Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He hadn’t always been able to fly. But it had been long enough now that he didn’t always remember to appreciate it. Lannan was fond of flying, even when he didn’t need to. Especially then. Because the views from up above? God, they were so much better. Early in the morning, watching the sun poke through the buildings in Sydney, the little dots that were actually people up and about and running. And they each had their own individuals lives and though processes and emotions. They weren’t just NPC’s; he forgot that sometimes. He flew now, headed to a meeting, feeling the wind ruffle through his mullet. It was disgusting but he sweat quite a bit when he was flying. Lannan supposes that it must be a sort of exercising and if not for the wind drying him as quickly as he sweated, he imagines his neck would be slick with the stuff.

The meeting he’s headed to is not a fun one, but when are they ever? Just a yearly catch in with the people affected. They weren’t all superhero’s, but some of them were, and as of yet not one had turned evil. Again, Lannan supposes that must be a good thing. Although, it means he is usually bored out of his mind.

There is a particular guy that likes to take control at these meetings, and he himself manages a superhero team. Not that it’s needed. Although, with this guy’s name being Lachlan Power, it doesn’t seem likely that he could have gone into any other profession. Maybe electronics? He’s one of the few people that go by their actual name rather than a ‘superhero name’ as it were. Lannan himself goes by Lazarbeam.

It is odd in only one respect – his powers do not include shooting lasers. No, when the event had occurred, Lannan had still been working for his dads construction company and so had developed flight, super strength, a little bit of enhanced speed, and the most helpful of all: durability. It didn’t mean that he was invulnerable (he’d learnt that the hard way) but it certainly made it a lot harder for him to be hurt. No, he’d chosen the name simply because in the moment when he had been asked for one, the first thing that popped into his brain was the name he used when gaming.

He landed quite gently on the roof of PWR building (because of course Lachlan had to name his team after himself in some way or another), and sent a wave to the drone hovering nearby. Some kids were clearly trying to get footage of the arrivals of the affected – probably to put it on Youtube again. But still, Lannan had to be kind and nice and polite, just in case. When it had first broken the light of day that there were now superpowered beings around the world, Australia hadn’t really cared. Or they had, but not in the way that America had. Australia had bushfires at the time, and affected people (not yet considered superhero’s by themselves or by the media) had jumped in to help the firefighters, Lannan included. So it had seemed Australia was content to politely ignore them so long as they continued helping and not hindering. America had talked about banning them. Taking them to some facility somewhere and containing them. Even now, when that has been long since abandoned, Lannan is wary of his image. Laws on affected are stricter there, he does not want his negative actions to affect them and make it worse.

This meeting was technically only for Australia’s affected, but anyone could make the journey to come and a few often did. Lazar’s friend Vikkstarr who lived and worked in England came over quite often, but as he made his way downstairs he was sad to see he hadn’t come today. If you asked Lazar, who much preferred the calm of the colour blue, Lachlan’s base or meeting room or whatever you would like to call it was much too aggressive. He got a headache from staring at the yellow walls for longer than two seconds and he wasted no time in telling Lachlan so.

Over the past couple of years, the two had formed an unlikely bond and Lazar would go so far as to call Lachlan a friend. The people of PWR would still never dare to insult any part of him for fear of offending him, but Lazar had no such qualms. It was good, though, that Lazar had managed to befriend Lachy for otherwise these meetings would have been hellish indeed. He saw the point and the need for them, but he had always been quite open about his anxiety and especially his social anxiety.

As Lazar made his way to the seat next to Lachy, he thought it strange to know the name of most people there (or at the very least he was told it) but have them not know his. They purely knew him as Lazarbeam. Except for Lachlan, of course.

The room remained in the same set up as it always was on these yearly meetings. One long head table with Lachy in the centre, and a horseshoe table around the main space with room in the middle for when people wanted to get up and address the room. Lannan remembers the first ever meeting when they had all stood there one by one by one. He had been near the end, trying desperately to get his hands to stop shaking, still wearing his construction gear. He didn’t do construction any more, and yet he still wore it. Modified a little with a small symbol on his chest pocket, it now served as a sort of superhero costume.

When Lazar had visited the building outside of these meetings, the room had never been set up this way, with the tables and billions of chairs nowhere to be seen. He wondered, vaguely, how long it took them to set up. Then, realising that half the room was still empty and they had time before the meeting would start, he leaned over to ask Lachlan aloud.

“Hey, Lach?”

“Hmm?” The blond hummed, listening but seemingly caught up in his task of scrubbing at something on his yellow cape.

“How long does it take you to set up this room for the meetings each year?”

Finally, blue eyes met his as Lachlan looked away from his cape. He scrunched his brow, answering in a slightly confused tone, “no idea. I mean, I don’t set it up¬”

“Lazy bastard.” Lazar laughed, cutting him off. Lachy rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

“Says the guy who orders in food five times a week.”

It’s nice, Lazar realises, to have someone to riff off of and not have to worry about the consequences. Or maybe it’s nice to have a friend. He’s not sure. He’s never had one before.

The lift dings and Lazar turns to watch who emerges. The room had slowly filled up and he knew they couldn’t be expecting many more now. Loserfruit (or Kathleen) was first out of the doors, followed closely by her boyfriend Marcus. Marcus had been affected too, and the couple had met for the first time at the first meeting, only Marcus then had worn a mask and only been referred to as Prestige. The other lift arrives too, and people file out of both as Lachlan stands up. the hall falls silent, people finding spare seats quickly, ready to begin the meeting.

The meetings are typically boring affairs. A little check in just to make sure no one is thinking of going off and becoming evil. Disguised, of course, as incident reports and anything similar. Occasionally, there’s the discovery of a new affected and they have to do the whole stand in the middle and demonstrate your powers thing. But otherwise the meeting are boring. It’s meant to be a good thing that they are so boring. Lazar supposes if the meeting wasn’t boring it’d be because something was awfully wrong. But still, he hides a yawn behind his hand as Lachlan starts thanking people for helping with some flooding between this year and last. That’s all it seemed that they ever did – helped out with recovering from natural disasters.

The closest they had ever gotten to becoming a superhero movie with plot and something exciting happening, was when an American ‘superhero’ and an English ‘superhero’ had a sort of disagreement. A date and a place had been set and Lazar didn’t go but he watched a livestream as they had battled it out. Three separate times. They fought each other, and they crumbled a building, and they scared the civilians. If they didn’t sort it out soon, then no doubt Lazar and all the others would have to pick a side and fight it out. So that they could all learn to live in peace once again.

Whatever. It didn’t end like that, though. They met up at a bar in the end and emerged the best of friends and with a company together that they earnt millions off of. Essentially, they sold drinks to kids. Because they were real life superhero’s and who doesn’t want that? Lannan remembers the first Halloween where kids started dressing as Lazarbeam. Knocking on his door, looking like a mini version of him and not even realising that he was Lazar. There was a certain amount of fame that came with being a superhero, whether there were supervillains or not. Lannan was not keen on it.

“So,” Lachlan began to wrap up the meeting, “now I ask if any of you have anything unusual or simply new to report?”

And there isn’t anything. It is not usually recognised when these meetings end, as everyone feels the need to mill around afterwards. Lachlan never rushes to kick anyone out, but at some point, as has become tradition, he ends up on the roof. There’s four or five of them usually. On the roof. Lazar, and Lachy. Loserfruit, a guy called Muselk, and sometimes a young guy called Fresh.

Lannan doesn’t know how many people are still downstairs at this point. Marcus is, presumably. As he would be waiting for Kath. But what he does know is that the brick wall he is staring at is decidedly not red. When describing it, you would call it a red brick wall, but looking at it so closely now, it is not red at all. Pink maybe, dusty and stained. But even beneath all of the wear and tear, bricks are not usually actually red. It doesn’t really matter of course, it’s just that he used to be a Brickie, and yeah, actually, it does matter.

Muselk is leaning on the wall, not too far to Lazar’s left. He looks relaxed, like nothing in the world can harm him. Lazar knows better, though. Everybody on the roof does. It’s no secret that Lazar, Lachlan, and Muselk are the most well known ‘superhero’s’ in Australia. They’re the ones most commonly talked about in the media and most commonly asked to give interviews. And Muselk lives for this. And he’s terrified it will get taken away from him. He’s not wrong to be terrified. Of the three, he is the least loved. But he’s still a lot more loved or known than the rest of Australia’s affected. As the 1971 song by The Persuaders says: there is a thin line between love and hate.

