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Petrichor (9/12)

Pairing: Eventual Trevor C./Reader; other background relationships Chapter: 9 of 12 Warnings: Swearing, Plot!, Geoff is there, cuteness, Learning about Backstories! (sort of), Trevor is Super Cute and Great and Good and Stuff, vampires and werewolves and things that go bump in the night (PG-13) Word Counts: Chapter: 4,446 Total: 33,967 A/N: Home stretch! Here’s some plot and some cute and some stuff. Also I take prompts now! (see here for details). Now that the end is near for this fic, I need some more stuff to work on :D Reminder that this has a bunch of supernatural-y stuff, and also that this would not have seen the light of day (pun intended), if it weren’t for @chefgeofframsay. P.S. - Feedback would be cool P. P. S. - sorry if any chapters end kind of weird, this was written as one long thing and then I decided to break it up. Previous|Next

You dressed as quickly as you can, texted your mom and Blaine, and then focused pulling up both illusions and a neutral expression as you left your room and walked into the kitchen. Trevor, Michael, and Lindsay were all standing around the island counter, chatting, but fell silent when you entered the room.

“Is something wrong?” You asked, instantly regretting it, but all three of them shot you matching reassuring smiles.

“No, just waiting on you. You ready to go get some lunch?” Lindsay said, picking up her purse from the counter.

“I just gotta feed Gus, first.” You told her, reaching past Michael for the fish food, but Trevor shook his head, stopping you in your tracks.

“Already done, while you were in the shower. And uh, I also did the dishes because I wanted to wash my face and brush my teeth and I felt bad doing that with dishes in the sink.” He said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Trevor, you didn’t have to…” You trailed off, blushing, and you watched Michael and Lindsay share a look out of the corner of your eye before Lindsay wrapped her fingers around your wrist.

“Now that that’s settled.” She said, pulling you to the door and stopping mid-sentence in a way that sounded like she had no intention of finishing it.

One uneventful lunch and a quiet drive later, and you were once again standing in the elevator, on your way up to Geoff’s penthouse. Michael and Lindsay and Trevor were all chatting about something (Trevor standing very close to your side), but you were too busy thinking to pay attention.

The elevator doors eventually slid open, and you heard a squeal, raising your head just in time to see Ashley barrel into you, wrapping you up in a hug. Relief flooded your body as you brought your arms up and squeezed her tight. Your mentor was here, in your arms, unscathed, and you felt tension you didn’t know you had melt from your shoulders.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” You whispered next to her ear, and she nodded, pulling away to hold you at arm’s length. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

“Look at you, you’re all grown up now.” She murmured, pulling you into another hug for a moment before dragging you out of the elevator. She turned to face you again, and then looked up, over your shoulder.

“And you must be Trevor.” Ashley said it the same way that moms do when they think they know something you don’t, and you couldn’t stop the heat that spread from your neck into your cheeks.

As your mentor, she was essentially a second mom, after all.

“Nice to meet you.” Trevor stuck out a hand as he said, it, but Ashley batted it away in favor of pulling him into a hug, too, and he looked at you wide-eyed over her head, but brought his arms up to pat her on the back, anyway. You just laughed with Michael and Lindsay at Trevor’s obvious confusion.

“Thank you for taking care of my [Y/N],” She said, pulling away from Trevor and looking to Michael and Lindsay standing behind you, “all of you. She’s always been my favorite apprentice.”

You didn’t know you could do it, but you felt your cheeks growing impossibly redder. You shot Ashley a glare, which she just laughed at, “What? It’s true.”

“Does this mean you know a lot of like, baby stories and stupid shit that [Y/N]’s done?” Michael asked, and to your absolute horror, Ashley chuckled and nodded.

“Oh, do I ever.”

“Sweet.” Michael said, wicked glint in his eye, and Trevor patted your upper back sympathetically.

“It’s okay, he does this to all of us,” Trevor informed you quietly, leaning down so that his face was near yours while he spoke, “come on, Geoff’s probably waiting impatiently, he knows you’re here.”

You nodded and followed Trevor down the hall, giving a parting wave to the others and silently praying that Ashley didn’t tell too many embarrassing stories.

