Johnny Cage x Reader

Forty-Two

"Can't believe it's already halftime.", mumbled Johnny as you stood next to each other in the throne room.

A crowd had formed again. Colourful silk robes pressed close together. Gold and silver shimmered on people's necks.

Now that you could see so many faces, you could understand what Kitana had meant when she said she wasn't human.

Many of the creatures you could see were very human-like, but they all had something strange about them. Some had horns growing from their heads, others had skin that resembled scales.

And some of them had nothing in common with humans. Except that they walked on two legs.

You felt like you had stumbled into one of the movies that Johnny used to do. Or still planned on doing. You weren't quite sure but it tickled the back of your mind.

"They look awesome.", Johnny whispered and pulled out his phone once more to get the video rolling. "Imagine how nuts the costume department will go over the designs? So many cosplays at Cage Con."

"Have you seen all these ruffles and little pieces.", you asked with a huff. "They'd hate you. So much small work to do. So many loose pieces."

"Designers love details.", he said with a smug expression.

"Not when they make em' cry, Johnny."

With a huff, he turned his head back and zoomed in on Raiden. You made him adjust his phone and changed some settings. The quality cleared up.

Impressed, he let out a whistle.

"You should do camera work.", he said and handed you his phone.

With a shake of your head, you accepted the big honour of filming for him and made sure to get a good shot of Raiden and his next opponent, the second in command of the Outworld army, Reiko.

You were convinced that there was no man who looked grimmer than this soldier. The corners of his mouth pulled down so deeply that his skin showed deep marks of it already.

And he couldn't have been that old. Or maybe he was. People of Outworld seemed to age in a different way than Earthrelamers.

After all, princess Kitana was roughly ten thousand years old but did not look a day over twenty six.

Now that you thought about her, you let your eyes wander along the crowd. It wasn't hard to find the younger princess. She didn't sit on her throne but stood on the lowest step of the stairs in front of it.

Her eyes were fixed onto the two champions in the middle of the room. But one of her hands slipped behind her back.

Liu Kang stood close to her. Not close enough to make it seem suspicious but so close that he was able to reach out and touch her hand with two fingers.

Her grip wrapped around him.

"Interesting.", you hummed and filmed it without it being too obvious.

"A tragic love story. Two lovers who can never be.", Johnny agreed. "What do you think?"

You smiled.

"A story for the big screen.", you agreed and handed him back his phone. "But wouldn't it be more modern to make it a prince?"

He gasped.

"And the princess is going for him? Because she fell first?"

"But he needs to fall harder."

With a smile, he wrapped one arm around your torso to pull you close. You stumbled against his body, shoulders touched.

"I think that's a great idea.", he breathed a kiss to the top of your head.

It was impossible to hide the smile that was caused by the warmth in your chest. Perhaps you'd make a good team on set as well.

If you managed to tame him in real life, how hard could it he to do the same on screen?

"My compliments, Raiden, on a well-fought match.", the mighty voice of the queen silenced the crowd with as little as these unimportant words. "We'll see how you fare in the next."

She did a gesture to call a man, or creature, to her side that resembled the religious symbol of the devil. His leather skin was covered by scales. A pair of long, black horns grew from the sides of his head.

Respectfully, he bowed his head to her.

As he spoke his teeth were revealed, sharp and like the ones of an alligator. Two pearls of fresh blood glowed in his skull. His eyes seemed to be made of glass.

"Your majesty.", his voice was soo deep that it made the air tremble.

"General Shao. Whom have you chosen as our next competitor?"

"Your majesty. I have chosen Reiko, my second in command.", a hint of pride was visible on his face as quick though harsh steps approached. "As a boy, Reiko was orphaned during the Kafallah War. Though captured, his spirit remained unbroken. He scratched, clawed and survived."

With a mix of impressiveness and sarcasm you lifted your eyebrows and let a soft whistle be heard.

"Taking notes?", you leaned to Johnny.

"Nah.", he turned his head to the side to get a good look of the black haired man who entered the throne room. "That just sounds like a poorly written Hollywood villain."

"I like villains with some tragedy."

Agreeing, he hummed.

"Tragedy, yes. But too much of it makes it ridiculous."

"So you think you could write a better one?", you nudged him with a grin.

Pulling a face, he grabbed your hand and tried to fight you off before your shenanigans could get the two of you into trouble.

"I think he needs to be more relatable.", he whispered into your ear as he trapped you with your arms crossed over your chest and your back pressed to him. "Make him a little more likeable."

A playfully shocked sound escaped you.

"Whaaaat..?", you almost had to laugh. "You don't think this dude looks likeable?"

Even though you weren't for judging a book by its cover, you could see where Johnny was coming from. Reiko seemed to be the embodiment of every single villain ever, someone who was evil for the sake of being evil.

His face one big mask of anger. Not a single thing could be found in his eyes except for the will to harm.

He wanted to fight. And only a win was an option.