Finding Mr. Superhero

Chapter Nine

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Dedicated to 1olMichelle for the banner! Thank you :)

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            I'm not a very patient person.

            Why do I say this?

            So you know why I did what I did next.

            Something no one had ever told me before was how fantastic The Black Phoenix was at being stubborn. I mean, seriously. By that Thursday night, I was so sick and tired of being ignored by him, that I felt I might explode. I got that he was pissed at me for endangering myself and publishing that article, but the fact that he had the persistence to stay away for so long had my nerves on end.

            I can only wish that I had that kind of persistence in my body, too.

            But I didn't, and that's exactly why I found myself crawling onto my roof tiles Thursday night, where the sky was a pretty purple and free of clouds and the world around me was quiet.

            "Fine. You want to set a meeting place?" I grumbled to myself as I adjusted my body to find a comfortable position on my roof. "Then I'll give you a meeting place."

            I dusted off my jeans and shrugged my sweater tighter around me, staring up at the horizon and searching for any approaching figures flying though the sky in a tight leather suit.

            "You wanted to see me?"

            I didn't know why I didn't flinch at his sudden appearance—considering he sure as hell hadn't appeared in the skyline, and it seemed he'd also been given teleportation powers, or something—but maybe I was just getting used to his abrupt appearances and jump scares. Either way, I neither jumped nor moved from my position.

            "I told you I'm sorry," I said calmly, staring at the sky. "And I know there's nothing more I can say to make it better. But there's no use crying over spilled milk, especially when there's no way to clean it up. All we can do is just look forward and find a way to avoid it."

            I felt him sit down beside me, and his shoulder brushed mine gently as he took a seat on the roof tiles and stared out at the sky with me. "I'm not going to say I overreacted, but maybe I should have heard you out and not acted so quickly," he said in a low voice. "In hindsight, I acted like kind of a jackass. I'm sorry."

            I looked over to him. His jaw was clean-shaven and angular, and he looked quite handsome in that moment, even though I couldn't see his eyes or forehead. "I'm sorry, too."

            "Can we forgive each other and call it even?" he asked.

            I smiled. "I guess we can."

            He leaned closer, and I almost screamed in shock as he slowly placed his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into him. He was warm and soft, despite the skintight suit that separated us. His arm was strong, and something about it felt safe. Like I was invincible just because he was close.

            "He's getting closer, you know," he said in a low voice. "I still can't find him, but I can sense it. Like this rope that keeps getting tighter and tighter around me. But I'm gonna find him, Violet. I promise."

            "What are you going to do once you do find him?" I asked.

            I looked up just in time to see his angular jaw clench, and he didn't meet my eyes when he said, "You really don't wanna know."