brbjustdying - Tumblr blog

brbjustdying · 4 years

Text

Owen/Avery - 14/03/2021

You

15:47 - got a favor to ask

Dancer

15:50 - call me when u want love

He tapped the phone icon, hoping she would pick up the first time. she liked to let him wait.

“Hello Order. It’s been a while, I saw the news, how are you dealing with the loss of your nemesis?”

Of course everyone would know about it…

“Pretty well. It’s about that, the favor.”

“Oh, pretty boy switched sides because of you? Can’t say I’m surprised. He’s your type.”

“It’s absolutely not what happened, stop. Can you handle his file? And I’ll forget about the waterfall incident. No more debt. Just this one favor.”

“Sounds like I’m getting more than I’m giving. Why do you care?”

“Because there’s a lot of good in it for me. It’s always nice when someone switches sides and you get all their knowledge don’t you think?”

“I see. Give me some time for the pictures, and see for any name change, or family names or whatever. Have it by 3 AM, I’ll be done with the pictures by then. But I won’t make any kind of ID or anything, I sold all my equipment a few months ago.”

“No worries, I’ll talk to Demeter about it.”

He heard the woman laugh on the other end of the line.

“They’re out of business, you should know it.”

“Favors don’t disappear when you go out of business, you should know that. I’ll text you the details, bye.”

“Bye Order, don’t get used by Adam, he might be nice but you never know if it’s a ruse.”

He hung up, not wanting to hear more.

He wasn’t stupid, but he also knew he wasn’t important enough to be used in such a scheme.

His ties with the villain world weren’t the strongest, and he had very little influence there. He was mostly known for getting in the way, but always having people owe him for some reason. That’s what he got for being gifted with such a strong power he guessed.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind helping you know.”

“Stop it, I like cooking. Besides, I have something else for you to do.”

“Oh?”

He laid down the paper he’d printed at work.

“This is your current identity. Everything I could find in your public record. Now, I’ve asked a friend to help me change it. It’s something we do pretty often when someone switches sides, to protect them. This friend is going to change every record of you, altering your picture so it’s different but similar. People won’t notice the difference, but if they see the real you they will just think you look similar. It helps a whole lot trust me. If there’s anything you want to change, you can just cross it out and rewrite it. I got some colorful pens somewhere… Dancer hates purple so use it as much as you want.”

“Dancer?”

“My friend. She’s currently doing the pictures.”

Adam grabbed the pen, looking unsure at the idea.

“Is it really necessary?”

“You’ve been declared a criminal by the administration, and with a really high bounty. everyone will be trying to get you as soon as you step a foot outside.”

“Oh.”

Owen internally sighed. This was all new for the guy. Of course it would feel weird.

“What am I supposed to change? What’s the things that matter the most basically.”

Well, that was a quick change of attitude. Weird.

“Usually, place of birth, names of closest family, but also some people in the extended family. They didn’t have a file on your family so don’t worry about it, it’s not public knowledge. Things like height, weight, but just slightly. We can’t do anything about the power obviously, but you’re only supposed to use it when having a mask on so it’s usually not a problem. Most people also change their names and find an alias.”

That was the biggest one. People didn’t like changing their names, but he heard it happened very often in the academy, or even when they started as heroes. since they didn’t have aliases, they tried to have names that meant something relating to their powers or their values. Though it seemed to be marketing more than anything, it worked great and people loved to theorize around destiny and if giving your child a specific name could improve their chances at becoming a great hero one day. The number of articles made about the subject was astounding.

“You think I should change my name?”

He shrugged.

“It’s your choice. It’s very common, but it’s super personal so most people don’t want to do it. It means too much to them. You have a fairly common name, so you might be fine keeping it.”

“No I think I’d like to change it.”

“Okay, need ideas?”

He nodded.

Owen went to his office, giving Panda a scratch on the head on the way, and retrieved three books from the top shelf. They were super dusty.

When he came back, he dropped them on the table, smiling at the puff of dust that rose from them, and the disgusted expression on Adam’s face.

“Looks like the bible. Let’s see. Girls name, alphabetical order. Boy’s name, alphabetical order, Gender neutral names, alphabetical. Gender neutral?”

“Names you can give to a boy or a girl, usually a lot of non binary people like those more than heavily gendered names. It’s been changing in recent years, but it’s still difficult to be accepted if your name is closely tied to a specific gender so people often choose to change it. Have a look while I make dinner.”

He wanted to make something really nice, because he still hadn’t slept in ages, and he needed to have at least that. Then he’d have to get some sleep, because he’d had way too much coffee. Maybe one day he’d even manage to get a schedule for his sleep. Right now it couldn’t be called a schedule, it was all over the place, there was no pattern. And it made work even more intolerable.

As he was slicing a cucumber, Adam spoke again.

“I think I found one I like.”

“Hmm.”

“Avery. I really like it, or Wren. But I’m not sure, what do you think.”

“It’s your choice, you’ll be the one wearing it every day. Avery is closer to Adam so it might be easier to get used to but honestly I’m not sure.”

Chosen from the gender neutral book. Interesting.

“You think it needs to be close to the previous name?”

“Not really. I almost changed mine to Clarence so…”

“You did? Why? And why not really. If you don’t mind telling me.”

“Don’t worry. I really wanted to be called chaos, and the convention is to choose an alias with the same first letter as your name. It was really stupid though.”

“Chaos would fit you. What made you decide against it?”

“Uuuuh…”

“It’s fine.”

The truth was… A little shameful.

His mom found out about it, and told him that she’s almost named him Clyde, after the famous Bonnie and Clyde story. She also said Chaos was super corny, and didn’t suit him at all. “You’re an orderly boy Owen, and you should know yourself better. What you want is justice and peace, not chaos and destruction.”

“It’s because of my mom. God I still can’t believe you met her! I texted her and she only answered with an emoji, and now she won’t answer my calls.”

“She was really nice, don’t worry she didn’t tell anything weird about you or whatever.”

He grumbled and turned back to his cucumber. The betrayal of it all! No one was supposed to know where he lived or anything. But he’d rather have Adam know about where he lived than where his mom lived. Not that it really mattered now.

“Anything else you changed on the paperwork?”

“Made hero me a little taller, not sure how believable it is but I’m pretty small so… Also changed the date of birth by two days, and the place of birth to a city with a really similar name i found online. Do you think it’s enough?”

“Sure. Do you have allergies?”

“Not that I know of, why?”

“Just to be sure I don’t accidentally kill you, it would suck.”

Adam snickered.

“So, settled on a name?”

“I think I’m going to go with Avery. I really like the sound of it.”

Owen wished they had more time to think about this, he really did. It was a big thing, hopefully he wouldn’t change his mind in a few days or weeks.

“Alright, take pictures of the picture and send them to me, I’ll transfer them to Di- Dancer.”

Almost spilled the real name of one of his friends, great. He was getting a little too comfortable around the ex-hero.

His phone chimed, and he knew it was already done. He dressed the plate and put them on the table, Avery having moved the books out of the way to the coffee table.

“Can you take them back to my office? Last door, I think it’s open. Panda is probably sitting on the chair but you can move him if you want.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to intrude.”

