Remember when I said that little headcanon thing about Emily and Andy from the devil wears Prada? 👀
Summary: Andy is stressed at the job and Emily, being the bitch she is, forces her to get back into it (Ler!Emily & Lee!Andy)
All SFW here and no, this is not a ship. But don’t think I’m opposed to it being a ship either I love this ship-This takes place toward the beginning of the movie when Andy first starts the job, and if you’ve seen the movie, this will make a lot of sense.
Andy’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, unmoving. The cursor she stared at on the screen almost seemed to mock her.
Around 5 minutes ago, Miranda had just bombarded her with over a dozen blunt requests for various things from various brands, and she was not allowed to question it. How would she get all of this stuff done so quickly?
Stressed, Andy turned her head slightly to catch a glimpse of her senior assistant, Emily, whose desk was only a few feet away from her own, to see how she was handling this.
But per usual, Emily was focused on her computer, her head held high, her back straight, typing proficiently as if nothing bothered her at all. Because nothing really did… Andy had absolutely no clue how the woman could do all of this so easily without spontaneously combusting, even if she was in the business for much longer than Andy.
From the corner of her eye and sharp instinct, Emily could quickly catch Andy’s glance at her. She rolled her eyes and looked up from her computer, swirling her chair to properly face Andy.
“If you stare at the screen any longer, Andy, it won’t tell you what to do. And I won’t help you either. This isn’t a Disney movie where everything just magically happens for you.” She said, bluntly.
Andy, who was now feeling slightly sheepish for being called out, briefly glanced back at her own computer screen, then returned her gaze back up at Emily. “I know that.” She said, rubbing her temples. “It’s just like- there are 12 things happening at once…”
Emily rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her computer. “Welcome to work.” She said dryly. “Some of us have been juggling 12 things at once since birth.”
Andy scoffed. “You’re enjoying this?”
Emily smirked slightly, not even bothering to look up anywhere else but her computer. “Immensely.”
Andy groaned and folded her arms on her desk, dropping her head on her folded arms for no more than one second. But apparently that one second of defeat was too much, and it caught Emily’s attention. She snapped her head up and glared back over at Andy.
“Oh no.” Emily said, her tone sharp with amusement. “Are we seriously collapsing…? At the desk? How very on brand of you to do so.”
Andy picked her head up immediately and looked over at Emily. “I’m not collapsing.” She replied quickly, her face flushing a bit.
Emily snorted. There was a brief pause, just long enough for Andy to hope Emily would let something go…for once.
Andy gave a look to Emily, almost trying to get her to continue. Emily looked her up and down before speaking. “From here, it looked like defeat, Andrea.” She said.
“It was just a pause, Emily. A brain break. I needed to gather my thoughts.” Andy muttered back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“A ‘brain break’?” Emily repeated, tilting her head. “Is that what they call it now when you just stop functioning entirely? Sounds like an excuse.”
“I am functioning!” Andy insisted, hastily pushing herself upright against her chair to match Emily’s perfect posture. “I just need- y’know, like…20 seconds to think…”
“You had 20 seconds.” Emily raised an eyebrow. “You used them to mimic the office furniture.”
Andy let out a frustrated huff, dragging her hand through her hair. “Okay, look, I’m sorry I’m not magically good at this stuff like how you are-“
Emily snapped back, cutting her off. “I’m not magically good. I’m trained. There is an obvious difference. One you might be able to grasp if you spent less time collapsing dramatically, and ACTUALLY focused on your work.”
“I am paying attention! I am completely focused!” Andy wanted to strangle her arrogant assistant so badly…
“On what? What your stupid little brain tells you? There’s also a difference between pretending like you are focused VS actually being focused…” Emily leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “And from what I see, you’re giving ‘lost’.“
Andy pressed her lips together, trying to keep herself from smiling at how ridiculous Emily sounded. “You are unbelievably, ridiculously harsh.”
“And yet…” Emily tilted her head slightly. “I am not wrong.”
Andy huffed, returning her focus to her desk. “I just- there’s so much. Too much. The calls, the brands, the clothes, the scheduling, everything…I feel like if I mess up one thing, everything will be over.”
Emily watched her for a longer period of time, assessing her body language. She then spoke up to break the silence.
“Yes.” She finally said. “That’s because it will be.”
Andy groaned, collapsing her head into her arms again. “You’re the worst…”
“And you are being dramatic. Stand up, mentally, if not, physically, and fix it.”
“I am fixing it.” Andy mumbled. “I just need a minute-“
There was another pause. This time slightly longer than the last.
“Oh honestly,” Emily muttered, standing up from her chair and walking toward Andy, who was still slumped on her desk.
