the beginning (blurb) | unpacking, pt. 1 | my main masterlist
ummm the name of this fic sucks i might change it idk
SUMMARY: Flashbacks, flirting, protecting you
CONTENT: 18+ blog. Light stalking, protective!Adrian, sexual tension, accidental peeping, vigilante plotting. Reader wears Adrian's shirt. ft. Chris and John.
NOTES: I'm having fun with this. tysm @vwv-watching-boy and @cosmickid-inmotion (read everyone hates adrian chase!) and 🧡 anon for your thoughts and asks!
After saying goodnight, Adrian drove down your block and called John Economos, then parked and scrolled his phone. He was looking for a picture he’d snapped of Nick’s car a while back. God, he didn’t think he’d turn out this bad. . .
~~~
When Adrian had followed you on your first date, he was just looking out for you. You seemed nervous, and the dive bar you were going to had some unsavory customers. He sat in the corner with a hat on, keeping an eye on your drinks.
He didn't like Nick at all, but he didn't see him *do* anything; there was just an asshole vibe about him.
Like, he was wearing a baseball hat inside. On a first date.
The way he touched you was so entitled. You looked more pliable than comfortable. That’s why Adrian followed you when you got in Nick's car. When Nick pulled off into a remote look-out, Adrian kept driving and made a U-turn about a mile down the road. By the time he got back, the two of you were in the back seat.
Adrian stopped, put his brights on, and waited patiently as Nick staggered out of the car, ready for a fight. “Yeah, come on,” Adrian whispered under his breath. He was dying for an excuse, but Nick didn’t give him one.
He drove by one more time and was satisfied to see Nick in the driver’s seat, deprived of his dubcon, and you looking out the passenger window in silence.
Nick had been living on borrowed time since that night.
Instead of acting on impulse, Adrian had joined his best bud for a drink.
After ordering a Sprite, Adrian suggested, “HEY, I know. Let’s play a game where we give each other a fictional scenario and find out what the other person would do.”
“Okay,” Chris shrugged.
Adrian: “So, alright. Let’s say you had a friend who went out on a date with a bad guy. How long would you wait to kill the guy?”
Chris: “How do I know he's a bad guy?”
Adrian: “You just know.”
Chris: “Am I being homophobic?”
Adrian: “What?”
Chris: “Just because my friend is dating a guy, I think the guy is bad?”
Adrian laughed. “Ohh–No, your friend's a woman,” he clarified.
Chris became skeptical. “And you just know the guy is bad?”
“Yeah,” Adrian jutted his chin forward with his eyes wide behind his glasses.
Chris: “Is this a girl you wanna fuck?”
Adrian: “Not me–”
Chris held up his hand and corrected himself. “Is this a girl I wanna fuck?”
Adrian: “That's insulting. That’s, that’s degrading, Not every–”
Chris: “--Okay now you’re being heterophobic. Just be honest with yourself man.”
Adrian insisted, “She’s a friend. You wanna look out for her.”
Chris sighed. “I guess I would say, when in doubt…don't kill a guy.” He patted Adrian on the back as Adrian deflated -
“That’s what I was afraid of,” he mumbled.
But then, Chris made a good point. “You can always kill him later if ya need to.”
Adrian sprang back to life. “That's true! Okay, your turn.”
And so it was. Adrian resolved to respect your questionable taste in men for the time being. If he hadn't just gotten involved with the 11th street kids, maybe he would have clung harder when you became more distant. Instead, he threw himself into his crime fighting. The 11th street kids took center stage in his life, while Nick took center stage in yours.
As long as you were okay, it was none of his business.
~~~
But now, you weren’t okay.
And it was very much Adrian's business.
After “leaving” you that night, he was just lurking around until John Economos arrived. He joined him in the van, where he was mostly met with questions about whether this would get them in trouble. “No, this could save a woman’s life,” he told John.
They got close enough to your house to get on your unsecured wireless network. They were planning to access your ring doorbell feed so Adrian could be alerted if anyone showed up, but when John saw the list of devices on your network, he said, “Jackpot.”