“I mean you’re probably going to stay here for a while so might as well get used to the place. Go, or I’ll eat your food!”

He dashed to the office, talking to Panda once he was there, and Owen smilled.

I really need to sleep. I can’t just be his friend so easily. God what even is happening.

Dinner went really well. They talked about a whole bunch of different things, but Owen couldn’t help but notice that Avery always avoided the subject of his family. He loved to tease Owen about his mom, but didn’t offer any information about his potential family. It could be from a desire to protect them, but seeing as the administration didn’t have any file on them, and they’d never been quoted in interviews, not even mentioned as refusing to comment for articles, he had another idea.

“Why did you call yourself order then?”

Owen looked up from his phone, trying to forget the text from Dancer that said “got the papers. fuck u for the purple, also avery is a really nice name for a really cute boy, give him my number”

“What?”

“Why order, why not something else, like… Offense? Omen? Omelet?”

“Oh I’d be a terrifying villain if I was named omelet, for sure. Told you, my mom.”

Panda walked into the room like he owned it, which he pretty much did, distracting Avery from the discussion.

The boy crouched down, smiling brightly when the cat purred and asked for more pets, meowing softly from time to time.

Damn friendly cat, already forgot me and everything I do for him.

“Well, looks like you just found your first kid. Good luck being a parent, he’s a brat.”

“How dare you! Panda has been nothing but an adorable gentleman since I met him.”

“Hmm, wait for the day where you need to take him to the vet because he knocked down an entire shelf and looks like he broke his bones but really he’s just being dramatic and messing with you.”

“Not cool Panda, not cool.”

Panda only looked smug, as usual, probably not seeing the problem in doing anything for attention.

Owen flopped on the couch, wanting nothing more than for his brain to just shut off, sleep for about a week, and not have a single thought. That never happened of course, but maybe today would be the day.

“So, what’s your villain name going to be?”

“You think I need one?”

“Unless you plan to sit on your ass while I use all the info you gave me do to something, yeah you need one.”

“True.”

He took Panda in his arms, and came to sit next to Owen.

Too close.

“Got any ideas? I don’t know how I can choose something like that… At the academy we could put suggestions, but I didn’t think they’d call me that.”

“Adam’s not your original name?”

“Nah. Don’t remember what it was though. I’ve been there for a long time.”

Weird.

“Okay. Strange.”

“They have this dude that can replace memories. He usually only uses his powers to change minimal memories from students, the name is one of them. He hates doing it, but if he’s not on the side of the administration I guess they’d hunt him down because it’s such a dangerous power.”

Huh.

“Probably yeah. Are you curious to know what the name before Adam was?”

“Kind of? I guess yeah. It might be able to tell me something about myself. Don’t know how I’d ever get that information.”

“Good thing that’s what I do then! Hang on, I’ll get my laptop so we can find you a cool villain name.”

He let Avery cuddle Panda to death, and quickly sent another text to Dancer, asking her to dig up anything she could about that.

Dancer

20:44 - this is really big Order, real big

20:45 - fuck imagine what they can do about it

20:46 - I’m getting Neon on it with me

He wouldn’t mention it to Avery unless they came up with something interesting. He didn’t need more things to worry about. He’d already offered to cover half of the rent despite staying only a day, and a bunch of unnecessary things. Where did he get his awesome morals?

“So! Most people have an idea because you don’t just decide to become a villain like that. But sometimes it happens, in that case you go online, and look up lists of words until you find one you resonate with. Here, have a loot. You can choose any letter, but I really recommend something that starts with an a.”

“Alright, let’s see.”

Panda moved to Owen, disappointed that he wasn’t the center of attention anymore. Sadly it wouldn’t be much better from his owner, who fell asleep without even knowing, only to wake up a few hours later, gently being shaken by his new friend.

“Hey Owen. It’s really late, I think you should go to sleep in your bed.”

He grumbled his answer, not sure himself what he intended to say. For once he’d actually fallen asleep, curse him for waking him up. He was comfortable too, something warm next to him.

He abruptly stood up when he realized that he’d been sleeping laying on Ad-Avery. Oh no. Oh my god no what an idiot.

The guy smiled softly, and then grabbed his hand to lead him to his room, thinking his foggy mind probably prevented him from finding his way.

Panda only moved a little, not wanting to leave the warm blanket that had ended up on both of them at some point.

When the warm hand that was holding his let go, pushing him gently towards his bed, he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep any more that night.

Owen was waiting for his coffee to brew, in a bigger french press than the previous day. He’d done his bets to be silent, but Avery still heard him.

He looked like death. Weird, considering he’d been sleeping so well the previous evening. Did he not go back to sleep after he went to his room? He didn’t make any noise, so Avery assumed he’d fallen asleep again. Did he have insomnia problems? Maybe he shouldn’t have woken him up…

He shook his head and closed the bathroom door, intending to take a short shower and then plan his next move.

It had been a weird few days.

When he stumbled here the other night, broken and lost, he didn’t expect Order to help him. Of all people, he probably should hate him the most, they had fought so much and he always got in his way.

But instead he was faced with an almost stranger. someone kind, calm, thoughtful and resourceful. Who had a pretty good fashion sense too!

He glanced at the simple cream shirt and grey sweatpants and underwear the other hand lent him, refusing his protests. He’d been so nice, Avery felt bad. What had he done that was so great to deserve such kindness? Because it seemed like his whole life had only been a lie.

Trained by the academy since he was a kid, through summer camps, special classes, coaches, everything, he’d grown up to become a powerful hero, with a lot of potential, or so everyone said. But it never really felt right. Then he moved on to the actual academy, taking as many classes as he could, always doing his best. It was a good education, and he needed as much of it as possible if he wanted to be a good hero, who did the right thing.

His dedication and drive started to become annoying traits of his, rather than what teachers and coaches praised. Hewanted to know too much, he realized now. It wasn’t like he ever suspected there was something so bad hiding behind.

And now, they had destroyed everything in just one night. Everyone thought he was an insane person who just wanted to believe in the conspiracy, and bring people down. The public opinion had swayed very easily, a couple false articles being enough to change people’s mind.

He couldn’t even be angry at them, he’d fallen for it too, when he’d seen other heroes switch sides and read about their reasons in the pres. he never questioned it. The press had always been fairly nice to him, he didn’t have many enemies in the journalists.

It was probably because the administration controlled them too.

He wiped his tears and rinsed his hair one last time, before turning off the water.

He had to at least pretend it was fine. Owen was nice enough to let him stay around even if he had no reason to, and he couldn’t be any kind of a burden. He was glad Panda was around, he was great at comfort. Even if he did bite his fingers a couple times. He wouldn’t tell that to Owen, it would make him right.

He got dressed and messed with his hair for a while, before giving up. It was a mess like it always was no point in trying now. Sometimes he really hated whoever gave him genes for such fluffy hair. It was impossible to handle. One of his friend had theorized it was because he was of east asian descent, and that he had to try different ways of taking care of it to find what was the best. But he hadn’t, because it felt too much like something his actual parent should have taught him, not something to look up online. and that made him really sad, for some reason.

