The villain stopped, attention zeroing in on the blood on the protagonist's lip. The very air, the clouds, the universe seemed to stop moving.
"Who?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Give me a name or I'll take it out on all of them."
The protagonist's jaw clenched. Their hand rose, smearing the blood away.
The villain was at their side in an instant.
If it was only pleasure at the excuse to cause pain - which it was - then maybe it would have been easy. But it wasn't just that. It was never just that.
"If I tell you, you have to promise me not to hurt them."
The villain cocked their head and raised an eyebrow. Chiding, but gentle enough. They both knew that wasn't a compromise the villain would make, just as they both knew the protagonist would not tolerate mindless sadism.
"Fine," the protagonist said, "you have to promise not to hurt them for more than -" they floundered - "ten seconds."
"Deal." It was too quick, too easy, and beneath the churning guilt the protagonist's heart swelled for such fierce protection.
They swallowed.
"Who?" the villain asked, again, soft.
They gave the name.
The villain, it turned out, could make ten seconds count for an awful lot.
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Hey y’all! Here’s a little snippet of something that was rattling in my mind. Hope y’all like!
It can be complicated to make sense of family. Hero knew this. Hero had always known this. With how their life was growing up Hero doubted there were many who could understand this concept as well as they did.
But this was just ridiculous.
“The answer is still no,” Hero tried very hard to keep their voice level and calm.
“Seriously? I don’t understand what your problem is!”
The voice over the phone held the tone of one who had already decided they were right and there was no chance of changing.
“It’s not that I have a problem…which I don’t,” Hero ground out. “It’s that I just don’t feel like inviting him.”
“And why not?”
Hero resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of their nose. One, it was a bad habit which showed how frustrated they were; and two, it would loosen their mask. God, couldn’t their sibling have called earlier? Hero really didn’t feel like having this conversation on the roof of a bank at 11pm.
“I don’t need a reason. It’s my call and I don’t want him there. End of story.”
“No, not end of story! This is completely unfair! Why am I always the one trying to hold this family together? You think it’s easy being the responsible one when…”
Hero let the rant commence as they held the phone a few inches from their ear, Sibling gradually getting louder and more hurtful with each word. They looked up at the star bedazzled sky and tried to tune them out until they could jump back in again.
It’s not that Sibling was wrong, it’s just that Hero could only take being called absent and holier than thou so many times. It was the same speech every time a major event happened in Hero’s life. And at the end of every speech, Hero always caved and let Sibling invite the whole family…well not this time.
‘...and out of everyone, you of all people should take the high road on this…”
That did it.
“Me of all people? Why? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Dammit, I’m tired of being the one to take the high road! For once would it kill him to apologize? Or better yet, clean up his fucking act?!”
Sibling was making sputtering noises on the line when another voice joined Hero on the roof.
“Well, I must say I’ve never heard words like this before coming from our fair Hero.”
Hero froze, their sibling yelling into the receiver, and turned.
Villain stood, arms folded, looking incredibly smug.
“I’m going to have to call you back,” Hero said softly. They hung up before Sibling could protest.
Shit, they would hear about that later.
Villain sauntered closer, “Having a little domestic are we? I’ve never seen you that agitated before.”
Hero glared, “Coming to rob the bank?”
Villain chuckled.
“I was, but this is so much more interesting. Come on, what’s happening in the world of the Golden Hero?”
“None of your business,” Hero stood tall. “Now are you breaking the law or not? I have a long patrol tonight.”
“Oh yes, I heard you were taking the long shift tonight. Something about needing time off…wait…that couldn’t be what you were arguing about on the phone was it? Vacation plans gone wrong?”
Hero felt a vein popping in their forehead.
“Why must you alway insist on being a prick? And why do you know my shift schedule?”
Villain shrugged noncommittally, “I have people.”
They walked right into Hero’s space, doing their best to intimidate with their towering stature. Hero refused to move and met their gaze head on.
“You’ve never taken a break before.” Villain stated.
“Never needed to until now,” Hero responded as if Villain had asked a question.
Villain gave them a once over.
“What’s the need?”
God, was Villain always this infuriating?
“Like I said, none of your business. I’m sure you’ll survive a substitute hero for the next few weeks.”
Villain frowned, “Few weeks? That’s a lengthy time.”
Hero rolled their eyes and nodded. They weren’t falling for Villain’s way of fishing for information by not actually asking a question.
