Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Lys, how do you understand this? It’s so difficult.” Augustine groaned, his head hitting the wooden table, just barely missing the cup of coffee sitting next to him. The duo sat in the large library of the college they both went to, waiting on a friend while also attempting to work on their own papers. And Augustine wasn’t doing very well.

The redhead couldn’t help but look at his friend, taking note of the messy black hair and the slightly wrinkled blue hoodie and gray t-shirt of his. The man looked as though he hadn’t slept in days, which worried the other to no end.

Lysandre on the other hand was doing just fine. He readjusted his red sweater, and he paused for a few moments as he looked up from his computer, a curious expression crossing his face before he replied to Augustine’s earlier statement. “It’s quite easy.” The man said simply before going back to typing whatever his project was about, Augustine didn’t remember.

Augustine sighed and sat up straight, grabbing the coffee and taking a sip of it. He saw Lysandre pause once again and give him a slightly worried glance. The man only ignored the look for a few seconds before he set the cup down and sighed. “What is it this time?”

“Mon ami, I do believe you drink too much coffee.” The man sighed, fully looking away from his laptop and taking his hands off of the keyboard. “That cannot be normal. It’s your fifth cup today.” Augustine just shrugged, going back to the books and laptop in front of him. “I’m being serious, a normal person should not have nearly that much coffee in one day.” Lysandre shot him a worried glance, but Augustine shrugged once more.

“I’m fine, Lys, calm down. I’ve had more.” Lysandre gave him a look that had disappointment written all over it, to which Augstine just flashed him his signature grin and took another long sip of his coffee before he went back to work. The taller of the two sighed, but also chose to go back to his work over arguing.

Lysandre cared about Augustine more than most things in this world. Sure, he had ideas of how the world should be, and how it could be more beautiful if it wasn’t like it was now, and how he should be the leader of the new beautiful world - but that didn’t really matter much when he was around Augustine Sycamore. He would admit, he’d quite literally kill if his friend ever got hurt.

He looked at the time on the bottom right of his computer screen. 4:39, it read. Lysandre closed his computer and began packing up his things, while Augustine gave him a curious look. “I have somewhere to be, my apologies.” Augustine fake-pouted for a moment, but that was enough for Lysandre to re-think actually going to this meeting. But, he shook his head as he saw a much lighter look appear on the man’s face.

“That’s alright, have fun with whatever you’re doing!” He called out as Lysandre began walking away, a small smile on his face as he thought about Augustine for a few more moments. Then his face and demeanor changed as he thought about who he would be meeting with in about twenty minutes.

---

Lysandre’s villain outfit was extremely elaborate. He wasn’t sure why he made it so elaborate in the first place, it got annoying to take off and put back on sometimes. But that thought quickly disappeared from his mind as he arrived at the meeting place.

It was a back alley, unsurprisingly - he was kind of glad it was in a place that was known to be neutral to all villains. The redhead paused as he reached the end of the alley, and he sat down on a small bit that was jutting out from the nearest building. He didn’t notice anyone yet.. And he was a little early, after all.

But that didn’t seem to be a problem as he heard two sets of footsteps walking towards him after about five minutes. Lysandre stood up, putting his hands at his side just in case this was a trap instead and he had to defend himself.

The duo couldn’t have been stranger. One had blonde hair and half of a full face mask, as well as a large cape. The other had a decently tight-fitting mostly blue outfit, as well as a bandanna tied on his head, covering what he figured was black hair based on the black beard on the man’s face. They were both villains, he knew. And sighed once he realized exactly who they were and what their abilities were.

“Aqua. Plasma.” He nodded, and Plasma nodded back. Lysandre looked around a little more, a curious look on his face. “Rocket invites me to his villain league, and.. He doesn’t even come here himself?”

“Gio’s jus’ busy, don’ worry you’ll get ta meet ‘im soon enough!” Aqua grinned, coming to a stop a few feet in front of Lysandre - or, as they knew him, Flare. Plasma shot him a look that Lysandre couldn’t quite figure out; which was a little worrying for the redhead.

The man sighed before saying, “You two have the powers of water manipulation and mind control. Surely others could have met me here.. You’re most likely here in case I was uncooperative, correct?” Plasma just nodded once more, looking between him and Aqua. “Well, I won’t be. I’m curious, truthfully.”

“Just because Rocket invited you doesn’t mean that you’re automatically in Team Rainbow Rocket.” Plasma explained, shaking his head slightly. “That just means you get to meet.. The boss. ” The last two words he spoke with an annoyed tone, Lysandre realized. He nodded slowly, wondering just how loyal each of these people were to the man who used the code name Rocket.

“And, why are you two here then?” Lysandre crossed his arms. He didn’t like the idea that he was interrupted just to talk to two people who weren’t even the leader of Team Rainbow Rocket.

A voice from behind the man chuckled. “Protection.” Lysandre whirled around, a small flame appearing in his hand before he realized it was only another villain. The flame disappeared, and Lysandre stood up normally once more. However, he was still on edge. “Hello, Flare. My name is Rocket.”

Lysandre’s mind was trying to figure out where the man had come from. The back of the alley ended in what he figured was a locked door. “It most likely had to do with his ability. That is the most rational reasoning.” The man thought as he gave Rocket a curious look. “Hello.” He said simply.

“I’m glad you didn’t attack Plasma or Aqua. We would have had problems if you did.” The black haired man laughed a bit, and a smaller laugh was heard from Aqua himself. He glanced behind him, keeping an eye on both of the other men. He wasn’t sure if they were going to attack him or not.

He knew that they would most likely win if it evolved into a fight. He had no idea what Rocket’s ability was, nobody did. Plasma could control a person if they so much as heard his voice. And Aqua had the most memorable ability, at least to Lysandre. Water manipulation. It was a problem for the fire manipulator, for obvious reasons. Not only did they have the upper hand with abilities, also in numbers. At the very least, Lysandre would have a few seconds to flee if it did come to a fight.

But neither of the men behind him seemed to care much. Aqua was looking at his phone, while Plasma just watched them with an extremely bored expression. His attention turned back towards the man in the suit. A small smile was on the black haired man’s lips, and it was a look that Lysandre didn’t like whatsoever. It was one that screamed he was untrustworthy.

“Why do you want me to be part of your villain league?” Lysandre asked with an emotionless look on his face, and he crossed his arms. Rocket laughed a little.

