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V stretched her arms out above her head and rolled over on her right side, snuggling into her covers while still in the very comfortable throes of waking from a late night of drinking. Surprisingly, she didn't feel the least bit hungover.
The morning sun was peeking through the blinds of the window that overlooked the city below, and sun beams spilled across the floor and onto the bed. A cool breeze gently rolled through the window screen, rustling the curtains while the radio in the living room played soft ambience.
Gripping the comforter tightly and pulling it over her shoulders, V let the warmth of her soft cocoon warm her previously exposed skin. Eyes still closed, she willed herself to go back to sleep.
No good, unfortunately. It wasn't happening.
Sighing, and still only half-awake, she peeled her eyes open and glanced at the digital clock on the wall. 8:07am. Too damn early.
Groggily, she rolled onto her other side, turning her back to the sun beams. Even though she already knew she was past the point of no return of woken-up-ness, the bed was just too cozy to leave yet.
Breath smelling strongly of booze tickled her face and made her scrunch her nose. V opened her eyes to see her Maelstroml friend still asleep only just a few inches from her. Thankfully, he didn't snore.
V always smiled at him sleeping soundly, it was an image completely unbefitting for a hardened gangster like himself. It was rare to see him in such a vulnerable state, his mouth slightly ajar and his red optical mod unlit. This display of open vulnerability brought about the unsurpressable urge to touch him. Without even questioning the temptation, the mercenary gently ran her fingers over his scalp and through his short dreads, thumbing over the metal plates on the side of his head as she did so, careful not to wake him. The warmth radiating from his head gave her stomach butterflies.
"Morning sleepyhead," She said to him softly. "your breath fuckin' stinks."
Dum Dum still laid before her unconscious, not having registered a thing. Precious - a memory she was sure to encrypt. For a moment longer, she let her hand rest against his head, still brushing the metal plates gently with her thumb. This was a dangerously indulgent thing to do, V noted. Quickly compartmentalizing these emotions, she kissed his cheek and removed her hand from his head. V quietly slid the comforter off and rose from the bed, figuring it would be a good idea to get some breakfast on the table before he woke up.
KSSHHH!
V had only taken a step from the bed when she'd inadvertently kicked over several - thankfully empty - beer cans.
"Fuck" V whispered silently to herself through clenched teeth. Her head snapped around to Dum Dum's sleeping figure, she watched him for a few seconds for any signs of disturbance.
His leg twitched, and he grunted in his sleep before rolling over, facing away from V. He remained inanimate. Whew, all clear.
Still cursing herself for the mess and the noise, she grabbed the nearest wastebasket and started tossing the boneyard of beer cans, the leftovers from a typical hangout sesh with the cyborg. They'd gone through an entire twelve pack of beer in one night, V and Dum Dum, talking about nothing in particular and goofing off. Nights in at the apartment had become a semi-regular thing between the two of them since they had first met, whenever their schedules permitted. From there, their friendship quickly evolved into something that was clearly more, that particular 'something' undefined still. It wasn't intimate enough to a be considered a real relationship, but they weren't quite distant enough from one another to dip into the "friends with benefits" territory, either. For the time being, V was perfectly fine with not having a clear idea of what this relationship was. Mercenary work was chaotic enough being what it was, so the added stresses and commitments of a new relationship could afford to be held off on. The nights that V and Dum Dum spent together already felt easy and fun, why complicate things?
V tossed the last of the cans and put the wastebasket back beside the kitchen counter, idling over what to make for breakfast. After carefully mulling over the options, she rationed that eggs and coffee seemed simple enough, so she sauntered over to the fridge and pulled the egg carton out, setting it on the countertop.
Within a few minutes prep time, the eggs were sizzling away on the stovetop while V readied the coffee maker for two fresh cups of coffee. After filling the coffee filter full of premium coffee grinds, she promptly flipped the switch and waited for the machine to do it's thing...which was taking an unexpected amount of time. Before V could even touch it to troubleshoot, the lid on the coffee filter exploded, flipping through the air and spraying coffee grinds and brown liquid everywhere.
"Oh Jesus FUCK!" V shouted, failing miserably at shielding herself and getting sprayed with coffee grinds and sticky would-be coffee. Acting out of pure spite for the damned machine, she yanked the extention cord hard, and the torrent of coffee grinds and brown water stopped. Too irritated to think straight, V made a beeline for the bathroom and closed the door.
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After toweling off and throwing on some fresh undergarments, V stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing her hair. Just as she was finishing up, inspecting her hair for minor imperfections from different angles, she spotted...them. Two red and purple marks on the left side of her neck, each of them a little bigger than a quarter, no further than an inch apart. V audibly groaned. There was no way that these were going to fly under Jackie's radar, and he would undoubtedly tease her about them mercilessly.
V exited the bathroom with a heavy sigh, dismissing the thought of bringing it up to the spider-eyed cyborg. She expected coffee maker mess to still be all over the kitchen floor as she walked out, and it was...gone?
"You suck at cooking." Dum Dum shot at her from the living room couch, in nothing but his cargo pants with both arms spread across the back of the couch. The smell of something burnt lingered in the air, and the realization hit V all too late.
"You left the eggs cookin' while you were in the shower. That's a fire hazard, you know." He teased. Thank God for the smoke alarm.
""The coffee machine exploded on me, I was a little distracted. 'Sides, none of it was for you anyway." V snapped back playfully, making her way to over to where Dum Dum sat and plopping herself down next to him. "Thanks for cleaning the mess up, I appreciate it."
