Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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The smell of coffee; Beef’s favorite way to start his morning. The grinding roar of the coffee machines, the whirring as it gets dispensed out and into a cup. It only made sense that he would own a coffee shop. More of an art form rather than a job

He’s aware of how obsessive it sounds. 

“Boss, we’re all out of cream.” One of his employees—a wide-eyed man named Bdubs—called out. 

“You know I hate it when you call me that,” Beef huffed, shaking his head as he turned around to face Bdubs, his smug smirk only adding onto Beef’s lighthearted frustration. 

“Exactly why I call you it.” He returned his attention back onto the drink they were making. “We do still need cream though. Like half our menu items require it.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” 

Beef left his station, calling upon another employee to cover for him until he came back. He washed his hands of stray coffee grounds before leaving. 

He straightened out the watch on his wrist as he weaved through the crowd of customers waiting in line to order their morning drinks. Beef found himself saying an array of “I’m sorry’s” a lot more than usual. The shop was a lot busier than it usually was. Both a curse and a blessing to Beef. He took a slight breath of relief as he pushed his way out of the door, the bell on top of it ringing. Outside was surprisingly a lot less chaotic than it was inside—a strange comparison as it’s normally the other way around. But Beef paid it no mind, in fact, he reveled in the fact! The streets were less crowded, which meant he would have less trouble getting back in time. 

Luckily, the corner store was only a few blocks away, nothing he couldn’t handle. There were still a few other pedestrians on the sidewalk, although the majority of them were looking down at their phones, captivated by whatever was on the screen. Beef figured it was some new city-wide event; a less than uncommon occurrence, as both heroes and political figures loved setting up those sorts of things. 

Hero publicity Parties. Beef had only heard of them. Rumors spread easily, especially for someone who worked at a coffee shop. He didn’t know what it was about the ambiance of a warm cafe, but it seemingly gave customers a false sense of security. If Beef had a dime for every time someone came in and boisterously talked about their personal experiences with whatever famous figure was in the spotlight that week, he would have enough money to actually afford to go to these parties. Unless you were invited, you could only watch it through livestreams and social media accounts of the people who would proudly display their attendance. 

Beef found the whole thing laughably trivial. 

He opened the door to the corner store, ready to be greeted by the owner, but to his surprise, it didn’t come. 

“Cleo?” Beef questioned, peering over at the cashier counter just to see Cleo with her gaze fixated on the small television attached to the wall. On the screen was a news broadcast, and Beef walked past the other customers who had gathered around to look at what it said. As Beef walked down the aisle, grabbing a few bottles of cream from the fridges, he could overhear what the reporters said. 

“Villain attack in the garden district, although it looks to be inching closer to the shop district.” Ah, that’s closer than Beef would’ve liked. He walked over to the counter, placing the cream atop it, although his attention was on the T.V. “Law enforcement requests for civilians to stay indoors for the time being. We’ve never seen this villain before-” The reporter was cut off by his partner.

 “As of right now, it’s impossible to tell what their powers are. So for your safety, please stay indoors until this gets settled.” 

“Which looks like it might soon. Heroes have already started arriving at the scene.” 

“Yes, Hotguy has managed to land a few arrows on the Villain, but it’s done little to subdue him.” 

Cleo laughs, straightening her posture and turning to face Beef, picking up the scanner and scanning his items. 

“One villain and five heroes can’t take him down? Either our heroes are getting washed-up or this guy is the real deal.” 

“Or it’s dumb luck.” Beef chuckled, grabbing the bottles of cream after he handed a few bills to Cleo. 

He walked out the shop, much to Cleo’s protests, but he didn’t want to leave his employees hanging. Beef was a little nervous about directly violating city alerts, but it was just a few blocks. He figures that he’ll be back at the shop in time before law enforcement could even notice. 

He could always just speed walk if he really needed to. 

Which, to his credit, worked for the first half of his walk. It was just as calm as before, although the closer he got to the coffee shop the more the streets got crowded and cars piled up on the roads. Again, more than usual. Finally, though, his shop stood only a mere 10 feet away, and he could see the customers inside, all carefully watching their devices—as well as his employees. All eyes in the shop were fixated on either their phones or the t.v that was strung up on the wall. Beef was about to walk inside there and tell his employees to get a move on; people need their daily cup of coffee and we need to meet the demand, or something like that.

That’s when a loud and echoing crash sounded from behind him.

Beef is shoved to the ground from the shockwave, landing onto the concrete with the yelp of pain. The glass on the windows and door shatters, a piercing noise accompanying it; not like Beef could hear it anyway. Not with all the ringing in his ears. 

He turns around so he can sit down on the ground instead of laying face down. The culprit of the shockwave is close—too close for his comfort. 

PauseUnpause, fighting with…someone. Probably just another random villain having their try on chaos. Of course the city’s top hero would show up. Not that Beef didn’t like that—he admired the work ethic. 

Beef hasn’t seen PauseUnpause fight up close before, usually always through T.V screens or whatnot. Which, of course, was impressive, but it was even more so in person. The techniques used were clearly at a master’s level, and Beef had no doubt in his mind that the hero spent countless years honing the moves and abilities. 

It was weird to see too. The villain had impeccable movement, dodging and weaving around Pause’s attacks. It was clear that Pause was having a hard time touching the villain due to this, unable to get his active power up and running. 

As of right now, Beef couldn’t even tell what the villain’s abilities were. And their attire didn’t help much. They wore a green jacket—its wear from over the years definitely showing—along with black pants that had way more pockets than Beef deemed necessary. What caught Beef’s eye though, was the robotic mask they wore. It looked like a gas mask, although where the cylindrical filters were, instead of keeping toxic air out, it seemed like with every exhale he did a light grey mist was expelled, it glittered in the setting sun, and Beef wondered exactly what the hell it was. Maybe their power? But what was it? 

“Holy shit- Is that PauseUnpause?” Beef overheard someone say. He never even took into account that other people might be around. Beef glanced at them, surprised to see more people than he expected, practically the whole street was filled with people now—and reporters with large cameras. He focused back on the fight happening in front of him, watching with wide eyes as the two continuously fought. 

And, Beef didn’t want to say it out loud, but it looked like Pause was having some trouble. 

If only Pause could get a hold of the villain, then this whole ordeal would be over in a few seconds flat—the villain would slow down to a freezing halt. Everyone knew that his power relied on him being able to touch his opponent, as that’s how his active power gets…well- activated. And this villain clearly has that in mind. 

Beef figured that’s the drawback of being one of the most famous heroes in the city. Every villain knew your strengths, and your weaknesses along with it. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t even a little bit amused, or maybe that was just the fear manifesting in his brain as something else. He pushed himself up from the ground, keeping himself from falling again by pressing his body against the leftover frames of his shop’s wall, ignoring the feeling of crunching glass underneath his shoes. He was disoriented, looking up at PauseUnpause and the unnamed villain through blurry eyes—the blood rushing to his head. 

A sudden hand was placed on Beef’s shoulder, he turned to face who it was, only to see one of the lower rank heroes checking up on him; saying something along the lines of “injury” and “sit down”. Beef followed the gaze of the hero, reaching a hand up to his head and feeling a warm and slick liquid. Pulling his hand back, it was coated in red blood. 

“Fuck man, c’mon let’s get you somewhere safe.” The hero spoke, his upbeat accent giving Beef some sort of emotional whiplash—he sounded like he was giving a motivational speech. Beef could only nod as his arm was slung around the hero’s shoulder. Despite the overall body language and tone the hero used, his dark brown ears were pinned back, on worries about Beef and the surrounding civilians. Beef got a quick glimpse of his own reflection in the hero’s sunglasses—and man, he looked rough. Beaded blood had run down his face and onto his jawline, dripping off and onto what Beef assumed was the pavement. 

The hero—Beef’s mind was finally stable enough to remember the name—Rendog, had placed Beef against the wall. 

“What,” Beef started, his tongue feeling foreign in his own mouth. “What the hell is happening over there.” Ren’s ears stood at attention, looking over at the fight going on just a few good feet away. 

“Just some low-life. PauseUnpause has it covered so no need to worry!” Ren’s voice came off just as energetic as before. It sort of gave Beef this uncanny feeling. 

“My shop,” Beef grumbled, finally taking a look at his coffee shop, the frown on his face deepening. Only the frames of the glass windows remained, and Beef realized just how many people were staring at him—no—past him. 

“There’s worse things to worry about, my dude!” Ren yelled, and Beef was yanked harshly to the side. Just narrowly he was pulled away from a tumbling villain, straight into the confines of the coffee shop; the customers screamed and ran out, not wanting to be close to the unknown villain. 

Beef’s vision got blurry again as he waited for his mind to settle down. And once it did- 

Piercing eyes stared straight into Beef’s own, the villain’s left eye was a bright red that glowed even with the lighting in the shop. The villain heaved heavy breaths, chest rising and falling sporadically to the same quickened heart rate. 

For a moment, Beef felt the world slow, a certain primal fear erupted in his chest when he noticed the villain stand up and run closer—the speed of which being fast enough for Beef’s clothing to sway in the air. He was pulled back again by Ren, bringing him back to his senses. 

“Let’s get you outta’ here, dude.” 

“Thank you,” Beef stuttered, finally putting his legs to use instead of letting Ren practically drag him around. 

The sounds of commotion were heard behind Beef, he tried to look back and watch but found that his neck hurt whenever he did. He’d have to get that checked out.

Beef followed Ren until he was brought to a sectioned area maybe two blocks away from the fight. Other civilians were in the area—separated into three different factions. 

“Stay here and wait for a Medic to assist you.” Ren set Beef down in the middle faction, which he guessed was a “moderately injured” section. Once Beef was settled, Ren backed away, running back presumably to where the fight was. 

That was when Beef looked over to his right, the section with the least amount of people. The few of the civilians there didn’t move much, making Beef’s breath hitch, holding his breath to make sure the others were breathing. Almost as if he breathed at all it would waste breath for the other’s. 

Alongside the injured civilians, Beef could recognize a few Medic heroes—Ocean Queen being the closest one. She tended to an elderly man, not for long though, as after a few seconds her shoulders slumped and she spoke a string of letters with a number to the other Medics. 

Shit. 

Lizzie turned around, coming face to face with Beef. When she noticed someone staring she put on a small smile, most likely to reassure him.

“I promise everything will be okay,” She reassures further, leaning closer and pushing some of Beef’s hair out of the way so she could properly mend the injury. Beef winced at the feeling, uncomfortable throbbing in his head like a million headaches at once. “Stay here until a hero says it’s safe to move.” 

So he did. Things were a blur, hard for him to really remember properly. It all passed by him, even when a hero—not RenDog unfortunately—came up to talk to him, Beef couldn’t tell what they were saying. All he knew was that their lips were moving and everyone else that was able to, walked off, back to their lives as if this didn’t happen. 

Beef was released from the sections, his head wound healed to nothing more than a pale pink scar. When he walked up to the coffee shop, finally assessing all the actual damage. All the customers had left, gone to run off somewhere else—Beef didn’t blame them obviously. The sky was a pale blue, fading into a light orange-ish yellow, leading the afternoon.

“Boss! You alright?” Bdubs rushed over from behind the counter, brushing shards of broken glass off of his clothes. “I saw you fall over and RenDog took you somewhere!” 

“Yeah, yeah Bdubs I’m fine now. A little shaken up, but fine.” Beef placed his hands onto Bdubs’ shoulders, squeezing a little bit, just glad that Bdubs was safe. The only damage he had on him was a few cuts and bruises—most likely from the shockwaves. 

“It’ll take a while for us to rebuild,” Bdubs muttered, looking around at the damage. 

“A lot of money too.” Beef winced, pulling away and wiping a tense hand down his face. “Money we don’t have right now.” 

Beef bent down, picking up a stray blackboard from the menu; has since been destroyed into five large pieces. The remaining chalk, smudged and illegible, for some reason was the breaking point for Beef. He crouched onto the ground, almost collapsing, his forehead resting on his knees. Soot and dust that collected on his jeans made it uncomfortable, but he had bigger things to worry about. 

“I’ll cover it.” At first, Beef thought this was Bdubs, but the voice inflection and general tone were completely different. So why’d it sound so familiar? “Partly my fault for the damages anyway. I needed a place to throw that villain.” 

Beef looked up, hitching his breath. PauseUnpause was standing above him, holding a hand out for Beef to grab onto. When he did, Pause pulled him up to his feet and pat Beef on the shoulder. 

“You said you’d what?” 

“I can pay for it. I mean I have the money. And I’m always up to help an old friend!” 

Bdubs decided to step in, rushing over with a shocked expression.

“Old friend? You mean you and Beef actually knew each other?” Bdubs put a hand over Beef’s mouth to stop him from interjecting, keeping his gaze on the hero before them. “I thought that was just a lie Beef liked to tell people so they’d think he’s cool.” 

Beef groaned and licked the palm of Bdubs’ hand, causing him to yelp. A string of bright yellow flowers popped up in his hair. 

“You thought I was lying?” Beef questioned, his face flushing in embarrassment when Pause started to laugh. Which, for the situation the hero was just in, his laugh was light and bright. 

“Well? C’mon! He’s the number one hero!” 

“Hey, all heroes are number one. We all do the same work.” Pause chuckled. “I like your sound, little man.” 

Bdubs frowned dramatically, letting out a huff. “I am not little.” His usual azalea flower sprouted on his head. 

“But yeah, me and Vinny go way back.” 

“Vinny?” 

Beef groaned again, looking away in further embarrassment. 

“I can’t believe you still remember that nickname.” Beef chuckled, taking a step back from Pause to lean on the decrepit counter. “That was from so long ago.” 

“Oh my god, you guys were nickname close?” 

Beef laughs, holding his cheek with his palm, glancing at Pause. Who—unsurprisingly—was also laughing. 

The three talked a bit more, Bdubs mostly asking questions on how Beef and Pause knew each other, which of course, they didn’t say. Leave it to Beef to mess with Bdubs constantly, and he was pleasantly surprised to find out that Pause liked to mess with Bdubs too. 

Pause hadn’t changed a bit. 

_____

Chapter Text

“You can’t be serious,” Beef muttered, staring at the paper in front of him, numbers blended together in a gross way that made him almost nauseous. 

He knew that Pause would pay for it, but just looking at the numbers of repairs and replacements…Beef needed to sit down. Pause peered over Beef’s shoulder, offering a hum of acknowledgment. 

“That’s the price for all this stuff?” Pause asked, reading over the paper. 

“It’s mostly for the coffee equipment. That’s what’s adding a few zeros to this.” Beef chuckled humorlessly, putting the paper down and folding it in half, then half again. He smoothed the crease with his fingers, going over it a few times for the sensory output. “I know I keep saying this, but I’m so sorry for the costs of this.” 

Pause shakes his head and puts a hand up, signaling for Beef to stop talking. 

“I promise, Vinny, it’s no problem at all. This won’t even make a dent in my wallet.” Pause’s laugh brought Beef some comfort; at least someone was having fun with this. 

Since the fight, Pause spent a lot of his time at Beef’s shop, which obviously had shit down until it was restored back to it’s original glory. 

Beef just didn’t understand how Pause could balance it all. The hero work, interviews every other week, plus cleaning up and organizing what little remnants of Beef’s shop were still intact. It was really admirable, which, Beef figured is why Pause was the top hero. Pause wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge. 

It was refreshing, and really one of the only things keeping Beef from going mad. 

“Look on the bright side! At least now we have a chance to redecorate!” Bdubs walked over, carrying a cardboard box. He placed it on the floor, opening the flaps and rummaging through it. 

“What was wrong with the decor before? I liked it,” Beef questions, smiling softly at Bdubs, crouching down in front of him. 

“Well- I meant- Our old decor was perfectly fine! Amazing even!” Bdubs pulls out a paper lantern from the box, brushing dust off of the surface. “It’s just, you know, might be nice to revamp the place up!” 

Beef chuckled, shaking his head. He knew the original decor was pretty minimalist, sleek black and white designs with a very cubist architecture. Bdubs never complained about it to Beef’s face, but Beef still knew that Bdubs hated it.

“Fine. We can rebrand,” Beef muttered, digging through the box—apparently was a lights box—and pulled out some fairy lights. One of the bulbs had burst, cutting his finger on it as he pulled it out. A small prick of blood formed on the side of his finger, which didn’t bother him. Beef pit his finger to his lips and simply licked the blood spotting off. 

Bdubs didn’t bother to respond, instead letting out a quick giggle as he stood up, rocking back and forth on his heels. He held the lantern, searching around for a loose hook he could put it up with, leaving Beef to his own devices. 

And Pause.

Pause leaned against the wall on his phone, eyebrows furrowed together. 

“Everything alright?” Beef asked as he walked over, setting down the fairy lights so he could cross his arms over his chest. Pause let out a disconcerted exhale. 

“Yeah, just.” He stops, pursing his lips together. “My manager booked me an interview tomorrow about the new villain.” 

“That’s bad because?” 

“Because I don’t know anything about the new villain.” Pause turned off his phone with a quick click, hand dropping to his side—exasperated. “I know one or two things, but that’s about it!” Beef sighed, placing a reassuring hand on Pause’s shoulder, causing him to glance up, offering a tired smile to Beef. “It’s been a week, people usually forget about villains by now if they don’t attack again.” 

Beef thought about it, his mind immediately going to the red glow of the villain’s left eye. It was downright terrifying. Uncanny. Pause looked at Beef, they held eye contact, Pause’s gaze a lot more worried than Beef’s was—a stark contrast to their usual gaits this past week. 

“You’re gonna’ do perfectly fine. If anyone can nail an interview like that, it’s you.” Beef lightly punched Pause’s arm, causing him to smile and laugh some. 

“I want you to watch it.” Pause said after the two fell into a comfortable silence, he smiled fondly but didn’t look at Beef. “I could use some support.”

“Tell me which program, I’ll play the channel all day waiting for you.” 

“Not on the television,” Pause shook his head. “I want you to be there. In the audience or standing next to Guude I don’t care. But I want you there.” 

Beef couldn’t formulate a response. He scratched his forehead, averting his gaze for a moment, thinking. 

“Then I’ll be there.” 

Beef kept his word. He stared idly at his phone, quadruple checking if the address was correct. Apparently, according to Pause, security would know Beef’s face and would lead him to the correct studio. Upon learning that, Beef got just a little nervous, but he sucked it up for Pause. 

The lobby was huge. Beef didn’t expect any less for one of the largest news broadcasts in the city, but he never got to actually see what it looked like from the inside.

Unnecessarily large t.vs were suspended in the air like a chandelier—probably to play whatever they had recording in the studios. They weren’t on at that moment though, instead the screen was completely black except for an occasional pop up: the company’s logo in big colorful letters, gliding onto the screen and assembling right there. 

Beef let himself be directed by the two security guards, both all decked out in dark blue uniforms with some sort of half-gauntlet around their wrists. Maybe a power enhancer. 

The studio itself was a lot less intimidating than the lobby, much smaller in size but not in the people count. Rows of filled seats, right behind the camera equipment, with barely a single seat actually left vacant. 

Beef let out a shaky breath, deciding he would rather stand to the side of the stage rather than in the audience. He was—in some sort of vain way—more than just an audience member to Pause. 

“Are you Vincent?” A man walked up to Beef, holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other—the cap of which was completely destroyed. The man had dirty blonde hair, slicked back to mimic the impression of a neat hairstyle, but the way small strands of loose hair stuck out made Beef wonder if he really was as put-together as he makes it look.  

“Uh- yes?” Beef looked around for Pause, but he was no where to be seen. 

“Are you asking?” 

“No. Yes, I’m Vincent.” 

The man with the clipboard hummed, looking Beef up and down so evidently and without shame, just silently judging him. 

“Alright. I’m Guude, PauseUnpause’s manager.” Guude held out a hand, waiting for Beef to shake it, but before he could get the chance to register the interaction—only lifting his hand about halfway—Guude turned his back to Beef and walked to the parallel wall. Beef only assumed he should follow. 

Beef leaned against the wall, eyes trained on the guest already on stage; some musician that was popular right now. He peered over at the audience, him standing at the perfect angle to see them from backstage, and wow. It was a lot more terrifying looking at them face on than from the side. 

He was so occupied he didn’t even realize it when someone else approached. Only snapping out of his nervous daze when a hand was placed on his shoulder. 

“Hey Vinny. I’m glad you could come.” Beef turned, looking at Pause with a deer in the headlights look. It made Pause chuckle. “It’s pretty jarring, no?” 

“That’s an understatement. Somehow it just now occurred to me that I’m backstage on the biggest talk show in the city.” Beef shook his head in disbelief. 

“Yeah. Scary stuff.”

Pause’s gaze was absent, almost like he was disconnected from reality. That was until Guude pat him on the back, saying something into Pause’s ear that made Beef resent his ability—or rather—lack of ability to read lips. 

A loud round of clapping rung out from the audience, along with the occasional whoop and cheer. The artist from on stage walked off, waving to the audience with a large smile that immediately dropped into a despondent frown when they got out of view of the cameras. 

“Alright, I’m on.” Pause strode over to the edge of the blind spot, turning back at Beef one last time to offer a nervous smile and a thumbs up. 

Beef clapped along with the audience, but was stopped by Guude, who put a hand on Beef’s wrist, bringing it down to his side. He watched on from the sidelines as the interviewer greeted Pause, a large smile on his face. 

Pause, in turn looked nervous but still feigned a confident look. Beef took in a deep breath, nodding slowly, as if Pause could even see him. 

“Something I’m sure everyone is dying to know-” The interviewer readjusts the papers in his hands, shuffling them, seemingly looking for a specific question—but the mindless look in his eyes told Pause that this was just for show. The interviewer already had his questions in the barrel, ready to fire. “What do you think the villain’s power is? You went head to head with them, have any guesses?” 

