Feferi walks up on the stage of a lowly lit night club as the pianist beings to play softly. She reaches the microphone, her fuchsia dress sparkling under the soft speakeasy lights, as she begins to sing a soft, somber, and jazzy tune; performing with so much emotion that it could make anyone cry. In the shadowy background, there sits a strapping figure, obscured by an opaque wall of cigar smoke. Feferi finishes her song to the cheers and claps of the small crowd. She smiles and bows, teeth gleaming harrowingly in the warm night air.
"Thank you, everyone! This means so much to me!" she exclaimed, vehemently. "I'm going to take a quick break, but I'll be back in a few minutes! The band will continue to play!"
A pair of looming eyes watches her from where he sits, coolly ambiguous, and contented to reside in the background.
She bows again, before walking off the stage, then to a table, in the back of the bar. As she makes her prideful exit, the man puts out his cigar, quickly trailing after her. Sitting at the table, as a waiter comes to her with a glass of water, she sighs, smiling up at the generous, and well-deserved respite.
"Hey, toots." A rough, hardened voice calls out to her, before she can slip into the background. Her skin prickles into goosebumps as the resonant voice slowly approaches from behind.
"That was quite the show you put on up there…"
She stops, clasping a hand over her heart anxiously, before looking around; a little bit shocked at the way she was being addressed. Then, seeing the man walk up to her, lets loose a breathy smile.
"Whale… Thank you!" She gasps, with a showy flair "I'm not even done with my set!"
"Well, I'd love to see the rest of it!"
"Once my break is over you can!"
He takes a seat next to you, and orders a scotch. "… some other time, perhaps."
"W-What do you mean?" She stammers, scooting away from him nervously, while still taking care to smile politely. You never know who you might be hanging around these parts.
"See, there's some none-too-friendly characters here, tonight..." he admitted, vehemence dripping from his voice, "and I just don't want you to get hurt, know what I mean?"
Then, leaning in close, as if to divulge some matter of classified importance, he continued, his voice naught more than an ominous roil. "That would be a shame, wouldn't it?"
The warning nipped at her ears, harrowingly. Is he... threatening her? Either way, she didn't feel keen to stick around and find out. She needed to find a way out of here; and fast. "I-It would... Th-thank you for caring."
He grins, mischievously, apparently set at ease with that; leaning back to sip at his scotch, absentmindedly. She sips her water and smiles anxiously, keeping it in her hands, as a cold, awkward silence spreads over the both of them. Again, he slides over and leans close to her ear, as if to whisper something.
"Now, here's what's going to happen. You're going to slap me, and storm off like I said something real nasty." he almost demanded by his tone, like you didn't have a choice; as if he held the very lives of everyone in the tavern in his strong, calloused hands. "Then go home… Tell your boss that some jerk tried to grope you at the bar, and you didn't feel safe any more. I'll meet you there. Got it?" This man... he was so confident! It made her sick; it made her utterly disgusted to the pit of her stomach. She couldn't do this. She had to leave. She had to make this all stop!
She looks to him and blushes a bit, before moving away and turning; shaking her head. Tears pricked at her eyes, as she belts aloud. "Oh, John! I cant do this! This whole, 'pretending not to know each other' thing, is reely freaking me out!" She blushes brightly and covers her face; as his eyes widen in horror at what she can only assume is horrible, unmitigated embarrassment. She's ruined it! She's ruined it all! Oh god, what has she done?!
"I'm sorry!"
He shouts loudly, in response, as sweat beads up on his forehead. "Come on! Whazzamatter, toots?!" He's clearly trying to keep up the illusion. His eyes dart back to a corner of the room, scanning for the discerning crowd's reactions, she's sure. She can't believe he's still trying to keep it going after she clearly stated the game was over. He can make her so angry some times!
She jumps up, and moves away from him before pointing to his drink and pouting.
"John, You promised you wouldnt drink! You're scary when you do!" She pokes out her lip, and folds her hips in that cute little way that always turns him on like nobody's business. He'll know better than to try to fight when she says no! Time to turn on the smolder.
"I actually thought you would... Do somefin bad to me." She jacks up the sultriness in her voice a couple hundred notches. John is dead for sure, she remarks, a bunch of men in the back standing up, curiously watching what's going on.
"No– shhh! Dammit, they're watching!" He whispers, urgently, eyes glancing back at that same corner. "Don't let them know I know you, or it's gonna get real ugly, real fast!" What is so important about that corner anyway? Also, How did that not work?! Its always worked before! Has he just been pretending, all along? Is he ... She can't bear to think it. The very thought is too much for her heart to take.
