in my dreams⭐
adrian chase x fem!reader
★ summary: you may or may not have feelings for adrian, but unfortunately peacemaker is not exactly the best wingman
★ notes: fem!reader, reader is a part of the 11th street kids, friends to lovers, mutual pining, stalker!adrian (my beloved), chris meddles in the affairs of your crush, takes place somewhere in season 2 (but no specific plot relevance) ★ cw(s): alcohol, mentions of the threesome™️, basically just canon typical stuff, suggestive ending ★ wc: 3.5k words ★ author’s note: im thinking of writing a (smutty) part two to this eventually😏 ...anyways, enjoy :)
ADRIAN CHASE / VIGILANTE MASTERLIST
─ ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──── ♡ ─── ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ ──
“So…you’ve been hanging out with Adrian a lot lately, right?”
It’s Saturday afternoon, a few drinks in hand and some WigWam record playing in the background, you’re at Chris’ house. Of course the topic of Adrian Chase was bound to come up.
You and Adrian had been getting closer, and as much as you tried to deny it, you were beginning to develop some sort of feelings towards the psycho. Chris, Harcourt, Ads, even John could tell there was at least something going on.
And yet it’s been months and no such news of a date, or kiss, or alcohol induced hookup.
Problem is: you don’t want to get your heart broken. No matter how many times Adrian flutters those puppydog eyes at you, there’s no chance you were going to be the one to admit anything. Every choice you’ve ever made since joining the 11th Street Kids was made with careful precision and planning ahead. You weren’t going to make a move without knowing without a doubt that your feelings are reciprocated.
And of course, you weren’t going to let Chris talk you into doing something stupid.
“Yeah,” you answer back in nonchalance and take a sip from the bottle in your hand. “What about it?”
Chris gives you a look and leans back on the couch. “Nothing. Just think it’s funny how he acts around you.”
There’s a small smirk on his face. You ignore it.
“Adrian’s…an odd bird. He’s like that around everyone.”
“No kidding,” Chris laughs back. “But you have to admit he’s a lot weirder whenever you’re around.”
“How so?” You glance curiously at him and take another swig of your drink.
Chris leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “For one thing, he never shuts up about you.”
You roll your eyes right back, “Okay, well he never shuts up about you either, Mr.Peacemaker.”
“Fair enough,” he says in response to your dismissive tone. “But when it comes to you, Vij acts like you hung the fucking moon or some shit.” He takes a sip of his beer and glances back with a knowing look. “Almost seems like he has a crush on you.”
“Oh my god. Do not start.”
“Come on, is the thought really that far off the mark?”
“Chris, he’s just an odd guy. It’s nothing like that.”
“Uh-huh. Yeah, sure.” Chris nods along before getting up to grab another beer. He’s clearly unconvinced.
You double down. “Do you seriously think Adrian of all people even has the capacity to have a crush? You and I both know he’s not exactly ‘in tune’ with his emotions.”
“Oh, I know he’s not.” Rejoining you on the couch, Chris leans back against the cushions as he focuses on your face. “But I think you’d be surprised how much that guy feels, even if he’s not the best at expressing it. Trust me, the man feels stuff.”
Chris pauses for a moment to crack open the cap of the bottle, almost contemplating something before saying your name softly. “Just…take my word for it, okay? He is into you.”
Your eyes glance up to meet Chris’ as you analyze the sincerity of his tone. “Did he say something to you?” You ask gently.
There’s a second of hesitation before he speaks. “Not exactly,” Chris says slowly, “but he’s made some pretty telling comments. And the way he looks at you when he thinks no one’s looking? Trust me, he’s down pretty damn bad.”
It’s not like Chris has ever been spectacular at reading other people in the time you’ve known him, so you glance at him for a second before pressing. “What are you talking about?”
“Well, he’s always checking you out. He’s not even subtle about it either.” His smile grows as he continues, “Like, remember when you were wearing that black dress to one of our hangouts? He spent the whole night staring at your legs like they were made of gold.”
You groan softly and stare back at him, “Yeah, but that’s how you men are. It’s not like you didn’t stare too. I caught you…several times.”
“Hey,” Chris holds up his hands in surrender, “my eyes were strictly above the waistline, thank you very much. Adrian though…let’s just say I had more than enough reason to elbow him in the ribs a few times that night. No subtlety.”
You roll your eyes for the umpteenth time and groan with another sip of your drink.
Chris lowers his hands and studies you with a watchful eye. “So…just to clarify here, Adrian likes you and you’re choosing to do nothing about it?” His eyebrow raises as he glances back at you for a response.
