Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"living up to our name means that i'm supposed to save the world someday."

chan as will stronghold

often referred to as stronghold
age:  16

super ability : N/A

seungkwan as layla williams

age : 16

super ability : plant manipulation

vernon as magenta

age : 16

super ability : shapeshifting

dokyeom as ethan

age : 16

super ability : melting

mingyu as zach

age : 16

super ability : luminescence

minghao as ( original character )

age : 16

super ability : jumping

wonwoo as warren peace

age : 18

super ability : pyrokinesis

woozi as ( original character )

age : 19

super ability : teleportation

hoshi as lash

age : 19

super ability : elasticity

jun and joshua as penny

ages : 19

super abilities : cloning

jeonghan as gwen grayson

age : 19

super ability : technopathy

seungcheol as speed

age : 19

super ability : super speed

Chapter Text

in a world of superheroes, there are two that stand above the rest: The Commander and Jet Stream. The Commander has super strength that makes him indestructible, and Jet Stream has super sonic flight along with a total mastery of unarmed combat.

by day, they live as lee juwon and park jia, the head real estate couple of the city. but when duty calls, they're the Commander and Jet Stream. they're sometimes referred to as Stronghold, another moniker they use in front of the public.

lee chan has his own names for them – mom and dad.

it can be cool to have superhero parents. his mom once picked up this awesome pizza while she was saving a coastal town in italy from a giant mechanical spider.

on the other hand, living up to that name means that you're supposed to save the world someday.

chan takes a deep breath, calming his heart rate before he says, “here we go.” sitting back on the bench, staring nervously at the heavy weight on the bar directly above his head.

chan has one problem.

he nervously curled his fingers as he grabbed the bar, the heavy object coming down almost immediately as chan underestimated the actual weight. he huffed loudly, pumping his chest up and down. he couldn't even get the bar out of its placeholder.

“come on…” chan said quietly, in an attempt to encourage himself.

from downstairs, chan could hear his parents loudly speaking to each other. chan could only hear their muffled voices, but guessing from the obvious joy in their voices, they seemed to be talking about their day job: real estate.

chan hears the voice of his father calling for him. he soon hears the familiar pounding footsteps of his father clambering up the stairs. the closer the older man gets to the door, the more the younger boy begins to panic.

chan quickly stands up, grabbing a few of his heaviest weights and adding them on each side of the bar. he accidentally squishes his finger in between two of the weights in his haste, wincing as he silently cursed.

chan sat back down on the bench, quickly lying back and using all of his might and willpower to lift the bar for a few seconds. just long enough to trick his father.

just as chan feels the bar pressing down on his hands to the point of near exhaustion, he hears the door to his bedroom opening, revealing the friendly smile of his father. the young boy silently says a thank you to the universe.

chan grunts loudly, pulling the weight down just as his father says, "come on, buddy, let's get moving!"

chan abruptly cuts the man off, loudly groaning as he lifted the bar up and said, "two hundred!" resting the bar back in its place and sitting up.

he acted nonchalant as he was met with the enthusiastic face of his father. "oh, hey, dad. just... trying to get a few sets in before school." chan laughed lightly, trying to conceal how out of breath he was as he gently flexed his muscles. on the inside, his entire upper body was aching, but on the outside, he looked cool as ever. at least, he hoped he did.

chan's father chuckled as he stepped further into the room. "low weights, high rep, huh? good thinking. don't wanna bulk up."

chan laughed, almost breathless at that point. he plastered a smug smile on his face as he said, "nah. going more for definition."

his father took a few steps closer to chan, a small smile on his face as he says quietly, "big day, huh?"

before chan can answer, his father is already taking a seat on his messy bed, directly across from the weight bench. "chan, i just want you to know how proud i am that you'll be attending my alma mater, and someday, following me into the family business." his father said, a shimmer of pride in his eyes.

chan didn't want to let his father down.

chan instead opted to say, "real estate?" with a cheeky smile on his face.

his father chuckled. "right. real estate." the man said, giving his son a wink. the two exchanged knowing smiles. they knew what the older man meant.

chan's father scooted forward, leaning down to grab one of the heavy weights chan was struggling to lift five minutes ago, holding it like it weighed nothing. chan didn't blink an eye, fully aware of how strong his father was.

"on a more serious note, i know that every kid thinks his dad's invincible, and i nearly am, but who knows?" chan's father said, a solemn expression on his face as he twirled the weight in his hands. again, chan didn't blink an eye.

"maybe the next time i... punch a meteor hurtling toward earth..." the man sighed softly, looking off in the distance. "... i'll be the one who shatters into a million pieces."

the two sit in silence, just for a second, before his father continues, "i guess all i'm trying to say here, chan, is it's– nice to know that, whatever happens to me, you'll still be around to save the world." pointing at chan with the weight still in his hand.

chan gulps nervously, an awkward smile on his face as he nods silently in agreement. "looking forward to it." he said, nervously patting his sweaty hands on his jeans.

chan's father smiled. "we all are." he gave chan a soft tap on the thigh, standing up to leave the room. chan stands up as well, thankful that the you're expected to save the world talk was finally over.

chan's father turns around, remembering that the weight was in his hand. "oh!" he says offhandedly, tossing the weight to chan who caught it with a strained smile. the older man left without a second thought, probably thinking about eating breakfast.

chan grunted quietly, falling back onto his bed as he felt the weight dig into his torso. he did nothing as he felt his bed frame break from underneath him, giving way to the heavy weight abruptly tossed onto it.

from downstairs, chan's childhood friend walked into the house from the back door, being welcomed by the friendly smile of chan's mother. the two exchanged greetings as the boy, who we'll come to know as boo seungkwan, sat down at the breakfast table.

"i noticed you had some recyclables in the trash. i took the liberty of moving them for you." seungkwan said with a smile.

chan's mother thanked him, giving the young boy a sweet smile as she set an empty plate in front of the boy. "you hungry? i've got plenty of fried eggs, some bacon if you'd like...?

seungkwan shook his head softly. "no, thanks." he looked at the older woman as he said, "you know how my mom can communicate with animals? apparently, they don't like being eaten." he shrugged.

jia stared at the young boy, awkwardly walking off towards the fridge as she asked, "how about some juice?" sighing silently as she heard seungkwan's quiet agreement.

juwon walked back into the kitchen, quietly telling his wife that chan was on his way down. he exchanged greetings with seungkwan as he sat down at the table across from the young boy.

"i can't believe you and chan are starting high school. it seems like just yesterday, you two were swimming naked in the kiddie pool." jia trailed off, a sad smile on her face as she thought back to when the two boys were younger.

chan entered the kitchen just as his mom was loudly reminiscing. he scrunched up his face in embarrassment as he said, "mom!" in his passing. he sat down in front of seungkwan, saying hi to him as he reached for the glass of juice in front of him.

jia hears the phone ringing. she pulls out the regular daytime phone, assuming it's a work call. she furrows her eyebrows as she realizes no one was on the other line. she hears her husband tell her it's the other phone, the super phone as they call it, that is ringing. she quickly makes her way over to her husband, standing behind him as he quickly picks up the call.

"go." juwon says simply, listening to the man on the other line inform him of a giant robot invading the downtown area. he says his acknowledgment and hangs up, immediately relaying the information to jia. they exchange serious looks as they quickly assess the situation.

jia sighs quietly. juwon walks off to get ready, leaving the three in the kitchen. "oh, shoot. and i really wanted to see chan off to the bus." jia said in dismay. chan cringed interally at her words.

jia turned to seungkwan as she said with a sad smile, "i remember his first day of school. he wouldn't let go of my leg." the two chuckle in amusement.

chan groans loudly. "mom!" he says, hoping she would stop embarrassing him in front of seungkwan.

juwon called after jia, the woman taking that as her cue to leave. before they leave, the older man turns around to chan and says, "oh, chan, a reminder." chan turns around to face his father, an expectant look on his face.

"a lot of the kids at sky high will only have one superhero parent, not two. so... take it easy on them, huh? no showing off."

chan smiled to himself, turning to seungkwan with a look of amusement as he said, "oh, dad, not to worry. i'll keep it lowkey."

"juwon!" was heard from further in the house.

juwon snapped his fingers. "got to go!" his father smiled, following his wife to what chan assumed was their family's secret sanctum. it's where the duo always went when they were on a mission.

chan sighed in relief, thankful that his parents were finally gone. he stood up to find the tv remote, his eyes following seungkwan as he walked towards the windowsill where there were three dying plants. chan vaguely recalled his mother mentioning that they weren't getting enough sunlight.

chan watched as seungkwan slowly waved his hands over the plants, the plants coming back to life and looking better than ever. seungkwan's power really came in handy in those types of situations.

chan sat on the counter with a sigh, seungkwan moving to stand next to him as the boy turned on the tv.

from the television, the local news anchor's deep voice could be heard. he caught the broadcast just in time for his parents to swoop in and save the day. the two boys watched as chan's mother carried his father towards the giant robot that was destroying several buidlings in its path.

chan watched with a subtle frown as they circled around the robot, the machine struggling to keep up with their speed and powerful attacks. his mother dropped his father directly onto the chest of the robot, the steel plates breaking under the pressure of his father's kick, the rest of the robot's body crumpling underneath the man's foot. the robot falls to the ground in one single swoop.

"oh, and the robot goes down!" comes the voice of the morning news anchor. on screen, they could see chan's father pulling out the gleaming red eye from the robot. his parents liked to collect souvenirs from some of their missions as a way to memorialize their victories.

chan's parents posed for the news cameras that were following all of the action. the screen then went back to the news anchor.

"the commander and jet stream." he said simply, dramatically turning to another camera as he finished, "what would we do without them?"

"they are good." chan said with a heavy sigh, turning off the tv and leaving the house, seungkwan trailing behind him. the duo walk outside, making their way down to the bus stop.

as they walk along the path, seungkwan decides to speak up. "now, i know it's just our first day. but, i already can't wait to graduate and start saving mankind." he said excitedly, a bright grin on his face. he paused, immediately continuing to say, "and womankind. and animalkind."

"and the rain forest." chan said in his amusement.

seungkwan nodded enthusiastically. "of course!"

the two continue to walk down the street. once they reached the bus stop, seungkwan said, "i just feel really good about this year."

chan sighed quietly. "yeah. it should be great." he said with an awkward smile, rhythmically patting his hands on his thighs and letting out an anxious breath.

the bus soon pulled up to them after that. the doors opened, revealing a man wearing a hat with a random sports team logo on it. "morning." he said curtly, chan and seungkwan silently saying it back as they climbed into the bus.

chan gazed over the students sitting, trying to look for an empty spot. "is this the bus to sky high?" he asked, flinching as the bus driver loudly shushed him.

"what, are you crazy?!" the man said, quickly shutting the doors behind the two. they stared at the doors nervously, turning back to the bus driver in question.

"i guess you want every super villain in the neighborhood to know we're here."

"no. no. sorry." chan whispered, feeling his face heat up slightly in embarrassment. he moved to take a seat, stopping as the bus driver placed a hand in front of his chest. he looked down at it nervously, looking at the bus driver in question.

"what's your name, first year?"

chan nervously gulped. "um. lee chan. my parents usually go by stronghold to the public."

the bus driver's eyes widen, gulping nervously as he says, "the son of the commander and jet stream?" he said in awe, finally smiling at the boy.

chan smiled, nervously nodding at the man. the bus driver stood up abruptly, startling the two boys as he grabbed chan's shoulders and said, "everyone. it's lee chan. son of the commander and jet stream!" the students looked at chan in curiosity, some of them beginning to murmur to each other. chan felt his face heat up again.

chan turns to the bus driver in surprise, nervously shaking the man's hand as he says, "my name is kim dohyun, sky high bus driver. if there's anything i can do to make your journey more comfortable, please let me know." he continues to enthusiastically shake mr. kim's hand, the force of it shaking chan as well.

before chan could respond, mr. kim points to a couple of students sitting in the front seat and says, "you two, up! the seat behind kim dohyun belongs to lee chan."

the boy wearing glasses immediately stands up. "it would be an honor." he says with an excited smile.

chan shakes his hand. "nah, it's fine. you don't have to."

the boy with the glasses shook his hand as well. "no, no. i want to. you're third generation, man." he turned to the boy next to him that was still sitting. "vernon, get up."

vernon looked up at the boy in annoyance. "why? he only needs one seat." he said as he pointed at chan who was just standing there with an awkward smile. seungkwan was behind him mirroring his expression.

the boy with glasses pointed at the two standing and said, "so he can sit with his boyfriend."

seungkwan awkwardly laughed, about to deny the statement, when chan swooped in quickly to say, "seungkwan? no, he's just my friend."

seungkwan's expression fell slightly, glancing at chan quickly before he smiled again and said, "yeah, totally. he's like my brother." he accidentally said that last part in a sing-song tone, internally cringing at himself.

from behind chan and seungkwan, someone stood up and chimed in. "oh, well, in that case, hi." chan and seungkwan turned around to face the boy behind them. the boy took off his glasses and said with a charming smile. "i'm jungwoo."

chan and seungkwan exchanged a look, quietly walking down the bus aisle and taking seats away from each other. the bus finally drove off, the loud engine squealing as they drove down the road.

chan smiled as he saw the familiar face of his friend from their past school, mingyu. the tall boy stood, dapping the boy up as he said, "yo. chan! hey, how you doing? hey, seungkwan." he made room for chan to sit down, the boy taking the seat with a quiet huff. seungkwan took the empty spot next to chan and mingyu's seat.

"how was your summer?" chan asked as he turned to the boy.

mingyu looked down as he shook his head. "to be honest, it was tough, man. t-u-p-h." chan shook his head in amusement at the boy's spelling. in reality, mingyu had the best grades in their class. 

chan looked around as mingyu continued to ramble on about his summer job, only tuning back in when he mentioned that he didn't get his powers yet.

"oh, so you don't have your powers?" chan asked, a twinge of hope igniting within him. maybe things wouldn't be so bad for him today.

"dude, you think i'd even show up today if that happened?" mingyu asked, an incredulous look on his face as he looked at chan.

chan gaped up at him, at a loss for words as mingyu continued. "no. i woke up a few days ago..." he trailed off, slapping his hands together for dramatic effect, "and bam!" he shouted, chan and seungkwan flinching at mingyu's words.

mingyu let out a breath. chan nodded encouragingly as he said, "that's great. so, w-what is it?"

mingyu chuckled to himself, gesturing wildly with his hands as he said, "you have to wait and see like everybody else." he looked around nervously, saying in a low voice, "but it's awesome, man. it's awesome!"

chan glanced around nervously, nodding in agreement as he gave the taller boy an awkward smile.

"come on, man. it's not like you've ever powered up in front of us." mingyu said.

before chan could answer, mr. kim slammed down on the brakes abruptly, the students lurching forward in surprise. a few of them loudly complained at the sudden impact, some whining about their head hurting.

"sorry!" the man up front shouted as he opened the doors for a student boarding the bus. once the student sat down, he said, "that's everyone." to himself, quickly shutting the doors and driving off. he then took off the hat he was wearing, switching it to a muted orange hat with the sky high logo emblazoned on the front.

mr. kim dramatically turned to the students watching his transformation go down. "next stop, sky high!" he said, turning back around and speeding down the road.

they drove down the streets, making it onto a bridge that was under construction. there were traffic cones everywhere and signs indicating that the bridge was closed. the students looked around nervously, seungkwan asking, "where are we?"

the students gasped as a metal bar settled in front of them, pushing into their torsos just as seat belts mechanically draped over their chests. they looked around in confusion, soon being replaced by genuine fear as they felt the bus speeding up.

"hang on back there!" mr. kim said, facing the road once again as he said, "we're going off road."

Chapter Text

"here we go!" shouted the bus driver as he made it to the end of the bridge.

just as panic began to truly settle into chan, mr. kim finally drove the bus off of the unfinished bridge. the man let out an enthusiastic shout as they soared through the air. the students shrieked as they felt the bus fall at a rapid speed, clutching the metal bar in front of them as they braced for impact.

the impact didn't come. instead, mr. kim pushed the controls, a set of wings and 6 turbo engines emerging from the sides and the back of the bus. they thrust forward, the bus racing through the clouds with the screams of the students increasing in volume. it seemed that they were flying through the air faster than they were falling.

mr. kim looked at the terrified students through the rear view mirror, scoffing as he said, "first years." with an amused smirk.

they broke through the clouds, amazed at the sight before them. "there she is," began mr. kim, slowing down as he said, "sky high. kept aloft by the latest in anti-gravitational propulsion."

as mr. kim rambled on about the technology keeping the school afloat in the clouds. the students gazed at the school with a sense of wonder. it was an average sized indoor school with large pillars in the front that showcased larger than life posters of the prestigious school's alumni.

mr. kim finally made his descent onto the school grounds, not landing as smooth and easy as he would've otherwise hoped. as the students jumped at the rocky landing, the bus driver shouted a short sorry to the students.

mr. kim opens the doors as he says, "word of advice: don't miss the bus, cause the bus waits for no one." he pointed a finger at chan's retreating figure as he said, "except for you, lee chan!"

chan turned around with an awkward glance at the bus driver as the older man continued. "if you're ever running late, or you're running early, or you just... wanna talk," he said with a smile, taking out a business card with his name and number on it, "give me a call."

"thanks, mr. kim." chan said with an awkward smile as he accepted the card. he and seungkwan hurriedly exited the bus as the bus driver enthusiastically asked him to call him when needed.

the group of first years walked onto the campus nervously, chan and seungkwan coincidentally leading the pack. they gazed up at the school and looked around at the student body lounging around in the school's open yard.

the new students looked up in amazement as two students flew above them, smoothly landing on their feet and walking up the grand steps leading to the school's entrance. chan and seungkwan gave each other a look of intrigue as they continued to look around.

in the distance, you could see two boys come up behind a girl wearing a short skirt. one of the boys shot bright red lasers from his eyes, directing them at the girl's butt. the girl gasped loudly, shooting a beam of blue light from her hands and effectively freezing the two boys in a solid block of ice right where they stood.

from his right, chan heard what appeared to be a cheer leading squad shouting a cheer fight song. chan and the rest of the group looked over, seeing eight boys in the same yellow cheer leading outfit cheering in unison. chan furrowed his eyebrows as he took a closer look, noticing that four of the cheerleaders looked identical to one of the boys, the other four looking identical to one of the other boys. his questions were answered once they completed their cheer and morphed back into their own bodies. the two handsome boys let out loud cheers as they jumped up and down.

out of nowhere, a flash of blonde hair circled them up, running around the group of first years at an inhumane speed. the group huddled close, startled by the boy that came out of nowhere.

the boy circling them abruptly stopped in front of them, a gust of wind blowing past as he halted. from behind him, the group could see a boy with spiky blond hair stretching out his limbs at an incredible length as he somersaulted down the steps. he swiftly landed next to the boy with a cocky smirk, flexing his shoulders as he looked ahead at the group.

"i'm soonyoung." the boy with the stretchy limbs began, placing a hand on the other blond boy's shoulder as he continued, "uh, this is seungcheol. you might hear people around campus referring to us and lash and speed."

"hey." came a voice from behind chan and seungkwan, both boys turning around and jumping at the boy standing behind them. the rest of the group looked around in confusion, wondering where the boy came from.

"and that," soonyoung said, pointing at the boy who was standing among the crowd of first years. "is jihoon. we call him woozi."

the boy magically appeared next to soonyoung, the group gasping and looking around in confusion again.

"he can teleport." soonyoung said with a cheeky grin.

seungcheol cleared his throat loudly to get the attention of the group. once he got it, he went on to say, "and, as representatives of the sky high welcoming committee, we'd be happy to collect that twenty thousand won new student fee."

lash stretched out a hand to the bespectacled boy from the bus, motioning for him to hand his money over. the boy stared down at the hand in confusion, looking up as he said, "um, there was nothing about a new student fee in the handbook."

the group look over as they hear the voice of another boy say, "okay, guys. very funny. i'll take over from here." the boy stepped forward, a charming smile on his face as he stood in front of the group.

soonyoung and seungcheol back away with a quiet groan, jihoon teleporting out of the area as soon as he heard the newcomer approaching.

the mystery boy shot a friendly smile to the group as he said, "hey, everybody. i'm yoon jeonghan, your student body president."

chan stared at the older boy in wonder, feeling the rest of his surroundings blur, and all sounds die out as he looked at the boy in front of him. he was... for lack of better words, the most beautiful person he had ever seen.

seungkwan smiled back at the older boy, glancing at his friend momentarily before looking back at jeonghan. seungkwan felt his smile falter as he looked at chan again and saw the expression on the boy's face.

jeonghan tossed his hair back with a bright smile as he continued to talk about his experience at the school. not that chan could hear him. as cheesy as it sounded, it felt like he was hearing a cheesy 90's r&b song the longer jeonghan spoke. it genuinely felt like they were the only two people there, as if there weren't hundreds of students strolling about in the yard around them. he gulped as everything started to move in slow motion for him.

"– if you could just remember those few simple rules, i promise you will not fall off of the edge of the school." jeonghan finished with a wink at the students, the group laughing at the older boy's statement.

chan finally snapped out of his reverie, looking around in confusion as the group followed jeonghan up the steps.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

soon enough, the group was ushered into the school's gymnasium. the school's logo was printed dead center on the floor, and there were stone bleachers on each wall. the students mumbled to each other, shouting in surprise as a bright beam of light flew over them, watching as it landed in front of a podium and materialized into an older woman.

