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sirowsky · 1 year

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Part 29 - The Performance

Pero Tovar and Female Reader (nicknamed Bee) Modern AU

It's time to open the doors to the new shop, and while you're rediscovering your life-long passion, Pero is cogitating on several things, both good and bad.

Creator chooses not to use Warnings! This is 18+ONLY! Author's Note: Unfortunately, due to the massive decline in interest in this story, I've decided to let Part 30 be the final chapter. I simply don't have the motivation to keep it going, while dealing with real life struggles, when each chapter seems less appreciated than the former. I have loved writing this, however, and I will forever be indebted to those few of you who have stuck with me all the way. I wish that I could just sit down to write and not care if anyone reads it or not, but sadly, I'm just not that confident. But I thank you all, and I hope only good things come to you in your lives <3 Love, Jay

Word Count: 4272 Masterlist (this story) Author’s Masterlist

Link to Part 30

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Monday couldn’t come fast enough, but it also sprinted towards you way too quickly, which was stressful in a simultaneously fun and somewhat daunting way. You were so looking forward to seeing how many people would turn up, what they’d think and how much work you’d get to do. Obviously, you hoped that your calendar would get fully booked, but businesses like these weren’t always successful, regardless of how good the products were.

It was a bit of a niche sort of store, and it was going to depend heavily on customer reviews and recommendations, just like your studio had, otherwise it simply wouldn’t hold people’s interests. But you were positive. You’d done this before and you’d been very successful, so there was no reason to think that it would tank this time around.

So, on Monday morning, you got up early, letting Pero sleep in after having been up with Mae for parts of the night. You took her into the kitchen with you while you made scones for breakfast, using the time that they were in the oven to fix your hair and put on a touch of make-up, for the first time in about forever.

You’d showered the previous evening and made sure that your favourite fancy clothes were clean, so by the time Pero walked into the kitchen, drawn by the smell of the bread, he was ground to a halt as soon as he saw you.

“Ay, mi amor… You look amazing,” he murmured while his eyes trailed your form from top to bottom and back again.

“Thank you, I feel amazing,” you chirped, making him smile.

You had Mae in her baby stool by the island, and your happy tone seemed to register with her, because your words were closely followed by an enthusiastic half laugh, half shriek as she looked at you.

“What’s that, Babybee? Are you happy too, sweet girl?” you playfully babbled in return, coaxing her into a full laugh.

But then Pero’s arms encircled your waist from behind, and his lips found that spot on your neck that he loved to nuzzle, and you knew where that usually led.

“Hey, hey, we don’t have time for that, honey,” you admonished, but your voice was too happy and your tone much too inviting for him to take that seriously.

“I’ll be quick, I promise,” he hummed in your ear, low and sensual, knowing full well what his voice did to you.

“You always say that, but you never are,” you tried, still entirely unconvincing.

“I can’t help it that you enchant me whenever we make love,” he was practically purring now, while his hands were leaving hot trails on the sides of your thighs, where he was slowly pulling your skirt up.

“Which is precisely why this is not the time. I really don’t wanna be late today,” you said, and the words were true enough that your tone got firm and decisive, making him pull back.

He only ever pushed when he knew that you needed or wanted him to, whether you were aware of it yourself or not, and that was not the case today.

“It is going to be a wonderful day, pintora,” he answered, back to his usual warm tone, kissing the top of your shoulder before stepping away to check the bread and pull it out of the oven.

“Yes, it is. I’ve decided that no matter what, today is gonna be fantastic, because it’s a new beginning, for better and worse.”

“I like this attitude,” he smiled at you, and you giddily mirrored him.

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You arrived at the shop, aptly named “Ab-Bee’s Corner”, with over thirty minutes to spare, but Abby was already there, putting the finishing touches to the décor and making sure that the display windows were clean and inviting. As before in your studio, there were trees inside the shop, and plenty of potted flowers as well, both for the warmth that they added to the feel of the space, but also for the aesthetics.

