Array
(
[text] =>
“So… have a safe trip and stuff… ” Vendetta said, as he watched Zero put his suitcase in the cab trunk.
“Whoa. You should at least pretend to care whether or not I make it back home. ” his brother replied.
The younger villain chuckled. “Look both ways before crossing the street and don’t talk to strangers,also make sure to eat your potato puddings ! ” he mocked as he pinched Zero’s cheeks.
His older brother laughed and ruffled his hair.
“I’ll visit again soon. Maybe next time you’ll wait for me, I dunno, in one piece ? ”
“Maybe.”
Scowling towards his brother, Zero turned around and got inside the cab. The driver started the car and Vendetta watched as the vehicle got tinier and tinier as it went further and further away from him, taking with it the only companion the villain had. As he felt the loneliness once again embrace him, the smile on his face got replaced by his typical neutral expression
With a sigh, he went towards the building behind him to get into his apartment. As you entered it, you could see there was only one person living in there, seeing as there was no privacy. The first room was huge, including the kitchen, living room and bedroom. There weren’t any walls separating them.On a deck there was the kitchen side, and going down the two stairs of the deck you entered the living room. A couch, a coffee table,a TV and a book shelf. Around 5 meters to the right there was a king sized bed, a night stand, desktop, computer and all that stuff, next to which there was the bathroom. The walls consisted of plain orange bricks, and the floor was made of wenge wood. The furniture was black, white and brown. It was a good looking place his brother bought him.
Sitting at his desk, he wondered what to do now that things were so different between him and the hero. Would they go back to normal if he was to rob a bank or anything like that ? Would they fight the same ?
Sighing, he closed his eyes and leaned back on his boss chair. He needed some time at the gallery.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
“Put your hands in the air and the money in this bag ! ” the masked man yelled.
Vendetta was at his gallery, in his human appearance of course, and found himself being robbed by a random thief. The worst part was that he had to act like a citizen. A helpless, innocent citizen. Oh the irony of it all !
“How am I supposed to put the money in the bag with my hands in the air-“
“Don’t play the smarty pants with me ! I’m the one with the gun ! Now. Just put your hands in the air and go in that corner, while I take care of the money myself. ”
Vendetta shook his head, smiling.
“Are you suicidal or something ?!”
The villain could recognize a killer when he saw it. And this was not a killer. This was just a desperate man who needed money for whatever reason. Probably a lost bet or something.
Realizing he was not really acting the way a human was supposed to in a situation like that, he just raised his hands and watched with annoyance as the man got closer to the cash register.
“Actually, I changed my mind. ” Vendetta snapped, grabbing the man by the arm then punching him. He quickly recovered and hit him in the head with the grip of the gun. He lost his balance and the thief shoved him on the table the cash register was on. He tried getting up, but the man just pushed him back holding him by his neck, in a position he found vulgar and unsettling.
“Whoa, pretty boy ! You sure have balls ! Actually… Lets make sure you actually do, shall we ?” He said with a mischievous tone.
Vendetta started struggling, but it was in vain. He just hoped the man wouldn’t do such thing in front of the clients around them. However, when he heard the zipper of his pants being pulled open, he gulped down the fact that yes, he would.
When the silence was cut by the sound of the bell, signalizing that someone entered, he considered becoming a christian just to thank God for whatever it was that got him out of that situation.
But, as he glanced towards the door, he took that thought back.
Blaze, of course, was the one to enter the gallery. Taking in the scene, Blaze’s eyes widened in anger. Seeing Victor bent over a table, with a masked guy’s gun at his temple and his free hand down the artist’s pants, Blaze felt like burning that thief alive not just to save the day, but to see him suffer.
He walked in front of the man and picked him up by the collar. With a strong grab, he slammed the bastard against the wall and watched as his body fell on the ground. He had to keep himself from killing him, he was the hero after all. But the thought of just leaving the police men to take care of him almost made him tear the guy’s skin off.
