Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was raining too much for Vigilante to patrol. Normally this would annoy the crime fighter, but when he found himself at your front door again, he couldn’t bring himself to feel that annoyance. All he wanted was to be with you.

He mentioned this the last time he arrived at your house unannounced, you shrugged and said it was normal. You explained that vampires had magnets, that’s why people liked them so much. He wasn’t sure why you couldn’t just get rid of them, but as far as he knew, no one really fully understood magnets anyways.

Not that any of that mattered. What really mattered was the fact that he was now laying down on your couch, holding you in his arms. One of his hands idly scratching at your scalp in a gentle massage.

This was also new. Usually, after an exciting kill on his part and an enthusiastic meal for you, the two of you would cuddle, sure. But you were usually the one holding him, either as a big spoon or he’d bury his face in your chest and hold onto you like a koala.

But this, with him holding you for once, was nice…right up until he felt something.

He blinked, mostly confused, as he pushed himself up slightly and looked at you. “Hey,” he stopped scratching your scalp and moved his hand down to your back.

You didn’t look at him, or even open your eyes. “Hmm..?”

“Are you vibrating?” Even as he asked, he realized that along with the subtle vibrations, he’d been hearing a soft purring, he only missed it because of the loud action movie neither of you were particularly paying attention to.

But as soon as you processed his question you froze and sat up. “No! I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

His eyes went nearly as wide as his smile, “Do vampires purr?!”

You smoothed out your clothes just to avoid looking at his smug face.

“That’s so cool! Peacemaker’s-”

“Don’t!” You turned to him with a growl, flashing your fangs at him. “Don’t tell him, or anyone!”

He grinned and tilted his head back just enough to expose his neck. “Or what?”

You growled again. That audacious son of a bitch. He wanted to provoke you into biting him! If you still lived with your vampire colony, they’d very much classify Adrian as a vampire groupie. He was determined to get you to drink his blood straight from him. Unfortunately for him, you were refraining from live meals these days.

You swiftly reached out and grabbed his chin, your claws digging into this skin with just the slightest bit of pressure, anymore and you’d draw blood.

His breath hitched, his eyes dilating, as you pulled him towards you.

“How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t tempt me.”

Adrian swallowed thickly and licked his lips, “at least one more time.”

That was always his answer.

You rolled your eyes and dropped your hand with a sigh. “Then get out.”

“What?! No!” His voice immediately went from low and gravely to high pitched and whiny. “I won’t do it again, ok!” He reached out and wrapped his arms around you and, even though you could easily break free from his grasp, pulled you back to your previous position, laying on top of him.

“Please! Come on! Let’s at least finish the movie!” He was now holding you like a teddy bear.

You couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped you, “fine. But no more trying to get me to bite you.”

He nodded vigorously, “ok! I won’t ask you anymore.”

You settled down and got back into the comfortable position you had been in before he realized that you’d been purring.

“...I won’t ask you anymore, tonight.”

Chapter Text

It wasn't that you hated the Fennel Fields uniform, but you were a little bored of it. So when your manager said those working on Halloween were allowed to wear costumes, you instantly started thinking about what kind of costume you wanted to wear.

There were a few restrictions, of course. Nothing that would get in the way, such as wire wings or tails that could potentially hit someone or knock something over. Similarly, nothing that dragged on the floor as that also presented a tripping hazard. Not that you had planned on anything with any of the restrictions, but now that you’d been told what you couldn’t wear, every idea you did come up with was restricted in some way!

By the time you figured something out, and collected everything you would need, there were just three weeks left until Halloween. It was somehow so close yet so far at the same time!

Initially you were quite excited about your costume. Despite having to leave the prop weapons at home, you thought it was a pretty spot on portrayal of an awesome movie character!

Come Halloween you’d taken extra time to get the blonde pigtails and sailor girl outfit just right. Maybe that’s where you went wrong…

The first person to greet you after you clocked in was a fellow server, Blake. She wasn’t in full costume, but had cute little devil horns peeking out from her curls.

“Don’t you look cute and hot!”

You grinned, “thanks!”

“Who are you supposed to be, though? Some cute little anime school girl?”

You expected that from her. You’d made countless movie and comic and video game references to her before and she never understood them.

“No. Babydoll from Sucker Punch.”

“Sucker Punch?”

“Yea. It was a movie that came out a while back.”

“Ooh! Gotcha! Well you look good!”

You thanked her again and the two of you started your shift.

Your first table pretty much said the same thing. “What anime are you from?”

You gave a generic answer and hurried onto their orders.

Taylor, one of the dishwashers, walked past you and smiled. “Sailor Moon?”

You wanted to sigh, he wasn’t the first person to make that call. But since he wasn’t a customer, for some reason you thought it was ok to correct him. “Eh, not quite. Sucker Punch.” He raised an eyebrow as if asking you to elaborate. “Came out in like 2011.” Still a blank look. “Zack Snyder?” He shook his head. “Babydoll,” you gestured to your costume, “was played by Emily Browning…Venessa Hudgens? Oscar Isaac!” You listed off the more famous actors in the movie.

After a few seconds he nodded, “Oooh! Wow! I think I remember that one!”

You smiled with a strained chuckle before returning to your job.

Really! It wasn’t like Sucker Punch was some obscure indie!

Over the next few hours you put up with being called Sailor Moon. For the most part you just smiled and quickly moved onto doing your job and people forgot the costume. But, it was getting increasingly annoying.

By the time your break rolled around you practically ran straight to the parking lot. You had the foresight to bring your uniform and leave it in your car, just in case the boss thought your costume was inappropriate. You were not going to spend the rest of the night feeling moderately embarrassed about your costume!

You were too busy rummaging through your back seat and muttering a few annoyed phrases to notice someone walking by the car, until you heard a familiar voice call your name.

