papertiger oneshots

what's in a hunt

Tigress is a lot of things; jealous is one of them. Jealous of the way Paperstar's fingers delicately folded the paper into sharp and deadly weapons, instead of touching her. Jealous of how easily Paperstar skips and hums and is scary and deadly, all without even putting in any effort. Really, it made Sheena mad how easy Paperstar made it seem. She held onto that jealousy like it was all that she had, afraid to feel the other things that popped up when her partner was near. (Partners? Was that what they were?)

Tigress is a lot of things; wary is one of them. The tigress is the hunter of the pack, the predator. A tigress stalks her prey, she tells herself. A tigress stalks her prey to consume it. And she wanted to devour hers. So she waited and watched, anticipating her moment to pounce. Because when she made up her mind, Paperstar wouldn't know what had happened to her.

***

Tigress vowed never to tell anyone her real name. She broke the rule once.

" Sheena ," Tammy repeated with a smirk. "Fitting."

And she went back to creasing a paper tiger, humming quietly and ignoring Sheena's attempts to figure out her meaning.

***

Tigress is a lot of things, and none of them seem to interest Paperstar.

"Hey." Tigress cornered her after their failed mission, forcing Paperstar's back to the wall. "Look at me," she snarled. The energy between them was tense, her anger only fueling her brazenness. There was no other reason for them to be this close, after all.

Paperstar looked her up and down, and she bit down a smirk on her lush magenta lips, the simple movement making Sheena want to kiss her hard then and there. But then Paperstar tilted her head and gazed at Sheena through her thick eyelashes. "Not much to look at, kitty," she purred.

And she hates the nickname and she snarls, anger flaring, but Sheena lets her go. Because Paperstar wouldn't want her, so Tigress doesn't waste any more of her time. She doesn't want her either. (But really, nothing could be furthest from the truth.)

***

It's three months before Paperstar is paired with Tigress for another mission. Sheena pretends that she doesn't feel the anxious twinge or the butterflies fluttering in her stomach at the sight of her. She watches Paperstar skip into the faculty lounge and still she's watching her partner later, on their mission, not able to figure out why. Maybe Tigress always watches because Paperstar is fascinating in the same way that a house on fire is fascinating. Maybe it's because her eye is automatically drawn to Paperstar.

Maybe Tigress always watches because she can't do anything else.

A/N: hello! First papertiger oneshot!! Don't mind me casually not editing...yknow. As one does. This oneshot was brought about by my tumblr mutual Which sending me two prompts and me being inspired by them lol. Hope you enjoy my mess xx