Thanksgiving had been a nice break, Marc thought to himself. The fire sights, both the ones that had been thwarted and those that had been successful, had already completed the arsonist’s signature shape on the map. But they were still happening. This was number four of the night. JD’s car was abandoned for flight was much faster, even though Marc hated it. This one was bad. Marc was getting good at directing JD to where people were in the buildings, but there was one person left, and even the firefighters were worried if Vigilante would make it out again. Marc stood among them completely unseen, or so he thought.

“Hey, you,” a police officer called out. Some of the firefighters and first responders turned but Marc did not. “You, boy! Where did you come from?” The officer grabbed Marc by the shoulder and turned him around.

Marc was in complete shock and just looked at the man with wide eyes, his mouth agape. He back up out of the officer’s grip and all at once the others noticed him.

The officer continued, “It’s you, isn’t it? You’re the one who helps Vigilante.”

Marc couldn’t choke out much of a response, “I-i...uhh.”

The man grabbed Marc again, this time by the wrist and turns him around preparing to cuff Marc then and there. He started his script, “You’re under arrest for…”

Marc’s brain finally caught up with him and he called into his mic, “Ace!” He knew where JD was and hoped he’d make it out in time to intervene.

The officer tried to continue, but from the 3rd story of the burning building came a burst of debris and JD with the last victim. He saw Marc right away, but he was actually too late. The Fire Chief had already separated Marc from the police officer.

“NO! No, you don’t get to arrest half of the team that’s been saving lives!” He looked at Marc momentarily, and then turned full on towards the officer. “I don’t care if being a vigilante is illegal, these two are the only reason there have been no casualties. The civilians and my guys get to live another day because of them.” He had his finger poking into the officer’s chest as he spoke.

JD flew down and handed off the victim to paramedics, before he walked to Marc. JD had never mingled with those who came to help before. Marc had always been virtually invisible before. He had no idea what went wrong, but he tried to piece it together before just grabbing Marc and leaving.

Men and women, tired and dirty from the night, surrounded Marc and JD. Even police officers, stood their ground between the arresting officer and the duo. Some reached out and clapped JD on the back, and thanking him for his hard work. He heard them, and he nodded, but it was all a blur, drowned out mostly, by the sound of Marc’s scared breathing over the headset.

“Hey,” he said to Marc as he came up behind him. The word was more breath than voice, trying not to startle him. JD wrapped his arms around Marc’s middle, preparing to leave the scene.

The angry Fire Chief turned to make sure they were ok. Marc pulled out of JD’s hold but grabbed him by one hand. He stepped forward and through the crowd, saying his thanks to the Fire Chief, but his attention was on the officer. “You, you have a power, don’t you?” He asked.

The officer shrugged off the hands that had held him back from the crowd, but he turned to walk away, ignoring Marc’s question.

“No one, remembers me. No one sees me, but you do!” Marc yelled trying to get his attention. “What is it? What is your power?” Marc stopped walking and let JD wrap his arms protectively around him again. The officer continued walking.

“Hey, it’s ok, man. It’s probably true, but we gotta go.” JD tried to reassure Marc, but he knew how he felt. He secured his grip, nodded in thanks once again to those who protected Marc, and then off into the early morning sky, they disappeared.

They landed next to JD’s car a few minutes later. JD didn’t let go of Marc right away, and Marc didn’t fight it. He turned to JD and wrapped his own arms around him. The fear caught up with him and he started to cry. They stood like that for several minutes, until Marc pulled away, his tears stopped. JD loosened his grip but didn’t let got right away.

“We’ll get you a mask.” he started, “We have a lot to talk about, but for now, we need some sleep.” JD looked towards the horizon where the sky was already brightening.

Marc nodded and they got in the car. As they pulled up to their homes, Marc commented, “Your mom is gonna kill you for being out all night.”

JD shook his head, “Nah, she’s not gonna know. I’m sleeping over.” He grinned at Marc as they got out of the car. They shuffled quietly through Marc’s home and up to bed. Both were too exhausted to shower, and fell asleep almost immediately.

Marc woke, a few hours later, to find JD wrapped around him and fast asleep. In five years, Marc thought, they had slept together countless times, but never “cuddled” in their sleep. Sometimes an errant arm or leg was thrown over the other, but not like this, JD’s arm was wrapped around Marc’s middle, and his body was curled around him. Marc closed his eyes again and tried to slow his heartbeat. He took deep slow breaths and decided to just enjoy being held. He fell back into a happy slumber.