#before she got a chance to rescuse him

[ecto-stone]

Hachi when playing other game: Being bad make me feel bad

Hachi playing rimworld: casually commit war crime. Grudge is in my blood, Homicidah is in my vein.

[minsimagines]

Rescue - part 1

A.N.: First story with more parts woho, this is kinda cute.  Characters: The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: violence. Summary: Readers an innocent and slightly giddy person. One night her apartment is broken into, and her mysterious neighbor comes to the rescuse. Word Count: 3300. Part: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Y/N was a happy person, she really was. Everyone in the apartment building liked her. Nobody knew her per say, but they liked her. She always said hello, good morning, how are you – with that damn smile. There was only one person she did not smile at, and that was one of her next-door neighbors. She had smiled just as politely at him as the others, but he never said hello back, didn’t even smile. Barely even acknowledged her. He just looked down; his face covered by his hat. He had long hair and it looked like he could maybe use a shave. The man was giving out serious robber vibes.

Y/N decided it was best to just leave him be. If he wanted to be left alone, she would leave him alone. Only… he was kinda cute under that hat. The first time they had bumped into each other in the staircase, she almost fell backwards, and she would have probably broken her back if it wasn’t for the strong pair of hands that grabbed her. It was kind of awkward, you could say. He looked her dead in the eyes that day, and she saw his in the light from the windows. They were beautiful, but so… deeply disturbed.

He quickly pulled her up and let her go, turning and continuing down the staircase, disappearing around the corner. Y/N was left gaping. Was he not going to say anything at all? She didn’t even get the chance to say thank you – or, you know, sorry for being so clumsy. Maybe he was just in a hurry. She decided she would thank him another day. So, she did.

The next day she felt incredibly stupid where she was standing, in her apartment door, the door slightly open to hear if he was coming. She had already burst into the hallway 2 times and practically screamed thank you to some of the older residents on their way to their apartments. Giving them a little nod and a tiny ‘sorry…’.

When he did eventually show up, she carefully peaked through the crack in the door to make sure. Upon seeing him, she pushed the door open. He didn’t as much as flinch.

“There you are! I mean – Hello.” Y/N wanted to punch herself. She stepped towards him as he reached into his pocket to get his keys.

“I just wanted to say thank you, for yesterday,” she snickered at herself, “I can be quite clumsy.”

The man didn’t look at her as he pushed his keys into the lock. Y/N squinted her eyes.

“So… anyways. I’m sorry, if it made you uncomfortable.” She didn’t know what more to say now. He clearly didn’t care. He turned his head to look at her before entering his apartment and leaving her alone in the hallway.

Y/N pursed her lips. That did not go as planned. Turning on her heel, she ran inside her apartment, pushed the door shut and leaned against it. Embarrassment rose and she felt blood rush to her cheeks.

After that she didn’t say hello to him. She didn’t see him much, but when she did, she either turned and walked back to her apartment to wait, or she bowed her head and walked faster.

One day, Y/N sat on her tiny porch, playing a game on her phone. She didn’t really know how long she had been sitting there, the game was so addicting.

When she looked up from her phone, she realized the sun had gone down. She also realized there was someone on the dark porch of her robber-vibe but cute neighbor. He was looking at her. Y/N didn’t know what to do, she felt frozen as their eyes just locked for an eternity. She was wondering why he wasn’t the least bit shy about being caught staring at her, but that thought disappeared as butterflies were screaming in her stomach.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She wanted to say something, to grip the moment. Maybe he would talk now that he was seemingly interested in her existence. He looked down to the floor as his brows creased, and at the blink of second, he was gone inside. Y/N jumped out of her chair, almost knocking the little table over. She blushed at her rushed actions but couldn’t help it. He was scary looking, but they had been neighbors for half a year, and he hadn’t done anything. Literally. Nothing. Not even a hello.

As weeks went by, this happened a couple of times. She would, purposely, sit on her porch some evenings, and lo and behold; he would also come outside. He wouldn’t always look at her. He would sometimes be writing something in a book. At those times, Y/N was the one looking at him.

The same thought would always hit her. How mysterious he looked sitting in the dark on his porch, no lights coming from his apartment. Were they ever on? Y/N didn’t remember ever seeing lights come from his home.

This one evening, when Y/N walked out onto her porch, she was carrying with her a cup of tea. She had read that it could really cleanse your soul so she thought she might need some, for whatever reason one needs soulcleansing. She had stepped outside when she saw him leaning on the railing of her porch. He was on her porch. Y/N was many things, but controlled was not one of them. She was easily scared.

