Mar 19
let's outwait the rain with mama
seen from Singapore
seen from United States
seen from Spain
seen from Australia
seen from France
seen from Mexico
seen from Netherlands
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Vietnam
seen from China
seen from France
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Russia
let's outwait the rain with mama
Started playing Hades
Henchman knew that Lover was hiding something. Had been since they started dating over a year ago. But everyone has their little secrets and it’s not as if Henchman was any less guilty of having a few themself. After all, the two had met in the first place working a bank robbery for Supervillain. Henchman had been working for Supervillain for three years, so they were asked to show the temp, that being Lover, the ropes.
It wasn’t unusual for goons to be temps. Some just needed the money and took on one job every now and again for various villains. Others, like Henchman, preferred consistency. And there was a chance your boss would overlook a small mistake or two if you worked for them long enough to have demonstrated your skills.
But dating a superhero in disguise was unlikely to be considered a small mistake.
Henchman had barely enough time to pull out their gun before they were tackled to the floor, an iron grip on their wrists and Hero’s weight on their legs.
“You fucker!” Henchman shrieked.
“Just let me explain-!”
“Explain?! How could you possibly justify this? You used me!”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Bullshit,” Henchman spat, trying to pry themself free of Hero’s hold, but it wasn’t as if Henchman had any superpowers of their own to fight back with. “Let go.”
“I’ll let go once you calm down and listen.”
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”
“Then I guess we’ll be here all night then,” Hero sighed.
They stayed like that for a while, neither speaking as Henchman tried and failed to get loose whilst Hero effortlessly held them down. After five minutes or so, Henchman finally relented, slamming their head back in frustration before willing their body to calm down. Seeing this, Hero spoke up. “Are you going to hit me if I let you go?”
“I wouldn’t tell you if I was.”
“It won’t go down well.”
Henchman sighed, “I’m not stupid enough to punch you in your indestructible jaw. Happy?”
Hero seemed to take a moment to consider before relenting. They released their grip and pulled back slowly and cautiously, grabbing a hold of Henchman’s discarded pistol as they did. Henchman sat up against the cupboards, checking their wrists for bruising whilst Hero emptied the bullets from their gun and placed it on the coffee table.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” Hero asked, face masked with guilt.
“What do you care?” Henchman spat back.
“Don’t be like that…”
“I’m sorry, did you expect me to be happy when I found out?”
“I didn’t- I didn’t plan on you finding out like this.”
“Or at all, you mean?”
Hero gave them a look.
“I wasn’t planning on keeping you in the dark forever.”
“No, course not. I’m sure I’d hear all about it during the arrest. Once I was no longer useful, obviously.”
“You’re angry-,”
“What clued you in?” Henchman laughed bitterly.
“-And I completely get it. But you have to understand, I never had any intentions of hurting you-“
“No intentions?!”
“This was just supposed to be a recon job. Just a bit of information gathering. Everything else-“ Hero took a breath. “Everything else was genuine. How I feel about you… None of that was fake, you understand that, right?”
“And you think that makes any of this better?”
“I didn’t do this to hurt you.”
“You’ve killed me!” Henchman cried. “How did you think this was going to play out? You’ve made me a traitor- a fucking rat! Do you know what Supervillain would do to me when he finds out-?”
“If he finds out.”
“No, when he finds out. Because if you seriously don’t think he will, then I’m starting to doubt you’ve even thought this far ahead.”
Henchman was growing more exhausted as the argument went on. Their wall of anger slowly chipping away. They had nothing left to fill the cracks with except all of this hurt and pain, but they desperately filled it in anyway; despite knowing it wouldn’t be long before they had a ship of Theseus on their hands.
“I wasn’t going to let him hurt you,” Hero said, looking at Henchman like they really meant it. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. No one’s going to hurt you. No one’s going to arrest you.”
“And your friends are alright with that, are they?”
“They…” Hero cut themself off as they appeared to have stumbled into another bit of information they weren’t quite ready to give Henchman.
“They do know about us, don’t they?” Henchman asked warily.
“They do!” Hero admitted. “And they are willing to help. They just… have some conditions.”
Because it was never going to be a neat little solution was it, Henchman scowled but kept the thought to themself. “What conditions?”
“Nothing big,” Hero placated. “They’re just having a hard time believing you’d change sides. But if you were to give up some information on Supervillain-?”
“So, it’s bad enough that you made me an involuntary accomplice. Now you need to make sure I don’t even have plausible deniability?”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s exactly like that. I didn’t ask for this.”
“You’re in danger either way.”
“I’m in danger because of your decisions. Not mine. So don’t you dare try and get anything more out of me.”
“I’m not trying to take anything else. I’m trying to protect you!”
“So I can be your little pet informant? Tucked safely away somewhere waiting for the day you miraculously manage to take down Supervillain?”
“Would you rather be on the run? Frightened for your life everyday with no one to look out for you?”
“I’d rather you’d have just left me alone!”
The silence between the two of them was dense enough to feel like you were drowning with every breath. If you could even bring yourself to breathe in the first place.
