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“Wakey wakey!” a husky voice brought Vendetta out of his dream which consisted of him at a pet store wanting to buy a giraffe. He groaned and buried himself further down under the blanket, blocking the pale sun of the winter from disturbing him.
He felt the blanket being slowly dragged away from him until his face was uncovered, and then something warm and wet was making its way on his face. Managing to move his heavy eyelids, he was met with the sight of a black shape. He blinked a couple of times to focus his vision and realized that the cat, Jack, was licking his face.
As soon as he managed to process that, he sat straight up and shoved the cat away from him, but, much to his disappointment, it swiftly landed on the ground, not the least harmed. He groaned in annoyance and was planning on continuing his sleep, but after letting his head fall back down on its initial position, he realized the pillow wasn’t there anymore. He left out a loud moan of despair, his nerves having met the edge.
He closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the lack of pillows, until he heard the window next to the bed open. Much to his horror, the blanket on top of him was snatched away as well, leaving him under the horribly cold wind, snowflakes making their way on his bed.
“Holly shit I’m awake close the fucking window you jackass!” he yelled loudly, curling into a ball to keep himself warm. The window was soon closed but the cold air was still there, leaving him trembling in the middle of the king sized bed.
“Get up now!” Vladimir insisted, grabbing him by the shoulder and shaking him violently.
With a groan, Vendetta stretched and rolled around in the bed until he fell off with a loud thud, thud soon followed by loud laughter coming from Vlad. After standing up, he went to the bathroom and washed his face. When he got back in the room, the other villain wasn’t by the bed anymore. Following the sweet smell of caffeine, Vendetta reached to the kitchen where Vlad was sitting with two cups nicely placed on the table.
After taking a seat across Vlad and sipping from his cup, he faced the man in front of him, with a frown plastered on his face.
“When are we gonna rob that bank exactly? ” he asked bitterly.
“Tonight. we’re gonna have to sneak in here with the money after taking them, and at night time it’s going to be easier.” Vlad clarified, then jumped in his seat the moment Vendetta punched the table furiously.
“Then why the actual fuck did you wake me up so early.” he growled, his patience long since lost.
“Well someone made me sleep on the couch, keeping a freaking king sized bed to themselves. Let me tell you, that couch isn’t as comfortable as it looks, and I barely managed to sleep. After waking up way too early for my liking, I felt lonely and bored. So here we are.” Vladimir explained with a grin, then resumed sipping his coffee.
“You woke me up because you were bored…”
“Pretty much yeah. Anyway, I came up with a plan while I was suffering on that couch, sleepless and cold under the frightening darkness of the night…” he sighed dramatically. “It seems that you and Blaze have a thing together, so I was thinking you could distract him seductively while I would go and steal the money from the bank.” he proposed.
“Uh… We have been ignoring each other for a while now, I think that me randomly deciding to hump him in public would give him a clue on what would be going on.” Vendetta replied, irony dripping from his tone.
“Well yeah, you could do that or you could fight him. As long as he’s distracted it’ll do.” Vlad shrugged.
The villain sighed and lowered his head, staring at the black liquid in his cup. After thinking about it, he realized he over reacted at hearing that Blake was Blaze all along. He had reasons to be mad, of course, but going as far as ignoring him for good was kind of too much. And now he even teamed up with someone else against the hero. He managed to make it seem like Blaze was the victim in the situation all along…And he probably was.
Gulping down the guiltiness, he nodded.
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Vendetta stood in front of the bank, watching Vladimir enter. He started nervously shifting his weight from foot to foot, looking around. A long while ago he figured how the mechanism on the hero’s tie worked. Whenever something happened, the policemen were announced. At the police station, there would be this man who stood at a computer and whenever asked, he’d introduce some code to access Blaze’s mechanism, making it beep to signalise that his help was needed. So it was just a matter of time until the hero would show up.
It seemed that Vladimir knew what he was doing,though. The bank was really quiet, meaning he knew how to handle a security system. With a sigh of relief, Vendetta thought that maybe the hero wouldn’t show up after all, since Vlad would probably manage to be quiet enough and not start the alarm, therefore not alerting the police men.
Straightening his back and taking a deep breath, the villain managed to calm down a bit. Maybe things wouldn’t be as complicated as he imagined them to be. With a sigh, he looked up at the sky, watching the snowflakes dance around him peacefully, and closed his eyes the moment one of them touched the bridge of his nose.
