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It was a fairly average day in the office when Jason caught a glance at his coworkers computer and saw a flicker of the news. A newscaster sat off to the side of the screen, taking up just the edge of what looked like live aerial footage of a city bus full of civilians trapped under a partially collapsed bridge. In front of it stood a spindly figure in a dark jumpsuit, their caped back to the bus and a zoom in revealing a grin split across the face under their mask. He leaned in to catch the subtitles across the bottom scroll past, ‘-Responders on the scene are reporting this may be the work of an individual calling themselves ‘Stigma.’ We will be updated as-’
The name didn’t ring any bells for Jason. Hardly a surprise however— It seemed every other day another wannabe showed up to terrorize the city; Whether it was for fame, love, or money, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was how subtly he could slip away from his desk. Thankfully, he was near due to clock out soon anyway, and a flash of his 100 watt smile and a quick ‘Yeah, I’m out of here’ rid himself of suspicious looks as he headed in the opposite direction of the exit of the building. Going to the bathroom didn’t look too suspicious of a stop to make before leaving, and one that hopefully would go unnoticed by Octavian, the unfortunate head editor. Jason’s plan was to get in, change, and get out through the window just outside the door without too much of a struggle. One too many times being slowed down by needing to run -run to his apartment to get his suit had formed his habit of tucking it right into his work bag in the morning.
But Jason froze when he heard the sound of multiple sinks running and a toilet flushing from the outside of the bathroom. There was no way he could slip in and out if it was really busy in there. Jason Grace could blend in with relative ease anywhere; No one would ignore New Athen’s favorite super just strolling out of the handicap stall. There's only so many autographs he could sign before people put two and two together. Cursing under his breath, he looked around the hall to the bathroom to see if there was anywhere else, huffing when he spotted the nearby janitor closet’s door ajar.
Cramped, but it would do. Jason entered with his back to the closet as he made sure no one spotted him. A sigh of relief left him as he closed the door behind him. He couldn’t stand still for too long, opening his bag to grab his suit with one hand and reaching for the light switch with the other hand so he could-
“Jesus Christ!” A voice hissed, and Jason watched as a stranger jumped, surprised by the sudden light. The immediate fighting stance they struck was uncharacteristic for a civilian just checking their phone in the closet on the paper’s dime. But then Jason realized they were bare from the waist up, tugging what looked like spandex up their body. Jason knew enhanced fabrics when he saw them, so this definitely wasn’t some guilty pleasure dress up either. They both stared at each other for a heavy second, acutely aware of the fact what Jason just walked in on. Then the stranger spoke in a slow, measured tone, “I’m going to give you two options: Walk out of here right now and tell no one what you saw, or I’ll be knocking you out and leaving you in the hall so you forget and look like you fainted. Your move.”
Instead of responding Jason fumbled to pull his own suit from his bag, holding it up in a crumbled metallic bundle before shaking it out to reveal its iconic lightning bolt design. The smile he attempted wavered his voice, “Can’t do that, I’ve got somewhere to be real soon.”
The stranger blinked at him with wide eyes, “What? You’re that guy-?”
“Yeah!” A real grin slowly dawned on him, “I am! Oh my god, I didn’t think I was somehow not the only super at Oracle Daily ? Did you-?”
“Of course not!” The stranger looked far less enthusiastic than Jason, “God, keep your voice down… you!” They trailed off, a look dawning on their face when they realized they didn’t recognize Jason as a person beyond the suit. Not necessarily that insulting; Everyone knew his suit.
His instincts told him not to say his name, but the thrill of not being alone made him ignore it, “Jason, Jason Grace. I’m a photographer for uh, here, the paper. You?”
The hand Jason stuck out for a shake was more reflex than anything as his brain did a full reboot. It made the stranger reel further back away from him, looking at his hand like it was an open weapon. Stuttering, they replied, maybe against their better judgement as well, “N-Nico-?” Then he cursed, squeezing his eyes shut, “Shit, no, forget I said that!”
“Too late!” Jason laughed before realizing how much time he was wasting. He dropped the suit before he kicked off his shoes and set to start unbuttoning his shirt, further catching Nico off guard, “Listen, I’m a great secret keeper, and I’m guessing we’re headed to the same scene, yeah? C’mon, gift me some small talk as a warm up.”
“The bus?” Nico raised a brow at him, temporarily sounding very ‘yeah, Captain Obvious,’ before choking on his breath as Jason finished unbuttoning, swallowing hard as he looked away as Jason shucked his shirt off. He busied himself pulling up his own suit, feeling embarrassingly shy all of a sudden, “I’m- I’m in the writers department. The Crime News section.”
