#sorry if you see this and i'm embarrassing grace i feel like i'm too sappy iuygfpoijuhgfghui

[bitterbutblue]

zhu yuan angst

wait for me to come home ☆ zhu yuan x reader

~ my birthday present for zhu yuan is her girlfriend dying ~

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"So dinner at.. where again?"

"Waterfall soup?"

"Waterfall.. oh, the place near Random Play?"

"Mhm!"

"What time?"

"Uh.. I get off work at five-thirty, let's say six?"

"Great, see you there, baby."

"Ah- don't say that!"

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing..."

"We've been dating for three years?"

You laugh at your girlfriend's flustered rambling- something about it being more embarrassing when she's at work or whatnot. You really weren't listening. Her voice always puts you under some sort of spell, where you become this lovey dovey, annoyingly sappy version of yourself. You have a stupidly lopsided grin on your face as she mumbles about how she should get back to work but she's so excited to see you tonight.

"Love you, Zhu Yuan!"

"Ack- don't...love you too." she mumbles the last part out quickly and quietly, but then quickly sends a follow up text after:

from: my officer <3:

I'm so sorry!!!

I love you sosososososo much

It's embarrassing to say it out loud in front of my coworkers...

I love youuuuuuuuuuuuu

to: my officer <3

love you most, my darlingggg <3

You just giggle at her texts before putting your phone away.

If you knew what was going to happen next, you probably would've written her a note or recorded a voice message for her- tell her how much you truly love her, how she was everything to you. But you don't really have time to do all that. You really only have a three second window between staring down at a car way past the speed limit and dying.

You hope she knows that your last thought was her.

She waits at Waterfall Soup at 6 on the dot- like you agreed on. She hums to herself, starting awkward conversations with General Chop and bidding Belle and Wise farewell as they finish their meal. She stands and stands, fidgeting with the sleeves of her jacket and clicking at random apps on her phone. The minutes continue to pass, one by one, but you still don't show up. She sighs, trying to push down the disappiontment as she fires you another text.

to: my girlfriend !! <3

Where are you?

Everything okay?

Another ten minutes pass, nothing.

to: my girlfriend !! <3

Hello?

Did you forget?

She started to grow annoyed- at the end she decides to call you. The phone rings, rings, rings... and nothing. She groans, pushing her phone into her pocket. She's tired and hungry. She calls you again, and again. By the third failed call, her annoyance turns into worry. She begins feels her stomach churn as she goes through all the possibilities of what might've happened to you- maybe your phone just died. Surely, your phone just died, right?

She calls your closest friend, Grace or something. She doesn't pick up either. Now she actually feels like she should be panicking. Grace refuses to pick up, and she keeps calling until a different line comes in- she doesn't recognise the number but in her line of work any call can be important. She sighs, groaning frustratedly as she picks up.

"Hello-?"

"Is this Zhu Yuan?"

"Yeah?"

"This is New Eridu Hospital. You were listed as an emergency contact for..."

They said your name.

Your name.

Human language was created so that people could communicate, people could plan, organise, discuss. But the human language also has this incredibly ability to make you feel, and it's truly inrcedible how a few words can cause your entire world to shatter into nothing.

"She's not going to make it."

"What?"

Her own voice is shaky, quiet. She can barely hear herself. She feels her blood run cold, her hands shaking as the tips of her fingers grow as cold as ice. She swallows, shaking her head.

"What?"

"You should-"

She doesn't even let them finish, she's already hailed a cab off the street. The entire time she has to fight the sickening urge to throw up, her heart is beating in her chest and she can't breathe. She wants to beg the taxi driver to go faster but there's only a certain speed they can reach up to before they literally break the sound barrier. By the time she arrives at the hospital, she doesn't even bother waiting for change. She throws down a wad of cash and runs- dashing through the doors of the hospital. The bright lights and the stench of disinfectant hits her like a truck

"Hello? I'm here to see-"

"Zhu Yuan?"

She freezes. She recognises that voice- Grace. Seated next to her was her sister, Koleda. Grace's eyes were red as she wipes at the tears on her face.

"Grace? Grace, where is she, is she okay?"

Grace just breaks down into sobs and she already knows the answer to the question. She can feel her knees going weak, collapsing to the floor. Koleda rushes up next to her, her own voice hoarse and raspy as she wraps a comforting arm around Zhu Yuan.

"I'm sorry." Koleda hushes out, but she can barely focus.

