Chapter Text
Patrol was one of the few things mostly unaffected by the recent developments in Hot Guy’s life. Surveying the city was always the same, there was no need for change. Of course he still made sure the job was done as well as he could, after all if a villain attack happened because he was lazy he would never forgive himself.
The Villies had been causing chaos at a nearby abandoned warehouse earlier that night actually, so Hot Guy’s night had been slightly derailed by that, but that was to be expected. They had become a part of his routine too despite all the confusion they brought him, Watcher in particular. The avian just always knew what to say to make him second guess himself.
Scanning the streets for any runaway Villies, Hot Guy let his mind wander. Echo had cornered him and started asking about Ninja, causing the others to slip away. The faun had been doing that a lot recently, as though she were the one most affected by the hero’s disappearance and not his team.
A flash of red caught his attention in an alleyway just across the road. Both Echo and Eclipse displayed red in their costumes, but not that shade. Hot Guy decided to investigate.
There was shuffling in the alley, quiet footsteps crept further and further away from range. Hot Guy pulled out his bow slowly, approaching the alley with caution. The footsteps suddenly stopped and he jumped in, aiming his bow at-
Grian?
“Well well well, what’s a civilian doing out so late?” It was almost two in the morning for goodness sake! He had heard of the barista’s poor sleeping habits from Jimmy but this was another level. He lowered his bow but kept it out in case a Villie made an appearance.
Grian jumped at the question, blinking rapidly and coughing. “Um! Just taking a walk. Couldn’t sleep.” Hot Guy’s first instinct was to believe the man’s every word, but something sounded…off… about his response.
Instead of questioning him and potentially scaring the civilian he technically wasn’t supposed to know, Scar put on an easy smile,”I don’t know if you know, but there was a Villies attack not too long ago, they could still be out here.” He not so subtly suggested Grian go home for his own safety, as much as he wanted to talk and laugh with the man like usual.
“Was there? Must’ve missed it. Oh well, better head home.” Before Scar could stop him, Grian rushed past him and out onto the street presumably to his home.
He hesitated, debating whether or not to go with him. On the one hand, it would probably be weird for a hero Grian just met two seconds ago to walk him home, but on the other hand the Villies could be anywhere and Hot Guy didn’t want to risk the man getting hurt.
He shook his head,”Oh I can’t just leave you to do that on your own! What if you run into a villain?”
Grian stopped, smiling at Hot Guy uneasily, the complete opposite of how he smiled with Scar. Hot Guy tried not to think about that too much so his heart wouldn’t hurt as much as it already did seeing that. “I’m sure I’ll be fine, plus I don’t want to keep you busy.”
The man was trying to be polite, but there were footsteps in the distance that could easily belong to villains that could hurt him. Scar hated being pushy with this, but it was too dangerous for his friend. “Nonesense! It’s my job dear civilian!” Scar begged him to just go along with it and hate Hot Guy after. He could handle that, he couldn’t handle potentially letting his friend get hurt because of him.
Grian hesitated but eventually nodded slowly,”Well if you insist.” They started walking and Hot Guy could’ve sworn he heard something along the lines of “Least you’re pretty.”
Well. It was possible he misheard, but that didn’t stop him from having a bit of extra bounce in his step. To distract himself from that Hot Guy started up a casual conversation, almost forgetting that the two of them had technically never met,”So, I just realized I never introduced myself, I am Hot Guy, one of the cities heroes and defenders.”
Grian raised an eyebrow at the hand he put out to shake. “Yeah, I know, your face is on a bunch of billboards around the city.” Hot Guy coughed awkwardly, almost putting his hand down before Grain grabbed it gently. “But it’s nice to meet you in person pr- Hot Guy.”
It was absolutely the lighting but Hot Guy could’ve sworn there was a light dusting of pink on the other man’s cheeks that wasn’t there before. Instead of focusing on that, he laughed maybe a bit too loudly,”It’s always good to meet a fan!”
His hand was suddenly dropped as the man rolled his eyes,”Don’t flatter yourself.”
Hot Guy would’ve been offended if he hadn’t recognized the look on Grian’s face as begrudgingly fond, like how he looks around his siblings. So instead, he smirked,”Oh of course, my apologies. Can I ask who your favorite hero is then?”
“That’s easy, Poultry Man.” Grian said with so much confidence Hot Guy almost forgot that wasn’t and had never been a hero.
