Work Text:
"By the power of the moon—"
"Minsoo."
"Oh come on!"
---
It begins like this: the Crystals of Unity were gifted to two people when the world first began to grow hatred. But two alone could never protect the whole world. And so, the Crystals brought forth Shards, raised to be helpers and companions that would aid in the defense of the world. The holders were to protect their people, their homes. The responsibility was great; the danger even greater. For where there is the light, the darkness will always try to snuff it out.
Currently, holders Lee Minsoo and Kang Dongho (protectors of Seoul, South Korea) are working on their fourth supervillain attack of the week, which is perhaps not great timing because Dongho has exams (and so does Minsoo, but that fucker doesn't study anyways and still gets good grades).
(Dongho is viciously hoping that this attack tires him out so much so that he passes out on the way back to the apartment and oversleeps for his final.)
Minsoo has decided that, in true Lee Minsoo fashion, he's going to use his powers as bestowed by the Crystal to get rid of the villain in the most absurd manner possible. This is to say he's using his 'magical-purifying-weapon-of-awesome' (first off, it's a talisman, and second of all, it's a fucking gun) to defeat the villain. Nevermind that Dongho has informed him multiple times this fight alone that the villain isn't even physically present. Literally the only problem they're facing right now is the fact that an abandoned building is on fire suspiciously close to one of the biggest law firms in Seoul, and one of the most scandalous to boot. No one's in either building, but the fire is also conveniently moving in the direction of the base of the law firm (which has recently come under fire for its founder possibly using cheap materials and endangering employees with the cutting of corners, which if that isn't a clear sign, Dongho's never seen one).
"Minsoo, what are you going to do? Shoot the fire?" Dongho shouts from halfway below him, actually using his powers productively to stop the spread of the fire—which is somehow resisting him and is actually moving faster towards the building.
"It's not a fire, genius!" Minsoo yells back, now aiming his talisman (Dongho refuses to call it anything but its proper name) at the flames that are rapidly spreading. He shoots twice, and when both bullets fail to hit anything—Dongho is unsurprised but still very disappointed in him—Minsoo looks over sheepishly. "Sorry, thought it was maybe a cloaking mechanism for the villain." Which he says, referring to the same villain they've had attack over twenty times this semester alone, and never once had the opportunity to see what they looked like. If Dongho saw them, he thinks he'd shit himself.
"Told you it was just a fire, genius." Dongho quips back before directing Minsoo to join him in trying to contain the burning debris. This does absolutely nothing, and after another hour's worth of desperately trying to hold back the fire from hitting the law firm, the flames creep around the base and burn, allowing the tons of metal and concrete to collapse. It's both concerning and a relief, because now it means that firefighters can handle whatever rubble is still smoking, and they can go *home.*
At six in the morning. Dongho has his first final at eight. Minsoo's is at twelve.
He hates that little fucker so much.
---
After their respective exams, they both join Daehyun at the cafeteria for lunch and to chat about the attack. Daehyun, as a Shard, has about the expected amount of sympathy for true Crystal holders. This is to say he has none at all, the conniving bastard. He even has the nerve to puppy-eye Dongho into paying for ice cream for all of them. Dongho's eyebags at this point could hold all of his childhood trauma and they're still laughing at him. If he didn't assume Minsoo would immediately try to shoot the first thing that moved on a mission, he'd just pass on the Crystal early and go back to being a regular student. Unfortunately, he trusts Minsoo with a gun about as much as he trusts the weird music professor in Wing C—actually, he thinks he'd prefer Minsoo with a gun. This is not an accurate comparison. He'll come up with a better one when he doesn't feel like his brain is leaking out of his ears.
As he takes the last bite of his salad, his eyes catch a flash of red hair, visible even through the crowd of people all scrambling to get their favorite foods before its gone. His eyes meet those of another boy that he vaguely remembers from one of his half-term courses, and he nods slightly in polite greeting before casting his gaze back over to his friends. Unseen by him, the redhead brightens greatly, and scurries off with a smile.
---
When he first came to the campus, Dongho's biggest pet peeve was the fire alarms. They're either horrifically faulty, or these people are insanely stupid, because within the first week alone, it went off fourteen times. And that wasn't a twice-a-day type of thing, either. Dongho distinctly remembers one of those days having five alarms. Which of course meant they had to evacuate the dormitories, and it was generally just a very annoying period of time to have to adjust to.
Now, though, Dongho is finding his biggest pet peeve to be a downright unholy combination of Minsoo, Daehyun, and this supervillain that keeps plaguing the area, because he cannot catch a fucking break.
At least exams are over. At least he only has his job and his family to deal with (not counting having to essentially babysit two dumbasses who cannot be trusted to take care of themselves). At least, somehow, this villain has the slightly startling generosity to only attack at times that Dongho and Minsoo are free. Sometimes Daehyun even joins them, but the majority of it still falls to the two Crystal holders to care of things.
There is some sort of pattern forming here that Dongho is too fed up to totally pay attention to.
(Lucky him, Minsoo is not, and is surprisingly on the right track to figuring it out, not that either of them are aware of that fact.)