Lannan supposes it’s kind of obvious why it is he, Lachlan, and Muselk that have the fame more so than any others. Lachlan, at least, is nothing if not a poster boy. He’s perfect, with blonde hair and blue eyes and he never swears. He’s a little bit dumb but he makes up for it in his superstrength, agility, and speed. There’s a reason his symbol is a glowing gold lightning bolt. Himself, he supposes, must be because he combines every Australian stereotype. He dresses like a construction worker, he has a mullet, his accent is so Aussie it almost sounds fake, and he swear after every two words. It helps, probably, that he once convinced a Huntsman spider to leave the building in the middle of a live interview. And Muselk? Well, Muselk is nothing if not a hard worker. He makes himself relevant, is there at the scene of crimes to stop the petty thief or bank robber, he has a well-known catchphrase and a very distinct voice. To be honest, Lannan does not like Muselk.

Loserfruit is probably the next most well-known affected from Australia, but given that the Americans and the Brits are so well-known it is hard for someone else at all. There are a few well-known ‘supers’ from other countries. Like Irelands Spedicey. Or… PewDiePie from Sweden. PewDiePie was the first affected to make himself known and Lazar imagines that he would not be half as well-known as he is if he hadn’t have been. PewDiePie is technically the reason that anyone else had come forward at all. He is the reason why PWR was formed, or why the Australian affected had the yearly meetings, or why that fight broke out between the American and the Brit. Sort of. In a roundabout way.
Or maybe Lannan is just thinking too much. He has a habit of doing that.

“You guys still coming next week?” Muselk asks into the silence. Lazar looks up at him confused, momentarily forgetting what he means.

“For your little Click crew?” Lachlan asks, a stupid smile on his face. Lazar can’t help but smile too.

“I’ll be there.” He says, and Lachy and Loserfruit nod along.

Muselk had wanted to start his own superhero group. Just to be prepared, he had said. It would be good for them all, he had said. Something about their image or something. Lazar couldn’t really see the upside, especially considering there were going to be quite a few random affected there. Muselks friends or something. But he couldn’t particularly see the downside either, and his sister had been trying to get him to make more friends¬ speaking of his sister.

“Is it alright if I bring my sister along to the meeting? She’s unaffected but she lives with me and manages my socials and stuff…”

Muselk shrugged, “Yeah, I mean two of my sister’s are gonna be there anyway, as well as my girlfriend.”

Lazar gave a small smile. He didn’t say it but technically that didn’t mean anything. Muselks sister’s and girlfriend (like Lannan’s own) lived with him. They weren’t being brought along to an invite only meeting. Still, why argue when he’d gotten what he’d asked for.

Not long later, Loserfruit and Muselk had sloped of somewhere. Leaving, probably, to their homes and their families and their lives. Lannan and Lachy remained. Sitting on the rooftop, pretending they couldn’t see the drone.

“D’you reckon it has a mic?” He asked Lachlan, looking at the point where his cape joined his suit.

“Dunno.” Lachy responded. They kept their voices low anyway.

Lannan bit his lip for a while before he spoke again. It used to be an unconscious habit – the lip biting. Until he read the comments under a YouTube post of him being interviewed a couple of years ago. He always bit the left side of his lower lip as his eyes zeroed in on whatever he was concentrating on. And now whenever he starts to bite his lip, he becomes overly conscious of it. He furrowed his brow, still staring at that obnoxiously yellow cape.

“Stop thinking.” Lachlan sing-songed, and Lannan looked up. he shot an annoyed look Lachlan’s way before giving up and staring over the edge of the rooftop.

“You gonna join?” He asked, not bothering to explain what he was talking about.

“Elliot’s group? Probably.”

Elliot, that was it. Lannan always forgot Muselk had a name.

He nodded, “good.”

Then, just so he didn’t sound too much like he liked Lachlan, he added, “You’d fit right in. Surrounded by idiots and nobodies – isn’t that just your speed?”

Lachlan pulled a face, lightly punching his shoulder. And just like that they were both laughing. “What do you know about speed, little boy?”

“Little boy?” Lannan really was amused now. “I’m one year older than you, poster boy.”

Lachlan rolled his eyes, “I’m not a damn poster boy.”

“Sure you’re not. And watch your language!”

They fell into a comfortable silence.

It was warm out. But not yet insufferable. In a few weeks, it would be. And no doubt the bush fires and such would start again. ‘Superhero’s’ would start taking up station’s at the beaches to help tourists that struggled with the tides or the jellyfish, or by the woods so they could put out a flame before it even started.

Lannan wasn’t sure yet what his plan of action would be. Perhaps he could help with both. Perhaps they wouldn’t even need his help. It always happened that some ‘superhero’s’ didn’t end up doing much to help with certain disasters. For the simple reason that there were so many of them. This was the same reason that explained why so many affected didn’t try to become ‘superhero’s’ and instead chose to lead a power free life.

Maybe he’d go to America for a bit, or Africa. They were always grateful for extra help. It’d taken a while but he’d managed to get the ‘Santa Special’ as he called it, allowing him to enter and leave certain countries without presenting a passport. This was so much easier as it meant he could just fly in himself. Not all countries allowed it, but if someone needed help in a country he was allowed into, he could help them quickly no questions asked.

He remembered the legal trouble he’d gotten himself into when the leaning tower of Pisa decided it actually wanted to fall. He hadn’t been too far away at the time and so he’d flown as fast as he could and caught the thing – helped out by a few of the affected from Italy and France. He’d righted it in the end, stopped it from falling, while the others evacuated the area just in case. But after he’d been pardoned with a warning that it couldn’t happen again, Lannan knew he had to do something so that he’d be allowed to help.

He wasn’t the only one, now, with the ‘Santa Special’. Lachlan had joined Lazar’s campaign for it the second he found out about it. And when they’d both been granted it, MrBeast (possibly the biggest ‘superhero’ in the world) decided he needed it too, and so applied. Now it’s quite common for an affected ‘superhero’ to be allowed. Still, Lannan is happy to be able to claim that as something he did to help. It is rare to have original ideas these days.

As the sky turned from bright to slightly murky, Lannan decided it was time to head home. Heaving himself to his feet, then turning to give Lachy a hand to help him, Lannan thanked Lachlan for having him before heading to the edge. It was both the scariest and most freeing way to start a flight. He jumped.

He fell and he fell fast, the wind causing his hair to fly everywhere. His stomach swooped and his heart pounded as he fell but as he neared the halfway point between the roof and the ground, Lazar swooped up again. Flying home was the fasted route, and the one he most enjoyed. But it was tiring.

He lived in a comparatively small house to most ‘superhero’s’, at the edge of some woods. It was dangerous to live there when the forest fires were big, as you could see the flames from the windows. But Lannan had helped, and so had many others and the fires were out now, and the house was safe. He landed in a small clearing in the woods, pulling on a hoodie he had stashed there. And then started the ten minute trek to his house where his sister would be waiting.

In return for Lannan letting her stay there rent free, Tannar had almost become a sort of social media manager for Lazarbeam. She made sure he posted semi-regularly on his Instagram and twitter, and she got him interviews and on talk-shows. Or not on talk-shows when he was feeling especially anxious. She kept him relevant.

As he crawled into bed, just barely managing to pull his covers over him, Lannan thought that he was grateful of course. But it didn’t really matter to him how relevant he was. Whether or not he did interviews was not really his problem and definitely not his priority. He used his powers to help people and that was their purpose. To do it for the fame would just be wrong.

...

Rumbling shook him from his slumber. A terrifying roar accompanied it. Nothing human, but the sound of closets and bookshelves and chairs and cabinets all collapsing and falling and flying. Loud crashes joined in then stopped suddenly. Cutlery and plates, Lannan imagines. He opens his eyes to the dark of his room, except that it’s not dark. The blinds on his window were tangled and flapping wildly as moonlight and streetlights shone through.

“Lannan!” comes the scream of his sister. His sister somewhere in the house that seemed to be falling apart.

He was only wearing his boxers, but he tore through the house, flying rather than walking. The banister broke as he flew by it, a chunk of wood following him and crashing into a wall just by his head.

“Tannar!” He screamed, willing her to be okay.

“Lannan, help!”

