more than a friend

by stormyemeralds

Summary:

Jolyne hates being stuck in prison. It's cold, boring, and it gives her no opportunity to do anything except count minutes. Or so she thought.
What seemed like it was about to be a boring, long sentence quickly turns into something far more interesting-- Because why is this stupid, weird, and concerningly pretty girl staring at her so much?
She can't help but want to get to the bottom of this and get to know 'Anasui' better.
...

And if feelings show up along the way, well, fuck.

Notes:

Hello! Long time no see, right? It's been a while... Has it been a year yet since I last posted?

No matter. I've gotten into JJBA over the past year and have started working on this fic; And what better time to post it than pride month? Very excited to bring about my favourites in a fun form [You will rip Fem Anasui out of my cold, bare hands].

Hope you all enjoy! And for my Ninjago readers, don't worry! I still love it and plan to post-- But for now, sit down and enjoy the show.

Chapter 1

Jolyne Cujoh is ‘normal’.

Of course, this only applies if you consider ‘normal’ to mean ‘the daughter of a very rich marine biologist who landed herself in prison entirely by accident.’ By only those somewhat specific circumstances could she be considered normal, and even then it is a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, Jolyne likes to think of herself as nothing too out of the ordinary; At least by the standards of the average girl in prison.

So when she found herself in prison, surrounded by so many… Admittedly pretty girls, all who wanted to know more about her, talk to her, or occasionally scam her, she felt just a little bit overwhelmed. Sincerely, why was she here? Her crime hadn’t been that bad–

Well, sure, killing someone was bad , but it was all the fault of her ex-boyfriend, not hers.

She still couldn’t believe that Romeo would do her like this– She took the blame as much as she could, and she thought he’d actually follow through and get her out, but nope. Here she was. In the women’s prison for the foreseeable future. She knew for a fact that her mum was worried about her; And she couldn’t blame her. Sure, Jolyne had always been a bit of an unruly child, or as her mother liked to say, a bit too much like her fuckin’ dad (ugh), but that didn’t mean she deserved to be in prison. She felt like she was a bit too– Well, not soft, but rather… A bit too friendly to be here?

That sounded better.

I guess it can’t be helped, she thought as she finished all of the mandatory checks, wandering aimlessly around. If she had to be stuck here for so long, she might as well make it a worthwhile experience. Hermes was already proving to be fairly fun company, although the same couldn’t be said about her roommate, Gwess… Win some, lose some. Whatever.

No matter. Jolyne could sit out of her cell and out of Gwess’ reach the entire day if needed, even if she didn’t want to pester Hermes constantly– Although something told her the other didn’t mind. She was fairly sure they were good friends, even though ‘good friends’ was quite funny to say about someone you met in prison of all places. And if the next fuck knows how many years would have to be spend with only one friend, well, she’d figure it out.

———

“Ey, Jolyne?”

“Hm?”

“That one’s kinda staring you down.”

Hermes was pointing in a direction very… unsubtly, if Jolyne could say so herself. She couldn’t deny that she admired the girl’s courage even in such a situation, even if for the most part she tried to lay low far more than she actually wanted to. If the person on the other end just so happened to have an issue with the two of them, well, Jolyne would definitely put up a fight, but she’d also absolutely blame Hermes a little for getting them into the mess.

Thankfully, whoever Hermes was pointing at was… well, far less threatening looking than Jolyne expected.

The girl was shorter than her by a good few inches, and she looked as unthreatening as a deer in the spotlights. Her big, pink eyes did creep Jolyne out, that much she could admit. It nearly seemed like she could absorb her soul through those pink eyes… Surely not, right?

Whatever. Creepy fuckin’ woman.

“So, what do you want me to do about it? I’m not gonna go there and talk to her or something, she looks weird.” Jolyne complained, smiling at hearing Hermes’ laugh– Even if the smile was short-lived. The girl was still staring her down… What the hell?

Hermes wrapped an arm around Jolyne’s shoulders, whispering quietly in her ear– Ensuring the ‘creepy girl’ wouldn’t hear them. “Jolyne. Jolyne, Jolyne… You’re so dumb sometimes. I don’t think she’s looking at you with an intent to steal from you or beat you up or something else.”

“Then?”

“I think little miss pink hair over there might want to talk to you.”