Pause gulped, wetting his lips as he readjusted his position in the chair. 

“Well, he definitely doesn’t move like a non-powered civilian. Maybe his power is enhanced senses and agility. But at the same time, some of his attacks were using wind, so probably a wind-bending power.” Pause let out a hum, thinking. He held his chin between his thumb and index finger. “But also there was a moment where he did something he couldn’t do with just wind powers.” 

“Are you insinuating this villain has more than one active power?” The question made Pause groan quietly, although he was positive the mic was able to pic it up easily anyway. Pause had hoped the camera buffered how nervous he looked.

“I- uh-” This was off script. Pause’s manager hadn’t prepared him for this sort of question. 

“I’m sure you know.” The interviewer turned to look at the audience and cameras, no longer speaking directly to Pause. “But the last time anyone has heard of someone having more than one active power was over two decades ago.” 

Pause rubbed his hands on his pants, finding something for his hands to do in the less than ideal situation. 

“Yes, I know. But again, we can’t jump to conclusions this quickly.” 

“A villain no less. Let me ask you this, PauseUnpause.” The interviewer moved his hands in an animated way that was way too laid back for Pause’s liking. “Should we be worried? This villain is on the loose with potentially the rarest genetic mutations of an already rare genetic mutation. And you of all heroes weren’t able to capture them. Should we be scared?” 

Pause let out a string of unintelligible noises, trying to find the right words. He glances to the side of the stage, seeing Guude frantically switching between typing on his phone and flipping through some papers on the clipboard in his hands. 

“I think we should cut this interview short, I’m already a few minutes over the limit for my section-” Pause readies himself to stand up and leave, getting up on his feet. 

“One last question. Only if you don’t mind.” 

Pause bit his lip, the slight metallic taste slowly seeping onto his tongue. “Alright. Fine.” 

“Perfect! We have videos taken by civilians and news reporters of a moment when you spoke to the villain and it looked like they spoke back. Care to explain?” 

Pause’s throat went dry. 

“So. You’ve made a name for yourself, haven’t you, Sonny?” Pause stopped in his tracks, falling down onto the concrete roof, only thing stopping himself from crashing his head into the sidelines was his shoulder. 

“Excuse me?” Pause spoke barely above a whisper. “Who are you?” He stood up, wincing from the pain. 

“You’re smart, you can figure it out.” 

The villain’s words set a worsening sense of dread in the pit of Pause’s stomach. Had his identity been leaked somewhere? Or this villain somehow found out his real identity…gotten to family maybe? 

“Who the fuck are you?” Pause impulsively  threw a left hook, connecting it directly with the villain’s face—or, rather, mask. It was a hard material, Pause was sure he had broken his hand. 

The villain flew back, straight into a shop below, the empty frames collapsing with a screeching crash. Pause could feel himself shaking, chest rising and falling heavily from his sporadic and harsh panting. 

Pause slowed his breaths, looking back at Guude who sent him a worried head shake. Pause raises his head high, trying not to show his trepidation on stage. 

“Mr. PauseUnpause? You didn’t accidentally freeze yourself did you?” The audience laughed, immediately decimating any confidence Pause had just built up for himself. 

“The villain knew my real name.” Pause grimaced at the way his voice cracked, teeth grit together. 

A fatal silence fell upon everyone in the room, the only sound being the whirring of the teleprompter at the front end of the stage—the interviewer just sitting in shock for a gross split second. 

“Wha- how? Care to explain further?” The tension in the room had immediately skyrocketed. 

“Somehow. Someway. The villain knew my real identity.” 

__

Pause slammed the door shut, a loud and echoing thud erupting from the doorframe. His footsteps echoed on the tiles as he ran his hands down his face, walking over to the mirrors lined on the wall. 

“God, that was such a disaster…”

He stopped in front of it, just staring at his reflection. The smudged paint on his face distorted him, almost unrecognizable even to Pause himself. The faucet connected to the sink he leaned against dripped periodically into the bowl, the only other sound besides Pause’s breathing. His hands gripped onto the rim of the sink, fingertips pressing harshly against the porcelain. 

The door swings open, allowing for the muffled sounds of outside to leak into the bathroom. It’s followed instantly by quick footsteps. 

“Pause, are you alright?” Pause saw Beef stand next to him in the reflection, Beef’s hands moving to rest on Pause’s shoulders reassuringly. “I saw it all.” 

“Great.” He let out a humorless laugh, rubbing his forehead to rid of the headache, the paint further smudging onto his fingers. 

“Is it true? About what the villain said to you?”

Pause wanted to throw up. He didn’t hold it against Beef. The man was naturally curious and just sometimes didn’t know when to let something go; a trait that Pause identified with Beef for about as long as they knew each other. 

“I don’t want to think about it right now, Vincent.” 

That made him back off. Only verbally, physically it was the opposite. Beef pulled Pause into a tight hug, letting Pause dig his face into Beef’s hair. Beef making his hand into a claw, massaging soothing circles into Pause’s back. 

“Fuck,” Pause groaned, pulling away from Beef. “I’m pathetic aren’t I. Bombed on live t.v as if I haven’t done it a million times.” 

“Woah, hey. I mean, you’re human just like everyone else, y’know.” Beef shrugged, trying to reason. 

Pause had half the mind to correct Beef. Of course he wouldn’t understand, being powerless. Having a power was different—something more than being human. 

Beef had been supportive of Pause since he started being a hero, but in all that time Beef hadn’t ever seen Pause excuse himself on live t.v. It worried him. This villain worried him. Beef didn’t usually let villain attacks get to him, the marvel of it becoming more of an inconvenience than something to behold, but that was probably only because it never directly affected him. 

But seeing those people in the sections, the one that Lizzie had called for removal, it still gave him nightmares. 

He knew Pause. Even heroes get nervous and scared, and Beef knew that Pause was no less a bundle of nerves than any other civilian. 

Beef sighed, removing his jacket and placing it over Pause’s shoulders like a blanket, pulling it tight so Pause could grab onto the hem and hold it together. 

“Guude is looking for you.” Beef mentioned, trying to advert the topic to something else other than…right now. “About one of those parties. He wants you to show.” 

“Of course he does.”

“I’m sure he means well.” 

“He always means well. Just wish he wasn’t so pushy about it.” Pause chuckled. Beef mentally celebrated his victory, laughing along with Pause. 

“Yeah. He seems nice enough, though.” 

“He is when he wants to be.” Pause moves to stand up, grabbing onto the sink with his hand to pull himself up. Beef went to follow suit, getting help from Pause, who held out a hand to pull Beef up. 

Beef dusted off his clothes, smoothing them over. He allowed for Pause to take the lead, walking out of the bathroom and into the crowded lobbies, which thankfully hadn’t noticed the hero’s presence. 

They slipped away, Beef walking through the streets as he would just meet up with Pause later at the shop—after the hero talked with Guude, of course. 

____

“It’ll be one of the sponsorship events.” 

“Of course it will.” Pause crossed his arms over his chest. “It always is.” 

“Yeah, well this is one of the biggest tech companies. So it would help a lot if you showed up.” Guude sat back in his chair, taking a sip of his tea before setting the cup back on the coffee table between them. “They want to promote some new redstone powered items. Home security against villains or something.”

The two sat in Guude’s office at the foundation, the walls a light beige color, all connecting to a dark grey ceiling. Pause always hated the minimalist and cubist decor, but knew that Guude liked it a lot. Guude would probably rather die than have anything out of place. 

“Plus. You never pass up the chance to go to a party.” Guude was right. Pause loved events like this, no matter how scammy and scripted they are. 

“You’re right, fine.” Pause laughed along with Guude, a stark reminder that outside of business, they were good friends. “Although I would like an extra invitation.” Pause said, scrolling through his phone to pull up a contact. 

Guude was intrigued, he finished taking another sip of his tea, then motioned for Pause to continue. 

“He’s a friend. And old friend. Knew me before I became a hero. Actually knew me before I discovered my powers.” Pause spoke a little quickly, for some reason worried if Guude will judge him or not. Silly, right? “I want him to come.” 

“Alright. Let me ask for another invitation then for this…” 

“Vincent Beef. Owns the Mocha Memories coffee shop.” 

“The one that got destroyed in the fight with E.CHO? Yeah, I saw it on the list of property damages.”

Pause’s jaw went slack. 

“E.CHO?” 

Guude looked up from his phone. 

“Yeah. Some other heroes cornered him,” Guude checked the watch on his wrist. “About an hour and a half ago. Found him in the middle of rigging up some explosives to a building.” 

“And they found out his name?” 

“Apparently he added a patch to the back of his jacket. Everyone just accepted it as his name.” 

Pause huffed, rolling his eyes. 

“No one tells me anything around here.” 

“I’m telling you now.” Guude pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, taking one and letting it hang from his mouth. 

“After my interview?” Pause grabbed the lighter on the table and leaned over, lighting the cigarette for Guude. 

“The information isn’t public yet. Give us a week to think about how to cover it.” 

Pause sighed in defeat, slumping in his chair. He debated it, tapping his foot against the tile flooring rhythmically. Patterns of three, small bursts each with about two seconds in between them. 

“You’re doing it again.” Guude mentioned, not looking up from his phone, but still taking a small drag of his cigarette. 

“And you’re smoking inside. We both have bad habits.”

“Mine can be fixed with one call to a medic.”

Pause huffed, rolling his eyes. Guude meant well most of the time. Actually, Pause didn’t think the man had a genuinely bad bone in his body. Guude was just overtly sarcastic, and if you didn’t know him too well like Pause did, then you would think Guude was an asshole. 

The sinking feeling in Pause’s gut didn’t go away by any means, just instead it mixed with some sort of twisted need to know. Pause was intrigued by this villain—E.CHO—and he would be dammed if he was left in the dark any longer. 

Of course E.CHO was just a villain. But not like the usual kind Pause encountered. E.CHO was more calculating, that was for certain. What his motive was, Pause had no idea. He was starting to see it as a game of cat and mouse. No way just some random villain who wasn’t planning on messing with Pause would know his civilian name, it was too buried. 

In some instances Pause didn’t even know who Sonny was anymore. 

“When do crime analytics think he’ll strike next?” 

“So far?” Guude tapped the ash from his cigarette onto the tray on the coffee table. “They don’t. Too little information.” 

Pause could feel himself get excited.

“This guy’s really dangerous, huh.” 

“Considering the amount of explosives he was working with,” Guude took a moment to sigh. “Yeah. Dangerous.” 

______

Chapter Text

Beef had waited for Pause at the shop. Albeit, he waited a lot longer than agreed upon—initially making Beef worried, then he remembered that Pause is a hero and fully capable of taking care of himself—but eventually Beef decided to just make himself comfortable. 

The decrepit coffee shop was a lot more eerie when alone. The sun was setting, allowing for orange light to deep into the building, casting dark and distorted shadows on the wall. 

“Hey! Vinny.” Pause’s voice was strained and breathy.

“You’re here!” Beef hugged Pause without thinking. “And sweaty,” He pulled away, feigning disgust. 

The two laughed.

“I didn’t want you to wait any longer. So sue me.” 

Beef didn’t want to admit that he was worried, still holding onto habits from when they were kids. Habits from when Pause didn’t know how to pick his battles wisely. 

“Maybe I will. I’ll call my lawyer,” Beef dramatically spoke as he walked away, picking up a clipboard from the counter and promptly walking back to Pause. He handed the board to the hero, taking a deep breath. “This is all that’s left to do.”

“How soon do you want to open shop again?” Pause asked, leaning forward in his chair so he could better look at the slip of paper Beef held. 

Beef chewed on the tip of his pen, thinking thoughtfully. 

“Hopefully once there’s not any exposed pipes or wiring,” Beef laid the pen down on the table, leaning back in his chair to take in a deep breath.

Beef wiped down the coffee machine for what felt like the millionth time that day, staring absentmindedly at the patches of holes in the wall that exposed the wiring for the lights. He sentenced himself to face the brunt of the workload—a lot of his employees being given paid leave for until they were ready to come back. If they even wanted to, that is. 

Bdubs stayed behind, obviously. The two had been friends for a long time, and the short man might as well have been a co-owner at this point. So it was really no surprise at all when he volunteered to take up other people’s shifts. 

Not like Beef minded anyway. Bdubs was great company. 

“A macha latte with cold foam on top, please,” The customer on the other side of the counter spoke eagerly, smiling wide. Beef wrote it all down on his notepad, nodding along to the order. He was working double time, cleaning down machines, making drinks, and taking around five orders at a time to be able to manage things even just a little bit. 

Since the attack, Beef had decided to reopen—despite the interior not yet being done. Once the actual coffee stations had gotten set up Pause had convinced him to reopen the doors to customers over the course of two weeks. So he did. And the business has been…a lot. 

His shop became somewhat of a tourist attraction, other civilians wanting to bask in the marvel of an establishment recently hit by a villain and so proactively supported by a hero. 

If Beef guessed, he’d say that he’s taken over two hundred new orders. And it hadn’t even been more than 3 hours since he opened today. The customers sort of blended together, less so when the morning rush died down and it neared noon, but Beef couldn’t help it. Usually he liked to make note of customer orders, trying to build a rapport with them. But that was increasingly hard today, with the new influx of customers, it got difficult to take note of.

“Hey, wanna grab a drink sometime?” Beef looked up from the notepad he was writing on, coming face to face with a stranger—a stranger who wore sunglasses indoors. Asshole.

“Like a coffee?” Beef laughed, cracking a joke and feeling prideful when the stranger smiled. 

“Yeah, but I promise I won’t force you to make it.” The stranger fiddled with a strand of his silver-white hair that cascaded down onto the nape of his neck and onto his shoulders. 

“Right- and what’s your name?” Beef put the notepad down, relaxing his arms. 

The stranger went stiff, straightening out his posture and offering a high-strung expression. 

“Put it under,” He paused, thinking for a moment. “Wilson.” Beef was confused but did it nonetheless, wondering why the stranger—Wilson—had to think about his own name. “But you can call me anytime.”

Beef sighed, almost embarrassed by the small laugh he let out—Bdubs looking over at him quizzically. 

“You’re an…..interesting guy. Who knows, maybe I will take you up on that offer.” Beef ripped the page on the notepad out, and clipped it onto the string of twine where the rest of the orders were. 

Wilson said his goodbyes, and walked over to stand near the counter of the bar. Beef kept his eyes on him, Wilson had one hand in his jacket pocket and his phone in the other. 

“Who’s he?” Bdubs came over to grab the paper, looking over it a few times, then following Beef’s gaze over to Wilson. 

“Say’s his name is Wilson.” 

“Is it not?” 

“I don’t think so, he hesitated when saying it.” Bdubs laughed at that, pulling away from the counter slightly. “What? Maybe he has an embarrassing name!” 

“And Wilson isn’t?” 

Beef groaned, turning to the next customer waiting at the other side of the counter. He tended to them, got their order, then the next, and the next, and the next. His mind remained on “Wilson” whenever he had free-time, shamelessly looking over at him while he sat at a table near the windows, just staring out at the city street. 

He had to turn back to his work, finally the crowd dying down as it was getting later in the day and people grabbing morning and mid-afternoon coffee detoured to bars. 

Beef didn’t really expect Wilson to stay at this table for the entire day, so when Beef saw the table was empty and had already been cleared off by one of the remaining employees, there wasn’t exactly any disappointment that resonated in his chest, just content for the idea that the intriguing stranger would hopefully come back soon. 

Which he did. Every other day this Wilson was standing in line for coffee. And every time he saw Beef he’d crack some stupid joke—and Beef doesn’t like to admit that they make him laugh—order his coffee, then sit around for an hour before leaving. 

Beef would be lying if he said he knew why Wilson was so prominent to his memory. He’d blame the underlying attractiveness. The way his textured and scarred lips (surely from restless nights of worry and anxiety) brought a certain red hue to him, one that contrasted with his pale skin and hair. 

Not like unique people don’t come walking into the shop everyday, but none of them gave Beef such a sense of sonder like Wilson did. 

“I don’t have anything against pigeons, I just think that in a few years they’ll have developed enough to take humans on in a war.” Beef looked at Bdubs, who was wiping down the counters with a damp washcloth. 

“I hardly think they’ll have the knowledge to…fight humans in a war.” 

Bdubs clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, taking a second to stop his movements as he glared at Beef. Beef chuckled in turn, shaking his head side to side. 

“You’ll never know until it’s too late!” Bdubs turned back to his work, throwing the washcloth on a nearby towel rack and refilling the espresso machine with water. 

Beef sighed, and clicked on the register, trying—and probably failing—to ignore Wilson standing in front of it. 

“He’s an interesting character, isn’t he?” Wilson vaguely gestures towards Bdubs, who wasn’t paying much attention. 

“A lovable character, don’t get it twisted, man.” 

“Oh, totally!” Wilson laughs, nodding. 

Beef smiles at the sound. 

“Your usual?” Beef tapped the counter with his index finger, expectantly looking at Wilson. 

“I think I’ll try something different today.” Wilson crosses his arms over his chest, fiddling with the maroon scarf around his neck as he eyed the chalkboard menu. “A flat white, please.” 

Beef nods, writing it down on the notepad from his pocket. He stashes the pen away, ripping off the paper and pocketing the notepad again. 

He offers a bright smile to Wilson, tilting his head slightly. 

“I think I’ll try something new today too.” Wilson quirks an eyebrow at Beef’s words, silently pressing him to continue. “I’ll take you up on that drink that you totally won’t force me to make.” 

Wilson grins and reaches a hand up to readjust the sunglasses on his face.

“Great! Perfect! Awesome. Uh- another synonym for good.” 

“I’ll see you later then?” Beef asks, the inflection in his voice getting higher with uncertainty. 

“Yeah! Uh- I have something to do tonight. Maybe tomorrow, though? I can come pick you up after you close up.”  

“Totally. We close at 5pm.”

”It’s a date.” 

Beef exhales, relieved. 

Wilson does the same. 

“It’ll be 6.25, by the way.” Beef adds after a beat of silence. 

“Right.” 

Wilson pays, leaving the counter to go sit down at his usual table that—by some miracle—is usually unoccupied. 

“Anything new in your world?” Beef asked, passing an iced coffee to Pause, who took a sip from it graciously. 

“Same old, same old. You know despite what the news would have you think, large scale villain attacks aren’t all that common. Most recent one was...” Pause trailed off, not needing nor wanting to finish the sentence. Beef knew what Pause meant. 

“I would’ve thought the opposite. But I guess no one wants to report on a robbery every week, huh.” 

“Yeah. I mean, most of the hype around this Ec…villain attack has died down. People want juicy updates, not safety, I guess.” 

They sat in a calm silence, not awkward but just allowing time to process. 

“What about you?” Pause asked, lowering the drink from his mouth and setting it on the table, a soft thud erupting from the action. 

“Well, I met someone.” Beef shrugged sheepishly, rolling his eyes with a smile. Pause looked surprised at first, but nodded eagerly, signing for Beef to continue. “I mean, it’s a little early to say anything but he seems interested in me. And he’s not that bad looking.” 

“Okay, okay, he sure sounds like a dreamboat.” Pause smiled, although it faltered for a small moment. If Beef was paying attention he might’ve caught it.

Beef laughed at the inflection in Pause’s voice. 

“I hope he is. It’s been a while since I,” Beef stopped to think for a moment, finding the best way to phrase it. “After we lost contact I sort of gave up on trying to find someone else. But I think this is good for me.” 

Pause nodded, almost solemnly. Obviously the twinge of guilt over leaving Beef behind, stuck with him. After everything that happened though—and hero initiation—Pause got swept up; accidentally pushing Beef away. 

“Yeah. Me, personally, with hero work and all it’s just hard to get into relationships with people. So I’m glad you still have the time for that.” He was lying just a little bit. Of course heroes had time for their relationships, the foundations made sure that they had enough heroes on speed dial so that some heroes can get their personal time. For Pause, he had basically become a glorified ad. Most of his days were filled with business meetings, interviews, and building public rapport rather than…actual hero work. That was reserved for other heroes who the foundations deemed expandable. Pause guessed it was a ruthless system—hell, he had to go through it before making it to where he is now, but he also knew that some heroes had more of a public presence than others. 

Really, Pause shouldn’t be as upset as he is over finding out that Beef is moving on. As if he wasn’t directly at fault for their “break-up”. 

“It’ll be good for me,” Beef reiterated, just to fill the silence maybe. 

“You’re fucking stupid.” 

“Hey!” Pause slapped Stratos on the arm, causing the man to laugh. 

“I’m just telling you the harsh truth.” Stratos spoke confidently but still in a joking manner—whether Pause really took it as a full joke was still to be determined. “You know getting involved with civilians is hard.”

“So I’m just not allowed to have friends outside of the foundation?” 

“Not saying that,” Stratos huffed, running a hand through his hair, the neon green stripe practically glowed in the dim light. “Just saying that you spending this much time with a civilian will get in the way of your work.” 

Pause groaned, tired of Stratos’ antics. The man never failed to make his presence known—even on these supposed “stealth” patrols. The hero was definitely an enigma, strange and unintelligible by practically everyone except for his wife—Hydrip. 

It made sense though. Reckless and egotistical offense hero would be married to the calmer but equally as intimidating medic hero. Pause would admit the two made a cute couple, especially after attending their wedding as a guest. 

But that was different. Stratos and Hydrip met after they became heroes. Meanwhile Pause knew Beef before he became a hero, Beef was still a civilian. The risks were great, but Pause didn’t want to let those get in the way of them. Not again.

