Cracked windows part 4

Dreams come true until they don’t

Professor Venomous’ perspective

We had the last four weeks of non stop fun and craziness and I have had a blast. We went shopping, to several different beaches, a couple farms and it was a great wind down vacation that we had as a family. Now that Darrel and Fink are getting along since Boxman and I found a solution to their interpersonal issue (team building by gifts and giving them cool weapons to use on heroes instead of each other), we’ve all been having a really great time together.

That day we had lunch together and he told me his first name(John!), I saw Boxman for who he really was. Even more so than I have before. A family man who loved making robots and destroying Lakewood Plaza Turbo. Finally, a few days after that, Boxy made his move and kissed me. On my cheek in my lab. It was cute. A slow way to get my attention.

And it did.

Once we had gotten Fink and Darrel on equal footing and they were becoming friends, that’s when we made it official.

We were not just business partners. We were life partners. Lovers. Not of a light dalliance or sort of tryst, either. Something real and long term. Something solid and perfect and what I needed.

And I was more happy than I have ever been in my whole life.

Boxman is so much that real life bass I needed in my treble-filled, stagnant lifestyle. He’s got the bass in style, in personality, and in that waist. Anytime we’re alone, I squeeze those hips. He squeaks and leans into my body when I do it, and turns around to kiss my face.

Now, it’s been over a month since we have been together(a month and a half of running the company), and Boxman wants to discuss a few things with me.

I meet him in his office at the time he tells me and I see there’s roses everywhere. Purple roses. Lit candles. And wine.

“Ohh! PV!” He runs over and hugs me. I lean down and we kiss gently. He is so strong and pulls me into his arms as we chastely kiss our hello, though it is soft, it feels warm and so sweet I want to continue it. But, I pull up and look at his lightly blushing face, smiling.

“What’s… all this?” I ask. “A pleasant surprise, to be sure, but, what’s the occasion, Boxy?”

We go sit down. “Well, I wanted to show you how much I appreciate you! And show you how our profits have skyrocketed even more than when Darrel was CEO.”

“Oh, Box, you don’t care about the profits, though. You just like attacking the plaza.” I grab the wine bottle and use the opener to get the cork out.

“Yes, PV! You know me.” He laughs in a gentle way. “I just wanted to see you.” He leans forward in his chair. “And… I saw you! Whew! You look very sexy today!”

I laugh. “Thanks. So do you.”

“Naw. I don’t. I’m way older than you. You don’t hafta lie!”

“I don’t lie…” my voice slipping in a deep, serious tone. He gulps and moves back in his chair.

I get up and move toward him. “Wanna see just how worked up you got me this morning with your little speech?”

He grinned nervously. “Huh? Speech?”

“Yeah. When you were giving us the speech about making sure the plaza is attacked on double flanked schedule, even if you don’t order it. And how you want to see more physical damage on the plaza.” I moved in closer and gently caressed his shoulder. “You were so commanding.”

“I.. I was?” He almost is like putty in my hands, and I run my cool palms over his chest and neck.

“Yes. Like a villian. Like a boss. So very…” I slither onto his body and lay on him possessively, wrapping my arms around his waist. I hear him moan at the close contact and it makes me sigh happily. “Powerful.”

“Ohh… PV… you’re gonna make me get in trouble if you keep this… up!” He squeaked out the last word as I kissed his neck and nibbled it a bit.

I grin and lean up to look him in the eye. “Hmm, Boxy-baby, are you feeling like we should have an early start to the weekend? You got all these candles and roses…”

Boxman looks at me in a fluttered, turned on way, his pupils big, mouth slightly parted. He puts his hands on my hips and sighs in a contented way but also thoughtful.

“What is it, Box?” I kiss the side of his mouth gently and lay near his face, hearing him breath in softly. His heartbeat feels fast.

“Mmm, sometimes I wonder when I’ll wake up from this dream. I have no idea why someone as brilliant and attractive as you is with someone like me.” He’s looking forward in a quiet, almost morose way and I shake my head. I shake my head slowly near his neck and trail a few kisses along his soft skin and he shudders in a pleasant way, moving closer to me.

The words hit hard and I frown, sinking into his strong embrace more forcefully, as though I want to merge our bodies together.

“Shut up with that sort of talk, Boxy. You are a level negative ten villian. You have survived the literal sun. You were forged in a red hot star. I’m only a level negative seven compared,” we both breath in and he’s smiling easier now. “It’s facts, Boxy. You’re an incredibly sexy, hot, smart, crazy, weird villain that… that I love.” The word spills out and I don’t regret it. I’ve been feeling it for a long time. I think it’s been dying to come out.

