ARM'S LENGTH // Previous: Oh Shit ;; Rom! Soulmates AU. Insight with your dynamic with Silco, your unlikely soulmate.
12.10.24 Masterlist
Your soulmate being the kingpin of Zaun? It was the last thing you’d ever expect. Out of the billions of people in the world, fate had tied you to him. The Eye of Zaun. The man whispered about in fear and reverence across the undercity. The mere thought was enough to make your head spin.
You often wondered how you ended up here, standing at the entrance of a world you had no business being part of. One moment, you were navigating the gritty streets of Zaun, trying to avoid drawing attention to yourself. The next, you were tethered to one of the most dangerous figures in the city.
Since the fateful moment you exchanged words, your life had been flipped belly up. Silco—your… soulmate—had insisted you stay by his side. It wasn’t a request. It was a command, one delivered with the same authority that made lesser men crumble.
At first, you were reluctant. Terrified, even. You wanted no part of his life, knowing full well the danger and depravity that came with it. Yet, when faced with the alternative—remaining vulnerable and exposed in a city teeming with threats—you reluctantly agreed. Not because you trusted him, but because you didn’t trust anyone else. You knew that if word got out about your connection to Silco, your head would have a price on it by sunrise.
Still, you couldn’t shake the feeling that he resented your very presence. Soulmates or not, it was clear that Silco didn’t want you here. He didn’t need you. To him, your bond wasn’t a blessing; it was an inconvenience.
He treated your connection as a mere obstacle, something to be tolerated rather than cherished. While you stayed in his line of sight, he hardly acknowledged you unless absolutely necessary (which was slim to never). Conversations were curt, directives delivered without room for discussion.
You were certain he saw you as an object—something fate had saddled him with. An obligation to manage, a liability to his empire of power.
He's discovered the end of the rope that tied you to him and now he's done with it.
And in some ways, you couldn’t blame him. He was a man with a singular vision, a relentless drive to shape Zaun’s future. In his world, attachments were a weakness. Trust was a currency he didn’t spend lightly. And you? You were the unwelcome variable in his otherwise carefully calculated plans.
He kept you close. Too close.
Silco’s insistence on your presence was suffocating. You could feel the atmosphere and his intentions, it wasn’t out of affection—there was no warmth in the way he spoke to you or the sharp glances he threw your way when you stepped even slightly out of line.
What unsettled you most was the secrecy. Despite your proximity to him, he hadn’t introduced you to anyone—not his workers, not his chem-barons, not even the bartenders at The Last Drop, where his office was directly above, where he conducts his business.
The only person you’d made any sort of contact with was Sevika, his right hand and infamous powerhouse. You’d seen her often enough to recognize her effortlessly intimidating presence, the way she carried herself with confidence was all from countless battles won. Sevika wasn’t someone to cross, not unless you had a death wish.
Her reputation preceded her: a woman known for getting tasks done with brutal efficiency and unapologetic force. The whispers about her around Zaun painted her as unshakable, her loyalty to Silco as steadfast as her punches were devastating.
And you? You were thoroughly intimidated.
Sevika never spoke to you. Not a word about your sudden and constant presence at Silco’s side. Not about the obvious tension hanging in the air whenever she entered the same room. She didn’t even spare you a questioning glance. If she had thoughts about the situation—or about you—she kept them buried beneath her cold exterior.
Whenever she passed you, her gaze remained straight ahead, her indifference as sharp as ever. She didn’t so much as glance in your direction, as though acknowledging you might disrupt some delicate, unspoken balance.
At first, her silence was almost a relief. You weren’t sure what you would have said if she’d confronted you, weren’t sure if you could withstand the force of her scrutiny. But over time, her indifference began to grate on you. You couldn’t decide what was worse—the way Silco scrutinized you like a puzzle he couldn’t solve, or the way Sevika ignored you entirely, as though you didn’t even belong in the equation.
You often wondered what she thought of you. Did she resent your presence? Did she know the truth about your connection to Silco? Or did she simply not care, too focused on her own responsibilities to spare you a second thought?
Whatever the answer, her silence only deepened your sense of isolation.
In a world where alliances were everything, you had none. Silco kept you close, but not close enough to trust. Sevika barely acknowledged your existence. And the rest of his network? You were just another shadow trailing behind their leader.