He couldn't be... losing interest in her, could he?Whatever. It's time to give up. She doesn't have time for this bullshit. She's got a job to do. We'll just have to talk about this later. Feferi looks around one more time, before standing up, and walking to the stage again.
"Bye, John. I have to go finish my set." She sighs, "This isn't a playground, after all." She turns away, and starts up the steps. Maybe a little bit of performing will clear her head...
"No, no, no, no, no!" He almost squeals in horror at that, grabbing you by the arm, and taking off for the back door.
She blushes brightly, walking briskly behind, to the back door with him; even though she tries faintly to pull away. She can't help but feel a little bit proud that she has set him off this much! That ought to show him...!
Looking over his shoulder, he just vaguely catches sight of the men in the back leaping into action, promptly spouting guns and hopping over their tables.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he curses, "This is bad!"
At that, Feferi looks back as well. Then, seeing the guns; looks toward him, fear ripping through her lithe figure. She almost screams. "John! Just let me go!"
He barrels out of the back door, quickly, with her in tow. "Hell no!" he chides, allowing no room for argument. "They're here for you!"
The door bursts open, behind them, and out tumbles a motley crew of none-too-happy blockheads. He jumps into the car, and hops into the driver's seat. Feferi climbs into the car, ducking down quickly; as she begins to hear gun fire. Just one quick turn of the key, and they're off; tires screeching with the anxious wrath of a hundred stampeding koala bears, in frantic Exodus of a forest fire.
John blinks out of his fury-borne fantasy, as he turns the key for what feels like the twentieth time. Of course that doesn't happen. Of course this fucking Bug is just shitty enough to start jacking up as soon as we need it to work the most. He almost feels betrayed. A full-on thirty seconds have passed, and nothing but angry wheezes and mechanical gasps can be heard as he struggles in vain to start it. "Come on, come on…"
In his rage, he aggresses his vehicle, kicking the dashboard. "Noooo! Start, you fucking piece of shit!" Apparently, his car is something of a masochist, they learn; as it finally hums to life. "Thank god!"
"Go! Go! GO!" Feferi screeches, her voice almost as harmonious as the sound of rubber against asphalt, as the tires sing out in tandem. They take off, in a cloud of smoke and acrid black fumes. Feferi looks up to him, fear leeching her strength as she doubles over, and starts crying. The thugs scramble into their own vehicles. "Oh, no…"
"JOhN! We are being chased by thugs!" she angrily retaliates, "WITH GUNS!"
"Shhhhh, it's going to be ok!" He assured her, although the view in the mirror assured it would very much not be ok.
"John! Don't lie to me!"
"As long as I'm here, no one can hurt you, babe!" he promised, just as a flurry of ricochets and pinging sounds ring out in a clamor from behind, as they open fire at the back of his car. "Shit!"
"Get down!" he orders, attempting to swerve his car out of range of their bullets.
"Already am!" she concedes, attempting to swerve her gag reflex out of the clutches of her upcoming nausea.
He cuts in front of some tractor trailer, as its horns blare, angrily. She looks up to him... or at least the blubbery mess that had taken her place, did... the charlatan barely being able eke out her response. "John... Maybe, I should just…"
Go with them."
"Fef, don't talk like that!" he pleads, making absolutely certain that he is, under no circumstances, allowing anything to come between them; especially not a humvee full of suit-clad ingrates. "I'm not sure what they have planned for you, but it's not going to be fucking fun!" Someone shoots out his back window.
"But you can get killed!" she pleads into her kneecaps. "God! If you had actually told me why you wanted to do this weird 'not knowing each other' thing, I would have went along with it more! I thought you were just trying to be sexy!" He pulls a pistol out from under his seat,
"Take the wheel!"
"WhAT?!" She slowly climbs up, and with timorous, terror-laden fingers, takes the wheel between her quivering hands. He rolls down the window, and leans out, closing one eye, and aiming for the tires. He fires once, twice, and a loud screech is heard, as the truck careens off the road.
She continues steering skillfully, swerving around other cars.
In the distance, he can just barely catch the sight as the truck flips onto its side, and a number of burly assholes are crushed under its mighty girth. There is so much blood. It gets everywhere.
Feferi, hearing the screams and the crash, clenches onto the wheel, as a new wave of determination and focus stab her through the heart. Sweat bubbles forth on her forehead.
The other Jeep and Sentry continue, unscathed. He fires again, hitting the driver in the shoulder. It's not a mortal wound, but they've got to stop if they expect him to keep driv– and the guy next to him just tossed him out of the door, taking over.
"Dammit!" These guys are no joke, he realized, as he briefly turns back to the cabin. "Hold it still, Fef!"
"S-Sorry!" She tries to keep the car steady despite all the tears and shudders.
