—I SHOULD HATE YOU—

'i should hate you' / mirrorballsociety

Ara Remington had been picking up the pieces of her broken heart that had been torn from her chest with such violence and then shattered on the floor at her feet. There were millions of words, thousands of languages that she knew as if they were the back of her hand, yet none of them could quite express how she felt, at least to others, she was closed off. A closed book, locked away in a secret compartment never to be opened.

Pointless, could be the word used to describe how she felt. After what happened to her mother, she watched the world from the sidelines. She had all the talent in the world, she could use that to her advantage. Despite her special abilities, she couldn't care less for them. It was all she could do to stay alive, for so long. She was merely floating, no, she was drowning.

Dean Redding hated his father with every fiber of his being. He hated him for giving him his looks, he hated him for giving his name. And he hated him for tarnishing his reputation. As much as he tried to outrun him, Dean Redding would always be the offspring of a monster, of someone who destroyed the lives of so many innocent people.

He felt like a burden, a weight upon everyone's shoulders. He couldn't help it, it was just how he felt. So, he stowed his emotions away so deep that he could hardly feel them himself. He needed saving, saving from his father, saving from himself before he suffocates himself with his own mind.

Dean and Ara are intertwined in more ways than one. They were two sides to two different coins, but they were similar. They were
more similar than they'd like to admit, so different yet so similar. Dean couldn't feel his emotions, and Ara felt too many of them, too much that she was practically numb. so yes, you could say they were similar, but you could also argue that they could not be more different from one another. Dean was 'cold' Ara was closed off, yes, but she was also warm, she was soft, despite how much she didn't want to believe it. Not soft in a weak way, she was very strong. She was just soft in the way that she loved.

Ara should hate Dean, not to fault of his own, but by the hands of someone else. But she didn't hate him, she just couldn't. She loved him far too much to ever hate him.

ARA BLAYKE REMINGTON
'the prophecy' by taylor swift

(seventeen, natural linguist.)

DEAN REDDING
'like him' by tyler, the creator

(seventeen, natural profiler)

table of contents!

part one: the hurt man.
(killer instinct)

part two: the bolter.
(all in)

part three: shared lifeline.
(bad blood)

soundtrack!

01. i should hate you, gracie abrams
02. true blue, boygenius
03. the smallest man who ever lived, taylor swift
04. i knew it, i know you, gracie abrams
05. matilda, harry styles
06.motion sickness, phoebe bridgers
07. teenage dream, olivia rodrigo
08. forewords beckon rebound, adrienne lenker
09. the tortured poets department, taylor swift
10. hope ur ok , olivia rodrigo
11. mad woman, taylor swift
12. packing it up, gracie abrams
13. look after you, the fray
14. i told you things, gracie abrams
15. you are in love , taylor swift
16. no one noticed, the marias
17. sidelines, phoebe bridgers
18.  the lakes, taylor swift
19. i know the end, phoebe bridgers

warnings!

this book contains themes in the Naturals series such as gore, violence, death, murder, mentions of sexual assault, rape, abuse, foul language, etc.

If these things are triggering to you, then i suggest that this book isn't for you.

credits!!

the praise and credits for this book goes to jennifer lynn barnes (she is a literal genius)

that being said, Ara and any other original characters and plots do belong to me.

the graphics at the beginning are found on pinterest, so they are not my original work, credits go to whoever created those!

other info!

if you do not know what a linguist is, it is a person who speaks many languages. in this case, Ara is able to naturally pick up languages and accents, and that is her natural ability!

also, i couldn't find dean's middle name anywhere, idk if he had one in the book, but if anyone knows of it, please let me know so i can add it😭

cam's notes!!

it's so exciting to be saying hi to you guys on a brand new story, so hello!

there has been so many good naturals fics that i've seen lately, but i don't see many for dean, so i decided to make one :)

until i get further along in my other naturals fic, reflections, the updates for this book will not be as frequent as my focus is on my other book, but there will still be some updates for this one! (i think i'll shift my focus to this one more after i am halfway done with my other fic!)

anyway, i love dean and ara so much already (even tho i haven't really outlined any chapters yet, considering i came up with this idea in one day)

i hope you love them as much as i do already, and im sorry for the yap session, but without further ado, welcome to 'i should hate you'!

Started: 1-1-25
Published: 1-1-25
Completed: ?

'i should hate you'
© mirrorballsociety 2025
All rights reserved.