#anywah i hope whoever requested this finds it atleast decently enjoyable

[muses-of-the-mind]

Hi ! I absolutely love your writing and saw you had requests open!

Could I request a hero who was beloved by the city who was also super naive and trusting . Only to be betrayed by the agency and given to Supervillain as a bargaining chip? Maybe hero gets brainwashed by Supervillain into to thinking only they ever cared for Hero and kept Hero locked up for their own good

The Comfort In Your Lies

Hero’s hands shook as they gripped the paper tighter, willing it to ground them to reality. Doubt had planted itself in their mind after the first few of the Agency’s failed “attempts” at rescuing them but they would have never, not in a million years, expected this.

The document swam in their vision as they tried to place the words together; it looked like an agreement of sorts. Their’s, Supervillain’s and Superhero’s names glared out at them from the sea of blurriness.

Hereby offer……peace treaty…no attack on citizens…

Hero gasped, nausea hitting them as they read through the text and spotted their name. They gripped the table to anchor themselves, barely hearing the creak of the door over their heartbeat thrumming in their ears.

“No, don’t set them for tomorrow, I specifically mentioned it was—“

The intruder’s eyes flicked to Hero crouched over the table and they stopped dead in their tracks. Supervillain mumbled something into their phone and cut the call, striding towards Hero with the practiced smile on their face.

They moved to put a hand on Hero’s shoulders but paused when they caught sight of the crumpled papers in their hands. Understanding, along with a brief panic, entered the villain’s eyes and they dropped their arm. They quickly covered it up with a look of pity, attention now focused on the hero.

“I see you’ve found the…contract. Admittedly, I didn’t do much of a good job hiding it.”

Hero continued to stay silent, though Supervillain caught note of the slight shaking of their shoulders. They spoke after a few minutes, not much and so quietly that Supervillain almost missed it.

“Why?”

Their body turned slightly towards Supervillain, just enough so that they could see the glistening in the other’s eyes.

“Did I do something wrong? Was I not good enough for them?”

Supervillain cut them off, turning Hero to face them completely. It was no surprise that they didn’t meet a single one of their gazes. “Of course you were. They just don’t know how to treat true potential when they see it.”

When the crime stopper continued staying silent, Supervillain sighed, running a hand down their arm. Goosebumps emerged on their bare skin and Hero couldn’t suppress their shiver.

From the few weeks Hero had been forced to stay at Supervillain’s lair, they came to learn that the criminal wasn’t like what they expected at all. When they were (allegedly) kidnapped, Hero had expected a cell with termites crawling through and rust peeking at the intruder in it’s home. They had expected starvation and the cruel types of torture they had so popularly heard tales about. Instead, they got a criminal who liked to sing off-key and a warm smile from them whenever they passed through the corridors. They almost seemed like a normal, regular civilian who Hero couldn’t resist seeking interest in.

Hero had thought it strange at first and they noted it to inform the agency, but now the reason was obvious, written in ink and sitting in their hands.

“Let me tell you a secret, little one.”

Hero’s watery eyes snapped up to meet the villain’s green ones. And perphaps they should have felt remorse or some kind of empathy for the doe eyed do-gooder, perhaps they should have stopped the cruel ploy right then and there but Supervillain couldn’t help themselves.

“There is no place in this world for people like us.”

“People like u-us?”

Supervillain nodded, “People who are taken advantage of and misunderstood. The cowards of the world prey on us because they know the truth of our power, they know we can’t be allowed at our full potential. They know that once we are, it will be impossible for them to stop us.”

Their still hand drew slow circles on Hero’s arm, “But you have nothing to worry about. You stay here with me and no one, not even Superhero, will dare to take advantage of you.”

They ran a hand through their hair, sobering up a bit, “Though, I will admit it was wrong of me to hide this from you. You deserved to know about it. But Hero,” Supervillain’s eyes set aflame with intensity, burning into the other’s face, “You have to know I only did it to protect you. I value and I care about you more than anything and I couldn’t just stand by and watch while that wretched Agency worked you to the bone. So when they offered me a chance to maybe help you, in whatever little way it may be, I couldn’t— I couldn’t resist.”

They sighed, looking as though they were in knots, pretending like the lies weren’t dripping from their tongue like honey.

Hero knew they shouldn’t trust Supervillain. That was the number one basic rule they were taught at the Agency: don’t trust villains. But oh god if their words didn’t feel like a warm blanket, drowning them in comfort though made of deception.

Hero had never been appreciated by the Agency before, not in words and certainly not in actions. They had learnt to make themselves content with the scraps they were given and the simple, probably empty, words from Supervillain felt like more of a treasure than the Agency ever felt.

The tears finally spilled over and they clung to Supervillain as sobs shook them over. They criminal held them tight, carding a hand through the other’s hair, “It’ll be okay. I have faith you’ll soon be on the right path.”

And, Supervillain’s lips curled in a small smile, the hero unaware of it’s existence, they knew exactly what the hero’s true, right path entailed.