Hell is forever

Birthdays were an occasionally celebrated date In Heaven. Though Lute found the notion ridiculous, celebrating your creation date? She didn’t celebrate hers, nor did any of her exorcist sisters.

And sure, the exorcist's creation date was different to the mortals. Neither Lute nor her exorcist sisters were born like the winners. No, they were created. Constructed with a specific purpose in mind.

And in a way, it's part of what made her feel that she and her sisters' souls were bound so closely to their leader, their Commander, the First Man - Adam.

Sure, he WAS a mortal soul, but he was the FIRST. He didn’t have a birthday, he wasn’t technically born. The man was created, sculpted, and forced into a role he never agreed to.

Just like her.

Over the years that Lute had worked for Adam, her entire life had revolved around the man. The only purpose she had was to serve him, to assist him in leading the army, to be there for his every beck and call.

Beyond the actual important duties, such as assisting with the running of the exorcist’s training, completing paperwork, and preparing each year for the Exterminations – Adam would often make other non-work-related demands. Such as sending her to pick him up his daily smoothie…Or that ridiculously sweet coffee drink that was basically 90% whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

He would then slurp on it loudly and ramble endlessly to her while she sat across from him at his desk in his grand office. The topic could range from anything such as ranting about his latest disappointing ‘one night stand’, to raving about some new fancy guitar he’d just ordered.

And secretly, even though his topics of conversation weren’t at all riveting to Lute, it was one of the best parts of her day. Just getting to sit across from the man she admired, one-on-one, listening to him talk, sharing his space.

He may not have realised it, hell, the ignorant man probably wouldn’t ever realise it – But he was the centre of Lute’s world.

Listening to him ramble about his one-night stands, or even watching him flirt casually with the other exorcists, it didn’t make her jealous. Because deep down she knew those connections were shallow, surface level. No one would EVER match Lute in her dedication and importance to the First Man.

It was the only fact keeping her sane as she continued to bottle up her growing feelings for her Commander over the years.

He was too oblivious to notice anyway. But her? She noticed everything about him.

So it didn’t slip past the observant woman when Adam’s masked expression twisted into irritation as he watched Emily excitedly present a birthday cake to a random winner on the promenade. A small gathering had formed around the winner and Emily while Adam and Lute stood casually nearby watching.

Emily befriended many mortal souls, her whole JOB was keeping these mortals happy and satisfied with their Heavenly afterlife.

A pathetic and useless placeholder job – Lute thought to herself.

But regardless, Emily always jumped to her given task. She did everything to make as many of the winner souls of Heaven happy. And today, that included the obnoxious birthday cake for some random winner guy who gushed happily over the gesture.

Lute was standing at Adam’s side, arms folded behind her back and feet together as she kept her head level. Though her eyes peeked up and to the side at her Commander through her eyelashes.

His form was tense, his masked lips set in a firm and straight line, eyebrows drawn together as his gleaming eyes remained trained on the scene before them.

Lute’s attention was pulled back to the small gathering of winners as Emily began to sing Happy Birthday, everyone else slowly joining in, all attention on the birthday boy.

Ugh. ‘Happy Birthday’ was probably the worst song ever created. Lute hated the way it was overly cheery, not at all audibly pleasing, and not to mention it was sung to everyone and anyone. Not special in the slightest, but still people ACTED like it was a special moment…

And yet, as she looked over the faces of the crowd, including the birthday boy, she saw nothing but genuine smiles of joy…Maybe she just didn’t get it like they did.

Her eyes flickered across to Adam again, who was sucking obnoxiously loud on his smoothie straw, though she didn’t miss the way his eyes were half lidded in clear irritation…And something else, another emotion lingered there too. Was it…Envy?

The song ended in a flurry of obnoxious party poppers that shot out clouds of glittering, multicoloured confetti with a series of sharp snaps. Emily excitedly clapped her hands.

“Yaaay!! Now make a wish and blow out your candles!” She squealed.

Everyone’s eyes remained fixed on the birthday boy as he closed his eyes briefly, pausing before blowing the neatly placed candles out, followed by a chorus of cheers and applause. The celebratory sounds continued in the background as Lute peeked up at her Commander once more.

His frame remained rigid as ever, shoulders tensed and raised ever so slightly. She could tell he was thinking, thoughts running a hundred miles a minute behind those glowing eyes.

About what? She had no idea. But his shoulders often hunched in that near-undetectable way when something was playing on his mind.

“You okay, sir?” She asked suddenly, earning his blazing golden eyes flicking down to her.

“Hm? Psht, yeh…Why the fuck wouldn’t I be?” He answered a little harsher than he usually would.

His eyes snapped across to his shoulder, noticing a piece of bright blue confetti that had landed on his robe, clinging to the material. He raised a hand and firmly flicked the confetti off his shoulder, turning sharply and beginning to saunter down the street. Lute stayed glued to the spot, watching him.

He noticed her lack of movement, stopping to turn and shoot her a look.

“Well? You coming?”

It was clear he was avoiding the subject of his blatantly obvious bad mood, and though she wanted to push the subject, she decided not to. Lute instead began walking, obediently falling in line at his side in her usual place as his shadow.

For the rest of that week, she had replayed that brief moment with Adam over and over again. She knew the man well enough to know that something about the scene had bothered him. Though what exactly was it?

The memory of that glint of envy in his expression crossed her mind again, the way his gaze twisted as he watched everyone celebrating the winner’s special day…

Adam did love being the centre of attention, the more adoring eyes on him the better. He was the self-proclaimed ‘blueprint of humanity’, the ‘Dick Master’, and many other obnoxious, self-praising titles he’d given himself over the years.

And then it clicked in Lute's brain…

All these mortals celebrating their birthdays, having a day JUST about them, celebrating THEM. Not to mention the giving of gifts and overly sweet, sugar-coma-inducing cake. It had Adam written all over it.

…Yet no one had ever thrown Adam a birthday party.

It’s understandably a difficult thing to throw a man who wasn’t born. But unlike Lute and her Heaven-created exorcist sisters, he WAS a mortal winner soul, just like all of those who did have birthdays.

However, being the first ever mortal soul meant he didn’t have that same special day as they did, an unfair separation between him and them.

Adam deserved a special day.

Lute would be the one to give him that.

And with her newfound mission in mind, she got to work setting her plan in motion. ------------------------------------------------------

Adam never got to the office on time, whereas Lute was exceptionally punctual. Overly punctual, actucally.

She typically would arrive around 7.30am, half an hour earlier than most other angels would even be present in the grand building that Adam’s office was situated in. And today that worked perfectly in her favour.

No prying eyes had been present to witness her hauling the overflowing bag of multicoloured decorations into his office.

It wasn’t until 8.49am that Adam strolled lazily down the hallway towards his office, stretching his arms high above his head with a yawn before reaching the door, pushing it open as usual and entering the room.

But he was immediately stopped in his tracks when he was met with darkness, the blinds having been drawn down over the large floor-to-ceiling windows, and the lights all turned off.

Usually Lute would be here by now, sitting pretty at his desk, sipping on her bitter black coffee and working on the paperwork he would inevitably have failed to complete the day before.

“Weird. That bitch is never late…” He muttered to himself, moving to flip the light switch.

And right as he did, light painted the room and Lute jumped out from behind his desk, a sharp bang followed by a violent burst of confetti. “AH – THE FUCK!?”

Adam practically jumped out of his skin, feathers fluffing out and his arms coming up to shield himself from the onslaught of coloured papers fluttering over his head and landing on the ground all around him.

It was then he took in the state of his office…

Coloured party banners were strewn haphazardly all over the place. Some were tangled across the collection of guitars hung on the far wall, and others strung unevenly along the projector screen. There were even a few taped crudely to the sides of his desk and the backs of the office chairs.

Balloons, blown up to varying sizes, were dotted around the room too. Some seemed on the brink of explosion, blown up to full capacity, others were barely afloat, misshapen by lack of helium.

His golden eyes finally landed on the exorcist before him, holding the offending, emptied party popper. Her hands were grasping it like she would her angelic steel sword, a muscle memory position.

“Surprise”

The word sounded awkward on her lips, lacking the exclamation that one would usually shout it with in this scenario.

“Uh, Lute, what the FUCK did you do to my office?!”

A beat passed.

“I decorated it” Her response was level and matter-of-fact.

“Uh-huh…I can see that-“ His eyes swept across the room again. “-and WHY in holy hell did you ‘decorate’ it?”

“Well…I wanted to do something special for you, sir”

She quickly put the party popper down and knelt behind the desk, picking up a large dish with a cloth over it and placing it on the desk.

Adam stepped closer with a raised eyebrow, his movements slow and calculated, as if on edge as to what the woman would do next.

She removed the white cloth with a quick swoop, revealing the most crudely decorated cake Adam had ever laid eyes on in all his millennia of existence.

The base layer of white icing was haphazardly piped on, smeared and uneven. Along the sides of the cake it was clear some kind of attempt had been made to add shapes that mimicked the purple zigzag and diamond pattern on Adam’s robe. Though the decorative lines were applied unevenly and at varying thicknesses.

And on the top of the cake, awkwardly placed letters spelt out “Happy Adam Day” in purple and yellow icing, candles stuck out at varying angles across the cake, their placement random and uncoordinated.

His eyes were wide, eyebrows raised, and he very slowly brought his gaze up to Lute again, as though any sudden movement would be dangerous.

She was smiling at him, something she didn’t do often outside of the context of smiling like a maniac while slaying sinners. Though the smile on her lips right now seemed forced and tight…Maybe even a little nervous.

Her eyes suddenly flicked down to the cake, shoulders tensing.

“Shit – Wait…I forgot”

She made a move to dip down and retrieve another hidden item from behind the desk, but froze suddenly, fixing Adam with a stern look.

“Close your eyes” She ordered.

Adam, who was still processing what the fuck was going on right now, opened his mouth to protest.

“Lute, what are yo-“

“Just CLOSE THEM!” She barked sternly in her Lieutenant tone, a finger pointed sharply at him.

He flinched and let out a confused, disbelieving huff.

“Christ! Alright alright! Don’t get your panties in a twist…” He relented, closing his eyes.

“There, they’re closed…Now are you gonna tell me what the hell this is about?”

He frowned but kept his eyes closed, hearing Lute shuffling around and a clicking noise. When a moment passed without reply, he spoke up again.

“Lute? You crazy bitch, what are you-“

“Okay, open them”

He scoffed, opening his eyes.

She’d turned the lights back off again, but this time the room was illuminated with the soft glow of the lit candles. Her arms were folded behind her back as she stood to attention, that small, tight smile pressing her lips again.

His eyebrows remained raised in confusion, wide golden eyes flitting back and forth between the cake, and Lute. A beat passed in silence, and one of the candles suddenly fizzled before going out completely.

Lute tensed, springing forward and bringing the lighter that had been held behind her back down to the candle, desperately clicking it repeatedly in an attempt to reignite the flame. Sparks flew but the lighter failed to take and Lute growled.

“Fuck sake – Come on…”

She seemed oddly frantic in her motions, clicking the lighter harder and quicker, teeth gritting in frustration.

A large hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, and she paused, looking up to her Commander's masked face.

This time, though, he was smirking down at her, eyes alight with amusement.

“Look, Lute – Fuck. Just….Chillax!”

He coaxed her hand away from the candle.

“And tell me what the hell this-“ He gestured with his other hand around the office “-is about…”

For a moment she didn’t reply, then, her shoulders fell a touch. The hand holding the lighter fell limply at her side and her head tilted downwards.

“I’m sorry. I’m…I’m not good at this. I just wanted to surprise you, sir. But nothing has really turned out how I envisioned it” She cast a dejected look across the crudely decorated room.

“Right…Well, danger tits, you sure as shit surprised me if that helps? I thought I was being fucking assaulted by a rainbow when I walked in here…”

He stepped closer to the cake, looking down at it.                

“And…Happy Adam Day?” He asked, raising an eyebrow with an amused snort.

She instantly tensed up, heat rushing to her face as she was sure a dusting of gold was blooming across her cheeks. She hoped the low lighting hid that from him.

“Y’know what…You’re right. This was a stupid idea, apologies sir, I’ll tidy up-“

She quickly began moving to turn the lights back on with her head ducked low, her white hair falling forward to cover her face. But a firm grip on her upper arm halted her.

“Woah woah woah, hold your horses Lutey, did I say anything about it being stupid?”

She paused for a moment before shaking her head.

“Exactly, so c’mon, what is this really about? Should I fuckin’ know what an ‘Adam Day’ is? Cuz last I checked my calendar, I didn’t catch that one on there, babe”

“I…Just thought maybe, you might appreciate someone throwing you a small-” She paused, searching for the right word “-Celebration”

He released her arm, crossing his own across his chest as he listened with a raised eyebrow.

“So, I…Well, I….” She trailed off, gesturing to the wording on the cake, feeling like this was sounding more and more pathetic as she attempted to explain it.

Adam remained silent for a moment, eyes scanning over the cake once more. The quiet stillness hung heavily in the air, and then – He burst out into a roar of laughter.

“BAHAHAHA!”

The man clutched his stomach, doubled over in half as his entire frame shook with the power of his hysterics.

Lute’s shoulders tensed even further, hands balled into tight fists. Her eyebrows furrowed and her golden eyes turned sharp as she glared at him, that golden dusting of embarrassment burning even hotter at his laughter.

Eventually, he stood back up straight, laughter subsiding as he wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye.

“Oh-ho-ho…So you made up an ‘ADAM DAY’!?” He questioned exclamatorily with amused shock.

She briskly tilted her head back down again.

This was totally a stupid idea, she should’ve known he would make fun of her for trying to do something like this, and now she was sure she’d never heard the end of it…

A gloved hand suddenly reached down, a gentle finger placed under her chin and tipped her gaze back up.

Her eyes were narrowed, lips set in a straight line and eyebrows drawn together sharply. She hated the way her expression was dancing dangerously close to a pout.

He snorted.

“Oh c’mon tits, no need to look at me like that!”

Her glare deepened.

“You’re laughing at me…”

He scoffed, shaking his head.

“Babe! I’m laughing because I’m shocked. Y’know, this kind of thing isn’t really your style, I just didn’t expect it is all!”

She stayed quiet, holding his gaze while looking entirely unconvinced. He sighed in response before continuing.

“But I can see you really put a lot of…-“ His eyes scanned over the mess of decorations, mismatched balloons, and chaotically decorated cake. “-Uh…effort, into this…”

He released her chin and gestured to the cake.

“And an ‘Adam Day’? I mean, fuck! That’s genius, why the hell ISN’T that a thing already!? Sounds sick” He grinned toothily down at her.

She shifted a little before speaking quietly.

“Well...In a way, it is a thing. For most mortals at least, anyway. A birthday-“ Her eyes flicked off to the side, avoiding his as she continued.

“-A day to celebrate that one person. And I thought maybe…Maybe you felt you were missing out, given you don’t have one. No one's ever celebrated a day just for you like that”

Lute shrugged, trying to school her expression and tone to remain level and controlled. She met his gaze again, eyes spying up at him through her lashes.

“And you deserve that, sir. A day about celebrating you” She added, her golden eyes holding his blazing ones.

Adam’s LED eyes widened a touch in shock and flicked left and right, seeming to scan her face for what felt like an eternity, though it was probably mere seconds. His expression had melted into something softer, something more tender than what Lute was used to seeing.

Then, he brought his hand up to her jaw, cupping it gently, a thumb suddenly tracing across her soft lips in a manner that sent warmth blazing through her body.

She felt like she was suddenly forgetting how to breathe, unable to stop herself from parting her lips a fraction, leaning her face into the touch and nuzzling into his hand ever so slightly.

His chest rose quickly with a sudden intake of breath in response. After another moment, he let out a disbelieving huff.

“You’re an unpredictable bitch, you know that, right?” He commented light-heartedly, withdrawing his hand.

Tension very slowly began to leave her shoulders and expression, her lips tugging into a near indetectable, small smirk.

“Someone’s got to keep you on your toes” She quipped.

The lopsided smile that he shot her made her knees utterly weak, though on the exterior, she remained in control.

Adam turned and leaned forward to place his hands on the desk at either side of the cake, bringing his face closer to the decorative icing.

“…Though, gotta say babe, your cake decorating skills ain‘t gonna be winning you any prizes anytime soon” He snorted.

Lute scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m not one for…creativity, Commander. I destroy things, I don’t make things. I certainly don’t usually decorate things…”

She cast another look down at her attempt at cake decoration, a perfectly timed gloop of white icing dripping off the side of the cake and plopping onto his desk beside where his hand was splayed wide.

He raised an eyebrow, shooting her a ‘no shit’ look over his shoulder.

“Just hurry up and blow out your candles” She ordered, though a small, amused smirk tugged at her lips.

He tilted his head, eyes filled with mischief.

“Aretch’ya supposed to sing me’ happy birthday’ first?” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Or, I guess, ‘happy Adam day’” He added with a snort.

She scoffed.

“Absolutely not”

“Nawwwww, why not Lutey-Patootie? I thought you wanted to do something ‘special’ for me?”

Her nose wrinkled at the nickname.

“There are many things I’d do for you sir, singing is not one of them” She stated simply.

“Oooo, there’s many things you’d do for me, hm?” His voice held a teasingly suggestive edge, eyes narrowed with mischief.

She was once again reminded of the warmth dusting her cheeks.

Though he didn’t comment further, instead turning back to the cake and looking down at it. A moment passed of him simply looking down at the cake with a genuine small smile.

She watched intently, an unfamiliar feeling twisting in her chest at the sincere look of appreciation that was on Adam’s masked face right now.

He then closed his eyes, blowing out the candles.

A moment passed before Adam’s eyes opened, gaze returning to hers.

“So…When does my wish come true?” He asked with a suggestive glint in his eyes.

There was a part of her that was surprised he’d made a wish.

“I suppose…That depends on what you wished for” She spoke lowly, wondering if he would elaborate.

“Mm, guess we’ll have to wait and see” He stated ominously, giving nothing else away.

The man then stood up straight, pointing a finger at the cake.

“So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how edible is this shit?”

She let out a half-offended scoff under her breath.

“Suitably edible, I assure you”

“Uh-huh, well, think I’m gonna need some proof”

His grin turned downright devious as the man dipped a gloved finger into the cake, swiping across and gathering a healthy blob of icing, gleaming eyes then shifting to her.

