we deserve the world

I don't know, something something reduction of complicated, nuanced, admittedly often messed up dynamics to sex

This had happened the last time though. Villain seemed to make it a habit to attempt to break into the team’s headquarters every now and again. At this point it happened so often that Civilian wasn’t sure if there was actually anything in the Vault they were after or if they just liked the challenge.

One of the heroes would stop them in the end, as they always do. Though, not before Villain’s taken out some of the workforce just minding their business and trying to get their work done.

Like Civilian… again.

Which brings us back to our predicament.

“…I’m sorry?” Civilian managed to say after their heart leapt out of their chest. And after turning around to meet their soon-to-be and former killer face-to-face.

“I asked if I’ve killed you before?” Villain repeated, seeming both confused and rather casual about the whole thing.

“I- I think you must have me confused with someone else,” Civilian tried.

“Fair enough,” Villain shrugged, taking their hand out of their pocket and making a quick slicing motion in the air towards Civilian.

They don’t have rapid healing. If they break their arm it breaks. If they scrape their knee it bleeds. Everything heals at the pace it’s supposed to heal and things can still heal wrong.

Dying is a hard reset to the last point the body agreed it was at peak health; which appears to be at some point in their mid to late twenties. Anything that went wrong but didn’t kill them after that point is rendered void. Civilian wasn’t sure how exactly the reset looked (they never bothered nor had the inclination to find out) but they did know it took roughly just over a minute.

Slowly their awareness came back, and they groaned at the memory of the blade of air slicing into their neck. They were thankful it at least went quickly this time. The slice to their back in their last encounter meant that they had to wait to bleed out before the reset.

Feeling the slickness of blood beneath them, they reached a hand up to their neck before holding it above them, finding it thoroughly drenched. They cursed at the loss of their new top and reminded themself not to go to work in anything they didn’t buy at a charity shop.

“Now, I’m sure I killed you that time.”

Civilian looked past their hand to find Villain looming over them. They lurched upwards, scrambling back as they tried to get up onto their feet, only to slip on the blood-soaked papers scattered across the floor. Villain caught them by the arm, preventing their fall as well as their means of escape.

“Careful now,” Villain smirked. “Wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself now, would we?”

“Y-you’re one to talk,” Civilian spat, yanking their arm out of Villain’s grasp. They only had a second to be surprised at how easy they escaped it before an invisible force pushed them up against the wall behind them. They tried to move, but something was pinning their arms and legs in place. Villain was standing a few paces before them; arm lazily extended towards Civilian.

“Let go!” Civilian cried, still pulling against the invisible bonds.

Villain, finding the whole thing rather amusing, closed the distance between the two of them. The hand they weren’t using to cast the spell flew to Civilian’s throat. The touch was gentle, but Civilian froze all the same.

“Well, aren’t you just fascinating,” Villain hummed. Their fingers curiously caressing Civilian’s neck, right along the pulse point. “I don’t often forget a face. So, when I said I’d seen you before I was fairly confident in that.”

Civilian swallowed, and Villain’s smile grew a little wider at the feeling against his palm.

“So, just to be sure,” Villain continued, “I thought it best to cut your head clean off. In case I simply forgot to finish the job last time. Hell, I even decided to wait a few seconds just to make sure you were definitely dead.”

Villain ran their thumb across Civilian’s throat, right where the blade of wind initially made impact.

“Imagine my surprise when I was finally on my merry way that I heard a cute little gasp from behind me. And there you were, completely intact. Looking more inconvenienced than anything else.”

Villain swiped a nail quickly against the side of Civilian’s neck and an unseen force nicked the skin. Civilian flinched at the sharp pain and again at how intensely Villain was watching the wound. They waited a few moments, but when nothing seemed to happen, they turned their questions back towards Civilian.

“It’s not as simple as rapid healing then?”

Civilian didn’t answer, though that didn’t seem to bother Villain at all.

“I’m surprised you’re back here pushing papers, though. Surely someone with such a convenient power would have been snatched up for hero work by now.”

