Summary: When Tangerine opened an underground strip-club to cover for his murder-for-hire business operation, he wasn't expecting to become so easily distracted by one girl in particular.
Warnings: dark content, will contain smut, sexual themes, drugs, alcohol, sex for money, violence, death, murder, blood, possible mentions/depictions of sexual harassment and sexual assault. EVERY chapter will have their own warnings!
and BIG thank you to the lovely @little-miss-dilf-lover for brainstorming with me! this wouldn't be a thing without her!
♡⟡˙⋆ MASTERLIST ⋆˙⟡♡
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
♡⟡˙⋆ PLAYLIST ⋆˙⟡♡
disclaimer - like mentioned in my masterlists, y/n's character never has any physical descriptions and this includes this story. The pictures found on Pinterest are used only for this mood-board!! I want my y/n, like all my others, to be as vaguely described as possible so everyone is included 🤍
Me, being sad seeing the Tom Ryder plush hasn’t yet hit the number of pre orders to go into production 🥺🥺🥺
Me, realising the same artist has OTHER Tom Ryder merch 🤩🤩🤩
Me, realsing a different artist on the same site uploaded Tangerine and Lemon keyrings 😍😍😍😍😍🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯💸💸💸
…
What I’m saying is if any of y’all make ATJ character merch, freaking share that on tumblr (or let me knooooow) some of us have zero impulse control for our favourite lil guys 😌💚
Now someone find me some Sergei and Dmitri things I can physically own 😭 /lh but also 👀👀👀
summary: "if it took you getting shot for you two to finally, maybe, realize you like each other i would've used you as target practice a long time ago."
rocking back and forth on your heels you patiently wait for the bullet train to zip into the shinagawa station. the platform was moderately busy, people dressed for various occasions. some in sophisticated work uniforms, kids bopping along with their school bags, and some dressed for a night out. you, however, were not.
sporting a black jacket, long sleeve turtleneck, leggings, sneakers, and a black bag you could've faded into the growing dark sky but here you are illuminated by the neon lights of the platform begrudgingly watching the bullet train's head lights fly past as it rolled into the station.
you were ordered to be here by your employer at the request of the white death. something about his son and a briefcase of money that needed some extra eyes watching over. apparently, the white death had some gut intuition about the two unnamed men he had hired for the job and wanted your skills onboard. your employer gave you very little detail about what to expect, no description of the briefcase, a grainy photo sent via email of the white death's son who had horrid face tattoos in your personal opinion, and when asked about the men already tasked to the mission your employer replied, 'eh two guys both kind of weird' and left it at that.
you boarded the train and stood near the doors, tight lipped smiling at those who walked by, waiting for the entryway to be clear. kneeling you pulled a small revolver out of a false bottom in the bag and slipped it into an inside pocket of your jacket, next pulling extra rounds and stuffing them into the other available pocket. you fumbled with a small piece of crumbled paper telling you to go to car three and a seat number that the son should be at.
quietly making your way to car three you re-patted your now stuffed pockets, adjusting your jacket and hair to relieve any sort of budding nerves. that is until you noticed the two kind of weird guys your employer told you about.
"well, can spot that fitted suit from a fuckin' city away" the two men stood in front of you who were deep in conversation snapped their necks towards you.
"well darling, and i'd spot that shit box dyed hair from the other side of the fuckin' earth" you couldn't help your arm raising to touch your long, and well dyed hair, at tangerine's rebuttal.
you tried to hide the laugh that threatened to break through as the three of you stood quiet for a few seconds following his comment. lemon broke first pushing past his brother to embrace you in a hug, "haven't see you in a minute, was beginning to get worried."
the three of you knew each other quite well, hell, the three of you lived together for a while. you had been under tangerine and lemon's employer for a long time but shit happens and it was best you found a new employer. lemon was more talkative and affectionate of the two, constantly talking your ear off and giving you hugs whenever he saw you, strictly friends though. tangerine, well, not affectionate and not talkative. it took a while for tangerine to mutter more than five words to you for the longest time. being outright friendly just isn't his nature and you can't fault him for that. the twins cared about you deeply, you knew lemon did within a week. tangerine took more time. it wasn't at the flip of a switch, it was gradual, perhaps may be even more natural.
it was a culmination of things that made you realize the rough man cared and appreciated you. like how after a job the three of you would go eat, you would jokingly (but also quite seriously) say how you were still starving. tangerine would slip you some of his food, 'not that hungry' he'd shrug. or how on missions he unconsciously used himself as a shield for your protection. or when he would come back from being out, holding a plastic bag in hand. 'saw these figured you might need 'em' plopping the bag in front of your seated position at the kitchen table and continued walking before you could comment on the new clothes that replaced the ones recently destroyed on a job.
