Posted this to A03 as well, so here we go!
I realized I can't write anything without proper context so this first (and maybe next) chapter is entirely lead-up to the smut I wanted to write. No idea if this is good but I had to put SOMETHING out there. There's like 3 people keeping the Waterboy x Reader smut alive. I sound way too aggressive, I swear I'm not, this is all for kicks gang. Enjoy, please.
Far too much exposition for a smut fic
Sub Waterboy | Herman (Dispatch)
Ignore the fact there's far too much exposition
AFAB | Assigned Female at Birth Reader-Insert
You were excited to start your new job, to say the least. Rent had been a long time coming, and as nice (or seedy) as the man who ran the complex was, he refused to let it be late by more than two weeks. Something you reluctantly considered reasonable. You were an ambitious person, but unfortunately, your want of being a villain and your personal morals overwhelmed each other. So now, you were here. At SDN.
Many people questioned why you would want to be a villain in the first place, but you figured if the two categories were labelled as such, then one sounded like more fun and less work. However, one is a steady source of income-not to mention much safer, and one is super unreliable. You got hooked up at this job by one of your old friends, Prism. Said it was working for her. And you used the past villain shtick as a selling point. Reform is always something to be sought after by those who are righteous anyhow.
You hesitantly yanked the big door open before immediately almost falling over. The gigantic black boots you wore weren’t very tactile in water. Which, apparently, was a hazard you had to look out for when coming into the building.
Why wouldn’t there be a sign for this kinda thing? Your lack of fear in a crisis situation just made you start wildly falling with a blank expression while yanking on the door handle in hopes of staying upright. It did not work. Your feet slid out from under you. Luckily you had experience with falling “the right way,” thanks to villain work. Your arms reached out to steady yourself while your legs slid right back.
You landed in the giant puddle, all fours, and made a giant splash sound in the lobby of your new job. Nice going, dipshit. Now you’re going to be wet all over the front side of your body. After you dressed nicely, too. So much for seeming cool. And who left this here? You inspect the puddle. It seems like more than a mop’s worth. Did someone with hydrokinesis have a fight near the front door and decide to ditch manners? Ugh. How do you even begin to clean this before your first day with the team? Is it even your job to clean this? Well considering you have no idea who originally made the puddle and you don’t want anyone else to slip, maybe?
You look up and see a lanky man speed walking towards you. He stumbles a bit and then continues. Well, it made sense to you now. You had seen this guy on occasion on the news. Specifically, after Shroud was defeated. Thanks to that, Z-Team (which you thought was kind of a stupid name) got their fronts plastered all over the SDN homepage. You checked the website out before you applied. Seeing Prism was nice, and you also thought it would be good preparation to see who you’d be working with.
This guy’s whole thing was being wet. As well as being able to concentrate that pressure of the water coming out of his body. But he couldn’t shoot it from his hands, only his mouth. You must admit that you laughed at his power. But only because of the absurdity. It was useful enough, if used correctly, you thought.
“I-me-my apologies!”
The man in the wetsuit reached out his hand hesitantly. Well, he seems nice at least. You put your hand in his, and he pulled you up. You were caught off guard by the sudden force and shot up firmly against his chest. Unfortunately, now your whole body is wet. Hand especially. Just leaking out of every orifice, this guy. You detached yourself from him and moved to a slightly drier area on the floor. He continued speaking even more frantically. “I-I’m Waterboy. I m-make everything wet-moist. I’m s-sorry. My-I leave puddles because of my power. Nervous, today. Not-no excuses of course!”
You consider yourself lucky you weren't wearing a white tank top today. You try to dry your hand on your wet clothing. It doesn’t work that well. You speak.
“Oh no! It’s okay, really. I don’t think you would voluntarily leave a spill for someone. You seem polite. Well-I’m hoping at least.”
“Oh! I-uh, thank you! Ma’am-Miss-”
“Star. My super name. Speaking of which…”
You ring out some of your shirt and it splashes back into the puddle.
“Awkward intro, but you’re on Z-Team, right?”
