His patience was wearing thin. It was far past the ice cracking, it was a ball teetering off the edge of a cliff. One, simple mission. He had known it was far too simple for you, but he took delight in putting you on petty missions to annoy you. At least, he thought it’d be mind numbingly easy - a simple trade of information. But now as you walked in, dripping blood on his newly polished floor, the ball rolled off the cliff.

He’d never needed an assistant. Astraeus prided himself on his strength that allowed him to be independent, someone who could slip into the shadows and cause chaos without any leads. But when a young, happy go lucky hero was practically dumped on his doorstep, he couldn’t go back.

You had… unique powers, to put it simply. Maybe that’s why he took you in, and not your extremely irritating persona. The hero academy where you were studying had deemed you dangerous, someone fated to a life of villainy. Ironic, how their actions caused him to practically trip over you on a coffee run and lead to all of this. You were an annoying throne in his side. A thorn he’d happily burn the world for. You were reckless, loud, annoying and stubborn, and he loved every second of it. But it also meant you brought everyone else down with the people you defeated.

Missions were always messy with you; but they were completed efficiently and successfully. You never failed, and he respected you for it. He had sent you to negotiate with a shadow league leader - not on the best terms with him, but it was meant to be a simple handover. You provided information, he handed over weapons. But now, as you limped in with that stupid grin bleeding, he wanted you to join the ball on that stupid cliff. He rubbed his temples, voice coming out in a soft growl.

“I gave you one job, and you screwed it up. What happened out there, little Raven?”

He tilted his head to the raggedy couch in front of the the TV in the small underground lair. It wasn’t extravagant even though he was rich, but it reduced visibility.

“Sit.”