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A Field Guide to Obscure Wildlife (Ford x gn!Reader) Chapter 1 - Go Your Own Way

You wondered if the world had it out for you tonight. Despite being a staunch believer of the universe’s indifference towards all living beings, the current events in this diner made you doubt. Maybe the universe had its unfavorites. You being one of them. And it wasn’t because of the storm, the bad diner food smell that gave you the ick, or even that you had stepped on chewing gum right as you got out of the car in the small parking lot. It was because your boyfriend was too occupied kissing the waitress to even notice that you had just come back from the bathroom afterward. And the fact that the waitress looked nothing like you didn’t help. Still on autopilot mode, you sit down in front of him and cough. He doesn’t seem to notice you, still too focused on the woman he was cheating on you with. This cuts your patience short as you grab one of the glasses of juice on the small diner table and empty all of its contents on both of them. They looked at you startled, your boyfriend grimacing as he realized what this meant for you both. You wordlessly walk out of the diner, taking deep breaths so that you don’t start crying, knowing that if you started doing so, you wouldn’t be able to stop for a while. The parking lot looked a lot grayer now, the coldness of autumn starting to show itself in the wind blowing against you. You curse yourself as you realize you left your car keys on the diner table and think about how humiliating it must be to go back inside, with those two still there. Your boyfriend bumped into you as you turned to go back to the diner, his left hand holding the keys, his expression betraying his feelings of annoyance at getting caught red-handed instead of any regret. He silently handed you the keys and you both got in the car, his orange juice-soaked clothes staining the passenger seat and leaving a sour-sweet smell inside the whole car. Neither of you said a word for about five minutes until you decided to break the silence. “I was right, then.” You looked into your boyfriend of six years’ eyes for any signs of this situation being some kind of bad joke, but you found nothing. Not a single tell that could point to him kidding about this. His entire being seemed cold like he’d just turned into some kind of ice statue. “...Didn’t want to be. Not about you cheating on me.” “Of course you were. Even a broken clock has its moments.” You flinched at his comment and your hold on the wheel tightened. While it was true that your head is usually up in the clouds, hearing it come from the same person who found it endearing when you started dating hurt like hell. Sure, he became a lot more condescending once you moved in with him, but why did he have to rub salt in the wound your childhood left on you? 

You felt that familiar sense of inadequacy bubble up inside you before what little self-respect you had at the moment stopped it from getting any bigger— your ego screaming at you to focus on something else much more important. “...Not even a ‘sorry’? How long have you been pretending to love me?” This got a raise out of him, although it was a small one— A twitch in his brow, an averting of his eyes. The corners of his mouth went briefly downwards before settling on a tense smile. The same smile he had whenever he said something hurtful during the last seven years. You mentally brace yourself for the emotional bomb he’s about to throw at you, hoping that you don’t crash the car. “Ever since we met.” Damn. That made no sense to you, why even enter a relationship, then? It wasn’t like you were a total knockout or anything, so it couldn’t be just based on looks. And you weren’t wealthy, either. So why? You kept your eyes on the road, but couldn’t help but glance in his direction as you saw the shine of a badge in his wallet. No way. No fucking way.

 “Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t notice before. Perhaps you aren’t as much of a menace as the authorities thought you were.” There it is. The bomb. And what a bomb it was, taking into account that you had to stop the car almost immediately so that you didn’t accidentally step on the accelerator and send you both to the afterlife. You turned to him in horror, your jaw open and your eyes as wide open as they could be in disbelief. And from the melting pot of emotions boiling inside of you, a single word came out of your mouth. “...What?” You slowed down the car. The authorities? What was he on about? Did he hit his head while getting out of the diner? Bryce took out a cigarette and lit it up, taking a drag of it and blowing out smoke. He scoffed at your reaction, as if your being shocked at being spied on was somehow unreasonable. “It doesn’t matter.” He looked outside, watching as you drove past the traffic signs. “You know, most scientists would’ve put that PhD to work already, rather than letting it collect dust. Like you did. There’s no point in me keeping an eye on you anymore.” You felt your blood pressure rise. You wanted to put your doctorate and other certificates to work. You really did. Hell, you even took a downright inhuman course load so that you could graduate early. But Bryce had convinced you to stay home and struggle with him because according to him, love conquered all. Now you wondered how on earth you could be so smart yet so stupid. “You said you didn’t feel comfortable with me being the breadwinner. And the house was a mess all the time.”Was this a common occurrence? Was the government sending crappy boyfriends to kill a troublesome person’s career? You felt nauseous. Six years of your life wasted on a random agent, and one that never loved you to begin with! You wanted the earth to swallow you whole so that you didn’t have to deal with this any longer.

“Still, I thought getting you to agree with me would be harder.” You fuzzily remembered the words your mother used to say to you, something about caged birds and that easy prey was no fun for hunters. She was right. “I guess you’re just that boring.”  He laughs, the sound ringing in your ears. That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. You stopped the car and through tear-filled eyes asked:

“Could you at least get your gift from the trunk? I don’t want to see it once I start packing.”He raised an eyebrow at this, but then shrugged and got out of the car, the smell of tobacco following him. You had stopped a couple of miles away from your… his apartment. Far away enough that any possible bystanders to your breakup were nowhere to be seen. “Fine. But I expect you to get out of my place by tomorrow morning.” Asshole. You nodded and then started the car back up, stepping on the accelerator before he got a chance to react. You looked at the rearview mirror, the sight of him running after you making you smile for the first time in what seemed like ages. ___________ a/n: he doesn't appear yet but I promise next chapter he will!

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A Field Guide to Obscure Wildlife (Ford x gn!Reader) Masterlist

Summary:

After a shocking revelation regarding your partner of more than half a decade not being what he seemed, you leave him and go back to your previously flourishing career as a researcher, finally starting to work on one of your biggest dreams: a field guide to the obscure wildlife of your country. After some time going from place to place, you stumble on an old acquaintance from your alma mater: Stanford Pines. However, this friendly reencounter gets tangled up into something much bigger than you could ever imagine, something that ends up spanning three decades of your life and one weird summer. _____________________________________________________________ Chapter Index: Chapter 1: Go Your Own Way

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Hello there! I'm NeriumPerfume // cote she / her || 23 I like to write stuff for some of my favorite media. Currently obsessed with Gravity Falls. ____________________________________________________ I'll post some of my writing in here so that other people can read it ^^ !! Asks are open !! Currently working on: A Field Guide to Obscure Wildlife (Ford x gn!Reader)