#no wait it is

[rosietrace]

『 The Accomplice 』

| “Davidson Lucretius and Keres Perrault” | ⚔️ + ♦️|

✎ᝰ. synopsis : A little manipulation goes a hell of a long way. What's wrong with putting the unneeded back in their place?

✎ᝰ. content warnings : murder (also implied at the end), toxic relationship, emotional manipulation, davis, kidnapping, frame-up

✎ᝰ. genre : alternate universe (Scream 1996), dark romance, angst

( ˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥) a/n: This was better fit for Halloween… but fuck it, we ball 🤡

“They asked if I knew Camilla.”

Maria hummed at the reply Keres provided, her head on Lance's shoulder. “Same. Looks like they're interviewing all the students for this week, so– I guess we're allowed to go home early…”

Lance sent Davis a look. “Did they ask if you knew how to hunt?”

Davis snorted, flapping his hair from his face and laying his head on Keres’ lap, snuggling in real, real close. “Sure did. You?”

Lance only nodded in confirmation, his attention back on whatever classical bullshit he had to read for literature.

Maria’s bewilderment took center stage. “Hunt?”

“Why would they ask if you knew how to hunt?”

“It's ‘cause their bodies were gutted.” Keres was the most quiet among the four, but that didn't come off as much of a surprise to any of them.

Right now, they were just… reading. Not for class, like Lance, but for their own entertainment. Crazy, Keres had hobbies outside of being Davis’ loyal little lapdog.

Maria shuddered, sitting closer beside Lance. “God, that's gross…”

“You can say that again.” commented Lance, who wrinkled his nose with a narrow-eyed glance sent Davis' way.

“But they never asked me if I knew how to hunt.” Maria's lips twisted, her head tilting up towards the sky in contemplation.

Davis snickered. “It's ‘cause there's no way a girl could have done it.”

“That is so sexist, the killer could easily be female— basic instinct.”

“Yeah, well, Cami and her little boyfriend were like, hollowed out when the cops found them. Takes a man to do something like that.”

Maria's tongue clicked. “Or a man's mentality.”

After what felt like a small eternity, it finally came to the moment where Keres spoke up, their voice timid and almost hesitant.

“How do you… how do you gut someone?”

Davis — laying in the comfort of their lap — sent them a look, one that seemed to exude concern. Lance glanced suspiciously at Keres. “Why would you ask that?”

“I-I, it's just…” Keres gulped. “... curiosity, is all. Uh—”

“It's not exactly the most appropriate question to ask right now, Keres.”

“Lance, you know I'm not the killer, I was with Maria the other night—”

“Well, you can't blame me for being concerned, can you? I'm just saying–”

“Hey.” All attention turned back to Davis, whose eyes focused on holding the gaze of his little brother. “It's called having tact, you fuckrag. You could use more of that.”

Lance kept quiet, eyes on the ground. Maria let out a gentle sigh, her hand finding its place over his. They shared a look, the kind of look that would make anyone want to topple over for even a fraction of what they had.

Keres tensed, doing the same. Their hand went to interlock with Davis', their eyes meeting.

To which Davis huffed out a small, amused laugh. He sat up, his hand wrapping around them and pulling them closer to his chest.

He rested his head on the top of Keres' head, pressing a kiss against it. Keres' face flushed, looking back down to avoid meeting Davis' eyes.

They felt guilty. Guilty for so many things.

But most of all, they were guilty for managing to be a decent enough liar. Their ‘white lies’ flew over the heads of their friends. And only Davis was the one who caught on.

Only Davis knew the truth hidden behind the curtain of deceit they'd placed over themselves.

“Are… you sure this is a good idea?” It was hard to tell what a good idea looked like after Keres and Davis became official.

“It's the only way, little red,” said Davis, his voice akin to a harmless whisper. Unfortunately, Davis was anything but.

His hands found a place on the side of Keres' cheek, the motion deliberate in getting them to lean into his touch. He smiled. They smiled.

Keres’ didn't feel like smiling. They hadn't for a long time. They wondered if they should blame that on Davis; but that felt wrong. Davis loved them. Maybe more than they could ever know, more than they could fathom.

