Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

As the sun setting behind the tall skyscrapers of downtown Los Santos, Ray walked quickly through the city with her guide dog Dia, her long braids swinging against her back as she continued down the street. The dog was a doberman, a sleek black dog that’s head came up to around Ray's hips, leading her effortlessly through the increasingly dead streets as everyone was heading home from work. The only sounds other than the wind echoing through the tall buildings at the moment were Dia’s paws padding on the ground and Ray’s tan cargo pants swishing against her legs. It was getting late, and Ray was kicking herself for losing track of time so easily as dusk was quickly turning into night. Los Santos was never known for being the safest city, and that was especially true when you’re both a woman and blind. She had lived her entire life there, yet there were still parts of the city that she didn’t frequent enough to be familiar with how to navigate them even with her guide dog. She grips the handle of Dia’s harness tighter as she leads them through the dense metropolis of the downtown area. Today was an especially bad day for her to be walking through the city late as she didn’t have anyone to call for a ride or even just to walk with her. Max, her best friend who had become something much closer to her older brother, was out of town for the weekend to visit his family and wouldn’t be back till tomorrow. Max had debated for so long on whether or not he should go, not wanting to leave Ray on her own for that long, but Ray had pushed him to go, stating that she’d managed by herself before, one weekend is not a big deal. She was slightly regretting saying that now. 

She could hear the sound of cars whizzing by her and wished she could just teleport back to her bed and not have to deal with this right now. Dia kept them going at a quick, steady pace, sensing her owner’s unease with their current situation. Dia kept her head on a swivel, watching for anything that might pose a threat to her master. 

Suddenly, there was the sound of quick footsteps running up behind them, and Ray could feel a pair of hands roughly grabbing her arms and dragging her backwards, causing her to let go of Dia. As she thrashed and yelled, trying to get out of her captor’s hold, she could hear Dia yelp loudly as there was the sound of a kick that Ray felt in her own chest as well.

“Stupid dog, get out of my way!” Ray heard a gruff voice yell as it approached her from the front. She was completely surrounded and was starting to shut down from the level of panic she was feeling. How could I be so stupid… she thought, as she felt the person standing in front of her also grab hold of her as they start to pull her away from the bustling street, into an alleyway. A third set of hands grabbed the front of her shirt and roughly tore it off of her. She tried to yell for help, but the fabric that was once her shirt was promptly shoved into her mouth to gag her, “ That’s enough out of you, bitch,” another voice behind her said. She could feel her face burning up as hot tears started trailing down her cheeks. 

“HEY,” a new voice yelled, as a pair of fast footsteps approached, “get the fuck away from her.” she heard a deafening thump, “If I ever see any of your sorry excuses for existence again, I will make sure your bodies sink to the bottom of the ocean never to be seen again,” the man threatened menacingly before he paused, letting his words sink in  “Got it?!” the voice affirmed. The hands that had captured her had finally let go, and she could sense that her harassers were now all giving her a wide berth. The first attacker’s voice shakily responded to the threats,

“Whoa man, we’re letting her go… put the gun down man…” the voice shook,  “we thought she was someone else, honestly… we’re leaving.” 

The voice was trying to stay calm, but Ray could hear their feet shifting. At the mention of a gun, Ray felt her own heart drop; at night, she would commonly hear gunshots far off in the distance, and Dia would always stand guard for her until they both fell asleep again. The thought of a gun being pointed in her direction made her blood turn to ice, and she could feel herself start shaking. 

“This ain’t even your turf any more, pendejos , fuck off back to where you belong,” her saviour spat. Finally, Ray could hear the sounds of them stalking off, and she could feel herself finally letting out the breath she had been holding. She could hear rustling as her saviour approached her, walking slowly so as not to spook her more. “I’m so sorry those guys attacked you. Are you okay? Did they hurt you at all?” His voice-now that he was speaking to her-was filled with concern as Ray could feel his presence much closer now. “Your dog seems to be still conscious, but she needs to go see a vet; that kick might’ve cracked a few ribs” at the mention of her guide dog, Dia whimpered in pain.

Ray felt her heart drop. She had been so relieved to have been saved that she momentarily forgot that Dia had gotten hurt as well. 

“Oh FUCK, Dia!” Ray cries out as she tries to run back to where her dog was laying. She had gotten disoriented when she had been dragged by her attackers, so she ended up knocking her shoulder into her unknown saviour’s. He lightly grabs her arms to steady her, his touch sending sparks through her body. “Sorry…” Ray stuttered out.

“Here, let me lead you back to her, and we can take your dog over to the vet right now with my car if that’s okay with you?” His voice was like a soothing balm over her frayed nerves. He was a complete stranger to her but was already offering her more kindness than others she’d known for years had. Ray nods, words failing her as her head was going a million miles an hour at the moment, trying to process what had just occurred. “Wait, hold on one moment,” he mutters before Ray feels a warm coat drape over her shoulders, reminding her that her shirt had been torn off. Her cheeks flush dark red as she slips her arms into the jacket, wrapping it around herself. She then feels his hand lightly grasp hers, bringing it to take hold of the crook of his elbow as he leads her over to where Dia lay whimpering on the ground. The sound of her laboured breathing made Ray’s eyes well up with tears as she knelt down to place her hands lightly on Dia’s head, lovingly stroking her cheeks.

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart. I’m so sorry they did that to you,” Ray soothed as she felt Dia lick her hand. “I know baby girl, we’re going get you help it’s gonna be okay.”

“I don’t know if we should let her walk right now. I can carry her to the back seat of my car, and the nearest emergency vet is about a ten-minute drive from here.”

Hearing him have a plan for how to get through this unexpected nightmare made Ray feel a bit less panicky about all of it. Getting her dog help was the only thing on Ray’s mind at this moment; everything else could wait. 

“Okay, that sounds good, thank you,” Ray’s voice still shook, but had an air of relief now that she knew that Dia was going to be able to get help. Dia made a small yelp as her saviour bent down and lifted her up,

“I’m sorry, I know,” he comforted softly in response to her cries. Ray kept her hand on Dia’s paw, stroking it as they walked a short distance to the stranger’s vehicle. He leaned down to open the door to the backseat and carefully placed Dia inside before softly closing the door again. Ray could tell he had stepped up next to her again as he quietly asked, “If I may?” and Ray reached up again to take hold of his arm. He opened the passenger side door and helped her get into the unfamiliar car, making sure she didn’t bash her head on the roof of the vehicle as she sat down. 

He then got into the driver’s seat and started the car, the engine roaring to life. They sat in silence for most of the drive, the only sounds coming from the vehicle and Dia occasionally whimpering in the backseat. Finally, Ray broke the silence, needing to know more about the man who had just saved her life,

“Thank you again, by the way, for stepping in. I really didn’t know what was going to happen to me there. I thought I was done for,” she confessed, the reality of what had just happened finally hitting her. 

“It’s the least I could do. I’m not going to watch an innocent woman and her dog get attacked by a bunch of fucking idiots who prey on anyone they think is an easy target. I’m sick of that shit.” He let out a sigh. “I’m Chatterbox, by the way. I realise you should at the very least know the name of the person whose car you’re in.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Chatterbox. I’m Ray Mond, first name Ray, last name Mond,” she explained her name in the way she always had to for people to understand it, “and this is my guide dog, Dia.”

“As in Dia Mond, I like it, I like it,” he laughed. He had a really nice laugh, Ray realised as the car engine was shut off and he climbed out of the car. He came around to the other side of the car and opened her door for her, allowing Ray to hesitantly get out.

He then went to get Dia out of the car, apologising softly again in response to her noises of protest, and Ray followed him into the vet’s office while holding Dia’s paw. 

“Oh, what happened? Is everything okay?” the sweet voice of an older woman whom Ray assumed was the receptionist asked.

“She was kicked by some assholes who jumped her just down the road. I was lucky to be driving by and was able to step in,” Chatterbox explained in a steady voice. 

“Oh heavens, that’s awful. I’m so sorry,” the woman’s voice was filled with concern, “Thankfully, we’re not super busy right now, so we can see your dog right away. If you just want to bring her to the back here we’ll take a look at her. I do have to ask you both to stay up here at reception while we take a look at her, though, okay?” Ray sighed while softly nodding her head. She hated being separated from Dia, but she didn’t have a choice right now. She stood in the middle of the room as Chatterbox followed the receptionist into the back to put Dia in an examination room. Ray awkwardly fiddled with her hands, unsure of how she could help at all. Now that things had calmed down a lot more around her, the weight of reality finally settled onto her, almost knocking her down. She started shaking as silent tears streamed down her cheeks. She now felt far too exposed, standing in the centre of the room, no way to ground herself or hide. She wrapped Chatterbox’s jacket tighter around herself, wishing that it would swallow her whole so she could disappear. She didn’t register the sound of footsteps coming up to her until he softly spoke to her, placing his hand on her upper arm,

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay. You’re safe now. Here, come sit down,” he keeps his hand on her arm to direct her over to a chair against the wall, sitting down in the one next to her himself and never losing contact with her. Even though he was a complete stranger to her, Ray felt comforted by his presence and how it was keeping her from completely losing it. 

“Of course this happens on the one day… fuck ,” she states angrily, trailing off because, more than anything, she was mad at herself for letting this happen to her. She had been on her own for so long now in this city that she should have known better than to have stayed out that late in downtown Los Santos. How could I have been so stupid? She thought while shaking her head, trying to compose herself so she didn’t continue to look even more helpless in front of Chatterbox and whoever else was in the waiting room near them. 

She sat up straighter, deciding that she wanted to distract herself from everything by finding out more about the man who saved her. She took a second to wipe away her tears before she smiled, turning her body towards him.

“So, Mr. Box, tell me about yourself. What were you up to when you were driving past?” He lets out a small laugh as he exhales, taking a second to think before he answers,

“I was just heading home from a meeting,” he answers casually. “I was taking the long way because I needed to get gas, and it's a good thing I did because I was able to help you.”

“Yeah, it was… It seemed like you knew who they were. You said something about turf?” Ray asks, remembering more of the details of what happened. 

“Those guys used to run with a really bad crowd… I guess they still do, and they used to hang around that area a lot a few years ago. I was working a lot in the area at the time, and they would always try to get me to buy drugs whenever I went through,” He explains with a slight strain in his voice. Ray wondered if they had ever tried to jump him as well.

“Oh god, that sounds rough, I’m sorry.” 

“It is what it is, I guess…” he trailed off. “ Now,” he starts, shifting in his seat to face her more now, “I get to ask you a question, Miss Mond: how long have you had Dia for?” Ray smiled at the genuine curiosity she could hear in his voice, he must be a dog person,that’s sweet . 

“I got her about three years ago now I think? I had been saving up for a guide dog for a long time and my best friend Max helped me pay for her for my birthday. She’s been my rock ever since,” Ray smiled, thinking about the two closest people in her life and how much they’ve done for her. “She was about two when I got her, and she was so full of energy when she first came home she completely knocked me over trying to lick my face, then promptly knocked Max down as well,” Ray started laughing, remembering how high energy Dia can get when she’s not working. 

“Aw, that’s so cute! She seems like she’s an absolutely amazing dog,” he responds, his smile evident in his voice.

“Yeah, she does a lot for me. Life is a hell of a lot easier with her around.”

“I can imagine so–” Chatterbox gets cut off by another voice calling out to the room, 

“I’m looking for the owner of Dia Mond?” the voice of an older woman asks. “We can take you back to see her now,” Ray stands up from her chair,

“I’m right here,” she says, and she can hear Chatterbox stand up next to her as he quietly offers her his arm to grab once again as he leads her into the examination room where Dia is. When Ray walks into the room, she can hear the sound of Dia’s tail thumping against the examination table when she catches sight of her. “Hi, my sweet girl,” she whispers to Dia as she comes up next to her as an older man clears his throat,

“So, first off, Dia here is going to be okay. She has a bit of internal bleeding from the impact, but the damage was thankfully not too severe. Because you guys were able to get her here immediately after the incident we can manage things before anything gets out of control. We do want to keep her here overnight to continue monitoring her vitals and everything, but you should be able to take her home tomorrow morning. After that, she’ll need to be on some blood clotting medication for a while and you will have to wrap her stomach and monitor her closely. After the first week you’ll be able to take her on small outings again to get her moving and working your way up to longer amounts of time. I’m really sorry this happened to you two, ma’am.” The vet’s voice remained steady and somewhat clinical throughout his explanation. Ray took a deep breath, not wanting to be away from her for the night but knowing it was for the best. They went over more of what the healing would look like for her over the next few weeks after she came home and gave her a prescription for the medication. Ray left the vet's office with a small pit in her stomach, now faced with having to navigate without Dia for the time being. 

“If you’re willing to give me your address, I can drive you home and bring you back here tomorrow to pick her up, if you would like?” Chatterbox asked, interrupting her spiralling thoughts. For the millionth time today, he was saving her ass from another shitty situation. I really need to do something to repay him for his kindness , Ray thought to herself. 

“That would be amazing. Thank you so much, Chatterbox. You really didn’t need to do all of this, and I really appreciate it. Seriously,” Ray started to ramble at him, stopping herself before words continued to tumble out of her mouth. “I live in the apartment complex in Little Seoul, the refurbished ones?”

“Oh yeah, I know where that is, and there’s no need to thank me, Ray Mond, it’s the least I can do. It’s not like I was going to leave you stranded there.” He helped her back into his car and they chatted about random little things on the drive over to Ray’s apartment to help distract her. When the car finally stopped again, there was a moment of pause before Chatterbox breaks the silence, “Could I get your phone number? So we can coordinate going to get her tomorrow?” He sounded hesitant, not wanting to overstep any boundaries considering they had just met, and not under the best of circumstances.

“Of course!” Ray happily agreed before listing off her phone number to him. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as he sent her a quick message so she would have his number as well. A part of her was excited by the prospect of getting to see Chatterbox again, and under much better circumstances. He was incredibly intriguing to her, she found herself wanting to know more and more about the kind stranger who saved her life today. 

He helped her get to the front doors of the apartments, “I can take it from here,” Ray said, awkwardly shifting in one spot, “Thanks again, seriously. You got me out of a really tough spot multiple times today, and I wish there was some way for me to repay you…” Ray trailed off, suddenly overcome with emotion once again today. He softly grabs her hand,

“Hey, it’s all good. You in no way need to repay me for anything today, I’m just glad you and Dia are okay. I need to get going right now,” he says, letting go of her hand, “But feel free to text me if you need anything tomorrow and we’ll coordinate to go pick up Dia, sound good?”

“Sounds good. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said while starting to walk into her apartment complex.

“See you tomorrow,” he replies, his low tone resonating in her chest as she heads towards the elevator. Once she was safely inside her apartment, she immediately navigated the familiar maze of her home to flop onto her bed, thoroughly exhausted from everything that happened today. She pulled her phone from her pocket and called Max, needing to hear her best friend’s voice. 

“Hey, Ray! Is everything alright? It’s getting quite late now,” the sound of Max’s posh voice coming through the speaker made her start to break down almost immediately as she described everything that had happened to her today. Max was understandably pissed at the guys who tried to jump her but was very grateful that Chatterbox had stepped in to help her. “Now, in terms of Dia's vet bill, how much do you think it is going to cost?” Max asked, immediately worried about the logistics of everything. Him asking that question made her realise that the vet’s office didn’t even ask; no amount of money was discussed while she was there, and it now dawned on her how strange that was. 

“They didn’t even ask,” Ray paused, shocked by the potential reason why, “I think Chatterbox might have paid for it.” Her small voice coming through the phone speaker made Max smile softly on the other end. His best friend deserved the world and it was incredible how kind this stranger had been to her. 

“Now, I don’t want to stress you out too much right now, but have you considered filing a report to the police on what happened so maybe they can keep an eye out for these guys?” Ray sighed at Max’s question. She hadn’t thought of doing that yet, but she knew her best friend was right. It would be a hassle to fill out, but at least she would be able to have Chatterbox help her describe all of them and what went down.  Right now, though, all she wanted to do was sleep, her eyelids getting heavy as she listened to Max speak.

“Yeah, I’ll look into it in the morning; I could probably get Chatterbox to help with it as well. He’s taking me to visit Dia in the morning.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful to hear. I should be home sometime in the early evening tomorrow to help you go over everything as well.”

“Thank you, Max.”

“It’s no worries. We’ll get you through this; it’s going to be okay Ray. I should let you go so you can get some rest. Take care, dahling.”

Ray smiled to herself as he ended the call, thankful that he was a part of her life. Max had become an older brother to her at this point, always looking out for her and bringing her along when she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She slowly trudged through her room to get ready for bed, navigating as she always did around the familiar furniture. She placed Chatterbox’s jacket on the back of a chair, promising to herself that she would get it dry cleaned for how wrinkly it had gotten from her wrapping it around herself before she gave it back to him. When she finally climbed into bed for the night, her mind kept going back to Chatterbox, and how he sounded when he demanded those guys to leave her alone. His voice had a confidence to it that intrigued her, maybe he had dealt with a lot of similar stuff in the past. Ray went to sleep that night thinking about this kind, no longer stranger, excited to spend more time with him in the morning, even if she didn’t want to admit that to herself.

Chapter Text

Ray woke up from a dreamless sleep, stretching before she laid still for a moment, not ready to face the day yet. It was incredibly strange waking up without having Dia trying to lick her face and whining for breakfast. Everything seemed so quiet now, only the hum of the city waking up outside filled her room. She could hear the sounds of distant sirens as she went to follow the same route she did every morning to prepare her breakfast and get ready for the day. As she sat at the kitchen table eating her toast, her phone rang from her bedside table, and she got up to answer it. It was a generic ringtone, so she knew it wasn’t someone she was super close with calling. Ray often set individual noises and songs for the people she talked to the most on her phone so she knew who was trying to get in contact with her.

“Hello? This is Ray Mond speaking. Who’s this?”

“Hey Ray Mond, this is Chatterbox, I just wanted to call to ask what time works for you to go pick up Dia.” Hearing his deep voice through the phone made Ray smile to herself; it was sweet that he called instead of just texting her, it was a lot easier for her to communicate this way. She would always ask new people to call her instead of texting because it was easier, but they almost never listened to her.

“Chatterbox! Hi! I’m just finishing up breakfast now, and then I’m good to go. Honestly, whatever works best for you!” Ray responded cheerily.

“Alright, just let me finish up a few little things, and I’ll be there in about an hour, sounds good?” The nonchalant way that he spoke made Ray quirk one eyebrow, wondering what he was up to, but she didn’t question him.

“Sounds good, thank you,” Ray replied, the smile evident in her voice. 

“No worries! I’ll see you soon. Bye,” he said before hanging up the phone, cutting off the sound of a car starting on his end of the call. The more she spoke with Chatterbox, the more she wanted to find out about him. He was mysterious in a good way, Ray felt like she would have to earn his trust before she would be able to unlock who he truly was, and the thought of that was exhilarating to her. She liked people who were puzzles, much like herself, and you had to work to find the gem of who they truly are under many layers of protection. Ray had been through a lot in her life, leading her to be quite closed off to most after enduring years of bullying while growing up. Being raised by the foster care system gave her quite thick skin; getting tossed around from place to place wasn’t easy for anyone, but being blind made it an absolute nightmare.

 She sat on the couch, trying to get some work done as she waited for the hour to pass, but her head was all over the place, and she couldn’t focus on it. Words were swirling around in her head, and she couldn’t make sense of it. Fine, I guess I won’t get any work done right now, she angrily thought while pushing her laptop onto the cushion next to her. She thought about Dia, hoping that she was feeling okay after everything that had happened. Ray knew she was going to need to take it easy for the next few weeks, meaning that she was either going to have to use her dreaded cane or have to bring Max with her wherever she goes. She knew Max would be fine going with her anywhere, but he was almost always busy with work, so she knew she would end up trapped in her apartment most of the time if she only wanted to rely on him. 

Ray let out a heavy sigh before she got up from the couch, dragging her feet as she went back into her bedroom to find her cane. Ever since she got Dia, she kept it folded up in the back of the drawer in her bedside table, hoping she would never have to use it again. She could navigate around with it just fine, but she found it was like a beacon for bullies to come and fuck with her, always trying to take it out of her hands and break it. People are much less willing to fuck with a scary-looking dog like Dia. Not counting yesterday though, I guess, she thought, causing a shiver to go down her spine. 

She was broken out of her thoughts by her phone ringing again in her pocket, and she pulled it out, answering the way she always did when her phone used the generic ringtone, 

“Hello? This is Ray Mond speaking. Who’s this?”

“Hello! It’s Chatterbox. I just wanted to give you a heads-up, I’m just heading over to your apartment now, I should be there in about five minutes.” 

“Okay! Thank you for the heads up, see you soon!”

“See you in a few, Ray.”

Ray’s heart fluttered as she was bouncing around with nervous energy. Now that she knew he was on his way, everything felt way more real, and she rushed around her apartment double checking that she had everything before she stood by the door and smoothed down her clothes. For her outfit, today she had chosen to wear a white button up shirt with a beige sweater vest over top of it, tucked into a red plaid miniskirt that she thought hugged her curves well (and it had pockets!). The weather was supposed to be warm today so she elected to wear knee-high white socks and beige converse to finish off her look. Finally ready to go, she did one final mental check to make sure she had everything she needed before heading out the door, taking the familiar route to the elevator to the main entrance. She waited just outside the front entrance to the lobby, not wanting to risk going further because she wasn’t quite sure where the step down to the asphalt was. She hears a car pull into a parking spot and the engine shutting off before someone gets out. Footsteps approach her and she almost starts to tense up before she hears Chatterbox’s now familiar voice, “Hey! How’s it going?”

“Hi,” she blushed, “I’m doing alright. I’m excited to get Dia back.”

“I’m not surprised, I can’t imagine how hard it is for you to have her away from you for any amount of time, but it seems like they’re confident she’ll be coming home today and be on the mend pretty quickly here,” the confidence in his voice was comforting to her, getting Dia home safe to rest was her top priority right now. 

“Yeah it’s gonna be an interesting week keeping her at home and chill so she can heal. But it’s good that she didn’t break anything at the very least.” Chatterbox hummed in agreement.

“Shall we get going then?” He asks, and Ray can hear the shifting of a leather jacket as he offers his arm for her to grab. She takes hold of it with both hands, a small smile playing on her lips as they head over to his car, and he helps her get in. “Before we go, do you still need to pick up the medication for her?” His voice was slightly hesitant for some reason. Ray was curious as to why but didn’t question him about it, focusing more on Dia right now. 

“Yes! I haven’t been able to go get that yet, would you mind stopping there first?” Ray asks while biting at the inside of her lip, a bad habit she picked up when she was anxious about things. 

“I wouldn’t mind at all. There’s a pharmacy on the way there,” he said as he started the car and pulled out of the parking spot. On the drive there, Ray found it impossible to sit still, fidgeting with a loose string on the hem of her skirt as she can hear Chatterbox tapping out a rhythm on the steering wheel with his hands. Wanting to fill the silence between them, Ray asked the first question that came to her head:

“What’s your favourite food?” She asked while turning her head towards him, looking where she hoped his head was despite not really knowing how tall he is. He hummed loudly as he considered her question,

“Hmmm, probably tire d’érable ; I used to get it all the time when I was really little in the winter.” Ray’s face lit up when she could hear the small laugh that came from his lips at the memory. He speaks French?! Ray thought to herself, continuing to listen to him tell her about it. “It’s a Canadian thing, it’s a really Canadian thing,” he laughed, “where you pour maple syrup on snow and roll it up with a popsicle stick.”

“Wow, that sounds incredibly Canadian,” she agreed, “So you have a sweet tooth?”

“Yeah, you could say that I guess,” he trailed off. The gears in Ray’s head were turning; she had wanted to give Chatterbox something in return for everything he had done, and this gave her a few ideas. Maybe I could bake him something…

 “Well, here we are,” he said, interrupting her thoughts. He got out of the car, and Ray opened her door to get out, she was more used to getting in and out of his car now, having done it quite a few times by this point. Chatterbox was standing next to her when she shut the door behind her and Ray could feel his elbow brush against her arm as he offered it to her, not even needing to communicate with words at this point. She really appreciated this comfortable rhythm the two of them seemed to have fallen into. Chatterbox was incredibly attentive to her, something that was completely unexpected after years of being treated like an afterthought. He guided her through the pharmacy, which thankfully seemed to be quite empty, as they walked right up to the counter to pick up their order. The veterinarian had been kind enough to phone in the order ahead, so it was already waiting for them when they arrived. When the pharmacist read off the total for the meds Ray couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows slightly at the total before opening her wallet to grab out her credit card. Before she could pull it out, she heard the sound of the card reader beeping. 

“Wha–,” she started before Chatterbox cut her off,

“Don’t worry, I got it.” She looks up at him in shock as she lightly smacks at him with the back of her hand as she grabs the paper bag containing Dia’s meds and Chatterbox starts to lead her back out of the pharmacy.

“You didn’t need to do that,” Ray mutters quietly to him.

“I know, but I wanted to,” he replied confidently, and Ray could feel her heart flutter at the statement. He probably just pities you, calm the fuck down Ray! she yells at herself. The drive over to the vet’s office was quick, and before Ray knew it they were walking through the door, and she could hear the voice of the same receptionist from yesterday. 

“Oh! I remember you two; you’re here to pick up Dia, right?” Ray smiles and nods when she hears her best friend’s name, “Great, I’ll be right out with her. The doctor said she did great last night.”

As she heard the lady’s footsteps head into the back, she let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding, leaning onto Chatterbox more unconsciously. He places his hand on top of hers where it rested on his arm, squeezing it lightly.

“That’s good news if she did well through the night at least,” Ray only nodded in response, focused on listening for the sound of Dia walking into the room. When she heard the familiar pattern of her paws hitting the ground she crouched down and wrapped her arms around Dia as she started nuzzling at her face. 

“Hi! I missed you, baby girl!!” She continued to pet Dia as she wiggled around in front of her, almost getting knocked over by Dia trying to climb onto her lap, “Okay, hi, yes, I missed you too, darling, but be careful, baby girl.” She stood back up before smoothing down her skirt, smiling awkwardly and apologising as she remembered that she was in public. 

“As you can see Miss Mond, Dia is actually recovering quite well already. The main thing you need to focus on over the next week or so is making sure that she is getting a lot of rest and checking for any of the signs listed on that sheet I gave you. But Dia is expected to make a full recovery very quickly,” the vet explained.  They went over more of the care instructions for her, and before Ray knew it, they were heading back to Chatterbox’s car and putting Dia into the backseat. Once they themselves were seated back in the car, there was a minute of silence where neither of them knew what to do next. She desperately wanted to spend more time with him, but she didn’t know how to say that without asking outright. She then remembered what she and Max spoke on the phone about last night, and took a quick breath to prepare herself for what she was about to ask. 

“So Max, my best friend and roommate, and I were talking about everything last night, and he suggested that it might be best to file a police report on what happened. Would you be willing to come with me to provide a description of those guys?” There was a long pause before he said anything, prompting Ray to turn her head more towards him, furrowing her brow. He let out a small sigh before he spoke, 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to…” he started, pausing as he tried to find the right words to say, “I’m gonna be really busy with work over the next week or so and might be out of town for most of it, sorry.” Ray slumped back into her seat a little bit, she knew that this police report would be a lot harder to file if he didn’t help her. She could hear the sound of him wringing his hands, sighing before he offers her a compromise, “How ‘bout this, I’ll send you a written out description of all of the guys, I might even be able to remember some of their names if you give me some time, then you can bring that in with you and that should help,” he trailed off. Ray took a deep breath, that was probably the best option that they had if he was going out of town for the next week.

“Yeah, if you could give me that, that would help a ton,” she tried to keep the disappointment out of her tone, both from him not being able to help her and because it means they wouldn’t get to hang out again for a while. It seemed like her attempt failed as she noticed he had stayed quiet, and that the car was moving. Dia made a noise as she yawned in the back seat, reminding both of them that she was there. Ray reached behind her seat to stroke Dia’s paw. 

“You wanna grab Dia one of those…pup cups? I think they’re called? For being so good at the vet,” Chatterbox tried to sound casual, but Ray could hear the grin on his face in his voice. She nearly squealed in excitement at the suggestion, not noticing the complete change of subject, and briefly placed her hand on top of his as it rested on the gear shift. She tried to hide the smile that came across her face from the electricity that his rough hands put through her body. “Is the drive-through okay? I have an idea,” Ray nodded, incredibly curious as to where this was going. As they waited in the short line of cars, they discussed their favourite coffee related drinks and what they were planning on ordering. Ray insisted that he use her card to pay for it but Chatterbox adamantly refused, stating that he was taking them for coffee, he was going to pay for it. 

When they pulled up to the window, Chatterbox cleared his throat and Ray leaned in closer to him in her seat, curious to hear where this was going. She was then shocked by a completely different voice coming out of Chatterbox, a high pitched one that sounded like he had been possessed by a clown or something. “Hi there ma’am, could I get uhhhhh one small black coffee, one cinnamon latte, and uhhhh do you guys have one of those…pup cups that I always hear about?” His voice was incredibly animated, and Ray was having a hard time containing her laughter so she didn’t interrupt his ordering. “Yeah! Just give us all the whipped cream you have in the yuckin’ store, alright I will drive up to the next window ma’am, THANK YOU!” Ray was crying she was laughing so hard, doubling over in her seat and causing Dia to stand up to check if she was okay. Where the hell did this come from?!?! The oh so mysterious Chatterbox just pulled a silly prank like that? Who the hell was this guy? It took Ray a while to recover, she got a bad case of the hiccups as she subtly tried to wipe her tears with her sleeve and prayed that her mascara didn’t run at all. When they picked up their order, Chatterbox went back to talking in his normal voice, acting as if nothing was strange about how he just ordered. Ray was fascinated at how well he was able to keep it together while she was dying of laughter. 

He placed the drink tray in her lap to hold as he drove into a parking spot after getting out of the drive-through line. Dia was trying to get at the whipped cream by leaning over her shoulder so she had to lightly shove her back so she would sit down to give her space. She had finally composed herself enough to ask,

“Where the hell did that voice come from? That’s amazing!”

“Oh I’ve always been able to do it I guess, I used to prank call people a lot for fun and that was the voice I always used. You seemed so upset from everything so I wanted to make you laugh,” he seemed slightly embarrassed by her praise but he deserved it nonetheless. 

“Well that was fucking hilarious, thank you for that, it made my day,” Ray smiled at him, hoping he was smiling back.

“Anytime, you have a really cute laugh, you know,” now it was Ray’s turn to seem embarrassed as she blushed, fiddling with the lid on her cup. To change the subject, she hesitantly grabbed the long awaited pup cup, careful not to get any whipped cream on her hand and offered it towards Chatterbox, keeping it forward because she could tell Dia was trying to stick her nose in it.

“Would you like to do the honours, Mr. Box?” Chatterbox laughed and took the cup from her hand and Ray could hear Dia’s frantic tongue lapping up the sweet treat. 

“It would be my pleasure, Miss Mond,” he laughed before cooing at Dia as she got whipped cream all over her face. Ray was happy that Dia seemed to get along so well with Chatterbox, she normally was not a big fan of men, and this most recent attack probably didn’t help with that. But she seemed to be okay with Chatterbox which almost made Ray like him more. She always trusted Dia’s judgement.

Once she was finished and satisfied with her snack, Dia went to go lay back down on the seat, but not before trying to lick Ray’s face, getting whipped cream on her as well. She turned behind her to try and reach at Dia’s paw and when she turned back forward she realised that Chatterbox had gone quiet. “Here, let me get that for you,” he said in a low tone, before she could feel his touch lightly brush across her face, pushing her hair out of the way and removing the remaining whipped cream that she had missed. 

“Oh, thank you,” Ray blushed, praying that he wouldn’t notice but knowing her cheeks were probably as red as tomatoes. He was still being oddly quiet but she could hear him softly say,

“No problem,” as he turned on the ignition and started backing out of where they were parked. There was an awkward silence in the car until Chatterbox broke it, repeating back to her the same question she had asked him earlier in the day, “What’s your favourite food?” Ray took a long moment to think about before deciding on,

“Mini churros,” she said while smiling, “Or regular size is fine too I guess, but the small ones are more fun. Let's be real here.” 

“Size doesn’t matter to you, huh?” Chatterbox chuckled as Ray smacked him on the arm for that one, joining in to his snickering at the dumb joke. Conversation came easily after that, the two of them bounced off each other well as they got into a debate about what the best carnival foods were. Ray didn’t even notice they had parked until Chatterbox started to open his door, still engaged in conversation. “We’ve arrived, just to let you know. I’ll grab Dia out then she can take you up to the front door.” Ray forgot that having Dia here meant that he didn’t have to lead her around and she tried to ignore the pang in her heart at that realisation. Calm down Ray, it’s not like that .

Once Ray was standing next to the car, the handle for Dia’s harness in her hand, her and Chatterbox lingered awkwardly by the trunk of his car, neither one of them wanting to say goodbye just yet. 

“I should get going, Max will probably be back soon and I gotta clean up a bit before he gets here. But this was fun, thank you for everything,” Ray blushed, fiddling with the handle in her hand, “I know you said you would be busy this week but let me know when you have some time so I can get that jacket back to you.” She tilted her head up to him and in a moment of bravery went up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek, surprised to feel fabric underneath her lips. Has he been wearing a mask this whole time? She quickly mumbled a command to Dia so she could make a beeline to the door of her apartment building.

~

Chatterbox brought his hand lightly to his cheek after she kissed him, shocked by the sweet gesture as his cheeks turned pink under the bandana he had tied around the bottom half of his face. She mumbled something that he wasn’t able to catch before she abruptly started walking over to her apartment building, Dia pulling her at a quick pace. 

“Thanks for today, I’ll call you soon!” He called after her, hoping his lack of reaction didn’t push her away. She stopped just before entering her building and turned to wave back at him before heading inside. Chatterbox leaned back against his car, hoping he didn’t just fuck everything up and eagerly waiting for the next time they were able to meet.

Chapter Text

Ray had just finished making dinner for the two of them when Max walked in the door of their shared apartment. “I’m hoOome,” Max sing-songed as Ray could hear Dia padding up to greet him as she placed the hot pan she just pulled out of the oven onto the stovetop. “Hello, dahling,” he cooed as he knelt down to pet Dia. Taking off her oven mitts, she also ran over to greet her best friend, nearly throwing herself into his arms. He squeezed her with a tight hug that lasted for a few moments, Ray could tell he was relieved she was okay. “I’m so sorry that you had to deal with all that by yourself Ray, I shouldn’t have left you alone like that, I feel awful,” his voice got stuck in his throat as he was overcome with emotion, looking over his best friend, checking to make sure she wasn’t hurt at all. Ray knew Max felt incredibly responsible for her, acting as her older brother. None of this was his fault, it was just awful timing that this happened while he was away.

“I’m okay Max, and Dia will be okay. I wasn’t alone either, Chatterbox has been a massive help to me as well over the last 24 hours or so.” Had it really only been a day? Max sighed, knowing she was right but didn’t want to believe it. He went to place his bags down in his room while Ray served them (and Dia) their respective dinners. She decided to be lazy with cooking today, only bothering to stick frozen lasagna in the oven for the two of them. While she waited for Max to join her at the table, her mind kept replaying various scenes from her day with Chatterbox. Every time she thought about him, she could feel her heart start to flutter, making her want to giggle and kick her feet like a schoolgirl with a crush. She couldn’t believe she actually kissed him on the cheek, her own face burning at the memory of it. It didn’t seem like he hated it at least, he didn’t push her away or anything so that was probably a good sign. But, Ray knew that might have been too far, and the next time they met, he would let her know he had a girlfriend or something. She tried not to spiral about it, just the thought of him being into her seemed so out of reach that she was trying (and subsequently failing) to not get her hopes up. She could still remember the feeling of fabric under her lips when she kissed him. She had not expected him to be covering his face at all and Ray was very curious about the reasoning for it. Max had told her before that many people in the city often cover their faces to keep their identities private, but Ray had never believed him up until this point. Los Santos was a city of crime. There was no denying that she had heard the news and the near-constant sirens outside, but was it really that bad?

The sound of Max’s footsteps approaching broke her out of her train of thought as he joined her at the dinner table. They made small talk as he told her about his trip, and she filled him in on what Dia’s medical requirements were going to be over the next little while until she recovered.

“So you’re going to have to be without her for a little bit it seems,” Max asked, his voice laced with sympathy. 

“She can go on little outings, but yeah, a lot of the time, I’m going to have to leave her here if I want to go out for the day.”

“Well, I will certainly accompany you to anywhere you need to be as you know,” Ray smiled at her best friend, knowing that he would always be by her side when she needed him. “One more serious question,” he starts, “what are your feelings on filing the police report about this whole thing?” 

“I’m gonna do it, I think. Chatterbox said he wouldn’t be able to go in with me, though, because he has to be out of the city this week, but he’s going to give me a written out account of what he saw. He said he might even remember some of the guys’ names because he’s encountered them before,” Ray pushed her food around on her plate as she spoke, anxious at the thought of going to the police. 

“That’s very nice of him to find a compromise. He seems to be quite considerate of you,” Ray could hear the implication in his voice and tried to hide her smile as she responded,

“Yeah he’s been really kind throughout this whole thing,” she didn’t know why she felt so shy telling Max this, he was literally her best friend, she told him everything. “Okay, fine, yes, he’s like kind of amazing, Max. After we picked up Dia and he told me he couldn’t help with the police report he took us to get coffee at a drive-through and put on this whole silly voice to make me laugh and it was so funny and so cute, then he fed Dia a bunch of whipped cream, and it went everywhere and he helped me clean it off and he’s so sweet and ughMaxIreallylikehimandImaybekissedhimonthecheekafterwards,” Ray gushed all of her thoughts about him to Max as the flood gates had opened. It felt good to finally unleash what she was feeling to someone else. She could hear him chuckling lightly, “ Whaaat,” she whined at his lack of comment.

“Okay, first off, you’re going to need to repeat that last part because it was too fast for me to catch properly and secondly, I just think it’s really cute that you’re this excited about someone, you deserve someone makes you happy like this,” he placed his hand on top of where hers rested on the table.

“I said that,” she takes a breath, “I really like him and I maybe kissed him on the cheek afterwards, when he dropped me off, and then ran away after because he didn’t say anything, but he didn’t seem disgusted at least? He said he’d call me soon,” Ray was still rambling but she couldn’t help it now that it was all out on the table. She knew Max wouldn’t judge her at least and she could feel Dia place her head in her lap under the table (but that might have just been to try and snag some of the food left on her plate). 

“He seems lovely Ray, I’m very happy you met him despite the circumstances which caused it to happen,” Ray could hear him start to get up from the table as she stroked Dia’s head in her lap, “Now, how ‘bout I do the dishes then we can start to work on filing out that police report while we watch Love Island, sound good to you?”

“Sounds amazing, Max,” Ray replied, happy to fall back into their usual routine with one another.

A few days had passed since the incident when Max and Ray drove to their bi-monthly car inspection at Carrozzeria. It never ceased to amaze her how much Max cared for his car. Then again, his car was the foundation for his taxi business, the thing that funded his true passion—talking to new people. 

The car pulled into the familiar garage, the recently remodelled space was clean and had room to work on about ten cars at once now. There was also an area in the back where they were able to paint cars and spray on decals. The shop was clearly well-loved; the place was always bustling with people as cars were brought into the shop to get work done. It was like a little hidden gem; most people in Los Santos took their cars to the much flashier Turner Shop, but Carrozzeria had a dedicated client base that refused to go anywhere else. 

The bald Italian man who owned the shop, Vinny Pistone, waved at them from his office on the second floor, the windows overlooking the workroom, his eagle eyes observing the comings and goings of customers and workers. Vinny always treated the pair very well, seeing both of them as his own at this point. He had a soft spot for Ray, hearing a little bit about her rough upbringing from Max. The pair had been coming here for years now for Max’s taxi and had developed a quite close relationship with Vinny, inviting him over for drinks whenever he wasn’t swamped with work. He actually lived on the same floor as them in their apartment complex, so he would pop over sometimes to bring them pizza or do small repairs.

Ray and Max were engaged in a conversation discussing the latest Love Island drama when Vinny came down to join them, a bag of dog treats in his hand. Ray could hear the sound of him quickly coming down the stairs, his pace slowing as he approached.

“Where’s… What happened to Dia?” Vinny asked, immediately picking up that something was off. He sounded so sad that Ray immediately felt bad for not calling him and letting him know sooner. He always told her she could call if she ever needed help with anything, but Ray hardly ever took him up on that. Her constant need for independence wouldn’t often let her ask for help from anyone except for Max on occasion. 

“There was… a bit of an incident recently,” Max started, trailing off to see if Ray wanted to explain instead.

“Oh, what happened? Who do I need to go kill?” Vinny’s tone was serious, even though Ray knew he was probably kidding. She couldn’t even imagine him hurting a fly.

“I was walking through downtown kinda late in the evening to get home, and I got jumped by a group of guys,” she could almost hear Vinny’s anger brewing as she continued, “Dia and I are both okay, a stranger driving past was able to get the guys to leave, but she did get kicked pretty hard, so she’s staying home for the next little while to rest up.”

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” Vinny spat, his accent getting stronger with his anger. “What kind of heartless dumbfucks would do something like that?” Ray just shrugged, keeping her head down. “You should have called me to come get you. Did you just walk home after that?!” 

“The guy who stepped in to help drove Dia and me to the vet afterwards, and he drove me home after as well, so I was okay; everything’s fine.” Hearing that, Vinny seemed to chill out a bit, he was definitely still seething a little but he turned his focus to Max’s car. The car almost never needed a ton of work done, so Vinny was usually the one who looked over it, only passing them over to one of the other mechanics if something was seriously wrong. They chatted with him while he worked, the slight tension from earlier dissipating. When he was finished, he closed the hood firmly and patted it a few times, “She’s still in perfect working order, Max. You take hella good care of ‘er.”

“Thank you, I do try my best to,” Max replied earnestly. 

“It’s on the house today alright, I’m sure Dia’s medical stuff probably wasn’t cheap so you’re all good for me, I don’t want any of your money,” Vinny laughed. They both thanked him profusely before getting in Max’s cab and heading back to their apartment so he could drop her off before he went out to work. 

“Need anything while I’m out?” Max asked out the passenger side window as Ray stepped up onto the curb in front of their building. 

