Writer: Sabaku No Kel
Fandom: Hellboy
Pairing: Hellboy x John Myers
Title: Poetry
Words: 5017
Rating: Overall rating M
Disclaimer: I don’t own Hellboy or it’s characters and do not make any money out of writing this.
AN1: Yay I’m all better again! I’m telling you being sick is hell but I felt sort of bad for only giving you people a short chapter last week so I made this one extra lengthy and extra fluffy. Just on a side note so no one ends up confused; Hellboy has already accepted his feelings for John, he knows he loves him he just doesn’t have the guts to confess to him.
000 Poetry 000
<i>I wish I could tell you how I truly feel about you</i> <i>How much it means to me just to have you by my side</i> “No, too cheesy…” Hellboy said, frustrated as he threw another balled up piece of paper over his shoulder. He’d been going at it like this for hours, writing just a few words down on paper before deeming them inadequate, big word, and tossing them out to start all over again.
Sure, he wasn’t <i>
really</i> good with words but how hard could it be to write one measly little poem?! You would think not so hard but that’s where you’re wrong.
I bet you’re confused so I’ll start from the beginning, you see two days ago his liaison, John, had taken a few much needed days of work to recover from a nasty head wound he’d gotten on their last mission and by now it was common knowledge to just about everyone in the Bureau that whenever the agent left, even for just a few hours, the demon would start moping around and generally annoy the living crap out of everyone unlucky enough to be on duty. That day had been no different for as soon as John had left for his own apartment the demon’s mood had dropped like a brick. Wanting to take his mind of the agent’s absence he’d decided to go visit, a.k.a <i>
bug</i>, their local Icthiyo Sapien.
Abe had, of course, expected him and had told him in that brutally honest way of his to stop acting like a ‘kicked puppy’ and do something to take his mind off the problem at hand. He’d asked the fish stick what he was supposed to do and he’d immediately suggested this, writing a poem.
Obviously it wasn’t doing anything to take his mind off of John, no it was only making it worse for now he couldn’t get the human out of his mind. To top it off he was also getting increasingly frustrated at failing to write a <i>
bloody</i> poem for his partner.
He’d tried over and over again to write something, anything that could possibly describe his feelings for the agent but every time he did it came out sounding cheesy and fake.
Why didn’t the stupid poem understand he didn’t want to write about the way John’s eyes shined in the light of the full-moon, or about the way his voice lit a fire in his heart, all that stuff was just fictional romance anyways.
Heck, he didn’t even want to write some stupid poem to begin with, knowing that every word scratched down on paper would never be good enough, never be able to describe the feeling of euphoria he got every time he saw John smile. He knew he was no Shakespeare when it came to writing but damn, even some long-dead English poet wouldn’t be able to find the perfect words to explain his feelings, simply because those words didn’t exist.
John was just perfect in every way, at least in his eyes.
He threw one last look at the chicken scratch of his latest ‘poem’ before abandoning the idea, it was obvious he was never going to be able to write something good enough for John so he might as well just stop wasting his time and go do something useful, like sleep.
“Damn Abe and his stupid mind-reading, ‘Why don’t you write your feelings down, get it out of your system.’. Humph, bull crap!” He grumbled as he waddled through the ocean of papers littering his floor before dropping down on his bed like a lifeless sack of potatoes. The time of midnight had passed hours ago but since John wasn’t going to be there to wake him up with his breakfast much too early in the morning he had stayed up trying to put his feelings into words more accurately. Now he was annoyed and rather tired so he didn’t even bother undressing before taking his vacation to dreamland, who knew maybe a good night sleep might help take his mind of his missing nanny.
He slept for a good eight hours before dragging himself out of bed and into the shower as he always did. After completing his morning ritual and having some breakfast he resigned himself to a day of watching television.
He was well into spending the whole day in front of his many T.V sets when a banging at his door pulled him from his shows. He sighed and turned down the sound before dragging himself to the vault door to tell whoever it was on the other side to piss off and leave him alone.
Unfortunately, he didn’t think he would survive if he told this specific ‘visitor’ to piss off, hell hath no fury like woman scorned and all that crap, you know.
“What do you want, Liz?” He asked the fire starter standing before him, raising an eyebrow at the suspicious smile on her face. Liz marched past him and into the room, throwing herself down in on of the chairs in front of the TV’s before answering.
“Oh nothing much, just thought I’d visit to make sure you’re not sulking around your room all day again.” He sighed at her words as he closed the door again, realising he was now going to be stuck with her all day.