“Oh, Prism and I are friends. She kinda helped get me this job. I saw you on the website while applying and I think we’re on the same team. So, nice to officially meet ya, Waterboy.”
You smile deliberately. First impressions have always been important to you. Even if this first impression involved you being soaked to the bone, you figured at least you had something in common with the guy now.
“Nice to make-meet your acquaintance! I was told we were having-getting a new mate-team mate today. Sorry for making you wet.” You hum laughter.
“I don’t mind it. You’re close enough to my type anyways-”
You joke. His face blanks before it tints red.
“O-oh! I-uh, you, you’re joking, right?”
“Yeah, dude. Sorry. Friend-flirting.”
“Like-I don’t know-You jokingly flirt with your friends and then they laugh and then the friendship strengthens, like that. If it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop. I know we don’t know each other well. Just trying to spread some humour since we’ll be working together-”
“N-no! I don’t care-mind! You’re being nice of-obviously.”
This guy actually seemed very kind. It gave you some warm hope in your chest for the rest of the team.
“Care to show me around? The meeting details were vague, and I was only ever really here once for an interview.”
“N-no worries! New task-mission!”
He points his finger up slightly and leads you in haste. You lightly laugh in response. As you walk through, you’re astounded by the number of people with powers. They had always been a minority where you lived, so seeing so many people outwardly using them made you feel a bit warm inside.
“I’m not sure what I was expecting, but there are a lot of people with powers here.”
“Y-yeah! It ’s-I mean-pretty cool! So-sorry you’re stuck, trapped maybe-with me as your first impression. I know I ’m-well-not exactly the coolest.”
“I don’t care, dude. You’re nice. That’s what I was looking for today. I already have powers, so it’s not too much of a novelty for me. Just strange to see this many people in one place with them.”
“No problem!”
He opens the door to an office and keeps it held for you.
“Thank you.”
You walk inside. You recognize the face of one of the people who interviewed you. You hastily try to seem as presentable as possible. You thought about giving him an assertive handshake, but decided against it.
“Robert, right? Do you want me to call you, sir, or-”
“Robert’s fine, Star. Glad you’re working with us.”
You shake his hand assertively. You speak.
“Will I have time to meet the team before we start? I mean, besides Prism. And Waterboy, I suppose, since we just met.”
He waves in the corner. Robert seems to put two and two together and starts understanding the predicament of your clothing. Luckily for you, he doesn’t comment on it.
“They should be coming in any minute. Somehow, they always arrive 2 minutes late. All of them.”
He says exasperatedly before glancing over.
“Waterboy, you’re good to sit.”
“T-thank you for the clarifying-clarification!”
He plops himself down in a seat, and you release a bit more quiet laughter at how endearing he is. You keep standing because you’re thinking that Robert will introduce you in front of the team. After some seconds of standing around and picking at your nails, you almost get knocked over by this giant man made of clay. One more reason to be vigilant.
“Whoa!”
You step out of the way.
“Sorry.”
This office is a hazard.
“Star! Girl, you got the job?” You smile at the familiar voice.
“Ayy! Prism! I was waiting to surprise you!”
“Want me to give you the best intro? Kind of how I roll.”
“Thank you, but I think Robert was gonna give the spiel."
“Boo.”
She pauses and looks down at me.
“Why’re you wet?”
“Run-in with Waterboy over there.”
“I don’t need to do anything, do I?”
“No! He was super sweet about it. It was an accident.”
“I mean- I guess it makes sense for him. He used to make these giant puddles all the time. Calmed down a bit, though, once we got used to him.”
“You mean once he got used to you?” You retort.
“Oh, like I’m not the nicest person ever. Please.”
“Pft-” You push her slightly, directing her to sit down.
Robert waits a second for everyone to adjust and then raises his hands to gesture towards you.
“Hey, everyone. I knew that I told you all we were getting a new hero today. Well, here she is. Star, care to introduce yourself?”
“No prob. Hey Z-Team. Excited to be joining everyone! As Robert just said, my name is Star. Don’t judge the name too hard, I picked it when I was 14. Uh…let’s see…”
“What do you actually do?” Invisagal (who you also read about) speaks up from behind you. You wonder how long she was standing there.