Hearing the snow squeak under heavy steps, he turned his head curiously towards the source of the sound. His eyes widened the moment he met the orange, glowing pair surrounded by the pitch black mask. The man in front of him held a hurried, eager and relieved expression.
Vendetta couldn’t move his body at the sight, and soon found himself helpless while the hero quickly flew towards him. He felt the cold wind of winter being replaced with a comfortable wave of warmness the moment arms were wrapped around him, the impact making him stumble a few steps backwards. But, as if on impulse, his own arms wrapped around the hero’s neck in a strong hug, his body trembling in pleasure at the missed gesture. They stood like that for a while, surrounded by the darkness of the quiet night, just living the moment, until Blaze found his words.
“Vendetta, what happened? I read from the newspaper that you went to meet with the newcomer then followed that cat of his and no one knows what happened between the two of you! I was worried sick, Vendetta, what happened? Did you fight?” he asked eagerly, then gasped and put distance between the two of them and placed his hands on Vendetta’s shoulders, examining him. “Are you hurt anywhere? “
“Blaze, stop. I’m fine…” Vendetta interrupted him, looking anywhere but at him.
“Please tell me what happened.. And what are you doing here? What’s going on, Vendetta?”
The villain sighed and took Blaze’s hands away from his shoulders, then hugged him once again.
“You’ll find out soon enough…” he said, burying his face in the crook of the hero’s neck.
“What…” the hero trailed off, then his head quickly turned towards the bank. “Wait…” he shoved Vendetta away. “The mechanism on my tie went off yet you’re out here…” he processed out loud. Looking at Vendetta’s guilty expression, his face turned from confused to hurt. And the moment he saw the bank’s door being opened, and no one other than Vladimir with a sack of money exiting the building, his face embraced a furious frown.
Without even a glance towards the villain, Blaze flew straight towards Vlad, tackling him to stairs he didn’t manage to climb down all the way.
“Hello there Blaze! ” Vladimir greeted with a big grin on his face. “Fancy seeing you her-” he continued, but was interrupted the moment Blaze punched him in the face without as much as a second of hesitation and then watched as blood soon escaped Vlad’s lips.
As he was about to aim another one, the man under him reached to his weapon support and took his blade out then shoved it in his hips, spinning it mercilessly. The hero held a groan from escaping his teeth, then let his head fall on Vlad’s chest, crouching in pain. He then reached a trembling hand to cover the one holding the blade and managed to pull the weapon out, a loud moan of pain filling the air.
Vladimir roughly shoved the hero off of him, then got on his feet and grabbed the sack, running down the stairs. Blaze, though, didn’t seem to give up just yet, and sat up holding his injured hip, with a free hand creating a ball of fire. After aiming, he sent the ball flying towards the running villain.
Vendetta watched the whole scene frozen, but the moment he saw the fire quickly approaching the other villain his whole body contracted and instantly he was running as fast as he managed towards Vladimir. As soon as he was close enough he tackled him to the ground, the fire ball barely having missed them.
“Thank me later.” he mumbled, then helped Vlad up and ran, still holding his arm so he could keep up.
After running awhile, he turned his head to make sure they weren’t followed and let out a sigh of relief the moment he saw no sight of the hero. With a grin on his face he turned his head forward, only to be met with a solid surface, the sudden impact making Vlad stumble into Vendetta.
Simultaneously looking up, the two villains were not surprised to see Blaze, who was glaring daggers at Vladimir and Vladimir only. Vendetta could feel pain creep up his chest at seeing the way he avoided eye contact.
Gulping, he reached both his hands to the hero’s face, cupping his cheeks to lower his head so their eyes would meet. Still, the hero was staring at the other villain, his eyes embracing orange flames of hatred.
Closing his eyes, Vendetta raised on his toes and slowly approached Blaze’s face, then touched his lips with his mask in an indirect kiss. Even trough the cold, iron mask he could feel the warmness of the hero’s lips on his own. He mentally cursed the barrier between them, missing the kisses they shared too little times.
After backing off, he was pleased to find that he got what he wanted. Eye contact. Their eyes met, and they both got lost in each other’s gazes for what felt like seconds, before Vendetta felt his arm being grabbed and soon enough the sight of the hero disappeared.