"good morning," the woman began with a friendly smile, "i am principal powers. on behalf of all of the faculty and staff, welcome to sky high!"

"hell yeah!" mingyu shouted after a beat of silence, the students quietly chuckling as the principal raised an eyebrow at the boy's disruption.

the principal looked amused as she continued, "in a few moments, you'll go through power placement, and your own heroic journey will begin."

"power placement?" chan said in confusion.

"sounds fascist." said seungkwan with a look of disapproval.

"power placement." the boy with the glasses spoke up from behind the duo. "it's how they decide where you go."

"the hero track or the loser track." the boy from earlier who didn't want to give up his seat, vernon, said with a nonchalant shrug.

"t-there'a loser track?" chan stuttered.

"i believe the correct term is hero support."

"– for now, good deeds and good luck. let the adventure begin. comets, away!" the principal finished with a shout, materializing into her white beam form and flying past them once again. chan finally realized why the school mascot was 'comets'.

the group followed the beam with their eyes, being met with a small platform rising from the center of the basketball court. a man in white basketball shorts, aviator sunglasses, and knee-high socks stood arrogantly on the stage, holding a clipboard as he said, "all right, listen up."

the man had a hand on his hip as he said, "my name is coach boomer. you may know me as sonic boom. you may not. here's how power placement is gonna work." he took a step forward as he glared down at the students.

coach boomer stood to the side and gestured towards the center of the stage. "you will step up here and show me your power. yes, you will do so in front of the entire class."

the class let out a collective groan at the idea. "i will then determine where you will be assigned. hero... or sidekick."

"now. every year, there are a few students. or, as i like to call them, whiner babies," he emphasized, leaning over and glaring at the students before he continued, "who see fit to question and to complain about their placement. so, let's get one thing straight. my word is law. my judgment is final. so there will be no whiner babies. are we clear?"

the group stayed silent. neither one of the students felt confident enough to respond to the coach. the man leaned in and said, "i said, are we clear?" his voice echoed in the gymnasium, the sheer voice of his shout caused a gust of wind to push through the students.

the group straightened up and shouted in unison, "yes, coach boomer!"

the coach finally blew his whistle, starting the assessment for the group. a set of steps emerged from the side of the platform. the coach zeroed in on one of the students in the crowd, landing on the boy that was hitting on seungkwan earlier on the bus.

"you! what's your name?" the coach asked. the students moved aside to reveal a tall yet scrawny boy wearing an argyle cardigan and glasses.

jungwoo, the boy the coach was pointing at, gulped nervously as he introduced himself to the coach, a slight quiver in his voice. the coach noticed this and quietly chuckled.

"get up here." the coach said sternly. jungwoo nodded meekly as he walked up the steps to the platform.

seungkwan leaned over to chan and whispered, "what's humiliating him in front of everyone going to prove?" he shook his head as the boy reached the center of the platform. "this is so unfair."

"if life were to suddenly get fair, i doubt it would happen in high school." chan whispered back.

the group watched as jungwoo nervously took his glasses off and put them in his pocket. he then growled loudly and flexed his biceps, each of his limbs and his torso transforming into solid rock. the meek boy was now twice his original size and presumably twice as strong. the group stared at the boy with a mixture of surprise and amazement.

coach boomer had a blank stare on his face as he stepped aside and reached for the remote in his pocket. the man yelled out a simple, "car!" the group gasped as a busted car fell from the ceiling, jungwoo catching it and holding it above his head with ease, the sheer force of the impact blowing a gust of wind through the room.

"big jungwoo." the coach said with a smirk, marking something on his clipboard as he said, "hero."

mingyu took a step forward as he said, "so, he's good? i'm better." he gave chan a few pats on the chest as he hopped onto the platform. chan reached out a hand to stop the taller boy, cringing when he noticed he was too late.

"did i say you were next?"

mingyu pointed a finger at the coach as he said with a smirk, "the name's mingyu, coach boomer. try not to drop your clipboard."

the coach squinted his eyes at the student and shook his head as he looked straight ahead. mingyu squared his shoulders as he did a little dance and slapped his hands together, holding them out dramatically as if he were presenting himself to the room.

"any day now, superstar." coach boomer spoke up.

"i'm doing it."

"doing what?"

"i'm glowing."

coach boomer had an unimpressed look on his face as he circled mingyu to inspect him.

"well, it's easier to see in a dark room." mingyu began as the two faced each other. "maybe we could turn off these lights. you could cup your hands around your eyes and look real close–"

"sidekick."

mingyu paused, a frown on his face as he leaned closer to the coach and whispered, "um, are you sure–"

"sidekick!" the coach shouted, mingyu flying off of the platform and landing on the ground with a loud thud.

coach boomer pointed at the boy with the glasses and yelled, "you! front center."

the boy scurried up onto the platform and plastered a wide grin on his face as he enthusiastically shook the coach's hand. "hello, my name is lee seokmin. let me start off by saying what an honor it is–" the boy began, abruptly being cut off by the coach.

"is that your power? butt-kissery?"

seokmin laughed heartily as he said, "very funny, sir. you know, i've heard you had a very wicked–"

"shut up and power up."

"right away, sir."

seokmin immediately faced forward and melted into the ground. no. literally. he melted into a giant puddle in the ground, the colors of the puddle matching the clothes he was wearing.

"say, that's pretty impressive." the coach said with a mocking tone, leaning down as he shouted, "for a popsicle! sidekick!" he finished with a thumbs down. seokmin just slid away in his puddle form.

the coach pointed at a boy with a blonde mullet standing in the back. the boy climbed onto the platform with a friendly smile on his face.

"alright, whatcha got for me, kid?"

"oh, um. well, first of all, my name is xu minghao, i'm from china–"

"cool. chinese. is your super power speaking chinese?"

"... no?"

"okay then, get on with it. what do you do?"

"i, um... i can jump really high?"

the coach paused, a smirk on his face as he leaned closer and said, "like a frog–"

"yes, like a frog!" minghao shouted. it seemed that he had heard that specific statement many times.

the coach looked amused as he took a step back and gestured for minghao to demonstrate. the boy nodded and crouched down, launching himself high into the air and landing on one of the beams on the ceiling.

the group looked up in amazement, though it looked like some of them weren't amazed. coach boomer, in particular, was not amazed.

the coach looked up at the boy as he said, "well, if your mission required doing hopscotch to defeat your villain, you would be a hero. but since that is unlikely... sidekick!"

minghao let out a soft sigh as he jumped down onto the platform, flashing a peace sign at the coach as he walked down the steps.

the assessment went on like that. a boy who could grow four extra sets of arms was deemed a hero. a girl that could transform into a large ball was deemed a sidekick, conveniently being kicked away by the coach. a boy that could projectile spit was initially deemed a sidekick, but once coach boomer saw that his spit dissolved into acid, he proudly deemed him a hero. a boy that could shape shift was deemed a hero, though chan had a suspicion it was because he shape shifted into coach boomer's likeness.

"boy with the headphones, let's go." coach boomer said as he pointed at vernon. the boy blinked as he handed his headphones to seokmin, slowly stepping onto the platform.

"what's your shtick?"

"i'm a shapeshifter."

"ah, like the last boy. okay, shift it."

vernon let out a sigh as he crouched down and shifted into a guinea pig, letting out small squeaks as he stood still. coach boomer squinted his eyes in disbelief as he said, "a guinea pig?"

"yep." came vernon's voice in the form of a high-pitched squeak.

"not even a swarm of guinea pigs?"

"uh, no?"

"sidekick. shoo!" the coach squeaked back, shooing the boy off of the platform. vernon scoffed quietly as he scurried away.

"you," the coach pointed at seungkwan, the boy nervously looking up, "flower child. let's go."

coach boomer turned around, halting when seungkwan spoke up. "i-i believe in only using my powers when the situation demands it."

"well, you're in luck. this is the situation, and i'm demanding it."

chan looked at seungkwan in disbelief as the boy continued, "but, to participate in this test would be to support a flawed system."

coach boomer tilted his head in confusion as he took a few steps forward. seungkwan continued to ramble, "i think the whole hero-sidekick dichotomy only serves to–"

the coach held up a hand, effectively silencing the young boy. "let me get this straight. are you refusing to show me your powers?"

seungkwan lightly rolled his eyes as he said, "it's more complicated than that. i mean–"

"sidekick!" the coach finally shouted, the class wincing at the gust of wind that hit them.

the school bell rang, the coach going on to say, "all right, we'll pick it up after lunch." he pointed a finger at chan as he said, "starting with you."

chan gulped.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

chan and seungkwan made it to the cafeteria, with four newcomers trailing after them. it seemed that minghao, mingyu, seokmin, and vernon had taken a liking to them. the group walked with trays of food in their hands, looking for a place to sit.

chan was zoning out as mingyu was loudly complaining about his power placement. the group finally found a table and sat down, beginning to eat their lunch. chan felt his shoulders stiffen when he felt someone's eyes burning into the back of his head. knowing the students in this school, it was entirely possible.

chan looked behind him, rapidly turning back around once he saw a boy glaring at him.

"okay, am i crazy, or is that guy really looking at me?" the boy asked with a nervous huff.

the group looked behind where chan was seated, seungkwan and minghao turning around and looking at the boy hunched over his seat, still glaring at chan.

"dude..." mingyu whispered.

"what?"

"that's jeon wonwoo." mingyu said, a slightly frightened look on his face as he glanced at the boy in the all-black attire.

"that's jeon wonwoo?" minghao asked in disbelief. mingyu nodded in response.

"oh, i've heard about him." seungkwan began, looking around at the group as he said, "his mom is a hero, and his dad is a super villain. his dad goes by the name mr. battle, and his mom goes by the name mrs. peace."

"so, where do i come in?" chan asked as he turned to seungkwan.

"your dad busted his dad." seokmin quickly explained.

chan sighed quietly as he said, "that's great. it's my first day at sky high, and i already have an archenemy."

chan slammed his juice down, his eyes darting around nervously as he asked seungkwan, "is he still looking?"

seungkwan quickly glanced over and shook his head. "no."

"no?"

"no."

chan took a chance and slowly turned around, wincing as he saw that wonwoo was still glaring at him, his position unmoved even when the younger boy was looking directly at him.

chan glared at seungkwan as he uttered, "i thought you said he wasn't looking."

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

after lunch, mingyu, seungkwan, and chan walked back to the gymnasium together, the hallway full of students getting to class. the principal was announcing something over the intercom that chan wasn't paying attention to. he startled as he bumped into someone, shyly smiling once he realized it was jeonghan, the beautiful senior they met earlier that day.

the two huffed in surprise at the impact, the young boy stuttering as he tried to introduce himself. the older boy smiled as he looked at chan's chest and said, "lee chan."

chan smiled and gestured to his head as he said, "aha, mind reader."

jeonghan shook his head with an amused expression on his face. "no. name tag." he said, pointing at the name tag on chan's chest, the younger boy blushing in embarrassment.

"right. uh, these are my friends," chan turned, gesturing to his friends, "that's mingyu."

"what's up?"

chan smiled nervously as he gestured towards seungkwan, "and, uh, this is–"

"seungkwan, got it." jeonghan said with a friendly smile, leaning forward as he said, "oh my god, i love your earrings!"

seungkwan held his eccentric earrings and stuttered out a, "tha-thanks." a bashful smile on his face.

"so, how's power placement going?"

"um... great." chan lied, a nervous smile on his face as he looked at jeonghan.

jeonghan laughed, such a pretty sound, as he said, "i'm not surprised. hey, listen, i need a first year rep for the dance committee."

chan zoned out once again, just staring at jeonghan as the older boy continued to talk. it sounded like literal music to his ears. either that or the same cheesy 90's r&b song was playing in his head again.

"–if you're interested, we could talk about it over lunch sometime?"

chan grinned as he said, "i eat lunch!"

jeonghan laughed, turning to seungkwan and mingyu as he said, "how cute is he?"

"well, i guess i'll see you guys around." jeonghan said, smiling as he walked away, softly shoving his way between seungkwan and chan.

chan heard seungkwan say to mingyu, "i don't think he really liked my earrings."

"well, they are a little weird."

"hey!"

chan wasn't really listening. his eyes trailed after jeonghan as he walked down the hallway, waving to everyone he walked past. he faced forward, jumping slightly as he came face to face with wonwoo. he pressed his lips together in a flat line as he side stepped the older boy, hurriedly joining his friends who left him behind. he could still feel the older boy's glare on him the further he got away.

chan entered the bathroom to escape the older boy's glare, freezing as he saw seokmin running out, water dripping down his hair. "see ya. and thanks for the swirlie." the boy said politely, exchanging looks of nervousness with chan as he ran out of the bathroom.

chan turned around nervously as he said to the two blond boys that emerged from the bathroom stall seokmin ran out of, "sup, guys?" he forced a smile, but he was pretty sure it looked like a grimace.

"the kid, uh... he looked a little dehydrated." seungcheol said with a smirk, soonyoung laughing mockingly beside him.

"so, how about it, stronghold?" came a voice from behind chan. the boy looked back and jumped when he saw jihoon standing closely behind him. he looked forward and jumped again when jihoon materialized next to seungcheol.

"you gonna hang with us this year?" seungcheol asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"gonna help us bring some pain to the sidekicks?" soonyoung asked as he exchanged smiles with his friends.

chan gulped nervously as he nodded. "t-that sounds like... fun."

seungcheol hummed as soonyoung and jihoon nodded. "good man. see you around." seungcheol said with a smirk, walking out of the bathroom.

chan nodded nervously as he said a quiet okay. soonyoung leaned forward as he threatened to pounce on the younger boy, laughing as he saw the way chan flinched. he left the bathroom as well, leaving jihoon and chan there. jihoon just sent the boy a mocking wave before he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

chan just stared ahead as he frowned to himself. his frown deepened once he heard the school bell ring.

time for power placement.

Chapter Text

chan fidgeted as he stood in front of the class. he clapped his hands together awkwardly, rocking back and forth on his feet as he thought about what to do. he didn't have powers. what exactly was he supposed to demonstrate to the class?

the firm stare the coach was burning into his skull definitely wasn't helping either.

chan had enough of the scrutinizing gazes of his fellow peers– and coach boomer – so he finally gave up. he leaned over to whisper into the coach's ear about his, well, lack of abilities.

chan isn't sure why he thought the coach would keep this information between themselves, but as he watched coach boomer take a step back and shout, "what do you mean you don't know what your power is?" he felt the color drain from his face.

chan chuckled nervously as he faced the class, watching the class murmur to themselves in surprise. before he could even let the thought of them judging him sink in, he heard the coach chuckle. he watched as the coach took a step to the side, shaking his head at the young boy.

 "i got it. you're messing with the coach, just like your old man," coach boomer said, pulling out the button from his shorts again. "car." he said indifferently, chan looking up in fright as he saw the busted car falling from the ceiling.

the boy thanked his fast reflexes as he felt himself collapse to the floor, narrowly avoiding the heavy automobile from crushing him. it was then he realized the car was attached to an extension cable so it wouldn't have actually fallen on him, but this recent revelation did not soothe him in any way.

"are you insane?!" chan shouted, hearing the worried murmurs of his peers. the young boy slid out from under the car, panting heavily as he continued, "i don't have super strength!"

coach boomer furrowed his eyebrows, clear confusion on his face as he shrugged to himself. he pressed the button again, slowly lifting the car up from the young boy. he smiled knowingly as he watched the boy struggle to stand up.

"oh, i get it! you're a flyer, just like your ma. why didn't you say so?" the older man said, pressing another switch on his remote control.

before chan could process what was fully happening, he looked down and saw the particular spot of the platform he was standing on lift up, tossing him into the air. chan wasn't able to brace himself in time when he collided into one of the stone beams and then onto the stone bleachers. a lot of stone.

as his classmates scurried over to chan to make sure he was alright, coach boomer was in the background saying, "kid, come on. quit messing around. i haven't got all day."

chan was thoroughly annoyed at this point. he knew no one would believe him when he said he didn't have powers, it was expected. the son of the great commander and jet stream was powerless, at this age? when most of his peers got their powers as children, he didn't worry then. ten years later, and here he was, body aching and his mean coach staring him down in annoyance.

"what's your power?"

chan let out a disappointed sigh as he breathed out, "i don't have one."

coach boomer looked disappointed as well. though, chan could see that there was a hint of amusement on his face as he said a simple, "stronghold."

"sidekick!" coach boomer yelled at such an intensity that it shook throughout the entire school. students across campus could hear it, bathroom mirrors were shattered, even the principal heard it, though she was unaffected. it was a near daily occurrence at this point.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

a few minutes later, chan was in the school clinic, holding a bag of ice to his head to alleviate the pain from earlier. whether that was from the physical pain of being tossed around or the emotional pain of being embarrassed in front of, he assumed, the entire school, chan wasn't sure what the true answer was.

the elderly nurse checked his reflexes, smiling to herself as she looked up at the young boy. "i remember doing this to your father when he was your age. kicked me right through that wall." she chuckled, looking back at the memory fondly.

chan smiled back, sighing as he asked, "you, uh, haven't called him yet, have you?"

"like i want to be the one to tell the commander his son has no powers?"

chan nodded solemnly, watching as the elderly woman stood in front of him and said she'd take a look at him. he watched as a red beam shot from her eyes, scanning the boy for any internal injuries or bleeding. she nodded, putting her glasses back on as she informed chan that nothing was broken.

chan just smiled awkwardly as he said, "except for me not having my powers."

"well," the nurse began, walking over to grab her cup of candy and offering one to the young boy with a warm smile. chan smiled back as he grabbed one. "maybe you're just a late bloomer."

"you could get one of them, or both." she placed the cup back where it was, turning back to the young boy as she continued, "your mother's flying or your father's super strength."

"but when?"

"the kid's who get bit by radioactive insects or fall into a vat of toxic waste, their powers usually show up the next day."

"... or they die." she mumbled, tossing a balled up napkin into the garbage bin as if she hadn't just said that.

"but, kids who inherit their powers..." she sighed, moving away to take her coat off. "well... impossible to say."

chan was concerned, but he tried to pass it off as indifference as he called after the elderly woman, "but i will get them, right?"

"many sidekicks are the offspring of one super-parent and one regular parent. but there are cases – rare, though not unheard of – where the child of two super-powered parents..." her smile fell as she saw the glimmer of hope in the young boy's eyes. she didn't want to be the one to break the news to him, but she knew someone had to.

the nurse frowned softly as she continued, "they never... acquire powers whatsoever." her voice dropping to a whisper as she trailed off.

"there are?" chan asked, his voice quivering slightly as he rolled his eyes, "like who?"

"well, i know of only one. kim dohyun, bus driver." chan blinked in surprise, following the nurse's finger as she pointed to the man from outside the window.

mr. kim was practicing combat moves with a long broomstick, the pair inside the clinic wincing as they watched the bus driver accidentally shatter one of the windows of the bus with the broomstick.

this didn't make chan feel better.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

chan opened the back door, not batting an eye when he saw his father playing with the giant robot eye they extracted earlier that day. his parents were having a lighthearted argument about not having it at the dinner table.

chan felt his shoulders slump as his parents turned and greeted him, clear excitement in their voices. he knew why they were excited to see him, and he felt conflicted as he walked closer to them.

chan set his bag to the side as he stood in front of them, ignoring their questions and bright smiles as he said, "uh... dad, we need to talk."

his dad smirked as he said, "you mean a little hero-to-hero talk?" he exchanged a knowing smile with his wife as he said, "i think i know just the place. come on." he nodded to the hallway, chan rolling his eyes as he trailed behind him.

"hon." his mother said, tossing the robot eye to his father. he caught it with ease, smiling as he walked away.

chan followed his dad into their study, closing the door and turning around. "okay, so dad–" he started, abruptly cut off by his father.

"oh, this isn't the place, chan." his dad said, pressing a button next to a picture frame that had an ominous painting of the sea. chan's eyes widened as he watched the painting disappear and transform into a panel with a hand print on it.

"this is the place."

chan's eyes widened, letting out a quiet gasp as he said, "no way! the secret sanctum?" he grinned as he walked closer to the panel.

his father chuckled knowingly as he said, "you know, i'll never forget my first day at sky high. your grandfather finally trusted me enough to give me the key to his secret sanctum." he paused, chuckling as he continued, "'course, in those days, we still used keys."

the two looked at the panel, his father smiling proudly as he said, "go ahead, son. i already added your biometrics this morning."

chan looked nervous as he stood up to the panel, raising his hand to unlock the sanctum with his hand print. he paused as his father said, "oh, chan. one thing."

chan turned around nervously, slowly lowering his hand as his dad said, "of course, you must never ever bring anyone into the secret sanctum. that's... why it's called a secret sanctum." he said, smiling at his own joke.

chan gulped nervously as he said, "i would never."

the look of pride on mr. lee's face was prominent as he said, "go for it."

chan turned back to the panel and raised his hand up to the scanner, watching as it scanned his hand print. it beeped softly, signaling that his print was approved. from next to the panel, the walls slid open, revealing a secret passage. the brick wall was lit with an ominous purple light, with two large steel poles leading all the way to the bottom.

chan stared at the new entrance in amazement, his father coming up next to him looking thoroughly amused at the young boy's reaction. the man gestured to the poles, making sure that chan used his mother's pole instead of his.

the two landed safely, chan looking even more amazed as he stepped into the stone basement. he looked around, catching glimpses of other trinkets their parents had collected from previous battles.

chan laughed in disbelief as he said, "you got a pool table?"

