Long Live Me

and manicured hands are just gonna PLUCK up those glasses. Holding them up to her face to peek through the lenses, ❛❛ almost a shame. Tha nerd look suited ya,❜❜

He has no qualms with dropping them once she reaches to take a hold of it, with all the air of one leaving an afterthought behind. 

“Is that a veiled attempt at indirectly suggesting I resume wearing them I hear?”

@craftedinsanity​ get’s a thing thanks to group chat on main. 

♡―HUES  TRACE  OVER  AN  ALABASTER  FACE;  slender  fingers  keep  a  hold  of  Jeremiahs  jaw.  Using  the  hold  to  tilt  his  head  side  to  side.  Sleek  pair  of  hot  pink,  metal  tweezers  clutched  in  the  fingers  of  her  freehand,  tapping  it  at  her  cheek.  As  if  trying  to  decide  on  a  thought.  In  truth,  it  would  be  a  lot  easier  to  place  a  wax  strip  && be  done  in  one  go  on  each  side.

     Where’s  the  fun  in  that  ??  

After  a  moment,  his  jaw  is  released  in  favour  to  track  upwards.  Manicured  digit  traces  over  skin  paler  than  her  own,  stray  eyebrows  hairs  tickling  the  pad  of  her  finger.  Tongue  ‘CLICKS’  behind  pearly  teeth,  growing  into  a  chuckle.  ❛❛ ―  someone  as…high  maintenance  as  you,  I  figured  you  would  have’d  these  kitten  tails  groomed  real  nice,  like  tha  rest  of  ya. ❜❜   Tweezers  graze  to  HOVER   at  the  brow  bone,        ❛❛ ― on  tha  count’a  three.  One  tw-  ❜❜ …….

………’PLUCK’  ! !   

Smirk  slides  across  her  features,  ❛❛ ― one  down, ❜❜

Navigating relations with the rogues, Harley in particular, requires a measure of...flexibility. An ability to adapt to even the most peculiar of situations and the patience to infer from it. Hence his reason for being here, cooperating by maintaining still as she essentially manhandles his delicate face.

"What can I say? Things have been a little...hectic as of late. We are on a rather..tight schedule.”

The loud echo of the gunshot ran in her ears. Elise couldn’t help the slight twitch as the bullet flew past her. It was an instinctive reaction and someone less used to the sound, or who could be killed by a bullet, would surely have ducked out of the way. Which was why when she turned to look at where the bullet had hit there was some surprise to see a man clambering to his feet despite the growing red spot on his shirt. There was a twitch on her face, though if it was from displeasure or an instinct to go help was hard to tell.

“What is wrong with him?” The morbid curiosity in her voice was hard to deny even as her silver eyes glared at him in accusation. There was obviously something wrong, but what she couldn’t say.

( @craftedinsanity )

"This and that.” His answer in return is a dismissive one at best when he raised his arm to take aim and fire once more. Another short laugh squeezes it’s way out of his air passages when Jeremiah watches their modified companion fall from the impact, only to get right back up, catatonic and seeming to register nothing at all. 

If she dared to step closer, she would notice the distinct glassiness to his new subject’s pupils, thereby confirming that there is indeed something very dire about his condition.  “Wrong isn’t the right descriptor here.” Shoulders rolled in a lazy shrug. “I’d argue that I made him better.” 

  🐍  —  UNHINGED PEAL OF LAUGHTER spills from his lips when his brother loses his footing. Playtime between them has always been rough; mostly Jerome’s doing. What can he say, he loves to push baby bro around. It’s Miah’s fault, he tells himself, for being so lanky.

   He basks in thriumph, quickly darting away the second contact is broken. However, knowing his brother, the ginger won’t be deluded to think he’s in the clear. Him and Jeremiah share the same stubborn mind; determination runs in their veins. And so, he remains on guard and succeeds in evading a tackle with a swift hop away; like a prancing deer.

 “ Eeh-hee-heeh! ” Albeit his hitched breath, Jerome has more than enough stamina to keep going. He relies on it; intends to tire him out. “ Mmm— call me that again, baby! ” The playful endearment in his tone bounces off of every mirror, amplifying its sacrilegious nature. “ Wha’chu gonna offer for these here glasses, han’some? ” He continues to trot away, but turns around to wave the pair, pinched between his fingers.

  Still rubbing his victory in Miah’s face, Jerome points to him with a malicious cackle. And he keeps running, looking back to his equally disheveled twin. But vanity comes with a price; Jerome apparently thinks he’s capable to navigate through the illusions with ease. “ Loser! Looooser, looooser, you’ll never catch me ali— ”

             SLAM !

