A/N: Song inspiration for this chapter: Butterfly by Crazy Town. The irony of that band's name, hey...

"Jenny! Let me in!"

Jenny jumped the moment she heard NNY's voice, and she hadn't even realised he'd arrived.

He must have broken in through the window because she could have sworn she'd locked the front door...

"Jenny? Come on! Open up."

He started banging at her bedroom door, and she couldn't bear to see him right now. She couldn't bear to see anyone.

She was too ashamed of herself. So she grabbed her blankets and hid beneath her bed, wrapping herself up like a little burrito.

NNY banged again. "Jenny!"

He really was relentless today, and if she didn't act soon, then he may chop his way through her door like Jack Nickleson in The Shining.

His name was already Johnny...

"Jenny, don't let the pain consume you!"

She whimpered, wrapping the blankets around her tighter. "Please, just leave me alone. I can't bear to see anyone right now. I'm nothing but a joke!"

NNY stopped banging, falling silent on the other side of the door. Then he growled, rattling the handle.

"No, you are not! Please, Jenny... just open up. I can't leave you like this. It's fucking up my brain!"

Jenny cried even harder, and the motion hurt her chest.

Just why did those reviewers have to be so mean? They had said that her paintings were uninspired and that she should just go back home to the farm and forget about the city.

NNY sighed. "Look... those assholes don't know what they're talking about. Your art is amazing."

She choked on another sob. "You're just saying that because you're my boyfriend."

"No, I'm not. I really do think your paintings are wonderful, Jenny. Take it from me, the guy who has drawn nothing but demented stick figures these past few years! If anyone's the joke around here, then it's me!"

Again, she commenced with the waterworks, and she just couldn't help herself.

How was she supposed to show her face in public again? How was she supposed to look her customers in the eye when they came to her shop?

Oh, no. Was she going to have to move to Timbuktu?

NNY shook the door handle. "Jenny... don't let their comments get to you. Those bastards aren't worth crying for. Who cares what they think? They wouldn't know art if it flew up and whacked them in the face!"

"I care..." she whispered. "People will read their reviews and agree with them."

"What? Don't be so stupid! I can't believe I'm about to say this, but not everyone is a sheep out there. Someone, somewhere, will love your paintings. No matter what those clowns say."

Jenny thought about what he said. She supposed NNY was right. There were plenty of famous books, songs, and movies that still received scathing reviews, yet they were highly successful.

But why did those reviewers have to be so cruel? They were so nice to her face, yet it turned out they never really liked her after all.

Jenny really was naive. She actually thought for a moment that she had a real chance at becoming an artist.

But it turned out she was wrong.

"You... you were right, NNY... I never should have gone to that stupid art gallery. At least then I wouldn't be feeling like this..."

She buried her face into her carpet, spying a small breath mint beneath her bed. It may be the only thing she had to eat now for the foreseeable future.

Jenny would never leave this room again.

NNY paused at the sound of her heart-breaking confession, and it looked as if she had only gone and upset him.

He had said her crying was hurting his poor brain, and she really was the worst kind of person.

How could she do this to him?

NNY exhaled heavily, then he pressed his head to the door with a thump. "I didn't want to be right. But you can't let those fuckheads destroy your happiness, Jenny. So... promise me you won't ever devote another single thought to them."

NNY was right. He was absolutely fucking right, but she just couldn't find the strength to get up.

Their comments hurt.

He tried his luck with the door handle again, but she just couldn't face him right now. She looked and felt awful.

Besides, she just needed to wallow for a little bit longer.

It was okay to be pathetic from time to time. Sometimes it was what one needed.

So she buried herself up in her blankets. Maybe when she re-emerged from her cocoon again, she would be as beautiful as a butterfly...

Hours passed by the time Jenny emerged from her blanket cocoon. She may not have the butterfly wings as proof of her healing, but at least the ache vanished from her chest.

