Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The fact that the world’s strongest supervillain had a generic soulmark was something Alex considered a fucking travesty. 

Two letters: that’s all they got. Two fucking letters to identify their soulmate with. 

Something longer would have been nice. Something that hinted at intelligence or a personality or which side of the ethical spectrum their soulmate occupied would have been fantastic. 

No, instead it was just “Hi”. The most unidentifiable, generic greeting in the English language. 

At the very least, given the casual nature of the greeting, it probably wasn’t one of their annoying weirdo murder groupies. Probably. Hopefully. 

However, the two letters that sat over Alex’s heart were the least of their problems today. 

Somehow, someway, the heroes had managed to trap Alex in the Eternity Area. The indignity of it all, falling for such a simple trick!

Well, it was never going to happen again, Alex resolved, wading their way through the alternate dimension they’d been thrown in. 

Not once they figured out how to get back…without their powers. 

A tendril of dread curled inside Alex, piercing through their simmering rage. 

If they could get back. 

No, that was a possibility they refused to think about. 

Fortunately, they didn’t have to as the ground in front of them slithered . Scales poked up through the dirt as a savage grin broke out on Alex’s face. 

They might not have their powers, but they could still hit things. And that always felt good. 

A giant, crocodile-like worm monster broke through the ground and lunged for Alex, clearly scenting prey. Light on their feet, Alex danced aside, but just as they wound up to swing, they felt the unmistakable tingle of a teleportation grab them.

Between one step and the next Alex found themself in…an apartment? 

Fists still raised, Alex staggered to a stop. “Oh, that's not what I was about to punch. That's not what I was about to punch at all,” they said, seeing the awestruck human sitting on the couch before them. 

Dark, messy hair flopped around their eyes, and Alex couldn’t tell if the wonder was at them, specifically, or just at someone appearing in front of them. 

“H-h-hi,” they said, hands raised in a ‘peace’ gesture, as if trying to placate Alex. 

As they breathed the word, the letters on Alex’s chest burned . Was this–

No. This–this couldn’t be…

This was their soulmate?! This short, mousy-haired, so-casual-it-was-painful person was their soulmate?! They didn’t even look like they showered regularly…

“Who are you? Where am I?” Alex asked, fist still raised. Despite the flare of warmth that simmered into their soul, they didn’t drop their guard. Being the strongest supervillain on the planet had some downsides – including people trying to use you. 

Alex didn’t stand for that. Ever. 

“Um, you're in my apartment, and you probably don't remember me but we've worked together once before.” Their eyes were overly bright and a little wide, and the timidity in this person’s voice was overlaid with notes of excitement. 

“Wait a second. I know you,” Alex said. They grabbed the front of the low-level thief’s shirt, lifting them up for a better look at their face as a memory swam up to the surface.  “You're the person who can teleport other people to them like once a year.”

Yes, they had worked together. Not even that long ago, actually. But apparently they’d never exchanged words. The thief had been a backup plan, a way out for the cabal of villains infiltrating one of the FA’s super secret storage areas. The one where they kept the super weapons.

Alex had no use for super weapons (they were one), but had tagged along for the fun. 

Alex obviously hadn’t needed to use anyone else’s teleportation abilities, but according to Rex Roofer this D-tier criminal was very useful under the right circumstances. And apparently all they’d wanted for their assistance was a cut of the profits. 

“Once a month, actually,” they said with a small smile, like they didn’t know if they should be proud of their power or afraid of Alex. 

Like that was hardly any better. Time limited powers sucked due to the regen time and wait–

“Did you– did you just bust me out of the Eternity Area?” Alex asked, still trying to comprehend what, exactly, had happened. 

Because it was turning out to be a lot. 

Alex set the thief down, watching them with suspicion.

“Yeah, I did,” the thief – what was their name again? Marvin? Mason? Morgan? Morgan! – Morgan said, brushing the wrinkles out of their t-shirt. 

“Why?” 

“Mostly to fuck over the heroes, honestly,” they said, looking like they were at a loss for words.

“You don't expect me to owe you a favour or something, do you?” Alex asked, voice hardening. They couldn’t tell if Morgan’s innocence was genuine or not; the new soul bond thrumming in their chest told them it was but judging from Morgan’s face alone, Alex had no clue. 

“No, I didn't even think it would work, honestly,” Morgan said, raising their hands again, as if to both protest their innocence and ward off Alex's anger at the same time. 

A realization percolated through and Alex raised a hand of their own. 

“Hold up, wait wait wait wait wait. You used your one a month ability on the off chance you'd be able to summon me from another dimension…just to fuck over the heroes,” they said, putting the pieces together.

“Well, when you say it like that it sounds kinda dumb,” Morgan said with a slight grimace, “but yeah.”

Despite how ridiculous it sounded, they owned it, and Alex– Alex knew soulmates weren’t a guarantee of anything. They knew soulbonds didn’t guarantee that you’d like your soulmate, or that the two of you would be compatible in any way, or that you’d even be attracted to each other. 

But this–

Alex reached out and grabbed the D-Tier’s t-shirt again. 

“I think I might be in love with you,” they said, heart swelling in their chest as the soulbond purred at their intensity.

“Okay, it's not that I'm not on board with that, because I totally am um, but maybe we could just start by being friends?” Morgan’s voice was breathless and rushed, filled with something that was more trepidation than excitement.

Given that Alex was holding them off the floor, that was understandable. 

“Oh my god you're adorable,” Alex said, as a blush spread across their soulmate’s cheeks. Slowly they lowered them back to their feet, a smile lighting up their face. 

Friends they could do…to start. 

Chapter Text

When Alex appeared out of thin air with a laugh, Morgan, surprisingly, didn’t jump. They’d had enough experience with teleportation powers over the years to not (always) telegraph their surprise.  

That, and they’d been expecting Alex. Hence why they were loitering in the alley way around the corner from their favourite sandwich shop. Alex, apparently, had never had one of Joanne’s famous hoagies so Morgan was forcing them to go out for lunch. 

Afterall, they were friends now, right? Friends got lunch together. Friends didn’t mind that their friend was also scoping out the credit union down the block because they were heisting it this weekend and needed to double check a few security details. 

No, friends would be fine with lunch at a hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop that was run either by the mob or someone with super powers. (It never got damaged. No matter what happened. Plus it topped Capital City’s best sandwich awards every year. If that wasn’t evidence of mafia ownership, Morgan wasn’t sure what was.)

Brushing dust and debris off of their shoulder, Alex grinned. “That was way too close. Heroes almost killed me this time. Like phew.” The sparkle in the supervillain’s eyes belied the danger they supposedly were in. 

“Wait, the heroes try to kill you?” Morgan asked, a confused frown overriding their grumbling stomach. They had just been about to go in without the supervillain when they showed up, but the deep pang of concern at Alex nearly being killed by the heroes outweighed their hunger. 

“Yeah, all the time,” Alex said, and Morgan couldn’t decide if that was a note of delight or pride in Alex’s voice. 

“Do your heroes not like, have a no killing rule? Cause like, mine do.” By ‘mine’ Morgan didn’t just mean their assorted nemesises; they also meant their parents, cousins and siblings. Being the black sheep child of the world’s most famous heroes had its perks: namely, knowing how heroes operated.

Morgan often took advantage of that. 

But it was more concerning when their new friend was so powerful even Chad –mother fucking Chad (because Morgan couldn’t fathom a world where their brother wasn’t part of the crew trying to take down Alex, purely on principle) – broke his moral code and went for a kill shot. 

“I mean, yeah, but I'm too dangerous to live.” Anyone else would have realized Alex’s smirk and self-satisfied shrug carried a flirty air of showing off. Almost bragging. 

Anyone else…except Morgan. 

“Yikes. You know I never thought I'd be grateful that they just sent me to prison,” the thief said, shifting their weight from foot to foot. Relieved that they didn’t have to deal with that kind of pressure. Even with their parents, they weren’t important enough to warrant that kind of scrutiny. 

“Wait, you've been to prison? Why have I never seen you there?” Was that… approval in Alex’s voice? It did funny things to Morgan’s insides. 

No one approved of them. Sure, their team liked them, but they were also paid to like Morgan. Or at least, to work with them. 

They weren’t getting approval from (most) of their family, that’s for sure. Even Diego, who Morgan had a good relationship with, didn’t approve of what they did for a living. But she respected their choices and left it alone.

If an S-tier supervillain approved of them…

Morgan shut down that line of thinking quickly. That way lay bad things. Bad things and madness. It was futile to get their hopes up that someone might want them when they didn't even have a soulmark. 

Not that it was their fault they were a blank -- something like one percent of the population never developed soulmarks. It was a "natural variation" according to the activists and advocates. 

That still didn't make having relationships -- platonic or romantic -- any easier.

“I don't know,” they said, trying to keep things casual. “What prison do you go to?”

“Most of the time, it's the Eternity Area.” Alex waved a hand like the Eternity Area had a physical location they could gesture to. Like it lived just down the crumbling, dirty alley, instead of being an entire separate dimension. 

“That explains it. Like, I just go to minimum,” Morgan said with a shrug as they stepped out of the alley. Now that they’d established their new friend was okay, they wanted food. Plus, Joanne’s was neutral ground. Heroes and villains mingled here under an unofficial truce; they’d have no problem continuing their conversation inside. 

“The prison where they shrink you?” Alex asked, striding to catch up. Fascination coloured their voice. They were so impressed, Morgan almost didn’t want to correct them. 

But it probably wasn’t a good idea to let their new friend think they were more powerful than they were. Morgan had learned that lesson long ago. 

“No, like minimum security.” Morgan yanked open the door to the hole-in-the-wall sandwich with a pang of regret. Alex wasn’t going to think they were cool after that. Oh well. At least they’d get a sandwich out of this weird friendship, before it fell apart.

Alex gaped at them from the sidewalk as Morgan held the door open. “That's a real place? I thought it was a myth,” they said before following the thief inside. Their palpable awe and wide eyes stayed as they scarfed down foot long subs and Morgan regaled them with stories of normal prison. 

Maybe this wasn’t going to fall apart after all. 

—-----------------

Half way through their sub, Morgan got a very unfortunate text. 

Emily’s piano recital had been moved. 

Shit. 

Watching the credit union down the block, they tuned Alex out for a minute as they ran through their backup plans. They’d been working on this job for months and quite frankly, without Gus, they’d probably have to call it off. 

What to do simmered in the back of Morgan’s mind through the rest of lunch and a decision to get ice cream together. Alex seemed eager to extend their time together, which was honestly a little unnerving. Did they not have things to do? Plots to hatch? Villainy to perform? Heroes to defeat? Planets to explode? 

Other friends to hang out with? 

Although given the way everyone recoiled from Alex, Morgan was starting to doubt that the supervillain had actual friends. 

That would also explain why they were so eager to hang out with Morgan…

They should take advantage of that. No, they really shouldn’t. They licked a dribble of melting ice cream from their cone, half listening to Alex tell a story of one of their exploits. (Morgan already knew this one – Diego had updated them since it had landed Chad in the hospital.) 

Despite being one of the best ways to get people to like you, asking the world’s greatest supervillain and your new friend for a favor was slightly intimidating. Slightly. Just slightly. 

Unfortunately, there was literally no one else Morgan could ask.

And they had been hanging out a lot lately, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt? 

“Are you available this weekend? I need your help with a bank robbery,” Morgan said, slightly apologetic as they took advantage of a lull in the conversation. 

“You need my help with a bank robbery?” Alex asked, incredulous as they wandered through the downtown core of Capital City. This really wasn’t the most secure location for them to be having this conversation, but Morgan didn’t want to have it by phone, later.

It was harder for people to say no when they had to look you in the eye. 

(Although Morgan seriously doubted Alex had any problems saying ‘No’.) 

“Technically it's a credit union,” Morgan said, shrugging one shoulder as they hedged their request, “but yeah.”  

Alex looked at them for a split second, pedestrians and traffic flowing around them as the villain let out a soft chuckle. “Okay, I can spare 5 minutes to help you out,” they said. A faint, cocky smile played over their mouth and damn Morgan was glad they’d been raised around superheroes. They might not be immune to supermodel level good looks, but they were used to them. 

And used to not letting any reaction show. Even evil made them twice as hot. 

“No, no,” Morgan said, waving a hand ‘no’ at Alex. They’d absolutely gotten the wrong idea. “This is like an all day thing.”

“How is it an all day thing? I can just walk in there, rip the vault door off its hinges, and then just hand you the money. Like it's in and out.” Alex’s gestures vaguely resembled the actions they were describing and if anyone in this park was listening to their conversation they’d be thoroughly perturbed. 

“I mean like we could do that,” Morgan admitted, hunching their shoulders with disappointment. “But I've been planning this heist for months, and honestly I wasn't even gonna ask you but one of my henchmen, he has to go to his daughter's piano recital so I need somebody to fill in,” they finished on a grimace. They knew exactly how that sounded. 

Alex stared at them. “You literally just need an extra pair of hands?” 

Was that anger or incredulity in their voice? Morgan couldn’t tell. Maybe if they just explained the heist Alex wouldn’t be mad? It wasn’t like Morgan was trying to use them, or anything. They just didn’t have anyone else they could ask. Not who would possibly be available this weekend.

“Yeah there's a bunch of security keypads that I have to pry open and rewire and it's just so much easier if I have somebody else holding the flashlight.”

“I'm sorry did you just say hold the flashlight?” Alex massaged their temple. 

“Are you gonna help me or not?” Morgan asked, unimpressed with Alex’s theatrics as they finished the last of their cone and looked around for a garbage can.

Some gut instinct told them they could take the look on Alex’s face as a ‘yes’. 

—---------------------

When Morgan had asked for “a favour” Alex had been prepared for the worst. Everyone wanted their help. Wanted Alex to do the things only Alex could do. Like rip the vault door off its hinges or annihilate a superpowered ex or use their powers solely to benefit another person.

They had never, in their entire life, been asked to simply hold a flashlight.

Not even their father had asked them to hold the flashlight. And they’d fixed the tractor together!

It was equal parts delightful and dismaying. Delightful because Morgan wasn’t asking because they were Alex Stewart, S-tier villain with unlimited superpowers. 

No, they were asking because Alex was there. They were just another body. Someone to hold a flashlight. The sort of favour friends did for each other all the time. 

It had nothing to do with Alex’s powers and that, surprisingly enough, was a delight. 

Sacrificing their entire weekend to the inevitable boredom of watching a bunch of D-tier-and-lower thieves rob a credit union…that was the dismay. 

Although, standing inside the closed, darkened bank, slinking down concrete halls that clients were never intended to see, wasn’t as boring as Alex had imagined it would be. Despite being something of a mess (Alex had been asking around) Morgan apparently ran a pretty tight ship. 

“You know, I'm pretty sure I've never been inside of a credit union before,” Alex said, looking around the darkened room. The physical building, at least, wasn’t really that different from any other bank they’d been in. It was your standard bank vault backroom; concrete and metal everywhere and as sparse as possible. 

Both for security and because this wasn’t a client-facing space. Only employees and maintenance workers were expected to be back here. Employees and maintenance workers and this rag-tag group of surprisingly organized thieves. 

“Light!” Morgan called from below, clearly irritated. It wasn’t the first time the light had strayed from where they needed it to be and it probably wouldn’t be the last. 

Alex forgot they were even holding it. 

“Oh, sorry,” they said, swinging the light around for Morgan again. 

Whatever this was, it wasn’t as boring as they’d thought it would be.

Chapter Text

Morgan had been to jail before. Several times even. But this time was different. 

Sure, these were the same bland concrete walls they’d broken out of before. Even if they had repaired the bars where Morgan had broken them on their last escape attempt…and upgraded the locks.  

But that wasn’t the problem. Morgan could crack all of them eventually. But it was going to take time. Time that Morgan didn’t have. 

A guard walked by, and Morgan seized their chance. 

Hands clasped around the bars, leaning out as far as they could, they called out. “Excuse me, guard? I would like to make my one phone call. Please.” 

The please drifted off into an uneasy silence as the guard, grudgingly, complied. 

—-------------------------

Alex stood over the battlefield, triumphant once more. Broken and battered heroes littered the landscape, some dead, some just unconscious. 

They’d thrown themselves at Alex once again in a desperate attempt to recapture and banish them to the Eternity Area.

“All of that, and not one of you managed to spill even a single drop of my blood,” they said, looking down at the few, still breathing heroes. Malice unfurled in their soul and they held back a shiver of joy. 

“Well, looks like it's game over heroes.” Alex raised their hand, about to snap, when tinny synth music drifted out of their pocket. “One second,” they said, delaying the hero’s inevitable demise. This was more important. 

 “Hello? What do you mean you can't hang out tomorrow?” Any heroes who were still conscious flinched away from Alex’s voice. Who willingly hung out with an S-tier supervillain? 

—----------------------

“Yeah, I'm in jail, uh, so,” Morgan said, payphone pressed to their ear. They knew Alex was going to be mad when they called. Even more so when they were forced to call collect. 

“You can't be in jail. We have plans.” Morgan pinched the bridge of their nose. Alex’s denial was…not unexpected. But the petulance was…not unexpected either, but still annoying.

Even this early on in their friendship, Morgan understood that Alex got whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for Morgan. 

“Yeah I know but I'm like in jail, so…” Morgan trailed off. Wasn’t it obvious to the supervillain? They were D-tier. They barely made villain. Being stuck in jail meant they were stuck in jail.  

“Just leave. Like, there's nothing stopping you,” Alex said. Morgan heard a thud in the background. Were they in the middle of a fight?  

“There's like a lot of things stopping me, actually,” Morgan said, looking around, cataloging all of the obstacles, barriers, and threats blocking their escape. They weren’t stopping-stopping them, they just…needed time to deal with them. Like a few days. Butter up one of the guards, wait till shift change, find something to make a makeshift lockpick with, sneak their way into the vents – simple. 

But time consuming. 

“What could possibly be getting in your way?” 

Morgan rolled their eyes. Alex, clearly, had never been in jail. (At least, not without their powers.)

“Um iron bars, walls, guns.” It was hard to keep the snark out of their voice, but years of babysitting Chad had taught Morgan well how to deal with oblivious supers. 

Alex scoffed. “Since when are any of those things an obstacle?” 

“Since forever like–”

“Dude come on, stop messing with me.” Alex cut Morgan off. “Just like get up and leave, it's not that hard.”

“You know your experiences aren't universal, right?” Morgan said, a tiny bit of impatience slipping through. The guard was giving them a nasty look, as though their time was running out and they were about to be yanked off the phone and thrown back in their cell.

“Oh yeah.” Alex said, like it hadn’t occurred to them that Morgan’s powers weren’t quite on their level. “You want me to come get you?” 

Morgan shuffled their feet. The surprising eagerness in Alex’s voice took them off guard. “I mean you don't have to, I know you're busy but life if you can find the time, I'd appreciate it,” they said, hiding their embarrassment under an apology. 

Two minutes later, just after the guard had settled Morgan back in their cell, an explosion rocked the police station. Morgan grinned, and then doubled over, coughing in the concrete dust that filled the air as their new best friend dragged them out of the building, battling police offers away as they went. 

—------------

Alex would admit that their heart had skipped a beat when their soulmate called them, cancelling their plans because they were stuck in fucking jail . What a joke. 

However, rescuing them had been the perfect excuse to start their scheduled hang out a day early. 

Except Alex was quickly beginning to regret it. Cards spread out on the table in front of them, and all the power in the world wasn’t enough to stop them from losing. 

“I feel the need to remind you that the only reason you exist is because I allow you to exist,” they said as Morgan stared at them. What was in that stare, they couldn’t tell. Morgan’s poker face was perfect. Completely unreadable and utterly unperturbed by Alex’s threat. 

Their eyes flicked down to the cards in their hand before making a move. “Yeah, I swing with everything,” they said. 

On the one hand, Alex found losing infuriating. They were the strongest supervillain of all time; they couldn’t lose a goddamn card game.

On the other…the smug satisfaction on Morgan’s face was undeniably sexy.

Infuriating, but sexy.

Chapter Text

Okay, so they didn’t have plans this time, but Alex genuinely was in the area. If by ‘in the area’ you meant ‘only a few hours from Capital City’. 

Whatever. They had teleportation powers and friends dropped in on each other all the time, right? Right? 

At least, their hero friends had in high school, before Alex went villain. No one had bothered since Alex turned to the dark side, but they’d also built their lair in Antarctica for a reason . Intrusions and people knocking on their door were annoying. And that annoyance too easily transformed into bloodlust, so…

Either way, they found themself knocking on Morgan’s door. 

Although they’d have to talk to their soulmate about the utter lack of security in their building. Alex hadn’t even had to use their superstrength – they’d just jiggled the doorknob in the right way and the interior door had let them in. It was criminal. Granted Morgan was only D-tier, but—

The door swung open and Alex’s heart grew two sizes at the sight of their soulmate. Disheveled brown hair falling in front of eyes with deep, dark circles beneath them. 

Morgan scowled. “I am running on 2 hours of sleep and spite. If you say anything to me before you get me a coffee, I'll kill you.”

The threat was both adorable and concerning as Morgan propped themself against the door, barely able to hold themself up. 

Alex snapped their fingers, catching their soulmate before they could fall onto the dirty carpet that lined the hall. 

“And they're asleep. Okay, I need to stop by more often,” they said, dragging Morgan back inside and tucking them into bed. 

If Alex sat beside them and watched Morgan sleep, that was no one’s business but their own. 

—------------------

“Why do you never fight the heroes in the city?” Morgan asked as they idled in the Tim Hortons drive-thru. “Like, all the other big villains do that.” The line up today was ridiculously long for no reason. But after the five hour nap Alex had put them down for (and yes, they had yelled at the villain about it afterwards) they were much more capable of human-ing long enough to get their coffee. 

Alex laughed softly. “All the other big villains need the handicap of civilian hostages. I don't. And frankly, I don't want to risk blowing up my favourite pizza place.” The villain sat with an arm over the back of their seat, partially twisted so they could look at Morgan as they spoke. 

Unfortunately for Alex, Morgan spoke both villain and hero PR-spin. 

“That's a very villainous way of saying that you don't want civilian blood on your hands,” Morgan said, pulling forward a smidge in line. 

“Okay fine, if I'm gonna have blood on my hands I want it to be blood worth bragging about! Like if you killed 10,000 ants you wouldn't be like 'I have the blood of 10,000 ants on my -- no one would be impressed!: But if you kill like 1000 rabid dogs like that's impressive!” 

Morgan had to swallow a laugh at the voices Alex pulled. Their acting only enhanced their scorn and disdain for the heroes who opposed them daily. 

“Did you just compare humanity's chosen champions to a bunch of rabid dogs?” they asked, poker face in place. Something told them that, if Alex knew Morgan thought they were hilarious, they’d never hear the end of it. 

