studio. It doesn’t make him feel good all the same.
“Do you like pomegranates?” Seokmin blinks back into the present and nods, watching Jihoon’s lips quirk up before he turns back to face the bar. “‘Cuz my brother’s grown up like this his whole life, he drinks a lotta assholey drinks,” he starts, Seokmin slowly inching towards him to watch him work, fascinated by the expert way he handles the bottles and the jig, flipping and twirling them through his fingers with ease. “And so does his dad. But what will never top any of their ritzy drinks,” he says, shoving a top on his shaker and going to work, flipping it around and 100% showing off. Eventually cracking the shaker, Jihoon pours the gorgeous red liquid into two glasses Seokmin hadn’t noticed before, rims covered in red sugar. He picks a glass up and hands it to Seokmin, waving at him to try it. Seokmin feels his eyes widen the second he tastes it, looking at Jihoon in shock.
“Welcome to a pomegranate cosmo.” Jihoon laughs at Seokmin’s expression, grabbing his own drink and leading him to the couch. It’s more comfortable than anything he has in his apartment, his still aching hip grateful for it. He’s sitting on the chaise so that he can keep his leg straight, weight mostly on his right side. Jihoon raises an eye at the position, eyes catching on something and staring at it intently, brows knitting in concern. Seokmin follows his gaze and feels himself blush, making a little embarrassed noise as he tugs his shorts back down from where they had rode up. They hadn’t fallen very far, not even halfway down his thigh, but the few inches of exposed skin showed off his wretched purple and red skin, horribly swollen and awfully discolored in all of its glory.
“Sorry,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck, “It’s pretty gross.” Jihoon looks at him quizzically then, his concern only seeming to grow.
“Did you get that looked at? It looks really bad.” Seokmin shrugs, focused on the liquid in the glass as he swirls it gently, wary of spilling it.
“It should be fine, but no. I didn’t wanna deal with the crowd last night, and that’s where all the emergency personnel were. Plus, I can’t really afford to now that I don’t have a paycheck or insurance.” Jihoon makes a concerned noise, eyes wide when Seokmin looks at him again.
“Didn't you say your hip was the worst part? If that’s your knee, what does that even look like?” Seokmin offers him a grimace, tugging up his sweatshirt just enough so that Jihoon can see the very top part of the bruise and the edge of the violently violet lump appearing from the waistband of his shorts. He watches Jihoon’s eyes widen even further before he drops the fabric back down, shrugging at him.
“I can walk, so it’s fine. But what happened to your arm?” He says, pointedly cutting off Jihoon’s words before he can voice them. Jihoon looks down before he makes a little ah sound, a green and purple bruise twisting around his forearm in a rather strange pattern.
“Ah, well, my brother wanted a sparring partner, so,” he waves his arm in a move to dismiss Seokmin’s concern, eyebrows pinching once more as he looks at him.
“You should really probably get your hip looked at, though. I can pull a few favors, probably get someone here tomorrow if that sounds okay.” Seokmin bites at his lip, guilt surging in his chest.
“I can’t let you do that.” Jihoon raises an eyebrow, eyes sharpening a fraction.
“You’re not inhibiting me in any way and it’s not like it’ll be a burden on me either. Look around, Seokmin, I can afford to help you out. I want to help you.” Seokmin sighs as his eyes flit around the cavernous space, thinking about the aching in his hip. He hasn’t been able to feel anything else significantly wrong with it either, well besides the burst blood vessels and pool of blood, which makes him a little more concerned than he usually is. But it’s not like he can heal it fully anymore and take care of whatever is still wrong - not with all of his friends either having seen it or heard about it. If he suddenly appears without a bruise, well, that’s a can of worms he’d kill to keep closed.
“Can I make it up to you in some way? Will you even let me?” Jihoon smiles, sipping at his drink before he looks back at Seokmin, smile bright even if it’s sort of small, personal.
“Sure. You just gotta hang out with me; I need an excuse to ditch my nosy ass friends anyways. Plus, I’m a little sad we don’t get to talk every weekday anymore - it feels like we got a divorce.” Seokmin feels himself blush, shaking his head before he looks back at Jihoon.
“Deal.” Jihoon grins at him, reaching forward to clink his glass against Seokmin’s.
“Deal. I’ll text Shua now and then we can, I dunno, watch a movie? Wait to see if your heathen friends crash the party?” Seokmin laughs, offering Jihoon a smile in return.
