À Deux

He glanced at his watch “only 15 mins late this time” Thane ran his fingers through his hair one last time and entered the heavy wooden doors of Chez Paul.

“Your table is waiting, sir” grinned the maître d’ with a classic bow he led Thane through the dim golden glow wrapped mahogany tables, french perfumes mingling with filet mignon until they reached the back corner.

The candles, a quarter down, flickered on the back wall, not, as he expected, Cerise. His first thought was humor, on a night where he himself had been…indisposed…she too was late. What if she had an alter ego, too? He chuckled aloud at the thought.

“Sir?” Said the maître d'

“Oh yes, thank you. I’ll have the Bordeaux - we both will.” Tonight was THE night. He’s been planning it to perfection for months. Except for the being late part. He had not intended this to be the night his arch enemy, Causerella, would pick for their stand off. But he’d beaten her, literally put his hand into her eye, an action she could not undo since he’d recently discovered her weakness - bug spray with deet. Unknown to her he’d covered his fist in bug spray, the scent of which still lingered softly around him. Her defeat made tonight even more perfect than he’d dreamed.

Cerise arrived, in no less than that stunning black dress with the plunging neckline he loved. She wore the diamond necklace he’d given her for Christmas, his favorite pair of Jimmy Choos and movie star sunglasses. Heads turned as she walked past so he knew it wasn’t only his pants feeling tight.

Thane stood and pulled out her chair, his hand brushing across her shoulder.

“Mmm” she said softly, “what is that scent?”

“A new cologne I wore for you this evening” he cooed

He sat back down and looked across at Cerise, who was still wearing her sunglasses.

“You going to take those off? I’d love to see the candle light mingle with the love lights in your eyes.”

“Oh, these?” Her fingertips grazing the stems, “I had an accident this evening, tripped over my cat again.” She tittered softly, “he’s always in the way.”

It should have given Thane pause at that moment but Cherise was often banged or bruised up, the woman was clumsy, it was a feature not a bug.

They looked over the menu, though both had known before they walked in what they’d order. The sommelier brought the Bordeaux, which Thane approved of before the glasses were filled. Cherise sipped wine, her mind replaying the evening.

“What did you say that scent was? Cologne?” She asked, “it reminds me of the woods…it reminds me of…” she trailed off not letting on what she knew.

She knew Thane planned on proposing tonight, and she knew what that action would cause, and the one after. She knew Thane was actually her arch enemy, Ricochet, who not one hour earlier had punched her in the face. She hadn’t known for long, a week at best, that’s why she’d picked tonight for her attack - if only he hadn’t learned about bug spray with deet she would have been the victorious one this evening. Mais, c’est bien. She was about to land the coup de grâce.

They laughed over the fish, canoodled over the salad, nibbled the cheeses and then came dessert. On the tray was not the Mille-feuille they had requested but a small, blue box. Cerise’s eyes jumped from the box to Thane as though she’d practiced this action a hundred times.

“Cherise,” he began “these last three years have meant so much to me. You are the perfect woman and I’d love for you to do me the honor of becoming MY woman.” He got down on one knee and opened the box. Inside was at least two and a half carats with diamonds all around a platinum band.

She paused, glancing around to make sure everyone was watching from at least the corner of their eyes, and then, in what to Thane felt like slow motion, instead of reaching for the ring, she reached up to her sunglasses unveiling the damage he’d inflicted.

He knew in an instant. His stomach dropped. His Bordeaux felt like it was coming back up mingled with the fish. No “cat based accident” could have left the damage his fist had in her beautiful face. “Causer…” fell out of his mouth as she put the glasses back on, turned on her Jimmy Choo and walked out, leaving him agape with everyone in the restaurant staring.

She’d play that action over and over, watching him suffer more deeply than any smashed face. Perhaps he could bounce back off surfaces but - she suspected - he would never bounce back from this.

I rushed through the streets blood trailing behind several places in my body as I cursed the hero for ruining my only suit. I luckily, had an extremely high pain tolerance, you would too if you were constantly beat to a bloody pulp by a hero.

After several minutes of running due to being close I slammed open the doors of the restaurant brushing up my suit as i walked up to the waitress. She stared at me with worry in her eyes as she opened her mouth to say something, but I swiftly interrupted not wanting to waste another second.

"I'm fine!"

I internally winced at how harsh my voice came out before continuing.

"I have a reservation under the name of Hurri"

She nodded still eyeing me with worry before leading me to our table, coincidentally right before we started walking off my date slammed the door open. She was bleeding, not as bad as me, but still bleeding. Yet, she was still gorgeous, in all mind, personality, and beauty. So of course I instantly lit up when I saw her and the waitress led us both to our seats.

"Are.. you okay?! I- I notice you're blee-"

"I'm fine anyway, you uh... want to talk, it's fun to hear more about your opinion on society after all we had to go due to your ma's curfew..."

