The door creaked when Taeyong opened it while stepping out into the living room, a familiar sound that had ceased to become annoying after many years. He could hear muffled sounds from the television in Jaemin's room—after all, the walls of the apartment were thin indeed—as he shut the door behind him, dragging the duffel bag with him as he walked over to the base of the stairs.

"Jaem?" he called, but there was no answer. Taeyong sighed, then tossed the duffel bag onto the sofa before making his way upstairs. The weak stairs made much the same sound as the door did, and he felt an unusual uneasiness when he heard the creaks under his feet. Surprising, since he had felt none of that fear while facing down real-life supervillains just days before.

His hand rested on the doorknob. "I'm coming in," he called, and heard the boy make a guttural noise of acknowledgement. He pushed the door open, to find Jaemin sprawled on a mostly flattened green bean bag, the sides of his mouth crusted with nacho crumbs as he munched on a mouthful of the same.

The T.V. was on, but it wasn't a channel he had been hearing. Jaemin had connected his laptop to the screen and was replaying what looked like a YouTube video of a news report. Taeyong frowned as he moved closer, kicking a cable out of the way as he did, and took a closer look at the screen. It was showing a view of a very familiar-looking diner that seemed to have been thoroughly trashed, surrounded by police vehicles and yellow tape cordoning off the site to the reporters, one of whom was facing the screen.

"The police reports have reported no casualties so far," the woman onscreen was saying. "As of now, there has been no official explanation regarding the incident, but tapes from a—"

Her voice cut off abruptly as Jaemin muted the video and turned to him. Well, turned was something of an exaggeration, since all he did was lie down flatter against the bean bag and tip his head back so he could look at Taeyong while talking to him. "What?"

With some difficulty, Taeyong tore his eyes away from the screen to look at Jaemin. His bubblegum-pink hair was clearly unbrushed, and pointed in all directions like he had been electrified. Taeyong flattened his lips, shifting his weight to one leg, and placed his hands on his hips as he looked down at the younger boy sternly. "Did you take a bath yet?"

Jaemin blinked. "I was going to."

Taeyong sighed. He didn't appreciate the smell of the room, which exuded the spicy tang of chili sauce and melted cables, but knew well that he didn't have to time to give Jaemin a piece of mind. "Look," he started, then paused. He had been feeling on edge regarding Baekhyun's announcement that they stay in the Tower at all times, and the report about the diner he had helped annihilate hadn't helped his state of mind. "I have to go away for a while. It's a work thing."

A crease appeared between Jaemin's eyebrows, and he sat up, turning around to face his brother. It wasn't unusual for Taeyong to have to leave for work, but most of the time, he was able to give Jaemin at least a couple of days' notice. "Right now?" he asked, visibly confused. "For how long?"

"Could be a week, could be two," Taeyong replied, trying to sound calm about it. "I know this is sudden, but it was a last-minute meeting and it's kind of an emergency, so there's no way I can skip it. You don't have to worry about food or anything—I talked to Jeno's mom, and arranged for you to stay there for a few days until I can get back and—"

"You didn't have to talk to Jeno's mom," Jaemin exclaimed, looking offended. "You could've just let me stay here! I'm seventeen, I'm old enough to look after myself, and I can even go grocery shopping at the 7-eleven two blocks down—"

"It's not about that," Taeyong interrupted him, then hesitated. What was he supposed to tell him? That there could be a band of powerful evil people looking to kidnap him, and that Taeyong was just trying to keep him safe? He took a deep breath, then tried again, this time with more gentleness. "You saw the news," he said. "There's been—bad things happening around this neighborhood, and I just don't want to leave you alone."

For a second, something bold and defiant shone in Jaemin's eyes, but then it faded into a reluctant acceptance. "Okay," he said slowly, and Taeyong let go of the breath he had been holding, feeling a flush of affection and gratitude. This was why he was so proud of Jaemin—most teenagers would just have wanted to disobey the ones in charge, but Jaemin understood responsibility. "But no bedtimes."

