Chapter Text
If one would ask Minho how he would describe himself – and if he was in the mood to be honest – he would say: indifferent to most things.
Don’t get him wrong, there were many… alright, some things he liked. Like his cats, the apple of his eyes, his babies, the three most noble creatures that this earth had ever been blessed with. Also, cooking a meal was pretty enjoyable, especially if he could surprise his little brother Felix with it after those long study sessions of his. Also his teammates were alright, he guessed. And his childhood friend was bearable, but if someone ever told any of them that, he would lie and deny all those things until his deathbed or something.
And money. Money was also the only other motivator in most cases were Minho decided to do something or surround himself with things he found… not even close to pleasurable.
Though, they were enough things he tolerated. Humans for example, most of them couldn’t be describe as anything else but barely tolerateable. Or pollen, especially since all the blooming trees and vines surrounding him made him want to sneeze his lungs out and tear up like the niagara falls. His nose was itching terribly because he wasn’t up to date with his anti-allergy shots since… fun fact, those trees and plants shouldn’t be in bloom right now, but whatever. So, while Minho didn’t particularly like pollen, he was mature enough to ignore them while getting more irritated by the minute.
Because what was the biggest thorn in his side could be the two main adversaries of any superhero out there, just trying to live their life and do their job.
The first one, of course, were the villains. Whether they were super or normal - that didn't make any difference.
There was only one other kind of human that was more hypocritical and ruthless than those, because there, under all those so called morals and bla, only hypocrisy could be found. Madam Nature for example called herself a protector of well, nature, flora and all that shit, but the villainess seemed to be more eager on being an eco-terrorist and spreading her terror than to keep the natural order intact.
Like attacking the city with a special kind of pollen in the middle of august.
Which was a summer month.
So, yeah, which was why he was currently not happy, standing guard over the victims that he and the rest of his team had liberated from the villainess' clutches. It wasn't like he had to do much, just stare at the destroyed pavement and the damaged houses while his colleagues did their thing, so they could all go home soon. Alright, maybe Minho was supposed to stand guard in case any other villain decided to use the opportunity, but... hopefully they would not. His head was already hurting from using his gift too much and he didn't think that Madam Nature's victims would appreciate it much either. They all looked more than a little… wooden and… yeah. Someone from the Levanter Hero Association would have a cure for that.
Probably.
If not, they should consider an acting carrier or something. Maybe Pinocchio needed another remake or something. Or as a character in a horror film, they wouldn't even need the make-up.
Right. Minho shouldn't voice any of those thoughts out loud. They wouldn't be received well.
Heck, he was just lucky that nobody could see through his full-face mask. A fact that had saved him probably from more than one scolding, mind you.
So, back to what he was currently doing. Standing guard - aka looking around uselessly - until someone more useful would arrive, while his teammates were out of order. Jincasso was currently making those air filters that would help the victims of the villainess breathe more easily. Dwaekki was helping the men from the fire department putting the heaviest of those trees and vines away. And CB was busy entertaining those… people that called themselves the Levanter News Station.
Reporters.
Or royal vultures, the whole lot of them.
Always nosy, always asking him questions they didn’t even want honest answers to because they wouldn’t be shocking enough, always invading the privacy of every one they decided interesting enough and… he could go on for quite some time, if he said so himself. Especially since he could hear the screamed questions his leader was currently answering even over here and… one would think it was a class of kindergarten kids all vying for the attention of their favorite teacher with how those reporters were behaving.
To put it mildly, the superhero didn’t like the press and no, he didn’t differ between the news reports or the ones in charge of the written articles.
And since the big heads that were in charge of the Maxident Hero Association had given him the 10th place in the Topline, they had gotten even worse.
Yeah, he was talented and knew how to use his gift.
Hipp hipp hooray! What a surprise! It hadn't been like that before, clearly. Minho had just been fumbling his way through the whole time, obviously...
Meaning somehow that little fact - that he had gone from one of many to being one of the top 10 of the country - meant that every time he stepped out while in costume, everybody had gotten the idea that he wanted to talk about how he had achieved such a major milestone.
