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He had finally done it. He’d finally become the powerful, evil overlord he’d always dreamed of being and worked so hard to be. He had control of a large city with thousands of people, and he had already established a headquarters in the City Hall. More importantly, his second-in-command, his closest friend, had finally come back after a long time away, from making arrangements to bring all of their things to the new headquarters in the city.
As soon as he saw the other man step through the door, he rushed forward, grinning, and hugged him.
“Davon, you did it, I always believed in you.” Ashton, his best friend and his loyal second-in-command, hugged him tight and whispered in his ear, laughing. Davon hugged back and put his hand on the back of Ashton’s head, deliriously happy and still a little disbelieving about everything that had happened.
“I’ve always believed in us. We’re better as a team, and I’ve missed having you here to advise me the past few weeks.”
Ashton pulled back for a moment and looked Davon straight in the eyes. “You know you deserve this, right?” When Davon hesitated for a moment, he went on. “Because you absolutely do. And I’ll be with you the whole way, Davon, I’m not going anywhere.”
He swallowed the lump in his throat and squeezed Ashton’s arm. He didn’t know what to say, so he blurted out, “I told you, it’s not Davon, it’s—”
“—His Highness, Overlord of Misery, I know,” Ashton grinned. He was looking at Davon so fondly, like he knew how grateful he really was, and Davon couldn’t help smiling back.
After a moment of silence, Ashton spoke again. “So… what do you want to do now that you’ve achieved all your evil plans?”
Laughing, Davon opened his mouth to reply—he had so many evil plans still to achieve! This was only the beginning! He only wished he could find a partner in love and evil who would be as diabolical as he was… —when a minor henchman burst through the heavy door of his headquarters.
“Sir! Your Highness, Mr. Overlord of Misery, sir!” The man looked nervous and out of breath.
“Ah, you must be the new recruit! You don’t need to be so nervous, just Your Highness or Overlord of Misery will do.” He heard Ashton laugh quietly, and turned to grin at him, feeling wonderfully carefree. He was the Evil Overlord of this city, what could possibly happen now?
“Your Highness, there’s someone here to see you. Says he’s a superhero and his name’s… the Confident Savior.”
“…The Confident Savior? Really?” Davon wanted to laugh. Who would use a ridiculous title like that?
“He doesn’t even have a proper superhero suit, sir, should I just tell him to go away?”
“Yes, just get rid of him,” Ashton sighed, waving a hand dismissively. “We really don’t need to deal with this today, do we? We’re celebrating—”
“Wait, wait, wait, we should at least hear the man out, yes?” Davon asked. It had been so long since he’d encountered a superhero brave enough to come directly to his headquarters. He glanced meaningfully at Ashton for his agreement, and Ashton raised an eyebrow.
“If you want to, sir,” Ashton shrugged, “you have the final say. But I think this will just waste your time.”
The superhero calling himself the Confident Savior was very young, hardly more than fifteen years old. It was clear he was intimidated by Davon’s all leather outfit, his cape, and the boots that made his already tall frame even taller.
Ordinarily, he would be loath to let anyone who opposed him so brazenly live, but he was even more loath to harm someone so young. He let the young man go with a few exaggerated threats to scare him off. Perhaps he would grow up to be a worthy opponent and live up to the name Confident Savior.
“You deserve to relax and enjoy the security of your position now,” Ashton told him later, and Davon couldn’t help but agree. Everything was almost perfect, but there was something missing still…
“Yes,” he murmured thoughtfully, “now I can focus on other things.”
Ashton tilted his head to the side, smiling. “What other things?”
Ashton knew so much about Davon, almost everything in fact. One thing Davon hadn’t talked to him about in detail, though, was just how badly he wanted a life partner, a soulmate.
“I want to meet people,” he said vaguely. “Probably not from anywhere nearby. But I want to meet someone who shares my passions… for evil, and—and, life.”
Who would understand that, though? It wasn’t like there was a dating app for evil people, and what normal man or woman would want to be with someone who enjoyed being an evil overlord?
“Oh.” Did Ashton sound disappointed? He was a little hesitant when he spoke again. “Do you really need to meet someone else for that?”
“Well,” Davon stuttered a little, embarrassed, “I’d like to meet someone for more, for—for romance as well.”
There was a pause, and then Ashton smiled a little. “Again,” he said, quieter, “do you need to meet someone else for that?”
Davon’s mind went blank for a moment. What could he say to that?
Did he really need to meet anyone else? Could he really—?
“Davon,” Ashton said quietly. He put his hands on Davon’s upper arms to get his attention. “You don’t need to say anything. Don’t make the decision now.” His face was earnest, and his eyes were very soft and dark. Davon nodded, but he could feel himself coming to the decision already.
The next day, the Confident Savior was back.
Now, the superhero was overly cocky for some reason, like he hadn’t run away just the day before. He started by monologuing about how he was going to defeat Davon and his reign of evil, and Davon sighed and set his ray gun to wipe memory. He wanted to give his adversaries somewhat of a chance, so he just wiped the man’s memory of the past hour, in the middle of what was turning out to be a rather well thought-out speech. But, he’d promised Ashton it wouldn’t take long, and he was a man of his word, so he didn’t have time to wait for speeches.
