#checkmate!reader

Call It Fate, Call It Karma

Part two: Whoever The Fuck

Part 1

WC: 3.6k

Summary: When Adrian finds out about your boyfriend, he decides to do some investigating.

Tags: MDNI! Adrian Chase being Adrian Chase, awkward flirting, dick jokes, mentions of violence, eventual smut, coworkers to lovers, jealousy, reader has a shitty bf, girly!reader, checkmate!reader, AFAB!reader, fem!reader

A/N: Hey guys!! I apologize for part two taking so long! I had a seriously busy month and also got stuck in the middle of this chapter. Buttttt I’m super excited to get this story moving! I really hope you guys enjoy it, let me know what you think!

Working at Checkmate has been an absolute dream so far. You’ve never felt so accepted by a group of people. Everyone who works with you is strange for one reason or another, which makes you feel like you can be yourself.

Arguably, the strangest of them all would be Adrian Chase.

Which is exactly why you find yourself spending so much time around him.

“That one is a complete chode!” Adrian is hysterically laughing as he draws cartoonish dicks all over the conference room whiteboard.

You’re having a similar reaction to the prank you guys planned together. The pink white board marker feels heavy in your hand as you consider whether or not to use your artistic abilities, or to dumb it down. “Do you think a hyper realistic penis would be pushing this too far?”

His eyes light up in excitement, he looks completely tickled by this entire thing. He pops the cap back on his teal marker, stepping away from the board that is now filled with silly looking penis drawings. He shakes his head, gesturing to the board. “Oh my god, please do it. I failed art class in high school.. so..”

“I took AP Art.” You respond with a smirk, which seems to make his smile widen even more so. His head tilts as your marker makes contact with the board.

This is one of those talents that you can’t brag about very often, so you’re taking the opportunity. It’s not your fault you’re an amazing artist! Watercolor is more your speed, but hey! You can draw a dick too!

You slap a hand over your mouth, unable to stifle your immediate laughter. The whiteboard looks absolutely obscene. The pink colored dick you drew is absolutely massive. Did you subconsciously draw the ideal penis? I guess you did. It’s gorgeous, it’s beautiful, it’s-

“What the fuck! That looks exactly like my dick!” Adrian folds over, wheezing with laughter. To him, it’s fucking hilarious that you accidentally replicated his genitals in pink dry erase fashion.

Your eyes widen. Of course, he doesn’t have a care in the world that he just told you what he’s packing. Your eyes flickers between the raunchy drawing, and his laughing form. No fucking way! I mean.. he does have that hung smile…

What the fuck? Stop thinking about your coworkers dick!

You clear your throat and try to hide how visibly flustered you are as you try to change the subject. If you get any more details about his appendage, you might just destroy your life. “Okay, let’s get back to work before anyone notices.”

The next meeting was one for the books. Chris and Fluery thought it was absolutely hilarious. Sasha and Harcourt did not, but they were hiding smiles as they erased it before the meeting.

You and Adrian exchanged a few grins throughout the meeting, because nobody could figure out who did it. Either that or they didn’t give much of a fuck.

Other than the occasional prank, you spent most of your time on your phone and computer. Your desk had only become more personalized. To put it simply, it looked like Elle Woods materialized into real life and personally designed your desk herself. Honestly, that was exactly what you were going for.

Most jobs you’ve had consisted of nobody taking you seriously. You were either deemed to be a bimbo or eye candy. But here, everyone knew your worth. You brought organization and peace of mind to the office. Along with lots of glitter and joy, which to everyone here, only made you better.

It took awhile for you to conceptualize the fact that nobody was going to drop their pens and ask you to bend over and pick them up so they could stare up your skirt.

You wouldn’t be a laughing stock like you were in the past.

“Could someone tell Barbie to get me a coffee?”

“Why do you care about security, you’d make a perfect housewife!”

“You should stay back today and help me unwind after the stressful day I’ve had.”

The harsh words flutter around in your brain on this specific Thursday while you’re getting set up for the day. You’re zoning out again, reminded of the harsh words you’ve received from past coworkers. How dumb they made you feel, how useless they thought you were. You’d cry on your way home every single day, and you don’t exactly have a good support system.

