Dirty Little Secret - 4

Chapter 4: Too Close To Truths

Ethan wasn’t normally at Dirty Little Secret this often. He’d just had a stressful couple of weeks, so he needed more physical comfort than usual.

Hopefully his bank account would forgive him, because it was expensive. But he wanted a treat after almost dying today. That seemed fair.

The ‘waitress’ at the front was surprised to see him again so soon, but didn’t say anything. The receptionist at the front desk was also all smiles, not pushing or asking questions.

“Hm, I’m not sure if ‘Julie’ is in yet, though,” the receptionist said, looking over the records. “I do see that ‘Mia’ is here, though? ‘She’ would probably be happy to see you again?”

“Er, well—” Ethan started.

“Ethan!” ‘Julie’ ‘s voice called out as ‘she’ hurried out from the back room.

He found himself startled by just how strong of a hug ‘she’ gave him, and gingerly returned it as ‘her’ small frame all but melted into him.

“Is everything ok?” he asked, as ‘her’ hug softened.

“I was worried about you, after what happened,” ‘Julie’ replied.

He blinked. “I—how did you know something happened?”

‘Julie’ stared up at him, slight confusion in those warm brown eyes. “Uh… didn’t you tell me where you worked? …no? I—maybe you had a business card in your pocket one time or… said something that made it obvious?”

“Uh… I guess that makes sense?” Ethan replied.

It seemed odd that he might have revealed that, but they’d been seeing each other enough over the past several months that it seemed plausible.

Either way, he was happy to head back to a private room with ‘her’. Stepping in, it felt a bit on the cool side. A glance at the high definition display pretending to be a window, he saw the outside was set for a warm autumn day. Too warm for his jacket with the rest of his business attired, and warmer than an autumn day tended to be in Northford, but cool enough ‘Julie’ seemed to shiver in ‘her’ revealing dress.

He pulled off his jacket and draped it around ‘her’ shoulders.

“Thank—oh gosh. Your shirt is so cut up! And you’ve got scrapes on your face… I didn’t notice those before,” the redhead said, looking at him with concern.

He plunked onto one of the chairs in the room, letting out a bit of a sigh. “I got off pretty lightly, considering I was thrown out of a window.”

‘She’ nodded along, looking concerned, but not… surprised? He wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. Maybe ‘Julie’ had expected the worst after hearing about his work being attacked. Or had the news mentioned someone getting defenestrated?

“If Captain Wrecking Ball hadn’t caught me,” he said, feeling as if the room was getting a bit distant. “I would have… I really would have been…”

He found himself being hugged again, ‘Julie’ ‘s head buried into his chest. This hug wasn’t quite as painfully tight.

“I’m sorry that had to happen,” the redhead mumbled.

He returned the hug, and ‘Julie’ let out a soft noise of happiness. He kissed ‘her’ forehead, then ‘her’ lips, the kiss turning quite passionate. Then the redhead’s lips slipped somewhere a bit lower on his body, and he found the stress of the day evaporating in the face of pleasure.

-

‘Julie’ was rinsing out ‘her’ mouth in the bathroom while Ethan flipped through the food options.

“Was there a particular dinner you were after?” he asked, his eyes drawn to either the ‘hearty Italian’ option or the ‘rustic comfort’ one. Both seemed good for the coolness of the room.

“Whatever you’d like,” ‘Julie’ called back.

Ethan let out a sigh, not sure what he’d expected. ‘Julie’ was never the best at making decisions. He decided to put in an order for the Italian. Lasagna sounded good about now.

‘Julie’ joined him at the table a short while later, having freshened up a bit.

“Food probably shouldn’t be too long,” he said.

“I hope not. I’m pretty famished today,” ‘she’ replied.

Ethan found a reply coming to him that he couldn’t resist. “I noticed.”

‘Julie’ blushed furiously as a result, ‘her’ cheeks turning nearly as red as ‘her’ crimson hair. “You—that—I… th—that had nothing to do with hunger.”

“Just wanted to see you blush. You’re so cute when you do that,” Ethan replied, his grin shifting to something more gentle.

As ‘her’ blush subsided into a pout, though, a weird sensation came over Ethan. Why was his brain drifting back to Captain Wrecking Ball right now? There… well, sure, the sense of comfort that came with the Captain’s presence maybe overlapped a bit with the sense of comfort Ethan got from being around ‘Julie’, but still… that was where it ended, no?

Maybe it was just various hormones being a jumbled mess after almost dying?

He decided to try to push that out of his head and focus on another thing that had been on his mind today.

“I… I’ve been thinking about the idea you bought up last time,” he mumbled.

“Last—If I remember what I saw on the schedule, the last time you were here wasn’t with me,” ‘she’ said with a new pout.

“I meant the last time we met up… you’re not upset about me having gone to a different ‘girl’, are you?” he asked, genuinely unsure.

“Maybe a little,” ‘Julie’ mumbled.

“You have other clients,” he replied, trying to defend himself.

“But it’s work for me. They pay me. You were paying ‘Mia’…” came the soft reply.

“It wasn’t the same level of bond as it was with you,” he said, reaching a hand out to take one of ‘hers’. “After what happened today, you were the one on my mind the whole way over. No one else.”

‘Julie’ ‘s large brown eyes looked up at him, a shy hope in them.

“I was thinking about your offer to maybe be more than a client,” he continued. “I… I’d like to be more committed.”

“W-with me?” ‘Julie’ asked softly.

“If you’re comfortable with that much time being ‘Julie’,” he replied.

‘She’ smiled. “Being like this is a fun break from my normal life, trust me. It’s all acting for me either way.”