You turned, maroon uniform in hand, to see Adrian dressed in a black and red jumpsuit with a matching baseball cap that he wore backwards. The random, and mostly fake, sponsors on the suit and the big NASCAR printed on the cap made his costume clear. You had to admit, for a costume that covered him even more than the usual Fennel Fields uniform, he looked hot.

For a moment all of your earlier frustrations disappeared. “Wow! Looking good, Driver!”

Adrian stared at you for a beat too long and you worried that he too would not get your costume. Considering how everyone else mistook your costume, the fact that he hadn’t said anything sent another embarrassed rush of blood prickling at your face.

He was quiet, a little wide eyed, until you nervously wrung the uniform in your hands. He shook his head, blinking rapidly, as if he’d dazed off in the middle of talking to you.

“Me? You look fucking amazing, Babydoll!”

Even though he was just calling you by the name of the character, hearing him calling you Babydoll sent your heart racing and the blush on your face burned hotter. You let out a sheepish and nervous chuckle, "oh, thanks…wait! You know who I am?"

Adrian grinned, cute little dimples framing his cute little smile, "are you kidding? Sucker Punch is one of my favorite movies!"

"Really?" You excitedly asked, while internally you were doing backflips. Finally someone got it!

"Yea! It's so cool!" He started but blinked and tilted his head. "Did you just get here too?" He then pointed at the uniform in your hand.

"Oh. Uh. No. My shift started a couple hours ago. I was actually gonna change out of this, because people keep calling me Sailor Moon."

“What? That’s stupid!” He took a few steps so that he was close to you, and you winced slightly as you thought he was talking about your reaction. He just wanted to make a point though, because he brushed one of your blonde pigtails over your shoulder. “Sailor Moon’s hair is way longer!”

You blushed even more, if it were possible, as he continued. “And she doesn’t use guns, so she doesn’t have a holster!” He plucked at the brown faux leather straps at your shoulders. You stumbled forward a bit from the gentle force of the tug, your chest close to his now.

He slowly moved his hand from the leather strap to the rather flimsy material of your top, the back of his fingers softly tracing down your arm to the edge of your sleeve. “And she wears a totally different color.” He paused, his hand leaving you for a moment as he glanced up to his left, “unless you were wearing Babydoll’s white costume.” His eyes flicked back down to yours, “but you’re not.”

His hand returned to your shirt, his knuckles gently dragging across your exposed midriff as he lightly pinched the hem of your shirt. “And I’m pretty sure Sailor Moon wears a one piece.” He let go of the shirt and his hand slid across your bare skin to rest just above your hips. His hands were so large that thumb still played with the hem of your shirt, while his pinky slipped under the band of your skirt.

You shivered under his touch, but you were far from cold. Not even the low fall temperatures could cool your blood at this point, especially with the way he was leaning down slightly, his face so close to yours.

“Adrian,” you whispered, your eyes flitting back up to his eyes from his luscious pink lips.

“Yea?” His voice was low, gravely almost, and his breath tantalizingly danced across your lips.

As much as you wanted to shove him in the back seat of your car and climb on top of him, now was not the time. You licked your lips, he mirrored the action, “my break is almost over…”

“Oh!” He practically jumped back and away from you, and you already missed his warmth. “Y-yea! I need to clock in too!” He scratched the back of his neck and looked away from you.

You tossed your uniform into your car and slammed the door shut, locking it as the two of you awkwardly made your way into the restaurant.

You quickly got back to work, and tried not to think too much about Adrian, but every time someone called you Sailor Moon, you wanted to run to him and tell him. You weren’t sure why, or what he could even do, maybe he could say you looked “fucking amazing” again. That’d be nice.

“Hey, Babydoll.” Adrian caught your attention as your last table for the night left.

You smiled at him and tried not to be too obvious as you stared at his bare arms. Pretty early on in his shift he took off the top half of his suit and tied it around his waist, leaving his incredibly well defined muscular arms on display, as he’d only been wearing a muscle shirt underneath the suit.

It also didn’t help that throughout the night he called you “Babydoll” a few times and it sent an excited rush through you every time.

“Are you doing anything later?” He asked as he stacked the dishes in the gray tub.

You shook your head, “not really. Probably gonna eat a buncha candy and maybe see if there’s any good scary movies on.”

“Sweet!” He grinned, though it immediately faltered as he noticed your raised brow. “Uh, I mean, it’s great that you’re not doing anything!”

You tilted your head and pursed your lips together, even more confused.

“Not that I’m happy that you don’t have any plans! I mean, if you did have plans I’d understand!”

“Adrian?”

“Yea?”

“Are you trying to ask me something?”

“Yea.” He took a breath and spoke quickly. “My friend is throwing a Halloween party at his place, do you want to come with me?”

“Sure!” You smiled, “sounds fun. Much better than what I had planned.”

He smiled too, and he relaxed so visibly that you couldn’t help but act on the little mischievous thought that popped into your mind. You stepped in front of him, maybe a little closer than socially acceptable, but he either didn’t notice or mind. “Can I ask you a question, now?”

“Huh? Sure..?”

You had your hands behind your back, acting like you were hiding something from him, “trick-or-treat?”

He grinned and rocked back and forth on his feet. What an easy choice, a trick or a piece of candy from someone so pretty? “Treat!”

You pushed yourself up on your toes and kissed him. It was supposed to be a quick little peck, but once Adrian felt your lips on his, he acted quickly and grabbed your hips, pulling you flush against him, and deepened the kiss. Before things got too heated though, someone cleared their throat and the two of you pulled away from each other.

“We should finish cleaning up.”

He nodded and grabbed the tub of dishes, “yea.” He only got one table away before he turned back to you, “hey, Babydoll?”

It was official, this costume was your best idea ever. “Yea?”

“What would you have done if I picked ‘trick’?”

Honestly, your plan was to kiss him either way. But you just grinned at him, “I'll tell you later.”

