@the-snake-demon (c!Adam)

Part 1: Throat

Adam hated touch.

This was just a fact. It’s not like he wanted to hate touch, anyways. But hate wasn’t even a strong enough word. He despised it. He couldn’t bear it. He would avoid it at all costs. The way skin felt, warm and sweaty and squishy. The knowledge that underneath that softness, there was blood. Touch was hell. And Adam knew hell.

In fact, Adam knew hell better than most people. Of course he did, he was a demon, after all. But when people think of hell, they often think of fire and lava, whips and tortures. And sure, that was part of it. But the worst tortures didn’t involve pain.

No, the worst tortures… well, the actual worst tortures were now gone from his memory. He knows they happened, sure, he even knows the details of some of them. But he can’t recall his body at the time. It’s gone, completely gone. This is both a good and a bad thing. So perhaps the worst tortures are painful, but it’s not like he could tell you.

But there are others, ones he does remember. Things he experienced, or watched others experience, or both. And one of the worst was always the bugs.

It’s not quite fair to call them bugs. They don’t fit the typical human standard. No, they’re more like creatures, things with unknowable amounts of legs and eyes, hideous dark carapaces. They weren’t huge bugs either, horrifying because you saw them in disgusting detail. They were small, unknown. And they crawled. That was the torture. You sat, alone, covered. Things, constantly, inching over you. Not biting, no pain, but crawling, crawling, crawling. It drove you mad.

This was touch, for Adam. Crawling sensations, torturous. A simple brush of contact sent shudders over his skin. A hand, a meaty palm against his forearm, gripping tightly, would first send a wave of fire, and then the buzzing. The spot under the hand, then his arm, then his whole body, crawling and crawling til it’s almost numb, and he sees them, the bugs, in his mind's eye. But that’s better than the alternative, really, because the alternative is eyes. Eyes staring at him from a face far too familiar. And that’s much worse. His memory starts going. Touch him too long and he’s afraid the memory will overtake reality, suck him back into the past. Hands on his arms, his head, his face, throat, tight, too tighT FUCK LET GO PLEASE P̸̹̓̍̈̎L̵̝̪͈͖̑E̵̥͑Å̸̞̪̉̑͠S̵̠̫̾͒E̴̤̾̀̒͑ P̸̨̧̨͙̰̺̟̟̣̃L̶̢̨̫̟̮̘̇͆͒̇̇Ē̸̬͝͝Ä̷͈͐̈́̊̈̇͗S̶̨̛̭͖̤͓̺̫͛̓̀̓̿͘͘E̵̢̲̹͉͖̼̘͎͙̒̄͐̊

It’s odd to some. But he always preferred the collar. It was more possessive, but it wasn’t touch.

Firstly,

@snake-bastard get au'd nerd

+ @jasperakalucy You. You wanted to see me rumble about that, so it's time for you to regret your desires /j /lh

Secondly, it’s 'Fluffy’s trying to have a comprehendible thought' time

So. The setting.

In the 1970s, once respected and feared by everyone, Lucifer's gang starts to suffer losses as a new crime family is gaining momentum in the city. That Rtcler’s mob was here just for a few months, but already  well-known to every rat on a street and being compared to Lucifer’s. Some brave ones dared to even say between these two families, Rtcler’s the superior one. 

Though, those claims weren’t unjustified. Rtcler, - despite being cruel and a bit unhinged in his ways sometimes, - was a tactful, careful and strict person, always getting a job done and expecting nothing less from his people.

And his gangsters knew that and tried to conform to their boss' expectation, to not even give him a reason to question their loyalty. 

Well.

Most of them.

In one day an interesting incident occurred, that started a chain of events and almost led to a downfall of the powerful mafia!It included smaller mobsters that combined forces to strike when it was least expected, yellow journalism and… a hat. That’s right, according to stories, the reason why Rtcler’s mob had to lie low was one bad apple of the family deciding to steal black hat with a green ribbon worn by all known mobster.  

What was the madman even thinking? What was the goal? Money? Fame? Personal reasons? Where’s the hat now anyway? Who’s to say. Those are not the only questions the one can ask about this story.

However, not many details about it are available to regular people, so it’s only natural for this story to be grown with rumors and interpreted a bit differently by anyone you talk about it. 

But that's how the “the base” everyone seem to agree on goes: Muttonhead somehow successfully stole boss’ hat, but was robbed and threatened by another gang and in panic gave such important information as the main headquarter’s location to save their own ass, but after all that mess was caught and shot by Rtcler himself.

Sure, has it flaws, but much more realistic than those fairytales you can hear in local pubs about the theft not being the one who gave up the info and actually survived confrontation with “the hat’s owner”, because he’s just kicked them out of the family on streets commanding to never show up again if they want to live, in rage refusing to hear the theft out. Bullshit, honestly. Like, someone like Rtcler would have a reason for such an act of mercy.

But enough about gossip, let’s return to facts.

After that event, the mob completely disappeared from the public eye, but you could still feel its presence and influence. It was still somewhere there, pulling strings from the shadows.

Lucifer gets sick of the lost status of his family and whispers in crowds telling “Invisible hand that rules everything wears a green glove” deciding the opponent is on the lowest point of their existence than they ever were or will be. Meaning, it’s the time to finish that “lucky upstart” once and for all. 