“Whatever, let’s find Panda and get a hug,” he whispered to himself.

He had hoped the cat would be on the couch, here he’d last seen him, licking his butt after having his breakfast, but he wasn’t there anymore.

Owen was sitting at the kitchen island, writing furiously on his laptop, and barely sparred him a glance.

For some reason, Avery suddenly felt really heavy, an intense sadness filling him, and he wondered when this would end. It was probably just a bad time, things would get better after a while, but he could sense that something else was about to fall on him and destroy everything again, and he didn’t look forward to that.

Why does it never stop?

“Hey.”

Owen was standing in front of him, concern on his face, definitely awake despite his lack of sleep.

Avery didn’t say anything. He knew if he tried, he would start crying again, and he couldn’t have that. Not now. Not in front of him. It wasn’t -

Owen slowly wrapped his arms around him, giving him plenty of time to move or push him away. But he didn’t. It felt nice. He hugged him back, enjoying the warmth of his friend. He’d always been taller, something Avery hated when they had to fight a little too close, but right now it was really nice. He was whispering reassurances to him, telling him it would be alright, they’d find solutions and it wouldn’t always suck this much.

It felt really nice, and he hoped it would last forever. For once, his thoughts had stopped racing.

He had barely slept, and kept turning and tossing in his bed, wondering if he had fallen asleep so easily because he was so tired, or if it was because of the person next to him.

He already knew the answer, but didn’t want to think about it, much less go ask the other for a hug so he could sleep again.

God he really needed to talk to a new doctor about this. One who wouldn’t ask too many questions about what could possibly be stressing him out, or preventing him from going to bed at reasonable hours.

When a reasonable time came, he got up and made the biggest pot of coffee he could find. He thought he had a bigger pot, but couldn’t remember where it was, and didn’t want to make even more noise than he had. Avery had woken up anyway, so it wasn’t like it mattered. But he didn’t have the mental energy to dedicate to it all. So he just made his coffee, giving his guest some clothes and squashing his complaints. If he didn’t want him to stay around, he was very capable of kicking him out, regular person way or villain way. He’d like to keep his apartment clean and Panda calm though.

The first cup of coffee felt like drinking that water that was supposed to give eternal youth, the name of which he couldn’t remember or bother to look up. The second one was more for pleasure than out of necessity.

He’d gotten a text from his boss, saying the shop had been damaged in a fight last night, and he didn’t need to come in for work for at least two weeks. The administration would cover the wages of the employees as well as the cost of repairs.

A blessing truly, he just had to fill in a form with his information, as well as a formal declaration that he wasn’t present when the incident happened.

Easy peasy.

But then Avery walked out of the bathroom, eyes still red from crying, and looking really sad. He wasn’t sure what to do, so he didn’t mention it, but from the way his face fell, it was clearly not the right thing to do.

He looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulder. And maybe it was a little bit after all. His whole world had come crashing down just two days ago.

“Hey.”

He tried to keep his voice soft, and not cold as it apparently always was. According to his friends at least.

Avery looked like he needed a hug, so without overthinking it, Owen did just that. He gave him time to push back of course, he didn’t have to accept, but he did. He even clung to him like he was the last person on earth, relaxing visibly, and even smiling a little against his neck.

Oh this was bad, really bad. Owen would never be able to squash his feelings now, they’d refuse to go away, reminding him of this moment.

They stayed like this for a long time, Owen doing his best to make Avery feel better, giving him empty promises of making things better and finding solutions. It seemed to work, because he stopped breathing so fast and being so tense.

It was going well until Panda decided he wanted some of that attention for himself too, and literally jumped from the counter onto Avery’s shoulder, making him gasp in surprise.

“Is that…?”

“Yep. That’s Panda, jealous that he’s no longer the center of attention, despite being the king of this house. Come on Panda, that’s just rude now. Do you even have an ounce of manners in that fluffy body of yours?”

The cat meowed, making Avery laugh.

“I don’t think Panda has a lot of respect for you.”

He shifted a little, but didn’t seem ready to let go yet, so Owen just rubbed little circles on his back, considering his answer carefully.

“Panda don’t take it personally okay? You’re right, he has no manners. Honestly he’s super friendly, but also really bratty ? I don’t know where he got that. I tried to educate him but…”

“Aw, be nice to him. He’s sweet. He let me pet him so much! I really like him. I always wanted to have a pet but couldn’t. It’s so nice.”

He finally let go, quickly wiping his eyes, and then grabbing Panda from his shoulder, and carrying him like a baby instead.

“I’m going to be off of work for at least two weeks, so I will be around to see how much of a betrayal Panda is, and just how much cuddling he can accept from other people.”

“He doesn’t accept it from you?”

“Oh he does, but I think he found a new favorite person.”

Avery blushed, and OWen couldn’t help but notice just how cute that was.

Before they got the chance to say anything else, the landline started ringing.

The only person who called on this line was his mom. So she was done with ignoring him.

“Ah, the traitor finally stops ignoring me!”

“The traitor?”

He grabbed the phone, ready to give his mom a piece of his mind.

“Hi baby! Am I bothering you? I saw the place where you work got blown up, it was night and no hospital texted me, so I guess you’re doing fine.”

“Hi mom, or should I call you traitor?”

“Oh Owen that’s a bit strong, makes me reconsider my offer too, such an ungrateful son!”

Her voice contained no heat, only amusement. Clearly she didn’t care what he thought. He only raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate.

“You’re going to be off work right? I’m going to your uncle’s house, if you want to come with me and take some holidays!”

Oh. So that was what it was about.

“Can I bring someone?”

On the other end of the line, he heard his mother choke on her drink, cough it out for a solid minute before talking again. It made him smile. He was full of surprises.

“Yes, of course. do I know that person?”

“Yeah, it’s what I’ve been trying to call you about for two days now.”

“Oh, that nice boy I met once. Really sweet and polite, Adam I think? The press isn't kind to him lately.”

“His name is Avery now. I’ll take the ferry as usual. Get ready for Panda, he misses you.”

“Wonderful, I look forward to seeing you boys. Oh this promises to be interesting, you have to give me details alright? I know I’m your mom, but I wanna know.”

“Nope, definitely not. Bye mom, see you tomorrow, love you.”

She chuckled but said her goodbyes.

Why didn’t I tell her it’s not like that. Oh god she probably thinks we’re dating. Oh no she’s going to make this so awkward. I’m such an idiot.

He stopped his internal panic when he noticed Avery looking at him curiously.

“Wanna spend a week at a beach house?”

I will write them more, just maybe not tomorow (I’ve been procrastinating my homework a whole lot)

#writing #my writing #writing practice #superpowers #hero turned villain

2 notes · View notes

brbjustdying · 4 years

Text

Owen/Adam - 13/03/2021

“It was all planned! From the beginning, they’ve been planning this and making me believe it was real!”

Adam sat on the floor, tears flowing on his face, mask forgotten on the floor.

He’d never been this pathetic, and yet, Owen couldn’t find it in himself to make fun of the guy.

He looked so desperate.