or how days before you left the previous employer, you, tangerine, lemon, and an additional guy were assigned to a job that did not go so smoothly. it really was no one's fault, no one could've predicted how many men were hiding in the warehouse. each of you sported numerous injuries and lost many weapons but still completed the job. you and the other assassin were alone sitting on the floor when he suddenly started berating you. saying how shit you were as an assassin, spewing hatred and profanities amongst other vile things. you had no energy to fight back, 'maybe you're right' is all you could muster before getting up and searching for a secluded place to sleep for the night. you had awoken from your sleep hours later to the sound of a gunshot, wandering until you found someone.
'tangerine, what was that? i heard a gunshot' you asked the man who was promptly walking away from scaffolding towers.
he looked at you quizzically wiping his hands on his trousers, 'i think you might have been dreaming darlin'' all you could do was rub your head in confusion, 'let's get you back to bed, love.' the next morning only three of you returned from the mission.
"i've missed you, lemon," you smiled pulling away, holding his shoulders to look at him.
you and tangerine exchanged small nods, a hint of a smile ghosting his lips. you turned towards the figure seated beside the men stepping to stand in front of who you assume to be the white death's son. to say something seemed off was an understatement. you gently grabbed the ends of his open jacket bobbing his head back.
"what the fuck?!" you jerked back dropping your grip as his body slumped forward. an older woman a few seats up shushed you.
"what the fuck?!" you whispered harshly at the twins, bug-eyed gesturing rapidly at the dead body in front of you.
"ask fuckin' percy over here," tangerine pointed to lemon.
"i'm not percy?! okay yeah i lost the case but i didn't kill the kid."
"well lemon, if you didn't have the brilliant fucking idea to stash the case, we would've been sat our squeaky fuckin' asses down in the seat not havin' to get up. young. sweet. not all there." tangerine hissed back, poking at lemon's forehead to emphasize.
mildly entertained by the twins infamous banter you sat down watching the two go back and forth before tangerine swiveled towards you both hands flat, palms up, pointing at you, "and no disrespect love, but why the hell are you here?"
"to babysit essentially. i'm here to make sure you two do your job and by the looks of it you done fucked that up. what an honor it will be to be ripped limb by limb by the white death with you idiots."
the three of you sat deliberating what the hell to do next and tried figuring out who else is on this train taking interest in the briefcase and the son. tangerine cleaned up the boy's face with his handkerchief and adorned his face with momonga glasses to hide the fact that he's well...dead.
the twins decided it would be effective splitting up and checking the train cars for the briefcase.
"ill stay here," you spoke as the two men grabbed their things to investigate the train.
"i'll stay here. i'll see if anyone comes back for him," gesturing towards the limp body, "besides, my mission is a bit different. i'm not supposed to be seeking danger. if it comes my way then i can step in."
tangerine smooth out his moustache inhaling deeply seeming to oppose you being here by yourself.
"okay well, right then." lemon nodded stalking off down the train.
tangerine hesitated looking down at you in the seat.
"i'll be okay."
that is until ten minutes later a man sat across from you, "hi. there's a gun under this table."
"shhh," you hissed, "this is the quiet car babes."
the man in the hat and glasses took a moment to look over your shoulder at the sign, you took this opportunity to grab his hand, that held no gun, underneath the table yanking his body forward, table smashing into his shoulder.
"who the hell are you." you questioned, still holding onto his hand.
"ladybug. johannesburg, remember? your buddy shot me after you baited me to the parking garage?"
"so you're after the twins?" you asked ignoring what he said.
"the twins have a briefcase i need. i'm really not looking for trouble here miss, i just want to get the hell off this train and go meditate." he sighed taking his free hand through his longer hair.
"so you took the damn briefcase." you released his hand and brought your foot up to kick him in the groin. while he was hunched over in pain you stood up launching towards him to put him in a headlock, "where's the case."
"look lady," he sputtered, "i really don't want to hurt you."
ladybug punched your forearms to loosen your grip and when you didn't budge, he turned his head to bite your wrist.
"what the fuck!" you yelped springing back. he took this moment to sweep your legs out from underneath you. you hit the floor with a loud thud, the ache in your shoulder radiating down your arm. he leaned over your body giving you a weak smile and in return you kicked him in the face, blood instantly pouring out of his nose.
"shit balls!" he exclaimed. you clamored to your feet and started running throughout the bullet train. ladybug's steps got closer and closer and that's when you felt a burning hot sensation on the back of your shoulder. your movement immediately stopped, groaning as you reached for the knife in your back pulling it out.
