pain & panic

[ezekielpain]

temperancebell​:

–

Maybe Temperance wasn’t the most persuasive girl around, sometimes she came across harsher than intended, like a defence mechanism, but she planned already how she was going to go about this. She could be manipulative, if she had to be, or flirty. 

“I don’t really think you’re sorry, but I could give you a really fun time if you let me through the door.” Not really fun, she didn’t want to be in any debt to anyone. “Are they busy?” She questioned, giving him a small, flirty smile. “Do you really think I’m pretty?” 

---

It wasn’t that she was or wasn’t persuasive, it was that Ez had ages and ages worth of experience dealing with people who tried to get him to do this or that, for this or that. Ultimately, the only person he truly answered to was his boss, and nobody’s flirtations -- however playful -- were likely to get through him.

He offered her a crooked smile, shaking his head, “I don’t think you understand, sweetheart.” He said. “Club’s not open to night. The management is having a meeting. Keep sniffin’ around, and I’m gonna think you’re up to no good.” There was a glimmer of something in his eye. “You’re a very pretty girl, but...” He leaned forward then, dropping his voice a little, “Between me and you, I’m already spoken for. You oughta try your luck, say... at that place.” He pointed across the street to another establishment where the bass was practically making the windows jump. “Nothin’ for a little bird like you goin’ on here any time soon.”

[ezekielpain]

temperancebell​:

It had been awhile since Temperance was confrontational and unpleasant. Nowadays, she would push that part of her down, she was a former mean girl. Her eyes looked up and down at the man in front of her, pursing her lips together at the situation. Yes, he was certainly intimidating, but Temperance could usually fake a brave face if she had to.  

“Boss’ orders, hmm? Interesting.” Temperance made one clicking noise from her mouth. “No way you could let me in? I promise that I’m completely innocent.”

---

There was nothing to her, Ez thought, as the blonde confidently approached. She wasn’t the first tonight, and she certainly wouldn’t be the last. Already, Ez had heard countless different excuses and offerings with the hopes of getting into the club, but Ez had deferred them all. He wasn’t an easy sell.

“Sorry ‘bout it, love, I’m afraid it doesn’t matter how innocent you are.” He kept his arms folded, bounced his weight a little bit from one foot to the other. “They’re busy in there tonight. Try to come back later, maybe they’ll be back open for business. Pretty girl like you, though, I’m sure it’ll be easy to get n anywhere else.”

[ezekielpain]

micahpanic​:

-

“I mean, no–” Micah started, hesitating when he noticed an opportunity, smiling eat to ear as he subtly hinted at that being a perfectly acceptable gift idea,  “–but you can definitely keep it in your back pocket for next time you want to get me something nice. Woo me with bullets and sharp objects.” 

Micah waited half a second before Ezekiel gave him the correct answer, whipping around the surprise from behind his back and offered it out to him. The sight of the fairy made the imp’s eyebrows raise immediately, his face briefly overtaken with surprise as he reached out and took the jar into his lanky hands. “Where did you find this?” He asked immediately,  shaking it up mercilessly in his hands as if to see if it was fake or not. It’s startled screams verified its validity. “You handsome fiend, you shouldn’t have,” he rocked forward onto his boots, rewarding his impish partner in crime with a kiss on the cheek before he brought the jar to his face, turning it over in his hands to examine the helpless creature. “I take that back, actually you should have, so thanks. But no, seriously, back to my first question, where did you find this?”

---

To anyone on the outside, they might think that Ez and Micah were just... imps. Imps with no feelings other than to please their master, but that was far from the truth. The two of them had been partners in crime -- and pretty much everything else -- for eons. Of course, Ez felt things for Micah that he did not feel for others -- emotions reserved only for the other imp, if you will. To see the smile on the other’s face put another crooked grin on his own lips, Ez’s hands sliding into his back pockets as he watched Micah with the fairy in the jar.

“Oi!! Easy, easy!” He said, holding his hands up. There was a sprinkling of fairy dust from the way Micah had shaken the jar, and Ez had to stifle a laugh as the little creature squealed, pouted, and even did a naughty gesture with its finger in his direction. The kiss to his cheek melted him like a pad of butter on a hot skillet -- he would do anything for those easy affections. His eyes trailed over Micah’s face as Micah continued to study the little creature. “I was down at the Boar’s Head, doin’ my job, no worries.” He winked then, an impish smile on his lips. “And... well, that one was up for trade or sale, so I bought it -- thought you might like it. Yours to do with as you please. Keep it, plant it, sell it, trade it...” He raised his broad shoulders and let them drop with a shrug. “Your choice.”