“Well that’s too bad because that’s exactly what I’ve been doing all day and it’s also what I plan to do for the rest of the afternoon and evening before going to bed and starting the process all over again tomorrow.” He said as he dropped down into the chair next to her.
“So you weren’t planning to go out today at all?” She asked him again and he threw her a look of annoyance at having to repeat himself.
“That’s what I just said, didn’t I?” He said as he grabbed the remote and turned the volume back up again before focusing on his shows.
“Okay, that’s fine by me.” Liz said as she crossed her legs and folded her hands in her lap. They sat like that for at least fifteen minutes, him trying to watch TV while she looked at him with that creepy smile of hers before he’d finally had enough.
“Are you just going to sit there and look at me all day or something, because I already told you I’m not going out today so you don’t even have to try.” He snapped at her, expecting her to feel offended by his words and yell at him but she just stayed in her chair and smiled on.
“Oh no, I’m simply waiting for a phone call.” She said as the warning bells inside his head went mad, there was something she wasn’t telling him and he planned to find out.
“Phone call? Phone call from who?” He asked, trying to keep his voice neutral like he didn’t really care or she might decide not to answer him simply to spite him.
“John.” Came her one word, or rather one <i>
name</i>, answer. His curiosity skyrocketed as he tried to figure out on his own why the little agent would call Liz, his heart sank at the thought of them going on another coffee date but he quickly dismissed the idea, John had no interest in the fire starter and he was pretty sure she didn’t want him like that either.
“Why would John call you?” He asked her, figuring he’d receive an answer faster that way instead of trying to figure it out himself.
“I sent him a rather… interesting piece of work yesterday and I was hoping to hear his opinion on it, is all.” The way she said that didn’t sit well with him and knowing Liz she’d done something he wasn’t going to like.
“What did you send him?” He asked though the sinking feeling in his stomach told him he could just about guess what she’d send the young agent.
“A poem.” His eyes widened as he got out of his chair and crossed the distance to his desk so fast he must have looked like a blur to the fire starter. He searched the desk for the last poem he’d written last night but didn’t find it anywhere, he was starting to panic as he reasoned with himself that it had to be there, it had to be somewhere!
“What are you looking for, HB?” Liz asked as though she didn’t already know. He turned around to face her, a look of pure evil on his face that would have made any brave man piss himself in fear though the woman didn’t even blink twice at him.
“You!” He pointed a shaking finger at her. “You send him one of <i>
my</i> poems?!” He screamed at her, hoping against all odds that this was all just some messed up joke they would be able to laugh over later. She couldn’t have taken it, could she? One look at here told him she was perfectly capable of doing whatever she felt was the right thing to do though. It wouldn’t really surprise him if she had gone all Mission Impossible on him just to get that poem. He imagined the fire starter crawling through an air vent, his poem in hand, and taking the nearest helicopter out of the building to get his love confession to the agent as quickly as possible.
“Maybe I did maybe I didn’t, what’s it to you?” Liz said with a shrug of her shoulders, as he stared at her like she’d grown another head. How could she not understand the depth of what she’d done, the consequences this would have on his relationship with his partner!
“What’s it to me?! John wasn’t supposed to read any of those!” He yelled again, agony in his voice as the reality of the situation fully settled in his mind. John was never going to want to talk to him, heck, even be <i>
near</i> him again after reading that bloody embarrassing poem of his.
“Why not?” She asked him like they hadn’t been over this a hundred times before already. “It’s obvious you have the hots for him so I just thought I’d give you a little push in the right direction and get the ball rolling.” This again, every time John took some time off and all he wanted to do was mope around until his partner returned Liz would try and reason with him to just confess his feelings to the young agent already. He has refused to do so, of course, but it seemed she had now decided to take matters into her own hands.
The demon dragged himself over to his bed and dropped down on the mattress, hiding his face in his hands in misery. He felt helpless, a feeling he hated for obvious reasons, and he had no way to remedy the feeling. He muttered to himself, words he didn’t recognize through the buzz in his head but he didn’t care, not about this or anything anymore.
Maybe it was the crazy babbling or the pathetic picture he made but Liz moved from her chair came over to him to rub his shoulders comfortingly.
“Oh cheer up HB, it’s not that bad. There’s even a small chance he hasn’t read it yet so you might just be able to intercept it if you go over there and get it back before he reads it.” Hellboy was already up and out the door before she finished talking. She grinned to no one in particular at how easy to manipulate her demonic friend was.
“All according to plan.”
O.O.O. Page break .O.O.O
Half an hour of broad daylight building hopping later brought him just outside John’s apartment building, hiding in the bushes outside the large complex as he contemplated how he was going to get his poem back.
