“Why are you staring at me?” Nora asks, a frown curling the ends of her pink lips as she wearily eyes Axel from the corner of her eye. “If you tell me that I have broccoli stuck between my teeth, I may chuck this remote at you.”

“Good thing it isn’t broccoli, then,” Axel jests lightly, barely managing to stifle a smile.

The frown painting her lips instantly vanishes, replaced with a hint of a grin that is hidden by her hand. She leans over and smacks his arm, although there is no real heat behind the action.

“You’re such a brat, and a total liar,” she retorts, but brings up her phone to check her reflection regardless. He snickers under his breath as she groans loudly, smacking him once more. “See! You liar.”

“I would never lie to such a lady,” Axel protests, dramatically pressing his hand against his chest and staring at her with mock horror at the mere idea. “That would be dastardly of me!”

Nora rolls her eyes, smirking slyly to herself. “Dastardly, indeed. Just eat your food already, you heathen.” Playfully, she tosses one of her throw pillows, which he catches easily enough with his quick reflexes.

Pointedly, Axel tears his eyes from Nora and her wicked grin and focuses on the layout of Chinese takeout, snagging a random box from her chipped wooden coffee table. It’s certainly seen better days, but he has grown rather fond of it during the past three weeks, even when it wobbles on it’s legs as if a single breeze will knock it down.

Wagging his brows, Axel stuffs the food in his cheeks to the point he is sure that he more closely resembles a chipmunk than man, and she almost chokes on her rice.

“I totally take a picture of that and post it as your wanted poster,” Nora warns, directing her metal chopsticks in his direction and waves her phone around with her free hand.

Swallowing it, he pouts in her direction. “Wow, here I am with no memories and you would defile my poster like that? And here I thought we were friends.”

“Yeah,” Nora says, canting her head to the side, “and as your friend I would defile your poster like that. You’re welcome.”

Flipping her hair over her should, Nora winks at him, jade eyes glinting with play, and focuses on the TV as she flips through the channels, absently stuffing some food in her mouth and dull nails rubbing back and forth on her chopsticks.

Chuckling, Axel returns his attention to his own food, but can’t help himself from cutting Nora glances in the corner of his eye, and he finds the meager food within his belly souring, turning heavy in his stomach and the food in his mouth congealing to something tasteless.

He can’t help but examine her profile- the soft slope of her nose, the swell of her cheekbone, shimmering jade eyes, and the pink tint to her full lips. The way she crosses her legs on the couch, feet covered by fuzzy koala socks, and her only hair cascading over her shoulders in wild waves.

It feels impossible to place Nora Adams with the villain Crimson Sparrow. There are no streaks of scarlet red among the sea of black tresses, and her shapely body is devoid of the thick black leather completed with a bird tail made of daggers, and the mask. The crimson mask that shields features and molds her countenance into something dark and unreadable. There is no twisted smirk to her blood red lips or blazing amber eyes that fester with malice.

Axel’s stomach churns, threatening to crawl up his throat and spill his secrets across the beige carpet beneath the frayed brown couch. Three weeks ago, his alter ego, Starfire, the superhero of Summerville, engaged in a battle against Sparrow, who was intent on destroying a nearby hospital.

The battle was brutal and disturbingly long, as it usually was whenever Sparrow is involved. Her tenacity and hatred for the world around her powers each of her well coordinated attacks, and she is no stranger to hand-to-hand combat, nor a stranger to her abilities. She wields them with confidence that the smaller criminals lack.

That particular attack was no different.

If Axel is completely honest with himself, he doesn’t remember too much about the fight. Blurred images of Sparrow, lips twisted with hatred and eyes blazing as she pounded into him, but he remembers the stench of garbage from the alley that they had tumbled in, or he possibly led her to keep her away from the busy streets, and pain.

A flash of white-hot pain that spreads over his head.

He woke up some thirty minutes later with no memories nor his name, and laying in the alleyway in casual clothing with a woman fluttering over him with worry. Her green eyes were glistening with concern and her small hands soft as she asks him if he is okay, and explains he hit his head, if he can remember what happened.

When he tells he can’t remember anything, not even his name, she looks horrified, but offers to bring him to the hospital which he refuses, so she instead leads him to her small apartment that more closely resembles a college woman’s dorm. It’s a single bedroom apartment with one bathroom and the walls covered with beautiful charcoal sketches of outlines of the city, sunsets, and even animals.