Shaking his head, he managed to focus, watching as Vladimir dragged him away from the scene in a rush. Getting back his senses, he started running himself, catching up with the other villain.
And so, they ran all the way home, hand in hand, with matching grins on their faces.
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“Hello.”
Vendetta froze, keeping his gaze fixed on the table in front of him.
“Hello.” the voice repeated, now the bitterness clear and obvious.
The villain gulped, then, after taking a breath, slowly dragged his eyes higher and higher, taking in the sight of the person in front of him. The moment his view reached the man’s chest he stopped, not daring to make eye contact.
“How may I help you?” he asked trying to sound unfazed , but his voice came out shaky and unsure.
“Quit the act, Vendett-” the man started, but was interrupted the moment Vendetta coughed loudly, giving him a knowing look. “-Victor. ” he corrected himself. “Meet me at the Coffee Shop when you’re done. If you don’t, whatever is left between us ends.” he said in a hurry, then without glancing back, he left.
The villain gasped as Blaze slammed the door close on his way out of the gallery. Gulping, he moved his gaze to the clients which were now paying more attention than he would of preferred. Glancing at the clock he sighed, realizing he had half an hour left to stress over what was going to happen.
He knew he shouldn’t of returned to the gallery in the first place. Now that they had all that money it was kind of useless. But he couldn’t bring himself to just give it up. He enjoyed being surrounded by his art and being appreciated for it.
Looking back at the door, he couldn’t help but be mad that his villain life managed to creep into his human one, bringing unnecessary drama with it.
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Standing in front of the Coffee Shop, he took in the sight of it, remembering the many evenings spent in there with ‘Blake’ . Sighing, he entered and didn’t even have to look around to know he was staying at their usual table. With a small smile he made his way to Blaze, then sat across him.
The hero was looking out the window, and much to the villain’s surprise he didn’t shift his gaze, like his arrival wasn’t something to get his attention. Vendetta not so discretely cleared his throat in order to announce his discomfort, but Blaze remained unfazed, staring at the wind caressing the snow, leaving waves of crystalline dust on its trail.
The villain sighed and moved his gaze out the window as well. So be it, he thought. Saved him the trouble of having to carry an awkward conversation.
After minutes of comfortable silence, the villain was lost in his own thoughts and almost forgot that the hero was sitting across him, he just focused on the world behind the window, thinking about random stuff, like how he promised Vladimir to buy cat food after he would leave the gallery. Oh well, seemed like Jack would have to wait in hunger, he thought with a smirk.
“Hey, you guys came back! Haven’t seen you in a while!” a high pitched voice brought him out of his thoughts. Turning his head, he saw the waitress happily smiling at them with a small notebook in her delicate hands. Since they used to go there a lot, they managed to end up in a few small conversations with the waitress, becoming buddies of some sort. Well, that would only apply on Blaze’s side, Vendetta held a grudge against her the moment she started flirting with the hero about the 3rd time they met.
“Hey, are you two, like, fighting? There’s this black aura all around you.” she said, then laughed to her own joke. Much to the villain’s annoyance, Blaze started laughing as well, giving her a warm look.
“Yeah, we had our misunderstandings and we’re pretty much trying to clear things out. ” he nodded. “We’ll have two hot chocolates.”
“I want coffee. ” Vendetta contradicted rudely, just for the hell of it. Blaze, though, just kept looking at the waitress as she wrote down.
“Would you like cookies with those?” she asked, biting her pencil in a vulgar manner, then placing one of her legs behind the other one, in some sort of anime position attempt.
“Why yes, please. That would be sweet of you” the hero replied, leaning his head on his palm, giving her a charming grin.
Vendetta was boiling up inside. He knew too well he was doing that just to get back at him and that he wasn’t serious about it, but it killed his nerves.
“Get lost and go to the bathroom already, you stand there like you’re about to pee your panties which, by the way, are supposed to be covered by the skirt. And yes, that’s the skirt’s purpose in case you didn’t know.” Vendetta spat bitterly, glaring daggers at the waitress.
As soon as his words left his mouth, he turned his gaze back to the window, not wanting to see their faces after what he just said.
“He just had a bad day, don’t take it personally.” Blaze said apologetically, giving her an embarrassed look. The girl nodded, and her expression somehow turned into pity aimed at Vendetta, which made the villain chuckle. “Add an extra cookie to that, might cheer him up a bit. ” the hero added, patting her hand.