There was something odd about ‘Julie’ ‘s tone and expression. Like ‘she’ was searching Ethan’s face for something. Did… did Ethan know ‘her’ other face? It felt like there was some sort of recognition being hunted for.

His mind drifted back to the way Captain Wrecking Ball had looked at him. How many people’s secrets did he know?

The idea that ‘Julie’ was Captain Wrecking Ball briefly crossed his mind, and made him feel embarrassed to even think that. Really… the strongest superhero in Northford—no, the strongest hero in the country, moonlighting as a cute petite collar ‘girl’? Captain Wrecking Ball was a boy scout, he’d probably feel uncomfortable just walking into a place like this, let alone working there.

‘Julie’, on the other hand… sure, ‘she’ was blushing and submissive, but also worked with (and had) kinks, on top of the whole gender play thing, that made Ethan blush right back.

The idea of a connection was absurd.

Maybe ‘she’ wasn’t looking for what he’d thought, and he was just worse at reading people than he thought? Or off his game from nearly dying?

The food arriving proved a good distraction. It was delicious, the warmth of it comforting.

And, as always, ‘Julie’ ate a truly impressive amount of it.

Then, well, then it was time to really celebrate being alive.

-

The brisk salty air of the ocean front trail kept Ethan awake as he did his morning jog that Friday. He was planning to have a date with ‘Julie’ out in public for the first time this evening, and he felt nervous. Sure, they’d spent plenty of time together, but there was always a… sexual charge to it.

How would being out in public work? Could he hold ‘her’ hand without getting ideas? Would he get impatient?

And how long could they dance around the reality of ‘Julie’ ‘s true identity?

He didn’t know, but he’d been reminded life was too short to constantly worry about what-ifs. ‘Julie’ was beautiful, they had feelings for each other, and it made sense to act. To let things get messier in future.

He was feeling a bit more confident about the situation as he made it back to the parking lot where he’d left his car. Until he saw someone sitting on the hood of his car, relaxing like they owned the place.

Ethan slowed his pace, not sure what to do. The figure wasn’t large, so could be a teenaged punk of some sort, easily scared off by an adult presence. But, in a city swimming in supers, it was smart to make sure the person wasn’t a goon of some major villain before shouting at them.

… or make sure they weren’t a supervillain themself, Ethan realised as his heart fell into his stomach. That was—that was the Gremlin. The mischievous villain who seemed to have a hand in every major crime racket in the city.

“Ethan Quinten?” the Gremlin asked in a digital warped voice that obscured any ability to guess gender, the Gremlin’s loose robes and full head mask furthering the effect.

“Y-yes?” Ethan replied, trying not to be too unsettled by the smiling face of the Gremlin’s mask.

“Amazed he hasn’t snapped you in half,” the Gremlin said, giving Ethan a once over.

It didn’t really feel like they were talking to Ethan so much as simply commenting on his existence.

“What? Who?” Ethan asked, not sure he’d get a reply.

“Don’t try to hide it. We saw the way he blushed when he rescued you from Ms. Red. You’re clearly Cap’s secret boytoy,” the Gremlin said, hopping to their feet to lean in too close with that unchanging smiling mask. “Cap’s been good at covering his tracks and keeping secrets off the job, but on the job my eyes can always follow him.”

“I…” Ethan stammered.

He wanted to refute the claim. Then point out he was straight and that the time he’d been saved was his first time meeting Captain Wrecking Ball.

Buuuut… he suspected the Gremlin might just kill him to cover up making a mistake if he did. Plus, Captain Wrecking Ball would save any random civilian who got kidnapped by the Gremlin, right?

So, it was best to just smile, nod and… oh, get knocked out by a stun baton. He realised that that worked as he fell towards the ground, losing consciousness.

-

Ethan woke up tied to a statue. Having blinked the worst of the pain out of his head, he slowly realised he was inside the main museum downtown. There was movement around… oh, goons of the Gremlin’s.

Oh, and the Gremlin themself, shouting something at a phone that looked to be on video call.

“Stop playing dumb, he’s right here!” the Gremlin shouted, turning the phone to point at Ethan.

It was too far away to tell who was on the screen, or identify the voice that shouted through the tinny speakers. But, whoever it was shouted Ethan’s name.

He tried his best to give a confident smile while being utterly terrified.

“Now that we’ve established he is your boyfriend, Cap, it’s time you run a few services for me, to keep your poor little boytoy safe,” the Gremlin

There was a soft reply from the other end of the phone. Ethan couldn’t begin to guess what was being said.

The way the Gremlin bounced about after hearing it made it seem like they weren’t thrilled by the answer.

“You’ll commit whatever crimes I tell you to, Cap! Otherwise the twink gets it!” they shouted at the phone.

“Twink? Twink?” Ethan protested, wiggling in the ropes holding him in place. “I’m not a twink!”

The Gremlin turned to him, head tilted in a gesture of confusion. “You really want me to think you’re the top in your relationship?”

“What? I… I didn’t say that,” Ethan replied, trying not to get defensive about that either. He didn’t want to raise too much suspicion about the only reason he was being kept alive as a hostage. So he swallowed his pride. “You don’t have to be a twink to be a bottom.”

“Doesn’t ‘twink’ mean ‘bottom’? Since you’re like a twinkle bar at the end?” the Gremlin asked.

“How would you be like a twinkle bar?” Ethan asked, the talk of snack food making him feel a little hungry.

“Y’know… cream filled,” the Gremlin replied.

Ethan stared at the Gremlin. “… no? That’s not… but, now I’m going to feel weird the next time I have a twinkle bar. Thanks…”

“Whatever,” the Gremlin said, waving Ethan off. “So I don’t know my gay slang. Either way, Cap… time for your instructions. I’ve got a few banks I’d like to see robbed.”