Flashback:
Despite that, though, she nodded and felt his arms wrap around her. For the first time, she didn't feel scared of his touch as she truthfully answered his question:
"Yes."
Chapter 20: One Hell of a Night
For the past two weeks, Lil had been floating on clouds. She hadn't managed to piss anyone except the boss off, which was quite normal, and Levi had eased up on his taunting in the light of Lil's marksmanship training.
Her bare feet slapped against the marble flooring as she travelled down the hall to the boss's office again.
"Hmm… he was really secretive yesterday. I wonder if he's been under stress recently and he isn't telling me…"
Lil pondered on the thought aloud. When she had arrived in the morning the day before, he told her to walk her ass back out for five minutes, and when she came back in, he acted as though it hadn't happened.
In fact, everyone had been acting awkward since yesterday. No one would directly tell her what they were doing and they had all given her odd looks when she offered to help Luss bake a cake that he had been planning for days now.
Aside from Squa-san, who had literally screamed at her to get the fuck out of the kitchen, everyone else just looked at each other uncomfortably.
The cold bottle of water was cold; cold enough to make her hand feel numb. Why couldn't he get his own water now? She'd been doing this for him for a little over a month.
When she stared up the stairs that were now in front of her and the sun hit them, illuminating them in a beautiful shine, Lil smiled to herself.
It was fun to see her boss every morning; from the looks of him, he didn't seem like the type to get into a lot of conversations and talk to a lot of other people. In fact, he hated most of the subordinates anyway… but with her around, she could see him warm up at times and frankly, it was worth doing all of the things she had to for him.
The door stood in front of her now.
Lil took a deep breath and stepped through it, pushing it closed when she let herself in.
Bester laid his chin atop of his huge paw when she looked toward him and told him to quiet down when he made his usual "grawr".
"The hell do you want, woman?"
The boss's voice pierced the air with sharpness and Lil flinched at the harshness in his tone. He sat at his desk with a bored yet annoyed look on his face as he fiddled with a black pen.
"Boss, I-um… here, I was just going to bring this to you."
Lil approached the desk and watched his eyes sharpen.
"Stay the fuck away from me, trash."
The tenseness in his posture puzzled Lil. "Why is he being so edgy today?" Uneasiness pricked at her skin as she stared at him.
"Is anything wrong?" Lil pried at him and waited for his reply, which was only an ill-tempered grunt. "Tch."
"Boss, you know you're supposed to tell me when you feel angry!" She lamented on the topic, only to see his eyes narrow irritably.
"I'm not fucking angry, woman."
"Don't lie to me!"
It'd been long enough that her stutter had gone away for the most part and now she had gotten the courage to be more verbal with this man. More often than not, it'd be thrown straight back in her face, and sometimes quite literally.
Lil finally slammed her hands down on his desk and gritted her teeth in the crossest way she could muster up. "Why the hell are you acting like this?"
She watched his eyes shift from irritable to confused; he tilted his head and stood from his chair.
"Woman, I'm not angry." He repeated, now staring down at her. The tone of voice he had used softened from a growl to a quieter mumble with no irritability behind it.
The resentment that he had shown only moments ago had vanished into seemingly thin air.
Lil watched his right hand curl into a fist and then slowly come out of it.
"Boss… are you stressed?"
The thought of that caused Lil's breathing to intensify. Just the thought of this man that she gave her all every day to help heal feeling pain… it was almost as if she was doing something wrong.
Xanxus stared down at her and shook his head. It was another one of his blatant lies and she could see straight through it; his posture gave him away. The tenseness in his shoulders was one of the first signs of his impending wrath.
"Don't shut me out… please, boss, let me help you…" Lil rushed to his side and pushed her hand into his. "Please don't do this…"
Bester had already rushed to his master's side and pushed his head into his thigh, which he merely looked down to notice it.
His hand curled around hers and squeezed it lightly for a prolonged time.
"Boss… please, deep breaths." Lil urged him through the usual process when he got this way.
He began the process and took those deep breaths which slowly turned into his usual breathing. Within a minute, the grip on her hand had gone from squeezing to a simple grasp.
"There." Lil whispered as she slowly stroked his hand comfortingly. "Do you feel better?"
The man's shoulders gradually dropped and Lil could hardly contain a sigh of relief. He nodded after a moment and she backed a respectful distance away.
"Okay. I'm glad you're-"
Lil was cut off by the sound of the door slamming open: "VOIIII! You bastard; I got her-"
Squalo looked Lil's way and met her widened green eye and stopped midsentence. He then proceeded to use his sword to point her way menacingly.
"VOIIII! Lil, get out; your boyfriend is downstairs annoying the piss out of me!"
Her eye immediately seemed to flash with a surprised red haze. Bel was nowhere near being any sort of status such as that, and it was annoying when Squalo referred to the two of them as such. Not to mention the shark had just ordered her around again, which was fucking annoying in and of itself.
