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Chapter Text

Forbidden Word

Voltar gritted his teeth under his helmet, unsure of how to do what he's about to do. Normally he's the absolute best at coming up with plans, but when it came to things like this it was the hardest thing to do. No evil mastermind wants to apologize, especially to their RIVAL of all people, but the last time the two had their rivalry spat Voltar went a little too far. Night and day he had nothing but an internal fight. On one hand, it was his rival. Of course he's supposed to be a little bit cruel, plus he's a villain for God's sakes (and the best villain there is!). Hell, they're BOTH villains and they know how the game works. Yet, on the other hand, part of him can tell by the look of Bodlington's face, the last time he saw it, that he went past a line. They've been friends for like...almost all of Voltar's childhood. He can read the undergarment-themed villain like if he was a picture book Red would read. It didn't sit right with him. That small twinge of somberness...those...seemingly watery eyes...it wasn't what Voltar wanted. He wanted his rival to be MAD at him, annoyed! Angry! Wanting to plot for revenge for next time they cross paths! But this time, that wasn't the case at all. Maybe that goodie-goodieness from Red Menace was starting to rub off on him...But he can yell at the redhead about it later.

Voltar stared at the piece of paper, thinking of what to write. He would ask Red Menace to do it for him, but Bodlington would instantly tell that Voltar had gotten a generic script. The fact that he's even DOING this would make Bodlington, or even anybody at all, suspicious. Voltar doesn't care for that right at the moment, if anything he just wants to get this Godforsaken weight off his back so he can watch some Dancing with the Pets of the Stars.

'Dear Dr. Bodlington von Pantaloon the Third, My old Rival from Supervillain Kiddie College:' was the only thing on the paper. He really had to psyche himself for this, anytime he ever has to write that Forbidden word he almost gets a cramp from it. He sighed, and like ripping a bandaid off a healed wound, he frantically scribbled on the paper like a child absent-mindedly doodling with a crayon. As he stopped, he looked at the paper again.

"...Works well for me!" Voltar grinned, voice chipper as can be. No need to say the Forbidden word when you can hide it all under pen ink. Sneaking out of his room using the Lair's emergency tube was a massive pain, everytime he leaves through there it's like getting pummeled by metal corridors, but it's the most he can do so that none of his minions can ever see what he was doing. Booking it straight to the sewers down below, he quickly folded up the paper as BEST as he could, but it was clearly sloppily done.

Voltar could hear his rapidfire footsteps echoing, water droplets made their occassional sound as the filthy used toilet water rushed next to him like some kind of foul-smelling river. He didn't really mind the scent, as he's smelled worse (in fact, he's probably made HIMSELF smell worse). If anything he's trying to find that oddly clean vault of a lair, decorated with Bodlington's calling card: A pair of underwear with crossed bones below it. As he took a turn he not only saw the very door he was looking for, but he saw his rival, checking his mailbox. He could feel his heart pacing heavily as not only was he not used to this much exhersion, but it also didn't help that ANYTIME he saw his rival his heart readied itself for a marathon. Bodlington looked up from the envelope full of bills, with eyes as wide as his own head looking like he was about to drop dead. Admittedly, it's not ususal seeing your rival running head on twords you, but before he could do anything, Voltar stopped a few feet away to take a few huge exhausted breaths. Each heaving pant was echoed further thanks to how wide open the sewers were, and after a while Bodlington's eyelids lowered halfway, his eyebrows furrowed, with tapping from his slippered foot.

"What do you want Voltar? I don't have all day." Bodlington asked, clearly annoyed by how long it's taking for him to get this over with.

"I...have...something...to say...to you..." Voltar's panting started to get more quieter and quicker as his body properly rested itself. Bodlington leaned slightly, only raising his eyebrow.

"What is it then? You want to rub your latest victory all over my face? Hm?" His German accent added on to his sarcasm.

"No!" Voltar looked up as he shouted, an accusing finger pointing at Bodlington with an annoyed expression quite clear on his extremely expressive helmet. Bodlington's eyes widened again, but rather in shock instead of fear.

"I have something better!" Voltar smirked. He pulled out his sloppily folded script, only to now realize that maybe just scribbing incoherently wasn't that good of an idea to begin with. Maybe he actually should've had Red ghostwrite it for him...Anyhow, with a huge inhaled breath, Voltar began.

"Dr. Bodlington von Pantaloon the Third, My old Rival from Supervillain Kiddie College. I'm s-ACKH!" Voltar choked on himself, nearly regurgitating from the first sylable of it. "S-aAHHGH!" Voltar felt his vocal chords twisting and contorting in pain, as his rival still kept his expression.

"I-I....Ugh." Voltar gave up, only for an idea to pop in his head. The latest movie that his League watched had a scene that involved the main...eugh..."hero" apologize to his love interest because of some dumb misunderstanding plot point. Maybe if he tried to re-inact that quote AS that character, for just a minute, it'll help him out? After sighing, Voltar cleared his throat.

"Bodlington...I know that I've hurted you last time we saw each other. I know nothing that I can say will change what happened in the past, but I'm hoping that you'll f-AAACGH" Darn it. He forgot his second forbidden word was in there. "Ugh...'Fork-Give' me."

"Voltar...I can't believe this." Bodlington slightly shook his head. "You are...apologizing...for 'hurting' me but NOT for the thing that made us rivals in the first place?" His eyebrow raised, arms dramatically outspread still holding the bills in his hand. Voltar would state that stealing credit from a prank on Mrs. Johnson wasn't even rivalry origin worthy to begin with, but at the time he was too worried with LOSING the rivalry.

"Look Bodlington! I-I wanted you to be annoyed!! Angry, even!! Not SAD!" He hopelessy yelled. "How can I keep my Evil Mastermind skills sharp when all the other LOSERLY villains of this town can't even come CLOSE to MY level!" Voltar held up a great, and powerful pose. After a second, Voltar slumped, his attenae lowered. "You're the only villain that's actually ON my level..." Voltar somberly sighed.

A minute of silence passed between the two as Ralph the monkey walked up to his master, who now stared almost blankly at Voltar in complete shock. At first the simian assumed the worst, but the look on Voltar's helmet proved otherwise. Bodlington darted his eyes at Ralph and handed the bills twords him.

"Ralph, put the bills on my desk. Me and Voltar...need some time to ourselves." He commanded the chimp. With a quick and unassuming 'rodger that!' pose, he went back into the quite pristine looking lair. As Ralph left the scene, Bodlington walked up to Voltar, effortlessly proping his head up with a yellow gloved hand. Him and Voltar looked into each others eyes. Bodlington couldn't help enjoy the sight of seeing those big ol' golden eyes whenever the two were outside of their rivalry gig.

"My old friend...Of course I forgive you." He paused for a second. "Well, not ENTIRELY since you stole my detention, but you get what I mean." Voltar internally groaned in annoyance, but felt somewhat relieved. "I'm just suprised you even bothered to do this in the first place. I wonder why..." Bodlington lightly toyed with Voltar's attenae, each flick making a 'poink'-like sound as it flickered back and forth for a bit. "Did the Great and Powerful Voltar grow a soft spot for me?" Defensive, Voltar leaned slightly out of Bodlington's hand.

"No! I just...I..." Voltar couldn't find any words to defend himself. Bodlington laughed, his hand to the side of his face. "Awww, Volty." Before Voltar could reprimand him for calling him Volty, Bodlington immediately hugged Voltar. With a bit of personal resistance, Voltar gave in and hugged back but even tighter.

"What kind of movie were you quoting?" Bodlington whispered into where Voltar's ear would be.

"The Amazingly Rad Lovelife of Dan. It was Red's turn to pick for Movie Night...You know how he is." Voltar quietly responded.

"I see." Bodlington slightly grimmaced out of a nonexistant pain, he can't imagine having a minion like Red. As the two left each other's embrace, Bodlington left, walking back to his lair only to turn back to Voltar. "We'll meet again, Voltar. I WILL prove myself to be the superior villan soon enough!" Bodlington proudly posed himself, pointing at Voltar with a look that meant revenge. "I mean, unless you want to stop by again, that'd be nice." His whole attitide changed instantaneously as he said the last part, rubbing the back of his head and looking to the side. Voltar laughed.