“I don’t like Adrian. Not like that.” You defend for what feels like the billionth time this evening.
“Okay…” Chris leans back against the couch in nonchalance and shrugs. “So you wouldn’t care at all if he started dating someone else?”
A small snort of a laugh escapes you. You know what he’s trying to do and it’s not going to work. “Yeah. That’d be fine.”
He nods his head along as he watches you. “Yeah? You’d be fine with that?”
“Just peachy.”
“Uh-huh. And that’s why you’re gripping that bottle like it personally offended you?”
You loosen your grip, not even noticing. “I am fine. And even if I wasn’t, it’s not like there’s a long list of other girls he’s talking to either.”
“Wonder why that is?” Chris mutters before smiling. “Although…he did mention this girl at work one time.”
“What?” You glance back at him, only half entertaining the notion. It’s so obviously a lie…right?
“Oh yeah,” He nods back and his grin widens. “He said she mentioned something about wanting him to ‘fuck his brains out’...”
You laugh right back at his attempt to goad you. “Oh my god, that’s such bullshit.”
“No, really, I’m being serious,” Chris doubles down. “He told me just before the threesome I had with him during the whole butterflies fiasco.”
That gives you pause.
“You can ask him yourself if you think I’m lying,” he continues to ramble on. “Unless you’re too scared to face the fact that you’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous,” you reply, shaking your head and trying to ignore the thought of your two friends in that situation.
“Oh, come on,” He glares back with a knowing look.
“Stop it, Chris,” you exclaim back and slam your drink down on the coffee table. “He can do whatever he damn well pleases, because I am not interested. And even if I were, which I am not, then there would be no reason to have those stupid emotions, because there is no way in a million years that he actually feels them too. Not like I do. Okay?”
Chris just watches you, and you can practically hear the protest rising in his throat before you beat him to the punch.
“He doesn’t.” You stare back a moment before sighing.
There’s a brief moment of silence as Chris settles back into a softer tone. “I’m just saying, you may want to talk to him about it. The poor kid’s suffering in silence.” He takes a sip of his beer before adding, “And trust me, you don’t want him bottling that shit up for too long.”
“Okay, yeah, fine…” you reply and lean back in your seat.
“Good.” Chris gives a small sigh of relief.
There’s a brief lull, before you glance curiously back at him.
“I feel like we breezed over the threesome part of that conversation a bit too quickly.”
Chris’ eyes bore into yours. “That’s what you took from our conversation?”
“It’s a pretty glaring detail.”
“Well, if you want details then–”
“NO! No…” You stop him quickly and glare back. “Definintely not.”
Chris shrugs back and sips his beer. “Your loss.”
You scoff and decide to change the subject. “I think it’s time to talk about you and Harcourt. You doing anything about that?”
He seems to freeze at the change in subject. “It’s…well, it’s complicated.”
“Tale as old as time.”
“Okay, laugh it up,” he huffs back. “But we’re not talking about me right now. We’re talking about you and your inability to grow a pair.”
You huff softly back, “I’d rather we talk about neither.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
— ★ —
Later that night, Chris’ words are long gone from your head. It’s the best thing you can do for yourself: forget.
You go ahead and put on your comfiest pajamas and curl up in bed, swiping through on your phone for a bit while the soft blanket over you soothes your body and mind.
Then…THUD.
Your body moves faster than your mind as you sit up and look around your room for the source of the sound. A sense of fear settles in your chest. There’s a small groan and your eyes focus on the direction of the window.
Carefully, you grab your phone in one hand and a hefty metal water bottle in the other as a makeshift weapon as you get up from the bed slowly. Your feet pad over quietly in the direction of the noise and your heart races, feeling like you’re stuck in some horror movie.
Arm raised up, you grip the handle of the water bottle and prepare to at least give a good fight until…
You see Adrian tapping on the window, waving and smiling.
With a groan, you drop your stuff and open the window in a huff.
“What the hell are you doing on my fire escape?”
He just smiles right back. “I was on patrol and I saw your window and honestly, you should get a lock or something on there ‘cause–”
“Adrian, I live on the third floor.”
“So?” He stares back with that wide eyed stare, like he’s making an obvious point.
Sighing, you decide it’s not worth the argument. “Let’s get to the point. It’s like midnight. I need to go to bed.”
“Oh come on,” he groans back. “You can’t just kick me out.”
“I can and I will, stalker.”