“No I should be okay, I’m just going to try and get a bunch of work done today that I’ve been putting off.” She pulled the sleeves of her knit sweater over her hands, fiddling with the edges of it. “Have a good day! Bye!!” She said cheerfully as Max bid her goodbye and started to drive away. She followed the familiar route up to their shared apartment, letting out a loud sigh when she shut and locked the door behind her. Dia greeted her excitedly, pushing a stuffed toy against Ray’s leg as her whole body wiggled with excitement. “Hi baby girl, I missed you too, thank you for the toy! Do you wanna go lay down?” She leaned down to pet Dia, the stress she was feeling already melting off her a bit. Ray spent the rest of the day working on her laptop in bed. She worked as a freelance writer and editor, using a screen reader and a braille keyboard to make up for the whole not being able to see things. She thoroughly enjoyed her work, it gave her a way to be able to express herself without having to worry about people immediately judging her for being blind. She did all of her work from home as well, which made her life much easier compared to trying to bring Dia with her to work every day. Working from the couch or her bed with Dia cuddled up to her was much nicer than any office job could be. 

She worked until quite late, only stopping to take Dia out for some short walks around the building so she could do her business. This was one of Max’s long days, where he did a shift of both his jobs in one day, taxi driver by day, bartender by night. On these days, Ray would typically have a little self care night, eating leftovers from the fridge and lounging on the couch for hours. Tonight she decided to do something extra special as a little treat after the week she had been having. She ran herself a bath, using a bath bomb that smelled like warm lavender and had little star and moon shaped divots that Ray liked to run her fingers over before she dropped it into the tub, listening to the satisfying sizzle it made as it dissolved into the water. Before getting undressed to get in she quickly walked back to the kitchen to grab her tea, jumping a little bit as her phone started ringing. 

“Hello? This is Ray Mond speaking. Who’s this?” Her voice answered automatically when she picked up the call. 

“Hi! It’s Chatterbox, sorry I wasn’t able to call you sooner. I’ve been really busy with work stuff. How have you been, Ray?” He sounded like he was somewhat out of breath, like he had been running, but the way his low voice said her name almost made her weak in the knees. The fluttery feeling in her chest returned as they talked, sharing stories about how their past few days apart have been and Ray giving him updates on how Dia was doing. 

“I got your suit jacket back from the dry cleaner yesterday by the way, so let me know when is a good time for me to get that back to you,” Ray unconsciously bit her bottom lip, silently praying that she would get to see him again soon. He let out a low hum as he thought, and Ray could hear the sound of slow footsteps on his end of the call. 

“I have a meeting that’s going to be at the Liquid Library this coming Friday if that works for you? We could meet up afterwards and,” he hesitated for a moment, “Maybe I could take you out to dinner as well?”

Is he— did he just—did he just ask me on a date!!! Ray was completely stunned by his offering to take her to dinner, staying silent on the phone as she bounced up and down in her own little celebration, causing Dia to wake up and come over to check on her. Ray pet Dia’s head to help both her and the dog calm down as she finally responded to his offer.

“I would love to go to dinner with you, yes.” Her heart was pounding as he told her what time worked for him, and they finalised their plans. It sounded like he was about to ask her something else when he was interrupted, the voice of an Australian (or maybe British?) man came through the phone speaker slightly,

“Sorry to bother you Chatty, but we gotta go get the supplies you were talking about.” Ray could hear Chatterbox sigh in response, all noise from his side cutting out for a moment as he muted his microphone before he came back to let her know he had to get going.

“I’m really sorry to cut this short, Ray, but I’ve got to go deal with some things. It was very nice talking with you and I’ll call you again soon, okay?”

“No worries, it was very nice to chat with you as well, and yeah I’d really like that,” Ray blushed as they said their goodbyes and he ended the call. 

Ray could now more openly express her excitement as she squealed and knelt down on the floor to hug Dia, who responded by happily licking her face. “He asked me out!!” she yelled to no one in particular. Her heart was still racing from the whole exchange, still in shock about how easily he was able to just come out and say it. All of the anxiety that she felt for kissing him on the cheek the other day instantly melted away with that one question. 

Ray was now unsure what to do with herself, now having all of this excited energy within her that she had no outlet for. It took her a second to remember that she had drawn herself a bath before she rushed back over to the washroom, tripping over the arm of the couch in the process. The water was thankfully still a nice temperature when she checked so she stripped down and got in, letting out a satisfied hum as she leaned back. Most parts of Ray and Max’s apartment weren’t that nice but the one thing that this place had going for it was a deep bathtub that actually allowed you to fully submerged yourself in the water. Ray sank down until her eyes were just above the water level, basking in the heat of the water until she had to come up for air. She had intended to watch a movie, but got distracted by her own head as she daydreamed all the possibilities and logistics for her and Chatterbox’s date. It had been quite a while since her last date, the guy ended up bailing on her to go play a concert to about twelve people, Max later told her. After that heartbreak, Ray had decided to give herself a bit of a break after experiencing a string of foul-ending romances. It had been years since she had a crush on anyone so that might explain why she felt so damn giddy about it.

Once the water had started to cool down substantially, Ray carefully climbed out of the tub and wrapped her fluffy towel around herself, drying off as she listened to the water drain out of the tub. She got dressed into her pyjamas and started getting ready for bed, laughing as she heard Dia jump in when she lifted the covers.

“Well, I’m glad you’re making yourself comfy, DD,” Ray laughs at her overgrown puppy of a guide dog. She then hears Max unlocking the front door, and they both run over to the door to greet him. “Max, guess what just happened!!”

“Uhm, you won an all inclusive vacation to the Maldives?” Max asked, sounding utterly clueless and quite exhausted from the long day. He was happy to see Ray so excited though, especially after everything that had happened this week. “What happened, Ray?” 

“Chatterbox asked me out!!” she squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Max pulled her into a hug as he congratulated her,

“Oh, that’s wonderful to hear! He did seem like he was quite interested in you so I’m happy things are shaping up the way they are between the two of you. When is he taking you out?” Max led her through the house so they could keep chatting as he put his stuff away and started getting ready for bed. Ray leaned against the door frame as she recounted the full story to him. He joined in on her excitement at how smooth he was at just straight up asking her out, to the point where it took Ray a minute to process that was what he actually asked. There were still a few days before the date so they both headed to bed pretty quickly after their chat, Max promising that he would help her plan her outfit and hair for the day. Ray went to sleep more excited than she had in a very long time, hoping that the next few days would pass quickly.

Chapter Text

The Liquid Library was a sanctuary of elegance and sophistication, holding decades of knowledge; the marble floors gleamed like polished glass, reflecting the opulent golden light from the chandelier overhanging the centre of the room. The open room allowed the light to spread, bathing everything in an ethereal glow. The grand spiral staircase took up the centre of the room, its wooded barristers still shining as if brand-new despite being a decade old.

Waiting outside the meeting room sat Ray, her long mahogany hair held half up in two ponytails, so it was kept out of her face while the rest was left in waves down her back. Max had helped her pick out her outfit for the date, spending almost an hour with her to go through all her options. She settled on a black, semi-sheer, off-the-shoulder top with a bow on the front and layered a cute bralette underneath. For her lower half, she chose a blue plaid pleated skirt and black thigh-high socks with Doc Martens that Max said showed off her legs nicely. She absent-mindedly adjusted her socks as she waited, reaching down to stroke Dia’s ears afterwards. Next to her on the couch lay a nice black suit jacket, fresh from the dry cleaners, and a little box of freshly baked Lengua de Gato cookies that she and Max baked that morning because she had far too much energy she needed to deal with.  

She waited for Chatterbox, her date, someone who came into her life in not the best circumstances but had already made a lasting impact on her. Since they arranged this meeting, Ray and Chatterbox talked on the phone a few more times. It was never for very long as he always got pulled away for work but it made Ray feel special that he spent his spare moments talking to her. She thought of his protective presence, his gentle hands guiding her in a way that wasn’t patronizing but caring as he followed her own guidance. Using speech to text on her phone, she let Chatterbox know that she was waiting in the lobby, but to please take as long as he needed for the rest of his meeting. She was there early, Max bringing her with him for his shift in the bar portion of the establishment. He offered for her to sit over in his section instead of the lobby while she waited but she assured him that she would be fine waiting closer to where the meeting rooms let out. 

The door to one of the side rooms swung open and a man came striding out, heading for the exit before he spotted Ray. He straightened his back and walked with a cocky swagger towards her, unmindful of the guard dog staring him down. He wore a disarming smile as he moved, the top of his white shirt unbuttoned despite the professional setting, his cuffs rolled up to show off his tattooed skin, and an untied blue tie hanging around his neck. His gaze was fixed on Ray, taking in her long, tan legs that were complimented by her skirt and socks. He adjusted his jacket as he got closer to her, smoothing his hand over his short hair in vain, deciding to make his move.

“Hey there, beautiful,” he greeted her warmly, his voice inviting and flirtatious, “Waiting for someone?” His voice prompted Dia to growl quietly. Untrusting of men and unsavoury characters, Ray reached down to comfort her, rubbing her ears to try to portray a sense of calm.

She turned her head towards the sound of the voice, her lips curving into a polite but cautious smile. She could feel the subtle shift in the air his presence had brought when he approached, “Yeah, I am,” she replied shortly, warily answering his question yet keeping her tone neutral.

Unhindered, his smile widened as he made his way to sit next to her; “I’m Benji, “ he introduced himself, ignoring the low growl that followed his action; he radiated a self-assuredness, an arrogance which he carried with him throughout the city. “I couldn’t help but notice you were sitting here,” he flirted, “You look lonely. I thought you could use some company.”

She felt him sit down next to her, the cushion of the opulent couch dipping with his weight. Ray's hand tightened around Dia’s leash, the sensation a silent reassurance of control over the situation; the stranger was too forward for her liking.

“I appreciate the offer,” she paused, trying to find the words to politely turn the man down, “But I’m perfectly fine. My company should be here soon,” her voice was clear, attempting to create a boundary between them, her body leaning unnoticeably away from him. Under her, Dia sat up on her heels, her sleek, black coat shining with the warm light of the chandelier; she let out a deep growl in warning, her patience thinning with the strange man encroaching on her master's territory.

Benji raised an eyebrow at the dog, dismissing the creature as all bark and no bite. He tried to ease Ray out of the protective walls she had constructed. A charming smile lit up his face as he joked, “Seems like your company isn’t too fond of me.” He tilted his head while staring at her, trying to catch Ray’s eye. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. Honestly, I’m sure I haven’t seen you around before because I know I’d remember a set of legs like that walking around town.”

“No, I’m not new,” Ray kept her answer clipped, wanting to give this guy as little information as possible. She tried to keep her face from scrunching up in disgust at the comment.

“Daaaamn, where you been hiding then, Mami?” He was making it really difficult for Ray not to just vomit on his shoes right now with how hard he was trying. Dia’s growls got louder as if she was also disgusted by the comment. “Who’s keeping someone like you waiting anyway? A pretty risky move on their part…”

Ray gripped Dia’s leash harder with both of her hands, debating whether she should grab her phone right now to call either Max or Chatterbox to come help her.

“He’s in a meeting. I’m just waiting for it to wrap up.” Ray heard Benji scoff slightly at that and she knew he saw that as a challenge.

“Why don’t I keep you entertained until hearrives?” His tone was soft and persuasive, the rhetorical question lingering in the air as his hand reached to graze the exposed sliver of her leg, lightly touching the smooth expanse of skin. He ignored Dia’s warning again as she rose to her feet, ears pressed back on her head. Ray’s hand went to her collar, holding her back despite knowing her trusted friend wouldn’t attack without permission. She tried to keep her breathing steady as she flinched, feeling the panic rise as she was reminded of the last time a stranger put their hands on her. Flashes of when she was assaulted replayed in her mind as she tried to think of a way to escape, her brain shutting down from the rising fear within her. 

Dia’s sharp canines were on display as she growled, a deep, protective rumble that echoed across the open room. Benji’s smile faltered for the first time as he took in the rigid stance of her new protector. He flinched as her dog's nostrils flared, and she threateningly showed off the gums of her teeth. 

Before he could conjure a second wind of bravado, the large, wooden door of the primary meeting room swung open with a force that commanded attention. Chatterbox entered the lobby, his figure imposing in his black, tailored suit as he scanned the room for the sound of Dia.

His presence was like a storm gathering strength, exuding an air of quiet authority that demanded respect. His eyes were sharp and vigilant as they found the source of the commotion; then, they travelled to Ray's face before he noticed the man beside her, his hand frozen on her bare thigh.

His strides were long and purposeful as he crossed the lobby, his narrowed eyes filled with burning rage as he stared down the other man, willing him to combust into flames. His expression was dark and threatening as he swiftly reached them, roughly yanking Benji’s hand off her skin and pulling the man up by the lapel of his shirt.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing,” he growled, his voice low and deadly calm as he stared down at the shorter man.

Benji gulped in response, taken aback; his confident facade wavered as he took in the imposing presence towering over him. He sputtered as he tried to reply, “C-Chatterbox, I’m just talking,” he tried to save himself, digging further into his self-imposing grave, “Just a friendly chat.”

Chatterbox’s eyes flashed with a dangerous intensity. Without a word, he flung him into the nearest wall with a force that left no room for argument. Benji lost his breath as he was shoved against the wall, his breathing constructed by the fierce grip around his neck.

Ray’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of the body hitting the wall, but she remained composed, trusting Chatterbox to handle the situation and protect her.

“She. Doesn’t. Need. You,” he growled out, his voice low and menacing, a thin veneer over a simmering rage. “If I ever see you near her again, you can say goodbye to your fucking legs.”

Benji’s eyes widened at the threat, fear replacing his earlier bravado. He nodded hastily, his arms raised in a placating gesture, signalling surrender. “Alright, alright,” he gasped, panicked as he tried to find a way to escape from the more muscular man's grasp. “I get it. I’ll leave her alone.”

Chatterbox held him there for a moment longer, stewing in his rage as he let the message sink into the offending man's skin. Then, with a final shove, he released Benji, who stumbled slightly as he quickly backed away, his face pale as he shot a fearful glance at the pair, beginning to make his retreat.

“Benji,” Chatterbox called out to the man before he could retreat. The man turned to him, his fearful eyes staring at him in question.

Chatterbox drew his arm back, clenching his hand into a fist and driving it into Benji's face with a precise and powerful punch. The impact was solid and final, breaking the offending man’s nose and sending him doubling down in pain as his nose bled freely onto the polished marble floors.

He staggered back, clutching his nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding, his face contorted in agony. The fear in his eyes now mixed with the grim realization of his miscalculation. “Don’t touch her again,” Chatterbox ordered him, his seething anger still present in his voice, his jaw set in a firm determination to repeat his action if needed. Benji shot a final terrified glance at the couple before turning on his heel and hurrying out of the lobby, droplets of blood falling out of his palm, leaving a trail of blood in his wake.

Chatterbox turned to Ray, his intimidating figure instantly relaxing as he took her in. His expression softened, the lines of his forehead disappearing as he stepped towards her, kneeling in front of her, taking her hands in his in a gesture of comfort and reassurance. Besides her, Dia relaxed, headbutting his knee affectionately, hair tail wagging in glee at the presence of one of her new favourite humans.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I came out as soon as I heard Dia,” he told her, his voice a blend of regret and tenderness.

She lowered her head to the sound of his voice, her smile radiant with relief and affection. “It’s okay,” she assured him, her voice a balm, easing the tension of the previous encounter. “Everything’s fine now that you’re here,” she squeezed his hands reassuringly, drawing circles on the back of his palms to gently extinguish the anger he had now bottled away for her sake. He nodded, his gaze lingering on her with a protective warmth, gently guiding her up. “Oh wait, before we go, I have your jacket and a gift for you,” she gestured back to the couch next to where she was sitting. Chatterbox smiled when he saw the little box of cookies that sat atop the suit jacket that he had given her when they first met.

“Thank you, did you make these?” He asked as he picked up the container and his jacket, getting a better view of the sweet treats inside the box. Ray nodded, smiling up at him as she nestled her arm in the crook of his elbow.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed, “Max and I made them this morning. They’re Lengua de Gato cookies, they’re pretty easy to make.”

“Cat’s tongue cookies?” Chatterbox asked, translating the name in his head. Ray laughed at his mildly skeptical tone. 

“'Cause they’re shaped like a cat’s tongues!” Ray chirped. Chatterbox chuckled at her excitement, utterly endeared by how cute she was.

Ray’s hand stayed nestled in the crook of this elbow as she held his jacket and gift in her other hand as they walked to the car. Chatterbox’s other hand was preoccupied with holding Dia's lead, the loyal companion’s tail wagging happily. She followed as they made their way down out the door and to his car parked out front, his presence both commanding and comforting, a blend of strength and tenderness that made her feel safe and cherished.

On their way out, Ray frowned, “What about your meeting?” she asked in concern, knowing that he had barged out after hearing the commotion in the lobby.

He shook his head, dismissing her concern. “Not important,” he told her softly as he led her to his Lampadati. The cool breeze greeted them as they exited the Liquid Library, carrying away the lingering tension. Dia walked confidently at Chatterbox’s side; her job as her protector was handed over to the tall human beside her, and she trusted him to take care of her master. After helping both Ray and Dia into his car, Chatterbox himself got in and took his things out of her hands, quietly thanking her as he stowed them away in the footwell behind her seat. The act of him leaning so close to her made Ray take a subtle deep breath trying to calm her fluttering heart as she could smell his cologne, the scent of leather and cedar drawing her in.

“So, where are we going?” Ray asked, her voice laced with excitement. 

“It’s a bit of a drive, if that’s okay with you but there’s a nice restaurant up at Marlowe’s vineyard that I was thinking we could go to,” Chatterbox was slightly hesitant, wanting to choose something that Ray would also enjoy and impress her a little bit. He thought she deserved to be taken out for a very nice meal after dealing with so much shit over the past week or so. The vineyard was also a relatively quiet place, so they wouldn’t have to worry about interruptions from anyone else trying to mess with either of them. Before he started driving, Chatterbox also took a brief moment to take off his mask, a white clown mask with a painted smile and red tufts of hair. He kept on the tight black regular face mask he had put on earlier, not wanting to deal with a bandana today. He quickly stashed his clown mask in the glove box, apologising quietly as his hand brushed across Ray’s knee, causing her to jump in surprise. Throughout the drive to the vineyard, Chatterbox would glance over to Ray, checking in to make sure she was enjoying herself. The radio softly played in the car and Ray quietly hummed along, filling the comfortable silence that had fallen over the car. 

Once they arrived at the restaurant, Chatterbox escorted Ray and Dia to a table that overlooked the vast field of growing grapes, the setting sun bathing everything in a warm glow. The vineyard had a rustic feel to it, medium toned wood accented the stone patio and wall they sat next to. Each table had a candle centrepiece, casting each table in its own soft glow. A few other tables were occupied, mostly older couples who paid them no mind. It was as if they were in their own little world, Dia tucked under the table between them, dozing off with her head resting on Ray’s boot because she knew her master was in safe hands. 

Ray was about to ask the waiter for a menu with Braille when she felt the table in front of her and realized she already had one. When making the reservation, Chatterbox had phoned ahead to ask for one to be there in advance. That little gesture made Ray’s heart sing as she dragged her fingers over the menu to decide what she wanted. Once they had both ordered, Ray took a moment to enjoy the warmth from the sun on her skin, drinking in the smell of earth and fresh grapes that wafted through the air. 

“What was your meeting for?” Ray asked, curious about what Chatterbox did for work that kept him so busy. Chatterbox sighed and fiddled with the edges of his mask as he thought about how to answer her question.

“Just planning, always planning things. I’m the leader of a company so I always get pulled into everything even if I don’t really need to be.” He kept his tone neutral, not wanting to give her too much information about the specifics of his “work.” She hummed in response, nodding in sympathy for his busy schedule of dealing with other people’s shit. 

“It’s kind of the dreaded, this meeting could have been an email type of deal?” She offered, wanting to know more about his work life. Chatterbox sighed while nodding and pulling on his ear, a nervous habit he had done for years now. 

“Yeah. I mean, I love all the people I work with, we’re all close at this point but man, it’s getting pulled into every little detail like people can’t make their own decisions sometimes. I feel like I’m running a circus a lot of the time.” Ray laughed softly at that, nodding. She hoped that one day she could meet some of the people he spends his time with, maybe expanding her social circle for the first time.

When their food came, a comfortable silence fell over the pair as they focused on eating, both hungry from a day filled with nerves about getting ready for this date. Dia had awoken at the smell of food and was currently standing next to Chatterbox as he slyly gave her some from his plate, patting her head as she settled down to eat it. Chatterbox would take lingering glances at Ray as she ate, taking in the details of her appearance while she was unaware of his eyes on her. She had faint red marks around her eyes that maybe told the story of how she lost her vision. They were subtle, only noticeable if you studied her face closely. Her grey eyes had a shattered look to them as if they symbolized her world going dark. He furrowed his eyebrows at the thought of anyone daring to harm an innocent person like this, his fist clenching in anger as he silently vowed to never let anyone lay another hand on her again. 

As they sat, Chatterbox’s phone had been ringing almost constantly, he had left his meeting abruptly, not answering any of the questions that followed him as he made his exit. His phone had been vibrating so much at this point that Ray was able to pick up the noise with her fine-tuned ears, after years of practice from having to find her phone after she forgot where she put it down. 

“Are you sure everything’s okay? It sounds like your phone is going crazy,” Ray asked, still worried she had caused him to leave something important. 

“It’s fine, I promise. They’re all adults I’m sure they can all sort themselves out without me around,” Chatterbox was starting to get irked by his phone, wishing he could throw it over the balcony and finally have some peace and quiet while on this date. 

Just as the couple was finishing their meal, Chatterbox’s hand rested atop Ray’s on the table, drawing patterns with his thumb on her skin. Hearing a pair of high heels clicking on the stone patio, both of them turned their heads to the noise, as a voice called out,

“Chatty, there you are! We’ve been looking through the entire city for you! Thank god you’re okay, you left so suddenly we were all worried that something had happened–” The voice stops her ramble suddenly, finally realizing the scene she just walked in on as her eyes look over Ray and their hands resting on the table. Chatterbox clears his throat, 

“I’m fine, Sooty. I will deal with everyone else in the morning. I’m busy right now.” He gives Sooty a meaningful look and she nods at him before making her exit. Just as she was heading towards the parking lot, she turned around again briefly, giving Chatterbox a double thumbs up while mouthing “You got this!!” at him. Even though Ray was blind Chatterbox was very happy that she made her exit behind Ray so she had no chance of catching that whole exchange as he rubbed a hand down his face in embarrassment. 

“Sorry about that–” Chatterbox started.

“Who was that?” Ray asked at the same time, her voice laced with insecurity as she started to overthink the exchange. It seemed like Chatterbox was close with this woman with a very sexy New Zealand accent. Ray wondered if Sooty was a nickname that only he used for her… Chatterbox picked up on the insecurity in her voice, reassuring her by bringing her hand that he was still holding up to his face and pressing a kiss to her knuckles through his mask. 

“You don’t need to worry about her, Ray, Sooty is someone I work with, she’s like my right-hand woman honestly, basically my sister at this point, everything would fall apart if she wasn’t there helping me hold everything together. Her and Kirk I suppose.” He assured her. Ray still felt slightly insecure that such an incredible-sounding woman was so close to Chatterbox but she took a deep breath as she scolded herself for being silly. They'd only been on one date together for Christ's sake. Ray didn’t often get jealous, she was self-deprecating enough to know that there were much better people out there than her, but Chatterbox felt special to her. He seemed so different from all of the other guys she tried to date. She prayed that this budding relationship wouldn’t end in the same heartbreak her two other attempts did.  She took a deep breath, accepting that she was going to have to trust him on this as she smiled at him, still timid but willing to give this a shot. 

The couple talked about their lives and interests, Chatterbox listened attentively as she spoke, her voice curling around him like a soothing balm-especially after work. He watched the way her unseeing eyes sparkled as she talked about her best friend, Max, and how they had met. Feeling a tinge of jealousy at first, but it faded once he realized the sisterly way she referred to him.

By the time their dessert came to the table, his eyes started to wander over her form, the way her shoulders were exposed to the warm rays of the setting sun, making her tanned skin glow heavenly. His eyes raked over her body, taking in the tight yet flowy ensemble she had worn, cute yet also enticing. Unable to resist, his hand twitched against her fingers, wanting to reach out and feel more of her. Cautiously, he hovered his hand over her lower thigh where a sliver of skin was revealed between her plaid skirt and thigh highs, hesitating before he rested his hand there, making her breath hitch, her mouth gaped open in shock. Stilling his hand, he waited for her reaction, a few moments passed before a shy smile tugged at the cover of her lips, her hands briefly landing on his as if to keep it trapped on her delectable skin. Throughout the dessert, his fingers rubbed small patterns onto her skin, enjoying the way she squirmed and the tint of pink that had spread across her cheeks.

When the couple had finally finished their meal, the trio walked slowly back up to where Chatterbox’s car was parked, letting Dia sniff around the plants that were growing on either side of the pathway. They took the long way back to the car, taking a detour through a small garden to let Dia sniff around, and so they could have a private moment away from any prying eyes. Ray felt an anxious knot start to tie in her stomach as she thought about how this date might end, would he try to kiss her or would he just drive her home? Or… Ray’s thoughts started to spiral. She remembered how he rested his hand on her thigh and her face started to heat up as she remembered the warmth of it on her skin. Their hands were intertwined as they walked, Ray’s other hand coming up to grab his elbow to close the distance between them slightly more. Chatterbox smiled down at her, his own heart racing at the closer contact. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, his fingers briefly caressing her cheek, causing her to stop for a moment and face him. Chatterbox places his hands on her waist, drawing her closer to him as hers comes up to grip his biceps. He takes a moment to appreciate how the dim light of the garden played off her soft skin and features. Now or never, Chatterbox thought as he quickly reached up to take his mask off and shove it in his pocket. He then placed his hand on her cheek, stroking it lightly with the pad of his thumb as he slowly leaned in. Just before their lips made contact he whispered to her, his voice low, “Can I kiss you?” he asked, almost holding his breath as he waited for her answer. Ray smiled sweetly, her voice failing her, before nodding and rising onto her tiptoes slightly as he leaned down to capture her lips with his. 

The kiss started out sweet, the two of them slowly moving their lips against one another to test the water. Before long, the kiss turned more heated, both of them now caught up in the desire to be close to one another. Both of Chatterbox’s hands grasped at her waist, pulling her closer to him as her hands snaked up into his hair. When they came apart for air, Ray nuzzled her nose against Chatterbox’s cheek, gaining a slightly better understanding of his face as she brought her own hands to cup his jaw, feeling deep grooves in his face as she wondered what caused them. After they'd both caught their breath, their lips connected again, still fueled by the same passion as before. Ray found the taste of him intoxicating, slipping her tongue across his lower lip trying to get more of him, he parted his lips, tilting his head more as the kiss deepened, bringing his hand to the back of her head. He lightly bit down on her lower lip to see her reaction, and was gifted with a small moan in return.

Chatterbox was about to start placing kisses down her jaw when Dia started barking, startling the distracted couple as Chatterbox held Ray tighter to him in case anything happened. The “threat” Dia started barking at was a bunny rabbit… “Oh my god it’s a bunny,” Chatterbox started laughing, Ray feeling his body shaking slightly against hers. Her heart was pounding out of her chest for a moment there, both from the kiss and from the sudden interruption. Dia padded back to the pair now that the terrifying threat had been dealt with. 

“Did you scare off a bunny, baby girl?” Ray asked, her voice rising in pitch as she addressed her loyal protector. “Thank you for protecting us,” Ray also started laughing, joining in with Chatterbox as he was unable to regain composure from the sudden distraction. They were both a bit giddy from their previous making out, so it took a while for both of them to calm down. When the giggles from both of them had finally stopped the mood had shifted enough that they decided it was best to start walking back to the car, the moment gone from earlier. They let Dia lead the way as they trailed behind, Ray tucked under Chatterbox’s arm as she wrapped her arm around his waist under his jacket, enjoying the warmth radiating off him.

The drive home passed quickly, and before Ray knew it they were pulling into the parking lot of her apartment building, Dia sitting up to stare at the entrance while the couple said their goodbyes. “This was amazing, thank you for everything tonight Chatterbox,” Ray said sweetly, unable to keep the smile off her face as she felt Chatterbox’s hand come up to caress her cheek again as he leaned in closer to her.

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself, I had a lot of fun as well. Thank you, Ray,” his voice was low, and Ray could feel his breath tickle her face before he closed the gap between them, capturing her lips once more. Ray hummed in content, feeling his soft lips against hers once more. As Chatterbox broke the kiss, Ray tried to lean forward to kiss him again, not wanting things to end yet. “I should probably let you get inside, it’s getting quite late,” Chatterbox chuckled softly, finding her eagerness adorable. He got out of the car and quickly walked to the other side to let both her and Dia out, placing the leash in Ray’s hand and letting his hand linger against her wrist for a moment. “Have a good night, I’ll call you tomorrow,” he whispered to her.

“You too, and can’t wait,” Ray whispered back, smiling up at him as Dia led her back to the apartment building. Chatterbox waited outside his car till he was sure they made it in safely before climbing back in his car to start driving home. 

The minute Ray got back into their shared apartment, Max was immediately waiting on the couch for her in his pyjamas, equipped with a bottle of wine and snacks for them to share while she gushed about everything that happened on the date. Max really was the best friend in the whole world, sharing in her excitement over just how much of a gentleman Chatterbox was. “...and then we walked through this little garden area to let Dia sniff around a bit and he kissed me!! Omg Max it was incredible!!” Ray rambled as Max whistled, impressed at how smooth this ‘Chatterbox’ guy seemed. The two drank and chatted till the early hours of the morning, Ray unable to stop blushing as her mind kept going back to kissing Chatterbox and how incredible the date had been. 

Chapter Text

As Chatterbox got ready for the day, his head was already swimming with a million different things he had to get done. The main issue was the high command meeting that was taking place at the Liquid Library this afternoon. The establishment had become one of the main places their group met in the city, offering an under-the-table NDA for gangs to meet there without having to worry about the prying eyes of locals and the cops. The place was considered neutral ground by all gangs in Los Santos and there was a strict non-violence policy in place to make sure nothing happened within the library’s walls. As Chatterbox adjusted his bow tie, he sighed as he contemplated how he was going to bring up his issue with the Vagos members who attacked Ray without having to mention her at all. He wanted those bastards dead and gone, scum like that don’t deserve to keep walking through the city scot-free.

Ray… The thought of her made him smile softly as he remembered their impromptu coffee date (wasn’t officially a date but still) he took her on. He still remembered how hard she laughed when he pranked the drive-through attendant and how cute she looked the whole time. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her whenever they were together. He had never felt this way about anyone before and part of him was terrified by it. He knew falling in love was a dangerous game for him to play, another weak point for his enemies to play into if he were to ever slip up enough for them to catch him. After their first meeting, Chatterbox swore he was going to protect Ray and Dia from this damn city that chews up and spits out everyone that wasn’t willing to commit heinous crimes and fall into insanity. 

Even before he took over as the leader of the New Clown Order, Chatterbox had always been comfortable with violence, he had worked his way up in the gang and had earned his rank. He was always willing to get his hands dirty; the satisfaction he got from the terror that followed him was what drove him to keep going. His determination and ruthlessness were what got the NCO to where it is today, a force to be reckoned with, and feared by all. 

His phone started ringing, bringing him out of his thoughts as he checked the caller ID. It was Kirk, the underboss of this whole operation and one of his best friends. Chatterbox answered the call quickly, knowing that Kirk only tried to phone him if there was something legitimately going wrong. 

“Hey, uhhh we just went to pick up that weapons shipment near Sandy and there was a blue Duke spotted in the area ‘round the same time. It’s too damn early for that not to be on purpose,” Kirk trailed off, wanting to hear Chatterbox’s reaction before he continued. Chatterbox rubbed his forehead, shaking his head as he thought about this most recent issue they had been having with Dundee’s crew. The NCO and the BBMC had been enemies since the beginning. They were the ones who took their previous leader from them, Chatterbox’s older brother Giblets. Chatterbox swore he was going to burn the Southside gang to the ground.

They had similar styles when it came to handling matters of turf and money, violence first, questions later; power was what’s most important. Both gangs were known for their brutality when it came to those who questioned them and neither group were scared to go to jail over it. But where the BBMC usually resorted to guns to solve their issues, the clowns liked playing with their food, known for using psychological warfare and torture to cripple their enemies. The BBMC were often quite scrappy, while the clowns always added a dramatic flourish to their fighting. Recently, the BBMC had been seen in the areas of their pickups and meetings, it had happened too many times at this point for it to be a coincidence. Fuck … Chatterbox swore under his breath, it was too early in the day to be dealing with these Aussie fucks. 

“Aghhh,” he let out a loud sigh into the phone, only ever letting Kirk witness this stressed-out version of him, “We definitely have a mole, Kirk, one hundred percent.”

“Damn right we do baby, this is what we’ve been worryin’ about for weeks now, it's just a matter of findin’ out who the fuck it is now and sending the BBMC that clown’s head on a stake before we roll in 30 clowns deep and beat their asses,” Kirk’s accent got stronger as his anger increased, furious that anyone would betray their family like this. As he spoke, Chatterbox was in the process of heading out to his car and starting the drive down into the city from the funhouse in Grapeseed. 

“Who do we think is dumb enough to try and be a mole for them without us finding out?” Chatterbox asked mostly to himself but wanted to hear Kirk’s input as well. There was a loud commotion coming from Kirk’s end of the call before he spoke again,

“Sorry, I gotta let you go fer now, we’re tryin’ to get all this stuff put away. We can discuss who we think the bitch is at this meetin’ in a little bit, see you then,” his voice drawled before he hung up the phone. Chatterbox threw his phone onto the passenger seat in frustration as he tried to think of who would betray them like this. What the hell did the BBMC have that the NCO couldn’t offer them ?

As he pulled up outside of the Liquid Library, his phone vibrated, notifying him of an incoming text message. Annoyed, he grabbed his phone with a huff to check who it was from, his face breaking into a smile when he realized it was from Ray. 

Ray Mond: Excited for tonight!

Even just a text message from her soothed his irritation as he took a second to text her back, savouring a moment to himself to get to talk with her (even if only via text) before continuing with his day. He remembered when he had asked her out, using the opportunity of getting his jacket back to take her on a proper first date and how happy she seemed that he’d asked. Ray was like a little ball of light in the dark void of the rest of his life, so pure and innocent while he ran one of the most infamous and violent gangs in the city. He would do everything he could to make sure she never lost that light. Dia was also quickly stealing his heart as well, especially after Ray told him that she typically didn’t like men and had only liked Max and one other man before he came around. The guide dog seemed to trust him and he wasn’t going to do anything to break that trust. 

He heard a door from another car slam, causing him to look up quickly in case of any danger, only to see Twinkles running away from his car towards the side entrance of the building, skipping as he went. The noise had startled him out of his Ray-induced daydream allowing him to finally hit send on his response. He adjusted his clown mask once more before he got out of his car to follow Twinkles into the building.

Chatterbox: Me too, I’ll see you soon.

As he entered the establishment, the opulent interior barely registered in his mind as he made his way to the main meeting room that they had claimed as their own. The room was as elegant as the rest of the building was, with high ceilings and stained glass windows that bathed the room in blue and green light. The meeting table took up most of the space, its dark wood polished to perfection as it gleamed with the light of the room. At the centre of the room against the wall stood an impressive stone fireplace with a television mounted onto it. It was currently displaying a peep shot that Mumbles took of Twinkles running through the streets with Eli and Snuffles pretending to be an airplane. 

Most of the clowns needed for this meeting were already there, now only waiting for Kirk to arrive from one of their warehouses. Chatterbox took his seat at the head of the table, nodding to the other members who were already sitting down. Clown masks adorning their faces, they were all dressed in their typical clown getups, ranging from Chatterbox in an all-black suit to Twinkles in a bright multicoloured hoodie and a pair of what looked like blue pyjama pants with stars. They were a colourful bunch, standing out against all the other gangs in the city who stuck to only wearing all black to not draw any attention. The clowns all thought that was boring as yuck, they were proud of who they were and were not afraid to be easy targets. Whoever tried to mess with them usually ended up in the ICU, or at the bottom of the ocean depending on who they tried to provoke. Everyone was in a fairly good mood today, chatting about the latest gossip in the city as they waited. Finally, heavy footsteps could be heard outside of the meeting room, signalling Kirk’s arrival at last. 

“Which one of you motherfuckers rearranged the storage up in Paleto? It’s messier than a trailer park after a tornado in there,” Kirk barged into the room, his tone causing them all to jump. 

“It was probably Scruffy, he said he had to pull out a bunch of different things to clean them yesterday,” Mumbles, standing off to the side of the room, offered. 

“Figures…” Kirk grumbled as he took his seat at the right of Chatterbox as the discussion of storage continued. Chatterbox quickly glanced up at the clock, pleased that they still had loads of time before Ray was supposed to arrive. Chatterbox was praying all of the other clowns would be gone before he had to meet her. 

Kirk’s arrival reminded him of the conversation they had on the phone that morning, how they definitely had someone working with the BBMC in their ranks. He took his time looking over each member as they moved on to discuss material prices, zoning out and considering who it could be. There was a possibility it was a lower-ranking member, but Chatterbox couldn’t count out the people in this room yet, as much as it broke his heart to consider. 

He first looked over Sooty sat on his left; she had become a sister to him over the years; her level-headedness and detail-oriented thinking had saved his ass quite a few times over the past few years, leading him to elect her as his Consigliere to help him manage issues in the lower ranks along with advising him on big decisions. She was probably the most helpful clown out of all of them and was usually so busy there was no way she would be able to harbour a secret connection with the BBMC on top of everything else. Her loyalty was strong, and Chatterbox knew she was too smart to stoop to the level of a Southside gang.  

Chatterbox’s eyes then trailed to the man she was holding hands with, Bon Bon. The jester-like clown had also been with the NCO for quite some time now. Chatterbox himself had taken him under his wing when he realized they shared a love for gruesome hand-to-hand combat. They always trained together in the yard of the funhouse, beating on each other until they were both lying in the grass, breathing heavily. He was the younger brother Chatterbox never had. He and Sooty had gotten married a few months ago now, their budding romance was a constant teasing opportunity for the rest of the clowns but they did work well together, he had to admit. 

Next, Chatterbox looked to Mumbles who had finally come to sit down at the table beside Bon Bon. The man was a bit of a creep, Chatterbox had to admit but he was vital for getting information on practically anyone in the city. The peep joined the NCO with his brother, Stumbles, and was considered one of the clowns’ secret weapons at this point, getting intel alongside their other spy, Checkers, that no other gang had even the slightest chance of knowing. That edge was what got them to where they are today. Mumbles was indebted to the gang, they let him nurture his love for peeping without snitching on him to the cops. There was no reason for him to want to leave. 

Checkers shifted in her seat across the table as she checked her phone, bored by the discussion of material costs, drawing Chatterbox’s eye. She was their other key source for information in the city but from a more legal route, working with government officials and passing information learned along to them. Given that she was more on the legal side of their operation, she wouldn’t have been able to pass along where specific drop-offs and pickups were happening as she was not privy to any of that information. 

Twinkles was next at the table, a bundle of constant motion as he described how their finances were doing. Twinkles was a relatively new member, but quickly proved his worth as he took over as their financial advisor. No one knew a ton about his past before he came to Los Santos, except for Chatterbox. He had taken the young clown under his wing lately, thoroughly impressed by his dedication to the group.

Before he could continue his consideration of everyone in the room, Sooty called his name, placing her hand on his forearm where it rested on the table.  

“Earth to Chatterbox, you okay there Chatty?” she asked, her tone laced with concern. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he responded quickly, sitting up straighter in his chair. 

“We were just starting to discuss what Kirk was saying about the BBMC, he said he called you this morning about it,” her concern was more present now, the threat of the BBMC seemed to be looming closer, only signalling worse must be coming soon. 

“Yeah, he did,” Chatterbox kept his voice neutral, “We’re both certain there’s a mole somewhere in our ranks. It’s now just a matter of finding them and making sure they are dealt with immediately.”

“Who do you think it could be?” Bon Bon’s voice cuts through the heavy silence that now occupies the room. They all sat deep in thought, wondering who the betrayer could possibly be. Chatterbox could feel his rage start to simmer at the thought that this had slipped by him for so long. He was going to make whoever this was pay for what they've done. 

“No one has anything I can see… We need more info on people” Kirk starts, sitting up straighter in his chair and resting his forearm against the table’s edge. “Here’s what I think, we need to tell different members different locations to be at alone and then we can see which ones the BBMC pull up at and we can figure things out from there, see who’s chirpin’ to ‘em.” Chatterbox nodded, considering the idea, it would be a good way to see who's bad at keeping their mouth shut in general.

“But what if it’s someone in this room?” Chatterbox asked, knowing he was throwing fuel onto a fire but needing to get it off his chest. They all looked at him with fear in their eyes at the thought that one of them would betray everyone like this. Their fear helped settle the nagging feeling in the back of his mind, almost. 

“You really think one of us would betray everyone like that?” Twinkles asked, his voice quivered. Chatterbox swallowed, not wanting to break the adorable clown’s heart but still locked eyes with him, giving him a grave look,

“Twinkles, hablaremos más tarde, okay ?” Twinkles nodded in response, looking down to fiddle with a loose string on his hoodie. He would have a private conversation about this with Twinkles later. He had picked up Spanish from dealing with the Vagos and Marabunta Grande for so long; it came in handy for speaking privately with either Twinkles or Kirk without other clowns understanding. Chatterbox also spoke French from his childhood in Canada but he found he had to use it less frequently.

Both Mumbles and Checkers vowed to keep an eye out for any clowns going to suspicious areas or any red flags raised before the room fell into a heavy silence once more. Chatterbox lets out a small sigh and changes the subject of conversation, knowing they weren’t going to be able to get anywhere on finding out who it was today. 

“On a different note, we need to hunt down some Vagos members. I need them dead by the end of the week.”

“Why,” Kirk asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

“Don’t question me on this, Kirk. Mumbles, I have the three douchebags' names already, I need you to find them and get me all the information you can on them. Stumbles and Wayne can bring them to me and I’ll deal with these sacks of shit.” His annoyance caught all of their attention, Chatterbox almost always gave some kind of reason (even if it was insignificant) as justification for killing people, especially if he wanted them hunted down specifically. There was always a story to tell as to why a person needed to die. 

