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gay-barbarian · 5 months ago

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Wait For Me

Part 1 ┃Cleon has a really shitty day, but sometimes shitty days can lead to the best encounter.

A few important things I wanna establish: 1. The Destroyers are the gang Cleon and Cochise were in before they formed the Warriors. 2. Lincoln is an actual character that exist (but barely) in the movie and game canon, I honestly just took the name and ran with it so if she had any personality before she's now ooc. 3. My fancast for Lincoln is Sza but you can imagine whoever you want.

Read it under the cut or on ao3

A fight had exploded in the middle of the day, some random gang had tried to take over Destroyers territory without any luck until the reinforcements had arrived. The Destroyers got badly outnumbered and had to retreat to make sure at least some of them would make it out alive. Cleon ran in the same direction Cochise was going in, the destroyers scattering around them. They had to make it to safety, they were so close. Until a sharp piercing pain appeared in Cleon's leg. A bullet grazed her right calf making her fall hard to the floor. Her crew was still running, Cochise stopped and looked back at her but the other members prevented her from helping as they pushed Cleon’s friend away. Cleon nodded her head at Cochise and lifted her right hand making a “go forward” sign they often used meaning the other would be fine and they would meet up later.

Cleon understood her crew had no time to stop for her, outrunning a rival gang was hard enough as it is, she wouldn’t want to be a burden on them. It wasn’t the worst situation she had been in anyway and her leg didn’t look that badly injured even though it did hurt like hell.

Not in any state to run with the rest of her gang, Cleon dragged herself to the side of the road and tried to hide in a little hallway between two apartment buildings, hoping to get a little peace and quiet to get her thoughts in order. She was almost at the dumpster she wanted to hide behind when a door opened in her face, smashing her nose and almost knocking her out. Blood started gushing out of the middle of her face immediately.

“Oh my God! I am so sorry! I didn’t know someone would be here! Are you okay?” Asked an alarmed woman’s voice.

“No I’m not fucking okay what the f-” Cleon lifted her eyes from her hands soiled by her bloodied nose to meet those of a clearly worried and strikingly beautiful woman that made her brain short circuit for an instant. Cleon was a quick thinker and rarely at a loss for words but between her injured nose and leg and the stranger in front of her, she couldn't finish her sentence.

“Shit you’re bleeding.” The woman reached a hand out for Cleon’s face but stopped before reaching her. “Give me a second I’ll go get some supplies to help you alright? Keep your head straight in the meantime” The woman said quickly as she stepped back inside, just before the door closed behind her she added “And don’t stay in front of the door.”

Cleon kept her gaze on the door that hit her a mere minute before for a few seconds. As she came back to her senses, she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stop the blood from pouring out and stepped out of the way of the door. Cleon had no clue who that woman was, or if she could even trust her, but she didn’t have much of a choice at this point and she may not trust people easily but she trusted her guts and she had a feeling that woman was one of the good ones.

She kept ignoring the warmth surrounding the scratch on her calf and focused on trying to keep most of her blood from spilling out of her. It seemed like it wasn’t Cleon’s day, with the rival gang trying to kill them, the fight she had with her leader before shit went down and now a door trying to knock her out. But she wasn’t the type to bemoan her fate, she just wished the rest of the Destroyers made it to safety. She would have to find a phone and call home as soon as possible to see if Cochise was alright. If she even had the money to do it as she heard coins scattering on the pavement after her earlier fall.

As Cleon stood there pondering on if she should hide so the cops wouldn’t see her from the street or stay put and wait for the woman to come back, the door opened back up, this time not hitting anything or anyone.

“You’re back.” Cleon stated, almost surprised, making the woman scoff. Cleon still didn’t know what to think of that woman, but her coming back when she said she was coming back was a good sign, no?

“You’re still bleeding, here” the woman gave Cleon some tissues that Cleon immediately put under her nose in place of her hand.

“Thank you” Cleon's voice was muffled by the tissue in her face but the woman seemed to hear her guessing by the smile she gave her.

“You’re welcome. After all, I am the one who smashed your nose with a metal door. I should almost be the one thanking you for being so calm about it. What were you doing in the dumpster alley anyways?” The woman asked with an inquisitive look. She was just coming there to put the trash away not thinking anyone would be outside, especially considering she thought she heard some gunshot earlier.