"Sure, Buddy." Bodlington grinned wide, and after a quick wave goodbye, the vault-like lair door shutted almost instantly, leaving Voltar alone. Giddy, he scattered off to the nearest sewer ladder and returned to his lair as fast as he can.

As Voltar ran to the front of the lair, he saw Red trying to fix up the lawn. "RED!!" He shouted, rather irritated. "MORNING VOLTAR!!" Red gleefully shouted back, giving his usual big jolly wave as he went back to working on the lawn. Or whatever's left of it. Voltar pounced on Red Menace, gripping on his green uniform like his life depended on it.

"WHAT ARE you DOING?"

"I'm cleaning up the lawn! I figured we can use a change of scenery for a while!" Red grinned, not even affected by the yelling of his boss.

"The ONLY change of scenery the yard needs is-"

"Voltar, are you trying to be a living stinkbomb again?" Out came Frogg, with what appeared to be a lemonade drink in his claws, coming close enough between the two out of curiosity. "You smell like a sewer." He looked grossed out yet unimpressed, as he then sat on the plastic outdoor reclining chair, sunglasses with a tanning mirror to the side.

"Yes." Voltar answered proudly, without any hesitation. He dropped down from his grip on Red, almost forgetting what he was scolding Red for. "If anyone needs me, I'll be taking a relaxing bubble bath!" He pointed to the sky, full of pride and deciding to let Red loose on his trying attempts at bringing the lawn back to life, as it's probably beyond saving at this point. Not to mention that he'd already forgotten about his Dancing with the Pets of the Stars marathon he has planning on having this afternoon.

In Bodlington's lair, he sat back in his desk chair. He almost didn't even want to do his bills, even if those last few moments were pleasant, they were also really weird. He wondered off in his mind...What kind of motivations would someone like Voltar have for APOLOGIZING? For as long as he knew him, he would NEVER do something like that. Maybe he WAS getting a soft spot for him...Maybe his old friend might actually come back around to being his friend again? Who knows what goes on in Voltar's head. Knowing Voltar, he shouldn't get his hopes up anytime soon.

"Hmm...Maybe next time I suffer defeat, I'll pull the biggest puppy face I can..." Bodlington laughed before seeing the envelope on his desk.

"Oh right. Bills." He groaned.

Chapter Text

Diet Soda

It was like a routine between the two villains. A few days after every rivalry spat they meet in secret. Whatever their secret meetings were about, no one knows. Nor cares, really. 

The two were in Bodlington's lair this time, laughing it up just like how they did back then. They were in the living room, sitting on the couch catching up on each others' buisness, with maybe an occassional tease every once in a while. Not like either of them minded, the two have (or at least, they like to think they have) thick skin when it comes to joking prods. 

As they were chatting, something about how Bodlington managed replace some toilet papers with high-grade sandpaper, Voltar's stomach growled.

"You hungry?" Bodlington asked the obvious.

"Yeah. I forgot to get myself something to eat before I got here..." Voltar admitted, sorta wishing he waited to visit until AFTER lunch, and not right away. 

"Hm. Let me see if I have anything..." Bodlignton hopped down from the couch, and causually walked into his rather refined kitchen. Voltar leaned his head a bit to see, but Bodlington basically vanished into the other room. Voltar decided to just look around for a moment. As much as he didn't mind the extreme cleanliness of it all (he knew Pantaloon well enough to know that he can be a teeny bit of a cleanfreak at times), part of him still vastly prefered the look of his own lair. Maybe it could be because he was used to seeing the cracked drywall and oil-marked walls, not that Voltar ever really cared for looks whenever it came to housing. If it can cover his head, and the rent is cheap, he'll allow it. Bodlington walked out of the kitchen, looking a bit flustered. 

"Well. It seems I forgot to to get some groceries, so I asked Ralph to get some on his way back...But that'll take a while." He slightly sneered, as he was well aware of how much of a pain it is to get any chores done when you live underground.

"We could always order takeout from somewhere." Voltar blankly suggested, holding up a partial shrug.

"NO!" Bodlington became slightly defensive. "I can't allow anybody to witness us NOT being rivals!"

"You let Ralph in the same room as us sometimes." Voltar rolled his eyes, voice a bit flat. Yeah, he would like it if their meetings were secret, but it's not like they have to CONSTANTLY fight all the time in order to be seen as rivals. Glory Guy and Skullossus are considered foes, but no one really bats an eye when they're being buds to each other (much to Voltar's dismay). So why wouldn't it be the same for them?

"Well, he's different!" Bodlington sighed, his head posed down, closing his eyes and yellow gloved hand holding the bridge of his nose. "Fine. Where should we order from?" He reluctantly asked. Admittedly, Bodlington was starting to get hungry too.

"How about Pronto Pizza? I'm sure it'd take longer than 10 minutes for the pizza to get here..." Voltar manaically grinned, "Which also means we can get it for free..." Voltar purposefully dragged the 'free' out as he looked to see if his fellow evil mastermind was interested. 

"Sounds enticing, but they don't have any tuna toppings..." Voltar wasn't surprised, as he remembered Bodlington detailing his love for tuna pizza back when he was in his home country. Besides, there's worser toppings out there...

"You could just order some anchovy pizza instead." 

"Hmm...Alright. I'll go call them." Bodlington grabbed his flip phone and dialed the number. As it rang, a familiar voice can only VAUGELY be heard from the other side, saying the corporate slogan before asking Pantaloon for his order. 

"I would like a extra large pizza with half anchovies and..." Bodlington cups the phone in a vain attempt at not letting the phone guy hear him, "You want anything?"

"Eh. Pepperoni is alright with me." 

"and half pepperoni pizza with a large diet soda." A second passes. "Yes, that will be all." As Bodlington hung up the phone, he walked up twords the couch and sat next to Voltar.

"You know, one time I did manage to get free pizza from there." Voltar stated, reminicing. 

"You did?"

"Technically speaking it was a victory, but Doomageddon had to go and eat it all." Voltar could almost snarl, the vitreol in his voice was thick. "And the New Guy stole a tip!"

"You should really train that wicked beast."

"Buddy, I would LOVE too, but Doomageddon only seems to listen to Red Menace." He huffed. "Besides, it gets tiring constantly using reverse psychology."

"Voltar, how do you not get exhausted from having to deal with all of that?" Bodlington asked, almost confused. Even though he had Ralph, he always considered himself a one-man villain, as he found that other people just slow him down. Or in Voltar's case, they steal your rightful place in detention, but besides that, the idea of constantly working with people who are lesser than sounds like a chore.

"Eh. I've known them for basically their entire lives at this point. They may fall short at times, but I wouldn't be the glorious villain I am without them." 

"I'd argue luck also seems to help you more often than not." Bodlington had a small but noticable hint of annoyance in his thickly German accented voice. Whenever the two were trying to best each other in terms of villainy, Voltar ALWAYS seems to win just from pure dumb luck on his end. He would figure it's from his lucky...eugh, ONLY red underwear, but even when he had those on, if it wasn't for Ralph being slingshotted right twords his face, he could've easily thrown Voltar in the underwear pit. So Bodlington is now pretty sure he's just naturally stupidly lucky.

"Anything it takes to be the best!" Voltar slightly jeered, with a smirk as wide as can be. Bodlington rolled his eyes in response. Before more could be added to the converstation, a loud metallic knock comes from the door. Bodlington hopped down the couch, knowing well that it could be the pizza guy. Voltar almost got giddy since he was basically starving at this point, and before he knew it Buddy plopped the pizza and soda on the table. 

"What a small world it is...Who would thought that my informant guy would turn out to be a pizza delivery guy..." Bodlington amusedly snarked, hopping back up on the couch, opening the pizza to reveal the half anchovy, half pepperoni pizza. "Sounded like the phone guy too."

"Huh...I knew he looked familiar." Voltar vaguely remembered the informant guy. "He also looked like the guy who was the ticket-taker, usher, projectionist, AND the manager of the movie theather..."

"W-What? Good lord, what CAN'T the guy do?" Bodlington had already taken a few bites from a slice. Voltar practically inhaled his slice, which amused Bodlington but as he idly looked down on the table again he sees not only the cold, giant liter of branded diet soda, but that there's only one straw.

"Oh no."

"What's wrong?" Voltar could barely form coherent words as he chowed down on what's left of the pizza crust, mouth completely full.

