Morgan grinned as they got what they were after, but they couldn't relax yet. Not until they were back in the safety of their room. They held the lightbulb at arm's length, covering their eyes to protect them, and they dropped it. The sound of glass shattering was fairly quiet, and Morgan crouched down, looking over the pieces with an appraising eye.
Very carefully, slender fingers picked out the filament and put it in a box along with several shards of glass of a particular shape and sharpness.
"Hey, are you ok?"
An unexpected voice startled the teen and they flinched, breaking the shard of glass they held. "Fuck." They swore in a hushed tone, looking at their sliced palm before turning a glare at the intruder. Angry green eyes met the golden ones, and before Alex could say anything else, he was grabbed by the smaller teen. Morgan shoved him inside, moving in with him and closing the door to the balcony, peering through the glass.
Alex stared at the other in surprise, not sure what was going on. "What a-"
"Hush!" And angry whisper cut the young hero off, and he swallowed, shifting to try and see what the other was looking at.
Alex didn't understand. Could there be a safer place than this yard? It was full of high tier heroes, and even if all of them failed, he was here. The most powerful hero ever. Nothing could possibly pose a threat.
"Is everythi-" he grunted as a hand clapped over his mouth, silencing him again. The cloying scent of blood from the other's wound filled his nose as he simply stared at the other.
A moment of silence passed before Morgan gave a sigh of relief. The smaller body started to relax as they pulled their hand away, turning another glare to the hero. "What the fuck was that?" They hissed, still speaking in hushed tones as they started to wrap their bloody hand. "Are you trying to get me caught?"
Alex shook his head, holding his hands up as if to plead innocence. "No, of course not." He said, but then paused, eying the teen before him. "Wait... caught? Are you a robber?" He asked, though why a robber would risk everything for some lightbulbs, he didn't know.
Morgan snorted derisively as they tightened the knot on their bandage with the help of their teeth. "Why the fuck would I rob my own room?" they asked, taking a spare rag and tossing it to the hero. "Get that blood off your face, Alex. You look like a wannabe vampire."
Alex took the cloth and licked his lips, tasting the sharp metallic flavor of the blood. "This is your room?" He asked, wiping his face clean, though he took a moment to admire the scarlet stain on the white rag. Something about that color always got to him. Tearing his eyes away from the blood, he paused, realizing what the other had said. "Wait, how did you know my name? have we met?" He asked, looking back at the other.
Morgan snickered at the surprise. "Nope~" they purred, smirking at the other mischievously. "I just make it a point to know who is in my home... Superior."
The name made Alex fluster a bit, the young man unsure how to handle this situation. "H-how do you know my superhero name?" he asked. Normally, he was suave and poised in social interactions, but here, he felt like a child, fumbling over his words.
The smaller teen didn't seem to mind so much, rolling their eyes a bit. "Well, for one, you just outed yourself by confirming it, stupid." They said, turning away from the other to dig in their box of lightbulb parts. They pulled out some of the glass, using electrical tape to bind the shards to pencils in order to form makeshift utility knives. "But to answer your question, I hacked your phone and looked at your location history. Did you know you can turn off the tracking feature on your phone?"
Alex paused at the words. He had not known that. He didn't even realize his phone was tracking him in the first place, but he wasn't about to let this person know that. "... yes, of course, I knew that." He lied.
"You're a shit liar." Morgan noted, though they didn't look back up at the other. They were focused on a sheet of thick card stock, cutting out a few shapes using the glass blades and adding them to a larger piece.
"Yeah..." Alex was transfixed, watching the other work. He didn't understand it, but Morgan clearly had a plan. Golden eyes followed the motions as pieces were placed so precisely and fastened with thin round disks which were connected by silver lines to some sort of circuit.
Morgan seemed totally content to work in silence as they started fastening the light filament to a battery with electrical tape to create some sort of wildly unsafe contraption.
Finally, Alex broke the silence. "So why are you hiding in here anyway, and not out at the party."
The young hero quickly regretted asking when he got an angry huff from the other. "Because I want nothing to do with that stupid fucking party." Morgan grumbled, before pointing at their door with their creation, which was beginning to glow white with heat. "And also, I'm locked in here." They added, putting on some glasses and turning back to their card stock.
Alex looked at the door and paused at the sight of multiple high-quality locks, making it look more like the entry to a prison cell than a bedroom. He was stunned for a moment, before slowly turning back to Morgan. "...why?" was all he could think to say.
The faint smell of smoke and a soft sizzling sound filled the air as Morgan used their contraption as a makeshift soldering iron. They gave an uncaring shrug at the question as they worked on their circuit board. "When my father said I was going to be announced as Chad's sidekick today, I told him to eat glass." They said honestly, though that was only the beginning of that fight. No need to ruin their father's reputation with the whole truth... yet.
Alex blinked in surprise, having assumed the other would want to be a hero. Without fully thinking it through, he asked. "Oh? Did you want to be someone else's sidekick?"
Morgan took off their glasses and angry green eyes locked on the hero. "I would eat the glass myself before I became anyone's sidekick." They hissed.
The glare was enough to make Alex lean back a bit and he cleared his throat. "Oh... I see... sorry." He said, relaxing a bit when the other went back to the circuit. He couldn't help but lean in, trying to get a better look at what the other was doing. "Why are you using that instead of a soldering iron?" He asked.
