Chapter Text
Grian is your ordinary civilian with a normal civilian life. He had a… not that ordinary daytime job as the literal boss of The barge co but still? He had a well paying job and was probably one of the richer citizens of the Esempe, but we don’t talk about that. He has friends and a sister that lives with him and other distant family members. The thing with his job is that nobody knows that he is the owner/founder. Pearl, his sister, knows he works at the barge but not really that he is the owner.
You wouldn't be able to guess he’s the owner of a million making company by his lifestyle in an apartment in the fifth district. You’d think he would live in the highest district but for a few unnamed reasons he doesn't. His shop, the barge, is the place to go when you need building material or other redstone bits and things. He has done several deals with big companies and his business keeps blooming. And the reason no one knows who he is, is because he is very anonymous and he wears a mask while he’s at business meetings.
He wears a face covering mask and hides his wings when he’s going to a meeting. He only takes it off if everyone at the meeting signs a paper stating that they won’t tell anyone about his face and personal info. If they show his face or talk about it to anyone he will be able to sue them on everything and destroy their lives. If they don’t leak his face then nothing bad will happen.
Everyone working at the barge gets emails from the “boss” or instructions from Grian. The workers at the barge think that he is the manager and has no idea that he is the owner.
Often the people that live in the Esempe wonder why the barge isn’t a sponsor for the hero tower. And that has a story of its own.
Grian was flying just above the central streets of the sixth district. All avians had flight rights and therefore were able to fly above the streets following a few rules. He had half an hour until his job would start. He preferred to fly the way to his workplace and let his wings stretch out before it. He usually stopped at a coffee shop before work to get some coffee.
The coffee shop had a dark academia interior and many shades of beige and brown could be found inside. The walls were made of brick and the floor was made of spruce wood and you could smell coffee as soon as you walked inside. It wasn’t big but had a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor. And a change to all shades of brown were the tables that were mostly made of clear glass with black details. He landed on his feet again about ten meters before the coffee shop. But when he began walking, someone rushed into him with enough force to make them both fall to the ground.
"My god I’m so sorry for bumping into you." The man began apologizing nonstop.
"Can you please get off me?" Grian’s cheeks flushed red with embarrassment since the stranger had fallen on top of him in an awkward position. The stranger had managed to fall in such a way to protect Grians head with his right hand and hold himself from falling with his left.
The stranger's cheeks began flushing a soft red and got up when he realized the awkward situation.
"I’m so sorry I wasn't looking close enough when I was running" Grian tried to get up as well and while he got up he got a better look at the other.
The person in front of him wore a brown leather jacket that was unzipped but covered him all the way to the beginning of his thighs. He also wore a off white shirt that seemed to have a few wrinkles but still seems tight on him, you could even see that this man has some muscles.
"It’s alright I guess. Just look where you're heading next time." Grians cheeks began calming down and turned to a shade of lighter pink.
"I promise you that I will, but please let me make it up to you."
Grian was really caught off guard by the request and nearly let his shock of the request show in his eyes, but he stopped it and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"If you really want to then It’s fine by me I guess."
"Could I buy you coffee?" He pointed at the coffee shop right beside them.
"Sure?" Grian didn’t want the stranger to buy something for him but he had a feeling that the man wouldn’t take no as an answer.
"Oh yeah, my name is Scar by the way. What's yours?"
"Mine is Grian."
They ended up chatting for twenty minutes after they got their coffee. Scar would talk non stop about his life and the things he liked. He talked about disney but mostly his cat. They shared a love for cats and Scar learned that Grian had a cat named Maui. But they both realized that they would be late for work if they didn’t get going, so they exchanged numbers and went their separate ways.
Grian was flying into the barge from the open roof at 10 o'clock where he saw a different company's employees setting up posters for their shop. Grian saw his own employees trying to tell them to get out but to no avail. Grian was irritated. Why would they do something like that and talk to his employees like that? That's when he saw his younger cashier walk through the doors. The kid’s name was Tommy and if Grian said that his instincts didn’t want to adopt him the second that he saw him then he would be lying. He saw Tommy walk into the store one day and asked if he needed a new cashier. Grian interviewed him and got to know that he was his cousin Phils adoptive son. Tommy was a raccoon hybrid that had worked there for a while and had a good reputation among everyone. He was also known for cursing like crazy, so Grian looked at Tommy.
"Tommy." Grian called out to him without anyone noticing.
"Yes?" The boy with golden hair answerd.
"Get them out of here."
Something in Tommy's eyes shined like stars and he walked over to the competitors and told the other employees to leave with his eye’s.“OI! Dickheads what the fuck are you fucking pussies doing here.” He yelled with a face full of rage.
"What are you gonna do about it kid?"
"Go cry to your mommy?" The other one mocked.
A smirk grew on Tommy's face when he saw Grian walk a bit forward.
"Tommy. I want you to hunt them down. I will cover for you, and blame it on your instincts when someone tries to stop you." Grian said with a mischievous smile.
The two workers saw Tommy running towards them and said nope not today. Tommy cursed at them like crazy and let his instincts get the best of him, he really was angry at them.
"Take down the posters." He said to an employee. Grian looked over to the doors that Tommy had just ran out of and saw three heroes walking outside. It was Blaze, 404 and rewind. They had clearly seen what had happened but just stood there doing nothing. Grian rolled his eyes and went over to see what needed to be stocked up on.
Later he reported the company for unallowed advertisement and defended Tommy from police that caught him.