They both laughed, then the waitress turned and walked away, swinging her hips suggestively. Vendetta watched in disgust as Blaze’s eyes, covered by the dark contact lens, contoured her shapes. Gulping the lump formed in his throat, he moved his gaze to the table, playing with his fingers.
Blaze watched the villain and sighed as soon as the familiar feeling of guiltiness hit him. But he was the betrayed one in their attempt of a relationship, so he had every right to act like that, the thought.
“Mind explaining me what’s going on?” he asked after clearing his throat, then watched as Vendetta’s almost saddened expression turned neutral, then his head raised to make eye contact. He was absorbed by the bright green they held, feeling himself about to get lost in them. Those eyes of his always managed to do things to his stomach he couldn’t ever explain in words.
“What. You decided to be a secretive ass so we went on our separate ways, returning to the whole villain-hero situation we used to maintain. And this guy, Vladimir his name is, randomly showed up one day, wanting to, you know, kill the shit out of me. And guess what! I’d rather not bite the dust, so in the end we just agreed to team up. Now that we cleared things out… ” he trailed off, standing up and turning to leave.
Before he got the chance, though, Blaze stood up as well and grabbed his wrist, then pushed him back on his seat in the booth and stood down next to him in order to block his way in case he planned on exiting.
“Vendett-“
“Victor.” Vendetta interrupted loudly, not wanting to be addressed as Vendetta in public while in human looks. Blaze just sighed in annoyance and continued.
“How could you? I mean, I didn’t tell you that thing back then because I was afraid you’d hate me. At least I had a freaking reason, and it shows how much I cared for you! And you just brushed me off instantly, without even letting me explain myself! You just so eagerly broke everything up, then went ahead and teamed up with a stranger! “
“What? Stop making it seem like I’m the bad guy! ” Vendetta snapped, crossing his arms.
“You’re a freaking villain, of course you’re the bad guy! ” Blaze spat, copying the gesture.
“Pffff yeah, because that instantly makes me a soulless douche bag, doesn’t it?”
After not being contradicted like he expected to, he let his anger out by slapping Blaze’s face, the impact making a loud, pleasing sound.
“I’m not a douche bag, you jerk! ” he yelled, offended. By then, they got the attention of the entire Coffee Shop.
“Victor” Blaze growled, accentuating his fake name. “We’re grown up adults, can we carry a decent conversation without getting ourselves kicked out of this place? “
“Oh, so now getting kicked out is suddenly a problem, eh? You didn’t seem to mind it before, when we used to act all homosexual on the waiter! ” Vendetta yelled back, then laughed as he heard the waiter drop a plate of spaghetti on the ground. At the sight, Blaze bit his lip to keep a chuckle from escaping.
“Guys, I brought you the order… And, the manager told me to tell you to keep it down, or else I’m going to have to kick you two out…” the waitress said apologetically, placing the cup of coffee and mug of hot chocolate in front of them, then hurried to help the waiter clean up the mess.
Once everyone got back to minding their own business, Vendetta took the cookie from the little plate under the cup and drowned it in coffee. Blaze just shook his head and took a sip from his hot chocolate, looking at the villain as he ate. Sighing, he reached for his cup and replaced them, getting a questioning look from Vendetta.
“You wanted hot chocolate and you know it. ” he grumbled as an explanation, then started sipping the coffee, avoiding eye contact.
“Whatever.” the other man murmured in response, taking in the smell of the delicious liquid.
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Squeak…Squeak…Squeak….
Ever since they exited the Coffee Shop, the only sound surrounding them was the repetitive sound of the snow, squeaking under their steps.
The lack of conversation between them was more than awkward, especially since they both knew what caused it. They were reliving that one scene after every hang out. Sooner or later, Blaze was going to take out one of his gloves and hand it to Vendetta, then interlock their bare hands.
None of them knew if it was going to happen again, or if it should happen, so they tried their best to just avoid the subject. But, much to Vendetta’s disliking, he forgot his own gloves, and if he thought the Autumn nights were merciless, he had other thoughts coming, because Winter was a complete bitch.
Raising his left hand, he started moving his fingers to get them out of their numb state. He needed his hand to draw, and an ever trembling hand wouldn’t do the job, he thought. And the lack of pockets wasn’t helping.
