Full disclosure everyone, this is a limited chapter because the characters that this fic centers around are fan characters so depending on the people who read this, it's either I take it down or keep this here after 5 days.
So please, keep in mind that I do not plan to put this chapter up for a while and I will take it down after 5 days. But if the reads are high enough, which will depend on my personal judgment, I will let this one-shot remain here.
Nuff said, enjoy!
___________________
Vinnie knows full well he wasn't the type to reveal something like a secret that easily, she gets that already and doesn't need to hear it twice, though that truth does sting a little, doesn't it?
She wasn't his friend for the mask he wears every day, however, as she cares to have others to be friends with to be more open and honest. Vinnie wasn't gonna lie to herself and say that it's easy to find people who are just that if she's in a place like Hell, too bad she's born there in the first place. Most of her friends are Hell-born. And all are on equal standing with her, never wanting to lie and says the truth. She did the same. She wasn't gonna expect the same thing from him though, as much as she wants him to say something, from the bottom of his heart. But she knew better. This is Robin she's talking about.
Robin the infamous Time Demon, who was known to slaughter those who oppose his goals and ideals, the demons making fun of him are practically just made to be targeted for Robin to playfully use, for kicks and giggles. That was the kind of person Robin is, arrogant, psychotic, and charismatic. He had all the qualities to be an Overlord, and he is one, though it didn't surprise Vinnie when he made the news multiple times through his malicious deeds. A scoff and an eye roll pretty much sum up what her reaction is of his accomplishments, she expected that so obviously she knew it from the start. Sometimes she wishes she can act genuinely surprised of the things Robin does, but at this point, even if he acts incredibly unpredictable, he became predictable in her eyes.
Does she care? Well, yes, and no. For the yes part, she feels the least bit proud of herself. It's ridiculous to think of at first, but that's what she truly felt if that's anything to go on. She must help but feel that kind of sense of accomplishment, like she had just won an award and received a price, or found a rare cheat code for a game in an arcade, it was something like that. Just thinking about it makes her wanna chuckle in victory, also like she was 7 years old again. For the no part? Well... She just wishes that he can make her feel the rush of shock through her veins, that's what intrigued her about him in the first place, wasn't it? Again, it was a ridiculous feeling to go with, but no matter how many times Vinnie tries to deny this, it was the absolute truth. She can't exactly lie to herself like that and say that she only happen to become friends with Robin because of their intertwined lives with their families and friends.
She wishes it was just that. But it wasn't.
When did it first start? The strong urge to pull him in a hug? The annoying pain in her chest that wouldn't go away whenever she sees him crying? This wasn't unexplainable, Vinnie is aware of that, then what can she do to get rid of it? It's not like she did something wrong to him, nor did they have a fight and went on with a disagreement with each other. They had their fights here and there, and all of them never ends with either party crying their eyes out. Both know that they are strong in front of the other, and indisputable fact, but also a hurtful one. It practically spelled it out for them, they always try to put up a front to appear strong in front of each other. So how the hell can they truly comfort the other?
For a long time, this never bothered Vinnie as much as it does now, it's almost funny actually. She, a top informant in Hell's underground syndicate, who was known to know her way around the hotshots of Hell and can tell when she can strike. It what makes her a tough opinion to beat, especially if she had the Mutant Spider Demon with her, who acts as her right-hand man even though he normally does things alone. Back then when she declares something, it stuck, she doesn't go back on her word to put it simply. But then why? Vinnie already said she wouldn't get close to Robin, and then next few months they're hanging out now like they're good friends or something. It obviously made Vinnie distraught when she realized that, but of course, like Robin, she couldn't bring herself to say anything to him.
The irony... She wanted to chuckle because of the annoyingly irritating irony of it all. Now she's the one to hide secrets away from him. Vinnie's only lucky that she's on par with Robin when putting on a poker face, they are in Hell after all so everyone is always on their guard, except for those snobbish and arrogant assholes who think their power is always the strongest. No offense, she would say to those she does have close relations to who happen to be just that in her head. She wanted Robin to reach out a hand and ask for help, she knew it wasn't gonna be that easy, but now?
It's night. She knows that. And the bar is always eerily quiet when both her customers and staff all went home and call it a day, though she didn't mind the silence that accompanied her. Right now, she needs to clear her mind anyway, and her deciding to do cleaning duty for the night was the right call because when everyone finally left, she sulked for almost half of the night, there were puddles of tears in the storage room now because of that.
"I'm gonna have to clean that up later..." She says to herself. It's fine, no one is here anyway so she's free to talk to herself like that.
