#imagine watching the dirt shoveled in around the box
“Just stop it! Okay?” Hero said, palms white pressed against the door of their reinforced glass box. “You win, Villain. You don’t have to continue your monologue, just let me out. Please. You win. I give up. You win.”
Villain laughed, he’d acknowledge that Hero was a good actor, but not good enough. He hadn’t begun to threaten anyone yet. Right now was just about trapping Hero. He knew Hero never gave up so easily, he was too good.
“I’m not falling for it,” Villain said, eyeing Hero. The box was already lowered into the ground and their henchmen were beginning the burying process. “You’re staying in there until I’m finished.” Villain paused momentarily, maybe it wasn’t entirely an act. “Don’t worry, there’s plenty of air and I’ll get you out when I’m done. You won’t die. I just can’t have you interfering with my plans.” Afterall, Villain had made a promise to Superhero.
“I won’t!” Hero screamed. “I promise. I won’t do anything. Please, let me out.” Tears fell down Hero’s face, Villain realized. Not that it would do much, but it was different than Hero’s usual behavior. Acting, Villain told themselves. It had to be acting.
Dirt came up to Hero’s chest now. The hole was half-way filled and Hero still shouted. Didn’t they realize that Villain wasn’t going to let them out? Maybe there was someone that Hero was trying to protect. “You’re not leaving, but I’ll give you one request, before I go.” That should be enough appease Hero’s panic. Not that it was important. Fake panic didn’t need to be appeased.
“Just let me out,” Hero said, “I won’t leave, just get me out of here. Please. I can’t— You can put me in a cell or something. Anything. I won’t fight you. Just—put me somewhere else. Please.”
“Come on, Hero,” Villain said, calling Hero out on his lie, “we both know you aren’t claustrophobic. Give it up.”
“I’m not—This isn’t—Please—I—” Hero wasn’t making any sense, but their breathing was getting harsher on Villain’s ears. Maybe this wasn’t acting. Maybe it was a real panic attack.
“Stop,” Villain instructed their henchman. They leapt into the hole, landing on Hero’s glass cage and peered down as Hero crumpled into a ball. Not very heroic, Villain thought. Granted, neither were the choking sobs.
Okay. So, Villain may have overestimated the man’s acting ability. He could acknowledge that. On the other hand, this could be a problem if he hadn’t but…
His hands fumbled for the key to the lock for the top access point of the cage. Frankly, this cage had to many access points and, as such, required far too many keys. Eventually he found the right key and pulled the lid up and away. Hero hadn’t even noticed. Sighing, Villain dropped into the half-buried cage himself.
“Hey,” he said, resting a hand on Hero’s back, “What’s up? You aren’t claustrophobic. I know that.”
“Please let me out,” Hero said. “I’m not dead this time. I’m not dead. I’m not dead.” Hero carried on with their mantra repeating it like a desperate prayer.
“Of course, you’re not dead,” Villain said, struggling to pull Hero to their feet. “You’re annoyingly alive.”
“Please don’t bury me again,” he asked between shallow breaths.
“I won’t,” Villain said. This was an honest panic attack—he’d never imagined that Hero would go into one. He didn’t mean to trigger Hero. That wasn’t in his plans. Really it wasn’t. He hoped he’d be able to convince Superhero of that later. Either way, they both needed to get out of here. “Henchman!” he called as he hoisted himself up and out of the container. He really needed to work on his upper body strength.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Help me pull Hero up.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“Positive,” Villain said, reaching his hands down to Hero. “Hero, give me your hand.”
And the hero looked up at him, grabbing both his and Henchman’s hands.
Oooh, I never considered a glasscoffin for this purpose before! What a neat idea.
