Work Text:
What a beautiful day it was!
Ballister casually strolled through the town, happily scoping out all of the bars and clubs in the South Side of the Realm, hoping to get wasted or at least decently tipsy after a successful heist. He whistled as he passed club after club, searching for anywhere that seemed like they had something exciting going on.
None appeared to be all too terribly exhilarating, but it was a Friday night. Every hero and villain of the week was settling in, either looking to get wasted and have fun, or to make some bad choices.
Even so, it really was a lovely day- or, well, night- for making some bad choices.
The sun was setting~.
The stars were coming out~.
His arch-nemesis, whom he hadn’t seen for weeks, was busy making out with some rando in an alleyway near one of the seedier clubs~.
Yes, it was such a lovely day to be-
-Now hold the fucking phone.
Taking dramatic steps back to one of the bars Ballister had just passed, he looked into the dark alleyway and, undoubtedly, saw his golden-haired enemy- his hero, making out with some random jerk on the side of the establishment.
Now, sensible people would have simply kept walking.
Just go on about their day and pretend like they saw nothing.
It was none of their business, after all.
Ballister, however, was never one to simply move along when it came to matters he dubbed important, and this was something he dubbed absolutely important. So, he stayed hidden, despite how much walking away was the sensible thing to do right now.
For both of them.
He hadn’t seen the hero in a good long while! And now that he’s suddenly back on the scene without even a "fuck you" or “hello, how have things been?” this is what he’s found doing? Giving warmth to some- some faceless villain of the week?
Whoever this guy was had the taller man pushed up against the brick wall of the building, and that already had Ballister’s right eye twitching.
Ambrosius, his- well not his but also yes his- precious golden hero could easily break out of the hold of any random villain on the street. He could burn them into a golden statue with a single touch if he wanted to, it would not be hard.
If he was being shoved up against a dirty wall like that, it’s because he’s letting that asshole do it.
‘اوہ ، ٹھیک ہے ، یہ صرف نہیں کرے گا۔’
Ballister, practically being part of the earth thanks to his geokinesis, snuck towards the two men without making a single sound.
He pulled himself up against a dumpster close by and listened in on the disgusting sounds of whatever the hell the pair were doing.
Ugh.
That’s when he heard what had to be the worst pickup line he could have ever imagined hearing being said to anyone.
“C’mon, baby~,” the stranger simpered, basically drooling over the blonde, “just let me in. I’m sure your tongue tastes as sweet as your lips.
I guarantee I do~.”
Ballister could feel himself growing sick, and he's not even exaggerating.
Seriously, where had Ambrosius even find this guy?! That was the suckiest one-liner he has ever heard in his life, and by the way Ambrosius sighed, he wasn’t the only one who thought so.
“... Look, you’re... cute. But I think I burn a little too hot for someone like you.”
Now, this could be seen as another egotistical line from any other hero. However, Ballister knew for a fact that the taller man was being as literal as he was metaphorical.
Ambrosius, because of his structure and powers, had a body heat much higher than most other heroes or villains, even those with the ability of Pyrokinesis. Where Ballister ran cold as ice due to his abilities gifted to him at birth, Ambrosius ran hotter than a star at times, making it impossible for him to ever be comfortable with another person since barely anyone could handle the heat. It was never an issue for Ballister, but it was something that bothered Ambrosius a lot when they were younger, and appears to still be bothering him now.
On the other hand, the tone he used told Ballister everything he needed to know.
Whatever this guy thought he had going on? The blonde was so over it.
Perhaps this stranger did have a semblance of a chance at the start, but that sentence (and probably more things that happened before he arrived that he'd rather not think about) had landed so flat that Ballister could practically feel Ambrosius inwardly cringing.
A scoff brought the ravenette out of his head and back to the scenario at hand.
“Oh please, you really think you’re such a hot piece of ass? No one in there was even looking at you tonight. I’m doing you a favour here, baby~.”
Ballister scowled at the comment but went silent at the light chuckle that came right after. What followed sounded like someone being pushed and the rustling of clothes, followed by footsteps and someone opening the back metal doors of the bar before disappearing inside.
Peeking out a bit, Ballister was disappointed to see that it was only the rando who was still outside, but he was also thrilled at the prospects of Ambrosius realizing this guy probably wasn’t worth the air he breathed.
Of course he did.
The blonde was the top-ranking hero and poster boy for the HI, and could probably throw this guy halfway into the streets if he were ever that confrontational. However, why waste the energy on one silly little mistake? He was better than that.
