Exams were awesome. Thanx you beautiful people. Glad you liked the shower scene (horny little–ahem! LOL.) But I'm back so be ready for more changes. (: And to people who keep PM asking, no! I don't have a tumblr I don't know how to use it or know what's going on over there :/ but my friend is currently showing me how in baby steps lol.
New cover art by the faboolus teensophie-draws (thank you so so much! I love it to pieces!).
"Objection! I don't wanna be the exception, to get a bit of your attention."
Hotel room, 7:13 am
Toothiana woke up to find Jack gone.
She rubbed her head and looked around, still trying to shake off the nightmare, but his bed was made and there was no sign of his backpack.
'Yes!' And she bolted out of the bed but stopped short because he realized his police belt was on the desk. It meant he was still coming back.
Tooth sighed angrily and rubbed her head. 'Perfect, the one time when you DON'T want the cute guy to stay,' she grumbled to herself.
She had no clue when he would come back or for how long he'd been gone in the first place. What if he was outside sharpening his knives or shooting birds for sport? Or what if he had one of his memory-rub-my-eye flashes that made him go off and do something stupid? Not that she cared anyway. Tooth didn't care what Jack did or what he thought.
She didn't even care if he forgot his stuff and decided to ditch her. It was for the best anyway.
'His stuff, huh?'
Tooth looked around the hotel room nervously. The warm orange sunrise poured through the open curtains and the birds and early mornings shouts from the families surrounding her filled her senses. It should've been relaxing, almost tranquil...but...
In her best cat impression, she slinked with a rapid heartbeat over to the desk.
'Going into cardiac arrest this early in the morning CANNOT be good for a person!' But she delicately took hold of Jack's belt and pulled it slightly toward her. When the metal latches scratched against the wood loudly she jerked but otherwise kept tugging it with determination.
"If he won't tell me anything about himself," she whispered, "then a girl's got to go digging herself, right?"
When it was near to her, Tooth leaned over and rubbed the police belt's material. It was black and coarse and it made her grimace that he'd actually had the balls to steal it from a police officer when he knew he was wanted by them. With a tiny huff, she then opened several compartments and poked around the contents.
Tooth found a small tube of grease (which she guessed was some kind of door lubricant), his lock pick set, a tiny flashlight and a set of earplugs. She rolled her eyes but smiled to herself – Jack is a Grade-A sneak!
But when she thought that was the end of that, her knuckle hit something on the far side of the belt and pulled it out of the gun holster. Tooth rolled the tiny oval-shaped container in her hand and frowned because she wasn't sure what it was.
'A retainer case maybe?' she thought, but when she tried to pry it open it wouldn't budge. Tooth sighed and put it back, thinking that if it maybe was his retainer it would explain his gorgeous pearly whites being so straight. She smacked her head.
...But then suddenly someone made a loud scream.
...
Jack gritted his teeth. His brown eyes searched the room.
The t-shirt she'd used to dry her hair was still on the bed but...no princess!
He rubbed his eye angrily, ready to get his fury on when he heard strange noises coming from the back of the hotel room. With a glare, Jack strode across the carpet threshold, tossing his backpack on the bed and went to the sliding doors that lead to the room's back balcony.
When his brown hair poked through the opening, Jack turned his head carefully, ready for anything.
He thought there was maybe a fight going on that he'd have to get in, or the princess doing something to piss him off again, instead...
"Aani...Come on, Aani! Bao wants you to come down now!"
Thia was in the next balcony over to theirs, standing on the wide ledge and holding onto the pillar. She was on her tiptoes, lifting her fingers to a tiny yellow bird that was sitting on top of its bird cage. A little boy about five years old was watching her with hopeful eyes as she kept on stretching.
"Come on, Aani!" she kept mumbling sweetly and Jack heard her begin to whistle in a light tune. He stepped through the sliding doors and stood there, just eyeing her cautiously as she continued to reach for the bird.
Tooth whistled one more time in a cute little bird tune and somehow the bird finally responded to it and hopped close to her finger. She grinned breathlessly. She always had a soft spot for birds. "That's it, girl! Come on!"
And finally with one more little tweet, the yellow canary hopped onto her finger and Tooth sighed happily. The little boy clapped as Tooth moved around the pillar slowly and put the bird back into its cage. When she locked it, she raised a finger at the little bird with a wide smile.
"Now no more flying out of your cage, missy!" Tooth mumbled playfully and the bird tweeted back to her. Tooth laughed and gave a quick whistle as if the two were having a conversation before she hopped down off the balcony ledge. She then knelt in front of the boy.
