The Hustle ~private, me and Smoke~

Ooc: Sooooo sorry for the late reply, I've been really busy .~.

Felik leaped out of his chair, throwing it across the little room. "You WHAT?!" He yelled in Josh's face, grabbing him by the collar of the neck and shoving him against the wall. Their faces were only a couple of centimeters away from each other and Felik's body was shaking with rage. He felt as if he was going to kill the boy.
He tried to kill Vale.
Kill her.
Now he wanted to kill Josh.

Vale immediately sat up out of her chair. She knew Felik would react badly when he found out what Josh did to her, and understood why he was doing this.
If it was possible, Josh was getting paler by the second, along with a bit of purple mixed in with the whiteness. She walked over to the two men, putting her slender hand on her partner's shoulder firmly but relaxed.
"Let him go Felik. He didn't deserve what I had anyway," Vale sneered, slightly giving away the slightest hint of her one true secret that no one knew of. And never would know of. It was hers, and God's secret only. It was the main reason Josh would rot in the Underworld.

Ooc: I have a new secret for Vale X3

Felik felt his body relax when Vale touched his shoulder, yet his mind was still furious at what Josh had done. Even so, the Hustler let Josh go and pushed him roughly, making him sit back down. Felik retrieved his own chair and sat, facing Josh and skewering him with his eyes.
"Well, I don't want him anywhere near us", Felik shrugged, glaring at their 'guest'. "Not after what he's done. He can rot in a dumpster for all I care, he's not coming with us."
Sable barked next to her master and followed it with a long growl that built into something a hungry lion couldn't compete with. She did not like Josh one bit.
Not knowing what Vale had to say on the matter, yet trusting her with the right decision, Felik checked with his partner, "Vale? What about you?"

Ooc: Looking forward to it XD I feel like Felik should have a secret, but I can't think of anything.

Vale shook her head, eyes closed as she sat down with a small huff. "He isn't coming with us," She said, making Josh look incredibly defeated.
Oh well. Like Felik had said, he could rot in a dumpster for all she cared.

"Good", Felik said triumphantly and having no regretful reaction when he saw Josh's mournful face, "Now beat it. We're done here."
The Hustler got out of his chair and crossed the room to the door. He held it open and signaled for Josh to leave.

Josh, with a small, sad curious look at Valentina, retreated out of the hideout. What was her secret? Why did he feel it included him in an important position? Did something happen to her before he shot her? Or afterward? WHEN he shot her?!

Questions about the secret swirled through the pale boy's mind, but they would never be answered. Vale wouldn't ever want to see him again.

Ever. Again.

When Vale saw Josh's figure retreat and the door closed, blocking out the rain that the boy had walked out into unknowingly, thoughts clouded her mind, making her eyes seem to be in a glazed state. No one could know her secret- she would die if they did. Not even Felik was allowed to know, it was so beastly.

As Felik closed the door, he looked back to Vale with a concerned expression. Now doubt this experience would have opened up old wounds for her, and the Hustler knew it.
He crossed the room to where Vale was sitting and put his arm around her. "You okay?" he asked softly, looking onto her green eyes. His favorite color.

Vale took her eyes away from her partner's, not able to face him at the moment.
"I-I'll be fine. We should wait out the storm before going back home," She said, getting more and more stoic as her sentence drawled on.
The secret came back to mind and it made the clouds in her head turn dark and stormy. It hurt her inside to know what had been done, and barely any kind of positive emotion came form the fact that it was her fault. She was too blind and could've stopped what had happened, what Josh had did, to save a life.
Josh killed their unborn baby, and she would never forgive him for it.

Felik smiled at her and pulled her closer. He kissed her gently on the top of her head to try and calm her, before standing and walking over to a cardboard box and pulling out two cans of soda and two sandwiches in plastic wrapping.
Walking back to his seat, Felik held out a soda and a sandwich to Vale. "You should eat something", he said quietly, "we could be here a while."

Vale softly nodded her head, taking the soda and sandwich while murmuring a small 'thank you'. Suddenly a question went through the young adult's mind.
"What do you think you would have done if you didn't become a criminal?" She asked loud and clear.

Felik was taken aback by the odd question. He sat back down in his chair and opened his can with a click and a fizz before taking a swig. He thought about how he would answer Vale's question.
"When I was a kid," he began, laughing a little, "I always wanted to do something with lions, because, well, I was surrounded by them and I thought they were awesome. You know, a wild man living among lions, and as I got older a conservationist became an option. But I always wanted to travel, so I traveled to London and got caught up in that gang. Learned all about hustling and fell in love with it. You know the rest. How about you?"

Vale smiled a bit. "Well, the mistress at my orphanage was so cruel and mean to the kids there, including me, so I wanted to own an orphanage one day and become the nicest mistress to have ever existed," Vale's smile grew as she explained her childhood dreams. It was so odd, reflecting on what she had wanted to be when she was little compared to what she was now.

Felik smiled at his accomplice, "You would have been good at that."
Then a frown crossed over his young face. "What made you choose this life over that?" he asked, choosing his words carefully.