Her cup of tea went from full to empty in a second, and she might had been able to scream if she wasn’t so insanely shocked, that he was there. Tripping over her own feet, she almost went flying, but the man grabbed her arm.

She noticed his smell right away. It was cleaner than she thought, but still smelled like… gasoline? And… something she did not know what was.

“Holy shit!” Y/N couldn’t help but laugh, she always did when she got scared by someone or nervous. “That was so… What are you doing- how did you get here?” She shook her head, why did she even bother asking questions.

“Never mind, you probably don’t even speak English, but that’s okay, I can speak plenty for the both of us.” Y/N shrugged and sat down on her chair, placing her now empty cup of tea down. Placing her hands on her knees she looked at him. Pursing her lips, which was a habit of hers when she thought something was awkward, she held her breath for a few seconds. Breathing out she leaned back, squinting her eyes at him.

“So. Since you don’t talk, I’ll just have to guess why you’re here.” Y/N looked him up and down, he was wearing seemingly normal clothes, but they just looked… old, or, well used.

“Are you here to rob me? Rape me? Kill me? Cause if you are, can you do it in the opposite order? Kill me first, then rape and then rob?” She was joking, but when the words left her mouth, she realized that… those things might be a possibility. After all, he looked pretty darn mysterious and robbery. She felt a lump form in her mouth as he kept looking at her, almost looking kind of… amused. The look in his eyes disappeared faster than she was able to read them.

He looked down at her legs and she almost felt like covering her body, but she didn’t really dare move that much.

“You should clean that up.” He spoke. His voice was deep and raspy, and quiet. But oh, so dominating.

Y/N’s jaw dropped at the sound and didn’t even register what he had said before she snapped out of her little bubble and looked down.

“Oh- jeez!” Y/N exclaimed as she looked at her once white joggers that were now brown from the tea. Abruptly standing up, she ran into her apartment to get some paper towels. When she re-entered the porch, he was gone.

“I’m so clums- oh…” she started but cut herself of as she saw he had disappeared.

Taking a deep breath, she gathered her things and went inside. Closing the door, she turned the lights off and went to get ready for bed. Her mind was swirling with thought about him.

When her nightly routine was done, she slid under her covers and laid there. She hadn’t felt very tired before, but now she felt extremely sleepy. All she could think about was his eyes. And his, oh god, his voice. Honestly, he could turn out to be a real creep, this was wrong. But she thought that maybe he would have already done something to her if he was.

She drifted off to sleep as she contemplated with herself, only to startle awake by a creaking of the floorboards in her living room. She knew that often when you hear noises, it’s neighbors or something, but that creak was from her living room, by her tv. She knew the sound; it was a weird squeaky noise that always made her laugh. But not this time. Now, someone was in her apartment.

She looked at her bedside clock. 3.43 am. As she heard shuffling outside her door, her body felt paralyzed, and her mind was racing. She felt her blood rushing to her head, getting almost dizzy. She very slowly and as quietly as she could, lifted the covers off her body and listned for more sounds as she lowered her body to the floor on the side of the bed, sliding herself underneath.

Holding her breath, she just hoped they didn’t take her, her little hamster Popcorn or her new couch pillows. Everything else they could take as long as she lived.

The commotion grew outside her door, she heard shuffling and banging. Y/N held her breath and closed her eyes tightly and she heard her bedroom door open.

Robbery was something that happened in movies. It was never supposed to happen to her. Someone breaking into someone else’s apartment was just not something that would happen. But now it had.

As she heard more shuffling around her room, it went completely quiet for what felt like an eternity. Y/N tried to breathe as quietly as she could, but in her mind, she knew this would end badly.

She started praying to God, not that she really believed in him, but it felt right to say she was sorry for not praying earlier in her life, so that he might let her into Heaven when she now faces her death. As a hand grabbed her foot and pulled her out from under the bed, she screamed and thrashed.

“Shut up, bitch!” a nasty voice hissed at her as a man pulled her up by the shoulders and held her close to his body. Another man stepped in with some tape, covering her mouth. She kept making noise, but she was sure nobody could hear her now.

The man holding her started tying her hands behind her back as she struggled, trying to break free.

“Wanna have some fun, eh?” he whispered in her ear. Y/N shut her eyes tight and screeched as loud as she could with the tape on.

The other guy slapped her across the cheek, and she grunted in pain as her eyes filled with tears. She tried to plea for them to let her go, but it only sounded like mumbles.

They sneered and the other man took out a knife from behind him. He reached it out towards her stomach, using it to ever so slowly lift her t-shirt. The knife tickled her skin as goosebumps rose on her skin and tears fell out of her eyes. She felt it cut her skin and she grunted in pain, her body twisting in agony.

