Oooo I beg if you continue the story with the hero villain kid!!
Original by @random-writing-thoughts
Hero wanted to collapse on the asphalt, on the curb, on the grass, on everything that caught their eye and had a horizontal surface. During the night, they had to stop a whole truck with just their body, and the sensations from this were not the most pleasant.
The power of the blow was mostly reduced with their hands; the speed was low, but that didn’t prevent them from feeling every bone in their body smashed. Fortunately, the durability of their bone tissue was higher compared to any regular human being.
As for the tension in their muscles, it has never been compensated with their super ability. And if after the accident they felt slightly sore, now, walking down the street to Villain's house, they felt their body fill with lead with every step. They were too tired to walk.
The whole move to a new place, the emotional swing with the villain and working as a hero – it was all too much. And like that truck, it's all going to come crashing down on Hero with all its weight at any second, pulverizing them without a trace.
They wearily entered the house, heading straight to the first nearest bathroom, whose location easily surfaced in their memory. They pulled off their mask with a trembling hand, squeezing it with weak fingers. They didn't want to look at themselves in the mirror, but they had to. They need to see Kid, check whether they’re okay, and how they slept. No matter how hard it was for the hero, they couldn't let their child see their parent like this.
Dragging their weight to the mirror, the hero looked at their own reflection. There were no bruises or abrasions on their face, and nothing else was important. A little extra clothing, and their injuries, which were probably hidden under their suit now, won’t be visible under regular clothes. Right now, their entire body felt like one huge bruise.
Turning on the faucet, they splashed cold water into their face, which created a slight tingling in the nerve endings. Hero tried to smile at themselves, as if all the pain would go away. As if they would look normal again, and continue pretending to be an ordinary person for their kid.
They tried to take a deep breath, hoping oxygen could displace exhaustion. Nothing but a dull pain echoed in their lungs, turning their usual breath into a cough. Pressing their forearm to their chest to drown out the traces of pain, they bit their lower lip.
After looking at themselves in the mirror once more, the hero clenched their fingers into a fist, persuading their mind to pull themselves together, right when their civilian clothes caught their attention. Seeing it in the reflection, they turned around and found their clothing where they had left it.
Changing clothes turned out to be even more painful than walking, but Hero didn't have time to drag it out and feel sorry for themselves. Leaving their suit right there, near the sink, they left the bathroom, mentally preparing themselves to go up the stairs.
When holding their breath, it didn't hurt them so much. Holding their breath every two steps, they could've possibly mountain enough strength to go up. And then, at the top, it will be easier to walk on the flat surface.
With these thoughts, Hero was ready to go, however deep inside they were still struggling. Reasoning the pain was temporary didn’t help at all, and even worse, distracted them from what was happening within the house.
Among the empty high walls, the voices were especially clearly audible. At first the hero thought it might be Villain’s household workers, but when they listened more closely, they could distinguish the muffled laughter of their own kid. Good sign.
It was this sound Hero decided to follow, trying to move their legs as if the bones weren’t going to crack under their weight any second. Kid's voice sounded on the first floor, and the hero was grateful to all the thing in the world their agony of going upstairs was postponed.
As they got closer to the source of the sound, they realized they were approaching the living room. Although they could hardly call it such way, considering almost every room in the house had sofas and armchairs. However not every one of them had a TV, the sound of which Hero could also hear now. Hobbling to the living room, they stopped at the entrance at the same moment as Villain's voice was appeared.
“I can't believe Sergeant Panda is using a marshmallow blaster instead of a moon amulet. It doesn't make any sense.” The villain reasoned aloud, indignation and a slight tinge of irritation sounded in their voice without affecting their visual calmness.
Their legs were relaxed on the floor while the back of their head rested against the back of the sofa, holding a half-eaten cookie in their hand and continuously looking at a colorful cartoon on the TV screen.
“I was thinking the same!” Kid declared, shifting restlessly in place and watching the image on the TV with no less interest. Next to them was a half-empty bowl of cookies, toys and a coloring book opened on a random page with lots of colored pencils. "But the friendship hail works best against Mr. Sinister."