“You're right I'm giving them too much credit,” Alex said, leaning back. “They're like a bunch of normal chihuahuas.”

“You think killing 1000 chihuahuas is something worth bragging about?” Morgan couldn’t keep the laugh out of their voice as they finally pulled up to the drive thru window. From the look on the server's face, she’d clearly overheard part of their conversation. 

“I mean, when all you have is chihuahuas, like, you gotta make do,” Alex said, accepting the coffee Morgan handed to them. Their blatant grin had Morgan’s doing… things . 

Things they shouldn’t think about since they were just friends with Alex, and there was no way the S-tier supervillain would ever want them . Dating was hard enough when soulmates were a thing. 

So many people didn’t see the point, simply waiting to meet their match. Others viewed dating solely as a practice session, preparing themselves for their soulmates. 

Several of Morgan’s exes had “practiced” on them, since there was zero chance of Morgan ever forming a soulbond with them. Or anyone else for that matter. 

Besides, in what universe would Morgan be Alex’s soulmate? The thought was absolutely ridiculous. Alex was tall and strong and  ridiculously – like supermodel ridiculously – gorgeous. Plus they were powerful beyond all imagination and absolutely vicious with their power and could heal themselves and…

Actually, that brought up an interesting question. 

“So, if someone, like, tore out your heart, would you die?” Morgan asked, turning back onto the main road, steering with one hand. They gulped down half their coffee in one go as they merged into traffic, one eye only half on the road. 

(The Gulp was a necessary maneuver that served two purposes. One, to inject a quick hit of caffeine into Morgan’s system. Two, to create enough room in the cup for the appropriate amounts of Red Bull and chocolate milk. Cases of both were stashed in the cooler in their back seat. It was part of their stakeout kit.)

Alex, however, seemed unperturbed by Morgan’s erratic driving. 

“No,” they said, gasping for air as they laughed. “No I'd be fine.” 

“Well what if someone, like, destroyed your brain?” Morgan asked, switching lanes. Still driving one handed, they made a fist with their other hand, like they were crushing Alex’s grey matter. 

“If that could kill me I wouldn't be S tier.” The smug satisfaction in Alex’s voice sent a shiver down Morgan’s spine.  

“Well, what if all your molecules were, like, pulled apart?” Surely there had to be something that could stop Alex – right? 

“It would itch like a motherfucker

Morgan paused for a second, foot faltering on the gas pedal before the sporty car tailgating them honked. “Wait, are you speaking from experience?” They looked over at their passenger, not sure if they should be impressed or awed or a little afraid. 

Probably all three. 

“Yeah,” Alex said, a contented smile spreading across their face. “Good times.”

Maybe it a good thing Morgan could never be Alex’s soulmate, they thought as they continued, heading into the abandoned warehouse section of town. Alex was terrifying. Hot, but terrifying. 

So yeah, friends would do. 

Friends would do.

Chapter Text

Alex was not used to asking people for favours. Alex was even less used to asking for favours as a subterfuge because their soulmate clearly wasn’t taking proper care of themself. 

It had become distressingly obvious that Morgan didn’t eat or sleep regularly, subsisting on cup noodles and instant coffee. 

This was…unacceptable. 

Sure, their soulbond was purely platonic at the moment, but that didn’t mean Alex couldn’t take care of them. 

The fact that their lair had been blown up (again) was just a convenient excuse to ask if they could crash at Morgan’s for a few months. Finger-snapping their lair back into existence, while possible, wasn’t as fun as making people build it for you. 

Which was how they found themself outside Morgan’s door, once again, duffel bag on one shoulder. 

Morgan’s blinding smile when they saw Alex made the supervillain’s heart skip a beat. If they were capable of feeling guilt, they might have. But this wasn’t even anything bad, they just…wanted to take care of their rather helpless, D-tier thief. 

Following Morgan inside, Alex’s nerves grew. They’d never been good at subterfuge (punching people was both more effective and more fun, in their opinion) and it showed on their face. 

Might as well get it over with. 

“Hey man, uh, my lair got blown up again, can I crash at your place for a couple weeks?” Alex asked as they fidgeted. Dropping their duffel by the door they ran their fingers through their hair and

“Yeah, it's fine,” Morgan said with a shrug, not even surprised. They jerked their thumb down the hall.  “Like you know where the guest room is. Like, honestly this happens so often I should just give you a key.” At the mention of a key, Alex’s heart skipped another beat. A key meant privilege and access and trust . Which…wasn’t everything they wanted from their soulmate. 

“Not that either of us would need a key to break into this shitty ass apartment,” Morgan continued with a wry laugh. 

And like – they weren’t wrong. The building was shitty. And it was in a shitty part of town. But Alex didn’t need keys to get anywhere. Keys were just a nicety. 

“Thanks man, I really appreciate--why is there a giant glow in the dark ghost costume in the corner?” Alex asked, pausing as they strode into the living room. The gigantic mass of white fabric and luminescent paint stood on a stand, like all it needed was a fan and a smoke screen and it would be ready to attack children on Halloween. 

“Oh yeah that, um well have you ever heard of the Conundrum Corporation?” Morgan asked, their shrug ever so apologetic, as though they though their heroes were almost…embarrassing. 

“Conundrum corporation? the teenage mystery solvers with the SUV and the talking cat?” They were below Alex’s pay grade (way below) but they’d been familiarizing themself with all of the lesser villains recently. Anyone who was a threat to Morgan needed to be on Alex’s radar. Permanently. 

And it wasn’t embarrassing in the least for their soulmate to take on heroes who were on their level. Heck, that was the smart thing to do. (And Alex would kill for a hero on theirs.) 

“Yeah that's them!” Morgan brightened when Alex recognized their teenage foes. “I said that the mansion you leant me the deed to the other week is haunted and they're gonna come investigate. But the only problem is the costume shop ran out of costumes and that was the only one and it's–it's not my size, so I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do.” Morgan stared at the costume, lost in thought. 

They were right, it wasn’t Morgan’s size. Morgan would be swallowed in that thing. They weren’t that much shorter than Alex, but their build was slighter, more wiry. Alex was made to punch things. Morgan was made to sneak through vents. 

“You need somebody to be the–” Alex said, realization dawning as they looked back and forth between Morgan and the costume. 

“Obviously I can't do it, such behaviour is beneath me, obviously, but I mean I do owe you for letting me stay, so I can make an exception like this one time and I'll do it. Please. Please let me do it.” What started out as a denial, morphed into an unexpected eagerness – and delight when they saw the grin on Morgan’s face.

Oh no. 

Just being friends with their soulmate was going to be harder than they thought.

—-------------------------

The only downside to spending the afternoon scaring a bunch of teenagers with Morgan was the fact that Alex hadn’t had a chance to move into the guest room yet. 

Which meant the conversation Alex didn’t want to have with their soulmate was nigh as they returned to Morgan’s – temporarily their – apartment. 

(Their very messy apartment, but Alex took care of that with a snap of their fingers.) 

“Thanks for agreeing to let me stay here,” Alex said as they wiped their shoes off at the door, “but, I have to warn you, there’s a very real chance I might accidentally destroy your stuff or severely injure or kill you. Are you – are you okay with that?” They hesitated, at the end. 

God, it would crush them if Morgan wasn’t okay with them. Their power. The risk.

Like, was it risky being the soulmate of the world’s strongest supervillain? Yeah. Were Alex’s powers a risk to Morgan? Absolutely. Alex wasn’t dumb enough to think they weren’t.

But the thought of their soulmate being afraid of them …

That hurt. Because Morgan was the one person Alex had no desire to hurt. Yet. Or possibly ever. 

(Although, if they ever broke up or Morgan cheated on them – sans mind control or dopplegangers or alien sex pollen or some other concotion that stripped their free will – Alex couldn’t say they wouldn’t want to kill them. Just that bloodlust and punching things was their reaction to a papercut or insult, let alone their soulmate cheating. That was really the only thing they could think of that was heinous enough to warrant Alex’s wrath coming down on Morgan.) 

“Yeah that’s fine.” Morgan was unbothered, their nod resolute. 

Alex paused. “Do you wanna think about that a little bit longer?” they asked, taken aback by Morgan’s intense stare. 

“Absolutely not. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my entire life.” Morgan continued to hold Alex’s gaze, unflinching and more determined than Alex had even known they could be. 

“I’m not sure you understand what I’m saying,” Alex said. Because they were trying to warn their soulmate about the various dangers of living with them…but said soulmate was looking at Alex like if they tried to leave they’d find themself in some kind of death trap. 

“I just saw you clean my entire apartment including dishes and laundry with a snap of your fingers. You are not allowed to leave.” 

Chills raced down Alex’s spine at the iron-willed resolve in Morgan’s eyes. 

Like, they didn’t want to get out of here (they’d moved in to take care of Morgan, after all) but damn. Their soulmate could be scary. 

They liked that. 

 “You’re willing to risk death and dismemberment and the destruction of all your personal property just to never clean your apartment again?” Alex asked, clarifying once again, giving the determined thief one last out. 

“Absolutely I am.” 

Alex turned away. That was hot. Entirely too hot. 

—------------------

When Morgan paused in the kitchen doorway a few days later, a small curl of dread unwound in Alex’s stomach.  

“Weird question. Have you seen the fridge?” Morgan asked, not turning around to look at Alex, reclining in the living room. 

“Ah. About that…” Alex said, hesitating for a moment before deciding that the truth was probably more benign. (According to his dad, lying to your soulmate was never a good idea. (Then again his soulmate was Alex’s mother, so Alex took that rule with a grain of salt.)) “I broke it.”

Morgan spun around at Alex’s admission, astonished. “How did you break the fridge?”

Alex said, eyes shifting around the room to avoid Morgan’s gaze as they scratched at their chest. “Well I woke up in the middle of the night and I was hungry and I wanted to make like a hot pocket and I opened the freezer... and it broke.” Alex mimed opening the door and it just coming off in their hand. 

Which it had. 

But despite Morgan’s earlier assurances that they were fine with Alex’s abilities potentially destroying their apartment, being faced with the actual reality of it was quite different. Alex understood that, as they mentally braced for some kind of outraged reprimand. 

“Super strength must be a bitch,” Morgan said after a moment. Just completely matter of fact. 

“Yeah, occasionally.” Alex’s heart did a slow roll over in their chest. Their soulmate got it . That wasn’t something they’d expected, all the times they’d let themself daydream about ruling the world with someone by their side. “Um, I've ordered you a new one though. I hope you don't mind it's make of shakeanium.”

“Isn't that like the strongest metal?” Judging by the tone in Morgan’s voice they didn’t realize that anything could be made of shakeanium. There was a whole underground industry specializing in custom shakeanium everything for heroes and villains with super strength. 

It was actually adorable. 

“Yeah. I still might break it though,” Alex said, glancing over at the hole in the kitchen counter where Morgan’s normal fridge once stood. The dark silver of the shakeanium would not go with the rest of Morgan’s kitchen, but Alex could suck that up. 

“Well I mean, as long as I can open it,” Morgan’s joking smile stopped Alex’s heart for a moment. (A small corner of their mind noted that it was a good thing they were invulnerable, otherwise this habit Morgan had of stopping Alex’s heart could be troublesome.)

Shit. 

Alex hadn’t thought of that. 

“Okay, I'm gonna go make a phone call real quick,” Alex said, swinging off the couch and into the privacy of their room. 

They needed to check with the manufacturer about that fridge.

Chapter Text

Morgan hadn’t had a roommate in years. And frankly, it was a little…weird. 

Having another person in their space – cooking in the kitchen, chilling on the couch, using their bathroom, single handedly installing a new fridge – was weird. Morgan was used to all of their stuff being exactly where they left it, and to being utterly alone in the space. 

Now there was an immeasurably powerful supervillain hanging out in their guest bedroom…

Sure, they were friends (and that was going surprisingly well – Alex hadn’t killed them yet, which Morgan considered a win), but like…this friendship was still new . They were still learning things about each other.

Hell, Morgan hadn’t even told Alex they didn’t have a soulmark yet. It wasn’t something they liked talking about, but like…they weren’t gonna hide it from Alex. Not if the subject came up. 

But that was a problem for later in their friendship. For now, they should probably focus on getting to know the violent mass murderer they’d taken in. 

Movies were good for bonding, right?

“Hey, I’ve heard really good things about this movie, do you wanna watch it with me?” they asked, projecting their voice so Alex could hear them in the other room.

“Oh yeah, sure.” Alex’s eyes were bright as they strolled into the living room, a slight smile playing around their lips. If Morgan knew the supervillain better, they would have sworn Alex was happy they asked to spend time together.

But they honestly didn’t know them that well, yet, so… 

“What is it?” Alex asked as they sat down on the couch, occupying the one cushion not taken up by Morgan’s sprawl. 

“Oh, it’s a cult classic sci fi horror movie,” Morgan said, gesturing with the remote. The cover was splashed across their TV screen; all they had to do was press play. 

“Oh, it’s a horror movie?” There was an awkward laugh in Alex’s voice, like they were unpleasantly caught by surprise but didn’t want to be rude. 

“Um, in that case, I’m gonna pass. I don’t wanna have nightmares.”Alex stood to leave, and Morgan felt the couch shift; the sudden absence of their weight leaving an odd feeling behind. If they were poetic, or knew Alex better, or – god forbid – had a soulbond to them, Morgan would call the feeling ‘bereft’. But they didn’t, and they couldn’t, so…  

“Okay, never mind then,” Morgan said, before Alex’s words sank in.  “Wait a second – what?” they asked, sitting up as realization dawned. 

In what universe could a horror movie from the 1990s give the world’s strongest supervillain nightmares? 

Peeling themself out of the corner of the couch, Morgan followed Alex into the kitchen. 

They had to know more about this. Immediately. 

—--------------------

The things Alex would do for their soulmate…

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Alex said as Morgan hit play. They wrapped their arms around a pillow, hugging it close for comfort, their stuffed rat Gibbles sitting on their shoulder. 

“Oh come on, it barely counts as horror.” The fed-up exasperation in Morgan’s voice rubbed Alex’s ego the wrong way. Just because they liked horror movies, didn’t mean their soulmate was unaffected by them. 

Then Morgan’s voice switched, pitching higher, into a baby-like mocking tone. “And you can always hold my hand if you get scared.” 

That…

That was actually a great idea. 

“Well since you’re offering…” Alex reached out and interlaced their fingers, laying their joined hands between on the couch. They hadn’t yet held hands with their soulmate – heck, aside from lifting Morgan off their feet when they first met, they’d barely touched each other at all. 

Who’d have known it would feel so right?

(Alex’s mother. They’d never hear the end of it if she found out.) 

Something inside Alex’s soul settled down as Morgan looked at their joined hands. 

“Wait, seriously?” the thief asked. 

“Yeah, seriously!” Alex said, a soft smile spreading over their face despite the bullshit they were about to put themself through. “I hate horror movies. This is gonna suck for me.”

A dark thought occurred to them and they laughed. “And it would make me feel so much better if I knew the first time I flinched at a jump scare I’d crush every bone in your hand to dust.” 

What was the expression on their face right now? Dopey? Lovesick? Adoration? 

Alex couldn’t judge it the way they normally did (by looking at their reflection in Morgan’s eyes) because Morgan was looking down at their joined hands, a hoarse “oh yeah” escaping from their throat. 

“Super strength,” they said, nodding. As though they wished that was an aspect of Alex’s powers they didn’t remember. 

“Yeah, you really didn’t think that one through,” Alex said, the smile on their face softening. Their soulmate was adorable. 

“But look on the bright side! Now we’re both scared.” Alex grinned as they turned back to the tv, focusing on the opening credits. 

Alex could feel Morgan’s tension, the slightest trickle of fear leeching through their soulbond. Morgan was just as afraid as they were, and that made them equals…at least for the next ninety minutes. 

(Although if Morgan ever found out that Alex turned off their superstrength for the duration of the movie, they were certain they’d never hear the end of it.)

Chapter Text

“Why are we sitting in this car, in the middle of the night?” Alex asked, completely bewildered, staring out the windshield of Morgan’s battered old car. They were parked down the block from a rusty old warehouse, hidden behind shadows and weeds in a deserted parking lot ringed by a chain-link fence.

Morgan rolled their eyes. They’d explained this about a dozen times already. “Cuz it's a stakeout and that's what you do.”

They were trying their level best to be patient, but god, having Alex along was kinda cramping their style. They’d thought having a friend along for the stakeout would be fun – they’d laugh, tell jokes, keep each other awake, but no. So far, it was Morgan explaining the basics of thieving to the most powerful person in the world…who just never seemed to get it. 

As much as Morgan hated to admit it, Alex and Chad had one thing in common: they could punch their problems to make them go away. Which led to a…rather blunt method of problem solving Morgan didn’t have access to.

Hence staking out this old warehouse on the rumor that diamond smugglers had taken up in it. (Morgan loved diamonds. Cash was king but cash was heavy . Diamonds were so much easier to get rid of when you had a good fence.)

“Oh shit I think they noticed us.” Alex shrank back against the seat, trying to hide from the presumably-not-superpowered guard.

They were right. One of the guards patrolling the perimeter turned, defined by the beam of his flashlight, and started walking in their general direction. 

Morgan shook their head with a grimace. They’d been afraid of this. At least having Alex with them gave them a good cover story. “Good they're coming closer.” Deep breath. Yep, the guard was absolutely heading right for them. “Okay I'm gonna need you to forgive me,” Morgan said. 

What they were about to do just wasn’t done. But it was the fastest, easiest way to throw the guards off.

“Forgive you for what?” Alex asked, looking at Morgan. Their frown of confusion barely had time to appear before Morgan grabbed their jacket and pulled them forward, understanding drawing as a squawked “What?!” left their lips. 

Morgan cut the supervillain’s exclamation off with their lips. Beneath them, Alex was frozen in disbelief. Which, yeah if Alex kissed them with no warning, Morgan would be too.

But they had to sell this so the guard wouldn’t suspect them. 

Morgan cupped Alex’s cheek, leaning in deeper, practically falling over the console. Slowly, Alex’s lips started to move beneath Morgans, one hand sliding under Morgan’s open jacket to caress their side. 

The security guard’s flashlight paused its bobbing in the dark before turning back and moving away as he resumed his post. 

Heh. The horny kids making out disguise always worked. 

Morgan let Alex go, lips tingling.

“Okay, they're gone.” The thief sat back in the driver’s seat with a relieved grin. A wild “Woo!” left escaped their throat as they gripped the steering wheel again. 

That kiss had been…something. Combine it with the adrenaline that always came with pulling off a con and Morgan’s head was spinning in all the best ways. 

Beside them, Alex wiped a hand over lips, like they couldn’t believe that kiss had happened. 

“Woo indeed,” they said, dazed.

Morgan grinned at them in the darkness. 

Kissing someone who wasn’t your soulmate was generally considered gauche, but Alex seemed okay with it. 

—---------------------------

The memory of that kiss haunted Alex day and night. Was it just a situational thing? It had been a key distraction, and Morgan had apparently gathered everything they needed on that stakeout. (Although what they’d needed, Alex still didn’t understand.) 

Or was it…more?

Surely Morgan wouldn’t have kissed them if they weren’t comfortable with it, would they?

Was their slow-moving soulmate finally moving towards something more romantic in nature? Alex’s heartbeat quickened at the thought. 

Or was it simply a convenient disguise? Alex didn’t know and the not knowing was infuriating. They had to watch Morgan every day – which, to be clear, wasn’t a hardship. They loved Morgan. Morgan was their soulmate. Watching them shuffle around the apartment in pajama pants with their hair tousled from sleep every morning was a joy. (Although that concoction they called ‘coffee’ was…not a joy.)

They just…they didn’t know if Morgan meant the kiss or not.

And while Alex held all the power in the universe, the thought of just outright asking their soulmate if they were ready to actually start dating left them nauseous. 

What if Morgan said no? What if that kiss – which Alex could still feel – was just a convenient cover? 

No, asking was too risky. They had to come at this in a way that preserved their existing friendship.

Blatant flirting it was. 

“So I couldn’t help but notice your fight in the alleyway earlier today,” Alex said when Morgan got home that night, eyes boring into the thief as they chilled in the living room together.

Alex had taken to watching outside, waiting for Morgan to get back from whatever work or errands they had to do. Their favorite armchair conveniently overlooked the alley beneath their building. 

“Oh, you’re not gonna give me shit about not calling you are you? Like I won the fight,” Morgan protested.

“I know.” Alex looked down at their hands, taking a second to steady themself before meeting Morgan’s eyes again. Their soulmate had to know they were serious about this.

“And it was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.” The gravity with which Alex delivered this statement could have crushed the planet. Court testimonies begged for this amount of sincerity and truth. 

“I mean it is the middle of summer and they did have fire powers so…” Morgan trailed off with a grin, a laugh lurking in their voice. While they did look proud of themself and deeply pleased with Alex’s compliment, it was like Alex’s intent had gone right over their head.

Alex looked away. 

Apparently they had their answer.

No one could be that oblivious, could they?

Chapter Text

“I don't understand why I can't just carry you. We'd be there in 5 minutes,” Alex said, looking out the window. Forests and fields rolled away outside their window as Morgan drove. They’d been at this for entirely too long already, and the supervillain was bored . 

It would be so much better just to be there with their soulmate, instead of stuck in this car for hours. 

“Because then it wouldn't be a road trip,” Morgan said, in the voice they reserved for young children and Chad. Patience steeped in mild annoyance at having to explain things for the twelfth time. 

All they wanted was to have fun and do best-friend-things with their best friend. Was that too much to ask? 

Somehow, Morgan didn’t know when, but they’d started thinking of Alex that way. Living together in such close quarters would do that to you. 

But goddamn was it getting annoying when Alex pooh-poohed everything . Like, not the actual things Morgan wanted to do, but the doing of them normally. As though everyone had access to abilities like theirs. It rankled Morgan – and not just because it reminded them of their family. Alex’s constant dismissal hurt because Morgan didn’t have any other options. 

Which was why they were stuck in a car together, speeding down the highway, with a box of snacks in the back. 

It was a best friends roadtrip. Like you saw in all the movies. 

They’d have fun, trade secrets and stories and sleep in shitty motels for a few nights. It was a bonding experience. 

And if they also wanted to maybe scope out that new dinosaur museum their nemesis was so excited about, that wasn’t too much to ask, was it?  

—-------------------

Morgan lay on the floor of their car, hair askew, panting, barely able to process the last few hours. 

“Thank you so much for saving me from that gang of hyper violent vigilantes,” they said, staring at the sunroof. There was a bug squished on it. They should fix that.

But what an odd place for a bug to be smashed. Except…oh, no, that was on the inside . Oh, that explained a lot. Like the smear of red…stuff that trailed behind it. 

It promptly brought back the thing they’d been trying to process (or ignore) for the last five minutes as the shock and adrenaline wore off. 