Before being physically able to answer back, a familiar voice bit into the dense atmosphere:
"Lilie~ I haven't been able to find you all day, ushi~"
The prince stood in the doorway, fiddling with one of his knives. The usual smirk he donned on his face widened even more when she nodded toward him.
The tiny skirt that she wore sashayed around as she hurried toward Bel and glanced back for a moment. Squa-san and the boss stared at each other oddly until the boss caught her eye.
Normally he would have probably just looked away, but today, he only held her gaze until she smiled softly and reached the prince. His stare was nothing like the ones he usually gave her; this one in particular was very calm and collected, rather than pissed off.
Once he had his arm around her shoulder and they walked out of the office, Lil finally allowed herself to sigh in relief.
The boss was okay. She had helped him once again.
"Lilie~ So, do you know what day it is today?"
Bel's odd question caused her to crinkle her eyebrows together. "Hmm? Bel, what are you-"
"What is today?~" The prince asked as he pushed her toward the stairs roughly.
"I don't know! Stop pushing me…" Lil muttered as she regained her balance quickly.
The prince's smile widened again when he placed his arm around her waist and walked her down the steps that he had just tried to push her down.
"Ushishishi~ Today is October 2nd, silly Lilie~"
Bel rubbed her stomach and laughed with little effort, causing Lil to double-take on the unimportant date.
"W-wait, that's-"
"Your birthday~" He finished cockily and creepily, his tongue lolling out of his mouth like it normally did.
Lil's heartbeat sped up almost automatically and her heart swam up to her throat. Not only was it just her birthday, but it was her 30th birthday. She hadn't actually celebrated the damn thing in years, but she had kept track and now it was finally hitting her.
"What; cat gotcha tongue, Lilie?~" Bel asked as he led her toward the kitchen. "C'mon, it's going to be fun tonight~"
The woman literally could hardly find it within herself to speak; these people actually cared about her birthday… or birthdays in general?
"Wait… what kind of fun?" Lil could hardly help but feel uneasy; Bel's kind of 'fun' was always questionable and tended to be sort of scary to her and the other members, but he shrugged.
"Well, we're all going out to a classy nightclub tonight just for you, princess~"
The prince flicked her nose in the usual way, causing Lil to yelp and hold her poor nose. "Don't do that, idiot! Besides, I don't drink."
"You do now~" Bel giggled as the two of them wandered into the kitchen.
"You're ready for tonight then?"
Squalo wasn't normally one to express concern for the boss, but going to a nightclub was something that even the boss knew Liliana would flip over.
Without waiting for a response, the shark leaned over the desk and gave a pained smile.
"Wait, how is your stress level right now? I know ever since that hit it's been-"
"Shut up, trash. I'm fine."
The boss silenced him with irritation. He had gone out on a hit a couple of days ago that had just seemed to hit a nerve with him and he couldn't help but feel anger due to the last hit he had been on was the one where he killed his father.
The damn shark stared at him for a long moment before finally putting his hands on his hips.
"Stupid boss; why don't you just fucking tell Lil? She always makes you calm the fuck down, doesn't she?"
Xanxus growled without so much as a second thought to it; he wished Squalo didn't know shit about how she helps him through his anger and pain. Maybe then he wouldn't fucking bother him about it every time they talked to each other.
"Why would I tell her shit? She doesn't need to know."
The boss fought to keep his voice calm so he wouldn't explode. The last thing he needed was to prove that damn shark right.
"Is it because you don't want to upset her?"
The shark leaned on his arm as he set it on the desk before him in a nonchalant way; almost as if he wasn't making a guess, but stating a fact.
Did he just not know when to fucking stop?
"Get the fuck out of my damn office," Xanxus took a deep breath before continuing: "Don't fucking tell her shit… or I'll kill you."
How the fuck did he know, anyway? It wasn't like the boss was an easy person to read… was it?
Surprisingly, Squalo had a Bel-like smile on his face as he turned to walk toward the door.
"Oh… what I came in to actually tell you was that we're going to that nightclub tonight for Lil's birthday and I got her a fucking shark blanket. It's cool as fuck; I found it at-"
"Get the fuck out of my office."
Xanxus made sure to accentuate on the point that the stupid captain was supposed to be leaving his damn office, so he finally took the hint and got his ass out of the room.
The boss could finally take a deep breath without some other piece of shit breathing down his throat. All of his subordinates hadn't stopped talking about the stupid woman's 30th birthday for at least a week and everyone had gotten her a gift… and as shown by the shitty shark, most of them are damn brainless.
Originally, he didn't give two shits if it was that damn woman's birthday or not; it didn't matter worth shit to him. Birthdays were just celebrating how fucking old someone was, and if anything, that's a fucking annoying thing to do. That was, until he thought of the perfect idea for a gift.
Bester nudged his nose against the lowest drawer that the boss had on his desk. The liger whined as Xanxus reached down to open it and there lay the one thing that he had decided to get her. It shone in the light; hand-made from all of the parts that he could find and branded with her initials, the boss knew that his present would be the best of all.