“Don’t be rude,” Robert speaks up.
“I’m not trying to be, damn. Legitimately asking. Don’t shoot the bull or whatever.”
“I’m not gonna try to decipher what saying you’re massacring right now.” You start to speak up.
“++Oh no, it’s all good. I totally forgot to mention the most important part of why I’m here. I mean duh-uh-here…Can everyone hear me? Don’t worry, I’m not poking around.++”
“Holy shite. We got a telepath?”
The shorter buff guy named Punch-up speaks excitedly.
“Pretty cool, okay. Question: How does this relate to the name Star?”
The demon-looking lady, Malevola, asks out loud.
“++Doesn’t at all. I told you it was a shit name.++”
“Another question. Can you dig through our minds, and do you want to? I wouldn’t mind keeping some things buried and never brought up.”
The bat-man Sonar says. You take it he’s a bit of a freak.
“++I’ve pretty much got a blocker on it. Surprisingly, most people’s thoughts are pretty quiet, so I have to be actively listening. And if the repressed stuff isn’t on your mind and yelling at you, then trust me that it isn’t gonna enter my radar. I could dig around and get all the dirty shit, but it’s mostly when I dream that I’m able to do that. Because I have to actually visualize the mind I wanna be in and enter it in my head, it’s kind of confusing. Oh! Something cool I can do if you piss me off though-++”
Invisagal pinches herself.
You go back to speaking aloud.
“Sorry. Just demonstrating. No qualms, promise.”
You put your hands up in peace.
“Anyways, that’s my power. I look forward to working with everyone!”
You hear the distant rambling of everyone talking in their heads as you go to take a seat. It’s pretty much background noise to you. Like a bunch of people talking into pillows. But you hear something unusual.
“++Holy cow, she’s so cool.++”
It’s so clear that you actually turn to see if someone said it aloud, but no. Nobody spoke. Huh. Well, at least someone’s really excited to meet you. You smile to yourself.------
“Star. Waterboy. I need you guys to head down and help move this guy’s luggage.”
“++One, you know you can just think at me, right? Two, I thought this job would be a lot more… adrenaline-inducing. Not this much, like-community service.++”
“++You did look over the contract and mission statement, correct?++” He thinks at you.
“++Too hopeful I guess.++”
Oh well. You hop in the car outside of the building that’s designated for employees and wait for Waterboy. It’s a grayish-white van with SDN’s orange logo on it. The inside has brown seats that you can tell are obviously worn from use. You fidget with your fingers for a bit before you start to get too antsy.
“++Hey W-B, you coming?++”
He starts speaking over the coms directly to your channel.
“Yeah-yes! I am on my w-way!”
“++What’s the hold up? No rush but I’ve been waiting in the car.++”
“O-oh! My-sorry I usually-well always- walk or run.”
Oh. You guess that explains it.
“++Why do you usually run? Do you have super speed I don’t know about? Or like- do you use your suit as a slip n’ slide and just travel that way?++”
He blurts out a laugh that he quickly seems embarrassed of and hides with a cough.
“N-not me. I-other people use the car. So I don’t enjoy-like getting the seats-car seats wet before people use it-them.”
“++What street are you on?++”
“Near Guess and Unie. W-why?”
You note that it’s not too far from the building and you drive until you're right beside him. Which you also noted barely took anytime. The car is exceedingly FAST.
“Hey dude. Hop in.” You say with an encouraging gesture as the window rolls down.
“O-oh! You didn’t-did not need to come for me. I-the seats-”
“You got a job here because they hired you. They’re not gonna care about seats in a car that you need to use. Plus, it’ll make your times faster.”
“I have a feeling I’m gonna become quick friends with most of the team.” You switch to telepathy. “++I like being charismatic. Gaining a bunch of friends, having the right kind of attention-it’s a strategy game for me. In which case, I’ll be totally fine dealing with any social stuff. I’ll just tell them not to be angry about the car and I’ll take the blame from higher-ups if they keep getting mad at you. But I doubt they’ll be that unfair considering they’re a superhero service. And for the Z-team, I mean, I already have a friend and you know how persuasive Prism is.++”
“Luggage dude. That’s the name of the game right now. Get in.”