"You can talk to Jeno's mom about that," he answered with a rare grin, one that Jaemin matched with a challenging one of his own. "Just be careful when I'm gone, okay? Don't go out to late, don't eat yourself sick, and make sure you don't go home alone after basketball practice. I've already packed your essentials, but there's still a free rucksack if you want to take extras."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," Jaemin said with a small salute, then hopped to his feet. Nacho crumbs rained down on the floor from the creases in his shirt when he got up, and Jaemin looked down at them dismally, before turning his face towards Taeyong's with a hopeful look. "If we're both going away, does that mean I don't have to clean this up?"

"Nope, it doesn't," Taeyong said cheerfully, and Jaemin groaned, though Taeyong could tell his heart wasn't in it. He turned to go, but a blur of movement on the T.V. screen caught his eye. He froze.

The news channel was playing a tape, probably from a security camera within the diner from how grainy it was. It was too dark to see any faces due to the shattered lightbulbs, but Taeyong could recognize Ten from glimpses in between, charging at the Ice Angel. He saw him turn invisible midway, and swing a chair at the man—he saw it all, right up to the point when the window shattered, and the screen went dark.

His mind was buzzing, fervent, as he tried to think. How could the security camera have survived Baekhyun frying the mainframe? Unless of course, he hadn't fried the mainframe. The security camera must have been hooked up to a backup power supply, and the rest of the appliances must just have exploded because of the overload.

"Stupid," he muttered, staring angrily at the screen. Of course. In their hurry to leave, they hadn't checked the place properly, and this moment of lousiness had cost them their secrecy. Thankfully, it had been too dark for any of their faces to be recognizable—not that it mattered, anyway. They had worn masks. He thought about Baekhyun, Lucas, and Ten visiting the diner earlier, and hoped the backup hadn't booted up the cameras until then. Or else they'd have some work to do.

"What?" Jaemin asked suspiciously. Taeyong's neck almost broke from the speed at which he turned his head to look at him. He felt his stomach drop into his knees; he had almost forgotten he was there. "Why are you so pissed at their mistake?"

"Nothing," Taeyong said. He resisted clearing his throat in case it would make him look suspicious, and shook his head in pretense of disgust. "Just how I could've pulled it off better than them. This new batch of superheroes seems pretty bad at their job, if you ask me."

Jaemin glanced at the T.V. screen again. If he didn't buy Taeyong's lie, he didn't show it, instead simply shrugging. "Yeah," he said, nodding a little. "They really are. Wonder what's gonna happen to the City if it's in the hands of people like this."

"Maybe they're not even people," Taeyong said musingly. He knew he was probably going a bit far, but his brain was screaming at him to say something, anything, so Jaemin wouldn't be suspicious. "Maybe they're...robots."

"Fat chance." Jaemin scoffed. "AI couldn't be that stupid. Have you ever seen Terminator?" He gave Taeyong a look. "If those guys were robots, we'd all be dead."

Taeyong allowed himself a small smile as he looked at the boy. Jaemin was about the same height as him, and had filled out nicely in the past few years, but Taeyong still saw him as a boy of ten. This was probably the kind of affection he would have found disgusting if it had been pointed at him, but he couldn't help but feel the way he did.

"Yeah, you're probably right," he said softly, then reached over to ruffle Jaemin's hair, who slapped his hand off and glared. Taeyong's smile widened, then he pursed his lips to contain it, and cleared his throat. "Alright, Jeno's mom should be here by four to pick you up, so that gives you—" he glanced at his watch— "about two hours to pack up. I'll leave about an hour later. Make sure you text me regularly, okay? I'm not afraid of strapping a GPS on you."

Jaemin made a face, but said nothing to disagree. "Yes, mother," he said, and Taeyong glared at him playfully. "I'll stay safe."

"You better," Taeyong said, his own voice sounding wistful to his own ears. But if Jaemin heard it, he didn't let on, humming to himself as he walked past him and thudded downstairs, as Taeyong watched him leave with a foreboding feeling in his heart.

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i love writing them so much that sometimes i feel like making a separate book just for their interactions :') and thank you guys so much for 80k followers, it's INSANE <3