Turning his head towards Victor, who hasn’t moved from his position in shock, he took in the image of his bleeding head. The cheers from the clients around him and the sound of the police cars filled the silence, while Blaze walked towards the injured man. When he reached him, Vendetta finally got on his feet and zipped his pants up, then fixed his clothes, not making eye contact. It was so weird to know Blaze didn’t recognize him ! He felt like if he’d look at him for too long, the hero would recognize his face.
“Are you okay ? ” The taller man asked worried.
Touching his bleeding head, he stiffened. It would heal fast, and if the hero would notice, he’d catch on the fact that something was up.
“Let me clean that for you. ” Blaze said, taking a wet napkin an old woman offered him. Vendetta just took it from him and started wiping off the blood by himself. As he finished, he kept another one on his wound so the hero wouldn’t notice it’s healing process.
“Young man, you should know to back off when it’s the case. My dad always taught me to do so,back on my days ! ” The old woman lectured Vendetta wisely, to which Blaze smiled and Vendetta just looked away embarrassed.
“Well…I shall fly away now. ” The hero said, watching the thief being carried into the ambulance.”Take care and don’t mess with people with guns. ” he added with a grin, then winked and left. Vendetta was taken aback by the gesture. He wasn’t sure if it was a flirty sort of wink, or if it was a friendly sort of wink. And he didn’t want to find out either.
Waiting for the panicked clients,calling their close ones to tell them the happenings, to get out of the gallery, he wondered if he was supposed to go home. Deciding he was not in the mood to walk home just then, he turned the sign on the door to announce that the gallery was closed, then went and sat on the chair next to the table. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back and enjoyed the coziness of the boss chair.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Vendetta woke up to the sound of knocking. Opening his eyes, he was ashamed to realize he fell asleep in the gallery. It was dark, and the clock on the wall said it was 9 in the evening. Looking out the wall size window, he saw Blake in the dull light of a street lamp, who was about to knock again before he realized Victor woke up. Vendetta rushed to the door and unlocked it, letting the taller man enter.
“Hey ! Are you okay ? I heard what happened ! Thanks God Blaze came in time, right ? ” he said the moment he stepped inside the gallery.
“Uh… yeah, I guess so…. ” Vendetta said, rubbing the sleepiness off his face and feeling slightly annoyed by having been reminded that he got once again saved by the hero. Looking up at Blake, he realized his expression changed. He was now looking at Vendetta with a puzzled face.
“Uh… I heard you got hit in the head pretty bad… It looks all healed up now..” he said.
“Oh.. ” –shit-. ” It wasn’t that bad of a injury… He barely touched me. ” Vendetta lied, hoping Blake didn’t get enough information about the happening to suspect anything. “Wow.. Rumors spread fast…” he added.
“Yeah… It’s a small town and all… ” Blake replied, his face holding the same puzzlement, as he looked at Vendetta’s temple, appearing to be in deep thinking.
After a few seconds of silence, Blake seemed to snap back to reality, as if remembering why he was there in the first place.
“By the way, you worried me, you know ? You were gone for like 3 days or so, and it was really creepy to see the gallery closed, without a sign anywhere telling that you were off to some trip or anything… So what happened ? “
“Oh.. about that, I just.. I got really sick, and I didn’t feel like coming all the way to the gallery to announce it… Besides, I just didn’t feel like anybody would care why it was closed as long as it was. ” he lied again, to which he got a glare in response.
“There were two girls who came here every single day to check on you, they were worried as much as I was. You underestimate yourself ! “
Vendetta just coughed, trying to change the subject.
“Thanks for showing up, otherwise I would have woke up tomorrow morning with a bunch of people on the other side of the window laughing at me. ” he sighed. ” I need a coffee. ” he then added.
“May I join you ? ” Blake said, replacing the glare with a small smile.
“Yeah, why not… ” Vendetta said, pretty unsure. He wasn’t planning on having any human friend and didn’t want to get too close to Blake. If he was going to find out Victor was Vendetta, he would probably freak out and call the cops.
