Secrets of the family
Parent & Child hero reader | 2k words
You play Crime-fighter at night, bringing justice to the city, while attending school at day time like a normal kid. This becomes your typical routine and your father has no idea about your alternate identity.
You’ve grown used to your father coming home late at night, you don't mind it. What you don't understand is how he sometimes brings himself home injured. When you asked him about this–he simply smiled and said not to worry about it, then proceeded to his room as if he didn't see his own blood pouring on the floor.
You beg to differ of course this worries you! Seeing your father limp through the door makes your heart ache. Sure, he earns a huge amount of money–in an exchange of sacrificing his own health? At this point, you're convinced that he's definitely working as a criminal.
The thought alone raises your concern. Heroes of the city are more aggressive towards criminals these days, beating them up and leaving them half-dead on the streets. Knowing this as you are a hero yourself. You dare not to imagine his beaten body on the streets just because he works as a criminal for a living.
So long as he continues his work, your worries about him won't fade and you're tired of this, you're tired of seeing your father hurt every time he goes home. You hope to find this "villain side" of him soon and convince him to look for a normal job where hurt isn't involved...
Deep down, the whole idea of your father being a criminal is ridiculous. He's not a bad person, it's that–you assumed the worst of him since he never talked about his work to you at all, nor did he mention heroic deeds either if he was, a Hero. Isn't that something to brag about, when people praise for his noble work protecting the city?
The next day of your class. You were zoning out and didn't really care about Ms. teacher's lesson about the history you live in, only for your ears to be wide clear the moment she mentions someone you recognize. It's about the city's representative: Superhero. The current protector of the city. You subconsciously glance at the window, seeing the hero tower at a distance reminiscent of his symbol.
You admire him. His confidence and fighting skills are just, amazing. He does not back down despite the challenges. You want to be like him, to fight and protect your home. Maybe one day you save your father from his villainy, you could make him proud of you too.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
You still ponder about your idol on your way home, tracing down the familiar path. The atmosphere felt still, soothingly nice and quiet the way you wanted. That is, until you hear murmurs of voices getting louder, a silhouette of shadows emerges on tracks blocking your way. You glance up and see a crowd of people gathered on the road, all too excited about someone.
"Whoa, what's going on, is there a celebrity?"
You went along the crowd to see who it is, everyone here has their phones up while you struggle to find the right spot. And finally, with a small glimpse you saw of an all too familiar outfit–
Gasp, it's Superhero! Your heart flutters seeing him in the crowd, he seems to have an assistant beside him doing their best settling down the overwhelming crowd. You wish to tell Superhero of how much you're a big fan, If you could get closer.
Amidst the chaos–there's no way you can get to him. You're a nobody, like everyone else. You can only see a small portion of your idol among the crowd, the sun is also completely out. Left with no choice, you turn around and skip this moment. You still have other things to do anyway.
Just as you're heading out, you feel strange yet a familiar presence following you. Looking back only to meet his gaze, the one you're supposed to see a moment ago–out of everyone's thirst for attention you're the one that he took interest, despite that you're no longer in the crowd.
...or Perhaps Superhero must have seen you leaving his presence, a silent question 'why would you miss the chance to meet the City's greatest hero?'
The assistant is already seeing double, exhausted dealing with the overwhelming crowd. They notice their superior is acting strange, his eyes beyond people's view. Worried, the assistant shook his shoulder, snapping him out of the trance–
"S'hero, Superhero! What are you doing? Everyone's waiting for you!" They whispered, scolding his unprofessionalism.
His body flinched but quickly went back to his posture "Huh? Oh, right. I thought I saw..." He points out at the distance but you're nowhere to be found.
"...someone"
The assistant shook their head, "Think about that later! We have people to deal with."
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
You suit up and take down small petty criminals at night, then go home like nothing happened. You change to casual clothes and wait for your father, but knowing his work schedule—like a workaholic he is.
You're about to go upstairs when you hear the front door creak. You immediately rush down the stairs to see your father–expecting him with cuts and bruises again but to your surprise, he's damped in sweat like he just fell from a pond.
"Goodness, wonder what happened to you?" You asked. Silently relief knowing he isn't hurt this time. You secretly put away the medical kit and went next to him on the sofa.
Your father sighs tiredly, his body left with exhaustion "Heh, well let's just say... I was chased by a lot of people."
You raise your eyebrows questionably. Now that's new... usually he gets injuries from work but never once being chased.
"Oh come on. Don't look at me like that, sunshine! it's not like I got hurt this time."
"Yeah, well... at least that's an improvement." Perhaps your father got lucky to be outrun by some brutal heroes.
