protect the sun

This was supposed to be the last day of their last internship before graduation. Today's evening, they were supposed to go and drink some boba together while walking around the park. He would take beautiful photos of Donghyuck, joke around and chat with him. And even if they would get to meet a villain, it shouldn't have been more than a little inconvenience. Then why is everything going so wrong? At around 6 PM, a group of villains carried out an organised attack at the outskirts of the city, right where a pro-hero TY's agency, in which both Mark and Haechan are interning in, is located. From that moment, their mission was to rescue the civilians and fight the enemies if needed. They got a quick summary of the situation there, and it turned out that the group consisted of ten villains with quirks of different and some yet unidentified levels of danger. Soon after they came to the spot, TY sent them to the west side of the territory, already knowing that heroes On Your Mark and Haechan are a great and powerful duo that he can rely on. At first, everything was going smoothly — Haechan was quick to use his quirk and reflect the sunlight to distract the villain, thanks to which they rescued all the civilians from the area, including a little boy in the villain's grasp, which looked at them in awe and admiration (another reminder for Mark why he wants to become a hero). Since they've already been on a few missions like this, they didn't even need words to coordinate their actions. Despite that, they could really use some help — both of them probably aren't strong enough to win in this fight. That only meant one thing, which was to rely on Mark's quick reflexes and intuition. The villain huffs and turns to face Mark, protecting himself first and then aiming at him with his large fists. Mark successfully avoids them through his intuition, since he isn't familiar with his fighting style yet. The last thing he expects is for the guy to speak up, "What are you? Hero partners? Friends? Lovers?" Mark puts a distance between them, having a steady position. He has to be alert in order to not let this guy pull any sneaky tricks on him. "I believe it's none of your business," he answers sternly. "Well, well, I was just being curious," the villain raises his arms in defense. Mark sees Haechan approaching them slowly, planning to launch at the guy from his back just how he himself did earlier. "There's no need to be rude, you know? Anyways..." he stretches out his limbs, "don't underestimate me". In a heated fight, they get a few scratches here and there, but in general, they're fine. Throughout it, Mark is watching Haechan carefully, jumping into action every time there is a danger of him getting severely injured or anything of that sort. Once the sun sets, they are both noticeably worn out, and although both of them are ready to continue fighting, something that foreshadows their nearing loss happens. "Ah, you're not that bad for high schoolers," the villain laughs, unashamed, but exactly then his gaze sharpens and Mark can feel something in the air shift. "I got it now, I think this is enough to take you down." Haechan scowls, and the next thing he knows, the guy is running towards them. Mark shields him with his body, trying to predict the attack, but the villain just presses his palm onto the boy's chest and... Mark is completely paralysed. Horror is written all across his face, and he can only feel himself being grabbed by his arm and thrown across the whole area as if he weighed nothing. When he lands, he hits the ground hard with his back, which immediately made him dizzy and nauseous. He feels the dull pain hit his spine and pelvis along with pounding of his head. Shit. Mark hears the villain's arrogant voice as if from afar, "You were trying to protect this little thing, didn't you, loverboy?" Shit, shit, shit-shit-shit. What's happening with Donghyuck? "Don't worry, I'll just play a little and get back to you." When he feels that he can move, he immediately turns his head to get a look at what the guy is doing to Haechan, and he was terrified to find out that the boy couldn't resist anyhow, which means he is probably paralysed just like him before. Mark puts all his strength into trying to stand up, but it was incredibly hard as his head is still spinning and he is on the edge of losing consciousness. He needs to stand up and continue fighting. He needs to protect Donghyuck. The latter, however, is gasping and getting beaten harshly, receiving a few punches in the face. He quickly stops giving out any signs of conscience, and the villain, thinking he is done, turns towards Mark, who was determined to finish what they've started. "If I was you, I would be begging for mercy," the guy says, running at him at full speed. Mark tries to avoid making the previous mistake and moves quickly to not get touched by this guy. He uses his intuition and reflexes to the max, landing a few attacks in the process, but as the chance of predicting the opponent's actions decreases drastically, he ends up getting hit square in the jaw. He feels the villain laying a hand at his chest once again. Mark's knees buckle underneath him as he collapses. They guy pounces on him, firstly kicking him in the stomach, then grabbing him by the hair and brutally banging his head on the ground. Mark could only whimper in pain. He wonders where TY and the rest of the team are currently. At that moment, Mark thinks back to everything he has promised, to everything he has done. He compared the amount of promises that he fulfilled and those that he failed. Exactly then, the only person Mark can think about is Haechan. No matter how he looks at it, he believes, he knows this is the end. It's inevitable that once the villain is done with him, he will check on Hyuck and finish him for good. Mark failed. He miserably failed the only promise that ever mattered to him. Minhyung failed to protect Donghyuck. "I'm... so sorry... Haechanie," he whispers as tears form in his eyes. He closes them and takes his last breath, wishing he was good enough to save Donghyuck. *** When