#hoec

"No, it's all fine, it's set for earlier than I need it just in case," Scott shook his head as he turned his alarm off and forced himself out the bed to get dressed. He still had to make it to his apartment, have a shower and go to the agency. 

"You need a ride?" the sheriff offered. He was not drinking last night. "So hero types don't give you trouble," he added with a grin as Scott slowly got dressed. As far as he knew Scott was just a random clerk at the Agency's tower.

Scott had no reason to say no so he accepted, and it allowed him to stare more at Jimmy. Even if he was about to follow him the whole day. Stare at not angry at him for just being there Jimmy? Yeah, probably...

He made it in time to the office only thanks to Jimmy's help. No more staying at random hotels with handsome sheriffs... Unless he had a proper hard leave with no 'come in in case we need you' clauses to them. But that was for another time, now he changed into his costume and marched to Katherine's office, glad none of the bites and scratches from last night were bad enough to not heal overnight. Now that he had coffee and his brain worked a bit better he didn't see any marks on Jimmy, granted he was mostly dressed by the time Scott woke up so who knew?

"Good morning," he greeted Pearl, Katherine's assistant. She took the exam at the same time as he did but just barely failed the physical part. A real shame but it was nice to see she didn't fully give up on the hero business. Or become a villain as it happened far too often. "Is Katherine in?" 

"Morning, yes, she just got here about fifteen minutes ago," Pearl answered with a wide smile. And took a big sip of her coffee. Early mornings were probably the worst part of the hero business.

Katherine was all ready to drag him off to the police station. "So sheriff doesn't run off to deal with something just to avoid us,' she said rolling her eyes and Scott followed her like a good hero. Sending smiles and waves to children on their way to school. Small, regal waves befitting the 'ice prince' as Katherine called it, a persona he was supposed to be putting on. It was nice to see the big smiles replace sad yawns. And the little yawns and 'it's an angel-hero!' whispers just loud enough for him to hear. It was hard to not smile at that but he managed. Children it would seem were the biggest challenge for any hero. They just got so genuinely happy whenever they saw a hero.

Unlike the police station when they saw Scott follow Katherine in. "Is Jimmy here yet?" she asked the front desk.

"The sheriff should be here soon," the girl behind the desk barely said before the sheriff walked in. A cup of coffee and a bag of bagels from the Cogsmeade coffee place they passed on the way here, in hand. Instantly glaring at Scott after a sizeable yawn. "Oh, sheriff the..."

"I can see," Jimmy sighed. "So the thing starts today?" he grumbled, not saying anything else as he just passed by them. "Whatever, as long as he doesn't get in the way I suppose he can stay," he tossed over his shoulder, eyeing Scott once more.

Scoot could not help but tilt his head and bite back a question about how he was supposed to get in the way. It was better if he didn't annoy the sheriff too badly too quickly. They followed the sheriff to his office since Katherine needed him to sign something to do with the whole thing. They did not make it to the office, Jimmy was stopped by some random police guy passing him a file.

"We were called by her kid's friend's mother when she brought him back after a sleepover," the guy told the sheriff, glancing at Scott. He was slowly getting used to being constantly stared at.

"Okay, I'll go there as soon as I can. Any other family?" Jimmy nodded sipping his coffee. 

"A grandmother, she got there just a few minutes after us, she's ready to take the kid..."

"Do not let her have him, we're doing it properly so while the investigations going he's with the services, and I want to know how far that grandmother lives, it's weird how fast she got there..." Jimmy instantly ordered. "What about the father?"

"Divorced as far as we know. Should we find him?"

"Of course you muffin, there is a high chance it's all about the kid," Jimmy scolded, smacking the guy with the file. "I want anything we can dig up on all the relatives when I'm back," he added and turned to Katherine. "As much as I'd love to sign your papers I have a murder to deal with..."

"They can wait but Major's coming along," Katherine shook her head.

The sheriff said nothing more and just stormed off. Scott glanced at Katherine, and after getting a nod followed him as fast as he could while still looking all proper. He was too slow and the sheriff already drove off but the random guy was easy enough to find and gave him the location of the murder. Scott flew and got there first so he waited on a roof for Jimmy to arrive. 

In the meantime, he observed the situation. There was a crowd surrounding the red tape. An ambulance. A kid with a lady Scott assumed was from the child protection services talking to him. And an elderly lady trying to get to the kid being restrained by two policemen. She didn't even calm down when Jimmy arrived waving the media and the crowd away. The lady, the grandmother Scott guessed. calmed down when he landed behind Jimmy.

"Please ignore him, a governmental project with nothing to do with the situation. Hermes will have to stay with the services until the investigation, I'm very sorry but these are the rules, once it's all over you're free to get custody..." Jimmy calmly explained, barely recognising Scott's presence.