Yes. Keres agreed with the lingering trainwreck of thoughts in their head. Yes, that's exactly it. Davis knows what he's doing.

We're doing the right thing…

“Now, Red,” Davis crooned, giving their forehead an affectionate enough peck. “You know what to do now, don't you?”

They did. Word for word, Keres knew exactly what Davis instructed them to do tonight.

But just for good measure, Keres asked, “Could you… repeat it for me?”

Davis happily obliged. “You”— he said you like Keres was the most captivating thing in the world—“are going to drag little miss Maria somewhere dark and secluded.

“We're gonna knock her out, and we'll drive her to the warehouse. Or her basement, if you'd prefer it that way.”

“Davis, I…”

“Oh, I know what you're going to say.”

Davis' mood soured, his lips curving into a frown. “But this is for the best, Red,” he said, taking Keres' hands in his. “For my brother, for me, for you.”

“Maria was always a stuck-up little bitch, always running her mouth and getting up into people's business like she had a stick up her ass.”

“She’s too much of a problem to just leave hanging around.” Davis' voice was soft; in times like this, it always was. It was his method in soothing Keres' troubles.

It was the mask behind his worst rages.

Even if it did very little in the long run. Still, Keres gave him as best of a smile as they could muster, even if it pained them — and their cheekbones — to do so.

Davis smiled, and a chill snaked through Keres' spine. “You get me, Red. You always have.”

And always will. Keres may never know if that was a good thing or not. They didn't know if they were capable of it.

The trip to Marina's house was anything but long, barely the length of an evening joyride on Davis' motorcycle. One moment, Keres sat on the back — their arms wrapped tight around his waist — and the next, they were a few blocks away from Maria's doorstep.

“You know what to do, Red.” Davis caressed their face so gently. It scared Keres. They couldn't quite know why.

He kissed the top of Keres’ head, eyes filled with want. With a warning. They reluctantly nodded their head, indulging themselves in an embrace with their boyfriend for longer than what he'd deem necessary.

It was simple. The plan was simple, and if Keres couldn't pull it off, then they'd just be stupid. And they didn't want to be stupid around Davis.

They knocked the door three times, pulling back their arm to hide it behind them. Maria opened the door shortly after.

She tilted her head, surprised at seeing one of her friends at her doorstep in the late hours of the night. “Keres?”

“Hi…”

“What are you doing here? Its super late, I'm pretty sure you–”

“Can I stay here?” Keres asked, the question coming out as a desperate plea. They could shed some tears if they set their mind to it. “I… I don't wanna ask for too much trouble, but can I? Please?”

Maria blinked. “I– Keres, why would you stay here? Did something happen?”

Something's going to happen, Keres answered in the back of their mind. They almost felt guilty for the events that would come moving forward.

They looked around, then behind them, cautioning the way they moved. “I… I feel like I'm being followed. Watched. I can barely sleep anymore, Maria, please I–”

“Alright,” Maria abruptly interjected, letting out a soft sigh and widened the gap of the open door to let her friend inside. “You can come in. My parents are coming home late anyway.”

Keres entered the threshold, a lump suddenly forming in their throat and tears very nearly filling the brim of their crimson eyes.

They felt horrible. More than that, they didn't want to do this— to partake in this twisted trick Davis was planning on Maria just because he hated her enough to want her gone.

It should have made them sick to their core. But even when it did, it didn't seem like it was enough. They started this fire, this mess. They needed to pick up the pieces in their wake.

Maria led Keres to the living room, sitting them both down. The former took the latter's hands, and it broke Keres’ heart to see the genuine concern in their friend's eyes.

“You said you were being watched,” Maria began, unsure of where this conversation could go. “Do… Do you have any idea on who's watching?”

“I– I feel like I'm being watched, I don't… I don't know who's doing the watching.”

“Have you talked to the authorities about it?”

“What? Maria, you know they'd never believe that–!”

“But what if they did?” Maria let go of their hands. “Keres, murders around town are getting worse, what if… I don't know, they're after you too?”

It was hard to find the stuck-up bitch that Davis described Maria to be. “Why would they?” Keres pressed onwards, hoping their tone didn't show how tense they were.

