Archive of Our Own

Hanbin has always had trouble finding balance in his life. Sure, he had the normal stressors that 22-year-olds had. He worries about what routines he's going to teach for his dance class, he stresses about finding enough money for his rent: all the normal things he should be worrying about as a semi-well adjusted adult. However, what isn't normal is the fact that he is currently in red spandex, fighting a gigantic monster that is trying to destroy the city. Oh, and he's doing all this in a giant robot with the rest of his teammates.

“Hanbin,” Jiwoong, who is currently piloting the right leg of the robot, says. “I don't think our attacks are working.”

“We need to try something or else we're done for,” Hanbin replies.

“I think it has a really tough outer shell,” Gunwook says while piloting the blue dragonfly wings on the back. “We need to find a weak spot in shell and shoot at it like crazy.”

“I'm on it.” Hanbin starts the scan of the monster and when the indicator finds something, he says, “Ok, Ricky aim for that spot near the lower left part of its body.”

“Got it,” Ricky replies through the intercom as he readies the left arm of the robot to move. With a swift motion, the 5 people piloting the robot could feel their weapon hit the monster.

“I see a crack in the shell!” Matthew excitedly says through the intercom from the left leg of the robot. “It worked!”

“Ok, time for the finishing blow!” Hanbin says.

“Right!” The rest replies through the intercom. As the monster tried to stabilize itself from the last shot, the team slowly aimed their blaster to the monster. “Fire!” Suddenly, a blast of white light beams from their blaster and into the monster, destroying the rest of the shell and turning it into dust in a few seconds.

“We did it,” Hanbin sighs. “Nice work, everyone.”

“Just in time, too. I have to get to class,” Gunwook says.

“You all go,” Matthew says. “Ricky and I will take care of it with the zords.”

“Great. Don’t forget to collect the heart and bring it back to base.”

“Got it.” With that, the robot disassembles to multiple individual zords, and leave to start the clean up process.

Hanbin, Jiwoong, and Gunwook all meet on the ground after teleporting out of their zords and transform out of their suits back into their street clothes. Jiwoong looks at both of them and says, “I’ll stay here and help try to find the heart on ground level.”

“Ok. We’ll meet at the base later if there are any updates,” Hanbin replies.

“Oh right. Have fun on your date,” Gunwook teases.

Hanbin rolls his eyes and walks away from the pair. While walking away, he takes in the scene of his zords slowly, but surely cleaning up the mess the monster left behind. Yup, definitely a normal day for him.

------

Hanbin still remembers the day he found the sword. Or rather, the sword found him.

It started off as a normal day. Hanbin remembered his roommate, Taerae, banging on his door to wake him off. “You’re gonna be late!” Hanbin heard through the door. Hanbin groaned, but nonetheless picked himself off of the bed and started getting ready for the day.

Once he made himself decent, he had a quick breakfast before leaving the apartment and heading to the dance studio. Once he got there, he set up his audio and started practicing for an audition he had later on in the week. It was a normal routine: something that he was used to.

“It's 10 in the morning and you're already hard at work, practicing,” Hanbin heard someone say in the doorway.

He turned around and saw Matthew standing at the entrance of the studio. Hanbin smiled and replied, “Shouldn't you be studying for your final?”

“That can wait until later. I just came here to make sure that you aren't killing yourself, preparing for this audition.”

Hanbin chuckled. “I'm not, I promise. Besides, it's almost where I want it for the audition.”

“It'll never be perfect enough for you.”

“Well I can at least try getting it there.” Both of them laughed. Hanbin was always happy whenever Matthew was around. He was a ray of sunshine that always gave Hanbin the motivation to continue.

As they finished their conversation, they heard noise coming from the street. “Do you hear that?” Hanbin asked.

Matthew nodded. “It sounds like…screaming.”

“What the hell?” They pair rush out of the studio, and was met with a sea of people rushing away from something. They both turn to the area the people were running from and were met with the sight of others terrorizing people. Upon a closer look, Hanbin realized something. “Those aren’t…humans.”

“What are they?” Matthew asked.

Before Hanbin could answer, he saw someone fall as they were running away from one of the monsters. He saw the person wince in pain, trying to stand but ultimately not being able too. He saw the terror as they tried their best to crawl away from the monster trying to attack them. Before he could even think, he felt his body running over to the person and kicking the monster away from her as best as possible. Hanbin helped the person up, saying, “Are you ok? Can you walk?” The other person, too shocked to speak, timidly nodded to Hanbin. Hanbin gave a small smile and said, “Ok. That's good.”

“Watch out!” The other person exclaimed. Hanbin turned and saw one of the monsters quickly diving after him. He managed to dodge, and turned to the person he helped, yelling, “Run!”

He turned back to the monster that, at the moment, looked like it was trying to kill him. He quickly got up and tried his best to fight off the monster that was going after him. He saw that there was a metal pole next to him, and quickly grabbed it and used it to block the strike that was about to hit him. He tried his best to keep the monster away from him, but he felt his arms giving in more and more until suddenly, someone hit the monster away from him. Hanbin turned his head to see Matthew, standing next to him. “Now why in the world would you play hero at a time like this?”

Hanbin smirked. “Same reason you did.”

Matthew helped him up and said, “I got most of the people out of here, but they don't look like they're gonna stop any time soon.”

Hanbin dusted himself off and turned the other direction to see no people, but instead a whole army of the monsters that just attacked him. “Shit.”

“They were chasing people…and it seems like we're the only 2 people left in this area,” Matthew whispered.