Jack couldn't see her face and she still didn't know he was behind her but neither paid attention to each other as the little boy smiled up at the princess.
(Vietnamese) "Chị (older sister) thank you!" he piped with a blinding grin that made Tooth's heart melt. "Daddy ALWAYS forgets to lock her cage when he feeds her and I didn't know what to do!"
Tooth tilted her head cutely and gave him a laugh. "Oh, don't worry about! I'm sure he didn't mean to."
Jack frowned. Tooth could speak Vietnamese? But then he realised from the boy's confused look that he didn't understand what she was saying so maybe she only understood it. Well, what do you know?
The boy scratched his head before he blinked and held up his hands quickly. "Chi, wait here! I want to give you a present!"
"No, it's okay! You don't have t–" But he ran into his house quickly before she could say anything else. When the little boy came back out, he was huffing like he'd run a mile but he had a big toothless smile on his face and he held out his palm and gave her his present.
It was an elastic hair tie with a few colourful feathers glued on it. He grinned.
"I stole it from my sister! But she won't notice because she's got so many, so I want you to have one!"
Tooth gave him a cheeky smile before she opened her hand and he placed it in her soft palm. She cooed and stroked the soft feathers. A precious treasure, just like what 'Bao' translated to. Toothiana smiled tenderly.
"Ooh thank you, Bao," she said sweetly and as she closed her fist gently around the gift, she tucked her hair behind her ear then leaned down to place a gentle kiss on the crown of his ebony hair. Bao blushed and giggled but he didn't run away like most boys his age would've done. It was truly a heartfelt moment with the orange glow blanketing over the two of them and Aani's sweet little tweets floating above.
But it was cut short when Bao finally saw Jack's dark figure looming behind in the next balcony over. The five year old's eyebrows shot up his forehead for a brief moment and then–"Hey mister! Mister! Did you see what this nice lady did for me?!"
Tooth cringed and spun around. Her eyes bugged out as she found Jack's figure just standing there with a blank look on his face and his hands at his side. She gulped, feeling like a kid who got into trouble and Jack confirmed it with the cold look he was giving her. The little boy didn't seem to feel the tension in the air though –probably because it was a fabulous morning, he'd just got his bird back, and it seemed like he was making new friends. He kept rambling a mile a minute.
"Aani, that's my birdy, she got out because Daddy is so forgetful but she heard me crying and hopped over to help! She said her name was Toothie! Toothie is a weird name but I like her because she is pretty! Have you met her–"
Jack stared down at him with a confused look. He had absolutely no clue what the kid was saying but he guessed his big eyes and brave mouth got him into of trouble a lot.
Tooth watched nervously as the little boy kept walking closer to Jack from across the balcony. She raised her arms cautiously like a mother in case the kid wanted to do something drastic like jump the ledge and go over to someone who was potentially the most dangerous person in the entire country! She was even more nervous that Jack might blow a fuse and start yelling at the kid for being annoying since she deemed him bipolar in the first twelve hours of knowing him.
'But he wouldn't do that to a little kid, would he?' she lamented in her head. Sure, Jack was rude and mean to her. But he couldn't be so callous as to shoot down (pun intended) a little child's smile...would he?
The more she thought about his cold and bossy character, especially with the way he treated her last night saying Princess-don't-do-this and Princess-don't-do-that, Tooth grew more vexed and pulled up to her full height. She stared him down sternly, ready to fight him if he tried anything or threw her the wrong look. She'd be damned if she let a child get hurt!
Jack seemed to notice the change in her demeanor because when he flicked his brown irises at her briefly, he paused. She wasn't the warm and sweet girl he just saw seconds ago. She was looked like she was ready to sit on him. And hard. Like the way a mama hippo is ready to crush predators who were after her babies, or a bear whose waiting for the perfect opening to tear your throat out. Jack was about to raise an eyebrow when the little boy caught his attention again. He scrunched his eyebrows when it sounded like the kid had asked him a question–
"Baaaoo! Breakfast! Leave the bird alone, you'll see her after school!"
And the little boy turned.
"Coming Maaaaa!" he shouted and Tooth had to resist plugging her ears. When the boy stopped, he gave Jack a small wave goodbye and told 'Toothie' to have a nice day.
"Goodbye sweetie!" Tooth waved and when the boy ran back into his house, she whirled on Jack. But he was already heading inside their motel room without a word. She sighed and hopped the short ledge and walked back into the room. As she did, she used the hairtie Bao had given her and tied her hair into a high ponytail just the way she usually liked. The colourful feathers stuck out beautifully against her dark hair and the blonde streak was resting against her forehead.