“Up to you.” Jihoon grins back for a little longer before he grabs his phone from the table in front of him, fingers flying across the keyboard. He starts tapping his foot as he presumably waits for a response, Seokmin’s eyebrows knitting when he feels his own phone buzz in his pocket. He laughs at the texts on his screen, shaking his head at Soonyoung’s usual antics. Seokmin sips on his drink as he reads the jumbled paragraphs, squinting at the last few sentences that make zero sense. After sending him a few question marks, Seokmin isn’t shocked when a call instantly lights up his screen. He turns to Jihoon sheepishly, wiggling his vibrating phone as he speaks.
“Do you mind if I take this?” Jihoon waves him off and Seokmin answers his call.
“Hello?”
“ What did I say about sounding like that?!” Seokmin laughs at Soonyoung’s words, sipping at his drink again before eating some of the sugar off the rim. (He knows it’s a bit unorthodox, you're supposed to rotate the glass so you get the sugar while you drink and all, but quite frankly he doesn’t care. Rock sugar is delicious .)
“Yeah, yeah. What’s up?”
“I wanted to come see you! I still haven’t gotten to check that you’re okay!” Soonyoung sounds a bit frantic and Seokmin is instantly sitting up, shrugging at Jihoon when he catches his eye.
“Youngie, it’s okay, I’m okay. I told you it’s okay, and you know I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. I’m at a friend’s place tonight but I can come and see you tomorrow afternoon, okay?” Soonyoung makes a worried noise, Seokmin flinching as he readjusts on the couch and moves his hip funny, the joint panging at the movement.
“Whose house are you at? Kwannie is just as freaked as I am, and Mingyu and Minghao said you left this afternoon.” Seokmin presses the corner of his phone into his temple and huffs.
“A friend from work’s.” Soonyoung grumbles even more before he suddenly makes an overly excited noise, filling Seokmin with dread.
“Are they there? Let me talk to them,” he demands and Seokmin sighs even heavier this time around.
“Kwon Soonyoung, I am a grown man . I don’t need you to vet everyone I hang out with.” Jihoon stifles a laugh like that, falling to the floor when Seokmin turns to him and theatrically rolls his eyes. Seokmin’s just grateful that Jihoon’d put his drink down on the table, and after a moment he figures he should do the same.
“I know you are Seok, I’m sorry. I’m just, I’m wicked worried about everything.” Seokmin runs a hand through his hair, offering Jihoon a pained smile when he catches his worried eyes again.
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. I’ll see you tomorrow, and we can do anything that’ll make you feel better, okay?” Soonyoung sighs but Seokmin knows he’s won.
“Yeah, okay. Keep me updated?” Seokmin nods, even if Soonyoung can’t see it.
“I will, don’t worry. I’m seriously okay.” They exchange goodbyes and hang up, Seokmin flinging himself back on the couch as he groans.
“That sounded fun,” Jihoon eventually pipes up with amusement clear in his tone. Seokmin just squints at him.
“He’s probably gonna come and crash, to be honest. He’s one of the heathens who has my location.” Jihoon laughs even harder, eyes practically dancing as they watch Seokmin. “What?”
“Nothing, nothing. I just have this feeling ,” he says as he wiggles his fingers, “That he’s going to show up earlier than one may expect.” Seokmin feels his eyebrows furrow, about to ask Jihoon what exactly he means when a set of furious and fast knocks are pounded on the door. Seokmin jumps at the noise, his hip moving the wrong way and his side enveloping itself in blinding pain.
He thinks he passes out from it for a moment, opening his eyes to find Jihoon looming over him with his eyes flooded with concern. The more his senses come back to him the more he realizes that he did knock, at least for a few seconds, his body fully limp on the couch and Jihoon’s steady hand on his waist the only thing keeping him from crashing to the ground. He smiles up at him sheepishly, slowly edging himself back onto the cushions when he finally takes note of the fervent banging at the door.
“ Lee Jihoon! ” A familiar voice cries, Seokmin’s head tilting on its own accord as he tries to place it, catching Jihoon’s soft embarrassed smile from the corner of his eye. “Lee Jihoon open up! I know you’re hiding Seok in there!” Jihoon just shakes his head when Seokmin looks at him, offering him an apologetic glance as he mouths the word brother .
“Break in your damn self, asshole!” He calls back, turning his focus back to Seokmin and ignoring the commotion at his door. “Are you okay?” Seokmin shrugs.