First he had to actually get inside the building without being spotted, and then he had to get to John’s mail before he did. That was easier said than done though as he had no sure way of knowing the agent hadn’t already read his mail and was now on the phone with Manning requesting a transfer or something like that.
He was just going to assume that wasn’t the case though because crying over ‘what if’s’ never did anyone any good. The problem at hand still remained though, how was he going to get to John’s mail without being spotted by the agent or his neighbours? He knew his partner’s mail wasn’t delivered straight to his door but rather at the mail box section with everyone else’s, shoved into a red metal box with his apartment number on it. He could easily break the little box but that would alert people to his presence and that was just what he was trying to avoid, also he was pretty sure John wouldn’t be happy about his mail box getting destroyed so that option was out of the question.
Oh well, since subtlety was never his strongest point anyway he decided to just march in and if someone happened to see him Manning could think of something to tell the press. He jumped from behind the bushes and walked up to the building, checking his left and right side for any sign of civilians as he crossed the street, opened the door to the apartment building and stepped inside.
Faze one of his plan was complete, he’d made it inside without being spotted now he just had to try and keep it that way. He scanned the room he was in and found no sign of cameras or any other type of security, which wasn’t very safe considering one didn’t even need a key to access the building but that just made his ‘mission’ a whole lot easier.
He crossed the distance to the other side of the ‘lobby’ to the mailbox section, searching for the shiny red box with John’s apartment number on it. He found it within a matter of seconds but was then immediately posed with another problem, how was he going to check inside to see if his poem was even in there? There was a small slot, just large enough for a few pieces of paper to be pushed through but he’d never be able to peer inside it, the thought of breaking the thing open came again and this time he actually considered it.
Just as he was about to rip the whole mail box from the wall a familiar voice called his name.
“HB! What are you doing here?” John stood posed on the stairs, frozen at the sight of him in mid step. The demon winced at being caught so quickly, though he was happy to note the agent didn’t treat him any differently, nor did he give him any more weird looks, than usual which made it safe to assume he hadn’t read the letter yet.
“Just… coming to visit!” He quickly improvised. “It’s boring at the Bureau without someone to annoy so I thought I’d brighten your day with my presence instead.” The lie came easy and John seemed to believe him easily enough, rolling his eyes at him as he came down the remaining steps of stairs and walked up to him.
‘How thoughtful of you to take the time out of your <i>
busy schedule</i> to spend some time with little old me.” John said as he paused by his side, gave him a good look over and moved on to stand in front of the mail box. “Though you shouldn’t be outside at this time of day, what if someone had seen you?” The agent scolded him as he pulled a small key from the pocket of his jeans and opened the little red box, making the demon’s breath hitch in his throat as he tried to peek over John’s shoulder for his missing poem.
The agent turn back to face him before he had the chance to properly see anything, glaring at the small stack of paper’s in his partner’s hand as though they would somehow spontaneously combust just by looking. He quickly stopped though when he realised John was watching him, waiting.
“Well?” The agent asked, arms crossed over his chest impatiently.
“Well, what?” He asked, confused.
“What if someone had seen you? Manning would have had your head on a silver platter is the press had gotten <i>
another</i> picture of you!” John said, glaring up at him as he went into full blown nanny mode. Hellboy just shook his head at the sight, the little agent just didn’t know how cute he looked when he was trying to act all tough and commanding.
“You worry too damn much Boy Scout, you gonna give yourself grey hairs before you reach thirty.” He messed up the kid’s hair for good measure, hands flying up to swat at his own almost instantly to stop the action. “No one saw me and even if they did who would believe ‘em?” He said as he pulled his hand from John’s hair, the, for once, ungelled locks sticking up in all directions as the agent immediately tried to smooth them back down.
“I suppose you’re right, you can handle yourself just fine even if you are a little irresponsible sometimes.” John said, hair perfectly back in place as he trotted over to the stairways with his mail, Hellboy following closely behind him, after all he was still on his ‘mission’.
“Hey! Just because I’m not a stick in the mud doesn’t mean I’m irresponsible.” He shot back at the kid, following the pair of bunny slippers up the stairs to the agent’s apartment. Jon glanced back at him over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly to go with the light smirk on his lips.
“Sure it doesn’t, you just keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it will come true.” John said in a cheery voice though he felt it was meant as an insult none the less. It didn’t really matter though for they had reached the agent’s small apartment, the simple wooden door was opened and he was led inside without another word.