Ha.
As if Minho cared much about that. Especially since that hadn’t even included a raise. Bugger. And people wondered why Minho called his higher-ups stingy money hoarders. But no, instead of a raise, he would get a key to the city at some police ball or something in a few days or weeks - which wohoo.
A key.
Clearly, the hero needed that, like that was the thing he was desperately missing in his life.
The only one who seemed to really care was Hyunjin, but that just stemmed from the fact that while Minho, Changbin and Bang Chan each had a place on that ranking, their youngest teammate hadn’t yet. And when Minho had said that he would love to give his position to the other, Hyunjin had thrown a hissy fit, completely affronted and everything. Like... alright.
Ungrateful ferret.
So while Minho couldn’t stand super and normal villains, he hated the reporters with a passion that was rivaled by few. Which was also why his leader – and every other hero he had ever worked together with – gave him literal any other task than talking to the press. Especially now since he literally had even less patience for them than usual.
See, that was why he would state that he liked his colleagues most of the time. They had acquired intelligence over the years.
“Excuse me?”
Something that couldn’t be said about that particular human being that for some unfathomable reason had decided to talk to him. Gritting his teeth, Minho turned around to tell him to mind his own business and maybe bother someone else. Of course, if the other needed actual help, he would maybe point him in Jincasso’s direction. Hyunjin actually, genuinely liked helping humans and there was a higher chance that he actually could so…
Turning around, Minho couldn’t help but freeze. Because... in any other situation, on any other occasion the hero would have been quite stunned with how cute the person in front of him was. Like it shouldn’t be possible for a grown man to be this adorable with glasses, a too big sweater, round eyes and absolutely squishy cheeks!
But it was.
Bom, digi-digi-bom, bom, bom, bom. There went his cool.
So if he hadn’t been donning his hero persona, he would have tried to flirt with him. Even though he had a major migraine, but… that was nothing new. He always got that when he used his gift for too long and it hadn’t been like Madam Nature had been considerate of the aftermath she left behind. Or the people she had been fighting. Or... yes.
So yeah, despite everything, that guy before was clearly Minho’s type. Definitely.
At least, that was until Minho saw the press card hanging around the others neck.
Fuck. No!
The hero could literally feel how his mood – slightly bettered by the appearance of that adorable stranger – plummeted.
Hard.
Even if that slightly nervous smile was possibly blinding, no. Just no. There was no way a single press person would get anything out of him, ever. No matter how they looked. And now that he thought about it, it was an affront, an insult uttered by the very universe that a person looking like this was with the press.
So Minho just scowled at him. “Look kid –“ Probably not a kid, but it made him seem even more nonchalant than he was and as Irino he wasn’t known for his pleasurable character, so whatever. Like the hero had stated before – his dislike for certain people was quite famous. “I don’t know what they tried to bribe you with, but I don’t talk to interns either. So… shoo.”
Han Jisung, or at least that was the name that was written on the press card, looked slightly stunned. Like… he hadn’t anticipated that reaction. Meaning – it really was a newbie intern. Great. If he made the kid cry, he would literally claim no responsibility what so ever. After all, that guy's superiors clearly should have warned him beforehand.
Also, those rapid blinks shouldn’t be that cute. And Minho was more than happy again that his hero persona wore a full face mask and that headphones were covering his ears. That meant that the other wouldn’t see how a blush slowly spread all over his face and other stuff.
Ugh. How eloquent.
Right, he was much too exhausted to deal with this. Hopefully they would be done soon, so he could crash into his couch at home.
“Nobody tried to bribe me or anything. I came because I wanted to ask you a question?” Now that sounded more like a question than anything else he had ever heard. And that was how it always started. One question. And that one question led to another.
And another.
And another.
Until a crazy mob was screaming at him and – he just really wasn’t in the mood right now. So that cute squirrel guy was going to be severely disappointed because his “Hell no.” was too polite for that.