“Explain.” His voice was cold, as always. He walked to the kitchen island, grabbing two of the fancy glasses his mom had just bought him, for “when you have people over. You can’t have only mugs!” and filled them with wine. A random bottle of white he’d chosen for the evening. He didn’t like sharing, but the other needed it.

“It was… It’s a cover. They’re covering something… Really bad.”

Owen raised an eyebrow. What could be so bad that his assigned nemesis would be crying on his floor, as if they were friends or something. Are we friends?

“And why are you telling me this exactly?”

He didn’t get an answer, only a sniffle. He made his way towards the hero, still on the floor, and sat down, handing him a glass.

“I don’t want to be rude, but we’re not exactly friends you know?”

Adam smiled, wincing at the dry taste of the wine, and handing him the glass back. So much for sharing.

“Who else can I tell? Any villain will kill me if I get any close to them, and the other heroes… Well, it seems most of them are aware of this to some degree. God I’m so stupid.”

“Hmm, can’t deny that.”

“Shut up, you’re not helping.”

Owen laughed. This was more like his usual nemesis.

“Well, as your nemesis, I have to say this was a stupid decision.I could kill you just like any of those other villains.”

“My nemesis? Really? Come on, you’re definitely not my nemesis. You’re too neutral to be my nemesis, we’re only enemies because we get in each other’s way.”

“What?”

They looked at each other, confusion on one face, anger on the other.

“You… Thought we were nemesis? I mean, we can if you want. You probably shouldn’t give me wine though. Unless it’s poisoned. Should I drink the rest of it?”

He went to grab the glass, but Owen took it out of his reach.

“Really? You think I’d poison you in my own apartment? How do you even know where I live? Only three people have my address.”

The boy shrugged.

“You passed out once, so I texted your mom and brought you back. Apparently you thought it was Sand, because you never said anything about it. She’s nice, your mom. She yelled at me a little.”

He said it as if it was no big deal, just something you did for villains on a regular basis.

“I have so many questions.”

“Hmm. She promised not to tell. You know, I didn’t want to have to find a new enemy. You’re nice, and you make decent jokes when we fight. Also you don’t try to use flashing lights since it makes me dizzy. It’s nice.”

When Owen had noticed the way it affected the hero, he’d stopped. Clearly it wasn’t just the normal distraction it was for most people, so he didn’t want to use that against him. He wasn’t that kinda guy.

“Oh I’m so gonna call her. How did you even open my phone?”

“Finger. You don’t wear gloves. Also it probably has face ID, but I didn’t want to remove your mask if you didn’t tell me to so… I probably would have if needed. couldn’t really bring you to a hospital.”

“Hmm.”

He noticed he’d finished his glass, and swapped it for the one he made for Adam originally. It wasn’t poisoned as the other one thought, just not to his taste.

“Still doesn’t explain why you came to me.” It was nice, to have an actual conversation, but it would probably make him hold back a little the next time they fought. After all, now he knew the kid was even younger than he thought. Or he had an extreme baby face. Was he even allowed to drink?

“Because you’re probably the only one who will not tell me to join them. I hope so at least. And if you do well… You’re just like them. But it’s unlikely, you’ve already done a lot of good things before, just in a chaotic way.”

Owen couldn’t deny that. People and the administration classified him as a villain because of his methods, but other villains disliked him most of the time. He only wanted what was right for the people, and so often denied by the administration, and was willing to go any route to get there. Usually the one that would annoy officials the most. Recently, he’d been spending a lot of time fighting Adam though, the boy having been sent to stop him from doing so much damage, and looking through so many classified files too.

He wasn’t too surprised by what he was being told. The administration was the one working with the heroes, giving them a roof, a salary, and missions. Of course the heroes would be let in on the secret after a while. He had assumed it was only the very top ones, and secret was surrounding the whole thing. Every day, people joined the hero academy, full of good intentions and noble missions, surely not everyone could be aware of just what was going on.

The fact that they told Adam was surprising too, he was the model of the young hero, with a power that promised great things for him, success in his missions, and great support from the public. He had strong morals and that was his main thing. He wanted to do what was right. It was clearly not the kind of person who would approve of anything shady, especially not from the people supposed to protect. It hadn’t been sold to him in the best way.

“That’s fair. Give me more details, everything you know.”

Adam had stayed the night, passing out on the couch while Owen was taking notes. He’d only noticed when the other didn’t answer his question, despite him asking twice.

He had so many notes, around 17 pages on the document, and that was with no coherent formating.

He’d moved to his office, leaving the teen with a blanket and a pillow, to sleep off the sadness and betrayal.

And now, after a sleepless night of organizing and planning, he was wondering if he could go and make himself coffee, or if it would wake up his newfound roommate. Not that he’d ever wanted one, he could afford the rent just fine, and he didn’t have to share Panda’s affection. Damn him for getting such a friendly cat.

Why do I even care about waking him up anyway?

He shouldn’t try to make him comfortable. they were enemies! Even if Adam didn’t consider them nemesis, he did! He’d been the first one to almost always be successful in stopping his plans, but without ever really doing so.

He prevented him from doing an yreal damage, but didn’t try to get his motivations, or prevent him from getting information. Just from knocking down the building while getting said information.

It made him irrationally angry, did he really think he couldn’t do anything with all that information? That he was so incompetent that the only bothering thing he did was knock down buildings?

But it hadn’t been that, he realized now.

“You’ve already done a lot of good things before, just in a chaotic way.”

Maybe Adam had just been doing the bare minimum, making sure no major damage was done, but allowing him to collect information that would harm the corrupt of this world.

It was possible. And thinking back, even very likely.

God, he’d even brought him home when he was too weak to do so himself and didn’t have back up.

Owen shook his head. He needed coffee. He had to make his brain properly again, and stop thinking about the damn hero so much.

In the living room, Adam was still sleeping peacefully, blanket half on the floor, sun almost reaching his face.

He made a move to fix it, but stopped himself. He didn’t have to be nice to a hero. To his nemesis. He had to make coffee and stop being so stupid.

He took out everything he needed, going through the motions without even thinking about it, brain disconnected from being so tired. He really should sleep more. But it wasn’t like being a villain and working a full time job left him with a lot of time to rest, or even live life like a normal person.

He stared at the coffee in the french press for a solid two minutes, before Adam’s voice startled him, making him jump out of his skin and almost yell in fear.

“You okay?”

He turned so fast the world swam a little and he had to grip the counter to make sure he would fall down.

“Don’t scare me like that, my heart's going to give out! Oh my god! When did you even wake up?”

“Smelled the coffee. You look like death. Did you even sleep?”

“Thanks, trying to compete with you.”

He turned back to his coffee, cursing himself for not staying in his office and falling asleep on his desk like he did every two days. He’d probably have massive back problems in just a few years, but he didn’t really care.

“Can I have some?”

Adam had gotten up completely, folding the blanket and laying it next to the pillow, looking nice and clean on the couch. He was now standing next to Owen, pointing at the coffee. He was way too happy for someone who had just woken up.

“Sure. Mugs above the sink. Don’t take the pink one.”