"Lili-chan~ Come in the kitchen, I have a surprise!"
Luss's cheery voice sounded from the parlor where she and Bel had curled up all day to watch movies; the first movie being a bloody comedy and the second one being a chick-flick and now they were at the tail-end of another gore movie.
"Ushishishi~ He's going to die~"
The prince laughed heartily as the protagonist was impaled twice; once through the head and another through his mid-section.
Lil couldn't help but wince when she stood to go over to the kitchen and the prince pulled himself up and pulled her into a hug, pinning her against the wall.
"My gift will be the best~"
Bel mused to himself and Lil bit her lip nervously as she thought about what that might possibly entail, but she finally pried him off of her.
"Bel, stop," Lil grabbed the tiara off of his head and put it atop of her own. "I'm the princess now."
The prince noticeably snorted and adjusted the crown to a more comfortable position.
"Perfect~"
Lil felt perfect; she had never been this carefree with this murderer next to her.
The two slowly walked into the kitchen to see a normal-looking vanilla-frosted cake on the table with a flower depicted in the middle of it with the words "Happy Birthday, Lili-chan!" at the bottom.
However, Lil noticed that there was a tiny piece of the cake missing, but decided that it wasn't really worth mentioning.
All of the members, including the boss, stood around the table, staring, until Lil brought her hands up to her face in surprise.
"I-I don't know what to say!"
There was an awkward silence about the room aside from Bel's constant giggling until Squalo shrugged as his arms crossed his chest.
"Neither do we."
"Bu-but wait," Lil wondered aloud. "How did… you guys even… know?"
Fran rose his hand quietly. "Lili-chaan. It was Senpai because he remembers everything that I say about you."
"Damn froggie better shut the fuck up or you're gonna get smacked the fuck up." Bel commented crossly as Lil remembered the day that she first arrived here when Fran listed off everything that he had then known about her, which included her birthday.
"Don't even fucking get us started about singing, because I'm not fucking doing it."
Squalo added in quickly, but Lil shook her head, feeling tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
"No, no… you guys didn't have to bake me a cake or anything; I don't normally celebrate my birthday and-"
"Lili-chaan, be grateful please. I went through hell and back to help that freak produce this masterpiece." Fran reminded her with a glare, but Lil shook her head.
"No! It's not that, I'm just… not used to this… thank you guys, so much!"
Lil smiled at everyone in the room and suddenly realized that Levi was present, but she couldn't see his face due to him being turned completely around.
"The fuck?"
Lil muttered aloud before the tall man turned around with a piece of frosting attached to his mustache.
It was stonily silent as everyone stared at Levi… until Luss spoke up: "Did you… seriously… eat that cake that Franie-kun and I worked so hard to make… for Lili-chan?"
The man shrugged with apathy for her in his face. "The little girl isn't that special anyway; life isn't fair."
The warning in his voice was enough for even Lil to back away from something she wasn't directly involved in, but Fran dangerously narrowed his eyes at Luss.
"If you wake up tomorrow and you're in a place that you don't recognize, remember me and the mental pain you caused me by saying that 'name' in my presence."
"I suppose it's not too hard for Varia parties to turn to shit… should have known…"
Lil almost couldn't keep a light-hearted laugh suppressed when Bel patted her back.
"When are we allowed to go out partying so we can all get drunk?"
The question quickly shut everyone up as Lil shrugged. "I suppose if you all want to, I don't mind at-"
"Wait, wait… what about our presents to you?"
Fran reminded everyone, and Luss immediately pulled something out from the bottom of his pocket that was neatly wrapped in glittery paper.
"Open it, Lili-chan! I'm sure you'll love it!"
Lil slowly opened the tiny thing to reveal a box and, inside of the tiny box, was a silver necklace with a tiny pink heart made of diamonds and jewels of all different colors was inside.
"N-no, you didn't have to get me something so expensive…"
Lil stared at the beautiful necklace and at the price tag that was left on it. "It would take someone's salary for a YEAR to pay this thing off…"
"C'mon, Lili-chan!" Luss gushed happily. "It's your 30th birthday, so I decided to spend a little pocket money getting you something nice to wear!"
At the mention of mere 'pocket money', Fran stepped forward. "Mine is slightly less expensive because I suck at gift-giving."
The frog handed her a box and nodded. "It'd be a lot more enjoyable to the rest of us if you opened this in front of Senpai."
Just that sentence let Lil know that this gift was going to be bad news. Nonetheless, she set it down on the table and proceeded to lift the top of the box off and covered her mouth at the shock of what she saw inside.
"Really?"
Lil asked the smug kid who shrugged innocently. "It's your color, Lili-chan."
She stared down at the expensive-looking, plush-like, white satin two-piece lingerie. "W-why?"
The moment she picked it up, Fran let out an inevitable "Ouch, senpai…" from an attack by Bel as the prince left her side in search for the frog that managed to escape by walking away.
Luss stared at it dreamily. "Who knew Franie-kun had taste?"
