I HATE WATTPAD SOMETIMES GOD IT JUST DELETED SOME OF MY PARTS LIKE THE ENDING AND MY AUTHOR'S NOTE I FIXED THE ENDING BUT LET ME FIX THIS SHIT TOO- anyways~ hewwo guys!!! sorry this took so long i've been really busy and lowkey stressed with school starting (and covid at my school LOL) but i'll try and release the next chpts faster <3 also thank you so much for getting me to 36k!!! that's incredible i literally cannot believe how far this book has come and it only makes me want to get it further!!! really thank you so much, i know it's not much but i've never had this much success with a book before <3 anyways please enjoy this chpt it was lowkey hard to write but i think i finally got a good concept for it hehe it's also long so happy reading <3 *also please stay safe and healthy guys ilysm 🥺💕*

"Hey Garou," I called out, his phone in one of my hands and some broken plastic in the other. He peeked his head from out of the bedroom, tugging on his shirt as he walked toward me. It was a simple tee shirt rather than his usual black martial arts shirt; I had ended up buying him the shirt on a whim as I thought that the design would look nice on him and, surprisingly enough, he wore it quite often. "Yeah, what's up, Y/n?"

"Is this the phone charm I got you?" I opened my closed palm to reveal the shattered plastic toy and the snapped string that used to attach it to the device. Garou's face paled a bit when he saw the object as I glanced down at the ground, biting my lip softly. "If you didn't like it, then you didn't have to use it-"

"The string snapped when I was walking and I accidentally stepped on it," Garou interrupted me, hastily taking the pieces from my hand and shoving it into his pocket. "I didn't want you to be upset so I didn't tell you," He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning a soft pink hue. It was such an uncharacteristically bashful look from him, but I found it to be absolutely adorable. I playfully punched his chest, probably blushing myself. "I wouldn't have been upset, you big dummy."

"I-I was just trying to be nice!" Garou pushed my head down teasingly, both of us laughing in harmony. "How's your shoulder feeling, by the way?" It had been a few weeks since we had been attacked and I assumed that it was healed by now, but I couldn't help but worry. Garou rolled his eyes, holding his shoulder and rotating his arm a bit, as if to stretch it. "Ever since you did your healing on it, it's been fine. I'm more worried about your arm," He gingerly touched the bandages that were still wrapped around my bicep.

The catch with my powers was that I could heal anyone but myself; any wound inflicted upon me would simply heal at the same speed as any other human. I shrugged with a grin. "It's fine. Really, it is." I tapped the end of his nose with a wink. "Especially since I have Dr. Garou to tend to it for me~" He pushed me away again, his lips pulling into a wide smile. "Yeah, remind me to never worry about you ever again."

"Aww, c'mon, I know that you can't resist!" I latched onto his arm as he tried to walk away, leaning my head against him with I cooed. Garou huffed out of exasperation, still trying to move forward. I was no match for his strength so he ended up just dragging me into the kitchen as I tried to cuddle him. "Let's go shopping today," I had finally let go of him to let him pour himself a cup of coffee. After he did so, I held out my hands expectantly with an innocent smile. Garou didn't miss a beat and handed me a filled cup, only to then point to the fridge. I opened it and grabbed the coffee creamer, pouring some in mine and then in his. This was standard morning routine when I wasn't working.

Garou took a sip of his coffee and let out a content sigh before looking at me again as I stirred mine. "Shopping? But we're basically broke and you know that."

"We're not broke!" I protested, setting the spoon down in the sink before taking a sip of my own. "Yeah, that's why I said basically broke and not just broke." I glared at Garou who looked like he found himself to be quite amusing. "Haha, very funny." My voice was flat with annoyance as I brought my shoulders in defensively, drinking some more coffee. "Why?" Garou's question made me look up from my cup again. "Is there something that you wanted?"

