"Zahra... talk to me." He pushed a few strands of wet curly hair from my face. "I know it's a lot to take in, but please just say anything. Anything at all... Please? Zahra...? Zah-"

"Just... give me a minute," I breathed in response. Catching my breath hadn't been easy. It's not everyday a former superhero finds out she's been dating a supervillain.

It's not that I wish he'd told me. Having been a superhero at one point myself, I know better than anyone that secrets aren't something anyone is entitled to be told about. If he didn't want to tell me, he had every right not to do so. It's his secret to tell or not to tell. Just because we'd been dating a little over a year and were now engaged didn't mean I had any right to any secret he wasn't ready to share.

Though that doesn't mean there aren't some secrets I expect him not to keep... or even to have in the first place.

But I digress.

I just needed a moment, or maybe a few moments. I needed time to process it all. It's just... I left home to get away from all the superhero stuff. I left my college town because it seemed to follow me there despite the fact that I'd hung up my suit. I only stayed here because I'd fallen in love before the superhuman stuff got out of hand.  I don't regret that decision, but never in my wildest dreams, nightmares included, had I considered I might be dating a super villain.  I especially hadn't considered the possibility that I'd be in love with the one super villain who shared his secret identity with a friend turned frenemy/super villain.

I mean, of course this would all happen to me. Of course I'd get kidnapped. Of course I'd be engaged to a super villain with a conscience who had enemies on all sides. Of course I'd be so in love with him I can't leave even if my life's in danger... or at least it would be if I didn't know how to handle myself.  I'd have saved myself if I felt things might have gone south. But I promised myself long ago that I'd hide my powers unless it became necessary to reveal them.

I sighed and ran my hand through my wet and probably very messy curls, detangling them as I did. So I was engaged to the hydrokinetic super villain in my city. No big deal. I could handle that.

"Why didn't you tell me who you were before?" I finally asked.  His face fell a bit and I suddenly realized how that question must have sounded to him.  Despite having given myself sufficient time to think up a good way to phrase the question, I still couldn't word the question well.  "I meant, why tell me now?  What changed?  You didn't have to tell me.  I might have questioned why a villain saved my life, but it would've been a pretty large leap to think it was because the villain was secretly my fiance."

He relaxed a little and changed his position a bit, sitting beside me instead of kneeling in front of me.  "I guess I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I... how do you tell the woman you love that you're a villain?  Especially someone with a heart and a moral compass like yours."

"I'd never judge you."

"Really?"

"Well... ok I would've and it was best you didn't tell me," I laughed.  I sighed and leaned my head back against the wall.  "So what now?"

"I honestly don't know," he sighed.  "Ever since I first thought to say 'I love you', I've been imagining all the ways this could have gone. Most of the time it ended with you leaving me.  You've managed to pick one of the few scenarios that I hadn't thought through."

"What about the scenario where I'm actually a superhero? Or not just a superhero, but your archenemy?"

"Nope, I thought through that one.  In about half of them we fought until you left or until I left or until one or both of us was destroyed.  In the other half we figured it out somehow."

"That's a pretty optimistic ending."

"We fought in all but one of them, but we figured it out in a lot of them... I was hopeful!"

"But you never considered that I might just... accept it?"

"I never considered that you'd be so calm and understanding about it.  You haven't even asked why I'm a villain."

I smiled as I turned my head to meet his eyes.  "You've never killed anyone.  Every time you steal something, the community magically gets better.  Whenever you cause damage as a supervillain, you fix it as Aidan.  It's clear you're trying to do good.  I may not agree with how you do it, but as long as you aren't really crossing any lines, I think I'm okay with it."

"Okay enough to help-"

"Don't get ahead of yourself.  I won't throw your ring in your face, but don't expect me to break the law too."

"I'm not surprised, but I thought I'd ask." He smiled and rested his head on my shoulder. "I don't know how I got this lucky."

"You might've just used up all of your luck on this. Are you okay with that?"

"I could not be more okay with that."

We sat there like that, silent and content; until I was basically dry. Then I had to break the silence. "Aidan."

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm gonna go visit my parents for a while."

He sat up and turned towards me. "What?! But I thought-"

"I'm not upset, but I also won't let some psycho use me to get to you either. I'll come back when things calm down and I promise I'll still have the ring on when I do."

"I guess I was going to suggest that anyways," he sighs. "I promise I'll get this sorted out soon. Two weeks tops."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. And don't go against your own morals to keep them."

"Two weeks," he repeats.

"Fine," I sigh, a smile creeping onto my face. "Two weeks."