Adam stepped forward, holding the finger up to her lips.

“You first, Lieutenant”

Lute’s eyes widened, her head inching back a touch. Her eyes darted back and forth quickly between Adam’s masked face and his finger hovering at her lips, coated in white icing.

“Well? Come on then, not gonna refuse your Commander's orders, are ya?” He grinned tauntingly with narrowed eyes.

She stiffened, eyes still flicking between his finger and his hovering face, unsure if he was being serious. But as the man continued to smugly stare down at her with his finger held to her lips, not at all backing off, the realisation that he was being serious finally sank in.

With slow movements, she eventually obeyed, leaning forward as she held his gaze with purpose, golden eyes locked on his through her eyelashes. Her lips parted, wrapping around his gloved finger and her tongue danced over the tip, sucking the icing off.

Adam’s expression darkened, his eyes never once leaving hers as he watched.

She eventually pulled her lips back from his finger with an intentional ‘pop’, the leather around his finger now shiny from a coating of her saliva. She gave her lips a slow and purposeful lick. The man practically growled in response, the noise so quiet she nearly didn’t hear it

“There…See. It’s edible”

“Mm, sure” He mumbled disinterestedly.

“Though - I’m not particularly interested in the cake anymore-” The man commented offhandedly, stepping closer to her.

Before she could respond, his hands slipped around either side of her waist and Adam began corralling her forcefully backwards until her backside met the desk and she let out a small noise of surprise. Her hands shot out almost on instinct, latching onto the material of his robe.

“S-sir! What are you doing…” She breathed in surprise.

“Y’know, I think you deserve a little appreciation yourself, Lieutenant. You’ve always been my best girl, isn’t that right?”

The huge man towered over her as he always did. One of his hands once again came up to her face, this time grabbing her jaw a little more forcefully and keeping her chin tilted up.

Her current position pinned between his large frame and the desk, his firm hand on her jaw, and his comment about her being his ‘best girl’…It was all sending the best kinds of tingling warmth surging through her entire body.

“Weeellll? Isn’t that right?” He repeated, shaking her face a little to snap her out of her thoughts, clearly wanting some kind of acknowledgement.

She gave a small, hesitant nod – and he hummed approvingly.

“Mhm, that’s damn right. You’re always keeping up with me. Keeping the girls in line in training sessions, racking up wicked sinner kill counts every extermination day, fetching me my smoothies and shit when I ask – Hell, sometimes even when I don’t ask”

Her hands fisted harder into his robes, as if the holy white material was the only thing keeping her grounded right now.

The hand that wasn’t on her jaw crept down her hip, sneaking across the outside of her upper thigh. Her face moved instinctively to peer down at the motion, but his grip on her jaw tightened, authoritatively yanking her chin up again so that her eyes were forced back on his.

“And then this little number?” He cast a glance around the decorated room.

“-Always thinking of me, hm? Such a good girl for me”

A ‘good girl’…Those words of praise alone sent a jolt of heat shooting between her legs.

Her breath then hitched as the hand on her outer thigh inched round so that his thumb was inches from pressing up and beneath her dress, his grip firm and sinking into the soft flesh over top of her black leggings.

Nothing like this had ever happened before, not like this anyway…Sure, Adam had made his typical surface-level, crude, sexual remarks and mostly-unserious advances in Lute's direction in the past. But they were the same kind of superficial gestures every semi-attractive female in a 1-mile radius of the man would receive.

And as such, she’d always brushed him off. She was more than that. Just serving as his right hand gave her more pleasure than those mere shallow comments ever would.

But this? This felt much more than something shallow.

“It’s my job. To serve as your right hand. To make sure you have everything you need” She spoke in an uncharacteristically small voice, fighting to keep it from wavering.

He scoffed.

“Sure, it’s your job, but don’t think I don’t notice the way you constantly go above and beyond”

His thumb began rubbing slowly and tenderly back and forth across her jaw.

“Sometimes I’d even wager that maybe you’re getting more out of our little arrangement than just career satisfaction…” He snickered, stressing the last two words sarcastically.

“What do you mean…?”

“Well, I’m thinking maybe…Just maybe…You get off on it, Lieutenant” He drawled suggestively, eyebrows raised like he’s sure he’s just unravelled her secret.

Heat flushed up her neck and face at his suggestion, fingers tightening into the material of his robe.

“What?!” She snapped. “G-get off on…what exactly?” Her tone had lost its confidence, embarrassment causing her to sound less self-assured than the woman typically did.

“Don’t act dumb, bitch. That shit doesn’t suit you” He scolded playfully. “You know exactly what I mean. Getting off on serving me. Following my orders. Being my best girl… Always being my good girl”

He growled the last two words, those magic words leaving his lips a second time today. Her pussy practically clenched around nothing in response, her thighs pressing together and her entire chest rising with the quick breath she’d sucked in.

“Oh? You like being called that, do you?”

Fuck, she hated the way he could read her like an open book right now. She was usually much better at appearing level and unreadable, but right now her senses felt scrambled, her entire equilibrium off-balance.

His hand continued its journey up her thigh, his fingers brazenly pushing beneath her dress and slotting between her clenched thighs to brush over her clothed pussy. She gasped sharply in response, hips jutting forward at the touch.

The way his fingers brushed against her was testing, exploratory, like Adam was waiting expectantly for positive feedback before this went further.

And positive feedback she’d absolutely give him. Her hands on his robes yanked firmly to draw his body closer to hers, and her hips rocking as if silently begging for more.

He chuckled lowly in response and obliged, jutting a knee between hers and forcing her legs to spread slightly for him before rubbing his fingers more firmly, teasing her clit through the annoying layers of her leggings and panties which she wished would disappear right now.

Her lips parted, another small, breathy gasp being drawn from them, this time a little louder.

The hand that was on her jaw suddenly slipped down to her throat instead, fingers grasping firmly and forcefully jerking her closer to him, causing both her hands to instinctively fly up to latch onto his wrist.

He brought his face down to hover right beside her ear, the cool surface of his mask ghosting the side of her cheek.

“Do you have any idea how fucking long I’ve thought about touching you like this” He growled, almost angrily.

The hand between her legs snaked upwards, travelling up her body, smoothing over her curves and stopping to cup one of her breasts through her dress. She arched her back, pushing forward and welcoming the hungrily kneading fingers.

“Why didn’t you…” She questioned breathily.

He pulled his face back, staring down at her now.

“Didn’t seem like you’d be into it. You’ve always been uptight, babe, no offence”

She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Plus, I thought you were just a run-of-the-mill goody two-shoes bitch-”

He quirked a teasing eyebrow at her, suddenly forcing his thigh firmly between her legs, jolting her up onto her tiptoes as he pressed it solidly against her. She whimpered, eyes fluttering closed and her hips rocking.

“-But obvs now I see you’re actually a kinky little praise slut who’s totally got the hots for her Commander”

Lute’s eyes snapped back open, face hot and eyes sharp…Though she couldn’t even argue with him.

He was right, and she was reluctantly finally allowing herself to admit that - as scary and unfamiliar as it was to her to do so.

It didn’t stop her from glaring at him though, nor did it mean she was exactly ready to admit that out loud, either.

“I don’t know if I’d word it quite like that…”

“Oh? How would you word it then, sweetheart, cuz from where I’m standing, you’re practically riding my thigh like a little slut, getting all hot and bothered when I call you a good girl”

He gave a low mocking laugh as his fingers tightened around her throat, her body squirming pathetically against his broad leg.

“Shut up…” She snapped loudly, glaring up at him.

“Oh-ho-ho! There’s that fire I love to see. Was getting worried for a sec there babe, wondering where that Lute-branded-bite had gone!”

Her eyes flashed and in a quick motion, she put all her strength into shoving the man back, removing his leg from between hers, and yanking his wrist from her throat. She quickly spun him around, planting him against the desk now in a role reversal and revelling in the round-eyed shock displayed on his mask screen.

Though despite her holding him against the desk now, her frame was pathetically small compared to his. And she knew realistically, despite her strength and skill, the much larger man was letting her manhandle him like this. If he hadn’t wanted to allow her to get the physical upper hand, she wouldn’t have.

And for some reason, that just made it even hotter that - in a way - he was submitting to it. He was submitting to her. Even if it was on his terms, and surely wouldn’t last long either.

“My bite is always there, sir” She spoke lowly with narrowed eyes, though her lips quirked up into a small smirk.

Eventually, he scoffed, lips curling in smug amusement.

“Good to know. Though I already know all about your bite, the way your voice gets that evil fucking growl when you’re pissed, seen it a million times, been on the receiving end a few…”

He tilted his head before continuing.

“I wanna know what other sides to you there are, like how would you sound pinned under me. Bet you’re loud as fuck. One of those girls that acts like a bitch in heat when my cock’s impaling them, screaming and shit and-“

He was interrupted when her hand grabbed a fistful of his robe collar, yanking on it and dragging his face down to be level with hers.

“SH-” She shushed him harshly. “-Why keep talking about it when you could find out?” She challenged confidently.

His wide, rounded eyes regarded her briefly with shock before a dangerous smugness crossed them.

“You know, you’re right”

He seized her wrist and tore it away from his collar, straightening to his full height. His other hand then tangled firmly in her snow-white hair, yanking hard and forcing her head back.

“But don’t you fucking shush me, bitch” He snarled.

She gasped quietly, his tight fingers in her hair causing pleasant goosebumps to tingle across her skin.

Then - she chuckled.

An actual, genuine, full-blown chuckle.

He was frozen solid in shock for a second. Almost as though he was convinced he had hallucinated the sound.

“Are you…Are you fucking laughing at me right now?” He questioned incredulously.

“Perhaps” She purred with a sly grin.

“Oh, so you’re not only a slut for praise but you’re also a slut for punishment, huh?”

She raised a confused eyebrow with a soft snort.

“What makes you say tha-AH”

She suddenly found herself spun and launched forward, bent over his desk with her upper body being slammed down and pressed to the cool, polished surface.

His hand came down hard across her ass and she let out a surprised yip. A sharp tingling sensation danced across her skin in the most painful yet delicious way.

“Y’know…-” He began lazily rubbing his hand across the stinging skin, soothing the settling burn. “-I reeeaally fucking wanted to do that the other day. When the Princess bitch and Vagina were up here, remember? And you had the audacity to shush me“

Lute listened, still bent over his desk. She snorted with an eyeroll.

“You left out the part where I stopped you from getting us both in trouble by starting a fight and shouting at the top of your lungs about the exterminations in public”

The hand on her ass stilled at her response.

“If anything…You should thank me, sir” She added with a cheeky smirk.

Another smack landed even harder, this time on her other cheek. She wasn’t able to hold back the gasp it pulled from her lips.

“Oh-HO! I should THANK you?! That’s hilarious” He barked sarcastically.

He landed another firm smack, and this time instead of a gasp, she moaned.

“Mmm” He hummed, savouring the sound she’d made. “Definitely a slut for punishment, if that smart mouth and pretty little moaning is anything to go by”

He roughly grasped at her dress hem, yanking it up around her waist before unceremoniously hooking his fingers into the waistband of her leggings and yanking them down her thighs, leaving only her tiny, lacy black panties in place.

He gave a low whistle.

“Now I don’t think THOSE are uniform standard underwear, pretty girl”

Before she could speak, he landed another harsh smack - then another, and another. The leather of his glove was connecting directly with her soft flesh now, the sharp sound of the smacks echoing off the walls of his office. Lute yipped and gasped with each one, a wave of electric pleasure following every single jolt of pain.

He continued to rain firm smacks down across her ass, the meaty flesh rippling at the contact. The man was enjoying the breathy gasps and moans his punishing hand was drawing from her.

Her thighs clenched together and rubbed in a desperate chase of some kind of friction, her hands balled into tight fists against the desk. After several more smacks, he eventually paused, his hand rubbing across her burning backside.

“You gonna be a good girl now and drop the sass?”

A moment passed as Lute panted, catching her breath before turning her head ever so slowly, peeking back at him over her shoulder with sly and challenging eyes.

“I thought I was ‘always your good girl’?” She quipped with breathless mischief, quoting his earlier words.

Once again, his hand froze its soothing motions. He let out a loud, incredulous scoff at her sudden boldness

“Well, you fucking were, but apparently you’re also a bit of a brat, even more surprises, Lieutenant”

Another sharp smack landed, much harder than all the previous ones.

“AH!” She yelped as her entire body jolted halfway upright before a hand quickly grabbed the back of her neck - forcing her back down and holding her there.

“Okay!! O-okay…” She panted harshly. “I’ll be good” She finally relented as the extra sharp sting tingled into a painful yet pleasant warmth across the tender flesh of her backside. Though she was quite ready to behave now.

“Oh yeah? That right is it? After you literally JUST talked back again? NOW you wanna play nice?”

Lute nodded silently.

His hand ghosted over the blooming pink marks that he’d left across her otherwise pale skin, fingertips toying along the rim of her panties.

“No, too bad. Five more, and you’ll count these ones. Consider this a lesson on how I handle brats”

His words made her pussy clench, her hips rocked against nothing and she could feel the way she was utterly drenched, her panties slick between her legs. His hand remained firm on the base of her neck, keeping her bent over the desk.

A harsh, sharp smack struck her behind and she yelped, the noise melting into an embarrassingly needy whine. Her thighs locked tightly together, her clit begging for stimulation of some kind.

“Count, Lieutenant”

Adam spoke sternly, using that tone of his that he typically reserved for barking orders to the girls during training sessions.

“O-one,”

“Good girl”

His praise was brief and quickly followed up by the second smack, equally firm and on the other cheek.

“Mm - Two!”

This continued, a whiny ‘three’ and ‘four’ obediently following the smacks, a growing desperation in her tone.

“Last one” His voice had a low gravel to it now as he spoke.

He sure as hell made the last one count, her gasp was sharp and followed by a lewd whimper.

“Five…” She spoke shakily.

“There you go, you did well, such a good girl for me” He spoke softly, once again gently smoothing his hands over the now red marks on her skin.

The hand at the base of her neck finally released her, and the moment she’d regained her freedom she lifted herself upright, spinning to face him with her leggings still tangled around her thighs.

Her hair was dishevelled, white strands all frizzed and out of place, her face flushed and chest heaving. But most noticeable was the downright hungry look in her eyes as she peered up at Adam, like a small predator ambitiously eyeing up her over-sized prey.

Adam drank the look in, his glowing eyes taking on a darkened edge.

He then dipped down, large hands hooking around the backs of her thighs and hoisting her up, stepping forward and setting her ass down harshly on the desk.

She hissed in discomfort as her sore backside met the hard surface.

“Aww, does it hurt, sweet girl?-” He teased with a mock pout. “-That’s what you get” Adam concluded with a snicker.

She suddenly balled her fist, punching him in the shoulder and cutting his mocking laughter short.

“OW! The fuck?!” He exclaimed, jolting back a touch and nursing the spot where she’d landed her balled fist.

She then grabbed him by the robe at the centre of his chest, reeling him back in as her other hand shot down to grasp his hardened cock through his clothes.

The way he took in a quick breath and groaned in surprise as his face hovered just above hers made her entire body shiver in delight.

“Aww, did that hurt, sir?” She cooed in a mocking echo of his own taunt, palming the thick shape of his cock.

He moaned shakily, clearly wanting to form some kind of quick-witted response but his smart mouth fell short as she rubbed his throbbing dick harder and harder.

“Urgh…Evil bitch” He managed to sputter out, but allowed her to continue holding him close and work his length through his robe.

She craned her neck upwards to get her lips as close to the side of his mask as possible from her position.

“You love it, sir…”

He let out a strangled noise, somewhere between an amused scoff and a grumbled moan.

The man’s needy fingers then snaked between her legs, giving a few teasing rubs over the layer of her panties. He groaned as he felt how damp they had become, the material slick with her need.

Adam hooked a finger into the thin lace, pulling it roughly to the side and exposing her pussy to the open air. He traced her slit teasingly, her sensitive entrance throbbing at the sensation.

Her hand that had been groping him faltered a touch, the woman becoming unable to focus on anything but his teasing fingers between her thighs. She sucked in a quivering breath.

“So fucking wet for me” Adam muttered.

He pushed his fingers inside of her, sliding deeper effortlessly and curling them in firm and quick motions.

“Ah…!-“ She gasped, hands flying up to clutch onto his biceps through his baggy robe sleeves.

“Isn’t that right? All this-“ He withdrew his fingers, slick with her juices, and spread them over her pussy lips and inner thighs. “Just for me?”

“Y-yes sir…Just for you” She whimpered, hips rocking gently against his hand.

“Please, I need you, all of you…I need you inside me” She whispered breathily, wanting so much more than just his fingers.

She leaned forward and nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck, masochistically enjoying the sensation of the metal spikes on his robe collar prodding sharply at her skin.

“…Mm, don’t gotta ask me twice, babe” He breathed, his voice strained and shaky.

Without wasting another moment, the man began yanking his robe up with urgency, revealing the black cargo trousers beneath. They didn’t stay up long, though, as he shimmied them down along with his boxers.

His cock sprang free and Lute eyed it greedily. She knew he always bragged about his dick, how it was the best, the biggest, the OG, etcetera etcetera…But seeing it now first the first time, she finally had to agree, it WAS impressive.

The man grasped roughly at her knees, frantically attempting to force them wider apart, but quickly realising that her tangled leggings annoyingly restricted them.

Plus, with her over-the-knee boots in place, getting them fully down and off wouldn’t be a quick task.

He growled and didn’t even hesitate before grabbing them with rough hands. Lute realised his intentions and tried to intervene and stop him, but it was too late. The loud RIIPP of her lowered leggings being effortlessly torn in half at the crotch echoed through the room.

“Adam!” She squealed.

“Shut up” He murmured in response, stepping between her legs which he was able to effortlessly wedge wide open this time, her tattered leggings hanging off each leg.

All thoughts of protest were briskly silenced by the feeling of his thick member prodding between her legs, rubbing at her pussy lips and becoming slick with her juices.

He snaked a hand around to the back of her neck and then shoved her whole body back, keeping it leveraged at the perfect angle. She was positioned leaning back just enough for him to get the head of his cock against her entrance, sliding slick and easily in experimental and shallow thrusts.