“I can have a healthy balance between my work and personal lives.” Pause reasoned. He searched through alleyways, scanning each and every square inch of them—all the while Stratos would look on rooftops, his active power being a great advantage to that. 

Although, once again, it was less of a stealth patrol with Stratos standing eleven feet tall and still talking as loud as he wanted. Pause could’ve sworn he’d seen some residential apartments turn on their lights—wondering what the ruckus was. 

“It’s hard to with just civilians, man. You know Watcher? Apparently his last boyfriend was just some super fan trying to get into his pants. You have to be careful with that!” Stratos shrunk back down to his usual size, now having to look up at Pause. “Maybe this friend of yours is actually just some fan trying to gather data on how big your di-”

“You’re disgusting.” Pause pushed his hand into Stratos’ face, pushing the other hero away. “And Vinny isn’t like that. He’s been my friend since before I even joined the foundation.” 

Stratos tried to calm his laughing, but Pause’s lack of commitment to the joke just made Stratos laugh harder. 

“Didn’t know mister number one would be the one having boy trouble.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“I mean out of the top ten heroes, you’re the last guy I’d have expected to be dealing with shit like this. Don’t you have like a butler for every problem?” 

“You really don’t know how my life works.” Pause groaned, wondering what god he must’ve pissed off to be stuck with Stratos. “I wish I had a butler.” 

“Not my fault I don’t know what goes on in the top floor of the Equilibrium Foundation.” 

Stratos walked with a carefree gait, long strides that were most likely an overcompensation for his height—ensuring he didn’t lose Pause. 

“I don’t even live there.” Pause said after a moment of silence, gaining Stratos’ attention back—the hero letting out a hum of acknowledgment. 

Chapter Text

The day flew by. Beef did his work, eyes flicking to the door every time it chimed, searching for Wilson. Even if it wasn’t the time they agreed on, Beef couldn’t help it. 

Once his shift was over he chose to sit in one of the booths, mindlessly chatting with Bdubs who had stayed behind to “see him off”. 

“Be safe.” 

“I will.” 

“Get back before 10 PM.” 

Beef laughed at that, eyes scanning Bdubs’ smug grin. The bell on the door chimed, and both their gazes fell onto Wilson who pushed open the door. 

“Sorry I’m late, work got in the way.” Wilson walked in, hand running through his hair. Sunglasses still on. 

“No, you’re totally fine!” Beef stood up from his seat, going to greet Wilson. 

That’s when he realized: Beef has no clue how to do this. Dating. Beef hadn’t been on a proper date since a long time ago with Pause, before they even became adults. 

A shared loss had brought them closer than ever before, but there never was this awkward “getting to know each other” stage. 

“Right, so you ready? My car’s just out front.” Wilson turned around to point out the windows, a vintage looking car sitting outside. 

“Yeah! Ready whenever you are!” 

Wilson nodded and the two went outside. 

____ 

Beef’s phone dinged again, he glanced at it. 

“You can use your phone. It’s not rude to.” 

“No it’s just…that’s my friend texting me.” 

“Making sure I'm not an…” He paused, drawing in a breath. “Axe murderer?” 

Beef looked at Wilson, face twisted into a hesitant grin. 

“Don’t joke like that- if you won’t kill me, then he will for telling him that!” The two laughed at the arguably macabre joke. If anything, Bdubs was happy that Beef was finally getting back out there. Bdubs, the ever so supportive friend, had been Beef’s rock. His crutch. “So where’s our super nice and alluring date gonna be at?” Beef rested his head on the glass of the window, the outside scenery flying by as Wilson drove. 

“We’re gonna go grab a drink. There’s an amazing place on the outskirts of the city.” Wilson’s grip on the steering wheel relaxed significantly. “I know the owner, and he’s offered up a free table for us.” 

Beef let out a sound of interest. 

The drive wasn’t too long; once out of the city most of the traffic died down. Cityscapes replaced by sprawling plains, small houses and warehouses being some of the only buildings passing by. 

The bar was in a quaint suburb town, barely an hour away from the city streets. Most of the car ride was spent listening to music and talking anyway, it flew by in an instant. 

“This it?” 

“Yup, yup!” Wilson stepped out of the car at the same time as Beef. He went to the backseat and grabbed a small bag—looking to be insulated. 

Beef and Wilson approached the building, Beef’s eyes immediately drawn to the small light bulbs emitting warm yellow light, strung up on the building, making it look cozy. The wooden and stone walls were rustic, like a cottage on the mountain during winter. Beef’s eyebrows shot up at it, and just how nice it looked.

“How expensive is this place?” He glanced over at Wilson, who wore a smile on his face.

“Depends on what you ask for.” Wilson shrugged, walking towards the door and opening it for Beef. “Lucky us, it’s free tonight.”

The two stepped inside, immediately hit with the comfortable air. Beef glanced around, a lot of the tables being filled already. Beef thanked Wilson’s planning so they wouldn’t have to wait for a table. 

“Cub! Hey! Over here!” Wilson called out, leaning over the host table and putting his hand in the air, waving to a man Beef assumed was Cub—and the owner. 

“Ah!” Cub excused himself away from the table he was at, walking over towards them with a smile. “ Wilson .” 

“The one and only.”

“Good to see you’re here on time.” Cub smiled, something saccharine. He crossed his arms and tilted his head. “You have your payment?” 

“You know I don’t like being in debt.” Wilson handed the small bag to Cub, who nodded in response. 

“Alright, you know which table to go to, go ahead and seat yourselves and I’ll send a waiter your way.” 

Wilson looked to Beef, who held a confused look on his face. The interaction was strange but Beef wasn’t one to judge; not like he hasn’t had his own fair share of odd interactions with people. Especially with Cleo, their conversations would always end up with other customers looking at him like he had two heads. 

The two walked over to their table, Wilson leading. He opened a sliding door that led to an outside patio seating area. Empty. 

“Over here.” Wilson sat down at one of the further tables, near the railings at the edge of the patio. Beef followed suit, sitting in the chair across from him. 

“This place looks like a restaurant. This your idea of grabbing a drink?” Beef playfully spoke, unfolding his napkin and putting it on his lap. 

“They serve drinks! It’s the same thing!” 

Beef rolled his eyes, looking around. The setting sun had lowered against the cityscape. His eyes were fixated behind Wilson—who seemed to not mind. Beef just now realized how he’s never gone outside the vicinity of the city. 

He changed his attention to the menu on the table, sleek and minimalist. The menus had the restaurant name on them, in beautiful lettering, bold, at the top. 

ConVex. Fine Dining and Bar.

“You been here a lot?” Beef asked, looking up from his menu at Wilson. 

“Yeah, you could say that. I get some ingredients from the city for them, and in turn, I get free meals.” 

Beef nodded, smiling softly. 

“Hey E-yyy!” A waiter approached them, holding a tray with glasses on it. The waiter’s body was blue slime—Beef tried not to stare. “Hello guys, I’ll be your server for today! Dude!” He turned to face Wilson as he placed the glasses and bottle down. “It’s been a while since you came ‘round here.” 

“Yeah, sorry for leaving for so long, Jev. You know how life in the city gets.” 

“I know how your life in the city gets. But I didn’t know you were back in the dating pool!” Jevin glanced at Beef, who smiled back at the slime man. 

“Caught my eye.” Wilson looked at Beef, and while he was talking to Jevin, Beef felt like Wilson was talking to him more than anything. 

“Okay, okay. What can I get for you guys?”

Beef looked down at the menu, eyes glancing over it.

“Can we just get some wine to start? There’s no rush.” 

Jevin had run off to fetch whatever wine Wilson read off the menu, writing down the name for good measure. Beef took the time to really look at the food choices. 

“So. This everything you hoped it’d be?” Beef asked, leaning in closer to Wilson from across the table. “Weeks of coming into the coffee shop and flirting with me from behind the counter worth it?”

“The night isn’t even done yet, and I can still confidently say yes.” Wilson closed his own menu, placing it flat on the table. 

Beef and Wilson engaged in an actually easy conversation, socializing not being something Neef was particularly privy to—but with Wilson it seemed natural. 

Mostly because the man had a practically endless bank of topics to talk about, ranging from some book he read recently to a particularly grating moment at work. 

Beef enjoyed it; the less he had to talk the better. Plus, he liked listening to Wilson ramble on, only stopping once Jevin came back with wine and to get their orders. But Wilson would just start back up again, occasionally asking if it was okay for him to talk this much. 

Wilson had asked questions about Beef’s life, ones Beef hadn’t really thought about. 

Of course the basic “where do you see yourself in 5 years?”, “favorite food?”, and “any pets?” blew by pretty quickly. But eventually—after Jevin had brought out their food—Wilson and Beef had gotten into an interesting conversation about philosophies. 

Beef took a few bites of his vegetarian pasta while waiting for Wilson to finish his thoughts, listening intently to the silver-haired man. 

He had to admit: listening to Wilson talk was like listening to a podcast. 

Beef threw in his own opinions, although nothing major. Again, he hadn’t thought about it too much—too focused on the present to really think about it. Although no doubt now he’d go home and lay in bed having a lighthearted existential crisis. 

“Turn around.” 

Beef swallowed the last bit of his food, and did as told. He offered Wilson an incredulous glance, then turned around. His hands held onto the back of his chair as he looked out at the horizon facing away from the city. 

Mountains framed the sky like a silhouetted pedestal for the moon that rose above them. The sky itself painted a mix of dark blues and black, the only things stopping Beef from believing it was a full on void were the bright stars and swirling bronze tones littered all across it. 

It was enough for Beef to forget he was with another person. Wilson became an afterthought, and the unseen before sight made Beef hold his breath. Just him and the universe that sang to him like a muffled melody playing in a separate room, although now it was loud, and the universe didn’t sing to him. He sang to it. 

“What is that?” Beef mumbled, not taking his eyes away from the sky. 

“That’s the milky way. Our galaxy.” 

“The milky way,” Beef spoke almost absentmindedly, as if he was trying out how the words felt in his mouth. Beef furrowed his eyebrows, turning around—much to his dismay—to look at Wilson  “I thought we were never able to see it?” 

Wilson was already looking back at him. 

“From the city you can’t.” Beef’s face must have changed into one of confusion, as Wilson sighed and reiterated. “You’ve never been out of the city have you?” Beef could only shake his head as a response. “The light pollution makes it impossible to see. Doesn’t help that astronomy has been taken out of public school courses.” 

“Why would they? This is,” Beef paused, allowing himself to take a breath of fresh air. “Amazing.” 

“Replaced with hero training courses.” 

Beef looked down, furrowing his eyebrows together. 

“I wish they taught this when I was still in school.” Beef murmured, turning back to the sky. Wilson sighed in response. “You know a lot about astronomy?” Beef sat back normally in his chair, hands finding their way to the napkin on the table, fiddling with it. 

“You could say that. Just read a few books on it a while back.” Wilson took a bite of his food, smiling slightly. “You know, there’s an observatory on the other side of town, maybe we could go there some other time and-”

Wilson’s phone rang, a small but distinct jingle, stopping him mid-sentence. The look of disdain gave Beef the sense that Wilson already knew who was calling—already tired with the caller interrupting him. 

“Sorry, just let me- Hey! Doc! What the hell.” He avoided looking at Beef, who had tried keeping composed until Wilson got off the phone. Beef put his hands in his lap, smiling absentmindedly, trying not to silently tell Wilson to “hurry up”. “No. I’m- Doc you knew I’d be busy. I’m with someone right now.” 

A beat of silence passes. Wilson offers an apologetic look to Beef. 

“Can it wait?” Wilson pulled the phone away from his ear, the other person— Doc —yelling loud enough where even Beef could hear it. “Okay, okay, calm down, old man. Yeah, I’ll be there soon.” 

Wilson hung up, placing his phone face down on the table, nails scratching at the beat up case. Beef nodded slowly, letting his hands move to rest on the edge of the table. 

“You wanna get outta here?” Beef asked, tilting his head, eyebrows creased together. 

“Work calls. I’m so sorry,” Wilson murmurs, maintaining regretful eye contact with Beef—at least Beef thinks it’s eye contact. “My boss…associate, doesn’t know how to work my stuff.” 

The two start to stand up, Wilson more hurriedly than Beef. Understandably so. 

“Where do you work?”

“Freelance mechanic.” 

Beef wanted to ask further, but with Wilson’s body language being so tense now, he figured to save it for next time. 

They start walking out of the building, Beef making sure he had all of his things while Wilson said his goodbyes and thanks to Cub. 

____

“That’s lame.”  

“Seriously?” Beef pulled his hand away from his temple, staring at Bdubs’ name on his phone. 

“Yeah! I can name at least five cooler, sexier ways you could’ve ended that night. One-”

“Please, spare me.” Beef interrupted Bdubs, putting his phone on speaker and putting it on his kitchen counter. “It was a work thing, who am I to judge?”

“What if he does some illegal black market stuff?”

Beef had half the mind to tune Bdubs out, laughing at his friend’s antics. 

“I doubt that. He reminds me of an English teacher.”

“That a compliment or a pet peeve?” 

Chapter Text

“I, personally, think it’s a bad idea.” Beef sighed, standing back to let the espresso machine dispense. “I mean, I’ve never been to one before.” 

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for people like us! You have to go!” Bdubs clipped the slip of paper with the last customer’s order to the string of twine. “You really don’t see how lucky you are. If it were me, I’d definitely take the chance to hang out with the hot number one hero at a fancy rich people party.” 

“I just- parties never were my scene.” 

“You own a coffee shop. Believe me, Boss, I know.” 

Beef finished the drink he was working on, sliding it across the counter and taking the chance to call out the customer’s name, then turning back to Bdubs. 

“Rude. It’s just that out of the three of us, Pause was the one who went to parties and whatever. Plus, I don’t have anything nice to wear-” 

“Woah, hang on.” Bdubs stopped Beef, holding out his hand where he held up his index finger. Rather dramatically, Beef thought. “Three?” 

Beef groaned, leaning his head back in dismay. 

“Not here, Bdubs,” Beef sighed as he pat the shorter man’s shoulder, causing a small, single yellow flower to sprout in the area. 

“Fine, fine. Keep your secrets, old man.” 

“You’re older than me-” Bdubs had started ignoring Beef—but the evident grin on his face wasn’t lost on Beef. 

He turned to face the next customer, but recoiling in surprise. 

Beef’s grip on his white apron tightened as the villain stalked closer, his one visible eye a piercing red that seemingly glowed even in the daylight. His breath hitched, eyes flicking between the villain’s face and the surrounding customers periodically. 

The customers in question had either run outside or cowered behind tables and displays. Displays he had just set up! 

Beef could only watch with trepidatious anticipation as E.CHO came closer, eventually getting close enough to lean over the counter, using his gloved hands to support his weight. 

“Hi.” 

“Hello,” Beef practically mumbled, not even sure if E.CHO heard him or not. 

“I’ll take a caramel latte. With an extra shot.” He removed himself from the counter, instead choosing to cross his arms over his chest. “Please.” 

Beef’s gaze flicked between E.CHO and the remaining customers, sputtering out a few unintelligible words. 

“Alright.” Beef cleared his throat. “That’ll be five, twenty seven.” He smiled, maybe to try and convince himself that everything would be fine. 

E.CHO looked taken aback, and after a few seconds he started palming the myriad of pockets on his jacket and pants. He pulled out a wallet, letting out a quiet “aha!”. Beef honestly didn’t know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t this. E.CHO reached a hand over and grabbed onto Beef’s—his breathing slowing at the movement but he stayed frozen in place—making his palm face the ceiling as E.CHO placed the money into his hand. 

“This too.” E.CHO reached into his wallet, pulling out some extra bills and sliding it onto the counter. “Your tip.” E.CHO winked, squinting his eyes due to what Beef presumed was him smiling. 

Beef put the tip in his pocket, then the money in the cash register, glancing between his task and the…villain standing a foot away from him. E.CHO rolled back and forth on his heels, accidentally making Beef notice the difference in height. Which wasn’t a lot, but definitely enough for Beef to grumble at.

“Your receipt-” Beef spoke, pulling the slip of paper out from the machine and handing it over, hand shaking a little. 

“Thanks!” The villain reached over and grabbed the receipt. It was like E.CHO didn’t realize he was wearing his attire, although Beef wasn’t sure if he’d be any less nervous with the thought of an undercover villain in his shop. At least now if E.CHO tries anything Beef can give a clear explanation to the heroes. 

E.CHO walked off, standing idly nearby the bar, presumably waiting for his drink. His eyes scanned the shop, Beef noticed E.CHO’s chest puff out. Was this guy proud of this? Beef looks over at Bdubs, who’s already slowly preparing the drink, having heard the exchange due to the quiet room. 

So quiet you could hear a pen drop. 

The whirring of the machines thankfully filled the silence, along with the quiet music playing through the speakers—the song upbeat and peppy—a stark contrast to the general air in the shop. 

“Your drink,” Bdubs called out, sliding the cup on the counter. E.CHO walked over and Beef could see Bdubs tense up, but still standing his ground.

“Have a good day!” E.CHO said, nodding at Bdubs and Beef, waving his hand a little, giving them a perfect view of the dangerous machinery around the villain’s wrists; directly showcasing everyone in the room of how easy it would be for E.CHO to attack. 

But he didn’t. 

The villain walked out of the shop, standing outside on the pavement to take a sip of his drink. He raised his hand, turning the dial on his wrist cuffs, then….disappearing. 

Beef let out a deep breath, trying not to let himself panic too much.

So a villain just came into the very shop he destroyed around two weeks ago, ordered a coffee, paid for it, then left by turning into a cloud of light purple mist. 

He had to slap himself really quickly to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, 

“Then he…”

“Just left.” Beef spoke tiredly. He didn’t count how many times he retold the—rather mundane—story to heroes and law enforcement. As far as Beef knew, E.CHO could've just wanted a quick coffee, and maybe forgot to take off his villain attire. 

So far, the news hadn’t reported on any catastrophic events caused by E.CHO, so what really was the issue? 

The issue was that now Pause was rambling about safety measures. 

“I can call for a hero escort for you.” 

“No, what? Pause, no.” Beef protested, shaking his head side to side. “I don’t need any protection.” 

“Then what do you want?” 

“Right now? I want to go to bed.” 

Pause huffed dejectedly, accepting Beef’s choice to not indulge in Pause’s worry. 

Beef was taken home by Pause—mostly just Beef leading the way because Pause didn’t know where to go, but still wanted to come along. “Just in case”, he would keep telling Beef. 

“Sorry, it’s a bit messy. I know how you get.” 

The comment probably wasn’t meant to make Pause so sick to his stomach as it did. 

“No, it’s fine. I won’t stay long anyway.” 

Beef unlocked his front door, swinging it open to reveal his apartment. It opened up to a kitchen area that led over to a living space with a hallway on the left. 

It definitely looked lived in. 

Beef walked inside, this time Pause didn’t follow along, instead he chose to stand at the very edge of the doorframe. The tips of his shoes just barely touched the hardwood floor inside Beef’s apartment. 

“You’ll be okay for the night?” Pause asked, looking around the hallway he stood in. Fluorescent lights in the ceiling illuminated everything well, not exactly making it look nice, but at least Pause could see. The carpet was a dark grey with small white diamond patterns on it. The carpet would’ve looked luxurious if it weren’t for the obvious soot and wear that it had. 

“I’ll be fine. You go get your rest.” Beef closed the door, admittedly somewhat abruptly. Although Pause knew that Beef just was tired. 

Being questioned all day would do that to someone. 

Pause stood there for a moment, just thinking. A quiet slam sounded from inside Beef’s apartment, and it made Pause wonder just how upset Beef really was about the situation. 

___

“You sure you’re okay to go?” Bdubs asked, swinging his legs due to the space between his feet and the ground. He sat on top of the kitchen island in Beef’s apartment? waiting for Beef to come out of his room. “You just had a traumatic experience-”

“If you call it that one more time I will fight you.” Beef popped his head over the wall, peering at Bdubs with a quirked eyebrow. “Just tell me how good I look.”

Bdubs huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, but glancing over Beef once he stepped out in line of sight. 

“Lose the blazer. Makes you look like a douche.” Bdubs yawned. 

Beef took off his blazer, leaving him in a white button up with dark blue dress pants. The clothes fit perfectly, which was a little odd considering he never gave Guude his measurements. Beef chose to look past it for now. 

“What if I get cold?” 

“At least you won’t look like a douche.” 

“I don’t even know what that means. How do you know what that means?” 

Bdubs pulled out his phone, scrolling on it a few times absentmindedly. 

“Read a post about old slang terms from back in the day.” 

Beef waited for more of an explanation, but didn’t get one. Bdubs was strange like that. 

Beef was quick to leave once he had gotten everything ready, trying not to run and ruin the probably expensive suit. He was thankful that the building wasn’t too far. The business district was just a few blocks over thankfully, and the setting sun was definitely a help in not overheating.

“Vinny! I’m actually so glad that you made it!” Pause’s smile was contagious. Beef nodded along, following Pause into the elevator. 

“I figured I might as well.” Beef laughed, rolling on his heels. The nice shoes he had gotten for this event weren’t broken into yet, and calling them uncomfortable was an understatement. The elevator chimed, and the doors opened to the floor. 

The room was large. Spacious and decorated to the brim with luxurious decor. It was packed. Crowds of people that Beef both recognized and didn’t recognize, all chattering together. 

There were two long tables that were adorned with various foods, people picked at it and took what they wanted on small plates. At least Beef wouldn’t just be standing around doing mostly nothing tonight.

“But you might have to stay with me the whole night or I’ll-”

“PauseUnpause!!” Pause looked over to the side, Beef did the same, wanting to see who needed the hero’s attention more than him. 

Just to see a group of more heroes, all decked out in their attire, making it incredibly difficult for Beef to look over some of them. 