"prick." you hissed turning around to face the man. your arm swiped in front of his face, the blade making a whooshing noise in the air. you managed to clip the side of his cheek.
thankfully the car the two of you were now fighting in was not occupied. he gripped your arm throwing you against the wall and stalked towards you. you stashed the blade in your pocket, shrugging your jacket to the ground, opting to fight him with your fists. you dodged the first hit and returned him a hit in the jaw. he staggered and taking advantage of his lower stance punched you in the stomach.
"i don't like hurting women." ladybug exasperated as the two of you continued fighting, punches being thrown, skin being split, bodies flying across the car.
"seems like you're in the wrong line of work, dumbass," you gripped the back of his head slamming his face into the top of one of the seats. the crack you heard made you wince. ladybug's forehead was split, blood running down his face into his eye.
it was obvious his physical state was weakening. he swallowed deeply, eyes flickering to a spot beyond you. before you realized what was happening, ladybug was running towards your jacket where the knife was. he managed to grab it and came barreling towards you. once again the battle was back on. the knife dancing between you two as its ownership changed frequently. you and ladybug were a panting mess with new cuts decorating your bodies. this old piece of shit wouldn't let up. you were becoming exhausted and you needed this to end somehow. the two of you were both on the floor, the blade in your hand. you knew you didn't have enough stamina for another round of fighting, the cuts scattering your body were aching, the large stab wound to your shoulder was now numb. instead, you sliced the closest things to you that would cause the most damage.
his achilles.
ladybug screamed out in pain, shaking hands wrapping themselves around his ankles in some attempt to soothe the sheering pain. you stood, looking over the man, the blood from the knife dripping onto your shoe. you stepped around his cradled body, making your way up the train. tangerine hasn't come past yet meaning he is still ahead. the door swished open but you'd only make it one step in before crumbling to the ground.
immediately you started hyperventilating from the intense pain that seemed to hit every nerve in your body. blinking rapidly as you scooted yourself against the wall. then you felt it. a warm sensation running down your skin, your clothes feeling wet. blood. your body was shaking, open lips huffed out puffs of breath. slowly and carefully, you looked back at ladybug.
your gun in his hands.
he must have grabbed it when he retrieved the knife in your abandoned jacket. fucking stupid.
ahead in the train tangerine heard a faint noise, but nonetheless he knew it was a gunshot. he slicked back his hair and removed his gun from his waistband. he carefully entered each train car, observing anything out of the ordinary. the door in front of him opened and his step faltered when he saw a black sneaker, and then a leg, and then the body as his eyes raked up the slumped figure.
he dropped to his knees, gun now on the floor, "hey tan," you croaked.
"bloody hell," he sighed, his eyes darting across your entire body.
"stop checking me out i don't look my best," you tried joking. tangerine didn't seem amused as he noticed your torn clothes, bloody face, your hair matted with blood.
"that old bag of bones can really fight. but he took a cheap shot when my back was to him," you finally answered. you lifted the hem of your shirt to show tangerine the bullet hole in your lower stomach above your hip.
"jesus," he muttered swallowing thickly. he seemed stunned to see you in this condition. he also seemed lost on what to do. his eyes wouldn't stop looking you over, his hands unconsciously went to your face brushing your hair out of your eyes.
"tangerine stop fucking staring at her we need to help her," lemon had found the two of you. his voice booming causing tangerine to snap out of his daze.
lemon pushed him to the side, immediately coming to your aid. he worked with what he could find. your shallow cuts weren't important. the wound to your shoulder would need stitches later on. the entrance and exit wound of the bullet was causing the biggest issue as you had lost a decent amount of blood from it. lemon continued to do his best as you sat there eyelids half open.
tangerine was silent, more silent than ever before, as if he were stuck in a trance. you slowly moved your fingers towards his hand that was resting on the floor. two of your fingers wrapped around his pinky jerking him out of his trance. this somehow sparked something in him as he shot up from the floor, grabbing his gun making sure it was loaded and set off on a mission you could only assume to be to find ladybug.
your lips pulled down in a frown as he left. you wanted him here. his presence, his touch, his whatever. any semblance of that cocky man you wanted next to you for comfort. you knew you were going to be okay, you were weak right now but the thought of him beside you somehow made you believe you would feel stronger.
lemon let out a soft chuckle as he finished securing cloth to your wound, "if it took you getting shot for you two to finally, maybe, realize you like each other i would've used you as target practice a long time ago."
you slapped his arm, "fuck off."
lemon and you agreed you need to rest, he helped you to sit in an empty seat, propping you against the window.