“A few weeks and a family member who’s not welcome…if I’m to interpret that phone call correctly. My, my, what do you have planned?” Villain finally took a few paces back to lean on the wall, “Can’t say I’m too thrilled. Other Hero’s are such tight-asses.”
“If you mean that I’m lenient then, yes, they’re not as nice as I am,” Hero smirked.
Villain outright laughed.
“I would describe you as many things Hero, but straight up nice has never been one of them. Seriously, why the vacation? Family reunion or something?”
If Hero’s Sibling had anything to say on the matter it would be.
“Not as such,” Hero relaxed their stance now that Villain was a few paces away. That and it seemed Villain was more in a talking mood tonight. It was rare that they just talked rather than taking on their usual ‘Hero vs Villain’ roles. Rare, but it had happened a handful of times over the course of the last four years. Whether this was professional or not, Hero chose not to think about.
Villain folded their arms in thought, “Birthday? No, yours is in March…A celebration for another medal from the Mayor? No, he’s out of town until next month…” Hero tried hard not to smile as Villain ticked each possibility off their fingers, “Oh I know! You’ve finally graduated high school!”
Now Hero did laugh. It was a running joke with them and Villain’s Henchman that Hero must be younger than they seemed due to their young sound voice. Of course there was no way to tell due to the mask, but Hero estimated they were about the same age as Villain. Something they were sure Villain had put together as well seeing as the Hero Agency didn’t employ anyone under the age of 21.
It didn’t stop the quips though.
“Afraid I did that long ago,” Hero supplied.
“Well then I’m at a loss,” Villain got up and leaned into Hero’s space once more. “Other than medical leave I can’t think of anything else. And I assume you wouldn’t be fighting about invitees if convalescence was your goal.”
“Guess you’ll just have to live with uncertainty,” Hero shrugged and turned to leave the roof. Before they could take a couple of steps a hand was on their arm.
“You really not going to tell?” Villain asked softly. “You seemed upset and not the kind of upset like when you're on the job.”
Hero felt their heart rate increase and their cheeks warm. Why did Villain have to go and ask like that? How could they go from the city’s terror to a caring person with humanity and feelings? Perhaps Hero could tell them…the event was happening down in the Bahamas anyway. Not like Villain could figure it out…
It would be nice to talk to someone not expecting anything from them.
“I have a celebration happening and I don’t want my father to be there…it’s caused rather a ruckus in my family.”
Villain’s hand remained on Hero’s arm. “Well, if it’s your celebration it’s your choice. I don’t see why anyone else should be involved.”
Hero laughed and patted their hand. “And you’ve just summarized the entire argument I’ve been having for the past month.”
Villain released their arm. “I’m smart like that.”
Hero nodded with a warm smile. They turned towards the fire escape.
“Seeing as how you don’t seem to be robbing the bank, I have places to be,” They turned so they were facing Villain while standing on the ladder. “Thanks Villain. I’ll see you in a few weeks if you manage to keep yourself alive.”
“Say that to your replacement hero.” Villain hesitated, “Hero?”
Hero popped their head up from their descent, “Yeah?”
“What is the celebration?”
Hero smiled softly at them.
“I’m getting married,” they whispered.
And then they were gone. Down the fire escape and into the night.
Villain stood stunned, not knowing why the words made their heart freeze and their eyes water.
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Villain thought about turning around nearly a hundred times as they approached the door.
Honestly, what were they thinking? It’s not like civilian would want to see them…Especially not after that last fight.
Villain shuddered as they remembered civilian’s face, their camera slowly lowering from their trained eye as they took in the scene of villain standing, bloody knuckles held high, over hero.
But that wasn’t the whole story! Villain needed civilian to know the whole story!
Only one person in this entire fucking city took the truth as they saw it. Only one person ever photographed everyone, hero and villain alike, with blatant, unbiased, unaffected action.
Villain would make the world burn before they let the one last person worth a damn believe what they saw was the truth.
No. Civilian would know the reality of the situation even if villain had to scream it through the apartment door all night.
Civilian was the best photographer in the city…hell, in villain’s opinion civilian was the best photographer in the world…they could always see past the covering lie of a situation and photograph the truth.
But then…why hadn’t they photographed the truth? Why hadn’t they photographed anything in the past two weeks?
Villain raised their fist to the painted red apartment door.
Now it was their turn to find the truth.
What happened to their photographer?
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