"Y'know, every time I think I'm gonna get bored of watching you try to get out of your obligations, you prove me wrong." 

Baby 5 sat upon the foot of my bed, lips in a tight smile as she watched me closely. Glancing to her reflection in my vanity mirror, I pouted, brush poised about an inch away from my cheek. 
"I wouldn't have to try and get out of things if I didn't get dragged into them in the first place." I pointed out, returning to my genius plan. 

My companion snorted with amusement, flopping back and grabbing one of my many stuffed animals to fiddle with. 
"It's just dinner. Why do you have to be so dramatic? We get free food and booze. You always complain about not being allowed to go out, and now that you can, you're bitching about it." 

You don't understand… 

Completely ignoring what she said, I turned around on my stool, gesturing to my face and neck, which was splattered with painted blotches. 
"What do you think? Is this the right shade of green?" My so called genius plan? Giving myself some kind of mystery illness. Sure, it was never going to work, but I had to at least try. 

Baby 5 stared at me for a few moments before she exploded into a fit of laughter, clutching my stuffed frog to her chest as she rolled around atop my duvet. 
"Y..you look like a toddler spat up all over you! God, you're an idiot, I love it!" She cackled, and I spun back around to face the mirror, confirming that she was, in fact, correct. 

*Knock Knock* 

"Well, it's too late to change it now. Wish me luck…" I sighed, standing up to answer my door. Before I opened it, I cleared my throat and began my act, positioning my gaze upwards because I already knew who it would be. 

Doflamingo didn't react in the slightest upon seeing me, shivering and swaying probably a little too dramatically. 
"Shouldn't you be dressed by now?" He asked, looking down at me through vermilion lenses. Coughing into my hand, I leaned against the door frame, willing my limbs into jelly. 

"I started getting ready...but I suddenly started feeling sick…" I explained in a hoarse voice, arms curling around my stomach for added effect. "I don't think it's a good idea for me to be going anywhere in such a state…" 

After a few moments of silence, I looked back up at him, and I knew I had failed once I saw the smirk on his face. Ushering me with his hand, he entered my room and sat me back down on my stool, turning to Baby 5. 
"You need to go get ready, too. We gather in the courtyard in twenty minutes." 

Huffing, she climbed off of my bed and started towards the exit, throwing a sharp glare in his direction. 
"Fine, but I'm still gonna kill you for hurting my darling fiancé last week!" I'd lost count of how many engagements had come and gone, but at this point it was the usual. She'd accept an out of the blue proposal, and Doflamingo would throw him into the blue. Or worse. 

Once the door had clicked shut, Doflamingo turned his attention back to me, crouching down and taking a damp cloth from my vanity, already stained green from my previous attempts. 
"I'm kinda hurt, (Y/N), darling." He sighed, voice soft as he began to dab away the paint on my cheeks. "Trying to get out of dinner, and on my birthday, no less?" 

Avoiding my own reflection in his sunglasses, I stayed quiet, begrudgingly allowing him to clean up my face. Of course I knew faking sick wouldn't work, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, he'd let me off because of my desperation. 

No, he wouldn't...Definitely not tonight… 

"What's the matter? You can be honest with me." With a nudge of his hand beneath my chin, he'd tried to regain my gaze, but I still avoided it. I knew I couldn't be completely honest with him, that was the problem, even though I wanted to be. 

"I just…" My tone was hesitant as I tried to think of how to word it, eyes darting to literally everything else in the room besides him. "...you never even asked me, so I don't like the thought of you announcing that to everyone when...I'm not…" I couldn't finish it. I wasn't even sure if I was against it or not, anymore. 

Once done with my face, Doflamingo stood up, making his way to fetch my dress, which was hanging on the door to my wardrobe. He held the hanger with a single finger, studying it fondly before he turned back to me, finally catching me off guard as he allowed his glasses to slip to the end of his nose. 

There hadn't been many instances where I had seen his eyes, but when I had, I couldn't look away. He knew that just as well as I did. 
"Do you not want to marry me, (Y/N)?" The way he said it instantly made me regret saying anything at all. Whether the hurt in his voice was genuine or not, it got to me. 

"Th..that's not what I said..! I'm just...not ready...I only just came of age…" I tried to backtrack, tossing perfectly good reasons his way to justify myself. "It's...there's been a lot of missed steps in this…and don't get me started on the whole raising me stuff..." 