Adrian pouted for a moment before smiling to himself and getting back to work. He liked the treat you had given him anyway.

Chapter Text

Adrian wasn’t exactly aware of it, but he was drawn to strength, to energy. Which was exactly what you exuded. He could see it in how you carried yourself, in how you practically skipped to your new home, in the apartment across from his.

He offered to help carry boxes for you, and you smiled so brilliantly at him that his own smile felt strained in comparison.

“Sure! If you want, you don’t have to, though, really!” He followed you as you bounced back to your truck. Your energy was just so contagious, and soon enough the two of you were laughing as you carried various boxes and appliances up the stairs.

Turns out you didn’t have much and the job went fairly quickly.

Adrian didn’t know what it was, but he just knew if he went back home now, it’d feel lonely. He glanced around your bare apartment, your furniture wasn’t due to arrive for a few more days, “hey,” you looked up from the box you were rifling through with a cute tilt of your head. “Want to have lunch with me?”

You smiled at him again, and he felt his heart flutter for the hundredth time that day, “yea, sounds great!”

Lunch turned to dinner turned to breakfast.

From the moment he saw you, Adrian could not get enough of you, which was why he was almost two months into dating you after only knowing you for just as long.

Currently you were hanging out with him before work. Luckily for him, you often took night shifts, which left him free time to patrol as Vigilante. You were cuddled into his side, you liked to do that he noticed (and he liked it too!), but your knee was bouncing nervously.

“What’s wrong?” He finally asked during a commercial break.

“Uhm,” you finally pulled yourself up and looked at him seriously.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, concerned about how serious you’d suddenly become.

“I know we’ve only been dating for, like, two months.” The pause you took, in which you looked so nervous and sad, made him want to shout out that he didn’t want to break up!

“But, can I ask you a favor?”

Oh! That’s it? A favor? “Uh, sure. What is it?”

“I mean, if you don’t want to-”

“No, what is it? I’ll do it!”

You reached into a pocket and pulled out a piece of scrap paper and a single key on a key ring. “Tomorrow morning, like sevenish, can you go to this address? On the left side of the house there’s a cellar, can you open it?”

He blinked as he looked at the items he was now holding. Even to him, and he knew he had a high threshold for weird, this was a weird request.

“I’d ask my cousin, but he’s not really the reliable type. I mean, it’s his mother’s house, no one really lives there right now. But last month he didn’t show up till the evening!”

"Uh, sure. But why?"

"Oh, it's just a thing!" You checked your phone and jumped up. "I gotta get ready for work!" You leaned down and pecked him on the cheek, "thank you soo much! You’re the best, bye!"

You rushed out so quickly that Adrian didn't process your words until you were already gone.

“The best…?” He nodded to himself, if you wanted him to open this cellar, then he was gonna do it!

“Dude, that sounds sketchy as fuck.” Peacemaker said as he stepped out of the car and looked around at the overgrown property.

Adrian, in full Vigilante gear, shrugged as he moved past Peacemaker towards the old looking house. It could definitely use some repairs, but otherwise looked solid.

“I’m just being a good boyfriend!” He chirped as he followed your directions to the cellar on the side of the house.

Sure he was a little early, it was still night, but he figured you just didn’t have time to open the cellar at night because of work, and just got used to opening it in the morning, which was why you told him to wait until seven a.m.

Peacemaker’s arm suddenly stopped him from going further, “did you hear that?” “Huh? Hear what?”

“Shh! That!” Peacemaker sharply whispered and drew his gun while pointing towards the cellar.

Vigilante paused and sure enough he heard some growling coming from the cellar.

“Oooh! It must be a dog!”

He wasn’t sure why you would trap a dog in a cellar in the first place, maybe it had something to do with the neighbors (he didn’t seem to realize the nearest neighbor was a mile away)?

“Dude, are you seriously gonna let that thing out?” Even as Peacemaker asked, the dog started howling.

“Duh!” He’d be the exact opposite of a good boyfriend if he just left your dog locked up!

Despite the growls and the second, piercing, howl, he unlocked the cellar door. The padlock was sturdy, high quality, but nothing out of the ordinary. The doors, however, were quite heavy. He grunted as he pulled one door open, however, before he could pull the door fully open, the dog forced itself past the doors, knocking him over in the process. It growled at Vigilante, its front paws planted firmly on his chest.

“Whoa, hey there, doggy!” Vigilante tried to calm it down.

“That’s not a fucking dog!” Peacemaker yelled before firing at it.

It was fast. It managed to dodge Peacemaker’s first shot and charged him. Peacemaker was thrown off his feet and another shot was fired widely into the nearby woods before his gun was knocked out of his hand. The dog (though Vigilante could see that it’s proportions were all wrong to be a dog) was now crouched over Peacemaker, razor sharp claws ripping right through his shirt and digging into his chest. It reared its head, ready to bite into Peacemaker’s face, when Vigilante tackled it off of Peacemaker.

“No! Bad dog!” Vigilante scolded as he wrestled with it.

“Not! A dog!” Peacemaker yelled as he scrambled for his gun.

“Don’t shoot!” Vigilante glanced over his shoulder, a mistake, as he was thrown off his feet.

He heaved with all his might and pushed the dog off of him. Though the dog continued to growl, it wasn’t as fierce as it circled him. Vigilante feigned right before quickly jumping left. The not-dog woofed as it fell for his feint and quickly corrected itself and jumped at Vigilante.

Peacemaker, gun in hand again, paused as he watched Vigilante throw the not-dog around again…and it’s tail started wagging.

“What the fuck? Are you playing with it?!”

Except for the amount of strength Vigilante had to put into keeping himself upright, it very much looked like someone playing with a very large, frightening looking, dog.

Vigilante laughed, getting a good toss in, “Who’s a good dog?”

