#97
“[Villain].” The supervillain beckons them closer from around the door. “I think you might like this one.”
He’s in their little captive room; being a criminal organisation has made them improvise their spaces. A hero is tied to the rickety chair in the middle of the room, ignoring them both with their head bent. A rare sight, and a nice one at that. A sight that suggests a hint of winning.
“Wait,” the supervillain says softly.
They wait. Nothing happens. “[Supervillain], what—”
A sound breaks through their question. A sniffle. The villain ducks slightly to look at the hero’s face, catching the glistening trail of long-since shed tears on their cheeks. Catching heroes is rare enough, but having them cry about it? Gold.
The supervillain flashes them a quick grin. “Wait ‘til you hear their cover story.”
The villain steps forward and flops down in the seat in front of the hero. The hero keeps their head ducked, holding back shuddering breaths, and the villain simply waits for acknowledgement.
Waiting is in vain, it seems. The hero refuses to look up, even when they clear their throat expectantly.
“I thought heroes were meant to be made of steel,” they comment eventually.
The hero finally looks at them, and the villain only feels slightly bad about the miserable quiver of their mouth and the leaking of their eyes. “I’m not a hero,” they say shakily.
The villain raises their eyebrows. Denial’s a new one. “He must have told you that!” the hero continues, their gaze set on the supervillain at the door, and on the last word they break down into tears.
The villain glances back at the supervillain and he throws them another elated smirk. The slightly bad feeling they felt suddenly splits into painful worry.
They turn back to the hero and open their mouth to say something, but it occurs to them they don’t know who the hero is. They’ve never seen them before.
The worry becomes gnawing.
“You’re not a hero,” the villain reiterates slowly, and the hero’s head snaps up faster than the villain thought they could move.
“Yes!” they cry. Hours of tears scratch at their throat. “Thank god, yes. I’m– I’m not a hero. The agency they– they took me off the street, I’m not a hero or anything or– I’m not anything to do with them I swear please the agency is just–”
“Stop,” the villain snaps, and the hero's words cut off abruptly. “The agency took you off the street?”
The hero nods as they gulp down another sob. “I don’t know why. They threw me out in a hero costume and told me to distract the villains, I don’t– I don’t know anything—”
“Hey,” the villain says smoothly. They scoot their chair closer to the hero’s. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re all here because we hate the agency, right?” They glance back to the supervillain, who’s looking rather unimpressed by this turn of events. “You’re on our side now.”
The sob escapes the hero’s throat this time. Or whoever they are. “I just want to go home,” they manage through the tears.
The villain fishes a tissue from their pocket, tipping the hero’s head back to carefully wipe some of the tears from their face. “I know,” they say softly, “but the agency might be out searching for you right now. We’ll look after you until you can go home, okay?”
The hero hiccups their next breath. “T–Thank you.”
“I’ll get you back on your feet,” the villain says with a sigh. They glance back at the supervillain scowling from the door. “And [Supervillain] will go find whatever the hell the agency’s trying to distract us from.”
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patch . help my muse patch up a wound . - Shinji or Ken!
Shinjiro had always been able to handle pain.
To him, it was second nature. Growing up with Akihiko being the rough-and-tumble type he is even before learning how to box, in the Orphanage they both were raised in, meant there was a level of necessity to be able to roll with the punches, rewarded when you could, punished when you couldn't. a skill he'd learn repeatedly, endlessly, the necessity of during his time away from SEES. ━ the second you were on your ass, or you froze up, or your arms were tied, it made you easy. easy to hurt. easy to kill. ━━ Shinjiro never liked making things easy for anyone.
SEES had always been an exception, though : or rather he should say it'd always been to those he considers friends, which might be why for all the way he twitches; arm in Takeba's grasp as the muscles seize & he can't help the way the overzealous pang of nerves make him want to rip it away outright; he does not pull away even as he draws a sharp breath through his teeth, ignores the way the smell of antiseptic makes him feel more than slightly lightheaded, clenches his hands into fists before; in a moment of surprisingly animalistic single-minded worry; thinks that shit, he'd rather not look like he's about to hit her when she's helping him out, and lets his rough hands go limp again.
Still, his fingers twitch as the burns are cleaned, nerves overworked and bitterly loud in this fact. He'll have to jab at Akihiko later to aim his Zionga's better next time they're in Tartarus together, just for the fun of starting a fight, even if he knew damn well it wasn't Aki that kept lighting him up like a Christmas tree this time...
" Damnit... " the curse writhes between his teeth, bruised jaw grinding. his eyes linger, intense, at Yukari's hands as they work & he sits on the first floor of Tartarus; bones aching; staring as though in judgement ( even as he attempts to make himself as pliable to work with as possible. ) " Those annoying Maya did nothing but cast Zionga the whole damn time... "
a piece of Shinjiro recognizes that Yukari might be helping him in the first place because of this fact, but as it is not the one cussing wildly ( and he can't pretend he knows her all that well to begin with ), he elects to ignore it.
a well-worn sigh escapes him, gazing at the burns littering his hands & arms as the roughest parts that had to sustain the damage; melee be scorned, his axe like a lightning rod. it deepens into a light scowl, stare flicking to Yukari's face. it stays there a long few moments, before he speaks again.
" ... I'm lucky it's not bad enough to get Mitsuru in a twist about it, but you don't gotta do this, you know. " Shinjiro studies her, meticulous, which always ends up feeling like he's trying to scare you out of something when it was him doing it. maybe he was. " It's some burns. It'll heal fast. Besides, you were carrying my ass most of the way anyways. "
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