I Am (Not) Your Hero

19

Starlette perched on the edge of the building, wind in her hair, her eyes scanning the ground, before looking up at the sky. Her knee was beyond fucked up, but the freedom? The freedom made her keep her winces to herself.

He hadn't swooped down on her yet; she didn't know why, it had been a full hour.

"You're new here."

She froze looking back at the man who seemed to sparkle. And suddenly her stomach dropped.

"I uh...don't get out much." She said simply.

"Red and white isn't out tonight, then?" He asked.

She shivered. "Haven't seen em, but he's always just...right there, isn't he?"

The man scoffed. "You're telling me?"

She nodded softly, her curls blowing over her shoulder. "Yes. I'm telling you."

He sat next to her, his feet kicking almost childishly. "So what did you come to steal?"

"Nothing yet. But I'm thinking maybe the moon?" She mused.

He smirked, but said nothing, edging away. Disappearing into the rooftop door.

• • •

"How did you find me?" She whispered.

Smite shrugged. "I'm naturally talented."

Her eye twitched.

"Doesn't that just suck for you? But it's true. In this world, no matter how hard you work, there's always going to be someone who was just...born better."

She stood and sighed her face backlit by the moon. His eyes widened and once again he felt that swelter feeling like he was being jacked out of his skin and oh...he liked it.

He liked her.

She was fierce, and honest, a little impulse but smart as whip. Unrivaled beauty, unquenchable fire. She was more than any other being he'd ever encountered. But he hated her.

He hated her because she was perfect and she reflected the brokenness of him.

The weakness rot in him.

She knew them. Could see them—they were transparent to her and so painful for him to perceive.

"You know...I'm stronger than you."

She smirked. "No shit Sherlock."

"Faster. Built tougher, better, who knows if I could even die? I am so much more powerful than you could ever be—"

"Is there a point?" She snapped.

"But you're better," "He whispered sharply. "You are...what I want to be. You are human. You are this...to me—" he frowned, drifting away as his eyes cast down in shame his tongue grappling with the truths his heart had not yet grasped.

Starlette raised her brows, standing a bit too suddenly, her knee catching. She was falling but her eyes were on him. For a moment she almost felt sorry for him. He seemed like a made monster, an aimless child was just...lost.

Trying to figure out who he was and where he belonged. But then she blinked and he was there pulling her up, setting her back on the roof top. He sat next to her, looking up at the moon.

"I accidentally made that crater when I was 8." He pointed to the moon.

She squinted, putting her hand in front of her eyes trying to further her sight. "Yeah no," she shook her head. "Can't see that."