Jolyne looks at the girl again, and, genuinely, she can’t get where Hermes is coming from. The more she looked at the girl, the more creeped out she got– She hated saying that, really, especially about someone pretty , but there was just something so, so unsettling.

…But, well, she would be lying if she said she hadn't gotten down and dirty with weirder before.

Fine. Fine! I’ll talk to her! Maybe that’ll get her to stop staring me down so much.

Jolyne pushes Hermes’ hand off of herself, looking at the other and rolling her eyes– Not maliciously in any manner, but more in a ‘you owe me for this’ way. She quickly starts heading towards the far shorter girl, ignoring all the whispers that start building up around her.

“Freak.”

“Is Jolyne really going to go talk to Anasui?”

“Is she not aware of what she did?”

“Oh, she’s so fucked.”

…

Okay, maybe she was making a big mistake, but whatever. The faster this was over with, the better.

She quickly found herself in front of the pink-haired woman, whose eyes were still oddly fixated on her. From seeing her up close–

Anasui , if she understood her name correctly, looked– Still creepy. She had big, doe-like eyes that seemed to stare right at her with a mix of something Jolyne couldn’t quite put her finger on. It didn’t seem like curiosity nor like how other girls looked at her when they wanted to fuck her– Or get fucked by her. “ A very valid sentiment if she has it, I’m a fuckin’ catch, but it doesn’t seem like it...” She thought, still trying her best to read the other.

Her stare was confusing in each and every way. If she wanted a fight, it sure didn’t seem like she could stand the beating. She seemed far smaller and weaker, although Jolyne knew well enough that appearances could be very, very deceiving. Hell, she was one of those ‘appearances are deceiving’ people when it came to fighting, or at least was before she landed in prison.

Anyway, it didn’t matter. The faster she figured out this girl’s intent the better, and she really didn’t want to be spending too much time on this if she could. But as soon as she went to open her mouth–

The creepy girl got off of the table she was sitting on and left quickly, not a single word or look thrown at Jolyne as she unceremoniously left the room. She was gone as quickly as she seemed to show up in Jolyne’s vision– Which didn’t do anything but make the green-haired girl more confused.

….Huh??

Wait a second. A moment ago she was here, looking at her with the biggest, pinkest eyes she’d ever seen, and now she was gone from her vision as if she’d never even been here before. Not a word spoken by either directly towards each other, not a single actual action directed at each other. Was Jolyne going insane? Was this some sort of stupid prank someone was pulling on her that she just didn’t understand? Or maybe a dare? What the actual fuck?

Without wasting a single moment more Jolyne turned around, looking at the room surrounding her.

“What the fuck was that? Anyone care enough to tell me, or am I supposed to just fuckin’ sit around and act like none of this just happened? Seriously?” Jolyne yelled, but no one seemed to be saying anything. Hermes looked as confused as she did and, while Jolyne could tell that she was somewhat meaning to start throwing hands as well, she stopped herself early– Probably realised it wasn’t worth the trouble.

No one seemed to be fessing up, although most of the women in the room were now talking amongst each other. She wanted to scream– Why couldn’t anyone ever tell her what’s going on? This was getting fucking exasperating, seriously.

A familiar hand landed on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Gwess, who seemed to be looking at her with one of her looks that at least reassured her there would be no weirdness or mischief today.

“Don’t stress it too much. That’s just Anasui. She’s just… a freak. Weird. Even by my standards!”

She pondered on it for a second; Gwess finding someone weird was rare. She found people ugly, not cute, or boring, but never… Weird. Weird was too far, even for her– Or at least so it seemed. So hearing this out of her mouth was intriguing. But of course, like it always went with her roommate, she offered no more extra information, leaving to do whatever she was going to do quickly enough.

Jolyne was stumped. She sat herself down on one of the benches in the room, feeling Hermes sit down right next to her. The girl couldn’t help plopping her head down on her best friends’ shoulder, looking ahead emptily as her brain tried to make sense of everything.

“Don’t worry about it too much, Jolyne. Surely this was just some criminal who misses a good chunk of her important brain parts.” Hermes said encouragingly, plopping her head right on top of the other. But she was somewhat wrong– Jolyne wasn’t worried about this, not really, and not anymore. Now, she only felt intrigued. And that was way worse. Because, unfortunately, when Jolyne wanted something, she got it.

