Lovely Purple (Vincent x Reader)

[26] Jeremy

((Daphne if you're still reading this I swear I'm shooting you))

Before closing the place and starting the night shift, the pizzeria was visited by one last guest; Mahogany. The thing is, she wasn't alone. When she walked through the doors of the place, she was quickly followed by someone your eyes mistook for Vincent for half a millisecond.

Apparently, Mahogany had a type; white-eyed, having their hair tied back in a ponytail and with a thing for purple.

She hugged and kissed her father on the cheek while the mysterious man went for the more formal handshake. She proceeded to greeting all the guards and introducing her new boyfriend, Vendetta.

He seemed far more serious than Vincent. His hair, like Vincent's, was purple, but Vendetta's was a far darker shade; almost black. His eyes were also pure white and he wore a yellow button up shirt and pants with suspenders, adding white gloves and a dark bowtie. Despite his cold personality, you could tell he truly loved Mahogany by the way they looked at each other. You smile, thinking they made a cute couple. Vincent was a little less enthusiastic. He hid it well, but you could tell he didn't like the idea of a woman ever getting over him.

Boss left the building with his daughter and her man to leave you all to the night shift. As soon as their car is out of sight, the clock strikes midnight and a smile crossed Mike's face as he pulled out a box of unknown contents out of the closet.

✿ ✿ ✿

The night shift went by quickly. In the box, Mike had sneaked in a few beers to share with everyone as a celebration. You helped yourself to two beers only, but you were never too good at handling alcohol, not even when it was just a little. You got dizzy and felt sick. Vincent helped you most of the time until he himself had had too much. It made him more flirty, if that was possible. He hit on both you and sometimes Scott as if there were no tomorrow.

Once, he had pinned you to a wall and began grinding on you. You feel blood quickly rise to your face as the room grew hotter. You try to push him away. "Vincent," you looked at the guards, who had gone silent, and awkwardly tried for a smile. "Vincent, there's people watching,"
"Mhm, but you love this, don't you~?" He looked at you with a sly smirk, and for a second you wondered if he was truly drunk, or just wanted to have you embarrassed for life. Surprisingly, he let go of you and you just stood there, wishing the ground would swallow you up as you exchanged looks with the guys.

There was a moment of dreadful silence as the guys stared at you with wide eyes, astonished. Except for Vincent, who seemed pleased with himself. A few more seconds of silence seemed to drag on before everyone burst out laughing. You quickly join them in relief.

✿ ✿ ✿

That night, Scott had offered to drive everyone home to keep the party going a little longer and, of course, everyone had drank a little too much to drive themselves home, with the exception of Jeremy.

First stop was lemon kid's house. As Jeremy got out, he waved goodbye and headed for his doorstep, where Mike, who had somehow sneaked out of the car, was still celebrating his last night shift like a drunken bastard. "Haha! Beat another night! Gimme some!" He raised up his hand for a high five.
Jeremy flinched. His eyes flood with fear before he shuts them tightly. He covers himself in his arms to shield his defenseless self. "Ahh! Stop!" He looked on the verge of tears. Only a second later he realized his own reaction and immediately regretted it.

Mike looked stunned. He slowly lowered his hand. "Jeremy? Kid? I'm not gonna hur-... oh. Oh fuck." Slowly, he started connecting the dots in his damaged head. "Oh... oh no, Jeremy. I'm so sorry, oh god,"
In the car, you all stared at the scene unfolding before you. All of you too shocked to even speak or unglue your eyes form the two.
After so many months, Mike finally knew; Jeremy was abused. How could he have missed this? All the nights they had worked together and he had allowed him to return to that awful father every night without fail.

Suddenly, all the surprise and pity Mike had felt were quickly replaced with hatred and anger. He was angry at how he had never noticed this, angry at how he had been blind to all the signs; the cuts, the shyness, the occasional bruises. Most of all. He was furious at the poor excuse of a man Jeremy had to live with every day of his life. All this time Mike thought he could've stopped it sooner. But now he wouldn't make that mistake, not this time.

The door opened, revealing a bulky man with a nasty beard and messy clothes. His face said everything. His sunken, bloodshot eyes under bushy eyebrows seemed to scream a whole story at whoever dared to listen. Alcoholic, abusive, cruel, mad. No one needed to say a word.

Mike took a step forward and protectively kept Jeremy behind him with his arm. "Jeremy! Come on. You're not living here anymore. Get your things. Now."
Jeremy looked just as surprised as his father as soon as those words came out. "M-Mike what?"
Unlike the two other males, for the first time ever, Mike looked truly sure of himself.

The father spoke with some sort of farmland accent, spitting saliva with every word as if he spat out venom. "Hey! You can't take my kid! You don't have the authority when I'm his father!"
Mike clenched his teeth. He knew this wouldn't be easy. "He may be your kid, but you aren't anywhere close to a father." He pointed accusingly at his chest.

"Mike s-stop! It's okay!" Jeremy was still behind him, wildly waving his hands to signal him to stop, but Mike ignored his pleas.
Mike didn't even turn to look at him. He continued to stare intensely at the man towering above him. He was doing this for Jeremy and he wouldn't back down. "Jeremy, I said now!"
Mr. Fitzgerald spoke again. "You can't tell me what not to do with my kids, so mind your own damn business. I'm doing that runt a hell of a favor."

Mike looked as if he might snap this guy's neck any second. "Well then I'll be doing him an actual favor. He got all up on the man's face and talked like he had been preparing to say this his whole life. Every word and its tone truly showed that he meant what he was saying. "You are never going to lay another fucking hand on him again." The words came slowly, as if the man was too stupid to process them at any faster speed.

In a flash, Mike's eyes turn pitch black with only a tiny, white speck for a pupil. For a moment, you could've sworn black, ghostly flames erupted behind him before he spoke one last word.
"Ever."
Jeremy's father quickly went silent, and all the confidence he had ever seemed to have was drained away along with the color in his face. He let him and Jeremy pass and he went anywhere Mike wouldn't go, mumbling something along the lines of 'the devil himself' and 'demon boy'.

✿ ✿ ✿

Mike waited in the doorstep for Jeremy to come down with his bags. His father was in the living room, still scared shitless and not daring to look at either Jeremy or Mike.
Jeremy walked down the stairs at a slow and steady pace, as if scared his father might snap and beat him one last time. Mike looked up at him and gave him a kind smile. "There. Have everything? Ready to go?"

Jeremy nodded softly, still shaken by the fight and processing the fact he would finally be fully happy away from his father.

Mike took a look at him and tried to cheer him up. "You're gonna love it at Doll's place, I promise! She's an excellent cook and makes a mean lasagna. You'll have a room and-"
Suddenly, Jeremy's arms went flying around Mike's neck, the hug catching him by surprise. He looked down at Jeremy and eventually hugged back. "You're safe now, kid"

Hello! Val here! Thought it would be nice to upload a chapter for Valentine's Day so here you go, guys! Anyway, the book is still ok hiatus but I'm not giving up, I just procrastinate a lot.
- Valkyrie