Little backstory here: A thought spawned in my head.
I was up at 2 in the morning when I had this idea, of taking two of the most unlikely individuals and making them a thing just to see where the writtens go. This is a complete 100 percent pure crack pairing and I couldn't help the prompt because of how stupid it was.
And I like stupid prompts, they are my bread and butter.
On with the shenanigans hehe. Hope you enjoy!
Cassie could swear up and down that she indeed had a type, and her type was the most basic shit you could think of; blonde or brown haired guys, or really hot dudes who towered over her, who had jobs, who were human.
Her relationships with her past boyfriends rendered one single truth for each and every one of them; their pairing made sense to both parties. Whether it was a favorite movie, a favorite food or music genre or activity, they shared a similarity that brought them together. Similarities between two people breed relationships that are reasonable, and made sense.
Meanwhile, the past maybe several months or so didn't make sense. Neither to her, or the construct, because neither of them could explain how, when and why… this started and how this began to grow.
Girls, you ever had a relationship with a guy, and you literally didn't or couldn't find him attractive until later on in the relationship? It's kind of like that, except Cassie more than likely will never find him attractive but… it's just complicated in this case. She would never, in her life, go for any withered, old-young guy who does nothing more than fly, pout and read books all day and smells of candle wax and various incenses, who literally is a small town boxed into one individual, who looks like he hasn't eaten in years. That just… wasn't her thing.
And somehow this man, Ermac, is sitting beside her still semi-mean mugging because her thighs were on his lap. Like of all people, to have ever existed in both Earthrealm and Outworld… and somehow this thing, between these two worked. For months.
Mind-boggling.
If you asked her to trace her steps back to the time when she'd started falling asleep next to him, or when she got comfortable enough to wear only a crop top and some booty shorts in his presence, or when she started back hugging him in those rare ass moments where he's 'not aware' of where she is, she would not be able to tell you. It was gradual, that she can tell, but it was more expected with someone of her own realm; you know, like a basic normal tall dude, not some dying wizard who's just a few inches taller than her tiny 5'2 frame.
Matter of fact… just don't ask. That makes things easier for the both of them.
She paid less attention on her phone. The time they spent together so far was very frugal. They both lived in completely different realms, so Cassie would get to see him maybe… two or three times in a month, and every time afterwards their interactions got longer, in ways they both didn't understand, and Cassie's comfort-meter grew exponentially since the construct didn't care about what she did.
They went from sitting across the couch to her leaning against him at night when she wanted to sleep, and the scent of incense and candles started to wean on her like the comfort of a boyfriend's favorite cologne. As soon as they started being able to spend two, three, maybe even four hours together, their interactions became less about trying to engage a shy individual into talking about themselves, but more about irritating the other as quick as possible.
She developed a habit of wanting to annoy him, and that basically became rudimentary to their relationship up until this point. Everyday they spent a good chunk of their allotted time just fighting and nitpicking about random shit. Such is verified by the fact that Ermac 'complained' about her putting her feet on his thigh, so she moved closer to him until her own thighs now rested on his lap. This wasn't one-sided though; Ermac had his fair share of irritating Cage, but not in the same way she did to him. Because he is literally anti-funny, he would annoy her with the straightest possible face possible, which made it more humorous to Cassie because of how dry it was. Apparently, none of the 10,000 warriors had a shred of humor in their bones or… souls or something.
There was a shift in his shoulders. "Why do you stare at us?"
She blinked, moving her legs a bit against him. "I'm thinking."
"We know you are thinking."
"Then…" Her face was blank for a moment. "Then why ask?"
"We do not understand your need to stare at us while you are thinking."
That's another thing with Ermac; she learned quite quickly that he wasn't just a husk of souls… well, he is that, but there is a bit more to the walking conundrum. He had nuanced things that she discovered (and made fun of) that made him a lot more sapient than she had thought when she first encountered him. One of them, ironically enough, was self-consciousness; he was very self conscious. Anytime she looked at him for too long, even stood too close to him without doing anything, he would ask why she would do so. It wasn't because he didn't want to be around her, per say, but rather the construct is aware of his failing physique.