The smile on the man’s face grew even more, and Lysandre couldn’t help but feel a little bit unsettled. “You could help with our goal.. And you’d be great help too.” He said simply.

“Your goal.” Both Plasma and Aqua said at the same time, which surprised Lysandre slightly. It wasn’t a secret that every member of Team Rainbow Rocket had their own goals - some of them more obvious, for example, how Rocket wanted to control the world. Others, such as Galactic, were entirely a mystery to the public.

“My goal, sure.” Rocket waved them off, before his attention turned to red-clad villain once more. “And, you’re probably wondering what you get out of this, right?” Lysandre nodded, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure how being part of Team Rainbow Rocket would help him reach his goal of making the world more beautiful. “Well, you get the protection that comes with it. Not many people will be willing to go after you. You’ll have access to lots of things you didn’t have before. Gear and such to help better use your power. And you don’t even have to be entirely loyal to us either.. As long as you dont outright betray us, you can do mostly whatever you want.”

Lysandre had to admit, it wasn’t too terrible of a deal. It made sense to join them, especially as a small-time villain as he was currently. The man had only become a villain recently, and seemed to be promising as a villain. This was most likely a way of getting him on their side so he wouldn’t be a problem, and if he declined, at least they wouldn’t be on bad terms.

It was a good idea no matter the outcome for Rocket. And with Aqua and Plasma there as well, plus his secretive ability, he had covered almost everything. Lysandre began laughing softly as he realized this, and Rocket gave him a curious look. “You really know how to get someone to do what you want, don’t you.”

The other man laughed a bit. “Yeah, I do. So, what do you say?”

Lysandre thought about it for a few more moments. It didn’t seem like it was a bad idea, not at all. He’d have access to things he didn’t now, and maybe he’d be able to keep Augustine safe by doing this as well. 

After a few more moments of debate, Lysandre sighed and held out his hand. “Alright, Rocket. You have a deal."  Rocket grinned, shaking the extremely tall man’s hand. Lysandre felt another set of eyes on him, and turned around to see Aqua with a giant grin on his face.

“Good. And, by the way.. I hope you don’t mind tattoos.” Rocket laughed, and Lysandre turned around once more to see the man holding a key, inserting it into the lock of the door behind him. “Plasma, you can go now by the way. Aqua can handle him.” Lysandre paused at this for a moment, before turning back to see Plasma walking away and Aqua taking a few steps towards him.

Out of habit, Lysandre lit a fire in the palm in his hand. “Don’t get any closer.” He demanded, but the man seemed to pay no mind as he grabbed onto the man’s arm - a funny sight, considering their height difference - and dousing the flame in water.

Suddenly, Lysandre was being pulled to who knows where. For some reason, he didn’t feel like Aqua was going to hurt him. Rocket had mentioned something about a tattoo, and that’s why Lysandre was confused the most. He figured he’d just go with it, and hope it wasn’t anything terrible.

---

When Lysandre walked into his dorm room that evening, the first thing on his mind was how to explain that he got a fire tattoo. It wasn’t like the man was against them, in fact he knew that tattoos could look very good if done well. But he had also never mentioned, or really even thought about, getting one.

Of course he could hide it.. But that wasn’t exactly ideal. He didn’t like the idea of hiding anything from Augustine if he could help it. Things such as the fact that he was a villain were necessary to hide, but not that he had a tattoo. It was harmless, really. But he wasn’t sure how to bring it up.

So he decided to say nothing until he figured out how to do anything.

His mood brightened (although you couldn’t see that it did) as soon as he saw Augustine himself sitting on the couch, watching some kind of documentary. Lysandre moved to sit on the couch with him, thoughts now consumed with how happy Augustine looked when he saw him. “Hey!”

For the first time in 22 years, Lysandre swore he finally realized what people meant when they described feeling butterflies in their stomach.

Chapter Text

9 / 2 / 13

Dearest journal,

I have a tattoo now. Thankfully, it’s on my back (now that I think about it, it seems worse that it’s on my back… I don’t even know how it looks on me.), but it still bothers me; the fact that I even received a tattoo.

No matter. I have joined Team Rainbow Rocket today-- now allied with other villains, I only hope this will give me a sort of boost, an advantage.

And once more I continue tallying up the days I have continued to think of Augustine…

| | | | 

Four. That’s not normal, is it, journal?

No matter.

Tomorrow promises a brighter day.

-Lysandre

Chapter Text

As the duo sat silently in the class while their professor droned on. Lysandre couldn’t help but look over at Augustine. The black haired man noticed his gaze, and he smiled and glanced over at his friend. “Yes?” He whispered.

Lysandre shook his head, the neutral expression that was on his face most of the time still prevalent as ever. “I was just thinking, my apologies.” The man replied quietly, not wanting to alert the professor as to the fact that the duo was talking. Augustine shot him a curious look before turning back to his notebook and writing something down. Lysandre realized he hadn’t heard any of what the professor had just said.. He would have to ask Augustine later.

“What were you thinking about?” The man asked, a small curious smile on his face. Lysandre shook his head again, giving his friend a reassuring look.

He paused as he heard something important, looking at their professor for a moment before turning to his paper and quickly writing it down. Augustine paused before doing the same, still giving his friend a curious and worried look. “I’m fine, Augustine.” He smiled once more, but stayed quiet other than that.

The black haired man rolled his eyes in fake annoyance, and Lysandre felt a bit bad about keeping the truth. But he didn’t exactly think Augustine would like the answer of, ‘ I don’t know what these feelings are, you seem so perfect,  you are absolutely perfect, there’s quite literally nothing wrong with you, you deserve all the good in this world, the rest of the world will burn and you and I alone will be here in a beautiful world. ’

For the first time in a while, he questioned his own thoughts - these couldn't be right, could they? But he quickly shook the thoughts from mind as he realized he had to pay attention to the lecture.

---

The two walked in silence for a while, both contemplating their own things. Augustine’s thoughts were always a mystery to Lysandre - he could sometimes figure it out, when the man was talking about something he was passionate about - but most of the time, whatever was in his friend’s mind was unknown.

And the same held true for the opposite. Augustine could never seem to tell what Lysandre was thinking about. It was mostly thanks to the way his face was almost always emotionless (which, Augustine realized, wasn’t all that emotionless. His face just showed much less emotion than a normal person, and the man could read him well enough to decently understand what he was feeling). 