“Pardon?”
Grian nodded, face entirely serious. “Yep, Poultry Man, defender of all the world’s chickens.” He looked to the sky solemnly.
Hot Guy once again second guessed his knowledge of his coworkers. Had there been a hero he forgot about? Surely he would remember someone as eccentric as Poultry Man right? Grian’s laughter shook him out of his questioning. “Oh you- You almost got me!”
The two of them laughed for longer than they maybe should have, and at some point they stopped walking entirely. It wasn’t nearly as funny as either of them thought it was, but for some reason- probably because it was two AM- it was the funniest thing in the world to the two of them.
“Well isn’t that an odd sight?”
The two froze as from an alleyway, two more figures emerged. The Mean Gills smirked at them, with Listener already pulling out his axe.
Hot Guy moved in front of Grian, instincts taking over. Shifter held up his hands though,”Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” the siren called “We’ll be nice, just hand over the short one’s wallet and we can all be friends.” Listener scoffed but remained silent.
Grian laughed behind Hot Guy, covering his face with his hands,”I hate to disappoint you boys, but I don’t have my wallet on me so you’ll have to move along.” Their eyes widened in surprise when he said that. Honestly even Scar was surprised by his confidence in the situation.
Shifter was about to say something but Listener pointed his axe at Grian interrupting him,”You seriously expect us to believe that? We won’t ask again.” The Mean Gills shared a look, and Shifter pulled out his own bow slowly.
This wasn’t good. Hot Guy was confident in his abilities, but two villains at once? While protecting a civilian? Right after a pretty draining fight with the Villies? But it didn’t look like there was any other option. If he sent Grian to run, one of the Mean Gills would just chase after him.
He stepped more in between him and the villains, preparing for a difficult fight when the Mean Gills suddenly tensed and started backing away. Shifter glanced at Hot Guy and smirked,”Sorry, looks like something came up, you understand. See ya.” He gave a weirdly friendly wave then turned into a parrot and flew away, Listener hot on his tail.
Hot Guy was about to chase after them when Grian coughed behind him. “That was weird huh? I should really get home.” He looked back at where the Mean Gills left. “If you wanna chase after them you can, my apartment’s right here.”
Grian pointed up at the building they were directly in front of, and Hot Guy had to fight the urge to walk him directly to his house. That wasn’t a boundary he wanted to cross the first time they met, even Scar hadn’t been there yet. Despite how open he seemed, Grian was actually a pretty private person. So instead of extending their talk any longer, Hot Guy just nodded and gave the man his best smile.
“Alright, try not to get mugged the second I walk away though?”
Grian laughed that bright joyful laugh he loved so much. “No promises hero, maybe I could meet Poultry Man…” he put on a show of thinking about it.
Hot Guy chuckled,”I thought he only saved chickens? Or at least birds?”
“Maybe he’ll make an exception for his biggest fan.” Grian smirked, turning towards the building before stopping at the door. “But aside from the jokes, you’re my favorite hero, Hot Guy.”
The man rushed inside before he could say anything more, leaving Hot Guy sitting outside the apartment building for longer than was probably socially acceptable. The Mean Gills were definitely too far for him to chase down at this point. So were the Villies come to think of it. He couldn’t bring himself to regret that though, thinking back on the night. He had spent time with his favorite person and made him laugh more than once, that was worth one more day of Villies shenanigans.
***
Scott waited until they were close to the water to descend and shift back into himself. He waited for Martyn in their hideout patiently, running over the last hour carefully.
It wasn’t supposed to be an eventful night, just some quick mugging and maybe vandalism if they’d were feeling fancy, but instead they ran into two of the cities most important figures in recent months. Hot Guy had been leisurely strolling with Watcher (albeit his civilian form, but still) and laughing of all things.
Martyn suggested they ambush them mostly as a joke, assuming Watcher would reveal himself and join in the chaos, but instead he had done something strange. Right when they were about to start the fight, he opened more eyes than they had ever seen him do in person. The man was silent but the message was clear: Back off.
Why? Watcher loves messing with Hot Guy. They weren’t going to actually hurt him or anything. Maybe. Scott couldn’t be held accountable for the heat of the moment. Maybe that’s why? Watcher wants to finish Hot Guy off himself?
