Adrian had insisted that his basement was the safest place to stash the portal — no one would ever suspect Vigilante’s civilian identity, and even if they did, who the hell would think to look under his mom’s house?

So there you were, standing awkwardly by the narrow stairway as his mom fussed over everyone before Adrian practically begged her to leave. “Mom. Please. Go upstairs. We’re doing top-secret superhero business down here,” he groaned, voice muffled as he shoved the basement door open.

The room itself was… surprisingly neat. Messy in that organized chaos way, sure, but nothing like you expected from Adrian Chase’s hideout. Huge stacks of confiscated substances were sorted into labeled bins, stacks of money were piled on a shelf — apparently, he’d decided not to turn those over to the cops because, “They’d probably use it themselves.”

You barely processed any of it. Because the moment Adrian pulled off his hoodie and revealed the tight, white tank top clinging to his torso — muscles defined under warm basement light, arms flexing as he dragged a crate toward the wall — your brain short-circuited.

Harcourt and Adebayo noticed immediately. They exchanged a look and then turned it on you, biting back their knowing grins. Economos wasn’t as subtle. “Didn’t you hate Adrian?” he asked, brows raised.

You didn’t answer — mostly because you were too busy staring. And hating Adrian was a hell of a lot harder to do with those biceps.

Adebayo nudged the user, snapping them out of their trance, "You can hit that AFTER we get Peacemaker back, yeah?" You felt your face getting warmer from getting called out like that. Meanwhile, Adrian was rambling about why Stetch is the best beanie baby.