No idea why, but this tormented my mind for weeks. So, here we are - alternative ending, where Nuada has won the challenge.
"Our golden fields can grow out of spilled blood, sister. We won't fade. Not anymore. Never again."
Homage to Gustav Klimt, "The Kiss", of course. But instead the original, Nuala hides her face from Nuada. Her dress is red, but the patterns are soft and aquatic, in memory of Abe. Nuada's clothes is opposite black and red, with golden lightning bolts. They both are under the sun beams, but it doesn't seem as they touch Nuada. But it doesn't matter for him. His sister can have them all, finally without any hiding, and that's more than enough.
P.S. I don't really like the original Klimt's decorative patterns, I'm afraid, so I flooded my version with art deco.
P.P.S. Nuala's bare feet look so innocent, I can't (T_T)
Summary: Y/n is Hellboy's new "babysitter" (like John was in the first film). However, Y/n is unlike anyone Hellboy has ever met before; he isn't afraid of him and he doesn't see him as a monster like everyone else.
Notes: This is written for the 2004/Ron Perlman Hellboy, but you can read it for any one of them you please. Also, I wrote this for a redhead reader, but that's only mentioned once, it's just a little joke because he's also red. For the beginning, I basically edited the original scene with John. Also, reader is a formal paranormal investigator!
Word Count: 2.4k
(Note: Did y'all ever notice in this scene that he's watching Frankenstein because it's about a "monster" who's a sweet guy that gets pinned as a villain because of his appearance? Cute, huh?)
Warnings: Profane language, talk of violence, age gap (Hellboy is technically 60 and they kinda joke about that, reader's age is ambiguous but younger than him), reader is lowkey a little fanboy sorry!
First day jitters, you've learned, are something that never go away. The moment you opened your eyes on your first day of your new job, you had an uneasy feeling in your stomach. You were beyond excited about this job, but you were intensely worried that you would mess it up or that he wouldn't like you or that you would come off the wrong way. First impressions, after all, are everything.
You pulled up to the address you had been given, and the sign said it was some type of waste management place. You were worried that you'd gone to the wrong building, so you were frantically looking at the slip of paper that had the address scrawled onto it and comparing it to the building that was before you. It matched.
You buzzed the buzzer and explained who you were, hoping to God this was the right place. The gates opened, to your relief, and you pulled in. You walked up to the building with faux confidence, hoping that it came off as genuine, taking a deep breath before opening the door.
You walked through an empty hallway into a large room that had a very serious man standing on the other side of it. You told him who you were.
"Yes, Section 51," he remarked.
"Yes, sir," you affirmed.
"Watch your hands and elbows," he warned you coldly.
"I'm sorry, what?" You asked, looking around.
"Watch your hands and elbows," he repeated, more annoyed this time, as if it would make more sense to you.
The circle on the floor beneath you began to sink, taking you underneath the room you had previously been in, throwing you off for a moment.
"So fucking cool," you whispered.
You found yourself before tall golden doors and you opened them, discovering a large room that looked like a very fancy and well-kept library with red carpet. You looked around, taking it all in, feeling more grounded now. There were many beautifully crafted sculptures and golden details. You noticed what looked like a large fish tank.
"Excuse me," you called out, not seeing anyone around, traveling deeper into the room.
"Turn the pages," a voice said, seeming to be coming from the fish tank. "If you don't mind."
You approached the fish tank, noticing four golden music stands holding books on them. You looked into the fish tank, and suddenly a man with fish-like features appeared on the other side of the glass, hitting it, which startled you for a moment.
"Oh, hello," you said in a friendly manner. "You must be... what was it? Abraham?"
"You can call me Abe, if you like," the man told you. "And you?"
"I'm Y/n L/n," you responded. "I'm-."
"Yes, I was told who you are and why you're here," he said, cutting you off. "You're the new babysitter."
"Oh," you said, surprised by that term. "Uh, yes, I suppose."
"Please," Abe said. "The pages."
"Oh, right," you said, turning the page of each book. "You read all these at the same time?"
"Four books at once, every day," a voice said from behind you. "As long as I'm there to turn the pages."
You looked behind you, finding an old man with white hair and a white beard, standing in front of a desk. You wondered how he had approached without you noticing.
"My name's Broom," the older man said, approaching you. "Professor Trevor Broom."
You walked to meet him, extending your hand, and he shook it.
"I'm Y/n-," you started.
"Y/n L/n, [Birthplace], [Birth year]," Abe said, cutting you off. "Paranormal investigator for six years after a sad career in retail and food. Scar on your knee from a skateboarding accident when you were, let's see, eight years old."