He followed the call of his younger sister. Though she was only eleven months and fifteen days younger than him, she had always been the baby of the family. That, and with being the only girl among three boys, Lannan and his older brothers had all gone easier on her in their childhood. Lannan remembers a time when his eldest brother, Callan, had effectively waterboarded him, without either of the kids really knowing what that was at the time. Or when Lannan had teamed up with Jarrad to prank Callan by putting a spider and her babies on his bed. When he had returned that night and attempted to move her, thousands of spiders had exploded in every direction, scattering about his room. And Jarrad himself had had a number of such pranks played on him. but not Tannar. Or at least, not to that extent.

Lannan kicked open the door to her room. It banged against the wall and Tannar screamed at the noise. He couldn’t see her. the bed was almost vertical against the wall, covers and pillows scattered throughout the room. Her little table with the lights and the mirror that she used for getting ready at had moved forward away from the wall and collapsed, shattering glass everywhere. Glass that moved and vibrated against the floor. Lannan momentarily wished he had thought to put his boots on. Then he realised that he was an idiot. He would be fine, the glass wouldn’t hurt him. His durability meant that it would barely break the skin, and even if it did, not enough to make him bleed.

“Tannar?” he called again, “where are you?”

“Under the bed!”

Lannan wasted no time in rushing forward. He pulled the bed away from the wall slightly at one side to see Tannar pinned between them both. She wouldn’t be able to get out unless he pulled the bed away entirely. He flew higher, hovering above where the bed reached on the wall, hunching himself over slightly to accommodate the ceiling. Then he pushed.

The bed smashed to the floor, crashing and echoing, sounding like something out of a horror movie. Slowly, his terrified little sister crawled out of the gap between the bed and the wall, and he flew down to join her. she ran to him, and Lannan let her hug him, uncomfortable though he always was with the contact. He put one hand on her pastel pink hair that he had helped her dye and pulled her closer so that he could kiss her forehead.

As her window flew open, Lannan was reminded of the danger at hand and convinced his sister that they had to go. They scrambled through the house, taking their time on the stairs, and Lannan kicked his way out of the back door not bothering with keys. He remembers the day they had dyed Tannar’s hair fondly. It had been bleach blonde at the time, as it had been since she was fourteen. He remembers it had been weird to imagine her as anything but blonde. But she had sat in a chair, a camera in front of her face and told the world that Lazarbeam was going to dye her hair pink. And he had been wary, incredibly so. He didn’t want to mess this up for her. not something she had especially asked him to do. Yes, it was filmed, but it felt special.

Now Lazarbeam stood outside of the home he shared with his sister, in nothing but black boxers, her pink hair whipping and flying about. He stared at the house, trying to figure out what was wrong. But outside, everything seemed fine. Nothing shook or fell. Leaves swished in the wind, but the trees themselves stayed rooted to the ground, immovable.

“What happened?” Lannan asked after confirming that Tannar was, in fact, alright.

She shrugged in response, hand still holding onto his. “I don’t know. It felt like an earthquake, but, like, only inside the house.”

Lazar nodded in response, brain already in gear. It was unlikely that this was a natural disaster. Unlikely that an earthquake could hit only their house and not the ground surrounding it, even if they had not gotten an earthquake warning as typically happened with natural disasters these days. The only logical conclusion he could draw would be an affected targeting him. But like he had been pondering only yesterday: there were no ‘supervillain’ affected. And he didn’t think he had done anything to annoy anyone.

Unconsciously, it seemed, Lannan had started hovering again. He bit his lip. No one he knew could target their powers without at the very least being able to see their target, so logic says if an affected person was doing this, they were in the area.

“Stay here a moment.” He whispered to his sister, then flew higher before she could protest. Careful not to rise above the tree line, Lannan flew as close the house as he dared, hiding in the shadows, and did a slow 360 turn. He didn’t see anyone. Biting his lip once more, Lannan dared to go back inside the house, unsurprised to see it still shaking and things still flying about.

Hurriedly, Lannan grabbed a rucksack from his room and stuffed some of his clothes, some of Tannars clothes, his wallet, their phones and their chargers into it before making his escape from the window that had broken in Tannar’s room. He found Tannar where he left her and shoved the bag in her direction. Then, presuming she would simply catch on to his plan, he disappeared behind a few trees in order to put some clothes on. When he re-emerged, Tannar, too, had changed and was on the phone to someone.

“I know it’s the middle of the night, but please Jarrad, something weirds going on.”

Lannan furrowed his brows at her and she simply held a finger up. Rolling his eyes, Lannan zipped up the rucksack and put it on his back before scooping Tannar up into a bridal carry. It was a testament to how many times he’d flown with her like this since receiving his powers that she didn’t even make a noise of surprise. Having giving up on Jarrad, she hastened to explain before calling someone else.

“I presume we’re gonna need somewhere to stay for a while?”

“Yeah, but… don’t call family.”

Tannar seemed confused, and there was good reason to be. There was no proof this was anything but a freak accident. Yet it didn’t feel right to Lazar. He wasn’t willing to put any more of his family in danger.

“Actually,” he said, thinking out loud. “Call dad. Tell him I’m gonna drop you off and you’re gonna need somewhere to stay a while. He won’t mind.”

“And what about you?” she asked, already dialling the number. She trusted him, Lannan knew that, but it feels just as wrong to not tell her everything as it does to lie to her.

“I’m going back to Lachy’s. For tonight at least. Then I’ll rethink.”

Still, he didn’t tell her that he thought she was unsafe staying with him. He didn’t tell her of his worries that someone else might be involved. With how well she knew him though, Lannan wouldn’t be surprised if Tannar had figured that much out immediately.

She didn’t complain, merely passing his words on to their father, and when he landed in his parents garden mere minutes later, she gave him another hug.

“Come in for a minute?”

Lazar smiled and shook his head. “Sorry, I should get going. It’s really late.”

He waited until she had gone inside before turning and flying away. The path to Lachy’s was muscle memory to him at this point. He had flown, driven, and walked this path more times than he could count. Most of which while hating Lachlan’s guts. The only hope he had was that none of the PWR team were staying the night. It was the night immediately after the meeting so it tended to be likely. Mitch at least, being Lachlans brother, stayed over more often than most. But all had the tendency if they had been drinking.

Lachlan lived on the outskirts of Sydney. Close enough that you could see the PWR building in the distance but far enough that driving to the beach was preferable to running or walking. Still, every morning, Lachy would run to the beach and circle back. Lannan had joined him once, though refused to join the ice bath afterwards. He wasn’t sure he believed Lachy when he said he did that every morning.

He flew until he reached an alleyway close by and touched down in the shadows. Then, with his rucksack feeling like it weighed much more than it did while he was in the air, Lannan started to walk to Lachy’s house. Hoping that the blonde wouldn’t hate him too much for waking him, he rang the doorbell, looking around anxiously as he did so. Lannan had considered Lachy a friend for maybe four or five years now. It would be of no use to pretend that they didn’t get along. But Lannan had trusted Lach almost immediately after their first meeting, he knew the blond would not let him down now.

And sure enough, the door opened to reveal a disgruntled and tired Lachlan Power. He rubbed at one of his eyes, opening the door further and stepping back to allow Lannan to enter without a word. In fact, he didn’t say a word that entire night. After double checking that the door had locked behind them and pointing Lannan in the direction of the spare bedroom, Lachlan disappeared back to bed.

On the other hand, Lazarbeam was restless. His sister would be safe at their parents’ house, he was sure of it. And in a few hours, when his brother would conceivably be up and about attending to his farm, Lannan could call Jarrad and explain what Tannar had not. If he could only figure it out himself first.

The facts were simple: Lazar had arrived home after the annual meeting, Tannar had already been in bed. He himself had crawled into bed and fallen asleep almost immediately, only to be awoken by the house shaking and things falling apart around him. when they’d left the house, the rest of the world was fine and unaffected, but the house continued to shake.

If Lazarbeam was right, and this was the work of some rogue affected person, then surely when they had left the house, the strange rumbling and shaking would have followed him. Even then, if only man-made objects could have been affected, if Lazar was being targeted, attacking his parents’ house when he had dropped Tannar off would have made sense. Or Lachy’s house as he sits in it now. Except, of course, for if the person after him didn’t know he had left the house at all.

Then again, Lannan supposes it could always have been a freak accident and he was freaking out over nothing. Hurriedly, he pulled out his phone from the rucksack now sitting half empty at his feet. He searches for any reports of an earthquake, any random tremors from a far off hurricane or tornado, any explanation at all.

But nothing.