Which is obviously easier to say than do, since no one knows where the enemy is hiding. So, Lucifer orders his right hand man Adam - who always does everything to please the boss, no matter what it takes, - to find out where the opponent’s new headquarter is. And now Adam’s doomed to collect little pieces of known information about the mysterious crime family hoping some of them would be a clue where to look for it.

Maybe, the mission would be at least a little bit trouble-free if Lucifer’s mob had a few allies-mafias that you could just ask some questions, but - Thanks to Mr. Morningstar incredible leadership, - he and his gang are not quite welcome on properties of every gang in the city. So, 90% of the time, the only way to receive necessary information Adam has is through violence.

A lot of violence. Sometimes included killing everyone in the building.

As it was when they met a pretty strange guy, who apparently was doing the same thing.

They’re pointing weapons at each other's faces, - Adam with a pretty elite gun and the guy with one knife in their hand, - both pretty surprised to see someone else killing their targets here and not being sure what to do in this situation. 

Their collective dilemma being interrupted by a realization there are still a bunch of enemies around them, so they decide to delay the introduction - or their fight - for a little bit later and deal with the bigger threat first. Together.

Adam is clearly a professional in this kind of things: They know where and how to shoot to make the bigger damage but lose the minimum ammo. They aren’t cowarding behind the cover, but also don't jump under the opponent's bullets like an idiot.

That strange guy knows what they’re doing too. There’s clearly something’s going on in their head as they throw those knives of theirs, but feels like most of that something is “harm as much as possible as fast as possible”.  If they’re out of knives they’re straight up starting to fistfight. If they can’t fistfight anymore they’re- Oh my god, did they just try to bite someone’s face off-

Everyone is dead. Hooray, proper introduction time.  

Strange guy’s name is Fluffy. They’re a hitman that does not belong to any family making money by purely taking any contracts for very cheap prices, trying to survive. Fluffy explains their reason for visiting this place is it’s being their current contract and they’re quite curious what member of Lucifer’s family - which they recognize Adam as such - is forgotten here.

Adam is not sure how good the idea of telling a weird stranger you just met about their mission is, but on the other hand Fluffy still didn’t kill him and, in fact, helped with dealing with foes. Plus if something goes wrong Adam always can kill them anyway. 

So, he informs Fluffy that he’s in a search of any knowledge about Rtcler’s mob, especially the one that could help figure out where it is, - as well as Rtcler himself - now.

Fluffy’s eyes seem to light up - well, more than usual - at the very moment Adam said that. They look… conflicted all of a sudden. As if they really want to say so many things at once, but don’t think they should.  

Despite calling that idea stupid and hopeless at first, - betting that even if Adam succeeds, as soon as they take one step into the headquarter their gang existence is over - Fluffy starts to drop hints they wouldn't mind to participate in it. 

Chuckling, Adam rejects the help offer asking why would they want that and most importantly how some kind of poor vermin could be useful for him

Fluffy says they have a lot of law problems and are starting to get tired from jailbreaks every few months. And if they'd help local mobster deal with his enemy thereby helping him become the greatest mafia of all time, maybe his mob could help them deal with cops as a modest reward. And they definitely don't have any other personal reasons to meet with Rtcler's gang face to face. Plus they claim to have some connections that could help in searches and to be better in combat and “if it wasn’t for me your scaly ass would’ve died today so you’re actually own me”. 

Which triggers the “- Excuse you, I am better than you -  No, I’M better than you” argument between both of them that ends up with Adam getting fed up with it and irritably saying “FINE, if you want it that much I ask Lucifer. As if he’ll allow it and not order to kill you in an instant for knowing too much, rat.”

Unfortunately for Adam, his boss really doesn't care how Adam will fulfill the order. If that Fluffy-guy wants to participate and technically doesn’t demand anything in return, - “I mean, who’d stop us from just killing them as soon as we're done instead of dealing with cops for this fool, right?” -  there’s no reason to not accept their help offer. 

Although Lucifer agrees that Fluffy is a stranger, it’s impossible to know what to expect from them and stupid to believe they’re 100% not a spy or won’t betray them at any given moment using all knowledge they receive against Lucifer’s mob in general. So, he orders Adam to keep an eye on Fluffy 24/7 to make sure "they won’t even have a chance to think about betraying” as if the guy didn’t have enough problems to deal with already.

Fluffy is not happy about the fact they would have to be constantly watched over as some kind of child either.

But oh well. 

Maybe, it would be worth it.

The end.

Okay,  comprehendible thought time is over now I will just say stuff:

Hatcler is definitely has something to do with The Hat Incident

The fact that by all logic Aamit would be a retired gangster that become a therapist or gangster AND a therapist is so funny to me

Twinstars should hold fights-without-rules for money, methinks. I don’t know why but it feels right

Copper would be just a regular citizen that happened to accidentally befriend a hitman. Also Fluffy would not hide what their job is but would try to hide the fact they smoke. Maybe not even allowing Adam to smoke near Copper as a bonus. Slapping cigarette out of his mouth as soon as they notice Copper nearby