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A Gilded House

For Taiko

By Draconicon

Choin waited just around the corner as the police ran down the street. They were going to double-back before long, but for now, the panda had a chance to catch his breath. Slowly, he pulled his mask off his face, folding the hinged thing into a pocket in his robe, and then pulling the robe off, as well.

That was too close...

With practiced motions, the Gilded Panderer - as he'd been dressed as while the police were chasing him - turned back to Choin. The eastern-style robe that he'd been wearing, as cheap as he could find and probably due for a replacement, was folded into a tiny little square that could fit into his back pocket. The various little gold accoutrements that had littered the costume got shoved into his backpack, and the belt that had held it all together was turned around, keeping the golden bits facing inwards. The combat boots he wore? Switched out for a pair of sandals.

That only left him with the black pants, but considering how common those were, he doubted that they would call the attention of the police back on him. For now, he needed to keep moving, and of all the things that he carried, a change of pants wasn't on the list.

He stepped out of the apartment building, restraining the urge to whistle innocently as he crossed the street. He wasn't the only person around, and the less he did to draw attention to himself, the better.

Of course, that was a little hard to do when there was someone shouting to the rooftops about how they were cheated only half a block away.

"I'm going to kill that fucking panda!" the giraffe shouted at the top of his voice. "Fucking gold bricks? They're rocks! ROCKS!"

They're actual bricks, actually, you numbskull, Choin thought as he walked by, making his way to the train station at the end of the block. I mean, dark-color bricks, yeah, but what did you think you were going to get from an abandoned pizza joint?

Then again, it was a good thing that the giraffe had been so dumb. He had enough money to cover the apartment rent for three months now.

He patted his pocket surreptitiously, making sure that the weights of paper down there were still where he'd put them. They were, wrapped up tight in little bands of cloth. They would stay right there until he found an ATM, and then he could put it away, and then he didn't have to worry about it anymore.

Choin breathed out slowly as he found one right at the front door of the station. He pressed his card into the slot, and then started feeding the bills in one by one, watching the number go up by the hundreds.

This will make sure that everything stays all fine and dandy...

Of course, once the landlord saw that this bill was taken care of, there'd probably be others. His landlord was just a little bit of a dick when it came to seeing what else he could get the panda to take care of, and that meant that there was always a need for more money. Thankfully, there never seemed to be a lack of schmucks out there that were waiting to be taken advantage of.

Choin watched the number climb to four thousand dollars, then stopped. It was pressing his luck to put that much money in at once, and he didn't want to start calling more attention to himself. The other 4k that he'd gotten could wait for later. He tapped the button to deposit the money, then moved on.

Up the steps, to the ticket office, and two tickets home were bought. One for him, one for the mule that he was half-sure that he was going to meet on the way. It was a 50/50 chance that Nor was going to fall down through the ceiling of the train and join him for the ride home, and he preferred to have a ticket ready for his boyfriend. There might be a wealth of supervillains in the city, but the ticket-takers were the real tyrants.

All that time and effort to make the trains safe, and you push for even more money? Savages, the lot of you.

Still, he appreciated the hustle. He chuckled, following the narrow white and green path to the platform, and hopped onto the train as it came in. The doors shut behind him, and away he went.

The train shifted tracks almost as soon as they were out of the station, and Choin looked out the window right as the open sky changed to an underwater track. The windows were all closed, of course - though he could have sworn that he had felt a breeze just a moment ago - and they were treated to a front-row seat to the aquatic life that called the city waterways home. He watched as the fish went by, as well as a few of the aqua heroes that were closer to the coast and the waterways of Novus Ager, but only for a bit. He leaned back when the view started getting a little boring, folding his arms behind his head and looking towards the far end of the train instead as he started losing himself in thoughts of home.

Nor will either join me on the train or get home sometime after I do, he thought. Patrol days go a little long, so guess about three hours after you get back...

