"No, Jaemin, I do not care that he dropped your phone in the toilet. Tell him to get a plastic bag and fish it out himself."

As he spoke the latter sentence, Taeyong swallowed his last fry with the viciousness of the Minotaur devouring a healthy human. His brother protested over the line, but he was having none of it. Already, his day had been utter shit, and the view from his sitting-place wasn't helping.

"Yes, that's exactly what I said," he said into the speaker, getting up from his place at an empty table and proceeding to the exit. "If you want to get your ears checked, pay for it out of your own pocket. No, that's completely fair."

He pulled his hand out of his pocket, checking the watch on his wrist as he pushed through the glass door. The entire neighborhood was bathed in darkness, which wasn't surprising, considering that it was almost closing time. The only light within a few feet was that of the old McDonald's he had just come out of, and even that would only accompany him for so long.

Taeyong removed the phone from his ear, letting his brother take out his frustration on a line without a listener for a few seconds. Pushing his blue hair away from his sweaty forehead, he turned around a last time to regard the restaurant with a particularly stinky eye.

There was a single server inside the store, his face illuminated by the harsh light from the phone he was scrolling through. The rest of the place was empty, and had been for quite a long time (he would know, he'd been sitting in there for at least two hours). The tables were greasy, and the washrooms had been occupied for the entire duration of his stay. He would say that it was the shadiest McDonald's he had ever seen, but that wasn't true. He had seen a whole lot of even shadier McDonald's.

Suddenly, he remembered that he was supposed to be on a call, and pressed the cellphone hastily to his ear. "Hello, yes," he mumbled into the phone as he tucked it between his ear and shoulder—a very risky position that was the reason for a long crack in its screen. "No, I'm here. God, stop screeching in my ear. I wasn't ignoring you on purpose, I dropped my phone."

"Serves you right," Jaemin said on the other end, as nastily as he possibly could.

"Shut up," Taeyong muttered. "Look, I'll be home in an hour or so, alright? Tell Jeno to put your phone in some silica from the shoebox. And don't charge it, just let it dry. If it heats up, call me."

He began walking away from the restaurant, into the dull orange light of a street lamp that was the only one of its kind for quite a long distance. "No, you idiot, not from the wet phone," he said, half-groaning. "Don't use that phone."

The light from the street lamp had begun to flicker. Taeyong paused, frowning as he looked back at the lamp. It stayed for a few seconds, but when he started walking again, it flickered once more.

"Great," he muttered to himself. "Jaem, I'll talk to you later, okay?" Having thus successfully ended a long and rather tedious call, Taeyong stuffed his phone into the pocket of his old jeans, and started power-walking away from the street corner.

It wasn't even winter, but the temperature around him seemed to have dropped a few degrees. Pulling the brown jacket tighter around himself, Taeyong trained his gaze on a spot on the horizon, willing himself not to look at the alleyway as he passed it.

Unfortunately for him, that day, like every other day, luck didn't favor him.

The street lamp went out the moment he stepped on the sidewalk next to the alley, and the boy froze up in disappointed surprise. The wind seemed to whistle softly around his turned-up collar, and he shivered, peeking over his shoulder cautiously.

"Great," he muttered again, though he sounded much less confident this time. "Fucking amazing. Just what I needed."

"Maybe it is," a voice spoke at his shoulder. Taeyong jumped three feet in the air (a fact that he would later feverishly deny) and almost landed on his butt. As soon as his feet had secured their position on the asphalt, he whirled around, eyes wide, raising his hands in what he hoped was a proper defensive posture.

The owner of the voice, though, did not seem like a mugger. Far from it. He looked like a millionaire, with a fitted suit jacket and pants, an expensive-looking watch wrapped around his wrist. Taeyong stepped back, confused, keeping his arms in the same position in case the guy turned out to be nothing more than a mugger with extravagant tastes.

So, he turned, with the intention of taking off as fast as possible, and not looking back.

The orange-haired guy standing directly behind him kind of threw a wrench in those plans. He stood there, calm as a...whatever was supposed to be calm, arms folded over his chest. As Taeyong watched, he curled his lips into a smile too friendly to be that of a gangster, and gestured towards the man behind him.

With a defeated sigh, Taeyong turned back to the posh mugger.

His feet shifted doubtfully on the pavement. Usually, he didn't like using his powers unless it was absolutely necessary, so he wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. It was cases like this that he hated the most. Taeyong didn't consider himself a regular target of petty criminals, but he wasn't imposing enough to get rid of them by his own physical prowess either.

What didn't help his indecisiveness was that there was something acutely familiar about the man's voice.

He sighed. "Okay. What are you, and what do you want? I'm guessing you're only going to answer one of those questions."

The posh mugger smiled, and as if on cue, the street lamp turned back on. He stepped forward, and raised something small and rectangular into the light. Taeyong, disorientated by the sudden flash, blinked hard before squinting at the small object, secretly worried that it was a futuristic weapon.

It was a business card.

"My name is Taemin. Lee Taemin," the man said. Taeyong opened his mouth—though he had no idea what he was going to say—but before he could speak, the man continued. "And I have a job for you."

|

Kai's day had been going fairly well—he had shown up to his friend's regular Friday night party, had ended up with a pretty, sober girl in an empty bedroom, and had remembered to bring a condom with him. Then he had fainted.

He had no idea why, of course. All he remembered after that was waking up, flat on his back in a parking lot, one he didn't recognize, with all the cars around him on fire. He knew he was supposed to be scared—the cars were on fire, for heaven's sake—but for some crazy reason, he wasn't.

He was just confused.

"What the hell happened here?" he muttered to himself, getting to his feet. A wave of heat hit his torso, and he realized he didn't have a shirt on. So the party hadn't been a dream...

Kai frowned, running a hand over his perfect washboard abs. He touched the side of his head with his fingertips and looked around him in an attempt to remember something, but his mind drew a blank.

"I can tell you what happened." Kai slewed around at the voice, eyes rounding as he noticed the strange man standing a few feet away from him. He was relatively tall (or maybe it was the fancy shoes), with blonde hair and eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul. Kai's frown deepened, and he narrowed his eyes in order to get a better look, but the face didn't give rise to any memories.

"Who are you?" he called out, not bothering to hide his bare chest. Hey, he was wearing a jacket. Denim on denim was indeed a crime, unless the wearer looked like Kai.

"My name is Lee Taemin," the man answered. Kai stared at him for a few more moments, and it unexpectedly clicked. He had seen the man before. Okay, maybe not in person, but on quite a few billboards.

"You're that rich CEO guy," he said, tilting his head to the side. "What are you doing in a burning parking lot? Does this place belong to you? Wait, did I accidentally get drunk and set your property on fire?" Horror rose in his thoughts. "Oh, crap. I'm so sorry."

Taemin looked almost amused, but the expression wore off as quickly as it had arisen. "No, this parking lot is not mine, but it could be if I wanted it to." Then he shook his head, as if clearing it. "Kai," he said, and Kai noted that his voice sounded like velvet. "I have a proposition for you."

Kai frowned again. It didn't sound like he had set the rich guy's place on fire. "Uh," he said intelligently. "What kind of proposition?"

Taemin's lips curved into half a smile, and the boy watched, fascinated. The blond raised his chin ever-so-slightly, and looked him straight in the eyes. For a moment, it felt like the cars had caught fire simply because of the power the man radiated.

"What do you say to saving the world?"

||

WELCOME TO SUPER !!!

this is gonna be a wile ride, so hang on tight. also because i have no idea what i'm doing (but trust me anyway). LEGGO.

love,
manx.