“Oh! You have to meet these guys!” Pause grabbed onto Beef’d hand and started leading him over. 

Pause approached the group of other heroes, all ones that Beef recognized. He dipped his head down, almost embarrassed about walking up to such highly appraised people. But Pause kept his grip on Beef’s arm and practically dragged him there, so Beef guessed he didn’t have much of a choice. 

“Hey guys!” Pause started, and got bombarded with greetings. Two of the heroes even cheered, clinking their glasses together, whatever liquid was in it splashed onto the floor but if anyone else noticed they didn’t bother to clean it up. 

“Pause! I’d say it was good to see you but, knowing you, there’s not a single event party that you won’t show up to.” One of the closer heroes remarked. Beef knew them only by their hero name: Hotguy. 

“You know me well, then.” Pause laughed, tugging a little on Beef’s sleeve, a silent request if he could come closer. 

Beef listened, taking a step closer and resting his hands on Pause’s shoulder. He glanced over Hotguy, who had his arm slung around a tall man with dark hair and an equally as dark mustache. Although his attention went back to Hotguy, as he started joyously talking. 

“Guys! Pause finally got himself a date! Now that’s something I never could’ve guessed.” Hotguy’s loud voice boomed throughout the room, and Beef shrunk into himself further at the idea of others hearing—which they most likely did. Meanwhile, the group surrounding them howled with laughter, one of them offering a wolf whistle for good measure. 

“No- It’s not like that. C’mon-“ 

“You got that handsome piece of meat stuck to your side like glue and you’re tryna’ tell me that’s not your whore?” One of the closer heroes spoke up—a D-lister hero that Beef couldn’t remember the name of in the moment, his mind clouded with feelings of disgust and humiliation. 

He knew it was a horrible idea to accept the invite. 

“No, this is Beef. He’s a friend.” Beef didn’t know what hurt more: being called a literal piece of meat or Pause saying that he was just a “friend”, as if they didn’t completely grow up together.

In the span of a few minutes his night had already been ruined. 

“I’m gonna go to the snack table.” Beef told Pause, who nodded, offering a look of regret and concern, just before turning back to the group of heroes and talking to them. 

Beef sighed, walking over to the tables and picking up a small…something. He didn’t know what it was, just that it tasted good. 

He looked at Pause, eyes lighting up as he noticed Pause approaching. But as quick as the relief came, it left, as three men in fancier suits than Beef had even seen in his whole life came over and stole Pause’s attention. Again. 

Beef sort of just wandered the floor, searching for something to do or someone to talk to. He didn’t, but found a door leading to a balcony. Finally some peace and quiet. 

He walked out, the cold air immediately hitting his face. Beef was upset, yes, at the heroes for saying those gross things. But also mad at Pause for not getting angrier at them. Beef sat down on the floor and rested his back against the concrete wall, the small jabs of the wall texture pressing in to his back, surely leaving marks. He sighed, twisting a strand of his hair between his fingertips. 

The muffled sound of the music and talking from inside leaked through the doors and windows, at least giving Beef something to listen to while sitting alone on a small balcony no less than ten stories up in the air. 

The slight breeze was calming, his clothes swayed with the wind as did his hair. The moment was serene, almost nice enough to get Beef to forget about the party as a whole. 

He pulled out his phone and opened that app he got after he went on that date with Wilson. It was a star tracker app. He pointed it at the sky, allowing the screen to move along with him, showing off all the stars in all their glory—despite not being able to see them with his own eyes.

Beef wished he could get lost in space. His need for that longing feeling of freedom again grew.  At this point Beef felt like he was high up enough to touch the sky, but he couldn’t stop the feeling of utter disappointment when he reached his hand up, and grabbed onto nothing. 

He settled back, the concrete wall making his back sore again, but he paid it little mind. He focused on his phone, scrolling on social media, watching what was going on at the party through posts and livestreams, all the while he was just a wall away, sulking. 

Was he entitled to be upset? No one else was acting this way. Beef was the only one on that balcony. He couldn’t help but feel dramatic, just upset over something a pro hero said to him. Hotguy was a hero, he had nothing but good intentions right?

Beef huffed, too tired to really think more on it, instead choosing to indulge himself with watching some t.v show—something he’s enjoy much more if he was at home on his couch. 

“Vinny? What are you doing out here? It’s freezing-”

The sound of the door opening alerted Beef, but he calmed down once he recognized who it was. Beef stood up, stumbling forwards so he leaned up against the railing, the rock pressed against his waist.

“Why’d they call me that?” Beef cut Pause off, turning around and staring at Pause, eyebrows knit together. He didn’t know why he was on fight or flight mode, especially around Pause. Stress, probably. 

Pause stuttered unintelligible noises before huffing, walking up next to Beef and resting his elbows on the rails. 

“They’re just messing around. Being crude, is all.” Pause rolled his eyes, solidifying his perspective on it with a half-sneer. “They’re always like that.”

Beef could only respond with a hum of acknowledgment. He turned around so he faced the same landscape as Pause, the main city on the horizon, lights illuminating the night sky, but in a way that made it impossible to see the stars. Not in the way he was hoping to see that night. 

“It was gross,” Beef huffed, bringing his hands close to his mouth and blowing hot air to keep them warm. “They’re gross.” He looked over at Pause, eyes scanning the hero’s face for any signs of significance. 

“I know.” Pause let himself relax, despite the cold biting at his extremities, forcing them into a fuchsia hue. 

Pause just stared out at the city, not bothering to look at Beef, the feelings of guilt pulling at his heart. 

“How long had you been out here? I turned around and you were suddenly gone-” Beef took the chance to look at his watch. 

“About two hours.” 

“Oh.”

Pause wet his lips, ashamed. He didn’t want to admit that he had completely forgotten to check up on Beef’s whereabouts. 

“I didn’t want to come to this party.” Beef admitted after a long moment of silence. Although he figured that Pause knew that by now. “Bdubs convinced me to.”

Pause bit his lip in contemplation, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“I forgot you never liked them.” Just another reason for Pause to feel guilty. He had been a horrible friend recently. Between completely ghosting Beef when he started hero work and to now, inviting Beef to a party that deep down he knew Beef wouldn’t enjoy. Pause was selfish, and he didn’t know how to cope with that at the moment. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to make up for lost time so much that I haven’t been taking your feelings into consideration.”

Beef’s life had been turned upside down in the span of a few hours. The day of the first fight. When E.CHO was thrown into Beef’s shop. Pause not even recognizing Beef at first. The grim reminder that Pause had forgotten what his old friend’s faces looked like wasn’t lost on him, 

“You don’t have to make up for it. I’d be happy just knowing you hadn’t left me behind completely.” Beef closed his eyes, breathing in the cold air, ignoring how it burned his nose and lungs. 

“Right.” Pause had forgotten many things since starting his work. Treating people normally was one of them. He was so used to the grand gestures and showmanship of usual hero work, that he completely forgot that he’s allowed to do good things for reasons other than proving to everyone else that he’s a good person. He’s a good person. At least Pause hopes he is. “I should get you home then. Better now than never, right?” 

Beef chuckles, almost humorlessly, just trying to make Pause feel less bad about it. 

“Yeah. I want to go home and just,” Beef thought about it for a moment. Turning around and starting to walk towards the door, hand resting on the handle. “Pretend I never came here, I guess.” 

This time, Beef took the lead. Walking into the elevator, leaving the building with sheepish smiles and “thank you”’s to the building staff. Pause followed behind, mostly quiet, until they got to the door man, which Pause finally took the chance to say his own gratitudes. 

They drove home, Pause offering to drive instead of calling a cab. Beef asked if Pause wanted to stay for the rest of the party, and that a cab would be fine. But Pause was insistent. 

To be fair, Pause wasn’t in the mood to party anymore. Plus, he cared more about Beef than some party that happened fairly frequently anyway.

The drive was mostly quiet. Aside from Beef quietly telling directions to Pause, no one spoke. The radio was turned off for good measure, and either of them felt too tense to turn it on. 

Pause still stuck by Beef to his apartment, trying to compensate for his absence all night. 

“So. I guess this is goodbye.” Pause started to close the door, but was stopped by Beef grabbing onto it. 

“You can stay here if you like. I don't want you driving home buzzed.” 

Pause thought about it for a moment, considering crashing on the couch. It was tempting, that’s for sure. 

“Nah. I can make it home safely. Thank you though.” The alcohol had worn off by now anyway. Their small talk on the balcony a sobering experience for Pause. So he left. 

Immediately when he got home, Pause sulked towards his bed. The soft mattress sinking under his weight.

Pause wished he didn’t say that. He wished he could turn back time and go back to Beef and accept the offer-

Ding!

Pause lifted his head off his pillow, sluggishly making his way out to his living room. The lights remained off, his eyes already adjusted to the dim lighting. 

He wished he didn’t decline Beef’s offer. Pause wished he could turn back time (maybe if his power was slightly different he could be able to actually turn back time). But instead, here he was, moving to open his front door at—Pause turned his head to glance at the digital clock on the wall—2 am. 

He swung it open, only to be met by a familiar face—half face? Pause jumped back, getting into a fighting stance. But he noticed that E.CHO…didn’t. 

“What-“ 

“I need help.” E.cho’s voice comes out as a whimper, small and weak. A direct contrast to his usual witty and quick remarks. 

Pause grimaces, eyebrows furrowing while his lip curls upwards into a despondent snarl. 

“Why should I help you? What’s stopping me from arresting you right now?” Pause could see the panicked expression in E.cho’s eyes, a split second flash of…fear. As quickly as it came it went away, replaced with something more worried. 

“Good point,” he grunted. “But- I mean, you’re a good person. I should hope you would..” E.CHO trailed off, leaving Pause to wonder what was said. 

Pause cursed under his breath, looking at his house, then back at E.CHO. He surveyed the surrounding area, bushed darkened by the night—no hiding perpetrators…

“Fine. Come inside. But if you try anything I will arrest you.”

E.CHO remained silent, only offering a small look of acceptance before coming inside and sitting down on the couch with a grimace. 

“Stay there, I’ll get some towels.” Pause went and plucked a few hand towels from his kitchen, ran them under the sink for a second or two, then quickly brought them over toward E.CHO and pressing them against the wound that E.CHO presented. 

E.CHO winced as the soaked washcloth connected with his injury, moving around some from the stinging pain; causing Pause to whisper a swift “stay still”. Which E.cho did to his best abilities. 

“There’s a hospital no more than a few blocks away-“

“Tried that already. I just scared everyone there.” 

“Why didn’t you go to a medic hero? Would hurt way less and be quicker too.” Pause wiped down the injury, pressing the washcloth firmly onto the wound, trying to clean up the blood that was no longer gushing out of it. 

“You were closest.” 

E.cho looked away, seemingly angrily by the way his shoulders tensed up. Pause didn’t particularly believe that—the myriad of medic heroes that resided near the hospital, way closer than Pause did, made it difficult for him to believe what E.cho said. 

Furthermore: E.cho didn’t want to say the truth. Say that he felt safe and comfortable around Pause, because obviously that would be asinine. And how would he explain himself further from that? 

“I could just turn you in, you know. I’m the city’s top hero.” 

“I trust you.” 

“You trust me?” Pause looks into E.CHO’s eyes, wondering if the villain was on any drugs too.

“You’re not the type to do that. You’re gonna let me recover so we can have a fair fight.” E.CHO’s voice was very matter of factly. Like he knew there wasn’t even a 0.2 percent chance of Pause taking E.CHO in now.

Pause was almost at a loss for words, looking over E.CHO’s face for any deceit, which he found none. E.CHO was right too. Pause wasn’t the type to do that, but who was he to assume that? 

E.CHO had cut too close to home for Pause, letting information slip that Pause hadn’t thought anyone else knew—anyone but people he knew directly. Which, was a scary thought to think. That his close friends and family could possibly be the suave villain sitting on his couch. But that wouldn’t make any sense, none of his friends or family donned two boney wings on their back—something that Pause didn’t even know E.CHO had until now, after taking off his jacket and shirt to tend to the wound. 

Speaking of which, looked definitely a lot better now that the blood and debris had been cleaned off. No more than a simple stitch job and E.CHO would be able to go home without much worry. Pause mentally cursed himself out for being so careless, and at one point the thought crossed his mind that if he was willing to let the city’s most recent terrorizing villain go, then was Pause really worthy of the number one hero spot? Although as soon as it arrived, the thought left, Pause’s mind reoccupied with his current task. 

“If you can replicate other’s powers, why don’t you have any healing abilities in there?” Pause asked after noticing the way E.CHO’s eyebrows furrowed when Pause worked around the wound. So Pause wanted to take E.CHO’s mind off it. 

“Funnily enough. Healing powers are really rare.” It seemed to work well enough, E.CHO’s muscles slightly lost their tension, him relaxing some at the topic Pause assumed the man was passionate about. Or at least knew a lot about, given that he probably spent a lot of time thinking about it. 

“Really? I always felt like the medic specific foundations were filled to the brim with applications and hero recruits.” Pause mindlessly spoke, focusing mostly on making sure the wound was thoroughly cleaned before stitching it back together. 

“I guess so. But if you really look at all the medic heroes powers, most of them are bettering side effects. Not really healing.” 

Pause hummed in acknowledgment, removing his hands from E.CHO’s abdomen to admire—stare at the man’s body, checking for further injuries. But when Pause found none, he stood up with a grunt. 

“I need to go grab some thread and a needle, I’ll be right back.” He left E.CHO before the villain could even say anything back, already walking off to his bedroom to look for the sewing kit tucked away in one of his drawers. 

Once he was fully out of sight, Pause took a second to think, leaning against the wall to avoid from collapsing onto the floor. Pause would say he was worried about E.CHO knowing where he lived and what his face looked like without the paint or headwear—but based on a lot of E.CHO’s taunts in the past few weeks, the man knew more than he was letting on. 

The idea of a villain knowing where he lived made Pause incredibly uneasy, but at the same time it gave him a little bit of comfort to know that despite knowing where he lived for who knows how long, E.CHO never actually attacked his house or leaked his address or anything. 

Pause let out a strange sigh of relief. One problem sort of solved, and immediately another one falls into its place. 

“Okay, do you have a color preference?” He asked E.CHO, who was now lying down on his back on the couch, resting his arm over his eyes. 

“If you have green. If not I don’t mind any color.” 

Pause hummed, pulling out the spool of a dark green thread—initially used for the intricate detailing design of the first edition of his hero outfit. The spool had been left to gather dust in the recent years, as when the foundation changed his outfit, the green color had been scrapped. 

“Sit still for this.” Pause said, voice soft as to not worry the villain. Funnily enough.

“I’ll try,” E.CHO murmured in response. 

The two stayed in silence again for the most of it, Pause tried to think of things to say but couldn’t. His mind blanked. Again. It was just so insane. E.CHO just waltzing up to his house like some weird salesman. Although he wasn’t selling anything, instead he was asking for help. And what kind of hero would Pause be if he refused?

At the end of the day, E.CHO is a person to. When he’s not out doing villain stuff he’s probably spending time with friends and family, working a job (Pause doesn’t know if villainy pays too well), or just being a human being. 

Pause finished up the stitches, sealing it with a few knots so the thread didn’t come loose until E.CHO was able to get some genuine help. That’s if the villain ever did, anyway. But considering that E.CHO had come here in the first place wasn’t exactly confirming any of Pause’s hopes. 

“What’d you do?” Pause asked, standing up and stretching out his arms above his head, hearing a satisfying pop. 

“Huh?” E.CHO tilted his head, moving to put his jacket back on. 

“How’d you get hurt?” Pause could see the look of shame come across E.CHO’s eyes. It almost made Pause laugh. “You can tell me. It’s the least you can do for coming to my house this late and giving me a heart attack.” Was Pause joking around with E.CHO? As if that was really so crazy considering the act of extreme kindness Pause had shown E.CHO. 

E.CHO groaned, leaning his head back presumably for dramatic effect. 

“I was testing out a power I wasn’t familiar with. Accidentally hurt myself with it.” E.CHO’s admission made Pause chuckle. Not in a mocking way, just in a “wow that’s so pathetic way”. He couldn’t help it. 

This high and mighty villain acting like a kicked puppy. Pause imagined the sad frown E.CHO must’ve had. 

“Don’t laugh. It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.”

Pause walked over to his kitchen again, grabbing a glass and filling it up with cold water from the fridge. He gave it to E.CHO, who took it with a look of “really?” In his eyes. E..CHO quirked a brow. 

“If this is a way for you to see my face, it’s not going to work.” E.CHO spoke gruffly as he placed the glass of water on the coffee table nearby. He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Alright, fine.” Pause walked over to the small supply closet down the hallway, pulling out a blanket and an actual pillow—not the decorative pillows on the couch. He walked back, handing the blanket and pillow to E.CHO. “If you steal my blanket I will personally hunt you down and steal it back from you.” 

E.CHO took them, expanding the blanket and looking it over. It was a light blue, looked white in the dim lighting. There were no designs or patterns, it was just a large piece of large solid blue fabric. Not that E.CHO seemed to mind. In fact, the opposite. E.CHO laid it over himself, a relieved expression on his face. 

Pause didn’t know a man wearing a mask could still be so expressive. 

“Okay. I’m going to bed.” Pause started walking back towards his room, fiddling with his shirt hem. “Please don’t steal anything. I’m putting a lot of trust in you.” 

“This would be one wild robbery plan if I did want to steal something.”  

Pause groaned, exasperated. 

“Just.” He grimaced, leaning against the doorframe. “Sleep well.”

Chapter Text

Pause threw the covers off himself. The sun had barely started seeping into his window. He walked out to his living room, spotting E.CHO no longer on the couch, the blanket and pillow Pause gave him neatly folded. Not exactly what Pause would have expected. 

Pause picked up the blanket, staring at the small splotches of blood now stained into the light blue fabric. He threw it into his laundry basket, not bothering to clean it right away. The stain was there, and no amount of bleach could get it out without ruining the delicate material. 

He didn’t want to reflect this morning, having to go into work quickly so his shift could start. But he couldn’t help it. In between his talk with Beef, and E.CHO’s whole…thing, it was a lot. 

It moved fast. Pause’s life. 

___

“So basically all our reports are saying that-” Pause couldn’t bear listen on to the droning crime analytics. It was just the same old stuff it always was. 

But Rendog tapped Pause on the shoulder, getting his attention back. 

“PauseUnpause. We’re giving you an assignment.” Okay now this was new.  

“What is it?” 

“You’re being assigned to focus on E.CHO.” Pause’s face must’ve been representative of his confusion and surprise, as the board direction continued. “Marketing thinks it’ll be good if the heroes were given a rival.” 

Pause wished he could tell marketing to mind their own business. 

“E.CHO has only attacked once and has shown no signs of attacking again since the first week. Are we sure he’s still a viable threat?” Pause leaned forward in his chair a bit. He grabbed hold of the armrests on his chair, shrugging. 

“That’s exactly why we want you on the case. Plus, you represent the Equilibrium Foundation, if we start slacking off now, Triumph or.” The speaker pauses, dramatically sneering. “Or the Utopian foundations would get more cases than us. Take…” The worker searched around the room, eyes landing on another hero. “Take PearlescentMoon with you on your perimeter search tonight.” 

Eyes turned to Pearl, a defense hero clad in a deep red hood, sitting towards the edge of the table with her arms crossed over her chest. 

Pause and Pearl locked eyes, mutual understanding between them. 

“Alright. Moving on.”

Assignments were passed out to the rest of the hero’s in the room, some were put into teams like Pause and Pearl had, others were given access to law enforcement. 

Pause’s hands folded neatly into his lap to try and promote the persona of someone who was invested—he didn’t know if it was necessary though. Half the people in the room had sleepy eyes. 

The meeting eventually came to a close, much to the delight of Pause. His good mood instantly flipped, as Stratos had come over and wrapped his arm around Pause’s shoulders. 

“So! New team up I see! What’s your team name?” 

“We just left the briefing room, we haven’t thought of it yet.” Pause lightly pushed Stratos away, a hesitant smile on his face. 

“Me and Stratos already have one.” 

Pause and Stratos jumped in surprise, whipping their heads around to face Watcher—who stood there with his hands on his hips, smiling smugly. 

“Yeah. Jeez- Watcher you can’t do that on our perimeter laps, that’s freaky.” 

Watcher shrugs in response. 

“But yes. We already have our team name!” Stratos puffed his chest out. Not that it did much. Pause was taller than him if he was unshifted. “Watch out in the news cause they’ll all be talking about the amazing trio- the bad boys!” 

Pause scoffed. 

“Guess you don’t have to pass kindergarten to become a top hero. But there’s two of you guys.” 

Stratos faltered, but quickly reiterated.

“We were planning on teaming up with the sheriff to hunt down DocM77. Apparently, they have a lead on where he’s hiding out. They wanted hero help just in case.” Watcher stepped in, eyes trained on Pause. 

“And you guys landed on the bad boys? Did Jimmy agree to that?” Pause quirked a brow, gaze turning between the two heroes. 

“Well- no. But we can probably convince him.” Stratos shrugged, dismissing Pause’s valid concerns. 

Pause went to respond, but was interrupted by Pearl placing a hand on his shoulder, eyes wide with admiration.

“I think a team name would be fun! Better us naming ourselves than the public!” Tilly barked in agreement to Pearl’s words. Pause exhaled, a small smile pulling at his lips. 

“You guys are P.P. You realize that? Your initials together make P.P. That’s gross.” Stratos chimed in, smiling in a mocking manner.

“ You’re gross.” Pause tapped Stratos on his shoulder, grimacing.  

