Chapter Summary: Shrike's heart is soaring, utterly charmed as the man she's been pining over validates all her confusing feelings with a searingly passionate kiss. She's just not so sure if she can keep up...
Author Notes: All I can say is, enjoy.
In all her years, decades even, of skulking down alleyways, of stalking snow-covered streets…
Of sneaking into people's homes, stealing whatever from breadcrumbs to lives…
Of watching happy families from afar… Of spying on those counting the money they're too busy hoarding to have a happy family…
In all her years of being the Butcher, Shrike has become exceptionally skilled at reading people. To the emotions plain on their face to their more hidden desires, only but a handful of times has she ever encountered a person whose character she hasn't been able to expose to light.
Yet, in this moment, as she stares up into that smug, almost dreamy grin on his face, his eyes glinting with a warmth so very foreign to their depths, Shrike is completely and utterly at a loss.
It's impossible, trying to get a read on the man before her. What with his devilishly charming smile and nigh-smoldering expression, and the way her lips still tingle from the heated kiss he'd pressed upon them, she's finding it hard to just breathe, let alone think.
All the doubt that'd plagued her, tormented her mind earlier has conspicuously vanished. It's all but been wiped away in the smothering heat of a single, damning kiss.
Only an empty void's been left behind. A pit desperately yearning for more.
Just one kiss wasn't enough.
She needs more.
Standing on tiptoe, Shrike reaches up to grab Crocodile by the collar before wrenching him down closer to her height. She uses the added leverage to kiss him back, trying futilely to return as much ardor as he himself delivered but a moment before.
It comes out clumsy. Her kiss is fumbling and haphazard compared to his initiative. It's born both of being out of practice and being semi-inexperienced to being with. She's been kissed. Definitely more than she cares to think of, but as far as taking a more active role… she may as well be a virgin.
It more than shows. What with the way she clumsily tries to kiss him back, it's obvious to both of them just how out of her element she is.
He'd made it feel so natural, practically effortless for him. His kiss had been passionate, practically searing in its fervor. More important, it was wanted. If only she could capture even half the expertise he'd shown. Anything to save herself from floundering like some kissless teenager...
The difference in size between them doesn't help, either. Even on tiptoe, her fists remain clenched tightly about his collar, forcing him to stay still. It's a height that's uncomfortable for both of them, somehow both too low and too high all at once. Just as she struggles to keep from falling forward into his chest, he, too, maintains a precarious balance of his own.
He can't fault her for her enthusiasm, at least. That, she has in plenty.
Shrike feels his lips break into a grin against hers, clearly amused by her fumbling attempt to return a kiss as skillfully as the one he'd given her. It brings a fresh blaze of embarrassment to her cheeks. From how heated they feel, she just knows they're singed far more than a little rosy at this point.
Her hands quickly untangle from his shirt, eager to pull away before she embarrasses herself any further. He must already think so little of her admittedly amateur skills. She only hopes he realizes she's never been more out of her element in her life. As many times as she's foolishly pined for such a girlish romance-anything to distract her from the biting cold and loneliness-never once has she ever dreamed it could actually happen to someone like her.
Now that it's here, she feels as if she'll drown at any second. It's all she can do to just keep herself above the surface.
A low chuckle from before her grabs her attention.
She looks upward into Crocodile's face, and the pitying, amused grin she finds waiting for her just about kills her on the spot. It seems she's impressed him in the worst way possible.
"That bad, huh?" The words come out under her breath, an airy mumble. Even just the breathlessness of her voice is enough to bring another flash of heat to her face.
A husky laugh rumbles from him, and she hastily averts her eyes as the mortification washes over her. They roam about the room: the floor, the desk, the pink reptile lazily watching from the desk… anywhere but him knowing he'll just be wearing that stupid, smug, admittedly handsome grin of his...
Her arm crosses over her midsection, clamping onto the other as her fingers anxiously pick at a scarred ridge there. "I…"
Shrike doesn't really know what to say, and her words trail off nervously. It makes her want to smack herself, desperately wishing that just a single mote of the courage that drove her to confront him in the first place still burned in her chest.
Normally, she's no stranger to the art of flirting. She's used it plenty of times to sneak her way into places or convince someone to look the other way. Maybe even used it to catch some of her more lecherous prey off guard...
But that was play flirting.
This is the real thing.
Apparently, she's more than just a little hopeless when it comes to reality.