"alright, now, if anything serious happens i will text you alright. in the meantime, sit here and wait till we come get you, you hear me?" lemon demanded.
sometime had passed and you noticed less and less people on the platforms boarding the train. it was too quiet. your stomach was telling you something was off. you winced in pain as you gripped the armrest to stand up. a bit wobbly but you managed to put one foot in front of the other. as you continued you heard voices close by. the doors to one of the cars was open by bags tripping the sensors. you saw a young girl in pink standing looking scared and him. the greasy haired prick who shot you. he still had your gun in his hand pointed at someone.
tangerine.
"fuck." thankfully you held onto the knife and before he could notice you moving towards their train car you brought your arm over your head, swinging forward, releasing the knife. it lodged itself below ladybug's collarbone. he yelped out in pain stumbling a bit and that's when his finger hit the trigger.
"you bastard," tangerine hissed as the bullet hit his leg.
you took this opportunity while the men were distracted and ran towards ladybug. you propelled yourself onto him, spinning and wrapping your legs around his neck, you removed the blade from his chest and stuck it in the base of his neck.
"you don't touch him," you spit at the man as he crumbled to the ground.
the girl was long gone. now facing tangerine you noticed all the bruises and blood on him, drenched in sweat. his curly hair now laying across his forehead. his jacket long gone leaving him in a white button down that was criminally low on his chest and a vest. you couldn't help but check him out.
he started to say your name but you cut him off, hugging him tightly around his neck, knocking the wind out of him. he hesitated a moment before firming wrapping his arms around your waist, tucking his head into your hair. after a few minutes he pulled back, sliding his hands to your waist to look at you. you held onto tangerine's elbows as his eyes wandered your face.
"darlin'," he started, "i'm- i'm sorry i didn't do anything when i found ya."
you chuckled through your nose, "tan. i'm fine."
"you're injured n' i didn't do anything except fuckin' look at you." he shook his head in disgust.
"tangerine," you said firmly placing your hands on his chest, "stop. i am fine. i am okay. we all react differently to seeing our friends hurt."
"friends, " he half laughed, "you realize i don't see you as a friend."
you paused, hands loosening their grip on his arms. god, you were dumb to think you were even friends. you're coworkers, hell at this point maybe even acquaintances, its been five months since you lived with them. all you could mutter was a shaky 'oh.'
tangerine laughed, "you know love, you can really be dense sometimes."
your mouth formed an 'o' trying to figure out what to say next, "dense?"
"love, i've wanted you the moment you almost sniped my head off in vienna." tangerine chuckled, moving hair out of your face. you couldn't look at him instead you toyed with his open shirt, fingers brushing against his hot skin.
"i guess i am kinda dumb right? should've put the pieces together when you killed anyone who was mean to me." you smiled.
he leaned down gently placing a kiss on your lips. you immediately kissed back, tasting the metallic flavor of the blood that was on his lower lip. your nails ran across his scalp sending a shiver down his spine. tangerine gripped your lower back harder, minding the wound, to bring you in as close as physically possible.
tangerine pulled away from the kiss, bringing his mouth to your ear, "by the way darlin', you spinning around on his neck and what you said was really hot."
"then i suggest we get the fuck off this train soon and i'll show you the move personally."
★ summary: after thinking you’re being followed on a train to kyoto, you meet a hot guy who (reluctantly) decides to come to your rescue✨
-> or, you think ladybug is following you & it leads you to meet lemon & tangerine
★ notes: fluff, meetcute, grumpy!tangerine, i mean he’s serious about his job🤷, so its kind of giving enemies to lovers in a way?, takes place during bullet train (2022), this is mostly banter between the twins <3
★ cw(s): none! …technically there’s a dead body but nothing gory! (spoilers for the movie too ig)
★ wc: 1k
★ author’s note: i wrote this a long while ago for myself & decided i should actually start sharing my writing with other people so here’s my first public fic <3 this is really short so i may add to it & make it into a little series👀✨ who knows?
─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──
“Excuse me.”
Tangerine glances over at the sound of your voice, seeing the way your eyes bounce over his shoulder and then to his face.
“Yes?” He replies with a tight-lipped smile, attempting to disguise the clear frustration in his eyes. It’s as polite as he can be, given the circumstances.
He and Lemon were utterly screwed. Their task of bringing the White Death’s son and his ransom money to Kyoto has gone by the wayside. Now they had no clue where the case was and a dead body on their hands.
And now here you were. Completely unaware of all the shit stirring on this godforsaken train.
All you see when looking over the scene is two Englishmen who seemed to be arguing over something prior to your intrusion. And across the way, a third person presumably asleep, a pair of those ridiculous Momomon glasses covering his eyes.