"How did you...?" You started, shocked by all the information he knew about you.
"You read the files that were sent to you?" Broom asked you.
"Yes, sir," you confirmed. "I read them all."
"He knew so much about me because of uh...." You started, trying to recall details from all of the files you read. "His unique frontal cortex, right?"
"Correct," said Broom. "'Unique'. That's a word you'll hear frequently around here."
"Sir, this is all very exciting," you told him, emphasizing that you truly were passionate about this job.
"When you entered the lobby, there was an inscription: 'In the absence of light, darkness prevails'," Broom explained. "There are things that go bump in the night, Agent L/n. Make no mistake about that. And we are the ones who bump back."
Broom led you down to a hallway after you said goodbye to Abe.
"You read about how the Bureau was formed, yes?" Broom asked.
"Yes, sir," you replied. "I read everything that I was sent."
"Very good," Broom told you as you approached another man, who looked overly serious. "Oh, uh, L/n, this is Agent Clay. Take his lead. He'll make the introductions."
"All right," you said, taking a deep breath, readying yourself for the big event. "Thank you, sir."
"Make me proud," Broom said, walking off.
"They're not speaking," Clay explained. "He had him grounded."
"Grounded?" You asked with surprise.
Clay went through a series of efforts to open the door, which began to open very slowly and dramatically.
"Okay, you saw the fish guy, right?" Clay asked.
"Yeah, Abe," you said. "We met."
"All right," Clay said, stepping aside as the door opened wider. "Well, come on in. Meet the rest of the family."
You nodded, following him in, noticing a plethora of cats.
"He gets fed six times a day," Clay explained. "He's got a thing for cats. You'll be his nanny, his keeper, his best friend. He never goes out unsupervised."
"Okay," you said, taking in all the information.
"A redhead," a deep voice said, taking you off-guard, causing you to whip your head around. "That's a good joke. Who hired this guy, Clay? He's a funny guy, really."
You took him in for a moment, his red skin, embellished with spirals and designs, his chiseled muscles that flexed as he brought up a large weight in a curl, his comically large stone hand, his yellow eyes that looked straight at you, causing your heart to race unexpectedly, his horns that were filed down close to his head, the smoke coming out of his mouth, the cigar lazily hanging from his lips. It was quite a sight. You tried not to stare and make him uncomfortable, but he was really a lot more attractive than you had expected. After a pause that you judged to likely be far too long, you chuckled. You couldn't believe you were actually talking to Hellboy.
"I'm Y/n," you introduced, getting a little closer to him, hoping that he didn't notice how tight your pants were becoming.
"The babysitter," Hellboy said, unamused, throwing the dumbbell to the ground like it was nothing. "I don't want one."
"Liason," Clay corrected.
"Babysitter," Hellboy argued. "What, you get tired of me, Clay?"
He relit his cigar and you stood there, feeling like an idiot. You and clay exchanged a look for a moment, prompting you to say something.
“I’m very excited to be working with you, sir,” you said, hoping he wouldn’t chew you out. “I’ve read a lot about you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Hellboy sighed. “Just Hellboy’s fine, all right?”
“Sounds good,” you replied, trying to seem friendly, but not too friendly. You wanted to keep some mystery.
Suddenly, an alarm began to blare, red lights flashing, making you jump slightly, eyes widening.
“Wow, mission already,” Hellboy mused, leisurely putting out his cigar. “Hell of a first day, huh, kid?”
~~~Time Skip~~~
The car whizzed down the highway as you drove Hellboy back to the BPRD from the mission, which was successful. The two of you had been silent since getting in the car, the awkwardness thick in the air. You both just kept glancing at each other, trying to assess the man each of you would be working with nearly 24/7 from now on. Finally, you decided to break the silence.
"That was incredible, by the way," you said, trying to sound nonchalant and like that mission hadn't been the coolest experience of your life so far. "You just mopped the floor with that motherfucker."
"Yeah," Hellboy said with a confident air. "Thanks."
Then it was silent again. I mean, what the hell were you two supposed to talk about? Should you even talk? Maybe it would be more professional to just say nothing. Hellboy turned on the radio and it was on your favorite station. Animal by Def Leppard played. He left it on and turned it up.
"Nice," he said.
"You can change it if you want," you told him.
"No, I like this station," he replied. "Little young for Def Leppard, aren't you?"
"I'm not that young," you responded, feeling like a child. "I only really listen to classic rock or hair metal."
"Kid's got good taste," Hellboy said with an almost imperceptible teasing tone, but you picked up on it and it made you smile a little.
