Fingernails Chapter 1
Hello all, my first time posting fanfiction since 2014 (lmao!) All fics will be posted on AO3 and will be posted there 1st! Below is the link to it on AO3. Happy reading and please remember to interact and reblog!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/41220963
Fingernails
V rummaged around the cabinet underneath the sink looking for a very specific plastic tub. Between working any gig that she could get her hands on and trying to find a way to evict her brain parasite without dying, V had almost no downtime. A point she has made very clear to said parasite many times and was now regretting that.
“Jesus, V. How many times have you said ‘We don’t have time for this, we can’t stop, I gotta take this gig, blah blah fuckin’ blah.’ Now you’re painting your nails like some corpocunt”, Johnny taunted.
V rolled her eyes and placed the tub of nail goodies on the counter, accidentally spooking Nibbles from her nap in the sink bowl. “First of all, I said we had very little time to relax. So we have some,” V smirked at Johnny and continued after soothing the poor cat. “And corpocunts wouldn’t paint their own nails, they get color-changing nail implants or some shit. At the very least, they’d pay someone to do it for them. God forbid they actually lift a finger.”
Johnny snorted out a laugh at that and materialized a fake cigarette. He puffed on it for a bit while he watched V pick out a nail color and gather her tools. “You know what I’m about to ask next,” He said, moving closer to the merc and tossing out the digital cig butt.
That was the ‘fun’ part of sharing a mind. It was more than what Vik said of becoming one person, it was knowing and feeling everything about each other. Including what they were about to say to the other person. They figured out at some point that if they focused hard enough they could hide things from each other. However, it wasn’t a passive thing to do - it took actual effort and so most things passed between the two connected minds.
“It’s…hard to explain why I like taking care of my nails. After all that crap with the Voodoo Boys, you know how important my mom was to me. We used to paint our nails together all the time before…well you know,” She let out a sigh before pushing those emotions to the side. “Plus nail polish and shitty drug store makeup were stupidly easy to klep when I was with the Bakkers,” V grinned proudly.
Johnny gave V a small smile, “Ya know talking to you sometimes is more depressing than kicking a puppy with progeria. Now grab a nail color and let’s watch some shitty TV, Samurai.”
And V did just that. She grabbed a dark purple color that had flakes of slivery glitter swirling around in it and flicked on the TV. Watson Whore. Neither of them liked modern TV, the corpo propaganda wasn’t even hidden and the acting was worse than atrocious. However, V would sometimes indulge in a guilty pleasure of consuming really really awful weeknight dramas. She would only catch every other episode so she had no fucking clue what was going on. Right now the lead girl was in a really expensive-looking bikini and sobbing over some hunk of a guy with a crazy amount of stab wounds.
“I swear if Maxtec or some other corpo comes bursting in to save her night, I’m taking over and changing the channel,” Johnny grumbled as he popped up next to V.
“If I smoke a cig or two will you shut up?”
“Yes.”
V lit one up and started puffing on it. She started by cleaning the old polish off and clipping her nails as the nicotine entered her bloodstream. Johnny finally seemed to settle down. A weird sense of peace also settled in - or peace as much as Night City would allow. It was funny in a way. Just a few hours ago, V was dodging bullets and separating Tyger heads from their bodies. The scratch she made was disappointing, to say the least, only a little over 6K eddies for all that work. Enough for rent and some food at least but not much else. So a nail day was much needed to say the least.
She lifted up a nail file and inspected it. It was an old metal one that was starting to dull on one side. V was too comfy to get up a grab a new one, plus Nibbles decided her lap made a much better bed. She flipped it over to the other side and started filing away. While she enjoyed taking care of her nails, she wasn’t creative and just shaped them into the standard oval shape. Being a merc doesn’t allow for nail creativity anyway.
V ashed the cig as she grabbed the cuticle oil next. She poured a generous amount on each nail bed and massaged it in. She rubbed the oil in slowly, both to actually let it absorb into the nail bed but the act also released the soreness from her overworked digits. V paused and briefly wondered if the oil could smooth out the callouses on her hands. Her trigger finger was…bad. That didn’t even start describing some of her scars. Hell, the road rash down her leg was horrific when she wiped out on a sketchy-ass bike when she was 17.