“Could I sit here for just a moment?” You ask gently so as to not disturb the man further.
“Sorry, love–” Tangerine opens his mouth, prepared to tell you to bugger off, but is immediately cut off by his dumbass of a brother.
“Sure!” Lemon welcomes you over, plenty chipper to help you out.
Tangerine glares daggers back to his partner. His eyes subtly bound to the body laying just inches away from them and then back to Lemon.
With one last glimpse of the aisle, you hesitantly sit down. “Sorry, I think some guy is following me, and there was no one else around in the car I was seated in. I thought at least if there were,” you pause for a second, trying to find the right word. “...witnesses? He wouldn’t try anything. Hopefully.”
“Which stop are you headed to?” Lemon curiously asks.
“Kyoto.”
Tangerine looks up, “That’s a long while.”
“And you’re welcome to sit with us as long as you need,” Lemon adds, casting a glance back to his scowling brother.
His sour look grows stronger as he responds, “I don’t know about that, Lemon. Remember, we have some other business to attend to.”
“Yeah, but some geezer’s following this nice girl.”
“And that’s terrible, but we have a job to take care of.”
You can feel the tension rising between the two of them and decide this whole thing might be more trouble than it’s worth. “I’m sorry. I mean, I can just…” But your words fall on deaf ears as they continue to squabble.
“So you’d rather something happen to,” Lemon pauses, smiling as he leans over to you once more. “Sorry, what’s your name, love?”
You give him your name, a bit apprehensive, but Lemon just continues to press the argument with his brother.
“You’d rather something happen to y/n here?” Lemon stares back at Tangerine like he just dropped the biggest bombshell imaginable.
Tangerine is not impressed.
“I’m not saying that,” he rolls his eyes.
Lemon scoffs and shifts back to you, “Sorry my brother here doesn’t understand how difficult it is to be a woman in this world.”
Suppressing the urge to laugh at the pure absurdity of this conversation, you try once again to excuse yourself, “I really don’t mind if I need to just–”
Tangerine, fed up at this point, gives a big sigh and cuts you off, “What does this bloke look like? I’ll tell him to sod off, then you can enjoy your travels in peace and we can all go our separate ways.”
“Okay,” You try to conjure what you can remember of his appearance and relay it, “I think he had…blonde hair, like dirty blonde. Longish. I’m pretty sure I lost him in between the cars. He had on these glasses–”
“Did he happen to be carrying a case?” Lemon jumps in.
“Maybe?” You respond to the best of your ability. “I don’t quite remember. Why?”
Lemon looks back at his brother, “Could be the same guy, Tangerine.”
“Where’d you say you last saw this guy, love?” Tangerine asks.
“The stall that way,” You point just past him in the direction you entered from.
“Alright,” Tangerine runs a hand over his face for just a moment, a terse breath falling from his lips. “Let me talk with my brother here, privately, for just a moment.” Not giving time for Lemon to protest, he yanks him to go sit somewhere else. They settle into the booth diagonally situated where they can keep an eye on you. They start off into conversation between themselves soon after. Tangerine’s head peeks up over Lemon’s shoulder just a couple times to check on you.
They argue in a somewhat animated fashion, though the words are too quiet for you to quite make out. You look to the door once again. Still no sign of that creep. Maybe you’re in the clear? You pull out your phone to keep idle, check for any missed messages. Nothing. Your mind drifts as you wait, wondering for a moment what they’re talking about. What sort of 'job' was Tangerine was talking about earlier? There’s no sign of a laptop or paperwork around. And they clearly aren’t staffed on the train either. You have just about a million questions at this point. Just as your eyes stray over to the guy asleep across from you, Tangerine and Lemon head back over.
“Let me get this straight real quick,” You say as they take their seats again, “So your names are Lemon...and Tangerine?"
Tangerine offer a reluctant nod.
"Are those like nicknames or did your parents just really like fruit?”
Lemon’s eyes move over to his brother. Tangerine ignores the pointed look.
You continue, “And you’re brothers, you said, right?”
“Twins, actually,” Lemon smiles back in response.
Tangerine decides to push past the subject entirely, keeping strictly to business. “Okay, I’m going to go find this wanker with the glasses, and hopefully the case. Darlin’, you’re going to stay put with Lemon ‘til I get back.”
You nod back and give a polite response back. “Sounds good. Uh, thanks.”
“Yeah, I don’t know how much you’ll be thanking me after hearing his forty minute rant on Thomas the train.”
“Tank engine.” Lemon corrects.
Tangerine smirks, his eyes drifting back to you. “Proving my point exactly.” With that, Tangerine turns to head for the door, muttering a sarcastic, “Ta-ra!”