Martyn’s footsteps approaching snapped Scott out of his thoughts. “So I’m not the only one who thinks that was weird right?”
“No, I was just trying to figure that out.” Scott relaxed on the couch and sighed, watching Martyn puzzle over the whole thing himself.
Ultimately the blonde gave up and sat down too, turning on the tv for idle noise. “Nope, don’t get it.”
Scott shrugged,”The Villies have always been weird, I gave up trying to understand them a long time ago.”
“That’s right, you’ve known them since high school haven’t you?” As Martin asked, the news was going on about the attack they would no doubt hear about later so Scott made the executive decision to swap to literally anything else.
The mention of high school made him think of Pearl as per usual, reminding him he didn’t know if she got away safely or not. “Yeah, we’re not as close as back then but you know.” He decided to just call her instead of worrying. “Speaking of which, I’m gonna ask Pearl if she knows anything.”
The line buzzed twice before she picked up, cheerfully greeting Scott. “Heya! What’s up?”
“Mostly checking to see how you’re doing.”
There was a slight shuffle on the other end. “Ok, sorry I was double checking if Cleo was asleep. Yeah I got away ok, how about you? No way you’re awake this late if you’re not doing something.”
He smirked at Martyn, who had started brewing tea for both of them,”You could say that. We actually ran into Grian earlier on our way back.”
She laughed,”I’m guessing he did something weird judging by your tone?”
“He was just taking a casual walk with Hot Guy for one, and then he stopped us from attacking him when we ran into each other.”
Pearl was silent for long enough that Scott was worried she hung up on accident, but then she sighed,”That’s right, you haven’t seen him since…” Like the evil woman she was, she left him with that for another long silence. “Sorry Gem was texting, anyways Grian’s got a crush on Hot Guy.”
She said that so casually he almost didn’t think she was being serious. “The hero? The face of the Agency?”
“Yep.” She popped the P at the end. “Don’t worry the rest of us are teasing him plenty for it, but you’re welcome to join in.” Pearl was using the tone she used when she didn’t want anyone to know she was struggling with something.
Scott sighed,”Pearl…”
She at least had the decency to sound guilty. “Scott…”
“How do you really feel about the whole thing?”
Pearl was silent again, but this time he knew she was deep in thought. “…I love my brother. I want him to be happy.”
“And?” Scott knew she would need some pushing if she wanted to get her thoughts out.
More shuffling. “I’m worried this is gonna hurt him. Hurt all of us. But I want to be supportive too.”
Scott hummed in thought, getting up to go to his room so Martyn wouldn’t overhear more than he already did. “There’s only so much worrying you can do Pearl.”
“I know…”
She had been like this as long as Scott has known her, he knew there wasn’t much use in telling her to stop, but it was worth a shot. “I think they’ll be fine. Grian’s smart he knows what he’s doing.”
Pearl giggled a little at that. “Smart? My baby brother?” She went quiet again. “He is, you’re right. It’s just hard growing up being able to protect them from all the world’s harms and then suddenly we’re adults and I can’t do that anymore.”
“Jimmy too?” He had just spoken with the man the other day and he seemed fine.
She hummed in thought. “Well you know, he’s wrapped up in not one but two villain groups. I don’t want to think about what might happen if the heroes find that out.”
Scott didn’t want to think about that either. It was why when he first started doing villain work he tried distancing himself from the man. Of course he’s just as stubborn as his siblings so that didn’t work out but still.
“Maybe I can just kill Hot Guy myself and make it look like an accident…” Pearl mumbled to herself.
Scott looked at the clock on his bedside table and sighed,”Pearl it’s four in the morning you're acting bloodthirsty again.”
The two of them laughed but ultimately they both knew he was only half joking. “Yeah yeah, I’ll head to bed. Night Scott, thanks for talking with me.”
Scott smiled at the album he had been absentmindedly flipping through, pulling out a photo of their group back when they first met. Were he and Pearl still dating in this photo? No, they were standing as far away as they could from each other they had definitely broken up.
“Goodnight Pearl, anytime.” He was glad they eventually got over their nonsense and rekindled their friendship. He couldn’t imagine what his life would look like without these late night talks. “And tell Cleo I said hi.” The three of them really needed to meet up again sometime.
Maybe things had changed since high school after all, Scott thought to himself as he drifted off to sleep. Though, if they did it was for the better.