She was no longer hurting. It seemed her grief had come to pass.

Slowly, she peeked out the door, gazing around the hall.

NNY must have gone home in the end. She never heard him leave, but then she never exactly heard him arrive either.

NNY was like a ninja.

"NNY?"

No sound came, and her heart sank to her stomach. It seemed he had gone home after all.

Who could blame him?

He probably got sick of the sound of her crying.

A dark shape moved at the end of the hall. Jenny yelped, running back into her room.

When she peered back out the door, she could have sworn she was looking at a demon.

It had glowing white eyes, and she whimpered, shutting the door again slowly. Maybe if she stayed really quiet, the demon would go away.

The demon blinked. "Jenny?"

Her heart shot up to her chest again when she recognised the voice. "NNY?"

He scrambled to his feet and then stepped into the light. Jenny cried for joy.

"Oh, thank goodness it's you. I... I thought..."

For some reason, she couldn't finish her sentence. She was just overwhelmed at the sight of him.

She really thought he had left her. Yet it seemed he hadn't gone anywhere after all.

Jenny had never felt so touched.

"You... stayed the whole night..."

He rubbed the back of his head, peering to the left of him. "Y-yeah..."

Jenny squeezed her eyes, shedding the last of her tears. "You... really didn't have to. But... thank you. It means a lot to me."

NNY stopped rubbing the back of his head, gazing at her once again. A small smile crossed his face.

"It was really no trouble at all. You... you're worth waiting around for, Jenny..."

Now it was Jenny's turn to glance the other way. A tear dripped from her eye.

NNY tracked its moment down her cheek, but he didn't comment on it. Instead, he cleared his throat.

"So... um... do you finally feel better?"

She smiled. "Yes."

NNY sighed, and his whole body seemed to sag as he released the pent-up air from his lungs. "Thank God! I'm so glad those assholes haven't completely destroyed your spirit. You're not unoriginal or uninspired, Jenny."

Jenny flinched as he recited some of the awful things those reviewers said about her.

NNY noticed, cursing out loud. "Fuck! I'm so sorry. Please don't retreat again. I didn't..."

He fumbled for words as he tried to backtrack what he said. It wasn't until Jenny stepped forward and took his hands that he finally stopped trying.

"NNY, it's okay. I believe you when you say you like my art. You're not like those mean reviewers. You're kind..."

He arched a brow. "Kind? You have met me, right?"

She giggled. "Of course I have. While you may not be so kind to everyone else, you're still kind to me. That's all that matters."

A smile grew across his face. "Well... that's because you mean a lot to me. You're not like all those hideous goblin people. You're special. That's why I stayed in the end. There was no way I was going to leave you—"

She grabbed his face, pecking him quickly on the cheek. NNY froze, his eyes growing wide.

"I... um... w-what was I...?" he muttered.

Jenny laughed again, leading him into the kitchen. "Come on. I will make you some tea."

She flicked the light on, moving towards her pot above the stove. That's when her eyes found the clock.

2 AM?

Had she really been in her room for fifteen hours?

She giggled, glancing at NNY. "2 AM. Can you believe—?"

Jenny gasped once she saw the state of his face.

He was covered in mud.

"NNY, what happened to you? You're filthy."

A nervous sound left his throat. "I... may have gotten a little carried away with some newspapers."

She shook her head, filling up a bowl of warm water. "Well, this just won't do. We must get you cleaned up right away. Take a seat, please."

NNY sat at her instruction, and once she was finished filling up a bowl, she joined his side.

She grabbed his chin, turning his face.

He wasn't just covered in mud. He was also covered in ink too.

And were those papercuts on his fingers?

She sighed. What on earth had he got himself into?

"So, tell me exactly what happened?" She started wiping the mud off his face like he was a five-year-old child.

NNY sat perfectly still. "Well... if I recall correctly, I scoured the city for every newspaper I could find that contained the reviews of your art show. Then when I found them all, I brought them back to the house, pulled out a knife, then stabbed them to death!"

