Unlawful Good- A Last Life Superhero AU

~4~

Grian slammed his bow down onto the table, swearing under his breath as he pulled the face mask off.

"Grian? You okay?" Velox asked tentatively.

"No, I'm not!" He snapped. The dirty blonde paused. "Sorry, sorry, misdirected anger. I'm just... I hate them! I hate them, I hate them, I HATE THEM SO MUCH!" He didn't realise his voice had been rising to a shout, and he felt tears start to form in the corner of his eyes. "They're so smug, and they think they're better than us because they're heroes, and they think they can do anything they want, and they..." He trailed off, leaving what he wanted to say unsaid as he took a shaky breath. They were meant to be there for me. They were meant to be my friends.

He heard a sympathetic voice from the person he expected the least. "I know, Grian. I know they were meant to be our friends, and I know it sucks how much they've changed, but you still have us. You will always have us." Speculum reassured him, pulling his own face mask off.

Grian nodded quietly, wiping the beginnings of tears from his eyes with a shaky laugh. "You're right. I just... yeah, you're right. Sorry, guys." He added to Velox and Luna awkwardly.

"It's fine." Velox said with a smile, removing his mask.

"Yeah, we don't like them either." Luna added with a laugh as she removed her mask as well.

Grian grinned. "I guess you're right. So... nobody else think it was odd that there's just villains randomly looking around shops? But not doing anything?"

"It is odd." BigB admitted with a shrug. "But the the most we can do now is just keep an eye on the situation."

"It's almost like they're looking for attention." Pearl muttered with a frown. "Like they want a fight. I'm gonna go check it out real quick- have a look for some villains. And see how badly Warlock and Engineer got beaten." She sat down in her chair, closing her eyes. When she opened them again, they were pure white, showing that her... mind? Spirit?... had left her body to go look around- in other words, her power, astral projection.

He glanced at his pockets as his phone started ringing, grabbing the phone and leaving the room with a muttered excuse, his wings vanishing. Grian closed the door behind him, answering the call. "Hey, Ren." He said with a smile, even though he knew his brother couldn't see him.

"Hey, Gri! How's your day been?" Ren's voice rang out from the phone, and Grian winced, turning the volume down slightly.

"It's been... okay, I guess. How's yours been?" He asked. He knew his brother ran some sort of business, he just wasn't quite sure what kind of business. Grian knew it had to be a popular one though- Ren certainly made a lot of money.

Heck, Grian's brother was the one who kept him from going bankrupt while he 'looked for a job'- being a vigilante didn't exactly leave space for a full-time or even part-time job.

"Okay. Two of my employees got in an argument with a bunch of idiots that interrupted them while they were working, but they smoothed it over, so it's all good." Ren reassured him. "Speaking of which, I'm hanging out with some work friends later and I was wondering if you wanted to join me. It's a chance for you to make some more friends, and most of them are pretty boring, so..."

"I mean... I don't have anything else planned, so... I guess?" Grian agreed slightly warily. "Where and when?"

"The tech shop downtown in about an hour. One of my friends owns it- he only works with us part time." Ren informed him.

"Okay. I'll see you there then, I guess." The dirty blonde said with a grin. "Bye."

"Bye!" There was a beep as his brother ended the call.

——

Grian knocked on the door of the shop slightly nervously. "Um... hello?"

The door opened and he was greeted by Ren hugging him before jumping back slightly excitedly. "Grian! Glad you could make it! Come in!"

He smiled awkwardly, following his brother inside to see a group of four or five people- a man with white/gray hair, a face covering and heterochromic gray and dark orange eyes was stood in the corner, watching with amusement as a man with pale blonde hair and faded green eyes was being scolded by a brunette with dark brown eyes and a black t-shirt with a yellow 'I' on it. Grian recognised the latter as the owner of the shop they were stood in.

His gaze flicked to the corner and his eyes widened in surprise as he spotted Jimmy stood to the side, talking excitedly to somebody on the phone. "Tim?" He blurted.

Jimmy glanced up in shock. "Grian? You're Ren's younger brother?" He asked, ending the call quickly.

Ren looked between them. "You two know each other?"

"Old friends." Grian explained with an awkward gesture.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm guessing you don't know the others?" His brother asked, looking slightly amused by the whole situation.

"Not personally. I know... Impulse?" Impulse nodded. "-is the owner of the shop, although I've never spoken to him." Grian finished.

"Cool! So, you already know Impulse, and that's Etho and Martyn." The brunette gestured to the white/gray haired man and the blonde in turned.

Martyn gave him a friendly wave while he received a small nod from Etho, as if the man was simply acknowledging his presence.

"I can't believe you work for my brother." Grian said jokingly to Jimmy as the others continued with their conversations.

"Hey, I didn't know he was your brother!" Jimmy said hastily.

"I know you didn't, Tim." Grian said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm just joking." He frowned as he heard his phone ringing and quickly answered it. "One sec- yeah, BigB?" He said in a questioning voice as he lowered the volume so nobody else could hear.

"Can you get here right now? We have a situation." His friend explained.

"Sorry, I'm hanging with Ren. Can it wait?" The dirty blonde asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, it can wait. Just wondering."

"I'll get there as soon as I can." Grian promised before ending the call and turning back to Jimmy.

Yes, I'm borrowing your Ren and Grian are brothers headcannon from your story. You know who you are /j

(Seriously tho is it okay if I use this headcannon yupVinnieWrites because I'll change it if not-)