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There’s a hero on his rooftop.
Grian is a vigilante, so he’s used to seeing heroes around Lifeville. It was technically their turf, after all, but most heroes steered clear of the lower-class areas of the city, where Grian and the only other vigilante of Lifeville - Phantom - patrolled.
He knew all of the heroes there were - everyone did. The Hero Committee made sure that every news station reported on every new hero, or retired hero, in the city. Grian hadn’t seen hide nor hair of this hero on any news stations; so either he was a baby-hero (freshly recruited hero; not even done a press conference yet) or he was a vigilante, like Grian. Highly unlikely.
When Phantom first became a vigilante, it was seven months after Grian had become one. Phantom approached him on that very rooftop, where Grian always perches for the first thirty minutes of his patrol.
~~~
“Excuse me?” Instantly, Grian was on his feet, his hands held up in front of himself and his powers flowing through his fingers unconsciously. The power from this stranger - dressed in a cowboy outfit with a bandana around his face and looking incredibly nervous - soaked through his costume into his body. It was always a strange feeling.
“Who are you?” Grian demanded, his voice modulator distorting his voice.
“I-I’m Phantom, I’m a vigilante. And-and since you’re a vigilante, I figured I’d meet you.” Phantom explains, and Grian imagines he’s biting his lip under that blue bandana. “I can go invisible and intangible and stuff, so.”
“Then why aren’t you a hero?” Grian questions, lowering his arms, all too familiar with die-hard fans dressing up as vigilantes to copy him.
“I…my power is undocumented.” Phantom admits sheepishly, a hand raising to tuck his blonde hair under the brim of his hat. He shifts anxiously on his feet, and Grian catches sight of yellow feathers tucked anxiously behind Phantom’s back. Wings that look familiar. Anxious, undocumented powers, canary wings…
“By chance, is your name Jimmy?” Grian asks, watching Phantom’s entire frame freeze. “You know what, nevermind. I thought you looked familiar, but I’m starting to think I’m wrong.”
“Yeah,” Phantom says stiltedly, and now that Grian’s paying attention, he can hear the undertone of his pseudo-brother’s voice in the distorted voice. “You probably are.”
Grian sticks out a hand, Phantom flinches slightly then calms when he realizes the action is friendly. “Nice to meet you, fellow vigilante.”
“Nice to meet you too, Avianator.”
~~~
Grian smiles as he reminisces on the interaction, stealthily climbing the fire escape at the back of the building using his wings to boost himself up. He still can’t believe Jimmy actually thought Grian wouldn’t recognize him; though, to be fair, Jimmy hadn’t known that Grian was Avianator at the time. He knows now, and blushes whenever Grian brings up that day - night, whatever - but that’s a story for another day.
Grian peeks over the edge of the building, watching the hero (that’s what he’ll assume until told otherwise) through squinted eyes. His pink-tinted glasses make seeing incredibly difficult, but he will sacrifice sight for aesthetics.
The hero’s outfit is glowing with orange and blue highlights on the skin-tight dark-grey suit with short-shorts and hightop boots. Grian had caught a glimpse of the hero’s half-orange, half-blue goggles earlier, so this person is also a man of fashion it seems. The hero also has a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back and a bow strapped to his belt. He looks flashy.
The hero suddenly freezes, his body going tense, and Grian finds himself freezing too, unconsciously extending his power towards the hero. He winces when the hero’s power soaks into his skin, and causes his hands to burn with something fiery beneath the skin. He flexes his hands under his elbow-long magenta stocking gloves - Grian, too, considers himself flashy.
“Hi, there!” The hero chipperly calls out without turning around. “I really hope you’re the vigilante I’m looking for and not a raccoon. I’m going to turn around now, but I don’t wanna fight! So, if you don’t wanna talk, go ahead and…jump off the building.”
Grian snorts without meaning to, hoisting himself up the rest of the way onto the rooftop. He bounds up to the hero quickly, surprised how easily he’s let his guard down. His wings flutter behind himself, his pink-painted feathers rattling a bit. (Yes, he really doesn’t have any right to call this hero flashy when he himself literally paints his wings bright pink and black every night before patrol).
“Well hello there!” The hero repeats, following Grian as he perches himself on the edge of the building like usual. The hero jerkily sits on the ledge next to him.
“Hi.” Grian nods.
“So, you’re the infamous Avianator all those Hero Committee people warned me about when I said I wanted to patrol this part of the city.”
Grian feels his hackles rise at this comment, his hands gaining that warm tingly feeling from the hero’s stolen powers - whatever they are. “You said we wouldn’t fight.”
“Oh, no, no, no! Of course not! I j-j-j-just figured I’d come and meet you so that I knew who I was working with, and to warn you about me coming!”
Still feeling off-kilter from the very eccentrically odd hero, Grian stares at him. “Why would you ever want to patrol here?” he ends up muttering.
“B-b-b-because so many robberies happen here! And villains love to come through this neighborhood, overwhelming you and that other vigilante, Phantasm or something-”
“Phantom.” Grian corrects absent-mindedly.
“-Phantom, yes, that’s what I said. And I pointed out to the Hero Committee that I’d either become a vigilante to help you guys, or join their “side” or whatever and patrol here as long as vigilantes’ g-g-g-g-got immunity.”
“Oh.” Grian mumbles, shock coursing through his system.
“Yeah, Sweet Angel, oh.” The hero reaches over and bops his nose, before turning back to face the streets below.
Grian stares for a good few minutes, trying to corral the blush that threatens to overwhelm his entire face. “...Do I at least get to know your name?”
“Hmm?” The hero nods, then seems to process the question. “Oh! Sorry, I’m HotGuy!”
“...What.”
“Yeah! Isn’t it cool?!”
Grian reaches over and shoves the hero…HotGuy. HotGuy cackles as he rises to his feet on the rooftop.
“I’ll see you around, Sweet Face!” The hero shouts as he falls backwards off the edge of the building. Instincts kicking in, Grian rushed over to check on him, only to find that the hero has disappeared into the night.
What a strange guy.