“I am not a stalker,” he whines back. “And besides, you wouldn’t throw me out because you’re in love with me.”
You freeze and stare back. “Who the hell told you that?”
“Chris.”
Goddamnit, Chris.
“Well…he lied to you.”
Adrian huffs a boisterous laugh back. “Yeah, right. Why would my best friend lie to me?”
You sigh out and attempt to keep your nerves in check. “He was just…joking with you.” That’s what you land on and hope he’ll believe.
Adrian blinks back silently, but your mind is racing. This isn’t how you wanted him to find out, more importantly you didn’t want him to find out. And so now you’re left hoping and begging to the universe he’ll just drop it.
With a small soft breath, you add one more word hoping to convince him.
“We’re good friends, Adrian. That’s it.”
Adrian’s gaze doesn’t waver. He’s always been impossible to read.
“Right.” He finally says.
The silence between you two stretches before his quiet voice sounds again. “You sure? Because I could have sworn…”
“I’m sure.” Your eyes stay on his as you nod.
Adrian swallows. “Okay.”
— ★ —
There’s no word further of that night for sometime. In fact, you don’t even lay eyes on Adrian for at least a week after that, if not longer. No phone calls, texts, or surprise drop-bys…and honestly it’s a bit concerning considering how overly enthusiastic he’s always been.
The first time you see him again is when the whole group gathers for a hangout at Harcourt’s place. And there’s still a small thought in your mind wondering if you messed everything up.
You carry in a case of beer and set it down on the kitchen counter. Harcourt and Adebayo are busy talking, John is on his phone trying to tune out Adrian, and Chris is sitting down on the couch on the other side of the room. You notice that every couple seconds Adrian seems to glance over briefly, before his eyes move to the ceiling or surrounding area.
Eventually, you decide to go talk to Chris and settle down onto the couch beside him.
“Hey, Peacemaker,” you say, somewhat jokingly.
He glances over and gives a smile as you hand him a beer. “Hey, thanks. What’s up?”
As you lean back against the cushions your eyes drift over to Adrian, who’s attempting once more to look at you without being noticed. You decide to rip off the bandaid.
“Did you tell Adrian about our conversation?”
“Yeah…I did.” Chris stammers a bit but ultimately decides to fess up. “Why? Did he say something?”
You sigh and stare up at the popcorn moulding on the ceiling. “Well he came over to my house via the fire escape.”
Chris sits up. “What?”
You just groan back and give a small glare. “Why did you have to do that? You know how he gets. And now everything’s all weird between us after I told him I didn’t like him like that–”
“Whoa. Hey…” He stalls your rambling. “Why’d you tell him that?”
“Because he put me on the spot!” You defend in a lowered voice. “And I know you’re all certain of how he feels, but he’s just so unpredictable and I didn’t feel like getting my feelings crushed last night.”
“Well it sure sounds like you crushed his.” Chris grumbles back and leans against the couch.
You glare back. Chris relents.
“Sorry,” his tone softens. “I thought I was being helpful, you know? Like I was…giving you two a nudge in the right direction.” There’s a brief lull before Chris looks over at you curiously. “Why’d you lie to him?”
With a grumble, your head meets your hands. “I don’t know. I didn’t say anything bad just that we’re good friends and that’s it.”
Chris huffs a laugh. “That’s essentially like saying ‘Thanks but no thanks, loser.’”
“Well, whatever,” you huff back. “It’s not like he came out and said ‘Hey, I have feelings for you.’”
“Yeah, because he’s Adrian, and that’s his way of being direct.”
You just sigh again and lean back, hoping the couch will swallow you whole. There’s a moment of silence between the two of you before Chris moves to get up off the couch.
“I may just have the solution to all your problems.” He smiles. And before you can object or question him, he’s walking up to Adrian.
Though you’d rather him stop with the meddling, you decide to just ignore it and enjoy the rest of the night not worrying.
— ★ —
The rest of the evening goes a lot smoother with a bit of alcohol. You’re not completely sloshed or anything, just tipsy enough to feel the steady buzz.
About an hour passes and Adrian hasn’t said so much as a word to you, aside from a hello at the start of the night. You’re not exactly keeping a tally, but something does still feel odd. Chris stays glued to his side and you stay perched on the couch, opting to catch up with Ads and Harcourt.
The thought of leaving early does cross your mind once or twice but you stay. After you’ve run through a few topics and shared a few laughs, you excuse yourself to go get a breath of fresh air on the roof.