His eyes popped next as he released a crazy laugh.

Despite how insane he looked, she still smiled. "You know you can't murder newspaper right, NNY? It's not alive like you and me..."

He stopped laughing, rolling his eyes. "Don't I know... Besides, it wouldn't be my first time trying to kill an inanimate object. Yet instead of Styrofoam, it was ink and paper this time..."

Jenny couldn't help herself now. She giggled, and he looked at her in surprise.

"But it's true. I really did try to kill two Styrofoam Pillsbury Boys. They left me no choice!"

She couldn't stop.

NNY sighed, looking away. "Fine. Don't believe me..."

"I... I do believe you. You... just never fail to put a smile on my face. Th-thank you."

She kissed his nose, and he blinked in surprise. Then he smiled slightly, angling his face so she could wipe more mud away. "Whatever makes you happy..."

Jenny washed the rest of his face.

NNY drummed his fingers on the chair. "You know... I could have sworn those newspapers were talking to me for a moment. All I could hear were their nasty words, and I just wanted to murder every last sentence coming from their mouths! Haha!"

He broke into a fit of psychotic laughter, kicking himself back on the chair. He almost toppled backwards.

Jenny pushed his chair the right way again. "Keep still, Johnny C. I'm almost finished."

He stopped, sitting as still as a statue again. "Okay. Since you used my full name just now..."

She did? Jenny hadn't even noticed.

Maybe she was acting like his mom a little too much.

She finally got all the mud off his face. He reached up, running a finger down his cheek. "You got it all off."

She shrugged. "The least I could do."

He stopped poking at his clean visage, regarding her now. "So... are you really going to give up on painting?"

Jenny's eyes enlarged. Then she shrunk, hiding behind her pink hair. "Did I really say that?"

"Yes," he replied, without preamble.

She sighed, covering her face with her hands, yet she didn't cry this time.

Honestly, she was all cried out.

So a few people thought her paintings weren't amazing. Who cared? Many other people may still like them.

But Jenny couldn't help but agree with them a little.

Her art was clichéd. It was uninspired...

In the end, her paintings were nothing but a pretty cover-up.

As much as Jenny adored flowers, there were creatures living inside her that were just begging to come out.

She glanced at NNY.

The portrait she had seen in his living room had been absolutely inspirational. It was everything she wanted her art to be.

She didn't want to create pretty things anymore. Jenny wanted to create something dark, something tortured...

Something that would make those nasty reviewers cry tears of blood.

Literally.

NNY shifted his eyes when he noticed her staring at him. "W-why are you staring at me like that?"

She bit her lip. "NNY? Could you teach me how to paint?"

His eyes bugged. Then he shot out of his seat, staring at her aghast. "Me? Why? I haven't painted in years! Well, unless you don't count all the blood on the walls..."

"Wh-what blood on walls...?" she asked.

He didn't seem to hear her, pacing the kitchen. "Seriously, Jenny... I have a better chance of teaching you how to rip a man's diaphragm open with a plastic Spork! I'm sorry. There's nothing I can teach you..."

She bowed, twirling her pink hair in her fingers. "Well... what if you taught me how to paint with blood...?"

NNY staggered, stumbling over a chair. "Are you talking about... murder...?"

Jenny corrected herself. "No... of course not... maybe... I don't know. Blood seems to be the only medium you know these days... and... well..."

NNY looked as if he just saw the three-headed dog Cerberus digging up dinosaur bones in his backyard.

"Oh... sure... okay. W-wow..."

He fell back onto his chair, and now the clock ticked away the silence. He drummed his fingers

Jenny twirled her thumbs. She couldn't believe she was asking this, but she had never been all that right in the head either.

Besides... those reviewers really hurt her feelings...

"Well... say something..." she whispered.

His eyes rolled her way. "You really want to go out and murder people? I know you've killed before, Jenny. But you've only killed in self-defence..."