Lute gasped breathlessly; the sensation of the head of his cock sliding in and out was otherworldly. His thick member stretched her more and more in increasing increments as he pushed in shallowly, withdrew, and then pushed in again a mere few centimetres deeper each time.

Her walls strained against him, the sensation on the brink of being painful, yet the waves of tingling pleasure made her eager for more regardless.

“Please…more” She breathed.

Though he continued his teasing and frustratingly shallow thrusts, not at all at the pace Lute wanted.

“I said more!” Lute snapped.

His gloved hand tightened at the base of her neck in response.

“Patience, slut. I’ve gotta work that tight little cunt of yours up to taking me fully”

She growled impatiently in response, though she knew he was right; he’d practically split her in half on his thick cock if they rushed.

Adam continued to inch deeper and deeper inside of her. The hand that wasn’t on the base of her neck latched onto her upper thigh, his thumb slipping between her folds and gently brushing over her clit while he continued feeding his cock deeper.

Lute whined, waves of pleasure rolling through her as he continued to stroke her clit and stretch out her walls.

After what felt like an eternity, he fully sheathed himself inside of her with one final thrust and she winced. Her pussy was slowly stretching, finally relaxing to accommodate his impressive size, though it was still a touch uncomfortable.

“You good, babe?”

Her eyes were scrunched shut, but she nodded quickly.

“I’m used to breaking bitches - but I can’t have my Lieutenant limping around, not when we’ve got an important-as-fuck extermination day coming up”

He sneered lowly with amusement, pulling back and looking down to see the length of his cock slick with her juices.

Her eyes fluttered open and she also peered down, staring lustfully at the lewd sight between her legs. He had retreated till just his head remained shallowly in her entrance.

Then, without any warning whatsoever, Adam snapped his hips forward again, his cock disappearing back into her pussy and hitting her cervix. She gasped sharply, body twisting but being held firmly in place by the hand at the base of her neck.

Adam’s hips began rocking at a steady pace, waves of rolling pleasure crashing through her in response. Her fingers dug into his arms sharply, clinging on like her life depended on it. Lute’s soft lips parted, small breaths of pleasure spilling from them as he continued to move his hips just perfectly.

Her golden eyes slid up to meet his masked face, studying the expression conveyed in dancing pixels, but it was hard to read sometimes. The LED screen only conveyed so much compared to the intricacies of what his actual face would be twisting into beneath it.

“Off…” She managed to whisper breathlessly.

“Hm?”

“Mask..off…please?”

She’d seen him with it off before, his face even more beautiful than she could’ve ever imagined, though much to her dismay, he didn’t remove it often.

Still though, there was a silver lining…That being that he’d only ever removed it in the past when it’d been just him and her in the privacy of his office, something that made her feel privileged…Chosen even.

Like he trusted her with something that he, for whatever reason, preferred to keep hidden away like a dirty secret.

Adam’s hips slowed to a stop, his head tilting while the expression on his mask remained hard to read. It was like he was hesitating, considering her request.

But after another moment, he conceded, and his hands moved up to grasp the mask and slipped it up and off his head. He set it down with a rough THUNK on the desk beside her.

She drank in the sight, his tousled, ash brown locks – messy and sticking up in haphazard directions from being stuffed under the mask. Those dark, thick eyebrows of his, always so expressive. And his blazing golden eyes, deep, beautiful, and like a window into his soul.

His eyes searched hers momentarily, then without warning he lunged forward, capturing her lips in a bruising, desperate kiss and before she knew it his hips were rocking again.

Her fingers darted up, tangling into the mess of hair on his head and holding tight for leverage, returning the kiss with equal passion.

She was somewhat surprised he was kissing her.

A kiss was intimate, an act that could be interpreted as deeper than a simple ‘fuck’. That paired with the knowledge he didn’t remove his mask often led her to the assumption all his one-nighter girls wouldn’t even have gotten to see him like this…Much less kiss him.

Yet here she was, his best girl getting ALL of him, all to herself.

Adam’s soft lips then broke the kiss, leaving her gasping for air while he trailed smaller kisses down her jaw that left her feeling dizzy and needy for more, so much more.

His lips felt amazing against her porcelain skin, soft, warm, delicate. The trail of kisses travelling from her jaw, down her neck, and then – OW!

A sharp gasp left her own lips as he clamped his surprisingly sharp teeth into the side of her neck. The sting of pain accompanied by the snapping of his hips made her whine in an animalistic manner.

The man sucked harshly, surely leaving her skin marked. Eventually, he pulled back.

“Something for the girls to gossip about” He snickered, lips brushing against her ear.

She felt the familiar rising urge to punch him again.

But as the rocking of his hips sped up and his cock continued to hit her sweet spot deep within repeatedly, she lost all fire, all thought - All she knew is she needed him to keep going.

Her hands clung desperately to him, pitifully soft whines leaving her lips. She’d never made noises like this with anyone. Though admittedly her few sexual experiences she’d had with men in the past had been…Disappointing, to say the least.

But this? This was the best sex she’d ever had, she didn’t even know it could feel this good.

Fuck…He really was the ‘Dick Master’. She couldn’t admit that out loud though, he’d never stop with the self-celebrations and ‘I told you so!’s.

Though she didn’t really need to say it out loud, the noises she was making and the speed at which she was hurtling towards her climax were testament. A particularly hard thrust had her crying out in pleasure, upper body nearly collapsing if it weren’t for his hand at the back of her neck.

“Yeah, that good baby? Fuck…Knew you’d be loud…” He muttered, his own voice growing a touch breathless.

The motion of his hips was also growing more desperate, more uncoordinated. The fingers around the nape of her neck were tightening almost painfully.

“Fuck…A-Adam, I’m so close…I’m…I’m gonna-“

“No. Not yet. You’ll wait” He growled.

She whined in response. Was he serious right now?!

“I can’t…”

“You can and you will, babe”

He purposefully slowed his thrusts, going from a snapping, stuttering motion to slower, more drawn-out thrusts that hit harder and deeper. Just as good, but a little easier to hold her orgasm off in spite of.

“You’re my best girl, remember? Never been one to disobey an order-“

His voice was firm as he continued driving his cock into her in measured thrusts.

“-So you’ll wait till I give you permission to cum on my cock. Got it, Lieutenant?”

He muttered lowly, nuzzling his face down into the crook of her neck, biting over the same spot he’d marked earlier and earning a sharp gasp and moan from her.

“Yes sir…” She whispered without hesitation, her entire core clenching and twitching around him, her orgasm practically right there -  but she resisted obediently.

“Good girl” His voice was gravely, low, and utterly intentional now that he knew her secret – How much she enjoyed hearing those words.

Knowing he was using his newfound knowledge of her turn-ons to hit advantage, to toy with her, to make her all the more desperate for him…It drove her nuts. Her thighs clenched around his hips, her entire lower body tensed as she continued to whimper in pleasure, teetering dangerously on her edge.

He kept this up for a little while, keeping her mercilessly right on that edge. Occasionally he would speed his thrusts up until she was whining in desperation, body squirming, fingers tightening, clearly fighting to remain in control.

He’d chuckle, revelling in her struggle, slowing back down again for a while before repeating the torture.

After a few repetitions of this, her patience snapped.

“Adammm...” She whined.

“Something wrong?” He asked with a shit-eating grin, though his voice was a little shaky now, his own pleasure evident in the growing breathlessness of his words.

“I want to cum” She demanded roughly.

“Do you now?”

“Adam!-“

“Ask nicely and mmayyybbeee I’ll let ya” He leaned in close, planting small kisses behind her ear.

“Urgh please! For the love of all that is holy – Please sir!” A string of begged words tumbled from her lips.

“Awh, well, since you asked so nicely –“ He began pounding into her at a brutal pace, his fingers lacing into her hair and holding tight.

“You can cum, sweet girl, cum nice and hard for me on this cock like a good little slut”

His breathing grew ragged as it was clear he was now chasing his own climax too.

Pure relief washed over her as she stopped holding back, allowing herself to go practically limp in his grasp while he pounded into her without resistance.

The familiar feeling of the tightening in her lower belly grew, each sharp snap of his hips driving her closer and closer, the knot within her growing tighter and tighter. Until eventually, her resolve snapped, her orgasm hitting hard and causing her to lose complete control of herself in the process.

Desperate moans left her lips, her entire body convulsed while her walls twitched and pulsated around his cock. He held her steady, though, thrusting hard and deep.

He was quickly also pushed over that same edge too, his thrusts stuttering into a rhythmless chase of pleasure while her pussy throbbed around him. His warm cum filled her up, continuing to pump her full until eventually he’d drawn every drop of pleasure from the both of them.

The man pulled back, chest heaving as his cum partially drizzled out of her pussy and onto her inner thighs. With his grasp no longer on the nape of her neck she was forced to hold herself upright, though it felt like a monumental task with the way her muscles felt as though they’d turned to jelly.

“Fuck…” She muttered breathlessly.

“Mm…Good shit” He breathed in a chuckle, taking a steadying couple of breaths before moving to fix his pants and robe back into place.

She was not as lucky in the clothing department, given the state he’d left her leggings in, not to mention his cum which was slowly dripping out of her. After another moment of catching her breath, she pushed herself fully upright, slipping off the desk and back onto her feet.

With a sigh she leaned down and ripped the remainder of her tattered leggings off, pulling her panties back into place despite his cum and shuffling her dress back down. She’d just have to rock the no leggings look and hope no one had the confidence to question her on it…

A moment of heavy silence passed, and Lute reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. She peeked her golden eyes up at him through her lashes.

“So…I guess safe to say, you’ve enjoyed your ‘Adam Day’ so far?” She asked, a small, cautious smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

Adam scoffed amusedly.

“Psht…Stupid question, babe. I got cake and pussy. It’s been the best fuckin’ day ever!”

Her smirk widened at his words, as crude as they were, it filled her with pride to know she’d done well – She’d made him happy.

“Though don’t act like I’m the only one who got something out of this …I’m actually starting to think this was all part of you plan. Seduce me with cake and shit so that you could finally have your way with me like you’ve clearly been dreaming of for a while now”

He leaned his face down uncomfortably close to hers and wiggled his eyebrows. She snorted, batting him away.

“No, believe it or not, my plan initially did not stretch beyond innocent cake giving and decorations…”

“There was NOTHING innocent about the way you sucked that icing off my finger, you filthy bitch” He grinned sharply.

“YOU are the one who initiated that, not me. And I’ll have you know it was entirely innocent-“ She smirked slyly, tone clearly mocking. “Just because your mind lives in the gutter doesn’t mean mine does, sir”

“Oh really? You’re telling me you’re just little Miss Innocent, totally the stuck-up bitch I had you pinned as this whole time?” He raised an eyebrow. “Naw, I call bullshit, you’re downright filthy. Bet you’ve even touched yourself to the thought of me before too, hm?”

That caught Lute off-guard, her face flushing and words failing her.

“Oh-ho-HO!” He jabbed an accusatory finger in her direction. “Fuckin’ KNEW it! My goody-two-shoes little Lieutenant’s been rubbing herself off to the thought of her Commander, huh?”

She huffed agitatedly, rolling her eyes.

“Just…Shut up”

“Damn babe, I’m almost annoyed at how long I’ve had you all wrong! I mean, I always had my suspicions that you were secretly into me, but what chick with at least one functioning brain cell WOULDN’T be into me?”

“The more you talk, the less attractive you get. Do you know that?” She muttered, eyes half lidded with mild irritation.

He smirked, unoffended by her comment.

“The more you talk, the more attractive you get” He retorted, once again catching her off guard.

He tilted his head to the side, eyes studying her momentarily before continuing.

“You’re one hell of a good soldier, Lute, you follow orders and get shit done, and I like that about you. But you challenge me too, just the right amount” He stepped closer, fingers coming up to her chin.

“You’ve got serious fire, I like a bitch with some fire. Hell, you even scare me sometimes, it’s terrifying” He grinned toothily before continuing. “…hot-as-fuck though” He wiggled his eyebrows.

She tried  - and failed - to hold back a small, snorted laugh. A genuine giggle. The noise sounded foreign even to her.

His eyes lit up gleefully.

“Y’know, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh, like actually. Not some sadistic fucking cackle while you rip a sinner cunt’s head off, or a bratty chuckle like earlier-“ He rolled his eyes at the memory “-just a real laugh…”

His blazing eyes remained trained on hers and she felt her chest tighten at his genuine words.

She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could manage.

“First time for everything I suppose…Including the first ever ‘Adam Day’”

“So’s this gonna be a yearly tradition now, hm?” He brushed another messy couple of strands of her hair tenderly behind her ear.

Lute nodded with a small smirk.

“Welp, you’ve got a whole year to improve on your shitty cake decorating skills then, Lieutenant, hop to it” His hand suddenly left her face, coming down in a playful swat on her ass that made her jump up onto her tip toes with a yelp.

“Hey!” She swatted his arm sharply but was grinning ear to ear. “I did by best…”

“Course you did, my best girl” He winked down at her in a way that made her legs feel weak.

“Now you should probably get going. The girls will be waiting for you in the training hall pretty soon”

She glanced at the clock on the far wall, and he was right, the morning training would be commencing soon and it wouldn’t start without her there to direct.

“Plus we have a hella important extermination day coming up. Gotta take down that shit-cunt hotel and all the fuckers in it” His eyes grew dark, his grin smug and dangerous.

Determination buzzed behind her eyes.

“Yes sir” She nodded curtly, professionalism creeping back into her demeanour.

“Wonder how many questions you’ll be getting about the lack of leggings and THAT beauty” He jutted a finger to the mark he’d left on the side of her neck,

“Yeah…Thanks a lot for that”

“Welcome, baby cakes” He commented, smugly strolling around his desk and plopping down in his chair.

He leant back and snapped his fingers, summoning a silver fork and snatching it out of thin air. The man then leaned forward, dragging the cake plate closer to him and digging the fork directly into it, crudely carving out a forkful.

“Wanna share some cake before ya go?” He asked, words muffled with a mouthful of cake.

“No thank you, sir, it’s all yours. I don’t particularly like cake”

“Mm, unless you're sucking off my fingers right?” He commented nonchalantly while continuing to stuff his face, though there was clear mischief in his voice.

She scoffed and shook her head in exasperation at how happy he looked with himself.

“Sure, whatever you say” She muttered, though amusement was evident in her tone.

The woman then turned sharply and advanced towards the door of his office. As much as she deeply wished to stay longer, she had duties to attend to and Lute was not one to skimp on her duties, nor be late to them.

She reached the door, opening it and hovering in the doorway before shooting him a look over her shoulder.

“Adam?”

He tilted his head.

“Mhm?”

 “What did you wish for?” She asked suddenly.

He paused for a moment, then his grin widened.

“Thought you’re not ‘sposed to tell people what ya wish for?

She huffed, resigning herself to dropping the question, turning away from him once more to leave. But not before Adam added:

“Besides, it already came true”

Nerves churn in your stomach as you stand at your kitchen counter, re-reading the invite that was scribbled on a napkin corner for the millionth time.

‘Plume Palace in the main square.

Meeting at the ruby fountain at 7.45 pm :)’

The directions from Carson naturally meant nothing to you until you had looked up the place on your phone.

You found the so-called ‘Plume Palace’, listed online as a highly popular and somewhat fancy-looking bar/club. From the pictures online you could see that at the exterior of the club entrance, there was a stunning fountain. Unmistakably that was the meeting point he had mentioned.

You wished he’d left a phone number or something, you wondered if maybe he didn’t use a phone at all?

You’re sure Adam would’ve laughed his head off at your expense if he knew that all you’d been left with was a place, a time, and a blind hope that the guy would be there when you showed up.

You had used your Saturday morning to visit the local mall for the first time, there were a lot of things you needed to pick up given the fact you had only been provided with the bare minimum in terms of clothing and other necessities. But your boss Sera had provided you with a lump sum of money to use for this exact purpose.

On your trip, among the general casual clothes and other items you needed, you picked out a nice outfit for the evening. Given how nice this bar looked, you wanted to try and match the vibe.

Your choice had been a black halter-neck dress, the fit was body con but the material had small ruffles that complimented your curves and added some texture. It was fairly simple, yet elegant nonetheless.

It was already just past 7 pm and time for you to leave, you fight to slip into the small, simple jacket you had picked out, still getting used to finding the wing holes in new garments.

You had looked up the time to travel to this bar earlier, discovering that the map app on your phone showed that flying would take 20 minutes.

Given that wasn’t an option for you, you had selected the next recommended way, a public transportation called the SkyLine which promised to get you to your destination within just under 40 minutes.

The SkyLine was an interesting experience, it was a tram-like shuttle that lowered to the group at each stop and raised above the buildings flying through some sort of heavenly magic between destinations. You felt comfortable to see many others with wings just like yours using this transport, it was the first time seeing newer angels like you since your intro.

You arrive at the final stop, the sky was gradually darkening as the evening progressed, although you’d noticed it never got uncomfortably dark in Heaven.

You spot the fountain that you had briefly seen in the pictures online. It was even more stunning in person, the base was huge, with a massive statue of an angel reaching their hands upwards towards the sky.

In their hands sat a large red ruby stone, it glistened beautifully in the fading light. Water poured from the palms of the hands too, giving the whole scene an ethereal look.

“Hey!”

A voice interrupts your gawking, and you look to the other side of the fountain to see Carson, you’d been so distracted you hadn’t noticed him, he waves you over with a smile. You see that he is standing with two other angels, another man and a woman.

The man looks a similar age to him…or at least, a similar age in body. Did everyone keep their body at the age they died or did they get to choose how their physical appearance manifested after death? Yet another question for another time.

Both Carson and the other man were dressed in suits that erred on the side of smart casual. You couldn’t put your thumb on what, but you just knew from looking at them that the suits were not quite the kind you’d see people wearing in your century. Which made sense given Carson’s origination from the 19th century.

The woman looked a touch older in the face, perhaps in her late 30s, and she was dressed much differently. She wore a long ankle-length beige and white dress, with puffy elbow-length sleeves and a corset cinching in her waist. Her dark brown hair was curly and beautifully voluminous.

“Hello sugar, glad to see you came along”

Carson greets you with a warm smile, he stretches out a hand behind your back, welcoming you into the group.

“This is the little lady I told you two about”

He says to the other angels with him, who both give welcoming smiles.

“This here is Travis, we hung in the same circles when we were alive, we were partners in crime eh?” He introduces the other man.