Including a sketch of himself. It was a sketch of Starfire. His alter ego. Of course, at the time, he didn’t know that considering he couldn’t remember his own name as he napped on the bed with sheets the color of silver, soft, and smell faintly of something floral and detergent. The bedroom walls were a soft spring green.

And a woman. A beautiful woman with obsidian black hair and displeased frown on her lips as she hovers in the doorway as if she doesn’t know what to do, or how to act. Staring at him as if he is an alien or has two heads. It was endearing as it was confusing as she fumbles to explain she was passing by and noticed him, so she had to help.

Axel, however, regained his memory two days later when she was off getting groceries. He had her small TV playing just to keep away the lingering silence that scratched at the back of his head as discomforting, but the news was playing some recap about a fight between Starfire and Crimson Sparrow, and the memory slammed back into his skull like a sledgehammer.

It didn’t take long to put the pieces together that Nora is the Crimson Sparrow to his Starfire.

He just didn’t understand why. Didn’t she know who he is? Why would she take him in and nurse him back to health? None of it made any sense, so when she arrived back home, arms laden with groceries and a wry smile on her lips, he told her he still doesn’t have his memories. A farce he planned to continue until he learns of her reasons, but so far, he hasn’t figured anything out.

It’s been three weeks.

“Flare.”

Axel tears his gaze from his plate at the name she had given him, since he “doesn’t remember” his own, raising his head to meet her curious gaze, brows knitted together in worry and lips pressed into a thin line.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” As if to prove a point, he raises his fork to his mouth and stuffs a piece of his Chinese food in his mouth. He doesn’t anything, and he resists the urge to gag, but he forces a smile to his lips and chews. “No worries.”

The frown doesn’t falter from Nora’s lips. “You don’t look fine.” She hesitates, eyes widening a fraction. “Are you remembering something? It better not be about chicken just because of Chinese food.”

Axel snorts, almost choking on his pepper chicken. He coughs, clearing his throat and places his fork down. He carefully puts his mostly empty plate back on the table before he really does drop it.

“Hilarious,” he quips, running his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but I still don’t remember anything. Chicken or otherwise.”

Axel pretends he doesn’t notice the flash of relief behind her eyes, or the way her shoulders loosen. The lopsided smile returns to her features as she stuffs her chopsticks in her rice and places it on the table. She pulls her legs close against her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

“It must be hard not remembering anything.”

Actually, I would kill to not know who you are so I can just enjoy this a little longer, Axel thinks ruefully to himself.

“It can be,” he says instead, “but it’s been kind of nice. Like… I don’t have anything to worry about, because I can’t remember what I am supposed to be doing.”

Nora’s brow knits together further, the smile faltering briefly as if the words confuse her. “Even if… even if it was important?”

Like saving the world from you? Axel flinches minutely at the thought. It’s not that it wasn’t a fair thought, but it still sends a sting to his heart that thumps in his rib cage.

Bobbing his head in agreement, Axel cants his head in her direction. “Yeah. Even then. A vacation from my own struggles,” he says, ignoring the twitch in his gut. He loved what he did, but he has to admit to himself that the past three weeks where he didn’t have to eased the tension in his taunt shoulders.

“When you out it like that, not remembering about my bills sounds pretty great,” she teases, but the emotion is a little off in her words. Her eyes are hooded and dark, the smile brittle. “Think I can be clumsy enough to bump into a wall and hurt my head so I can forget to adult?”

Axel laughs, endeared and confused, but her smile solidifies a fraction more at his laughter. She raises her legs to her chest, tucking her chin to lay on her knees as she watches him.

“That’s going to be another disappointment for you, because I don’t think so,” he replies, scrunching his nose. She sighs woefully, pouting, but reaches to take her plates when he leaps to his feet. She arches a thin brow as he gathers the plates. “I got dish duty since you were slaving away for hours making this.”

Nora snorts, the corner of her lips twitching into amusement as she cuts him a sidelong glance. Her arms tighten around her legs. “Yes, a whole ten minute walk. I don’t know how I ever could have made it. My legs practically fell off!”

“Shut up, feathers,” he jests lightly, rolling his eyes as he strides towards the kitchen. At the sharp inhale of breath, Axel can feel a cold drop of dread travel down his spine, goosebumps breaking over his arms as he realizes the grave mistake at the slip of tongue.

