Redemption (Midas x Reader)

• XXIV •

I suddenly had an idea. It was rash, and foolhardy, and fueled by raw emotion. "I need you to do something for me...I want you to erase this scar, this constant reminder of them...I want you to make it yours."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Y/N, no. Absolutely not. If you're asking me what I think you're asking me, I...I just can't be a part of that. The pain would just be immeasurable...I couldn't bring myself to...to..."

"Please, Midas." What had started a second ago on a whim now seemed absolutely necessary. I needed to sever all ties with Shadow. This was one of the last vestiges of their influence on my life. I didn't know how I hadn't thought of this before...I needed it gone, and he could do it for me.

I began to cry again as I begged. "PLEASE...I...I can't even look in the mirror without thinking of them...without thinking of that man and what...what he used to do to me..."

I felt his body tense up at the reminder, but he was still shaking his head no, trying to pull his hand out of my grasp. He was looking downward, and I could see the angst he felt at wanting to help me forget, and help me move on, but knowing that if he did he would be hurting me badly, on purpose, and I knew he believed he might be crossing a line that he couldn't come back from.

I also knew it was unfair to ask him, in one breath telling him how I trusted him to never hurt me, and in the next asking him to do it. I almost wanted to test him, out of a kind of morbid curiosity to see what he was capable of. I wanted badly to believe that there was a limit to how far he would go.

Also, it was my body, and my decision. This was something I could control. This was how I could finally take back my power from Shadow, but I needed him in order to do it.

"I said I trust you! Why do you not trust yourself?!?! What are you so SCARED of?!?!"

I didn't get it. What end result could possibly be SO bad that he'd deny himself his own wants, his own desires. What was so scary that he was too frightened to even touch me. By denying himself he was denying me. First I was denied his body, and now I was denied this, all because he assumed what I could and couldn't handle.

"You...you don't understand...please...I'm having more and more trouble controlling it..." he muttered, still unable to meet my eyes.

"Goddammit, LOOK at me!!!" I yelled in frustration, while simultaneously grabbing his hair with my free hand and using it to slam his head backwards into the headrest, chin tilted towards the roof.

His whole body jerked in surprise as a strangled grunt escaped him, and his eyes flew open as he stared at me down the bridge of his nose. He was struggling, trying to repress his reaction, body tense as he took in one slow shaky breath after another.

I wanted to taunt him, to drive him to the point where he'd be willing to give me what I wanted. I needed him to realize that he could touch me, that he could take me, without this irrational fear that he would forever be changed.

I kept my grip on his hair as I used my other hand that was holding his to slide it downward, under my dress, pressing it into my naked breast.

"You can't control WHAT, Midas?!?! SHOW me. MAKE me understand," I pleaded, the urgency of my want for him apparent in my voice. "I need you to...to CLAIM me."

"Y/N..."

It was only one word. One word, but combined with the glint in his eye carried more warning than anything else I'd heard tonight. I didn't care.