That meant that he would have time to get a stew started, something that the both of them had started liking more and more as a way to fill up quickly and have good leftovers for the next day. Choin had long-since stopped ordering Chinese food - mostly because it was never as good as people thought it was - and Nor didn't like getting pizza every night, so the stews ended up being a good compromise while the panda started brushing up on his cooking again. The long series of months where they had lived on take-out had finally come to an end, and he needed to get his cooking skills back to a certain standard if he was going to be cooking for someone besides himself.

He sighed. That said, he might have even more time with this being a day on patrol. Nor sometimes ended up getting zonked out by the villains he ended up fighting, and that could lead to a late night, indeed.

Wonder if I should start looking at bribes for them...

It was a thought. If he got a big enough score, he could start picking some of the bigger villains with mentalist powers and giving them a bribe to bring Nor home at the end of their fun, at least. Giving them enough money to keep them from fucking Nor at all would be far too expensive, but at least getting them to bring him home would take a lot of worry off of the panda's shoulders.

That said, getting a score that big was unlikely. He had barely managed to get away with 8k today, and that was going right towards paying off the apartment for the most part. The rest was going towards bills, and that would be enough to keep the place good and secure for a little while...and to give him time to start letting the heat die down and let him start building up a 'client' list for gold-buyers again.

He smiled. The Gilded Panderer wasn't exactly a high-class villain. He wasn't one of those that was going out and about trying to conquer the city or a neighborhood, or perfect some sort of tech that would allow world conquest. He was just a con-man, selling gold that was real for five minutes to the people that wanted to buy it cheap.

If they didn't want to wait around for long, if they thought that they could really get gold at a quarter of the market value for it, then it wasn't his fault that they were so easily fooled. That was what Choin told himself, anyway.

That said, it was a little dangerous. Okay, a lot dangerous, considering that those with the money to make that kind of purchase tended to have a lot of bully-boys at their command. He had managed to take shelter behind Nor a few times when that started getting a little too much without his boyfriend figuring out what was going on, but he tried to limit that. That mule had a little too much on his plate, anyway, and it wasn't really worth the lecture that he got afterwards.

The train pulled up from the water, dripping away, and Choin had a sudden premonition that he was in a bad place. He scooted to the left by one seat -

CRASH!

The roof split open as someone hit the train car. He stared at the red and blue mule that had landed just beside him, blinking a couple of times as Nor groaned, catching his breath.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah...Terror Trunk again."

"Ah. Not off-duty yet?"

"No...See you at home later?"

"No problem. Be safe."

"Will try." Nor climbed back up through the hole, nodding back at him. "You too."

He waved at the disappearing mule, then settled back into his seat. As he closed his eyes, there was a slight shift, and when he opened them, he had a sense of déjà vu as the building across from him on the other side of the opposite track seemed to go by a second time. He looked up, and the ceiling of the train was repaired.

Shrugging, Choin closed his eyes. It seemed that he wasn't going to get a companion for this ride, after all, so he might as well sleep the rest of the way back to the apartment.

#

The station closest to the apartment was still two blocks off, though that wasn't so bad. What was bad was that the other 4k that Choin had in his pockets were gone when he woke up, and the panda could not stop kicking himself for being a moron on the train. Quite literally, he was kicking himself down the street.

"And that one - nngh - is for thinking that it'd be safe there," he muttered, as his heel made contact with his padded ass. "And that one - Nnngh - for thinking that you were going to keep all of it in the first place..."

He had probably done about twenty kicks for the various different stupid thoughts that he had had after waking up and realizing that his pockets were quite a bit emptier. However, by kick number twenty-five, he was almost laughing at himself rather than blaming himself for what had happened. So he had lost the four thousand. That wasn't too bad with the other 4k in the bank account, and that meant that they still had the money for food and rent for the next month, as well as a fair bit of other behind bills that they could catch up on. That just meant that they wouldn't be as ahead as he would have liked.

And that he'd have to find someone else to con sooner than he would have liked, but that was a different matter, and one that he was very much not thinking about right then.

As the panda found the front door to the apartment - not on the usual side, but around the back and towards the middle of the building rather than at the start of the alleyway - he walked in. The whole place was dark, and as he fiddled with the light switch, the building janitor walked around the corner. Choin nodded at the switch curiously, and the badger shook his head.

