Chapter Text
Letting the bookbag slide off his shoulders, he collapsed himself into a chair, pulling his favourite red sweater over his head, throwing it down to the bag.
“So how many textbooks did you bring and not need today?”
“Tim do not start with this today.,” Grian mumbled. His cousin was sitting on the sofa, still in his uniform, watching the blonde remove his glasses and rub his eyes. Maui came up and rubbed himself against Grian’s legs, looking up at his owner as he picked him up and moved himself to the kitchen and searched for something to feed the cat. As his cat ate, he pulled down a tin of instant coffee and started making himself a cup. Double shot with almond milk, the exact same one he made himself every afternoon. Feeling a buzz from his pocket, he pulled out his phone, and checked the notification.
“Shit.”
As someone who barley swore, the curse alerted his cousin, who immediately flared his wings up, thinking something was wrong, only to watch a red blur run around grabbing things, then disappearing down the hall. He’d forgotten that he had an essay due that night, and he hadn’t remembered to start it, meaning he’d be up to a ridiculous hour writing some stupid essay. He preferred the more physical assessment, where he got to build scale models, but he was required to take some classes if he wanted that stupid career. Propping his laptop open, he sat down with his coffee and started tapping away.
3:23am
The assessment was finished, and had turned it in before midnight, and had decided to stay up and ease his workload for the weekend, finishing the rest of his essays. Pulling himself up, he moved his sleepy cat to the end of his bed, grabbed his crumpled coat from the floor, and lugged himself to the front door, leaving for an early morning walk. He liked taking walks in the early hours of the morning. There wasn’t much going on, just a cool breeze and some cars traversing the streets. No big heroes and villains wreaking havoc. Just… silence. He could spend hours wandering aimlessly throughout the alleys, lanes, and-
Suddenly, Grian felt someone grab onto him. They dragged him down an unlit alley, roughhousing him, and then throwing him against a wall, winding him.
“Hand over your money.”
“…no”, Grian wheezed.
“Sorry? No?? I don’t think you have a choice here buddy.”
Grian weakly held out his hands, producing small explosions as a pathetic excuse to protect himself.
His mugger threw him onto the floor, causing him to yelp in pain.
“Now, hand over your money or you’ll regret resisting me.”
Grian crumpled. He had nothing to give the man. Only if he’d gotten the power his cousin had. He’d be able to get himself out of this situation, but instead, he just had harmless explosions. In one final attempt, he held his hands up and mustered the loudest explosion he could, hoping to alert the police, a hero, or even if a vigilante to help. Grian felt the mugger grab his hands and tie them up, to prevent him from calling more attention to them. Slowly, he started succumbing to his injuries and pure exhaustion, and just as he was about to let his eyes close, he heard an odd noise from above him and heard a masculine voice call out.
“HOT GUY!”
Suddenly, an arrow snagged the clothing of Grian’s attacker, pulling him away from the victim. Weakly looking toward the noise, Grian saw a tall brunette with a bow and a black bodysuit with a blue and orange logo across their chest. He walked forwards leaning down to pick up the red-sweatered man’s glasses, passing them to him.
“Are you doing ok?”
“Who are you? A …hero?”
“Uh- maybe?”
“So, you aren’t?”
“I guess not? I haven’t actually got a clue. I guess you could call me a vigilante.”
Grian took the man’s hand, hoisting himself onto his shaky legs. The taller person checked him for injuries, making sure he hadn’t damaged anything. Despite his rough exterior, the suited man was careful, making sure to not harm him any further. All Grian could see of the man was his green eyes, which were oddly calming as they carefully surveyed the area, keeping on high alert. They talked back and forth for a few minutes, chatting about nothing in particular. The figure pulled out pain medication from his quiver, which seemed to hold a fair amount of first aid materials
“So, since I saved your life, could you please not call the police? The sun's almost up and I really don’t want to be involved in another police chase.”
“Yeah, I see no reason to. I’d like to go home any-”
Suddenly, the person’s knees gave way, collapsing onto the floor.
“Stupid vigilantes. Thinking they are ‘capable’. But you are just D-grade idiots who want a shot at fame.”
The mugger was standing on top of the collapsed brunette, knife in hand. He turned to Grian, holding the weapon up to his neck. Grian’s mind blanked. He couldn’t do anything. His powers weren’t strong. He didn’t even have the means to escape. He couldn’t even defend himself. All he could do was make loud noise or smoke. That couldn’t help him in any situation. It was not the first time that he’d wished he’d received the same ability as his cousin. As the knife pressed deeper into his neck, he thought over his life. His childhood had been good, and he was doing relatively well for himself, but if he was being completely honest with himself, his life was embarrassingly mediocre. He couldn’t die now. He had so much life left, he needed time to prove he wasn’t an entirely useless human. He could do things.
He.
Wasn’t.
USELESS.
He felt a searing pain spread as something protruded from his back, as the man in front of him stumbled back, falling onto his back. Watching red, yellow, and blue feathers float down his vision. His body filled with adrenaline, and he felt his hands gain heat, smelling phosphorus. In his peripheral he saw a set of wings flow up, pushing him away from the wall. He felt a sense of power that he had never experienced, his senses were heightened, and he felt ...powerful.
“Who- who are you? What are you??”
Grian turned to the man.
“I am no one. It does not matter to you. But, if you wish to reach sunrise, you will leave.”
The man scrambled back, tripping over himself and escaping into the night. Grian reached down, helping the vigilante up onto their feet.
“Y’know, you seem to have a decent amount of power behind you kid. If you’re ever bored, call me! I can show you a… semi-illegal way to have some fun!” He handed Grian a card, and walked off, sheathing his bow over his shoulder. “Call me!”
Grian lent against the wall. He realized his wings had disappeared, but he was still left with the searing pain that they produced. Sighing, he pulled out his phone, calling his cousin.
“Hey Tim. …yeah, could you come to pick me up? …dude, I know you have nothing going on around this hour… …yeah, just a little scuffle, I just want to head home… …ok, I’ll send you my location… …see you.”