“We’re already dealing with the BBMC, do we really want another gang coming to bang on our doorstep at the same time?” Ursula dared to question. They all knew Chatterbox had a bad temper, causing him to blow without notice but they all agreed with Ursula’s worry, that conflict with two gangs at once would be a bad idea. Chatterbox’s anger simmered under his skin, why couldn’t they just do what they were asked for once without him having to explain everything?!

“Mando Ramirez, Hector Sanchez, Pedro Ortiz. If they’re not dead in—“ he cuts himself off when he hears a dog growling downstairs, instantly knowing it’s Dia. “All of you stay here.” He gets up from his chair aggressively and storms out of the room, his previous anger quickly boiling over into rage as his eyes scan the front gallery for the black guide dog and her owner. He spotted the pair with another fucking Vagos member daring to place his hands on her. Ignoring the confusion of the other clowns, he storms over to them, preparing to give Benji Ramos hell.

After Chatterbox dropped Ray off after their date, he took a minute to finally check his phone after it had been ignored since he barged out of the meeting. He cringed at how many messages and missed phone calls he had, knowing it would have been way more if Sooty hadn’t accidentally walked in on their date while looking for him. They had seen him punch Benji, but luckily, a bookshelf had blocked Ray and Dia from their view, so none of them knew the actual reason for the blow. He skimmed through the messages, not bothering to respond to most of them other than calling Stumbles Fumbles, his weapons master and one of the captains for the crew, telling him to work with Wayne Freeman to hunt down the three Vagos members and bring them to the smelter by tomorrow night. Chatterbox had given Ray his account of what the three men looked like to give to the police, but he knew that the cops wouldn’t do a damn thing about it, already spread too thin trying to deal with all of the gang activity that was alive and well in the city. The NCO would make sure the three were dealt with in a timely fashion , Chatterbox thought as a wicked smirk stretched across his face. He still had yet to put his mask back on after kissing Ray, his lips still tingling with the memory of her as he reached into the glovebox to put his clown mask back on. 

Pulling out of the parking lot of Ray’s apartment building, he headed back up North to Grapeseed, zoning out and only thinking about her. He could tell he was falling hard for her, more than he’d had for anyone else before. He had never seriously dated before, always thinking it was too much of a risk to bring another person into his life who would only become a target for his enemies. The last person he let get close to him died by his own hand after he thought she betrayed the clowns to help the BBMC. Giggles had been his best friend, so close that everyone thought that they were dating.

When he pulled up outside of the funhouse, he could see Kirk’s car parked outside. Chatterbox braced himself for whatever disapproving rant he was about to face from him. Slowly walking inside the house, Kirk was already standing by the front door waiting for him with his arms crossed and an annoyed look etched onto his face. Because Kirk was older than him, there were occasional moments when he seemed more like his father figure than his best friend. This was one of those times. 

“Where the fuck were you?” Kirk hissed out. Chatterbox cringed at the amount of anger in his voice. He tried to walk past Kirk to the kitchen to get a drink, but Kirk moved to block his path. “No, you are not goin’ a step further in this here house until you tell me where the hell you’ve been and why you just left a meetin’ like that. Have you fuckin’ lost it?” Kirk took a breath to try and control his rage, “And what is the fuckin’ issue you have with the Vagos all of a sudden? Sure, they’re not great, I don’t like ‘em either, but there’s no need to stir up this much trouble over nothin’. Wars have been started over less, Chatterbox.” Deep down Chatterbox knew Kirk was right. To the rest of the clowns, this was coming out of nowhere and created a lot of unnecessary risk by trying to murder three members of an enemy gang.

“They’ve been attacking random people in the streets, preying on vulnerable women, Kirk,” he started, choosing his words carefully, “A few days ago I had to intervene to get them to leave an innocent woman and her guide dog alone, like… they’re out of control.” He paused as Kirk took a deep breath. Chatterbox knew his best friend was staunchly against hurting innocent people, thinking that violence should be kept between gangs only. 

“Why’d you punch Benji, same issue?”

“Yep.” Chatterbox watched Kirk’s eyes as his resolve crumbled.

“Fine, I get it more now. We can go kill those Vagos members, it’ll help send a message to them at least. We probably shouldn’t kill Benji though.”

“No, Benji’s not on the list, yet, don’t worry. I already told Stumbles and Wayne to have them at the smelter by tomorrow. And the woman they attacked probably went to the cops so they’ll be looking for these rats as well, so it’ll cover our tracks more.” Kirk looked him in the eye for a moment before finally stepping back and uncrossing his arms. The matter was resolved for now, it seemed, as Chatterbox finally headed into the dark kitchen. Kirk suddenly snatches the container of cookies that he had brought in from the car out of his hands. “Hey!”

“You stressed me the fuck out so I’m taking your damn cookies, you bitch. And that still doesn’t answer where you went, by the way,” Kirk probed as he opened the container and popped one in his mouth. Chatterbox forced himself to stay calm and not sucker punch his best friend, focusing on pouring himself a glass of whiskey instead. Kirk raised an unimpressed eyebrow to which Chatterbox responded by flipping him off, taking a sip of the fiery liquid. He made a grab for the cookies which Kirk dodged easily.

“Come on man, those are from—“ Chatterbox quickly clamped his mouth shut, realizing he was about to say far too much. 

“From who, Chatterbox? Who were you just with? Sooty said you were fine. She didn’t give any more information. Where, the fuck, were you, Chatterbox? And with who?”

“Why are you being so damn anal about this Kirk? Am I not allowed to go anywhere without telling you now?” Chatterbox bit back, knowing it was a bad move but wanting this conversation to be over. Kirk walked towards him slowly, the shadowy room making his unmasked face look more severe. 

“I’m onto you. Alright? I’m not gonna press you further right now ‘cause I don’t wanna get punched or anything but I will just say, don’t be stupid, Chatterbox.” he said in a hushed tone before he turned on his heel and headed out of the funhouse. Chatterbox rubbed his hands over his face when he heard the front door slam shut. Lying to Kirk was always a bad call, but he wasn’t ready for any of the clowns to know about Ray yet. He didn’t want them to spoil the bliss he had with her quite yet. 

Chapter Text

The bouncing of Ray’s foot echoed through the vacant lobby of the Mission Row Police Department. The room was welcoming, if a bit sterile, with a high ceiling that stretched up several stories, hallways lining either side up to the roof. Four plain grey benches were in the centre of the waiting area, making a square around the Los Santos Police Department logo in the centre of the floor. The only sound in the room was from the two vending machines by the entrance, creating a quiet electric buzz. Ray was waiting for the receptionist to come back with an officer she could talk to about the whole situation with the guys who jumped her. Three people entered the lobby, heading in Ray’s direction. 

“Officer Opal and Officer Peters can speak with you now ma’am,” the receptionist spoke with a bored voice before he went to sit back down behind his desk. The two cops were both in uniform, fully suited up to deal with whatever the day had to throw at them. Officer Opal approached Ray first, smiling slightly at the dog tucked under Ray’s legs. Officer Peters followed behind, his movements tracked by the ever-diligent guard dog. Ray stood up to greet them, keeping her grip tight on Dia’s harness. 

“Good morning, Ray,” Officer Opal broke the silence first, “I’m Officer Opal and this is my associate Officer Peters. We were tasked with reading over the preliminary info that you sent in. We can take you into a more private room to discuss what occurred if you would like?”

Ray nodded as she commanded Dia to follow after the two officers, her nerves only getting worse the farther she went into the building. She fiddled with the file folder in her other hand, containing both what Chatterbox gave her on the guy’s appearances and a written-out account that she had typed out to give to them.

“So,” Officer Peters started, his Southern accent quite present, “What did you need to see us for today ma’am?”

“I–I wanted to inform you guys of an attack that took place the other day downtown,” Ray launches into the story, telling the cops every detail she could remember as they listened silently, bored looks on their faces. When she was done there was a few moments before anyone said anything, the only sound in the room coming from Dia’s breathing. 

“Ma’am you said this incident happened a few days ago?” Officer Peters questioned.

“Yes…”

“What in the hell do you think we’re able to do about it at this point? Can you even name what street it happened on?”

“Um…” She paused, that was the one thing she didn’t know for sure, she had forgotten to ask Chatterbox when he gave her the descriptions. Ray only knew they were somewhere downtown, she was kicking herself now for not asking. “Somewhere on Vespucci Boulevard downtown, I don’t know what section I was in though.”

“Okay, Ma’am, I’m sorry but because this happened so long ago and because we only have a written out, could totally be fake, description of the suspects, we’re not going to take this case any further. We can keep these things on file in case of a repeat incident with these men but, uh, this could easily be an attempt to frame these guys or something so…”

“If you could bring the witness in to talk to us as well, we might look into it more Miss Mond,” Officer Opal offered, trying to be helpful. But Ray could only focus on the growing pit in her stomach as they brushed her off so easily. It was like they didn’t even care about the people they were supposed to protect. Officer Opal continued when Ray didn’t respond, “I’m really sorry Ray but our resources are stretched very thin right now, we don’t have the time to go investigate a case that happened over a week ago now with almost nothing to go off of. And like Officer Peters here said, this could be a setup on these men that we don’t want to progress any further.” Ray just nodded, words failing her at this moment. 

“The best thing you can do,” Peters started, leaning closer in his seat, “is try to be more aware of your surroundings when you go out. I mean c’mon, you’re an attractive woman, and especially dressed like that, guys are gonna be all over you so, just try to be a bit smarter when you go out.” Ray was both stunned and disgusted by his “advice.” She could deal with the cops not being able to do anything, she expected that in all honesty, but trying to blame her for it happening was a whole new level of fucked up. Ray wondered if Officer Opal agreed with her as she also stayed silent after Officer Peters' suggestion. Opal cleared her throat, and rose from her chair, 

“We will keep this information on hand, I’m really sorry we were not able to do anything for you today. I’ll escort you back up to the front.” Ray and Dia followed after her quickly, happy to be away from this Peters guy who seemed like a completely useless douchebag. She quietly thanked Opal for her time before heading outside to Max’s taxi, making sure Dia was inside before she started to break down crying.

“Oh no, dahling, what happened?” Max consoled her as she sat with her head in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she silently sobbed. It wasn’t sadness over them not helping, it was the embarrassment she felt as they talked down to her as if she was some lesser being, incapable of doing anything that was the cause of her tears. Max gently rubbed her back to help try and calm her down, Dia peeking her head through the seats as well to offer support. After a few minutes, Ray had calmed down enough to detail to Max everything that was said to her, his grip tightening on the steering wheel as she recounted what Officer Peters said. 

“...and then I got the hell outta there and came to cry in your car,” Ray finished her story, slumping deeper into the passenger seat. 

“What that officer said to you was awful, Ray, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be with you for that,” the genuine regret in Max’s voice made Ray smile softly, she knew Max would walk to the ends of the earth with her if she needed him to. 

“It’s okay, Max, you’ve helped me so much with this already, I don’t think your presence would’ve changed much back there anyway.” Max sighed but didn’t continue, he was silent for the rest of the drive until he bid her farewell at the apartments. 

Once Ray was back inside their home, she crawled into bed, throwing the covers over her head to hide from the world for a while. At some point, Dia climbed up to join her, snuggled up next to her side. She was snoring softly as Ray tried to think of what she could do with the rest of her day. She was ahead on work, and she didn’t feel like stressing herself out with that after the fiasco she just endured. She decided to call Chatterbox, wanting to let him know the cops weren’t going to do anything. The dial tone rang a few times before Ray could hear his deep voice coming through the phone.

“Ray, Hi! It’s good to hear from you.”

“Hi! It’s good to hear from you as well.”

“Is everything okay? You seem upset,” Chatterbox asked, causing her to clear her throat, shocked by how quickly he was able to catch on. 

“Uh, yeah, well no…kinda,” she settled on.

“Kinda? Care to elaborate?”

“I went to talk to the cops today, and it was useless, they’re not gonna do anything! And this one cop talked down to me the whole time because he thinks I’m hot basically.

“What?! Uhhh, what was the cop’s name?” Chatterbox asked casually and Ray could hear paper rustling in the background along with the click of a pen.

“Are you writing this down?” Ray laughed in disbelief.

“Yeah! I gotta remember these shitbags names, I can’t let them treat you like this.” Ray’s heart swelled at him being so willing to go to bat for her.

“Officer Peters was his name, I didn’t get his first name. And Opal was the other cop, she was much nicer though.”

“Peters…aaand Opal,” Ray could hear him writing, “Okay! Now that I have that down, how have you been outside of dealing with these stupid cops?” Ray giggled at his antics, and they talked for longer than usual on the phone before Chatterbox had to hang up to deal with someone for work. 

“Before you go, do you maybe want to meet up again soon? If you have the time?” Ray bit her lip, waiting for a response. 

“I would love to Ray, are you free tomorrow?” Her heart skipped a beat at the suggestion of meeting again so soon.

“I am!”

“Alright, I’ll pick you up around 7 pm tomorrow, I gotta go, bye.”

Okay, Buh-bye!!

Ray rolled over onto her stomach to scream into her pillow, startling Dia in the process. Who knew a single phone call could make her day so much better?

Officer Opal checked over her shoulder before she headed out into the garage of the MRPD building. She quickly walked over to her car and got in, making sure that no one saw her heading out. She drove for a little while before turning into a tunnel under an overpass and tucked her car away in a corner where it wouldn’t be seen. Stopping to take a breath for a moment, she reaches for her phone to call up Vinny Pistone, one of the core members of Chang Gang, the most prolific gang in the city of Los Santos. Officer Opal became their intel connection for the LSPD a few months ago when the corruption and chaos in the force started to reach unprecedented levels. In addition to providing any info that the cops had on CG, Vinny had also specifically asked her to give him any information that was brought in about a woman named Ray Mond, and a man named Maximillian Angel. He’d never told her why he wanted to know about those two specifically –vehemently claiming they were not gang members– but they were people he wanted to make sure were kept safe and out of trouble. Until today, neither of their names were even entered into their system except for Maximillian being a witness for something that went down at the Liquid Library a few years ago.

“Opal, whadda surprise, what are you callin’ me for? Is everything good?” 

“Vinny, you know that girl that you asked me to keep an eye out for her name? Uhh Ray Mond?” Opal really didn’t know how this conversation was going to go so she took things slow.

“Yeah, talk to me, what happened? Is she okay?” His voice lowered, showing his concern, Opal could tell he was walking somewhere more quiet so he could hear her better. 

“She seems to be fine but uh… she came in today to give an incident report, talking about how she was attacked a little over a week ago–”

“–Yeah she mentioned something like that to me but didn’t give any details, what happened there? Who do I need to go kill? Gimme the fuckin’ list, Opal!” Opal’s hands start shaking as she takes out her photocopied version of the notes Ray gave on her attackers.

“Uh the-the descriptions say, Mando Ramirez, Hector Sanchez, and Pedro Or–”

“Fuckin’ Vagos motherfuckers, absolute fuckin’ scum of the earth,” he cussed, pausing for a second to take a breath, “Okay, thank you, Opal, for letting me know. I know you useless sacks of shit probably already told her you’re not doin’ nothing and made her cry so I’m gonna go deal with them the right way, but you didn’t hear that, got it?”

“You might wanna add Tyler Peters to that list, Mr. Pistone. Have a good day.”

Vinny slammed his phone down on his desk in his office at Carrozzeria, causing the desk to shake and coffee to splash out of his forgotten mug. He looked around his office for a moment, it was a small room, bathed in light from the window that looked over the garage. The room was in a state of what could only be described as orderly chaos as there were papers strewn about but Vinny knew exactly where everything was, he just never bothered keeping it more organized for everyone else. He rubbed his hands over his face and head for a moment to process everything that he was just told, fuckin’ Vagos, scum of the earth honestly…

He headed down the stairs from his office to the garage, relieved to see another core member of CG pull up as he did. Taco got out of his car, wearing his typical red mechanic-style jumpsuit with his hair held back out of his face with a black bandana, before he even spotted the Italian, Vinny was already heading straight for him.

“Taco, we gotta go right now, go, get in my truck right now we’re goin’ huntin’, go” Vinny ordered him, not answering any of Taco’s rightfully confused questions. 

“Alright alright, I’m goin’!” 

Once they were both in the car and pulling out of the garage, Vinny started to explain more, “We’re clappin’ some Vagos dumbfucks right now, you gotta gun on you?”

“No, no I don’t, who are we clapping? And why, Vinny?”

“These sacks of shit thought it would be a good idea to attack someone very close to me and her dog, she’s like a daughter to me so we gotta show these boys that that shit’s not gonna fly.”

“Say less, alright, alright. Who’s this girl? I don’t think you’ve mentioned anyone like this before unless Novah has a dog I don’t know about.”

“Nah, she’s not related to the gang at all, she’s one of my long-time clients at the shop, she’s blind but she always comes in with her roommate, that guy who’s like anal about keeping his taxi in the best shape possible. They’re good kids, I try to look out for them whenever I can.”

“Right, right, you’ve mentioned them before I think, yeah.”

“But yeah, Mando, Hector, and Pedro jumped her and her guide dog the other day and the cops aren’t doin’ nothin’ obviously so we’re gonna handle it for them I figure.” They pulled up at one of Chang Gang’s storehouses to grab guns, picking up Curtis along the way to have an extra person with them while they tried to hunt these guys down. They searched all over the city for them, even asking other Vagos members that they were friendly with if they had seen them but their second in command, Benji, told them that they’d been missing since the early morning, no one’s heard a single peep from any of them. 

“You’re not looking too hot Benji, where’d that black eye come from?” Curtis asked, wanting to make conversation while Vinny considered their next move. He was always interested in the latest gossip in the city. 

“Chatterbox got a good hit on me at the Liquid Library the other day. I was talking to a random girl when he just came up and started threatening me out of nowhere.” Benji explained, still somewhat embarrassed by that whole exchange. 

“Chatterbox? Are you kidding me? The NCO’s tryna move into the South more I swear. They’re already enough of a menace where they are, at least Grapeseed gives all of us some distance from their crazy asses.” Taco added, listening in from the passenger seat. 

“Yeah, well. I clearly got on his bad side the other day so I pray for the sake of all of us that it's not happening. None of us would be prepared for a full clown takeover.” All of the CG members hummed in agreement. Under the rule of Chatterbox, the clowns had built themselves into a terrifying force to be reckoned with, any gang would be stupid to try and go against them these days. 

“Thanks, Benji, we’ll keep an eye out for those guys that are missing and we’ll let you know, okay? Watch out for any clown freaks!” Vinny yelled as they started driving away. Once out of earshot he loudly sighed, smacking his hand against the steering wheel in frustration. Someone else must’ve gotten to them first, but Vinny had no idea who it could be. They sat in silence in the car as they drove back to the storehouse. The silence was finally broken by Curtis, looking up from his phone,

“Wait, you said this girl’s name was Ray Mond? And she was blind? Taco, does that seem familiar to you at all?” 

A lone figure stood perched atop the upper floor of a dilapidated building in the industrial section on the outskirts of Los Santos, their hands gripping the rusted metal railing as he loomed over the room. Smoke curled lazily from the corners of the room, its wisps escaping the cracked windows like fiery tendrils burning through the air, leaving a trail of invisible devastation. The figure tapped their foot impatiently; a cool calm radiated from his stance as they waited, seemingly detached from the ongoings of the world outside as their mind was centred around fulfilling a singular goal and nothing else: vengeance.

The smoke danced around the figure's feet, wrapping around their legs before drifting upwards, melding with the heavy shadows that littered the room. The embers in the covers crackled softly, their faint glow flickering and casting patterns on the walls, illuminating the decay that had built up over the years of misuse.

Suddenly, a spark of light ignited from the fiery pits of hell scattered around the building, the orange glow revealing the figure's face: an imposing, muscular man wearing a pitch-black suit, almost blending in with the shadows of the room if not for his white mask. The mask was a grotesque combination of fright and comedy,  a terrifyingly exaggerated smile stretching across half its length. Evoking fear in all those who had the misfortune to witness it.

Chatterbox, the man who lay behind the mask, stood with his eyes closed as he listened to the chaotic symphony around him: the fainting hissing of embers lapping at the sides of the large metal vats, the roar of the smelter as it was filled with liquid akin to molten lava, ready to consume everything in their wake. The stench of burnt bodies lingered in the room despite the apparent efforts to remove the stench as the rest of the room held the smell of antiseptic.

The silence was broken as he whispered into the heavy air, his voice a dark growl holding a silent promise, "You fucked around…" He kicked a small rock that rested next to his, too, watching as it fell into the fiery pits of lava, testing the intensity of the liquid as he watched it combust and melt into the pool almost instantly; its demise was a brief but violent spectacle. "And you're going to find out." His voice was steady and collected. However, an undercurrent of rage seeped out, betraying his tranquil exterior as he thought of the people who had wronged those who were close to him. Calming himself, knowing that he would get his revenge soon enough.

His thoughts drifted back to that fateful day, the night that had altered the course of his life. When he had been minding his own business, driving past the deserted streets of Los Santos, the city's flickering lights casting a faint glow across the road, lighting his way, the faint rumble of his engine had soothed his frayed nerves as he drove to his destination. The destination he no longer remembered; it had become irrelevant as soon as he heard a muffled yell pierce through the night sky, barely audible over the roar of his engine. He had almost missed it, but seemingly by fate, he had been stopped by a red light, preventing him from carrying on in his journey; it forced him to notice the beginning of a horrific sight.

He had spotted her surrounded by a group of men. The sight of her struggling while being rough-handled sent blood-hot anger coursing through his body; his rage somehow grew as one of the men tore off the woman's shirt, leaving her to suffer the harsh chill of the night as they tried to drag her off to god knows where after they attempted to muffle her cries for help using the very shirt they had taken from her.

He had leapt out of his car without a second thought, an unseen force driving him towards the heart-wrenching scene at a speed that surprised even him.

Pulling out a gun from his back pocket, he shouted at the offenders, his voice carrying over the commotion, washing over the dark alleyway as he attempted to scare them away from the poor woman, threatening them with the barrel of his gun when they seemed reluctant to move away, having thought that there was safety in numbers. How wrong they were. The defiant in their eyes quickly burned to fear; he watched as realization crept spread across their faces when they recognized his mask, his reputation preceding him. The realization had dawned on their faces like a death sentence as they tried to reason with him. However, he held firm, aiming his gun at the supposed leader's head as he threatened them.

They ran out of the alley, scattering with their tails between their legs. "Vagos," he scoffed under his breath in disgust as he saw the yellow bandannas wrapped around their faces—the signature of the South side gang—fluttering in the wind as they ran. They were cowardly bastards who would prey on the weak, daring to hurt a vulnerable woman. His thoughts of them were heightened as he saw her state, tears streaming down her face in thick droplets; her puffy red eyes looked at him, wide in fear. The bruises marred her skin, littering her arms where those bastards had forcibly gripped her.

Assuming that she was merely traumatized by the events that had been forced upon her, he cautiously approached her. However, something else caught his attention—a movement from the torn concrete. A dark silhouette lay on the ground: a large dog in evident pain as it softly twitched. The rage, which had been subdued by the attackers leaving, had rekindled full force at the injured animal. How dare they hurt something so innocent? The thought of hurting an animal sent a shiver down his frame as he quickly knelt to check if it was okay; looking closely, he was able to see that it was wearing a neon yellow vest, the words "Guide Dog" printed on its side. The realization of just how vulnerable the woman was washed over him; she was blind, and her only companion had been cruelly attacked, leaving her to face the men, scared and alone.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the door to the building creaked open. Two familiar figures entered, roughly shoving his new victims through the door frame. Their hands bound in intricate knots, their mouths gagged, and their eyes covered with blindfolds. He waited in anticipation as he watched them struggle, their voices muffled by the fabric as they attempted to plead for mercy. His heart pounded as he watched them get closer, a dark satisfaction washing over him as he surveyed the scene. The men had been those from that very night, lecherous men who couldn't keep their hands to themselves. They had touched those he had come to care about, and he would ensure they would never be able to do so again.

The room seemed to close around him, the smoke and shadows coalescing into a palpable force that fuelled his desire for vengeance. The molten vats seemed to hiss and bubble with a renewed vigour, their heat radiating outwards, coating the air with a dry heat that would have caused his skin to break out in the heat if not for his experience. The air was thick with the promise of independent violence.

He stepped forward, his mask menacingly gleaming in the fiery light, his frame casting a long, imposing shadow over the back wall. He knew there was no turning back for his new victims; their fate had been fixed since he had stumbled upon them. The journey that had started with a single scream was about to culminate into a blaze, one they had no chance of escaping from.

A haunting whistle pierced the air as Chatterbox made his way down towards the group, the shadows on his face harsh against the flying embers. The sound echoed across the chamber as he skillfully pushed himself over the weakened railing, leaping over it to land nearly on the ground floor. The thud of his heavy boots hitting the ground jolted the already panicked victims, causing them to erratically turn their heads to find the source of the sound. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he saw them panic, relishing the fear emanating from them.

“Welcome,” he said, his voice dripping with mock hospitality. He circled the captives slowly, savouring the terror that radiated from them. “I’m sure you remember me.” One of the captives whimpered, the sound muffled but unmistakable. Chatterbox stopped in front of him, leaning in close. “Oh, sorry,” whispering menacingly and mocking them, “I forgot you can’t see.” The three men in front of him trembled, their knees shaking. One tried to break free of his restraints, wanting to escape from the situation their actions had brought them to.

He straightened, signalling to his associates, Stumbles and Wayne—both loyal clowns—to remove the gags. They stepped forward, removing each gag one by one. Suddenly, the pleading washed over the room as the captives begged for their lives. However, Chatterbox paid them no mind; there was no talking their way out of this. For the past week, he had done his research, locating the scumbags that had dared to hurt what was his. He’d had his spy, Mumbles, stalk their every moment to find out every single detail about them, where they lived, who they talked to, what they did. Everything was carefully collated into an organized file, their names printed with their faces;

The first man was Mando Ramirez, a stout man with an unfortunate buzz cut with a face to match. He wore a yellow plaid button-up shirt open, revealing his abdomen covered in badly done prison tattoos underneath. He had committed a few petty crimes, 2 counts of grand theft auto, 5 physical assaults, and 1 assisted attempted murder. A small fry in the criminal world testing his luck.

The next was Hector Sanchez. There was little to no record of him. He seemed like an upstanding citizen if not for his three counts of petty theft and his relation to the third man who stood beside him, his uncle and mentor, Pedro Ortiz. Sanchez could have turned his life around if not for the mistake of messing with a vulnerable woman. With his clean appearance of no visible tattoos, higher-than-average looks, and general features, he could have blended into the backdrop of Los Santos's life.

Finally, the pseudo-leader of the trio was Pedro Ortiz; you could see the familial resemblance between him and the younger man; both held the same stocky build and square jaws. However, Otriz was covered by a full beard, which was his main disguise. His face tattoos were usually hidden by his cap but now were on full display. Unlike the two beside him, he held a much larger list of charges and a long history of being in and out of prison: 3 charges of attempted 2nd-degree murder, 5 sexual assault charges, 1st-degree murder and finally, a few handfuls of joyriding and theft, nothing worth mention. Ortiz was merely a lowlife working under the Vagos’s umbrella of protection, and his death would have no true consequence.

The three were unimportant members of the Vagos, hang-arounds, thugs. Their lives didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, and he would show them exactly what it meant to mess with the wrong people.

Chatterbox stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the three thugs in front of him, “Do you know why you’re here?” he asked in his high-pitched voice, cold and detached, “Do you understand what you’ve done?”

A bloodthirsty smirk grew on his lips as Ramirez and Sanchez trembled. Ramirez was the first to speak, his voice a quiet mutter as he shook, “W-we didn’t mean to-”

“Silence,” he snapped, cutting him off; he didn’t want to listen to their pathetic excuses and pleads for the lives they couldn’t save. “You didn’t mean to?” he scoffed, his voice growing in volume as he spoke, “You didn’t mean to assault an innocent woman? You meant to beat an animal?” he cut himself off with a frustrated growl, grabbing Ramirez by the collar, hauling him up to face him, letting his hot breath wash over the man’s face, “You knew exactly what you were going to do…Choices have consequences.” He released him, letting him tumble back to the floor, hefted up by Wayne, whose face was a mask of indifference, but his eyes studied the crazy form of his leader.

Turning to Stumbles and Wayne, Chatterbox gave them a curt nod. The clowns moved quickly towards a makeshift table next to the base of the smelter; it was covered in an array of tools, a selection of knives, pliers and other implements of pain. The captives struggled against their restraints as they listened attentively to the sound of clashing metal, the sharpening of a knife as Chatterbox scraped two blades together before putting them down.

“Now... I’m sure you’ve had fun being dragged around like you’re blind… but I think it’ll be more fun to show you.” He released his clown-like laughter, the sound washing over their senses as their blindfolds were promptly removed. They squinted around the room, trying to place themselves and study their surroundings. However, Ortiz’s eyes were fixed on Chatterbox, watching the way he hovered his hand across the tools, carefully selecting a pair of pliers and inspecting them.

Chatterbox spun the pliers playful in his hands as he approached Sanchez, his sunglasses doing little to hide the murderous intent. “You…” he spoke softly, his voice almost gentle, “You could’ve walked away and had a normal life-” he clicked his tongue in faux disappointment, “Oh well... Everyone makes mistakes… right?” Without warning, he grabbed Sanchez’s hand, forcing his fingers apart as he brought the pliers to his fingernails, slowly and deliberately pulling each one free as the young man screamed, the sound echoing through the chamber as his colleague watched in horror, knowing that they would be next.

“Stop! Please!” the victim begged, large drops of tears streaming down his face as he tried to pull his hand away, “I’ll do anything!”

He was ignored as Chatterbox moved on to the next finger. “Too late,” he said calmly, a soft menacing whisper accompanied by the crackle of embers. He continued his grim work, one finger at a time.

Finally, he released the bloody hand, admiring his work as blood spurt from the wounds. His attention was drawn to his bloodstained gloves, wrinkling his nose under his mask as he tried to shake the blood off, frowning as he muttered under his breath, “Shame that’s going to stain…”

He brought his attention back up, turning to Ortiz as his nephew clutched his bleeding hand. “The leader…” he growled, his voice dripping with contempt, “The one who thought he was untouchable.”

The man glared at him, his dark brown eyes steeled with defiance, even in the face of death. “You’ll pay for this.” he spat, “The Vagos will come for you.”

In response, Chatterbox laughed, a cold, mirthless sound as he mocked him, “You think they care? For useless little Pedro Ortiz? The one always failing, always getting caught…” his voice was chilling as he spoke, “Let them come… they’ll find nothing.”

He turned to inspect a knife from the table, hands tilting the knife so its sharp blade glinted in the firelight, “You’re going to wish you’d never been born,” his words were a promise that hung in the air for a brief second before he slashing the knife across Ortiz’s chest in a swift motion.

The blade cut deep, and blood poured from the wound into his open, yellow flannel shirt; he gasped in pain, yet he tried to hide it as he clenched his fists and refused to scream, his teeth biting into his lips as his flesh was carved. Chatterbox worked methodically, his movements precise and controlled, watching the way the defiance slowly slipped from the man’s eyes from the onslaught, blood running down his pain-filled face.

Finally, he stepped back, examining his handiwork. He spared a glance to Ramirez. He stood shaking, taking in the forms of his friends bleeding out on the floor, struggling to stay awake from the blood loss. His eyes swept over him, taking satisfaction in the dark strain at the front of his pants before being turned to Stumbles and Wayne, who were waiting silently.

“Clean this up,” he ordered them as he cleaned his knife, “Burn them alive.”

The two clowns nodded, moving forward to carry out his orders as he walked towards the exit, his steps measured and unhurried. He relished the sound of sizzling flesh as a body was tossed into the molten liquid, eating away the evidence of his displeasure.

The night air hit him as he stepped outside, cool and refreshing after the stifling heat of the smelter. He breathed deeply, the tension leaving his body, knowing he had righted a wrong and would be able to continue his day in peace.

Checking the time, he pulled out his phone, blood-stained fingers tapping on the screen, heart brightening at the sight of her name. He sent a singular message;

Chatterbox: Look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Chapter Text

The second date Chatterbox took Ray on brought them to a smoky jazz club, Ray felt somewhat out of her element in the lavish environment. The club was decorated as if it were the roaring twenties, dark emerald green and shiny gold covered the decor of the place, making it seem as if you were stepping into a jewelled kingdom of emeralds. A crystal chandelier hung in the space, casting a kaleidoscope around the room and giving the establishment an almost ethereal ambiance. There was live music tonight, setting a lively tone for the place as everyone headed out onto the small dance floor. 

The couple sat tucked away in a private booth, hidden from the prying eyes of other patrons. They both had been sipping their drinks the whole night, focusing more on each other than the booze or the flowing melodies. They sat close to one another, Chatterbox resting his hand on Ray’s knee as he leaned in closer to hear her better over the music. 

“You look incredible, by the way,” Chatterbox whispered in her ear, his breath hot on her neck. Ray could feel herself blush deeply at the compliment as she fiddled with the bracelet she was wearing. Max had helped her pick out her outfit for tonight, a short beige dress that did an amazing job of complimenting her figure, and a pair of white strappy heels. She wore her hair loose in waves down her back. 

“Thank you Chatty,” Chatterbox chuckled softly at the nickname, it was one that everyone resorted to using for him; Chatterbox got to be a bit of a mouthful sometimes. He noticed her fidgeting hands and moved his from her knee to land on top of hers, gently lacing their fingers together. She tilted her head up towards him, a smile playing softly on her lips as he leaned down to meet her with a sweet kiss. The kiss quickly got more heated, fueled by their unspoken need for one another and the subtle taste of liquor on their lips. Chatterbox’s hand returned to Ray’s thigh as she slid her hands up his arms to grasp at the back of his head. Their tongues danced against one another as they pulled at each other's clothes. The world around them ceased to exist as they were solely wrapped up in one another. 

Just as Chatterbox started to leave a trail of kisses down her neck he quickly pulled away at the sound of their waiter coming by with another round of drinks. Both of them sat awkwardly blushing until the waiter walked off to help another table. Once he was gone, they both burst into a fit of giggles over the fact they got caught. They spent the rest of the date stealing sweet kisses from one another. Chatterbox's arm rested over Ray’s shoulder for the rest of the night, absentmindedly rubbing circles into her bare arm. Her hands rested on his crossed legs, thoroughly enjoying the warmth radiating off of him. When he kissed her goodbye at the end of the night, she had a mental battle over whether she should invite him up to her apartment or not, but her anxiety won out and she took the elevator back up to her floor alone. 

Their third date was something Ray suggested, she knew the petting zoo up in Grapeseed was normally open this time of year, so she had suggested that they make the drive up to pet some cute animals and escape from the bustling city for a little bit. Ray was surprised to learn that Chatterbox actually lived in that area. Was he a farmer or something? The sun was already high in the sky when they arrived so most of the animals were hanging out inside the barn to escape the heat. The couple were some of the only people there as it was midweek and most people were busy with work. They slowly made their way through the barn, Chatterbox carefully directing her to make sure she didn’t step in or on anything. Their hands kept brushing against each other when petting the animals, and each time it sent tingles down both of their spines, making them both blush. The setting didn’t exactly allow either of them to do anything about the rising tension between them so they carried on walking around the barn. 

“That is one cute chick,” Chatterbox said quietly, almost under his breath, as he admired Ray as she patted a small chicken on the head. Ray wasn’t entirely sure if the compliment was directed at her or the animal, so she just let out a breathy laugh while nodding in agreement. For the rest of the date, they challenged each other to come up with as many animal-related pick-up lines as they could, laughing at the more ridiculous ones. Ray ended up taking the cake though, as they were heading back to the car, “Did you have fun?” Chatterbox asked, biting his lip as he glanced down at her.

“Yeah! Wish I could’ve pet something else though…”

Chatterbox was stunned by that one, only responding with a bashful “okay” as Ray laughed at his surprised response, pulling his arm closer to her. The feeling of his firm bicep under his shirt was something she would never get tired of. Maybe one day I’ll get to feel more of him…

Ray was sitting on the couch getting some work done when she was startled by her phone ringing. She rushed to grab it from where it had fallen between the cracks in the seat cushions, waking Dia in the process. “Oh shit, sorry, Dia. Hello, this is Ray Mond speaking.”

“Ray!” Chatterbox’s voice came through the phone, making her smile. She really needed to change her ringtone for him so she knew when it was him calling. “Are you free right now? I have an idea.”

“Yeah! I just finished up with work, what’s your idea?”

“You’ll find out when we get there, I’ll pick you up in a few minutes. See you soon, babe.” He didn’t even let her respond before he hung up, but he clearly had a plan he was excited about. Ray fumbled around her apartment, trying to freshen up as best she could, thankful that she had chosen to get out of her pyjamas already today. She ran her hands over her braids to make sure there weren’t any loose strands popping out before she rushed to her bedroom to grab her perfume. It had been almost a week since they had last seen each other in person, his busy work schedule keeping them apart. Since their last date, Ray’s mind has been consumed by thoughts of Chatterbox. His voice, how he smells, his sense of humour, the taste of his lips, and the feeling of his body against hers all swirled in her mind, taking up all of her attention. She desperately craved more of him. Each date things have slowly gotten more heated between them but not fast enough for either of their likings. Chatterbox was scared of taking things too far too quickly, and Ray was too nervous to initiate the next step due to lack of experience. 

Before she could start overthinking, Chatterbox texted her that he was downstairs. She left a quick voicemail to Max on where she was in case he came home before she was back. Ray clipped on Dia’s leash instead of her usual guide harness, knowing Chatterbox would be helping her get around for whatever he had planned, and the pair made their way down to the parking lot. Once Dia caught sight of Chatterbox, she started pulling Ray over faster, excited to greet one of her new best friends. Dia’s tail whipped against Ray’s leg in excitement as Chatterbox knelt to pet her, sneaking her a treat he had in the pocket of his red vest. 

“Hello, Deedee, it’s lovely to see you again too, yes hi I missed you too, Dia,” he laughs as he stands up again.

“Did you give her a treat?” Ray asks, narrowing her eyes at him as he pulls her in for a hug to say hi. 

“I don’t know what you are talking about, you look amazing by the way, c’mon! Let’s go!” Ray scoffed at him, laughing as he grabbed Dia’s leash from her hand and led them both over to where his vehicle was parked, stopping suddenly before they got there. “Oh fuck, alright uhhhh so, I have a different car with me today, I’m gonna have to help you climb in because it’s quite far off the ground.”

“How tall is it?!”

Chatterbox started laughing harder as they took a few steps closer to the massive green monster truck. Ray’s head was at the same level as the side rail, Chatterbox hadn’t realized how tiny she would be compared to the massive truck. 

“Ray, your head is basically at where the rail to get up is,” Chatterbox was failing at trying to compose himself, falling into another fit of laughter at the look of absolute confusion on Ray’s face as she reached out in front of her to touch the side rail.

“Is this a monster truck??!” 

“Yep! Kirk and I bought it a few years back, we drive up the mountains around here a lot, so this thing makes it much easier, there's nowhere this baby can’t go,” he patted the side of the truck affectionately.

“That’s kinda hot honestly,” Ray laughed before quickly changing the subject, not wanting her cheeks to turn even more pink. “So how are we going to do this?” He watched her place her hands on her hips, now determined to make this work. Chatterbox put Dia in the back seat, getting the easy part out of the way first.

“Okay, if you place your hands on that rail again, I can boost you up on my shoulder and you should be able to feel where the handle is to pull yourself into the seat. Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall, I promise.” Ray was nervous, but she trusted him, so she nodded and grabbed onto the metal bar once more. The feeling of him grabbing the front of her thighs while pushing his shoulder under her butt almost made her turn to jelly as he was easily able to lift her. Her whole body radiated with the heat from his hands gripping her bare legs. She was so distracted she almost forgot to reach forward to grab the handle, her arm quickly shooting out to find it so she could pull herself in. She missed the sound of him clearing his throat before he spoke, “Nice! That went pretty smoothly, good job!” Ray blushed at the praise, adjusting her pleated skirt under her. The blush on her cheeks deepened as she realized she probably gave Chatterbox quite the view while getting in. 

“So I’m assuming we must be going up a mountain if you’re driving this beast today?” Ray asked once Chatterbox turned the key in the ignition. 

“Yeah, I guess the truck kinda ruins the surprise, doesn't it?”

“Just a little, I mean, you can’t really hide the size of this thing.”

“I was thinking we could have a picnic up on top of Mount Chiliad and watc–enjoy the nice weather… Sorry.”

“It’s okay Chatty, I don’t mind. It’s an easier way to say things a lot of the time.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, and you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to obviously, but how much vision do you actually have? Can you see a little bit, or is it just nothing at all? Because sometimes, it really seems like you can actually see me and you're staring into my soul almost.”

“My vision is completely gone. It’s all just nothing.” Chatterbox rested his hand on her leg, squeezing it lightly in sympathy. “I’m used to it at this point, I’ve gotten pretty good at using people’s voices to figure out where their faces are so I can look at people when they’re talking.” 

“Wow, that’s interesting. I’m assuming all your other senses are like, crazy good now to counterbalance?” For the rest of the drive, Ray told him all about how she was able to use her other senses to get through the day and before either of them knew it, they had reached their destination. 

Getting out of the towering truck proved to be more of a challenge than getting in. Chatterbox talked her through it, encouraging her throughout his instructions. “Okay, hang on to the handle, yeah, and step down onto the side rail, perfect, then…” Chatterbox wraps his arms securely around Ray’s legs, his head pressed against her hip, “Then if you can bend your legs a little bit and lean over my shoulder, good girl just like that, and then I just,” he picks her up and places her back down on the solid ground, “there we go, back on the ground!”

“Getting up is a lot easier than getting down,” Ray grumbled, trying to hide how much the pet name affected her. Dia hopped down with ease to join them, her muscular body making the drop look easy. 

Everything for the picnic was already set up when they arrived, so the two laid back on the soft blanket, enjoying the small sandwiches and chocolate-covered strawberries Chatterbox had packed. Thankfully, Dia had been trained to not beg for food so she laid curled up next to Ray as the couple enjoyed their meal. “This is amazing Chatty, thank you,” Ray broke the comfortable silence that had fallen over them as they ate. It was much windier up here than it was down in the city, so Chatterbox gently pulled Ray closer to him when he noticed her slight shivering. A soft smile graced his face as he took in her features in the fading sunlight. 

“Sorry, I should have told you to bring a sweater before I picked you up.”

“It’s okay, you’re a good heater.” Ray cuddled closer to him, resting her head on his outstretched arm and wrapping hers around his torso. 