“One question though. The hallway leading into their base -- w-was it always red?” Morgan asked. They knew latching on to insignificant details was a sign of shock, but it was also the only thing keeping them from realizing just how devastatingly close they’d come to being tortured alive at that last rest stop. “I was blindfolded on the way in and it seems like a weird colour choice.” 

“It was actually a really ugly grey but I took the time to paint it,” Alex said, leaning against the open door. A breeze drifted in from the highway and attempted to ruffle Alex’s still-perfect hair.  

Morgan just nodded, and continued to lie there. 

Of course. Alex painted it. That made perfect sense. 

They were so glad Alex was there. They might not be alive otherwise. 

—----------------------

Eventually, they made it back on the road once Morgan was fit to drive. 

Alex hadn’t bothered getting a driver’s license because driving, apparently, was “too slow and boring” after their powers came in. 

So they were flying down the highway again, once the jitters in Morgan’s hands had subsided, a contented silence sitting between the two of them, until Alex let out a soft laugh.

Morgan looked over, a raised eyebrow substituting for a question. 

“Alex, don’t save me! It’s a trap! They’re gonna kill you!” The supervillain waved their hands, imitating a helpless damsel as they mocked Morgan’s earlier reaction. 

“It was a high stress situation okay. And I do not sound like that.” Morgan kept their eyes on the road, resolute and determined. Alex was not going to get a rise out of them. 

“They had guns.” Alex smiled at Morgan, soft and sweet. Like Morgan was an innocent summer child, pure beyond belief.

“They had anti-tank rifles!” Morgan pulled their eyes from the road to glance at Alex, equal parts horrified and exasperated. 

“You say that like there’s a difference,” Alex said, shrugging one shoulder before they turned to look back out their window. 

Morgan shook their head and continued to drive. Exasperated and annoyed, but feeling the warmth of affection underneath it all. 

Alex’s nonchalance about weapons really was ridiculous. 

And kinda hilarious. 

What was not hilarious, however, was the situation Morgan encountered in their hotel room that night.

They hung up the phone to the front desk just as Alex exited the bathroom, a towel wrapped around their waist. The supervillain had insisted on showering immediately. Apparently even super cleaning powers couldn’t make them feel sufficiently clean after an eight hour drive. They needed tiny bottles of body wash and shampoo and very hot water.

“So I do this thing to save money–” Morgan started, before their friend could register that there was only a single king bed in the room. Unfortunately, Morgan was not a particularly large human, so there was no way to visually block Alex from seeing the single bed behind them, but oh well. "--where I book a hotel room but I just get one bed because when we get there, I can just call the front desk and have them bring up a cot.” 

The expression on Alex’s face said they followed Morgan’s logic. So far so good. You could never be sure if someone’s brain was still functioning after an eight hour drive. “Um, problem. Just got off the phone with the front desk. No cots. So we're gonna have to share.” Morgan braced for Alex’s reaction but the supervillain just shrugged.

“Okay, it's not a super big deal with me,” Alex said, toweling their hair dry. “Like do you want me to shapeshift into a cat or something? Like I can take up less space,” they offered, seemingly more concerned with Morgan’s comfort than anything else.

They could–what?

Morgan blinked, attempting to erase the image of Alex as a fluffy Maine coon. 

“You can if you want to, but if you do that I guarantee you will wake up in my arms.” Morgan held their friend’s gaze, dead serious. Alex could do whatever they wanted. Heck, Morgan didn’t even mind sharing the bed as regular-sized humans. 

But Alex needed to be aware of the consequences of their actions. 

Morgan had already pushed their luck once with that kiss. Involuntarily cuddling Alex in their sleep could have major repercussions, both to Morgan’s wellbeing and their friendship in general. 

Alex just rolled their eyes.

And the next morning, when Morgan woke with a giant, purring tabby in their arms, Alex said nothing.

Chapter Text

Morgan possessed an endless well of patience, deeper than the darkest reaches of the sea. In their line of work, it was absolutely necessary. How else would they endure untold hours sitting alone in a dark car, waiting for something to happen? Or for that lazy guard to move from their chair so they could escape while on a heist? 

Morgan’s patience never frayed, and honestly, it was one of the things that Alex found so fascinating about their soulmate. They never seemed to get bored. They snuck yet another glance at the thief from the corner of their eye, sprawled out across the worn sofa, video game controller dangling from one hand. 

Despite the mixed signals of the last few months – first the kiss, then Morgan’s blatant rejection, then the invitation to snuggle in cat form – Alex’s heart did a slow barrel roll to the tune of the looping, electronic jingle that played from the tv. 

Their soulmate was just so…interesting. 

Then, Morgan spoke, breaking the supervillain out of their reverie about their soulmate when they should have been contemplating their next move in Luigi Celebration. 

“So are you gonna take your turn or what?” Morgan’s voice was neutral, their face impassive, but the fact that they had even asked the question had goosebumps running down Alex’s spine. 

That…wasn’t good. 

“Give me a second, I'm thinking,” they said, refocusing their attention on the tv screen. How did you play this game again? 

“Yeah, I know but you've been thinking for like, a while, and I'm getting bored.” The bite in Morgan’s words had Alex’s anger rising to match it. 

“I'll take my turn when I'm ready to take my turn,” Alex said, pointing their finger at Morgan. “Now shut up and let me think.” 

Goddamn impatient soulmate who always won at video games. 

Couldn’t even let Alex lose in peace. 

—-----------------

Three hours later, after Alex lost (again), the duo had switched over to some card game. Alex was almost as bad at it as they were at Luigi Celebration, and Morgan had to resist the urge to laugh. 

It was one thing to trounce your best friend in a video game. (All’s fair in love, war, and Luigi Cab, after all.) It was a whole other to watch the world’s strongest supervillain, a vicious mass murderer with a taste for blood, struggle to come up with witty comebacks for a card game. 

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” Alex asked, reading off the card in their hand. 

“No, cause you caught me,” Morgan said instantly, batting their eyelashes and flashing a secret, shy little smile. 

Alex grasped at air, their hands moving like they weren’t sure they were going to smite Morgan or strangle them, frustration evident on their face. 

“I'm gonna make you flustered one day,” they finally said, pointing at the thief before walking away. 

“You can try,” Morgan said, leaning their face on a fist with a fond smile. 

Like, yeah, sure, winning was fun. But the best part was knowing that Alex wasn’t throwing it on purpose. All the power in the world and they couldn’t win a freaking card game. 

It was nice to know their best friend had a flaw other than mass murder. 

Although their taste in movies was…certainly questionable. 

Morgan didn’t question it, however, as they’d poked enough fun at Alex for the day. There was always the real danger of the supervillain snapping and…you know, actually killing someone. (Morgan. That someone was Morgan. And if not Morgan, it was everyone else in their apartment building.) 

Instead, they watched TV in silence, finally glancing over to see Alex, sprawled over the arm of the couch, dead asleep. Golden hair dangled towards the floor as the faintest of snores left their mouth. 

“The most powerful person to ever exist is taking a nap on my couch,” Morgan said, mostly to themself. Despite having lived with Alex for months now, they still couldn’t quite believe it. Speaking the words made it real. 

The supervillain twitched in their sleep and their feet almost landed in Morgan’s lap. Morgan glanced down to where Alex’s toes were brushing against their thigh. 

It wasn’t bad or wrong. In fact, it actually felt kinda nice. 

It was just…

“My life is kind of surreal,” they said before changing the channel. If Alex wasn’t gonna watch anyway, they’d at least turn on something they enjoyed. 

There had to something on somewhere, right?

Chapter Text

“It's really not my fault, like if Rex Roofer didn't want to lose three billion dollars, he shouldn't have gone all in,” Morgan said, waving their sandwich around for emphasis. 

They were parked in a Tim Hortons parking lot, and honestly? Alex was okay with it. If it meant that Morgan ate three square meals a day, they could live with one of those meals being a Tim Hortons sandwich. 

What they didn’t like, though, was how oblivious their soulmate was to the consequences of last night’s high stakes A-tier-and-higher-only villains poker game. 

“Did you know he's tried to kill you six times since last night's game?” Alex asked, glancing at Morgan. There was the one attempt on their way out of the building, a few in the middle of the night, a car bomb this morning. Heck, Alex had even snapped more than one sniper out of existence on the drive over here. 

They honestly didn’t mind. Watching Morgan – whose poker face, Alex had realized, was completely fucking impenetrable – swindle Rex Roofer out of three billion dollars had been a fucking delight. 

Besides, Rex had like, another three hundred billion stashed away. He’d lost more on a bad day on the stock market. Which was the second reason Alex hadn’t obliterated him. Rex was coming after Morgan to save face. An A-tier supervillain losing a game of poker to a D-tier bank robber was completely mortifying. 

It was the hierarchy of how villains did things. Alex didn’t like it, but they understood it.

Plus Morgan had asked them to not meddle in their villainous plots in general. Which Alex was fine with, as long as their life wasn’t in danger. 

Hence why they’d only destroyed the assassins coming after their soulmate and not Rex himself. 

That seemed like a fair compromise. 

Except Morgan, apparently, had been completely unaware of said attempts on their life. 

Their chewing slowed as realization dawned in their eyes.

“What?” they asked, word slurred around a mouthful of tomato and lettuce before they started choking.

God, their cluelessness was adorable, Alex thought as they pounded on Morgan’s back until the thief could breathe again. If only Alex could ever be that oblivious to the world around them. 

That kind of innocence must be so nice, they thought, as their soulmate coughed until their eyes watered in the seat beside them. 

“So what…should I do about this whole Rex Roofer situation?” Morgan asked once their airway was clear. Trepidation settling in to the furrow of their brow. 

“Well, the first thing you're gonna wanna do is give me that sandwich.”

“Oh my god, is it poisoned or something?” Morgan recoiled from the roll in their hand, thrusting it out towards Alex. 

The villain accepted it with a laugh. “What? No. But I'm hungry so…” 

Alex bit into the sandwich with gusto. Stealing your soulmate’s food just because you could was corny, but somehow Morgan’s food always tasted better.

“Oh my god. Please don't scare me like that.” Morgan said, resting their head back against the seat, relief and frustration warring in their tone.

Alex chuckled, still chewing. A familiar tingle started in their tongue, the first sign of their healing factor kicking in. Why would–

A glob of mayo rested on the piece of tomato sticking out of the bun and that–yeah, Alex was sure there was something in there. They’d tasted poison before, and it was never pleasant.  

“Okay so we need to get you to the hospital like right now,” Alex said, swallowing and chucking the sandwich into the back of the car. They almost snapped their fingers, but Morgan wasn’t showing any immediate signs of distress. Plus hospital staff tended to freak out if you showed up as an actual villain and not a dubious citizen. 

Morgan could drive them to the ER. For now. 

But Alex watched their soulmate the whole way. At the first sign of illness, they’d snap them there and force the doctors to help. 

—----------------

A heart rate monitor beeped in Morgan’s hospital room. Alex sat in the dark, curtains drawn haphazardly. A beam of light fell over Alex’s face where the curtains didn’t quite meet each other. 

They leaned over the hospital bed where Morgan lay sleeping. The doctors had said the thief would be okay, but they were terrifyingly still. A sallow pallor had stolen over their face and it was only getting worse. 

The antidote had been administered. The antidote had been administered. 

Alex just needed to keep reminding themself that the antidote had been administered and that it would all be okay. 

Alex swallowed, the sound loud in the beep-filled silence. “So let let's make a deal, okay? How about you wake up and be okay and then we can go and kill the people who did this to you together is that…” the tentative hope that had filled their voice faded away. 

They looked at their sleeping soulmate once more, hands clasped in front of them. Morgan hadn’t moved, no matter what they tried. 

Alex sighed. “You're not allowed to die. Like I'm not going to let you.” 

Other people lost their soulmates. Alex knew this. Alex had heard stories about it their entire life. But now that Alex had found Morgan, they refused to let it happen.  

 The pain that stabbed their heart at the thought could have stopped it instantly if Alex needed it to live. 

Other soulmates could lose their bonded, but not Alex. Never Alex. They’d kill themself before they let Morgan die. 

“If you die I'm going to hell and dragging you back. So there's nothing to worry about, cause I can just bring you back.” Alex knew they were talking to themself. Morgan hadn’t even twitched and if any of the nurses had overheard they probably thought Alex was insane. That was okay. 

“Mm hmm.” Alex’s breath caught, tripping over a sob that lurked in their throat as they reassured themself once more. “Yeah there's nothing to worry about, at all.”

Their soulmate would be just fine. Yeah.

—------------------

Three days later, Morgan was feeling perfectly fine. Nevermind the mild poisoning they’d endured from one of Rex Roofer’s goons spiking their sandwich, their real problem now was Alex . 

After three days of nothing but hospital food and soup, Morgan wanted real food. And the supervillain was being…well, overprotective was a word. 

A too-mild one. 

“Yep, it’s not poison,” Alex said, handing Morgan’s burger back to them. They’d insisted on taste testing everything for poison ever since the incident and it was driving Morgan nuts. 

“And you needed to eat three fourths of it to find that out?” Morgan asked, meeting Alex’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

Alex nodded, still chewing the last quarter of Morgan’s burger. 

Morgan rolled their eyes. This was ridiculous. 

Although, if their best friend had been poisoned, they probably would be cautious too. Just not quite…this cautious. You know, because they could die. 

Besides, Alex was invulnerable. So it would have to be one of Morgan’s other friends. Morgan didn’t worry quite so much about them. 

(Except maybe Barnaby, because anything that happened to him also happened to Kotetsu.) 

“So, theoretically, what would you do if I died?” Alex asked, as Morgan finished what remained of their burger.

“If you died? Um…” Morgan paused for a moment, wiping their hands on drive through napkins. 

Should they go with the truth? 

Yeah, they should go with the truth. 

“I'd enact a revenge so horrific and terrible against those who killed you that their ancestors would writhe in agony and their descendants will drown in blood,” they said, voice dropping to a savage register they’d never used before. 

Could they pull it off? Maybe. Did they care? No. 

If someone ganked Alex, Morgan would make them pay. No matter how annoying and overbearing they were being. 

A blush spread across the villan’s cheeks as they unsuccessfully fought back a smile. “It's good to know,” they said, losing the battle to keep their delight hidden. 

Morgan smiled. They liked seeing their best friend happy. And it was good to know that threats of violence were the way to Alex’s heart. 

“What would you do if I died?” they asked, turning on the car and preparing to leave. 

Alex let out a chuckle, and gripped Morgan’s shoulder. Hand still on the key, Morgan met those slitted yellow eyes and all the warmth inside them faded.

“I won't let you die,” Alex said. 

Morgan didn’t know if they should be happy about this, or if they should run screaming. The intensity in their best friend’s gaze was frightening. Even for Alex. And Morgan was always just a little bit afraid of Alex. 

Morgan simply nodded in return and turned out into traffic, ignoring the feeling of Alex’s eyes on them the whole way home. 

Chapter Text

The one problem with owning a building, even when you were a criminal slumlord, was that people expected you to do something when things went wrong. Sometimes it was the plumbing, sometimes it was the heating, sometimes it was an abusive ex punching holes in the wall. 

This time, however, it was the screams and banging coming from the roof.

After the twelfth text from a tenant – this one five floors down – Morgan heaved themself up from the couch with a sigh.

They’d told Alex they could have free reign of the roof for any nefarious purposes, so long as they kept it down. 

This was not keeping it down. 

And if those screams got much louder, someone was likely to call the cops on them. So the bank robber trudged up to the roof, pushing the old, rusty door open, ready to tell the world’s strongest supervillain off. 

As expected, they were greeted with the unmistakable sight of Alex torturing someone.

What was unexpected, though, was how familiar those screams were. Alex had their victim tied down and stretched out as they went to work on him. His clothes were shredded and Morgan – Morgan recognized the remains of that jacket. 

Holy shit.

“Hold on a sec,” Morgan said, striding over to Alex. “Isn’t that the guy who betrayed me last week?”

Their footsteps were heavy in the silence as Alex’s victim had, apparently, finally fallen unconscious. 

Or died. That was also a possibility. Especially since blood was splattered across the rooftop, dripping from wounds and the tattered pieces of the guy’s supersuit. One blood-spattered patch was still readable. 

He’d teamed up with Morgan last week and promptly betrayed them and their crew. The double-cross had been clever; Morgan could admit that. But they’d almost died getting out of the trap and there was a reason Morgan had rules against team ups, damn it. This sort of shit always happened. 

If not on the first job, on some later job when they realized who Morgan’s parents were. (And what the reward was for turning Morgan over to them.)

“Yeah. Or at least, it’s what’s left of them,” Alex said, stepping back and admiring their handiwork. A laugh lurked in their voice as they swept a fleck of intestine off their face. 

Judging by the streak left on their cheek, the black gloves covering their hands weren’t gloves, but blood. It dripped down, splashing on the roof, dark and viscous in the late-night, streetlight infested darkness.

Morgan stared at the drops on the rooftop, silently attempting to parse the fact that Alex had tortured someone – to death – simply because he’d attempted to hurt Morgan.

“I need you to stop doing things like this,” Morgan choked out. Warmth bloomed inside them and across their cheeks. 

No one had ever committed vengeance on their behalf before. Not Diego, not Chad, not any of their exes. 

Certainly not their parents. 

A breeze ruffled Morgan’s hair as Alex spun to face them. “Oh, what, do we suddenly have a moral compass?” the villain asked, voice rising in anger.  

“Or is this a ‘I can fight my own battles’ type of thing?” Alex waved a knife (also covered in blood, and where had Alex been hiding a knife? Behind them?) around in the air, gesturing alternately between the corpse and the city, before stabbing it towards Morgan. “Cause we both know you couldn’t take this guy in a million years.”

“No, it’s not that.” Morgan held up their hands to placate their vengeful best friend, butterflies running amok in their stomach despite the knife leveled at them. 

“It’s that this is unreasonably attractive and if you keep doing it I’m going to fall in love with you!” Morgan froze as the words left their mouth. They hadn’t admitted it to themself, but it was true. They could fall in love with Alex. Pretty easily, too, if they were being honest. 

Alex stared at them as wind whistled across the rooftop. An eerie pause stretched between them, like they were both holding their breath. Between the traffic below them and the dripping blood from Alex’s victim, it wasn’t quiet enough to be silence, but it stretched between them, heavy and anticipatory. 

Then, Alex broke it. Blinking, 

“You do understand that that is not going to incentivise me to stop, right?” the supervillain yell-asked, with some combination of emotions in their voice Morgan didn’t care to decipher. 

Morgan just shrugged and strode away, pulling the roof door closed behind them. 

The last thing they needed was to fall in love with their best friend. 

They were a blank, after all. Alex had a soulmate somewhere, out there. Morgan didn’t. 

And if they fell in love with Alex, they’d just have to give them up someday. 

—--------------------------

Alex floated down from the rooftop. Not literally (though they could, if they so chose), but it was close. The high of killing – the scent of death, the iron tang of blood, the way the light of life died in their victim’s eyes – was always blissful. 

But it wasn’t the (very, very, very justified) kill, this time. Oh no. This time, it was Morgan. 

Morgan found murder attractive. Morgan could fall in love with them.

They’d admittedly (and justifiably) been rather frustrated of late, what with all their wires getting crossed. All those false starts and possibly-flirtatious moments that seemingly led nowhere had left Alex…well depressed wasn’t quite right.

They were the most powerful being on the planet. They didn’t get depressed. 

But also, they had no right to be depressed. Their soulmate hadn’t rejected them, they’d just asked for friendship. And Alex was giving them that. Hell, they lived together, which was beyond even Alex’s expectations of friendship.

Didn’t matter that it was a crushing burden and the most difficult thing they’d ever done. They’d continue to do it, for Morgan’s sake.

But Morgan…

Morgan could fall in love with Alex. 

Morgan was going to fall in love with Alex, if they kept murdering people who hurt them. 

Alex felt a killing spree coming on…

Not right now, of course. They’d just cleaned the roof (and themself) before heading inside to find Morgan making a late-night snack from odds and ends inside the fridge. 

They stopped for a moment, staring at their soulmate as an overwhelming rush of love and gratitude overtook them. Footsteps light, they walked over to lean against the counter beside them. 

“So, hypothetically, if you had to pick, would you rather date me, or be single for the rest of your life?” Alex asked.

The sound Morgan made was utterly unexpected, and sent Alex’s happy mood plummeting. 

 “Ooh, that's a tough question,” the thief said, spreading peanut butter on a slice of bread. “Because like, both options fucking suck, but like one is significantly worse than the other, so I guess I'd stay single.” Their gaze darted around the kitchen, lingering near the tops of the cabinets, like they were thinking. 

It wasn’t an omen that they didn’t make eye contact with Alex. No. Not at all. 

Alex’s surprised exhale covered up their hurt. At least, they thought it did. 

“Okay I guess I could understand picking being single,” which they could. Being single was great. They answered to no one and they loved it. “But like, reacting to the question with” Alex drew air in through gritted teeth, making the same noise Morgan had earlier “‘ooh’ like, is it that bad? Like the idea of dating me?” A forlorn waver snuck into Alex’s voice at the end. 

Did Morgan really find it that distasteful? Like, they were soulmates. Yes, some people needed time, and some people were even aromatic or asexual – Alex understood that. 

But couldn’t Morgan just say so if they were? Because if Alex didn’t know any better, if they weren’t genuinely best friends with Morgan, they would think their soulmate was rejecting them. 

“Yeah,” Morgan said, like it was obvious. “Like, you're a serial mass murderer. You're the greatest villain the world's ever seen. You're a horrific person. I'd rather be single.” They finally met Alex’s gaze and the honesty in their eyes shattered Alex’s heart. 

Play it off, Alex. Keep it smooth. Don’t let them know. 

“Are my good looks and charm not enough to make you see past the atrocities?” Alex asked, suave as ever. 

They may be a terrible liar, but they could, on occasion, act. 

Morgan snorted. “No.” They slapped their peanut butter sandwich together, tossing the knife in the sink. 

“That's fair,” Alex said, voice level like their soulmate hadn’t just shattered every hope Alex had for the future.  

“Remind me never to fall in love with you though, cause I clearly have no chance and that'd be a fucking disaster.” It already was a fucking disaster, but Morgan didn’t need to know that. 

Morgan laughed. “Why would I have to remind you of something that's never going to happen?” they asked, biting into their sandwich. 

How Morgan had lived with the soulbond for so long, without falling in love, Alex didn’t know. But they also didn’t care. They just turned on heel and walked away. 

The revelation that their soulmate would never – could never – fall in love with them was more than they could bear. 

Locking themself in their room, they cursed the fact that the Antarctica lair wasn’t ready yet. They needed somewhere to retreat to. 

No, actually, they needed to destroy something. 

