"We're all stumbling in the dark and that makes for some very interesting collisions."
― Marty Rubin

From Clementine's POV

I did this chapter with whoscountinganyway and we cojoined characters from both of our books, please check her out!

Her version of this, where her main character Artemis meets Bar, is Chapter 31 in Addict in Black!

extra chapter
c r o s s o v e r
Addict in Black
"beach"

Clementine knew the moment she suggested to her King that they should go to the beach with their friends that it would be a struggle from the get-go.

For one, Auggie and Law were the only ones of their friends that were available so they had two loud boys fighting in the backseat the entire way there and for another, Clementine noticed how protective Bartholomew had gotten ever since she had managed to get a concussion by simply slamming her head into the cement wall of his apartment after tripping over Culpa- which, in turn, meant that he's be reluctant to let her out of his sights.

And that, of course, was why she wasn't surprised at all when the frown pulled over her King's lips when her, Auggie, and Eli's boyfriend wanted to go get some frozen treats but he wanted to go get a good spot in the shade to place their towels.

"Baby," Bartholomew pulls Clementine to his body and although she loved the feeling of their bodies being pressed together, she also really wanted ice cream. "Why are you pouting at me?"

"Hmph."

"Tell me. Now."

"Because!" She stomped her foot, trying to be intimidating as she stared up at her Oly's beautiful dark eyes but he just made all the mean bones in her body- which she'd admit there wasn't a lot- just turn to goo. "I-I want ice cream but you're being a grump."

"How am I being a grump?" His dark eyes went into that affectionate kind of amusement that Clementine loved seeing but hated that he didn't take her very strict and very scary pout seriously. "I'm not doing anything."

"You're stopping me from getting ice cream," She whines, putting her hand into his hair and tugging lightly. "Please," She pecks hisforehead. "Please," She kisses his nose, and then finally his lips. "Don't worry about me, just go find a n-nice spot and then meet us at the, the ice cream place!"

She could tell he gave in by the sigh that left his lips before her King said, "Fine but if those fuckheads let you get hurt, I'm becoming a murderer."

"I'll be fine." Clementine places another kiss onto his more than inviting mouth, having to stand on her tippy toes to do so. "Thank you, Oly!"

"Yeah, yeah," Bartholomew pats her butt lightly, making her flush as he urges her forward. "Now go before I change my mind."

"Yes, sir, Grumpy, sir!" She giggles out, saluting her Oly before skipping over to the pair of squabbling best friends and shouting, "Love you!"

"Love you too, babygirl!"

And just like that, Clementine was able to go get ice cream, Auggie and Law hot on her trails. They talked to each other while she read, getting lost into a book about magic, fae, and Lords unable to keep wicked queens off of their thrones.

A couple minutes later, someone just happened to interrupt said world while she stood in the ice cream line- which was surprisingly long but that was to be expected, it was an incredibly warm day out and many people flocked down to this beach to get their clothes off and tans on.

"I'm too hot! Hot damn, call the po-lice and the fireman! Too hot-" A voice sings out, which is what catches Clementine's attention instead of looking down at her phone, reading.

She knows it's a bad habit to lose herself into a different reality out in public- especially after what happened to her, especially after what Federico did, but the girl couldn't help it.

She loved reading.

Nothing- and she knew nothing would ever stop her from getting lost from the world with her nose stuck between pages.

Besides, she was with Law and Auggie- even if he was off to the side cooing at some rather rude-looking seagulls while Eli's boy stopped him from getting attacked by said creatures. But Clementine figured that it was rude to judge birds by their feathers and her King's best friend just really loved animals so she didn't say anything.

Someone in front of her scoffs and it's then she notices the male standing in line before her, covered in tattoos like her Oly, tall like him, with scars like him, looking murderously annoyed at the singing hazel-eyed boy- who oddly reminded her of Auggie.

Finally, as if he had to remember something first, the large, tattooed stranger sighs, giving in. "Yeah, so hot that your brain cells all died," He says- his voice, however, is what sets him apart from Bartholomew the most aesthetic-wise. He's obviously american, while her Oly has a slight Hispanic accent whenever he gets pissed off. "If you don't fuck off, and fuck off now, I'm going to toss your ass so far into the water you drown before you can swim back to shore."