“And they don't look happy that we helped their meals escape,” Hanbin continued.

“What do we do?”

Hanbin looked around, trying to look for a way out of there, but they were surrounded, and more were coming their way. “Guess we'll have to fight our way through.”

Just as the monsters were getting closer and closer to them, a beam of light in a distance suddenly shot up from the ground to the sky. Within a second, the beam of light split into 5, and the pair saw 2 of the splits cut through the crowd of monsters and land right in front of them. And when the light landed in front of them, it slowly morphed into something: 2 swords.

“Are these for us?” Hanbin asked.

“I think so,” Matthew replied. “Just in time too. They're coming at us.”

Hanbin nodded and held out his hand to grab the sword. As soon as he touched the sword though, he felt a surge of energy rush through his body, and felt something build onto his body. He looked down at his arms and body, seeing the red armor growing until it completely covered him. And the last touch: his vision changed as the helmet completely covered his face. He could only see out of the visor of the helmet now.

“Woah,” Hanbin said, looking at his completed armor. He turned to Matthew and saw that he was also in armor, but instead of red, his was yellow with mantis design on the helmet. “Matthew, we're-"

“I know,” Matthew finished. “Let's go get ‘em.”

Hanbin nodded and turned to the monsters that were currently coming at them. He held out the his sword and charged at the army, sealing his fate.

------

Hanbin quickly brushes off the small amount of debris that got on his clothes during the battle as he runs to the Melting Point Café. He wanted to look as good as he possibly could when he meets one of the most important people in his life.

When he enters the café, he looks around, trying to find a familiar figure. That's when his eyes meet the face of the most beautiful person he has known, and smiles at him. The person smiles back, gets up, and gives Hanbin a hug. “Hanbin, I'm so glad that you're ok. I heard there was another monster attack.”

“I'm fine, Hao,” Hanbin replies, hugging back. He pulls away slightly, Hao's arms still around his waist. “Sorry I'm late again.”

“It's fine. I don't expect you to be on time when there’s a life or death situation happening outside. And either way, I get to see your cute face.”

Every time Hanbin sees Hao, his heart flutters. Even when he felt himself crashing from the weight of the world on his shoulders, just looking at Hao made the weight a little lighter. Though, there was one thing between them that still made his already complicated life even more complicated. “Luckily, the rangers were able to take care of the situation, like they always do.”

“Well, I'm always grateful for them because I get to see you,” Hao replies, smiling.

Hanbin sometimes wishes he could tell Hao. He felt bad every time that he was late for a date or had to cancel a date because he was too busy saving the damn world. But, he knew this was better for the both of them. This way, he knew Hao wouldn't be hurt. “Yeah, they're the best.”

“Ok, enough talk of the monster attack. Let's sit down and have some food. I'm starving.”

Hanbin’s eyes narrow. “Did you have anything to eat today?”

Hao cleared his throat. His eyes avoiding Hanbin. “Well, I had students in the morning, and then I had to prepare for my audition-"

“Hao!” Hanbin interupts, hitting Hao's arm lightly. “Don't forget to eat.”

“Hey! It's not like you're any better. I bet Matthew and Taerae yell at you all the time to eat,” Hao says, pouting. “Did you even eat today? I bet you didn't, either!”

Hanbin rolls his eyes, but says, “Fine, lets sit down and have our first meals of the day.”

Hao chuckles and kisses Hanbin's cheek. “We seriously need to take better care of ourselves.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

------

Hanbin remembers the first time he met Hao. It had been some time before Hanbin got the ranger powers, while Hanbin was finishing up his video for his final exams. He was almost finished with his degree, and just needed to hand this in to secure his degree. However, in true Hanbin fashion, he couldn't hand it in until he was absolutely sure it was to his standard, which meant he had been in the dance studio for several hours already. Even though his body ached, he still needed to finish his assignment.

In the middle of one of the takes, he heard a knock at the enterance. Thinking it was his best friend, he said, without turning his head, “Matthew, I promise I'm almost done-"

“Oh, I'm sorry,” An unfamiliar voice replied. “I didn’t realize you were in the middle of filming something.”

Hanbin turned to see who was at the door, and when he looked at the other man, he felt himself losing his breath. The man was slightly taller, with red hair and several moles on his face, holding a violin case in his hand. Hanbin unconsciously takes mental notes of these details, like his brain wanted to engrave the image of the man into it so that he could never forget. “Oh, uh, it's perfectly ok,” Hanbin stuttered.

“I was just looking for a practice room. I have an audition coming up and I heard there were empty practice rooms here?”

“Yeah, down the hall. Though, a lot of students are either practicing for their final exams or recording them, so I don't know how much luck you'll have.”

The other man chuckled. “I guess it's back to my apartment, then.”

Hanbin cleared his throat before saying, “I could…let you know if there is an open practice room sometime this week? If you want to write down your number I can check the availability when I'm done and give you times that are availble in the next week so you can reserve it?”

The other man raised an eyebrow. “How do I know you aren't a creepy stalker just trying to get my information.”

“Ok, that's fair. I actually work here as a dance instructor and my friend is supposed to be working the welcome desk but it looks like he's on break. My name is Hanbin, by the way.”

“Nice name,” The other man said, smiling. “I'm Hao.”

“So, what do you say, Hao? Do you trust me enough with your phone number?”

Hao thought for a moment before answering, “Guess giving my number to a cute stranger couldn't hurt.” Hao quickly pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his bag and wrote down his number on the paper. He handed it to Hanbin and said, “Don't forget to text.”