Feeling he wasn't needed Scott approached the worker and the kid. As it was the case with children he looked up at Scott in wonder. "Hello little guy," Scott said offering the Agency approved Major smile. 

"Are you an angel?" the kid asked and the lady almost gasped. Scott guessed he was quiet since she got here.

"No, I'm a hero," Scott shook his head while making a small snowman with his powers. "Sheriff over there will do his best to figure this whole thing out so you be a big, strong boy and hold on until then, promise?" he said offering his pinky to the kid.

"I... I promise," the kid nodded shaking Scott's hand. "I'm Hermes. Why is grandma here? She lives far."

"I'm Major, and I don't really know, maybe she wanted to surprise you?" he offered. He agreed with what Jimmy was probably thinking. It was weird how fast she got here. And how much she insisted on taking the kid.

Seeing that the grandma left Scott left the kid with the worker. He was much more willing o talk to her now. And went to share what he learned with Jimmy. "The kid said grandma lives far from here," he said leaning in to see the papers Jimmy was looking over. "I convinced him to talk to the kid services lady, should not be much trouble," he added offering the man a smile. The sheriff graced him with a cold stare.

"I thought so," he sighed. "Shot and stabbed, lucky for you the body is already at the coroner's," he added with another heavy sigh and went inside of the apartment. Shouting out orders and questions. Mostly about any paper documentation. He only shouted because the kid was gone.

Scott just nodded and followed Jimmy after giving a wave to the crowd. Some people left after that.

"They divorced shortly after the kid was born, from what we found out the grandmother tried taking custody after her son just gave it up," Scott managed to catch another cop talking to Jimmy. "She had a restraining order on the mother," the cop said and fell silent seeing Scott. "Um..."

"Don't worry, he's not here about the case," Jimmy explained and the cop relaxed a bit. Just a bit. "Have someone keep track of what the grandmother's up to and contact the father.."

"That's the thing, Hermit City PD called to ask about our lady... he's dead and they thought it was her..." the cop said shuffling their feet. 

Jimmy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay... Can someone check if his mother was there recently? And tell me these things sooner," he said and went around the apartment himself. Scott tried to not touch anything and kept his wings really close.

The rest of the day was shockingly not too exciting. Jimmy talked to a whole bunch of people. Looked through a whole bunch of things. Went to the coroners. Had several phone calls and... when the sun just started to set had all he needed to arrest Hermes's grandmother for two separate murders. Her screaming and cursing the sheriff out was probably the most exciting part of the day. 

As he sat on the roof of the PD's building he was much more tired than after the last day's patrol. Even if he really didn't do much it was a lot of going back and forth at Jimmy speeds which were higher than the hero patrol speed. And the lunch break was much shorter too. 

"Guys downstairs said there's a pigeon here," Scott was a bit shocked the sheriff came up to see him after ignoring him for most of the day. Other than explaining why a hero was following him around he did not acknowledge Scott's presence at all. "Here," he passed Scott a cup of coffee. "You're not bad for a hero."

Scott had a feeling it was the highest compliment he could get from Jimmy as Major. "You have your job and I have mine and they're different but at the end of the day we both want to keep the city safe," Scott shrugged staring at the cup. 

"I suppose that's right," Jimmy hummed. "You really should be mindful of your head tilt habit," he added, shocking the hero with the sudden change of topic and tilted his head. A fully subconscious thing. "Yeah, this one. It's really obvious, and Scott's cuter."

Scott turned around to look at him and almost dropped his cup. "What do... I..."

"It's fine," Jimmy shook his head with a smile tugging on his lips. "Your secret's safe with me but stay mindful of it," he added and left.

Scott could only sit there for a moment. Holding a cup of coffee. Confused. Not sure what to do. Should he tell Katherine? Did Jimmy have powers like his sister or was he like Xornoth? Why must Jimmy be both handsome and smart? At least they got along well enough.

Eventually, he got over it and flew to the Agency's building. For now, he'd keep Jimmy knowing his name a secret. He had a feeling it was going to be okay. And if not... then he would see.

"How was the day with the sheriff?" 

The first person he ran into on the way to his office was Stratos himself. Scott heard at different points throughout the day about him chasing a minor villain with very annoying power. Mirror or something like that.

"Not too terrible, all things considered, just a lot of running back and forth," Scott shrugged. "I didn't get much to do outside following him around," he added as Stratos just nodded. If he wasn't still thinking about Jimmy connecting Major and Scott he might have been confused as to why Stratos was interested in his day.

"That's good, means there is a chance at fixing the relationship before the mayoral elections," he said awkwardly and left.