"how about the pinball machine?" his father asked with a cheeky grin, pointing to the machine that was settled into the corner next to the pool table.

the two laughed as they looked around. chan trailed behind his father as he rambled on about what each trinket did and which battle it was from, the young boy not paying much attention as his eyes traveled around the large room. his eyes eventually landed on a broken device on a small podium, a single spotlight shining on it.

"and this, uh–"

"royal pain's pacifier." his father said as he came up behind him, giving him a pat on the back. "now, that was a great day, chan. the first time your mom and i ever teamed up to fight evildoers."

chan smiled as he looked at the broken object, trying to inspect it more. it was split in half, a large coil on the inside leading to what chan could only assume was a large pacifier, the kind babies use. hence the name he supposed.

"– royal pain got what was coming to him, and i got the pacifier." chan was able to make out the end of his father's long-winded speech. he'd heard it before, the story of how his parents fought back to back and defeated royal pain.

chan tentatively reached out to touch the pacifier, stopping as his father grabbed his hand. he turned to look at his father as the man said, "and this is my proudest possession." he gave his son a pat on the shoulder as he lowered his hand.

"it's amazing. what's it do?"

"no idea."

chan's father led him to another podium, this one empty, as he said, "this is our story. your mom and me, kicking ass and taking names." he moved to stand next to the podium, clicking a button that revealed a placard that said lee chan on it.

"but now, it's time for a new story. the three of us, fighting crime together, side by side... by side."

chan's father led the two of them away from the hall of trinkets, keeping an arm around his son's shoulders as he asked, "now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

chan was conflicted. he didn't want to lie to his father, but he remembered how excited his parents were to see him earlier. and his father showing him the secret sanctum was a huge deal. he didn't want to upset his parents. he didn't want to disappoint them.

so, chan decided to lie. again.

"oh, um..." he laughed awkwardly, gesturing towards the pool table as he smiled, "that i'm going to kick your butt in pool."

"oh, we'll see about that!"

from across the room, the robot eye that was assumed to be nonfunctional turned on, glowing a bright red as it activated. a room with a large monitor showed the live feed coming from the robot eye, two mysterious cloaked figures watching as chan and his father played pool.

"you were right. he took it home." one of the cloaked figures said, chortling obnoxiously as they joked, "hey, he's got the ego the size of a giant robot."

the other cloaked figure sitting on the chair reached out and choked the first one, the shorter one in the ridiculous costume crying out in a humorous way.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

chan climbed out of his window, holding the exterior wall as he sat down on the roof. he hugged his knees to his chest, heaving out a heavy sigh as he thought about the day he had. he looked up at the sky, frowning at the lack of stars that night.

chan heard rustling coming from behind him, looking over and sighing as he saw seungkwan appear before him, hanging onto a tree branch that the boy materialized out of thin air.

"hey, seungkwan." chan said, turning back around and sighing to himself.

"hi." seungkwan said quietly, a sad smile on his face as he sat down next to chan.

"so, where were you after school? i was worried." seungkwan asked as he looked at chan.

chan smiled shyly, nodding in embarrassment as he said, "i got stuck in the nurse's office." he chuckled sarcastically as he continued, "and the news just keeps getting better and better. turns out i may never get my powers."

seungkwan frowned softly as he asked, "how did your dad take it?"

chan looked at seungkwan in disbelief, more angry at himself, as he said, "what was i supposed to do? he showed me the secret sanctum."

"you have to tell them."

chan chuckled humorlessly again as he said, "my parents are the greatest superheroes on the planet. everybody expects greatness from me."

seungkwan smiled reassuringly, though even he didn't believe it, as he said, "well, you are great."

"thanks." chan mumbled, looking back up at the sky.

seungkwan smiled again as he said, "okay, so you're a sidekick. it's not the end of the world." seungkwan reached out a hand, one of the nearby trees extending a branch out and dropping an apple into his hands.

"... when life gives you lemons..." seungkwan trailed off, holding out the apple to chan in hopes of cheering him up.

chan looked down, chuckling as he looked at the apple in seungkwan's hands. "make apple juice?" he joked, an amused smile on his face as he looked at seungkwan.

seungkwan sighed, an annoyed smile on his face as he said, "i can't make lemons. i don't know what it is."

chan just shook his head, gesturing to the apple as he said, "yeah, but see. you have an awesome power. and you could have made 'hero' so easily."

"i'm not into labels." seungkwan said indifferently, shrugging softly to show that he truly didn't care about his placement.

chan shook his head in disbelief as he said, "but why would you choose to be a sidekick?"

"because, i think the whole thing is stupid. dividing people into groups like that. i mean, what is this?"

"high school?"

seungkwan just nudged chan's shoulder, smiling bashfully as he felt chan nudge him back. the two stayed up there for a bit, seungkwan offering chan the apple he mistook for a lemon.

Chapter Text

the door to the classroom opened, a short man with graying hair and a thick mustache walking in. the class exchanged friendly smiles as the teacher got situated in the front of the class.

"welcome to hero support. my name is..." the teacher jumped behind a chalkboard, quickly changing out of his clothes and into his sidekick ensemble. he striked a pose as he jumped onto his desk and said, "minguk boy!"

the teacher stood there awkwardly, feeling disheartened from a lack of reaction from the students.

"of course, nowadays," he sighed as he climbed off his desk carefully, "i just go by mr. boy."

"but this year, it's gonna be my privilege to help each of you become the very best hero support that you can be."

"without hero support, why, there wouldn't be any heroes!" mr. boy said as he placed his hands on his hips. his shoulders slumped as he read the expressions of the students. "all right, there probably would be heroes, but they would be very lonely! very, very lonely..."

chan tried to conceal a chuckle at mr. boy trying to lift the spirits of the students. the young boy was slowly starting to accept his position as hero support, but it didn't help when even the teachers weren't as confident in their own abilities as well.

"– another word for hero support would be the unremarkables."

vernon snorted quietly as he said, "... so, boring?"

mr. boy sighed quietly. he heard this at least once a school year. he looked at the seating chart and made note of the student's name. "yes, mr chwe. you could say that. though i don't like to use such disheartening words–"

"you just called us unremarkable."

mr. boy paused, quickly turning around to face the wall as he said, "... anyways, another thing you must know: you don't get to pick your names or your costumes. on graduation day, you'll be assigned to your hero, and then he o-o-or she will decide what you'll be called and what you'll wear."

mr. boy moved to the wall next to the door, reaching for a string that was attached to a rolled up poster, "i think this is done mostly in an attempt to avoid clashing colors. that's why when i was paired with," he paused for dramatic effect as he pulled the poster down, revealing a large painting of mr. boy and the commander in color coordinated uniforms, "the commander, red, white, and blue it was."

the class sat in silenced awe, some of them looking at chan in curiosity. chan was surprised as well, raising his hand as he said, "excuse me. i didn't know you worked for the commander."

"i worked with the commander. we were a team. mr... mr.." mr. boy looked down at the seating chart in his hand again. "stronghold." he paused, looking down at the clipboard again, and then looking up at the young boy in disbelief. "stronghold? you... juwon's son?"

chan nodded awkwardly. "yeah." he said, a strained smile on his face.

"and he never–" mr. boy gestured to the poster behind him, an embarrassed look on his face, "– he never mentioned me to you?"

"i-i don't think so." chan shook his head regretfully.

mr. boy nodded, an understanding look on his face as he said, "ma-makes sense. that makes perfect sense because the commander does not have time to sit around flipping through scrapbooks that i took the time to make for him." he finished with a small frown, looking down at the seating chart as he moved back to his desk.

"no, the commander's got to be out there saving the world! with your mom," mr. boy's voice dropped an octave as he continued, "your mom. she ever mention me?"

chan knew the answer was no, but he didn't want to upset the teacher further. just as he was about to respond, the lights flickered off, and the walls began to shake. dust started falling from the ceiling.

as the students looked visibly alarmed, mr. boy said, "incoming!" and flew away just as there was a tiny explosion in the next room. the class let out shrieks of surprise at the impact, bracing themselves for more just in case.

the class soon settled down as the rumbling stopped. vernon sat back from his crouched position and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the glowing neon yellow light emanating from behind him. he turned around and let out a quiet scoff.

"oh, look. he does glow." vernon said, gesturing behind him to the tall boy who was sitting there with a smug look on his face as his classmates turned to look at him.

mingyu chuckled loudly at that. "I told you." he said with a nod in the direction of his friends.

the class turned to the doorway as they heard approaching footsteps, a little startled as a man with a massive head walked in dramatically, a flashlight in his hands as he entered the room.

"greetings." the man said, a mysterious tone in his voice as he continued, "there was a little misfire in the mad science lab. no need to panic... unless you're a single cell organism."

mr. boy scoffed loudly as he said, "mr. medulla. we, the unremarkables, are trained never to panic."

mr. medulla looked around for the teacher, an unimpressed look on his face as he looked up and saw mr. boy clinging onto the air conditioning vent attached to the ceiling. this didn't surprise mr. medulla at all. mr. boy was known for being a scaredy cat.

and just as the vent collapsed, so did mr. boy. as the teacher fell to the floor, the students in the class laughed. mr. boy stood up quickly, a garbage can on his head as he tried to gather his bearings.

"my bad." mr. medulla said, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. "i'll get the nurse... unless she's injured."

the class went back to normal after that. mr. boy brought up several mechanisms to assist the sidekicks with their missions, asking the class if they'd like to try them out. and that's how the rest of the class went. chan used a toolbelt that could shoot a tiny arrow into any object and lift him away, which the class found exciting. even as it struggled to lift mingyu and eventually drop him to the ground, the class was still excited.

the days went by like that. they learned more and more about being sidekicks – or, the unremarkables as mr. boy so delicately put it – and as the days passed, chan started to accept that he was a sidekick. he had fun in hero support class, learning how to use certain tools and how to quickly change costumes. he even grew accustomed to the crazy bus rides every morning.

so when it came time to study for an exam, he thought it would be okay to invite his friends over. there they were, sitting around the living room with their hero support textbooks cracked open. various snacks and drinks were scattered onto the coffee table as the group of sidekicks tried to focus on the practice questions for the exam.

"okay, number one." chan said, tapping his pencil against his textbook as he continued, "a radioactive zombie is charging at your hero. do you hand him a) his silver-tipped crossbow. b) a wooden spike. c–"

mingyu groaned loudly, waving his hand dismissively as he said, "yo, that's so weak, man. i'm already holding his crossbow. why can't i just shoot him myself?" he looked around at his friends, hoping one of them would back him up.

"because we're hero support." seokmin said, slightly agitated that he had to keep reminding the tall boy about their position.

"if your hero asks for a crossbow, you hand it to him." minghao said absentmindedly as he drew doodles onto his worksheet.

"or her." seungkwan cut in.

seokmin ignored seungkwan as he continued. "by the way, mingyu. you can't kill a zombie. you can only re-kill him."

"or her." seungkwan said louder this time, clear annoyance on his face.

a loud voice from the entryway spoke up, startling the group as he said, "so, if you kids are all in here, who's out there saving the world?" juwon asked, unconsciously striking a pose as he put his hands on his hips. he was still in his supersuit, which signaled that he was just coming back from a mission.

the group looked excited at the presence of the commander, but chan looked genuinely startled. "dad! why are you home so early?" he asked with a strained smile, feeling nervousness bubbling up inside of him.

"after i stopped the superdome from collapsing, i was watching the game and got to thinking, it's been a while since chan and i played some soccer together. i thought i'd hustle back home, but i see you and seungkwan have already made some friends." juwon smiled brightly as he looked around at the group of kids sitting in the living room.

seokmin tossed his textbook aside as he stood up excitedly and said, "it's an honor to meet you, sir." he reached a hand out and gave the commander a firm handshake, not surprised at the tight squeeze the man gave back.

"what's your name, what's your power?"

"i'm seokmin, and i melt." seokmin said a bright smile as he looked up at the older man.

juwon's smile faltered, but he nodded amicably as he said, "okay."

juwon looked beside seokmin and smiled as he saw mingyu approaching him, recognizing the boy from the times he and chan hung out. "ah, mingyu. your power came in over the summer, correct?"

"yep. i glow."

"i see." juwon said with an amused smile, feeling his spirit fall even more but not wanting it to show.

vernon stood up and reached over to give the commander a handshake. "vernon. i shapeshift."

juwon looked excited as he exclaimed, "shapeshift!" he'd met plenty of shapeshifters in his day, so this kid seemed promising to him.

"into a guinea pig."

"... great. great."

juwon trailed off, looking at the skinny boy walking towards him with a delicate hand on his chest as he formally bowed. "hello. my name is minghao. my korean name is seo myungho, and i'm a jumper."

juwon looked mildly interested as he leaned a bit closer. "a jumper? how high?"

"ah, the highest i ever got was to the top of a skyscraper."

juwon's eyes widened in amazement as he said, "wow, now that is impressive."

minghao chuckled awkwardly as he nodded. "yes, everyone else seems to agree. unfortunately, coach boomer does not."

juwon's expression fell. he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth as he shook his head. "ah. i see he's still the same as he was in high school. don't let it get to you, son." he said, giving the young boy an encouraging pat on the shoulder. chan felt a twinge of hope in his heart at the gesture. maybe he wouldn't be so upset when he found out chan was a sidekick as well.

juwon clapped his hands as he looked around the room. "well! i'm gonna make myself a sandwich. anybody want one?" he asked.

the group politely declined as they took their former seats. the commander nodded as he said, "pleasure meeting everyone." and walked into the kitchen.

chan felt conflicted as he watched his father walk away. he could tell that his father was being friendly, but he wanted to know how his father really felt. so he excused himself from the group and walked into the kitchen.

chan watched his father make himself a sandwich, a distant look in the older man's eye as he was deep in thought. his father looked at up at the presence of chan and warmly smiled at his son. this relieved chan's nerves a little as he stood on the other side of the counter facing his father.

"can i ask you something?" his father said, hands busy as he continued to make his snack.

"does mingyu really... glow?"

chan laughed awkwardly, shrugging as he said, "sometimes."

juwon shook his head in disbelief. "they have really lowered the bar for superheroes at that school since i went there." he said, gesturing wildly with his butter knife as he continued, "and that myungho kid definitely should have been in the hero class."

juwon tsked loudly as he shook his head. "that boomer. still picking on kids, huh?" he mumbled to himself.

chan moved to the counter behind his father and cleared his throat nervously as he said, "well, actually, mingyu is a sidekick."

juwon turned to his son, a slightly pleased look on his face as he said, "oh! well, that makes sense." he chuckled quietly as he turned back to his sandwich.

chan paused for a moment, feeling a sudden surge of confidence as he said, "actually, they're all sidekicks."

juwon turned to his son silently, looking proud as he said, "good for you, son. a kid of your stature hanging out with a bunch of sidekicks. as a first year? pfft, i didn't have the guts." he chuckled to himself as he turned around, "and i can only imagine what your grandfather would have said if i'd brought some of them home."

chan grimaced slightly as he looked at his friends, thankful that they weren't able to hear their conversation. "you know, there's nothing wrong with being hero support." he said nervously as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"sidekick. though, i hear they're calling them unremarkables now. poor kids." juwon said in dismay, shaking his head softly at the thought. "i used to have one, chan. saved my life once, too! what was his name..."

chan felt the nervousness pool in his stomach again as he continued, "so, then, you'd be fine with–" he fidgeted nervously as he said, "– if i was a sidekick."

juwon shrugged indifferently, too preoccupied with eating his sandwich at this point to fully process what his son was saying. chan didn't notice this and took his silence as a sign to continue.

"w-well, that's good then, because I am."

"am what?"

"a sidekick."

"who is?"

chan grew annoyed at his father's aloofness as he exclaimed, "me! dad, i'm a sidekick, okay?" he sighed quietly as he said, "i washed out of power placement."

juwon turned to his son, his smile falling as he shouted, "washed out?!"

chan stared back nervously as his father said boomer quietly, a smirk on his face as he turned his back to his son. hd paused momentarily before he slammed his fist down onto the counter, all of the objects resting on the surface flying into the air and landing haphazardly in their places.

chan winced slightly, rolling his eyes as he stared ahead at his friends who were now looking at them curiously.

"couldn't make the big time, so now he thinks he can pass judgement on some real heroes, huh?" juwon exclaimed as he began to pace the kitchen, smoke basically coming out of the man's ears as he fumed.

juwon turned to his son as he said, "oh, it's a power trip, chan. that's all it is. just some pathetic attempt to keep bright kids like you and myungho in check. sonic boom? try gym teacher man."

juwon grabbed the home phone and angrily began to dial the school number. chan rolled his eyes as he said, "no, dad, what are you doing?"

"i'm calling the school." he huffed loudly as he continued to punch his fingers into the buttons. "tuh, the tuition we pay them!" he exclaimed, feeling the phone crumble in his hands under the pressure of his fingertips. he let out a disgruntled noise as he tossed the phone to the side.

"dad, don't." chan whined, feeling embarrassed as he watched his dad open up the cabinet which had the spare home phones for this situation – his father has angrily called people before and it always ended with him having to grab a new phone.

chan thought that there was no use in lying anymore.

"dad, it's not coach boomer! it's me, okay? i don't have any powers."

the house sat in silence as juwon turned to chan, his expression falling as he fully faced his son. "but, you never said– i mean, you made it seem like–"

"like i had super strength, like you?" chan smiled sadly at his father. 

chan wished he could have kept the illusion going, just a little longer, until he inevitably got his powers. but as the days went by and he lost hope of that ever happening, he knew the day would come that he would have to tell his parents eventually. he just didn't assume that it would hurt this much.

"but i don't."

"but you will, chan!" juwon said as he held his son's shoulders, a determined look on his face as he continued,  "y-you're just a late bloomer! that's what it is!"

chan forced a smile on his face as he said, "maybe. maybe not." he frowned slightly at the disappointed look on his father's face.

great. exactly what i was trying to avoid.

"but i don't care." chan shrugged indifferently, feeling a sense of pride as he continued, "because, really, the fact of the matter is... i'm proud to be a sidekick. actually, i'm proud to be hero support. one of the unremarkables."

chan turned around and walked back to the living room, not wanting to continue the conversation. he knew what his father would say, he knew what his father was thinking. chan was finally starting to be okay with who he was and he didn't want his father's disappointment to get in the way of that.

chan took his former seat next to seungkwan, clearing his throat quietly as he said, "so, i think we pretty much covered the undead." he grabbed his notebook as he continued, "what's next?"

chan let out a few anxious breaths, looking around at the concerned looks of his friends. though they were sad for chan, they looked thankful that he stood up for them. the attention made him nervous, so he turned to seungkwan and asked him why they were staring.

seungkwan realized that chan didn't know they were listening to the conversation chan and his dad were having – which would have been impossible not to hear, the two were basically shouting. seungkwan turned to his friends and gave them a signal, hoping that they would drop the subject. the boys softly nodded, slowly turning back to their textbooks and resuming their group study.

as seokmin read another question from the study sheet, chan and seungkwan exchanged smiles. seungkwan gave chan a soft nudge in the shoulder, the other boy chuckling quietly as he focused back to his group of friends. seungkwan had a soft smile on his face as he continued to look at the boy, a soft blush dusting his cheeks as he looked back to his friends as well.

Chapter Text

the bus doors opened as mr. kim smiled and said, "welcome to sky hi–" abruptly being cut off as a stretchy limb, presumably belonging to soonyoung, reached into the bus and stole his hat.

mr. kim ran off of the bus and tried to chase after the teenagers but was met with much difficulty when seungcheol and jihoon began to play with the hat as well, with seungcheol speeding around and jihoon mockingly standing in front of mr. kim with the hat and then disappearing just before mr. kim could grab it.

soonyoung stood in the middle of the crazy pattern seungcheol was running in and laughed loudly, his arms crossed over his chest as he said, "come on, big boy! where's your hat?"

mr. kim grimaced as he struggled to follow seungcheol and jihoon with his eyes. "come on, if you're not gonna respect me, at least respect the hat." he said, feeling embarrassment begin to sink in.

chan watched all of this go down with a frown, laughing awkwardly as he came up behind mr. kim and said, "guys. guys, come on. give mr. kim his hat back."

seungcheol halted next to soonyoung, jihoon materializing on soonyoung's other side, and the three boys just stared at chan in amusement. seungcheol took the hat off of his head. soonyoung grabbed the hat from seungcheol and said, "all right, you heard the sidekick. give him his hat back."

soonyoung held the hat out with a playful smile, tossing it into a muddy puddle in front of the bus driver. the three friends laughed obnoxiously as they walked away and headed up the steps to the school.

"we'll catch you later, stronghold!" seungcheol shouted as mr. kim picked up his hat from the puddle, a grimace on his face as he tried to dust it off.

"thanks, chan." mr. kim said as he put his hat back on, directing a glare to the obnoxious seniors who were racing up the steps.

chan smiled awkwardly as he gave the bus driver a pat on the shoulder. "sure, mr. kim."