"ONE STRAW?" Bodlington paniced, realizing that maybe he should've specified that there should be two straws here. Not to mention he doesn't have any straws in the lair, he never had a need for them...until now.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Voltar waved an unbothered hand, with a slight smile as he twisted the soda cap open. The carbon hissed as the fizz within rised up to the top, fortunately not overflowing out of the large plastic bottle the sugary carbonated water was contained in. Voltar poked the straw in then took a giant sip.

"Geesh, Voltar. When are you NOT a mess?" Bodlington sarcastically chided. 

"Never!" He laughed, gluttonously chowing down on another slice. Bodlington sighed, deciding to take a sip from the straw as well. Luckily it wasn't as bad as he thought it was, although the diet soda tasted a bit crappy. He slowly finished his slice while Voltar ate his third one, who fortunately also seemed to be slowing down a bit. As Voltar took another big sip, a thought formed in Bodlington's mind. It was a familiar thought, but it always bugged him in that the answer was clear and obvious, but it still popped up anyways. 

"Hey Volts. I've been wondering...Do you...have any feelings for me?"

"What do you mean by that?" Voltar asked, clearly confused.

"Like, romantic feelings. Or at least, vague resembalances to romantic feelings."

Voltar went wide eyed, he nearly choked on his pizza but luckily the diet soda helped with that. Stammering, he tried to come up with a response. To him, love is disgusting, gross, way too sugary and goodie-goodie for him. Yet, he can't describe his feelings for his old friend-now-rival very well without having to constantly put himself in an uphill battle.

"Well...I don't know about that, really." Voltar tried to come up with something. "I mean. I like our rivalry. I think you're a pretty decent mastermind, better than most of the other villains, BUT I'M SUPERIOR!...But...I don't know." Bodlington rolled his eyes at his response, but he knew well enough that getting an actual answer from him would be extremely difficult. Eating the rest of his pizza slice, the Doctor took a sip.

"What do you think?" Voltar asked, with a curious tone to it. Bodlington thought about it for a moment.

"Well. I also like our rivalry. And our odd little friendship, I guess you could say. Yet everytime we meet I can't help but think you have...ulterior motives."

"As in?..." Voltar gave a questioning look. Of course he has ulterior motives! ALL villains have ulterior motives, darn it. Especially when hanging out with their rival.

Bodlington squinted, giving a most mischievious grin. "You like me, don't you?"

"NO! NO I Don't! I mean..." Voltar adamantly rebuked, trying to come up with a response. 

"You like me but but you're too cowardly to admit, aren't you?"

"IT'S EVIL TO BE COWARDLY! AND I AM THE GREATEST EVIL THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN, BODLINGTON!" Voltar triumphantly posed, standing on the couch now. As he maniacally laughed, he stopped, fear-struck.

"I just admitted it, didn't I?"

"Mmhmm." Bodlington slyly nodded, his cheeky grin still on his face. He decidedly closed the lid of the pizza box since Voltar was basically finished with his half without even knowing it. Voltar however was somberly sipping the soda.

"You know, Voltar, I have taken a bit of a liking to you too." Bodlington said softly. Voltar looked up at him with an indescribable look, eyes huge as can be mixed with a look of slight disbelief. Bodlington laughed as he came close to the crimson-wearing villain, nuzzling his helmet against the other's. Voltar laughed as well, immediately wrapping his arms around the other, nuzzling back harder. The two held each other for a few minutes, revelling in each other's newfound villainous affection.

"W-Wait, would that mean our rivalry is over?" Voltar questioned worryingly, moving his head slightly to look at Bodlington.

"No." The underwear-themed villain answered blankly. Normally Voltar would be annoyed at this answer, but he instead sighed in relief, thankful that he doesn't have to explain to his minions why he's dating his own rival. The two settled in each other's arms, almost feeling a sense of peace...

For once.

Chapter Text

Flaw Finder

Voltar's private bathroom was surpisingly spacey and clean in comparison to the rest of his lair. Of course, it was ment for Voltar's pet iguana Baroness, which Bodlington had the extreme misfortune of accidentally angering one time, but luckily Voltar was able to calm her down. Despite that, the two occassionally use it whenever Bodlington was the one who showed up to Voltar's lair. Other than the obvious reason of not wanting the other League members finding Bodlington then having to explain everything to them, it was also because it was the only place that had privacy that was close to Voltar's bedroom. 

The two had seen each other helmetless countless times back in Supervillain Kiddie College. Bodlington was probably the only person who has seen what's under Voltar's Evil Helmet of Evil (as well as his Backup Paperbag Cover), and Voltar the only person to see Bodlington without his partially-covering Underwear Helmet. 

So when a barefaced Voltar went into his private bathroom only to see a helmless Bodlington, it wasn't suprising at all. In fact, to the two, it was freeing in a very chaste yet very intimate way.

Bodlington was standing on the stool to look in the mirror, deeply analyzing his face, looking for something in particular. He had short but somewhat controlled brown hair, the wafts of which were a bit messy due to "helmet hair", as he calls it. Thanks to the lighting in the bathroom, his grey tired eyelids were even more prominent. One would look at him and think that he just woke up from a seven day nap, or even stood up for a week, but nope. He was just naturally like that. His face was suprisingly immaculate for a supervillain like him. When Voltar entered the room, Bodlington only gave him a short yet simple wave and continued seemingly peering into his own soul, searching through every bit of his face with his hands.

Voltar shutted the door. "Hey Buds. Whatcha doin?" He playfully asked, going up to the closed porcelain throne. Sitting on top of it, he placed his precious helmet on his lap, grabbing a bottle of helmet polish and a rough microfiber towelette. Bodlington sighed.

"I'm checking to see if I have any blemishes that need to be removed." He was strict and as formal as can be. 

"Seriously?" Voltar flatly yet incredulously responded, squirting a bit of the polish on the towlette before working it on the dullened surface of the helmet. "You look fine, it's not that big of a deal." 

"Yes it is. I need to look as best as I can incase my plans get me on the news...Or better yet, a statue..." Bodlington maliciously grinned as he imagined sculptors having to carve a giant, comemmerative statue in his un-honor...However the grin quickly faded as he looked at Voltar, now back to being serious. "At least you can get away with having an off day."

"Oh come on, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm always the hottest villain in the room!" Voltar grinned out of pure narcisstic glee. Bodlington rolled his eyes. "I don't think I've ever seen you have that kind of 'off day'." Voltar added, less out of jest and more a genuine sentiment.

"That's because I like to stop them before they start." He huffed. "I like being one step ahead."

"As I'm well aware at this point." Voltar chided, remembering all their rivalry spats and how Bodlington always manages to nearly best him. Keyword of course being nearly. Bodlington only responded with a small chuckle before returning back to checking for any flaws. Voltar polished a good chunk of his helmet, making it almost look as good as new, but during it an idea formed in his mind which gave him a mischievious grin. If Bodlington wasn't in listening distance he would be cackling at it. Temporarily putting his helmet aside, Voltar readjusted himself.

"Hey Buds, if you want I can give you a second opinion. I'm always the best at finding zits!" Voltar offered with seemingly full-hearted glee.

"Really?" Bodlington questioned, doubt extremely strong in his voice. 

"Really Really." Voltar hopped down from the toilet then climbed up the same stool that Bodlington was using. Bodlington then proceeded to face Voltar fully, but as he did Voltar gently cupped his face with his maroon gloved hand. Bodlington nearly leaned away from it, eyes slightly opening further, taken aback by the oddly soft gesture, but after a second he practically leaned deep into it. 

Voltar looked throughout Bodlington's entire face, stern as can be. Voltar was almost a direct opposite to Bodlington when it came appearence: messy blond hair that never had any attempt to be orderly, eye bags on top of eye bags, lips thin with long yet crooked teeth. It also helped that Voltar was only part human, having pointed ears, sickly pale skin and those same black selecras with glowing, sun-like pupils. It was all a very rare sight to behold, and a sight that Bodlington admittedly loved...Even if it's not the prettiest. Just the fact he's the only person who knows any of this excited him. Despite his leathery gloved hand being it's only barrier, his touch was warm yet somewhat comforting. Before Bodlington could say something, Voltar's eyes widened, looking directly at his lips, pupils shrinked until they were like stars in an empty space. He gasped in horror.

"What's wrong?" Bodlington was on edge, eyes also widening out of fear.