It had such an inviting atmosphere that even from the outside, it looked comforting and homely, more like a living room in the middle of a park, than a shop. Another indicator of just how skilful your best friend was, and how right you’d been to offer her this collaboration, as well as trust her to get it right, almost entirely without your involvement.

Just one of the many things that Pero loved about the relationship between you.

“Morning, guys!” she called as you came into the shop. “I’m so excited, I’ve been here since 6am! I couldn’t sleep.”

“Good morning. I slept surprisingly well, actually,” you answered with a grateful glance at your partner, and he smiled in return, knowing that you were referring to him getting up to take care of Mae whenever she’d stirred in the night.

He never minded getting up to tend to her, because he was still so baffled that she was even real and that he got to have her and care for her, so he was never going to complain about what little discomforts he might have to endure for the sake of her wellbeing. Or yours, for that matter. His love for the little girl was every bit as empowering as it was frightening, and his love for you only grew deeper every day that he got to share with you.

“Aw, you’re so good to my best girl, Pero. To think that I ever thought you might wanna drag her into the woods and bury her,” Abby observed, having noticed the look between the two of you.

He knew that she was saying it as a joke, but he also knew that she really had feared that something like that might happen, back in the beginning. Which, at the time, had been a perfectly reasonable fear.

“You have good instincts, Abby. You were right to trust them, you were just also unaware of how enchanted I already was with your girl,” he offered, and she chuckled at that.

“Good thing, too, or there would’ve been no one around to save us from asshole-Pete,” she grumbled, unable to say his name without having to fight the urge to spit on it. “And I know that an argument could be made that he might not have come after us like that if you hadn’t shown up, but really… Assholes are assholes. He would’ve done something eventually, no matter what.”

Neither you nor your bestie were aware of what Pero had found in his apartment, because he had never seen any point in telling you that your naked body had been on display above the sicko’s bed. It wouldn’t help you to know that, if anything, it might just make you feel uncomfortable about moving around your house in whatever attire (or lack thereof) that you might want to.

You should be able to feel free to strut around naked in your own home, without constantly wondering if you might be the target of an unseen camera lens. And whether Pete was still around or not, there was no telling what tricks your mind might come up with if you learned about that. You might not react much at all, but it was also possible that you’d lose that comfort completely, so your partner had made the decision that this was information that you simply had no use or need for.

“Okay, how about we don’t ruin everyone’s good mood with a conversation about spineless and disgusting waste-products?” you chimed in after having parked a sleeping Mae in her stroller by the register.

“We talking about Prescott?” Dean replied, coming into the store from the spacious storage room in the back.

“Not anymore,” you happily said while dancing over to him to give him a giant hug. “Hi, dad. Thank you for being here with us today.”

“Hey, now, Bumble, you know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” he warmly assured you while he held you close for a long moment. “A brought enough cookies to feed half the town.”

“Oh, you have high hopes, I hear,” you said as you pulled back with a grin.

“Of course. This place is wonderful, and I know that people are gonna see that. Don’t you worry, sweetheart, you’ll be drowning in orders soon enough, mark my words.”

“Speaking of which, we are ten minutes away from officially opening,” Abby reminded you all. “So, let’s just do one final check that all the machines and gadgets are working and that we have all the materials in place.”

Pero kept to the side as the rest of you got busy, with the pretence of keeping an eye on Mae, but in truth, he just wanted to look at you. Because you were probably completely unaware of it yourself, but that morning, it was the old you that he was seeing. The artist. The creator who loved nothing more than to see people’s eyes light up when you showed them the physical representations of their dreams. You’d taken such pride in being able to do that for others, and he just hoped that this would give you the chance to earn that pride once more.

“Alright, Beebs. You do the honours,” Abby nodded at you with a wide grin when her watch turned 09:00.

Literally skipping with excitement, you walked to the front door and flipped the “Closed” sign to “Open”, and just like that, the shop was officially open for business. Neither you nor Abby expected any customers to come dropping in until around lunchtime, since it was a normal Monday, and thus, a workday for most people. However, you had all completely underestimated the tour de force that was your father on a mission.