“You’re the Nico that keeps getting hit with the unsolved cases articles? Octavian refuses to hand you a happy ending story either, huh?” Jason laughed again as his belt dropped to the ground, “But Crime News? That's a cliche.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Nico grumbled as he put his arms through the sleeves of his suit, “I’m a damn good journalist, okay?”
“Hey, we’re playing for the same team! I’m a great photographer that coincidentally keeps getting stuck with shooting for your department- Which means we’ve already worked together before, huh?” Jason spoke, trying not to look rude as he glanced around the details of Nico’s suit. The fabric of it looked a vinyled black at first, but as he moved to adjust it the flickering lightbulb revealed shifts of duochrome color. Jason whistled low as he kicked his pants off and finally started to pull his own uniform on, “Nice getup.”
Something about that struck a chord with Nico and caused him to glare at Jason, but that might’ve been a pointed way of ignoring his changing, “If that's some dig at it, you really need something more original- I’ve heard it all .”
“What? N-No,” It was Jason’s turn to look thrown off, now really rushing to get dressed, as Nico grabbed some face covering from a bag Jason presumed was his own on the ground, “I mean it- I don’t see a lot of heros in New Athens going all black.” In his head he added, ‘I haven’t seen you, period.’
That made Nico’s expression soften, “Oh. Uh… Thanks?” He looked away, risking an admittance, “I’m more of a nighttime operator out in Metro Thebes. Feels like everyone who actually fights during the day looks so… bright.” His mouth said that word, but his face said ‘costume-y.’
As much as the whole of New Athens knowing his look made his life difficult, it similarly hit a sour note with Jason to have the appearance of his suit poked at. “What can I say, it gives people something exciting to look at while I’m saving the day.” He didn’t mean to sound so cocky, but it was also better than saying, ‘Hey! My cool best-friend/ex-girlfriend made me this, so there!’
Nico snorted, pulling a mask down over his face. It covered his eyes and nose, leaving his hair out and the rest of his face exposed, “Whatever, just don’t mix me up with our baddie and we’re golden— Granted, they’re got a cape, and ca-”
“-Capes are for assholes !” Jason laughed, knowing the sentiment well enough to finish his sentence but then paused, bright spandex halfway up his body, “Are you planning on waiting for me?”
“Did you think I put this on for fun ? Besides, I think I’m your best bet to get out of here without being spotted. Watch this.” A small smirk slipped out before he tensed, going briefly rigid. As soon as he did, Nico disappeared- Literally. One moment there, and the next blinked out of existence. The little yell Jason gave was not what most would call flattering, and got stifled by a phantom hand covering his mouth as a hiss hit the air, “Be cool for five seconds! ”
There was what seemed at best a hazy patch of air where the hand was coming from, and Jason couldn’t help but breath a bit of an awestruck sigh as it was taken away, “I’m guessing this is why I haven’t seen you around either.” Faintly, he wondered if Nico had ever walked past him, totally invisible and on his own lunch break to defend some specific part of Metro Thebes, New Athens’ nearby sister city.
“We’ve all got our shticks.” Nico’s reappearance was just as startling, blipping back into reality in a way that unsettled him, “Hopefully no ones too bugged that I’m on Athens’ turf, but I can’t just see something happening and wait around for someone else to fix it.”
Jason smiled, grabbing his own mask and pulling it up his face. It formed over his nose and covered everything down, leaving the twinkle in his eye exposed as he spoke, voice hardly muffled by the fabric, “That instinct’s what makes us heroes, isn’t it?”
He’d thought that was a pretty killer one liner, but Nico was busy giving him a once over (or Jason at least assumed he was- His dark eyes were completely obscured by the cool, reflective shields over them) before saying, “Huh. Your getup looks different when you’re not seeing it on a magazine cover,” He shrugged, reaching for Jason’s arm (in a way that looked very ‘if I just get it over with it won’t look nervous,’ ) and closed his fingers around his wrist, “Let's get out of here.”
With that, Jason felt a cold snap against him that seemed to rush through his suit, and realized he couldn’t see himself. He agreed that this was a better plan for exiting the building and avoiding notice than he had had. It took a moment that was definitely not just as long as it took to have a mini heart attack before replying, focussing on the subtle warmth where his wrist once was, “Yeah, lets go kick some ass.”