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The late night air hung heavy and still over the rooftop with the soft glow of the city lights. Hermes, his champagne and mocha-tipped hair brushing past his shoulders, stood there, the memory of shared laughter and whispered secrets with Grumbo a bittersweet ache in his chest. A noise of shuffling came from behind him, sirens low in the distance. Hermes already knew who it was.
“Grumbo,” Hermes’ voice, laced with a weary fondness, cut through the stillness. He saw the charcoal grey hair, now nearly shoulder-length, again, after a while. The mahogany red eyes, once pools of youthful affection and shared rebellion, held guard.
“Hermes,” Grumbo’s voice, a low murmur that still resonated deep within Hermes, held a hint of surprise. “Didn’t expect to meet the top hero here. Come to try and talk me down again?”
A soft sigh escaped Hermes. “It’s not about talking you down, Grumbo. It’s… I just want to understand. What happened to us?”
Grumbo let out a soft, almost melancholic chuckle. “Life, Hermes. It has a funny way of pulling people in different directions. You went towards the light, and… well, I found comfort in the shadows.”
“But why the chaos?” Hermes asked, his silver and arctic blue eyes searching Grumbo’s face. “The… the pranks, the going against the heroes. It’s not really you.”
“Isn’t it?” Grumbo’s gaze flickered away, towards the glittering cityscape. “Maybe it is. Maybe the ‘me’ you knew was just a young kid trying to find his way. This… this feels more real. More honest.”
Hermes’ heart clenched. He knew the pain that had been hidden beneath Grumbo’s playful exterior, the feeling of being overlooked by Scar and Grian, their heroism overshadowing their children.
“But they cared, Grumbo,” Hermes said gently. “Sausage and Joel… they were always there for you and Ari.”
“They were good to us,” Grumbo conceded, a hint of warmth softening his features. “They saw us when our own parents were too busy with the other heroes to notice what we needed. But their kindness couldn’t erase the years of feeling like we didn’t matter to the people who were supposed to love us most.”
“And that’s why… this?” Hermes gestured vaguely towards the city below, towards the implied chaos.
“It’s a way of being seen, Hermes,” Grumbo admitted, his voice soft and somber. “A way of making them pay attention. The heroes, the city…"
“But you’re not actually hurting anyone,” Hermes said, clinging to that hope... “You take precautions. It’s… more like you’re sticking it to a system.”
Grumbo offered a smile. “Call it performance art. Call it rebellion. Call it villainism. The label doesn’t really matter, does it? I go against the heroes; therefore, I’m the villain in their story.”
“But it doesn’t have to be our story,” Hermes said, taking a step closer. “We were… we were so close, Grumbo. Don’t let this divide us completely.”
“We chose different paths, Hermes,” Grumbo said, his gaze steady but not unkind. “Yours leads to fame and praise. Mine… well, mine leads to rooftops and the thrill of outsmarting the self-proclaimed saviors."
“What about Arianna?” Hermes asked, a knot of worry tightening in his chest. “Is she… is she part of this too?”
A shadow flickered across Grumbo’s face. “Arianna… she understands. We both do. We’re a team. Always have been.”
“But I care about both of you,” Hermes said, his voice earnest. “What we had… it was real. It mattered to me. Can’t we… can’t we find some common ground?”
Grumbo’s mahogany eyes softened, a flicker of the affection Hermes remembered shining through. “We were young, Hermes. We were finding ourselves. Things change.”
“But some things don’t have to,” Hermes insisted, his heart aching with a familiar tenderness. “Please, Grumbo. This… this isn’t the way. Not for you. Not for Arianna.”
Grumbo sighed, the sound heavy in the still night air. “Maybe not. But it’s the way we’ve chosen. For now.”
He didn’t move, didn’t turn away. There was no animosity in his gaze, just a profound sadness and a sense of resignation. The connection between them, though strained, hadn’t completely snapped.
“Just… be careful, Grumbo,” Hermes said finally, the words a quiet plea. “For Arianna’s sake. For… for our past.”
A small, almost imperceptible nod was Grumbo’s only reply before he turned, melting silently into the shadows, leaving Hermes alone with the ghosts of their shared history and the uncertain future that lay between them. The city lights glittered below, indifferent to the silent, unspoken grief that hung heavy in the late night air.