Maria shrugged. “Who knows? I mean, do serial killers even need a motive?”

“Everyone has a motive for something, Maria.”

“I mean, I get that, but y'know…”

Keres straightened themselves up. They leaned back against the head of Maria's couch, their shoulders losing tension and making way for them to relax a bit. As much as they could right now.

“I mean– They probably have a motive for something.” Their eyes darted towards the ceiling. Maria's family was the kind to own different vacation homes across states, and the decor of her house seemed to show that.

“I don't get serial killers, let's be honest here.”

“Hehe…. Yeah…” I'm dating a serial killer, Keres thought with slight regret. But mentioning that while said serial killing boyfriend is planning to break into Maria's house wasn't the best conversation starter.

You can't really just drop a bomb like, my boyfriend is the serial killer the police are looking for and he's planning to kill you.

Keres grimaced through a smile while Maria headed to the kitchen to get something they weren't paying enough attention to.

Their phone buzzed, and there were no surprises to be had as to who sent the text.

Davis 🖤: Ready? You know the drill.

Keres' attention spiraled between Davis' text and the fact that Maria wasn't too far away.

They had to do this, right? Maria was always a stick in the mud, always trying to get up into everybody's business just to get some entertainment value! A no good piece of shit doesn't get mercy in this day and age, Davis would say.

But something bothered Keres. Something that's been conflicting them for quite some time, even until today— and it was the fact that Maria… seemed like nothing that Davis described her to be.

But that was the case with a lot of people, wasn't it? Keres' grip on their phone tightened. They act nice, at first, but the moment they discover something about you that they don't like, they…

Keres scoffed. Davis was right. What was the point behind mindless contemplation over the obvious? They didn't have much time. He was probably in the house by now, waiting for them to strike.

Little Red ❤️: Got it.

From the inner pockets of their leather jacket, Keres waltzed into Maria's kitchen with a drug that'll bide them time until Davis showed up.

All they needed to do was find a way to put the pill in Maria's mouth.

Luckily for Keres, Maria was preparing to drink some water while she was looking through the pantry. All they had to do was drop the pill into her glass, let it evaporate and do its job from there.

“I think the police are full of shit for not finding the bastard by now,” Maria said, emerging from the pantry after finding a pack of chips.

“You never know…” Keres leaned against the kitchen counter with the barest glimpse of hesitation. “There could be two killers.”

Maria shuddered. “Don't jinx it for us. I'd rather not think about it too long.”

You're in the room with one of them, Keres barely managed to keep from saying. Davis might've done the killing… but I played my part.

The phone calls to the victims right before Davis took the killing blow, were one of many things they'd done. An accomplice to a murderer who just so happened to be their boyfriend of several months.

Maria picked up the class and held it close to her lips while she and Keres talked, the latter watching her with bated breath and hoping that their heavy breathing wasn't as much of a dead giveaway as it was.

It was. “You okay, Keres?”

Keres let out an awkward cough. “Yeah, I'm– I'm good.”

Maria stared skeptically, but blessed be, she didn't question it. Instead she chose to shrug it off, presumably planning to bring it up a little later, and downed the glass of drugged up water in one go.

It shouldn't have affected Keres as much as it did when Maria began to collapse, falling unconscious and shattering the glass.

What startled them even more was when they felt a leather-gloved hand touch their shoulder.

“You did good, Red.”

“... Davis.” Keres breathed out relief. They probably shouldn't have felt as relaxed as they were.

They felt Davis press his lips to the back of their head, pulling them close by the waist. Whatever his other hand was holding, Keres deeply suspected that it was the shovel they bought at the department store for less than a couple dollars.

“... I feel bad.” Keres looked at Davis, praying and hoping that he'd understand what they're currently feeling. “Is that bad?”

Davis chuckled, tilting their chin and pressing a gentle kiss to their lips. Keres' mind seemed to go blank, melting under Davis' embrace and reciprocating his advances.

It shouldn't have been so easy to get them to his side. But it was. And Davis revelled in it.

“You'll get over it, Red…” Davis mumbled against their lips, giving them one last peck. “That's what narcissistic shitfucks like Maria do to us: they make us feel bad for them so they can hold something over us.”

