Finally finished the sequel to “The Honorable Path” today!!! 🥳🥳 It will be up tonight!! I’m sure it could be read as a stand alone but I’d suggest reading part one! 🩷 PART ONE
dex falling for sweet younger waitress at his local cafe - all obsessed and yearning 😩
Why yes 😈
Warnings: Age gap (reader in her twenties and Dex is in his late thirties early forties), Fluff, Yearning, slight toxic!Dex, lowkey freak reader, light stalking, let me know if you want a pt.2 that's nsfw 🥳 also I’m so bad at tagging guys im sorry 😔
The Honorable Path
Benjamin Pointdexter was on a new path, the honorable path. He had made that promise to himself after Foggy—one good deed and the slate is cleaned.
And he had been doing so good too. He had found a new place to stay, had a fake name too. Even helped his elderly neighbor—she said he was a kind man—how ironic. Most importantly he had gotten his mind back. But even with this new path some things never changed.
That’s why he set his new routine. At 7 AM every morning he got up and made his bed. At 7:30 he got in the shower. At 8 he was dressed and headed to the diner. And at 8:15 every morning he set his sights on You.
You were his new Northstar, someone who could keep him on the straight and narrow. You were different from Julie in almost every way.
Julie was composed, someone who needed order. It seemed like a match made in heaven because he thrived off of order. But he couldn’t make Julie fit into his life like he craved.
You on the other hand thrived off of chaos. You loved doing new activities, and couldn’t keep your hands off of new hobbies. You were new. You were good.
And You practically fell into his life. The first time he saw you it was through the diner window, you were bussing tables and sweet talking customers. You were young and vibrant—a star just being born. Your favorite customers were the elderly so of course you took to him.
The bell rang as the door opened and you greeted him as he walked over to the table he was now deeming his.
“Good morning, what can I get you for starters?” You asked him with your sweet smile. He gave you a once over in return—this was going to be good.
“What would you recommend…?” He let sentence drag as he waited for your name. The second you gave it to him he tested it on his tongue. Once. Twice. It was a good name—something he would become custom to in no time.
You placed your writing pad back in your apron. He reveled in the fact he had your undivided attention on him and his question. You weren’t afraid to look right at him and his scarred face.
“Well if you’re in the mood for something salty we have some really killer omelets. If you’re looking for something sweet we’ve got plenty of muffins.”
He gave you a smirk—letting his teeth shine through.
“You guys famous for your milkshakes?”
He said, pointing to plaque on the wall that read in big bold letters “2023 WINNERS—NYC’S BEST MILKSHAKES”.
You huffed and let your head fall back as you laughed, exposing your neck. Dex couldn't take his eyes off the strip of neck that was being hit by the morning light.
"A milkshake at 8 AM, my kind of man," You said still laughing as you wrote it down. You were completely unaware of how your words landed to Dex. My kind of man.
You hadn't known just how true that statement would become.
"And your flavor of choice?" You said making eye contact again, drawing his eyes away from your pulse point.
He swallowed and cleared his throat before his smile creeped back onto his face.
"Banana sounds perfect." He said putting the menu back in the slider, making the metal clink against the condiments.
"Whip and cherry?"
"Who doesn't like whip?" He quipped back, his pearls still flashing at you.
You nodded and finished writing his order, putting the pad away as you walked to the back.
He watched the way your hair moved with you, effortlessly beautiful-- although he'd counter that every inch of you was absolutely breathtaking.
You rounded the corner and was out of is sight. You greeted your coworker Alex and she wiggled her eyebrows at you with a cheeky smile.
"So, you gonna pounce on him like you did the last silver fox that walked through the diner?" She said giggling as you swatted her with a towel.
You couldn't help the smile that betrayed you as it crept onto your face.
"I'll have you know that last time--that man came onto me, and so what if I have a type." You giggled back to her, trying to keep it down as your ears turned red.
You walked over to the ice cream station and started making his milkshake. You looked back at Alex as the machine buzzed.
"He is hot though right?" You asked as she threw the towel at you.
"I knew it!"
You threw the towel back at her as you told her to keep it down, both of you failing as you giggled.
You finished up making the milkshake and walked back out to him, your cheeks still flushed as you approached him.
"Sorry for the wait, I hope it's worth it." You said a little breathless as you fixed your hair.
He watched you intently as he took a sip from the straw and hummed.
"You're definitely worth the wait" He said with a smile.
You swallowed and shook your head, surely you had misheard.
You stuttered for a second while asking, "Pardon?"
He just took another sip and stared at you.
"The milkshake, it's definitely a winning one."
You nodded and let out a breath, yes of course the milkshake.
"Well enjoy the milkshake..." You trailed off, it was only now occurring to you that he knew your name and yet you hadn't asked his.
"Tony" He said before elaborating, "But you can call me Dex."
You laughed softly at the lack of correlation of his name and nickname.
"Well enjoy the milkshake Dex."
Dex sat there drinking his milkshake for longer than needed. His eyes followed you to every table, every customer, your every move truly.
He debated the moral conflict of your ages. He wasn't particularly old but you were young. Probably working this job to pay for school. He had already been incarcerated twice now, and ex fed doesn't really attract.
It also didn't help that Dex truly had no experience. He had never had a girlfriend and the closest thing that had came to it was Julie. And that ended poorly.
But it wasn't like you were freshly eighteen, so how bad was it? He was on a new path anyway, why not try out something new? He had decided right in that diner that this would be good for him. A bright new shiny star to watch over--to protect.
The seasons continued to change throughout the year. He'd stuck to his routine, every morning he'd come see you, and then he'd get to take care of the ugly bits of his life--Bullseye.