Cleon bit her tongue trying to come up with any lie that could pass for the truth. Who was she kidding? She was still wearing her colors and her leg was still injured by the bullet that almost got her. Anyone from around there would recognise her as part of the Destroyers. Still she tried “I was just looking for a place to put…” She searched her pocket with her free hand just to pull out a random piece of paper with something unreadable on it “this!”

The woman squinted at Cleon, definitely skeptical about that story. “And why was this so important to trash that you had to come on private property?”

Cleon had always been bad at lying, something she didn’t enjoy doing anyway, but this one took the cake. “It has really mean things written on it.”

“So I guess the gang colors you’re wearing have nothing to do with any of this”, the woman asked with a raised eyebrow and a look saying don’t test me.

Cleon sighed and looked at the tissue she had just taken out from under her nose. At least she had stopped the bleeding. What was the worst that could happen? The woman calling the cops? They were already close enough. “I was trying to hide from the cops.”

The woman had a slight smile “See? It wasn’t that hard to say.”

Cleon's eyes got bigger as she looked at the woman in utter shock, making the woman laugh “You knew?” Either that woman was very good or Cleon had overestimated her lying abilities.

“I mean, the vest, the bloodied clothes, the shady attitude” the woman counted on her fingers “you looked suspicious, but considering I may have broken your nose I had to help you.”

“How am I supposed to trust you didn’t go back to your place to call the cops on me?” Cleon asked once the shock had passed. Somehow she knew the woman didn’t call them, but she still wanted to hear her say it.

“First off, I don’t even usually live here, just here for the summer. Second, if I did that, these cops would be the worst cops I ever seen considering we’ve been talking for a while already and they’re literally across the road.”

“Good points” Cleon moved her weight to her injured leg without thinking about it. She winced and almost fell, but the woman was now at her side helping her with her balance. The woman looked concerned and Cleon let herself be supported by the stranger for half a second before she tried moving away from her.

“You alright? Did I do that to you with the door?” the woman frantically asked, sounding preoccupied.

“No, I got shot.” Cleon said as if it was the most normal thing in the world as she leaned on the wall.

The woman looked down at Cleon’s leg then back at her face. “Come with me, we’ll go upstairs and clean you up.”

The woman sounded sincere, but Cleon couldn’t just follow a stranger to her place when she was injured could she?

“I shouldn't”

“I’m not forcing you or anything, but just saying I don’t think you wanna run from the cops with an injured leg”, the woman stated.

Cleon weighed her options. On one hand, she had no clue who this woman was. She had been helpful up till then but what if she changed her mind on helping Cleon once they were inside? Cleon would be alone in a space she doesn’t know with someone unpredictable, not good. On the other hand, the woman was right, she wouldn’t be able to go that far with that leg. At best, she would make it back to the street before being arrested and probably beat up by the law enforcers. Between a stranger and the cops, Cleon chose the lesser of two evils and followed the woman that was keeping the door open.

As they started walking to the woman’s apartment, Cleon asked “So, anyway I can know my savior’s name?”

The woman stopped in her tracks and turned to face Cleon. “I’m Lincoln.” She smiled and held her hand out for Cleon to shake. Cleon took her hand. Lincoln’s grip was firm but not bone crushing like Cleon’s boss’ was. Her hand was surprisingly soft and warm, contrasting with Cleon’s rough hand.

“Cleon.”

#warriors musical #warriors concept album #cleon #Lincoln #Cleon/Lincoln #We've been hyping ourselves with Lincoln in the discord for so long #she's an integral part of the story for me #I promise to work very hard to update this semi-regularly #also I am working on the role reversal au im not forgetting it #I just have so much on my mind lately #Clincoln #writing

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gay-barbarian · 3 months ago

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Wait For Me

Chapter 2: Getting to Know You

You can read it under the cut or on ao3.

Part 1 ┃Part 2

Cleon almost decided running from the cops would be less painful than climbing up a flight of stairs, her leg was throbbing and she started to think maybe her wound was worst than what she had initially thought, but at least the mystery woman, Lincoln she said her name was, had considerably slowed down her pace once she remembered an injured person was following her.

“So you mention only being here for the summer. What brought you to Coney of all places?” Cleon asked, trying to distract herself from her pain. She did also want to know more about that weirdly chill stranger. Well chill maybe wasn’t the right word considering she freaked out the second she saw she hit Cleon with a door, but she did seem strangely calm after Cleon told her she got shot.

