Chapter Text
Soobin tightened the hold on his camera and continued walking down the dark street. He had gotten carried away. When he saw the social media update that Aster was kicking some bad guy ass on the other side of the city, he had run straight from campus to make sure he got some good shots.
Turns out that had been a mistake.
It seems he forgot that multiple subway stops had been closed for reparations after last week’s events. On a normal day, he would have been able to hop on a train just a few blocks away from the park and then be dropped off right around his student neighborhood. It still would’ve been a little unsafe, but if anything happened he could just scream at the top of his lungs and at least one person would have the decency to check what’s going on and maybe call the cops.
But that wasn’t the case, so now he was stuck walking back the full distance to campus where, hopefully, he’d still be able to catch the last train. As Soobin crossed the street, he cursed himself inwardly. He should’ve remembered that the park’s subway stop had quite literally been wrecked, seeing as he had been there to witness it. Gylfox had fought there last week. A big, violent and nasty fight that had allowed Soobin to treat Kai to dinner and buy this month’s groceries on his own (yeah, the pics were that good).
Gylfox had found himself face to face against some weird reptile hybrid and a crazy guy that walked around with a katana. The fight against katana-man was over fairly quickly. Soobin had seen Gylfox fight multiple times before, and he was convinced no human (and maybe even super-human) could ever beat him in a one-on one fight. As a superhero photographer, Soobin was used to this scene and was familiar with many, many different fighting styles. There were even times when he was able to predict the hero’s and foe’s next moves, having seen them fight similarly several times before.
But that was never the case with Gylfox. To him, Gylfox was a mystery. He always fought with his signature bo staff, and it always looked graceful. Almost like he was dancing. Whenever he found an opening, Soobin would bet he would just take the hit, but instead he would fake taking a hit, making his opponent flinch. He’d use that to his advantage to instantly circle around them and effectively take them out. And just when Soobin thought he had figured him out, he would sometimes take the hit, putting too much force into it and making his enemy crumble to the ground almost immediately. Things would usually end briefly after that. And Soobin could never predict him. He would almost always end the fight before Soobin could even take his camera out. And, despite wearing a mask, Soobin could swear he always looked smug about it. As if we were laughing not only at his now defeated enemy but also at Soobin’s lack of pictures.
So yeah, maybe Gylfox wasn’t Soobin’s favorite superhero.
Although, in theory, Gylfox wasn’t a superhero. There were a few superheroes in the city, all government regulated and only called on duty if the police seemed fit. Gylfox was a vigilante. Vigilantes had no one to answer to and took serving justice into their own hands. Strangely enough, they were more popular than superheroes. Not strangely enough, Gylfox seemed to be the city’s most popular vigilante.
Still, whether Gylfox was on Soobin’s nice list or not was irrelevant. No matter how many times he missed his picture, it didn’t mean he’d ever wish for what happened last week to ever happen again. After katana-man was down Gylfox had tried to go after the reptile hybrid, but he was nowhere to be found. Out of the corner of Soobin’s eyes, he had seen one of the station’s benches be thrown forward, almost as if aiming for Gylfox. It did not hit him. Trying to hit Gylfox with such a large object was almost laughable, his foxlike agility got him out of harm’s way most of the time, and if that wasn’t enough, he also had his bo staff and beyond-human strength to deflect almost any object thrown at him.
But this time Gylfox had not been the target. No, the target was the large ceiling lamps hanging over him and at least three other citizens. Gylfox had been quick on action, leaping danger’s way without even a hint of hesitation. People around him had started to scream, it wasn’t often that fights lasted long enough for the bad guys to start trying to harm innocent people. But before he even knew Gylfox was already there. Or more like over him. He had leaped toward the falling ceiling lights, jumping over six feet high and effectively redirecting them towards an empty spot. Soobin moved immediately out of the way, staying away from the fight zone but not far enough that he was huddling in a corner with the rest of the citizens.
With shaking hands from almost falling victim to a very possible concussion and some other head trauma, Soobin pulled his camera out and began to work. When he caught sight of Gylfox again he felt himself grimace. The top of his suit was now scattered with little cuts, mostly around his right shoulder. He was also sporting a large wound that started at his hip and went down almost all the way to his knee, slashing through the fleshy part of his thigh. He probably landed on top of all the broken shards, Soobin thought. Still, if it wasn’t because his physical appearance was so tattered, you wouldn’t be able to tell that Gylfox was hurt just based on his attitude. He was walking around just fine, as if his left thigh wasn’t profusely bleeding, and he still exuded his trademark aura. It was unpredictable, full of mystery and sanguinary. It was predatory. If Soobin ever found himself on the other side of that stare, he’d freeze in fear. He was sure of it.