Travis grins at that.

“Indeed we were, lovely to meet you"

The man gracefully takes your hand in his and presses a delicate kiss to your knuckles.

“And this is Anne, mother of the group, ain’t that right darlin’?”

He addresses the woman, who bats his arm away from your lower back playfully.

“Manners Carson” She scolds playfully with a light-hearted laugh. She has a strong British accent, and you idly think how much that makes sense given her attire.

“It’s a pleasure to have you here, hope you can hold your liquor though, these two drink like fish”

Carson and Travis seem to chuckle in agreement at that.

“Thank you, it’s lovely to meet you both” You smile.

“Right let's head in, got a whole bunch-a friends already inside, they didn’t wanna waste time when there were shots on the horizon”

Carson ushers the group to begin moving towards the entrance. Anne and Travis walk ahead of you two and the man leans over a touch closer to you.

“You look ravishing by the way, sugar” He comments, and it catches you a touch off guard.

“Oh, th-thank you! As do you” You return the compliment, flattered by his words.

Hm, maybe Adam was right - you think to yourself.

Well, fuck him either way, you were open to getting to know Carson, besides it was just a small compliment. AND the first man had no claim on you regardless, as you had made a point of in his office yesterday.

The inside of the bar was astonishing. You weren’t sure if bar or club was the right word, it was a buzzing atmosphere.

Music rumbled through the entire building, the inside was dimly lit with light effects beaming across the vast dance floor and bouncing off bottles that lined the multiple bars dotted around the room.

The pair walking ahead of you seem to immediately spot a rather large gathering of angels huddled around one of the booth seating areas, and they begin waving and hurrying over. Carson however stops and offers a wave and a smile from a distance but stays by your side, he then leans in closer to you once more.

“Shall we grab a drink?” He asks loud enough to be heard over the music, and you’re grateful to see he didn’t just abandon you the moment he saw others he knew. You nod appreciatively and approach the bar with him.

“This one’s on me, sugar. As long as ya let me surprise you with my choice”

You smile and agree with a thanks. Suddenly you feel your phone buzz in your pocket.

As Carson turns his head away, focusing on grabbing the attention of the bar staff, you pull out your phone and check your notifications.

You feel a concoction of dread and annoyance when you see who you had received a message from, but behind those emotions was a slither of excitement that made you question your own sanity.

~ How’s the date going ~

It was a pretty blunt and simple message from Adam. One that you weren’t even sure if you should humour with a response, before you can decide Carson is handing you a drink, prompting you to put your phone away.

“This here is my favourite cocktail” You take the glass appreciatively and he raises his to cheers you.

“To your first week in Heaven!” He says.

“To your 140th year in Heaven” You correct, smiling.

He chuckles and you both take a sip. It’s ironic to say, but it tastes heavenly. It was some sort of fruity cocktail mixture that immediately burns in your stomach in a pleasant way.

Carson seems pleased with your reaction and leads you both over to his group of friends, you’re grateful to have the social support of a glass in your hand.

The group must’ve been over 25 people, many chatting away in their own smaller circles, but the vast majority turn to Carson and greet him with a resounding chorus of cheers and ‘Happy Ascension anniversary’s as you suppose that’s what they called this kind of day.

The man gives you a small reassuring touch at your lower back again before moving into the group to do the rounds and give a proper hello to his friends.

You anxiously stand there clutching your glass with both hands and taking slightly overzealous gulps to quell your nerves.

You feel your phone buzz again, another confusing flurry of annoyance mixed with excitement buzzing at your fingertips as you pull it out to check.

~ leaving me on read? cold af babe ~

You scoff at his self-importance.

~ I told you, it’s not a date. Just meeting new friends at a bar ~

His reply is instant.

~ suurreee, watchya wearing then ~

You can't help the amused smile that crosses your lips. Before you can reply there’s another message.

~ send me a pic ~

You nearly laugh. No way were you doing that.

~ No ~

~ no one says no to me babe ~

~ That’s pretty funny considering I just did ~

You were getting bold, the physical distance between yourself and the first man paired with the low burn in your stomach from the alcohol was making you feel overly confident.

~ careful girlie ~

His warning dulls that confidence just a touch.

From your peripherals you see Carson re-approaching you and so you put your phone away.

“You newer generations and your addictions to those little rectangles” He chuckles light-heartedly.

“Sorry hah, do you not…have one then?” You ask softly, not wanting to seem like you were desperate for his phone number or anything, even though that would be nice.

He shakes his head.

“Nah not me, Travis however is a little tech addict, he found it a lot easier to get on with them new age screens and devices and such, as for me though I’m stuck in my ways I’m afraid”

“Nothing wrong with that! Just means we will have to communicate via post, and…I don’t know…smoke signals?”

You joke, and it earns a hearty laugh from the man.

“You’re a funny gal y’know. Hey, maybe I’ll get one, even Anne has a mobile device and she’s a good couple of centuries older than I am! Been nagging me to catch up, the pair of them”

You spend the next hour and a half chatting primarily with the initial trio, however as time goes by, and as drinks are sunk, you gain more confidence and more of the group’s friends join your little circle. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket again but are too busy chatting to look this time.

You enjoy holding conversations with more of Carson’s friends, finding a pattern in how they react to learning what kind of job you had been landed with on your first week in Heaven.

It was a confusing mixture of reassuring and concerning. You were glad that you weren’t wrong for feeling something was strange about the decision, however equally uneasy at the confirmation. But you were having way too much of a good time to worry about work.

Carson and his friends had ensured a very steady flow of drinks your way, and before you realised it, you were definitely feeling quite drunk.

“I need the toilet” You announce unceremoniously at some point after finishing another drink.

“Oh the toilets are just round that corner, deary” Carson directs you. You make your way to the toilet, head feeling like it wants to float up into the clouds.

Once you’ve finished and washed your hands you absentmindedly pull out your phone, you see an unread message from Adam and laugh to yourself, realising you’d forgotten all about him until now

~ what bar did u end up going to anyways? ~

The message read, received about 45 minutes ago.

You weren’t sure answering that question was a good idea, you felt you couldn’t entirely put it past him to show up uninvited.

~ One that has drinks ~

You smile at your own stupid sarcasm. His status flicks to online quickly. Desperate much - you think to yourself with a giggle.

~ ur fucking kidding me, a bar with drinks, never seen such shit in all my years. u little smart ass ~

His teasing words make you grin like an idiot. The sober part of your brain buried somewhere deep under at least five cocktails murmurs that you should put your damn phone down now. But nah. You decide you aren’t listening to her right now.

~ hey, fuk you, you’re a waaaaaay bigger smart ass than me ~

Your message is playful, and you pause for a moment to consider your next message before giggling to yourself and deciding you’re following through.

~ and tbh youre also super annoying, like, has anyone ever told you howw annoying you are? ~

You’re now full-on laughing to yourself, alone in the bathroom.

~ ur totally drunk lol ~

~ and how would you know ~

~ u wouldn’t be talking back to me like that if you weren’t wasted af ~

~ it’s not talking back its stating facts actually ~

You’re rather happy with your retort.

~ if I was there with u id have u on ur knees with ur mouth too full to give me that sass. theres a fact for u ~

Your thumb freezes, hovering above the keypad poised for a witty response. But the message had completely stopped you in your tracks as an embarrassing wave of arousal shot straight between your legs at his words…It was just the alcohol making you feel this way, right?

~ how bout this, u send me a nice lil pic and I won’t bring this up on Monday morning, hmm? ~

You blanch at that, not considering until now through your alcohol-clouded haze that your taunting words could potentially haunt you when you’re next forced to see him again.

~…what kind of picture exactly ~

You ask, sceptically.

~ Hey, im not a total creep babe, just wanna see u all dolled up 😉~

You beg to fucking differ on that first statement, given one of your first interactions involved him urging you to get undressed in the middle of your lunch break.

But you didn’t want to dig a deeper hole, and part of you revelled in the idea of showing off how you looked. He had been so intent yesterday on telling you all the ways he’d have you wanting him, maybe you could make him see it might be the other way around.

You cast aside your pride as you intentionally hike up the hem of your dress, just a touch, making sure he was going to get an eyeful of your upper thighs.

You snapped a picture in the floor-length bathroom mirror, flashing a sweet and innocent smile.

The way your dress hugged each and every dip and curve of your body was perfect. The picture you had taken definitely did your figure justice in the tight, black dress.

You sent him the picture and shoved your phone back into your pocket, too nervous to wait around for his reply. You forced yourself back out of the bathroom, intent on distracting yourself from your nerves with the company of friends.

You discover the group you had left in the same spot and rejoin them, instantly finding Travis handing you another drink. These angels were dangerous for your health.

As you listened to the current booze-fuelled ongoing debate around whether it’d be easier to fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses, you felt your phone buzz once again.

You pulled it out tentatively.

~ Good girl, u look hot af. Hot enough that I'll let your sass slide ~

Your knees go entirely weak at his response. Something about earning his praise sent pure shockwaves of excitement through you in a way you could have never predicted.

You quickly put your phone away again, not wanting anyone to see the messages between you and the first man.

A little more time passes sharing laughs and jokes amongst the group before Carson places a hand at your lower back like earlier.

“Hey sugar, I don’t know about you but we were thinking of making a move, you coming?”

You’re glad for his question, because you did in fact feel ready to call it a night. You exit towards the fountain along with Travis and Anne. The outside air is incredibly refreshing as it hits you and you breathe it in deeply.

Carson tells the pair to give him a moment to walk you the short distance (literally across a single walkway) to the SkyLine stop, and they both give you a drunken hug good bye, chattering about how good it was to meet you. You chuckle and return their sentiment, finding it rather hilarious how wasted the pair were. Even if you were a touch unsteady on your own feet.

You walk with Carson over to the stop where the SkyLine was due to arrive any moment.

“Well thanks for joining me t’night darling, I had a great time”

“As did I! It was so nice to meet people, your friends are wonderful…thank you for inviting me” You smile sheepishly.

“Y’sure you’re alright getting home like this? I could always fly you there, y’know”

You blush at the offer.

“That’s kind of you but really, it’s okay thank you”

As the SkyLine is approaching the stop Carson pulls you forward gently and places a single kiss on your cheek which you don’t resist.

You couldn’t help but internally compare the man before you and the man whose messages had been buzzing in your pocket all night, they were like night and day.

One soft, respectful, and clearly taking things slow. The other rough, rude, and unforgivingly forward. How you’d attracted the attention of solar opposites within mere days of being here you weren’t sure.

“Get home safe, sugar”

You nervously enter the Food Court. It was busier than any time you'd ever been here so far.

The room was alike a large fancy buffet. The outskirts of half the room were lined with various food options and the centre of the room was filled with tables and chairs, many occupied by all sorts of high-ranking angels and Seraphim.

There were also some angels who looked like staff members on their lunch break. Including others who were working as servers, flittering between the tables to clear and re-set them with clean cutlery.

Even those angels who were working subjectively low-level jobs like setting tables made you feel conspicuously out of place, they at least had fully developed wings, and a far more self-assured demeanour. Meanwhile your small wings and timid temperament made you feel like you stuck out like a sore thumb.

You duck your head, trying your best to be unseen as you grab a plate and approach the nearest buffet selection. To your dismay you do not recognise a single dish, they all looked like strange stews, off-putting in smell and colour. Not to mention you had no idea what anything was.

“You there look like a new face, m’lady”

A male voice breaks you out of your anxious spiral and you look up to see a staff member behind the buffet counter.

He is a young-looking man with short brown hair and a full, well-groomed beard and moustache. His voice holds a Western accent, the kind you had a distant recollection of hearing in cowboy movies.

“Oh, I…I am. First week in Heaven” You reply pathetically, not sure what else to say. His eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

“First week y’say? Well I’d be directing you this way little lady, the stuff over here, lets just say between you’n me, its for the more elderly angels” He makes his voice low and laughs.

“C’mon over, lemme show ya”

The man walks along the staff side of the buffet, directing you past many dishes before he stops in front of a selection.

“Now, I’d say you’ll at least recognise a thing or two here, none of those proper old-age recipes”

He points to the dishes in front of you with a tong.

And he was right, there were simple things that you could at least identify, such as steamed vegetables, various meats, even fully-made sandwiches. You were happy just to see food that you knew what to expect from.

“Oh, yes! Thank you so much…-?”

“Carson’s the name, miss”

“Well, thank you, Carson. As you can probably tell…I’m still getting used to things”

You huff, getting the sense this man isn’t quite as far from your day and age as the others you had been interacting with up until now.

“It’s my pleasure, m’lady. I must say though, you are certainly the first proper new arrival I've seen working in this establishment”

He seems to give a glance towards your wings, a continuous reminder of your ‘heavenly’ age.

“It's… a long story, I don’t even fully get it myself to be honest. Just sorta going with the flow I guess…”

You begin to pick at a few of the foods in front of you, pulling them onto your plate.

“It’s indeed out of the ordinary miss, I’ll say!” He comments.

“How about you? If you don’t mind me asking - how long have you been in Heaven?” You ask, curious of the mans own heavenly age.

“Well I myself am actually approaching a milestone”

You pause your motions on the food before you, eyes flicking up to his.

"Oh?"

“Yep, will be my 140th year in Heaven tomorrow!”

He announces excitedly. You subtly break down the math in your head, coming to the realisation you were speaking to someone who lived and died in the 1800s.

Somehow, that fact actually made you feel more comfortable.

“Oh, well, congratulations!”

You're unsure if 'congrats' was the right thing to say but you gave a genuine smile either way. You were happy to be interacting with someone atleast somewhat close to your age comparatively.

You supposed people up here celebrated ‘heavenly arrival days’. It was somewhat a morbid idea, given it was technically their death date. Not that you’d be questioning that right now.

“Thank you kindly, deary. Say, you wouldn’t be interested in coming along to celebrate with me and a few friends tomorrow, would ya?”

That catches you off guard for a moment, and he quickly follows up on his invite.

“Not to pressure ya! But listen, it wasn’t all too long ago I was on my first week too. And lemme just say, I wish I had more support than I did! It’s good to make a few friends yknow? Especially working in a place like this”

He gives a pointed look to the ancient individuals around the room.

“How bout this, I’ll write out the info about where we are going and what time, and you either come or ya don’t, no hard feelings!”

Before you can say anything he’s tearing the corner off a napkin and hurriedly scribbling down the info on it.

“Here”

He hands it to you through the buffet counter. You take it and give him a small smile.

“Like I said sugar, no pressure”

He smiles kindly before wandering off in the staff area behind the buffet. You force yourself to contain the giddy excitement you feel, you did want to make some friends here…

You pocket the invite before taking your plate of food to the most empty-looking corner of the room. How glad you were that you had pushed yourself to face the ‘scary’ food court alone!

However the thought must’ve had the supernatural power to curse your very soul.

Just as you take the first bite of your food, a face which was becoming all too familiar seems to pop up out of nowhere, leaning down to your level which causes you to flinch your head backwards and freeze mid-chew.

“Sup short-stuff, saw you flirting with the wait staff. Pretty low rolling if ya ask me”

He pulls out the chair opposite you completely uninvited and takes a seat, leaning back casually.

“You realise I’M the original dick right? All dicks descend from me. And you think you want some chef boy’s dick?”

He scoffs, and while your fork hovers in mid-air still frozen in shock, he leans across the table swiping your plate of food from you and plucking your fork out of your hand before helping himself. You finally snap out of it and swallow the mouthful you had taken.

“I…I wasn’t flirting!?”

You didn’t address the ‘original dick’ comment, his insinuation had made your face feel warm.

“Oh, sure. And that’s not his number in your pocket huh?”

His words are muffled as he speaks with his mouth full of your lunch and he wiggles his eyebrows.

Your shoulders hunch in annoyance. You chance a sideways glance and are thankful to see that he at least hadn’t drawn any attention to your table, the corner you sat in was fairly far from any other angels.

“Why would you care even if it is?”

You grumble and cross your arms defensively, being a little more assertive with the man.

“Gotta keep an eye on my subordinates, seeing as your my new personal assistant – your business is my business”

“Uh - no I’m not. I’m a general assistant in this building, not your assistant”

You realise maybe you were getting a little too confident with him, as his eyes fixate on you and darken at that, although a mischievous smirk plays on his mask screen.

“Listen, babe. You’re whatever the fuck I say you are”

He points the fork at your face.

“Got it?”

A defiant part of you wants to challenge him, but you felt that would probably be a mistake. Instead, you nod meekly.

He sets down the fork down with a rough clatter and leans over the table, snatching your jaw in his massive hand and squeezing your cheeks.

“Let's get this straight –“

Your eyes fly open wide in surprise and you look around again, this time desperately, hoping someone might be watching and would help. But Adams's massive figure pretty much blocked you from anyone's view.

“When I ask you a question, you reply. And when you reply, it’s either ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir’. Think you can get that through your cute little head?”

One of his fingers strokes the edge of your jaw softly while he grins at you.

"Yes sir..."

You reply in a practically whispered voice.

“Good”

He releases you and slinks back into the chair again, going back to stabbing through your food, face seeming to convey disdain for what he found on your plate. You sit in stunned silence.

“You should totally try the ribs by the way, they’re the best shit here”

He had completely switched back to acting all casual with you once again, it made your head spin. You absentmindedly rub your jaw, still feeling the ghost of his touch.

“Would be great to try anything I picked up, really…”

You can’t help the sarcastic comment from slipping out. He snorts though, amused.

“Why didn’t you just ask, here –“

He stabs a piece of veg on the end of the fork and holds it towards your lips, motioning as if he expected you to lean forward and take it with just your mouth. You jolt back, not at all willing to let that happen.

“On second thought, I’m good thanks”

“Naw y’know what, it’s because there's too much green shit on this plate”

He comments as if that was your reason for declining, and not -1. Him stealing your food, and -2. Then attempting to feed you it.

He snaps his fingers and the original plate is replaced by two plates of ribs, the kind you assume he was mentioning earlier.

“There, try those, they’ll rock your world babe trust me”

You eye the dish, it did look delicious, but you weren’t one for eating such messy food in a public setting.

Did he create these out of nothing, or was there a spot somewhere else in this room where two plates of ribs had just disappeared mysteriously?