Still, even if Ambrosius didn’t like doing it for himself, Ballister wasn’t one to stand by and let a wanna-be playboy miscreant get away with a comment like that.
As the stranger fixed his clothes from where the hero had shoved him and grumbled something under his breath about "ungrateful jerks", he was too distracted to notice the way the ground began to shake until it was too late.
With the flick of the ravenette's wrist, a piece of the earth beneath the stranger’s feet, sending the man flying high up in the air until he unceremoniously landed with a hard 'thump' in the middle of the street.
Oh, he’s fine~.
He's got slight durability, it seemed, and managed to get up in time to dodge the oncoming traffic, so all’s good!
Not like anybody cared anyway.
Nodding with approval, Ballister walked out of the alleyway, whistling an easy tune as he turned to look at the sign looming above him, which highlighted the name of the establishment.
Light’s Out
Appropriate name for the patrons who attended.
‘Hmm, well, I did want to get wasted.’
With hands behind his back, he nonchalantly walked into the establishment, sending one look to the bouncer who recognized him immediately and let him in. He'd worked hard as a villain to ensure his presence carried weight. Not like security was going to stop him, anyway.
It only took a second of searching before Ballister noticed the familiar sheen of gold moving from around the crowd of drunks and partiers. With a grin, the ravenette effortlessly made his way through the populated dance floor towards his target, reaching the other side of the bar with little to no trouble.
Unfortunately, it appeared that he had at some point lost track of the hero.
As if he just disappeared into the crowed.
Near impossible with how the hero's entire being basically gleamed in the spotlights of the club.
Suddenly, something hot- a hand- wrapped around his wrist and pulled him from where he’d just reached a bar. The hand led him without much force to the darkest areas of the room, and with little resistance, Ballister let himself be cornered, looking up at his captor with a smirk.
In front of him stood an angry, fuming blonde who towered over him with ease.
His golden hair was tied back in a flattering ponytail, and his pale skin and golden-brown eyes glowed like divinity, all surrounded by the shadows.
“ہیلو ، میرے پیارے~.”
His mouth was moving fast, probably saying something reprimanding about Ballister following him around or whatever, but Ballister was lost in his own thoughts by that point as he stood admiring the other. Soon, though, he couldn’t help but think back to the man from earlier who almost had his tongue down the other’s throat.
In fact, the thought of how close he’d been had Ballister’s cold blood seething.
He hadn’t even had a chance to kiss Ambrosius yet! Let alone-
“- 듣고 있긴 한 건가요?”
Snapping out of it, he looked up at the fuming blonde, who continued on when he thought the villain was actually paying attention, and noticed a strand of hair had fallen in front of his face.
Ballister reached his hand up to move it, but his hero easily caught his wrist again. Shame he couldn’t feel the heat this time. He was sure it was traveling through the metal of his prosthesis and imagined how comfortable it might feel, as it had on his cold skin earlier.
“... You’re not listening again.”
Ambrosius was shooting him an unimpressed glare. The ravenette smirked and leaned forward till they were inches apart. “مجھے معاف کرو ، میرے پیارے,” he gave a sharp smile, admiring the handsome face so close to his own, “it appears that I keep getting distracted.”
A dangerously low growl emitted from the other’s throat, but Ballister couldn't care less as long as he leaned in closer.
The blonde huffed and pulled away, crossing his arms over his chest. Ballister also took a step back, raking his eyes up the lean form in front of him. He was dressed in black leather, a beige sleeveless turtleneck, and black combat boots. The cotton of the top accentuated his toned chest while the leather complemented his arms and legs.
Gloreth, does he look good in black.
“Like, can you even blame me?”
“Be serious, Obsidian.”
Ballister almost bristled back at the name, fighting the urge to pull back and walk out of the bar. But instead, he grabbed the taller man by the front of his jacket and yanked him forward, though his expression didn’t waver.
“جب آپ کی بات آتی ہے تو میں ہمیشہ سنجیدہ رہتا ہوں,” he tilted his head ever slightly, “you know that.”
The ravenette saw the second the hero began calling on his powers, preparing for whatever fight Ballister may or may not be initiating.
“Ah-ah-ah.” Ballister wiggled his fingers in the other’s face. “This scene might end up being a bit too public for all that, yes?”
Ambrosius stepped back and looked around at the crowd of people- a mix of heroes, villains, and civilians- littering the bar, catching how a few of them began to stare at them, and huffed a hot breath in the other’s face.
But before he could get too far, Ballister grabbed hold of his arm and swiftly led him to the dance floor. He ignored the pointed look shot his way by the hero and simply wrapped his arm around his slim waist in a metal grip.