Just a few seconds of silent observation was enough to dull the unbearable pain. It was this sight warming the hero’s heart the most and helping their wounds heal faster. The realization their kid is fine, they aren’t in danger, and they’re happy, could sooth any soreness, no matter how sharp and deep it was. Hero almost didn't mind Villain sitting next to the kid and discussing their favorite show with them.
The arisen grudge as a result of recent events hadn’t yet been extinguished, but right now Hero preferred not to think about it. All they wanted was to see their kid. Part of them didn't even want to tear Kid away from watching cartoons, but the hero couldn't stand in the doorway forever, letting the villain enjoy spending time with Kid all by themselves, either.
"What? Won't you even say hi to me?" Hero spoke in a friendly tone, leaning against the doorway and folding their arms in front of them, as if their chest wasn’t squashed by their every small movement.
“Parent! ”Kid exclaimed happily, sliding off the couch and running up to the hero.
Their small arms immediately wrapped around their parent’s shins, pressing their face against them. Hero patted the kid on the head with a smile and lowered themselves to the same level, now fully embracing them. Nothing could compare to the feeling of a small body tremulously clinging to the hands of an adult. The feeling is so pleasant Hero would agree to have another truck crash into them, just to feel the joy of meeting their child so vividly every day.
"Hi." The voice of Villain chimed in, while they were running their fingers through their own hair. "You look-" The hero's serious stare, pointing at Kid, silenced them. The villain had never seen the hero so battered and beaten, and all of this could be easily read in their expression. With Kid around, they realized they shouldn't have paid attention to it. "You look… passable."
Hero forced a laugh. They didn't want to let Kid out of their arms, but with their restlessness, the kid was eager to be free. They preferred to express their joy of the meeting with joyful splashes of hands and circling around Hero. With a warm smile, the hero smoothed their kid’s disheveled hair, getting back to their feet and finally noticing everything on the couch.
“Are you having cookies for breakfast?” Pointing to the bowl, they looked at Kid, then at Villain, wondering who would be the first to answer their question with an obvious answer.
Kid folded their hands behind their back, looking up at the ceiling and rocking back and forth, pretending not to notice the pastry.
"Well, yes. That’s what children eat, right?" The villain asked calmly, looking at the bowl of cookies with a stare, as if they were trying to figure out what was wrong with the food.
The hero wanted to chuckle, but neither fatigue nor dissatisfaction with such a breakfast allowed them. Ever since they left the old apartment, their kid had been eating something strange all the time, and the hero knew they were directly responsible for it. If not for their amount of work, they would’ve found more time for the kid to figure out what to feed them and inform the villain about it.
"Yeah, but not for breakfast." Hero tried to maintain the calmness with which Villain spoke to them. In the end, it was only their fault no one really controlled Kid. "Same for the cartoons. God, don't spoil my kid."
The hero walked pass Kid, who was now repeating the patterns on the carpet with their own feet, pacing it with unhurried steps, and spreading their arms to the sides for balance. Approaching the sofa, Hero squeezed the remote control in their fingers, turning off the TV screen and interrupting the phrase of one of the cartoon characters in the middle. Without further action on their part, the TV turned back on.
"I think they deserve it, don’t they?" It was clear from Villain's persistent look they were involved in the sudden appear of the self-consciousness of the TV.
Hero didn't want to answer. Just as they didn't want to argue that allowance to watch cartoons in the morning or eating cookies for breakfast wouldn’t make them an ideal parent. Everything inside them was screaming not to even try to start conversations on these topics, and their severe physical condition agreed.
Swallowing their refusal, the hero threw the remote back on the sofa lightly, without showing their true emotions and provoking another outbreak of muscle pain. The remote landed softly on the stuffed pillows, rolling down on them and placing itself right next to a plush toy, which Hero's gaze immediately fell on.