"I mean, no not really..." That was a big fat lie and I knew it. And from the way Garou quirked an eyebrow, he knew it too. He chuckled lowly, setting his cup down on the counter before coming up to me, his hands snaking around my waist. I turned my head away stubbornly, setting my cup down too, trying to shrink away from him as he set his head on my shoulder. "C'mon, spit it out~"

"No."

"Y/n~"

"No."

There was a pause between us when Garou finally just sighed, his lips against my ear. "What do you want? Am I not enough for you?" I blushed furiously at his words, feeling a little guilty for acting like such a brat. "I-It's not that, it's just..."

"Go on."

"I just wanted to spend some time with you... Like go on a date together. I feel like we haven't done that in a while..." I muttered out shyly, finally having given into his touch and words. I had my face buried in his shoulder, the sensation of his warmth seeping through the thin fabric. His body tensed a bit at my words; I glanced up to see that his ears had turned bright red as he held me a bit tighter. "You know, you could just say these things in a way that wouldn't give me a heart attack." Garou lightly teased, trying to mask how flustered he actually was.

"I have no idea what you're talking about~" I hadn't intentionally said it in such a way, but the fact that I was able to make him flustered did make me feel a bit prideful. He sighed through his wide grin and lightly hit the top of my head with his fist. "Well we better ready if you wanna go. It's only gonna get more crowded as the day goes on." He leaned back against the counter, picking up his coffee cup and taking a sip.

I jumped up in excitement, bouncing around the kitchen with a bright smile. "We can get you a new phone charm! And look for clothes! And-"

"Remember, we're still basically broke. So unless you have hidden money, I don't know how you plan to pay for all of that." Garou called out, making me halt in my tracks. I glared at him from across the room, sticking my tongue out at him. "Well considering that I'm the only one here with a job, I really don't wanna hear that from you." His face paled a bit, averting his eyes and instead taking another long drink of his coffee. "I mean I always take what I can, but usually heroes don't carry cash on them."

"GAROU!"

********************************************

We both got ready and by the time we were heading out the door, it was just past noon. "Let's grab lunch somewhere since we're already gonna be out! Or maybe we should just grab stuff from the vendor stalls? Either sounds good, doesn't it?" Garou added with bright eyes as we walked toward the shopping district. I swear I could see a bit of drool trying to escape his mouth at simply the thought of food. His expression reminded me of an excited puppy begging for table scraps, which only made me giggle. "Cute..." I thought to myself as he rambled on. I couldn't help but remember the first time I saw such a face; it felt like eons ago when he first came to my apartment, even if had only been a couple months.

I couldn't imagine how different my life would be without him.

"What do you think?!" Garou turned to look at me, his eyes still sparkling. I snapped out of my rose colored daydream, not really sure of what all he had said. "Um, whatever you wanna do is cool with me." He narrowed his eyes a bit, clearly skeptical of my words. "Really? Usually you always have something annoying to say about what I wanna do~" Garou grinned mischievously, gently flicking my forehead. I winced, rubbing the spot indignantly. "I do not! And here I was thinking that you looked so cute too..." I mumbled the last part, but my boyfriend didn't let it slip. "Huh?" He leaned in a bit closer to me, his smile growing wider. "What was that?"

"Nothing!" I stuck my tongue out at him before puffing out my cheeks and resorting to simply pouting as we walked around the shopping district which was, thankfully, not that crowded since most people were at work. Garou just chuckled, his broad shoulders shaking slightly as we kept exploring the area. Numerous amounts of stalls and shops were open for business, colorful products making my eyes whiz from one side of the street to the other. Food vendors cooked and advertised at the same time, each dish providing off a unique scent that melded together to create a tantalizing aroma that made my mouth water.

Garou must have noticed my longing look as I sniffed the air. "Looks like someone is just as hungry as me~" He teased, bumping against me with impish glee. I blushed a little bit in spite of myself, refusing to give him a real answer. He paid my attitude no mind and instead dragged my by the hand to a small restaurant window, both of us getting into a short line as a teenager took orders. "I've always wanted to try these," He announced to no one in particular, more like it was a passing thought that had escaped his mind.

