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Chapter 1

"y/n? Why are you still up?"

You were standing in the doorway to the living room, the thin fabric of your pajamas not helping to keep you warm, even though the slight flush on your cheeks spoke another language.

"I'm not a baby with a set bedtime," you rolled your eyes at Ghost as you walked into the room, "and I can't sleep."

Ghost was sitting at the dining room table, working on some reports, although he seemed to be more interested in whatever movie was playing on the TV behind him.

Not only was he one of your father's best friends but unfortunately, also the man you had a crush on for the past few years. He was supposed to watch you because your father had to be away for a few days, an important mission, and somehow he was afraid for your safety, even though you had insisted that you were old enough to be on your own. But your dad seemed to view that differently. The fact that you were 20, almost 21, was not the reassurance he needed to keep you home alone for more than a night.

"Come on, you can work on those reports tomorrow," you whined, tugging on his arm as you walked up behind him, adding, "I won't tell Dad, pinky promise," for good measure.

"Why, you want me to read you a good night story?"

"No, you idiot. But you can watch a movie with me, anything is better than tossing and turning in my bed for another 2 hours."

"Fine," he grumbled as he got up, sitting down on the big couch with you.

You two were watching some weird alien movie for a while when Ghost spoke up.

"Goddamn, why are you so antsy tonight, you're making me all nervous," he asked, nudging you in the side.

"Sorry," you mumbled, looking down at your legs, still fidgeting with the hair tie on your wrist.

"Look at me" Ghost grabbed you by the chin, turning your face so that you had to look at him, his eyes wandering over your flushed cheeks, over your dilated pupils, noticing how your breath suddenly got faster.

"I swear to God, did you take something, y/n?"

"What, no?!"

"Well, something is up with you. Care to explain?"

"It's nothing."

Even though Ghost was mostly your dad's friend and colleague, you two had a good relationship too, maybe because he wasn't as old as your dad. You always saw him as one of your friends, even had his number saved in your phone for when you needed someone to pick you up from your friend's house in the middle of the night, a bit too wasted .

Ghost had also been with you when you were out partying for your 20th birthday, and he was also the one who smacked a few teeth out of the guy who tried to spike your drink at said party. No wonder you had a crush on him.

"Fine, then it shouldn't be hard for you to sit here like a normal person and not like you had 5 liters of coffee."

And you managed to sit still, for around 5 minutes. But soon, your foot was bouncing again, your teeth nibbling at the collar of your shirt. Ghost had enough of your antics, grabbing you by the waist, pulling you up so that you were sitting on his lap, directly facing him.

Being close to him was nothing unusual, you had sparred with him countless times when he taught you self-defense, had been sitting on his lap whenever it was too crowded somewhere, and it had never been a problem but damn, your self-control was weak tonight.

"What is bothering you? I won't ask again, so if you want me to keep you company any longer, you better answer me."

"I'm-" You couldn't bring yourself to say it, especially not to the person who was the cause of your issue.