Chapter Text
Listen, Egg was never a proactive person. He kind of went with the flow, and took a sort of pride in it. Those who stuck their heads out constantly in the city were rarely rewarded with much but disaster.
But when a purple blur of motion falls before his feet accompanied by the unmistakable scent of iron… Well, the city could forgive him for being a good Samaritan just this once. The mess of purple hair lifts to reveal the glaring of bright magenta eyes not even a mesh veil could dull. Egg's vision wasn't great, but even he could tell that the guy was pissed.
The guy moves, and it's outright painful to watch. Egg can't decide between stepping back to give the guy some space and helping him stand. He settles on the latter.
"Let go," the guy hisses.
It's too late, and Egg's already got his arms around the red and purple mess. It's not like the guy can really fight in this state. He tries not to think too hard about the wamth soaking into his sleeve (and the subsequent wash he'll have to do).
Really, the stranger should be grateful he fell right in front of Egg right after he'd closed the library. Truly a miracle, nearly right on the dot of 9:00 P.M. The walk back took barely any time (even though Egg was heaving by the end).
He opens the locked library with a jangle of keys, mildly grimacing at the darkening carpeted floor. He's sure his boss can forgive him just this once, being as diligent as he is usually. He lets go of the guy who looks half alive at this point, and Egg really has to thank his nerves for not throwing up once on the way here from the strong scent of iron.
He's sure he can find a first-aid care somewhere, with how prepared his boss for just about anything. However, the situation looks too dire for that, and he doesn't exactly want to leave someone to die in front of a display of children's picture books. Rather grim, if you asked him.
He sighs just a bit, crouching down and moving the guy's veil and hair aside. His eyes are clenched tightly with pain, the sound of his breathing barely audible. Egg takes his gloves off, bare hands pressed to what feels like dried blood and skin before focusing on his divinity.
A halo forms above his white hair, illuminating the dark room. Egg's only allowed one sharp inhale before a piercing pain courses through his body, a side effect of the otherwise benevolent power he'd been given.
He's never used to it, and he doubts he ever could be. But when he sees the guy's face ease, and the furrow between his brows soften, Egg feels a sense of relief.
Angels aren't exactly a common sight, and Egg's glad that most believe him to be an avian hybrid rather than one of divinity. With how many heroes and villains roam the city, the last thing he wants to do is be a dedicated healer. One, it'd take time away from his studies, and two, he can't be bothered.
Only once his heart stops racing from the pain of his healing does Egg realize the severity of what he'd done. This random stranger had better been grateful.
"Dude," he pokes his forehead. "You awake?"
In a speed that nearly wipes Egg off his feet, the purple man hops up and snatches the veil off the floor, donning it in one move that seems over the top. After all, his audience consisted of one far too nearsighted librarian and any ghosts that decided to tune in.
Egg is standing now, cold sweat forming on his neck.
"Where am I right now? Who are you?" It's an unmistakably hostile tone, one that certainly doesn't sound grateful.
A very, very ominous presence is inches before him, and the room cools noticeably. Egg doesn't have the nerve to move.
Even with his terrible eyesight, he recognizes what this is: a mace.
And the only recent user of a mace was, the villain, Gambit.
Gambit, who had various headlines detailing his destruction of the city. That same Gambit now held a mace inches away from Egg's face. Curse his lack of ability to see far; he'd never gotten a good glimpse at people's clothes, much less their features.
"Uh, you're in the library. And I work here…?" The sentence trails off into a questioning tone.
"Alright," Gambit drags the first syllable, then lowers the mace. His tone is wary. "Huh. Didn't even know they had a library here," he muttered.
There's a weird pause that Egg's not sure is typical when being threatened by villains.
"Do you want a book, dude?" Egg's really, really not keen on prolonging his sheltering of one of the most wanted villains in the library. God, he had even healed the guy.
He grabs the closest book to him, which happened to be on the front counter he had backed up to, and extends it towards Gambit…
…who looks oddly amused.
Egg looks a bit more carefully at the book. Ten Steps in Farming a Villain Aura. Oh.
"Sure," Gambit seems like he wants to laugh. He takes the book after making his mace disappear with the wave of an arm. Science is out of the equation in the city, after all.
"It's not mine." Egg deadpans.
"…Sure," Gambit seems closer to laughing. "Do I have to return it, or something?"
