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Awareness slowly flooded back into him, a beam of light shining directing onto his face.
He groaned, and attempted to roll over. No dice, as his limbs were trapped amongst the cotton soft sheets.
The hangover headache hit him like a truck, like a million needles were piercing his skull. As fun as last night was, X was starting to regret the sheer amount of alcohol he had consumed.
Another groan, although softer, as he opened his eyes.
The room wasn't familiar, and although he had grown used to waking up in strangers' bedrooms after a night of drinking, he usually at least remembered who.
The smell of raspberries and cotton candy flooded his senses, the scent heavy as he finally registered the soft hissing from the bathroom. The shower was on.
He glanced over to the bedside cabinet, a glass of water and a pack of painkillers had been left on the side. How courteous, he thought.
Reaching over to the side, X carefully extracted the painkillers from their packet and downed them dry. He coughed lightly, and took a sip from the water. It was slightly warm.
He sighed, and went about extracting himself from the tangled mess of blankets and covers that were left on the bed.
The room itself was mostly empty, he observed, blue tinted and dotted with gym equipment. Other miscellaneous machines filled the area, strange enough he couldn't guess their purpose, especially not with the pounding behind his eyes.
The windows which reached from floor to ceiling had been covered, although without his glasses on he couldn't tell if it was with curtains or the glass itself was tinting dark. Regardless, small scattering of light shone through gaps and made him once again cover his face.
He squinted, and turned away.
Considering he was still in hero tower, and the various shades of blue that decorated the room, it was very likely he was in E-souls room.
In E-Souls bed.
While E-Soul showered just off in another room.
He felt his face glow.
Before he could even begin to process this, he heard a hiss as the shower head turned off, plunging the room into a sudden silence.
His heart plummeted straight into his stomach as the sounds of rustling, and the wet pitter patter of drops hitting the floor could be heard.
X panicked, registering for the first time his own state of undress, his shirt discarded somewhere on the floor. He dived under the covers to hide as the shower door opened.
He could hear the sound of running water much clearer now, as E-Soul stepped into the room.
"You're awake," E-Soul observed, voice deep and unaccompanied by the electrical hum that usually danced amongst his words.
If it was possible for his heart to fall out of his body, it was a near thing at that moment.
Undressed, Left in E-souls bed while he showered, In the same room with a helmetless E-soul. It was almost too much.
It reminded him way too much of a short story about him and the other hero he had once read online, only this was real.
"What are you doing?"
It was hard to imagine what the other hero looked like, but he could vividly imagine the disapproving look he was sending him.
"Attempting to maintain what little dignity I have left," X mumbled, burrowing further under the covers.
E-Soul hummed as he padded across the room, walking past the bed to the dresser on the other side. Every step closer making X tense up more.
It was getting hot under the covers. He crawled out the other side, landed on the floor with a quiet thud, and breathed in the clear air. It was much cooler now the shower had turned off.
If he was lucky, he could gather his clothes and dash out the door before the awkward conversation took place. Judging the distance from his shirt to the door, it wouldn't take long at all-
"You can stay," he paused, and heard the quiet click of a drawer opening. "If you want to wash your clothes.”
Reflexively, he twitched and turned in shock. Immediately his brain joined his heart in attempting to escape his body.
E-Soul was dressed in nothing but a towel, although from his digging around in the dresser this was likely to soon change.
X’s eyes traced the numerous scars which decorated his body, mostly faded by age. One scar, gnarled in appearance, snaked up his spine and disappeared into his hair. The muscles on his back tensed as E-Soul bent over slightly to reach further into the dresser. Every movement emphasized the hard work the other hero put into his job.
X gulped as he watched droplets of water slide down those powerful muscles, only stopping as they reached the top of E-Souls towel.
He stared for a moment, before tearing his eyes away.
The number one hero, famous for his snark and wit, cocked his hip to the side slightly, and affected a smug look.
"I can wash my clothes back in my room, no need to trouble yourself. We're about the same size right? Just lend me some of yours."
X let the words settle, before realising what he just said.
It's fine, he mentally reassured himself, he might have proverbially put his foot in his mouth, but he can still salvage this.
It's fine, he just needs to-
"Okay.”
It only took E-Soul a few minutes of digging through his drawers to find something that he was willing to lend the other hero, but it felt like days with how long X stood there, frozen.
He could only think to himself about how quiet the other man was, even when in his own private quarters.
X was dramatic, his every action filled to the brim with personality and charm, always performing for an invisible crowd, one known only to himself. Maybe it was a by-prouduct of being a glorified celebrity for so long, but regardless, he found it fun to overact and make some noise when alone.
But E-Soul remained silent, not even a hum escaped his mouth as he finally pulled the t-shirt out of the depth of his drawers.
E-soul began his walk towards the doorway. The walk was slow, leisurely even, and gave X plenty of time to glance over the other hero's face for the first time.
‘Pretty’ was X’s only thought.
It was strange to be calling a man as tall and muscular as E-Soul pretty, but there was no other word that came to mind.
His face was littered with scars, similarly to the rest of his body. But in spite of this, or maybe even because of this, this man could only be described as pretty.
They locked eyes.
E-Soul was still wet from the shower, with water droplets tracing along his numerous facial scars. His eyes were the same shade of blue as his suit, X imagined they would look even prettier contrasted against the light of morning.
X shook himself away from that thought, and took the offered T-shirt. The fabric was soft and worn, and of course, blue in colour. He would be more surprised at this point if E-Soul owned clothing in any other colour. Still, the shirt was clearly well-loved. He smiled, thankful.
E-Soul nodded in response and began to pull away, likely to finish getting dressed, but X reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder. It felt like he had placed his hand directly onto a wire, tingles of electricity running through his hand. They both stilled.
Before he could second guess himself, X rubbed his hand through his hair and asked. “I didn't say anything weird last night, did I?”.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them, as the taller man seemed to think over his words. His expression appeared thoughtful.
A good sign at least.
“No,” E-Soul said. “Nothing weirder than normal.”
It was said in such a frank way that it took X a moment to catch the teasing undertone in his words.
“Whatever you say Blue ranger, but I don’t think mister ‘I take my helmet off once a month’ should be talking.” X sniped back, although the growing smile on his face betrayed his real feelings.
The other man hummed, his lips twitched upwards.
The moment ended when X realised he had been holding onto E-Soul for a little longer than would be normal. He released the other hero, although part of him missed the almost unnatural warmth he gave off.
His hangover had cleared up enough that he was willing to attempt small uses of his powers. With a snap, his long discarded shirt and jacket appeared in his arms, and the gifted T-shirt sat loose on him. He snapped again, and his glasses rested on the bridge of his nose.
The shirt lay loose over his shoulders, clearly made for someone with a much larger torso than himself, being around a full size too big.
Still, he appreciated the effort, this was likely the smallest t-shirt E-Soul owned.
They once again stood in the doorway in silence, the air electric.
X broke the silence by coughing into his fist.
“Well, I should get going. Places to be, people to save, you know how it is.” He said, flustered and suddenly eager to leave the room.
E-Soul hummed again, in agreement this time. He stepped away, breaking whatever moment had settled over them.
“You know where to find me if you need anything.” He muttered, turning away.
Somehow it felt like he had just failed a test.
“Right, yeah…” X mumbled, opening the door. “I'll talk to you later I suppose.”
He waited until the door had firmly closed behind him before reacting. A dismayed groan escaped his mouth.
‘Thank god for the tower's thick walls I guess’ he thought.
Given that it was likely still early in the morning, his internal clock working well despite the hangover, he could probably make it back to his floor without anybody noticing.
Just as soon as he had his morning coffee.