Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/13972122. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Underage Category: F/M Fandom: Original_Work Relationship: Original_Female_Character/Original_Male_Character Character: Original_Characters Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced_Child_Abuse, Implied/Referenced_Rape/Non-con, Implied/ Referenced_Underage_Sex, Implied/Referenced_Incest, Parent/Child_Incest, Incest, Strangers_to_Lovers, Falling_In_Love, First_Love, Angst, Fluff, Domestic_Fluff, Underage_Sex, Extremely_Underage, Consensual_Underage Sex, Rape/Non-con_Elements, Vaginal_Fingering, Vaginal_Sex, Fondling, Grinding, Kindness, Gentle_Sex, Vanilla, Hurt/Comfort, Laughter_During Sex, Crying, Emotional_Sex, Sad_with_a_Happy_Ending, Time_Skips, Blow Jobs, Hand_Jobs, Pedophilia, Runaway, Past_Child_Abuse, Slow_Burn Stats: Published: 2018-03-16 Updated: 2018-03-25 Chapters: 2/? Words: 1405 ****** Please never fall in love again ****** by dopeaf Summary Little Henrietta runs away from home. She met a troubled 30-year-old man while hiding outside his house and he just kinda lets her in and does whatever the hell that she wants to do. Notes Love means nothing without a little hurt. See the end of the work for more notes ***** on the run ***** Tiny feet wobbly running on the road. It's nearly midnight, and the whole town is sleeping just as it should. The little figure dashes in the night, unsure of where to go. The little girl just knows that she has to run, run, run. Ahead of her, she spots a house with a garden. The lights are still on, illuminating the bushes at the fences. It's chilli tonight. She can even hears the music playing from inside the house. She supposes she has to stop at some point. "I've been running for nearly half an hour." she thought as she slid her tiny body inside one of the bushes. "Getting a little rashes sounds better than getting caught, I guess." Just as she's done settling, the music stops. =============================================================================== "Will? Hey, Will? Are you listening to me??" The woman's shrill voice snaps Will back to the video call. It's been an hour and they're getting nowhere with the discussion at hand. Will sighs before turning back to her face through the screen. "Yes, Lou, I'm here. Where were we again?" "Did you just sigh at me? Will, honestly you're such a-" She stops herself and glares at him. "You're very distracted today. Don't forget that you are the one who wants this. We could've made things better together, Will. But it's you who decided to break up. And now, while we're discussing about our papers, you're focusing on something else!" Lou frantically brings her hands above her head to prove her frustration. If Will has to admit, Lou is the most annoying woman he has ever met, and it's not because they're currently dealing with a divorce right now. It's just who she is. Will's not sure why he married her in the first place. Probably because she got pregnant with their son, and possibly just that.  "Look, I've been at work until 7 today. I'm not sure about you but I'm kinda tired right now. Besides, I thought I saw something in the garden." He glances outside the window again, not pleasantly looking in Lou's eyes, which are rolling in annoyance. "Probably just a racoon or something."  "Well, that could be a problem, then. Last time a racoon visited this house, it made a mess on the porch." He squints. There's actually something moving in the bush. "What are you gonna do about it? You never care about any mess you left behind, Will!" She huffs and lights a cigarette in her mouth. "Lou, please, not now. I think we're both tired. Maybe you should go to bed. I know I really want to do that now." There's something in his garden, Will's totally sure about it. "I know that tone, Will. You're ignoring me!" Honestly, Lou doesn't have the prettiest voice. It gives Will headaches. He tries not to sigh, instead, he stands up and looks at her. "Goodnight, Lou. Tell Henry I love him and I hope he has a good sleep." The woman rolls her eyes again. "He's twelve now. You're supposed to be there for him anytime." Will frowns at that. "I know." is all he could say when he disconnects the call. Another sound comes out from the bush. "Alright, that's it!" Will stormed off to the stereo to turn off the faint music.  He steps out of the house. The air's cold tonight. Will makes a bee line to the bush, ready to shoo the animal away. It's not a racoon. It's not even an animal. Will freezes.  