zenfu
in
gyonggo_ss
For dizzy_grace
Title: Kim Hyungjoon; superhero
Pairing: Hyungjoon/Youngsaeng
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU
Notes: For dizzy_grace, Happy Holidays!
Summary: Hyungjoon's life went to hell the day he discovered he could stop time.
Hyungjoon always thought that having a superpower would be a great thing. That is, until he found out that he had one.
The first time it happens is on the day he turns twenty.
His only birthday present is an eviction notice from his landlord and he wanders along the streets trying to figure out what to do because he doesn't just have himself to take care of, he has Kibum as well. He thinks if only I had more time to find a solution and the next thing he knows, the entire street freezes.
Hyungjoon doesn't even notice it until nearly a minute later, when he walks into a woman who has frozen mid-bow, a dog at her feet standing perfectly still on its back legs.
"What the hell," Hyungjoon says, and spends several hours walking around in a strange frozen land before he manages to undo the time-stop.
It takes him several years to learn how to use his powers because he has nobody to show or tell him what he's supposed to do to only stop time for the necessary amount of time. Instead of stopping time for an hour or two, he stops it for days at a time and wanders around, alone and lost, in a world that never changes. It's solitary and silent and strange and he doesn't like it, but the more he tries to start time again, the more difficult it becomes.
Once, about a year after he discovers his power, Hyungjoon stops time for a month and a half and by the time he manages to start it again, he has walked halfway through China in sheer boredom. By the time he manages to get back to Seoul, Kibum has left the small, shabby apartment they've called home, only leaving behind a note that says he's going to disappear.
As it turns out, Kibum has a superpower of his own - turning invisible.
And just like Hyungjoon, Kibum doesn't know how to control his power and ends up being stuck on invisible mode. Hyungjoon doesn't know whether to laugh or cry when he finds out about it, months later. He figures that at least Kibum will be able to spy on all the pretty girls he wants to.
By the time Hyungjoon learns how to control his powers properly, he's in his mid-twenties and practically living on the streets because he can't manage to hold down a job when time could accidentally stop for him at any moment. He's lonely and without ties and without belongings, but at least he eats well because he can stop time and walk into stores or restaurants and take or eat whatever he wants to. He vaguely thinks that he should feel guilty about this - it's stealing, after all - but he thinks that staying alive is more important than being noble.
It's a lonely life, but he doesn't know how to change it.
Then he meets Youngsaeng.
The first time, it scares the crap out of him. Hyungjoon stops time in order to raid a grocery store for something to eat for dinner, and is in the middle of raiding the prepared foods section when there's suddenly a voice behind him. "What do you think you're doing?"
Hyungjoon curses and literally jumps, banging his head on a shelf and sending little bowls of salad and prepared sandwiches scattering all over the floor. He turns around to find a man standing a few feet away, observing him curiously. As if that wasn't strange enough in itself, nobody else in the store is moving. It's just Hyungjoon, and Youngsaeng.
"Who are you?" Hyungjoon chokes out. Maybe this is a supervillain, like in the movies. Though considering what Hyungjoon's doing, maybe this is the hero of the story.
"Youngsaeng. Who are you? And what are you doing?"
Hyungjoon stares at Youngsaeng, almost helplessly, because this makes even less sense than being able to stop time in the first place. "I... I... Nothing," he stutters before turning around and fleeing out of the store because he doesn't know what else to do.
It turns out to be kind of useless considering that Youngsaeng follows him and there's nobody moving in the entire world except the two of them.
Youngsaeng's power is the ability to follow Hyungjoon into the time-stops, as long as they're within a hundred feet of each other.
It's almost a big a surprise when Youngsaeng takes to practically following Hyungjoon around everywhere.
"I don't mind having some extra time," Youngsaeng says with a shrug when Hyungjoon questions his reasons for wanting to stay close. "Gives me a lot of time to write music and learn things."
"You're a musician?" Hyungjoon walks through the streets late at night and tries to get used to the idea of actually talking to someone again because it's been so long since he had company.
Youngsaeng shrugs again. "Not really. It's just a hobby. I work in an office, normally. Once, a couple months ago, I guess you were close 'cause time stopped and I did all the work I had scheduled for a week in a day. The boss gave me a raise. So thank you." He grins and catches up to Hyungjoon properly, walking beside him instead of slightly behind.
"You're welcome," Hyungjoon replies, and he tries not to smile but he's far from successful.
Youngsaeng takes one look at the place where Hyungjoon has been staying - in the cold basement of an abandoned building - and declares that Hyungjoon should move in with him because there's more than enough space for both of them and he's sick of being alone anyway.