“So, I’ve heard through the grapevine that you’ve had your first Prediction.” Geoff said from behind his desk, fingers steepled together. You were sitting in the same chair that you sat in when you were last in Geoff’s office, only this time you were sans Lindsay, Trevor instead sitting in the chair she had occupied. Ryan was up against the wall behind Geoff, leaning precariously against it despite the amount of stuff that hung on the walls.

“Uh, yeah.” You shifted in your seat and glanced over at Trevor, who was smiling encouragingly at you.

“Trevor filled me in last night, but I had a couple questions of my own. Can you describe the man who attacked Ashley?” Geoff asked, face stony, all business.

“Uh, he was Unseelie. Tall, thin, but he picked her up with one hand. One of his wings has a giant chunk missing, but the line was smooth, almost like it was repaired surgically.” You told Geoff, and then nearly jumped out of your skin when Ryan pushed himself off the wall (making frames knickknacks rattle) and nearly ran out of the room.

“Good, we know who it is that’s after you, then. He was on our short list,” Geoff opened up a file in front of him and shuffled through a couple of papers until he evidently found the one he was looking for, “does the name Novus ring any bells?”

“No? I don’t think so? I’m sorry. If he has to do with my father, I’ve never heard of him. I try to avoid discussing it with him. I know he does a lot of good work, taking on cases so that non-humans can still get fair trials without outing them, regardless of whether they’re guilty or not, but it wasn’t something that he brought home with him very often.” You explained, wringing your hands in your lap. Geoff sighed a little.

“No, I get it, kid, don’t worry. This was a case in the Seelie Court, actually. He was the defendant; your father was prosecuting him. Sentenced to 80 years, must’ve just gotten out. Says here that he was screaming “I’ll give you something worse than death” at dear ol’ Robin as he was dragged out of the courtroom.” Geoff looked up at you, and you tried to swallow down the lump in your throat.

Something worse than death.

What else was worse than your own death? You only kid getting murdered. And judging by your Prediction, this Novus jerk was ready and willing to destroy anything in his ‘quest for revenge.’ At least things make a little more sense, now, even though they’re still off the wall, you thought to yourself, sliding down in your seat a little. You caught movement in the corner of your eye and turned a little to see a very concerned-looking Trevor staring at you.

“Alright, at least we know who it is, now. Anything else we need to talk about?” You asked, and as Geoff rubbed at his face, you saw his tattoos ripple and move. The woman on the back of his hand winked at you and gave a cheeky grin.

“Yeah, you need to stay here until we resolve this, [Y/N]. Penthouse is safe, I know who goes in and out at all times, it’s the best place for you. We’ll put up a ‘sorry, closed due to family emergency’ sign on your store. I’ll even go get your fish myself.” You expected another fish joke or burst of laughter, but it never came, Geoff’s sleepy blue eyes just trained on you.

“I – I can’t just, like, not work, Geoff. I appreciate everything you’re doing – even though it’s because my father’s telling you to and whatever – but I have bills to pay, and shipments due in, and customers that need to pick up preorders. I understand, but I don’t know how long this is going to take. I can’t leave my job for weeks and weeks.” You tried to put into words how you felt, but judging by the growing frown on Geoff’s face, he was either not getting it or Not Having It. He slammed his hands on his desk, standing up from his chair so fast it clattered back into the wall, making you jump and cower back a little bit into your seat. The whole room went dark, and you could See his aura crackling and swirling with life.

“It’s not a matter of what you want! It’s a matter of your protection! Do you think we’re getting paid for this? This is a favor to your father, friend to friend. I’m putting my whole team into this out of the kindness of my heart! I don’t care if you have shit to do, I’m not putting you in a position where you’re at risk!” Geoff half-shouted, voice pitching and cracking all over the place.

Before you could open your mouth to say anything – before you could even think of anything to say at all, Trevor was out of his chair, hands up and out in a placating gesture, and now you could only see right half of Geoff’s face and upper body.

“Woah, now, Nelly, let’s just calm down, now, everyone,” Trevor urged before turning to you, “[Y/N], I get it. You have a business to run, and you do it almost entirely by yourself, which means you have a reputation on the line, too. But the store is sort of a risky place, being the only location besides your apartment that you frequent on a regular basis, and the first time you were attacked, originally, you were walking home from there.

