-`ˏ 𝕠𝕟𝕝𝕪 𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕝 ˎ´-

after all that nia did for her, keeping her ass out of jail and free to coat the noses of the citizens of valdez, the least esmerelda could do was make a house visit to give the girl a dope tattoo. she always went above and beyond for the people that MATTERED in her life. using her gift to paint the bodies of others ? it was a pretty beautiful thing. she could soar with this, if she truly wanted. in truth, she didn’t need to deal to keep herself afloat. but she didn’t know any other life. being normal ? what the fuck even was that ? “ mm, not too much, alcohol. it thins your blood, and this one… might get a bit messy. sorry. ” really, she was. the only downside to tattoos was the inevitable pain she was inflicting on her clients. thankfully, after so many years of tattooing, she’d become pretty fast at it. she didn’t intend on keeping nia uncomfortable for any longer than she absolutely had to. when she turned around, slipping on her latex cloves, nia was shirtless before her, lounging like a goddess on the couch. her head tilted to the side slightly, that familiar tingling feeling began her thighs as her eyes shamelessly took in the sight before her. “ i—yeah, that’s perfect, ” she hummed, lips twitching into a smirk as an idea popped into her head. a naughty one. but one she planned on going for, nonetheless. approaching the couch, the brunette rested one knee on the cushion, the single hand that wasn’t covered in latex having her fingertips dance up nia’s stomach. “ there might be a special way i can make it feel a little better… you interested ? ”

nia glanced at the glass in her hands and back to the other, she should have known that, was basically common knowledge but she also didn’t care for that fact and if didn’t make the artist’s job that much harder she would just down the whole bottle. with a sigh she set the glass down on her end table and turned back to esmerelda, her lips curling into a smirk as she saw the reaction of the younger woman at her bare body. she tugs on her lower lips with her teeth, her back straightening slightly so her chest more visible to the other the feeling of the other's gaze only enticing her further, feeling proud of herself that she attracted such a reaction from esme. nia’s eyes followed esmerelda’s every move and flickered to the hand on her stomach. she hummed and looked up to meet the woman’s eyes “is there?” she cocked her head to the side, her lips settled into a smirk as she let her hand go up to tuck the other’s hair behind her ear and a brow arched questioning “i’m always interested in bonuses, why don’t you show me what this one consists of, hm?” she says, her hand moving slightly down the other’s face so her thumb could run over esme’s lips and down her chin “i could always use a way of relieving the pain.”

“cut the shit, antonia.” the words are snapped — and its like a damn bursting. the last ten years of emotions, of regret and pain and anger and sadness and guilt and grief — all of it leaking out into one hostile conversation. ( this won’t end well — their fights never did, even when they were younger and more in love. it won’t end well, but there’s no turning back. ) “in all the fucking years i’ve known you, when have i ever said you had to do anything? pretty damn sure the record speaks to the fuckin’ opposite.” dante scoffed. “god knows i’m a lotta shit, but i think we can both agree i wasn’t the guy that told you what the fuck to do.”

a sharp, bitter laugh followed — dante shaking his head, glancing around the bar, at the patrons who steadfastly refused to glance their way. whatever — he didn’t care. let them look, let them talk. the days he worried about people in this town were long gone. “trust me, sweetheart, i owned up to my mistakes. sort of really all i had fucking time to do, the past ten years.” he leaned forward on the bar slightly — somewhat threatening, but mostly daring. “explain it to me, though. what about it is this town that makes a life huh? since you’re so fucking sure you have one?” his chin jerked at the lion’s had tattoo she sported. “throwing your lot in with a gang that straight up murders a hundred fucking people for no other reason than greed? protecting them, bleeding for em, hell maybe even dying for em, given the way shit is now? you really you really think when the chips are down and someone’s decide to blow up downtown valdez, they’re gonna cover your ass?”

his gaze widened. “cause i’ve been on the other side baby. jason, niko, hell the fuckin’ mayor — they don’t give a shit. not about anyone but themselves. they’ll decide your expendable, just like they decided everyone else in town was three years ago.” once upon a time, dante had been prepared to keep his mouth shut. he wasn’t going to speak or rat on any of the guys he’d pulled that robbery with — turns out they didn’t hold the same loyalty for dante. he’d believed so strongly in the opposite, and yet it’d come back to bite him in the ass all the same. “but yeah, sure. i’m the one without balls cause i have hard time facing the ex i’m still in love with.”

eyebrow quirked up at the use of her full name not giving him anymore satisfaction than that, the words he spoke were true and she knew that, all the time they spent together he would never do that to her, and if he did she wouldn’t have given him the time of day. but the tone didn’t agree with her, only getting her more worked up about all those years they missed. nia can only manage a roll of her eyes, not rebutting his words only staring as he made his point.

with a glance to her sides she could see the attention they were gathering and as much as nia loved most kind of attention that one wasn’t one she got off on but she couldn’t be bothered by it when dante was speaking such things of her friends and family. her chocolate eyes find his again and she bits on her bottom lips hard fighting the words that wanted to escape her and takes a deep breath. “oh you did? could have fooled me.” she says before mimicking his actions and leaning closer so their faces were only inches apart so he knew he couldn’t intimidate her “you telling me you know what a life entails? because last i checked you were lacking ten years of experience on that particular field.” at the mention of the murders that had happened she twitches and she feels her nails digging into the bar top having almost lost a part of her family made it hard for her to let go of the words. she laughs bitterly “let’s get one thing straight, d, i can cover my amazing glorious ass all by myself. always have and always will.”

she rested her head on her palm only looking at him, her teeth gritting slightly “you have it all figured out don’t you, babe? you think because i’m loyal that i give a fuck about how they think of me, that because someone left you high and dry then everyone must do the same to all the others. that i follow blindly just because i have a lion on my fucking hand, right, that can be the only explanation, huh? sorry to disappoint but all that you are saying is not news, yet i’m still here. you want to know why? because they didn’t leave me when i needed them, sure they might figure they don’t need me anymore but i don’t care, i can fend for myself that much i have proved.” 

the woman froze at his words, she was at a loss of how to feel her usual quick remarks on pause as her mind tried to process what he had told her. the hand that was still resting on the counter balling into a fist and the one that was holding her face rose up to hold her index finger up “no,” she says looking back at his eyes “don’t — you don’t get to do this. i’m not letting you do this.” she lets out a breath and rolls her neck with her eyes closed.