Bamboozled

Get-Together

Quick Note: Hey everyone! Sorry for taking so long to get this out! I've been busy with college, work, and other life-related things! I will be trying to update this with some sort of frequency and will be putting out shorter chapters (2,500-3,000 word range, compared to my usual 7,000+ ones) so that I can update this story more often (and so I can help prevent overwhelming myself).

Any feedback on my work is much appreciated! Enjoy!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was 8:00 in the morning and Wraith woke to the sound of her alarm. She stretched her arms above her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before slipping out of bed. She made her way to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth before stepping into a hot shower, the coldness of her unusually restful sleep dissipating with each drop that hit her body. 10 minutes later, she stepped out into the now steamy bathroom, took hold of the soft towel, and dried herself off. As she went to grab her clothes, which lay on the counter, she glimpsed the mirror and spotted a shade of purple on her neck. Using the towel, Wraith wiped away a portion of the steam, enough so that she could see herself, and paused a moment to stare at the multitude of bruises, hickeys, dotting her breasts and neck, the largest and most notable of which situated to the left of her throat. She tenderly brushed her fingers across each of the dark spots as pleasant memories of the previous night came flooding back, drawing from her a demure smile.

Wraith stood in the mirror for several minutes, just feeling and examining the sensual marks. She had never before understood why people liked hickeys, viewing them simply as uncomfortable blemishes resulting from getting a little too frisky. Now though...now she understood. They weren't just blemishes; they were almost like Elliot's territorial markings, designating her as his. While Wraith in no way considered herself property, and knew Elliott felt the same, it was nice to have a sense of...belonging. A sign that Elliot wanted her, or perhaps needed her, so bad that he left her a reminder.

Of course, she couldn't let others see the bruises. Although she wasn't particularly scared of the other legends finding out about them dating, she wasn't fond of them all knowing everything about her and Elliot's still rather new relationship. The need to keep it between the two of them didn't, however, detract from the pleasant feelings that arose from the hickey's presence. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she enjoyed the thought of it being their little secret; something only she and him would know about. Wraith could already imagine the sly jokes Mirage would surely slip in when they gathered at his bar with the others for lunch later. She and Mirage had a few inside jokes, but they were mostly related to their past battles; it would be nice to have something new in his, or in this case, their, pool of jokes.

Caught up in thoughts, 5 minutes had passed in an instant. The steam had all but faded and the room grew progressively colder the longer she stood there, so Wraith finished drying off and threw on her clothes. However, she immediately realized she had nothing to cover the hickeys on her neck and the one top that did was currently sitting at the bottom of her dirty clothes basket, so a scarf, while not exactly fitting with her outfit, would have to do.

Wraith stepped out of her room and into the hallway, closed the door behind her, then made her way from the HUB to the nearby market to grab breakfast and do some restocking of her kitchen. She didn't want too big of a breakfast because Mirage had, as he called it, "a lavish feast" prepared for the legends that day. These "feasts" weren't uncommon; Mirage threw one every couple of months as get-togethers so everyone could talk outside of the arena. Most of the legends tended to get caught up in their own personal dealings and spared relatively little time for friends, so these small events gave everyone an excuse to set everything aside and just hang out...that, and Mirage never missed a chance to show off his cooking skills.