I Fell For My Nemesis

Jocelyn and Keith started work at different times so the pattern they fell into once they established their relationship involved him only staying the night on weekends so they could head straight to the snow cone shack together. Now that his volunteer firefighter training was complete his three-hour shifts were usually on Saturday mornings but he would still go the shack with her for a while first then come back when he was done.

They didn't get a lot of sales in the morning but that was fine. It gave them more time to just talk with each other.

She always enjoyed talking with him. As she got to know him better her belief that she could not afford to lose him strengthened. He was everything to her and that was terrifying.

Jocelyn never thought someone would be this important to her. She had spent her whole life either hiding or being rejected. She never thought she would be seen, let alone accepted. But she had been. And by someone so wonderful too!

Keith didn't care that she didn't have much of a personality. He didn't think she was boring and was extremely patient as she tried to figuring out how to be Jocelyn Normandy the person instead of Jocelyn Normandy the helper. Being a therapist and a hero was very different than being her own person with a life.

A life that consisted largely of her boyfriend. She didn't know what she was going to do when his schedule changed and she wasn't able to see him as much.

He didn't plan on taking the firefighter exams until after their trip because he didn't want to be told he couldn't get time off too early at his new job provided he was accepted. It was a wise move, especially since he had been saving up his vacation time at Lucky Lotus.

Jocelyn had never taken a vacation in her life. She had taken a week off with a doctor's note earlier this year but John was so surprised she wanted to take a vacation for the first time since working there that he hadn't cared about that in the slightest.

They had made enough at the snow cone shack to pay off their loan and go on this trip with a little left over. They split it and she planned to use her cut to buy more painting supplies. Her classes resumed two weeks after they got back from Florida. She had missed that so she was looking forward to it. She only hoped that it was enough to keep her busy when Keith (hopefully) started his new job.

She would miss him and the routine they had established terribly but she knew this was important to him. Besides, it had partially been her idea. She couldn't begrudge him his desire to move up in the world.

In fact, Jocelyn was quite proud of him. She knew better than anyone how many times he had switched jobs without committing both because of his hero work and his lack of direction for how he wanted his life to go. He deserved the stability.

Keith had been an excellent hero so she had no doubt he would make a wonderful firefighter too. Sometimes she wondered what the other heroes thought about them disappearing around the same time.

People had speculated that Mercury died when he retired because of the nature of his rather publicized injury right before it happened. She doubted people thought the same about her since all she had done was hurt her leg. MultiMan probably stopped rumors like that from starting.

Jocelyn didn't pay much attention to gossip but she couldn't help but wonder if anyone had made the connection since Frostine and Delta retired around the same time. They had been spotted together frequently and Red Dynamo had thought she liked Keith before she even realized it herself.

She had a few minutes so her curiosity won out. She looked herself up on her phone and found that her theory was correct. There was an online forum about heroes full of people speculating about what happened.

'Has anyone seen Delta lately? The last known sighting was months ago'

'Nope. He vanished off the face of the earth'

'I was there for the last known sighting.  He was talking to MultiMan about Frostine. Apparently he quit to take care of personal things'

'Personal things? That's super vague. At least that means he's probably not dead. I always liked Delta'

'It's a shame what happened to Frostine. So many years fighting crime and she had to get hurt badly enough to retire. I suppose it was about time though. She was reaching the general time in a hero's career where they quit'

'You don't think Delta's personal stuff was taking care of Frostine, do you?'

'No way! How would they even know who each other are?'

'They did seem really close though. They were almost always together. There's never been a time I've seen Frostine out and about where Delta wasn't far behind'

'Oh my gosh, do you think they're dating?'

'Wouldn't surprise me! They might have had so much chemistry as heroes that they told each other their secret identities. It wouldn't be the first time that happened. I heard there were these heroes on the west coast who were rather open about their relationship when they were in costume'

'Frostine and Delta! I never would have guessed. She always seemed so cold'

'Even cold people can have their hearts melted by the right person. Who wouldn't fall in love with Delta after spending a lot of time with him? I met him once and he's so dreamy'

'Your crush is going nowhere fast. You know that, right?'

'Duh! I was just saying. My money is totally on Frostine and Delta being together even if it does break my heart'

Jocelyn shook her head in disbelief. Some of these people who didn't even know them had managed to figure it out. Had her feelings truly been so obvious from the beginning? She hadn't known about them herself.

She supposed that favoring Delta over any other hero had been enough of a clue in and of itself considering her reputation. What could she say? Even when Keith wasn't acting like his true self he had still grown on her. He was that likable.

'Do you think they're going to get married?! That would be the wedding of the century and no one would even know about it!' someone else posted on the forum.

'That would be insane! If they do I wish I could be there'

'Me too!'

"Me three!'

Jocelyn exited out of the forum after that, her face burning at the thought. Getting married? They had only officially been dating for a month! She couldn't even daydream about something so big this early on. She hadn't thought about it at all.

She had always taken things one day at a time. The only long-term goals she ever had were getting a scholarship to college so she could escape her parents' house and becoming a marriage and family therapist once she got there. She wasn't the kind of person who thought about the future.

Getting married. How could she ever do something like that after being forced to endure her parents' horrible marriage and see all the people whose marriages fell apart at work every day?

Jocelyn loved Keith. If she had things her way she would stay with him forever but they had an awful lot of growing together to do before she could even contemplate such a thing. She didn't know if either of them were capable of making that sort of commitment.

Being with him forever'¦the thought appealed to her but she didn't know if it was realistic. They both carried a lot of baggage.

Physical and metaphorical right now because they were heading to the airport to start their long-awaited vacation. Keith grinned at her when she approached him near the check-in area.

"Are you ready to go on vacation for the first time in your life?"

"Yes. It should be fun," she told him with a smile.

Especially because she would be doing it with him. She had no doubt that it would be much more boring if she had ever tried to do something like this on her own. Though the thought likely never would have occurred to her. It certainly hadn't before.

Jocelyn was looking forward to this trip partially because of where they were going but more because she was going with Keith. He had a way of making anything interesting.

He was all hers for the next week. It would be nice to have that extra time to spend with him before he got so busy. She had to take what she could get. She would support him in his goals even if they took him away from her more than she liked.

That was how being in a relationship was supposed to work.. He was there for her so she would be there for him too.