Chapter Text
He and Mumbo were halfway back to their car when they heard the first scream, and it didn't take Grian long to figure out what was happening.
Monster attack.
Mumbo also seemed to realize that judging by how he froze, fear evident in his eyes as Grian glanced back at him. Sighing, Grian grabbed his friend's hand and tried to drag him faster toward where they had parked the car. Which, of course, was the direction the next scream sounded from. A shriek far more bone-chilling than the first they had heard.
His arm tugged backward as the taller man stopped dead in his tracks. "Grian? W-was that- did that sound like a phantom to you?"
Grian wanted to tell his friend he was wrong. Tell him that that shriek definitely didn't come from one of the more dangerous monsters that pop up around the city. That he could still easily take to the air and fly them both away if needed since the majority of the city's monsters lacked the wings necessary for flight. Both of them knew the truth, though; they had lived in the city long enough to be familiar with all the creatures that threatened it, including the stingray-shaped beasts that haunted the night skies. Grian began looking around to assess the situation, wings twitching as he tried to find their way out and the flying creatures began to appear around the skyline. That was when they heard one more shout coming from beyond the towering buildings ahead of them.
"hOtgUY!"
Grain felt himself groan and heard Mumbo gasp as one of the phantoms flying their way fell out of the sky, pierced by an arrow. The remaining monsters in the small swarm turned to where the shot came from.
Mumbo began shaking Grian, both hands clasped around his arm and fear momentarily forgotten "Ohmygoodness. It's him Grian!"
Grian rolled his eyes at his friend's excitement as he finally laid eyes on the man his best friend inexplicably fawned over. To be fair, half the city also seemed to be in love with him and Grian had zero clue why. The man flew around in an outfit that was not only way too tight but also showed far more skin than would ever be practical for a superhero. Surely armor would be better than spandex, right?
Grian glanced over to see Mumbo, jaw dropped and staring at the flying hero. "Come on Mumbo, Hotboy seems to have this handled. Let's just go home, please? I'm tired and have an early class tomorrow." Grian began to drag his friend once more towards the parking garage when he heard Mumbo make another noise of panic and glanced back at him in confusion before following his gaze back to the sky.
Where Hotguy was falling.
Grian watched for a moment, and then another, waiting for the hero to right himself and head back to finish off the singular phantom left. Except that didn't happen, and he was quickly getting much too close to the ground.
On an instinct he didn't know he had, Grian took off. His wings snapped wide before flapping back propelling him forward with as much speed as possible and hoping it was enough to make up for the awkward takeoff and his rustiness when it came to flying. Within seconds though, he reached the plummeting man. Arms encircled his chest in a grapple as he flapped his wings downward, trying not to let the hero's momentum drag them both lower than the dangerous proximity they already had to the pavement. Eyes quickly scanning, he saw a fire escape that would make a good landing spot as he heard the shrieking of the phantom that had been following the hero in his descent.
The hero was still limp in his arms as they touched down, but Grian couldn't get a good read on the man with the mask covering the majority of his face and orange-tinted sunglasses partially obscuring his eyes (impractical and ridiculous if you asked Grian) but he could at least see his chest rising and falling slightly which was a minor relief. Just because he didn't particularly like Hotguy, didn't mean he wanted anything bad to happen to him.
Hearing the shrieks become louder, he turned around to see the remaining phantom headed in their direction and tried not to panic. He tried shaking Hotguy by the shoulders hoping to wake him up with little success, trying to remember how long people typically pass out for when hit by a phantom's sleep toxins. Running out of time and failing not to panic as he keened anxiously, Grian's eyes finally landed on the bow still gripped loosely in the hero's hand and the quiver on his thigh.
Grain had technically shot a bow before. Sure it had been at least ten years and the last time was with a cheap and flimsy Halloween bow as a joke, but he hadn't been too bad a shot then. He had actually been very successful in hitting his friends with the plastic projectiles. He was also, currently, very low on options. "Void help me," he muttered as he pried the bow out of the unconscious man's hand and picked an arrow out of the quiver. Nocking the arrow and drawing back the bowstring, he tried to line up the shot on the rapidly approaching monster. Hotguy does this all the time, it can't possibly be that hard right?
Grian let the arrow fly, closing his eyes and hoping that if he missed, the phantom would at least kill him quickly, or at the very least knock him out first like he did Hotguy. Just as Grian began to try and make peace with his inevitable demise, the sound of shrieking abruptly cut off. He opened his eyes to find the arrow had by some miracle connected and the monster fell, crashing onto the fire escape below them. Grian felt a panicked, chittering laugh escape him as he let himself breathe again and the tension he barely knew was there was released from his body.
A groan behind him reminded Grian he was not alone, as he felt the other man shift and sit up. "What-" the man raised a hand to his head and Grian could barely see his eyes blinking off sleep behind his mask and glasses. Then those eyes focused on Grian, "Who are you-" The hero abruptly cut off his question as his eyes widened, reminding Grian exactly what he was wearing.
It had been drag night at the club he and Mumbo had decided to go to tonight, and Grian hardly needed an excuse to dress up. Tonight, however, Grian had put together what he thought had been a fantastic drag costume. To his credit, it had been. Grian had received many a compliment on his outfit throughout the night. But now here he was, dressed up in a slightly more feminine, and somehow even more revealing Hotguy costume. The colors had of course been altered to shades of pink and red in place of Hotguy's signature orange and blue to better match his wings. And right over his chest, split by the plunging v-cut of the neckline, was a pink and red sequined heart where instead of the striking font the hero's costume used to display his moniker, Grian had chosen his own and stitched it in his best curling script. 'Cuteguy'
Grian desperately hoped the pink-tinted heart glasses he had on were large enough to cover the rising flush on his face. Or maybe he could blame it on the exertion of saving the hero and himself. Yeah, let's go with that.