"Wait, Fran…" Lil called, but in the disarray, both the prince and the frog had disappeared into the depths of the house.
"What's wrong with it?" Squalo asked as he picked up the top-part of it.
"Is it see-through?" Levi asked with a perverted ring to his voice as he picked up the bottom-part.
"N-no…?"
Lil was almost afraid to say what it was as the boss stared at both of his subordinates with exasperation, but she shrugged.
"I-it's too small."
"SHIT." Levi cursed loudly as he threw the bottom part back at Lil. "Damn! What's the size on that bra, though?"
Squalo threw the thing at him and shook it out of his hands. "FIND. OUT. YOURSELF."
"I think he went drinking without us, guys." Lil shrugged. She already knew about what this man did when he wasn't on fucking hits…
Even though there was an awkward kink in the entire gift-giving process, Squalo handed his gift to her that had been sitting on the chair.
"This gift is actually useful."
Lil peeked inside of the bag and giggled a little bit before shaking her head.
"Noo, it's not!"
"VOIIII! What the hell are you talking about, stupid girl?"
"I already have a blanket, Squa-san!"
"VOIIII! Not one with sharks on it!"
Bel finally came back as Lil turned to him and Squalo finally ceased his raging. "Okay, so… I'm going to assume that since Levi hates my guts-"
"Suck my-"
"CALM DOWN!" Luss yelled loudly at the stupid, tall, and pervy man.
Lil then looked around for another certain person who had literally just been there, but he was gone now.
Squalo shrugged when she looked back at him for conformation. "He went to get ready. We're leaving soon, remember?"
Lil nodded slowly as the near-disappointment set in. No matter what just seemed to happen, today she had really hoped that the boss had been thoughtful enough to even say something to her…
Bel tugged on Lil's arm with a smirk on his face. "Lilie, help me get dressed~"
"No, Bel, you can dress yourself."
Lil sat in the cramped limousine with all of these men, squished in-between the prince and the frog to prevent any fights from breaking out.
All of them had picked out their best outfit for this 'classy nightclub' that they were headed out to. Was there even such a thing? There must have been; the boss had insisted that none of them bring any weapons in fear of someone getting scared and calling the cops.
Lil had sported her absolute favorite dress that she had bought when she moved in with these men; a purple one with a sweetheart neckline that faded out to white near the bottom and her only nice shoes being white heels. For the sake of Lussuria, though, she decided to sport his four hundred thousand dollar necklace that he had given her only hours prior.
Just in case they had to pay for damages and things as such, the boss had given her the money to hold onto inside of her small black purse that she had found on the ground while out on one of those 'walks' with Bel. Unfortunately for her, no identification or money could be found within it, so she figured 'why the hell not'.
The rest of the Varia seemed to dress in a uniform; black suit, white undershirt, and varying ties. They had finally left the mansion at 9pm; it had taken Lil an hour to get her hair just right to be comfortable for the rest of the night without the prince messing it up.
"Lilie~"
The prince whispered her name again as she thought of him and the stonily silent limo took off down the street.
"Why don't you drink?~"
Lil shrugged in response to his annoying question. "I don't know… it just… doesn't feel good after a while."
"So, you don't like hangovers?" Squalo asked, prying in on the conversation.
"That, too. I don't drink a lot because it just doesn't feel good; all of the alcohol in my system, I guess."
The shark stared at her for a long moment before looking back at the boss.
"Fran, are you even old enough to be drinking?"
Bel asked as he reached over Lil's head to poke the frog. Today was the only night that it was acceptable for Fran to take off that stupid hat of his, revealing a quite normal-looking head if Lil ever did say so herself.
"…We've been out drinking before." He replied after a frustrated sigh, but the prince merely laughed at him.
"I know~ Just checking; I'm not getting thrown in jail because of you~"
The limo suddenly screeched to a halt and Lil looked out of the tinted window to see a large, lit up building standing before them.
"You know the rules." The boss shrugged irritably; Lil felt for him, too. She knew that he probably hated parties, being the man that he was.
"If you decide to kill someone, take care of it, and no bringing women or men back to the HQ."
Lil received a hard glare from her boss as she nodded; she hadn't ever been out drinking with these people before, so she didn't exactly know the rules until they had been stated.
They stepped out of the limo, and when Lil's heels hit the ground, the loud music hit her ears clearly.
"So… this is how assassins party?"
After having her I.D. identified and having been patted down, Lil was finally allowed in.
Lights flashed brightly and very profusely on the dance floor, where many people happened to be dancing to some upscale techno song.
"Time to see how many drinks I can down before I begin vomiting." Fran stated as he headed immediately toward the bar.
Lil stood in the glaring light for about a fraction of a moment before she was pushed to the side by a young-looking man.
"Hey, I've never seen you here before." He shouted over the music.
Lil could hardly make out exactly what he was wearing and what his distinct features were, but she did notice that he had large hands as he attempted to lace his arms around her.