[ezekielpain]

micahpanic​:

-

Micah liked this place. It was a perfect little hell on earth, and there was no Zeus or other olympus gods to poke and prod about in their business. Ezekiel and him had always been able to fly under their radar - employing their shapeshifting abilities to hide in plain sight from the gods who were too far up their own asses to think to accuse a harmless looking cat that could not have possibly set a god’s temple on fire. 

Hiding beneath Chernabog’s darkness that obscured Zeus’s vision was not his favorite thing. Something about it set Micah’s nerves on fire - he had his doubts, and it made him anxious. He trusted Hades unquestionably, but Chernabog he worried over. Hades, while an asshole, had moments of generosity and fondness to him and Ezekiel that was absent in the god of Darkness. He gave him goosebumps when he was in the room.

But this was a pretty sweet gig. At least for now. Pain had gotten pretty good at calming down Panic’s panic attacks.  Some of his spirals were good - he overthought everything, and while it was a weakness, he also made sure that most of their plans worked. He wasn’t perfect, but he sure tried. 

After a long day of blackmailing, planting evidence and generally causing terror, Micah was reap what he sowed by coming back to relax at their home away from home.  The polluted fumes of the city were almost as bad as sulfer in the underground - but marginally better. He imagined most of the mortals there were desensitized to the smell. Their apartment, however, was much nicer than the cavernous tunnels of the underworld. Micah relaxed as soon as he punched a pin into the code pad at the front door to let himself in, smiling immediately when he saw Ezekiel walk to him. “Drugs, weapons? Something for me to blackmail someone with?” He offered up his answers, none of which felt too farfetched.

---

Okay, so maybe Los Santos wasn’t what Ez thought Micah deserved, nor was it where he thought they’d be long-term, but it was better than constantly looking over their shoulders. At least, for now, they can relax. And, yeah, maybe Ez’d gotten a little too comfortable here, too, but things were going well. He has to lap it up while he still can.

After a long day of work, it’s always nice to come back here and to know that they can just be them – no one watching, no one expecting anything because they’d actually done well. Was it really so irrational to believe that shit could be working in their favor?

The questions Micah posed instead of just asking what Ez had make the bigger guy’s smile melt off his face, confusion rippling his brow. “Wait… should I have gotten you those things?” He asked, but he shook it off, that crooked grin finding its spot on his face again – every expression shifting the image into something else, even without those shapeshifting abilities. “Nah, it’s… here.” Ez then thrusted the jar with the little glowing fairy at the other imp. “The people in this city are trading in things bigger than drugs and weapons these days, baby.” The exploitation of individuals with certain special capabilities had become a huge problem. Ez had heard clips of conversations – something about a swan girl, something else about sea monsters. And now Ezekiel had a real life fairy. “Tell me you can do somethin’ with that.”

[ezekielpain]

notsoaveragegoof​:

Max shoves his keys in his back pocket and popped a mint into his mouth, running across the parking lot as he tied his apron on. He wasn’t expecting the behemoth of a man that blocked his way into work. He pulled to a stop as he looked up at him, brows arching as he took a step back. “Well…. This is a problem because I need to clock in and I didn’t get any texts about it so…..”

---

Ez shakes his head, a quick left, right, then back to center. “It’s a no.” He repeats, blinking at the kid like he’s stupid. “You got ears? The whole place is cleared out, don’t know what to tell you.” He rolls the toothpick in his mouth from one side to the other, unamused expression at the young man standing in front of him. “You’re more than welcome to text them for confirmation, but y’ain’t getting inside.”

[ezekielpain]

Ez stands in front of the doorway with his legs spread and his arms folded across his chest. For the job, he shifts -- a little larger, a little more imposing than he might naturally be, but it makes all the difference in the world. Most people don’t want to mess with a guy like Pain.

As the stranger approaches, Ez shifts as if to block them. “Sorry, no one’s allowed in right now. Boss’ orders.”

[ezekielpain]

@micahpanic​

Ez has come to like roaming the streets of Los Santos. It’s a far cry better than being stuck in the Underworld, of course, and it’s been nice to test his limits. It’s also been nice to not be right under Hades’ thumb, but that’s not an opinion he’s all too keen on verbalizing to anyone but Micah.

They’ve been two peas in a pod for how long?

Hearing the police officer enter the apartment, Ez finishes washing his hands and grabs a paper towel to dry them. He grabs a jar with something flitting around inside from the counter and hides it behind his back before coming to a stop in front of the other.

“Guess what I found?”

[tcmmykane]