And right now, all that she wanted was to find out more about Anasui.

Chapter 2

Summary:

If you are wondering if Atroe and F.F. are different people- Yes, they are!
If you are wondering if Atroe and F.F. will both appear-- Probably not.

Enjoy! I am very excited to write some F.F./Anasui shenanigans.

“Thirty years, on two accounts of manslaughter.”

Anasui never fought too hard against her sentence. Sure, much like anyone else, she also would have rather she didn’t get sentenced at all. Who would enjoy spending their time around low-lives who enjoyed their time in prison to an insufferable degree? But she was also far too well-aware that she deserved to be placed in prison; So she could not say the sentence she’d gotten was unwarranted.

Quickly enough, Anasui gained a not-so-favourite reputation. The freak , the creepy one, the one that got in here for murdering her ex-girlfriend in nothing but cold blood, and the ex’s hookup, too. It didn’t bother her particularly, truth be told; Anasui didn’t care about any of these people at the end of the day, and them being terrified of her worked out better in her favour.

Sure, there were certain people that seemed ‘okay’- Hermes didn’t seem particularly annoying, and her personality did intrigue her in the slightest. She also didn’t outright dislike “F.F” (as she called herself, because god forbid she said her real name, or something). But she couldn’t call either of them friends, or even acquaintances. They were just other women in the same prison, finishing out sentences they more or less deserved.

For the longest time, Anasui stuck to herself. Sure, F.F. would occasionally talk to her in their cell, or even sit at the same table when breakfast, lunch or dinner was served, but that was about the extent of human interaction she got within this prison. It was for the better, probably– It allowed her to actually think long and hard about her actions, which in turn made her feel even guilty about what she’d done.

Sure, she still was terribly angry with her ex-girlfriend,, but now she did wish she would have just broken up with her and moved on.

The crime wasn’t something she pondered on for long, not anymore. When her head cleared after she woke up to the pile of blood and human remains in front of her, she did sit back and think about what she’d done. But that had long since passed now, and it wasn’t as if her years in here would disappear if she felt a little bit bad; Florida would never do such a thing for its citizens, much less so for cold-blooded murderers.

So, she simply let life take its course, going from day to day without thinking too hard about what might happen next, counting down the days until she would be free again. It was simple enough, and there wasn’t anything that could really change how the next twenty-six years of her life would go.

Of course, she didn’t see Jolyne Cujoh as a variable in her equations.

Jolyne wasn’t her average inmate. Jolyne was headstrong, smart, determined, and most of all, kind hearted. Jolyne was different from everyone else here– It was clear she didn’t fit in with the others but, instead of cowering and accepting her fate, she fought to prove she was worth far more than the pigs that threw her in here thought of her.

Needless to say, Anasui was instantly smitten.

She didn’t know she was capable of falling in love at first sight until Jolyne Cujoh walked into the room. She didn’t think she was capable of loving again until she laid her eyes on Jolyne Cujoh . And soon enough all that her brain could think was Jolyne, Jolyne, Jolyne, like an inescapable mantra throwing her even deeper into the green-haired girl’s spell.

It was bad. She hadn’t thought she could be so in love with someone. Hell, it hadn’t even been this bad with her ex-girlfriend, and that said something given that they had been together for two years at the time she murdered her. But now? It was so different, it was making her head spin, and she couldn’t think or hear anything but Jolyne, Jolyne, Joly-

“Sui, you’re staring.”

F.F.’s voice made her somewhat aware of the fact that she was, indeed, staring. She couldn’t help it, though– Jolyne was just so gorgeous, it made her want to do just about anything to be in her good graces. The way she looked so pretty when she laughed, the gorgeous smile on her face when she knew she was right, the way her eyes lit up when she spoke to Hermes…

Goodness. How couldn’t she fall in love? How could she be expected not to stare? How could she be expected to be capable of doing anything but look at Jolyne, waiting for the moment Jolyne would notice her too?

She didn’t bother to turn her head towards F.F., simply muttering a ‘hmph’ as she continued to look at Jolyne, trying to think in her mind how to approach her. Surely a simple ‘hello’ could suffice, but this was Jolyne , she deserved so much more than just a ‘hello’. Perhaps she could tell her how perfect she was. Or outright tell her that she’s in love, although she wasn’t entirely sure that would go over well.

