Heroes, Villains, & a Jock Type Guy

Date: 1/21/2021

In the world of this dream, superpowers were just starting to become a reality. Superheroes and villains were becoming real. The dream followed a hero/sidekick pair for a bit, then switched to a jock in high school (total chad type, at least physically speaking). The jock was getting mixed up in super things, even starting to develop powers himself (can't remember clearly, but something involving teleportation or super speed/agility, maybe?). He was confused and kind of freaking out. His two best friends tried their best to help him. Some teachers also tried to help, but he kept getting confused by things they'd say in notes that were supposed to guide him. One teacher gave a note that said "Come see me at Griter" & he had to go around the school a bunch of times asking anyone who might know "When the hell is Griter? Is it a break between classes? Is it after school? Is it first period? What is it?" Every time he thought he had it right, he turned out to be wrong. Worse, the one time he did get it right he got frustrated since Griter was almost over. A school staff member got confused, "You're asking when Griter is, during Griter?" When he did manage to see the teacher, he was disappointed to find that she didn't have much more information than he & his friends had already figured out. The most helpful thing she had to say was that she knew the hero/sidekick pair from earlier in the dream. She could contact them if he needed their help. He wasn't sure what they could do without dragging him into more trouble, so he passed on the offer. He went back to trying to figure things out himself. That didn't go great, either. He ended up getting caught up in villain attacks at/near the school. He had to escape being kidnapped a few times. One villain in particular kept going after the h/sk (hero/sidekick) pair and getting frustrated when he caught the jock instead. Especially since the jock kept using his powers to escape when the villain wasn't looking, and he couldn't figure out what the hell the jock's powers actually were since he never saw them used. The best friends also kept helping from the shadows, which made the villain confused as to whether the jock had allies or not. Was he working with the h/sk pair, after all? While investigating his powers and what he should do with them, the jock ended up accidentally hurting his ankle while at a playground. He was already angry about that, & obviously in pain, when a bunch of heroes started pressuring him into joining their ranks. They'd seen how he gets along with the h/sk pair, they could tell he had the potential to reign those two in if he joined their team or even just "conveniently happened to" have his patrols in their same area if he decided to go the solo hero route. They actually started forcibly taking him places to talk, making him angrier than ever since all this kidnapping was getting really tiring. While avoiding them one day, he got caught in another fight between h/sk and the villain. He ended up having to fight, himself. Using his powers and protecting h/sk and having his hurt ankle, things were starting to pile up way too much. The hero was shocked to see the jock crying and gritting his teeth while they fought, especially since he was being braced in the jock's arms after being thrown like a rag doll by the villain. He realized that for all the help they'd tried to give, this seemingly tough guy was still going through hell. It wasn't like when the hero had started this job, it was harder on the jock than anyone noticed. After this, the villain started pursuing the jock specifically. He tried to capture him to use him against h/sk -- they were obviously close at this point, after all. He caught and lost him several times before finally getting him restrained in an abandoned hotel. This was the second time someone saw him cry. He tried to escape, but his injury slowed him down. He only made it to an alley nearby, where he collapsed next to a bunch of bags of trash. He pulled his knees to his chest, with his back curled against the garbage, and sat up with his hands over his ears. He was crying and mumbling something. The villain got an impression of what was happening, but couldn't be totally sure. As the dreamer, I knew that the jock wasn't just having a panic attack -- though he was having one of those, too. He was also, specifically, having a flashback to a time when he was younger, when he'd been betrayed and taken advantage of and hurt by people he'd thought he could trust. The villain only heard snippets of phrases repeated from that incident, fresh in the jock's mind during the flashback, and realized that to cause someone this amount of pain and distress... he'd crossed a line. He tried to reach out to the jock to apologize. He tried to say he was sorry. The jock flinched and drew back, seeing the villain as someone who would hurt him again. The villain was in the middle of trying to figure out how he could calm or comfort the person in front of him when sidekick showed up. They wrapped the jock in their teleportation powers and transported him back to an old warehouse that h/sk were using as a base. As h/sk comforted him and helped him with his ankle, the jock started to feel better. Still confused, still in pain, still exhausted, still bitter that all this was happening. But also safe. Protected. Respected. Loved, even. He could tell that hero and sidekick were dating, but he got the impression that if they wanted to date someone else then they'd just ask to be a triad together. He realized he might not hate it if they asked him. He liked these people, and dating them actually sounded nice. The h/sk pair thought the same. It really felt like after a few more encounters like this, they'd all fall in love for real and start dating. They didn't know that the biggest obstacle to that was the villain. Not for the reasons they'd assume, anyway. They thought his kidnapping would mess things up, but it was actually the opposite. He'd decided to try to approach the jock properly. After seeing him cry, the jock had gained a place in the villain's heart. He wanted to take care of the jock. He wanted to protect him. There were snippets of potential paths the story could take after that, branching paths my subconscious may have chosen to follow, but nothing concrete. It was interesting to see how likely it was that the jock would end up loving the villain, in several of the paths. Nothing actually came to pass, though, so I'm just left to wonder how I'd do things if I wrote this as a proper story. Until next I wander.