ᴛʜɪʀᴅ ᴘᴏᴠ

𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦

♛♛♛

The quiet streets had inevitably become overpowered by the sweet vengeance of Julius' fists colliding with flesh.

The other male stumbled back onto the ground, whimpering with ache and pain.

As Julius kicks him to the stomach, taking his gun from under his trench coat and pointing it straight at the bloodied man.

Tonight was a quiet kill. The other male was aware of what he'd done, how he'd betrayed Julius and how he knew what the consequences were if he had found out.

Julius usually liked it when they'd complain and fight against him, it made it all the more fun. Though, tonight he wanted to be home as soon as possible to be with his Hazel.

As the man dropped dead, Julius passed the body on to his men to rid of. The gun fell back into his trench coat and he made his way out of the alley.

The town was quieter tonight, the streets less lively and observant. Yet, it was Tuesday night.

Julius' parked car unlocked at the touch of his thumb, but the sound of a police siren behind him alerted him before he could follow up and get inside.

He stood there watching as the car drove up alongside him, sirens blaring, windows down, and the whole experience unfolded in front of him.

Julius has never had any issues with the government. They weren't supposed to touch him, and he wasn't supposed to touch them. It was the way things worked.

So whomever the fuck pulled him over to waste time was a rookie, a rookie who practically begged to be six feet under.

Julius settled easily beside his car as the cop emerged with his head down.

Just as Julius meets his gaze, he recognises him as the male from Hazel's work. The one who quit and became a cop, but is better known as the douche who drugged her and left her stranded in a bar.

Not that Julius likes people, but he undoubtedly was on the 'kill' list.

"Julius Santo." He declares, standing tall and trying to appear menacing, which Julius interpreted as mocking.

Julius towered over him, as he did practically with every male and female in the room. Even more, this guy was only 6 feet tall, not even close to Julius.

"Something wrong?" Julius skims him coldly, lifting a single brow. He pushed his hands inside his pockets, balling them into fists to control the itch to seize his gun.

"You're not allowed to park in his area," He points to the sign standing exactly in front of his car.

Julius doesn't even glance at it, instead only staring bullets into Daniels.

Julius was clearly amused by the badge that hung from his belt, as well as the rifle and taser strapped to him, and he wondered how he'd landed this job.

"Leave," Julius says, already clutching the cigarette pack in his pocket.

Daniel scoffs, his judgmental gaze falling on Julius as he places the cigarette between his lips.

"You've violated a law." He stated grimly, snatching some sort of notepad and jotting down details.

He knew that he'd be giving him a fine, which only conveyed him to chuckle.

Daniel gets more irate, ripping the paper slip from its book and pushing it in front of Julius.

He calmly lights his cigarette, Daniel studying every action he did until Julius also lit up the slip in Daniel's hand with his flame.

Daniel's eyes widened, and he threw the paper from his hands, letting the flaming remnants fall to the ground.

Julius blows smoke over his face and suddenly turns around, unlocking his car door and entering it without uttering anything else.

He prompted up his car and rolled down his window to face the flabbergasted officer.

As he speaks, he removes the cigarette from between his lips with his thumb and index finger.

"Stay out of my way and away from my girlfriend, yeah?"

With that, Julius shoved the cigarette back into his mouth and sped out of the street like a maniac.

♛♛♛

"Juls!" She squeals and runs into his arms.

Julius catches her and spins her around, placing a soft kiss on the side of her head.

"How's my girl?" His murmur reaches her ears as she pulls back and faces him with the gleam he loved most.

"Good." She smiled and tipped her chin to peck his lips. Julius felt his entire body freeze when her lips made contact with his skin.

"I got you something!" She wiggles free of his grip and dashes into the kitchen, Julius trailing behind with a chuckle.

He removes his coat and throws it over a chair. The kitchen smelled like food, good food. She cooked again.

Hazel fluttered around the kitchen like a bird, catching his attention from across the room.

With her hands behind her back and a mischievous grin on her lips, she strolled up to him.

"Are you ready?"

With a smirk, he nods slowly, crossing his arms across his chest as a red rose fell in front of his gaze.

