A workaholic.

That's what you were. You were always caught with huge bags underneath your eyes, not even the heaviest of makeup could save you. Your friend Roxy tried that on you once too, it didn't work.

"You'll be caught dead with this habit of yours." She would sigh, a look of worry on her face that would barely phase through you at this point. Your work made you too tired to care about your own health.

"I'll be fine, Rox," You would calmly say back, not a tad bit of emotion going through your tone, as usual. "I'm used to it by now anyways. It's no big deal."

A small pat to your head was all you were given in return from your answer before you slipped your shades back on.

Your name is Dirk Strider, and you feel like you're slowly dying from your work.

This was something you were used to though, even if you felt like your days kept getting longer and your headaches only getting worse, you still had to move on. It was either you keep moving with the world or you'll be left behind. You, of all people, refused to be behind.

In fact, you would actually take on more work on your worst days just to distract yourself, no matter how hard your friends begged you to hang out with them for at least one day. You knew you worried them because it was work everyday for you, hardly wasting anytime you had. If you had time to do nothing, that time was spent finding something to work on.

-----------------------------

"You'll kill yourself one day with this workload, Dirk." A sigh came through the other side of the phone as your good pal, Jane, was trying to convince you to just take one day off for the four of you to go get away for a weekend. Killing off demons and going on constant missions was more of a workload than any normal human should take in, was her excuse. Your group was already different, but you took on even more work than them usually.

"Sorry..well, not really, someone needs to do this eventually and no one else seems to care enough about it at the base. Someone has got to do it, so it's gonna be me." You muttered back in response. You were too tired to deal with her motherly scolding, even though you loved her deeply, it was just too much for you to handle at times. Plus, you were already at the base picking up the files about the case. It was about some little girl who was being used by the demons to go gather some prey for them to feast on, using her innocence as a trap. Using a little girl in such a way was clever, but extremely cruel. This is why you couldn't just relax when you knew a little girl needed saving.

"You know we care about that case and I'm sure someone else does too, so why can't you just for this one weekend?" She huffed with more of an upset tone behind her words, "I'm sure you're own living friends can be important too instead of the dead ones you have to kill every day and night."

"They're not my friends." You deadpanned as the other hunters around the base eyed you, trying to be nosy as usual. You just shot them back glares, but you keep forgetting about your shades so it was a rather useless gesture.

"Well you sure hang around them enough to be one." She said with a poisonous tone as she hung up right after. You couldn't do anything for now besides do this case and get scolded later by Jane, but you could handle that later. Right now you had work that needed to be taken care of.

-------------------------

"C'mon, it's for Roxy! You've gotta come Dirk! You know she'll never, ever, forgive you if you choose work over her." Said a voice that was begging you to come to Roxy's 21st birthday celebration at a bar, although only she could really legally drink out of the four of you. That's never stopped the four of you before though. Sometimes work was just that hard that even under aged adults needed a drink to forget the pain.

"Jake.." You sighed this time, peering over your shoulder at him as he gave you the biggest puppy eyes you have ever seen. He sucked at the puppy eyes thing, he really did, but you were also a sucker for him. It really was a pain because he was usually the only one that could get you to listen. It annoyed you so much, but at the same time, you wouldn't ask for it any other way.

"Don't be such a bum! It's for Roxy! You've gotta come!" He groaned as he looked over at you, some how pinpointing the exact location of your eyes, even if you had your shades on. Damn this kid, he was super good at this thing it was scary.

"You know I'm right, so please??" He pryed one more time as he stepped closer to you, sitting in the chair beside you. He clasped his hands together and rested them in his lap. Somehow, the closer he sits to you, the harder it is for you to resist. You don't know why that happened, but it always seemed to work and he always pulled that trick out when he really wanted something from you. He was not as innocent as he looked, the little bastard.

"Ugh, I hate you, I really do." You muttered in defeat as you pulled your eyes away from the now cheering pain in the ass as a huge grin was slapped onto his face, making him even more punchable if you had the guts to do so. You didn't like it when you lost, you actually despised it. You keep promising yourself you'll win against his tricks one day, but that day always seems to be pushed back more and more.

"You won't regret it! I promise you that one, Strider!" He hummed as he showed now a less cocky grin, replacing it with a gentle, heartwarming smile that made his dimples in his cheeks appear like heaven sent objects from above.

You watched him as he happily strolled off towards Roxy's room, a slight jump in his step. He was basically the total opposite of you, except for the fact that he was also a bit careless with others sometimes just like you were.

You sat in silence once more as you tapped your fingers on the table, wondering what kind of a hell you set yourself up for. Jake was for sure your biggest weak spot, but you wouldn't dare tell him because he already uses his sickeningly sweet and charming charisma to break you down bit by bit without knowing it. If he were to know how effective it really was on you, you would never hear the end of it.

A distant scream of delight was heard from Roxy's room. You couldn't help but let a small smile appear on your lips as a soft chuckle slipped away from your lips.

Man, you loved your friends from the very bottom of your heart and you wouldn't have it any other way, even if you were a workaholic.

----------------------------------

You hated your friends from the very bottom of your heart.

Why the hell did you agree to go to a some type of bar that was jam packed with people in the first place?

Oh right, because of Jake, once again.

The loud people and even louder music was not your fancy and it made your head pound. You couldn't even hear your friends talking, even if they were extremely loud, especially Roxy.

She was already hitting it hard on the drinks while laughter spilled from her lips like a maniac, swinging her drink in her hand, clear lipstick marks on the edges of the glass. The blush along her cheeks was unavoidable as she slumped against Jane.

Surprisingly Jane was drinking too, usually she wasn't the one to take on such an occasion, especially since it was illegal. She wasn't drinking heavily though, she was just sipping on some wine and it was still her first glass as a gentle smile was plastered on her lips, listening and trying to comprehend what exactly a drunken Roxy was saying as all of her words ended up slurred together.

Yet, you couldn't really focus on the situation going on in front of you with your two gal pals because you, yourself, had your own drunk to worry about.

Jake hit it hard with the drinks too, hitting all the heavy ones like gin, whiskey, rum, and even some sort of hellish mix of vodka and tequila. You have no idea if he should actually be alive right now, but you know for sure he wasn't hitting them as hard as Roxy was right now. These two weren't humans, you were sure of it.

That wasn't the worst part though. It was the part of Jake being very close to you and being very touchy as he had his arms draped around your shoulders, rambling about this dog he was trying to get. This dog was apparently going to be a very big dog that was white and very, very fluffy. He even already had a name planned for the dog. It's name would be Bec, which was a very unordinary name, especially for a dog. If you were to have a say in it, you would just rather have a lizard or some form of reptile.

You tried to think about his dog he was aiming for instead of the fact that he was rambling right by your ear, letting his hot breath hit your neck which sent you trembling with every breath. It was just too much and you were sure you were going to suffocate as your felt your chest tightening. Usually you two sat close to each other, but you also sat close with the other girls too, but it just felt different this time. You felt tense as he let his hands slip wherever they wanted. You were sure he was unaware of it because there was no way in hell he was going to remember any of this night with how drunk he was, even if he did have a high resistance to alcohol.