“Hey, Augustine! ‘Cuz!” A voice called, and the man next to Lysandre turned around with a large smile. Lysandre followed suit, his face as emotionless as normal. A tan-skinned man stood with a large grin on his face, and he wore a white t-shirt and matching hat.

“Kukui!” The man waved slightly as the other walked towards them quicker. Lysandre had never understood the man - and frankly, he never cared much about him either. He was much too energetic, and irrelevant, for Lysandre to care. However, Augustine liked to talk to him, and the redhead wasn’t one to stop Augustine from being happy. So Lysandre decided to just endure it. “How are you?”

The other grinned, holding his hand out towards Augustine who shook it. Lysandre mentally sighed - this was going to be a long conversation..

--

Just as Lysandre had expected, the conversation took about thirty minutes. He wasn’t even sure what the two ended up talking about - mostly, he just tuned it out. He did pay attention when they were talking about one of the classes the three had together, but other than that, he largely ignored the other man. Instead, he chose to think about his ‘job’ and Augustine instead.

He found his thoughts going to Augustine more and more these days. Almost every day, multiple times a day. The only time he didn’t think of the man was when he was focused on something else. He shook his head, as though to get rid of these thoughts, sighing before pushing those thoughts out of his mind once more.

There was nothing wrong with him. Yes, he was one of the more dangerous villains in the city, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. He wanted to make the world a better place. A more beautiful place. He didn’t want his home to become ugly. It was beautiful as it was, and he was worried the future may make it the exact opposite of what he had been working towards since he turned eighteen, and was finally freed from the custody of his parents.

His mind wandered to thoughts of his parents as he and Augustine walked side-by-side in a comfortable silence. Both of them had their own thoughts, and it wasn’t unusual for them to be seen like this. They enjoyed each other’s company, as well as silence. It worked out.

But of course, neither of them could stay quiet for very long. “So, where were you yesterday? You left in such a hurry, I just wanted to make sure you were alright?” Augustine asked in both a cheery and concerned tone, to which Lysandre offered him a genuine smile and shook his head.

“It was nothing. I had been invited to go to a..an event, by an old friend of mine.” He absolutely hated lying to Augustine. Alas, if he didn’t.. He was worried about the outcome. So he pushed the feelings down, instead choosing to keep up the act. “It was a meetup with a few other of our friends, is all.”

The look of joy on Augustine’s face threw him off, but wasn’t unwelcome. “You have old friends? Delightful! You’ll have to introduce me to them sometime!” He continued walking with a large smile on his face. Which confused Lysandre, but he wasn’t one to dismiss the fact that Augustine was happy.

“Yes, I suppose I will.” He mused, wondering just how he’d be able to do that without both putting Augustine and Team Rainbow Rocket in danger - he’d heard stories of what the villain league did to traitors, after all. There were multiple villains who had blindly ignored those, and Lysandre did not feel like ending up under the earth with them. “One day.” He nodded slowly, as if thinking about how he could introduce them.

In reality, he was completely focused on ways to not get them to meet. 

After what felt like forever, the two arrived at their dorm. Augustine opened the door, and Lysandre followed him in. It wasn’t anything special - they had a small kitchen, living room, a bathroom, and two rooms that they each had claimed as their own; Augustine’s was towards the left, and Lysandre’s was towards the right.

Lysandre liked that it was just the two of them. He didn’t get along with many people, and it just so happened that Augustine was one of the only people he truly could get along with. And Augustine could be a bitch much for others to live with (not Lysandre’s words, multiple of Augustine’s friends who had lived with him for a bit had said that).

“Do you want to watch a movie?” Augustine smiled at him, and Lysandre paused for a moment. It was a school night, but neither of them had any early morning classes.. And it was only 8:30, he realized as he looked at the clock.

The man sighed, but nodded towards the shorter man. “I’d love to. Do you have any ideas for what movie?”

Augustine laughed (a sound Lysandre had always cherished). “When’s the last time you watched any Disney movie?” This caught Lysandre off guard, and he had to think about it for a moment.

It was no secret to Augstine that Lysandre’s childhood was.. Less than most got. Lysande despised his parents for it. They were part of what was making this world ugly. So Augustine had decided to show him anything and everything that he missed out during his childhood - anything the black-haired man could afford, anyways. Disney, Pixar, and Studio Ghibli movies were some of his favorites.

“I do believe it was when we watched Lilo and Stitch , or maybe Toy Story . I don’t entirely remember.”

The last movie day the two had ended in popcorn being absolutely everywhere, and both of them saying they were sick just so they could take the day to clean. Lysandre had made sure they actually did clean, although he had a suspicion that Augustine would have been perfectly fine with sitting there and watching even more movies.

“Alright then! Could you get us some popcorn, s'il vous plaît, mon ami?” Lysandre complied without a single complaint, walking into the kitchen and putting a bag of popcorn into the microwave.

Living with Augustine meant he got to eat lots of new things - the small pantry was almost never full of actual food items, and mainly consisted of snacks. Lysandre was the one between them who had to make sure they had actual, nutritious food sometimes. Not that Augustine complained whenever he made food, he always seemed to love it, but the man could barely cook for himself.

And so, Lysandre took on the role of making dinner for them most nights. Groceries weren’t an issue, he worked part-time at his parents company and also had inherited some of the Fleur-De-Lys fortune. The perks of being descendants of royals, his parents always said. His family had always had more money than they knew what to do with.

His gaze turned to Augustine, and he watched him through the large window-like cutout of the wall. He’d never talked about his family very much, always dodging the question or re-directing the conversation elsewhere. It was a mystery to Lysandre, one he wished to get to the bottom of.

The timer for the popcorn made a small ‘ding!’ sound, and Lysandre opened the microwave to carefully take out the steaming hot bag and dump it into a large bowl that the two could share.

Augustine smiled as Lysandre joined him on the couch, and the two sat with the bowl of popcorn in-between them. That was how it always started. Most days, Augustine fell asleep halfway through the movie and would end up curling up against Lysandre. The redhead never, never forgot those days; his heart would start racing, and he’d begin smiling uncontrollably.

He had never questioned what that feeling was. He just assumed that it came with being close friends with someone. After all, Augustine was his first actual friend, and it wasn’t like he was a big talker. So Lysandre didn't have very many friends - his world consisted of himself, Augustine, a few villains who decided to help him achieve his goal, and now, Team Rainbow Rocket.