“I won't,” Hanbin replied.

“See you around, Hanbin.” With that, Hao left, and Hanbin stood there, thinking to himself, ‘Did he just call me cute?’

------

After a long meal, the couple knew it was time to say goodbye. They both took a small walk outside of the café back to Hao's apartment. “When am I gonna see you again?” Hao whines. “I miss you a lot.”

“I miss you a lot, too. It's hard with busy schedules,” Hanbin sighs.

 “Actually, I don't have anything to do on Sunday. We could spend the day with each other. You could come over…watch a movie…have a meal…do other stuff?”

Though Hanbin tried his best to stay calm he can feel the burn of his ears betraying him. “I…uhh…umm…” was all Hanbin managed to sputter out.

Hao laughs Hanbin’s attempt to try and keep his composure. “Well? Do you have anything to do on Sunday?”

Hanbin thought about his schedule. Though technically he didn't have any students on Sunday, he knew that spending the whole day with Hao was risky. Monster attacks were getting more frequent, and he needed to be ready at all time. But, against his better judgement, he says, “Maybe not the whole day, but maybe the whole night?”

Hao smiles and kisses Hanbin on the lips before saying, “It's a date.” Hao then turns and walks towards his apartment, waving bye to Hanbin in the process. Hanbin waves back and makes sure he enters the apartment building safely before walking away.

Hanbin found the nearest ally and hit a button on his “smartwatch.” Suddenly, the scenery changed from a dark ally into a cave, where he saw Jiwoong standing in front of the computer. Hanbin walked over to him and says, “Did you find a heart?”

“Yeah, it's inside one of the containers,” Jiwoong responded.

Hanbin turns to the shelves where several containers holding small stone objects are sitting. “Where is it? I don't see it up here.”

“That's because I just finished scanning it,” Another voice says. Hanbin turns and sees Taerae, walking out while reading from a tablet in his hands. Taerae hands the tablet to Hanbin as he continues, “The reversal process is going to take longer because the heart was injected with a lot more corrupted energy than the ones we found before.”

Hanbin looks at the data on the tablet and says, “Ok, so what? They're just gonna get a power boost every time we fight them now? We barely managed to fight off the one today.”

“I've been working on some upgrades to your weapons and suits. I just need to test them with Gunwook.”

“Keep me posted on that,” Hanbin says.

Jiwoong looks down at his wrist watch and says, “It's getting late. I think we all could use a break from the today's madness.”

“Agreed,” Hanbin says. “Thanks for staying late, Jiwoong.”

Jiwoong sends a small smile to Hanbin. “No problem. Now I gotta go before Yujin throws a fit about us not having dinner together.”

Hanbin chuckles at the mention of Jiwoong’s little brother and his student. With that, Jiwoong presses a button on his wrist watch and teleports out of the base, leaving Taerae and Hanbin by themselves. “Are you gonna leave to?” Taerae asks.

“No, I'll stay here for a little longer,” Hanbin answers, his eyes directing back to the screen of the tablet.

Taerae's eye narrow. “That's the wrong answer.”

Hanbin sighs in response. “I just want to look over all this.”

“You will have time to look over all the data with a fine-tooth comb tomorrow when you're not alone in the base. Besides, tomorrow is a training day and you need to be in your best shape. That's not gonna happen if you don't get some rest.”

Hanbin sighs. There was no arguing with Taerae. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Taerae and Hanbin both press the button on their wrist watches, which teleport them into the living room of their apartment.

Once they got their balance, Taerae looks at Hanbin and says, “I get that this is all stressful, but you are not the only one trying to save the world. You have a team.”

“I know that. I just…it's a lot.”

“Is it just the whole ‘saving the world’ thing that’s stressing you out? Or is there something else that’s stressing you out?”

“Well,” Hanbin starts. “It just sucks, you know? I feel like I can’t be completely honest with Hao if I just hide this part of my life from him.”

“It’s never easy,” Taerae replies, holding Hanbin’s shoulder. “But you know why you can’t tell him.”

“I know. But I just want a normal relationship, you know? One where I don’t have to be late to dates all the time or lie to him about where I was and what happened.”

“To be fair, I feel like it’s justified to be late to a date because half the city was getting demolished, regardless of your ranger status.”

Hanbin in his mind knows that what Taerae was saying makes sense. Though, it still doesn't wash away guilt. He wants to be there for Hao 24/7, and he wants to be the good, loving boyfriend that Hao is to him. But, he knew that could never happen: not until the threat to the planet had been dealt with. “Let's get some sleep.”

Taerae gives him a sad look and says, “Do you regret it? Keeping the sword?”

Hanbin returns with a small smile and a firm shake of his head. “Never.”

-----

After the first battle had concluded, Matthew and Hanbin stood outside the building of the dance studio, looking at the damage from the fight. “We…survived?” Matthew asked, confused from what had just happened.

“Yeah, we did,” Hanbin replied. “Now how do we get out of these suits?”

“Just say ‘power down,’” A familiar voice said behind them. The pair turn to see Taerae, standing in the middle of the rubble.

“Taerae?!” The pair exclaimed, shocked to see Hanbin's roommate and Matthew's boyfriend standing behind them. Matthew continued by saying, “What the hell are you doing here? Are you ok?”

“I'm fine,” Taerae replied. “Now will you just…power down now so that we can talk?”