The collective majority does not like to fail.
"Well…" Swirling a finger against her couch, she smirked. "Maybe I was just thinking about you."
"Why us?"
This is the part where she inhales. He was like a child, always asking why, for fucks sake. "Why not?" She shrugged, and curbed the conversation before his look grew more confused. "Just, just shush and read your spellbook."
"This is not a spellbook." Ermac faced it towards her, to show her that it was some sort of anatomy book that Cassie did not recognize.
"Did you steal that from a library?"
"It was on your shelf." He blinked at her. Since he took books more seriously than she did, he looked marginally offended.
She shook her head. "Never seen it before."
"It was shoved behind a picture book, and one of your photo albums." He said.
Cassie was more impressed that he remembered that specifically. Then again, she shouldn't really be. "Why are you reading a book on anatomy?"
There was a pause before he spoke, he was formulating his words for some reason. "We are occupying time."
Oh, that's why. He didn't want to sound offensive. Either way, she took no offense to it for one reason: "Well we could just do something else other than sit here, but every time I say something about it, you go uuuh nooo, we don't wannaaaa." She made her voice super duper high and raspy in mocking him even though he had the manliest voice in existence.
The souls were busy 'batting eyes' at one another inside of him, while he narrowed his eyes. "You make us do frivolous things with you."
"Isn't that what dating is about? Doing 'frivolous' things?" Cassie sat up, putting her knees up to prop her elbows against them. "I'm trying to get you to do something new, instead of just… that."
She touched the anatomy book with her pointer finger, making his emerald eyes flicker to her wrist as she slacked it back against her knee. The construct blinked, and then turned back to the pages in front of him. "We are doing something new."
Cassie narrowed her eyes. "How?"
"We are reading a different book."
She rolled her eyes, Ermac was the king of all roundabouts; he had a knack for twisting words to fit any poorly specified narrative. "I meant like a different activity, genius." She stood up, his eyes following her movements before she tapped his book twice. "Come on. We're going downstairs."
He suddenly looked exasperated. "Are you going to play your Earthrealm music again?"
Ermac did not like the music she listened to, especially the really annoying, ratchet ones that she'd purposely play when he's around just to get his reaction. While she got what she wanted, part of the experience involved her explaining phrases to him because he's an innocent man, and most of the times when she was downstairs, she'd be blasting music.
"No no, I'm not. We're just gonna go and do something entertaining." She turned around and looked back at him. He didn't move from his spot, he wasn't looking at the book either. He didn't trust her statement. "I'm serious! Just come with me or I'll drag you myself."
As if that was going to scare him. Ermac stood up, finally. "Must we refer to the last time you tried that?"
It was sort of the same situation, but instead of fully giving Cassie her closure, Ermac floated up to the living room ceiling and threatened to drop her from her ankle. It was because she yelled for him to 'drop her', so… her wish would be his command. "Stop being difficult. Come downstairs, antsy-pants."
He decided to comply, because Cassie was getting annoyed (but she was mostly playful. Ermac kind of doesn't understand that level of humor and thinks that she's actually upset with him), he didn't want another case on his poor head. He almost, almost took the book with him, but Cassie pointed its rightful place to be her couch ledge, and they both went downstairs. Cassie was two years ahead of legal age to own an apartment, she was just 23 so when she wasn't at the Special Forces HQ, she was here all alone. It came with a bunch of benefits, like… walking around naked, because who doesn't do that when they live alone? Or having all the groceries to yourself, or bringing her friends over without her parents egging her on about it. It was fun being an adult.