I glanced at the vendor's menu; the place was for those infamous cheesy Korean corn dogs. In the menu pictures, each one was as different as they were extravagant. Some had potatoes and sugar coating the outside while others were more focused on the ginormous sausage that oozed cheese from the inside. "Just one of these could give someone a heart attack..." I whispered jokingly to Garou as we moved up in line. He chuckled, glancing at the pictures with a raised brow. "You're not wrong... But won't that mean it's gonna taste amazing?"

This time I laughed, catching a glimpse of one of the corn dogs in real life as a customer walked by. He bit firmly into the huge item, steam and cheese and sausage all gushing out. I had to admit; it looked delicious.

Finally, it came our turn to order. I decided to go simple, picking out their signature one that focused mainly on the copious amounts of cheese inside rather than anything else. Garou, on the other hand, decided that he wanted to try the one with the potatoes and sugar on the outside to go along with his cheesy sausage. I handed over some cash from my wallet to cover the food and tip; within a few minutes, our monsters were waiting for us in cute little paper boats.

When I went to pick mine up the first thing that hit me was the weight; this thing was dense. I was almost positive that this could qualify as a weapon all its own. Not to mention that it was huge. The two of us found a bench to sit at before we started eating. I picked the monster up by the stick, half expecting the wooden piece to snap in half, and examined the beast. "How... How am I even supposed to eat this?!" I turned to Garou with hopeless confusion, my expression not too different from that of a child who couldn't quite figure out how to tie their shoes. Garou glanced at his, turning it to look at it from different angles before simply diving in to take a massive bite from it.

The crust on the outside gave way to his teeth, creating a perfect sounding crunch as the batter, potatoes, and sugar broke apart. Little sugar crystals fell from his lips like snow, dusting his lips, chin, and hands. As Garou pulled away, bright orange and yellow cheese oozed out, creating a long string that connected his mouth to the corn dog still. I giggled at his struggle as he tried to pull away again and again, only for the cheese to stretch further. Finally, he wrapped the cheese around the corn dog and pulled once more, forcing the stringy leash to break. Garou chewed his bite; the crust was still so crunchy, I could hear every crack as it broke under the pressure of his jaw. After he swallowed, he turned to me with a self satisfied smirk. "Like that, duh."

I huffed before taking another look at my own corn dog. I brought my lips to the surface of the the crust, it's warmth making my mouth tingle, almost warning me that whatever was inside was going to be dangerously hot. I opened my mouth as wide as I could, trying to take a big like Garou did. However, I couldn't quite fit the whole thing in my mouth and I had to retreat, looking at it in annoyance as I tried another way to take a bite. I felt eyes on me and I turned to see Garou staring at my with a look of amusement and pink cheeks. "What?!" I snapped, embarrassed that this was such a hard task for me. Garou shook his head, the grin not leaving his sugar dusted lips for a moment. "Nothing, nothing, please continue."

I didn't quite trust him completely, but I was more focused on figuring out how to eat this at the moment. My first attempt, however, did cause a few indentations in the batter; one of them had let a bit of cheese gush out. Noticing the creamy substance, I leaned in, first licking it and then finally sucking the leaking cheese out.

This time I could feel Garou's gaze practically burning into me. "WHAT?!" This time I turned toward him completely, my eyes narrowed angrily. Garou's cheeks and ears were burning red as he casually covered his mouth, trying to hide his wolfish smile. His yellow eyes glittered with excitement as he looked me over, resting on my lips before bouncing up to meet my own eyes. "You really don't realize? God, you're such a tease," He sighed, just shaking his head and continuing to eat his lunch.

Completely confused as to what he was talking about, I just looked at him with furrowed brows before letting out a small sigh. I turned back to my corn dog, finally giving up and settling for a much smaller nibble from an angle.

