ikea love story | denny x reader

CHAPTER 8: apologies and secrets

"(y/n) ... I'm so sorry..." Denny says, hugging you tighter. you start to feel a little confused, but not without also feeling very flustered. a boy has never hugged you before... "w-what do you mean!?" you ask, stammering. "I've done nothing but put you in danger over and over... I..." you can feel his voice breaking. suddenly, a feeling of guilt washes over you. "Denny, I'm fine... really..." you say, trying to pull away a little to show him the book you managed to retrieve, hoping it would make him feel better. but he only hugs you even tighter, as he hides his face over your shoulder. you can feel something warm starting to drip onto your shoulder blade. tears...? you begin to wrap your arms around him as well, trying to comfort him. "HEY!! when will you two KISS already!?" you can hear your bestie's voice interrupt from above, as you and Denny suddenly turn to see that they're still on the ceiling's beams overhead, looking down on you both. "and what're you still doing up there!?" Denny sputters, clearly embarrassed. "err... it's the safest place to be as of right now...? I wouldn't still be down there if I were you...!!" your bestie exclaims, as you and Denny look around to see you've caught the attention of all the Ikea store employees, surrounding you both. "i'm going to KILL you!!!" you hear the gas mask figure scream from behind, inside the breaker room. "quick!! grab onto this rope!!" your bestie says, as they drop the rope down from above for the both of you. Denny quickly grabs onto the rope with one hand, and holds you close to him with another. "alright, pull us up!!" Denny replies, and your best friend tries as hard as they can to pull you both back up as quickly as possible. but suddenly, you break out of Denny's arms. "(y/n)!? what are you doing!?" Denny says, looking desperately at you. but instead of replying, you focus all your power into slamming the breaker room door shut as quickly as possible before the gas mask figure even has a chance to reach it. you then lock the door from the outside, sliding in all the locks over the door and clicking them shut. "okay!! quickly!!" you reply, as you grab onto Denny and your best friend tugs the rope, bringing you both upward to the ceiling beams. but you feel a force tugging you both down, preventing you from ascending any further. "...! the Ikea employees, they're pulling us down!!" you exclaim, looking below. but Denny forcefully recoils his leg, freeing him from the grip of the employee, and kicks down on the employee tugging down on your leg as hard as possible. the Ikea employees tugging on you both fall backwards, and you feel your legs become lighter as your best friend pulls both you and Denny up onto the ceiling beams.

-*-

you didn't realize how exhausted you were until you finally had a chance to catch your breath and calm down. "*huff*... that was close..." you pant, as you look down from the ceiling beams, watching all the employees disperse. "(y/n), are you okay!?" your bestie asks, moving on over to you and rubbing your back. "yes, I am... thank you so much... for being there..." you sputter out, still trying to catch your breath. "but... i'm hoping you only said that one thing because..." "ehehe, yeah! just to bring you both back to your senses... what kind of person would i be to just watch both of my friends get totally massacred right in front of me!?" your best friend chuckles, looking at you with relief, and sighs. "i'm just glad you're still alive..." "yeah, same for you..." your words trail off as you look behind your best friend and over at Denny, who is facing away from you both with one hand over his shoulder and looking away, as if he's guilty. "Denny, you okay?" you ask, as you move on over next to him. "yeah... I am. we should hurry back to the base now... before Linlin wakes up... and notices that we're gone..." "oh, yeah! that's right!! let's get a move on, (y/n)!" your bestie exclaims, and the three of you crawl back to the base, the book tightly held close to yourself.

-*-

"hey, where's Linlin?" your best friend asks, being the first to enter the base. "oh, no... she's already gone... who knows what could've happened to her! and it's all because of me..." Denny sighs, putting his head in his hands. "hey, now!" your best friend suddenly declares. "that's enough of you feeling guilty!" "huh...?" Denny slowly raises his head from his hands, looking at your best friend. "for as long as I've been here, you only have your best interest in all of us! most especially, my best friend!!" your best friend continues. "and that's something I really respect!! there's no reason for you to feel guilty because of something like that!" you always knew your best friend had an encouraging speech to say for people down in the dumps like Denny currently is. I'm so glad they're around right now... I wouldn't know exactly what to do to help this situation. you sigh of relief to yourself, looking at them both. "thank you..." Denny says, as a small smile returns to his face. "now, let's continue doing our best to get out of here, all of us, together!!" your bestie declares with determination. "but, how will we find Linlin?" you can't help but ask. "good question... i suppose the best thing we can do is wait, since we have no idea where she is right now. she might return eventually... she has her own way of navigating this place and always returning back safely. it'd also be worse if any of us got lost looking for her, too..." Denny says. "i suppose you might be right," you reply. "I guess we can take a look inside this diary now!!" you say, as you place the book on the center of the indoor picnic table. "'The Secrets of Ikea: Diary'... ooohhh, it's so ominous!! i can't wait to see what this book is about!!" your best friend says excitedly, opening the book to its first page.