But the reptile hybrid didn’t seem to be all that scared. During the frenzy after the reptile hybrid had decided to target citizens, everyone had scattered as soon as possible, desperate to get out of harm's way. Out of panic, many people had dropped their bags, contents spilling out freely. That would explain how the reptile hybrid now had a lighter in his hands and was holding it right by his mouth. And not even a second later big, scorching flames were coming right out of his mouth, pointed directly at Gylfox. He was quick to get out of the way, but he’d be running out of options soon. He was trapped between the citizens and the train tracks. For obvious reasons, he couldn’t approach the citizen’s side of the station, and taking the fight to the tracks was too risky for him. He had to end it here.
In the instant the reptile hybrid stopped to inhale and continue his flamethrower attack, Gylfox took his chance. He twirled while dropping to the ground, putting enough force on his staff that a hit from it should’ve sent the average person flying. But it wasn’t strong enough to send the reptile hybrid flying. However, it was strong enough that a resounding crack was heard, the reptile letting out a roaring sound and dropping the lighter to double down in pain. He had broken his ankle. Now, Gylfox’s bad guy fighting routine would usually end with him knocking out the foe with a swift but powerful hit to the neck. But as he approached and let down his final strike nothing seemed to happen to the reptile hybrid. Maybe his skin was too thick, or his anatomy just was way different than expected, but the moment Gylfox’s staff touched the reptile’s neck it bounced off with just as much strength as Gylfox had put into the hit.
Shocked by the outcome of what was supposed to be his final hit, Gylfox didn’t notice the reptile hybrid was no longer preoccupied with his ankle, and instead was looking at him with rage evident in his eyes. Before he could react, the reptile grabbed him by the leg, digging his claws into the wound in his thigh. While Gylfox screamed in pain, the reptile hybrid fully stood up and used his other hand to grab at Gylfox’s ankle. Using his leg as leverage, the reptile threw him to the other side of the station, directly where the closet that the cleaning staff used to safekeep its equipment was. He broke the door on impact.
Everything went silent. People were no longer sure Gylfox would get up this time. But Soobin knew better. He focused his camera and got ready to shoot the pics that would keep him and Kai living more than comfortably for at least a few weeks. Some clattering was heard, and then Gylfox was seen again, standing right by the door. This time he looked worse than before. One of the horns of his mask had broken off, and a patch of hair wet with blood was visible through a tear near the top of the mask. His thigh wound was the worst though, his leg's fabric darkened almost entirely by the exceeding bleeding. Soobin wasn’t sure how he hadn’t passed out yet.
But he smiled, right there in his right hand he was no longer holding his staff, but a short sword. Soobin had only had the privilege to see him fight with that short sword once before. It was much different than his usual fighting style. While his bo staff held grace and determination, the short sword was pure bloodshed. As soon as Gylfox made himself visible Soobin made sure to snap as many pictures as possible, it wasn’t often he showed himself wielding his short sword (most people didn’t even know he used one). Besides, the rest of the fight would be either too fast to capture or too grotesque to sell. His moment was now.
Gylfox sped towards the hybrid, catching him off guard with his speed. He did not expect him to recover so fast. With one quick slash to the side, he had the reptile scrambling in pain, the sting of the sword was no joke. In its aching haze, the creature was not able to notice that Gylfox was now standing on his other side, the one he had left unguarded. With a quick dash, Gylfox stabbed his short sword right through the reptile’s eye. It let out a brutal growl, hands immediately trying to stop the bleeding. The station's floor started to slightly shake, announcing the next train's arrival.
Too busy dwelling on its pain, the creature failed to notice what was coming. With the most strength Soobin had ever seen him use, Gylfox kicked the hybrid right into the trains path, effectively taking it with him to the next station. Gylfox retrieved his staff, he bowed to the citizens as if they had been the audience to his most incredible act and hopped on the back of the train at the very last second.
That was the last time he had seen Gylfox.
He later found out on social media that the fight had continued through three more stations (because apparently a full-speed train wasn’t enough to finish off the reptile hybrid). All the other stations were left equally damaged, whether it was broken tracks, holes in the wall, or almost being burnt to pieces. It would take at least a few weeks to have them all repaired.
Which led Soobin to his current predicament.
Sure, he had gotten a very generous amount in exchange for his Gylfox photos, but that didn’t mean he was going to let himself slouch because of it. If anything, he needed to start working harder to really break his way through the journalist world. So, when the opportunity to photograph more vigilantes came up, he just couldn’t stay away. But of course, it had to be Aster. The guy was fine, Soobin had never met him, but at least all his fans agreed he was very nice and funny.