Morgan didn't even look up as they finished up the circuit. "I had to get creative when Father stole my tools." They said, pushing the other back with their elbow. "Move, you're blocking the light."
Alex backed up, allowing the light from the party to shine on the other once more. "Sorry." He said, looking the strange thing over. "What are you making anyway?"
"It's a prototype for a drone." Morgan said, pulling back and carefully setting the makeshift soldering iron aside to cool. They pulled a remote control out from under the bed. A few lever presses and the paper started to move. Long, pointed legs came out from each corner of the main rectangle and they lifted it like wobbly spider legs. "It works..." Morgan breathed, and Alex looked over to see a stunning, bright grin on the other's face.
"It does!" Alex chimed, trying to share in the other's excitement as the drone awkwardly lowered itself once more. There was a moment of hesitation as he turned back towards the other. "What is it?"
The previously sullen and grumpy teen was suddenly animated and passionate. Alex couldn't look away. "I call it the spider card." They said excitedly. "The actual drone will be much smaller; like, the size of a credit card. An- and it folds up flat so you can slip it through cracks or- or under doors and it will be able to unlock doors, remove nails or screws, and even pick rudimentary padlocks. With this, you can escape capture, or break into a villain's lair undetected!"
As the other went on, Alex could feel his heart being stollen. He was utterly smitten by this strange and wonderful person. "That sounds amazing." He whispered, watching the other pull out a pad of paper.
"Now to start the coding." Morgan said, starting to write strange strings of letters and symbols that Alex didn't understand.
The young hero caught himself staring after a moment and he shook his head, clearing his throat a little with a blush. He shifted to look at the door once more, trying to control himself. "So... Why so many locks?" he asked, glancing back at Morgan. "It's like a prison cell."
"Oh please." Morgan laughed. "It's way more secure than a prison cell. And that's because I keep escaping every time my parents lock me in here."
Alex blinked in surprise and arched a brow. "This happens a lot?"
Morgan nodded, going back to their code. "Yeah." They said casually. "Basically, anytime I do something they don't approve of, which is pretty often."
"That's fucked up..." Alex said, getting only an affirmative grunt in response. He looked around the rest of the room, seeing many golden trophies and medals on the walls. He stood up to examine them closer, seeing science fair, engineering, robotics, fighting, racing, and obstacle courses. Quite a variety, and every one of them was first place. "You really don't like second place do you." He said, glancing back at the other with a friendly smile.
Morgan shrugged at the words dismissively. "Yeah well... If I want to be allowed to do something, I have to be the best at it. ...And even that might not be enough."
The words saddened Alex a bit, but he still smiled at the other. "Ah... I see." He said. "Well, I'm impressed, if that helps."
Morgan paused at the words and sat up a bit, eying the hero and making him a bit nervous. "I don't require your approval..." They said, and Alex shifted a bit, rubbing the back of his neck. He was about to apologize when Morgan visibly softened and smiled at him. "But thank you." They said, returning to their work.
Alex's mouth went dry as the image of that smile burned its way into his memory. He tried to think of something charming to say, but words escaped him, and he simply stood there.
"So." Morgan's voice snapped him back to reality. "Why are you here and not mingling at the party with all the other hoity toity superheroes?"
Alex chuckled a bit and smiled. "Well, I was worried you were trying to jump off of the balcony at first. And now... now I'm just trying to figure you out."
Morgan chuckled and turned a smirk to the other. "Good luck." They said. "I take great pride in being hard to figure out."
A beeping noise interrupted Alex's laughter at the quip, and suddenly, the smaller teen was animated once more. Morgan shoved everything under the bed haphazardly, damaging the prototype in their sudden panic.
"What's going on?" Alex asked, as the locks on the door started clicking open.
"Shh, that's my parents. Hide!" Morgan hissed, grabbing the hero and shoving them into the closet. "Stay quiet." They slammed the door, just as their dad walked in, visibly furious.
"Where is he?" The older hero demanded, glaring around the room.
Morgan turned around, as casual as can be. "Where is who, father?" they asked, grunting as they were shoved harshly out of the way.
"Don't you play dumb with me!" The man snarled, yanking open the closet door. A few stray items fell out of the messy closet, and he reached in to grab the person shaped form he saw, dragging it out into the light. The sight of a sewing mannequin with a half-tailored suit made the man growl in anger. He threw it down and continued to search the closet, finding no signs of life.
Morgan simply stood, internally relieved, but not showing it on their deadpan face. "Are you quite finished, father?" They asked, crossing their arms.
They didn't flinch even as the man turned a glare to them. "You can't fool me, Morgan. I know he was here." The hero accused, squaring up to the teen. "Alex Stewart and his heathen mother are banned from this house, and if I catch you fraternizing with him, so help me God, you'll be locked in this room until the day you die!"
Morgan stared, expression unchanging as the dangerous man yelled at them and stormed off. It was almost funny to the teen, especially the threat. "Yeah... good luck with that..." They grumbled.
Looking back at the ruined and empty closet, Morgan slowly started to put everything back. They picked up the mannequin, noting the damage done to their suit before slowly setting it back amongst the clothes. "Thank you." He whispered to Alex, not caring whether the other heard.