There were Tinkerer and Amethyst, they were speculations to be siblings but with how covered by his costume Tinkerer was - there was really not a single bit of him visible from under it, it was a bit hard to actually tell if there was any resemblance. The slightly creepy, blank mask Amethyst covered her face with did not help. Sanctuary who he kind of already knew, he was there during the recruitment tests. Mostly to take care of any wounds with his healing powers. And was probably the most popular among children. Scott would know, he worked at a daycare place before applying to be a hero and saw a lot of Sanctuary toys. And there was Stratos, the oldest and most well-known hero in the city. Controlling thunder made for a showy and impressive power even if it could cause major power outages and even change the weather if his fights drew out for too long. His toys were popular with kids, particularly boys too. All the heroes were and Scott found himself dreading the release of the first toy based on him... He was not that great with kids.

Scott was very lucky to be accepted with the frankly mediocre control of his ice powers, there were any better, in his opinion, candidates. He probably just looked better fro the media with his snowy white wings. The appearance was a big part of being a hero. Inspiring people or something like that. He was very determined to show that he deserved to be a pro hero. At least he didn't look scared to be there unlike Shrub. He remembered her and her nature powers from the test. It was a bit shocking she was accepted with powers so close to Sanctuary's. Well, it wasn't like she could heal with hers. And her mushrooms were very useful in capturing villains if she could get close enough. And her toys would probably be popular with little girls. Amethyst was a bit too regal with her whole Grand Wizard theme.

With the introductions done, Katherine moved to assign them patrol routes for the week. Scott was to follow Tinkerer for his first week and Shrub was with Sanctuary. Just so they could learn the ropes and then they were on their own. The patrols were mostly for the show anyway. Small things not including individuals with super powers were usually left to the police unless there were civilians in danger.

"Another thing, the mayor is disappointed with our poor relationship with the ECPD and wants one of you guys to follow the sheriff about, just one day a week," Katherine said with a heavy sigh. "Any volunteers? No Stratos you're out for this," she said, quickly cutting their number one off as he rise his arm. 

Scott briefly wondered why, before offering that he can go. "Maybe the sheriff will be a bit less hostile to a newer hero?" he offered as everyone stared at him. If no one wanted to do it then why not start on this proving himself worthy of his license thing? And their local sheriff was a very cute one so even if it would be suffering he'd have someone handsome to look at. Respectfully.

Katherine probably didn't feel like arguing with the senior heroes so she just dismissed everyone. Scott would, or Major would be introduced to the sheriff the next day, the first day he was supposed to follow him and his work. For the whole day. What did he get himself into...

"Don't worry about the sheriff, he's not that bad just... a bit much and most of us would rather not bother him too much, and who knows," Tinkerer assured him through his voice-modulating mask. Scott had one on himself. Heroes' private identities were important to keep secret so any hero who could not modify their voice in other ways was equipped with one. In Empires City they were all of Tinkerer's design. Even if he limited the use of his very destructive fire powers his inventions managed to keep him comfortably at the same level as other high-rank heroes. A lot of their support gear was designed by him. "He just might about tolerate you since you're new but if he tries anything tell me and I'll deal with him," Scott was pretty sure the man was smiling under the mask but not completely sure. The massive goggles covering the rest of his face did not help in the slightest.

"I'll just have to show him we're not here to make his job obsolete or something," Scott shrugged, stretching his wings slightly when they left the building. "Narrow spaces are not the best for the feathers," he sighed as he followed Tinkerer.

All in all the patrol was uneventful other than them helping some elderly with groceries and crossing the street. And some media took photos of them as they walked across one of the bigger parks. Tinkerer gave out a lot of autographs and took a lot of photos. Scott was actually asked for a few too. Probably as a preparation for him becoming more well-known. That was what patrols were. A big PR move to let people see the heroes, interact with them and feel like they are less of that distant paragon. Like they are people with a job too. Same with visiting hospitals and schools. It beat just sitting in the office and waiting for a villain to attack.

"Appearances like this keep the public happy and feeling safe and make us look more approachable," Tinkerer explained as they were about to have their break. Not even other heroes knew each other's identities. Not unless they decided to share it so they were about to separate to have their food at two different places that had a contract with the Agency to feed the heroes in private when they were out and could not just hide in their fancy offices on the top floors of their building. One of the few perks they enjoyed.

"Makes sense... I worked with children recently, they were super excited about heroes," Scott admitted with a light chuckle. "A lot of hero toys..."

Tinkerer made an uncomfortable noise. "I hate those but at least the profits go to pay all the people helping us keep the city safe and charities and a whole bunch of other cool things," he chuckled back and they separated to get their food. If they did know their identities they could eat together but it was a bit soon to share it just yet. Scott just got hired and it wasn't yet sure he'd actually stay for long. Or how long. He was determined to make it but who knew what might happen.