“Yeah, you like it rough, don’t you?” he grinned, showing his disgusting teeth. Y/N tried screaming again, only ending with another hit to the face. She shut up. Maybe if she just let them do whatever, they would leave her after.

She heard her front door open. Her eyes widened as she started screaming again, and this time she didn’t stop. She trashed and bawled her eyes out. The men dropped her to the floor as they ran towards the bedroom door. One of them peaked out of the door. He nodded his head to the other guy who slipped out into the hall.

The guy left in the room walked back over to Y/N who was trying to crawl towards her bed. He pulled her up by her upper arm and held her in front of him, his knife to her neck. As a fight seemingly broke out in the hallway, the noise only lasted a few second before a nasty squeal rang through the apartment and everything went silent.

“Ron?” the guy holding her yelled out, “Ron, you got him, right?”

Silence.

Y/N could feel the guys heart beating faster.

A shadow appeared in her bedroom door, and it was big, much bigger than these losers. She recognized it. And she didn’t know if she wanted to cry more or laugh. Her neighbor was here, and he had just beat the crap out of the other guy, but she didn’t know him. Maybe he was just here to finish her off in a more horrible way than these would.

He stood there, staring at the guy. His hair was a little tussled, and the sleeves of his shirt was pulled up. A little light from the bathroom shone on him and his arm shone silver.

What the hell?

The man holding her, pulled her tighter, the knife pressing harder to her neck.

“Let her go,” her neighbor said, in a very deep rumble. It was quiet, but they heard it clearly. Y/N was crying, desperately trying to hold still so the knife didn’t cut.

The man behind her stuttered, “O-Or what huh?”

Her neighbor stepped into the room and the guy cowered backwards almost tripping over something, and Y/N felt the knife almost tear her skin up. She tried not to sob, but she really wanted this to be over.

Her potential savior stepped even closer.

“Give her to me.” His voice was so… demanding. She couldn’t fathom how this guy holding her even dared to talk back. She could see his eyes in the slight moonshine coming through her bedroom window. They were on fire. He was angry. Controlled, but pissed. Almost annoyed.

The guy holding her was breathing even harder, contemplating what to do. He suddenly removed the knife from Y/N’s throat and threw her to the floor.

“There! Your precious bitch! Now let me go!” The guy yelled and ran past her savior. Y/N winced as she hit the floor, her body ached from both bruises and cuts.

Her neighbor knelt and gently brushed her hair out of her face.

“I’ll be back,” he whispered before disappearing out her bedroom. There was more squealing, and she shut her eyes tight. Humming to her favorite song, she tried to block out the sounds. It went quiet. After a good while of waiting, her neighbor re-entered her bedroom.

He untied her hands and gently turned her body around. He saw blood on her white t-shirt, and he had to take a breath to calm himself. Taking hold of the tape on her face, he gently pulled it off. Y/N immediately started crying again, rubbing her wrists before placing her hand on her stomach.

“I-it hurts…” she stuttered.

The man picked her up. She winced and gently pushed at his chest, wanting him to put her down.

“Stay still,” he mumbled as he carried her out towards her apartment door. She just watched as he carried her towards his apartment. He opened the door and stepped inside. It was very dark so Y/N couldn’t see much, but she saw it was very... minimalistic. There was a sofa and a table in the living room. He placed her down on it before disappearing into another room. He came back with a box of something, sitting next to her and pulling up her shirt.

Y/N was about to complain, but the look he sent her shut her up. As he started cleaning the cut on the stomach, he mumbled at her.

“You should’ve defended yourself.”

Y/N looked at him before rolling her eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t think of th- ah!” She yelled in pain as he pushed a little harder on her wound.

When he was done, he bandaged her up and moved to check on her neck.

“How can you even see anything here?”

“Be quiet,” the guy said.

“Can you at least tell me your name? So, I know who to thank.”

He sighed and looked at her. He seemed to be thinking hard. Y/N’s brows narrowed. Why was it such a big deal?

“… James.”

She was shocked at first. Just staring at him. She didn’t know why, but she found it comforting he had such a normal name. She had imagined some mysterious name to fit his image.

“How did you get inside my apartment? How did you know they were there?” Y/N was filled with questions.

James sighed again and looked down, “I heard you.”

“Yeah, okay, but how did you get in?”

He looked at her, “Porch.”

“You don’t talk much do you?” Y/N whispered, suddenly feeling very loud.

James was quiet as he put his things back in the box. Y/n reached out and grabbed his arm. He froze and as she went to rub his arm in a comforting way, she couldn’t help herself.