He stares at you before tucking his head in and looking at the floor. Man this guy is tall. He doesn’t say anything. You guess it’s because he’s scared to mess up the grace he usually isn’t given, but he’s smiling to himself.
“Huh?” You stop at the stoplight and look around. He looks confused.
“I-I didn’t say anything. Are you doing al-okay?”
“You weren’t trying to mind-communicate with me or anything, right?”
You don’t really like seeming out-of-control, but it is a sympathy builder. Not to mention, you’d be able to get it off your chest. And Waterboy seems well meaning.
“Kinda weird, but you know my powers? Well I usually use them no problem. Meaning I can tune out what I want to. Right? So- recently I’ve been hearing someone talk in my head. Like it sounds like they’re actually speaking to me in real life. It’s not a big deal but it’s tripping me up. And of course I’ve been trying not to listen to it. I don’t like invading people’s heads unless it’s important. Mainly because they’ve got freaky shit up there they don’t want me seeing. But someone must be yelling to themselves when I’m around because it’s…prevelant. To say the least.”
“What are you h-hearing?”
“So-sorry, don’t want to inva-in-intrude.”
You grin.
“No it’s alright. I trust you bud. I guess they’re about me, now that I’m thinking about it. When I first got introduced to the team they thought I was cool, and just now I heard them say my name. And a few other times, I guess it was just kind words. I can tell it’s not someone wanting to speak to me directly though. I mean I don’t mind the encouragement at all! It’s really nice. It just bothers me that I don’t know where it’s coming from. And also the fact that I’m-again-intruding into their personal space. Minds are private. It’s not my place.”
“W-well, it’s someone on the team. Or-must be. Cause-when it began-or started happening-”
“You’re right! I feel stupid that that didn’t correlate earlier. I guess I’m just used to the whole city being background noise, so I didn’t think it could be someone in my vicinity. Well...Hm… If anyone seems really enthusiastic about me, can you tell me? I just want them to know that this is happening involuntarily.”
He raises his hand to mock-salute.
“Aye-Aye-On it! You trust- You can trust me!”
You walk decisively into the breakroom before laying yourself (also decisively) onto a chair dramatically.
“Ughhh this is so much less fun than I thought it would be.” Flambae walks into the room. Also taking a break before finishing the long day.
“Can’t handle the job? It’s alright. Not everyone can play with fire-”
You use your body manipulation. Flambae’s hand raises and sets the front slip of his hair aflame.
“‘++Not everyone can play with fire’? Not your best.++”
You toss a glass of water from the table on him sluggishly and sink back into your seat. He glares at you and irritatingly evaporates the water off of himself. You stew in yourself before you feel a hole being burned into the back of your head from his eyes. Which might actually start burning if you don’t apologize.
“I’ll clean the water off the floor.” You sigh. “Sorry. Here-” You fish a dollar out of your pocket and hand it to him.
“Get a twinkie. I’m not in the interest of making enemies. Especially when I’ve heard people say you’re cool.”
He stares at it and takes the dollar.
“Hmph. Fine.”
Well it’s probably not this guy, you think to yourself.
“What was your last job? I know you’re playing the strength-guy right now, but come on. I’m not the only one who had an exhausting day.” You wager.
“Yeah, well the rest of us are used to it. Of course a little newbie like you doesn’t get it yet.”
“I get it fine. Like-doing the job is fine for me. Just-why? Why are we less like a super cool task force and more like a…uh-chore force? Whatever, my brain’s dead.” You rub your eyes tactfully.
“Looking for excitement?”
“‘Was hoping to get some at least.”
“Yeah, nah- You’re not gonna find that here. And when you do get it, well, it’s not something you really want. I wanted excitement when I was a beginner like you-”
“-You don’t get it.”
You look at the ground.
“Well dang. Thanks for the encouragement.”
