[A/N] This was generally just a fun little idea I had. Honestly, it was only meant to be a mini one, but I ended up having way too many ideas and just had to turn it into a headcanon. So there might be more of these, more headcanons like this.
[Type] Headcanon [Word Count] 690+ [Summary] Retired Reader, going to work at SDN as a dispatcher, unknowingly being Blonde Blazer's idol. [Genre] Platonic? / Fluff [Fandom] Dispatch [Pairing / Characters] Blonde Blazer (Mandy) and Retired!Male!Reader
Maddie is absolutely awestruck when she realizes that her favorite hero, her number-one idol, is requesting to work at SDN. Like, oh my God. The hero she looks up to, the person who inspired her to become a hero herself, is going to be working alongside her every single day. She is going to have to fight every instinct in her body not to stare the first time she sees you walking through the halls.
The reason for your retirement doesn't really matter to her. Maybe you suffered an injury, somehow lost your powers, or maybe a terrible incident left you mentally unfit to be a hero. Whatever the reason, Maddie doesn't see you as any less of a hero. You're still the person who inspired her, and you're still the hero she hopes she can become, even half as good as someday.
She tries her absolute best not to show favoritism, and honestly, she's pretty good at hiding it. To everyone else, it just looks like she's being a responsible boss. She checks that you're taking your breaks, makes sure you're eating lunch, reminds you to drink water, and occasionally checks in to make sure your team isn't giving you too hard of a time. But deep down, she just doesn't want her hero to get overwhelmed or stressed under her watch.
Maddie will still act professionally around you. She's your boss, after all, and she wants you to see her as such. But underneath that professionalism, she desperately wants to know you. Not just the hero everyone knows, but the person underneath the mask, underneath the powers, and underneath all the stories she's heard about you. She wants to understand the man who unknowingly helped shape the hero she became.
And honestly, discovering that you have flaws, insecurities, or struggles would only make you more amazing in her eyes. To Maddie, being a hero was never about being perfect. Seeing that you can laugh, cry, get angry, feel afraid, and fall in love would remind her that beneath all the incredible things you've done, you're still a normal person just like her. And somehow, that makes you even more of a hero in her eyes.
And, yeah, Maddie is definitely going to sneak in the occasional question about your past. Nothing too invasive, but she'll find little excuses to satisfy some of the theories she's had about you for years. She might ask how your powers work, what goes through your head when you're preparing for a mission, or how you approach certain criminals and situations. Part of it is simple curiosity, but another part of her is quietly studying you, wondering if there are techniques or ways of thinking she can incorporate into her own style of being a hero.
Granted, she probably doesn't realize just how much of her heroic habits were already influenced by you. The way she approaches certain situations, the way she talks to people, and even some of her instincts in the field may have been shaped by watching you all these years. So while Maddie thinks she's learning from you now, she's really just discovering how much of the hero she became was already inspired by the person sitting across from her.
((Honestly, I had a lot of fun with this. If you want a different character or a different fandom to have this prompt, just send in a request))
