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What a strange life your living in.
First of all, the city was filled with unique characters ranging from humans, to robots, and to humanoid animals, and even a... cactus.
You still get the creeps whenever that thing stares at you with its unblinking black voids of eyes. You were convinced that the damn cactus just loves to torture you with its uncomfortable staring. Luckily for you, he didn't stare at you for very long when one of his friends came along to remind him that they should go, the purple-haired woman also apologized to you, said that he just loves doing that.
That didn't reassure you one bit.
You leaned your head back as your head gently bumped the roof of your sports car, staring aloofly at the blue skies, fluffy clouds passing by very slowly. Your body resting against the rear door nicely. You let out a musing sigh as you raised your arm to look at your watch, it's been 30 minutes ever since you parked in this empty alleyway.
How much longer do you have to wait? You were starving!
You scoffed bitterly, side-eyeing the road beneath you. You knew you should've eaten first... the only reason you didn't eat was because your friend promised you that she'll buy you Five Guys as a treat after this.
It wasn't a bad deal, but you were still hungry gaddammit!
From a distance, you heard an obnoxiously loud rumble. You raised your head and turned where the noise was coming from, and just as you thought, it was a motorcycle. A large one in fact. The person on it was also large, with a cartoonishly large pompadour. And huge bulky muscles. And a golden nose ring. Can he even breathe with a nose ring that big?
Out of all the people you've met, you never thought you would be seeing the Bull. Knowing that he lives in Retropolis, you assumed he'd rarely come to this huge city. Unless there's a giant green monster attack, then that's where the Brawlers comes in to save the day. But here? Right in front of him?
This must be fate, you thought amusedly, a lax smirk graced your features.
You watched him silently and anticipated curiously. He steered to the side as he slowed down to a stop, turning off the engine and the alleyway became quiet again. He parked his motorbike next to your car, but it didn't seem like he noticed you. He kept his head down with a heavy frown on his face ever since he caught your attention.
Now that he was positioned in front of you, you took a closer look at his cool-looking bike. It was an old-fashioned motorcycle, a metal skull with horns emblem on the headlight. You took your sweet time admiring the other parts of his bike, his shotgun, his clenched and trembling fists...
Wait a minute, no.
His whole body was trembling.
You raised an eyebrow and immediately directed your gaze on his face. Teardrops slid down his cheeks, raising a fist to wipe them off as he was clearly holding back his sniffles and quiet whimpers. Snot dripping from his nose and glaring hard at whatever was in front of him.
He was... crying?
You didn't do anything other than watching him with a shocked expression, considering this was highly out of character for him. He was viewed to be intimidating and ruthless, so most people stayed away from him. The man before you was weeping! This was a newlyfound sight, you were so used to seeing him act so aggressive most of the time.
You still stare at him, suddenly feeling awkward. You averted your gaze, eyebrows furrowed in concern and guilt. You were fully aware that it was rude to stare, especially when someone was having a hard time. M-maybe you should leave...
You looked back at him. He wasn't glaring anymore, his expression looked more depressed. Like a kicked puppy. His lips were trembling while he was biting his lip.
Now you feel even more concern, just looking at that face makes it even harder to leave. Your expression hardened as you shut your eyes tightly, conflicted between staying here to try and give him some comfort, or leaving him alone to give him space as to not be anymore rude.
Your expression tightened painfully when you heard his quiet whimper again. That one broke you and you let out a soft sigh, slouching slightly in defeat.
No, you'll stay. He obviously needs some comfort right now.
You took a quick glance at him before you opened the front door, taking out the tissue box from the glove compartment and shutting the door again. He didn't realised that you made a sound. Guessed he's deep in thought.
You held the tissue box in your hand and reached it out to him, making sure the tissue was in his vision.
"Here." You said gently as you shook the box slightly to catch his attention. His head raised a bit and took notice of the box. He sniffled and swiped a tissue, "Thanks..." He muttered sadly, but with his heavy accent, it was hardly distinguishable.