Your boyfriend sees you as something pretty to have on his arm, so why don’t you just-

A massive stack of papers is dropped on your desk with a heavy thunk. “These are all of our latest case files. Can you sort them by importance?” A rare smile graces Emilia’s face as she raises her eyebrow in question.

“It’ll be done before lunch.” You reply with a glimmer of appreciation in your gaze. She didn’t even question if you could handle it.

As you flick through the papers, taking stock of how much work you have to get done, you hear the door swing open. He’s a little late, as always.

Adrian is holding two drinks in his hand, and he’s walking up to your desk with a cheerful expression. “Happy Thursday! I got you a coffee!”

You feel your cheeks burn as he sets the cup on your desk. He didn’t get coffee for anyone else, and he’s giving it to you like it’s the most casual thing in the world. “Thank you Adrian! You didn’t have to do that! I woke up late today, how’d you know I didn’t have time for coffee?”

His gaze quickly averts to the floor as he searches for words, his brain seemingly failing him. “Uh- ha! Lucky guess!”

“You’re the best.” You mean it, he is the best. What a coincidence that the one day you miss your alarm and had to rush in here, he has a coffee waiting for you. Wow, must be the universe or something.

He nods and bites the inside of his cheek before shuffling away and sitting at his desk, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

As you take your first sip, you snap your head in his direction. How on Earth did he know how you take your coffee? It’s such a specific order-

He glances at you and shrugs, loudly whispering. “By the way, I remembered your coffee order because you mentioned it one time. Totally not a stalker or a pervert.”

He seems to be oblivious the fact that he whispers at the same volume he speaks at, but you think it’s endearing. You loudly whisper back to him. “Thank you, you’re sweet.”

Those words will keep him going for the rest of the week.

You finished your sorting project before lunch, just like you promised. It’s impressive really, your ability to be so organized. You have about an hour to catch up on emails and basically dilly dally.

It’s then that you notice the real sticky note on the edge of your keyboard.

‘Are you coming to happy hour? :p’

You don’t have to wonder who it’s from. The handwriting gives him away for one, and who else would leave a note when his desk is 10 feet away.

You decide to humor him.

Pink glittery ink drags across the sticky note as you etch the words: ‘I can’t tonight :(‘

It paints you to admit it, but your boyfriend is supposed to pick you up today and he’s going to spend the night. You took an Uber to work this morning because he wanted to pick you up and see where you work, so you don’t really have a choice.

You walk past Adrian’s desk, sticking the note to his monitor as you make your way to the break room. If your back wasn’t turned, you would’ve caught the dejected look on his face.

Happy Hour sounds perfect, amazing actually. But you promised your boyfriend, Brad, that you’d spend time with him tonight.

In his words, “You’re all into your new job and new friends, I’ve barely seen you.” So, guilt is the main thing driving you to see him.

You know it’s wrong, you shouldn’t be giving your own boyfriend a pity hangout. Unfortunately your brain refuses to do any critical thinking on the matter, what if he’s the best you can do?

The last hour of your work day crept up on you, around 4pm everyone is mostly chattering among themselves trying to agree on which bar to go to.

You try to tune it out, FOMO is already setting in. You focus on typing up mission plans and adding final touches on recent reports.

But you can’t focus, because every time you look up, you catch Adrian staring at you. He sort of does that a lot, it seems. But especially over the past few weeks it’s only gotten more frequent.

You brush it off, he’s probably zoning out. No other reason. You meet his gaze, smiling shyly before you duck your head down to hide how much it affects you.

You steal a few more glances, every time you catch him staring, he looks away. He starts whistling, or acting like he was looking at something else. See? It’s not on purpose. Obviously.

As you log off your computer, you see Brad’s car arrive in the parking lot. You start throwing everything into your purse so you can leave quickly without too much questioning. Your plan to be subtle flies out the window when the front door swings open.

Brad is smiling at you, it’s not warm. It’s the type of smile that says ‘Look at my cute girlfriend at her cute little silly girl job’. You can tell he isn’t coming in here because he missed you, he wants to see why this job has been stealing so much of your time.

“Hey Brad, ready to go?” You speak softly, ready to just go home and hopefully have a wholesome romantic night together.

Brad has other plans. “Hey babe!” His voice booms through the office with the subtlety of a car crashing into a house.

You feel your cheeks heat up as your head automatically snaps in Adrian’s direction.