Every night Dex had to deal with AVT agents. It was really getting old at this point. There was nothing to challenge him anymore. Matt was still bitching about Foggy and Karen so it wasn't exactly like Daredevil was of any interest to him.
He had promised himself it wasn't going to happen again, but he really couldn't help it. It was a good thing, right? He was just making sure you were safe.
That's how he landed himself on the building parallel to the diner's rooftop with a scope pointed at you through a window.
It was late, around ten and you had clearly picked up an extra shift since you never worked this late. You were always in the library studying around this time.
The diner was mostly empty, a customer at the bar nursing a coffee and a couple across the diner, most likely coming from a long drive.
You looked bored out of your mind, so it would be mean if he didn't come keep you company? Besides you and Dex had become acquainted by now.
The bell rang the same tune as it always did once he entered. You looked up from your newspaper and your whole face lit up. What he wouldn't do to keep you like this all the time.
He smiled and walked over to the bar, away from the man with the coffee, he wanted you alone, he wanted you to know what it would be like just the two of you. You would know one day, he'd make sure of that.
"Dex!" You practically cheered and walked to him. He huffed a laugh and took the newspaper from you,
"What're you working on?" He asked as he looked back at you, studying your features as if he would never see them again.
“I was trying to figure out the crossword but it’s taking me ages.” You said exasperated, this was clearly frustrating you and that charmed Dex. To be frustrated by something as silly as this made his insides flip.
He gave you another half smile as he huffed a laugh as he tore his eyes away from your face and focused on the paper.
“Well why don’t you sit down and we’ll figure it out together, nothing worth messing with that little head of yours.” You couldn’t help but feel your ears go warm as he said this. You weren’t technically supposed to sit down on the clock but no one was here to be helped so you came around from the bar and sat next to him.
Now it was his turn to have his neck warm as you angled your legs towards his, knees pressed up against each others but you seemed unfazed while he was dying.
He cleared his throat as you pointed at the paper with your pen, commenting on how you just couldn’t quite find four down and six across.
He nodded but he wasn’t really listening, he was too busy staring at the furrow in your eyebrows as you concentrated. It was the most charming thing Dex had ever witnessed.
He watched as you nibbled on the end of your pen, your leg bounced up and down against his thigh.
He finally snapped back into reality when you were staring at him.
“So what do you think?” You asked impatiently, your bottom lip pouted slightly. He couldn’t help his lip turning up at the sight.
He looked at the words on the page and explained what the answer was, when you finally got it you huffed annoyed that you had missed it but gave his knee a squeeze; a silent “thank you”.
He felt the air leave his lungs as his eyes zeroed in on your hand that still rested on his leg. He licked his lips and let his eyes trail up from your hand to your face. A now very red face since you had realized you were touching him and retreated immediately.
He felt his own lips turn downward and his fingers twitched as they yearned to find yours again.
You stammered an apology and buried yourself back into the crossword. He sat there for at least five full minutes in thought.
She touched me. She kept touching me. She wants to touch me. Why did she pull away? How have I already fucked up? What if I touched her?
Dex took a deep breath as he reached over and poked your leg, he hadn’t really meant to poke it, more so rest his hand on it but he freaked out the last second.
You turned to him with a questioning face as his cheeks were bright red. He just stared at you and you couldn’t fight a smile. Half out of how awkward this was and half because he just looked so silly while panicked.
You watched as his finger poked at you again and smiled.
His hand finally came to rest on your thigh as he let out a shaky breath. He stared at you to gauge your reaction but there were no signs of fleeing or disgust.
He finally relaxed and let out a nervous laugh, his other hand coming up to wipe his face.
The laugh spilled out of you before you could stop it and went back to working on the crossword.
You both were nearly finished when he blurted,
“date me”.
He said it as more of a statement rather than a question and then immediately back tracked, his face a flurry of emotions.
“I meant will you date me,” he struggled with a pause, “please?”
Your jaw opened for a multitude of reasons. One being that he even wanted to go out in the first place. The second being how terrible he was at this.
In retrospect you hadn’t exactly known him for very long, but maybe you just had a track record of bad decisions.
Your face flushed and you nodded, not trusting your words yet.
You stammered out a “yes” and his entire body tensed. He hadn’t expected you to say yes.
He froze for a second and then relaxed.
“Good,” he strained out,
“That’s good”.
You giggled at his awkwardness but nodded,
“Yeah it is good.”
The crossword was long forgotten after that, you both sat at the bar talking about anything.
Dex hadn’t cared if you were talking about kids in your class you hated or childhood trauma—he wanted needed to know it all.
Every word that left your mouth was gospel to Dex, he couldn’t get enough.
When you ended the night he walked you home, it was like a security blanket in a way. You knew nothing could happen to you as long as you were with him, a kind of safety you never knew before.
You looked up at him from your doorstep and smiled,
“Thanks for keeping me company tonight”
His eyes roamed your face as he nodded,
“Dinner’s tomorrow at 6.”
“Do you want to give me your number so you can text me—”
He cut you off before you could finish.
“I have it, I’ll text you.”
You should’ve been alarmed. You should’ve asked why or how but instead you smiled.
It was nice to feel so cared about, even if that meant Dex having unhealthy habits, but don’t we all?
He locked your index fingers together and stared at them.
“You’re mine?” He phrased it like a question but there was no doubt it was a statement.
Your insides warmed and you brought his finger to your mouth and kissed it.
“I’m yours.” You said softly as Dex’s heart left his chest.
This was going to be the start of something terribly beautiful.
End.
AN: I’m so sorry this was the only one I got out tonight I found stray kittens and have been taking care of them but I will have another out in the morning!!! 🩷🩷
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