He blowed his nose grossly into the tissue before he freezes in place, eyes wide in realisation.
He whipped his head at your direction. You returned his shocked yet horrified gaze with a much more calmer look, tilting your head curiously at him.
"Waahhh!!!"
He screamed out loud and flailed his arms in a panic, nearly jumping out of his seat but accidentally slipped and fell to the ground with a heavy thud. That made you flinched and break out of your cool demeanor, quickly looking over him with concern.
"Ugh, my head..." He grumbled in pain as he tenderly massaged the back of his head. His upper body raised slightly, the used tissue no longer in his hand. Instead it swayed in the air before it landed gently on his pompadour.
Okay that was funny, not gonna lie.
But you stayed quiet. You were more concern of his well-being right now.
"Are you alright?" You inquired worriedly. It took him a few moments before he blinked rapidly a few times, and then he raised his head, looking at you with an uncomfortable sheepish expression. A slight tint of pink on his cheeks.
He moved his head away from you as an act of nonchalance, sitting in a more comfortable position. His expression returning to that familiar pissed off glare with a tight frown on his face. "M'fine..." He muttered lowly, trying to sound threatening but it came out tired and soft.
Your lips tilted downwards empathetically before you reached out to him with an open hand, and he glanced at it suspiciously. You wiggled your hands a bit, beckoning him to take it.
He looked like he didn't want to at first, but he gave in with a slouch and a sigh in defeat, finally taking your small hand in his huge hand. He mostly helped himself up but you didn't mind it one bit.
He stood up straight and you briefly realised with a hint of dread of how freakishly tall he was. Your head doesn't even reach his shoulders!
He placed his hands in his pockets, looking away from you with a bitter frown. You on the other hand continued to stare at him, not doing anything. It looked like he didn't want to continue the conversation, pretending as if that whole crying fiasco was nothing.
You both stayed silent, an atmosphere of awkwardness gradually creep up into the both of you. Well, it was particularly awkward for Bull. You weren't though, because you were willing to wait for him to speak.
While you were waiting for him, Bull was having an internal crisis.
How long have you been there? He was pretty sure there wasn't anyone in this alley... Did you sneak up on him??
He stole a glance towards your expensive car, and his expression turned sour with apprehension. He's pretty god damn sure he would fucking hear your fancy car rumbling if you were here!
He can't believe he let himself be vulnerable to some random stranger! At least you weren't laughing at him, or else he was going to give you hell. And you still haven't leave him alone. Can't you see that he's ignoring you? Move it, woman!
His frown deepened, a bead of sweat dripped down the side of his forehead. He was getting unnerved by your persistent staring, plus, it was making him incredibly uncomfortable.
You raised an eyebrow at his frustrated expression. Then he whipped his head at you, glaring daggers at you, "What the hell are you looking at?" He snapped, teeth gritted into a snarl.
Normally, anyone who upsets him would blabber out apologies and run away. Not today though, not for you. Because for some reason you weren't scared of him at all. You felt an odd soothing calmness from within you. You don't know what made you feel that way, but you weren't planning on backing down.
"You were crying just now." You stated idly.
He jolted, caught completely off guard. His shoulders tensed and his features reddened in embarrassment, "Y-yeah!? So?? You got a problem with that?!" He stammered loudly, leaning in and getting up and personal to your face, sending you a nasty glare.
You backpedaled in surprise from the sudden invasion but didn't move away, your eyes flickering to the white object on him. You should get rid of that first. You cautiously raised your hand and grabbed the wet tissue from his pompadour, his eyes followed your actions. His face was full on red now, probably from both anger and embarrassment when you casually threw the tissue on to the ground.
He growled, "Are you making fun of me? You think that just because you saw me weeping like a baby means that you can just mess with me whenever you want now, huh?!? Is that it?!" He shouted and gritted his teeth, positively fuming. His fists bumped into each other as a loud cracking sound emitted from it.
You remained unbothered as you raised an eyebrow at his statement, "You're saying that to the person who just gave you tissues?"