He paused for a moment, not liking where this was going. "Let's... not dive into this subject further, I bought us some dinner though." He presented a delicious packed food from his bag, the aroma is already seeping through–your eyes flickered bright. Both of you ate the meal at the end of the day.
You just entered the school courtyard when you can already hear students screaming and bolted past you towards the gates, you stood clueless by their terrified look... should you go along with them? Nah. You're a hero, instead of running away you look for the source of the cause instead.
You head deeper to the school's heart, seeing side structures broken down to pieces. And most of all; an ominous figure stood at the center, surrounded with dark energy. It's none other than a most dangerous mastermind criminal; Supervillain.
Facing the mastermind criminal is definitely not what you expect. You never actually met him during your hero-duties and yet here he was, causing destruction at the school you attend to.
Seeing Supervillain's powerful capabilities, there's no way you stand a chance against him. You'd rather not risk your life and wait for other heroes to deal with him instead.
You'd secretly hope the villain didn't see you here and slowly tip-toed away, he seem rather busy whatever the schemes are...
The moment you turn back, someone bolted and you were snatched off the ground. Carrying you high up in the air as you dangle in their arms for dear life.
"Let me go!" You scream, panic rises as you struggle to fight off the grip. Supervillain simply laughs "You want me to drop you and splat like a pancake?"
You didn't say anything, anxiety overwhelms you. Having to not face a dangerous criminal before, not realizing a silent tear falls free on your face. "Aww, don't cry little one." He coos and wipe off your single tear "Just hold still and you won't die."
Supervillain continues to glide high above the sky as you helplessly cling onto him, fearing he might drop you off anytime, and he knows it.
Live cameras are targeted towards the hovering criminal. The world is watching, anticipating his next move. Supervillain is delighted.
"O dear nemesis! Come out, come out now! Otherwise, this hostage will never see the light again!" He laughed menacingly.
As quick as lighting. Superhero shows up and boy, he looks pissed. Before Supervillain could even start the monologue–the crime fighter lunges forward and tackles him, freeing you from the villain's clutches. However, it doesn't mean you escaped from falling to death. Superhero realized his mistake and immediately went after you, grabbing you just in time before your feet touched the ground.
Superhero cradles you as you tightly clung to him, fearing for your life. He murmurs comforting words as you're in a panicked state. When you're finally at ease, you look up to your savior with big, watery eyes.
"S'superhero?" You whispered.
The master crime-fighter simply smiles, his heart strings tugged by just looking at your adorable face. He puts you down and gently pats your head, then flies up and chases after his nemesis.
You witness your savior disappear from the sky, sadly, it's too high up as you only see a silhouette of movements and their abilities clashing—
A light shuttered in front of your face. You didn't notice the reporters and cameras surrounded you, bombarding with questions:
"What happened up there?"
"How did the villain get you?"
"Did you witness their powers?"
"How does it feel to be saved by Superhero?"
Tsk! Reporters, they didn't even ask if you were okay, can't they see you just got threatened by a dangerous criminal?! Nevermind being saved. You simply declined their questions and told them to leave, save those cameras for the City's Savior! But their brain is dense as a rock and still insists, begging for more info about you.
You finally had enough of their nonsense and with no second thought–you bolted. Away from the nuisance. You turned around the corner of the streets and hid behind the dumpsters, hoping they slipped past where you went, and it worked! As soon as their footsteps faded, you sprang out of your hiding spot and ran home.
You opened the door after the long run, you placed down your backpack and flopped on the sofa, not bothering to change your school clothes as you're too tired to care. You grab a pillow, put it on your face and sigh heavily.
Not long after, your heart jumps by the sound of the door slamming wide open.
"My little Sunshine, are you alright?! I saw you the news earlier and came here as soon as I could." Your father looks like he ran a mile with that heavy breath and all and swiftly rushed to your side.
"Are you hurt, do you need any medication?" He grabs your arms to check any signs of bruises, then he cups your face inspecting each side of your chin. His expression is frantic and worried, since when did he care about your well being?
"I'm fine, dad. Not like I was hurt anyway."
Your father sighs in relief and hugs you protectively. "I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw you fall down" he murmured, holding you tighter "you could have died for all I know."
You hide your face on his shoulder, you don't want to remember that. Your father senses your discomfort and gently rubs your back, stroking your hair softly.
Now that you think about it how did he even know about your situation, or knew you were home today? Wasn't he like–working most of the time? You still have no idea what his work truly is about.
Suddenly your father snapped, like he just woke up. He lets you go from an embrace and goes straight towards the door...
"W-wait dad! you're leaving? But you just got here" You felt hurt and disappointed, the overwhelming emotions that happened today were exhausting. But seeing him leaving just like that adds salt to a wound–as if he didn't consider your emotional state.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry sunshine. I won't take long, I promise." He smiled in reassurance and left the house.