Hyungjoon opens his mouth to protest, but nothing actually comes out.
Apparently Youngsaeng's second superpower is the ability to render Hyungjoon absolutely speechless.
Youngsaeng's apartment is small but nice and Hyungjoon sleeps on the floor the first week, on the couch the second week, and in Youngsaeng's bed from the third week onwards.
"I sleep better when I'm not sleeping alone," Youngsaeng says and shares the covers willingly.
"Me too," Hyungjoon admits and scoots a little closer than he probably should.
"You're supposed to use your powers for good," Youngsaeng comments as he follows Hyungjoon on one of his raids in the local grocery store. He doesn't try to stop Hyungjoon from taking anything, however.
"How do you figure?"
Youngsaeng scoffs. "Please, it's in practically every superhero movie in existence. 'With great power comes great responsibility' and all that."
"I'm not a superhero," Hyunjoon replies and shoves a bottle of soju into his backpack. It's true. He's about as far from a superhero as it's possible to get, but at least his life doesn't seem quite as bleak anymore.
In the evenings, Youngsaeng asks Hyungjoon to stop time and they spend seemingly endless hours talking and playing music together and Hyungjoon thinks that this is the closest he's been to being happy in years.
Almost happiness becomes actual happiness the day Youngsaeng kisses him, hesitant and gentle, when they're cooking in the miniscule kitchen.
"I just wanted to know what it'd be like," Youngsaeng says but doesn't get to say anything else because this time, it's Hyungjoon kissing him.
Hyungjoon isn't quite sure how it happens, but suddenly he spends more time with Youngsaeng than he does alone, and he gets a job in Youngsaeng's office and spends more time working than stealing, and slowly, slowly, his life pieces itself back together into something resembling normalcy.
Even if he still stops time almost daily, if nothing else than to drag Youngsaeng into the supply room for an hour in the middle of the work day.
Sometimes, the ability to stop time definitely comes in handy.
Maybe it's not the life Hyungjoon had dreamed of as a kid, but he doesn't think it's such a bad life either.
"I'll never be a superhero," Hyungjoon says, stretching out in bed and staring up into the ceiling. He has the powers to be a hero, but he doesn't have the desire. He just wants to live and be happy and that happens despite of his power, not because of it.
Youngsaeng yawns and shifts closer, one arm splayed across Hyungjoon's stomach. "You're a superhero to me."
Hyungjoon smiles. He can be okay with that.
Pairing: Hyungjoon/Youngsaeng
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU
Notes: For dizzy_grace, Happy Holidays!
Summary: Hyungjoon's life went to hell the day he discovered he could stop time.
Hyungjoon always thought that having a superpower would be a great thing. That is, until he found out that he had one.
The first time it happens is on the day he turns twenty.
His only birthday present is an eviction notice from his landlord and he wanders along the streets trying to figure out what to do because he doesn't just have himself to take care of, he has Kibum as well. He thinks if only I had more time to find a solution and the next thing he knows, the entire street freezes.
Hyungjoon doesn't even notice it until nearly a minute later, when he walks into a woman who has frozen mid-bow, a dog at her feet standing perfectly still on its back legs.
"What the hell," Hyungjoon says, and spends several hours walking around in a strange frozen land before he manages to undo the time-stop.
It takes him several years to learn how to use his powers because he has nobody to show or tell him what he's supposed to do to only stop time for the necessary amount of time. Instead of stopping time for an hour or two, he stops it for days at a time and wanders around, alone and lost, in a world that never changes. It's solitary and silent and strange and he doesn't like it, but the more he tries to start time again, the more difficult it becomes.
Once, about a year after he discovers his power, Hyungjoon stops time for a month and a half and by the time he manages to start it again, he has walked halfway through China in sheer boredom. By the time he manages to get back to Seoul, Kibum has left the small, shabby apartment they've called home, only leaving behind a note that says he's going to disappear.
As it turns out, Kibum has a superpower of his own - turning invisible.
And just like Hyungjoon, Kibum doesn't know how to control his power and ends up being stuck on invisible mode. Hyungjoon doesn't know whether to laugh or cry when he finds out about it, months later. He figures that at least Kibum will be able to spy on all the pretty girls he wants to.
By the time Hyungjoon learns how to control his powers properly, he's in his mid-twenties and practically living on the streets because he can't manage to hold down a job when time could accidentally stop for him at any moment. He's lonely and without ties and without belongings, but at least he eats well because he can stop time and walk into stores or restaurants and take or eat whatever he wants to. He vaguely thinks that he should feel guilty about this - it's stealing, after all - but he thinks that staying alive is more important than being noble.
It's a lonely life, but he doesn't know how to change it.
