Fourteen: Puzzle

*thanks to xoxchilli, B, and shotmess for your support!*

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By the time the waiter came back around with their food, Ash had already managed to get Sage to tell him what his hobbies are (archery and reading), his favorite color (yellow), and the name of his cat (Miss Princess). More impressive, however, was the fact that Ash got Sage to tell him why he liked or did those things.

He did archery because his dad used to take him outside the city on weekends with an old bow and arrows that he’d had since he was a kid, training Sage to shoot soda cans off fence posts. When Sage grew up, he kept up the tradition, and now whenever he had a little extra time off, he went outside the city with a bow he’d bought for himself to shoot until he felt like he could breathe easier. The only difference was that his dad was almost never able to come with him, and the soda cans had been upgraded to beer cans.

He liked reading because he accidentally got his hands on his mom’s copy of Crime and Punishment when he was in second grade, and he couldn’t understand any of it. It frustrated him so much that he’d pushed himself to read everything he could until he was able to finally read and understand every line of that damned novel that he’d only snatched because he thought the leatherbound cover was pretty. And from that, he’d developed an intense love of reading.

Sage liked the color yellow because his first boyfriend gave him a sunflower when he asked Sage to go out with him. Sage couldn’t see the color yellow without thinking about the nervous trembling of a sixteen-year-old boy’s hands as he bared his heart and soul.

His cat was a former stray who’d followed Sage home after one of his heists as Hush. Obviously, Sage didn’t tell Ash that part, saying instead that she’d followed him home from work. Sage named her Miss Princess because she’d practically demanded to be let into Sage’s home and she would only sleep up on a pillow by Sage’s head and nowhere else. She was incredibly picky about her food and could sense immediately if Sage bought her a different brand than usual. She wouldn’t take a single bite of it if it wasn’t the brand she liked.

It was only when the waiter set Sage’s plate down in front of him that he realized how much information he’d given away. Not that any of it was particularly valuable or even deep information, but it usually took a lot for Sage to give up this much information about himself to someone else. Hell, he was pretty sure Abe and Carolyn didn’t even know why he liked the color yellow.

Sage took the moment of silence while they started eating to quietly analyze why he felt so comfortable telling Ash all these things. Eventually, he decided it was because of how incredibly attentive Ash was to everything Sage said. His inquiries were polite, but he was genuinely interested – or at least, it seemed that way to Sage. He listened intently, nodding along when appropriate, dark eyes fixed on Sage like he was hanging onto every word. The thing Sage couldn’t figure out was whether Ash was simply a good listener, or if he legitimately thought what Sage was saying was interesting.

“You seem to know a lot about the villains in this city,” Ash said randomly, and Sage choked on a bite of his steak. He set his fork back on his plate a little too loudly and took a drink to prevent his untimely and embarrassing death by food.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I keep up with the news. It’s another hobby of mine,” Sage said as soon as he could speak again, cursing the way his voice cracked on the word ‘hobby.’

Damn, you’d think this was his first day of villainhood or something. Why was he acting like a fucking newb? Lying to his previous boyfriends had never been this awkward, the excuses rolling off his tongue seamlessly. What the fuck made Ash any different? It must be something about those eyes. They seemed to peel away each and every layer of Sage’s skin, determined to get a peek at the pulpy insides beneath.

Ash smiled and rested his chin on his fist, propping an elbow on the table. Unfortunately for Sage, this only made the magnetism of his gaze all the more powerful, all the more difficult to ignore. Sage swallowed hard, shifting in his seat.

“What about you? Do you keep up with all the heroes and villains?” Sage asked. Some people lived for the drama of the next evil plot being foiled by heroes, hung onto every news broadcast, knew every hero and villain in the city and every good or bad thing they’d ever done. One of Fairview’s main sources of income was actually from the tourism industry. People from all over the world came to Fairview to spend obscene amounts of money on one-on-one meetings with heroes or front row seats to superpowered fights. They bought all the merch, ate at restaurants heroes had gone to, and visited sites that had been declared historically important to the city because famous battles had taken place there. Others were generally indifferent to it, and there were some that hated it with a passion.

Sage only had interest in it because he himself was a villain, and he liked to keep up on the super news. Sometimes, knowing what was going on with his fellow villains was instrumental in the success of his own villainous deeds.

Ash shrugged. “I stay informed. More out of idle curiosity than anything else. Although, the hopeless husband isn’t really a villain, is he? He has no supernatural powers, but you seem to know a lot about him too.”

It was Sage’s turn to shrug, a little embarrassed that Ash had clocked that. Truth be told, Sage had been rather fascinated with the hopeless husband for a while there, if only because he got caught up in the romanticism of his backstory. Sage was kind of a sucker for that shit. So he followed the news stories about him for a while, but he knew that most of what he heard about the hopeless husband was probably just bullshit, so he didn’t invest too much time into it. And, although the hopeless husband wasn’t a villain, he was still pursued by many heroes hoping to take him down and make headlines, so technically he was as much a villain as Sage. Probably more so, considering Sage was more of a glorified robber than anything else.

“I follow the news, and he seems to pop up frequently, so I guess I’ve come to know a lot about him as well. Err, as much as anyone knows about him, I suppose.”

“You don’t think there’s any truth to what people say about him? The stories must have come from somewhere, right? All lies have a grain of truth embedded in them,” Ash said thoughtfully, swirling his remaining wine around in his glass. He’d made sure to only drink from the side Sage had drank from this whole time, letting his lips linger like he was still tasting Sage on the glass.

Was it driving Sage a little batty? Yes, yes it was.

Sage averted his eyes, picking at his napkin. They’d finished eating a while ago, but hadn’t seen any need to part ways just yet.

“I’m sure there’s some truth to it. Why else would he target people in power so often? Clearly, he has a reason to go after them, but whether or not that reason has anything to do with his supposed wife is debatable.”

Ash’s lips twitched, like he was going to smile, but he quickly tamped it down. “I agree. Would you like to go for a walk with me? The night’s still young.”

Sage bit the inside of his lip. Did he want to spend more time with Ash?

Surprisingly…yes. He hadn’t had much hope for this date, wasn’t particularly interested in starting a new relationship, but Ash was…interesting. Sage found himself wanting to know more.

So before he could overthink it, he nodded, and they stood to go. Ash paid the bill and together, they made for the doors. Ash held it open for him and gestured him out first very courteously. And then, when he followed Sage out, he placed a proprietary hand on the small of Sage’s back, guiding him gently through the crowds that were beginning to thin as the night went on, but were still very much alive and buzzing.

And once they were through the crowd and strolling down the sidewalk, Ash’s hand remained glued to Sage’s back, hot through his sweater. People parted around them, some young women walking past stopping to stare at Ash like they were transfixed before moving on reluctantly, others peeking at him shyly until they noticed Sage next to him, blushing deeply and scurrying away.

Oddly enough, although Sage felt comfortable walking with Ash, trusting that Ash didn’t have any nefarious intentions for him, he still felt unexplainably nervous.

Almost like he was getting himself into something much…much more complicated than a budding romance.