She wouldn't look at him.

Mercury watched as she twiddled her fingers, heels swinging above the floor as she kicked them and bit the inside of her cheek, her heterochromatic eyes never once glancing his way. He almost chalked it up to shame and guilt, but experience and time had taught him that Neo wasn't even capable of feeling such emotions. As if someone had forgotten completely to equip her with them when she was made.

In his hand he held a black shirt - hers. It was tiny; there was so little fabric he almost didn't even consider it a shirt when he first plucked it from her closet. (He also may have been a little offended that he had never seen her wear the garment because he was sure she filled it out nicely.) Bringing it closer to eye level he let his thumb run over the fabric, running over ridges and bumps. With a low hum he pulled at the fabric and brought it away to allow the light to hit it easier and once he had his suspicions were confirmed.

Grey eyes flicked upwards, expecting to meet brown and pink ones, only to see that their attention was still diverted elsewhere. The small girl was now plucking at lint on her shirt, a heavyset frown on her lips, brow furrowed in concentration.

She was trying so hard.

The shirt was tossed onto an evergrowing pile of of clothes in the middle of the floor - similar in nature. Mercury turned back to the closet - still not even half emptied. Thick fingers pulled through grey hair as he heaved a great sigh, already exhausted with his task.

"Neo."

She still didn't look up. "Finished finally?"

He scowled and stepped closer until he was towering over her, his shadow encompassing her form, swallowing it completely. Noticing this, Neo paused in whatever mundane task she was performing as a distraction and dropped her gaze to her lap. Once again Mercury considered guilt, but with a couple seconds of observing he noticed she was pouting.

With a roll of his eyes he stooped down low in an attempt to level with her and maybe get some sort of response. No such luck.

"Neo...you have a problem."

Finally her eyes rose to meet his, backed with fire and coupled with a scowl of her own. She straightened up to make herself feel taller, an intimidation tactic that never worked on him and they both knew it. But it was habit and he wasn't easily intimidated either way, so Mercury watched as his girlfriend squared her shoulders back and tilted her chin skywards, eyes narrowed and chest puffed in preparation for an argument.

How cute.

"That's an outrageous accusation." Mercury chuckled at her formal speak, knowing it to be another fallback of hers to make herself seem like the superior person in the argument. "Besides, where do you come off on telling people whether they have a problem or not? Last I checked you aren't absent of any imperfections yourself."

The only response he could give her was a deadpan stare, not because she had bested him, not even close. But she was just being so ridiculous right now that she barely made any sense.

"Neo...it's too much lace."

His fast reflexes saved him when she suddenly jumped up from the bed, fists clenched and teeth grit. He felt the ghost of a bruise on his chin that nearly was and he absentmindedly rubbed it.

Neo stamped her foot in anger. "What's wrong with lace?"

It wasn't often she got so riled up like this - so quick to shout and so prone to aggressiveness. Normally she kept a level-head, cool and collected and teasing. It only proved further that Neo had some obsessive attachment to lace and frankly it was such a dumb thing to get worked up over. Merc closed his eyes and kneaded the inside corners in exasperation, ignoring the heated look he was receiving and the heavy breathing from his girlfriend.

"Nothing - in normal amounts. But you have so much that it's practically unhealthy."

She crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side with a roll of her eyes. Her underlying anger remained, but he knew she was switching strategies to throw him off. Another difficult - nearly impossible - task.

"Oh, so owning lace is going to kill me now?"

He smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "You could drown in all of it. You're tiny enough after all."

His fast reflexes saved him once again when an object came flying at his head, scaringly accurate considering it was thrown by an angry girl. He dared a glance back to see what it was - her parasol weapon, also made of lace. When he turned back around he quirked an eyebrow, almost challenging her to defy him again.

"It's just...so much, Neo. Why do you even need all of that lace? You don't even use it all!"

"There's nothing wrong with owning lace, Mercury! It's fabric!"

"Which makes it even stranger how defensive you're being right now."

"You're the one attacking me over something stupid! Does me owning lace really bother you so much?"

Mercury paused and took a moment to collect himself once he realized they were now shouting at each other over something so...so...menial. It was crazy. It was stupid. It was goddamn ridiculous and absurd. This shouldn't even be a legitimate problem to be having.

Across from him Neo still stood expectantly, awaiting an answer to her question with pursed lips and crossed arms. He could see smugness creeping in on her face - she was under some pretension that she had won.

Mercury scoffed and turned his back on her, striding over to her closet quickly and hastily began pulling out more clothes - all accented with lace. He threw them in the general direction of the pile without glancing back to check if they actually even made it. The assassin tuned out Neo's shouts of indignation and astonishment as he bulldozed through her clothes, clearing the racks in his mad rush.

