It was around the time he realized that Fi sort of never left Sanctuary and wasn't tied up anymore that he started getting interested in love. Cia never talked about his father, and Ganondorf wasn't the 'fall-in-love' kind of guy, and Zant was…whatever the fuck Zant was. So he'd asked Fi how she'd known she loved Ghirahim. How she'd known he was 'the one'.

He remembered how wide her eyes had gotten, and for someone as perpetually calm and collected as her, that had surprised him.

She hadn't answered him. So he'd turned to the internet. That had been little more than a stream of constant bullshit, but one of the more common phrases came to mind then, as he watched.

You won't be able to look away from them.

And he couldn't. Or didn't want to. Same damn thing.

The blonde was absolutely fucking gorgeous, and ridiculously fast. Running up to the bus and helping people out, helping to drag them to safety if they were unable to get away themselves. He wasn't one of the usual do-gooders, though. He looked pissed, and kept jerking his head up to look at the battle raging above their heads.

Cia was keeping the Twilight Queen busy, while he kept the bus where it was—every time he battled the Twilight Queen it ended up as little more than a bitchfest, because their powers couldn't really hurt one another as they both held sway over the same exact thing, just in different ways. But they only needed the one guy, and Dark had him strapped down in his chair with the shadows—he wasn't getting out of the bus anytime soon. So the blonde could do whatever he wanted, because they didn't need any of the other civilians—in fact, they would prove more of a problem if they stayed.

And he was very satisfied with just watching. Eyeballing the blonde's ass was very rewarding, and the way he was moving…well, that was putting nothing but dirty thoughts in his head. The good sort, too.

Cia let out a furious shriek and he looked up, if reluctantly, to see a Gate tear open right in front of the Twilight Queen, a swirling vortex of black, purple, and pink surrounded by an intricate frame of glowing pink symbols. And then the Twilight Queen's magic encased it, a midnight black portal laced with threads of neon blue, swallowing it up like it was nothing. Both women went reeling, the cost of such magics taking their toll harder than either had expected, it appeared. Their powers were sort of similar too, but Cia could do some actual damage, and she was always up for a fight with the other woman.

Something pinged off of his forehead, and he whipped around, snatching the object with his shadows.

It took a moment to process that it was a crushed pop can. And then his bloodlust faded, because thank you Din, the blonde had thrown it.

He fell back into the shadows and appeared right in front of the blonde. It might have been more intimidating to appear behind him, but Ghirahim always took far too many liberties when he did so, and Dark had always had a policy of doing nothing similar to what he did.

And the blonde didn't even look spooked. Just pissed, one hand clutching the bus's window frame, other fisted at his side. He looked to be about his age, with beautiful eyes, red as blood and brilliant as rubies. He wore tight skinny jeans and a white dress shirt covered by a navy vest, and then running shoes, all of them scuffed and a little bit torn and stained with blood. His hands were bleeding, too, dripping little rivulets down the silver metal of the window frame.

It was very, very attractive.

"That wasn't very nice."

"I don't know what you're doing to the fuck in the back of the bus and I don't care, but everybody up front is your responsibility. So get in here and help."

That made him blink in surprise. And then grin at his audacity. And—his voice, mother of Din, was almost more attractive than he was himself. With the slightest hint of a barely-there accent Dark couldn't identify…

"Sweetheart, what makes you think I would—"

The blonde reached up, grabbed a fistful of Dark's chest, and yanked him after him into the bus.

He sort of gaped at him. It was sort of public knowledge—meaning Dark made no attempt to hide it—that his form was made out of shadows (when he was on the clock, anyway), but no one ever, not even the Hero, seemed to realize that they were tangible too. That the blonde had, and even that the blonde was so carelessly making demands of him and dragging him around was….

But, regardless. The blonde was pointing to the front of the bus, which had been pretty badly damaged. Some of the seats had been crushed back…and there were four people trapped between them, one awake and begging for help and another barely seeming conscious, the other two out cold. Alive, though. The bus driver was little more than a dismembered hand lying at the bottom of a squashed gore stain, though.

"I can't get them out."

"So?" Dark got the idea, that the blonde wanted him to help pull the injured out of the bus, but still. He was a supervillain.

The blonde let out a frustrated noise, and turned to face him rather than the injured. Dark liked that, the sudden sharp attention he was paying to him.

