Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU
You’re still struggling to process your encounters with the dangerous Pero, and end up asking your father for help. Meanwhile, someone appears to have been sneaking around your house at night.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
You settled back into your well-established routines over the next few days, but a sense of unease lingered under your skin. The story remained the biggest headline over the weekend, but when nothing new had been reported concerning the maiming by Monday, people had moved on, gone back to work, and life returned to normal in the sleepy community. Not for you, though.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU
You and Pero face new problems in more than one way, because of what happens to him when he tries to save you from Pete.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM, but I feel obliged to mention that this contains GORE.
Pure and overpowering rage was his only driving force, meaning that training and experience and even instincts were pushed away into the periphery of his being, while he went at Pete like a raging bull. He should’ve been able to easily just snap his neck or crush his skull or any of hundreds of different ways he knew how to kill people, but that knowledge was lost to him in the frenzy. Had the walls been concrete, his repeated pounding would’ve broken every bone in Pete’s torso, but the rotted wood gave under his weight, sparing him from the most severe damage.
Whew that gore was hectic! I’m glad they got out of Pete’s clutches - it was touch and go there. Poor Pero forever beating himself up over his protective streak, doesn’t he know it’s part of his charm? I loved when he came back in and tried to hide against her, it was so soft!
I’ve been re-reading DMT the past few days, and this little drabble just came to me. I still love and miss these guys so much!
Rating: Everyone Warnings: None. Word count: 619 Masterlist of the original story (Gif by me)
You stepped out of the car in the parking lot, remembering the last time you’d been there, almost two years ago now, and how oddly emotional it had ended up being. Walking into the shop you realized that you’d never actually had a chance to peruse the place before, and took your time strolling down the aisles, looking at the large variety of items for sale. You knew what you were looking for, though, and once you’d found it, you stopped dawdling and headed for the checkout desk.
Warnings: Canon style violence, threats of rape, threats of castration, threats of death, death, blood, virgin reader, oral sex (female receiving), vaginal sex, unprotected sex, sword fights, crude language, death.
Comments: When your father dies and leaves you to protect your lands and your people from a neighboring lord who wishes to claim both you and the land, you hire mercenaries to fight for you. Pero Tovar is tired of riding and fighting for others after leaving the East, but he agrees to work for you, quickly falling for your bravery and kindness.
Co-written with @storiesofthefandomlovers
Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says ’creator chooses not to use warnings’. You also agree that you’re the right age to be consuming anything here.
You crumple the parchment, fury marked between your brows and you hiss out your frustrations as you throw the message into the hearth and watch it ignite, the paper and the threat of harsh times to come curling up and blackening in flames before dissolving into ash. If you were a man, this would not be happening. At least not as it is. Your father had to die and leave you without an uncle or cousin to care for you and be your guardian. Now, the neighboring lord to the east sought to steal your father’s lands, your lands and claim them as his own. Claim you as his own, as if you were some conquest to be won by the tip of his sword.
You are more than capable of running your father’s lands, you have been doing it for the past five years while your father’s health declined after being thrown from a horse. Quietly, so that only his master of business and the head guard knew, but you were the one that made the decision for the people who lived and worked the land he owned. The people who needed your protection. “Hawthorne.” You turn to the man in armor, in charge of your men and give him a tired sigh. You know he is in your corner but the twenty men he has under him isn’t enough. “Put the word out, we need swords.” You tell him. “Lots of them. I am not willing to lay down and have my home destroyed by that bastard and he’s not going to be happy until we prove that to him.”
Author’s note: So… I wrote this as a birthday gift to myself, so I’m sorry if it’s a little self indulgent. I just needed some fluff and soft Pero for my birthday ❤
Unbeta'ed, so all mistakes are mine.
Warnings: mutual pining (and lots of it), brief mentions of loss (barely a sentence) and sprinkled with a few allusions of masturbation and sex. Other than that just pure fluff. And soft Pero is a warning in itself
Words:2116
As the days start to grow longer and the snow slowly melts away, you begin to scout the horizon. It had been months of waiting, but he said he would be back at the end of winter. That he would try to make it back to celebrate your name day.
Your father, of course, had thought it a fool’s errand to trust the word of a sellsword, but alas. You had lost your heart to the Spaniard and, dared you hope, that he had lost his to you in return?
In the short time Mr. Tovar and his companion Mr. Garin had stayed at your village, you had come to enjoy your daily talks with the Spaniard. Every day, he would come by your family’s bakery.
You quickly learned that Mr. Tovar had a sweet tooth, so you would always have a pastry ready for him. At first your small gesture was just to be sweet to the outsiders, as they helped around the village. But slowly, as the days progressed, you started making pastries for him for a selfish reason. Simply to keep him coming back.
Summary:You come across a badly injured man in the woods and decide to help him.
Living alone in a small wooden house, you were in a constant battle against all elements.
You were proud of what you achieved. A house, a nice farm with animals, crops and you took care of everything on your own.
But if you were honest with yourself, you were lonely.
Even if there was a village a couple of hours from your home, your house remained lonely.
You always thought you would have a husband and children by now. That’s what your parents wanted for you, that’s what you wanted. But then you moved out and you were so focused on your farm, you forgot the years passing by.
And before you realized it, you were all alone.
Even if you were happy with the life that you had you knew that it could be better but you didn’t want to get greedy, you are thankful for what you had because you worked hard for it.
One morning you woke up early, collected all of your eggs, put everything on your carriage and left to go to the village to sell your goods and hopefully buy a couple more plants that you could grow and also you hoped to get some fabrics so you could make a new dress for yourself.
At least that was the plan, however, you never made it to the village.
On your way over there you saw a black horse with a saddle on it, but there was no rider, the horse was wandering around all alone, you hopped off of your carriage and headed to the horse, you slowly approached it making sure that it wouldn’t hurt you or get scared as you grabbed the leash. You tried your best to calm the horse down, and once you have succeeded you tried to look around to see if there was someone there.
“Hello?” You called out but there was no answer, you know there had to be someone out there because a horse like this would not be roaming the woods alone. So, you tied the leash to your carriage before moving into the forest a little bit more trying to find the owner of the horse. Constantly calling out to see if someone would answer but there was no answer and no one there.
You turned back around, decided to just get back to your carriage and get on with your day when you heard a deep groan.
You followed the muffled voice and found a man, obviously injured, as he was leaning against a tree on the ground.
Carefully you approached the man looking around to see if that was just a trap but then you found no one there, you decided to help him. First, you made sure that he was still breathing and when you found him still alive, you knew you needed to do something.
You couldn’t just leave a half-dead man and steal his horse.
He had some kind of armour on him, that’s how you knew that he was a swordsman, he was obviously injured from a battle or maybe from a fight you weren’t sure but you wanted to help him. He had long hair and a thick beard. It was obvious that he was the owner of the horse since the sword by his side looked exactly the same as the one you found on the horse.
So, you did what every helpful person would do, got him back to your carriage and back to your home.
He was a very heavy man, it was hard for you to move him around, but somehow you managed to get him to your bed. You laid him back and found his wound. It was on his abdomen.
You didn’t want to invade his privacy but you knew that you needed to clean up the wound, or he would bleed to death. You gathered all of your courage and slowly took off his top along with his armor.
You had to admit that he was a very well built man, possibly due to his profession. You needed to stop yourself, you know better than to drool over a man that you just found in the woods covered in his own blood, he could be violent for all you knew. But somehow you still had a feeling he wouldn’t hurt you.
—
You had been taking care of the injured soldier for two days now, he never once woke up. You cleaned and closed his wound, bandaged him up but now you were worried. He needed to wake up so he could eat and drink, maybe even bathe since he smelled terrible.
You went into the room later that afternoon, only to find the man awake.
“Finally.” you said that you were very relieved that he was finally awake.
“Who are you? What have you done to me?” he asked with a panicked voice, something you had definitely prepared for, since you know this will happen. from his accent, you could tell that he was not from around here.
“I helped you, found you covered in your own blood with your horse running around, I took you to my home and took care of you, you’re welcome.”
He looked confused, but then when he tried to sit up he let out a groan reminding himself of his wound. When he looked at it he saw that it was all cleaned and bandaged, he realized that you were not lying.
“Gracias.” And there it was again, but then he said that word his accent was not present, you wondered what language that was. You looked at him, offering him a small smile before you placed the tray of food in front of him so he can finally eat.
“Eat and drink, I’ll warm up some water so you can take a bath.” you said before you left the room, deciding that he needed some time for himself.
Pero was confused. He was sure he was a dead man. His injury was way too deep for him to survive. He ran after he was ambushed. He needed to get out, he knew a village was nearby so he headed there, but he didn’t make it. He fell off his horse and managed to drag himself to a tree before he completely zoned out.
And now, he woke up to, what he thought, was an angel, his angel welcoming him in Heaven.
And yet he found himself very much alive and hungry.
He ate and drank everything that was on the tray like an animal that hasn’t eaten in a very long time. He even took a bath, cut his own hair and beard. He looked at himself in the water before he pulled his bandages back to see the wound on his abdomen. It was deep, but it was also healing. It wasn’t infected which meant you took care of him better than anyone else.
“Don’t do that. It needs to be covered for a couple of days before we can take off the bandage.” Pero’s head moved in your direction. “I came to change it.” You showed him the fresh one in your hands.
He only nodded as he let you work on him.
“You looked like an old man. You are actually quite handsome.” you weren’t sure why you were so bold. You were usually more reserved and shy.
There was something about him that made you confident.
“Senorita, I caused you enough trouble already. I should get going.”
“Don’t be silly. If you leave you might get an infection and die. You are welcome to stay until you are fully healed. I could use the company.”
“What will your husband say? Having a stranger in your home. Not something a man would want to see.”
You laughed. "I’m not married.“ you watched as his frown turned into shock.
"How is that possible?” you shrugged your shoulders. “But if you want to help, I am making some potatoes for dinner, you could help me peel some.” you offered him a smile before you finished up with the fresh bandages before you left the dirty ones to soak in some soap and water.
You could easily tell Pero was not used to staying in one place for a long time. You often caught him staring around the house, not understanding what some things were. You could only imagine how he missed fights and war.
But then, a couple days later you heard him say something. Something that made you realize just how wrong you were.
“I always wanted to just sit on a porch and enjoy the day.” is what he said. You looked at him but he was just looking at the farm with warm and kind eyes. You understood he didn’t miss war, war was all he knew. And now that you showed him another side of the world, he didn’t want to let go.
You could only smile. Partially, you were thankful he didn’t turn out to be a savage man.
Pero was very gentle and kind. Calling you all those names you can’t even pronounce. Yet, they all sounded so sweet and sexy coming from him.
You slowly began to realize that you have managed to develop romantic feelings towards the swordsman.
And he had only been at your home for about two weeks.
His wound nearly healed, you feared he might leave soon, but Pero was in no hurry.
Little did you know that your feelings for him were not one sided.
Pero felt just the same.
Seeing you every day, smiling at him, eating with him, asking him to help you with small things around the farm, you looked like the most perfect human being in his eyes.
You were determined, independent and oh so kind.
So kind, it made his heart skip a beat whenever he saw you feed the animals around your home and not only your farm animals, you also took care of the forest animals. The way you watched the deer from your window as they are the carrots you left outside for them, warmed his heart.
He didn’t want to leave. He was done with fighting. He wanted to stay with you, be with you and for you to be his.
Pero was not a man of words, he rather showed his feelings than talk about them, but you made him nervous. He felt like he was just a young man, looking at the most beautiful woman.
If it wasn’t for that fortunate unfortunate night. He was sure he wouldn’t have the life he has now.
It was raining outside. A storm was coming, thunder and strong wind. You made sure all your animals were safe before you headed back to the warmth of your home.
“It’s extremely cold outside.” you said as you took off your jacket. You put the coat back to its place before you joined Pero on the couch, there were many candles lit and the fire place kept the house warm, but the strong wind managed to get through the cracks of the windows and it made you shiver.
At least your animals were safe.
The two of you have already eaten, so you pulled out your book and started to read. Usually, around this time Pero just relaxed or decided to go to bed early.
But from the corner of your eye, you saw him looking at you.
You found him doing this many times before. Him, just staring at you. You wondered if he just forgot that he was looking and he was just deep in thought, or why was he like that?
And lately, you found him doing it more and more.
“You are staring again.” You said as you looked at him and he quickly looked away. “Is there something on my face?” you asked as you touched your skin.
“No, Mi Amour.” there it was. That word you had no idea what it meant.
“What does that mean? You keep saying those words, I might think they are insults but you always say them with a light voice.”
If you didn’t know any better you’d say that Pero was blushing, but you knew better, so you blamed the candlelight.
“They are no insults.”
“I know that now. But I wonder, what do they mean? The only thing I figured out so far is the ‘Princess’ because you said it in a similar way. But… what was it? Mi Amour?”
“Your pronunciation is really good.” was all he commented. Maybe it was an insult that’s why he didn’t want to tell you, so you just turned back to your book.
