Chapter Text
Everyone hates Adrian Chase.
He was the bus boy at Fennel Fields where you waitressed, and honest? No one liked him. He was arrogant, talked a lot about random animals, a slow busser, a little misogynist, frequently on his phone, rude… but again, if you were being honest, you had a soft spot for him.
That was always you, a weakness for the underdogs, taking pity on those no one else gave a chance. It’s why you went to junior prom with the senior incel despite rather going alone. Well, that and your inability to stay no. That ended with a restraining order several months after he graduated, and you still felt bad for him.
It was something people liked about you; you gave them a chance, nice to everyone, people pleaser, but you weren’t sure it was something you liked about yourself. It’s why you were here, waitressing long shifts instead of taking college classes like you dreamed. You needed to support your boyfriend who never seemed to be able to hold a job.
But Adrian wasn’t Jason. Adrian wasn’t the senior. Adrian was just Adrian. He was an odd duck, but he was nice to you so you were nice back. In turn, he latched onto you like a duckling following around its mama, eyes wide in those large glasses and smile plastered on his face. Everyone of you coworkers called him your stalker, but it wasn’t like that. Adrian was harmless.
And, he walked you to your car every day. Even if he got done with his closing chores first, which wasn’t common since he spent so much time talking to you when he should be working, Adrian waited for you to finish, even helping you, before walking you to your car.
“This is my favorite part of the day.” He giggled as he held the back door open for you, then kicked some trash out of your walkway past the dumpster.
“I like talking to you too, Adrian.” Parking was a little further down than the lamplights were, so it made for a creepy walk. Luckily, it seemed any time you worked, Adrian did too, which was convenient because he always walked you to your car, even checking the back seat and hanging around until you drove off.
You liked listening to him ramble, too. That wasn’t just you being nice, it was soothing. You weren’t much of a talker, and it felt like outside of being a girlfriend and an employee you didn’t have much of a life so it was fun hearing his interests and activities. You liked hearing about his friend group, his interests like pokemon, even his animal facts that you were pretty sure were often wrong. He was good company.
“And Chris, then he showed me these Foxy Shazam songs and trust me I was hesitant because you know all those rockers did a lot of drugs and I don’t want to support crime but I actually really liked the music and sing spotify barely pays their artists I suppose I can justify it.”
“Your friends sound like a lot of fun. I don’t really have many friends, it’s nice to see people get lucky with a good group.”
Adrian laughs as you approach your car and he checks underneath to ‘make sure no one was underneath ready to cut your achilles tendant’ “That’s crazy! You have lots of friends here! I bet you make friends wherever you go.”’
You give a little shrug. “I dunno. I talk to people at work. But outside of work, I guess it’s just me and Jason. And Shrek.”
Shrek was your orange cat, the only real joy you had at home anymore.
His face falls. “Oh. Well, you could hang out with me? I bet they’d love you! Well, Ads would love you. Chris would like you. Maybe. But they’d warm up! They’re just grumpy pants.”
You wanna laugh, but sadness tugs at your chest. You tried to hide it. “It’s fine. I’m just busy is all.”
It clicks to Adrian. “It’s Jason, isn’t it?”
You shuffle your feet and he groans.
“Come OOOOONNNNNNNN! He’s such a loser, he doesn’t deserve an angel like you.” His eyes shine with residual glimmer from the nearest street light, lips parted as he stares at you. You know how he feels about Jason, how everyone feels about Jason. “I don’t understand why you-”
“No one does!” You throw up your arms in frustration, because they don’t.
You couldn't explain it, because you couldn’t explain it to yourself either. You didn’t want to be with Jason, but every time you thought of breaking up, you thought of the mean things he would say…. And it just didn’t feel worth it. You were always so tired from work, tired from the fights, low self esteem and constantly running the rat race to win praise that never seemed to be enough for anyone to prioritize you, that dealing with a break up seemed more exhausting than just… going. You put your hand on the door, ready to just drive off and get home to your cat when Adrian puts his hand over yours. Your body tenses at the sudden touch, and when you look at Adrian he seems to have noticed.
“Come home with me.”
Surprise didn’t even begin to explain. “W-what?”
But he was earnest, tightening his hold. “Come live with me. You can get away from Jason, start over. I can take care of you, get you back to college-”
“Adrian,” You laugh. “You’re a bus boy.”
Hurt flickers across his eyes, and suddenly you feel really, really bad. “Don’t laugh at me.”
“I’m sorry,” You’re quick to apoligize, guilt stabbing at your chest for fucking up once again. There was no good way to do this, no way to let him down easily without hurting his feelings. But you couldn’t leave Jason without more pain. You put your hands on his shoulders. “Adrian, I’m sorry, you’re a really sweet kid but…”
He takes a step back, looking at his non-slip shoes. “No means no…”
Seeing your out, you open the car door, apologizing again and again as you get inside. When you drove past him, he reminded you of that one picture of sad spongebob.
*
When you got home, the house smelled like weed and litterbox. “Jason, did you change Shreks swamp? Jason?” you look around. Shrek’s litterbox was not cleaned, the dishes a mess in the sink, beer cans all over and note on the fridge asking you to get groceries soon.