Hanbin and Matthew gave each other a look before saying the words. After they had said it, they felt the weight of the armour get lifted from their bodies. They both looked down and were amazed that they were back in their street clothes. Hanbin looked at Taerae and, while walking towards him, asked, “What just happened?”

“It's a long story. But for now,” Taerae said as he hands Hanbin and Matthew wrist watches that matched the one on his hand. “Put these on and press the middle button.”

“But-"

“I promise you, I will explain everything. But you need to trust me,” Taerae finished.

The pair sighed, hesitating for a moment before they did as Taerae said. As soon as they hit the button, the scenery around them changed. It was no longer the debris filled streets, but rather a cave-like structure. Inside the rock walls of the cave was a massive computer with what looked to be a consul proportional to the size of the 3 monitors, and 3 chairs to help control the computers. In front of the computer was a round table, with 6 chairs around it of different colors. There was also a large bookself-like structure, which was mostly empty except for one container. In it was a stone-like object with black smoke coming out of it.

After noticing the details of the base, Hanbin and Matthew realized they weren't the only people there. In fact, there were others that they knew besides Taerae. Jiwoong, an older brother of one of his students who he sees once in a while; Gunwook, one of his students; and Ricky, his boyfriend's cousin and roommate, all gathered around the table. “What is all this?”

“That's what we'd like to know,” Ricky replied.

“We met Taerae here after the monster attacks,” Gunwook said. “He told us to press a button and suddenly we got…teleported here.”

Hanbin looked down at their hands and noticed they were all holding the same thing: A sword with different color switches on them. He turned to Taerae and said, “Please explain what the hell is happening.”

Taerae took a deep breath before starting. “Some of you here, I'm well acquainted with, and others this is my first time meeting you. To those who know me, there is something I've been keeping from all of you. To those who don't, it's nice to meet you, and I hope you can find it in your heart to trust me.

“Long ago, there was an ancient kingdom of people who were ruled by 5 kings. These kings kind, loving, and protective of the people. They were at peace. However, that peace didn't last.

“One day, aliens calling themselves Venosects came down to earth and attacked the kingdom. The kings fought hard, and managed to keep the remnants of the invaders bay. However, they knew that one day, these monsters would rise again and try to conquer the earth. They knew that they had to do something, so they imbued parts of their soul into these swords so that one day, the swords would choose warriors that would protect the earth from getting destroyed. They tasked one of my ancestors with the task of keeping them hidden and safe in these walls, and every generation, when the oldest child came of age, they would take over the responsibility of looking after them.

“The Venosects back, and it triggered a response from the swords to pick new owners: those they believed would have the character and strength to fight off these species. And apparently, they chose you all to be the team that saves the world.”

All of them stood in silence, digesting what Taerae had said to them. “I know this is a lot to process, and I'm sorry that this was put on you. You all can say no, and the sword will choose another wielder.”

“Did you know?” Matthew asked, looking at Taerae. “Did you know that the swords were going to choose us?”

Taerae shook his head. “The swords did as they needed.”

Silence once again fell on the group. They all looked at each other, trying to read their expressions. Even though most of the group didn't know each other well, it seemed like they all knew the thoughts of one another. They all experienced the same thing: they knew what they had to do. In an instance, Hanbin took a deep breath and turned to Taerae. “When do we start?”

------

The next day, training goes by without any issue. A normal routine of sparring, strategizing, and testing new weapons always made the team better. Taerae used to be the ones to lead these, however, Hanbin was more than comfortable stepping up and leading the training sessions. Though it took some time for them to trust each other, Hanbin will never not be amazed at the team standing in front of him right now.

After their sparring session, Hanbin sits down at a bench to take off equipment when Ricky joins him. “So, I was told that I shouldn’t be in my apartment on Sunday.”

Hanbin groans. “He told you already?”

“You can’t really blame him for being excited.”

“And you’re not the tiniest bit upset that he’s kicking you out Sunday?”

Ricky grins in response. “I mean I’m always with Gyuvin, anyway. At this rate, I think it’s safe to say I’ll be moving out very soon.”

Hanbin looks at Ricky, confused. “You’re ok with moving in with Gyuvin? What if he finds out?”

“Well, first of all, I think if Gyuvin found out I was a ranger, you would know,” Ricky starts. “Second, I can’t put the rest of my life on hold because I’m saving the world. I want to live my life, have a career, and live with my boyfriend like normal people my age do.”

“Aren’t you worried that Gyuvin is gonna find out about you being a ranger?”

“Of course. Doesn’t everyone here have that worry with at least one person in their life?”

Hanbin sighs. It’s an unspoken rule between the 6 of them: the less people that know who they are, the better. They knew the risks when they first took the job, but for Hanbin, it became harder as his relationship with Hao became more serious. He wanted more than short café dates every week, but he didn’t know how that fit into his life anymore. At least, he didn’t know how to fit it into his life without adding more of a risk that Hao would find out about his Ranger life. “Do you sometimes wish that Gyuvin knew? Just to make your life easier?”

Ricky thinks for a moment before answering. “I did.”

“What changed your mind?”

“Well, one thing is thinking about how much danger he would be if he knew. And also, I look at Taerae and Matthew.”

Hanbin looks at Ricky with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I wanted to know what it was like for him when he found out the sword chose Matthew, and he said that yeah, it was easier for them to schedule around Ranger duties, and for Matthew it was one less person to hide his life from.”

“But?”

“But,” Ricky continues. “I also know how worried Taerae gets when a monster shows up and Matthew has to go, or even when Matthew so much as pilots the zords. And remember what happened to Taerae that one time? Matthew was a mess.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Hanbin replies. He hated thinking about the state his friend was in, but he knew.