"There's something on your face!" Voltar yelped.

"Is there?!" Bodlington's voice raised slightly, panic was clear as day.

"YES! Here, let me help!" and before Bodlington could respond, he was pulled into a kiss. Voltar closed his eyes shut as he kissed, his somewhat thick eyebrows furrowed deeply, with cheeks only slightly turning a shade of red. His lips were chapped, although Bodlington's on the other hand were soft as can be. Bodlington just had a blank expression, his face probably even more redder than Voltar's entire outfit. As Voltar released himself from the kiss he had the biggest cocky grin on his face, leaning his elbow against the sink, eyes only half open and eyebrows raised as can be. 

"It was me." Voltar manaically laughed, trying his best not to laugh himself off the stool. As he looked up he sees Bodlington still as stone can be, so much happening within that he's stunned.

"I wonder if this was what you ment when you said you wanted to look good for a statue..." Voltar giggled. "I call this one, 'Caught by Surprise'...My second favorite one, next to my own of course~" Voltar warmly teased, wrapping his arms around Bodlington behind him, resting his head on his shoulder.

"Voltar..."

"Yeah Buds?"

"If you're gonna pull something like that could you AT LEAST put some lip balm on beforehand!" Bodlington yelled out of annoyance, face still a bit cherry red as he pulled out a lip balm from his coat, then putted it back where it was. Voltar couldn't help but giggle some more, but as he did Bodlington sneaked a quick kiss back. It didn't effect Voltar too much other than make his face more redder. Letting go of Bodlington, Voltar hopped down from the stool and returned back to sitting on the closed toilet, picking up his helmet and squirting another dab of polishing ointment on the towelette. Bodlington pulled out his comb and brushed his slightly messy brown hair back into it's rightful place before grabbing his helmet, seating it back on his head, fitting him like a glove would. Voltar contemplated asking him why he even bothers combing it when the helmet is just gonna make his hair messy again, but decided to just shrug it off instead. 

"So. Should we start our next rival battle in Mall-O-Mart again?" Bodlington asked, straightening his cool grey coat as he looked to the side in interest.

"Hmm...Maybe the park instead?" Voltar suggested. "I think the Mall-O-Mart setting is starting to feel a little...Overdone." He complained slightly, hands motioning in a fashion that one would describe as "meh". 

"The park it is, then." Bodlington agreed, nodding as he looked at the mirror one last time. 

As Voltar finished polishing one last bit of his helmet, he almost immediately putted it back on out of habit. 

Their secret meetings always ended the same: A quick kiss or a small helmet nudge, and a hasty retreat. 

Or in Bodlington's case, using your slipper blasters to get back to the lair. Either way.

Chapter Text

Movie Night

As the two saw each other more and more, the more comfortable they became with more intimate physical contact with each other. In fact, they thrived off it, whether it be a kiss, a longing hug, hand gently cupping the other's face, no matter what it felt like a source of comfort that's hard to describe. Even if they did nothing of interest, just the act of being there was just enough. 

Usually when there was nothing of interest, they would watch a movie using a streaming service, or whenever a movie happened to be on the TV. Of course there was the occassional stinker of a movie that happens to sneak past and the evil masterminds would mercilessly riff on them, deriving more enjoyment from the laughs and jokes than the actual movie itself. Sometimes, within the stinkers lie some diamonds in the rough, but this time it was a movie that is worse than bad: Boring.

The two were on Bodlington's couch, watching a very snooty movie that was extremely insisting upon itself, it was so dull that the first few minutes felt like the movie was dragging itself over. It felt like they were five hours in when they were actually only half an hour into the movie.

"Do you think there's another movie we could watch instead?" Bodlington sighed, his recently formed eyebags are now more visible. 

"All the other movies that are on right now are the ones we've already watched." Voltar regretfully reminded Bodlington. "All except for this one, that is."

"Oh for evil's sakes!" Bodlington angrily jumped up on the couch on his feet, practically stomping on it. Voltar on the other hand would've been mad as well, but if anything he's just too bored to get mad. "I pulled an all-nighter for THIS??"

"You know..." Voltar thought, forming a finger tent as he slightly chuckled, "Maybe if we mute it, we could adlib a more interesting movie..."

"Eugh. No, I'm too tired for that." Bodlington huffed, possibly getting more cranky from the lack of sleep. The room was dark, save for the bright light from the TV and the light from Voltar's pupils of course, but that's not saying much. The constant darkness from it all was practically mocking him.

"Hm. Why not you go nap and I'll wake you when something interesting finally starts happening?" Voltar suggested.

"Good idea." Bodlington flatly agreed as he slowly rested his head on Voltar's lap. At first Voltar was a bit surprised that Bodlington was resting on his lap of all places, but figured that maybe he doesn't sleep well upright. Shifting himself, he curled on his side, slightly changing each little part of his position until it felt just right. Voltar, watching Bodlington rather than the actual movie, looked at him with only a mildly raised eyebrow, admittedly enjoying the newfound warmth on his lap while the movie still droned on. As Bodlington sighed one final time, he closed his eyes as he slowly drifted to sleep. 

After a while, Voltar was still horrifically bored out of his mind and regretted not bringing up just turning the movie off and cuddling as an alternative, but somehow honestly this also seemed to work just fine for him. Throughout this, his elbow rested on the arm of the couch, his hand propping his head as his other arm was lightly resting on Bodlington's helmed head, who now at this point was in a relatively deep sleep. His breaths were silent yet even, slow yet steady. Voltar occassionally looked at the resting villain every once in a while, partially out of habit as well as a somewhat minimal distraction. Deciding to have a slight change of pace, he gently tucked his fingertips into the edges of Bodlington's helmet, testing if he would wake up from it. So far, his rest was unbothered. He slowly took the grey helmet off Bodlington, inch by inch, until it was completely off. Yet, there wasn't much of a peep from him. 

Putting the helmet to the side away from it's resting owner, Voltar lightly smirked as he can now see the mostly orderly brown hair that hid underneath it. His maroon gloved fingers gently tossled with the brunet's locks, twirling it around absentmindedly as a distraction while the movie still continued on. If anything he was only half paying attention to it at this point as he found it much more entertaining to completely mess with his fellow mastermind's hair, completely unaware in his state of peaceful rest. As a thought crossed his mind, his eyes widened in glee, grinning as he slowly decended his head. Looking around to see if Ralph was there, he sees that not only was the underwear-wearing primate not around, but that the windows were obstructed by cinderblock. Voltar thought about asking Bodlington why he even has windows when all there is to see out of them is brickwall, but he decided to ask about it next time they meet at his lair again. Taking off his own helmet, he quickly gave Bodlington's cheeks a quick kiss before putting it back on. Bodlington's face only partially became flushed as he softly muttered something that could vaguely count as words, curling his body tighter into himself, his yellow gloved hands softly curled, just enough that Voltar could probably put his hand in between one of them. For risk of it probably actually waking Bodlington up and potentially getting caught, Voltar decided not to. He laid back, continually petting his semi-rival's hair, looking at the film in blank disinterest for a while.

Then a text message bleep nearly made him jump out of seat. It fortunately wan't loud enough to wake up Bodlington, but that was only a slight relief. Annoyed, Voltar flipped open his phone to see that Red Menace had texted him. Voltar took a quick look at the movie then shrugged, 'Nothing interesting's gonna happen anyway, might as well' he thought.

Underneath the contact name Voltar gave him ("puny henchman"), the message was clearly typed by him, considering the punctuation. Of course, while still tostling with Bodlington's hair, he responded to it.

 Red Menace: Hey Boss! I was wondering something for a while.

          Voltar: wondering about what? actually trying to be evil for once?

 Red Menace: No, not that, but about something else.

Voltar rolled his eyes. Of course Red would never try to be evil, it's practically imbued deep within him to be a goodie-goodie. He petted Bodlington's head, occassionally twirling the hair with his finger. 

    V: hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

        just tell me what it is already

 RM: You ever think Doomageddon has names for us?

Voltar's eyebrow piqued, almost leaning into the screen just to see if he's seeing the message right. Sitting back straight, he thought about the question in his mind.

    V: what makes you ask this?

 RM: Ya know when you're trying to go to bed but you get those questions stuck in your head so you can't sleep? 

        Something like that, basically.

        I tried to ask Frogg but he told me to go to bed.