Adam chose a mug with a complex plant pattern on it, not after examining a lot of them, including the pink one, which made Owen tense even more.

“You have so many cool mugs! Some of them look really old, you’ve been collecting them for long?”

“Since I was 8 or 9. My mom secretly loves it. She's the one who got me the wine glasses. Insists I need them for guests.”

“Hmm, mugs are nicer. Especially when they’re so cool! You probably should sleep instead of drinking coffee you know?”

“Yeah, but I have work in two hours and if I sleep I’ll be even more dead than I am now, so coffee it is.”

He handed Adam the pot, he could help himself, and instead got started on making breakfast.

“Want anything special?”

“Huh, I’m vegetarian most of the time but it’s no problem. Make whatever you want.”

“Pancakes it is. Get me a whisk, drawer to your left. Not the wooden one, it sucks.”

He worked quickly, making the batter, and starting the pancakes, sipping on his coffee and feeling life slowly come back to him.

It hit him like a brick wall around the half cup mark.

I’m making breakfast for my nemesis.

And said nemesis was helping! Doing and drying the dishes after Owen was done using them, and cleaning up anything he could, working efficiently and not complaining.

This is a problem for later. I have so much thinking to do.

When the pancakes were ready, they sat together at the island, coffee cups refilled, both ready to plan the next step of whatever this sudden collaboration was.

Adam's phone had beeped a couple times before he turned it off completely and tossed it on the couch rather angrily, and Owen was really curious about it. It had put him in a pretty sour mood it seemed.

“What is it?”

“I’ve been declared a criminal. Apparently I went crazy, talking about conspiracy theories before running off and going to the villain’s side. There’s a big bounty on my head. Congratulations, you’re helping a criminal, they’ll probably try to arrest you for that.”

He stabbed his pancake with force, and Owen wondered just how betrayed he felt. He had put a lot into the administration it seemed, and seeing them turn their back on him so easily… A pretty hard blow.

“Well, that makes two of us in the same apartment, this is starting to be an important place for illegal activities I guess. What do you wanna do about it?”

Look at you, almost as if we’re allies or something.

If he allowed himself to think about it for more than half a second, he would have realized he enjoyed the company. It was nice having Adam around, he was quiet, but fun and talkative when you engaged with him. He’d been nothing but really polite, and he wasn’t s stranger. They’d been fighting for a few years now, a lot more frequently lately.

“How old are you?”

“Hmm?”

“How old are you. I gave you wine yesterday and didn’t even ask if you were allowed it.”

The other’s mouth hung open in shock.

“Just how young do you think I am?!”

Not that young apparently.

“17? 18? Probably a little past 18.”

He only groaned and let his head fall on the table, narrowly missing the plate.

“Really? I’m 22 in a month… Do I have such a baby face? No wonder everyone’s so ice to me, they think I’m still a kid…”

So, only two years apart? This was actually quite surprising.

“Well, you only got out of the academy two years ago, and people usually leave that fairly young… So… Sorry.”

“Yeah, got to stay longer because I wanted to take a lot of extra classes. But they forced me to get out, said it would be bad for my image if I stayed too long, people would think I was slow or stupid. Which is really dumb, but I didn’t have a choice.”

Huh, interesting.

Adam was drowning in his pancake in maple syrup, still talking.

“Really I’m still following classes, but it’s slower now. I was allowed to enroll online, using a fake name, so I could still get to learn. It’s pre recorded lectures, which isn’t great, but it’s better than nothing. I think all the teachers hate me because I always ask a million questions on the forums. But others love to work with me on group projects because I always know a lot more, since I’ve already graduated technically. I don’t like it, they’re not really my friends. A couple of them are really nice though. I think we’re friends. I’m not really sure. I’m really going to miss it now, they probably deleted everything about me they could find. I hear it’s what they do when you switch sides. And if you switch from villain to hero they put your family in this weird protecting program. IT’s probably more of an incentive to stay on the good side and not just switch to get information and then go back to being a villain. It’s kind of stupid I think. It’s not like other villains would attack families like that, most of them have respect. Heroes aren’t very nice to those who switched sides. Did you think about it?”

“Hmm?”

“Switching sides, did you think about it?”

“Not really. My goal is to get information from the administration to expose what they do, so it’s not really the best course of action… Especially after everything you told me yesterday.”

Adam sighed.

“Yeah, seems like the good side wasn’t so good after all…”

“Looks like it. Help me clean up, and then we’ll decide what to do next.”

God why did I say we, we’re not a team, we’re not even friends. He’s supposed to be my nemesis? Why does he have to be so goddamn nice.

And so they did, Adam working efficiently on the dishes, Owen putting them where they belonged.

They ended up on the couch, Adam sitting weirdly on the armrest, Owen sitting cross legged at the other end, facing him.

“So, what are your options?”

“Huh… Turn into a villain, be hated by both sides, and be very inefficient. Try to talk to the other heroes and make them realize this is completely insane. Probably get my ass kicked. Forget about it and disappear forever. I guess that’s it.”

“Not looking great.”

“Yeah…”

Adam frowned in his cup, apparently lost in thought.

“I have another option for you.” He perked up, snapping to attention. “I think you meet every requirement to be my associate. You’re just as chaotic as I am, even if you’ll never admit it, you now have a good reason to hate the administration, and you want the truth to come out. I think we have a common goal here.”

He’s going to say no and I’m going to be the biggest idiot ever, why would he even work with me, we’re ennemies and we don’t like each other, this was such a stupid idea, why can yo unever shut up Owen you’re a disgrace, its such a-

“Really? That would be so cool! I mean, I’d be glad to work with you, of course.”

He was smiling brighter than Owen had seen him in the last few hours, and seemed genuinely happy at the idea.

This was unexpected.

“Oh. I thought you were gonna say no. I didn’t think past this part of the plan.”

“Oh. It’s fine you don’t have to offer if you don’t want-

“Stop. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think it. But for now, I’m going to be late for work. There’s a spare key in the little brown pot by the door. Text me if you leave so I know you didn't get kidnapped or something. And make yourself at home.”

“Yes sir!”

He made a really formal salute, and Owen laughed, surprised at the action, but amused at the speed with which Adam had reacted.

The smile on the boy’s face was truly adorable, and he said his goodbye quickly, wanting to get out as fast as possible, not without assuring Adam the cat was friendly and would love the attention he was ready to give.

I’m so fucked.

Adam’s life had taken about 7 radical turns in the last few hours, and he didn’t really know how to feel.

First he’d been told he only needed about two more months of training before he’d get sent to more important missions. Then he’d been called to this very secret meeting with a bunch of important people. He’d been delighted. Maybe this was the start of more important missions, even if he wasn’t looking forward to hurting people more badly, it was nice to know he was going to make a difference. But when they had told him exactly what this is was all about, he thought this must be some kind of mistake. Heroes didn’t do that. Heroes protected people, they made sure everyone was safe, everyone was going to get saved and be fine. But this? It ranged from insurance fraud to murder. And it was so vast it covered too many things to name.

He’d been horrified, unsure how to react, staying quiet, his eyes growing a little more with each announcement.

