Superheroes, Super Problems

*10* Trust

By Saturday night, Boon already returned to my house. He was visibly annoyed at something, especially after noting how juvenile Leighton and I were being (even though we were just watching movies, gossiping, and having fun while waiting for him).

"What's got your spandex in a wad?" Leighton muttered in a laugh. He glared but said nothing. He only repositioned a backpack that he carried and began dumping the contents onto the living room floor.

"Um. What am I supposed to do with all of this if my sister comes home?" I asked, gazing down at newspaper articles and files and other pieces of information.

"Hide it," Leighton answered.

"She's on a date with some guy so she won't be back soon," Boon shrugged. What? Before I could ask him, he gestured towards the pile. "This is every incident and every piece of government information on Dagger."

"How did you get all of this?"

"Vigilantes' database," he answered with a stern face. "Don't you know every superhero and villain know each other and can just look each other up?"

"Really?" Leighton asked which made me laugh for her not catching onto his humor.

"No. There's just this thing called Google," Boon scoffed. "And I pulled a few strings with the commissioner."

"Pulled a few strings?" I asked. "Aren't you one of three superheroes that aren't employed by the government?"

"That's only because they don't know our identities," he replied. "And considering the situation with Declan, they're realizing that maybe this whole identity thing is important so they can protect us."

"What's that mean?"

"Once this is all over—the Cavalier and Dagger thing, I'm giving them my name in exchange for this information."

There was a silence between us because we knew that Boon was the most arrogant superhero there was. Sure, he shied away from media like Cavalier and Siren, but in addition to that, his morals to decide whether or not to even act as a vigilant were questionable. Siren and Cavalier helped whenever they could, but with Boon, he chose carefully. But anyone could tell it was for good reason, just...no one knew what for.

"They already know your identity," Leighton spoke. "It's the government; they have surveillance and identity detection in Las Vegas so I'm sure they have it here for some masked heroes and bad guys committing crimes. They already know that you're Sutter."

"I'm not Sutter," he narrowed his eyes. Leighton looked at me. She wanted my confirmation. I only shrugged. Cavalier and Boon both had characteristics of Sutter, but neither completely suited the actual Sutter Layton because I didn't know who that was anymore. The Sutter I fell in love with and the Sutter that hated me in public were two completely different men and how could I figure out who a superhero was if I didn't even know who he was?

"Then who are you?" Leighton pressed.

"Why does it matter?" Boon questioned. "You needed me and I'm here."

"How are we supposed to trust someone who won't trust us with his name?" I asked.

"You're asking me that as if you didn't fall in love with someone who also didn't tell you their name for a year," Boon retorted to me.

"That was different—"

"Aha!" Leighton clapped. "So you admit it—you're in love with him."

I rolled my eyes because I guessed it was true.

"So that's it," Boon sighed. "You're in love with him," he repeated and nodded slowly like I had made some revelation that wasn't already being assumed. He got closer to me and searched my eyes, making me think there was something hidden. "I am going to make sure we find him, okay? You just have to trust me."

"Fine," I said. "I'll trust you until we find him."

"I have one condition," he suddenly revealed. "When we figure out where he is, let me handle it."

Leighton scoffed pathetically.

"If Cavalier and I can't take on Dagger, I doubt a couple of teenage girls can," he said. "And even if we'd get out alive, Declan would kill me for even bringing you near something that dangerous."

"What happened to not being a sidekick?" Leighton asked, making us question the relevance. "Sidekicks answer to their superiors. Sounds like you're making it as if putting her in danger would disobey orders from a certain superior named Cavalier."

"It has nothing to do with superiority or orders," Boon said to her. "Declan's lost a lot. I'm not going to be part of him losing someone else."

Boon's eyes connected with mine and I was seriously wondering every little thing about Declan. He had shared with me as much of his life as he could without revealing his true identity and mentioned he had almost lost his Mom in the accident which caused a major rift in his family. The thought of losing his mother, alone, was enough for me to sympathize and get familiar with him because I had experienced the same thing years ago when my own mother died. I could understand Boon's protection.

"I don't know how you did it," Leighton told me later that night hours after Boon had dropped off all the Dagger cases.

"Did what?"

"Fall for someone who wouldn't tell you such a big part of their life," she clarified.

I shrugged. "It was just a name. Everything else was real enough for me."

"But he had a life—hell, he had a girlfriend to hide from you," she reminded.

"Okay, I get that," I said and flashed my eyes over to her. "You say you used to be in the spotlight for your mom, right? You're telling me that you never had an instance when you just wanted to start over where no one really knew who you were, yet somehow you were able to be your complete self with them? Because that sounds a whole lot like how we're friends."

"Point taken..." she nodded and then smiled with a narrowing of her eyes. "Wait, you're not in love with me right?"

"No, I'm not in love with you, brat," I laughed.

"But you're in love with Declan right? Or do you only prefer him as Cavalier?" she teased.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I definitely love him as Cavalier...things were easier with his secrets. I'm not exactly worried about Dagger now that he knows who Declan is, but I mean, everyone else knows who he is now. I guess I just don't know because if he was that good at keeping a secret for a year, who is he really?"

"I think he's the same guy you see in school and meet in your room," she hoped. I scoffed.

"So the boy who won't kiss me, but will tolerate a relationship with Emma?" I laughed.

"Okay, maybe not exactly who he is in both places," she finally gave in and we shared a laugh. She glanced down at her phone and decided it was time for her to start heading home, but as I ordered the newspaper articles after she left, I was noticing something they all had in common.

The dates.