“Geoff,” Trevor turned his back to you to face his boss, “We understand that you’re doing this because [Y/N]’s father is a good friend. I understand that you’re doing what you think is best. But if the tables were turned right now, would you be comfortable with completely upending your entire life indefinitely, or would you crave something that would give you some little, tiny sliver of normalcy, even if it meant taking a risk? Can’t we compromise, instead? [Y/N] cuts down store hours, maybe to three days a week, and Blaine gets any shipments that come in on days that the store isn’t open? That way, she gets something in her life that isn’t completely foreign-upside-down bullshit and you get to make sure she’s protected and safe?”

You watched, wide-eyed, as Trevor’s words made Geoff’s jaw loosen and his shoulders drop. By the time Trevor had finished, the (presumably) older man had fallen back into his chair, hands rubbing at his face. You had no idea that Trevor could negotiate and defuse a situation like that. On the surface, you were in awe of his concise eloquence and quick-thinking, but deeper down…well, you couldn’t stop the little voice back there that found it attractive. Trevor had a way with words that appealed to your book-loving self, and the fact that he was essentially standing up to you, to his boss. It was flattering, and it made you want to blush and giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Fine. Three days a week. But if this goes on for more than another week, we’re not sticking to the same three days. I need you to tell me all preorders expected and all shipment dates for the next couple weeks, so we can make sure your customers and suppliers and shit don’t get pissed at you. But I’m not getting your fish from your apartment, you have to go get it your goddamn self.” Geoff said, tone dismissive, and you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding. Trevor stepped back and sat down again while Geoff handed you a piece of paper. You wrote down the ones you could remember, and then scribbled Blaine’s number at the bottom.

“I don’t know if I remembered all of them, but Blaine should still be at the store, so he can look it up in the planner book that we keep, you can text or call him about it.” You said, giving the paper back. Geoff only let out a hmph in response, but you could see the corners of his mouth twitch upwards, so you were hoping that meant the man wasn’t actually mad at you.

Geoff then instructed the two of you to “get the dicks out of here” with a wave of his hand, and you shot a quick series of texts to Blaine, updating him on the whole thing while you followed Trevor out the door.

“Want to go get some stuff from your apartment now?” Trevor asked, and you nodded absently.

“Hey,” You stopped walking, grabbing Trevor’s forearm. He instantly turned to face you. “thanks for like, helping and negotiating and stuff. That was really, super nice of you, and after last night…” You trailed off, hoping that Trevor would understand the unspoken end to your sentence: I owe you.

He just chuckled a little under his breath and shook his head, “It was nothing, [Y/N]. I could tell what you were trying to say, and I knew that Geoff wasn’t going to get it right away unless someone spelled it out for him. It’s not my first rodeo with Geoff ‘I’m an overprotective fucker’ Ramsey. And as for last night, I already told you, I’m just glad that you’re okay, and I was there to help.” He fitted you with a dazzling smile, and before you could talk yourself out of it, you surged forward and wrapped your arms around his waist, pressing your face into his chest in the biggest hug you could muster. Trevor’s arms immediately responded, wrapping around you and pulling you tighter to him.

You weren’t sure how long the two of you stood there, hugging each other in the hallway, but the sound of someone clearing their throat had you jumping away from each other. It was Jack, and he had a sly smile on his face as he looked between you and Trevor.

“I’m about to take Ashley to the airport. I figured you’d want to say goodbye, [Y/N].” Jack told you, beckoning you to follow him.

After a tearful good-bye with Ashley, you found yourself dabbing at your eyes and sitting in the passenger seat of a nice, dark-colored sportscar while Trevor drove back to your apartment. The two of you gathered up two suitcases worth of necessities (well, one suitcase of clothes and other necessities and one suitcase of stuffed animals) and Gus in his tank and brought it all back to the penthouse, where Trevor helped you set up Gus and your things in the same room you had stayed in the night you were attacked.

“I’d love to stay and hang out, but Jeremy just requested some assistance with recon.” Trevor said after the two of you finally got Gus’ tank set up and settled (he was a spoiled rotten grumpy little fish), waving his phone a little for emphasis.

You sighed inwardly, disappointed that your time with Trevor was called to an end for the moment, but pulled a (hopefully understanding) smile onto your face, regardless.

“Okay. Thanks for helping me out with this asshole.” You said, gesturing to Gus. You bit down the and everything else that you wanted to tack on. You’d already had that conversation – you didn’t want to sound like a broken record, or worse, have Trevor get annoyed at your repetitiveness.