He wastes no time tucking in, and you now take note of the fact that when he brings food up to his masked mouth it phases through the screen. You supposed if summoning plates of ribs and travelling via portal were possible, then it wasn’t totally outlandish to assume his mask had some weird angelic magic happening with it.

“Um, thank you – thank you sir, but I’m wearing white and really can't afford to get my work shirt dirty”

You give him a sheepish smile, ignoring the fact that he was also wearing white. Although he was somehow avoiding spilling any of the sauce down himself, like a rib-eating pro.

“Mhm, so take the shirt off?”

He speaks with his mouth full and once again wiggles his eyebrows at you with a suggestive smirk.

“I’m sure your little chef lover-boy over there would enjoy the view”

He stabs a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of where the man Carson had been working.

“I mean he’d have to be gay to not enjoy it. I'm not gay by the way so don’t worry about offending me or anything, you can go ahead and get those buttons undone”

You’re blushing at this point, feeling taken aback by this man's forward and flirtatious way of talking to you.

“Oh hey guys!”

Your eyes snap up to see Emily and Sera approaching your table. Glad to have a distraction from the conversation at hand.

“We were just passing through, didn’t expect to see you two having lunch together, how nice!”

Emily clasps her hands together happily, clearly missing the ‘SOS help me’ plea in your eyes.

“Yes, it's wonderful to see you two getting along”

Sera adds, smiling warmly down at you both.

“I told you Sera babe, I just got that charm with the 21st-century chicks”

He smirks cockily and you shoot him an incredulous look. He was the one who invited himself to your table!? Not the other way around.

Sera seems generally bemused by his antics either way.

“Sure, Adam” She gives him a deadpan look before looking to you with a smile.

“Enjoy your lunch, dear”

She doesn’t give Adam the same sentiment, although he either doesn’t notice her scornfulness towards him or simply doesn’t care.

You give the two Seraphim a polite bow of your head as they move along, leaving the Food Court through the far side exit.

When you look back at Adam he’s leaning back lazily in his chair, a toothpick he conjured from somewhere in his mouth as he picks at his teeth. The ribs in front of him were stripped bare and you gape.

“How’d you eat so quickly?!"

“How’d you eat so slowly. Have you even taken a single bite yet?”

“No, I told you I can’t. Not in my work uniform, and NO, I am not taking it off” You clarify before he can try that one again.

He smirks, raising one eyebrow.

“Mhhmmm, so what you’re really saying is ‘Oh Adam, please take me out after work so that I can enjoy some ribs in your company without ruining my pritsy self-image’?” He mocks a in feminine, high-pitched voice.

“What?! No, that’s not what I was saying” You’re defensive now.

“Okay short-stuff, we’ll see how long until I’ve got you begging on your knees for some private time with me. Won’t take long at all I’ll bet”

You hate the way a rush of warmth runs through your entire body at his suggestive words, completely shocked at how forward he was being.

The man flicks away the toothpick somewhere onto the floor nearby and stands from his seat.

“Weelllp, was great for you to join me for lunch but I gotta get going. Daddy’s got some real work to do”

He saunters past you while you’re still seated at the table, and pinches your cheek playfully to which you have to resist the urge to bat him away.

“Enjoy filling out my paperwork for the rest of the day like a good little assistant” He says smugly before wandering out the same exit Emily and Sera had gone through.

Filling out his paperwork...? He hadn’t given you any…

You turn back to the table and your eyes fly downwards. The untouched plate of ribs had transformed at some point into a hefty stack of golden papers, from the top one you see they’re Adam’s. You sigh, exasperated.

You spend the next couple of hours sorting through the papers Adam had left you with. Much to your frustration, you notice many of these sheets are dated months back, some even a year, he’d just clearly been putting them off this whole time.

Mixed in the pile there were also letters that had been written to him, urging him to complete certain forms and sign off on certain contracts etc. You’d set aside a pile for those ones, where he needed to add his signature to the papers.

You are rather proud to find yourself finishing up around half 4, just before you were due to be done for the day. Shuffling the finished papers into one pile and the unsigned ones into another, you wonder if you should take these to him, although you didn’t know exactly where his office was. Only that it was on the fourth floor, as Emily had mentioned at some point.

You suddenly have a thought. You had been given a phone on your first day here, being told it was a gift in a way, both for work and personal use.

You remember Emily showing you a bunch of contacts had already been added for your convenience, some of the names you didn’t even know yet. But you wondered if that included Adam.

You switch to the contacts page, and low and behold at the very very top was an ‘Adam’. What if it was a different Adam though? The chances were slim but you should probably double check.

You tap the contact which opens an empty chat, the change of display shows both the contact's profile picture and what they themselves have set their name to. The person’s name still showed as Adam but with a little hand emoji making the 'rock on' symbol.

The profile picture isn’t immediately discernible, but once you open it up to full size it's confirmed to you that this is the right Adam.

His picture is of him on a stage, holding a gold and white electric guitar and fist bumping the air, there are a few other characters in the background behind him situated on various instruments, all dressed in white robes with masks kind of similar to his but much more low-key.

You didn’t know he played in a band, yet another thing you'd have never expected to learn about the man.

You briefly wonder if this was a bad idea, it almost felt like opening up a can of worms by messaging him directly. Fuck it, it can’t hurt.

~ Hi. It’s your personal assistant here. Looks like Emily put your number in my phone when she set it up for me. Just wanted to say I’ve finished the paperwork, did you want me to bring it to you now? ~

You stare nervously at the sent message, hoping he’d take your joking stab at the earlier conversation about you being ‘his’ assistant light-heartedly.

Your heart skips a beat when Adam’s status suddenly flicks to ‘online’ and the message is marked as ‘read’. You bite your lip as you see him already typing back.

~ damn Em-ster being my wing-woman, would’ve never thought it. although could’ve just asked if u wanted my number. u can throw out chef boy’s one now yeh? 😉 ~

You realise sinkingly that this was, indeed, a mistake. The idiot didn’t even answer your question.

~ The paperwork? ~

You prompt him, ignoring the rest.

~ ur boring lol. bring it to room 4A ~

You grab the two stacks and make your way up to his office. When you reach it you knock tentatively. You hear a muffled ‘come in’ and so push the door open.

His office was breathtaking, it made yours look like a broom cupboard in comparison. The walls had the same kind of marble and golden patterns that the hallways did. And at the very back of the spacious room the entire wall was a floor-to-ceiling window through which you could see a balcony overlooking the view from the front of the Great Seraphim Hall.

Adam sat behind a desk in the centre of the room, one arm lazily thrown over the backrest of the chair while the other held a piece of paper that he was reading. He hadn’t even looked up when you entered, so you closed the door behind you and approached his desk.

He looked to be concentrating, his face contorted in frustration as he read the letter in his hands. It must be something important.

“Can you believe this?!”

“Uh, what exactly?”

“They overcharged me on my damn Heavenflix subscription by 4 bucks!!”

He throws the letter on his desk, outraged, and you stifle a small amused smile.

With a sigh, he finally looks at you.

“So, you finished everything already then?” He props his elbows up on the desk and rests his head in his hands.

“Yes…sir” You reply, nearly forgetting what he said earlier, not sure if that was just a one-off outburst. You weren’t about to test that theory so soon.

“This stack here is all done. And then this stack is stuff people want you to sign and return”

You set both stacks down on his desk. The moment the stack for him to sign touches his desk he leans back and waves a hand, the papers flutter with golden sparkles and you see his signature seemingly writing itself on the pages before they settle back into a neat pile.

Your eyes flick back up to his, wide with wonder, and he scoffs amusedly at how easily impressed you are.

“If you could do that the whole time why put it off? There was stuff in there from like…a year ago!” You question.

“Hey, if you really wanna talk about efficiency, these technically now need delivering. I was gonna say you can do it when you’re next in considering it's nearly 5pm, but I mean you go ahead babe if you wanna get things done asap!”

He folds his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair, smirking at you.

“Oh..uh, no, I think they can wait at this point”

“That’s what I thought” He snickers.

“So what's the baby’s weekend plans, this’ll be your first couple of days off huh?” He asks casually.

You don’t know why but him asking you about your weekend catches you off guard.

“You gonna go on a date with your little chef boy?” There’s a teasing edge in his tone.

Did he overhear you talking about potentially meeting up with Carson tomorrow, or was he just making some well-landed (though not entirely correct) assumptions?

“No…” You lie, but fuck, you weren’t a good liar.

“Y’know, lying to a superior is a punishable offence. You don’t want me to have to punish you, do ya cutie?”

He has now crossed his arms over his chest, a subtle grin playing on his mask.

“Unless you’re totally into that, in which case I can only assume you’re lying on purpose because you-“

“No! I’m not –“ You quickly interrupt him.

“I mean, okay yes I was lying but I –“

Your whole body feels hot, trying to get the right words out. You take a breath and start again.

“Yes, I’m seeing him. But no, it’s not a date or…whatever! He’s just being friendly, he saw I was new and wants to be nice”

“HAH. That’s hilarious, I knew you were a naive girl but damn you really are stupid!” He jeers, totally amused.

“What are you even trying to say” Your shoulders tense up defensively.

“He wants to ruffle your feathers in the sheets, baby”

You blush at the inappropriate suggestion, not that being inappropriate was something at all new with Adam’s pattern of behaviour.

“Well, even if that was the case, it’s outside of work and has nothing to do with you” Your fists are balled at your sides now too.

“Look, don’t you worry your pretty little head. Bouncing on some subpar chef boy dick works in my favour, means when you get a taste of my dick you’ll realise what the fuck you’ve been missing out on -”

He crosses his legs and shoots you that ever-smug grin.

“- so I’ll allow it” He concludes with a wave of his hand.

Your feathers fluff up in annoyance at him acting like he would have the right to dictate who you see outside of work, not to mention the assumption that you’re going to want a ‘taste of his dick’. You'd barely known the man a day, having only been officially introduced to him that morning. He was making some massively cocky assumptions.

Your mind still refused to believe the fact that this was how Adam, one of the more important mortal souls, was talking to you. He should be all angelic and holy, no? Yet the way he seemed to consistently think with his dick was the furthest thing from holy.

“Who says I’m interested in you in the first place?!”

“Babygirl, you’ll be desperate for it in due time, trust me. I’m THE ‘Dickmaster’, it's inevitable”

You'd have laughed at the stupid self-proclaimed title if you weren't so wound up.

“And when we reach that point I’ll make you work for it too, don’t go thinking I’m easy or anything”

You wondered to what extent he was just teasing you, aiming to fluff your feathers for the pure sadistic amusement of it. Or was he being serious? Was he actually interested in having you 'desperate' and 'begging' for it? It was hard to tell exactly.

It also raised the question of why he would be interested in you, surely a man of his status could get many women. Although you regretfully had some theories around the fact that he probably saw you as easy prey, being so new to the realm, and as he put it 'naive and stupid'. Maybe he enjoyed that you were fun to toy with? You weren't sure.

Either way, you couldn't completely deny the way his teasing words did seem to have an unwanted effect on you, but you’d absolutely double-die before admitting anything of the sort to the arrogant man.

“I’m leaving, enjoy your weekend, Adam”

You state blankly, needing to get out of this room. He chuckles at your clear eagerness to end this interaction and leans forward to rest his head in his hand again, he gives you a silly kind of finger wave with his other hand.

You wake at the perfect time to the chirping of birds outside your balcony, it always seemed they began their twittering a couple of minutes before your alarm was due to go off.

Stretching your arms and small wings with a yawn, you sling your legs over the edge of the bed, urging yourself up to get ready for the day. You quickly shower and go through the motions of your morning routine before slipping into your work uniform.

They had provided you with a few sets on your first day of work. It was a simple white button-up shirt, tucked crisply into a dark grey pencil skirt. Other than that you had been free to choose your own shoes and accessories, within reason of course. You were still working in a professional environment and it was expected of you to maintain a composed and well-put-together appearance.

Yesterday hadn’t been the best of days for you after you had unintentionally bumped into (quite literally) one of the most important beings in the Great Hall.

But you were determined not to let that throw you off, just like Emily said, you had to continue giving it your best and it would all work out for you. It had to work out eventually right? After all, this was Heaven!

With a renewed enthusiastic outlook, you sprang down the stairs of your apartment building to the ground floor and began your short walk to work. You were glad to have been given an apartment so close to the Great Seraphim Hall, given the fact you weren’t yet able to conjure portals or fly as a newbie.

You push through the golden front doors of the building and climb the single set of stairs that led to the floor your office was situated on. Before you can enter your office door, Emily practically side-swipes you.

“Heyyy! Good morning, how are you!”

She’s cheery as ever, her optimism almost infectious.

“Hey Em” You laugh, feeling warmth in your chest at being close enough to the young Seraphim to use friendly nicknames with her.

“I’m pretty good, how about you?”

“I'm simply wonderful! I wanted to come get you first thing as I realised no one has officially shown you the mailroom yet, so I thought it’d be good to get that out of the way this morning. The room tends to get busy throughout the day”

She smiles sweetly at you.

“Oh yeah, sure! Sounds good -”

Not even a millisecond passes after the final syllable leaves your lips and she snatches your hand in hers, skipping through the corridors and back down to the ground floor with you in tow.

You reach the mailroom, a large marble archway marking the entrance. As you follow Emily inside your breath is taken away by the scale of the room, it's almost like something out of a fairytale.

The ceiling stretches up exceptionally high and has beautiful paintings covering it depicting angels dancing in a garden filled with lush foliage and vibrant flowers.

Seemingly endless golden shelves line nearly every inch of the walls, save for a few spaces where there were more marble archway entrances. They were lined above the one you had just entered through, 3 more stacked on top of each other all the way up to the ceiling.

That made sense, so the mail room was accessible from all main floor levels, which seems about right considering there were at least 4 stories between floor and ceiling in this room.

The only catch being you’d have to fly into the mailroom from any exit that wasn’t on the ground floor as those entrances held no floors or balconies of any type, they simply led to the open air of the room.

The room already had a few angels fluttering gracefully back and forth, collecting and depositing packages from various shelf levels. It almost seemed a somewhat antiquated process, you pondered what kind of system was in place to keep on top of where everything was in the massive room.

“All incoming mail goes on this side of the room, and outgoing on the other side” Emily turns her back to you and runs a delicate finger along one of the shelves as she speaks.

“It looks complicated at first but it’s easy to get the hang of, I promise”

How you were going to ‘get the hang’ of collecting or depositing anything on shelves above the ground floor level you weren’t so sure.

You absentmindedly take a few steps backwards as your eyes slowly wander all the way up to the very highest shelf, the sharp angle you hold your gaze at making your head spin with vertigo.

You suddenly gasp and abruptly stop as your back gently bumps into something soft and tall. Before you can process it or make another move, a familiar mask leans forward into your field of vision directly above your head, the face wearing a grin.

You yelp and jump away like you had touched hot lava and back up a good few steps. Before you stood the man from yesterday, the Adam. He’s leaning casually against the archway with his arms crossed while watching you.

“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this, babe” He quips and you blush hard.

His more gentle and teasing tone was at least better than the livid outburst you’d been on the receiving end of in your last encounter.

“I’m sorry!” You want to cringe at the way you practically squeak.

Emily has turned to you both now, a glint of warning in her eye directed at the first man.

“You’re here early, Adam” She says in an almost accusing tone.

“I work when I wanna, Em-ster. Today I just so happened to feel up for an early start, don’t get used it”

She scoffs but there is a small hint of amusement there.

“Well, since you’re here then it’d be great to officially introduce you to the new assistant that Sera and I informed you of”

She’d mentioned you to him? You wonder if that was before or after you knocked his drink all over him, the memory does nothing to help the blush on your cheeks.

She gives your back a small and reassuring touch, coxing you towards the intimidating man.

“This is Adam” She continues, although both of you knew you had already learnt his name.

You tentatively reach out a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you”

You force a smile, still a little shaken from the interaction you had with him yesterday. His yellow glowing eyes flicker down to your hand and you briefly worry he might leave you hanging.

But he breaks the awkward silence and reaches forward, grabbing your hand in his own gloved one. It practically swallowed yours whole, the size difference between the two of you was rather prominent.

He shakes it, albeit weakly.

“Sure, nice to meet ya, ‘assistant’”

There’s a patronising edge to the way he says your job title.

“What’s she even assisting with anyways?”

He directs the question to Emily but before she can answer his fingers suddenly tighten around yours and he reels you in closer to him.

“I’m sure I’ve got a few things I could use a hand with” He snickers and shoots you a suggestive wink.

You snatch your hand back, blush now burning hot, and stumble back a few steps again.

This...this is the first mortal man? It felt like you were being flirted with by a 20-year-old at a modern age bar, not like you were speaking with the most ancient human soul in all of Heaven.

“Adam, cut it out”

Emily’s tone is stern, but it also comes across as if she’s not at all surprised. Was he like this with everyone...or every female at least?

“She’s going to be helping with all sorts -”

The Seraphim continues casually, definitely not at all shocked at the man’s behaviour like you were.

Adam pushes off from the archway and begins stalking towards you in a slow, sauntering manner as Emily speaks.

“- like arranging meeting rooms, supporting with paperwork, organising people’s schedules...”

He’d begun to slowly circle behind you and Emily was in her own world, eyes cast off to the side and she lists through some of the tasks that you’d be doing.

You don’t dare turn to follow the man with your gaze, not wanting to look scared or defensive. However, that’s exactly how you feel when he has completely disappeared somewhere behind you.

“aannddd..” Emily taps a thoughtful finger to her lips, trying to think of anything else worth adding to answer the man’s question.

You squeak when hands are suddenly on your wings, tugging them outwards and forcing them to spread - putting your meagre wingspan on display.

“Collecting mail from shelves level 1 to 3?”

He asks mockingly, referencing your inability to fly or even reach up high while standing.

Although embarrassingly you see that looks about right when you glance over to the closest shelves to you, the third shelf would probably be just about reachable on your tiptoes.

You snatch your wings out of his grasp and spin to face him, backing up once again this time feeling more annoyed than fearful. Your face must’ve conveyed as much too, as the strange mask he was wearing morphs from an amused grin to a mocking pout.

“Awh did I ruffle the wittle baby’s teeny-tiny feathers?”

“What-…I am NOT a ‘baby’!”

You snap in disbelief at his belittling comment. The man rolls his eyes.

“Yea, right, and I’m not 10,000 years old. You got here, what, a week ago?”

