#znt2a

Being the Lord of the Underworld was harder than it seemed.  Nine couldn’t help but pity Hades.  Twelve and he only had one city to run and it was hell enough having to deal with all that paperwork.  You think reading reports about gangs and robberies would be a tad bit interesting, but in that bureaucratic form, it all melted into monotonous garbage.

He should have been tackling that task at the moment, not strolling around with Twelve, but geez wonder what he ended up doing anyway?

“I still don’t know why you need me for this,”  Nine sighed.

“I told you, you’ll see,”  Twelve gave that cat-like grin of his before securing his hat further.  “We shouldn’t be that much further by now.”

The two of them rounded a corner, and it was like a light bulb went off in Nine’s head.

“No.”

“Ah come on you don’t-”

“I have no need to talk to her,”  Nine interrupted.  “She said she won’t snitch now that she has that job at our speakeasy.”

“Yeah, but I’m just planning to scare her a bit.  I thought I’d take her out to eat, show how things are if you’re on a gangster’s good side, and how they’re if you’re not.”

Nine could only give a withering stare,  “I don’t have time for these games.”

“Oh come on-”

“That’s it, I’m going home to finish paperwork.  See you later,”  He wasted no time turning back; however, when he checked back for one quick glance, he found Twelve linking arms with a female figure in a yellow dress.

“Idiot,”  He scoffed to himself,  “You’re going to get attached.”

~

He didn’t think about their Lisa Mishima until he found Twelve and himself visiting the speakeasy right as her show started.  Despite her slight, boyish frame, she got plenty of hoots and hollers her way.  It was only once she began a sweet, soft jazz number did the crowd grow quite and fall under her spell.

There was one particular person Nine noticed enthralled.

“What?”  Twelve cocked an eyebrow.  “She has a pretty voice.”

“I can tell that,”  Nine said, “-but what’s so special about her color?”

“Oh that?”  Hazel eyes lit up,  “Pale yellow.  Never seen it before.  Lisa mentioned that her dad had said back in Japan it represented courage, so it couldn’t apply to her.  Still considering that-”

“When did you learn that sorta stuff about her?”

At that, Twelve expression froze in sudden embarrassment,  “Come on, I just pick it up from keeping an eye out for her.  It’s not anything intentional.”

Nine didn’t even try holding back a sigh this time,  “We’re not here to make friends.”

“But wouldn’t that be so nice?  You’d like her.”

He couldn’t deny that.  There was nothing really off-putting about Lisa.  Still she wasn’t part of the plan, and so just unnecessary in his life.  They were just two native boys planning to take on the US Government.  With shitty odds like that, they couldn’t waste time fooling around.

“Just don’t let your attachment hinder things.”

“I’m not attached!”  He huffed as if Nine had spat on their mother’s grave.

“Whatever,”  Nine groaned as he took a swig of his drink,  “As long as it helps you sleep at night, then why not?”

“Nine-”

~

I’m not attached my ass.  While the next few weeks made things appear back to normal, it became clear to anyone Twelve was failing.

It started at the biweekly meetings with her.  While it was supposed to be only business as it was with any of their other witnesses, Twelve was all smiles with her.  Nine would rattle off numbers and other dry matters, but Twelve would tell stories and buy her drinks.  All that talk about scaring her so bad she wouldn’t even think of betraying them, and now she was giggling over the corniest of jokes.

He was as tired of this conversation as Twelve was, but he couldn’t help it but bring it up when Lisa excused herself to the bathroom during the fifth or so meeting.

“Just admit your enamored with her already,”  He sighed as he adjusted his glasses.

“What?!”

“Kiss her and get it over with so you can focus on the plan.”

Twelve looked like Nine had spat on their mother’s grave,  “Stop with the joking.  Humor doesn’t suit you.”

“I’m not joking.  Flirting doesn’t suit you either.”

“I wasn’t flirting!”

“Sure you weren’t,”  Nine took a sip of his drink.  He wanted to say more, but just at that moment Lisa came back and Nine tucked that thought in the back of his head.  Business and other problems quickly overtook his focus, so he let the problem slide for a while until it happened to come in another meeting.

They were working out an alliance with another gang, and things were going smoothly for once.  And of course as always whenever Twelve planned a meeting, Lisa so happened to be singing at the same time.  The other leader had taken a drag of his cigar and pointed at her,

“Pretty dame you got there.  I want her.”

Hazel eyes had flashed at that statement,  “You’re talking about my girl there.”

“No need to get angry, my bad.”

Things went back to business then, but Nine didn’t forget this time.

“Since when has Lisa been ‘your’ girl?”

This time, Twelve hardly seemed startled by his question,  “She said she’s gotten some unwanted advances and asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend.  It’s the least I could do.”

“You could have just told him we don’t offer those services.”

“Better to get the word out now.  The less creeps she’ll have to deal with the better.  Speaking of which, I’m gonna stay late tonight.”

Nine couldn’t help but sigh, “Let me guess: it’s for Lisa Mishima.”

“Gotta walk her home.  It’s what any good pretend boyfriend would do.”

“Of course it is,”  Nine ran a hand through his hair,  “Just remember to admit I was right when this turns out to be not pretend.”

“Whatever,”  Twelve rolled his eyes.

~

Contrary to Nine’s initial thoughts, it took a few months until Twelve finally admitted it.  By then Lisa had begun to settle into their lives, and he had to admit he had grown a bit fond of her.  In fact he had totally forgotten about his little challenge until one morning when Twelve shook him awake from his desk.

“Nine, Nine, Nine-”  It was unusual to hear him so flustered.  It took him a few seconds just to figure out it wasn’t a dream,  “-Nine, Nine, Nine, you were right!”

“When am I not?”

“Ha ha, but you know what I mean.”

“Seriously, I don’t,”  Nine found his glasses nearby and put them on,  “Now why are you waking me up?”

“You don’t realize what happened last night?”  Hazel eyes went wide,  “I slept with Lisa.”

That got Nine wide awake, “I thought you were simply going to get a hit, but it seems it turned into a double.  What happened?”

“I don’t know,”  He shoved a hand into his curls, “I was walking her home as usual, and she invited me in for a bit, so I said yes.  We kept talking and suddenly she just asked me to spend the night with her.  She was just propped on her chair, her hair just brushing the top of her knees and she looked at me like I was the only person that matter.  I just melted.”

“Did you use protection?”

“What?”  Twelve was shaken out of his dreamy trance by his question,  “No, we didn’t.”

“That’s too risky.  Do you want to end up a father when things are like this?”

“What?”  Twelve looked more confused than ever,  “Oh wait, you got the wrong idea.  We slept together.  Literally.”

“Then why are you here?”  He shouldn’t have snapped like that, but hearing the details of Twelve’s love life was not the most enjoyable thing to do in the morning.

“I thought you would be mad at me for staying out.  I just came to apologize and-”

“Apology accepted,”  Nine interrupted, “Now let me get back to sleep and let yourself go back before Lisa wakes.  I was never mad over your crush, just that you wouldn’t admit it.”

“You aren’t?”  Twelve looked like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders,  “Alright thanks!  You’re the best.”

“And always right.”

“And always right.”

With that, Nine got the best sleep he had ever gotten in months.