Meanwhile, from Blaze’s point of view, things were different. Looking at Victor and his pale, complex and lonely self, he couldn’t bring himself to leave him alone. Even if Victor was to find out Blake was the hero of the town one day, he didn’t think Victor would hate him, even if he said he was more on Vendetta’s side.
After Blaze opened the door for Victor, they both went towards the nearest Cafe.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
As they got there, they chose a table at the back of the cafe, right next to a window.
“So, how was it like ? ” asked Blake out of the blue.
“What was it like to what?” replied Vendetta, confused.
“To be saved by Blaze.” clarified Blake, with some sort of cocky grin on his face.
“Well… Embarrassing. ”
“Embarrassing ?”
“Yeah… I mean I got pretty humiliated by that thief guy, and then The Hero had to top it off by saving me like I was a helpless princess or something…” Vendetta grunted.
“Come on, Victor ! You should be thankful he did, because – from what I heard – that guy had no good intentions.”
“Where have you heard so many stuff from anyway ? “
“A friend of mine was there…” Blake said, breaking the eye contact.
Vendetta just sighed, and moved his attention to the waitress who just got to their table. He was about to ask for his coffee when Blake interrupted.
“Two hot chocolates, please.”
“Okay, anything else ?” the young woman asked kindly.
“No,thank you ! ”
After watching the waitress walk away, Vendetta turned his head towards Blake with a questioning look on his face.
“I came here for coffee.”
“It’s late and coffee won’t let you sleep. Hot chocolate will be enough to keep you awake until you get home.”
Vendetta scowled.
“And I will pay for it.” added Blake.
“There’s no need to do that, but I am well aware that you’ll insist on doing so, therefore I will not even bother to argue.” Vendetta said monotonously, before moving his green eyes on the view outside the window. He decided on acting colder towards Blake, not liking the way he seemed to make his way into his business. Also, he was feeling uncomfortable thinking Blake could suspect his being evil. The human knew too much about what happened in the gallery and asked too many questions.
“Victor ? Come on, it’s just hot chocolate ! I can go ask for coffee if you really want to…”
Vendetta rolled his eyes and didn’t manage to hold back the smile making its way on his face.
“You’re confusing me, Victor…Are you bipolar or something ? ” Blake asked jokingly.
“Yeah, I’m totally — ” Vendetta was about to say, then stopped abruptly. Bipolar was close to what he was. He was a random citizen one day, a super-villain the other. “— bipolar..” he finished softly,hoping Blake wasn’t thinking the same way he did. The human just laughed, and looked up as the waitress came back. She placed the two cups of hot chocolate on the table, then left.
“So. Tell me more about yourself ”
~~~~~
The two men got out of the Cafe, laughing, having been the last ones to leave. It was night time,and the cold air of Autumn bit at Vendetta’s bare hands, which he tried to warm by rubbing them against each other. Blake noticed that, and didn’t hesitate before saying:
“You know what they do in the movies in this kind of situation ? ” he asked, as he got a glove off his left hand, then offered it to the shorter man.
Vendetta looked at the glove.
“What. ”
“Put it on your left hand. ”
He did so, then looked at the other man confused. Then, all of a sudden, Blake locked their bare hands together. The villain stopped walking abruptly, shocked at what the human just did. He felt his hand getting warmer and warmer from Blake’s touch. Not only the hand, but his entire body, as he felt the blush shine on his cheeks.
“Don’t look so worked up ! If this is uncomfortable, I can just give you both gloves. But I figured I’d be warmer..” Blaze said, grinning at Victor’s expression.
“Isn’t this… ” Victor tried, but didn’t seem to find his words.
Blaze was amused by the way the blushing human was acting. He never got so close to a human before, and didn’t even try to convience himself that what he was doing was just to joke around with Victor. He really had a soft spot for the vulnerable looking person in front of him. Maybe more than a soft spot. He knew it was just their second time in their lives talking, and knew he was rushing things up,but he couldn’t help it. He felt like he knew Victor since ever.
If he only knew how right he was.
[text_hash] => 038ef8ea
)