"Well, I wasn't just gonna leave it there." He said, rubbing the back of his head. It wasn't often that he went out of his way to do things for her, so it was understandable that he'd be a little embarrassed about her acknowledgement and appreciation. As far as the conventional standard of "Cute" went, Dum Dum certainly didn't fit it, but of course, that didn't stop V from thinking of him that way from time to time. It couldn't be helped.
"The water compressor in your machine blew. Figures though, asshats at Raytheon couldn't engineer a fuckin' functional toaster if they tried."
V had to laugh at his exasperation towards various tech and the companies that produced it.
"You're such a nerd." She giggled.
"Yeah, yeah" He said, waving a mechanical hand dismissively. "You like it."
"Shut up." She said playfully, giving him a soft peck on the lips. He returned the kiss with interest, kissing her back twice more. V unintentionally wrinkled her nose, catching whiffs of his boozy morning breath between kisses.
"What?" Dum Dum asked, not missing the brief change in her facial expression.
"Your breath, it fuckin' smells." V said blatantly.
Without warning, Dum Dum grabbed her by the wrists and pinned her to the seat of the couch with her hands above her head, all the while making sure to blow his foul breath in her face.
"Nooo!" V squealed, desperately flailing about under his grasp, trying to get enough leverage on his torso with her legs to kick him off. Dum Dum wasn't having it, and he locked his legs over hers, rendering her legs completely useless. He had her completely pinned beneath him, at his mercy.
He inched his face close to hers, and exhaled in her face. "Haah" V responded by pretending to gag and cough.
"Eww!" She giggled. "You're so gross!"
"'Gross?' Me? Y'think I'm gross?" The older man antagonized, planting several kisses up the left side of V's neck while she continued to struggle underneath him. "Is this gross?" He kissed her a few more times just below her jawline, then looked down at her expectantly.
"I think I just threw up in my mouth." V laughed, then lying still under him. She gazed up at her captor, looking directly into the two red lights where his eyes were supposed to be. V had to admit to herself that it was sometimes a bit uncanny that he didn't have human eyes, which, along with a lack of any discernable eyebrows, also added a layer of difficulty to reading his expression on occasion. But, it didn't really matter too much to V, the optical augmentation made him that much more mysterious and exotic to her.
The expression on his face in the moment was the textbook definition of unreadable, however. V felt her face heating up quickly while under his stare. She bashfully touched a hand to her cheek, self-conscious and embarrassed about blushing like a schoolgirl in front of him. In that moment, she swore that could see the faintest tint of red spread across his cheekbones too. His lips parted, as if he were going to say something, but no sound came out.
Awkward.
Dum Dum quietly dismounted her, and the two of them sat on the couch in silence, just listening to the soft radio ambience and taking the morning in.
"So, breakfast?" V piped up, breaking the silence between them.
"I thought you'd never ask, I'm fuckin' starving."
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"Good?" V probed, hoping for legitimate feedback of her cooking, since she hadn't unintentionally burnt the eggs beyond recognition this time. Granted, scrambled eggs were already pretty hard to fuck up in the first place, but she liked validation.
"Worst I've ever had." Dum Dum said hunched over his plate, shoveling another forkfull of scrambled eggs into his mouth. Good enough, V supposed.
Table manners were absolutely NOT this guy's forté, as V had come to learn. She imagined that anyone else who willingly chose to dine with him would probably be disgusted by the loud chewing sounds he made, or put off by his horrid posture. None of it bothered V, though, being so intensely attracted to him probably had something to do with it.
"Oh fuck, I forgot." Dum Dum said suddenly, breaking V's train of thought.
"What?"
"I gotta go back to the plant." Dum Dum said, his fork clattered on the plate as he left his chair. V knew that he'd have to leave eventually, but it saddened her that he had to leave so soon.
He walked over to the bedside, picking his white sleeveless shirt and boots up and slipping them both on. V dejectedly watched him take his black leather Maelstrom logo coat off the hanger near her bedside and slip it on as well. She wasn't ready to see him go.
Still not fully dressed herself, the mercenary walked over to him while he still fiddled with his jacket zipper at the apartment door, and she tenderly wrapped her arms around his thin waist. She pressed her tiny frame against his back in a firm hug, her cheek resting between his shoulder blades.
"Stay." She half-pleaded.
"Can't. I'll catch some serious shit from Royce if I don't get back. Some scavvers struck up a black market gear deal with us, he wants me there in case shit goes south."
An awkward pause hung in the air. Even though V wanted to protest, she kept her mouth shut. It felt unfair, but it was a mutual understanding of theirs that official gang business was just as much a job as mercenary work, and being
second in command of the Maelstrom gang, Dum Dum's free time unfortunately wasn't always his own.
In a wordless exchange of understanding, she unwrapped her arms from around his waist, and he turned around to face her, embracing her in a hug. He cupped her cheek in one hand, and kissed her softly goodbye. Breaking their embrace, he tussled her hair and turned to leave.
"Later."
"See ya." V called after him. The sound of the door closing behind him felt much louder than it actually was. She lingered at the door, fully registering that she was by herself once more after the sound of his footsteps left the apartment entryway. V dragged herself back into the shadows of the room and pulled a can of beer out of the fridge, chugging a good half of it before trudging back over to the bed and slumping down on it. She drew her knees up to her chest, and wrapped an arm around herself in a weak effort to protect her exposed skin from the chill in the air.
"It's cold in here."