The man knew Augustine’s world was so much bigger than him. He had a job to support himself, and was friends with many people on and off the campus. Whereas Lysandre never had places to go on the weekend, Augustine was always off, busy helping someone or working. It was a miracle the man was so put together mentally, Lysandre thought as he looked at his friend.

He absolutely hated any idea that someone would hurt Augustine. He had caught him having a mental breakdown one night, some annoying girl on-campus had decided that they didn’t ‘work’ and had publicly broken up with him.

Mysteriously, she was gone the next day. She was found about a week later. Her body had been dumped in the river, and she had many, many burn scars all over her body. The authorities had said she suffered greatly before her death. Lysandre had smiled at that. He knew she had.

His attention went back to Augustine, who was currently looking through Disney movies to pick one for the duo to watch. He glanced at the screen and saw one called ‘Tangled’. Augustine nodded and clicked the ok button on the remote before setting it down, a smile on his face as he watched the opening credits.

“I think you’ll love this one.” He said in a hushed voice before leaning back against the couch, a smile on his face. He grabbed a few pieces of popcorn and stuffed them into his mouth. Lysandre did the same (much less messily, however) and turned his full attention to the movie.

It was nights like this that made him realize he absolutely loved spending time with the man known as Augustine Sycamore.

Chapter Text

“Flare, heads up!” The man yelled, and Lysandre sent a fireball in the general direction of where he knew the policemen were. He grumbled something about hating this situation, before going back to burning both guards of the place and the occasional, low-level hero.

He didn’t want to kill more than he had to, but in this case, it was either die or kill. He and Magma had been tasked with stealing some kind of important USB from the Aether Foundation, and while Lysandre was busy that day (that was a lie, all that he wanted was to talk to Augustine and maybe get to study a little, but he had no major plans) he complied with the order.

They had snuck into the pristine white building, but were caught having to steal the USB from Lusamine’s office - a worker had seen them, and from there, they’d had to fight their way out.

And now, both he and the other villain were surrounded by Foundation Workers and heroes who wanted to kill them. He quickly learned that Magma was quite good with his ability, both offensively and defensively, while Lysandre was most obviously an offensive person. Magma handled their defense, which left the other to attack without worry of being hurt from behind.

Over the past week, he’d realized just why people were so scared of Team Rainbow Rocket. Before, he’d largely ignored them in favor of working on his own goal with his small crew. But the group of villains was more dangerous than he had known.

The best way to guarantee death was having Magma and Aqua fight together. They’d end up fighting each other, and would get others caught in the crossroads. Or, having Plasma paired with anyone - his ability augmented others in a way Lysandre didn’t even realize he could.

In short, he knew that he had a lot to learn about Team Rainbow Rocket.

But he couldn’t think about that now. Not when he was being attacked and having to make sure he and Magma didn’t die. And especially not when a new hero showed up, a large grin on his face and a telltale electrical hum in the air when he shot towards them.

“OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE.” Flare yelled, shooting a jet of fire towards him. He knew that he’d be able to dodge the blast. His shots were getting less calculated and more random. His arm was burning with pain, and he knew he was nearing his limit. If he didn’t want to burn up, he’d have to find a way out of this situation, and soon.

Thankfully, Magma seemed to have an idea. He reached towards the ground, and Flare took a few steps towards him. He wasn’t exactly sure what the other was planning, but he figured the closer he was, the better.

And that logic ended up being true as he saw a giant mound of some kind of earthy material shoot up where he had been standing a few moments ago. It was just as wide as the street, and taller than the businesses on either side.

‘Good,’ Lysandre thought with a nod. ‘That’ll keep them busy for a bit.. Too busy trying to get rid of that, they won’t come after us.’ He and Magma both turned and ran - after all, they had what they came for. Magma let out a joyous yell, pumping his fist in the air.

“YES!” The man exclaimed, holding up the small rectangular object. Flare sighed, tempted to tell him to put it away - but he didn’t say a word, instead choosing to continue running, figuring that he’d put it away before very long.

It only took a few more seconds for the other man in red to put it in a pocket, before zipping it up; a good idea, just in case it somehow managed to get into a position where it could fall out.

-

As they reached the Team Rainbow Rocket headquarters, out of breath and extremely tired, the duo felt a small wave of cold water crash down on their heads. “WHAT THE FUCK ARCHIE?!” Maxie yelled loudly, and Lysandre paused. He’d immediately known that it was the water manipulator, even without needing to look around. In his mind, he questioned if the duo really did hate each other or not.

“Ya needed ta cool down, didn’ ya?” The man said in a teasing voice, dropping down from the perch he was previously on, a smug grin on his face. “So I helped ya.” The man had to jump back to avoid the sharp spikes of concrete that rose up from the earth.

Lysandre held out his hand towards Magma, who wordlessly handed him the USB. Both of them knew the fight that was coming would be a long one, it always was when the two opposing powers fought. “Get far away from here before you actually fight.” The other two nodded, and Lysandre walked into the building, leaving behind the two yelling men.

‘Honestly, that’s all they seem to do.’ He thought disapprovingly, shaking his head. He opened the door to the main room, realizing it was oddly quiet. He was currently the only one in the room, although he assumed Rocket was in his office.

He crossed the room before knocking on the door, hearing, “Come in.” He opened the door to see a decently familiar scene - a mostly dark room, quite a few computer screens, an extremely messy desk (worse than Augustine’s. Both of those things annoyed Lysandre to no end), and Rocket sitting, looking right at him. “Yes?”

Lysandre set the USB in front of him, the neutral expression on his face like always. Or, well, he thought so. “Here.” Apparently, there was some kind of curiosity in his voice that Rocket caught.

“You want to know why I needed this, correct?” He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious, so the man nodded. Rocket clicked a few keys on his keyboard, and brought up some surveillance footage from a place he’s seen multiple times before.

He said softly, “The Aether Foundation? What could you need from there?” Rocket chuckled, putting his hands behind his head.

“Lusamine is an asshole and I hate her. That’s part of it, anyway.” Lysandre gave him another curious look, patiently putting his hands behind his back. Rocket continued after a few moments of silence. “And she had some very, very important information on this. She really didn’t want this getting out.. Which, is why I needed it.” He held up the USB, a grin on his face as he put it into the slot on his computer.