Then, he took a deep breath as if he was preparing for some big speech.
“I’m grateful. You saved my life, gave me shelter. I’m only a swordsman, I kill people, but still, you were able to look past that and let me into your home. And for that, I’m forever in your debt.”
“You want leave, don’t you? You are saying things like this is goodbye.”
“I don’t want it to be, Mi Amour, but…” he trailed off, you weren’t sure if he even knew what he was going to say, he was a man of few words. “Mi Amour means, My Love. And I love you, took me a while to realize but I do. You make me happy, and I would love to have you as my wife, if you agree.”
The love confession was one thing, but now the proposal as well. It might have been too much if you didn’t feel the same towards him.
At first, he annoyed you. He spoke in his own language, not caring if you understood or not, but slowly and surely, he found his way into your heart.
You put your book down and moved closer to him, you placed your hand on his chest as you looked into his eyes.
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you miss the action? The fights? Are you sure you’ll be fine with this simple life?”
“Of course. I won’t miss it, not when it left me with so many scars. You have no idea how long I thought about it.” he grabbed the hand that was on his chest, kissing your palm.
If only it wasn’t for the sudden loud thunder to ruin the mood. The loud noise made you jump and curse. It only made him laugh a little.
But finally, he pulled you in for a kiss. A sweet kiss that immediately felt like you were on cloud nine.
He held you like no one before. He kissed you and made love to you like you were the most precious gem. And to him, you were.
And this was only the beginning of your life with him.
A/N: I might add later on more chapters to this. I do have a couple of ideas planned. (Like the wedding, kids, angst!) Let me know if anyone is interested, I’m open for ideas!
Warnings: Canon style violence, threats of rape, threats of castration, threats of death, death, blood, virgin reader, oral sex (female receiving), vaginal sex, unprotected sex, sword fights, crude language, death.
Comments: When your father dies and leaves you to protect your lands and your people from a neighboring lord who wishes to claim both you and the land, you hire mercenaries to fight for you. Pero Tovar is tired of riding and fighting for others after leaving the East, but he agrees to work for you, quickly falling for your bravery and kindness.
Co-written with @storiesofthefandomlovers
Click Keep Reading only if you have read the Rating and Warnings and understand the warnings may not be complete to avoid listing spoilers. As AO3 says ’creator chooses not to use warnings’. You also agree that you’re the right age to be consuming anything here.
You crumple the parchment, fury marked between your brows and you hiss out your frustrations as you throw the message into the hearth and watch it ignite, the paper and the threat of harsh times to come curling up and blackening in flames before dissolving into ash. If you were a man, this would not be happening. At least not as it is. Your father had to die and leave you without an uncle or cousin to care for you and be your guardian. Now, the neighboring lord to the east sought to steal your father’s lands, your lands and claim them as his own. Claim you as his own, as if you were some conquest to be won by the tip of his sword.
You are more than capable of running your father’s lands, you have been doing it for the past five years while your father’s health declined after being thrown from a horse. Quietly, so that only his master of business and the head guard knew, but you were the one that made the decision for the people who lived and worked the land he owned. The people who needed your protection. “Hawthorne.” You turn to the man in armor, in charge of your men and give him a tired sigh. You know he is in your corner but the twenty men he has under him isn’t enough. “Put the word out, we need swords.” You tell him. “Lots of them. I am not willing to lay down and have my home destroyed by that bastard and he’s not going to be happy until we prove that to him.”
A ‘kinuta’ longquan celadon 'twin fish’ dish. Southern Song dynasty, (1127-1279).
Rating: General (a first for me!) No warnings.
Word Count: 2000
Fandom: The Great Wall (2016)/Pedro Pascal
Summary:Pero returns home from his journey to China. He is eager to see his family, especially his young daughter. But he soon sees that she’s not so young anymore.
A/N:There is no romantic pairing. Rather, this fic is about Pero and his teenage daughter, Rosita. As requested by @lolplease
Pero finds her in their small orchard, standing on her tiptoes to pluck a few apples from a tree’s lower branches. The soft clink of his armor and the thump of his boots on the familiar path reaches her before he does. When she turns to face him, it’s as if someone has knocked the wind out of him.
Prompt:character is taken hostage by the antagonist, their lover goes absolutely ballistic, doing everything in their power to protect their lover, the antagonist has to restrain them, but it doesn’t stop the character from trying to reach their lover, doesn’t matter what happens to them, doesn’t matter if they get beaten as long as their lover is safe & “ it’s you and me, forever. no matter what.“ (requested by @lv7867 for my 3k follower celebration, thank you so much!)
Warnings: kidnapping, injury, hurt/comfort, mention of sex, protective!Tovar, character death, slight violence and blood
Notes: Blanket statement that my blog is 18+ only even if this one isn’t explicit. I love how multiple people requested this prompt cause y’all know I live for this!!! I obviously got very carried away with this one too so I hope y’all enjoy!! I have an update blog too to stay up to date on when I post @flightlessangelwings-updates
~
The tavern bustled with life as you ran between tables with large jugs of ale in both hands. The sun had set long ago, but business did not rest as the townspeople filled the space to rest and relax from their long day. Your job, however, had just begun and you moved as fast as you could to get everyone their drinks. Friendly, familiar faces filled the room as all the patrons thanked you by name.
But there was one face you really looked forward to seeing. It was a face you hadn’t seen in some time and one you so desperately missed.
As if on cue, the handsome mercenary that filled your thoughts walked into the room. A hood covered his head and his dark armor kept him shadowed, but you knew his figure well. His dark eyes peered from under his hood as he looked up and caught your gaze. A brief smile graced his face as his eyes met yours before he silently moved to a darkened corner of the tavern and sat down.
You quickly filled a jug for him and made your way over to his table. A grin lit up your face as you got closer to the man who held your heart, though he wasn’t aware of just how much you cared for him.
“On the house, Pero,” you spoke in a sultry tone as you slid the drink over to him, “I’m glad to see you back. I’ve missed you.”
Tovar simply nodded as he took the drink from you, “Gracias, querida.” His tone felt cold and he barely looked up at you. It was as if he ignored your very presence and didn’t care that you were there.
Something felt off. Ignoring the crowd behind you, you sat down in order to speak to him, “Is everything ok?” You reached for him and rested your hand over his.
“Fine,” he snapped back as he pulled his hand away from yours.
This was odd, Tovar never used that cold tone with you before. With everyone else, he was harsh and gruff, but never with you. He practically worshiped you, and though he was rough with you in bed, it was what you wanted and he always took such good care of you after. You always felt safe and protected with Tovar, and until this moment you thought you had cracked through his tough exterior.
“Fine!” you spat as you swiftly rose to your feet. Anger pulsed through your veins as you felt your heart break, “Are you even happy to see me after all this time?”
Tovar finally looked at you, and his face stayed neutral as he spoke a single word, “No.”
You choked back a sob as you gave in to your anger, “Ok,” your voice wavered as you spoke, “I see. I’ll leave you alone then.”
With that, you walked away and went to the back of the tavern to be alone. You tried to think of why he would act like this with you, and you wondered what you did wrong. Everything seemed fine when he felt for his mission, but suddenly it wasn’t. Your mind raced with scenarios as you pushed the back door open and stepped out for some fresh air.
It wasn’t until you were finally alone that you let your tears flow. You cursed to yourself for being so foolish for allowing yourself to fall in love, “Stupid,” you whispered to the darkness, “So stupid.”
But, your outburst was interrupted when you heard a rustle in the distance. With a gasp, you quickly gathered yourself and wiped your tears away before you strained to look down the dim alley, “Who’s there?” you called out.
Slowly, outlines of three men emerged from the shadows, and even in the low light you did not like the mischievous looks on their faces. “Hello there, beautiful,” the one who appeared to be their leader said.
You had a bad feeling about them, and you turned and tried to bolt for the door before they could say anything more. Unfortunately, you weren’t fast enough, and the leader caught your arm before you made it back inside. You tried to scream, but he quickly covered your mouth and pinned you against his body. The other two helped him and kept you from wiggling free, no matter how much you thrashed and tried to break away.
“You’re coming with us,” the leader murmured in your ear in a tone that sent chills up your spine.
“Pero…” you squeaked out before you felt a searing pain on the back of your head and your world went black.
Inside, Tovar kept his gaze pointed as he scanned the room. It was as if he was looking for something, or someone, and he kept his guard up even as everyone else around him relaxed. He wasn’t sure how much time went by since you stormed off, but it had been too long since he last saw you.
Tovar hated to treat you like that, but it was the only way he could think of to protect you, even if it meant breaking your heart… and his own.
After he decided it had been too long since he’d seen you, Tovar got up and followed your path towards the back of the tavern. He ignored the other barmaids who tried to stop him and went right for the back alleyway. He was familiar with that outdoor space; he’d fucked you there many nights in the past, but now was not that type of rendezvous. Tovar had a bad feeling in his chest, and as he opened the door to the outside and didn’t find you, his heart completely dropped.
Tovar called your name as he looked for you, but the silence that echoed was deafening. He growled as he gripped his sword, ready to fight whoever could have hurt you. He called for you again, but again was met with silence.
“Mierda,” he curbed to himself as his gaze dropped to the ground.
That was when he noticed a piece of parchment with the word “mercenary” on it. Tovar scowled as he bent over and picked up the note and his blood went cold as he read the threats on the page. The drops of blood on the edges only replaced the fear with rage as he realized the group of thieves he had been after for weeks found you and took you as ransom.
“I’m coming for you, querida,” he ripped the note and drew his sword. He would make them pay for taking you, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
*
You woke with a groan to an unfamiliar setting and the sound of men chattering. When you tried to push yourself up, you found your arms were bound behind your back. You let out a frustrated groan and rolled over onto your back, but the movement caught the men’s attention.
“Hello beautiful,” the same man from before hovered over you, “Nice to see you back with us.”
Before you could let out a protest, he grabbed you and forced you up. He didn’t seem to care about hurting you as he yanked you to your feet and he looked even more like a creep when you got a better look at him close up. Over his shoulder, the other two men from before snickered with dark smiles on their faces.
“Once we’re finished with your mercenary lover, we’re going to have lots of fun with you, my sweet.”
His words made you shiver, and you hated how helpless you felt in his grip. After a glance down, you decided to fight back anyway and you kicked him right between his legs. He let out a pained yelp as he threw you back down to the ground and gave you a kick in return. You screamed in pain as you tried to wriggle away.
“Bitch!” he cried out as he straddled you and reared up to hit you again.
“Enough!” a roar from the distance made him freeze and all eyes turned toward the figure in the shadows.
“Pero…” you breathed as you recognized the figure right away.
He shot you a quick apologetic look before he unsheathed his sword, “You are going to regret doing this, señores,” Tovar hissed.
Before the men could come up with a clever comeback, Tovar lashed out at them with a rage unlike anything you had ever seen before. The leader who had just hovered over you dropped you to the ground and went after the mercenary. With their weapons drawn, they tried to gang up on him, but Tovar’s anger fueled him as he attacked.
You watched, bound and helpless, as he took down the men ruthlessly. He growled and yelled as he cut into each of them and their blood spattered everywhere. They were just as defenseless as you were against him, even with weapons in their hands.
Once Tovar slashed his sword through the first two men, he turned his gaze towards the leader, “You will pay for what you have done,” he growled, “For hurting her.”
With a loud yell, Tovar drove his sword clean through the leader before he could even land a single strike. The leader let out a pained grunt as he dropped his weapon, but Tovar still did not stop. He pulled his sword out and stabbed him again. And again, And again.
Even as his lifeless body fell to the ground, Tovar didn’t stop. Blinded by rage, he didn’t even care that the man’s blood splashed onto his face as he continued his assault.
You watched with wide eyes, unable to look away, until you couldn’t take it anymore, “Pero!” you screamed.
It was your voice that finally broke Tovar out of his trance and he looked over at you. His arm was still frozen in place and blood stained his face. The fire in his eyes still burned until he set his gaze on you, and that was when he finally softened. With a sigh of your name, Tovar dropped his weapons and rushed over to you.
“Are you alright, querida?” His tone was soft as he helped you off the ground and quickly untied you, “They did not hurt you, did they?”
“I’m ok,” you whispered back as you fell into his arms, not caring that he was covered in blood, “Pero I…”
“Hush, querida,” he held you tightly as if he was afraid he would lose you again if he let go.
The two of you stayed like that for some time, both savoring the other’s embrace. You trembled in his arms as he held you close. All your emotions bubbled over and you burst into tears as you suddenly pushed him away, “What the hell was this all about, Pero?!” you shouted at him with tears in your eyes, “First you push me away, then I get kidnapped, now…”
Tovar cupped your face and pulled you in for a heated kiss, “I am so sorry, querida,” he mumbled against your lips when he broke away for a breath, “I only tried to protect you but…” he drifted off for a moment before he spoke again, “Querida, it’s you and me, forever. no matter what.”
You couldn’t help but smile through your tears at his words, “You mean it?”
