Deep Like Water (Yandere!BEN Drowned X GN!Reader)

How Dare You Knock On My Front Door

content warning for the last quarter of the chapter: there's a few paragraphs dedicated to depicting s/h and relapsing. if this causes discomfort, please avoid that section of the chapter. it is written to be as uncomfortable as possible on purpose, but your mental health comes first. i will bold the sentence before as a warning.

It's quite amazing how fast something can ruin a day. You could have won the lottery or been declared ruler of the world, but the lady behind the door would have ruined it all anyway.

The only saving grace was that you didn't answer the door—Frankie was the one unfortunate enough to stand on the threshold and receive the dreaded guest. All you could do was strain your ears and try to hear what was being said, and what decisions were being made without your input.

When she arrived, you were in the living room with BEN. He had suggested a horror marathon for the evening so he could—and these were his exact words—'hold your hand if you get scared.' You accepted his challenge with a scoff and an internal promise to hide all your reactions, which was why you barely batted an eyelid when the front door opened. Despite your initial nonchalance, however, your head did nearly spin off your neck when you heard Frankie speak.

'Sherry? What're you doing here?' He was immediately panicked at this unforeseen circumstance. 'What's happened? Is something wrong?'

'Nothing's wrong,' she said, 'per se. There's something I would like to tell you regarding Mx (L/N).'

'Why? Are you going to come in and tell me?'

A brief moment of silence. 'I suppose so.'

You and BEN exchanged a concerned, yet curious, glance as the door that connected the living room to the kitchen-diner was shut, stopping you both from listening in while pretending to be paying attention to the TV.

'I left my phone in there,' you whispered. 'Can you use it to listen in?' There was no way you were letting this conversation go unheard. If it was about you, then you wanted to know before you were told directly. (Besides, if it was coming from Sherry, it wasn't going to be regarding a surprise party or anything nice. She was a bearer of bad news, and had been since she took on the case of your parents' disappearance.)

'Sure.' BEN scooted closer to you, fishing a pair of wired earbuds out of his pocket. 'They're clean,' he said as he offered the left bud to you. 'Brand new.'

'Thanks.' You watched as he pressed a few buttons, using a program that you couldn't understand. Then, like magic, voices appeared in your left ear.

'—I don't know why you're only seeing this as an issue now,' Frankie was saying, a harsh edge to his words. 'They've been a big help over the past two years, and it's not like they're some random kid that got too nosy. Their dad was a hero, or have you forgotten how much he helped you too?'

'Of course I haven't,' Sherry snapped. 'I just don't want to give them preferential treatment based on something their dad did.'

'But it's not just what their dad did, is it? They've been just as useful in their own right.'

'And I only let them help then because I felt sorry for them, okay? Listen, whatever they're planning—regardless of how much they want to help—it has to stop. Find them another hobby, because solving shit like this isn't a hobby you can drop whenever you get bored.'

Frankie sighed through his teeth, and said, 'Give them a little more credit, will you? (Y/N) takes this seriously—even more seriously then some proper offices, I should add. They don't view this as a hobby or a game.'