He opened the file on his computer, and after a few more clicks, a video popped up on the computer screen.

On the video, it showed Lusamine herself standing in front of a dog in a cage. A few masked workers were standing on either side of her; one wore gloves, the other did not. Lysandre had a bad feeling about where this may go, but he stood behind Rocket and watched the screen intently. The other man was doing the same.

“Ms. Lusamine, we’re all ready to go.” A person from off screen said, and she nodded. One of the workers, the one with the gloves, grabbed the small dog from the cage, and it didn’t fight it. In fact, its tail was wagging.

The woman set her hand on the dog’s back, and it barked. It took a bit, but after a few moments, it started to whine. The two men watched the video as a light blue substance started to move over the dog’s back, and then all over its body. “Ice.” Rocket murmured, crossing his arms. Lysandre nodded his head but didn’t say anything.

He wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, this was very obviously some kind of experiment. On another, he didn’t feel anything for the dog. He knew what she was doing was wrong, yes - but he couldn’t care less, really.

For a moment, he wondered why he didn’t care. Perhaps it was because his mind was filled with thoughts of completing his plan of making the work beautiful forever, or maybe it was because of all the thoughts about Augustine. Those had been getting a lot more frequent recently.

Lysandre’s attention turned back towards the video, and at this point, the dog was entirely concealed in ice. The frozen dog was set down, and the un-gloved worker reached out to put their hand on it. “It’s alive, still. Frozen.. But alive.” They confirmed, and neither of the men watching missed the smile slowly grow on the woman’s face. 

“End the video now.” Lusamine’s voice was clear as day, but before the video could actually end, Rocket paused it; and they both stared at the screen, trying to process what they had just watched. It wasn’t like either of them hadn’t done bad things - after all, Lysandre had burned a cat alive once, and Rocket (he had learned this from Plasma) was the leader of a mafia - but it was still odd to see someone who was usually very helpful to everyone doing such a thing.

“What will you do with this information?” Lysandre asked after a long silence. Rocket didn’t respond. His gaze turned to his ‘boss’. The redhead used that word tentatively, as he was onlly their boss in name. He didn’t really care for the man much, after all.

After a few seconds, Rocket sighed. “Probably keep it for now..until there’s something I can use it for. Probably blackmail or something.” He grumbled the last sentence quietly, and uncrossed his arms to take the USB out of the computer, setting it in a drawer.

Lysandre didn’t bother to try and remember what drawer he put it in. It wasn’t like that really concerned him. He was more worried about his own goal and Augustine.

-

“Augustine, I’m back.” Lysandre walked through the door, not even sure if his friend was home or not. When he didn’t hear anything in response, he figured the other man wasn’t there. He walked into his own room before pausing, realizing that there were a few homework assignments he had to finish up. He sighed, but picked them up anyway.

He moved a few of his things into the living room, so he could do his work there. But before he could actually start on anything, he heard a muffled sob from Augustine’s room. Lysandre stood up quickly and almost ran to his friend’s room, not even worrying about knocking on the door.

The man was curled up under his covers, and there was no lights on in the room. Lysandre turned on the light, and moved to sit next to Augustine. Neither of them spoke, but the black-haired man sat up. He leaned against the other, and the two of them sat in near-silence; the only noise being the slight sobbing from the smaller man.

-

Augustine Sycamore was not a man who you’d think would have a breakdown on a Thursday night. He seemed like the kind of man who would actually have his life together.

That was a lie.

Recently, he’d been having more breakdowns than normal. With all the Hero Commission work he had to do, and adding the stress of school and his parents onto it as well, it was getting harder and harder to keep everything together. He’d mostly been able to keep it a secret from his roommate, but now it seemed like he had no choice but to explain.

He didn’t exactly want to. But Lysandre had always been there for him. It was a bit uncanny how quickly he knew if something was wrong, but it was also nice sometimes. And best of all, the man had never judged him for anything serious (he was, however, judged for his bad cooking skills constantly).

“Augustine, can you tell me what’s wrong?” It was the third time Lysandre had asked that question since he had entered the room - the first two times, he had just shook his head and kept crying.

This time, he answered with a shaky breath, “Stress..” Lysandre just wrapped his arms around the smaller even tighter in response. Augustine clutched the man’s shirt surprisingly tight, as though he would disappear if he let go.

“I’ll be fine..” Augustine mumbled quietly, muffled by the other’s shirt.

He assumed Lysandre shook his head by the noise he made as well. “Mon ami, you are not fine. Would you like to talk about it?” It was Augustine’s turn to shake his head, somewhat frantically as he held the tall man closer. “Alright then. We won’t.”

They sat in silence for a while, both of their minds consumed by their own thoughts. ‘He probably sees me as a burden after this.’ He sighed. Finally, the tears had stopped, but the feeling was still there. ‘It isn’t logical, I know that.. But it certainly feels like he will, since most do.’

“Lys?” He looked up at the man, who in turn looked down. He replied with a noise of acknowledgement, and Augustine took another shaky breath before finishing his thought. “Thank you.”

The other offered him a rare smile, before nodding once. “It’s not a problem, at all. You can always come to me if you need something, Augustine. I’m more than happy to help.” This was the side to the man that only Augustine got to see - the genuinely kind and caring side of him, instead of the angry and distant man most others saw him as.

It was nice, to put it simply.

Nice enough that Augustine felt himself slowly falling asleep against the man, eyes fluttering shut and his head resting on the other’s chest.

He could have sworn he heard him say, “Rest well, mon amour.” But as he fell into the land of dreams, that thought was entirely forgotten.

Chapter Text

17 / 2 / 13

Dearest journal,

Today was, to put it simply, exhausting.

Rocket now has blackmail on Lusamine.

I nearly reached my breaking point attempting to retrieve said blackmail.

Augustine isn't okay.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? He's stressed, and I'm not doing anything to help...perhaps the best course of action would be to offer to lighten his work load.

He's overworking himself. Of course, such is obvious, but-- oh, no matter.

I'll have to treat him to something if I can get a day off. I'm sure he'd appreciate that.

Tomorrow promises a brighter day.

