"Are you okay?" (KhepriDrone)

Regrettable as racism fueled **** is for the city, it does pave a pretty easy option for conversation. I can't really go wrong with making sure he's alright.

"Fine, thanks to you. I'm Brian." He offers his hand and another one of those boyish smiles. I shake his hand and try not to look like too much of an idiot. I've saved a person and made a difference and now a hot guy was talking to me!

He coughs, and I realize I've been holding his hand much longer than I wanted to. Wait, that's impossible because of the first rule. I guess I wanted to hold this guys hand longer. I hastily let go. It's kinda sad that that's the most positive human contact I've had in a month, clinging to some random guys hand.

"And you are?" He asks after my terrible social skills manage to overwhelm the rules of the universe. Oh shit name I forgot to think of cape name.

"My name is Desire." I say with confidence I don't really feel. It works, both with the Desire I assume most guys are going to get with my new body and costume prancing about, and the fact that with the notebook I got what I Desired.

I just hoped it wasn't taken already. Did hopes count as wants? If there was a cape named Desire already what would happen to them when I wanted the name to not be taken?

I'm interrupted from my musings by Brian, which is all well and good because I don't want to be thinking about this for the rest of the day. "Desire, huh? I can see that." He very much can see that, and I somehow manage to flush even more as he looks me up and down before giving me another of those damned boyish smiles. Smiling like that should be illegal. It's weird that I have the power to make that happen, now. "Are you new? I don't remember you on the New Wave or Protectorate teams."

He's interested in heroes? Well enough that he's familiar with the local ones I suppose. Besides the local Protectorate branch, there was New Wave. It was a family team, a bunch of attractive blondes in spandex that had unmasked for some reason about accountability. "Yeah, I'm independent for now. Just got my powers-" would today be weird if I already had a costume ready? "-recently." I had wanted to make the sentence flow naturally despite the last second word swap, so it did.

He grimaced for some reason after that. "My sympathies." I gave him a curious look after that. What was so bad about getting powers?

"Well. I should probably actually be getting back to my apartment now." I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand I could call this in and live out some more hero fantasy by meeting the Protectorate team, on the other I could get to know Brian better.