Seeing Clementine's short by comparison figure out of the corner of his eye, and probably assuming that it's someone else, the male winces.

"Fuck, I wasn't being mean, my little goddess- who are you?"

"I- um, I'm not a, a goddess!" Clementine blurts out, nose going red as her minty eyes look right into the large human's dark green eyes. Even though they weren't the same color as her King's, they have her a little bit of ease. She could tell he was a good person and he was giving her that look- that look her Oly always got while comforting someone else or when he was scared he frightened someone. "Well, I don't think t-that I'm a goddess but then again I'm wrong a lot but not like wrong-wrong, is there a way to be wronger than wrong i-if it's still wrong? Probably, but weird things happen all the time, though you look like someone who knows that. Intelligent, nice, I mean- Oh, Oly has that tattoo! He looks like you, too!"

Clementine points to the bow and arrow going through the moon tattoo over the male's heart, making his green eyes follow where she's pointing and then snap back to her own eyes.

"Okay..." The guy says slowly, taking a smaller step back as if he scared himself scaring her- but he didn't scare her.

Ha, Clementine thought to herself, I knew I was scary.

But then she felt bad and began to pout, nervously threading her thumbs together.

"I'm sorry," She blurts. "I didn't mean to scare y-you, I know I can, uh, that I can talk a lot sometimes."

"You think," The guy began, eyes widened and he crossed his impressively built arms over his chest. "That you scared me?"

"Yes!" Clementine nodded, bouncing in her spot. "I'm very i-intimidating."

He snorts, "Who told you that?"

"A couple of the guys that I beat up," She beams at him. "But they mostly call me meany-pants names."

"You..." He eyes her up and down- with fear, in her opinion. She was wearing a beautiful lilac skirt and fitted white tank top that showed off her scars, and also a couple hickies that littered her skin here and there. "Beat someone up?"

"I didn't like it," She shrugged. "But they drugged m-my boyfriend, well he wasn't my boyfriend at the time but I liked him and he was mine so y-yep! Boyfriend! And that- that jerk put something in his drink! So I knocked his ego out of h-him after Fen-"

"Fen?"

"Bestie."

"Got it," The guy nods and motions to her. "Continue."

"Right, okay, so Fen has Auggie and Law. Auggie is the one over that- Hey! That's your friend making friends with my friend, cool!- is trying to speak to the birds, he's dating Fen. The one arguing with him is Law, he's dating m-my other best friend Eli."

"And what did they do to the douchebag who drugged your boyfriend?" He asked, seeming to be invested into the story and Clementine genuinely grinned up at him, happy that he wasn't annoyed at her getting distracted, or her stuttering.

He definitely has to deal with someone like me on a daily basis, she decided.

"They got a picture of h-him and sent it to, to Fen's dad who's a cop, then I was really mad and he wanted a fight so I gave him a fight and then I went to find my Oly-"

"Oly?" He said. "That the boyfriend?"

"Y-yes!" Clementine nods excitedly, a small blush coming onto her cheeks just by the thought of his dark eyes and the way he held her. "His name is Bartholomew but he really doesn't like t-that and most people call him Red, but I call him Oly or grumpy, because, y'know, he can be really grumpy, but I love him anyway."

"Right, so this Red," The guy motioned to himself. "He has tat's like me?"

"Mhm, a whole bunch! I like all of them, he has a dragon one of his back a-and the staff of aesculapius over his self-war scars-"

"Self-war scars?" He frowns. "The fuck is that?"

Hoping she's not crossing into dangerous territory, Clementine timidly points to the boy's own wrists where self-harm scars were glaringly obvious and it made the large male freeze, "War scars. He went t-through... so much but he came out alive. He won the battle and, and the war even when he didn't want to but that's okay! He has always been a good person and that just made him all the kinder probably like it did to you and n-now I'm babbling stuff I shouldn't be and- and... My name's Clementine Astoria."

The guy stares down at her for a silent moment, shakes his head, and then extends his tattooed hand towards hers, "Micah Rex."

"Rex?" She shakes his hand, squealing. "Like Tyrannosaurus-Rex? T-rex? The dinosaur? Can I call you Dino, please!"