It took less than fifteen minutes before the first customer walked in, and behind him was ten others, all of them military men and clearly familiar with Dean.

“Welcome, boys! Come on over here, let me introduce you to my sweet Honeybee, her partner in life, Pero, and her partner in everything else, Abby,” your dad rattled off as he pointed to each of you.

The men politely nodded and since there were a bit too many of them for everyone to introduce themselves in return, just one of them stepped forward and shook your hand.

“Pleasure, miss, my name is Harper. Your father and my unit have collaborated on a few operations over the years.”

“Ah, I see. Let me guess, he called you with some BS excuse for a conversation and ended up happening to mention that his beloved only daughter was in need of assistance, not really giving you the option to say no, and suggesting that you bring as much company as you could rally?” you speculated, crossing your arms and politely smiling at the men, all of whom looked increasingly embarrassed by the second.

Harper just stared at you while you spoke, and when you fell silent with raised brows, challenging him to tell you that you were wrong, he huffed a bemused little chuckle and turned his gaze to Dean, standing right next to you by then.

“Yeah, this one’s definitely your offspring, sir.”

You smiled triumphantly while your father just laughed, entirely unbothered by being caught rigging the game, probably because it didn’t matter much to him how your shop received attention, only that it did. He knew that even if people came there just to be polite or as a favour to him, they’d still help to spread the word and put your little business on the map, and that was good enough for him.

“Okay, well, thank you for coming and being our first visitors!” you chirped, clearly happy just to have someone to entertain. “Feel free to have a look around, each station has its own function and creative purpose, allowing us to make a variety of custom items, from embroidered caps or clothes, to specialized flower arrangements, gift cards, photographic prints on canvases and so on.”

The men slowly began to move around the shop, familiarizing themselves with everything on offer, and in just a few minutes, you and Abby got your first orders. One of the stations offered customers tailormade leather jackets, something that Abby had apparently casually learned how to do from an elderly gentleman that she’d been a caregiver to some years back. He’d still been working then, even at over eighty years old, and had happily shared his craft with her.

The officers loved the idea of their own “unit-jackets”, so they all ordered the same thing: bomber style winter jackets in medium-dark brown with white wool lining. All with their respective names embroidered on the right-hand side chest, and other little details that they just liked. And considering that this was one of the pricier things on offer, just this order alone was enough to pay a full weeks-worth of salary for the two of you.

Since Pero was standing close to the register, he could watch up close just how happy you were to get to be of use again, to get to work and feel like you were contributing to something, even if all you’d thus far done was taken a few orders and been nice to customers.

“You are glowing, pintora,” he hummed at you when you came to cuddle with Mae once the men had left, too full of positive energy to just stand around and wait for someone else to walk in.

“I love this!” you excitedly chimed, while twirling slowly in circles as you tried to make your daughter laugh. “I feel like I’ve suddenly woken up from hibernation, or something.”

But that was as much as you had time for, because then the next customers walked in, and you quickly handed Mae to him before you headed back towards the door, grinning from ear to ear. And that was just the beginning. Throughout the entire day, people came and went, most of whom were familiar to you, but some were complete strangers, as even out-of-towners had found their way there.

Both you and Abby had your work cut out for you, roping in Dean to entertain customers when you couldn’t tend to them fast enough, and even Pero found himself approaching a few of them, trying to keep them in the shop so that they wouldn’t give up and leave just because the owners were busy. And to that end, Mae was like pure gold. She enchanted everyone, and endeared her father to their eyes, despite his lacking social skills.

All of which meant that by the time you closed for the day, nearly two hours later than intended, you’d already earned enough to keep the place running for another six months. But you were also dead on your feet, all of you. So, you helped each other clean up and prepare for the next day, and then locked up, said goodnight and headed to your respective homes, too exhausted to even talk about the day.