"So what?" she asked. "Am I grounded for sneaking out?" Jack sat against the desk and crossed his arms and surprise, surprise...he was still glaring at her.
"You shouldn't go out there," he said. "People might recognize you."
Tooth scoffed but when she went to open her mouth, Jack beat her tirelessly to it.
"I got you breakfast," he said sternly and went to his backpack. He tossed her some food and the second she caught it, her stomach erupted with hunger. Tooth blushed but looked at him weirdly as she sat down on the bed.
"Wait, did you eat?" she asked.
"Don't have to yet," he said curtly.
"Let me rephrase that. Why don't you want to eat?"
"I'm very particular about what I put in my body."
"I've noticed," she mumbled to herself.
Jack stopped and lifted his head to look at her. Tooth froze as their awkward mishap with the bathroom last night (and his perfect body holding her against him) suddenly flashed in her head. She snapped her head him.
"I said not noticed!" she quipped but when he didn't respond she turned her face slowly away from him and gave the wall a 'Did-You-JUST-Say-That' look. Jack didn't respond and started to reach into his pack again. As he came back in front of Tooth, she was already halfway finished her food. She licked the spoon when she saw what he was holding.
"I got you something new to wear," he said and tossed a long soft fabric onto her bed. Tooth's mouth fell open at the sight of the new dress.
"Is...You got that for me?" she breathed astonishingly. Jack didn't seem affected by her behaviour as he turned to get his police belt on the desk and placed it on the bed to rummage around it.
"Is it okay?" he mumbled offhandedly while Tooth put down the food and reached over to touch it. Her cerise eyes widened. The material felt amazing. When she lifted the blue-green dress and stood up and put it against her body, she fell more in love with it.
It was perfect.
Tooth looked up to see Jack giving her an expectant glance, waiting for her approval. Tooth blinked.
Jack was a deadly operative, a mastermind, and a huge asshole with the bossiest attitude on the planet! And yet...her heart fluttered and she couldn't help it.
A genuine smile pulled at the corners of her lips and she found she couldn't stop giving him a soft (almost shy) grin. She squeezed the dress' folds.
"I...I love it. Thank you," she said softly and under his intense, calculating look she felt her heart beat more rapidly. Jack looked back down as he kept replacing and moving things from his duty belt to his backpack.
"You can't run in a ripped skirt," he muttered as he was filling two glass vials with what looked like dirt and...something else. "So good thing there was a fashion boutique on the way back with a poor lock system."
Tooth lowered the dress and scrunched her eyebrows, but the smile refused to leave her lips.
"But you didn't think pants would've been better?"
Jack threw her an incredulous glare. "Obviously," he quipped before he looked at the dress then went back to what he was doing. "But that looked better."
His answer...It made Tooth blush but he didn't see it. He knew her style without even realizing it. Or, maybe he did. Self-consciously, she tucked her hair again behind her ear until she realized how easily she was swooning, then she immediately stopped. He wasn't looking at her.
Tooth bit the inside of her cheek and frowned. 'Get it together, girl! He doesn't even LIKE you!' How could she even tease that idea with Jack? Besides whose to say he didn't already have someone else? Tooth tried to squash her romantic notions by remembering the situation at hand.
Pitch. Terrorism. Going into hiding. Got it.
When she really looked at what Jack was doing, she tilted her head. "Why are you doing that?" she was almost afraid to ask. It looked like he was pouring gardening soil and table salt from two bags into the vials he was holding.
Jack's eyes narrowed as he concentrated. "I'm an ex-spy remember?" he muttered. "I can't exactly be carrying around Grade-A bombs so I need to improvise."
Tooth started. She grew nervous at the thought of him having detonated bombs before, using them to blow people up. Jack must have felt her abrupt pause on her tongue because he threw her a steely gaze before going back to the vials. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This girl thought the worst in everything.
"It's a smoke grenade, your highness, not a real bomb," he explained. "Just so we can get away like we did with Pitch's car, remember? You should actually be thanking me."
When Tooth's voice caught in her throat again, Jack eyed her again as he finished.
"Go change already. We need to leave."
And Tooth nodded numbly as she quickly flew into the bathroom.
...
"How do I look?"
