#diederik strider x Reader

[yandere--stuck]

Hey! I just read and am really obsessed with the stuff you wrote about Bro a while ago. I'm a huge Bro fan and the stuff you've written is honestly my favorite! If you were to write more about Diederik, I would totally enjoy seeing it! Either way, thank you for writing it!

You find that Diederik is a very tactile person. Longing to touch and be touched like one needs air to breathe. As though being apart from you was suffocating, like a phantom pair of hands holding his lungs tight and only releasing when his skin met yours.

You weren't exactly being prevented from leaving, but Diederik kept pleading with you to stay. And you couldn't just leave Dave like this - he was only a kid, he shouldn't be left alone to be the only one to look after his emotionally vulnerable guardian. Diederik wasn't being violent, but he was clearly not in a good place. Some sort of breakdown, perhaps?

He refused, however, to go to the hospital. He flinched away at the idea of leaving the apartment.

“It was mostly him out there. I don't even remember what it was like before Cal anymore,” Diederik had pointed to the broken puppet. He refused to let anyone touch it. Too scared. “So, I think we should stay here. Where it's safe. Please.”

You felt compelled to stay longer. It was hard not to pity him. 

He doesn't let you leave his side, following you around like a puppy. Even just a few moments in separate rooms leaves Diederik anxious. It makes it hard to get some time alone with Dave to offer comfort or try to formulate some sort of plan. You notice that when Dave isn't switching between talking with you or staring at his brother and the broken puppet, he disappears into his room for some amount of time. Maybe you could talk there? Or maybe he has a phone? 

But, first you had to deal with Diederik. 

His body stretches over the couch as he rests his head in your lap. His hair pools over your knees. You don't know when he last slept, but it had to have been before you had broken the doll. Even now, the man still fights the siren song of slumber. He blinks his eyes wearily, shaking his head. And all the while, he never looks away from you.

You card your fingers through his hair as he looks up at you. His eyes are a burnt orange. They bore into you, searing deep into your flesh like the desert sun. He holds you in his gaze like you're something important, like you're the entire world. You remember what he said, about barely being a person because of that puppet. Maybe, right now, you are his entire world.

You play with Diederik's hair and talk to him softly until he eventually falls asleep. You can at least give him this.

[yandere--stuck]

A concept for your consideration.... Remember that HS AU drabble with bro where lil Cal was destroyed? What if the reader managed to one day escape Diederik, only to be found by Dave? At first the reader trusts him and is like "oh thank God" since they know that he knows it wasn't normal but like... What if he brought the reader back? Bro has been so much... better since the reader came into their lives. Dave doesn't want that to go away. Basically !platonic yanDave with yan Diederik 👀

Here you go! I hope it's good!

---

He found you hiding behind a dumpster.

Not one of your best moments, certainly, but you were on the run. You had been able to slip out of Diederik's grip in the middle of the night. Apparently, before you broke the doll, he hardly needed to sleep. Or he did, and the thing… Or things(?) controlling him barely let him, and when he could rest, he was an incredibly light sleeper. You… You still don't know. You don't know if you actually believe this, both what he says or if this is actually happening!

But, that didn't matter now. Diederik was now a relatively heavy sleeper, apparently, and also apparently catching up on years of running on empty.. he trusted you enough to not slip away in the night, and with that advantage, you had managed to clamber out of the window and down the fire escape. 

When you had made your way onto the streets, you clung to the shadows. The elder Strider may be more tame now, but even if he had been under some mind control or the influence of that stupid puppet, he still had years of training in swordsmanship and agility on his side. If he awoke and you were out in the open, you'd be done for. So you stuck to alleyways and side streets, praying for sunlight to come or that you'd be able to navigate your way to the authorities.

Part of you had wished that you had stuck around to wake Dave and take him with you. Dave… Your heart clenched in sadness at the thought of the kid. He'd been through so much and lived in such an awful environment. God, you should have called someone earlier, you should have gotten Dave out of there, and you should have looked for wherever Diederik hid your fucking phone before you left!

It wasn't long before in the silence of the empty streets, you heard footsteps. The soft padding of shoes softly stepping across old, crumbling pavement. You felt your heartbeat quicken in your chest, your breathing catching in your throat. You wanted to believe it was just a stranger. Someone on a late night walk. Someone who could help you.