Nothing at all.

It is as if nothing has happened. As if nobody except Lannan and Tannar had any idea of the incident at all. Which he knew, realistically, was not the case. No matter which natural disaster you choose, there would have been impacts elsewhere, and someone somewhere will have noticed. Someone, somewhere, will be talking about it. Even if it’s just one random post on social media.

But nothing.

Again, he considers the idea of a rogue affected. He considers the idea of having made an enemy. It just, wouldn’t make sense, though. The annual meeting was yesterday and there had been only one new affected since last year. He had managed to gain control over his powers quite quickly in the four months since they had developed, and Lazarbeam himself had helped work with him on how he would be presented at the meeting. They got along. And none of the others should really have a reason to dislike him.

Not a new reason, at least. Perhaps Lazarbeam could understand if someone got jealous of the fame and popularity he’d somehow managed to achieve. But if that was the case, why would there only be a single isolated event now? Why not do something any earlier?

There was also the curious case that Lazar couldn’t remember a power owned by anyone in Australia that would allow for something that imitates the effects of an earthquake.

This was how Lachlan found him when the morning was truly upon them – sat cross-legged on the bed, phone in hand, and slumped forward deep in sleep.
Lannan woke up to the sensation of something pressing repeatedly against his abdomen. He opened his eyes blearily, tired and unenthused.

“Stop it” he muttered moodily, refusing to sit up.

Someone – no, not someone, Lachlan – snorted in reply. “Come on. Wake up, Sleepyhead, you gotta tell me what you’re doing here.”

That was right. He’d sort of gate-crashed Lachy’s night and shown up. Lannan opened his eyes properly, allowing them to adjust to the light for a moment, as Lachlan moved away and finally stopped kicking him. Sitting up, Lannan took in his surroundings. He was sat cross-legged on the bed in Lach’s spare room, back aching from being hunched over all night. His phone, now dead, was still in his hand, his shoes were still on his feet, and the backpack was resting at the foot of the bed.

Slowly, Lannan stood up and stretched before crossing the room to open the blinds fully. As he followed Lachlan out of the room and in the direction of the kitchen, he wondered how much to tell the younger hero. True as it was that they had been friends for a while, true as it was that Lannan trusted Lachy more than any other hero right now, there was still that little hint of doubt in his mind.
Such a targeted event could only mean one thing. Someone was trying to hurt him. someone wanted Lazarbeam gone.

“I can practically hear the gears turning in your mind.” Lachlan said, his back to Lannan as he busied himself making coffee.

He shrugged, before remembering Lachy didn’t have eyes in the back of his head. Sighing, Lannan sat on the counter to wait. The silence was comfortable yet strange, and they were both glad it was over quickly. Lachy handed Lannan a cup of coffee, before sitting down with his own and staring at his friend expectantly.

Yet Lannan still felt the need to stall for time. He took a sip of the coffee, looking up at Lachlan with his eyes wide.

“This is amazing, how did you manage to guess perfectly how I like my coffee?”

Lachlan smiled, “Not a guess. You told me a while ago.”

“What, and you remembered?”

Now came Lachy’s turn to shrug. “C’mon Lannan. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as panicked as you were last night, and I’ve seen you have a panic attack before doing an interview with Oprah!”

Groaning, Lannan replied, “I thought we agreed never to talk about that again?”

“Hey,” Lachy laughed, “You’re the one that likes to remind everyone you got a Huntsman to listen to you in the middle of it.”

Lannan had to agree there. He surveyed Lachlan for a moment, as the sun caught his hair and made it look golden. Those blue eyes were directed at his coffee, as if he knew Lannan needed this moment to just look, and observe, and see. Lachlan’s skin was slightly flushed under the scrutiny, not his cheeks, but his neck and bare chest were tinged with pink. The hand not holding his coffee fiddled with the grey sweats he sported in a manner that could have been cute if Lannan was the type of guy to walk around thinking people were cute.

He sighed again.

“D’you know, off the top of your head, of any affected that hate me? Or, just like, really want to hurt me?”

Lachlan raised an eyebrow, setting his coffee to the side. “Has someone tried to hurt you”

Lannan looked away. He saw, out of the corner of his eye, the pink that decorated Lachy’s skin turn redder and travel up towards his face, like it always did when he was angry. Lachlan had a tendency to get like this. It wasn’t really a protectiveness, but a jealousy. That someone else might have touched his friend. That someone else might have hurt him. In Lannan’s life, he had always had two older brothers and they’d developed a sort of system. Callan – the oldest – would make sure you (the victim) was alright. He could fix a mean death glare, but he’d not usually get involved in a fight. Jarrad – the second – would fight. He’d been a professional baseball player in America for a while, and he’d become a farmer now, so his muscley physique was no joke. Then Lannan – the third or the youngest boy – he could ruin someone’s life. Lannan was proud of the network he’d been able to build throughout the years, and he held confidence that he could strike you down without having to throw a single punch.

Lachlan was the type to say he was calm and nice and protective. And he would be, if he didn’t care about you at all. But if you were his, then he’d forget all of that the second someone decided to touch you, and he’d punch them till he’d ruined his reputation as the perfect poster-boy.

Lachlan had stood from his seat and made his way over to Lannan. His breaths came shorter, his hands were clenched into fists at his sides, and if Lannan didn’t know this was all on his behalf he’d probably be scared.

“Did someone hurt you?” Lachlan asked again, voice low. Lannan lifted his head to watch Lachy stare as if an injury might suddenly appear if he looked hard enough.

“Woah! Am I interrupting something?”

Lannan shot his head to his left. There, stood in the doorway, with an overnight bag on his shoulder and a mocking grin on his face, was Lachlan’s brother Mitch. It must look a strange sight: Lannan relaxed on the counter with a cup of coffee in his hands and a shirtless Lachlan stood between his legs, fuming and staring at him like he might spontaneously combust if he dared to look away.

Angry still, Lachlan snapped, “no, Lannan’s just an idiot.”

Lannan himself merely bit his lip, deciding not to disagree. This in itself had Lachlan’s eyebrows furrowing further.

“O… kay. I’m just gonna…” And with that, Mitch left.

Lachlan didn’t seem to notice, forgetting his brother’s presence immediately in favour of examining Lannan. This would have been another thing Lannan imagines he might have found cute, if he had been the type of guy to call someone cute.

“Look,” he begins, pushing Lachy back by the shoulders so he can jump down from the counter, “I can trust you, right?”

Lachlan nodded slowly, “Of course, you gonna answer my question now?”

“I’m fine. My house on the other hand…”

As they made their way to the living room couch, Lachlan grabbed a notepad and pencil, and sat down so close to Lannan that he could feel each breath the taller man took. Lannan closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, finding Lachlan still sat there, staring intently at him, Lannan told him everything. From coming home and falling asleep, to waking up to the house shaking, to his fears that it was an affected doing this and his reasonings why, to his new fears for his sister. If they found his house in the woods, who’s to say that whoever did this doesn’t know of his parents house, or his brothers’ houses. Lannan’s eyes went wide in panic. What if he was being stupid, and they weren’t targeting him directly – what if they were targeting his family?

Chapter Text

As the computer scrolled, down and down and down, Lannan couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread loom over him. He didn’t understand the point of this. There were too many names, too many powers.

They stood, Lazarbeam and Lachlan, side by side in Lachy’s PWR office, the yellow walls far to happy for Lannan’s liking. He doesn’t suppose he will ever understand Lachlan’s love for the colour yellow. It’s understandable for him to have a colour, to have claimed it as his brand almost, but why it had to be yellow, Lannan had no clue. He supposes it matches the paintbrush hair that Lachy likes to sport – though if he was being honest he much preferred Lachlan’s hair in the morning, messy and in his eyes and perfect. The blond strands stick practically upright, trying to make the 6’3 man appear even taller. Lannan rolled his eyes at that. Height was such an unnecessary thing that seemingly everyone argued about. The door was open, giving Lannan a perfect view of the yellow and black walls outside. They were on the floor above the meeting room floor, and in the centre sat the sixteen year old that Lachlan had taken under his wing. Alex, another blond, sat at a computer, scrolling through and editing the same database that Lachy was currently struggling to navigate. The kid was good, his powers included speed like Lachlan so he was quick at what he did, but he was practically a genius. It wasn’t something that made Lannan jealous. It wasn’t. Nor was how easily the kid seemed to get Lachy’s attention and praise – why would he want something like that anyway? It was just annoying and took up time they could be using to do something else and¬

“You still here?” Lachlan’s voice broke through the silence.

