No. He's not going to just 'put Misty off'. Shooting her a message back, V lets Misty know he'll drop by in the morning, causing her to respond with a short 'okay' back. He's not sure what that's about, but V figures he'll know tomorrow anyways…
The next morning, he makes his way over to Misty's Esoterica alone, leaving Alt behind to continue preparations for Dogtown. When he arrives, he enters through the back door since the shop is still closed this early on. Misty is there waiting for him, fidgety and nervous, looking like she hasn't slept a wink. And considering her usual aesthetic, that's really saying something.
"H-Hey V… thanks for coming…"
V smiles softly.
"Of course, Misty. You know I'm here for you."
"Yeah… tea?"
V tilts his head to the side but ultimately nods and shrugs.
"Sure, sounds good."
She doesn't ask him what kind of blend but to be fair, V doesn't expect her to. He might know a lot, might have skills out the fucking ass, but if there's one thing he definitely doesn't know, its tea.
Still, he can tell that Misty needs the space as much as anything else so he agrees, going and sitting down in one of her chairs while she busies herself with making them both tea. The silence isn't as comfortable as he might have liked, tension wafting off of Misty in waves. But V doesn't try to press before she's ready. He just waits for her to come to him.
Eventually she does, physically at least. Walking over with a tray, she sets it down on the coffee table between them and carefully pours two cups of tea.
"Do you want to add anything? I have honey and lemon…"
V smirks, noticing that neither of those things are already on the tray.
"What do you recommend, Misty?"
That gives the goth some pause. She hesitates for a moment before shaking her head.
"This blend… should be had as it is…"
V just nods, having thought as much. He reaches forward and picks up the cup, blowing on the tea a little bit before taking a sip. Misty hurries to do the same, even as she watches him carefully over the rim of her teacup. V considers the tastes for a moment. He really wasn't much of a tea guy… but as far as teas went, this wasn't terrible.
"Not bad, Mist."
She jolts at the slight shortening of her name, before offering a hesitant smile.
"I'm glad, V."
Some of the tension leaves the room at that and the ensuing silence becomes far more… comfortable as they just sit with one another, both sipping their tea. But eventually V sets his teacup down and opens his mouth, preparing to ask Misty what she wanted to meet about.
However, when she sees him doing this she reacts strongly, flinching hard and hastily setting her own cup down.
"H-Hey… why don't I, um, do a reading for you?"
V watches her for a long moment. On the one hand, given he was about to be embarking on what might possibly be the most dangerous thing he'd done since finding himself back on the night of Konpeki Plaza, learning what was in his immediate future might be nice. On the other hand, it was obvious that Misty was only asking to stall this out longer for whatever reason.
… In the end, he just smiles and nods.
"Alright Misty. If that's what you want to do."
She gets up and retrieves her deck of tarot cards, returning to sit back down. Moving the tea tray aside, Misty begins to shuffle the deck and prepare for a reading. She even starts setting out the cards face down, her every movement jerky and hesitant.
Until suddenly… she curses under her breath and shakes her head, messing up the cards and shuffling their placement before putting them back into the deck and setting it aside.
"No. No more… games. No more hiding. I'm sorry. I just... I just need to be honest. At least according to Mama Welles anyways."
Both of V's eyebrows raise at that. He'd known Mama Welles and Misty were talking, he'd been the one to arrange for them to kindle a relationship at Jackie's Ofrenda. But what would Jackie's mother have told Misty that she needed to be honest about?
Marshaling herself, Misty swallows thickly.
"You know V… some… some believe that uncertainty is an evil. One that can only be defeated through the power of divination. Others… others say that its change that's evil. I've never really believed that sort of thing though. Every minute of every day, we become someone new. It's not change we need to fear, but who we might change into. It's knowing your path that's most important."
V jolts at Misty's words, a serious sense of déjà vu settling over him. Once upon a time, in another world… another timeline, she'd said something similar. Almost word for word, in fact. But that was an entirely different situation then this. V could feel it. This was something else… something new.
"That's why I have to stop lying. To myself. To you. To the world. I have to accept my changes and acknowledge the path I'm on. I… V, I've got feelings for you. Of the romantic kind."
Her words land like a sledgehammer to his chest. Funny that they would have such an impact on him, all things considered. Here V was with a do-over. And what had he used it for? Well, to make things right in a number of ways sure, but he'd also used it selfishly and found himself in bed with a number of women, both former lovers and new, as a result.
For instance, he'd used his foreknowledge to ensnare Panam and tie her far more closely to him than the previous timeline. He'd all but snipped her connections to her Nomad Family, to the Aldecaldos, all so that he could have her for himself.
But he hadn't tried to do the same to Misty… not in a million years would he ever think to do something like that. At least… consciously anyways. She was Jackie's girl… she was… she was off-limits.
"I know you might not want to hear this. I know it could ruin everything we already have. But you deserve to know how I feel. And I deserve to step out of the darkness and stop hiding from my true self."