“Of course, mi amor. I will always keep you safe,” Tovar kissed you again, only this time more slowly and deeply.
There were so many words on your mind. You wanted to tell him how you always felt safe with him, how you truly loved him. But the way you kissed him back and held onto him tightly held all the unspoken words. As long as you both had each other, that was all that mattered.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU
You and Pero face new problems in more than one way, because of what happens to him when he tries to save you from Pete.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM, but I feel obliged to mention that this contains GORE.
Pure and overpowering rage was his only driving force, meaning that training and experience and even instincts were pushed away into the periphery of his being, while he went at Pete like a raging bull. He should’ve been able to easily just snap his neck or crush his skull or any of hundreds of different ways he knew how to kill people, but that knowledge was lost to him in the frenzy. Had the walls been concrete, his repeated pounding would’ve broken every bone in Pete’s torso, but the rotted wood gave under his weight, sparing him from the most severe damage.
Whew that gore was hectic! I’m glad they got out of Pete’s clutches - it was touch and go there. Poor Pero forever beating himself up over his protective streak, doesn’t he know it’s part of his charm? I loved when he came back in and tried to hide against her, it was so soft!
@deadhumourist Thank you, sweets. I wish I had a more eloquent answer for you, but work is… bad.
Yes, I know that this is six months too late, and in the wrong season, but I had to fix the monumental fuck-up of a sequel that I originally came up with. My sincerest apologies. You’ll find a slightly more detailed explanation of what I’m talking about here.
Description: This is a direct continuation of Pero and Genie/Reader’s story, as they spend the holidays together, trying not to tumble headfirst in love with one another, and utterly fail.
Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Warnings: Christmas themes, cursing, mild angst related to a family dispute, mentions of scars, vague smut but definitely for adults only, fluff, happy ending. Modern!pero, pero tovar x female reader. No use of y/n. Dual perspectives. Word Count: 8090 Link to Part 1
You woke up in his arms, limbs tangled through the duvet, which had somehow gotten twisted and found its way around your body even though you’d been snuggled up skin to skin with Tovar when you fell asleep. He was still holding you, as promised, sleeping heavily behind you, and for a moment you wondered what the hell you were doing. This was Pero Tovar. The guy the entire office shied away from, and with good reason. This was not a friendly or romantic or even socially adept person. Except… he had tried to be with you, last night.
Yes, I know that this is six months too late, and in the wrong season, but I had to fix the monumental fuck-up of a sequel that I originally came up with. My sincerest apologies. You’ll find a slightly more detailed explanation of what I’m talking about here.
Description: This is a direct continuation of Pero and Genie/Reader’s story, as they spend the holidays together, trying not to tumble headfirst in love with one another, and utterly fail.
Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Warnings: Christmas themes, cursing, mild angst related to a family dispute, mentions of scars, vague smut but definitely for adults only, fluff, happy ending. Modern!pero, pero tovar x female reader. No use of y/n. Dual perspectives. Word Count: 8090 Link to Part 1
You woke up in his arms, limbs tangled through the duvet, which had somehow gotten twisted and found its way around your body even though you’d been snuggled up skin to skin with Tovar when you fell asleep. He was still holding you, as promised, sleeping heavily behind you, and for a moment you wondered what the hell you were doing. This was Pero Tovar. The guy the entire office shied away from, and with good reason. This was not a friendly or romantic or even socially adept person. Except… he had tried to be with you, last night.
omg this was such a treat! I loved when they walked through the Christmas market! and the ending where he fucks you on the desk OH MAN
thank you for writing and sharing with us!
@theorganasolo I’m so happy that you in particular liked this, since you were one of the reasons why I originally decided to do a sequel at all ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you for reading this and for indulging my chaotic brain
Yes, I know that this is six months too late, and in the wrong season, but I had to fix the monumental fuck-up of a sequel that I originally came up with. My sincerest apologies. You’ll find a slightly more detailed explanation of what I’m talking about here.
Description: This is a direct continuation of Pero and Genie/Reader’s story, as they spend the holidays together, trying not to tumble headfirst in love with one another, and utterly fail.
Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Warnings: Christmas themes, cursing, mild angst related to a family dispute, mentions of scars, vague smut but definitely for adults only, fluff, happy ending. Modern!pero, pero tovar x female reader. No use of y/n. Dual perspectives. Word Count: 8090 Link to Part 1
You woke up in his arms, limbs tangled through the duvet, which had somehow gotten twisted and found its way around your body even though you’d been snuggled up skin to skin with Tovar when you fell asleep. He was still holding you, as promised, sleeping heavily behind you, and for a moment you wondered what the hell you were doing. This was Pero Tovar. The guy the entire office shied away from, and with good reason. This was not a friendly or romantic or even socially adept person. Except… he had tried to be with you, last night.
He’d strayed far away from what you imagined was a very constricted comfort zone, and shared little pieces of himself with you. Small pieces that were enormous because of how little you or anyone knew about him. He’d been calm and confident as he’d directed you on what he wanted you to do to make sure that he could keep his word, not barking orders, but not really asking either, sending you into the shower while he undressed and slipped into bed. You’d debated with yourself over whether to put anything on before you joined him, because at that point, you hadn’t known what his intentions were. But you’d landed on the side of ‘who gives a shit’ and walked into the bedroom without a thread to cover any part of you. It had surprised you to see how strongly he’d reacted to that, but also how quickly he’d reigned himself in, and merely pulled back the duvet to invite you to join him. He’d then instantly shut down any thoughts you had about getting yourself sexually serviced, when he’d told you that he was simply going to hold you, nothing more. Which had oddly enough not disappointed you. Despite the itch between your legs, you’d been warmed to your core by his sudden intimacy, seeming to want nothing dearer than to just share closeness and trust for a night.
And now that the night had passed in blissful comfort and increasing familiarity, you felt like there was something new between you. Something strong. Unlike every other supposedly romantic night of your life for the past several years. You tried to twist around on your back so that you could look at him, but the duvet was also trapped underneath parts of his body, and simply wouldn’t budge, and you huffed a laugh at the ridiculousness of it. Something thrilling passed through your body when his arms tightened in his sleep at the sound, trying to pull you closer, or perhaps just making sure you couldn’t bail on him.
“Pero…?”
You’d never called him by his first name before, and it somehow made you feel powerful. The same sort of proud excitement that you’d felt when you’d just gotten your driver’s license and been given the keys to your dad’s car for the first time. It took him a second to come back to consciousness, but you felt it the moment that he stirred.
“Hm?”
“Good morning.”
“Mmm… yes, it is.”
You smiled at his rough morning voice and the obvious comfort he was in, soft and heavy with sleep, and he seemed to be able to feel your joy even though he couldn’t see your face.
“Did I keep my promise, hermosa?”
“Well and truly, sir.”
A happy little hum escaped him, followed by a tiny brush of his dry lips against your neck, making you shiver.
“Honestly Pero, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed. At least, not that I can recall. Thank you.”
There was a short pause, and then a whispered ‘anytime’. Another promise, but this one given with the understanding that you hadn’t made any commitments to him, and that he wasn’t gonna assume that you would. An offer of a promise that he was willing to make, should you want him to. Which you did. That much you’d figured out about both him and yourself now.
“I’d like that.”
Another brush against your neck, closer this time, lingering, his lips drawing unseen patterns on your skin, stopping to press featherlight kisses here and there.
“I like that too.”
He hummed again, moving to the edge of your jaw, where the kisses got warmer and fuller.
“And this?”
A mere whisper against your cheek, but so full of anticipation that it made you feel like there was electricity in the air around you, ready to burst into a spark and set the room on fire. When had your breathing changed from slow and even to jagged and forcefully restrained, to keep yourself from openly moaning? And how could you react that strongly to a touch that small?
“Yes…”
You turned your head, looking for his lips, but he teased you first, only letting his lower lip briefly make contact with yours, before pulling back a fraction with a warm smile. Mildly annoyed, you ignored the odd angle since he was still behind you, and surged towards his face, capturing his lips to kiss him like you wanted, deep and full and heated, and he responded in kind. Just like in that hallway, your passion seemed to unlock his own, and he eagerly followed your lead, lifting himself up so that you could shift the duvet and free yourself to roll to your back. You let your hands explore his chest as he positioned it over yours, but still with his hips to the side, as if he was hesitant to truly commit to this, which puzzled you. Because there was no lie or mistake in the heat he gave off, the desire so clear in every touch. And then you suddenly knew why, when your fingers danced over broken lines in his skin. Unnatural ridges and valleys, creases and dips, too smooth and yet somehow course against the unbroken parts. He kept kissing you as long as you didn’t pull away, but slower, more careful, preparing for some sort of reaction as he felt your exploration of his imperfections. You let your hands slip over his sides and continued to his back, where it got even worse, and you wondered if his fears now came from experiences of being rejected before, over the ugliness of such things? Sadness overtook you at the thought. Because what if that was part of the reason why he’d become so cold? What if he’d been met with disgust or ridicule so many times that he’d just stopped believing in the kindness of other people, choosing a life of almost complete solitude instead. Tears fell from your eyes, and you had to pull back to wipe them away, hating that he responded by increasing the distance between you, if only by a fraction.
“Are you okay?”
Calloused fingers rubbed soothing circles into the skin of your love-handle, but you weren’t sure if it was to soothe you or him, and your throat was too tight to be able to ask him, right then.
“It’s not… pretty. I know. I understand if you don’t want to look.”
Oh, god… He thought that your tears came from regret, or something? No, no, you couldn’t let him believe that, just the thought was making you angry.
“I don’t care how it looks, Pero! I just fucking hate that people have hurt you, and I hate whoever it is that’s made you think it makes you less beautiful…”
Your eyes were still filling with tears so quickly that you couldn’t see him, and the anger was only strong enough to keep your voice working for those couple of sentences, before it broke. But a mere second later, you forgot all about that, when he suddenly decided to stop holding back, stop following your lead and instead show you exactly what he wanted. He left no part of you untouched, lavishing your body with the admiration of his lips and hands, over and over, whispering sugary sweet praise over your body and your kindness, into your ear, every chance he got. As though he truly considered every perfectly measured push into your centre as the most delectable gift he could ever receive. That morning, there was no trace of the antisocial, taciturn brute that you’d been somewhat scared of ever since your first encounter with him.
It had been his first week on the job, and he’d been scheduled for his first ride-along to HQ, you being the techie he’d been charged with protecting that day. You’d ignored the hard exterior that he’d presented, at first, thinking that you wouldn’t judge this book by his cover, introducing yourself with a bright smile and an open hand, neither of which he’d reciprocated. But stubborn as you were, you’d decided that he was just nervous, anxious to do a good job, not get distracted. So, you’d spent the entire drive to and from HQ trying to engage with him, asking questions and offering small talk, telling him some of your thoughts on things regarding the company and your work, all without so much as a nod or a grunt in return. And finally, the cold harshness that he’d radiated out of every pore, had robbed you of your resolve, and you’d been unsettled by him ever since then. But last night, he’d mentioned liking you from the start, so it must all have been a front. Perhaps, his way of protecting you from himself.
Now though, as he wrung a third orgasm from your already quivering body, all those walls and pretences were torn down. The way he touched you, the care he took with your pleasure, the pride with which he entered you, claimed you, and the gratefulness with which he accepted your affection, all spoke so clearly to how willing he was to leave himself exposed and at your mercy. How willing he was to let you see his heart and claim him in return. But he didn’t ask you for it. His words held no pleads for your ears, no whispered need for you to want him, all he gave you was praise and appreciation, hoping that you’d make the choice he wished for. Christ… how many times had you been the one doing that? How many times had you done everything in your power to be wanted, save desperately begging for it, only to be discarded? You helped each other come back down and find your breaths again, and then just laid there, cuddled close and facing one another, content to do nothing else.
“How do you feel, hermosa?”
“Exhausted. In the best way possible.”
You smiled and he mirrored you, letting his fingers trail your spine, one vertebra at a time. Your eyes drifted down to his chest and abdomen, taking a closer look at those scars now that your eyes were dry, and you felt a crease settle into your forehead.
“How are you still alive?”
The hand at your back kept moving without pause, which you took as a sign that he might not find this topic too traumatic to have a quiet conversation about.
“I worked with a very good medic.”
His voice was strong but kept low. You got the feeling that there was a lot more to it than that, but you wouldn’t push him. Odds were, being able to share anything at all was new to him, and you didn’t wanna scare him off the topic.
“I hope I’ll get the chance to thank him some day.”
His eyes dipped just a fraction, and he tugged you a little closer as if looking for comfort, but you couldn’t tell if it was due to sadness or something more complex. Survivor’s guilt, maybe.
“If you believe in Heaven, then you can pray to him, because I have no doubt he’d be there.”
“Oh… I’m sorry.”
He nodded once but remained silent, so you closed your eyes and nestled yourself deeper into his chest, letting him be free of your scrutiny, in case he wasn’t ready to let you see him in pain. You couldn’t tell if he cried, but after a while, he seemed to soften, as if something heavy had been lifted off his chest.
