Can you do a Duke Crocker imagine, where you're Nathan's twin and you can't feel anything either? Like you've always hated Duke and he jokingly pats you on the back one day and like Nathan with Audrey's touches, she can feel it and starts making any excuse to get Duke to have any contact with her(high fives, random hugs, grabbing his arm when she almost "falls" ect.) And she ends up falling in love with him despite his past with her brother🥺sorry if that's too long
(A/N): I’ve fallen in love with this idea as soon as I got it in my ask box. Thank you so much for trusting me for writing it, dear! <3 I changed your examples of contacts the reader creates to try and make it more logical, so I hope you’ll like what I’ve come up with despite that.
“Show me your teeth.”
You roll your eyes at your brother, Nathan. “I come to see you at work and that’s the first thing you say to me?”
He blinks a few times at you. “Sorry. Hi, (Y/N). Now show me your teeth.”
You reluctantly open your mouth wide, your brother taking his time to inspect each tooth that is very much still in place.
“Show me your hands.” You close your mouth and put your hands in front of you, turning them around a few times. “Now turn around.”
You give out a groan while you do as he says, already tired of these shenanigans.
“You don’t seem to be hurt anywhere. Good.” He gives you a bright smile, satisfied with his inspection. “Someone has to make sure you’re not bleeding or losing any members.”
You quirk an eyebrow at him. “And is someone making sure you’re not bleeding?” He loses his smile, already knowing what you’re gonna say. “That’s right. It goes both ways. Now show me your teeth, Nathan.”
“Don’t worry, (Y/N).” Audrey suddenly appears next to your brother, the blond putting her hand on his shoulder. “I checked him twenty minutes ago. He seems good.”
You notice him slightly tensing up under Audrey’s touch, his lips slightly stretching out into a small smile when he turns towards her. Nathan told you about Audrey’s specialty; how he manages to feel every single bit of touch she gives him. And though you feel a bit jealous of him, you also feel extremely happy for him. You’d do anything to be able to physically feel something, anything... even the breath of the wind against your face, but you can’t.
“Hey, (Y/N) is here!” Your expression falters down as soon as you recognize Duke’s voice from behind you, already seeing his large smirk inside your mind without even looking at him. “What a surprise!”
You give your brother a glare. “I thought you said he wouldn’t be here today?”
You’ve tried to avoid seeing Duke Crocker most of your life, always feeling pure annoyance whenever he’s in the same room as you, and as of now, you’ve managed to only see him a few times since childhood. You were also sure that you wouldn’t see him today, especially since Nathan told you that he wouldn’t be here.
“I didn’t think he would be.” Your brother turns his eyes towards Audrey, squinting them when he notices a knowing grin on her lips. “But I have a little idea why...”
“Ouch.” You turn your head towards Duke just as he comes to a halt next to you. “And here I thought we could be friends. What did I do to earn such hatred?”
You give him a hard smile. “Look in the mirror and you’ll have your answer.”
He gives out a dramatic gasp at your response, your brother giving out a loud laugh. “Good one!”
“Guys!” Audrey gives you all her ‘big eyes’. “Come on, can’t you get along for once?”
“Nah, it’s okay, Audrey.” Duke gives her a wink, not at all bothered by your remarks. “(Y/N) is just teasing me. She always does. Right, (Y/N)?”
You’re about to let out another remark when he abruptly pats your back, your words dying inside your throat as soon as you realized what happened.
You felt his hands on your back.
You tilt your head at Duke with pure confusion, the man staring back at you with the exact emotion. For once, you weren’t looking at him with annoyance or hatred, and it couldn’t exactly pinpoint why you suddenly weren’t.
“Audrey.” Your brother speaks up, the police officer giving the blond a hard look. “Why is he here?”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Audrey gives him an innocent look. “He’s gonna help us with the investigation.”
“He’s gonna ‘what’?!”
Duke looks away from you to send your brother a smirk. “Audrey said I’d be ‘useful’.”
You blink a few times, suddenly remembering where you are. “I find that unlikely.”
“Yeah, well...” He looks back at you, his smile not at all flinching. “You always do.”
You give him back a hard smile, though not as hard as you usually do. The feeling of his hands on your back still lingers there and partially clouds your mind. You can’t help but wonder if you’ve imagined it. You were thinking about your brother’s situation with Audrey... maybe you were wishing for the same thing so hard that your brain gave you a small exception?
“Anyway...” Duke claps his hands together, looking back towards Nathan and Audrey. “Are we gonna go or are we just gonna stand here like idiots?”
Your brother gives him a glare. “Audrey?”
“Yeah, let’s go.” She grabs her coat from her chair, sending you a smile on your way out. “You’re welcomed to join us, (Y/N).”
“Huh?” You blink in surprise, slowly starting to follow them. “Yeah... yeah, sure.”