“Taerae knows Matthew is a very capable person, and that the swords chose him for a reason, but-“

“But he can’t help being worried for the person he loves,” Hanbin finishes.

Ricky nods. “It’s not easy either way.”

Hanbin sighs. “I just want to be with Hao.”

“So enjoy the moments you have together, regardless of the mess that’s going on right now,” Ricky says, putting his hand on Hanbin’s shoulder. “What’s important is you two. It seems complicated now, but everything will work out in the future.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Ricky smiles. “Now come on. Gunwook’s going to kill us if we take too long to change.”

Hanbin agrees, still thinking about the conversation. There’s still the guilt of having to constantly lie to Hao, but he knows Ricky is right. Nothing is easy, especially for him.

-----

After the battle had finished, and Gunwook had taken the zords to clean up the city, Hanbin rushed over to the hospital with Matthew. It was one of their tougher battles: one that had started when Matthew nor Hanbin could find Taerae in the morning.

When the pair arrived at the hospital, they immediately went to the receptionist, looking for Taerae. “He’s in the emergency room right now,” The receptionist told them. “Unfortunately, you can’t go in at this moment, but if there are any updates we will let you know. Please have a seat in the waiting area.”

They knew the hospital was busy treating other injured people from the previous fight, but not knowing anything about Taerae’s condition did not help their anxiety. “I should’ve been there sooner,” Matthew said while Hanbin tried to comfort him. “We got into a fight and we needed to cool off and-“

“It’s not your fault,” Hanbin replied. “You didn’t know this was going to happen.”

“He could’ve died, Hanbin,” Matthew said, his voice starting to shake. “They took him for information on us and they almost killed him.”

“But they didn’t. We found him. He’s strong. He’ll be alright.”

“If I just answered his call then none of this would have happened. I could’ve teleported there and fought them off.”

“Matthew, please stop blaming yourself. I know it’s scary, but you also don’t know if you would’ve gotten there in time to get Taerae out.”

Matthew tried taking a deep breath to stop the tears from coming out, but it didn’t work, and suddenly Matthew found himself crying in Hanbin’s arms. “It’s ok, Matthew. He’s gonna be ok,” Hanbin said, trying to reassure Matthew.

After 3 hours of waiting, a doctor came out and walked towards them. “Are you two here for Kim Taerae?”

“Yes, we are,” Hanbin replied on behalf of both of them as Matthew tried to gather himself.

“Mr.Kim has sustained some significant injuries. It looks like he has a concussion, a few broken ribs, and a broken leg. He also sustained some heavy cuts and bruises on other parts of his body. These injuries are all being treated, and he’s currently on some pain medication.”

“Are we allowed to see him?”

“I can show you to his room, but currently he’s resting. He’s lucky the rangers brought him over when they did. It looks like this could have been much worse.”

Hanbin laughed awkwardly at the comment. “Yeah, thank goodness the rangers are always there to help him.”

The doctor nodded in response. “Ok, let me take you both to his room.”

Hanbin turned to look at Matthew, who had stopped crying for a bit. “Matthew, you can go inside first. I'll meet you in there.”

Matthew nodded, and went with the doctor through the doors of the emergency room. Hanbin let out a deep breath: One he did not know he was holding He went outside and took out his phone, immediately pressing on a familiar contact. “Hello?” Hao said on the other side, slightly groggy from presumably just waking up.

“Hi baby,” Hanbin said softly.

“Binnie, are you ok? It’s 3 am.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…wanted to hear your voice.”

Hanbin heard Hao sigh on the other side. “You miss me that much?”

“Of course. We don’t see each other a lot, and I want to make sure that you’re alright with all these Venosect attacks going on.”

There was a moment of silence before Hao responded to Hanbin. “I’m ok, Hanbin. I promise.”

Hanbin smiled. “Good.”

“Now, can I go back to sleep? I love you, but I have students in the morning, and they’re not gonna like it if their teacher is grumpy.”

Hanbin chuckled. “Of course. I love you too. Good night.”

“Good night.” As Hao hung up the phone, Hanbin sighed in relief. Now more than ever, he was glad to hear Hao’s voice. If anything ever happened to him…well…Hanbin didn’t know what he would do.

------

Sunday came quickly. Hanbin had spent most of the day monitoring in the base to make sure everything was running smoothly. About 2 hours before he was supposed to meet Hao at his apartment, he teleports home and starts getting ready. He decides to wear low neck cardigan that perfectly displays his tattoos and a pair of jeans: a simple outfit that still extenuates what he thinks are the When he’s fully dressed, he walks out of his room and is greeted by Taerae. “Wow, look at you,” Taerae remarks.

“Shush,” Hanbin replies. “I wanted to look nice for Hao. We haven’t really had longer times together since I started the whole ranger thing.”

“Well, I hope you have fun tonight,” Taerae says, smirking.

Hanbin rolls his eyes at Taerae. “I hate you.”

“No you don’t.” Taerae stands up and says, “Don’t worry about the city. If anything happens we’ll try to handle it on our own before calling you so just try to enjoy your night with your boyfriend.”

Hanbin nods and waves goodbye to Taerae as he leaves through the front door. He then uses the teleportation device on his wrist to travel to an alley near Hao’s apartment and walks the rest of the way to Hao’s front door. He knocked on the door and waited a few moments before it opened, revealing his boyfriend. Hao smiled at Hanbin, saying, “You’re early.”