Of course voicing his concerns only lead to people looking at him with disappointment, and then doing everything they could to hurt him. To stop him from telling the truth to the world, telling everyone and hoping he’d get a reaction from them.

The worst part of it all seemed that they expected him to just go along with it, and become the public figure that would start a new wave of change.

He’d been trained for this apparently. They had made sure he had a great image. That people loved him and trusted him. Sending him on missions that would sure make the public eye focus on the positive. How he prevented this small villain, Order, from doing more damage. “He’s not a threat, just an annoyance. People are tired of him damaging the places they care about. Prevent him from breaking everything.” They hadn’t said everything about the information he was taking, so he hadn’t brought it up. After all, it was good that people had access to it.

The guy was fun too, always had a decent joke or comeback, and with a really strong destructive power. Not fit to be a hero, but not evil enough to be a real villain.

His classmate, Anissa, had brought up the chaotic idea, and it stuck. It was exactly the kind of person Order was.

Adam wouldn’t say he looked forward to their fights, but he did. He was around too many stuck up people.

And now, he was staying at his apartment, alone with his cat, after the gu ykinda ran away.

“He probably regrets offering that, don’t you think mister cat? He didn’t even tell me your name.”

I should ask him, it’s rude to call them mister cat.

Grabbing the paper Order had scribbled and stuck to the counter, he entered the phone number in his contact, labelling it Order. He didn’t even ask the guy for his name. He understood it was mandatory for heroes to reveal their name on to pof their aliases, to connect with the public, but he often wished it was the same for villains. It would make them a whole lot easier to identify though.

You

9:12 - What’s the cat name?

9:12 - Also what name do u want for contact? I have you as ur alias but it’s kinda lame

Order

9:15 - Panda

9:15 - wait

9:15 - u don’t know my name???

9:15 - what a rude nemesis

He laughed, going back to the couch to cuddle with Panda.

You

9:17 - I’ll call u nemesis then

Nemesis Order

9:18 - rude

9:19 - Owen

9:20 - that’s my name

Cute.

You

9:21 -Nice! You’re not working?

Nemesis Owen Order

9:25 - not many ppl around

9:25 - i work at a store

9:26 - every day i hate ppl more bcause of it

9:27 - be careful with panda, he’s from a shelter

9:27 - he’d friendly but scared by loud noises

9:28 - that’s why i put him in my room yesterday after u crashed into my window

9:28 - he didn’t come from a nice family

“Oh no, I’m sorry Panda, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ll buy you treats soon I promise.”

The cat only purred, enjoying the attention he was getting.

You

9:40 - We don’t have to work together if you don’t actually want to you know

9:41 - You’ve been really nice to me and you didn’t have to help me and i’m thankful, but i know you don’t actually need an associate

9:41 - and you almost said assistant i know it

9:42 - anyway you don’t have to, i don’t think i can do much anyway

Nemesis Owen Order

9:43 - shut up

9:44 - i wouldn’t say it if i wasn’t ready to do it

9:44 - i was convinced u would say no, so i panicked

9:45 - i’m planning rn, i’ll tell u this evening

9:46 - makke lunch when ur hungry, i promise i didn’t lie, please don’t overthink it

9:55 - (not to be rude, i just feel like it’s the kinda thing u do)

I really like this so I'll probably keep going tomorrow

#writing #my writing #writing practice #yes this also has powers what about it

0 notes

brbjustdying · 4 years

Text

Unfinished - 11/03/2021

Tending the garden.

A relaxing task if you ask most people.

Making sure plants get enough water and nutrients, taking care of any bugs that might try to invade them, pulling out little weeds to keep it pretty and clean.

Tending her garden was anything but relaxing.

"Why not burn it all, maybe it would get rid of this bullshit once and for all. Dammit, why not just move?"

Because of the barriere, did you forget about it?

"No. No I didn't and please use your real voice."

But I need to train.

She deeply sighed.

It wasn’t supposed to go like that. They had bought the house after visiting it, almost the same day. One tour was enough to see that this was the perfect house for them. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. A nice modern kitchen, a big garden, which was tended to perfectly.

What they didn’t know was that the land was cursed. Probably from something that happened centuries ago, but still, it was cursed. Weeds grew faster than anything she’d ever seen, ivy was trying to cover the house from all sides, and things kept falling and breaking. A window exploded once.

None of them had any powers related to plants or nature. Anya could read minds and communicate with telepathy. John could control smoke. And Dina had an uncanny ability to predict events, all the while insisting that it wasn’t a power, just logic skills.

As for herself, she has powers relating to the cold, but still couldn’t figure them out. Not like there was much snow around to try things out, that’s what the test had said.

So she tried her best to tend to her garden, which they had decided was her responsibility before they knew what would happen. It had seemed great, she wouldn’t have much to do during the winter, so that was great.

But seeing as things were going now, she would probably have a whole lot to do during the winter.

Got busy with class on the day, and then didn’t have the inspiration for it anymore, oops (also didn’t proofread soooo)

#writing #my writing #writing practice #powers again

0 notes

brbjustdying · 4 years

Text

Leena / Jay - 10/03/2021

They stood on the bridge, looking at the boats lazily making their way to the sea.

"Do you think he's in one of them?"

"I think he took the train, but since you think that's so impossible, here we are. I really hope he's there or I'm gonna beat your ass."

"He hates the noise of trains. Boats are perfect! No noise, nice movement to put you to sleep, if something goes wrong the next stop is days away."

She rubbed her temple. They were gonna fail. There was no way around it. She was convinced that their target didn't take the boat, it was too easy to just be thrown overboard and frown if someone found him out. He may hate the noise, but the train was fast, went far, and if he was discovered they would tried to arrest him, at which point he could run away.

And to think she was supposed to work with this idiot for the next three years.

He had potential, he really did, but once he had decided something was so solution he could never look into anything else, and they kept losing their targets and failing their simulations.

She was tired of this. He kept watching every boat that went under the bridge, as if he somewhat could see through the decks of them, which he couldn't. The target wouldn't just be waving at them on the deck.

"Fine. Keep looking at the ships, relax, have fun, whatever. The train leaves in 20 minutes, and I'm gonna find our guys."

"Leena we're not supposed to be separated!"

"Yeah well I've been listening to you for weeks and we fail every time, so I'm going to do this my way. Fuck you."

She stormed off, climbing the stairs that lead to the main street, at the end of which was the train station. It was a 5 minute journey if she ran fast, and that would give her 15 minutes to search the train and warn the authorities,telling them a made up story. She'd already decided it would be about a possible child going missing, since that always made everyone jump to help them. She hated using it though.

As she ran, she could already hear the supervisor screaming at her about the fact that she shouldn't have left her partner alone, that they had failed this simulation just for that reason even if they found the guy, that this was unacceptable. She'd already requested another partner. Many times. It was obvious they weren't made to work together. Jay wanted her to have blind faith in him, even if that didn't lead them to any success so far. She wanted him to just consider other options once the first one was obviously not right. But he always refused, and they always failed. There was no way out of this situation.

She reached the train station in six minutes, out of breath and sweaty, immediately noticed by a guard.

