𝑻𝒂𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖'𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒕 ʲᵉʳᵒᵐᵉ ᵛᵃˡᵉˢᵏᵃ

𝒐𝒏𝒆 ᵃⁿᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ˡᵒᵛᵉ

⸸

You hate Jerome Valeska with a passion. He's loud, extroverted and a bully. You are quiet, introverted and are being bullied. Not just by him, no, he would always pull his friends into it too. Well, the term “friends” is relative, considering that he has friends in every city they traveled to. He has friends in Kansas, in Texas, in Tennessee, but the group of friends he has in Gotham or Blüdhaven are something else. Jerome Valeska was actually quite nice before the last year of middle school happened. His friends shared their criminal activities with him. It started off just a little juvenile: smoking, drinking, trying out some magic mushrooms. To you it was clear that Jerome never really got the hype of taking drugs but selling them on the other hand… you know he only does that with his friends in Gotham and actually earns quite a nice amount of "pocket money" with it too. But that's beside the point. In the same year Jerome started to take notice of how you changed. You gained a little weight because you started working at the snack and candies wagon. The sweets and treats were just too tempting to not try them. To you it actually didn't matter at that time, you were happy, but this one wrong remark of Jerome started to change everything. You had lunch break and walked through the cafeteria to look for your friend Angeline, when the ginger and his buddies took notice of you. At that time, you two were on good terms because you were the same age and grade. Plus you would constantly wander from school to school together. You even took the same classes at some point. So that one remark he made that day in the cafeteria wasn't meant to offend you, it was his humor after all, but it did.

"Yo, (Y/N)! Swing your fat ass over here and look what Jackson found in the Narrows, that's crazy!" 

You don't really know why it hurt you so badly, but again; it did, and it changed your relationship with him. That day you ignored him, the following morning too. His friends started to make fun of the remark and during classes you would hear them giggle from the last row "fat ass". Jerome just took part in it, marking how not only your ass was fat, but also your legs and face looked so funny, like a hamster. It hurt; made you cry. At some point, you threw your fist against the wooden table and screamed at him to "Shut the fuck up!" Your math teacher at that time didn't find it as funny as the rest of the class, so she sent you to the headmaster, which made Jerome laugh even more. He was 14 at that time and clearly the beatings he took from his mother every single day started to change him. It was so obvious that he liked "teasing" you more than he liked actually talking to you. His friends shared that opinion and soon the "teasing" developed into bullying. High school didn't really start off better, you gained more weight, got bullied by others and got beaten up for the first time. You developed depression and stopped going to school for a while. You ceased working at your dad's wagon and at some point stopped eating. Your appetite got smaller with every day and you noticed that cigarettes are helping you cope with your stress. 

So here you are: 16 years old, smoking and on the verge of being underweight. The bad thing is that you feel healthier this way, or at least you think you do. You can't really remember when you felt healthy the last time, so this feels almost refreshing. Like the weather is right now; refreshing, for Gotham at least. It might be cold, but the sun still breaks through the gray clouds and kisses your skin. Closing your eyes, you let the cigar slip between your lips, inhaling the smoke. Though, it might burn your lungs and taste a little nasty, you still continue. A rasping sound and the sudden disappearance of the sun that hit your face just a moment ago, makes you open your eyes again. Standing there, a smug look on his porcelain skinned face, is Jerome Valeska. He himself has a cigarette squished between does peach colored lips off his. Though, it's not lit yet. 
"You got fire?" He hums a little annoyed, probably because he asks you for a little fever. 
"No." You reply, exhaling smoke into his face. He's taller and you hate it, he loves it. 
"Alright." He groans and simply pulls your cigarette out of your mouth, letting you stand there stunned and speechless. Instead of your cigarette he presses his one against yours, hissing when you wouldn't oblige and open your mouth. 
"Why you little- don't be ungrateful now, at least I'm offering you one." Jerome snarls and pets your cheek, when you pull out your lighter and lit Jerome's cigar, instantly inhaling the burned herbs. For a moment there is silence, in which you can't seem to break your eyes from his intense gaze. It's a weird feeling in your gut, being this close to him and all, he almost seems surrealistic. After a few more seconds you break the stare, not able to hold it any longer. Jerome laughs silently, triumph in his sadistic gaze. 
"You know, when your dad banged my mother last night, she said that she had high hopes of getting pregnant." Taking a deep breath, you look to the ground, the weird feeling in your gut gets more and more uncomfortable.
"Wanna know why?" He leans down to your level, taking your chin into his fingers. You look directly into his cold orbs again seeing nothing, but pure hatred directed towards you. 
"Because she thinks that she will get a daughter like you!" His cheerful voice is full of venom at the same time, it makes you feel sick.
"You know I don't really care that she wants to replace me, or my brother. It just itches me that she wants to replace us, especially me with someone like you."