Crocodile answers her hesitation with an amused hum. It's a low, rolling noise that starts deep in his chest, traveling upward until it comes forth in the form of a dreamy note that nearly turns her bones to jelly. "Bad? I wouldn't say it was bad. It was… charming."
Shrike cringes as what she believes is a feigned compliment. That withering feeling of doubt has begun steadily creeping back in, making her want to run away all over again.
She groans and tucks her face down as her body instinctively tries to pull into itself. "No need to spare my feelings… I know it was terrible."
The sudden presence of his fingers curling beneath her chin makes her start in surprise. She stiffens from the sensation, too afraid to move under that feather-light touch. Not that it's unpleasant, in any way. He touches her lightly enough to avoid irritating the bruise blossoming along her jawline. It's more she rather not risk making that sensitive touch disappear… the feeling of its heat along her touch-starved skin is indescribable...
Her reaction makes him chuckle, and the sound is warm enough to stoke the dwindling fire still smoldering within her. It emboldens her further, pushing her to encourage his fingers to travel further with a gentle nod.
He readily accepts her silent plea with a smoldering, almost knowing grin. His fingers trace along her jawline, spreading outwards until they fully cup her face. His thumb comes to rest on her cheekbone, where it absentmindedly teases light circles around the delicate skin beneath her eye.
"Now now, no need to hide such an expression from me." He purrs at her, his voice low and soft. "So flushed, so nervous, from just some light kissing..."
Shrike can't help but melt into him at that. Her cheek nuzzles into the palm cupping it, relishing in the warmth his fingers bring to her touch-starved skin. It almost threatens to send her under. Her face is feverish enough as is, and the excess heat somehow creeps all the way down her spine to melt her all over.
He chuckles, though his glowing expression dims slightly as his gaze flits down to look at the damage along her jaw. "So careless… You really should take better care of this cute face… "
For but a split second, she wants nothing more than to snap at him. Maybe even bite his hand again, seeing as how she's in the perfect position to do so. Implying she was careless because Daz had decided to punish her?! She'd fought her best, dammit!
'Wait.'
That blaze of indignation is gone as quickly as it appeared, quickly overshadowed by a different, more startling realization.
Crocodile just called her 'cute'.
The man she's been unwittingly pining over, calling handsome for probably weeks now without realizing it... The former shichibukai, dreaded pirate captain, heartless monster…
Just called her 'cute'.
A solid beat of silence drops between them before a nervous laugh bursts from her throat.
It's an airy, jittery noise, manifested from the incessant fluttering of the butterflies churning her stomach.
She's more doubtful than anything else. "You… you think I'm-"
"Cute?" He cuts her off, already knowing exactly where her mind is heading. "Do you not think the same?"
'No.' Her mind readily answers, though her tongue remains still. A part of her will always be that monstrous ghoul from her nightmare. As much as she's recovered in the past year, even the rest of her life may not be long enough to undo the damage suffered upon her self-image.
When she remains quiet, her eyes drifting away to look aside in the absence of an answer, he takes it upon himself to draw forth one on his own accord.
His thumb swipes across her kiss-swollen lips, tracing the plush lines so softly that she can't help but shiver. It makes her gaze flick back upward, and the playful smolder she finds waiting there pulls from her the tiniest of gasps.
The noise parts his own lips, ever so slightly tugging the corners upward. His thumb continues tracing along those delicate lines, her sensitive skin practically vibrating beneath its roughened pad. "Especially when you do something as cute as that."
Shrike tries to look away as her face flushes even harder, but his palm holds her firm. He tilts her chin upward upon feeling the resistance, though he's careful not to press too much into her bruised skin.
The new angle forces her to look straight into those impossibly dark eyes of his. A spark glints in them, and it somehow chases any threat of a coherent thought from her mind. How can she possibly think straight beneath that gaze? Eyes that seem not to undress her, but take her apart body and soul to examine her on the most atomic of levels.
Crocodile grins at her, drinking deep of the flustered expression emblazoned across her face. She wants nothing more than to just wither away, to disappear entirely lest she somehow embarrasses herself more than she already has.
"Did you not believe me earlier? When I called you a 'pretty face'?"
The wide-eyed look she gives him is all the answer he needs.