"Their deaths will be on your head."

Anxiety hit for a moment, and then rage.

"I haven't killed anybody yet, sweetheart."

"Which is why you're going to help me get them out. Don't know what shit you have with the Hero, I don't care. Don't care that you don't 'directly' kill anyone. You'll have directly killed these people if you turn around and leave now. So."

He didn't even look smug about it, or victorious, or…anything, really. Not even angry anymore. Anxious, sure, but considering what he'd just done, anyone would be.

"What's—"

"If you call me sweetheart one more time I'll lock you in this bus with their corpses." Which was a very strange threat, and the blonde must have recognized the way he was staring at him because he blushed, suddenly, and thank you Din, because he was even hotter like that.

"I'm not going to do this for free, doll."

And those brilliant red orbs narrowed, expression absolutely flat.

"Bullshit."

"Tell me your name."

Surprise lit his eyes, lips pulling down into a frown.

"No."

Well.

He reached forward, caught the blonde around the waist and pulled him right up against him, unable to stop grinning as he slipped his wallet out of his back pocket and flipped it open. And even though he wanted to, he was very careful to not touch the blonde anywhere else. That would have been rude.

"Sheik? Did I say that right?"

He disappeared, falling into shadows and reappeared closer to the people he was supposed to be helping out, but the blonde recovered from the missed punch and turned quickly.

Fuck, he was fast. He'd almost gotten socked in the mouth.

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

Cia would agree. When he got out of the bus she was going to be furious with him. The Twilight Queen was a bitch to handle, even when Ganondorf came out to take action against her.

He tossed the blonde's wallet back to him, still grinning widely.

"I like you, Sheik."

"That makes me uncomfortable." He replied dryly, and Dark laughed.

"I'll help you. Even if you didn't tell me your name."

"Excuse me for not wanting a psychopath to know anything about me." But even as he spoke, he was preoccupied with trying to push a seat back enough for one of the injured to slip out. The wallet wasn't in his back pocket anymore, though Dark didn't know where he'd put it.

Dark's lips twitched upwards, and he pulled all four into the shadows, depositing them somewhere outside. Sheik let out a yelp, and Dark pulled him back before his hands were crushed as the seats fell back, no longer supported by the weight of the injured.

And kissed him, hard, on the mouth. If briefly.

"I think you are very attractive, Sheik. You should come down to the next crime scene. We can do this again." He was sort of terrified the blonde would take offense to the action. But though he looked shocked, he let out a snort and jabbed his elbow into Dark's stomach.

"Very likely. Get the fuck off of me."

Cia was waiting for him back at their pre-approved safe house, arms folded and eyes narrowed and looking very pissed, because he was late, even if he'd remembered—barely—to grab their target.

"What were you doing?"

"Making friends?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?" She demanded, but she pulled him into a tight hug, and guilt flashed through him—she'd been worried he'd been caught, or injured. Being late rarely meant anything but.

"Telling you."

He pulled the shadows away from their target as he leaned into her embrace, before the man's terror gave him a heart attack or something. The metal of her mask was pleasantly cool, even if its edges were razor-sharp, and the familiarity of it reminded him of what they were doing.

"You'll tell me what happened tonight?"

"Yes, Mother." As long as she promised not to tell anybody else. He still remembered what had happened the first time he'd tried dating, and…well. That would never happen again, as long as he had a say in it.

She regarded him, chaotic orbs still for a moment, and then brushed a stray lock of white hair off of her mask.

"Good." She kissed his cheek, and pulled back. Their target was starting to regain his senses, inching closer to the wall and farther away from them.

Cia stopped him with a foot on his chest, a sweet smile on her lips. Dark leaned backwards, against the wall behind him, and let himself relax.

"I believe we have some talking to do, Doctor Renado."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Guys, I saw Suicide Squad. It was absolutely amazing. But that'll probably influence how this is written a little lol, just with character interactions. (OMG that one scene, WHY DIDN'T KILLER CROC HUG HARLEY? HE WANTED TO, YOU COULD SEE IT!) You've been warned.

Also, you can see Dark's priorities very well lol. It was hard writing this scene omg I don't even know why. Anyway, I hope it sort of gave you more of an idea what the characters and story are like!

AND YES, Cia is Dark's mother. He wasn't being sarcastic.