burnout ((yandere x reader))

XXVI- going solo

One month.

That was how long it had been since Ollie died, Aaron and Riley left and Cass skipped town.

(Y/n) was doing surprisingly well. The odd headache couldn't be prevented. But she'd had no more run ins, and thus no more memories... If they were even memories.

She'd been keeping herself fully occupied with work, taking up much later shifts at the diner. She was finding it increasingly difficult to sleep with all her thoughts culminating in the night. The only way she'd catch a wink was if she worked and worked until she was in the brink of blacking out and by the time she got home her mind was too exhausted to get filled with panicking thoughts.

Not much progress had been made on the front of finding her. Ollie turned out to be a dead end and Lawrence seemed to have it in his head that it must have been someone else who had taken her captive. Every time one of the others would even barely hint at the fact of the likely possibility that (Y/n) had run away he would throw a fit.

Apart from Lawrence, the main theory was that (Y/n) was living alone somewhere, probably as a recluse. But where? They had no idea.

More often than not, Rio allowed the others to do work concerning finding her while he mostly focused on what he was going to say when they did. It was going to be risky- her having no idea who they are but knowing fully well of him but having some memories that don't quite add up for the others. Part of him wished that she regained all her memories so there was at least the same amount of animosity between them.

It was one of those evenings when the anxiety of what may happen if he was found out became too much for Rio. He'd been in a group conversation over their late dinner for quite some time and still had no idea what they were talking about, it was something to do with (Y/n)- that was for certain.

"I'm gonna go out for the night." Rio announced out of the blue, cutting in half way through Carlisle's sentance.

"...what? Why?" Three pairs of confused and disapproving eyes feel on Rio as Danny spoke.

"I need some fresh air. I'll be back later." Rio ran his hand through his hair. What he needed was some time with himself to actually think of some way to save his life. He'd talked his way out of situations before but this was a whole other level.

"Fine. Whatever." Lawrence honestly couldn't give less of a shit.

Rio looked out of the window and checked the weather and opted for a warm winter jacket. The nights were getting colder and colder.

"You doing overtime?" Taylor asked as he hung up his apron to turn in for the day.

"Yeah, I'm here until two." (Y/n) replied with a smile.

"God, you can stand four more hours of this place?" He exclaimed, collecting his stuff together.

"Well, it's much more quiet at this time anyway. Sometimes no one even comes in so it makes my job pretty easy." (Y/n) said with sight annoyance, the whole reason she stayed to work was to tire herself out. "I normally just go around and clean stuff."

"Fair enough." Taylor shrugged. "See you in the morning."

"See you- wait- aren't you at school in the morning?" The pair walked out of the employee only area where they kept their stuff and into the dining room of the restaurant, it was empty at that time.

"It's Saturday tomorrow." Taylor laughed.

"Jesus, really?" (Y/n) was working everyday so she wasn't really keeping track of dates. It was more the shock of yet another week passing.

"You need to get a calendar or something." He nudged her lightly. "I'm off. Bye!"

"Bye." (Y/n) called out as he left.

'Back to work.' She thought as the short lived emptiness of the diner was promptly thwarted by the entrance of some stoned teenagers.

Rio rubbed his hands together to warm them, regretting leaving his gloves at home. He wondered if (Y/n) was caught out in a similar frost and needed him to warm her delicate hands.

Or maybe she was inside curled up by a fire, just like what they used to do whenever there was a storm. Rio would hold her close to him and they wouldn't even need to talk, just feeling each other's warmth, heartbeat and breathing against them. Maybe she was trying to replicate that with one vital part missing: him.

'God, I'm turning into Lawrence. She left for a reason.' He knew he had to stop imagining (Y/n) as this sweet and innocent angel who could do no wrong, she was crafty and could be cruel when she wanted to be. He couldn't hold on to the expectation that she was going to throw herself into his arms the second she saw him when in actual fact, a more on brand reaction would be for her to run for the hills.

He needed to keep a guard up and match her cruelty. If she was going to run: he was going to catch her, no mercy and no apologies.

Of course, this didn't mean that she couldn't be a 'sweet and innocent angel' from time to time, he'd seen that side of her. But whether she was cruel or sweet, clever or naïve, sinful or innocent, he loved her all the same.

As he kept waking, Rio was beginning to regret neglecting dinner. He checked his phone to see it was just passing midnight, the amount of decent places that would be open at this time were slim. He looked up what the nearest open restaurants were in his area and saw a all-day-all-night diner that was nearby. Only a block away, in fact.

'It'll have to do.'

He easily found it as he kept waking. It was the only place with the light still on after all.

Rio was surprised to see that there were actually other people in there, though they seemed a bit... far gone.

The smell of grease was evident as he walked in a settled himself down in a booth. It seemed to be a trademark of cheap places like this to have at least one menu with a baby's vomit stain on it and it seemed like that menu was the one resting on Rio's table.

'This place needs some serious TLC...' He thought as he looked around.

(Y/n)'s heart picked up when Rio entered her vision. She couldn't believe he was actually there and for a moment thought she was hallucinating.

(Y/n) was gazing out from the kitchen, putting the orders of the other table onto a tray. She was the only server working at the time so she'd have to serve him. She dashed out of the kitchen and gave the teens their food and then approached the booth Rio was in from behind.

A smile was painted across her lips as she quietly approached him. She could finally see him and talk to him again. With Jonah gone, they could have a normal relationship. They could talk things through and be together again and this time (Y/n) could also work and they could go on dates together and go shopping and-

(Y/n)'s heart was fluttering at the mere thought.

By now she was close behind him, she tentatively tapped on his shoulder.

"Boo."