Croc' leans down, using his palm to guide her into another heated kiss. Everything about it is perfect, just as the one he delivered before. From the just the right amount of pressure to the heated passion, fuck, to the way he pulls back slightly just to smile against her lips before diving right back in. It's all just so perfect. Indescribable.
She really is but an amateur compared to his expertise.
He releases her, though stays close enough she feels his heated breath ghost across her lips, puffed from the pressure and even more sensitive because of it.
"You are quite attractive, Shrike, I can assure you of that."
The butterflies in her stomach flutter out of control at this point, their tiny wings kicking up a storm that makes her tremble head to toe. It has her feeling both dangerously nauseous yet strikingly alive in a way she's never felt before. Everything is terrible and wonderful all at once, way too many conflicting feelings that converge and turn her mind into a quivering pile of goo.
It's been years since she's had any kind of… intimacy, with anyone, pleasant or no.
She hadn't realized what she's been missing.
Crocodile shifts backward, returning to his full height to take a better view of all her flustered glory. He smirks at what he sees, and his eyes shine with an almost mischievous glint.
"You know, I never took you to be the bashful type." He purrs the words, and his fingers slide from her cheek to curl beneath her chin once more. They tilt her face upward to meet that scrutinizing look of his, pushing her jaw side to side to expose each flushed cheek. "That tough girl aesthetic is just an act, is it? Melted with away with just a little flirting?"
Intended or no, the words rub her the wrong way.
Shrike growls angrily, her pride a bit wounded from his insinuations, and brings a hand up to roughly clamp on his wrist. A flicker of surprise flashes on his face as she now glares at the man.
"Watch. It." She near spits the words. The indignation in her tone is clear, though she hadn't expected his words to have incensed her this much. Her ego must still be sore from earlier, bruised just as much as her shoulders are. "I can end this as easily as it started. This is happening because I allow it."
He only chuckles, and an utterly charmed grin splits across his lips. The noise disarms her more than she wants to admit, though not as much as what follows. His hand comes up to card through her hair, and just the act of him tucking back a few silvery strands fills her with enough fluff as to make her feel nauseous.
"Ah, there it is. There's that fire of yours." He purrs at her, the words brushing down her spine as if his hand was doing so itself. His tone's as soft as the smarmy grin on his face has become, an expression she somehow loves and wants to smack away both at once "There's Shrike. Never content to suffer a single slight… Always so much to prove."
Her mind goes blank, the only thoughts left devolving to an unintelligible string of question marks. She cocks her head to the side, and from the way the corner of his mouth twitches, she gets the feeling he's quite amused by her confusion.
"You seem surprised." He draws the word out slowly, tone conveying a playful sense of mock-bewilderment. His knuckles trace along her jawline, each one leaving distinct trails of heat emblazoned on her already inflamed cheeks. It's a struggle not to shudder beneath them. "Didn't think I'd find that defiant spark of yours so charming, did you?"
His words temporarily snap her back into focus, so utterly surprising as to break this spell he has over her.
"Wait. You like that about me? It doesn-" She plants her hands on his chest. An action she immediately regrets, as she now has to force herself to ignore the way his muscles tense and ripple beneath her fingers. Even through the fabric of his shirt, she feels just how sharply they're defined.
'Calm down, girl!
"Drive me absolutely insane? Oh, it does. Even I couldn't make a convincing lie about that." The expression of his face, meanwhile, has shifted to an almost wry fascination. It only makes her falter even more, that abrupt burst of courage already sputtering in her chest. "You just make it all so… endearing, somehow."
Shrike looks at him with narrowed eyes, even going so far as to take a short step backward. As with most things that come unexpected, she heavily distrusts his words. Saying that he likes that frustratingly obstinate part of her?
A lie. It must be.
She shakes her head about, losing a bit of that kiss-born bubbliness. "I'm sorry, but that makes absolutely no sense."
It doesn't. It really doesn't. Her hotheadedness frustrates even herself at times. For a man like Crocodile-cold, ruthless, supposedly a fearsome monster-to find it 'endearing' of all things? She wonders if he really had suffered a psychotic break earlier.
Or maybe… maybe this is all a dream? Worse, maybe they're her death throes and he really did kill her. She wants to pinch herself, but resists. He'd definitely poke fun at her were he to notice.
A low, rumbling laugh pulls her back to the situation at hand. She hadn't noticed him take a step towards her, and the sudden presence of his hand coming to a rest on her upper arm makes her jump. He must've closed the gap while she'd been wrapped up in her thoughts.