Jack lifted his gaze at her voice and stared at her blankly. He'd hoped the dress wasn't too much or too big since he was guessing sizes...but it seemed to fit her slender form perfectly, outlining all her curves and her hips. Its skirt also stopped mid-thigh in a flattering way. As she smoothed it down, Tooth gave him a hopeful, tiny smile. It was slightly wrinkled at the bottom from being in his bag and she didn't have the perfect chest to fill it out but she loved how it looked on her. When Jack caught her gaze, he nodded curtly and turned back to his backpack.
Tooth inwardly crumpled at his cold behaviour. The romantic in her was waiting for a wash of emotion to cross his face. BT always said a man couldn't resist a girl in a nice dress! Then again, Jack wasn't exactly your average man...but it still hurt her a little. She scratched her warm neck embarrassingly before she looked at what he was wearing.
Tooth finally noticed that Jack had changed out of his sleepwear and wasn't wearing his previous spy-ready black turtleneck. He was wearing the same black trousers he had on the night before and his combat boots. But his shirt was a dark long-sleeved polo with two buttons undone at the top exposing his throat. His sleeves were also pushed up again, showcasing his toned forearms and pale skin. As Jack was pulling on his left leather glove again, Tooth crossed her arms.
"That's a ridiculous choice in clothes," she commented and Jack lifted his head at her, looking at her through the brown fringe of his bangs accusingly.
"What?"
Tooth had to admit though, he looked dashing and really handsome. Blue was definitely his color. It worked with his smooth, snowy complexion but–
"It's so hot. You'll sweat under the sun in all those dark colors!" she argued but Jack seemed to have tuned her out halfway and was already zipping up his pack and latching on his belt. He suddenly looked like an off-duty cop to her and Tooth blushed.
"I don't sweat," he suddenly muttered and Tooth blinked.
"Wh...Are you shitting me right now?" she tilted her head and Jack threw her a dirty look. He went on to explain.
"I don't remember much from the company I was with, but I remember we went through alot of intense training to get to how we were," he spoke and tightened the belt on his hips, "They trained us to control our bodily needs in extreme conditions. It's all mental willpower, so I don't sweat. Or really need sleep, or get hungry..." he faded out as he finished working on his belt.
Then Jack walked toward her and reached into his pack and pulled out a small tube of toothpaste. "Here, I don't have any toothbrushes but it's enough," he said as he squeezed some on his finger and began to rub it onto his already white pearls. Tooth's eyes widened and she lifted a finger eagerly and he squeezed some out for her.
Tooth rubbed it into her teeth as she stared up at him gratefully. Jack was really resourceful. At least she didn't have to feel gross. After a moment, Jack moved to the bathroom to wash his hands. When he was out of sight, she discreetly sucked on the paste, swallowing its flavour to calm her nerves. It was all she could have since she couldn't get gum and it glumly reminded her of how tight her situation really was. When he came back out, she quickly dropped her hand and went to wash her own.
"Remember the plane leaves at 10:36," he said as he canvassed the room in a calculating glare. He was making sure they didn't leave anything and that he'd wiped all the prints earlier while she slept. "If we're not on that plane, we can't intercept Pitch's hitman and whoever he's following."
"What do you think they're doing?" she asked coming back out as Jack straightened the bed sheets one more time. He rubbed an eye and came back. "There might be a delivery going down," he stated. "That's usually why people get tagged. So if we stop him or get to the guy first and take whatever he's got, that's an indirect attack on whatever Pitch's plan was."
And Tooth nodded determinedly. She really wanted to slug Pitch in the face for everything he'd done but since she wasn't physically capable of doing that, this would be the only chance she got to personally stick it to him good.
"Come on," Jack mumbled and went to open the door before he paused. He spun and faced Tooth. Tooth watched him narrow his eyes at her.
"What?" she asked nervously. Jack clenched his teeth behind his lips before he spoke.
"So now that I got you that dress and some food...you're not gonna try to leave me again, are you?"
Tooth saw the way his muscles tensed as he spoke. His posture was straight and proud as always but he looked ready to pounce at any moment – he most likely didn't warm up to the fact that she had hit him twice last night when he was normally very alert. Jack was never going to let her get the best of him again, and somehow that couldn't stop the warm smile from coming on Tooth's face.
She shook her head firmly.
"Not anymore," she said, her eyelids falling halfway over her eyes. "Promise."
Then after a moment to assess the sincerity in her tone, Jack turned and the two left the hotel room.
When they reached the car, Tooth overheard the morning gossip of some women sitting on their balconies. She tried to ignore their boring jabber but–
(Vietnamese) "See? I told you, it WAS a pair of horny teenagers last night!" said a chubby mother.