The only thing you could do in this situation was just sip on your drink, respond every now and then to his bizarre questions, and listen to his crazy stories that just wouldn't stop. You thought that if you just shoved one of the napkins from the table into his mouth that maybe, just maybe, he might shut up and just go to sleep or something. Then again, he would probably keep talking even with a napkin shoved in his mouth. Even though you were annoyed, you didn't want him to choke to death on a napkin. That was such a lame way to go and you weren't about to let a bro go down in such an embarrassing way.

A tap on your shoulder was something that broke you away from this hellish torment as your own fucking crush was draped across you, being super close and touching you in ways that you didn't quite like, but you knew they weren't intentional. Even if they somehow were intentional, he probably thought you were some kind of a blue lady that he has a few posters and figurines of.

Your eyes glanced over towards the direction of the heaven sent tap to meet your eyes with Jane's own pleading eyes. You both must've had the same look of desperation to get away from this because you both read each other's minds, instantly deciding to help the two drunks out of the booth, pay the bill, and then leave. Roxy would be mad, and she was mad about leaving already, but if they had anymore drinks, the bar probably would've burnt down by the two of them unleashing hell onto the poor place.

Yeah, you wanted to avoid that.

You felt Roxy's rage as she kept kneeing you in the back and pulling at your hair, trying to some how become the rat from that movie Ratatouille and steer you by yanking at certain parts of your hair, which hurt like a bitch. Luckily, you were at least a little buzzed so it didn't hurt too bad as it usually would. You really wonder why you got stuck with the raging Roxy on your back and a passed out Jake in your arms. You also glared through your shades as you saw the flash from Jane's phone aim onto you and the scene happening with these bastards.

"This will serve as wonderful blackmail." A twisted smile appeared on Jane's face as she looked up past her phone at you, letting a small cackle of evil and amusement escape from her lips. You swore she was sometimes the type of demon you should watch out for more than some of the types you kill. She could be one scary woman.

"That's a wonderful idea," You hummed, allowing yourself to appear to be approving of her actions, "But, are you going to share it with anyone else?" Your tone was hinting that you were ready to throw a passed out English at her if you she dared do such a thing.

She grinned.

Yep, it was over. She probably shared it with ten thousand people by now with her barely intoxicated mind.

"Spill." You demanded from the giggling girl as she held her phone to her chest, almost seeming too scared to tell you.

Luckily, she did end up blurting it out after a few moments of silence besides the small tapping noises from the footsteps from the two of you, and the outraged Roxy. She would eventually pass out, so you just ignored the biting from her as she chomped down on your shoulder, trying to make you let her go. If she was sober, she would realize that you weren't even holding onto her, she was doing this all by herself. You didn't exactly have four arms.

"John and Dave." The names came quickly out of her mouth, almost slurring together as she kept her eyes locked onto your face, trying to see how you would react. If you didn't care so much about the calmer drunk in your grasp, then he would already be colliding with Jane right now from you throwing him.

"You're joking, right? Actually, don't answer that, I know you did. I'm just trying to reassure myself from becoming a new post on Dave's finsta." You grumbled, so ready to tackle this woman. You could easily set the wild demon on your back after her, but you had no way to pry her off your back since your hands were just a tad bit occupied at the moment.

Her laughter only filled the night air as you two continued your walk back to your apartments that were provided by the base.

You really hated your friends and would've enjoyed killing off some hell hounds instead, but not everyone gets what they want all the time.

------------------------

At some point, you managed to pry Roxy off of you as Jane pulled her along to her room to make sure she fell asleep on her side and all of that good stuff because choking on your own vomit is not exactly ideal.

You luckily got away with being in charge of Jake who was the calmer one as the night went on. At first he's crazy and doing all of these wild stunts while he's drunk. He even almost shot himself because Roxy just had to say "bet you won't" to Jake and of course he just has to be even more stubborn while drunk, so he couldn't back down from it. Thankfully Jane tackled him to the ground and pulled the pistols away from him in time. After his wild shenanigans, he would eventually calm down to rambling and talking nonsense to the point he tires himself out and then passes out.

You still held him in your arms because he was mainly warm and heated up your cold body, and it was also because your back hurt from where Roxy kept attacking you.

You got him to his room with ease, gently setting him down on his bed so he was laying on his side before taking off his combat boots and socks. You then put him underneath the covers, which proved to be a bit more of a challenge as his limp body refused to cooperate with you. At some point, you just gave up and threw a blanket over top of him.

The last step was the hardest though, which was removing his glasses. It sounded easy enough, but it was just how peaceful he looked while he was asleep. You couldn't help but stare at his angelic appearance, letting your hand gently move some of his ruffled hair out of his face and just letting your hand rest there as long as it needed. He just looked so soft and so gentle that you couldn't help yourself from losing all train of thought. You could stare at his face all day if he'd let you and if it wasn't seen as, ya know, creepy.

"Dirk.." A small grumble came out from the drousy boy as his eyes barely opened, looking at you through his eyelashes. You could feel your heart jump from it, almost making you clutch your chest and needing to take a breath before going into cardiac arrest.

"Just go to sleep Jake." You said in a soft tone which you personally didn't expect, but Jake didn't seem to care because he just kept staring at you too.

"Could you stay with me." His voice sounded more serious now and more alert as one of his hands reached out to gently clutch the sleeve of your shirt, not breaking his gaze from you at all.

"I...uh," You gulped as you felt your heart pounding and thankfully you learned how to hold down your blush after being so monotone after all of those years, "I don't think that's the best idea."

"Please.." He softly spoke as he leaned closer, almost letting his forehead touch yours while his grip tightened on your shirt. Even if you did want to get away, you feel like he might hold you down with his grip on your sleeve alone, or tear a hole in it. You much preferred the first option more.

"I need you here, Dirk. I mean it." Another plea escaped Jake's lips before you had time to make another statement of why you shouldn't, although you so badly wanted to. Your mind was going down so many dark ways and you really didn't want to let your own buzzed desire take over and do something you would for sure regret.

"I really need you." He mumbled as he was still leaning closer, which of course, made you almost lose your control and do what you wanted with him. He was too drunk to stop you, but you were sober enough to know he was too innocent. He was just drunk. What he was saying wasn't true, he just probably wants you here because he wants to use you as a heat source.

However, your next words went against all of your rational thoughts screaming at you right now.

"Sure," A small choked answer came from your mouth as you felt your face heat up from the closeness, "I think that would be nice."

You idiot.

You absolute piece of shit.

You couldn't stop yourself from getting up, taking off your own shoes and socks along with your shades before climbing onto his bed from the other side, and then laying right beside him on your back. You couldn't even resist him when he turned over on his other side and rested his head on your chest, letting his arm lay on your chest as that hand gently clutched onto your shoulder, allowing him to have some sort of comfort because you knew his head was probably spinning right now.

"Like this?" You whispered to him as you draped your arms around him, feeling him cuddle up closer to you. You couldn't stop yourself now, but at least it just stayed as cuddling for now and you hoped it would stay this way.

"Yeah...this is perfect." He slurred as he let his eyes slipped closed again. You still didn't slip his glasses off from earlier, so you took the chance to do that first before letting yourself close your own eyes and hopefully fall asleep yourself.

Even if your mind was in the middle of a mental freak out from the scenario happening with you currently, you knew it was perfect, just like Jake said.