“What are you thinking about?” Silco’s voice cut through the heavy silence of the room, flat and devoid of warmth. It wasn’t curiosity that drove his question but rather an obligatory check-in, as though he were asking a subordinate for an written report.
You didn’t answer right away. Sprawled on the leather couch in his office, you lay there with an almost detached stillness, your gaze fixed on the cracked ceiling above. The faint smell of tobacco lingered in the air, mixing with the faint metallic smell of Zaun’s pollution that seeped through every corner of the undercity—though it was stronger the closer to the center of Zaun's underground you got.
Your body felt heavy, the kind of weight born not just of physical exhaustion but a deeper, lingering weariness. You slowly turned your head toward him, your movements sluggish, as though even this small effort was a monumental task.
He was seated at his desk, the usual mountain of papers and reports spread out before him in a disorganized sprawl. A cigar burned lazily in the ashtray nearby, its smoke curling upward in thin, ghostly tendrils. It was clear he hadn’t bothered to put it out; maybe he enjoyed the reminder of its presence, or maybe he simply didn’t care.
For once, Silco wasn’t hunched over his desk in the midst of his tireless work. Instead, he was leaning back in his chair, arms resting on the armrests, his pen abandoned beside the document he had been signing. His mismatched eyes were fixed on you, their gaze as impassive as ever.
He looked at you like he might glance at a stray dog lingering too close—an idle sort of indifference, mixed with vague curiosity but devoid of any real emotion. It was a look you were used to by now, one that never failed to make you feel even smaller in his presence.
“Well?” he prompted again, his voice as dull and unhurried as before.
For a moment, you held his gaze, meeting his detached expression with one of your own. Then, slowly, you turned away, breaking the silence with nothing more than the soft rustle of your clothes against the leather couch.
The ceiling reclaimed your attention, its worn and water-stained surface more comforting than the man sitting across from you. What could you possibly say to him?
"'Oh shit,'" you mumbled under your breath, almost as if testing the weight of the words on your tongue. They felt foreign now, despite having tumbled out so naturally when you’d first met him. “I can’t believe that’s it.”
The words hung in the air, awkward and unpolished, just like the first time they’d been uttered.
There was another lingering pause.
Silco didn’t immediately reply, his eyes fixed on you as he leaned further back in his chair with composed authority. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable—at least not for him. For you, however, it pressed down like a weight, making your chest tighten as you waited for his reaction.
He finally hummed, the sound low and almost dismissive, as though your musings barely warranted a response.
“It’s undignified,” he said, his tone carrying that familiar edge of disapproval.
You didn’t flinch at the criticism; you’d grown used to it by now. He had made no effort to hide his disdain for the phrase since the moment it became clear you were his soulmate. The phrase on his wrist—the one you’d unknowingly delivered in that fateful moment—had been etched into his very being for years, and it was abundantly clear he hated every letter of it.
“You’ve mentioned that before,” you replied, keeping your tone even. It wasn’t worth snapping back.
His lips twitched into the barest hint of a smirk, though it lacked humor. “Because it bears repeating.”
You sighed softly, slightly adjusting to make yourself more comfortable, as if trying to retreat from his judgment. “It’s not like I chose it. If anyone should be offended, it’s me. Who greets their soulmate with ‘Don’t move,’ anyway?”
Silco’s gaze sharpened slightly, though his posture remained relaxed. “It was a pragmatic response to the situation.”
You arched a brow as you turned back to face him, meeting his expecting gaze, the faintest flicker of a smile tugging at the corner of your lips despite yourself. “Pragmatic? That’s what you’re calling it?”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk as he clasped his hands together. “Would you have preferred I be poetic while you stumbled out of an alley, ready to flee?”
You opened your mouth to retort but stopped, realizing you didn’t really have a better answer. You shook your head.
“Fate has a terrible sense of humor,” you muttered, slowly pulling yourself to sit up.
Silco didn’t immediately respond. When he did speak, his voice was quieter, though no less measured.
“Fate,” he repeated, the word rolling off his tongue with a hint of distaste. “I don’t put much faith in it. Fate is… inconvenient.”
“And yet, here we are.” You murmured, barely loud enough for him to catch.
He held your gaze for a moment, something unreadable flickering behind his eyes. Then, without another word, he leaned back in his chair again, reaching for the cigar that had been forgotten in the ashtray.
tgs ;; @trixie541 @90s-slasher-seji @miffysoo @sevikashimmerstrap @magicaltigerking