“What are you-”
“-Best way to hide is in plain sight, right? What better way to shake off prying eyes.”
After a moment, Ambrosius hesitantly placed a hand on Ballister’s shoulder. The villain took this as a positive sign and took the blonde’s other hand in his own, smirking when the taller looked away.
Maybe this was a bit too straightforward for a club, but thank the gods a slow song started playing just as they began to move to the center.
Whoever that DJ is, they were getting a huge tip from him.
Ballister tightened the hold on the small of his back, sighing contentedly as he lay his head on Ambrosius’ warm chest. He enjoyed the feeling of a strong arm wrapped around his shoulders; a capable hand wrapped around his own. The ravenette deliberately chose his left hand to hold his hero’s, to better feel the heat coursing from Ambrosius’ hand to Ballister’s freezing one. The two temperatures were attempting to mix in a sort of battle for dominance, and neither were winning. They moved to the rhythm, forced to press together from the encompassing presence of the other patrons.
Ambrosius himself let out a long sigh, almost relaxing into Ballister’s cold embrace.
‘یہ ہر وقت گرم رہنا بے چین ہونا چاہئے,’ the villain thought as he sank deeper into the warmth.
It’s no fun being cold all the time either, after all.
“아까 쓰레기통 뒤에서 밖에서 뭘 하고 있었나요?”
The question broke Ballister from the calm that he’d found, and he sighed.
Of course, Ambrosius knew he was there.
He always knows when the villain’s around, somehow.
‘Always so suspecting~.’
“... میں آپ سے بھی وہی پوچھ سکتا تھا.” Ballister sneered, pulling away to look up at the face inches from his own. “Disappearing for weeks without any notice- where were you by the by we never got to that- only to suddenly show up out of the blue and be found making out with some wanna-be-bad-guy in the dirty back alley of this bar.”
He tried not to let any emotion drip into his words, but was unsuccessful if the look the hero was giving him said anything.
“Never thought I would catch the Institution’s finest, the little Golden Boy, fraternizing with the public in such an obscene manner.”
Ballister spun them both around, following the music’s tempo, and his grin grew wicked.
“What would the Director say about such behavior?”
A sharp turn from the hero had Ballister almost tripping, his grip going slack in shock. However, before gravity could take him, Ambrosius pulled him back up with a firm grip around his waist in a sort of dip. The ravenette was sure he had stars in his eyes, smiling wildly while the hero glared at him in warning.
“누군가 나를 다시 감시하고 있다는 느낌이 들었습니다.” He grumbled. “I already told you to leave me alone. What I do in my spare time is no one’s concern. Not the Director’s,
And especially not yours.”
Ballister, brought out of his daydreaming by those words, tsk-ed and used the moment to bring himself back up with a push of the underneath his feet, shifting the balance and turning the tables to where he now had the hero trapped beneath him, mimicking their earlier position.
The snarky reply he had at the tip of his tongue died down in his throat the second his eyes landed on the man below him.
There’s a reason he’s on the front cover of all the ‘Vogue Heroes’ magazines.
Ambrosius is beautiful.
That in itself is no secret.
All porcelain skin and strong features. Threads of his golden locks falling from where they were tied up that framed his face like a portrait. Eyes that glowed like the sun at times, shining under the party lights of the club like stars.
But what caught Ballister off guard was the emotions behind them.
Even with furrowed brows, his eyes still reflected the longing they held after that terrible day all those years ago. The same pain, remorse, and regret that never quite left him, no matter how much time had passed. He wanted to lean down, to kiss his brows and tell him that it was all alright now, that he didn’t have to hold on to the necessary pain, that everything was...
Fine...
His right shoulder started to itch.
He shook it off.
Instead, Ballister leaned down, encroaching on Ambrosius’ space.
“اس کے برعکس ، میری محبت,” he whispered, pulling him closer, “I think, as your adversary, what you do in your free time is absolutely my concern.
Besides,” the villain lifted him back up, leading him around the floor in a way that almost felt normal.
“Haven’t you missed are fights?”
At this, Ambrosius pulled back as if slapped, and the second they were close enough to the sidelines, he let go completely, pushing Ballister back.
“제가 정말 그런 걸 놓쳤다고 생각하시나요?” He hissed. “That I like doing this? That I enjoy fighting with you?”
Before Ballister could say anything, he was already walking away towards the exist.
The ravenette rushed to catch up with him, wondering what he had said wrong this time.
It was true, wasn’t it?