“I think, yeah.” He pulls himself up a bit until he’s half sitting once more, tugging at his earlobe as he looks back at Jihoon. “It’s probably a good idea to let your doctor friend check me out, I guess.” Jihoon scoffs immediately.
“Of course it is.” Seokmin offers him a sheepish smile, his hand moving to press into his hip on its own accord. Jihoon’s eyes follow the motion and he practically glares at the younger, ignoring the sound of his door banging open. It does however make Seokmin jump again, his body moving to look towards the sound before he can even think of stopping it. Pain and nausea both flare within him and he moves both his hands to dig into the joint, head swimming as he feels like his body has been set alight. His hip is both flooded with an overall aching feeling as well as a stabbing one, the combination so putrid that it makes his face screw up in pain and a strangled noise leave him. It’s a few moments of deep breathing before the pain is manageable again and he can open his eyes, his expression 100% self-conscious as he looks at Jihoon. The blond is hovering over him again, watching him with so much concern that Seokmin’s surprised he can’t physically feel it. He’s about to wave everything off when another person appears behind Jihoon, the shockingly orange hair drawing his attention immediately. Forgotten is the pain as soon as he looks at the newcomer’s face, because holy. Shit.
“Kwon fucking Soonyoung,” Seokmin starts, voice low and eyes narrowed, “ why didn’t you tell me you had a brother , hmm?” Soonyoung swallows, looking at Jihoon with wide eyes before he turns back to Seokmin.
“Uh, surprise?” Seokmin glares a little harder.
“And why ,” Soonyoung flinches this time, “Did you let me pay for you so often when you live in a place like this?” Soonyoung splutters, especially when Jihoon turns to look at him with an aghast expression.
“You never let me pay! I tried!”
“‘Cuz you insinuated that you were even poorer than I am!”
“Soonyoung,” Jihoon says softly, shaking his head with disappointment. Soonyoung drops to his knees and bows, offering Seokmin the most sincere apology he thinks he’s ever seen or heard. He’s not really that angry, after all he likes taking care of his friends and Soonyoung never let him endanger his well being for him, but the opportunity is just a little too good to let slide. After all, if he milks this right he can get free food for something like an entire year.
“Get up and come here, Youngie,” Seokmin says after a beat or two, holding his arms open in Soonyoung’s direction. Within an instant Soonyoung scrambles to his feet and wraps Seokmin up in a tight hug, his breaths shaking in his chest. Seokmin pats at his back gently, allowing Soonyoung to have the moment he clearly needs without comment.
“I told you I’m okay.” Soonyoung’s breath shudders at the words, arms gripping at Seokmin’s back a little harder.
“But you almost weren’t. ” Well, Seokmin can’t contest that. Had the integrity of the desk failed or the slab slid higher than just his hip, well, he probably wouldn’t be walking around the least. Even if Hoshi and Woozi were able to find him, the damage done by the slab and the pain of it all would have been far too much to fix on his own.
“I know,” he soothes, rubbing Soonyoung’s back softly, “But what’s important is that I am okay. Not that I almost wasn’t, okay?” Soonyoung sniffles a bit before he nods, sighing as he moves to pull off of Seokmin. He’s swiping at his eyes with his forearm as he looks between Seokmin and Jihoon, his eyebrows eventually raising for a reason Seokmin isn’t privy to; that is until he starts talking.
“Wait, your work husband is Seokmin?” Jihoon sighs heavily and rolls his eyes as Seokmin laughs, shaking his head at the familiar antics that are Kwon Soonyoung’s personality.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me?” For some reason Soonyoung sounds offended, and Seokmin feels a little bit guilty.
“Jihoon didn’t know I knew you until you just called,” he says easily, watching Soonyoung deflate a bit with his words, “And I didn’t know you two were brothers, so.” Soonyoung nods at that before he flops down on a nearby chair, letting out a heavy sigh. The action pulls giggles out of Seokmin, who ends up on the receiving end of his blank stare.
“How’s your leg?” He eventually asks, and Seokmin has to take a deep breath before he even considers answering. It’s apparently too long of a pause though, seeing as Jihoon jumps in for him.
“He just passed out from turning the wrong way, so not good. I texted Shua about it but he hasn’t replied yet. You know if he’s with Cheol tonight?” Soonyoung hums as he considers it, scratching his head as his gaze falls to his lap.