The anger he shown to you disappeared.
"You even thanked me for it after you took it. Now, is that really an attitude that you should be showing after you thanked someone?" You drawled coolly while leaning forward to his face, and he backed away a bit.
"I-I... uhh--" He spluttered dumbly, eyes shifting everywhere but you as he took a step back. He knew you were right. After a while he shut his mouth, eyes downcast in shame as he mumbled a no while gently shaking his head. From the way he showed his posture, you can't help but imagine him like a kid that got caught doing something bad. Jeez, you never thought you would live long enough to be able to see the Bull being so out of character.
You nodded positively, satisfied with his answer, but there was one question that you wanted to know. You hope he'll tell you.
"Why were you crying earlier?"
You paid close attention to his reaction as you asked, your gaze noting the twitch of his eyebrows. Bull's expression hinted sadness at your question, before quickly replacing them with defiance and stubbornly crossed his arms. He was tightlipped, refusing to make eye contact with you. Knowing that he wasn't going to reply to you anytime soon, you had to figure it out yourself.
Let's think... You hummed in thought, thinking of anything that might upset him. The incident probably happened today so, you try to recall what happened earlier in the morning.
The first thing that came to mind was the solo showdown.
You watched the showdown unfold from a jumbotron somewhere in the city, numerous citizens were watching it.
In that battle included Bull.
You remembered who won in those challenges. At least a few of them. Although, you did regarded something odd happening while the battles were happening.
You furrowed your eyebrows at the memory and suddenly, it all made sense. Your eyes widened in realization. Ahh. Anyone would be sad if that were to happen to them...
You looked back at him, "It was about the showdown, wasn't it?"
As soon as you said that, he scoffed and swiftly showed his back to you. He didn't give you a verbal answer, but his actions did. Your eyebrows knitted together in concern, watching his body trembling again.
Turns out when you're one of the toughest brawlers to beat, you could get ganged up on. And that was exactly what happened during the showdown. When Bull was trying to advance forward, two or three other brawlers would ambush him. It happened in every. Single. Round.
He sniffed and you could hear the snot clogging up his nose, "Yeah, so what?! Its not like you would care anyway!" He croaked in frustration while wiping off his tears with his fist. Then he gave up on wiping them off when they wouldn't stop coming and sobbed into his hands, not caring if you were watching him or not.
You frowned sadly, you truly felt sorry for the big guy.
The tissue was still in your hand and you naturally hand it out to him, tapping it on his arm. He glanced at it and desperately took several more tissues and blowing his nose into it.
He continued to sobbed, and you were trying to think of something else to comfort him.
A hug would help, you thought. Or it would help lead you to an exclusive free ticket to punchtown.
You walked around him and stopped in front of him. He saw you through the wet, messy tissues and raised his head slightly, curious on why you decided to stand in front of him. You stare at him in the eyes and you lifted your hands to grab his hands and gently bring his arms down to his sides.
He didn't resist but he was confused, "What are you...?" His question trailed off into silence and observed you.
You pursed your lips, looking a bit hesitant, "Okay, I know you don't want anybody bothering you right now," You paused and smacked your lips briefly, hesitating. You were probably risking yourself on getting punched in the face but it would be worth a try. "But I think you need this. Sorry about this."
You finished your sentence and walked towards him, bumping into his chest and wrapping your arms around his torso. Since he was so much bigger compared to you, you couldn't wrap your arms all the way.
He went stiff at the hug, and your mind immediately thought of the worst. Oh no, he's going to punch you-- you know it!!!
You shut your eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable.
But nothing happened.
Nothing except for when he quickly wrap his muscular arms around your tiny body and pulled you closer to him, hiding his face into your shoulder. You internally sighed in relief and relaxed a bit in his tight embrace. Although, he appreciated the gesture, he refused to let out anymore of his crying. Judging from his trembling body.
You patted his back and rubbed it soothingly, "It's just us big guy, no one will know we're here." You reassured him, but he wouldn't budge. Instead he buried his face deeper into your shoulder. He was keeping it in.