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

and sure enough, the obnoxious trio did catch chan later.

chan was walking through the bustling cafeteria, looking around for his friends. he nodded in acknowledgment when vernon and mingyu loudly called him over to the table they were sitting at.

seokmin stood up with a bright smile on his face as he said, "hey, and i saved you a pudding!" but suddenly a gust of wind blew past him and the cup of pudding was gone.

against one of the cafeteria windows, the trio stood there as they watched over the large room. seungcheol opened the pudding cup as he greeted soonyoung and jihoon and asked them what was happening.

soonyoung smirked, taking a step forward as he nodded at his friends and said, "hey, buddy. check this out."

soonyoung stretched out an arm, maneuvering it through tables and people's feet as he reached across the cafeteria to grab chan's ankle. the young boy let out a shout in surprise as he tripped and tossed his tray of food to the side.

little did chan know, he tossed his food onto wonwoo.

wonwoo was sat there, hunched over the table as he read a book. the cafeteria stood in silence as they watched the boy sit up quickly and turn to chan, standing up from his seat and looming over the young boy.

chan chuckled nervously as he crawled away on his hands and knees, stuttering quietly as he slowly stood up and said a meager, "sorry." to the older boy.

"you will be." wonwoo said lowly as he glared down at chan, his nostrils flaring as he attempted to contain his anger.

chan looked around nervously, hearing his peers scurry away from them as he said, "l-look, let's not do this."

"you think you can do whatever you want just cause your name's stronghold?" wonwoo growled at the boy, feeling the fire swell up within him the longer he stared down at chan's stupid face.

chan felt the nervousness bubble up in his stomach as he said, "i'm sorry that my dad put your dad in jail, but–"

wonwoo didn't give chan the chance to finish his sentence as he lifted chan up by the collar of his shirt, the shorter boy freezing as he felt his feet lift up off of the ground. chan knew he messed up at this point.

"nobody talks about my father." wonwoo whispered, his hands lighting up and flames shooting out from his palms.

chan yelped as he jumped away. staring at wonwoo in surprise. more specifically, he was staring at wonwoo's hands. he didn't know what wonwoo's power was, but of course he had pyrokinesis. of fucking course.

the classroom gasped loudly as more students began to run away from the scene, leaving just the two of them in the cafeteria. as the student body rounded themselves up in the corner, soonyoung shouted, "it's so on!" in his excitement.

chan could only watch in horror as he took several steps back. wonwoo took this as a challenge, flexing his arms as he blew more flames out of his hands.

seungkwan turned to mr. boy who was watching the fight go down while sipping on his drink. the cafeteria began to chant fight! fight! fight! which terrified seungkwan even more.

"mr. boy, do something!" seungkwan pleaded, eyes wide as he watched chan with a deeply worried look on his face.

mr. boy nodded quickly, saying, "i'm on it!" as he tossed his drink to the floor and ran out of the cafeteria. he ran through the halls as he called out for the principal, trying his best not to bump into students or the walls. his efforts were in vain as he felt himself crash into a bench situated onto a wall. nonetheless, he persevered.

his display alerted the students in the hallway, including jeonghan, joshua, and junhui. jeonghan looked at the cheerleaders in question, both boys looking back in the general direction of the cafeteria as the shouting in the lunch room grew louder.

the shouts in the cafeteria increased as chan looked around in panic, grabbing an empty lunch tray on one of the tables and using it as a shield. when wonwoo threw a ball of fire at the tray, chan grimaced as the tray rapidly melted and fell apart in his hands. he quickly threw it down, looking up just in time to quickly duck down and dodge another ball of fire tossed his way.

joshua and junhui took advantage of their numbers as they made it into the cafeteria, roughly pushing people aside and shouting so they and jeonghan could walk in peacefully. jeonghan, with joshua and junhui flanking his side, watched in interest once they had a decent view of the fight going down.

chan tried his best to dodge more balls of fire, looking back and gasping at each thing that was lighting on fire from wonwoo's direct hits. chan looked to one of the walls and zeroed in on the fire alarm that was covered by a protective plastic covering. he ran towards it, the students running away as wonwoo tossed more fire after him.

soonyoung reached down and grabbed chan's ankle again, the young boy tripping and flying a bit in the air before he harshly landed on his stomach. he gasped softly as he turned around and saw wonwoo standing a bit behind him. wonwoo flexed his arms again, and the flames began to climb further up his arms, the fire blowing a breeze through his long hair.

chan gulped nervously, crawling away and underneath a table. wonwoo tossed a ball of fire at the table, groaning loudly as he missed chan again. the older boy then climbed onto the table, continuing to throw more balls of fire at the table the further chan crawled underneath. chan yelled at each hit he narrowly avoided, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation without being burned alive.

"where's your sidekicks, sidekick?" wonwoo spat once the two of them reached the end of the long table.

"right here!" mingyu shouted.

wonwoo slowly turned around and faced chan's group of friends with a grimace. the group looked determined to defend chan, but even they knew with their combined abilities that they couldn't take the angry boy down.

wonwoo just flexed his arms once more, the flames going all the way up to his shoulders as he held his arms above his head. the group looked terrified, though anyone could tell by the way seokmin instantly melted into a puddle.

chan huffed loudly, placing his arms on the table as he grunted, "leave them alone!" his arms shaking at the exertion he was using to try to shake the table.

wonwoo looked down in confusion once he felt the table begin to lift up from the ground. the cafeteria stood in awe as they watched chan lift up the long table with wonwoo still on top of it, the older boy feeling his flames die down as he tried to steady himself on the wobbly table.

chan's friends looked at chan in surprise, seungkwan breathing out a, "he's strong!" with a proud smile on his face.

"i'm strong?" chan mumbled to himself, a surprised smile on his face.

on the other side of the cafeteria, jeonghan looked impressed as he murmured, "he's super strong." to himself, eyeing the boy up and down with a smile.

chan jumped back into the moment, lifting the table up higher and tossing it to the side. the cafeteria watched as wonwoo flew away and collided with the ceiling, landing onto a table and breaking it with the force of his fall. the cafeteria cheered chan on at his victory.

chan looked to his left and saw the obnoxious trio standing there, wide-eyed and mouths agape as they watched wonwoo groan in pain.

"now," chan started, the three boys looking at him nervously, "who tripped me?" chan asked menacingly as he glared at the three of them.

seungcheol ran away just as soonyoung grabbed a pillar from the ceiling and lifted himself away. this left just jihoon, who shot an awkward finger gun at chan before he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"stronghold!" wonwoo shouted from the other side of the cafeteria.

chan looked in the direction of the older boy's voice and grimaced as he watched wonwoo slowly climb out of the broken table. mad as ever, he flexed his arms and loudly grunted, the cafeteria backing away even further as the boy took a few steps towards chan.

though chan now had super strength, the boy did not have any actual combative skills, nor did he know how to control his power. so he clumsily stuck up his fists in a fighting position, hoping that would intimidate the older boy running his way.

a few rooms down from the cafeteria, coach boomer and mr. medulla were in the teacher's lounge discussing a double date they should go on. well, coach boomer wanted to go, but mr. medulla needed some more persuading.

just as mr. medulla graciously agreed to attend the double date, wonwoo crashed through the walls, colliding into a load-bearing pillar with a loud grunt. the boy slowly stood up from the now broken pillar and walked through the ruptured walls, casually stalking his way back into the cafeteria.

coach boomer and mr. medulla looked unphased as this was happening.

"think i can't take a hit?!" wonwoo shouted as he made his way through the rubble and into the cafeteria. he flexed his arms once more and let out a prolonged shout, the students screaming and running away once again.

chan, who was crowded around by his friends, turned around just as his group ran away in fear. the young boy looked around nervously, trying to find something to hopefully diffuse the situation and end the fight.

seungkwan's eyes landed on the fire extinguisher on one of the walls. he took it off of its holder and tossed it at chan with a shout of the boy's name, chan catching it quickly. the boy struggled to figure out how to use it as wonwoo began to run towards him, growling loudly with each step.

chan's friends desperately yelled at him to pull the pin, hoping the boy would hear, though the boy didn't. chan just decided to yank the top off, directing the mist at wonwoo just as he neared chan. the older boy fell back, holding his arms over his face to keep the spray out of his eyes.

just as the extinguisher stopped, a set of heels clicked against the floor and stopped next to wonwoo's head. both boys looked up and were met with the disapproving face of the principal, her arms crossed over her chest.

great. just in time.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

principal powers led the two boys through the hallway, standing in front of a white door that required a handprint for entry. she opened the door and gestured for the two boys to enter the stark white room. the desks were white, the chairs were white, even the walls were white.

chan complained as he pointed at wonwoo. "i didn't do anything though, he started it."

wonwoo turned to chan as they reached the center of the room. "your dad started it. and i'm gonna finish it." he said, flexing his arms and looking down in confusion when no flames came out of his palms. he continued to flex, looking up as chan continued to flinch.

"don't bother," principal powers said as she walked in, the door already shut behind her. she held up her hands to gesture around the room as she continued, "the detention room neutralizes all super powers." her smile fell as she pointed to the desks behind the boys, demanding the two to sit.

as the boys reluctantly sat down, the principal said, "here at sky high, we do everything we can to teach you how to use your powers. but what you do with them, now that's up to you."

she looked at the two boys with a hint of pity as she said, "living up to your father's reputation or trying to live it down is a sad waste of talent. your talent."

she smiled one last time before she said, "try to keep that in mind the next time you're about to do something stupid." and turned around, promptly leaving the two in the room.

chan slapped his arms onto his desk, sighing deeply as he turned to wonwoo and said, "all right. look. whatever happened with our dads, it has nothing to do with us. what do you say?" he held out a hand to wonwoo with his signature friendly grin.

wonwoo kept a straight face as he slowly turned to chan and said lowly, "i say if you ever cross me again, i'll roast you alive."

chan just sucked in a sharp breath and pressed his lips into a thin line. he retracted his hand as he sat back in his seat and stared ahead.

well, this is gonna take some time.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

as chan ran excitedly through the front door, ready to tell his parents the great news, he accidentally applied too much pressure when he pushed it open. he stared at the door in shock as it cracked away from its hinges, gasping quietly as he looked around. he laughed to himself as he carefully tried to put the door back in its frame, failing as he realized he put it in backwards.

"so, chan," jia said from behind chan. chan whipped around in surprise, facing his parents who were giving him stern looks. jia had her hands on her hips, a disapproving look on her face as she continued, "anything interesting happen in school today?"

"uh. well, as you may have noticed, "chan began, walking up to his parents and lifting his mother up from the ground with a cheeky grin on his face. "i got my powers today!"

"yes, we know. the principal called." jia said as she looked down at her son, her expression unwavering.

chan slowly put his mother down with a frown. he assumed they would be excited. he shook his head with an embarrassed smile as he said, "look, it's not... it's not as bad as it sounds. it's actually a really funny, great, story."

jia cut chan off as she said, "you nearly destroyed the cafeteria."

chan laughed, unable to hide his excitement as he looked between his parents and said, "yeah, but mom... i got my powers!"

jia raised an eyebrow as she asked, "and do you know how to use them wisely?"

chan looked to his father for support, finding the older man staring him down at him with his arms crossed. all juwon said was, "sanctum. now."

once the two of them were alone in the sanctum, chan expected the worst. he expected his father to punish him, to yell at him, to reprimand him for being irresponsible. but none of that happened. instead, juwon broke out into a grin and held his arms out for a hug.

"come here!" he said, a proud look on his face as he waited for chan to hug him.

chan was confused, glancing around the room before he asked, "you're not mad?"

juwon just laughed at this. "my boy has super strength! how can i be mad?"

juwon pulled chan into a bone crushing hug, the young boy groaning under the pressure. juwon quickly apologized, but took it back as chan squeezed him back just as hard.

the two laughed as juwon backed away and said, "you are strong!"

juwon looked up the shaft leading up to the house nervously as he said, "alright, if your mom asks, tell her that i yelled at you for half an hour... and that i took your xbox away."

"but i don't have an xbox?"

"then what's this?" juwon asked with a smirk, swiveling a chair around to reveal a wrapped up box that held the new gaming console juwon bought as soon as he heard the news. the boys laughed excitedly as chan reached over and began to open the box.

from across the room, the robot eye gleamed it's soft red light again, it's camera activating again as it displayed the live feed onto a large monitor in front of two cloaked individuals.

"the boy has stronghold's power. it's almost poetic." the figure on the chair said as it cooed mockingly at the father and son on their screen.

"we should crush him now, we know he has the weapon." said the other cloaked figure, flinching as the seated figure held up an arm.

"patience! we've waited this long. when the time is right, we'll have our revenge."

Chapter Text

chan was sitting in hero support class the next day, surrounded by his friends as they continued to praise him for the fight he won against wonwoo yesterday. the boy felt like he was walking on a cloud. though it was weird that people he didn't know were now approaching him, asking to be friends, he welcomed the attention with open arms.

mingyu walked up and dapped up chan as he said, "dude, you made sidekick history!"

chan smiled bashfully, glancing between their other friends with an embarrassed laugh as he said, "oh, i don't know about that."

"no, seriously." seokmin spoke up, the newly powered up boy turning to look at him as he continued, "from now on, people mess with us at their own peril."

seungkwan smiled proudly as he said, "you're breaking down barriers, chan. you're proving that we're not heroes or sidekicks. we're just people." on the boy's side, minghao nodded approvingly with a thoughtful smile on his face.

"super people." seokmin added with a point of his finger.

the bell rang soon after that, the students strolling to their desks as mr. boy came in. "seats, please. we have a lot to cover this morning. starting with motorcycle sidecar basics." he looked around until his eyes landed on chan. "except for you, mr. stronghold."

chan and his friends looked up at mr. boy in question. mr. boy looked impassive as he waved the young boy over. the man fiddled with a piece of paper as he said, "would you gather your gear and come up here, please? i've got your new," he paused, looking up at chan as he said, "class schedule."

a few of the students looked shocked as chan stood up and grabbed the slip of paper from mr. boy's hands.

"congratulations. you've been transferred to hero class." mr. boy said solemnly, a grin spreading across his face as he continued, "by the way, if you should find yourself needing any hero support," the man ducked behind his desk and did a quick change, striking a pose as he said, "i still do a little freelance."

chan looked up from the sheet of paper with a deep frown on his face. "what about them?" he asked as he turned dejectedly to look at his friends.

seokmin smiled as he spoke up, "we'll still see you on the bus."

"yeah, we'll hang out at lunch." mingyu piped up with a smile of his own.

vernon scoffed lightly as he said, "yeah, right after you've finished dunking seokmin's head in the toilet."

"vernon, hush. chan wouldn't do that." minghao whispered harshly, giving the boy a soft shove in the shoulder.

chan still looked unsure as he looked away from his friends. noticing this, mr. boy sighed and said, "well, you best not be late." with a suggestive nudge to the door with his head.

chan sighed deeply again, slowly walking to the door of the classroom. he turned around, hoping one of his friends would stop him. he was instead met with the supportive smiles of the boys he now called his closest friends, feeling a sense of warmth run through his body.

seungkwan smiled softly at chan as he said, "just go already."

chan smiled back, a hop in his step as he left the classroom. now feeling encouraged to transition from sidekick to hero, he went to find his new class.

"– rays! from the silliness of the shrink ray to the devastation of the death ray. these are the very foundations of mad science." chan heard the voice of mr. medulla echo from the open door of the classroom he was approaching.

chan softly knocked on the door with apprehension as he entered the classroom. mr. medulla turned to the youngest boy and sighed softly. he rolled his eyes as he said, "yes. they told me you were coming."

chan squirmed uncomfortably as he felt the stares of the students, and mr. medulla's less than impressed glare, fall directly on him. he takes it back. the attention was no longer welcomed.

mr. medulla continued as he eyed the boy up and down in disapproval. "unfortunately, all the lab partners are taken. i suppose i could pair you with my teaching assistant." he turned to the back of the classroom, a friendly smile on his face as he said, "mr. yoon. my apologies." he playfully bowed to the senior sitting in the back.

jeonghan, mr. medulla's teaching assistant, looked over at chan and smiled warmly, gesturing softly with his head for chan to come over. chan felt himself freeze in his spot as he locked eyes with the older boy.

shit. there goes the cheesy 90s r&b song again.

chan hurried over to sit next to jeonghan, wincing internally when he accidentally stepped on mr. medulla's foot in his haste. he quickly sat next to jeonghan and exchanged a friendly smile with the attractive senior. well, chan hoped it came off as friendly.

the class went by without any issues. well, a small issue occurred. the assignment for the class was to assemble a ray gun, but a) chan didn't remember what type of ray gun to assemble, and b) he didn't know how to assemble a ray gun. it was his first class, and apparently, he was expected to know how to do these things already, which mildly frustrated the young boy.

jeonghan just sat back in his seat as he watched chan fumble around with the items on the desk. as the teaching assistant, he wasn't allowed to help build the ray gun with chan. though, this didn't mean he couldn't enjoy watching the boy mess around with the small scrap pieces. an amused smile played on jeonghan's lips as chan nervously asked, "okay, how's that?"

jeonghan giggled quietly as he playfully nodded along. "perfect." he smirked when chan looked up at him with a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "if you're building a heat ray."

chan sighed dejectedly as he looked down at the pieces in his hands. noticing this, jeonghan continued, "you're supposed to be building a freeze ray."

chan dropped the pieces down onto the desk in front of them, laughing awkwardly as he said, "okay, i have no idea what i'm doing."

the two boys looked up as they heard mr. medulla reprimand one of the students in front of them and give the kid a bad grade. this caused chan to panic as he looked down at the several small pieces laying in front of him.

jeonghan pursed his lips as he looked down and raised his hand, a few small bolts of electricity shooting through his hand as he waved it over the pieces. chan watched with wide eyes as the small bits of scrap quickly transformed into the ray gun he was supposed to be building on his own.

just as chan was about to say something to jeonghan, mr. medulla walked up to their table and asked, "what have we here?"

chan looked down at the newly assembled ray gun nervously. "uh... well, i don't know. i didn't build it." chan said honestly, already assuming he would get caught if he lied and said he built the ray himself.

jeonghan smiled humbly as he grabbed the ray gun and handed it over to mr. medulla. "you're far too modest, mr. stronghold." the teacher said, quickly whipping around and freezing the student he was yelling at earlier.

chan flinched back in surprise at the power of the ray gun. he looked up at mr. medulla as the teacher shared a knowing look at jeonghan and said, "or perhaps, not modest enough."

mr. medulla handed the gun back to chan, the young boy fumbling with it in his arms as mr. medulla turned to jeonghan. "mr. yoon, in the future, please allow the students to succeed, or fail," he leaned towards chan, leaning away as he finished, "on their own."

chan and jeonghan looked at each other nervously as mr. medulla walked away, jeonghan looking more amused than anything. chan smiled in amazement as he asked jeonghan, "how did you do that?"

jeonghan smiled as he said, "i'm a technopath. i can control technology with my mind."

chan nodded awkwardly as he looked down at the gun in his hands, turning it over as he mumbled, "wow. all i can do is punch stuff."

both boys laughed at chan's joke, turning to the side when mr. medulla walked past them, clear annoyance in his words as he said, "yet, he'll be the one on cereal boxes. show me the justice in that."

"that was amazing." chan said with a shy smile as he turned to face the older boy.

"so was what you did in the cafeteria."

"oh, yeah. once they start handing out grades for destruction of school property, i'll be in good shape."

jeonghan laughed in amusement, leaning in close to whisper, "in your defense, that wonwoo kid is seriously scary."

"yeah. if villain schools were a thing, he'd totally be enrolled in one." chan joked, feeling confident now that he made the older boy laugh.

jeonghan laughed again. he leaned back in his seat with a smile as he said, "you know, i can totally help you out with all this science stuff."

chan looked away momentarily before he shyly asked, "y-yeah. you'd do that?"

"mmm-hmm." jeonghan hummed with a sweet smile on his face. his smile quickly turned flirty as he continued, "i could be, like, your private tutor."

"cool." chan said, gulping nervously as he tried to sustain eye contact with jeonghan. he was failing to seem confident, but jeonghan didn't seem to mind.

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chan was sitting at a new lunch table with jeonghan and his other hero friends. the first year was looking around for his friends, excitedly waving them over once he spotted them.

chan's friend approached the tables of heros apprehensive. though the idea of social cliques in schools seemed outdated, the kids took it very seriously. superheroes and sidekicks almost never interacted, not even to ask for a pencil. mostly because it was rare for them to have classes together. so, seeing their former unremarkable chan next to the most popular boy in school, his friends found it shocking.

"chan? next to yoon jeonghan?" vernon said in disbelief.

seungkwan smiled brightly as they continued to walk to the table. he heard mingyu from behind him say, "man aims high. gotta give him that." but seungkwan paid it no mind.

as the group of sidekicks, or chan's friends, stood in front of the table, joshua and junhui exchanged smirks. they soon multiplied and took the rest of the empty seats on the table in one quick swoop.

"sorry." joshua said with a fake pout directed at the group of unremarkables.