Alex pulled out their phone, opening a certain hero’s social media. Chad might be on the no kill list, but that didn’t mean Alex couldn’t beat him up. 

Chapter Text

Morgan was becoming more and more…perplexing. 

(Alex refused to use the world ‘puzzling’ because one, they hated puzzles and two, their soulmate was not a thing to be ‘solved.’ They were a person. They’d have to live and cohabitate and compromise with them the same way their parents had with each other until one or both of them died of old age.) (Was it wrong that Alex was secretly looking forward to that?)

Alex sat at their desk – they’d bent reality to fit their office into their room in Morgan’s apartment – thinking as they did paperwork. 

Even when you cut out things like permits and governments, building a lair took a surprising amount of paperwork. Between architects and engineers and contractors the pile of papers on Alex’s desk had been growing day by day.

Now, they could use the distraction, so they dealt with it. Reading only took like, a fraction of their brain anyway, so the Morgan problem simmered away in the back.

On the one hand, they’d literally said they could fall in love with Alex as long as Alex kept murdering on their behalf. 

On the other, though, they’d explicitly chosen being single and reassured Alex that they’d never fall in love with a mass murderer like Alex. 

All in the same hour. 

It was frustrating. It was infuriating. 

As soon as they made progress, it was like they got thrown right back to the start. 

And the worst part was…Alex knew not all soulmate relationships were like this. Their parents hadn’t been. Hell, none of the other villains they knew with soulmates had gone through this. Although most of the other villains wouldn’t admit to relationship problems as that made them, and possibly their soulmate, a target, so they had to take that with a grain of salt. 

But it was utterly depressing to see highlight reels of happy soulmate couples everywhere they looked, meanwhile they had this…whatever it was with Morgan. 

There wasn’t even enough back and forth to call it an on-again-off-again thing. It was a non-thing. That could-kinda-maybe-be a thing, and that was the whole problem. 

Alex signed another change order on the lair for better insulation; Alex, personally, didn’t need it as they used their temperature regulation ability all the time, but it seemed like a smart idea if their parents ever wanted to visit. Which…well, they hadn’t before, but it paid to be prepared. 

Tossing the completed papers aside, Alex froze. Underneath it was a smaller piece of creamy white paper. Thick and heavy, Alex picked it up with trembling hands. 

What the hell?

What did this mean?

Especially after last night…

The marriage license stared up at Alex. It held no answers, only questions. 

Questions that mocked Alex.

Questions like: 

If Morgan had said they’d never fall in love with Alex, why would they marry them? 

If Morgan was falling in love with them, why not just say so? Why slip the marriage certificate in where Alex figured Morgan thought Alex would just sign, without care. 

Was Morgan aromantic? Was that why they’d never fall in love with Alex, their literal soulmate?

That…actually made a lot of sense. If it was true. 

None of these thoughts and questions mattered. None of them helped the swirl of feelings inside Alex. 

It didn’t matter. Morgan was theirs. 

Grabbing a fountain pen – one fit for this occasion – Alex signed their name with a flourish. 

A sense of rightness settled into their soul as they scrawled their name along the bottom, joining them and their soulmate in holy matrimony. 

Morgan was their soulmate. Maybe this was a platonic marriage, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe one day they’d be together, romantically. 

But, for now, it was enough that Morgan wanted to be theirs. Even if they didn’t say it in as many words. 

They were committed to each other. That was all that mattered.

Some of the hurt inside Alex melted away as they placed the marriage certificate on the pile, careful to insert it like they’d just thrown it in there after signing.

Whatever Morgan was up to, Alex would happily play along. Forever. 

—---------------------

“So, thanks again for letting me stay at your apartment,” Alex said, leaning against the entryway to the living room. 

“Is it cool if I stay for another three months? Because I just got off the phone with my minions and they're taking forever rebuilding my lair.” Alex pointed a finger over their shoulder, in the direction of their room. They’d finished their paperwork, and technically they hadn’t spoken to anyone, and no, their minions were not behind, but if Morgan needed subterfuge for them to get married, Alex figured a subterfuge to extend their roommate-slash-honeymoon-phase was also expected. 

“Oh, yeah no. It's totally fine,” Morgan said, with a wave of their hand, barely glancing up from their video game. Alex wasn’t sure what it was, but there were flashing lights and puzzles on the screen and they wanted nothing to do with it. 

“Okay cool,” Alex said, even though it wasn’t cool. They were married, now. They should probably be splitting expenses or something. That’s what couples did after all, right? “Do you want me to help like cover the rent? Because like I can just do that,” Alex offered, crossing their arms. 

“Rent?” Morgan paused their game, confused. They looked up at Alex, and dear god was that befuddled little frown on their face adorable. “Oh, yeah no I don't even pay rent so it's fine.” 

Morgan shrugged and turned back to their game, while Alex straightened from their lean.  

“Wait, you live here for free?” This was surprising news. 

“I mean yeah, it's my building after all,” Morgan said, like it was an obvious thing. 

Except it wasn’t, it really wasn’t. 

“Y-you own this apartment complex?” Alex waved a finger around, indicating not just their apartment, but the entire building. Shitty though it may be, it was still an apartment building in Capital City. Property wasn’t exactly inexpensive here.

“Of course I do. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't know that,” Morgan said, like it was obvious. “Like being a landlord in capital city is the thing that bumped me up from E-tier to D-tier.”

Tha–that did explain how Morgan had managed to get a D-tier ranking with powers as weak as theirs. 

While Alex knew Morgan’s omission of this knolwedge wasn’t personal (it was 100% inadvertent, or Alex would give their powers to Chad), tidbits like these just made them want to get to know their soulmate even more. Morgan was just so fascinating.

God Alex was glad they were married now. Even if it was a purely platonic relationship and they couldn’t flop down on the couch and snuggle their new spouse. 

They were still so glad to be married to this fascinating, dynamic, forgetful, interesting human. 

Chapter Text

“So the alien king was like, ‘choose your weapon, warrior of earth!’”  Alex said, pulling a drink out of the fridge. They’d been gone all weekend, and man, was it good to be home. 

It had sucked, leaving Morgan during what was, effectively, their honeymoon period, but hey. Sometimes you got captured by aliens and went along with it because they were a fun challenge to fight. 

Morgan hadn’t seemed too bothered by their absence, either. So any guilt Alex might have felt at leaving their soulmate alone after singing their marriage papers evaporated. Plus, Morgan looked enthralled by their story. 

Alex closed the fridge and continued. 

“And, obviously, I gotta handicap myself, so I pick a dull swiss army knife. And then they slap” Alex put a hand around their throat, gripping the way they sometimes wished Morgan would, but that was for later in their relationship, apparently, “an exploding shock collar on my neck and throw me in an arena with an actual literal dragon.”

Alex’s eyes were wide with excitement, even in the retelling; Morgan’s eyes were wide with concern. 

“You fought a literal dragon?” they asked, leaning in, eyes scanning the supervillain up and down for injuries. 

Alex may have preened a little at that. Not that they’d ever admit it. 

“Yeah, it was awesome. Although I did bend the swiss army knife trying to stab it and I ended up having to finish it off with a corkscrew.” The smile that broke out over Alex’s face was tentative, and maybe even a bit shy. Like they knew finishing off a dragon with a dull corkscrew was kinda dorky, but they wanted Morgan to approve of it anyway. 

Oh, how they wanted Morgan to approve.  

“And how did the crowd react to that?” Morgan asked, looking like they were holding back a laugh, which meant they really weren’t. Morgan was just reserved. Or, rather, their poker face was reserved. Anything that ‘slipped through’ was either deliberate or so strong Morgan couldn’t hold it back. 

Alex chose to believe that Morgan couldn’t hold it back.

“The crowd loved it,” Alex said, swinging into the chair across from Morgan. “The king, not so much. Apparently the dragon was really expensive. But the look on his face when he exploded the collar and I was fine, oh that was priceless.”

Alex leaned back, a huge grin on their face. Even thinking about the outrage on the king’s face brought them joy. It had been delicious . Especially since Alex had had to slaughter about half his army on the way out.

That was, before the king surrendered and asked Alex to be their champion.

They were still considering the offer, but they already had an invite to come back to the tournament next year. 

“Man, your weekend was so eventful. All I did was do laundry.” There was no hint of jealousy or regret or longing in Morgan’s voice and that was yet another reason Alex loved them so much. Morgan never envied the crazy shit Alex got up to or felt left out. So many other superpowered people would, even though there was no way they could complete on Alex’s level. 

And if they were Alex’s soulmate, all Alex would do was worry about them in battle as they got in the way, because regular humans were such fragile, breakable things. Even the A-listers. It was ridiculous. (And made the no kill list a true challenge, sometimes.)  

Morgan, however, had the good sense to stay out of things, and not be jealous that they couldn’t join in. They could come and go as they pleased, were complete content with the power differential…yeah, Morgan was the perfect soulmate. Alex was so glad they were married. 

“Speaking of laundry, do you have any idea how to get alien dragon blood out of cotton?” they asked, picking at the front of their shirt. 

Morgan shook their head. Sure, Alex could just snap their fingers and have the dragon blood out immediately, but it meant more if their soulmate was involved. They loved listening to Morgan’s tips, even if their powers made a lot of them useless. And the domesticity of doing laundry together as a married couple lit a warmth inside them they never wanted to go out. 

—--------------

“I’m sorry, are you doing a crossword puzzle…in pen?” The incredulity in Alex’s voice had Morgan looking up to stare at their roommate. Alex stood in the doorway, dripping wet from the shower (apparently dragon blood tended to soak through cotton), towel wrapped around their waist, gaping at Morgan in awe. 

“I mean, technically I am,” they said, puzzle book open before them. It had been a quiet weekend without Alex, and Morgan hadn’t opened their puzzle books in a while. They were getting rusty. Really rusty.

Distracted-by-a-bead-of-water-running-down-Alex’s-perfect-abs-rusty. 

“What do you mean technically? You’re holding a pen and you’re doing a crossword.” Alex pointed out, somehow simultaneously still awed and yet mildly irate. 

Their abs flexed as they moved and yeah, Morgan had to look away now. For the sake of their own sanity. And their friendship. 

“Well I’m not doing a crossword puzzle, I’m doing a diagramless,” they said, holding up the book with a wave. Maybe if Alex saw it, they’d get it. 

“What the fuck is a diagramless?” Alex asked, walking closer and taking a seat on the couch. 

Morgan sighed. Of course the world’s most powerful supervillain – whose superpowers included a fair bit of intelligence – didn’t know what a diagramless was. 

“Well, it’s like a crossword puzzle, except the grid is blank and you have to like, fill in the black squares yourself,” they said, flipping the book around so Alex could see it. Honestly, they were pretty fun. Less fun than planning a heist, obviously, but still pretty good when Morgan was out of non-consecutive killer sudokus to do. 

“And you’re doing that in pen,” Alex said, leaning forward, eyes darting over the page as they took in the exact arrangement of letters and squares and black pen squiggles that made up the half-done diagramless. 

“Yeah,” Morgan nodded. It’s not like it was hard. You just didn’t put down anything you weren’t 100% sure of. 

Alex covered their face with a hand for a moment, truly shaken. “Look, if you are a god you can tell me,” they said, truly sincere.

Morgan laughed. They weren’t a god. Gods didn’t do puzzles in pen. Even if Alex thought they did because they were just absolutely miserable at puzzles (it was their one weakness, and Morgan honestly thought it was kinda adorable).

But, no. They weren’t a god. Not even of puzzles. They were just a thief. 

A thief who stared at their roommate’s perfect ass a little too long a while later when Alex walked away to retrieve their dragon-blood-free shirt from the laundry.

Chapter Text

The beam of Morgan’s flashlight cut through the darkness, landing on metal with a very, very distinctive sheen. 

“Oh god damn it! No!” The thief’s aggravated exclamation was loud enough to carry through the halls and into the rest of the building, but at this point, they no longer cared. 

“They updated the security system,” they said, for the benefit of their team members listening over comms. A dejected sigh wrenched out of them. “There’s no way we’re getting through that vault door tonight.” 

“Um–” Alex said beside them, looking at the door.

Um indeed, Morgan agreed. Three months of planning, and this was what they were left with. A false start, the need to retreat, and a foiled plan. Ugh. 

It was top of the line, too. Apparently Glenn-Rieder were now making shakeanium vaults, too. Not that Morgan minded, really. They loved a good challenge, but like – did they have to upgrade right now? In the middle of their heist?!

The “um” was the um of an unexpected snag; a delay of the inevitable. Annoying, but not insurmountable. 

Just irritating as all hell. 

“Alright everybody, pack it up. Let’s try and get out of here without getting caught,” Morgan said. Fingers crossed their exit hadn’t been “upgraded” too. That would be a pain in the ass, and honestly, how had they missed this? 

“Are– are you joking or…” Alex asked as Morgan put their tools away. 

“Of course I’m not joking,” they said, hefting their bag over their shoulder. “Like there’s no way we’re getting through that door.” They pointed at the metal but their best friend didn’t blink. 

“I really don’t see the problem,” Alex said, crossing their arms and leaning back against wall, right next to the mechanism. All nonchalant and relaxed, like they weren’t in the middle of robbing a bank in the dead of night. 

“You don’t see –” God Alex could be so infuriating, sometimes. 

“It’s a reinforced shakeanium vault door! Like, we’re not getting through that. There’s nothing any of us can do.”

A battle of wills sparked to life in the dark hallway, tiny slivers of light gleaming in Alex’s yellow eyes as they stared each other down for a moment. 

Morgan’s stare settled into a glare, challenging their best friend on the immutable fact that no one on the team could get them out of the mess.

Alex reached out an arm and pulled the vault door out of the wall. Bricks crumbled around it as metal snapped, and safe deposit boxes gleamed inside. 

“Oh yeah.” A smile creased Morgan’s face as they remembered that Alex had super strength. 

(Honestly, the supervillain used it so rarely around the house, Morgan had forgotten it was a thing.) 

“You know, sometimes, on these heists I really feel like I’m underutilized,” Alex said, holding the door aloft with one hand. Morgan nodded, a very definite yes, but also an apology as they signaled the rest of the team to move in. 

They didn’t want to take advantage of their best friend, but if Alex was offering Morgan wasn’t going to stop them from hauling out all the valuables locked away in that vault. Cash was heavy, and gold bars were heavier. 

But the haul they tossed in the back of their getaway van that night had nothing on the warmth that settled into the pit of Morgan’s stomach when they looked at Alex. 

Sure, they might not ever have a soulmate, and their best friend would probably leave them for the love of their life one day, but in the meantime, at least, Morgan had a partner in crime.

Chapter Text

Alex paused mid-stride between the kitchen and the living room, hovering over what was supposed to be the dining room table, but was really more like Morgan’s overflow workshop.  Except, for once, it was clean. And lying on top of it was a large, thin square with a picture of a young woman with braided hair and a plaid coat.

The supervillain turned to look at their roommate, who was staring intently at a pile of bank schematics spread over the couch. 

With gentle, loving hands, Alex lifted the record to inspect it. They treated it with reverence, because they knew exactly what it was. 

They’d recognize that album art anywhere. 

“Why is there a Taylor Swift record on the table?” they asked Morgan, puzzled. One finger caressed the unopened plastic. This wasn’t the kind of thing Morgan usually left lying around. 

“Hmm?” Morgan looked up from their blueprints. “Oh, that. Yeah, that's for you,” they said, like they’d forgotten it existed.

Which, to be fair, they probably had. When they were heist planning, the world didn’t exist. Alex found that equal parts infuriating and endearing. 

“You do know my birthday's not for like another month, right?” they said, looking askance at their soulmate. A platonic relationship was one thing; forgetting or misremembering their birthday was a whole nother and Alex would genuinely be hurt if Morgan had their birthday wrong. (Although not as hurt as they would be if the thief had missed their birthday entirely. A month early was forgivable. A month late was not.) 

“Yeah, I know. It's not your birthday present,” Morgan said, looking at Alex like it was obvious. “It's a replacement. I noticed you wore out the last one, and when I was robbing the 7/11 I noticed the record store was across the street so I figured eh, why not?” 

The theft shrugged and Alex’s heart turned over.

Yes, they had worn out their copy of Evermore. But the fact that not only had their soulmate noticed, they’d stolen Alex another copy just because…

Well that was enough to have hearts in their eyes. 

“Have I told you that you're the best?” Alex asked, 

“You've mentioned it once or twice.” Morgan’s smug little grin had Alex doing an about-face and wheeling out of the living room, Evermore held strategically in front of their pants.

Goddamn that evil smirk was hot. 

Resisting their soulmate was getting harder and harder (literally) but Alex was determined to let things go at Morgan’s pace. 

—---------------------

Alex shuffled into the apartment, trying to be quiet, but they clearly weren’t using super stealth because Morgan could clearly hear them. 

Yes, their roommate had been walking on eggshells for the last few days, but that was a reasonable response when Alex was the reason they’d almost gotten caught by the police. Again.  

Morgan had worked so hard on that plot! And Alex had almost ruined it. They’d been super out of it after Morgan had gifted them that Taylor Swift album, and what happened? Alex got their getaway driver privileges revoked. 

They continued to ignore the supervillain as they sidled closer, deliberately burying themself in the delicate electronics required for this new drone. Alex stood just outside the doorway, still in the hall, but not invading Morgan’s space at all. Like they were waiting for an invitation to come in. 

Well, Morgan wasn’t in the mood to give them one.

Eventually, Alex sighed. “I know you're still mad at me for what I did the other day,” they finally said, hovering in the doorway, “so I brought you a present.”

Morgan spun on their chair, ready to tell Alex to leave them alone,  The tattoos were unmistakable. “Is-- is that my brother's arm?”

They should have felt a sense of dawning horror as they realized Alex held Chad’s dismembered limb, but the only thing that crept through the shock was an almost giddy sense of glee. 

“Yeah. Yeah it is,” Alex said, voice surprisingly quiet. Like they’d violated the no-kill list and were now informing Morgan of Chad’s inevitable demise. 

“I walked into his base, tore it off, and left.” Alex mimed the motions with their free hand; Chad’s dangling arm swaying with their movements. “So he's probably still alive.”

Something released inside of Morgan at those final words. Did they like Chad? No. Not at all. Did they want him dead? No. Not at all. 

But knowing that Alex could just walk into the Fairness Association’s headquarters and rip their brother’s arm off…

A shiver of something delicious and forbidden threatened to run through Morgan’s body; they squashed it, putting a hand over their mouth to hide the long, slow exhale of desire. There was no point in lusting over their best friend when they didn’t have a soulmate.

But this…

This was beyond…anything. 

“I shouldn't think that's hot,” they said, staring at Chad’s limp wrist, pictures of Alex wrenching it off their brother playing in their head. The not-confession just slipped out against Morgan’s will. 

Hopeful delight spread across Alex’s face. “But you do anyway?” the supervillain asked, preening under the attention. 

Morgan rubbed their forehead and resisted the urge to sigh. Great. Now Alex would be insufferable, knowing not only that Morgan found them attractive, but that they were basically forgiven for messing up earlier this week. 

“Yes,” they said begrudgingly, as Alex’s smile got wider. 

The problem with having a roommate who was a true ten, like supermodel ten, drop-dead-gorgeous ten, was you, occasionally, had to have that beauty rubbed in your face. 

And when that beauty was ripping your brother’s limbs off…well, apparently Morgan had a type. Bloodthirsty, evil, and beautiful. 

If they could pick a soulmate, they’d pick someone like that.

Chapter Text

Morgan had no choice. They could wait no longer…

They’d been putting off asking Alex this question for months. And now, they were out of time. 

It was now or never. Speak now or forever hold their peace. 

With a sigh – because they really didn’t want to do this, they also really did – they walked over to where Alex was preparing dinner in the kitchen. The soothing, rhythmic chop of their knife blended with the sharp bite of garlic in the air. 

Morgan's mouth watered. The thief shook their head. No! They had to talk to Alex about this. Time was running out. 

“So, my sister's getting married,” Morgan said, leaning back against the opposite counter, well out of Alex’s way. (The supervillain got tetchy if you got in their way while they were cooking.) They fiddled with the invitation, thick cream and gold paper, a very expensive fidget toy and Diego would have their head if she found out. 

“And she's invited me to the wedding. And I need a plus one.” Morgan probably shouldn’t have sounded so begrudging, but well, while they wanted to see Di get married, they honestly hadn’t thought they’d be invited. Not with the way things were with their parents. 

Alex paused mid-chop, half a head a celery in their hands. 

“Are – are you asking me to go…to your sister's wedding?” A frown of confusion furrowed the villain’s brow as they turned to face Morgan. They set the knife down on the chopping block, but held on to the celery and Morgan – it was all they could do not to laugh. 

“Yes,” they said, meeting Alex’s gaze. Dead serious about all of this. 

Was it coming out of nowhere? Absolutely. Was it a smart idea? No, of course not. Had Morgan, in fact, contemplated taking Barnaby as their plus one just to get their family off their back? Obviously. 

But that was the easy way out, and it felt like a betrayal of their morals, values, ethics, and everything they stood for. 

And Barnaby would probably say no, anyway. They weren’t at the hero-teams-up-with-their-arch-nemesis-phase yet, anyway. Even if they did live across the hall from one another. 

“But aren't your parents, and your sister, and your brother, and your cousins…” Alex spoke slowly, as though they were trying to comprehend what was happening. 

Morgan nodded. “All heroes. Yeah.” 

“And–and they're okay with you bringing me ?” Alex asked, gesturing with the decapitated head of celery. A touch of disbelief in their tone, like they couldn’t believe that Morgan’s family accepted them. 

Which they hadn’t. While they all knew Morgan was friends with Alex, none of them knew they were living together. (Although Morgan suspected Diego knew. She knew everything.) 

“Of course not.” It took everything Morgan had inside them to keep a straight face. Because why would they ever tell their parents, the Sterlings, the world’s greatest, most famous heroes, the saviors of the planet, that they were bringing Alex Stewart, the S-ranked supervillain to their sister’s wedding?!

That was a suicide mission, and Morgan was all out of death wishes. 

Alex looked at Morgan for a moment, those slitted yellow eyes searching for something in the thief’s face. What it was, they didn’t know. But apparently, it was enough for Alex. 

“So like, is it formal or…” The thief laughed (and not just because their best friend was still waving around a chopped up head of celery) and handed the invitation over to them. 

Alex flipped it open, looking for the dress code as Morgan’s stomach grumbled. God, dinner smelled good. 

—-------------------------

“So who's your sister marrying, anyway?” Alex asked, later that evening, rifling through their closet. They needed something appropriately fabulous and impressive for the wedding, but not black tie and nothing that would outshine the bride. That was just tacky. 

