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Sarah squealed as she saw her daughter, Rachel, come down the stairs in one of the lolita-like dresses she made her, “Oh Rachel, you look adorable my angel!”. She proceeded to hug her daughter tightly from the side.
Richard, Rachel’s dad looked up from his place on the couch and nodded enthusiastically in agreement, “Where are you going all dressed up?”.
Rachel blinked, “I have been invited over to my boyfriend’s house for dinner. I will be home late. Call if you need anything”, she took the chance to escape the grasp of her mother, whose hold had loosened in her shock at Rachel's words. The soft clicking of the door seemed to echo in the room.
“...”
“...”
Sarah and Richard looked at each other in alarm, “Did you know about this?!”, they asked each other at the same time.
Sarah made a face, “What?! Of course not. Rachel hasn’t mentioned any boys in our daily bonding sessions!”. By ‘daily bonding sessions’, she meant forcing herself into Rachel’s room and making her try on different fabrics and gush over how cute she is. “What about you?! Didn’t Rachel go to you for advice about boys?”.
Richard was muttering to himself, seemingly having to not heard her, “Our baby has a boyfriend, our baby has a boyfriend…”.
Seeing as her husband was struggling, Sarah made an executive decision, “We shall meet him right away! Who knows what kind of heathen took our baby from us?!”, she nodded assuredly.
Richard snapped out of his trance, “Wait! Maybe it’s that Edward boy? Isn’t he in love with Rachel or something?”.
Sarah chewed on her lip, contemplating, “That’s true, but…”, Rachel had never seemed receptive to Eddie’s advances, either unaware or just ignored, “Maybe she finally realized she had a nice young man vying for her attention? So unlike our innocent baby though...I will admit Edward’s a good catch! Handsome, I want cute grandkids, you know?”.
Richard grumbled, “He better not do anything like THAT for a while, marriage at the latest!”.
Sarah sweatdropped, “I agree, but Rachel is very beautiful, you know...can’t really blame him.” Seeing her husband get even more worked up, she quickly added, “But yes! Nothing like that until marriage!”.
The truth was she wanted Rachel to come to her for advice on sex and things. It was her dream for Rachel to come to her all unsure and cute, and rely on her dear mother’s help. Rachel had always been so independent and responsible. She was very obedient and never gave them hardships, even as a baby! Sarah swears she never even heard Rachel cry.
“Let’s wait until she gets home to ask.”
Rachel quietly opened the door, expecting her parents to be asleep. She parted her slightly swollen lips (Zack had been enthusiastic in his departure) when she saw her parents sitting like statues in front of the off television, “?”.
Her dad suddenly got up and rushed over to her, placing a large hand on her shoulder, “Rachel, we shall meet this little boyfriend of yours. Next week. Lunch”, he said ominously.
Rachel hummed, “Okay. You should make your famous barbecue. Zack would like that.”
Her father noticeably brightened, forgetting his disapproval of Rachel’s boyfriend for the moment, “It has been a while, hasn’t it? Man, I should go all out then! Pulled pork, steak, ribs…”.
Sarah who had been listening quietly, jumped in when she heard the name of Rachel’s boyfriend, “Zack?”.
Rachel looked at her mom as if nothing was wrong, “Yes. That is his name. Oyasumi. I am tired”, Rachel turned to go to her room, but her mom stopped her.
“Yes, of course, you need your beauty sleep darling! But can you tell us something about this...Zack?”, Sarah said hurriedly.
Rachel blinked, “Oh. Yes. Zack is very kind and honest. He’s tall and the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. I love him very much”, she said simply before going off to bed.
Sarah and Richard blinked. There were a couple moments of silence before huge grins broke out on their faces.
“A kind and honest man! Just the type of guy my daughter needs to protect her!”, Richard said proudly “I’m going to have a great new son!”
“Did you hear that? He’s tall and handsome! Surely, with Rachel’s beauty, they’ll have beautiful children!” Sarah said dreamily.
Rachel’s parents looked at each other gleefully, “We’ve hit the jackpot!”
Rachel took a deep breath, “Zack?”.
Zack ignored her, not looking up from what he was doing.
Rachel tried again, this time a little more weight to her voice, “Zack?”. Zack grumbled before looking up from his place between her thighs. He sat up and wiped his mouth off, “What Ray? Can’t you see I’m busy?”, he said irritably.
“Yes. Sorry. My parents want to meet you”, Rachel said, genuinely sorry for interrupting Zack.
“Seriously? Fuck...I guess it’s fine ‘cuz ya met my folks”, Zack ran a hand through his hair.
Rachel gave a small smile, “Thank you. There will be barbecue.”
Zack grinned, “Well when ya put it like that, fuck yeah! I’m excited for that, but I think I wanna finish eating this first,” his grinned turned predatory as he lowered himself between Rachel’s thighs again, proceeding to make a mess of her all night.
Sarah took a deep breath, the time had finally come! She was about to meet the seemingly perfect man that had captured her daughter’s heart. Two hard knocks at the door interrupted her thoughts, “Coming!”.
Sarah opened the door and stared at the hurt? man in front of her. Why was he covered in bandages?
“Yo”, Zack said simply, not giving Sarah a chance to say anything before pushing his way inside. He walked to the staircase, “Oi Ray, I’m here! Get the fuck down here!”. Sarah was about to give him a scolding on speaking to Rachel like that, when Rachel came hurrying down the stairs, clad in a simple white dress and choker. Sarah squealed, “Rachel you look positively adorable!”