Once home, you showered while Pero made dinner and then forced you to eat before collapsing in bed, fast asleep even as your head hit the pillow. He smiled adoringly at you, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching you sleep for a few minutes, loving how relaxed and joyful you still looked, even while unconscious. It had been a fantastic day, in every way it could’ve been, and he was so happy for you.

But he wasn’t quite as harmonious as you in that moment. His mind was still partly focused on the cell, buried half a mile from Dean’s house, where Will was fighting his demons, every second of every day. It had become so obvious during that lunch the previous week. How far he still had to go, and how much he would be struggling for a long time to come. Perhaps forever.

You’d invited him into the house without pause, without so much as explaining yourself to your baffled father, instead just pulling out a chair and all but ordering your guest to take a seat. And he’d obeyed without question. He’d sat there, unwilling to participate in the conversation that you’d effortlessly kept flowing, covering a dozen different topics, but absorbing the positive atmosphere and the welcoming attitude of everyone present, whether he’d wanted to or not.

It had been a strangely cathartic moment, for all of you. But it hadn’t ended the way you’d intended or hoped. Will hadn’t done anything bad, but when Pero had escorted him back outside and into the woods, the conversation that had taken place had been so disheartening that he hadn’t even been able to share it with you yet. Not when you were so happy.

“She’s pretty damned amazing,” Will had started, almost mumbling for fear that the words wouldn’t be welcome.

But Pero had merely huffed bemusedly.

“Ay, hermano. You do not know the half of it.”

“No, you’re right. I can see that in her. The bare minimum that she lets me see, hiding away everything else to keep from overwhelming me. And even that’s impressive.”

“And still, you did not speak to her today. Not one word. Why?” the Spaniard had asked with genuine curiosity.

“You really have to ask me that?” his brother had returned, truly perplexed. “Come on, man. She’s like this… unshakeable force of nature, or something. And I’m just… a broken record, so full of scratches that I won’t even play anymore.”

“Is that what you think she sees when she looks at you?” Pero had countered after a moment, saddened by the man’s lack of pride or hope for himself, but still determined to prove him wrong.

“I know that she doesn’t, but that’s ju-…”

“Don’t even try to suggest that she only sees what she wants to see,” the Spaniard had cut him off. “She is not nearly that naïve, and you know damned well that she was the only one that could get to you, specifically because she sees the real you. Just because you no longer wish to see that person, doesn’t mean that he is not there.”

“You’re missing the point, Tovar,” Will had grumbled, and then sighed deeply. “What I mean is that it doesn’t matter how she, or anyone, sees me, I will never heal. Not the way you both want me to. I’m never gonna get to the point where I can sit among you and feel like I belong.”

He’d paused and then stopped walking too, turning to face Pero before he’d continued.

“Not too long ago, Bee sat before me and reminded me that what she was offering was a family, and that I should at least give it a chance before throwing it away. Well, I have, and do you know what I’ve seen?” he’d challenged, and then continued without waiting for a reply. “The closest thing to perfect that might ever have existed. So, tell me, brother… where do I fit into that?”

He hadn’t been able to come up with an answer to that. At least, not one that would’ve added anything useful to the conversation, so they’d walked the rest of the way in silence. Will hadn’t made any attempt to avoid going back into the bunker or his cell, although Pero hadn’t seen any reason to chain him up anymore. And when he’d left, he’d taken a detour back to the house, needing to think.

He’d known that you would ask if anything had happened on the walk, and while he hadn’t wanted to lie, he’d also felt certain that the truth would’ve settled like salt in an open wound for you, after all the effort and care you’d put into getting the poor man this far. So, he’d decided to delay telling you. Not for long, he hated keeping things from you and he knew that you’d be able to tell eventually anyway. He just wanted you to have this wonderful new chapter of your life well underway first, so that you’d have other things to focus on and distract yourself with. Then he’d tell you.