Morgan sat on their bed, legs crossed, watching as Alex pulled out and held up options. Apparently, despite not being part of the wedding party, Diego had informed Morgan all about the colour scheme and had no objections if they came looking like the wedding party. (The “become a hero or you don’t get to join the wedding party” idea was a harebrained scheme hatched by Morgan’s parents and their brother-in-law to be. Morgan had almost cried laughing when they heard it.)

“Dave Dodgers. You know, uh, leader USA,” Morgan had to tack Dave’s superhero name on for good measure; sometimes Alex genuinely didn’t remember who the heroes were. Other times they were just fucknig with people. 

Alex spun around, a suit hanger in each hand. One a gorgeous, pale gray silk; the other a dark, swirling brocade with gold accents.  

“Your sister is marrying Frisbee boy?” Most people would have only heard the incredulity in Alex’s voice; Morgan, however, also heard the scorn. 

Not for Diego, no. But for Dave. 

“Please call him that. Please call him that to his face on his wedding day,” Morgan said, barely able to keep the laugh out of their voice. 

Not for the first time and not for the last had Alex almost broken Morgan’s renowned self-control and shattered their poker face. 

Alex’s matching grin was savage as they held up the brocade suit in the mirror, switching it back and forth with the gray one. 

Either way, they were stunning. Morgan leaned back on their hands, watching their best-friend-slash-roommate and soaking in the fact they wouldn’t be alone at this next gathering of heroes. 

It felt good to not be alone, the single, soulmark-less freak amid a sea of normal people. 

Even with a soulmark, no one would ever call Alex ‘normal’. 

And with Alex there, their parents hopefully wouldn’t try to kidnap them. Again.

—----------------------

Diego’s wedding was absolutely lovely. It was nice to see that at least one member of Morgan’s family had taste. The bride had been a vision of glowing elegance in ice-white lace; her husband-to-be appropriately dressed in a dark blue suit styled to resemble his dress uniform. Shield and all. 

Clever, if a tad sickening. What was it with heroes and their virtue signaling? Alex wondered, shaking their head. They’d opted for the dove-gray silk suit. Classic, elegant, and a complete standout from the crowd. 

Plus they looked fantastic next to Morgan. The thief was in the same shade of navy as the groom and his groomsmen, but instead of the red and white accents (because of course Leader USA couldn’t be anything but Leader USA, even on his wedding day) Morgan had opted to match the ice blue and sage green of the bride’s side. The only thing that matched Dave, Chad, and the rest of his men was the delicate gold tie pins Diego had bought for all of them.  

Thank goodness Dave’s pocket squares were all a blue-red otherwise the whole ensemble would have looked horrible. Somehow, when blended with the delicate gold jewelry and the white Diego wore, it all actually pulled together somewhat beautifully.

Even if a good portion of the guests were giving Alex and Morgan suspicious stares. Although it was really more Alex than Morgan, and honestly it was less than they’d expected. Maybe a third were wary; only a handful were openly suspicious. 

Aka Chad and Morgan’s parents. 

(Alex didn’t blame them; they’d ripped their son’s arm off afterall. But you could barely see the prosthetic robot arm underneath the suit so it didn’t really count.)

Everyone else was actually happy to see Morgan. Cousins had been coming up for hugs and handshakes and reunions since they arrived and it honestly warmed Alex’s heart to know that at least some of Morgan’s family weren’t irredeemable pieces of shit. 

That thought kept them smiling as they waited in the receiving line, shuffling towards the bride and groom one step at a time. 

“Congratulations on getting married, Frisbee Boy,” Alex said, a genuine smile on their face. 

A dark cloud of fury crossed Dave’s face for a second before he cleared it away and attempted to crush Alex’s hand in his grip. 

Dave’s next move was blatantly obvious; even if his movements hadn’t telegraphed it, Alex would have seen it coming by the way Dave attempted to lock Alex in place with one hand while swinging his shield at them with the other. 

Metal crunched as the shield rammed into Alex’s side. 

The villain looked down. “I'd say ouch, but we both know that didn't hurt me.” 

Dave’s scowl deepend as Alex continued smiling. One free hit was more than worth it to wound the asshole’s pride this badly. It was included with their wedding present. 

“And don't worry about the fact that your little shakeanium shield is now horribly dented,” Alex said, gesturing to the twisted mass of metal that had clattered to the floor. “I got you a new one as a wedding present. It's got lasers.”

They pointed to a large, square box nestled amid the tower of gifts.Dave just nodded, clearly swallowing every ounce of anger and pride his weak little human body could produce as Alex clapped him on the shoulder and moved along. 

Morgan had been right. Calling him “Frisbee boy” on his wedding day was genius. 

The glare he directed at Morgan, however…

Well, Alex would deal with that the next time they faced Dave on the battlefield. Unlike some heroes, Alex could be civilized at a wedding.

—-------------------

Morgan sidled up to their sister, taking advantage of the lull between the ceremony and the reception to grab a quiet moment with her. 

And also to figure out if they needed to bounce before the reception; there was no way Diego would ever have her wedding ceremony interrupted for a kidnapping, but the reception, well…

Morgan didn’t think Diego would interrupt any part of her wedding, but she was feared and known as a cunning strategist for a reason. 

“So, is this wedding a trap, or is it actually a wedding?” Morgan asked, sitting down beside her on a stone bench underneath the big tree out front of the church. They’d been using it for pictures but Diego had taken a moment to herself after the photographer gathered Dave and his boys for groomsmen shots. 

Someone had clearly raided the gift pile, because they were playing catch with Dave’s new, updated shield from Alex. Which Mogan understood – dents would ruin Diego’s aesthetic. 

Morgan's sister arched an eyebrow at them, her expression saying everything they needed to know. 

Their sigh of relief was huge as all the tension slipped out of Morgan’s shoulders. 

“For a second I thought I was gonna completely lose all respect for you,” they said, sunlight dappling over the two of them, “but in that case, congratulations on getting married.” 

“You totally could have done better though, that guy's an ass,” Morgan said with fondness. They’d been over this before; they knew the answer was no. And there was no heat or pressure in their tone, just a gentle reminder of their sister’s worth. 

Diego sighed. “He’s my soulmate, Morgan. For better or for worse, he’s the other half of me.” She stared out across the lawn at Dave posing with his buddies for the photographer, a contented little smile on her face. 

Part of Morgan recoiled the way it always did when people talked about soulmates. Maybe it was because they were a blank, but they just couldn’t fathom relying on someone else to be…whole. 

“I mean, I don’t get it, but if he makes you happy,” Morgan shrugged. They just didn’t get why their sister was so happy with a guy whose ego and crippling savior complex meant he had to hog the spotlight.

Diego’s smile turned sad as she looked at her sibling. “I hope you find someone, some day,” she said, squeezing their hand. 

Morgan shook their head. “I already have a partner in crime,” they said, squeezing back. “That’s enough for me.” 

After a moment of silence, Diego dipped her head, as though she didn’t quite believe Morgan, but was going to take them at their word, nonetheless. 

Morgan knew they were going against the grain, against society, against what people thought was normal.’ Blanks were often considered ‘tragic’ and most of the support groups Morgan had encountered as a teen focused on ‘grieving the soulmate you’ll never have’ and ‘learning how to live your best life without a soulmate’. All of which rubbed Morgan the wrong way.

They loved their life. They were perfectly happy with the way things were. 

Why would they give that up for a soulmate? 

Diego eventually scooted off the bench to join Dave and the rest of the wedding party for more group shots, and Morgan watched from the shade of the tree, trying to understand why soulmates were such a big deal. 

Dave didn’t even treat Diego that well. Hell, Alex treated Morgan better, and they were just roommates. And best friends. And partners in crime. But still!

Why didn’t how someone treated you count for more than some stupid words etched somewhere on your body? Morgan wondered, deep in thought as their parents joined the wedding party and pointedly ignored them. 

Morgan didn’t care. They’d get solo shots with Diego later. 

For now, though, they were going to grab a drink and search out the only person here who really seemed to care that Morgan was happy.

And whose mere presence would keep their parents from pulling anything. Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Did Alex feel bad about lying to Morgan? 

No. No, they really didn’t. Wedded bliss was worth the white lie that their lair wasn’t finished, because despite the worn-out, run-down, shitty apartment filled with second-hand IKEA furniture held together by duct tape and mold, there was nowhere Alex would rather be than with Morgan. 

Which was why they sidled up to Morgan, one day, a put-on air of apology oozing from their pores, one finger scratching at their ear. Maybe they were overdoing it, just a little, but, well, their acting skills sucked, so better too much than too little. 

“So I just got off the phone with my minions, and they say construction on the lair is gonna be at least another month.” Alex leaned against the wall as Morgan stirred their eighth cup of coffee for the day. (It was a Sunday, who drank eight cups of coffee on a Sunday ?! Morgan did, that’s who. Alex had come to grips with this months ago, but it still baffled them.) 

“That's weird,” Morgan said, tapping their spoon on the side of the and meeting Alex’s shrug with a deliberately too-mild stare. “Cuz I just got off the phone with mine, and they said it's been done for three.”

For a (very, very, very brief) moment, Alex thought about lying, but… “Fuck, how mad are you?’ they asked, simultaneously deflating and bracing for an argument. 

“Grab the bags in the corner.” Morgan tilted their head towards the pile of luggage sitting near the front door. 

A pit opened up in Alex’s stomach. Was this the end? Was Morgan kicking them out? Forever? Shit. 

“Yeah that's fair...,” they said, shuffling over. And technically, it was. They’d been lying to Morgan, and they weren’t even paying rent. No wonder their soulmate wanted to–

“Wait, this isn't my stuff,” they said. The pile in front of them contained a worn out suitcase with a broken wheel, a duffle bag that had seen better days, and a bunch of Morgan’s heist gear shoved into IKEA bags. 

“Of course not. It's mine,” Morgan said, like it was obvious. 

And yeah, the lockpicks sticking out the top obviously made it Morgan’s stuff, but…why? 

“I'm sorry, I'm confused.” Alex turned to look at their soulmate, not sure what was going on. Or why. Why would Morgan want to leave? 

“You got to stay at mine for eight months, so I'm gonna stay at yours,” Morgan said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Like revenge was not a dish best served cold, but served by being a freeloader in your best-friend-slash-soulmate’s unused guest room. 

“I mean, if you want to.” Alex’s shrug hid their delight. 

Morgan was coming home with them! Morgan was going to stay with them. 

In Antarctica. All alone. 

It was almost romantic. 

Almost. 

Morgan crossed the room to grip Alex’s shoulder. “Of course I do. Your lair has fiber high speed internet.”

Okay, so the burning fires in Morgan’s eyes weren’t for Alex, but they’d take it. 

A small smile danced across their lips as their soulmate strode away. With a snap of their fingers they sent Morgan’s bags to the lair, and resisted the urge to tackle their spouse and sweep them off their feet.

One day, maybe, but not yet. 

—-------------------

A thunderous, rumbling crash reverberated through the lair. Alex was on their feet before the soundwave reached their bones, running into the living room to see Morgan, hands covering their head, standing in a ring of debris. 

“Are you okay? I heard an explosion.” Their soulmate hadn’t even been here twenty four hours and already, things were going wrong. 

Whoever did this was going to pay.

“Yeah, I'm okay.” Morgan straightened, concrete dust falling from their hair as they pointed upwards. “Your ceiling, on the other hand, is uh.. Eh.”

Alex looked up, into the deep blue Antarctic sky. “Oh, whoa! It's just -- just straight up gone.” It wasn’t even a hole; the roof had just vaporized, edges crumbling away. Icy wind drifted snowflakes and concrete dust down from the rim. 

“What– what happened? Did heroes attack?” If someone had the balls to attack Morgan…in Alex’s lair…well, they couldn’t help but be just the slightest bit impressed. Even if they were going to track down whoever did this and–

“No it was me,” Morgan said, holding the bridge of their nose. “Um, I thought I was turning on the tv, but apparently it was the death ray.” The tinge of amused despair in the voice had Alex wincing. 

“Oh yeah.” Right. Shitty apartment. Morgan wasn’t used to having the ultimate defenses around yet. They’d fix that. Soon.

“That's a universal remote,” Alex said, pointing. “You gotta hit that uh, little tv button at the top there.” 

Morgan nodded, smiling and pointing as they found the right button. Alex almost laughed as they snapped a new roof onto the living room.

There was no way they were waiting for the repair guys if it meant their soulmate was going to freeze in the mean time.

Chapter Text

Was this…was this what it felt like to have power? Morgan wondered, holding the slim book over in their hands, rifling through the pages one more time. They’d wandered into Alex’s library in the Antarctic base, a sweeping room with white marble floors and floor to ceiling built-in shelves that would make any bookstore owner jealous. 

Morgan, of course, had been looking for the plans to the lair, because not knowing all their possible escape routes made that spot between their shoulder blades itch.

Instead, they’d found something that granted them unfathomable power. Glee rose inside them as they looked at the pictures, reveling in the information they’d found. 

The only question now was…should they save it for a special moment? Or use it right away? 

Right away. Even Morgan couldn't keep this secret. 

Closing the book and slipping it under their arm, Morgan hurried through the lair, looking for their best friend. 

Dirt like this didn’t come along every day. This was the kind of thing you teased your best friend about at their wedding – 

Morgan ignored the pang that speared through them at the thought. Most of the time, they managed to forget that Alex had a soulmate out there somewhere, waiting for them. And that, one day, Alex would leave them. 

Not like, forever, but they wouldn't be living together and that…would suck. They’d gotten used to having Alex around. They liked living with the supervillain. It was nice having someone to hang out with and talk to and who cooked for them and cleaned the apartment. 

But they were also best friends, and Morgan couldn’t not give Alex shit about this. 

They found the supervillain in one of the living rooms, knitting. Nearly swallowed by the oversized, modern chair that Morgan knew from experience was horrendously uncomfortable. 

At least for them. Alex didn’t seem to mind it. 

A sly grin crept over Morgan’s face as they strode closer. They couldn’t help it. “So, I was going through your library, looking for stuff, and I happened upon your high school yearbook.”

“Oh fuck,” Alex said, one hand pusing mid-reach to unravel more yarn and instead clenched in terror. From the look on their face, they knew exactly what was coming. 

Morgan’s grin got bigger.

“So what was it like…being a superhero?” They put on the baby voice they reserved for Chad. This was too good to not give Alex as much shit as possible. 

“Come on, man, like everyone's a hero in high school.” Alex set aside their knitting, standing up, like they needed to be on equal (or greater) footing with Morgan to deal with this.  “Like, it's a phase people go through. I grew out of it.” Alex gestured, like they were brushing off Morgan’s accusations. 

Like their hero phase was a dark shadow, clinging to them from the past. 

It was all Morgan could do not to laugh. Had Alex forgotten they used to be Chad’s sidekick? If that dark shadow clung to Alex, Morgan had one too. Except they hadn’t been quite as celebrated as Alex was…

“It says here you got the key to the city. You still have it?” Morgan asked, pointing at just one of the several-page spread the yearbook had dedicated to listing out Alex’s accomplishments on behalf of their class.

“Of course not,” Alex said, spitting the words like how dare Morgan even ask. 

Except Morgan knew that shoulder twitch. It was one of Alex’s many (many) tells. Which meant…

“It's in your dad's scrapbook, isn't it?” Morgan held the supervillain’s gaze until they looked away. 

“Like he's proud of me, what can I say?” They asked before storming off into the depths of the lair. Morgan just grinned as they watched their best friend stomp away. 

That was totally worth it. 

—------------------------

“So, now that you know what I was doing in high school, what were you doing in highschool? It's only fair,” Alex said later that evening. They’d made dinner and Morgan was currently happily chowing down on homemade pasta, a bolognese sauce Alex had simmered all afternoon, and a garden salad with vegetables Alex had snapped in from someone’s garden…somewhere. 

And that wasn’t counting the basket of fresh-baked bread Alex had made that afternoon, too. It sat on the table, still covered. Morgan could probably smell it, and had been casting covetous looks over at it when they thought Alex wasn’t listening, the thief hadn’t dived into it…yet. 

And with the bread basket just out of reach, Alex’s trap was set. There was no way Morgan was leaving this table before Alex got the information they were after.

Except, as it turned out, Morgan was …rather forthcoming with the information. They deflated a bit, grimacing as they recounted their past, but they didn’t resist Alex’s questioning. 

Almost like their soulmate was opening up to them. Alex’s heart started to melt just a little before Morgan spoke. 

“My parents were training me to be my brother's sidekick,” Morgan said with a grimace. 

“What?” Alex asked. They’d heard Morgan correctly, they just…they didn’t believe what they were hearing. 

“Yeah, when I got my powers they took one look at them and said ‘sidekick material!’ and that was that. My life plan decided.” The hurt in Morgan’s voice was old and sad. An injury they’d long come to terms with as they stared at their summoning hand. 

“Who–  what is– but being a sidekick's the most degrading and dangerous job a super powered person can have! Not to mention you're you ,” Alex sputtered, anger growing as the food on the table between them cooled, forgotten thanks to the topic at hand. 

“Well, you know my parents,” Morgan said, their resigned shrug knifing into Alex’s gut.

Thank goodness Morgan liked their parents. Their soulmate – their spouse – deserved at least one set of parents who actually cared about their wellbeing. 

“I knew they were assholes, I didn't know they were stupid! Like who could look at you, the most fiercely independent, stubborn person to ever exist and think ‘yes this person will be content to be a sidekick!’”

Alex didn’t bother to hide their anger. Heroes were self-righteous idiots; that was their prerogative as heroes. But this? This was beyond the pale. 

Especially when they did it to their own child. 

“I mean I wasn't, that's why I'm a villain now,” Morgan said, lifting out of their chair enough to reach the bread basket and snag a piece of homemade bread. 

“Wait, the reason you're a villain is cuz you didn't wanna be a sidekick?” they asked, astonishment seeping through as their soulmate slathered the bread in what had to be comfort-eating amounts of butter. 

If Morgan was only a villain because they didn’t want to be a sidekick, that…that changed things. Alex had thought their soulmate was just like them; evil. To the core. A villain through and through. Drawn to the dark side from the beginning. A black sheep among a family of do-gooders. 

“I mean it has more to do with wanting respect, uh but yeah, essentially,” Morgan said with a shrug. 

Alex stared at the thief, awed at their resilience and drive, and wanting more than ever to take their parents off the no kill list. 

While Alex should probably thank them (if not for their stupidity, Morgan wouldn’t have become a villain in the first place), they dearly wanted to make them pay for making their soulmate feel so unworthy and unloved. 

Alex was, without a doubt, the most powerful supervillain on the planet, and even they knew you didn’t do that to kids. It was fucking reprehensible. 

With a snap of their fingers, they materialized a bottle of wine to go with the pasta. It wouldn’t do much to get them drunk, but swirling the blood red liquid in its glass suited their current mood immensely. And it made Morgan smile, just a little, as the thief cleaned their plate, clearly enjoying Alex’s cooking. 

That would do for tonight. That would do.

Chapter Text

“Come on Morgan, I’m weak and defenseless,” Alex clutched at their chest, preparing for a dramatic swoon. The air in the living room changed, shifted. Like a charge left the atmosphere; something deflated. 

The skin along Morgan’s forearms prickled, hairs rising up like they wanted to follow whatever had left the apartment. 

Which wasn’t that surprising since they’d moved back into their shitty Capital City apartment last month. Alex was ‘splitting time’ between the apartment and Antarctica for some bullshit reason Morgan had taken at face value and then promptly ignored. They also liked having their best friend around; they weren’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth! … until Alex did shit like this.

“I’ve lost my powers; you could sneeze on me and I’d die!” Their rising desperation was almost amusing. Or, it would have been, if Morgan had been in a better mood. 

How was it that, after over a year – shit, no, a year and a half – of knowing each other, Morgan still had to teach Alex how to be a normal human?

Actually, scratch that. They’d been trying to teach Chad how to be normal his whole life and clearly they hadn’t succeeded. Of course the S-tier super-god still needed ‘how to human’ lessons. (Bless their mother for trying as hard as she had. She’d done a remarkable job considering Alex was…Alex.) 

“You know, most people, when they wanna have a lazy day, they don’t pretend like they’ve lost their god-like powers and they just ask nicely.” Morgan’s tone was pointed, but unimpressed. Not mad – you couldn’t get mad at Alex. They’d just dig their heels in and refuse to do…well, anything – but firm. Like you would be with a toddler whose behavior you were trying to correct before it ended in a full-on meltdown. 

“Oh um, in that case,” – the faint charge returned to the room, something’s presence returning – “um, Morgan, will you please get me some ice cream? I don’t wanna get up.” The supervillain grinned up at the thief from their spot on the couch. 

Morgan shook their head, trying not to be amused as they fetched Alex’s ice cream and tried not to think about how Alex’s powers were so strong, they could feel them leaving the room. 

That was both really freaking cool and absolutely terrifying. 

What was neither cool nor terrifying, though, was how Alex’s mood rebounded later that afternoon…

“I sit upon an ancient throne made of the bloodied bones of my enemies,” Alex said, empty ice cream bowl set aside as they gloated. Evil satisfaction dripped from every pore of their being. 

Morgan cast an unamused glance at them from the corner of their eye, looking the chair up and down before speaking. Something in that rocky road ice cream had to have been out of date. Either that or the sugar had rotted Alex’s brain. 

“You sit upon a lazy boy recliner I got at a flea market.” 

Alex’s smile faltered, a sigh escaping before spoke. “I wasn’t speaking literally, like just – just let me have this.” 

That imploring gaze might move other people, but Morgan had lived with Alex’s shit too long to indulge it. “No. Like, is this the reason you had me reupholster that thing with Halloween skeleton fabric?”

Alex looked away, clearly guilty and trying to hide it. 

“No,” the supervillain said, unable to quite eradicate the slight up-turn at the end. Like they wanted the ‘no’ to be a statement and couldn’t quite suppress the fact that it was really a question. 

“Oh my god, you’re so fucking ridiculous. Like why do I even put up with you?” Morgan asked, running a hand over their face. 

Alex’s cocky grin was matched only by their flexing. “Because I’m basically god and I’m hot as hell.” The saucy wink they added on the end only annoyed Morgan. 

They knew Alex was only trying to flirt or show off to escape all the consequences. Even without their powers, the S-tier supervillain could charm their way out of almost everything. 

Time to take them down a peg. 

“Oh yeah, you do the dishes and the laundry,” Morgan said, like Alex’s only value was as a domestic servant. 

(It wasn’t, but if Alex ever knew that they’d be insufferable.) 

Alex winced. “You’re killing me.”

Morgan turned back to watch the tv, no visible reaction coming through. 

Inside though, they were smiling. Taking Alex down a peg or two was always fun.

Chapter Text

Alex rarely had visitors at the Antarctica lair – that was half the point of building it in Antarctica. 

So when someone knocked on the door, well…they weren’t surprised. They weren’t an idiot; they had security cameras. They’d known someone was coming. 

