Author's Note: I feel terrible for taking so long to post. It's just that I had writer's block for a while, and then I got an idea for an AU (which is what's posted now), but it took me forever to write, and… ugh. I've had a very long week. But anyways, here's a new chapter. It is NOT, I repeat, NOT, "Dance Dance Infiltration". Still working out how to write that episode. Sorry, friends. I would, however, like to thank TheWriterWithHalfABrain, FandomPurposes, amxxnda, and browniej126 for following. And demonicDRAMAqueen, let me just say… Episode 8, friend. It is coming. Also, btdubs, I made up some last names for Scarlet and Sage in this chapter since their last names haven't been revealed yet.
Neptune had to admit, he found absolutely nothing wrong with being in power. Second-in-command at Haven Industries? Try... "best job ever". Well, being President would be pretty damn good also, but Sun Wukong held that position. And Neptune wasn't about to de-throne his best friend since Pre-K. Everyone in the company… no… in the COUNTRY knew the name Neptune Vasilias. He had all the money he wanted, all the cars and tech and… stuff he wanted, and all the influence he wanted. Life could not be better.
Well… that last statement may not have been totally true. There was only one thing that could possibly make Neptune happier than he already was. And that would be taking out Beacon Corp., his company's biggest competitor in the weapons industry. The CEO, Ruby Rose, was seemingly the most innocent, fun-loving young woman this side of the West Coast. But she wasn't to be messed with. She was surprisingly genius, uncannily deadly, and her wife, Weiss Schnee, ran the largest and most innovative ammunition technology business in the nation. Their Human Relations Executive, Jaune Arc, was a bumbling idiot, but, remarkably, an incredible people person. His girlfriend and assistant, Pyrrha Nikos, was kind, intelligent, and beautiful. All too dangerous as a competitor. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, the leading scientists for the company, were the perfect blend of genius and psychotic. But the pièce de résistance was Yang Xiao Long, Vice-President, Ruby Rose's half-sister. She was smart, sophisticated, ferocious in business, a gifted public speaker, and unmatched in all her beauty. Not that Neptune cared about that last one. Obviously.
So it stood to mention that Neptune was not prepared for Yang to visit his company one unexpected day. Especially not for her to visit his office instead of Sun's. She came in strutting, her heels clicking on the hard floors, her hair like sunlight flowing down her back. Another thing Neptune didn't care about. Before he could even get a syllable out, she interrupted.
"Wukong wasn't here. If he was, I'd be in there, not in your grubby office. Just so we get things straight."
"Fine," Neptune said, lifting one dark eyebrow. "So what do you want at Haven anyway? Don't you have some great new weapons tech to show off or something?"
"You of all people should know we just released new tech. Now will you shut up and let me explain so I can get out?"
Neptune definitely didn't notice the way she barely pursed her cherry-red lips when she was annoyed. He also didn't notice how pretty her black-lined lavender eyes were. He motioned for her to take the seat in front of his desk.
"Beacon wants to work with your company for a collaborative project."
"You want us to work with you?"
"Look, asshole, I don't control who we collab with. You got a problem with Business Affairs, take it up with your boss's girlfriend."
Sun was currently dating a woman named Blake Belladonna, who ran the business and finance of Beacon Corp. She was nice enough, but Neptune hated the fact that his best friend was in a serious relationship with the enemy.
"Yeah, well I don't run business either. You want to do a collab, take it up with Scarlet."
Scarlet Clair was one of the most intelligent businessmen in the world, but he was more unpredictable than Scottish weather. He could be smiling one minute and snarling the next, and unless Haven's top scientist/weapons tester, Sage March, was there to calm him down, Haven's business partners and plans hinged largely on Scarlet's mood.
"Fine then. And where would I find Mr. Clair?"
"You might not want to," Neptune warned. "He's not in the best of moods today."
"What happened? Boy he meet at a bar last night not call him back or something?"
"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case."
Yang dropped her guard for a second and smiled, if just slightly. "Fine," she muttered. "I'll get Blake to talk to Sun about it." And with that, she rose from her chair and began to exit the room.
"Hey, Xiao Long," Neptune interjected, as she was about to exit the doorway. She turned and raised one golden eyebrow. "You wanna get coffee or something?"
"I don't like coffee," she smirked.
"What do you like?"
"Hm… I like lava lamps. And movies from the 80's. And I like punching things. Ooh, and cheesecake with chocolate-covered strawberries… And pictures of cats wearing shark costumes." She banged the door shut after that.
Neptune sighed and rested his head in his palms. "I'm an idiot," he sighed. But nevertheless, he picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Hey, Sage? You wouldn't happen to own any really good 80's movies, would you?"
Yang Xiao Long typically loved Sundays. They were her alone day, where she could binge-watch Netflix and eat brownies and let Zwei sit on the couch with her without Ruby getting annoyed. But going outside on Sunday morning to drink some orange juice and watch the sun rise, and tripping over a cardboard box decreased the goodness of her day. Probably by about 20%. The box had no address, no writing, no nothing. And besides, mail didn't come after 2pm anyway, and there was no box on her porch yesterday, which means some idiot had dropped it off real late last night. She ripped open the packaging to find, whoopee, another box, which, in turn, held a blue-and-purple lava lamp.