Lincoln looked back like she did every other step usually to make sure Cleon was still following her, but this time she flashed Cleon a smile instead of a worried look, before turning back around. “I’m here for a convention.”

One of Cleon’s eyebrows raised by itself “That’s vague enough. What kind of convention?”

Lincoln took a pause, seemingly pondering the amount of information she should give Cleon. Or having trouble coming up with a lie, Cleon thought.

“The lawyer kind. So I can find a cabinet that will take me in during my studies.” Lincoln sounded sincere once more, apparently she trusted easily even someone she knew was part of a gang.

“So not only pretty, but also smart? I’m impressed.” Cleon teased, she really did not want to trust a stranger, but Lincoln made her feel comfortable, she felt familiar.

“I am a woman of multiple facets,” Lincoln agreed. “Here we are”, she declared when she arrived in front of a wooden door as she fished a key from her pockets.

They entered the apartment and Cleon immediately thought Damn this girl comes from money.

The place was a three bedroom apartment with a modern looking kitchen and a librairie filled with large leather bound books on the living room wall. Hanging in various places on the walls were different artwork ranging from wood sculpture to tapestry and paintings. The kitchen seemed mostly unused, the empty various takeout boxes lying around the living room table reinforced that idea. Peeking through the two doors that were open, Cleon could see what she assumed was Lincoln’s bedroom which was almost empty except for a made bed with purple sheet, a few vinyls, a turntable and a bunch of clothes scattered around, and what looked like an office packed with even more books and loose sheet of papers. Lincoln stepped farther into the room and gestured to Cleon to make herself comfortable on the couch.

“How can you even afford this place?” Cleon asked half-impressed, half asking herself if her “savior” wasn’t just a drug pusher that was trying to make competition to her gang.

Cleon must have made a strange face because Lincoln giggled a little. “It’s actually my uncle’s place, so it cost me nothing. I could never afford this place, especially not on my own. I have a place in Jersey that I share with two roommates. Jersey is way less expensive.”

“Crappier too.” Cleon shrugged, making Lincoln smile at her. She has a very pretty smile, was Cleon’s only thought.

“Maybe, but at least there’s less gang violence” Lincoln said, winking at Cleon. “Now put your ass on this couch while I go fetch the first aid kit. My uncle wouldn’t be happy if there’s blood on his floor.”

Cleon sat down and looked around at the books on the shelf while Lincoln went into the bathroom. Most books were non-fiction about history and various law doctrines, but Cleon spotted some romance type thing in the far right corner of the shelf, which didn’t fit the rest of the aesthetic. The pile of books sitting on the floor just beside that section told Cleon the romance books had been added recently, probably by Lincoln.

In the back of her mind, Cleon reminded herself she should call Cochise to make sure she was safe at home and that she should go see Virgil, the Destroyers’ warlord, as soon as possible. Not that she really wanted to see him, but he had a tendency to freak out, especially recently, when his people didn’t come back and not in a caring way, more in a paranoid about someone fucking him over kinda way. Even if she was the warchief, Cleon wouldn’t get a pass for not checking in as soon as possible and would probably have to suffer through Virgil incessant and sometimes needlessly violent questioning. Like that time he had almost killed Vermin, a fellow Destroyer, after the guy had been caught by the cops without anyone knowing and disappeared for a month.

Lincoln’s voice took Cleon out of her memories and back into the dimly lit living room. “Are you alright?”

Cleon blinked twice before nodding “Yea, just in my head a bit.”

“Understandable. Could you lift your pants? I kind of need to see the injury to help you.” Lincoln shook the first aid kit like if that would help her point.

Cleon watched Lincoln work awkwardly as she tried to wrap the bandage around the Destroyer’s leg after having cleaned it. The law student didn’t do a bad job, but she clearly wasn’t used to treating gun wounds, which, Cleon thought, was probably a good sign she wasn’t some sort of crazy killer. Cleon would have probably done a better job herself, but Lincoln seemed eager to help.

Once she was done, Lincoln looked up at Cleon before asking it was okay.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good. Thank-” The phone rang before Cleon could finish her sentence and Lincoln quickly stood up.

“I should get that.” Lincoln said as she was walking to the kitchen where the phone was.

Cleon waited a minute, barely hearing what Lincoln was saying before standing up from the couch shifting most of her weight to her healthy leg, and declaring loudly enough for Lincoln to hear “Well I should get going”.

Lincoln walked back from the kitchen, it was a very short phone call, with an uneasy expression on her face “Actually I don’t think you should..”