At the compliment, Vale couldn't help but smile. She thought she would've made a great mistress, had she chosen to go down that road.
At the question, Vale reflected back at her childhood. "Well, I-..." The young criminal had a hard time starting. "Josh and I used to be best of friends; glued at the hip. We had dreams f becoming millionaires and saving all the kids at our orphanage with the money. It was an innocent dream, now that I think about it. But it took a small turn for the worse," Valentina began.
"Josh decided to steal money from our mistress. He taught me how to do it. And she didn't suspect a thing. I loved the feeling it gave me. It was practically intoxicating. I grew on to pick pocket people on the streets, and pull people into alleyways telling them to give me their wallets or purses and then running. I've gone upscale from there. I still felt good about doing it. Still the same dream too. To become millionaires just to save the kids at the orphanage. It's why I hate Italy so much. It's the place I can't make everything right at," Vale explained, looking Felik in the eyes at the end of her small speech. It was the real reason she had come to France- people here were rich as fresh soil, and she wanted their money to save all the kids back home.

"That makes sense," Felik said, taking another sip of soda and a bite of sandwich, "Maybe you and I could make it happen one day."
After that, there was silence. The right kind of silence for the moment, the kind that is comfortable and natural among two friends.
But a shadow soon crossed Felik's face and he couldn't help but ask the question on his lips: "So, you and Josh were close then?"
And he regretted it the second the words had left his mouth.

Vale just looked at her partner incredulously. "No shit Sherlock, of course we were close. We were fiancés about a year and a half ago," Valentina said nonchalantly, taking a bite out of her sandwich. Hmm, ham and jelly, her favorite.

Ooc: Lol, it's my fave too Vale, my fave too XD

"What!" Felik practically spat the soda in his mouth across the room, "You were gonna marry that scrawny little punk?!"
He couldn't believe it. Josh was the kind of guy that Felik could see being robbed of his lunch money by someone like Vale.

Vale rolled her eyes, not really bothered by the reaction from Felik. Besides, Josh wasn't that scrawny. He just wore baggy clothes now. But she could see where Felik was coming from.
"Well, you're learning quite a bit about me today," The dark haired criminal said with a small smirk. But it fell half way when she saw the spit-out soda on the ground. That was a pleasant sight.

"Damn right I am," Felik laughed. The look on Vale's face as she glared at him in that jokey way only sent him into hysterics, "Sorry about that. I'll clean it up later," which was Felik language for never.
But he was struggling to find what Vale, a beautiful, intelligent, funny young woman would ever see in that pale little shrimp, Josh.

Vale had a bit of a hard-time not laughing along with Felik. But soon, her ears pricked up slightly. Being a criminal in the heart of Paris helped you work on your sense, obviously.
The pitter pattering of the down pouring rain came to a slow, almost non-existent tap. She figured it was water dripping off the roof.
"I think the rain stopped. Come on, let's go home," She said, finish up the last fourth of her sandwich in one bite, gulping it down with the rest of her soda. She threw the trash in the garbage can before walking ack over to where Felik was, smiling.

"Alright," Felik stood up and copied Vale, discarding his trash. He opened the door for Vale and walked out after her, heading for their squat.
It wasn't long before the three bandits where outside the building . As always, Felik looked around cautiously like a rabbit exiting his warren, except he was checking they weren't being followed, not making sure there were no foxes in sight.

Vale smiled at Felik as he held the door open for her. They walked down the shady street, winding down secret alleyways only drunk twits knew of, and eventually they reached their street.
Felik was the lookout, and she was the planner. If they got ambushed, she would come up with the plan when her partner told her how many they were and where they were.
"Hey Felik, you wanna go clubbing soon? We haven't done anything like that in awhile," Vale asked quietly, so no one would wake up; it was 3 am at the latest.

Ooc: Lol, my dad told me when I turned 21 and my friends took me out for my first drink (he knows my friends very well XD) that if I leave my drink at the bar, do NOT touch it. He doesn't want his drunk baby getting taken advantage of. Ok, those last words were my moms, but still XD

Felik only shrugged his shoulders as he was still looking around for followers, "Yeah, why not. It would be good to loosen up a little. Everything's clear, let's go."
Leading the way, Felik entered the squat and climbed the creaking stairs up to the living room. He slumped down on the sofa, quickly followed by Sable.
The Hustler turned the TV on and began flicking through the channels to see what was on.

Vale smiled, walking up the few steps in front of their real home after Felik. Once inside, she climbed up the second set of stairs to their apartment.
Mr. Jackson, the man who lived underneath them, thought they were a young married couple who were having a rough start, meaning when they were around him, they had to act similar to a couple.
It was fun, but sometimes one of them would get too into and freak the other out. Then they would have a laughing fit until they couldn't breathe.
Sighing as she sat down on the other side of Sable, Valentina realized how great her life was now. She didn't want to change a thing.

Ooc: Question: are we going to make them a couple? Cause I've seen hints of Felik having feelings for Vale, but I'm not sure :/

The TV remote stopped clicking when a picture of the bank the two had robbed earlier that day came up on the screen. A news reporter was belly-aching about the robbery Vale and himself had committed; "The two criminals are seen climbing onto the roof and escaping using a rope, thought by police to have been set up the previous day."
Felik laughed at the ignorant people, "Look! We're on TV!" he cried, making Sable wag her tail and bark loudly.
The news reporter continued, oblivious to the fact that the very same thieves were laughing at him with every word he spoke. "Police officials have concluded that these particular individuals are the renowned duo, known as Doigt Lumière and V. Police are desperately trying to track down the two who are responsible for many....."
Felik trailed the voice out. He loved that all the commotion was caused by just him and Vale.

Ooc: I don't know, I've been thinking about it, and I think it could work. Then again, I think the best thing to do is wait until we are totally out of plots for these two and then make them like each other if it comes to that.