"Uh, shit, okay, fuck-" Micah looked like he was unable to keep up with her. "Sure, call me whatever the hell you want."

"Oh," Clementine pouted. "But it's not okay if I don't have your consent."

"Consent for a nickname?"

"Uh-huh!" She nods. "It's a must."

"Alright, I respect that." Micah nodded. "You can call me Dino, just one question for you."

"Sure, Dino!" Clementine giggles. "Shoot."

"Did your parents really name you after a goddamn orange?"

"Oh," She paused, her smile turning into something more solemn as she shrugged. "Kind of. My n-name is, uh, it's actually Ivory-Onyx but everyone just calls me Clementine."

As she met eyes with the green-eyed boy, she could tell that he knew a thing or two about names and the power that they hold and the pain they could bring.

"Oh," Micah looks a little side-ways at her, almost tilting his head but not. "Can I call you Ivory, then?"

She paused, contemplating.

On one hand, she didn't like her name at all because Federico always screamed it at her while cutting into her skin and bullies used it to mock her but on the other hand this Micah person seemed kind and trustworthy, and she probably wouldn't be seeing him again.

"Yeah," She says. "You can call me Ivory,"

She said that in full confidence that if she asked him to, the large man wouldn't call her that anymore.

"Okay," He nods, turning to look over his shoulder when the waiter called that for him to order.

Both Micah and Clementine got their ice cream, the people that worked there generously giving them both disposable coolers to keep their ice creams cold in until they reached their respective partners.

As they watched their friends goof around together- her learning that the black-haired boy with an energetic attitude just like Auggie's name was Jemermiah Sawyer, Micah just called him Sawyer- they continued their conversation.

"So, Ivory," Micah said and for once, she didn't flinch from someone other than her King saying that. "Why aren't you scared of me?"

Clementine blinked up at the tall human, confused, "Why should I be scared of you?" Her eyes widened in fake horror. "Are you a serial killer and everyone but m-me knows it?"

"The hell are you going on about?" Micah snarls out. "No, though I have thought about killing a lot of people before."

"You should like Oly," Clementine smiled. "He has a list of people he'll wave to in hell."

"You think he's going to hell?"

Clementine smiled, "I'm going with him, he said I could steal his throne!"

"You're gonna be Queen of Hell?" Micah released a sharp laugh like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "In that skirt?"

"Of course not, silly!" She shakes her head, beginning to walk over to their friends. "It would burn, I'd h-have to find a different fabric. Do you think I could pull off a fire-fighter's suit?"

"No."

She nods, "Good judgement. I like you. Platonically- I mean, not that someone couldn't like-like you but I-"

"Chill, girl." Micah scoffs. "I knew what you meant. You seem... nice, too."

"Aw, yay!" Clementine laughs cheerfully, clapping. "I made a friend."

"I'm not a very good friend," He grumbles.

She gasps, "Don't talk about my friend like that, you rotten mango!"

"Mango?" Suddenly his green eyes looked more alive and she couldn't understand why. "Did you just call me a mango as an insult?"

"Pfft, no. Mangoes are a-awesome." Clementine sassily crosses her arms. "I called you a rotten mango. C-completely different."

"Ha," Jem- the one that said he was too hot- suddenly exclaimed, pointing right at Micah and Auggie followed his movement without pause, making Law face-plant into his own palm. "Even without Ugly around you still can't escape mangos."

"Shut your fucking mouth," Micah grouchily snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Dino!" Clementine exclaimed. "You didn't tell m-me that you were a sour-puss."

"You didn't tell me that you were full of attitude despite being so short."

"Don't say the word attitude!" Clementine suddenly whispers. "He'll hear."

"What?" Micah's scowl deepens with confusion.

She just smiles in response before skipping ahead of them, before abruptly turning around and announcing, "I h-have no idea where I'm going and I want Oly. Help?"

She sees Micah sigh before he nods, agreeing to help her find her King and then he turns to Jem and wacks him on the back of his head, "Get a move on, Sawyer. We're going to go find the little goddess and Ivory's boyfriend, too."

"Ivory- ouch!" Jem yelled when Micah punched him roughly in his arm, stumbling from where they all had begun to walk towards the other half of the beach- where her Oly and his 'little goddess' whoever that might is would be more likely to be found. "What was that for?"