"He didn't…" she whispered, annoyed. She dug further into the box to find at least a dozen sheets of photo paper, each with four separate pictures of cats in shark costumes on them. There was also a large cheesecake (wrapped, of course, it wasn't just sitting there amongst all the other things with no packaging, that would be stupid), a box of chocolate-covered strawberries, a pair of boxing gloves. And the pièce de résistance? At the very bottom, a neat stack of five movies. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Footloose, and finally, The Princess Bride. Taped to the movies was a note, written in bright blue pen, which read "Well, you don't like coffee. -NV"
With that last movie, she whipped out her phone, and dialed Blake Belladonna. Before Blake could even get out a "Hello," Yang shouted, "Did you ask Sun to set me up with his Vice-Prez or something? 'Cause I'm perfectly capable of dating on my own!"
"Um, no. Why, is Neptune hitting on you? Just tell him to go away."
"I did! He asked me out for coffee, so I tried to turn him down and say I don't like coffee, but he wouldn't let up and he asked me what I do like, so I gave him a list of really weird things, and I got up this morning, and there's a box of all those things on my porch!"
"So he likes you. Big deal."
"Yes! Big deal! He's the enemy!"
"Yang, this isn't an MMORPG. This is the real world. There aren't actually enemies."
"Ugh, you're no fun to vent to."
"Why do you need to vent? A rich, attractive guy is flirting with you and sending you boxes of random things that you like. Sounds like a good deal to me."
Yang should have known that Blake wouldn't understand. She and Ruby were (unfortunately) usually optimists. "Blake, Neptune Vasilias is a cocky son of a bitch. And he sent me The Princess Bride."
"Well, you did give him a list of things you liked."
"I just said I liked 80's movies, not The Princess Bride!"
"Oh, man. You can't break the pact."
"I know I can't break the pact! That's why I'm upset! I refuse to believe that asshole is someone worth dating!" A couple years back, Yang had promised herself that if a guy mentioned, referenced, or sent her the best movie of all time, she had to go on at least one date with him. Obviously, that movie was The Princess Bride. She groaned, said goodbye to Blake, and angrily dialed Neptune Vasilias' number.
He answered simply, but his voice was smoother than butter. "Neptune Vasilias. Can I help you?"
"Look, you can't just send me a bunch of movies and expect me to watch them alone, dipshit."
"Hello to you too, Yang Xiao Long."
"I expect you at my apartment at 8pm with a large meat lover's pizza. I'm got the champagne."
"Okay… But I don't have your address."
"I'll text it to you."
"Alright. See you at 8, I guess?"
"See you." That was the first time Yang had ended a conversation with Neptune by using an actual goodbye statement, instead of just leaving or hanging up abruptly. She sighed, pulled on a sweatshirt, and trudged to her bathroom to brush her teeth.
Neptune arrived at 8:03 with a pizza box and a confused expression plastered onto his face. "So why exactly am I here?"
"I needed someone to watch these movies with," Yang replied, holding up the small stack.
"Okay… But why me? I thought you don't like me."
"Maybe I don't. But you sent me these movies, and it is therefore your obligation to watch them with me."
Neptune let out a small sigh. "All right, whatever." Yang led him into the apartment where a black-and-white dog jumped on him and yapped. He grinned and bent down to pet the animal. "Hey, boy," he said in baby-speak, rubbing the dog's stomach.
"That's Zwei. Don't touch his ears, he hates that."
Neptune smiled up at her. "He's cute."
"Yeah. Me and Ruby have had him since we were kids. He's getting pretty old now. I'm considering getting another dog once he's gone."
"That's not depressing or anything."
"He's fifteen. I've been expecting it for a while." A kind of wistful sadness crossed her face. A few golden strands were too small to stay in her long ponytail and fell into her eyes. "Anyways, movies."
"Yeah, that. What is it we're watching?"
She grinned and held up The Princess Bride. "Only the best movie of all time."
"Love it."
"You love what? The movie, or the fact that we're watching it?"
"Both."
"Both?"
"Both is good."
"You're a weirdo," Yang sighed.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." Neptune replied, flopping down on the couch. As Yang sat next to him, he handed her a large piece of overly greasy pizza. She, in turn, filled two plastic glasses with champagne, which they promptly toasted. The television flicked through the starting credits sequences until finally, the picture of an old-timey baseball game found its way onto the screen.
They made their way through the film, each occasionally whispering the best lines. And when it came to the ending, and the grandfather said, "Since the invention of the kiss, there have only been five kisses that were rated the most passionate, the most pure. This one left them all behind," Neptune leaned over to the other side of the couch, his lips meeting Yang's. She kissed him back, and when they broke away, she rolled her lavender eyes and muttered, "Asshole."
Neptune drove back home that evening, but he could still feel liquid fire coursing through his veins.