It must be your subconscious or something, but you feel caught. You hadn’t mentioned Brad to anyone at work, not exactly because you’re hiding it, but because you wanted to be your own person here.

Your eyes catch Adrian’s confused expression, but you don’t get to stare for long. Brad pulls you into his arms and presses his lips onto yours.

You immediately try to pull away, you hate PDA, especially at work. He shoves his tongue down your throat, which makes you jerk your head back and play it off like you’re giggling. “Hey! Um, let’s go?”

Your cheeks burn with embarrassment as Brad pulls you out of the building by the hand. You turn around to wave goodbye to everyone.

Most of your coworkers are smirking, thinking the whole interaction was sort of funny. Adrian has a blank expression on his face, one you’ve never seen before, one that makes you feel sick.

Why does this feel so wrong?

———————————————————————

The bar was pretty empty, which meant Adrian and all of his coworkers could be as rowdy as they pleased. Well, all of his coworkers but one.

Adrian had been moping around for the first hour or so. Had you mentioned your boyfriend before and he hadn’t remembered? That’s impossible. He remembered everything about you. Why hadn’t you mentioned him?

Maybe you liked keeping your relationship private? Or perhaps your boyfriend is a piece of shit and is holding you hostage, he should probably go to your house and check on you-

“Shots!” Chris’s voice booms as he approaches the table with a tray of tequila shots.

Adrian stays staring at the table as he picks at the beer label. He’s barely even had a few sips, it’s so not like him! He loves getting hammered with his number one BFF!

Speak of the devil, the BFF in question seems to notice. “Adrian? Let’s do shots?”

“Huh? Oh! Uh.. No thanks bro.” Adrian finally glances at Chris and is surprised to see that his expression is laced with concern.

Chris knocks his shot back, contemplates for a moment, and then takes Adrian’s shot too. He winces as the burn hits his throat, then he blurts it out. “What’s your problem man? Mad that your work wife turned out to be off the market?”

“No! What? That’s insane-“ Adrian gestures frantically with his hands as he tries to defend himself. Is it really that obvious? Fuck!

Chris cuts him off with a pat on his shoulder, eyes full of recognition. “I’m sorry dude.”

Adrian is at a loss for words. Chris knows him so well! This is why they’re BFFS!

But if Chris referred to you as Adrian’s so called work wife… maybe that means you like him too? He can’t stand to see you with that Brock guy or whatever the fuck his name is.

He almost vomited as he watched whoever the fuck shove his tongue down your throat. You looked so uncomfortable- Ha! That could qualify as assault! He could totally kill your stupid boyfriend..

Unless that would make you upset? Maybe he should just check on you. Yeah. That’s a good idea!

Good thing he already knows where you live.

He needed to keep an eye on you, for safety of course! Or if you didn’t have time for coffee in the morning… he just checks in occasionally! A drive by of sorts!

Adrian stands up so fast the entire table wobbles. He throws a couple of bills next to his completely full beer. “It’s okay. I’m gonna head out. Catch you guys later!”

He throws up a peace sign as he sprints out of the bar, ignoring the questions from the rest of the group.

Thirty minutes later, Adrian is fully dressed in his Vigilante attire and crouching on your fire escape. He wants to make sure you’re okay, this is totally not weird.

He peers into the window for the fil second time today and can’t help but smile as his eyes land on you. You look fucking perfect.

Here you are, in your kitchen, wearing pajamas, and is that- are you baking? He squints his eyes and watches as you line up cookie dough on a baking sheet. Fucking adorable.

You have a relaxed smile on your face, and a little flour on your cheek. God he wants to reach out and gently brush it off for you. He wonders why you’re alone, where’s the so called boyfriend? It seemed like he was staying at yours tonight.. Why isn’t he dancing along with you and watching how cute you look how you bake?

“Babe! Can you grab me a beer?”

Oh. That’s why.

Adrian clenches his jaw and has to force himself to pry his eyes away from the gorgeous sight of you. From his viewpoint, he can see your kitchen and connected living room.

The living room that has a recliner chair with your stupid ugly boyfriend sprawled out on it. He isn’t even looking at you. He’s watching some dumb football game and asking you for beer? What a lazy piece of shit!

“I can’t! I’m making a surprise for you!” Adrian’s heart clenches as he hears the excitement in your voice. But you sound sad or something, maybe disappointed. Hopefully you’re disappointed with your idiotic boyfriend.