“What happened?”She asked him with a sad look on her face, as she felt the metal of his arm.

For a second, she thought she might have stepped over a real line and regretted pushing, but he shook his head.

“Long time ago.”

Y/N swallowed and pulled her hand back. She felt very exposed. Her apartment had been broken into and she didn’t want to go back. She wanted to make sure everything was fine, but she was scared. She didn’t know how to protect herself.

As he stood up and put the box away, she sat up, but winced at the pain in her body.

James came rushing back, almost looking scared. Y/N pretended she didn’t see it, as he seemed like a guy that didn’t want others to know his emotions. He stood awkwardly for a while, just looking at her as she gently touched her face and grunted as the bruises started to form.

“You can stay here.”

Y/N jumped at the sound. She hadn’t heard him approach her.

“O-oh, you sure? I can go back…” she lied; she didn’t want to. But she didn’t want to impose.

“Stay.” It was maybe meant in an assuring way, but it sounded like a demand, and she felt butterflies in her stomach again.

She patted the empty space on the couch next to her. He shuffled over and sat down. He looked at her with those mysterious and unreadable eyes again, and there were still some flames in them, but they were being replaced by something else.

“I… I want to thank you, but I don’t even know how,” Y/N looked down at her fingers, “I feel like I should do something, I-“ he cut her off.

“Don’t. I wanted to.”

Again, she was left speechless. Did this mean he didn’t hate her? Did this mean he maybe would say hello back from now on? She wanted to do more than just say hello. She wanted to know him, talk to him.

“Still… it means a lot to me,” her voice melted down to a whisper again as the shock of the incident was beginning to sink in, “I’ve never been through something like this… I- I don’t know what would have happened if-“

“They’re gone.”

Y/N stared at him. She didn’t want to know what he had done. Not yet.

She leant into him, resting her hand on his shoulder. It metal was hard, and chilled, but it was strangely comfortable. Her cheek hurt, but she didn’t care.

He didn’t move at first. But as she soon drifted of to sleep, he snuck his hand behind her back, pulling her into his chest.

[thefleshmustgrow]

have i talked abt my fnaf pirate aus chars backghrounds b4? i dont rmeber so im gonna ramble

mangle and foxy

foxy was the son of a fisherman, who lived in the poorest part of town. mangle was the daughter royalty, set to be wed in an arranged marriage with a prince.

they both wandered off one day and stumbled into each other, being only children they didn't care about the social status of the other child and became instant friends.

they kept there friendship a secret for obvious reasons, and for years they snuck out regularly to play together. only there closest freinds knew about their regular hangouts.

growing up they both had their own run ins and tale heard of pirates, all of witch would eventually lead them to become two of the most fearsome and respected captains of all time.

as mangle grew up, she was forced to start spending time with her future husband, he turned out to be abusive, and she didnt like him before, but now she was trapped. foxy noticed she started to visit less and less and grew concerned.

one day she confronted him about it, he was horrified to learn what had been happening to her, furious, he decided he couldnt keep there friendship a secret any longer, he marched right to her father, hoping he just didn't know, and informing him of the treatment of his daughter would cause him to cancel the marriage.

this was not the case, in fact, her father was furious after learning how close she was with this young fisherman (following in his father footsteps)

mangle

a few nights before the marriage, she decided she had had enough, she would not stand for this, she was going to take her life into her own hands. being friends with foxy and his close freinds opened her eyes to how families like hers treated people like him simply for having less wealth than them.

she snuck out in the middle of the night, while everyone was asleep, stole as much of her fathers fortune as her paws could carry.

(foxy and mangle reunited goes here in the continuity)

she set forth to find her closest friends.

freddy was easy, he was in his study, up late as usual. he was studying at the hightest school to become a world renowed surgeon. whe mangle told him what she was doing, though he didnt outwardly apear eager to join, but he was thrilled.

academia had treated him well, and he was well on his way to becoming one of the most renowed doctors in the country, even developing his own ansthetic, he also felt it was holding him back from his true potential, this was a chance for him to truley study medicine freely and uninhibited. he was on board.

she had to wake chica, she had a fairly avrage life, born into the high middle class, mangle was her bff, and anything mangle did, she did too, neither would ever leave the other behind. and so chia was all aborad as well.

mangle found bonnie sitting on his roof, staring at the stars. she startled him, he was skeptikal at first, thinking this was just a joke his freinds were playing on him. he was quiet as he realized they were all very serious, as mangle showed him the riches she had stolen from her father to get started, a smile crept onto his face. “holy hell your serious about this.” after laughing for a good few minutes, he got to his feet, and confidently stated “your fuckin crazy yknow that?” he was on board.