----------------------------

You couldn't get a bit of sleep last night, so you took charge of slipping away from Jake's grasp before he woke up. Even if he was going to be extremely hungover, he was still an early riser. You made sure to keep your footsteps quiet as you gathered your belongings, feeling a pang in your stomach that told you to just stay with him. Some thoughts really did make you want to stay, but you knew at the same time he would probably end up slapping you in the morning or being utterly confused on why the hell his best bro was sleeping beside him.

You hated yourself for leaving but you would've hated yourself for staying.

After you left with ease, you should've head back to your room to at least manage a few minutes of shut eye, but you're mind was going crazy still.

You needed to work.

--------------------------------

It's been a couple weeks since the thing with Jake happened, and it appears that he doesn't remember it. For some reason, that made your own heart ache a little bit, but you just ignored it. It was probably best that he is to never find out what happened that night, for his own sake.

You still haven't slept much at all since that night either though. The bags under your eyes were getting worse and you kept shoving more and more work onto yourself so you could ignore Jake the best you could. You were the type to shove all of your problems down and ignore them in hopes that they would vanish.

It seems like Jake has recognized this though because lately he's been trying to go on missions with you just to see if it was all apart of his imagination. You just told him "I prefer to work alone" without ever sparing a glance towards him. You didn't need to look to see the hurt looks from him or to hear the strain in his voice.

Jake deserved better, he really did. Even a better friend than you. You hated that you were treating him this way because in reality, he did absolutely nothing wrong. If it wasn't for your own greedy temptation towards him, this wouldn't be happening right now. At this point, you wanted to use your own katana to stab yourself, but you knew that wasn't logical.

Then again, none of this was logical, but you still did it. You had no idea why you were like this, but you were. It seemed like the other two haven't noticed yet, so that was good. It always went down south whenever either one of the girls found out about these kind of things. Jane wasn't as understanding compared to Roxy, so if it came down to it, you would much rather have Roxy find out.

You shoved these thoughts down for now though, you had work to attend to and people to ignore, especially the one that was still trying to pry an answer out of you until you closed the door of your shared apartment with them.

Did you feel regret? Of course. Did you show it? Of course not. You could never let them know how you felt right now. It sounded like child's play in all honesty and you hated yourself for doing this, but it was too late to stop.

You had an unhealthy obsession with pushing people away, but right now, work was more important because you had work to do.

Work needed you too.

--------------------------------

It's now been three weeks since that night and you believe Roxy is finally catching onto you because she seems to be prying at Jake more and hanging out with him more. She's trying to figure out what's wrong because even you could tell that he looks rough, but for some reason, you couldn't find a reason to check up on him.

You still loved him, you really did. You just had your odd ways to deal with it, even if you knew it was tearing him apart. You wondered why you didn't stop, but it was just what you thought was right.

"Hey Dirk." You heard from your pink-eyed companion as she tried to catch up to you. You didn't mind talking to her, but you did have work that needed to be handled.

"Yeah?" You questioned without hesitation as you turned on your heel to look at her. She looked concerned, but only kind of for you. She seemed a little irritated at you too, but you ignored it.

You had to push these feelings down if you wanted to do your work with all that you've got. You're muscles started to feel this workload too as they screamed for a break, but you ignored that too if you wanted to do the best and become the best.

"Why don't you just go, I don't know, talk to Jake or acknowledge his existence?" She said with a bit of poison in her tone as she shot glares up at you, trying to cut through your sherade.

"I do acknowledge him, I know he's a being that's here, and I have shared..very little talk with him. It's fine." You said plainly before turning to put your hand on the doorknob, but hesitation flooded through you because you knew she had something else to say.

"Fine, but don't come crying to me when your tactic of ignoring one of the most important things you care about comes back with a deadly bite." She hissed before going back to her room to probably pet her cat to feel better.

"I care about work the most." Is what you said loud enough for her to hear you before she entered her room. You left as soon as you said it because you knew there was going to be a storm coming your way if you didn't escape now.

All you heard was muffled screaming from the other side of the door as you began to head down to the exit of the the apartment building.

Work needed you, why should you be worried about them. They'll soon forget you and this issue anyways.

-------------------------------

It's now been five weeks since that night and it's been getting better on your part. Work has consumed you again and your mind has gone blank of all emotion towards anyone. You haven't acknowledge your own feelings in a while, which you knew wasn't healthy but you couldn't care less.

You did your best at ignoring Jake, except it seemed like he was still stubborn and lively about this subject.

It annoyed you deeply.

Right now was one of those times. You were so focused on gathering the files for your new mission, it almost shocked you when your hand was beaten by someone else's hand to clasp the file. Then you heard the sickeningly fimilar voice.

"We'll take this case together." Beamed a not yet broken voice that you could never forget. You clenched your fist before eyeing the hunter that handed you the file.

"He'll take that case," You made sure to make your voice harsh to send Jake a message that you were serious about not wanting to do a case together, "Could I get another one?"

"Uh," The hunter looked confused, glancing between the two of you before clearing his throat, "Yeah, sure. Just um, give me a second." He took another glance before heading back to the file room.

"What the hell was that about, Dirk? Why won't you just, I don't know, look at me?!" His voice sounded strained and you could tell it was breaking. Yet, you still refused to look at him. You didn't want to break either.

"I don't know what you're talking about." You muttered, trying your best not to cause a scene because now people were staring. The hunter came back with the new file and passed it onto you, which you greatfully took so you could escape.

Well, you tried, but there was a bit of an issue.

There was a wall of Jake standing infront of you. It was only a 5'6" wall though and you were a 6'4" wall, so you could easily overpower him, but you weren't that rude. At least, not physically.

"Oh no buddy, you aren't leaving until I get some answers!" He demanded as he placed his hands on his hips, even puffing out his chest some. You couldn't help but huff at how embarrassing he was being. Now even more people were staring.

"Stop being so childish," You whispered with a threatening undertone to it before stepping aside and walking past him. "You'll be seen as a foolish hunter if you don't cut it out. I'm sure you don't want to put such shame on your name." You hissed out before exiting.

You didn't have to look back to know that you broke his wall down finally. You knew that this moment was the end of him trying.

Perfect.

--------------------------------

It's now been ten weeks and you haven't even seen Jake or heard from him the last four weeks. That was fine by you, it made it easier to push down the crush you still oddly had for him. You swear you were getting more heartless as time went by as work completly consumed you. You forgot when it was day and when it was night. You've forgotten what it was like to be a human.

That was, until you felt the sharp pain from a well deserved slap from Roxy.
She was staring up at you with the look of hatred while her makeup was a wreck from you guess that she was crying.

"You better give me one good reason why I shouldn't beat reason into you because you've left Jake in shambles." She hissed as she clenched her hand that she slapped you with into a fist.

"I don't have a good reason." You stated plainly while she glared you down, wanting you to spill out the rest. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to attend to."

That's when you felt a hard punch to your gut, making you double over before she gripped tightly onto your hair, making you stay down to look her into the eye. She used her free hand to rip your shades away so she could see your eyes.

