YOU'RE A WHAT

Somchai was walking home from his night classes on guard in case something happened. Gamorah has never been a safe place but since the second trio of vigilantes showed up Somchai felt safer. He still carried a pocket knife, everyone did unless they were crazy. He started to hear footsteps coming from behind him. Not a second later, Somchai was slammed into the building, an older man in his face.

“Throw your wallet on the ground and step away” The man spat out.

xxxx. Somchai didn’t even have his wallet on him. He tried to explain that he didn’t have any money on him but the guy didn’t believe him getting more pissed as Somchai took longer. In Somchai panic, he didn’t notice the shadow that passed behind the old man until he saw the guy on the ground and Aries standing over him. The blonde had seemed shocked when he noticed who the person he just saved was. 

The vigilante started to speak, his voice filtered sounding more robotic than human sounding. “What are you doing out here so late, good-looking?” He asked, crossing his arms. Aries attempted to lean on a wall behind him but it was too far back. Stumbling turned into floating as the vigilante tried to cover up his mistake. 

“ Well, I was going to go to my boyfriend's place to surprise him since my class just got out.” Somchai had said that so Aries would take a hint but might as go anyways. When Somchai looked at the guy he was talking to he seemed to have seen a slight bit of pink in the little spot between the goggles and face mask.

“Oh well, better let you go. You know I should just go finish patrolling, yeah Imma go do that. Have a great night, nice meeting you!” Aries rushed out not taking a breath between words. Not long after that Somchai could hear excited yells from above the rooftops. What a weird dude the thought went through Somchai mind as he walked away.

~...~

When Somchia got to Peter’s house he heard the sound of something crashing and a loud thud right as he rang the bell. When Peter opened the huge door his hair was wet like he had taken a shower, his shirt was buttoned incorrectly like he had rushed to put it on.

“Hey! Are you my homework? ‘Cause I’m going to slam you on my desk and do you all night long.” Peter said. All Somchai could do was blush trying to process what the younger boy had said. He was used to his boyfriend’s antics but sometimes it still caught him off guard.

“Peter! Why do you do this to me you xxxxxxx” Somchai said as he put his head in his hands.

“ You know I’m just going to pretend like I didn’t just hear my younger brother suggest such a thing” Bianca, Peter’s sister, says from behind the blonde. Trying to end the awkwardness from what Peter had said, Somchai started to laugh. It wasn’t long until all of them were laughing and the tension from earlier was gone.

“How ‘bout we go play some Minecraft and hang out?” Peter suggested 

“Oh yeah, I’ve got to tell you all about how I met Aries on my walk over here. He’s really weird by the way”

“ No! He’s definitely the best!”Peter laughed

~...~

The strange encounters with the red and black-clad vigilante kept happening. 

“Is your hand heavy? Want me to hold it for you?” Aries asked, shooting finger guns as he showed up next to Somchai.

“Dude, I've already told you that I had a boyfriend. Multiple times!” Somchai reminded

“Well yeah, but that’s no fun” The vigilante crossed his arms,” At least let me carry your books.”

This time when Aries came to mess with Somchai on his walk home it seemed like the boy's sleeve was ripped off and part of his arm covered in a bandage. 

“ What happened? Are you okay?” Somchai asked worriedly

“ Yeah I’m good, a simple purse snatcher got a lucky hit with a knife. No need to worry!” Aries said with a smile, “You must be a magnet ‘cause you sure are attracting me over here.”

“Am I just a test dummy for your horrible pickup lines? To practice for all the girls you pick up?” Somchai joked though both of them knew he wasn’t.

 “NO!” Aries replied a little too quickly, “I mean why would you think that? Do you think it would work?”

“No” Somchai deadpanned 

~..~

Somchai heard a knock on his dorm room door. Opening it he was greeted by his boyfriend leaning on the wall. Weirdly he had been wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt… in late spring. “You good dude? Why the long sleeves?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, I was just wearing it around the house since it’s pretty cold at home” Peter stumbled through the sentence like he was trying to come up with something on the spot. It was all wrong Peter always dressed to impress even when it was a casual hangout. While the two boys were watching “The Incredibles” Peter pulled up his sleeve revealing a bandage on his arm.

“Hey look, I won’t pry but Peter you know if something is wrong you can come to me and tell me. You know this right?” Somchai told his boyfriend

Pulling his sleeve down again Peter tried to reassure Somchai, “Don’t worry about it I’m okay just burnt my arm” It didn’t do as much to comfort as Peter had hoped.

~...~

At this point, Somechai was suspicious that Peter was hiding something from him. Normally this would be fine Somchai trusted the other, however, this time it seemed to be really affecting Peter. His worry about Peter prevented Somchai from focusing in class, the fact that Aries would probably show up after was making it even more difficult. When the professor announced that it was the end of class and to be safe getting home Somchai realized he hadn’t picked up any of the information.