Before Andy could react, Emily quickly darted her hand into Andy’s side, giving her a jab. “Up.”
“Ah-! Emily!! What the hell?” Andy jumped, scooting in her chair away from Emily and putting her hands up in defense. “I am up!”
“Not convincingly.” Emily went in for another jab, gently wiggling her fingers against Andy’s side. This earned more giggles from the woman.
“Stop!” Andy would protest. Emily’s contact would linger a bit longer than necessary, just enough to make Andy twist in her chair, laughing despite herself trying to block the tickles. She pulled her arm in defensively. “This is so unprofessional!”
“And since when have you cared about being professional?” Emily’s expression did not change a whole lot, but the slight smirk on her face indicated that she was satisfied by this. Her reaction was tauntingly contained.
“C-come on, Emily! Someone’s gonna see!”
“See what, exactly? You crying over your job when you have calls and orders to make? Yes, that’s very embarrassing. They’re going to see you being very dramatic, hm?”
“Then don’t be dramatic.” Emily responded coldly, moving to tickle Andy’s belly. “Get. To. Work.” Each word was emphasized with a sharp jab toward Andy’s ribs and stomach.
Andy sucked in a breath, trying to scoot her chair back into place after she moved it around with her previous squirming, but the desk caught her from going anywhere. “I’m working, look, I’m working!”
Emily only moved closer, getting into Andy’s desk space. Her hands descended to taser Andy’s hips.
“Are you~?” Emily asked, tilting her head as her fingers found the soft flesh of Andy’s hipbones, poking them just enough to make her jolt. “Because from my perspective…”
Andy grabbed onto her arm, threatening to push her away. “Please stop!”
“Let go.” Emily demanded in a threatening tone, still tickling Andy with her other hand, tugging profusely at the arm of hers that Andy grabbed.
Easily frightened by the threat, Andy let go of Emily’s arm, but since she fell for it, Emily just darted back into her armpits with both hands.
“I- I hate you!!” Andy squealed, still fighting with the other woman, who did not give in whatsoever.
Emily hummed in response, giving Andy’s sides a quick squeeze. “Good. I am not fond of lazy anyways.” She murmured, and though she took the job very seriously, it was amusing to her how ticklish her junior assistant was.
Andy shrieked and twisted the other way, attempting to escape. “Okay, jeez, I get it!”
Emily didn’t stop immediately, letting the tickles on Andy’s side linger just a few seconds longer before she spoke demandingly again.
“Function.” Emily said coolly, sharply jabbing Andy’s chest, as if this was a perfectly normal method to motivate someone she should be mentoring, up until Andy squirmed away in her chair completely.
“Okay!” Andy laughed, finally managing to shove her office chair back just enough to escape. “I’m functioning!”
Only then did Emily pull her hands back and stop tickling Andy, going back to her desk like nothing had ever happened. “Oh good. She lives.”
Andy stared at her, slightly breathless. “I cannot believe you just did that to me.”
“You were spiraling out of control. I intervened.”
“There’s a difference.” Andy tried to look annoyed, but she broke almost immediately. “And the difference is that what you just did was NOT a normal workplace activity.”
“And yet…” Emily said, picking up a stack of papers and handing them over to Andy. “You’re no longer being dramatic face-down on the desk. That’s progress.”
Andy let out a reluctant laugh, straightening her posture in her chair. “You’re horrendous. What if I told Miranda about what you just did?”
Emily tilted her head. “We both know who she’d believe. And it isn’t you. Could never be you.”
As much as Andy hated hearing that from Emily, she was 100% right…
“Whatever…” Andy muttered, trying to act as unbothered as she could, trying to get back to work on her computer, getting to all the requests Miranda threw at her, which she was still struggling with.
Emily already was turned back to her desk, back in focus on her own work as if she didn’t do anything to Andy. She’d take into account that tickling would be another future weapon to use against Andy when she’s acting up. “Now call the designer back before I have to shift to phase two.”
Andy froze hearing her coworker’s words. “Excuse me- there’s a phase two?”
Emily glanced over, briefly. “You don’t want to find out.”
Andy grabbed the phone immediately, dialing numbers as quickly as she could. “Calling. I’m calling!”
Tbh, I already have a part 2 of this brewing up. Because Emily is so high-strung towards the middle/end of the movie and I think we can have a role reversal where Andy tickles her to make her relax. But I do wanna see The Devil Wears Prada 2 to see how their relationship goes cause I love these two and need as much fuel as I can get for them because I’m in my The Devil Wears Prada phase right now 🥵👠👜
I HAVE IT DOWN SO BAD FOR EMILY RN ITS NOT EVEN FUNNY. IM SO EXCITED FOR GAGA TO CAMEO