"all full." junhui said with a smile, honey dripping in his words. though, the younger boys could tell they were teasing them, and not in a friendly way.

jeonghan looked at his friends in disapproval, though he didn't say anything as he looked down awkwardly at his lap. chan felt awkward as well as he looked around nervously at his friends, not knowing what to do about the situation. on the one hand, he wanted to eat lunch with them, but on the other, he didn't feel confident enough to stand up against the mean cheerleaders.

seungkwan looked around with a nervous chuckle as he said, "that's okay! uh..." he looked around the room, hoping to find an empty spot for him and his friends. "i think i see an empty table over there. come on, guys." he finished, whispering awkwardly to his friends as they scurried away from the hero table.

chan watched them leave with a frown, turning around when he heard joshua speak up. "no offense, chan, but we are not running a loser outreach program. okay?" the older boy said, his clones laughing along with junhui's. the two cheerleaders turned to each other and gave each other a high five as they continued to laugh loudly.

jeonghan glared at his friends in disbelief, rolling his eyes as he turned to chan. "i'm sorry. those two can be a little... full of themselves sometimes." the older boy joked, hoping to ease the tension in the room. chan nodded along softly, a small smile on his face as he looked away, deep in thought.

chan turned to his side and watched his friends sit down at an empty table. he assumed that they were talking about today's lesson in hero support, and chan wished he could jump in and act like things haven't changed, but he knows they have.

chan let out a soft sigh as he stared ahead, catching the eye of wonwoo who was reading another book. the boy wasn't wearing the full black ensemble today, choosing instead to wear a tight red shirt with a black leather vest on top.

red. how funny.

as if wonwoo could read chan's thoughts, he slowly looked up and glared at the young boy. chan quickly snapped his eyes away from wonwoo, quickly lifting up his juice box and inspecting it to distract himself.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

chan rounded the corner of the hallway as he followed behind seungkwan to the boy's locker. he heard seungkwan let out a sigh as he quickly opened his locker.

"kwan, what's up?" chan asked once he reached the boy, sniffing the air in question and smiling as he said, "hey, you smell nice."

seungkwan opened his locker, revealing a round green plant on the inside of the door. he pointed to it as he said, "tecomaria capensis. honeysuckle?" he began to dig around in his bag for the books he needed to put away.

chan sighed loudly, an awkward smile on his face as he said, "all right, listen. about lunch..." he trailed off, not really knowing what to say.

"what about it?" seungkwan asked as he put his things away, glancing momentarily at chan before he looked away.

"n-no, you know. at the table, joshua and junhui were being..."

seungkwan quickly cut chan off, turning to the boy as he said, "please. not a big deal."

chan shook his head as he said, "no, it is. and i feel bad, so let me make it up to you. maybe tonight we can go to the paper lantern?"

seungkwan stopped rummaging around in his bookbag as he looked at chan. "but you hate chinese food." he said with a knowing smile on his lips.

"but you don't." chan said suggestively.

seungkwan smiled excitedly, hopping on the balls of his feet as he said, "okay. see you tonight."

seungkwan closed his locker softly. just as chan was about to say something, the boys heard seokmin run up behind chan and shout his name. chan turned around and saw seokmin being dragged away by a stretchy limb. knowing it had to belong to soonyoung, the two boys exchanged nervous glances as they ran after seokmin.

chan ran up to the obnoxious trio as they were shoving seokmin into a locker. the boy was taller than the three of them, so it was actually quite hard, but they seemed to be succeeding.

chan stood in front of them as he said, "whoa, whoa, whoa. oh, hey! come on, buddy." chan said as he gently pulled seokmin out of the locker.

the three boys watched chan annoyingly as seokmin slipped past them and thanked chan as he ran away.

soonyoung slammed the locker shut, leaning against the one next to it with a discreet whistle, seungcheol joining him as well. jihoon watched the two in embarrassment as he took a few steps away, not wanting to be get involved.

chan saw a neon yellow light shining through the slits on the locker the two boys were standing in front of. with a sigh, he said, "mingyu, too." to the older boys.

soonyoung shot the young boy a glare, seungcheol crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance as the two boys stepped aside. soonyoung turned around and opened the locker mingyu was amazingly shoved into, telling the boy to get out with a grunt.

mingyu struggled to step out, a grimace on his face as he spat to the older boys, "not so tough when my boy's around, are you?" his voice dropped to a meek whisper as seungcheol lurched forward, as if he was about to jump onto him.

jihoon rolled his eyes at the group of people in front of him. having enough of it, he said with a roll of his eyes, "you just think you're so big and bad, huh, stronghold?"

chan turned to the trio in surprise, quickly shaking his head as he tried to deny it. seokmin, who came back just in time, chimed in with a, "please, chan will totally take you."

chan's face dropped as he turned to seokmin. he looked calm but anyone could see the clear panic in his eyes.

mingyu decided to butt in as well. "yeah, you saw what happened to wonwoo? you want a piece of that?" mingyu asked as he pointed a finger at chan, an arrogant smile on his face now that his hero friend was there to protect him.

"you better watch it, stronghold. that big mouth is gonna get you in a lot of trouble." seungcheol said with a strong glare directed at the young boy.

chan looked around in confusion, a nervous laugh escaping his lips as he said, "i-i didn't say anything."

"why don't we settle this in p.e.?" seungcheol asked, raising his nose to the young boy.

"settle what?" chan asked with a nervous smile. he looked around for some back up, only to be met with the the enthusiastic smiles of mingyu and seokmin. shit.

"you're on!" seokmin said confidently, ignoring the glare chan was throwing at him as he continued, "if chan beats you in save the citizen, you lay off the sidekicks for the rest of the year."

chan looked up at mingyu with a desperate look on his face as the taller boy said, "yeah, and if he loses, you can dunk seokmin's head in the toilet every day until graduation."

"yeah!" seokmin quickly agreed, furrowing his eyebrows as his head snapped up at mingyu, "huh?!"

soonyoung pointed at chan as he said, "you got yourself a deal."

"i didn't even say anything." chan mumbled as he watched the trio walk away.

the boy turned to his friends, panic clear in his voice as he said, "guys, are you crazy?! no first year ever won at save the citizen, and those guys are undefeated!"

seungkwan smiled nervously as he added, "and you barely know how to use your powers!"

chan's face dropped, shooting an annoyed look at his best friend. seungkwan smiled awkwardly as he said, "sorry, not helping."

mingyu tried to encourage the shorter boy as he said, "chan, you have no choice. you can't let them dunk seokmin's head in the toilet. not again."

chan frowned softly. mingyu took this as an opportunity to dramatically say, "the dunking must end."

chan looked at his friends, wishing one of them would be on his side. he knew they wanted him to do this, so he felt that he had no other choice. he rolled his eyes as he walked away from the group.

Chapter Text

"five! four! three! two! one!" the students in the auditorium chanted, cheering as the buzzer ran down to zero. a scoreboard mounted on one of the gymnasium walls spelled out the words 'GAME OVER' in gigantic lettering, signifying the end of another round of save the citizen. the heroes lost, due to being put against seungcheol and soonyoung (and jihoon sneaking in and out under the not so watchful eye of coach boomer).

in the center of the gymnasium, a plastic mannequin that hung down from the ceiling was destroyed, falling into a large contraption with protruding steel teeth that tore through the mannequin's body. plastic limbs were flying around as the crowd cheered the victory of the villain team. seungcheol and soonyoung did a belly bump, doing an air five with jihoon who was sitting in the stands with a smug look on his face.

from a podium high above the floor, coach boomer sat on a chair. the man blew his whistle as he said, "jung! lee! your citizen has been mulched because you failed to defeat your villains." he gave a pointed look to seungcheol and soonyoung before he continued. "all right, next round. speed, lash, you wanna be heroes or villains?"

seungcheol smiled cockily as he said, "villains." soonyoung nodded along enthusiastically, a cocky smile of his own stretching across his face.

coach boomer looked down at his clipboard as he marked them down as villains, thoroughly unimpressed as he said, "ooh, there's a surprise." he looked up at the boys as he asked them, "all right, who do you want to beat next?"

seungcheol and soonyoung exchanged a glance, nodding as seungcheol pointed out into the crowd and said, "we'll take little stronghold, and..." he trailed off, not sure who to pick next.

sat at the bleachers, chan rolled his eyes. he knew they were going to pick him, and the encouraging pat on his back from mingyu didn't help him. neither did the crowd gasping loudly.

soonyoung smirked as he added, "and we pick wonwoo!" he pointed up at the younger boy who was sitting by himself. the students were scared to sit next to him in the gymnasium, it would seem.

wonwoo slapped his hands on his knees as he slowly stood up and went to put the protective gear on. chan's friends glanced between chan and wonwoo nervously, knowing that this pairing could possibly end in disaster for one or both of them.

once chan and wonwoo were geared up and on the gymnasium floor, they walked cautiously towards the center of the floor. chan was avoiding wonwoo's gaze as best as he could. but even he knew he would have to look at him eventually. they were on the same team, and if he wanted to win and keep his friends safe from those three, he needed to play nice with wonwoo and win the game.

"hothead! stronghold! you're the heroes." coach boomer announced.

chan fidgeted with the protective gear, annoyed that it didn't fit him well. he looked up at the stands and saw jeonghan smiling at him. the boy shot him a sweet smile, waving cutely at the young boy as he was waiting for the round to start. how can a wave be so cute? chan waved back with a shy smile on his face.

wonwoo looked between the two and made a noise similar to a growl as he spat, "hey! keep your head in the game!"

chan dropped his smile, nodding awkwardly as he looked away. he just wanted the round to start. better to get this out of the way now.

"you have three minutes to immobilize your opponents and save the citizen!" coach boomer pointed towards the center of the gymnasium. a new mannequin hung down from the ceiling, chanting 'save me' in a robotic voice and kicking its legs.

"ready. set." the machine behind chan and wonwoo sprung to life, the mechanical teeth of the contraption spinning around in a circular motion. "battle!" coach boomer bellowed as the countdown began.

soonyoung ran to one corner of the floor and stretched his arm out. holding onto a makeshift streetlight pole that was used for the game, he used his arm to act as a catapult. seungcheol slid back in his outstretched arm and let go, launching himself into the walls. he bumped into each wall with increased speed, making a zigzag pattern as he hit each wall.

chan and wonwoo struggled to keep up with seungcheol's movements, each boy being flung away when seungcheol shoved them out of nowhere. they flew to opposite sides of the floor, each landing with loud grunts as one crashed into the wall and the other landed onto a table.

chan held his jaw as he tried to stand up, looking to his right and seeing wonwoo pick up the broken table and toss it outside of the protective glass wall built around the gym floor.

soonoung reached out both of his arms towards wonwoo, wrapping them around the boy who looked down at the jumbled mess of arms around his torso. the younger boy looked confused as soonyoung chuckled and said, "ha! what now, peace?" only laughing harder when wonwoo visibly tensed.

in his annoyance, wonwoo ignited the flames in his body, effectively startling the older boy as he gasped in pain and pulled his hands away. the students cheered, happy that soonyoung got what was coming to him.

"hey!" soonyoung shouted, an immature whine coming out of his throat as he looked up at the coach and shouted, "coach, that's a foul! call something on that!" coach boomer did nothing but laugh.

in the meantime, chan was trying to save the citizen, even if it was just a plastic mannequin in a yellow wig made of yarn. he stood up but was quickly knocked down by seungcheol who came charging at him. chan did a flip in the air, colliding against the ground with a loud groan. the students on the stands gasped, one of them shouting at the ref for not paying attention.

chan slowly stood up and made his way to the center, being tripped by jihoon who appeared and disappeared just as fast, just fast enough for coach boomer not to notice. chan landed haphazardly again, feeling his muscles ache from the times he's been pushed or fell down. nonetheless, he still tried.

on the other side, wonwoo was tossing balls of fire towards soonyoung. the older boy stretched his body out of the way each time, dipping out of the way just as wonwoo threw a ball in the direction of coach boomer's seat. the ball hit the coach dead on, nearly knocking him out of his seat.

"watch it, hothead!" the coach yelled as the students laughed from behind him. he looked to his shoulder and saw a tiny flame on his shirt. his eyes widened as he blew at it and frantically patted it down.

chan, having enough of seungcheol knocking into him, thought of only one thing to do. or rather, one move to do. it was a move his father did in battle many times. chan didn't think it would come in handy. until now.

chan clenched his jaw as he stood up and jumped high into the air, balling his hand into a fist as he landed and punched the ground. the floorboards creaked as they split apart and lifted from the ground. this caused a ripple effect, which made seungcheol and soonyoung fly in opposite directions. seungcheol collided into a makeshift mailbox, and soonyoung fell onto a makeshift bench, breaking through the pieces with a loud grunt.

the crowd cheered chan on, his friends in the stand looking excited as they clapped for him. chan went over to soonyoung and picked the older boy up, forcibly stretching out his arms as he held him up against the streetlight and tied him up with his own arms. the students laughed at soonyoung, which distracted chan from the important task at hand.

wonwoo, on the other hand, was tossing balls of fire at seungcheol, missing each time as the older boy zoomed around the floor. wonwoo turned to chan, clearly exasperated as he yelled out, "hey! save the citizen!"

chan looked to the scoreboard, noticing the countdown was down to forty seconds. the boy ran away, ignoring soonyoung's you are so dead! as he ran to the center of the floor.

seungcheol stopped running around the floor and instead began to circle wonwoo. the younger boy's flames blew out, wonwoo holding his throat as he began to gasp for air. he kneeled down onto the floor as he struggled to breathe, panting out for air as seungcheol continued to run circles around him.

chan was about to save the citizen but noticed what seungcheol was doing to wonwoo. he couldn't let that happen, so he ran over to the two older boys. chan stood next to seungcheol and cautiously reached a hand out, grabbing seungcheol's shoulder and pulling him away from wonwoo. the older boy tried to run away, but chan was lifting him off of the ground. the young boy threw him away, the older one flying through the air and landing against soonyoung. the impact of the two of them colliding broke the streetlight, knocking the two of them against the protective plastic barrier. the students pointed and laughed at this.

without checking if wonwoo was alright, chan picked him up by his protective gear and threw the older boy towards the mannequin, just in time for the students to start counting down. the countdown hit zero just as wonwoo caught the citizen, the students cheering as the round ended. the heroes won, but just barely.

"time!" coach boomer yelled as wonwoo landed on his back and lifted the mannequin up. "she's alive! heroes win!" wonwoo tossed the mannequin off of him as soon as the results were called, having enough with the tiresome game.

the students continued to cheer loudly as chan ran up to wonwoo. the young boy shrugged as he held out a hand to help the older boy up, smiling sheepishly as if to say it was a great game. wonwoo ignored the gesture as he slowly stood up, shooting a glare at the young boy as he walked away. cha. sighed as he looked at wonwoo's retreating figure, not having much time to dwell on it as his peers ran out to the floor and congratulated him.

still on the stands, chan's friends tried to get the boy's attention, failing as the boy was enveloped by the students, jeonghan included. the older boy held chan's hand up in victory.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

"i just can't believe you actually won save the citizen as a first year! i mean, that's never been done before!" chan's father said excitedly, an arm wrapped around his son's shoulders as he led them towards the kitchen.

two voices were heard from the kitchen, stopping as they heard chan and his father enter the room. chan smiled immediately as he spotted jeonghan chatting with his mother, a little confused as he called the older boy's name. jeonghan smiled as he turned to chan and greeted him.

chan stuttered as he turned to his dad and said, "oh, uh, dad. this is yoon jeonghan." he turned to jeonghan with an awkward smile, "jeonghan, this is my dad."

jeonghan shook his head in amazement, holding out a hand as he said, "mr. stronghold, it's such an honor. i'm sorry to barge in like this." he looked between the three of them, chuckling quietly as he saw chan fidgeting with his hair.

"honey, jeonghan is a technopath, and he's offered to help chan with his homework. and he's in his last year of high school." chan's mother said, stepping towards her husband and wrapping an arm around him, the man wrapping an arm around her waist as he looked at jeonghan.

chan noticed the way his parents were visibly impressed and smiled himself. he turned to jeonghan as the older boy spoke up, "chan, i know we said we're gonna work on that antigravity stuff tomorrow, but something came up." he sighed, a smile on his face as he asked, "is there any chance we can do it tonight?"

"sure. yeah." chan nodded fervently, seemingly out of breath for no apparent reason other than wow, jeonghan has such a nice smile.

"on one condition, jeonghan," juwon spoke up, the two young boys turning to him in question. chan's father smiled warmly as he said, "you have dinner with us."

jeonghan tried to refuse politely, only to be met with the enthusiastic smiles of the stronghold trio, or the stronghold three as they wished to be called one day. and, who was jeonghan to say no to them?

jeonghan smiled brightly as he said, "okay. thanks!" he turned to chan as he asked the younger boy, "so, should we get started?"

chan nodded, making an awkward waving gesture with his arms as he motioned towards the hallway. jeonghan smiled as he walked ahead, the younger boy mentally cursing at himself. the two curious pairs of eyes burning into the back of his head didn't do anything to ease his nerves.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

as the four people had a delightful conversation over dinner, seungkwan was by himself. he was sat in his favorite booth at the chinese restaurant chan promised to meet him at earlier. the young boy smiled politely at the waitress who approached him more times than he could count that night, saying that he was still waiting for someone. the waitress walked away with a shake of her head.

seungkwan sighed heavily as he looked away, focusing on a flower on his table. he stared at it with a pointed look, looking away with a sigh as he saw the flower wilt and die.

back at the stronghold household, chan's mother asked, "so, jeonghan, do we know your parents?"

jeonghan shook his head with a smile as he said, "i don't think so, mrs. stronghold. dad went inactive a few years ago."

jia looked surprised at this, turning to her husband as he spoke up, "lets mom do all the work now, huh?" he joked, the four of them laughing lightly.

juwon took a sip of his tea as jeonghan turned to him and calmly said, "actually, mom passed away when i was a baby." the older man spat up in shock, looking away from the young boy awkwardly.

jeonghan just brushed it off as he said, "actually, i did have an ulterior motive in coming here tonight." he gestured towards chan as he said, "chan may have told you i'm head of the dance committee?"

juwon wiped his hands of the tea he spilled with a napkin, looking surprised as he said, "uh, he most certainly did not."

jeonghan chuckled as he glanced at chan. "well, i was wondering if you two would consider attending the dance."

jia looked surprised as well, gesturing between her and he husband as she said, "we would love to chaperone." her husband shrugging in agreement.

jeonghan chuckled again as he said, "that's very nice, mrs. stronghold, but, no. we were hoping that you'd be the guest of honor," he looked between the two of them, a smile on his face as he added, "and receive the award for heroes of the year."

the married couple exchanged pleased looks, chan looking excited as he looked between them.

back at the empty restaurant, seungkwan stared blankly at his glass of water, zoning out as he continued to wait for chan. someone walked up to seungkwan from behind and muttered, "still working on that?"

seungkwan looked up towards the sound of the voice and blinked in surprise, being met with none other than wonwoo. the older boy was wearing a tight sleeveless shirt, a rag on his shoulder as he held out a pitcher full of ice water. his hair was pulled back by a thin black headband, the longer pieces sticking out from the top.

wonwoo looked just as surprised as he recognized seungkwan. they awkwardly greeted each other, knowing this was their first time interacting. chan's best friend and chan's worst enemy, interacting in an empty chinese restaurant. just a typical day.

"we go to school together."

"you're stronghold's friend."

seungkwan rolled his eyes, subconsciously smiling as he groaned, "yeah..."

wonwoo sucked in a breath, gnawing on the inside of his cheek as he awkwardly said, "yeah..." he gestured towards seungkwan's plate as he asked, "want me to heat that up for you?"

seungkwan looked around nervously, leaning close to the older boy as he whispered, "you're not supposed to use your powers outside of school."

wonwoo leaned in as well, resting the pitcher onto the table as he whispered, "i was just gonna stick it in the microwave."

seungkwan laughed awkwardly, looking down as he said, "i was, uh, supposed to meet chan here, but..." he trailed off, looking up at wonwoo and hating the pitiful smile on the older boy's face.

seungkwan couldn't bring himself to care. he was lonely and needed to rant. "do you want to sit down?" he asked, watching as the older boy glancing around at the empty restaurant.

wonwoo looked down as he said, "i think i can spare a minute."

wonwoo slid into the seat in front of seungkwan with a sigh. he ignited a tiny flame from his finger and lit the unlit candle sitting in the table. now that seungkwan was close, he could see the orange and red flame tattoo on the older boy's arm leading to his hands.

seungkwan and wonwoo just stared at each other and smiled.

back at the stronghold household, the four of them were now sitting on the couch, flipping through the married couple's old school yearbooks, laughing at the stories that were being told and the crazy hairstyles and fashion from back in the day. one picture of which was coach boomer with a mullet, which chan and jeonghan found very funny.

just as jeonghan was about to turn the page, juwon stopped him and said, "remember him, jia? he was a weird one."

jia nodded as she said, "yeah, lee junhyuk. disappeared right before graduation."

chan furrowed his eyebrows as he asked, "why is that?"

jia shrugged as she turned to the younger boys. "no one ever really knew. some say he was recruiting villains at the school. others say he was smoking in the boy's restroom."

juwon shook his hand dismissively as he said, "nightmare. all right, now. speaking of villains, there's one of the worst, jeon wonjun. mr. battle, as he likes to be called." he pointed at a picture of a teenage boy smiling brightly into the camera.

chan looked down at the photo in surprise, alarmed by the resemblance to his son. "wonwoo's dad?" chan asked just to make sure.

"always swore he'd have his revenge on me. and he totally stole the lead in the school play."

"you have to stop caring about that, dad."

at the restaurant, wonwoo tried his best to keep up with the younger boy's rant, nodding occasionally even though he didn't understand half of what the boy was saying. it seemed that the boy was talking about how chan and him became friends in preschool.

wonwoo hummed, glancing at the table for a second before he looked up at seungkwan and said, "and falling for him, was that before or after you became friends?"

seungkwan just looked at the older boy in surprise. he laughed in disbelief as he said, "what?! i am not in love with lee chan..." he trailed off as he noticed the unconvinced look on the older boy's face.