He only stopped when he felt a grip wrap around his waist and tug him backwards. He didn't budge really, but that was to be expected when your girlfriend was about half your size. After a few seconds of watching her struggle to pull him back, he reached around and plucked her from his waist. Then he turned around to face her, his hand holding her at arm's length.

The pout was back and Mercury almost brushed it off as another tactic of diversion when he saw the genuine hurt on her face. He pretended not to see her bottom lip wobble and averted his eyes from her shimmering ones. When her nose scrunched up, a potential sign of crying, he dropped his gaze to his feet completely.

Goddammit.

"I don't...see what the big deal is," she spoke quietly. She was looking at him; he could feel her eyes boring into the top of his head. "I like lace. So fucking what? It's cute. I feel cute." Her voice gained a bit of edge as she went on so Merc wasn't really surprised when she ripped her arm from his grip. He let her and straightened up slightly in order to properly look at her again. Tears had not spilled, but he was still in dangerous territory. Best to tread lightly.

"But don't you think it's way too much? It's not healthy to have so much of something."

Neo scoffed and rolled her eyes. A panic set in when Mercury saw water pool at the waterline - so goddamn close. He licked his lips and ran his hand through his hair again, thinking of something - anything - to say to divert this entire situation. But he was stubborn and he refused to give in so easily either.

"Does it honestly bother you?" The return of that question. One he wasn't sure of the answer to (or rather, wasn't sure he wanted to share at the moment). "Because if it really does, I can just...get rid of some of it." She bit her lip and rubbed her arm. "Or all of it if that's what makes you happy."

Mercury stood silently. Would it? Was that his goal? He had only started this to pester her but now that it had escalated this far….

Neo sniffled - oh god why - and turned around, walking over to her bedside dresser. She pulled open one of the drawers and rummaged around for a few seconds before pulling out a wad of black fabric. The lace was evident immediately - it was all it consisted of.

She looked at him, making sure she held his gaze before she went on. Both her eyes were pink.

"Starting with these."

She held them up higher in a better view and it only took Mercury a couple seconds to come to a realization. He frowned.

"Now that's a bit drastic."

A smirk replaced her pout in an instant and the kicked puppy look vanished from her face entirely and too little, too late, Mercury realized he had been duped.

The little vixen.

"Not so hateful of lace now, are ya?"

This was dumb.

He took a step closer, slowly, cautiously as her smirk grew. She was completely aware of her position over him. He only felt like an idiot for falling for it so easily.

This was stupid.

He was close enough that she had to crane her neck to maintain eye contact. Her breath brushed his chest and he was acutely aware of the warmth she was radiating. He spared another glance towards the lacy garment still clutched in her hand before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

This was ridiculous.

"Are you wearing something like that right now?"

When he opened his eyes he was met with a grin more mischievous than Satan himself. Neo gestured for him to come closer, which he did, his back complaining from the way he was now bent over. Her lips brushed the shell of his ear as she stood on her tiptoes to reach it. He barely felt her tuck the lace underwear into his front pants pocket.

"I'm not wearing anything right now."

Mercury was almost embarrassed of the large shudder that overtook him at that statement. Letting go of inhibition, he looped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, humming lowly - it was almost a growl in fact - when their hips collided.

"Those you can keep."

She pulled away slightly, her pink eyes glinting dangerously in the low light of the room. "Ah ah ah! All or nothing."

Mercury glared at her, hating how she could play this game to get what she wanted and hating that she did it so well. He was a man that stood his ground and never backed down from his original opinion, but damn if this girl wasn't the key to unraveling him and turning him into malleable putty.

Her fingers ghosted across his limbs and abdomen, the tips pulling imaginary strings. He was her puppet, as much as he fought it and denied it, they both knew that when Neo turned up her game, he was a goner.

Mercury squeezed his eyes shut before wrapping his other arm around her, pulling her against him again, trapping her heat within his. "Fine," he relented.

And with that he felt her give in. She became softer and Mercury knew that this time, he had lost.

However, when he was settled between her legs with the bed sheets spread beneath them (lined with lace he noticed somewhat subconsciously), he realized that he just didn't give two fucks. He ignored Neo's giggles of victory as they started their foreplay, and instead focused when they turned into moans of submission. It was a small consolation prize, but one he would accept nonetheless.

True to her word, Neo was not wearing any lace.

A/N: I honestly have no explanation. This just happened. One minute I'm showing a friend a vine I made and the next thing ya know we're talking about how Neo has a lace addiction.

I don't even know man just take it.