Lazar blinked. “Huh?”

Lachlan was staring at him, fingers paused over the keyboard. He had a look of concern on his face, brows furrowed in that way they did when he wasn’t sure how he was meant to react to something.

“You, er… zoned out? I know you’re worried,” Lachlan’s voice dropped an octave, careful not to let the building know of Lazar’s predicament. “But we’re looking for an affected with powers that I don’t think have shown up before.”

Lazar swallowed. “Yeah, I’m here.”

He dared a glance outside of the office again, towards where Alex was sat. The kid had dreams of being a superhero like Lachlan; he looked up to the blond way to much, in Lannan’s opinion. But he, at the very least, understood the data they were working with. And he respected both Lazarbeam and Lachlan too much to have had anything to him. Besides, this database really could help. Every known affected, their location, and their powers were on that database.

“We can trust the kid?” He asked anyway, just to be sure.

Lachlan turned to watch, too, as an affected by the name of Overstrand stopped by his desk. What was with this office and everyone being blond? Overstrand leaned down to talk to Alex, before clapping him on the shoulder and walking off. As Lazar turned back to Lachy expecting a response, he clenched his jaw seeing the slight smile he sported. The kid hadn’t even done anything!

“Yeah, Alex is good.” Lachlan’s eyes didn’t waver from the boy. Lazar nodded as if to say ‘well, bring him in then.’ So Lachy did.

“Hey, Alex?” He waited until the boy looked over at them before he said anything else. “Come over here a sec, will you?”

They watched as Alex presumably saved something on the computer he was working on before logging out and coming over. Lazar knew that Alex was currently trying to find a name for himself, wanting to be a hero to the world. He wanted to be worldwide and massive, like MrBeast, or to a certain extent, like Lazarbeam himself. He remembered the first time he had met Alex, a little over a year ago, and the shy kid had barely talked to him except to express his awe for the stuff Lazar had done overseas. Lachlan had sung the kid’s praises, and Lazar had to admit that he could go far. With intellect like his, Alex could be in high demand on anyone’s team but Lazar doesn’t know if he should ever face the threats himself. With nothing but speed and knowledge to help him, Alex might be better behind the scenes. But that wasn’t his dream.

Lazar moved to close the door behind Alex. Even that short little trek from the centre of the room to Lachy’s office had gained many a curious eye from everyone at PWR. Lazar often got curious looks whenever he wandered through the building looking for Lachlan or Loserfruit in the first place. His reputation spoke for him with a team like this, and they all respected him. He had them stumbling over themselves for the chance to work with him. So he knew that seeing Alex get called over like this was bound to cause some jealousy or curiosity. Still, this was Lachlan’s team, and he could trust Lachlan to have them in order. They respected him too.

“Hey Alex.” Lazar greeted, when he realised it was probably on him to explain what they were doing. “Lach doesn’t understand his own system.”

Alex grinned at him, always eager to please, but Lachlan stared at him, confused. Lannan didn’t know why the new nickname had been born either, but he wasn’t about to let Lachy question him in front of the entire office.

“We’re looking for someone,” he said instead, “An affected. We just, don’t know much about them.”

Alex nodded seriously, cracking his knuckles and glancing quickly at Lachlan before taking his place in front of the computer. “What do you know? As long as they’re on the system, I can find them.”

Lachlan nodded, confident in the abilities of his team mate, “They recreated the affects of an earthquake in an isolated zone, so much so that scientists and such have not caught wind of it. We are literally the only people that know this happened.”

“It wasn’t the ground either,” Lazar interjected, thinking. “It was just a house. Everything was shaking, falling apart, glass shattering. It was dangerous. But the second you step outside, it’s fine. You could see the house shaking and what not, but the effects were only inside. There didn’t appear to be anyone in the immediate vicinity either, I didn’t know if maybe invisibility?” He started to think out loud.

“But the shaking didn’t stop or follow us as we flew away…”

To his credit, Alex didn’t question the sudden switch from third person to first, just started typing away at something. Lachlan looked between them, hand on Lannan’s arm for comfort.

“D’you think it’d be possible for them to have been causing this from someplace elsse?” Alex asked, confusion lacing his tone.

Lazar shrugged, “Honestly, I’d dismissed the idea immediately ‘cos I didn’t think there were any affected that could do that?”

Alex paused, looking back at Lazarbeam. For a second, Lazar pondered that the seriousness on his face didn’t suit the young boy.

“There isn’t.”

…

They had wound up back at Lachy’s. Sat there on the couch in their ‘superhero costumes’ with the news on mute playing on the TV. There was no one on the system with the type of manipulative powers that would allow them to cause an isolated earthquake within Lannan’s house. Let alone someone who could do such things without even being present at the site. So Alex had cleverly proposed that it could be a new and unregistered affected, which didn’t make Lannan’s heart twist in painful ways, it didn’t.

They had found, however, an affected with the power to scan a place for recent history. They would be able to tell what powers had been used and when at a location, and (if they had come across the person before) would be able to track exactly who had used said power. So Lachlan had asked one of his people to go and find this guy and bring him to the PWR building, and in the meantime, Lachlan and Lannan were meant to be relaxing and waiting.

Relaxing was not a good enough option for Lannan, as he groaned and put his head in his hands. Lachy snorted.

“So,” said the blond, clearly trying to distract Lannan. “What was with you calling me Lach earlier?”

“Why, Poster boy?” Lannan asked, head still in his hands, “don’t like it?”

“I didn’t say that!” Lachy scrambled to amend.

Lannan sighed, lifting his head to look at his friend finally. He smiled at the blond to get him to relax. He had only been joking.

Truthfully, Lannan had no idea where the nickname had come from but he wasn’t about to question it. He was quite proud of himself for the amount of trust he had placed in Lachlan with this whole situation, and if that meant calling him by a name no one else had ever used so be it. Whatever helped him get through it. Or perhaps they were thinking too much into it. Four letters – they don’t have to mean anything.

The television interrupted his train of thought. As he leapt to his feet, Lazarbeam saw a makeshift dam break and muddy water begin to flood a nearby town.

“Shit.”

Lachlan nodded, “C’mon, let’s see what we can do to help.”

As Lachlan opened his front door, Lannan was hit with a blast of cold wind. Shit indeed. With high winds, the flood would only get worse. He waited for Lachlan to jump on his back, like they had done a million times before, and took off into the air. While Lachy’s speed would usually get him to the accident first, with no where safe on the ground to run Lazar flying them in was the next best thing. Besides, they weren’t far from the town so it was a safe enough risk to take.

They set down on the rooftop of a building, pretending not to notice the camera crews all turning to capture the moment. The building was shaking slightly, and looking over the edge, Lazar could see that the water was already rushing past it, pushing against doors and windows, making it impossible for anyone inside to leave.

“Alright,” Lazar said turning to Lachlan who was similarly scanning the area, “can you clear the people in imminent danger while I work on finding something to start a new and better dam?”

Lachlan nods, running off so quickly that Lazar had no idea what direction he went in first. He shook his head, reclaiming his focus, before heading to ground level. Someone called his name, cheering him on, but he ignored them. If they needed help, he would have stopped, but Lazarbeam did not have time for fans right now.

Wishing he had brought some goggles or something similar to protect his eyes, Lazar held his breath before flying straight into the oncoming water. It tried to throw him backwards almost immediately, and varying miscellaneous items thrashed about in the water, hitting him when he failed to dodge. Finding a tree that had fallen in the wind and was now floating with reckless abandon, Lazar lifted it above his head, flying high out of the water and scanning for a safe place to start the dam.

“Over here!” Came the booming voice of Muselk who had clearly only just arrived. He had brought with him a young man that Lazar vaguely remembered from Lachlan’s meetings as being able to summon or syphon water from or to elsewhere. Awesome.

Lazar landed by Muselk and set the tree in place. Muselk and his friend then started finding things around them to build into the dam and support it, as Lazar headed off into the water again. They would have maybe fourty seconds before the water hit their dam, so he worked quickly. Under the murky water, he found a giant sheet of metal, one that had clearly been a wall of a garage or a shed previously. But now it would work great with their dam.

He sped back as quickly as he could and pushed the metal against the wall that Muselk and his friend had been able to build.

“Lach?” He yelled, ready to end this nightmare.