“Oh come on it's not that bad!”
“Jesus fuck!” V jumped hard, no longer relaxed and neither was the cat. The oil bottle swiped across her knuckles (she’d find out if cuticle oil would help after all) and landed on the coffee table, “I thought you said you shut up?” V leveled a look at him and stamped out the dying cigarette. Even Nibbles seemed to give the digital ghost a look before deciding her food bowl was much more interesting.
He smirked, bastard enjoys messing with her. “Pipe down, I got bored. Plus when did you get so concerned about looks?”
“Johnny, I think it’s fair to say anyone in NC is obsessed with looks. Kinda the first part of the battle when it comes to decent street cred.”
“Heh, I guess not everyone is blessed being able to look this good this easily,” With his signature grin, he leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. The only thing V could think of is that if Johnny is going to be in the passenger seat much longer, Vik would have to give her some blood pressure meds along with those blockers.
Instead, V just shook her head and lit a 2nd cigarette. She briefly considered fixing herself a drink, they were taking time to relax for once, but as much as the digital brain parasite annoyed her… He’s definitely grown on her. A part of her wonders if that was the relic rewiring her brain or if they were actually getting along. Rouge and Johnny never shared a brain (Thank God, even if that would be the most entertaining thing of the century.) and they meshed well in their own way. Sort of.
‘Nope…’ V thought to herself. Tonight is supposed to be relaxing and following that line of thought is the opposite. To remedy that, she grabbed the chosen nail polish color and unscrewed the cap. The familiar chemical smell that comes with any bottle of nail polish flooded her senses. Most hate the smell or at least think it’s too strong, but V loved it. Could it be because that smell was present during a time of her life when things were safe and ok? Probably, but right now it was as effective as synth-lavender.
V is no nail tech but she knows a few tips and tricks from years of nail care. She dipped the brush in the swirling liquid and pressed it on the bottom of her thumbnail. Not all the way down though, don’t want to flood the cuticle. She then smoothly and gently pulled the brush up to the tip and angled it so it would cover the edge of the nail. Always wrap the tip.
“That’s what I’ve said for years,” said Johnny. V at first wanted to berate him but couldn’t help but laugh.
V repeated the motions until the thumbnail was covered. The purple and silver glitter complimented each other nicely. She held it to the light. It made it sparkle brilliantly and the purple shimmer with an iridescent flare. She hummed to herself in approval and continued on to the next fingernail. V entered almost a meditative state as she focused on covering each nail, not noticing her parasite was watching intently as she went along. The two minds were finally relaxed and contented for once.
The episode of Watson Whore ended as V finished the last stroke on her pinky finger. There were a few mistakes where she accidentally got some paint on the skin around the nail but overall, her fingernails gleamed. Besides those bits would wash off in the shower. She grinned and looked over at Johnny. Much to V’s surprise, he was also admiring her nails. She expected a joke or a comment but instead…
“Ok damn. I’ll admit it V, I’m impressed,” He said while gesturing for her to show off her other hand.
V was flabbergasted for a second before composing herself, “Too bad you’re a ghost or I could make you look so pretty,” She joked.
“Tell ya what, we both somehow make it out of this… You can paint my nails, V.”
“Wait, what? Really?!”
“I’d cross my heart but I’m fuckin’ dead.”
“Even the gaudiest, loudest shade of neon green?”
“V, I know I’m an asshole but be reasonable.”
She laughed a true and deep laugh, feeling in a great mood for a rare time, “Fine. I think a nice shade of blue would look hella nice on you.”
“I’ll hold you to it, Samurai,” Johnny said as he dematerialized for the night to some dark corner of her mind.
For a moment, V almost missed the presence of Silverhand until she realized it was almost 1 in the morning. She placed all her nail goodies back in the tub and then under the sink. Nibbles was already a step ahead of her and was curled up asleep next to V’s pillow. Still feeling relaxed and just in a good mood for once, V slid under the covers and sunk into the bed. V drifted off to the sound of Nibbles purring up a storm. Of course, there would always be the lingering stress of what tomorrow would bring in Night City that any resident has but tonight things are ok. In fact, they were so ok that the nightmares left them alone as well.
