Nightguards x Reader!Mute

Chapter 7 - Mistakes were made

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*beep beep beep beep beep*

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The loud beeping from your alarm woke you up. You turned over to shut it off and pulled the blanket back over you, not wanting to get up yet. Something seemed off though. "Didn't Mike say that it was the last workday?". Slowly the gears in your mind were turning, even though you were basically half asleep and almost slipping back into the dreamworld. 

Suddenly you remembered and sat up in bed. "Mike!" you looked over at the clock. It took you a bit to get used to the bright light from the numbers. 5:05 pm. You sighed in relief. It felt like it had been way longer than 5 minutes. As far as you could remember you wrote down the time in your notebook.

You turned the light on, covering your eyes with a hand, to search for it. "Ah! There you are", you thought when you found it under your jacket. There was a section marked "6 pm" with a few scribbles around it. 6 stick figures. 2 happy, 1 drunk, 2 unhappy, 1 left blank. You giggled at how silly this was, but in a way it was true.

Fritz and Jeremy would probably enjoy their time, maybe apart from the rest once Vincent drinks too much, which would bother Scott and Mike. The only odd one out was you, left blank. You've never been out with a group of friends, it's a bit hard to do that without friends after all. Maybe you'd fill in the blank afterwards.

Sighing you looked back over at the clock, which read 5:08 by this point. "Alright, time to get ready", you thought. By the time you were done the clock was already at 5:40. "Better late than never", you thought as you sighed. You were mad that it took you this long to find your Keys. Somehow they got under a newspaper. You had searched your whole apartment, turning everything upside down, which took you ages.

Going out of the apartment you could already hear the yelling from somewhere down the stairs. You didn't really know those neighbors, but they fought a lot. Somehow the police showing up at this apartment just became a normal thing. You tried to make your way down quickly and quietly, covering your ears as you went past. They were yelling all sorts of slurs at each other. You were almost out when you heard glass breaking.

This wasn't the first time this happened either. After a while of this happening you and the rest of the people just became somewhat numb to it. You were sure that one of the overly nosy and paranoid neighbors had already called the cops a while ago. They were most likely tired of coming out here every week too, sometimes they had to come multiple times a week.

Outside you could already hear the sirens in the distance. You sighed heavily, the words you heard weighing heavily on you, but you had no time to lose. The others would be waiting for you soon, if they weren't already. On your way to the bar a thought suddenly appeared while thinking of the guys. "Are they just colleagues or are we friends?". Then something else popped into your mind, "what is friendship anyway? Everyone around me seems to have them, yet I don't understand a single thing about being friends. Why is it so hard for me when it's so easy for everyone else?".

You stopped for a second to look around, making sure you didn't space out and end up in a different part of town. Luckily you were still on the right way. For the rest of the way you felt off, the thoughts from before still plagued your mind and got you down. You hoped that you would know the answer soon, maybe even at the end of the night, even though the thought of asking them made you anxious.

Soon you could see the bar. As you approached you noticed that Mike was already there. Suddenly a woman came up to him and started talking to him, she seemed upset. You stopped in your tracks, perplexed at what was going on. Mike seemed to be in a mood between anger and guilt. She got louder and more agitated as time went on. You felt sorry for Mike, but you also didn't really understand what was going on.

Who was this woman and why was she yelling at him? You felt so confused, but something inside you was hurting and a part of you assumed the worst. Another part of you wondered why you felt this way. "I don't like him like that", is what you told yourself. Eventually, the woman finally stormed off, leaving Mike to sigh and groan.

Carefully you approached him and tapped his shoulder. He turned around with a glare, ready to shout at whoever tapped him, but his look softened up instantly when he saw you. "Oh, (Y/N)", he paused for a while trying to gather his thoughts. "You saw that... didn't you?", Mike sounded defeated. You lowered your head. Mike sighed, "I'm sorry" was all he said.

After a short and awkward pause Mike asked, "shouldn't we go inside? The other's are probably waiting". You nodded and went inside the bar with him. Once inside you could already spot the others. "It's not too late yet, so the bar is pretty empty. It'll probably get pretty packed later in the night", Mike told you as you walked over to them.

As soon as Vincent spotted you he came over and gave you a hug, but was quickly pulled off by Scott. Who then started to scold him. Vincent was clearly not listening, and already slightly tipsy, because all he did was look you up and down. It felt somewhat weird to have someone check you out like that. No one was ever really interested in you before. You heard a groan next to you.

Next thing you knew, Mike was pulling you towards the booth. You sat down with him. "I can't stand when Vincent gets drunk", he admitted. You gave him a reassuring smile. Jeremy scooted over with some drinks, "I saved your drinks from Vincent". Mike gladly took the glass from him and drank half of it in one go. Jeremy slid another glass over to you and left shortly after without another word.

