don't let me down | azriel x reader
summary: fifty beautiful years you and azriel had spent together, and fifty and more he had promised to you. but when azriel meets the mate he never thought he would, he’s left to grapple with making a decision that may hurt the one person he’d never imagine he could.
warnings: cheating (ish? not really? for like, a very brief moment at the beginning!), major angst
a/n: i didn’t intend to make azriel a cheating bastard but i kind of did at the beginning </3 nothing descriptive or crazy, he just meets his mate and doesn’t tell for a few days
He shouldn’t be here, he knows that much. Despite that recognition, the allusive Shadowsinger pushed the glass door open anyways. When a familiar bell chimes above the door, an unusual quickening of his heartbeat occurs. He needs to turn around and leave, his mind insists, but when his own shadows seem to betray his thoughts and push him to move forward, he listens.
One step in front of the other, Azriel continues, until he finds himself face to face with the person he hasn’t been able to rid of since their first meeting. A person he knows isn’t you, a whisper of a doubt plagues him. This isn’t like him. He isn’t this person, he tells himself. But when the woman in front of him flashes a kind smile, the thought evaporates.
“Hi,” her melodic voice reaches him.
“Hi there,” his own gruff voice speaks, unable to stop the hint of a smile that graces the corner of his lips.
Azriel stumbled into the cafe one evening by sheer obligation.
It was some random, obscure mission. Rhysand never felt as though it was particularly necessary to dabble in the manners of the mortal world, but Feyre had some insatiable pregnancy craving. A treat from her past live that she used to enjoy long ago, before her family had lost their fortune. Despite the critically acclaimed chefs and magical conjurings of her High Lord husband, the woman had yet to be satisfied, claiming she needed the dessert from one specific family shop.
By the looks of Rhysand when Azriel appeared at their doorstep in the middle of the night, he takes it his friend’s attempt at saying no to the woman who was having a particularly difficult second pregnancy did not go to well. Azriel set off within the next hour to the human lands.
It was where he met her. Evelyn was her name. Evie was what she liked to be called. He swore his heart did somersaults when it rolled off her lips in introduction.
The emotions left him floored at the time. Where was his self-control? In the moment, he returned to the thought of you, tucked in your shared bed, where he pressed a soft kiss to your head before slipping out the doors. But then, she had asked him for his name, and the word tumbled from his lips before he could process it. And from there, despite acquiring the pastries he was requested to retrieve, his feet stayed floored to the cool tiles of the bakery. Before he knew it, he had spent his entire day in there. From closing to opening, it was slow, and Azriel, unlike his usual-self, stayed to simply talk to the human woman.
And at the end of the night, he walked her to her car. He thanked her, he recalls, for the food. She returned the sentiment, thanking him for the company. For a moment, the two of them stood there, staring at each other. It was dark out, the only light casted upon them now was the street lamp that was dangerously dim. She gave him one final smile, hand coming to rest on the bicep of his arm and it just…snapped.