"Power's been out for the last hour."

"Ah, damn. Any idea when it'll be back?"

"Probably another hour."

"You sure?"

"Not really."

"Heh...well, maybe it's time for the hamster squatters in the basement to start earning their keep."

"You got a big enough hamster wheel?"

When he realized that the badger looked serious enough to try it, he stifled the joke that wanted to come out. Shrugging, he walked around the black and white elder, making his way to the main hallway. He was about to tap the button for the elevators when he was reminded, no power.

"...Right. Stairs it is."

He was sure that it was going to be hell, and he was right. Choin groaned with every step up the horrible stairs, glaring towards the next landing with all the fury of a man being beaten down by his greatest enemy. He growled as he climbed the stairs, feeling like he was tapping into some primal emotion.

Of course, he only had to climb about six stories, but that was still enough to leave him flopped out on the floor when he reached the proper landing. The door swung shut on his stomach, but he didn't care. He just flopped out on his back, staring at the ceiling as he caught his breath.

Bzzzz.

And just as he was starting to feel like he could stand up again, the lights came on. He stared at the well-lit hallway, and then slapped a hand over his face.

"Mmmph..."

The curse-grumbles that tried to escape his throat were overcome by the residual exhaustion from climbing the stairs, and he managed to roll over the rest of the way and push himself to his feet. Trundling towards the apartment at the end of the hall, he double-checked the room number - it was right - and then pushed the door open. The familiar living room with its black and brown furniture greeted him, and the soft warmth of the den-like place made him feel better, more at home.

He shut the door behind him, and then made his way to the side closet. Nor used the one on the right, he used the one on the left. It was a bit easier that way, considering that they both had separate super-clothes and regular clothes, and that way, if the closets swapped, they could easily just go to the other one rather than filtering their clothes out the way that a merged closet would require.

It also allowed him to hide something that he was a bit embarrassed about from his boyfriend. He pushed the hanging clothes out of the way, smiling to himself at the little tribute to Nor that he had at the back of the little mini-room. There were a few different photos there, showing Nor and Denith in different situations. He ran his hand gently down the faces on the photographs, little clippings that had been taken from the newspaper, from employee photos back when Denith had had a normal job, and other things.

And as he touched them, he used his power.

Golden lines spread like picture frames across the wall, surrounding the different pictures of the mule. It turned it from a bit of a creepy sort of stalker photos to something that was almost shrine-like. Perhaps it was, in some way. Choin didn't consider his affection for Nor worshipful, but he did adore the mule. There was so much that he got from him that he doubted that he'd ever get from another boyfriend, even one that didn't have to juggle the super-business.

The feeling of maintaining the gold lines was...straining. His powers were very weak compared to some. He could summon up a fair chunk of gold, but it only lasted for five minutes at most. If he'd had some picture frames in here, then he could have just turned them to gold for the five minutes and then left it alone. As it stood, he had to focus to maintain the lines of gold that he had all but conjured onto the wall, and that forced him to press out with mental muscles that didn't get used as often as they should.

But the golden glow was worth it. It was a way to celebrate the mule, to remind himself of the treasure of a man he had, and just...enjoy him. He leaned in, kissing the photo in lieu of the mule himself, and then stepped back. The gold faded with the movement, and he groaned as he had to sag against the closet door afterward.

"Mmmph...note to self...note to self, not so much of that after a con job," he muttered, rubbing his forehead with one finger before stepping away from the closet. "And besides, you have cooking to do."

Tossing the folded-up robe and his other accessories into the closet, he made his way through the living room to the kitchen. A little bit of searching through the fridge found some tofu that he could put together. It was better than some of the other meatier dishes for the pair of them, and he wanted to try something a little bit more sustainable tonight.

Heh, who would have thought that a con artist would have some good eco-habits? he thought, unpacking the already-fried tofu. Then again, when you know that what you got isn't that great, who says you wouldn't start looking at planet-preserving measures?

