Author's Note:

This little one-shot has been Ao3-exclusive up until now. However, due to the site being under bot-attack up until recently, I've temporarily locked my stories over there for registered users only (believe me, I feel terrible about it).

However, in an effort to keep my fics accessible to people who don't have accounts on fanfiction-publishing websites...I decided to upload this one into this little One-Shot collection, which I've been planning to launch for quite some time now anyway ;v;

This is a one-shot that's...more on the experimental side of things? (If that makes sense?) I wrote it in a flow, very late at night. People in a discord server of mine enjoyed it though! And that's what originally encouraged me to post it.

"A Question of Power"

Verse: I don't know actually? This is basically...a bit of a brief overview(?) in a sense. Let's just say: Canon Manga Verse for now, I suppose

Rating: M, purely for the last couple lines though

Etsuya always fancied himself to be a person that stood above others. He let the people below him work for him, getting themselves dirty and sweaty, while he cashed in the results.

In any hierarchy in any environment, he made sure to reside at its top. Any obstacle in his way would be obliterated.

Yes, he was truly a man you could deem as "powerful".

And yet, all it took was a pair of frigid, red eyes to bring him to his knees.

Nene Kinokuni was not the least bit impressed by his wealth, physical strength or the literal empire he was building him(or them-)selves. All she had left for him were icy glares, unfiltered remarks and scolds regarding his manners.

She didn't fear him.

Even more so, she considered herself superior to him, wether it came to mannerism, cooking and morality.

Unbelievable!

Disrespecting him like this!

Etsuya couldn't help but to feel intrigued.

Before he could even realise it, Etsuya suddenly found himself in a mission to conquer Nene Kinokuni's heart.

Being the observant individual that he was, he quickly took note of the fact that he wasn't the only one planning to do so. Many boys on Totsuki became attracted to the interplay of elegance and coldness that was Nene Kinokuni. And most of them were not the least bit afraid to vocally admit to that attraction.

Etsuya felt his blood boiling when he saw these buffoons mewl and whimper, begging for Nene to step on them. Sometimes he wished she would,

and knock them out in the process.

But as much as he wished to punch these creepy fanboys of hers in the face, they weren't exactly a threat as it was no secret that Nene was severely disgusted with them. However, despite the several advantages he had over her other suitors, winning her still proved itself one of the largest challenges Etsuya ever faced. And soon enough he had to do something he never thought he would: swallow his pride.

When she criticised him, he didn't fight back like he usually would. When she disapprovingly eyed him up and down in his seat, he resorted to positioning himself more appropriately. When she threw him a scowl, he stopped whatever rant he had been going on about.

That nuisance Terunori Kuga began to mockingly joke about how "pigtails has transformed that slick four-eyes to a dog on the leash" in the second week they've been dating.

But as the weeks became months and the two adjusted to being an actual couple, doing couple-things, Etsuya discovered himself a way to regain power. By having her underneath him squirming and softly moaning, begging for him to give her release at last.

She usually had the last word in their daily, public life, but he was the one to tie her up when it was dark outside.

Ultimately they were equals and he liked to think that was one of the reasons why they worked so well.