“what?” Adrian asked.
“Dude. Why does she have so many cameras?” John asked with increasing interest. “Is she a camgirl?”
“No, she fosters animals and likes to check in on them. It’s sweet.”
“All over her house?” John asked.
“A cat’s domain is all over its house, yeah,” Adrian confirmed. “Some cats don't even let you close any doors.”
“Uh... Okay,” Economos conceded. “Do you just need live feed or the footage? Fuck it, let’s do both.”
As John typed on the keyboard, different feeds started popping up on the screens in the van.
John took another look at the list of assets that were online and said, “You know she's got a security alarm, right?”
“Yeah, is it a good one?”
“Yeah, but I mean, I could kill it if we needed to. . .”
“No, don't." He thanked John, first with a pat on the back, then, with a hug.
-
There was one more thing to do before Adrian could leave. He needed to check the perimeter for security weaknesses.
He was careful and moved in the shadows. When a light came on in your bedroom window, he ducked behind a tree. When he glanced to see if you'd spotted him, you were in the window, facing away, and wearing his shirt with no pants. He felt like a pervert, but you literally appeared in his field of vision.
You held your phone up to your ear and tilted your head in a way that looked flirtatious.
"Don't call him," Adrian said under his breath. Then his own phone vibrated in his pocket. He hurried to silence it, then did a double take. You were calling *him*.
"Hey, you." Adrian answered. "You okay?"
"Yeah," you said. "Sorry, were you trying to sleep?"
"No, no, no, I'm good…I was just…not trying to sleep.”
"You didn't answer my texts," you explained.
"Oh God, I'm sorry. Hold on, let me see—"
"No, don't look, don't look,” you stopped him. "It's okay.”
"Okay," he laughed. “What's up?”
"I just wanted to make sure we're cool," you said.
"Uh, yeah…”
"Just... you left in a hurry and I know I made things weird."
"K. Did you, uhh, mean what you said? That you wanted to?"
"Oh God, yeah… fuck…” Adrian admitted.
“Mmm, okay. Good.” you collapsed onto your bed face up and kicked your feet in the air.
He smiled. “And you get why I left, right?"
"Yeah…You're such a gentleman, Adrian," you teased. "And thanks for giving me your shirt to wear."
"No problem. I'm the klutz."
"I'm still wearing it."
"Yeah? You can have it if you want it,” he offered.
“Yeah… yeah, I want it,” you said wistfully with an edge of desire that made blood rush to his loins. "I like it ‘cause it smells like you."
He adjusted himself and mouthed “fuck,” to no one in particular.
"You know what would be funny?" you asked.
"What?" He asked with enthusiasm.
"If you were wearing my shirt, too."
“That's silly,” he laughed.
"It'd be funny. But I guess you're not."
"Yeah, I'm not, ‘cause I don't have one of … OH. You wanna know what I'm wearing," he realized out loud. "Well, I don't wanna bore you, but I haven't changed, cause I, uh, hadn't made it to the shower, but I'm abouuut tooo...."
“Well what you were wearing looked good on you.”
"Thanks. Hey, are you feeling okay?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay.”
"You know you shouldn't be alone with him, right? You don't have to ever talk to him again. There are some guys you're better off ghosting. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, but if you decide to see him, you need to do it somewhere in public. And you need to tell me—I mean, tell someone—what you're doing and where you're going, okay?"
"Yeah, you're right," you agreed. "Alright, I guess I'll let you get to the shower."
"You know I'm here if you need anything," he reminded you. "Including backup.”
"Yeah…. Thanks, bestie."
"Night, bestie. Sweet dreams, pookie.”
-
-
The next day, while you were at work, Adrian was in his mom's basement doing pull-ups, getting his blood flowing for his best thinking. With every rep, the veins on his biceps became more visible. He clenched his teeth, then puffed his cheeks. When his glasses fogged up, he finished up, then let himself down. He lifted the bottom of his white tank top to wipe sweat off his chin, exposing his shredded core.