Shit I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that girl. You’re a dumbass Cleon. A dumbass that can’t say no to a pretty face.

Cleon looked nervously towards the door then back at Lincoln, calculating her best way to escape from the situation. Lincoln’s eyes enlarged as she quickly tried to explain herself “I’m not saying I’m gonna force you to stay here. It’s just, I saw them close the road and there’s even more cops than before roaming outside. They must have learned there’s still gang members around…”

The explanation did not help Cleon calm down. She stared at Lincoln feeling herself filled with rage mostly against herself for trusting a random woman that tried to disfigure her. It must have shown in her eyes since Lincoln took a step back looking almost scared of Cleon when the Destroyer asked “Did you call the cops on me?”

Lincoln kept looking into Cleon's eyes even if she stayed farther from her than she did all day. She stood straighter “First of all, when would I have time to do that? I’ve been with you for the past few hours.” Her expression morphed from slightly scared to offended “Second, why would I do that? Didn’t I prove to you I was gonna help?”

Both women stared at each other for a while, Lincoln slowly gaining more confidence as Cleon’s resolve diminished. Cleon took a moment to clear her thoughts, all of this was happening very quickly and she didn’t like making rash decisions. Her gut feelings were pretty good most of the time and that’s why she did want to trust Lincoln, even if it meant being stuck in a place she barely knew for a while. On the other side, she would hate to be played with, if Lincoln was lying to her, Cleon would feel like the stupidest person alive. Then again, being arrested outside or in an apartment would end up the same so what good would it do to not take the chance of trusting Lincoln?

The Destroyer sighed loudly and extended her hand as a peace offering. “Alright, I’ll trust you, but I swear if you’re double crossing me you’ll regret it.”

Lincoln seemed to hesitate for a second before her neutral face came back and shook Cleon’s hand. “Good.”

Cleon kept staring. “Good.”

They stood there judging one another, both realising they had nothing much more to say than what had already been said, neither of them letting go of the other’s hand. Cleon was still unsure if she was making the right choice trusting a stranger, whom she now had to spend a few more hours with, while she was in a vulnerable state. Every logical part of herself told her it was a bad idea, but every other side of her reassured her she made the right decision.

Lincoln was the first to look away as she cleared her throat. "My uncle isn’t supposed to be back before tomorrow night, so you can take my bed and I’ll take his if the cops are still around for the night. I just have a phone call to make-” Cleon opened her mouth to say something, but Lincoln didn’t give her the time. “No it won’t be to the police. Just cancelling something I had tonight. Then we can figure out what we’ll do. I think there's reruns of I Love Lucy at 7. We can play cards until then.”

“Cards sound good.”

Lincoln smiled at seeing Cleon relax a bit. “You can start shuffling while I make that phone call, it shouldn’t be long. The cards should be in the top drawer in my room.” With that Lincoln turned and stepped back in the kitchen, shooing Cleon towards her room.

Lincoln’s room didn’t hold much more than what Cleon had seen at first glance other than a wardrobe and two candles. Not wanting to invade her privacy more than she already was, Cleon directly went to the wardrobe, aka the only thing that had drawers, and fetched the deck of playing cards. The drawer was filled with random trinkets like a few business cards from different law firms in New York, a box of matches, some loose cash and other folded up paper and what seemed to be a jewelry box.

The whole room really needed some tidying up but it definitely wasn’t as bad as some of the other destroyers’ places. Recently, Cleon was tasked with kicking some of them out after Virgil had decided he was done with them, and she had seen some unspeakable things. It was usually related to how drunk or drugged up the person was. The most notable thing she had to clean up had been the carcass of a racoon someone had let inside and just forgot about.

Cleon shivered at the memory of the smell and went back to the living room just in time to hear Lincoln trying to calm down the person at the other side of the phone line.

“I swear to God it’s just to help a friend. You have nothing to worry about. I- Hey! I’m not-” Lincoln hung up the phone with a very displeased shriek.

Cleon was thinking if she should ask about it, when Lincoln asked her in a fake happy tone as she was already taking out two glasses and a bottle of scotch from one of the cupboards, “We should have a drink. How do you feel about scotch?”

At this point, Cleon decided it might be better to let it slide and just accept the free alcohol. “I’m all in for scotch.”

#warriors musical #warriors concept album #cleon #lincoln #cleon/lincoln #clincoln

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