Adrian watches as you finish baking the cookies and place them onto a plate. You’re so meticulous in the way you arrange them perfectly. His knuckles turn white from the iron grip he has on your windowsill.

He sees you walk into the living room, “Ta-da!” You say as you offer the cookies to your good for nothing boyfriend.

Adrian almost sees red when whoever the fuck sighs in response to your surprise, and asks for a beer yet again.

He wants to break the window and choke this guy out until his eyes bulge out of his skull when he watches you walk to the kitchen with your head down.

The way your face falls breaks Adrian’s heart. He watches you box the cookies up and put them away. You wordlessly hand your imbecile of a boyfriend his stupid beer.

His masked face is practically pressing against the window now, but he doesn’t care. He can’t seem to leave, not when you look so sad.

Through the window, he sees how upset you are. How does the motherfucker not notice?

Adrian’s eyes are fixed on you as you trudge your way to a barstool and open your laptop. Your back is to the window, giving him a perfect view of your screen as you type in your password and log in.

He was about to leave, he really was. Browser history is private after all! But then he notices you looking through a very familiar email thread.

Is that? No way. Fuck yes! Adrian resists the urge to fist pump as he watches you aimlessly scrolling through your email thread with him. In the reflection of the screen, he sees you smiling softly.

Adrian doesn’t quite know what to make of that, but he does know that at least his emails make you smile.

After the information he discovered, he decides to book it back to the bar to celebrate! This is a great sign! All he has to do is get you to dump what’s his face, then make you love him instead!

It’s simple!

After avoiding a bunch of questions from his Checkmate buddies who were still at happy hour, he was able to let loose for a minute. Mostly to get his mind off of the fact that you’re still with that guy for the time being.

10 tequila shots and a few karaoke love ballads later, Adrian is staring at his phone.

His emails made you smile… he likes your smile! You had a hard day, maybe this will help! It’s totally not unprofessional or anything. He’s being a good friend!

He tells himself that this is an amazing idea as he tries to type out a coherent email with his blurred vision and uncoordinated fingers.

Sending this email in the morning after sobering up is out of the question. Drunk Adrian decides he must make you happy immediately!

From: [email protected]

Subject: happy hoor

Desr my lovely receptionist,

I wsh u came to happy hour! I took a lot of shpts and I want to see ur pretty smile

Love,

Asrian

Sent from my iPhone

———————————————————————

It has been quite an odd morning for you.

First of all, your boyfriend was still asleep when you left, presumably skipping work today. You usually wake him up and kiss him goodbye, but not today.

Second of all, when you checked your laptop this morning, there was a very interesting email from a very drunk Adrian.

You blushed when you saw it, you couldn’t believe it. But he was just drunk, that’s all. However, it made you smile.

On your drive to work you don’t turn the radio on, you need to think. Think about how Brad totally blew you off last night. Has he always been so unappreciative? He didn’t even notice the new pajamas you were wearing.

You felt completely heartbroken last night as he ignored your sweet gesture. It wasn’t the first time, but it might be the last.

You’re not stupid, your boyfriend kinda sucks. Also, you’re thinking about your coworker too much for it to be just friendly.

You re-read his email 5 times this morning. Maybe you shouldn’t read into it so much, but at this rate, he’s nicer to you than your own boyfriend.

But you still have that deep rooted fear. Maybe this is all you deserve, this is the best you can get, just settle.

You’re just as confused as you were at the beginning of your drive as you roll into the Checkmate parking lot.

So much for clarity I guess…

Work starts off normal, for the most part. Everyone in the office seems a bit sluggish. Chris showed up wearing sunglasses. Economos is asleep at his desk. Emilia hasn’t spoken a single word today- the list goes on.

Adrian however, seems completely wired. He’s sitting up straight, tapping his foot, eyes glued to his screen. You tried to smile at him as you came in, but he hasn’t even glanced at you. Weird.

Maybe he’s embarrassed about the email he sent you? He probably regrets it. Or it could’ve been meant for someone else. But what other receptionist does he know? Why is everyone so weird today!

You try to ignore it, but you can’t! After pulling up the infamous email and reading it over 10 more times, you finally cave.