"You've broken down someone who smiles and is cheery everyday, but now he hasn't even spared a smile in the last few weeks. I haven't even heard him talk and we all know how much he likes to ramble. I haven't seen him sleep in ages either. He only comes in to eat, if he feels like it which is not often. He looks worse than you do and works nonstop, even more than you which I thought was impossible. So, is that all you really can say?" She whispered with a dangerous tone. Before you knew it, you felt tears well up in your eyes and drip down your cheeks onto the floor.

You really felt worse because she felt bad for a monster that spared no mercy against Jake. Now you're not even clarified as a human in your mind, emotions and all feeling left you a while ago. Surprisingly you were crying, you didn't think that was possible anymore.

"Dirk..I, oh hun." She sighed and let go of your hair before gently wrapping her arms around your own arm, pulling you along to her room so you could talk things out.

-------------------------------

"Wait, so you mean to tell me that you've been ignoring him just because you cuddled with him while he was drunk?" She rubbed her temples as she spoke words of confusion. You didn't blame her for being confused, it was a really stupid reason. You've cuddled with all of them before, it wasn't like you've never done it before.

"That's like the most wholesome thing ever, but yet you feel bad? For ten weeks, you've been avoiding him, even purposefully breaking him apart just so he would leave you alone?" Her tone sounded like she wanted to bang her head against a wall from this illogical hell you've set up.

"Yeah, stupid right?" You ran your hand through your hair with a small sigh. You truly hated yourself right now for what you've done.

"Utterly idiotic. I would slap you again, but I'll leave that to Jake." She huffed before laying down on her bed.

"I want to slap myself, so thank you for uh, bringing me out of that madness." You scratched the back of your neck as you spun around a couple of times in her chair, trying to keep yourself from crying again. You already sobbed for a twenty minutes before talking. You didn't need to cry again, you already felt disgusting.

"God, you're pitiful," She chuckled a bit when she spoke as she gently kicked you with her foot, a grin on her face, "You know you've gotta tell him, even if you are a piece of shit."

"I know," You groaned, slumping back into the chair some and slapping away her foot, "When does he come back?"

"Uhhh," She seemed to hesitate a little bit which made you a little more alert, sitting up straight now, "I don't know actually. He's been gone on a hunt for a few days now. I haven't seen him and I'm sure he didn't take any food with him either. I told you he was in bad health."

This made you sit up completly straight as you felt worry pool into your stomach, making you want to throw up. No hunter at the level all of you were at were trusted with such a long mission. It was probably given to him because of his last name. His blood line is very famously known among hunters for being super good. It was almost unfair how much he was at hunting compared to you. It was like the second he came out of the womb he was able to shoot up a hoard of demons with ease.

"We've gotta go to him." You quickly stated, already getting out of the chair. However, Roxy had other plans as she quickly hopped up and gripped tightly onto your arm before you could make another move. She was a lot stronger than she looks. That's probably what she gets for carrying around a heavy rifle around all the time.

"Wait, don't go. I wanted to go myself for a while now, but I'm afraid to ruin or mess him up which can do much more harm than good." She said with genuine worry behind her voice for Jake as she plopped back down on her bed, letting go of your arm.

"You've sadly got a point." You groaned before allowing your posture to slump down. You really were worried for that crazy kid, but there was nothing you could do. All you could do was wait and hope.

"I know I do, and I hate that I make a point for once too." She closed her eyes with a small sigh. Yeah, it sucked. It really did.

"I'll uh, go out to the kitchen to wait for him then." You spoke softly before gently grabbing a hold if the doorknob. You felt a small poke on your butt from Roxy's foot before you opened the door.

"Remember I'm here if you need anything." She hummed and winked at you. You couldn't help but scoff and slap her foot away again so she would stop digging her big toe into your ass. She was being a literal pain in the ass.

"Alright, asshole." You chipped out before heading out of her room.

"Close the door on the way out, dick!" She yelled back as you couldn't help but chuckle softly, closing the door behind you as instructed.

You walked over to the fridge and pulled out a redbull because you would defiently be waiting for quite a bit. You sat at the kitchen table, looking out the window to see the sun beginning to rise over the horizon. It's been a while since you've been able to see such a view and enjoy it with such peace. You sipped on the ever so helpful redbull as you awaited for the jungle boy to return himself back home, which you hoped would actually happen. 

You seriously hoped he would return.

----------------------------------

At some point you ended up passing out on the kitchen table. You had no idea when you passed out, but it happened.

Luckily you woke up as soon as you heard the door close. For some reason you could tell it was Jake. You just knew. You sat up in an instant with hearing stammering footsteps. They sounded exhausted and as soon as your eyes laid upon Jake, you could just see the damage you've done to him, and the damage the demons he was fighting did too.

No matter how tired he was though,  he still managed a surprised look from seeing you sitting there, without your shades, actually looking at him. It wasn't the shades part that shocked him, they've all seen your eyes before. It was the fact that you were looking at him.

"Dirk- I, uh, I..should go." He stuttered before quickly trying to head to his room. No, you couldn't let him slip away this time. You stood up quicker than you ever had in your life as you strode over to him. Right as you both reached the door, you placed both of your hands on either side of his head to stop him there, keep him pinned down just like Roxy did to get you talk.

"Jake," You choked out finally, which seemed to make him tense like hearing his name from your lips was forbidden, "Please, I need to talk to you."

He turned around after a few moments to look at you in the eyes. Tears were spilling from his eyes as he looked so shattered from the inside out. His eyes looked so dull. You really fucked up this time.

"I," He seemed too shocked to really know how to respond, but even his words sounded dull, "Yeah, okay. Um, come in."

He turned back around and waited for you to remove your hands from the door before he opened the door to his room. You were kinda surprised he let you in without much trouble. You thought he was going to slip in and let you fall flat on your face. You wouldn't complain if that happened though, but it did save you the pain.

As soon as you stepped in and the door was closed, you never saw or even predicted that you would be welcomed with a hug from Jake. You almost broke down crying, but it wasn't your turn to do so. You allowed Jake instead to sob into your chest, just letting him let it out before talking to him. Wrapping your arms around him and placing your chin ontop of his head was all you could do. 

It took a while for him to stop, but you didn't mind. At some point you ended up with your back pressed against the door because he was too weak to stand on his own it seemed like. His knees buckled in and you both stammered back until you were pressed against the door. You didn't mind though.

"Okay, I'm ready." He choked out, gently letting go of you and stepping back to rub away his tears. You could tell that he wasn't fully ready to trust you because once he gained his state of mind, he made sure to keep his distance. He sat down on his bed and glanced over at the chair that sat diagonally across from his bed. You knew he wanted you to sit there, so you did.

"I know you probably don't know how to start this conversation because you've always been an awkward one when it comes to this kind of thing," He said with a very sad smile, it made your heart hurt seeing that bright smile of his dimmed down to such a small thing, "So, I'm just going to start it off by asking you this simple phrase. Why?"

He still knew you well, you couldn't deny that. You couldn't help but smile a little smile in return towards the broken man sitting infront of you. It was all your fault too.

"I'm assuming you know it deals with that night of Roxy's party that night since the day after that was when it started." You inhaled a deep breath as he looked at you, giving you a look that screamed that he was so desperate for you to keep on talking.