“Narcissists are too busy thinking about themselves to realize they got played.”

【 Taglist / Credits 】

↳ In order of OC appearances/mentions

Camilla Marigold — Me 😈

Maria Alarik — @jasdiary

Keres — @hallowed-delights / @terrovaniadorm

Lancelot Novellion — Also Me 😈

Davidson Lucretius — Also (2) Me 😈

@starry-night-rose | @authoruio | @fumikomiyasaki | @sakuramidnight15 | @nem0-nee | @twsted-princess | @mystery-skulls-ghost | @lueerhythm

[fear-peur-love]

[noodles-and-tea]

Haha… yeah… that’d be crazy…

[zelkams-art]

in all timelines in all possibilities only you can show me this

[scribefindegil]

Everyone is so weird about people who cry easily. Fellas, is it evil and manipulative to *checks notes* have an involuntary stress response?

[courtjestersanonymous]

If a felon is president, every felon needs to be able to vote immediately from this moment forward

[itgetsbetterproject]

merry gay christmas yall

[bookwyrminspiration]

god I would be UNSTOPPABLE if I was capable of consistently initiating tasks. just you wait. you'll be waiting a while but just you wait

[mias-back-from-the-dead]

tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"

[wishfulsketching]

Girl dad Silco is a source of endless entertainment for me

Extra doodles:

Someone save Sevika, she is in hell

[nephritebabie]

pick your poison LMAOOO

[moonlitisles]

There is no prize to perfection… only an end to pursuit.

[inkskinned]

it's extremely critical that you see the photo of the perp walk for luigi mangione as being propaganda. i've seen so many people wave it off and instead fawn over his looks. and trust me, i know it ended up being kind of pathetic and weird - but please don't brush it off as a "modelling opportunity" for him. it's a fucking terrifying message the police are sending.

i want to make a few comparisons here, in case you're not from the US or familiar with why the perp walk thing is something to pay attention to. just to set the groundwork for why this is a purposeful, unusual, and cruel act by the nyc police - for why this is not a common occurrence and for why that matters.

the prosecution alleges the show of force is due to the charge of "terrorism." for comparison, in june 2015, tsarnaev was found guilty for the boston marathon bombing, which killed 3 people and injured hundreds. his actions are considered to be an act of domestic terrorism. i have spent the last hour looking through google for pictures of similar to mangione's perp walk - and so far, i have found zero. i also just do not personally remember a moment like that, despite living in boston at the time.

they allege that luigi is a stone-cold killer who carried out a longterm plan, making him particularly dangerous. again for comparison: in nyc, recently cory martin was found guilty of the killing of brandy odom. the murder was planned and premeditated to steal insurance money. and yet no staged perp walk. why didn't her life matter enough for a "show of force"?

but mangione gets paraded by a veritable army of police officers as if he is a rabid animal. for a single citizen who allegedly killed one other single citizen, the "largest perp walk ever" occurs.

so what is the "strong message" that the mayor and the police were trying to send here? the mayor speaks as if mangione is already convicted of terrorism. there is a very thin number of people who feel threatened by the CEO's death. none of us felt like mangione needs to be under massive armed guard.

the message is that you shouldn't resist. they are trying to "make an example" of him - that if you behave badly and kill a single rich person, you'll be treated as if you killed hundreds of people. you will be treated worse than a man who was found guilty of terrorism. you will be considered guilty without trial. the message is that the rich are a protected class, and you cannot touch them without massive punishment. they are trying to prevent a revolution by showing dominance and force against you.

the message is that the police are a puppet of the wealthy and that the law is not equally applied across class disparity. it is "some are more equal than others." it is "one life is more precious than another."

the show of force wasn't for luigi. it was for us. it was a warning. they are trying to remind us who is really in control.

[mearchy]

my favorite genre of fictional character is like "i am terrifying to almost everyone, i'm very good at killing, i can endure anything, i've become exceptionally good at playing into my reputation, and if you try to give me positive social interaction i will react with confusion and cower in a corner like an abused animal. and i may try to shoot you. but there is also a chance i may imprint on you like a feral dog receiving its first loving touch! good luck."

[noodles-and-tea]

Our hextech dream….