A/N: more flashbacks?

I swung open the front door, forcing a tight smile onto my face as I saw who it was on the front step.

"I went out and bought flowers." He announced, pushing a bouquet of lilies into my hands as I let him in.

"Why?"

"It's called a nice gesture."

"Wouldn't they look nicer in the ground? Not dead?"

He sighed wearily and walked into the kitchen to fill up a large glass with water. I followed him in and watched as he slipped the wrapping off the flowers and dunked them into the water. I didn't even like lilies.

"I have flowers in the garden that are still growing-."

"Yeah I know, honestly I just thought it would be nice. Sometimes I forget you're not like most of the women I've date- slept with." He coughed out, smiling brightly at me. I frowned for a minute, genuinely wondering how the hell i'd got to this point in my life.

"You make me sound so 'quirky'." I muttered and he laughed lightly, looking me over intently.

"Oh dear god what is that smell?" Seb exclaimed, wrinkling his nose as he scouted the vicinity of the kitchen with his eyes for the source of the offending odour.

"I tried to cook."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah..."

"I'll order something then."

I nodded absent mindedly, bouncing up to sit on the counter as Seb fixed me with an odd look. He seemed to be smiling at me with a strange suggestive glimmer in his deep hazel eyes. I returned his gaze with a blank impassive stare as I attempted to comprehend the feeling behind his eyes.

"Last night was...amazing." He uttered quietly, hesitantly reaching out to me as he smiled genuinely, the jovial glint shimmering in his intense gaze. His cautious fingers trailed down my arm and I gave him a bright smirk, silently assuring him, as I could practically feel the wariness pouring off him. Was I really that intimidating?

"Oh really? What did you do?" I queried lightly, taking the glass of water Seb had handed me. He fixed me with a confused look and a small smile crossed his face almost as if he was trying to decide whether to laugh or not.

"Umm... you?"

My eyes widened for a second and I dropped my head, biting back a laugh. Well shit. That Seemed to have slipped my mind.

"Yeah it was great." I countered, smirking seductively once I'd collected myself. I slowly looked him over suggestively, biting my lip to really sell it to him as he grinned sheepishly, clearly none the wiser.

I was fairly sure the experience was wholly underwhelming. Not that I completely remembered it after the amount we drank last night.

I was still oblivious to the reason why he'd even stuck around with me. I had a vague idea of the way he'd felt about me a while ago. After He'd given his 'welcome to the neighbourhood' spiel when I'd moved here, and decided he needed to come over every day to make sure I was 'settling in okay'.

He was nice. There wasn't anything complicated about it he was just a purely kind person. Someone that deserved the world of good, and someone to treat him right.

I resisted all his advances at first. Every time he'd ask me out or show up at my door with...flowers. God I resorted to being an absolute prick to him just so I could keep him away, where he couldn't be hurt by my inability to feel what he so obviously felt.

He was nice, after all. And I took no pleasure in ruining nice things. Things that held such strength and purity. so I fought it...I fought him. I couldn't even possess the ability to feel any sexual attraction towards him and lord did I show it. But he just seemed to be ignorant of my explicit asshole personality and instead of disappearing off into the sunset in furious disgust, or formulating an intensely detailed plan to end my life; he just...stayed.

I hated it, I hated him. I needed to lock him out for good and my nagging conscience reminded me of that every damn time I caught him watching me so intently you'd have thought I was an art display.

Something had changed though. For some reason I had given up my unbreakable resistance and now...he was here, a lot. We'd kissed, we'd fucked, we'd spent mornings lazily wrapped in each other's arms waiting for the sun to signal us to rise. And it cut me with guilt every single time.

I'd allowed this... He'd become obsessed with the version of me he saw through his bright, sugar coated gaze and I'd just let him. He felt, he functioned, he harboured emotions that clung to him like wet clothes and he'd just let me in to them.

He felt...everything and I truly felt little to nothing.

The only thing that I felt was the crippling guilt that clawed at me every fucking day because he'd formed an attraction to a god damn statue for all it was worth. And I would ruin him, I'd ruin the innocence he had. God knows I should've fought harder.