 Face meets mirror. The collision cracks a fine web in the glass and the ginger falls down with a thud. He stays completely still, the pair of glasses still in his loosened grip, but fortunately intact.

The cackles only serve to irritate him more. Lips curved into a stubborn scowl and Jeremiah continued further into the maze, hand streaking marks onto clear glass as he does, using it as an indicator of where he’s been as he attempts to find his way through. He’ll get him one way or another: This he knows. After all, he’s nearly managed to reach him once already.  “You’re so annoying!” Ears burned with embarrassment, cheeks stinging as they took on a shade of pink when he registers the endearment. He loathes the way Jerome knows exactly how to make him squirm under his own skin. Hates feeling like he’s the one being cornered despite the fact that he is currently in pursuit of the other. “Why do I have to offer you anything? You’re messing up my school schedule! I have morning classes, how am I supposed to wake up in time?” It’s more of a deliberate baiting response if anything else. The more Jerome talked, the easier sound carries, the likelier it would be to track the direction he’s currently heading in. He would have been content to inch his way patiently across the mirror maze and attempt yet another lunge once he’s within reach.

❝I always have a few surprises under my sleeve, but…imagine how it would be if I successfully ran away from the police with a common skateboard!❞

❝Are you saying I have many unwarranted enemies?❞ a hand at his heart as he gasps, his signature move that he is so shocked ❝Well, isn’t that what makes life interesting? Having someone to challenge you? Otherwise all you have to face are the morons in the GCPD. Speaking of morons…I would not be too worried of Maxie Zeus. Only failed villains go there…not newbies. Why are you so interested?❞ he grins, pointing at him ❝I know why your brother is but…why are you? Protecting his honour?❞

Trevor rolls his eyes, his version of the truth? Ya he’ll never get a definitive answer between the two of them. Might as well just move on now. “ I’m starting to get the feeling you’re both quite stubborn. ” he says blinking a couple of times.

Trevor scoffed at the next statement. “ Conversation is a much more healthy coping mechanism than alcoholism. ” he points out with a smirk as he watches the other nurse his drink.

“ Well you both have a clear superiority complex about you. ” he snorts as he listens to the other talk. “ I guess that must run in the family along with the red hair. ” he jokes as he Jeremiah beings up the possibility of them being related again. “ What like a DNA test? What would good would that do? ” he asked. All he could see was Jerome getting more obsessed with him if the results were related, and that was something he didn't need.

"Jerome,” the warning and weariness in his tone is hard to miss. Don’t start. 

Dismay further curls up against the base of his throat when his brother refuses to drop the subject. And Jeremiah has gotten used enough to his usual antics to recognise when he’s changing tacks whilst still pursuing the same point. 

The abrupt departure in her composure is enough to rouse interest. There was nothing benevolent in the manner in which his silent gaze trails watchfully over her actions as she sought out the cat for distraction, containing a similar intensity in his scrutiny as magnifying lenses to a woefully trapped insect. Assessing. How curious... 

A hum of acknowledgement is offered. While Jeremiah neither disagreed with her statement nor particularly agreed with it, he does lift a tinted brow at the muttering, too low of a register for him to pick up. Nevertheless, the former engineer would tactfully proceed in pointing out. 

“That may be so. But animals have different constitutions after all, so what applies to you may not always apply to them. No?” 

A groan of protest is released from the ginger-haired engineer as he rubbed at the side of his aching head. Fingers fumbled across the ground in a search for his glasses even as green eyes peered at his surroundings with a hint of trepidation. 

How odd it is that he would know to prod at tender spots even to this day. Someone’s been paying attention. He remembers. Testament to how ingrained of a mark he’d left in him. 

“Oh, you have no idea just how right you are.”  The thought sparks giggles- short sharp bursts pitched just on the off side of hysterical and unnerving, especially with how quickly his pupils shift to keep him in his line of sight. “I’d say that it’s not so much the blood but the bond of brothers that connect our interests.” He laid the groundwork. Jeremiah made it more. Made it better. Dragged up by the lapels of his coat, the former engineer rests his hands upon the other’s armored shoulders for balance. Of course, this doesn’t exactly deter him from looping his legs around his waist, squeezing. As though their age old tango of painful entanglement is one he finds amusing.  “So much posturing....Should you really be focusing that much on my mouth, Bruce?” Eyes gleamed with malice. “Well. I don’t know about the location of the other bombs or the Mayor. But- I do know the location of this one-” Palms lifted away from Bruce’s shoulders. A flash of red and green.  Nestled against the chest-plate of Batman’s armor was a singular modified bomb, the numbers on the display illegible with how quickly it’s going. Jeremiah tightens his legs again. 