Ah yes, we were both juvenile delinquents, yet still I somehow was a juvenile delinquent and an extremely powerful person simply wanting to show society how fucked up it is. Which could fall under the category of villain I suppose.

"Oh yes, so as I was saying society is horrible, I've seen so many people shunned and thrown on the- streee..."

The amount of infatuation in her eyes as she listened stopped me short.

"Oh please continue. I love to hear you voice your opinions, it's actually helping me hype myself up for something... and changing my opinions as I look at things from another v-"

She stated embarrased but was cut short whenever she needed to sneeze. Though what didn't come out was snot. No, what came out was fire, pure white fire, fire I'd recognize anywhere.

"Wild...fire..."

I stared at her with recognition in my eyes as she looked at me

"Hurricane...?"

​

We both burst out laughing

"So sorry I'm late, Milo, ugh."

Becca looks exhausted as she all but collapses into the seat across from me. I set my menu down, equally tired.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I just got here myself. You okay?"

She nods wearily.

I take a moment to wonder what's up with her. I myself just finished a vicious battle with my nemesis, Electra. Yes, I, local dumbass Milo, am actually the hero Frostbite. Shocking, I know.

Becca picks up the fast food menu. So do I. "What held you up?" I inquire.

"Oh, y’know, stupid people, not important," she says quickly. "Ooh, they got chimkin strips."

I brush it off. We have our date, laughing and joking over cheap food, then I walk her home. I wince as my rib suddenly throbs horribly. Electra could punch.

"You okay?" Becca asks, concern lacing her features.

"Yep," I lie. "I'm fine."

She doesn't buy it. "Lemme see-"

"NO!!"

I clear my throat. "Uh, no, I'm fine, really."

I hadn’t had time to change, so I had thrown civilian clothes over my costume. I couldn't let her see.

But she was already stepping forward, hand on my shirt.

"Wait, you can't-"

Too late.

She pulls the hem of my shirt up to expose my hand-sewn costume. She freezes, her expression unreadable.

" . . . So funny story," I start, but she shushes me. To my surprise, she pulls off her own shirt to reveal . . .

" . . . You gotta be kidding me."

Electra hadn’t changed either. Becca looks at me.

Suddenly I'm biting back a grin. The whole thing is so unexpected.

" . . . Sorry about your ribs," she offers uncertainly.

I laugh. And laugh. And keep laughing, because the whole thing is so ridiculous. She laughs too. We both put our shirts back on and I walk her home, wondering if I should offer to team up against Thunderbolt, an even bigger villain from another state.

Right now though, I'm thinking I should apologize for the presumably aching bruises I left between her shoulder blades. Ice hurts.

Sinister phased in and out of Amazon's punches.

She was groing more and more tired, she was not sweating bullets but missiles, and he needed to escape fast he had a date to get to he's already 5 minutes behind...

"As much as I would love to do this song and dance all night my dear, This damned ruby isn't worth what I'm going to miss... Ta Ta now!"

He said as he phased through the floor leaving the Royal Ruby in his hand to drop to the floor.

"DAMMIT! HE GOT AWAY... wait what time is it?" She pulled out her phone with a broken screen from her back pocket on her belt.

6:30 Pm

"OH FUCK I'M GOING TO RUN LATE!"

She then ran down the 30 flights of stairs all while trying to freshen her self up as much as she could. She didn't want to smell like blood and sweat around the one guy she was interested in...

At the same time Sinister phasing through walls and walls trying to get to his apartment to change his clothes. When he arrived he ditched the top hat, cane, and his black and red 1700s style get up. He put on his nicest watch, and grey dress pants along side a white shirt and coat.

"Okay, Stan you're gonna go up to her, hand her the flowers, and-" he glanced at his watch "going tO BE LATE!" After that he phased out through his second floor wall and ran...

When Amazon found the bathroom with her bag she took off her greek inspired costume, and got on her nicest black dress. Grace double checked she didn't look like she was fighting, nor smelled like it too, before running to the restaurant at 6th...

They ran, and sprinted but by the time they got there it 7:39 the restaurant closed, and they stood there looking at each other...

They were horrified thinking that the other must have been waiting here all this time not going in as the restuarant closed without their date really beginning.

"I'm so sorry I was running late and I-" they had both paused. Stan was as dumbstruck as Grace hearing that...

"You? Now I'm the one who was late you were-" he noticed the high ponytail on Grace's... no... Amazon's head.

"No, your mistaken. I'm late you've been waiting with flow-" she then paused and noticed the messy eye shadow on Stan...no... Sinister's face

They walked close until the were properly face to face. Then the noticed the finer details of each other appearances. After that no more words were said. Only tears. Only 2 people with broken hearts walking away, until all that was there was just a flowers, laying on the concrete floor in front of an empty restaurant.

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