Stalker's Tango | Bartolomeo x Reader

Always Watching

Note - Bartolomeo will probably be a little more OOC than not. More similar to how he is without the SHs. Bear that in mind.

That night, you didn't even close your eyes - let alone sleep. Though your door was locked and bolted, your windows closed and latched, you still feared for yourself. You lay there for hours, trembling in your own skin, unable to function properly. It was one thing to feel watched, another to realise that you were being watch. The entire thing was one huge, warped reality you didn't want to admit was real.

It was.

Even when morning eventually came, it took you a good while to decide whether going to your lecture was a good idea or not. For all you knew, this person could be in your class. After all, you knew that they must've been living in or have had access to your building. There may have been over thirty people within the huge block accessed by key code, but that was a one in thirty chance that you had already come into contact with whoever it was.

That was the worst part about the entire thing.

Suddenly, you jolted upright from where your head rested on your arms. You gasped and your head shot around, eyes wide. For a second, you had completely forgotten you were in a lecture until there were a few quiet snickers from onlookers and you found an entire room looking around at you. You went red in the face as you realised how idiotic you must've looked, right before you turned to Koala next to you.

"Are you okay?" She whispered worriedly with a hand gently resting on your arm, the lecturer carrying on now that the disruptive atmosphere had simmered down.

With a forced and weighted smile, you nodded to her reassuringly. At least you hoped it looked that way. "Yeah, just tired. I was up doing work all night."

"Oh, (Y/n)." She sighed, shaking her head softly. "I did say you should take it easy with that essay. You should've slept."

Unbeknownst to the blonde, your palms began to sweat as your hands clenched under the desk.
You started to zone out as you replied in a zombie-ish manner, chuckling almost nervously and definitely without your usual zeal.

"Yeah, sorry. I just... couldn't help myself." You murmured.

"Workaholic." She snickered, earning a strained hum in reply as you shifted your eyes away from her. You bit at your lip in thought.

The thing was, you weren't exactly opposed to telling your friends what was going on. It was just that the entire thing was so heavy you didn't want to put weight on their shoulders when they had their own problems. Though you reckoned you not telling them was partly because of your own stubbornness. With a lot of things, you were convinced you could figure stuff out all by yourself. This was no exception and you were trying your best to ignore what was going on for the sake of yourself and others. You didn't want to drag anyone into this.

Your spine continued to tingle and your hair proceeded to stand on end, but you pushed on through with your pen to your paper. At least you could try and distract yourself.

Though while you wrote, listening to your lecture all the while, you could see one tiny corner of a certain note poking out from one of the pages beyond.

'Love, B.'

With a wave of fear rushing over you, you hastily pushed it deeper into the notepad until it disappeared. If you couldn't see it, then it wasn't your problem. It was about time you threw it away, anyway.

Maybe burning it was a better idea.

~~~

You sighed in relief as the lobby doors banged shut behind you. The wind was at its worst today while you were walking back from your lecture and you were worried you were going to be swept off your feet. Thankfully, you weren't.