They’d also known that someone was fucking suicidal for visiting their lair. (Although less suicidal than they could have been since it was only February. The truly suicidal ones came in June when the weather was statistically more likely to kill them than Alex.) They’d texted Morgan about it, but hadn’t heard back from the thief when said someone knocked on their front door. 

Alex buzzed them through into the secure lobby. The architect had, smartly, accounted for the fact that, while Alex wasn’t susceptible to cold, their guests would be. And their guests were likely to be hostile, so the lobby was actually a fenced-in kill room with a coat closet. It was brilliant.

“What are you doing here?” Alex asked when the visitor ripped off their balaclava to reveal their soulmate. 

“I’m here to get drunk with my best friend on Valentine’s day,” Morgan said, brushing snow out of their hair. 

“Why?” A hint of suspicion broke through Alex’s feigned impassivity. While they were internally delighted to see Morgan, if it showed might ruin the surprise Alex had been planning. 

“Cause that’s what people with no plans on Valentines’ day do on Valentine’s day,” Morgan said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“It’s awfully bold of you to assume that I don’t have plans already.” Alex said, arms crossed, leaning against the wall while Morgan stripped out of their snow gear. Because of course Alex had plans. 

Like, yeah, sure, they hadn’t done anything together last year, but Morgan had specifically requested a platonic relationship so Alex hadn’t pushed the whole romance and hearts angle on them. This year, however, they were married , and Alex would be a terrible spouse-slash-soulmate if they let the occasion go unmarked. 

Except their soulmate-slash-spouse had, apparently, beaten them to the punch. 

“No offense or anything, but even looking like that, there’s no way in hell you have plans,” Morgan pointedly looked Alex up and down, and if Alex hadn’t been so affronted, they might have preened under the attention. 

“Excuse me?”

Morgan shrugged. “What can I say? Mass murder is a turn off.” 

“I mean some people are into it.” Alex’s jaunty grin covered up a pang – not hurt. It wasn’t quite hurt. But it was definitely some kind of oh-shit-my-soulmate-doesn’t-find-me-attractive-I’m-gonna-lose-them-please-no type fear. 

‘Yes. And you call those people annoying weirdos,” Morgan pointed out. 

“That’s because they are.” Alex’s disdain for their murder groupies was well known, but that’s because anyone who wasn’t Morgan was either an annoying weirdo, a self-righteous ass, or – the absolute worst – just plain boring.  

‘So are we gettin drunk or what?” Morgan asked, brushing past Alex to make themself at home in the lair. 

“That depends entirely on whether or not you brought something strong enough,” Alex said, straightening from their slouch. 

Sure, they could just snap some of the good stuff into existence then and there, but this was Morgan’s idea. Which meant Morgan was responsible for the booze. 

“Oh yeah, I got the strong stuff,” Morgan said, pulling a bottle from their backpack. They glanced down at the label, checking it was the right bottle. “I’m actually pretty sure that if I took even one sip of this I would die.”

“Yo let me see.” Alex grabbed the bottle, twisting to read the label, and a happy guffaw burst out of them. Their soulmate knew them so well. “Oh ho ho. Oh this is gonna be fun.’

—-----------------------

Three hours later, and still very much wasted, Alex dug into the bowl of popcorn Morgan placed between them. The thief had paused their movie with something about ‘needing food to block out the alcohol in their system’ and got up to get snacks. Alex had missed them while they were gone, the one-third-drunk bottle of human-killing strong-stuff leaving them wobbly enough they didn’t want to go after Morgan, even if they wanted the thief back 

Instead, they leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to Morgan when the thief returned.

“Do you want to know a secret?” they asked, a faint smile coming out. They’d been waiting to tell Morgan this for ages. What better time when the two of them were cuddled up together, drunk as skunks, watching shitty romcoms on Valentine’s day? 

“Uh, sure.” Morgan took a sip of their coffee. They’d switched to non-alcoholic beverages about an hour ago, but it really wasn’t helping the thief be less wasted.  “What is it?”

“Well, you know how my power is I gain the power of everyone I kill?” Alex asked. 

“That’s not a secret,” Morgan said with a confused frown. “Everyone knows that.”

Gosh, their soulmate was so cute when they were puzzled. Considering how good they were at puzzles and mystery solving and finding lost treasure and just figuring out hidden secrets in general, Alex was surprised Morgan hadn’t figured this out yet…but they were also super happy that Morgan hadn’t figured it out. They’d gotten one over on the puzzlemaster which meant they were perfect for each other. 

“That’s actually not my power.” Alex’s grin was small, the alcohol dampening the physical expression of their delight. 

Morgan cocked their head, blinking in confusion. Alcohol and caffeine warring in their veins as their brain tried to process what Alex was saying. “Wait. What?”

“My actual ability,” Alex continued, “is whatever ability I want to have.” 

They let that bomb sit there for a moment, Morgan processing the reality and implications of Alex’s true powers. 

“What?” The question was small and tiny, and if Alex had been more sober the minute hint of fear would have crushed them. 

Instead, tipsy as they were, it made them happy. Their soulmate knew their biggest secret. 

“Yeah. If I wanna have a power, I have it. Easy as that.” Alex reclined back against the sofa, watching the shock move over their soulmate’s face. 

“What?!” Morgan asked again, louder this time. 

Alex grinned. “I know, right? It’s fucking broken.” 

The supervillain tossed a piece of popcorn up in the air and caught in their mouth before starting the movie again. 

Morgan didn’t notice. They were too busy staring at Alex with wide eyes and an expression that was best summed up as equal parts ‘holy shit’ and ‘what have I done’.

—----------------------

“So what would you say the key to your heart is?” Alex asked as the credits rolled on the first movie, blatantly probing for information. This particular romcom had featured soulmates who just so happened to be workplace enemies, exchanging vicious emails back and forth before ever speaking to one another. 

It had been funny, but the main character had to win his soulmate over and it had been a delightful comedy of errors before that happened. 

But it had Alex thinking…after almost two years, Morgan still hadn’t said anything about progressing their relationship into romantic territory. Sure, they were soulmates, and they mostly lived together, and they were even married , and technically they did more together than even most married soulmates – even the ones who worked together. 

And if this was all they ever got, that was grand, but…Alex still wanted more. They wanted the one thing that had escaped them so far: they wanted Morgan’s heart. Because Morgan already had theirs. 

“I would say my heart is more of a puzzle box,” Morgan said, leaning one cheek on their hand. 

“Fuck,” Alex whispered, the word slipping out involuntarily behind their hand. 

They poured another drink. 

How would they ever win Morgan over now? 

—-----------------

Morgan stood and watched as Alex listed about the kitchen, drunk as a skunk after downing the entire bottle of human-killing strong-stuff. 

How had things gone so wrong? Was it that first movie they watched, Morgan wondered? Had something about it set Alex off? 

Did Alex have soulmate truma Morgan didn’t know about? Was there some other, deep secret they were hiding? 

Even just a few hours ago, Morgan would have insisted they knew all of Alex’s worst secrets. Now, after Alex’s revelation about their powers, they weren’t so sure. 

And their best friend was drunkenly leaning on the kitchen island, bloodshot eyes fixed intently on Morgan as they babbled. 

“All right, but hear – just hear me out here. I get to take one member of your family off my do not kill list,and in exchange I give you a better superpower!” Alex spread their hands as if presenting a gift to Morgan. 

“No. What the fuck, no.” It wasn’t just the ‘let me kill one of your family members’ thing; it was the insinuation that Morgan’s power wasn’t good. It was the exact sort of thing they expected their family to say – not their best friend. Sure, it wasn’t the greatest or the most reliable power, but it was theirs and Morgan was proud of everything they’d accomplished, with or without it. 

“Oh come on, it’s not every day that you can get a better superpower!” Alex cajoled them, leaning in even closer, as though their mere (drunken) presence could sway Morgan to what they wanted. “Like, I know exactly which power would suit you best.”

Some strange little part of Morgan was flattered that Alex had actually thought about their powers and what would suit them best. The rest of them was pissed off and resolved to never bring Alex ‘the good stuff’ ever again.

“So if I say yes I don’t even get to pick the power.” 

This deal got worse by the second. 

“Of course not,” Alex placed a hand over their heart in righteous indignation. “Superpowers are my area of expertise. I know exactly which one would suit you best.”

Morgan had to resist the urge to roll their eyes. They knew Alex would take it as a yes. 

Instead, they plastered a fake smile on their face, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “Oh, well in that case, absolutely not.”

It was almost funny to see the brief flare of hope in Alex’s eyes die as Morgan’s voice flattened and their fake smile fell away. 

“Oh come on. Just say yes!” Alex begged, rounding the island to stand closer to Morgan, as though proximity would convince the thief. Their steps weren’t as wobbly as Morgan had thought they would be after a full bottle of the strong stuff, but Alex swayed a little, holding the counter for balance when they stopped. “I won’t even go and hunt them down immediately. They’ll be off the list but I won’t go out of my way to kill them!”

This time, Morgan couldn’t help but roll their eyes. 

What had they done to deserve this? 

Oh yeah, they’d snapped Alex out of the Eternity Area two years ago to piss off the very superheroes Alex wanted to kill in exchange for giving Morgan something they didn’t want at all. 

“Look, it’s not that I don't appreciate the offer, it’s just… I don’t want —like I'm good. Like this? “ Morgan waved at themself and Alex’s slitted pupils followed their hand up and down their body. It was either Morgan’s imagination or the booze was clearly affecting more than just Alex’s balance and sense of decorum because Morgan would have sworn their eyes…lingered. In ways and places that weren’t uncomfortable, but still had goosebumps breaking out over Morgan’s arms. 

“I’m happy with this,” they finished, waiting for the supervillain’s gaze to drift back to their face. 

“Okay fine,” Alex said, rubbing a hand over their face. “But if you ever change your mind–”

Morgan waved them off. “Yeah yeah, I know where to find you.” 

The thief turned and left the kitchen to set up the next movie in the living room. Space would help the weird, breathless irritation dissipate. 

Next Valentine’s Day, they were planning something outside the lair. Alex usually behaved better in public.

Chapter Text

Okay, so Valentine’s Day had been…a disaster wasn’t quite right. Alex hadn’t blown anything up, Morgan hadn’t hit the death ray button on the remote – all in all, things could have been a lot worse. 

But it still left a weird taste in Morgan’s mouth after Alex had offered to change their superpower. Why? They were content with who they were. They’d done so much work to get to where they were, why would Alex want to change them? 

That thought rankled and hummed in the air between them for the next few weeks, niggling under Morgan’s skin, until Alex insisted that they go out for dinner one day. 

Which…well, Mogan was instantly suspicious. 

Had Alex read their mind about the supervillain being better behaved in public? 

Whatever, Morgan wasn’t going to say no to a free meal – even if it meant dressing up and putting on an actual shirt for one of the fancy, fine-dining restaurants Alex liked. 

Although, to be fair,it wasn’t some Michelin starred tiny-plate hell…this time. Just a nice, upscale restaurant with dishes that were kinda expensive but still came with enough food to fill you up, quiet ambience with lots of white linen and dark wood, and a table with a good view of the door. 

Morgan sat with their back facing the wall; they hated having an open room behind them. Too many bad memories, both as a kid and now. 

Alex’s nonchalance at having an entire dining room at their back stemmed entirely from their invulnerability, and they gave Morgan a smug little smile every time they sat down to eat because not only was Alex not afraid, Alex was basically a physical shield Morgan could hide behind. 

And Morgan…Morgan didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, it was sweet Alex would do that for them. (Barnaby did too, but that’s because he had Kotetsu to alert him if anything went wrong.) On the other hand, it was kind of annoying how Alex thought Morgan couldn’t handle themself, and tonight was particularly irritating since the whole “let me give you a better superpower thing”, but Morgan brushed it off and ignored it in favour of food. 

They were just tucking into their mains when a familiar figure walked through the door. Morgan shielded their face with a hand, ducking their head so the asshole with legs couldn’t identify them. 

“Oh fuck. Don’t look now but my ex just walked in.”

Alex immediately straightened up, twisting around to look for the offending human. 

“Oh my god, what part of don’t look did you not understand?” Morgan hissed, sinking lower in their chair, as if they could draw less attention to them by getting smaller. 

“It’s the one in the blue shirt, right?” Alex asked, pointing across the restaurant for the entire world to see. “Is this the one that dumped you?”

“Yes, and no it’s the one who cheated on me,” Morgan said, flicking a careful glance over at the party in the doorway. Their ex wasn’t alone, at least. The group of people milling around him seemed to be together, some kind of corporate event, probably. 

“Huh.”

Morgan looked up – Alex only made that sound when things were interesting. And interesting to Alex meant catastrophic for the rest of the world. 

Which – yep, their ex had spotted them and that blue shirt was making its way in their direction.

“Oh god damn it they’re coming over.” Morgan braced themself against the table, trying to decide if they should run or hide. 

“Oh no, your ex is gonna find out that you’re having lunch with the most powerful person on the planet how embarrassing for you,” ALex said, cocky, mocking joy running beneath their words. 

Morgan put their head in their hands. “Oh, I did not want to deal with this today,  they lamented. All they’d wanted was a free lunch, and now this? 

“Oh, don’t worry. You won’t have to,” Alex said, pushing up from the table. Morgan averted their eyes as their best friend walked away to intercept their ex. 

They did not want to see what happened next. 

—------------------

“See? I told you you wouldn’t have to deal with it,” Alex said, sitting down a few minutes later. 

“Wh-what the fuck did you do to them?” Morgan asked, looking between their best friend and the still-swinging door to the restaurant. 

“Absolutely nothing,” Alex grinned, evil satisfaction oozing from their pores. “I just stood up.” The supervillain shrugged as if they weren’t, actually, a very intimidating figure, even without their powers. 

“B–but they ran, they ran out of here screaming?” It was less a question and more of a statement, but Morgan still couldn't believe that Alex hadn’t done anything to their ex. (Especially not the one who cheated on them.) 

“Evidently they’re sane.” Alex leaned back in their chair, cocky swagger returning as something dark and evil and blood filled flickered in the depths of their eyes. 

Morgan blinked, slapping the table as the realization sank in. “Mass murderer.”

“Mass murderer,” Alex confirmed, raising their glass in salute. 

Morgan sighed. They’d admit, sometimes Alex’s reputation did come in handy. Even if it was kinda irritating that Alex kept jumping to their rescue. 

—------------------------------

Morgan didn’t need to know that Alex had briefly stopped time, pulled the cheating bastard aside, and brutally explained to the lowlife scum who’d hurt their soulmate exactly what they would do to him if he ever showed his face near Morgan again. 

They’d only refrained from killing him because Morgan didn’t like that. 

And, honestly, because they were hungry. While murder did whet the appetite, most restaurants implemented a lifetime ban on people who committed murder on their premises…even when said murderer wasn’t an S-tier supervillain. When recognized, Alex either got top tier service or screams. 

This place gave them both great service and good food. They weren’t going to waste that on Morgan’s shitty ex. 

“Alex what game are you playing right now?” Morgan asked, walking into the living room later that evening. 

“Tracks. Why?” the supervillain said, not taking their eyes from the screen. 

“That’s what I thought. It’s a bit cute for you, isn't it?” Morgan asked.  

Alex could only assume they meant that the toybox game with the wooden trains where you built your own tracks clashed with their usual sleek-but-gory aesthetic. 

“No. No I wouldn’t say that. I mean, look at the whistle!” Alex pressed the button to pull the train whistle in game, the choo-choo bringing a smile to their face. “How can anyone be too good for that? Like –” Alex kept pressing the whistle button, glancing at Morgan out of the corner of their eye. The thief had cast their eyes skyward in exasperation – “that’s amazing.”

“Why is there a teenager and a chicken just chilling in the middle of your little town?” Morgan asked, in the tone that meant Alex had, somehow, pulled all kinds of bullshit and they were merely tolerating it right now. 

Which, like – What the fuck? Alex had done them a favour earlier. Now they just wanted to enjoy themself, playing with trains for a while. 

“Oh, it's cause they’re running away from home. He’s uh, he’s taking his chicken.” Like, was it not obvious from just watching the game? 

Sometimes, despite how smart they were, Morgan could be really slow to catch on to things. It was a good thing Alex was there to protect them. 

“Oh, I–I see. That makes sense.” Morgan’s flat tone and expressionless face, somehow managed to say that it did not, in fact, make sense. At all. 

‘You’re judging me right now,” Alex accused, twisting to look at their soulmate, peeved. 

“No, of course not. I would never. It’s just like – this? This is why we all forget you’re a mass murderer. Like this is why!” 

Alex chuckled as Morgan walked away. Only one person on the planet ever forgot Alex was a mass murderer and they lived together. Even their mother remembered more than Morgan did, although that probably had something to do with the fact that Morgan was irreplaceable and Alex would never let them get hurt. Ever.

Chapter Text

“All right, hero,” Alex said, leaning nonchalantly with their cheek propped up against one fist, elbow resting on the diner table, “before I kill you for interrupting my meal, what do you want me to tell your family?”

Morgan rolled their eyes. It wasn’t like Alex’s basket of fries had come right out of the deep fryer; they’d been sitting there for almost fifteen minutes while the supervillain devoured their burger.  

They ignored the exchange; it happened occasionally. Alex got recognized by some hero while they were out and had to fend off their well-intentioned blustering. Even though the Fairness Association had issued a “do not engage” warning for the S-Tier villain to everyone but A-Tier heroes years ago. (Morgan knew about it because Diego had called to complain because Dave , technically-a-human-with-no-powers-B-Tier-ranked-Dave, hadn’t shut up about it for months. )

Low-ranked idiots who wanted FA membership often thought that challenging Alex was a great idea to get into the organization. Instead, they usually got obliterated, or blacklisted if they survived. 

Even Morgan knew that reckless and stupid got you banned from the FA.  

And then Alex said something that had them tuning back into the conversation, however briefly. 

“...Of course I'm gonna go visit them, I need to kill them too. But I'm not a complete monster so I'll gladly pass on a message.” Alex’s nonchalance was terrifying, like the C-ranker facing them wasn’t shivering in his boots. 

“You can't go kill their family,” Morgan said, irritated now. The hero looked at them, mouth open in surprise. Who would dare give the world’s strongest supervillain orders?

Morgan, the supervillain’s best friend, roommate, and partner in crime. That’s who. 

“I can and I will,” Alex said, those slitted yellow eyes shifting to pin Morgan back against the booth. 

‘You can, but you won't.” Morgan’s famous poker face slipped, irritation leaking through 

“Why not? “ Alex’s gaze met Morgan’s in a battle of wills. The desire to kill warring with Morgan’s immovable resolve, like a parent controlling a willful child they kept on a leash for this exact reason. “Why wouldn't I kill this asshole's family? Like he interrupted us.” 

Morgan resisted the urge to face plam. It was like Alex thought the interruption was the crime and not Alex ditching their plans for more murder…they’d already killed two heroes this week!

“I know, but you promised me that you'd help me get the magic amulet from that jungle temple and the expedition's gonna take at least a month and if we don't leave soon we're gonna miss the plane,” Morgan said, checking their watch. Yeah, they needed to go in like, three minutes if they wanted to make the plane on time. 

Alex sighed and leaned in, arms crossed on the diner table. “You do know I can just get you the amulet in like a second, right?” 

Morgan sighed, disappointment warring with frustration inside them. This wasn’t the first time Alex had tried to shortcut one of Morgan’s heists with their powers and it was honestly super disappointing.  

“You know what, never mind. I'll get the amulet myself.” Morgan stood to leave, looking down at their best friend for a moment. “You can be really boring sometimes,” they said, turning to leave. 

“Wait, no I'm sorry!” Alex called out as Morgan left, but the thief didn’t turn around. They were done caring at this point. 

They’d carry out this heist alone. 

—---------------

“Can I please come on the jungle adventure? I’m sorry,” Alex whined on the other end of the phone. 

“No, and actually I can’t really talk right now,” Morgan panted, a jubilant grin on their face. “I just out ran a giant boulder and a very angry archaeologist with a whip is chasing me, so I gotta go.”

Adrenaline was still coursing through their veins, heart pounding and hands shaking with the thrill as sweat trickled down their face from the jungle humidity; the crumbling stone walls of the ruin were rough behind them. Bug buzzed around their head and Morgan could taste the metallic tang of blood where they’d bitten their cheek in the escape. 

This was perfect. 

“Come on, it’s so boring when you’re not around!” How Alex – the most powerful being on the planet – could sound like a petulant toddler, Morgan didn’t know. 

And if they hadn’t been so damned buzzed from the adventure, they’d be irritated. Alex had chosen murder over them, and now they could live with the consequences. 

“Not gonna lie, that sounds like a you problem. I’ll talk to you later,” Morgan said, hanging up as they spotted a flash of khaki material through the undergrowth. That was definitely their nemesis. They dashed off into the jungle, a huge grin spreading across their face. 

Across the world, Alex spluttered, “But–” before the dial tone registered in their ear. 

They pulled the phone away from their face, looking at it for a moment before dropping it with a sigh. 

“How am I gonna fix this?” they asked, looking around the empty apartment. All they’d wanted was to protect their soulmate. First from the dumbass hero who thought he could take Alex, and then from the fucking jungle. 

Like yes, sure, Morgan was a very good thief. But wasn’t the whole point of thieving to have the thing you were trying to steal? Alex just wanted to help…

(And to make sure nothing, absolutely nothing happened to their soulmate. Ever.)

—--------------

“Okay, what do I have to do to get you to let me come on the jungle adventure?” Alex asked, two days later when Morgan finally deigned to pick up their phone. 

No, they hadn’t been eaten alive with worry that their soulmate was dying in the jungle and they didn’t know about it. And no, that wasn’t completely illogical because they would have felt the soulbond shatter, and would have promptly stopped time, teleported to Morgan, healed them, and completely obliterated whatever it was that dared to harm their spouse.

No, Morgan was just being petty. And also possibly running for their life.

“I need you to steal something for me,” Morgan said, voice strangely flat, as though they were trying to keep their infamous poker face on, but not quite succeeding. Or like they were trying to not be mad, but they hadn’t yet reached the forgiveness stage of the argument yet. 

“Name it and I’ll have it to you instantly,” Alex said, ready to snap whatever Morgan wanted into their vicinity. Their soulmate knowing about their powers meant they could do that now and it was wonderful. 

That, and it meant they didn’t have to beg. 

“No, I mean, proper steal it. Like, you have to do a museum heist. My style.” Alex’s brain glitched as Morgan’s words registered. 

“But I don’t...know how to do that,” Alex said, completely blank, for once. How did you even begin to do a heist? Alex usually just tagged along after all the planning was done, in case Morgan needed help. They didn’t know the first thing about actually pulling off a museum heist. 

“My minions do. They’re in town. You can ask them to help you out.” Never had a friendly offer of help left Alex so cold. 

