The Five Rings of Mars
Summary: There was a ring for each finger.
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/Her first ring/
He spelled trouble, and she read him with her tongue.
Duncan introduced them.
Their eyes locked upon meeting.
Carefully, Duncan introduced them. "Veronica Mars, meet Logan Echolls."
Silence followed; both sized the other up until finally Logan got tired of the standoff and broke the silence.
"Hey."
He ignored the triumphant look in her eyes.
"Hey."
Duncan slung his arm around her and spoke comfortingly to her, obliviously misreading the situation. "Don't worry, Veronica. He may look scary, but you shouldn't be afraid of him."
Even blind, Logan could tell that Veronica wasn't afraid. He knew it, and she knew it, but she didn't bother telling Duncan that and Logan didn't care enough clue him in. He was busy thinking about all the ways to teach her that she should have been.
"So you're the girlfriend Duncan begged me to pick out a promise ring for."
She didn't break eye contact. "Yep. I'm the girlfriend."
He stepped close to her; she didn't step back. Mildly impressed, he spoke just loud enough for her to hear. "But for how long?"
Her face turned stony, not knowing that it wasn't an insult but rather a challenge.
Three weeks later, he had his tongue down her throat in the Kanes' bathroom as Lilly and Duncan needlessly supervised the inflation of the pool toys.
More weeks passed and nothing changed. Veronica remained the better half of duncanandveronica. And Logan remained part of Logan and his flavor of the week.
However, even surprising to himself, Veronica became the flavor he'd seek out time and time again. He claimed it was out of convenience, but she never asked him anyway.
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/Her second ring/
"Does it hurt?"
"Does it matter?"
"It might."
"Would you stop?"
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/Her third ring/
She was never faithful, but she always came back.
Tangled up his sheets, she was in a cocoon of safety and warmth and Logan.
She confessed, "Duncan asked me to marry him today."
"Did he?" he drawled, more interested in her lips than the words that spilled from them.
She absentmindedly toyed with his hair, once again locking eyes with him as she often did. "Aren't you worried?"
"You're in my bed."
"I didn't say no."
"Get out."
He watched her square her shoulders, knowing that was something she did when she was hurt but refused to show it. He remained impassive. She would be back. She always came back. No matter how badly she treated him or he treated her, she'd always come back. By his third glass of whiskey, he almost felt better about himself.
She went to his house after her engagement party, and he fucked her until she knew exactly why she was apologizing. Why he was apologizing.
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/Her fourth ring/
He was never honest, and that was okay.
Her hand felt strangely weighted as she ran her nails down his back. She might as well stop pretending now.
"I can't love you."
"That's okay."
Just don't love anyone else either.
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/Her fifth ring/
In the end, there was only suffering.
"Tell me it's not his."
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A/N: Just putting thoughts to paper/word documents. Was it confusing? It was meant to be. I got confused just writing it. But… at least I knew what was generally going on ^^. Muahaha. It's Duncan's fault anyway.
Her rings in sequential order: 1. Promise ring. 2. Deflowering. 3. Engagement ring. 4. Wedding ring. 5. Suffering.
Edit: It's odd. I wrote this a while ago and never posted it.