- Lysandre

Chapter Text

Augustine groggily opened his eyes, hand moving to rub the back of his neck. He could already tell it was sore.. For some reason. He realized he currently sat up against an extremely warm--

Person. It wasn’t a pillow like he previously thought, it was Lysandre. His eyes widened as the memories from the previous night rushed back to him, and his face flushed red with embarrassment. As he tried to wriggle out of the other’s grasp, however, Lysandre subconsciously pulled him closer.

The red on his face increased, less out of embarrassment this time. He kept trying to move out of the other’s hold, but every time, Lysandre would just pull him closer. Eventually, Augustine gave up.

His mind began wandering, wondering why Lysandre had stayed. It had to be a logical reason, he knew, his roommate wouldn’t stay for any other reason. Maybe he wanted to make sure he was alright, and didn’t have another panic attack (which he hadn’t, thankfully).

Part of him wondered if Lysandre had feelings for him, but those thoughts were quickly dismissed.

He heard the taller stirring, and he looked up. His eyes slowly opened, and he quickly let go of the other. He cleared his throat, and they looked away awkwardly. After a few moments, Augustine mumbled, “Thank you. For.. last night.” He set a hand on the other’s much larger hand, offering him a small smile.

“Of course.” The reply came immediately, matched with a minuscule smile on Lysandre’s face as he looked back towards his friend. His voice was even deeper than normal, and Augustine tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach.

Lysandre stood up after a few moments, offering a hand to help Augustine up.

He grabbed on, and was pulled up frighteningly easily. He blinked in surprise for a moment, but Lysandre was already out of the room by the time he almost said something. Augustine shook his head and walked out of the room, watching Lysandre walk into the kitchen before going into the bathroom himself.

For a long moment, he stared at himself in the mirror. Unkempt dark blue hair, almost black, with actual black on his roots - he realized he’d need to touch them up soon. Dark circles under his eyes, which were a bit red and puffy still. Even after a few hours of sleep, you could see the tear stains.

The man quickly cleaned himself up, and halfheartedly brushed his hair. It mostly laid how he liked it, and he smiled with satisfaction. The man walked out into the kitchen, and was greeted by the smell of eggs and coffee.

Lysandre stood at the stove, slightly leaning against the counter with a cup of coffee. There sat another cup of coffee, a much darker color than Lysandre’s. Augustine smiled at him as he walked over, grabbing the cup and taking a sip of it.

He recoiled as he felt how hot it was, wincing and setting it down. “It’s good, just hot.” He quickly explained, not wanting Lysandre to think he didn’t like it - it truly was good, but he did question how Lysandre knew exactly how he liked his coffee. “Anyway, what’s the occasion?” The red-haired man turned his attention back to the eggs, and he took a few moments to think before replying with a question of his own.

“You have the day off, do you not?” Augustine had to think about it for a moment, before he looked at the shared calendar on the wall - he made a small noise of surprise as he realized he really did. And Lysandre did too, somehow. He saw how a few things were scribbled out on the current date, but realized that they were all Lysandre’s notes. “I believe you deserve a break. And, here we are.”

Augustine just stared at Lysandre for a long moment, before his face broke out in a large smile, then began laughing. The red-haired man gave him a worried look. “Lys.. you really are amazing, you know. I can’t believe you managed to get out of your classes today.” The taller smiled wider, and moved to grab two plates.

He put the eggs on both plates, handing one to Augustine. Just as he was about to thank the other man, a DING! was heard from behind him. He saw three pieces of toast in the small toaster they owned, and he turned back to Lysandre with a curious expression. “Two of those are yours.”

Augustine shook his head with an expression of disbelief on his face, but he grabbed the cup of coffee and set it down on a small table next to the couch. He brought the plate back to grab his toast, and Lysandre walked by him with his plate and coffee already in hand. The student grabbed his two pieces of toast before walking back to the couch and sitting down, gaze lingering on Lysandre for a few extra seconds.

“I wonder..” He began, and the redhead gave him a curious look. “Why did your last roommate say he couldn’t deal with you? Even if you don’t like someone, you’re always polite..” He trailed off, and looked towards Lysandre as he took a sip of his coffee; the taller got the feeling that he wanted him to explain, so he did.

“I’m not quite sure either.” He shrugged. “I think that might have been part of the reason - he wanted a friend, and.. I didn’t exactly like him very much.” Augustine laughed a bit, and they fell into a comfortable silence as they finished their food.

At some point, Augustine had turned on the TV in their room, putting on some random news channel. They both finished their respective foods, and Lysandre took their plates and cups to the kitchen. Per Augustine’s request, he re-filled his coffee, while setting his own empty cup in the sink. He thanked him for the coffee and Lysandre nodded in return.

After a few minutes, something on the news caught his interest. “...crews are still cleaning up the mess made yesterday by the villains known as Magma and Flare. They managed to sneak into the Aether Paradise, and caused a large mess on their way out. An employee there by the name of Faba told us that they didn’t steal anything, and that the security flaw was only thanks to Flare overloading the system. As you can see, the damage is…” He stopped paying attention to the newscaster, instead shaking his head.

“That’s not too far from here..” Augustine mused, crossing his arms as he spoke. “I sure hope they don’t come too close. And, why were those two working together? I thought Flare had his own team..has he joined Team Rainbow Rocket? Or, maybe it’s just an alliance.. Either way, it’s worrying.” He wasn’t exactly speaking to anyone in particular, and his roommate didn’t reply.

For a few seconds, anyway. “They looked like they joined forces. So, it’s a possibility Flare is part of Team Rainbow Rocket…if both his team, and Rocket’s, joined forces, they’d be extremely powerful. But.. if it was just Flare, perhaps he did it for other reasons.” He murmured, and Augustine nodded slowly.

“And, if Team Rainbow Rocket and Flare’s group have joined forces? What would that mean?” He knew Lysandre wouldn’t know the answer, of course, but he spoke like he did; and that was enough for Augustine. He had always been knowledgeable about different villains, especially in the city they lived in.

He thought about it for a few moments, then shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. Perhaps.. They both have things they want, and partnering with the other is the best way to fulfill those goals of theirs. Flare and Rocket are extremely secretive villains.. It’s hard to say what they want.” Augustine groaned in annoyance.

He suddenly realized his coffee was getting cold, and took a sip before saying, “We know the motives of most of the others on Team Rainbow Rocket. Magma and Aqua want to use their powers to create more land or sea respectively, Galactic wants a world without emotion.. Alright, nobody is sure what Plasma wants, but he’s talked about power before. But.. we don’t know what Flare or Rocket want. It’s concerning.” 