"Sense? No, no I suppose it doesn't. It might be the most infuriating thing on the planet, this temper of yours, and yet you make it all so charming. I've since stopped trying to rationalize it."
Something about the tone of his voice tells her the irrationality of it all irks him a bit, too. For a man who relishes being in absolute, unquestionable control, having even just a single emotion run wild from him must certainly drive him crazy. The fact that his words indicate he's since given up on wrangling that stray feeling implies it must've been a rather hopeless venture to begin with.
It makes her all want to laugh.
Knowing that he, too, finds this whole mutual-infatuation to be as outlandish and nonsensical as she does? Even more, acting upon it anyway? She's grateful he's just as lost as she is. Her being the only one acting on such unsure footing would just be unfair.
"I, uh... Good to know I'm not the only one finding all this a bit… unexpected?" Shrike blushes and internally curses herself for her lack of eloquence. She really is just some lost stray when compared to him, even rehomed as she is.
"Unexpected… but not unwelcome." Crocodile gives her arm a gentle squeeze, expression glowing under the warmth of his smile. It's only then that she's reminded of just what that hand is capable of. He could turn her to dust right this instant if he so chose to.
Yet, as crazy as she knows the thought is, she trusts that he won't. Knows he won't. Maybe even can't. Though the time she's known him has been short, even she's realized that this is all more than just a little 'unusual' for him. It's entirely unprecedented.
Same as it is for her.
His fingers suddenly release from about her arm.
She wishes they'd stayed put, as his hand moves to a more… precarious.. position.
Her senses flare in high alert as his hand comes to a rest on her side. Its new resting spot, just barely above the curve of her hip, suddenly makes this all very real to her.
Shrike now knows for a fact now that this is no dream.
That touch is very, very real.
And she's not so sure if she's ready for it… and the implications of intimacy it brings.
The realization hits her like a slap to the face: he wants to take this way further tonight than she can bear.
If he's noticed her sudden apprehension, he doesn't show it. His hand makes not a single movement to retreat from its newfound rest. There's no way he can't feel the way she's begun to tremble beneath those fingers, or the way her eyes have shifted downward to look at the floor.
Crocodile makes that amused humming sound again, the one that seems to resonate with every fiber of her being. "The Butcher having her eye caught by me, of all people? Now I supposed that is rather unexpected, isn't it?" He draws out the word with the same inflection she'd spoken it with.
His flirting grants her enough courage to push down on his wrist, dislodging his hand such that it falls down to the empty air between them. Shrike gives him a playfully coy look, or, what she hopes is a playfully coy look. "As if the Butcher needs any justification. She can choose whoever she so wishes."
She crosses her arms in a hurry, letting a mock-pout creep into her expression in the hopes he sees the action as just her being flirty, and not for what it really was: a sly maneuver to ease the ramping intimacy she'd suddenly grown uncomfortable with.
The kissing she can only just barely handle. Anything more than that would surely doom it all… for both of them.
A flicker of something flits through Crocodile's expression, far too quick for her to read. That smarmy grin of his settles back in before she can think too much on it. "Oh no, no need to get defensive. As I said, this side of you really is charming."
His fingers return to trace along the underside of her jaw, the sensation drawing from her a shallow parted-lip gasp despite the tough facade she's attempting to maintain. He grins even wider at that, and she notes with a shiver that his gaze has turned slightly… predatory.
Shrike gets the sudden impression that he sees her less as the Butcher and more like the prey. Her attempted shift in demeanor-trying to act her usual defiant, blustery self-seems to have only enticed him further.
His eyes narrow as he tilts her chin upward, now hungrily boring into hers.
"Now what was that about choosing? Has the little Butcher made a choice over something?"
'Uh oh.' She doesn't like this question. All the answers she's thinking of lead down a path she's not necessarily sure she wants to traverse yet. Any variant of 'you' or 'this' may set this on a course of no return… to the bedroom she isn't ready to see.
So she defaults to humor instead.
"Yeah. I chose to let you kiss me."
His expression goes wide, genuine surprise crossing into his features, before letting loose an exasperated laugh. "Oh really? If I recall you attempted to kiss me back."
Just like that, the fire comes rushing back.