That sounded like Misty, yeah. But still, where the fuck was this coming from? She hadn't felt this way about him before. In the… in the other timeline, she hadn't developed romantic feelings for him… had she?
V realizes he doesn't honestly know. Because of course the Misty of his original timeline wouldn't have said shit. He was dying. She more than most knew that. She'd watched him in recovery at his lowest point for weeks. And then she'd watched as he deteriorated, as he fell apart even while making a mad dash through the city to try to save himself from his fate.
Could the original Misty have fallen for him and just… kept it to herself? Maybe. Or maybe the lack of a reaper hanging over his head had caused butterflies in this timeline. He'd changed things at this point, so many things.
And one of those things was being there for Misty rather than her being there for him. He'd gone to her the very same night Jackie had died. He'd been the pillar of strength that she needed, rather than just some pathetic pussy-ass bitch who needed constant care and attention.
… Yeah, when he put it like that, he kind of understood why she might have fallen for him. Meaning that this was all his fucking fault…
"If… if you want to storm out and never speak to me again V, you can. You don't have to… stay here just for Jackie's sake."
Misty's voice sounds broken and V realizes he's just been sitting, still as a statue, processing and figuring out all of this bullshit while she thought the worst of his reaction.
"No… no Misty, it's not you. And I'm not here for Jackie's sake. Never. I'm here for you, because you matter to me. Not just as Jackie's girl, but as my choom. I just…"
How does he explain himself without breaking her heart? How can he ever justify stealing the love of his dead choom's girl? What would Mama Welles- wait.
"Back… back up a second. What you said before. You said Mama Welles told you to… be honest?"
Misty looks caught out for a second… before blushing hard and slowly nodding.
"Y-Yeah. She… knows. I couldn't keep it from her, not after you set us up to become friends. She treats me like family, told me that Jackie's love is her love. So… I confessed to her. I told her about my feelings for you, how they came about, how you were there for me after Jackie died when nobody else was."
There it is. Confirmation that V had made this happen, however inadvertently, by changing the timeline. A small smile curls up onto Misty's face as her fingers play with the hem of her oversized shirt.
"I thought she'd hate me. I thought she'd tell me what a sick freak I was. But… she didn't. She accepted me. Told me it was okay to move on, that Jackie would want me to be able to move on. And she told me… she told me that Jackie wouldn't just want me to be happy… he'd want you to be happy too."
Fuck him. V almost reaches out to Alt; her absence more felt in this moment than he can ever put into words. But… no. No, this is between him and Misty. He has to figure this out on his own… for her sake.
Still, seriously fuck him. How the fuck was he even supposed to respond to all of that? They have Mama Welles' blessing?! Jackie isn't even more than a month and a half dead and his mother is already pushing his best friend and lover together?!
V doesn't know what to think about that. Especially because, worst of all he suspects Mama Welles might be right. If Jackie could pipe up from the afterlife right now, he could easily see the big guy throwing him a thumbs up and a cheeky grin and telling V to 'take care of her!' for him.
There was just one problem with all of that of course. One glaring issue, even if he set aside that this was Jackie's girl and all the weight that came with that fact.
"Misty… I'm not exactly… single."
That startles the goth blonde, her dark eyes widening and her mouth opening… and then closing.
"O-Oh… I see…"
But V shakes his head with a grimace.
"You, uh… really don't actually. It's not that I'm seeing someone else exactly. Rather… I'm sort of seeing multiple someones."
Misty's face goes blank at that.
"What."
V lets out a little laugh. Was this what Misty angry looked like? Well, if anything was going to break her out of her misplaced attraction for him, then it would be this he supposed.
"It's been likened to a harem. My crew… I'm the only guy on it. And at this point, out of the five other members, there's only one that I'm not fucking on the regular. And I doubt I'll ever bed her, but still… getting into a relationship with me would involve sharing me with at least four other women, Misty. They all know about each other to be clear. I'm not leading them on or anything like that. Still…"
Not to mention all of the others on the side. Like Hanako fucking Arasaka. But V doesn't say anything about them. He just lets his admission sit in the air, watching as Misty comes to terms with it. Hopefully this would make her realize he wasn't the knight in shining armor that she thought him to be. He was a rogue, a scoundrel, and a deviant through and through. He was, above all else… an edgerunner.
"… What if I don't care? What if I want to share you after all?"
Wait what? Seriously? V stares at Misty for a long, quiet moment, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth in… confusion.
"I would ask you if you're sure about that, Mist. It's kind of… I mean, it's a lot isn't it?"
But Misty just shakes her head.
"No. Not to be with you, V. And considering you have a fucking harem, it seems like I'm not the only woman who feels that way. By a long shot. So I guess… I guess in the end, the only question is… room for one more?"
V's mouth is dry as he stares at Misty in disbelief. She's serious. She's actually serious. For fuck's sake…
-x-X-x-