“(Y/N) is willing to share a car ride with me?” Duke sends you a grin. “This must be my lucky day.”
“Don’t push it.”
He just laughs at your reaction, none of you noticing Nathan and Audrey exchanging whispering words.
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You give a side gland towards Duke sitting next to you, your eyes carefully watching his face as he spits out a large number of words to annoy your brother more than he usually does. Normally you would have shut him up with one of your remarks by now, but the moment from earlier still obsess you. Forget how or why it happened, you have to know if you’ve imagined his touch or not... and there’s only one way to be sure.
“Ow!” You suddenly interrupt Duke by suddenly flicking your fingers against his cheek, his head snapping towards you as he holds his face with his hand. “Why did you do that?”
You ignore him and look down at your fingers, feeling a satisfying pain rushing through them. “... I just had an urge.”
You barely hear your brother laugh as Duke pouts about the pain you put him through, a small smile appearing on your lips as you realize that this is real. You can feel Duke’s touch. Would you have preferred someone else? Absolutely. Anyone but Duke would have been more than welcomed. But are you going to ignore this opportunity life is giving you? Hell no.
You’re gonna have fun with this.
“Oh, stop crying.” You poke his cheek just where you flicked your fingers earlier, a large grin forming on your lips when you feel his skin against yours. “I didn’t take you for a baby, Crocker.”
“What-stop poking me!” He pushes your hand away, a frown on his face as he hears Nathan chuckle in the front. “You’re lucky you can’t feel anything-”
He gets interrupted by your hands suddenly squishing his face away, confusing spreading on his features.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to shut you up.” You let go of his face, realizing that you might be going a bit too far. “But it’s not working.”
“Guys.” Audrey interrupts your conversation, Nathan still chuckling as he stops the car. “We’re here.”
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It’s been more than a few minutes since you’ve arrived at the crime scene, Nathan and Audrey now currently questioning the witnesses. Why were you and Duke even around in the first place? You have no idea. But as the two of you wait around for them to finish, you decide to test your theory a little more.
“Ow!” Duke takes a step away from you as soon as he feels your shoe kicking his leg, his eyes squinting at you. “Okay, what is your problem?”
You lose your grin as soon as he says that. “It’s not obvious? You’re my problem.”
“Yeah, yeah... you hate me, I know. But you’ve never kicked me. Or poked me. Or squished my face.” He points at you, suspicion all over his features. “So what’s the sudden change, huh?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
You almost want to curse yourself at how fast you said those words, already knowing that he’s not going to believe that. You almost want to cringe when you see his lips stretch out into a large grin, already dreading the worst.
“Don’t tell me...” His smile gets wider, his excitement suddenly rising. “You actually like me!”
“What-no!” You frown, already shaking your head at him in disgust. “Ew! Never!”
“Aw, don’t deny it.” He approaches his face to yours, his annoying ‘charm’ turning on. “I knew you’d like me eventually. Everyone does-”
You shove his face away with your hands, muffling his words by doing so. “I will never ever like you.”
You truly believe those words, trying your best to ignore the tingling going through your skin after you touched his face. This is not going to change how you feel about Duke. You’ll make sure of it.
But Duke seems to be sure of something else, as he starts to laugh while he gently puts your hands away from his face.
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Wuornos.” He gives you a knowing smile. “But I know the truth.”
You realize that you’ve let him hold onto your hands, your mind to enraptured by the feeling of it to let you do anything about it until now. You suddenly pull them back towards you, sending him a glare.
“In your dreams, Duke.”
“Already happened.”
You give out a gagging sound while you walk away from him, his laugh resonating in your ears. You were hoping there wasn’t a blush creeping up on your cheeks, having never been able to feel the heat of it. What you could feel was your heartbeat getting incredibly louder inside your chest, your mind already screaming at it to stop.
This is one of the many reasons why you try so hard to avoid Duke. You try your best to hate him, to despise him... and you do... until you get to spend time with him, and then you have to beat yourself up to hate him again. You don’t want to like him, not after what happened between him and your brother all those years ago... and you’re not gonna let his stupid feeling exception put all of your past efforts to crumble.
So why are you not quite believing that?
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“Boo.”
You give out a scream when you hear Duke suddenly whisper that word in your ears, already pushing him away from you. “What the hell?!”
“Aw, did I scare you?” He gives you a grin. “Sorry... not sorry!”
You glare at him, feeling your hands starting to tingle from having just pushed him. It’s been a week since you’ve felt anything, having realized that it wasn’t worth risking your brother’s trust. So you’ve started to avoid the crooked criminal again, and it worked. Until now.
Gosh, why did you have to go on a walk today?
“What do you want?”
“To bother you. I think it’s a good payback from last time.” He shrugs, his words already making you groan in annoyance as you start walking away. “I also wanted to see how you were doing. You know? With the whole ‘liking me’ thing?”
