Finding Mr. Superhero

Chapter Fourteen

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Dedicated to BayleiFleetwood for the incredible banners. Thanks lovely! x

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            "I know you have a lot of questions," Colton began. "And I'm going to do my best to answer them. But first off I wanna start by saying how sorry I am. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I'm sorry you had to find out like that. And I'm sorry if I scared you."

I looked down at the road and took a deep breath, trying to figure out where I wanted to start. "I trusted you," I whispered. "I trusted you as The Black Phoenix and you as Colton. You've seen parts of me no one else has. I would've done anything for you. All you had to do was ask."

He nodded. "I know. And sometimes I wonder if approaching you that first day was the right thing to do. I always thought it was. It brought us closer together. We became friends; both parts of me. I've always liked you, V. When we were kids, when we were in middle school, and up until now. I've always had a crush on you. But I never had the guts to tell you that. And when I became this... this vigilante, I thought it might have been my opportunity to finally get closer to you. I feel like a different person in the costume. I feel like someone who can make a difference. You make me feel like I can make a difference."

"Do you regret talking to me that first time?" I whispered. "Do you regret saving me on this rooftop?"

"No," he told me. "I'd never regret saving you. It was one of the best things I ever did. And I never thought I'd regret coming to you as The Black Phoenix. It showed me a new part of you. It showed me a new part of me. But when you found out who I was... that I was just the weedy kid from next door... I saw in your eyes how truly scared you were of me. And that's when I began to regret it."

"You wanna know the weird part?" I whispered. "The weird part is that if you had just been honest with me from the beginning, we could've worked through this. I've been thinking a lot lately, and I realized that I'm not scared of you because you have superpowers. I'm scared because you kept them from me. I knew you as Colton. I knew you as The Black Phoenix. And yet you never, ever let me see both of them together. And it made me wonder, if you could keep those powers from me for so many years, what else can you lie to me about?"

"Nothing," he whispered, shaking his head. "You know everything now."

"If you hadn't slipped up, would you have ever told me?" I asked in a shaky voice. I could feel the familiar sting of tears again, and wondered how there were still tears left in me to cry. "If you hadn't been forced to tell me, would you have ever trusted me enough to do it for yourself?"

"Eventually," he replied. "I wanted to so much. There wasn't a day that went by when I didn't want to just rip off the mask and tell you who I was. But I wanted to protect you. I was scared of what you'd think when you saw the real me."

"I gave you so many chances to tell me," I whispered, tearing my eyes away. "I gave you so many chances to just be honest. I never lied to you. Why couldn't you just tell me?"

"I'm sorry," he told me. "I was stupid."

"I don't even know if you're one of the good guys," I whispered. "Maybe you are the villain they all say you are."

"I'm not," he responded, reaching for my hand. I quickly snatched it away and curled it into my lap. "You know that, V. Even after everything, you have to know I'm only trying to help. You have to trust me."

"How can you ask me to do that?" I cried, turning on him. "How can you ever expect me to trust you again?"

"I know you don't believe me right now," Colton replied. "But I'm gonna prove to you that I'm still the same guy."