Chapter Text
The rain drowned out most of the noise from Ares Street as they stood inside the dingy entryway tucked inside the alley. Poppy still felt outside her element, but it was easier here in this dark corner with Tora. She wondered how many people would feel safe here with him. Almost everyone she had met seemed afraid of him. She had been at first. The sinister aura she had experienced on the train station weeks ago. Why wasn’t she afraid anymore? So much had changed since then.
“The game center’s right down the stairs,” he said, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Ooh, really?” She turned, looking down the stairs at the darkness below.
“So if ya want me to show ya—”
“Show me?” Poppy asked, turning towards him, confused. “Oohh! No! Of course not! Stop being a perv!” She said, embarrassment coloring her cheeks. “Why are you always teasing me?”
“Because yer cute when yer all red,” Tora said, taking a step towards her and running his thumb along her warm cheeks.
“You’re a jerk,” she scowled, pushing his hand away. “I said a lot of things last night I shouldn’t have.”
“Ya had a good time, right?” He asked, putting his hands back into his pockets.
“I had a great time! Even though I’m embarrassed about it now.” Her phone buzzed from her purse. “Oh shoot, that’s probably my cab.”
“Cancel it.”
“What? Why?” She asked, looking up at him, surprised.
“I’ll take you home,” he shrugged. “Don’t want you running off embarrassed again.”
Poppy giggled, typing something on her phone. “If I remember correctly, I’m that one that made you uncomfortable. I wasn’t embarrassed until I woke up this morning.”
“I had a drunk hamster on my back, sucking on my ear and making indecent proposals. Can you really blame me for putting your drunk ass in a cab?”
“It was a nibble! I’m sorry for teasing you so mercilessly, Tora. You just make it so easy sometimes.”
“Whatever ya say,” Tora stepped closer, lifting her chin with his knuckle. “If I take you downstairs, ya gonna keep this shit up?”
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head and drawing an x over her heart and holding up three fingers. “Girl Scout’s Honor.”
“Of course, yer a fucking girl scout,” he groaned, taking her hand and pulling her down the stairs. “They teach you how to be an asshole in summer camp?”
“Of course. It was the first merit badge I earned!” Poppy laughed, following him down the stairs. It was dark near the bottom, the single exposed light bulb was dim. Tora reached up and tightened it, flooding the small area with light before opening the door and pulling her into the game hall.
“Whatcha think?” Tora asked. “This place as meet yer expectations?”
Poppy snickered. “It’s exactly like Johnny described it.”
“Who the fuck is Johnny?”
“The guy in the beanie,” Poppy said, rolling her eyes and nodding towards the five guys standing around a pool table in the opposite corner. “How do you not know his name?”
“Call ‘im Dipshit, cause he’s a dipshit,” Tora mumbled, staring down the guy who shrank into the corner, causing Brian to turn around.
“Yo, Tora! Where the fuck you go man, thought we were gonna play?” Brian shouted from across the hall. “Oh shit, that Poppy with ya?”
“Hi,” Poppy said, waving meekly at Brain. Johnny and Greig were with him and one other guy whose name she didn’t remember his name. The only other person in the hall was an older man with dark hair and a mustache, who must be Neko.
“You wanna play?” Tora asked, looking down at her.
“I think you owe Brian a game,” Poppy smiled. “I can just watch.”
“Ya sure?”
“Mmhmm,” she nodded.
“Ok, just let me know if you get bored, and I’ll take you home.”
“Ok.”
“Oi! Neko! Grab a stool from the back, will ya.”
“You know the rules!”
“Fuck the rules! She look like she’s gonna throw it at someone?” Tora asked, putting his hands on his hips and looking irritated.
“Not here I’m worried about,” Neko said.
“I got it, Big Bro,” Brian said, heading towards a dark hallway near the counter.
“The room is locked!” Neko shouted.
“Like a lock can stop me,” he said, whipping out a small black case from his back pocket.
“Don’t go fucking up my lock, you little shit head!” Neko yelled, following Brian down the hallway.
Tora led Poppy over the far corner of the game hall. “Sorry, this place is dirty,” he said, noticing the sticky residue on the bar table for the first time. “Ya sure you good with being here?”
“I’m fine.” It was nicer down here than it looked on the outside. Reminded her of the arcade area of the bowling alley in Moonbright with the dark carpet with its neon-colored planets. Even smelled the same.
“Let me go grab something to wipe this off with,” he said, jogging over to grab a rag from behind the counter. He paused at the end of the hallway and shouted something at Neko and Brian before returning to clean off the table. “There, that should be a little better. You want something to drink?”
“Umm, sure, what is there?”
“Mostly beer and energy drinks. Probably got a few sodas and some bottled water.”
“I’ll take a beer.”
