Chapter Text
The first time Pope Cody saw you behind the counter of the small Oceanside café, something inside him screeched into place with violent finality.
*You…You are mine*
You looked mid-twenties, soft-spoken and shy, moving with gentle grace around the bustle of the shop.
The way you smiled politely at customers, the way you tucked your hair behind your ear, the innocent aura that clung to you.
It all hit him like a drug. The most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
*Pure.*
Untouched by the blood and rot that defined his life. In that single moment, watching you sip from your purple water bottle, he knew you were his to keep.
He claimed the shadowed corner table immediately, black coffee forgotten as he stared.
The other barista’s barely registered. Irrelevant. Only you mattered. The first thing he noticed was your purple and pink water bottle with markers on the side.
*She tracks her water…how fucking sweet*
From that first afternoon, the darker thoughts flooded in unbidden. Taking you. Keeping you. Hiding you from the world so that shy sweetness would belong to him alone.
*No more customers
No more outside life*
Just you, safe and isolated, learning to need him the way he already needed you.
The plans started forming instantly—logistics, timing, the moment when watching wouldn’t be enough.
Pope’s obsession only deepened in the following days.
He returned to the café relentlessly, claiming his shadowed corner and watching you with unblinking intensity.
“Yes! She’s one of my favorites” He heard you say to another woman one day when she complimented your bottle.
The thought of the woman liking it was childish, stupid and worthless to him.
But you.
You liking that character on the bottle was sweet. Innocent. Endearing. He needed more.
Before he left that day he walked straight up to the counter you as you were cleaning a booth, too distracted to notice, and took a picture of that bottle.
When he got home he went up to his brother Jack. Jack Abbot Cody.
“Who is this? What is it?” He asked Jack. His twin, older by a number of years but they were nearly identical.
Jack didn’t answer immediately, he just zoomed in on the grainy photo Pope had shoved into his face.
It was a smug looking black-and-white cartoon rabbit with a pink skull perched between its ears.
One corner of Jack’s mouth lifted,
“…Seriously?”
Pope frowned, feeling a bit embarrassed, “what?”
“You took a picture of her water bottle.”
“I wanted to know.”
Jack chuckled under his breath, leaning back in his chair. “You’ve been watching this girl for…what, a week?”
Pope didn’t correct him but it had been eight days. Eight days, six hours.
“I asked you a question.” Jack spoke as he looked at the picture again.
“That’s Kuromi.”
“…Kuromi.” Pope sounded it out looking confused before his brother spoke up.
“Sanrio.”
Pope stared blankly and Jack sighed, “You know Hello Kitty?”
Pope nodded looking back at the photo. “Same company.” And Pope almost smiled, he’d look it up when he got to his room.
“She works Mondays from seven to one. Wednesdays until close. Fridays she gets there ten minutes early. Saturdays…” He paused. “…She changes shifts every other week.”
Jack wasn’t horrified.
If anything…He looked entertained. His twin had always attached himself to people with startling intensity. It wasn’t new to him.
What was new…was you. And now he was interested as well.