"Don't call her that." Micah glared at his friend.

Aw, Clementine thought, he's like the more violent version of Obsidian. A protective older brother.

"My n-name's Clementine," She gave Jem a small smile but didn't offer to shake his hand- still not liking to touch people that she didn't have to or didn't know. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too, Ugly."

Because they were arguing and a couple steps in front of the rest of them, Auggie and Law didn't hear that insult- thank the lords, otherwise she knew that they would've switched from friendly guys to 'I'm going to beat your face in' without hesitation.

She blinked once, twice, and then giggled, "You're not shy about your opinions."

Clementine wasn't even mad. She knew she wasn't ugly, her Oly made sure that she felt gorgeous inside and out.

As soon as what the boy said seemed to register, Micah's eyes narrowed vehemently at his friend while Jem himself got all red and sputtery as he rushed to explain, "I'm so sorry, short girl that I do not know." She wasn't even that short... "I call my best friend that all the time because it reminds her that she's beautiful and I'm bad at explaining things but basically I didn't actually call you ugly but, uh, really pretty?"

Not fully understanding but deciding to roll with it, Clementine smiled over at him and said, "Thank you t-then, for the compliment."

"You're not mad?" Jem says. "Oh thank jesus. If I managed to insult someone AJ would have my ass."

She refrained from telling them both that Auggie had an AJ and that that AJ was her Fen who was actually Aspen-Faye and her bestie.

Simply because she couldn't explain that all simply.

"AJ?" Clementine looks between Micah and Jem and then back to Micah, seeing how a small grin tugged on the corner where a scowl had previously been. "Is that your goddess, Dino?"

Seeming to be surprised at the guess, he only nodded.

"Is her n-name Artemis or Athena?"

"Artemis but how's you know it was one of those?" Micah questioned, voice lighter from it's dark growl while talking about his, presumably, girlfriend.

Clementine shrugged, grinning up at him, "I-I figured it would be greek and those are the two most common goddesses although t-there are plenty of other A names from greek mythology but I didn't think she'd be named after a c-child killing witch like Aracne. So by default that kind of left either Artemis or Athena."

"You're smarter than you seem," Micah said. "But that's probably because you ramble so much."

"Should I be insulted?"

"If you have to ask, then the person didn't insult you hard enough, you didn't understand the insult, or they weren't insulting you."

"The last one, then?"

The green-eyed boy smirked, "I never said that."

"Rude!" Clementine gasped out and Micah only shrugged in response.

Seeing her Oly not even ten feet away talking to a girl only a couple inches taller than herself with gray, steady eyes and hair just like hers but blonde instead of black.

As Micah struts over to the girl, or who he would call little goddess, Clementine excitedly skips over to Bar, stands on her toes to peck his lips and then says, "Oly! I made a friend, he's a grump like you!"

"Oh?" Bar raises an eyebrow. "And who's he?"

She points to the other tall, tattooed male flirting with the other girl, "Him."

"The demon?"

"He's a demon?" Clementine makes an 'awe' sound. "He calls her little goddess, that's cute."

Bar's dark eyes flashed down at her in that moment, laughter bright in those dark-brown hues, "Yeah, babygirl. Cute."

"I feel l-like you're teasing me," She bopped his nose. "And I don't appreciate it."

"You have no idea, baby," Bar shakes his head. "The things I could be saying right now."

This makes Clementine pout but she doesn't get to retaliate before the girl's gray eyes are on hers and she takes a step back into Micah's chest.

Oh.

That's why he was so... gentle?

Nope. Not the right word.

Caring. Eh.

Protective. There we go.

Micah was protective and timid and not used to scary people like me, Clementine decided.

"That's why he's like you!" Clementine accidentally blurted out, making the very pretty girl look at her before she- seeming to have gone through alot and is a little shy, too- starts to question the dinosaur about him making 'friends'.

Apparently, it wasn't common.

Which Clementine didn't get. Micah seemed like a lovely friend to have.

"Like me?" Her Oly questions. "Why do people keep saying that?"

"Who said it?" She asks.

"The Shortie."

"AJ?"

"Mhm."

"Probably because Dino is a nice bean, just like y-you," Clementine pecks him on the lips again. "But you're both just a little tall."

