Stand By Me One Shots/Imagines + Preferences (The Cobras x reader)

Girls (Ace's sister)

"Ace? I need your help," you said, lingering in your brother's doorway.

He looked up from the book he was reading.

"Who do I have to beat up?"

You stepped further into his room, sitting down beside him.

"No one. It's nothing like that."

Your brother looked surprised.

"What is it then?"

"Well... I need some advice. 'bout.. erm, you know..."

Ace sat up straighter and put away his book.
He found your behavior strange to say the least, as you never usually beat around the bush like this when asking him for help with something.

"Please tell me you don't need advice about boys," he made a guess about what the issue was, "because if there is a boy I will have to beat him up."

"No, no. No boys," you quickly assured your overprotective brother. "Actually it's... uh..." You trailed off again.

You trusted him and didn't believe he would take issue with what you had to tell him, but still...

"Promise you won't get mad?"

This demand only increased his suspicions. He squinted at you, trying to figure out what your deal was, but your face betrayed nothing.

"Why would I get mad?" he finally asked.

"Just promise!"

Ace sighed.

"Fine, I promise. I won't get mad. Unless you did something extremely stupid and want me to get you out of trouble now."

"Okay, so... You have to teach me how to talk to girls."

Ace blinked a few times, trying to understand what you were talking about.

"You've talked to girls before, Y/N. And being a girl yourself I think you'd know how to talk to them better than me."

You shook your head and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I don't mean talking to girls in general, I mean like... Like you do. Flirt with them."

Now you'd managed to completely confuse your brother. Why on earth would his little babysister need to know how to flirt with girls? Unless...

Before Ace could ask you confirmed his suspicion.

"There's this girl and I, well, I kinda like her, y'know?"

When you saw the frown on his face you were quick to remind him of his promise.

"Ace, you said you won't get mad. Please!"

"I'm not mad princess." He gave you a quick peck on the forehead to reassure you of the truth in his words. "Listen, I don't give a fuck if you like girls or boys, okay? But it don't change the fact that you're way too young for that shit. Chicks can break your heart just as much as guys and I ain't about to let that happen to you. Whoever that girl is, you're gonna stay away from her."

You were on an emotional rollercoaster. The anxiety you had felt about telling Ace, relief he was okay with you liking girls, then disappointment which turned to anger, causing you to jump up from the bed.

"Oh come on! I'm old enough to go on dates! I'm not a little kid anymore, Ace, so stop treating me like one!"

You stomped your foot, unaware of how your childish reaction contradicted your words.

Ace knew it would be useless to point it out, so he tried to reason with you instead.

"I know you're not, but–"

"No 'but'!" you yelled.

Ace continued, completely unaffected by your outburst.

"–but you're still my little sister and I don't want you to get hurt. Relationships are nothing but trouble. That girl might seem great now, but once you get close to her it'll probably turn out she's not worth it. If you even manage get close to her. Chances are she doesn't even like girls and will only break your heart, so please just listen to me and spare yourself that pain."

"I know the odds are against me, okay?! I'm not an idiot, Ace! But–" Tears were welling up in your eyes, and you struggled to hold them back. "–but I won't know for sure unless I actually try hitting on her. And it's always gonna be like that, isn't it? Even if I wait till I'm older, find a different girl, it's always gonna be a problem."

Ace realized how unfortunate his choice of words had been. You were already insecure, and he had just made it worse without even meaning to.

"Hey, hey, don't cry now. It's not a problem, you hear me? I didn't mean to make you think that." Ace carefully approached you, and when you didn't lash out or back away he wrapped you in his arms. "I'm just– Shit, I'm just trying to look out for you, Princess. I can't help it, even though I know I can't protect you from everything. I know you're not a little kid anymore, and I can't stop you from going on dates. You have to go out and learn for yourself and you're bound to get your heart broken someday, I get it. I just hate the idea of you getting hurt."

You understood that what Ace was trying to say was that he would lock you in a golden cage if he could so you'd never ever have to experience that hurt, because to him you would always be his precious little baby sister that needed to be protected at all costs.
You were thankful for the way he was always there for you, but desperately wished he wasn't quite as overprotective as he was. Even if it was hard for him, he had to let you grow up.

"I really really like her, Ace," you spoke against your brother's chest, while his hands rubbed soothing circles on your back to stop you from crying. "And I'm gonna talk to her and get to know her better, wether you like it or not. If it looks like she likes me too I'll ask her out. And if she ends up breaking my heart I'll come crying to you and you can say I told you so."

Ace sighed.

"Alright you little pighead. I'm not gonna stop you."

You wriggled out of his hug to look up at him.

"And are you gonna help me talk to her? Please!"

"I don't know if can be much help. You can't just openly flirt with her like I would, you gotta be more subtle."

You opened your mouth to speak but Ace didn't let you.

"You have to be careful, okay? You know there's a lot of people that wouldn't be okay with you being into girls, and I don't want them to hurt you."

There it was again. Talk about overprotective. You were almost inclined to think that you getting hurt was your brothers worst fear. But you knew that in this case he had a point, so you nodded.

"I know, Ace. I'll be careful. Promise."