"Back up."
The prince was all up in the random boy's face until he seemed to get the point and decided to back away and back into the mob of people on the floor.
"Of course, my birthday HAD to be on a Friday night…"
All of the people would probably not make her life too much easier as Bel pulled her into the crowd with a smile.
"Dance with me~"
Lil felt a smile engulf her face when she realized that she couldn't resist his smile and he had already begun dragging her to somewhere in the middle of the dance floor.
Those idiots had already entered the club and gone to their usual places of business; Fran and Luss to the bar to have a shot contest, Levi and his high-class 'lady friends', the shark to hook up with a random for the evening, and Bel and Liliana with their dancing, probably.
The boss sighed in irritation; even when he was allowed to drink, he would come here and not be able to due to all of the desperate women who literally threw themselves at his face.
How annoying.
Xanxus trudged through all of the people to go sit at a place at the bar where he could just sit and somewhat relax.
The bartender lady that was in front of him asked him a question, probably if he wanted something to drink, but he only shook his head. He wasn't allowed to drink anyway, was he?
"That stupid woman did say I was allowed to for special occasions…" The boss recounted when she had officially banned him from alcohol, but strangely, he didn't feel like drinking.
It must have been the nightclub atmosphere.
With another ill-tempered sigh, the boss rubbed his neck with the struggle of hoping that no one noticed him and talked to him.
"A-ah, Bel… I'm going to get a drink…"
Lil panted after their fifth song that they danced to. Her little legs had had enough after three, but she kept going for the sake of the prince who hadn't wanted to let go of her.
"Okay, princess~"
The prince seemed to disappear into the crowd and Lil struggled to push past all of the bodies that clung together and brushed against her uncomfortably before she finally made it out of that hot mess.
She approached the bar and she sat down at an empty stool.
Almost immediately, a female bartender walked up to her. "What would you like, ma'am?"
Lil could almost sigh irritably; as much as she hated drinking, it wasn't like she had much of an excuse to do it very often.
"I'll take one Strawberry Daiquiri, please!"
The bartender smiled at her and nodded in understanding.
As the woman began to shake the ingredients together into her cocktail, Lil glanced around, wondering where everyone had disappeared to.
Fran and Lussuria already looked a little bit tipsy at the close end to the bar.
"Great…"
Lil sighed as she watched Fran fumble around for another shot.
She tried to spot Squalo, but the long-haired shark was nowhere to be seen.
Behind the two, she could see Levi sitting with three different girls and they were all… touching his facial hair… yeah, ew.
Without so much as a second glance at that wonderful scene, she looked back to see Bel dancing with some other girl in a pink, short and poufy dress.
Things like that shouldn't bother her, should they?
A small, burning feeling occurred right where her heart was stationed, and it surprisingly sort of hurt.
The sight of it mesmerized Lil as she was sucked into the scene, but she was shaken straight out of it by the bartender.
"Here you go!"
"Thank you!"
Lil shouted over the music and, right as she took a sip of the surprisingly-strawberry-like drink, a familiar face appeared next to her as another man got up and left some sort of tip on the bar.
Her boss was sitting there, literally staring at nothing. Lil narrowed her eyes quizzically; of all of the Varia members, he was the one that she expected to be drinking.
Lil glanced back at Bel; she had originally planned to get a drink and go straight back to him, but it appeared that he was already busy with something… someone… else.
After picking up her blood-red drink, she sat down next to her boss.
"Boss."
Even though she was sure her quiet whisper couldn't be heard, he looked up at her and his eyes dragged themselves straight to her drink.
"Um… oh! I forgot to tell you you're allowed to drink tonight, didn't I?" Lil asked, but the boss merely shrugged.
"I don't drink at nightclubs."
His answer surprised Lil as she shook her head and pushed her drink toward him. "What are you talking about? I don't either, but look; here I am."
Xanxus glanced at the alcoholic beverage and Lil flicked the fancy glass that it was in.
"Go ahead and drink some; I was surprised at how good it tasted."
The boss gave her a distrustful look, much like the very one where he thought that she was trying to poison him, but she nodded at it.
"It tastes really good."
He sighed visibly as he took a small sip before suddenly downing the whole thing.
"I-uh… um…" Lil fumbled for words at how quickly the boss's demeanor had changed as she got the bartender's attention again. "C-can we have two more?"
She nodded and glanced at her boss as if she knew him, but started on two more beverages as the boss stared down at the counter.
"Why the fuck would that stupid woman taunt me with alcohol when the moment that we leave, I won't be able to have it?"
The thought stuck with him as he watched Liliana's facial expression change when she glanced out at the dance floor for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Here you two go," the waitress addressed the two of them and the small woman turned back around and nodded. "Thank you."
She handed one over to him and the moment his lips touched the alcoholic liquid, he shot back in surprise.
Was this… how it always felt to drink alcohol? The tingly sensation and the… want to drink it all of the time?
After much discipline, he had gotten used to not having any and, to show himself how strong he was, he didn't complain one damn bit about it.