   V: well, I for one think doomageddon would consider me his rightful master 

       and his ONLY master

       no one else

       you guys, i don't know 

       nor do i care

 RM: Yeah, but I mean, what does he name us? I like to think he names me Reddie!

    V: I DON'T KNOW

        ask doomageddon himself i'm sure he's probably still up rn or something

Voltar could feel his nerves get a wee bit tested. If anything he wished Red took Frogg's advice and went to bed, since he only ever seems to ask those sorts of questions when he's really tired. Leaving the messaging app, he putted his phone aside as he grinned at how much he's messed up Bodlington's hair. He could almost cackle like a hyhena, but immediately afterwards the text message alert rang again. Almost groaning he checked again to see that Red is still messaging him.

 RM: What movie are you watching?

   V: something about sick roses or something

 RM: The Sick and Dying Roses of Emily Leanne? I love that movie!

    V: WHAT

        WHY

        i can barely get into half an hour into the movie

        how long is it anyways?

 RM: 8 hours I believe? It's a very long one, but it gets really good at the end!

    V: Red Menace.

        If I wanted to waste almost EIGHT WHOLE HOURS of my life only for the very END to be really good I would've went to the DMV

        besides everyone knows that anything that takes hours to get good is nothing more than a poor attempt at keeping interest

        not to mention the most WEAKEST form of villainy

 RM: But Voltar! It's extremely symbolic! The entire movie forshadows everything that's about to go down at the end!

    V: isn't that what movies should do in the first place?

 RM: Yeah, but this is different! Even the background has meaning!

    V: how would you know?

 RM: I watched it with Doktor Frogg the other night.

    V: yea? well what did he say about it

  RM: He thought it was alright, but I think you should give it a chance! It's not too late!!

    V: ugh fine. i'll try to watch it

        keyword being TRY

       and if i still hate it i'm going to rub it in your face

       got that?

 RM: Alright, you won't regret it!

        Good Night! ❤️️

Voltar sighed as he left the messaging app, closing his phone and putting it away. 'Pffft. Eight hours. It'd probably make me sleep for eight hours, that's for sure.'  Voltar snarked in his mind, finally deciding to leave Bodlington's hair alone now, just resting his arm on top of his head. As he watched the movie he laid back, relaxing his body further into the couch almost as if he's back in his own lair. Resting his head on his hand again, he only vaguely followed what was currently going on in the movie, knowing full well it probably won't mean anything if at all. He lightly scoffed, rolling his eyes with a smirk from the stupidity of it. His face (or at least, his helmet's expression) quickly became neutral as he looked at the movie. 'I guess I can just turn my brain off for a while...' Voltar boredly thought.

Bodlington's eyelids fluttered slowly, opening only to see that he was still on his fellow villain's lap, and that he woke up during the midpoint of the movie. With a soft but annoyed sigh, he could also feel that not only his helmet was gone but that Voltar was resting his arm on his head too. He quickly grabbed his discarded helmet and putted it back on, pushing his fellow villain's arm off of him, but oddly enough Voltar didn't even seem to notice that he's awake. 'Maybe he's asleep?' He wondered, and after repositioning his head he sees a rather worrying sight.

It was of Voltar (obviously) with eyes wider than...well, wider than that helmet could nearly handle. His gold, glowing eyes were like mere pinpricks in a dark space, his face was contorted into what one describe as hypnotized. 

"Uh..." Bodlington tried to start a sentence as he waved his yellow gloved hand in front of his fellow mastermind's face, trying to break Voltar's apparent trance, only for Voltar to quickly snatch his hand, only pulling it in to give it a quick kiss on the back of Bodlington's hand and directing both of theirs down to Bodlington's chest. Surprised, Bodlington's face lightly flushed from the deadpan yet sudden act of affection. 'Alright then.' He thought, still startled by Voltar. He huffed, partially out of annoyance as he decided to just watch the movie with him anyways. Turning back to his original position he was in when he slept with both of their hands clasped tightly, still on his chest. 

Ralph yawned as he woke up from his slumber only to notice that his owner wasn't in his bedroom. At first the red underwear-wearing chimpanzee was wide eyed, scrambling to look around and see if he was just sleeping somewhere else, only to then remember that he must be still in the living room. Somewhat calming down from the realization, he huffed. It's been almost the entire night, how long was that movie they were watching? What about Voltar's League? Has Voltar returned back to his lair? If not, did his team notice that Voltar was gone too? So many questions pranced in his mind that he didn't have the evolved vocal chords to say out loud, with only one way to answer some of them. He crawled down the hallway to the living room to see that the two were on the couch. However, the sight of the two brought way more confusion than one would want. Not only was Voltar in a state of what he'd describe as distant shock, his mouth piece would indicate that his mouth has dropped, while his beloved yet wicked evil mastermind of an owner shared somewhat the same expression but instead of an agape open mouth he had a tight, closed one. 

Upon seeing Ralph at corner of his eye, Dr. Bodlington rised up from Voltar's lap, his expression still. Their clasped hands at this point were more loose, as their hands under the gloves were very uncomfortably sweaty at this point. 

"That...Was the best movie I've ever seen in my entire life..." Voltar softly yet blankly stated, both in a mix of horror and glee. Without even looking, he grabbed his phone, jumped down from the couch with a resounding thud, then before leaving he blankly yelled out "See ya next time, Buds." and after a minute a slam could be heard. Bodlington was like a statue. 

"I...I NEED TO WATCH IT AGAIN!" The Doctor yelled out as loud he can be, frantically trying to find a way to use his remotes' rewind button to no avail.

As Voltar entered his Lair, he sees Red and Frogg enjoying their breakfast together. Red immediately noticed that Voltar had returned, grinning as wide as can be. 

"Good Morning, Voltar!" he gleefuly waved. Frogg turned to look as well, but as soon as he saw the state that Voltar was in he immediately looked nervous. "How's The Sick and Dying Roses of Emily Leanne?" Red asked, still cheerful and completely unaware of Voltar's rather semi-zombified state. 

"Red, are you sure Voltar's alright?" Frogg asked as one set of his metal claws was nearly in his teeth, about ready to attempt to bite his claws which will inevitably but temporarily break his teeth. Doomageddon was too busy snoozing to care about what's going on. 

"It's...fine." Voltar responded, voice dull. After saying that, he immediately fainted. Red tucked him in into his room right away.

After that day, any time nothing of interest was going on during their "meetings", The Sick and Dying Roses of Emily Leanne was their new go-to movie for the next few months...

Much to Ralph's chagrin.

Chapter Text

Resolve

Having a very ugly rivalry fight was very few and far between the two of them.

Granted, the rivalry fights were starting to become somewhat rare anyways ever since the two's firey feud started to cool off more and more due to their romantic feelings for each other. Yet when they do their rivalry fights, there was always a silent understanding between them, knowing what lines to not cross and such. However when the fights get really ugly is when there's a strong confict between the two outside of their rivalry, and the one last week ago was no exception. Voltar and Dr. Bodlington were radio silent between each other, which also resulted in both of them being sad and cranky twords their respective minions. Doktor Frogg and Red Menace weren't super surprised, however the slight glumness of Voltar definately was one. Ralph on the other hand knew all too well, but there wasn't much he could do other than try to cheer up his owner.

At the Metrotown Hotel, Voltar and his League were there trying to find a way to mess up random people's hotel rooms before they get assigned to them, a new latest evil scheme that Voltar came up with, all the while attempting to ignore the hurt feelings he had that still stung him even after all these days. 

They were all dressed up as bellhops, all of them using their somehow convincing costumes to sneak their way into each and every unused hotel room. Red Menace and Doomageddon of course helped with messing the room up while Doktor Frogg slightly tweaked the appliances so that they don't work. Voltar looked over to both ensure if anyone was coming and to make sure the hotel rooms were completely trashed. So far, they've only gone through the first three floors and the hotel was also somewhat packed already. Due to the culmination of not having as much rooms to destroy, mixed with the feelings he's trying desperately to hold back, Voltar sighed.

"Hey Voltar, what's the matter?" Red asked as he was jumping on the bed, strained creaking and metallic groaning can be heard from the rather neat bedframe. 

"It's nothing, Red." Voltar lied, attempting to make a somewhat convincing smile as he waved off the friendly brute's concern. 

