Identity (A Sanders Sides Superhero AU)

Truce In Shadows

Hey everyone! Thank you for bearing with me for these last few weeks. It's been very hectic but i'm back now! Updates will continue to be every Monday. Thank you for reading!

TW: Mentions of death

Roman was on patrol duty today which was nice. He got to wear his costume and zoom around town helping out with fairly mundane activities. Instead of fighting bad guys he got to help elderly people cross busy roads, help lost children find their families (although that only happened once), he even managed to find time to drop in for a child's birthday party. 

This time was slightly different than normal. Instead of heroically walking through the streets with a smile on his face as he watched children and adults alike stare in awe, he was mainly sticking to the back roads. It's not as if he didn't want to help others, he just was enjoying the peace. The day before Logan had suggested they go visit Virgil (as if Roman didn't visit him every other month but they didn't need to know about that) and they had made plans for the day after, since they didn't work on weekends. They alerted the ISA that they would be unable to answer any emergency calls, and they put together another team on standbye. 

Roman's patrol was a little later than normal, so even though he's only been on the job for an hour, the sun was setting. The air got cooler, though Roman didn't get cold easily. He wished it was like when he would sneak out as a teenager to go for walks. The crickets were obnoxiously loud when trying to sleep, but really set the mood when taking a late night walk. It is where he was free to let his thoughts roam wherever they took him. They often ended up taking him to Virgil's house. Well his house before they moved. An older couple had moved in a few months after Virgil moved out. Roman became great friends with them after they caught him sitting in their driveway at 1 O'clock in the morning a few times. 

It wasn't long before the sun went down completely. It was a New Moon, so the only light avaliable was from the old street lamps. Roman found himself quite exhausted and didn't feel like using his magic for light. So instead he used his magic to jetpack himself of top of a tall office building. There had never been any evil villian attacks past 9 PM since Anxiety became the city's main problem, so Roman figured he could take a break. He brought himself to the edge and sat down his feet dangling up in the air. The building was fairly tall, definetly not the tallest, but tall enough that if you were to fall you would most certainly die. Roman looked out at the mostly empty streets hearing cars honking and sirens in the distance from the main road. He closed his eyes not knowing what else to do besides enjoy the peace.  

He sat there for several minutes for several minutes with his eyes closed until he heard footsteps. His eyes snapped open and he turned around to see who it was. Anxiety was standing there looking at him with the usual smirk on his face.  He jumped up and got into a fighting stance.

"What are you doing here?" Prince demanded. Anxiety put his hands up in surrender.

"Just going out for a walk."

"On the roof of an office building?"

"Got to get around somehow." Prince did not look impressed. Anxiety put his hands down. "Look, Princey, i'm not looking for a fight."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Well you can trust me and we can have a nice chat, or we can fight and I can kick your ass. You're choice really." Anxiety shrugged. Roman glared at the villian. He hated to admit it but he was powerful. He would get his ass handed to him if he fought him alone. Reluctantly he dropped his fighting stance and held out his hand. Anxiety raised an eyebrow.

"Truce. Only for tonight." Anxiety suspiciously looked at Prince before slowly taking his hand and shaking it.

"One night." Princey nodded and released his hand sitting on the edge of the building, but not letting his guard down. He couldn't trust him. Anxiety quietly came and sat down next to the hero. A few minutes of silence passed. Neither knew what to say until a flock of birds flew by. 

"Oh to be a bird free from the chains of this world and the next. Choosing to float in the middle ground and sit on electrical wires." Anxiety said. Prince looked over at him.

"What the hell was that?" He asked amused. 

"That was my impression of you." Prince laughed.

"Yeah, ok." 

"Was I wrong?" Anxiety asked.

"Yes, actually." Anxiety raised an eyebrow.  "It's more of a ' Oh to be a bird free of the ties binding them to the heavens.'" Anxiety laughed. 

"I liked my version better." 

"Of course you did." The two men laughed for a moment before looking at eachother like a cheesy romcom. Anxiety cleared his throat all previous signs of amusement wiped out from his face. Prince's smile fell as well and he looked over at the streets. He started tugging on the end of his sleeve, although he had no idea why.

"So.." Prince started "How was your day?" Anxiety nodded.

"Been alright. Bullied a kid, knocked over an old lady and robbed a bank so fairly productive." Prince looked at the man with wide eyes.

"W- wait a minute." Anxiety laughed. Prince was confused for a moment before he realised he hada been bamboozled. "Wow, very funny."

"I thought so, yes." Prince glared at the villian although he realised it was playful. 

"It wasn't that funny." 

"I'm pretty sure it was."

"Im pretty sure it wasn't."  Anxiety rolled his eyes. 

"Like you know what humor is." Prince scoffed at the villian. 

"I'm funny!" 

"Then make me laugh."

"I will." Anxiety smirked as Princey thought for a moment.

"I'm almost as funny as mountains! And they're hill areas!" Anxiety's jaw slowly dropped as he stared at Prince. For a few seconds everything was silent, but then Anxiety's hand shot up to cover his mouth as he giggled.Princey smirked in triump as Anxiety attempted to hide his laughter. The laughter turned into weak coughs and Anxiety cleared his throat.

"Not that funny." Princey nudged Anxiety slightly. Prince checked his watch.

"It's 11." He said off handdedly knowing he would have to go back soon.

"It is?" Anxiety asked. Prince thought he saw panic in the villian's eyes althought it was quickly masked. Prince nodded. "Well i better be off then. Got to get a good nights rest so I can properly commit arson tommorow." Prince laughed.

"Yeah have fun with that." 

"I will." He soluted and in the blink of an eye was gone. The hero sighed and stood up, jet packing his way down the building and walking home.

That wasn't how he expected his night to go. But he wondered if he would get a chance to sit down with Anxiety again.