The interior of the apartment was simple but homey, pictures and knick knacks lining the colourful walls of the living room. A limited amount of furniture was placed here and there, spaced far enough apart to grant free movement but not too far to take away from the cosy atmosphere. He found a big, fluffy red couch facing a small television set which he quickly claimed for himself, wasting no time in turning on the picture box to surf the channels for something interesting to watch.
John sighed and shook his head at his ‘house guest’, wondering why he’d expected his partner to act any differently in someone else’s home when he should have nothing but expected it. Placing the small stack of papers down on the coffee table between the TV and the couch Hellboy occupied he decided to at least try and
act like a good host.
“You want a drink or something?” John asked the demon currently taking up his entire couch like he owned it.
“Sure.” Hellboy answered, not pausing in changing channels every two seconds whilst staring at the screen like a hypnotised zombie.
“What do you want?” John continued, trying to keep his annoyance at bay. First he was forced to give up his free time off to play host for the spoiled demon, not even given the slightest explanation as to <i>
why</i> his charge was even there in the first place and now he wasn’t even worthy of a glance anymore, just great.
“Beer.” Was the answer, spoken just as monotonic as the last. The agent’s glare went unnoticed by the demon as he settled back into the cushiony pillows of the couch, eyes fixated on some cartoon he didn’t recognize as John went to grab their drinks.
“Alcoholic.” John muttered under his breath as he passed the corner into the kitchen, moving out of the demon’s direct line of sight. Hellboy strained his ears to focus on the sounds coming from the other room as he moved over to the coffee table mere feet away from him and quickly started to sort through the kid’s mail.
“No, no, no…” He had already sorted through half of the small pile in this fashion, frantically scanning envelope after envelope but had yet to find his stupid poem. He was starting to panic as only a few more letters he hadn’t checked yet remained, damn Liz and her stupid girly mind, thinking something like this was going to help him!
He was so absorbed in his search he didn’t even notice the sound of footsteps coming his way until the agent had returned with their drinks, eyebrows raised high as he stood still in the open doorway.
“Uhm Hellboy? Why are you snooping through my mail?” John asked him, fingers clenched around a can of beer and a glass of iced tea, probably for himself the demon realized.
“I'm not snooping, I’m looking for something.” He said, eyes flitting back and forth between the last envelope in his hand and his human partner looking at him like he thought he’d finally lost the last of his marbles.
“What are you looking for?” John sighed, bunny slippered feet dragging on the carpet as he sat their drinks down on the coffee table.
“Oh nothing much really, say you don’t happen to have seen any poetry or love letters recently have you?” He asked as he discarded the last envelope after realizing it was just a bill for something he probably didn’t care to know about.
“None that I know of?” The answer came out sounding like a question, <i>
should</i> the agent have seen confessions of love lying around? No, he shouldn’t have, that was why the odd question received an odd answer. Still it was a question that had to be asked, if only to appease the growing nervous curiosity building up and ready to explode inside of him.
“Good.” He let out a sigh of relief, glad that his secret was still safe. Though he did wonder briefly where his poem <i>
did go</i>, if not here. Oh well, perhaps it got lost or maybe it hadn’t arrived yet, he would deal with it when it came.
“What’s the title?” John asked, shaking him from his thoughts.
“Title of what?” He questioned, having already forgotten the question he’d asked, or rather, demanded, from the agent earlier.
“The poem, if I know the title maybe I’ll remember seeing it.” <i>
Crap</i>, he wanted to yell out loud. Why did John have to be so goddamn attentive? Anyone else would have brushed the question off like it didn’t matter but no, not John, he always paid attention to every little detail.
“It... um... It doesn’t have a title…” He managed to say after a moment’s thought. Sure, it was true but that didn’t mean he was glad with the answer he’d given. If only he’d thought of a name for the little shit piece of words he’d written, maybe then John wouldn’t have felt the need to question him further.
“Oh, well do you know some of the lines?” The agent asked him next, like he’d expected. He didn’t really blame his partner for his curiosity, it was just that now that the subject had been brought to his attention it was like the human <i>
had</i> to know.
Putting his pride aside with a large sigh he turned to fully face the kid, at least wanting to see his reaction as he bared his heart to him.
“I don’t want to tell you
Pretty little cliché’s
That have been said over and over again
For centuries.”
The first few lines slipped out with ease, memorised after so many hours uselessly spent trying to perfect them.
“I want to tell you what you ‘truly’ mean to me
All of you
Not just the bits and pieces
That only live on the surface.”
He gazed at the agent as he spoke, eyes burning as he tried to convey his feelings through more than just words.
“I want you to feel the words
Like the way I feel
My heart clench
When you’re not there.”