"Can I help you madam?"

"Yes, yes. There's this man, he took a boy in my village. A little boy, 5 years at most. We think he's going to leave with the train. Please can you help me find him?"

And so they did.

And once her hand grabbed the man's collar, marking their first ever success, she decided that she might as well work alone.

"He stabbed you? Leena, that's really dangerous!"

She only glared at him, letting the doctor stitch her wound without complaining. She was really a badass.

And she was terribly angry. At him.

Once the doctor was done, she thanked them politely, even giving them a smile. But when her eyes landed on him again, Jay wished he could turn into a beetle and run away.

"Listen to me. Since we started sorting together we didn't have any success. Do you know why?"

"Because-"

"Because you chose one of the options we have, and decide it's the right one. And whether it is or not, you actually don't care. What you do care about is that this is what you chose, and you won't change your mind. Every time, you've been wrong. And every time I've been dragged along, not doing anything except listen to your theories that don't even fit with the person we're looking for. So now I'm going to request another partner, and you're going to do the same. We just don't work together and I'm done losing time following you around while you babble about whatever you decided was today's theory."

She didn't wait for an answer. She probably didn't want one anyway. So she just shot him another mean look, and left the room.

Well, this had gone about as well as expected.

He ran his hands through his hair, trying to decide what he would do.

He didn't want another partner. She was amazing, smart, and fun to be around. They had to find a way to work together. Because if not, he'd just get kicked out. But it didn’t seem likely to happen any time soon. They just clashed so badly every time something was at stakes.

"Guess it's meant to be."

Slowly, he made his way towards the administration building, ignoring people he passed on the way even when they greeted him. What good was it anyway, he'd be fired before the end of the day.

When he reached the front desk, Leena was already there, angrily complaining at Johan, the receptionist.

"Look, I've made many complaints already and they always get lost or something, so I want to actually talk to someone, not just write a paper."

"I’m sorry I can’t -“

“Hi Johan, can’t believe my partners' complaints have been disappearing like that.”

Johan gave him a bright smile. They’d been friends for years, getting along easily and understanding the other without words. She always made sure that his requests were processed quickly and that any interaction with bosses was nice. She couldn’t protect him from everything though.

“Jay! How are you? It’s been a while since I saw you around.”

Next to him, Lena was fuming, unhappy that she was being ignored. She had a tendency to do that.

“I know, been really busy. Can you push her message to Tim along with mine?”

They both looked at him in surprise.

“Jay… You know it’s your last chance. They… hanged their minds.”

“What do you mean?”

Leena probably felt the seriousness of the situation, because she didn’t interrupt again.

“They want to transfer you. To the same department as Den.”

“No.”

“I know, I told them that it was-”

“I won’t go, and they can do fuck all about it. I changed my mind, actually I’m going to resign. Effective right now, can you draft the paper and send it to my number? I’ll send it back tonight.”

He turned on his heels sharply and left the room, Johan’s calls being ignored.

“Uh, what just happened?”

“He resigned. I guess. Anyway, guess you don’t need to put in a request anymore. You’ll be assigned a new partner in the next three days. Anything else?”

Johan’s demeanor had become cold, almost angry, and Leena suddenly realized that she’d been the one causing all of this.

Maybe she should have tried harder to get along with him after all.

She didn’t expect to see him again, especially not the next day.

Johan had requested that she come and give her a paper, something for insurances purposes, since she did get stabbed.

When she reached the administration building, she could hear the screaming from outside.

It was Jay’s voice, and he seemed furious.

She quickly made her way to the front desk, handing the paper to Johan.

“Hi. I hope this is the right thing. The lady was confused when I asked for that form.”

Johan didn’t even try to answer, taking a look at the paper and nodding.

“This has been going for long? It must be hell.”

“I’m used to it. It’s always the same with those two.”

“Uh…”

Finally the other girl looked up from the papers on her desk.

“Anything else?”

“No I just… It’s stupid but I feel like it’s my fault. I just… We really don’t work together but I still feel bad.”

“Well. Not going to say you should, but he’s going to get send to the 41st division so, you probably should.”

“What?”

The 41st always had the reputation of being the worst division. The one created last, and where most of the dirty work got done.

“Yeah. They’ve been trying to get him to go for a while now. I’m glad it only took you being stabbed and not brutally killed but I wish he didn’t have to go. It’s not good for him, it left him as an empty shell last time. Then he transferred and it got better.”

Only took me being stabbed?

“Wait. Wait wait wait. You’re not saying what I think you’re saying, right?”

“What? You didn’t know?”

The door opened suddenly, banging against the wall, and Jay walked out, almost literally fuming.

The man behind him, one of the bosses that she’d only seen a couple times at conferences and events, stood with a satisfied smile on his face. And also the one who was supposed to supervise her file and know everything about her.

Oh hell no.

She might not like JAy, but he had the personality of a puppy, a literal sunshine. Going to the 41st would kill him. And she still felt bad.

Time to do something.

Plastering on her most customer-service smile, she walked to the man, giving a little wave to Jay.

“Hi, director Morris? It’s a pleasure to see you. I’m glad to see you’ve been taking good care of my partner! I was just looking for him, we have a lot to discuss. Jay, did you get the note I sent you about new strategies? It was a little late. I don’t know if I entered your number correctly.”

She winked at him discreetly, making sure the other man didn’t see it. Hopefully Johan would help cover for her, since she seemed to be a friend of Jay.

“Huh, I’ll check.”

Good, play along.

“Miss Hark. It’s a surprise to see you here, I thought you put in a request to switch partners?”

“Really? It must be a mistake, the last time I did that was when you paired me with Olivia. How’s she doing by the way?”

“She’s great, she’s doing great. Got transferred again, to Egypt this time. She enjoys it a lot, and still thanks you for your help.”

“I’m glad, could I talk to you in private for a couple minutes? If your schedule allows it of course.”

“It’s no problem for you Miss Hark. Come in.”

He let her walk into his office, which she did proudly, holding her head high and thinking of the next few steps.

Her mom wasn’t going to like this. Jay better buy her one of those good ass cupcakes he brought once.

“Have a sit. What can I do for you today?”

“Thank you. Well. As you know, I’ve been training with Jay for a couple weeks now. It’s been going exceptionally bad, and we failed every trial except for the one yesterday. I tried everything, and he always stood his ground. So I want to request making him my permanent partner, as well as moving to type two missions.”

“With a single success?”

He looked at her like she’d grown a second head.

“Well, I don’t need to remind you of my stats, do I? He’s proven that he can stand me, and I’m sure that today’s session will prove just how great of a team we can make.”

We better pull this off or we’re so fired.

“I’m intrigued. See, the council has plans for Jay, different from what you’re offering. But I do miss one of my top agents being off duty for so long. If you think he can do it, I’m willing to give you the chance, and talk to the council about this.”

“Wonderful. Well, training is starting in only forty minutes, so I’ll leave now. I hope I won’t have to take another trainee again, it would really be a waste of time.”

They exchanged polite goodbyes, and she left, closing the door after her.

Jay was leaning against Johan’s desk, both of them talking quietly.

