𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐋 𝘬. 𝘻𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘺𝘤𝘬

𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦

everyone's heads whip up. their eyes scan the room, until someone voices the question that i'm sure everyone is thinking. 

"who was that?"

silently, i beg leorio to shut up and not talk again. but alas, he doesn't listen to my prayers.

"me. y/n, hand the phone over to them."

oh. oh he talked again.

"y/n?" chrollo's deep voice grumbles my name and i look up into his glaring eyes. i have no choice but to grudgingly hand over my phone. "so. how much did you hear?"

"all of it," leorio declares confidently. "and i want you to know that she doesn't agree with what you've proposed she do."

"oh?" shizuku speaks up before making eye contact with me and raising an eyebrow. "and who's this, y/n?"

i gulp. do i lie for my cousin, or do i speak his name truthfully, knowing that he could get killed? "he's my cousin ... alejandro."

thankfully, leorio doesn't interrupt me and accidentally spill his secret. 

"alejandro?" the name rolls smoothly off of franklin's tongue. "is that your name, kid?"

a long pause ensues before leorio tchs and solemnly agrees with what i've proclaimed his name to be. "yeah."

"you're so stupid, y/n, for spilling your cousin's name so easily. you do realise that we could easily just go and kill him?" shalnark barks out a laugh and i try hard not to laugh as well. 

perhaps the lying to the phantom troupe and them believing me so readily has given me a boost of confidence, because i suddenly feel like talking about.

"and i agree with alejandro - i don't want to be your property."

and for the second time that night, all eyes turn to me. their eyes are mixed with many different emotions, ranging from surprise to wonder to anger. surprise that i'm actually standing up for myself, anger at what i'm saying, and in wonder that i actually have the confidence to say such things. 

"you get no say in it," feitan growls out, his broken english coming to the light as he continues talking. 

"i should get a say, though, shouldn't i?" i bravely attempt to argue back. "after all, we're talking about my life here, which you just randomly burst into."

"talking back, babe?" a smirk takes over machi's face again. "cute. but i don't think so. you're going to be all ours for the rest of eternity. and there's nothing you can do to convince us otherwise."

my fear of the phantom troupe is slowly dissipating as i watch their behaviour closely. they're all such brilliant villains, and yet why are they getting so fooled by some of the things i'm saying? if they're so good at what they do, they shouldn't be falling for my words. 

"alright," i try to compromise. "how about i am yours - "

a sharp gasp comes from the phone and i already know leorio is getting ready to argue with me.

" - alejandro, let me finish." i direct my words over to leorio. "but," i continue, refocusing on the phantom troupe, who are all waiting - albeit impatiently - for me to finish. "maybe not forever? maybe for like ... two months of the year? yeah? is that alright? because i'd really like to live my life without you hovering over it like a motherfucking mosquito."

a snicker echoes throughout the room, and we turn to see machi. "there's her confidence. i was waiting for it to reappear."

"machi, just shut the hell up." nobunaga rolls his eyes and out of the corner of my eye, i see chrollo wrap his hand around her wrist and shake his head, gesturing for her to not come for him. "and we don't agree with what you're saying, y/n."

"how do you know that?" i shoot back. "you're not exactly speaking for the entire phantom troupe, are you now? that's like suggesting that you're number one. and i know for a fact that you're definitely not."

nobunaga clicks his tongue, and i can tell he's annoyed. i scoff and turn back to chrollo, to who i decide to replead my case to. "chrollo? please, i don't want you to just define and write my life for me."

chrollo raises an eyebrow. "oh?" 

i take it as a sign to keep talking, to maybe convince him of my side of the story. "i'm not going to ask to be free forever, as i know if i do, the most powerful group in all of the world is going to come for my ass." i kiss up to the phantom troupe, trying to make their ego rise. "but i'm just asking that i only stay with you for two months. let me live my life in a way where i can become who i truly want to be and also be with you in the same year. please," i repeat. "just, think about it."

"but what would we get out of it, if we did decide to let you roam free for ten months?" phinks growls.

my jaw falls slack. "you're literally trying to own me right now, phinks, for the rest of my life. you'd need a reason to do that, wouldn't you?"

he nods. 

"there you go. whatever reason it is for why you're trying to kidnap me is what you're going to get out of me being your personal slave for two months. god."

"and if we didn't let you go for ten months?" kortopi rasps out.

i shrug, trying not to let my earlier fear take over. "i don't know. maybe i'd get bored of doing everything in my power to make you guys let me free for ten months. boredom would take over; boredom of you guys, boredom of this world, boredom of life. and before you know it, i'd die from something and i'll finally be free of you guys."

"remind me again why you aren't pleading for your entire freedom?" shizuku questions.

"i know i wouldn't get anywhere with it. after all, you've already ran all the way to my house to tell me about this decision that you've made. i had to find a compromise, and this here is it. this is my compromise, and the only one that i'm willing to accept at the moment. like i said before, if i don't get my leashed freedom, i might just kill myself, or something. obviously you wouldn't want that, would you now?"

"mhm, but maybe we would." nobunaga tests the waters, seeing what i would do if i got told that information and that i'm really not that important to them. sadly for him and his minisicule brain, i already had an answer to that.

"if you did," i cooed, fake sweetness dripping from my voice, "then you and your friends wouldn't have come running out for little poor me, now would you?"

𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦

love how yall
thought it would
be killua or gon
or kurapika and
completely forgot
abt leorio who
was on the call 

bless we love alejandro