Past Lives (Dark/Damien x Reader)

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-sɪx: ᴡᴏʀʀʏ

"Kathryn always makes the best hot chocolate." Ethan commented, looking back behind him as he walked on the sidewalk to watch (Y/n) mindlessly stir her drink. He frowned a little, feeling his heart race with ideas. He wanted to talk to her about all this, but he didn't exactly know how to bring it about. Ethan also didn't want to seem rude or come off as intrusive. She told him that she'd talk about it later, and he was going to believe her.

Even so, it didn't stop him from worrying.

"Everything okay, (Y/n)?" He asked, slowly down a bit so that he was now walking right next to her.

She seemed a bit startled by his question, but brushed it off with a smile.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?"

Ethan slouched, feeling frustrated about her avoidance towards him and his curiosities. Why was she refusing to talk to him? Had he done something to hurt her? He didn't think so, but it still lingered in his mind.

"You're not acting like yourself." He said honestly, sighing as he drank another swig of his hot chocolate. (Y/n) let out a breathless chuckle.

"Don't worry your sweet little head so much. I'll be okay." She said, reaching over to ruffle his hair playfully. He was taken aback by her actions, but smiled anyhow. At least she was grinning.

"I'll stop worrying when you tell me what's up. But for now, I'll leave you alone on it." He promised, a smile still gracing his cheeks as he drank more of his drink.

//

"That's a lot of boxes..." Ethan gasped, looking over the piles and piles of books and papers hidden within the cardboard. (Y/n) laughed, nudging him in the side.

"This is why you get paid, kiddo." She explained, bringing back the slightly degrading nickname. He pouted, but (Y/n) quickly swooped in for the recovery by tugging on his cheek, "You ready for some work?"

"I have to do all this myself?" Ethan asked, sounding a little defeated.

"What? No." She shook her head, "I'm not that mean."

Her intern's smile came back, making the dusty room brighter.

"Ah, thank you. I thought you wanted me to do all this by myself.."

"I gotta make sure you don't miss anything important." She winked, "Let's get started then. There are a lot boxes to go through."

//

It was about two hours into the search, and the two of them were reaching exhaustion. Paper cuts ran rampant on their hands, and (Y/n) could feel the pain that came with them. Ethan, however, didn't even make it seem like that he was suffering. He continued to rummage through the boxes, quickly glancing over the files as if he had read them all the way through before tossing them aside. (Y/n) stopped herself, watching him do his work.

"Ethan? You don't have to go so fast, you know." She mentioned. Though, she only got a hum from him in response. It was obvious that he wasn't listening to her much.

(Y/n) sighed, grabbing another box that was a bit more empty than the others. She wanted to give her fingers a little bit of a break. Though, the book that laid on top of the files caught her eye. None of the other ones had any books or anything.

'Maybe I can find some records in here...'

Determined to make more progress in the search, she bore the pain of her cuts and flipped the pages of the book. Inside wasn't.. exactly what she expected.

She looked at Ethan, eyes wide.

"Ethan?"

Upon hearing his name called so gently, he stopped his search and looked up at her. Her eyes held confusion and partial fear, and he found himself growing concerned.