Now, it was right here, in front of him… and he was supposed to drink it then be expected to go back to normal?
Liliana stared at him as something passed through her eyes while she glanced at him. The lights that kept shining brought out every color of the necklace that Luss bought her, which caused her purple dress to stand out.
"Boss."
The woman was staring at him now.
"I-"
"Hell-o!"
An unfamiliar voice caused Liliana to turn around to face two larger men staring down at her.
"What brings you here, little lady?" The tallest of the two spoke to her in a curious voice and she smiled at them, despite their somewhat creepy manner. "It's my birthday… so I'm celebrating with my friends!"
The shorter one took her hand and pulled her out toward the dance floor. "That's nice! Let's have a birthday dance, shall we?"
"Keep my drink safe!" The woman called back to him as she was dragged out onto the dance floor with both the skinny and the tall guy and disappeared beyond the sea of people on the floor.
Xanxus only sighed; who did that woman think she was… dancing with people that she didn't fucking know? That was how people got kidnapped and all of that shit.
Without hesitation, he downed the entire drink of his.
Damn, the woman was right; these were damn good.
"You're so small; how the fuck are you 30 years old?" The tall man conversed with Lil out on the dance floor as the two of them shared her and danced with her together.
"I-I found the fountain of youth!"
Lil knew by now that she was just spouting bullshit, but that was what seemed to make these men laugh.
"God damn, you're so cute. You sure you're 30 years old? Not 21?" The shorter man had her now, his blonde hair looking so much like Bel's that Lil had to turn to make sure he was still with the cupcake looking bitch over on the other side of the floor.
Though, by now, neither of them could be seen until suddenly, both the shorter man and Bel stood toe-to-toe with each other as one of them pushed her out of the way.
"I thought I told you to back up." Bel's intimidating voice met her ears as she realized that the blonde, short man that she had been dancing with had been the same one with the large hands from earlier.
"Woah, really? Okay, let's go then, bro."
The short man signaled to the tall one and they both filed their way out of the dance floor and Bel took Lil's wrist.
For a split second, Lil's heart soared. She was going to dance with him again and not have to worry about being-
She stood there, looking all dazed and confused. It was Ms. Rainbows and Sunshine herself; Miss Pinkie-Pie.
-jealous.
The heart that Lil thought had just soared now seared with the burning sensation that was equipped with jealousy.
"Lilie~ This is Abriana and she's my dance partner for tonight~"
Lil's voice nearly caught in her throat as she opened her mouth to say hello, but Abriana's attention immediately fluttered to the crown atop of Lil's head as she pointed to it.
"Ohhh my goshhh!" Her voice slurred just a bit. "It's sooo pretty, where did you get it?"
Bel laughed and literally plucked it straight off of Lil's head without so much of a thought to how that would turn out in Lil's favor.
"Oh… um… okay…" Lil tried to open her mouth, but those two were already off in cupcake land as their faces got closer together, so Lil decided against it and slowly trudged straight back to the boss.
It wouldn't be half as bad if he hadn't chased away the two guys that she had been making somewhat small-talk with just to do that to her.
The tears threatened to spill over, but she bravely sat down next to the boss, who gave her an odd look. Taking a moment to breathe in and out so that her voice wouldn't crack when she finally spoke, she looked up to see a different bartender waiting for something to do.
"Can I have another Strawberry Daiquiri, please?"
Xanxus watched as Liliana ordered yet another drink. At this point, it was just one after the other.
Soon, she was on her third drink, at which she had tears streaming down her face by now.
"The hell did those guys say to you?"
He asked her, but she didn't answer him as her fourth drink was already on its way.
"N-nothing… no one s-said any-nything, I'm fiiiine."
The woman's voice shook from the rapid alcohol intake that she had induced by drinking so damn fast and asking for more and more.
The boss soon realized that those were nearly the same ones that he had spoken to her only twelve hours prior to this moment and he shook his head, grabbing her hand when it curled around her fourth glass.
"No; don't even fucking think about lying to me, woman. Don't be stupid and just tell me."
Liliana stared at him for a moment without moving or speaking, but she lessened her grip on the glass before her, letting him let go of her hand.
"N-no… I'm sorrry, it's fineee."
It was obvious that the woman was trying her hardest to control her slur, but it couldn't be contained as the boss grabbed the alcohol away from her.
"Stupid fucking woman; you're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow and you'll hate yourself for it."
"I do not care. Not… care."
Liliana shook her head and reached for the glass that had been taken from her, but the boss set it down near his left elbow where she couldn't reach it.
She sighed and took a glance behind her to see the prince and some random woman in a pink dress grinding it on the dance floor.
"Is that why she just wants to drink it all away? Because of something as fucking stupid as THAT?"
Xanxus glanced straight back to her and she pointed straight at them.
"Abriana. Sluuuut."
Liliana turned back around and put her head on the bar in a distressed way. "No more."