Is this really what’s in store for you? Working until you die in this glorified yard service job? Ugh. Maybe you should’ve just worked until your young death robbing banks.
Flambae looks over at you and sighs. He punches the numbers into the vending machine and picks up the twinkie.
“The excitement is the team. This stuff isn’t villain work. But better than working in a fucking cubicle. You feel better after a while, but for now, it’s like coming off of cocaine. For Sonar it actually is. I saw some in his locker.”
He takes a bite.
“It’s better in the grand scheme. When you find something to latch onto that's not you. And if you’re doing it right, like me, people will actually give a shit if you die.”
You sit up and look at him.
“I thought Robert was the pep-talk guy.”
“Yeah, well, don’t expect more.”
“Thanks dude.”
You hold out your hand for him to fistbump, he cracks a small smile and fistbumps you back. You pause and stand up to grab some paper towels and clean up the water.
“I feel like I missed a whole chapter by arriving this late.”
“Waterboy would know a thing or two about that.”
“Yeah? I thought everyone was just teasing him. He seems to admire you all a lot.”
“Well we were already a team. And Coupé had just been cut. Yeah, not a good look. Not to mention the colossal puddles. Guy almost killed me.”
“No way that’s not an exaggeration. WB is like-the sweetest guy ever.”
“Either way-sliding everywhere, yeah, not the best way to start a morning.”
“You guys seem okay now. I mean, do you actually mean all the stuff you say to him?”
You start wiping away the water on the floor while also trying to not pick up any loose hairs.
“Nah. He’s…a part of the team. It took a minute. But in a few months he went from really pathetic to-eh, slightly less pathetic. More confident.”
You throw the paper towel in the trash.
“Good for him.” Flambae starts walking out of the break room and you follow after him.
“You know, he was so funny earlier today.”
“Yeah? What’d he do?” You wonder how someone can sound this uninterested and vaguely defensive at the same time.
“Oh apparently he had just been running to jobs this whole time.”
“Yeah. He was afraid of getting the car seats wet.”
“Weird fear to have, but okay.”
“No. I get it. Like I said, he really likes you guys. Doesn’t want anyone to be mad at him.”
He looks away from you and takes a breath, speaking a bit quieter than usual.
“He’s not actually worried about that shit, is he?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t you be worried too?”
“Nah. I just…roll with the punches.”
“Hm.”
You grin.
“I mean, it makes sense. You’re already impressing people.”
“Yeah?-Yeah. Of course, that’s what I do.”
He masks with bravado. Everyday you find out that more people are alike than you thought. Waterboy and him both just want to be impressive.
“You know that’s what he’s trying for too. Like you said, he’s doing a better job.”
“He might get it eventually. After many doubts, he’s not completely incapable.”
“Tell him that dude.” You start walking away to get your earpiece for the coms back on. “Two more hours in the shift, let’s do it!”-------
You finally finished your last job of the day and had been waiting for Robert to dismiss everyone formally. You were waiting by a lamppost and resting yourself on it. Taking a breath. In and out. You recount the day silently to yourself. Everyone seems to like you at this job. You’re taking that as a win. Plus your clothes have finally dried, which is also nice. Although you hope that you don’t smell like a wet dog or something. Does Waterboy’s water have a smell? Huh. The wind slightly blows and you bask in it. It’s not bad considering the summer heat.
You decided to take Flambae’s advice. Afterall, from what you know about a few people’s stories, they also liked doing crazy villain stuff. And yet, they all love being here now. You just wonder if you can catch up to everyone. Power-wise you seem pretty equal to them, so that isn’t an issue. But you’re left wondering if you can really be a part of the team. They’re all so close and you know that you can be misconstrued pretty easily, so you hope nobody secretly thinks you’re arrogant. Of course you could check, but like you said to Waterboy earlier, it’s not really in your interest. More reasons you could never be a villain.
Speaking of Waterboy, you wonder if you could potentially get him and Sonar to fly you back to SDN. You think you might’ve left your phone there and you knew they were only a few blocks away helping with a fire or something. Of course, they’re probably busy currently. You can ask over coms once you get the news you’re done for the day.