He tilted his head from side to side to stretch his neck, and his head *stayed* tilted as he eyed a palate of ‘seized’ cocaine across the room. “Bingo,” he whispered, then scrawled “bad batch” on a post-it note. He was thinking outside the box… considering options beyond his usual Vigilante slaybook.
Adrian had a cork board, and right after he got home from your place, he'd tacked up a stick figure representing Nick in the middle. Next was a map with a pin stuck in the mechanic shop, then a faded inkjet print-out of the picture of Nick's car.
“Bad batch” was just the latest idea: he could poison him with fentanyl. Since Nick was a low-life drug dealer and user, there were too many easy ways to kill him. He could wait for him at work and make it look like an accident – Maybe trap him under a vehicle.
Whatever he did was going to take some restraint. If he offed Nick too soon, he could become the object of your sympathy, but he couldn't risk Nick getting to you, meanwhile. He wrote another post-it note: "JAIL.” He could plant enough drugs for intent to distribute or trafficking charges. Then he couldn’t make quick bail. Keep him away from you and buy some time.
Every second this fucker kept breathing felt like a second too long, but he couldn't pull the trigger until he was sure you realized just how worthless the douchebag was. Otherwise, if you found out it was Adrian, you could hold it against him forever.
With so many post-its on the board, there was a lot to think through.
-
He hopped up on a money palate to lie down and shut his eyes to clear his mind. Adrian had this ritual... a way to recover from overstimulation. Settle his nerves. Clear his head. He took naps on stacks.
He grounded himself in physical sensations and found the fingertips of your desire were still echoing off his quads. It had almost felt selfish, depriving you of pleasure in your moment of need, but if you regretted it, you wouldn't have wanted to do it again. Still he wondered, what would you have done next? Did you wanna sit on his dick?
He mostly wanted to hug you. Including a long, special hug. Without clothes. But the endgame wasn't to stick his dick in you. The endgame was a climactic collapse of the space between you. Closing the gap. Shedding everything that separated you. And yeah, with his arms around you, the only way to get closer would probably be to slide his hard cock into your hot, soft core. And it would probably feel fucking amazing.
But you had to be thinking straight. And his restraint wasn't exactly selfless, either. He didn't want you to do something you'd regret, but more than that, he didn't want you to ever regret him.
That would only place distance between you, and that just wouldn't work.
-
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ok so maybe i didn't know how i wanted to kill nick and projected it onto adrian lol
tysm for reading!!! your questions and comments are so helpful to my creative process and also really the funnest part for me, so ty for the feedback. ily hope y'all have a nice week <33
Here I am, once again treating this blog like an archive of lists upon lists upon lists. And since this is a category I’m always keeping an eye out for, this is me compiling a list of fics (lol, lists?? Me?? Who would’ve thunk?) that focus more explicitly on WOC (Women of Colour) readers—and that do a genuinely great job of putting us front and centre.
And if you’ve got recommendations? You already know I’m all ears.
This is something I’m actively trying to seek out more intentionally, so any and all suggestions would be hugely appreciated!
Massive shoutout to @cafekitsune for the insane number of dividers I'm obsessed with.
Key: A - Angst | F - Fluff | S - Smut | C - Comfort | HC - Hurt/Comfort
Clark Kent | Superman (2025):
> Never Too Much by @kryptidfiles
Tags: One Shot, 2nd POV, F
Word Count: 3.7K
Description: Your boyfriend, your sunshine, your Man of Steel, your love, your Clark with your big family.
Multiple Pairings | The Pitt:
> I'm An Astronaut, You're The Moon (Jack Abbot) by @theetherealbloom
Tags: One Shot, F + A + HC
Word Count: 22.5k
Description: When you moved halfway across the world to work nights at PTMC, the last thing you expected was for your soulmate string to lead straight to Dr. Jack Abbot—who’s already happily married to his own soulmate. So you bury your feelings beneath friendship, trauma shifts, and years of silence… until tragedy changes everything, and both of you begin to realize that maybe soulmates were never about fate, but choice. Or, the Soulmate AU with Jack Abbot.