But, somehow, you knew it wasn't. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, all around, everywhere and nowhere at once. Far away, yet right behind you. Your panic overwhelmed you, causing you to duck down into a darkened alleyway, hunkering yourself behind a dumpster. You held your breath, listening to the sound of the footsteps, until eventually…

Silence.

You waited. And waited. And waited, until you were sure you were safe. Exhaling, you peaked around the corner- only to let out a scream as you looked up in the bespectacled face of a figure, staring back at you. You feel back, landing on your rear, breathing heavily as you struggled to calm yourself.

Dave.

It was only Dave. God, what a relief. What a good kid. Well, it would have been easier to just say, "Hey, it's me, don't flip the fuck out," But shit, at this point, you'd take what you can get. Just seeing a friendly face and having strength in numbers was enough to make for the scare.

You heard Dave mumble an apology, reaching out his hand to help you up. "Sorry I scared you. It's okay, though. I'm… I'm gonna help you home."

Okay, yeah. Yeah, good idea. You'd get home, let Dave rest, and use your landline to call the authorities. Good. Good. It was good to have a plan. Dave lived in Houston longer than you had, so all you had to go by was your address, having been turned around and lost by traveling the streets in the dark, letting him lead the way. Dave was mostly quiet during your walk, and you could feel as though something was weighing down on him. You tried to cheer him up - being quiet was probably a good idea, but still, you reached over and rest a comforting hand on his shoulder, causing him to perk up, a soft smile on his face.

Though you hadn't been through the best of experiences together, you really cared for him. He was like a little brother to you. Hell, you'd gladly take care of Dave after Diederik was dealt with-

Your train of though suddenly came to a halt as Dave halted the both of you in front of a building. One that was incredibly familiar…

No. No. Why…?

"I'm sorry," Dave broke his silence, pulling out his sword. "I'm really, really sorry, you have no idea. But, I had to bring you back. Everything's been so much better now that you're here. You're the best thing to ever happen to us. I finally have a brother, and… Maybe a sibling-in-law, too, y'know? A normal family... Please. We need you."

"Dave, no," Your voice wavered, strained by the pain of betrayal. "Please…"

"I'm sorry," The boy repeated, before unsheathing his sword and pointing it towards your person. "Either you climb back the fire escape or I make you."

You wanted to refuse, to run, to coax him into rethinking… But, in the light of the streetcars, you could see the furrowing of his brows, the way his expression struggled to remain stoic as his lips wobbled. 

You couldn't do this to him. Your pain and care for Dave far outweighed your need for freedom. You had been so close… But, you hung your head and clambered up the ladder, your heart sinking as you did, with Dave on your heels.

You'd try again. You'd try again another time.

[yandere--stuck]

Yandere!AU!Bro Strider x Reader

Diederik was a strange man, though you couldn't really be sure if he was stranger before or after you had broken that creepy little doll. 

It wasn't like it was on purpose, of course - the Strider household was filled with all sorts of puppets and dolls, among… Other things. An accident was bound to happen at some point.

Lil Cal, as Dierderik had referred to the doll as, was surprisingly fragile, your foot caving into his skull in a single misstep, far too quick for you to stop yourself. 

You recalled the raspy ringing in your ears (almost like screams) and the lights flickering after you had broken the puppet. When you removed the offending appendage from the hole in "Cal's" face, you could have sworn that it's big, blue eyes dimmed, as though the life had drained from it's eyes.

"Oops..." You had said on instinct, stomach sinking at your mistake, face heating up with embarrassment and worry.

"Oh shit," Dave cursed from beside you, his body going tense. The boy began pacing, pulling at his hair. 

Dave was a good kid. You were assigned to a sort of big sibling to him in the program you were in. Apparently, the kid needed a better role model in his life than the brother he already had. Dave acted aloof and stoic, too cool for school and everything else, too. You could tell that it was all an act, and that somewhere, deep inside, there was an anxious kid using it as a front so as to not confront his problems, or maybe to protect himself.

"I can just- I, I'll tell him that I broke it, that it was me-" Dave babbled, pacing furiously around the room.

You made to tell him to calm down - it was fine, it was your mistake, you'd take responsibility - but was cut off by a scream coming from the other room.

