Hoi! I just revisited some Panic! albums, and I got a certain song with an obnoxiously long name stuck in my head. Upon reading the lyrics, I found myself picturing somewhat of a scenario that I then realized I could apply to R&J. (The song is up top, if anyone actually listens to what I put in the media.)

I've recently noticed that I don't really describe what everyone is wearing in previous chapters, so I'm trying to do more of that. I love picturing outfits, I'm afraid, so you may get more of that than you'd like.

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~ Juliet's PoV ~

I looked over myself in the mirror for the last time, confirming that I would turn some heads at the party tonight.

I was wearing a black velvet top that was open in the back and tied around the back of my neck, tucked neatly at the bottom into a silky white skirt that stopped just under my knees. It flared out in a beautiful circle when I spun around.

To top off the fancy outfit, I had my wavy black hair pulled up into a bun on the back of my head. I'd let Ophelia go nuts on my face with her extensive makeup kit, and she'd painted my eyes with perfect wings and subtle eyeshadow, as well as giving my lips a satisfying wine red tone.

"Juliet! You ready to go?" I heard my date call anxiously through the bathroom door.

"Relax, honey. You know they won't leave without us," I responded as I stepped into the hotel bedroom.

Romeo sat on the bed, nervously bouncing his leg. I smirked slightly at the idea of being able to show him off tonight. He was in the standard three-piece suit, but somehow I didn't think any other guy at the party would be able to pull a near identical (because I was certain they'd all be wearing some variation of that exact suit) outfit off quite so well. I'd have to keep an eye on him, I decided.

"We don't have to stay the whole time, you know," I said, kneeling down in front of him and gently stroking his cheek.

"You realize that I wouldn't tell you if I didn't want to stay, right?" he replied, giving me a sheepish smile.

"I know. I just thought I'd remind you."

Romeo chuckled, standing up to spin me around. We both laughed as I let go of his hand to whirl around the room so the skirt would flare up. I fucking loved the skirt.

Our little moment was interrupted by the one and only Cutest Couple Ever at the door. I quickly slipped on my black flats as Horatio greeted Romeo. Deeming the other two occupied, Hamlet approached me.

"M'lady," he said, bowing dramatically and holding out his hand. I giggled, placing my hand on his. He pressed a kiss to it and winked at me, turning my giggle into a full laugh.

"Hey!" Romeo exclaimed, putting a hand to his heart in mock offense. "If you get to steal my date, I get to steal yours!"

He wrapped his arm around the waist of an amused Horatio. Horatio, apparently in the mood to mess with his boyfriend, slung an arm around Romeo's shoulders and leaned his head onto the taller boy's shoulder.

"Here," Hamlet negotiated. "I'll trade you."

He swept me up into his arms, holding me bridal style. I knew he wouldn't drop me, but I still squeaked as he plopped me into Romeo's embrace.

~ Time skip past the car and all that jazz. I got stuck after that paragraph for like half an hour, and finally just decided to leave the scene there. ~

"Ah, if it isn't Verona's very own Romeo and Juliet! Here to get over some exes, are we?" Mercutio called before my foot even hit the street.

"Thanks for inviting us," I said, rolling my eyes but unable to keep a small smile off my lips as I pulled my frame out of the car.

"What do you mean, 'get over some exes'?" Romeo asked.

Mercutio's welcoming grin dropped. He looked between Romeo and I for a moment, seemingly deciding whether or not we really didn't know.

"Shit, did no one tell you guys?" We shook our heads. "Oh. Well, uh... I hate to be the one to break the news, but Rosaline and Paris are here."

Romeo's grip on my hand was suddenly much more constricting than five seconds beforehand, and I returned the favor.

"Who the hell invited them?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"My guess would be that Tybalt told Rosaline to piss you off," Mercutio said, gesturing to Romeo. "And Paris just found out, possibly through her."