Boxman shakes out of his reverie and looks at me with a serious, hard stare.

“Lo..love?” He whispers in a shocked way, and I take my hand in his. I nod. It feels so right to say it.

“Yes, Boxy.” I grin and kiss his mouth in a aggressive way, my tongue slipping over his lips. “I love you.”

Boxman looks as though he is trying to make sense of this reality but wakes up, seeing me, and finds that it is indeed real. I’m real. And so is he.

“Oh, my love,” he hugs me tight. “PV, you’ve made me the happiest super villain in the world!” He kissed my face all over and I chuckle. Suddenly, our eyes meet. “God, I love you, you beautiful man!”

I feel my chest radiate with a intense warmth to his words and our faces touch as we hold each other so tight. I feel so incredibly happy. I can’t believe it. And we weren’t even fighting heroes at the moment. We were just…. in each other’s arms.

“It feels like we’re living in a corny love song, huh?” He continues and I nod.

“Yes, like an old fashioned song, that says how everything will be alright, and that you’ll hold me tight. And you love me, baby,” he explains and I chuckle.

“You’re kind of a romantic dreamer, huh, Boxy?” I say and he nods.

“But, I’m also a very strong villain who stood side by side the sun as an equal. Remember?” He grins evilly.

The thought gives me goosebumps and I nod. “Yes, my sexy overlord.”

I tell myself everything will be good now, and I let myself believe it, too. How foolish I was.

*******

In and out of the next few weeks since our one month sort of anniversary, I had been having horrible migraines and bouts of anxiety and no sleep.

Fink has been avoiding me at times and I feel so cranky.

I haven’t been feeling well.

I shut myself in my lab for a few days, and Boxman was upset.

I told him everything was fine. I was fine. I just needed some time to do stuff. I don’t know what I’m doing, though. I’m zoning out for hours and hours and hours.

I did notice my health has been getting worse lately. I feel like I’m going crazy. I have been up late trying to manufacture the same process that took away my powers when I was younger, to reverse engineer it and create a way to give myself an even more powerful way to keep enemies at bay.

I get a text from Boxman and it’s almost all in caps.

-PV MEET ME IN OUR BEDROOM (it’s not what you think!)

I sigh, shaking my head at his little joke but smile despite myself.

I wait to text back and I get another message in a second.

-Don’t you DARE ignore me!

I grin and take off my lab coat, getting up. My eyes feel heavy and I feel weighed down by all my hours of work.

I go to our room and there he is, on the bed. I feel awful as I haven’t been in our room to sleep in several days.

“Heya, PV!” He says in this overtly pumped up tone. I can tell he’s trying way too hard to not show his feelings and it makes me sad.

“Hey, Boxy,” I say softly.

His smile breaks and he tears up a bit.

“Wanna… wanna sit next to me?” He says in a cracked voice. I nod, going over and sitting next to him. Our hands touch and he holds my hand softly.

“So, what’s been going on, PV?” He asks. “Why stay locked up in your lab all day and night? My kids are asking about you. Fink misses you. I… I miss you..” he looks away and I bite my lip.

“Been studying, testing out something I’ve been trying to figure out for a long time now.” I put my head on my hand and lean back on the bed. Boxman follows and lays next to me, making my heart leap into my throat. I can tell he wants me to be close to him. To hold him. I do desperately want to, and tell him that he’s all mine.

But I feel so split up right now, I can’t concentrate on anything right now.

My eyes are shut tight and I hear him whistling a tune. It sounds random but familiar in a way. Almost like a fairy tale tune.

“What’s that song, Boxy?” My eyes open and I see his long blue teal hair covering part of his face.

“I don’t know. Just something to keep the silence between us filled,” He says in this tight whisper and I turn, putting my hand on his face.

“Boxy, you know my priorities are with you and the family. I just need to figure this out.” I frown as I see Boxman isn’t buying it and he looks away from me.

“You know when I was at the lowest point, when… My son Boxman Junior passed away…” Boxman starts to say and I get instinctively closer to him, my hands reaching for his chest. I pull him close to my body and I realize just how good it felt to be near him. “And my son Darrel betrayed me and shot me into the sun… I did some thinking up there. I did. It was… as though… there was a strange security in the silver etching of that old star. The maddening rays of the sun that I resided in burned into my very soul, yet didn’t burn me.”

Somehow his words hit me in a deep way, like a well. It’s an ancient feeling of connection that makes me yearn to collapse into heaven with him, yet I know I’ve been destined for something… not quite like hell but it sure feels like it sometimes.