Inside the bush, a little girl sat, eyes widen in fear. He's about to say something, but the girl beats him to it. "Please!...Sir!...Let me stay in your bush!" He goes boneless at the sight of those blue, blue eyes.     ***** hot cocoa, frozen tears ***** The little girl uses both of her hands to cover her shivering body while pleadingly staring at the stunned man. He's been looking at her weird. She's never stared at with such an expression before, and she doesn't know how to feel, nor care about it at the moment. She's frozen, starved and frightened. Like a hurt animal, she whimpers. Her faint whimpering snaps Will out of his mind. He doesn't know what he was thinking about that stopped him from confronting this little girl that's just broken in his garden.  (That's a lie) It's because of those blue, blue eyes- "Err...What are you doing here, kiddo?" He calmly asked instead. The girl is young. Couldn't be older than his son. The first thing that comes to his mind is that she's lost. Was she getting lost while playing hide and seek?    "I'm-I'm a good girl, sir." She stutters, blue eyes shut. She's cold, cold, co- "Let's go inside? You must be freezing. I'll help you find your parents right away." He opts to smile at her. He doesn't understand her odd answer but he does not want to scare her away. The girl studies him with wavering eyes, and she stands up, wobbly. She looks so small Will thought the wind's gonna blow her away for a moment.  So small, so vulnerable, and sad. He was unsure if he should take her hand to lead her in, or just left her to walk on her own. But she's unstable right now! In the end, he reaches for her hand anyway, and brings her inside. It's much warmer once they come in, and Will thinks the little girl appriciates that. She lets go of his hand and looks around in awe. Her blue eyes are sparkling like the sea under the sun. "Woah..." she whispers to herself but Will definitely hears it. "It's not cold anymore, right?" He fondly smiles. "How about you sit right here," he pats the dining chair, "and we'll talk about how I'm gonna bring you back to your parents!" She stares at him. Will suddenly remembers something. "Ah! Or we could just call 911, and they'll bring you home?" At the mention of 911, her eyes widen in fear. She stutters. "N-no, please sir! Not the cops! Pl-please not the cops!" She immediately drops to her knees as she speaks, hands clutching at Will's pants and looks up at him with terror in her eyes. He's in complete confusion at her response to his offers.   "Um...? Okay, calm down kiddo." He quickly crouches down to pick her up. She goes stiff in his arms. Gingerly he puts her down on the couch and sighs. "This is going to be a long night, then." The little girl quietly sobs as Will promptly walks into the kitchen, her eyes only half looking at him, then back to her thighs. When he comes back, she doesn't look up.  "Hey, kiddo." He sits down next to the sad girl and softly elbows her to make her notice him. When she finally does, he smiles, 2 cups of hot cocoa in his hands. "This stuff always cheers my son up when he's upset. Why don't you give it a try? Family recipe." He offers one for her. The little girl stares at him like he's an alien. But she shyly takes the cup anyway and pays attention to how good it smells. It's...different than what she usually had.  No, it's totally not what she had before. Scratch that, she doesn't even know what this is.  "This 's gonna make me sleep?" she asks. "Not right away, no." Will hums into his own cup and takes a sip. The girl's eyes widen at the sight.  But eventually, she gives in to the drink. It smells good. It looks clean. And she just saw Will drank it. She takes a sip. It taste like some kind of miracle.  Suddenly her eyes sting, and tears begin to form. She drinks from the cup again  Again. And again.  Until she hears Will's cough next to her, ringing like an alarm. He gave her the cup, he can take it away. It happened. It's always been like that. She holds the cup protectively into her tiny body. "I think you need to tell me a lot of things, kiddo. I won't call the cops on you if you're honest." Will says. Pauses. He looks into her big blue eyes, and asks. "Okay?" "Okay." She whispers back. "Okay, then. First things first. My name's Will. I live here. What's your name, kíddo?" "Henrietta." "Nice to meet you, Henrietta." Will smiles.  Henrietta smiles back. End Notes first fluffy story i've ever written in this series! it's gonna be sad at times though. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!