The problem was his fucking superpower. Because, why the hell was he able to shoot light beams and fireballs through his fists? Sure, his technique was still wonky, and he had to go almost everywhere with a fire extinguisher in case he started an accidental fire. But at the very least the average criminal was very intimidated by the notion of getting burnt to the crisp, so they would usually flee the scene after even just a sighting of him.
Which led to very, very boring fights. So, at the end of the day maybe his pictures didn’t sell that well, because if they wanted pictures of men just standing in spandex they could just attend the next Comic-Con. The goal, however, was being able to take a picture of him in action. He had only seen him use his powers in real life on one occasion before, and it was to light up a little girl’s birthday cake (he almost burnt down the entire picnic table). But when Soobin had tried to take that picture of him using his powers the photos did not come out right. You could barely see the silhouettes of the people in the picture, and all that was visible was just a big flare that started forming where Aster’s fist should be.
So that was his next goal.
He got a picture of Gylfox with his short sword, so now the least he could do was capture Aster in all of his glory. The sun was already going down when he read the posts about Aster fighting some weird slime monsters near the park. But what he didn’t know was that those annoying slime monsters were sneaky. Sneaky enough that they were able to climb up buildings from the outside. By the time he got there, the slimes were already around five stories up high. What he did not expect, however, was to see Aster flying close by the slimes. His initial reaction was to freak out. Nobody knew Aster could fly! If he managed to snatch a good picture, he’d truly be making progress in his journaling career.
Soon enough it became clear to him why Aster didn’t really fly. He was not good at it. In the slightest. It was like seeing a baby deer trying to take its first steps. But instead of a baby dear it was a man on spandex and instead of first steps it was trying to rotate himself towards the slimes with very exaggerated arm motions. But still, Soobin had to get the photo, so he got to work. He angled his camera at the same time as Aster managed to finally face the monsters.
Soobin didn’t succeed.
The moment the slimes were in Asters field of vision he started to shoot out light beams and fire balls trying to hit them. Soobin couldn’t help but sigh in frustration, he wouldn’t be able to get a clear shot now that Aster had started his fireworks show. But at least he’d get to practice with the right settings on his camera to try and capture Aster’s powers. He kept firing at the slimes, if Soobin wasn’t aware of his inexpertise he would have thought he was firing at random. Aster was lucky they were in the old side of town and most of the buildings were built sturdy and of stone, otherwise he would have already caused at least five different fires. In the end, at least Soobin found out Aster was way easier to photograph during nighttime.
But now it was late. It was late and the subway stop he needed had been wrecked a week ago. So now he was walking alone in the dark. With his expensive camera in his hands and laptop and tablet stuffed in his bag. He didn’t want to show it, but he did feel a little weary. Just to be safe, he took the SD card out of the camera and put it in the tiny pocket of his jeans that any mugger wouldn’t bother to check (hopefully). He kept walking trying to keep a confident stride. He was over six feet tall, and even if when it came to it he wasn’t all that well versed in self-defense he hoped others would at least feel intimidated by his height and leave him alone.
All his hopes were shattered as he took his next turn. There in the middle of the street stood three men, two held baseball bats and the third one was unarmed but he was scarily tall and muscular. He made a U-turn as fast as possible, praying that the men hadn’t seen him and he could continue his way home. But clearly Soobin wasn’t that lucky, because it was only a matter of time until he started hearing footsteps behind him. Before he could make the decision to start running, he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder.
“What’s the rush, honey? Running late somewhere?”
Soobin felt his whole body tense immediately.
“Gentlemen, goodnight,” he says through gritted teeth. He forces himself to smile and turns around to look at the men surrounding him. The guy that had his hand on his shoulder has switched his grip to his arm. Soobin tries to not look at him in the eyes. “It’s a little late to go out to practice, don’t you think?” he flashes a smile while saying this, nodding his head in the direction of the baseball bats.
The man grabbing his arm lets go, but Soobin’s relief is short-lived as that very same hand finds itself in his hair a few seconds later. He pulls on it, making Soobin crouch a little to be eye-to-eye with the man.
“And it’s a little late for brats with such expensive stuff to be out exploring, don’t you think?” the man practically spits into Soobin’s face, and Soobin must resist the urge to gag.
“Oh, this old thing?” Soobin says while gesturing at his camera. “Just school equipment. Bad one. But I’d get in trouble if I didn’t return it.”
The guy gives him an unimpressed look.
