Chapter Text
Branzy enjoyed being a bartender.
Despite the bar fights, and the drunk people trying to flirt with him all the time.
It was enjoyable. He met quite a few people there, and stored them away as friends for his civilian life.
Tonight was no different compared to the rest he had as a bartender. Maybe an underaged person trying to fake an ID, or some drunk guy trying to hit on a group of girls that clearly didn't like him. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Well, that was until someone came brutally crashing through the doors.
Branzy's head snapped up from the drink he was mixing, immediately recognizing the guy. He was a villain from a news article he read about. Of course, he never met him because he preferred to do his vigilante stuff in the daytime instead of midnight like every single other one did. That didn't stop the fact he paled upon seeing him.
Clown. That's what everyone knew the villain by. He was known to be the deadliest villain out there. He didn't know the details on his skill, but all he knew was that the villain never gave up if his eyes were set on something. And that terrified him. What could he be doing crashing through the bar's doors?!
Branzy heard the distant yells of a hero he could somewhat recognize the voice of from watching the news briefly from time to time. It sounded like Prince, if he remembered her name correctly. He was baffled everytime he heard the name because why not name yourself Princess instead?
He shrugged it off, now was not the time to be thinking about why Prince wasn't Princess despite going by she/her.
“You.”
Branzy jolted from his train of thought.
“Y-yes? What can I do for you, sir..?”
“Hide me.”
Branzy swallowed the lump in his throat. Every instinct was telling him not to, that he's a villain. But the need to survive soon overpowered that factor; considering he most likely can and will be killed if he refused.
“Um- I- you can hide behind the counter?”
Branzy offered, looking as flimsy as a twig about to snap. He might as well be one. He was shaking like a leaf at this point. He might even be blown away from a light breeze.
Clown, of course, hadn't seemed to care about his cowardice and instead just ignored Branzy and jumped behind the counter in one smooth motion. It was awfully graceful, and it made Branzy question if he was some sort of dancer when he wasn't busy being a villain doing villainous things that were most likely murder and lots of scaring people for fun.
Clown crouched down, pushing his back against the counter. Branzy inhaled a shaky breath as Prince barged in soon after. Her dress was a beautiful shade of teal, and she was decorated head to toe in jewelry made out of lots of gems of different kinds. She had on this yellow mask, with a smiley face drawn on the front of it like a children's drawing. She was also adorned in a gold crown to compliment her platinum blonde curly hair.
“Where'd Clown go?”
Her tone was demanding, approaching Branzy.
“I-I-”
“He- He went that way-!“
Branzy panicked in the moment, pointing to the back door that lead into the alleyway at the back of the building and connected to the rest of the alleyways of the other buildings.
Prince gave him a curt nod, her curly hair bouncing as she pushed herself out of the back door.
Branzy let out a sigh of relief, leaning on the counter and shoving his face into his hands. What did he just get himself into?
“You can come out now.”
Branzy spoke quietly to the man hiding down next to his legs.
Clown scooped himself back up with a gracefulness he couldn't describe. It was eery how the bells on his hat didn't seem to jingle despite the movement. Clown hopped back over the counter. Clown had seemed to give him a small curt nod. Branzy hoped that was a sign of respect for hiding him.
Not like he could see it anyways. Clown always wears this odd creepy porcelain jester mask that hid his full face.
The man walked out of the bar like nothing happened, disappearing into the shadows of the night; leaving both Branzy and all the people in the bar utterly scared for their lives. It was safe to say at least half of the people in the bar had quickly payed their tabs and left after that.
It was also safe to say Branzy was terrified after that, but he couldn't help but wonder if he would meet the mysterious villain with the porcelain mask again.
A tiny thing in his mind hoped so. The rest of his mind yelled at that tiny thing.