“Not a dog!” Peacemaker yelled again at the same time as the not-dog snapped its jaws loudly in Vigilante’s direction.

It woofed again, jumping onto its hind legs, easily towering over both men, before it landed back on all fours and spun around.

“What the fuck?” Peacemaker muttered to himself as he watched Vigilante chase after the… he looked at the cellar, the inside of doors were lined with silver. “That thing’s definitely a werewolf.”

Every time Vigilante got close to the dog and tried to reach for it, it would speed up and he’d just miss grabbing its tail. Then it would circle around and knock him to the ground by jumping on his back. It was doing a number on his armor even though it wasn’t intentionally attacking him, so the next time he fell to the ground he stayed in place as it pushed off of his back, back claws tearing painfully through his shirt.

It leapt a few feet away before it realized that Vigilante was no longer following. Even though he’d just been playing with it, his heart still raced in fear as it neared him.

“I’m okay. Just need a break.” He nearly giggled out as it sniffed at him, its muzzle dripping viscous saliva onto his armor. He closed his eyes, more like blinked, and when he opened them again the dog was gone.

“Uh oh…”

“Hey, Vij!” Peacemaker finally caught up, at least his gun wasn’t drawn anymore.

Vigilante pushed himself up with a grunt and wiped the dirt off of him, only then noticing how much his armor was truly torn. If this was the creature playing, he didn’t want to be on the other end of it when it was angry.

“You alright, man? Where’d it go?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, fuck! We have to go find it!”

Vigilante started to nod when a howl echoed through the woods around them. Peacemaker got nervous again, and though he’d never admit it, Vigilante got a little nervous too, but he managed to stop Peacemaker from drawing his weapon.

As soon as Vigilante took a step forward, he had to jump back. He would have fallen over if Peacemaker hadn’t caught him. As soon as his feet had left the ground, a deer dropped from the sky, landing where Vig had been just standing in a disgusting pile of ruptured flesh and bone. Both men screamed.

Then the wolf dropped down next to the deer, landing gracefully first on its hind legs, like a human catching themselves, before dropping to all fours. It growled quietly as it looked at Peacemaker, but since Vigilante was standing right in front of him, it made no move forward. Instead it lowered its jaws into the already torn flesh of the deer. Peacemaker made a disgusted sound and turned his head away as the wolf tore the deer’s heart out.

It dropped the heart at Vigilante’s feet. He gasped, “dude! It’s just like Eagly!”

He bent down to take the still blood hot heart and though he was still masked, smiled brightly at the creature. “Thanks!”

“What!? That thing’s nothing like Eagly!”

Vigilante, now harboring a hunch, removed his mask with his free hand, but didn’t reach for his glasses as he didn’t want to get blood on them. He took a nibble of the heart, Peacemaker gagged in the background, and grinned. “Yum! Thanks, I feel better now!” He held the heart out to the creature, “you can finish it though!”

The wolf hesitated for a moment before taking the heart from him, leaving his gloved hand covered in saliva and blood, and finishing off the heart in two bites.

Adrian sat down and leaned against a tree, mindful of the scratches on his back, and watched as the wolf devoured the deer. “That’s disgusting.” Peacemaker gagged once again.

The wolf stopped eating and stalked nearer to Vigilante, both it and he were now staring at Peacemaker.

“What?!”

He couldn’t explain how he knew what the wolf was going to do, but as soon as it threw its head back to howl, Adrian did the same.

“Dude! What the hell!” Peacemaker yelled over the sounds of lupine and human howling.

The two continued to howl, purposefully annoying Peacemaker until the man stomped away back towards the house, more accurately to the car.

Adrian laughed and wrapped an arm around the wolf, running his hand through its fur and threw his head back once more, doing his best to imitate the wolf’s howl.

Eventually the two quieted down, with Adrian leaning against the wolf (or was the wolf leaning against him?) before he dozed off.

If you had to guess, it was about seven a.m. when you woke up. You were sprawled on top of Adrian, you’d recognize his cute little snores anywhere at any time, in an attempt to keep your nude body free of prickling sticks and leaves on the forest ground.

You sat up, careful to remain seated on his lap, and gently shook his shoulder. “Adrian. Adrian, wake up!”

He woke with a gasp, quickly sitting up himself.

You stared at each other (his face was still covered in dried caked on blood) for a moment before everything from last registered in your minds.

“Dude! You’re Vigilante!?” “Dude! You’re a werewolf!?”

You blinked. He blinked. “That’s so cool!”

Adrian suddenly frowned, his hands on your hips gently moving up and down, “you must be cold. Peacemaker probably took the Vigilante mobile.”

“That’s okay,” you tugged on the chest piece of his armor (no wonder he liked teal so much!), “I can think of plenty of ways to warm up.”

He smirked and leaned into your pull, “wait, you mean sex, right?”

You bit your lip to keep from laughing, “yes, Adrian.”

“Cool.” His lips almost touched yours when he pulled back again. “But really, if we don’t get you something to wear-”

“Oh! I have clothes back at my aunt’s house.” You looked around the woods, “it doesn’t look like we’re too far from it.”

“In that case!”

You barely had time to look back at him before he was eagerly kissing you.

Even if he didn’t exactly follow instructions, things definitely worked out!

Chapter Text

“No. Fucking. Way!”

“What?” Leota called after you as you dashed further into the clothing section of the store.

When she caught up with you, you spun around with an excited flourish as you held up a black tee shirt. It had Vigilante’s signature chevron pattern printed on the chest.

“Do you think Adrian gets a cut of the sales?”

She laughed as you put the shirt back on the rack and grabbed one in your size.

“How? They can’t just send a check to “Vigilante”. It would be cool though, maybe he'd be able to quit his job.”

You snorted out a laugh and dropped the shirt in your basket. “Can you imagine Vig as a full time crime fighter? You thought he was wanted on multiple counts of murder before?”