> Ex-Husband!Robby x Reader (Michael "Robby" Robinavitch) by @thedilfydoctorshow
Tags: 18+, MDNI, One Shot, 2nd POV, A + S
Word Count: 1.5k
Description: They divorced cause of Robby’s general workaholic habits, and robby couldn’t disagree (he did but he kept that to himself) two or so years later readers family ends up at PTMC and so does reader; they find out they were married (and then divorced) and the whole conversation prompts them to…rethink.
Joel Miller | The Last of Us:
> Falling by @damneddamsy
Tags: Series, 2nd POV, A + HC + F + S
Chapter Count: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6 | Pt. 7 | Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Pt. 9.5 | Pt. 10 | Pt. 11 | Pt. 12 | Pt. 13 | Pt. 14 | Pt. 15
Description: It is said that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. Now, Joel Miller wasn’t looking to be a saint. Trust was a liability. Love, a memory too painful to keep. But if a sinner like him still had some future, and if that future starts with one night—a baby’s relentless cries cracking through his walls and breaking him open—then maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t lost everything yet. Against all instincts, he steps into that big, white house across his street. Nothing drives Joel to linger, but he does. For the baby at first—nascent Maya, with her bright eyes and fistfuls of Joel’s collar. Then, the strange new mother.
Marcus Acacius | The Gladiator II:
> SITA UNTOLD (सीता अख्याता) by @/damneddamsy
Tags: Series, 3rd POV, A + HC + S
Chapter Count: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6 | Pt. 7
Description: History, in its fickleness, may forget her name, but the truth endures: Sita, princess of the Kushans—cast aside by her kin, traded in dowries—seized a bargain of her own. She knew power need not only rise from the sword, but from the marriage bed, from a whisper at a ruler’s ear, from the silence that follows a kiss. In Rome, she was bound—to a foreign man, the enemy, Marcus Acacius, a decorated general, a conqueror, and yet a weapon she resolved to wield. What began as a treaty unfurled into a perilous game of loyalty and betrayal, of conspiracy and desire. Sita’s fate was tested... would she remain Acacius’ consort—lashed, overshadowed—or would she rise as Rome’s queen?
> His Priestess by @letsgobarbs
Tags: Series, 2nd POV, A + S
Chapter Count: Pt.1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4
Description: Marcus Acacius finds his life spared at the behest of a Vestal Virgin who faces unimaginable consequences for challenging the Emperors. Accused of unchastity and sentenced to a live burial, Acacius follows his saviour through her last night in this world. He knew the Gods could be merciless, but to tempt him with love before ripping her away from him was an act of cruelty he had not imagined.
Adrian Chase | Peacemaker:
> Toe by @coligraven
Tags: One Shot, Black fem Reader 2nd POV, F
Word Count: 2.01K
Description: You go ballistic on the gang when you learn that not only did they allow Adrian to be tortured, but they sent him to jail to murder Chris's dad. Adrian marvels at how hot you are when you're angry.
Batfam | DCU:
> Girl from Ipanema (Dick Grayson) by @bleuesupes
Tags: Series, WOC!Reader, 2nd POV, F
Chapter Count: Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3
Description: You’re new to Gotham, and so far, you’ve only met two kinds of people— neither of which is particularly interesting. until, Dick Grayson.
Miscellaneous:
> Frank Castle x Reader by @sochkila
Tags: One Shot, WOC!Reader, F + C
Word Count: 544
Description: How you accidentally pavloved Frank with your anklets.
I love how much an impact the death of Rick Flag Jr had on the narrative. You don’t see the lasting effects someone’s death can have on the people and world around them a lot of the times in media. I mean you do, but this feels different in some way. The way it pops up in unexpected moments feels more akin to the way death is in day to day life.
I guess I’m just not used to seeing the staying power death has in media, where it’s usually addressed in parts specifically dedicated to feeling sad about death and someone who has died. In Peacemaker though, sometimes it just pops up at seemingly random times, no really buildup, just you are reminded of Flag’s death.
It not only affects Peacemaker either, it affects multiple people, and their decisions. It has lasting affect that you feel in the narrative, that not all al deaths in media have.