You keep waiting on the post, almost drifting to sleep before you hear a slight shuffle. You open your eyes again and see a woman in a hoodie walking on the corner of the street. Some black hair falls out of her gray hood, but you can’t really make out her face. She stands there looking at you for a second, leaning against the wall. It seems paranoid to assume that someone is about to rob you, but…also…she has had her hand in her pocket this entire time. And you think you see a glint of red on her neck, like a formerly-activated Shroud augment. She starts walking towards you with a mission. You look around and see that she is indeed walking towards you. Not knowing what to do, you crack a joke.
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
“Heh. Actually, yeah it is.” She points it at your head and her raspy voice turns much more menacing. “Any money you have on you. Now.”
Damn, you are really bad in crisis situations. Of course this is nothing you can’t handle, it’ll bite you in the ass another day.
“I said give me your money. You can hear me right?”
You’re about to use your telepathy to get her to drop the gun before a giant spray of water gets splashed onto her.
“You! Quit-stop right th-there!”
Waterboy. Aww. It’s nice that he’s trying to rescue you. You figure Sonar was caught up and he might’ve seen you down the street.
“Shit! Really?! This robbery is a pain.” The woman rubs the bridge of her nose in irritation. “SDN worker, I’m guessing? You guys don’t know each other do you?”
“We both work at SDN actually.” You reply. Waterboy stands to the side, unsure if he should act.
“Seriously? The first person I try to rob and it’s fucking SDN. Goddamnit.” She keeps the gun to your head.
“You could just not rob anyone.”
“Telling a criminal not to rob someone, yeah that’s super fucking helpful.”
“You don’t need to curse in every sentence. It doesn’t make you sound cooler.” You antagonize.
“Shut the fuck up bitch. Just know that I am not getting kicked by the likes of you Z-class superheroes.” She looks ready to pull the trigger. It’s about time you end this.
“AAAHH!”
Waterboy launches forward and punches the gun out of her hand with his eyes closed. He quickly opens his eyes once it happens and he looks incredibly shocked that he actually did that. That is until she starts to tackle him to the ground.
You raise your eyebrows and start using your power. She gets off of him, stands up, and starts walking away.
You walk towards Waterboy and stand over him with a grin.
“I appreciate you running at a gun for me though.”
You extend your hand like he did for you this morning.
“Just don’t do it again. I don’t want your death on my hands. I know I seem like I’m not a threat, but I’m actually pretty capable.”
He takes your hand as his eyes remain wide.
“R-right… I-uh-I know you’re perfectly able-capable, j-just wanted to help. So-sorry for just being sti-stupid.”
“Don’t apologize. You just met me today and yet you went to save me. I take it you’d do that for a lot of others too. It’s only stupid if it happens again. For now, well, it’s pretty cool.” Your hand remains extended. He looks at you in subtle awe and a slight blush unfolds on his cheeks. He stays on the floor for a few seconds just looking at you.
“I’m not extending this for nothing. Let me help you up.”
The light comes back to his brain and he quickly reaches for your hand, turning away as he speaks.
“R-right! Yes! Waterboy, he-here to help!”
You laugh and put a hand on his shoulder.
You keep giggling before you hear a hitch in his breath at your comment.
“++Don’t think about that. Do not think. Don’t think.++”
“What’s up freaks. Done handling that fire all by myself. It was no biggie, I’m just super strong. That which we know of, of course.”
You see Sonar walking towards you both. Waterboy is still facing away from you. Well now you’re down to two suspects. Maybe you should make a note-shit. Right.
“Hey Sonar! Stellar job dude. By the way, mind helping a coworker out with that strength and flying me back to the SDN center? Please? I forgot my phone there.”
“My talents, being used, again. Is this all I’m good for? This and Harvard?” He feigns dramaticism.
“Oh yeah dude, I’ll help you out.”
Sonar transforms into the bat-monster and you get ready to hop on.
He turns back towards you both.
“I-yeah! Of c-course. Coming.”-------
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Directly copy and pasted from A03 so I hope there's no formatting issues.
