𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐮𝐢𝐧 X Reader (Dark/Angst)

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 ✶ 𝟎𝟏

I've been going back and forth on whether or not to publish this story, mainly because the themes and subject matter are much heavier than what I usually write. However, after reading the original story, I found myself drawn to it and felt inspired to write my own version.

That said, I want to emphasize the content warnings—please take them seriously. If you find the themes unsettling or uncomfortable, I encourage you to stop reading and prioritize your well-being.

Thank you so much for your time, and take care of yourselves!

Emsky.

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Content/Trigger Warnings

This book contains themes of very sexually explicit scenes, abuse, bullying, emotional manipulation, possessive behavior, dark psychological themes, violence, food insecurity, and toxic relationship dynamics.

Main Themes

Power dynamics, manipulation disguised as care, toxic relationships, survival, and the thin line between protection and possession.

Reader discretion is advised.

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The sun never really rises in Yomino. It's a peculiar city that clings to a perpetual twilight, the kind of gray that seeps into your bones and makes you wonder if you've ever truly seen the sun. You squint at the sky, almost instinctively, as if there might be some hidden sliver of brightness tucked away behind the thick veil of clouds and smog. But there isn't. You feel a strange disconnect, a hazy memory fluttering at the edges of your mind, insisting that it was different once—brighter, maybe. Could it have been? But then again, you were never in the right headspace to notice such things back then. Back when everything was a blur of days bleeding into nights and the air always felt too heavy to breathe.

Did it matter, though? You didn't care then, and now—well, now you were older, better. Or so you told yourself. Yet, here you stood, breathing in the acrid, metallic tang of the city as if it were a test. The morning light—or lack thereof—made everything look washed out, like a poorly developed photograph. Even the buildings seemed to sag under the weight of it all.

For the first time in six years, you've returned to your hometown.

Yomino. The name rolls around in your head, stirring up a cocktail of feelings you can't quite identify. Nostalgia, maybe. A hint of dread. You inhale deeply, but the air catches in your throat, thick with pollution. The cough that escapes you is sharp, painful, and somehow fitting.

"Figures," you mutter to yourself, voice hoarse. "Welcome back."

The last time you stood on these streets, you were younger. Weaker, in more ways than one. Middle school had not been kind to you. Physically, mentally—it was as if your body had decided to rebel against you, one thing after another. Nothing dramatic, not enough to raise serious alarms, but just enough that your parents had noticed. They'd decided to send you away, far from Yomino's constant gloom, to a small, sun-drenched town where the air smelled like grass instead of exhaust fumes.

Maybe they were right to do it. Maybe. You'd spent the rest of your adolescent years in that small town, where everything was quaint and predictable. The sunshine had helped. The fresh air had helped. You were better now—normal. Or at least, that's what you kept telling yourself.

The word normal echoed in your mind like a mantra, but did you believe it? You fit in well enough in that other town, made friends, graduated. You were fine. Normal. Fine. Nothing to worry about anymore.