A glittery pink gel pen glides onto a sticky note on what feels like its own accord. The message you write feels like one you couldn’t stop yourself from admitting. ‘I want to see your smile too :)’

You fold it up and throw it at his head. Usually, you’d be more subtle. However, everyone is so out of it today and doesn’t even notice.

“Ow, fuck!” Adrian exclaims as he rubs the side of his head. You can’t help but giggle knowing that it definitely didn’t hurt him, it just startled him.

As he reads the note, he freezes for a moment and you swear you can see his cheeks start to bloom red. His face stretches into that perfect grin of his as he finally (finally!) turns to face you.

He opens his mouth to whisper something to you, but it cut off by the sound of the front door flying open with the force of a tornado.

Wait. What the fuck? Why is Brad here? Maybe you forgot something- No… nope. He looks pissed. Why’s he holding your laptop?

“Which one of you is [email protected]?”

Oh. That’s why.

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Call It Fate, Call It Karma

Part one: Jitters and Bunnies

Part 2

WC: 3.1k

Summary: You get a new job as a receptionist at Checkmate. When you’re introduced to a particularly cute coworker, Adrian, you have to decide if it’s better to stay in your comfort zone or take a leap.

Tags/warnings: Eventual smut MDNI, workplace romance, friends to lovers, coworkers to lovers, girly!reader, receptionist!reader, afab!reader, awkward flirting, undertones of cheating, Chris isn’t in Salvation bc I love him, swearing, no use of y/n

A/N: I’ve been so excited to get started on this! I have so many ideas for this storyline, any and all feedback is super, super appreciated. Your comments keep me going fr. Also yes this fic is named after a song. Enjoy!!

Perfectly manicured fingernails tap restlessly on your steering wheel as you sit in your car, waiting to be exactly 5 minutes early to your new job. Your heart rate is speeding up, both from excitement and nerves.

You smear sparkly berry pink lipgloss onto your lips, rubbing them together to get an even coat. When you flip up the sun visor mirror, the signage on the front of the building is now visible.

CHECKMATE

MAKING THE WORLD BETTER

God, you sure hope so. After interning for A.R.G.U.S. you almost lost faith in humanity. Sasha Bordeaux was the one who reached out and asked you to work for this new startup security company.

You worked under her for a while, becoming acquaintances. She knows you aren’t very experienced, but she noticed very quickly that you share the same values as her.

That paired with the fact that they needed a receptionist who knows how to keep secrets.

So here you are, after doing mountains of onboarding paperwork and signing multiple NDA’s, it’s time for your fresh start.

Your clock reads 8:55am.

It’s time to go. You pull your keys out of the ignition, numerous glittering keychains jingling as you put your keys back into your purse. Stepping out of the car, you readjust your outfit.

The grey pinstriped pants you picked out this morning swish together as you walk, complimenting the click-clacking of your mauve pink kitten heels. The button up sweater matches the shoes perfectly. Your cherry on top is arguably too much jewelry, but you love jewelry!

You smile at your reflection in the tinted glass front doors, you feel ready. This feels like your life might finally start making some sense.

As you take a step inside, you’re met with the smell of fresh paint and gunpowder being masked with a lavender air freshener.

Sasha greets you with her sophisticated smile, shaking your hand. “Welcome, we’re so happy to have you here. This is Leota, she’ll be giving you the tour.”

You lock eyes with the other woman who you now know to be Leota, and her smile instantly calms your jitters. She greets you with a warm hug that you eagerly return. “You’re going to be so helpful around here! Come on I’ll show you around.”

“Okay! Thank you so much!” You’re a little bit nervous still, but the atmosphere of this place is already multitudes better than the cold, heartless energy at A.R.G.U.S.

“This is the main office area, we mostly just communicate with clients and write up reports here.” You look around at the row of desks, spotting a few familiar faces from your previous job.

Langston, Harcourt, and Rip. The latter two give you a nod and a small smile of acknowledgment, you didn’t know them super well but you’ve been around each other. Langston whistles at you. “Happy to see that pretty face again, Mmhmm!”

Sasha flicks a paper clip at his forehead with shockingly remarkable accuracy, glaring at him in a way that tells him not to fuck this up.

You just laugh it off, you’re used to his antics and know he means no harm. Fluery is an oddball, but at least he’s nice.