“Not a problem. I’ll swing by if it isn’t too late when I get back, but if not, you know where I’m gonna be. My door’s always unlocked as long as I’m in there.” Trevor smiled at you, and you nodded, giving him a wave when he looked back at you before he shut the door behind him.

You immediately flopped back onto the bed with a sigh, that turned into a yelp when you nearly bonked your head against the headboard.

“Forgot that there wasn’t going to be as much soft stuff to stop my fall.” You muttered to yourself, rolling onto your stomach and texting Blaine for a while – making sure everything was fine at the store that day, making sure he was fine, asking if him and Mica were going to spend the night together to be super safe (they were – Blaine was staying at Mica’s house, because she had much better security).

Eventually, you moved on to unpacking all of your things – there was nothing you hated more than living out of a suitcase (okay, there were a lot of things you hated more, this whole situation one of them, but suitcase was still fairly high on the list) – and after that, you took a nap.

Your ‘nap’ turned into a ‘sleep,’ and it was well after midnight when you woke up again. You splashed some water on your face and pulled up your hair before slipping out into the hallway as quietly as you could and knocking on the nearest (aka Trevor’s) door.

After a minute with no answer, you reached forward and tried the knob.

Locked.

Okay, plan B (who were you kidding, you didn’t have a plan B). You sighed and started wandering down the hall, turning corners at random in an attempt to find something – or even someone – recognizable. You weren’t sure if it was by chance or by Geoff’s doing, but your twists and turns through the enchanted penthouse eventually led you to a small, dark room, the only light coming from a small writing lamp, which illuminated what looked like a desk scattered with papers and the outline of a person.

“Can’t sleep?” They asked, and you took a step forward, eyes adjusting to see Ryan staring up at you.

“I meant to take a nap for an hour. It turned into, like, seven.” You responded, making him chuckle.

“Take a seat.”

You slid into the seat across from him and curled up, tucking your feet under you. You heard shuffling and then the room was suddenly a lot brighter, a set of sconces flaring to life behind the desk. You took in the room as Ryan sat back down and went back to his work. It seemed to have a delicate balance between old and new, with ancient-looking tomes and crumbling maps were strewn between circuit boards and tablets. Ryan was wearing glasses and was hunched over what looked like a box with a bunch of wires coming out of it, but you were sure it was probably a little more complicated than that.

“This is my office, but unlike Geoff, I don’t get the luxury of having a door.” Ryan piped up after a few minutes of silence, startling you a little.

“I’m sorry, I can leave…” You said, trailing off and dropping your feet to the floor.

“No, stay if you want to, I don’t mind. Just letting you know, I could tell you’re curious.” He explained it with the same vague, sort of enigmatic tone that you had discovered he was fond of. You nodded, and the two of you lapsed into silence again. Ryan was weird, to you. Now that you had gotten to know every member of Geoff’s crew a little better, you had deduced that Trevor wasn’t an apprentice, after all. In fact, you were sure that the two were fairly close in age (relatively speaking, of course. Your guess was that there was only about 150 or so years between the two vampires). Ryan’s knowledge of the world and its inhabitants vastly exceeded your own, and you found nearly every interaction with the older man turned into a lively history lesson – which you were genuinely happy for, even when Michael was groaning and threatening to smash his own face in just so he didn’t have to listen to it anymore. But while the others were relatively open and friendly, Ryan’s words always seemed to be cherry-picked carefully, things that seemed like they wouldn’t be secretive discussions riddled with vague half-comments. You wondered if Ryan just had a flair for dramatic (like Geoff), or if he was really as secretive of a person as he seemed. And even beyond that, you wondered why, when Trevor was the temperature of a nice, cool breeze, Ryan felt like ice that had just come out of a blast chiller.

“Something on your mind?” Ryan asked lightly, pulling you out of your own head. You hesitated to answer, not certain about how far you could reach before being offensive, how much you could pry before hurting someone’s feelings and breaking the fragile trust you had established.

“It might be too invasive to ask.” You finally settled on, dishing Ryan a taste of his own purposely vague medicine.

“You’ll find that there’s very few things in my entire life that I would consider too private to talk about, at my age.”

You sighed, “It’s only partially about you.”

“So, Trevor, then.” Ryan stated – and it was just that, a statement of fact, not even a hint of a questioning lilt in his tone.

