Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Meeting Tank
Slinking into the tall bar stool, you tiredly held up two fingers, not even bothering to look at the bartender. This hadn't been the first time he'd seen you this week. Even though he knew you wouldn't see it, he nodded to himself and prepared your drinks. He slid over two shots of vodka, beginning to tend to other customers. As soon as the drinks were in your reach, you held the glass to your lips and tossed your head back, the familiar burn of the alcohol spreading through your throat and chest. You sighed to yourself silently, repeating all the same movements with the other shot. Holding your head in your hands, you pounded your fist into the table. Biting back tears, you flicked your eyes upward as you blinked as hard as you could. "Shit." You whispered under your breath, feeling a few stray tears slip down your cheeks.
You angrily moved both palms to your eyes, as if you could push your tears back into your eyes. "Get the fuck back in there..." You trailed off to yourself, losing control of your breathing. You heard the sound of footsteps suddenly cease next to you. Was someone next to you? You slowly uncovered an eye to see a man who looked like a marine leaning on the table in front of him. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed his mouth abruptly, with a small 'pop'. Silently, he twirled his beer around on its bottom. You were confused at who this man was, but were oddly comforted by his company. You continued to watch him quietly.
The bar was playing music quietly, but you really only zeroed in on the sound of his bottle circling on the wood. You flicked your eyes up at him, your hands dropping from your eyes completely. As you opened your mouth to ask the marine who he was, you saw a smirk etch its way onto his face,
"The name's Tank Dempsey. But, I'm sure there's other things you could call me." He winked at you. Bewildering. Completely bewildering. You figured your confusion had shown on your face because Tank's facial expression shifted slightly. You could tell that your reaction was different than what he usually received. He peered his head down and looked up into your eyes, " Y'know sweetheart, when someone introduces themself, you're supposed to do the same back..." He raised a brow, the smirk apparent on his face once again. You noticed how he put extra emphasis on the pet name and you rolled your eyes.
"Y/n L/n." You said, giving him a tired look. You didn't react to his attempt at flirting with you, you simply didn't have the energy to. His smirk shifted to a smile as you watched his eyes scan your face. "Well then, nice to meet you, Y/n. Want to tell me what you're doing here?" Tank moved closer to you, nudging your shoulder slightly. You let your eyes fall to the empty shot glasses, "Ah, well...Kind of a long story..." You muttered, looking up, expecting Tank to be looking away. However, Tank was looking directly into your eyes. "I've got time." was all the man said in return. You thought to yourself, Fuck it. What've you got to lose?
You turned your body so you were facing him directly. Before you began your story, you called out to the bartender. "Sammy! Could you get me two beers, please? Just put it on my tab!" Sammy's head flicked towards your voice and you saw him smile and nod. Tank smiled a bit wider now, liking you even more as the minutes passed.
~
"And yeah...I didn't do anything wrong. I still have absolutely no idea why he broke up with me!" You exclaimed quietly, not wanting to call attention to yourself. The bar had livened up a bit more as it got later in the evening. Dempsey had listened attentively to you as you explained why you'd been frequenting the bar so much recently. You told him how your partner had broken up with you after your job had fired you. You didn't understand anything that was going on in your life at the moment. Everything had been so confusing and mentally taxing and your new friend could tell from a singular conversation that you were just about at your breaking point. Tank thought to himself and he watched you explain your troubles, he himself even noticed that he was acting differently than normal. He wasn't making as many jokes, he wasn't flirting as much as he typically did, he was simply listening.
"He sounds like a total jackass." Tank said, placing his hand on yours. "You didn't deserve that." He said truthfully, "You wouldn't get that with me." He joked, causing you to playfully shove him. "Don't be an ass..." You laughed to yourself, causing him to chuckle to himself. "Alright, alright...But, you know I'm fully serious right?" You quirked a brow, "About not getting that with you? Tank, your timing couldn't have been any wor-"
"-About the deserving better thing!" He cut you off, looking at you seriously. You felt heat rise to your cheeks and you turned away, flicking your eyes to the dance floor. The music was now much louder than when you'd first started talking. You threw your head back to Dempsey, grabbing his hand. With a loud, "Woah!" from the marine, you brought him to the dance floor with you.
It was astounding how close you felt to him. Some stranger who now knows almost your whole life story now. As you danced, both of you laughed to yourselves and had fun. Neither of you worried about you troubles in life, you focused on the music and more importantly each other. After about the fourth song you'd danced together to, you began to realize that you wanted to stay friends with Tank, rather than him just being some random stranger you had danced with at the bar. You had a sense that he was someone trustworthy, someone who could protect you if necessary. You grabbed his hand and spun in and out to the music.
When Tank watched you dance, he felt his heart swell. He laughed along with you as you danced crazily. He may have been a marine, but there were still some times that you'd moved so fast and energetically that he almost couldn't keep up. But, he wouldn't dare tell you or let you catch wind of that. After the third song you'd both danced to, he realized that he wanted to keep you nearby. The man had a growing pit in his stomach that he'd never felt before. Sure, he may have met and slept with many different people from different cities and have been attracted to them, but this...this felt much different. This was so much more than attraction. It felt more complex. hell it had to be more complex, but what was it? Tank felt very protective over you, but he couldn't explain why, although he didn't really question it either. As you spun out and returned to his chest, he watched you beam up at him. Seeing the smile on your face made him come to a certain realization,
Tank had vowed to keep you out of harms way, no matter what.