“You don’t mean that…” Hero said softly. Sombrely. The words ached and echoed with all of the memories they’d shared over the last year and change. No one had made Henchman laugh like Hero. No one had made them feel so happy they could cry. So wanted they could feel that want themself. Recollecting these memories used to make them feel so strong in face of the world.
They hadn’t felt grief in so long, but this is exactly what it felt like.
“I don’t know…” Henchman said just as quietly. They felt the last vestiges of adrenaline fade away, exhaustion coming in and numbing everything. They took a breath and tried to muster something up but found the whole thing more tiring than productive. They knew they couldn’t continue like this. Knew it was only a matter of time before they just started nodding along to everything Hero was saying. They weren’t in a state to be making those sorts of decisions without the feelings to back them up.
“I’m tired,” Henchman admitted.
“Yeah, that’s fair,” Hero sighed. “Why don’t we call it for tonight and figure out a plan tomorrow. Give us both some time to think.”
Henchman nodded, picking themself up off the floor and making their way to the cupboard by the door where they pulled out a coat and a bag they had packed for emergencies.
“Wait,” Hero stood up from their own seat. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to stay with a friend.”
“You- you can’t just-“
“We’ll pick this up tomorrow, right?” Henchman asked with as much sternness as they could, though more than likely it just came out as tired and frustrated.
Hero looked like they were about to protest further but swallowed it down at the last second.
“No, you’re right,” Hero said, shaking their head. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. Just… stay safe, alright?”
Henchman did not go to a friend’s house. Or a hotel, or even one of the safehouses. They didn’t know where they were going. The word ‘far’ rang in their head and so that was the aim. The money they had stashed in their bag would determine where exactly ‘far’ was.
They didn’t let their mind wander from this goal. Didn’t let it question what they were doing, whether they even knew what they were doing. Henchman’s feelings for Hero were warped and chaotic, but they were still there. And those feelings were dangerous. Those feelings were going to get them killed.
When they finally felt safe enough to come out of the spiral, they were sat in a near-empty train coach heading god knows where. A quick look at the train ticket in their pocket gave them a general idea of what direction they chose and, judging by the price, was likely the last stop on the route.
Henchman didn’t think Hero would try and track them down once they realised they were gone. Or even if they did, that maybe they’d stop once they found out Henchman left of their own volition. But just to be on the safe side, they figured they should get off at a random stop along the way and head in another direction. Maybe find somewhere nice in the countryside if they could afford it. Or the beach…
Henchman’s thoughts were interrupted briefly by the announcement of the next stop. Three more stops, they told themself. Then we’ll get on a bus, camp in a field for the rest of the night, and then we’ll go from there.
The train started moving again. A couple more passengers came into the coach, a couple left… Henchman took a deep breath. Three more stops…
They opened their eyes and looked up, their gaze catching one of the other passengers further down by the doors just as he was taking a seat. Both of them looked away as soon as their eyes met and Henchman’s heart sank. They knew him. The name didn’t come to mind, but they were sure they’d seen him at a few jobs they did these last few months. They looked back again to confirm but the chairs were blocking their view.
It’s just a coincidence, they told themself. Or you were mistaken. You’re on edge, and your brain’s playing tricks on you. They took another deep breath, the thoughts swinging back and forth as the argument with themself raged.
I’m sure it was-
But it’s not.
Why is he here?
He’s not here, you’re delusional.
But if that is him-
Then it’s just a coincidence.
And if it’s not?
…
Paranoia made a compelling case. And on the off-chance they hadn’t been recognised, they decided it was better to go towards a more crowded coach to wait until the next stop. Grabbing their things, Henchman quickly shuffled out of their seat, just pulling themself up to standing when they came face to face with a horrifyingly familiar figure.
Supervillain stared at Henchman in what seemed to be mild amusement. Henchman themself could barely hold the gaze, their fear paralysing them in place.
“Honestly now,” Supervillain smirked. “You’re on a train. Where did you think you could possibly go?”
“I… I-“
“Why don’t you sit back down,” he suggested. Though in all likelihood it was definitely not a suggestion. “It’s a while before the next stop and I think you and I have a lot to talk about.”
Part 2
Le general tagliste: @doctorsawyer, @whumplicity, @neon-kazoo, @stupidlypurplemist, @elfwhump, @imgoingtobiteyounow, @chaotic-orphan, @jumpywhumpywriter, @hymnusadbacchum, @atomicduckthefirst, @whump-till-ya-jump, @lazytoshiko, @human-123-person
“No me mires con esos ojos
Don't look at me with those eyes
Me deslumbras, me derrumbas
You dazzle me, you destroy me”
What am I to you?
dean asked cas to never change like that bond and the growing love between them wasn't already changing them both irreparably
guys... guys what if...
WHAT THEN, HUH? *rocking back and forth in the corner like the little shit I am*
The fun of writing a post-war trial is that I now get to use my earlier ignorance of wartime rules to my current benefit. As in, did I know and intentionally craft battles around the knowledge that going behind enemy lines after a period of quietness to ambush the enemy breaks a rule of war? No, but now I do and get to accuse Soundwave of it.
Yeah, Smokey, I did. I set Soundwave loose without any knowledge of my own on what is generally agreed on as unethical wartime actions. :)