As you're cleaning up at midnight, feet aching from work as your boyfriend snoring in the living room, you think of Adrian. He was so sweet, but he’s still a boy. A boy 10 years older than you, you remind yourself. Still, even if he didn’t know how to keep a house clean, at least he worked. Overdue bills sat on the kitchen table, and part of you wondered what a different life with Adrian might look at. Shrek meowed at your feet, and you sigh. You were stuck. Nothing to do about it now.
Adrian was awkward around you for a few days, but he was like a goldfish sometimes. Short term memory worked in your favor and soon enough you were back to being friends. He walked you to your car every day and never made any mention of whisking you away to his moms basement again. It all started when you came to work after a fight and you’re sure he could tell you’d been crying. You always said listening to him yap got your mind off things,s o he started to yap away again at you and it worked. Friendship restored, and Adrian was your reprieve from home.
Until Friday night, an odd occurrence when Adrian didn’t work with you.
*
Yeah, it hurt when you rejected him. Adrian had went home that night and cried. Chris told him, “shoot your shot” and Ads said “worst she can do is say no!”
Worst you said was you called him a bus boy and laughed in his face. That was worse than no. It took an 11th street gang get together to pull him up when he spent 3 days miserable in bad and Harcourt came and quite literally dragged him out to a rooftop party.
“Just be patient.” She’d told him as she drove. “Don’t be weird, or weirder than you normal are, but eventually she get tired of that asshole.”
“And she’ll want me?”
“I didn’t say that. No guarantees. But she’ll need a friend, I guess. And you can be there for her and maybe something more. But don’t fucking be weird. No stalking.”
Adrian tried to listen, he really did, but he didn’t know how to not be weird. And the stalking? Well. That was already a habit
You didn’t go hardly anywhere other than work and errands. Your bank was the JP Morgan on A street. You liked Aldies. Sometimes you’d treat yourself to a coffee at a cute coffee shop by your house, which was the only fun you seemed to have. Oh yeah, he found out where you live. One of the times he looked under your car he put a tracker. Big deal. When he wasn’t crime fighting or with his friends, he was with you, whether you knew it or not. He’d even managed to break into your apartment a few times and steal some dirty underwear, pet your cat, and put random gift cards around the house for things he knew you liked so you had to spend it on things for yourself. Always random places so you could find them and think you’d just forgotten.
It was with those underwear that he got the idea. Adrian loved to touch himself as he sniffed them, humping a pillow until he came into his tighty whiteys or jerking himself off with his free hand. He liked to lick the crotch, but he found the smell faded faster. He had to make more and more trips into your place but it was getting risky. Adrian always returned the old pair (washed!) as he stole a new one, but getting in was hard when Jason never fucking left.
One night, he broke in while you were asleep. He’d retrieved a used pair, nice and fresh off your body after a long shift and smelled so deliciously like you, but he wanted to return the cleaned pair, so he snuck into your room. Adrian looked at you, moon light pouring onto your angelic face and he just wanted to crawl into bed and cuddle you, to clamp his hand over your mouth until he fucked you awake-
But Adrian Chase was not that kind of guy. He wasn’t a rapist. He just need you to see he was so much better than that ugly man sleeping next to you.
He’d make you see, he thought to himself, humping a pillow with your underwear in his mouth to muffle the pathetic whimpers.
He just needed a chance. He needed you alone and away from Jason. He needed to show you he could provide.
The drug money. He could do it. It was blood money, but it wasn’t for him, right? It was to get a girl out of an emotionally abusive relationship! He was doing good!
Adrian whined, hips sputter as he grew closer, the thought of touching you, caressing your curves, of making you see what he could give you as a man, a real fucking man… your soft skin against his, your hand on his-
“Nnngghhhh!” Adrian cried into his mattress, eyes rolling back as he came to the thought of a handjob by you.
He knew what he needed to do.
*
You hated walking alone. You tried to ask someone to walk with you but no one wanted to wait. Always gave you the heebijibis after being stalked the summer after junior year by the senior you let take you to prom just because you couldn’t say no. Your car was right there, no big deal… yet the walk felt long, your purse clutched to you. It shouldn’t be so scary it was a wide open parking lot! Nothing bad should.
The rag covering your mouth was doused in a chemical, a sickly sweet that reminded you off gasoline.
Suddenly, you were taken to the ground, a masked man in a dark suit wrapped his body around you. You tried to fight it, screaming as best you can but you’re covered completely. On the ground, the strangers free arm skill fully wraps rope around both wrists and locks his legs over yours, your back to his chest as he held the rag to you. You vaguely think he’s trying to knock you out, but the terror of the other thing you noticed nocks away all other thoughts.
He’s hard.
He’s hard and he’s moaning as you wiggle trying to struggle away. The thought sickens you, only making you move harder and more erratic as the chemicals slowly make you sleepy, only making the masked stranger moan more and more. He’s even rocking his hips against your back, and just as your close your eyes and give in, you can feel him tense, sigh, and relax, cumming as everything fades.