As Somchai predicted it didn’t take long for Aries to show up. Landing in front of him the vigilante started with a dumb pickup line. “Are you on the FBI most wanted? Cause you’re at the top of my list.”

“xxxxxxxxx, man that was bad” Somchai laughed “There’s no way you thought that would work on any girl.”

“I thought that me being a vigilante would make it work a bit better since you know the ladies are all over it.”

“ Jesus, you truly are helpless” Somchai shook his head.

“Or maybe you’re just so attractive that I can’t think straight when I’m around you.” Aries laughed. “You get it can’t think straight ‘cause it’s gay”

~...~

“Love, if I flip this, what are the chances that I get head?” Peter asked, holding a coin and smirking into the soda he was drinking. It took Somchai an embarrassingly long amount of time to figure out what Peter really meant. 

“Peter what the xxxx! Did you really just ask me that through a xxxxxxx pickup line!”

“What! You’re just so attractive I can’t think straight when I talk to you, get it can’t think straight” Wait Somchai thought, hadn’t Aries said that to him last night? Come to think of it both Aries and Peter had the same arm wrapped and even back when Somchai first met the vigilante he seemed so excited when Somchai said he was going to surprise his boyfriend… xxxxxxxxx Peter is Aries! 

“Hey! You okay? You kinda zoned out.” Peter’s voice snapped Somchai out of his thoughts. Quickly pulling him into a hug Somchai spoke.

“Listen I know I probably sound crazy especially if I’m wrong but are you Aries?” He started, “Look I’m not mad if you are just please don’t lie to me”

Peter hesitated before answering, “ Yes, I’m Aries. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner I just didn’t want you getting hurt because you knew who I was.”

“Wait so if you’re Aries does that mean that Bianca is Hestia? And who’s Athena cause I mean you guys are siblings and unless you have had a secret brother this whole time then I’m at a loss” Somchai rambled, he’s always been a fan when it came superheroes real or fictional.

“Athena is Clay, Bianca’s best friend” Now he remembered the kid that walked around the halls with Bianca.

“Okay so I’m definitely going to freak out when this hits me later, but for now is that offer from earlier still open?”

 “Yes!” Peter exclaimed “I mean sure, I’m down”

~...~

Ever since Somchai had figured out the trio’s secret the other two seemed to open up a bit more and Peter was more relaxed. During patrols, Somchai would sit in the main room of the Basement. It was a way to fill time on the nights he didn’t have any classes. What he wasn’t prepared for was how much happened when the citizens of Gamorah were asleep.

Athena sat behind his computer doing something with the cameras, whatever it was Somchai couldn’t tell. 

“So what’s it like being behind the scenes?” Somchai asked, trying to lessen the awkwardness that was being created while the two sat in silence.

“It’s usually chaotic. There’s always something new happening while they try to help others.” Athena responded, “The moment they help someone, three more people need them in different parts of the city.”

 Oh, Somchai hadn’t realized just how bad it was, he knew he always had to carry a pocket knife or risk dealing with a pickpocket but he figured it was just small things like that. It felt different being able to see everything going on all at once, a burning building Aries had to fly into to get a family out of, Hestia trying to stop a new shipment of drugs from getting to some gang, some other group making a similar deal she seemed to ignore. At some point, Somchai heard Athena yelling over the comms for Aries to get out of there as fast as possible. All he could hope was that the city would calm down. But he knew it probably wouldn’t happen it wasn’t some Connie and Herman issue where they save the day and live happily ever after. When Hestia and Aries came back after the long night Somchai went and gave his boyfriend a tight hug.

“Woah what’d I do to deserve this” Peter asked 

“Just being you is enough” Was all Somchai started with “ Now go take a shower you smell like smoke and sweat.” Peter laughed at that and walked upstairs to do what he was told. From behind him, he heard Bianca and Clay having a whispered conversation. 

“This isn’t like Ezra. He seems different, Ezra was taught to be cautious and she was angry. Somchai already trusted us, Hell! He became friends with Aries before he knew it was his boyfriend” Somchai knew Ezra they used to be friends with Peter and him before they just randomly left without an explanation. Peter just told him that they wanted to travel the world and that they had been going on and off for a while. 

“Yeah, but remember what happened when she first left, we fell apart. What if he leaves? Peter wouldn’t be able to deal, he barely could when his friend left. We won’t be able to handle another betrayal.”

Somchai decided it was time to leave the conversation was too personal for someone who barely knew them at that point. When he got to Peter’s room and saw his boyfriend he said. “They say nothing lasts forever, so will you be my nothing?”