He was nice, and I was not.

"Chinese?" His voice broke through my reverie and I looked up to him, studying his face as I nodded.

"Your usual?" He queried and I clenched my jaw, giving a quick nod and turning back to my obsessive view of the tiled floor before he could see the guilt etched vibrantly across my eyes.

He remembered my fucking takeaway orders?

I don't think I remembered one thing about him. No, wait. I could. I must remember something. If I just cast my mind back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doorbell sounded as I'd just finished up watering the plants that sat on the windowsill, drinking in the vast amounts of sunlight I got through the enormous windows during the day. I sighed and made a mental note to get rid of the infuriating doorbell as soon as possible. The whining melody it always made was gritty and shrill and it made it hard to ignore whoever was at the door.

I dusted my hands off and selected one of the daggers from the cupboard where they hung, before walking up to the front door, hoping to god it wasn't Sebastian as I was ridiculously hung over and would not be good at letting him down lightly, let alone being any sort of good company.

I swung open the door and groaned inwardly as I caught sight of Seb's hopeful, shining eyes and bashful grin. I turned to the side and ripped the doorbell off the wall, flinging across the front lawn somewhere, where it couldn't be annoying anymore. Then I greeted him.

"What did the doorbell ever do to you?" He queried jokingly as he stepped inside the doorway, and I just let him...

He looked me over, his eyes widening anxiously as his gaze flitted to the dagger I clutched in my fist.

"Whoa there, I come in peace?" He laughed shakily as I slammed the door Shut behind me. I gave him a pained smile and followed him into the kitchen area as he glanced around the whole place, looking impressed.

"What are you doing here?" I queried, aiming to sound impassive, but wincing when I felt how cold my voice had sounded, the question becoming a razor sharp shard of ice that embedded itself into his unguarded chest.

He grinned sheepishly and turned towards me as I opened the fridge and handed him a beer.

"Just making sure you're settling in good."

"For the fourth time this week?"

"You can never be too sure."

"I would disagree."

"Course you would."

I gave him a questioning glance as he took a sip of his beer, smiling brightly. He let out a small laugh once he'd swallowed his mouthful and walked up closer to me.

"You're not the best at reading signs are you?" He muttered, his eyes flitting to my lips with a certain intensity that made me feel as though he wished he could explore my lips in more detail than just his gaze was doing.

Or maybe I'm just ignoring the said 'signs'

I smiled lightly and looked down, breaking away from his fiery stare As he let out a forced exhale and stepped back a little. I suddenly became incredibly interested in the pattern on the wall.

"I was wondering if you wanted to join me for lasagne across the road at my house?" He queried nervously.

"Just me and my dog at the moment so I doubt he'll have any problem with a visitor... plus it will save you cookin- attempting to cook." He laughed and I finally looked up, giving him a pained smile as I thought up a good excuse- any excuse to decline his offer.

"I know you'll probably say no. But here-" he passed me a scrap of paper with some digits scribbled onto it.
"-that's my number in case you change your mind."

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay... I remembered he had a dog

"Actually don't bother ordering." I spoke, halting his hand as he typed in the number for the local Chinese. He fixed me with an odd look that seemed almost disappointed. No doubt he thought I was going to turn him down again. God knows I probably should.

"I'll make us a sandwich, I can't possibly set that on fire surely." I joked, slipping off the counter to pull open the bread bin.

"You go sit down and put a movie or something on." I ordered him as his smile grew wide and he nodded once, brushing my shoulder with his hand before he trailed off into the living room.

My smile dropped immediately once he'd walked out of sight and I leant against the counter, pushing my forehead against my hands as I groaned at the waging battle that was going on inside my head.

How could I have been so fucking stupid. To lead him on like this? To allow him to get this far with me knowing the things he'll have to go through as a result of me, my lifestyle, my coldness, my inability to be the person he so obviously wants me to be.

He just didn't let up...not even when he realised that pursuing me put his life in immediate danger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, what you've decided you need to clean my windows now?"

"This is just what good neighbours do." He countered from the top of the step ladder. I rolled my eyes and dodged a soap sud that dropped from his sponge.