"Hm, don't think that's it." He shook his head.

"Well, you h-had to ask, so you wouldn't know."

"Don't sass me."

"Why not?"

He only smirks at her, his hand traveling up her back and leaving a trail of goosebumps and heat to cover her skin- and then the King bites her! Clementine liked it but it left her bright red, which she didn't like.

"How'd you meet the demon, sweetness?" Her Oly asks, hands squeezing her hips as his nose rubs against the skin on her neck.

Clementine giggles as she answers, "At the ice cream place. He t-thought I was AJ for a couple seconds."

"Hm, okay." He nods. "I ran into her by accident and then we talked, she's letting us sit with them all at this spot. It has a good view, it's close to the water, and it's in the shade."

"That's nice," Clementine nuded her Oly slightly. "Look at you Oly, being al c-civil."

"I've always been civil," He said. "But to you, I'm also a caveman, apparently."

"You are a caveman!"

"Eh," Her King shrugged. "I guess by now we have tried enough positions for that."

"Oly!" Clementine squeaked out.

"Yes, baby?"

"Don't be so crude!"

"Why not?" He smirked. "I know you like it."

"Because other people m-might be bothered."

"Do I look like I care?"

"Don't be a meanie, grumpy."

"Make me, babygirl."

Clementine, oh-so-maturely, sticks her tongue out her King and then notices that AJ looks flustered but almost done with her conversation so she points to the other girl and says, "I'm going to go make friends with a goddess, will y-you be okay with Auggie and the rest of them?"

Barhtolomew nods, kisses her, and then goes to talk with the dinosaur and their friends.

Walking up to Artemis, Clementine couldn't help but to admire the way she was gorgeous without even trying and noticed that the girl had scars, too.

For some reason, that made her relax.

Artemis had scars.

She was strong, too.

And her eyes looked so kind.

"You're the, you're the g-goddess?" Clementine said, blushing slightly at her stutter but seeing in the girl's gray eyes that she wasn't judging, seeming to be more relieved than anything.

"That's what I'm told," The girl chirped but for whatever reason she seemed tense- Clementine wanted to ask if she was okay but it was rude to interrupt a conversation with another conversation, especially when two people just met. "You're Bar's girl?"

"That I am," She couldn't help but to smile, being proud to have her Oly and to be Oly's in return. "I-I was told to, to call you AJ?"

Clementine wondered if, just like her, something tragic was linked to the girl's name and if that's why she went by a nickname. With Artemis' scars, she wouldn't be surprised.

Clementine just hoped that whatever had happened to the girl that she was healed or would heal. AJ does seem like the type to know what the word recovery meant.

"Well that's my name," Artemis said and Clementine felt her smile widen. This girl was cute. "But you already knew that. Is- um, do you mangoes?"

Aw man, she thought, I'm making Dino's girl nervous.

"Do I, um," Clementine wasn't sure what to say but she was determined to carry on the conversation- AJ seemed so nice. "Do I do m-mangoes?"

Is that a code word for a sex position or something? Or is Artemis' line of thought a little more... innocent?

"No, I meant do you like mangoes because I love them! See?" She twirls her popsicle in a circle and that's when Clementine remembered she had yet to give her Oly his ice cream. "I made Micah consume enough that he gave up hating them long enough to love me."

Clementine didn't doubt that the dino loved his girl but, for some reason, she doubted that he actually liked mangoes.

Even though mangoes are awesome.

And, as if to prove her thoughts right, the Dino came up behind Artemis and wrapped his arm around his shoulders while he spoke, "Nah, I still hate them."

Knew it.

AJ looks between her dino, then Clementine's Oly and then Clementine herself before saying, "He's lying."

Which prompted Micah to start a fight- which Clementine knew was really just them flirting back and forth- and then the groups decided it would be a good idea to play games.

It was very entertaining seeing how the two groups mixed and everyone at one point or the other won so Clementine thought it was a pretty good day.

When everyone's energy depleted they stayed in the water, her King's arm around her waist as they floated next to each other, and everyone asked a series of questions about life, questioning the future and what it would bring.

Clementine knew that, even as she said goodbye to the dino, Artemis, and Jem that it wouldn't be the last time those two groups ever saw one another.

After all, the world is smaller than they knew.