Both boys eyed me nervously, as though I was a ticking time bomb that could blow at any moment. I surprised them by smiling.

"Good. Let them see how much we don't need them." I grinned at Romeo.

I flagged down some friends around the door, explaining the situation and requesting assistance, should we need it. Hermia and Lysander in particular seemed eager to help us out, most likely because Rosaline had made homophobic remarks about Hermia's bisexual boyfriend on multiple occasions.

"You've got this," Hermia reassured Romeo.

"Juliet, you little devil!" Lysander snickered.

"Wish us luck, you guys!" I called, walking hand in hand with Romeo into the large ballroom.

The room itself was spacious, complimented by pillars that made a large circle within the actual walls. There was an overwhelming black and silver theme. I silently thanked my choice of outfit, noticing that most of the other women were wearing various colors that made each of them stick out in a very out-of-place manner.

There was also the fact that pretty much everyone was either kissing someone, about to kiss someone, or hunting for someone to kiss, but I chose to ignore that in order to truly appreciate the beauty of the architecture and interior decoration.

"Do you see either of them?" I asked my tall boyfriend as he scanned the crowd.

"Paris is by the bar, and I've no clue where Rosaline is," he reported.

"Then we're off to get a drink."

When were within fifteen feet of my ex, I pulled Romeo down go my level.

"Kiss me," I mumbled.

"What?"

"I was never a PDA person with him. I hated people knowing that I was in a relationship with him. Lucky for both of us, I'm not like that with you. Let's let him know."

Catching on, Romeo gave me a sort of 'damn, I wish I'd thought of that' look before attacking my lips. My hands went to his shoulders while his rested on my waist.

I looked at Paris from the corner of my eye. He glanced over at us periodically, huffing and grumbling angrily to himself each time. I smirked slightly.

"Pick me up and put me on the bar," I instructed against Romeo's lips. He did as I said, sliding his hands down to my thighs to lift my weight onto the end of the bar. He seemed more comfortable now, and moved to my neck.

The bartender, Puck, chuckled and raised an eyebrow, nodding his head toward Paris questioningly. I nodded back, winking. He laughed and gave me a thumbs up before going back to serving drinks with much more flare than needed, just as he did everything.

I laced my fingers through Romeo's hair and tugged gently, hearing a slight moan.

"Having fun?" I laughed, pulling his head back to my height.

"Hush. It's not my fault you look like a princess," he pouted, gesturing to my outfit.

"You can blame Hermia for the skirt," I said. "And Ophelia for the hair and makeup job. Only the velvet was me, I'm afraid."

Romeo scoffed. "Doesn't matter who put it on you, it's your fault that you look fantastic in it."

"Well actually, if you want to go about it that way, it's my parent's fault for being composed of DNA that, when combined with consideration for every dominant and recessive trait, generates a physically attractive homo sapiens individual under the conditions that I was raised in. Another argument could be made including my distant ancestors all the way back to mitochondrial Eve, but that would take me more time than we've got at the moment."

"... That's the smartest thing I'm going to hear all week, isn't it?"

"Probably."

~ I don't know what kind of skip this is. I just kinda got stuck. Take Juliet's gorgeous hairstyle as an apology gift. ~ 

"Rosaline's flirting around by the dance floor," Laertes muttered as he walked by.

"Thanks," I whispered back.

"What's your grand plan for her, oh wise one?" Romeo asked.

"Part dancing and part improvisation based on her reaction," I answered.

We'd retreated to a higher point near the wall so as to keep track of people better. I scanned the colors where Laertes had directed, finding a sparkly red dress that I knew only Romeo's heartbreaker of a girlfriend would be enough of an attention hog to wear.

(A/N: I hunted for a while, and this is exactly how I picture Rosaline. I practically screamed "IT'S PERFECT!" when I found it. This is even the expression she'll make when she sees Romeo with a different girl.)

I glanced up at my boyfriend, noticing that he kept his gaze locked on the floor and was biting his lip anxiously.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, taking us a few steps further into the shade next to the wall.