You’re introduced to a few more people, Chris Smith and John Economos. You can tell Chris wants to act the same way as Fluery, but is stopped by a look that could kill from Emilia. Instead, he shakes your hand. “I bet you’re a very kind and intelligent woman.”

“Thanks?” You reply with a confused giggle, he seems to mean well. John gives you a salute and goes back to typing away on his computer.

After the rest of the tour, you see the break room, conference room, training area, and finally your desk. It’s C-shaped, angled towards the main office area but still facing the front door.

It’s mostly empty, but you’re excited to change that. “Can I decorate?”

“Girl, you can do whatever you want to it. We’re just grateful to have someone helping us answer all these calls and keep us organized.”

Your smile widens even more. You like Leota, she even told you that you can call her Ads or Lee. She overshared about her life: dogs, ex-wife, interests, etc. You decide not to call her Lee because her ex-wife used to. Ads seems like someone you can be yourself around.

“Good because I may or may not have gone overboard buying office supplies and decorations!” You speak honestly, remembering the box of goodies in your trunk that you ultimately decided not to bring in right away.

Leota laughs with you, placing a hand on your desk and nodding. “By all means, go nuts!”

———————————————————————

By 9:30, your desk is completely decked out. You set up your pink rotary phone, which is now fully functional thanks to Economos. There’s a little bowl on your desk that you filled with candy and mints. The drawers have been stocked with sticky notes, glittery gel pens, and notebooks. You changed the background on your computer screen, set your password, and got all set up. You sit back in your chair, beaming.

A.R.G.U.S. never would’ve given you this much freedom. They were also never this welcoming. After the tour, a few of your new coworkers stopped by your desk to talk to you some more. You’re flooded with relief, you got out of a bad situation, and it’s seeming to pay off.

As you begin checking emails, your brain wanders to your other bad situation, but you know you can’t leave that one.

Before you can fall down the familiar spiral, the door slams open with an obnoxious bang, snapping you out of your thoughts.

Your heart jumps to your throat, not from being startled, but something much scarier: Seeing something you want that you can’t have.

The first thing you notice about him is that he’s adorable. Tall, sandy blonde curls, dorky wire rimmed glasses, and a long sleeved maroon polo shirt. “Hi guys! Sorry I’m late, I was getting donuts. You know in movies how there’s always a guy bringing donuts into meetings, I wanted to be that guy!”

Your eyes finally drop from his blinding smile down to the two boxes of donuts he’s holding. You can’t help but match his grin, as if this job couldn’t get more entertaining.

He’s met with a few ‘thank you’s’ and nods of acknowledgment, but also a few eye rolls.

You’re still staring at him like an idiot, your pen slipping out of your hand and clattering onto your desk.

The man turns towards you, finally noticing the brand new face at the formerly vacant desk. He’s never seen someone more beautiful in his entire life.

His excited expression gets impossibly more prominent as he walks over to you, dropping the donut boxes onto your desk, right next to your bell.

He freezes for a moment, looking down at his feet, then back to you, then his eyes dart all around your desk. He sees the bell, and looks like he just solved an equation in his head as he nods affirmatively and dings the bell with one finger.

“Is this how I can start a conversation with you? That’s fucking cool, it’s like an on button!” He’s very animated when he talks, his hands flapping and expression shifting to fit every word.

You laugh softly, and the man quickly decides it’s his new favorite sound. You shake your head and respond. “It’s mostly for decoration, but you can use it as an on button too I guess!”

“Sick! I’m Adrian by the way, I sit right there!” He’s ecstatic that you’re laughing along with him and seem happy he’s talking to you too.

You follow the line of his finger with your eyes, flicking your gaze to what you can assume is Adrian’s desk. It’s decorated too, you notice. There’s some nerdy looking action figures and a framed photo.

You had wondered who occupied the desk closest to yours, and you’re happy to find out it’s Adrian.

After telling him your name, you gesture between his desk and yours. “Yay! We’re desk buddies!”

“Yeah! Hey can I have one of these?” He points to the candy bowl.

“Sure!” You nod happily.

“Thanks, well I have to go do job stuff now, but maybe later you can quiz me on animal facts?”

You watch him pop a piece of cherry taffy into his mouth, drawing attention to his plush pink lips. His jaw flexes as he bites into the chewy candy.

