#burniexreader

You nearly rolled your eyes when you heard Burnie wouldbe sharing this panel with you. Jeez that guy was annoying.

You got comfy at the table and said “So a lot of peoplehave been asking about my weight loss. So I bought a treadmill, put it in thelounge and spent my evenings playing games while running!”

“I did that too!” Burnie laughed “Although I did have tobe careful because I would sometimes walk off the machine…”

“Same here! The number of times I nearly tripped over thecat as well!” you laughed.

Within minutes it felt like no one else was in the room,instead the conversation flowed naturally, and you enjoyed his company.

As you left the stage, Burnie caught you backstage “Hey, doyou want to grab a coffee? I feel like we got off on the wrong foot when wefirst met and it would be nice to actually get to know you.”

You explained the issues on the podcast. Someone had dugthrough your social media and pulled up old posts which you were more thanashamed of.

“Of course I regret it, but I’ve learnt and changed a lotsince I was 17! Everyone does,” you argued “But this kind of harassment…” yousuddenly found yourself crying. A rush of emotions as you remembered theconstant notifications and bullying.

You reminded yourself to breathe as you crouched behind a wall,reloading your weapon. You were tempted to rip your helmet off to allow thethrill of fresh air but knew you were the only one left against the enemy.

You heard your name being called out in a sing-song voice. Yourecognised it as Miles and slipped out of the roofless room, finding him in thevalley below you. With one shot he was eliminated; a huge green mark splattedacross his back. “You don’t me be an evil villain Y/N!” he called out as youreloaded and grinned.

You settled down and waited for the last enemy to cross your sights:Burnie. He never showed up and you got bored of waiting.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Y/N?” Burnie smirked as he stepped frombehind a stack of barrels “The Rooster Teeth paintball champion.”“There’s a reason for that boss,” you replied. Burnie readied his gun, staringdown the sights at you. You didn’t bother to even twitch, the barrel of the gunwas threatening you, but you had to hold steady.

You had to pat yourself down as the drowsiness left your body and mind. Waking up in a strange room wasn’t odd by itself when you’re staying in a hotel - but the warm, breathing body next to you was. 

You couldn’t find an inch of clothing on you - removing any hope you were innocently asleep last night. Your eyes peered over to the gently snoring figure next to you.

Well fuck.

You mouthed the curse violently as tiny flashbacks entered your mind. The sloppy kisses in the elevator, the nearly torn clothes in anger and passion and the delicious feeling of scratches and tight grabs on naked flesh.

I’m sorry for the delay! I hope you’re feeling better and that this will help!

You sat heavily on the couch, not wanting to here for this‘family meeting’. Dad sat next to you, placing a paper file on the arm, andwringing his hands. This might actually be serious. You sat up a bit taller.

“When you were born…no, that’s not right,” Burnie sighed “Nowyou’re 16, it’s a couple of years until you’re legally an adult and that givesyou a choice. When me and mom found out we couldn’t have children, a friend, whowas an aid worker, suggested we adopt. Where she was deployed, poverty and war hadleft a lot of children without their parents. So we went to an orphanage thatshe suggested…and found you.”

You were left stunned as he placed the file in yourhands. He opened it up to reveal the first page: the official adoption paper.He flicked over to the next page which saw a picture of you and your dad. Youwere tiny, no more than a year old with dark eyes that tried to be defensivebut were overcome by the unconditional love you were receiving from this man “Ifell in love with you the moment I saw you. You were so small but you had this…characterabout you. I picked you up from the crib and you gave me this look that said what do you want? And I immediately lovedyou.”

RTX was amazing and getting to be a Guardian was even better! Really miss my team and can’t wait for next year!

“I don’t like heights, I really don’t like them,” youfinally admitted. Your panicking over this challenge had finally caught up withyou, with less than an hour to go.

“Why didn’t you say so? I would have made sure you wouldn’thave to do it!” Burnie replied.

“Because you needed support, and that’s what friends do!They jump out of planes for each other…and for the kids.”

He sighed and shook his head, he knew there was no way hewas going to win this.

You were shaking as you set up the handheld camera youwould be using to film Burnie on his skydive. You tried to distract yourselfwith the settings, but it only made your anxiety increase “Ready?” the expertdiver asked as he finalised the clips. You moved together close to the exit ofthe plane and before you could say anything, you were falling out of the planeand towards the ground. After a moment of panic, you got into camera mode andpointed the camera up at the plane, watching Burnie jump out.

You couldn’t remember most of the journey down, only realisingyou were near the ground when you hit it. You sat in a state of shock, until youwere picked up and hugged by Burnie “You did it Y/N!”

“I’m not dead, right?” you confirmed.

 You hid away in the library, calculator and papers filling thedesk. You struggled through the test, triple-checking the answers because youhad no idea how you got it wrong, again.

“Hey look at this nerd,” a voice said. You shrank in your chair,desperate for it to not be you they were talking about.

“They’re doing math for fun!”one teased.

“Nahhh, I know Y/N. They can’t do math but still think they’re sosmart,” a third voice chimed in.

You still kept your head down, even when a hand slammed down onthe table in front of you. Without warning, the hand swept across, your papersand stationery flying onto the floor.

“You started without me Y/N!” a different voice called out. Yourecognised the boy in front of you from most of your classes, you even sat nextto him in Spanish “Are you guys joining us too?”

The bullies left mumbling and once you couldn’t hear them, you letout a sigh of relief and a whispered thanks to Burnie “You don’t need to stay,”you added, as he sat down opposite you and got out his books.

Thank you! We had an amazing time and I already want to go back to Austin

You had no idea what to bring for Thanksgiving. Wine? Pie? Wineand pie? You settled on both.

You drove to Burnie’s house, despite the messages from your familymaking you feel guilty and miserable. You debated turning around and going toyour family to stop the messages. But you pursued and rang the doorbell beforeyou could stop yourself.

“Y/N!” Burnie greeted, pulling you into a fatherly hug. He and Ashleywere wearing messy aprons as they prepared Thanksgiving dinner. Ashley took thewine and pie and poured you a glass, introducing you to their family.

As dinner was finished, you realised that you were far too drunkto drive home “Stay the night, no one is using the spare room,” Burniesuggested.

You nodded, following him upstairs “Thank you for everything,” yousaid.