"You've been...unusual lately." Red's voice was twinged with a sickening softness. "These past few days you've been kinda sad. Is there anything you wanna talk about?"

"No! The only thing I wanna talk about is whether or not these rooms have been ruined enough." Voltar angrily responded. Even if it wasn't Red's intention, that slight feeling of being potentially pitied on just made things worse. 

"Voltar I have an idea!" Red gleefully hopped down from the pretty messy, probably broken bed. "I think the kitchen on the first floor has some Fudgy Yummy Fudge Bars. Maybe if you go there and get yourself one, you'll feel slightly better? I'll have Doomageddon be the lookout!" Voltar rolled his eyes. Yes, he would love to devour an entire box of Fudgy Yummy Fudge Bars, they're the best ice cream known to man. But there's no Fudge Bar out there that's so good that it could solve relationship problems and IF there is one like that, then yeah he'd consider. Although, since always being the lookout gets boring after a while, Voltar could only respond with a shrug and a flat "Sure." Even if he said no to Red, he'd still try to bug him about his 'feelings' that it'd just cause problems the entire time, so it's best to just nip it at the bud and to at least humor the kindhearted henchman.  

As he walked to the elevator, a few people have left. Voltar never really cared to see who left as he was still in his head, trying to stomp down his issues all the while juggling a bunch of thoughts in general. Entering the now emptied elevator, he pressed the down button. The elevator music was very relaxed, almost too cheery for Voltar's taste, but luckily elevator music was made to be easy to drone out when you're thinking rather deeply.

'Why should I care? He hurted me too! And now it's starting to dig into my plans.' He could have a headache from how angry he was about it. 'I'm just gonna wait it out like the last time we...went a little too far...' He thoughtfully added. His expression slightly drooped, his attenae were a bit down. As the elevator stopped, Voltar made his expression neutral with an upright posture.

Almost as if the day couldn't get any worse, when the elevator door opened up, there was no one else but Dr. Bodlington himself there. The both of them looked at each other with widened eyes, taken aback, although they both returned back to their somewhat neutral state. Bodlington walked in the elevator anyways, pressing the down button. As the door closed and the cheerful music played, a thick unpleasant athmosphere permiated within, the two were a fair distance between each other. 

"What are you doing?" Bodlington asked, voice flat, not exactly looking at him but it's clear from his expression that there was a lot going on. 

"Pretending to be a Bellhop so me and my League can ruin the unused rooms." Voltar responded with equally as little emotion. Then in a moment, the elevator jolted to a stop, lights flickered slightly and the music went silent. A calm, feminine robotic voice rang into the intercom.

"It seems that our elevator is currently stuck! Please be patient as we try to work it out! Thank you."

The two of them groaned, knowing that their impromptu meeting wasn't going to be as mercifully quick as they wished it was. The silence was deafening and considering the nervous twinges the two were having, it was palpable. 

"So....How's Ralph?" Voltar asked in a lightly curious tone. Looking at Bodlington, he could tell he was feeling pretty much exactly how he was feeling too.

"Fine. How's your minions?" Bodlington fired back.

"Okay, I guess." Voltar responded. Then silence, yet again. This time it was slightly bearable, as the two now thought'Hey, maybe he's not too mad at me.', but the strenuous amount of clearly unresolved issues continously reared it's way in their minds, it was getting constantly harder to ignore now that the two were in front of each other. After emitting a strained sigh, Voltar cleared his throat.

"Bodlington, darling, can we talk about this?" Voltar almost reluctantly questioned, one arm crossed while the other motioned between their space as if it was a tangible object. Bodlington looked back at Voltar with slightly watery eyes, somewhat touched by the affection shown, but too stubborn to respond to it. Somewhat irritated by this, but also understanding of why, Voltar flopped his arms to the side, slouching a bit before returning back to a more upright pose.

"Everytime things get way too heated, we both try to completely ignore each other until one of us cracks, and I'm tired of it, Bodlington. It's never given either us any benefits. We're BOTH in pain." Voltar lightly explained. "I think it would be much better for us in the long run if we just try to talk it out. We're both adult evil masterminds here." He would curse himself for sounding like Red Menace, but he wasn't necessarily an expert when it came to relationships and that was the best he could come up with.

"Voltar, I am well aware. It's just...I'm not used to this. I'm not used to being in a romantic relationship with a rival." Bodlington sighed, partially defeated as he finally managed to face Voltar. "Normally before all of this I can easily ignore it, but now I just get more hurt by the more messier fights." Bodlington leaned against the elevator wall with his back, looking to the floor with somber clear in his face. "It just feels like I got betrayed by an old friend again, but worse."

"Are you seriously still not over the 'stealing the prank' thing?" Voltar was flabbergasted yet somehow also not suprised, his eyes half closed, slouched with flat clasped hands directed at Bodlington.

"I'll say it once and I'll say it again, dummkopf. I never will." Bodlington blankly responded, with not that much bite in his insult. Voltar sighed. If he could look to the camera like a sitcom he absolutely would. "I sometimes consider just getting rid of the rivalry all together, but I really do like our rivalry fights. It's just when they turn personal it burns." Bodlington added.

"How about we have a temporary truce?" Voltar suggested, slowly moving close to Bodlington while holding his hands. "We won't have to entirely drop the rivalry, but if our relationship doesn't turn out well, we can come back to being rivals again."

Bodlington looked to the side in thought, extremely unsure at first but after a few more minutes he sighed. "We'll have a temporary truce." Bodlington softly responded, a slight smile forming. "But this must be kept a secret. I don't want to risk anything." He sternly added.

Voltar rolled his eyes so hard that his head moved along as well, with a rather warm expression. "As if our whole 'thing' isn't already a secret in the first place..." He slightly laughed, now coming closer to embrace Bodlington. The Doctor practically lept into his arms, holding him tight and close, resting his head on his red shoulder. Voltar was caught off guard by the suddeness of it but it wasn't long until he returned the hug, occassionally rubbing the upper part of Pantaloon's back.

"Oh, how I missed you, old friend..." Bodlington softly uttered his breath, just enough that Voltar could hear in the silent, still stuck elevator.

"Missed ya too, Buds." Voltar responded back, slightly louder. The two then seperated themselves for a bit, Bodlinton of course parting with a quick kiss on Voltar's mouthpiece. Voltar slightly flushed in response.

A minute passed.

"Ok, how long is this elevator gonna be stuck for?" Voltar complained.

"How long have we been in here anyway?" Bodlington questioned, wishing he brought his watch with him. 

Soon, the elevator's lights flickered again, and now the cheery droning elevator music played softly as it now went back to working again. The two sighed in relief as it finally went down it's intended floor. As it opened, Bodlington hopped off the elevator, looking back at Voltar with a slight grin and a nod. Voltar smiled widely and nodded back too, and as Bodlington left to do...whatever, Voltar pressed the up button, grin still clear on his face.

Maybe Red was right all along...Talking does help.

Chapter Text

Nighttime Cuddle

Bodlington wasn't entirely too thrilled staying a night in Voltar's room, no matter how much the other had always tried to convince him. It was always too risky, the fear that one of his team members would find the two always took a stronghold no matter what. In fact, this was the first time he agreed to stay the whole night. Maybe it's because he always found more security in his own lair, that and the only other being in his lair is a pet who largely doesn't seem to mind nor care. Despite this, so far the night wasn't as bad as the Underwear-themed villain thought it would be.

The two were both in bed, the moon being the only natural light in Voltar's room. The bed was bare as can be, save for a few more pillows in place and the obvious mound of blankets that Voltar hogged up. Pantaloon wasn't entirely sure if he did that on purpose or if his body just so happened to be a magnet for blankets, but the German didn't really mind it as the room wasn't cold in the slightest. If anything, it's just Bodlington still wasn't entirely sure about losing his own guard all the while being very bored through out. 

Bodlington was on his back, head on the pillow as his gloved hands clasped loosely on top of his own torso. He knew Voltar well enough to know that he never cared about house appearence, or any kind of cleanliness whatsoever. He could see it basically anywhere he looked, but it wasn't something of surprise. Hedonisim was his form of living which is understandable as villainy is reliant on self-indulgence as much as it does being a public terror. The room wasn't entirely silent, the faint sounds of crickets as well as Voltar's on-off snoring and sleeptalking filled in for background noise. To be frank, he prefered it over absolute silence. Anything would be better than that. 

