#...yay

Edit: Next part, part 4, part 5, part 6

A few hours later, Hero lay in Villain's bed, a wet towel on their forehead and covered in blankets. They had drifted off before waking up with a start multiple times, until they were finally sleeping normally. Villain sighed and sat on the chair next to the bed.

"I'm off now." The doctor Villain had called over, which was actually their assistant/mad scientist, said to them.

Villain only waved their hand dismissively. "Don't make too much noise when you go."

Their assistant knew better than to argue with Villain about their behaviour, so they just nodded. They still rolled their eyes though. Not that Villain noticed, they were too busy fawning over their nemesis.

It infuriated them, somehow. If Scientist had their enemy fall to a moaning heap on their doorstep, they'd waste no time in getting rid of them permanently. This would only cause problems in the future, they were sure. If Scientist wasn't so terrified of Villain, they'd just kill Hero right then and ther-

"Why are you still here?" Villain's voice was quiet, but it still made the assistant's heart pound wildly out of fear. It was amazing how the villain could install fear with just their voice.

"S-Sorry, I'll be leaving now." Scientist flinched and quickly got out of the room, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

Oh well. The hero is Villain's problem now, anyway.

The villain sighed and their gaze fell on Hero again. Their fingers grazed the other's cheek. The doc said not to bother them, but a little poke won't hurt. They caught the hero's cheek between their index and middle finger and pinched slightly. "Mm." Hero's brows furrowed and they shifted slightly in discomfort.

"Tsk. For fuck's sake, darling." The villain released them and Hero's eyes opened slightly.

"...Villain?" They mumbled, their voice small, too small for someone as brave and loud as Hero.

"Shhh. Go back to sleep." The villain put a hand on their eyes gently, feeling the hero's eyelashes graze their hand as they closed their eyes. "And try to rest, will you? You're no good to me like this."

When their hero's breathing deepened, Villain took their hand away, taking the towel with them. It was only going to bring them discomfort anyways. They leaned back on their chair, never taking their eyes off of the sleeping figure on the bed. "...how the hell did you end up like this, huh, Hero?" They whispered and their own eyelids felt heavy. They did not close them.

Hero was dreaming. Flashing lights. Loud music. Distorted laughter. Then the dream changed. There was darkness. A figure looming over them. A voice. The figure spoke, it said something, something that made Hero's heart race and their whole body sweat uncomfortably.

The dream repeated. Flashing lights. Loud music. Distorted laughter. Darkness. A shadow. A voice, louder this time.

And again. Flashing lights. Loud music. Distorted laughter. Darkness. A shadow. A voice, telling them something.

And again. Flashing lights. Loud music. Distorted laughter. Darkness. A shadow. A scratchy voice, grating their ears.

The hero's heart pounded harder against their ribcage, threatening to shoot painfully out of their chest. Flashing lights. Loud music. Distorted laughter. Darkness. A shadow. A scratchy voice, whispering in their ear. "...-ould've made sure I was actually gone, little one."

Hero woke up with a start, their body jerking in shock, gasping for air.

"Oh, hello."

Before they even had the chance to recognize where they were, a heavy weight dropped on their stomach. "Oof!"

"Oh, you're fine, darling. You don't have any bodily injuries. I checked."

Hero blinked a few times and their eyes finally focused on Villain, who rested their cheek on one hand, the other poking Hero's forehead. Their long legs caged the hero's upper body and head. "Villain?" Poke. "Why am I...?" Another poke. Hero frowned. "Hey-" Poke. The hero slapped the villain's hand away. "Stop that."

"You owe me." Villain ignored them and, for some bizarre reason, squeezed Hero's face with their feet.

"Ugh! Enough!" Hero sat up, causing the villain to fall between their legs. For a moment the whole world spun and Hero squeezed their eyes shut with a groan.

"Yeah, that wasn't smart, darling." Villain sounded amused.