Pause and Pearl said their goodbyes to Stratos and Watcher—the “bad boys” sent off to find Sheriff Jimmy, a man Pause was familiar with, as their work often overlaps. Tilly trotted behind them as they walked through the winding hallways of the foundation building. 

Pause personally thought it was stupid; the rivalry between the city’s hero foundations. It seemed reminiscent of high school rivalries. Trivial and counterproductive. Some of the other heroes took it more seriously, though. And Pause wasn’t one to judge. 

The day passed in a blink of an eye, being a bit of a daze that lacked the usual events. No interviews, cameos in movies or t.v shows, and no sponsorships he had to do. 

When the sun started setting, Pause and Pearl met up, ready to do their rounds.

Again, it had been pretty lackluster. They were scouting out the original site of E.CHO’s first—and only—attack, unable to predict any other locations. The garden district was nice, it cleaned up well considering the level of damage E.CHO had done. 

Pearl and Pause strolled down the sidewalk of the park they were currently looking through. The lamps lit up the night, also helped by the soft blue glow that Tilly emitted. Speaking of which-

“So is your power always activated?” Pause asked, turning his head to face Pearl. Her face lights up at the question about Tilly. 

“Yeah! I mean she and I are pretty close. I always feel bad dismissing her.” Pearl reaches down and pets Tilly in between her ears, earning a quiet and happy woof from the wolf. 

“Doesn’t it drain your stamina? Or require concentration? I never really understood how your power worked…” 

“And I yours, mystery man!” Pearl winked at Pause, the hypocrisy not lost on him. “No. My power is like,” she draws in a quick breath. “I just summon her. I don’t know, it’s always been like that. I guess she doesn’t always listen to me. Sometimes that silly girl gets into my food on the counter.” Pearl lets out a giggle. Pause, a chuckle. “We spilling secrets now, boy. Tell me how yours works.” 

Pause smiles hesitantly, swaying his head back and forth. “Nothing special-”

“Says the #1.”

“I can make objects slow down. Y’know…I can pause and unpause them.” He talks with his hands, tying to make the same motions he would if he were to activate the power. “But it only lasts as long as I concentrate on it. Which kind of sucks in the heat of battle.” 

“Hey, that’s what we’re for!” Pearl rests her elbow on Pause’s shoulder. What Pearl said was true. Sure, offense heroes get a lot of the glory most of the time, their flashy and combative powers being a good selling point for headlines. But defense heroes were just as—if not more—important. Pause made a mental note to thank the defense heroes he would work with in the future. “Here,” Pearl spoke again, rummaging through her bag and pulling out a small box. She opened the lid, revealing cut up fruit and snacks. Pause grabbed a few to munch on as they walked. “So…” Pause looked at Pearl expectantly, who bounced with every step she took. “E.CHO huh?”

Pause hummed. “He’s strange. Eccentric.” 

“Yeah, and marketing being behind putting you on this case isn’t that far fetched in my eyes.” Pause quirked a brow at that, a silent go-ahead for Pearl to continue. “I mean, we all saw your interview from like a month and a half ago. Reporters have been debating over it since.” 

“I still get emails asking me if I could elaborate some more.” The two share a small laugh over the ridiculous notion of it all. “What about you, any rivals of your own?”

Pearl hums, looking up at the night sky. Her eyes are still wide, despite the late hour. Pause can’t help but be reminded of Beef’s colleague, Bdubs. 

“Not really. I mean, I’m not really in that position to get any rivals.”

“The burden I have to carry being offense,”  Pause jokingly sighs out.

“Yeah. Y’know sometimes I wonder what it’s like being a recovery or medic hero. I think Tilly would be pretty good at sniffing out civilians…but I guess the foundation likes her as a shield more.”

“Pretty brutal if you think about it.”

“Yup.”  

The two fell into a silence, eating the fruit until there was none left. Pearl stuffed the box back into her bag. 

“I think tonight will be a bust. There doesn’t seem to be any movement.” Pause stated, eyes scanning the surrounding area. Well-lit. Not as populated as it would usually be in the day—the only people willing to go to a park in the dead of night being stoners and people looking to dabble in exhibitionism. Not exactly the hero’s job to deal with. Nor did either of the P’s really want to deal with pulling some undressed couple apart. 

“Probably. I mean…who attacks the garden district?” Pearl shoved her hands into her pockets, shoulders relaxed. “This district is all peace, love, and plants.” 

“Peace, love, and plants?”

Pearl shrugs. “That’s what Mumbo says. And you know how smart that guy is.” 

“Since when do you and Mumbo hang out?” 

“Since he’s been interested in building Tilly some kick ass armor!” 

Chapter Text

A week of doing nightly perimeter checks with Pearl had worn Pause down. Not just the lack of sleep—but the lack of something interesting happening. 

These assignments were a 50/50 chance of striking gold, half the heroes at the Equilibrium Foundation brought in some big name villains. The other half were doomed to petty shoplifters or nights full of tired stakeouts. 

Pause and Pearl got the latter. 

They had come across an abandoned warehouse, the grey concrete walls deteriorating due to time. 

“At some point we’re just going to have to accept he won’t show again,” Pause murmured, pushing the heavy rack out of the way. 

“You should know more than anyone that villains like this are relentless.” 

“What exactly is a villain like this ? He’s strange and makes no sense and a damn wildcard. I mean-” Pause lets out a humorless laugh. “Just last week he..” He was getting riled up. 

“After this shift we need to get you to a bed. Get your beauty sleep, Hotshot.” Pearl pats Pause on his shoulder blade, earning a gruff noise of acknowledgment in response. 

They come across a large pathway in between the racks full of cardboard boxes. The two searched around for a bit, but not too long as there was still plenty of ground left to cover. Although as far as they could tell, it was empty. 

“This is a bust.” Pause glances around, his shoulders slump. “Although if a villain had to choose a place for a lair, this would be it.” He kicked a small plastic container that was on the ground, the material thumping on the concrete floor. 

“I’ve been watching you guys.” E.CHO’s voice makes the heroes jump, the surprise putting them on edge. Pearl and Pause stood back to back—Tilly growing in size and growling in no discernible direction. “Which, by the way. Is super boring. I’d applaud stalkers if they weren’t so…stalkery.” Pause’s stomach drops. 

“Aren’t you a murderer?” Pearl furrowed her eyebrows, holding her fists close to her body. 

“I mean- yeah . But at least I’m not a pervert.” E.CHO sucked in a breath, the speakers seemingly everywhere picking it up. “Anyway. I’ve led you two right into my trap. The lion’s den, if you will.”

The voice echoes off the walls, making it difficult for them to pinpoint which direction it originated from. 

“Led us?” 

“Well- okay maybe not led you. I followed you. But it still counts, I think.”  E.CHO walked out from behind some wooden crates, hands up in the air. “Point is, I surrender!” His voice feigns urgency, and his muscles remain relaxed. 

Pause could spot the egotistical and asinine bluff from a mile away. It was a wonder how E.CHO thought it would ever work on-

“Giving up so easily? See? Under all that edge, villains are all bark, no bite,” Pearl triumphantly exclaims, walking closer towards E.CHO, reaching into her pocket for the handcuffs strapped to her belt. 

“Pearl-” 

In the blink of an eye, E.CHO twists his wrist, the rotating cuff connected to his gauntlet is sent spinning. The soft clicks of the cuff fill the silence in the warehouse. Despite not activating his power, the world feels like slow motion to Pause. 

E.CHO brings his hands down, reaching to grab onto the cuff, causing it to stop. Pause and Pearl both stare, unaware of the mechanism. 

“Cool!” E.CHO yells out before dashing to the side, hiding behind a rack filled with small cardboard boxes. 

“Tilly!” Pearl raises her hand, teleporting Tilly to her side. The white wolf grows twice her size, tail wrapped around Pearl protectively. 

“That is an awesome power you have there…” E.CHO’s voice comes from behind them. They turn around, Pause holding his hands out in front of him to try and touch E.CHO, but the villain was too far away. “Mind if I get a blood sample from you?” 

“Fuck yes, I mind!” Pearl yells. 

“Shame. But, really it’s on me for asking first.” 

E.CHO jumps forward, and with one swift moment, he holds out his hand, clenching it into a tight fist. A portion of the floor shoots up into the air, flying towards Pause. 

He dodges the attack, although incredibly surprised. So E.CHO could move rock—great. 

E.CHO crouches onto the ground, hands plunging into the concrete like he was grabbing through a thin material. He pulls up, strained grunts escaping his covered mouth. The section of floor came up with him. 

Pause ran towards E.CHO, attempting to gain contact. E.CHO used the floor as a shield, making sure to hit Pause with it, sending Pause barreling to the ground. Tilly decided to finally get involved, bolting over and preparing to lunge at E.CHO. 

The villain dropped the shield, allowing it to shatter on the floor. Then with another quick movement, the broken pieces of the concrete hovered in the air, only to be redirected in Tilly’s direction. Like a rain of bullets—made out of concrete—Tilly was able to absorb a few of the hits, but ultimately took some damage. Not enough to render her useless, though. 

Both Tilly and Pause tried attacking E.CHO—but it was like the villain was one step ahead of them. His ability to move rock and agile movement made it difficult. 

E.CHO stomped on the ground, sending another chunk of rock towards Pause, which he tried to block head on. The rock, instead of breaking, curled around Pause’s hands. He plummeted towards the ground—stopping himself from hitting his head on the concrete. The earth shackles both weighed him down and rendered him powerless. 

He looked up from his hands to E.CHO and Tilly. The wolf was slowly getting worn down by E.CHO’s persistent attacks. Pause glanced to Pearl, whose face was contorted into an angry grimace. 

“Pearl, call for backup!” 

Pearl looks to Pause for a moment, the anger washing away and into agreement. She lifts up her wrist, turning on the communicator and speaking into the receiver. 

Pause’s attention is brought back to Tilly, who in the few seconds that Pause looked away, had been muzzled with a cone of concrete. 

E.CHO made his way over to the two heroes, left arm lagging behind slightly. But he was still able to lift his hands up and clap them together. Pearl lets out a yelp as her communicator is crushed into itself, the hero’s voice on the other end fizzling out. 

The villain did his final performance. He pulled apart his hands, holding them out to his sides. 

Two pillars of concrete assemble from the ground. 

He raises his hands up above his head. 

The pillars coil around Pearl’s legs, trapping her in place. Pearl almost falls over, the lack of manual balance putting her on edge. E.CHO visibly relaxes. He sighs and goes to lay down on the ground. 

“That. Was. Terrifying !” E.CHO sits up. “Jeez- Sonny it was what, two seconds before I beat you?” Pause grit his teeth, remaining silent. “I bet you’re off your game. Distracted ?” E.CHO flicks his hand upwards, the floor bending up to push E.CHO onto his feet. 

Pause wondered how someone so fragile a few days ago could be like this now, cocky and resourceful as if he was never on Pause’s doorstep begging for help. 

The villain was right, unfortunately. Pause was off his game—taken by surprise. The bile rising in his throat when the realization dawned on him. 

“This just goes to show how little the foundations prepare their heroes.” E.CHO shrugged. 

“How- who.” Pause lets out a series of confused hums, eyebrows knit together. E.CHO shrugs, eyes crinkling at the corners—he was smiling. “But, you. You can manipulate rock? Since when?” Pause pulled his knee close to his chest, crouching on the ground in an uncomfortable position. He'd stand up if he could. 

“Since I-” A loud ringing sounds out from E.CHO’s person. The villain lets out an enraged yell, stomping his foot on the ground—a small chunk of rock flying up into the air just to crash back down onto the ground. “Fuck- okay hold on.” E.CHO put up a finger, gesturing for Pearl and Pause to remain silent. He pulled out his ringing phone, groaning in annoyance when he read the caller ID. “ Doc . What is it this time?” E.CHO stood still, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, jutting out his hip. “This is the third time you’ve done this. You gotta stop calling me when I’m out, man.” 

Pause glanced at Pearl, who continued to stare at E.CHO with a look of confusion on her face. 

“No. Yeah, I know.” E.CHO listened to what Doc had to say as he walked over towards the two P’s and stood in front of them. His duo-colored eyes were half-lidded, shoe tapping rhythmically on the concrete floor. “Important business. Something you wouldn’t know about because you stay in the lab all day sucking Bob’s face off.”  

“I think we’re the important business,” Pearl whispers to Pause.

“More importantly, why is DocM77 making out with some guy?” Pause whispers back. E.CHO shoots them a glare.

“No, don't get him on call- Doc I’m hanging up on you.” E.CHO ran a hand through his white hair. “You- Hello, Bob. Bye, Bob .” E.CHO hangs up, shoving the phone into one of his many pockets. 

“Trouble in paradise?” Pause comments, shifting in his spot to sit on the ground more comfortably.

“The opposite. They’re too happy. I feel like I’m in the middle of their honeymoon,” E.CHO groans. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Pearl tries, smiling hesitantly at the villain. It almost works—E.CHO’s mask moves in a way that makes it obvious he had opened his mouth to begin speaking. The villain closes his mouth quickly and flips Pearl off momentarily. 

“What should I do now…? Oh! Right, I need to monologue.” 

“God, no, please.” 

“It’s been a while since I last attacked. So I thought that I should get my bases together, and form a plan.” E.CHO stalked closer, pacing slowly in and out between the two restrained heroes. “And, not to toot my own horn, but the plan is damn good. Rigging some explosives to buildings isn’t much, but…think of it as a game. Some minor moves need to be made for the end goal.” 

“Why’d you attack us if you were just going to attack somewhere else?” Pause attempts to stand up, but he could barely lift the heavy rock restraints off the ground. 

“For fun.” E.CHO steps closer. “To embarrass you and to make you feel like a failure.” Another step. “Also, you’ll be the first hero they call when they figure out I’m the villain behind the attack. Spoiler alert, I’m going to make it very easy to tell.” E.CHO crouches down in front of Pause, eyes boring into the hero’s own. “Your stupid foundation has rules that’s going to get people hurt, or worse. I’d be a fool not to exploit that.”  

E.CHO stands up, walking over to Pearl while rummaging through his pockets. Pause is left to stare at the villain as he walks further away, eyes wide and filled with a mix of anger and dread. The villain makes a noise of triumph, pulling out a syringe. 

“Okay, Luna. Stay still for me, yeah?” Pearl surveys E.CHO, leaning away from him. 

“What’re you doing?”

“Investigating your power.” E.CHO grabs onto Pearl’s arm, plunging the syringe into her wrist and drawing a few milliliters of blood. Pearl growls at E.CHO, who shoots her a smug look. “Thank you for cooperating!” He puts a small cap on the syringe before pocketing it again. Both Pause and Pearl grimace. “Well it’s been fun beating you guys! Until next time, PP!”

“E.CHO,” Pause started, eyes narrowed at the villain who turned to glance back at him. E.CHO quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head, a familiar notion that Pause couldn’t quite place. “I thought…y’know. We.” 

“What? Had a bonding moment?” Pause nodded slowly, unsure of E.CHO’s reaction. “Maybe in another life, hero.” 

E.CHO slinked off, the warehouse doors opening and closing echoing off the bare walls of the building. When the doors closed the rock started to crumble apart. Some dust and scrapes were left on Pause’s hands, and Pearl’s pants were slightly ripped up. 

Tilly came rushing over towards Pearl, pushing her snout into Pearl’s side. The makeshift muzzle hadn’t made a dent on Tilly, the wolf back to her usual size, energized as ever. 

“Should we look for him?” 

Pause—now that his hands were free—turned on his communicator. 

“PauseUnpause? What happened, is everything alright? Is PearlescentMoon alright? The signal got cut off-” The operator on the other end rushed into questions, but Pause cut him off. 

“We should get all available heroes searching the city. E.CHO has plans but the specifics were vague.” 

Pearl’s expression changes to one of sincerity, Tilly sensing the shift in mood. Pause massages his wrist as the operator accepts the task, letting it click off. 

Chapter Text

Etho grimaced as the small cuts along his body stung. He underestimated Tilly’s strength—but it made sense she would be strong, a guard dog usually needs to be more than just a shield. 

He neared the door, shoving the key in and unlocking the door. It opens into a house, warm yellow light seeping out into the dim light of the evening. Etho wasn’t surprised to see Doc sitting at the large table in the eating area, pouring himself a cup of tea (from the aroma that wafted in the house).

“You keep pulling me away from my job , Doc.” Etho said as he closed the front door behind him, smiling. 

“Really? Last I heard from Cub, you were on a date!” Doc looked over at the approaching Etho, a grin spreading on his face. “I don’t need to give you a curfew, do I?” 

Etho groaned, pulling off his mask and jacket, sitting down with a huff. “So, where’s Bob?” Etho looked around the open-walled room.

“He’s getting more grass.” Doc took a sip of his tea.

Etho’s eyebrows shot up, wiping soot from his cheek.  He refrains from responding, not his circus, not his monkeys. Etho and Renbob hadn’t really been close, they knew each other through Doc. If he had the grounds, Etho would start calling Renbob his ‘evil stepmother’. Although “evil” coming from a villain was a little hypocritical. 

Also, as far as Etho knew, Renbob was a decent guy. 

“The guy loves you, huh.” 

“I like to think so, yes.” Doc stands up, then walks over to the kitchen to grab a second cup. He placed it in front of Etho. 

The two fell upon a silence as Etho poured himself some green tea, the steam coming off it offers a calming effect. 

Etho takes a small sip, already feeling a bit better from his taxing fight earlier. 

“Y’know they’re sending pretty big names after you.” Etho’s words caught Doc’s attention. The older man looked up from his cup, eyes trained on Etho. “Stratos and Watcher.” 

“They still after me?”

“Apparently.”

Doc laughs—it’s cynical. His smile straightens into a thin line. Even after retirement, that sheriff was determined. Doc found it fruitless, a waste of time. Even in his hay day, Doc understood the gravity of his actions. Then , it would’ve made sense for law enforcement to still track him down. But now? To go after him now ? It made the man chuckle. 

“Are you positive? Your ‘sources’ tell you that?” Doc quirked an eyebrow, sipping his drink. 

“They’re reliable.” 

“Last I checked your ‘source’ is a nutcase.” 

Etho sneered at Doc’s words, shaking his head slowly from side to side. He draws in a quick breath, putting the cup to his lips and enjoying the hot tea. 

Doc did the same, keeping his gaze on Etho and his varying facial expressions. It was almost like watching an animal behind glass, worried about their outbursts but subconsciously knowing they couldn’t actually hurt you. Didn’t make it any less nerve-wracking.

“Anyway, I should go. I have business for tonight.” Etho swirls the tea in his cup. 

“Again?” Etho shrugged—Doc reiterated. “You’ve been going out a lot recently. I know you’re not always doing these big scale demolitions but…the police are no doubt onto you by now.” 

“Cub needs supply! Not my fault there’s a freaky amount of cannibals in this city.” Etho places the cup on the table, using his pinky to mitigate the sound.

“I think you should lay off for a bit. They haven’t connected E.CHO to these missing people, but that can only go on for so long.” Doc tilted his head, trying to reason with Etho. 

“And I’ll slip away like I usually do.” 

“Until you mess up.” 

“You say that like you didn’t train me not to mess up,” Etho laughed lightly. 

Doc lightly slams his cup on the table, eyebrows knit together and his face tight. He gives Etho a certain look—telling the younger to stand down. But Etho only rolled his eyes, a frown pulling at his lips. 

“Listen- I appreciate you taking me under your wing, but you’re not my dad, Doc.”

“Take you under my wing?” Doc laughs humorlessly. “I did a lot more than that. Or did you forget you-”

Etho tenses up. 

“Don’t. You don’t get to play that card.” 

“It should be the trump card! I’d think after saving your life I’d get just a little more respect!” Doc throws his hand in the air, frustrated. 

“I’m a grown man now, Doc.” 

“Yet you still act like a child. What exactly have these excursions done for you? Other than flaunt in your friend's face how powerful you are?” 

“He’s not my friend.” Etho’s grip on his cup tightens, knuckles blaring white. 

“I saw that interview he did. You’re toying with him.”

“It’s necessary.” At least Etho felt like it was. 

“It’s childish.” Etho stands up abruptly, pushing his chair back with his legs. He opens his mouth to say something, but can’t. “You call him your rival but he doesn’t even know the full truth, huh?”

Doc was right. As much as Etho hated to admit it. He didn’t tell Pause everything—but Etho thought he didn’t have to. Pause was smart, just maybe Etho overestimated the hero’s critical thinking skills. 

It was outlandish though, wasn’t it. No one in their right mind would come up with Etho’s situation. Hell—it took a mad doctor for it to work. 

“Go to your room.” 

“What?”

“Go and think about what you’ve done.” Despite the argument, Doc humored the ‘dad’ bit. Although in all honesty, Doc would be lying if he said he didn’t feel like a father figure to Etho. 

“ Seriously ?” Etho craned his neck forward, making sure he heard Doc correctly. 

“This is my house, and as long as you are in it, you will listen to me.”

Etho slammed his fist on the table, his cup of now cold tea spilling on the table. He walked off, up the staircase, and into the room they called his. 

Doc flinches when the sound of a door slamming rings out through the house. He brings a hand up to the bridge of his nose, pinching lightly. The man stands up and grabs some paper towels from the kitchen, using them to soak up the tea and then putting it in the trash. The cup in the sink—dishes already cleaned and put away. 

He stared at the lone cup in the sink. Back at the table. Doc grabbed his own cup of tea that he wasn’t really finished with yet—dumping the tea and setting the cup down next to the other. 

It wasn’t much. Doc wasn’t sure why it made him feel better. It’s not like any cups got lonely. 