Every occassional look at the clock gave the Doctor a sense of dread in how slow time was going. Even looking at the walls covered in Voltar's crappily drawn doodles weren't giving him any intrigue anymore. He could practically groan from the draining feeling of it all, wishing he brought a book with him or something. His eyelids were steadily yet slowly getting heavier out of tiredness, anytime he blinked it took just a bit longer to open them back again. He'd go to sleep, but there's still that worry deep in his head. He's also just not used to sleeping outside of his lair and this was basically proving that well enough. Annoyed, he huffed, rhythmically tapping his fingers as he hoped that either the lack of sleep succumbs him or what he feared that'll happen would happen at this moment, mostly since he's anticipated for it like a tightly coiled spring. 

What he didn't anticipate happening however, was Voltar half-awakenly turning in his slumber, seeing his partner still up looking bored out of his mind.

"Whatchadoin' Buds?" Voltar curiously asked, his words sleepily mixed into each other, not to mention partially muffled by the layers of blankets cacooned around him.

Bodlington's eyes perked up for a moment out of suprise, but he only responded with a shrug. He didn't want to bother explaining himself.

"Hm." A grin formed on his helmet, not that Bodlington could see, as an idea flashed in his sleep-fogged mind. Voltar immediately opened up his blanket nest, as fast as he could he wrapped his arms around Pantaloon, turning him on his side facing Voltar and dragging him right into the blankets as if he was an amoeba's prey. Bodlington was at first a bit stunned but the rush of warmth surrounding him was enough to make him melt, not to mention the rather firm but comforting grip Voltar had on him felt nice. Their helmets lightly tapped against each other as Voltar held his fellow evil mastermind close, his glowing sun-like eyes peering deeply into Bodlington's, with a flirty yet cocky look. A red flush grew all over Bodlington's face as Voltar softly laughed in amusement.

"Told ya it's not that bad." He added as he nuzzled his head deeper into his pillow. Of course, as he did so he went back to sleep. Admittedly the combination of being in the eye of a blanket storm and being lovingly held by Voltar was enough to convince the somewhat tense German's body into easing back. As Bodlington wrapped his arms around Voltar, he can hear a soft purr and it wasn't long until the crimson villain held onto him even further, cuddling the blue-grey villain deeper with his purr even louder than it was before. Bodlington could only chuckle a bit.

"I didn't know you were a Kuschelwanze*, Voltar." He huffed as his eyelids grew even heavier, ready to finally drift off to sleep despite his previous worries, now vanishing away from his mind thanks to the burst of affection. Voltar only responded with a small amused snort.

"Hey Frogg! Has Voltar woken up yet?" Red asked Doktor Frogg, who was sitting on the couch with his breakfast already on the table. Red placed his breakfast next to Frogg's.

"No. I think he's sleeping in today." Frogg shrugged as he ate a spoonful of cereal.

"I'll go check just in case." Red Menace briskly but silently went up the stairs to Voltar's room, and stopped right in between the door the door opening.

What he could barely see clear as day was his boss of course, sleeping, cuddling on to something that's in a cool tone of grey. 'I wonder what kind of plushie that is?...I'll ask him later!' Red thought, as he mostly shrugged it off, returning back to the living room.

"Yeah, he's sleeping in." Red reaffirmed Frogg. Frogg looking a bit relieved as he continued eating his cereal. 

"Maybe I could start working on fixing the Atomizing Atomizer Ray in peace for once..." Frogg huffed as Red finally sat down next to him in an energetic fashion.

Red started on eating some of his own breakfast. "Hey Frogg," He started, waiting for himself to swallow down his bite of cereal. Frogg only looked at Red with piqued interest. "Did Voltar get a new toy for himself?"

"No, I don't think so." Frogg shrugged. "Wouldn't be surprised if he did." He could feel himself get annoyed by it. He could swear that his boss doesn't know anything about evil even if his life depended on it. The two continued their breakfast in peace all the while Doomageddon was devouring the contents of his food bowl.

Chapter Text

Russian Taunt

"Last week, me and my linebots were first in line for the official release of the Game Man 2700x! Kept one for myself, and managed to make almost all the money back and MORE!" The blonde man's lisped voice was teetering on exploding from pure malicious glee. Next to him was Dr. Bodlington, with an expression that one would describe as almost blank, having heard this same song and dance countless numbers of times from the glasses-donning villain almost every other week.

"Do you ever do anything else evil outside of being the first in line?" Bodlington unamusedly questioned. At first the Linemaster was a bit stunned, almost wincing from a nonexistant pain just trying to come up with something that didn't involve lines.

"Well, I got caught twice trying to rig the Eviley awards." Linemaster pointed out, hoping that it was a good enough answer for the rather jaded villain next to him.

"Oh really? I won one of those." Pantaloon mindlessly added, remembering himself loudly bragging about it at the last family reunion that he was in. "At least that's...Something, I guess." He shrugged, at least knowing his fellow villain is capable of something else for once.

"I also was in the Hall of Consfiscated Villain Loot for a decent amount of time. I didn't know the Halls of Glory had a slushy fizz machine..." Linemaster was nonchelant as he reminised his time there, meanwhile Bodlington looked at him with widened eyes and pinpricked pupils, stunned. 

"H-How? Do they even feed you in there?!" Bodlington concernably questioned. Hell, the fact that a villain like the Linemaster can even be apprehended in such a way brings up plenty more questions to the grey villain, some of which concern him.

"Of course they do! They're do-gooders. Though, the food was awful..." Linemaster slightly wretched from remembering it. "After I escaped from there, that slop made even TV dinners taste like it came from Villaynes."

"I imagine it would." The doctor sighed as he looked around the park. The sky was somewhat clear with the occassional cloud here and there, a nice summer breeze occassionally drifted by, but before Linemaster could bring up something else, two very familiar faces slowly stroll close by. 

'Of all the pathways to walk his beast of a pet, he HAD to pick this one?' he internally groaned as he sees Voltar walking Doomageddon, Voltar not really aware of the fact that his lover was relatively close-by now, since the Hellhound was busy attempting to eat some of the wild animals nearby and Voltar was trying to keep him under control. Linemaster leaned forwards, squinting with a snarl. 

"Oh, look who's there! The LOSEr that mind controlled me and switched my midnight black iDestruct for the special edition pink one!" Linemaster growled, remembering the day clearly as can be. Bodlington could only stifle a laugh out of pure schadenfreude against the line-based villain. 

"Wait a second, isn't he your...?" Linemaster dropped his wrath for a quick moment, questioning Dr. Bodlington. The doctor sighed, knowing the rest of the line.

"Yes, he's my old rival from Supervillain Kiddie College." He flatly answered the unfinished question, vacantly flicking a tiny bug off the arm rest of the bench. Surprisingly enough, Linemaster looked stunned and a bit confused at first, and it seemed like he was gonna say something, but ultimately decided not to. 

While he loved seeing Voltar, he partially dreads seeing him in public in front of people, especially other villains. Ever since their secret romantic truce got put into place, the two had to come up with some ways of making it still seem like their rivalry was still ongoing. Now it seems like the time to put said plans in place. 

And almost as if it was clockwork, not only did Voltar managed to look up to see Dr. Bodlington, but his two other minions have finally caught up to their leader. Voltar looked astonished, not expecting to see his lover in public today at all. Voltar accidentally letted Doomageddon's leash go, causing him to finally chase after the little woodland creatures, but instead of reacting to it he was still. 

"Voltar, maybe we should feed Doomageddon before we walk him instead." Red Menace suggested to his boss, surprisingly not at all effected by the apparently exhausting physical activity the two had gone through. Immediately he started looking around in concern for the mutt. Doktor Frogg on the other hand was almost close to fainting from his body overexerting itself.

"It wouldn't make much of a difference, man!" Frogg whined loudly. "He's always hungry!" Like a bag of bricks the mad scientist fell on the ground with a loud thud, the only things dampening the impact being the grass and soil on the ground. Red Menace then sees Dr. Bodlington as well.

"Uh...Voltar?"

"...Yes Red?" Voltar mustered up enough will to respond, slightly looking back at Red Menace. 

"I think we should go the other way...Your rival is over there!" Red nervously pointed out, not wanting the League to get into a possible kurfuffle with Von Pantaloon. Voltar sighed, trying to remember the plan him and Bodlington came up with.

