In Which the Hero of Our Story Falls For the Villain.

•{.Chapter 3.}•

hey, if i'm moving the story too fast please tell me i wanna work at a decent pace 😿

Anyway here's your food you rabid animals

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tap... tap... tap...

What the fuck is a spreadsheet? Honestly, what in God's name is a spreadsheet? This is the very thought that ran through Caleb's head as he stared at his computer screen.

tap.. tap.. tap..

He had been at this job for a good 3 years, and he still had no idea how to work Excel. At all. It was honestly embarrassing.

tap tap tap

Maybe he isn't trying hard enough to understand it?

taptaptaptaptap

Maybe he's just stupid.

taptaptaptaptaptaptap-

"Hey Caleb!"

The pen in his hand crumbled to dust as Caleb jumped in his seat. He disintegrated it thanks to Lucy's unwelcome greeting. Lucy however, didn't bat an eye and handed Caleb another pen out of her brown cardigan's pocket. "Hey, I've got something to ask you."

Okay. Deep breath in, deep breath out.

"Another question? You've really been asking me a lot of questions in the past few days." Caleb took the pen and tapped it against the desk, his free hand reached up to his face and he rested his chin on it. "I know, buutttt..." She was going to ask him for something crazy wasn't she? Of course she was, this is Lucy we're talking about.

"You know how the biggest event in superhero history is coming up soon. And you know how you're a uh... y'know." Caleb sighed, then nodded. "yep."

Lucy chuckled slightly and clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Are you gonna go to it?"

Caleb pretended to think for a second just to mess with his coworker. "No, I wasn't planning on it."

Lucy's face blanked. "Eh?"

"I said I wasn't planning on going. You know how I feel about big events."

She stayed silent for a minute, a new record! A small sigh escaped her. "I hate to do this, but you've given me no other choice..." Oh god. "You know for a fact that as long as the proper contracts are signed, then you can invite a person that isn't a hero as your plus-one. I've done all of that, we both know it well."

Caleb nodded once. "Yep."

"And another thing is that the event more resembles some random monarch's ball rather than your average house party. That means that not only will there be fancy food, but also that there's more space to get rid of that cramped feeling, and no loud music. Plus, I'll be with you, so if the scenario happens where you feel overwhelmed I can escort you to a safe space. I've got plenty more reasons on why we should go to this, but we'd be standing here all day if I decided to list them."

Caleb's expression stayed completely unreadable. "You just want to see superheroes without their masks."

"Yes! Obviously! But this is also the one time where I have an excuse to wear an overly fancy dress, and see other pretty girls in overly fancy dresses." Lucy was staring at him with doe eyes at this point, trying to get him to change his mind.

"...Fine-" Before the man could even finish he was cut off by an excited squeal and a hug. "Thank you! So, talk more about this during our break?" After Lucy let go of Caleb he shrugged and waved his 'self-appointed best friend' away. "Yeah, sure, now let me work please." She let out a small laugh and nodded, then walked away with an obvious bounce in her step.

Lucy Miller, ladies and gents, the one lady that can get anything she wants by doing an entire improvised debate in under 5 minutes.

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Caleb tapped his foot impatiently, waiting in front of the vending machine as the giant electric brick struggled to accept the 5 dollar bill he shoved in it in exchange for the last bag of sour gummy worms.

He took it out and smoothed it multiple times, then put it back in the vending machine. Once it actually did accept the money, the bag got stuck.

Caleb's eye twitched, and he had to stop himself from either picking up the vending machine and throwing it, or just disintegrating the glass so he could just reach through and grab the gummy worms.

He kicked the side of the vending machine, hard enough to leave a small dent, and the bag fell.

Before he could actually get to the fruit of his efforts, Lucy came trotting up behind him.

"Hi Caleb!"

"..Hey Lucy."

Caleb bent down and picked up the gummy worms, opening the bag. I swear you could see Lucy's pupils dilate. "Can I have one?"

Her question was met with Caleb turning away from her and going to sit on the employee room couch.

"...Grosero.." Lucy didn't complain about the worms any further, and she sat next to her coworker/friend.

"So! The gala, let's talk about it." Lucy said as Caleb popped a gummy worm into his mouth. She crossed one leg over the other. "The event doesn't have a specific dress code. That being said, what are you gonna wear?"

Caleb half shrugged. "Probably just my hero suit."

"But that's so basic!"

"And?"

Lucy groaned. "Whatever. I'm probably gonna wear an evening dress. It'll be a rose pink, fading into white." Caleb hummed. "Fancy."

"Yeah, that's the point. Anyway.."
Lucy started on a long tirade about what she was gonna wear, which frankly, Caleb zoned out through the whole thing.

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*Knock Knock*

The hidden door opened, and Lilly strode in. "Phase one of Plan A has been executed, my good sir!" She said as she fake-saluted to the fairly sleep deprived person on the couch.

"You think I don't know that already? I spent half an hour on those company cameras listening to your dress rant." They muttered, yellow eyes narrowing as they met Lucy's lilac ones.

Lucy crossed her arms. "Well ya don't have to be rude about it, Dylan! I got us in, and that's important."

The person, who was apparently named Dylan, waved her off. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Phase One's done, great job."

"You know, sometimes I regret being related to you." Lucy jabbed before walking off, into a room connected to the main area.

Dylan rolled his eyes and spoke. "Open Log 263." A small window popped up on his laptop as he said that.

"Day number 18. We're in."

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1,084 words! This took longer to come out than it should have :/