"is it that obvious?" seungkwan whispered faintly.

"yeah."

"great."

"so, why don't you tell him?"

seungkwan looked unsure as he spoke up. "well, i was gonna ask him to the dance, but there's two problems: he likes somebody else... and he's perfect."

wonwoo hummed softly. "know what i think? to let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart."

seungkwan's eyes widened as his expression softened, feeling thoroughly surprised and impressed at wonwoo's eloquence.

"wow," seungkwan breathed out, a small smile on his face as he said, "that is really deep."

"yeah." wonwoo nodded, looking down at the table as he said, "and, your lucky numbers are," he held up a thin piece of fortune cookie paper, the younger smiling in embarrassment as wonwoo read off the numbers on the slip of paper.

from the kitchen window, a woman yelled out to wonwoo in cantonese, presumably telling the boy to get back to work. wonwoo yelled back in cantonese, facing seungkwan with a sigh as he said, "i gotta go."

seungkwan looked mildly impressed, looking up at wonwoo as he said, "you speak cantonese?"

wonwoo shrugged softly, glancing around the dining room as he said, "yeah, on my mom's side." he handed the fortune paper to seungkwan as he said, "see you around, hippie."

seungkwan smiled softly, playing around with the slip of paper as wonwoo and the lady in the window continued to yell at each other in cantonese.

on the other side of town, chan and jeonghan were walking down the street slowly. the younger boy offered to walk jeonghan home, which jeonghan kept insisting wasn't necessary, even as they continued to walk.

"you really didn't have to walk me home." jeonghan said again, his arms wrapped around himself as they were finally approaching his home.

"i did if i wanted to spend any time alone with you." chan said coolly, laughing awkwardly at the lack of response from the older boy.

chan slightly stuttered as he continued, "just so you know, i don't usually hang out all night with my mom and dad."

the two walked towards the front door of jeonghan's home as the older boy said, "your parents are great, chan. i'm so glad they're coming to the dance." he huffed loudly, looking away as he said, "now, if i could only find someone to go with."

chan was in disbelief, leaning forward slightly as he said, "you mean you don't have a date for the dance?"

jeonghan rolled his eyes playfully, a bashful look on his face as he said, "well, i've gotten a few offers, but i turned them down." he looked in chan's eyes as he breathed out, "i'm just waiting for the right guy."

"oh." chan said in dismay, bouncing on his feet awkwardly as he looked away.

jeonghan looked at the young boy in disbelief, surprised that he didn't get the hint. he leaned forward with an amused smile on his face as he said, "you, chan."

chan let out a breath. "me?" he asked in confusion, looking at his shoulder as jeonghan reached out and placed his hand on it. the boy pulled chan in, attempting to kiss the boy. chan noticed this immediately and leaned in as well, only to be stopped by the front door opening quickly and revealing who chan assumed was jeonghan's father.

jeonghan smiled awkwardly as he glanced between his father and chan. "oh. hi, dad." he breathed out, his face falling as his father motioned for him to go inside. he turned to chan with a frown as he hurriedly said bye to him, immediately rushing inside.

this left chan and jeonghan's father, just staring at each other. the older man had his arms crossed over his chest, a look of disapproval on his face as he eyed chan and asked, "you're not that boy with the six arms, are you?"

chan shook his head fervently. "no, sir. j-just two." he said, showing his two non-super arms.

"well keep them to yourself."

"yes, sir."

the man slammed the door shut between them. chan sighed softly as he turned to leave, stopping when he heard the door creak open. he turned around and saw jeonghan sneaking out the door. the older boy stepped towards chan and leaned in, planting a soft kiss on the young boy's cheek. he hurriedly entered the house and shut the door behind him without another word.

chan smiled brightly, his cheeks flushing at the action from the older boy. he stared ahead at the street and let out a victorious shout, leaping into the air and jumping onto a streetlight, spinning around it in his excitement. the sheer force of the impact caused the streetlight and chan to fall over.

chan looked around nervously, hoping no one saw what happened. he slowly lifted the lamp back to its original spot, stepping back confidently when he saw it didn't budge. his face fell as he saw the light fall again, the glass breaking this time as it fell onto the road. chan jumped in surprise and turned to run away.

Chapter Text

it was the next morning and seungkwan was waiting for the bus to arrive, a small frown on the boy's face as he stared at the ground. he knew chan would be there soon, and he wasn't particularly ready to confess his feelings to the boy yet. though wonwoo said it would be a good idea, the boy was still nervous.

"seungkwan!" chan shouted as he jogged over to his friend, a smile on his face as he continued, "you're not gonna believe what happened last night."

seungkwan said nothing and held out a fortune cookie, wrapped up in a casing that had a chinese restaurant's name on it. the one chan told seungkwan to meet him at last night.

chan just shrugged as he silently thanked his friend. taking a bite and mentioning his love for fortune cookies, he pulled the slip of fortune cookie paper out of his mouth. he read out, "your loyalties are clear when it comes to friends."

chan smiled dumbly as he looked at seungkwan. not entirely sure why seungkwan was looking at him like that, he glanced between his friend and the cookie still in his hands. realization dawned on him, his face falling as he said, "oh, god. oh!"

chan scrunched up his face, feeling annoyed at himself as he said, "oh. i totally spaced." he sighed, looking up at seungkwan as he added, "i'm sorry. i know you must want to kill me."

seungkwan breathed out a laugh, a bashful smile on his face as he said, "actually, just the opposite. i have something to tell you."

"yeah?"

seungkwan nodded softly. "yeah. but you first."

chan nodded, an awkward smile on his face as he said, "okay. it's about the dance."

seungkwan smiled brightly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes as he said, "really? me too."

chan cut seungkwan off, excitement clear in his voice as he exclaimed, "i'm going with yoon jeonghan! can you believe it?"

seungkwan's face fell, his expression darkening as chan continued, "me, a first year, going with the most amazing guy at sky high?"

seungkwan wasn't sure how to react. on one hand, he was incredibly upset. but on the other, he knew chan was looking for encouragement. so, with a clearly fake smile on his face, he gave chan a pat on the arm and said, "that's awesome!"

"i know." chan breathed out with a grin. the two boys faced forward as the bus pulled up to their stop. the conversation ended on chan's high note as they boarded the bus.

nearly at the school, chan sat up straight as he exclaimed, "oh yeah! i almost forgot. what was your news?"

seungkwan's eyes darted around the bus rapidly, unsure of what to say to his friend. he hadn't expected chan to ask someone else to the dance, much less graceful and charming yoon jeonghan.

seungkwan felt like he had no choice than to lie to his best friend. "i'm going, too." he said with a shrug.

"really?" chan said, looking skeptical as he glanced around. "who with?"

"who with?"

"yeah, who asked you?"

seungkwan laughed awkwardly as he said, "oh, who asked me..." he paused, unable to think of anyone. he just said the first name he could think of. "... jeon wonwoo."

safe to say, chan was confused. he was pissed, as well. but mostly, he was confused. chan questioned seungkwan about his date to the dance even as they were walking the halls of the school, unable to shake off the idea of his best friend and his enemy going to the dance together.

"jeon wonwoo?! you can't be serious." he continued, ignored the annoyed glances seungkwan was shooting his way. "kwan, the guy's a psycho. and he's my biggest enemy!"

chan felt irritated as seungkwan continued to ignore him. the two walked until they reached the doorway of the hero support classroom. chan still had questions on his mind.

"h-how could you go with him? when did you even start hanging out?"

having had enough, seunkgwan whipped around and said coolly, "last night. the paper lantern." he turned away and entered the classroom, leaving chan to stand there confused.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

now at lunch, seungkwan set his tray down in front of wonwoo. the older boy looked up in confusion, slightly annoyed as seungkwan greeted him with a friendly smile.

wonwoo sat forward in his seat as he asked, "did i do or say anything last night to make you think this is okay?"

seungkwan just laughed awkwardly, shaking his head no as he said, "you're so funny. but seriously, you're never gonna believe what happened."

wonwoo just looked at seungkwan in disbelief as the young boy continued to ramble.

"i was just about to ask chan to the dance when, wouldn't you know it, i told him i was going with you instead." seungkwan chuckled lightheartedly.

wonwoo leaned forward again as he said, "i dont't remember that being the plan."

just then, vernon came over and set his tray of food down. the two boys watched as vernon settled in next to seungkwan and asked him if he did the homework assignment.

"what do you think you're doing?" wonwoo spat.

"it's called sitting." vernon spat back, looking bored as he pulled his utensils out.

"no one sits here but me." wonwoo said with a glare, trying his hardest to intimidate the first years. instead, he was met with their amused smiles and vernon's unimpressed hum. the oldest watched in confusion as vernon turned to seungkwan and continued to discuss their homework.

minghao was next to arrive to the table, sitting on seungkwan's left as he shot a friendly smile towards wonwoo. "hello, you look well today." he said warmly as he began to eat his food.

"okay, now why are you here too?"

minghao chuckled lightly, sipping his water before he said, "not loving the energy there, wonwoo. let's dial it back a little, yeah?"

seokmin reached the table and placed his tray next to wonwoo's, smiling in excitement as he sat down next to the older boy. "hey! we're eating at wonwoo's table now? i feel extremely dangerous."

just as wonwoo was about to say something, mingyu came up and took the seat on his left. the tall boy pointed a thumb at wonwoo as he said, "this guy bothering you, vernon?"

wonwoo turned to mingyu as he spat out, "try the other way around." he looked forward at seungkwan, the younger boy looking amused as wonwoo said, "does anyone else need a date for the dance?" seokmin raised his hand, unsure if wonwoo was joking or not. the rest stayed silent.

seungkwan looked away and saw chan and jeonghan walking together, the two conversing quietly about something seungkwan couldn't make out in the loud cafeteria. he suddenly started to laugh, attracting the attention of his friends and wonwoo as his laughs grew louder.

just as chan looked at their table, seungkwan reached over and playfully hit wonwoo in the arm as he said, "wonwoo, you are cra-zy!"

chan and jeonghan passed by the table. seungkwan grimaced as he pleaded, "please, i promise. i'll make this as painless as possible."

wonwoo looked up and saw chan looking back at their table, jeonghan and his cheerleader friends trailing close behind. he smirked as he said, "so you're not doing this cause you like me or anything. you're doing this to get at stronghold." he finished with a nod in chan's general direction.

"... yeah."

wonwoo smiled. "then i'm in." he dropped his smile as he grabbed his bag and stood up. "but i'm not renting a tux." he walked away from the table, making sure to hit mingyu with his bag on his way out, leaving the group of friends to sit there alone.

seokmin took wonwoo's seat, pointing at the older boy's retreating figure as he asked, "hey, if wonwoo's not here, is this still the tough-guy table?"

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

"yeah, dances are stupid." mingyu said with a fake eye roll, assuming vernon thought that dances were lame. truthfully, he wanted to go, but not if vernon thought they were uncool.

vernon shrugged. "so, i think i'll go."

"me, too." mingyu quickly butt in, tha kful that he heard chan calling for them in the distance. they greeted each other as chan walked up to them.

as chan was about to strike up a conversation with his friends, jeonghan popped up out of nowhere and dragged chan away by his arm, the older boy smiling as he said, "let's go, stronghold. only two days till that midterm." they interlocked their fingers, chan glancing at his friends occasionally as jeonghan continued, "and i am not gonna rest until you can build a ray gun blindfolded."

seungkwan was walking towards his friends when he saw chan and jeonghan holding hands. his face fell at he watched the two walking in his direction. panicking, the young boy looked around the school yard, his eyes landing on wonwoo who was sitting nearby.

seungkwan bounded up the steps towards wonwoo and sat down next to the older boy, plastering a fake smile on his face as he grabbed wonwoo's hand. wonwoo looked up in annoyance as seungkwan chimed, "hey there, cutie. so i was just thinking about you. i cannot wait until the dance." he glanced at chan momentarily, seeing that the boy was already looking at them. "i'm so excited. i finally..." seungkwan trailed off once the couple were out of earshot.

wonwoo continued to stare at seungkwan in disbelief, still annoyed that they were holding hands. he ignited a flame in his hands, the young boy yelping as he pulled his hand away and shook it around.

wonwoo shook his head in irritation. "never call me cutie." he grumbled, picking up his bag and walking away.

seungkwan sighed softly, turning his head to watch chan and jeonghan walking away

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

"and is this the trigger?" chan asked, clumsily toying around with the materials laid out in front of him on his bed. the young boy was blindfolded, which was jeonghan's idea as he was confident in chan's skills up to this point, which was not a good idea.

"no, that's the fusion device."

chan nodded softly, putting the small item down and reaching for another item. his hands held something flat and long, moving it in his hands as he asked, "what's this?"

jeonghan smiled, amusement clear in his voice as he said, "that's my phone." he chuckled lowly.

chan took the blindfold off and stared at the phone, blinking in surprise as it began to ring, the caller i.d. saying it was junhui calling.

jeonghan looked mildly impressed as he joked, "oh. super strong and psychic." he grabbed the phone from chan's hands and turned around in his position.

chan watched jeonghan answer the phone, the older boy's voice raising in confusion as he placed a hand over his other ear to hear the call better. chan could faintly hear who he assumed were joshua and junhui, clearly cloned up if the numerous voices didn't make it clear.

"wait, junnie, i can't understand you when you're all talking at once." jeonghan smiled as the group of clones silenced and settled on one caller, "okay, better."

chan watched as jeonghan softly slammed a hand down on his bed as he said, "what?! oh, no. okay, hold on. let me call you back."

"what's up?" chan asked.

jeonghan turned to chan, heaving out a heavy sigh as he said, "there's a problem with the dance decorations. shua forgot to order the fog machine, so i might have to build it myself."

jeonghan shook his head in annoyance, feeling regretful as he asked, "do you think the committee could stop by?"

chan winced slightly. "ooh, i don't know. my parents are on a distress call," he hesitated as jeonghan's face fell. "they won't be home until late. and i'm really not supposed to have anyone here."

jeonghan just smiled in reassurance. "hey, it's cool." he looked down with a shy smile as he said, "i was just hoping we could spend a little more time together, but..." he had a hopeful look in his eyes as he stared at chan.

chan felt conflicted, even as jeonghan mumbled, "i guess i'll just see you at school."

jeonghan hoped chan would change his mind, but he could sense that the young boy was still unsure. he smiled sadly as he gave the boy a soft nod. "good night, chan." he said, standing up and heading towards the bedroom door.

chan knew he shouldn't have said what he said next, but he couldn't help it. he wanted to spend more time with jeonghan, too.

"uh... if it's–" he paused once jeonghan turned to face him. feeling a little bit more confident, he continued, "if it's only a few people..."

jeonghan breathed out a sigh in relief. "super." he said with a bright smile.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

chan ran around the house frantically, startled by the amount of kids from school that arrived out of nowhere. he whined as the kids crawled over the walls and tossed his mother's expensive vases like it was a ball. he lifted a cooler full of ice and drinks that his peers were dragging on the floor, huffing loudly as he set it onto a table.

chan spotted jeonghan who was talking animatedly with one of his friends. he walked up to jeonghan and shouted over the loud music, "jeonghan! you said this was supposed to be the dance committee."

jeonghan turned around to face chan, an amused smile on his face as he responded with, "this is the dance committee."

chan shot the older boy a look of disbelief, jeonghan laughing awkwardly as he said, "okay, okay. so a few extra people showed up. but, chan," he held chan's shoulders as he shook then, "you're popular! that's what happens!"

chan was still annoyed as he said, "jeonghan, every kid in hero class is here. how am i going to get this place cleaned up in time?"

jeonghan just smiled in amusement, grabbing chan's hands as he said, "here. come with me."

jeonghan led chan through the rowdy crowd, walking into the first empty room he could find. he closed the door behind the study room, thankful that it was a lot more quiet in there.

"okay," jeonghan rested his hands on his hips as he asked, "so what's on your mind?"

"my friends."

jeonghan laughed quietly. "what about them? they're all here." as the song changed and he read the expression on chan's face, he frowned softly. "oh. you mean the unremarkables."

chan was silent for a moment. he walked away as he said, "you know, i think i'm just going to call mingyu and seungkwan, tell them to come over here." he sat down on the couch, pulling out his phone as he was about to dial his friends.

jeonghan quickly sat across from him, taking the boy's phone away with a sigh. "chan, you are such a nice guy. but, honestly, do you think they'd have fun? with this crowd? i mean, don't you think they'd feel a little awkward?" the older boy said, a gentle tone in his voice as he addressed the younger boy's concerns.

chan just shook his head. "no, i think they'd be okay." he mumbled, though he understood what jeonghan was implying. everyone knew heroes weren't exactly friendly with sidekicks.

"trust me," jeonghan chuckled, placing a hand on chan's shoulder as he said, "they'd be miserable."

just as jeonghan was about to continue, seungcheol barged through the door, letting out a sound of surprise as he stumbled into chan and jeonghan's private conversation.

jeonghan rolled his eyes as he shouted a hey! at the person who just barged in, not giving the boy a glance as seungcheol said, "sorry. just looking for a bucket." and closed the door behind him.

"a bucket..." chan mumbled quietly to himself.

jeonghan sighed softly, looking down at his lap as he muttered, "i wish there was somewhere we could go to be alone."

chan just gulped. there was. and they were sitting right outside the entrance.

just outside the house, seungkwan was taking a stroll when he heard thumping music and saw bright colorful lights coming from chan's house. he slowly approached the steps to the house, pausing in front of it as he saw the music and lights were indeed coming from that house. seungkwan looked unnerved but he still walked towards the front door.

back at the house, chan and jeonghan were walking around the secret sanctum. the older boy was looking around in amazement, a bright grin on his face as he breathed out, "wow. this is incredible."

"yep. well, when you spend your whole life kicking ass and taking names, i guess you make a lot of memories." chan laughed awkwardly, walking beside jeonghan with his hands in his pockets.

jeonghan smirked as he turned to chan. he grabbed the younger boy's hand as he leaned forward and said with a flirty smile, "maybe we should make a few of our own."

chan looked down at their hands and then back up at jeonghan. he felt the older boy wrap a hand around his neck and pull him into a kiss. and who was chan to object?

as they kissed in the privacy of the secret sanctum, a cloaked figure zoomed past and snatched the pacifier from its podium. the two boys kissing were too distracted to notice.

Chapter Text

seungkwan walked into the house, being greeted with thumping music and nearly blinding lights. he slowly pushed his way through the people standing around the entryway who were dancing and chatting with each other. it seemed that he bumped into a different clone of joshua and junhui with every step he took, the boys glancing and quietly leering at him. seungkwan tried his hardest to ignore their judgmental comments and stares as he continued to walk.

exiting the study room with bright smiles on their faces, jeonghan and chan stepped out, hands intertwined as the oldest of the two led them back to the party. as his eyes landed on the young friend of chan's who looked uncomfortable in the living room, jeonghan's smile dropped, his face morphing into a look of irritation.

jeonghan felt vexed at the sight of the first year, but didn't let it show as he turned to chan and asked him sweetly, "hey, chan. could you go get me a soda, please?"

chan smiled shyly. "anything for you." he said sweetly, walking away to get a drink for jeonghan.

jeonghan smiled as he watched the boy walk away, his expression falling again as he walked towards seungkwan.

now cloned down, joshua and junhui stepped in front of seungkwan with their arms crossed over their chests. with similar expressions of disapproval, junhui asked with venom in his voice, "who invited the sidekick?"

joshua smirked as he added, "yeah. what's the unremarkable doing here?"

"leaving." jeonghan chimed in, a scowl on his face as he sauntered towards the three boys, crossing his arms as seungkwan turned to face him in surprise.

seungkwan wasn't the type to fight, and he especially hated confrontation. so being approached by the three most popular boys in school, who were his seniors, left the young boy feeling extremely troubled.

seungkwan couldn't help the quiver in his voice, a wild look in his eye as he asked the older boy, "where's chan?"

"honestly? avoiding you!" jeonghan spat, not caring as he saw the younger boy's face fall. "look, chan knows you have a crush on him." he added with a smirk, placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at the younger boy.

seungkwan's face fell further as he mumbled in disbelief, "he does?"

"everyone does." jeonghan replied, shaking his head as he looked the boy up and down. "chan's just too nice a guy to tell you he's not interested. not that you can take a hint."

jeonghan smiled mockingly, gesturing around to the groups of people around him as he said, "i mean, hello? he's going to the dance with me. he threw a party, and didn't invite you." he gestured towards the younger boy, tossing a fake pitiful smile towards seungkwan.