Tooth froze and her face heated up in the burning morning sun. Oh swee–
"Damn they can make noise!" her neighbour griped. "But then, that's WHY they would drive out so far so they don't get caught...Hey, they don't even look like they're from here! HEY YOU TWO! GO BACK TO YOUR SCHOOL TRIP BEFORE YOUR TEACHERS CATCH YOU SNEAKING OUT!"
Tooth snapped her head up at them with a blushing, angry look.
"SERIOUSLY?!" she shouted and they immediately flushed and ran inside their homes, surprised the girl understood their obvious dirty gossip.
When they were gone, Tooth clutched both sides of her head and huffed angrily. She turned back to Jack but he was looking up at the balconies. He then looked at her.
"What were they saying?" he asked charily but she just shook her head.
"Just...just get in the car and drive. PLEASE!"
...
On the road
"Jack, stop going over the speed limit!"
"Oh so now you're telling me what to do?"
"Payback's a bitch, huh?" she seethed and Jack angrily ran a hand through his bangs.
...
Ho Chi Minh City's main subway line, 7:43 am
The stairs leading down to the subway was PACKED. It was only seven in the morning yet Tooth was pretty the entire population of the city was trudging down the concrete steps to head deep into the subways.
On the way to the city, Tooth used her pin to hide her blonde streak so as the two walked together no one would recognize her hair. Jack ditched the car and the princess' old sari in some alley and when they entered the station, he had the netbook his hand. She nervously trudged behind him as he rubbed his eye.
Toothiana frowned because he seemed to do that alot. "A...Are you okay?" she asked over the morning noise of the subway station. Jack's jaw tensed as he dropped his gloved hand. He flexed his pale fingers anxiously.
"I don't do well in giant crowds," he grumbled. "Too many people so it's harder to track someone. And my stealth is specialized for the dark not broad daylight. I can blend in but..." He trailed off when they finally reached the platform and he spotted two trashcans.
Tooth watched as Jack pulled out the hard drive and snapped it in two with ease. Her attention was then distracted by all the people surrounding them. Everyone was flitting back and forth between the east and west trains and the smell of the city was overpowering. As she turned her head, Tooth suddenly saw a group of girls begin to walk past her. They giggled when they went around Jack.
Tooth cooed softly. They were all wearing the same colored dress as her (but in different styles), and they looked so posh in their heels and makeup. When she tilted her head and translated the cover of a book one of the girls was holding, she smiled.
HCMC University of Fine Arts – Fashion Studies.
They were fashion students and Tooth fondly thought of how exciting a career surrounded by all those colors and creativity would be. And to look so pretty! Oooh...
Suddenly her dream bubble popped when Jack's annoyed face entered her view again. He shoved a broken piece of the netbook into her hands and she gaped.
"Wh-Why would you break it?!" she sputtered. Tooth loved gadgets and all things tech so it broke her heart to see something so efficient just turn into scrap metal. But Jack wasn't even looking at her as he scanned the crowd, ever-suspicious.
"Go over there and throw it in the other trash," he said pointing ahead. "I doubt anyone's gonna search for both halves...and take this piece of the hard drive too."
Jack then gave her light shove as a send off and Tooth threw him a dirty look.
He really needed to stop that.
'Trying to show me respect, my ass!' she mentally growled as she walked ahead to the other trashcan. By the time she got there, so many people had filled the space between her and Jack that she couldn't see his face, let alone his hair. She sighed as she chucked the sad little pieces of the computer into the bin. That's when the princess looked up and heard the laughs of the fashion school girls ahead of her. She saw their blue-green dresses skirt ahead.
Tooth froze.
...
"The west train will get here in about two minutes, but I need you to do something for me before we head to the airport, alright?"
No response.
Jack spun around and looked down. He expected her to have come back already but when her snippy, little tone didn't banter back, Jack sensed it.
He stood on his tiptoes, searching the crowd.
"Thia?" he called out loud, using her public name. "THIA?!"
As Jack's voice shouted across the platform, Tooth quickly pulled the feathered hairtie out of her hair and let her dark waves fall against her back. Walking unbeknownst behind the fashion students, she blended in perfectly from behind, matching their strides and swaying hips.
"Thia, WHERE ARE YOU?!"
In a quick jump, Tooth sped up her walk and moved around the girls. But when she walked toward the east train which had just arrived, they saw her move in front of them.
(Vietnamese) "Aww I LOVE her dress!"