foxy

foxy was absolutly livid at the situation, for the next few years, all he thought about was how he could rescuse one of his closest freinds.

he had an idea. when he was still very young, pirates had landed near his little fisher part of town. he rmebered the whole day clearly, some gaurdsmen had been harassing the locals, these pirates imeadetly lept to the aid of those being harassed and chased of the gaurdsmen.

he was in awe, all his life he was told pirates were the bad guys, yet here they were, helping out the families in his little neighborhood. he rmebered they were so kind to him and the other children, and even spared some of there rasions to him since it had been a hard fishing season.

thats what he would do, he would steal her away from this horrid life and they would live on the sea, stealing treasure, fighting those who hurt the incoent and having mighty adventures, the sea could not keep them apart.

(foxy and mangle reunited goes here in the continuity)

he quickly weant to gather his closest freinds. chica was snoozing away in her near rotten ol house. he simply had to talk in to get to her, but waking her would be another story. it took much effort, too much. but finally he woke her.

“you gonna need a cook” was the only question she asked. they now had a cook.

bonnie was watching the docks, not for work, but to kill time. he had a hard time sleeping that night.again, his freind was imeadetly on board, foxy really knew how to pick em.

they burst into freddys house and he had already packed. before they could say anything he spoke “shut up and lets go” with a smile. this freaked foxy out a bit, but he shruged it off. freddy was always the ttype to be prepared for anything. he proboly had a pack ready to go anytime.

foxy and mangle reunion

after stealing her father riches, well as much as she could carry. mangle imeadetly went to find foxy. he was actually doing his samne orutine, every night he hung around there usual meeting spot, in case she was able to get away for a bit.

they were both esthetic to see eachother in the alley way. foxy spoke first, saying how he had a plan to get her away from all this, he had a plan but he needed time to set it up, it would be a while to get a ship- he was cut off by mangle, opening her paws to reveal the trearue she had snatched.

not even able to say a thing, foxy started open mouthed laughing, a wheezy, exited, amazed laugh. slaping his paw over his forehead, he looked her in the eyes, smiling wide. she had a smile just as big on her face.

foxy started nodding, slowly, but growing fatser, and mangle did the same.

foxy wiped his forhead, spun around once, and spoke “lets do it then!”

and they both set off to find a crew.

[minsimagines]

Rescue - part 2

A.N.: Second part, this is cute. There will be some tension in later parts, but we must enjoy fluff first.  Characters: The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: none, i think. Summary: Readers an innocent and slightly giddy person. One night her apartment is broken into, and her mysterious neighbor comes to the rescuse. Word Count: 3400. Part: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Y/N awoke to the sound of a door shutting. Adrenaline burst into her blood and she jumped. Frantically looking around, she didn’t know where she was. Breathing hard, her mind went completely blank.

She was laying on a couch, in a… living room, she supposed. It was very empty. A black blanket was covering her body. On the table there was a pair of her jeans and a sweater. Next to her clothes laid her phone. Y/N frowned. Right. She was in her neighbors apartment. 

Exhaling, she slumped back into the couch. Where was he anyways? She couldn’t hear him anywhere. Pulling the blanket off, she tried to stand up. Her whole body collapsed on the floor and she had to cover her mouth with her hand to not scream. All her limbs were aching.

All the events of the night before came flooding through her head as she laid on the floor. Her stomach burned and her face felt like it was the size of a melon. Grunting, she tried to push herself off the floor. Her body would not have it. It just collapsed again.

“Screw you, legs… I don’t need you,” she mumbled to herself in a mix of anger and pain.

Giving up, she laid there once again. Flat out on her stomach. It hurt, but so did all other positions. She felt useless.

No idea how to protect herself, can’t even make sure her doors are locked to prevent things like last night to happen. Didn’t dare to stay in her own apartment, and now se can’t even stand up on her own.

She knew she was pitying herself a little too much, but she didn’t care. It was justified. She exhaled a shaky breath as she felt stress and a mix of other emotion push out through her eyes in the form of a small stream of tears.

Sniffing, she tried to think of happy things. But all her happy thoughts made her feel even sadder. Memories just made her sentimental.

In her own little world of loud sniffing and happy-sad thoughts, she hadn’t heard the door open and close again. She also hadn’t heard James approach her from behind. He had been watching her for a couple of minutes, and to say he was confused was an understatement.