Egg thinks of reopening the computer at the front desk to log the book into the system, and feels an imminent headache comparable to his healing aches.
"Bro, it's past closing time. Just keep the book."
"Huh." That's all Egg gets before a wad of cash is in front of his face.
"Uh, you can just take it."
"For the book, and also for the healing." The cash is thrust into Egg's hand, by this point.
Gambit seems like he's trying to remember something while Egg is rendered speechless by the sheer amount in his hands.
"Oh, and for being able to see an angel today," Gambit grins, before disappearing. The door swings open behind Egg.
It takes a while for his heart to return to normal. It takes even longer for Egg to clean the carpet. Hopefully he won't be faulted for housing a villain. He wasn't even aware, but everyone knows that excuses and nuances didn't exist in the city's law.
By the time the carpet is clean, Egg had exhausted his remaining stamina. Perhaps it's a good time to establish that he most certainly is not fit for high intensity (nor low intensity) activities. It's why he could barely pick himself up to store all the cleaning supplies and re-close the library.
So. A villain (not just any, but The Villain who has been ravaging the city) now knows of his identity. Additionally, he had helped said villain recuperate. He looks up at the moon while walking home as though it could solve any of the problems he's encountered tonight.
No, life is all about going with the flow. It hadn't harmed Egg so far, so he'll just… continue as though nothing happened. Reporting it to the authorities was begging for Gambit to come and kill him, and maybe his immense charisma had convinced Gambit to not tell anyone about his angelic pedigree. Especially not any other villains.
Maybe.
Egg has made a terrible mistake.
It's the only possible explanation as to why Gambit was in front of his counter.
"Long time no see." If three days was a long time, sure. Egg tries to manage his expression at the nonchalant greeting.
"…Long time no see." Egg's eyes scan the library for anyone who might see THE Gambit, and his shoulders relax when it seems vacant. That seems to amuse the villain before him.
A book is placed on the counter. Gambit grins in an unsettling manner.
"So, I read through this book." Shit. "I'm just going to assume the annotations are yours?"
"What can I say, I've just got an academic inclination."
That gets Gambit to laugh, a sound that borderlined on painful for reasons he can't describe. Egg wonders if it was just now that he'd begun to not feel his fight or flight instincts screaming at him to scram. Huh. (He doesn't realize that he'd confirmed the book was, in fact, his).
"Anyways, I'm back to return it. You weren't done reading it, huh?"
Egg's brow furrows, maybe his ears were playing tricks on him, but that sounded weirdly strained.
"Let me return your money, then," he hurries, already shuffling in his bag for his wallet.
"Dude, no, I'm stacked for now." The last part of Gambit's sentence is quieter, which Egg's mind unhelpfully makes a note of. "Besides, you basically saved my life."
Wow, being a good samaritan might be the meta? Egg wonders if he could make a business doing this before shaking the thought away. He couldn't be bothered.
"Actually, I also came to—"
—With near comical timing, a bloody stream burst out of Gambit's mouth, some splattering on Egg. It takes a few coughs for him to speak again. Egg hopes he looks more nonchalant than he feels.
"Uh, so, could you like do whatever you did last time?" Gambit flashes a bloody smile.
It's beyond Egg how he'd concealed such a major wound. It's even more beyond Egg how willing he'd been to help, even without there being a mace threatening him.
"Alright, bro. You might want to close your eyes for a sec."
Gambit is borderline keeling over on the counter, book shoved aside. The bloody handprint irks him, but more importantly, he'd never been made more aware of the limitations of his vision. Not only had he not noticed Gambit until he practically waltzed up to the front counter, but he'd failed to notice anything wrong.
Egg's gloves are discarded (again) and he presses his palms to Gambit's forehead before feeling the familiar pain. He bites down to not yell, trying to seem composed if he can. Part of him wanted to aura farm, but the other part knew that the cost of healing should stay a secret for good.
Cold sweat forms on his neck, but he thinks (hopes) he managed his face well enough.
"Dude, you look constipated."
Egg takes his statement back.
"I had to tap in to my inner medic."
Gambit rolls with it, thankfully. He also seems to be recovered (thankfully).
A loud ringing sounds from Gambit's pocket, causing him to scowl. The topic is good as forgotten when he fishes up another wad of cash, places it on the counter, and promptly rushes out the door.
This genuinely might be the meta career path in the city.