And Tooth, chatty and girly as she always was, turned her head over her shoulder to flash them a blinding smile.
"Thanks!" she started to say but her eyes caught Jack's in the crowd far behind.
When he recognized the pink irises, he bolted.
'MOTHER OF–!'
Tooth spun on her flats and sped down the platform, politely weaving as fast as she could through the crowd. She could hear people shout angrily behind her which meant Jack was less than polite and shoving people aside to gain ground.
That's when she heard the east train's melody go off – it was going to close!
So at the last second, Tooth stepped onto the train...and Jack's face appeared just as the doors sealed. But he didn't make it.
Tooth waved with a cheeky smile as she heard the brakes underneath unlock. She couldn't believe she'd just managed that! Jack threw a fierce punch at the unbreakable glass and she jumped back in fear.
'That little shit!' she cried in her head as the train pulled out of the station and his face disappeared. When they moved into the tunnel, Tooth sighed and began to move away from the door. An old man sitting on the side gazed up at her nervously.
(Vietnamese) "Miss, should we call the police for you?" he asked but Tooth shook her head reassuringly. She gave him a tight smile.
"Oh no! Don't worry," she babbled in English not caring if he understood because she used her fingers to explain what she meant. "He's crazy," she rolled a finger beside her head then made a heart shape with her two fingers, "Crazy in love."
The second she moved away from the old man, her smile fell off her face in terror.
'Ohh if he HEARD that, Tooth!' she cried in her head. 'You are DEAD. You need to get off this train NOW before he catches up!'
And she realised how true that might be. For all Tooth knew, Jack was pulling a real spy move and was probably on top of the train right now, racing the wind under the tunnel to her compartment–
"Oooh!" Tooth whined angrily under her breath and moved further into the train. She shoved people aside less than gracefully and even made a guy's morning coffee spill on his shirt. She pushed until she was all the way on the other side facing another set of doors. Bouncing on her flats, Tooth tapped her fingers anxiously against her thighs and bit her lip.
"Come on, come on!" she mumbled hurriedly. When the tunnel came out at the next stop and the familiar ding opened the doors, Toothiana bolted out and into the new wave of people. She did a complete 360 then a reverse 180 trying to figure out where she could go.
'Oh no stupid!' her mind yelled. 'Use the signs! You can read them!' Tooth then lifted her gaze and read all the Viet script. She needed to find...somewhere! Anywhere! Just to hide away from Jack, Pitch, and everyone until she could figure out what to do. The city had over 10 million people! Surely she couldn't be found if she snuck off right.
Tooth's eyes widened as she read the signs and arrows. There was a mall a block away, an open market two blocks east, and a university in the building next to the station! She tore through the crowd instantly.
Tooth hopped two steps at a time up the subway concrete stairs and took a horrid whiff of the downtown street when she reached the surface. It was warm and congested but she couldn't enjoy it as she whipped her head one way and ran in the other.
Tooth ran and ran, until she got to the streetlight. But when it turned red she growled and kicked the post.
Jack was...Jack would...dear god, Jack was going to tear her to pieces!
With shaky fingers and cheeks red from running, she tapped the pole. The people surrounding Tooth looked at her funny but otherwise didn't comment. When the light finally turned green, Tooth gave one more look behind her and strode swiftly ahead through and ahead of the morning pedestrians. Then when she crossed the street, she sprinted up the narrow path and tried to find an opening into a small complex.
Her sweat was pouring down her temples and her neck that she wiped it away bitterly.
"Where's the entrance?!" she mumbled frantically. "WHERE'S THE ENTRANCE DAMMIT!"
A second later, a dark figure swooped down from the awning of a shop and grabbed her upper arm into a small parking lot on the side. Tooth screamed but Jack covered her mouth with his glove. In a perfect world, he would've snapped her neck but life had other plans for him.
"You know," he whispered darkly. "I promised I'd protect you. Awake or unconscious works for me but right now unconscious would be less work!"
"Hah!" she huffed nervously after she yanked the glove away. "You said I wouldn't make it out of your sight for 2 minutes. That was ten at best!"
"Five!"
"Ten!"
Jack growled angrily and stepped away from her. He ran a hand through his hair and Tooth wrapped her arms around herself. His fingers twitched when a breeze whirled through the empty lot. Then he spoke.
"You know what? Fine!" he said firmly and raised his gloved hand. "You wanna be stupid, you want to get kidnapped?"
He then stepped aside and throw his arm out behind him, giving her a path.
"Then be my guest. I'm done with this damn cat-and-mouse chase."