“You have changed, Boxy, you’ve become someone stronger, better,” I manage to say in a soft whisper, my voice cracking a bit.

He shakes his head. “Always can be better. I can always be better,” he says with a determination and it makes my heart flutter in a strangely joyful way.

“Well, I can always be stronger,” I say and Boxman shakes his head. He suddenly looks at me closely and frowns.

“Hmm, PV, Your makeup is smudged. When was the last time you washed your face? Combed your hair?” He gently combs through my long black hair with his fingers.

“A week, maybe.” I lean into his touch and feel his hand caress my ear and then my neck.

Boxman sighs, “I’m going to start a warm bath for you, my dear.”

He kisses my cheek, and I feel our breath collide as I get up.

“Boxy, I helped you make Boxman Junior. With my bio chip. I wish I would’ve been there to help you during that time, you know… I wish I could have just been there beside you…” the words erupt from me and he turns and smiles sadly at me. I know over the last two months or more, we have discussed what happened when Darrel took over Boxmore and shot him into the sun, right as they were having the funeral for Boxman Junior, Boxman’s first hybrid bio-robot son. But, I finally got to say what I really needed to say to him, as we had started our partnership based on that bio chip. We had created that bio-hybrid robot son together in equal measure, and I do feel responsibility for not being more directly involved in the beginning.

“I know, PV. But, I had to learn some tough lessons. About myself. About the way I was parenting my kids. And the way I ran my business. It was important… and I had to learn it all on my own. Even if it was tough. Even if I felt helpless.”

My eyes widen as he says that and I get up.

“Baby; come on, let’s get you into a bath,” he says and I go over to him and pull at his arm.

“Hmm, Boxy, I don’t feel like it.”

“Please? For me?” He whines and I feel myself cracking. “Fink wants to see you tonight. Might wanna look presentable and not so disheveled.”

I nod, my hand gripping his arm in a death grip.

“Um, are you okay?” He asks, looking at me in a nervous way.

“I don’t know why I do what I do, Boxy. I don’t know why I am what I am. I feel so torn. I feel the way you did, but all the time. So…” I bite my lip hard and sigh roughly. “Helpless.”

“Let’s… go sit down…” he says.

“No. I don’t want to. I need to go back to my lab. I need to get to the truth.”

“What… what truth?” He asks, his face scrunching up.

“The truth of who I am.” I sigh, and I look at him carefully. Our eyes don’t meet at first, but when they do, I’m breaking down looking into his sincere stare and he’s hugging me tight.

“I know you used to be a hero, PV. Laserblast was… someone that is a part of you. I may not like heroes. I fight them, I distrust POINT. But, it is an important part of who you were and are. I think you need to let go of what you feel you need to prove.”

“I have… a son, Box,” I say and he gasps softly. I’m so glad I had told him most of my past, as he had been so open to me, but this was the one thing I was holding off. It was something I was still worried over, and needed to figure out.

“With… Silverspark? Right?” He says, his eyes squinting. He knew of my relationship with her, as she was my only relationship before him.

“Ummm.. yes, but her real name is Carol. Her name is Carol, Boxy.”

His eyes widen in comprehension and I nod. “My son is K.O.”

“Holy shit,” he says quietly and I want to comment on his cursing but I have to admit, this was a hell of a thing to come to light.

“Yeah,” I frown and he looks at me like I dropped an atomic bomb on him.

“Well, what do we do about it, PV?” He starts throwing his arms in the air, chuckling nervously. “I attack that bodega all the time. Your son works there!”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? We wait?” He asks, and I can he’s flustered.

“I don’t know. Should I try to talk to him? To Carol?”

He looks thoughtful and doesn’t talk for a minute.

“I think this should be a planned thing,” he says. “Our merger and partnership has been so important for Boxmore. It’s been so important to me. I can lessen the attacks on the plaza. I don’t want to hurt the son of my the man I love,” he continues to ramble and I feel the warmth of his sincerity fill my heart.

“You’re very sweet, Boxy. But, let’s just keep things going like they have been. I’ll wait it out. When the time is right, I’ll talk to K.O.”

I take him in my arms suddenly before he can reply and pull our faces together, and his breath gets worked up with the sudden closeness.

“We haven’t made love in a while, have we?” I breathily whisper and his face looks flushed.

“I have been dreaming of you, PV, dipping into me again late at night…” he says in a husky voice and I grin.

I give him a line of kisses and promises I can’t keep, as we fulfill a lifetime’s worth of dreams in a night.