Pretty please!
Silco trying to win ex!reader back? Angst to fluff maybe? Finn being an ass maybe???
*fans self* oh, to have one of the most notorious and powerful men in the Undercity groveling before you! That's the Zaunite dream, everybody.
Three strikes. You would give him that - already more than he deserved, in your opinion - and at the end of those three strikes, you would be out.
Silco didn't have a great start, with cornering you like this. One down, two to go, and his introduction looked equally unpromising. "You've been avoiding me."
Your eyes immediately found the glass-structured ceiling, while your hands busied with gathering up your paperwork. "Yes, Silco," Dryly, you paused briefly to glance over the freshly-signed document, before tucking it into your arm with the rest. "That tends to happen when two people break up. Exes avoid one another, to some extent."
You didn't realize he had been tapping his ungloved hands in a terse, sharp rhythm. Not until the sound of his blunt nails stopped hitting the tabletop of the Baron Hall.
"...Exes?"
Was he...?
No, he couldn't be surprised, could he? Bad-enough for Silco be indifferent, as he had been when you had gathered your things from the floor of The Last Drop office, storming out without a goodbye, and without another response from him.
The blatant lack of correspondence or messages between, not to mention the distinct lack of greeting at the start of the Baron assembly, should've been more than enough clues. And yet here Silco was, stone still and just as unreadable as a rock, staring at you with two eyes that have become equally unblinking, as he repeats the word.
"Exes."
"Yes... previous partners. Discontinued relationship. Termination of romantic connections." Sneering at the last one, some scorned part of you couldn't resist but chancing a glance at him as you kicked your chair into a place with a room-echoing thud. Silco didn't so much move - practically living marble now. "Or whatever kind of 'connection' you think we had... I know you're practically allergic to the idea of a label, so forgive me for any assumptions I may have made after several months we spent together."
The final half of your sentence is spoken over your shoulder, before Silco committed his second-strike by a sharp, low call of, "Don't you dare leave."
Ordering you to stay behind, and now ordering you to stay in place? Out of spite, you considered jogging to the door, but thought better of it to whirl around and glare at the man, unaffected at one narrowed eye and braced hands splayed on the table as he looms from his seat. "Where was that energy last week?"
"I don't know what you're-"
"Or the entire time we've been together?" Eyes narrowed, you turn sharply on a heel and put a hand on your hip. "Not once do I recall you ever asking me to stay. Not after a dinner, not after a 'private meeting', and certainly never the morning-after." That had been the final straw - nothing, not even a grunt of acknowledgement as you had slowly slipped the scattered articles of your clothing back on.
You had gone slow, waiting, and honestly hoping, for an invitation. Or at least some sign that this wasn't just some flight of fancy to keep you both entertained between each headache-inducing Baron meetings.
Silco hadn't even looked at you when you finally slipped out the door, a quiet farewell on your lips, and a hurt, bitter seed planted.
More hurt than bitter, if you were honest.
But you didn't let it show, instead narrowed your eyes coolly when you saw his jaw twitch, teeth no doubt grinding in his mouth. "Silco, I'm tired. Tired, and too old to be playing will-we-won't-we."
"Believe it or not, I'm not playing games either," He retorted, but the fire in his tone was weak, barely flickering even while his eye smoldered instead of burned. "Especially not games that end with you storming off before we've even spoken about this-"
You interrupt him smoothly, "No, i'm speaking. I'm speaking, because you clearly haven't been the entire time I've been with you." Tucking the papers close to your chest, you turned and narrowed your eyes at him. "Labels are a dangerous, and powerful thing - I know this. But I would like to at least know if I have one with you, or if I'm just a brief stint of entertainment."
The papers crinkled in your hands, causing unreadable green and red to glance down. There was a firmer-set to his jaw, one that lingered even after you relaxed your tense grip around your papers.
"And if I'm just for entertainment... well, it's a big Undercity. I'm sure you can find a new source of fun." You shrugged a shoulder and turned with the motion, trying to seem at loose and at ease. Difficult, for you could hear the sharp clicks on your shoes echoing off the floor in your escape.
It was joined quickly by another pair, following smoothly after you as Silco committed his third-strike.
"Wait."
You didn't - you wouldn't - not when he kept using that tone like you were just a Baron and he was just the Eye...
"Please."
You waited; froze really, before turning sharply to face the Kingpin. Standing stiff as marble, with leather gloves straining in the fight fists formed at his sides and you realized Silco didn't look angry. Nor vexed, or annoyed, but what little you could gleam from that rather thin layer of detachment in his eye, was the emotion of panic.
Panic, at the thought of you walking away. Or maybe he was feeling such an emotion for a million other reasons, but just as the thought that he could expression such an emotion because of you, made you mentally deduct one strike from his list of failures, and turn to face Silco fully when he stepped closer.
"I have... grown fond of you."
Habit, sadly, made you immediately go to deny it. "Don't comfort me if you're going to lie-"
"I have."