"Is this a new bunny?" Taking the toy in their hands, Hero spun it a little, making sure of the correctness of their conclusion. "What happened to the old one?"
The last question was addressed to Kid, who shifted around on one spot and stretched out their hands in an attempt to either grab the toy, or take it away and hide its existence. Without understanding the reason, Hero simply gave Kid the toy, which they immediately hugged to themselves, as if they had been looking for it for many hours.
"Kid said they couldn't find it-" The villain pointed their thumb at the stuffed bunny. "- and I asked my henchman to buy them a new one." Sitting on the very edge of the sofa, Villain looked with a restrained smile at how Kid, getting comfortable on the carpet, was trying to feed a real cookie to a not-so-real bunny.
Hero involuntarily looked at the kid at the same time. They had never noticed before how easily they could lose touch with reality just by watching their kid. The sane part of their mind was able to detect how Villain got up from the sofa, as if this action was what the hero was waiting for to speak again.
"But their bunny was in the suitcase." From the outside the villain didn’t change at all after hearing these words, but a slight ripple passed over the screen of the still-on TV, showing that they were listening. "Have you tried looking there?"
"Ohh. The suitcase." Villain pronounced it as if they tasted every letter. As if wanted to feel how it moves on their tongue and what muscles it sets in motion. "The suitcase." Their voice sounded concentrated, as if among the many suitcases they had ever seen, they were trying to remember a specific one.
When their thought process came to an end, their head twitched slightly. "No. haven’t look there." Walking around the room, they added. "It was late at night and Kid couldn't sleep. I panicked."
The word panic didn’t fit in with the balanced and sometimes even cold image Villain was trying to build. And from this discrepancy, the hero smiled sincerely; the pain choking them from the inside restrained their impulses to laugh at the top of their voice.
"Was it really easier for you to buy a new toy in the middle of the night than just trying to look for it in the suitcase first?" Hero asked with a kind smile, glancing at the bunny in Kid's hands, as if trying to see something special in this stuffed toy that would be worth performing such feats.
The villain didn’t understand the reason for the sudden mirth, and only nodded, accidentally turning off the light in the room. The lightbulbs immediately lit up again, but such a fleeting gesture prompted the hero that Villain wasn’t really as calm and cool-headed as they tried to seem.
"This is so... strange." Hero blurted out when their gaze caught the imperturbable features of the villain's face. Only now did they realize how calmly they were talking to their enemy. Villain only raised an eyebrow at the phrase, and the hero hurried to explain it right away. "You're just you." Hero gestured with their hands at the villain, as if this added some clarity. "Without any of these weird questions and suggestions."
"And you’re talking to me in the way you used to." Villain pointed out, the corner of their lips twitched in a slight smile. But this facial expression didn’t last long.
"I've been thinking about what happened over the last two nights." Their hands weren’t making any unnecessary movements, and their gaze was directed at one spot, without any attempts to glance at something else; however, their feet wandered aimlessly around the room. "You see, such behavior turned out to be as surprising for me as it is for you."
"How is it so?" Hero, who wanted to laugh a minute ago, has now significantly tensed up. Even the muscle pain seemed to have intensified.
The villain stepped closer, opening their mouth to say something, but whatever words were trying to form on their tongue were interrupted by Kid's joyful laughter. They didn’t speak, only chirped in a voice full of joy. They hardly needed any toys; their imagination drew everything for them.
"I think we should talk about this in private." Pointing with a glance at the kid, Villain slowly left the room in their usual manner.
Hero followed right after them, not daring to ask anything first. The forgotten emotions from the past days’ experience were coming back, reminding of everything that had happened between them and Villain during the time spent in the house.
Strange questions, a gun, a quarrel hovered in one part of their mind, opposite which were the care of Kid, the preservation of personal secrets and an invitation to the house. Two such different halves of one whole Villain didn’t connect in any way in the hero’s head. They were so exhausted by all these unpleasant surprises and dull pain, they didn’t even try to guess what Villain had to say.