"Well, have fun I guess." I muttered, sidling into the kitchen to grab myself a coffee.

No more than five minutes later he'd come into the kitchen to rinse off his sponge. He was grinning victoriously and his hazel eyes brimmed with pride.

"What do you think?" He asked softly, gesturing to the clean windows that were, to be frank, just as clean as they were before the unnecessary 'window wiping'.

"It's certainly a window." I muttered and he laughed lowly, studying me carefully like he didn't quite understand me yet. Like I was new and intriguing, but he was also wary, not used to someone like me, not knowing how exactly to act around me.

I opened my mouth to speak when I heard a distinct crash of shattered glass hit the floor somewhere upstairs. I whipped my head toward the source of the noise and pushed Sebastian down behind the counter hurriedly, making sure he was the most out of sight he could be.

"What the-"

I slammed my hand over his mouth as I pressed his back to the island in the centre of the vast kitchen, cutting off his words before he could give himself away too much. I could hear a slight scuffle noise from one of the rooms upstairs and I mentally cursed myself for leaving all my weaponry in a cupboard in the living room. Seriously who the fuck leaves their weapons in the living room? The fucking irony.

I silenced Seb's questioning gaze with a semi strict glare of reassurance, urging him to stay quiet and stay put with my intense, persisting stare. A shadow of anxiousness darkened his face as a door clicked open somewhere above us. I straightened up to full height, motioning for Seb to stay where he was as I glanced over the kitchen, assessing my various different options as the sound of multiple footsteps descending the stairs echoed off the whitewashed walls.

I turned to the sink, washing my hands leisurely as the sharp feeling that someone was behind me slowly built, and I smirked to myself, opening the drawer next to me and taking out the battery powered hand blender as the first thing I saw. I let out a weary sigh and finally twisted myself around to see 5 people in combat gear and masks stood defensively behind the island opposite me.

I leant against the counter, still smiling as I trailed my gaze over each one. Not only was there only 5 of them, they were also equipped with only simple daggers as far as I could see. Apart from the one in the centre that slowly pulled a pistol from the holster on their hip.

"Only five of you?" I asked innocently, furrowing my brow as I pulled my face into an expression of mock sympathy.

"You poor bastards." I muttered grimly, shaking my head as I pulled an almost empty bottle of vodka from the rack and gave Sebastian a quick glare to make sure he would stay put.

"Fancy a drink-"

My query was cut off as the attacker in the centre raised his gun and pulled the trigger, giving me just enough time to phase out of the way, moving to sit on the counter just to the left of where I'd previously been sitting. I tutted disapprovingly and turned my head to inspect the crack in the wall where the bullet had hit.

"Well that was uncalled for." I retorted

"Do you guys have any respect whatsoev-"

I was cut off again by yet another gunshot and this time I phased myself closer to them before the bullet could reach me.

"Well, if you insist." I muttered, swinging myself over the island and igniting the open stove as I slid off the end. I slid under the legs of one of the attackers as they reached toward me with their daggers raised, elbowing them sharply in the side of their leg so I could hear the tibia snap under the force and send them crashing to the floor.

I leapt up again, climbing up the side of another as I twisted their neck until it crunched and hopped off their shoulders as their body became lifeless. I slammed the forehead of the one behind me into the granite top island, hearing them cry out as their nose crushed into the stone, then i turned my attention to the only two still up.

I grinned lazily as one dashed towards me and the other followed suit. I dodged the firsts attack and phased around them, grabbing the back of their neck and forcing their face into the still burning stove with quite the momentum. They cried out in anguish and I just smirked as I took a long swig of the vodka bottle I'd left on the side before the fight. I downed it in one long gulp, still holding the screaming man's face into the burning blue flames whilst he struggled weakly under my not so strong hold.

Once the glass bottle was empty I flipped it in my hand and swung it, smashing it noisily against the head of the attacker that had gotten a bit too close for my liking. He stumbled a bit but didn't fall so I let go of the burning man who seemed to have gone quiet and buried the jagged edge of the bottle neck into the side of the swaying attacker's head.