  Knowing how meticulous that ‘search’ could get, he responds with a grunt but eventually complies. Rolling on his back would allow his brother enough space to feel around wrinkled bedsheets. Through his frown, green eyes dart to the freckled fingers patting down dangerously close to the pillow.

 ( So close, too close… A little accidental nudge is all it will take and the plan is foiled. Must not let him nudge … )

   Finally, he sits up abruptly, planting an elbow on the pillow — an excuse to prop himself up & rub a playful smirk in his twin’s face.

 “ No. ‘Ya wanna search this bed? You’re gonna need a search warrant, mister. ” 

The sudden burst of movement from Jerome has Jeremiah instinctively drawing back to prevent a potential collision, brows raised in surprise. Annoyance and suspicion writ clearly on his face, he huffs at his brother’s playful declaration.

“Really? You’re really going to be an ass at this hour?” His exasperation leaks out in the form of a firm three fingered tap against Jerome’s forehead, a half-hearted attempt at pushing him off balance. 

Peter had never seen eyes such as those, they were very unnatural. He had wondered if this man was born with them or had somehow came across something unfortunate while in this place.

He glanced back at the wreckage, making a mental note to deny any involvement in this if the justice obsessed fools came calling after him. “No.” He shrugs. Tinkerbell didn’t come here, she was to far away from him. He focused on the wreckage.

“I gave them three warnings and a head start. They didn’t heed it.” He shrugs, not caring to count how many lives he had ended nor how many escaped with what little life left in their bodies. They were only adults. “They thought stealing from my territory was easy.” He shrugs his shoulders. “It might have been if they didn’t leave a trail behind that was so big you could see it from Mars.”

May as well play along though.“Tink doesn’t deal with very unstable chemicals.. nor do I for that matter, laddie. They were just there so I thought: why not kill them with their own weapons? Make it look accidental.” Peter was confessing his crimes and could care less if this other would try and use it against him. “So.. Jeremiah Valeska.” Eyes shown recognition at the last name, everyone knew that name by now. “Sorry if you were a near casualty in the wreckage. I kind of don’t know the meaning of restraint.”

A subtle jest missed, what a shame. Nevertheless, it’s only reasonable that not everyone would share his sense of humor. The former engineer couldn’t resist the giggle that escaped him at the latter of his remarks.  “Hubris is quite the deadly mistake. One would assume that it’s a widely known fact appearances hardly measure up to capability in a city like Gotham, however people truly do continue to disappoint.” 

Pausing to withdraw a pair of binoculars from the recesses of his trench-coat, Jeremiah surveyed the landscape from their perch with a quiet hum. 

"Hush.” There is something intimate in the manner in which he whispers his bidding, knuckles caressing the smooth cheek of his companion in slow lingering brushes whilst he leans over his form on the bed. “We mustn’t be too loud, darling. It’d be terribly rude to wake Alfred at this hour of the night, wouldn’t it?”

♡— LIDS BLINK A FEW TIMES, barley able to focus on what the other was saying. Something about a plan. With her chin resting in the palm her hand, she lets out a short yawn, eyes drooping with fatigue, ❛❛ - yeah…yeah. I’m paying attention. Gotta…get da’ rabbits…stage show from the….❜❜

     it   shouldn’t   surprise   him   that   someone   so   little   could   be   involved   in   the   criminal   world   of   gotham.   almost   everyone   was.      it’s   none   of   his   business   though,   but   alice   hadn’t   told   him   anything   about   her   business   with   jeremiah.   she   hardly   tells   him   anything.   ’   do   you   know   -   anything   about   what   they’re   doing   ?   ’  

"I must say, tales of life on the seas have always drawn my interest as a young man. Something about the-” Gloved hands gestured about as a means to articulate his point. “The adaptability in the face of unpredictable weather, coasting along the waves as the ship is rocked by the crash and thunder of oncoming storms. It’s...hm..” 

Fingers caught on the buttons of the other’s vest, idly tugging as Jeremiah supplies the word with a meaningful grin. “-Exciting. Though I wouldn’t venture to call myself much of an adventurer.” 

There is an unnatural grace in his steps when he circles his companion, very much reminiscent of predators stalking their prey in silence before they strike, mapping out trails of heat with his palms, cheekily skirting up the side of the others’s thighs, caressing up arms, brushing against shoulders.

Head tilts in an assessing manner once Jeremiah circles back to the front again, as though taking in his handiwork.  “Not bad. There’s only one thing missing.” He’s quick to invade the other’s space even further, sealing their lips together in a singular kiss. The tip of his tongue peeks out to lap at his own bottom lip when they part and Jeremiah grins at the kiss stain left on them.