And then things change. Dongho doesn't remember totally what he said, but he knows he shouted something about being tired and wanted to be left alone, pent-up stress and sleep deprivation finally taking it's toll on his brain-to-mouth filter. He snapped, yelled, and all of a sudden, the weird magic that both he and Minsoo had grown accustomed to fighting just...disappeared. Like an eclipse, except after a few minutes, it didn't return. Just the eerie silence of him and Minsoo in the middle of the street, apparently abandoned by their arch-nemesis. (Dongho wouldn't usually have agreed to using the term, but he's so fed up at this point that he'll give it a pass.)
One day, he'll look back on this and laugh. Today is not that day, and he finds himself stroke with an odd wave of concern. It's not like their opponent to be so...withdrawn. There's always a purpose, always a reason behind the attacks. They never lay a hand on Minsoo or Dongho, and the only real injuries either of them get are from environmental hazards than any sort of action from the villain. He's...worried. It's an odd feeling to be so worried for someone he realizes he's never actually met.
Minsoo looks over, and for once, he looks solemn as well. They both know something is wrong here. But really, without any attacks, what can they do? If they attack now, it'll be like attacking an innocent. They can't just fight without cause (they both know that the villain has never once laid a hand on anyone meant to harm, never a casualty in sight). So, the only option is to leave.
Dongho casts a final glance to the last place he saw the magic disappear from, a frown tugging at his lips. He should be thankful he can finally go and rest. Instead, all he feels is disappointment and guilt.
---
They don't have any more attacks.
Dongho begins to feel like he's been shaken in a laundry machine, his brain nothing more than loose change in a pair of jeans. Three entire weeks pass, and all three of them have...nothing to do. Finals are over, their jobs all offer them vacation days knowing their "responsibilities" (currently not being used, because who are they supposed to fight?), and none of them have seen hide or hair of their villain.
Dongho has, however, seen that one redhead from one of his previous classes, and more noticeably, how much more subdued he seems. Admittedly, Dongho doesn't remember much about him, but he does remember the bright smile the redhead always wore whenever they got the chance to talk. Now, that smile has disappeared, and though it's not like he hung out with the kid every day, there's still a very noticeable difference. He wonders if something is wrong, but it's not his place to ask, and so he resigns himself to simply hoping.
(Daehyun, out of all of them, is not this much of a dunce, and strikes up a conversation. What he finds begins to put things into perspective. He relays this to Minsoo, and they plan.)
---
When Minsoo shows up to lunch one day with the redhead beside him, shyly holding onto his sleeve, Dongho nearly spits out his food. All of them are picky about who they spend time with, and each for different reasons. Really, it's a miracle they managed to become such good friends on their own, and now Minsoo's bringing in someone new? This is going to be...interesting.
He's not cruel enough to say it'll end badly, at least not immediately. He's never been quick to judge.
It goes well, much to everyone's surprise (Dongho's and the redhead's—his name is Jaewon, he finds—genuine, and Minsoo and Daehyun being shockingly good actors). The four of them begin to meet for lunch more regularly until it's always the four of them throughout the semester and even into the summer. It feels like things are finally where they belong; the group fits so perfectly it's like they were always meant to be four. Not an odd number, no one left on the sidelines.
They talk about everything they can think of. The conversation is always easy, and even with tougher subjects, they share vulnerabilities amongst them with such compassion it's as if all their souls were merely waiting for them to be brought together.
Dongho's glad to know that things are working out so well. It's not what he had expected, certainly, and there are still problems to be solved, but his friend are always there to help. Even Jaewon, who possesses no powers of his own, has made himself quite a feature in the Crystal holders' fights by helping with strategies and information gathering they couldn't do on their own.
They're not the heroes of the university or anything, but everyone knows of the inseparable four, always found together and never once against each other. (This is mainly due to none of them being able to resist Jaewon's big puppy eyes. That man is lethal with it.)
---
"I wonder whatever happened to that villain, anyway. They just disappeared off the face of the Earth." Dongho mumbles one day, muffled by the sandwich he's already halfway through devouring.
"Oh! Sorry," Jaewon says, swallowing a bite of his salad with a sheepish smile, "I thought you guys got tired of me, so I figured I'd just stop." He says, and Dongho is too blindsided by the innocent look in those big eyes to process what's been said.
"We'd never get tired of y—What." He starts and then immediately cuts himself off, the words circling in his mind like water around a drain.
"You didn't...know?" Jaewon asks with a voice so meek and quiet Dongho nearly forgets why he was about to have a fit in the first place. He does not forget, however, and levels Jaewon with an almighty stare so deep that he's not entirely sure how the redhead hasn't caught on fire.
"No, I did not know, Jaewon. Why would I know?" Dongho says quietly, and frost creeps over the edges of the table. Minsoo and Daehyun silently scoot their chairs back, sharing a look that says they should definitely be leaving for a class they totally have that's starting right now, sorry guys—
"Did Minsoo-hyung and Daehyun-ah not tell you? That's why they said they invited me in the first place was because you were worried about me..." Jaewon murmurs, and the frost turns into ice spikes as Dongho's neck creaks around for him to stare at his fellow Crystal holder and the Shard.
Twenty minutes later, campus security is called under threat of a villain attack. They find something much worse.
One very pissed off holder currently trying to murder another (and their Shard), while the actual 'villain' (used loosely because Jaewon is somehow both incognito and beloved on campus) is valiantly trying to hold him back.
There is no detention because the entire campus is subsequently afraid of a pissed off Kang Dongho, as well they should be. And with that, all is right with the world.
(For now.)