He fell soon after that and I smirked victoriously, only allowing a second of pride before a familiar yell of anguish shook me from my stupor and I turned quickly, seeing Sebastian struggling against one of the attackers who I think had been smashed head first against the counter judging by the scarlet blood streaming from his face.

"Oh, come on." I muttered, pulling one of the medium sized knives from the knife block and pulling back my arm, aiming carefully. Sebastian wasn't doing too bad against his attacker, he seemed to have dodged most of his dagger swings but whether that was because the guy attacking him was disoriented from his head wound I didn't know.

I quickly flung the knife, watching it fly through the air in a deadly path towards the two, before it embedded itself straight into the attacker's temple. He stilled his movements and let out a cry of pain before slumping to the floor where he lay, motionless. I let out a slight laugh and phased over to Sebastian, pulling the knife from the attackers skull.

"Well, that was entertaini-" I began but trailed off as there was a loud groan and a scuffle from behind the island and I rolled my eyes, swiping the hand blender off the counter as I made my way over to the attacker with the broken leg, they looked up at me fearfully, pain twisting the features that could be seen through the mask.

I turned on the blender and pushed it down onto the centre of his face, wincing as a splatter of blood coated me and his screams filled the room.

When he'd finally gone quiet I stood up, grimacing at the blood that was now sprayed all over me and my blue hoodie and shorts. I began wiping it off as I walked back over to Seb who was stood stationary, next to the sink.

"Well, those guys did not pass the vibe check." I uttered off handedly, rinsing my hands and the hand held blender.

"You know what did though? This blender. Ten out of ten for its efficiency-."

"What...the hell?" Seb cried out and I finally tore my gaze towards him, noticing his wide eyes as he purposefully avoided looking at the dead bodies that littered my kitchen floor. His breathing was quickened and raspy, and he was trembling ever so slightly.

I sighed deeply, only just now remembering that most 'normal' people aren't exactly used to this kind of thing, and that Sebastian was most definitely 'normal people'. I edged closer to him, expecting him to flinch away from me, but he just stood stock still, rooted to the spot.

"Shit, you've been wounded." I muttered darkly once I'd caught sight of the gash on his arm, below the shoulder. He seemed to acknowledge the cut for a moment but shook his head quickly, not wanting to dwell on what had just happened.

I softly took his arm, running through in my head what I should do or say to him, given that he'd just witnessed five deaths in the space of ten minutes and the woman that he was so clearly crushing on was the one that killed them. He let me take him into the living room where I gently sat him on the sofa. I pulled up his sleeve and took a look at the fairly deep wound cutting into his shoulder.

"I'll get a cloth. You clean it while I phone Fury." I ordered softly, turning to go find a washcloth or antiseptic wipes.

"Fury?"

"Yeah, director Fury."

"W-why?"