I had known from almost the beginning that my purpose was to marry Donquixote Doflamingo. That was the whole point of me being there, with him and the family, in Dressrosa. Raised, not without issue, to be loyal and to fit his design. It was incredibly disturbing, when you think about it, but that was my life. 

Of course, not once had he done anything even remotely sexual or romantic towards me during my younger years. He was a bad man, but he wasn't that bad. On most occasions, he had been nothing but kind to me, spoiling me and treating me better than anybody else within the family. 

When I acted out, however, I quickly learned how terrifying the true wrath of Doflamingo could be. He never physically hurt me, insisting he could never hurt someone he cared for so much. Instead, he found other ways to punish me for my behaviour. Ways I chose to lock away in the deepest recesses of my mind. 

Laying my dress out upon my bed, he motioned for me to come to him, and I did as silently asked. One of the most frustrating things about standing before him was the fact that, if I were to look straight ahead, I'd be eye to fly. 

"We spend time together almost every day. We have for the past how long? Fourteen years? Give or take a few...instances…" He began speaking as he lifted my shirt up and over my head, seemingly unphased by seeing my bra. "You know me more than I even know myself, don't you? And I know you just as well…" 

But… 

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about. Like, this is big big, Doffy...Huge. I just don't get why we can't wait…" I tried to reason with him as he slipped my pants down to my ankles, guiding my feet out of each leg before he looked back to me, making the rare move of taking his glasses off completely. 
"Don't you love me, (Y/N)?" 

There it was. That question had been a trigger for me for the longest time, and it made me feel like the worst human to ever exist whenever he asked it. 
"I do love you! I love you so much!" I insisted as he stood up to his full height, reaching for the dress he had bought for me the previous week. 

I have to say it. Over and over, every day. So he knows. So I know…

"Then why does it matter if tonight's the night? Why does the past matter?" He asked, as though he had debunked every concern I had in a single instant. Slipping the dress over my head and onto my body, he turned me around to face the mirror as he zipped the back, head coming to rest on my shoulder and his hands gently gripping my upper arms to hold me in place. "Look at that. Looks like the King and Queen of Dressrosa to me." 

As much as I hated to admit it, in our matching colours of pink and white, faces side by side, we did look the part. 
"If you say so…" I murmured, hesitantly allowing him to spin me back around. Bending further, he came down to my level, face close to mine. He smelled of rich wine, the kind that would render one tispy with a mere sip, and I couldn't help but drink it in and let it cloud my judgement. 

"So, what do you say, my love? Would you do me the honour of becoming my Queen?" His deep purr had me nodding my head before I even truly registered the question, but I knew that even if I had taken the time to think about it I would have said yes. This was what I was supposed to do, and we loved each other. Truly, and without question. Right?

"Y..yes...I will…" I could only whisper my response as he stared at me with such intense, blood red eyes, moving in closer and closer. I wasn't quite sure why my body turned rigid when he kissed me. He had done so, countless times since my coming of age, yet I still reacted the same way. I chalked it up to giddy excitement. That had to be it. 

The first time had been on my birthday, which he had insisted I spend with him and him alone. That day he had spoiled me rotten, much to my frustration. I wasn't the type of person who liked extravagant gifts, but I did appreciate the lengths he had gone to to please me. 

The kiss had taken me completely off guard, and I wasn't sure if I ever really recovered from it, or what came after. Going from childhood to complete adulthood in a single day had been intense, not to mention the several days it had taken me to recover after the fact. It wasn't right, I knew that, but there was no changing it.

When Doflamingo pulled back, his toothy grin sent an oddly chilled tingle down my spine, but I just smiled in return, ignoring the strange twist in my stomach. 
"That's my gorgeous girl. You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that." He chuckled, briefly caressing my cheek before straightening up and heading towards the door. "When you're finished, meet me downstairs, and please don't ruin your pretty face with too much make-up. You don't need it." 

Slipping his sunglasses back on, he left me reeling, feeling nauseous as I stared after him. The thought of such an important public announcement must have been making me nervous. 

No, it's fine...We're in love. It's just...I always thought love would feel...a little different…

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
***Told you.

Now, I did make it clear, nothing happened prior to adulthood, and as I stated in the notes last chapter, there's a reason for why Doflamingo raised her. That will be explained further on. It doesn't make it any less wrong, of course, but I just wanted to make that clear.

Also I doodled a dumb thing showing what I personally envisioned for the dress using my own OC, Kujo, but of course, it's up to your imagination!

Next Time: Locked Down***