-=¤=-

The following morning, you woke up rested and practically chirping, waking Pero with hot kisses to his lips, cheeks, nose and forehead, until he finally started laughing at the ridiculous smacking sounds you deliberately made with each one. He hadn’t slept much at all, between worrying about Will and tending to Mae’s little moments of unsettlement, so he was reluctant to respond at first, which only succeeded in making you double your efforts.

“Good morning, my love. How’d you sleep?” you purred once he’d started chortling, resting your open hands over his heart and then putting your head down on top of them.

“Uh… not that well, actually,” he admitted, knowing it would surprise you but unwilling to lie about even something that trivial, since he was already keeping shit from you.

“Really? Why? I didn’t hear Mae-Mae once all night,” you pondered, losing some of your positive energy along the way.

“She was probably a little over-tired. She didn’t cry or even wake, really, but she was unsettled, moving and fidgeting a lot,” he explained, all of which was true. “It went away if I held her for a bit, so I stayed there until it got better.”

“Oh. You could’ve woken me if you were this tired, you know. I don’t mind, it’s just as much my responsibility.”

“I know that, preciosa. But I… have a lot on my mind. I would probably not have slept either way.”

That made you lift your head up, while a worried crease appeared between your brows, so before your happy energy had a chance to evaporate, he set about explaining the other thing that he’d been thinking about for a few days. Or rather, the two things.

“It’s nothing bad, quite the opposite, actually,” he smiled at you while turning on his side so that you were facing each other, and your energy quickly turned positive again.

“Okay, I’m listening.”

He grinned at your almost childlike joy, making you squirmy and giggly like an infatuated teenager, which was utterly adorable.

“When I watched you in the shop, that first visit, my mind became irrevocably certain about two things concerning our future that I wish to tell you about,” he started, and you were suddenly so tense with anticipation that you couldn’t move, so he had to tease you a little bit by making you wait.

“Well? What two things?” you demanded when he didn’t immediately continue, just like he knew you would.

You’d never had much patience with good news, you were too drawn to and positively affected by them. He grinned boyishly at your enthusiasm, making you wait another few seconds. Then…

“Firstly, I wish to tell you that I’d like to have another baby.”

You didn’t need to say anything in response to that, because your body language was abruptly screaming at him, beaming with maternal pride and practically oozing with lust. He had to wrap both his arms and legs around you to keep you from virtually attacking him, but you were both laughing at your sudden lack of control of yourself.

“Wait, I have not told you the second thing yet,” he lovingly admonished you while you tried to squirm free so that you could take control and satisfy your burning craving.

“No need, I know what it is,” you hummed against his neck, while scraping your teeth along his pulse-point, sending a flurry of heat to his groin.

“You think so, hm?” he growled back while freeing your arms so that you could move as you pleased.

You nodded then, meeting his eyes for one serious moment among the haze of arousal.

“Now,” was all you said, but he knew exactly what you were referring to.

“Will you marry me, pintora?” he asked with a soft heat churning in his chest, already knowing your answer, but also because he finally got to say those words without the joke.

You smiled with a sparkle in your eyes that he had never seen before, mouthing “yes” because it was all you could do as your voice disappeared into the atmosphere around you. The star which he perpetually fell for, now shining so strongly that nothing else was visible. Because that was how powerful your love was, and he never stopped being truly amazed that he had been the one to have gotten snared into your orbit.

You still wore the necklace every single day, and now you would wear a ring too. One that he had also made himself, and not at all as recently as you might think. Because for all the times that you’d joked about it, Pero had always known that he’d ask you for real. You were his everything, and from the moment you’d allowed him into your life, there had never been a future without you.

The ring was hidden away at your father’s place, though, so he couldn’t give it to you just yet. But there was no rush. For the first time in your entire tumultuous relationship, everything was calm and good and nothing terrible was looming over you anymore. Not the Falcons or Lang, not your work or your family, not even William, because that would work out in time.

So, he kissed you, made love to you while showering you with affection, both in words and touches, safe in the knowledge that you were his and he was yours, and nothing would ever change that.

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Link to Part 30

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