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 Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:21 am
Takes place directly after Operation Loanshark: Confrontation.
TW: Domestic violence?? Kind of legit, but also kind of in a vague-ish kink-ish sort of way that may or may not have been well negotiated at some point off screen??? Lbr these two are bad at talking about their relationship so everything between them is actually some level of under-negotiated. If we’re talking “Safe, Sane, and Consensual”, it is consensual but not always safe or sane. orz It’s the Chaos in them. Maybe… Aquamarine kept his temper in check long enough for all the agents and senshi Jet had summoned away from the battlefield to get the ******** out before whirling on Jet, giving him a harsh shove, hands slamming against Jet’s chest without much restraint.
“What the ******** was that?!” he seethed, voice a little too loud for the office door to allow them much privacy.
Fury coursed through him. Aquamarine wanted to break something, slam his fist into someone’s face or crush a starseed into dust. Several starseeds, in fact. Sessrumnir and Cybele and all the useless agents who failed, and failed, and failed, dragging the Negaverse further into deficiency and disarray.
He settled for shoving Jet again, eyes flashing, expression twisting into something bitter and ugly.
“You think you can just—... Sessrumnir was right ******** there, and you ******** yank me away like I’m some bitchass Lieutenant wielding a toy?!”Guinex Transfering from docs. Why did we write this??? Why are we posting it???????
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:24 am
Jet was furious. At Cybele. At himself. He could have been there. He could have teleported there instead of pulling Aquamarine out. But the Negaverse still had a reputation to uphold. They still worked towards protecting the Earth from these terrorists parading around pretending they were saviors. They didn’t need to give the city’s public servants any more trouble than they already had to deal with.
He didn’t appreciate the shove, and while Aquamarine’s rage didn’t physically push him off balance, Jet took a step back anyway.
“Don’t,” he warned through gritted teeth, his eyes flashing just as Aquamarine’s were. He liked to believe that he had a lot of patience, but he was already pushed to his limits.
“I told you not to go after him alone,” he growled, this time yanking Aquamarine’s hands away from his chest when he was shoved again. There wasn’t enough time for an actual attack. Not when the fire department was almost there. Not when the building was already going down, which…
Looking at Aquamarine -- he looked like a complete mess. Covered in soot and dirt and blood and glass. It made Jet’s anger flare again.
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:26 am
“I wasn’t alone!” Aquamarine shouted.
He pulled his hands out of Jet’s grasp and shoved him again, harder, with more strength than all the playful pushes he gave when they were less consumed by anger, when they had far less stress to contend with, when the Negaverse didn’t seem quite so horrendously incompetent.
He’d sent others off, ordered them away from the battlefield, but Faustite had been there, might’ve still been able-bodied. They could’ve dispatched Sessrumnir and Cybele while all the rest were fleeing. Jet could’ve come, could’ve teleported in right behind one of them…
It could’ve been quick. It could’ve offered them a chance.
It also could’ve been a disaster.
Too preoccupied with his own anger, Aquamarine could only see weakness and failure and months of shortcomings — years of it, of a Negaverse that no longer lived up to its fearsome reputation, or its goals to protect the Earth, because too many were incapable of thought, of common sense, of loyalty. He couldn’t see the risk, only the lost opportunity for reward.
“I know what to ******** expect from him! I could take him down! We could’ve ******** accomplished something for once! If half these people weren’t so <********> useless—... What the <********> are we even doing this for?!” Aquamarine delivered another shove, too blind with rage to notice the warning in Jet’s voice, in his eyes. “******** these shitty agents! ******** these ******** inept senshi! ******** the Negaverse! ******** Metallia! ******** class="quote">Guine
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:27 am
Jet struck Aquamarine across the face before he could say anything else, before he had a chance to continue, blinded by rage. Jet’s own eyes continued to shine with challenge. For Aquamarine to continue.
“You watch your ******** mouth,” he growled, low and dangerous. He’d grabbed onto Aquamarine’s arm so he wouldn’t collapse to the ground -- or move away from him -- and took hold of his face with his still stinging hand, effectively covering Aquamarine’s mouth as he shoved him backwards against his desk.
“You think you’re the only one who’s angry about this? You think I wouldn’t like to take the starseeds of that entire ******** family?”
He wasn’t sure how many were in that family, but he could piece together quite a few of them, which included Cybele – by her own admission. Beyond her, he’d wanted Ganymede dead almost as long as he’d been in the Negaverse.
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:31 am
Pain was grounding. It pulled Aquamarine out of a towering rage better than any compassion or reassurances ever could.
He didn’t know why — wondered if it was common, or if he’d been ******** up somehow. Coddled and indulged as he child, he knew very little of discipline until joining the Negaverse. Maybe the Chaos gave him the compulsion the same way it let him draw blood with no remorse, and take a life without becoming sick. Maybe it rooted out and fed on all the parts of him that were distasteful and malignant, brought them into a sharper focus than they would’ve been without it.
Jet’s palm met his cheek with a loud crack, snapping his head to the side. Aquamarine turned back in an instant, confronting Jet with a fearless glare. Finger shaped points of pain bloomed across his face from Jet’s muffling hand, less centering than the string of Aquamarine’s cheek, but enough to keep him from immediately slipping back into his own temper. The desk at his back was hard and uncomfortable, but supportive, almost as grounding as the pain.
Aquamarine knew better than to disparage Metallia in the Dark Kingdom. He often wondered if it mattered — surely she could see the truth in his heart regardless of what he often left unsaid — but he valued his life too much to test out the theory.