“Can I kiss you?” Ray asked softly. Chatterbox responded by cradling her cheek, drawing her closer so their lips met in a gentle kiss. They stayed like that for what felt like hours, enjoying the warmth of one another while pressing soft kisses to each other's lips. “It’s so quiet up here, I love it,” Ray whispered when they finally broke apart.

“Yeah it’s a good break from the noise of Los Santos, isn’t it? I come up here a lot when I want to clear my head.”

“Thank you for this, and all our dates. I really appreciate how much thought you’ve put into them. I’ve really been enjoying our time together.”

“It’s my pleasure, Ray, I love spending time with you, it’s always the highlight of my week when I get to see you.” His eyes scanned her face before he took a deep breath, preparing to ask the question he’d planned this whole date for. “I was wondering if you wanted to make this official? Like–” Ray cut him off with a kiss, biting back a squeal from her response,

“I would love to, Chatty, to be honest, I’ve been kind of waiting for you to ask–” Her response was also cut off by Chatterbox wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her on top of him in a tight hug. 

“I didn’t want to scare you off by asking too early, I wanted to get my chance to sweep you off your feet first.”

“Well, you certainly did with that truck so, good job,” Ray teased, sitting up so her legs were straddling his hips. Chatterbox brought one hand up to her cheek, guiding her back down to capture her lips with his. His other hand rested on her thigh, rubbing slow, comforting circles that Ray wished would trail higher. Her wish was granted as Ray deepened the kiss, cheekily biting at Chatterbox’s lower lip. His hands pushed up the hem of her skirt an inch or two, his fingertips softly exploring the newly revealed bit of skin. Chatterbox pulled away to start leaving a trail of kisses down her neck, the sounds of their now heavy breathing getting whisked away by the wind. When Chatterbox kissed a particular spot near her collarbone, Ray let out a gasp, her hips shifting in his lap, drawing a soft groan from his lips.

Chatterbox sat up, his hands resting just under her bra line as he slid his thumbs along the band until they came to rest on her back. Ray grabbed at the collar of his dress shirt, starting to undo the top button before the sound of a car approaching broke them out of their own little world. 

“I should take you home, it’s getting late,” he said breathlessly, placing one final kiss on her lips. His tone sounded annoyed from the interruption but there was another underlying emotion to it that Ray couldn’t place. Reluctantly, she got up from his lap, waking up Dia in the process from the unexpected movement. Chatterbox led them both back to the car, wanting to get out of there quickly in case the people coming up the mountain were bad news. He ran back to the picnic blanket, haphazardly gathering everything before throwing it into the backseat with Dia. Ray was thankful that the process of getting her in the car was faster than getting out as it seemed like Chatterbox was in quite a hurry to get them out of there. 

“It’s everything okay? Why are you in such a rush to get us out of here, it sounded like it was only one car.” The dramatic shift in mood frightened her, as Chatterbox had gone quiet as they started to descend the mountain quickly.

“Everything’s fine yeah, sorry for freaking you out,” he took a deep breath, “Chiliad is sometimes used for some dodgy shit at night so I wanted to get us out of there before any shady characters found us up there. 

~~

Up on the top of the mountain, a blue Duke with an Australian flag on top slowly pulls up, the two men in the car look around for signs of others up there. 

“We must’ve just missed them, D.”

~~

Chatterbox didn’t let himself relax until he pulled into the parking lot of Ray’s apartment building. He had taken a convoluted route to ensure that no one was following them on the way down. He knew the other car approaching could have been nothing other than another couple wanting to enjoy the night air but Chatterbox wasn’t willing to take that risk, not when he had Ray with him. His head was still kind of reeling from the whiplash of making out with Ray then suddenly making a quick getaway down the mountain. His skin still tingled with the feeling of her. Now that they were official, all he wanted to do was keep her as close as possible. She was his, and he was going to do everything in his power to make sure she was safe and happy. 

“Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle before?” Chatterbox asked out of the blue during one of their almost nightly phone calls. 

“No I’ve never ridden anything before,” Ray responded, her voice filled with suggestion. 

“Well, that’s something we’re going to have to change, isn’t it? I’ll pick you up in ten minutes.” Chatterbox hung up on the phone shortly after that, leaving Ray to quickly get ready. She had Max help her pick out her outfit to make sure it was something that would keep her safe on the bike.

As Ray was exiting her building, a black and red Kawasaki Ninja sped into the parking lot, stopping at the curb next to her. “Hey.” Chatterbox greeted her as he climbed off the bike, expertly kicking the stand to prop the bike up. He rests his helmet on his seat next to the extra one he strapped to the back for her.

“Hi, this was quite out of the blue,” Ray laughed as Chatterbox gently cradled her jaw and pulled her in for a kiss. 

“What, a guy can’t take his gorgeous girlfriend on a spontaneous bike ride in the middle of the night?” Ray could feel her whole body flush at the compliment. She still wasn’t used to the fact that they were actually together. A tingle would go down her spine every time he called her ‘his’.

“You can, I’m just surprised that’s all. How many vehicles do you have anyway? It seems like every few weeks you pull out a new one.” He laughed brightly at that one, raising his arm to scratch the back of his neck. 

“Only two and a half… I have my Lampadati I use every day, this bike,” he pats the seat of the bike to emphasize his point, “and the monster truck that I share with Kirk. It’s nothing crazy, Ray.”

“Whatever you say, sweetheart,” she teased, patting his cheek.

“Sweetheart, huh?”

“Yep, ‘cause you got the sweetest heart there ever was,” Chatterbox laughed at the weird accent she put on, shaking his head at how cute she was. He reached over to grab her helmet, detaching it from his bike and undoing the chinstrap. 

“This might be a bit big for you, but at least you’ll be protected.”

“Protection is key,” Ray nodded as a laugh bubbled up in her throat. Chatterbox snorted in response, shaking his head as he put back on his helmet and swung his leg over the bike to sit down.

“Okay, this should be way easier for you to get onto, here, take my hands, and swing your right leg over the back of the bike, great!”

“That was definitely a lot easier!” Ray laughed as she adjusted herself in the seat so she could wrap her arms around Chatterbox’s waist. “This okay?” She asked as she rested her head against his back, enjoying the warmth radiating from him through his leather jacket. He squeezed her thigh briefly in response before the bike roared to life.

“So,” his voice sounded in her ears through a speaker in her helmet, making her jump. His hand returned to her thigh in apology. “Oh, sorry should have let you know about that, we can talk to each other throughout the ride. Just hold on tight to me and I’ll let you know when to lean if I need you to.”

“I apologize in advance if I scream in your ears.”

“Oh it’s okay, I don’t mind screaming,” Chatterbox replied easily as Ray felt warm tinkles spread all over her body. “Let me know if you need me to stop or if you hate it or something, alright? I wanna make sure you’re having fun as well.”

“Will do, Chatty.” Ray nodded before tightening her grip around him as he disengaged the kickstand and started driving out of the parking lot. After a few minutes of taking it slower down residential roads, Chatterbox checked in with her again. 

“You like it? You wanna keep going?”

“Yeah! I love it!”

“Alright!”

They got onto Del Perro Freeway, the high speed causing the wind to whip around them harshly. Ray loved the feeling of it, she had never felt so free before. She let out a cheer as she risked raising one arm above her head briefly in celebration. Wrapping her arm back around Chatterbox, she could hear him chuckling softly through the speaker. “Careful, baby.”

They drove around the city for about an hour. Ray relished in the feeling of Chatterbox’s muscles contracting under his clothes as he focused on steering. While sitting at a stoplight, Ray let go of him to give her arms a bit of a break from holding onto him so tightly. Her hands came to rest on his thighs, her fingers rubbing small circles absentmindedly. He turned around slightly to look at her and bumped his helmet lightly into hers as thanks. Just as the light was turning green, he grabbed her hands to put them around his waist once more to make sure she was secure when they started moving again. Her hands slipped into his half-unzipped jacket, the heat of him warming up her hands from the high-speed winds. 

“Ray…” he says quietly, glancing back at her quickly.

“Hmm, you’re warm,” Ray responded sleepily. It was getting quite late at this point, they were the only vehicle out on the roads, the loud bike disturbing the peaceful night air. He shifted against her, it was almost impossible to focus on driving while she was clinging to him so tightly. They made their way back to Ray’s apartment, both of them sad for the drive to end. When they pulled up in front of the building, Chatterbox got off the bike first and before Ray could try to get off he picked her up and placed her back down on the ground. “Heeeyyy, I could’ve gotten off by myself,” she pouted under the helmet.

“But it’s more fun when you have help, right?” Out of all of the suggestive lines they had been saying to each other all day, that one certainly took the cake. Ray was stunned, her whole body felt tingly from the implications of what he just said. Chatterbox took his helmet off and leaned back against the bike. He grabbed Ray’s waist to pull her closer to him before he started helping her take her helmet off, capturing her lips with his once it was out of the way. The kiss was slow, yet passionate as Ray threw her arms around his neck to pull him closer. After pressing one last peck to Ray’s lips, Chatterbox pulled back, standing up straighter so he towered over her once more. “I should let you go, it’s getting late. We both have work in the morning.”

Ray desperately didn’t want him to leave, she craved more of him. The heated makeout sessions from their last few dates had only added fuel to the fire, she wanted him so badly and she knew he felt the same. The situation never felt right though, they had only just made things official so in reality they had all the time in the world. There was no need to rush things, but neither of them were good at being patient. 

For their next date, the pair (and Dia) decided to go to a new botanical garden that had just opened up in Vinewood Hills. Chatterbox had the day off from work so they brought a packed lunch to share amongst the pretty scenery. After they’d finished eating, the trio strolled through the gardens. Ray enjoyed the scent of all of the fragrant, pretty flowers while Chatterbox enjoyed the view of both the flowers and her. Dia trailed behind them, stopping to sniff almost everything as she wasn’t currently tasked with guiding Ray.

As they reached the halfway point of the gardens, deep in the foliage, the sky above them opened up and it started pouring rain. It had been overcast for most of the day but neither of them were expecting the sudden downpour that was now upon them. Chatterbox gripped Ray’s hand and Dia’s leash tightly as they all ran back to his car. They had ventured far enough into the gardens that they were all completely soaked when they arrived at Chatterbox’s car. Dia shook herself off before jumping in the back seat, spraying Ray once more as she also got in the car. “Really Dia?” she laughed at her animal companion. Once they both got inside, the silence in the car was only filled by their heavy breathing as they both recovered from the run. After a few moments, they both broke into uncontrollable giggles over how drenched they were. 

“I was not expecting it to rain, what the hell?” Chatterbox finally composed himself enough to speak. 

“You’re welcome to come back to my place to dry off, I can lend you some of Max’s clothes so you have something dry to wear.” 

“Yeah, that sounds like a great plan,” Chatterbox nodded as he turned the key in the ignition, speeding away to Ray’s apartment. 

Once they arrived, Ray paused momentarily at how bizarre it was for her and Dia to be leading Chatterbox somewhere. It was so often the other way around that Ray’s heart skipped a beat as they made their way up, it felt like their relationship was levelling up in a way. 

“Home sweet home,” Ray said as she pushed open the door. 

“Wow, it’s so cozy in here,” Chatterbox’s eyes scanned the small yet well-decorated living space. 

“Max is at work ‘till late tonight so you won’t get to meet him just yet. I’ll grab us some towels and you some fresh clothes.” As she walked off, Dia started running around the space, having the post “bath” zoomies as she jumped up onto the couch and started rolling around on the couch to try and dry herself off. “Dia, silly girl,” Chatterbox scolded as he picked her up off the couch and brought her over to where Ray was now carrying a mountain of towels. He dried Dia off before grabbing another from Ray for himself. His eyes lingered on her, taking in the way her wet clothes clung to her body as the sight sent heat to his lower stomach. He tried to shake his head to refocus on the task at hand. Ray snuck into Max’s room and FaceTimed him so she could find some of the oversized clothes he had to lend to Chatterbox. Max is quite a bit shorter than Chatterbox so Ray hoped the fit would be okay. 

Ray threw on her own oversized hoodie over a pair of shorts and padded over to the dryer to toss her clothes in. Chatterbox came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his broad chest. “Do the clothes fit okay?” Ray asked as he started kissing her shoulder where her hoodie had shifted to expose her skin. 

“Hmm, the hoodie is too small for me to put on, I’m going to have to wait till my stuff is dry.” Ray’s cheeks blushed at the thought of him standing shirtless in the middle of the apartment. She turned around in his arms, throwing hers around his neck to pull him in for a kiss. The kiss was slow, they were finally in a place where they could take their time with one another without worrying about other people seeing them. 

After what seemed like hours they broke apart for air. Ray let her hands roam his bare chest, finally getting to feel his muscular chest and abs after thinking about it for so long. She was also surprised to feel what seemed like large scars from old wounds all over him. Before she could ask him about it, Chatterbox leaned down and picked her up by the backs of her thighs so they were wrapped around his hips. 

“God, you’re so cute, you know that?” Before Ray could respond his lips were on hers again, his tongue softly licking at her lips. Ray adjusted her grip around him, accidentally grinding down on him and causing them both to gasp. She did the same thing again intentionally this time, and was rewarded with a quiet groan escaping his lips and the feeling of him getting hard underneath her. Chatterbox’s hands snaked under her hoodie, grabbing at her upper thigh and lower back to keep her pressed against him.

“Bed, please,” Ray gasped out as Chatterbox left a trail of hot kisses down her neck to her shoulder. He carefully made his way over, closing her bedroom door behind him to keep Dia out. He placed her down on the edge of the bed, his fingers brushing along the hem of her hoodie.

“Can I?” He asked, his breath hot against her ear. Ray nodded eagerly, lifting her arms over her head to help him take it off. Once the item of clothing was discarded, they both climbed more property into bed, Chatterbox slotting himself in between her legs. “God, I’ve wanted this for so long,” Chatterbox breathed out as his hands explored her body. They grinded against each other, breathing in each other's gasps as they were consumed by the heat of one another. Feeling bold, Ray slid her hands down Chatterbox’s back to find his waistband and slipped her hands inside, surprised to realize he wasn’t wearing anything underneath as the underwear he was wearing previously had gotten soaked.

“Please Chatty,” Ray begged, not even knowing what she was specifically asking for, she just wanted, no needed, more of him. He obliged by kissing down her chest, his hands coming up to cup her breasts over her bra. Ray sat up slightly so he could reach behind her to unclasp it, throwing the garment off to the side. He worshipped her breasts with his mouth, making sure to give each one equal attention as soft moans escaped from her lips. Her hand slipped back under Chatterbox’s waistband, wrapping her fingers around his hard cock, eliciting a groan from him. She could feel he was big in her hand and she whimpered at the thought of it inside of her. 

“Mmm, one second baby,” He pulled away from her briefly to take off her shorts and underwear, his hands sliding up her legs as he returned to where he previously was after removing his own sweatpants as well. His hand continued up her inner thigh, his fingers finally gently brushing against her core. They grinded against each other, now without any restrictions causing them to both moan loudly against each other’s lips. Ray started stroking him as his fingers slowly circled her clit. 

They fueled each other’s passion, Chatterbox basing his pace on how she stroked him. He finally inserted a finger into her wet heat, his thumb still stimulating her clit. Ray’s back arched at the feeling as he expertly undid her with his fingers, hitting the right spot with every motion. As he added a second finger, Ray jerked him off faster, quickly approaching the edge. The room was filled with the sounds of them moaning out each other's names as they were both fast approaching their orgasms. 

“Chatty, ahh, I’m so– Chatty ” Ray gasped out as her orgasm washed over her. Chatterbox followed closely after her, groaning at the feeling of Ray squeezing down on his fingers. His release painted Ray’s stomach as they both breathed heavily into each other’s skin, coming down from their highs. “Holy shit” Ray whispered.

“That was amazing, baby,” he whispered back, pressing one final kiss to her lips before he got up to grab a towel to clean them both off. They had the whole rest of the day to themselves, laying in bed together napping then talking for hours once they’d both woken up. Around 7 pm, Chatterbox got a call that something had come up for work so he finally gathered his now dry clothes and kissed Ray goodbye before heading down to his car.

Chapter Text

It was the early hours of the morning when Chatterbox stepped out onto the balcony attached to his bedroom, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. As he sat down, he could hear a motorcycle pulling up in front of the house. Confused at the prospect of visitors this early in the morning, Chatterbox crept around to the front of the house to watch the person climb off the now quiet bike, the tension in his shoulders disappeared immediately when he recognized it was his mom’s bike. He waved down to her, the movement catching her eye. 

“Come upstairs! There’s fresh coffee in the kitchen,” he called down to her, returning to his seat to wait for her to join him. He checked his phone in the meantime, making sure he didn’t miss anything major in his few hours of sleep. There was another sighting of a BBMC car near one of their drop-off spots, but it was close enough to Vespucci that it might have just been a coincidence. 

Chatterbox shook his head as he typed out a response, quickly placing his phone to the side as Tessa stepped through the door from his bedroom. The two had a close relationship, she would often drop by to make sure he was taking care of himself when things got crazy. Chatterbox didn't know the reason for this visit though. 

“Everything okay? This is way earlier than when you normally stop by.” As terrifying of a mafia leader as Chatterbox was, he was a Momma’s boy at heart, even if Tessa wasn’t his biological mother. She took him in and adopted him when he was 16 and homeless, and since then he vowed to protect her at all costs. 

“I’m perfectly fine Chatty, don’t worry. I just haven’t been able to talk to you in quite a while, am I not allowed to enjoy a morning coffee with my son?” Chatterbox smiled at her concern, looking out over the vast farmland to see the first few rays of sunlight emerge on the horizon. 

“You know you’re always welcome here, Tessa. You just surprised me, that’s all. Things have been busy, as always. Have you been keeping up on the stuff with the BBMC and all that?” Tessa nodded solemnly in response, but that was not what she was here to talk about. She settled into her matching armchair to him, shifting her body to face him.

“What’s been going on with you lately, Chatty? Sooty and I talked recently about how you’ve been in a much better mood lately. She may or may not have mentioned that she saw you at the vineyard with someone…” Tessa trailed off as she took a sip of coffee, raising her eyebrows at her son for a further explanation. Chatterbox mentally cussed out Sooty for snitching on his date with Ray to his mother. He rubbed his hand over his forehead and through his hair. He was backed into a corner, he knew the truth was going to have to come out eventually and he was terrible at lying to his mom. He sighed softly before finally answering,

“With Ray. Her name is Ray. I’ve…For the past few months, I’ve been seeing her. And she makes me really fucking, sorry, yucking happy. Sooty accidentally stumbled upon us on our first date.”

“She mentioned the date was the same day you stormed out of a meeting, was that the reason?”

“Yes and no, it’s complicated,” he sighs. Tessa looked him over for a moment before relaxing and giving him a wide smile. “Benji was being a sack of yuck to her in the lobby outside and I had to go and teach him a lesson.”

“I’m really happy for you Chatty, I’m glad you’ve found someone, I was starting to worry that after Giggles you would never really be able to get that close to anyone again.”

Chatterbox winced at the mention of his dead friend. He and Giggles had been very close, so close that everyone thought they were together. The pair would mess around when they were drunk to let off steam, but it stopped at that. They were better off as friends, not lovers. Her cries for forgiveness still play in his mind after he shot her. “Tell me about Ray, Chatty,” Tessa’s voice pulled him back to reality. He couldn’t hide the smile that came across his face as he thought about her.

“She’s amazing, Tessa. She’s funny, and feisty when she wants to be, we bounce off of one another really well. She’s…” Chatterbox hesitated before mentioning her disability—despite how it was somewhat the catalyst of their meeting—but he knew Tessa wouldn’t say anything bad towards her. “She’s blind, we met because she was attacked by some Vagos members and I stepped in to scare them away from her. They kicked her guide dog and were dragging her into an alley when I drove past. I helped bring Dia, the dog, to the vet afterwards and drove her home. And I don’t know, we ended up keeping in touch and now we’ve been dating for a few months. I asked her to be my girlfriend a few weeks ago.” Chatterbox blushed deeply when he realized he had been rambling. Tessa had a warm smile on her face as she rested her hand on Chatterbox’s forearm in reassurance.

“I’m assuming you’ve already dealt with the offenders?”

“Oh yeah, they’re all deader than Gunner and Wrangler”

“Good. She sounds wonderful, I’m a little upset you’ve been keeping her secret from me for so long though.” 

I’m sorry, she’s just so far removed from all this it was nice to escape work for a little while. I should have told you sooner.”

“It’s alright Chatty, I’m just happy you’re happy. I would love to meet her sometime, why don’t you bring her to our little beach day I’m throwing for you guys this weekend? It’ll only be high command, I understand you’re probably not wanting to introduce her to everyone right now.”

“Yeah, I want to try and keep her as far away from all this as I can, for her safety. But she’s been wanting to meet everyone, so I’ll take you up on that Tessa, we’ll be there.”

“I understand your caution sweetheart, but you’re not going to be able to keep all this from her forever, you know that right?” Chatterbox felt the dread of telling her creep in as he nodded, the small detail of what he did for a living could easily rip her away from him. 

“I know, but it’s too soon to tell her about all of this. I’ll cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose…” Tessa sighed but nodded and got up from her chair. She had to head off to work down in the city, so she bid him farewell before heading out to her motorcycle, kicking up a trail of dust as she sped away. 

There was a surprising amount of paperwork involved with being a gang leader. Chatterbox sat in his office at the funhouse as he sifted through mind-numbing forms for some of the legal businesses the NCO ran. Normally Bozo or Party Hardy would be helping with this but they were both tied up by their busy schedules, leaving it all to fall on Chatterbox’s shoulders. He had been at it since Tessa left, only now realizing how dark it had become as the sun was setting. He leaned back in his desk chair, rubbing his temples to try and subdue the pounding behind his eyes. There was a knock on the door frame to his office, and he opened his eyes to see Sooty leaning against it. She was in her usual casual clothing, her bright blue and purple hair falling in loose curls around her shoulders. 

“Mind if I interrupt?” she asks as she slowly walks to one of the chairs on the other side of his desk. He nods and starts organizing and putting away some of the papers on his desk, there was no way he was going to keep working on this for any longer today. 

“Please do, I feel like my brain is melting out of my skull.” Sooty laughed at his melodramatics. 

“Tessa said you finally talked this morning. Do I also get to know what’s going on with you and that gorgeous girl I saw you with?” Chatterbox groaned, he should have known this was coming. He knew it was just because they cared, but getting interrogated by two of the most important women in his life (other than Ray obviously) was somewhat embarrassing. He was still annoyed at Sooty for telling Tessa in the first place, even if he knew she meant it in an ‘older sister snitching on her little brother’ type of way.

“First of all, you told her about that when I specifically told you not to tell anybody.” 

“First of all, she’s your mother, Chatterbox. You kept that from her waaaay too long already. Trust me, I did you a favour.”

They argued back and forth a little bit before Chatterbox finally caved, agreeing to tell Sooty about Ray after she promised she would not tell another soul (even her husband). 

“Soooo, what’s her name, what’s she like, was that your first date I stumbled upon?” Sooty rapid-fire questioned him, excited that she was finally getting the info she had been craving for months now. 

“Her name is Ray Mond, first name Ray, last name Mond. She’s amazing. Yes, we were on our first date when you found us.” Chatterbox listed off easily. He smiled under his mask at the cheer Sooty let out in response. 

“How did you two meet? I don’t think I’ve ever seen her around town before.” Chatterbox rattled off the same story he told Tessa, watching her face as she listened intently.

“Oh my god, that’s awful, I’m so sorry that happened to her, thank god you were around to step in,” Sooty paused for a second, pieces clicking together in her mind, “That’s why we killed those Vagos members wasn’t it?” Chatterbox nodded, his mouth pressed into a thin line at the memory of those scumbags. “Is Ray also the reason you punched Benji? And left that meeting so quickly?”

“Yep. I could hear Dia growling from upstairs ‘cause he put his hands on her so I went down there to teach him a lesson. I swear, if any other Vagos members, or anyone for that matter, try to put their hands on Ray, I will make sure they end up six feet under. I’m tired of these disgusting assholes harassing her.” 

“I don’t blame you, it seems like she gets it a lot,” Sooty nods with sympathy. She knew what it was like to be an attractive lady in Los Santos.

“You’ll get to meet her soon, she’s coming to that beach day Tessa’s planning. No one outside of high command is allowed to know about her, got it?”

“Got it! Ooooh, I’m so excited to meet the girl who stole Chatty’s heart!” Chatterbox groaned at her extreme enthusiasm but he knew Ray and Sooty were going to get along fantastically. That thought alone helped ease his nerves about introducing Ray to more of his world.  

Chatterbox couldn’t sit still due to his nerves about the day ahead. He felt silly that he was so anxious about a day at the beach; he was the leader of one of the most terrifying gangs in Los Santos but the thought of introducing his girlfriend to his mom and closest friends, the people who he built a clown empire with, sent chills up his spine. He couldn’t shake the thought that this was a bad idea and he should just keep Ray to himself for a little longer. Getting to shed the clown mask and enjoy a sense of anonymity had become an unexpected perk of dating her. He didn’t have to deal with the same glares from civilians or the risk of violence from South Side gangs whenever he set foot in the city with her. Since becoming the leader of the clowns, Chatterbox rarely took his mask off before Ray. Unless someone was working undercover or legally for the clowns, all members stayed in full clown get up when in public. It was their signature, now seen as almost a taunt for their enemies as if daring them to try and make a move. They didn’t care if they were easily recognized by the cops, it’s not like they would get caught anyway. When he was with Ray, none of that mattered. He could just be himself around her, it didn’t matter what he looked like or who he was.

Since Ray was now joining their beach day, Chatterbox helped Tessa plan out all of the logistics that were now needed to make sure Ray was safe and their true identities were kept secret. All of the clowns attending were given a warning that someone new was going to be there, that no one else in the gang could know about her, and that she didn’t find out about all this . It was only a small handful of clowns coming, the ones Chatterbox considered his close family. Bon Bon, Sooty, Twinkles, Kirk, and Tessa were the only ones who got to know about Ray at this point. 

The beach they had chosen was up in Paleto, near one of their supply houses. They had given Mayhem a heads-up to let them know that they were going to be up there, and would like to be left alone if possible. This particular beach was always close to empty, most people preferred to go down to the one in Vespucci, leaving a private paradise for the clowns to unmask and enjoy. They were all meeting there, so Chatterbox headed down to the city to pick up Ray after helping Tessa pack everything into her car for the day. Chatterbox’s phone was blowing up with texts as he drove down, with Kirk, Bon Bon, and Twinkles asking him who was joining. He didn’t want to give them much information in advance, figuring it was better to just introduce Ray and explain everything afterward.

Once he was parked outside Ray’s apartment complex, he finally pulled out his phone, ignoring all the messages except for a new one from Ray, asking him to come upstairs as she still needed a few minutes. Once he was at the door to their unit, he only had to knock once before the door swung open, revealing a short man with reddish brown hair dressed in quite dapper attire. 

“Oh, hi, you must be Max, ” Chatterbox offered his hand out for the other man to shake, figuring that formality was the way to go from what he had heard about him from Ray. Max shook his hand happily, stepping to the side to let him in. 

“Yes, hello, I’m Max, and you must be the famous Chatterbox that I hear so much about from Ray.” Max laughed as Dia launched herself at Chatterbox’s legs, wiggling around in excitement as he bent down to pet her. “Ah, I see you two are already very well acquainted, I’m quite surprised, normally Dia isn’t a fan of men. She usually takes much longer to warm up, if at all.” Chatterbox was relieved that his face mask covered the grin on his face from that statement, it always warmed his heart that Dia seemed to love him so quickly after he had met Ray. 

The two men sat awkwardly on the couch as they waited for Ray to finish getting ready. Chatterbox knew Max was a lot more well-connected in the city than Ray was, there was a chance Max might recognize his name from the gossip that was rampant in the city. He assumed Max didn’t have any sort of affiliation, but you could never be sure in Los Santos. He felt like he was meeting Ray’s parents, needing to make a good impression on those who mattered most to her. They made awkward small talk before Ray finally came into the living room, wearing a sage green bikini with a matching sheer wrap tied around her hips to cover up a bit more. Chatterbox tried his best not to stare, knowing that Max was watching him closely. 

“Ready to go!” she chirped as she put on a pair of Converse, fixing her bag on her shoulder. “Eeee!!! I’m so excited to meet everyone! And Max, you finally got to meet Chatty!’

“I did, yeah! It was a pleasure to meet you Chatterbox, I hope you guys have fun today,” Max saw them off, giving a hug to Ray and a friendly nod to Chatterbox as they headed out the door. Chatterbox let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding as they headed towards his car. As they were getting in, he could have sworn he saw a flash of a familiar bald head as they both got into his Lampadati. They were near the centre of Chang Gang’s home base so he kept his head on a swivel until they were out of Little Seoul. He shook his head that he was just being paranoid and overprotective because he had Ray with him, no one cared who he was without his clown mask on. 

They chatted about what they’d been up to since they last saw each other as they made their way to Paleto. Chatterbox was biting his tongue from giving Ray a warning about the people she was about to meet, wanting to give a disclaimer for the utter silliness she was about to endure. He would let his friends speak for himself, deep down he knew Ray was going to get along with all of them great, she thrived around people with endless amounts of energy and that was what the clowns were known for. 

“So, you’ll recognize one person there already, you met Sooty very briefly on our first date if you remember.”

“Oh yeah!! The one with the really hot accent!”

 “Excuse me?” Chatterbox spluttered out at Ray calling someone else hot.

“You said she was from New Zealand right? You don’t hear that type of accent around here very often.” Ray explained more, doing nothing to quell the simmering jealousy in his stomach. 

“She and her husband are both from down under, yeah, Bon Bon sounds British though, we tease him about that a lot.”

“Is Sooty the only one who knows about me?” Ray didn’t approve of him not telling anyone about her, but she respected Chatterbox’s wishes to keep his work separate from her for as long as he could. She had stilled in her seat as her hand found his on the gear shift, waiting for an answer. 

“Tessa –my mom– also knows.” They pulled into the big parking area next to the Paleto house. Several colourful cars were already parked there, signalling that they were the last ones to arrive. They both took a deep breath before getting out of the car, preparing themselves for whatever was going to happen next. “Ready?” Chatterbox asked, smiling as Ray nodded enthusiastically, barely able to contain her excitement and energy. 

“Let’s goooo!!”

There was a long staircase down the cliff to where the beach was, so the other clowns saw them coming for quite a while, dancing around and being stupid to try and get the pairs’ attention. Dia was off duty today so she ran ahead of them, sniffing around at the new people before jumping up on Twinkles, excitedly licking his mask as if she recognized him. Chatterbox thought that was odd but pushed it to the back of his mind as everyone ran over to say hi when they reached the bottom of the stairs. They all talked over each other as they said hello, Ray responding with a simple excited ‘HIIII!” to everyone at once.

“Wait, Ray?!” Twinkles seemed shocked as everyone returned to where he stood by everyone’s stuff petting an overexcited Dia. 

“Twinkles?”

2 months before Ray met Chatterbox

Ray was stuck doing the thing she dreaded most. She was at the grocery store, trying to pick up a few essentials they were out of at home. All she needed to get was milk, bananas, and cereal but their usual grocery store was closed so she had to go to a different one that she wasn’t super familiar with. Bananas were the easiest to find, they were one of Dia’s favourite treats so she led Ray to them practically without command. Unfortunately, everything else was not that easy. Ray had gotten turned around and was having trouble orienting herself again amongst the different display cases and shelves in the store. This store was a lot smaller than the one she normally went to, meaning there was less space for her and Dia to move through other people. 

At one point, Ray stopped in a quieter part of the store to try and calm her rising heart rate. She felt so ashamed that a grocery store was making her panic like this but she tried to swallow that down as she decided that this wasn’t worth it and commanded Dia to find the exit. A figure in a clown mask with green tufts of hair approached her before she could get very far, a cute-sounding voice drawing her attention. Dia sniffed at the colourful figure in front of her, unsure if they posed a threat.

“Hi! Twinkles was wondering if you needed some help getting your food?”

“Hi, uh, that would be amazing honestly, thank you!! I’ve never been to this store before so I don’t know where anything is, and it was stupid of me to come alone, well, I guess I’m not alone but you know what I mean…” Ray trailed off as she realized she was rambling to this stranger. She was grateful for his offering of help, most people just ignored her in this kind of situation. “You said your name was Twinkles? I’m Ray and this is Dia.”

Hi! It’s nice to meet you! What did you need to find?”

“Milk! And cereal.” 

“Okaaay, follow Twinkles puppy!!” Dia happily followed after the colourful figure, leading her and her master over to the refrigerated section first. 

“Which one do you want? There’s 1 percent, 2 percent, whole, skim, almond…” Ray laughed as Twinkles listed out all of the available kinds of milk on the shelves. She requested almond and Twinkles insisted that he carry it for her as they made their way over to the cereal section. They both fell into fits of giggles as they made their way through the aisle, making each other laugh with silly jokes about breakfast foods. Before Ray knew it they were heading to the checkout counter and Twinkles insisted that he pay for her stuff with his, ignoring her protests. As they walked out of the store together, Ray insisted that Twinkles take her phone number so they could stay in contact and she could pay him back. Twinkles agreed, always excited to make new friends. 

“What did you get, Twinkles?”

“Duck food! Twinkles is going to go feed the ducks at Legion Square!”

“Wait, you two know each other?!” Chatterbox sputtered out as everyone had similar looks of confusion on their faces. He tried to shove down the wave of jealousy he got from Dia also being a big fan of Twinkles it seemed. 

“We ran into each other at the grocery store months ago, he helped me find some things because I got turned around in the store and couldn’t find what I needed. How was feeding the ducks by the way?”

“It was great! The duckies were very happy, hehe!”

“Wait hold the phone for one second here, can you not see or somethin’?” Kirk asked, leaning in to get a closer look at Ray.

“Yeah so, I guess I better introduce myself, hi, I’m Ray Mond, first name Ray last name Mond. Yes, I am blind, this is my guide dog, Dia, she’s very sweet, you can pet her if you want because she’s not working right now. And I’m Chatterbox’s girlfriend!”

“Ah yay!! It’s so exciting to meet you properly!” Sooty jumped in, “I’m Sooty, I’m the one who crashed your date that one time briefly. I love your swimsuit, it's so cute!” Ray thanked Sooty and hugged her as Bon Bon started to introduce himself.

“Hiii, I’m Bobby, but you can call me Bon Bon if you’d like. I’m Sooty’s husband and Chatterbox’s best friend–”

“No you’re not, watch it you Q-tip,” Kirk cut him off for his introduction, “Hi I’m Kirk Jerkems, first you Kirk ‘em then you jerk ‘em, I’m Chatterbox’s actual bff, don’t listen to Bon Bon, he’s a bitch sometimes.”

“Hey–!”

“Quiet down boys,” Tessa shushed them as she directed them all to sit down on their towels as she and Twinkles started to pass out food. “Hi Ray, it’s lovely to meet you finally, I’m Tessa, I’m Chatterbox’s mom, adopted mom. We're happy to have you as a part of our chaotic family get-together today.”

“It’s so nice to meet all of you!! Chatterbox has told me so much about you guys so it’s nice to finally meet you all in person and put voices to the names.” Chatterbox smiled to himself at Ray’s excitement, she was hiccuping a lot, something she always did when she was happy or excited. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him, watching him as he interacted with her, analyzing his every move. They all seem to like her at the very least because the group fell into easy conversation. As they all settled down to eat, Ray decided to stir the pot a little bit,

“So Chatterbox, who is your best friend then?” She leaned in closer to him, raising her eyebrow.

“Oooo Ray’s here for the drama, I love it!” Bon Bon laughed from across the circle and Chatterbox shot him the middle finger. 

“You, obviously Ray, can’t stand any of these yuckbags, honestly,” Chatterbox teased, dodging the chip that was thrown at him in response. Ray had brought cookies for all of them and when Kirk popped one of the cookies in his mouth, his eyebrows furrowed. 

“Wait, it all makes sense now… Chatterbox you sneaky bitch.”

“Huh?!”

“These are the same damn cookies you had when you came home after ditchin’ that meetin’ at the library that I stole, that whole thing was for Ray wasn’t it, the Va—” Kirk was quickly shut up by Sooty shoving a bread roll into his mouth. All of them looked very tense for a moment before Ray spoke,

“Wait, you stole my boyfriend’s cookies?! I worked hard on those!” She yelled, causing Dia to growl at the hick in support. Kirk flinched away, not expecting the volume of her accusation or her dog to come after him.

“I’m sorry! I was mad at him! They were damn good cookies though I must say. You did a good job, it was like eating the sweetest clouds ever.” 

Thankfully, they were all distracted by a discussion about cookies, the almost accidental gang mention forgotten. The group spent the rest of the day messing around on the beach, running around and building sandcastles. They had the beach to themselves, happy to not have to worry about others watching them. As everyone was partaking in a game of frisbee, Ray called Chatterbox aside to help her put sunscreen on her back. He jogged over and got to work rubbing the cream into her back, apologizing softly when she flinched from the cold. He took an extra moment to massage out a knot in her shoulder, not wanting to take his hands off her quite yet. She let out a soft moan as he pressed harder, causing a jolt in his lower stomach. 

“Ray,” he softly warned as his fingers pressed against her lower back. 

“You tell me to stop and yet keep touching me like that, you gotta make a choice, Mr. Box,” Ray teased back. Chatterbox kept his composure as best he could, wanting nothing more than to whisk Ray away up to the house so they didn’t have to take their hands off of each other. 

Soon afterwards, Chatterbox was pulled away from Ray to rejoin the frisbee game while Tessa and Sooty walked back over to Ray to keep her company. Dia ended up being an excellent addition to their game as she played with them, expertly catching the frisbee and forcing them to chase after her. Once they had exhausted themselves, all breathing heavily, they noticed the girls were stepping out into the tide. Tessa and Sooty were holding Ray’s hands to guide her. They all could hear their laughter as they ran over to join them. Ray had taken off the wrap that was around her hips and Chatterbox desperately tried to ignore what the sight was doing to him. She looked gorgeous, her tan skin shiny and glowing from the water and sunscreen under the summer sun. His eyes traced up her figure, admiring the way her bathing suit complimented her curves. It was incredible how much the world faded into the background when he was looking at her, a beacon of light within a dull world. 

The four of them (plus Dia) made quite a splash catching up to the girls, drenching them from the back. What they didn’t know was that Sooty and Tessa were hiding water guns in front of them, quickly aiming back in retaliation. Chatterbox dove under the water to swim around everyone to get to Ray, surprising her when he popped up, pushing his hair out of his face. 

“Having fun?” he asked, drawing her closer to him. The pair were in a quiet moment amidst the chaos, the two were out of the line of fire for the massive water fight they were now engaged in. Ray had a massive smile on her face excitedly nodding as she soaked in the sounds of chaos around them. Chatterbox wasn’t used to this level of affection in front of his friends but he pushed his nerves down in favour of placing a kiss on the top of Ray’s head, her hair warm from the sun. 

“Your friends are great, they’re so funny. I don’t know what you were so worried about!”

“You fit in great with everyone, Ray. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. This has been really fun.” As they were talking Bon Bon popped up in front of them, spraying Chatterbox in the chest (and consequently Ray in the face) with the water gun he stole from Sooty. 

“Oh yuck,” When he realized he hit Ray he dove back under the water, swimming towards shore as fast as he could. “Get back here you yucking jester!!” Chatterbox called before swimming after him. They all cheered the fight on as the two wrestled in shallower water, Kirk getting pulled in when he tried to break them apart. Bon Bon eventually surrendered and the trio rejoined everyone else in deeper water. They all stood around talking for hours, enjoying the cool water in the summer heat. 

“Whoever’s last to get to the house has to pay for food!!” Bon Bon shouted before he started running towards all of their towels, everyone else following shortly after. Chatterbox swept Ray off her feet and ran out after everyone, passing Kirk on the way up to the house. 

“I’m puttin’ this on the business account!” Kirk yelled as he got to the rest of them, completely out of breath. “I’m orderin’ pizza, what’s everyone want?”

Everyone filed into the house after they cleaned the sand off of themselves with the hose. While they were all outside, Chatterbox kept a watchful eye on their surroundings, looking out for anything that might pose a threat to his girl. He caught a flash of purple in the tree line and he mentally smacked himself that he never considered Mumbles in all this. As useful as the peep was, the clown also had a habit of peeping on other members of the clowns when they were least expecting it. As he guided Ray and Dia into the house, he whipped out his phone to see a myriad of messages from said peep, all containing photos of them from the top of the cliff enjoying their beach day. It took every fibre of self-control that he had to not go and shank the other clown right this instant. 

Mumbles: Having a good time?

Chatterbox: You better delete all of these photos right fucking now or I will make sure the next thing you peep is my wrench flying at your skull, got it?

Mumbles: Someone’s touchy today :( 

Chatterbox: Suck my yuck, you creep.

He was about to send more threatening messages when he was interrupted by Ray rubbing her hand up and down his back absentmindedly. He was thankful that he had put his shirt back on, otherwise, the other clowns were going to need to get the hell out of the house as soon as possible. Since that one time in Ray and Max’s apartment, Chatterbox has barely been able to contain the fire for her that burned within him. They hadn’t done anything else since then, only getting into some heated making out before he was pulled away to tend to something with the clowns. Seeing her all day in a swimsuit was making it very difficult to keep his hands to himself. He knew even any slight physical interaction he had with her would fuel days of teasing from the other clowns. The whole sunscreen situation from earlier today was probably more than enough material to last for weeks. 

The rest of the night went smoothly, they laughed, ate pizza, and played Two Truths and a Lie with some pop that Tessa had in the fridge for them (she hated it when they drank alcohol). The game was mildly stressful, as they all had to be careful what they said in front of Ray but they had all lived crazy enough lives outside of the crew that they never ran out of things to say. The pop had brought Ray’s hiccups back again as it was Kirk’s turn, he would pause every time she let one out.

“We might need to start callin’ you Hiccups if you’re gonna be around more often,” he let out a low, impressed whistle.

“Hiccups! That’s so cute! You could call me Cups for short! Do you all have your own nicknames? Or just Chatty and Bon Bon?” Ray was practically bouncing in her seat at the suggestion, her seemingly endless energy was one of her most endearing qualities. Kirk silently asks Chatterbox with a look if they can all tell her their clown names, Chatterbox nods once in response.

“Yeah, we all do but some of them we like to keep more secret, okay?”

“They are safe with me, I promise!”

It was late into the night when Chatterbox finally dropped Ray off back at her apartment. The entire car ride was spent with Ray gushing to him about how much she already loved the other clowns. He had to admit that Ray fit in perfectly with them. It warmed his heart that his family accepted her so quickly, she was an honorary clown from this point on, even if she didn’t know it yet.