"Just let it all out. I got you."
Finally, that comment made him let out a whimper.
Then a full blown outcry.
"UWAAAHAHA!!!"
There he goes.
He was bawling his eyes out and hugged you tighter to him, sobbing grossly into your shoulder. He practically lifted you off the ground and you flailed a bit in shocked. You did not expect that but you went with the flow. You cringed painfully at the outburst but then morphed into subtle relief, glad to know he's not holding back this time, rubbing his back soothingly as you let him get all of that negative energy out of him.
"There we go. Let it all out, Bull." You drawled gently, listening to his unrecognizable blabbering. You couldn't quite grasp about what he said, but you heard him mentioned something about the showdown and how horrible it feels to be ganged up on.
"IT's jwuST-- *SNOORRT* SAooO hARd!!"
You nodded along, comforting him with a small smile and patted his back.
This went on for some time, and after that he started to calm down, taking in slow breaths as he relished in the warmth of the embrace. Not wanting to let go just yet.
You could feel the wet, slimy coolness on your shoulder and on part of your clothes. The sensation was intensified with the nose ring resting against your neck. The cold felt nice on your neck but you... uhh. You were going to have to wash your whole body later after this.
You glanced at the side of his face with an eyebrow raised. He was being pretty quiet.
You slowly dropped your arms and pulled away. He didn't show any moves on stopping you so you continued. You placed your hands on his shoulders to push him back a bit, seeing his face better.
His eyes were puffy and his nose looked redder than usual, but luckily he isn't crying anymore. His expression mellowed.
You distinctly felt the air intensifying the uncomfortable coolness on your shoulder but you paid no mind to it. You settled on grabbing the tissues and gave it to him again, silently asking him if he wants some more.
He took a brief glance between you and the tissues before casually taking a few to wipe his tear stained face and runny nose.
You watched him cleaned himself up and decided to ask him, "You feeling okay now?"
He reacted by giving you a nod, "Yeah. The Bull's fine," he replied lowly, sounding a bit tired. You smiled gladly at that, and you saw his face twitched with guilt when he looked at the mess he made on you.
"Uhh... sorry about the mess." He apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Jerking his head at your snot covered shoulder.
You looked at the wet stain with disinterest before shaking your head dismissively, "I'll wash it later. No need to worry about it." You assured him with a small smile. Your face showed neither disgust nor annoyance.
His face was frozen in surprise, almost as if he didn't expect you to respond like that. And you were being cool about it too.
He averted his eyes and murmured, "Thanks by the way. For uhm, helping me out." He pouted shyly, his cheeks a bit red. As if he wasn't used to this kind of thing.
You shrugged it off, "As long as you're alright, that's good enough for me." You admitted nonchalantly. He whipped his head back at you at your surprising comment.
Wow. You were being awfully nice to a guy that threatened you. Not saying that's out of the ordinary-- usually people starts acting nice to him when they upset him to make sure they don't anger him any further. That mostly happens in his diner, which resulted in them getting thrown out. Literally.
But this was different.
You were trying to help him and he blowed up in your face. He frowned, it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. He should be ashamed for this. His eyes consciously flickered up from the ground and to your car.
Oh actually, why were you here in the first place?
"Hey!"
You flinched at the sudden callout and your eyes widened in perfect circles, immediately turning your head to him alarmingly. Whoops, he did not mean to sound it like that.
He quickly shook his head, his hand almost moved to facepalm. Instead he brought it up to clear his throat into his fist before speaking, "So uhm I was wondering..." He trailed off and you tilted your head curiously. Your eyes followed his hand jabbing a thumb at your car.
"What were you doing here?"
Oh, he was asking about that. You stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking of your answer and idly said, "I was waiting."
He quirked an eyebrow, confused.
"Waiting?"
Not as soon as he asked that, an explosion happened in the background. He twisted his body in alarm at the loud disturbance, his stance tense in shocked, "What the hell!?" He exclaimed, eyes darting around at the clouds of smoke and fire coming out from a tall building.