In that simple gesture, it was obvious that this is why that stupid woman never wanted to fucking drink; she was afraid that when she did, she'd show her pain. She drank to get rid of it, too, just like he used to.
Xanxus struggled to breathe as he pulled her back up by her hair and stared her in the eye. "Look at me, you damn woman. You can't fucking go around drinking away your feelings or you'll end up like me."
She stared at him only a little bit more and her eyes narrowed in confusion. "I'm sowwie."
The boss stared at the woman and watched her begin to cry only a little bit, but he could hardly contain himself at the prospect of hitting that stupid fucking prince for even daring to make someone as gentle and non-threatening as Liliana cry and drink herself to hell tonight on her god damn birthday, but at the same time… why did he care? Why should he?
"You're sooooo funny..."
Xanxus glanced down two seats to see Bel and that Abriana woman sitting together ordering drinks and getting very close to each other.
Liliana still had her head in her hands, so she couldn't see the sight that was near her, but she looked up at him. "What I do wrong?"
Her hands shook with what looked like alcohol and adrenaline mixed together, giving her some sort of rush.
"You didn't do anything wrong." The boss told her as more tears welled out of her eyes. "If didn't, why no dance wiff me?"
The question wasn't exactly an obvious one, but Liliana turned to see the couple before it was too late and the boss couldn't stop her.
"Lilie~"
Bel laughed as he brought that Abriana chick over with him as well and stood before the woman.
"This the girl you ditch for me?" The pinkie asked the prince as she pointed at Liliana. Bel shrugged, almost as if he didn't want to admit to anything, but the pink woman pointed to Liliana's processing face.
"She's so small; it looks like a child."
Abriana began to laugh, but before Xanxus could even get himself pissed, Liliana had hopped out of her barstool and punched the woman square in the nose without hesitation.
Astonished, the boss jumped out of his chair and dragged the stupid woman away from the impending catfight that was bound to happen, even if she growled: "I hope she die from bleed."
Bel did the same with Abriana, but that stupid pink thing was crying her eyes out now, blubbering things that hardly even made sense. All of her makeup began to streak down her face now, even with Bel trying to calm her down, her crying did not cease.
"Stupid… woman!"
Xanxus hissed in Liliana's ear, but she shook her head and twitched rapidly.
"No; let fight. I kill her."
As stupid as he personally thought of her right at this very moment, the boss couldn't help but admit to himself; his woman knew how to fight… even if she was drunk. It was well-deserved, too; that pinkie was crying her eyes out still and there was a crowd of people beginning to crowd around her, wondering what her problem was.
"Boss, do leave?"
Liliana looked up at him and asked that question, which was enough for him to grin mean-spiritedly.
"Do you want to kick her ass some more before we get kicked out?"
The woman stared at him with a confused look on her face. "Y-you not let."
The boss sighed and lifted her onto her feet as she twitched in an unsightly way.
"If my stupid subordinate woman wants to get into a bar fight, I'll let her."
Her gaze clouded in her hazed decision-making process, but the security had already made it clear that they wanted everyone involved and everyone who had come with them out of the club.
"Walk on your own damn feet," the boss snarled as Liliana tried to walk normally but stumbled every few steps until he gave her his right arm. "Stupid woman."
Liliana strode past Abriana and kicked her in the cheek and spit in her hair. "Ne-ever come near again!"
Abriana shrieked even louder than she had before, attracting more attention.
Bel stared back at the two of them as the boss notified the rest of the members that they had to leave, causing two very drunk men Fran and Lussuria to hobble after Liliana and him.
Levi seemed to catch on, not normally being one to get drunk outside of the HQ, and followed up on them, finding Squalo and pulling him by his long hair away from some other random woman.
It took forever for all of the members to finally get inside the damn limo, and when they did, the driver just took off down the road to the HQ.
"The hell kinda night was that?"
Squalo asked with a mini-slur in his voice as Fran and Lussuria laughed the night away, forgetting all of their quarrels before they had come out to get wasted.
The boss glanced down at the woman clawing at his arm. "Have fun?" She whispered to him and he could hardly resist an exasperated snort.
"Stupid woman."
For the first time, she gave him a confused look and tilted her head. "Stupid man."
"Did we seriously leave without paying thanks to the little girl?" Levi asked as he stared incredulously at a drunken Liliana.
"I suppose so." The boss speculated; he had never even thought of the bill or anything… he was only interested in watching Liliana kill Abriana.
It only seemed like mere seconds before the limo pulled itself to a stop in front of the HQ and everyone drunkenly stumbled out of the vehicle and up the stairs, somewhat.
"Woman, can you walk?"
The boss asked her quietly, but she shook her head without saying a word.
"Tch."
Xanxus literally swept her into his arms as her dress swayed in the wind and he watched her eyes narrow again in somewhat confusion.
"Where?"
"Bed, birthday bitch." As exasperated with her as he was already, the boss couldn't help but even think about how she would feel when she woke up after all of that bullshit.