Sighing, he let his hand fall by his side. A few steps later, he felt something barely touch the tip of his fingers, but he wasn’t sure. His hands were so frozen that his senses were starting to fade. After a while, he felt it again, a ghostly touch on his hand, carefully tightening. Gulping, he looked the opposite direction from Blaze, letting out a shaky breath as warmness folded his fingers.
Something poked him in the shoulder, and after turning his head he saw Blaze holding his glove to him, his face hidden under the dark, silky waves of hair. Blushing, he reached for the glove and slid it on his right hand, then placed his left one back under Blaze’s grasp.
Suddenly, the silence between them turned from awkward to comfortable, and as soon as it did Vendetta approached the hero until their shoulders connected, his whole body slowly greeting the warmness emanating from him.
They reached the bus station and they sat on the bench, then waited. After a few minutes of silence, they both turned their heads at the same time, hesitantly.
The moment their eyes met, waves of butterflies scattered in their stomachs, both sharing the same lust. Blaze leaned towards the villain, Vendetta’s breath tickling the hero’s lips which were trembling in anticipation. They both met in a delicate, ghost like touch, and after seconds of just enjoying the moment, Blaze leaned further and kissed the other man gently, smiling the moment he heard a soft whimper of pleasure.
Suddenly, the villain pulled back, leaving the hero frozen in his position. After opening his eyes, Blaze gave him a questioning look.
“Look, before we get into it, I would just like to clear something out so we wouldn’t have to deal with this later. In case you didn’t figure out already, Vladimir also lives with me.” he said in a hurry, with a guilty grin on his face. “So yeah. Now we can continue.” he finished and leaned forwards to kiss the hero, but he turned his head, Vendetta’s lips landing on his cheek instead.
“You live with him.” the hero deadpanned, to which Vendetta sighed.
“He just came in town. You noticed we formed an alliance. It was pretty obvious if you think about it.”
“Well sorry I didn’t think about it, I was too damn busy feeling betrayed and cheated on to process all that! ” Blaze snapped, crossing his arms and turning his head, leaving the villain both cold inside and outside.
“Blaze…” Vendetta tried softly, not knowing what to say. “I did not cheat on you! We’re just… ” he trailed off, knowing he wouldn’t sound convincing. He started pulling at the sleeve of the hero’s black coat repetitively, trying to get his attention. “Blaze…?”
“I … I love you?” he whispered softly.
That sure got his attention. The hero quickly turned his head towards the villain, making Vendetta slightly jump on his seat at the sudden movement. Feeling uncomfortable under Blaze’s surprised gaze, Vendetta looked away, letting go of his sleeve and scooting further from him on the bench, then started playing with his fingers.
Looking up, they both saw the bus approaching. Gulping, Vendetta stood up as the vehicle stopped, but as he was about to walk towards it he felt the hero pull him back by the arm. Turning, he didn’t even have a chance to protest as lips covered his own, in an eager, deep, passionate kiss. He reflected the movement, putting every emotion he felt into it, ignoring the honk coming from the bus.
He felt something warm and wet slide across his lips, which he then gladly opened for Blaze to explore. He felt his throat vibrate the moment a loud moan made its way out between the interlocked tongues, and soon the silence was replaced with a beautiful duet of pleasure.
With a small bite on Vendetta’s lower lip, Blaze pulled back to admire the other man’s expression. It was just as he imagined. The blush on his cheeks stood in contrast with his pale skin, his wet lips held a goofy smile, yet, what he didn’t expect was the sight of the bright green eyes drowned in a layer of tears about to escape. He reached a hand to his chin, then planted a delicate peck on the corner of his mouth.
Vendetta raised himself on his toes then placed his arms around Blaze’s shoulders in a hug, letting the hero’s warmness protect him from the Winter’s merciless touch. He sighed happily, burying his head in Blaze’s neck, smelling his sweet, addicting cologne.
“Looks like you missed the bus….” the hero whispered seductively after minutes of silence.
Vendetta froze. Letting go of Blaze he turned around quickly and, much to his disappointment, the bus was indeed gone, the sound of its engine was slowly sliding further away from them, and the sight of the vehicle was getting swallowed by the tick fog of the night.
“My place it is, then.” Blaze continued, sneaking an arm around the villain’s waist.
“Your place indeed.” Vendetta winked back.
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Do you like the image I posted? It took hours to edit (and I’m not even kidding) XD So yeah, tell me… stuff 🙂 I like being told stuff … yep..
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