Lysandre just nodded as his friend spoke, as if he was thinking his own and very different thoughts. He didn’t speak, but he did turn his attention back to the news.

“Hero Aether has said she will ‘deal’ with Team Rainbow Rocket, but that left most people wondering if she really is the best person for the job. One bystander even told us, ‘Aether breaks whatever she touches. Even if her ability is just freezing things, it always causes more trouble than it’s worth. Hell, my apartment was flooded for weeks thanks to her!’” Augustine snorted with amusement at that.

“She’s not my favorite either, but that’s more the blame of the cleanup crews.” 

Lysandre hummed in agreement, then stood up. “I’m going for a walk.. Care to join me?” The other’s face lit up, and he nodded a few times. He’d always loved the snow and late February was always beautiful. He quickly walked into his room to change, and once he was done, met Lysandre at the front door.

Augustine wore a simple blue hoodie with faux fur on the inside and a scarf around his neck. He slipped into his boots, the single cat earring hanging off of his left ear jangling as he moved.

Lysandre on the other hand wore a large red coat, hair pulled back and put into a large ponytail. He, surprisingly, wore leather gloves. Thankfully, he wore his regular boots that he did when it snowed - Augustine knew he’d hate to have his other ones ruined.

Augustine opened the door, and out into the city they went, one with a large grin on his face, and the other with a much smaller smile.

-

The duo walked side by side down the sidewalk. Thanks to Lysandre's height, everyone walked around them, instead of it having to be the other way around.

Augustine had begun pulling the other man through plenty of different stores, and Lysandre couldn't do much other than follow. At some point, while pulling Lysandre into another one of those random stores, the shorter of the duo bumped into someone.

"Oh- I'm sorry, I didn't see you there-" He began, but the blonde haired man cut him off.

“Watch where you’re going.” He snapped, crossing his arms. Then, he looked up at Lysandre, and his expression changed almost immediately. “Oh. It’s you.” Now, his voice almost sounded teasing.

The redhead sighed. “Yes, hello.” It hit him that the man didn’t know anything about Plasma, other than his appearance, power, and villain name. He wasn’t entirely sure who the mind-controlling villain was with the mask off.. Not even his name.

“Lys, do you know who this is?” Augustine looked between the two, gaze lingering on someone who wasn’t the blonde or the redhead. Lysandre followed his gaze to a mint green haired teenager, who couldn’t be any older than 18, standing behind the villain nervously. “And, who that is?”

Lysandre paused. “I know him, yes. Not..the teen.” He shook his head at the last words, and the teen mumbled something.

“Speak up, son.” Plasma snapped.

He cleared his throat before speaking, this time louder than he had before. “You.. can call me N.” He gestured to the man next to him, looking at Augustine while he spoke. “And that’s my father.. Ghetsis.”

Lysandre’s gaze turned back to Ghetsis, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the man. ‘He.. has a son? Hm..I’ll have to keep that in mind. That might be useful to know, later on..’ He thought, crossing his arms.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you both!” Augustine smiled widely. “I’m Augustine, and this is Lysandre.” He held out a hand for N to shake, and after a moment of hesitation, he reached out and shook the man’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” N nodded. Lysandre didn’t miss how his face stayed neutral the entire time he spoke.

Ghetsis mused, “Lysandre, huh..” He cleared his throat, speaking louder so N and Augustine could hear him. “Lysandre and I need to have a talk . We’ll be back in a moment.” Augustine looked towards his roommate, who just nodded in return. He knew that if it came down to it, he could always burn the man to a crisp.

They walked a bit away from the duo, and Lysandre made sure he could keep his eye on Augustine and N. He didn’t want the teen hurting his friend, after all.

The thoughts of Augustine engulfed his mind for a few moments, until he realized Ghetsis was still standing right in front of him. He turned his attention back to the blonde man - who he realized was holding hair dye.

“What is it?” He asked, arms still crossed, as he looked down at the shorter villain.

Ghetsis’s face turned upwards into a smile. After a few moments, he chuckled. “You have a boyfriend, huh?” The Frenchman sighed, hanging his head slightly.

“Augustine is not my boyfriend.” He shook his head, and Ghetsis sneered. “You have a son? I didn’t know that.” The other man rolled his eyes.

The man glanced at N and Augustine, who were currently talking - about what Lysandre couldn’t tell over the noise of everything else. But the older of the duo had a large smile on his face, and N had a small smile on his own face. “He’s adopted. If you say a word about this to anyone else..”

Lysandre held up a hand, eyes narrowing as he looked back at Ghetsis. “The same goes for you. If you say anything, anything. About Augustine to anybody..” He set a hand on the shorter man’s shoulder. The shorter winced as he realized how hot Lysandre’s hand was, and the redhead quickly retracted it.

“Lysandre.” Ghetsis glared, and the villain hummed - and suddenly, his mind became foggy, as though he was watching the scene as though it was a movie. The other’s face turned into a grin once more. “I can’t believe you fell for that. Anyway.. I may not like N. But he’s fundamental to my plan.” 

The foggy feeling disappeared as quickly as it happened, and Lysandre was able to think for himself once more. They glared at each other for a few moments. Then, the taller began walking away, back towards his roommate.

As Augustine looked towards Lysandre, his face turned into one of curiosity. Lysandre realized he looked a bit angry, and quickly changed his expression. Then, his friend’s face turned to one of worry; which made Lysandre feel a bit worse, and he offered the man a small smile.

“It’s alright.” He set a hand on the other’s shoulder, and he nodded, giving Lysandre a smile in return. The redhead turned to N, nodding. “It was a pleasure to meet you.” The teen nodded back, but didn't say anything.

As Ghetsis walked back towards the group, Lysandre cleared his throat. “We had best be going. Goodbye.” And he removed his hand from Augustine’s shoulder, walking out of the store.

Augustine followed after him, once more the expression on his face was one of curiosity. “Are you alright? What happened?” Of course he was going to question what had happened - Lysandre felt like slapping himself for not realizing that sooner.

But he just sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. “Yes, yes.. I’m alright. Ghetsis and I don’t exactly get along very well.” He shrugged, and once more Augustine opened his mouth to speak. “We, er.. Knew each other in high school.”