At last, I had reached it. Beneath the crispy, slightly sweet batter waited a trove of gooey cheese and salty sausage. I couldn't stop myself from humming in delight at the taste. The cheese came out in a glorious string, just as Garou's did. He watched me fondly as I endured his previous struggle of trying to break free. "Here, lemme help you~" Before I could react, Garou leaned in, taking a bite out of the cheesy string. He guided my hand so that he could continue to eat the cheese while I chewed on my own bite, thinking about how I wouldn't have minded him taking the opposite direction and following the cheese string to something other than the corn dog.

The longing must've been written all over my face because when he turned back, he cocked an eyebrow, his face inching closer to mine. "What's with that look on you face, huh?" His words were low, each one carrying that characteristic growl of his. I glanced off, not able to hold his piercing gaze. Even so, my hand reached out to rest against his forearm, simply wanting to find a little release by touching him discretely. We were still out in public, after all. I didn't want to make a scene.

My body stiffened slightly when I felt heat near my jaw. Garou had silently moved in, his lips almost brushing against my skin at this point. "What? Do you want me, Y/n? Is that it?" I felt myself turn bright red, hands instantly retracting to cover my face. I didn't even know how to respond to that statement. There was the truth and then there was my dignity; both were fighting to win over my ultimate reaction.

Garou watched my internal struggle and blushing face with amusement before pulling back, taking another bite out of his corn dog. "Well too bad, you can't get any~"

"HUH?!" This time my hands fell away in partial panic as I turned toward him. I immediately realized what I was doing and let out a soft laugh, trying to relax my body. "Stop being stupid Garou," I pushed him gently before picking at the rest of my lunch. "I'm being serious!" He pointed to my corn dog with a smirk. "If you can't eat that then how are you gonna eat this?" Garou leaned back against the bench, spreading his legs out a bit more. My eyes automatically glanced down to the space between as I realized what he had been hinting at this entire time.

My face flushed red as I tried to sputter out an answer while Garou just laughed at my flustered attitude. "YOU-" Finally I simply resorted to punching him in the shoulder again, my eyes looking off in the opposite direction; I was too embarrassed to meet his gaze.

There was a beat of silence between us when I felt a hand rest itself on my thigh. "You know I was just joking around, right?" Garou slid in closer to me, his voice taking that soft, sweet tone that only I ever had the pleasure of hearing. I cracked a bashful smile as I looked over at him. "Yeah,"

More silence laid between us. Thick tension mounted on our shoulders as words waited in my throat, wondering if they should actually be said or not.

"Do... Do you really want to be intimate with me?" I finally choked the words out, fiddling with the edge of my paper boat that still held half of my corn dog. Garou froze up a bit at my overt words while I stared down at the floor, humiliated that I had to ask. He cleared his throat, shifting a bit so that his arm wrapped around my shoulders. "Well, I mean," There was a small pause as he tried to sort out the right things to say. "I guess I never really had to think about it, you know? I just always kinda wanted that... To be close to you in a way no one else could." He chuckled awkwardly after admitting that. I finally looked back up at him, my cheeks completely pink. Garou met my eyes and in that moment, I felt my heart drop; his smile became something that even I had never seen before. It was incredibly tender, but yet somewhat bashful, a mixture of innocent adoration and timid yearning. "I mean isn't it normal to want that from someone you love?"

Just hearing those words made me all soft and warm inside, completely melting to his will. I leaned against him, a dreamy smile coming over my lips as my body tingled from his words that kept replaying in my head. "Nope, you're a weirdo," I mumbled with a giggle. Garou just rolled his eyes, still clearly smiling. "So does that mean-?" He looked at me with a much more mischievous smirk playing on his lips as he cocked on of his brows. I giggled bashfully, shaking my head at his antics

"You better buy some condoms, you pervert,"

"More like your pervert~"

"You really need to learn when to shut up."