Despite little time she had left before she can close the bar and head out to get some shut-eye, Vinnie ultimately decided to stay for the night in the bar, she already got a room prepped up hidden from both customers' eyes and her employees. She'll be fine, tomorrow is a Sunday so she won't have to open up shop for anyone anytime soon. It gave her a sense of relief as she was hit heavily with a jelly-like feeling when she looks around at her really clean bar.
Smirking while also leaning her head on top of the broom she has with her, she chuckled. "Finally... I'm beat..."
Relieved that the task is over and done with, she proceeded to carelessly shove the cleaning supplies inside of the closet out of boredom and her own sleepiness. Right now, she could care less if she trips on something or if she is still wearing her bar outfit, she wants to sleep right now.
Carelessly, she wandered around the halls of the backroom of the bar and found herself inside of the room she prepared for her to spend the night in. In a haste, she removed her shoes from her feet with a slight kick and jumped into the bed with the sheets almost flying away before she grabbed onto them. But as she tries to wrap it around her, she felt the other end being tugged. Well, not tugged, but more like a strong force is gripping it or something.
She was obviously confused, she was blown away when a familiar face happened to be already in the bed, covered in the sheets and sleeping quite peacefully for a guy who's always wearing a mask of deception.
He groans like he was in pain or something, rubbing his eyes, irritated as he pulls on the sheets over his head. "Five more minutes mom."
His wish was not granted, however, since Vinnie is not a genie and forcefully pulls off the sheets covering Robin, a vein visibly popping out of the side of her head. "Bold of you to assume I'm your mom."
Groggily but made himself do it anyway, Robin lazily opens his eyes and meets Vinnie's annoyed ones, her left eye twitching from the sudden appearance of him being inside of her bed. He looks below him, glancing around the bed and then his surroundings, his gaze finally landing on Vinnie, who was still impatiently tapping her foot on the floor.
"Soo... I see you're busy."
He didn't manage to dodge the flying sheets that had been curled into a ball and hit him right on the face, though it wasn't gonna leave a mark, it still hurt a tad bit. "I can explain!"
"Let's be real here Robin, your explanations are always left up to interpretation." Vinnie scoffs, looking around the room and spots various pieces of clothing from Robin, his coat, shoes, vest, and his hat. He still wore his sleeved shirt and pants, at least he's aware she wouldn't want him waltzing around her bar naked shamelessly.
"Really! I can explain! My old man kicked me out of the house just because it's April Fools Day." He explains with no problem, but his reasons were a bit biased.
"I feel sorry for him." She says under her breath, the faint image of Vox and his entire family under Robin's mercy with it being the day of pranks, maybe add Vicky into the mix while shes at it. Maybe she made the right call not visiting Robin for the day.
Picking up his discarded clothes on the ground, she has to ask. "Why come to me though? You could've just went to the hotel you know."
Robin sat up from the bed immediately after her question. "I would. Unless they try to lift the 'Robin is not allowed in the hotel on April 1' lifetime ban."
"And you know why, right?"
After a long pause, Robin shamefully looks away in disgrace. "Yes..."
"Good." She places the clothes inside of an old but used closet and closes the doors as a sigh comes out of her mouth.
"Are you tired? I can leave if you need some space." Robin says.
"No, no. It's fine. I'm too tired to even care anymore. There's a mattress in the storage room, you can use that. "
Nodding his head, Robin gets off the bed and walks off to the storage room, leaving Vinnie alone with a bit of time to collect and ease her thoughts from blowing up like a bomb. Cuz honestly? She feels like someone who's about to rant about everything that is killing her from the inside, making her wish that eternal peace does exist just so she can get away from the chaos that is her entire life and existence.
She collapsed onto her bed one more time, this time no Robin is in there for her, that shes glad of. Vinnie didn't care right now to change her clothes, again, too tired to care. Her hands stretched one last time, reaching over to the sheets on the floor right next to the bed and covers herself with it. She didn't sleep already, hearing footsteps means that Robin is coming and she knew that once he steps into the room, he never lets go of an opportunity to talk.
"Hey, I got it." Opening the door wide enough for the mattress to fit through, Robin pulls it out of the frame and lays it down next to Vinnie's bed, Vinnie throwing a pillow at Robin's direction who caught it midair as he continues to make his makeshift bed a little comfortable.
"You good?"
"Yep."
Thankfully, it wasn't that cold out tonight, considering that this is Hell and Robin can pretty much use whatever dark magic he can to keep himself warm for the majority of his stay there. He lays himself onto the surprisingly comfortable mattress, letting his entire body relax and envelope on the softness as he lets out a yawn involuntarily.