Chapter Text

Chatterbox tried to swallow down his disgust as he and a few other clowns pulled up in La Puerta to meet with Chang Gang. He was dreading this meeting more than he had any other but it was necessary if the NCO wanted to continue their drug operations. Weed just didn’t sell the same in the North as it did in the South. They had contracts with some of the other northern gangs to distribute their strain to various buyers but it didn’t bring in nearly the same amount of money as selling on a block in the city did. The NCO’s Master of Drugs, Windsong, managed to strike up a deal with Chang Gang’s Pigeon to start selling the clowns’ strain, Woopie-Kush, on their turf. 

The clowns and Chang Gang have never gotten along, but the city's ever-changing landscape forced them to push that aside. Pushing a variety of strains in one area seemed to be the best way to attract and keep customers nowadays. There were already arrangements for their strains to be grown together for ease of production. Chang Gang and the New Clown Order, the two biggest groups in Los Santos, were finally working together. A terrifying prospect for everyone else. It was the meeting of two ticking time bombs, the air was thick with anticipation as they waited to see which one would blow up first. Both groups wanted to keep this meeting as low-key as possible, with only three representatives from each gang there as they finalized the details of their partnership. The three CG members were all dressed casually, wearing all black with various colours of bandanas to cover their faces and gold Chang Gang chains hanging from their necks. Chatterbox could still easily recognize that it was Taco, Vinny, and Pigeon standing in front of them. They were quite the contrast to the clown's eclectic mixture of outfits, ranging from Chatterbox in a blood-red suit, to Twinkles’ usual rainbow squash hoodie, star-covered pants, and patriotic helmet, to Kirk in basically just his underwear and assorted tattoos. All of them donned their clown masks, wearing them proudly in the face of CG’s attempt at anonymity. 

“Well well well, welcome gentlemen,” Pigeon started off the conversation, seemingly unfazed by glares thrown between the two groups. “I must say I appreciate the level of proactiveness that Windsong has shown me over the past few weeks, and I wanna thank you Chatterbox for agreeing to this collaboration. I know NCO and CG have had their fair share of problems in the past but I’m happy that we are starting to move past that.”

“You know, I’m just glad you guys finally realized how much you need us! You know, this could be the start of a wonderful friendship,” Chatterbox’s voice was dripping with sarcasm as he wiped a fake tear from his eye. 

“Yeah, yeah shut the fuck up Chatterbox, we know how much you chucklefucks need this too alright? We’re even here.” Vinny tried to play the mediator. 

“Y’all are lucky that we’re giving you this much of a foot in the door into our damn city, ’ight?” Taco stepped forward, gesturing to the skyline behind them. Kirk stepped up to meet him, the two of them evenly matched in height and mass. 

“We figured we’d do y’all a favour after seein’ how down bad y’all are after that trouble you stirred up with the PD and the government. You guys really got yourselves into a pickle, didn’t you?” Kirk prodded at Taco, taking a step closer to the gang member. 

“Crazy to get told off by a bunch of fuckin’ clowns bruh, I know y’all were planning to do the same thing!” 

“Maybe we were, maybe we weren’t, that’s not really your business Taco,” Chatterbox stepped forward to interrupt the verbal duel the two were locked in. As much as Chatterbox wanted to see Kirk punch Taco’s lights out, they had to be civil now. The two gangs went over the final details of their agreement, all of them reluctantly shaking hands at the end before going their separate ways. Muttered insults from both sides were thrown just before they got out of earshot, the two gangs could never get along that well. 

"Hey, girl! You ready to go??" Sooty's excited voice came through the phone after only a few rings of the dial tone when Ray called her for the start of their "girls’ day."

"Yeah! I'll be right down!!" Ray had never really any female friends before so she was ecstatic when Sooty had suggested they go on a shopping spree together. Normally she spent her shopping trips with Max, taking her time to feel her way through the racks to find what stood out to her texturally. Max was an excellent clothes shopping buddy but Ray was excited to have another girl with her for once. Her roommate pretended to be offended that Ray would dare find clothes with someone else but in reality, he was elated that Ray had found someone else that she could trust to that level.

When she and Dia got down to the parking lot of her building, Sooty was waiting for her by the door, interlocking her arm with Ray's to head over to her bright blue and purple Buffalo. Ray could feel that the leather of the car was quite new and high quality, and it had that distinct new car smell. Every new person Ray became close with from Chatterbox's company made her more curious about what they did for a living, clearly, it was lucrative.

"Bon Bon just bought me this car, he even customized it for me as well! He's spoiling me, I tell you!" she laughed. Sooty's bubbly personality was infectious, Ray was drawn to her the minute they first met. She could see how she was an excellent person to be working alongside Chatterbox, providing just enough level-headedness to help control his energy without stifling it. Sooty also had her own ever-burning fire of energy within her that Ray found easy to match.

"Where were you thinking of going first?"

"Paywool! Only the best of the best for your first girls' shopping trip of course. I was thinking we could spend a bit of time looking for fancier clothes first, then we can move on to more everyday wear, date night outfits, and more ha-ha!" Ray blushed at what the ‘and more’ was referring to, the pair had gotten into a conversation about lingerie a few days ago and Ray admitted she’d never owned any. It was that confession that spurred this whole shopping trip to happen in the first place. “You’re gonna feel like a whole new woman!” Sooty claimed. She had promised that she would help find some sets that were sure to make her feel good and make Chatterbox’s jaw drop. "Not that you need any help with that, you're already drop-dead gorgeous. He seems like he's already head over heels for you as is."

The rest of the drive was filled with them making their “wish lists” of what they hoped to find on their trip. It seemed like Sooty had a more edgy style, leaning towards wearing primarily black and preferably something with a lot of straps for visual interest. The end of summer was fast approaching so both of them were hoping to find cute clothes for cooler weather. 

Given that it was the middle of the week, the pair had the Paywool all to themselves. They took their time going through the racks, Sooty describing the things that Ray felt were interesting. They fell into an easy rhythm as the clothes piled into their arms, grabbing whatever stood out to them. By the time they were done, they both were weighed down by the sheer amount of fabric in their arms, making their way over to the change rooms to start sifting through it. Time flew by as they tried everything on. Sooty’s active imagination and knack for storytelling made for some hilarious outfit descriptions each time Ray stepped out of the changing room. “Ooh! I love this one! It’s absolutely giving hot girl fall vibes. It’s like a warm drink on a chilly night but make it fashion. This is definitely a date night fit.”

“Yeah this is definitely a keep,” Ray ran her hands along the fabric of the coat she was wearing, it was a long fleece-lined leather coat that went down to her knees. Underneath she had on a grey tank top and skirt combo, each lined with white cotton lace that Ray liked running her fingers along. “Next one!” she excitedly chirped while turning back into the changing room, nearly bumping into the door frame in her hurry. They were getting into the more suggestive outfits that Sooty picked out for her; Ray took her time pulling on the black cropped corset and red miniskirt, feeling how the tight garments hugged the contours of her body. She took a moment to grab her phone, reaching out in front of her to make sure that she was standing centred in the mirror before snapping a pic to send to Chatterbox to see what he thought of it. 

Ray: What do you think of this one? :> 

Ray knew he was stuck in a bunch of meetings today so she put her phone back with her regular clothes before stepping out to get Sooty’s opinion. The squeal of delight she heard when she opened the door was enough to make her cheeks turn a deep shade of red. 

“Keep, keep, 100% keep!! Daaaamn Hiccups, you’re looking like a whole meal plus dessert right now!” Ray smiled brightly, the nickname Kirk had suggested at beach day caught on with all of them, even Chatterbox had taken to calling her Cups because Ray mentioned she thought it was cute.

“It is nice…”

“It’s waaay more than nice, it’s yucking incredible on you!” Ray’s phone chimed with a return text from Chatterbox before Sooty could keep showering her with compliments. Dia brought Ray her phone, booping her leg with it until Ray grabbed it from her. 

“I texted Chatterbox a picture of this outfit, can you read out what it says, Sooty?” She figured it would be faster to just have Sooty read it out, she would hear what he sent anyway if she used her screen reader because she didn’t have headphones with her. 

“Chatterbox said,” Sooty dramatically cleared her throat while sitting up straighter in her seat, “‘You look absolutely incredible, Cups’ with a little flaming heart emoji! Aww.” She passed back her phone as Ray returned to the changing room one last time to get back into the black cargo pants and crop top she wore to the store. Both girls left the store heavily weighed down by their purchases as they made their way back to Sooty’s car. “Last stop, the lingerie store!”

This shop was much smaller in comparison to Paywool, Ray had Dia go lay down by the changing rooms so she was out of the way as the pair made their way through the store. Sooty did most of the pulling from the various racks and displays, her mouth going a mile a minute as she described everything and maybe threw in a little too much detail about her and Bon Bon’s sex life. Before Ray knew it she was whisked away to the change room to try things on.  

She kept her pants on to show off the bras Sooty had picked. The store had quite a spacious back changing area with mood lighting and mirrors all around, painting everything in a soft, intimate glow. Ray tried on a dark red lacy bra that fit perfectly, accentuating her chest in a way that felt natural. Sooty also tried things on at the same time. so Ray felt comfortable stepping out to show her when Sooty did the same. Sooty hyped Ray up as she did a little spin to give her the full view. “You know, if you wanted to be a lil spicy, you could send a pic to Chatty in that,” Sooty’s voice was full of mischief.

“You know, that’s not a bad idea Sooty,” Ray played into the mischief. Chatterbox had mentioned he was dreading all of his meetings today so it was a good idea to at least send him a bit of a distraction. Ray was going over to his house for the first time after shopping with Sooty so really, it was just helping set the scene for later. Ray felt herself getting hot at the thought of seeing him later. That time at her apartment, after they got soaked in the rain, replayed in her mind constantly; they didn’t go all the way, leaving them both craving more. The past few times they’ve been able to be together were full of subtle touches and unsaid words, unable to do anything more in the presence of other people. Sooty helped her take some candid photos to send to Chatterbox, directing her on how she should stand. The bra had a matching pair of panties that she unbuttoned her pants to show a small hint of underneath. Sooty was an excellent hype-woman and made her feel comfortable throughout their whole time there. 

Ray waited until they were back at her apartment to drop things off before she sent Chatterbox any more photos. She dropped off her newly purchased clothes (except for the new lingerie) and grabbed her overnight bag for both her and Dia. She sent off the photo Sooty encouraged her to send before she headed back downstairs to Sooty’s car so they could go get dinner together.

Ray: Be careful opening this in your meeting ;) Excited to see you later!

Chatterbox was not having a good day. He started out having to deal with Chang Gang and despite that going well, being in their presence always put him in a sour mood. He knew his day wasn’t going to get any better as he sped up to the abandoned power station on top of Mount Gordo. It functioned as one of their top secret spots for holding meetings and hiding weapons. Chatterbox’s brother Giblets was the one to claim this place for the clowns. Today, they were holding a meeting to go over the recent developments with Chang Gang and the BBMC with almost everyone in the NCO. Pulling up to the summit of the mountain, he could see that he, Kirk and Twinkles were the last ones to arrive thanks to Chang Gang as a myriad of colourful cars littered the grass in front of the old building. 

“Fuck, je ne veux pas être ici maintenant …” Chatterbox murmured to himself as the trio approached the building. He knew Kirk would start going off on him if he heard him complaining so Chatterbox stuck to what he knew Kirk couldn’t understand. His plan backfired though as Kirk still stopped in his tracks at his tone and turned around to face him. 

“Head inside Twinkles, we’ll be in in a minute,” Kirk ordered the younger clown. Twinkles looked between them before nodding and heading inside without a word. “Look Chatterbox, yes, I know this meetin’ is gonna fuckin’ suck dick but we gotta just fuckin’ get it done, alright?” Chatterbox only nodded back as he clenched his jaw underneath his mask. Let’s get this over with…

Inside, clowns were scattered around the room, sitting on various storage crates and tables in a makeshift circle. Everyone seemed to be in high spirits, laughing and catching up with those they hadn’t seen in a while. A weighted silence fell over the room when Chatterbox and Kirk walked in the door, their tense body language putting everyone on edge. The clowns were always good at sensing emotions, picking up on every little shift in a room to figure out how to get in their enemies' heads and keep themselves safe. It placed extra pressure on Chatterbox as a leader because everyone was impacted by his feelings and impulses. He looked between each clown, the people he should be able to trust with his life and took a deep breath to centre himself. 

“Well, as some of you already know the BBMC is back on their regular bullyuck against us. I know almost all of you have reported sightings of them at pick-ups and in areas of the North without prior warning. Myself and the rest of high command have reasons to believe we have a mole–”

“–You might wanna get that checked out, you know! Is Stitches here? STITCHES!” He was cut off by the nonsense that was their Master of Escapades, Mr. Ratchet. Chatterbox just glared at the unhinged clown until he finally shrunk back with a muttered apology. 

“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, someone in our ranks is working with the BBMC, there is no way they would have known specific locations like that otherwise.” A heavy silence filled the room, everyone looking at one another with a mixture of fear and confusion. The BBMC has been their number one antagonist for long enough now that it was unfathomable to consider why any of the clowns would want to join them. Why leave one of the most prolific gangs in the state of San Andreas to help a broke motor club?

“Do you have any leads on who?” Bozo, one of their head legal clowns, asked. Kirk stepped in to answer before Chatterbox could. 

“Overall, honestly, no. We believe it needs to be someone of higher rank but that don’t really narrow things down too much. The times we spot their cars aren’t frequent enough to point to any specific clown or nothin’ so…” Chatterbox felt his phone buzz in his pocket, quickly pulling it out to see Ray had sent him a photo of her looking irresistible wearing a new outfit. Chatterbox felt his heart flutter at the sight of her before he typed out a quick response and tucked his phone back into his pocket to get back to the meeting.

“Would any clowns like to step forward and call out any strange behaviour that you might have seen over the past few months? Or any weird happenings in the last little bit,” Chatterbox added as Kirk trailed off, doubting he’d get any useful information. 

“Weird how? We are clowns you know, that’s a bit hard to define,” Mumbles’ sarcasm cut through the thick tension in the room, making everyone else groan while Chatterbox rubbed his forehead in annoyance. Thankfully, Tessa stepped forward to give him a glare that made him sink back into his spot atop a high cabinet. A few clowns offered small bits of information but nothing that would indicate any sort of betrayal. 

“I mean if you want to talk about strange behaviour, Chatty,” A loud British voice called from the back of the room. It belonged to Yappy, one of the newest clowns who was one of their team’s ‘scapegoats,’ always willing to take the fall for practically anything. The clown was like everyone’s kid brother, annoying as yuck and fun to pick on, but you couldn’t help but admire his constant positivity. “Where the hell have you been, mate? I feel like I haven’t seen you in like 6 months bro. You don’t yuck around anymore; you’re so boring now!”  A few other criminal clowns around the room nodded in agreement. 

Yappy was right, since Chatterbox started dating Ray, he didn’t have time to go on jobs as much as he used to. A big part of him missed the adrenaline rush, taunting the cops and yucking around but there was too much at stake nowadays. He couldn’t risk getting locked up for however long away from Ray or his duties as the don of the NCO. 

“You’ve been the weird one lately, Chatty,” their other scapegoat, Ember, added from the other side of the room. 

“Shut the yuck up both of you, running this whole damn circus has been taking up all my time alright? It’s not exactly a walk in the park to keep all this running the way it is. Know your yucking place, both of you,” Chatterbox defended himself, his annoyance obvious in his tone. Yappy, undeterred by this, continued pressing.

“You need to come do the vault with us, bro, c’mon, you’ll love it.” Chatterbox let out a long sigh, sharing a knowing glance with both Kirk and Bon Bon.

 “We will discuss this later, Yappy. Shifting back to the–”

“Wait, where’s Boom Boom?” Pockets asked out of the blue. Everyone’s head turned to Bon Bon, then subsequently Chatterbox when the former didn’t provide any response. Guess they weren’t getting anywhere about the BBMC today, for yuck’s sake. 

“She’s with Hiccups, the meeting was so last minute that she couldn’t–” Chatterbox spoke without thinking, cutting himself off when he realized his slip-up. 

“Who’s Hiccups?” Several clowns asked at once. 

“She’s uh, a new clown we might be adding to the crew soon!” Chatterbox lied despite feeling the eyes of those who knew otherwise burning into him. “Sooty is sort of keeping an eye on her for me.”

Chatterbox could tell that not many of the other clowns bought that lie, but were also either too scared or didn’t care enough to push for more information. He got a few interesting looks from some of the elder clowns who weren’t in the know but he ignored them in favour of trying to progress this meeting. “Well, it seems like most of you know yuck all about this BBMC stuff, you useless sacks of yuck. Travel in packs when you go into the Southside at all, don’t make yourself an easy target. And to whoever the mole is, cause I’m sure they’re in this room, just know that you’ve signed your own execution notice, you will get caught, and when you do, I will take great pleasure in ripping your fucking head off myself. Got it?” 

Chatterbox tried not to laugh at the scared nods he got from some of the lower-ranked clowns in response. He felt his phone buzz again but he elected to ignore it until everyone’s attention was off of him. “On another note, we’re now working with Chang Gang so that we can push weed on turf in the city. I know, we have never exactly been friends with CG but this partnership will be beneficial to both of us. And just think, the biggest gangs in both Los Santos and Blaine County working together will be unstoppable.” Chatterbox cringed at having to glaze Chang Gang but was thankful Windsong saved him from having to continue as she stepped in to explain the new procedures put in place. 

With everyone’s attention shifted off of him, he dared to pull his phone out again, his heart jumping as he read Ray’s warning message. He looked around the room at the other clowns, all distracted by Windsong’s presentation. Chatterbox took a moment to lean back against the door behind him to check his phone, acting casual so he didn’t draw any attention. 

Jesus, Mary and yuck… he thought to himself when he saw the new photo she’d sent. He immediately felt light-headed as desire flooded through his body, every part of him screaming to ditch the meeting and go pick her up right now. His pants were starting to tighten the longer he kept his eyes on the photo. He cleared his throat as he almost choked on air, Ray taking his breath away as always.

“You good, Chatterbox?” Scruffy asked with an amused eyebrow raised. Chatterbox was thankful his mask hid his flushed face as everyone’s eyes were back on him. 

“Yeah, my throat’s just dry, sorry.”

“Have some of the refreshments I brought for everyone!” Wendy called from where she was lying on her stomach on the concrete floor. Everyone went back to focusing on Windsong, except for Kirk who narrowed his eyes at him from under his mask.

It was impossible to focus for the rest of the meeting, his mind kept drifting back to Ray. That photo and the promise of seeing her later consumed him, making his skin tingle at the memory of her skin against his, the sound of her moans as he pleasured her. Chatterbox was the first out the door when the meeting let out, barely saying goodbye before racing down the side of Mount Gordo back to the funhouse. When he arrived home, he noticed he’d gotten a text from Sooty, containing another candid shot of Ray in the same outfit as the second photo, with Dia looking up at her.

Sooty: You lucky motheryucker ;)

Chatterbox was waiting on the balcony watching for Sooty’s car to come speeding down the driveway. When he spotted the familiar car, he ran back through the house to get downstairs to greet them. 

“Hey!” he called out as the three of them climbed out of the vehicle. 

“Chatty!!” Ray excitedly yelled back as he pulled her in for a tight hug. Ray went up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his lips. He had to scramble to pull his clown mask off before she got too close, meeting her in the middle once it was out of the way. 

“You two are so yuckin’ cute together,” Sooty’s voice interrupted the couple’s quiet moment together. 

“How was shopping today?” Chatterbox asked, awkwardly clearing his throat and pulling on his ear. Sooty gave him a knowing look and he responded by flipping her off. He didn’t need her big sister teasing today. Ray and Sooty chronicled their day together as all three of them headed inside. Chatterbox led Ray to drop off her stuff upstairs while Sooty lingered at the front door. He let Ray get settled for a moment while he went back downstairs to debrief Sooty on the clown meeting. 

“Any progress made on the BBMC stuff?” Sooty whispered as Chatterbox stepped into the front entrance once more. 

“No, nothing useful. Asking in front of that many clowns was probably a stupid idea but at least they’re all aware of it now.”

“That figures… okay. Well, keep me updated on everything. We should try and go over some of the new rules for yuck stuff tomorrow.” She reached for the door handle to let herself out, “Have a good night, Chatty,” Sooty said with a wink before closing the door behind herself. Chatterbox let out a sigh, rubbing his hands over his face and hair as it set in that he was finally free for the rest of the night. 

With each step he took back up to Ray, he could feel the weight of everything falling off of his shoulders; the only thing that mattered from this point on was her. His jaw dropped when he opened his bedroom door as Ray sat on the lavish bench at the end of his bed, wearing only the lingerie she’d sent him earlier. She had taken her hair out of its usual braids, now falling in loose waves around her as she turned towards him when he opened the door. 

“Ray, wh– you look incredible, baby, holy shit,” Chatterbox breathed out as he made his way over to her, throwing his gloves on the ground behind him as he approached her. Seeing her in person now, his brows furrowed when he saw her back littered with old scars and what looked like burn marks from extinguishing cigarettes. A rush of anger flowed through him (partly at himself for never noticing this before) at whoever dared to do such an awful thing to her. He tried to push that to the back of his mind, now was not the time to investigate his next victims as his girlfriend was almost naked in front of him. 

“You like it? You never responded to that message,” Ray pouted but a smile quickly crept back to her lips as Chatterbox pulled her body against his, gripping her waist tightly. He didn’t bother verbally responding, instead pulling her in for a passionate kiss to show just how much he loved it. 

“Words couldn’t justify all the things I want to do to you in this; I nearly left right then and there to come sweep you off your feet.” He felt her shiver from his breath on her neck as he whispered in her ear. He placed kisses all over her pretty face, his lips ghosting over the faint scars around her sightless eyes. He watched as her eyebrows furrowed and she turned her head away from him as he watched her insecurities take over. “Hey,” he gently tilted her head back up towards him. 

"Chatty, I...I just," she stammered, her voice trembling and barely above a whisper. He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, grounding them both in this moment together. His hand shifted to cup her cheek, his eyes taking in every detail of her beautiful, scarred face. 

"You look beautiful," he whispered. His voice was a soothing balm as he felt some of the tension leave her form. She shook her head, her eyes downcast as her insecurities bubbled to the surface. 

"I'm n- I'm not beautiful," she confessed, her voice cracking under the weight of her self-doubt. A soft scoff escaped Chatterbox’s lips, though his eyes remained tender, filled with concern and unspoken understanding. 

"Why not?" he asked, his voice gentle but probing, seeking to understand the pain behind her words. The air grew heavy between them, the intimacy in the room switching from burning desire to quiet care. Ray hesitated before answering him, 

"The scars," she finally whispered, her hand lifting slightly, fingers trembling as they hovered near the faint marks marring her face, remnants of the wounds that acted as a constant reminder of what she had lost. Chatterbox drew a deep breath, his chest rising and falling in an effort to steady himself. 

"Ray..." he began, his voice thick with emotion. "Scars... are just marks, just memories," he said, his voice low and steady. He took her hand in his, guiding it upwards with a delicate touch. "Just memories... that's all they are."

His lips brushed the tips of her fingers and Ray shivered in response. "I have them too," he continued, his voice a comforting murmur. He guided her hand to his face, pressing her palm against the rough texture of his scarred skin. A jolt of electricity passed through her at the contact, her breath hitching as she felt the jagged lines etched into his flesh.

"On my face," he said, his voice gruff with emotion. "They remind me of the mistakes I've made and the things I've been through. And every time I see them, I don't feel that pain anymore because they’re just memories. I got through them, and I'm still here."

He released her hands, allowing her to explore his scars with a careful, feather-light touch. Her fingers traced the path of the deep scar stretching across his left cheek, following the raised line of healed skin. "Even though I got them during bad times," he continued, his breath hitching as her fingers brushed over his lips, finding another scar to map out. 

"I remember I got through it. I'm still here," he said, keeping his voice low. "And I'm still doing what I think I'm supposed to be doing." She stroked the side of his face, her touch gentle and reverent, as if afraid to break the delicate spell binding them together. His eyes closed, his shoulders relaxing under her touch, his tensions melting into nothingness.

"And those who gave me these," he whispered, his voice almost a vow, "they couldn't beat me."

Seconds passed in silence after he finished speaking, the weight of his words lingering in the air. They stood there, frozen, mesmerized with each other in the quiet bedroom, alone and undisturbed. Before long, Ray’s curious fingers continued on their journey across the expanse of his face, feeling his few-day-old stubble as he had been too busy to shave. His eyes slipped closed as her fingers hovered over his eyelids. Her soft fingers gently touched the corners of his eyes, taking in their shape, feeling the long eyelashes that fluttered across her skin.

Next, her exploration moved to the bridge of his nose, fingers delicately tracing its contours. He scrunched up his nose under her touch, prompting a soft giggle to escape her lips. The corners of her mouth turned upwards as the smile remained etched on her face. He had opened his eyes at the sound of her laughter, the short breaths of laughter panning out against the bottom of his chin, a refreshing sound that cleansed his soul of the unsettling memories that had resurfaced.

She brushed against his eyebrows, feeling him raise them under her touch, wiggling them comically to elicit another hint of sweet laughter. He was successful, and she huffed out a light breath, her other hand playfully snaking down to smack him lightly on the chest. His hands captured the offending limb and held it there in a tender grip. She could feel the hammering of his heart against her palm, one whose rhythm mirrored her own—pounding at the connection that had deepened within the last hour.

She let it rest there for a brief second before pulling it away, he could tell she was eager to continue on her adventure of learning about him. She wanted to study how every inch felt, for no area to be left untouched by her wandering hands.

Finally, her hands reached his hairline. She brushed them into his soft locks, gently stroking his head, the movement massaging his scalp. His eyes closed in bliss as she continued, a breathy sigh escaping his lips at the enthralling touch. A minute passed before her hands trailed down the back of his head, gently raking her fingers through his short hair, the sensation making his heart lurch against his chest.

She had finished exploring his face, her hands continued their journey down the back of his neck, tracing along his shirt collar until her fingers rested on his bowtie. Her lithe fingers undid the knot with ease as she popped open the top four buttons of his shirt, slipping her hands inside now once she had more access. It was his turn to shiver as her warm hands glided over his muscular chest, taking her time to trace her fingertips over the deep scar that ran diagonally down from his collarbone. He watched her brows furrow as her fingers ghosted over the scar again; it was one of his worst, the proximity to his heart reminding him how fragile life can be. 

She continued mapping out his torso with her fingers, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders along with his suspenders so she could continue following the lines of his abs and the scars that cut through them. He could tell Ray had questions, her mind working a mile a minute as she tried to comprehend who could want to hurt him. He dreaded the day she found out, the fear clawed away at him, afraid of scaring her away, to make his shining beacon of light flee; he dreaded the idea of seeing her milky-grey eyes widen in fear.

As her hands drifted closer to his waistband, Chatterbox was reminded of his own need, each touch sending a shiver down his spine. The tenderness of the prior moments slowly faded away as Ray started tracing his body with her lips, leaving lingering kisses on his scars and the lines of his toned body. Something inside him snapped as he pulled her up again to capture her lips in a heated kiss. The slow, methodical rhythm gave way to their increasing need, as their tongues danced against one another. His rough hands eagerly grabbed at her waist, needing to be as close to her as possible. 

“ Ray ,” he breathed out against her lips. His need for her consumed him like a raging fire, every inch of his skin set alight under her touch. 

“I need you, Chatty , it’s been so long,” her words flipped a switch within him, letting himself loose to give her what she asked. Chatterbox picked her up easily, placing her down gently on the bed. He took a moment to take off his pants and boxers before joining her, his eyes taking in her slender form against his bedsheets. Ray reached out for him, letting out a small whine at the complete loss of contact. He intertwined their fingers as he discarded the rest of his clothes on the floor, letting her pull him back. 

“I’m right here, don’t worry.”

He kneeled between her legs, tracing his way up her body with his hands and lips with equal care as she gave him. Ray instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist when their lips finally found each other once more. Chatterbox made quick work of taking off Ray’s lingerie, careful not to damage it, needing to get the last fabric barrier between them out of the way. They were both getting impatient, the weeks-long anticipation leading up to this moment as Chatterbox slowly pushed into Ray’s inviting heat. He let out a soft sigh of relief against her skin as he eased himself inside of her, making sure he gave her time to adjust to his size. The look on her face was one of reverence when his hips were finally flush against hers.

“C-Chatty, ahh , ” she moaned out as he started to move his hips against hers shallowly. 

“Been waiting so long for this, Cups,” Ray nodded in agreement, her eyes slipping closed as a whine escaped her lips. “You’re fucking amazing, baby .”

Chatterbox slowly increased the speed of his thrusts, both of them dizzy from pleasure. Ray kept her hands on his face, keeping him close as pretty moans escaped her lips freely, Chatterbox could get off on the sound of her alone. Pressure was building in his core as he was fast approaching ecstasy, a string of his constant moans filling the air; he wanted to make sure she came first, her pleasure infinitely more important than his. He reached down in between their bodies to circle her clit with his fingertips, causing her to whine and squirm as her hands started grabbing at his hair, desperate for something to ground her as waves of pleasure washed over her. Chatterbox continued his ministrations until she cried out his name, her body writhing underneath him as her orgasm overtook her. 

Watching her come pushed Chatterbox over the edge right after, his vision going white as his hips stuttered with his release. Her unyielding tight heat quivered around him as they both came down from utter bliss, his hips still moving shallowly against hers until she let out a slight whimper from the overstimulation. Chatterbox carefully pulled out, flopping down on the bed next to Ray and placing a kiss on her cheek when she whimpered at the loss of him. “ C’était vraiment incroyable ,” his head was filled with a pleasant fog, he didn’t catch the language switch until Ray responded.

“You should speak French more often, it’s really hot.”

“You like it?”

“I love it,” she whispered back, exhaustion starting to take over.

“I’ll grab a towel to clean us off, I’ll be right back mon cœur ,” Ray only nodded in response, her eyes slipping closed as she lay spent on the bed. 

“ Mon cœur ?” Ray asked upon his return, her awkward pronunciation bringing a smile to Chatterbox’s lips. 

“My heart, because I think you fully own it now.”

“How are you so perfect?” Ray asked as he carefully wiped away the evidence of their love-making from between her thighs.

“I’m far from perfect, Ray. I just try to be the best I can be for you because you deserve the world.”

Ray fell asleep on his chest soon after he climbed into bed next to her, the last of her energy drained out from the long day. Chatterbox laid awake for a little while longer, his heart full of adoration. “I love you so much, baby,” he whispered to her sleeping form, placing a kiss on her head. Just before he drifted off to sleep, he heard her soft reply,

“I love you too.”

Chapter Text

Ray was awoken by the sound of a rooster’s loud crow, her eyes sliding open to be greeted by the inky void she’d grown so used to. Mornings in her apartment were usually cold from the overworked AC, but Ray found herself incredibly warm this morning. It took her a moment to remember where she was, the memories of last night washing over her as she pulled the covers tighter around herself. She nuzzled deeper into the sheets, breathing in Chatterbox’s scent as she dozed off again. 

Before she could fall back to sleep, the sound of a door opening pulled her back to reality. She twisted towards where the sound came from, hearing the soft padding of feet make their way over. “Morning mon cœur,” Chatterbox’s morning voice rumbled out as he climbed back into bed. “I went and fed Dia, she was scratching at the door and I didn’t want her to wake you.”

“Mmm, thank you,” she snuggled up to him once more, “Do you have to go anywhere today?”

“Not urgently, why?”

“Good, because you’re gonna be stuck here all day,” Ray wrapped herself fully around him like a koala to prove her point, feeling the vibrations in his chest as he let out a low laugh. 

“Welp seems like I’m trapped here then, ohh noooo,” he joked while he rolled on top of her, trapping her instead as he laid down with his head on her stomach. Ray absentmindedly ran her fingers through his short hair, massaging his scalp gently as they savoured their first slow morning together. Chatterbox felt like the best possible weighted blanket, making her feel safe and loved in a way she’d never been before. 

They lay in bed for most of the day, only moving to get food and to let Dia out whenever she needed. Ray’s thoughts drifted back to the night before, mentally retracing Chatterbox’s face and body in her mind. She’d mapped out all of his features, scars and all, with her hands; finally getting a complete image of him in her head. She could tell he was beautiful, the perfect mixture of sharp and soft features. She had felt the scars on his face before, but only the jagged lines that cut through his cheek and lips. She had no idea about the smooth raised lines extending up from his eyebrows, or about any of the large scars that traversed the rest of his body. Her heart simultaneously shattered and burned with rage at the thought of him enduring such cruel treatment. But he got through it … his words from the night before echoed in her mind. 

Chatterbox must have been following a similar train of thought to her, as his hand came up to cradle her cheek, brushing the pad of his thumb under her left eye. 

“Who did this to you?” he whispered, barely loud enough for Ray to catch what he said. She nuzzled deeper into his palm, turning her head so she could brush her lips against his hand. She knew this conversation was inevitable. Memories of her past surged to the front of her mind, making her eyes squeeze shut in a futile attempt to block them out. Chatterbox watched the shift, his brow furrowing at the pained expression that now painted her face. 

“I did it… I did this to myself,” her voice was thick with emotion. 

She hadn’t talked about this in a long time, Max was the only one who knew her full story. Chatterbox stayed quiet, giving her space to take her time. “When I was losing my vision, I was so young I didn’t really know what was happening. Every day, I’d wake up, and the world would be dimmer each day. I would try to scratch the haze out of my eyes because I didn’t know what else to do . It was a pain I could control, I guess,” Ray trailed off as Chatterbox pulled her into an impossible tight hug. 

“Oh babe, I’m so fucking sorry–” his voice caught with emotion as he tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall for her. Ray pushed on, the dam holding back the flood of her past had been broken, she had to tell him everything. 

“It was a vitamin deficiency, no one noticed until it was too late, my vision was too far gone.

“How could no one–”

“My parents… were awful people. They were drug addicts, in no way equipped to take care of a child. I‘d be locked in a room whenever I was home, only fed whatever bullshit my dad stole from the gas station. One of my teachers finally pitied me enough to call CPS, I was taken away from them that same day.”

“Holy shit Ray… that’s horrible.” Hearing his response almost broke her, her throat tightened as her eyes burned with unshed tears. Still, she continued recounting her past to him, the relief of telling someone slowly overtaking the pain. 

“When I finally was looked over by doctors there was nothing they could do to save my eyes, I only had about 10 percent of my vision left at that point and the rest faded away before we could get my nutrition in check.”

“Where did you go after you were removed from your parents?” Chatterbox’s voice was deep from emotion, and Ray could feel him tense up against her as he was processing this new information. 

“Into the system, my parents were cut off from their families and none of them wanted anything to do with me. I would bounce between an orphanage and foster families, no one liked having to deal with the blind girl. I’m a burden to everyone.” Chatterbox loosened his vice grip around her to grab her face with both his hands, pushing his forehead against hers.

“Ray, don’t ever say that about yourself again, you hear me?” she could feel his eyes burning into her broken ones. “All of those people are horrible, uncaring, sacks of shit who don’t get to define you like that. You never have been, and never will be a burden, Ray. I swear on my life if I ever find any of these people who made you feel this way I will make sure they feel every bit of pain you’ve felt from them and more.” His words were what finally made the tears fall from her eyes, she’d never had someone this willing to fight for her. The level of rage in his voice frightened her somewhat, but she knew the people who it was aimed at more than deserved his wrath, even if she knew those threats would never be acted upon. 

“Thank you, but you don’t need to do that Chatty, plus you’d probably get caught and go to jail and it’ll be a hassle to come visit you every day,” Ray laughed softly to try and lighten the mood. Chatterbox still had one more question he needed answers to,

“The marks on your back, are they from your parents too?” 

“Some of them, the burns. The orphanage wasn’t exactly the best at vetting those they gave kids to,” she didn’t feel the need to explain further, as Chatterbox wrapped his arms tightly around her once more. 

At this point Dia had sensed Ray was upset, pushing her nose into Ray’s face after she jumped up onto the bed from where she was lounging on the floor. The couple repositioned themselves so Dia could lay with them; Ray was always grateful for her in times like this, providing a constant source of comfort without her even needing to ask. She’d never felt safer, trapped between her amazing boyfriend and loyal dog, she felt like she was finally reaching the other side, I got through it, I’m still here , Chatterbox’s words echoed in her mind. 

A few days later, Ray and Dia accompanied Max to get his car tuned up at Vinny’s shop. She hadn’t been there since Dia was injured, so Ray was excited to update Vinny on everything that’s happened since. Dia’s happy wiggling in the backseat signalled to Ray that they had arrived, Max carefully pulling into an available stall and putting the taxi in park. 

“Go say hi to Vinny, Dia!” Ray chirped as she opened the door for her guide dog. The agile dog jumped out, sprinting up to said owner of the shop, barely able to contain her excited sounds. 

“Dia! It’s been so long, Pup! Where ya been?” Vinny’s strong accent carried through the shop as the two roommates joined them. “It’s good to see you again Ray, it’s been a while. Max has been missing having you to wait with him. He’s been stuck with me the past few times.”

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, Vinny,” Max laughed. The two of them got into discussing a recent issue with Max’s car, Ray absentmindedly petting Dia while she listened. One of the shop’s master mechanics stepped in to talk with the Brit, leaving Vinny free to chat with her instead. The shop was busy today, Ray's ears were filled with the sounds of different tools firing and people’s conversations from around the shop. She was barely able to get a word out to Vinny before someone else stepped in.

“Hey yo Vinny, I got a question for you man, oh shit, sorry my bad.”

“Nah you’re all good, Taco. Good to see you, man.”

Taco?  

He had been walking home from school when he stumbled upon her—literally. He almost tripped over her as he hurried down the desolate pathway, eager to get home to his mother, who was likely entertaining another visitor. His father was once again locked away in prison for some crime, a reassuring cycle he had grown numb to. The obstacle that had nearly sent him sprawling turned out to be a girl; she was a tiny thing curled up into a tight ball as if she were trying to disappear from the world.

Her hands were clamped over her ears, desperately trying to block out the sounds of passing cars. Each blare of a horn made her flinch and retreat further into herself. She reminded him of a hedgehog; her chestnut hair was spiked up, camouflaging her entirely in the mud and fallen leaves around her. At a closer look, he noticed that her hair was matted; he recognized the symptom of neglect—that was why he begged his mother to let him keep a buzz cut. It felt liberating to no longer have to run his hand through the tangles of his unkempt, kinky hair and have his peers make fun of him for being too poor to go to the barbers to put his hair into dreadlocks.

Slowly, he knelt to her as he approached a frightened animal. He reached out a tentative hand to touch her shoulder. However, she jumped as if she had been struck, her wide grey eyes darting in his direction but failing to truly see him next to her.

“Hey,” he spoke softly. Adopting the gentle tone his brother approached him with to comfort him when their parents fought. “Are you lost?” Her eyes honed in on him, her breaths ragged as her fingers curled deeper into the bruised skin of her legs. Sensing her hesitation, he kept speaking, doing his best not to scare the little girl and cause her more distraught.

He wondered why she was in such a dubious part of town. With her innocent, large eyes and tiny frame, she looked like a preschooler, but her large school bag told him otherwise. “Did you get lost on your way home?” he asked, trying not to spook her further. She shook her head in response, but the way she reached out to grab her bag said otherwise.

“Ah, your parents taught you to be careful of strangers, didn’t they? That’s good!” he rambled, attempting to put her at ease, “I’m coming home from school as well. If you want, I can help you. You don’t even need to tell me where you live!” His happy tone was usually infectious. Still, it seemed to not affect her as her lip quivered, tears threatening to spill out.

Quickly, he backtracked, trying to back away from her and instead falling onto his bottom, “Oomf, that hurt,” he grumbled as he turned away from her to rub at his sore backside. A chortle of amusement brought his attention back to the little girl; her petite hands slapped over her mouth to suppress her giggles.

He huffed in mock indignation, trying to hide the zing of satisfaction he felt from her response—unwilling or not. “It’s not funny, you know! Now I have mud on my ass!” His exaggerated complaint seemed to increase the volume of her giggling, the tearful eyes now sparkling with murth, small hiccups breaking out from between her fingers.

“Hmpf, if you’re going to laugh at me, you might as well tell me your name. I’m Taco, by the way,” he warmly smiled at her, patiently waiting for her to calm down from the fit of laughter that had taken over her.

A skittish voice answered him, “Isn’t taco a food? I’ve never had one, but everyone says they’re yummy—” Her words tumbled out in a rapid stream as if a dam had been broken. “—I want to try a taco one day. They smell nice. There’s a taco stand close to school. The owner’s really mean, though; he always tells me to go away, and he makes me sad—” she sniffed, and Taco felt panic well up in his chest, “—There’s a cute kitty there as well! She’s nice! She always runs up to me and bumps her head against my legs, and it tickles. I dunno why she does that, but it feels nice! Oh, and one time, she even let me pet her!”

He tried to edge a word in as she yapped away, but she was lost in her rambling, seemingly forgetting where she was and why.

“I want a kitty! But Marton says I’m not allowed one! I think she’s just being a big meanie! There’s lots of kitties outside that I hear meowing every day, and I give them lots of food!” her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper, “Maybe if I take one back, she won’t notice. I can hide it under the bed, and then it can sleep with me every day, and I can pet it, and I’ll love it lots and lots!” her breath finally ran out as she daydreamed about her future hostage—I mean cat.

She had introduced herself as Ray, or more precisely, first name Ray, last name Mond. She lived in a nearby orphanage. Her peers had left her behind after they had gotten off the bus, leaving her to make her own way home; his blood had boiled at the thought of mean little girls leaving a helpless blind girl to fend for herself. Anything could have happened to her as she tried to find her way back to the orphanage.

Thus began their year-long friendship. Taco made it his mission to walk her home from school and ensure she got there safely. He also made sure to give her a snack on the walk home, noting how her oversized clothes engulfed her tiny body like a giant pillowcase. He got in trouble for sneaking out food, but it was worth the joy on her face and the bounce in her step. Sometimes, his best friend, Curtis, would join them, and on those days, they’d swing little Ray between them; her tinkling laughter would echo through the abandoned pathway.

