[…]

"Hyung, I need to get out of here," whined Kim Insoo under his breath, quiet enough that only an esper standing right next to him would be able to make out the words.

"Relax, Insoo-ya," Kang Jaeha said with an almost tipsy smile. "You did a good job in that dungeon, nobody's judging you. We just have to wait for the transporters to finish evacuating the rest of the victims, then I can clear them."

"And then we can go back to the silo?"

"And then we can go back to the silo," Jaeha confirmed. "Unless you want to go back by yourself right now? I'm not stopping you."

"You're such a tease, hyung."

Kang Jaeha laughed again and pulled the smaller esper a little closer, squeezing his upper arm. Insoo tried his best to ignore his backlash telling him that he looked stupid, that he was embarrassing himself just by being here, and leaned into his partner's strong, comforting touch. The psychic had well-toned muscles even on top of the esper strength the two men both shared.

Jaeha rubbed comforting circles into Insoo's shoulder as rescuers brought the last trickle of dungeon victims to have the remnants of the dungeon's psychic attacks cleared away. He demurred modestly as they all thanked him. He was just doing his job, and he was glad to be such a valuable asset in the eternal fight against dungeons and despair. Over time, the warm smiles he favored the victims with got sleepier as his backlash ticked up, even though he was standing right next to his partner.

Soon enough, the sensors were calling the all-clear to destroy the dungeon's core.

"Mmmm… ready to go?" said Jaeha in the same undertone Insoo had first used. Insoo huffed and silently looped his partner into the teleportation request on his commscreen, which he'd been fiddling with to try and distract himself.

"Hyung was so mean to me," said Insoo as soon as they arrived in the silo. He looked up at Jaeha with exaggerated pleading eyes even as his voice slightly shook. It felt ridiculous that he felt socially anxious about his own partner, but backlash emotions were anything but rational. "How could hyung do such a thing?"

Jaeha laughed. "Oh, my poor Insoo-ya. How will I ever make it up to you?"

[…]