“You’re right. Fennel Fields keeps him humble. I can’t believe you’re actually buying that.”

“I don’t know how, or when, but one day it’ll come in handy.”

She laughed and moved onto the next section of the store.

That was a couple of months ago. “Summer of Super Heroes” the store called their little promotion. There had been clothes based on other heroes, of course. Mostly Batman and Superman, but locations with local heroes also got merchandise based on them. Peacemaker and Vigilante had been hailed as heroes after the whole Butterfly incident, so they also had merchandise. It wasn’t much, it looked like you missed all of the Peacemaker merchandise, but you were lucky enough to snag a Vigilante shirt before it sold out.

Now Halloween was approaching and the Adebayo’s were hosting a party in which they were requesting no scary costumes.

“I can’t believe I can’t go as Leatherface!” Adrian complained while you stitched him up from his latest recklessness.

It hadn’t been an official ARGUS mission, but you had a major soft spot for the vigilante, so you gave him a standing offer to help him out whenever he needed, and he needed help often. According to him, even your band-aids were somehow even better than his!

“I was gonna bring a chainsaw and everything! It’s not fair! I can’t even use a chainsaw on pretend bad guys!”

You finished up, double checking your work just for the chance to subtly run your fingers across his incredibly chiseled abs. “I don’t think there are going to be many pretend bad guys anyways, V.” You started and pulled your hands away from his warmth and removed your gloves. “Remember Adebayo suggested that we come as our hero or something.”

"That's so lame!"

You started to tidy up your med kit while he tossed a shirt on. “Hmm.”

“What?” He asked once his head popped through his shirt.

“Nothing, really. I just thought you’d be jumping at the chance to dress up as Peacemaker.”

He loudly gasped and his eyes went wide.”You’re right! It’s not lame!” But just as quickly as he had changed his mind, he returned to pouting. “But, where am I going to get a Peacemaker shirt in time?!”

“Just buy a red shirt.”

“But it’s gotta have the dove of Peace on it!”

“Paint it on?”

“It won’t look good if I do it!” He huffed, “can you do it?”

“Hmm, probably not well.” You conceded.

He whined and pouted again, so you continued to spin ideas for him. You couldn’t have your favorite boy feeling all sad, no matter how cute he looked.

“Doesn’t Chris have multiples of that shirt? Just use one of those?”

He looked at you dubiously. “I know you think I’m big and muscly,” he was, “but P’s shirts won’t fit me! It’ll look stupid if it’s all baggy!”

“Okay. Tell you what, if you can get one of his shirts, I can do a bit of tailoring and bring it in for you.”

“Really?” He gasped and leaned forward on the desk he was sitting on.

“Yea. I’ll even let it back out after the party so he doesn't get mad at you for ruining one of his shirts.”

“You can do that?”

“Pretty easy, actually.” You nodded.

“You’re so cool!” He hopped off the desk and pulled you up into a big hug. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” He rocked you from side to side as he continued to hug you.

“Calm down, Vig!” You winced from how loud he was.

He dropped you with an apology and a wide smile gracings his lips, then helped you clean and lock up before leaving Henenlotter in a rush, presumably to borrow one of Peacemaker’s shirts.

The next day he texted you saying that he got a hold of one of Peacemaker’s shirts and he was going to drop it off at your place. It was later than you expected when he actually showed up, but considering he was wearing his Fennel Fields uniform, you guessed he just got off of work.

“Hey,” he greeted as you let him in. “Can I change here?” He motioned to the duffel bag in his hands, one you’d seen many times before and knew to contain his Vigilante suit.

“Sure.” You took the Peacemaker shirt from him and tossed it on the back of your couch. Then you grabbed the measuring tape you set out for when he got there. “But before you put your Vigilante suit on, let me take some measurements.”

“Ok!” He said cheerily, but he walked away towards your bathroom.

“Oh…no.” you blinked, “I meant…” well he was already in the bathroom…

Sure enough, a minute later he returned to the living room in nothing but his tactical pants and socks. Not that you were going to complain.

It surprised you (not for the first time) how soft his skin was. Usually when you patched him up, you wore gloves, robbing you of the feeling of his skin. But now, as you took his measurements, you were reminded of just how soft his skin was. So few scars actually covered his body, despite how often he got hurt. You’d only been around the team for a few months, a more than welcome field medic, and by all accounts, he should have way more scars, but even the wound you stitched up last night was nothing but a light pink blemish that was sure to fade completely rather soon.

“Do you have a costume yet?” He asked once you let him go. He sat down on the couch and started to slip on the rest of his suit.

“Uhm, not really.” You half lied. You had an idea, and you were pretty certain you could get all the components for the costume from your existing wardrobe.

“Oh! If you want, I can borrow another shirt from Peacemaker and we can match!”

His smile was so cute that you almost felt bad for shooting him down. But there was no way you were going to wear a Peacemaker costume! “No thanks, I’ll think of something before the party.”

“Aww! How awesome would it be if we were both Peacemaker though?”

You chuckled and steeled your nerves. Honestly, if he kept that up you might just give in. “Maybe we can wear matching costumes next year?”

You were running a little late to the party. A quick text to Adebayo meant that no one was worried, though Adrian kept texting you updates on the party and sent a few pictures as well. (You may have saved the selfies that he sent. He just looked so happy and so good that it was hard to resist!)

The party was in full swing by the time you arrived. It wasn’t just the 11th Street Kids, but some of Keeya’s friends and coworkers as well as some of their neighbors. So it was a bit hectic when Leota answered the door. She was balancing a bowl of candy in one arm and a dog in a doctor costume in the other.

“Hey! Happy Halloween! Come on in!”

You followed her in with an enthusiastic greeting.

The dog in her arms started to squirm so she motioned to a room off the side of the entryway. “You can put your coat and hat down in there.”

“Alright.” You didn’t bother to correct her, that the plain black baseball cap that you wore was part of your costume, as you headed for the room she pointed to.

