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Jax was bored again. There hadn’t been any adventures in at least four hours. He had nothing to do and no one to talk to. but that’s all my fault anyway
He decided to fuck with someone because he had nothing better to do. He left the room he had locked himself in since Caines last terrible idea. He looked around at the other characters’ rooms, deciding who he was going to annoy for his own amusement today. He closed the door closed quietly behind him because he didn’t want to alert his target with the sound of him leaving his room. They all knew how much of an asshole he was.
He saw Gangle’s room down the hall and considered bullying the stupid ribbon creature, but he didn’t want to deal with Zooble. She was extremely stubborn, and it was fun to get on her nerves, but it took a bit more energy than he was willing to allot currently. He frowned and stared at the room across from him. Pomni always had interesting reactions to his incessant nagging.
He smiled once again and went over to her door. He grabbed the air with intent and the key appeared. Perfect.
He wasn’t sure how the keys manifested. Maybe it was because he had already swiped the keys to everyone’s room so they were in his inventory? The rules to this place weren’t even video game level; they were entirely incomprehensible. At least it made this “life” a little more interesting.
Jax opened the door very carefully, as not to startle her. She wasn’t facing him. Perfect again. This was going really well. His plan was to sneak up on her and say something in a completely normal tone and volume because it would definitely scare her, and make her feel stupid for not noticing him. His smile widened.
He crept towards her. Soon, he was right behind her. Pomni was facing a mirror and he was instantly worried she’d seen him, before he realized her eyes were closed. She was orange and holding her breath. He didn’t know why she bothered with standing in front of a mirror if she wasn’t gonna look at her reflection. Jax smirked and leaned down to her ear.
“You having fun Pomni?” he said.
Pomni jumped ten feet into the air with a middle school girl’s shriek. Jax couldn’t stop his laughter if he tried. The sound came flowing out as he stepped away so that he wasn’t that close to her for long.
The look on her face was worth it. The expression of surprise quickly hardened into one of anger. She was fucking seething now, her tiny stupid cartoon hands balled into fists.
“You [%$!#] [%$!#] get your [%$!#] out of here!” Pomni yelled at him as she dramatically gestured back at the door.
Jax was elated. He had gotten under her skin. He decided to continue just for the fun of it, like he always did. He was the king of pushing too far. Boundaries feared him.
“Wow, is your little suffocating quirk that interesting to you?” he said with his signature smug smirk. “I didn’t know you were that easily entertained.”
She was practically vibrating with rage. She usually didn’t get this worked up. Today must have been a bad day for her. Oh yeah! she got shot with an arrow during the Olympics adventure. The way she howled in pain was absolutely hilarious. What a loser. Haha!
Pomni rolled her eyes. “[%$!#] you. You’re a [%$!#] for not letting anyone know your little secret. Must be really embarrassing huh?” She smiled like she was winning.
Jax hated that. She doesn’t get to feel like she’s getting back at him. Jax despised losing.
He kept his mask on. “Well maybe you’re too [%$!#] to take the plunge and find out for yourself,” Jax said in a singsong voice to piss her off impossibly more.
His goal was to leave her absolutely engraged. Pomni would almost never put her hands on him. She had only did it once, and that was under a lot more intense circumstances. He would have her practically vibrating with anger as he nonchalantly walked back out the door.
Maybe it was the bad adventure. Maybe it was the constant teasing he had inflicted on her for the last month. Whatever it was, it possessed her to sweep Jax’s feet out from under him. He fell to the floor. He back made a thud as it smacked the ground. He was completely caught off guard and his facade of control faltered.
Pomni didn’t give him a second to think as she jumped on top of him and put her hands on his neck, then gripped hard.
The first thing Jax registered was a spike of panic. He instinctively pushed up on her arms, but she didn’t budge. All semblance of achieving a bit of fun teasing Pomni disappeared. The experience of being choked was painful and confining. He felt completely trapped. He tried to breathe in slowly. It didn’t work because she had completely cut off his airway. He looked up at Pomni, terrified.
Despite all of that, It felt exhilarating? The adrenaline flooded through his veins, and for some reason he liked it. The pressure on his neck was comforting in a way; it made him feel grounded. He examined the way she stared down at him. There was a firey rage in her eyes, and her arms were shaking with effort. Pomni looked hot like this.