“Is it really that obvious?” You asked, fidgeting in your seat. Ryan glanced up at you over his glasses, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Well, considering it’s only ‘partially’ about me, I’m assuming it’s a vampire ‘thing,’” He lifted one hand to enunciate his inflections with air quotes, “and beyond the fact that Trevor and I are the only vampires in AH, over the past week and a half or so, you’ve grown closest to Trevor – much closer than most of the rest of us combined.” Ryan’s voice dripped with hidden meaning, and he shot you a knowing smirk.

You blushed a little bit at that, embarrassed that your attachment to and subsequent crush on Trevor was that obvious, especially in that short of a period of time. You took solace in the stories that your mother had told you, time and time again, about how she had only known your father for a few hours before she knew he was The One and they shared their first kiss. And they’d been together for centuries, now.

You opened your mouth to respond, but Ryan beat you to it: “If you’re about to say, ‘I don’t want Trevor to find out and get upset with me,’ one; he won’t find out, and two; he won’t get upset. With me, maybe. But not with you.”

You harrumphed and sunk further into your chair. You glanced around, even craning your neck to look behind you, and, satisfied that no one else was there to eavesdrop, you turned back to Ryan.

“Why are you so much colder than him?” You asked, watching intently for Ryan’s response. He set down the tools in his hand and pushed back a little so his chair rolled back, leisurely swinging his socked feet up to rest on the edge of the desk.

“He’ll tell you the details in his own time, but it’s no secret, so I’ll tell you the basics.” Ryan said, pressing his fingers together and resting them under his chin.

“A long time ago, right around the time that I first met him, Trevor had an…unfortunate run-in. He had been working with an angel at the time – she’s still a contact of ours, actually – and to make the story short, they had two options: let Trevor die or let him feed off of her angel blood without fully knowing what the consequences of that would be. Like a good friend, she chose the latter, which led to Trevor seeking me out for help.

“What neither of them knew, because at the time, side effects of magical blood were elite, Need-to-Know basis information – I won’t get into that, all you need to know is that ancient, crumbly-ass vampires are fucking dicks – was that by drinking an angel’s blood, even though it was only a little bit, Trevor became a little less undead. Sunlight doesn’t weaken him as much as it does me. He doesn’t feel dead to the touch, like I do. He doesn’t need to drink as often as normal, unless he’s been exerting a lot of energy, and when he’s full he can even do life-y things like blush and eat a lot of ‘real’ food without getting a stomachache. He still has all of the typical weaknesses – wooden stakes to the heart, silver, decapitation, acid, the works – but he’s a little bit less dead than the rest of us. It’s the closest thing to the popular human myth of ‘day-walkers’ as vampires get. Does that answer your question?” Ryan finished, and you nodded, a little numbly. You didn’t know what you were expecting, but it wasn’t that.

“Why – why doesn’t it happen more often, then?” You asked tentatively, leaning forward a little bit in your seat.

“Sometime between then and now, drinking non-Normal human or animal blood has been pretty much unanimously outlawed by both the High Vampiric Counsel and the community as a whole. There are exceptions, when it’s a dire situation and the ‘giving’ party has willingly consented, but those are mostly on a case-by-case basis. Why do you think that the effects of magical and mythical blood are never discussed in any of the books you’ve read about us? We operate under a sort of ‘ignorance is bliss’ mentality.” You found yourself nodding as Ryan spoke. It did make a lot of logical sense, after all. You stifled a yawn, and, as Ryan fell silent, you took that as your cue to leave.

“Don’t just start talking to him about it. I know you have more tact than that, but still. He probably won’t be too happy with me for stepping in instead of shutting up and directing you to him.” Ryan said as you stood, making you pause, and for a moment fear clutched your chest –What if this was a bad idea? What if Trevor will hate you for going to Ryan instead of him? – but you pushed it away. Ryan said he wouldn’t be mad at you, and you hadn’t gone to Ryan at all, you had just stumbled upon his office, and the vampire had asked.

“Will do. Thanks, Ryan.” You told him, giving him a small smile before wandering away. It took you a while, but you eventually made it back to your ‘room’ – you hesitated to call it that, because it wasn’t yours, not really, not forever – and plonked down on your bed, falling asleep while this newfound information about the cute boy you liked swirled in your mind.

#rt reader insert #ragehappy #trevor x reader #trevor c x reader #modern fantasy au #supernatural au

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