You school your expression, opting for a neutral smile as you try to will your cheeks to cool down. You fiddle with the little stuffed bunny that’s slouched at the base of your computer. “Sounds good! It’s really nice to meet you, Adrian!”

He walks away from your desk, but stops halfway, turning around on his heel. “Whoops! Forgot these!”

He’s so damn cheerful, you watch him pop the lid open with that dopey grin on his face as he hands you a pink sprinkled donut. “This matches your outfit, here!”

You glance down at your sweater, he’s right. That frosting matches your attire perfectly. “Woah it totally does, thanks so much!”

He gives you a nod, he looks like he wants to say something else, but he shuffles back to his desk taking the donuts with him.

Damn, you think to yourself, when was the last time your boyfriend paid attention to the outfits you wear?

The first few hours of work went smoothly, whenever you had questions, everyone was happy to help. You spent a lot of the day answering emails and organizing files.

Your main responsibility was to answer phone calls and redirect them to the correct person in the office to talk to, or just answer general questions. Most of the conversations you had were brief.

Anytime someone raised their voice at you over the phone, you’d stay calm. Adrian, however, would tense up and stare at you, as if he wanted to reach his hand through the phone and choke out whoever was on the other line until they turned blue.

That wasn’t the only time he’d look at you. You’d notice the way he’s always swiveling back and forth in his chair. Every time his body turned even slightly in your direction, he’d shoot you a smile. You couldn’t help but smile back.

Adrian couldn’t stop stealing glances at you. He notices the way your lips seem to shimmer under the fluorescent lighting, the way the color of your sweater brings out your eyes, how sweet and patient you are to all the clients over the phone. He even thought the little stuffed bunny on your desk was cute, you sort of remind him of a bunny too.

You were a lot more subtle with your ogling, opting to peek at Adrian when you knew he wasn’t paying attention. If you craned your neck you were able to see his screen. He spent an entire hour researching bunnies for some odd reason.

In fact, you aren’t sure if he’s really doing any work at all. From the NDA’s, you already know he’s Vigilante, so you’d guess he’s more useful in the field than the office.

You stare at him and his screen as he starts writing an email. It’s impossible to make out the tiny words on the screen, but you see him type and backspace over and over again. You squint your eyes as you try to see what he’s typing-

Ding!

Right, you’re supposed to be checking emails too. Bringing your attention back to your computer, you straighten your back and open the new email notification.

From: [email protected]

Subject: Hi

Hi! 🧜‍♂️

From,

Adrian

You stifle a giggle as you read the email, the emoji is weirdly endearing to you. As your eyes flick up again, you see Adrian already grinning at you. Shaking your head, you return the smile and reply to his email.

From: [email protected]

Subject: Hi!

Hi Adrian,

You must be really bored, huh?

Best,

Your desk buddy

As you hit send you try to focus back on your tasks. It’s your first day after all, you can’t mess around too much. But, his goofy antics are making the day go by a lot quicker.

Another notification comes through. You consider ignoring it for now, but curiosity gets the best of you. How could you possibly ignore him when he’s practically wagging his tail at you right now.

You peek around the office, everyone else is either talking to each other or have their eyes glued to their computers. Nobody can tell you guy aren’t really working.

From: [email protected]

Subject: Important work stuff

Nope! Not bored anymore, I’m talking to you! Can you do prank calls on your phone?

Love,

Your desk buddy

Eyes widening when you read how he signed his email, anxiety wracks through you. Love? Maybe he’s joking around. You shouldn’t take it so serious, but still. That could get you in trouble.

Your mind drifts back to your familiar problem, your boyfriend.

He’s okay, he’s a simple choice. The type of guy that keeps you in your comfort zone. He has jealousy issues, and a lot of other issues actually. But you love him. Yeah, you love him.

Love is supposed to be hard. That’s what you’ve always been told, stick with people you love even when times get tough. You don’t want to end up alone, and you know your boyfriend is probably the best you can do.

Why does it feel so hard then?

He’s barely happy for you about your new job, he’s rarely happy period. But, he buys you things, not things you really like but whatever. Your parents like him, he’s an easy choice.

You don’t want to think about him right now, the thought of change is really scary after all of the changes you’ve already made recently. Your relationship is the only familiar thing in this new life you’re building.

Ugh, but don’t you deserve some excitement? It’s not like you’re cheating, you’re making friends with your colleagues! It’s networking.