Oh FUCK.
Jax realized this development as he quickly put the pieces together. Apparently he liked being choked, great. He couldn’t really think straight though, and he knew he would likely never find himself in the position again, so he made the decision to deal with his mixed feelings on this discovery at a later date. He wanted to enjoy this moment to the fullest while he could.
Jax’s pupils grew as he surrendered to the sensation. His expression glazed over as he focused on the feeling. It made him feel alive and real for the first time in years. The burn in his chest was addictive. Her hands were small but strong. He could feel the individual digits pressing into his skin painfully. Every time he tried to breathe he couldn’t, and that complete helplessness turned him on. His body was buzzing with a lot of different things, all of which felt incredible.
He was so caught up in the moment he forgot he even had a not breathing quirk? If that’s what they were even called.
That’s when he knew, this was about to get even better.
He tried to move his legs and found he couldn’t. The dumb noodles he called arms went completely unresponsive too.
His personal quirk was, in his opinion, the worst one, he would become paralyzed. The only things unaffected were his mouth and eyes. No colors, or spinning faces, just a weakness that could be easily exploited if anyone were to find out. That’s why he’d kept it a secret all this time.
His vision was beginning to darken at the edges and he loved it. He kept trying to move just to prove that he couldn’t because he liked not having control over his own body. Every single molecule in him was begging him to breathe and he couldn’t. That should be terrifying, and it was, but that fear just translated into “hothothothothothot” in his mind. He couldn’t do a thing to stop this all consuming pain. She could do anything and he would have to take it. That thought was horrifying because of how much he was scared of losing control in his life, but it was also the sexiest thing he had experienced because of the same reason.
Pomni apparently snapped out of whatever daze she was in, and truly realized that she was choking him out. She immediately pulled away like he burned her, losing all of her anger in a second.
Jax gasped and immediately started hyperventilating. His heart beat was audible. His vision slowly returned to normal, the dark areas regaining their color. The visceral fear subsided. His limbs were like jello but in a body high way. It felt like there was a light static coating his entire body. He felt nice and relaxed. He was content in the sensation of the afterglow.
He sat up so that he could see himself in the mirror and was shocked at the sight he saw. His face was pink and his pupils were dilated. There were red marks in the shape of Pomni’s hands on his neck. He resisted the urge to run his fingers over the marks to see if they would hurt. He wanted those handprints to stay forever. He looked up at Pomni and reveled in being physically below her until he actually took in what he was seeing.
Pomni was filled with guilt. “I’m so sorry,” she said sadly. Tears forming on the corners of her eyes. She seemed horrified of what she had just done.
Jax was extremely lost on why she would feel this way for a beat before he realized that he was the weird one for enjoying it. He should really begin faking hurt immediately to cover for himself.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. The pain, the panic, the hands around his neck, it was all so incredible and intense. He hadn’t had his persona broken this thoroughly in a while. The scene replayed over and over again in his head.
He realized he had to say something soon or it would seem suspicious.
“Um yeah, uh you’re fine, don’t worry about it,” Jax said, his voice low and quiet.
Shit shit shit shit. That was definitely the wrong reaction. He hadn’t spoken that meekly in a long time, maybe not even since he’s been in the circus. That did not fit the way he wanted, no needed to be perceived.
Pomni, of course, noticed. She stopped crying and raised an eyebrow. She looked extremely confused.
Ok yeah that was a fuck up. Jax wasn’t sure what to do, so he did what he did best, and pretended. He shot up from the floor and put his hands behind his head in an attempt to seem casual. He returned his facial expression to the status quo, smug and confident.
“Well looks like someone had a bad day. What’s got you so riled up? Have something you want to get off your chest Pompom?” He said boisterously, his voice finally returned to its normal tone, with a little lingering shakiness.
Pomni crossed her arms and looked Jax dead in the eyes. She was the best at reading people out of anyone in the circus. He hoped to whatever deity was above them that she hadn’t picked up on his reaction.
“I think you were the one getting off,” she said. She sounded conflicted, but certain that what she was saying was true.
Jax froze. Goddammit, what the fuck was he going to do now?!