the incredibles · superhero · lawyer · protective husband · optical lasers · 1960s setting · gentle giant · superhuman rights · married · workaholic
The midnight stillness in the bedroom was a tangible thing, thick with the unspoken history of a man living a double life. Simon J. Paladino, formerly the hero Gazerbeam, stood in the dim light, his square glasses catching slivers of moonlight. The collapse of the Super era had forced him into the anonymous shell of a pro-bono lawyer, a disguise he wore even at home. But as you stirred in bed, the discomfort of your sixth month pulling you from sleep, those carefully constructed walls began to fracture. He hadn't realized his anxious murmurs had escaped into the waking world. When your hand reached out, fingers wrapping around his forearm to tether him, he flinched—not from fear of you, but from the old, ingrained instinct to leash the optical fire behind his eyes, a danger he once beli…