"Are you sure it's fine with me being here?" He asks again.
Vinnie shot one eye open, groaning while turning to her left. "Well, yeah. I mean, I am mad you're here but honestly, I don't care right now. Just as long as you behave."
"Oh, so you don't want me getting frisky~?" As soon as he said that, a large spider arm protruded out of Vinnie's side, pinning down Robin.
She turns around to glare at him. "You're begging me to kill you, you know that?"
"Calm down, I'm just messing with you. What's gotten you so riled up all of a sudden?"
She raised a brow. "You should already know that. If not, what was the point of you saying that you can leave to give me space?"
This time, Robin was the one who's confused. "Well I know it's obvious at this point. But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"
"Huh?"
"Come on, Vinnie, don't pretend. These past few days you have been acting strangely. You've been actively avoiding me at any chance you got. It hurt me, ya know."
Just then, Vinnie had the sudden urge to run away from this conversation, maybe sleep during it and forget about all of this. But shes smarter than that. "Wh-what are you-"
"Is there something you wanna tell me?"
"N-nothing important..."
"I'm not asking for the importance. You know full well what I'm asking for." The look he's giving her caught her off guard. Is he actually..?
Vinnie mentally shook her head at this sudden revelation. No way he would suddenly do this out of nowhere and ask her what was wrong, it's... Too soon...? Too quick? She doesn't know how to take this to heart, utterly left in the deep abyss of confusion as she tries to think of her answer with an already mess thought process.
"Wh-why are you asking me this?"
He stays firm, unwavering that completely contrasted Vinnie's tired and nervous state. "What else? I'm curious. And also... I wanna know what's wrong, so I can see what I can do to help out."
"I'm not sure..." She looks away bashfully. "I'm not sure I should tell you..."
"Why not?"
Her brows furrowed with a mix of frustration and annoyance. But not with Robin, but to herself. "You've... Always been like that kind of person... You know, the type to always ignore the drama and go straight for the thrills. Back then it wasn't that hard to talk to you, you sweet talk me and I do the same back at ya. Now? I'm not so sure."
"Is there something you want from me or something?" He asks, not having a clue what she really does seem from him.
"It's a stupid thing to want, that's why I didn't bring it up." She replies.
"Everything is stupid," Robin says, earning a flinch from Vinnie, but that wasn't his real message to her. "But you're my friend, aren't you? Weren't you the one who says we should be honest with each other if we are friends?"
"What?" She turns to look at him, eyes filled with disbelief.
"What do you mean 'what'? It's just what I said. Are you being honest?"
Her eyes grew wide, her teeth gnashing against each other. "Me? How about you?? From the two of us, you're the one who refuses to say a word about what's wrong and say that nothings wrong before pulling a dick move on others!"
"Huh?"
"Don't you get what I'm trying to say??? It's a pain talking to you so much! Every time it looks like you're seeking comfort from others, what do you do? You laugh off whatever was bothering you in the first place!! Are you killing me by doing this bullshit!?"
"Vinnie-"
"Shut up! Don't tell me I'm not being honest! Look at yourself for once, will ya??"
"Vinnie!"
She stopped at her tracks, eyes blinking rapidly as she registers what in the world had just happened. Vinnie's gaze dropped down in front of her, her arms were being gripped with an effort to make sure not to leave a bruise, Robin's hands focusing on her keeping her still. He was sitting with her on her bed, looking at her worriedly, something that Vinnie had never imagined him to appear as. The room was quiet, with no movement between the two except for their breathing and their chests going up and down.
"Calm down... I'm not talking about you not being honest with me in the first place."
A small gasp escaped her quivering lips. "Wh...what...?"
"I was asking if you're being honest with yourself."
"Honest... With myself..." She averted her eyes away from him, looking away as the shame not only reacted with her emotions, but it reached to her cheeks which are now bright red. "I'm..."
"We'll still tell each other someday."
Vinnie whips her head to look at him. "H-huh?"
Robin musters up a small and genuine smile, rubbing the back of the head since he never really comforted someone that much before. "I'll be waiting. And you'll wait in return. It'll take time for us to open up, and if that day comes, then we can finally comfort the other. Is that a deal?"
His hands reached over towards her eye, her accidentally reacting by pulling away before Robin's hand caresses her cheek, the feeling of wetness of a tear finally making her realize that she had been sobbing without her noticing.
Stifling a hiccup, she smiles back. "Okay..."
After all, time can only tell.
_________________
I'll edit this soon after.
Robin belong to:
happyninja78
Vicky (mentioned): MiaBuenacosa
Vinnie belongs to me