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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