You pick up the phone and type in the proper extension number.

Adrian perks up when he hears his phone ringing. He never gets phone calls! Maybe someone needs him for a super cool spy mission or something. He picks up the phone and forces a serious expression only his face. “Hello, you’ve reached Adrian at Checkmate.”

You’re slouching in your chair as you try to hide the fact that you’re speaking into your phone. “Is your refrigerator running?”

You hear Adrian shift around in his chair before responding. “Great question. I’m not with my fridge right now so I’m not sure. Why? Is there a new wave of fridge related crimes?”

“Then you better go catch it!” You try to change the tone of your voice so he doesn’t recognize you.

Adrian speaks very seriously on the other line. “Got it. I’ll definitely go catch this criminal. Do you have any information on them?”

You facepalm. Maybe you should’ve picked a different prank call bait and switch, because he’s taking it a bit too literally. You giggle and sit up straight, looking at him.

“Adrian it’s me, I’m trying to prank call you.”

“What?” He looks like a confused puppy, tilting his head and pressing his work phone to his ear. Scanning the room and looking for answers, he sees you.

It seems to click in his mind what you were trying to do, and he bursts into maniacal laughter. He throws his head back, which highlights his prominent Adam’s apple.

His laughs are so loud in your ear that you have to pull the phone away a bit. You hear his cackles echo through the office as well as the delayed laughing through your phone.

Everyone looks up from their desks in confusion, but not surprise as they watch Adrian lose his mind over your failed, yet successful prank.

You bite back a smile as you watch him catch his breath. You feel eyes on you too, and you turn away, trying to act like you’re on some type of business call.

Adrian finally gets a few words out through his wheezes. “Ah! That’s too good!”

Through the phone, the heavy breathing and his out of breath voice make you feel hot all over. You slam your phone back into the holder, you can’t think like that. This is just friendly stuff, right.

Lunch break came exactly at the right time, saving you from another unhealthy train of thought.

You sat in the break room with Leota, and the third seat was quickly stolen by Adrian.

Chris looked shocked to see that his best friend wasn’t sitting with him today, but after a moment he gave Adrian a not so subtle wink.

“Did you know that bunnies can live up to 50 years?” Adrian looks over the moon to be telling you this information. His green eyes are practically sparkling.

Ads starts to respond. “Adrian I don’t think that’s-“

“I didn’t know that!” You know it’s not true, but you hated the way his face dropped when Leota was about to tell him he got his facts wrong.

The smile he gives you in return makes your heart feel like it’s being squeezed.

The rest of your lunch is spent listening to Adrian spout off bunny facts. How did he know it’s your favorite animal? Some of them don’t sound true, but you like listening to him talk.

Ads listens in pure amusement and disbelief, but she laughs along anyways. She’s had enough bunny facts for the day, however. “So, how’s your first day going?”

“Great! I’m still figuring some things out, but I think it’s going to be a good fit.” You swallow and force yourself not to look at Adrian right now. You refuse to admit that you think he might be a good fit too.

Leota’s face lights up and she claps her hands together once. “Nice! How have the clients been treating you?”

“Most of them are pretty standard interactions, only a couple of Karen’s so far.”

You make a face suggesting you’ve had some sour people on the phone today.

Adrian leans across the table to speak again. “You were doing great! I heard you being all professional and shit, you’re so nice to everyone.”

“Thank you!” Is he throwing sweet compliments like that at everyone or just you? You shouldn’t care. You’re in a relationship. Still, your teeth dig into the skin of your cheek, suppressing a smile.

A team meeting was held at the end of the day, filling you in on all of the current projects that were being worked on. Everyone at this company seems so… real. There’s no cold shoulders, this feels like a family.

As you leave for the day, you see Adrian staying back to undoubtedly go patrolling with Peacemaker. You wave the two men goodbye.

Adrian Chase. What an interesting guy. What an interesting, handsome, gorgeous, funny-

You blast the radio in your car before you let yourself go down that rabbit hole.

On the way home, you feel fucking amazing. Best first day ever, that’s for sure. For the first time ever, you feel excited to go back to work tomorrow.

Definitely just because you like the job, no other reason.

Yet, as you try to drown out the confusing feelings you’re having with Britney Spears, you can’t get the image of Adrian’s pretty green eyes out of your head.