“N-not really my sort of thing,” Civilian admitted. Their eyes darted down the corridors in the hopes that maybe there was someone around. The heroes would surely be back any second now, right? The action didn’t go unnoticed by Villain, nor did the hammering beat of their pulse.

“You’re not scared, are you?” Villain asked, their smirk growing wider when Civilian flinched. “Come now, what could you possibly be afraid of? It’s not as though I can kill you.” Their eyes fell down towards the little cut they made. They brushed their thumb over it gently, relishing in the little shivers of fear and pain coming from Civilian before they slid their nail into the wound as if trying to pry it open.

Civilian yelped at the sting, starting to thrash again only for Villain to push more of their air magic into them. Preventing Civilian from moving even an inch of their body.

“But you’re not like the heroes, are you?” Villain sighed in mock disappointment. “You haven’t spent years conditioning your body against pain. And I’m guessing you’ve only died a couple of times given the way you’re reacting. It’s very cute, you know. Like a mewling little kitten.”

Civilian whimpered as Villain kept digging into the little cut, feeling more and more blood drip down their neck. Villain moved slowly and gently along the wound, watching the slit in the skin open and close methodically. Delighting in how much pain such little movements seemed to cause.

“Do they know?” Villain asked, and once again Civilian answered with a flinch. “I suppose you wouldn’t want them to. They’d take advantage of it. Send you off on the most dangerous missions, always putting the rest of the team’s safety above yours. You’d get hurt more than any of them; in ways none of them can imagine. And at the end of the day none of them would care because you can’t die and they can.”

“S-stop… please…!” Civilian cried, tears streaming down their cheeks. Villain stopped their assault; nail still embedded in the cut as they took in the sight before them. Civilian gasped and sobbed against the feeling, wishing desperately that they could move just a tiny bit, but still finding that nothing would relent. “P-please… I’m not- I’m not a hero or anyone import-“ they swallowed, taking a quick deep breath to try and calm themself down. “Please, I just do the paperwork. I won’t tell anyone that you’re here- I won’t tell the heroes. Just let me go-“

“That’s sweet of you,” Villain cooed. “You needn’t worry about all that though. The heroes know I’m here. They just know better than to prioritise their workforce over whatever mission they’ve gone on now.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Is it not?” they asked, finally removing their nail from the wound. Civilian had little time to celebrate though as Villain leant in and licked along the blood trail made by the cut.

“S-stop,” Civilian shuddered, feeling Villain’s breath as they chuckled at their reaction. Suddenly, Villain’s hands were on Civilian’s face, looking at them appraisingly.

“God, you’re cute,” Villain sighed. “I could stay here doing this all day.”

“P-please…”

“But you’re right, I should probably get a move on.” With what looked like considerable reluctance, Villain removed their hands from Civilian and started to move away. Given the direction they were heading, Civilian guessed they had given up on trying for the Vault today. If it weren’t for the magic still holding them to the wall, Civilian would have fallen to their knees in relief.

Villain took maybe two or three paces before waving their hand towards Civilian. Rather than being released however, Civilian found themself thrust up into the air, levitating off the ground.

“P-put me down!” they shrieked, trying to gather some purchase. “What are you doing?!”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Villain asked, tilting their head innocently. “I can’t exactly leave you here like this, can I? I’m not sure how you got away with it last time, but we can’t have the heroes finding out about you now.”

“That’s none of your concern!”

“Of course it is, my dear. Those clumsy idiots would break you almost immediately. Then what would I be left to play with?” Villain waved their hand in a beckoning fashion, using their magic to pull Civilian closer until their faces were inches apart. “You don’t need to worry about me though,” they continued, smiling at Civilian’s stuttering breaths. “I promise I’ll take my time and start small. We’ll only move on when you’re ready.”

“Please- l-let me go- I- I don’t want-“

“It’s alright, lovely,” Villain shushed. “Like I said, I’ll be very gentle. Who knows, if all goes well, it may be decades before you finally break.”

But not "good" just in the sense of good grammar, "good" in the sense of a hell of a f well-written characterization, the kind that makes you think about it for days and days.