Exception

III. Superhero

Jooheon opened his eyes suddenly. Not because he had a nightmare, and not because something woke him up, either. There was pin-drop silence in his apartment, and he lived on the fortieth floor – too high up to be disturbed by traffic.

Sitting up on his sofa, he knuckled his eyes, even though he was wide-awake – this happened too often nowadays, where he would wake up abruptly at least thrice a night, with no apparent reason at all.

He'd like to brush it off with the excuse of drinking one too many cups of coffee everyday, but whom was he kidding? He knew what the real culprit was: anxiety.

He knew that one day the police would finally find out who Storm Intruder was. And by then, it would be too late to regret.

His phone buzzed on the coffee table in front of him. He stared at the caller ID – Minhyuk-hyung –, slightly hesitant to pick it up.

Before the device could slip off the edge, Jooheon finally resolved to answer the call.

"Hyung."

"Jooheonie!" The voice, as usual, was overly optimistic. It was also highly contagious, which Jooheon was glad for. "How's your fever? Are you feeling better now?"

Before he could continue his rapid fire of questions, Jooheon spoke up. "My fever's gone, and I'm feeling superb."

That wasn't a lie. Somehow, receiving someone's undivided attention – especially from someone as special as Minhyuk – made even his deepest worries go away. Well, maybe not entirely, but at least he wasn't moping anymore.

"Thank god, you're fine. I was this close to going to your home, but I realized I might interrupt your nap, 'cause you told me you took some pills this morning-" Minhyuk cut off suddenly, and a gasp came through, loud enough to sound dramatic even for Jooheon, who was on the other side of the phone. "Oh lord, I just woke you up from your nap, did I?"

Jooheon guffawed, amazed at how naïve his hyung could be. "I was already awake before you called."

Another dramatic phew came through the phone. "I'm still going to visit you, though, right after I speak to Daehyun. He's probably on his way here."

Jooheon sat up straight at the mention of that name. No doubt Minhyuk was going to brief their third partner about the next mission. If Jooheon wanted to come clear with his hyung about how he wished to stop his... unlawful act and how he wished to resign from this... method of living, this was his chance-

"That's right, did you drink the soup I got for you yesterday? You better did, 'cause I spent so much time preparing it—you have no idea. I'm just worried about you... should I just bring you to the doc? Yeah, let's do that. I hate to see you suffer. I care about you the most!! Can't have you locked in your home while others get to enjoy the sunshine." Then he stopped for a split second to catch his breath. "Jooheon, are you listening?"

Well, too late to mention that now, Jooheon thought. "I heard you. But did you forget? I said I'm feeling superb."

"But you don't sound that superb at all." You didn't have to see Minhyuk to know that he was pouting. Jooheon felt guilty all of a sudden, knowing that his hyung was trying so hard to make him feel happy when he, on the other hand, was acting like a party pooper.

"I promise, hyung. I-" Jooheon sighed, running his fingers through his tangled black hair. "Honestly, I wasn't feeling the best before you called. But now..." His face started to heat up at what he was about to say. Before he could stop himself, however, the words already spilled out like an overfilled water bottle. "Hearing your voice was enough to cheer me up."