"I'm worried I'll start staring when I see her, or that you'll think I still like her, or that... I don't know, I just haven't seen her since finding her sitting on some guy's lap, and you know we didn't exactly part on good terms-" I cut Romeo off with a soft kiss and a kind smile, cupping his face with my hands.

"I'm not going to get mad at you, baby. I know exactly what you think of her, and so does she. If anything goes downhill we can get right out of there, okay?"

He nodded. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze as I led us through the crowd to the large open space in front of the stage.

"So what do we do?" Romeo inquired, smiling slightly at the memory of my previous strategy.

"For the moment, we dance."

He shot me a confused look as I brought my hand to his shoulder and moved his to my waist.

"Just trust me," I added.

It wasn't long before the insecurity of earlier melted away, leaving behind a far more outgoing and risky Romeo. It was rare to see him like this; simply existing without fear of being judged. If anything else, I'd sleep happy later knowing that, for a little while, he was truly happy to just dance with me.

After three or four songs, I spotted Rosaline giving us angry looks from around the various dance partners she acquired. I grinned at her each time we made eye contact and let Romeo spin me a few times. This didn't soothe her anger, which was good, because it wasn't meant to.

Finally, the perfect opportunity arose. Hamlet's crew moved to the dance floor. I moved off the floor claiming tiredness, and Ophelia took my place. A faster song had started playing, so the many couples began to split off toward their friends.

I trailed Rosaline as best I could. She seemed to always be within sight of Romeo, I noticed, but I was unable to peg whether that was because she wanted him to notice her or because she wanted to keep an eye on him.

I was just a few feet behind her now, and I could hear her muttering under her breath.

"When did he get all confident?" was one of the louder phrases.

I smirked and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?!" She snapped, whipping around to face me. "Oh. It's you."

"Mhm," I hummed. "Just wanted to let you know why Romeo's so much better now. It's because he's with a nicer crowd, honey."

Rosaline gave me a flabbergasted look and scoffed doubtfully. "Who? You? The Prince of Denmark and his little pets? I don't need him or anything else from you, thanks."

I dramatically placed the back of my hand on my forehead.

"What, haven't you heard?"

She shook her head. I put on an evil smile, leaning in close to her ear.

"I'm the new cancer. He's never looked better, and you can't stand it."

Rosaline stumbled back slightly. I smirked.

"Right on the dot, then? Look at me, I'm good at this!" I said to myself as she stormed away.

~ One last tiiime (skip.) I've made that joke already but I'm doing it again. ~

"Rosaline report?" I asked Helena as we were walking to the car.

"I found her in the bathroom after you talked to her. She was looking at herself in the mirror and talking like there was someone else listening. It looked like the usual self-esteem boost. She did say some pretty funny things, though..."

"Like what?" I asked, laughing.

Helena smirked. "One of my personal favorites was I'm a diva."

We both burst into laughter as Demetrius came to fetch her and Romeo did the same for me.

"Thanks for your help tonight!" I called as they left.

"No problem!" they responded.

I sighed happily, lacing my fingers with Romeo's and leaning onto his shoulder.

"So, what exactly did we achieve?"

"Well," I mused. "I know Paris won't be attempting to flirt with me anymore, which is lovely. I can't say I know what we did to Rosaline other than the fact that we've dented her ego quite a bit."

"That's plenty for me. God, I love you."

"I love you too."

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Can I make a quick complaint?

Of course I can!

I was hunting for Mercutio x reader stories, and the only ones I could find were either unfinished, one shots, or some weird threesome with another character.

If any of y'all know a really good story, please don't hesitate to tell me where I can find it. I'm dying and I would like to be able to read about Mercutio without also reading about Tybalt or Benvolio. Or worse, reading about how much Mercutio loves the aforementioned characters or Romeo.

That's all, faeries! May you always get the perfect revenge.