Y/N hadn’t noticed him leaning down towards her. She did, however, notice when arms circled under her shoulders, pulling her off the floor. She let out a small squeal and grabbed a hold of the arms, not trusting her balance for a second. A lump formed in her throat, but she knew it was him. She felt his metal hand.

James let her go a second to fast, Y/N hadn’t gotten a chance to stabilize her legs. She squeaked as she felt herself lose control and felt herself nearing the floor fast, but James was faster. He grabbed a hold of her hips and pulled her into him. It wasn’t much, but Y/N felt how strong he was. How strong he possibly was. She swallowed and felt uncomfortable so close to him, feeling his body against hers.

He was warm. And when she thought about it, it wasn’t so bad. Her cheeks flushed at the inappropriate thoughts running through her head.

“If I have to keep saving you, I might have to start charging something…” he whispered in that deep voice. He probably didn’t mean it to sound so dirty, but Y/N felt his voice rumble through his body against her back, and her eyes automatically closed.

She tried answering but her mind was just mush. She couldn’t think about anything other than his voice. It did something to her, and she didn’t like it. She didn’t like how easy it was to get her like this. She had never experienced this; she had never felt something like this.

One sentence and she was gone. Her mind was on a rollercoaster running through a field of roses. She wanted to turn around, but she didn’t dare move. She didn’t want it to ever stop.

But all good things come to an end. She was roughly pulled out of the trance as she felt his hands on her hips loosen the grip.

Her eyes flew open, and her cheeks were burning.

What the hell Y/N?

Taking a deep breath, she tried to play it all off with a chuckle. It sounded forced. How long had they been standing there?

She still didn’t dare to turn around. He was staring at her; she could feel it. He walked past her, his arm brushing against hers. He stopped at the table and bent down to pick up her clothes. Y/N watched him as he stood right in front of her. A little closer than what one would normally do. James held them out for her to grab, and she did. Her fingers touched his.

He nodded towards a door. Y/N locked eyes with him, before turning and limping towards the door on her tired legs. Entering the bathroom, she noticed it was exactly like hers, just older and… not so messy.

Closing the door, she turned on the light and looked herself in the mirror. She wanted to scream at what she saw. Her hair was a mess, her face was swollen and all the colors of the rainbow. Her eye was almost completely black. Her neck had the slightest of cuts, it had barely breached the skin.

Her stomach was covered in bandages that were no longer were white. It didn’t hurt that much, so she guessed it had just taken a while to stop bleeding.

Shaking her head at her state, she slowly began to undress from her bloody nightwear. It took some time, but she got it all off without too much pain.

The jeans would be a whole other thing. Y/N took a deep breath before bending down to step into them. She grunted at the pressure on her stomach wound, but she pushed through. They weren’t the tightest of jeans, thank god. Pulling the college sweater over her head, she huffed. This hair… needs a do-over.

Checking her arms, she had a hair tie on one of them. Pulling her hair back in a slick ponytail, she decided this was the best she could get.

Stumbling out of the bathroom again, she found James sitting on a little table in the corner. There were two bowls standing on it. He was eating from one of them. Y/N felt butterflies in her stomach. How could she have been so mistaken by him? Here she was, they day earlier, thinking he could be out to hurt her. But here he was, being an absolute dream.

Her eyes caught sight of the muscles on his back. His shirt stretched out and the sunlight from the window hit it just right. Y/N couldn’t help but wonder how much he worked out.

She made her way over to him, sitting on the chair opposite of him. She had never been so happy to see cereal in her life. Her stomach rumbled at the sight and she grabbed it, looking everywhere but at James. As if her face wasn’t colorful enough, she felt her cheeks blush again. James looked at her and once more, she felt his stare burning on her skin.

She peaked up at him and saw him with that same almost amused expression he had the day before, on the porch. Upon seeing it again, clearer this time, she decided she liked it very much. She wanted to see more of it.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” she said. She couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face, and the giggle that left her lips.

She saw his lips curve up in a smirk as he went back to focus on his food. Y/N bit her lip at the sight, she had succeeded in making him smile.

“So… is this your favorite cereal?” Y/N didn’t always need to talk. If others liked to talk, she was very happy to listen. But seeing as James didn’t utter more than three words a week, she automatically went into anti-awkward mode. Which, to be fair, usually just made things more awkward.

James looked up at her as she scooped the breakfast into her mouth like a hungry baby-bear. He didn’t answer. Y/N hadn’t really expected an answer.

“I take it you’re not from here,” Y/N said, and James’ eyebrows furrowed slightly. Y/N looked at him and quickly pointed towards a book in the windowsill close to them. It had writing on the outside and Y/N couldn’t read it.

James swallowed and went back to his food.

