#hot actor

José Luis Manzano & Javier García

Pedro Pascal x f!reader

✨ This is loosely based on Friends season 5, when Emily tells Ross he can't see Rachel anymore ✨

Summary: You were his friend, then you were his girlfriend until you were only his friend again. His current girlfriend isn't happy with your friendship and gives Pedro an ultimatum: he can't see you anymore

Warnings: age gap, friends to lovers, breakup, lovers to friends, sort of unrequited love, asshole!Pedro, angst, hurt, plot inspired by Ross x Rachel (friends) and a little bit of Monica x Richard (if you squint)

A/N: I had a major anxiety attack today just like I hadn't had in months and I was feeling really bad and really sad, so angst ideas started popping in my mind and I thought of writing something like that to help me organize my feelings when this memory of friends came back and I knew I had to do it ❤️

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"Are you out of your fucking mind, Pedro?" Ariela placed her hands on her waist and stared at her boyfriend after she dragged him to the restaurant restroom for a private conversation, which turned into an argument.

Pedro shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, sighing as he thought of his words carefully, he didn't know what exactly to tell her. He knew his girlfriend might be angry, but if she could invite her own girl friends to a trip he was paying for, he figured he was allowed to invite you as well, after all, you were his friend. The one he loved the most, at least.

"What's so bad about it? You got your friends here, so you wouldn't be bored, because apparently you cannot spend more than a day alone with me without dying…" Ariela rolled her eyes

"Don't turn this against me! You were the one who invited that girl, she isn't just your friend, she's your ex… for God's sake, you hug too much, you hold hands, you touch her leg… Pedro, when she got here you nearly greeted her with a peck on the lips! Don't you realize how fucked up this is?" Ariela said angrily, she'd talked to him about this weird relationship with you a couple of times but Pedro never took a decision. He wasn't your boyfriend anymore but he couldn't stop himself from acting like it once you two were together.

Ariela also hated you, she hated you because you had broken up with him, and yet, you were also incapable of moving on, you had always claimed you and Pedro had friends in common, but Ariela thought it was ironic how every time she saw you and Pedro together, none of your other friends were around.

Ariela also hated you because she felt threatened by you, the bond you shared with Pedro was too strong, you two finished each other's sentences, got along and agreed all the time.

It made her blood boil, because no matter how much she tried being that for Pedro as well, she couldn't.

But then, the tension began dissolving. As much as you and Pedro had the special bond, Ariel appealed to the weapon she had against you: sex.

You weren't having sex with Pedro, not after you two broke up, but she was and she gave him a lot of it. Their relationship was more sexual than anything else, but it was enough to keep him with her for several months. And then she began feeling comfortable, thinking she was finally being able to compete with you.

But having Pedro inviting you to meet him in Malta was too much.

Ariela saw how Pedro seemed nervous at her enquiry

"Fine, what do you want me to do? What do I have to do to please you and prove to you Y/N and I have nothing going on?"

Ariela paced the small place. She hated the fact she had to lock herself in a restroom to talk with her nonsense boyfriend when she could be spending his very few days off.

"You can't see Y/N anymore, Pedro. It's enough. Your connection should have ended when you two broke up, well, when she broke up with you…" Ariela chuckled softly, knowing it still brought a sting of pain to his chest.

"What? I can't do this, Ariela… Y/N is important to me, she's my friend, we've been friends longer than I've known you…"

"Yeah? Well Pedro, so it's you call, but you gotta man up and make up your mind, it's either me or her…" the woman folded her arms and stared at him "besides, remember she was the one who broke up with you, she didn't want you, she didn't love you anymore. She thought you weren't good enough just because she wanted to play barbie doll house with you, she wanted to trap you with a wedding ring and a baby…" she smirked

"Don't say that! It's not exactly how it went… there was more to it"

"Was it there, Pedro? Really? Am I lying or did you tell me all that yourself?"

Ariela saw his defeated expression as he looked down in shame. His girlfriend was right, as much as he wanted to defend you and pretend it didn't happen, she was right.

"Fine, what am I supposed to do? Tell her to get on a plane and get the fuck out of my life?"

"Exactly, amor. That's exactly what I want you to do" Ariela smirked and leaned in, kissing his lips and dragging him to one of the stalls so they could at least enjoy a little and not waste all the time they had.