Just then, Brian came over with a stool with a rip across the pleather seat, its innards peaking out. Tora glowered at him. “Sorry, man, this was the best one back there.”
“Rack ‘em,” Tora said to him and shrugged off his jacket, placing it over the seat and lifted Poppy onto the stool.
“Ohh, thanks,” she said, situating her skirt under her. “I could’ve done that on my own.”
“Didn’t want ya fallen. It’ll be slippery with the jacket,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He was right, of course, her minimal shifting had already proven the precarious nature of the seat. “I’ll go grab that beer for ya.”
Tora left again, and Poppy watched with interest as Brian placed the colored balls in a triangle holder. He took his time to set the order and line it up before taking away the triangle. Tora returned with two bottles of water and a beer. Setting the waters down and pulled his lighter from his pocket, popping the lid off her beer.
“Here ya go, Sweetheart,” he said, handing her the bottle and drinking from one of the waters. “Other one is yours if you need it.”
“Thanks,” she smiled and took a sip of the beer.
“You gonna flirt or play?” Brian asked, rubbing the end of the pool stick with a small blue cube. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on ya in front of yer girl.”
“Put your money where yer mouth is, mother fucker.”
“You kiss her with that mouth of yers?”
“Why? You wanna kiss me instead?” Tora fired back, making Brian blanch. Poppy tried to stifle her laughter. Tora smirked at her and winked. He pulled out a wad of cash from his back pocket, putting a couple of Twenties on the wooden edge of the pool table. Brian pulled out his own wallet, matching the sum. “Not racing you all night. One game, winner-take-all.”
“Works for me. Take yer shot, lover boy.”
Tora grabbed the stick from off the table and chalked the end before moving the cue ball into position. He leaned low over the table, his thick arms exposed in his black t-shirt as he sent the cue ball crashing towards the others, scattering them around the table. Two balls slipped in pockets. Brian groaned, and Tora circled the table, looking every bit a calculating predator.
The other guys finished their loud game of foosball and gathered around Poppy to watch the game. She sat happily as Tora and Brian play while heckling them with the other guys.
“Fuck, man, yer girl is mean,” Brian said, shaking his head after missing a clear shot because of her.
Tora laughed out loud. “Tell me about it. She’s downright bloodthirsty.”
Poppy giggled. Between the beer and being called his girl, she was beet red. He didn’t correct him, which made her stomach flip-flop, but she had yet to see him correct someone’s assumptions. Still, these were his friends, or at least, his crew. She liked to think of them as Tora’s merry band of thuglets. They were loud, crass, and rough around the edges, but none of them made her feel uncomfortable.
“How ya doing?” Tora asked after he finished the game. “Yer not drunk, are ya?”
“Pfft. Takes more than two beers to get me drunk. I’m having a lot of fun.”
“Sounds like it,” he teased. “I’m gonna go up and smoke real quick. Ya wanna come with?” Poppy scrunched her nose in reply. “I’ll take one of your rewards if it’s on offer,” He asked, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
“Not here in front of everyone!” She hissed back, pushing him away weakly as he laughed.
“Didn’t see ya worried about it with those idiots from earlier.”
“But see, now I know that PDA scares away thugs, couldn’t do that here in your safe space,” she giggled.
“You’re full of shit, Bobby. C’mon, we’ll get you a new drink if you wanna come back down.”
“Ok,” she agreed, sliding off the stool and handing Tora his jacket. Poppy followed him, remembering his story about the frog in the pan, and couldn’t help but wonder how warm the water was now. Her cheeks hurt from smiling, she was having a great time, but a part of her didn’t know if she was really ready to find herself in another relationship.
Bonus Scene
Neko followed Brian into the back to the storage room, pulling out his keys in the process and pushing the lock pick out of the way. “Not letting ya fuck with my lock, you’ll break it.”
“Will not. Fuck, I’ve been doing this for years now. If I ever go straight, I’d make a great locksmith.”
“Ever think of going straight, kid?”
“Me? Nah, I owe Big Bro my life. I’ll go straight when he does.”
“Speaking of which, who’s the civilian skirt?”
“Names Poppy, she’s pretty cool, met her last night at Big Bro’s birthday party. Her birthday too or some shit.”
“Explains why he let me take his winnings. Lucky fucker must have gotten some ass last night. You see the knockers on that chick?” He said, pretending to hold two large melons.
“Don’t let him see you doing that.”
“He got it bad for the girl then?”
“Seems like it. Got one of the guys working security at her apartment and everything.”
“Oi, fuckers!” Tora shouted from the end of the hallway, making both guys jump. Neko quickly scurried to unlock the padlocks on the storage room door. “Quitcha gabbin and get yer asses out here.”
“On it, Big Bro!”