checkmate.

     ”Whoever said that diamonds were a girl’s best friend obviously hadn’t contemplated the potential of me in that Cartier number.”

     The weather that afternoon was abnormally warm, balmy and contagious, the sort of sunshine that crept up and dripped into one’s flesh just to say fuck you. It brought out skin and legs; shorts crawling higher and midriffs daring to expose themselves chaotic and distracting in a manner that would whet his appetite if he weren’t already in a state of deluded grandeur —  still, he had time to kill, frozen yogurt slipping down an alabaster web of skin between cigarette long fingers that he chased with his mouth absent minded and bored. Everything felt damp from the warmth of the afternoon; like the apex of a girl’s thighs or the way his forehead felt when he developed fevers, beading over his skin in transcendental little drops.

   The interaction began with a slight advantage, a point in his favor, a ploy that he could make the most of -- Montparnasse was all too aware of who the young man was but didn't know if his identity was known, he knotted matchstick fingers in his lap and flashed a devastating smile the rich boy's way. He couldn't explain his loathing for the one she referred to as Monsieur ( in today's age.. Monsieur! ) but he knew that it wasn't something going away in the present future, leaning forward while he gave a nod in the direction of someone petite and blonde. ”---- she's very pretty,”

     Montparnasse would never be able to understand it; the way that she looked at him, the way that she spoke of him, when she thought that no one was around to see or hear it. He would never comprehend how someone so devastating could be so pitifully sad – how someone so knowing could be so stupid. She wanted prince charming? Fuck that, fuck prince charming; Marius Pontmercy was nothing more than another guilty, rich boy and if there was one thing that could make the career criminal see red it was guilty rich boys. Montparnasse had built himself out of nothing at all, with broken parts and an expired warrantee, and surely that meant he was better than that oblivious, lovesick, puppy dog.