You battled yourself as you didn't know if going to the restroom at that moment was appropriate or not, you felt it was kind of weird to leave the table just a few moments after Pedro and his girlfriend did. You knew she hated you and as much as you thought hatred was a strong feeling… yeah, you hated her too.

And her friends, you weren't so sure. Sometimes you thought they were alright and sometimes it seemed they came straight out of a teen movie where they played the mean girls who followed their leader - Ariela - and that was unnerving. You were too old to play that game, and you thought of Pedro, if you felt fed up with that, you could imagine him. He was funny and outgoing and he certainly behaved like a child sometimes, but he wasn't one to appreciate mean comments about people, or about their appearance and other things those insufferable girls often did. You just couldn't understand why Pedro could be with someone like her.

It sounded suspicious to say that, but he was a better person than she was, and you knew he deserved someone better. Someone that couldn't be you, just as your someone couldn't be him, you were just incompatible in what you two envisioned in your relationship, in what you two wanted for the future.

But it had nothing to do with how you felt for each other, because God knew how much you still loved him. You weren't so sure about his feelings concerning you though. Sometimes you were he still loved you, and sometimes you were sure he was already over you.

You bit your lips as you couldn't hold it anymore, you desperately needed to pee and it had to be at that moment, so you excused yourself, earning just a eyebrow raise from the girls and went to the restroom.

You hadn't even thought of how long they were taking in the restroom, it was indeed quite odd, and your heart fell on the pit of your stomach as you thought they were probably having a quickie. You hated how territorial Ariela was over Pedro, especially when you were around. He had always been discreet, until she came along, now every time you watched them together, hands were all over, her lips were on his neck and you would be lying if you said it didn't make you burn with anger and jealousy.

You were about to enter when you heard Pedro's voice saying your name, and then you stopped dead on tracks, your heart racing as he continued whatever he was saying. Eavesdropping was wrong, but you didn't care at all, Pedro was talking about you, and you wanted to know what it was about. You felt an excitement, maybe he was on the phone with someone, talking about you, you liked daydreaming about that. Even if it wasn't right, even if you were the one who had broken things up, you still got carried away by your feelings, their intensity was too much at times and it made you even act foolish. It wasn't polite, you leaned against the door as much as possible, hearing every single word you could catch about his conversation.

He was indeed talking about you, but he was talking about you with his girlfriend, and you felt your heart shattering into a million pieces when you understood what their conversation was about.

Your eyes burned with tears as you heard their words. How she demanded him to stop seeing you, using your breakup as a way to manipulate him, but you knew Pedro better than that, he was going to say no, he was going to stand up for himself and defend you, because that was who he was. He was a nice person, he loved you, even if it was just as a friend, you two had had a long relationship and you always supported each other, he wouldn't just give all that up because of a woman he'd been dating for less than a year.

You felt like bursting into the bathroom, telling her everything you thought about that devious woman, you wanted to remind Pedro how much he meant to you and how much you thought you meant to him, but it was no use, he'd made up his mind, as much as you didn't want to believe he would do it.

A feeling of embarrassment took over you. You felt like an intruder, someone who only bothered the sweet couple and the cute friends and before you could hear Pedro's moans coming from the bathroom stall, you walked back to the table, the girls looked at you with a smirk

"Did you walk on Pedro and Ariela fucking?" They burst out laughing and one of them got her phone, writing something down, while the other girl's phone buzzed.

You felt your blood boiling, they were texting about you while you stood right there, just like mean teenagers. You grabbed your bag and walked out of that place, not giving them a final glance.

You place your sunglasses back on, as it was a sunny day, but they were too dark as your vision was blurry with tears. The pain you felt in your chest was so intense and yet you took your phone and decided to text Pedro, letting him know you were back at the hotel while coming up with some excuse about a migraine; it would be just awkward and uncomfortable to hang out with them as if nothing had happened.

As Pedro finished with his girlfriend and the two of them walked back to the table as if nothing had happened, he immediately frowned to see you were missing, he had no idea where you went, but it felt weird to him.

He still hadn't made up his mind completely, on one hand he never wanted to be away from you. You were just a part of him, you two shared everything and it was just special. However, on the other hand, Ariela did have a point. The two of you were too close and she was right when she said it was uncomfortable for her to see your interaction. He knew he would feel the same if he saw his girlfriend being so familiar with a friend, and she also hit on a very delicate matter to him: how you broke up.