Morgan had clearly been thinking about this. A lot. 

“O-okay. And what do I do when I have the thing?” Alex was quickly running out of options. 

This was terrifying. Pulling a proper heist? With no powers? 

Alex might be the most powerful person in the entire world, but they honestly weren’t sure if they could pull this off. 

“When you have it, I’ll call you. I’ll send you over the information on the target now.”

Alex’s phone beeped, the image coming through absolutely unmistakable. 

“Oh, that’s gonna be tricky,” Alex said, looking at the giant T-rex skeleton that lived in the front hall of the Capital City museum. 

Morgan…Morgan knew how to get revenge all right. 

Fuck. 

With a gulp, Alex steeled their resolve. Their soulmate wanted this, and Morgan never asked them for anything. 

Plus they’d fucked up and were genuinely worried Morgan wouldn’t talk to them again if they didn’t make amends, somehow. 

The thought of Morgan never talking to them again was enough to get Alex to do anything. 

—-----------

“What do you mean, the vents are too small to crawl through? That’s like the whole point of a vent, right?” Alex asked, frowning at Gus as the henchman shook his head. 

The heist planning was going…terribly. It was terrible. Every idea Alex came up with the team…well they didn’t veto it. They just pointed out how it wouldn’t work or how Alex would potentially get them killed. 

And Alex didn’t want to piss off Morgan even more by killing their henchmen, even accidentally. So they were left, staring at blueprints and plans and schematics of the museum, wondering how Morgan did all of this. Was planning a heist always this hard? Or was this the one thing Alex was actually bad at? 

No, heist planning was hard. It had to be that. 

—--------------------------

“So how hard do you have to hit somebody to knock them out without killing them?” Alex asked, looking at the map with the guard posts outlined. “Like is it just a little tap like,” Alex brought their hand down on the table, gently, and the edge of the table crumpled. They looked up at the crew, staring at them in horror. “You guys might need to deal with the guards,” they said. 

Even they knew killing the guards was a bad idea. Killing the guards meant your heist was unsuccessful. It attracted attention. 

They’d watched enough heist movies to know that much, at least. 

—--------------

“So where’s the laser defense grid with the turrets on this map?” Alex asked, as Gus handed them another oversized sheet of paper. If heist movies had taught Alex anything, it was that every museum had a laser defense grid around every artifact. 

Except for the ones kept in storage downstairs, but no one ever cared about those . Just the ones on display. 

But there were no laser grids on this map, so maybe they had their own separate sheet? 

At least, Alex thought so until the snickers started. “Why are you laughing?” they asked Morgan’s henchmen, genuinely confused. 

“You know, I think we should just go to the museum, scope it out,” they said as the goons continued to laugh. “Of course I’ll pay,” they said in response to Gus’s raised eyebrow.

Murmurs raced around the room and it was a good thing Alex had super hearing because how did you deal with this otherwise? “Okay fine, you can get one item from the gift shop.”  

They got up to put their jacket on, once again amazed at how Morgan handled this bunch of goons so expertly all the time. 

—------------

It was so dark and quiet in the museum even normal people could hear a pin drop. Alex didn’t even have to dial up their super hearing to hear everything in the entire building. Shadows flickered along the walls, layers of darkness playing with each other as cars drove by outside.

Alex hid in the shadows, down the hall. They were on watch duty since they were both too strong to take out the guards and too clumsy to navigate the security measures around the exhibit. 

“What do you mean the T-rex skeleton is gone!?” they hissed, finger on the communicator in their ear. “How is the T-rex skeleton gone?!” 

They looked down the corridor and, sure enough, the massive looming pile of bones that should have been there…was not. 

“It’s gone cuz I stole it for you.” 

Alex looked up, shocked to not only hear Morgan’s voice, but to not hear Morgan’s approach. How had the thief just appeared in front of them? Did they have some kind of power Alex didn’t know about?

“It’s packed up in the back of the truck,” Morgan said, jerking a thumb towards the docking bay. “Now come on, let’s go.” 

Alex blinked, still attempting to process what had just happened. “What?”

“Yeah, I was in town anyway to pick you up to go on the jungle adventure. Figured I’d just take care of this whole thing for you.” Morgan waved a hand at the museum and then smiled at Alex like they’d done nothing wrong. 

‘“But I worked so hard on this heist! Oh…” Alex’s protest cut off at the sudden realization of what, exactly, was going on. 

Okay, yeah, they (kinda) got it. 

It didn’t mean they were ever going to stop protecting their soulmate, but they could, perhaps, meddle a bit less. 

Morgan arched an eyebrow at them. “Lesson learned?” 

“Lesson learned,” Alex sighed, following Morgan through the darkened museum and out through the docking bay.

On the bright side, their soulmate was back. And they got to go on the jungle adventure together. Things could be worse.

Chapter Text

“You know sometimes, I really wish you would just take advantage of me,” Alex said, face falling in and out of shadow as they drove underneath the streetlights. 

It was only through years of practice that Morgan was able to not slam on the brakes.  

“I’m sorry you want me to do what?” the thief asked, surprise choking off their words at the end. 

They did not hear that right. 

“I want you to use me!” Apparently they had since Alex kept repeating themself. 

Thank goodness they were only a few blocks from the apartment. This was not the conversation Morgan had anticipated having on the way back from the museum dinosaur heist. Not at all. 

“Like, I could give you everything and you never ask me for anything. Like I don’t even pay you rent,” Alex said, waving their hands around as Morgan hit the gas to speed through a yellow light as it turned red. They didn’t want to be in this car any longer than necessary. This felt like the kind of conversation they should be having…somewhere that wasn’t a moving vehicle Morgan could crash at any moment. 

“I feel like a freeloader.” The quiet disappointment and subtle shame in Alex’s voice hit a nerve in Morgan’s soul.

Oh. 

Their best friend felt useless. 

Damn.

Morgan knew that feeling all too well. 

“Oh, okay, that’s what you’re talking about,” they said, conflicted relief rolling through them. Because on the one hand, they didn’t want to use Alex. No one deserved to feel like their powers were the only thing that gave them any utility or worth. 

On the other hand, Morgan doubted there was a human being alive who didn’t want to… use Alex, so… 

“Um…I mean, I ask you for stuff,” Morgan said, turning into the parking lot of the apartment complex and taking the guest parking spot. (It was closest to the door and who the fuck cared, they owned the building. They could park wherever they wanted…as long as it wasn’t a spot they’d leased out. Either way, they were getting out of this car and back into their apartment, ASAP.) 

“Like, you’re the one who cleans the apartment and does dishes and laundry and stuff.” Morgan shut the car off, opened the door, slid out of the driver’s seat, and slammed the door shut all in one quick motion. They were already heading into the building lobby by the time the sound of Alex’s car door shutting reached them. 

“Yeah I do, and all it takes is a snap of my fingers,” Alex said, stepping into the elevator beside them. Morgan tapped their foot against the floor, nervous energy tracking ticking along with the floor counter as they rode up. “So like four times a month I do this,” Alex snapped their fingers, making a point about how effortless keeping the apartment clean was. 

“Like just throw me a bone and ask me for stuff every once in a while, okay?” A forlorn note crept in under the frustration as the elevator doors slid open on their floor and Morgan…

Morgan got it . 

They knew how it felt to be useless.

“Um, okay, I didn’t really realize this was something you felt so strongly about,” they said, toeing off their shoes. Trying to buy time and figure out a way to make their best friend feel…not useless but also like Morgan wasn’t out to use Alex just for their powers. 

“Um, I could go for a bowl of chips right now, I guess?” They scratched their head, hair askew as it usually was. Heist hair was a permanent thing for them, sadly. And they were late and kinda peckish, so chips seemed like a good idea. 

“A bowl of –” Alex cut themself off, obvious exasperation giving way to mildly happy acceptance. "You know what, start small." 

They snapped their fingers and a bowl of chips – the exact brand and flavour and amount Morgan would have chosen for themself appeared on the kitchen counter. "There you go."

Morgan walked over to the bowl, staring at it from a moment. "Have I ever told you your powers are so fucking cool?" they asked. Because it was. It really was cool how Alex’s power could be whatever they wanted it to be – and the fact that they’d willingly use it to materialize whatever Morgan wanted, whenever they  asked for it, well…it did uncomfortable things to Morgan’s insides. 

(And by uncomfortable they meant fluttery things only their exes had ever managed to manifest.)

“You haven’t, actually,” Alex said from the entryway, where they were still divesting themself of their heist gear. “But I’m glad that out of all the cool shit I’ve done, it’s the bowl of chips that gets you to say it.” Morgan almost flinched at the sarcasm in Alex’s tone. 

Yeah, they’d probably fucked up here. In trying to not use Alex for their powers and treat them like a normal person, Morgan had actually done the opposite. 

Shit.

“Like –” Alex shook their head and sighed, heading into the apartment. Presumably to pack. 

The two of them had a jungle adventure to go on, after all.

Morgan, however, sat at the kitchen counter and ate their chips, deep in thought about what they could ask Alex to do that wouldn’t be an imposition, but that used their powers. 

Which, actually, maybe partially explained why Alex was so eager to just take over heists and skip all fun, hard work of stealing something. 

Morgan couldn’t blame them for wanting to be useful. 

—----------------------

How to make better use of Alex’s powers rolled around in the back of Morgan’s mind like a loose marble for the entirety of the jungle adventure. While hacking through the undergrowth, infiltrating the ancient temple, running from traps, nearly falling down the gorge…all of it. 

Through all of it Morgan stewed and simmered on what they could do. 

And it wasn’t until the flight back that it hit them, tapping on the in-flight movie screen. 

(Alex had upgraded their tickets to first class, because they wouldn’t be caught dead in economy, and since they didn’t want to sit alone, Morgan stretched their legs out into the aisle, protecting their S-tier roommate from the curious looks of other passengers, trying to place where they knew that gorgeous face from. (Thankfully Alex was wearing sunglasses, which helped a little.))

“I’m sorry, you want me to put what, where?” Alex asked, aghast, several days later, back in their apartment. 

“This food, in a pocket dimension,” Morgan said, meeting those yellow eyes with steady determination. 

This was the perfect solution. 

“For what possible reason?” Alex asked, unamused, arms crossed over their chest as they stood in the living room. 

“I have – movie tickets.” The pause was deliberate, drawing out the second when Alex’s face fell just a little bit for Morgan to be filled with glee. 

“No!” the supervillain’s face fell. 

Morgan’s answering grin was triumphant. “Yes!” 

“Unlimited god-like powers and you want me to sneak food into the movies?” For a brief moment, Morgan doubted themself. Alex’s anguish made it seem like this was an endeavor unworthy of their powers. 

Morgan nodded, confirming their best friend’s anguish. It was almost like Alex didn’t know or understand just how hard it was to sneak food in. Even for a seasoned thief it was a nerve-wracking experience. 

Putting it in a pocket dimension was way easier. It was convenient, it was helpful, and it didn’t abuse Alex’s powers at all. 

But it was also something only Alex could do so Morgan grinned while their best friend begrudgingly snapped their fingers and sent the pile of snacks into a pocket dimension.

Movies were gonna be so much more fun now. 

Chapter Text

“Let me get this straight,” Alex said, closing the refrigerator door, even though there was not a single straight thing about them. Neither their gender nor sexuality could even remotely be classified as straight, and their morality certainly couldn't be either. 

Instead, they pointed at their soulmate as the disheveled thief leaned against the counter. Goddamnit, why did their messy mop hair make Alex’s heart flip over? It was always messy. Morgan had perpetual hat hair. And they were married for christ’s sake!Their weird platonic soulmate relationship shouldn’t still be making their heart turn over in their chest like this. 

Should it? 

“You’re going to a family reunion this weekend and you don’t want me to go with you,” Alex continued, counting out the reasons why Morgan wasn’t going on their fingers. “You’re not going for the sake of revenge or to ruin the event or get even in any way. You’re going because you’re giving your parents another chance?”

Somehow, Alex managed to keep their incredulity to a minimum as Morgan nodded a confirmation. 

“Yes, and I”m hoping that you’ll respect that decision and not fight me on it,” they said, with the smallest trace of hesitation. From the set of Morgan’s shoulders, Alex could tell that it wasn’t so much about them being afraid of Alex, but more hating the inevitable fight that would happen. 

So Alex, the dutiful and loving soulmate that they were, shrugged instead. “I’m not gonna fight you on it. You can do whatever you want,” they said with a wave of their hand. 

“Thank you,” Morgan said, a relieved smile crawling across their face. 

Alex grinned in return. “You can thank me on Monday when I let you out of the holding cell.”

Morgan shook their head in disbelief. “What happened to ‘I can do whatever I want’?” they asked, flickers of anger bleeding through the shock. 

Alex forced their grin to stay in place. “Nothing! You can. But so can I.” 

The S-tier villain snapped their fingers, and Morgan disappeared, sent to the holding cell in the Antarctica lair. Complete with snacks and a new set of throw pillows. Alex may be restraining their soulmate, but they weren’t that evil. 

At least, not to Morgan. 

“Mm hmm. They’re gonna be so fucking pissed at me on Monday,” Alex said, smile fading as they stared at the empty spot in the kitchen where Morgan had stood just seconds ago. 

They let out a sigh, trepidation and anxiety swirling beneath their usual layer of confidence. “They’ll forgive me eventually though, right?” they asked the empty apartment.

“Yeah, yeah they’ll forgive me eventually.” The forced conviction in the supervillain’s voice did nothing to ease the tendrils of doubt wriggling in their stomach. 

But like…this was Morgan. Morgan always forgave them. Especially when they were protecting their soulmate. Morgan understood what they meant to Alex. Right? 

—--------------------------------------------------

Just over an hour later, Morgan stormed out of the holding cell and into the living room. Alex looked up from the newest copy of Nuclear Weapons Monthly (it was cute seeing what other world destroying weapons other people tried to come up with when Alex could just snap their fingers), glasses sliding down their nose. 

“You’re really losing your touch,” they said, looking at Morgan over the top of their frames. They glanced at their watch, although they didn’t need it to tell the time. They’d been counting the minutes since they’d locked Morgan away. Even if it was for the thief’s own good, it was still boring. “It took you a whole hour to escape from that holding cell.” 

“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” Morgan said, face impassive, looming as hard as they could over Alex. Since the supervillain was seated, it wasn’t that hard. But the subtle, vibrating fury really wasn’t that scary. Alex made a mental note to show Morgan how to loom properly at some point in the future. It was all about the aura of menace and their thief hadn’t mastered that yet. 

Of course, saying as much would probably get Alex divorced right now, so instead they shrugged. 

“Invulnerability’s off. Knives are over there. Go for it if it makes you happy,” Alex said, holding their hands up in a defenseless gesture. They both knew it wasn’t true – Alex was never defenceless – but if murdering them would make Morgan happy, they’d do it every night for the rest of forever. 

“What the fuck?” Morgan asked, horror and disgust mingling on their face. 

“It’s not like I’ll stay dead,” Alex said. Morgan rolled their eyes. 

“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about locking me up!” Something in Morgan’s normally flawless poker face cracked and Alex – Alex could see the hurt in Morgan’s eyes. 

“What do you want me to say? I’m not a good person.” While they both knew this already, it was Alex’s only defense. ‘Looming’ Morgan they could handle. Angry Morgan they could handle. But hurt Morgan? 

Oh, hurt Morgan was more than even Alex’s evil conscience could bear. 

Silence stretched between them, before Morgan spoke again. 

“I’m not speaking to you for a fucking week,” they said, choosing a punishment for Alex that was somehow more painful than being repeatedly murdered. 

”Okay. Just means you’re not going to your fucking family reunion,” Alex said with a grin. They waved at the white walls around them, not sure if Morgan had caught on yet. “Cuz this is the Antarctica base, and you can’t leave without my help.” 

They knew the grin was pushing it but they couldn't help it. Nothing made Alex happier than knowing Morgan was safe. (Except maybe the look Morgan got on their face after a successful heist, but that was less happy and more…things they weren’t supposed to feel given their soulmate connection was supposed to be platonic.)

Alex’s grin stretched wider at Morgan’s disgusted sigh as the thief turned to leave. “Have fun sulking in a corner! Do you want me to bring you some coffee later?” 

Morgan’s “go fuck yourself” floated back from the other room and contentment settled in to Alex’s soul. 

“Only if you join me,” they called back, relishing the sulking cloud of petulant thief – because it meant those assholes who had the nerve to call themselves Morgan’s ‘family’ couldn’t hurt them this weekend. 

And that was all Alex really cared about. 

—------------------------------------

Several hours and one phone call later, Morgan had…well, not cooled off, exactly. They were still mad at Alex, but Diego calling to tell them the reunion was, in fact, a trap, blunted the edge of their anger. 

But just because Alex was right didn’t mean their methods were okay. 

The throw pillows and snacks in the holding cell had made their blood boil. It was like Alex had intended to lock them away, the same way their parents did. Betrayal burned underneath the rage. 

Consciously, Morgan knew it was because Alex cared. Alex didn’t want to see them taken by their family again and locked up or forced to become a hero. But that didn’t mean Alex got to lock them up. 

No one got to lock Morgan up. They were a D-tier villain with freewill and – well, not a deathwish. They were D-tier, afterall. But they still got to make their own decisions, goddamnit!

And those decisions should be respected!

This was the central issue they were fighting about with their best friend-slash-roommate. Or they would, if Alex would join them in yelling and pacing and waving their arms around in the air. 

“Well how else do you stop someone from doing something if not by force?” the supervillain asked from the couch, tone conveying genuine confusion – which only served to make Morgan madder.  

It was like Alex didn’t even comprehend the magnitude of what they’d done. “By using your goddamn words,” the thief said, dropping the theatrics in favour of disgusted disbelief. Morgan knew their parents had taught them better than this. 

“But then you’ll just win!” Alex protested.

Morgan paused. “I mean I do tend to have the upper hand when it comes to verbal sparring, yeah,” they admitted. Which was something they genuinely hadn’t thought about before. It was weird to think that they were better at something than the S-tier supervillain…well, something that wasn’t heist planning or puzzles or–

“You have talked me into so much shit,” Alex continued. “Like” – the supervillain heaved a sigh – “I have to use the thing I have the advantage in, okay?” The edge of desperation in Alex’s voice had the thief concerned. Was that– yeah, of course, Alex cared about them. They were best friends. But like– no. They were being stupid. There wasn't anything more than friendly affection and control issues behind the catch in Alex’s voice. 

 “I’m not– I can’t convince you to do anything so I have to force,” Alex snapped their fingers, movement completely unconscious “–oh sorry.”

“What did you just do?” Morgan asked, looking around. All thoughts of…anything else completely gone as they scanned the lair for damages. Nothing looked broken, but with Alex you could never tell.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” they said, looking at their hand. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”  They stared off into space for a second before speaking, softly. “I might have killed someone.”

“Well do you know who?” Morgan asked, swallowing back the trepidation. 

“No. Oh well, it’s probably not important.”  Alex brushed off the potential death of another human with ease, swapping back to the earlier fight in a way that made Morgan’s head hurt. “Anyway, yeah, like if I can’t use my words to convince you not to do something stupid, I have to physically stop you.” 

“Oh my god,” Morgan said, rubbing a hand over their face. This was too much. Alex didn’t learn and it was both infuriating and exhausting. “You know what, I don’t wanna fight anymore and I’m tired of being angry. You know what I just fucking forgive you.”

Morgan slashed their arm through the air, giving Alex an ultimatum. “Never do it again though.”

The thief was serious. There was nothing they hated more than being overridden. If Alex did it again–

Their poker face perfectly covered the pang that went through them at the thought of cutting Alex off. Or kicking them out. Or severing ties with their best friend in any way. 

But they would. There was no way they were going to be stuck in a cell, ever again. 

“Okay, I won’t do it again,” Alex said, reclining back into the sofa. “Unless I need to do it again,” they added, almost like an afterthought. 

Morgan carefully schooled their face into disapproving impassivity. They weren’t going to let Alex know how much this pissed them off. On one level, it was futile. Alex’s powers were omnipotent. On another, if Alex couldn’t show them a bare minimum of respect, what was the fucking point. 

“That’s really the best you’re gonna give me, isn’t it?” they asked, voice carefully, darkly level. 

“Yeah,” Alex was entirely too cheery for Morgan’s taste. “And I mean, it’s not like I keep tabs on you. If you don’t want me to stop you from doing something, just don’t tell me you’re doing it.” The supervillain relaxed, flipping the pages of their magazine again.

Morgan didn’t dignify them with a response as they stormed off into the depths of the lair. 

On the one hand, Alex was kinda right. Morgan just…wouldn’t share everything with their best friend. They pointedly ignored how badly that thought hurt as they made their way to Alex’s treasure hoard. Stealing from Alex was a major no-go. Messing things up, however…that was suitable revenge. And would help Morgan blow off some steam while they were trapped in the lair. 

Because there really was no acceptable reason to lock them up. Not that Morgan could think of as they sifted through trinkets taken from the battle field. Like, if there was a soulmate situation involved, Morgan could understand in theory . Alex would, of course, be super protective of their soulmate as anyone linked to the S-tier villain was a huge target in their own right. 

In practice, though, even if there was a good reason behind it, Morgan would still hate Alex locking them up. But they didn’t have a soulmark and thus couldn’t be Alex’s soulmate so it didn’t matter. 

What did matter was finding a hiding place for the whole suit of viking armor Alex had in here. It was too cool to not mess with. And given the fact it was situated in the center of the room, on a pedestal, Alex would notice it was missing immediately.

Perfect. A little frisson of pleasure shivered up Morgan’s spine as they hauled the artifacts into the vents and snuck them away to a hiding place. Payback was a bitch, but it soothed their spiteful heart enough to forgive Alex, just a little. 

Chapter Text

Apology coffee always tasted better than normal coffee. And this – this was genuine apology coffee.

Alex had teleported them back to Capital City on Monday morning, stopping at the apartment just long enough for Morgan to shower and change before driving them to work.

Or, rather, Morgan drove and Alex paid for drive through coffee. Which was good enough. 

“Just so you know,” Morgan said as they pulled up to the derelict warehouse Morgan and their crew used as headquarters, “I heard the Terrific Trio are back in town, so you might want to watch out. You don't want to end up in the Eternity Area again.”

It was an obvious olive branch, Morgan extending concern for the supervillain as they sipped on their peace offering. 

Alex grinned, sharp and vicious, but soft around the edges, like they knew this was Morgan’s way of saying ‘I forgive you.’

“Oh, did you not hear? They had to change their name to the depressed duo,” Alex said, hiding a smirk behind their coffee cup. 

Morgan laughed. 

Yeah, they were gonna be okay. 

—----------------

Morgan’s earlier concern about Alex returning to the Eternity Area was touching, and Alex’s cold, villainous heart had melted, just a little, at the sentiment. 