Thankfully, the other nodded, taking that as an answer. They walked in silence once more, until Augustine noticed a coffee shop across the road and his eyes lit up. He began dragging Lysandre towards it, and the redhead sighed - with a large smile on his face, however.

This day was supposed to be about Augustine, after all. And he was able to put away his anger towards the blonde for a few hours, anyway. If it was for Augustine?

The world.

Chapter Text

“Studying is so boring, Lys..how do you even do this?” Augustine huffed, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair. Lysandre looked up from his notes, pausing for a moment before shaking his head slightly.

The two sat in the library, books strewn around the table and a few notebooks as well. It was supposed to be nice and quiet - but of course, with Augustine, quiet was rarely granted. “It’s a wonder how you’re passing with straight A’s.” Lysandre sighed, and the other tilted his head slightly.

It truly was a wonder, to Lysandre, how Augustine was even passing his classes. Between his job, which took almost half the day away, and his classes (night classes, Lysandre noticed, how did that man even have enough energy to function?), there was no way the redhead could think that Augustine should be passing.

And yet, the man was. “Really?” The black-haired man asked, and Lysandre nodded. He hummed to himself for a moment. “Okay, now I’m curious..how many hours do you spend studying per day?” Augustine asked, head tilting even more.

Lysandre had to take a minute to think about the answer to that. A part of that time he was ‘studying’ he was really doing villainous things, and with that factored in.. “About the same amount of time you spend scrolling through random BulbaPedia articles.” He said after a few minutes of thought.

Augustine’s eyes widened and he whistled in surprise. “So you are aware of how much time you spend on that site.” Lysandre accused, crossing his arms.

Augustine put his hands up in surrender, a smile creeping onto his face. “Alright, alright, you caught me. Can you blame me? The things I find are interesting!” Lysandre sighed once again, turning back to the papers in front of him.

“You have been up until four in the morning reading those articles, Augustine.” The other man chuckled, but didn’t respond - they both knew it was true, and it happened far more than Lysandre would like. Augustine needed good rest, between all of the things he did, however he refused to do half of the things that would actually give him a good night’s sleep or energy for the morning.

The duo sat in silence for a while, the only noises between them being the flipping of pages and the occasional scribbling of a pencil. Of course, there were others in the library as well; it was a Wednesday, most of the students wanted to get their studying out of the way quickly.

Augustine sighed after a few more minutes of this, looking back up at Lysandre. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to get some coffee.”

Lysandre’s response was immediate, although he didn’t look up from his book and notes. “No, you aren’t. You’ve already had four cups today, that’s far more caffeine than anyone should have in a day.” Augustine gasped in fake shock, putting a hand to his forehead and sliding down his chair dramatically.

“Oh, but my friend, I’ll die without it.” Both of them knew that was nothing more than an exaggeration; it wasn’t even the first time he’d said that exact line.

After a moment, Lysandre looked up. Augustine looked a bit more tired than he usually did, he quickly noticed. “Did you sleep at all last night?” He asked, instead of addressing the coffee situation. Augustine paused for a bit too long and Lysandre sighed, before standing up and beginning to pack up his things. “Come on.”

A confused expression made its way onto the other’s face, and the redhead stopped gathering his books and looked up at Augustine. “We’re going back to our dorm. And you are getting some sleep.” Augustine opened his mouth to protest, but was quickly shut down when Lysandre said, “I’ll get some of that chocolate you like.”

Lysandre had also noticed Augustine had one of the biggest sweet tooths known to man. It was a wonder how the student was even alive when most of his food, before Lysandre, consisted of coffee, sugar, and the occasional pack of ramen (which the redhead had to continue to remind him was not healthy food).

The man had no clue how Augustine had survived. But somehow, he did, and now Lysandre had to make sure he didn’t fall back into his old habits.

Not that Lysandre minded. No, he fairly enjoyed helping the man with anything he needed. Albeit studying or cooking - while Lysandre wasn’t a master chef himself, he could cook some basic meals, and was always content to learn more.

“Let’s go.” Lysandre said after the other man had grabbed all of his things, smiling at the redhead. That smile always made Lysandre feel some kind of happiness, something that he didn't feel at all.

Part of him said it was more than happiness, more than Augustine as a friend, but the rest of his mind rejected that. Augustine was his roommate, his friend, that was it. They weren’t anything more than that.

-

“It was a mistake telling you anything .” Lysandre grumbled, crossing his arms as he glared at his cousin.

The young woman had pink hair and red glasses, along with plenty of jewelry. She laughed for a few more moments before finally stopping for air, putting one hand on her hip. “Lysandre, please. They’re essentially a gang, and you expected this not to happen?” Malva chuckled. “Tell me it at least looks good?” She asked.

Lysandre shrugged. “I can’t really tell. I do have a picture, give me a moment.” He pulled out his phone and tapped it a few times, muttering to himself, before he managed to find the one he was looking for. He turned the device towards his cousin, and she leaned a bit closer to actually get a good look at it.

She nodded with approval as she crossed her arms. “Good design.. And a good artist, too.” Malva offered him one of her rare true smiles, before readjusting her glasses.

The two were standing inside of Lysandre’s main base, a large (and very hot, Malva couldn’t help but constantly bring up) building a few blocks away from the Team Rainbow Rocket headquarters. There were a few other people in the building, but not very many. One person in particular was giving orders to a handful of others, while Lysandre and Malva talked in one of the dark corners of the place; neither of them really wanted anyone to overhear their conversations.

Malva had agreed to help him, and she was the reason nobody had questioned the activities going on in the building; she was also the reason about half of the people in the building worked there.

While both of them were fairly charismatic when it came down to it, Malva was better at finding the people they wanted to join. She had a bit more free time as well, since she wasn’t trying to juggle school into the mix.

“I just can’t believe you actually accepted their offer.” She sighed, adjusting the glasses on her face. “I mean, Team Rainbow Ricket? You have learned what they want to do, correct?”

Lysandre nodded, glancing at the rest of the room as he thought. Of course he knew, that wasn’t a secret - while their goal was never publicly shared, those who were villains were told of their goals early on.

The man sighed, but before he could respond, was interrupted by a loud explosion, followed by startled yells and a crashing sound. He and Malva glanced at each other for a moment before running into the main part of the room, trying to see what the commotion was underneath all of the dust.

The villain’s eyes widened as his gaze settled on the trespasser, and his hand lit up with fire.