"Well, that night, I carried you into your room because man, you were terribly drunk. I'm surprised you didn't die that night in all honesty with the hellish drinks you consumed." You said with a lighter tone, trying to clear the atmosphere from the tension, but it only earned a small and very awkward chuckle. It only made it worse.

Fuck, this was going so badly.

"Anyways," You cleared your throat, trying to help the atmosphere again, "When I laid you down and took care of you, like making sure you laid down properly and stuff, you um, you.." It felt like your mouth suddenly went dry, being unable to say the next part. That part haunted you for the past ten weeks. The way he kept saying "I need you" made your very core tremble with the burning desire you had for him. You had no right to have that desire now though.

"I did what?" He stuttered out, unsure if he wanted to know what he did. The way you left it off sounded like he did something horrible to you, but it was the other way around. It was your thoughts, those thoughts of lust that scared you so much because you didn't want to harm him. He was too good for you and you didn't want to wreck him.

"No, before you think you did something wrong, you didn't. It was actually me," You wheezed out, looking up at him to see confusion all over his face and about to open his mouth to question you again, but you quickly spoke up once more, "You just asked me to stay with you that night. It's what I did that was the issue."

His face quickly started to turn red, being flustered at that thought. You could also tell that he felt unsure about you know. He closed himself off to you, squeezing his legs together and crossing his arms. He probably felt disgusted with you, but luckily you had control over yourself that night.

"Don't worry, I didn't do any of that. I promise you I didn't, I just..I just cuddled with you that's all. You wouldn't let me leave, so I decided to do so. But, that's not why I ignored you." You calmly stated as you kept eyeing him, trying to see his reaction. He seemed a little bit better, but still unsure.

"But, just cuddling?? Are you serious?! Dude, we've done that so many times before, why was it so different this time?" He suddenly exploded, anger and confusion clear on his face.

"No, listen. That's not the main reason why. I should've left because of my thoughts," You were surprised that it came out no matter how badly your mind was screaming for you to not tell such sinful thoughts to him, but, "The way you slurred those words that you needed me have kept me up since that night, and during that night, I should've left because of how sinful my thoughts were. I wanted to do so many things to you that night that would be a lot worse than cuddling. I was unsure if I was able to control myself, but I still stayed.  My thoughts kept telling me to have my way with you, no one would know. The only thing was, that I would know and I could never do something like that to someone so kind hearted and caring. You're too good of a friend to do that too."

He seemed too shocked to say anything as his mind tried to work out the kinks of the whole situation. You didn't blame him, you're never trusting yourself to be buzzed again while Jake is so vunrable or when he's even around you.

"So, you decided that avoiding me for so long was a better option just because of some thoughts?" He sounded calmer now and a little more  confident now than before.

"Kind of," You pondered your thoughts as you chewed on your bottom lip for a little bit before continuing, "I was worried that I would act out on my thoughts at some point and I knew I couldn't live with that. So, I pushed down all feelings and worked to distract myself as much as possible. I knew that it was wrong the whole time, yet I still didn't stop myself from doing so for some odd reason. I think I was blinded- actually, I know I was blind. Somehow, you ended up being the one in it's line of fire."

"Oh..." Was all that escaped his lips. He was still in shock with it as you could tell he was thinking. His eyebrows were knitted together as his fingers fiddled with eachother showing a clear sign that he was in thought, but nervous thought.

"I guess you just admitted your feelings for me, didn't you?" He looked up with precaution as his eyes searched your face for the answer that he already knew. He was studying your behavior now with more confidence and reassurance.

"Yeah, I uh, guess I did." You admitted with a nervous chuckle behind it. You couldn't help but scratch the back of your neck, "Pathetic, right?"

Jake quickly waved his hands in defense that he clearly didn't mean to mock you of your feelings. This was more normal for him now. You could slowly see the life come back to him, especially in his eyes.

"Ah, no no! I didn't mean it in that way! I actually don't think it's pathetic at all! I'm kinda flattered, honestly, even surprised that someone like you could, ya know, like me? Odd is what's going on with how some force was able to make such an amazingly cool and steller person like me! Gee whiz, I'm not, just, wowie..I" His lips weren't moving fast enough to keep up with his words and thoughts. There was the Jake you knew, rambling his head off when he was nervous or extremely flustered.

"Woah, slow down there before you blow a fuse goofball." You laughed out with a genuine smile. That smile apperntly was shocking to Jake because it made him stop and stare, his face changing color again.

"Ah, my goodness. I can be quite embarssing, can't I?" He laughed with you, his question not really being meant for an answer. Before you could think, words spilled out.

"No, I find it rather amusing and cute in a sense." You hummed before it really settled in what you just said. You probably just ruined the whole moment with that dammed word. That one word, "cute", could do so much damage sometimes.

"I...oh." He twiddled his thumbs in slight embarssment with an awkward chuckle right after it.

"I mean," He cleared his throat to clear the air and looked directly at you again, "It's only fair that I tell you how I feel too since you've been so honest with me."

No, you didn't deserve to know, but you didn't want to be rude and deny his will. You so badly wanted to because you deserved to crawl around and suffocate from your unknown knowledge of his own thoughts and feelings just as you have done to him.

"I, uh, man..this is harder than you made it look." He looked around the room and gently tapped his foot from being so nervous of his answer. Maybe this was a good sign, but it could also be a very bad sign.

"I..er, gee, I-I like you as well." He spoke so softly you almost didn't hear him. It didn't help that he was looking down at his lap where his hands gingerly laid as they anxiously twiddled.

You didn't know what to say this time. Before you knew it, you stood up and walked towards him, your thoughts desperate to ravish him, all of him. To let him know how much you truly loved him and cherished him.

You weren't buzzed though, so you had control. Instead of pouncing on him, you kneeled infront of him, taking his hands gingerly into yours, rubbing circles into his hands with your thumbs.

He looked at you, his eyes searching your face. Something in his eyes looked desperate too, searching for something from you. You didn't take that as consent though to do anything more than to just hold his hands and be like this.

"Dirk.." Your name escaped his lips like honey as he leaned down, placing his forehead against yours, taking in deep breaths. It was hard to see exactly what was going on this close, but you could see the tears developing in his eyes. He was desperate for this closeness too it seemed like. This closure is what you both desired for. 

You allowed yourself to lean into the touch. This shook you to your very core. This is what you've been dreaming of, and it was only hand holding with a forehead touch, yet, it felt so intimate already. It was taking your breath away and, god, you would let this happen as long as it wanted, even if it killed you. You took the daring move to push it even further by leaning your head up to be merely only a few centimeters away from his lips. 

Every breath he took, you could feel on your own lips. Every time his heart would beat, you could feel his pulse for your thumb laid on his wrist in the correct spot to do so. You almost felt as one here, and you wondered if he felt the same.

"Do you..?" You asked, hoping he knew what you meant. 

"Yeah," He gulped, his eyes glued onto your lips, "I do."

Before you knew it, your lips were colliding with his in sweet ecstasy that felt like all the tension that ever happened in between the two of you suddenly dissipated. You didn't know when this happened but to whatever was in heaven above, you blessed them. 

At first, you thought this was some sort of dream because he willingly let his lips clash with yours and even kissed back with just as much desperate force. You tilted your head up even more to add more pressure and intensity to it, which Jake seemed to approve of as a small groan made it out of his throat and into yours, making you shiver. You made him make that noise and that sent a jolt to your gut. God damn, he was perfect.   