His beating heart did a flip, giving him a shock when he felt the slightest touch of heat flow to his cheeks.

When he didn't think anything else could surprise him, he was wrong. Julius was blushing, even with a deadpan expression.

Gulping, he pulls her by the waist and rests his forehead against hers.

"Thank you, baby."

She blushed and held the rose in between them.

"Our favourite," She said as she looks down at it and then blinked her long lashes up at him.

"That's right," He chuckled and holds her closer against him, leaning his lips down slowly.

She met him halfway, joining their lips together. The kiss was soft, like a mix of honey. Hazel was the epitome of his dreams, a dream he didn't even know he had.

Only in a matter of months, Hazel had become his everything. His joy and the key to the happiness he hasn't felt in a long time. He didn't know what he would do if she didn't forgive him.

Julius didn't even know he could feel the way did when he was away from Hazel all those weeks.

Persistent headaches and the need to fly back to her and hold her close to him, whispering thousands and millions of times how sorry he was.

Fear was never in his veins or bones, and he didn't think he had a fear bone in his body. It wasn't until Hazel discovered his true identity that he felt the first pang of fear. He was anxious for weeks after that.

Because he was not focused on his work, he killed more viciously than normal. All of his shame and frustration were released onto a boxing bag or through the villains he murdered.

Hazel meant more to him than anyone would know, it was to the exaggeration that he would simply take a bullet for her.

Julius loved her more than anything in this world and nobody could change that otherwise.

"I made us dinner," She pulls on his hand and leads him to the stove, lifting the lid from the pan.

"It's the Stir Fry you taught me, it definitely won't be as good as yours though." She giggled and turned back around to face him.

Julius pulls a smirk to his lips and lifts his shoulders slightly to shrug.

"We'll see."

Hazel settles on one of the stools while Julius prepares their dinner in some bowls.

"Do anything fun today?" Julius asks, wanting to hear her voice speak for the minutes he longed.

"Oh, yes!" She hums and looks down at the food he placed in front of her. Julius turned his back to her again while he prepared his plate.

"Trace and I went shoe shopping. I bought a new pair of Air Forces, they've got purple and pink on them."

He turns his head over his shoulder and looks at the shoes on her feet. Chuckling, he completely turns around and makes his way beside her.

"They suit you." He mentions and she hums, waiting for him to sit so they both could eat together.

Another thing he loved about her. She waited for him always. When it came to food, she'd never eat without him, even if she was starving. That's why he never wanted to be late coming home, he never wanted her to starve.

"I've planned so many things to do in Paris on my bucket list." She grins, allowing Julius' spoon to reach her mouth as he feeds her.

"It was my sister's, but since she's not here, we can do them together."

Julius watched her eyes fill with hope. As if she were asking him instead of stating it.

"Yeah, good idea, Hazel." He gives her a little smile of assurance and she complied with a nod.

"We've got three days left now." She stated, circling her finger over his hand as she eats away at the steamy food. "Mhm," he hums and laced his fingers through hers.

"Are you excited?" She asks him, peering at him with her mouth stuffed. Julius chuckled as he saw her blush and swallow her food, then look at him shyly.

"To be with you, yes." He states casually, ignoring the way her thumb rubbed over his hand continuously.

"Well, me too." He separates his lips for her when she brings her spoon to his lips, allowing the food from her dish to enter his mouth.

They fell silent once more, eating in silence while glancing at each other. He never moved his gaze away from her, never wanting to look away from her. Hazel paid less attention to him than he did to her.

Her beauty was incomparable to the world, wholly and perfectly priceless.

As Hazel takes one of her last bites, she finally catches his gaze and doesn't look away. Instead Hazel smiles, she gleams as if seeing the world for the first time.

"I love you." She says after swallowing her food down. Julius spins her stool around so that she now faced him directly, her eyes brightening with surprise.

"I love you more." He smirks devilishly, his towering figure hovering over her almost intimidatingly.

Hazel, on the other hand, was not having it.

She folds her arms with attitude and tries to size him up, becoming impossibly cuter than she already was.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she quickly kisses his cheek and pulls away with a brazen smile.