"Not a kid," you told him.
"Mhm," he simply replied, looking out the darkly tinted windows as if he was deep in thought.
Silence enveloped the car once again. You racked your brain for something, anything clever to say, pondered whether you should just try to stay mysterious and keep your mouth shut. At a certain point, you just couldn't help yourself.
"So we should probably get to know each other a little, huh?" You said, glancing at him.
"Sure," he replied simply.
"So... hm..." You tried to think of something to ask, hoping he would come up with something, but he just looked at you, which didn't help. "What do you, uh, I dunno, what do you like to eat?"
Hellboy chuckled a little.
'"Baby Ruth candy bars are my favorite," he said, making you smile stupidly. He looked like he was going to continue until he saw your grin. "What?"'
"No, sorry," you replied, stifling a giggle, but not very well. "I just didn't expect that."
He looked at you very seriously, which just broke you. You busted out in laughter. He chuckled, too. You didn't quite expect this from him, but it was a good surprise. You liked this side.
"What?" He asked again, still holding back a laugh.
"I just thought a big strong monster fighter guy like you would eat... I don't know, actually," you mused. "I didn't expect that."
"Well, I like pancakes, too," Hellboy told you like it was the coolest thing in the world.
"Wow," you said, faux-impressed. "Tough."
"And chili."
"Chili's good, yeah."
You looked at each other at the same time, both chuckling just a bit. You finally felt like the ice was starting to break.
"What do you eat?" Hellboy asked you.
"Well, I guess my favorite food's probably [favorite food] and I eat a lot of [favorite cuisine] food," you responded.
"Hm, I haven't had that," he said.
"No shit?"
"No shit."
"Well, I guess I'll have to take you to get some sometime," you said, realizing how it sounded only as you had already said it. You looked at him, hoping he wasn't freaked out by it.
"If you can sneak me out," Hellboy said. "They never let me leave that fucking place."
"Well, I'm your babysitter now, so I think I'm allowed to take you to get something to eat," you explained. "It's not good for anybody to be locked up all the time."
"That's what I've been saying."
You took the next exit off the highway, taking a side street as you'd been instructed to do when coming to and from your new workplace.
"How'd you get this job anyway?" Hellboy asked.
"Well, I was a paranormal investigator," you explained. "A lot of UFOs and ghosts and whatnot. As you can imagine, that wasn't going super well for me. I did a lot of networking, though, and I ended up making a friend at the BPRD and he actually asked me to interview for the job opening. When they told me what the job was, I got super excited, and I guess they liked that."
"Excited?" Hellboy asked, with a mix of slight surprise and confusion.
"Yeah, I mean working one-on-one with a supernatural being to fight monsters is pretty fucking cool, huh?" You explained. "Hell of a lot better than what the hell I was doing."
"'Supernatural being'?" He asked.
"Oh," you said, worried you'd offended him. "Sorry, what do you prefer?"
"No, that's fine," he told you. "Just... most people would call me a monster."
You felt a tug on your heartstrings at that.
"You're not a monster, though," you said plainly. "You fight monsters."
He thought about that for a minute, like you had just introduced a new concept to him, and that almost broke your heart.
"You were excited, you said?" He asked.
"Yeah, I mean I've been chasing supernatural shit my whole life barely ever finding anything and I found out that I was gonna be working with you," you said. You considered if you should continue, and you decided that it would probably be okay to do so. "I actually looked for you for a while. I always wondered if you were real or not. Honestly, I felt dumb for it, but I always believed in you."
"Really?" Hellboy asked.
"Yeah," you said, feeling a little embarrassed all of a sudden. "Is that weird? I probably shouldn't have said that, huh?"
"No, it's cool," Hellboy said.
"Oh, okay," you said. "Good."
He took a breath.
"You weren't scared?" He asked you.
"What do you mean?" You asked.
"When you got the job," he explained. "You weren't scared?"
"Well," you started, oblivious to what he meant. "I mean, yeah, I guess this job's pretty high risk going on missions with you and everything, but it's also awesome."
"I meant of me," he said quietly, almost mumbling, clearly afraid to open up.
"No," you told him. "Why would I be scared of you? You're, you know, a good guy."
Hellboy took a moment to take that in.
"Not everyone sees that," he said quietly.
"Well, I do," you assured him, looking into his yellow eyes.
You both sat with that for a moment. You pulled up to the BPRD.
I just realized that Luke Goss, the actor who played Prince Nuada in Hellboy II by Guillermo Del Toro... is also the one who played the Creature in the 2004 mini series Frankenstein !