"'Attempted'?!" Shrike's pitch rises sharply from the insult. She smacks his hand away none-too-gently, and the noise of impact echoes about the room. "I'll have you know that's the first kiss I've given in...in-"
'In how long, exactly…?' She genuinely cannot recall. Years, obviously. 'Whatever! Doesn't matter!'
"-in a long time! Years, even! So if you want any more from me then I suggest you learn to appreciate it!"
Of all the ways to appease Shrike's indignation, rolling your eyes at her is by far the least effective. It does the opposite, in fact, and few live to report that fact.
Her eyes go wide in fury as his eyes begin to roll, a snarl beginning to roll from her throat as she instinctively reaches forward to grab at his collar.
But she never gets the chance.
Before she can even begin raising her wrist, she's cut off with a surprised shriek.
He moves so quickly, she has no time to react. She's suddenly scooped up into his arms… and up against his chest. His hand presses into the small of her back once more, just as it did earlier in that tortuously sweet way. This time, though, it's not to support her from a fall, but to hold her firm as he kisses her with more passion than she's ever felt from anyone else in her entire life.
A fact that more than a little freaks her out.
Things are moving out of her control.
Worse, the position means she has to wrap her legs about his torso as he balances her on his other arm. Her conscious thoughts quickly begin to fade as her flustered panic returns with a vengeance.
The cool metal of the base of his hook against her thigh reminds her just how painfully small her shorts are… and also that she doesn't have a shirt on beneath her hoodie. They're probably what's given him this idea that she's okay with this sort of… turn of events. She'd never planned on running into anyone when she ventured forth with Phoebe from her room. How could she have ever anticipated something like this of all things?
Her face goes even redder at the realization, surely stark crimson now. Surely, he has to feel the heat radiating from her cheeks, even as occupied as he is with their kiss...
He detaches for but a single moment, letting her catch a quick breath, before roughly kissing her again. If she thought the one just prior was overwhelming, this one's nearly devastating to what little composure she's managed to keep. The force is bruising, demanding and insistent, taking from her whatever he wants and then some.
It goes further than before, venturing beyond the safety of just her lips...
Shrike feels herself coming undone, starting to unravel at the seams as his presence overwhelms her. It grows and grows and grows until it's just too much.
Her hands plant on his chest, pressing insistently to be given air, to be given space.
A request she is gratefully given.
He releases her, groaning a dreamy sigh that would've melted her straight to the bone were she not so flustered. The look on his face looks just as airy, though it quickly drops as he takes a look at her own. Worry knits into his brow, and his lips purse together as he takes note of the pervasive unease afflicting the woman held captive in his arms.
"You…" He begins, and from the way his voice trails off, it's clear he's not quite sure where he should end.
He speaks with action instead.
The world spins as he turns on his heel, and the sudden movement has her leaning forward to cling to his chest.
It's too hot. Just as everything else is right now.
She's faintly aware that he's walking, head too foggy and overheated to take much stock in what's going on around her right now.
He takes only a few short steps-"Phobos, down"-before setting Shrike down on the edge of his desk. It's not until she's safely sitting on her own, no longer claustrophobically pressed up against him, that she remembers to breathe.
Her chest heaves from the force of her gasp, lungs crying out for air as if she's been submerged for hours. She notes the way her limbs has begun to tremble, though they almost feel like someone else's. The panic has sent her to that dissociative headspace, so impossibly overwhelmed by the ardor of his actions that her body can no longer handle it.
This is all too much, too soon.
Shrike sits numbly, staring straight ahead. Her gaze goes right through him as she forces her breathing to steady. Forces herself to calm.
Crocodile's fingers abruptly curl beneath her chin once more, though with a gentle touch, almost as if to avoid startling her. He slowly tilts her face upward to meet his scrutinizing gaze.
She'd previously felt he'd been forcing her to meet his eyes due to some selfish desire to see her squirm, drowning in their dark depths. Now though, as he peers deep down into her own, she's not so sure. She watches his irises flit about, their movements almost minuscule, as though they're searching for something. Seeking an answer to a question he hasn't explicitly asked of her.
Those eyes narrow after a few moments, but she can't tell whether it's with warmth or with condescension. At the very least, it seems he's picked up on her apprehension.
"Why, Shrike…"
She shivers at the way he draws out her name, like it's some precious thing.
"...So tough… so fierce… but suffer through a few kisses and you're left flushed and trembling like some young maiden."