All she can do is stare ahead, tunnel visioning as she feels every ounce of her being slowly crumble- each piece slowly being torn off or chipped away as Grace echoes back what happened earlier that day. You had gotten hit by a car soon after she had just gotten off from work, and there was little to no chance of survival. It was a miracle you even made it to the hospital alive, but Zhu Yuan wasn't fast enough. Fuck, not even Grace was allowed to see you because it was that fucked up.

She just stays on the ground, refusing to move. Zhu Yuan felt sick just thinking about it, her breathing shallow as she watches the life she's built turn into just a memory right in front of her eyes. She watches her future turn into the past, her life diverge from what it was supposed to be into a new unknown. She watches you fade, she can still feel your smile against her neck when she hugs you close. She can still feel your kisses against her cheek after a long day of work but it's only a feeling now.

It'll only stay a feeling now.

She never even got to see your body. She never got to hold your hand for the last time- only watching as they lowered you to the ground. It never felt real until that day. The day she watched you, in a box, lower into nothing but a ditch and she wails. She begs them to stop and she begs you to just wake up. She cries, screaming for you to wake up- just wake up. She hopes this is all some sick and fucked up prank but the box just lowers and lowers- until you become nothing more than a memory. Your texts become nothing more but a reminder, your photographs are nothing but taunts.

from: my girlfriend!! <3 (sent 5 days ago)

u r my world zhu yuan

missed u

excited to see u soon!

last seen 5 days ago

[that-was-anticlimactic]

Hey Corey I have a question, how did you and Grace do that friends to lovers thing and how do I do it. Please I need advice how do you do the wlw thing

yes, hi my beloved! idk why i forgot to respond to this, so jeg siger undskyld that this is a late response iogcfgvhjiiuhgfcuytrtdf

um. so like. the answer is my internet friend shannon literally forced me to confess to grace. like. not even kidding - my confession was read straight from my phone. it was a message that shannon sent me of what to say. i didn't even look at grace because i was so nervous iuygfgvhoiuhygtfcvgh i also tell shannon like everything, so shannon got every update on our relationship and feelings from my pov and then was like "okay just talk about this" like i'm not kidding we'd still prolly be pining / trying not to have a crush on each other if shannon hadn't forced me to say something haha

so ig what i'm saying is find someone who forces you to talk <3

[spacs]

"Important," with Promptio, please... (I'm all sappy about them after your headcanons)

Send me a “Important” and I’ll write a drabble about one character explaining why the other is so important to them

oh boy here we go. god i hope this doesn’t get OOC, especially with me attempting Prompto’s POV…

Prompto wasn’t sure when it happened exactly,but all of a sudden he found himself pining for Gladio.

Gladio would laugh andPrompto felt like his heart would burst. Prompto would turn around in his frontseat of the Regalia and see Gladio reading, intense and focused on his book,and he couldn’t help but stare. When they made camp at night, Gladio would moveto the side and do his pushups and Prompto watched his muscles ripple throughhis arms and he would think about how it would feel to run his hands over them. Hetook a lot of pictures of Gladio and he was surprised no one had said anything.Ignis had to have noticed - Ignis noticed everything. He was either stayingrespectfully quiet or Prompto’s pictures were just that good. Oh man it had to be the respectfully quietthing.

When the Crystal claimed Noctis and they wenttheir separate ways, Prompto thought he would get over it. He went back totrying to impress Cindy and catch the attention of Aranea when she decided tograce them with her presence. He didn’t see Gladio very much these days and hetried not to think about him too much. When he found himself flipping throughold pictures he could feel the flutter of his heart every time one of thepictures was of Gladio’s smile. He tried to chalk that up to missing his oldfriends.

It had been a year since Prompto had seen Gladio.

He arrived in Hammerhead, tired from a nightof clearing out the daemons that had congregated. “Hey curly,” Cindy called,tipping her hat at him in the pleasant way she did to everyone. “Got avisit from one of your old friends,” she smiled, pointing over to the RV at theend of the lot.

Prompto turned and saw Gladio. His hair waslonger and even from this far away he could see a new scar on his arm - thatwere somehow even bigger than he remembered. His nose was buried in a book, hisexpression just as concentrated as it had always been when he was invested, andhe hadn’t even noticed that Prompto was there.

He felt himself running. He didn’t even callGladio’s name, just collided with him, sending both of them toppling over the,now broken, plastic chair. Gladio’s book flew from his hand and he made a soundthat sounded a lot like a chocobo as they hit the ground. His impossibly hugemuscles tensed when Prompto wrapped himself around him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”Prompto complained, burying his face against Gladio’s shoulder.