"Ah! I needed that..." Mike said as he put the glass back down. You stared at your drink, eventually picking it up and taking a sip. It was a bit weird at first, but you quickly got used to the bitter taste. Jeremy was bringing the others over. Scott sat down next to you with a smile, "I'm so glad you made it (Y/N), I was already worried something happened". You couldn't help but smile, he was pretty cute when he worried about you.

"To the end of the week!", Jeremy shouted with his glass raised. The other joined, repeating after him. You silently raised it as well with a smile on your face. "Hey, the little lady joined in as well!", Vincent sounded pretty excited. Maybe a bit too much, because Scott was quick to tell him to "calm down".

Fritz and Jeremy started talking about some game again, while Scott was busy keeping Vincent in check. You looked over at Mike, who was looking into his glass with an empty gaze. You nudged his shoulder softly, making him look up from his drink. "Hm? Oh... sorry (Y/N). I guess I'm not really myself tonight...", he sighed.

"I really didn't want anyone to see... that...". He must've been referring to the argument with that woman earlier. "But then you came along", he continued. You pushed your notebook over to him, "what did she want?". Mike was silent for a while. It was as if the answer was hurting him. "She... ", he paused, "how do I put this... well, i guess you could say that she found out that you're working with us and she got jealous".

Something finally clicked in your mind, though you already thought of this earlier. You looked down at your drink, unsure of what to reply. "I'm sorry you had to find out like this, I was trying to tell you earlier today but..", Mike trailed off. With a sigh he continued, "I just couldn't bring myself to say it. It shouldn't be important either. I mean, we're just working together and she thinks I'm... ah, whatever!".

He took another sip from his drink, completely emptying it. He called out to Jeremy, who stood up earlier to get some more drinks, to get him another one too. As the night went on more people came into the bar and the guys got more drunk. Scott was with Vincent, trying to stop him from gambling his money away. Meanwhile, Fritz and Jeremy were involved in a round of Billiard.

Tipsy from the drink you looked over at Mike. He looked kinda good in the dim light of the bar. As if he just belonged there, like an old jukebox that can only play a few songs on repeat. "(Y/N)?" Someone called out your name. You looked up locking eyes with Mike. "Are you okay?", he asked you. He sounded somewhat worried. All you could do was giggle, somehow it was funny how worried he always got over you. It was cute.

You wished you could've told him that you never felt better, but you couldn't. Somehow you felt as if Mike understood how you felt just from looking into his eyes. There was something captivating in those blue eyes of his. Mike came a bit closer. "(Y/N)?", he spoke softly. It was so unlike him that you were taken aback for a second, but then you locked eyes again.

He came closer and whispered something into your ear. At that moment everyone around you became a blur. Mike moved back just a bit, but not for long. Your mind became foggy, the only thing you remember before it was something soft on your lips. Something felt off, almost wrong, but you didn't want to back away from it. You felt warm, almost hot.

When you came back to you, you were sitting at the back of a car. Scott was in the front seat with someone. Next to you was a passed out Jeremy and on the other side was.. Mike. You felt your cheeks heat up instantly, but you didn't really know why. You couldn't remember what happened before to make you feel this way.

Scott hadn't noticed you were awake yet, so you let your head fall back on Mike's shoulder. It felt so comfy you wanted to stay like that forever. After a while that seemed like forever, you heard a car door open and someone tapped your shoulder. You opened your eyes to see Scott who whispered, "(Y/N) we're at your place. It's time to get out". You yawned and let him help you out. He didn't even wait to ask if you could get to your flat alone and helped you walk.

Each step on the stairs felt more like a hill, you were somewhat glad that Scott was there to help you out. You had to stop halfway through to catch your breath, you didn't remember living so high up. Though it was probably just your mind playing tricks on you. Eventually, you finally reached your door. You tried to open it but just ended up fumbling around with your keys.

A hand reached out to grab them from you. Scott opened the door for you, apologizing for startling you. You wanted to stop him from coming in and seeing the state of your place, but it was too late. He didn't take no for an answer. He wouldn't let you stumble through your apartment alone and possibly get hurt. You mentally cursed for not cleaning up before.

You blushed in embarrassment when Scott walked through your cluttered living room with you at his side, clinging on to him for support. Scott let you sit down on the couch, not wanting to intrude further and go as far as the bedroom. He was already blushing from just being in your place without properly asking first. He made sure you were okay and apologized.

Scott slightly scolded you for drinking a bit too much towards the end of the night, but you weren't really listening. You were too tired for that. Suddenly you yawned loudly. "Oh! Sorry, I know it's already late. I should really get go-", Scott couldn't even finish his sentence. You had grabbed his collar and pulled him closer to shut him up. You, again, don't remember what you did after that though.

You could remember a blushing Scott and footsteps leaving your apartment, the creaking of your door as you drifted into a dream. Everything else was blurry or missing entirely. Your dream was much more colorful and happy than the last few days. Honestly, you couldn't remember the last time you had such a wonderful dream.

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~ end of Chapter 7 ~