“Well, here we are. Our very own love nest,” Fern grinned at me.

“L-l-love nest…”

I stared at the building that would become my home for the foreseeable future. One gotten for us by the hero association. Obviously, I had insisted that I and Fern share a living space.

But… Love nest.

My mind started going to dangerous places before I shook myself out of it and strolled inside, bags in hand.

Our lo- apartment was one of the modern ones with a remote controller for the blinds, a digital box thingie to adjust the temperature, and even a toilet with a built-in radio! The old place I had with Troy was a garbage can in comparison.

We took a while to settle in. Unpacked our bags, filled the wardrobe with our clothes, marvel at how many channels the toilet radio had, each pick a side of the bed…

“Well, there’s just one bed.” She smirked while my mind set off on yet another adventure I had to shake myself out of.

“I… I’ll take the left half!” I pointed at it.

“Alright, then I’ll pick… the left half!”

“Uh… I just said…”

She caught me in a hug from behind.

“Who’s to say we can’t sleep on the same side of the bed, hmm?”

“I…! I’m not ready for that yet!” I squeaked out.

“Are you sure about that…? I thought that’s why you rushed to use Fractal’s spa…”

She was cornering me! I needed to escape!

“I-I-I… I’m gonna go check out the news!”

I skillfully wrangled myself out of her embrace and retreated to the living room where our cinema-sized TV sat. I ignored the laughter behind me.

I idly turned on the TV and went to unpack the last things from my bags while cooling my burning face down.

“-- ank employees said the robbers mentioned ‘Mama’, connecting these girls as the members of the horrifying cult that has taken root in the city in the past month.”

I froze in the spot and looked at the TV. Staring back at me were poorly taken photos of masked girls who had to be in their teens at best.

“The cult, huh?” Fern said with a frown as she entered the room.

I didn’t reply and kept watching the news report.

“It makes you wonder where those girls come from? How does the cult leader get a hold of this many superpowered young girls? It doesn’t seem normal.”

“With this, we can finally afford coffee for Mama so she’s not so tired all the time!” the rainbow-colored girl in the blurry security footage shouted.

The footage cut back to the reporters sitting at their desks.

“What do you think it means? Some kind of metaphor?” one of them asked.

The TV turned off. I glanced at Fern, noticing the remote in her hand. “I think we should relax for today. The meeting is tomorrow, so there’s no point in stressing ourselves before we know more.”

I nodded and got back to unpacking.

Once done, we decided to cuddle in front of the TV for a bit, watching random cartoons to wind down. Something about a mouse and an elephant who got lost in a labyrinth and had to work together to escape. I wasn’t really paying attention.

“So, how do you like our new place?” She quirked her eyebrow at me.

“Yeah, I love it. It’s great. So much better than the place I had with Troy.” I smiled and murmured, “And also, you are here instead of him…”

“Mmm, I don’t mind having a permanent place to live in either. Switching secret bases was a pain, and even after we got together, I never really had a place I could call home.”

I hugged her closer instead of replying.

“Still can’t believe just how drastically my life has changed since I met you,” my girlfriend said. “If it wasn’t for you I would still be running around as a wanted villain.”

“Yeah… mine changed a ton too.” I smiled at her.

“All because I infected you with a celebrity crush when holding you hostage.” She smirked.

“U-uhm…”

“Honestly! How does that even happen?”

“Well, uhm… You were just really… Kinda like a knight in shining armor?” I scratched my cheek.

She laughed.

“Of course. Except the armor was my costume, and the horse was my wolf?”

“Y-yeah…?” Dammit, I was getting cornered again.

“I think you are the first person in history to call a villain’s costume shining armor.” She shook her head with a grin. ”It’s never boring around you.” She surprise-attacked my cheek with her lips. “That’s why I love you.”

I turned red.

“I-I u-uh!” I shot up out of the couch. “I’m gonna go explore the neighborhood! Scout out the villains!”

Her smirk didn’t disappear. “Sure. Don’t forget to call me whenever you accidentally meet and befriend Mama or topple Neutra’s organization.”

“That’s not gonna happen!” I stopped for a second. “Probably…”

She laughed again.

“You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did. You are always in the perfect place at the perfect time, accidentally doing everything just right. Maybe you’ll solve all the villain problems this city faces before we even get to tomorrow’s first meeting.”

“I’m just gonna go take a walk! Nothing crazy is gonna happen! Promise!”

“Alright, sure.” She shrugged. “Well, I’m gonna unpack the rest of my things in the meantime and then prepare something for dinner.”

“Alright, see you when I return!” I waved and set off.

Once the entrance door slammed behind me, I let out a sigh and shook my head.

Accidentally meet and befriend Mama? As if that would happen.

BottledChaos