She did have to curb the habit of being nude because Ermac doesn't know how doorbells work, so at one point when she was getting out of the shower (she had a robe on, luckily), she nearly stripped it off not knowing the construct was sitting in her room until she turned around and screamed. He acted like he didn't just scare the bejeezus out of her too, just casually looking down at the carpet while sitting on her bed with his legs and arms crossed. From then on, she decided to keep at least two articles of clothing on at all times.
Then again, she could probably walk around topless and Ermac would give no fucks, unless she attempts to do something lewd to which he'll immediately object.
"What will you bring upon us now?"
"Hmm?" She reached the last step and turned around. The stubborn construct was a few steps above the winding stairs looking down at her, a hand on the railing as if he were going to turn right around if he didn't get a response. Geez…
He looked bored already. "You wanted us to do something with you."
She sighed while going into her living room. "Hold on! Gimme a moment, I'm thinking of someth-" Turning around, being just shy of two meters from the stairs, Cassie's eyes zeroed in on something that wasn't supposed to be on her floor, and it was giant, black and menacing…
The scary, three inch beetle that wriggled off of her rug was now scampering in her direction, and she shrieked loudly before booking her way back up the stairs. "Hell fuck no, fuck no, fu-"
"What is wrong?" Naturally, due to the protectiveness of the collective, Ermac straightened hearing Cassie yell like that, and alarmed when she nearly fell running up the stairs and holding his arm.
"That! Look at it, it's fucking huge!" She pointed frantically, at where they were standing they both could not see it, and Ermac readily assumed it was a large beast that manifested into her living room.
Don't bat an eye at his assumption. That stuff kinda happens in Outworld a number of times.
He went down a few steps at a speed of bitch we're here to fight, and paused when he noticed that the entire room was empty; there was no 'huge' assailant in here. Ermac turned around to look at Cassie, confused. "We do not understand your fear." He looked up and down at her half-crouched position. "There is nothing here."
"Oh my god, did it hide?" Cassie went down to where he was standing and situated herself a bit behind him, like hell she was gonna go any further by herself. "Is it gone already?"
"Why are you holding our shoulders?" Ermac turned his head in her direction. "We do not sense any harmful entity here-"
"No no, right there! Right-" Cassie pointed. The black beetle made its appearance again, coming out from under an accent table. It started moving to the left before going in the direction of the stairs. "Looklooklooklook, it's coming closer! Ermac, do something!"
Ermac visibly deflated. He was ready to drop kick somebody, maybe even use the living room's ceiling fan as a meat shear, but here is Cassie screaming over a tiny insect. He inhaled and went one step forward, barely raising a hand. The beetle floated right above its spot, and with a small notion of the construct's fingers, it was squashed. Still holding the beetle telekinetically, he turned to face the Earthrealm woman, heavily disappointed. "This is what caused you so much distress?"
A sheepish look grew on her face at how quickly he ended that shit, and because of his judgement towards her. "I don't like bugs. You know this." She relaxed, the construct took to going downstairs and deciding the coast was clear, she did so too. "Don't judge me, it was friggin' giant."
He wasn't judging her, right now he was eyeing the dead beetle in a bit of interest. She figured he was just looking at its shape or something, Ermac was always into weird shit. Cassie watched as he rotated the beetle, allowed it to hover it above his hand, brought it closer to him and back a couple of times before he raised another hand. He unscrewed a water bottle cap in her kitchen and telekinetically extracted a ball of water, and he basically encased the beetle in the moving liquid.
"...What are you doing?" Cassie blinked.
He didn't readily answer her. He pulled the beetle out of the water bubble, and moved the water towards the kitchen sink. He dropped that hand, letting the water go, and he now held the beetle between his thumb and forefinger.
Without warning, he took a bite into the beetle's lower body and chewed thoughtfully. Swallowing, he glanced at the half eaten insect. "Your Earthrealm beetles taste very distinct."