Etho dragged a hand down his face, groaning. His gaze bounced between his bed, door, and window. There was a small part of him—his inner child, he reasoned—that told Etho to stay put and just go to bed or work on some of his tech. But it was small for a reason, Etho ignored it. He scowled, pulling mindlessly at his clothes. There were better, more efficient, things to do than take his anger out on the wall. 

He pulled his mask out of his pocket, making sure it didn’t get too damaged after being stuffed in. Etho secured it to his face. He picked up the bag full of his supplies from the ground, finally doing what he even came here for in the first place. 

Sure, maybe Doc was right in saying Etho was childish. Toying with Pause. But he just wanted something, some retribution. Maybe ordering a coffee in full villain attire in broad daylight wasn’t the correct way to go about it, but at least it put Etho on the hero’s radar. 

He sighed, shimmying his window open, hoping it wasn’t too loud as to alert Doc. Etho climbed out and dropped to the ground, landing with a reserved wince. 

Chapter Text

“Please, walk us through it quickly. We don’t have a lot of time for surprise meetings like this.”

Pause groaned, standing up from his chair and putting the palms of his hands on the large table. 

“E.CHO threatened an attack. I don’t know where, but he said he-”

“And you trust his word?” 

“Better safe than sorry, right?” 

Pause looked to Guude who stood on the opposite side of the room, signaling him for backup. Guude shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows. 

“You told me that my job is to focus on E.CHO. That’s what I’m doing.” 

The general flipped through the clipboard that was resting on the table, reading the papers—not even looking at Pause. 

“Exactly. It’s your job. The other heroes already have their assignments.” The general took another glance at the paper. “Our ratings have already been stagnant. If the media see us in disarray then the ratings will plummet.” 

“You need to spread resources out! We're the top hero foundation, and you tell me we can’t do that?” Pause balled his hands into fists, having half the mind to punch the man. 

“ We are the top hero foundation because of the management in charge keeping you in check. We find that having rivals to heroes makes the public go crazy, so this is your rival.” The general smiled at the idea. Pause sneered. 

Never before had he really taken into account the system that management at The Equilibrium Foundation had. He did as he was told and that was that. But now, seeing it so up close and personal—and under a lot of stress—made him see the flaws. 

“Take PearlescentMoon with you if you’re so worried, she’s your temporary partner.” 

“I don’t-“ Pause sat back down. “It won’t be enough. We need heroes looking.”

“We have our patrol heroes already on the lookout for criminals. If they see him, you will be notified.” 

They left it at that. Pause was sure even if he continued to fight it they still wouldn’t let up anyway. He and Guude exited the room with reluctance. Of course they still wanted to fight—at least Pause did. 

But they couldn’t. Management was management. Pause just wished they listened to him for once. 

“Pause.” Guude started, he took a packet of cigarettes out of his pockets and placed one between his lips. “Go home for now and rest up.” He lit it. 

“You know I won’t be able to rest tonight.” 

“Just go home, wait until you’re called in.” Guude gave Pause an apologetic look, silently saying that this is just what the industry was like. He turned around and started to walk off, leaving Pause in the empty hallway. 

He watched Guude leave the building, and once the man was fully out of sight Pause slumped down on a bench stationed against the wall. 

Pause groaned, pulling out his phone as he drags a hand down his face. His thumb passed through each app he opened mindlessly—really just looking for a task to do other than sit still and think. His foot thumped against the tile floor in small bursts of three. 

“PauseUnpause!” The new voice made him jump in surprise. Pause looked up from his phone to see another hero standing in front of him. “I have a rumor that will make you stop looking so blue!”

“Kaleidoscope.” The hero sat down next to Pause on the bench. “Is the rumor just a rumor? Or is it useful?” 

Kaleidoscope grinned, tilting his head to the side. His blonde hair fluffed around his goat horns. Pause had gotten used to the other hero’s goat appearance by now, but the wild colors on his costume were still a sight to see. 

“It’s about E.CHO!” Kaleidoscope spoke in a sing-song tone. He was capable—more than powerful. Pause figured the only reason Kaleidoscope wasn’t the top hero instead was because of his inconsistency—often going m.i.a for days on end without a word to anyone. The foundation liked consistency, a hero the public could depend on. 

Was that really Pause, though? 

“Alright, spill.” 

Kaleidoscope looked at the sky, seemingly in thought. 

“He’s going to be in the business district tonight. I don’t know where specifically but that should narrow it down, yeah?” Kaleidoscope stood up again, spinning around on the tip of his foot. Pause gave a small laugh. 

“Thanks. At least it’s something.” Pause also stood up. “How’d you get this information? Your power doesn’t work like this does it?” 

Kaleidoscope shook his head vigorously, his hair swaying with his movements. 

“Nah! I have friends down in crime analytics!” 

Pause smiled hesitantly and furrowed his eyebrows, confused. If that was the case they should’ve told him, not Kaleidoskope. Nonetheless, Pause thanked the other hero, setting off to search for E.CHO. 

If the other patrol heroes wouldn’t be directed to be more diligent, Pause had to do it himself. Even if it was going against direct orders from every higher up connected to this assignment. 

The business district was dead at this hour. All the 9-5 workers had gone home already—only lowly stragglers working overtime stayed behind. Pause wondered why E.CHO would choose this district instead of the residential one, or the shop district like last time. 

Not that Pause minded. The less people around means the less people hurt. Maybe that’s why E.CHO chose it? No. E.CHO has shown already that he’s no stranger to getting his hands dirty. 

Still, it made Pause wonder. He did his best to evade the patrolling heroes, GeminiTay and Hotguy were stationed nearby. A powerhouse duo that was no doubt put together to boost the “ratings”. GeminiTay and Hotguy’s active and passive powers didn’t really mesh well. Gem worked best with brawl type heroes, not long range. 

But the media ate it up. Hashtags and posts about their pairing were no less of constant. Pause had his hands in his pockets, resisting the urge to take out his phone. He needed to be on high alert—this was no time to get bored of the empty streets. 

His mind wandered to how Kaleidoscope knew the specifics. The hero had always been weird, a little cooky—a side effect of his active power—but if his power allowed him to see different realities, maybe he saw one where E.CHO was in the business district? 

It was the only rational thing Pause could come up with right now. 

Although the hero didn’t have much time to really think about it further, as he saw a light coming from a nearby parking garage. The light shifted from bright yellows to sparking reds. A quiet humming noise came from the area too—Pause would’ve missed it if it were day. Thanks to the quiet of the night, he was able to pick up on it. 

He rushed over to the concrete structure, thinking back to the warehouse from earlier. If E.CHO still had that power then Pause would have to rethink his strategy a bit. Pause snuck up the staircase, entering the third floor to see E.CHO hunched over. The insignia on the back of his jacket illuminated in the light. 

E.CHO had a small blowtorch—probably what was making the noise—and was using it to weld something together. 

“E.CHO.” Pause called out. Maybe he should’ve snuck up on the villain, but he wanted to give E.CHO the same moment of shock as he did Pause and Pearl earlier.  

E.CHO’s crouched frame stood up, hands limply raised in the air. It didn’t take long for the cover to falter, as E.CHO immediately dashed to the side to try and land a punch onto Pause. 

Pause jumped back, avoiding the attack. E.CHO tumbled forward, catching himself before he could crash on the floor. Pause grabbed E.CHO’s arm, but the villain removed his jacket, leaving Pause’s power unused. 

Only now, E.CHO had more skin exposed. 

Their dance of attacking and dodging continued for a few seconds, although it felt like hours to Pause. He had taken a step back, stepping on the loose redstone that E.CHO had been working on before Pause showed up. 

“Hey! I worked hard on that!” E.CHO stopped his movement for a bit to yell. But he quickly jumped into the air, in the motion to punch Pause. 

“You-” Pause quickly grabbed onto E.CHO’s shoulders, recoiling once contact was made. He stumbled back, careful not to lose concentration on E.CHO. 

And just like that, the villain has been frozen. 

E.CHO felt himself slow down—almost to a complete halt. His movements were too slow to do anything, moving sluggishly through the air. Pause took the chance to breathe, his own muscles relaxing some. 

“You’re done, villain.” He pulled out restraints, eyes still trained on E.CHO. “You forget that I’m the number one for a reason.” 

“You were so easy to defeat last time, coulda’ fooled me!” E.CHO seemed surprised he could still talk—body slowed down significantly at least till the base of his neck. “Well I’m not going anywhere-”

“Police are coming to arrest you.” 

“Yeah, but we got time to talk.” E.CHO talked like he was seeing an old friend, not like he was just captured in battle. “I have a few questions for you anyway.” 

“I have questions for you.” Pause took a step back, worry rising. But he couldn’t lose concentration. 

“Great! We can play 21 questions! Or, I’ll ask a question, you answer, then vice versa!” His tone remained upbeat—lighthearted. “Look at us, having fun again. Been a while since we played any games, huh?” 

Pause would be lying if he said he didn’t feel competitive, maybe the villain knew this and was exploiting it. Either way, Pause didn’t want to back down from the anti. 

“Fine. We each get ten questions. We have to answer truthfully. And we can reserve them for whenever.” Pause started to smile, eyes narrowing slightly. Should he really be gambling right now with a villain? 

“What? Don’t wanna blow through them all now?”

“I’d imagine there’d be some questions that need to be answered once the police get here. I’m saving mine for official interrogations.” 

“I love your confidence!” 

Pause pursed his lips together, eyes surveying the slowed villain. His gauntlets were still able to be used even while restrained, so the slo-mo should’ve taken care of that. Cuffs wouldn’t do much, the villain was already out of commission for now. He let out a shaky breath, considering his options. 

“Okay. I’ll ask first.” Pause listened out for police sirens, maintaining eye contact with E.CHO to avoid even the chance of losing his focus on the task at hand. Nothing but beeping cars and Pause’s own heartbeat in his ears could be heard. “It’s obvious your power is a mutative one, so what the hell is up with those gloves?” 

E.CHO’s eyes darted down to his hands that were agonizingly slow—still in the motion of throwing a punch. 

“If anyone ever told you there was no such thing as a stupid question, they were wrong,” E.CHO sighed. “I steal other people’s powers, it’s simple science. STEM was never your strong suit.” 

Pause could feel the grit radiating off E.CHO. He could see the villain clench his jaw, even through the mask. 

“Okay…my turn.” E.CHO swayed his head side to side. “How does it feel knowing there’s people out there you have not and can not save?” 

Pause’s smile disappeared, replaced with a wince. He let his shoulders slump, heartbeat racing. 

“It feels horrible. Every person I foolishly let die in front of me has haunted me.” E.CHO quirked an eyebrow, wondering when Pause had gotten so edgy. “I remember each and every one of them.” 

“Really? Then you must remember me too, right?”

Pause grit his teeth. 

“It’s my turn, not yours.” He stepped closer to E.CHO. “If I failed to save someone you loved so long ago, why did you choose to go down this path? I’d have been perfectly happy to pay reparations and any costs of therapy or medical bills. The villainy you do would only put more people in your same position.” 

“You’re a bad person masquerading around as a martyr. That’s the problem with you heroes. You look good for the media but I know that the second you’re out of earshot you’re just as bad as me.” Pause moved out of the way from E.CHO, his body following the same momentum as his attack. Even if slow, the impact of getting hit by E.CHO would break Pause’s focus. The chain reaction would resume E.CHO’s movement. And Pause didn’t feel like being tackled to the ground again tonight. 

“Answer the question.” 

E.CHO bit the inside of his cheek, eyes swirling with the growing anger. 

“I became a villain so I could kill all the fake heroes.”

“And how’s that going for you?”

E.CHO clicked his tongue, smiling with every click. 

“My turn, Sonny,” Pause masked his disgruntlement with the name. “Do you really not remember me?” E.CHO’s voice faltered. If Pause hadn’t kept his focus on the villain he wouldn’t have seen the split second change in his expression. Anger-loaded turned to dejection in an instant. It was small—barely noticeable—but still there. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t say I do. If all of this had been for my attention, you won. But if it was so I could remember you, it didn’t work.” E.CHO turned his head away from Pause. “I save more people than I can count. Fight more villains than I can, too. Lost sight of just as many civilians. You’ve made yourself memorable now, but not then.” 

The confession hit E.CHO like a truck—also the floor of the parking garage. He fell onto the ground, still in slow motion. If anything the lack of speed only made it hurt worse. Didn’t hurt any worse than the realization that Pause wasn’t just messing around, he really didn’t recognize E.CHO. 

“You remember Etho, though. Right?” 

Pause drew in a breath, stumbling backwards. E.CHO resumed his momentum, tumbling onto the ground with the same speed as his attack. Dust had flown up into the air, briefly blocking E.CHO from Pause’s line of sight. 

“You remember me now?” E.CHO coughed, pushing himself off the floor, shaking slightly from the sudden resume in speed. He stood up, holding onto the arm he had landed on, clenching it tightly. 

It took Pause a few seconds to process, the situation just starting to register. 

“You…” He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t want to believe it. “Don’t you say his fucking name,” Pause growled, pushing himself off the floor. 

“He died because of hero neglectfulness. Don’t you want retribution?” E.CHO directed his hand to his gauntlets, fiddling with the cuff around his wrist, selecting a new vial to inject. “ Revenge ?”

“You don’t know shit about what happened.” 

“I don’t?” The cuff emitted a small ding, Pause’s alertness spiked. 

“What happened was an accident. No one’s at fault.” Pause readied his fists for a fight. 

“Sure. But there was still time to save him.” E.CHO extended his arm out.

“It was…an accident,” Pause breathed out. Who was he trying to convince, himself or E.CHO?

“You don’t know anything. You couldn’t hear what those heroes said about him.” E.CHO held out a hand, not giving Pause any time to actually respond. “Really? You don’t know by now? I’ve dropped every possible hint I could’ve for you!” 

“Know what? That you’re a conniving and dangerous villain who I never should have trusted?” 

“No! You idiot!” E.CHO stomped on the ground, 

Pause hitched his breath, staring up at E.CHO with a horrified expression. 

“I’m Etho! God, you seriously needed me to hold your hand through this?” E.CHO—Etho—took a large step back away from Pause, kicking some debris from when he hit the ground earlier. 

“No, you’re not. He’s dead. I watched it with my own two eyes.” Pause grit his teeth, disgusted that E.CHO would stoop this low. 

“You’re clouded by your grief.” 

“No,” 

“That fall didn’t kill me. The heroes that showed up and deemed me too unworthy to live, killed me.”

“Stop it.”

“You didn’t hear how they talked about me like I wasn’t there. Like I was waste on the street.” Etho raised his fist, ready to attack. He swiped his hand downwards, striking it on the wall next to him. 

A loud explosion rang out, pushing both Pause and Etho to the side. Pause hit the opposite wall, thankfully not hitting the concrete hard enough to damage his spine. But before Pause could process, another explosion started. This time, directly next to Pause. His eyes trained on Etho—finally able to connect the dots.

“This is DocM's power.” Etho grabbed onto Pause’s collar and pushed him onto the ground, earning a soft grunt from the hero. 

“And I’ve had plenty of time to grow a tolerance for it,” Etho sneered, his mind clouded with dejection and rage. He lifted his hand up in the air again—Pause needed to make sure he didn’t strike anything—Pause kneed Etho in the stomach, kicking the villain off of him. The small impacts of Etho on the ground formed small sparks, not enough to trigger another explosion though. 

“I didn’t know!” Pause ran towards Etho, but Etho struck his exposed arm against his knee, causing another explosion to push Pause back onto the floor. “I didn’t know.” He watched as Etho approached again. Pause’s muscles ached, small burns littered his arms and back from the explosions, and the amount of dust wafting in the air from the fight made it difficult to breathe. 

“You’re a better fighter than this, Sonny.” 

I’m distracted .

Etho grabbed onto Pause’s wrists, subtly pulling the hero up in the air from the force. “I know you are!” He dropped Pause back to the ground, shaking his head from side to side. “You’re off your game.” Etho crouched down to get eye level with Pause. “ Do I make you nervous? ” 

In one swift movement, Pause reached his hand up and used it to cup over Etho’s face. Etho had been frozen. 

And this time, Pause wouldn’t waver. He let out a groan of frustration, standing up shakily. 

“You got him!” Pause didn’t tear his eyes away from Etho when he heard another hero’s voice echo in the parking garage. “Power-dampening cuffs,” She snapped her fingers to the police that were also filing onto the floor. 

They listened, coming up behind Etho and restraining him. Pause took the chance to look away and break his concentration. Etho looked up—confused. But it all clicked soon enough. 

“Gem.” Pause sighed in relief when the hero walked up to him, a small smile on his face. “Didn’t think anyone would show up until later.” 

Gem smiled back—toothy and bright. She had a gap between her two front teeth, and her hero costume wasn’t particularly flashy. But she was still a fan favorite. Gem’s power and personality being more than enough to get her through the ranks. 

“Kind of hard to ignore the sound of explosions this late at night. You should be lucky it was me who was closest, I think if it were any one else they’d have ripped you a new one for going in without backup.” Gem pat Pause on the shoulder. “You’re lucky I convinced Hotguy I could handle this myself, too.”

Pause was grateful that it was Gem that showed up, her passive power being a great boost of confidence right now. 

“It was me he wanted to see.” Pause glanced back to Etho, who was being led into a police car. “So it was me he saw.” 

“Still, that whole line wolf thing can only last you for so long.” Gem followed Pause’s gaze, eyeing up the villain. “Hey! We should team up more! I think the fans will love it!” 

“Yeah, we should,” Pause laughs, breaking his attention away from Etho and back to Gem. “Your involvement with the fans will never cease to amaze me.” 

“I like to keep them on their toes.” 

“We collected these for evidence.” One of the detectives there brought Etho’s gauntlets in a plastic bag up to the two heroes, placing the bag into Pause’s hands. “We can have a forensics team look into it-”

“Good idea. And after, if it’s not too much to ask. Can we have one of our own look over it?” Pause gave the bag back to the detective. “His name is Mumbo, works in our tech wing. He can dissect this and we can get more information on it.” Pause and Gem glance at each other, both having thought of the same thing. 

“Alright. When we’re finished I’ll bring it to you.” 

The detective walked away, leaving Gem and Pause in silence.

The weight of the situation hadn’t really dawned on Pause until later, when they had returned to the foundation. He and Gem finished up their paper reports for the takedown, as well as grabbing some vending machine dinner with some other heroes. 

Pause threw away his empty paper plate, staring mindlessly into the trash can. 

“Everything okay, there?” Stratos. Pause offered him a tired grin and a nod. 

“Just tired.” 

“You might wanna hit up some medic heroes for those burns there- I can give Lizzie a call if you want-” Stratos pulled out his phone, pointing to it with his finger. 

“No, it’ll be fine. I can patch myself up.” Pause was grateful he had at least one close friend in this place. The other heroes sort of kept to themself, truth be told, Pause didn’t know much about them despite being the marketed face of the company. So Stratos—Joel—was a great change of pace for Pause. At least he could count on one other hero in this place to understand him. 

Stratos nodded, eyes still unsure and worried, but he dropped it for now. With the mention of giving loved ones a call, Pause pulled out his phone. He went to his phone app, staring at Beef’s contact. Should he call him? It’s late, Beef should be asleep.

Pause swayed on his heels slightly, looking over the other heroes enjoying their late night dinner. He walked out of the room and into the hallway, it was empty, thankfully. And dark, the only light being from the moon and the one from the room he just left, it seeped out from under the door. He put his phone to his ear, hearing it ring a few times. 

“Hello?” Beef’s voice sounded tired. 

“Vinny! Hey.” Pause leaned against the wall, eyes staring out the window. “I hope I didn’t wake you up,” 

“No, it’s no problem.” They fell into a brief silence. Pause could hear shuffling from Beef’s end, maybe him throwing his covers off. “What's up?” 

“Oh! I don’t know, just wanted to check in.” Pause sniffed, now regretting his decision in calling Beef. He wanted to spill everything. Tell Beef about Etho’s unknown survival—about Etho’s recent villainy. Beef deserves to know just as much as Pause did. “I took down a villain tonight.” 

“Really? Any villain I heard of?”

Pause laughed humorlessly. Yeah, you know him a lot more than you might think . 

“E.CHO. Found him rigging up some explosives in a parking garage in the business district.” Pause could hear Beef let out a gasp. 

“No way! E.CHO? Dude, that- that’s great!” Beef didn’t sound tired anymore, his voice energetic. 

Pause smiled slightly at Beef’s inflection. Pause couldn’t hold it against Beef for being too cheerful about it, he didn’t know. No one except Pause knew. Yet he wondered how much information he could get away with sharing. 

“Yeah! That’s one bridge crossed!” Tell him. “Dude put up one hell of a fight.” Tell him. “It’s all okay now, though. He's in police custody.” 

“Good, good.” 

They fell upon another silence, Beef’s slow breathing being able to be picked up over the phone. It brought Pause some weird comfort in knowing that Beef was still breathing. 

He felt…off. Pause was happy about putting a villain away, sure. But Etho? Of course he felt stupid for trusting E.CHO. For starting to actually like E.CHO. Pause should have known that the villain would do…well—villainous things. Lying and murder apparently wasn’t too low for him. And the confession only added the strain, of course Etho would do this. Etho was heavily opinionated, stubborn like a mule, but quiet. Pause had no doubt in his mind that Etho let the resentment build up this much—was it still worth it to try and humanize him? 

Pause resented that thought. 

“I’ll let you go back to sleep. Sorry for calling so late, I just wanted to check in.” Pause smiled again, not like Beef could see it. 

“It’s okay. You get home safe, alright? We can talk in the morning.” 

They hung up. Pause pulled his phone away from his ear and checked his social media. An old personal account from forever ago—before he started hero training—that he never deactivated or logged out of. There were five posts, each one with a horribly out of trend filter on them. 