"you're just embarrassing him. you're just embarrassing yourself."

seungkwan just stood there and let the verbal assault happen. having had enough of it, he swallowed back the lump in his throat and smiled. he clenched his jaw as he said, "okay. i understand."

seungkwan glanced away momentarily, trying his hardest to collect himself so he wouldn't cry pathetically in front of the beautiful senior who just chewed him out in the middle of a party at chan's house that chan didn't invite him to. why was seungkwan even bothering any more? it was clear that the two of them ran in different circles, and with jeonghan around, it became increasingly obvious that seungkwan didn't belong there.

seungkwan gulped again, looking back up at the older boy with a soft glare. his voice quivered slightly as he added, "um... when you see chan again, can you tell him that i never want to talk to him again?"

jeonghan smiled sweetly, cocking his head to the side as he said mockingly, "i'll give him the message."

chan walked up next to jeonghan not even two seconds later, a smile on his face as he spotted his best friend. "seungkwan." he breathed out, frowning as he saw seungkwan glance at him and walk away.

chan looked ahead and saw joshua and junhui waving mockingly at the retreating figure of the young boy. he turned to jeonghan, who was leaning onto his side with a sweet smile, and shrugged the older boy off as he ran after seungkwan and called out for him.

once seungkwan opened the front door, he turned around quickly to face his best friend, tears in his eyes and his voice wobbly as he spat, "have fun with jeonghan. you two deserve each other."

chan watched with a look of disbelief as seungkwan slammed the door shut between them. he turned around and hurriedly walked towards jeonghan, calling out the older boy's name in confusion.

jeonghan, who was deep in conversation with junhui and joshua, turned around with a smile on his face as he grabbed the soda from chan's hand. "oh. thanks, chan!" he chirped sweetly.

"what did you say to seungkwan?" chan asked the older boy, his voice dropping to a whisper despite the loud music blaring around them.

jeonghan had an innocent look on his face as he shrugged softly and shook his head. "nothing." he leaned forward a bit as he added, "i just told him the truth."

chan looked at the older boy in confusion as jeonghan continued. "you're a hero, he's a sidekick. an unremarkable. chan, you're remarkable. he was holding you back." he placed a gentle hand on chan's shoulder, his face dropping as chan nudged his hand away.

"what? why would you do that? seungkwan's been my best friend since we were in preschool."

jeonghan smiled in amusement. "well, you've got new friends now." he said, pulling the boy closer as he said, "and i think that you need to figure out whether you want to hang with us or with those losers."

"come on, let's go." jeonghan grabbed chan's hand and began to walk away, stopping and facing chan as the younger boy stood in place and yanked his hand away.

"no. forget it." chan shook his head as he took a few steps back. "i'm not going anywhere with you. not now, or to the dance. might as well just find yourself a new date, jeonghan."

jeonghan's jaw dropped in disbelief, the older boy clenching his jaw as he asked, "you're dumping me?" he huffed out, stepping towards chan and pointing a finger at him as he began to yell. "whoa, whoa, whoa! let's get something straight, okay? you do not dump me. not the night before the dance!"

chan looked mildly amused, concealing his smile as he leaned forward and said, "sorry, jeonghan. i, uh... just did."

jeonghan blinked at the younger boy in surprise, at a loss for words as chan continued. "you're dumped!" chan's annoyance grew as he took a few steps back and began to shout, "no, that's it. everyone, out!" he turned around as he shouted louder, "party's over!"

"don't stop on our account."

chan's head whipped to the sound of the voice, his face paling as he spotted his parents standing in the entryway. they were still in their super suits, hands placed on their hips as they stared at the crowd of teenagers lounging around in their home.

the music fizzled down to nothing, the strobe lights immediately being switched off in favor of the regular house lights turning on. the kids stared at the commander and jet stream in nervous anticipation. it seemed like the entire room of kids froze in place, each of them too scared to move a muscle or make a noise.

"your father and i fly to europe for two hours and you throw a party?"

"unbelievable." chan's father muttered, enunciating each syllable as he glanced around the room, each teenager avoiding the older man's gaze.

"when i reach the count of three, i want everyone out of this house." juwon bellowed, holding up his pointer finger to signal the start of his countdown. it was unnecessary, seeing as the kids sprinted and flew away from the house before the commander could even start counting. they left through multiple exits, all of them shouting in fear as they leaped through windows and ran through the front and back doors.

this left just the family in the entryway. the couple glanced at each other and nodded, juwon taking a step towards chan as he said, "son, i'm only going to ask you this–"

"dad, i swear. i didn't plan this." chan mumbled, looking exhausted as he stared at his parents.

juwon just nodded, clapping his hands as he said, "all right. that's good enough for me. hmm."

juwon turned to face jia, the woman looking at him in disbelief as she whispered, "juwon. i have got half a mind to not let him go to the dance!"

as the couple were about to argue, chan walked away and said, "that's fine. i'm not going, anyway."

the couple turned to chan, confusion on their faces as juwon spoke up. "whoa, whoa, whoa! your mom said she had half a mind."

chan turned around to face his parents, keeping his hand on the banister of the stairs as his father continued. "chan, we have to go to the dance. we all have to. because we're introducing the world to the stronghold three," juwon and jia slipped into the casual superheroes stances, their hands on their hips as juwon finished, "the greatest family of superheroes mankind has ever known."

chan just stared at them with a blank look on his face.

jia dropped her hands, a concerned look on her face as she asked, "did something happen, chan?"

"i don't want to talk about it." chan mumbled.

juwon spluttered as he said, "well, we're gonna talk about it, because," he glanced at his wife, flustered as he continued, "we promised jeonghan we would go to the dance!"

"and when we make a promise, son, that promise is kept!"

"i promise you, dad, i'm not going." chan mumbled, turning towards the steps and going up them two at a time. his parents shared a look as they watched the boy climb up the stairs.

in his room, chan was trying to call seungkwan, not having much luck as his calls were going straight to voicemail.

"hello? seungkwan? pick up, seungkwan." he mumbled, sitting down at his desk as he began to drum his fingers onto the desk. "pick up. pick up. pick up. all right. fine. don't pick up." he let out a sigh as he heard the call go to voicemail again.

chan frowned as he said, "um, it's me. i'm going to the paper lantern, and if you get this message, meet me there. okay?"

chan hoped seungkwan would meet him. he didn't know what else to do.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

"you said that?" a beautiful woman asked, a flirty smile on her face as she clung to the arm of mr. medulla. her twin sister was on the teacher's other side, laughing along to the man's humorous story.

coach boomer, the one who convinced mr. medulla to join him on the double date, just tossed back another shot as he watched the three of them with a bitter scowl on his face.

mr. medulla looked at the coach and said, "thanks, boom, for inviting me."

coach boomer just forced out a mocking laugh.

on the other side of the restaurant, chan was still trying to get ahold of seungkwan. he kept muttering to himself as he urged his best friend to pick up his calls, sighing each time it went to voicemail. he continued to leave messages and continued the vicious cycle of calling the boy, and the boy not answering.

chan left another message, frowning as he locked his phone and put it aside. he felt someone creep up to him and he looked up as he heard someone ask, "what are you doing here?"

chan saw wonwoo standing in front of him, holding a tray of clean glasses and a rag on his shoulders. he didn't pay the older boy much mind as he mumbled, "i'm... looking for seungkwan. do you know where he is?"

wonwoo glanced down, shrugging as he said, "how should i know?"

chan shrugged as well. "i don't know. you're taking him to the dance?"

"oh, yeah. right."

chan sucked on his teeth, sighing loudly as he looked ahead. "well, you don't have to worry about me ruining your night."

"and why is that?"

"because i'm not going."

wonwoo hummed softly, setting the tray down as he sat across from chan. "well, that sucks." he said, placing the rag down on the table as he added, "cause we're only going together to make you jealous."

chan glanced around, leaning forward slightly as he faced the older boy. "huh?" he asked softly, tilting his head in confusion.

wonwoo just sighed, shaking his head in disbelief as he said, "dude, you're so stupid. he's totally into you."

chan just looked away, a sad frown on his face as he mumbled, "not after tonight." he looked up at wonwoo as he continued, "i wouldn't be surprised if seungkwan or any of the other guys ever want to talk to me again."

wonwoo snorted softly. "man. you must have been a real jerk. because no matter what i do, i can't get them to stop talking to me."

chan rolled his eyes. "thanks." he mumbled, a playful smile on his face as he looked away.

wonwoo shot the younger boy a somewhat supportive look as he moved to stand up. he slapped the rag over his shoulder as he walked away to continue his work, leaving chan alone to think about what he said. mostly about seungkwan, but also about how mild-mannered wonwoo seemed to be outside of school.

Chapter Text

the students danced around the floor of the gymnasium, a catchy pop song playing over the speakers as the students chatted among themselves. near the snack table, mingyu and vernon were dancing. well, mingyu was dancing. vernon was standing there.

flailing his limbs around wildly, mingyu asked the shorter boy, "hey, you wanna dance?"

vernon, with his arms crossed, looked disinterested as he said a simple no. mingyu stopped dancing almost immediately, nervously stuttering out a me, neither, sticking his hands into the pockets of his white tuxedo.

passing by them, seungkwan drifted by in a sage green tuxedo of his own, gold jewelry accenting his outfit as well as his light makeup. he headed towards the snack and drink table, smiling politely at mr. boy who was serving drinks.

mr. boy smiled back as he greeted the young boy, pouring a drink as he said, "you look like you could use a drink."

seungkwan shook his head politely, saying that he wasn't thirsty. just as mr. boy was going to hand the cup over to him anyway, a stretchy hand reached over and smacked the cup, the liquid spilling onto mr. boy's shirt.

the two looked at soonyoung, who was laughing with his friends. they shared a look of annoyance, seungkwan leaning over the table to shout over the music, "the guys in this school are jerks!"

"thanks a lot."

seungkwan turned around to follow the sound of the deep voice, smiling in disbelief as he eyed wonwoo up and down. "i thought you weren't going to rent a tux." he said, still in disbelief.

wonwoo leaned in and shouted, "it's my dad's. he doesn't have much use for it in solitary."

seungkwan didn't know how to respond, so he grabbed a snack from the table and offered it to wonwoo.

back at the stronghold household, chan was in the secret sanctum, playing absentmindedly with a pool ball. he heard footsteps, followed by the voice of his mother saying, "we're taking off now. there's still time to change your mind and come with us."

chan turned to his mother, the woman clad in her superhero outfit. chan softly shook his head as he said, "nah, i don't think so." he paused, frowning slightly as he said, "mom, do you ever feel like you messed something up so bad that you'll never be able to fix it?"

"people make mistakes, chan. that's what high school is about. hell, that's what life is about. the key is to learn from them." jia said, a sympathetic smile on her lips as she looked at the troubled expression on her son's face.

chan smacked his teeth, looking away as he said, "i hope my friends see it that way."

"if someone is a true friend, you'd be surprised at how understanding they can be."

chan nodded, a small smile on his face as he murmured a thanks. his mom held out a book she had in her hands, a teasing smile on her lips as she said, "do me a favor. put this away for me? i caught your dad trying to sneak it out under his cape. he's convinced that everyone at the dance wants to reminisce with him."

chan chuckled, looking down at the yearbook as he said, "i bet."

the two said their goodbyes, chan's mother leaving the sanctum with a wave to her son. chan turned the book over in his hands. with nothing else to do, chan moved to a desk and put the book down, sitting down on the seat as he opened the book. he flipped through the pages with a bored expression, stopping as he landed on a picture of the student his parents were talking about the other night: lee junhyuk.

the boy had braces and glasses, and back in those days, that automatically labeled you as a loser and an outcast. chan thought it was silly. why would someone having bad eyesight or crooked teeth keep them from being popular?

as chan was deep in thought, he found himself staring at the picture longer. something in his brain clicked, feeling like he recognized the boy from somewhere. he looked really familiar. chan furrowed his eyebrows as he flipped the pages, landing on a photo of lee junhyuk in a club photo, a group photo for the science club.

chan immediately recognized the boy in the center as lee junhyuk. he stared down at the picture longer, wondering what the boy was holding and why it looked so familiar. as he leaned in closer, he immediately recognized the large object in his hands as the pacifier – or, an intact version of it, at least.

"jeonghan?" chan found himself mumbling, unable to shake the resemblance of lee junhyuk and his former date to the dance.

chan felt the blood drain from his face as he looked out of the corner of his eye, noticing the empty podium where the pacifier used to be. thinking his eyes were tricking him, he stood up and jogged over to the podium, mumbling a string of panicked no's the closer he got. he soon realized that the pacifier was, in fact, gone.

"i got to get to sky high." chan mumbled, pulling out his wallet and searching for the phone number kim dohyun left him in case of emergencies. and this was an emergency.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

juwon and jia walked into the entryway of the school gymnasium, heads held high as they approached the crowd of dancing students.

juwon stood back, grabbing his wife's arm as he said, "jia, wait. we can't unveil the stronghold three without chan present! it's just... it's just not the same."

jia quickly agreed as she said, "maybe we should fly home."

"and we really don't need another award." juwon insisted.

the couple nodded to each other, turning around to leave but stopping as they felt a spotlight being directed onto them, the voice of the principal announcing their presence. they turned back around to face the crowd, bashful smiles on their faces as they soaked in the attention and applause from the students.

juwon and jia walked through the crowd, shoulders back, and heads held high as they politely waved to everyone. they made their way to the front of the crowd, facing the principal who was making an announcement of someone's cold fusion-powered jetpack being left on. mr. medulla hurriedly pushed through the crowd, apologizing to the people he pushed into, including jeonghan's father. the man looked unimpressed as he ignored the man with the large head, settling behind juwon and jia.

principal powers smiled as she continued. "and now, please help me welcome the head of the dance committee, the boy who made all of this possible," she turned to present jeonghan, a smile on her face as she said, "yoon jeonghan."

the crowd clapped enthusiastically, chan's parents looking proud as they clapped along.

jeonghan smiled brightly, placing the award meant for the commander and jet stream onto the podium. he flashed his signature charming smile as he said, "thank you, principal powers. and a very special thank you goes out to our guests of honor, and the recipients of the first ever hero of the year award." he pointed forward as he said, "the commander and jet stream." juwon and jia exchanged smiles, focusing back on the young boy as he continued.

"and to mark this occasion, we planned a special tribute to the most powerful super-being ever to walk the halls of sky high," jeonghan began, taking a few steps to the side. his smile morphed into a deep scowl, reaching around his back as he said a simple, "me."

jeonghan pulled out a cape, whipping it around and quickly changing into a full metal suit, gold wires intricately woven throughout the suit, lighting up his tall figure. a mask formed around his head, serving as a protective shield and to hide his identity. not that it was needed, everyone knew who was behind it.

the auditorium gasped loudly as jeonghan held out his hands, shocks of golden lightning coming out of his fingers as he willed two large electrical boards to come out from under the decorations, the words royal pain shining in golden lettering.

jeonghan's father, now dressed in a ridiculous monotone jester costume, cackled as he slid past juwon and jia, the couple not able to conceal their surprise as they watched the two of them stand together on stage.

jeonghan's father skipped over and hit the front of the podium, a panel falling down and revealing a now repaired pacifier. he handed the weapon to jeonghan with another loud string of cackles, the boy taking it into his arms. the student body gasped loudly as they took several steps back.

juwon took a step forward, pointing a finger at jeonghan as he took a few moments to gather his thoughts. "royal pain is a teen?" he said dumbly.

the distorted voice of jeonghan came out from the mask saying, "yes, i'm a teen, you idiot! how i ever lost to a fool like you, i'll never know. now, prepare to be pacified."

juwon looked mildly amused, placing his fists on his hips as he said smugly, "do you honestly think you can kill me with that little toy gun of yours?"

if it were possible to hear a smirk, everyone in the gymnasium heard it as jeonghan said, "my dear commander, who said anything about killing you?"

as jeonghan directed the pacifier at juwon, everyone took a step back, not wanting to be hit by the ray. a stream of white light shot out of the weapon, the crowd gasping as it hit juwon directly in the chest. the man let out a loud grunt, curling into himself as the ray shot him. the crowd gasped again as he disappeared, nothing left but his clothes.

jia rushed over to the pile of her husband's super suit, tossing the cape aside to reveal a baby. judging from previous baby pictures she had seen before, she immediately recognized the infant as her husband. jeonghan's father let out another obnoxious cackle at the sight of the baby.

jia whipped her head around towards jeonghan and let out a grunt, flying forward to attack the boy, only to be met with a shot from the pacifier. the crowd gasped again as she shrunk down, about to fall to the floor. mr. boy tossed his food aside as he ran over and caught jia, a baby whining loudly in his arms.

before mr. boy could run away, jeonghan shot the man with the pacifier as well. the two babies landed softly onto the ground, crawling around as they began to cry.

mr. medulla, who was coming back from the parking lot, had a silly smile on his face as he asked, "what did i miss?"

the ray shot the mad science teacher in the head, the man shouting as he shrunk to the ground.

at this point, everyone was beginning to run away and heading towards the exits. each exit was closed off one by one. first by seungcheol, then by soonyoung, then by jihoon, with the rest of the exits being handled by joshua and junhui's clones. they each waved mockingly at the students begging for escape, the cheerleaders giggling loudly as they each blew kisses at the crowd of students.

jeonghan continued to shoot at the crowd, aiming for the school staff first before he went for the kids. coach boomer approached wonwoo and the others as he yelled over the noise, "hothead! find an exit! get as many people out as you can!"

wonwoo nodded quickly, ushering the young group away as they ran off. coach boomer turned and said, "i'll slow him down–" and let out a yell as the ray from the weapon shot him.

with all of the adults out of the way, this left jeonghan alone with the students.

Chapter Text

wonwoo held seungkwan back as he shot a ball of fire at a nearby air vent, the air vent cover falling off quickly. the group hurriedly climbed inside, vernon and seungkwan climbing in first followed by the rest of their friends.

outside of the school, chan and mr. kim finally made it to the school grounds. mr. kim pulled up to the front of the school, turning to chan with a determined look on his face as the young boy thanked him for driving him.

chan turned to the school as he said, "now, if i'm not back in thirty minutes–"

"come in after you! got it."

"... i was going to say go get help."

"go get help! got it. now, get in there!"

chan nodded quickly, pushing through the bus doors, breaking them in his haste as he ran towards the school.

back in the school vents, the group were slowly crawling forward with not much luck. they didn't know where they were going and they couldn't see that well.

"where the hell are we?" asked vernon.

"hey, wonwoo? how about a torch?"

"only if you want to get barbecued."

minghao shook his head, sighing heavily as he said, "oh, wonwoo. only you could be so negative in a moment like this."

from behind seungkwan, mingyu's body began to glow the bright neon yellow light the group had only seen twice before. mingyu smiled graciously as seungkwan and vernon moved aside to let him go to the front, smiling awkwardly as vernon sang rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, an endeared smile on the shorter boy's face.

chan ran through aimlessly through the halls of the school, unsure of where to go first. he looked to his right and noticed the familiar light of mingyu's glow coming our from one of the vents. he reached over and yanked the cover out of the wall, mingyu's head popping out as he casually greeted him.

as his friends climbed out of the air vent, chan shook his head as he said, "guys, you're never going to believe this. jeonghan–"

"– is royal pain's son." seungkwan cut in.

chan glanced around at his friends, shaking it off as he continued, "yeah, he's–"

"the one who stole the pacifier."

"right–"

mingyu and vernon stepped in as the taller boy said, "yeah, and he turned everyone into babies, including your parents, dude."

chan looked puzzled as he said, "okay... that i didn't know."

"i think this is even more than the great lee chan can handle." seungkwan said with a frown.

"he's right," chan said, looking at his friends as he continued, "it's gonna take all of us."

vernon looked annoyed as he said, "all of who? you, myungho maybe, and wonwoo? the rest of us are sidekicks."

chan turned to vernon with a frown as he said, "just because you have powers, that doesn't make you a hero," he focused on seungkwan as he said, "sometimes, it just makes you a jerk. makes me a jerk."

chan glanced at his friends again, a slight pout on his lips as he said, "i guess what i'm trying to say is..."

seungkwan smiled fondly. "we get it. you've been a jerk."

chan smiled dreamily as he looked back at seungkwan. "seungkwan, in case my date ends up killing me tonight," he held seungkwan's hand, surprising the other boy as he continued, "i just want you to know..." he trailed off as he pulled seungkwan into his arms and kissed him, mingyu letting out a low whistle as the two of them kissed.

"isn't that sweet?" joshua's voice echoed from down the hallway. the group of unremarkables turned to follow the sound of the voice, spotting jeonghan's friends standing at the end.

"i hate sweet!" junhui spat out, copying joshua's posture as the four of them stood there menacingly.

"you guys are a part of this, too? why am i not surprised?" chan said as he took a few steps forward, his own friends splitting up as they got ready for a fight.

"and, where's your other friend? woozi?" chan asked, surprised that the older boy wasn't there.

"right here." jihoon said from behind minghao. the younger boy turned around in confusion, gasping slightly as the older boy grabbed him by the arm and snapped his fingers, making the two of them disappear.

wonwoo rolled his eyes, taking off his coat as he tossed it aside and told chan, "go take care of jeonghan. we'll handle these clowns."

chan looked unsure as the older boys moved forward, reluctantly running off when seungkwan squeezed his hand and said they would be fine. he turned around and crashed through a wall, in a haste to look for jeonghan.

vernon and mingyu climbed back into the duct, unsure if they could assist in the battle that was about to happen. wonwoo lit the flames in his arms, spinning around as seungcheol dashed right past him. wonwoo ran after the older boy with a grunt. joshua and junhui multiplied and hopped into a fighting pose, running after seungkwan as he ran away. this left seokmin and soonyoung in the hallway. the older boy grabbed seokmin by the lapel of his coat and dragged him away.

soonyoung stretched out his arm as he pushed seokmin up against the lockers, aiming his other fist to punch the younger boy. seokmin melted into a puddle just as soonyoung's fist made contact with the locker, the older boy whining loudly as he clutched his fist. seokmin slid into the nearby bathroom, soonyoung growling as he ran after the puddle.

in the cafeteria, seungkwan pushed the doors open as the clones of his seniors continued to run after him, some of them dramatically doing cartwheels in their chase. seungkwan watched in fear as the boys followed him into the large room, the two main ones crossing their arms over their chests as they sauntered in.