Before too long, his arms were clutched around you, pulling you closer as you did the same, wrapping your arms underneath his own to cradle him. His hands pulled at your hair that even made you make a small grunt in approval. He seemed to take a liking to it, so he kept pulling harder, but not enough to truly hurt you. He was too caring for that. You let yourself get onto both of your knees now, letting your head be level with his own. Within that moment you broke away just for a second to take in a breath right before going back into it.

He seemed to be really enjoying this because he kept making those heaven sent noises that just made your stomach go into knots. You loved this boy so much. You eventually began to stand up slowly, but never losing his lips, and he seemed to follow. He wrapped his legs around your waist tightly to bring both of your bodies together, colliding in a hot, steamy, needy mess. You hoisted him up and moved your arms to support him by grasping a hold of his waist hard enough to leave some bruises. He seemed to gasp softly at it, but he didn't react in a negative way, so you kept your hands there. 

Even in your hot and needy make out session, you still had a logical brain in there that kept reminding you to not get too ahead of yourself. If you wanted to take it any further than this, you needed his physical, emotional, and mental consent. You weren't about to rob him of something he would regret forever, no matter how needy you both were.

You broke your lips away from his to catch your breath and his. You took this chance to lay him down on the bed gently before adjusting yourself to hover over him. His eyes searched for yours as he clasped your shirt in his fists, trying to ground himself from his emotional high. You made sure to take note of how bruised his lips were and how heavy he was panting. What really caught your eye was the tears streaming down his face. You didn't know when those appeared, so it made instant worry source throughout you. Maybe he didn't want what just happened. Maybe he just wanted to stay with the hand holding and forehead touching, not the steamy stuff yet.

"Hey," You heaved out as your hands gently cupped his face, allowing your thumbs to rub away his tears, "What's wrong? Did you not want to do this?" 

"N-no! I totally wanted to...I guess I'm just so happy." He panted out as he looked up at you, one of his huge and famous smiles plastered among his face. Even if it was a bit wobbly because of the mid-sob he was in right now. He even managed a small hiccup from his crying which broke your heart a little bit. You didn't know what to say to that, so you just quickly leaned down and planted quite a few kisses all around his face, which earned laughter from the male underneath you. You couldn't help but smile wide as laughter bubbled out from your own lips.

Man, this man was going to be the death of you if your work didn't kill you first.

"You're so precious." You whispered to him as you stopped your downpour of kisses on his face. He seemed to instantly become flustered. He was also so modest and could never take a proper compliment without stuttering and becoming a bit heated in the cheeks. He only kept his cool with compliments when it came to his line of work, then he took pride in it and sometimes boasted about his grand new "adventure" to the four of you, but it never got annoying. He kept it modest and he really did deserve a good brag every now and again about his work because he was one of the best. 

However, one of those times was not now, so you took your opportunity to get him to squirm. You had him in your hold now, so it was the best time to do it. You leaned down to his ear to whisper sweet compliments about every part of him, making sure to do it in a lower tone as you kept one hand beside his head and you leaned on your forearm with the other. He quickly became red enough to see clearly even with his wonderfully coca colored skin. He gripped one hand around your wrist that was by his head and another onto your shoulder, trying to gently push you away so you would stop your torment.   

"Dirk, please.." He desperately whispered to you, "Control that damned mouth of yours." He was trying his best to be assertive, but it was always hard for him when it came to terms like this. 

"I'm sorry, it just has a tendency of spilling out the truth." You hummed lowly directly into his ear which earned you a quick hand to your face as he tried to push you away.

"I swear, Strider," He huffed doing his best to push your face away from his ear so he could regain himself, "Have some decency." He was trying to push you away so he could recompose himself again, but you didn't want that. You loved seeing him like this and couldn't get enough of it.

"I'm not the gentleman here, decency does not strike to be a familiar word with me." With that said, you shifted so you could grab hold of his wrist that belonged to the hand pushing at your face. You pinned it above his head and took no time to use your other hand to grasp his other, doing the same.

"I'll get you back for this one.." He stammered as he tried to wiggle free. You knew he totally could with ease, but he was trying not to harm you, yet you were making sure to leave as much bruises as possible so the whole world knew he didn't belong to anyone else but you.

However, before you targeted your next attack on him, you needed to ask for his consent so nothing else interrupted like just moments ago. You still had your aching need for him, but you just kept it under wraps. 

"Jake, before we keep on going because I know that you know where exactly this is heading towards," You talked with more of serious tone now to set the mood so he understood fully, "Are you okay with this? Take a moment to really think about it because I don't want you to wake up and regret it."

He seemed happy with how caring you were towards his own true words of consent, so he also took care in his thought process. It only took him a few moments until he looked back up at you and nodded.

"Yes, I'm completely okay with this," He huffed out with a more serious tone as well, "I want this to happen and I'm okay with this happening. Just promise me one thing though."

"Of course," You sighed out, the hint of satisfaction in your tone seemed to also make you sound desperate to keep this going, "Anything you want or do not want me to do, just tell me and your desires will come true."

"Getting fancy on the words there, aren't ya?" He teased with a small grin, almost mocking you in a way.

"I'm getting fancy because I care about you," You groaned out with slight annoyance, "Unless you want me to say something like ,"Jake, before I fuck you into this goddamn bed, do you want me to ravish you with all I have, making every single part of you feel like it belongs to me and only me, or do you want me to go smooth and slow like that one country song you kept playing to make fun of my heavy accent I used to have?"" That seemed to shut him up because he almost seemed breathless and wide-eyed from your response. You probably took it too far with the first part because while you were saying it, you could feel him shiver. 

"I was just going to wish that you would do nothing to me that you wouldn't like me doing to you," He spoke softly, he seemed dazed from your words still, "But uh, I didn't know you could have such a dirty mouth."

"Oh honey," You made sure to make your voice go low again as your eyes locked onto his, making him gulp, "It can much dirtier if you want me too." You leaned down to place a kiss on the crook of his neck before nipping down on the spot, making the male jump a bit from surprise, but also making him sigh from delight.  

"God, please do." He groaned out. 

That's all you needed to keep on going.

-------------------------------------------------------

Last night was filled with the most intimate time in your life because you didn't just fuck Jake, you made love to him. It went on for what it felt like hours, but in reality it only went on for about half an hour. It was the best half an hour you have ever experienced. 

It was now the morning after and the bed was absent of the smaller male. He always did wake up earlier than you, so you assumed he was taking a shower or eating. You always were a late sleeper compared to most of them, well, besides Roxy. She could sleep for a week straight if you'd let her. 

You sat up in the bed and stretched, your back and arms were sore from the scratch marks and bruises left from Jake gripping onto you. You diffidently would grin wildly whenever you saw those. You took note to point those out to him later. He'd probably just respond by showing the bruises you littered about ever part of him with. Those were not made by hands though, (well, most of them) they were made by your very own mouth. You did warn him when you said you would ravish every part of him.

A small sigh left your airways before getting out of the warm bed to put your clothes back on. Roxy would probably know right away what happened because she was the one who was here. Jake, you learned, wasn't exactly the quietest being during sex. It's not that you didn't enjoy that though, him screaming your name was for sure something you would never forget. 