As he was returning home Scott was not physically tired but his mental stamina was drained pretty low. Just walking around the city was nothing compared to keeping his hero persona up. The calm, cold collected Major was different from the relaxed, laid-back and flirty Scott. But seeing small children look at him and Tinkerer with sparkles in their eyes was pretty rewarding. Especially the gasps as he moved his wings just a little bit. Realising they were real was a big positive shock to them.

"Xor?" he called out, locking the door. Officially every hero's civilian persona worked at the Agency to make it easier for them to go in and out of the building. "You home?" he called out again as his brother stayed silent. It wasn't his stream day nor band practice day but he could be lost in a programming project.

"I'm home!" finally came an answer from Xornoth's room, followed soon after by Scott's older twin himself. He was dressed unusually well for a not performance day. Even on those he didn't put that much effort in. "Hi. I'm going on a date," he grinned pushing a strand of long, dark-purple hair back. "Any ideas what I should do with my hair?"

Scott hummed for a second. Since when was Xor interested in dates? And looking good. "Just leave it out, it looks good," he finally said. "And how and when did you even find a date? You only leave for coffee and band stuff," Scott could not help but ask. He was genuinely curious how that managed to happen.

"At a band thing actually," Xornoth grinned still fussing with his hair. "We stayed at the bar we were performing at to celebrate and there was this cute bartender so I asked him out while Ollie bothered his boss, and he said yes. How was the first day of being a hero?"

Even if Scott was feeling a bit sus about the whole sudden boyfriend thing - he doubted it would last long, he moved to talking about his day. As boring as it was Xornoth was genuinely interested. He had no powers and always supported Scott on his long journey to being a pro hero. "If anyone asks I'm just a random clerk at the PR department looking over social media to see what people think about the heroes," he explained the whole cover story. Xor was all about the secret identity thing.

"That's still a cool thing," he said with a grin.

They chatted a bit more about hero stuff while Xornoth waited for his date to pick him up. At least the guy had his own car, which gained him a bit of respect from Scott. But he was still not sure he'd approve. He finally had a chance to return all the critique his former boyfriends faced from his brother and did not intend to go easy on this Joey guy.

Soon enough - a bit late, the Joey guy finally showed up and to say Scott was not impressed would be an understatement. He looked like he just tossed whatever nicer clothes he had on and put no additional effort into the date. Scott said nothing but did give him a bit of a stink-eye during the introduction. And continued glaring until they left.

And Scott was alone. 

It felt weird to be alone so he did what any logical person in his situation would do - went to a bar. Not the Smithy the band Xor was in frequented. That would feel weird and there was a big chance someone recognised him as Xor's relative. He didn't need that tonight. And he could always say he was celebrating a new job. He couldn't say what exactly he was doing but hey. An excuse is an excuse no matter how bad. Right?

He was three drinks in and barely feeling it - superpowers made getting drunk a challenge when some unpleasant fellow started bothering him. And was very unpleasant and clearly drunk while doing it. And did not take a 'no' for an answer no matter how much Scott pushed him away. He did his best to keep his body's temperature as close to normal as possible but it still brought more nasty comments. Something about warming him up and Scott was very not about it.

"I'm waiting for some friends, sorry, I'm busy..." Scott tried getting the guy to leave and failed miserably. The creep was not even in the slightest his type. Too short and well build. He really preferred tall men.

"*cough* Sorry but I must ask you to stop bothering my friend. Sorry, I'm late," suddenly someone saved him from the creep.

Scott didn't listen to the excuses the man-made as he slunk away, focusing on his saviour. The sheriff himself was standing next to him with a relaxed smile. He looked even cuter in person, the young hero had to admit. No, not pretty, handsome as hell fit him much better. A whole meal and no snack kind of man. Just Scott's type and probably very unavailable. For many reasons, their jobs, the sheriff not liking heroes, there was no way someone like that was single. 

"You okay?" the sheriff asked taking a step back. In the middle of all that he stood quite close to Scott, not that he was complaining. 

"Now? Yes. That guy just would not stop," Scott sighed, finally relaxing. Maybe he could come back to enjoying his evening. "Thank you for the help," he smiled. It was really hard to not start hard flirting with the man.

"It's nothing, I don't like people like that. Mind if I sit here? I kind of just came here on a whim and don't really know what to do with myself now."

Who was Scott to say no to the sheriff himself so they started chatting? Scott slowed down on the drinks to not get too far with those and accidentally say something he shouldn't say. He still slowly moved into flirting, but only when the sheriff let a small flirty comment slip out. And from then it somehow devolved into a battle of innuendos and flirts. And, once again Scott's not sure quite how even if he was mostly sober. Jimmy, as the sheriff introduced himself, not that Scott didn't know it, was damn distracting with those pretty eyes and smile of his. They ended up in a hotel, making out and tearing each other's clothes off like a pair of horny teens.

"You sure you're okay? You're kind of cold," Jimmy breathed out as they broke for air. Resting his forehead against Scott's.