“I don’t like you.”
“Hm. Right.” He snaps his fingers before he points at you. “You love me.”
You suddenly stop in your tracks, sending him a glare. “I do not love you!”
He just gives you a large grin as an answer, as if he knew something you didn’t, which only seems to make you angrier.
“What?”
“You’re pretty when you’re mad-ow!” He rubs his arms after you hit it, his grin coming back soon after. “See? You like me!”
You shake your head at him. “How is me hitting you proof that I like you?”
“I don’t know... maybe the fact that you’re blushing?” Your eyes open wide, your hands immediately going to your cheeks to try and feel the heat: but as usual, nothing. “If you don’t believe me, I can fetch a mirror for you.”
“I’m not blushing.” You walk away from him, deciding to just deny everything. “You’re lying.”
“But I’m not!” He follows you close behind, forcing you to stop walking when he suddenly jumps in front of you. “Come on... why are you denying it?”
You glare at him once more. “I don’t need to deny things that don't exist.”
“Is liking me that much of a bad thing?” His question takes you by surprise, and you can almost sense a glint of pain in his eyes. “You don’t have to hate me just cause your brother does, you know?”
“Are you not hearing me when I talk?” You poke his shoulder with your finger, slightly pushing him away. “I. Don’t. Like. You.”
“But I like you.”
You stare at him in shock, your words choking in your throat. “... what?”
“I said I like you.” He puts his hands in his jeans’ pockets, seeming a little less confident than before. “I always have, and I know you like me... so why won’t you just give me a chance?”
“I...” You give out a sigh, rubbing your face with your hands. “Why do you keep saying that I like you?”
He lightly chuckles. “Why did you suddenly start touching me so much?”
“Because...” You hesitate for a second, then give out another sigh. “Cause I can feel you, okay?”
He stares at you for a second, confusion in his eyes. “Huh?”
“When you pat my back the other day.” You cross your arms over your chest, a sense of embarrassment going through you. “I felt that, but I wasn’t sure it was real... so that’s why I kept hitting you and all.”
“... you can feel me?”
“Yeah.” You notice the glint of an idea going through his eyes, frowning. “What are you thinking, Crocker?”
“So if I do this...” Your eyes widen when he suddenly takes your hand in his, his lips stretching out into a grin. “... you can feel that?”
You feel a shot of electricity running through your arm, watching his fingers intertwine with yours. “... what are you doing?”
“What if I do this....” You shut your eyes close when you suddenly feel his other hand against your cheek, his fingers gently pushing a strand of hair away from your face. “... can you also feel that?”
You feel the warmth of his skin against yours, a shudder running down your spine for the first time in your entire life. You open your eyes again, now seeing him getting dangerously closer. “Duke... seriously...”
“What about this?”
You’ve never been able to feel what a kiss feels like before that moment, your mind screaming the moment you felt his lips on yours. Every little movement he made, every touch of his fingers against your skin felt like little explosions that had dangerous consequences for your heart. You couldn’t think anymore, all you could do was feel, and when he parts away a few seconds later, you can barely hear him talk.
“Did you feel that?”
“I...” A stutter threatens to come out, your free hand slowly raising so you can point at him. “... I hate you...”
He gives out a grin at your answer, noticing the tremble in your voice. “Really? I beg to differ-ow!” He gives out a laugh when he realizes that you’ve hit his shoulder yet again. “Well, I guess you definitely felt that.”
You try to wipe his touch away from your lips, without any use. “Don’t do that again.”
“Alright, I’ll do that again.” He gives out a larger grin. “As many times as you want.”
“You know that’s not what I said!” You realize that you’re still holding his hand, and so you try to free yourself, but without any success. “Duke, let go of my hand.”
“Nope.”
“Let go of my hand!”
“Not until you agree that you like me.” You give out a groan, which only seems to make his grin wider. “I’m waiting...”
“Fine!” You shake your head before you glare at him. “I like you. Satisfied?”
“Very.” He lets go of your hand, a sense of disappointment washing over you when he does. “Now... are you free tonight?”
You squint your eyes at him. “... why?”
“So I can take you on a proper date.”
You stare at him for a few seconds, then give out a sigh. “... you’re not gonna take ‘no’ as an answer, are you?”
His lips stretch out. “Does that mean you’re saying ‘yes’?”
You hated him. You’ve always hated him, just like your brother did. You swore this newfound discovery wouldn’t change anything... but gosh, it did. And there’s nothing you can do about it.
“Yeah.” You give out a sigh. “Yeah... I guess I can go on a date with you.”
“Yes!”
You can’t help but chuckle when you see him throw his fist up in the air in victory.
And you know, maybe... just maybe... this little exception is a hint that this is destiny.