"Damn; These guys are tough!"
The sentry pulls up on the other side, as he is still focused on the jeep.
"Um, John?" She beckons to him, a pleading in her voice.
A grunt shoves a shotgun into the window as he fires into the gas tank of the jeep.
"JOhN!"
A ginormous explosion sends him reeling back into the seat, causing him to accidentally step on the brakes. This, in turn, allows the guy to just barely miss blowing his head off.
"JOHN! Oh COD, AR-E YOU OKAY?!" She whimpers, desperately. "John! We have to stop! They will krill you! I'll go with them!"
Settling into the seat most briefly, he has no time to celebrate, eyes widening as he sees the upcoming dead end. "Right! Right! Turn fucking right!" The tires screech as she makes the turn.
"We're gonna die…" she groans, burying her face into her hands.
"Hell no!" is his answer, as he takes the wheel, "I'm not going to let them hurt you!"
"BUT WHAT ABOAT YOU?!"
The sentry, being a lighter build, has no problem making that turn. Feferi, looking out the back window, sees the sentry round the corner.
"John! They're still following us!"
"Gyaaah…" he halfway grunts, halfway sighs, "I'm working on it!"
The sentry starts ramming into the side of their car. The car skirts dangerously close to careening out of control, hubcaps grinding angrily against the sidewalk. Feferi screams. Everything goes haywire. He lifts his gu-Nope, it just went out the window. Never mind.
"Jesus…" he calls out, admonishing the loss of his firearm. "What do I do?! What do I fucking do?!" Up ahead, like an answer to a short, unintentional prayer uttered in a moment of weakness, he spots it;
the railroad crossing.
"We're gonna die… We're gonna die… WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
A shallow smile stretches over his exsanguinated cheeks, as he calls out with the first hint of confidence of the entire night. "No we're not! I just have to beat the train!"
She sees the railroad crossing, with disbelief, then looks at him; then back at the train, roaring down the tracks at a little over 200 feet and closing; then back at John, with all the determination in the world stamped on his brow. Oh my cod. He's actually going to-
"BEAT THE TRAIN?!"
They're 150 feet away.
The guardrails have already descended. The lights are blaring out red, screaming out their deadly warning.
"It's gonna be close!" he urges, knuckles whitening as he puts the pedal to the metal. Feferi looks back at the sentry, then at the train, then to him, before clenching her fist and closing her eyes; the corners thereof spewing forth hot tears of frustration, as she tries desperately to shut out the horrible nightmare that her world has transformed into within the past hour.
Grinning madly, he grips the wheel, as he guns the engine.
The train is at the 50-foot mark.
They've just hit 30.
She curls up in the seat, her hands covering her face.
A shot rings out in the clamor.
"Hurk!" he coughs as the bullet finds its mark.
He clutches his side.
"JOHN!"
She looks at the hand on his waist then to his face, as the fabric quickly gains a bloodied hue.
"You're hit!"
"It seems the sentry men remembered their guns…" he huffs, through gritted teeth, as they barely scrape by the train. The sentry gets clipped in the rear passenger's side, careening off of the intersection to land in the grassy knoll of a street corner.
He rolls to a stop at an old motel outside of town, desperately grasping his side; to stop the blood.
Tears stream down Feferi's face as she looks in the back of the car, then grabbing an old towel in the back, and pressing it against his wound. This can't be happening!
"No John, no…" she begs. He can't die! He just... can't! "This is all my fault..."
"Shhh… Fef…" Swallowing hard, he consoles her with a bloodied hand to the side of her face. "It's going to be all right!"
"No it's not! It's not! You're hurt!"
Shakily, he continues. "It's just… A flesh wound…"
"NO, IT'S NOT!" she practically howls at him, at the end of her wits with his bullshit.
"Stop lying to make me feel better!"
"Please…" she sighs in exhaustion, allowing a bit of demure stature back into her voice. "Just tell me the truth... for once..."
"F–" he tries to reason with her, but now can barely summon the strength to protest at this point.
"Fine…" he continues, his own exhaustion clear in his voice.
"The truth is..." he presses on, taking care to take as long as possible; either out of severe fatigue, or by getting some sick sense of pleasure from keeping all of us waiting.
"I love you, Feferi…" the air stirring in the silence following his horrible admission, that stretches on for quite a few seconds too long.
"I…" she can't help but smile after all this. After all they've been through, this is the great secret that he wants to share with his dying breath?! What a fucking goofball. "... I love you too, John." She starts crying all the harder, grinning adoringly through her sobs as she presses the towel against his wound. She kisses his forehead and pets his hair.
"Come on," he grunts and winces, as he tries to sit up. "…H- help me to the room!"