Before you even opened the door, you heard your name yelled from across the party.

Adrian had spotted you walking in, in fact he’d been eagerly checking his phone for a text from you and watching the door every time the doorbell rang. He quickly caught up with you as you entered what you assumed was a small guest bedroom, if the twin bed tucked in the corner and piled with coats was anything to go by.

He started to excitedly tell you how everyone, even Peacemaker, said his costume looked so good. And that because of your tailoring Peacemaker hadn’t even noticed that he borrowed a shirt from him in the first place!

“Wait, you didn’t even tell him you were borrowing his shirt? Adrian, isn’t that stealing?” You teased him as you dropped your coat with the others on the bed.

“No! It’s not technically stealing because…” he stopped talking as he took in your costume.

Once you had the Vigilante shirt, it was easy to put together a Vigilante costume, as you already owned tactical pants and combat boots.

You raised a brow at his sudden silence. “Adrian?”

“...Holy shit. You’re dressed as me?”

“Yea!” You smiled, then pulled up the black neck gaiter you were wearing and popped on a pair of red sunglasses. “What do you think?”

“...You’re dressed as me.”

You blinked and started to get a little concerned that he was repeating himself. “Yea..? Not enough? Too much?”

“No. I don’t think you understood what Adebayo said. We’re supposed to dress up as our heroes.” He emphasized his point by clapping his hands together.

You looked down at your costume before looking back up at him. “Yea dude, I got that. We had a whole conversation about it while I was giving you stitches, remember?”

He gave a little frustrated growl, like you weren’t understanding him, and scrunched up his face. “But you’re supposed to dress up as your hero! And you’re dressed up as me!”

You took off your sunglasses and pulled the mask down so he could see your face clearly. “Adrian, Vigilante has saved me at least a dozen times, if not more! You saved me. So of course you’re my hero.”

He swallowed, “o-oh…”

You broke the slightly awkward silence that followed with a quiet cough. “But if you want me to change or something, I’m sure Leota has some-”

“No! No. I just, uhmmm…” Adrian was looking up as he tried to think of something, anything, to say. His blush no longer stained his cheeks because of frustration, but you had just called him your hero.

“I look that good, huh?” You giggled a little nervously as you copied the Peacemaker hero pose (that you’re pretty sure he just made up) that he kept doing in the pictures he sent you.

That seemed to snap him out of his stupor and he grinned at you. “Well you are dressed as the second coolest hero!”

“What? I’m totally dressed up as the first coolest hero!”

He blushed even more, even the tips of his ears were turning pink, and looked down at his feet.

“Which makes what I’m about to do a little weird.” You finished and flipped your hat backwards.

He looked up and tilted his head in that cute way he always did when he was confused. “What are you about to do?”

“This.” You quickly kissed him, just a little peck of the lips.

You meant to kiss him and dash off to the party to deal with however he felt about you kissing him later, but he quickly grabbed your hips and pulled you close to him.

He dropped his forehead to yours, his nose lightly bumping against yours and he grinned. “Eat peace, motherfucker.”

You snorted out a laugh, unable to control your chuckling until he kissed you. He was smiling against your lips, laughing with you even as he nipped at your bottom lip.

“Nu-uh! You guys are not having sex in here!” Leota yelled as she stood in the doorway pointing at the two of you.

You and Adrian jumped apart slightly, but he managed to keep one hand on your back, as you looked at Leota in surprise, neither of you heard her open the door.

“We weren’t going to have sex!” You protested her assumption.

“We weren’t?”

You coughed quietly and looked at him. “Well, not here, anyways!”

Which meant that you were open to have sex with him anywhere else! “Awesome!”

Leota eyed you, though you could see the amusement in her eyes, and ushered you out of the room.

You weren’t sure what was sweeter, the candy you kept munching on, or how closely Adrian was glued to your side for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

The mission had just started and things were already going sideways. The team had to split up and now you were running through a Wal-Mart to find a cheap costume for you and Vigilante.

You grabbed the first two that would fit you and Adrian and jogged through the store to the self checkout. You happened by the makeup section and impulsively grabbed a tube of lip gloss and an eye liner pencil before checking out.

It took just over ten minutes to get back to the van.

“Okay, this was all they had.” You started cautiously before handing Adrian the pack of clothes sealed in a plastic square.

He blinked and flipped the package over, the woman on the front dressed in a frilly maid outfit smiling at you John.

You swat a hand at John when he started to laugh and looked back at Adrian. “Honestly, I feel like you have the legs to pull it off.”

He flipped the package around once again and stared at the picture of the pretty maid. Then a grin slowly spread across his face and he nodded, “fuck yea I do! I never skip leg day!”

While John drove to the Governor's Mansion, you and Adrian changed into your costumes. Paired with the pants you were already wearing, you had a simple pirate costume, just a loose fitting blouse with billowing sleeves and a flimsy eyepatch.

Adrian’s costume was a bit more detailed. He was able to get into the black dress just fine on his own, but needed help with the little bowtie on the front and the headband.

“We’ll just have to keep your combat boots and call it a look.” You said as you sat back and admired him.

The dress was short, very short. His boxer briefs peeked out from under the skirt, leaving most of his meaty things exposed. The knee high socks that came with the outfit barely reached his calves. And you heard a seam tear somewhere, if you had to guess, it was probably the sleeves that were stretched around his biceps.

“Here, I also got this.” You sat next to him and pulled out the little bit of makeup that you bought.

“Uh...is that necessary?” It was the first hint of hesitation you'd seen from him.

“You gotta look the part. Trust me." You gently took his chin in hand to apply a thin layer of the cherry flavored gloss to his lips.

"Stay still," you tried sooth as you tried to apply the eyeliner next.

He winced and leaned back, “you’re going to poke my eye out!”

“I won’t if you stay still!”