They silently were walking along the corridor; no one made a single sound. Even Hero, with their aching body, was keeping themselves quiet. Suppressing the pain seemed so common they no longer saw the point of paying attention to it. Going further down the hallway, they realized Kid's voice had become quieter and this entire path they made was for the kid not to hear anything. How thoughtful.
"Have you noticed that the lights are always on? Even in those rooms where it’s unnecessary?" Villain spoke slowly; their voice sounded a little softer than usual.
They waited for an answer, and Hero was lost in what they had to say. They never paid attention to the light, but at the same time something inside prevented them from saying it directly.
The villain, unbothered by the silence, continued. "That's because I control all the electricity in the house."
With these words, it was as if they wanted to force Hero to come to some logical conclusion. But the hero didn't understand what Villain wanted from them, and their enemy sighed. "There is too much of it accumulating inside me and so that electrical appliances wouldn't burn around me, I need to constantly put my energy somewhere. But in the evenings I turn off the lights. Not everywhere, but in the most rooms."
Their words sounded disinterested, as if they were saying the most obvious thing in the world. "I didn't know that an overabundance of energy could result in... such way." At the last sentence, their voice gave out feeling of confusion.
"What do you mean?" Not feeling any danger, they pressed their shoulder against the wall, although they soon regretted it, feeling the nerve endings began to send pain along their skin.
"I’m just trying to say that too much electricity has a strange effect on me." The villain began to move in the hallway more vividly, pacing in circles on the spot and analyzing something, looking at the floor.
"At such moments, my brain works faster, and I don't always have time to think about what I want to say or do." Looking at the hero, they hoped to meet with understanding, but apparently Hero couldn’t fully realize what they were saying.
"At least, this is how it works, I think." The villain continued, wanting to hear something in response to more information. "Although what I've said to you over the last two nights, I really meant it." Shrugging their shoulders, the villain stopped in one spot. "But I guess I brought it up too soon."
Even with all this explanation, Hero was silent. But now, not from misunderstanding, but from the amount of information that was woven into a single thread, forming a complete picture. Everything made too much sense to be an unprepared speech that Hero would fall for. At the same time, more and more questions arose in their thoughts, in their mouth, bursting out and transforming into simmering anger.
"So it's all because of your ability?" The hero could feel the tone of their voice getting louder and higher. "What about our battles? Do you have no control over what you say with your henchmen either?" They were close to yelling, but the proximity to the room with Kid made them speak a little calmer, while not limiting them in gesturing with their hands. "And you want me to believe you were going to shoot my friend because of your overabundance of energy?!"
If it weren't for the pain piercing their whole body with needles, Hero wouldn’t have been standing still, agonizing emotions in their body keeping them from thinking straight. The inability to take drastic actions forced them to just stand there while their fingers were filling up with a mixture of anger and resentment. Their negative aura was too clearly felt in the air for Villain not to notice it. But instead of trying to calm them down, the villain just started to speak again.
"I'm glad you asked." There was sincerity in their eyes. They spoke slowly, either letting Hero calm down, or wanting to annoy them more with the delay. "During our battles, I used my power as a weapon, so it was spent in the exact amount I wanted it to." Villain smiled weakly, as if remembering something nice and meaningful in their life.
Hero didn't share their enthusiasm; it was hard to force themselves to listen further without being distracted by the overwhelming anger they were trying to suppress. Emotions had to fade with every word, but something inside didn’t allow to let go of the negative feelings.
"I only meet with my henchmen at work." The villain continued. "And I control all the energy in that building, too." This conversation was much easier for them, and the more they answered questions, the closer they were getting to the hero, as if checking how long they could restrain themselves from hitting.
"But you're right. Perhaps I went too far with pointing that gun at your friend." Villain no longer tried to speak indifferently, putting as much regret as possible into their own words. "I'm sorry. I really am."
Hero never thought they would be grateful for the pain piercing every molecule of their body. Anger didn’t subside even after those couple of minutes Hero tried to persuade themselves to calm down.