Her mind cheered Yes!
And yet...
Tooth froze, and Jack continued with a cold look on his face. "But how're you gonna manage to pull that off, huh? Tell me 'cause you can't run. Not alone. You don't know how and you won't make it to the next sunrise, not with the resources Pitch has got. So where does that leave you?"
And she didn't say a word, still stunned. The fire in her was slowly dying as he finished.
Jack gritted his teeth. "I'm trying to stop a terrorist but maybe leaving you out in the open to fend for yourself is easier bait than tracking him."
When Jack moved around her and confidently walked away, she turned to stare at his dark-blue shirt but he didn't once turn back around. He was...really, really leaving?
Tooth made a fist in her skirt and bit her lip as the rationality of his words sunk in. She really did just pull a dumb move again did she? And just last night she'd told him she deserved better respect ...Tooth looked down when she began rubbing her thumb against the dress' soft fabric.
He'd gotten her this dress to move quicker in...along with the food to keep her going. Then she remembered how they stared at each other as they rubbed toothpaste on their teeth.
Tooth frowned.
She'd made it look like she'd forgotten this wasn't a game and Jack wasn't playing. He didn't look to fond of games.
When she was with him, all she had to endure were his deep frown lines and all their emotional tension. Everything else, he dealt with for her. If she demanded respect from Jack...as a princess, as a sister, as a student, she knew she was taught better...she had to give it too.
Toothiana sighed then moved forward.
Just as Jack turned back out onto the street, her tan fingers shot out and grabbed his wrist. She intended to yank him back, but Jack's subconscious kicked in. On impulse, he spun and twisted her arm behind her.
"Gah!" she cried painfully. Jack's eyes widened slightly and he instantly dropped his hold. His eyebrows furrowed together but he didn't apologize as he jumped away.
"What now?" he spat and Tooth rubbed her shoulder as she faced him fearfully.
"I just...I-I'm sorry!" When he looked at her coldly, not buying the emotional switch, Tooth's frown deepened. "I...With my whole family vanishing and my palace being on lockdown I feel like nowhere feels safe anymore, not even with–"
She stopped. Jack's brown eyes bored into her magenta ones and she looked down pitifully and shrugged timidly.
"I want to hide and you..." she said softly. "You want me to run right back into the fire that's destroying my life. So I just..." she repeated the same words he said to her the night they got away, "reacted...I'm not myself. Can you really blame me for that?"
After a moment, Jack sighed. His fingers flexed at his side.
"No...I guess I can't." When Tooth didn't immediately reply and rubbed her arm, he took a step toward her.
"But see, that's why I need you to let me protect you," he continued sternly. "I get it. Nowhere feels safe for you, and I don't expect you to trust me, partly because I don't want you to, remember? But just..."
When he didn't finish, Tooth looked up slowly. Her big round eyes stared at him expectantly but Jack lost his words and glared at the ground thoughtfully.
Unspoken tension floated in the air so Tooth sighed. She then rubbed her eye tiredly and Jack automatically copied her action. After he let his fist fall, he turned around and beckoned her with a finger to follow.
Tooth ended up walking behind him slowly. They moved down the street in silence with Jack looking back every ten seconds – but each time he did, Tooth felt dread creep into her stomach. It was unnerving. After a while, he stopped at a resting area and placed his small backpack on a park bench.
Tooth was about to ask why'd they stopped when he pointed across the street. When she looked around his solid form, she saw an open salon opposite to where they stood.
"Go get a hairdresser," he said curtly and Tooth blinked.
"What?"
He threw her a look before Jack pointed to the crown of her head.
"That blonde streak gives you away," then he frowned again "Why did you dye it like that anyway? It's unconventional."
"I didn't," she miffed. "I was born with it."
Jack said nothing and eyed it one more time. Man, this girl was weird – but he'd met weirder.
He then fished some money out of his pocket and handed her a sufficient wad. Tooth blinked again before she eyed the hair salon. She then looked up at him.
"A-Are you sure?"
"Look, every agency, police department, and hitman hired by Pitch are looking for Princess Toothiana." And when he said her full name Tooth felt her skin flush. It sounded so good to hear her name on his lips but he frowned at her. "So you can't be her anymore."
Tooth didn't like that comment but nodded her head anyway and with a brave stride, she moved away.
"Oh," he called to her and she turned nervously. Jack went to lean against a tree next to the bench. He crossed his arms and gave her a hard look. "And don't even think about trying to run. I'll be watching your dress move the entire time. Everything down to the flip of your skirt."
