Inspired by this prompt post from @screnwriter
The hero had come to the balcony to be alone, to take a deep breath away from the prying eyes of... well everyone. It had been a month since they revealed their identity to the world and every day since then they wished they could go back in time, or erase everyone's memories or do something to just make the people forget.
The sound of laughter broke the hero from their thoughts. They looked down to see their friends leaving the main ballroom, seemingly to get fresh air as they themself were. They hadn’t told their friends about how they were feeling. Their friends had never understood why they had kept it a secret at all.
‘All the adoring fans.’ ‘People would line the streets to see you.’ ‘You could get anyone in the entire city, hell probably the world.’
They wouldn’t, couldn’t understand. The hero didn’t want just anybody in the world.
They let out a sigh, watching their friends laughing below, wondering how they felt more comfortable up here alone then they ever did when they were in the group.
‘Looking for some company?’
The hero whirled around at the voice. So much for being a hero if they couldn’t even hear someone approaching them from behind. The hero’s eyes landed on the owner of the voice and – they laughed.
‘Of course you’d be here. Not like you to miss out on an elegant event is it.’
The villain smiled. ‘Not when we’re celebrating our favourite hero. Having fun, I see.’ They gestured to the empty balcony, far away from all the guests.
‘I’ve had more fun, I’ll be honest.’ The hero had long ago allowed themselves to ignore how easy it was to tell the villain the truth.
‘You regret telling the world who you are. It's interesting, most people would revel in that glory.’
‘Yeah well, I’m not everyone am I.’ The hero turned to face back out to the grounds below them.
Soft footsteps sounded behind them.
‘If you’re not having fun, dear, why not just leave?’ The villain's voice was a whisper, sounded right next to the hero’s ear. A shiver ran the length of their body, their heart quickening. They willed for their heartbeat to not be too loud.
The villain brushed their hand along the side of the hero’s face, barely touching yet leaving a hot, tingling trail behind. ‘Come on, we can leave together. I won’t tell anyone, promise.’
As the villain said it, they pressed a soft kiss to the hero’s neck. The hero grabbed onto the railing, sure that their legs would give out on them.
‘What dangerous plan are you hatching, hmm. Trying to kidnap me at my own event.’ Their voice was not as steady as they would have liked.
‘It’s not kidnap if you leave by your own free will. Besides, we both know you’re too obsessed with me for me to actually have to kidnap you. You’d come just for the curiosity of it.’
‘I’m not obsessed with you.’ They weren’t, not really, well... dammit, obsessed was the wrong word.
‘Is that so.’ The villain had begun to kiss up the hero’s neck to their jaw. ‘Then why is your heart beating a hundred miles an hour.’
The hero felt the villain’s smirk against their skin as they said it. They scowled, glancing up at the sky to try compose themself.
The hero turned – to push the villain away, to save themself from their treacherous heart – but they hadn’t expected the villain to be so close. Barely an inch from their lips, the lips that had left the hero’s neck prickling, the lips that the hero had dreamed about so often, too often. The hero swallowed, and the villain, picking up on the hero’s sudden nervousness, grinned.
‘Do I make you nervous, dear?’
The hero watched the villain’s mouth as it formed the words. They barely heard the question over their rising pulse. They forced their eyes up.
The villain leaned in then, to whisper in their ear. ‘You should learn how to hide your emotions better.’
The villain pulled away, stepping past the hero to lean on the balcony rails. ‘You never answered my question. Why not leave?’
The hero gave a low laugh. ‘It’d be so easy for you wouldn’t it.’ They moved to stand next to them. ‘Believe it or not being a hero is a lot bigger than what I want. The people need me.’ But even as they said it the words didn’t feel true.
‘If the people are so important,’ the villain said as they turned their body to face to hero, ‘then why aren’t you down there with them? Why aren’t you celebrating with your friends? No, you're up here, talking to the enemy.’
The villains voice had gone soft, quiet, almost caring. They were trying to trick the hero, lure them into a false sense of security. The hero knew this. But the damned words were working. The hero didn’t enjoy their life. They had lost their anonymity, their freedom. The hero felt like a pawn, to be called upon at will. It’s not that the hero didn’t want to save people anymore. Of course they did. They weren’t about to run off and become a villain. Though by the look at the villain standing across from them, it was exactly what they wanted.
‘It’s not the same,’ the hero began, ‘being a hero when you’re known to the world. Everyone expects you to be there all the time, ready to go, when they’re able to reach you, able to find you. I just,’ the hero looked up to meet the villain’s eyes, ‘My motives for doing it... they’re not the motives that a hero should have, not anymore.’
A flutter of laughter rose to the balcony, bringing attention back to the hero’s friends below.
‘Do your friends know how you feel?’
‘God no. They never understood my desire to be unknown. They never understood me. There isn’t really reason for us to be friends.’ The hero went quiet, looking down at the people they should have been having this conversation with. When they looked back to the villain, they had a dangerous smile on their face.
‘Well,’ the villain said, ‘let’s show them that you don’t need them.’
The villain stepped forward, grabbing the hero’s waist and pulled them in, crashing their lips together. The hero froze for a moment, but when the villain moved their lips – impossibly soft, yet impossibly rough – against their own, the hero unfroze, hands raising to the villain's neck, their hair. The hero kissed back forcefully, the desire they felt overwhelming their body and they held onto the villain tighter, pressed closer to their body. The villain’s lips felt so much better than they had in their dreams, and the hero marveled in the way the hands on their body burned with each tight grab. The hero’s grip in the villain’s hair tightened, causing a moan from their lips. The villain bit the hero’s lip in response.
The hero pulled back slightly, licking the blood from their lip. The villain looked disheveled and the thought that it was the hero who had caused it sent a wave of pleasure through them. The villain leaned in to close the gap once more but, for just a split second, the hero glanced down to the grounds below them. To where their friends had been standing. The hero’s eyes met six. They pulled away from the villain and stared down at the shocked expressions on their friend’s faces. Except it wasn’t just shock, but anger, betrayal. Because all they saw was the city’s hero making out with the villain. The hero quickly shut down the part of their brain that tried to question what else it was than that.
The hero turned to the villain, grabbed their hand, ‘We need to leave. Now.’