"Impossible." She murmurs.

♛♛♛

From afar, he watched her dance around the room. Gliding and sliding along the floorboards, jazz hands in the air, the hum of her soft voice and the largest smile dancing on her lips.

She was packing, as he was supposed to be too. Though, it seems that Hazel had found fun in it.

Her music was filling the entire house of its silence, replacing the musk and darkness of the late afternoon.

As she twirls again, her eyes open on time to catch the sight of him. Her eyes blazed with curiosity as his figure resumed to watch her with matching curious, adoring eyes.

"Come and join me, Juls." Hazel bounds forward and takes both his hands unwillingly, and starts gesturing for him to dance.

Julius couldn't help but let her guide him, the smile on her face was far too bright to deny.

"We're supposed to be packing," He raises a brow as they waltz away in the midst of her room.

She giggled and shrugged halfheartedly as if the woman had no care in the world.

"This is more important, right?" She spins herself around, Julius' half playful grin reaching her stare when she meets him again.

"Right." He replies with a murmur.

For the next few minutes Hazel's laughs fill the room, their feet move in rhythm to the tunes and it all ends with a soft kiss between their lips.

"What would I do without you my girl, hm?" He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, the way his words fell effortlessly was only for her. He'd never be this vulnerable with anybody.

Her head tilts to lean into his touch, the warmth of blood reaching her cheeks struck a heartbeat against his chest fiercely.

She runs her hands up his chest and glides them around his neck, curling her arms around him like a warm blanket.

Julius hugs her back. Their embrace was more than powerful.

"What would I ever do without you, Juls?" She whispers so slowly, so quietly into his ear.

The question remains unanswered as he breathed her in. He breathed her in like the toxins of tobacco, calming his lungs and making them sick.

"How long will you be gone tonight?" She asks, referring to his late-night job.

"Not long, I'll make it quick."

"Okay." She sighs into his neck and holds onto him tighter, a feeling swelling through him to never let go.

"Please be extra safe, I don't want to clean your knuckles again." She jokes and strokes the back of his head with her hand, oddly enough he enjoyed it far too much.

"I will don't worry." He swiftly picked her up and lifted her thighs around his waist, allowing them to take leave to the kitchen.

"Only if you let me cook for you tonight." He pulls her head back from his neck, looking down at her frowning face.

"But—

His lips land on her pouting ones and they kiss for a quick second before he pulls back and faces her flabbergasted self.

"No, I'm cooking."

With a huff, she recoils and allows her bottom to hit the kitchen counter.

"What are you going to cook?" She peers up at him through her long, lustful lashes and shows him the virtue behind her eyes.

"Whatever you want," He leans down for a kiss and she meets him halfway—a habit that he noticed she does now.

"Surprise me." She grins against him.

He shakes his head with amusement, strands of his hair tumbling over his brows driving Hazel to lean up and flick them.

"You're handsome you know?" Her words fly out effortlessly with her soft tone and piqued chin, her eyes wide and passionate.

Fuck.

He pulls her flush against him, their hearts on top of each other beating at a pace as rapid as time.

"You amaze me more and more each day, you know that?" A temperate smirk plays at his lips, the glow in her eyes acclimating all over his features before landing on only his gaze.

"Well, I'm allowed to say whatever I want about you since you're my boyfriend." She states with an attitude that is recognised as insolence.

"Really?" He cocks his head to the side, observing her with intimidation.

"Mhm," She smiles while biting her lower lip, gently replacing his hand that left her thigh now back on it.

"Can I help you cook?"

"No." He says and walks to the fridge taking out all the materials.

"Why—

"Sit and talk to me, I want to hear about whatever you're thinking." He turns his head over his shoulder, watching his girl break into a grin.

"Okay." She beams and then begins raving about a new TV show that she was currently watching.

For the next hour or so, he listens to her voice for the purified bliss of it. The feelings he got, the composure he obtained when hearing her talk just brought him a whole new level of peace.

Julius was so far deep in the realm of love, so far that he was willing to go even deeper.