Epithet erased "Molly's Villain AU"

who's at the door?

The first day in the house of family Potage, wasn't really eventful, mostly just chatter about moving in and a lot of rest.
Molly just really needed some sleep, she never wanted anything more than rest in her life, it feels like...
So much so, that she sleeps the entire afternoon, waking up with a shock as a small fluffy dog suddenly jumps up onto the bed, barking wildly for company.

She groans, still tired, grabbing the puppy and going to look out the window.
Darkness.
Well she shouldn't be surprised, it's winter after all...

Rubbing her eyes, she lazily asks herself:"How... late is it?"
Giovanni isn't here, so it can't be too late..
She glances up at a clock just above the bed she slept in.
7 PM, huh?
Not too late, but also not the greatest timing ever to wake up...

Yawning loudly, she sets down the floofy Jack and steps downstairs, to see what's happening.
Giovanni's mom is just standing in the kitchen, cooking soup...
Yeah, that tracks.

Molly doesn't want to disturb her concentrated humming, so she quietly sneaks through the doors to take a look into the livingroom.
The fire is burning again and candlelight flickers in every corner.

...How cozy.

The girl goes around the armchair to see her new brother, sitting there comfortably.
"Hey sis! How are ya?" He asks happily, ruffling her wool hair.
Molly chuckles at him, replying:"I'm good.. just nice to get some rest once in a while I guess."

Giovanni sighs a bit unsettled it seems, smiling down at her.
"Hah, ya well... how couldn't you be feeling better with such a great new bro by your side?" He jokingly speaks, full of pride and goofiness.

And then, a bell rings.
"GIO, GET THE DOOR, I'M COOKING" Mom shouts out of the kitchen, sounding annoyed.
The villain in question rolls his eyes, standing up and heading to the door.
"Who on earth could be here this late..." He mutters under his breath, opening it.

Molly peaks out of the living room, only to be surprised at the sight of... some random guy with very poofy brown hair and a band-aid on his nose.
He seems familiar somehow, though she couldn't put her head around who it is...

"Hi man, what's up? Here to grab some cookies on the way home?" Giovanni laughs, nudging the slightly embarrassed dude.
"Hey G! Actually no... I was just hoping I could- wait. Is that the kid from the museum?" His glare now turns into utter confusion as he stares at Molly.

Wait, he knows her?
Oh, he must be one of Giovanni's Banzai Blasters!

"U-umm... hi! I'm Molly." She nervously sputters, tripping from one leg to the other.
The guy with the band-aid then decides to let it go, saying:"Hey kid, I'm Fred! Or well... you might know me as Car Crash."

Oh yeah, that makes sense.

He sounds a bit awkward, but seems to be a nice guy none the less.

"Well, her dad's a mess, so I'm taking care of her. So going back to you, what was it you want again?" Giovanni switches the topic again, so he could focus on the main issue of his friend.
"Oh yeah! Well, I... kind of... might have-- well it's not like I didn't try to- uhhh... ugh fine! I crashed my car on the way home and I was hoping you guys could give me a ride." He blabbers out, fully knowing how ridiculously cliche his story sounds, because of his name...

First there is a moment of silence.
Giovanni staring him dead in the eyes.
Then he looks more like he doesn't know wether he should be concerned, or if he should laugh.
Now he sighs...
"Alright. Give me a second." With that Giovanni forthright just pulls the door shut before his friend's nose, facepalming to himself.

"You... have a license, right?" Molly questions him as he gets some keys out of what seems like his mother's jacket.
He chuckles, "Psssshhh nAH. I'm a villain! Who needs a stupid card to drive a car when they're evil! You stay here, sis. I don't want you getting a cold... mom's car is open because some totally random guy, who I don't know AT ALL, destroyed the front window." He warmly pats Molly's head saying that, and then raises his voice to yell at his mom:"MOM CAN I BORROW THE CAR FOR A QUICK RIDE? MY FRIEND CAN'T GET HOME WITHOUT IT!!"

"ONLY IF YOU STOP BEING A COWARD AND WASH YOUR CLOTHES YOURSELF!" Mom fires back, seemingly defeating him with words.

Then he groans loudly:"FINE, BUT CRIME STILL COMES FIRST IN MY BOOK!"

"You know, I could just-" Molly is cut off by Giovanni already know what she's gonna say:"No sis, you're not going to wash my clothes because you feel like garbage doing nothing. You can do something else, which is caring about your health. That'll be all I'd want for you to do for now, alright?"

She takes a moment to process what her new brother just said, then nodding, feeling weird doing so.
She's never heard anything like this before... is it really alright to just sit back?
Watch others do work?
That's just not really the kind of person she is... but it sounds like he actually cares.
For his sake, she'll do.

Because he's here, it'll be alright.

And then, far hidden in her brain.
Deep inside her...
She sees something bright glimmering.
Burning into her heart like the sun.

Fire.

AFTER WORDS

Sorry, this is a short chapter.
The next chapter will be posted very soon though!

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