#may write something eventually from dawnstar's pov

[apersonshapedcomputer]

part 2 of my villain x hero enemies(?) to lovers fake(?) dating mess

(part 1 here)

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Phase 1: Scheming

"Now we can't just jump into this whole thing right away, we need to make it believable by dropping hints that this has been going on for at least three months now." I fall into the familiar rhythm explaining a plan, not bothering to look at Dawnstar who follows behind me. "We'll start with a fake digital trail, planting forum threads speculating about unusual behavior from each of us."

I stop in front of an innocuous dark wooden door. It's set into the wall in such a way that it's almost always covered by a shadow, making it blend into the background and not even register in most people's minds as they walk past.

"We'll also need to stage a few photos, taken with a low quality phone camera from a distance of course. Maybe one or two better quality ones mimicking interactions we've had in the past, but from a new angle to create a more… suggestive air to the situation." As I speak I place my hand on the door, allowing the hidden biometric scanners to verify my identity.

"Ok, cool, so like a reverse of that time you basically did an online carpet bombing of a guy's reputation to ruin his company. Why are you feeling up that door- oh." I looked back to get a view of his flabbergasted expression when the door slid open to reveal a long slanted hallway, lit only from a dim path of circular lights set into the titanium alloy flooring. I grabbed his hand as I stepped inside and placed it next to mine on another invisible scanner, this one set into the wall painted with black 3.0.

"Don't mind the pinch, it needs a blood sample to register you so the security measures don't activate when you try to walk through. And yes, I will be using many of the same techniques as when I dragged the bald nitwit's public image through the mud and fed its carcase to the internet trolls."

Releasing his hand once the lights flashed blue in confirmation I made my way down the hall, undaunted by the dozens of lethal security measures built into the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"The big difference here is that I actually had something real to work with then - he really did cheat on his wife, and it was disgustingly easy to get video evidence of him with those very expensive sex workers. Those testimonies they gave were real too, but the leaked emails were all me."

As I reached the end of the hallway and opened the final door, the lights in my subterranean sanctuary slowly faded on. Dawnstar seemed puzzled as he looked around the room. "This is… weirdly cozy for a villainous lair? Like, it feels like you pulled this place out of a dark academia/cottage-core tumblr blog run by a fifteen year old who wishes they lived in a ghibli movie." Even as he tried to reconcile the space with the aggressively professional and lavish presentation of my public office, he wandered towards one of the overstuffed chairs next to the fireplace.

I made my way to the small coatroom by the entrance, keeping the door open as I talked. "I like to be comfortable when I'm scheming. My professional style is intimidating classy, but classy isn't always comfortable or conducive to brainstorming." I made quick work of changing my outfit to a dressing gown as he busied himself with the wall to wall bookshelves.

I relished the look on his face when he turned around and saw me, the eggshell while of the gown contrasting nicely with my dark skin. His reactions are always so amusing. "Here, I feel chafed just looking at you in that outfit." I shove a soft cotton poet shirt and set of lounge pants into his arms before passing through an archway between the books into my kitchen. "Go change into that while I make some tea. I hope you didn't have any plans for the next day or so, we're going to be here a while."

As he finally tore his flustered gaze away from me and went into the coatroom I head him muttering viscously under his breath in Tagalog. The game had barely begun and I was already having so much fun.

By the time he had changed the tea was steeped, and I was laid out on a plush fainting couch in front of a large mirror in a rococo gilt frame. I gestured towards the coffee table and padded rocking chair I'd brought over from another corner of the room. "Take a seat, let's talk timelines." He settled into the chair and started on demolishing the plate of cookies I served with the tea, clearly still off balance and needing the familiar comfort of sweets.

I took out an electronic-ink tablet and with a few taps the mirror flickered to life, presenting us with a view of my grand planning dashboard. "Hmph," Dawnstar grunted and swallowed a mouth full of cranberry-oatmeal cookie, "A magic mirror. Very evil queen of you. Do you have like, a potion lab down here?"

"I keep toxins in the labs up in the R&D wing. The mirror was inspired by the one in snow white actually, I always thought the queen was stupid to use it for finding threats to her position of Most Beutiful and wanted to do it better." I pushed a large ceramic mug of tea towards him. "Here, it's oolong."

"We have two months until Dazzeler and The Crystal Dragonfly have their public reception." An image of the two's save the date card went up on the screen. It's incredible that they managed to tastefully combine the aesthetics of glam rock and wuxia, I need to look into who their event planner is.

"Your Ex has a press pass to the event since he works for Aurora Chronicle, which means that Morning Lodestar, Paragon Herald, Epoch Chronicles, and Society Gazette will be there too." The logos of each newspaper and head-shots of their respective crews for the event went up on the screen.

"Our goal is maximum impact. We don't want to just drop the bomb out of nowhere, we need to build the tension first." My expression at this point may have been slightly manic, judging from the concerned eyebrow raise from over the rim of his mug. Some people never took part in theater when they were children, and it shows.

"You want to break the internet don't you?" I sent him an indulgent smile. "Oh Lovely," he choked on his tea at the endearment, "you're thinking too small. Of course we're going to break the internet, if twitter doesn't crash I'm losing my touch. I'm aiming for the history books here."

"Hurk- Ok. Ok ok, cool cool cool we're doing pet names now." He shimmied in place a little as he took a series of deep breaths. Interesting reaction, I would be using that one again.

He stared at me in thought for a moment, looking for all the world like a disgruntled chipmunk before smiling and nodding his head. "Ok then Dearheart, so we stage a months long secret love affair using your super scary tech and blow the minds of everyone who's ever heard of us. I'm guessing we need to do some acting between now and the wedding?"

Scatterbrain he may sometimes be, but the man can catch on quick. My face broke out into a gleeful grin that I had been told made me look like a slasher movie villain. "We're going to have a very loud, very public fight. Clear your schedule, I'm going to put you through an acting bootcamp. We're going to run lines and blocking for this until you can do it in your sleep."

All the world's a stage, and I am a meticulous director.

To be continued…

(part 3 here)