Little did their soulmate know Alex had about four, maybe five new escape methods they could try if they were ever caught again. As much as they loved Morgan, they didn’t want to rely on their soulmate for backup. If anyone ever found out that Morgan was the reason Alex had escaped the Eternity Area, well…

Let’s just say locking Morgan up to keep them from the family reunion would pale in comparison to the safety measures Alex would have to take to keep their soulmate safe. 

That’s not to say Alex couldn’t keep Morgan safe – they were S-tier for a reason. Their power was unlimited and they would absolutely wield it in defense of their soulmate. Rather, it would be annoying if Morgan couldn't so much as walk down the street without being targeted by heroes. 

They liked their independence, and Alex tried to honor that. Key word: tried. 

Unless they were doing something stupid like attending a family reunion that was actually a trap. Then it was okay to intervene, in Alex’s opinion.

It was, after all, a matter of their soulmate’s safety. 

And given the fact that Morgan had turned their apartment into some sort of obstacle course, Alex was, apparently, the only one focusing on keeping them safe. They toed their shoes off at the door carefully, dodging the dominoes laid out in neat lines throughout the apartment until they found Morgan, lurking at their work desk. 

“So, why are there restraints on the dining room table?” Alex asked, forgoing a greeting in favor of pointing. “And what’s up with all the ropes and candles? And why is there a laser on the ceiling? And when did you have time to set up all these dominoes?”

Morgan spun around in their desk chair, grinning with excitement. “Do you like it? It’s all part of my death trap.” The thief gestured to the apartment, like a virtuoso showing off their newest symphony.  

“You built a death trap? That seems very um...out of character?” Alex offered, a little hesitant. Morgan had been painfully, excruciatingly clear about their desire to not kill people, over the years. Crafting something specifically designed to kill them seemed…

Well, suffice it to say the supervillain was tempted to break out their X-ray eyes and find whatever alien parasite had taken over their soulmate’s brain, but they decided to give Morgan the benefit of the doubt…for now.

“What? It’s not like anyone’s gonna die. It’s just a death trap. No one dies in a death trap,” Morgan scoffed, as though Alex was being ridiculous. 

“Is that not the entire point of a death trap though?” Alex asked, somewhat perplexed. Afterall, ‘death’ was right there in the name. 

Morgan laughed. “Of course not!” The grin that spread across their face as the thief went into lecture mode did things to Alex’s heart it shouldn’t – lest they ruin their weird, platonic soulmate relationship. But Morgan’s teaching face was hot. They’d pretended to not know basic heist stuff several times just to see it. Alex shifted their weight surreptitiously as Morgan explained the oxymoron that was a death trap. 

“The whole point of a death trap is to restrain the heroes long enough for me to give my villainous monologue and escape,” they said, adding a theatrical flair to the words. 

Alex opened and closed their mouth for a moment, grasping for words in a futile attempt to educate their soulmate that that was not, in fact, how death traps should work. 

“You know what, it’s not worth it,” they said, turning to leave. 

There were heroes in town tonight. Alex would leave Morgan to their death trap and go pick a fight with them. At least A-tier heroes made sense.

Chapter Text

The only downside to fighting heroes in Capital City was that Alex had to be very selective about where they fought them. They couldn’t risk damaging their favourite pizza place, after all. 

And despite the fact that no mere A-tier hero would ever present a challenge, Alex still relished fighting them. It was like going for a nice stroll on a sunny day. A good way to stretch their legs and get their blood pumping. 

Especially when they could lure the rag-tag half-group of A-listers to the in-progress sub-development on the far edge of town. Rex Roofer owned both the land and the construction company, so it was a two-for-one, beating up heroes and destroying one of Rex’s investments. 

Alex smirked as they batted yet another hero aside, limbs stretching unnaturally, taunting the Depressed Duo with their fallen third’s powers. Their target tumbled, head over heels, crashing into a half-built house, spine cracking audibly against the concrete foundation. 

Alex grinned as the wind tossed their hair. This particular sub-development butted up against the river and the breeze coming in off the water carried the scent of mud and fresh blood. Glorious. 

The heroes tried to stop them as they stalked through the unpaved streets, attempting to ambush Alex from behind various half-built houses. Hiding behind piles of dirt and gravel and building supplies. 

Another villain might have wondered why they were here, now. It was painfully obvious that they were gathering for something . Chad didn’t just randomly show up in town for no reason; not when the Blind Fellows and the Depressed Duo were also present. Morgan had been right about that. 

But Alex didn’t care. It had taken every hero alive to trap Alex in the Eternity Area last time. The supervillain wasn’t particularly worried this time. 

After all, they’d killed several heroes since then. And the newbies weren’t exactly…challenging. Yet. 

One of them – a hulking, Viking looking dude – showed promise. But Alex would probably kill him before he got there. After all, they were challenging the one and only S-tier super villain. They’d be lucky if they got out of here alive. Everyone except Chad, that is. The lunkhead was on the no kill list after all…

And despite the fact that it wasn’t a guarantee, and more of a promise to try , Alex was mindful to swat the boulder Chad chucked at him off to the side instead of back at the annoying hero. Crushing Chad might piss off Morgan. They’d done enough of that last week. 

The Viking guy – who had claws, for some reason – lunged at Alex, appearing out of nowhere from behind a house. One beefy arm swiped through the air, claws catching on the fabric of Alex’s vest as they stepped back. Silk and cotton shredded as the hero fell to a crouch, still coming at Alex. 

Alex grabbed the hero and tossed him over a nearby garage. Then, they looked down, perturbed. Maybe this new hero had promise after all. No one had ever taken Alex’s shirt off before. Although they hadn’t managed to even leave a scratch behind, which was highly disappointing. Even with their invulnerability, they should have felt the ghost of those claws skim over their skin. 

Instead…nothing. Nothing but disappointment and shredded fabric that was now hampering their movement. Discarding their destroyed shirt, Alex stopped to stare down the heroes. They’d all frozen, paralyzed by the sight of Alex’s perfect abs…or so the villain liked to think. Maybe it was astonishment at the Viking getting close enough to tear their shirt, maybe it was fear.

Either way, they’d all frozen, staring at the villain, not able to move.  

Chad even had his mouth gaping open, catching flies. Dumbass. 

“Well? Who’s next?” they called, voice carrying on the wind. A laughing taunt designed to whip the heroes into another frenzy.

Predictably, they shrugged off the paralysis and charged Alex one again. A flurry of blows, dodging power blasts and super-strength punches, Alex laughed. Joy pumped through their veins instead of blood as the heroes fell one by one. Knocked out. Incapacitated. Thoroughly humiliated. 

Oh, how good did it feel to be evil. 

Amid the wreckage of the battlefield was Chad, the only hero still standing. Well, if you could call falling to his knees, one robotic arm missing while the other sparked and dangled by a thread, standing. 

Sure, this may not have been a stretch for Alex’s powers, but showing their obvious superiority felt good. The burning hatred in the Depressed Duo’s eyes had been delicious. (Apparently they’d been a soulmate triad and Alex had killed their third. Oops.) 

Now, Alex walked over to Chad, lifting him by the front of his shirt. Blood trickled down from a cut over his eye as he panted, clearly suffering and in pain. As he should be. 

“Well? Anything you’d like to say for yourself before I kill the rest of your friends, Chad?”

The hero looked up at him, and for the first time Alex thought they saw real emotion in the blue blue eyes the whole world loved so much. (Morgan’s hazel eyes were far superior, but Alex could see the resemblance in the shape and the way they crinkled at the corners.) Instead of the self-righteous hero, there burned anger and disgust, but was that – relief? 

Why would Chad, of all people, be relieved? Alex wondered, remembering they were shirtless as the wind tickled their pecs, soulmark out for the world to see. 

Soulmark out for Chad to see. His eyes hadn’t moved from the two letters etched on Alex’s chest – Morgan’s handwriting distinct enough for anyone who knew them to connect the dots. 

Alex tightened their grasp. Chad coughed, gasping for air before finally speaking. 

“We always thought it was a tragedy that Morgan was born without a soulmark,” he gasped, eyes full of loathing. “But if you’re what’s on the other end if it…then it was a blessing,” Chad spit the words like they were coated in venom – a truth he didn’t want to face. 

The whole world stopped moving. Alex’s ears rang; their skin prickled, both icy-hot and fiery-cold at the same time. Their vision narrowed until only Morgan’s brother existed. 

They almost forgot to breathe. 

What did he mean, Morgan didn’t have a soulmark?!

“What do you mean, they don’t have a soulmark?” Alex growled the words, so low and quiet, so full of menace they were almost beyond human speech. 

The hero’s head lolled back on his neck, as the hero passed out from pain. 

“Chad! ANSWER ME, CHAD!!” Alex shook Chad’s ruined, unconscious body. Because this was Chad – king of the self-righteous heroic assholes. 

But this was also Chad, dumb-as-a-brick, guileless, brainless, punch-the-bad-guys-until-they-learned-their-lesson Chad. I-don’t-believe-in-lying Chad. 

Something in Alex’s bones knew Chad spoke true. They shook his limp body, screaming at him, demanding answers, not fully aware of their actions as the soulbond inside them trembled. 

He wasn’t right. He coudln’t be right. 

If Morgan didn’t have a soulmark that meant — 

That meant– 

Pain flashed at the back of Alex’s head and then the whole world went dark. 

Chapter Text

“Dude! Dude dude dude,” Morgan slapped Barnaby’s shoulder while pointing at their tv screen. Their arch-nemesis was tied up beside them on the couch. Barnaby had, as predicted, fallen perfectly into Morgan’s death trap. 

Morgan’s monologue, however, had been interrupted by a breaking news announcement and an evacuation warning for one of the sub-developments on the edge of town. Morgan being a responsible landlord had, of course, checked it out. And promptly dragged the currently bound Barnaby out of their trap to watch the live television broadcast with them. The helicopter footage of Alex fighting an assortment of heroes – including the Depressed Duo. Morgan had absolutely been right to warn Alex! – reflected in Barnaby’s glasses as the hero watched somewhat helplessly. 

(He easily could have summoned Kotetsu for help, but they had an implicit agreement to not involve the dog. Morgan was one of his favourite people and he’d be heartbroken to find out they were a villain. Although he probably knew from Morgan’s smell, already, they liked to pretend.) 

“Check it out, check it out! That’s my best friend. That’s my best friend, kicking ass.” Morgan’s grin threatened to split their face in two. Getting to watch Alex work was always a treat. 

Barnaby surreptitiously adjusted his glasses, range of motion seriously hampered by the ropes around his chest. “Yes, Morgan, I am–I am aware that Alex is currently massacring their way through the Blind Fellows.” 

“Massacre? It’s not a massacre, like look at that. That’s poetry in motion, if anything,” Morgan said, pointing at the tv screen where Alex was expertly beating the crap out of the heroes. The supervillain moved with violent elegance, stepping back just enough to avoid the claws on the massive Viking-looking hero. 

Morgan’s grin didn’t falter as Alex ripped off the remains of their shirt. 

They should probably feel guilty for perving on their best friend, but their naked torso was all over the news. The cameraman zoomed in, getting a perfect visual of Alex’s face and upper chest as the villain goaded the heroes into another attack. 

Morgan’s heart jumped into their throat as they scrabbled for the remote. That couldn’t have been–

No. That wasn’t–

They needed to go back. 

They needed to see. 

Barnaby frowned as Morgan paused the broadcast, stabbing at buttons as though that would make the tv rewind faster. Morgan could sense the concern coming off the hero beside them but they didn’t care, standing up as though that would make a difference.

There . 

Morgan paused, flipping through frame by frame – thank god they’d sprung for the shitty PVR. Even the cheap ones could rewind live tv these days. 

And they had to know – to double check – they couldn't have seen … 

There, frozen on the screen, was Alex’s face. Haughty and classically beautiful, filled with a cruel joy. Located exactly where it should be, over their chest. 

And their soulmark. 

One word. Two little letters. Handwriting Morgan would recognize anywhere – because it was theirs . 

Hi stared out at Morgan from the TV and the thief’s knees gave out. 

“M-Morgan, have you never s-seen Alex’s soulmark, before?” Barnaby asked, quiet and hesitant, leaning forward as much as the ropes would let him as the thief thumped down onto the couch beside them. 

Morgan shook their head, staring off to the side, at the exact spot where Alex had appeared when they’d freed them from the Eternity Area. On the day they’d stuttered out an inane greeting and refused to lower their eyes below the supervillain’s neck. 

Dear God. Could –

No. Morgan didn’t have a soulmark. Morgan didn’t have a soul mate . 

But that didn’t mean Alex was exempt from that. 

Holy shit, had they meant it? That first day, when Alex had said they were in love with them – had they actually meant that? Morgan grabbed a pillow and hugged it, balling up in the corner of the couch. 

Barnaby cleared his throat and Morgan looked over. 

“Can you…” the hero asked, nodding at the ropes around them. 

“Oh,” Morgan crawled forward and undid the main knot. They clearly weren’t getting back to the death trap tonight. Barnaby freed himself as Morgan crawled back into their corner, mind still spinning. 

They looked back at the tv. 

Yes, that was still their handwriting. 

They were still Alex’s soulmate. 

Holy fucking shit. 

A cold nose nudged at Morgan’s arms and they lifted the pillow to find Kotetsu nudging at them, waiting for permission to jump on the couch. Morgan patted the seat and the giant Saint Bernard heaved himself up, tongue lolling out as he gave Morgan a kiss and flopped over their lap, clearly sensing that the thief needed comfort. 

A few moments later, Barnaby walked in holding a tray with steaming cups of tea on it. Morgan gladly accepted one. Anything to help them break out of the shock. 

Barnaby said nothing, sitting down on the other end of the couch while Morgan absently stroked the giant dog sprawled over their lap. Sipping, occasionally, on the tea. The warmth of the tea and Kotetsu’s weight helped ground Morgan, but they were still reeling from the shock. 

“S-so you really d-d-didn’t know?” Barnaby asked eventually. 

“I had no idea. Barnaby, you have to believe me!” they said when the hero raised a skeptical brow. “I’m a blank! I don’t have a soulmate! Why would I ever think–” Morgan cut off, distress stealing their voice. 

Barnaby patted their hand, as if to say ‘it’s okay, I believe you.’ They had known Morgan since Kindergarten, after all. And it was true – blanks didn’t have soulmates. And nowhere in there had anyone ever thought to mention that a blank could be someone else’s soulmate. 

Morgan’s heart hurt. Was that – was this why Alex hang around with them? Because they were Alex’s soulmate? Not because they were friends? Or – more importantly – partners in crime? Because for all that they sucked at heists and were ridiculously overprotective and holy shit did Alex locking them up make more sense now! but for all that Alex sucked at regular crime, Morgan would still choose them. They were Morgan’s best friend. And ridiculously hot but their relationship wasn’t like that – except maybe it was? They were soulmates, or, rather, Morgan was Alex’s soulmate. Did Alex feel that way about them? Did Alex want that kind of relationship? They had been kinda flirty with them, back at the beginning, but that had died off pretty quickly…

The doom spiral in Morgan’s brain continued, churning over and over when Barnaby finally spoke.

“W-we should see how Alex is doing,” he said, reminding Morgan that their best friend was, in fact, fighting a bunch of heroes right now. 

They nodded into Kotetsu’s fur, twisting so they could see the TV as Barnaby grabbed the remote and hit the button to get the live feed playing again. The frozen image of Alex and their soulmark jumped to a live studio broadcast, where the local news anchor was declaring that Alex had, in fact, been captured, and was being sent to the Eternity Area. 

The squeak that Morgan let out was completely undignified. Even Barnaby was shocked as the news program replayed footage of the battle; Alex was seen shaking Chad from above before being hit from behind and then collapsing. Out cold. 

How? Why? 

What had Chad said that the rest of the heroes could sneak up on Alex?

Morgan’s shock dissolved under a surge of anger and determination as they watched their soulmate (yes, they knew, technically, it was the other way around but they didn’t care. One-sided or not the bond was there and they were claiming it, goddamnit.) get dragged away to be imprisoned in the Eternity Area. 

Morgan didn’t hesitate, they just snapped. 

There was no way they were letting Alex get taken back to the Eternity Area. Not on their watch. Not when their power was fully functional and ready to go. 

With a gasp, the supervillain appeared in their living room, an unnerving parallel to their first meeting. Except this time Alex was dazed and confused, staggering in a circle before they realized what had happened. 

Beside Morgan, Barnaby let out a squawk of surprise before hustling out of the room with Kotetsu. Morgan waited until they heard the door slam behind the hero before they spoke. 

“Motherfucker,” Morgan said, voice practically a growl as they set down their tea cup. Rage burned inside of them. All these years and Alex hadn’t said anything. 

“Why didn’t you say anything!” they shouted, less a question and more a demand. 

Alex reared back, rapidly blinking to clear their confusion before their eyes narrowed in a glare. 

“Me?! Why didn’t I say anything? I thought you knew! Why didn’t you say anything!” they yelled back, naked as the day they were born. Soulmark out for the world to see. 

“I’m a fucking blank, Alex. How could I have known?!” Morgan’s eyes kept traveling down to Alex’s chest, where their handwriting was etched in Alex’s skin. They’d always – always – kept their gaze above the neck before. Staring at someone’s soulmark was disrespectful. And Alex hadn’t been naked around them that often – hardly ever, in fact. 

Fuck, that first day…

All of this could have been avoided if Morgan had just looked down on that first day.  

“You never told me you were a blank! You said we should start out as friends. I was respecting your wishes! Why did I have to find out from fucking Chad that you don’t have a motherfucking soulmark!” Morgan frowned, self-flagellation cut short by Alex’s sheer ridiculousness as they walked around naked, waving their arms at Morgan. 

“Of course I told you! You’re my best friend.” 

Alex crossed their arms. “When? When did you tell me?” the supervillain demanded, one hip cocked in a sassy stance that reeked of drama-queen temper-tantrum. 

Morgan went to speak, then paused, mouth open. Surely they’d told Alex, right? They wracked their brain, searching for a memory. Like, yeah, they didn’t like talking about it, but surely they’d told Alex? They told Alex everything . 

Except…

Except…

Oh. Oh shit. 

“Ohmygod I never told you,” Morgan muttered, one hand covering their mouth as the horrifying realization sank in. All the colour bled from their face as they swung their gaze up to meet Alex’s. 

“No, you fucking didn’t,” the supervillain said, seething with anger as they stood there, still naked. “You’re lucky I love you,” they said before spinning on their heel and marching out. 

H-had Alex – did Alex just?

Morgan gaped at the spot where the supervillain had been standing for several moments, trying to process what had just happened.

Alex – Alex Stewart – the world’s only S-tier level supervillain… loved them? Them? Morgan? A shitty D-lister who liked heists more than murder? 

Like, they knew Alex liked them. Things weren’t boring when Morgan was around – they’d said that often enough. But – loved? Really? 

Alex loved them? 

Morgan shook their head before following them into the apartment. Where had they gone? They weren’t done yet. 

“Alex–” Morgan called down the hall, unsure where their – best friend? Soulmate? Soul-bond-partner? Fuck, what were they now? – had gone.

“What? I’m getting dressed,” the supervillain said, poking their head out of their room, gray sweatpants riding low on their hips, a t-shirt hanging from their fingertips. 

Oh. Morgan nodded. Of course. Right. 

“No, I’m not running away. Jesus, it’s like you don’t even know me,” Alex said, correctly reading Morgan’s expression as they tugged the shirt on over their head. 

An unexpected pang went through Morgan as Alex covered up their soulmark. 

“I’m sorry, it’s not everyday you learn you’re your best friend’s soulmate and that they’ve secretly been in love with you for years.” Okay, maybe Morgan should dial back the snark, given the whole situation. 

But instead of being mad, Alex doubled over, wheezing with laughter. “I’m sorry, who slipped that marriage certificate in my pile of papers?” they gasped, one hand braced against the wall.

Oh shit. Morgan had forgotten about that. “You noticed that?” they asked, braced for an explosion. 

Alex paused, straightening from their laughter. They looked at Morgan like they weren’t sure the thief was serious. “Motherfucker, I read everything I sign.”

“Well, if you knew, why didn't you say anything?” Morgan refused to take all the blame here. Even if their intent had been for an insurance scam, Alex had known. They could have said something.

“I mean if you were so embarrassed that you had to propose to me by giving me a marriage certificate in a pile of other documents like I figured you didn't want to talk about it. Besides, platonic soulmates are a thing. I just figured you weren’t,” Alex waved a hand in the air, gesturing at something intangible, “like that.”

“In my defense, I didn't know that you were romantically interested in anyone, so I thought it would never come up and that you wouldn't mind.”

Alex blinked. “You what?”

Morgan shrugged. “I didn't think it would be an issue and I saved so much money on taxes…” their denial trailed off into more of a plea, begging for Alex’s understanding. They hadn’t meant to lead Alex on, or confuse them. Or, well, any of this, really. 

‘Wait, you think I don't have a romantic interest in people?” Alex stepped forward, caging Morgan in against the wall, voice low and soft. At complete odds with the way they towered over Morgan. 

“I don't see how that's the import part, but like yeah you've never really shown interest in anyone–” which, on second thought, now, made total sense if Morgan was Alex’s soulmate.

“I think it's pretty critical that the person I married two years ago doesn't think I'm in love with them,” the supervillain murmured, leaning in until they were mere inches away from each other. 

“You must have been so mad about that stakeout,” Morgan said, remembering the last time they were this close to one another. 

“I was a little confused, yeah. You were kinda giving me mixed signals for a while there. And then you slipped the marriage certificate in, so I figured we were good.” Alex shrugged, like it was all in the past. Like they’d made peace with all of this. 

Morgan, on the other hand, was still trying to make sense of it all. 

“But now that I know you’re a blank, that makes a lot more sense,” the supervillain said, slitted pupils dilating as their eyes fixated on Morgan’s lips. 

Silence hung thick and heavy in the air between them. Neither one of them wanting (or in Morgan’s case, daring) to move. 

“You want me to kiss you, don’t you?” the thief finally asked, doing the one thing they’d never done in their entire relationship: being direct. 

“Goddamnit, Morgan–” Alex started to pull away, but Morgan slipped a hand around the back of their neck and pulled them back in. Alex’s sigh as their lips touched spoke of soul-deep satisfaction. If a breath could say ‘finally. I’m home.’ this one did.  

“Can we be done being friends?” Alex whispered when they finally pulled apart.

“Yeah, I think we moved past that a long time ago.” Or five minutes ago, when they’d started making out in the hallway, pressed against one another. Either way, lines had been crossed and Morgan didn’t care.

 They didn’t want to go back. 

“Good.” Alex hoisted the thief up, wrapping Morgan’s legs around their waist. Morgan squawked and clung to Alex’s shoulders as the supervillain carried them into the bedroom and kicked the door closed behind them.