“Is it Friday?” Jihoon and Seokmin nod. “He should be then. Want me to call him? You won’t get yelled at for ruining their sexy time and I’m more worried about Seokmin’s health than I am about how mad Cheol will be.” Seokmin laughs softly this time and watches as Jihoon internally debates. Eventually Jihoon looks at Soonyoung with a bit of a relieved look, his fingers fidgeting where they sit in his lap.
“You’d be willing to?” Soonyoung offers him a reassuring smile, gaze flickering to Seokmin for a moment before it’s back on his brother.
“Of course Ji. But, ” Jihoon groans, “You gotta give me a real hug. Every day. For a week .”
“The shit I do for you,” Jihoon says petulantly while glaring at Seokmin. After a heavy sigh, Jihoon opens his arms towards Soonyoung, patting his back as the ginger curls around him fully. It’s a long hug that slowly seems to be getting on the blond’s nerves, his breathing growing more annoyed by the minute. Eventually Soonyoung pulls back with a sunshiny grin and flips back down into his chair, fumbling with his phone for a minute before he presses it against his ear.
“Hey, Josh, sorry to interrupt. You’re with Cheol right? Upstairs?” He pauses, seemingly waiting for the man on the other side of the line to answer. “Ah, okay cool. Can you do me a favor? What’s in it for you?” Soonyoung looks to Jihoon then, eyes wide and worried.
“I might’ve found Cheol a new PA, so his boyfriend won’t be so stressed anymore.” Soonyoung offers him a relieved look as he relays the information through the line, pinching the bridge of his nose as the other man talks.
“I’ll buy you breakfast for a week too. Yes, hand delivered. Jihoon will probably even help.” Jihoon shoots Soonyoung the stink eye and Seokmin has to stifle his laughter, shaking his head when they both turn to look at him and unknowingly pressing a hand into his hip again.
“Yeah, I’m at Hoonie’s. Bring your med bag too. Nah, it’s not good but no real rush. Alright, see you in a few.” He hangs up and sighs at Jihoon, shaking his head miserably.
“If I ever have to hear my brother fuckin’ mewl again, I’m moving to Canada to never be seen ever again.” Jihoon laughs but nods, offering Soonyoung a sympathetic look.
“First time you’ve interrupted date night?”
“And last .”
It’s one adequately named Adios Motherfucker later that Soonyoung doesn’t care about the events of the past ten minutes or the knock sounds through the apartment. (Seokmin’s not sure anyone could care about anything after one of those, not after he watched Soonyoung dump five different liquors into a cup.) Jihoon looks like he’s ready to throw himself off the balcony, especially as his brother decides it’s cuddle time, but he glares when Seokmin moves to answer the door.
“You take the bastard,” he says pointedly, shoving Soonyoung off of him and standing before the ginger can cling back on, “And I’ll answer the door. You’re still hurt, asshole.” Seokmin sighs but pats the top of Soonyoung’s head, watching Jihoon as he walks towards the front of the apartment. The door opens and two sets of footsteps enter, obliterated Soonyoung not even acknowledging the noise, too busy curling up into Seokmin’s side. He feels a little bad that he’s going to have to kick Soonyoung off of him, but his thoughts are vanquished when Jihoon and the new duo enter his line of sight.
“Holy shit ,” he mutters, looking at who undeniably is Mayor Choi Seungcheol. Thankfully no one seems to have heard him, but everything about Jihoon’s home life suddenly makes a lot more sense. The Choi’s were well off anyways, but with their son as the mayor? It makes sense that they live in such a ritzy but secure place. Eventually Seungcheol sits on the edge of the couch opposite Seokmin, the latter taking the chance to rid himself of the drunken Soonyoung still in his lap.
“Look, Seungcheol’s here.” Soonyoung perks up before he flings himself at the literal redhead, Seungcheol’s expression going exasperated at the actions of the ginger. It’s with a start and a pretty well hidden laugh that Seokmin realizes that their hair colors sort of work with their age order - Seungcheol as red and Soonyoung as orange and Jihoon as yellow. It’s almost as if they planned to be their own little gradient, the dorks. He doesn’t get much further than that thought when who he assumes to be Josh starts talking.
“Seokmin, right?” He offers him a smile, moving to stand to shake his hand when a hand shoves him back.
“Asshole, you’re still hurt.” Seokmin can tell his expression turns sheepish as he smiles at Jihoon, turning back to Josh and inclining his head.
“Yeah, that’s me. Josh?” The other man’s eyes are glinting and Seokmin has a feeling that they’re either going to be instant ride or dies or irreparable enemies.
