NFL Imagines

/// Joe Burrow \\\

Title: Yes? No. Yes.
Warnings: Arguments, cheating (not Joe), TEARS, reader (emotionally) beating herself up, confrontations, Joe being a little shit 25/8, intimate moments (nothing sexual), a break up, and we're upsetting Olivia again for the sake of the story

AN: Y'all, please don't kill me. This story is like me ripping 6 chapters out of a Joe Burrow fanfiction book and calling it a cute little imagine.  This literally took me like 10 years to write. And it'll probably take y'all 5 years to read. Prepare yourselves for the number I am about to write. This chapter is 13.7k words.
....
Let that sink in. Thirteen point seven fucking thousand—Do I say sorry? Do I say your welcome? It's been months since I've given y'all anything, so I'll say both. And I'll also say welcome back Joey B because I haven't written for him in too damn long. It's a crime, truly, because I love this man. ALSO this is inspired off of Johnny and June Carter Cash's relationship, with Joe being the madly in love Johnny and reader being the stubborn June. HAVE FUN READING!

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2023 was starting off to be one of the best yet worst years of Joe Burrow's life. The good news was that him and his team were kicking ass and making their way to the Super Bowl. The bad news was that you wouldn't marry him.

On the field and in front of the cameras, he was all smiles. He was a star quarterback with great talent who couldn't be shaken. Or so the world thought. Off the field and away from the public eye, he was tearing himself apart over a woman who he had loved forever but couldn't have. The world was cruel. Even the ones who appear to have it all can lack the one thing they need to carry on. The fearless Bengals quarterback that the world knew was nothing without one woman. And that woman was engaged to someone else.

"Joe, you know it's wrong to feel this way."

Ja'Marr's voice cuts through Joe's thoughts and the blond forces himself to look over at his best friend, eyes sorrowful.

"Tell me about it," he drawls sarcastically, before admitting in a whisper, "I don't know what to do." His head hangs low, eyes trained on his feet. They're tapping anxiously at the floor.

The wide receiver stops in front of him and stares at the top of his head, waiting for Joe to look at him. When he doesn't move, Ja'Marr sighs, shaking his head like a disappointed parent. "I know what you wanna do. And we both know it ain't right."

Joe frowns and his eyes squeeze shut, like the words caused him pain. "There's not a thing I wouldn't do to change that."

"What about (Y/n)'s fiancé? You gonna beat him to a pulp and ride into the sunset with her?" Ja'Marr keeps pushing, clearly ignoring his friend's admission. His eyebrows lift high on his forehead, emphasizing all his questioning.

The mention of him turns Joe's frown into a scowl. "He just exists," he grumbles. He despises your fiancé, has since day one. There's always been something off about him, but you never said anything, so he kept quiet.

Ja'Marr lowers himself into a crouching position to be eye level with his friend. "You're willing to torture yourself for the rest of your life because you're madly in love with your engaged best friend?"

There's no denying it. He loves you. He is madly in love with you and he knows it. Ja'Marr was the first person to realize it and Joe didn't try to hide it then, and he won't try to hide it now. The secret has been out since day one. It's never been this serious though.