She gets out, and runs around to the drivers side. Together, they hobble over to the motel room. Once inside, he waddles over to the bathroom.
"I'll be out in a minute…"
He takes off his shirt, and cleans the wound. Then, after binds it with the first aid kit he found under the sink, he finally returns, to the see Feferi's prostrate form. She lays back on the bed, feeling both emotionally and physically exhausted. He sinks into the other bed, clearly just as distraught.
He sighs, peeling off his sweat-and-blood-laden suit pants. "We've got to lay low for a while…"
She looks over to him and smiles slightly. "Betta?"
"Yeah." He grins over at her. "I feel fucking peachy…"
"I'm asking if you feel great." she continues, trilling through half-lidded eyes, filled with desire. "I'm asking if you're stable enough to move!"
"I guess." he shrugs, completely oblivious, as usual. "I need some candy… Do you have any fruit gushers?"
"Sorry… Didn't have tide to pick some up!"
"Hehehehe of course not…"
She giggles a bit and lays back down on her side to drink in the sight of him, in all of his wounded heroic glory. Her eyes scan over his supine form, finally coming to a rest at the bloodied gauze wrapped around his flank. She's not smiling.
"This is all my fault."
He sighs, and takes off his glasses, shaking his head. "It's not...
"I made the choice to come out here… If I hadn't, you'd have been dead already; or worse." His eyes lower to the ground, sorrowful at the very idea it is made to harbor.
He then looks up at her again, smiling brightly at the sight of Feferi in all her living color.
"I think it's a pretty fair trade, if you ask me?" a short chuckle escapes his lips, and he allows his head to rest shallowly against the mattress beneath him, before he continues...
"A big codger like me gets hurt so a sweet little thing like you walks away, unscathed."
She tears up and smiles, before standing up in front of him, to the confused grunt of her suitor.
"Maybe ...I can kelp you not think of the pain so much," she clarifies, with a wink. "Just as a thank you."
"Wh-what are you on about, Fef?" he asks, completely non-plussed.
"I want to do somefin for you! I feel so useless!" She sighs in frustration. How can he really be this thick?
"So… Anyfin you tail me to do, I'll do it! I don't want to be your burden anymore."
"Oh! I see," he thinks back, as the pieces finally click into place. "Anything, huh? What about you finish that there dance routine, for me?"
"Oh, yes baby~
"Should I be in the same outfit that i was before?"
"…You mean, naked?" he jeers, teasingly.
"Ohh… uh," blushing suddenly, "Sure?" She continues, nodding and smiling as she turns on the radio and starts strutting seductively. John can't get his glasses on fast enough! She spins around, showing off her plentiful undercarriage, and bending forward, slowly, peeking over at him all the while, as her fingers slowly pry against the buttons on her clasp. Another spin finds her facing him as the fabric of her shirt mysteriously descends over her shoulders. She crawls onto the mattress, over him, slowly, as if a stalking panther would over its dauntless prey.
John, cowering underneath her, swallows hard, and watches in awe.
She tosses the shirt off to the side, spinning again to straddle his hips, shallowly. She then climbs to her feet, and with a flick of her waist, the skirt drops onto his lap and comforter below. Now in only a pair of panties and a bra, she skips over to the other bed, dropping down low to show off her long, shapely legs. She crouches down low as she turns to dangle a leg off over the edge, hugging the other calf delicately, like a cherished stuffed animal. She is simply too adorable.
John's face is a frozen visage of outstretched amazement.
"You pike this?" she coos, in no uncertain terms.
"Yes! You're fucking incredible!"
"Good," she continues, smirking sultrily. "Tail me if you want anyfin more."
"I'm not sure what could be better!"
She smiles, strolling closer to him, and starts to trail a fingertip curiously over his lower abdomen, and pelvic region. "I think you know, hehehe!~"
"No, Fef…" His face is a twisted mess of confusion and confliction, even as he says it. He knows that's no way to heal, but GODDAMN IT ALL, he wishes the way were easier. "W-we... can't...!"
"I'm kidding!" she giggles, jokingly "Goodness, I hadn't realized how thirsty you were!~"
"Oh Jesus!" he chuckles, "You got me…"
She sighs and walks back up to her clothes, getting dressed again before climbing back into her bed.
"Yeah… I did..."
"You're the best…" There he goes with that goofy ass grin. She wants to punch it off of his face.
"I love you too," She climbs under the covers and lays in bed quietly.
"I love you more!"
He then removes glasses and climbs under his own covers, before turning off the light
"Good night, Fef…"
"Goodnight!" She finally closes her eyes and sighs, falling asleep shortly thereafter. Soon all is quiet, as they rest soundly through the night.