"I can handle him myself, thank you very much." Voltar said in a faux confident way, as he marched forward to where Bodlington was at. The doctor on the other hand stood on the bench, preparing his part, wiping himself off slightly. Linemaster quirked an eyebrow at his evil friend, wondering what he's planning on doing. Before anyone knew it, Bodlington fired himself at Voltar with the boosters within his grey slippers. Voltar stopped in his tracks, both terrified yet confused but before he could run away in panic the doctor crash landed against Voltar, making the two tumble down rather chaotically down the hill, landing into the recently implemented bushes. It took a minute for the two to regain their bearings, with some raspy swears, gasps, and grunts.

"Bodlington, what the Hell was that for?" Voltar had a strong infliction of confusion and annoyance.

"We agreed on this plan earlier, dummkopf! I was supposed to initiate an 'attack' on you so we can be out of sight!" Dr. Bodlington answered, a bit aggrivated that Voltar seemingly forgot about their plans.

"...Ohh...I was thinking more of going up to you, saying something like 'Dr. Bodlington von Pantaloon the Third! blah blah blah, fight me!' and THEN you attack." 

Bodlington realized how much more sensical THAT plan was over just randomly launching himself at him. While he flushed with embarrassment, he sighed, deciding to learn from it. 

"Maybe next time we should probably rehearse these." Bodlington admitted, leaning himself into the leafy and branchy interior of the bush. It was shocking saying this sort of thing, as he'd expect that it would come naturally given the fact that the two have been actual rivals for as long as they've been friends: a long, long while. If he could guess, it's probably because it's just an act, with now-minimal mal intent within. Voltar snorted a laugh.

"I didn't know you were friends with the Linemaster." Voltar changed the subject slightly, an amused but suprised tone of voice within the words.

"We're more like aquaintences at best, honestly." von Pantaloon responded. "I don't like being too close to people." 

"Is it because-" Voltar had a genuine look of concern.

"No. You taking my detention is miniscule in comparison...But it was still mine!" He adamantly yelled. Voltar sighed a bit in relief, but afterwards a cheeky grin distorted his helmet. 

"You know, since we're alone here..." Voltar moved real close, looking deeply into Bodlington's eyes using his maroon-gloved hands to hold the other villain's head closer to his, the golden gleaming little lights that were his pupils were wide with a warmth that felt so familiar yet so completely different, especially since it was coming from Voltar of all people. A lowly purr could be heard. Pantaloon, face in a shade of deep pink, knew well enough where this was going.

"Can we make out at some other time? This bush is godawful." Bodlington complained, almost as flat as possible. It's hard to feel romantic when the small branches are poking you, almost jabbing themselves in whenever you mindlessly change your position slightly. 'Thank the great evil down below these aren't rose bushes.' He thought, still pulling himself somewhat close to Voltar. Voltar sneaked a quick peck then returned back to his regular position. 

"Guess what I learned last week?" Voltar giddily leaned close. "While I was looking through Doktor Frogg's computer for embarrassing personal things to laugh at, I found this weird little video from some guy on the interwebs making a knife out of milk!" Voltar cackled evilly, rubbing his hands together.

"What." The Doctor couldn't comprehend why anyone would do that when knives are easy to get, but was impressed nonetheless.

"So I bought a ton of milk and made myself a milky sword! With a bit of help from an unknowing mad scientist of course." He giggled. "I wrecked havoc amongst all of Metrotown before Red had taken it from me." Voltar then looked to the side with a grouchy look, apparently still sour from having his precious sword being confiscated from him by his OWN henchman. 

"So you were the Cowmore Sword Fiend?" Bodlington was a bit astonished. He wondered if he could do this with underwear. It might make for an odd search result, but darn it, it'd be a nice thing to have on hand.

"Mmm hmm." Voltar's eyes were closed as he nodded pridefully at the feat. "After that I ate my entire secret cupcake stash...And didn't even share any of it with my minions!"

"I didn't know you were a cupcake person. I figured you'd be th-"

"Well, they were all soy sauce, wasabi and ginger flavored cupcakes...I like the spice of it." Voltar admitted, looking to the side as he rubbed the back of his head. 

Bodlington nearly gagged at the thought of it. Since when did cupcakes come in ANY of those flavors? Granted, that was most definately a Voltar thing to do, eating grotesque versions of pleasant foods. He practically did that all the time in Lunch back in Supervillain Kiddie College. As the doctor sighed, he nudged his helmed head against Voltar's, somewhat embracing the other villain, albeit in an akward way thanks to their location.

"Mein hasenfürzchen*, what a vile villain you are!" He lowly cooed as he cuddled Voltar a wee bit, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the warmth from the other, probably one of the few comforts in this harsh bush. Voltar gleefuly hugged back only to find himself a bit confused.

"What does that mean?"

"It means 'great and powerful mastermind'." Bodlington tried not to laugh from the obvious fact that he actually called Voltar a bunny fart. 

"AWWW, REALLY?" Voltar grinned wide and his pupils wider than the actual sun. Bodlington warmly chuckled a bit too hard at the fact that he took the German at face value, he looks so cute now but if he ever learns the real definition of it his reaction would be quite hilarious. Voltar cuddled up to Bodlington harder as the two nuzzled into an embrace.

"Are you two done yet?" A loud shout from Doktor Frogg rudely awakened the two from their little moment, and as the two risen from the bush, Voltar in the heat of the moment lightly grabbed Bodlington's head close and kissed him. 

Normally Bodlington wouldn't mind. In fact he loved it when Voltar gets all cuddly. Yet, after opening his eyes slighty, they immediately snapped wide in dread as he saw not only Linemaster, but the rest of the League (including a floating Doomageddon with what appears to have a mutated bunny chomped on his tail), all of whom looking down below the hill to see the two lovebirds, with various reactions.

Linemaster was largely unsuprised by the unintended sight. Bodlington wasn't sure if that should be a bad thing or a good thing. Red Menace was gleaming with a grin as wide as can be. Doktor Frogg on the other hand, looked at them with a somewhat shocked expression, as if the thing he was seeing wasn't surprising but wasn't expecting to see it. Doomageddon was almost devilishly cackling at the sight while that creepy mutant rabbit just blankly looked on.

Bodlington, in a state of panic, lightly punched Voltar off him. Voltar looked a bit hurt at first but after seeing what Bodlington was seeing, he now completely understood why. 

"W-Well then, Dr Bodlington von Pantaloon the Third, until we meet again next time!" Voltar faked it till he maked it as he quickly ran up the hill. 

"Soon I-I will proove myself the superior supervillain Voltar!" von Pantaloon shook his fist at the crimson villain trying his damnest to be convincing despite the slip-up. As Voltar went up to his team, Doomy wagged the rabbit off of him hard enough to basically boot it to the next city. 

"Yay! You and von Pantaloon made up?" Red gleefully asked, a bit slightly too loud for Voltar's taste.

"NO WE DIDN'T!" Voltar desperately yelped, trying to close Red's mouth by pinching his lips together.

"Then why were you ki-" Doktor Frogg was about to question the clear and obvious.

"IT'S NOT A KISS! It's a Russian taunt!" Voltar loudly defended himself.

"A what?" Frogg was confused.

"A Russian taunt! Y-Yeah! I learned about it on the interwebs!" Voltar's voice slightly faultered, knowing full well that it wasn't. Plus he wasn't even sure if that weird old man that people who made up the term was talking about is Russian anyways. Doktor Frogg rolled his eyes, knowing Voltar was lying and not wanting to bother picking apart every bit of that arguement as he'd much rather go home. Red laughed a bit.

"Shouldn't taunts be mean?" Red asked in a jolly fashion, which led to Voltar groaning in annoyance, releasing his grip on Red's lips as he walked off.

"WHATEVER! Let's just go home now that Doomageddon's back." Voltar yelled, as the rest of the team followed suit. Of course, Doomageddon teleported out of the park and on the V-Mobile.

Bodlington slowly walked up the hill in dread, stopping right in front of Linemaster who seemingly wasn't phased by what he saw.

"Quite the odd rivalry you got there, Doctor." Linemaster finally spoke, rubbing his chin.

"Yeah...Odd would be an understatement." He huffed. "I think 'very overcomplicated' would describe it better."

"Hmm. I guess so."