Challenge #00692 - A327: "Secret" Identity
A character wakes up next to their spouse, ready to start their day. But… this person is not what they appear to be - what seems to be a normal person is just a disguise for their true self, a fearsome and powerful inhuman entity. The catch is that the spouse knows about this secretive disguise… but the entity doesn’t know the spouse knows, so still tries (a bit ineptly) to hide things. The spouse finds this too adorable to ruin the fun by revealing what they know just yet.
He always spent a few minutes in the morning just… lying in bed and watching him sleep. The love of his life. The most adorable human being in the universe. It was a miracle just to have him in the same house, let alone the same family.
It was very much a miracle that the breathlessly beautiful Bob Ballard had ultimately said ‘yes’ to nerdy nothing Melvin Mündané. never knowing that Melvin was secretly the courageous crusader Captain Charisma!
“I know you’re watching me sleep. Take a shower, look after yourself, and I’ll have eggs and sausage.”
“Eggs and sausage or eggs and sausage?” Melvin teased. The joke had been going on for five spectacular years.
"Breakfast, thank you. We have kids, next door.”
“You wanted to adopt,” Melvin pretended to whine. He loved it, of course. Bob and Melinda and Trey made the perfect family together. And Melvin made four.
They were his motivation, his reason to fight, his home to defend. And a blessing to go home to. And, on the rare occasions when he spent a whole day as Melvin Mündané, mild-mannered minion of MultiGloboCorp, they were his reason to smile.
The special ringtone went off.
“Drat,” he sighed. “Work needs me. ASAP. You’ll have to get your own breakfast, honey.”
“I hate that you’re on call,” Bob pouted.
“So do I. Hug the kids for me.”
“In excess.”
Melvin used a little of his super-speed to get ready, that morning, hiding his super-suit under his ordinary business one, and dashing out the door. Then it was up, up and away for another day of derring do.
*
Bob giggled. “He forgot the car, again,” he murmured. And he’d forgotten that super-fast drying left spatter all over the bathroom. And running out the door at fifty miles an hour tended to scatter the kids’ art.
Of course he knew that Melvin was Captain Charisma. Like his superhero moniker, Melvin wasn’t exactly mister subtle.
“Is Daddy saving the world again?” asked a sleepy and yawning Trey.
“Yep. And he’s going to beat the bad guys.”
For Bob, it was another day of being Da. But every moment was worth it. Even the spatter in the bathroom. He felt like the luckiest man alive.
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