Alright, listen; she knew that insects of many kinds were considered delicacies by the people of Outworld because Ermac told her so one day. He told her the last meal he thought to have was of fried beetles and smoked silkworms, which was a few years ago. He also said that the insects were to be washed and cooked before eating, and aside from all that… Cassie didn't really mind hearing about that stuff as long as she didn't see it, but this man really ate… that thing in front of me...
"You really just… you really just ate that beetle…" It wasn't even a question, she was just stumped.
Technically she shouldn't be, she was dealing with someone who gave negative five damn's about nearly everything. He looked at her nonchalantly. "Yes."
"Ermac, that's not..." She took a side step away from him. "That's not okay. We don't do that here."
"We have told you before that this is viable sustenance to us, and a populus of those in Outworld."
He didn't seem to get it. Or maybe he did get it, but decided not to care about her eyes or her gut. "Yeah, but I don't want to see you eat a beetle that is already dead!"
A furrowed brow. "Would you rather we eat it alive?"
She took a moment to breathe. "That's not the point. Just don't eat it in front of me."
"We forego eating this beetle." Ermac said with a look on his face, as if he just ate a steak that wasn't at the right temperature. "It tastes unusual."
"Maybe because it might have been, oh I dunno, outside?" Cassie articulated, going to her couch to plop down and sit. "Crawling around in garbage and stuff? You could get sick from that, y'know."
"Sickness does not harm the dead." Ermac simply said, making Cassie turn around. "You forget that we are a fusion of souls. The bacterium Earthrealm contains would not affect us."
"...Oh…" That's all she could say whenever he goes into Explanation Mode.
Ermac started to float to where she was, before settling across from her on the couch still giving his earlier conclusion a thought. "The beetle itself doesn't have a taste we would favor. If it were cooked, it would be too brittle and bitter for a proper me-"
"Okay, no more beetle cooking talk, please." Cassie raised both hands. "Can we... watch a movie?"
Ermac had foregone the subject, but looked confused because he initially didn't recall what those were. "The moving picture films?"
"Yes, those." Cassie smiled a bit, it was funny having a boyfriend that came from a completely different world. She had turned on her mounted TV and cycled through the selections. She couldn't help the thought of what he just did, it was like she couldn't unthink it. "Are bugs… really all you have over there?"
He looked down. "No. Outworld holds an assortment of eatery, but we do not partake in many of those cuisines."
Her opinion of him may or may not have started to change. "So you just eat bugs? Like that big one?" The big one that he left on the damn floor. "Ermac, go throw that out!"
He didn't get up. All he did was raise a hand, and the beetle was sent to her opened garbage bin in the kitchen. He answered her question afterwards, giving it a bit of thought because he forgot what his diet was like. "We… we also take a liking to fruits. A small beetle like that would not suffice us."
"Small?" Cassie leaned towards him. "Ermac, that thing was half the size of my hand."
He looked her dead in the eyes. "That beetle dwarfs that of Outworld. A normal sized insect of that caliber would be about twelve times of that one."
Sooo… twelve times three, is a good three feet. Cassie seemed to sink into her seat in reluctant thought. "Remind me never to go to Outworld. Ever."
"They only appear in sectors of the wild, not in sandy dunes like where we are stationed." Ermac explained. "You can avoid them with ease."
"That's… a bit nice to hear." Hopefully she doesn't accidentally stumble into Outworld woods if she wants to sightsee, and ends up seeing a thirty six inch beetle on sight. That is one hundred thousand percent nope right there.
"What is that?" Ermac was pointing at the screen to a particular movie cover that striked familiarity in both of them. On Cassie's end, she cringed, but Ermac creased his brows. "Is that your father?"
They were looking at a particular movie called Ninja Mime. To this day, Kung Jin constantly uses that movie's existence as the butt end of any insult fest they have. "...Yes…"
He looked at Cassie. "Why do you grovel?"
"That movie is… is really bad." Cassie scratched the back of her head. "But my dad says otherwise, constantly."