"come on, sidekick. aren't you going to fight back?" the twins chorused, standing side by side as they cornered seungkwan to the edge of the cafeteria closest to the windows.

"i-i don't believe in using my powers for violence." seungkwan stuttered out as he continued to take cautious steps back.

"i don't believe you even have any powers." the twins chorused again, starting up a cheer as seungkwan ran further away.

in the bathroom, soonyoung pushed back bathroom stall doors, looking for the seokmin puddle as he said between gritted teeth, "you can't hide forever, sidekick!"

soonyoung reached the last stall and slammed the door open, finding no sign of the younger boy. he curiously peeked his head inside, leaning close to the toilet as he thought he saw something move inside. thinking it might have been seokmin inside of the toilet, he muttered no way to himself. seokmin materialized behind soonyoung into his human form and climbed up the stall, kicking soonyoung's head into the toilet.

seokmin flushed the toilet and smirked as he said, "sucks for you." and hopped down, running away as he saw soonyoung's head get stuck in the toilet bowl, his neck stretching as he tried to escape.

outside of the school, the now pacified children are being transported onto a bus, jeonghan's father cackling as he loaded more baby seats onto a conveyor belt that led to the back entrance of the school bus they stole.

jeonghan held juwon in his arms as he began to walk down the steps, a fond expression on his face as he said, "i take you back, my dear commander, to your senior year in sky high. a time before anyone knew what a technopath was."

jeonghan continued his speech as he walked down the steps. "a brilliant but misunderstood boy name lee junhyuk was written off as a science geek and stuck in sidekick class."

"he hatched a plan. so daring, so visionary, to start his very own supervillain academy and raise a generation of heroes from scratch as villains."

juwon continued to babble and cry as jeonghan shouted, "but first, he had to destroy the very institution that dared to spurn his genius!" he chuckled mockingly as he shook his head. "and now, so many years later, that plan is complete."

jeonghan reached the bottom of the steps as he paused. "my only regret... that this may be the finest supervillain speech ever given," he cooed as he looked down at juwon in his baby form, "and you don't even know what i'm saying."

"but i do."

jeonghan and his father whipped around at the sound of the voice, finding chan at the top of the steps.

"look, i'm sorry that my parents destroyed your dad." chan began, mildly confused as he watched jeonghan smirk. this didn't stop him as he spat, "now, put my dad down."

jeonghan chuckled lightly, smirking as he said, "no one could defeat royal pain. when the pacifier exploded, i wasn't destroyed," he handed baby juwon off to his father, turning back to chan as he continued, "i was merely turned into a baby. stitches took me away and raised me as his son."

stitches, jeonghan's adoptive father, cackled as he cut in with, "daddy's little boy."

jeonghan rolled his eyes, turning to stitches as he yelled, "i told you never to call me that!" stitches flinched at jeonghan's shout and scampered off.

"lunatic!" jeonghan muttered, smiling sweetly as he turned back to chan. "that's right. royal pain wasn't my father. royal pain is me."

"oh, my god." chan exclaimed, a look of horror on his face as he whispered, "i made out with an old guy."

jeonghan scowled as he clicked his mask on. he flew up and grabbed chan by the collar of his jacket. they crashed through classrooms, through the teacher's lounge, even the cafeteria, until they made it to the empty gymnasium. the pair landed to the ground with a thud.

back in the school hallway, seungcheol was running back and forth in front of wonwoo, the older boy taunting him as he narrowly dodged wonwoo's attacks each time. wonwoo growled as seungcheol ran past him towards the bathroom.

seokmin, who was just leaving the bathroom after dunking soonyoung's head into the toilet, wiped his hands with a smile. he spotted seungcheol running towards him and immediately sunk down onto the floor into his puddle form. the older boy slipped on the puddle and yelled in surprise as he slid down the hallway.

wonwoo ran up and tossed a ball of fire at seungcheol's behind just as the older boy crashed through the wall. he let out more shouts as he kicked his feet, trying to climb out of the wall but failing.

"way to go, popsicle." wonwoo said with a smirk, giving seokmin a high five which the younger boy reciprocated with a smile.

inside of the hero support classroom, jihoon dragged minghao into the room with a huff. the younger boy felt conflicted as he watched the older one cackle and disappear. while he wasn't one to fight, these older kids had been picking on him and his friends since the school year started. enough was enough.

jihoon tapped minghao's shoulder and the younger boy jumped in his spot. he whipped around and punched the older boy in the nose out of instinct, minghao gasping as the older one clutched his nose and cursed loudly.

"i-i'm so sorry!" minghao exclaimed, waving his hands as he quickly admitted his guilt.

jihoon glared at minghao as he slowly lowered his hand. "you're dead, kid." the older boy growled.

minghao's eyes widened as he jumped up and landed on one of the ceiling beams. jihoon looked up with a glare as he snapped his fingers and materialized next to minghao. the younger boy let out a tiny shriek as he jumped down to the ground, looking around the room for something to aid him.

jihoon popped up in front of minghao and the younger boy jumped back in shock. he turned around and leaped onto mr. boy's desk, a few of the materials knocking over. minghao looked down and spotted a tiny bottle of super glue. he groaned as he thought that it wouldn't be able to help.

jihoon popped up in front of minghao and grabbed the younger boy by the shoulder. minghao looked terrified, but he raised an eyebrow as he finally noticed jihoon's thumb and middle finger pressed together. an idea struck minghao and he grabbed jihoon's hands and squeezed them between his own hand, the older boy furrowing his eyebrows as he watched minghao fumbling for something behind him on the desk.

"what the hell are you doing?" jihoon grumbled, even more confused as he saw minghao pull out a tiny bottle of super glue. super glue? what was that gonna do, jihoon thought as he chuckled lowly.

minghao opened the cap and spread the glue across the pads of jihoon's fingers, smiling as he pressed the older boy's hands together and said, "you snap your fingers to disappear, right?"

jihoon scrunched up his face in annoyance, rolling his eyes as he pushed minghao away with his elbows. the younger boy laid back on the desk as he watched jihoon try to pull his fingers apart, only creating a gap between his palms as the glue had already dried down.

"wha– hey, kid, this shit burns!" jihoon shouted, looking up frantically at the younger boy.

minghao climbed off of the desk and he grabbed jihoon by the shoulders. he leisurely led the two of them out of the classroom as he said, "well, that's what you get for messing with me and my friends." the young boy had a bright smile on his face as they continued to walk down the hallway, the older one begrudgingly being pulled along.

in the gymnasium, jeonghan stood up quickly and balled up his fists, raising them above his head as he intended to punch chan down. chan stood up quickly and tackled the older boy, the two boys landing onto the ground with a thud, a few electric shocks crackled from jeonghan's suit at the collision.

chan and jeonghan stood up quickly, the older boy aiming a punch at chan. chan grabbed his arm and tossed him into the air, the older boy spinning as he landed onto a group of tables, crashing onto them with a loud bang. chan ran over and lifted jeonghan up by his ankle, throwing him onto a neighboring table. jeonghan crashed through that table, being lifted by chan again and crashing through another table.

chan threw jeonghan towards the large window of the gymnasium, the older boy crashing onto the floor and landing on the mass of balloons littering the ground. chan ran over and tried to punch jeonghan, the older boy standing up quickly and punching chan instead. the younger boy flew away, colliding with one of the royal pain signs. chan fell onto the ground with a huff, standing up quickly to continue fighting the older boy.

back in the cafeteria, joshua and junhui were doing flips and cartwheels, narrowly edging seungkwan up against the wall. seungkwan shielded himself as the older (flipping) boys got closer, looking ahead as the original duo finally approached him. joshua punched seungkwan in the cheek, junhui giving the young boy no time to react as he punched seungkwan's other cheek.

"hmm." joshua and junhui hummed sweetly.

seungkwan slowly lifted his head with a mocking smile, a wild look in his eye as he shook his head. "big mistake." the young boy muttered.

joshua and junhui took a few cautious steps back, exchanging concerned looks as they saw seungkwan lift up his arms slowly, a soft white light glowing from behind the cafeteria window. plants started to grow at a rapid pace as vines and branches began to climb above the height of the window. a gust of wind blew by as seungkwan held his arms out towards the boys, the branches and vines crashing through the window and grabbing the clones. vines circled around joshua's and junhui's arms and waists, some even wrapping around their ankles and hips. the boys screamed as the vines lifted them up to the ceiling, some of them hanging upside down as they struggled to free themselves.

"but i thought you were a sidekick!" the original joshua shouted, still struggling to free himself.

seungkwan shook his head with a small smile on his face, looking up at the clones as he said, "i am a sidekick."

seungkwan began to walk away but halted as a clone of junhui screamed out, "don't leave us here to die! royal pain sabotaged the antigravity device!"

one of joshua's clones shouted, "the whole school is going to fall out of the sky!"

seungkwan froze as he looked up at the original joshua and junhui, feeling his blood run cold as the two cheerleaders shouted, "we only have ten minutes!"

Chapter Text

seungkwan laid out a blueprint of the school, rolling it out flat onto the floor as his friends crowded around him. he pointed at a small chamber deep inside of the school and said, "here's the anti gravity room."

"but didn't royal pain seal off every route?" vernon asked.

seokmin looked down and pointed to a small lengthy vent that led to the room. "hey, what about this conduit?" he asked.

mingyu scoffed lightly. "yeah, right. you'd have to be like a rat to fit in there."

the group of boys glanced around at each other, slowly turning their heads to face vernon at the same time. the boy looked around at his friends, sighing lightly as he said, "oh, great."

as vernon crawled through the tiny tube, he couldn't help but let out his grievances. he crawled slowly as he said, "this is so stupid."

mingyu, who was watching vernon crawl, shouted out an encouraging, "okay. you're doing great, vernon. looks great."

mingyu turned to seokmin and minghao with a shy smile as he added, "look at those cute little legs." the two boys exchanged looks of amusement, shrugging it off as they focused on leading vernon through the conduit.

"okay, there should be an opening on your right."

"gotcha." vernon said as he turned to the right, leading to an opening that was slightly wider.

minghao looked down at the blueprint and muttered, "find the access panel." to mingyu, the taller boy turning to the opening and quickly alerting vernon.

"what?" vernon asked, confused as their voices were beginning to mix together. also, he wasn't sure what an access panel was.

"it leads to the generator." seokmin muttered as he pointed to it on the blueprint.

"it leads to the generator!" mingyu shouted. vernon shouted his acknowledgment as he continued down the path they were leading him down.

back in the cafeteria, chan and jeonghan were still battling. jeonghan lifted chan up by the ankle, grunting at the weight as he tossed the boy to the middle of the dance floor. the young boy landed with a thud, preparing himself just in time for jeonghan to fly over to him. chan kicked jeonghan up into the air, and the older boy collided into the mirror ball in the ceiling that was still spinning.

chan looked up anxiously, unsure if the ball would keep jeonghan in place for long. his questions were answered as jeonghan electrocuted the ball and dropped on his back on the floor.

seungkwan and wonwoo ran in, hoping to help chan as they assumed the younger boy would be failing. seungkwan screamed chan's name, the boy looking up at the sound of his voice.

jeonghan took this chance to lift the cover on the panel he had embedded in the arm of his suit. he pressed a button, a large burst of electricity surging through his arm as he reached up and punched chan in the chest. the power of the punch was so strong that chan flew high in the air and crashed through the window.

seungkwan and wonwoo braced themselves from the flying glass shards, the young boy screaming as he saw chan falling outside. chan screamed loudly as he pierced through the air and crashed through the clouds.

seungkwan looked devastated as the sounds of chan's screams began to fade. soon enough, the screams of his best friend were no longer heard.

jeonghan stood up as he said, "and there goes your last chance of stopping me."

"we'll see about that." seungkwan growled, taking a few steps forward but being held back by wonwoo.

the two of them paused as they looked out the window. through the thick cover of the clouds, chan flew up and stared back at them, looking equally as surprised as his friends.

jeonghan chuckled evilly but paused as he saw the look on the younger boys' faces. he gasped slightly, a sound of disbelief as he whipped around to face the broken window.

"surprised? so am i." chan shouted with a slight quiver in his voice. he assumed he would be dead, but when his flying ability suddenly kicked in, he was unable to shake the deep fear that had been instilled in his body.

"you're flying?!" jeonghan shouted, holding out his arms in disbelief as he scoffed loudly.

"that's impossible!" the older boy screamed as chan flew over and picked him up. chan exerted all of his strength as he threw jeonghan down onto the floor, the older boy landing with a grunt as the floorboards broke underneath him.

chan landed on his feet and wound his fist back, punching jeonghan's mask. the mask broke underneath the pressure, revealing the closed eyes of jeonghan. chan paused, assuming that the older boy had passed out.

outside of the school, jeonghan's father closed the back door of the school bus, the loud chorus of shrieks from the babies muffled as he skipped over to the bus doors. he climbed up the steps and paused, a sound of surprise escaping as he saw kim dohyun standing in the doorway.

mr. kim had his hands on his hips, an authoritative tone in his voice as he said, "there's only one person authorized to transport superheroes."

jeonghan's father rolled his eyes, groaning quietly as the bus driver continued. "and that's me. kim dohyun, bus driver."

mr. kim kicked jeonghan's father out of the bus, the shorter man grunting quietly as he landed on the floor next to the bus haphazardly.

mr. kim climbed out of the bus, pointing a thumb at his chest as he said, "and i'm kim dohyun, bus driver."

now inside of the antigravity room, vernon found a small purple device with a faint logo that vaguely resembled jeonghan's royal pain mask on it, red wires hooked into it and leading to different places.

"i found the generator. i think." vernon said as he inspected the wires.

seokmin turned to mingyu as he muttered, "and all he has to do chew the wire to the scrambler."

mingyu relayed the information to vernon, the boy paused as he said, "what?"

"the red one!" seokmin and minghao shouted.

"there's a lot of red wires down here!"

back inside the cafeteria, chan marched over to seungkwan and wonwoo. chan held his arms open as seungkwan ran forward, the boys holding each other tightly. wonwoo came over and gave chan a supportive pat on the shoulder. by all intents and purposes, their friends won the fight.

behind them, jeonghan laid perfectly still, hoping not to catch the attention of the first years. he opened the cover to his arm panel and slowly raised a finger, pressing a button that had his royal pain logo on it.

the generator emitted a golden light, the royal pain mask lighting up and beeping loudly. vernon, who was chewing on a red wire, let out a soft, "uh oh."

and then, the school began to fall.

as the school began to descend, the  boys in the gym immediately sunk down to the floor, clutching the ground as they lost their balance from the sudden force. seokmin, mingyu, and minghao, who were already on the floor from reading the blueprint map, screamed as they flailed around on the floor. the three boys pushed each other as they screamed into the tube, hoping it would encourage vernon to chew faster. vernon chewed through the wire as fast as he could.

chan flew outside of the window, quickly maneuvering his way around the large school as he flew to the bottom of it. he stood directly below the center and lifted the bottom, grunting heavily as he tried to use all of his strength to keep the school from falling. the weight of the school proved to be too much, chan having to press his cheek up against the school and eventually lying down flat. chan screamed loudly in his panic as he saw the ground getting closer and closer.

the three boys in the hallway continued to scream as the school fell. seokmin and mingyu held onto each other as mingyu screamed desperately for someone to hold him.

inside of the anti gravity room, vernon successfully chewed through the correct wire, smiling to himself as he heard the generator beep and start back up again.

chan stood up straight just in time, his feet softly landing onto the roof of a house. he sighed loudly in relief to himself, looking down and seeing a couple standing in front of the home looking terrified. he looked to the front of the yard and noticed the sold sign from his parents' real estate business.

chan chuckled to himself, shaking his head softly as he muttered, "well, that could have been messy." he nodded towards the couple as he bid them a good night and slowly flew the school back up into the air.

once the school was properly afloat in its normal place, the group of sidekicks made quick work in unloading all of the students and faculty from the school bus.

seungkwan turned to chan as he asked, "now what?"

chan, with his hands in his pockets, sighed loudly as he said, "beats me."

mr. kim handed off baby mr. medulla to wonwoo, the older boy bedgrudgingly holding the baby carrier as mr. medulla said, "perhaps i can be of assistance." the group crowded around the baby teacher as he continued, "it should only take me a couple of hours to reconfigure the pacifier."

mr. medulla looked up at wonwoo as he asked, "mr. peace, would you please carry me to the mad science lab?" wonwoo looked at the baby with a blank stare as he slowly agreed.

"and, mr. peace?"

"... yeah?"

"regrettably, i have made boom-boom." mr. medulla said, a grin on his face as he looked at the group of students. wonwoo glanced up for help, the group of first years all shaking their heads and taking a simultaneous step away.

◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇※◇

a few hours later, students and faculty were walking around the halls, covered in blankets and table cloths. a long line led to the science lab where mr. medulla was de-pacifying the babies.

"people, if you have already been de-pacified, please find your clothes, grab a baby, and report to the mad science lab." principal powers announced loudly, directing everyone to the classroom.

juwon and jia, now de-pacified, were dusting off their supersuits. jia was rubbing a smudge from her husband's chest as they heard chan calling for their attention. they turned to their son, encouraging smiles on their faces as they looked at chan.

chan looked regretful as he said, "i just want to say sorry because... this whole thing was my fault."

jia sighed as he placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "oh, honey, you can't blame yourself."

"of course not." juwon chimed in. "how were you supposed to know that your boyfriend was a complete and total psychopath?"

chan shook his head, a grimace in his face as he said, "no, that's not it. um..." he sighed, wincing slightly as he turned to his dad and said, "you gave me one rule, and i broke it."

juwon and jia exchanged a look as chan continued. "i took him into the secret sanctum, and that's how he got the pacifier. the whole party was a trap."

"and so was the dance, chan." juwon said, gesturing towards jia as he continued, "we all fell into royal pain's trap, but you defeated him." he looked impressed as he pointed to his son.

"you saved sky high, and everyone in here."

chan shrugged nonchalantly as he said, "but i didn't do it by myself."

"excuse me? juwon? jia?" mr. boy's meek voice chimed in from behind the couple. they split apart as mr. boy approached them with the award jeonghan was planning on giving himself, the hero of the year award.

"even though it appears jeonghan only came up with this award as a way to lure you to the dance... and your ultimate doom, still, it's inscribed, so..."

juwon grabbed the trophy as he said, "i'd be honored to accept this hero of the year award. but i'm afraid this doesn't belong to us."

the couple turned to chan's friends, the young boy's stopping their excited chattering as jia said, "it belongs to them."

the couple took a few steps forward as jia said, "the sidekicks."

juwon turned to his wife as he muttered, "i thought they were the unremarkables?" he quickly shook his head as he said, "why don't we call them what they really are, jia? heroes."

juwon held the trophy out to the group of boys. they smiled excitedly as they each wrapped a hand around the trophy, vernon touching the tip of it with an amused smile as there was no more room for him to grab it.

juwon and jia smiled as they began to walk away. juwon stopped as he turned to mr. boy and said, "oh, and junsuk, whatever you're teaching them, keep teaching them it." mr. boy smiled gratefully as the couple walked away.

inside of the detention room, the six troublemaking seniors sat at each desk. jeonghan's father cowered behind jeonghan as principal powers continued to reprimand them.

"– and what a waste. i can't do anything more to help you." the older woman said, clicking her tongue as she turned around began to walk out of the detention room. "i'm not wonder woman, you know." she muttered as the door clicked shut behind her.

jeonghan scowled, gritting his teeth as he muttered, "i went through puberty twice... for this?!"

inside of the gymnasium, mr. medulla stood in front of the crowd of de-pacified teenagers and adults. the crowd murmured excitedly as mr. medulla said, "i have de-pacified all the babies and destroyed that horrible weapon forever." the crowd let out a round of cheers at the announcement. mr. medulla quickly let out a shout of encouragement as he turned the music back on. the crowd began to dance to the music, feeling exhilarated now that the weapon was gone.

mingyu and vernon sat in the back of the gymansium, the taller one acting unimpressed as they watched the dancing teens and said, "it's so sweet, i could hurl."

"tell me about it." vernon nodded in agreement.

after a beat of silence, vernon turned to mingyu and asked, "do you want to dance–"

"yes." mingyu coughed lightly as he added, "i mean, yeah. yeah."

vernon grabbed mingyu's hand and led the taller boy to the dance floor. he danced casually to the music, furrowing his eyebrows as he watched mingyu flail his arms and legs around. he smiled in amusement and just let the taller boy just do his thing.

outside of the broken gymnasium window, chan and seungkwan were floating in the air, kissing as they spun around softly. seungkwan had his feet on chan's to make sure he didn't fall, but he knew chan wouldn't let him fall. he had a solid grip on him.

compared to the dance that night, the rest of the school year was pretty boring.

jeonghan and his friends got what they deserved. though chan would have preferred that they had been dangled by a rope for a save the citizen game, he was also alright with the seven of them sharing a singular prison cell.

it was strange how things managed to work out, but not in the way chan planned or could have ever imagined. his boyfriend became his arch-enemy, his arch-enemy became his best friend, and his best friend became his boyfriend.

but, hey. that's high school.