"Does that say Cube-guy?"
Grian decided that that was enough and he was now going to disappear forever actually. Dropping the bow onto the hero's lap, Grian stumbled through a quick "Phantoms are gone." before launching himself over the side of the fire escape railing, firmly ignoring the hero's call to wait.
Flying as fast as possible to get out of there, Grian pulled out his phone and told Mumbo he'd meet him at home. Shortly thereafter he began to hear the pings of his friend responding.
*Ping*
What just happened?
*Ping*
Did you just save Hotguy??
*Ping*
Are his arms as strong and sturdy as I've dreamed???
*Ping*
Ignore that last text.
*Ping*
Sorry.
*Ping*
You will be telling me EVERYTHING when we get home.
Grian groaned at his friend as he swiftly covered the distance back to their apartment, hoping maybe Mumbo would let him get away with pretending to be asleep instead of making him talk about it.
It was 10 AM and Grian had not yet had a cup of coffee. After sleeping in far too late this morning he barely made it in time to teach his first class of the day, meaning no caffeine kickstart to help him actually function. Of course, he preferred tea but on mornings like this, he needed the stronger beverage to truly feel human. Although feeling entirely human was very difficult today with the dull ache in his wings, which were currently pulled tightly against his back and hidden under his usual oversized red sweater. He knew he needed to go flying and stretch his wings more so they wouldn't be this sore after using them for what used to be considered a very normal amount of flight for him. But that was before he moved to the city and decided to keep that part of him a secret.
It wasn't that there was anything wrong with being an avian, there were plenty in this city, as well as dozens of other hybrids. Grian had just felt like not being quite as "othered" when he came here for school. It was just easier to hide it and be known as Grian, the architect, or architecture teacher as it ended up. Not Grian the avian with vibrant red, blue, and yellow banded wings.
Grian pushed open the door to the staff break room, hoping that someone had recently brewed a fresh pot of coffee. There were a few people already in the room chatting or grading papers. Grian recognized a few of the professors from other departments. The sculptures and visual arts professor Cleo was talking to one of the other art professors who was carrying a blue puppet on his arm and talking through it animatedly. Impulse, one of the technologies professors, was drinking his coffee and staring at a stack of papers, red pen twirling in his fingers. Lastly by the coffee pot was the chair of the theater department and acting professor Ren talking with the man that, quite annoyingly, made Grian's heart stutter.
Professor Scar Goodtimes, Grian's colleague in the architecture department and inconvenient crush since his last year of School when he had been the man's TA. Grian tried not to draw attention to himself as he crossed the room to the coffee maker, which blessedly seemed to have at least one more cup of recently brewed coffee. He set to making himself a mug, with what he knew Mumbo would tell him was far more sugar and cream than most people considered reasonable, and tuned his ears into the conversation of the two professors next to him.
"I'm telling you Ren, the way he swooped in and saved the day? As dramatic as the movies! a real hero!" ah, Hotguy. Grian frowned a bit at that. Of course Scar was also a fan of Hotguy, who in this city wasn't it seemed.
"Can't blame you for being attracted to him if I'm being honest, man. Were I not a happily committed I'd have to agree, the name is accurate." Ren nodded back at Scar.
"Hard not to find a man in spandex cute." Scar laughed as Grian's brow furrowed. Cute? Cute was not something he ever heard people refer to Hotguy as. He was always called hot, it was in his name! He couldn't help himself from chiming in.
"You think Hotguy's cute?"
Scar jumped slightly, seeming to just notice his presence before he and Ren began to laugh even more, turning to include Grian in their conversation.
"Not Hotguy mate." Ren shook his head still laughing.
"Cuteguy!" Scar beamed and Grian choked on his coffee.
"WHAT" was all he could get out between coughs as he tried to regain his composure.
No, no way. Hotguy was the only one who saw Cuteguy! There was no one else near that fire escape and I was flying fast! Too fast for anyone to have properly seen! Grian was replaying everything from the previous night in his brain, trying to see what he missed.
"Did you not hear about the attack downtown last night?" Scar tilted his head to the side as he still smiled at Grian. "It was everywhere this morning, look!" The man pulled out his phone and began to scroll, quickly finding what he was looking for, and showed Grian an article.
New sidekick for Super? Mysterious new hero saves Hotguy and the day
Below the headline is a shot, obviously taken from ground level, of Grian, dressed as Cuteguy taking off after returning Hotguy's bow. The quality of the photo shocked him, especially since he knew how fast he launched himself away from the awkward situation, a skill he had perfected back in middle school thank you very much. The majority of his outfit was visible though, including the stitched in 'Cuteguy'. Grian was not thrilled with this news at first, then as if hit with a train, he finally realized what Scar and Ren had been saying when he walked up.
"Wait, you said you think he's cute!" it came out as more of a squeak and Grian was mentally kicking himself over it but Scar just laughed once more.
"Don't tell me you don't! Come on Grian, who doesn't have a hero fantasy? Hmm? Wouldn't you want a man who could just scoop you up and hold you in their strong arms as they carry you to safety?" Scar sighed dreamily in a very exaggerated way, leaning against his cane before laughing again.
"Hotguy may or may not totally be on my hall pass list." Ren laughed, causing Scar to laugh harder.
"Hotguy is fine and all, but I'd let Cuteguy sweep me off my feet any day!" and Grian is very certain his heart may have stopped as those words left Scar's mouth. Then Grian came up with what was probably the worst idea he'd ever had.
Maybe I shouldn't burn that costume after all.