[snippet] After Escaping
Content notes: blades, death threat
Takes place after Ari and V have escaped their respective organisations. One day I'll come up with an actual plot for their story, rather than running on vibes alone, but today is not that day.
“What are we to each other?”
“Enemies”, Aria answered, without looking up from the mirror he was maneuvering into the bedroom of the flat they were renting.
“No, I mean, what are we now that we've, you know, run away together?” Vikki deliberately kept his tone light. Like this barely mattered to him. “It's not like we're on opposing sides any more.”
Aria sat down on the floor in front of Vikki's legs, facing the mirror. “Enemies. Here, take this.” He held a knife over his shoulder, handle facing towards Vikki.
Vikki took it, and held the blade in front of Aria's throat. “Risky move to give your enemy a knife.”
“I'm making a point. You'd be fucked without me.”
How much more pleasant this escape would be if he didn't have Aria around making points. It would feel good, to press the blade down. But Aria was right. Vikki couldn't evade [Ari's organisation] by himself.
He removed the blade from Aria's throat, careful to suppress any sign of annoyance at doing exactly what Aria knew he would. “You'd be fucked without me, too.”
“For now. Are you going to cut my hair or not?”
“Your hair? Ari...” Aria's hair was part of what made him look like, well, Ari. He'd always been proud of it. He'd refused to cut it even after transition.
“Well, yeah. I need to disguise myself.” Aria sounded annoyed, in the deliberate kind of way that Vikki recognised as a cover for something else. “You need to think about changing your appearance, too.”
Vikki set the knife down (even if Aria was the kind of person who would cut his hair with a knife because he thought it was cool, he sure wasn't), and picked up a pair of scissors on the side table that seemed too conveniently placed to be a coincidence. “Don't tell me what to do.”
“You're really obstinate enough not to follow my advice even when it puts you in danger, aren't you, V?”
“Yes!” Vikki made an exaggerated scowl towards where Aria was watching him in the mirror. He was even tempted to follow through on it, and change back into the clothes he'd found replacements for earlier that day. It was just like Aria to suggest something obvious that Vikki was going to do anyway, and act like that made it his idea.
***
Aria pushed himself up off the floor and turned round, spreading his arms wide in an invitation for Vikki to admire him. “What do you think?”
His brown hair was short and uneven where Vikki had cut it, and he was wearing a t shirt and jeans instead of his usual ridiculous overdramatic cloaks. The effect was... “You look normal. I don't like it.”
Aria smiled. “Perfect.”