Could I request a snippet about a hero who keeps getting possessed by the villain, and asks their sidekick to handcuff them to the bedposts. But then, the villain arrives.
The possessions were getting more frequent and, according to the hero, more difficult to shake.
"I'm not agreeing to this because I'm worried," the sidekick said, twisting the handcuffs between their fingers. "I think you're fine. And it's all going to be fine."
"Duly noted." The hero tried for a smile, but it was a wan thing. Between that and the dark circles beneath their eyes, all of the cracks of the hero's usually untouchable were showing.
Nobody could beat them in a fight - the sidekick had seen that - but a threat already under their skin might be the one thing the hero was vulnerable to.
The sidekick swallowed, and they both hesitated, floundered, beneath the new territory they found themselves in.
"This is just," the sidekick added, "to put your mind at ease."
"Yeah." The hero's gaze slid away. "So long as it is my mind, right?"
The sidekick didn't know what to say to that.
"Sorry," the hero said. They shifted back, sitting down on the edge of the mattress, exhaling a breath. "Thank you, for doing this."
"Eh, you know. Perks of the job." The sidekick tried for a smile, and they were pretty sure theirs had strained around the edges too. "Tying my incredibly hot boss to a bed. It's the worst thing ever."
The hero did laugh at that, which the sidekick felt an inordinate rush of pride at. At least, it seemed to diffuse some of the tension.
The sidekick inhaled a steadying gulp of air, because they weren't entirely lying about the incredibly hot part, and moved forwards.
The hero shuffled obligingly back to the headboard and spread their arms.
Mirrors surrounded the bed on every side, propped up against the walls, angled to catch the hero's deep brown eyes in their reflection.
"You need to make sure I can't escape." The hero's tone had turned more serious. "You won't win a fight against them in this - in my -" the hero stopped, and didn't finish.
"Yeah." That would be bad. The sidekick was ashamed to feel their fingers tremble a little, and they knew the hero felt it.
Worried! Who was worried? There was nothing remotely worrying about a villain taking residence in someone virtually indestructible. This was all peachy. So what if the times the hero spent possessed were getting both longer and closer together.
The sidekick cinched the hero's left and most dominant wrist first, securing it as tight as they could without risking nerve damage. Then they moved to the other side of the bed.
The hero seized hold of their arm.
The sidekick's breath stuttered. Their eyes met.
"Hurry." The hero's voice had gone hoarse. "I'm not going to be able to hold on much longer."
"You need to let go of me."
The hero looked down at their hand, as if surprised. Their fingers recoiled.
Okay, maybe the sidekick was worried. Just a little bit.
The sidekick continued as fast as they could, leaning over the hero to reach, willing their fingers not to fumble over the key. They should have practiced this more. How likely was it that the hero could break down a steel bed frame on pure strength? Their heart hammered.
"Whatever I say," the hero began - and stopped.
The sidekick pulled back, handcuffs locked, key tucked in their fist.
"I know," they said. "Whatever you say, don't untie you. Not even if-"
The hero's legs swung, locking around the sidekick's waist and yanking them onto the bed as if they weighed no more than a ragdoll. The sidekick yelped, only just managing to keep hold of the two keys, colliding hard into the hero's chest.
The sidekick's gaze snapped up to the hero's face - exactly the same as ever - before darting to the reflection of the mirror. In the mirror, their face was nearly the same, but not quite. The hero's brown eyes had turned a ghostly blue.
But the sidekick had already known that.
"I could crush you," the villain said, almost conversationally. Their legs tightened where they curled around the sidekick. "Snap your ribs, right here, right now. So I suggest-"
The sidekick hurled the keys across the room, as far away as possible, where the villain couldn't possibly get them so easily. One hit and splintered a mirror with a loud crack, the other hit the ground with a clatter.
The villain's expression darkened, just for a moment.
The sidekick struggled to push themselves up, to twist free, but only succeeded in somewhat straddling the hero's body. They'd seen the hero lift cars with their bare hands - of course escaping their form would no be so easy. The sidekick clenched their jaw and glared down at the villain.
"That's not going to happen."
"Ah, I see. You enjoy being top of them, don't you? Your admirable hero, who seems so above you in every way, always so in control. Don't you just imagine making all those walls crumble?-"
"Shut up." The sidekick's cheeks flushed.
"Or maybe you always pictured it the other way around." The villain's head tilted, their fingers flexing in the cuffs with barely leashed danger. "Maybe you imagined they would use all that power of theirs to simply take what they want from you, hm?"
"This is desperate." The sidekick tried to jerk free again, uselessly. "And pathetic. So-"
"They don't feel the same way about you, alas."
The sidekick stopped, even when they didn't want to, even whey they shouldn't. Nothing the villain spoke of could be reliably claimed as the truth.
"They didn't even want to ask you for help today - they hated it," the villain said. "You're their little ward, their sidekick. You need to be protected, don't you? But I'm meeting you now, aren't I? Despite their very best useless efforts to keep me out. I can feel them fighting, you know, begging me not to hurt you. But they can't do anything about it."
The sidekick said nothing.
"How does it feel to know that they will never take you seriously? Never view you as an equal? Never even consider you as a contender for their heart?"
"It feels like you're talking," the sidekick bared their teeth, "because you know there's nothing else you can do. They've beaten you. Even in their body, you will always be a parasite, powerless except for what other people can give you."
The villain went silent again.
"I'd want you," the villain said. "You're as vicious as I am, when you want to be."
The sidekick wanted to cry at that comparison, hating the thought they were more like their enemy than their mentor, especially because some small part of them had always feared that it was true. Kindness seemed to come effortlessly to the hero, just like bravery, like all those virtues that the sidekick had to work so hard to emulate.
Of course, the hero would never return their feelings. The villain was blind if they ever thought the sidekick had expected that, however much the longing ached.
"Let. Go," the sidekick said, hating that their voice shook. "You're not going to get what you want from me. You can see their thoughts? Then you know that. I have my orders."
The villain's head tilted, considering them again.
"It's nice," the villain said. "To finally meet you."
And then they used the hero's strength to wrench the bed frame in two.
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