But before she could figure out what to say to her, Jolyne was right in front of her, staring at her with those gorgeous eyes. And before Anasui could really get her brain to function properly she had already gotten up and walked out of the lunch hall, not saying a single word to the other.

Fuck. Okay, maybe she fucked this up really bad. First impression and she fucked it. Sure, whatever. It’d be fine, surely Jolyne wouldn’t think too much of it.

–

“She yelled so loudly at everyone in the room once you left, dude!”

Of course, F.F. was here to shatter her hopes.

Anasui wasn’t even looking at her, her eyes fixated on nothing– But she would faster be damned than look at F.F. when the other was telling her off. Okay, fine, I fucked up. No need to rub it in.

“Like she was fuming! She thought it was some sort of prank, or something. You did a fuckin’ number on her, girl!” F.F.’s laughter was booming throughout the cell they shared, and Anasui genuinely thought the others might hear, or something– Not that she ever really felt she had to worry about that. Despite not having proper walls, everyone within this prison seemed deaf most of the time.

Anasui was annoyed with herself– Admittedly, F.F. telling her this, in this somewhat joking, somewhat mocking tone, was helpful. She needed to get her head in the game if she wanted Jolyne to actually notice her, to fall in love with her, hell, to eventually marry her–

“Hello? Earth to Sui? You in there? Ah, don’t fuckin’ start thinking about Jolyne now, at least go to the bathroom if you’re gonna do that…” F.F. said, and Anasui looked at her, rolling her eyes. As if she would do something such as this. It was indecent; Not that she was some prude, of course not, but because she wanted to save every single moment of her life where she knew she’d feel ecstatic to share with Jolyne.

The idea of Jolyne and her, laying in the same bed, making out until morning, her lips on the others for just a short while before they’d start heading lower… Oh, she would absolutely get Jolyne like that eventually.

“Be normal for once. I won’t entertain your stupid quips.” Anasui finally replied, laying down in her bunk and looking at F.F. who was currently sitting in the chair at their desk. “And when in our year of sharing a cell have I been indecent? If anything, it’s you that does that more often.”

“Hey! If a girl has needs, they have needs, okay? I won’t just ignore it~.” F.F. said with a smug smile, before turning all serious. “So, you're dead serious about this Jolyne thing, huh?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You just didn’t seem like the kind to fall in love. Or like anyone, really. This is completely out of character for you.”

Anasui looked at her, then looked up. She could somewhat understand where F.F. was coming from.

Thirty years, on two accounts of manslaughter.

Manslaughter of a woman I claimed to love.

Sure, that had been an entirely different situation. Her ex-girlfriend had cheated on her after she proclaimed her love, made her feel as if her love hadn’t mattered in the slightest. That woman had thrown it all away, proving with just one simple act that she had no commitment, no care for them. For the longest time, Anasui would’ve agreed with F.F.

But Jolyne…

“Jolyne’s special. I want to protect her. I would kill for her, F.F.”

“Woah, hey! That’s a bit far, buddy! Do you wanna stay in jail any more than you need to?”

“For her, I will.”

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, you’re serious about this.” F.F. said, rubbing her temples. “Okay, let’s see. She thinks you’re a freak, which is fair. She currently thinks you’re also really weird, which is also fair. By now with the little stupid stunt you pulled she definitely has had other inmates tell her all about you, and I doubt anything they said was favourable.”

“I don’t care how others see me.”

“You don’t , but she will. She will avoid you permanently.” F.F. said, and for just one moment, Anasui had a look of genuine distress on her face. Just for a moment, before she composed herself, remembering that she told herself she’d make that woman her wife and also that she was very serious about it.

Still… Maybe F.F. had a point.

“Okay, so what can I do to rectify it?” Anasui asked, looking at F.F. again, and instantly regretting it; The smirk on the others’ face told her so quickly that she had made a mistake.

“Oh trust me baby, leave it all to me.” The green-haired girl replied, hopping into Anasui’s bed and pinching her cheek– something that would otherwise get her killed if she hadn’t been very lucky tonight to have Anasui actually pay some mind to what she was saying.

“We’re going to turn you into perfect girlfriend material.”