"Well.. I've got a bunch of bodies laying on my kitchen floor and they need moving cause they're kind of messing with the whole aesthetic." I explained through to the other room as I grabbed a damp cloth from the kitchen. I teleported back into the room and pressed the cloth against his shoulder motioning for him to keep it in place whilst I dialled up my least favourite number.

~~~~~~~

"Agent Wilson. Calling me over to come clean up your messes... why am I not surprised."

"When have you ever been surprised in your life?." I muttered defensively, letting him and a team of uniformed agents behind him into the house, all of them equipped with gloves and bags. I showed them the bodies and left them to it as fury followed me into the living room.

"Any idea who?" Fury queried shooting me a concerned stare as he scouted the room, probably looking for bugs or cameras.

"Afraid not. could be the Polish gang I pissed off, or the mafia, or those dickheads in a gang from Saudi Arabia, the ones whose leader I murdered." I listed off, sinking into the chair next to Sebastian who was still keeping a hesitant pressure on his wound

"We'll run some tests, search for identification. I'll let you know." He paused for a second, casting a glance at Seb as his brow furrowed.

"Is he okay?"

I looked over at him, realising just how pale he'd become. He was still trembling slightly but he nodded lightly at Fury.

"He'll be fine...I think." I muttered, beginning to wonder why he was even still in the same room as me after what he'd just witnessed. I mean, of course he knew a little bit about the kind of life I lead. I'd practically spat it in his face one day, when I was trying so hard to deter him from making any more attempts at asking me out. Resorting to demonstrations of my unnatural mutation and the many ways I knew how to end someone's life.

But this was completely different. He'd literally watched me slaughter a bunch of people in the most gruesome of ways without giving a second thought. He'd seen my psychotic fire as I ran wild, murdering and disfiguring like I was a crazed serial killer.

And yet, he was still here.. sat quietly next to me. Glancing at me ever so often with a apprehensive awe streaking across his eyes.

"Want me to take you home?" I asked him once Fury and the agents had vacated the house with five perfectly packaged body bags, leaving my kitchen spotless. I'd showered and changed clothes, figuring Sebastian would have left by the time I finished. But he was still there. Pale as ever.

"No." He replied after sometime.

"Something tells me I'd be safer with you." He added quietly and I frowned, clenching my teeth forcefully to stop my jaw hanging open in shock.

"Are you severely mentally disordered?" I exclaimed in a strained whisper, seriously wondering whether Seb was just plain suicidal at this rate.

"Sorry.." I muttered when his anxious gaze snapped to me in surprise.

"All I mean is that, You just watched me ruthlessly slaughter all those people, without hesitation... and you still feel 'safe' around me." I added, still trying to process it in my own head.

"Well, call me stupid bu-"

"you're fucking stupid."

"Okay thanks.."

A ghost of a smile graced his lips as he turned to me, his face contorting into an expression of slight concern.

"They tried to kill us both... you defended me and yourself." He explained simply and I bit my lip in attempt to stop myself scoffing loudly at his statement. If that's all it takes for him to fully trust someone then I truly wish him the best in life.

"Ace." he uttered softly but purposefully as I turned to meet his demanding gaze.

"It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to scare me off."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where are these sandwiches then?"

I snapped out of my daze at the sound of his voice, and looked at him blankly, clenching my jaw to stop myself from asking what the fuck he was on about as harshly as I was doing in my head.

"Sandwiches?" I queried softly, pouring myself a generous glass of whiskey

"Ah.. sandwiches..."

He grinned, his eyes flashing with a starkly coloured glint of amusement as I gave him an apologetic look, remembering the sandwiches I'd promised to make before I'd zoned out once again, reliving yet another flashback.

"It's okay. Not your fault you're easily distracted." He joked lightly, pulling open the bread bin as I sipped my fiery whiskey, wondering how Seb hadn't got sick of me yet, Simply because of my inability to carry out simple tasks if nothing else.

"Doubt I'm helping either." He jibed dryly, sending me a sly smirk over his shoulder as he sliced through a bread roll. I bit my lip and cringed suddenly, feeling a chill seep over every square inch of my skin at the unwelcome feeling of recognition that had struck me as Sebastian spoke.

"I mean, I knew I was a sight for you mortals but I did not quite realise I was all that...distracting."

I crunched my hand into a fist by my side and resisted the urge to punch something as I harshly shook away the memory that trespassed through my thoughts, immediately worming its kniving claws into the very edges of my sanity and grasping my mind with the stabbing agony of every feeling I could recall.

I'd had enough. I was sick of him invading my thoughts every hour of every fucking day. I'd only just managed to hold off his parasitic memory, feeding off my mind constantly, in these past few months and I was not in any way prepared to go all the way back to square one.

I wouldn't let myself.

I unclenched my tensed jaw and downed the rest of my glass, swallowing the burning mouthful along with the flurry of feelings that were still attacking me from every angle. I dropped my glass into the sink and turned to Seb pushing against his shoulder. I roughly turned him to face me as I pushed him into the counter, clutching either side of his face as I latched my lips onto his demandingly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sorry if this book is getting off to quite a slow start, I promise it might get better possibly. It's far too tame for my liking and I'm not a fan of domesticated Ace. What are you guy's opinions? You know I rate your comments more than literally anything.

stay tuned for el chapter 3... I have a feeling you might enjoy it. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ -)

comment and vote pls 🥺 I love u all

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