It hadn't always been a thing for him, but these days, it was nicer to look at what he did and think about how it was going to affect things further down the line. He didn't just waste things anymore, and not just because of how he was slowly burning through his customer list. He wanted to make sure that what he had lasted, and if that meant being a bit smarter about things, then he could do that. Con artist or not, he appreciated the good things, the lasting things, and if he couldn't make it on his own, then he would help those that could.

Humming to himself, the panda swayed around the kitchen. His bulk occasionally got in his way - and he had more than enough faded bruises to prove that his hated enemy of open drawers hated him back - but he was comfortable there. He spun a mixing spoon over his knuckles and caught it with an old, practiced motion, and he started spinning some water, corn starch, and seasonings together. This would need to be a thick stew, but without flour, he'd need a proper seasoned slurry, and the tofu itself would need something to get seasoned with...

Yes, he was feeling good about this. Almost in his element, actually, which meant that his mind started wandering.

Well, since it's Terror Trunk, he won't be getting zonked tonight, at least; he'll make it home on his own.

At least, as long as Nor didn't run into someone else on the way back. That was ever so possible, all things considered, particularly with all the villains obsessing over the mule the way that they did. It was almost like he was the gold standard when it came to the kidnapping victim.

Choin shook his head. He knew that his boyfriend was special, knew that the mule had all kinds of little bits and bobs that made him valuable to this techno-genius and that mind-controlling villain and that strange alien that showed up every so often. He knew that Nor attracted the lusts of all of them, too, like some kind of magnet for perverts. Hell, he had the same sort of difficulty resisting that sometimes; it was like Nor just had this weird ability to slip into this life of a reverse harem anime, sometimes.

Heh, wonder who the mangaka is, in that case, the panda thought, swirling the slurry into the soup and watching it thicken up into a proper stew. Probably has all kinds of hots for Nor himself, come to think of it...

Then again, with all the downtimes that the two of them had, they probably had plenty of other ideas for other people, too. Choin chuckled. He might not have been the main character with Nor, but at least he wasn't being cucked all the time in the metaphorical story that they had. They had fixed that particular problem really early on, and made sure that they were both okay with the other having some other lovers.

Hell, if he brought some of those baddies home with him, I bet the two of us could show them a good time. Hell, maybe train them to be goodies, instead.

Choin almost snorted into the food at that. The idea of him, a panda that could barely conjure some gold for a few minutes, teaching some powerful villain to sit up and be a good boy? It was laughable.

Hot, though.

He shook his head. It was best not to go too far down that road. He had his boyfriend, and that should be enough, particularly with what Nor did for him, too.

I might get all the finances in order, but after all the work stuff, he still finds ways of actually making me feel good, too. Not everyone would be able to do that. Not everyone would want to.

Admittedly, he put a great deal of work into the relationship, too. The pair of them had essentially full-time jobs, though Choin's paid a great deal more than Nor's did. They worked off each other, played off each other during their schedules, with the panda always trying to get his work set up while Nor was busy on patrol so that they didn't end up losing what little time that they actually had together while they were off-duty.

It was a good time when they were together, but he knew that the mule was always, always, always more tired than he was. He'd often just come off a day of research, while Nor came off a day of heavy physical fitness, and the rare day off that the mule had was often used to rest, or to see people that he didn't see while working or having time off at the end of it. Those days were seldom part of their together-time, but it did sometimes happen. Just...not always that often.

Stop being ungrateful, he thought, rather angrily chopping up some extra garlic, frying it separately before adding it to the pot. He's got time for you. That's something, right?

And it was, it was. He just...sometimes wished for more. And sometimes, he wondered what things would be like if one or the other of them wasn't a super.

Choin realized where his thoughts were going, and he sighed. He put the knife down, covered the pot with a lid, and went to the couch again. He sat down, folded his legs, and closed his eyes as he slowly breathed in, and out.