You neither confirm nor deny, still staring him down with your fists balled up, trying to ignore the way ‘10,000 years old’ makes your stomach sink.

“Exactly, you’re a fuckin’ baby”

Before you can snap back again Emily interrupts.

“The word you’re looking for is ‘new’, Adam. She’s new and still settling in, so find it within your cold, dead heart to be nice”

You so badly wished you had the bravery to speak back to him the way Emily did, but you knew she outranked him and therefore had the privilege. Unlike you.

“Damn Em-ilicious, don’t go hurting my feelings like that babe. This is me being nice”

His eyes flick back to yours again.

“You’ll know when I’m not being nice”

You hate that he’d directed that sentence your way, it almost felt like a subtle warning and you can’t help but shrink and look away.

The violent mood swings you’d been through so far with this man gave you whiplash. From the livid outburst yesterday, to playful flirting, to mean taunting, to low-key threats...

You didn’t know how to keep up with it all, let alone what you’d done to deserve to be on the receiving end of it. A small voice at the back of your head perks up and reminds you what Emily had said yesterday, about how ‘Adam’s an asshole with everyone’. Maybe that was really just it, this was just how this guy was?

“Alright Adam, I think you’ve terrorised the girl enough for today. We have plenty of other things to be getting on with this morning” Emily seemed intent on ending the interaction much to your relief.

“Whatever you say, Em-sy” He comments nonchalantly and then presses his gaze your way again.

It’s only now you realise his mask is some kind of sleek screen, a very impressive one at that. The eyes and mouth on it were made up of dancing pixels that somehow morphed perfectly and without delay to convey whatever the face underneath was expressing.

“I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon, short-stuff”

He grins and winks once more before opening his huge golden wings, only requiring two powerful flaps to reach the highest-up exit of the mailroom. The power of the wind from his departure nearly knocked you down entirely.

You give it a moment to ensure he was definitely out of earshot before speaking.

“He uh…he sure does come up with a lot of unique nicknames, huh?” You turn to Emily, and she shoots you the most exasperated look ever.

“Oh don’t even get me STARTED. When I met him, I made the mistake of introducing myself and telling him he could call me ‘Em’…Ever since then it’s been nothing but Em-ster, Em-ilicious, Em-sy, Em-this, Em-that, UGH!”

You have to stifle a giggle at her outburst, it’s rather cute, although you feel sympathetic.

Something she had said causes your ears to perk up too.

“When you met him? Like, you weren’t around..before him? M-maybe that’s a stupid question, I don’t know – “ You nearly back out feeling incredibly uneducated.

She smiles sweetly as usual and shakes her head, a beckoning hand reaching to call you to walk with her as she leads you out of the mailroom.

“Not at all, always ask questions! We don’t expect you to get all this stuff right away of course”

You nod, following her lead through the hallways, unsure of your next destination but trusting her all the while.

“But yes, I am technically a couple-thousand years younger than Adam. Many Seraphim were around before him, before Earth, before it all. But not all Seraphim, some of us have come into divine creation since those times”

You nod again, head swimming with all this new knowledge.

“So, needless to say, I’ve been where you are right now. Learning all about Heaven and everything that comes with it...As well as learning how to handle Adam”

The fact that it almost seemed she was suggesting ‘learning all that encompasses Heaven’ and ‘learning how to deal with Adam’ were on the same level nearly made you burst out in disbelieving laughter. He certainly was...a character.

Before you realise it you and Emily had reached a door, one that looked different from the normal conference room doors. Emily entered first, holding it open for you to follow.

As you walk inside you see it's simply a large empty hall. Once again the ceiling is rather high, but the floor completely empty. The left wall of the hall was lined with a tall, continuous mirror that ran the entire wall length, the right side lined with grand, stained-glass windows.

There were many aspects of the Great Seraphim Hall that gave off almost magical qualities, it sometimes felt the rooms inside were impossibly endless for what the exterior architecture suggested…it would be a question for another day.

“This particular hall is used for a lot of things, but, I thought it’d be a great place to help you get a head start on portal training!”

Your eyes widen a touch.

“Like, I’m going to be making portals…’open’?”

You weren’t even sure of the correct terminology to use, it all felt so soon for this. But Emily puts your worry to rest.

“No no, you’re not going to be summoning portals, silly!”

Her words are entirely light-hearted.

“Just moving in and out of them. I know they only cover this briefly at the intro, that’s because most regular newbies don’t really need to know how to use portals so soon. They can ease into it over their first few years”

The young Seraphim guides you to the centre of the room.

“I’m afraid for you however, it’s going to quickly become a necessity, at least for you to be able to use the portals others summon for you!”

The girl gestures forward.

“Let’s start small”

She clicks her dainty fingers and you see two portals open in front of you, only a few feet between the both of them.

“Enter one, and you’ll exit the other. Simple! Go ahead and have a look”

You tentatively approach one of the portals, peering through you see the room you are in, but through the crackling frame of the portal. You shoot her a nervous look.

“It’s going to feel strange, always does at first. But the more you do it the easier it gets and the further you can travel via portal over time!”

You look back at the buzzing portal, it couldn’t be that hard right? You’d just step through and appear on the other side.

Without giving yourself time to think it through any further you shut your eyes and hunch your shoulders before jolting forward into the portal.

Your head suddenly spins and your balance felt as if the floor had been pulled from beneath you, your legs crumbled underneath you and opening your eyes felt like a mistake. The room was now spinning wildly as if you were completely drunk, nausea building in the pit of your stomach.

But distantly, you noticed you had landed on the outside of the other portal. You had officially popped your portal cherry. It felt like utter shit.

Warm hands were on your shoulders, they helped ground you.

“That’s it! You did it! I’ve seen people literally pass out cold from their first time portalling this early after their arrival!”

Her words aren’t entirely reassuring, considering she held back that info until after you’d hurtled headfirst through her portal.

“Tha…That fucking s-sucked…”

You admit honestly. Somewhere distantly you feel as though you hear her giggle.

“It’s okay, just breathe. It’ll pass”

And it does pass. The moment it does, she wants you to do it again. You’re much more reluctant now given your first experience, but she assures you the worst is past you. And she was right.

Your next couple of tries at portaling the same distance are far more tolerable.

Pleasant? No. But tolerable.

She begins widening the distance between portals and it challenges you, but you feel your body and mind adjusting each time. You spend the next good couple of hours practising this with her, finding the progress you’re making to be slow but satisfying.

Eventually she claps two hands together happily, signalling the end of your session.

“That’s enough for today! You’ve made great progress, it’s going to take some time before I’d suggest using any kind of long-distance portal, but you’re headed in the right direction! We can practise more over the coming weeks. But right now I’d say it's time to grab lunch”

She was right, it was just gone 12pm. Time had completely slipped by you in your portal practice.

“I’d love to come along with you, but I’m afraid I have some stuff to go and take care of!”

Emily flutters up on her wings after exiting the hall with you, and you smile reassuringly.

“No worries, I know my way to the Food Court by now!” You reassure her.

She reaches down from her position hovering in the air and takes both of your hands into hers affectionately.

“You’re doing great. I’ll see you later alright? And don’t hesitate to give me a shout if you need me, anytime”

“O-of course. Thank you, Emily” You reply earnestly, genuinely so glad for a kind being such as her to be here for you in this situation.

She smiles warmly once more before turning and fluttering away on her six wings.

You weren’t lying, you did know your way to the Food Court, however you hadn’t eaten there alone yet. Your first few days Emily had shadowed you throughout your entire shift, and the two of you had gone together to collect some food from the Food Court to bring back to your office.

You hadn’t admitted it, but yesterday when she wasn’t there with you the entire day, you skipped lunch, feeling nervous to venture too far without support.

However you knew you couldn’t keep this up. You had to get used to working here eventually. It was just nerve-racking as the Food Court was a bustling place, especially at lunch hour, the idea of going there alone made your stomach churn with nerves.

You observe your reflection in the silver-rimmed mirror of the staff bathroom as you smooth a few unruly stray hairs back into your neat bun. 

Since arriving in Heaven only a week ago your life has felt like a whirlwind, with so much new information to learn, and so many things to come to terms with. Part of you was still waiting on the moment you woke up in bed back on earth, having lived a very intricate dream.

You stretch out your small wings, fanning the sparse, pure white feathers out behind you and sighing at the reflection.

Peter, the young-faced Angel who had greeted you at the golden gates of Heaven on the day you arrived, explained that newcomers always start with smaller, less developed wings.

“They’ll grow over the next two or so years darling! Over that time, they’ll gradually get larger, and stronger, and those pretty primary feathers will continue growing in. Eventually, they’ll be developed enough for you to be able to take to the skies!”

He had waved a pale hand theatrically, like he was reading from a script (which he most certainly was, being the man who greets new heavenly arrivals every day).

Initially two years sounded like a long time to wait, but as Peter had assured you, it’s nothing when you have all of eternity laid ahead of you. The thought makes you take a dry gulp.

You had no recollection of your death, and even more unnervingly, your life either. There were only a few faint, swimming memories. Yet you remained sure of yourself, you still knew who you felt you were as a person. It was an odd feeling, you supposed akin to a form of amnesia.  But from what you could tell, you lived a happy but unexceptional life.

One that, confirmed by Peter, ended abruptly in your mid 20s to a cause he was unwilling to disclose due to heavenly protocol. The thought made you sad, but equally you found it hard to mourn for a life you could barely remember. You hadn’t asked, but you wondered if this was part of the process that was supposed to help newcomers accept their entry into Heaven and let go of the mortal realm.

You take one last glance in the mirror, straightening the white halo that hovered above your head. It was smooth as glass and cold like ice, touching it felt like touching your very soul.

It was something you learnt about in your intro presentations which Peter had directed you to immediately after your arrival, you were thrown through a series of these presentations along with many other angelic newcomers.

The more senior angels explained the basics of Heaven, including how your halo is tied intrinsically to your soul, an extension of your being, and then many other more mundane facts. Such as being assigned an apartment, where you can go and what you can do for free, what kinds of things you’ll require money and ranks to access.

They had also explained that everyone would be assigned a job, and for 99% of newcomers, those jobs would be minimal, easy, and light hours.

Then after you become more acquainted with your place in Heaven you can choose to move up, aiming for higher paying (and higher responsibility) jobs if you so wish, or continue to simply live a happy afterlife pulling the minimal weight that is expected of you in the angelic community.

Your assigned apartment was simple, but more than enough, and by day two of being in Heaven, you and your fellow newcomers were assigned your jobs.

As ‘DevineDiner waiter’ and ‘HolyInn cleaner’ roles were handed to those around you, it had been a considerable shock when you were handed the papers that in golden shimmering letters, spelt out:

‘General Assistant: Great Seraphim Hall’

You had learnt in the intro presentations that Seraphims were a big deal, the top angels, the governing authority of Heaven. So why the fuck you were being sent to work somewhere called the Great Seraphim Hall as a complete newbie had been beyond you.

You had attempted to challenge it the moment it was assigned to you, but every single senior angle whom you questioned simply followed the same script of “It’s impossible for this to be a mistake”. Offering no further guidance.

And so you were forced to attend your first day of work, despite feeling that you would be incredibly out of place as a complete newbie.

On your first day of work, you had arrived at the grand entrance of the Great Seraphim Hall and reluctantly pushed through the weighty golden doors. You didn’t have to explore far before bumping into your new boss.

The presence of the exceptionally tall woman had caused you to inadvertently shrink behind your own tiny wings despite her warm smile. Your new boss, The High Seraphim ‘Sera’, greeted you with a graciousness you almost felt undeserving of. She and her younger sister Emily had been incredibly welcoming to you, and without hesitation gave you a tour of your new workplace, the Great Seraphim Hall. They also explained your newly-found ‘assistant’ role.

As the pair explained, many Seraphims and other high-ranking individuals would frequent this building as a place to hold meetings and discuss important topics on the governing of the heavenly realm.

Your job was explained to be as simple as picking up the low-level tasks that these individuals were too good for, as well as waiting on their every beck and call for whatever they may need. Anything such as booking meeting rooms, fetching mail, and filling out paperwork.

You had gently presented them with the question of ‘Why you’ out of all other angels. But your new Seraphim boss Sera had assured you:

“I understand the confusion my dear, but rest assured no mistake was made. This is a new position, one that at its core is very simple. There is no need for you to fret, you would not have been chosen if your soul wasn’t right for the job”.

And so here you were, on only day three of your new job in Heaven as an assistant to the angelic beings who frequented the Great Hall.

 You finally step away from the mirror that you had been absently mindedly staring into and exit the staff bathroom, walking back into the main hallway.

You were still getting to grips with navigating the Great Seraphim Hall. The building seemed to have endless hallways with endless rooms sprouting from them, all with the exact same royal golden and marble architecture. It was more than easy to get lost.

Your first two days you had the Seraphim Emily by your side the entire time, the girl enthusiastically helping you adjust and learn your new role. However, today was the first day in which she was otherwise occupied for most of the day, leaving you on your own…

You make your way through the royal hallways, intending to get back to the small room that had been dedicated to you as your own tiny office space.

You approached what you were sure was the final left turn you needed to take, but upon reaching it you smacked into something solid, seeing a flash of nothing but white robes before falling to the floor with a thud, your small wings fluttering instinctively but doing nothing to soften the fall.

“AH – the FUCK?” You hear an annoyed voice exclaim from high above you.

You turn your head reluctantly, finding your gaze has to travel rather far up to meet the face...well, mask, of the very important-looking individual who you just bumped into.

His size was imposing, seeming almost twice your height, and his figure dressed in a long flowing gown that had blue and gold designs on it. It looked just as royal and important as the architecture of the Great Seraphim Hall itself.

His mask had two large horns, golden tips accentuating them, and the black face of the mask wore a livid expression, bright golden eyes set in a frown and equally golden sharp teeth bared.

You noticed he was holding a cup with a straw, the lid half knocked off and most of the contents down his gown. Fuck, this is not good.

“Are you shitting me, you knocked my fucking drink all over me bitch!” He growled at you as you continued sitting on the floor, looking up at him dumbfounded.

“Oh..Oh my gosh, I – I am so sorry, really I – I just, - I wasn’t –“ You scramble for words, heart racing.

“I – I – I” He cupped the side of his face with one hand, tilting it side to side while mocking your stuttering in a girly voice.

“shut up” He continued, his harsh tone startling you.

All it took was for the imposing figure to take a single step towards you for your brain to kick back in and you scrambled backwards a bit before pulling yourself to your feet.

“It was an honest mistake! Really! I am so sorry!” You hold your trembling hands up, trying to diffuse the man’s anger, your wings tensing up and folding in on themselves in a nervous manner.

“Angels don’t make mistakes, maybe you shouldn’t be up here on the winner's team then” You didn’t immediately understand his insinuation, but before you could reply a shrill yet familiar voice cuts through the air.

“Adam!!” Emily squealed before fluttering gracefully between the two of you, her wings all fluffed up in annoyance.

“You did not just suggest she should be sent to damnation for accidentally spilling your stupid drink!” The man, Adam, rolled his eyes.

“ALRIGHT, relax Em-ster.” The girl’s feathers fluffed even more.

“But she did ruin my damn robe, and she wasted my drink!” You heard the rattle of what must’ve been ice cubes still left in the otherwise empty cup.

“So who’s paying for that huh?” The imposing man leant to the side to peek around Emily and angrily shot you a pointed look, one eyebrow raised. It was only now that you took in the huge pair of golden wings that he had, they were massive, just like him. And unlike your own wings, his looked abundant in large, well-grown feathers, giving them a powerful and well-maintained look.

“Put it on your expenses if it’s really that big of a deal, Adam” She retorts, crossing her arms.

You feel utterly ashamed at the fact she was having to do damage control for you on only your third day of working here, the first day in which she hadn’t babysat you the entire shift too.

“I fuckin’ will, and you best be backing my ass up if Sera questions it” The man challenges.

Somehow you get the feeling the actual money isn’t his problem at all, more the principle of having even the smallest of inconveniences on his plate. He gave off an air of superiority, heck, he LOOKED important so maybe the arrogance wasn’t misplaced.

“Of course” Emily replies, but you don’t miss the hint of condensation in her tone.

“Anyway, you should probably be on your way now if you want to make it to your session with Lute on time” The young Seraphim presses, clearly wanting him to leave.

“Well duh, especially now that I gotta portal home to change first too” He makes a point of looking at you again which makes you shrink back and avert your graze.

Without another word the man raises a gloved hand and snaps his fingers, a portal buzzes to life in front of him. You’re caught off guard when he throws his empty cup to you, your reflexes snapping to life just in time for you to clumsily catch it.

“Be useful and get rid of that. And don’t forget to recycle, babe!”

He grins at you, but it lacks any hint of genuine kindness, and he shoots an imaginary finger gun your way before stepping through the portal. It closes behind him and you let out a breath you hadn’t realised you were holding.

The young Seraphim sighs and turns to you, a sympathetic look on her face.

“I’m sorry about him, Adam’s…well, he’s an asshole with pretty much everyone!”

You look up from the empty cup to the young Seraphim's kind eyes.

“I really am so sorry about that. It…it was my fault, I should’ve been looking where I was going”

You couldn’t help but internally agree the guy had overacted and been an ‘asshole’ about it, but you still felt the burden of the blame on your shoulders and hated to have made a bad first impression with one of the angels here.

“Oh don’t worry! He has angry outbursts all the time over lesser issues than that. Trust me…you’ll get used to it” Her tone held a knowing edge, like she’d had to explain this ‘Adam’ guy's behaviour to others on their first time meeting him.

She wordlessly reaches over to pluck the empty cup from your hands and deposits it in a silver bin you hadn’t noticed till now. One that was literally right next to where Adam had been when he had thrown you his trash…That irked you a tad.

Emily guides you gently to begin walking beside her in the direction of your office and you comply without question.

“Anyway, I was looking for you because Sera has asked me to give you some paperwork to go through. Boring stuff, but worth getting to grips with now so you’re ready when other people…like Adam…dump their paperwork on your desk. It’s one of the less fun ‘assistant’ tasks I know, but it’s part of the role!”

You nod in understanding, and Emily holds open the door to your office for you. You enter the familiar room with her following behind.

The angel snaps her fingers, summoning a stack of papers into existence and snatches them out of the air, rooting through them while mumbling to herself. No matter how many times you saw others opening portals and materialising shit out of thin air it still made your eyes sparkle in wonder.