Feathers.

Starfire called Sparrow that to ruffle her feathers and get under her skin, but Axel never dared to refer to Nora as such.

“What… what did you just call me?” Nora asks, her voice is airy and disturbingly empty.

Axel halts in place, his chest inhaling raggedly as the cold creeps farther up his spine, settling like a rock within his gut. The thin sheen of sweat blooms over his forehead, prickling at the back of his neck as he stammers and stumbles over some form of an excuse. He carefully glances over at Nora, who is staring at him with narrowed eyes and shallow breathing.

“What do you mean?” He says quietly, laughing weakly as he places the takeout plates on the kitchen counter.

Suddenly, Nora is at the entrance of the kitchen. Her inky black hair is loose from it’s ponytail, her jade eyes dark with fear to match her bloodless expression. “No. No, don’t- don’t do that. You- you called me “Feathers”. I heard you call me that.”

Panic swells and crests within Axel’s chest as he stares at her, mouth opening and closing as he fumbles to ease the sudden tension that has grown within the small apartment as large as a tsunami.

Nora takes a quick step back, features twisting into the eerie familiar malicious expression of the Crimson Sparrow. Her shoulders pull back, lips set into a scowl and eyes blazing. “Get out.”

“Nora, please-“

“Don’t you dare,” she hisses out sharply, throwing out her hand where her power surges, shoving him painfully against the stove. He barely manages to exhale at the last second, saving his breathe, as he stares at her in remorse. Crimson streaks weave within her inky hair, the jade color of her iris morphing into amber. “Don’t you dare call me that.”

“What do you want me to say?” Axel whispers, grappling to hold himself up on her stove and rubbing the sore spot on his chest from her powers. “Please, tell me what you want me to say.”

“You remember.” Nora grits her teeth, slowly lowering her hand back to her side. “How long?”

“I remembered two days after the accident,” he confesses quietly.

Nora’s eyes blow as wide as saucers, exhaling in a rush. She stumbles backwards, back hitting the wall as she stares at him in muted horror. “That… that was three weeks ago.”

“Yes.”

Anger sparks in her eyes, hands bawling into fists at her sides as she narrows her eyes into thin slits. “Get the hell out of my house. Right. Now. Starfire.”

“Nora, please, you have to listen,” he says instead, shaking his head adamantly as he shoves himself off the stove to approach her slowly.

“I don’t have to listen to anything you say!” Nora shouts. “For three weeks! Three weeks! You lied to me that you didn’t remember. That you didn’t know who you were. Who I was, and now you- you’re telling me that you not only know who you are, but you think you can just call me that and be fine? What is wrong with you?”

“Wrong with me?” Axel repeats incredulously, sputtering out a startled laugh. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? You’re the one who knocked me against a brick wall and made me forget, and what?” He rakes his fingers through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief as the words tumble faster than he can sensor them. “Did you, a villain, feel guilt for hurting me so you took me in? Played nurse and being nice to me? Told me your name and showed me your life? Your actual enemy?”

Nora growls wordlessly, shoving herself off the walk and stalking closer to Starfire so that she is toe and toe with him. Her amber eyes have fleck of green hidden within the color, hair tumbling over her shoulders like the wildness in her eyes. “I hate people like you, Starfire. You think because I kill a few people that means I am automatically a villain to your hero. It’s sickening. You don’t even know me.”

“Killing people is wrong, Nora! You can’t just go around killing people for the hell of doing it,” Axel snarls, scoffing in disbelief. “So, yeah, you are a villain because you think these powers make you something better than the people around you.”

A flash of hurt blooms within the amber eyes, the golden color briefly fading back to their natural jade green. “Better? You think… you think that I think I’m better?” She laughs breathlessly, angry tears misting at the corner of her eyes, but they never fall. “Some hero you are. Do you actually think that I belief I am better when I can’t cook to save my life, so I eat take out every night? I live in a dingy apartment and eat meals with my elderly neighbor so he doesn’t feel lonely as he slowly dies because I belief I am so much better?”

And it cuts something inside of Axel. Cuts some of the raw wrath, molding into something wordless and aching, as he stares down at her as if staring into the face of the most complicated puzzle. It hurts because he knows it’s true. He has spent three weeks in this dingy apartment with a chipped coffee table and takeout, the sound laughter from across the hall as she visits the kind old man with dementia, but he always seems to remember her smile.