“Over here!” The voice was faint, and he saw Lachlan back on the same roof they had landed on originally. He was holding a young boy in his arms, but the water had long since passed that building now and there was nowhere safe for them to go.

“We’ve got this for now, go!” Muselk yelled, as he and the other hero braced against the dam they had built. The water was there and building, but the other guy wouldn’t be able to start syphoning it away if he was helping hold the dam. They needed Lazar and Lachlan.

Lazar nodded, flying up and towards the roof as fast as he could.

“Quick, this kid needs medical. There’s more in there, take him and come back.” Lachlan left no room for arguments, but Lazar wasn’t going to. They transferred the boy between them and locked eyes for a moment.

Lachlan smiled, and Lazar was off. He landed behind the dam again, searching for the medical tent or an ambulance or something. He whirled around in desperation, calling out.

Someone from the crowd that had gathered ran forward, “I’m a med student! There’s no officials here yet, roads are blocked.”

Lazar nodded seriously, “okay. Okay, look after him, there might be another. We’ll sort the flood first, then we’ll clear the roads.”

Laying the boy on the ground gently, he took off for the building again. Glancing behind him as he flew, he could see the student already had the boy in a makeshift splint and someone had brought forward a slightly wet teddy bear. He was in good hands.

Lachlan was waiting on the roof, a woman and daughter with him. He held the woman in his arms, and Lazar landed to scoop the girl up into his. The woman seemed to be bleeding from a cut on her hairline but Lachan shook his head a smidge and he refrained from asking. Instead, he rearranged the girl in his arms so he had an arm free, and he offered it to Lachlan. They grabbed each other’s wrists for the short journey across, and were relived to see the med student had started their own little med tent out in the open when they landed. There were makeshift beds, and volunteers being told what to do. Lachlan laid the woman down on one of the free beds, Lazar setting the girl down next to her.
Then, with no time to see if they were going to be okay, they raced to the makeshift dam. Muselk and his friend were clearly struggling, the water was stronger than they were, and they were starting to be pushed back slightly. As Lazar and Lachlan rushed forward and braced against it, the dam stilled again and the other hero was able to stand back.

Lazar had his back to the guy, so he couldn’t really see how his power worked, but the pressure against the dam lessoned slowly, until eventually, the dam fell backwards, away from them. The crowd started clapping, and Lazar could hear the news anchors start singing their praises, but their job was far from over.
Muselk fell back with his friend and they started talking to the news anchors, but Lazarbeam and Lachlan ignored the calls for them.

“Roads are blocked, officials can’t get through.” Lazar panted out.

“Let’s go.” Lachlan replied, looking as exhausted as Lannan felt.

Once they had cleared the roads and allowed the ambulance and others to pass, then they would be able to start with disposing of the fallen trees and broken bits and pieces, that the flood itself had wrecked. And then, maybe, they’d have time for interviews.

By the time they had cleared the danger, and felt comfortable enough to land for interviews and such, barely anyone wanted to get one. This was usually the case and it suited them both just fine. The news tended to want coverage of the aftermath, and anyone still there was getting clips of the medical base that the ambulances had joined the med student with or of the damage done to the buildings and cars. Muselk and his friend were still there, now joined by Muselk’s two sisters that Lazar had only ever seen photo’s of. And Lachlan had called in PWR to help with temporary rehousing and any medical help that was required.

Lazar recognised Overstrand from earlier, as he flit between the children offering food, clean water, and funny stories. Alex was there too, calculating possibility’s and likelihood’s and how best to prevent with the firemen and police officers. He had on the classic PWR black and yellow mask over his eyes that everyone barre Lachlan and Loserfruit wore. Lachlan never wore a mask of any kind, he’d never bothered to hide his identity. And Loserfruit, though being a founding member of PWR, was still a hero in her own right, and had had her own brand for longer than PWR had been a thing. She wore her own mask.

Another PWR member, that Lazar thinks is called Worthy, runs a station with Lachlan’s brother Mitch (though he should really refer to him as Chanzes when he’s in costume), and together they hand out clean, dry clothes and blankets.

Lachlan checks in with these two first. Lazar’s noticed this before. He get’s weird when he’s working with people he cares about, in any sort of capacity. Sure, Lachlan will work well with them, he trusts them and listens to them in a way that you just can’t replicate with someone you don’t know that well. But he worries a lot, and that shows more than ever when something dangerous has gone down like this, and Lachlan just wants to know if the people he cares about are safe, like now with Mitch.

Then, as Lachlan always does once he’s checked up on the people he cares about, he comes over to Lazar to give him the same treatment.

“I’m fine, Lachy,” he’s already saying, as he see’s the blond headed his way.

“You sure?”

Lazar would roll his eyes if it wasn’t so endearing.

“Can’t have you out of commission then next time something like this goes down!” Lachlan adds, like it was an afterthought.

Now Lazar really does roll his eyes, “Like there aren’t plenty of people around to help. Y’know, we’ve got quite a high affected to non-affected ratio here in Aus.”

“Just ‘cos the population’s small, doesn’t mean you can slack off on your job.”

They were back to being mean to each other then. Good. At least that meant that Lachy had completed his risk assessment and deemed him fine. Lazar shrugged at the taller man, before they headed off in the direction of the medical tent. The least they could do while they were here is help with making people comfortable, even if they couldn’t really help with any injuries.

Out of the corner off his eye, Lazar saw one of Muselk’s sisters head into the officials tent where Alex had been before. He shrugged presuming she’d been asked to pick something up from in there or something and returned to the task at hand. Until a vague though popped into his brain and refused to go away, turning itself into a nagging fear. Had anyone said how this flood started? Had anyone discovered why it was so sudden?

…

As the sun began to slowly set, it cast an orange glow over the people milling about. With the area safely cleared, and anyone injured transferred to the hospital, Lazar had wound up on the beach with Muselk’s friend, Lachlan, and the PWR team. Muselk’s friend, Lazar had rediscovered, was called BazzaGazza (or Baz for short). Water was sort of his thing, but he was someone that Lannan might have gotten along with under different circumstances. He, like Lazar and Lachlan, was going along to Muselk’s Click meeting the next week.

They sat, all six of them still in costume, staring at the reflection of the sun on the water. It was times like this that made Lazar glad he lived in Australia compared to anywhere else. It was truly beautiful. Besides, where else could you finish saving a town from a natural disaster and then pop down to the local beach and admire the view at sunset.

“So,” Lachlan asked, turning to Alex and very carefully not saying his name, “anything to report?”

Alex looked unsure, in the way he usually did in new company. Baz was looking at him too, though seemingly unimpressed. It was understandable, that Baz maybe didn’t think much of Alex yet. Even with the mask, his young age was obvious, but age meant nothing in a world full of superpowers.

Lazar watched as Worthy, who was sat next to Alex, put a hand on his shoulder, leaning over to take a look at the kids’ notes. He dared a glance around them, seeing a couple of runners on the path but no camera’s and no one (as of yet) directly watching them. Lazar nodded slightly at Worthy, who smiled at the praise and read from the notes.

“Flood damage, fixable. Repairs expensive but manageable for the town. Unusual aspect – unexpected shaking caused sea wall to break and water to flow angrily. Non-typical behaviour.” He looked up confused.

Lannan bit his lip.

“Okay, thanks guys.” Lachlan sounded official again. “Alex, can you keep a copy of your notes aside for me please, otherwise copy them up onto the system as normal. BazzaGazza, thank you for your help today, we look forward to meeting again next week. Lazar, thank you as always for your timely responses and quick-thinking. PWR, well done team. If I’d have known about the event any earlier I would have called you guys in sooner, but as it is, I think you did a great job with recovery. I’ll write more for the weekly report but for now, goodnight.”

At the obvious dismissal, everyone stood. One by one, the heroes disbanded, until Lazar, Lachlan, and Alex were the only ones stood on the beach.

“Erm… three things?” Alex asked, still sounding unsure of himself.

“Walk and talk?” Lazar found himself saying. It had been a busy few days for him, but his mind would not allow him to rest.

“1. Please can I get a lift home from one of you?” started Alex, fiddling with the corners of his papers.

Lachy nodded, “Of course.”

“2. I think you can just call me Alex. Y’know like you’re just Lachlan? I think it’d just be easier.”

Again, Lachlan nodded. Lazar knew he hated the idea really, he felt responsible for the kid and Lachy knew first-hand how it could be dangerous for the public to know who you are. But at the end of the day, it was Alex’s decision.