Rachel ignored her mother in favor of looking up at Zack adoringly, “Zack”, she said before latching onto him.
Zack lightly ruffled her hair, “Yeah yeah, missed ya too.”
Now that Sarah got a better look at him, she supposed Zack was...handsome? Certainly not to her tastes, but he did have a confident air around him that was quite attractive. Even through the bandages, she could see he had nice features and a sharp jawline. He was tall, positively looming over her petite daughter, and his lean frame seemed packed with muscles. Still, why the bandages?
Zack turned to her suddenly, snapping her out of her assessment of him, “The fuck ya oogling at? ‘M Zack”, Zack said before going over and plopping on the couch, pulling Rachel into his lap. “Is the food ready? I’m fucking starving.”
Rachel looked at him, “Do you want me to prepare a snack for you?”, Zack sighed and shook his no.
At the mention of food, Richard made his way into the living room wearing a “kiss the cook” apron, “Foods almost done! Just waiting on the potatoes to finish baking!”, he stopped when he saw the tall man sitting on his favorite part of the couch. “So you’re...Zack?” He eyed the bandages and crimson pants suspiciously.
Zack snorted, “Yeah? Got a fucking problem old man?”, Richard twitched at hearing Zack speak.
Sarah quickly intervened, “No not at all! Here, sit Richard. Zack is it okay if we ask some questions?”.
Rachel nodded in agreement, “I read an article that stated, the parents of the girlfriend ask the boyfriend challenging questions upon the first meeting to ensure no hardships will come to the girlfriend. The dad also attempts to intimidate the boyfriend into behaving properly,” at this Rachel looked at her dad dubiously, he really wasn’t doing much to instill fear with that apron…
Zack let out a laugh, “HA! As if I’m letting some old ass man scare me. Plus if he did, I’d just kill him”.
Rachel shook her head, “You will not kill my dad Zack. We’ve talked about this.” Zack rolled his eyes, “I was just playing Ray, jeez”.
Sarah tried her hardest to ignore the casual talk of murdering her husband, “So Zack, if you don’t mind me asking, why the bandages?” She gulped at the sudden glower directed to her.
“Fuck yeah I mind, But if you want to be that fucking nosy, I was in an accident as a kid. Burning building or some shit. Can’t remember it too well, except that it hurt like fuck. I look like a fucking monster, so I keep myself covered up,” Zack said sniffing, nuzzling into the palm Rachel put on his cheek to soothe him.
“I don’t think you’re a monster, Zack. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. I wish you would take off the bandages more often”, Rachel said coolly, looking at her boyfriend with nothing but love in her eyes.
Zack rolled his eyes, “Yeah well. You’re kinda fucked up crazy bitch Ray. Wouldn’t have you any other way.”
Sarah had tears in her eyes, “How touching! You poor boy. How awful…”, Zack looked at her weirdly, “Oi! I don’t need your fucking pity! I’m doing just fucking fine!”
Richard looked at him, “So! Tell us how you met our darling Rachel.” He crossed his arms, expecting some heroic tale of Zack helping Rachel grab her fallen books.
Zack scratched his head, “Eh? You take this one Ray. All I remember from when we met is how beautiful you were…”, ignoring Sarah’s ‘aww’.
Rachel nodded, “Okay. I was walking home from school when I noticed blood coming from the alleyway. When I followed it, I saw Zack standing over a dead body with a knife in his hand, laughing wildly. When he saw me, he gave me three seconds to run or he would kill me. When I didn’t move, he asked me why. I told him I would not mind dying at the hands of someone as beautiful as him. He just looked at me before saying he would not kill someone with eyes as dead as mine anyway. When I said no in response to whether or not I would call the police, he asked if I wanted to get food. I said yes.” Rachel looked at Zack dreamily when finishing her story, “I think it’s quite romantic.”
Zack agreed, “Yeah, definitely a story for our kids. All I remember is thinking about how I wanted to bend you over right then and there”.
“I would have let you”, Rachel said easily.
“...”
“...”
WHAT?!
Richard sputtered, “Y-you know I’m a cop right?! You just admitted to murder!”.
Zack looked at Rachel, “What the fuck Ray? Why didn’t you tell me? Now I gotta kill your dad…”, he said angrily while taking the knife he had out his pocket. Richard started sweating.
Rachel looked at her father, “Dad, please don’t arrest my boyfriend.”
Richard coughed, “R-rachel, I am a man of the law. What would happen if I arrested him?”.
Rachel thought for a second, “I would probably spiral into a pit of depression and never leave my room. Also, hate you”, she added.
Richard was doomed, “NO! Fine, I’ll just act like I didn’t hear your boyfriend is a murderer!”.
Rachel tilted her head, “Serial killer actually…”
Richard wanted to cry. At least Zack put away his VERY sharp-looking knife.
Sarah was sweating profusely. How could her innocent, perfect daughter bring home a man like this?! She felt like all of her dreams were shattering.
Still…
“Rachel, tell me. Are you happy with...Zack?”, Sarah asked grimly.
Rachel nodded, “Yes. Zack is the only one for me”, cuddling into Zack’s warm chest. “That’s my good girl”, Zack said proudly.
Sarah stood up, motioning to the kitchen, “Well I suppose that’s all I need to know. Please treat my daughter well and keep her safe. That’s all I ask.”
Zack got up as well, “Ya didn’t have to tell me that stupid shit. ‘Course
I’m keeping my girl safe”, he grumbled.
And that was how Rachel’s parents came to accept their daughter’s serial killer boyfriend.