He blinked, and looked to be deciding on what he wanted to say. Partially because Cage annoyed him, and partially because his offspring was someone he came to know, and now he didn't know if he should insult her father the way he would normally.
"What do you have to say over there? I know you wanna say something."
If he had a visible nervous tic right now, it'd be fidgeting, because he looked to be fighting in cross with himself. He decided to let it out, the euphemized portion of it of course. "Your father, as arrogant as he is, may or not be very wrong."
"He is…" Cassie shook her head, only answering the second part honestly. The first part she felt a little jaded to because that was trait she midkey got from him.
"We wouldn't know unless we see it."
"Ermac, do you want to die?" Because the movie was that bad, like even bookworm folklore-encyclopedia Ermac would probably wrinkle his already wrinkled nose in disgust at the plot only. Nevermind the characters, which would make him leave the living room and go back to reading Cassie's anatomy book as a form of rehab. She would rather not grace Ermac's eyes and ears with this movie.
Meanwhile, Ermac took her statement literally. Again. "A simple cinematic would not be enough to end us, Cassandra."
He is the only person, on all realms, who calls her by her full name. Not even her parents call her Cassandra, even though they named her that, but everybody got so comfortable with saying Cassie, including her. With that being said, she couldn't imagine it being the other way around with how literal Ermac was. Oftentimes he'd say her name whenever she says or does something questionable or unacceptable, and the formality of it makes her laugh or roll her eyes.
She did the latter this evening. "Oh my god- obviously it's not going to kill you. I mean that in a figurative way, because you don't want to see it. Trust me." He kept looking at her, and reaffirmed her last sentence with more emphasis. "Trust me."
He eased his curiosity, trusting her, and knowing that Johnny Cage is somebody that he couldn't bear to spend more than maybe six seconds in a room with. His daughter on the other hand he accepted, unless if she was venting about something, then he'd rather be deaf for however long she'd go on. When Cassie needed to vent, she will vent, and she'll go on for a long, long long time. All 10,000 souls involved give the poor construct a headache over her drama, but he still chooses to be an open ear because despite all that, he accepted it.
It was better than being nailed to a table and having a piece of flexible metal hammered into your chest, or losing a considerable amount of circulation in your extremities.
"How about a rom com?" Cassie tilted her head in consideration. Ermac has seen a rom com before with her, it was one of her favorite genres. It was also the one that he understood the least, especially whenever Cassie laughed at the comedy of it. He never understood some of the scenes she laughed about, but he refrained from asking her questions most of the time because he didn't want to disturb her. Cassie would still brief it to him if she notices the all-too-well scrunching of his brows.
"You are asking us as if we know of anything else."
"You watched a horror movie before." Cassie rested her legs on the couch now, propping her elbow on the armrest. "You know what that looks like, and you like that kind of stuff."
Ermac didn't mind her first choice, or any choice she made. "We would be fine with whatever you choose."
She really liked that quality about him, not really caring about what she did. It could be seen as a selfish thing since she got to do whatever she wanted, but she always figured it was because of the unfamiliarity. It's been several months, but Ermac still walks around her home as if he's seen everything for the first time. He knew of the most general Earthrealm customs and its history, even more so than she did, but he didn't know much about local colloquialism, especially where she lived because it was mostly a liberal place.
As long as Ermac did not speak or float or glow or anything, he could very well walk among strangers in the city and people would only spare passing glances at him, since some people in the area had very eccentric attire choices. She made a mental note to take him out sometime… at least to a city away from the Special Forces headquarters… and her house… and places that Jacqui, Takeda, and Kung Jin would hang around because their relationship was still a secret, and oddly enough they both preferred it that way. It's not like things were falling out anyway…
As weird as it sounds, as unusual as this was… this felt like it would only be the beginning.
I dunno if Ninja Mime is an actual thing, but I read it off of some fanfic years ago and thought it'd be a viable movie title. So kudos to the fanfic(s) that used that title.
Thank you and goodnight lmao.