“I’m not from here either. Not really where I thought I would end up, but I like it. It’s a big city, but not too big, ya know? Not like New York or anything.”

James did know.

“I’ve never been to New York though. Heard it’s dangerous. But, then again, it’s not the safest here either apparently,” Y/N snorted. Looking up at him, she saw he was finished. He was just looking at her.

“Your eyes are gorgeous, you know.”

As the words slipped by her lips, she clamped a hand over her mouth and let out a squeal. Shocked at her own bluntness, she felt a laugh bubble up her throat. James raised an eyebrow at her, and she removed her hand from her mouth to grab her sweater, shaking it.

“Did it just get really hot in here?” Y/N looked away, still amused by herself.

At least he now knew she found him attractive. Great.

James shook his head at her and stood up to put his dishes away before she could see the smile forming on his lips. Taking a deep breath to control himself, he sat back down.

“Eat.” His voice was so extremely dominating. Y/N shut up at once and continued eating.

Putting down her spoon after a while, she took a deep breath and looked at James.

“All of it.” He nodded towards her bowl. Y/Ns face twisted.

“There’s no more room in here,” she said as she patted her stomach, “this was really 10 out of 10, but ya can’t fill a cup that’s already full.”

James nodded his head and stood up again. Picking up her bowl and putting it away. Y/N stretched her arms above her head to stretch, but her body contorted in pain.

“Sweet God make it go away,” she muttered to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut.

“He won’t help you,” James mumbled from behind her as he looked through stuff in a drawer.

Y/N turned to look at him and caught sight of his metal arm gleaming in the sunlight. Her head tilted with furrowed brows. She had so many questions, but she understood very well that it had to be something big that happened to give him an arm like that. And most likely it was a painful story.

But, yet again, she couldn’t help herself. James felt her approach him from behind and he let her. He felt her fingers ever so lightly touch his arm. It didn’t feel uncomfortable to touch, just different.

James stopped what he was doing and looked at her. Tilting her head, the tip of her tongue poked out between her lips, something she often did when she focused. Her fingertips traced the lines and bumps of metal.

Looking up at him, she met his eyes. Quickly pulling her hand away, she bit her lip.

“I’m sorry.”

James shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, doll.”

Y/N frowned slightly at the nickname, but her face stretched into a smile none the less.

“Doll?” she asked curiously as he shut the drawer and turned towards her. Leaning back against the counter, he crossed his arms across his chest. Y/N’s eyes flickered to the metal again.

Looking at the floor, he shrugged his shoulders with a small smile on his face.

Y/N faked a shocked look and gasped.

“Oh! He smiles as well, I’ll be damned!”

The man in front of her rolled his eyes and stepped in front of her, leaning down, his face close to hers.

“Very funny,” he said.

Y/N’s breath hitched in her throat at the closeness. James chuckled and reached out to poke her cheek.

“Nervous?” he whispered, tilting his head.

Spinning around on her heel, she walked towards the front door. Smiling to herself, she turned around as she took a hold of the door knob.

“Gotta feed my hamster. Wanna come?” she said, amused by the confusion on James’ face. It took a few seconds for him to react. He stood up straight and looked around. Slowly moving towards her, he stopped right in front of her again, looking at her with unreadable eyes.

Y/n inhaled and smiled before strutting out the door towards her apartment, James quick on her tail.

After feeding Popcorn, she stood in the middle of her living room, looking around. It didn’t feel very scary during the day. She liked her apartment. It was cozy.

James was sitting on her couch, watching her. Meeting eyes with him, she smiled and sat down next to him.

“I really appreciate what you did for me yesterday. You don’t even know me, and you walk into a situation like that… I jus- thank you, really, I owe you a lot.”

James gave her a tight smile and looked away.

“It was nothing,” he said gently.

“Yes, it was everything! I might seem really tough, but really, I’m a pussy,” Y/N said with a playful look on her face. James looked at her as she spoke and couldn’t hold back a laugh at her words.

Y/N’s face lit up in a huge grin at the sight. It was beautiful.

“Sorry, I just… I need to have fun or else I’ll just fall into a hole of, I don’t know, horror and despair,” she said as she looked down at her hands, feeling a little embarrassed. James looked at her with a nod and placed his hand on her knee. Y/N’s eyes met his and she sent him a shy smile.

“Let me do something for you.”

James looked at her with a questioning look.

“Let me make you dinner or something. Please,” she raised her brows at him in hope.

And for the first time since they met, he didn’t take an hour to decide if he was going to reply.

“I’d like that very much,” he said as his hand gently squeezed her knee, sending jolts of warmth throughout her body. She grinned at him and clasped her hands together.

