12:13 AM
Everything appears black, merging into one continuous being broken only by the gleam of harsh orange lamplight on the dusty windscreens of mud-splattered cars, and the laughing couple winding their way home through shadow-darkened streets. It’s late, and by the sounds of drunken singing lazily drifting towards them accompanied by the sour reek of alcohol, the night is full of unwanted surprises. He knows this, his arm tightening around the girl he holds cradled in the crook of his warm jacket. She smiles up at him, tired but unwilling to let even a second slip by as they keep to the side of the dimly lit path, hand in hand, legs barely brushing with each step. He looks down at her, lovingly reaches out with his free hand, the hand that isn’t currently wrapped around her as if he’s afraid to ever let her go, and brushes her hair back so he can see her face properly in the weak light. Gently smiling, he opens his mouth to try and put his thoughts into words.
A harsh voice, obviously not his, shatters the moment, smashed on the floor in the same way the drunk’s half-empty bottle is tossed carelessly to the ground. The couple stop short, the girl staring with wide eyes at the slowly spreading puddle of burning white liquid, trickling across the cracks in the pavement and down.
“Late, ‘innit.”
They can barely understand the slur of words, each syllable heavy with poisonous drink yet his meaning clear in the way he leers at her.
“Excuse me, please.” Kian’s voice is quiet, polite, making as if to walk around him. The drunk leans closer, blocking their way forward on the narrow path.
“Ye’v got yerself a pretty one there, y’ave,” he grins in a sickening way and stumbles over his feet, pitching himself even closer. She can smell the drunken stupor rolling off him in waves, what was left of his bristly, unkept hair tangled in greasy strands.
“What do you want?” his familiar voice, usually so full of laughter, now feels cold and brittle, she can hear the exasperation as he shifts her behind him out of harm’s way. He keeps a tight hold on her hand, turning back to brush his lips across her forehead with a hushed ‘don’t worry, it’s okay’ before turning to face the watching drunk.
“Well?”
The reply is vulgar, his half-formed words disgustingly crude. Beside her, she can feel him tense, warning him back with a soothing hand on his arm. She gently traces the dark curve of a tattoo adorning his smooth skin, silently willing him not to start trouble, silently aware of the eyes continuing to watch them with surprising intensity for one so drunk.
“Kian.” She is not used to seeing him like this, only rarely does this fiercely protective side of his nature make itself known. He holds her gaze for a second, love and the remaining shreds of hostility struggling to balance out within his darkened eyes. Sighing, he lets himself relax, but even so his jaw tightens slightly as the words drip like poison from his lips.
“Stay away from my girl now, you hear?”
The man sways before them, the effort of simply remaining standing too much for his alcohol-drowned brain to cope with. He is unspeaking.
“She is mine, and if anyone lays so much as a finger on her, I’ll be hearing about it. Do you understand?”
Still, he says nothing. Kian shakes his head in mute annoyance, quickly edging past him but keeping his gaze fixed on the slumped figure while he pulls her towards him, back into his arms where she belongs. And with one final, resentful glance, he hurries her on their way home, leaving the man to be swallowed by the shadows that sway relentlessly back and forth, snaking across skin, almost as heavily intoxicated as he himself.
Only when he is sure that they are far away does he let his footsteps slow, they are almost home. Kian stops, catching her unaware and pulling her round to face him in the darkness that suddenly seems much warmer and full of life. Staring at her, tracing her features as he has already done a thousand times over, the true realisation hits him, pain a thousand times worse that what he could have ever expected.
“Daniella, I-”
A familiar crease appears between her brows as she hears the strain in his voice, stepping closer to make sense of the words he can barely force out.
“Kian? What’s wrong?” she sounds worried, placing a gentle hand against his cheek.
He covers her hand with his own, drawing comfort from her simple touch as the words tumble from his lips, slowly, then all at once, letting her into the desperate fears he has struggled with for so long.
“I don’t know what I’d do if something ever happened to you,” his trembling hand tightened atop hers, the other forming a clenched fist in his hair, “I’m scared that-no, that doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’m fucking terrified, okay? I can’t help it, every day I try to imagine what I’d do without you, living a life without you in it, but I just-”
“Kian, don’t.”
He carries on as if he hasn’t even heard her, his voice fading to a broken whisper.
“What if I wake up one day and you’re not beside me? What if-”
But the rest of his words are cut off as she kisses him, hard, her hands replacing his in his already tangled hair, his hands slipping down to circle her waist, drawing her tight against him and holding her there. She pulls back and he follows, gradually, slowly relaxing into the flavour of her lips just as he always does, and just like always, she renders him helpless.
After what seems like hours, at the same time a split second, he smiles against her lips before stepping back to take both her hands in his.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?” she stands quite still, content with simply being near him.
He shakes his head in wonderment; she can hear the quiet laughter in his voice.
“Make everything better. Make the world seem right at the touch of a hand.”
She doesn’t have an answer to that. But it’s okay, he doesn’t need one.
The one thing he needs, he already has.
hi this is a kian imagine for daniella, even if they're not your otp they are your otp.
i know i haven't updated anything in a while and i am very sorry but i'll try find to the time ok oK
thank you to everyone who continues to vote and leave comments, you're great.
x