Which made the blinks start up again. And Minho had to give it to him, Han Jisung didn’t look too affronted at his tone. Or his words. He seemed more confused, as if it was unfathomable to him that a hero would deny him something he wanted. He even started scratching his head.
“But…?” – “No buts.” Like, it shouldn’t be that hard to understand that Minho literally didn’t want to be bothered, should it? Especially since a few of the civilians - who looked more wooden than they had a few minutes ago which was not good - had started to notice. Poor buggers were probably looking for some kind of distraction, not that he could blame them much. Out of the corners of his eye, he could also see how Jincasso had started to notice that someone had walked up to Minho. A fact that was probably alarming to Hyunjin since he and Chan were the ones most concerned about their public image. Changbin usually just cackled, while I.N - as their manager - just went straight to how he could fix the mess Minho had gotten himself into. Well, just because Minho decided to work as a hero and to keep people safe, didn't mean that they were entitled to his attention, his time or anything.
So, he decided to make the whole exchange as painless at it could possible be at this moment. After all, Minho was Irino, the hero with the heart made out of ice. While that wasn't quite true, sometimes that misconception was slightly helpful. Like right now.
Also, his head was slowly starting to kill him, throbbing and making everything even worse.
Turning around – and ignoring the adorable nuisance for a moment – he called out in Jincasso’s direction about how he would go back and rest in the emergency vehicle they had come in. Because seriously? There was no way in hell another villain would attack, since they didn't want to risk into turning a living, breathing piece of wood. Only hero's were self-sacrificing like that.
Hyunjin just nodded at him and with that Minho decided to get back to one Han Jisung. Who was looking at him like he couldn’t make a lick of sense of the situation. Fantastic.
“As you can see, there will be no questions answered any time soon, kid. No little behind the scenes interviews, no pressuring me about anything I’ve said or what I don’t want to disclose just like a hundred times before and if you even dare to utter one word about my new rank in that wonderful ranking system, I will literally tear my own eyes out of my head and feed it to the next passerby, are we clear?” Maybe that would actually help with the blinding pain that was getting worse the more worked up he got.
Great. Sometimes he really hated that stupid 3R4CH4-gene, his gift and all the problems that came along with it. And as a child he had believed that as well, since there were all those comics about hero’s and their amazing deeds and…
Then he had grown up. And nobody had prepared him that his gift came with some major drawbacks and – great, now he sounded like Hyunjin, that dramatic ferret.
“Wait, I…!” And his voice got a little higher, a little breathier which – no, he wasn’t thinking even more about how that was cute as well.
Huh. Maybe that was a scheme by that Kim-brat. It was just like him and – great. Now Minho was starting to get paranoid and – no, nothing else. He needed rest. Clearly.
Muttering a quick and maybe very snarky “Goodbye and see you whenever.” the hero took some big strides toward the emergency vehicle he had previously been talking about. Luckily, that squirrel of a reporter decided not to follow him, which was a huge blessing to him.
Lying down on the backseat, Minho closed his eyes, willing the migraines to go away and his nose to stop itching. Without further thought, he pulled his mask and headphones off, letting the sweat-soaked strands of hair fall onto his face. Oh, and they were dirty as well, possibly saturated with those pollen, which irritated his nose even more. Fantastic.
Minho really would need a trim soon, no matter how much his and his group’s fans claimed that he looked even more like royalty with longer hair and how much it suited him. Gave him the whole charming and mysterious look or whatever. And if the fans didn’t have something to say about it, then the stylists at the agency would surely have. Meaning that even more people were feeling entitled to things they didn’t really own but…
This was so not his day. Being exhausted was one thing, having his allergies triggered another, but he had a shift later. And while the hero loved his part-time job at the cat-café, it wouldn’t be that pleasurable if he didn’t get better soon. Also, the down-ward spiral his thoughts were currently taking was not helping matters either.