Emily said it’s something you’ll learn to do one day, but it can take some time to master it. Most newbies can take even a couple of years to begin getting to grips with that stuff.

Another stabbing worry as to why they’d pick you for this job. You’d have to do everything the manual way, even when it comes to moving around the building you couldn’t portal nor fly. You try to push the anxiety aside, Sera said you were chosen for a reason, maybe there’s more you’ll learn in due time about that decision.

“So…who exactly was that guy? Uh, ‘Adam’?” You break the silence while she flicks through the papers in her hands.

“Ah, well, he’s ‘Adam’… yknow, Adam-Adam.” You stare blankly at her response, not sure what shes getting at.

“Like, the first-mortal-man-Adam.” The angel clarifies, and your eyes widen in pure shock.

“Wait. You’ve got to be kidding me…THE Adam? As in like…’Adam and Eve’?!” Your hands cover your mouth, a mortifying chill running down your spine. Out of all the beings you could’ve knocked a drink over, you managed to pick one of the most important and ancient ones.

“Oh gosh - don’t ever let him hear you saying her name! He’d lose it!” She stills her hands on the papers to look you in the eyes, conveying the seriousness of avoiding the topic of his wife. Or, past wife, you guess? They didn’t really cover this stuff in your intro.

“Lets just say it’s a sore topic, one to avoid entirely. But, yeah, that Adam”

Your face clearly expresses how mortified you were at this revelation, as Emily sighs and places the paperwork down on your desk. She takes your hands into her own delicate fingers in a reassuring manner.

“Honestly sweetie, don’t stress about it. You’re doing great, I know this is a lot, myself and Sera both do. You’ve barley been in Heaven for a week, and you're only a couple days into the job. Most angels don’t even come close to beings like us or environments like this for literally decades! You’re handling it all so well, just keep doing your best and everything will fall into place soon enough”

There's something else behind her kind words, a withheld secondary meaning. Like there’s more she wants to say, but can’t, at least not yet.

She was right though; this was overwhelming and it’s for that fact alone that you don’t push to know more. Instead, you urge yourself to trust her words, that everything will fall into place for you soon. Whatever that did mean.

“Now, the fun stuff!” She says sarcastically, having found the sheet she was looking for.

Lute sat at her new office desk flicking through the paperwork Adam had lumped on her that morning. Since the training session earlier she hadn’t seen the man again yet, not even when she stopped by his still unlocked office to grab the offending golden sheets.

She had come to find that her new office was on the very same floor that Adam’s office was on – a mere corridor away from his.

She supposed it made sense that she’d be near him as his Lieutenant…she couldn’t say she was thrilled about it though.

With a sigh she signed off the final incomplete incident report and leaned back in her chair. Her thoughts drifted for a moment as she stared at the marble ceiling above her.

Tomorrow, she’d likely have to deal with the morning training session with the Commander present for the entire time, unlike the luxury of him being called away this morning. She seriously doubted her ability to do so without causing him some form of harm. Chloe really had stepped in at the right moment today.

She shook her head at herself and her pessimism.

All she needed was some time to get to know him more, what motivated him, what deterred him, what she could use as ammo against him.

Maybe she could even change his mind altogether on having a Lieutenant and what tasks Lute should be responsible for managing as his right-hand.

Wishful thinking so soon perhaps, but they had a long road ahead together.

With a renewed sense of optimism she shuffled the paperwork sheets into a neat pile and hugged it to her chest with the intention to drop them off at Adam’s office and attempt to strike up some kind of amicable conversation.

She made the incredibly short trip down the hallway to his office. The corner of her lip twitched as the sight of the nameplate on his door brought back the memory of the story Chloe had told her earlier.

‘Dickmaster’…Lute had definitely heard some of her sisters in her intake telling her something about how the first man called himself that title. She imagined it had something to do with his apparent reputation with women, one that he was clearly proud of…

Lute knocked on the door.

“Yyyyyelllo” Adam’s casual voice came from the other side. She twisted the handle and let herself in, hugging the papers with her other arm.

Adam had his feet propped up on his desk, his black boots crossed over one another at the ankle, and his face obscured from her vision behind some kind of magazine that he was holding up and reading. From the cover it seemed to be music related, with imagery of guitars and other instruments speckled across the front page.

Great. Good to know he was hard at work.

“Sera, babe, for the bajillionth time I’ll get you those reports when I can” He remarked, not lowering the magazine from his face.

“’Bajillion’ isn’t a number”

Adam jolted, snatching the magazine down to look at the exorcist before him.

“Oh! It’s you sweet-tits! You and Sera got the same ominous way of saying fuck all when you enter a room!” He grinned for a beat before suddenly freezing and narrowing his eyes, only just realising what she’d said.

“Hey, bajillion is a number”

She stifled a smirk, amused at his doubling down.

“It isn’t” She argued back.

“Listen, if I say it is – it is. End of discussion” He gave her a cocky grin and Lute was reminded why having an ‘amicable’ conversation as she had hoped was going to be hard work.

She could take the bait and continue to debate the existence of a ‘bajillion’ with him, or push past it and try to move the conversation in a more productive direction.

“Sure” She deadpanned and moved closer to his desk, placing the hefty stack of paperwork down on the cluttered surface, grimacing inwardly at the lack of organisation.

“Anyway, here are those reports Sera is clearly chasing you for”

His eyebrows shot up a little, he seemed to be surprised that she’d got the reports done so quickly. Putting the magazine down he reached over to flick through the papers, his feet still up on his desk.

“Damn! You got these all done in one day AND alphabetised them? What a little teacher’s pet” He winked at her, his tone light-hearted, and she felt her face heat up instantly.

She couldn’t place whether his teasing words or playful wink was the main culprit of the blush.

“I am not a ‘teacher’s pet’” She scoffed.

“And I was simply completing the task you assigned me with efficiency…I suppose that’s something you’d personally know nothing about” She bit back before she could stop herself, arms crossing defensively.

Damn it. This was supposed to be a chance for her and him to have a nice conversation, how had it devolved to this already?

To her surprise he raised a mischievous eyebrow, his smirk dangerously playful. It was almost worse than him responding with anger…

“Oh, I’m efficient in a whole bunch of stuff babe...Just ask half the hotties in the exorcist army”

He wiggled his eyebrows with a devious chuckle, and she couldn’t help the deepening of her blush – his suggestive comment catching her off guard

“And anyways –“ He yanked his boots off the desk and leant both elbows onto the surface, resting his chin in his hands and looking at her in an almost ‘innocent’ way.

“- why’d I need to be ‘efficient’ in boring shit like paperwork when I’ve got a cute little pet like you to do it for me?”

Lute felt physically pained by how much self-restraint was required to prevent herself from instantly biting back at the remark.

But oh, did she want to. She took a moment to visualise what beating him with the stack of paperwork might look like, how satisfying it would be to jump on him and thump the sheets repeatedly over his stupid head, and with a deep breath she brought herself back to reality.

“I guess you’re right” She forced out through tight lips, and he tilted his head a little at her, still smirking.

“-Same goes for the training sessions. No need for you to worry so much about that now that you have me here, sir” She tried to strategically steer the narrative in her favour, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Mmmm, no. I always run training sessions, see, that’s big-league stuff. Commander stuff. Annoying paperwork that Sera chews my ass for? That’s Lieutenant stuff”

He couldn’t be more wrong, but she knew telling him that was pointless. She huffed which seemed to amuse him by the way his eyes glistened at her.

Her eyes flicked off to the side and she considered how to get something, ANYTHING beneficial out of this interaction. Arguing with him about her position surely wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

When her eyes drifted back towards him she noticed the discarded magazine sitting on his desk, it was open on a page about electric guitars.

Lute decided to change the subject, still hopeful to fulfil her self-set challenge of having a semi-peasant interaction with the man, maybe even getting to know him a little bit.

“You play?” She asked pretty bluntly.

He tilted his head to the side again questioningly, and then his gaze followed hers down to the magazine, his widened eyes suddenly snapped back up to hers and he looked genuinely offended.

“Do I play…?” He said slowly, in a disbelieving tone.

“Bitch, yes, I play!” He exclaimed and slammed his palms flat on his desk

“You’re telling me you haven’t heard of my band? Haven’t listened to ANY of my music?!”

“Well…I have heard about your band. The others in my intake showed me some videos and stuff. But concerts aren’t my thing, and ontop of that I have never really kept up with social media. So I haven’t seen much” She shrugged.

She also knew, only thanks to her sisters, that tickets to Adams band performances were NOT affordable on a recruit’s wage anyway - much to her sisters’ dismay.

He leant back in his chair and let out a breathy laugh of disbelief.

“Ah…of course concerts aren’t ‘~your thing~’” He made air quotes with his fingers, giving her an eye roll.

“It’s also pretty fucking predictable you’re not a social media-y kind of girl…I’m shocked you’re not still using a Nokia or something, seems like something you’d do babe” He snickered.

“How do you know I’m not?” She shot back.

“Listen, if you’ve got a fucking Nokia, I’m obliterating that ancient shit in my holy light and getting you a REAL phone” She had to suppress a snort, there was something hilarious about the oldest mortal soul ever created calling a Nokia, of all things, ancient.

“And I’ll let you off this once for not knowing the sickest band in all of Heavenly history, but you’re gonna have to come along to one of my gigs sometime. I’ll even get you free VIP entry and everything” He placed both hands behind his head casually and smirked brightly at her.

Aside from being a little egocentric, it was also somewhat endearing how much he clearly enjoyed his music and took pride in it, eager to share it with her.

“Sure” She tentatively agreed, knowing deep down she probably would never be caught dead at any concert let alone one of his. But this conversation was going well, so for once she’d hold her tongue.

He continued looking at her, his eyes studying every inch of her face while he rocked his chair a little, looking lost in his own thoughts.

“You’re weird, y’know?” He suddenly said, although his tone held no malice.

“How am I weird?” She quizzed.

“Well, most hot exorcist babes know everything about me, even the little newbie graduates like you.”

Lute thought back to how ridiculously enamoured her intake of exorcist sisters had been with the man.

Annoyingly, he was right. They knew about his band, his history of kill counts, his reputation in the army - and just about everything there was to know about him without straight up meeting the guy and playing 20 questions. They acted like schoolgirls with a crush.

Although from what Lute had witnessed so far with the more experienced exorcists from past intakes, it seemed like something most of them grew out of…maybe a ‘don’t meet your heroes’ kind of situation.

Dickmaster or not, he was definitely a special brand of annoying and childish, she could see the novelty fading fast with the women who giggled and twirled their hair at him at first.

“And usually newbies are all over my dick too, well, the ones who are into dick are anyway. So obviously you aren’t”

She lurched at that.

“What the hell are you suggesting?” Lute crossed her arms tightly.

“Uhhh, that you’re a lesbo, duh. Could spot that from a mile off”

He smirked smugly and she could tell he wasn’t joking…he genuinely believed he knew her sexuality, and based on what? The fact she hadn’t flirted with him like every other straight or bisexual female in a 15 mile radius?

“My interests are none of your concern” She hissed.

“Mmmmhm so I’m right, not that I needed you to tell me that – I’m always righ-“

“I’m straight, asshole” She interrupted him and he froze.

“Just because I’m not ‘all over your dick’ doesn’t mean I’m gay” She snapped.

His eyes widened a little at that and they sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a beat before he broke it with a click of his tongue.

“Well then, you really are weird babe…fuck!” He laughed heartily and Lute let out an exasperated sigh.

The feeling of her phone buzzing in her dress pocket caught her attention. She pulled it out, glad for a momentary distraction, and saw it was Vaggie, formerly Recruit172 from the same intake as Lute.

‘Hey, I’ve got a huge ass new wardrobe being delivered in an hour and could use some extra muscle. You free?’

Lute smiled a little, her and Vaggie had been the closest out of all the recruits in her intake, they had been bunk buddies back in the old door rooms and ended up naturally falling into what Lute would call a ‘friendship’.

Vaggie just always got Lute in a way no one else did, she also happened to be one of the few that came close to rivalling Lute in her dedication and seriousness when it came to training. Even Vaggie’s personality nearly rivalled Lute’s intensity at times…nearly.

She’d hand it to Vaggie too, she wasn’t one of the ones to annoyingly gush over the Commander like many of the others had, but that was mostly down to her being completely repelled by men in general. Or as Adam put it, ‘not into dick’.

In their time as recruits together they had always been happy to simply spend time in each other’s company, even if they weren’t necessarily chatting or doing anything, it was cozy kind of friendship.

And other times they did do things together, albeit it would usually be hitting the gym, or training outside of scheduled hours, they fell into a comfortable back and forth with each other.

They were yet to fall into a new regular schedule though, given their intake had only graduated yesterday. Which made sense as to why she was getting a new wardrobe delivered, clearly making the most of her own new apartment space.

“So, not a Nokia then” Adam's comment brought Lute’s yellow eyes back up to his LED ones.

She snorted and glanced back down at her phone, shooting Vaggie a quick message to tell her she’d be there asap.

“No, not a Nokia”

When she looked up once more Adam was now holding his own phone out towards her. Her eyes flicked between it and him.

“Go ahead and pop your digits in, gotta keep in touch with my right-hand girl. Y’know, for Lieutenant-related duties-“ He said, and she didn’t like the edge his tone had.

She wordless took his phone regardless, entering her number directly into the new contacts page he’d opened for her.

“Maybe for when I’m looking for some midnight fun too”

She paused her motions and her eyes snapped up to his, a dusting of gold rising in her cheeks as she shot him a glare.

His expression was positively smug and she gave him a hard stare, realising with a sinking feeling that revealing her sexuality might’ve been the wrong choice...

“Alright alright!....” He raised his hands defensively, still grinning. Lute looked back down to the phone, finishing typing her number in.

“I can do 11pm too…”

She glared up at him again and he burst out laughing.

“Oh sweet-tits, you’re way too easy to rile up – it’s great” He laughed to himself, leaning back in his chair.

Lute added a name to the contact and practically threw the phone back at him.

“I’m going, got things to do. See you in the morning, sir” She said curtly and turned, moving towards the door to exit.

Not before she heard Adam snicker to himself.

“Fucking smart ass...” He said quietly after looking at his phone and she smirked, feeling safe that he couldn’t see her expression as she was turned away from him.

“- yeah sure, see ya tomorrow ‘Lieutenant and nothing more’” He read out what she’d inputted her name as in his contacts.

Noises of straining and frustration could be heard just around the corner as Lute finished climbing the last set of stairs in the apartment building.

“Ugh - mierda!!” She heard her fellow exorcist exclaim after rounding the corner to see Vaggie struggling alone to shift a hefty box which Lute presumed contained the parts needed to assemble her new wardrobe.

“Looks like you really could use that extra muscle” Lute teased, catching Vaggie’s attention.

“Oh, hey!” Vaggie paused her huffing to greet Lute, a hand coming up to swipe beads of sweat from her forehead.

“…yeah, I really could, Lieutenant” She said Lute’s new title with a clear hint of pride, gleaming at her friend with kind eyes.

Lute nodded with a small smile and she shifted to one side of the box, Vaggie automatically mirroring her and taking the opposite side. Wordlessly they both locked eyes and lifted the box in sync, verbal communication being unneeded for them to work together flawlessly.

The pair shifted the box into Vaggie’s apartment, manoeuvring it to her bedroom and setting it down gently to the floor.

“You need help assembling it too?” Lute asked.

“Nah, that part should be easy, was just moving the whole lot I knew would be a struggle. Thanks though” Vaggie flicked her overgrown side-swept bangs out of her face and gave Lute a lopsided smile.

“Let me get you a drink, I’ve got a bottle of Vodka with your name on it, call it a first-day mini-celebration!” Vaggie said affectionately and Lute smirked, rolling her eyes and nodding in agreement.

For the first few years of their heavenly lives Lute didn’t drink at all, she didn’t see the point in it, and every alcohol she had tried she’d practically spat straight back out in disgust. Beer, wine, cocktails, whiskey – all of, disgusting.

That was until one night, a fair few years back, after much convincing from her drunken sisters - Lute tried vodka, an alcohol she hadn’t had before. Arguably the blandest of all alcohols that existed.

But for some reason, it was the one alcohol Lute could tolerate, even enjoy. Funnily enough it was almost ironically well suited to her personality – a drink with no need for frivolous embellishments - clean, sharp, and intense, much like the exorcist herself.

From that night on, although still very infrequent, vodka was the only drink Lute would entertain and would be her drink of choice when she’d join her sisters on occasion for a rare night out here and there.

It was a rare win – finding something that Lute enjoyed outside of training – and so Vaggie would always make sure she had some on hand just for her friend.

“So…How did things go today?” Vaggie asked open-endedly while pouring them both a small drink.

“Fine, things went fine” Lute bluffed, accepting the glass from Vaggie and immediately taking a sip and welcoming the low burn in her stomach, it was needed after today…

“Okay. Tell me everything” Her exorcist sister said, clearly catching onto the undertone in Lute’s voice.

Lute sighed, swirling the liquid around in her glass as she gazed down at it, lost in thought.

“The Commander…he’s…I don’t know”

Vaggie scoffed.

“Yeah…he is something, isn’t he?” She said, clearly having her own mind made up on the man after her first day of working under him.

“I think he’s flirted with every single girl in our intake who has so much as smiled in his general direction…So obviously that’s pretty much ALL of them…discluding you and me at least” Vaggie joked.

Lute grimaced, thinking back to how that would’ve been true, until her most recent interaction with the Commander in which she’d stupidly more-a-less shouted ‘I like men’ at him.

She could tell after she’d corrected his incorrect assumption about her preference in gender, something had shifted in his demeanour towards her.

“Yeah…” Is all Lute said.

“Well, what else? I mean, how’d it go working with him and everything?” Vaggie pressed, eager to know more.

“He is…difficult. To say the least. Argumentative, stubborn, hot-headed…” As Lute was listing off his less-than-favourable qualities she noticed Vaggie stifling a chuckle and shot her a questioning look.

“Sounds a bit like someone else I know” Vaggie said with a slight smirk causing Lute to scoff.