Grian was still upset about the incident, they would not get away with that. Why didn’t the Heros do anything? He saw them watching outside the barge, wouldn’t he get protection just because his company didn’t sponsor? He already paid tax for that, that’s just low even for Heros, though he already knew they were good for nothing. They didn’t save him from his parents so why would they save his shop.
Ꮦ𐒅ᏋᎽ Ꮝ𐒃Ꮝ𐒐'Ꮦ ᏖⲄᏋᏗᏖ 𐒄Ꮛ Ꮾ𐒀𐒀Ꮝ Ꮧ𐒐ᎽᏇᏗᎽ𐒡.
But he went on with his day like normal, ordering supplies from a private delivery.
And before he knew it he was home. His apartment was not the biggest but Grian liked it, it was a three bedroom apartment and had a kitchen and dining area combined if that makes sense? It had a bathroom, living room and an area to do laundry. It also had a storage room that they had a bunch of random things in like extra pillows and things for the guest room but also a few games.
"Hey Grian! How was work?" Pearl asked while standing up from their sofa to look at Grians wings and see how much preening that would be needed.
"The usual, but another company thought it would be alright to advertise at the barge, so I had to send Tommy to get them out of there."
"Ugh that's annoying." She began preening Grians wings taking out any loose feathers and dirt that got in there.
"Yes, it's been irritating me so much today, I want to… I don't know blow up their building?"
"… I did not expect you to say that. But do you think you could do it?" Pearl asked with an odd look on her face.
"Well… yeah? Maybe not their main building since they would know It's something to do with the barge."
"Well, how do you feel about villains?"
"Better than the scum bags that left us to die.
Pearl gave an expression that Grian understood was because she didn’t get the answer she wanted.
"How do you feel about the villain 𝓜𝓸𝓸𝓷?"
Grian was quiet thinking about what to say. (Not getting the hint Pearl gave) Finally he answered.
"She hasn’t destroyed my life has she?" "I would say we're neutral." Pearl laughed at her brother, earning a confused glance from Grian.
"What?"
Perl stood up and started walking over to her room. Grian hadn’t been in her room the past year since he didn’t want to take her privacy away. (+1 Brother point to Grian) So Grian followed her when she told him to. But nothing could’ve prepared Grian to see his sister's room, he looked at the room then at Pearl.
It was filled with villain related things such as a bunch of weapons, mainly a bunch of daggers. But also a computer setup that matched the one Moon had. (Moon would sometimes threaten citizens with pre recorded messages.) He also saw a pile of documents that he assumed were about heroes and villains. He also assumed that it was information to trade with Jester, one of the villains that were dangerous but didn’t cause too much chaos. He owned a casino in Las Nevadas and had a big monopoly on information that he was known to sell to heroes and villains alike. But there were also masks and suits that Moon would wear. Boxes filled with paper and gadgets that she would use. Grian saw small bombs and metal ropes.
"What do you think?" She looked nervous but still proud of herself.
"Oh my worlds, how have I not noticed?" Grian asked, shocked and still looking around the room.
"That’s a good question." Pearl answered and seemed to calm down her nerves a little.
"Is this why the police came last week and you begged me to tell him I lived alone?"
"Maybe?" But she couldn’t keep a straight face and she bursted out laughing.
"I have to say I’m impressed." "Wait…" Grian had heard Moon say that her “friends'' knew where she lived and had implied that deals had been done in her home once on tv.
"YOU HAVE DONE DEALS AND MET UP WITH CRIMINALS?? IN OUR HOME??"
"I’m sorry Gri! But I didn't have anywhere else to do it!"
"No." "From this point forward you and the soup group will not have meetings or other things here."
"But Grian!" "I have nowhere else to meet them!" Pearl said with unsureness and a scared tone, probably because she didn’t know what to do now.
"I said you can’t have them here, but I will find a place for you to have them." "I don’t want you getting caught by anyone. Preferably at the barge.." Grian said the last part without thinking.
"At the barge? Your boss would not let that happen." Looking over at Grian like he was crazy.
Grian remembered that no one knew he was the boss, so he decided to tell her a secret of his now.
"Oh yeah, let me call him and ask if he's okay with it. I'm sure he’s going to understand, trust me."
"Grian." She said with a worried look.
"But she wasn't fast enough to take the phone out of Grians hand when he clicked on his “boss’s” number."
A moment later his work phone in his back pocket started ringing.
At the same time Pearl tried to take the phone out of her brother's hand but failed. She continues to try taking the phone but stops when she hears the phone in Grians pocket go off. She looked rather confused.
Grian takes out the other phone and begins having a conversation with himself.
"Hey boss, this is Grian I’m calling because of an important question."
Grian put down the phone he greeted with and put the other to his ear.
"Ah, yes Grian please ask away my best employee ever. But make It quick since I have a meeting in an hour." Grian talked with a rich British accent back to himself. Pearl laughed at the conversation Grian had with himself.
Grian swapped the phones again and talked in his normal voice. "Would it be alright if my sister used the basement for her and her friends to do very legal business?"
"Why yes of course my best employee ever. Just make sure the basement is clean when she hangs out there." The British accent is still going strong.
"Thank you for your time, but i’m afraid i need to hang up now bye!" “Normal” Grian ended the call.
"You can’t scare me like that!" Pearl said relief all over her face
"What?" Grian asked, faking a confused look.
"I thought you would call your boss for real." Pearl rolled her eyes playfully.
Grian smirked when he said:
"I did."
"What. The. Hell."