Another hesitation is equal to another step from him, and once again you don't step back. Nor do you move away from the other following steps Silco makes towards you, until he's standing at a distance that forces your head to tilt up to continue meeting his gaze. "Entertainment is a... bonus, to what we have developed over the course of the last several months we've been seeing one another. I won't deny that," He says, unapologetically so, and you give a small nod for him to continue after mulling over that for a moment.
"I've neglected putting on a label, as you so put it, because there are several ramifications to consider, that such an action would send rippling across the Undercity." He’s right - politically, a union between Baron and King would make a further chaotic mess of Zaunite politics, more so than it naturally was. It’s a reminder that primes you for disappointment, until Silco continues, simply and slowly, but with enough pointedness in his tone that you can almost take his words as sincere.
“But ramifications can be minimized. Damage-control is possible and...” A hesitation, a faint bobbing of his throat before those fists unclench at his side, and leaver-clad fingers loosely rest upon one of your wrists. “And I,” He continues, slowly as if saying them aloud for the first time. “- would very much prefer having to deal with such public and governmental disgruntlement, with you at my side.”
The corners of your mouth twitched without your permission, and Silco took it as a sign to lower the careful guard in his eyes, looking over your expression for other signs of your agreement, with an equal gleam of hope showing faintly in his green-eye.
And yes, you had hope. Hope that this was true, hope that he meant this... But you also had a bit of bitterness, and the skepticism couldn’t be kept out of your tone, “You could’ve said any of this sooner. You should’ve said this sooner, instead of nothing at all.”
“I’m aware, but i’m prepared to speak more now,” He tilts his chin up slightly, looking down on you over the length of his nose as he adds, “If you’ll have me.”
It... was tempting. Extremely so, and beneath that bitterness in the center of your chest, there was something giddy, hoping and wanting for this. The other Barons would be a nightmare, whining about favoritism and rank-climbing, but though there hadn’t been nearly enough words during your time with Silco, you had more than enough glimpses of what a life with him was like, in order to wish for the full-picture.
Still, as tempting as it was, as much as you did, truly want this, want him, you had yet to have heard a proper apology from him.
“Again, for a man whose strong-suit is words, I have yet to have heard enough to convince me.” You step away as his chin droops, staring at you openly with an eye as wide as the other, and no small amount of growing bitter disappointment in his gaze... You let Silco fester in the familiar taste, before you smile sweetly, and seeking for blood in the water. “Maybe you should say it on your knees.”
“What?”
“Actions speak louder than words, and you’ve been lacking in the latter. Maybe it’s about time you said it with the former.” A glance to the ground to punctuate your words, but the man only continues to stare incredulously, while your grin only gets wider.
The incredulous look begins to melt, both in the eye of fire and of sea-green, into something that burns. Burning with slight indignation, a promise that such a ludicrous order will not be forgotten swiftly... but it also burns with the slightest hint of begrudgement, that you don’t necessarily believe, until he sinks down.
It barely registers in your mind, for the sight is so momentous and equally outrageous, that even as your head robotically tilts to watch his descent, you find it hard to believe. Silco, on his knees before you - certainly not overly-eager, but there’s a calmness in his gaze that shows he is not so adverse to the action that retribution will come.
Immediately, that is. You have no doubt you’ll pay for this, one way or another, but it’s a punishment that’s already more than worth-it for the sight before you.
“I am sorry.”
Your eyes grow wider, and if Silco didn’t reach up to slip his fingers around your own, you were certain the papers you had gathered would have found their way to the ground regardless. “I am, and I would very much like to make up for my failings, and past transgressions, if you’ll have me.” The firm lines in his face, only slightly betraying his words, deepen with you raising a brow. It practically has to be dragged out of him with hooks, and it’s the quietest sound you’ve ever heard come out of a man, but with the squeezing of his hands around yours, comes a sound that sounds suspiciously like yet another, “Please.”
All three strikes are redacted, by that one word.
There’s a smile already betraying your lengthy consideration in your mind, when you recall the fact that there was a collection of paperwork left behind on Finn’s side of the table. You’re reminded fairly quickly, when the growing look of satisfaction and zeal is erased almost instantly from Silco’s eyes at Finn’s smug, bemused call near the entrance, clearly relishing in the sight, “Ah, the great Silco has fallen, has he?”
“Finn, I'm more than happy to make the top-jaw match the bottom.”
Despite the growing snarl building on Silco’s lip, preparing for his own sharp rebuke for the very unwelcomed spectator, there’s a certain glint of admiration in his eyes at your dry, calm threat to the living annoyance.
Even if you’ve been interrupted, you hope he can see the answer in your eyes, and the unspoken acceptance of his apology and offer, in the squeeze of your hands as you raise him back up onto his feet. Again, words were more than welcomed, but it seemed the actions were just as appreciated, considering how readily he squeezed your hands back.
Any cold bitterness left behind within you, vanished at the feel of his warm hands around yours.
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