A nervous half-laugh spills from her throat. "I can assure you I'm not a maiden, jeez. Really, I told you it's just been a long time since… since…" She trails off as another bout of heat singes her cheeks.
His thumb abruptly slides over to trace along her lips, just as it did earlier. It's… sweet, though not as sweet as the warmth that's crept back into his features. She notices it happening in real-time, as if he's not consciously aware of it happening himself. A little glimmer begins to take light in his eyes, growing brighter the more he beams down at her.
His lips abruptly press into hers once more before she can object, though less desperately than before. This one is slower, more of a low, deep heat than a scorching blaze, like he's savoring the territory he's already discovered rather than claiming it as he had earlier.
Her hands knead into the chest of his shirt, searching for anything to keep her stable before the trembling wracking her body grows any worse. He makes a rumbling noise of appreciation, and that alone threatens to pull her undone all over again.
It's the kind of kiss that could go on forever: slow and patient and tender and all too tortuously sweet.
He's far too good at this.
A fact that fills her with unease… She gets the feeling this is all him trying to pull down any further resistance of hers. Shrike needs to cool him down, get him in a different mindset where she can talk about boundaries and the things that come before diving right into sex of all things.
Crocodile doesn't seem to notice her disquiet as he pulls away. Or, if he has, he's willingly chosen to ignore it. Instead, he fixes her with a look that's downright smoldering. His half-lidded eyes deeply focus on her own as he slowly licks his lips, slightly puffed from the kisses he's delivered from them.
"A long time since what, Shrike? Since you've shared a kiss with anyone?"
He leans forward then, trailing those lips softly up her jawline, ghosting hot breath as he moves towards her ear. The sensation has her gasping, teeth worrying at her lower lip from how sensitive it all is.
It's too close for comfort.
He stops there, peppering heated kisses about the nape of her neck. Never has anything so pleasurable triggered such a flight instinct in her.
This needs to slow down.
She's not ready for this.
A breath of hot air right below her ear makes her full-body shiver. She feels him grin devilishly against the delicate skin there. "Or what, since you've been touched?"
His hand suddenly presses up against the small of her back, that damnable pressure that started all this. She jolts upright at its abrupt presence, a shocked squeak slipping from her throat.
He puffs a short laugh against her neck, completely misinterpreting her reaction as having been a pleasurable one.
"Don't think I didn't feel the way you started to tremble when I caught you earlier."
Shrike needs to distract him now, get his mind off of this. The thought nearly turns her brain to mush, just imagining him taking her to bed and… or does he plan to take her right here and now on this very desk-
The words explode from her mouth, not at all disguising the panic that's quickly engulfed her head to toe.
"You're not mad?! About D'Lore that is!"
It had to be on that topic of all things.
Crocodile stops abruptly, stiff as a board. A sudden puff of hot air ghosts about the curve of her neck, though that's not what has her wincing.
It's the growl that chases it that does.
"Must you really bring that up? Right now?" The impatience in his tone is clear.
He pulls away from her, standing up to full height. The look on his face is of abject displeasure: mouth having curved into a pout, scar scrunched together as his nostrils flare.
Shrike completely withers under that look, very much regretting the choice in diversion. Though it's not as if her runaway mouth gave her much of a choice.
"Sorry! I… just feel really bad for it, is all." She picks at her fingers anxiously, a nervous tick she hopes he hasn't picked up on. "I can't quite shake it from my head…"
The expression on his face remains unchanged for the most part, all sour scowl and obvious annoyance. His eyes then slip closed after a few seconds, and he sighs hard enough that his shoulders lift and sag. "If you insist…"
He takes a step backward, crossing his arms over his chest. That smolder has all but disappeared, and his eyes have lost much of their previous ardor. He now looks at her with a more… neutral expression. Annoyed still, but with less bite than before.
"Earlier… Yes, Shrike, I was furious."
She immediately winces, chin instinctively tucking down into her chest as her shoulders hunch forward. Her ankles hook together, too, and the overall image truly makes her look like a scolded child.
Though this is somehow far preferable than what was going on before.
The sudden presence of not his fingers, but his hook on her chin makes her jump. Though he uses the blunt curve to tilt her face back upward, the cool metal pressing into her skin is a more than uncomfortable reminder of just who she's dealing with.
Of just who she's been making out with…
He forces her to meet his gaze once more, an insistence of his she's quickly tiring of. How can she possibly think straight beneath that scrutinizing stare?