Maybe Minho could text Saebom or his brother if they could take over the shift for him. Hell, he couldn’t even remember the last time he had gotten a whole day or even an evening off. Because if he wasn’t working at the café, there was a villain attacking. If the hero wasn’t busy fighting off a villain hell bent on changing something or the other by force, he was training. If he wasn’t training, his brother claimed his attention. And sometimes, just sometimes, he had time to go out to a restaurant to spend time with his childhood friend. But if he wasn't doing that, the hero was at the cat café.
Right. An evening just to himself sounded like heaven right now. Before Minho worked himself down to the bone or something. The last time he had done that, he had scared his brother half to death and he had gotten benched for more than a week.
Yeah. Not an experience he wanted a repeat of anytime soon.
Plus, it wasn’t like Hoseok would fire him, especially since his boss was one of the few handful of people who knew of his double life. But… at the same time… him and Felix, they kind of needed that extra money, so…
Ugh. Why was being an adult so hard? And why didn’t it come with a manual? Would make that whole shit a lot easier.
While contemplating his life choices, Minho almost missed the door of the car opening. But what the hero definitely realized was that someone laid an icepack on his forehead. And if he let out a moan of relief, that was no one’s business than his own.
And Hyunjin’s, since he could almost hear the other laughing. Right. It was high time that that ferret was fed some tissues again. He was getting much too comfortable recently, losing all that respect he had had for Minho in the beginning.
“You know, you could have always told me or the others that the side effects from your telekinesis were bothering you so much. We would have let you slip out at a much earlier point if you had.” Right, there was decidedly no empathy and too much amusement in his voice.
So, blindly and only pointing in the vague direction his colleagues voice had come from, Minho snarked. “Don’t make me pin you to the wall until they mistake you for one of your stupid art pieces.” Like, it wasn’t even fair that Hyunjin got no side effects from his gift. Granted, if he didn’t have his materials, he couldn’t materialize his drawings but still.
Unfair.
The whole universe was just unfair.
And against him, had he mentioned that already?
But at least his migraine was receding, thanks to whatever deity was out there. At voicing that thought out loud – because that was as much of a thank you Hyunjin would get – the other hero let out a snort. “Well, in that case, that deity would be called Han Jisung.”
Wait, what?
That came as such a surprise that Minho lifted the icepack to glare at Jincasso. The other had to be pulling his leg, there was simply no way that someone from the press would do something nice.
But going from the utter glee painted all over the others face, it was probably true. “You know, after you probably insulted him and stalked off in one of your prissy fits, he came over to me and told me that you were probably feeling terribly under the weather and that maybe I should look after you. So I talked to I.N about how he should tell CB to end the press conference soon, so we can all go home.”
Frick. Just how out of it had he been that someone Minho had never met before had realized that he wasn’t feeling good? And what kind of idiot continued to be nice to him after the hero had been so rude to him?
That was just stupid, like what the hell?
Great. Now he was feeling like an asshole. Awesome, just what he had needed.
“And you know, he looked awfully like your type. Cute face, glasses, smaller than you, definitely not gifted and male.” Right, if Hyunjin really didn’t shut up right now, Minho would do something he would possible regret. Because maybe he had just messed up more than a bit, but…
The guy was part of the press. There was no bigger red flag than that so…
So, when the prattling of the other got too much, Minho let out another growl. “Jincasso. Air fryer, 200 degrees, and no I’m not kidding.” Hyunjin just let out a loud eep, before laughing and closing the door again. But not before whispering: “Just wait until I tell Felix, he’ll have a field day with this!” Then he was gone again and Minho couldn’t keep the groan at bay, pressing the icepack against his forehead again. Just what had he done to deserve this? What kind of karma had he accumulated to be punished like that? Because if the other tattled onto his brother – and Chan, that gossip queen couldn’t keep something to himself to save his life – he would get nagged. And people would claim they were disappointed in him.
Ugh. Disgusting.
Maybe Minho would just promise to apologize the next time he saw the guy. Which hopefully, would take months. After all, how bad could his luck be? Running into that adorable looking guy sooner than later should be pretty unlikely since this was a big city and there were more reporters than he could count - and stand on a good day. Right. The odds should be in his favor.
Surely.