Predator (DWT x OC)

80

"You ever think about leaving?" Punz asks, while I rest my chin on his bicep, let his body shield my face from the air that freezes my face. 

I let out a humourless laugh. "All the time, never seriously."

"Never seriously?" He asks, looking down at me with his eyebrows raised. 

"Can't leave them." I answer. "Ever."

A flicker of emotion crosses his face, too quick for me to catch it, too quick to betray the thoughts he doesn't share with me. "Yeah, I guessed that."

"I'm worried about Tommy." I sigh, sliding my hands into my sleeves to stop the cold stinging my knuckles. "Dream's fucking fixated on him."

"Wilbur's in trouble too." Punz shakes his head. "First mistake was thinking he was on an even field with Dream."

"Wilbur's a big boy, he can handle the consequences of his own fuck ups." I flick my eyes up at him, cheek buried into his arm. "Tommy's done nothing except be loved by me."

"It's not your fault." Punz's blonde eyebrows crease. "You didn't cause this."

"I did Punz." I say, looking back from him to the darkness of the crevice we've squeezed into, away from Tubbo and Tommy's prying eyes, Wilbur's accusing glares, Niki's well-meaning glances. "I brought him into their lives, even if I didn't know, even if I didn't mean to."

"How were you supposed to have known?"

"Because he was waging a war against us? Because he told me again and again that he'd kill them without blinking? Because I should have fucking known?"

"He was holding you hostage, you could not think straight. You were allowed to make bad decisions then, Rosie, he was messing with your head."

"I fell in love with him Punz."

He drops closer, pressing a kiss into the top of my head. "You have to forgive yourself for that."

"It's unforgivable." I shake my head, voice gravelly. "Wilbur and Fundy were right, it's unforgivable."

"It's not." He snakes his arms around me, squeezing tightly, resting his chin against my hair. "Especially not compared to what they did to you."

"Punz-"

"Nope." He leans in, wide eyed and full of conviction. "No more, not about loving Dream or what Wilbur thinks or how you feel responsible for shit you should have never had to deal with in the first place. I don't want you to feel sad and guilty because of me."

"Mhm." I giggle, closing the gap between us to press my lips against his for just a second. "I forgot about you never getting out here to see me and how much you just want to kiss me."

"Exactly." He kisses me again, then grins.

"What are you smiling about?" I ask, my own lips spreading into a matching smile, like the glee on his face is contagious, lighting up all the cold empty places within me, leaving nothing but a warm glow and a heart a little more filled. 

"Just how lucky I am." I says, and I roll my eyes. 

"Yeah right, what are you actually smiling about?"

"How fucking pissed off Dream would be if he knew."

I snort, and then clap my hands over my mouth. "Don't fucking say that." I'm laughing, but the thought has been prickling in the back of my skull since he first kissed me, once the shock wore off. "And don't think of him while you're kissing me."

"Sorry." He squeezes me in an apology. "He'd kill both of us if he knew."

"No he'd kill you, and then lock me in a dungeon or some shit."