Prompto felt him relax, finally realizing whatwas going on. “Didn’t know you’d be here,” he answered. Gladio’s voice wasexactly the same. The same deep gravel that rumbled in his chest. “Youbroke the chair.”

“You broke the chair,” Prompto retortedquickly. “You’re a giant, you shouldn’t sit in them.”

Gladio let out a resigned sigh and pattedPrompto’s arm that was wrapped around him. “Can you let me up now?”

“Can you not disappear for a year without aword?” he shot back, his voice muffled by Gladio’s skin.

Silence fell over them and he felt Gladio drophis head to the ground. They stayed on the ground, Gladio’s hand still graspingPrompto’s arm, and he continued clinging to Gladio. “Sorry,” Gladiofinally mumbled.

At that, Prompto let him sit up. He put hishands on Gladio’s shoulders, looking him square in the eye. “You can’tjust leave.”

Gladio cracked his neck then rubbed the backof it, awkward under Prompto’s stare. He averted his gaze and asked, “Haveyou talked to Ignis?”

“Yeah,” he said, witha little more edge than he intended. “Because Ignis wanted me to know hewas okay and check in to see if I was okay.” He waited for a beat and gentlypunched Gladio’s chest. “I’m fine, by the way.”

Gladio grinned, almost sheepishly, reaching upto flick Prompto’s forehead. “Sorry,” he repeated. “I had some stuffI needed to work out.”

Prompto pursed his lips and sat back, crossinghis legs in front of the other man. Gladio sighed and leaned against the RV,stretching his legs out next to Prompto. “You know you’re…” Promptohesitated, his voice catching in his throat.

“I’m what?”

He frowned and lookeddown at Gladio’s feet. Everything aboutthis man was big, wasn’t it? He didn’t think about the implications of histhought until it was too late and his cheeks turned red. “It’sembarrassing, forget it.” He tried to wave Gladio off and stand up, but Gladioreached out and grabbed his wrist, keeping him down.

“I’m what?” he pressed.

“You’re important to me,” Prompto blurted. Hesnapped his mouth closed, his cheeks puffy and he looked wide-eyed at Gladio.The other man raised his eyebrows and blinked, dropping his grip on Prompto’swrist. “I mean you’re…” Prompto sighed and relented, “You’reimportant to me.”

“Yeah?”

Prompto rolled hiseyes, shoving Gladio’s shoulder and trying to smile. “You’re a jerk but yeah.” He scratched his cheek, willing the bloodto leave his face. “So don’t just disappear on me again, okay?”

Gladio studied Promptofor a few moments, making Prompto dart his gaze from Gladio to anything but Gladio and then, without being able tohelp it, back to Gladio. He felt like one of the pages in the books with theway Gladio’s eyes watched him, careful and calculating. It was an odd feeling,being the subject of Gladio’s intense attention. He didn’t think he would everhave the privilege of getting this treatment, despite how much he had foundhimself wishing to be one of those pages while he’d watched the other man readin the Regalia a year ago.

“Okay,” Gladio said simply, finally answering.

Prompto lifted his eyebrows,surprised. “Okay?”

Gladio nodded. “Okay,” he clarified.

They stared at eachother and for one second, Promptothought he was going to lean in for a kiss —

“Ya’ll kiss and make up, yet?”

Prompto nearly jumped out of his skin,scrambling to stand at attention for Cindy. Gladio’s laugh rumbled and he puthis hands his knees, pushing himself to his feet. He shoved Prompto, who turnedto glare at him indignantly.

“You broke my chair,” Cindy scolded, stillsmiling. She put her hand on her hip, pointing down to the broken plastic onthe ground.

“You can blame this one for that,” Gladiogrinned, gesturing to Prompto, who gasped innocently. “I’ll get you a newone.”

“You better get me one of them fancy chairsover in Tenebrae,” she replied good-naturedly.

“Count on it!” Prompto piped in, steppingbetween them.

Gladio threw an arm around Prompto’sshoulders, drawing him in. He messed Prompto’s hair, locking his arm aroundhim. “C’mon, you’re buying dinner,” he laughed, dragging Prompto to thediner.

Prompto ducked outfrom underneath Gladio’s grasp, playfully pushing his arm and followed afterhim. “You got yourself a date, big guy.”