You had to stop while the van was in motion, so you took that time to play with fix his hair, moving his pretty curls in perfect place around the headband.

By the time John was parking, you were done with his eyeliner. It was a little on the thick side, a result of having to fix a mistake or two with no make up wipes, but with his big eyes, full lashes (you really should have bought mascara too!) and glasses, it looked quite good!

“If you can’t get in through the front,” John gave you some details of the mansion that he was able to find, “there should be a servant's entrance on the west side. You’ll probably have to take out some guards.”

“Hey,” Adrian interrupted, “I think I need more lipgloss.”

You had to bite back a laugh, you knew he’d end up eating it! Though the maid outfit came with an apron, it wasn’t functional in the least, meaning Adrian had no pockets. After he applied a very generous coat he handed it back to you and you kept it in one of your pockets.

“We’ll be going in less armed than usual,” especially Adrian, “so we need to keep a low profile until the others get here to back us up anyways.” You gave Adrian a pointed look, “got it?”

He nodded, “take out the guards at the west entrance. Got it!”

“No!”

You pushed him out of the van before John could correct him. “We’re just scouting for now, ok? We get in, count the guards, find the goo, and wait for the others.”

When things don’t go according to plan, they really don't go according to plan. Unable to get in through the main entrance because you weren't on the list, you and Adrian did indeed have to take out the guards at the side entrance.

Once inside, however, things got worse. More guards, definitely butterflies. Thankfully you had spent so long in line trying to get in the front, that the others were only minutes out.

Adrian, armed with only a tactical knife, took out what butterflies made it close while you did your best to take out opponents from a distance with your gun. With nowhere to take cover you had no choice but to keep pushing forward.

The two of you dove into the first room you came across, immediately faced with three more guards. Adrian rolled up from his dive and drove his knife up through the jaw of the first, surprised, guard.

You took a headshot at the one furthest in the room and by the time you spotted the third guy, Adrian had already stabbed the man through both eyes.

“That was so cool!” He cheered and looked at you with a wild smile. There was blood sprayed across his face, splattered against his glasses and staining the front of his costume in violent red.

You coughed and looked back to the door, there should be more guards coming through any second now. Besides, at this rate, Adrian was becoming a distraction to you! How the hell could a man in a maid costume with a goofy smile and covered in gore be so hot?

The echoes of another firefight, one in which Adrian nearly rushed out into, gave tale to the others arrival.

“Hey, open one of these boxes.” You instructed Adrian to distract him from the fight he was currently missing.

His blade was clean, wiped off on his apron, but his hands were still covered in blood. He left bloody fingerprints everywhere.

“Oh, this is the same stuff Peacemaker was feeding Goff!”

It only took a few more minutes for the others to join you and Adrian.

Harcourt pushed past Peacemaker and Adebayo to the boxes Adrian was standing next to. She took one glance at the contents and nodded, “good job. Now we have to destroy it.”

“How?” Adrian questioned, a sly smile spreading across his face, as he held a bottle of the amber fluid above his head.

“Not like that!” You stopped him from smashing the thing on the ground.

“Aww!” He pouted and dropped it back in the box.

“Harcourt?” You half laughed as you bumped her shoulder. She was staring at Adrian. “I knew I wouldn't be the only one.”

“What?” Peacemaker and Adrian asked at the same time.

“Nothing. Burn it.” Harcourt answered while she glared at you.

“Hey, what’d you mean?” Peacemaker asked you as you started to check boxes for anything flammable.

“Oh. I caught Harcourt checking out Adrian.”

“Shut up!” There was even a visible blush on her face as she yelled at you.

Adrian and Peacemaker both gasped and looked at her. “Really?” “Seriously?”

“Just do your jobs!”

You made the questionable decision to tease your boss. “She thinks he’s pretty~!”

Adrian, always one to jump in when someone else was getting teased, laughed with you, but suddenly stopped. “Wait a minute! You said: “I knew I wouldn’t be the only one.” That means you think I’m pretty too!” He turned his laughter at you and pointed.

“We’re dating!” You reminded him, “do you really think I didn’t know what I was doing when I put you in that costume?”

“Just get back to the van!” Harcourt yelled and pushed the two of you out of the already burning room.

“I need more lipgloss.” Adrian said as you walked back to the van. With it being Halloween, no one who caught sight of how bloody Adrian was gave it a second thought.

Once again he applied a very thick coat before handing the tube of gloss back to you. “Happy Halloween, babe!” He kissed your cheek, leaving a smear of thick lip gloss and blood on your face.

Chapter Text

For the first time in his life Adrian was in a serious relationship near Halloween. He always wanted to wear matching costumes with someone, but the age gap between him and his brother was too large for Gut to want to spend his Halloween with a kid. The year Peacemaker got out of prison, Adrian asked him to wear a matching costume but Peacemaker said no every time he asked.

Now that he was in a relationship he was excited that he finally had someone to match with! He already knew what he wanted the two of you to go as, and after making sure you'd be up for a couples costume (after explaining that him asking if you "thought we'd still be together next month" wasn’t him trying to break up with you), he went online to look for the costumes.

Even though he ordered both costumes at the same time, one came in a week earlier and he had to hide it from you and somehow keep his excitement down.

The second costume finally came in and now all he had to do was wait for you to get home.

You texted Adrian to say that you’d be a little late coming home, that you had some extra things to handle at work. That was a little white lie. You immediately ran to your car the second you clocked out because the uniforms you ordered finally came in!

Yea, you might have splurged quite a bit for Halloween costumes, but Adrian had been so nervous when he asked if you would be open to a couples costume that you thought he was actually breaking up with you! When you asked if he knew what costumes he wanted, he shook his head and said he wanted time to think about it more.

In retrospect, maybe surprising him wasn’t the best idea.

“Adrian!” You called as soon as you got home, bags in hand.