Though, that's probably the point. Crocodile relishes being in unquestionable control; she wouldn't put it past him to be doing this on purpose just to have the upper hand… even if the matter at hand was just playful flirting.
At least he doesn't leave her to languish for long, this time.
He huffs again, gaze temporarily flitting to the corner of his eyes before settling back on her face. That hook stays right where it is. "Yes, I was mad… but not necessarily at you, per se."
Shrike stiffens. Her lips part slightly as she tries to processes his words. This is not the admonishment she'd expected… nor does it seem to be an admonishment at all, in fact.
"What…What do you mean, 'not at me'?"
She shivers as the warmth of his hand returns, having moved to cup her face once more.
If she could stop being such a jittery mess, that'd be wonderful.
He holds her firm beneath his stare, made to wither under its oppressive aura as his eyes bore into hers. They seem to be searching for something again, just as they were but a few minutes earlier. If only he'd just ask the question to whatever answer he's looking for! She'd rather just tell him than suffer beneath this type of dissection.
After a few moments of tense silence, it seems he's found a satisfactory answer. He huffs again, nostrils flaring as he takes a deep breath. As if he's choosing his next words carefully.
The hand falls away from her face, though the hook remains. That makes her more than just a little uncomfortable.
"I was angered by the situation, Shrike. To see someone as clever as you fall for such a cheap ruse… It was frustrating, to say the least."
That makes her perk up a bit. Shrike blinks once, twice, not quite sure if she'd heard him correctly. She reclines backward, careful not to catch herself on the sharp point of his hook as she does so.
"You think… you think I'm clever?"
He leans along with her, and his presence now leaning over her makes her beyond uneasy. A smug, almost knowing grin spreads across his face. That predatory look in his eyes has returned.
"Yes, Shrike. You're clever, alright."
She shivers as his lips ghost along her jawline, tracing that same path as before as he moves to tortuously kiss about her neck.
"So, very, clever."
This is getting out of control again. It has to stop.
Almost as if he could hear the inner thoughts screaming in her head, he pauses right at her ear. She feels the grin abruptly drop off his face.
"Naive, though."
A beat drops.
"What… naive? What are you-" She tries to lean away, detangle herself from the oppressive presence hovering over her far too close to bear. He stops her with a hand about her upper arm, and a bolt of fear shoots through her chest as she feels the air between them grow cold.
"Thought you were clever enough to hide what you're doing? Didn't think I would notice?" Crocodile's voice is low and playful, but she would've had to have been utterly oblivious to not notice the bite beneath it.
Above all else, even above the fear, it makes her angry.
"The hell are you tal-"
He cuts her off, tone sharp and bitter. "Naive to think that I wouldn't realize that you don't want this."
His hand suddenly lets go of her arm, only for its presence to reappear tightly gripped about her upper thigh.
She gasps and shoves him, both hands planted on his chest to get him away. Panic sets into her chest as she pants. Her arms stay locked in front of her, palms outward in what would most definitely be a futile attempt if he really did want to continue.
But from the gloating, smug look on his face, she knows he doesn't.
She knows she's been caught.
"See? You think you're being subtle, trying to stop this without having the courage to actually say it." The impatience in his tone is clear, as is the same in his eyes. "What's your game? What are you trying to do? I've never forced myself on anyone and I'd rather it never happen, so If you don't want this then tell me!"
Shrike glares at him, though the rest of her body language isn't nearly as confident. Her arms wrap across her chest, hands gripped about her elbows, and her knees press together as if that alone could magically make her shorts less revealing. She suddenly feels agonizingly exposed.
"I'm not playing anything! There's just… there's just a lot of things that come in a relationship before sex does!" Her face scorches red hot as blurts the words out, and her gaze quickly falls down and away, unable to meet his exasperated expression.
Crocodile actually scoffs, a questioning expression wrinkling his brow as he looks at her incredulously. "You thought… You thought I could give you anything more than sex? Did you think this was going to be anything more than that?"
She stares at him, expression having gone just as blank as her mind has. His words have chased any and all thoughts from her head. She can't process them. Can't even begin to interpret them.
All Shrike can do is stare at him, helpless as she feels new cracks form in her already scarred heart…
Author Notes: What, did you think this was going to be easy, Shrike? Don't worry folks, this story will have a happy ending... the journey to get there? We got a lot of soul-searching to do.