These thoughts came in from time to time, and he always knew where they came from. They were from a place inside him that wanted to have Nor more to himself, that believed that he put in a lot of work and sometimes felt like they were in an unfair relationship. Sometimes, that relationship felt unfair to him, sometimes it felt unfair to Nor, but today it just felt like it was unfair. That they could be better if they didn't have to deal with the super stuff, if they were more normal.

But when he felt like that, he always felt better when he sat down and just let the bad feelings roll off. When he remembered the good things, when he surrounded himself with the golden memories of his time with his boyfriend, when he reminded himself of all the things that they meant to each other, it brought the reasons they stayed together back to mind. They were good for each other, and that was all that mattered.

Choin breathed in, out, in, out, and slowly descended further into those memories.

It was the smell of garlic on the cusp of going bad that brought him out of his meditation. Choin tumbled off the couch, almost banging his head against the wooden floor, before darting for the kitchen again. Throwing the lid off the pot so fast that he managed to avoid getting burned, he started stirring like a madman, pulling it off the heat and keeping it moving so that the various sensitive bits of the stew didn't get damaged.

"Shit, shit, shit..."

He tossed it a bit, almost like one would have done a stir-fry. He was frankly amazed that he didn't spill anything, but it mixed enough air into the pot that it stopped bubbling and boiling. That was the good part. The less-good part was that he now had a very hot pan in his paws, and he needed to deal with that.

Barely putting it down without spilling, he shoved his hands under a flow of gold water, huffing under his breath and keeping his head down. The slow drain of heat from his fingers was a god-send, and as he looked back at the pot, he nodded to himself.

"Saved it...just in -"

Bzzzt. And just like that, the apartment went dark. He looked up at the lights, then down at the pot, and then at the burner that had gone as dark as the lights. The panda's head sagged.

"Are you kidding me right now?"

The world apparently was not. Shaking his head, he shook his fingers dry, pulled the lid out of the bread basket where it had landed, and jammed it back into place. He put it back on the still-hot burner, and then let it sit there. If nothing else, it'd keep the heat that was still in the pot going. He turned the stove down to nothing, making sure it wouldn't come on too suddenly when the power returned, and then went back to the couch. He was halfway there when he heard a thudding set of footsteps outside the apartment.

"Well, that was quick."

The door opened, revealing a very tired-looking mule. Nor groaned as he stumbled through, shutting the door behind him and slowly peeling his over-suit off. The shoulder-to-thigh thing that he wore came off like a piece of cling-wrap, obviously trying to hold onto his sweaty body, and it didn't want to come apart when the mule dropped it to the floor. Nor stumbled his way to the couch, and only good manners kept him from just collapsing right then and there.

Choin caught him with one arm, but it was Nor that pulled him close, allowing the panda to lean against him. He smiled at that, resting his cheek against the other man's chest.

"Long day at work?" Choin asked.

"Very, but it's good to be home."

"Well, one of your homes."

"The better one."

"Glad you think so."

"I know so."

He chuckled at that, shaking his head. It was a little bit of flattery, admittedly, but he would take it. He stroked the mule's chest, just enjoying the soft smell of the other man. The bit of musk that was there, the smell of a warm body, the gentle wiriness and bitterness of sun-heated hair...it was all there, and all just a reminder of the mule that he loved. He allowed himself to be stroked in turn, the pair of them quiet as they just reminded each other of what the other person they cared about was like.

It ended after a few minutes. The whole place buzzed for a moment, almost like the power was about to come back on, but then it crashed again. Choin grumbled.

"So much for stew for dinner tonight."

"How close was it?"

"Pretty darn. I just needed ten more minutes. Twenty for the garlic bread."

"Ooof. That would have been good."

"Yeah, well...I tried."

"Smells good."

"It should."

"...Think it'd be close?"

"Heh, you feeling that hungry right now?"

"I'm feeling pretty starved, yes. Sorry."

"...Well, let me see if I can try something. Hold on a minute."

There was just a chance for something. If Novus Ager wasn't being a dick about things, if the city itself still had power and it was just their part of the building that was down, then there was something that he might be able to do. Choin went down the hall to the bedrooms, where the fusebox rested. He pulled it open -

And there it was. A busted fuse. Not that they had replacements at the moment, but he could fix that. He wiggled the old fuse out of place and pulled a penny out of his pocket.