The blast from the ray gun knocked the Confident Savior unconscious, and Davon ordered a henchman to take him back into the city where he would wake soon, having forgotten all about the incident. He had defeated the superhero easily, and it seemed that there were no more obstacles in his way, at least for now.
As he went back inside, he realized he still needed to finish organizing his office, and give Ashton the full tour of what he’d done with the place so far. He glanced around, because the other man had been right there, when his boot accidentally knocked something across the tile floor. It was a rock, and it had something tied to it with string; a folded piece of paper.
Confused, he bent down to pick it up. It was a note, and a terrible feeling of foreboding came over him. Where the hell was Ashton?
GIVE IT BACK OR HE DIES TOMORROW
That was all. It was written in sketchy black marker, and that detail somehow made the message seem even more threatening. Everything started to come together in a sickening way.
How could this have happened only a day after Ashton confessed to loving him? And Davon hadn’t even gotten to say it back yet…
For the next hour, Davon wracked his brain, trying to think of what the note could mean, and coming up completely blank. None of his useless henchmen had any ideas either, and so he had to search the city.
Clearly, the Confident Savior had only been a distraction for someone else to carry out this larger plot. Davon ordered a small army of henchmen to figure out who the Confident Savior’s friends were and where they lived, and soon enough, they had a few names.
It took a long time of searching before he found Ashton, but eventually and fairly obviously, he did find him, in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.
He was handcuffed in a chair and gagged, and he had a bruise on his cheekbone. His shoulders and arms looked a little awkward where they were positioned behind him, and he moved them like he was trying to adjust them when he looked up and saw Davon.
Davon immediately ran forward to take off the gag between his lips, and as Ashton coughed and swallowed, trying to get rid of the dryness in his mouth, he kneeled down in front of him. “Oh my god, what happened? Are you alright? I’m so sorry, Ashton—”
“No, no, don’t apologize,” Ashton managed, his voice rough, and the words turned into another bout of coughing. He tried to move his arms, but the handcuffs clinked loudly against the rungs of the back of the chair, and Ashton made a frustrated sound.
Davon looked up, attentive, and put his hands on Ashton’s shoulders. “Ok, hang on, let me get those off you.” He walked around behind Ashton and was able to pick the lock fairly easily, with the Swiss Army knife he had designed himself, and Ashton brought his arms around in front of him a little stiffly.
There was no sign of whoever had done this—not yet, at least—so Davon took another moment to make sure Ashton was alright.
“Do you know what they wanted?” He saw the bruise on Ashton’s cheek again and touched his face lightly, cupping his other cheek so as not to hurt him. “Did they hurt you?”
“They didn’t hurt me much, but they hit me a few times when they brought me here,” Ashton said softly. He leaned into Davon’s hand a little, and Davon realized he was still touching his cheek. “And they just… wanted you to come here. I don’t know if they want to talk, or just hurt you, but they wanted to do something that would get you here.”
Davon sighed. Everything always had to be so complicated, apparently; why couldn’t these people just protest, or something normal like that? Why go straight to kidnapping?
Laughing, Ashton shook his head fondly at Davon’s clear annoyance.
“They’re always so dramatic,” Davon sighed, then he made a henchman take Ashton back to the city hall immediately.
Later—after he’d dealt with the group of vigilante superheroes, who all turned out to be almost as young as the Confident Savior—later, Davon finally kissed Ashton.
He had forced the group to leave the city and not come back, and he’d gotten a few cuts in the fight when they refused. But, he eventually managed to get them to agree. It was just another day being an evil overlord.
When he returned to the city hall headquarters, Ashton hugged him tightly for a long moment, then pulled back a little and kissed his cheek lightly. He seemed to realize what he’d done, and started to stumble through an apology.
“Ashton, it’s alright,” Davon told him, grabbing his hand. “More than alright, actually.”
“Really?” Ashton looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes, and Davon nodded. Ashton stepped closer again, slowly as if expecting Davon to reject him, and leaned in to press his lips to Davon’s. They were still holding hands, and Davon wrapped his other arm around Ashton’s waist to pull him in, very close and intimate. It was sweet, and it was perfect.
When they broke away, Davon pressed his forehead against Ashton’s shoulder.
“I hoped you would feel the same,” Ashton murmured, stroking Davon’s hair, “I really, really did. I was worried you wouldn’t, so I didn’t tell you at first, but I saw the way you looked at me, and I should’ve trusted that.”
The words hurt Davon’s heart, so he lifted his head again and kissed Ashton’s cheek. “I’m so glad you did tell me. I didn’t even realize how I felt for you until you did, but I’ve probably shared those feelings for a long time.”
Ashton smiled his beautiful smile, and they kissed and kissed for long moments. It was so sweet and so good, and it was just what Davon had always been looking for: companionship, romance, and understanding.