Seeing Ambrosius, even if it was through their battles, even if they were on opposite sides, was the highlight of Ballister’s week.
Was that not the case for him too?
The thought stung more than Ballister wanted to admit.
He managed to catch up with Ambrosius just as the taller man got outside, making his way in the direction of the HI.
“Wait!” Ballister called out, jogging after him despite the blonde yelling over his shoulder to be left alone.
“Wait, Rose-”
“Don’t call me that.” Ambrosius snapped at him, the glow of his powers becoming a forefront of his features.
It’s a good thing the streets were practically empty.
Ballister just huffed, frustrated at this back-and-forth they always seemed to find themselves falling into.
Always the same song and dance between them, moving to a melody only they could hear.
No matter how it started, someone always ended up walking away.
Well, not this time.
“Look,” Ballister went on while ignoring the shift in energy around them, tone serious, “I just... I- what if we- ugh- کیا آپ براہ کرم مجھے بتا سکتے ہیں کہ میں کیا غلط کام کرتا رہتا ہوں؟”
Ambrosius, appearing to ignore him, made a sharp turn into a hidden corner on the side of one of the abandoned buildings in the area, and Ballister, probably foolishly, followed.
For what was the second time that night, he was pulled to the side, only this time he was being pressed against a dirty alley wall.
This was either going to be really good or really bad.
And with the way the hero was looking at him, they were headed towards the ‘Really Bad’ area.
“여기서 무슨 게임을 하고 있나요, 옵시디언?” The blonde asked through gritted teeth. “여긴 왜 왔어요? 왜 계속 날 따라오는 거죠?”
Before he could answer, he was shoved up against the wall.
“5. years.
For 5 years after that day, you told me, every time I tried reaching out, that I was being naïve. that I needed to get the you I had in my life- the one I saw as my friend out of my head because that person was never coming back.”
“Well, that-”
“-Almost two years ago, you were yelling at me on a high-rise rooftop that I needed to stop.
Stop thinking this is something I could fix.
Stop thinking that we'll ever have what we used to.
Stop thinking that we were, in any way, still friends.”
Ballister flinched back at every sentence.
They were a bit rough, not that he should be surprised.
Those were his own words, after all.
“And now?” Ambrosius went on, sounding furious, hurt, and confused all at once. “Years after finally realizing that I couldn't do anything to bring you back, after I finally let it go and stepped into the role fully as your nemesis- your enemy- now you want to come around and- what? act like you care? Like you're allowed to have any say in what I do or who I'm with?”
The villain tried to take a step back, noticing how the literal golden strands of Ambrosius' hair began to glow, his emotions- his anger- making his powers go to an unstable level, but he was pressed too far up the wall to do anything.
Ballister knew he had to stop it, knew he had to calm him down before something irreversible happened, or walk away now lest they forego their identities.
But he couldn't.
He never really could just walk away from Ambrosius.
“I know, I know what I said, I-”
“Then why keep doing this?” Ambrosius pressed on. “Why keep acting like what we have now will ever- can ever be more than what it is?
Because what you're asking for, Ballister, the things you want, we can't have.
Not anymore. You made that very clear.”
The villain scoffed. “And whose fault is that, exactly? That we can't have that anymore?”
He regretted the words the second they left his mouth, hands coming up as if he could take them back.
Because in reality, what happened all those years ago, it wasn't anyone's fault.
They were young; they shouldn’t have even been there in the first place.
It wasn’t fair to blame what happened and everything that followed on one singular person.
Especially someone who was... just trying to help.
Still, Ballister physically saw the second the words hit Ambrosius.
In a second, it was as if all of the swirling emotions in him vanished, and he deflated almost completely.
“저... 알아, 난...”
Now, without the glow of the bar lights or the shine of his powers, Ballister could see him more clearly than before.
He had bags under his eyes, and his shoulders sagged with the weight of an invisible load that had been there since childhood but had only gotten worse with time.
... He looked tired.
Still handsome, always handsome, but like the energy had been drained from him so severely.
Ambrosius gently let him go, stepping back and fixing his jacket.
He gave Ballister a stare that made him want to reach out, but a calm hand in the air stopped him. Ambrosius shook his head and turned around. He stuffed his now shaking hands into the leather pockets of his jacket- a jacket made to accommodate his powers- and Ballister could see in time how the fabric not only began to change in color, but also structure as it slowly turned into gold.
“Am-... Geumsaeg, I...” the ravenette started, but thought better of it.
Ambrosius straightened up, as if he was about to turn around and say something.
... and then he walked away.