For the rest of the day, they just talked. Well, Y/N talked, James answered occasionally. She told stories, spilled tea and had to change clothes at least twice during the couple of hours, and James just laughed and laughed.

She noticed his eyes flickering to her bruises now and again. And hers flickered to his arm.

They both went quiet at one point. It was starting to get dark outside. Just sitting there, in a comfortable silence. She saw him looking at them again and she smiled at him.

“It’s okay,” she said in a gentle voice, hoping to assure him she wasn’t feeling too bad. It did hurt, but only if she moved her face a lot or touched it.

James slowly nodded his head, not really convinced.

“Could’ve been worse, eh?” Y/N said as she bumped her fist softly into his shoulder. James grabbed her hand and she almost jumped at how fast he moved. She watched as he looked at her hands. There was a pink band-aid on her finger, from a little cut a few days ago, but other than that her hands were just… normal hands. No blood on them. James swallowed and looked at his own big, rough, hands around hers. The difference was night and day.

Y/N squeezed his hand. He looked at her with anger in his eyes.

“No man should hit a woman…”

Y/N saw he felt bad about coming in late. He was feeling what he was feeling, she couldn’t do anything about that.

Moving a little closer to him, she looked him straight in the face. She could see he got a little uncomfortable, not knowing exactly what was going on.

“You listen to me. No matter how hurt I got last night, it’s not your fault. It’s not your job to protect me, but you did, and for even stepping into this apartment last night, I’m so grateful to you. Not many people would.”

There was conflict in his eyes. Y/N smiled and shrugged.

“And hey, I got to know you a little. So, something very positive came out of it as well,” she chuckled, “can you believe I thought you came in to kill me or something, and here you are, the complete opposite of what I thought,” she rolled her eyes at herself.

James’ face dropped. He looked away. Y/N frowned.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to be mean, I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know.”

James swallowed and gave her a tight smile. Y/N felt awful.

“Please, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” she clasped her hands around her face, “I’m such an idiot!”

James shook his head.

“You didn’t do anything wrong at all, doll...”

Y/N sighed before standing up.

“I should make that dinner; food always makes everything better.”

James looked at her walk towards the kitchen, watched her open the fridge and stare into it for well over a minute. She spun around and looked at him.

“I’m the worst.”

James frowned.

“I don’t have food,” she threw her head back and let out a groan, “I’ll go to the store.”

“No,” James was up on his feet in a second.

“James, it’s fine, really” Y/N sulked as she walked towards the door. James stepped in front of her and she almost bumped into his chest. Looking up at him in confusion, she was about to ask him what was going on.

“No,” he ordered, in that rough, raspy voice. Y/N felt her insides twist in excitement and pleasure. It felt dangerous. His tall frame was not to be messed with.

Y/N was speechless. She wanted to just grab his face and kiss him, she had to bite the inside of her cheek to hold back. His eyes were dark. Protective. As she stared at him it felt like he was leaning closer. Or maybe she was leaning closer to him. She didn’t know. Everything around him was blurry, there was only him.

“We’ll go together,” he mumbled, and she was pulled out of her trance. Smiling and nodding, she played it off cool, putting on her coat. As he went to his apartment to get his things, she had to support herself with her hand on the wall. She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Her heart was beating out of her chest.

When he showed up again, she pushed off the wall and locked her apartment door. On the way down he stairs, she misplaced her foot. She slipped and as she felt her body lose balance, she squealed, flailing her arms.

She never hit the floor. She only felt an arm around her stomach, and a very broad chest against her back. Wincing at the pressure on her stomach wound, she grabbed a hold of his arm to support herself. Feeling the hard material through his jacket. His arm was beginning to feel a little comfortable. It was so… him.

Exhaling, she stood there. He didn’t move either. His mouth was right by her ear. She heard his even breathing.

Closing her eyes tight, she leant into him further, hoping he wouldn’t push her off. He didn’t. He stayed.

It felt like three hundred years had passed, when he moved. His arm slipped from around her stomach to her waist, giving her a gentle push for her to walk. Her belly felt cold now.

Moving, her legs felt like jelly. His hand disappeared from her body completely and she hated it.

Exiting the building, he walked next to her, a couple steps in front. She looked at him. How could anyone be so… beautiful and exciting, and kind, without even knowing them?

He felt her eyes on him, but he just let her look at him. He kept his eyes to the front, holding back a jolt of surprise when he felt her fingers take a hold of his hand. It was a soft touch, almost asking for permission. He allowed it. She couldn’t hide the smile on her face the rest of the trip.