You didn't react like him though, you merely sighed exasperatedly and raised your hand to facepalm. Damn pirate, you told her not to cause a commotion!
The street was covered in smoke and it was difficult for both of you to see what was going on. High pitched sirens echoed, making the worst music ever and the screeching sound of cars before it abruptly stopped. You could only see clouds of smoke until a darker silhouette was moving.
You both heard quick footsteps coming your way, but the audible mischevious cackling stood out the most. You knew who it was...
A woman slid smoothly and stopped in front of you two, holding a gun with golden coins spilling out a bit and a huge bag behind her back. It was most likely money.
"I'm back!" She declared in a cheery voice and showed a huge grin. Her gun resting comfortably on her shoulder as she posed, a hand on her hip.
"Penny?" Bull blurted out, an eyebrow raised.
"Took you long enough." Your voice unamused and you wasted no time walking towards the front door of your car. She only let out a playful giggle. You opened the door and Penny quickly followed suit and went to the opposite of you.
Penny walked past a confused Bull and she snatched the rear door open, basically ignoring Bull's existence. She forced the bag of money inside, but it was too big to fit. She grunted while gritting her teeth, pushing it with her whole body, but it made no effort at all to the bag.
"I could use some help here!" Penny's gaze fixating on Bull expectantly.
He was snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, "Oh r-right, right." He said lamely.
He strode towards Penny and placed his big hands on the bag. He pushed the bag together with her, and the bag easily fitted through. Although, it caused some of the money to spill out, it was inside nonetheless. You watched the scene unfold with half-lidded eyes in annoyance when you watched the small pile of money flooded through the front seats. You felt like the money was mocking you.
"Nice!" She cheered and raised her hand to Bull. They both happily high fived each other, Bull mirroring her enthusiasm with a grin.
You knew that would happen, but that doesn't mean you were happy about it. Giving up on the thought of scolding Penny, you merely sighed audibly.
"Hey uh, what's with that wet stain on your shirt?" Penny pointed out and gave you a weird look. You caught Bull's expression suddenly turned to flustered. His eyes flickering from you and Penny with a panicked look, frowning nervously.
You eyed him passively as his eyes were begging you to not tell her.
Honestly, you weren't planning to. You wanted to get out of here before things get worst.
You deadpanned at her, "It was raining." You spoke dryly. Penny scrunched up her nose as she let out a questioning hum, staring at you like you're crazy. Bull was glad you didn't tell her the truth and sighed internally. A smirk sneaked its way to his face, amused at your reaction. You weren't even trying to hide it, you just looked really fed up with this.
You bend down and disappeared into the car. You started up the engine with a twist to the key and the car rumbled to life. You closed the door and leaned towards them from your seat, "Come on, let's get out of here before the cops arrive."
You saw Penny's body jolted back into action, hearing her murmured, "Oh yeah, got it!"
You grimaced. Not at Penny or Bull, but at the undeniable feeling of slime and wetness on your shoulder. At this point you didn't want to care about eating right now, you wanted to clean yourself up as soon as possible.
Bull stepped back when she jumped into the car and slammed the door closed. She put the window down and rested her arm on the door so her elbow peeks out. He heard the sound of the drive stick clicking as Penny gave a wink at Bull. Then the car sped off, a small cloud of dust appeared when they leave the alleyway, "See ya' later, matey!" Penny waved at Bull with an eager grin.
Bull could only watch the car drove off and disappearing into another junction, hearing it make a deep intimidating sound when it swerved. He also heard the police sirens again, this time he sees the police cars zooming towards you two's direction.
That was unexpected. He didn't know Penny was friends with you, and you guys looked like you trusted each other. Penny would never let any money be seen by anybody, besides her pirate crew.
Despite the fact that he only knew you for a few minutes, he already liked you. Like a lot.
Bull gasped in realisation, then facepalmed. Clearly annoyed.
He never knew your name!