“Couldn’t wait to see you,” Hanbin replies. He takes note of the outfit Hao is wearing: a similar ensemble of a cardigan and jeans, with the only difference being the color of the cardigan and the fact that he decided to wear a shirt under his sweater. His hair was slightly styled, which, to Hanbin, made him look even more handsome than he already was. “You look really cute,” Hanbin compliments.

“So do you,” Hao says. “A little too good, if you ask me.”

“Do you hate it?” Hanbin asks, pouting.

Hao chuckles. “I could never hate anything on you. I’m just…a little concerned about other people looking at you.”

“Well then can I come in so that no one has the chance to?”

Hao nods and leads Hanbin in. When Hanbin stepped through the door, he looked around. Hao’s apartment was a simple set up: a shared living space with a couch and TV, with a small dining table to the side near the kitchen area. He notices that there’s food on the table along with plates already set up. He turns to Hao and asks, “Is this dinner?”

Hao nods in response. “I was in the middle of setting up before you came.”

“And you…cooked all this?” Hanbin says with hesitation in his voice.

Hao pouts. “Why do you sound so scared?”

“Sweetie,” Hanbin starts. “I love you. You are good at many, many things. Cooking, however, is not one of them.”

“Hey!”

“Last time you cooked you added so much vinegar into the stew when I wasn’t looking. And then another time Ricky told me you almost burned down the kitchen trying to cook.”

Hao scoffs. “Well, for your information, I didn’t cook. I got take out from a fancy restaurant because I…also wanted it to taste good.”

Hanbin lets out a laugh that he had been holding ever since the start of their conversation, and Hao joins him. Once they both can stop laughing, Hanbin smiles at Hao and says, “Ok, ok let’s eat.”

They both sit down to enjoy their meal together. It’s always nice whenever Hanbin has the chance to do this. It feels like a nice time away from his normally hectic life. And thought he made fun at first, he really does appreciate the effort Hao put into making this a nice time for both of them.

Once the pair finish their meals and clean the tableware and plates, they retire to the couch together. Hanbin looks at Hao, smiling. “Thank you for buying us food.”

“Of course,” Hao responds, smiling back at Hanbin. “I wasn’t going to poison us on our first time alone together in months.”

“You weren’t going to poison us.”

“But it would’ve tasted like I was trying to.”

Hanbin smiles at Hao, finding his effort endearing. He examines Hao’s face closely, taking in all of Hao’s features. He notices a strand of hair out of place, and lightly brushes it away, kissing him gently on the cheek afterwards. “I’m so happy right now.”

“Me too,” Hao whispers, giving Hanbin a tentative kiss on the lips. Hanbin smiles and gives a kiss back to Hao, only this time a little longer. No matter how many times they’ve kissed, something about these intimate moments with each other always made his heart flutter.

One moment passed by, then another, and soon the tender touches and the light kisses turned into something more aggressive. Hanbin doesn’t know when or how it happened, but any space between them had disappeared, both of them wanting to get impossibly close to one another. Hanbin feels Hao’s lips slowly start travelling down from his lips to his neck, savoring the kisses. “You’re so eager,” Hanbin breathes.

Hao moves away from his neck and looks directly into Hanbin’s eyes. “It’s been so long, Binnie.” Hao then moves up, grabs Hanbin’s face, and reconnects their lips.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end. When separating to catch their breaths, something from outside caught Hanbin’s attention. “Do you hear that?”

Hao listened for a moment and said, “Yeah, it sounds like screaming.”

“Stay here,” Hanbin says, going to the window. When he looks down, he sees an all too familiar scene: people running away from Parashades, mindless creatures who do the bidding of the Venosects. The area, though, looks like it’s being filled with smoke. The scene gets hazier and hazier, until the screaming stopped. All that’s left is an eerie silence.

“What’s going on, Hanbin?” Hao says, worried.

Hanbin promptly closes the window and locks it, making sure nothing could get in. Though the smoke seems to stay at a certain height, Hanbin doesn’t want to take any chances. “It’s nothing,” Hanbin replies. He walks back over to join Hao on the couch and says, “Let’s just stay here, ok?”

“Hanbin-“

“Everything’s alright if you just stay in here-“

“Hanbin-“

“And nothings going to hurt you because-“

“Hanbin!” Hao interjects, holding onto Hanbin before he could continue rambling. “Your watch.”

Hanbin’s eyes widen as he looks down, seeing that his watch is indeed ringing. “It’s probably Taerae or something.”

Hao sighs, and gently grabs Hanbin’s arms. He lifts his arm and positions Hanbin’s wrist closer to his mouth. “It’s ok. Answer it.”

“Hao?”

Hao faced Hanbin directly, giving him a small, but sad, smile. Something about the look Hao is giving Hanbin said all that it needed to. There was a moment of silence, but the message between them is loud and clear: a message that Hanbin had been dreading. I Know. Hao kissed Hanbin’s knuckle before saying, “You should answer it.”

Hanbin had no words. He couldn’t take his eyes off Hao as he pressed the button on the communicator. “Hanbin,” He hears Gunwook say on the other side. “There are a bunch of Parashades in your area right now. The smoke that’s covering the area is making people fall on the ground once they inhale it. I’m really sorry for interrupting your date but-”

“I’m on my way,” Hanbin interjects, still not breaking eye contact with Hao. When he puts his communicator down, he says, “How did you know?”

Hao shakes his head and says, “We’ll talk later. Now go. And please, be careful.”