“Okay, and third… Talking to the officials and the civilians that were there when it started, it sounds very similar to the events at the house you were describing to me earlier.”

He was looking directly at Lazarbeam now, who resolutely avoided the kid’s gaze. This is what he had been worried about.

“Okay,” he said, thinking. “Did you manage to find the guy that can track recent power history or whatever you called it?”

“Yeah, he’s some sort of affected tracker, he’ll be making his way from Sydney, should be here by the day after tomorrow. His name’s Crayator – goes by Cray, apparently he’s going to Muselk’s Click meeting that you guys were going to.”
Lazar nodded to acknowledge the information.

Lachlan sighed, seemingly sensing how stressed Lazar was working himself up to be. “Alright, I’ll take you back to your parents, Alex. Lazar, I’ll meet you at mine?”

When they had both nodded, Lachlan sighed again before picking Alex up into a piggy back and zooming off. Lachy usually preferred to carry people bridal style when moving with them at superspeed, so that he could protect their heads and eyes from the wind, but Alex preferred this.

Rolling his eyes, Lannan turned and flew up in the sky, headed back towards Lachy’s. He was grateful, of course, that his friend was going to let him stay another night and was helping him so much, but the lack of answers was frustrating. He landed in the same alleyway he always did, and stuck to the shadows as he walked the short five minute trek to Lachlan’s house.
Of course, the blond was there before him, pros of having superspeed, but Lannan just headed straight for the couch and collapsed on it.

“You’re gonna have permanent worry lines on you forehead, y’know?” If Lachlan was trying to sound like he was worried, it wasn’t working. The giant grin on his face as he took in Lannan’s appearance did nothing to help. He’d already changed into comfier clothes and he collapsed on the sofa next to Lannan but without touching the other hero. Lannan wondered why he’d noticed.

“You’re gonna convince everyone you’re American if you don’t fix your accent, y’know?” Lannan quipped back. It wasn’t one of his best but it was accurate and he was stressed.

Lachlan had spent his youth befriending many American affected and still, to this day, had a bit of an American twinge to his accent. It was something that Lannan hadn’t even noticed when he’d first met Lachy, but bothered him immensely now. What did the Americans do to deserve Lachy?

Just as Lannan brought a hand up to his face to tr and massage some of the tension away, the house started to shake. He sent a panicked look in Lachy’s direction to confirm he felt it too, before rushing to his feet.

Distantly, Lannan could hear a sort of rumbling noise before something in the kitchen smashed.

“It’s getting worse!” Lachlan panicked, staring at the house he had spent a lot of money on.

The walls were visibly shaking now, but a glance outside confirmed the rest of the city slept soundly. The television began making creaking noises. Lannan and Lachlan shared a look, shit!

They leapt backwards, out of the way, just as the tv came smashing down in front of them. Mitch wasn’t staying the night this time, which was even more of a relief when Lannan saw the bookcase to his left begin to rock. More smashing noises reached their ears from the kitchen and they struggled to stand without being knocked over.

A strong wind, flew throughout the house, as they finally got their heads in gear.

“I have a safehouse!” Lachy yelled over the din that was his stuff smashing and falling and breaking. “Get the essentials!”

Lannan nodded, and together they made their way through the house, crawling over and under fallen items. A wooden beam that used to belong to something flew through the house smashing into the wall right by Lannan’s head. He flinched. It was all just so eerily similar to the attack on his own house a couple of days ago.

At least he knew for sure now that they weren’t attacking his sister or his family. Seemingly, just him.

Laden with backpacks, they fought their way outside, immediately safe the second their feet touched grass.

“What on earth?” muttered Lachlan who hadn’t seen it before. Lannan bit his lip. Twice, possibly three times now, someone had targeted him with earthquake like powers. And yet not once had they done any actual damage.

“Where are we going?” he asked Lachlan, desperate to get away.

“Right, yeah. Follow me?”

…

The house that Lachy had dubbed a safehouse, was clearly just a farm house. But it had electricity and running water and wifi, so it would do. There were three bedrooms, and they both picked one and separated for the night, but there was no way that Lannan was going to sleep.

He pulled out his phone, staring at the google search page. He hadn’t searched anything yet, his mind blank.

“Are you doing okay?” Lachlan asked, and Lannan doesn’t bother with wondering when he entered the bedroom.

“I’m fine.” He says instead, staring at the bright light emanating from his phone.
The huff from Lachlan is audible and finally enough to make Lannan look up. “I’m gonna ask you again, and you’re not gonna lie to me this time, okay?”

Lannan see’s the seriousness in the blue eyes. They’re darker than they normally are – a sure-fire sign that there’s no changing Lachy’s mind from whatever it is he’s decided he’s going to do. It isn’t the right time to be realising things about himself, but maybe Lannan likes the look. Maybe it gets his heart racing just a bit. Enough to nod at the taller man anyway.

“Are you doing okay? I know you stress about stuff a lot, and it’s been a hectic few days, what with finding out someone’s trying to kill you and all, so are you doing okay?”

It’s blunter than he’s expecting, but Lannan takes a breath and puts his phone away. “No. No, not really.”

Lachy nods, like he was expecting it. And given that he practically forced the answer out of him, Lannan knows he was. What Lannan isn’t expecting, however, is for Lachy to move forward and drop on the bed in front of him.
He moves Lannan’s abandoned phone, putting it on charge before facing it upside down so they can’t be disturbed. And he sits there, waiting, as Lannan’s brows scrunch. He’s tired, and stressed, and wound up, and confused. And Lachy acting weird now, is not what he needs. He’s about to speaking when Lachy leans forwards, and puts a hand on the side of his face.

He’s not expecting it, not at all, but he can’t help but lean into the touch. This is Lachlan, after all. This is the one person outside of family that he can trust, and this is the guy that I definitely not causing Lannan to question some things. His eyes flutter closed just for a brief moment.

“What are you…”

He can’t find the energy to finish his question. He opens his eyes to see Lachy smiling gently at him. The hand on his face travels backwards till the fingers are carding through his hair, and Lannan lets out an involuntary groan.

“Relax.” Comes Lachy’s whispered response, and he leans forward further. Lachlan, in an act of courage he’s never managed to garner before, kisses Lannan’s jaw, rubbing against the slight stubble there.

The hand in Lannan’s hair pulls gently and Lannan can’t help but gasp again. He wills himself to move, to do something, and one of his hands find Lachy’s leg. He braces himself against it, sure that if he doesn’t he might just fall into Lachlan completely.

Lachy bites the lobe of his ear and whispers, “Good, that’s it. Let me take care of you.”

His other hand joins in the fun, going to Lannan’s thigh and massaging the tense muscle there. It makes Lannan whimper slightly. He’s still a little unsure of what’s happening, just that it’s too much and no where near enough all at the same time.

“Lach?”

Lachlan’s lips are on his neck, licking and sucking and making heat flood to his dick. The hand on his thigh travels upwards and inwards, playing and feeling and touching, and Lannan really does whimper now.

“Lach?”

As Lachlan’s hands begin to undo Lannan’s trousers, he finally looks back into his eyes, “yeah?”

“What are we doing?”

That gentle smile comes back again and Lannan can’t decide if he loves it or hates it. He’s unlocked this new side of Lachy, one that he knows no one else has seen, but one that’s so different to what he’s used to. Their relationship has always ran on the bases that they’re always mocking each other, always riffing on each other, even though they would ultimately always have each other’s backs. This was something new and untouched.

When Lachy leans in and kisses him, Lannan decides that he likes it.
The hands at his trousers increase their speed, as they kiss again. And again. Quick little ones, that are really just a touch of the lips. It’s Lannan that gets the courage first, one of his hands finding Lachy’s hair and the other sliding up under the blonde’s shirt, and pulling Lachlan in for a deeper kiss. He bites at the other’s lip until his tongue finds it’s way into Lachy’s mouth. If they could have been doing this all of these years and they’re only just starting now, then Lannan’s going to have a bone to pick later.

“Bastard.” He pants into Lachy’s mouth as the thought enters his brain. If the blond is confused, he doesn’t show it, just helps Lannan out of his trousers, and palms his dick through his boxers. Theres a wet patch forming from the pre-come that soaks the tip, and Lannan moans into Lachlan’s mouth.