The hero was filled with anger at how clear and simple everything was coming together. Anger at what Hero had done over the past few days and how unacceptable their current feelings of rage were now. They knew they had nothing to be irritated about anymore, and ironically this drove them mad even more.
They were breathing heavily, trying to chill, while anger blurred everything before their eyes. All of Villain's words sounded to them now as confirmation that they were wrong, that they had said a lot in vain, and that all this time they were the one who acted strangely. Hero felt angry, but now only at themselves.
"You should really get new clothes." The hero didn't even notice when Villain's hand landed on their chest, brushing their fingers over the washed fabric.
Hero also didn't notice how they kept their eyes closed the whole time. For some reason, the villain's touch didn’t seem so strange to them now, but it didn’t become something ordinary to feel either. They took Villain's hand away from themselves without rush movements, stepping away just a little.
"Thanks. I'll think about it later." Such a sudden topic of conversation made all the anger in their voice evaporate. “I have to go to work first."
The hero didn't know what time it was, but they weren't lying, although they did want to leave and think about all of this alone.
"But you just got home." Villain remarked, the tone of their voice suggested a detailed answer was expected.
Hero almost missed these words as they was walking down the hallway now. Part of their mind was already in thoughts, and the other was at work, and there was no attention left for something third. Nevertheless, they stopped, standing up to the villain in half a turn.
“I’m talking about my ordinary work.” The hero spoke wearily; then they smiled weakly, realizing that for Villain it wasn’t that obvious. "The one I make money with."
Saying these words was almost as painful as the moment when the truck crashed into them. Just thinking about their job seemed like torture, and actually doing it would be an impossible task. Hero managed to force themselves to finally accept Villain's invitation to live in their house, but they definitely weren't going to take someone else's money for a living. And no matter how difficult it was for them, it wasn't the first time they went to a regular job in such a state.
"By the way, aren't you going to work?" Hero asked, realizing Villain had been spending the last few days only with Kid. "Don't you have any villainous deeds?"
This wording made the villain chuckle. "I can afford to take a little vacation." They seemed to understand the hero's emotions, and therefore deliberately gloated with their relaxed smile. "I still don't know how to deal with kids, and I need time to figure it out."
Despite the slight malice hidden behind Villain's eyes, Hero felt something warm waft from these words. All their emotions were twisted to the maximum when it came to their child, making them too soft and sentimental. And even when these words came from the villain, the hero felt incredibly grateful that someone else was worried about Kid when it was extremely difficult for Hero to cope with everything.
"Thank you." Hero said the simple words. Too simple to fully express what they really felt. "Thank you for taking such good care of Kid."
The hero was close to hugging Villain. This raging whirlwind of all-encompassing emotions Hero was able to experience for a small amount of time turned them into a mess, too sluggish to think sensibly. All they wanted was to hug the villain now, but apart from uttering a couple of words, the hero didn’t dare to do anything else.
"You're welcome." Villain replied kindly.
In the next second, something happened the hero didn’t expect, but which for some strange reason they didn’t want to interupt. The lips of their former enemy pressed against their cheek, so carefully and slowly, as if the most precise work of defusing a bomb. One awkward movement and an explosion would happen, and in the case of the villain, their own bones would crack.
Hero didn't know what they were supposed to feel at that moment until the discharge went through their entire body. The sensation was not like pain; rather like every particle of their blood became palpable and began to flow through their veins much faster. This feeling made them want to take a deep breath; oxygen penetrated the cells at such a speed, there wasn’t enough time to fully inhale it.
All the heaviness in the muscles immediately spread out over the limbs, splitting into such small grains they were lost among other cells right away. Hero felt a charge of energy that made it hard to stand still; every part of their body was eager for action.
“What was that?” The hero didn't fully understand the voice was their own; it sounded too fast and energetic.
"A little electric discharge to cheer you up." With a restrained smile, Villain ran their fingers over the hero’s shoulder. "You needed it for your work." With these words, the villain left, heading back to the room with Kid.