“Thank you.”
His words were small, but also enormous, and you hoped he knew that he was safe with you.
“Are you okay?”
“More than I ever have been. Except…”
“Except what?”
“Well, I’m not terribly inclined to leave this bed just yet, but… I’m really hungry.”
That made you laugh, and you felt him get infected by it, joining your mirth for a minute.
“What time is it even?”
You pulled away from him to reach for your phone, having to crawl on your hands to keep your lower body still in the bed, as the thing had ended up on the floor at some point.
*****
Pero watched with tremendous appreciation, how your ass curved towards him as your upper body left the bed and you stretched yourself to reach the device on the floor. He felt certain now that you wouldn’t think him greedy if he were to grab you and pull you back so that he could bury himself inside you again, but he still refrained. Because you weren’t just someone. You meant something to him, your every movement, every word, every look held meaning to his eyes, and he didn’t want you to ever think that he merely wanted your curves for his own pleasures. He was unfamiliar with this type of relationship, this emotional closeness on top of the physical, and he needed to be careful not to scare you away. Not to make assumptions. You’d been so kind and understanding already, somehow knowing that he needed to hear your outrage at his imperfections, and that he’d be uncomfortable letting you see him suffer with the grief and pain he carried towards his lost brothers. He’d been so scared last night, making those confessions to you, exposing himself like that, knowing that you had no reason to even believe him, with how distant and unresponsive he’d always been towards you. With the reveal of the mistletoe, he’d nearly just left you standing there, as his own heart had threatened to fall apart with the realization that that kiss… that unexpected, enchanting, perfect kiss… was just frustration. Nothing more. You’d been so uncertain for that entire conversation, understandably so, that he hadn’t expected it to go anywhere even if you somehow hadn’t rejected him. The best he’d dared to hope for, had been that you’d agree to talk more some other time, possibly over lunch. The date he’d perpetually chickened out of asking you for. And now here he was, in your bed, trying his damnedest not to move too fast, to ask for too much, because if he screwed this up, he’d never dare to try again.
“12:30!? Well, no wonder you’re frickin starving.”
He bit back a response about you looking like you could hold him over until dinner, because you both really did need to eat. You groaned and pulled your lower half out of the bed and then surprisingly gracefully stood up fully in an almost dance-like manoeuvre.
“Ugh… but I really don’t feel like cooking lunch right now. Would you be okay with pizza?”
His mind was still elsewhere, though.
“How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“That thing you just did, standing up from that odd position. It looked so easy, even though you were all twisted and tangled…”
A bright smile spread across your face, lit from within by something he couldn’t decipher, taking his breath away as easily as a punch to the gut, but thankfully without the pain.
“I was a cat in a previous life. But not a housecat, mind you, a real one. Leopard, or possibly cheetah.”
“I would say cheetah.”
You didn’t ask him why he thought that, you just flipped the phone over in your hand a couple of times, still with that smile on your face.
“So, how about that pizza?”
“Sounds delicious.”
In the half-hour before the food arrived, you both cleaned up and got dressed, you in soft sweats and a tank top, and him in his dress-pants and shirt, keeping the top three buttons undone, of which you seemed to approve. While you ate, you talked about trivial things, like favourite foods, books and movies, but as the slices got fewer, the conversation shifted, and suddenly you were talking about families, a subject you seemed to find incredibly uncomfortable.
“You don’t have to tell me, I’m just curious because it’s something I don’t really have any experience with.”
You’d mentioned that you weren’t going to do the whole Christmas dinner thing, because that had always been a family thing to you, and since you didn’t have yours anymore, it seemed only painful to you. At which point, he’d asked you why, and you’d merely turned a fraction away from him in your seat. But this question brought your focus back to him.
“You have no experience with family?”
“No. Not like that. Eventually, the military became my family, but the place where I grew up couldn’t be called anything of the sort.”
“Why not?”
“Because I was adopted when I was four, but not out of love or desire for a child. The couple that took me in had the misguided notion that raising children isn’t about giving them comfort, only knowledge and structure. They home-schooled me and two other adopted children, very diligently, and they were actually good teachers. They just weren’t parents.”
“Oh. Did you get to go to college?”
“No. They kept us at home until we were eighteen, and then I enlisted. It was the one time I can recall seeing them look proud of me. And then I got there, and realized that nothing much had changed, except that I was allowed to use weapons and trained how to fight, so I was comfortable there. I advanced quickly since I never disobeyed orders or had any friends that could rope me into trouble, and after just a few years, I was approached about joining more specialized units and eventually ended up in black ops. That was where I learned what family is.”
“Somehow, that seems unlikely.”
“I know. But in those smaller units, protecting each other is the only safety net you have. I didn’t have the option of continuing to be distant and closed off with them, or I wouldn’t have been able to count on them to have my back.”
“So, they showed you how to care about other people?”
“Exactly.”
“But… they’re all gone now?”
He merely nodded at that, the hurt of that loss still biting at his heart, even after five years.
“I’m sorry.”
You looked so sad for him, and he didn’t want you to, but he was also grateful that you cared that much about his heart.
“I wish… that I could talk about them. That I could tell you everything about each one of them… but…”
“Hey, it’s okay.”
You reached out and took his hand on the table, and he loved that you sought that contact with him.
“I might not be able to understand just how deeply this hurts you, but I can see it, and I don’t want you to go there if you can’t. If it’ll only hurt you more.”
He wanted to thank you, to take you in his arms and beg you to never leave, because no one else could possibly put him at ease in the same way that you did. But it was too soon for words like that, for commitments that deep and impactful, so instead, he turned the conversation back to you.
“Can I ask what happened with your family?”
You didn’t pull back or let go of his hand, but a sigh that seemed drawn from somewhere around the floor, pushed through your lips, and suddenly you were the one that looked pained.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t even really know. I wasn’t there when it happened. It was thanksgiving, eight years ago, I was in college and couldn’t come home that weekend because I had a big exam coming up and I’d been stupid and played around with computers instead of studying, so I needed to cram.”
“Why does that sound entirely believable?”
A smile found its way back into your features for a moment, and you mockingly slapped his hand.
“Shut up… Anyway, I got a call later that night, from my older brother Jim, screaming his lungs out at me for telling our younger brother Brody about Jim being gay, which I hadn’t done. But he was so sure that I was the only one who knew that he figured it had to be me, and he wouldn’t hear anything else. He hung up before I’d even had a chance to defend myself, right after telling me that I was a lying bitch and never to talk to him again.”
“What did it matter if they knew? Was he ashamed of it?”
“No, not outwardly, but our parents are very religious and the mere thought that any one of us would stray from the norm is intolerable to them. So, he felt compelled to hide it, just so they’d never find out. Naturally, the next call I got was from them, asking me how I could’ve hidden something so damning and disastrous from them, because if only they’d known sooner, they could’ve ‘fixed’ him.”
You paused to let out a disgusted grunt, shaking your head and staring out the window.
“I think I actually stopped loving them right then. Like a blade had fallen between us, severing any connection between our souls. I’d never been at odds with them growing up, our relationships had been good, but in that moment, I just couldn’t believe that we were related anymore. I didn’t wanna be. And that’s what I told them. I got legal documents in the mail a few weeks later, declaring me disowned from the family and removed from my parent’s respective will’s.”
Pero just stared at you, unable to find anything to say, so you kept going.
“Naturally, my next call that night was to Brody, to ask why the fuck he’d thought it’d be a good idea to open his mouth about something that didn’t concern him, to which he replied: Because he got on my nerves. The selfish little shit had thrown a bomb into the family, just because Jim had done what big brothers do, and taken him down a notch when he got too cocky. I was the one that hung up on him, after yelling almost exactly that, adding that if his goal was to have no family at all, then he’d certainly succeeded. I haven’t spoken to any one of them since.”
He watched you closely, still staring out the kitchen window, looking for answers that you knew would never be there, and he wondered if you’d be willing to let him be your family. To let him give you a family… He had to remind himself that it had only been one night and was way too early for those kinds of thoughts. But stars above, did the images in his head make him yearn for it, even though he’d never once seriously considered it before.
“What are you doing tomorrow, hermosa?”
The question seemed to jerk you out of the past and you refocused on him with an almost comically surprised expression.
“Uh… nothing special. As always.”
“Well, I’d like to do something… with you. It’s a little tradition, nothing fancy, just crappy food and the movies, stuff we used to dream about getting to do on holidays, when we were deployed and only had rations for food and the stars for entertainment.”
That brought your bright smile back, and he couldn’t help but mirror you.
“I’d love to join you, that sounds wonderful.”
“Thank you.”
He leaned over the corner of the table and kissed you, still reeling internally at the fact that you let him do that.
“It’s a date, then. Can I pick you up at noon?”
Your smile faded like a sparkler that had burned down to the bottom, and for a second, he worried that he had indeed overstepped somehow.
“You’re leaving?”
The sudden emptiness in your voice and disappointment in your eyes made him wanna do cartwheels. Because you really didn’t want him to leave.
“I need to go home and change. And I think… we both need a minute with… all this. But I promise you, hermosa, I’m not ditching you.”
“You’d better not. I’m a cheetah, remember?”
He smiled warmly at you, feeling his chest swell with the pride of knowing that you wanted him. Imperfections and all.
“I remember everything about you.”
Another kiss, this one deeper and longer, as he attempted to let his lips show you just how much he wanted to stay. Never before had he felt this softness from himself. This need to take care of someone, inside and out, so he had no idea if he was even doing it right, but he felt largely powerless against it anyway. Against his own desires, he pulled away and went to collect his few things before stepping into the hall to put his shoes on. You came to hug him goodbye, but neither of you said anything, and he left your apartment feeling… giddy? Yes, giddy was the closest thing he could find to describe the feeling of knowing that he’d see you again in less then 22 hours. There was a chill in the air that spoke of impending snow, but it did nothing to cool him down as he walked the four miles back to the office to retrieve his car, having taken yours the night before. He got home at early dinnertime, but somehow wasn’t all that hungry, opting to step into the shower instead, where the warm water reminded him of your soft skin against his, and kept him in there three times longer than his usual cleaning routine required. How were you already such a permanent feature of his existence? He wasn’t surprised that you’d so effortlessly snuck behind his armour and broken all barriers between you, because he hadn’t even tried to keep them up against you. But he wondered how you’d somehow become so integral to his ability to breathe, to do anything anymore, with nothing but a wish to be made to feel good for a night? He had no answers for these questions and that didn’t bother him in the least. The only thing that did was that his hand felt hopelessly inadequate compared to your soft and silky core, no matter how clearly the image of your pleasure played on the insides of his eyes, while the water kept caressing his skin. He wanted more. He wanted to beg you to let him have you, every time he felt like it, but it was too soon, and his greatest fear right now was scaring you away.
*****
You felt a little silly where you stood in front of the hallway mirror, needlessly fiddling with the sleeves of your dress. He’d said that it wasn’t a fancy thing, but you’d still wanted to dress up for him, and now it was 11:51 and you didn’t have time to change, so too much or not, it would have to do. It wasn’t that bad, though. The dress was basically just a mid-thigh-long, figure hugging, knitted sweater, with a big soft collar that loosely bunched up around the base of your neck and shoulders, and the sleeves were full length. It was off-white with thin threads of something silvery woven in at regular intervals, making it look kinda sparkly and festive, while still feeling like something you could also wear just to cuddle up in the sofa. To complete the look, and since it was cold outside with the first inches of snow having fallen overnight, you’d put on black tights underneath, also with a shimmer to them, and you were just uncertain as to whether this look would be considered fancy or casual? You damn near hit your head on the ceiling when the doorbell rang, taking you out of your nervous ramblings, and almost out of your own skin. Taking a second to calm your heart so that he wouldn’t think something bad had happened, you opened the door to find an equally well-dressed Pero meeting your eyes with a smile. You couldn’t help but chuckle when you took in his attire, seemingly new jeans of a high-end brand, a gorgeous dark green V-neck jersey, and a thermal lined brown leather jacket that matched his eyes, to top it off.
“I guess we both decided not to be too casual, after all.”
You stepped back to let him in and saw his eyes travel over your form before returning to your eyes, as he walked in and closed the door behind him.
“You look beautiful.”
“So do you. I love that jacket.”
Something wistful came over him for a moment, and then his smile shifted to a more nostalgic kind of joy. A good memory, perhaps, tainted by loss.
“It was a gift from my brothers. The only one I’ve ever gotten.”
“Oh. Wait… you’ve never gotten any Christmas presents?”
“No.”
“Wow. Okay, I may not be that into the whole spirit of the holidays-thing, but we are doing presents every year from now on.”
He tried to school his features to downplay just how clearly he’d heard the words ‘we’ and ‘every year’, but his failure was epic. The boyish grin, the excited eyes, the sheer hope radiating off him from the second you’d uttered those words, could’ve lit an entire house for a month. If you’d had any fears that he wasn’t in this for the long run, they vanished at the sight, leaving you wondering when exactly you’d decided that you were going for long term here? Anyway, you couldn’t help but tease him a little.
“Unless you think you’ll have other plans next year. I wouldn’t wanna assume…”
He silenced you with a heated kiss, his hands grabbing at your hips to pull you into him while he backed you against the wall, and in no seconds flat, you were suddenly way too hot. But he somehow managed to stop himself at that point, pulling away from your lips, but only as far as kissing down your neck instead, while his fingers dug deeper into the softer flesh of your sides.
“I only want to make plans with you, hermosa. Only you.”
The way your heart fluttered hearing that, made you truly believe that you could fly, for a few beats. How was it that it was Pero Tovar of all people, that managed to make you feel like that? You trailed your arms along his shoulders and down his upper back, snaring him into a strong hug, and again he followed your lead, mirroring the movement so that you were just standing there hugging, taking that moment into your memory-banks forever. Because somehow you could feel that this was the moment. The one where you knew that this was how it was gonna be from now on: the two of you, together.
“I really like the sound of that. So… what are our plans for today, again?”
He hummed in appreciation of your barely hidden suggestion of skipping on those plans, but he didn’t seem inclined to agree, when his grip loosened, and he pulled back fully, only keeping one of your hands in one of his.
“That’s very tempting. But I would like to show you my little tradition, even though it’s mostly silly.”
You smiled and reached for your black wool coat and purple knitted hat and mittens.
“I’m happy to go be silly for a day. Just promise me it’ll end with the two of us in the same bed again.”
“Wild horses couldn’t drag me away.”
He took you to a market, but not the big one in the city centre, full of overprized knickknacks and candy. This one was an hour’s drive outside of town, and exactly what a Christmas market should be, in your humble opinion. It followed a narrow winding street through an old village, and every single stand was full of handcrafted useful things, such as all manner of knitted works, from oven mitts to sweaters, made from wool spun by the sellers themselves from their own sheep. Handmade jewellery crafted from leather, hair, tin, silver or steel, glassware and sculptures made by a self-taught glassblower, whose everyday job was as an electrician. And so many different types of wooden things that you couldn’t even keep up. From cutlery to actual hand-carved canoes… The air smelled of pine, confectionery, mulled wine, hot cocoa and wood-fires. It was the cosiest place you’d ever visited, just an hour away, and you’d never even known it was there. Pero insisted on buying your present there, asking you to pick something you wouldn’t get for yourself, and he’d get it for you. You chose a delicate looking silver necklace with a pendant made of steel, in the shape of a dragon, made with exquisite detail for something no bigger than your thumb. It wasn’t exactly expensive, but not cheap trash either, so it felt appropriate for a gift.
“I haven’t seen you wear jewellery very often.”
“I don’t have that much. A couple of rings, some earrings and one other necklace, but it’s all inherited from my grandmother. I only wear it for special occasions.”
He nodded, looking at the small handmade wooden box that the necklace was delivered in, as you’d opted not to wear it right now, and a crooked little smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
“This would’ve looked really good with that dress from the party.”
You couldn’t help the sudden rise in your eyebrows.
“You think so, huh? I was under the impression that you barely even noticed it.”
“Oh, hermosa… I noticed. I fought very hard with myself not to look for you just so I could gawk at you. And then when I had the chance, out on the balcony, you were so sad that I just couldn’t.”
“You seemed so hard to me then. I couldn’t understand why you stayed out there with me. The stone-cold brute, giving me your jacket. I was all set to gossip about you around the office come January.”
He chuckled at that.
“I think you would’ve had no problem finding eager listeners.”
“Do you hear what people say about you? I mean, does it get around to you?”
“Hah… you have met Tyler, right? I don’t listen that closely, but I do hear some of his ramblings, it’s inevitable. But let’s not talk about work.”
“Okay, then how about your present? What do you wanna get? And before you ask, I’m not getting you a canoe.”
He turned to you with exaggerated grumpiness plastered mockingly on his face, but still not that far off the real thing. A moment later, though, it was gone, replaced by the happy warmth he seemed to have taken to letting out when he was with you. He took your hand and placed it at the bend of his elbow, walking off towards the parking lot while letting you hold on to him, as the ground was slipperier where the cars had flattened the snow.
“You don’t want something from the market?”
“Nope.”
“Hey, you are aware that this is supposed to be an exchange of gifts, right? So, this better not be you refusing to let me give you something.”
“There is something I want.”
“Great! Is it something I can buy?”
“Yes. You’ll see.”
He brought you back to the city, parking near a cinema, but leading you off in a different direction, once you were on foot. It was already getting dark by then, and his path took you down an alleyway that you’d never walk alone, even in broad daylight, but at the end of it, you found a street-vendor selling cinnamon rolls from an old cart.
“Hey, Tovar! Long time, no see, how’ve you been, man?”
Pero nodded at the middle-aged man, greeting him only by name, but opting to ignore the question.
“Terrence.”
The vendor was apparently well versed with the brick wall of a man, looking completely unsurprised at the lack of a fuller response, and simply turned his infectious smile towards you next.
“Damn. I ain’t never seen you with company before, and now you suddenly bring someone this fine down to these hoods? How’d this block o’ ice get someone so soft and warm on his arm?”
You grinned at the compliment, despite the somewhat crude delivery, and decided to try and match the stranger’s humour.
“I thawed him out between my legs.”
Terrence howled at that, while Pero just closed his eyes and sighed at you, clearly uncomfortable with showing this man just how much he cared for you, but relieved that you hadn’t been offended by the vendor’s comments.
“That’d be the way to do it, I s’pose.”
You just kept smiling and shrugged at him.
“Alright, alright, I know you didn’t come here for the chitchat, so how many you want?”
He was addressing Pero again, still chuckling as he turned back to his cart to start putting warm buns into a bag.
“Full.”
“A full house? Man, you must be up to somethin’.”
He placed eight rolls into the paper bag and held it out to your date, who didn’t take it, and instead turned to you. Seriously? This is what he wanted you to buy for his present? You paid a confused looking Terrence, at which point, Pero took the bag and then your hand, before turning to walk back the way you’d come, so you threw a goodbye over your shoulder.
“Nice to meet you, T.”
“Yeah, you too, Miss Thaw. Hope I’ll see you again.”
You smiled to yourself as you walked, but then lightly bumped your companion’s arm with your shoulder.
“Did I just buy you pastries for a Christmas present?”
“Something wrong with that?”
“Well, no. You can have anything you want. Which is precisely why I’m puzzled as to why you merely chose food.”
His face turned slightly apprehensive, even though he was smiling with you.
“Because where possessions are concerned, there’s nothing I want for.”
“And what about other things?”
He hesitated, but then seemed to decide something.
“There is something I want. But that… I can’t ask for. Not yet.”
His voice told you that he was genuinely afraid of talking about it, so you chose not to press the matter, although your curiosity was spiking.
“Right, so are we eating these buns any time soon, cause I’m starving.”
“This is a season of indulgence, so we’re having the rolls for dinner, while at the movies.”
He said that just as you rounded a corner and the cinema reappeared before you, and you laughed out loud at his antics, slipping your arm back around his and falling into his step as you made your way to the entrance.
“You know, I kinda love your silly little Christmas traditions.”
He just smiled wider, which emboldened you. It was too soon to say it with all the weight that it implied, but you could still sneak the meaning into a different way of saying it. Because even though you’d only seen this side of him for a day, you were sure that it was at least where you were heading, if you hadn’t already arrived.
“I kinda love everything about you.”
The look he gave you when he suddenly stopped walking and turned to stare at you, was all the proof you’d ever need that he reciprocated. The kiss you shared, right there on the sidewalk just ten feet from the cinema-entrance, was the most tender moment of your life. You had no idea what movie you watched or what it was about, spending every second of it watching him, studying his every movement, learning every inch of the landscape of his face. And that night, you both learned just how much passion had made a home in your hearts.
*****
The screens mocked him where he sat in the surveillance room, forced to look at your floor, your office, your nimble hands sweeping over the keys, how you every so often stood up and walked around to get the blood flowing through your system again. He tried not to focus solely on you, but fuck was it hard. Primarily because something else kept getting hard too. But he couldn’t just run off and grab you to relieve the pressure in his core, only to then come back here and suffer the same problem within ten damn seconds, he might as well just quit for all the work he’d get done. You’d been back at the office for two weeks already, and it was torture. Mostly because he’d gotten used to getting to hold you whenever he felt like it, touch you without worrying who was close by or which cameras would pick it up. There was no official policy against fraternisation within the company, but when he’d been given his orientation on his first day, his supervisor, Mr. Peck, had stressed the importance of not showing favouritism towards anyone. He’d been quick to add a reminder that corporate espionage happened on all levels and that even management needed to be closely surveilled.
Back then, Pero had never even imagined that he might find himself in this position, just seven months into the job. But here he was. Perpetually uncomfortable. Because the two of you had privately agreed not to showcase your relationship at the office, seen as how you were already struggling to be accepted by your co-workers, and adding him to the mix would surely scare them away for good. But now, just two weeks in, he was already contemplating asking you to tell them to go to hell and let him bend you over your sturdy oak desk, letting everyone hear how good he was to you. Fuck… He had to stop thinking about stuff like that. The frustration was making him twice as irritable and unfriendly as his normal state, which was saying something, and didn’t go unnoticed. Especially by the ever so resilient Tyler. But even his patience was running thin.
“Seriously, dude… will you lighten up? You’re always gruff, but this is a whole new level, man.”
He didn’t even bother turning his chair to glare at the kid. It was time for a shift-change, and as per protocol, Ben had showed up fifteen minutes early for debrief, with his usually chirpy approach, only to meet a fuming Tovar after having been couped up in there for five hours. And when he hadn’t even offered his customary ‘all good’ response, the kid had asked what was up, earning him an undeserved string of Spanish expletives because, yeah… something was indeed up…
“Hey, is the 22-year-old really gonna have to kick you in the ass before you decide to start acting like a human being again? Cause I’m the one guy that isn’t scared of you, so you know I will.”
That made Pero finally throw a glance at the kid.
“Sorry.”
“Ah! He speaks, and an apology, no less. I’m shocked. Now do I get the debrief?”
He couldn’t stop the aggravated grumble in his throat, it was reflexive at this point, whenever he couldn’t be with you. The hours spent in front of the surveillance feeds weren’t always this bad, because each floor was monitored by a separate team, but on a randomly rotating schedule. So, one week he might be looking at floors one and four, another six and fifteen, and so on. But this week he’d had the misfortune of landing both of his surveillance shifts on your floor.
“Nothing.”
It was as much as he could spit out while he watched you get up and leave your office and then the floor all together, heading for your lunchbreak. He wondered if you thought about him. If you missed him as much as he longed for you.
“You’re a peach. Really, I couldn’t ask for a better partner, I mean, you never complain, you never drone about stupid personal crap that I wouldn’t be the least bit interested in, and you never even tell me to shut up. I could be in heaven, and I wouldn’t know the difference.”
The words were dripping with sarcasm, and Pero knew that he was laying it on, trying to coax a reaction out of him, but he could also hear the hurt behind the words. The wish that he would some day decide to share something. Anything.
“I’m dating Genie.”
He said it softly, just barely above a whisper, telling himself that maybe he wasn’t breaking his promise to you, maybe he was just trying to learn to be a friend. But he honestly couldn’t decide if he thought that you’d be okay with this or not. It was a gamble, but one he hoped would pay off in some way. Tyler, predictably, nearly exploded. For a full two minutes he just screamed, squealed, clapped his hands and whistled, before finally settling down enough to actually say something.
“Congratulations, Tovar! Seriously, I’m so fucking happy for you! Are you happy? You’ve gotta be, I mean… Gen’s amazing!! How’d this happen, anyway? Oh! I bet it was around Christmas, right? I knew there was something about you following her into the elevator, I knew it!”
For the first time since he’d met the kid, Pero couldn’t help but smile at him, but he kept his eyes trained on the monitors.
“I’m happy. Just not… here.”
Tyler’s exuberance sort of fell away when he looked at the screens in front of his partner, noting the floor-number.
“Oh… shoot. Yeah, that sucks. But hey, isn’t she on her lunch-break right about now? Why don’t you go find her?”
“We agreed not to. Here.”
“What the heck did you do that for?!”
Pero sighed and pushed away from the desk, standing up and grabbing his uniform jacket, so the kid could take over.
“I’d scare everyone away from her.”
“So, to hell with them.”
“She has to work with them, Ty.”
“No, she doesn’t. If there is one thing that girl does not have to do, it’s work here.”
He looked at Ben with an unspoken question in his brow, and the kid chuckled at his confusion.
“Dude… she’s already turned down two promotions, and a dozen offers from other companies. She could start her own company or consulting firm and never be without work for a single day of her life. She absolutely doesn’t need to be here at all.”
Pero felt like he’d been struck by lightning. How had this never occurred to him? How had Ben fucking Tyler reached that conclusion within two minutes of learning about you two, when he hadn’t in five weeks? He took two steps towards the boy and pulled him into a hug, finally succeeding in shocking him into silence, muttering a quick ‘thank you’ before letting him go and all but running from the room.
When he sat down at your table in the building’s own café, you shot him a polite smile, careful to hide the depth of your affection, but to his eyes it was evident that you were wondering what the heck he was up to. The conversation took up your entire lunch-hour and a little more, but by the end of it, a new agreement had been made between you, and on the way back to your office, you took a detour passed your boss and gave your two weeks-notice. After which, Pero finally did get to bend you over that desk. And judging by the flushed cheeks he unashamedly passed on his way to tender his own resignation, where they cowered in their booths, they’d all obviously heard exactly how good he made you feel. He stepped into the middle of the elevator and turned around to face the room while the doors closed, a smug smirk spreading over his face when curious, fanciful eyes peered out of the little cubicles, gawking at him. You were his and now everyone knew it. Damn, it felt good.
—THE END—
This is the story it should’ve been all along, I’m 100% happier with this both in terms of characterization and tone, and I hope you guys enjoy it too. Again, sorry about posting this in the wrong damned season…
*I’m about to yell at myself, so feel free to scroll past, while I scream into the void.*
So, a couple of days ago, I got a notif that someone had liked my Tovar Christmas Special, which was lovely and made me nostalgic. I hadn’t read it since I posted it, so I decided to reread it last night.
Only to be absolutely mortified to suddenly realize that Part 2 feels like an almost completely disconnected story! Pero’s character makes a totally 180 on his previous behavior in no seconds flat, and now I’m so fucking pissed at myself!!
Hence, me sitting in my sofa on a Saturday evening, REWRITING THE DAMNED THING.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
While you and Abby are at the mercy of your enemy, Pero is struggling between using his deadly dark side to find you, without losing the goodness that you’ve awoken in him. (This part is mostly from Pero’s pov.)
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
The black bag over your head was impossible to see through, so when you first woke up, you panicked, thinking you’d gone blind. But it only took you seconds to realize that there was fabric in front of your mouth, being pushed in and out with each breath, so you slowly settled down, focusing instead on trying to hear what was happening around you.
The first thing you heard was someone that seemed to be right in front of you, but it couldn’t be the creep, because the breaths you heard were wheezing and shallow and much too weak.
The FUCK woman!!! You’re known for your cliffhangers but that one was insane, there should be a warrant for your arrest for crimes against my nerves
The tension and action here is *chef’s kiss* and you wrote Pete perfectly as this delusional creeper. And I’m starting to really like the detective character, maybe she gets a spin-off series?
@deadhumourist They’ll never catch me, sweets, I’m unstoppable
I kinda like her too, but part 10 complicates things a little. And I aimed to make myself sick while writing Pete, which I succeeded with, so yeah.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You’re still struggling with the aftermath of Pete, in more than one way, which leads to a breaking point. Meanwhile Pero is learning what family can be, when good people are involved.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
“Hey, you two… time to get up, it’s almost lunch.”
“…go’way, dad…”
Since you had no idea how long Pero had worked you last night, you didn’t know many hours you’d slept, but it was clearly not enough, because you were still so tired. Your body was heavy and languid, and you felt relaxed and wonderful, until Dean’s knocking and firm voice from the other side of the door, broke the tranquility.
Woah! How much can you put into one chapter!?! Love it! And this ending! LOVE IT!
@gallowsjoker It was a busy one, wasn’t it… I didn’t really notice that until I read it back after posting, but I loved this one so much.
The contrast of Bee finally losing her cool and just exploding, to that doped up sweetness towards the end ☺️ Coupled with Pero’s return to the steadfast protector, but also that sweet little kid that just wants to be accepted
The story might not have moved along all that much, but yeah, it was busy one.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You’re still struggling with the aftermath of Pete, in more than one way, which leads to a breaking point. Meanwhile Pero is learning what family can be, when good people are involved.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
“Hey, you two… time to get up, it’s almost lunch.”
“…go’way, dad…”
Since you had no idea how long Pero had worked you last night, you didn’t know many hours you’d slept, but it was clearly not enough, because you were still so tired. Your body was heavy and languid, and you felt relaxed and wonderful, until Dean’s knocking and firm voice from the other side of the door, broke the tranquility.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You’re still struggling with the aftermath of Pete, in more than one way, which leads to a breaking point. Meanwhile Pero is learning what family can be, when good people are involved.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
“Hey, you two… time to get up, it’s almost lunch.”
“…go’way, dad…”
Since you had no idea how long Pero had worked you last night, you didn’t know many hours you’d slept, but it was clearly not enough, because you were still so tired. Your body was heavy and languid, and you felt relaxed and wonderful, until Dean’s knocking and firm voice from the other side of the door, broke the tranquility.
this is everything to me, just SO GOOD! One of those times when I have so many thoughts I can’t pick what to say or how to say it cause it was all so good and I have a hard time formulating my thoughts into words most of the time. I love this story.
@myfavpedrothings Aw, thank you Incoherent screaming or rambling works too. I just love how Pero’s evolving and how the relationships are progressing and growing ❤️
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You’re still struggling with the aftermath of Pete, in more than one way, which leads to a breaking point. Meanwhile Pero is learning what family can be, when good people are involved.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM.
“Hey, you two… time to get up, it’s almost lunch.”
“…go’way, dad…”
Since you had no idea how long Pero had worked you last night, you didn’t know many hours you’d slept, but it was clearly not enough, because you were still so tired. Your body was heavy and languid, and you felt relaxed and wonderful, until Dean’s knocking and firm voice from the other side of the door, broke the tranquility.
“You know the rules in my house, Bumblebee, and don’t think that being unemployed earns you any slack.”
Oh, no he didn’t…! Suddenly wide awake, you sat up and threw your pillow at the door.
“My fucking job burned down, you asshat!”
“Aaaand you’re awake. Great, now you can help me fix the back fence. Groot’s downstairs with me and I’ll expect you both to join us in ten.”
You groaned and fell back down on the mattress, equally annoyed at your father as you were at yourself, because this was hardly the first time he’d tricked you like that. Even though he hadn’t moved or made a sound, and you hadn’t even glanced at him yet, you knew that Pero was awake, lying on his stomach next to you, with his arms folded underneath his pillow.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing.”
Even in that one word, you clearly heard the wide grin spreading on his face, but you kept staring at the ceiling.
“I can’t believe he still gets me with that one. He’s been pulling crap like that since I was a kid.”
“Clearly, he knows you very well, preciosa.”
“Shut up. I’m annoyed, you don’t get to be all cute when I’m annoyed.”
He chuckled and then lifted himself up on his elbows so you could clearly see the delight in his eyes.
“This pouting little girl is a new side to you I have not seen before. It’s adorable.”
“Oh, for pete’s sake…”
You growled at him and rolled to the side so you could get up and head for the bathroom.
“What? Is only truth.”
“I’m not listening.”
You did your morning toilet and put on fresh underwear before returning to the bedroom, finding it empty, which puzzled you. Had he been so desperate that he’d gone to another bathroom? You hadn’t taken that long in there. You opened the bedroom door and listened down the hall, but all you heard was your father downstairs and the doors to both guest rooms were closed.
Still feeling miffed, you went to your closet to look for something sturdy to wear, if your dad was gonna have you do outdoor work today. You’d been living in soft sweats or just anything without zippers or buttons since your hand got busted, just so that you could get dressed yourself, but that wouldn’t do for building fences outside in late autumn.
Thankful that you weren’t useless with your right hand to begin with, you pulled out your work-jeans from the bottom of the closet and was just about to try and get them on, when Groot came strolling into the bedroom.
“Hey boy. What’s happening, huh? Did dad send you up to hurry me along?”
He just stood in front of you, with his tail slowly swaying from side to side, seeming to be waiting for something.
“What’s going on, buddy?”
He took a step closer, and inclined his head to the left, showing you that he was holding something between his teeth.
“You got something for me?”
You kneeled in front of him, putting the pants down on the floor, and held your right hand out so he could drop whatever it was straight into your open palm. He carefully placed his chin against your fingertips, and then opened his mouth to let a small stalk of tiny blue forget-me-nots fall into your hand.
Suddenly your throat was stocking up and you had to hold back a sob that was threatening to burst from your lips. There shouldn’t even be any blossoming flowers left in the woods this late in the year, where the heck had he even found it? It would’ve been unbearably sweet even if Pero had simply picked the flower and handed it to you, but the fact that he’d sent Groot to deliver it just made it too fucking precious.
“Still annoyed?”
You yelped, because his soft voice somehow came from behind you, even though you were facing the door and hadn’t seen anyone come in. The unexpected sound then released the sob as you turned, the momentary fright making you push yourself up to standing in the same movement.
“Damnit, Pero!”
You swatted at his shoulder with your broken hand, but he caught it and snagged your waist in return, pulling you flush against him.
“Apparently, yes. I will fix this.”
Before you could object, from behind his back, he then produced a freshly picked yellow poppy, also out of season.
“Oh god, will you just stop… I can’t handle this much sweetness right now!”
His grip around your waist tightened, then he stole a kiss while fitting the poppy behind your left ear.
“Lo siento, mi amor. But sweet is all I have right now. I am too grateful to be anything else.”
You’d hoped to get through just one day without tears, but this was obviously not going to be that day. You swiped at them as they fell, mumbling under your breath about impossible people making sure you felt like a damned teenager, all emotional and moody. He just chuckled at you, and even though you were overwhelmed and generally sappy, it made you happy at heart to hear it, because it was how he was supposed to be. This was the Pero you’d known up until now, and it wasn’t his fault that you were traumatized.
“Will you just help me with these pants so I can get to work before dad sends the pack after me.”
He dutifully sat down on the bed, since his calf still didn’t allow him to squat or kneel without some difficulty, while you picked up the garment that you’d dropped on the floor earlier and handed to him. You held onto his shoulders while stepping into the pants one leg at a time, before he pulled them up and closed them for you, but then his hands stayed on your hips, and he seemed to get lost somewhere in his own head for a moment.
“Hey… you okay?”
He twitched slightly, as though you’d awoken him from a dream, and his eyes snapped up to meet yours for just a fraction of a second before they dropped to the floor.
“I’m fine. We eat first, yes?”
Was he embarrassed? You couldn’t think of anything he might’ve been thinking of that he could have cause to feel that way about, but something definitely made him uncomfortable. He got up and took your hand, holding it tightly as you made your way downstairs, where Dean was waiting with lunch already on the table and the other four dogs sitting in attention, waiting to go to work.
Groot seemed so unruly in contrast to them, as he bounded over to your father for some pets before he settled down, but Dean seemed to have given up and accepted that he was now just your perfect dog. Still a fierce protector, but no longer with his customary military precision.
“Ten minutes have grown since my day. Not to mention the hours that used to be reserved for sleep.”
You scoffed as you sat down opposite him, not even reacting as Pero took his seat next to you and started cutting up your food to make it easier to eat. You’d already forgotten how worried he must’ve been when you’d all but stopped eating these past few days.
“Not really, I’ve just gotten used to managing my own time. Regardless of where I am.”
“You meant to say fail to manage, didn’t you, Buzzer? Don’t throw around words simply to suit your own motives.”
“Oh, you mean kinda like how Buzzer isn’t a name, but you still use it as one?”
He had to laugh at that.
“Touché.”
Satisfied that the conversation was won, you moved on to more serious matters. As nice as it was to get lost in humour and levity when things had been so bleak lately, you did have to concede that it was time to get back to the present and start moving on with your life again.
“So, what’s happened to the back fence?”
“Uh, Ike ran right through it some time early this morning. I’m amazed it didn’t wake either of you, I thought a damned meteor had crashed back there.”
“What?! Why would he do that, what happened?!”
“Damned wasps. I found a bunch of stings on his belly, so I think he rolled over or accidentally stomped on a nest. We’ll have to check the grounds and dig it up if we can find it.”
You nodded, suddenly feeling a bit bad about dawdling to come and help him. Pero, on the other hand, shook his head firmly.
“Not me. No wasps.”
Your father found that endlessly amusing.
“Wait a minute… You? The guy that can move like a fucking shadow, you’re afraid of a tiny bug?”
Pero’s scowl was as deep as you’d ever seen it.
“Men’s eyes are slow, easily manipulated. Bug’s eyes are not.”
“Is that so? Well, don’t worry, I’ve got protective clothing for you.”
You decided to cut in then, because there was something else you wanted to discuss before you set to work.
“Okay, I’ll help you with the wasps, Pero can make sure none of the animals come nosing around. But once we’re done, I wanna go and see Abby.”
There was a stark shift in the energy around the table, as both men turned wary, although Dean was the first to answer you.
“Bee… you can’t. I explained away as much as I could, but Kate has enough reason to suspect you without seeing that you’re injured. Especially given that you never sought medical aid for your injuries.”
“I can claim that I got hurt here, helping you, and that you took care of it. Only half of that is a lie, I can pull that off.”
“Honey, I love you. But until you’ve had kids of your own, you won’t understand just how much it goes against my instincts not to get you properly checked out. And Kate knows me, she knows that I’d never risk something permanently damaging you, unless a simple exam somehow presented a threat to you.”
“And if she comes back to talk to you while we’re outside working? How would you explain us being here, when you insisted that you’d been mistaken about my abduction, and that I was just trying to surprise Pero with a spontaneous trip?”
“I also told her that neither police nor civilians are welcome on my property without advance warning for the next month or so, because of my work for the military. She can’t set foot here without my expressed approval, without risking severe legal repercussions.”
Shit. He really had thought of everything. It actually wasn’t unusual for him to alert the police that he needed to seal off his property, in order to maintain the secrecy of how he trained the dogs and just what they were capable of. Even you only knew a fraction of it. But the last time you’d seen Abby had been when he’d driven her off to the hospital that evening, when she was still unresponsive and barely breathing, and you hadn’t been able to get any updates on her condition since you were hiding.
“And you honestly think that my injuries would seem more suspicious to her, than the very convenient timing of your lockdown?”
“No. I’m sure she’s fuming about it. The difference is that there’s nothing she can do about that. You on the other hand, she can arrest, question, pry the truth out of because you’re a genuine and honest person that she can easily read. Plus, you know that Pero’s not gonna let you out of his sight, and if she sees both of you injured, that’s it. That’s as much probable cause as she’s gonna need to convince a judge to let her look closer at your wounds.”
Frustration was getting the better of you, forcing you up onto your feet, because this was your best friend, but more than that… this was the person you’d lied and tricked your loved ones in order to protect. Risked not just your life for, but Pero’s as well. You paced along the table with your arms wrapped tightly around your own waist.
“Yeah well, you’re forgetting the biggest problem – if we’re gonna be fucking clinical about it. Abby. Sure, she was out of it for the parts that I can remember, so maybe she doesn’t actually know that I was ever there. But she will remember the phone call, and if she’s already awake then Kate also already knows about it, which means she already has proof that I was somehow involved. What do you suggest I do about that, hm?”
“Sweetheart, I know this is tough but right now all you can do is wait. I’ll see if I can find out more about how she’s doing, but you need to stay here for now.”
Desperate for an ally, or at least some hope, you turned your eyes on Pero. You’d avoided doing that up until then, because you knew that he’d be unfairly torn between wanting to make you happy and needing to keep you safe. You didn’t need to say anything, though. He could see the question in your eyes.
Do you agree with this?
“Evidence decays over time, pintora. Wounds heal, tracks and traces are diluted and lost.”
A part of you knew that they were right, that their training and experience were your best allies right now. But another part was hurting so bad, and you didn’t know where to put all the anger and fear that came along with that.
“She could be dying, or lost to a permanently vegetative state, or worse still… awake and recovering, wondering why the only person in this world who gives a shit about her, isn’t there!”
Both men sat there, neither able to meet your eyes anymore because they knew that you were right, but also that they were largely powerless to help you in this matter. You wanted to scream. You had for a long time, ever since the morning after your father had brought you back, and you’d woken up alone.
There was something broken and leaking inside of you, turning your blood into acid at the slightest spark, and you’d been fighting it using hope as your only guiding light, thinking that if you just got Pero back, his love would heal you. But instead, the security and comfort that it gave you to have him by your side, was helping the volatile churning inside you to grow more powerful, with the knowledge that these people were unlikely to disappear even if you lost your temper.
Standing there, something flared inside you. Something you’d never felt before. You couldn’t have named it to save your life, but it made your insides burn so badly that you no longer felt anything else. On the verge of either panic or uncontrollable rage, you knew that you needed to stop this in its tracks, or you might do something irreversibly damaging.
You turned back to the table and slammed your broken hand down next to your plate, as hard as your body could swing it, unleashing a sound from your own throat that was barely even recognizable as human. Equal parts anger and desperation and fear, somehow coming together into a guttural growl that ended in a terrified sob.
All three plates lifted off the tabletop with the force of your strike, sending any cutlery resting on them, over the sides and clanging to the floor, and both men jumped in their seats. But the pain that shot through your entire arm as the hard wooden surface brought your momentum to an abrupt halt, was enough to snuff out that other feeling, leaving you with nothing but agony left to burn through your veins, arteries and nerves.
Parts of your mind were blocked, most of your senses dulled or just not working, pain taking the stage and outshining everyone else, blinding you to the reaction that your outburst caused in your four-legged friends. The other four became alert, ready to engage, having no deeper relationship with you leading them to see you as a potential threat. But Groot backed away, tucking his tail between his legs and lowering his head. And when you didn’t calm down, he left the room.
<><><><><>
Pero had come to know you as someone that felt deeply, but generally only showed a fraction of what sat under the surface, despite your innate honesty. He knew that you were stronger than he’d ever dared to hope, and he knew that he’d be wrong to ever underestimate you. But the power that emanated from you in the moment just before your swing, was something unlike anything he’d witnessed, or felt from anyone before.
He sat completely stunned after you’d stilled, watched almost paralyzed, how you slowly pulled your arm back as the pain rippled through you, contorting your face into something he’d hoped never to have to see. More than that, even. Something beyond pain that he hadn’t even known humans capable of, that he had no name for.
You used your healthy hand to lift the damaged one off the table, cradling it to your chest like a child you were trying to protect, and then the sobs came, finally breaking into Pero’s heart and lifting him to his feet. He was surprised at himself when he realized that he treated you almost like a wounded animal, in how he slowly approached you, making sure you wouldn’t turn on him before he carefully enveloped you.
Relief washed through him when you leaned into him, seeking the comfort he offered, perhaps even more than you yourself understood. Your sobs graduated into full-on, heartbreaking ugly-crying within seconds of feeling his embrace. Enough to make you curl in on yourself, burrowing your upper body into his chest and clawing at his flannel shirt, collar, shoulders, arms, anything you happened to feel against your fingers. Anything solid enough to hopefully hold you together.
He’d seen and heard you cry with your dad, and thought that it was a good thing, thought that it meant you’d gotten that pain out and that you’d begun to heal. Last night too had given him hope that you were already recovering, and also this morning, with your return to quipping and squabbling with Dean, seeming to indicate that you were rediscovering your normal state. Clearly, that was not the case at all.
Your father had gotten up only a moment after him, but instead of coming to your side, he’d gone out into the front hall, and now returned with a small black pouch. He set it down on the table and undid the zip along the side, pulling out a syringe and two small vials of liquid. Pero assumed that one of them was morphine or some other drug to help with the pain, since you’d hardly be able to swallow pills right now, and they probably wouldn’t be enough anyway. He couldn’t guess at what the other one was, but Dean drew up a small amount from each vial before bringing it over to you.
He didn’t give you any warning or explain what he was doing, he just pulled the hem of your pants down a bit over your hip, and quickly and efficiently administered the medication into a spot that Pero couldn’t see, somewhere at the top of your leg. It took less than a minute before you started to get heavy in his arms and your sobs began to ebb out. Only seconds later, you were unconscious.
“What did you give her?”
“Morphine and a mild sedative. She’s never taken anything that strong, so she was bound to react even to a smaller dose.”
“I do not understand why she did this… why hurt herself even more?”
“Because physical pain is easier to manage than emotional. I confess myself entirely unprepared for this. I’ve never seen her fall apart, not after losing her mother, not even after her life’s work burned to the ground. She’s always been the one that’s held the rest of us, her people, together. I guess I stupidly began to assume that she was made of steel.”
He reached for you, since Pero shouldn’t carry you on his bad leg, and took you into the living room, gently setting you down on the sofa.
“I reckon she’ll be out for about two hours on what I gave her, so we should get started on that fence. Together we’ll have it done in half that time and you can come back in to sit with her until she wakes up.”
Pero wasn’t too keen on leaving you alone, but he recognized that he’d be of no use to you right now either.
“Fine. But no wasps.”
———-
The fence was all wood. Sturdy poles driven deep into the ground and thick planks running across between them, one high, one low and one in the middle. The horse had not only managed to break all three planks on the section that it had apparently barrelled straight through, it had also torn two of the poles up with it, thereby breaking the adjoining sections on either side as well.
But this was relatively easily fixed, and Pero had some experience with fences, after his time working for the farmer with the bad back, leaving him feeling quite at ease with the task at hand. Plus, Dean was good company and it offered him an opportunity to ask the older man a few things that he’d been wondering about. After their conversation in the stables the day before, he now felt certain that your father did like him, which gave him a sense of ease around the man.
“What was she like? Your wife?”
A small smile crept into Dean’s eyes as he thought about where to start, and Pero wondered how anyone could smile with such fondness after loosing the love of their life. He was certain that he couldn’t, should something happen to you.
“She lived up to her name. She was a Buddhist, and she approached life with such openness, willing to accept that anything was possible, whether her mind could comprehend it or not, because she had faith, just like her name suggests. She believed in people, in our ability to always be and do more than we think ourselves capable of.”
“Would she have… approved of me?”
“Yes. For the same reason that I do: you make our daughter whole.”
“How do you mean?”
They both paused the conversation for a bit while they fitted the first pole into its new slot and hammered it down, then Dean resumed.
“Bee’s always had this… unsettled quality to her person. She’s always been sure about her work and how she wanted to spend her days, but there’s also always been a restlessness attached to it, that I could never put my finger on, and still can’t really describe. All I know for sure is that ever since you showed up, it’s gone.”
Pero didn’t know what to say to that, so he stayed quiet and worked for a while, until your father asked the next question.
“How did you guys meet, anyway? I mean, you don’t exactly run in the same circles.”
“She did not tell you?”
“She hasn’t told me much of anything about you two. Why do you ask? What happened?”
He didn’t quite know how to phrase it, but then again, Dean was a military man, so straight forward truth would likely work fine.
“Uh… She used me to try and scare off some maldito at a bar.”
“Really? I mean, I get it, I doubt anyone in this town could match you in looking scary as hell, I’m just amazed that she went near you, for that very reason.”
Pero smiled as he remembered your sudden closeness, the weight of your body on his thighs, your confident hands on his shoulders, the perfect mixture of softness and demanding attention in your lips. That was the moment you’d made him yours.
“She just appeared in my lap and kissed me, out of nowhere. I had not seen or noticed her before that moment, but I fell for her right then.”
“Shekissedyou?! Wow, she must’ve been truly desperate to do that to a guy she’d never seen before. Let alone… you…”
Both men chuckled, but then Pero’s mind moved ahead, to what had happened after that, and his mood darkened.
“It was Eddie Pilkington.”
Dean’s smile vanished in an instant, and he could see the man work out the rest of the story for himself, before swallowing hard and then throwing a sharp nod at Pero.
“I don’t wanna know what he did, right now… but thank you.”
They continued to work in silence after that, and soon had the fence fixed, which made the older man’s attention shift to the underlying problem.
“So, how about those wasps, then?”
Pero demonstratively stepped away from him, just in case he had a lasso hidden somewhere and was prepared to literally rope him into helping.
“No way, amigo. I would rather wrestle all dogs at once.”
Your father just laughed and shook his head at him.
“Alright, fine. Get in there and make sure the one Bee you do like isn’t all alone when she wakes up.”
———-
He sat on the thick rug in front of the sofa, his back leaned against it so that he could keep your right hand against his chest, waiting to feel you twitch or move whenever you began to wake. There was still about forty minutes left until the drugs should start to wear off, so he wasn’t expecting anything yet, but just in case, he wanted you to wake up to something that felt safe and familiar. And you’d always loved his touch.
There was only the barest hint of a sound that alerted him to the fact that someone else was in the house. Just enough for him to know that it wasn’t a naturally occurring sound. Groot was outside with the other dogs at that moment, still not willing to come near you after your outburst, and Pero couldn’t fault the poor dog for reacting like that, he’d never seen you more than annoyed before. Still, it would’ve been good to have him there if the person that now snuck through the house turned out to be an enemy.
He silently moved away from you, out of sight from anyone entering the room, but not so far that he couldn’t get to you in a heartbeat if he needed to. He had to give the intruder credit, though. The dogs weren’t on patrol right now, but they still guarded the premises at all times, so any unknown scent carried on the wind or found in the grass, would’ve been investigated and called attention to. Yet this person had gotten all the way to the house, on foot, without raising any alarms, and that was impressive.
He watched the Detective slowly enter the room, locate you, and move closer to the sofa. His heart calmed at the mere sight of her, because intruding though she might be, he’d have no reason to fear that she’d hurt you. Physically. However, she did still have the authority and capability to cause you a great deal of problems, and he couldn’t let that happen.
“Close enough, Detective.”
She flinched and her right hand automatically found her sidearm, but didn’t pull it from the holster, as she turned to locate him, finding him just three feet behind her.
“Jesus, Tovar… you’re just begging to get shot one of these days.”
“It has never stopped me before.”
He let that piece of information simmer in her mind for a moment, before he continued.