You stepped outside of his room and walked over to the kitchen to see Jake sitting there, already made breakfast for you and him as he looked out of the window, watching the traffic of the city streets down below. He almost didn't notice you at first because his glasses were off. That fact almost made you suspicious on how the hell he cooked breakfast, but he looked so handsome with or without his glasses, just seeing him without them was a rare sight since he was as blind as a bat.

"Oh good morning blob that I assume is Dirk." He hummed with a sleepy undertone. He was probably still dead tired from that mission he went for. Him alone with tons of demons was probably one taxing fight.

"Morning," You chipped back before sitting across from him where your plate was set, "You should've let me cook breakfast."

"Yeah, I should've, but I couldn't sleep and your face looked so peaceful." He chimed back as he seemed like he was about to fall out of his chair. He didn't look that good right now. He almost looked a bit odd, it worried you some.

"Hey, are you alright? You don't look too hot." Your voice turned to become instantly concerned as you eyed the other male. 

"Ah, yeah. I'm good. I think," He shrugged sluggishly, which was very unusual because he was generally very perky in the morning, no matter what time it was, "I'm just tired."

"I could tell.." You hesitated, but you chose to believe him.

You began to eat your breakfast in silence for a bit, keeping your eyes on him as you did. He just seemed like he was swaying back and forth in his chair. He finally made motion to pick up his fork and take a bite out of the eggs, however, he instantly fell off to the side and out of his chair as soon as he moved just a bit forward to get closer to his food.

You shouted his name before sprinting to the other side of the table, your heart rate beating like crazy. Jake looked like shit, like in a sick way. It was probably from the past few weeks of over working his body like a manic. You placed the back of your hand on his forehead, he was burning up.

"Roxy! Jane! Someone, help!" You desperately yelled into the quiet apartment. You adjusted Jake's head to be resting on your lap as you tried your best to keep him comfy. Jane was the first one to bust out of her room with a first aid kit in hand already.

"Alright, who the hell cut themselves with the kitchen knife this time?" She mocked with a small grin on her face. That grin was quickly gone after she saw you looking back at her, a strong look of heavy concern was all over your face. She immediately rushed over to see Jake laying there, panting heavily as his facial expressions read that he was in pain. 

"Oh goodness! What happened to him?" She questioned quite loudly as she instantly knelt down beside the two of you. She was already pulling out the thermometer and ice pack for Jake, wasting no time at all.

"I-I, I don't know! He was just sitting there in his chair, swaying a little bit and then he tried to eat, then he just fell over!" You hurriedly exclaimed to her while you let her work her magic on Jake, placing the thermometer in his mouth and underneath his tongue. 

Roxy came stammering out of her room, squinting at the three of you. 

"It better be a good reason for waking me up at seven in the morning." She grumbled before realizing what exactly was going on. Once she did though, she instantly was wide awake.

"Oh my god, Jake!"She stumbled over quickly before kneeling down right beside Jane, watching her actions closely as she pulled out thermometer from his mouth. 

"He's running quite the fever, but it's nothing deadly." She said with a sigh of relief. You peered over her hand to look at the results yourself. It read "101.4" which wasn't the worst fever you've seen, but it was for sure worthy of concern.

"Dirk," She spoke softly as she placed a hand on your shoulder, "Take him to his room and lay him down. I'll be in there in a second." She smiled sweetly before handing you the ice pack from her hands. She packed everything else up and stood up quickly, her mind at work as she thought of ways to help him. 

You took the ice pack and held it with your teeth while you looped your arms carefully underneath him before lifting him up with care. He seemed to only groan and wince in protest, but did nothing more but cuddle up to your warmth. He was feeling cold because you could feel him shivering, so you did your best to hold him close so he could soak up as much of your heat as needed.

"Should I go with them?" Roxy questioned Jane as she stood up as well, ready to help out in anyway needed.

"Actually, could you help me over here? They should be just fine, if not, I'm sure Dirk will let you know." She replied back calmly as she was already shifting through the herbs we had in the spice cabinet.

You wasted no time getting to his room and setting him underneath the covers. You even placed as much blankets as you could on top of him. Once he was situated, you made sure to place the ice pack onto his forehead before kneeling down beside him. He still hasn't opened his eyes yet, but he was making quite a few noises of discomfort.

Maybe you should've just cuddled last night because you probably pushed his body even more than it should've done last night. You felt the guilt swarming you as you clenched your fists into the sheets, your eyes never leaving him.

"Please be okay." You whispered softly to him. 

You sure hoped he was going to be fine.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It's been two days since he's gotten sick, and luckily, he's gotten much better. 

It seemed to be a stress related sickness, so it was just a fever, some vomiting, and headaches. Still a nasty combination. The doctor at the base warned us and Jake very thoroughly to never push himself or ourselves like this again. 

You kept watch on him most of the time, brought him what he needed, made sure he was eating, sleeping, taking his medicine, and providing a trashcan for whenever he needed to throw up. He was even more stubborn when he was sick, and it didn't help that he was also grumpy. You couldn't really blame him, he was handling this sickness like a champ.

However, since it's been a few days, Jake insisted that you went out and worked. He knew it helped you with your stress by letting his pent up emotions  out by killing demons. You wanted to refuse, but that weak smile he showed you made you say yes to him automatically. He also wanted you to go with someone just in case since you were drowsy from constantly watching over Jake. So, you asked Jane to do a mission with you because Roxy insisted that she would stay and watch over Jake. 

The two of you were at the base gathering the files to an easier case, wanting a quick one so you could return sooner. The only issue was, all the really quick ones were taken by the new wave of hunters that just swarmed in so they could get their ratings up faster.

You groaned as the hunter dealing the files kept listing off things they didn't have that you two wanted.

"So, there is nothing in this area currently?" You muttered once more to the hunter.

"Yes sir, there are no files for this city right now since the younger hunters aren't entrusted with heading out of city limits yet," The hunter seemed rather annoyed too because she would rather be out on a job than being stuck handing out files, "But, there is one for a city only an hour away. You can get there, do the job and come back within a night, especially with the two of you."

You pondered on that proposal as you eyed Jane. She seemed a bit unsteady about it as well, but she nodded that you both should take up on the offer. It was the closest option available right now to the both you, so it only seemed logical.

"However, be careful, it does say these are some stronger classification demons you'll be handling. It might be best to bring just one more hunter along just to stay on the safe side." She noted before handing the two of you the case file.

Something about this file just reeked of bad luck, but you ignored it for now.

-----------------------------

The two of you went back to the apartment to gather the essential needs nesscarry for the mission after reading over the files a few times. You even made a list to fit all that you needed for this trip. You still felt weird about this trip, but it had to be done for Jake's sake.

Speaking of which, you should probably tell him that you're going so he actuslly believes you. Plus, it just felt right too. It was polite to do so afterall.

You knocked on the door with the knuckle of your index finger, hearing some shifting from the other side of the door.

"Come in." You heard a weak voice speak to you before you stepped in, closing the door gently behind you. You glanced over at him and he seemed to look much better today than he has been. He hasn't even thrown up in the past twelve hours which was a record so far. 