He shouted your name too and ran towards the living room, where the front door opened into.

“I have a surprise!” You both yelled as soon as you were in sight of each other.

You blinked. He blinked.

You noticed the bags in his hands. He noticed the bags in your hands.

“Why don’t you-” “You first!” You once again spoke over each other.

He rocked forward on his feet and motioned to you. “No. I insist, you first.”

You had a hunch of what was happening, “same time?”

He shrugged and held up his bags in one hand, you mirrored him. “Our Halloween costumes arrived!” “I got us costumes!”

“Okay.” You sat down and patted the seat next to you, “let’s see what you got.”

Adrian smiled, all his doubt about the costume mix up gone in his excitement. He dropped the bags next to you and started to pull out western clothing. Initially you thought cowboy, but as he popped a white cowboy hat on your head you grinned, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!”

“Yea!” He nodded and placed a faux brown leather jacket on your shoulders, making you Butch Cassidy. “You just keep thinking, that’s what you’re good at!” He recited one of the Sundance Kid’s lines as he plopped a black cowboy hat on himself.

“Ooh! And look!” He dug through the bag and pulled out a fake mustache that he held over his top lip. He then leaned forward and planted a big hairy kiss on your lips. “What do you think? Should I grow one for real?”

You laughed and pushed him off of you. “Not a porn ‘stache! Please!”

Honestly, you didn’t mind a bit of stubble, or even a beard, but something like that caterpillar that he was holding on his face? Well, it wouldn’t be a deal breaker, but it would…take some time to get used to.

“What! I thought you loved me no matter what!” He leveled a jovial accusatory tone at you.

“I do! But if you really want a mustache like that, then we have to make some adjustments.”

“What do you mean?” He was leaning his head back and puckering his lips to keep the mustache in place so he could have both hands free and rummage through his bag again.

You held back a snorting laughter, “welllll, if you had a mustache like that, I don’t think I could let you go down on me anymore.” Adrian suddenly froze, his black faux leather jacket only halfway on. He looked at you, eyes wide, and the mustache fell off his face. He caught it and tossed it behind his back. “Got it, no mustache!”

You cackled and jumped up to get the silly thing before it got lost. You held it in place on his face and leaned down to kiss him. “I’m just joking. You’re too good at that for me to actually want to stop you.”

When you pulled away, he looked up at you with a soft smile that was slightly hidden by the fake mustache and your hands gripping the sides of his face. “I love you.”

You smiled and kissed him one more time, “love you too.”

“What’d you get?” He asked once the moment passed.

“Oh! You know what,” you pushed your bags to the floor, “we should totally just go with your costumes!”

“No! I wanna see!” He whined before he snatched up one of the bags. By sheer luck it was the one with his costume in it!

He gasped as he first grabbed a navy baseball cap with an embossed stylised “S” with a compass rose on the front. The bill was a blue-green, almost teal, color that matched the jersey he pulled out next. If he could smile even wider he would have when he saw that the jersey had been personalized with “Chase” on the back. He quickly replaced his cowboy hat and jacket with the baseball cap and jersey. “A Mariner’s uniform!”

You chuckled nervously, “yea. To be fair, I ordered those before we lost the ALCS.”

He frowned. “To those stupid cheaters!”

“I mean technically they didn’t-” he glared at you. “Yea, yea. Totally! Why don’t you try on the pants!” You quickly changed the subject before he got riled up about the years old cheating scandal.

You knew he liked to wear his jeans a little on the loose side, but you’d taken the measurements from his Vigilante uniform because if there was anyone who would look good in baseball pants, it was Adrian Chase.

He nodded and kicked off his shoes to do just that. He buttoned up the jersey and tucked it before he zipped up the pants.

“Ooh, try the socks too!” You said as you handed him a pair of navy knee high socks.

When you’re right, you’re right. Adrian raised his arms and turned around so you could fully see him in the uniform. His curly hair stuck out cutely from the cap, the jersey flowed nicely, not too loose and not too tight, over his chest and the pants? They were perfect!

“Do I look like a real baseball player?” He faced you again, dropped his knees slightly, held his fists together like he was holding a bat and lifted his elbows.

You were smiling so hard it was starting to hurt. “You look so good!”

“I bet I could beat the Astros!”

You nodded and stood up so you could kiss his cheek. “You totally could!”

His grin fell as you continued to admire his costume. “But now what are we gonna do?”

Oh!

“I have an idea!”

“Happy Halloween!” Peacemaker, dressed as Fred from Scooby Doo, opened the door to his trailer.

“Let me guess, cowboy and a baseball player? What is that?” He asked as he led you to the back of his trailer, where the others were gathered on his back porch.

You and Adrian laughed and the others turned just in time to hear your answer.

“Butch Cassidy,” you started. “And the Seattle Mariner!” Adrian finished.

“I really thought you two would show up in a couples costume.” Adebayo, dressed as a vampire, laughed.

“Uh, we are!” Adrian insisted, again and again as the others corrected him.

He insisted that you were still matching when about half way through the night, the two of you changed. This time you in the baseball uniform and he in his Sundance Kid costume.

“They just don’t get it!” Adrian complained as he dropped his forehead onto your shoulder, drunk and still trying to convince everyone that you were matching.

You giggled, also under the influence, and led him towards the front of the trailer. “Come on, our Uber just got here.”

“Do you think our Uber driver will get it?”

“Oh yea, probably right away!”

Adrian scoffed. If Peacemaker didn’t understand, then how could a random stranger understand? He looked up to tell you that you had too much faith in strangers, but when he looked up and saw you smiling at him, he completely forgot what he was going to say. So instead he just smiled and knocked both your baseball cap and his cowboy hat off your heads and peppered kisses on your face, laughing with you the whole time as his fake mustache tickled you. “Happy Halloween!” He finished, his lips landing against yours in a sloppy, sweet kiss.