Pedro was always the one to end his relationships, usually because he grew bored after some time or because he fell out of love just as fast as he fell in love with that person in the first place. Commitment wasn't really his cup of tea, but he was kind of accepting the idea as you two evolved from a friendship to a relationship. He loved you, and he also loved being around you. He grew to love the cheesy cliches a relationship often brings, he enjoyed having to exchange gifts on Valentine's day, or have a date night with you every few weeks. Even the nerve-wracking experience of meeting your family - he was afraid of your dad, but he should've been afraid of your mom, because he was sure she hated him - he enjoyed it.

So it came as a shock when you gave him the talk. You'd told him you couldn't try to change him, but you wouldn't change for him either. His career was important to him and you would respect that, but a sense of future was important to you too, you wanted an assurance you would move in together with someone, get married to that person, have a dog or a cat or even both and maybe in the distant future, you would like to have a child. Needless to say, that person wasn't Pedro.

It hurt him because he knew it wasn't just his commitment issues, it was everything: his career, his hectic life, the media harassing him wherever he went and also his age. If you wanted to wait ten years to have a kid, you'd still have plenty of youth left, but if he did the same? Pedro didn't even like considering that.

He sat back at the table and looked around, thinking maybe you'd be somewhere ordering something or just getting to know the environment.

Ariela was back at chatting with friends, and Pedro was back at being silent, having no one to talk to. He got his phone and saw a message coming from you, opening immediately and thought it sounded more like an excuse than anything else, but when he was about to reply, his girlfriend's delicate hands stopped him "enjoy our lunch with us, honey" she pouted as he put his phone aside.

For the rest of the meal, Pedro tried taking you away from his mind, but he didn't know it would be so hard.

The rest of the day, he was alone with his thoughts, Ariela's voice echoing through his head, at the same time memories of the two of you weighed heavily in his heart. He liked Ariela, of course it wasn't the same intensity in which he liked you, but he'd read many times that love could be built, so what assured him it wouldn't happen to the two of them? His relationship was lasting longer than most of his previous ones often did, the fans always commented cute things when they were rarely spotted together getting out and about and the sex was mind-blowing.

He also thought of your friendship and couldn't help but wonder if things would've been easier if he had just let you go when you two stopped being a couple. His need of being around you was the main reason why you went back to being friends; Pedro was convinced he was going to suffer if he didn't have you around, but before Ariela came into the picture, he suffered just as much as he had you close but couldn't touch you.

And he still suffered, because he didn't want to make any choices, but if he had to in order to move on and be happy, he would do it.

Pedro got up from his bed and decided to knock on your door. You were staying on the same floor, so it was a quick walk to it, which was good because he wouldn't have enough time to give up saying what he wanted to say.

You groaned at the knocks on your door, feeling your social battery completely drained after spending your afternoon napping so you would stop crying.

You opened the door as you didn't expect to see Pedro at all, well, you kinda did, but you thought he would wait at least a day before kicking you out of his life.

He could tell you had been crying and he wondered if you knew what he was going to do there, if you would cry too much once he stepped out of your life.

"What do you want, Pedro?"

"We can't see each other anymore, Y/N" he sighed sadly but his expression was firm "I can pay you for the expenses you had to come over here, but I'd appreciate it if you went back home. I'm sorry, but it's time to move on, and I can't if you are around me all the time"

"Pedro? Why are you doing this? It makes no sense, I overheard you and Ariela talking at the restaurant and this is not what you want, it's what she wants…"

"Please Y/N don't be bitter just because my relationship with Ariela works better than the one we had, just please, pack your bags and fly home, I want to enjoy my days off with my girlfriend"

And just like that, Pedro turned his back to you and left you there, he'd made up his mind and you weren't a part of what he wanted in life anymore.

_____

A/N: Oh no, not me basing Pedro x reader on my favorite toxic couple of television! What can I tell you? I like my men like walking red flags ❤️

Also, fun fact: Ariela's character is based on my co-worker, he can be mean and bitchy to people sometimes and it makes me laugh hard and one day he snapped at me and I threatened him by saying I'd make a character that is a girl version of him who would be the villain in my Pedro stories, and he laughed thinking I was just joking LOL

The plot: