Look who's back on Fanfiction! lol, it's been a while, but I finally spit some writing out. to those of you not on DeviantArt or Tumblr, for the past few months I've been obsessed with Gorillaz and, because of Ace joining the band, The Powerpuff Girls. specifically the Gangreen Gang. and then I ended up falling for Snake. so I wrote another self-insert fic because I'm trash :P small warning for swearing (mostly on my part) and some smoking (that's all on Ace lmao). this will likely be a two-shot, but hopefully someone can enjoy this first part for now!
To say that Townsville is a weird city would be an understatement. What with all the crazy things in it—giant 80's-esque monsters, mutant animals, child superheroes, boys with green skin, even fashionable demons—this place was fucking bizarre. But I kind of like that about this city. It's definitely a lot more exciting than my former small-town home. Sure, the zany assortment of villains makes things a little dangerous, but hey, I need a little danger in my life. Besides, I don't have much to worry about with the Powerpuff Girls protecting the city.
Except, maybe, for the Puffs themselves getting on me for hanging out with the Gangreen Gang.
Yeah, a lot of people would say that I shouldn't be spending time with delinquents like them. But the guys of the Gangreen Gang were the first people to genuinely care about me as a person in a long time. And from what I got from interacting with them, the feeling was mutual. We've got more in common than I could've ever thought—we're all just lonely, misunderstood people who have been judged and outcasted just for being different. They've never really had any friends outside of each other, and me, well, every good friend I've ever had eventually cut me off. And besides, I never took part in any illegal activities with them. I just liked to hang out at their shack and eat pizza with them.
Which is what I'm getting ready to do right now. I already picked up the fresh hot pizza—I bought it with my own hard-earned money, mind you—and heading towards their dump hideout. Crazy thought, me hanging out with guys like them. I still remember the day we met. I was just sitting in the park with my headphones on, drawing like I always do and minding my own business, I turn my head away for two seconds to look at a pigeon and some snot-nosed kid decides to snatch my sketchbook from me. Of course, I took off running after the dumb brat, but I'm a terrible runner, so I basically had no hope of catching the little punk. That is, until we both came face-to-face with the green guys themselves. I basically stopped right when the kid did, but I was too shocked to snatch my sketchbook back from him. Green skin? Was something wrong with them?
"Well well well, what do we have here, boys?" Ace taunted, staring the child down.
"It ssseemsss we've gotsss a loner," Snake hissed mischievously.
"He's got a sketchbook, boss!" Arturo exclaimed, pointing at it. That made me finally snap out of my trance.
"Actually, that's my sketchbook he's got," I interjected. "Can you give me that back now, kid?"
"Nuh-uh!" the kid teased, sticking his tongue out at me. "It's my sketchbook!"
"No it isn't!" I yelled.
"Yes it is!" he yelled back. "My sketchbook! My drawings!"
"Art theft! Art theft!"
"Lemme see dat!" Ace finally cut our argument short by snatching the sketchbook away from the kid. The rest of the gang looked over his shoulders as he opened it up and skimmed through the pages. Their eyes widened.
"Oooooh!" Billy gasped.
"Ehh, no offense, kid, but these are way too good for someone your age to draw," Ace said. Grubber made one of his signature raspberry noises in response.
"I think the girl's telling the truth," Arturo agreed. The kid turned his nose up and hmphed.
"You're no fun!" he yelled. And with that, he stormed away.
"Eh he wasn't no fun either," Ace scoffed. I stood there, waiting for them to return my sketchbook to me, but instead they kept on looking through it. So, I thought I may as well make conversation.
"Hey uh, thanks for getting my sketchbook away from that kid for me," I said, scratching the back of my neck sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it," Ace deadpanned, not looking up from the pages.
"Thessse are really good," Snake said.
"Oh, uhh, thank you…" I shuffled my feet a bit. I wasn't used to people seeing my art like this.
"Thisss one'sss essspecially niccce." Snake pressed one of his long fingers against the page.
"Which one?" I came closer to the boys to see which drawing Snake was referring to. "Oh, that one?" I asked, upon discovering he was looking at a doodle of one of my fantasy characters. "Thanks."
"So how long you been doin' dis thing, anyway?" Ace asked.
"Oh, pfft, long time. Since like, seventh grade, I think." I have a terrible sense of time and my memory is even worse.
"Awesssome." Snake crossed his arms and smiled. I side-eyed them for a second or two before speaking up again.
"…So who are you guys, anyway?"
"Who are we?" Ace smirked and shoved my sketchbook into my arms, proudly pointing to himself. "We're the Gangreen Gang! I'm Ace, and that's Billy, Arturo, Grubber, and Snake." He pointed to the other guys respectively.
"Well uh, it's very nice to meet you all!" I smiled. "You can call me Light." I figured since most of them were using nicknames why not use mine? I held my hand out for Ace to shake, but he gave it a high-five instead.
"You ain't so bad, Light," he said. "Maybe we'll sees each otha' around sometime."
"Yeah, see you guys!" I said as they walked away. I didn't think I would ever actually see them again. But as it turned out, we couldn't stop running into each other. The bank, the mall, the town square, the supermarket—seemed like everywhere I went they were there too. Usually wreaking havoc, but that's beside the point. Every time, we would give each other a holler or chit-chat in the middle of whatever we were doing, until one day Ace invited me to their place. (Actually, it was Grubber that invited me, but Ace had to translate for me.) Of course, I couldn't say no to that. Then one visit turned to multiple visits, and before I knew it we were constantly hanging out. I found out very quickly that word gets around freakishly fast in Townsville, and soon enough everyone was talking about the Gangreen Gang's "little friend" (I am not little, I'm 5'10"). So it didn't take very long for the Powerpuff Girls to find out about me, either. It took a lot of convincing to assure them that I wasn't a threat, but eventually they got the gist. They still kept a watchful eye on me, though.
In fact, they had their suspicions when I went to pick up this pizza. Those girls, they figured out that I only carry a pizza around like this when I'm going to visit the gang. I gotta give them credit for being so smart for their age. Soon enough, I notice the gang's little shack in sight. I quicken my pace, a little paranoid that the pizza already went cold, until I stop at the door. Since they're used to me by now, and my hands are too full to knock, I kick the door open with my foot.
"Special delivery!" I yell enthusiastically.
"Eyy, Light's here!" Arturo says.
"Pizza time!" Billy cheers.
The little shack is abuzz with excitement, which is nice to hear. Aw yeah, being friends with them is the best. There's just one little problem…
"Hey! How'sss it goin', Light?"
…A slithery little problem.
"Ooohhh, hey Snake!" I set the pizza box down, and everyone digs in. "It's going good. Same old same old." I can feel my face heating up already. Not good. Snake shuffles towards me and grabs a slice of pizza.
"Thanksss for getting the food," he says, leaning against the table. Grubber gives a raspberry while smiling and flashing a thumbs-up. I'm still not fluent in Grubber-speak, but that sounded like a "yeah, it's delicious!"
"Oh it's no problem," I say, taking a bite of my own slice. "And I love pizza as much as you guys so win-win!"
Snake chuckles a bit. Also not good. He slinks down in his seat, then flashes me a charming smile while patting the chair beside him.
"Sssit down."
"Eheh, well if everyone else is sitting…" I get down into the chair, even more flustered. Shit, we're close. I can really get a good look at his features from here. But before I can get into that, Ace plops down in the chair on the other side of me.
"Hey, Light!" He smiles with his arms wide.
"Ey yo Ace!" I give him a high-five, then another down low, then our hands interlock as if we're about to arm wrestle. It's kind of our secret handshake.
"What's up, man?" Ace asks, casually leaning back in his chair.
"Oh not a lot," I say, crossing my ankles. "Just hangin' around."
"Man nothin' ain't eva' up with you," Ace complains. "But boy, have we been havin' a hell of a time lately!"
He then gets into some long, drawn-out story about fighting the Puffs or whatever, but I space out for a second to glance at Snake out of the corner of my eye. Good, he's not looking. I turn my head a bit and dare to look at him a little more. He's staring straight ahead of him, giving me a good view of his profile. He's done with his pizza and now absentmindedly twirling a lock of his raven hair with a slender finger. His forked tongue pokes out from time to time, almost going past that long, pointy nose. His cheeks have a slight rosy tint, which stands out against the rest of his green complexion. His dark lips are parted just a bit. And oh man, his eyes. Those slanted, crimson eyes, wide and twinkling with ever-present curiosity and framed by long, dark eyelashes. A lot of people think he's funny-looking, but I find him rather alluring. Plus he's got that personality—so slick, so confident, and yet so adorable. He's a bad boy with a cutesy side. Hell, it's no wonder I fell for the guy. Every time I'm around him he pulls me into a trance without even trying and—
Snap snap!
"Earth to Light, are ya listenin'?" Ace snaps me out of my daze, quite literally.
"Huh?" I pull myself away from Snake to face the rest of the gang.
"I'll take dat as a no." Ace facepalms.
"Pay attention, you dummy," Grubber spits out.
"I'm not a dummy," I huff at him, crossing my arms. I know exactly what that raspberry meant.
"In her defenssse, I wasss a little ssspaccced out myssself," Snake admits.
"Oh really?" Ace raises an eyebrow.
"What about?" Arturo asks.
"I'sss dunno. Life ssstuff I guessss."
"Same," I casually remark, hoping to mask the real reason for my daze.
"Yeah right," Ace snickers. The rest of the gang, save for Snake, joins in. I glare at them. There's no way they know about my crush—right?!
"The hell are you guys on about?"
Billy giggles mischievously. Wait, Billy? Mischievous? Something's wrong.
"Heehee… you're in lo—"
"Quiet, you." Arturo cuts him off with a swift jab to his side. My stomach does about ten backflips. They do know. Shit. I'm in trouble now.
"Whatever." I roll my eyes and grab another slice of pizza, but I don't know if I'll actually be able to eat it.
"You guysss are ssso weird." Snake reaches down and grabs a soda from who-knows-where.
"Right?" I smile. "And I thought I was weird. Oh, could you get me one of them?"
"Sure." Snake's hair falls over his shoulders as he stretches down to get another soda. Oh man, that hair. His hair alone is enough to make me lose it. So long and sleek, and it swooshes so nicely—ahem. I need to stop that train of thought before Ace snaps his fingers in my face again.
"Here yousss go." Snake sets the soda down in front of me. He smiles—it's just a little smile, but it's enough to make my heart skip a few beats.
"T-thanks…" I smile back, lifting the can with a shaky hand. God, when did it get this bad? No wonder the rest of the guys knew. Then again, I shouldn't have been surprised; I've always made things so goddamn obvious. I just hope Snake himself doesn't see right through me.
"Well now what're we gonna do?" Arturo asks. Grubber spits out a response.
"No, Grubber, we'sss not playing poker," Snake counters.
"Actually," Ace begins, "before we's get started on anythin', I'm gonna talk ta Light for a sec."
I gulp down my sip of soda in mild surprise. "Okay?"
"Ooohhh, you're in trouble~" Arturo taunts.
"Shut up, shrimpy," I taunt back with a wink. He growls as Ace and I walk out the door.
Ace leads me about 20 or 30 feet away to a piece of concrete barrier that probably served a purpose at one point but was nothing more than a makeshift bench for the gang now. We sit down, him first and then me. He pulls out a cigarette from his pocket and lights it. I never bothered trying to talk him out of smoking. In fact, he would probably only smoke more just to spite me. He looks straight ahead of him, puffing out his smoke, then he turns to look at me with a small smirk, green eyes just barely peeking out from behind his sunglasses.
"I know yous got the hots for Snake," he says.
I immediately start coughing. I'm not even sure if I choked on air or if I'm just faking it out of nervousness. Fuck, I should've known that's what this was about.
"Wha—I, haha, you're nuts." I casually take a sip of my soda, trying to mask my embarrassment.
"Light." Ace's tone is more serious than I've ever heard it before. He might not always be the sharpest tool in the shed, but by the very unimpressed look on his face, I can tell there's no bullshitting my way out of this one.
"Alright. You got me. I'm in love with Snake. There, I said it." I turn away from him and exhale sharply. "Fuck."
"Well now that that's been settled, I'm startin' ta get a little tired of waitin' for ya ta make a freakin' move already."
Wait, what?
"I'm sittin' the'e and you two are oglin' each otha' and there's all kinds'a tension but neitha' o' ya are doin' anything and I can't stand it anymore!
Hold up, is he suggesting that Snake could possibly like me back? No way.
"And he ain't gonna do nuttin' cuz he's too shy, so if you don't hurry up an' make a move I'm gonna do it for ya!"
Snake? Shy? How cute.
"Ya unde'stand, Light?" Ace's piercing eyes bore into my soul with a commanding look while cigarette smoke blows out of his nostrils. If I wasn't close friends with the guy, I'd be scared shitless.
"Y-yeah yeah, I understand completely. But jeez Ace, you're talking about the actual love of my life here. You know I have poor social skills, I have to muster up all my courage just to ask a stranger for directions! You think it's gonna be easy for me to confess my undying love to someone as amazing as Snake?!"
"Hey." Ace claps a hand on my shoulder, shaking me a bit. "I neva' sez it was gonna be easy. But anythin's easia' than sufferin', right?"
I chuckle. "I dunno man, I've been suffering in other areas for years already…"
"Well we's been sufferin' every goddamn day of our lives." He takes another drag at this statement. "But if there's anythin' we can do to take our minds off'a it, even for a bit, we's gonna do it. An' fo' what it's worth, we likes havin' ya around, so we wouldn't gets tired o' ya too soon if ya dated one o' us. Besides, Snake needs hisself a goilfriend."
He stands up, taking one last smoke before dropping the cigarette and stomping it out with his foot.
"Damn, who knew you of all people could be so inspirational?" I shoot him a smirk as I hoist my own ass off the slab. He makes a face as he lets everything he just said to me sink in.
"I sure as hell didn't."
There's a moment of silence, and then we both crack up laughing.
"Ace, ya goof…" I chuckle, holding my stomach a bit.
"Hey, I'm serious when I sez yous gotta go after Snake, got it?" He's still laughing too.
"Yeah yeah, I get'cha." I'm a little less nervous about the whole ordeal now, knowing that Ace pretty much spat all his advice out without really thinking. We head back to the shack, and enter to see pieces of the pizza box ripped and scattered all over the shack, with Snake and Grubber arm wrestling. Grubber has a look of concentration, while Snake's face just looks pained.
"Ow! Ssstop sssqueezing my hand ssso hard!"
Grubber scowls and spits out something—did he just call Snake a wimp?
"C'mon Snake, you can do it!" Arturo cheers.
"Yeah, go Snake!" I join in. Meanwhile Billy throws some the torn pieces of the box up in the air like confetti.
"I leave the shack for five minutes and dis is what I come back to?" Ace flicks a falling piece of the box away from his face in annoyance. I watch as Snake struggles to overpower Grubber. They both have rather flimsy-looking arms, but Grubber admittedly has more visible muscle. His bicep bulges as Snake's arm shakes—jeez, I hope it doesn't snap in half. Suddenly, Grubber gains more strength and slams Snake's arm on the table.
"Wooooooo!" Billy cheers, stomping his feet and shaking the whole damn place.
"Way to go, Grubber," Arturo says, clapping slowly.
"Aww, good try Snake." I sit back down beside him as he shakes his hand.
"That wasss a bad idea. My wrissst isss gonna hurt for daysss now."
"Oh I'm sure you'll be alright soon," I assure him.
"Hey Snake?" Ace plops down in a chair next to me.
"Yesss?" Snake says, blinking those big red eyes. Ace slaps my back.
"Light here has somethin' ta ask ya."
"What?!" Goddammit Ace, why are you throwing me into this so soon?!
"I literally just told ya!"
"I didn't think you wanted me to do it right now!"
"What did you sssay to her?" Snake sternly asks, crossing his arms.
"Fine then, don't do it," Ace scoffs, turning his back to me and ignoring Snake's question. Snake raises one of his thick eyebrows.
"I am ssso confusssed…"
"Oh it's nothing," I lie. "He's just being an asshole." Well, that part isn't exactly a lie.
"Typical." Snake giggles a little and rolls his eyes.
I hang out at the shack for about another hour or so, then I decide it's getting a little late. I grab one last soda for the road and make my way out the door.
"Seeya guys!" I say while smiling and waving my hand.
"Yer really gonna up and leave just like that?" Ace asks. He's glaring at me with an irritated expression. I feel my eyebrows curve upward.
"Ace…"
"C'mon now." He crosses his arms and taps his foot.
"Accce, quit ssscaring her," Snake scold, hands on his hips. "Look at her, she'sss shaking."
I am? Fuck, that's not good. I gotta get out of here. So I make a run for it.
When I'm outside of the dump, I stop to catch my breath. Way to go, me. I just made a goddamn fool out of myself. Snake was nice enough to stand up for me, and I didn't even say thanks? What an idiot I am. Ace was right. I should've just worked up the courage to ask him out right then and there when I had the chance.