She sighed. "I... I know... but... if you think about it... it kind of would be like self-defence. They were mean to me, after all."

NNY's eyes widened as he understood the full intent of her meaning. Then he swallowed, drumming his fingers again.

"It only makes you feel good for a short while..."

Jenny played with a lock of her hair. " I figured. Still... sometimes I imagine what it would be like if I... Never mind. You're right. I'm no real killer..."

The clock continued to tick on the wall. Jenny could feel his eyes on her the whole time.

She was dying to say something, but she was too afraid. She hoped he didn't think less of her now.

NNY looked at her like she hung the moon. Like she was this pure, innocent creature that would never harm a fly.

Well, not unless the fly hurt her first.

He was wrong, though. Not all her kills had been in self-defence.

Some had been intentional...

Jenny still had the remains of one guy she'd dated locked away in her basement.

He was a jerk, yet she still wanted to preserve the memory of the date. It had started out so well, but then he decided to grab her breast.

A shame. He'd had such pretty gray eyes too. That was why she had preserved them in a pickle jar in the end.

His 'eyes' were currently in the cupboard just behind NNY.

She'd been too afraid to tell him in case he looked at her differently. NNY honestly believed she was some kind of angel, yet she really wasn't.

In all honesty, Jenny was just another devil...

"You wouldn't be the first person who asked me to teach them.."

Jenny glanced at him. "Really?"

NNY finally met her eyes, and a dark shadow passed over his face. He looked as if he wanted to vomit.

Oh, no. Was it because of Jenny? Did she make him sick now?

"Fortunately... I killed him in the end. He was a complete monstrosity. It would have sickened me to teach someone like that..."

Jenny hung her head, and she guessed it was a 'no' then. Suppose she could always learn to paint with, well... paint...

She didn't have to spill the blood of her enemies.

"But you weren't sick like he was, Jenny. While you shouldn't admire me, you shouldn't let those assholes laugh at you either. I wasn't going to tell you this... but I was planning on going out and finding them once I knew you were better. So I would be a hypocrite if I told you, "No, you can't kill them..."

Silence filtered through the room. Now the only thing Jenny could hear was her pounding heart.

"So... is that a yes?"

NNY studied her for some time, narrowing his eyes, and it was like he was assessing her somehow.

Did he find her worthy enough to teach?

Then a smile stretched across his face, and she guessed it was a yes then.

"When would you like to start?" he said.

Jenny squealed all of a sudden, jumping into his arms. They flew backwards on the chair, landing on the kitchen floor, but Jenny was too elated to care.

He'd said yes!

"Thank you, thank you! This means so much to me, NNY!"

NNY grunted in pain, trying to get back up again, but she hung onto his neck. "N-no problem... I would be honoured to take you on as an apprentice, Jenny. You passed all my tests."

She hugged him tighter. "So, you don't find me disgusting? It turns out I'm not such a good person after all, NNY."

"No. Not at all. Honestly, I'm glad... because I was really holding back before..."

Jenny opened her eyes, gazing down at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

NNY gave a freaky, high-pitched laugh, curling his fingers around her wrists. She winced as he cut off her circulation.

"You want to see real blood...?"

Jenny blanched at the look on his face. Then she swallowed, licking her lips. "Y-yes."

She was doing this. No backtracking now.

His short, high-pitched bark turned into a full-blown cackle now, and he sounded like a deranged party clown.

"Then let's go paint the town red with the blood of your enemies!"

He dragged her out of her apartment, laughing like a lunatic the whole time, and she guessed they were doing this.

Time to get revenge.

A/N: please don't resort to violence in order to get back at your enemies. It's not nice.

Take this story with a pinch of salt. I never set out to make this a straightforward romance. I think NNY would need a girl as crazy and murderous as he was anyway. Who else would understand him but a fellow homicidal maniac?

Jenny has many sides to her...