And Tooth couldn't stop the disturbed scowl that passed her features.
"That doesn't sound right," she commented. "And if you're supposed to be protecting me, then start looking like a bodyguard and less like a kidnapper. People will get the wrong idea about us."
As Tooth walked away and Jack huffed and went to sit on the bench.
...
Forty-minutes later, park bench, 8:39 am
Jack was busy staring at his glove. He was trying to enjoy the minutes of solitude to himself when a cool morning breeze. It passed beneath the shade of the tree and rustled his brown bangs. He flexed the fingers of his ungloved hand thoughtfully.
That's when the familiar padding of flats approached him. Jack looked up.
Tooth's hair blew in the light wind and she tucked a piece behind her ear nervously. Her hair was no longer just cocoa brown but had golden highlights mixing into it. and her natural blonde strand of hair was brown (much to her sadness). She also had side bangs and the size of her hair appeared shorter and thinner, curling out around her cheeks and shoulders. When she stepped up to him, Tooth coughed and rubbed her neck.
"Uh..." she started with a light blush, unsure if she even wanted an opinion from Jack. She liked the new look all on her own and she didn't need someone telling her different. "I wanted to ask her to die it all blonde but I...I can't speak Vietnamese so the stylist just started cutting and doing all this before I could stop her."
She then leaned down and handed him the remainder of the bills she had left. When he weighed it and realized that not a lot had been used, she shrugged. "I managed to get them to give me a deal. And they also gave me these."
Tooth then lifted her hair and Jack saw on her ears hung two blue-green feathered earrings. "They said it would go with my look," she added then fanned out her skirt and did a quick curtsy. She smiled shyly and bit her lip. "Is it...o-okay?"
Jack continued to stare at her as she stood underneath the morning sun. The sunlight hit her blonde tresses and shone brightly, accenting her gold skin. She was glowing and Jack lifted his eyebrows.
When he stood up, Toothiana took a nervous step back and he spoke.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about your eye color but it looks good," he simply said. After he collected his things and worked around her, Tooth just stood there and scratched her elbow. A warm blush blossomed across her cheeks but she otherwise didn't say anything.
When she turned to face Jack, he was running a hand through his hair again. That's when she looked up at it and tilted her head.
"You know," she started and Jack turned to face her quizzically under the morning sun. She vaguely wondered if he'd burst into flames like a vampire thanks to his snowy complexion before she continued. "Maybe you should think about dyeing your hair too. You look like you're really stressing out."
When Jack raised an eyebrow she pointed to his head. Indeed, Jack's hair had more prominent whites now that she was really looking at it. "You have more whites than when we...first met."
Jack blinked and rubbed a hand through his locks and Tooth had to resist the urge not to coo since he kept messing with his sexy swirls. After a moment he pulled his hand away from it and looked down. She was surprised when he glared before he dropped his hand.
"No, that's the dye already washing out," he said. Tooth blinked.
"What?"
Jack looked back down at her seriously. "The brown dye I snagged a couple weeks back was cheap since I couldn't afford a decent one. It must have worn out some more after I washed it last night."
Tooth shook her head.
"Again, what?"
Jack shot her a dubious look. "My hair is naturally white," he finally iterated.
Tooth tilted her head and her hair fell girlishly over one shoulder as she squinted her eyes.
"That's...weird," she commented and Jack tightened his hold on his backpack's strap as he looked down. He didn't like talking about himself but he tried anyway.
"It never used to be," he mumbled loud enough for her to hear. "But that's why I need to remember who I worked for and what they did to me."
A moment of awkward silence passed between them with Tooth opening and closing her mouth. She was trying to formulate a sentence and Jack silently prayed she wouldn't. He then moved quickly around her and walked down the street until Tooth finally figured out what to ask. After the initial shock of learning something new about him (and accepting that white hair did make sense with his strangely pale skin), she trailed after.
"So how're you gonna get me out of the country if everyone's looking for me? I have no passport remember?"
But Jack rolled his eyes at her over his shoulder and raised a hand, gesturing to follow. "I've got it covered."
And they kept walking, trying to beat the morning sun and the clock countdown for their flight. That's when Tooth realized...they were trekking into a sketchier part of the city.
She gulped.
'Oh god, what NOW, Jack?'
Chapter's soundtrack: "Objection" (Tango) – Shakira When I hear her say "I've got to get away!", I imagine Tooth sprinting like a scared chicken lol.
Imagine her new dress as you see fit. Long chapters = physical pain lol. Future condensing in progress...