Contrast [a Victor Zsasz x Reader short story]

chapter iii

He liked to pretend he could fit into public places, but he couldn't fool himself for long. Whether it was the red in his bloodshot eyes, the scars up and down his arms, or the dark clothing he always wore, he stood out. No one saw him as anything but a menace. He liked it that way.

Victor began to hate these errands. He would dread them, think of them as nothing but a trip that made him look weak, especially when he would search for a blind girl. Seeing a trained and professional assassin carrying lavender flowers around the city after watching a blind girl with love struck eyes? Pathetic.

But then, on his third trip, he walked in to see the beautiful young woman. She was gracefully arranging the bouquet of lillies, her hands moving light as a feather as she plucked and pushed and pulled flowers in and out of the soil in the pot. She wore a pretty smile on her pretty pink lips, and her eyes, he never knew the color of. She always hid them behind her pair of pitch black sunglasses.

Victor usually built walls to keep people out. He couldn't have any close relationships. They were only weaknesses, things to hurt him in the future. Distractions.

He rang the bell at the front counter. She looked up much like she had the first day he saw her. But this time, she walked to the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked.

"Hello," he said quietly, distracted by her voice.

"Lillies," she guessed. "You're the guy that gets the lillies for the mayor."

"Right... right. Yeah, I am."

She smiled and grabbed a sticky note. As she wrote down the mayor's name, she laughed softly. Victor was surprised to see her handwriting was neat.

"Well, it's nice to finally get to meet you, sir," she said, tearing the note off the stack of neon paper and pulling the receipt out of the cash register. "I can't believe I've never gotten to say hello to you before."

"Me neither," he admitted. "My name is Victor. Victor Zsasz."

"___," she replied, holding out her hand.

He took it. It was small and warm in his palm. As they shook, Victor cracked a smile. A real, genuine smile that he hadn't felt on his face in years.

One glance at her and you probably wouldn't notice that she was blind. She had been blind since she was three years old, and it made sense, considering how independent she was. She made her way around the shop without the help of a cane or an arm to guide her. She was strong, independent, and so beautiful.

She was fun to talk to. Victor was the exact opposite of her. She was pure, he was a sin. She was light, he was darkness. She was everything he wasn't. He wanted to shield her from him, but he fell harder for her every time she looked at him.

They talked all day.

"I hate having to rely on somebody," she said to him as she spooned out some soil and dumped it into a pot. "It's just ridiculous. I like to prove to myself and others that I can do things, ya know?"

"Absolutely," he replied.

She smiled. "I'm probably boring you, Victor. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said. "It's nice to talk to you. Sure beats talking to your great uncle."

She laughed. "He isn't that bad, is he?"

"Are you kidding?" Victor replied, lowering his voice so the old man wouldn't hear. "He tried to talk to me about aloe plants for an hour."

She laughed again. And wow, did he love that sound.

When Falcone came out of hiding and hired Victor once again to watch over and protect both him and his son, Mario, Victor knew that he wouldn't see her again. His job was once again blood and revenge, and the flower shop was nothing more than a thought always at the front of his mind.

But he couldn't just stay away. Not when every smile he received from her felt like warm sunshine on his skin and every word she spoke to him were as soft as the motherly touches he never got to feel. He needed her in his life, as ashamed as it made him. That was what led him to walking to the front counter of the flower shop.