this was a bad roof to be on. abandoned. dusty. a rotting satellite dish swayed precariously over the edge.
the hero sat with their back to the brick-laid railing of the fire exit. their split knuckles curled around the neck of a beer bottle as they took a swig. the skin on their cheekbone was cut. their eyebrow was split. there were bruises on their arms. the sight made the villain's chest pound, yes, but what really suffocated them was the look of defeat in the hero's eyes eyes. the resignation. the detachment. as dull as the corpse that was this abandoned building.
they thought they'd arrived unnoticed, but the hero's lips popped off the mouth of the bottle and they held it in their direction. of course the hero had noticed them. the villain would've noticed their presence, too, in any room; would've felt the air shift around the shape of their body, making space for something larger and more meaningful than anything the eye was made to see.
the villain walked over. stooped down with awkward, unsure limbs. no clue where to put their hands. they took the beer bottle. it was cold. they took a swig and tried not to think of the remnants of warmth from the hero's lips on the mouth of it. they'd have to wash their trousers. they'd heard word that detergent was of better quality across the sea.
if the villain listened close enough, they could hear the hero's breath come in and out. they watched their chest rise and fall. tried to match their breathing. the pounding of their heart got in the way.
they set the bottle down between them. the hero's fingers twitched for it, but they didn't immediately pick it up. they chewed on their split knuckles.
purely on instinct, the villain mumbled, "bad habit."
the hero merely acknowledged it with a noise. an uh-huh that was still stuck in their throat. if they noticed that the villain's voice was tender with care, they didn't say anything. still, their leg began to bounce. their breath came out in harsher, more audible inhales and exhales. their eyes seemed to be looking at some faraway thing.
"think about it." the hero's words were badly enunciated. "it's been a year. plus three of us not fuckin' mentioning it. four years of us. four years of—" the hero stopped short, words collapsing inward like an imploding building. they swallowed thickly, spit out bitten-off skin as an excuse.
for as long as they'd known each other (which wasn't that long at all, looking back—just from the moment they'd started existing up until this point), the hero had never quiet gotten that shaking under control. down went the words. up rushed the adrenaline. and the fear that tagged along with it.
their eyes were as big as marbles. as glassy as them, too. their jaw was locked shut, the muscle in it jumping. the villain ached to slot their palm against the curve of their neck. to feel the pulse there. to feel it calm down or quicken or do whatever, because the hero's pain was as much theirs as it was the villain's.
it was better to not voice that.
the hero closed their eyes, and out came the tears. they took in a steadying breath. "you're so fucking agonizing."
the hero took a swig. wrung their bleeding fingers. "you could've pushed me away."
"you could've pushed harder."
"that would've been cruel."
they couldn't meet the hero's eyes.
they'd always imagined it to be the other way around. the villain was cruel. sometimes inhumane. right in the cavity of their chest, past the bones and sinew, nauseatingly disgusting. they'd been human, once, but now they'd been rearranged into something worse.
the hero had been brighter. hopeful. loving. they had the capacity to love disgusting things, like this disgusting city and its disgusting citizens and its disgusting criminals. they'd been rearranged into something worse, too, by the villain's hand, far too slowly to catch onto it until it was too late.
sorry wouldn't fix it. leaving wouldn't fix it, either. but staying would be worse.
it would've been kinder to push them away. but the villain was selfish, had always been selfish, lit people up like matchsticks to feel their soft warmth for just a little bit.
the hero's cheeks were properly wet, now. flushed. their hair was unmade. their cape still carried stains from fights that had happened days ago. the soles of their boots were blackened and peeling. it would only get worse with the villain in the city.
the villain cast their gaze up.
the hero's eyes were glassy. their nose was red. the pulse in their neck jumped in time with the beat of their heart.
they should've pushed them away.
the villain slotted their palm against the curve of their neck. the hero sobbed once at their touch, then swallowed the rest of the pain down. they were better than the villain in that sense. they didn't crawl to affection the same way the villain did, like moths to streetlamps. they didn't ask, selfishly, if they were still loved, because they knew that it would hurt the other person. knew that it wasn't worth it.
the villain reached out with selfish fingers.
the villain got up, holding that admission close to their chest, and left.
even with an ocean between them, word of the hero's mental breakdown reached them like poison.