“I am nowhere near as bad as he is, trust me, it’s different. He has some kind of issue with having a Lieutenant as well. First Sera warned me, and then Chloe, his most recent Lieutenant, she told me about the stick up his ass too…”

“Chloe, she’s the one you went off with at the beginning of training today, right?” Vaggie asked, and Lute gave a short nod.

“Yeah, apparently Adam drove her to quit, same with every other Lieutenant before her too. I’m beginning to see why. He’s such a pain in the ass”

There was a short pause while Vaggie seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

“But-“ She started.

“-not a pain in the ass too much for the mighty 198 to tackle” She said, using Lute’s old name which stirred a comforting warmth in her chest.

“Yeah, well –“ Lute paused to take another sip from her drink.

“I don’t plan on quitting anytime soon, unfortunately for him”

“That’s the spirit, sweetie,” Vaggie smiled and raised her glass, prompting Lute to do the same. Their glasses met with a soft clink ringing lightly between them.

7:01am.

The exorcists chattered softly amongst themselves, Lute standing before them as her eyes flicked repetitively between the training hall entrance and the large clock on the far wall.

She’d give him a couple more minutes, just a couple more, but if he wasn’t here soon she’d start without him.

A part of her hated that she was even waiting at all, as Lieutenant she should be free to run training with or without his presence.

But she didn’t want to make things harder for herself when it came to their newly established and already fragile work relationship, and something told her that starting without him here would be akin to shaking a beehive before reaching into it.

That being said, she was getting rather exasperated with his consistent shitty timekeeping. The graduation ceremony, meeting at his office yesterday morning, and now today's training session too.

7:04. Fuck it.

“Ladies” Lute began, gathering the attention of the exorcists before her. They obediently quieted their chattering and all yellow eyes were on her.

“We are going to begin now. I’d like to pick up where we left off in terms of expanding your combat skills beyond what you’re used to. And what you’re used to is armed combat with your chosen weapons” Lute ensured to cast her eyes across the entire crowd as she spoke.

“That is understandable, however, limiting. You may have chosen a sword, a spear, a mace. But I want you all to practice with other weapons for once. Just like yesterday morning we uncovered a lot of you have a weakness and lack of skill when it comes to unarmed combat, perhaps today we will uncover an undiscovered talent for a weapon you have never before wielded. And over the coming weeks we will expand on this, by the end of it I want you all up to speed on a wider range of combat styles and methods-“

“Pfft, what’s the point in any of that shit?” The voice that interrupted her was like nails on a chalkboard to Lute, her eyes instantly squeezing shut in frustration.

Adam strolled to the front of the crowd joining Lute, his eyebrow quirked at her and look of general distaste on his mask face.

Not wanting to directly argue back at him while all eyes were on the both of them, Lute kept a calm demeanour and chose her words carefully.

“The point is to cover all weaknesses, sir. And in my short time here I have witnessed that all it takes to expose said weaknesses is to take away their weapons” She looked back towards the crowd once more, addressing the exorcists now.

“Do you want to be left exposed in hell? When all it would take is for you to be disarmed?” Several of them shook their heads slowly.

“Would it not make more sense for you to be equipped with the skills necessary to take on hand-to-hand combat? To pick up any weapon, regardless of what type, and wield it with efficiency?” There was a murmur of general agreement and Lute felt relieved

She had been nervous that commanding the entire crowd against Adam’s obvious opinion on the matter might not work given many of them were blindly submissive to him.

But as the crowd appeared to collectively agree with Lute’s statements, she stood a little straighter with pride, that was until Adam’s large hand patted her upper back in a condescending manner.

“Ooooookay Lieutenant, ‘fun idea’, sure. But no. We are gonna stick to our usual shit girlies. So get to it-“

“Sir, I would actually very much like to follow Lute’s suggestion” Chloe spoke up, pushing to the front of the crowd.

“In all my exorcist years I have only ever used my throwing knives, and I know I’m pretty damn deadly with them-“ She tilted her head slightly with a smug, lopsided smirk curling her lips, a hand resting on her hip.

Lute noticed Vaggie listening intently from the side, a near indetectable smile appearing on the girl’s lips in response to Chloe’s cocky remark.

“-But what if I’m even better with a sword? Or even If I’m not better, what if one day I need to know how to do more than throw small projectiles accurately at a target?”

The dark-haired exorcist let out a breathy chuckle and threw one of her throwing knives up in the air, sending it into a rapid spin but catching it perfectly by the handle when it came back down.

“You’ve gotta cut the Lieutenant a break. She’s made a good point, Commander” She waved the small knife as she spoke.

Lute’s entire body was rigid with anticipation of how Adam was about to take this, being challenged not only by herself but now also by Chloe.

At the same time, it filled her with glee to be supported so unapologetically by her fellow exorcist.

Chloe continued:

“You’ve seen first-hand how many weapons we drop and leave behind during exterminations every year, think how useful it would be for us to be able to pick up any weapon and be, as you’d say, ‘sick as fuck’ with it?”

Chloe finished her speech, her smug grin ever present as she awaited the Commander’s response.

It made Lute question why the girl gave up her post in the first place. She seemed so well-versed when it came to confidently standing up to the man. Maybe she was adept in the endeavour BECAUSE of her short time as his right hand.

There was a chilling silence as all eyes seemed to fall on Adam and Lute, particularly Adam, everyone awaiting his response.

He let out a sudden bark of insincere laughter.

“Oh…you fucking Lieutenants…always thinking you know best huh?” He asked rhetorically, looking between his current and former Lieutenant.

“Think you BOTH know better than me? The first man? A man who, may I remind you, has been around for -centuries- before either of your asses existed”

Adam gave Chloe one last glare before his gaze settled on Lute now, his expression seemed to simmer with annoyance, underscored by a thin thread of condescending amusement.

“But no, fine, go ahead, let’s see how far this cute little idea of yours gets the girls” He said with a patronising tone, stepping back and waving for Lute to continue in a mocking manner.

Lute was suddenly very aware of the uncomfortable tension in the air of the room, an entire audience witness to the whole exchange.

She couldn’t afford to appear weak, not in front of all of them like this, and so without missing a beat she quietly cleared her throat - breathing out the tension from her body as best she could.

“Everyone, pair up – pick someone who has a weapon you lack experience in using. And remember, you’re helping each other here, swap weapons and give one another guidance before you practice sparing” Lute brought her hands behind her back and stood tall as she continued her orders.

“And I want you to all start with some unarmed combat too, just like yesterday. It’ll be a good reset to break you out of your usual routine again”

She gave the command with as much confidence as she could muster.

A unified "Yes, Lieutenant" echoed from the crowd as the girls swiftly moved to follow her instructions. The exorcists weaved among each other as they searched for someone to swap weapons with.

Lute observed as Vaggie made a beeline for Chloe, tapping her on the shoulder gently to get her attention. Lute wasn’t close enough to hear their quiet conversation but she could see Vaggie introduce herself, holding a hand out for a handshake which Chloe accepted with a sweet smile.

Vaggie looked…nervous. Vaggie never usually looked nervous.

The pair began showing each other their weaponry, Chloe brandishing throwing knives, Vaggie a spear, two very different types of weapons that required different skills and fighting styles. A perfect example of what Lute wanted the girls to explore with this exercise.

“Looks like it’s just you n’ me left” Adam’s smug voice jolted Lute out of her thoughts. He stood tall, looming over her with an arrogant grin.

“What do you mean..?” She asked hesitantly.

“I mean; your little idea, y’know. Practising unarmed combat, swapping weapons, all that stupid shit, you really gonna exempt yourself from your own training? That’d be lame as fuck of you, babe” The man challenged.

Lute glanced back at the exorcists and saw that they had all found themselves a partner and spread out across the hall to begin their sparring.

Her eyes shot back to the Commander, he couldn’t really be suggesting that they spar against each other…Could he?

“What’s the matter, Lieutenant, scared of facing off against me?” He grinned widely as if he could hear her inner monologue.

She bristled, her feathers fluffing agitatedly.

“What? No. I am not scared” She spat at him, turning to face him directly, a fire lit in her chest.

“Then lets see what you’ve got. What were your ~orders~ again?” He asked, the way he said 'orders' being in a patronising tone.

“Unarmed first, right?” He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out straight in front of him as he cracked his neck side to side.

She closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled frustratedly.

“We have a training session to run, Commander. I need to oversee the girls while they spar – at least one of us should be paying attention at all times. So no, we can’t-“

“That’s such a bullshit excuse” He jeered with an eye roll before she could even finish.

“You really expect me to believe that? No, babe, you just know that I’d have you pinned to the floor in no time – wanna save yourself the embarrassment huh?”

That did it.

Sharp tingles of rage surged up and down her body, and she glowered at the man. He, on the other hand, wore a self-righteous, knowing look.

He knew she was too prideful not to rise to his words, driven by a desire to prove him wrong.

Her eyes scanned his entire frame as she assessed the situation that It seemed she was about to find herself in.

“Fine” Lute said coldly, accepting the challenge.

Without breaking eye contact with him she reached to her hip, unsheathing her sword and dropping it to the floor behind her.

He was bigger than her, much bigger. So she did have to admit he would have the advantage when it came to physical strength, but she was faster, more agile, and definitely more intelligent. Those would be the traits she’d rely on in order to hold her own against him.

“You want to do this? Then let’s do this” She said confidently and settled into a standard fighting stance

Her fists were raised and her chin tilted down, watching him carefully, ready for any sudden move. Every muscle in her body was coiled tight, ready to spring into action.

The Commander, however, stood lazily with his arms crossed, wearing that insufferably smug grin plastered on his face.

Lute’s jaw tightened, he was clearly going to wait for her to make the first move – and so she would.

She darted forward, aiming a sharp jab at his side. He shifted effortlessly, his arm uncrossing just in time to deflect her fist with a flick of his wrist.

She didn’t allow him time, moving swiftly again for another attack – another attack which he somehow saw coming and also dodged.

“Too slow” he taunted, stepping back to regain some distance between them before giving a theatrically dramatic yawn.

She gritted her teeth, refusing to let him rile her up. She darted in again with a flurry of strikes, all of which she gave her full power. But he blocked each one with maddening ease, his movements smooth and unhurried.

Lute pulled back, taking a moment to breathe. She stayed ready to defend herself though, wondering if he’d advance on her.

But he didn’t, he stayed put and allowed her the respite with a grin, and that pissed her off even more.

“Wanna tap out? You seem out of breath babe” He taunted, although he had a knowing look, clearly aware she’d never give up that easily, yet enjoying mocking her all the same.

Lute didn’t rest long before her next surge of attacks. Trying to catch him off guard by coming at him from unexpected angles, using her wings at times to jump high into the air and swoop about him in an attempt to catch him from an undefended direction.

But he saw it all coming, seeming to always be telepathically ahead of her. He turned too quickly and blocked too strongly for her to get an effective hit in.

“Come on…that’s seriously all you got?” He taunted, his grin unwavering.

It was actually surprising to Lute.

He’d given off nothing but an impression of pure stupidity and laziness in the short time she’d known him, seeming disinterested and downright arrogant. Yet under all of that, he possessed advanced skills and obvious experience.

Given the centuries he’d had to practice, she supposed it did make sense…

Yet it all begged the question of why he wouldn’t want his army to improve, to reach this kind of level.

…Or did he just think they were all untouchable, that with HIM present, there was simply no NEED to have the army be as efficient as possible?

That felt like a pretty good guess to Lute, it aligned with his clear belief that he was also too good for a Lieutenant at his side to support him and take on a level of authority beside him.

She pivoted suddenly, ducking low and sweeping her leg out in a wide arc. This time, her foot connected with his ribs with satisfying power.

A flicker of surprise replaced his smug grin as he jerked backwards

“OW- fuck” He blurted out, a hand coming up to hold where she'd struck him.

Taking the momentary lax in his defence, Lute unleashed another flurry of jabs, ducking a weaving in between each to avoid his attempts to block her.

At least three of her jabs made solid contact before he could block the next by bringing both his arms across his torso.

She wasted no time in grabbing onto them, and with one powerful jump backed by a beat of her wings, she pushed up off the floor with the leverage of his arms and brought her legs up into a kick aimed straight at his masked face.

She watched with satisfaction as the LED screen flickered with an array of colours from the impact and his head was thrown backwards with a pained grunt.

Before he could respond she flapped her wings again, releasing his arms, dashing back and landing out of his reach.

 She had narrowly avoided an anger-fueled attempt at grabbing her.

“’Too slow’” She mockingly copied the way he’d said those exact words to her moments ago, which seemed to only ignite his anger futher.

He scowled at her and reached up, adjusting his helmet which she’d kicked into a wonky position.

She took a moment to feel a sense of victory, but that victory was short-lived.

This time Adam darted at her, instead of waiting passively for her attacks like he did before. Lute dodged as many lunges as she could, retaliating with blind punches in an attempt to deter his advances.

But at some point he somehow caught her wrist mid-swing. Twisting her arm just enough to unbalance her, he swept her feet out from under her with his right leg and sent her sprawling onto her back.

Lute gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, Adam immediately straddling her frame, both of her wrists captured effortlessly in one of his large hands and pinned firmly to the floor above her head.

He leaned in close, his voice low and infuriatingly calm.

“Gotcha.”

She began attempting to wiggle free from his grasp, doing everything in her power to either slip out of his hold or make some kind of contact with his body using her knees or feet.

But he had her effectively pinned down, his grasp shockingly strong and her legs in a useless position from which she could cause him no damage.

“You put up a good fight babe, I’ll give ya that…But I told ya I’d have you pinned easy peasy, didn’t I?” He said teasingly, his voice infuriatingly calm as he held her down without effort despite her wild flailing.

She was suddenly very aware of how much of his body she could feel pressing down on hers through those oversized robes of his, a golden hue rising in her cheeks against her will.

It also occurred to her that throughout their entire sparring, he had thrown no punches, only dodging or deflecting. And even when he decided to start advancing on her, he only grabbed at her. No attempt was made to cause her harm.

It made the fact he had won the fight even more infuriating…

She was about to give him some sort of smart assed remark when the sound of a shrill cry brought both of their attention away from each other.

Both their heads snapped in the direction of the noise, seeing one of the exorcists nursing her wrist with a pained expression, a heavy mace on the floor at her feet.

The distraction gave Lute the opportunity to quickly throw Adam to the side, launching him off of her before she pulled herself to her feet and hastily approached the injured exorcist.

“What happened?” Lute asked and the girl’s partner quickly moved forward to explain.

“She swung it at an awkward angle and hurt her wrist, I’m sorry Lieutenant, I should’ve talked her through it more…I-“ Lute held a hand up quickly.

“This is not your fault, I should’ve been paying better attention to the session” Lute quickly dismissed the girl’s worries of being in trouble.

Lute took a moment to work the injured girl through some movements to check the extent of the injury to her wrist, concluding it was a simple fracture and not a full break thankfully.

She instructed a couple of the others to walk her to the medic bay where she could receive treatment for her injury.

Lute frowned at herself as she considered how this could have been avoided if she hadn’t gotten distracted by Adam and allowed him to goad her into a sparring session.

She decided she’d let the others off, calling the session to a close for today – they’d come back to this idea another day, and Lute would give it her full concentration next time.

The exorcists were filtering out of the room when Adam approached from behind.

“Well, so much for your idea huh? Sera is going to want to hear about this, Lieutenant. How one of the girls was injured following your orders”

His arms were crossed and his tone now stern, but his smug grin made it clear he was playing the part. Eager to try and use this incident to his benefit and as some kind of way to ‘prove’ Lute shouldn’t be so involved in running their sessions.

“Accidents happen. They happened all the time in training when I was a recruit. We are training for war, sir, it comes with the territory. Besides, YOU were the one who insisted on sparing with me, I TOLD you we should always have at least one of us paying attention” Her glare hardened further.

“So unless you want to ALSO explain that last part to Sera, I see no need in bothering the woman about it”

Adam seemed to think for a moment, considering her words and grumbling to himself before he sighed loudly.

“Whatever…”

He looked down at her, his grin returning.

“You’re just being a sore little loser” He snickered and flicked her nose affectionately.

She glared at him but chose not to respond, instead turning on her heel and walking to the exit. To her dismay Adam was quick to follow falling in step besides her as they made their way through the hallway.

“Sooooo, you coming tonight?” He asked.

“Coming where?”

“Fifi’s leaving drinks, told ya about it yesterday when you and Chloe were gossiping about me”

Lute’s face heated up, did he actually know they were talking about him…or did he make an educated guess? She shot him a quick sideways glance and he had that knowing look he often got, she looked forward again still walking.

“No, I’m not coming” She said in a level tone.

“Why not? Or, let me guess, it’s ‘not your thing’” He air-quoted the last part.

She shrugged. She didn’t particularly feel in a ‘going out’ mood. Let alone to celebrate the retirement of one of the exorcists she barely knew. She hadn’t even spoken to the one called Fifi yet, it felt odd to attend her leaving drinks.

“All your little newbie sis’s are going y’know…” It was once again like he was reading her mind. She shot him a look.

“Why do you care if I go or not”

It struck her as odd, he seemed genuinely invested in her coming along. As far as she could tell so far, he wasn't her biggest fan. Any desire to be around her felt like it came more from a desire to fuck with her, or as he had put it, 'rile her up'. Yet now it sounded like he actually did want her there, for real.

“I think it’ll be good for you to loosen up, babe! Besides, I’ll never pass up a chance to see my exorcist babes out of their uniforms and in something a little more appealing” He wiggled his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

“I’ll attend in a potato sack then”

He laughed at that.

“Bet you’d make it look good” The genuine compliment completely threw Lute off.

He had called her many things in their short time together. Cute, hot, pretty, making comments that verged on flirtatious. But most of it she brushed off, chalking it up to his personality - given he spoke to everyone in the same way. But this felt different, like he wasn't just saying shit, he was genuinely complimenting her.

“I…I’ll think about it” She stuttered.

“Nope, I’ve decided for you, you’re coming. That’s an order”

She stopped in her tracks, turning to face him and opening her mouth to protest. But before she could, he brought a singular finger up to her lips, smooshing them together comically.

“Nu-uh, no arguing, I gave you an order and I expect you to follow it. If you don’t…I will find you and I will drag your ass there myself, potato sack or not” He smirked as she stood there silently, completely stumped and lost for words.

“Good talk, glad we’re on the same page, see ya there!” He stepped back and summoned a portal, leaving through it with a wink before Lute could say a single thing.