Hanbin nods, without saying another word, he turns and walks towards the door, his sword appearing in full view, with Hao watching him off.

------

Hanbin remembers the one time he saved Hao during one of these attacks.

He was on his way to the café to meet Hao when he got a call from the base. “Hanbin, there are reports of Parashades near your area,” Jiwoong says on the other line

“Copy. Send me the teleportation and I’ll meet you guys over there.” Not long after, he saw the teleportation coordinates on his communicator, and he made his way to a more empty, closed off area to transform.

When he arrived at the scene, he looked around to see where exactly he was. It was the café that Hao and him always went to for their dates, except instead of the calm atmosphere that always greeted them, there were people running away, trying to save themselves from the monsters. Hanbin gripped his sword and started swinging, trying to block the attacks from the monsters and letting more people get away. He hated the screams coming from every direction, and wanted to do everything he could to get the people to safety. He was doing a good job at fighting back by himself, destroying the Parashades until he saw a familiar face on the ground, looking up at one of the Parashade “Hao,” Hanbin whispered.

As the Parashade was about to swing, Hanbin managed to rush over there and block the monster from attack. Hao looked up at the red ranger in front of him, shocked. Hanbin managed to slash the body of the monster and push it away from Hao. He then turned to Hao, helping him up from the ground. “Are you ok?”

Hao nodded in response. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Hanbin replied. He smiled behind his helmet and said. “I’m glad you’re not hurt.”

“Thanks but…umm,” Hao replied, looking down.

Hanbin looked at what Hao was looking at and saw he instinctively put his arms around Hao’s waist. Hanbin moved away, shocked and said, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry.”

“No! No it’s fine I just…I have a boyfriend,” Hao replied. Hao’s eyes widened as he made a realization. “Wait, my boyfriend…he was supposed to meet me here and I don’t see him.”

“We’ll find him,” Hanbin reassured Hao. “Just text him to let him know you’re safe and to meet at another location.”

Hao nodded and said, “Please just…make sure he’s ok.” Hao ran to a safe place, which led Hanbin to let out a sigh of relief.

Hanbin then turned and saw the army of monsters behind him, looking ready for an attack. Hanbin gripped his sword tightly and pointed it up at the army. “Don’t you dare touch him again.”

------

When Hanbin gets to the ground level, he looks around. There were people, lying on the ground. They didn’t seem to be hurt, but rather sleeping. He goes out on the street and tries to find his teammates. “Over here!” He hears someone say. He turns and sees Ricky and Gunwook standing together. Hanbin runs to the pair and asks, “What’s going on? Why are they all sleeping?”

“It’s the smoke,” Gunwook says. “They’re all asleep because of something in the smoke.”

“We found devices all over the area. There were Parashades but we fought them off. They looked like they were collecting the people,” Ricky says.

“Why would they want them?”

“Look carefully at them,” Gunwook replies.

Hanbin tilts his head in confusion, but looks around anyway. Upon closer inspection, he realizes what Gunwook means. There were some on the ground moving, shivering somewhat while also sweating. “They’re all having nightmares.”

“We think the Venosect want to collect their fear,” Ricky says.

Hanbin nods and says, “Use the Zords and get everyone who was affected to the hospital. Where are Jiwoong and Matthew?”

“They’re across town, dealing with the same thing.”

Hanbin turns to Gunwook and says, “Then Ricky can get the people in this area to the hospital and you can go help the people in Jiwoong and Matthew’s area.” He then pressed a button on his watch and says, “Taerae, are you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Taerae replies on the other side.

“Can you patch through all the screens in the city?”

“What do you want me to send?”

“Tell people in the city to stay inside and, if possible, go to elevated areas. If they see smoke, do not touch or inhale it, and try to seal off all windows and doors for the time being.”

“On it,” Taerae replies. “Matthew already sent me an energy reading on one of the devices too. I should be able to send you a scan of the city soon so you can take out all the devices.”

“Hanbin! We got more company,” Ricky says, making Hanbin turn around and see more of the Parashades.

“Go, I’ll take care of it for now.” Gunwook and Ricky nod as they teleport to their zords and Hanbin holds up his sword to the gathering Parashades. He looks up at the window attached to Hao’s apartment, and looks back down at the crowd. “I’ll protect you.”

------

Once the fighting was over, Hanbin quickly took off his armor and checked his messages. He saw several messages from Hao, mostly telling him to call Hao to let him know he’s safe. He then saw the address that Hao sent him, and decided to run there since it wasn’t too far from his current location. It was another café: once close enough to the one they were supposed to meet at, but far enough away that attacked there. When he got to the café, he saw a group of people, presumably from where he had just left, who were trying to calm down after running for their lives. He looked around more and noticed Hao in the corner, pacing as his phone lay flat on the table. When Hao noticed he was there, he immediately ran to Hanbin and wrapped his arms around him. “Thank god you’re alright.”

“Yeah, the rangers saved me,” Hanbin replied, hugging Hao back. “I’m glad you’re ok, too.”

“The red ranger saved me,” Hao said, giving himself some distance from Hanbin to look at him. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if something happened to you because…”

“Because?”

Hao took a deep breath and said, “Because if something did happen to you, and I didn’t get a chance to tell you the I love you, then I don’t think I would’ve forgiven myself.”

Hanbin’s eyes widened. “You…love me?”

“I was going to tell you today on our date. I had a plan and everything but all this happened and-“

Suddenly Hao felt Hanbin’s lips on his. When they separated, Hanbin still felt the lingering feeling of the sweet, yet short kiss. “I love you, too. And I’m so grateful the red ranger was able to save you.”