He looked forward to her company every day. However, one day, their meetings at the school bus abruptly stopped, leaving him puzzled and worried. Eventually, he mustered the courage to visit the orphanage with Curtis to ask where she was, only to be shut down by Marton, who shooed him away like a common street urchin. He never saw Ray again, but her memory lingered—the tiny, blind girl that distracted him from his home life, a sliver of light that pushed him into another day of a hopeful future of loud laughter and friendship.

“Taco? As in Taco Prince??” Ray gasped. Her head was flooded with memories at the mention of her long-lost friend. 

“The one and only, uh, do I know you? You do seem familiar, I ain’t gon’ lie.”

“This is the girl I was telling you and Curtis about that one time, remember?” Vinny added in, his voice indicating there was a lot more he wasn’t saying. 

“Oh my god, wait, RAY? I mean, RACHELL?” Taco’s voice got louder as he remembered, pulling her into a bear hug when she confirmed he was right. “I thought you were long gone out of the city, holy shit, it’s been too long Ray!” 

“I’ve missed you, Taco! I cried so hard when I wasn’t allowed to hang out with you anymore.”

“I thought you and Curtis mentioned you might know ‘er,” Vinny added, his smile evident in his voice.

“Curtis is around too?!” Ray squealed.

“Yeah! He should be pulling up any minute now actually, we were gonna go sell–I mean–work over in La Puerta today.” Taco explained. As if on cue, a loud muscle car roared into the shop, bass pounding from the speakers. Everyone in the shop seemed to be used to the loud noise as they all carried on with what they were doing as the driver got out. 

“Heyyy Taco, Vinny! How’s it going, guys?” Curtis’ relaxed voice cut through the noise of the shop. He stopped short before joining them, Ray could feel his eyes burning into her.

“Hi Curtis,” Ray did a small wave, anxious to find out if he recognized her too. 

“Wait, Ray?? Oh my god,” Curtis yelled as he pulled her into a tight hug, spinning her around before placing her back on her feet. “It is you, what the fuck! Why didn’t you tell us about her earlier Vinny?” 

“How was I supposed to know you guys were long-lost friends?!” The Italian defended himself. 

The three of them explained the full story of how they’d met, interrupting each other to laugh at their old inside jokes from their antics together. Ray was buzzing with the excitement of finding these two again. It was wild that they worked closely with Vinny on one of his side gigs from the auto shop. What a small world… It was crazy how comfortable she felt among the three of them, something just felt right about all of them standing together. 

“So Ray, what have you been up to lately? Guess you got someone else to walk you home now,” Curtis turned the conversation onto her as he knelt to pet Dia, her wagging tail brushing against her legs. 

“Yeah, Dia’s great at that. I keep to myself mostly, I work from home cause it’s easier for me, my best friend slash roommate gets his car worked on here so I normally tag along to say hi to Vinny. And… yeah! Things have been really good lately!”

“Actually, that reminds me, Ray,” Vinny stepped in, “I saw you holdin’ hands with someone the other day, who is he? I need names, I need to make sure he’s gonna treat my Little One right, okay?” Ray laughed at his protective tone, a blush creeping onto her face both from embarrassment and from thinking about Chatterbox. 

“Oh, that’s my boyfriend, Chatty, sorry, Chatterbox. You don’t need to worry about him, Vinny.” All three of them responded at once, the volume of their voices making her jump.

“Chatterbox??”

“Ain’t no way you’re dating Chatterbox.”

“THAT WAS CHATTERBOX?!”

“Wha–huh? What’s wrong with Chatterbox? He’s like the sweetest guy I’ve ever met!”

“You’re dating a clown, Ray,” Taco yelled back at her as if that was supposed to make any sense. “He’s—“All of a sudden a throat cleared and Taco halted his explanation, letting Vinny take over.

“Chatty is just a fuckin’ menace, Ray, he’s a funny guy, but man is he crazy sometimes.”

“How did you guys meet him?”

“Through business mainly, his company is one of the main distributors of materials for all of San Andreas, as you probably know, so we have some deals for both the shop and my side gig for different things.” Ray vaguely knew Chatty was in the materials business, particularly lumber, but he never told her more than that because he didn’t want to be thinking about work when they were together. The more she thought about it, she wasn’t surprised that Chatty would be called a clown, he and the people he worked with always told the craziest stories about what they get up to outside of work. 

“I was just shocked by everyone’s reactions to his name. He's a really great guy, I promise you have nothing to worry about Vinny, he treats me very well. He was the one that stepped in when Dia got hurt, that’s how we met, actually.”

“Was he now? That’s good, he’s looking out for you as he should.” There was an undertone in Vinny’s voice that put her on edge, but she pushed it away when Max rejoined their group; he was delighted to hear that Ray, Taco, and Curtis all knew each other. His car was almost finished, so the five of them waited in the shop until Ray and Max could leave. Ray exchanged phone numbers with Curtis and Taco, with promises to hang out soon to catch up on lost time. 

“So you’ve met her now, have you?” Dundee’s gruff voice questioned Bon Bon as he stepped into the garage used as a meeting room in the Billabong. Various BBMC members were scattered around on the various old couches and chairs, watching him curiously. The red jester clashed against the famous denim vests that the club wore, a visual representation of the two worlds colliding. They all watched him like a hawk, still wary of his presence in their ranks. 

“Yeah, I’ve met her and I can confirm that Chatterbox is absolutely whipped for her. She’s definitely the way to go if we want to get to him.” 

“But she’s just a regular civilian, yeah? We shouldn’t bring civs into this right away even if she’s affiliated with the clowns,” Barry reasoned from where he was sitting next to Dundee. 

“But she is his only weakness at this point, if we want to take down the clowns she might be our only option.” Bon Bon shot back, a jolt of regret shooting up his spine as he asked for his old family’s demise. He had to remember the clowns weren’t his home anymore, he was being pushed out by all of the newer clowns coming in. He couldn’t trust the clowns to have his back anymore, so why should he have theirs? 

“One more thing… that you guys really aren’t going to like, um, Chang Gang chose the clowns for that weed deal…”

“God fucking dammit Bon Bon,” Dundee slammed his hand against the arm of the couch. “I swear you clowns are going too far, what the hell do you cunts need turf in the south for?” Bon Bon put up his hands in surrender, he had no involvement with the deal’s creation. 

“CG teaming up with the NCO cannot be good, even just in terms of numbers; that's a dangerous thing for the rest of us in Los Santos,” Tiene Koski added, her arms crossed over her chest. A heavy silence followed as reality set in. 

“Something needs to be done about this, those two together are a ticking time bomb even when they don’t get along. I’ll talk to Benji, the Vagos won’t be happy to hear about this either. We’ll need to up our aggression towards them, trying to beat them at their own waiting game isn’t going to work. These clowns have been allowed to run free in the city for too long.”

Bon Bon’s phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out to see a text from his wife,

Sooty: Hi love, everything okay? You disappeared pretty fast there.

Chatterbox was sitting at this desk when Vinny texted him out of the blue. He had seen the bald guy’s name flash on his screen from the corner of his eye, prompting him to check his phone in confusion. He wasn’t used to having a somewhat civil relationship with the members of CG and his confusion only increased when he saw what Vinny had sent. 

Vinny: I cover your ass, you cover mine, alright? You owe me one Chatterbox. 

Chatterbox: What the yuck are you talking about Vinny? Have you lost it in your old age?

Vinny: If I hear that Ray got hurt because of her connections to you, or if you lay even a finger on her I will make sure that you are buried 6 feet under the funhouse.

Why the hell was he talking about Ray? Chatterbox called Vinny in response, his anger brewing as the old Italian answered. “How the hell do you know about Ray?” Chatterbox growled the minute the line was connected. 

“Hello to you too, Chatterbox” Vinny snarked back.

“Answer the question, you bald-headed bowling ball.” 

“Ooh, I like the alliteration that time. Ray’s like a daughter to me, Chatterbox. Mark my words, if she gets hurt you’re fucking dead, alright? Watch yourself.” 

“I’m sorry, wha? She’s your daughter? There’s no way someone as amazing as Ray is related to an ugly overgrown Caillou like you.”

“Watch your fucking mouth Chatterbox, alright? She and Max have been coming to my shop for years, I’ve been looking out for her. Now imagine my surprise when I spot her holdin’ hands with someone I’ve never seen before then a few days later I find out that it was you. You’re playing with fire not tellin’ her about all this, she’s going to get burned. You know that right?” Chatterbox sighed, he knew Vinny was right. Chatterbox had been lucky that Ray was so separated from the rest of the city, that his name preceded him, her mentioning it to the wrong person would be deadly. “She almost found out today, I’ll have you know, Taco would’ve told her if I didn’t step in. That’s why you owe me one now, you fuck. And you better tell her soon or I will, Chatterbox.” He hung up right after, not giving Chatterbox the chance to respond. 

He stayed still for a moment with the phone to his ear, his head was ringing as reality came crashing down on him. He threw his phone away from him in anger, not caring if it shattered as it made contact with the grey brick wall, and put his head in his hands. He never meant to keep this from her for this long, but his own selfish desire made him enjoy the freedom she gave him from the clowns. It was for her safety as well, dating the leader of the clowns put a massive target on her back and he didn’t want to cause her any more trauma.

One more week , he reasoned with himself. One more week so he can figure out the best way to break it to her. One more week before this could all fall apart and he’s left heartbroken. One more week of bliss...

Chapter Text

The bathroom air was getting thick with steam as Chatterbox and Ray showered together. The shower was set up to have an overhead rain shower in addition to a regular handheld shower head so both of them could stand under their own stream of water. Ray was just finishing up rinsing the conditioner out of her long hair as Chatterbox was hypnotized by watching water droplets trace the curves of her body. This past week they’d been inseparable, Chatterbox had been taking full advantage of the time he had left before he had to confess the truth to her. Just as Ray was going to reach for the bottle of soap behind her, Chatterbox pulled her against him for a passionate kiss. The water amplified the feeling of their bodies against one another; their hands exploring the other's body as things quickly got heated. 

Chatterbox reached to the side to grab the bottle of body wash, squirting some into his hand behind Ray’s back. He warmed it up between his hands before he slid them up her waist, careful not to get anything in her hair. Ray let out a quiet hum as he attentively washed her body. When he got up to her breasts, he took a moment to squeeze them softly, running his thumbs over her nipples, drawing a gasp from her lips. He pinched each one lightly before moving on, kneeling in front of her to get her legs. The slick feeling of the soap on her soft skin was intoxicating, Chatterbox wished he could touch her like this for the rest of his life. He let his finger trail up her inner thigh, stopping just before her heated core, before doing the same on her other leg. He could feel her trembling under his hands, her need evident in the sweet sounds that came from her lips. 

“Chatty, please, stop teasing,” she breathed out, her hands coming down to grab at his shoulders to try and get him to do something. He stood up again, squeezing her ass with one hand while he grabbed the handheld shower head with the other.

“I’m not doing anything, Ray, can’t a man just take care of his girlfriend?” Chatterbox whispered lowly as he gently lowered the shower head, letting the firm pressure of the water run deliberately slow across her lithe body like a soft caress, teasing her sensitive skin as he let the water stream linger on her nipple, watching intently as the rosy bud harden before continuing his attentive journey down, washing away the soap suds that clung onto her body. Ray shivered from the contrast of the hot water rippling across her cooling skin, breathlessly waiting in anticipation for his next move.

Her breath hitched when the stream circled around her other nipple, his touch reverent as he tenderly massaging the curve of her ass before he pulled her against him. The sudden movement let her feel how turned on he was as his growing hardness pressed insistently against her stomach.

“Chatty?” she gasped as he pressed against her, arousing her further as her pulse quickened as they were flushed against each other.

Chatterbox hummed back, murmuring huskily in response, “Ray.” He stepped back to resume his mission of washing her so she was sparkling clean, letting the water cascade down her back to clear away the remaining suds.

His hand pressed against her ass to help her grind into him, enjoying Ray’s small whimpers of pleasure as her short nails dug into his skin, her knees wobbling as she turned into jelly against him, using his muscular body as an anchor of support to keep herself up.

She moaned when she felt his cock twitch up against her as it slowly grew harder and harder from the combination of the sounds that escaped her lips as well as the friction of her body pressing up against him. “Fuck baby, you’re so hot” Chatterbox groaned, craning his neck down to pull her into a fervorous kiss, his mouth crashing down on hers in an attempt to show her how much he needed to be inside her right at that moment. Every bone in his body was aching with red-hot desire that made him want to throw her against the shower wall and have his way with her.

Letting go of the shower head, he walked backwards, leading her to the shower bench behind him, waiting for the wood of the bench to hit the backs of his legs before slowly sitting down, letting her lips follow him as he went. Their tongue entwined before he finally pulled away, at a loss for breath. His hands gripped her hips to spin her around, careful not to disorientate her as he pulled her down into his lap, her legs straddling his as she settled against him, her ass rubbing deliciously against his cock. Ray turned her head to the side to pull him into a heated kiss once more, her back pressed against his chest. His hands slid securely around her waist to keep her close, sharing his warmth with her as they were both now out of the stream of hot water. One of his hands slid up to cup her breast while the other travelled down between her legs, his fingers lightly tracing her wet folds. Her head tipped back against his shoulder with a soft moan, giving Chatterbox easy access to graze her neck softly with his teeth. 

As his fingers continued to stroke her clit she squirmed against him, getting desperate for him to take things further as she felt his hard cock throb against her ass. 

“Chatty,” Ray whined. She reached up to push his wet hair off of his forehead, gripping the strands as he inserted two fingers into her. The sounds she made were like music to his ears, a song that only he got to hear. 

“You sound so pretty like this, Ray,” he muttered against her skin, breathing in the smell of her freshly washed skin. He pinched her nipple with his other hand, the moan she let out going straight to his already leaking cock.

“I’m so–please I want to feel you inside me before I–ah, please Chatty.” 

“As you wish, mon cœur,” he whispered in her ear. Gripping her hips, he leaned her forward slightly, her hands coming to rest on his knees as he lined himself up with her dripping-wet heat. He slowly pulled her hips back onto him, drawing a moan from his lips as he revelled in how tight she felt around him. When she was fully seated on his length, her hips rocked against his, as if she was trying to work him even deeper inside of her. He gripped her hips hard enough to bruise, pulling her back against him in time with the movement of her hips. 

“Fuck, you’re so deep like this,” Ray gasped, gripping his knees harder as she continued grinding down on him. This position didn’t allow for a ton of movement, but Ray’s constant pulsing around his length was enough to bring him close to the edge. He dipped his hands between her legs once more, circling her clit with one hand, the other coming up to rest on her lower stomach, feeling where it swelled from how deep he was buried inside her. He increased the pressure of his fingers, as Ray’s movements became more desperate.

“That’s it, baby, take what you need from me, I got you,” his voice caused her to tip her over the edge as she came with a loud cry, her hips stuttering involuntarily as she was overtaken by pleasure. He wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her back against him so she didn’t lose her balance as she worked through her orgasm. The feeling of her slick walls constricting around him and watching her face painted with ecstasy brought Chatterbox over the edge right after, his warm release blooming inside her. 

The sound of the water still running drowned out their heavy breathing, neither one of them wanting to move from the position they were in. The cold air was starting to creep in, so Chatterbox reluctantly lifted Ray off of him, looking down to see his thighs painted with both of their releases. He helped Ray out of the shower, wrapping her in a fluffy white towel before he finished rinsing off, finally turning the water off when he was done. Ray was waiting for him with another towel behind her back when he stepped out again, going up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on the tip of his nose before she handed it to him. 

As they were both getting dressed in the bedroom, Chatterbox drew his eyes away from Ray to finally check his phone, seeing that it was blowing up with messages from several different people. 

Mr. Ratchet: You better show up tonight muthafucka! It’s been too damn long! You’re probably gonna be washed, aren’t you?

Yappy: It’s time, Chatty! We’re going to be rich after this, rich I tell you! 

Weren’t they already rich? Chatterbox laughed inwardly.

Hostage: It’s good to have you on a job again Mr. Box!

Ember: Where are we meeting again for the heist? 

Right. The heist. Chatterbox had forgotten he had agreed to join in on the next big clown robbery of the vault. It had been too long since he’d done something like this, his nerves coming back with a vengeance at the prospect of getting caught. He’d done hundreds of jobs like this by now, but there was so much more at stake now if he got caught. He looked over to Ray who was tending to Dia by the door to his bedroom. She was blissfully unaware of the fact that he might be going to jail tonight. Before he could start to spiral too far about this, Ray’s voice cut into his thoughts. 

“What are your plans for this evening?” He paused long enough that she turned back towards him, curious as to why he had gone quiet.

“Work stuff, unfortunately. Something just came up so I’m going to be at it until pretty late tonight.”

“Oh, okay,” The disappointment in her voice sent a pang in his chest, he hated that he couldn’t tell her more. Only a few more days… he thought, his chest tightening even more. “I’ll drive you home, I’m going to have to head into the office pretty soon here.”

Ray paced around her apartment, she had far too much energy with no outlet for it. She tried to spend most of the day trying to get work done but couldn’t sit still, she took Dia on a two-hour-long walk but she was still bouncing around the apartment when she got back. She missed Chatty, part of her was still riled up from showering with him. All she wanted was his touch, to feel his warmth against her and breathe in his intoxicating scent once more. The abrupt change in pace from the shower to her empty apartment had left her unsatisfied, wishing she could stay with him even if he had to work. 

Since the conversation with Vinny, Taco, and Curtis, Ray was even more curious about what Chatterbox did for a living, asking him more questions but only getting vague answers or redirected conversation. She asked Max what he knew, given that he seemed to know almost everyone in the city at this point. He knew Chatterbox was a powerful man, one with a lot of influence in the city but he kept his business operations close to his chest, he didn’t want competitors to be able to guess his next move. After talking with Vinny and the boys, she brought up the clown comment to Max on their way home from the shop.

“You know how I’ve mentioned to you that everyone in the city keeps their face covered?” Max asked as he turned the key in the ignition. 

“Mhm-hmm” Ray hummed in confirmation. 

“Well, there is a group of people in the city who wear clown masks as their face coverings; instead of the typical bandanas or helmets that everyone else wears. That might be what they’re referring to. I mean his name kind of makes sense for that as well…” 

“Yeah, I guess so. So, are all the clowns connected or is it just a trend that’s happening?” 

“I don’t know actually, there’s been an increasing amount of clowns in the city over the years but I don’t actually see them that often, and it will only be a few at a time.”

“Maybe it’s some type of joke, you know, if everyone wears masks all the time, why wouldn’t you switch it up sometimes and wear something crazy?” 

“Honestly, yeah. Whenever I do encounter a clown they always seem to be having a good time so I can’t imagine the reasoning is too far off from that. It’s nice to see the splashes of colour they bring compared to how dull everyone else can be.” 

“Taco didn’t seem to like the idea of clowns… actually… he seemed pretty pissed off…. He didn’t say anything else though.” 

“Maybe he just doesn’t like clowns, it’s a pretty common fear, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I guess…”

Max was working tonight so Ray and Dia had the house to themselves. Dia was getting so fed up with Ray’s pacing that she nudged Ray over to her bed, jumping up on her to get her to settle down. 

“I’m fine, sweetheart, it’s okay,” she soothed Dia, letting her crawl into her lap to keep her still. The two of them lay there for long enough that Ray dozed off. She was awoken by Dia’s whining that she needed to go out, her wet nose pushing against her face and hair. “Alright, alright, I’m awake, one second Deedee.”

She rolled over to check her phone, the time reading out to be much later than she would’ve liked. Guess I’m not sleeping tonight, Ray thought to herself as she got up to deal with Dia. As the pair walked outside, she remembered that she needed to go to the bank to withdraw some money. Ray called an Uber to bring her down there, not wanting a repeat of what happened last time she was out walking too late into the evening. The banks in the city stay open 24/7, to account for the city’s sleepless inhabitants. 

The ride to the bank was uneventful. An uncharacteristically cold gust of wind blew against her as Dia guided her into the grand building. When she got inside, a barrage of different voices filled her ears, why’s it so busy tonight?

Ray absentmindedly checked her phone while she waited in line for the ATM. When she got bored of that, she started listening to the conversations of people around her, hoping to catch some random gossip going around the city. One of the few perks of being blind, she was incredibly good at eavesdropping. 

“Well, CGs working with some other gang now I guess, for some fucking reason, some sort of pushing deal for our new turf or whatever, I don’t know, I wasn’t paying attention,” a girl with a stereotypical ‘mean girl’ voice chatted with her friend. “Yeah, so now whenever I go down to La Puerta to like, you know, sell and work on my tan, there’s like a whole bunch of psycho clowns running around! I didn’t agree to this!”  

“Ew! There’s clowns? Ewww am I gonna get like, a disease from them or something? Girl, we need to find a new place to tan… like, ewww I don’t want them creeping on me… Anyways did you hear about-”

What is with this city and these clowns? Ray thought to herself. She tried to keep listening to what the girls were saying but they were on their way out of the building, so soon their voices soon faded into oblivion. Just as Ray walked up to one of the ATMs, the doors to the bank blew open and several people ran inside yelling at everyone to put their hands up. Dia started barking at the loud noise, wrapping herself in front of Ray to defend her. 

“Everyone stop what you’re doing and put your hands in the air, mothafuckas!” A voice yelled over the commotion. 

“Hands in the air!” A strong British accent echoed. 

“Alright listen up everyone,” a shrill, vaguely familiar voice commanded as everyone settled down somewhat from the initial shock. “We aren’t going to hurt any of you, as long as you cooperate, alright? So just let us do our jobs, and you’ll aaaaaall get to walk away unscathed.” 

“Everyone stand closer together! Get close, mothafuckas!” The same voice from earlier yelled. No one moved a muscle, still in shock that this was happening. “Do we gotta play Simon Says or something?! Move, y’all! Simon says, move!” 

Ray took a careful step to the left, her shoulder brushing against another person. Now that everyone had quieted down, she could hear the faint whispers of the bank robbers starting to execute the next part of their plan.

“Okay, Hostage and Ember, you two go work on that first door there, Yappy and Ratchet, you two stay here with the actual hostages and make sure they don’t try anything… Copy that, I’ll join you guys right now.”

Ray was jolted away from the conversation when she could feel Dia trying to tug her away from the group. She furrowed her eyebrows, Dia was trained not to do things like that while she was working, she only did it when she deemed something unsafe or if she was excited to see someone. Considering that the robbers probably had guns trained on them, Ray quickly corrected Dia, getting her to settle down between her legs as she stood stiff as a board, not wanting to attract trouble.

Time passed slowly as they were held in the lobby. The robbers entertained themselves by telling jokes and doing their own version of crowd work (yelling at people if they didn’t engage in conversation with them), turning an armed robbery into some sort of nightmare stand-up comedy special. The three robbers that went to do the actual robbing had yet to emerge, and the two holding everyone up would answer too quietly for Ray to be able to listen in on their radio comms. Some of the other people with her were starting to get rowdy, tired of how long this was taking. 

“Hey, buddy! The fuck’s taking so long, huh? You clowns can’t do shit quickly, can you?” A strong, nasally Italian accent called out from the crowd. 

Of course, it’s the fucking clowns again,Ray felt like she was haunted by them at this point. Once she got out of this, she needed to learn more about the clowns since they seemed to appear everywhere and she needed to figure out her swirling doubts about her boyfriend possibly being linked to them. She felt like she was standing on the edge of something sinister like she was in the eye of the hurricane waiting to be consumed by the storm. 

The sounds of sirens caught her attention, the blaring noise making it hard to think as cops started yelling from outside the building. The volume startled Dia, causing her to quickly stand up and start pulling against her harness again. 

“ Hey! Girl with the dog there! Keep both your hands up! And tell your dog to settle down!” The posh British voice yelled at her. She didn’t want to argue that she needed to keep her hand on her fucking guide dog and let go of Dia’s harness to raise her other hand. The minute she let go Dia sprinted away from her, excitedly barking like she did when she saw one of her favourite people. 

“Dia!” Ray yelled in fear, worried one of the robbers would try to hurt her for the sudden movement. 

“You can put your hands down, Miss,” the high-pitched clown voice said to her, the voice was grating on its own, but it was strained by an unreadable emotion as well. She didn’t know when this one had returned to the group, his footsteps camouflaged by the police arriving. Ray slowly brought her hands back down to her sides, not wanting to do anything sudden to freak anyone out. 

She could feel the handle of Dia’s harness being placed back into her hand, the familiar leather bringing her a slight sense of comfort, an anchor amidst the chaos. She breathed in deeply as she tightened her grip on Dia. The smell of Chatterbox’s distinctive cologne filled her nostrils, and Ray felt her heart drop. Everything clicked into place at once, how could she be so fucking stupid? She wanted to call out his name, she wanted confirmation it was him, part of her wanted to be wrong, but her breath caught in her throat as her eyes started to burn with unshed tears. 

There was more shuffling around as the other two clowns finally joined the rest, all of them whispering to each other as the police finally got the front door of the bank open. 

“How much longer until we can start taking hostages out?”

“Give us 2 minutes, muthafucka!”

“Hi, Officer Jimbo!” A new, soft-spoken voice called out. 

“Close the yucking door, Jimbo!” Another new voice sounded, this time a girl with a strong Welsh accent. Ray waited to see if Chatterbox would talk again, the clown’s voice now familiar to her as she remembered that time at the drive-thru back when they first met. 

Her head was reeling, not able to process any of what was going on around her. She could hear several people yelling, but everyone’s voices started to mix, she needed to get out of there, it felt as if the walls were closing in on her as she started to panic. Just as her breathing was starting to quicken, Ray felt a hand on her back and she immediately knew it was him. Some of the tension drained out of her from his touch, even if he was the cause of it. 

“Come with me, everything’s going to be fine, baby,” Chatterbox’s real voice whispered to her, “I’ll explain everything, I just need to get you out of here first.” The anguish in his voice fueled her unease, only confirming that he knew he had been found out. They couldn’t talk here, so Ray let Chatterbox pull her away from the rest of the group and lead her deeper into the bank. 

“I’m heading out through the back, you guys go out through the front, make your exit as flashy as possible so they don’t follow me out,” Chatterbox’s clown voice was back as he commanded the other clowns through his radio. A flash of anger shot through her, she was tired of being led around and left in the dark by Chatterbox. Deep down she knew that he would never do anything to hurt her, but she couldn’t be left in the dark any longer. 

“Chatterbox, stop.”

Excitement was high in the car as the clowns made their way down to the vault to start the heist. Yappy would not stop talking Chatterbox’s ear off from the backseat about how happy he was to have Chatterbox on a job with them after so long. Chatterbox tried to contain his eye rolls under his mask. He would always admire the younger clown’s energy, but god was he annoying sometimes. 

“We got enough laptops and USBs this time around, right?” Chatterbox knew the clowns track record for these types of things and he didn’t want a repeat of last time.

“Of course, mothafucka! Remember, we have Hostage with us today, we only need one of each!” Mr. Ratchet laughed from the driver’s seat, his eyes flicking erratically between Chatterbox and the road. 

“Hostage only has to touch the vault for it to open,” Ember added from the backseat, always backing up her boyfriend’s claims. Chatterbox listened as Hostage tried to deny their compliments; the new clown was humble to a fault, he was known as the city’s “cheat code,” able to hack any security system in the city. When his old crew dissolved, the clowns were able to snatch him up before another gang could, drawing him in with the promise of constant excitement and minimal pressure. 

“There’s a couple extra cars around the back of the bank for swaps and stuff,” Mr. Ratchet explained, now in heist leader mode, “I was thinking we could do the reverse VIP today, with Chatty driving the other car so you can get away quickly like you were bitchin’ about earlier cause you’re boring now.”

Chatterbox was going to clap back at Ratchet but they had arrived at the bank, the grandiose marble building looming over their car parked in front of the main doors.

“Ready?” Chatterbox asked, the car now buzzing with adrenaline. “3, 2, 1, Go!” 

All 5 of them sprang into action, weapons drawn as they burst through the doors of the bank, yelling at everyone to put their hands up. There were more people inside than he had expected, Chatterbox tightened his grip on his handgun that he had trained on a fearful bank teller. Out of the corner of his eye, the movement of something close to the ground caught his attention. He felt his heart stop as his eyes locked onto a black Doberman wearing a guide dog harness. No… no, no, no!! Chatterbox panicked as his eyes met Ray’s frightened form. 

I’m so sorry, baby, his mind tried to apologize as he peeled his eyes away from her, forced to refocus on the task at hand. Vault heists were always risky, and he could not be the reason this one failed, he would never live it down. She didn’t seem to recognize his voice, which was good. Hopefully, he can get through this job without her ever knowing he was here. 

He could hear Dia’s whining as he walked away from the group, tugging on his heartstrings as he fought the urge to turn around. His head was swimming with different scenarios of how this was going to play out. Part of him wanted to get through this job without her figuring out anything, and part of him wanted to abandon this job to get her out of this bank as soon as possible. It felt as if someone was crushing him as he followed Hostage and Ember into the depths of the bank to get to the vault. 

Before he knew it they were in, breezing through all the different security measures until they were standing in the freezing-cold lower vault, stacked high with cash and gold bars. Chatterbox moved on autopilot as he shoved money into the duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. Hostage and Ember were bouncing around him, both in high spirits for how smoothly the hacks went, oblivious to his darkened mood.  His ears were ringing, he barely registered the others talking to him until Ember elbowed him hard.

“They’re trying to talk to you, Chatty!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry. What’s up Ratchet?” He sheepishly replied on the radio.

“Finally your bitch ass responds, just wanted to say the cops are pulling up outside, and there are a lot of them.”

“Okay, we’re coming back upstairs now.”

When Chatterbox re-emerged into the main hall of the bank, an energetic Dia came bounding over to him, as Ray was no longer holding onto her. The fear in her voice as she screamed Dia’s name was a bullet to Chatterbox’s chest; he’d promised that he would always keep her safe and now he was the very thing she was afraid of. He didn’t react to Dia’s greeting, he didn’t deserve her excitement for putting her and Ray in harm’s way. Chatterbox signalled for Ratchet and Yappy to back off before he handed Dia back to Ray. His hands were shaking as he placed the leather handle back into her hand, his eyes locked onto her face for any signs of her catching on. The shift happened instantly, Ray took a deep breath when the familiar handle was back in her hand, her brows furrowing as her milky eyes flickered with recognition. 

She knew. 

He watched as her eyes welled up with tears, the crushing sensation around his heart became unbearable as the guilt set in. Chatterbox had once heard it was possible to die from a broken heart, he’d never thought it was possible until now. He deserved it, it was his own fault they ended up like this. Every moment he spent with Ray flashed in his mind, every tender touch and sweet moment came back as a taunt, reminding him of everything he was putting on the line. I need to fix this, he thought before the sound of someone yelling filled his ears. 

It was the fucking cops trying to speed them along, wanting to get the innocent people out of the way before anything happened. The other clowns screamed back at the officer before Chatterbox pulled them all into a huddle.

“Okay, change of plans, I'm going to sneak out the back unseen by the cops, you guys are gonna be on your own for this chase,” Chatterbox informed all of them, hoping that the serious tone of his voice would get them to listen without question. 

“You lame ass muthafucka!” Mr. Ratchet punched him hard on the shoulder.

“What the yuck, Chatty!” Ember yelled at the same time. 

“Ain’t no way you’re backing out for the best part, Chatty,” Yappy joined in, legitimate annoyance creeping into his loud voice. “You’re so boring now bro, it’s actually crazy.” 

He glanced over at Ray, blood rushing in his ears as waves of frustration crashed over him. The other clowns had every right to be mad, but he had much more important things to worry about right now. He could take every clown’s anger at him, but he couldn’t bear her sadness. There would be other heists; he may have already fucked up his chance to save his relationship. 

He felt a hand on his forearm, and he looked over to see Hostage's white cat helmet staring back at him. The young clown had seen the entire exchange with Ray, carefully noting Chatterbox’s drastic shift in mood. The hacker didn’t know the details of what was going on, but he could tell that this was someone important that his leader cared a lot about.

“Go, we’ll keep the cops distracted,” Hostage promised, his voice filled with ever-present sincerity that quelled some of his frayed nerves. Chatterbox sprang into action, running over to Ray to plead for her to come with him. He didn’t care about the other clowns’ reactions, his focus was only on her. 

“Chatterbox, stop,” Just as the pair emerged into the crisp night air, Ray stopped short, stepping away from his touch and putting Dia between them. 

“Ray, can we please get in the car first, it’s not a good idea to discuss this out in the open, please,” Chatterbox pleaded. Ray had every right to be pissed at him, to start screaming for the cops and send him to jail for the rest of his life. 

“Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on here.” Ray crossed her arms in front of her chest. Chatterbox looked around nervously, it was only a matter of time before the cops scanned the perimeter of the building and found them there. 

“Ray, I promise I will tell you everything that is going on in a minute, but if the cops find us back here, you will definitely be accused of being an accomplice for all this, which I don’t think either of us want.” 

“I’m not going anywhere with you until you come clean. So start talking, Chatterbox, or I’ll start screaming.” Chatterbox stood still to stare at her, his frustration boiling over.

“I’m a gangster, alright?! That’s the big secret! I run the biggest mob in all of San Andreas.” 

“W-what?”

“I run a fucking clown mafia, not exactly something you can just say when you first meet someone.”

“I-I,” Ray was stunned by his sudden outburst. 

“Can you get in the car now? Please, baby?” Ray turned with a huff, letting Dia pull her towards the car. Chatterbox took a breath to try and calm himself. It wasn’t fair for him to lose his temper, this was Ray’s first exposure to his entire world. The tension in the car was suffocating as Chatterbox eased the car out of its hiding spot. 

“Take me home,” Ray’s monotone voice pulled at his heartstrings. The closer he got to her apartment in silence, the more it felt like Ray was slipping through his fingers like sand from a broken hourglass. Chatterbox took a convoluted route to ensure that they weren’t followed from the scene of the crime. The only noise came from his radio, the other clowns yelling at each other as the chase unfolded and Dia panting in the back seat. 

Once Chatterbox put the car in park at their destination, Ray took a deep breath before she turned to face him, keeping her arms crossed in front of her chest. “I think it’s best if we don’t talk for a little bit, I–I need time to think about things. I feel like–like I don’t really know who you are, and I don’t know how I want to go on from this. I just, I just need time to figure it out.”

“Ray, give me a chance to–” Ray cut him off by slamming the passenger side door after she got out, doing the same to the back door after Dia hopped out. He watched her go as she disappeared into her apartment complex, tears finally sliding down his scarred cheeks under his mask when he couldn’t see her any longer.

Chapter Text

For the next week, Ray couldn’t get out of bed. Her head was a swirling mess of emotions and heartache as she tried to reckon with the reality that Chatterbox had dropped on her. She constantly pulled at the red strings of their relationship, combing through her memories for hints of this dark truth. Part of her felt stupid for never catching on to the clown aspect sooner. Even from when Chatterbox first introduced himself (his name, a dead giveaway). Ray assumed all of his friends she had met were also a part of this “New Clown Order” as he called it; their nicknames and larger-than-life personalities befitting of what she would consider a clown. 

Max noticed the drastic shift in her mood instantly. The next morning, she didn’t come out of her room to eat breakfast with him like she normally would. At first, Ray lied, not wanting to burden Max with another one of her problems. But when her self-imposed isolation lasted more than a day, Max refused to leave her alone until she told him what was wrong. 

“I–I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you, Max,” Ray admitted when Max barged into her room to join her on her bed, committed to staying there until she felt better, or at least told him what was wrong. 

“Can I take a guess?” The concern in Max’s voice signalled to Ray that the Brit probably already had an idea of what was going on. Ray nodded, keeping quiet as she prepared for his response. 

“This has something to do with Chatty, I’m assuming. Did you two break up?” Max’s voice was soft, trying not to upset Ray more than she already was. The gentleness brought a tear to her eye as she reached out to bury herself in Max’s chest, a sob finally escaping her lips. Max cooed at her softly, rubbing her back as he let her cry, giving her all the time she needed to respond. Eventually, Ray sheepishly pulled away from him, wiping her burning eyes free of tears. 

“Technically, we’re still together, but, he uh, he’s been lying to me our entire relationship basically, about something and I don’t know how to deal with that. He did it to try and protect me, but I think it ended up hurting me more in the process,” It felt good to finally voice what had been swirling in her head for the past 48 hours, even if she spoke vaguely so she didn’t expose Chatterbox’s secret. 

“W–is he cheating on you? How could that possibly protect you?” Ray almost laughed at his response, God, I wish it was that simple.  

“No! No, he’s not cheating on me, at least I don’t think he is,” Ray decided to bite the bullet, she could trust Max with information like this. “He’s a gang leader, of one of the biggest groups in the city, apparently.” Max let out a heavy sigh, taking one of Ray’s hands into his. “You know the clowns that we talked about the other day?” Ray let out a humourless laugh, “Yeah, he’s the one in charge of all of them, the clown mafia or something–”

“The New Clown Order,” Max corrected her. “I’ve heard of it before, whispers in the Liquid Library. They’ve taken over most of the North, I’ve heard, but they have been seen in the city more often these days.”

“Yeah, well they were certainly in the city last night. Do you wanna know how I found this all out? It’s crazy, honestly.”

“What happened?” Ray launched into the story of the bank robbery, barely stopping to take a breath as she recounted the whole event to him. She started with the morning before disaster struck, her cheeks turning red as she remembered the shower the day started with. Retelling the story made her heart hurt all over again, as she remembered how everything fell apart between them. The memory of his voice as he spoke directly to her in front of everyone, rough with emotion as he made sure that she was safe, abandoning his fellow gang members. 

“I’m just so scared, Max. He kept this from me this whole time, I just wonder what else he’s been hiding that I can’t see. Part of me worries that’s why he started dating me in the first place…”

“Oh, Ray, come here,” Max pulled her close again, his voice thick with emotion. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he would do that, dahling. I wish you could see the look on his face when he looks at you, Ray. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so smitten before. I really don’t think he wanted to hurt you with all this.” 

“I just feel like I can’t trust him anymore,” Ray started tearing up again. 

Max had to leave shortly after for a shift at the liquid library, his word on a constant loop in Ray’s mind. Max had been with her through so much, seen her get raked through the mud by bullies and other guys she’d attempted dating. If he was willing to vouch for Chatterbox, especially given that he knows more about how this city runs, then it was a significant thing he was willing to defend the clown. 

For the next few days, Ray combed through new articles online to try and find any information she could about the New Clown Order. There was almost nothing to go off of, only a few stories of clowns getting caught doing various crimes and things, but none of the outlets linked them to any sort of mafia or gang. Ray knew gang violence was prevalent in Los Santos; stories of shoot-outs and busted drug operations were frequently breaking news. Ray tended to tune it out, used to it after living here her entire life. Now reality bore down on her as she was forced to face the violent underbelly of the city that she had once been ignorant of. 

Ray drifted through the days, her body going through the motions of her routine as her brain was preoccupied with combing through every moment of their relationship for signs of his double life. There were the more obvious ones, the sudden meetings and odd hours that he worked. The way he kept her secret from others in his life for so long. But it was the subtler moments that twisted her gut more; how determined he was to drive away when they heard a car approaching them on Mount Chiliad, how he scared off those men who tried to hurt her, how he threatened Benji when he was too handsy at the Liquid Library. Both Benji and the men who attacked her seemed to know who Chatterbox was, something she hadn’t thought was odd until now. 

Chatterbox didn’t try to call or text her, respecting her need for space right now after what happened. Some of the other clowns that she knew tried to reach out to her, offering up their general understanding and support for her situation. 

Sooty: Hey, I heard what happened. I understand if you don’t want to respond to this, but just know I’m here for you if you need it. Take care. 

Twinkles: Twinkles is here to support you for whatever you choose. 

Bon Bon: I’m sorry you had to find out the way you did Hiccups. Chatterbox had been agonizing for weeks trying to find the best way to tell you. He certainly didn’t intend for you to find out that way. Hope you’re doing alright. 

Their sweet messages certainly didn’t help her dilemma, knowing all of them lied to her as well. Ray couldn’t bring herself to respond, ignoring all of their messages as she tried to carry on. As time went on the shock of his confession wore off, and the feeling of betrayal was replaced with fear. She’d always known Los Santos was a dangerous city, but now she was forced to face its snarling teeth. Now whenever she left her apartment, she was hyper-aware of the conversations around her, trying to find bits and pieces of the dark underworld of the city. Ray had pieced together early on that Vinny, Taco, and Curtis were part of some other gang, probably working with the clowns, from what little information they gave her last time they talked. She considered talking to Vinny about this, but thought better of it, as she didn’t want to spread Chatterbox’s confession further. 

Max helped her process her thoughts, offering up his knowledge about the city whenever she asked. He didn’t try to push her in one way or another, only wanting to make sure she felt safe and happy with whatever she chose. Many a night was spent with Ray rambling to him about her feelings, both about how much she had learned about the city in the past few days and how much she missed Chatterbox.

Despite everything, she still yearned for him; wanting nothing more than to be back in his strong arms. Each day of no contact was another blade stabbing into her heart, twisting around as she wrestled with her feelings. She still loved him. As her initial anger from his lies ebbed away, it was replaced with a deep sense of curiosity, wanting the full picture of him and his life. She was starting to believe that he did it to protect her, not wanting her to be dragged into a dangerous world without any prior knowledge. He must have put so much on the line just to be with me…

“It seems like you’ve forgiven him,” Max states, interrupting Ray’s nightly ramble. 

“I–um, I just. Yeah, yeah, I guess so,” hearing it out loud finally made her accept the truth. She did forgive him for lying, for everything. 

“Talk to him, Ray, he can fill in the rest of the blanks for you that I can’t.”

“I’m scared, Max. What if… what if he doesn’t want me back, what if he needs someone who’s actually useful in this fucked up city.” 

“Ray, I really don’t think that’s something you need to be concerned about, dahling. He loves you, nothing about this situation could change that.”

Chatterbox did not take Ray’s absence well. He left her alone, as per her wishes, but the lack of contact was eating away at his soul. The first few days he locked himself in the funhouse, drinking heavily as he would scream at anyone who tried to come knock on his door. The alcohol numbed the pain somewhat, making him forget the look of fear on her face when he revealed everything to her. Her words still cut into him like knives, the tone of betrayal in her voice still raw in his mind. He never meant for her to get hurt; especially in the way she did. Why did she have to be in that bank at that exact moment?

All of the clowns knew about her now, the other members of the heist team were (rightfully) pissed at him for abandoning the job for some girl, so the news spread fast amongst their ranks. Because he had left so publicly with her, the news was spreading like wildfire around the city as well. “CHATTERBOX SEEN LEAVING HEIST WITH MYSTERY BLIND GIRL” was all over Twitter, forcing him to shut off his phone to ignore the constant reminders of that night. 

