I Fell For My Nemesis

It felt strange not seeing Frostine around. Wrong even. Keith knew he needed to apologize for whatever it was he said that set her off but that was impossible to do if he couldn't find her!

He wanted to apologize but he also wanted to tell her that her idea hadn't been bad. He had looked into his options after they talked and discovered that firefighters in New York City made more than the minimum income Joss had told him he would need to accomplish his goals. 

If he became a firefighter he would be able to keep helping people (what he was good at) and make enough to support himself properly. He would need to take physical and written tests before being accepted into a firefighter academy and attending for eight months. It was recommended that he find himself a firefighter mentor to help him with the process as well once he passed his exams. 

Keith knew plenty of firefighters. He helped put them out all the time as Delta. If he asked one of them to mentor "someone he knew" they should be willing to help him out. 

The problem was that the starting salary was low and experience was necessary to get up to the point he needed to be at. After five years it went way up and that was without factoring in potential promotions. 

The websites he checked also said his chances of getting hired were higher if he worked as a part of a volunteer fire department first. It would be really nice if he could just reveal himself in situations like this. He had more experience putting out fires than most people in the FDNY did!

If Keith was going to do this he was going to have to either severely cut down on the hours he spent doing hero work or quit earlier than expected. He would still be helping people. It simply wouldn't be as public as it was as Delta. 

Honestly, he wasn't sure how to feel about that. He knew he needed to think about his future but he liked having random people's appreciation. You got that as a hero in a way you never could otherwise. It was one of the few benefits of being a public figure. 

He couldn't deny it was exhausting though. The praise barely made up for the rest of it sometimes. 

And being a public figure always came with its critics. He tried to make himself as likable as possible but Delta's persona could be difficult to keep up with. 

Keith would still kind of have to do that as a firefighter. No one would trust a goofball to save them. But it wasn't like that would be anything new. He would be able to be himself off the clock in a way he couldn't right now. 

There were more pros than cons overall if he really thought about it. Semi-retiring or retiring at twenty-five wasn't completely unheard of. He could keep working at his current job and study for the written test on weeknights and get involved with a volunteer fire department on the weekends. Whatever free time he had left could still be used for hero work. 

Not that he thought there would be much. He still had to leave some time for Joss too now that they had reached a point where they would be seeing each other out of work now and then. 

It would be difficult but doable. Keith had thought it through and realized this was the best choice for his future. 

He wanted to tell Frostine she had been right even if it would make her insufferable for a while. But he couldn't do that if she kept avoiding him!

He finally managed to catch her on a Saturday in the middle of a villain fight. Two of them were tag teaming so she wasn't in a position to turn down the help. Though he did notice her voice was a lot colder than usual when she was forced to speak to him. 

Yep. She was definitely still mad at him. 

When the villains had been defeated and were taken away in the back of a police car he finally managed to catch her. "Can we talk?"

Her eyes were steelier than a knife. "I don't think we have anything to talk about."

"I wanted to apologize!" 

Her expression softened because she was surprised. "What?"

"I'm sorry for teasing you. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just caught off-guard because you're always so composed," Keith was quick to explain. "And I wanted you to know that your career advice was totally solid and I plan to use it. You're really good at stuff like that. Please forgive me? It's been weird not seeing you this week."

"…did you actually miss me? Even though you think I'm boring?"

Dread filled the pit of his stomach. Ah. She must have made assumptions about the bran flakes comment. Was that the real reason she had been upset? 

"Was that what you got out of that?" Keith asked evasively.

Frostine looked straight into his soul and he flinched. "Are you saying you don't?" 

Boring wasn't the word he would use. He thought she was cold, stiff, humorless, and a know-it-all but not boring. He didn't know enough about her to make that designation. She might be a very interesting person outside of the mask though he sort of doubted it. 

"Come on, Frosty! I don't think you're boring. Just that you could lighten up a little now and then."

"Really?" Frostine asked skeptically. 

"Your ability to stay cool is what makes you a good hero. Honestly, I'm kind of jealous of that. I only tease you because I'm trying to get you to react. You never do so I was surprised when you actually did for once," Keith confessed. 

"I don't know you well enough to say whether or not you're boring. I only see you in a certain context. Like you said, you have someone who thinks you're funny. I'm a lot more serious as a hero than I am normally too. Who knows? Maybe you're the life of the party when you aren't Frostine."

She smiled. Actually smiled! He had never seen her smile!

"The life of the party, huh?" 

"You never know," Keith replied with a shrug. 

Frostine let out a small noise that may or may not have been a laugh. "Apology accepted." 

Relief flooded through him. He didn't really think she would be the life of the party in any context but at least his outrageous claim had gotten her to soften up as much as she was capable of. 

She said she wasn't actually made of ice and he had finally seen for himself that it was true. Twice. He would have to remember she was more sensitive than she let on from here on out. He didn't want to make her mad again. 

Keith never would have seen that coming. Frostine was always so unbothered by everything. He had seen her hanging upside down in a villain's giant fist before without changing her expression. So how had something like this gotten to her when that hadn't?

"So do you want to patrol or what?" he asked. 

"Sure," Frostine agreed. "But first I need to eat something. I could go for some macaroni in a cone from that place about a dozen blocks from here."

He was surprised for two reasons. First, she never specifically sought out a food when they were together. She always took was she could get. Second, he had absolutely no idea what macaroni in a cone was. 

"Macaroni in a cone?"

"Yes. I discovered it recently. It's macaroni wrapped in a soft pretzel cone and topped with crumbled bacon." 

That…actually sounded really good. An interesting combination to be sure but was that really much different than having macaroni with a side of French bread like they served in cafés? His stomach rumbled. He could go for some macaroni in a cone too. 

"That works. I haven't eaten yet either," Keith told her. "Why macaroni in a cone though?"

Frostine's expression grew almost imperceptibly softer. "Macaroni might be my favorite food. It's a quick and easy way to eat it on the go."

Might be? Why did that phrasing somehow remind him of Joss? She didn't even have a favorite food and saw it as nothing more than fuel to keep her going. He had assumed Frostine was the same way since when you were a hero you had to take what was available. 

He had learned a lot more about his colleague in the past week and a half than he had in the past four years combined. He may have misjudged her. There was more to her than her icy exterior indicated. 

Keith had never been this curious about Frostine. What kind of person was she when she wasn't out fighting crime? 

Someone who loved macaroni, apparently. She looked extremely satisfied as she dug in once they got their macaroni cones. It was almost cute.. He never in a million years would have thought his stoic colleague was capable of making such an expression.