Work Text:
Violet was waiting anxiously by the screen glass door for Tony to show up. She hadn’t heard from him since the incident with the Underminer, and she hadn’t been brave enough to call him about the incident either. She still wondered if she should have told her dad about what happened with Tony and her mask, but she hadn’t summoned the courage to after the government came and arrested them for trying to deal with the underground criminal.
Her gaze twitched as she noticed a car’s headlights and her head turned to see a well-used SUV roll around to the driveway of her family’s new house. The figure at the wheel was a very familiar brown-haired boy.
Violet barely registered opening the door and walking over to where the car had just parked. She was still numb with anxiety as she opened the car door and climbed in without a word. Thoughts tumbled around in Violet’s mind faster than her brother could run. Tony knew she was a super. So what was he thinking right now? Had he told anyone else? Did he have anything against supers? And why on earth had he still come to pick her up!?
It was at this moment that Violet realized that Tony hadn’t said anything either. He just looked down at the steering wheel, his knuckles slowly turning white. As for his expression, he looked...ashamed?
Finally, Tony took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He started with a simple “Hey, Violet.”
Violet responded, “Hey, Tony.”
Violet felt the urge to hide her face with her hair again.
Tony started up the car and backed out of the driveway. For a while, they drove in silence. About a couple minutes later, it struck Violet that Tony was just as confused as she was, but the moment she realized, Tony finally spoke up.
“Violet, I’m...I’m sorry.”
Violet’s head shot around, but before she could finish a thought, he continued. “I’m sorry for what I did yesterday. I’m sorry for just standing there not saying anything, and I’m sorry for running away when I learned you were a super. And before you ask, no, I haven’t told anyone what I learned. So…” Tony paused his rambling tangent and let out another sigh.
“I just...don’t want this to destroy our chances of having a relationship.”
Violet’s eyes widened. It wasn’t just fear of supers or anything like that. Tony was afraid that he knew too much.
Violet finally plucked up the courage to speak again. “While I was growing up, superpowers just seemed normal. Both my parents were famous supers, my annoying little brother is super-fast, and I’ve been turning invisible and conjuring force fields longer than I can remember. But ever since I started playing with kids my age, my parents have told me that I can’t show them around other people. And I didn’t understand why until I was six.
“I was playing a game of hide-and-seek with a few other kids at school, and I was tired of losing all the time. So I just...vanished. And they couldn’t find me, no matter how hard they tried. When I finally came out, this one girl accused me of cheating. The argument turned into a fight. And ever since then, I’ve only ever wanted to be normal.”
“But what you can do is so amazing,” Tony told her.
Violet just gave him a sad smile. “Maybe, but I learned very young that when you stand out like that, it makes you a target. And what can you do when you’re being targeted by the very people you’re supposed to be using your powers to protect?”
“You prove them wrong.”
Caught off-guard by Tony’s statement, Violet could only stare at him. “What?”
Tony explained, “People banned supers because their fights with all those bad guys were causing a whole lot of destruction, right? Well, maybe we need supers like you who can catch the bad guys without any of that so we can show people that having supers is better than not having them. Crime has been a ton worse since supers left, especially since supervillains just ignore the law and keep doing whatever the hell they want. Whether people like it or not, we need the superheroes to come back.”
“And how to we convince people that bringing all the supers back won’t just hurt their lives more?” Violet demanded.
“I dunno, maybe make a superhero school?” Tony suggested. Both of them laughed at the suggestion.
“Well,” Violet ventured, “whatever ends up happening, I’m glad you don’t hate me for being a super, Tony.”
“Are you kidding?” Tony asked. “I already thought you were a nice girl before, if a bit shy, but a super too?”
Violet’s first date to the movies was one of the happiest times in her life.