He took another long swig of whiskey, the burn in his throat barely registering as he stumbled up the stairs. The days were long, filled only with strong booze and heartache, as he tried to hold onto the hope that she would stay. He prayed that she would recognize he never wanted her to get hurt, and that he only lied to keep her safe. The distance between them increased his anxiety exponentially. Now that the news of them together had broken, she would be an easy target for the NCO’s enemies, she had become the key to get to him. 

As much as he felt bad doing it, he tasked Mumbles with keeping an eye on her, just to make sure she wasn’t snatched up by the BBMC or anything crazy like that. He was constantly fighting the urge to reach out to her, just to understand where her head was at in all of this. He flopped onto his bed, face down, waiting for the world to stop spinning. He needed a different distraction. On the off chance, Ray took him back, she couldn’t know he deteriorated this much without her near. He was too far gone already today to make any changes, accepting that he probably wouldn’t move from his diagonal position on the bed for the rest of the night. 

In his drunken stupor, Chatterbox didn’t register the sounds of several people walking into the house until Kirk, Tessa, and Twinkles started knocking on his bedroom door. He had been ignoring their attempts to talk to him for the past three days, locking them out of the funhouse and pretending to be oblivious to their calls and messages. 

They must have had a lock pick on them, as the door to his room swung open, revealing his sorry state on the bed. 

“Oh, Chatty,” He heard Tessa softly lament as all three pairs of footsteps approached him. 

“He’s too fucked up to have this conversation right now,” Kirk whispered to the others. Twinkles crouched near his head, carefully trying to pull his mask off so he could sleep more comfortably. Chatterbox let him, too drunk to try and push the other clown away at this point. He fell asleep to the sound of all of them walking out of his room, thankful that he dodged another attempt to get him to talk. 

The next morning hit him like a train. His head was pounding as the sound of a rooster’s caw ripped him out of sleep. He let out a groan as he stretched out, his body protesting the position he fell asleep in last night. This hangover was the worst he’d had in years, causing him to spring out of bed despite his body’s protests to empty his stomach of the last remnants from the night before. 

He stood up on shaky legs, reaching out for his toothbrush in the bathroom. As he was brushing his teeth, Kirk came through the bedroom door, a concerned look on his unmasked face, until he spotted Chatterbox standing in the bathroom. 

“Hey,” the hick grunted out. Chatterbox only nodded back, too drained for any other response. “So it sounds like you fucked up, bub,” his voice softened with sympathy as Chatterbox flopped back into bed. 

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Chatterbox croaked out. Kirk let out a long sigh, rubbing his hands over his face. 

“You need to talk about it, Chatty. You can’t just keep lockin’ yourself away in the funhouse because your girlfriend broke up with you. You’re a gang leader, c’mon now.”

“She didn’t break up with me,” Chatterbox’s voice was small, “Not yet at least.”

“What does that mean?” Kirk came to sit on the edge of the bed. Chatterbox could hear another set of footsteps approaching his room.

“So you are awake, Chatty,” Tessa’s quiet voice was filled with concern. 

“Seems like I finally got ‘im to talk, so take a seat, Tessins’” Chatterbox could feel the weight of someone sitting closer to him on the bed. He finally groaned in defeat, rolling over to stare at the ceiling as he recounted what happened that night. 

“And now I just need to wait it out, it seems…” Chatterbox trailed off at the end of his ramble. Silence from both of them caused him to break eye contact with the ceiling fan to see their sympathetic faces. Kirk let out a low whistle,

“You really got yourself in a pickle, didn’t ya?” If Chatterbox had more energy, he would’ve thrown a pillow at the hick. “I mean hey, she didn’t immediately leave your dumbass so it seems like there’s still hope, baby. Mopin’ around ain’t gonna help you much.”

“Kirk is right, Chatty,” Tessa joined in, “She needs time to think. All of this is brand new to her, I don’t blame her for being scared. Give her some time, Chatty.”

“Okay, but what if she decides that she doesn’t want anything to do with me? Or any of this?”

“We’ll cross that bridge if we get there, honey. But all this dooming isn’t good, there’s still a lot of work to do that will take your mind off things.” Tessa lightly grabbed his hand, her chilled ones sending a jolt through his overheated body. Getting back to work certainly wouldn’t take his mind off Ray (everything reminded him of her) but it was better than rotting in bed like he had been. 

“A bunch of us are gonna go sell some weed with CG if you wanna come, it’s actually been really fun,” Kirk jumped up from the bed while Chatterbox looked at him like he had grown another head. 

“No way, you just said hanging out with those CG sacks of yuck is fun, Kirk.”

“Hey, don’t knock it till you try it, baby, we gotta make the best of this deal, alright? We ain’t gonna end up like two peas in a pod with ‘em or nothin’, but you know, we can vibe with ‘em.”

“There’s food for you downstairs before you head out, and make sure to apologize to the heist team at some point, they really missed you on that chase,” Tessa called out as she started heading downstairs.

Chatterbox only rolled his eyes at the idea of ‘vibing’ with Chang Gang. He excused himself to go take a shower, hoping to wash off the rest of this hangover while trying to push away the memory of Ray’s skin.

Chapter Text

The sunlight was harsh as Chatterbox climbed out of Kirk’s bright purple Tailgater. His mask and sunglasses did little to stop his headache from worsening as he followed slowly behind Kirk up a staircase next to a closed taco shop. Several people from both CG and the NCO were standing around the confusing mix of staircases and balconies. 

“Well, well, well, look who it is, the man of the hour,” Curtis teased when he spotted the unhappy clown. 

“Where ya been, Playboy?” Miniphone, one of the clowns’ main drug pushers, joined in on the taunting. 

“Watch it, Mini,” Chatterbox warned as he watched the clown hand off a few bags to some random businessman. Miniphone was always trying to get under everyone’s skin, Chatterbox was sure he got off on it at this point. 

“Tell that to your girlfriend! Oh wait, you can’t!” The top hat-wearing clown shot back, ducking away when Chatterbox swung at him. The hangover made him clumsy, nearly taking out Ember’s knee with the follow-through on his swing. 

“Watch it, Chatty!” The ginger clown squeaked out. 

“You good, Chatter? C’mon, man,” Zolo chided him from where he was watching the chaos from a few steps away with some of the other CG pushers. Chatterbox already deeply regretted agreeing to join them today, his temper already pulled taut like a bowstring. 

“Fuck off, Zolo,” Chatterbox bit back. He turned his back to the CG members, refocusing on the clowns as Twinkles brought him up to date on everything that had happened while he was gone. Thankfully, he didn’t ask about Ray at all, even though Chatterbox could tell the question was on the tip of his tongue. He was sure Kirk or Tessa would fill in the others who knew Ray soon enough to save him from recounting the story over and over. 

Time dragged on, Chatterbox was bored out of his mind as he stood there as “protection” while others sold. None of the locals even tried to start shit, the late summer heat forcing everyone into a docile haze. At one point, Taco pulled him away from the rest of the group, ignoring his annoyed protests about being grabbed out of the blue. 

“Listen here, clownboy–”

“Excuse me?!”

“Hold on, let me talk, alright?” He raised his eyebrows at Chatterbox, daring him to respond. When he stayed quiet, Taco carried on, “I know what you’ve been doing with Ray, alright? Just know, the minute she says the word you’re dead, got it?” 

“What the hell does Ray have to do with you piece of shit?! Ray is none of your business, Taco. Stay the hell away from her,” Chatterbox spat back.

“Ohh, so she didn’t tell you this but, we knew each other long before you came around. And trust me, if she wasn’t so excited when she said you two were dating, you would’a already been in the damn ground,” Taco leaned in to emphasize the last few words, his voice dropping low with the threat. Chatterbox leaned in to match him. 

“If I find out any of you Chang Gang fucks mess with her in any way, I will make sure that none of you ever set foot into Little Seoul again, got it? I will tie you all up by your feet and hang you upside down until your heads pop.” 

Just as Chatterbox started to stalk away from Taco, several cars could be heard pulling up outside. “What the–” Chatterbox started to angrily say before he was cut off by a familiar thick Australian accent.

“Hello, backstabbers,” Dundee entered the hallway with his arms outstretched, a revolver in each hand. Several more BBMC members followed behind him, all ready for a fight.

“What the hell is this, Dundee?” Taco called from the other end of the hallway. “Y’all can’t be this mad we didn’t take your offer, it’s just how business is these days.”

“How business is these days, huh? Switching up who you team up with at the very last second to leave the other gang high and dry. Switching up at the last second to let the fucking clowns into the city limits, have you all lost it?!” Dundee waved around the guns in his hands as he spoke, pointing them at people randomly. 

“The clowns could offer us more money, easy as that Dundee, this doesn’t need to get violent,” Garrett stepped in attempting to mediate. 

“The BBMC’s already a Southside gang, why do you need CG’s help to sell weed? Are y’all really that downbad?” Kirk questioned, arms crossed over his chest.

“You fucking clowns have no right to set foot into our city, got it? Go back up to the North where you belong,” Dundee fired a warning shot, into Ember’s leg. 

Chaos ensued afterwards, with people both trying to run for cover and grab their own firearms to retaliate. Most of the clowns dipped, jumping from the balconies to the ground below and running. Shooting was not the clown way, they were much better off in melee combat; most of them didn’t even carry guns regularly. Chatterbox grabbed Ember, hoisting her on his shoulder and jumping over the railing. Kirk followed shortly after with his own handgun to cover his back. The CG members stayed to return fire, solidifying their alliance with the clowns by defending them against their life-long enemies.

Dread grew in Chatterbox’s chest. If they didn’t have an all-out war on their hands after this, he would be shocked. As they drove Ember to the hospital, Chatterbox put out a message for all clowns,

Code Balloon: Travel in packs and travel armed. BBMC has opened fire on CG’s turf. War incoming.

The three of them ran into the hospital carrying a whimpering Ember, quickly admitting her for urgent care to get the bullet out of her thigh. Once they were sure she was taken care of, both clown leaders flopped into hard plastic chairs in the now deserted hallway. 

“I’ll call Ratchet,” Kirk muttered out, exhaustion creeping into his voice. Neither of them could say they didn’t see this coming, the feud between their groups was never-ending, threatening to boil over at a moment’s notice. Luckily, the clowns were in a better position than they were last time the Motor Club stirred up trouble. Chatterbox was already plotting their retaliation, they had been sitting quietly for long enough.  

Before he could voice his ideas to Kirk, his phone rang. Chatterbox nearly dropped his phone when he saw the caller ID, quickly excusing himself before rushing down the hall to answer. 

“Ray, hi,” he breathed out a sigh of relief. Just the act of her calling was a breath of fresh air for him. 

“Hi, Chatty,” Ray sounded nervous, Chatterbox braced for the worst. “I-I, um, can we meet soon? We need to talk, and I don’t think over the phone is the best option.”

“Yes, of course, I’m free right now, where would you like to meet?” Chatterbox jumped at the opportunity. Ray kept her tone neutral, not revealing anything about how this meeting will go. 

“You can come over, Max is at work right now.”

“I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” Chatterbox confirmed before they said their goodbyes and Ray hung up. Renewed energy rushed through him as he ran back to Kirk, “Ray called, I gotta go but keep me updated. I’m gonna go steal a car.” 

“You got this, bub,” Kirk said in a rare moment of sincerity, “Be careful driving back over there, take your mask off so you don’t get recognized.” 

Chatterbox was already running off as Kirk was talking, waving back at him to signal that he heard everything. Once he was outside the hospital, he chose a random vehicle to lockpick, his hands shaking slightly as muscle memory took over to successfully commandeer the vehicle. He drove with more caution than usual to avoid any attention from cops or the BBMC. Once he made it to her apartment safely, he took a shaky breath before getting out of the car, shoving his mask into the inside pocket of his black suit jacket. 

His nerves only worsened each step closer he took to her door. The door swung open before he could even knock, Ray’s familiar form standing in the doorway. 

“Hi,” Chatterbox breathed out. 

Ray lunged at him, pulling him into a tight hug. 

“Hi,” Ray whispered. She pulled him backwards into the apartment, kicking the door closed behind him. Dia ran up to the pair of them, bursting with excitement that her favourite friend had returned. Ray loosened her grip on him enough for Chatterbox to lean down to greet the happy dog, stroking her soft head till she calmed down somewhat. Ray’s hands stayed on Chatterbox’s hips until he straightened up again to look down at her. 

“So, um,” Chatterbox cleared his throat, unsure of where to start. 

Ray sighed softly, taking a few steps back from him. 

“I’ve missed you,” Ray sheepishly admitted. “And I thought a lot about what you said and what happened that night. And… It terrified me, all of it. It forced me to face the reality of this city, something I refused to do for a long time. I didn’t want to accept the truth,” Ray’s arms crossed in front of her as she started to shrink into herself. 

“Obviously, I don’t appreciate you lying to me,” her voice cracked. “But I understand more now why you did.” 

“I only did it to keep you safe, I never wanted you to get hurt. I put off telling you for longer than I should’ve and for that, I am incredibly sorry, Ray.” 

“Why did you hold off for so long?” 

“I was terrified of losing you, I didn’t know how to tell you without scaring you off. I’m a monster, Ray.” 

“You’re not, Chatterbox. You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever met. Growing up I… I’ve never had anyone treat me the way you do,” Taking a step forward, Ray tentatively reaches up to place a hand on his cheek. “You’re not a monster, you’re just trying to keep your people safe in this fucked up city.” 

“How do you—“ 

“Max and I have talked a lot. I always tried to avoid knowing what this city actually is, but if I want to be with you, I’m going to have to face that.”

It took Chatterbox a moment to realize what she had implied, “You… want to be with me still?” 

“Yes, always Chatty.”

Ray guided his face down to hers and their lips met in a long-awaited kiss. Chatterbox felt all the tension of the past week drain out from his body the moment their lips met. One kiss became two, three, four as neither one of them wanted to break contact. When they had to pull apart for air, Chatterbox reached down to grab the backs of Ray’s thighs, lifting her so her legs wrapped around his waist. Ray let out a surprised squeak at the unexpected movement. 

“Comfy?” Chatterbox beamed at her as he adjusted his grip.

Ray’s laugh was like music to his ears, “Very! Now, you’re gonna have to tell me absolutely everything now. You know that, right?”

“I will, don’t worry, but we have more important things to catch up on first.”

Chatterbox walked up the hallway from the front door to where Ray’s bedroom was, carefully making sure the door was locked so Dia didn’t try to interrupt them. He gently pressed her back against the door, adjusting his grip higher on her thighs as their lips met in a heated kiss. Every bit of fear and angst from the days prior fueled their desperation for one another. They grabbed at each other’s clothes, wanting to make up for lost time. 

“ Please, ” Ray gasped as Chatterbox bit her lower lip. Her hands threaded themselves through his hair, pulling slightly causing heat to pool quickly in his stomach. 

“Missed you so much, baby,” his lips trailed down to her neck, nipping at it softly. “It was torture to be without you for so long.”

Ray moaned when his lips brushed over a particularly sensitive spot just under her jaw. Chatterbox took his time making sure to leave a mark there, a reminder that she would always be his. Her hands tightened in his hair, pulling his lips back up to hers in a hungry kiss. While he was distracted by her, Ray’s hands slid down his neck to pull off his tie and undo the top two buttons of his shirt. Her soft hands slid under his shirt immediately after, needing to get her hands on his skin. 

Without breaking their kiss, Chatterbox stepped backwards from the door, Ray straddling his lap as he sat down on the edge of the bed. The moment caused her to shift in his lap, drawing a groan from Chatterbox’s lips. 

Ray’s nimble fingers made quick work of the buttons on his shirt, wasting no time pushing the fabric off his shoulders once they were all undone. Her hands wandered his torso freely, feeling the hard muscles under his scarred skin shift as he sat up straighter, his stiff member pressing up against her clothed core. The contact made her whimper, shifting in his lap as her underwear did little to dampen the friction against his dress pants. 

Finally, Chatterbox slid his hands under the hem of her black skater dress. He traced up the curve of her ass, pulling her dress up along the way. In one slow, fluid motion he pulled the dress over her head revealing that she only had on a pair of black cotton panties underneath. His hands came down to grip her hips, guiding her movements against him as the tightness in his pants became almost unbearable. 

“One second love, I gotta get these off,” he patted her hip to signal for her to rise up onto her knees allowing him to slip his pants off before pulling her back down on top of him. Now that they were both down to their underwear, Chatterbox shifted back on the bed, laying down on his back and keeping Ray on top of him. His hand traced up her soft skin to thread itself into her hair, which was free from its usual braids. Their lips crashed against each other once more as his hips rocked up into hers. He enjoyed the feeling of Ray’s small gasps and moans against his lips as their underwear did little to hinder the heat between them. 

“Ray,” his voice rumbled out, “God, you get me so hard, baby.” 

Ray giggled, “Yeah?”

Chatterbox hummed in confirmation as he slid his hand between their bodies to trace his fingers over her clothed folds and let her grind against his hand. 

“You wanna ride me, gorgeous?”

The moment the words left his lips, Ray nodded eagerly. She pushed herself off of him, rolling onto her side so she could slip her underwear down her legs, discarding them with the rest of their forgotten clothing. She placed her hands back on his chest to steady herself as she settled back in his lap with her thighs straddling his hips. 

“Does that answer your question, handsome?” Ray giggled.

Chatterbox made quick work of his own underwear, letting out a groan as his already leaking cock pressed against her slick folds. Rising onto her knees, Ray reached down carefully to wrap her fingers around the base of his dick as she teased his head against her clit.

“Ray, god, fuck,” he groaned out. 

Finally, Ray started to sink down on him, going slow as she adjusted to his size. Her mouth hung open in a silent gasp, her head tipping back slightly when she had fully impaled herself on him. “ Fuck, I missed you,” Chatterbox’s hands gripped her waist harder.

Ray stayed still for a few moments, her body still getting used to him being inside her. Chatterbox basked in the heat of her squeezing around him till she tentatively started to lift herself off him again, keeping just the tip in before sinking down again. It wasn’t long before she found an easy rhythm, softly moaning every time he brushed up against her g spot. 

Her movements became more desperate as she got closer, her nails digging into his chest. Chatterbox adjusted his footing so he could meet her thrusts. 

“Just like that, baby, yeah,” Chatterbox encouraged her, his hands coming up to tease her breasts, rolling the rosy buds of her nipples between his fingers. 

“Oh fuck, ahh, fuck I’m so close, Chatty,” She whined as her movements became more frantic. 

“Let go, mon cœur, I got you,” he moaned out. One of his hands slipped down to where they were connected to circle her clit; the minute his fingers brushed over the most sensitive part Ray let out a cry as pleasure crashed over her, eyes squeezing shut as her body shook. Chatterbox followed soon after, thrusting up into her a few more times before he tensed up and his vision went white. 

Ray collapsed on top of him, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. Chatterbox rubbed her back soothingly as her body was still trembling from the high she just experienced. 

“Feel good, baby?” he checked in.

“Mmm, feel amazing,” she mumbled back. “Can we just stay like this for a while?”

“Of course, my love.”

_________________________________________________________________

Chatterbox had another clown drop off his Lampadati at Ray’s apartment so he could drive them back up to the funhouse. He promised her he would explain everything but he would feel more comfortable doing that at his house, untrusting of the thin walls of Ray’s apartment in case someone tried to listen in.  

They sat next to each other on the couch in the living room, Chatterbox holding Ray’s hands in his as he tried to think of the best place to start. 

Ray spoke softly, “Start from the beginning, I want to know everything.”

Chatterbox was surprised about how nervous he felt, anxiety taking hold of his lungs, making it difficult to speak. He still felt an overwhelming guilt about how they got to this point. 

Words came tumbling out of his mouth as he felt the need to apologize yet again for what happened, “I-I’m still so sorry you had to find out the way you did, Ray, I’m so sorry you got pulled into the heist and everything and–”

“Stop,” Ray cut him off. “You don’t need to keep apologizing, my love, what happened, happened and we can move on from that. Besides, I’ve already forgiven you, you didn’t know I was going to be in there.” She squeezed his hands in reassurance. 

Chatterbox let out a sigh before he mustered up the courage to start from the beginning. “I grew up in the NCO, it’s all I’ve ever known since I was about 6 and my parents abandoned me. I was taken in by a clown called Bobo. He was an awful man, treated me and my brother Giblets like shit.” Chatterbox started bouncing his leg up and down, now that the seal on his past had been broken, words kept tumbling out of his mouth. “Bobo had a lot of power in the group and… long story short my brother and I got involved with the gang's operations when we were pretty young, just easy things to help operations run more smoothly. You know, being a lookout or a distraction for the cops, cleaning money, things like that. The other members of the gang looked out for us, kept us safe, you know, both from other gangs and from Bobo.”

“Oh, Chatty,” Ray’s hands squeezed his once more in sympathy. His expression darkened as he remembered all the nights he was trapped by Bobo. He shook his head free of those thoughts as he tried to solely focus on the story of the gang. 

“Bobo was killed when I was about 12 and by that point Giblets and I were already made-members of the gang. Bought in for the rest of our lives. At that point, the NCO was struggling having just lost a war and almost all of our money. I had to steal food from the corner store just to be able to eat. That was actually how I met Tessa, funnily enough, but, Giblets and I worked our asses off for the clowns to get the gang back in order. We were the reason most of the people who are part of it today joined in the first place.” A soft smile graced Chatterbox’s face as he remembered the early days hustling with Kirk, Bon Bon, and his brother to try and build their empire. “Giblets eventually took over as the don, and… and when he died I was the one to take over.” 

“How long ago did he die?”

“A few years ago now, he was killed in a shootout with the BBMC, the NCO’s oldest enemy.”

Ray’s brows furrowed as she processed this new information, comparing it to what she had learned about the city already. 

“I can’t imagine the amount of pressure on you to lead,” Ray’s voice was soft. “You’re so young, Chatty.” Ray raised one of her hands to cup his cheek, her thumb brushing over the scars near his lips. 

“I have good people around me nowadays,” Chatterbox smiled and pressed his lips to her palm. “All the clowns you met at the beach are part of high command, they help keep everyone in line so I don’t lose it.”

“Who were the ones robbing the bank with you? They were honestly pretty funny while we waited for you guys to steal all the money. Can I meet everyone else soon?”

Chatterbox chuckled, “Oh that’s Mr. Ratchet and Yappy, and yeah they’re absolutely ridiculous most of the time, absolute freaks.” 

“I’m assuming Yappy is the British one because he did not stop talking the entire time we were held hostage.”

“Yeah, he’s got more energy than most of the clowns combined, he’s dumb as rocks though.” 

“So can I meet everyone?” Ray flashed him a hopeful smile, knowing she usually got her way with him. 

“We’re hosting our annual clown banquet soon, that will probably be the best place to introduce you to everyone.”

Before Ray could respond, Chatterbox’s phone buzzed with several text messages coming in at once. His eyes skimmed over them quickly to see there was another round of shots fired at the rooftop they sold at regularly, Snuffles and Happy were hurt pretty badly but were in stable condition. A couple of BBMC members were in the ICU as well. 

Ray could sense the dramatic shift in the room, “Everything okay?”

“No, the BBMC are escalating things with us again,” Chatterbox seethed. “Those fucking bastards are going to pay for what they’ve started.” 

Ray’s face filled with fear and Chatterbox's heart seized, realizing that she was getting thrown into the deep end at the beginning of a war. “It might be best if you come and stay with me, Ray. So that I can make sure you're safe when things get ugly. I can’t stand the thought of losing you again when I just got you back. Please.”

There was a long pause before she nodded, seeming to fully grasp the weight of the situation. “Okay, I’ll stay.” 

_______________________________________________________________

Chatterbox drove Ray back to her apartment the next morning so she could grab her stuff and let Max know what was going on. Chatterbox followed her and Dia up to their apartment, presumably to keep watch for any potential threat. Max greeted them at the front door, relieved to see that they had worked things out.

“I owe you a thank you, Max,” Chatterbox said quietly to the other man as she walked towards her bedroom. “Both for keeping my secret safe, and for helping her understand all the bullshit of the city, seriously, I owe you one.” 

“Oh, it’s all good, Chatty, I knew Ray would come around, it was just going to take some time.”

Ray’s lips stretched into a soft smile as she eavesdropped on their conversation from her room. She was happy that the two most important people in her life were getting along, bonding over their shared interest, her. 

“Why are you packing, Ray?” Max asked as he peered in through her doorway. 

“Oh, um,” Ray stuttered, unsure of how to break the news to Max. 

Chatterbox jumped in to explain, his voice gruff, “The BBMC have declared war against us and probably CG. Things are going to get ugly in this area probably pretty soon so I need Ray to be as far away from that as possible. She’s coming to stay with me up in Grapeseed until this blows over.”

“Good thinking, this area is pretty common ground for gang fights and whatnot. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

“You’re not associated with anyone, are you Max?” Ray’s eyebrows furrowed at that question, working both as a taxi driver and at a bar got Max the majority of his information about the city, but was there something more to it that he never told her?

“No, no, just the Liquid Library, that place is enough to handle on its own,” Max chuckled honestly. “And sworn to neutrality, remember?” 

“Yeah, I remember,” Chatterbox said gravely. Ray thought better of asking him about the shift in his tone. The three of them got to work packing the things she and Dia would need at Chatterbox’s house, making easy conversation as they worked. Once everything was packed, Max and Chatterbox insisted that they would carry everything downstairs while Ray followed with Dia behind them. There was an odd sense of finality in the air, for the first time in ages Ray wasn’t going to be living with Max. Even if this was only temporary, it felt odd to hug her best friend goodbye, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. 

“Stay safe,” she whispered as he squeezed her tighter.

“You too,” Max whispered back. 

_______________________________________________________________

A grandfather clock in another room of the house struck midnight as Ray and Chatterbox snuck down to the kitchen. Ray still didn’t know the layout of the house well enough to navigate it herself so their fingers were laced together as she followed after him. Both of them were in their pyjamas, neither of them was able to sleep due to the whirlwind of the day before. Ray had offered the idea of baking something to try and get some of their energy out. May as well do something fun if they can’t sleep. 

“Okay,” Ray put her hands on her hips when they got to the kitchen, “I don’t know where anything is,” she said confidently, causing them both to fall into a fit of giggles. 

“You tell me what we need, and I’ll grab it for you. There’s a big mixing bowl right in front of you,” Chatterbox watched as her hands came up to feel the rim of the metal bowl and the surrounding countertop. Ray started spewing off the list of ingredients, Chatterbox placing each one in her hands so she could feel it and place it where she would remember which was which. “Is this the same recipe as the ones you made for our first date? The Lengua de Gato cookies,” Chatterbox recalled. 

Ray flashed a bright smile up at him, signalling that he had remembered the name correctly. “We’re not going to make those tonight because I doubt you have piping bags, plus I want chocolate so, chocolate chip it is!” 

“I still haven’t gotten to try those yet,” Chatterbox laughed. “Kirk ate all of them after he stole them from me.”

“I’ll make them next time when it’s not past midnight,” Ray promised. “And remind me to stab Kirk next time I see him,” Ray’s tone was deadly serious. 

“Atta girl, I’ll hold him still so you can get him right in the yuckin’ stomach.”

“Or I’ll just have Dia eat him,” Ray laughed as Dia walked in right on cue, woken up from the noise in the kitchen. “Hi sleepy girl, sorry we woke you.”

“Kirk’s too big for her to try and eat, she would definitely get sick,” Chatterbox chuckled as he leaned down to pet her. 

Ray started to measure out some of the dry ingredients, Chatterbox helping her with some of the more finicky packaging. At one point while Chatterbox was moving some of the things they were done with out of the way, Dia accidentally bumped Ray to avoid getting stepped on, causing flour to get on her once pure black coat. 

“Dia! Oh my god,” Chatterbox laughed at the mess she had managed to cause. 

“It’s just a little flour, it’s fiiine,” Ray said casually as she not-so-sneakily flicked her flour-covered hand at him dusting him in the powder as well. 

“So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” Chatterbox's voice dropped lower. Ray grabbed at his chest, getting two perfect handprints on his black shirt. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Chatterbox.” Ray tried to play innocent as she mixed all the dry ingredients in the bowl. Chatterbox ran his hands along the countertop to cover his own hands. Two can play this game, Ray.

With one hand he drew a line down her cheek, causing her to squeak in surprise, while the other cheekily grabbed her ass, leaving a matching perfect handprint on her black, cherry-covered pyjama shorts. “Hey!” she squealed, grabbing a small sprinkle of the dry mixture and throwing it in his face. “Behave.” 

Chatterbox could see Ray’s cheeks turn pink as she tried to refocus on making the cookies. He watched as she expertly cracked eggs into the bowl, using only one hand. While Ray continued mixing everything together, Chatterbox cleaned up the mess they’d made, including chasing after Dia to clean the flour off of her. He could tell the dog was struggling to stay awake with them, so he brought her upstairs to sleep in her crate, so they wouldn’t wake her again. 

When he stepped back into the kitchen, Ray had started to place balls of dough on a baking sheet, spreading them out evenly. “Good to go!” Ray smiled at him as she formed the last of the batter on the pan. 

Chatterbox placed the pan into the hot oven, setting the timer per Ray’s instructions. “And now we wait,” Ray dramatically slumped against the countertop with her arms crossed. Chatterbox took a second to take in her lithe form in her pyjamas, the thin fabric clinging to her curves in tantalizing ways. He licked his lips slowly as Ray started to walk around the island. He stepped forward to catch her arm, pulling her against him as their lips met in a deep kiss. Ray threaded her hands through his hair, melting against him as the kiss deepened. His hands came to rest on her ass, keeping her against him as his arousal became more apparent against her stomach. 

“A lot of ways to pass the time,” Chatterbox murmured against her lips. 

He trails his lips down to her neck, taking his time to add to the mark there from the day before. Her hands came down to grip his biceps to steady herself as her legs turned to jelly. The movement caused the thin straps of her pyjama top to slip off her shoulders as Chatterbox moved to nip at her collarbones. His fingers hooked onto the neckline of her shirt, pulling down the thin fabric to reveal her breasts. 

“Chatty, the cookies,” Ray gasped out as his tongue flicked against her nipple. 

Chatterbox glanced over at the oven, “It’s fine, we’ve still got five minutes.” 

He went back to mouthing at the soft skin of her breast, quieting any response she might have had as only a gasp left her lips. He gently bit down on the rosy bud, eliciting a pretty moan as her fingers returned to his hair. “ Mmm, do you like when I use my teeth on you, baby?” Chatterbox asked huskily. 

Ray nodded eagerly, pulling him back up for a passionate kiss. He bit down on her lower lip, pulling slightly before letting go and reconnecting their lips once more. Before either of them knew it the minutes had slipped past, and they were startled apart by the timer going off. Chatterbox leaned in to kiss her again but Ray gently shoved him away.

“Ah-ah! I don’t want burnt cookies after all that work, mister.” Chatterbox chuckled at her sudden authoritative tone. 

“Yes, ma’am.”

After the cookies were out of the oven, Chatterbox was back on Ray in a second, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her over to the attached dining room. 

“Put me down!” Ray squirmed against his shoulder, “I wanna try the cookies!” 

“They’ve gotta cool down, I can think of something better to eat in the meantime,” Chatterbox laughed huskily. Before placing her down on the table, Chatterbox hooked his fingers on the waistband of her shorts to slip them off her tan legs. Ray shivered slightly from the cool wood as she sat completely bare in front of him. “Cold?” He pressed himself against her, letting his hard, clothed length press against her heated core with a low hum. “Lie back for me, baby,” he asked, gripping her waist to help guide her down slowly. The dim light from the kitchen highlighted her curves in a hypnotic way as her back arched against the hardwood. Chatterbox could watch her writhe under him like this for the rest of his life. 

He sat down on the chair at the head of the table in between her legs. Ray brought her feet up onto the end of the table, giving him a perfect view of her glistening folds. He traced his lips up her inner thigh, lightly sinking his teeth into the soft flesh before licking the pain away as a silent apology. He did this a few more times until he was satisfied with the amount of marks between her thighs, before finally leaning in to press a kiss to the mound between her legs. His tongue dipped between her legs, focusing on circling her clit with his tongue. 

“G-god, please keep doing that, ah,” Ray moaned, her hands grasping for purchase on the flat tabletop. He licked a broad stripe over her slick entrance, admiring the way it made her squirm. Chatterbox was solely focused on making her come undone under his tongue, his own painfully hard erection forgotten. Ray’s hands grasped at his hair, trying to keep his face as close as possible as her hips rocked against his tongue. Her trembling thighs squeezed around his head as she got closer to her high, a constant stream of moans and whimpers flowing freely from her lips. Chatterbox could get drunk off her taste, lapping up her nectar as it flowed freely. He would alternate between giving attention to her clit and pushing his tongue into her wet entrance, driven by Ray’s reactions to his mouth. 

Although Ray’s thighs muffled the sound, she was panting out his name, her hips rocking against his face harder as pleasure coursed through her. She came with a loud cry, her back arching off the table as her thighs were a vice grip around Chatterbox’s head. Chatterbox continued his ministrations as she came down from her high, only stopping when she started trying to push him away with her palm on his forehead. 

“Chatty, fuck, too much now,” she whimpered before he finally pulled away, pressing kisses over her stomach and thighs. He leaned back in his chair, admiring the sight in front of him as his hand rubbed her trembling thigh. Ray pushed herself up into a sitting position, a dazed, love-filled expression on her face.

“Hi,” Chatterbox whispered, his hand rubbing her calf now.

“Hi,” Ray whispered back, seeming awestruck. 

“Bedtime?” Chatterbox asked, cocking his head to the side. 

Ray nodded before reaching out to him, signalling for him to carry her. He placed a quick peck on her lips before picking her up off the table and carefully heading upstairs to bed.

Chapter Text

The cathedral-like sawmill loomed ominously amongst the pine trees of Paleto forest. The building, usually bustling during the day with materials production, was eerily quiet and haunting as Chatterbox slowly pulled up in his Lampadati. The moon was almost full, causing everything to cast long shadows that Chatterbox took comfort in. 

The NCO has been sitting idle against the BBMC’s attacks for too long, now was the time to act. Ember was thankfully making a speedy recovery, and so did the few CG members who got hurt covering for their escape. Just as he was heading to bed, Chatterbox received a text from Scruffy that he and Pockets had kidnapped Ghetto Kaiba, one of the BBMC’s head enforcers and they were wondering what they should do with him. Chatterbox’s skin tingled with the chance of finally getting his hands on one of those pieces of shit so he ordered them to bring his bound body to the sawmill for interrogation. 

Chatterbox whistled a low tune as he slowly walked through the machinery, taking his time to join the other clowns in the middle of the production floor. The two clowns stood proudly on either side of Kaiba’s crumpled, kneeling form, his hands tied behind his back and his ratty hair hanging limp in front of his face. Chatterbox nodded at both of his loyal clowns before kneeling to roughly grab Kaiba’s jaw to force the bastard to look at him. His eyes were dull and unfocused, struggling to stay conscious while blood oozed from the side of his head. Chatterbox would only have a minute or two at best to get any information from him before he would be out like a light. 

Chatterbox slipped his knife under the gag tied around the Aussie’s head, not caring about the faint line of blood he caused as he nicked Kaiba’s cheek while cutting the gag off. “Alright, you pathetic excuse of a gang member, let’s make this fast, shall we? You’re already not looking too great, are ya?” Chatterbox taunting, his grating clown voice echoing through the lofty workroom. His victim only grumbled in response, his head becoming heavier in Chatterbox’s hand.

“Wake up!” Chatterbox slapped him across the face, grabbing his jaw once more after Kaiba recovered somewhat. 

“Fuck you, you stupid clowns,” Kaiba spat back. “The BBMC is going to burn you all to the ground.”

“Ya know, I have trouble believing that, you sack of shit, because you guys have been saying that for years, yet every time we come back stronger. The NCO isn’t going anywhere. And your death is only the beginning.”

“Big talk for someone who hasn’t figured out who their own betrayer is yet,” a wicked smile formed on Kaiba’s bloodied face. “I’m shocked you’ve let them get this far.”

“Who says I haven’t figured it out?” Chatterbox bluffed. “I’m just biding my time, waiting for the right moment to bring all of you to your knees and finally rid the city of you Bondi Bastards for good.”

“Tick Tock, you clown fuck–” Chatterbox ran the blade of his knife down his neck, pressing in at the base to pierce his windpipe. Blood started seeping down the blade onto his gloves, staining the pure white fabric with lines of crimson.

“Give me names, Kaiba. I want to hear you say exactly who you pathetic cunts brainwashed into helping you, exactly who will lead to your downfall instead when this all backfires spectacularly on you.”

Kaiba had the guts to still wheeze out a laugh, drops of blood spraying out of his mouth, “Get ready, Chatterbox. I heard Giggles wants a friend.” Chatterbox froze, his vision going red as he stared down the Australian, memories of that wretched night flashing in his mind. Before Chatterbox could recover, Scruffy kicked Kaiba in the back of the head, impaling him on Chatterbox’s blade and shutting him up for good. 

“It’s not like we were going to get anything out of him anyway, useless fuck,” Scruffy scoffed. “You good, Chatty?” The other clown placed a hand on his shoulder. 

Chatterbox stared into the distance, feeling Kaiba’s hot blood seeping down his arm as he tried to shake the memory of Giggles’ limp body doing the same thing after he killed her. He was going to lose someone else . At that thought, he shoved the limp body away from him, before composing himself and giving Scruffy a curt nod. “Throw his body into the sawdust burner and clean this place up. I don’t want Party to come yelling at me about blood stains on the floor.”

When Chatterbox returned home, he tried to move through the house as quietly as he could, avoiding all the places he knew the wood flooring would give away his location. Ray had been asleep when he left, looking adorable curled up in one of his old t-shirts in their (he would never get tired of saying that) massive bed. Chatterbox prayed that she hadn’t woken up at all, therefore not noticing his absence. His hopes were quickly dashed when Ray’s voice came out of nowhere, causing him to jump as he crept up the stairs.

“Where did you go?” Ray hissed. Her eyes widened as he took another step closer to her. “Why do you smell like blood?” Her voice cracked with uncertainty.

“I had to deal with someone. Head back to bed, I’ll clean up and join you in a minute.”

He tried to step past her, but he was stopped by her hand on his chest. She faltered slightly at the feeling of the wet fabric but composed herself quickly, “No, you are going to tell me everything, like you promised. No secrets, remember?”

Chatterbox went quiet for a long time. He needed to rebuild her trust in him and make sure she didn’t regret her decision to forgive him. He couldn’t keep the darker side of himself from her, it would only put him in the same spot he was before, lying to the one he loved more than anyone else. 

Chatterbox let out a long exhale before agreeing, keeping his voice low as if he were scared that someone would overhear. “Come with me, I’ll explain everything while I clean off.”

Ray’s heart pounded as she was pulled into the bathroom with her bloodied boyfriend. It was quickly setting in that this was something she would probably have to get used to, him being out until the early hours of the morning being covered in someone else’s (hopefully) blood. The sharp, unmistakable metallic scent had flooded her nostrils the moment he got close to her, bringing back flashes of her younger self desperately trying to dress the wounds given to her throughout her childhood. 

She was startled out of her memories by the sound of a loud rush of water from the bathtub, the sound of fabric hitting the floor following shortly after. 

“I’ll burn those afterwards,” Chatterbox mumbled as he stepped into the tub, sighing as he sank into the water. Ray took a few careful steps forward so she could sit down on the edge of the tub, the heat radiating from the water warming her side. Chatterbox cleared his throat before talking, his voice still coming out in a husky murmur “I think I’ve told you before about the BBMC, the Bondi Boys Motor Club…the sons of bitches that killed my brother, and a few other clowns.” Ray nodded slowly. “We’re at war with them again. And things are bad this time around. Um, we have a mole, one of the clowns has been working with the BBMC for months at this point, since before we started dating, and we still don’t know who it is.” Ray could feel the frustration radiating off of him, months and months of endless confusion and pain from knowing someone you trusted was stabbing you in the back. 

“This isn’t your blood, right?” Ray asked hesitantly, unsure if she would be able to handle him getting hurt. 

Chatterbox’s voice was much softer when he responded, “No mon cœur , it’s not, don’t worry.” He carefully took her bloodstained hand into his and cleaned off what transferred to her when she touched him earlier. “Scruffy and Pockets caught a BBMC member, Ghetto Kaiba, while he was out getting groceries alone and they brought him to me to be tortured. Things got a bit messier than I’d wanted.” 

“You… t-tortured him?” Ray’s voice trembled. Ray knew she shouldn’t be surprised, she’d witnessed the way Chatterbox defended her several times, he was no stranger to physical violence. But the thought of her sweet, attentive boyfriend torturing and killing someone still sent a chill down her spine. Yet she didn’t find it as unsettling as it should have been, part of her was grateful to have a man who was capable of doing almost anything to keep her safe. For the first time, Los Santos didn’t seem like such a scary place because she knew that Chatterbox would beat down anyone who tried to lay their hands on her. Now that she was up in Grapeseed, away from the bustle of the city, everything felt calmer, like she could finally take a deep breath and just exist without worrying about what was lurking around the corner. 

What unsettled Ray much more was the news of gang war, she couldn’t bear the thought of Chatterbox getting hurt or, god forbid, killed in this seemingly endless feud. She hadn’t even met all of the clowns yet but her heart already hurt at the thought of any of them getting hurt, mainly because of the effect she knew it would have on Chatterbox. He considered most of the clowns part of his family, people that he had to take care of, so the thought of losing any of them would be taken as a personal hit. 

“Ray?” Chatterbox’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. 

“Sorry, just lost in thought,” Ray mumbled back. 

“I understand if you think I’m a monster, it’s not like I can deny that, but I can promise that I will never–”

Ray cut him off with a kiss, her hand grabbing his jaw so she knew where he was. His face was rough against hers, scratching her soft skin in an intoxicating way. Before she could get ahead of herself, Ray pulled back softly, feeling him push forward against her hand to try and reconnect their lips. It was moments like this where she desperately wished she could see, as she could feel Chatterbox’s gaze burn into her as she tried to find the words to convey how she felt. 

“Chatty, I don’t think you’re a monster, you just want to keep your people safe. The only time you ever scared me was in that bank when I had no idea what was going on but even then you still made sure that I was okay, even when I was pissed at you.”

“You are what’s most important to me, Ray. Always. Everything changed for me after I met you; If you leave, I’ll be lost. I… I can’t lose you.” 

Ray pressed her forehead against his, just savouring this quiet moment that they had together. 