To say he needed some sort of release was an understatement, and Lachlan was seemingly very willing to help him out on that front. Lachlan moves down with his kisses, sucking and licking a trail from Lannan’s neck, down to the waistband of his boxers. Lannan’s breaths are coming in pants, as his hands pull at Lachy’s hair, desperately trying to convince him to go lower.

Instead he stands for a moment, groaning at the sight before him. Lachlan takes of his shirt, kisses Lannan once more, before finding his new home at the waistband of Lannan’s boxers once again. His fingers toy with the hem, as he licks and kisses at what he can find of his happy trail.

Lannan can barely believe what’s happening, and he moans in anticipation. His cock throbs, needing the attention he knows is coming. Teeth grab the waistband suddenly and a sharp gasp escapes Lannan as he realises. His hands in Lachlan’s hair, he forces the blond to look at him as he slowly drags Lannan’s boxers down. He hisses at the cold air and the sliding material on his dick, and Lachlan’s hand comes to play with Lannan’s balls.

“Please” Lannan whispers, barely aware of himself, and Lachlan smirks, proud of himself for how quickly his plan had worked.

Lachlan’s hands find Lannan’s hips and he grips them tight. If Lannan were anyone else, he would find little bruises there in the morning, but he knows his powers would never allow that. Lachlan noses at Lannan’s cock, pressing little kisses around the base. Lannan’s hands in Lachlan’s hair, squeeze tightly as he moans into the night.

Lachy takes this as a sign to lick a stripe from the base of Lannan’s cock all the way to the tip, as he flicks his tongue of the slit. Lannan moans again, slightly breathless. Kinder, Lachy takes the tip into his mouth, licking the underside as he does so. Slowly, he takes more of Lannan’s dick into his mouth, until he is once again nosing at the base. Lannan can’t seem to stop giving those breathless little moans and Lachy loves hearing it. He knows Lannan’s enjoying this and relaxing more.

He sucks on the cock in his mouth experimentally, only to nearly choke as Lannan unexpectedly thrusts up into his throat. Lannan lets out a sort of choked sound, and Lachy looks up at him the best he can to check if he’s alright. Lannan has his eyes closed, and head thrown back. His mouth has fallen open and he can’t contain the moans. Lachlan bobs his head, rubbing his thumbs on Lannan’s hips in a soothing manner. Lannan groans again.

“God, Lach.” Lannan pants, pulling on the blonds hair again. He looks down to find Lachlan already looking at him, and he bites his lip to hold back a groan.
Lachlan’s found a rhythm now, of bobbing and licking and sucking, and he keeps his eyes, as best he can, on Lannan. Lannan keeps closing his eyes, only to force them open and moan at the sight before him. He whimpers again as he feels that familiar heat pool in his groin.

“Lach, gonna…” He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Lachlan is pulling off of him. Lannan groans again.

Lachy smiles, “I got you.”

Lachlan’s hands are still on Lannan’s hips, and he pulls the older one in for another kiss. It takes Lannan all of two seconds to forgive Lachlan before he’s kissing back with just as much passion as before. One hand travels back to Lachlan’s chest, exploring where he couldn’t before, and the other keeps going down to Lachy’s own trousers.

“One sec,” Lach whispers against Lannan’s lips.

As Lachy stands up to remove his pants and trousers, and get some lube from a drawer by the bed, Lannan can’t help but to quip, “You better last longer than that!”

Lachlan doesn’t bother to respond, but he’s rougher when he grabs Lannan’s neck to pull him in for another heated kiss. They’re biting at each other’s lips now, until Lachlan’s moves back to Lannan’s neck. He’s rougher there too, biting until Lannan’s sure it shouldn’t be as pleasurable as it is. His eyes roll back and when Lachlan offers his fingers up to Lannan’s mouth he doesn’t hesitate to take them in. He sucks and licks and plays with the fingers in his mouth, so focused on his task that he almost doesn’t hear the tell-tale click of the lube bottle being opened.

He jumps when the cold jell is placed around his hole, but Lachlan is right there, whispering reassurances into his ear. As the fingers are removed from his mouth and start to circle his rim, Lannan reiterates a thought from earlier.

“Bastard.”

“hmm.” Lachlan hums, kissing along Lannan’s jawline like he knows he doesn’t mean it.

As Lachlan’s first finger enters him, Lannan whimpers at the new feeling. They take it slowly, with plenty of lube, as Lachlan explores. They’re kissing again when the second finger is added, so Lachy’s mouth is there to swallow any noises that Lannan makes. As his fingers scissor and move, Lannan’s whimpers turn to moans of pleasure, his hands unable to stop exploring Lachlan’s body.
“One more, Lannan,” Lachlan’s voice comes breathily as he pants into Lannan’s mouth. The shorter moans.

When Lachlan adds his third finger, Lannan clenches around him, not used to the intrusion in his ass. One of Lannan’s hands reaches for their cocks, and he gets them both in one hand rubbing them together, getting some much needed friction. Lannan finally lets his head drop forward onto Lachy’s shoulder, and he moans into the muscle there.

Lachlan kisses the side of Lannan’s head as he takes his fingers out, Lannan whimpers at the loss but Lachy’s already using the left over lube and precoma and spit on his hand to line his cock up with Lannan’s tight hole. He moans in anticipation, eyes squeezing shut if just for a second.

He lifts one of Lannan’s legs for easier access, pushing just the tip of his cock into that tight perfect heat. Lannan’s never bottomed before, that much is clear, and Lachlan moans at the thought.

Lannan’s is whimpering and moaning into Lachlan’s neck. The blond thinks he’s trying to say something but it’s unintelligible.

“You doing okay, baby?”

Lannan groans again, lifting his head to look at Lachlan. Theres a singular tear falling from his left eye and Lachlan leans in to kiss it away. They both groan at the feeling as it causes Lachlan’s cock to push further into Lannan’s tight hole. Lannan puts their foreheads together. They’re both panting, and sweating, but he nods, ready for more.

He goes slow, a little at a time, until, finally, Lachlan had bottomed out, revelling in the heat. It’s perfect, and unlike anyone he’s ever fucked before. He stays there for a moment, after Lannan starts to wiggle and move, desperate for more. Then slowly, he drags out until just the tip remains inside of Lannan. He looks at Lannan, waiting once more for consent to go ahead.

“Please.” Comes Lannan’s plea, and Lachlan groans in response.

He pushed forward again into that tight heat that awaits him and they both moan. He pulls back again. And thrusts forward slightly faster than before. Their lips find each other again as Lachlan’s thrusts continue in this fashion until their both panting for breath.

Lachlan ducks his head into Lannan’s shoulder as he lifts his leg up further. Lannan choked on his own tongue as the shift allowed Lachlan to pound against his prostate over and over. Sharp teeth broke skin, as Lannan whimpered both in pain and in pleasure.

Lachlan’s arm wrapped around Lannan’s waist and he lifted the shorter man, pushing his back against the wall. Here he continued his attack on Lannan’s prostate and on his neck and shoulder, while Lannan struggled to grip onto Lachlan’s shoulders. He moaned loudly, letting his head fall back against the wall.

Lachlan’s pace picked up. He was close, so close. Lannan let one of his hands find his own dick as the other pulled at Lachy’s hair again. He gave his dick a few gentle tugs to the same brutal rhythm that Lachy was setting before bringing himself to the edge.

“Lach!” he moaned as he came. Cum decorated both of their chests, and Lannan kissed Lachy lazily as the blond reached his climax.

He pounded the shorter man through his orgasm, moaning into Lannan’s mouth.
They panted together, trying to regain their breath. Lachlan had Lannan pressed up against the wall, with Lannan’s hands coming to rest around Lachy’s neck.

“Hey.” Lachy said, getting Lannan’s attention. The brunette looked close to falling asleep, all the tension was gone from his shoulders, and he sported a blissed out look that made Lachy incredibly proud of himself.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he said, pulling them away from the wall and walking slowly towards the bathroom, “but I’m kind of into you.”

“You’re kind of in me.” Lannan replied, slurring his words just a little. Lachy smiled slightly.

“Thanks Lach,” Lannan said, a little more seriously. “I’m kind of into you too.”

As he switched the shower on, and slowly pulled his now soft dick out of Lannan, Lachy replied, “I’d noticed. C’mon let’s get cleaned up.”

Lannan found himself too tired to question it. He let Lachlan take care of him, it seems he would have an awful long time to ask him relentless questions anyway. He didn’t plan on letting whatever this was fizzle out anytime soon.