"Fuck off." While the villain let out a small chuckle, Hero tried to remember the events which caused them to be here. In Villain's room. On their bed. With said villain still sitting casually right in front of them, their legs wrapped around the hero's waist. They rubbed their eyes, wiping sclera and-

Flashing lights. Laughter. Shadow. Voice.

Hero hissed as a sudden headache, feeling nauseous.

"Hey." Villain whispered at them. "Hey. It's rude to ignore." A light tug on their hair.

Hero took their hands away from their eyes and glared at the smirking face in front of them. "What."

"You look like shit."

Hero gave them a look before pushing the other on the other side of the bed. They had hoped the villain would fall out of it, but of course, the bed was huge. What sort of freak has a couple's bed when they lived alone? Hero wondered as their eyes took in the room. It isn't just the bed, the room is the size of my whole apartment, too. All this space, and for what?

Whatever. The hero had other problems than judging the way Villain lived. They turned their back to the criminal and-

Lights. Laughter. Voice.

"Argh, fuck!" Hero grabbed their head with their hands, applying pressure to stop the pain.

"...Hero." A hand their shoulder. "Hey, don't ignore me."

"I'm fine." Hero's voice was harsher than they intended and they brushed the villain's hand away. "Just... just wondering how I got here."

"You were drugged." The villain offered helpfully.

Darkness. Flashing lights.

"I know."

"Do you know who did it?"

Hero sat on the side of the bed and crouched, resting their elbows on their knees, and sighed. "N-"

Shadow, voice. Blinding lights.

"-made sure I was gone-"

Hero stilled.

"Darling, you look tense." The villain hummed and put their hands on Hero's shoulders, squeezing slightly. "Want me to rub that tension away?"

"Supervillain."

"...That's not what I'm called."

"They never found the body." The hero mumbled, their hands shaking.

"So?" The villain released them, and sat next to them.

"They're alive."

A moment of silence. Then Villain snorted. "Impossible. They fell off a skyscraper. It was broadcasted live."

"Yeah, well," Hero huffed out a humourless laugh, "they didn't look dead to me."

A scoff. "Hero, you were drugged. Can you be really sure it's them? The whole world saw." The villain's voice sounded amused, but their eyes betrayed the unease they were really feeling. Seeing the strong keeper of peace and protector of the city trembling did that to a person. And the hero sounded too certain. And the bad feeling in their gut didn't help. "And even if it were them, it makes no sense. Why here? Why now? Why attack you?"

Hero's mouth went dry as Villain continued.

"Neither you nor this city had anything to do with their plans. I mean sure, their nemesis was Superhero, your mentor, but they started mentoring you after their big battle, right?" They didn't wait for an answer. "Which resulted in their death, by the way."

Hero shook their head. "They're alive." They whispered.

"Okay then, let's say they survived." Villain sighed. "What could they possibly want from you? And besides, Supervillain doesn't go around drugging heroes in secret, it just isn't their style. And what could Supervillain, of all people, want in a small city like ours-?"

"They're looking for someone." Hero's voice was low, but the villain heard them. They glanced curiously at Hero, who was finally remembering the events of last night. Well, bits and pieces.

They were at a club. Flashing lights. Loud music. "Feeling alright?" Distorted laughter. And then some mumbling that Hero could not quite recall. Not that it mattered, it was obvious to them what had happened. Their drink had been spiked.

"Looking for someone?" Villain's voice felt far away, as if they were underwater. "Who?"

But Hero wasn't listening. Their memories were fuzzy after that. Still, bits and pieces were better than nothing.

Darkness. Supervillain must've dragged them somewhere, away from the blinding lights of the club. Shadow. That must've been Supervillain themselves.

"Your villain sure is good at hiding their identity. You look like you're close to them." A voice, grating their ears. "Any tips? I can make good use of them."

Their memories were getting fuzzier and blurrier. In the present, Hero paled.

"Darling, who were they looking for?"

"You should've made sure I was actually gone."

"You." Hero's voice was meek to their own ears.

"Huh?"