Then he meets Youngsaeng.
The first time, it scares the crap out of him. Hyungjoon stops time in order to raid a grocery store for something to eat for dinner, and is in the middle of raiding the prepared foods section when there's suddenly a voice behind him. "What do you think you're doing?"
Hyungjoon curses and literally jumps, banging his head on a shelf and sending little bowls of salad and prepared sandwiches scattering all over the floor. He turns around to find a man standing a few feet away, observing him curiously. As if that wasn't strange enough in itself, nobody else in the store is moving. It's just Hyungjoon, and Youngsaeng.
"Who are you?" Hyungjoon chokes out. Maybe this is a supervillain, like in the movies. Though considering what Hyungjoon's doing, maybe this is the hero of the story.
"Youngsaeng. Who are you? And what are you doing?"
Hyungjoon stares at Youngsaeng, almost helplessly, because this makes even less sense than being able to stop time in the first place. "I... I... Nothing," he stutters before turning around and fleeing out of the store because he doesn't know what else to do.
It turns out to be kind of useless considering that Youngsaeng follows him and there's nobody moving in the entire world except the two of them.
Youngsaeng's power is the ability to follow Hyungjoon into the time-stops, as long as they're within a hundred feet of each other.
It's almost a big a surprise when Youngsaeng takes to practically following Hyungjoon around everywhere.
"I don't mind having some extra time," Youngsaeng says with a shrug when Hyungjoon questions his reasons for wanting to stay close. "Gives me a lot of time to write music and learn things."
"You're a musician?" Hyungjoon walks through the streets late at night and tries to get used to the idea of actually talking to someone again because it's been so long since he had company.
Youngsaeng shrugs again. "Not really. It's just a hobby. I work in an office, normally. Once, a couple months ago, I guess you were close 'cause time stopped and I did all the work I had scheduled for a week in a day. The boss gave me a raise. So thank you." He grins and catches up to Hyungjoon properly, walking beside him instead of slightly behind.
"You're welcome," Hyungjoon replies, and he tries not to smile but he's far from successful.
Youngsaeng takes one look at the place where Hyungjoon has been staying - in the cold basement of an abandoned building - and declares that Hyungjoon should move in with him because there's more than enough space for both of them and he's sick of being alone anyway.
Hyungjoon opens his mouth to protest, but nothing actually comes out.
Apparently Youngsaeng's second superpower is the ability to render Hyungjoon absolutely speechless.
Youngsaeng's apartment is small but nice and Hyungjoon sleeps on the floor the first week, on the couch the second week, and in Youngsaeng's bed from the third week onwards.
"I sleep better when I'm not sleeping alone," Youngsaeng says and shares the covers willingly.
"Me too," Hyungjoon admits and scoots a little closer than he probably should.
"You're supposed to use your powers for good," Youngsaeng comments as he follows Hyungjoon on one of his raids in the local grocery store. He doesn't try to stop Hyungjoon from taking anything, however.
"How do you figure?"
Youngsaeng scoffs. "Please, it's in practically every superhero movie in existence. 'With great power comes great responsibility' and all that."
"I'm not a superhero," Hyunjoon replies and shoves a bottle of soju into his backpack. It's true. He's about as far from a superhero as it's possible to get, but at least his life doesn't seem quite as bleak anymore.
In the evenings, Youngsaeng asks Hyungjoon to stop time and they spend seemingly endless hours talking and playing music together and Hyungjoon thinks that this is the closest he's been to being happy in years.
Almost happiness becomes actual happiness the day Youngsaeng kisses him, hesitant and gentle, when they're cooking in the miniscule kitchen.
"I just wanted to know what it'd be like," Youngsaeng says but doesn't get to say anything else because this time, it's Hyungjoon kissing him.
Hyungjoon isn't quite sure how it happens, but suddenly he spends more time with Youngsaeng than he does alone, and he gets a job in Youngsaeng's office and spends more time working than stealing, and slowly, slowly, his life pieces itself back together into something resembling normalcy.
Even if he still stops time almost daily, if nothing else than to drag Youngsaeng into the supply room for an hour in the middle of the work day.
Sometimes, the ability to stop time definitely comes in handy.
Maybe it's not the life Hyungjoon had dreamed of as a kid, but he doesn't think it's such a bad life either.
"I'll never be a superhero," Hyungjoon says, stretching out in bed and staring up into the ceiling. He has the powers to be a hero, but he doesn't have the desire. He just wants to live and be happy and that happens despite of his power, not because of it.
Youngsaeng yawns and shifts closer, one arm splayed across Hyungjoon's stomach. "You're a superhero to me."
Hyungjoon smiles. He can be okay with that.