Minhyung wakes up, his vision is blurry and all he can see is a white ceiling. Huh? "Oh, you're already awake?" he hears Dr. Kim's voice come from his right, and he turns his head towards the source to see the doctor writing something down on his clipboard. He tries to speak, but his mouth and throat feel like a desert, so Dongyoung silently fills a glass of water and gives it to him. When he talks, his voice sounds very hoarse, "I... didn't die?" and it might sound ridiculous, but, ah, they're soon-to-be heroes, after all. Dr. Kim sighs and sits down on his stool, "No. You guys are very lucky tho. If Taeyong didn't come for rescue, I don't even know what would've happened to you two". When the sentence registers in his mind, Minhyung's eyes widen with realisation. He whips his head to the left so quickly, he thinks he might have sprained his neck. But it's definitely not what he's worried about the most at the moment, as he sees Donghyuck laying on the bed next to him. Relief instantly washes over him, and he cannot describe how grateful he is right now. Dongyoung seems to notice that, and he chuckles lightly, "Yeah, don't worry much, he should be fine. I would much more worry about your condition, actually. It seems like you took most of the fight upon yourself". Minhyung's eyebrows furrow in confusion, the memories of unconscious Hyuck and him being completely useless against the villain's quirk passing before his eyes. "I... yeah, I may have. I'm not sure what happened after I passed out tho..." Doctor hums shortly and responds, "Well, from what Taeyong told me, when he and a few others came, he couldn't even see clearly since Haechan was exuding so much light while trying to fight the guy. Once he noticed that others are there, he stopped his quirk, and Taeyong told him to try and leave with you, but Donghyuck just collapsed then and there. It's okay though, it seems that you two pushed the villain to his limits, so he was already exhausted and it wasn't a problem for guys to finish him. He then took you to me," he shrugs, "That's all i know". "Okay, but... why didn't hyung just bring us to the nearest hospital?" "Uhm," Dongyoung pauses, "I asked him that too, actually. We didn't have much time for words when you kids were bleeding out here, but he just told me that he doesn't trust any other doctor as much as he trusts me". He smiles, and it's subtle, the hint of warmth in his voice is noticable nonetheless, "I must say I'm flattered". Minhyung couldn't get himself to even smirk at that, and Dr. Kim have picked up on his unusual behaviour. The boy has a thoughtful expression on his face as he watches Donghyuck silently. Soon, he speaks up what's on his mind, quietly and still hoarsely, "Haechanie... he has probably used his quirk to it's fullest, he's used up all his energy..." "That's right, so I hooked him up to an IV. He needs all the nutrients he can get now, poor guy overworked himself, but, hey, at least you both are alive," Dongyoung smiles reassuringly, "You owe him that". Minhyung sighs with some undescribable sort of sadness. Yeah, he owes Donghyuck his life, basically, but it should've been the other way around. Mark should've protected Haechan, he made a promise, after all. But he was too weak, he was uncapable of rescuing them in that kind of situation. He clenches his fists in an attempt to calm down, but it only gets worse from there as thoughts about what could've happened to them — to Haechan — flood his mind. "Listen, Mark, it's-" "I..." he interrupts abruptly, holding back a pathetic sob, "I am too weak... What kind of a hero will I become if I can't even fulfill one promise I made to my closest friend..?" With tears in his eyes, Minhyung looks at the doctor again, "Hyung... I-I..." "C-cut the crap... Lee Minhyung," they both hear a husky and weak voice. He gasps, "Haechanie..." Dongyoung writes something down once again, fills up another glass of water for Hyuck and leaves them soundlessly. Minhyung appreciates the privacy. "How are you feeling?" he inquires hesitantly, not very sure whether the boy is in the mood to talk. "'m fine, just... drained, really. I barely feel anything and... I don't think I can move," he answers with uncertainty. Minhyung can see a wide scratch on his cheekbone and he aches to approach him and caress his face to make sure he's okay. He can't explain it, he can't. He can't look at him as well, "What... happened after I passed out?" Donghyuck takes his time to answer, "I should start from the beginning, probably. I tried to trick him into thinking that I was unconscious after a few punches. I'm hella lucky that he believed me. After that, when he paralysed you again, I felt that I could move. So while he was hovering over you and beating the living shit out of your body," he snickers, the sound not friendly nor amused, "I sneaked up behind him and kicked him in his dumb head. I must say, he recovered too quickly, but then I started to produce light from my own body. Seems like it was so sudden and bright for him, he was blinded for a moment. I tried to support the light and fight with him at the same time, but then Taeyong-hyung came and I just passed out". He clears his throat, "I was so scared, Mark, I honestly fought with all I had... My body moved on its own." "Haechanie, I..." Minhyung chokes on a sob, "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I thought I died, and... the only thing I wanted at that moment was for you to survive-" Donghyuck chuckles light-heartedly, and Minhyung's gaze lands on him again, "As if I would let you die," and there are tears in the boy's eyes too. "Enough of you saving me, I think it's about time I protect you too." And Mark is not sure whether to laugh or cry at that, but he knows that he will continue to work on himself more and more to not only fulfill his promise, but also to grow alongside Haechan. His voice wavers only a bit, "Oh? Is this a competition, Full Sun?" Donghyuck laughs, warmth emitting from him, "Ah, you're too cute, really. Let's marry each other one day, okay?" Minhyung wants to be able to feel this warmth forever.