“I’m not going anywhere, my love.”

The days after Ray moved in with Chatterbox were a whirlwind as people were constantly coming in and out of the house for both planning for the banquet and for war. Ray usually stayed up in her office (which Chatterbox had set up for her the day after she’d moved in) but sometimes she would eavesdrop on his conversations downstairs, getting update reports on the various surprise attacks that the clowns were executing. She was starting to recognize more clowns by their voices, almost all of them had distinct, boisterous voices that carried through the house. 

Sometimes when Sooty and Bon Bon came over, while one was busy talking to Chatterbox, the other would come up to keep her company while she worked, telling her stories of the crazy antics they would all get up to whenever they had a moment free to ‘yuck around.’ 

“Are you excited for the banquet tomorrow, Ray?” Bon Bon asked as he plopped himself onto the chair across from her desk. She always loved Bon Bon’s energy, always so theatrical in the way he talked, Ray could always imagine the wild expressions on his face while he told her stories. 

“I’m so scared, honestly. Because I have to meet everyone and I want to make a good first impression but it’s going to be so many people around and it’s not just the clowns so it’s like a business thing and everything needs to go perfectly and and and,” Ray let out a loud exhale after she finished her ramble, trying to calm the rising anxiety she got every time the event was mentioned. “And now it’s tomorrow and I don’t even know what dress I’m going to wear yet.”

“It’ll be fiiine, Hiccups, don’t worry! Chatterbox, Sooty, and I are going to make sure you are well taken care of. Mama Tessa and Party Hardy know how to plan an event! I’m sure you’ll have the night of your life.”

“Hold your hands out, I want to give you something,” Chatterbox whispered huskily in Ray’s ear. It was the morning of the banquet and Ray had been up since the early hours, too much nervous energy to fall back asleep. She was starting to panic over what she was going to wear, quickly realizing that she didn’t have anything near fancy enough for an event of this magnitude. Chatterbox put an end to her nervous pacing by catching her with an arm around her waist, pulling her against his solid torso. 

“What is it?” Ray whispered back, the tension in her body already easing up from his warmth against her back. He draped soft silk fabric across her hands that was cool to the touch, almost making her shiver. 

“Something for you to wear tonight. Sorry I didn’t give it to you sooner, everything has been crazy since you moved in.” He placed a kiss on the top of her head, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist. 

“This fabric feels amazing,” Ray mused as she felt the structure of the dress in her hands, noticing that it had a corseted bodice and a high leg slit. “Chatty, I can’t wear something like this.”

“Why not?” 

“It just feels so expensive and sexy and high-class and I am exactly none of those things,” Ray’s voice quivered with her confession. She felt Chatterbox lift the dress out of her hands and place it on the couch next to them before he spun her around to face him, his hands coming up to cup her jaw. 

“Don’t ever say that about yourself again, Ray,” his deep voice resonated in her chest. “You are fucking incredible, and you deserve the world. I feel so lucky that I get to spoil you whenever I want.” One of his hands moved down to grip her waist, trying to pull her impossibly closer. “And for the sexy part,” he leaned down to whisper in her ear once more, his breath tickling her skin. “I think I’ve made it pretty clear how much I want you all the time, baby . But I’m happy to prove that to you again and again.” 

He pulled her in for a dizzying kiss, Ray’s knees almost going weak from the combination of his intoxicating scent and eagerness to emphasize his point. His lips were soft against hers, the feeling of them sending heat to her core. She finally gave into him, melting against him while throwing her arms around his neck. He walked her backwards to their bed, carefully laying her down before he climbed back on top of her, slotting himself in between her legs. Ray would never get over the feeling of him on top of her, his much larger frame completely enveloping hers as she became like putty in his hands. Ray was still in her pyjamas, wearing one of Chatterbox’s old t-shirts over a pair of underwear. It didn’t take long for him to discard both items from her, leaving her bare underneath him while he was still in a full suit.

One of the few perks of her blindness was how much it heightened the sensation of everything Chatterbox did to her. She could never be sure of where his hands or lips were going to appear next, making every touch he gave her electrifying. His hands and lips explored her body, making sure there was not an inch of skin missed. He took his time worshipping every bit of her, whispering sweet nothings almost too quiet even for her to hear. Ray’s heart swelled with adoration for the man above her; never before had she been made to feel so loved and special by another person. She felt his hand slowly trail up her inner thigh, grazing over her most sensitive area before pulling away. A soft whine escaped her lips as he pulled away from her completely, almost making her shiver from the loss of his warmth. “I just need to get undressed, baby,” the rustle of fabric supported his claim as Ray reached out her hand to him, smiling softly when he immediately interlocked their fingers and finished getting undressed with one hand. 

Ray pulled Chatterbox back to her once she heard his belt hit the floor, bringing him back to his rightful place between her legs. Their lips met once again in a passionate kiss as Chatterbox rubbed his hard length up and down her fold, causing her to moan into his mouth.

“This is what you do to me, Ray,” he groaned in her ear, “ Fuck, you get me so fucking hard, baby, you sexy little thing.” The head of his dick teased her entrance, drawing moans from both of them. Ray wondered if Chatterbox could feel her heartbeat in the same way she could as he continued to tease her with his length. She could feel that she was already soaking wet in anticipation for him.

“Chatty, aaa , please stop teasing– oh fuck,” Ray gasped as he slowly started pushing into her at her request. 

“How could I say no when you ask so pretty like that?” He breathed out as he bottomed out inside her. Ray would never get over how big he felt inside of her, always just on the border of pain but making her feel so full as he waited a few moments for her to adjust. 

“Aaah, C-Chatty you feel so fucking good , fuck your dick is so big, oh my god ,” Ray let her thoughts tumble out of her mouth as Chatterbox found his rhythm thrusting into her, brushing against her sweet spot with every movement. Her hands threaded their way into his hair, keeping his face close to hers as she moaned against his skin. She didn’t try to hold back any of the noises she made as the room quickly became filled with the sounds of slapping skin and heavy breathing. 

Ray suddenly felt Chatterbox’s tongue flick over her nipple, causing her back to arch off the bed to chase after the feeling. He continued to give her breasts equal attention with his mouth and his hand as his pace increased, quickly bringing Ray to the edge.

“I’m so close, Oh my god ,” Ray cried out as he started thrusting into her harder, giving her the final push she needed. “ Chatty! ” she gasped as her body shook with the force of her orgasm hitting her. She could feel Chatterbox finish inside of her soon after, his hips stuttering slightly before he came to a stop, still inside of her. 

“I hope I’ve made my point clear, darling. I don’t ever want to hear you talk down about yourself like that ever again, okay?” Chatterbox mumbled lowly. 

“Okay,” Ray whispered back, nuzzling her face into his neck and breathing in his comforting scent. 

“I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Unfortunately, the couple wasn’t able to lay in bed together for long before they had to get up to shower and start getting ready for the banquet. They elected to take separate showers, not wanting to risk things getting heated again and losing even more time to get ready. Sooty and Bon Bon came over early so that Sooty could help Ray do her hair and makeup. The four of them chatted and set out a game plan for the event while Sooty worked her magic on Ray, giving her a glamorous makeup look with her hair tied up into an updo with a low bun with pieces curled to frame her face. 

“And just fix a loose strand of hair there, a bit more lip gloss, and you are done gorgeous!” Sooty celebrated, stepping away from her seated form. 

“Yay! You’re amazing Sooty,” Ray gushed as she gave the other clown a quick hug before stepping over to where her dress was hanging up on the back of the bathroom door. “Now everyone out! Except for Chatty, I need to get changed,” she laughed while running her hands over the soft fabric and pulling the dress off its hanger. The other clown couple made their leave quickly, rambling about meeting them down in the kitchen and teasing them “Don’t take too long, we gotta go soon,” on their way out. 

“Ready?” Ray could hear the smile in Chatterbox’s voice.

“As I’ll ever be,” Ray smiled back nervously as Chatterbox helped her into the dress. It fit her perfectly, the fabric perfectly draped across her body to show off her curves. He carefully tightened the laces of the corset on the back of the dress, placing a kiss on her bare shoulder while his hands moved to hold her waist once he was finished. 

“You look fucking incredible, mon cœur ,” his voice rumbled out.

“Thank you,” Ray whispered back before turning around in his arms to wrap her arms around his neck, feeling that he already had his clown mask on. She ran her hands down his body to feel that he had changed into a luxurious feeling three-piece suit that was perfectly tailored to his body, highlighting his hard-earned muscles and broad shoulders that tapered into his trim waist. A part of Ray wished that she could keep him all to herself for the night but she knew how important this event was for him and the NCO. She would have to contain her unhinged thoughts towards him in this suit until after the party was over. 

“One last thing,” Chatterbox handed her a box that Ray quickly opened to feel a plastic mask with long ears and a strip of soft fabric. She tilted her head to the side, prompting him to explain further. “The banquet is a masquerade so that all of the clowns can keep their masks on, so I got you one that was more suited for you.”

“It’s a bunny mask!” Ray grinned as she felt the long ears of the mask again before carefully lifting it out of the box. “It’s perfect, I love it.” 

Chatterbox helped her tie on the mask to make sure that it was secure, adding the strip of silk over her eyes to elevate the look of the plastic mask more. “Ready?” he asked, taking her hand in his. 

“Ready,” Ray nodded back, squeezing his hand before calling for Dia and making sure that she was set to go as well. 

If there was one thing that no other gang could dispute about the clowns, it was that they knew how to throw a party. Party Hardy’s mansion was renovated to have a massive ballroom specifically for this annual event. The room looked as if it had been taken directly out of Phantom of the Opera , with massive gold chandeliers casting everything in a warm, rich light. Opulent golden filigree decorated the walls, ceiling, and columns alongside red velvet fabric carefully draped around the room. The dance floor was left empty, giving guests as much room as possible to manoeuvre around and socialize. The entrance to the ballroom was atop a grand staircase that split in two to frame a large marble statue of Dionysus. 

Almost everyone had already arrived, just waiting for the last few of the high-profile clowns to come and join them. There were significantly more people in attendance this year compared to the last; Chang Gang’s impressive numbers rivalled only the clowns in the amount of members that they had so having the entirety of both gangs in one room was monumental, to say the least. 

Just before the couple made their entrance, Party Hardy himself stepped up to announce their entrance. “Ladies, Gentlemen, and those who know better, friends both new and old, I am honoured to announce the arrival of the leading man himself, and his beloved whom I know has been on everyone’s mind lately, everyone please welcome, the king and queen of the night, Chatterbox and Hiccups!”

Their entrance was met with a roar of applause, people cheering and whistling as they made their slow descent to join everyone on the ballroom floor. Ray’s heart pounded as Chatterbox and Dia led her down the long flight of stairs, silently praying that she wouldn’t trip and fall in front of everyone. She had to admit that she’d never felt so powerful before, holding Chatterbox’s arm and Dia’s leash, she felt like nothing in the world could touch her. It was a feeling that she was excited to get used to.

Once they reached the bottom Ray was immediately swarmed with several people excited to meet her for the first time. It was an overwhelming cacophony trying to listen to everyone at once so Chatterbox quickly stepped in to make everyone back off somewhat. “Hey!” he barked, “Everyone back off and give us some space, you have the whole night to come up and talk to us.” His voice echoed through the hall as there was a murmur of agreement that responded to his command. The first person to approach them afterwards was the leader of Mayhem, who kept the conversation brief, only giving Ray a quick hello and thanking Chatterbox for another successful year of their partnership before walking off. A few other people from both Mayhem and the Raiders had similar greetings for them, their names and voices swirling around in Ray’s head. She promised herself that she would try to remember all of the clowns that she met, there were no promises for anyone else in attendance. 

Finally, some familiar voices emerged from the crowd as they were joined by Kirk and Tessa. Chatterbox had previously explained to her that he was usually the one to bring his mother to this event but since Ray was here now, Kirk happily took over that responsibility. “Well, don’t you two just look as stunning as the stars in the middle of nowhere, hoo-wee!” Kirk whistled. “You kids clean up good!”

Ray giggled lightly, “Thank you, Kirk.”

“You both look amazing, I’m so glad you’re able to join us this year, Hiccups,” Tessa added warmly, placing her hand on Ray’s arm. Ray could feel her face flush under her mask, she wasn’t used to being the centre of attention but everyone’s kind words made it a little easier for her to handle. The four of them chatted for a few minutes until the other pair drifted back into the crowd once more and yet another group approached them.

“There you are, Little One! We’ve been lookin’ all over for you!” Ray heard Vinny’s distinct voice. Taco and Curtis chimed in with their own greetings before all three of them took turns squeezing the life out of her in bone-crushing hugs. Their gang affiliation was still something that Ray was getting used to. It was another revelation she’d had during her hyper-fixation on the NCO. Information about Chang Gang would often pop up alongside news about the clowns and some of the criminal descriptions seemed eerily familiar. She ended up pestering Max about it until he relented and gave her the information she craved. 

“I’m still mad at you guys for not telling me any of this sooner,” Ray pouted, playfully smacking Taco’s arm. 

“Ey, ey! It wasn’t our story to tell, Rachell, we didn’t wanna break your heart or anything like that!” Taco defended. She could hear Chatterbox cringe softly beside her, the muscles in his arm flexing slightly under her hand. 

“Chatterbox and I had a very stern phone call after that conversation, don’t worry Ray. I warned him that he was in dangerous waters and of course like the clown he is, he still managed to fuck it up royally!” Vinny scoffed at her boyfriend.

“That’s enough, Vinny,” Chatterbox shot back. There seemed to be a silent standoff between the two of them before the Italian backed off. 

“Love the new name by the way, Hiccups, you seem to be very happy with the clowns, does Dia also get a clown name?” Curtis thankfully changed the conversation. 

“Aw, thank you, Curtis! Yeah! Twinkles named her Noodle ‘cause she’s so lanky and wiggles when she’s excited,” Ray giggled. Their reactions made her laugh harder, as all three cooed and petted Dia. Even hardened gang members had a soft spot, it seemed. 

After Taco, Curtis, and Vinny said their farewells, the couple finally reached a lull in the neverending line of people who wanted to meet them. “How are you holding up?” Chatterbox quietly asked, wrapping his arm around her waist.

“I’m good! It’s really nice to meet everyone finally.”

“‘Atta girl.” Chatterbox passed her a champagne flute and Ray carefully adjusted her mask so she could take a quick sip. 

They were able to sneak some food and drinks before the next wave of people came up to them, loud, dolphin-like laughter breaking through the orchestral music that filled the space. 

“There you are, muthafuckas! I’ve been waiting so damn long to meet the fuckin’ queen!”

“Uh–” Ray stuttered.

“It’s Mr. Ratchet, muthafucka! We met on that heist you crashed that one time, muthafucka!”

“Ratchet–” Chatterbox started. 

“She is! I’m not that stupid, she’s the one that stole you from us!”

“Oh my god, it is you!” Another somewhat familiar thick Welsh accent added.

“No one stole me from any–” Chatterbox once again tried to cut in.

“There you are, you slippery bastard!” A third posh British voice joined the fray. 

Chatterbox let out a loud sigh before clearing his throat, “Cups, this is Mr. Ratchet, Ember Quinn, and Yappy. Yes, they were the other people in that bank with me along with Hostage, but who the yuck knows where he scurried off to. There, everyone is introduced,” Chatterbox finished with a huff. 

“It’s so nice to actually meet you Hiccups! We were all taking bets on if– Ow !!” Yappy was cut off by the sound of a smack. 

“It was nice meeting you Cups! We’re going to steal all the food now!” Ember yelled as she walked away, pulling a complaining Mr. Ratchet and Yappy with her. As they faded away Ray took another sip of her drink. 

More clowns introduced themselves afterwards, some more chaotic than others. There was Wayne, who just gave a simple hello and a handshake; Wendy, who gave Ray a crayon drawing she did of Chatterbox, Dia and her (it’s the thought that counts); Mumbles, who pulled Ray aside let her know that he would peep on whoever she needed him to and to just “give him a call” with a click of his tongue; Lily and Hazel who had a normal and lovely introduction; and finally, Miniphone, who spent the whole time brazenly insulting Chatterbox, “Not surprised you ended up with a blind girl Chatty, she’s the only one who could love your ugly mug!” until he was escorted out of the hall. 

Before it got too late into the evening, Chatterbox reluctantly had to step away from Ray to give a speech in front of everyone. He left Ray in the safe hands of Bon Bon and Sooty, promising to be back as quickly as he could be. 

“Don’t worry Chatty, everything will be fine. You’re going to kill this speech, you got this babe!” Ray encouraged him with a quick hug, wanting to kiss him but couldn’t through her mask. Once he walked off, Sooty threw her arm over Ray’s shoulder, mildly tipsy but in high spirits. Ray wasn’t sure what type of champagne they were serving at this party but the effects were starting to hit her harder. 

“How’s everything going so far, Ray?” Bon Bon whispered. 

“Good! You clowns know how to throw a party,” Ray answered, her words slurring slightly.

“Hell yeah, we do!” Bon Bon whooped back, heard across the banquet as everyone had started quieting down in anticipation of hearing Chatterbox and Party Hardy speak. Chatterbox went first, briefly thanking everyone for coming before getting into more details about the clowns’ accomplishments over the last year. His speech flew by, yet Ray was still left in awe over the man she called her boyfriend, the fact that he so effortlessly took control over the room and the power he held. As she was about to let out a cheer of support, she stumbled, almost toppling over if it weren’t for Sooty and Bon Bon keeping her upright. 

“Everything okay? Ray?” Sooty’s voice sounded far away as Ray focused on keeping her balance. “Let’s sit you down somewhere.” Just as the two of them started to lead her out, shots were fired not far from the three of them. 

All hell broke loose.

The sudden crack of the gun caused Party Hardy to scream into the microphone, making Ray’s ears ring from the sharp sound. People started rushing to the exit door, jostling each other around as the door created a bottleneck for people to leave though. Ray tried to keep hold of Sooty and Dia’s leash but both were yanked away from her in the chaos of it all. Ray was left stranded in the middle of the dance floor, people constantly knocking into her shoulders but no one tried to help her move out of the way. She tried to follow along with the crowd but was too dizzy, collapsing in the middle of the floor. Rough hands grabbed hold of her arms, yanking her off the ground and into the crowd of people. Ray couldn’t muster the energy to fight back, her limbs seemed to be made of jello as she was pulled through the crush of people. 

Eventually, her kidnapper broke away into a quieter section of the house, then into the cool night air. Ray had to fight to remain conscious, her mouth full of cotton rendering it impossible to speak. Just as the last shreds of her consciousness slipped away, her captor finally spoke.

“Good night, little bunny.”

Chapter Text

“Cups?!” Chatterbox screamed as he tore through the various rooms of Party Hardy’s mansion. All he could hear was the sound of blood rushing in his ears, his heart pounding triple time as he stupidly wished this was all a cruel nightmare. He saw everything move in slow motion from the balcony above when the BBMC started firing, unable to do anything as he watched Ray get swallowed up by the crush of people and disappear. 

The attack was over almost as soon as it had begun, all of the disguised BBMC attackers fleeing as soon as they got what they wanted: her. It was a calculated strike, something that they would never expect from them. Kaiba had said they were going to burn the clowns to the ground, and they finally found the one who was the match. They took Sooty as well, adding gasoline to the blaze. 

“Hey Chatter! We found something!” Zolo’s voice drifted in through one of the open windows as he scanned the bedrooms of the upper floors. The minute the chaos had settled Chatterbox enlisted everyone’s help looking for her, or any BBMC cars they could get their hands on. A group of people stayed behind at the mansion to search for any possible sign of either of the missing clowns. Everyone else got into their vehicles to start scanning all of San Andreas state for where those fuckers might have gone. 

Chatterbox sprinted outside to see what they’d found, a sense of dread washing over him as he joined the small group of clowns and CG members gathered around a black mass on the ground. He stopped short, his heart stopping before he saw the mass move, Dia pushing up onto her elbows to start licking one of her paws. 

“Dia! Oh thank god,” Chatterbox ran up to the guide dog and sank down on the grass next to her, not caring if he stained his nice dress pants. He carefully looked over the dog to make sure she wasn’t visibly hurt. 

“She seems a little lethargic and slow, we should bring her to the vet!” Wendy nodded, looking determined with her hands on her hips. Chatterbox nodded once to the red-haired clown signalling for her and Windsong to help Dia into Windosong’s car to take her to the nearest emergency vet. Chatterbox was hit with an awful sense of deja vu, except this time he couldn’t do anything to save Ray. 

Too many eyes were burning into him for his liking, too many people trying to analyze his next move. He had to lead, his will to carry on had just been taken away and he still had to lead. Anger bubbled up inside of him and this time he did nothing to try and keep it contained. 

“Listen up! You useless pieces of shit,” he bellowed to everyone who had now gathered on the lawn. He didn’t care that his voice had dropped to its usual husky timbre, making a few people jump at the lower tone. “Since all of you are selfish bastards who only pay attention to themselves in a time of danger, the one defenceless person is now kidnapped. I expect nothing else from good-for-nothing gang bangers, honestly. But to every clown who can hear me right now, I want you all to know just how infuriated I am right now at how fucking stupid you all are. No one is leaving this search until Ray is safe. I don’t care how long it takes.” 

“Everyone get into your vehicles and start heading down into the city. Neither of them are up here anymore,” Bon Bon advised the group of people in front of them. The jester shot a look at Chatterbox as the clown king rubbed his forehead in frustration. Bon Bon let out a heavy sigh before bringing his hand down on Chatterbox’s shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring. “We’ll find them, I promise. And… at least we know Ray’s not alone.” 

Chatterbox was in hell. At this point, he was running on pure adrenaline and rage, driving around the city for over 24 hours looking for any sign of the BBMC and his love. His forearms ached from how tightly he gripped the steering wheel; his eyes burned from constantly searching for a sign. They were all just… gone. Vanished into thin air. Vespucci was a ghost town, devoid of any signs of the Aussie gang as a few of the clowns rolled down the vacant streets. They all finally stopped on the beach, getting out of their vehicles to stretch out their aching bodies. Much to Chatterbox’s annoyance, the other gangs switched to looking in shifts, letting groups of people rest at different intervals as the search dragged on. Only the core members of the clowns and a few Chang Gang members persisted.

They were all still dressed for the masquerade, everyone’s outfits now heavily wrinkled from sitting for so long. Chatterbox leaned against the side of his car, exhaustion washing over him now that he’d stopped moving. Taco and Kirk simultaneously flopped onto the soft sand, letting out matching groans as various joints popped and creaked.  “Mumbles just texted,” Ursula’s voice cut through the heavy silence. “No Dukes have been spotted for the last 48 hours; they must’ve ditched their cars before all this even started.” 

“Those shit bitches…” Kirk grumbled, throwing his arms over his face. 

“Chatty,” Vinny’s strong accent pulled him out of his thoughts, “We need to rest. None of us–” A loud car horn cut him off, startling all of them as they all instinctively moved to grab their weapons. A group of vehicles approached them, led by a distinct Nissan GTR with the owner’s name plastered on the side, BENJI . 

“Why are the Vagos here?” Curtis stage whispered to Bon Bon standing next to him. 

“Shut it, you dumb fuck,” Vinny hissed back.

“Get in your cars, now. We don’t have time for this,” Chatterbox ordered. “Meet at the funhouse,” he added through his radio once they all scattered in different directions. Benji tried to follow after him but a few quick turns through the Vespucci canals shook him off easily. Chatterbox took a convoluted way back up to Grapeseed, stopping briefly downtown to pick up Dia from the emergency vet. She had been given some kind of sedative but thankfully all it managed to do was make her drowsy. The energetic pup was already back to her usual self, greeting him happily when he entered the waiting room. Chatterbox immediately felt calmer having the guide dog with him, a solid reminder of Ray’s perseverance and strength.

Everyone else had already arrived when Chatterbox returned to the funhouse with Dia. The guard dog must have sensed something was off when she gave almost no reaction to the other people present, staying pressed against the side of Chatterbox’s leg as he joined everyone in the dining room. Tessa had joined them, standing behind Chatterbox’s chair at the head of the table. The atmosphere in the room was tense and exhausted as everyone ate and drank to try to gain back some energy. Chatterbox didn’t have the stomach for anything, his insides churning with worry about whether Ray was even alive at this point. The BBMC was unpredictable; A ticking time bomb with a broken clock. Chatterbox didn’t know how long they would string this out for. How many days, or even hours, did they have left to find her? 

“Fritz and Lane have both said their gangs are committed to helping us search. Both Chumash and Paleto are fully cleared, and the Raiders are starting to sweep Banham Canyon for any signs as we speak,” Tessa’s soft voice cut through the heavy silence that was suffocating the room. Just as Vinny and Ursula started to describe what they had seen with the Vagos, Chatterbox’s phone started ringing so he stepped into the kitchen to answer it. 

“Max, I’m sorry I didn’t call you earlier-” Chatterbox started the second he answered the call. 

“Vinny already let me know what happened,” Max’s voice was clipped, each syllable stabbing into Chatterbox’s heart. “I don’t know what you were thinking, holding such a massive event at a time like this because something like this was bound to happen. You are at war, Chatterbox. I know you’re all clowns but for god’s sake I thought you would be smarter than this!” Chatterbox took a deep breath, he wanted to scream all his pent-up frustrations at Max but was stopped by Dia pushing her nose hard against his leg, drawing his attention downwards. 

“We’re doing everything we can to find her,” Chatterbox’s voice came out surprisingly small. 

“You might be looking for her in your way, Chatterbox, but I’ll do it my way. Because that’s my sister.”

“Wha-”

“I have connections to practically every gang in the city. CB, GG, NBC, HOA, Yokai, all of them. There is not a corner of San Andreas where the BBMC can hide. We will find her.”

All of the initial search party was forced to get some sleep soon after all of them had eaten. All of the clowns crashed at the funhouse, sleeping in the various guest rooms and couches throughout the large house. Chatterbox thought he would be unable to sleep but the exhaustion took over quickly, he was out like a light the minute his head hit the pillow. It wasn’t a restful sleep, tossing and turning while images and details flashed in his mind. All the places they needed to look over more thoroughly, all the places they hadn’t looked yet. Although Max was angry at him, his assistance in the search gave Chatterbox a gleam of hope. Max was amongst the most connected men in the city, dining with the likes of Lang Buddha, Sam Baas, and other high-profile leaders of the city. Getting racing crews involved was a smart idea as well, both Yokai and Redline were now patrolling all major roadways around the clock. 

A loud crash pulled Chatterbox out of his fitful sleep as he shot out of bed on instinct, grabbing the wrench he hid next to his nightstand. In the middle of the room, there was a large rock thrown in through the now shattered balcony door. Chatterbox caught a glimpse of the culprit speeding away on a motorbike through the dirt roads of Grapeseed. 

He approached the rock carefully, making sure to not step in the broken glass before picking it up, revealing a small note attached to it. The handwriting was written hastily, with messy letters quickly scratched onto torn paper. 

If you don’t find them in 7 days, the girls are dead. 

Or, you can give us your lands and all of this will go away.

Tick Tock, Chatter. Don’t let the time run out.

Nearly everyone in the city was on the lookout for Ray and Sooty; missing person flyers were pasted on nearly every flat surface in the city courtesy of Wendy and Derpy. Useless as they were, the police were now involved in the search as well with their police connect Bam Bam leading the charge. There were constant updates on Twitter, gang bangers and civilians alike posting any updates they had on the locations of BBMC members. The help from the community warmed Chatterbox’s disillusioned soul; he would’ve never expected this outpouring of help from all walks of life.

Not everything was all sunshine and friendship though, the ambushes had started, and more fights were breaking out by the hour. Thankfully each search team was heavily armed and each of them rolled at least six deep. They were ready to take on anything, but the fatigue would get to them quickly. Chatterbox and quite a few other clowns were patrolling around Los Santos’ downtown core, scouting out buildings they hadn’t checked yet when the shooting started. He and Tessa were on motorbikes and had to swerve to avoid crashing into other clowns’ vehicles as they slammed on the brakes to fight back. Chatterbox quickly swung his leg back over his bike to dismount while pulling his gun from its holster. Although he preferred melee weapons, he was still a great shot, nailing one of their attackers in the stomach as he moved in front of Tessa’s bike. 

Chatterbox’s ears were ringing, his attention drawn in all directions as the clowns returned fire. The clowns were more prepared this time than they were in La Puerta; they were ready, they were angry. A few BBMC members lay dead in the streets, clowns standing over their bodies to search them. Just as Chatterbox shot out two of the tires on Dundee’s car his shoulder erupted in pain, the force bringing him down to one knee. His right arm felt like it was engulfed in flames, making it impossible to move or think as he watched this perpetual nightmare get worse. 

One of the BBMC members had been hiding behind Dundee’s car for quite some time, Chatterbox thought it was someone who had been badly injured but even with his vision blurred from pain, he could see the figure pop up and throw something at them. All Chatterbox could get out was a strangled yell before the object made impact, exploding in a fiery blaze. Most of the clowns were spared from the blast except for Tessa. The bomb exploded a few feet away from her, covering her in flames and shattered glass. Chatterbox tried to stand up to get to his mom but the world was already spinning around him. The last thing he saw before his vision went black was other clowns running toward Tessa’s limp body and carefully transporting her to one of their nearby cars. Wayne ran over to him just as he fell unconscious, pulling his body into another car.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

Chapter Text

I spy with my little eye, a bunny hopping along the way. It turned to say: “I wanna go play,” but its efforts were for nie.

You see, this little bunny was without any eyes, darkness was all it could see. 

So when the piece of prey walked by, the predators weren’t shy and now it’s the bunny’s turn to die.

Good night, little bunny.

“It’s time to wake up, Ray!! Rise and shine!” Sooty sang as Ray’s eyes slowly flickered open. Her head pounded, waves of pain washing over her as she tried to understand her surroundings. Her fine-tuned senses overloaded her with information, making her head pound harder. As footsteps approached her, Ray realized how stiff her body was, laying on what seemed to be a thin gym mat over a rocky floor. Ray’s brow furrowed in confusion as the reality of her whereabouts finally settled in. A damp, murky smell was in the air as if rainwater could go stale. The suppressed tone in Sooty’s voice informed Ray that they were in a muffled, enclosed space. When the footsteps stopped, Ray could hear water dripping, are we in a cave?  

Ray stayed still, hoping Sooty hadn’t noticed that she was awake yet as memories rushed into her mind. The banquet, everyone in masks, the shooting, the whole world spinning then going silent. Everything was fuzzy, specific details getting more muddled as the night went on. Chatty . Her mind went quiet at the thought of his name. Is he okay? Was he hurt? Was he… Ray’s body had a physical reaction to the thought of her clown getting killed, now sitting bolt upright on her makeshift bed. “Wow, you’re definitely awake now, aren’t ya?” Sooty laughed. Her voice had an odd tone to it, one that Ray had never heard before and drew chills up her spine. 

“Wh…where are we? What’s going on here, Sooty?” Ray croaked out, her throat rough and dry from disuse.

“Well well well, Miss Ray Mond,” Bon Bon’s voice came out of nowhere causing Ray to whip her head in the direction his voice came from, her neck protesting the sudden movement. “In all honesty, I am truly sorry, Ray, as your involvement in this is largely as a pawn in a much larger game, one that has been going on for longer than you’ve been in the picture. It’s such a shame you stumbled into all this. We could’ve been friends! Ah well… ”

“Honestly, we should be thanking you, Hiccups! You gave us an into Chatty, a sweet spot that really let us sink our teeth in, ha ha!” Sooty cheerfully added. Her once sweet, comforting voice now felt like claws looming around Ray, basking in her fear. 

“What have you done to Chatty?” Ray was unable to keep the tremble out of her voice. 

“Oh, nothing yet,” Bon Bon brushed her off, “If the so-called ‘clown king’ is smart, this will be over almost as soon as it began.”

Something in Ray snapped, she was tired of being used as a pawn, tired of being the weak point, tired of being left in the dark. The break was fueled by anger, with betrayal leaving an awful taste in her mouth. The two Chatterbox considered his siblings, now twisting the knife after already stabbing him in the back. All of the pieces fell into place, and the strings of information that Chatterbox had given her were now perfectly tied together, she’d found the moles but it was way too late. 

“You fucking bastards!” Ray exploded, “How dare you. How. Fucking. Dare. You. I can’t even– Why, why the fuck would you do this?! What does the BBMC have to offer that you didn’t already get with the clowns?” Her rage seemed to amuse the two backstabbing clowns as they let out matching cackles at her outburst. 

“Oh Ray Mond, dumb little Ray Mond,” Bon Bon mused, “Power tastes good, but revenge is sweeter.”

“What fucking revenge? What could Chatty possibly have done to the two of you? Two of the people he cares most about in the world.”

The pair left her questions unanswered as the heavy metal door to the room slammed shut and she was locked in. Alone, as always. Her rage was taken over by panic quickly, as flashes from her childhood came flooding back into her mind. Ray got up to walk around and try to shake off the thoughts but this ‘holding cell’ she’d been put in was the same size as her old bedroom, the one she’d been locked in for days on end and forgotten about.

Her chest tightened to a suffocating level as hot tears started to slip down her cheeks. She still paced around the small area as much as she could in a futile attempt to stay calm, taking careful steps on the uneven floor. Eventually, Ray’s attention slipped as she tried to wipe away some of her tears and she tripped, landing hard on her knees in the middle of the room. A loud sob escaped her mouth from the impact as she finally collapsed and let herself cry as heart-wrenching sobs filled the air.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed when Ray was finally able to calm herself down. The rest of the room was barren, so she carefully crawled on her tender knees into her makeshift bed and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket. It was freezing without the warmth of Dia and Chatterbox that she had grown so used to. Her eyes still burned with unshed tears but she was too dehydrated for any of them to fall. She tried to focus on better things: gworl’s night with Max, how affectionate Dia is when she’s done working for the day, and all of the wonderful dates Chatterbox took her on. She so desperately wanted that reality again, rather than the damp, cold hell she was in now. She rolled onto her back slowly, trying to avoid the awkward lumps where the ground dug into her spine and tried to keep her breathing deep and even. The faint sound of running footsteps pulled Ray out of her daze. Adrenaline rushed through her, unsure if this was going to be a friend or foe approaching.

“Ray! Ray! Hiccups! It’s me, Yappy, are you in there?” 

“Yappy?” Ray yelled back, her heart leapt at the prospect of getting out of there so quickly, “Is that you?”

“Yeah! Hang tight, I’m gonna go tell the others and we’re gonna get you out of here, okay?” Yappy’s voice was filled with comforting assurance. 

“Okay,” Ray squeaked back, trying to sit up in her uncomfortable bed. She almost wanted to yell at the clown to stay with her until others came but she didn’t know what the situation was outside that door, or how much danger Yappy was in right now. 

Yappy’s heart was nearly pounding out of his chest as he sped down Route 68 trying to get to Grapeseed as quickly as possible. He was barely paying attention to the road as he tried to grab his phone out from his awkwardly tight jacket pocket, swerving through traffic with only one hand on the wheel. Just as he managed to free his cracked phone, another car made impact with the side of his back bumper, sending him spinning off the road into one of the dry ditches of Sandy Shores. What the hell? Was all Yappy could think before his car door was yanked open and he was dragged out. His head pounded with the bright light of the San Andreas desert, his eyes were still adjusting from going into the abandoned mine and he definitely just bonked his head at some point in that car crash. 

When his vision finally refocused, he could see he was getting dragged towards an abandoned-looking building by a man with a bleached white buzzcut, wearing a denim BBMC patched vest and nothing underneath.  “What the hell, man? Fuck you, bro!” Yappy voiced his thoughts out loud as he tried to struggle out of the man’s grasp.

“Oh, stupid little Yappy,” The clown’s blood turned to ice as the all-too-familiar accent chuckled. “Are you a fan of Shakespeare, Eli?” Bon Bon asked as he shoved the Brit into a small abandoned shack. Before he could snap back, Yappy came face to face with an even bigger shock, Sooty. 

“It’s you two?! What the actual fuck?! How could you? Genu—“

“Blah blah blah, wow, you really do live up to your namesake, don’t you Yappy?” Sooty spoke to him with a tone typically reserved to address a dog, high-pitched and condescending. “Can I do the honours, babe?” Sooty’s eyes had an unnerving gleam to them, her dark pupils blown wide to cover their usual sage green shade. She flicked open a razor-sharp balisong while grabbing his lower jaw tightly. 

“Of course, darling,” her husband laughed while tightening his grip on the younger clown. 

“Wait wait wait wait wait,” Yappy squirmed in the couple’s grasp, “Why did you ask me about Shakespeare?” He watched as the pair shared a look of disbelief and annoyance. “Look, I know you guys are gonna kill me anyway, so at least finish your thought.”

“You are definitely too much of a bother to ever be Lavinia, but those that know too much shall always be dealt with violently. Yappy, will finally be silenced. But fear not, young clown, your death will be much swifter, left here to bleed out when no one remembers to check up on an unimportant clown. Forgotten when a new one emerges onto the stage. Open wide, Yappy,” It was clear that Bon Bon revelled in the opportunity to go through his over-dramatic metaphor about how Yappy was going to die. The amount of cringe almost took him out first. 

Before Yappy could fire anything back, his mouth was forced open by Bon Bon while Sooty pinched his tongue between her well-manicured fingers. With a flick of her wrist, her blade sliced through his tongue to sever it. Yappy let out a blood-curdling scream as pain exploded through his whole body. His vision was quickly covered by inky black spots as he tried to stay conscious through the pain. Sooty then dragged him over to the empty workbench in the middle of the room, pinning his hands to the surface with her own. She roughly adjusted her grip so that her hands would be out of the way while Bon Bon pulled out a larger blade, a silver machete that gleamed under the low light. 

“Can’t talk, can’t type, can’t speak or write, and come on now, you’re shaking with fright! It seems like you’ve gotten yourself in quite a pickle here, Eli Lum. But, at least it’ll be over quickly and dead men tell no tales. Goodbye, Yappy,” As Bon Bon monologue, he got into position, ending his statement with a dramatic bow and swinging the machete through the young clown’s wrists. Yappy blacked out from the pain, his own screams bursting through his eardrums as he crumpled out of Sooty’s grasp and the world went black for the final time. 

“ And scene…”

“Okay, thank you for letting me know, Stitches. And yes, my shoulder is healing up perfectly fine I promise. No, I’m not going to stay in the hospital for a day or two, that would be a waste of my time!” Chatterbox ended the call, annoyed at how worried Stitches, the clown doctor, always was about him. She was already forcing him to keep his arm in a sling for the time being, hindering his ability to continue their dangerous search. But still, he persisted. The doctor did at least let him know that Tessa was in stable condition. Her proximity to the blast thankfully didn’t take her life, but still caused her to lose the lower half of her right leg and suffer severe burns up the side of her body and face. 

Chatterbox vowed that once he had Ray back into his arms, he was going to burn all of Vespucci down to the ground for what the BBMC has done to the people he loves. This conflict was now deeply personal, even more than before and far beyond anything else the city had seen. It wasn’t about the NCO anymore, they were going for Chatterbox specifically. Chatterbox was going to make sure that every last member of that godforsaken gang was 6 feet under Mount Chiliad so the gang could never be reformed again. He should have ended them a long time ago, when they killed Giblets, when they killed Giggles but instead, he got cocky, keeping his eyes off them for too long as they licked their wounds in the shadows, waiting to tear his life apart again.

The clown leader sank onto his desk chair, rubbing his free hand down his face. The exhaustion was setting in. Chatterbox couldn’t remember the last time that he got a moment of quiet, spending every waking moment of the last few days searching for Ray (the only reason he got one now is because Twinkles and Kirk forced him to take the day off because of his shoulder). He was used to his phone ringing off the hook with people giving updates, (and honestly, his phone was like that even before Ray was kidnapped) but now it was silent, with all messages being routed to Kirk and Twinkles instead. Chatterbox thought he was used to dealing with the influx of calls and messages whenever anything happened but the volume of notifications had increased tenfold this time around now receiving updates from nearly every gang member (and some civilians) in the city except for the Vagos and BBMC. 

Their search stretched further, with a team heading out to Sanguine Island mere moments from now. Other search teams were charged with looking over the same areas every day, to make sure that the BBMC weren’t moving her around to different locations whenever they got close. Their near-daily clashes allowed Mumbles and Ursula to put trackers on some of their vehicles, creating a detailed log of the members’ movements along with extensive footage from their network of hidden cameras. Their numbers were starting to seriously dwindle, as the clowns concocted different traps and ambushes with the intent to kill. 

The thick silence of Chatterbox’s office was interrupted by Dia slipping in through the crack in the door, padding silently over to the exhausted clown and placing her head in his lap. The dog’s endless empathy and understanding would never cease to surprise him as he brought his hand down to stroke the smooth top of her head. He couldn’t imagine the amount of pain and fear she was going through as well, now unable to find the one she was supposed to take care of. The large dog was now glued to his side whenever he was home, protesting loudly whenever he had to leave. Max now brought her with him during the day so that she wouldn’t be alone, keeping her safe because he wasn’t one of the BBMC’s main targets. 

A buzz from his phone tore his attention away from the sweet pup as his heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Kirk promised him that nothing would be sent his way unless it was something major. Chatterbox wasn’t enough of an optimist to believe that they’d found Ray and his disbelief was confirmed when he picked up his phone. Staring back at him was a gruesome photo of Yappy’s now dismembered body crumpled on the ground of what looked like an abandoned workshop. The photo was sent by Yappy himself, giving Chatterbox limited information on who the killer could be. He found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the photo, completely desensitized to gore, scanning it for any further information. Then, he saw it. Balancing on the side of the table was a disturbingly familiar balisong balancing on the edge of the table. The blade was once his own that he gifted to Bon Bon when the jester joined the high ranks of the NCO. Nowadays, Sooty was its main wielder with Bon Bon preferring longer blades and wrenches. 

Chatterbox felt like the world was pulled out from under his feet, everything crumbled around him. How… and why? For the moment, Chatterbox didn’t feel his usual rage over the prospect of the mole’s existence. Now that he knew who it was all he felt was heart-crushing betrayal; his brother and his sister, stabbing him in the back and shattering his heart into a thousand pieces. With shaking hands, he lifted his phone again to try and call Kirk, fury seeping back into his bloodstream. This whole city was going to burn, he would make sure of that. 

Just before Chatterbox pressed on his best friend’s name, his phone lit up with someone else’s call, Max. The clown angrily hit the accept call button and brought his phone to his ear, staying silent so he didn’t rage at the undeserving man. 

“Chatty, we’ve found her.”