He climbed out of the limo and into the HQ, where he walked down the long hallways to reach Liliana's room and put her to bed. When he got to her room, he literally threw her onto her bed and turned to leave, but she caught his attention:
"Wanted… kill…"
The boss pinched the bridge of his nose in a rather frustrated manner.
"I know, stupid woman." He muttered, closing her door and turning off her light. However, before he could get to his office, he remembered the gift that he was going to give her.
The man walked the short distance to his office, where by now, Bester was sound asleep on the floor, snoring somewhat, and he had to open the bottom drawer as quietly as he could.
Then, he grabbed the closest pen to his hand and a small piece of paper and began to write on it:
Happy birthday, you fucking stupid woman. Here's your damn present since I forgot to give it to you earlier. I know you're still learning, but now you won't fucking drop mine. I made this thing, so don't fucking break it.
P.S.: Don't shoot Abriana with it, either.
Xanxus could hardly contain an inward snort at the entire prospect of Abriana getting her ass kicked by that soon-to-be-hungover woman.
The man picked up his 'present' and headed out the door with it in his hand and the note in the other.
He quietly travelled down the now-exceedingly quiet hall and watched something glint in the faint starlight from outside.
The prince was walking down the hallway the opposite way toward him and, having gotten his crown back, he walked the halls calmly yet quietly for someone like him.
Xanxus was almost past the prince… until he remembered the second that Liliana had cried over him just dancing with another woman.
Thwack.
The boss's fist connected with the prince's cheek and he went flying against the wall and lied there, unconscious… or at least, dazed.
"That was for the damn woman."
He turned away from the bastard and thought to himself about how he had just punched the prince similarly to the way she had punched Abriana.
Tch.
Maybe he and the woman were more alike than he had originally thought.
After finally reaching the woman's room, she was already asleep and everything, even if she hadn't quite undressed yet.
The boss sighed when he placed her note and present atop of the dresser beside her bed near her head.
The pistol glinted in the starlight and the boss left the room as silently as he possibly could.
For some odd reason… he had felt it.
That woman had made him watch what it was like to do what he used to do before she had tried to stop him.
Just that, that sole reason, was why she understood him.
I knew this was going to be long… Levi is literally me at parties at the eating cake scene… and yeah this isn't too appropriate for children… or me…
Liliana's packing heat when she's wasted though… am I right or am I right? xD –just joking-
I apologize I didn't update yesterday; I was invited to a surprise party (which was somewhat the inspiration for this chapter)! Plus, that gave me a little extra time to finish up the chapter and make it as good as it would get ^-^ I would also like to apologize for my slight time-skips… I know that they can get quite annoying…
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far; the amount of reviews really gives me hope ^-^
Wow! I reached 50 follows and almost 40 favorites! Thank you so much for reading, guys! :3
I'm also trying to do a little editing of earlier chapters without going on hiatus (for the… what; 3rd time?) so wish me luck ^-^ Some of those early chapters need to be literally rewritten… -rolls up sleeves to get down to business- -to defeat… the Huns-
I've had three snowdays this week and it has been spent doing a little bit of revamping of earlier chapters as seen above! Hopefully, people will actually get through those and get to this point in the fic now ^-^ (or soon…)
I almost had it done at 9pm until I decided 'yolo' and added the whole shebang with Abriana in so… (This is entire thing is 22 pages in Word!) I hope there's not too much OOC going on here…
Holy crap, so it took about 8 hours to completely write this and edit it… so… I hope you guys like it, I'm sorry it's so late… Tumblr must die… it is also longer than chapter one at a whopping 8.6k+… wow…
:3 Leave a review, please and thank you! ^-^
Reviews:
animeotaku0434: Noo, it's okay ^-^ xD He is quite cute, though :3 Boss-chan is the epitome of confused in that chappy xD Noooooo; shoujo manga is better than my story because you can actually see it xD q-q Thank you, though; it means a lot ^-^ -le blush-! I shall update as soon as I can :3 Thank you for taking the time to leave another review! :3
Bokviki: Every. Weekend. xD The Varia is full of surprises ^-^ My favorite number is 9. 69 tho. xD That last comment literally made me laugh so hard xD Oh my… xD –troll face- ^-^! Thank you for reviewing again ^-^! :3
tsuri182718: Hehe, thank you! I don't seem to have much time, either, so yeah q-q Thanks for leaving another review and the encouragement! :3 ^-^
Neeky-chan: Hehe, I'm glad that you like it ^-^ R-really? I tried not to make her powerful by giving her something small to attack with, darts being her primary weapon. T-thank you ^-^ I worked very hard not to make her a Sue :3 Hehe, I'm so glad you like it ^-^ -floats away with joy- I do have a total headcannon, ohmy… but it cannot be revealed yet because it shall appear in the story soon… maybe in a couple of chapters… :3 I like your headcannon, though! It makes total sense ^-^ I hope your day is stunning as well, as I will try to update every weekend ^-^! Thank you so much for leaving me a review :3!