In his fury, he’d let the mask slip just a little too far.
Aquamarine tossed his head, parting his face from Jet’s hand just enough that he could say, breathlessly, “Do it again.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:31 am
Jet’s anger hadn’t dissipated. It flared hotter when Aquamarine… challenged him? Dared him? Tested him, to see if he would actually do it?
Jet did. He let go of Aquamarine’s face and struck his cheek again, harder.
Then he grabbed at Aquamarine’s uniform, holding him up by the collar. The fabric would tighten around Aquamarine’s throat with Jet’s grip, making each breath feel tight, and more of an effort than usual.
That was the point, of course. By the nearly wild look on Jet’s face, Aquamarine would know it.
“You can’t say s**t like that, you know that,” Jet hissed.
For a moment, he let his expression falter, revealing a bit of his own fear. If something happened to Aquamarine, even if it was due to Aquamarine’s own arrogance, Jet wasn’t sure what he would do.
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:33 am
The crack of palm against cheek was more satisfying the second time. Maybe it shouldn’t have been; Aquamarine didn’t know. He generally didn’t care. It wasn’t as if this sort of thing extended beyond the two of them. They didn’t have to understand it. No one would make them explain.
Even as Jet continued to hiss and swear, Aquamarine’s anger began to seep away. Enough of the tension eased out of him that his limbs loosened. He leaned into Jet’s hold, letting the hand at his throat hold some of his weight.
“Seems to me I can say whatever the ******** I want,” he countered, but his voice had lowered. The previous hostility slowly bled away until he sounded almost conversational. “The rest of them… they ******** up constantly, day after day, and no one gives a ********. When’s the last time anyone was held accountable for anything?”
Aquamarine knew he wasn’t valuable. The Negaverse would continue on with or without him. But he was competent, and useful, and his loyalty to Jet meant he wasn’t likely to betray Metallia, whatever doubts he might have, whatever his anger might lead him to think or say. He was a good agent. Dutiful. Obedient, even when he complained. He knew what was required of him, and he saw that it was done.
It was more than could be said for some of the others.
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:34 am
There were plenty of things Jet would have liked to say. Things he couldn’t divulge without getting more information, first. He knew what Aquamarine said was true, and Jet hated it as much as he did. He’d marched into Axinite’s office on several occasions to complain about what the Negavere had become. And while some things had improved, there were just as many things that remained in serious need of attention.
Jet kept his grip around the fabric of Aquamarine’s collar, but the opposite hand took hold of Aquamarine’s hip and hoisted him up onto the desk, using his belt for extra leverage. Jet didn’t care what got knocked off in the process. His eyes were still flashing with anger, but something else as well.
“You know I had nothing to do with this mission. If Lepidolite wants to let people get away with their failures without holding them accountable-- that’s on him.”
Even as a General King, Jet’s interactions with Lepidolite were limited. Maybe he didn’t like how flippant Lepidolite was about things; this mission was clearly an example of it. Or maybe he didn’t like that Axinite was the one who did so much of the work, but Lepidolite got the credit.
The hand on Aquamarine’s hip remained there, bruisingly tight to keep him from wiggling away, although Jet doubted he would at this point.
“But when I tell you to not go after Sessrumnir, I need you to listen to me. Do you understand?”
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:36 am
Aquamarine went onto the desk easily. It was, perhaps, the only sign that, whatever the rage that still sparked in his eyes said, the immediate burst of violent temper was abating. His glare never wavered, and the hands that gripped the wooden edge of his new perch did so fiercely, but he looked at Jet and saw him, rather than letting his frustrations continue to blind him.
Lavender eyes studied Jet’s face, gazing beneath the anger, to that flash of something else.
The bruising hand on Aquamarine’s hip was almost as grounding as a slap to the face. Aquamarine let himself savor it — the strong hand and the low tone of Jet’s voice, the diminished space between them, and their solitude, though the energy signatures that populated the Dark Kingdom certainly hadn’t been reduced in the scant few minutes they’d been shouting at one another.
“No, I don’t think I do,” Aquamarine said.
He leaned in, pushing into the hand still at his throat. He was in need of a trip to the infirmary, and the desire to break something hadn’t eased yet, but he wouldn’t be against a distraction first. With the right sort of persuasion, maybe he wouldn’t shove his rapier through the first incompetent agent to cross his path the moment he left the office. Maybe he wouldn’t march straight to Lepidolite and hurl the sort of outrage and resentment at him that Aquamarine could only get away with directing toward Jet.
Their lips met briefly, uncharacteristically soft.
“Maybe you should hit me again,” Aquamarine offered. “Make sure the lesson sinks in.”
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Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2023 7:37 am
Aquamarine had barely finished speaking when Jet released his hand from his hip to strike him across his face a third time. Jet adjusted his other hand to wrap his fingers around Aquamarine’s neck instead of his uniform, pushing him backward onto the large wooden desk.
He had no intention of actually hurting Aquamarine. That was perhaps most evident in the way he made sure Aquamarine’s head didn’t bash against the wood, easing up at the last second to spare him.
Satisfied, Jet returned his hand to Aquamarine’s hip, fingers digging into the belts to search for fastenings. The teasing kiss had pulled him a little further from anger, to a different kind of heat entirely.
“I intend to do more than make sure that one lesson sinks in,” he growled, then leaned over Aquamarine to press a bruising kiss to his lips.
Jet was well aware of the risk of someone walking in -- because a sickening number of agents in the Negaverse were horribly rude -- but that would be their own fault.
He didn’t particularly care if anyone saw.
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