“At your service.” They shake on it and Seokmin is certain that he’s just made a deal with a devil. Which, nice. Maybe he’ll be able to afford groceries now. “I’m guessing you’re the reason Soonyoung called?” Seokmin shrugs, tugging the hem of his shorts up a few inches and putting the end of his wretched bruise on display.
“I was in the building when it went down yesterday.” Seungcheol gasps and Josh only gets more worried, taking a step closer and looking at the bruise. He gingerly pokes the surrounding area, watching Seokmin’s expression for any sort of changes.
“What happened?” Seungcheol asks, ignoring the half dazed Soonyoung lolling on his lap.
“The desk I hid under experienced a structural failure and caved in. A piece of rubble ended up pinning me down.” Both Josh and Seungcheol seem to get even more concerned, Joshua gently tugging his pant leg up to get a better view of the discolored skin.
“And you didn’t get this treated?” Seokmin forces a smile, even if he knows it’s vacant and rather sad.
“No health insurance and no paycheck. I don’t think I can even afford rent where it stands right now.” Josh’s expression turns panicked as he takes a step back, looking to the brothers on the couch before his eyes land on Seokmin again.
“Look, you should really go and see a specialist about this. Someone needs to check and make sure it isn’t broken.” Seokmin shrugs and shifts slowly, managing to get his feet to the ground with minimum pain. Though he isn’t looking, he can tell Jihoon is about to shove him back down and he catches the blond’s wrist easily, much to the surprise of everyone. Apparently he doesn’t look like he has incredible reflexes. He turns to Jihoon with an empty smile, dropping his hand before he gets himself standing.
“I have to pee and I don’t feel like doing it on your couch.” Jihoon’s eyes narrow and he looks as though he wants to fight him but he can’t. Seokmin nods at them when no argument comes and he makes his way to the bathroom casually, his hip throbbing from how he moved it but not really bothered by him walking on it. Though he knows it isn’t broken, he did heal it himself, it’s a relief to know that it’s not as bad as it looks nor the group seems to think it is. It’ll probably be fine with a few days of ice and rest anyways. When he walks back to the living room he notices almost everyone’s eyes on him, so he raises his eyebrows and waits for one of them to speak as he settles back onto the couch.
“I can get you in for an x-ray tomorrow, just to make sure everything’s okay. Other than that, I’m afraid treatment is rest and ice and maybe a brace.” Seokmin only shrugs once more.
“You’re mainly only here just to get Jihoon off my back. I was perfectly fine to just chill in my apartment for a week until I was better.” Josh’s eyes narrow as he carefully regards Seokmin. Upon further inspection it seems like everyone is looking at him with that same careful and concerned expression.
“You weren’t gonna do anything about that?” Seungcheol asks quietly and Seokmin offers him a sad smile.
“No, not really, just pound pain relief meds and ice while I packed.” Everyone’s expressions turn hopelessly confused as they look between each other. Even the drunken Soonyoung seems to have caught onto something wrong, slowly blinking at Seokmin with tired eyes.
“You’re moving?” Jihoon eventually asks and Seokmin shrugs.
“No income means no rent money. I was thinking about calling my mom and seeing if she’d put me up until I could find another gig.” If he had to put a name to it, Jihoon’s expression looks betrayed. It’s off putting, to say the least, and Seokmin watches them all curiously.
“You ever been a personal assistant before?” Seungcheol asks with his eyes glinting in such a way that Seokmin doesn’t know how to feel.
“Not really, no. I was secretary of a few clubs in high school and college though?” Seungcheol grins much to Seokmin’s confusion, no one else on the couch offering much help.
“Wanna be my PA? My last one quit suddenly with all the increased superhero activity, said it was bad for his health or something.” Seokmin just blinks at him.
“That’s it? No interview? No resume review? You're just offering me a job in your brother’s apartment?” Seungcheol shrugs.
“Jihoon’s word is enough. Plus I think Soonyoung would kill me if I let you leave.” He’s still blinking blankly at them, confused about their unprecedented good will. Call him naïve all you want, but Seokmin can’t help but to feel a bit on edge with the offer.
“Really?” Seungcheol shrugs, his smile easy.
“Really. You can start Monday if your hip’s alright.” Seokmin smiles at the words, the panic that’s been gripping his chest easing with the promise.
“Thank you,” he says, eyes flitting to everyone in the room, “Thank you all so much.”
🦸🦹