“Me too. Now, come on. Let’s go back to my apartment and spend the day together, alright? I had other stuff planned but…I think we’ve had a pretty eventful day as it is.”

Hanbin nodded, and they both walk hand in hand out of the café. He felt both relief and fear: relief that Hao was ok and that Hao had told him he loved him, but immense fear that his other life would take away the happiness in his hands.

------

“The last one is gone. It looks like they’re not coming back,” Hanbin says through the communication device.

“Everyone who’s asleep is at the hospital. We got a sample of the smoke and we’re gonna go back to the base and try to look for something to reverse this,” Ricky said.

“Everything’s taken care of on this side, too,” Jiwoong responds from the communication device.

“Great. We can call it a night for right now and get back to this in the morning,” Hanbin says.

“We’ll just put everything in the base for now. Are you gonna come with us?” Gunwook asks.

Hanbin shakes his head. “I’ll meet you guys at the base tomorrow when I can.”

Ricky and Gunwook nods in acknowledgement and teleport out of the area. Hanbin sighs and presses the same teleport device to arrive in Hao’s Apartment, where Hao was nervously pacing back and forth. When Hao sees Hanbin, he smiles. “This is the first time I’m seeing you like this.”

“Couldn’t really take this off out there,” Hanbin says. “Too much open space.”

“It’s just us now. Can I see your face first before we talk?”

Hanbin nods and says, “Power down.” The familiar weight of the armor is lifted from him, and he’s back to the clothes he had on when he first came to Hao’s apartment. He walks closer to Hao, looks at him and says, “How long have you known?”

“Since that day you saved me.”

“How?”

“Well, I don’t think rangers usually wrap their arms around a strangers waist once they’ve saved them,” Hao says, smiling. “And also your voice.”

“Is my voice that recognizable?”

“Probably not to most people. But unfortunately, you have a boyfriend who has a lot of music experience and ear training, and is also madly in love with you.”

Hanbin chuckles. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because if you didn’t tell me then it wasn’t something for me to know,” Hao replies. “But that doesn’t stop me from worrying about you whenever I see you fighting on the street or showing up late for our dates.”

Hanbin looks down, not being able to make eye contact with Hao. “It was really hard to keep it from you. I was debating about telling you at first but then there was something with Taerae and we all thought it was best to keep it a secret for everyones safety.”

“What happened to Taerae?”

“He got kidnapped by Venosects because he was seen with the rangers. They wanted information about where our base was and who we were and they tortured him for it. Matthew still blames himself for it.”

Hao looks at him with sad eyes. He makes an ever so gentle touch to Hanbin's chin, making Hanbin look directly at him. “When did this happen?”

“’That time I called you at 3 am,” Hanbin replies. “I needed to hear your voice.”

“To be honest, I couldn’t sleep that night,” Hao confesses. “I knew there was an attack and I needed to know that you were alright. I didn’t know Taerae got hurt.”

“It was a lot for us, but especially Matthew.”

Hao sighs and pulls Hanbin for a hug. “Thank you for trying to protect me.”

Hanbin hugs back, saying, “I’d do anything to keep you from getting hurt.” They stood there, in comfortable silence, embracing each other. It felt like for the first time, Hanbin could breathe, and all he wanted to do was take in Hao.

After a few minutes passed, they separated as Hao says, “Let’s go to the couch. You can tell me anything you want.”

So Hanbin does. He tells Hao about how he got the powers; about all the monsters he’s fought; about the base and the team; and most importantly, about how he fights for him. Hao listens carefully, taking in every word that Hanbin shares. “That’s a lot of responsibility to carry, Hanbin.”

“But I don’t regret it,” Hanbin says. “The only thing that I do regret is holding back from us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to live my life with you, but I didn’t think I could, so I settled for small dates here and there but…I want to live my life with you right next to me. We’ve been together for long enough that I want that and I thought I couldn’t have that but now…I can.”

Hao smiles. “It’s not entirely your fault. I was, and frankly still am, really busy with my own schedule. But we can make something work.”

“I love you,” Hanbin says, moving closer and closer to Hao.

“I love you, too,” Hao whispers. “My sweet hero, you’re the love of my life.”

Hanbin smiles into a kiss with Hao. It was slow, tender, and had the weight of all the emotions they had been holding back. For the first time in a long time Hanbin felt like all the pieces were fitting together: his life, his ranger duties, and his relationship. Thought he worries about protecting Hao now more than ever, he knows that he could do it. Everything finally felt…right, and the scale of his life finally felt balanced.

------

Epilogue

“So let me get this straight,” Ricky says, with the rest of the rangers and Taerae staring at Hanbin at the edge of the table. “Hao knows?”

“Yup.”

“And…he knows about the rest of us?” Jiwoong asks.

“Apparently.”

“What if monsters attack him?” Matthew asks, looking at Taerae.

“He says he’s going to keep his distance when we’re in ranger form. That way they don’t know he has a connection to us and he’ll be safe.”

“And all of this happened last night?”

Hanbin clears his throat. “Among other things, yes.”

“Ok!” Taerae interjects. “Hanbin, I’m happy for you that you got your shit figured out, but can we please discuss this later when half the city is not asleep in hospitals?”

Hanbin chuckles and nods, agreeing with Taerae’s statement. As he discusses with his team about their plan, he can’t help but smile. The weight of his responsibilties, from his students to the protection of the world, doesn’t feel so heavy anymore.