Ex-Nemesis

Chapter 7: He Knew Her

Nico blinked to himself as he walked away from a certain sun-haired boy. His brain was running a hundred miles an hour, gears turning, figurative steam pouring out of his ears. 

Sunshot hurt his ankle yesterday. 

Apparently, so had Will Solace. 

Nico had a creeping suspicion that he had just met Sunshot, unmasked and out of his horrifyingly white and gold suit. 

It made sense didn't it? 

They both hurt themselves on the same day. 

They both had a liking for bright things (just look at that eye-burning yellow hoodie Will was wearing today!). 

They both had the same sunny disposition. 

They both had blonde hair (Sunshot never thought to cover up that mop top of his). 

They both had the same blue eyes (Sunshot's mask didn't have a film over his eyes, unlike Nico's mask, so Nico had often seen them peeping through the holes of his mask.)

They both had the same build, tall and lean. 

They had quite a few things in common. 

Huh... Nico knew he recognised that voice. 

For all he knew, he could be wrong and Will could be some random guy who just COINCIDENTALLY had a lot of things in the same basket as a certain superhero, but, you can't blame Nico for suspecting. 

Most likely, Nico's hunch was correct, and this boy was, in fact, Sunshot unmasked.Nico snickered to himself. 

Will seemed like a genuinely nice person. He loved to gush about random things, as Nico had come to know in the past couple days as he had all but forced Nico to let him walk him to class sometimes. He had badgered Nico to come sit with him and his friends at lunch, but Nico wasn't ready for that much socializing yet. 

Hell, he even flirted with Nico!

Will probably thought he was being so subtle, but his flirtatious comments were blunt and very obvious, old school. 

It was honestly cute. 

Nico halted his train of thought... did he just... think Will Solace was cute? 

What nooooooo he didn't! 

No, you just d—

MOVING ON. 

*clears throat *

Heheh, what would happen if Will got to know of Nico's secret identity? And realize he had been flirting with Ghost king himself? HA! Nico would pay to see his face! 

Then a sudden concern made itself known.What if Will actually DOES figure it out? Sure, Nico took extra care in hiding his identity. He wore a mask, covering his entire face, and it had a film over his eyes as well. He wore a hood, covering his hair. No part of his body was left exposed. 

The only catch was his voice. 

But so far, Will didn't seem to connect Nico's voice to that of Ghost king's. 

Hm... maybe Sunshot WAS a little dim... 

But just in case, Nico would have to be extra cautious around Will Solace. 

Huh, who would've thought, when Nico first went out at night to find his sister, he would end up enrolling in the same school as the hero who wanted him behind bars? 

**************** 

Ghost king felt his presence before he heard him. 

Warm and bright. 

Ugh, just when he got the window unlocked! 

Without turning around, Nico questioned, the words coming to his mouth automatically , "How's that ankle of yours?" 

He could feel the tension in the air.

Sunshot aka might-probably-be-Will-Solace huffed, "Why would you care?" 

"Oh right! I'm a villain! Why should I care?" Nico's words dripped with sarcasm. 

A short silence persisted as Nico quietly opened the window. 

Then Sunshot said, "It's fine now." 

Ghost king was about to snap something back, but suddenly someone shrieked from the neighboring house. 

There was a woman in her nightgown, staring, terrified, out of the window at Nico. He saw her hastily reach for her phone and start to dial. 

Great! Of course the neighbor had to be awake!Nico abandoned his raid and jumped on to the roof, ignoring Sunshot's usual "HEY!"

Nico reached for the shadows, cloaking himself as he sprinted across the rooftops, even scaring a stray cat napping near a chimney. 

He could hear Sunshot chasing after him, his system was pumped of adrenaline. There was a certain thrill in being chased by Sunshot. It was... energizing in an odd way. It provided Nico of his daily... or nightly workout and his entertainment. He knew he would never get caught, so he enjoyed this little game of fruitless tag Sunshot insisted on playing every night. 

Wallowed in his own excitement, Nico noticed the dark brown blur to his right a second too late. 

Something, coming at top speed, knocked into him from the side. Nico was thrown into a chimney (god, he hated those things), the wind knocked out of his lungs. He heard Sunshot exclaim in surprise. 

What was he even surprised about? That he finally landed a hit on Nico? 

Nico sprang back up, ignoring the pain of his probably bruised back, man, chimneys are hard! He would never wish to have a chimney for an enemy, but... looks like they already had it out for him. 

"Who are you?!" he heard Sunshot yell. 

Who am I? Doesn't he already know me? 

But Nico looked up to see that, it was not him that Sunshot was questioning.

A teenage girl stood across from him on the rooftop. She was masked, her suit glimmered with various colors, luscious caramel curls drifted and tossed in the wind, gold eyes stared back at him through the mask. 

Nico's breath hitched. 

He knew those eyes. 

He mouthed her name. 

And she lunged at him. 

Word count: 997

A/N: Heyyo! Some for the late update guys. School started and ughhh so much workkkkk. Anyways, what do u think of the plot twist? And a shot out to Sunny for letting me post this on their account! Thanku Sunny! 

E/N: (1) AMAZING WRITING I LOVED THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH AND (2) Nico's paragraph about the chimneys is literally my favorite thing ever, that's hilarious and very Nico-coded.