"Hey bud, Jane and I are about to head out on that mission you wanted us to go on." You said softly, trying not to irritate his migraine. You walked over and sat on the chair that sat beside his bed. You moved it there yourself the first day so you could keep an eye on him.

"That's wonderful," He hummed out, giving you a small smile, "I'm hoping it'll sail smoothly." Those last words of his seemed to just make you uneasy, like you knew this mission was going to go absolutely horrible. You were probably just overthinking again because you wanted to be here with Jake instead. 

"Yeah, me too. It might take us a while to get back though. The mission is in another city about an hour west from here. The demons are a little higher too on the classification scale, so it'll probably be a good night or so before you come back." You told him, not wanting to keep him worried if he finds out you two haven't been back for a long time.

"Well, even so, I know you can kick their asses back to hell." He gave you a wink as he did his best to cheer you on. He was such a pure and wholesome man.

"Thanks Jake," You smiled as you bent over to kiss him gently on the lips, "Now, get some sleep and I'll be back before you know it."

"Alright, see you tomorrow Dirk." 

You stepped out of the room with a little bit of hesitation as you looked back at Jake, unsure still if you should leave. It all felt off and almost surreal. You hated this feeling, but it was too late to back down now.

You picked up your bags and waited for Jane to finish up her goodbyes as Roxy trailed behind her, making sure to give you a huge bear hug as well and a kiss on the cheek before the both of you headed outside.

Your mind screamed for you to not step a foot into that car, but you still did anyways.

You were just overthinking, that was all.

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was nighttime already and you and Jane fell asleep in the back of the car while the uber driver drove you two there. Once you reached your destination, you both got your things and headed out of the car, paying the driver and even tipping him for being so nice to let you two sleep calmly in the back.

Even if that nap was well needed and felt so peaceful, you still had an off feeling in you gut that just wouldn't leave you alone. Maybe you weren't the only one because Jane seemed uneasy herself.

"Do you feel off about this place too, Jane?" You questioned as you looked over at her troubled expression.

"Yeah..oddly enough. Maybe we're just overthinking it." She responded. You two were the over thinkers of the bundle. Roxy and Jake were more impulsive than the two of you, which proved to be handy with earning less injuries. Other times, you would end up in a situation like this. 

"Well, lets get this over with so we can get back to our own beds sooner." You stated calmly, a small sigh appearing at the end. You really didn't want to do this and all you could think about was Jake.

You really did miss him.

---------------------------------------------------------------

The mission went to complete shit easily.

You fell right into the traps they laid out for you two because your head was in the gutter and Jane was too busy trying to find out exactly where they were. She wasn't more of the fighting kind anyways, she was more of the thinking side of things.

"Fuck." Is all that escaped your mouth as your face was pushed into the alley way concrete by a demon's foot. It hurt like hell and you tried your best to free yourself from the ropes they managed around you.

"This one's a fighter!" One of the demons yelled, getting the other fired up as they shouted in agreement. You really should've read more into the files because this was a whole ass demon gang you were fighting against, not just a few hard ones to kill, there was a whole bunch of hard ones to kill.

You really should've listened to your gut.

You glanced over at Jane to her being tormented as well which made you struggle even more. They knocked out your katana a while ago and you're pretty sure one of the very strong ones some how ended up breaking it into pieces. That was really your only strong weapon, and now it was shattered into pieces.

"Do what you want to me, but leave her alone." You demanded, keeping a straight face because by some miracle, your shades weren't broken or knocked off your face yet.

"Like you have such a choice to make such a proposition." The demon above you laughed out, pressing his foot down harder as you heard Jane scream out. You began to violently roll around the best you could, but it didn't work.

Your eyes looked over to see why she screamed, and you felt your heart sink to your stomach.

They stabbed her right through the gut with a long sword.

No way. This wasn't happening. You were still at home, watching Jake and taking care of him. You weren't here watching you friend getting killed right in front of you. No, you didn't scream out for her. No, you weren't losing your head about it. You didn't see the demons chanting a forbidden ritual around her as she began to bleed out to death. This couldn't be happening, right? There was no possible way.

You froze in place as all sounds around you began to mash into one big sound of static noise. There was only one clear thought going through your head.

You were next.

You felt hands grasp at your hair as the demon holding you down with his foot removed it from your head, allowing them to hoist you up to be sitting straight up now. You felt limp and cold, already feeling death surge through your body even before you knew what kind of death they planned out for you.

They pulled out an old wooden box from the alleyway and set it only a couple of feet in front of you. You already knew what they were planning on doing, but you didn't like the sound of it at all.

You tried to think of anything, anything but this. You tried filling your head with memories of all of the fond times you had with your friends. You tried thinking of the missions you went on with them.

 You thought of Roxy as they all hissed at you like cats.

You thought of Jane as they all scolded you, yelling taunts at you while they began to shove you down so your neck was barely past the ends of the wooden box.

You thought of Jake as they lifted up the battle ax, thinking of how you loved him with all of your being and hoping, just hoping, that he would feel better soon.

Jake's smile was the last thing you saw as he said your name, beckoning you close before everything went black.

------------------------------------------------

You don't know how you woke up or why, but the alleyway was empty now.

It must've been a dream, but damn, did your neck hurt like a bitch.

You rubbed your hand on your neck to ease the pain, but you were shocked to feel a new scar there. That was never there before and you're pretty damn sure you would've felt it or at least seen it if it was.

You looked around and saw Jane still laying there, now dried blood surrounding her. Maybe it wasn't a dream because there was also a line of blood from where your head rolled.

But, how were you alive?

You had no clue how the hell you were still conscious because you are pretty damn sure people don't just wake up from being decapitated and everything is fine. You shook your head a bit to see if you were in hell or something, but everything stayed the same. This was strange.

You crawled over to Jane and rolled her over. Her wound was heeled from her stomach, but there was still blood all over her. She was also breathing. So, she was alive too.

This didn't add up.

You've never heard of this kind of thing before. Maybe it was the chant the demons were saying around Jane before she died. That had to be part of it.

You gently shook Jane to try and wake her up, wanting to see if she would at least wake up so you weren't alone in this confusion. 

"Jane..wake up. We're not dead..somehow." You said but you quickly winced because your tongue was cut but the sharpness of your..fangs?? Oh god, you started to add up what was happening, but you needed Jane to wake up to confirm that this nightmare was true.

"Dirk!" She gasped as she sat up straight quickly, looking bewildered and crazy. You grasped onto her shoulders to steady her as her wild eyes landed upon you. She gasped once more upon seeing you.

"Dirk, you look like a demon! Is this some sick joke you're trying to pull? I thought we died and yet you're pulling stunts like this? It's not something to joke about, ya know?" She scolded you once more, even flicking you in the arm to show her seriousness.

She confirmed your thoughts though.

Your name was Dirk Strider and your work ended up killing you, making you a demon.

Congratulations.  

((Hey guys! I'm so glad that some of you cared to read this! I promised a remake for you guys, so here's the first chapter! I sure hope you enjoyed it and I made sure to make it extra long for you :') (help me, my hands hurt. This chapter is 13,737 words long) Expect more to come soon! ;)

P.s, if any of you got why I named the chapter the title I did, you'll get one crisp high five))