His eyes locked on one specific post. The photo was of him, Beef, and Etho. Maybe 13? 14? It was a selfie, Pause held the camera up with a wide grin on his face. Beef reciprocated it, his arm thrown around Etho’s neck to pull him down. 

Etho was smiling too. His dark brown hair a stark contrast to his snow white hair now. It was weird how normal Etho looked, soft avian wings on his back—never concealed by clothes. Pause’s mind went back to when Etho came to his house, the boney structured wings fresh in his memory. 

Pause had a few questions to ask Etho later. 

__

“Well?”

“He makes me nervous, but I make him impulsive.” Pause slumped into the chair, sighing. 

Guude sat on the opposite couch, legs crossed and his arms resting on the back of the sofa. The day after Pause captured E.CHO, he and Guude set up a small check-in meeting in Guude’s office. The design choices still making Pause question his manager’s integrity. 

“He’s captured now, so you don’t have to worry about that any longer.” Pause wished he could tell Guude. He needed to tell someone . Maybe a professional therapist. “The police have notified me that E.CHO said he’d only talk if you were the one asking the questions. They want you down at the holding center as soon as you can.” 

Pause pursed his lips together, glancing off to the side. Of course. Even when captured Etho would be like this.

“Sure, I’ll head down after my injury heals.” 

Chapter Text

“You gonna go?” Beef asked, throwing a carton of cream back into the fridge underneath the counters. “I think you should.”

Pause nodded slowly, considering it. It wasn’t often that this would happen—the slow days in the coffee shop where Beef would feel nice enough to let Pause stand behind the counter (only if he promised to help on the occasion). It was much easier than Beef completely stopping his work to talk. 

But then again maybe it’s Pause’s fault for bothering Beef at work. 

“I think I should too. I just…” He couldn’t say what he really wanted. It’s too soon. I don’t know if I’m mentally prepared to go in there. Beef didn’t know. Pause held off on telling the other about Etho’s identity, finding both that it was not his place to tell but also because how does one even approach that conversation? “I don’t know. I feel like I’m getting too involved. Should just let the police handle it.” 

“Sure, but this guy knew your name right? Maybe you should get involved?” Beef turned around to look at Pause, both his hands occupied with cups. 

Just like that the reminder of everything Etho had done settled into Pause’s chest. Yeah, he did know his name. Pause just didn’t want to say why. 

“Fine, I’ll go.” Pause shifted in his spot, hands firmly holding onto the counter he leaned on, “After though, we gotta talk.” The light red hue that engulfed Beef’s face wasn’t lost on Pause. Pause straightened his back to reiterate, noting the vague wording. “It’s not like…bad. I mean, depending on how you look at it. But, I promise it’ll be fine.” 

His usual charisma faltered. Being a hero, you needed to be good at comforting civilians. Pause’s words just made Beef seem more on edge. 

“Right. Well, you know where to find me!” Beef turned back around to continue his work, not wanting to spare Pause another glance. Last time they had to “talk” about something, Pause left with no further word for a good decade or so. 

Memories from back then flooded into Beef’s head. The insistent and naive thought that they’d be together forever. He didn’t know how to place it. Pause wouldn’t drop a bomb of some news on him again, right? 

They said their goodbyes, Pause deciding that he might as well head over sooner rather than later. Beef breathed a sigh of relief. 

____

“Jimmy.” Pause greeted the sheriff. Admittedly, this was his first time at the holding department. Pause’s job was to capture villains, not follow up over brunch with them later at jail. “You requested I be here?”Pause and the sheriff walked down the long corridor, fluorescent lights making the place a personified headache. 

“He’s not giving us concrete answers. Says he’d speak only to you.” 

“Really?” Pause knew that already. 

“Not really, really. He said he’d only speak to the…” Jimmy took a breath. “Top prick with the time powers in charge.” Pause stopped in his tracks slightly, taking a moment to think. “We tried telling him that you aren’t in charge here, but he insisted.” 

“Not what I meant, but thank you anyway.” Pause resumed his normal walking speed. 

Everything in the holding center seemed grey, the only reminder to Pause that colors existed being his hero attire. The bright colors made him stand out like a sore thumb against the monochrome building. 

“He can’t hurt you. He’s cuffed to the table and we have guards watching on cameras.” 

“I wasn’t worried.” 

“No?” Jimmy arched a brow as he opened the vault-like door. 

“I think he just wants to talk. Not hurt me.” Pause shrugged peering in at the crack in the door. 

“Sure.” Jimmy sounded unconvinced, but not much he could say in protest. 

Etho was sitting inside the bare room, looking up at the sound of the door opening. He made eye contact with Pause, face indifferent. 

“E.CHO.” Pause sat down in the metal chair. The room was cold, white tile walls and bright fluorescent lights illuminated the sterile-like room—much like the grey corridors outside. Pause was at least glad they had a theme. 

“Please, we’re passed that name, aren’t we?” Etho smiled, his hands tapping on the table quietly. 

“Etho,” Pause breathed out. 

The two stared at each other, Etho being more impatient than Pause was. The handcuffs around Etho’s wrists left a small red mark—the constant friction making them uncomfortable. Maybe it was intentional, Etho wouldn’t put it past the law enforcement. 

“What happened to you?” The question hung in the air for a moment. The two didn’t doubt that there were police still listening in on the other side of the mirror that was on the wall behind Pause. Etho made sure to make eye contact with it on occasion. 

“One hell of an icebreaker, huh,” Etho laughed. “And, I already told you what happened.” 

“No- I mean. How’d you get like this?” Pause pulled his phone out, searching through it for a bit before turning the screen towards Etho. 

Etho squinted his eyes inspecting the photo—an old photo of when they were younger. Etho winced at it, he had forgotten what he looked like before. 

“Your wings; they changed.” Pause pocketed his phone once again, eyebrows creased together in a mixture of concern and sadness. “You can’t use them anymore can you?” 

“I couldn’t use them even before,” Etho snorted, leaning back in his chair. Pause pursed his lips, chewing at his lower lip in thought. “Okay, fine.” Etho sighed, leaning forward back in his chair, resting his elbows on the table. “A villain found me, some crazy scientist-doctor guy-”

“DocM?” Etho nodded, with some hesitance. 

“Doc found me. He took me in and saved my life. I died when we got to his lab. Two hours after the heroes left me there.” 

“You got revived?” 

Etho laughed. 

“Crazy, right? Doc wanted to try out a new experiment on me after I passed. Apparently he deconstructed and then reconstructed every atom in my body. Reconstructed me back to the way I was.” Pause listened intently, face unreadable as Etho spoke. It sounded crazy—revival? Did this mean that Etho was a zombie? Pause drew in a quick breath, surveying Etho’s face. “Didn’t go completely to plan though. Still became a phantom and I still have the scars. But they look cool so I’m not really complaining. Also my hair changed. So it’s all white now…”

“That sure is one hell of an origin story.” Pause shrugged slightly: Etho chuckled at the callback to what he said before. 

“I just want you to understand. I’m not a merciless villain. I’m someone who hasn’t made the best decisions trying to take down the bad people.” 

“You’ve destroyed buildings. You’ve killed civilians.” 

“Don’t be so hypocritical. Heroes have been doing the same thing since humanity got these powers. The only difference here is I’m not trying to hide behind the facade that I’m still a good person.”

Pause didn’t want to see it. Since he joined the Equilibrium Foundation he’s seen other heroes get their mistakes and wrongdoings covered up. He figured that if it didn’t affect him, it wasn’t his problem. Ignorance is bliss, right? It wasn’t his business. Not to mention that management would no doubt deny any of the accusations Pause could bring up. 

“You’re a good person, Sonny.” Pause frowned at that. “You have to stop supporting the corrupt system.” 

“We help people.” 

“The hundreds of hero impacted civilian support groups would say otherwise.” 

Pause balled his hands up into fists, placing them in his lap for a fear that he might do something he’d regret. Etho could tell that he was getting under Pause’s skin—he reveled in it. 

Which, Pause hated to say, was a habit that he once adored in Etho. The back-and-forth banter was something that drew him to Etho. 

He wasn’t sure if that was still the case anymore. 

“Sure, we aren’t perfect. But…” He grit his teeth, thinking over what he wanted to say. “We help people.” 

“If I had a dime for every unethical thing that HotGuy has done, alone, I’d be rich enough to buy your whole little fucking foundation.” Etho shifted in his spot, eyes—eye— trained on Pause. 

He hadn’t noticed until now, just how banged up Etho looked. His prosthetic red eye was missing, the scrubs he wore were ripped in the chest area (Pause could only assume what happened there), and his hair was messy. Albeit it was smoothed over some, self-done, probably for this very meeting. 

“HotGuy is…” Pause started, not wanting to finish the sentence. He knew Etho was right. Etho nodded, triumphant smirk on his face. 

Pause bit his lip, eyes darting around. He had a million questions to ask, which would be the best? And every answer that Etho gave just sparked up a million more. 

“What about me?” Pause’s gaze landed on the camera in the corner of the room, having half the mind to ask for it to be turned off- no. He wasn’t that stupid. 

“What about you?”

“I try my hardest to stay good and ethical. Unless you know some things I don’t.” 

Etho took a second to think about it. 

“You may not do anything directly, based on your records and paperwork you’re like…Mother Teresa.” Etho kept his eyes on Pause—who met the stare occasionally, unable to hold it for more than a few seconds. “But it’s your ignorance and allowance that makes you just as bad. You excuse what other so-called heroes do just because you can’t come to terms with the fact you’re the face of a cruel company.” Pause stood up, hands now resting on the cold table top, looming above Etho. “And what a face.” 

The way Etho cooed the last part, reminiscent of before when they were younger, it made Pause shiver. He backed off, sitting back down in the chair with a quiet huff. 

“You’re so stupid,” Pause grumbled, tipping his shoe on the tile flooring. 

“Yeah, I am,” Etho’s laugh is calm—normal. Not a single hint of malice, sarcasm, or deceit behind it like there usually was. 

The two sat in silence, the low hum of the cameras and lights making it even more unbearable. Although it was interrupted by the door opening, Jimmy popping his head in. 

“We’re cutting this short.” His blue eyes landed on Pause. “They only allow certain time frames for meetings. Which I guess includes us police…” Jimmy sneered slightly towards the end. Apparently it was out of his hands—the facility’s house rules that were, objectively, a pain. 

“But I still have more questions to ask!” Pause moved to stand up, his words protesting but his actions complicit. 

Jimmy opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Etho. 

“I guess now you’re gonna have to come visit me more.” 

Both Jimmy and Pause glanced at Etho, who leaned back in his chair with a smug expression. 

“I guess so.” Pause responded with a curt nod. 

Jimmy placed a hand on Pause’s shoulder, silently telling the hero it was time to leave. He could sense the tension in the room, although unable to tell what it was charged with. Anger? Indifference? Competition? 

Pause sighed, following Jimmy out of the room. The vault door closed behind him—a guard locking it with a key. Jimmy offered Pause a look of concern, but it was met with a shrug. They made their way back down the hallway, the gradual change from artificial to natural lighting easing Pause’s headache. 

“So.” Jimmy stopped Pause when they exited the building. He placed his hands on his belt holster, swaying back and forth slightly. Pause couldn’t help but draw a comparison between Jimmy and an old-fashioned wild west sheriff he used to see in old movies. “I…kinda heard everything.” Pause’s heart skipped a beat, catching him off guard. “You two have history?” 

“That’d be an understatement.” Pause laughed humorlessly. “We- uh. Used to be close.” 

“Friends?” 

More. 

“Yeah.” 

 Pause didn’t know how to feel. How to process this. Revival was possible, the years of grieving he and Beef went through were apparently for nothing, and the same event that catalysts Etho into villainy was the same event that turned Pause to want to be a hero. 

Chapter Text

Beef settled into his seat—a small corner where the two gates met—beer bottle in hand. He eyed up his friends once he got comfortable, each with their own bottle or lukewarm beer stolen from their parents stash. 

“I think she likes you, man.” Etho laughed, pushing Pause on the shoulder. 

“No way.” 

“She totally does.” Beef piped up, his grip on the bottle tightening. 

“See!” Etho sat down as well, on a tombstone that had long since overgrown with vines and moss, the name etched away due to time. “You’ve never once got a girlfriend. Despite you being like…” Etho took a small swig of his drink. “Our year’s damn messiah.” 

“C’mon dude, stop that.” Pause laughed quietly, eyes darting between Etho and Beef. He sat on the grassy ground, back leaning against another tombstone lost to erosion from the elements. 

“No, he’s got a point, dude.” Beef offered a shrug to Pause. “Out of the three of us, you’re the most popular. It’s a wonder how you never got together with one of the girls that like you.” 

“It’s just, none of the people I like, like me back like that.” Pause turned his head away, presumably wanting to not look at his friends at the seemingly embarrassing words. 

Etho stifled a laugh, his white-brown ombré sparrow wings fluffing up. They were smaller than they should be—an already fairly mundane power rendered useless thanks to a mutation at birth. Etho had more than a right to be a little bit salty about it, the many times he complained about them late at night with Beef and Pause on the phone still fresh in Beef’s mind. 

“You’re whatever the opposite of a hopeless romantic is,” Beef raised his eyebrows at Pause, taking a small sip of his own beer. 

“Shut up.” 

The three talked about their lives, where they wanted to end up when they were old (In their late 20’s to their middle schooler minds). The conversation was different than their usual ones, future talk never actually coming up until recently. High school would be starting soon, and with that the realization set in that none of them knew anything about what they wanted. 

Etho was torn between being a hero and a model. Beef remarked that it would be hard for him to get into a hero and modeling agency with his poor attitude. Etho quipped back that he’d be eccentric enough to make it work. The other two couldn’t help but notice the falter in Etho’s arrogant smile, his attitude not being the thing he had to worry about.

Beef wanted to be an architect. Being powerless, he had seemingly endless options—no power there to hold him back from certain jobs. But he had a knack for design, so might as well make money off it. 

Pause wanted to be a teacher. Just the thought of passing on knowledge to the next generation was enough to convince him. Plus, he was a self-acclaimed history nerd with no where to dump all his knowledge onto. 

All of them agreed that maybe their aspirations were a little under-researched, not knowing what really went into it and whatever degrees they might need. But they held onto those goals anyway. 

“We should all get matching tattoos.” Beef mused, his eyebrows raising at his friends. 

“That’s a little cliche, isn’t it?” Pause clicked his tongue. 

“Who cares about cliche? Beefers, I think that’s a great idea.” Etho nodded enthusiastically. 

_________

“Truth or dare.” 

“Truth.” 

“Coward,” Beef joked, pushing Etho with the back of his hand.

“We’re playing truth or dare, how much more pathetic can we seriously get?” Etho pushed Beef back, the boy landing on the soft blankets with a quiet ‘oof’.

“You had your first kiss yet?” Pause asked, laughing slightly. The room went silent. Eyes landed on Etho, who pursed his lips together into a small smile. He sighed out, strained and hesitant. 

“That is.” Etho tilted his head to the side. “You guys are like my best friends, if I did I would’ve told you by now.” His face bore a red hue. 

“Well considering Beef had his and never told us until a few weeks after, I thought you were also a traitor.” Pause leaned forward, gesturing towards Beef. 

Beef sat up from his lying down position, shoving Pause in protest. They all laughed at Beef’s proneness to pushing people, a habit he seemed to develop once sophomore year started. 

Etho leaned back to get out of the crossfire, picking up his half-finished can of soda and taking a sip from it. It had started to go flat, but it didn’t bother Etho. 

“You’re such a weirdo!” Pause scoffed once Beef backed off, sitting back onto his throne of pillows and blankets (he’d stolen them from his friends once the clock hit midnight). A weirdo he was. 

The giggling settled to a slow halt, the silence eventually making its way back into the room. 

“Would you like one?” 

“One what?” Etho drew in a breath, glancing away as he smiled. 

“Your first kiss! You’re the only one who hasn’t done it yet.” 

Beef put his hands behind him, leaned back with his legs crossed. He surveyed his friends, both nervous—hell, Beef was equally so. The question was out of nowhere, a surprise to all three of them. The lack of impulse control was evident, clear from the look of immediate regret falling onto Pause’s face. 

The awaited response from Etho came, right before Beef decided to step in with a little quip about it. 

“I mean, sure. If you’re…being serious.” Etho sucked in a quick breath through his teeth, looking away to a corner of the room. Pause and Beef expected some snappy response, usual Etho fashion. But it never came. Instead, his eyes were trained on the floor. 

Albeit, the request was odd. Beef didn’t know what to do with himself. Watching felt weird. But also turning around felt equally as weird. What do people do when their friends kiss—as friends?—in front of them? 

“Guys…” Beef started, cracking a smile. Pause and Etho smiled at him, at least finding some humor in the situation. 

“What? Never kissed one of your best friends before?” Pause rolled his eyes. Deflecting. 

“No, can’t say that I have.” He threw an empty snack wrapper at Pause, but it fluttered onto the ground instead. 

The silence came back, Pause looking back to Etho, who stared back. 

“ Are you okay with it?” Pause reiterated, lowering his voice some. 

Etho scratched his upper lip with his index finger, seemingly trying to hide the soft smile on his face. 

“Yeah. I’m fine with it. Just checking off boxes, yeah?” 

Pause nodded slowly. Everything he did right now was slow. He leaned in, knees planted on the carpeted floor. Etho did too, not as much as Pause, just slightly hunching over to get to Pause’s level.

Their lips connected. Pause’s hands moved to rest on either side of Etho’s face, holding him gently. Etho leaned into it, awkward as any teenager would be. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he placed them onto Pause’s forearms, holding on for dear life. 

It was…bad. Not bad in the sense that Etho would rather die than do it again, but the lack of experience, Beef’s cheerful hollering and clapping, and the way it actually made his heart skip a beat, was bad . 

They pulled away, a lazy grin on Etho’s face. His eyebrows furrowed when Pause sat back in his seat, away from Etho. The smile remained, though. 

“Damn, guys.” Beef interjected. “As a witness, right hand on the bible, did the sparks fly?” He held a fake microphone in front of Etho, then directed it towards Pause, causing the two to laugh. 

Of course not. Of course they didn’t. Their reactions were normal considering what just happened. 

“Well? Were there?” Etho got his usual stance back, smug and sarcastic. But if the quick kiss didn’t send sparks through Pause’s head, then that did, an unfamiliar heat erupting in his face.

“No, stupid.” Pause scoffed, shaking his head for extra measure. 

_________

“The hell we doing again?” Pause asked, slugging the heavy backpack over his other shoulder, muscles starting to grow sore. 

“Yeah, couldn’t we take the elevator?” Beef added onto it. Following Etho up the stairs to the roof of a—notably tall—building. 

“This adds more suspense!” 

“This is making me want to die.” Pause whimpered at his sore legs, the monotonous motion of walking up stairs for who knows how many flights now was tiring. “It better be good.

“Oh, it will be.” Etho chuckled, going up the stairs backwards so he could look at his friends, before turning back around and walking up them normally. 

Pause and Beef were sent a single text from Etho. ‘’Meet me in front of Beef’s dad’s business building at 9’, and nothing else. It was cryptic, sure, but Beef and Pause were used to Etho and his usual late night excursions. Usually they didn’t include a heavy mystery bag and more than 10 flights of stairs, though. 

They got to the roof access door, miraculously unlocked (it usually was, Etho just watched a ton of lock-picking tutorials the day prior). Etho pushed the door open and walked out to the roof. The gravel flooring added onto it crunched with their footsteps. Pause dropped the bag onto the ground, sighing with relief at the absence of the weight. 

“I had to carry that… because ?” Pause walked over next to Etho, his hands crossed over his chest. 

“You got the most muscle out of all of us,” Etho joked, sending Pause a side eye and a smile.

Beef walked over to the edge, glancing down at the bottom. He’d never come to his dad’s workplace much, the tall building giving him some form of vertigo. But not now, apparently. Maybe it was his dad that evoked the nauseous feeling out of him. 

“Of course you’d notice that.” Pause looked away from Etho, walking away from his friend. 

Etho followed suit, opening the bag and pulling out its contents. Beef and Pause watched curiously. Inside was a pulled apart telescope, the fragments easily being slipped together with a few clicks. 

“How’d you get this?” Beef asked, crouching down next to Etho who sat on the floor assembling it. 

“Was in my attic. Family heirloom or something. I did some research online and apparently it’s used to see the sky but like…up close.” Etho waved his hands around.

The three took turns looking through the telescope, Etho growing despondent when they realized it was impossible to actually see anything through the light pollution. Etho let a few comments about hating the city slip out of his mouth, and a few more comments about moving to the countryside when he got older. 

Original plan to stargaze canceled, they found that just hanging out on the rooftop was fun. Pause laid on the floor, staring up at the empty sky, internally wondering what Etho liked so much about it. 

Beef sat next to Pause, messing around on his phone doing god knows what. And Etho danced—poorly—around on the roof while music played from his phone on speaker. 

The light rock song clashed with the light sound of the street below, but it didn’t hinder Etho’s ability to listen. Some band his parents liked…Paramore, passed onto him after they played it in the car a few too many times. 

“Some moves you got there, Etho!” Beef yelled, free hand cupped around his mouth for extra emphasis. 

“Yeah?” He yelled back, slightly out of breath. He stopped dancing, glancing between the floor and the edge of the roof. 

He stood up on the edge. The concrete raised off the floor, a makeshift ledge that was barely tall enough to lean over. The action grabbed the other’s attention, muscles going tense when they spotted where Etho was. 

“Dude, stop.” Beef warned, moving to stand up. 

“What? You worried about me?” Etho snickered, hopping onto his other foot. “That’s sweet of you.” 