You head out the apartment door and eventually walk out onto the roof where the group of you all had gathered last time. The weather’s a bit brisk, winter threatening to start soon, or else your sure the event would have taken place out here again.
Evergreen’s a small town so there’s not a lot to take in as far as a view, but you enjoy it well enough as you lean against the railing. The sun just barely peaking out, you sigh softly and sip the remaining contents of your drink until the bottle’s empty.
A few minutes of peaceful quiet pass until you hear the door to the roof open again. Soft footsteps approach as someone walks over to the railing to stand beside you. You don’t have to hear his voice to know that it’s Adrian.
“Hey.” He offers up gently. Despite the attempt to sound casual, there’s a slight slur to his words, the effects of the alcohol clearly evident.
“Hi.” You reply back politely.
Adrian hesitates for a second before he speaks again. “Chris said you came up here.”
You huff a small laugh, mostly to yourself. “I’m sure he did.” There’s no doubt that this is part of Chris’ aforementioned ‘plan.’ You just try your best to stay polite. “Yeah, I just needed some air.”
“Makes sense.” He says back as he leans against the railing and fiddles with his hands.
He lets out a breath before he finally looks over at you, his voice quieter this time. “About the other night…”
Glancing over at him, you speak before he can get another word out. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t mean–” Your eyes find his and weirdly he doesn’t seem upset or angry.
Adrian immediately shakes his head dismissively to halt any apologies. “No, you don’t have to- I know you didn’t…” He lets out a soft sigh and collects his thoughts before continuing. “I just wanted to say that I get it. Honestly, I do. You’re…you’ve been a really good friend to me, and– fuck…” He grumbles softly, unable to get the words out.
“Ade…” You glance back at him carefully and his eyes peek up to stare back. There’s a beat before he continues.
“I just…really like being around you…” That’s all he can manage, and your heartbeat picks up.
“Yeah?” You whisper back gently, taking a small step closer.
“Yeah…”
You smile just a bit. “I really like being around you too.”
Adrian smiles right back, those familiar puppy dog eyes staring at you. “I just, uh…I guess, I thought that after the other night, you…didn’t want me around any more.”
“What?” You give a look of genuine surprise.
“Yeah…” His eyes drift off to the view again as he regains his bearings. “And, like, I didn’t want you to get tired of me, so…I decided to fix the problem for you.”
“Adrian.”
His eyes train back on you immediately at the sound of his name falling from your lips.
“There’s not–” you sigh. “You’re not a problem.”
He stays quiet and lets you continue. Your heart is hammering at this point. There’s a strange feeling twisting in your gut after seeing the look in his eyes. It’s not often you see Adrian this vulnerable. With a soft breath out, you decide to gain some courage yourself.
“If anything, I’m the problem.”
Adrian watches you, his face contorting into some look of confusion.
“Chris wasn’t lying,” you continue. “I lied.”
“What?” His voice comes out soft.
“I do care about you, Adrian. More than…more than I should honestly, but…yeah.” You finally gather your nerves enough to look back at him, and his expression is just as unreadable as ever. For a second, you wonder if he just doesn’t understand what you’re saying. There’s a small sting in your chest at the thought of having to say it outright.
“So you are in love with me?” He questions back in a deadpan tone.
Instead of denying it or lying again, you just nod back and wait for his reaction.
Adrian blinks back for a brief moment and then he’s smiling. “Oh thank god,” He breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’ve been obsessed with you for like, months, and honestly I was only at your apartment the other day because I sometimes like to drop by and make sure you’re safe, which Chris says is completely normal so–”
In an instant your lips are on his. He freezes at first, like he’s unsure if this is really happening, before he melts into the feeling. His hands meet your waist as he pulls you in tighter.
Your hands settle on his shoulders and a small breathy sound leaves your lips. The gentle kiss slowly turns into something more hungry and needy. Adrian murmurs against your lips, his drunken state amplifying the satisfaction he feels at finally being able to be this close with you.
“You smell nice…like strawberries or something…” he mumbles between kisses.
You smile and tease back. “You’re really buzzed right now, huh?”
His hand gently moves up under the hem of your shirt as he ignores your question, and you pull away just a bit with a small giggle.
“I think you’re a little too drunk to be doing that…”
“Nu-uh,” he whines, “I’m perfectly fine.” He smiles back and you can feel him swaying in his stance.
Your hands hold onto his shoulders and you just smile back. Even if he won’t admit to being wasted, you’d rather continue this sometime when he’d actually be able to remember it.
“How about we raincheck and get you some water, okay?”
im so obsessed with this!!