“You are trespassing. Dean will not approve.”
“Yeah well, he’s been lying to me. You all have.”
“So, you break the law to prove that we break the law. How does this help you?”
“It doesn’t. But I need to understand what the fuck is going on in my town. What happened to Abby?”
Pero took a second to mull that over.
“Has she not told you who took her?”
“She refuses to talk to anyone.”
He drew a sigh of utter relief, feeling a giant boulder of tension fall off his shoulders with the confirmation that your best friend was still alive and recovering, which seemed to surprise Jones.
“You really didn’t know if she was okay?”
“We only knew that she was alive two weeks ago. Nothing more.”
She looked at you for a beat, and compassion crept into her features before she schooled her emotions and turned back to Pero.
“What really happened?”
He didn’t move a muscle, so she pressed on.
“Look, you know that I’m breaking the law even being here, so nothing I learn from this would be admissible in a courtroom. I’m not wearing any recording devices or trying to trick you; I just need to know. For me.”
He stayed motionless and steely-eyed while he considered that. She cared about her town, he knew that, so from her perspective the idea of a possible threat to its citizens, that she couldn’t wrap her head around, would be unbearable. And even if he simply told her that the threat was gone, her investigative mind wouldn’t just accept that. She was the sort of person that needed closure. And she needed it badly enough that she’d risked not just destroying her case, but her entire career by coming here like this.
“Prescott Holcomb did this.”
She couldn’t quite hide the shock as it rippled through her frame.
“Pete?! ‘Prescott is for old people, call me Pete’…? No. You can’t be serious…”
He watched her mind work, watched her try to reconcile the sweet bartender that used to make sure overly drunk girls got to their cabs safely at closing time, with someone that could abduct and torture people he knew and called friends.
“Yes. He was Bee’s boyfriend for a short time, but apparently decided that she still belonged to him, so when I showed up, he lost it. He stalked her, took pictures of her with and without clothes, from outside her house. He was probably the one that burned down those abandoned buildings a while back, preparing and practicing for her studio.”
He paused to let her absorb that, and then continued.
“He took Abby when he realized that he would not be able to get to Bee, because of myself and Dean and the dogs, and then forced Bee to come to him in order to save her.”
“I can’t believe that… I can’t. Not without some evidence.”
“You will not find any.”
He said it with a dark and purposefully ominous tone, so she’d know that he wasn’t just being cocky. And she got the message loud and clear. Her eyes widened for a moment, and something fearful found its way into her features. She glanced at you, still out cold on the sofa, her gaze lingering on your splinted hand, before returning to him.
“You found him… You found him because of something I gave you. Oh god, Tovar… What did you do?”
There was a tremor in her voice now, something he suspected wasn’t common for this particular Detective, which said a lot about the impression he’d given her in their previous encounters. He chose to answer her question by not answering it, which she interpreted correctly.
“I don’t even wanna know, do I?”
Pero merely shook his head once, receiving a strained nod in return, before her eyes once again turned to you, in what seemed like a somewhat desperate attempt to shift her own focus from the images her mind was probably conjuring.
“Is she okay? She hasn’t moved at all since I got here.”
“Dean had to sedate her. She is… struggling.”
Looking at you, suddenly all darkness fell away from his frame, replaced by uncertainty and trepidation, which made Jones considerably less uncomfortable around him. Her voice was steady again, and much softer when she spoke next.
“I can’t even imagine. She must’ve been so scared.”
“Yes, but mostly for Abby. She will be better now that I can give her some good news.”
Kate didn’t say anything else, until Pero tore his eyes away from you and back to her.
“I get the feeling that you were more scared than both of them combined.”
He didn’t answer that, and after a short pause, she added:
“There’s no limit to the number of lives you’d end to keep her safe… is there?”
Looking at the floor for a moment, he gathered his thoughts as well as he understood them, trying to answer her honestly, because it was important that she knew just how right she was.
“I have never had cause to believe in the goodness of men. I have seen too much of our darker sides, for far too long. But her brightness would not let me look away. I don’t know why she was able to do that, when not even people that have been dear to me, have managed to in the past, but she did. And now I cannot live without her light. It is my breath and my blood. If I lost that now, I would become a wraith. A dead thing, walking this earth, capable only of spreading more death and fear. I got a taste of that two weeks ago, and the result was… worse than anything you have imagined.”
A shiver went through her, and then her eyes returned to you. She was thinking hard, probably about her obligations and responsibilities to bring those who break the law to justice, along with what he was certain had to be a large amount of disappointment in herself that she wouldn’t be able to this time. How would she handle that?
Would she be able to let this go, even though it involved murder and a cover-up? Or would she carry a grudge, watch him like a hawk from now on, ready to take him down at the first mistake, now that he’d all but confessed his crimes? She sighed deeply, running a hand over her face, before she met his gaze once more.
“I wouldn’t be able to touch you even if I tried, would I? Even if, by some miracle, you made a mistake and I found some incriminating piece of evidence, you’d find a way to make it disappear, wouldn’t you? Just like you can make yourself appear and disappear without a trace.”
“To protect her… yes, I would.”
She pinched both lips between her teeth for a second, and then shook her head before throwing her arms out to the sides.
“I don’t know what to do with that, Pero. I’m a cop, and I know that you killed two people in my town, but I’m completely powerless to do anything about it, so you tell me… You tell me how I’m supposed to call myself a good cop now?”
He considered that. She was a good cop; she just had the misfortune of working in the town that he’d ended up settling in.
“Sometimes there are no good solutions, Detective. Sometimes, the best you can hope for is that the lesser evil wins.”
“And you’re the lesserevil?”
Now it was his turn to sigh and shift restlessly from one leg to the other.
“Why do you imagine men like me exist? Why do you think that I was trained to be the most effective killer that any human could possibly be?”
He paused to let her ponder that for a beat, before handing her the answer.
“Because there is always someone worse. Some people can only be stopped by death, their minds and hearts too corrupted by darkness to ever be healed. Such people are untouchable to everyone, except those like me, for whom death is their partner and ally and weapon. I have stopped massacres of children, systematic abuse of women kept in boxes for men to play with, thousands of pounds of drugs that were destined for use in factories where people are kept as slaves, made to work day and night until they die. I have stood over the men that made these things possible and taken their lives with my own hands, and while that does not make me a better man, it does make me the lesser evil.”
She listened as if hypnotized by his words, as if even though she’d seen the more depraved sides of humanity up close, she still hadn’t allowed herself to truly absorb the terrifying depths of what people were capable of. He watched her suck in a shaky breath, which seemed to break the spell he had on her. Then she stood there with her eyes closed and her head bowed for a minute, before she turned away from him and slowly left the room.
“Pe..ro…”
He flinched and turned back to you, so relieved to hear your voice again.
“I’m here, pintora. What do you need?”
Your eyes were still closed, and you were clearly still groggy and slow to respond as he kneeled by your side.
“…ooow…”
He shook his head at you, but affectionately.
“Perhaps try not to punch any more tables, hm?”
“Iiih… diid?”
“Yes. Once the drugs wear off you will remember better.”
You scrunched your nose at that, still not opening your eyes.
“Ugh… mooore drugssss…”
He knew that you were in pain and that in a little while, when the drugs had worn off completely, you’d be in a very different state of mind. But for now, you were just dopey and cute, and he couldn’t help but smile at you.
“You will be okay, my beautiful.”
He gently stroked your cheek, but then you shook your head from side to side, but very slowly and exaggerated, as if you didn’t actually know how to simply shake your head.
“Noooo beau-ful here… mm-mm… nooot me.”
“No? Then who?”
You seemed to ponder that for a bit, and then sucked in a sharp breath when you thought of an answer.
“Pero! …mmmm… sooo good…”
His smile widened, pleased to know that you thought well of him, even in a drug-haze. He shouldn’t take advantage of it, but it was just a little too good to pass up.
“You like Pero?”
Now you were the one smiling like a lovesick fool.
“He’s the gorgeousss-est… the-maaaad skiiills… magic! …soopeerfect… Ih love him.”
His eyes were a little wetter by the time you fell silent and disappeared back into drug-affected sleep, but the smile was still firmly engraved into his features. You were too fucking sweet and way too good for him.
“Yo tambien te amo, mi preciosa.”
Dean appeared in the doorway, then, also with a soft and loving smile on his face, having clearly heard at least parts of your ramblings.
“I swear, I only gave her a mild dose.”
Pero just huffed a small laugh, shaking his head at his own childish delight with your delirium, but then your father brought him back to the present.
“Was that Kate I saw leave a few minutes ago?”
His smile faded, replaced with a worried crease in his forehead.
“Yes. She cannot prove anything, but she knows.”
“Did she tell you what her intentions are?”
“No. I am not sure if she knows yet either.”
The older man took a deep breath, letting it leave his body deliberately slowly as he considered that.
“Then I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
But Pero didn’t want to think about the possible hardships of the future right now. Soon you’d wake back up, once again in terrible pain, but he finally had some good news to give you and he wanted to do just that. Just take care of you, make you smile and help you shed whatever it was that had made you so distraught before. For the first time that he could remember, he wanted to think about the possibility of a happy future. A good life.
“Dean… why do you call me ‘son’?”
That seemed to take your father by surprise, and he cleared his throat to buy himself a moment to think.
“Uh, it just seems right, sense she’s so enraptured by you. Why, does it bother you?”
“No. Well… it’s just that, my own father never cared for me. Never called me that. Too ashamed, I guess.”
He didn’t dare look at Dean as he said that, too afraid that the man would somehow manage to mirror his father’s indifference, so he kept his gaze downcast, inspecting the thick carpet for no discernible reason.
“Then your dad was a jerk.”
It seemed ridiculous somehow, that he should be so immeasurably relieved to hear this man say such a thing. To receive some manner of validation for all the years spent feeling inadequate, useless and burdening, even from someone that had no part in his past life and didn’t know much about how he’d grown up. He wondered what his life could’ve been like if he’d had a father like yours. He wondered if it was too late to wish for that now.
“Would you…… take his place?”
Why was his heart beating so ferociously hard? It was just a question, it held no deeper meaning than what he imbued it with. Fuck, he suddenly felt so incredibly stupid. Why did he say that?
A pair of feet came into his field of vision, followed by a knee as Dean lowered himself next to him, and a heavy hand came to rest on his shoulder, pushing him back and urging him to look up. He was met by eyes filled with emotions he couldn’t name, but he already knew that shame and disappointment wasn’t among of them.
“Yes, Pero. I would be proud to do that.”
Pride. That was the emotion he could see but not name, because he’d never been the recipient of it. Not like this. Not without first having to achieve something, like doing good on a test when he trained with the mercs, or when he succeeded on his first mission. This was something else. Something much more meaningful, and he couldn’t believe that the man had given him such a gift, simply because he’d asked.
Dean pulled him into a hug and kept him there until he felt Pero relax into it, knowing the younger man would need help with that, if his previous experiences with male relationships were as bad as it seemed. It only took a minute before he felt Pero’s emotions get the better of him, his arms tightening around his back while quiet sniffles escaped him.
“I’ve got you, son. You’re safe, I’ve got you.”
———-
Thank you for reading, and I’d love to know what you thought <3 As usual, don’t hesitate to come and scream at me, or join the taglist, or unsubscribe if this isn’t the story for you.
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You and Pero face new problems in more than one way, because of what happens to him when he tries to save you from Pete.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM, but I feel obliged to mention that this contains GORE.
Pure and overpowering rage was his only driving force, meaning that training and experience and even instincts were pushed away into the periphery of his being, while he went at Pete like a raging bull. He should’ve been able to easily just snap his neck or crush his skull or any of hundreds of different ways he knew how to kill people, but that knowledge was lost to him in the frenzy. Had the walls been concrete, his repeated pounding would’ve broken every bone in Pete’s torso, but the rotted wood gave under his weight, sparing him from the most severe damage.
I think you have captured the Tovar that was intended in the original ideas of him for The Great Wall: capable of pretty extreme violence….cutting off that guy’s hands and letting him bleed to death….. shocking but truest characterization that I have read. (I cant wait to see how stories end, but miss the adventure)
@harriedandharassed I suppose we all have our own perception of his character, and I’m happy you’re enjoying mine
And I don’t see this series ending any time soon, so no need to get ready to say goodbye
Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) ModernAU
You and Pero face new problems in more than one way, because of what happens to him when he tries to save you from Pete.
Creator chooses not to use Warnings!This is 18+ONLY! I’m happy to elaborate on what to expect from this part via DM, but I feel obliged to mention that this contains GORE.
Pure and overpowering rage was his only driving force, meaning that training and experience and even instincts were pushed away into the periphery of his being, while he went at Pete like a raging bull. He should’ve been able to easily just snap his neck or crush his skull or any of hundreds of different ways he knew how to kill people, but that knowledge was lost to him in the frenzy. Had the walls been concrete, his repeated pounding would’ve broken every bone in Pete’s torso, but the rotted wood gave under his weight, sparing him from the most severe damage.