“You’re so…” Pause fully stood up, marching over to Etho and grabbing onto his jacket sleeve and attempting to pull him away from the edge. “That’s how you become a statistic, you dummy.” Pause stepped back, hands on his hips in a scolding manner. 

Etho smiled in response, toothy and bright. He listened anyway, moving to step off the ledge. Beef and Pause shared a look of concern. 

“I’m durable,” he spoke nonchalantly. Like it was nothing. 

“I’m sure you are.” 

They didn’t know how it happened. Either he fell. Maybe fell purposely. Or lost his balance when he was standing on one leg to step off. 

Beef and Pause watched him stumble backwards, off the other end of the roof. It seemed like slow motion, the world stopping its rotations for a brief moment. 

“Shit, shit, shit!” Beef raced to the edge of the roof, hands grabbing onto the concrete ridge so he wouldn’t fall off too. 

The sight was grisly. He could make out the silhouette of Etho rapidly falling. His wings flapping, attempting to stop the fall. It didn’t work. They couldn’t support his weight, instead a few feathers fluttered off his wings and into the surrounding air from the force. 

Beef pulled away from the edge, falling backwards to sit on the ground just in time to hear a faint crack. It was accompanied by beeping of a few cars and yelling from people, saying things that Beef couldn’t decipher. Too high up. 

He glanced back at Pause, eyes blown wide open with terror. Pause held the same look—shell shocked and empty. 

“Sonny.” Beef tried, getting up and stumbling over to his friend. He grabbed Pause’s hand, dragging him to the staircase and running down it. The argument earlier about their distaste about climbing up it was overrun with the primal need to get down it. Would the elevator be too slow? Beef’s mind raced, his feet pounding against the stairs, echoing in the vertical chamber. 

Pause was silent in comparison to Beef’s frantic muttering. A mix of curse words and “call the police” slipping out.

They exited the building, spotting the noticeable crowd on the street. Beef was surprised to see two pros standing in the center of the crowd. From their facial expressions Beef could tell it wasn’t good. 

They—Beef—didn’t bother immersing himself with the crowd, finding that if he did look, he’d never forget it. Pause was still silent, like he froze himself with his own power. He only moved when Beef, and one of the pros at the scene, directed him someplace. 

Neither of them saw the aftermath. 

Sent home by police, unknowing which ambulance came to pick Etho up, or which hospital Etho was at. 

The next few days were hard. Scratch that, the next two years were hard. People coming up to them saying their condolences, knowing how close the boys were. Etho’s parents becoming shut-ins. The last two years of high school were the worst. Pause started putting his time to training, working out every day and changing all his classes to be hero course related. Despite his lackluster power, he was determined to make it work. 

Beef watched the change happen in real time, never leaving Pause’s side. They both needed the support, although it went unsaid. There was just the mutual agreement that they couldn’t separate now. Etho wouldn’t want that. They found comfort in each other, slowly growing closer than they were before. Would Etho still want this? It didn’t matter what Etho—or they—wanted, after Senior year. Pause left to go professionally train for a hero foundation, silently growing further away from Beef. 

He never even gave a proper “break-up”. He sat Beef down, mentioned how he needs to focus more on hero work and that they could meet up again “sometime”, then he left. That “sometime” never came.

_____

Pause pursed his lips together, hand wrapped around his neck. He was seated at Beef’s table in his apartment, finger tracing the grain lines of the wood. 

“So what’s up?” Beef sat down across from Pause, eyebrows knit together in concern and trepidation. 

“It’s about Etho.” 

Beef couldn’t help but feel a small slip of relief, but with it came another rise of nervousness he hated. It wasn't about Pause wanting to leave unexpectedly again, no it was about the very thing that they mentally vowed never to talk about. 

“ Okay ,” his voice was shaky, unsure on how to really proceed.

 “He’s alive.” Pause wondered how to phrase it. How would Beef react? How would Pause? Was telling Beef really a good idea? No, Beef deserved to know after everything he went through. “And he became a villain, E.CHO.” 

Chapter Text

Beef was still. His whole body frozen stiff. His hands cupped together tightly on the table. His eyes bore into Pause’s own as the hero spoke, explaining the situation. 

“And he never bothered reaching out?” Beef mumbled, eyebrows furrowing. 

“That’s what you’re focusing on?” Pause sighed, defeated. “No. Until that first fight he’s never made his existence known to me.” The two were quiet, not really talking above a whisper. “So?” Pause questioned, getting a sudden bout of nervousness. 

“I think he’s an ass.” Beef admitted, his tone flat. “But also,” it changed into something more sincere. “Can you take me to see him?” 

Pause debated over it, head swaying from side to side. On one hand, he wanted Beef to get the closure, but on the other. Pause couldn’t help the small inkling of possession that he had. This was between him and Etho, and would getting Beef involved really be the best idea? He understood that Beef needed closure, no doubt the same feelings that Pause was experiencing earlier were swirling around inside his friend’s brain. 

The lack of clarity, the idea that Etho had actually been alive for more than a decade without either of them knowing; the both of them making their amends with the fact that they watched their best friend die. It all was futile. The gross feelings of disgust and excitement that settled in their bodies at it. 

Etho was alive! 

Etho was alive.  

“Maybe another day?” Pause framed it more as a question, like he was asking Beef permission if they could hold it off for a bit. Pause was exhausted, and his brain was having a hard time keeping up with him. The lack of sleep he’d gotten recently was finally catching up with him, his eyelids heavy and his movements slowing down. 

“Sure,” Beef settled down, mumbling. He reached a hand over across the table, resting it on top of Pause’s. His thumb rubbed gently over Pause’s skin, a motion that would’ve been more comforting if not for the disappointed undertones.

Pause wanted to apologize—for everything. Hell, even things that weren’t his fault! ‘I’m sorry that I left you behind for so long’ ‘I’m sorry that you had to find out Etho was alive this way!’ ‘I’m sorry that your dad is a dick!’ ‘I’m sorry that I couldn’t do more for you.’ Or something like that. 

He frowned further when Beef pulled his hand away, eyes moving up to watch as Beef stood. 

“I’ll let you go home. You’re probably busy with…y’know.” Beef rubbed his tired eyes with the palms of his hands. 

“Right. I’ll get out of your hair.” The two walked to the front door, Beef opening it. The hinges creaked, almost louder than usual, begging for attention in need of some oil or something. 

Pause stepped out, the cold air of the hallway sending a chill down his spine. He wanted to stay inside Beef’s warm apartment. Even though he was sure the heater wasn’t on. It just felt warmer . 

“See you around?” Beef asked hopefully, the corners of his lips turned up into a small smile. “You don’t get to say no, by the way. Legally requiring you to drop by the shop more often.” Beef leaned against the doorframe.

“Do I get a best friend discount?” Pause out his hands into his pockets, nails digging into the palms of his hands from the tight fist he had. 

“You already don’t pay, what would I be discounting?” 

Pause laughed lightly, nodding his goodbyes as Beef closed the door. So now here he was. Standing outside of Beef’s apartment late at night, in this damn cold hallway.. A familiar sense of deja vu washes over him. Memories of when he had left Beef after the party in favor of going back to his own place. He drew in a breath, holding it as he lifted his hand and let it hover in the air. 

Beef opened the door again, eyebrows knit together. Pause lowered his hand, not even knowing when he had even started knocking. 

“Actually can I…stay for the night?” Pause slumps his shoulders, sheepishly smiling at Beef, still tired. 

Beef’s eyebrows raised, his lips pulling into a slight frown. 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll…you can borrow some of my clothes.” 

Pause was seated on the couch again, now waiting for Beef to return with some proper clothes that were not stained with blood. He tapped his hands on his knees, trying to keep his eyes open. Not his fault that the couch cushions were soft. 

“Here.” Beef placed some clothes into Pause’s lap. “You change in the bathroom, I’ll put some covers on the couch.” 

Pause nodded in response, slinking away to the bathroom as Beef adorned the couch with spare thin bed sheets and a blanket. He flicked the light on in the bathroom, finally getting the chance to really look at himself in the mirror. 

He hated it. 

Etho’s words stuck with him, finally resurfacing as he stared at his own reflection. Was he not a good person? Pause wanted to be. All his life, all he wanted to do was help and make people happy. He brought his free hand up to his face, just resting it on his cheek. Etho was right. Most heroes knew about those support groups, management bringing them up from time to time. Most heroes also didn’t care, save a hundred civilians and what’s one or two people going sour?

Pause unfolded the clothes with a huff and held them up to inspect them. They were nothing major, just a pair of black sweatpants and a plain white shirt. At this point though, Pause would take anything other than his own clothes right now. 

He put them on, after stripping himself of his hero attire. He hung his outfit up on the empty racks attached to the wall, not really sure what they were for but he assumed Beef wouldn’t mind. The shirt was nice, a soft material that felt expensive and the lingering smell that Pause had attached to Beef—pine and salt. 

When Pause left the bathroom he saw Beef laying down on the couch, his eyes closed like he was trying to sleep. 

“I’m not taking your bed.” Pause stated, walking over so he stood above Beef. Who opened one of his eyes to glance at Pause. 

“Exactly.” Beef closed his eyes again. “Lay down.” 

He outstretched his arms, a motion that Pause smiled at. Beef’s unwillingness to leave people alone in situations like this was something he had done since they were young. Like Beef naturally took on the role of the protector—funny, since Pause is the pro-hero here. 

“You’re cheesy, you know that?” Pause got onto the couch, securing himself on top of Beef, his arms wrapping around Beef’s abdomen. Beef himself laid both his hands on Pause’s back, patting at his spine gently. 

“Guilty.” Beef sighed, keeping his eyes closed and a relieved smile on his face. Pause could tell it was just for show, though. If Beef let his smile falter, then Pause would feel worse. 

But did knowing that it was fake make it futile? No, Pause appreciated the effort. He just knew Beef too well, tuned in to his mannerisms.

“You alright?” 

“You already know the answer to that,” Pause mumbled, closing his own eyes. They burned slightly, reminding him of how much he needed this rest. 

“Yeah,” Beef laughed softly. Pause could hear the rumble in his chest as he did so. 

He smiled as Beef started playing with the collar of his lent shirt, pulling at the fabric slightly. Pause couldn’t remember the last time he laid with someone like this, it being all too reminiscent of before Pause became an actual hero. Beef knew all the soft spots of Pause’s body that gave him comfort, the dip between both his shoulder blades being Beef’s choice for tonight. He ran his fingers up and down, hand into a small claw so his nails could offer some comfort. 

Pause turned his head, ear pressed against Beef’s chest, his heartbeat slow and steady. It inadvertently caused his own heart to settle to a normal pace, no longer racing out of his chest—something he had hoped Beef didn’t notice. If he did, Beef didn’t comment on it.

“Does Etho…” Beef started up again, his hands halting for just a moment. “Did he say anything about me?” Pause could feel Beef tense up. 

“ He said he missed you .” 

“Oh.” Beef sighed a breath of relief, physically relaxing. “Okay.” Pause could hear the smile in Beef’s voice. “Thank you.” 

Chapter Text

“You alright?” Beef whipped his head around, coming face to face with Bdubs. His eyes were blown wide open—when weren’t they—but the curiosity that swirled around in them was evident. “You’ve been out of it recently.” 

“I’m fine-” Bdubs held his hand up, telling Beef to shut it. 

“I’m offended that our friendship has gotten to the ‘I’m fine’ point.” Bdubs brought his hand back down, using it to whisk some caramel into a shot of espresso. “For the past three days you’ve been weird and…” He let out an unintelligible string of noises. “Just weird!” 

Beef smiled awkwardly, taking a step back from Bdubs. His eyes glossed over the crowd in the cafe—or lack thereof. There were maybe 5 customers inside right now, all minding their own business on laptops or reading books or the one guy in the corner booth playing a crossword puzzle on the weekend newspaper. 

“It’s just…Pause dropped some news to me and I’ve been processing.” Beef settled into a more comfortable position, not really doing anything at the moment. He finally looked back to Bdubs, who had finished making the drink and had started pouring some frothed milk into the small cup. 

“Good or bad news?” 

“I haven’t decided yet.” Beef sighed, shrugging his shoulders slightly. 

Bdubs left to call out the name of the customer, sliding the small cup of caffeine onto the counter and then returning to Beef’s side. The small sprout of green that emerged from Bdubs’s brown curls bobbed as he moved around. 

“I want to think it’s good. But at the same time, it’s hard to believe.” 

“And what is it exactly?” 

“Remember back when I mentioned how me and Pause used to be part of a trio?” Beef started, his muscles growing tense. Bdubs nodded in response. “Well, our third sort of…died.” A small white lilly bloomed on the back of Bdubs’ hand, the one he was using to gently rest on Beef’s shoulders—sympathetic. “But! Turns out he’s…not dead.” Beef shook his head side to side, not believing the words as he said them out loud for the first time since that night. 

“That’s…woah.” Bdubs nodded along, not really knowing how to react. How do you comfort someone through this? “Why do you have a habit of your friends leaving you without a word?” 

The small playful comment broke Beef out of his existentialism, eyes settling on Bdubs’ face. 

“Har, har.” 

“It’s pretty funny” 

“Will it still be funny if I fire you?” Beef pushed Bdubs softly, laughing. 

“So mean!” Bdubs frowned, feigning betrayal. 

Beef shook his head at Bdubs, laughing slightly. 

“Hey man, I’m gonna need you to lock up for today. Do you mind?” Beef grabbed a rag from the rack and used it to wipe down the counter. 

Bdubs responded that he didn’t mind, his reassuring smile coupled with a thumbs up. Beef wondered how he was blessed with such an amazing friend and colleague. Beef stepped away from the counter, removing his apron and passing by some of his other employees. He gathered his keys, wallet, and phone, putting them in his pocket so he could wait for Pause. 

Beef had managed to convince Pause to go today, sometime around 3pm so they could try and beat the big traffic rush. Pause had made some calls, setting up an appropriate time for visitation. 

Even with the knowledge that security had to be increased due to his arrival, Beef had little remorse. He had waited this long to see Etho—well, knowing that he saw Etho—and he would be damned if a little extra inconvenient security would stop him. 

Beef stood in front of his shop, mindlessly scrolling on his phone waiting for Pause. 

When he finally pulled up, Beef saw that Pause was wearing civilian clothes for once. It had been a long time since Beef saw Pause in anything but hero attire, say for that night three days ago. Beef knew for a fact Pause had multiples of his hero outfit in case it got dirty or torn up. 

“You ready?” Pause asked Beef. He slapped the roof of his car twice to get them motivated. Beef sat down in the passenger's seat, a bright smile on his face. He was trying to hide the nervousness that embedded itself into his thoughts. 

“Heck yeah, man!” 

Pulling into the parking lot of the facility made Beef more nervous, his smile turned into a small frown. The car stopped, the motor cutting out quietly. He and Pause exited the car, Beef swallowed a lump in his throat. 

“Beef.” Pause put his hand on Beef’s back, nervous. “Are you positive you want to do this?” His lips pursed together into a thin line. 

Beef’s face is stern, but still holds a certain worry. His eyebrows creased—Beef ever so familiar with uncertainty. He grapples with Pause’s words. Was he sure? Yes. He had to be. Beef needed his clarity. 

The two walked inside, the building still as cold and lifeless as last time he showed up. Dread settled in his stomach. Bringing a civilian into a high profile and high security holding facility like this was mostly unheard of—mostly because the type of people held here didn’t have family or friends who wanted to see them. Heroes and the police were most of the foot traffic here.

On the contrary to Pause, Beef couldn’t help but feel giddy. Despite Etho being a villain, much less the villain that had completely destroyed his shop months prior, it was still Etho. And he’d admitted that he missed Beef. He missed Beef just as much as Beef missed him—nights spent still dealing with what he saw. Calls to his therapist to get through it. At least Etho missed him after deceiving them. 

Getting signed in was the easy part, walking through the hallway and being drilled on the safety measures and what not to do was more of the hard part. Beef disliked the atmosphere here, he imagined what it was like for Etho. Beef knew Etho hated minimalist spaces, always filling his bedroom walls with whatever he could find lying around (most notably a few street signs Etho had screwed off their poles and bolted to his own wall). 

The door to the famed room. Beef and Pause stood in front of it, the head guard guiding them opening it up. A few hisses of what Beef assumed were the lock mechanisms prying open. 

“Etho?” Beef called out, his head cocked to the side. He peered inside, eyes landing on a familiar head of white hair. He and Pause went in close, the door closing behind them. Etho moved to look at them, eyes going wide at the sight of Beef and Pause.  “That’s- you.” Beef threw his head back, mouth twisted into a grimace. “Seriously? You-” Pause looked between Etho and Beef, a look of confusion washing over his features. Beef let out a noise of frustration, running a hand through his dark hair. “You are unbelievable.” 

“Beef?” Pause reaches a hand out, but is swatted away. 

“Wilson?” Beef walked over to the other side of the table, standing next to Etho who remained seated. The noticeable click of the cameras in the corners of the ceiling drew Pause’s attention; they had moved to better follow Beef’s movements. Beef put his hands up to cup over Etho’s eyes—he let him, defeated. “Oh my god.” 

“Beefers, listen.” Etho recoiled his head back, lifting his leg slightly, pushing Beef away with his foot.

He doesn’t fight back. Beef stumbles and catches himself before he can hit the wall. Pause takes a cautious step forward before his entire body stills. Beef needs this, he kept telling himself. Pause’s mind swirls with confusion. 

“Was it all a ruse?” 

“No. Never with you,” Etho moves to stand up, but is kept to the table by the handcuffs on his wrists. His back arches forward, metal chair pushed back with his calves. 

Pause takes the moment to look at the cameras, shaking his head, hoping whoever was behind it to see. He assumed some guards could be on their way, startled by the sight of Etho moving to stand up. He wouldn’t put it past them to think so little of a villain. Pause guessed he would do the same if he was an outsider looking in. 

“Listen, I didn’t know how to approach something like this-” Etho pleaded, glancing at Pause presumably for help, but his expression was unreadable. “You- you thought I was dead! I couldn’t just waltz back into your life!” 

“You did with him!” Beef pointed at Pause, who remained frozen in his place. Why couldn’t he move now? 

Part of being a hero was moving even when you don’t want to, your legs and body working when your mind rejects the notion. Being a hero doesn’t get rid of the natural fear that people have, Pause is familiar with said fear. It’s how he made his way to the top, never forgetting that his inability to move or do anything inadvertently caused this—caused E.CHO. 

So why is he just standing here? Doing nothing? He should intervene, reel the conversation back in. But he couldn’t. 

Etho too, remained silent. His head hung low in shame, trembling slightly. He took in a deep breath, looking up at Beef. His stare was reminiscent of the one from when they first met at the shop, glaring and harsh. The redstone eye was gone, making it significantly more pathetic than before, but it still held that same fire. 

“Screw this.” Beef stepped away from Etho, using his arm to harshly push him away. “I’m not as mad as I should be.” Beef opened the vault door, leaving it open as he walked off. His footsteps sounded off the hallway, getting more and more distant the further he went. 

Pause, finally, could move. He ran to Etho, eyebrows knit together in worry. 

“What was that all about? We just got here.” Pause fixed the chair, setting it up properly and giving Etho room to sit down on it. 

“I missed Beef and I saw him out of villain wear,” Etho shrugged, despondent. 

“What, like, a secret identity?” 

“Under the name Wilson.” 

“That’s a stupid name,” Pause mused. 

“I didn’t have time to come up with one! I went in there without a plan. I just…” Etho chewed his lip. “Missed him?” 

Pause didn’t know what to say. He glanced at the open door, guards now standing in the doorway looking in. Pause didn’t want to have this conversation with them in the room, so he pulled away—much to Etho’s dismay. 

He huffed quietly, walking over to the other side of the table, eyes trained on Etho now.

“I should go see how he’s doing.” 

“Yeah.” 

Pause offered Etho a lingering glance, but it wasn’t reciprocated. Etho kept his gaze on the floor next to him. Pause would’ve given anything just for Etho to look up at him as he left, but Etho didn’t. 

The door closed behind Pause, the guards locking it for him. He gave them a muffled “thanks” before making his way out of the now familiar hallway. That aspect didn’t sit right with him, how he didn’t even have to look at the signs on the wall to know which corridor to walk down to get to the exit. He’d only been here twice and already he knew it like the back of his hand. 

Beef stormed out of the building, leaving Pause to be the one to sign them out. Pause could see Beef standing outside in the cold waiting for Pause to finish the interaction. It was almost nostalgic, for the both of them, but mostly Beef. He compared it to the publicity party, where he waited outside in the cold for Pause to finish up his hero things. 

Only now it was worse, because Beef knew that Pause chose to stay with Etho instead of immediately following Beef out. It isn't that big a deal, but also wasn't it? 

“Are you ready to go?” Pause asked as he opened the door, apologetically looking at Beef, 

“Yeah, you can drop me off at the shop since it didn’t take as long as expected.” He shuffled his feet, moving towards the car and putting his hands on the door. 

“You sure? The drive is kinda-” Pause unlocked the car, watching as Beef immediately got in the passenger seat. 

“Pause it’s fine. Just drop me off.” 

Pause gave a quick nod of understanding before he turned on the ignition, pulling out of the small parking lot and out of the barriers. They had to check out at the main gate with some more guards, but that was a small blip in the process. 

The drive was quiet. Beef turned on the radio so they could have something to listen to aside from dead silence. Some top charted pop song was playing—not exactly either of their forte’s but at least it was something. Pause wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words. He’s been doing a lot of that recently. He had everything to say to people—mainly Etho and Beef—and formulating everything was getting harder and harder as time flew by. 

His power revolved around time, slowing it, specifically. So why could he never feel like he had enough of it?