A light blush broke out on the kid’s face, growing brighter by the second as the full implication behind the lines of poetry seemed to hit him like a ton of bricks.
“I want you to know
How beautiful you really are
Even though it’s impossible to say
With words alone.”
He slowly advanced on the human, moving before he’d even fully realized he’d done so.
“I want you to see
How perfect you are
Not only in my eyes
But in my life.”
Every step closer to the kid he took, John took a step back, keeping a constant amount of distance between them until the dull thud of a body hitting something solid made them both realize they’d backed themselves into a wall.
“But most importantly
I want you to stay by my side
Till the end of time
Loving me
The way I love you.”
He brought his hand up to the agent’s face, caressing his cheek as he spoke those three, final words he had meant to keep hidden within himself forever. John accepted the touch, leaning into him ever so slightly as his eyes regained some of their focus with the end of the poem turned confession.
“Wow, that… that was really beautiful, who wrote it?” John’s blush remained strong on his cheeks, the demon’s hand on the burning hot flesh the only thing keeping him grounded as his partner’s loving gaze made his knees shake.
“I… I did.” Hellboy admitted, body pulled up flush against that of the agent, so close he could feel the tremble go through him at his words.
“Really? W-who did you write it for?” John asked, though he felt he really shouldn’t have to. It was as clear as day to both of them.
“You.” The demon said as he closed the finally bit of distance between them, sealing his lips over the human’s in a gentle, emotion filled touch. The kiss was light and hesitant at first, both men unaccustomed to the feeling of such an absolute touch and the feelings behind the intimate action but they learned quickly. Eyes fluttered closed as arms shifted over shoulders and to hips, gripping tightly as they tried to pull the other closer. Lips parted as tongues met to start a passionate dance, drinking the other in like the oxygen quickly leaving their lungs, though they hardly noticed.
Their desperate kiss continued on like that for the longest time, the sensations of pleasure coursing through their veins as their bodies reacted favourably to the touches of the other.
John moaned loudly as the demon shifted his attention to the column of his neck, teeth nipping as lips left feather light kisses that made his skin burn with need. His vision was starting to blur as he tried to remember a time he’d ever felt this <i>
good</i>, he couldn’t recall anything more than what had happened mere minutes ago though.
The agent managed to open his eyes though they felt impossibly heavy as he let his fingers run through his partner’s hair, feeling like he was forgetting something and trying to remember even as his body just wanted more of the demon’s almost sinful touches. He gasped as Hellboy fingers slid under his shirt, trailing over newly revealed skin as his senses sang in pleasure and he almost decided, right then and there to simply forget everything, make it so that nothing mattered anymore, nothing but the demon and the delicious ravishing of his person.
Unfortunately his memory choose that moment to provide him with the information he’d been seeking, the realization that he’d have to ask the demon to stop whatever <i>
amazing</i> thing he was with his tongue long enough to ask the question now nagging at his lust filled mind.
“HB wait…” He managed to gasp out, biting back a whine as Hellboy did as requested, though none too pleased about it. “If you don’t have the poem and I don’t have it then who does?”
-Back at HQ-
“But most importantly I want you to stay by my side till the end of time, loving me the way I love you.” Liz barely managed to finish reading the poem before succumbing to another fit of giggles.
“Priceless! HB is going to be so embarrassed when he finds out John doesn’t have his little love confession.” The fire starter said as she rubbed the tears from her eyes, turning to her companion sitting in the comfy, leather chair across from her.
“You know he’s going to hunt you down when he comes back though, right?” Abe asked though it sounded more or less like a statement he was simply reminding her of.
“No he won’t, John won’t let him!” She said and they both knew it to be true, the young agent was way too forgiving and loving to let one of his friends get hurt. Besides, if her plan worked out like she’d planned it everything would turn out for the better for both of them.
“You know what we should do?” Liz said, evil smile creeping back into place as she raised herself from her chair.
“Raid Red’s room! I bet this isn’t the only things he’s written about his precious little nanny!” She was already making her way to the door, not wanting to waste another second by loitering around when she could be getting black mail material that would last her for years!
“Even though I would usually be against invading someone’s privacy I do want to read some more about that big brute’s feeling for our dear friend.” Abe said in a low voice as he put his book away and followed the female agent down the halls.
000 Poetry 000
AN2: Bad poetry is bad, don’t pay attention to it! But at least it was fluffy and made sense (sort of). I just had this crazy idea to have HB write some poetry and wrote the story around it from there. Now I’m going to write some angst for next week to get rid of all this extra fluff floating around in my head.
~~~Read long and prosper, <i>
Sabaku No Kel</i>~~~