“Listen here kid–”
Before he can finish his sentence Soobin sees something move behind the particularly large guy. And before he can adjust his vision to see what it is the guy is already on the floor unconscious. The other two turn around instantly, even letting go of Soobin. But instead of running away, Soobin finds that he can’t get himself to move his legs. Gylfox is right in front of him.
“Seriously guys?” says a voice under the mask. It is a little deep, but it sounds mostly nonchalant. Soobin takes his time looking at his mask, at his whole body. Not that long ago he had seen him all bloody and broken, limping while launching himself into battle with a shattered suit. But now here he is, leaning on his bo staff with a suit that looks almost new and a body that had never been slashed and thrown around. “I understand targeting rich men and stuff but, this kid? Really? He probably has like five dollars and won’t even put up a fight for it.”
Which, okay– ouch . A few moments ago, Soobin was grateful that someone had come to his rescue, but if he had known they’d be so rude about it he might’ve even preferred to put up with the whole mugging thing. At least that made for an interesting story. This was just humiliating.
“Mind your own business, Gylfox,” one of the guys spat at him
“No can-do mister,” Gylfox said as he got himself into a fighting stance, “I’m kind of the face of justice around here, hope you can understand.”
Before any of them could even move Gylfox had already knocked down their bats. He grabbed one from the floor and used it to point at them. “Now, you can end up like your friend down here,” he said while tilting his head towards their unconscious friend, “or just get out of here and leave this kid alone,” he grabbed the bat with both hands and broke it in half as if it were nothing, “gotcha?”
The men started walking away with a scowl on their faces, but even when they were a few feet away Soobin could hear them cursing at him (and not Gylfox ! He was the one who pulled his little stunt on them for god’s sake).
“ Woah, ” Soobin chuckled while looking at Gylfox, “well, than–”
“You’re the kid who takes photos, aren’t you?”
What was this dude’s deal? First he humiliated him in front of his muggers, and now this?
“Look pal,” Soobin put his hands on the air, feigning innocence, “you sure call me a kid quite a lot for someone who is shorter than me, power trip much?”
“God,” Gylfox put his face in his hands. If Soobin concentrated enough, he could picture some scrunched up eyebrows underneath his mask, “I can tell why those guys wanted to mug you, you’re so annoying!”
“ Ha. Ha. Funny. ” Soobin replied humorlessly as he crossed his arms, “You tell that to every person you save?”
“No. Only to the ones that act like brats.”
Soobin’s jaw dropped.
“Look, I don’t have time for you, I have files to edit.” Soobin turned around ready to leave. He wished he had something to pack so he could stuff it dramatically into his bag, or a door to slam. He wanted Gylfox to know he was pissed.
“That’s right, your pictures.” Gylfox caught up to him, “I need you to stop taking them.”
Soobin made his best effort to stand up as straight as possible, he wanted to appear taller even when he knew he had at least one inch on the other guy, “Sorry, I don't let men who run around in tight clothes while fighting other men tell me what to do.”
“You know what, I’ll talk to you about this on a different occasion,” Gylfox was already walking in the opposite direction, “Right now I just need you to get home safe.”
“I will,” Soobin replied almost too quickly, “but because I want to, not because you told me to!” he had to yell the last part very loudly to make sure Gylfox heard him, he was already way past the corner of the street.
-
“Can you believe him? He was so rude Hueningie,” Soobin was recounting his encounter to his roommate as he washed their breakfast dishes. Last night, after getting home safe, he refused to talk to anyone else, so he had just beelined to take a shower and then went straight to bed. But now it was a new day, and he was ready to vent all his sorrows to Huening Kai.
“Want me to be honest hyung?” Kai asked while tying his shoelace by the entrance, “From an outsider’s point of view it just seems like both of you are equally annoying, congratulations! You finally found your bickering partner.”
Soobin glared at him, “You’re just as insufferable, Hueningie.”
They left the house together and made their way to campus. Once there, they parted ways. Soobin wasn’t particularly excited about his class. It was just an elective he needed to take to fill his credits, so he didn’t care much about it. What he did like though, was his project partner. Sure, he was absent a lot and in theory Soobin didn’t get to see him that much, but he always made sure to text! He’d ask Soobin about the class and ask what parts of the assignments he had to do and always, always pulled his weight. Also, those messages would often evolve into long texting sessions where they talked just about anything. Plus, he was cute. Sue him.
Soobin sat down at his usual table and took his laptop out of his bag. He was wondering if he would get to see his favorite project partner today.
A tap on his back answered his question.
“Hi, Soobinie.”
Soobin turned around with a smile on his face, “Hi, Yeonjun hyung!”