Ten minutes...I can make it in five...if I hurry...

He focused on the penny, turning it to gold, and jammed it into place. As soon as it touched, the current started flowing again, and the entire apartment lit up. He imagined that it wouldn't last long; copper worked okay, but the pennies were never actually copper these days, and he doubted that the flow would last long once the five minutes were up. He'd have to move fast, and so he did, running to the kitchen and flicking the stove back on.

It roared back to life, and he started stirring and seasoning and cooking like a madman. He worked the stew back to a boil, the steam rising up so fast that his fur went matted like he had been running a marathon. He pulled the bowls down while he could still see, grabbed all the other tools he needed while he was bringing another burner up to heat.

With just a minute left, he yoinked the mostly-done tofu out and pressed them to the heated burner. It was going to leave a mess for later, but the hissing, searing crackle that he heard as they made contact confirmed that they were going to be nice and crunchy for the stew, which was what he needed.

And just as it finished, the power went out again. Choin panted softly as he reached the end of the dish's cook time, shaking his head.

"Barely got it done," he panted.

"You looked like something off a reality show there."

"Well, you know me. I don't like to disappoint."

"I doubt this will ever disappoint me."

"Well, let's not start."

He dished up enough for the pair of them to eat, and then sat down with a pair of chopsticks for himself and a spoon for Nor. He passed the latter over, and then started digging in. He had a few bites before he sighed contentedly, leaning back, and the mule joined him shortly after.

"That was just what I needed," Nor muttered.

"I figured you would."

"Thanks. When we're done, I'll do something for you."

"You don't have to."

"After everything you do to take care of this place, I want to."

"...Well, thanks."

"Let me just think of the right thing, and finish the stew, and then we'll do it, okay?"

That was fair enough. After all, he'd been the one to come home early and get some rest with a bit of meditation, even if he'd had to deal with the fact that the power was going on and off. The pair of them were still enjoying one another's company for the meal, anyways, so it wasn't like asking for space.

Choin leaned back as he nibbled on his food. The whole thing was still strange, in so many respects. He was a villain con artist, but he was dating a hero. The city didn't know who he was, at least, in regards to the secret villain identity. Nor might, but he didn't know for sure about that. They had probably the most impossible open relationship that one could find in the city, but they made it work.

And he was the one that was always hiding things from the mule, before he got a little too up himself. He was the one that was hiding his secret villain identity. He was the one that was going by a different name, even now. 'Choin' wasn't even the first alias that he used, and it was still the one that most people that knew him as a normal person called him by. His original name had been buried for some time, now.

Shaking his head, he looked down at the bowl of broth, realized that he'd already taken most of the solids from the stew, and chuckled to himself.

"What?" Nor asked.

"Already got through all the tofu."

"This was tofu?!"

"Heh, what'd you think it was? Ham?"

"I...thought it was chicken..."

"Well, now I can make it more often."

"But...Tofu?"

"What's wrong with tofu?"

"No idea. Just expected it to be...you know, less good."

"Well, it's great, and now we know it's great."

"Meh. Fine." Nor chuckled, shaking his head as he put down his empty bowl. "Well, I'm feeling up for a board game tonight. What do you think?"

"I think we need light for that."

"...Oh. Right."

Bzzzz. And just like that, the apartment was well-lit again. Choin threw his hands up in utter frustration at the timing, only to splash himself with his own stew, taking a face-full of the broth right in the muzzle. He sputtered, groaning helplessly as it started dribbling down his chest and staining his fur.

"...On second thought, maybe we should grab a shower together first," Nor said, obviously fighting back laughter.

"Mmmph...yes."

"Come on. I'll carry you."

And so the mule did, and so the panda accepted it. It was nice, after all.

The End

Summary: A day in the life of Choin, Nor's boyfriend and lover.

Tags: No sex, villain/hero, relationship, open relationship, Novus Ager, Nor, mule, panda, gold, cooking, slice of life,