You and Dave rushed in to find Dave's older brother, "Bro," holding his head in both hands as he writhed and screamed in pain on the floor.

It had taken a good few minutes for you to calm the man down, to help soothe whatever had ailed him. Dave had stood in the doorway the whole time, simply watching.

When "Bro" had come to, he was a completely different man the one you had first met. Bro Strider was stoic and quick to the point, speaking in slow, drawled out sentences. He gave off an aura of… Something unknown, an enigma wrapped in a mystery. He didn't talk much - simple sentences and simple answers. Head nods and grunts of agreement. He carried a feeling of tension that made goosebumps pop up on your skin.

Diederik... Not so much.

Diederik was his real name, he had told you. His voice was barely above a whisper, as though he was afraid of getting caught, like he was doing something wrong. He had taken off his ridiculous sunglasses, revealing a pair of dark orange eyes. They darted about wildly, never quite staying in one place.

He hadn't been himself in a long, long time - at least, that's what he had said.

"It was Cal," he had told you, voice hushed and shaky. "It was always Cal. And- and when I figured it out, it was too late. It was too late. I… I was just a kid, I've never even lived my own life, I, I don't even remember… I didn't mean to… Dave, I-"

You had almost forgotten Dave was there. Just as you turned about to look at the younger boy, he vanished from the doorway. You were stuck, alone with Diederik Strider as you helped him through a panic attack, first of many.

---

You stay the night at their apartment, trying to tell yourself that it's for Dave's sake. You didn't want him to be left alone overnight with his brother in such a state.

Diederik is calmer the next morning, sitting you down to explain everything better. Like you, he hadn't gotten any sleep - with how jittery he was, you'd guess he'd crossed the line between tired to hyper. His knees bounce and his eyes dart around, his arms hugging his chest, trying to keep from shaking.

"I- I always had Lil Cal, even when I was a baby," He explained. "I… I was so stupid. I didn't even realize he was messing with my head 'til I was Dave's age.

It… It was terrifying. I would black out and wake up in different places. I didn't know what was going on. Nothing felt… Real anymore. And eventually, at some point, I just… Stopped waking up. There were flashes of things I remember, mostly of Dave. It was like… Dreaming. None of it felt real. But it is."

You gulped, leaning forward to rest a hand on the man's knee - only to retract it when he practically jumped out of his skin at the touch.

"That sounds really scary…" You speak slowly, choosing your words carefully.  "Maybe it's something you could bring up to a doctor?"

Diederik's body is visibly wracked by nervous shakes. "I know you don't believe me, I get it. But, it's true. Do… Do you know what it's like to be a prisoner in your own body? I… It's like, it's like I'm not even a real person. I never got to BE a person. I feel like I have no identity. I don't even remember half of my life, I never got to choose, I-... I was just… Just a puppet. I was no one.

...Un- until you…" He finished, so quietly you weren't sure he actually said it.

Your eyes roam over his face, and it's only then that you notice that those honey eyes aren't frantically darting about anymore. No, they were completely locked… On you. Panic stirred in your stomach. You didn't like the way his eyes shined as he looked at you, swirling with something better off left unknown or unsaid.

You attempt to to rise to your feet, already thinking of an excuse to finally leave - when a hand grasps your wrist. It's gentle, but you can almost feel the unused strength in Diederik's strength.

With his free hand, the man slowly took off his hat. He had a serious case of hat hair, and it was a lot wavy than you had expected.

"Please stay," The man croaked. "You and Dave are all I have. He likes you, and from what I remember, he has every right to hate me. He needs you."

You tried to wrench your hand away, but to no avail - his grasp on you is akin to silk rope bound to your hands, soft and gentle but tight like iron. 

This can't be happening.

"Please let me go." You squeaked out, feeling your stomach drop.

"I'm sorry," He said, eyes swirling with sadness and regret. "I… I need you. You saved me. I need you. I have to have you, please."

The man rose to his feet, pulling you into a hug. You squirmed and tried to fight him off, but his muscles alone were a clear indicator that he was far stronger than you.

"I can make this work," Diederik whispered. "I… I love you. And we can take care of Dave, together. And I can learn to be a person. You'll see. We'll be so happy… Finally happy…"

You weren't sure if he was talking to you or himself.