“Yeah, I kill people, Starfire,” Nora continues, ignoring the way his expression falls from angry to distant. “I kill people and I’ll even admit I like it. I like the rush of power, the way I can control who lives and who dies, and how. I will never say I am a damn saint, but at least I am not a fool like you. The people I kill? Those innocent men and women?”

Nora steps away from him, canting her head to the side as the cruel smirk twists her lips. “Arthur Jones, the CEO, beat his wife every single night, but everyone turned a blind eye because of the depth of his pockets.” Axel’s breath hitches tightly in his lungs, eyes dropping to the floor as images of the man’s beaten body appears in his mind’s eye. The tearless expression of his wife. “Jennifer Malcom, the nurse at the main hospital? She killed people by giving them heart attacks, so I gave her one.” The nurse who died with nails drilled into her palms, but died of a heart attack with a needle mark in her elbow. “She wanted to play god, so I showed her the truth.”

“Stop it,” Axel pleads breathlessly, stumbling back against the counter as he fights to find air for his straining lungs. “Stop it.”

“I may be a murderer, and I will never pretend otherwise,” Nora continues, ignoring his pleas as she raises her chin obstinately, “but at least I can admit my own faults. Paint me as your villain, I don’t care, but don’t you dare tell me that I am better. That I think my life is worth any more than even my elderly neighbor. Don’t you dare, when you’re the one who has been lying to me for three weeks.”

“I still don’t understand why,” Axel retorts, raising his head to peer through his shaggy fringe towards her icy expression. “Why? Why did you bring me here? Why were you so kind to me if you hate me?’

Nora’s lips tighten as if she sucked on a lemon. “Hate you? Christ, Starfire, I don’t hate you,” she replies, her voice steadily softening as she stares at him in mild disbelief. “I have never hated you. You help keep people safe, even if it’s misguided. I don’t hate you, I just hate what you stand for. The idea of good versus evil… I’m not… I’m not evil, and I hated that you always pictured me as such.”

“So,” Axel continues, “you brought me back here to make sure… to make sure that I was okay?”

“I never intended to harm you, especially fatally. I don’t kill people who haven’t hurt others,” Nora says firmly, arms wrapping around her middle as the crimson streaks fade from her hair and the green in her iris returns. “I’m sorry for what I did.”

“Nora…”

Nora shakes her head, craning her face away as she turns her back on him. “You should go, Starfire. You don’t belong here.”

“Axel,” he says. Nora’s head whips around, eyes widening as she blinks in his direction, confusion clouding her face. “My name is Axel Williams. And… and I am Starfire, superhero of Summerville.”

Nora’s lips quirk into a small smile. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Axel Williams, superhero of Summerville.” She tilts her head in his direction, the smile slowly vanishing as she flickers her gaze to the door. “You need to go now. You can’t stay here anymore. Goodbye, Starfire.”

“Nora, wait-“

“No,” she interjects sharply. “Nothing has changed. I will continue to do what I need to do, and you, hero, will continue to do what the public needs.” Her lips quirk into a rueful smile. “I am, after all, the villain. Just because you see the girl under the mask doesn’t change the fact that we are completely different.”

Axel hesitates, then strides over to her. She doesn’t move, stands her ground like the proud woman she is, even as she has to tilt her head to meet his gaze. He surveys her face, each crack and crevice, the flutter of her lashes against her cheek, and the subtle tremor in her lower lip. The way her brows wrinkle and eyes pinch in the corners.

Carefully, he reaches up and cups the nape of her neck. She doesn’t move, nor protest even when her breathing hastens and her eyes widen a fraction as green clashes with blue, and he leans down to press his lips against her own. She gasps quietly, but doesn’t push him away. If anything, she cranes her head to deepen the kiss, fingers fluttering over his shirt but then sink into the soft strands of his hair.

There is nothing magical about the kiss. There is no fireworks or the world fading around them. Everything is heightened- the sound of her breathing, the motion of her plush lips against his own, and the sting of her nails as she rakes her fingers over his scalp, tugging at the fine hairs at the back of his neck. The feeling of her warm body flush against his own, the bumping of noses and teeth.

Her kiss is like fire licking at his lips, scorching the soft skin and branding herself into his flesh.

When he pulls away, she peels open her eyes, a soft smile on her lips. Her hands drop from his neck, putting space between them. “I’ll see you around, hero.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you around.”