“Hey, what did you tell him? Is he still mad?”

“He’s not, training in forty, we better rock this or he’ll crush us both to ashes.”

Jay wiggled his eyebrows at Johan, who smiled, and followed Leena, who was already walking towards the exit.

“Soooo wanna tell me what happened? I resigned so I’m not supposed to train with you.”

“From what I understand, he didn’t let you. What’s your power?”

“Pff, as if I was gonna tell you.”

She stopped abruptly, and he took a couple more steps before turning around.

When he turned, he realized how mean the look on her face was.

“Look, either we work together and actually succeed today, we both don’t get fired and actually move to actual missions, or we keep doing what we’ve been doing for three weeks and fail. Also, I would have loved to know that the council was trying to get you into the 41st. I don’t care, but if they’re willing to sacrifice me for it then yeah, I do care.”

He had the decency to look away.

“I didn’t think they’d go this far. I thought they would give up if I just did nothing and kept failing. I didn’t want to drag you into it, but it wasn’t like I could do much. I didn’t know Johan lost your request for another partner.”

“My power is that whatever injury is on me I can transfer it to other people. So I got stabbed and then so did he. If you’ve been pretending to be dumb this whole time, I hope you’re actually competent, because I am and I’m also super bored.”

Telling someone what your power was tended to be pretty personal, but she never cared. At least people didn’t try to hurt her knowing she could send it right back to them. It was a very useful power when working such a job.

“You’re… Wait really? Why were you so mad yesterday then?”

“Because it was so obvious! We could have solved this in five minutes and moved on to something more useful. But you kept watching the ships as if one of them held the answer to all your questions and I was so annoyed. Anyway. You better do good today, because I’m tired of waiting around.”

They started walking again, the atmosphere a little more relaxed.

She made him promise to buy her an entire box of delicious cupcakes with the salary she had just won him, and they changed into the suits the costum person had left for them in the room.

As the door opened, the hologram taking shape in front of them, she remembered her earlier question.

“Still don’t wanna tell me your power?” she asked quietly.

He tilted his head so that his hat hid his eyes in the shade, and smiled.

“Precognition.”

#writing #my writing #writing practice #fantasy #powers #superpowers

0 notes

brbjustdying · 4 years

Text

Andy - 08/03/2021

This wasn't the brightest idea they'd ever had. Sure, the result looked great, but the consequences were a little over what they could deal with.

For seven years now Andy had been focusing on making the biggest, most awesome explosion they could to attract attention. Of course this had qualified them as a vilain early on, people complaining about the noise, the light, the colors, just the whole thing.

After two years, they had been recruited by Enders, a villain with an impressive record, who offered protection against distraction.

Andy would cause a scene far away from where Enders was acting, allowing the other time to escape before authorities got here.

Things didn't always go to plan, but considering Andy was a lot more active than Enders, nobody had realized what they were doing yet. At least they thought so.

Heroes kept showing up, repeating empty sentences just like all the other heroes before them had, trying to get them to stop, or at least get a permit.

Yeah, like the city would give them a permit and not just shoot them on sight and pretend it was an accident.

But yesterday, Andy had worked differently than usual.

Everything was prepped and ready, the explosion would release some degradable glitter that would cover the city hall for the next three months before it was completely degraded naturally, and annoy the officials in the process.

Surprisingly, no one had noticed them at first when they came around pretending to be maintenance and needing to check the roofing. Then again, when they set up the cables, pretending to be someone working for the third biggest electricity provider. And then again when they came to watch the show.

Not that many people had been there at first, but it was a good show, and people loved a good show. So they gathered around, quicker than expected. A lot of them cheered when they saw officials come outside the building in a panic, before realizing it was only glitter.

But things couldn't go well the whole time, and the wind turned suddenly, blowing glitter on the spectators, a lot of whom helped in surprise.

Then from behind the building a hero appeared. Named Angel by the press. His real name was something along Thomas. Tom? Or maybe Timothy?

He was the one who'd turned the wind, using his strong wings to throw the glitter away from the building. It didn't avoid him, and he looked like a messed up pride flag, colors all out of order.

When he scanned the crowd, realization had hit Andy like a truck.

No one had stopped them because it was a ruse to catch them.

Fuck.

That had been yesterday, around noon. And now, the evening of the next day, Andy was really wondering just how much longer they had to live.

Covered in glitter that was so hard to remove it would be a waste of time, with no help coming from anywhere and no safe place to hide, it was just a matter of time.

Hearing the cops nearing, they started running again, taking a random alleyway, praying it would be a dead end.

When someone grabbed them out of an open door and yanked them inside, they didn't even get the time to scream.

The person held them, one hand on their mouth and one arm around their waist, waiting for the three police officers to run past the door and into the next street.

"Don't make me regret helping you, stay quiet."

It was a woman's voice, soft but strict.

Andy nodded, not wanting to get arrested, but also not wanting to get murdered. Hopefully this would be an ally.

It certainly wasn't anyone associated with Enders, who's just said that since it wasn't an accident that happened while they were covering for him, he didn't give a single flying fuck about it.

That had been lovely.

The hand left their mouth, the arm their waist.

"My name is Candy. Come on let's go upstairs."

Candy, a name weirdly familiar, grabbed their hand and pulled them upstairs, not waiting for an answer.

Was Candy a hero? A villain? Someone on the rise? God this city just had too many people whose names you were supposed to remember…

When they reached the top of the stairs, Candy switched the light on, revealing a room that had to be the messiest thing Andy had ever seen in their life. Not even a kids bedroom full to the brim would compete.

This person was probably a hoarder

"Sorry for the mess, Tan's power got out of control again. Do you want a drink?"

They only nodded, not sure how to react. It was all a bit much.

"You can push some stuff and sit where you like. Tea or coffee? We also have lemonade."

"Tea please. One sugar."

Candy left the room through a door they hadn't even noticed yet, probably leading to a kitchen.

This was bad. If someone big and dangerous was lurking, they had successfully been led into an unknown place by an unknown person, with no one aware of where they were or with who.

If someone murdered them, no one would know for a very long time.

People would probably be relieved too, the amount of hate they’d been getting on social media was getting a bit overwhelming. Apparently, once the show was over and regular people had to deal with the glitter, not only officials, people got mad.

“I got only black tea, is that okay?” they heard Candy call from the kitchen, noise of cups being moved around, the click of a kettle being turned on and a cabinet closing reaching their ears.

While drowning in their worries, they hadn’t realized Candy might actually be a nice person, an ally. It almost never happened, so one couldn’t be too careful. When the only thing you do is blow up smoke, glitter, various random objects and other annoying things everywhere in the city, people tend not to like you very much.

“Yeah, black tea is fine.”

Maybe this would go well after all.

They cleaned a little corner of a chair and a table, stacking papers together, trying not to look at them. they almost looked like college notes.

“So!”

Candy put a cup in front of them, the air slowly filling with the sweet scent of tea and chocolate.

“We have many things to discuss, and I have an offer to make, ready to listen?”

“I’m listening.”

#writing #my writing #writing practice

1 note · View note