~ Elija ~
I'm so incredibly nervous. My father asked me to come work at his company a few weeks after our vacation in Sweden, and while I know it's beneficial to my future career and it's really just plain nice of him to offer it, I'm really anxious about what could happen. I don't exactly have much experience yet. I was too busy sleeping around. Talk about wasting time... I don't know how this is going to go and that kind of scares me. Not knowing what I'm jumping into. The deep unknown. My father's company is unfamiliar territory and I have no idea what I can use to get what I want. In theory, I know how the business world works, but I've rarely put the skills to use in practice. He never gave me any information about his company, either, and I didn't think to ask until it was too late. I'm literally going in completely blind.
Before I leave, I give Mikky a hug that lasts for about eighty centuries and another. When he tries to free himself, I hold onto him even tighter and hug him for some more. Eventually, Mikky clears his throat and asks, "Why are you even holding onto me like you're heading to your own funeral? You're just going to work."
"Exactly! I have no idea what I'm gonna do! I'd much rather stay here with you."
He sighs and attempts to remove my arms. "You're acting like a fucking toddler, Elija. Please get off and just go already or do you want me to walk you to the train station?"
"Yes."
"I wasn't serious."
"I still want you to."
"Fine," he huffs, smacking my hands away to go grab his shoes and I smile to myself in victory, throwing the door open. Just when I step out into the hall, the door to the next apartment opens, revealing Gray. I lift my hand in a greeting, smiling at him, and he asks, "Are you going to your father's company today?"
I nod, trying not to show how nervous I am. To divert his attention—and because I'm genuinely curious—I ask, "How's Seth?"
"Still feeling miserable, so I'm getting him some medicine. The doctor said he can have that if it gets bad."
"Oh, okay, I hope he feels well again soon then."
"Yeah, me too. Have fun at work!"
I thank him just as Mikael is leaving the apartment, and he quickly says hello to Gray before grabbing my hand and dragging me through the hallways like his life depends on it. "We're going right away, or you'll be late. With all that hugging, you're bound to have lost some time."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going, aren't I?"
When we get to the bottom of the stairs, he keeps holding my hand to make sure I keep walking, and I smile at everyone we pass, hoping they're having a better day than I am. Well, I mean, it's not that bad so far.
I woke up beside my amazing boyfriend, enjoying the view of his rising and falling back, touching the light birthmarks at the bottom, down to his butt, which was what woke him up. We proceeded to kiss and fool around a little in the bed until his stomach complained at the lack of food, so we got out to have breakfast together. That was the moment he realized I needed to go to work, though. He went all "chop chop!" and chased me out of the kitchen, before forcing me to put on an appropriate outfit. What a horrible boyfriend.
Eventually, we have arrived at the train station and my somewhat happy mood dissolves. I turn to Mikky with downturned lips and he does his best not to laugh. "Come on, Elija. You're a responsible adult. You can do this!"
"I may be twenty-four, but I'm still very much a teenager!"
"Time to start acting your age then!"
I groan, before demanding, "One last kiss."
"You think I was gonna let you go without it?"
I grin and pull him towards me by the waist. He puts his hands around my neck and leans forward to plant his lips on mine, nipping at my lips and tongue. We couldn't care less about the person sitting right behind us gasping and walking away. I love it.
Mikky's lips turn up in a mischievous smirk and he kisses me one more time, before grabbing hold of the lapels of my jacket to straighten the folds. "You look handsome today."
"I know," I say with a cocky grin, making him roll his eyes.
"Well, off you go." He suddenly smacks my ass. "Hurry up, you wimpy coward."
"Ow, I'm not a wimpy coward."
"Yes, you are. Here's the train. Get on!"
"Fine, fine, I'm going. I don't even know if my father will get mad if I do come late." I quickly step onto the train, waiting for the doors to close.
"If you come on time, I'll make you come tonight," he says, waving at me from the platform with a careless smile, as if he's not yelling something completely inappropriate in a train station. I laugh as the train doors close between us and mutter to myself, "Looking forward to it."
I'm not late. Thankfully. I'm actually perfectly on time. When I enter the building, I'm instantly met by a young woman with blonde hair pulled back into a tight knot and bright red lips. She smiles up at me. "You must be Elija Grimes."
Taken aback, I almost gawk at her, and answer, "Yes, I am."
"I'm Lydia, his assistant. I'll take you to his office."
"Okay, thank you." I follow Lydia to the elevator and immediately notice every young woman and even some shy men shooting me curious and intrigued looks. Oh, great... I'll have all them hungering for my dick before the end of the day. The old me would have jumped with glee, but I now wonder how I could ever enjoy having a bunch of strangers wanting to sleep with me. None of them can ever compare to my Mikael.
When they smile at me, I only smile back. I'll be friendly to all of them. No less and no more.
As the elevator reaches the floor of my father's office, Lydia tells me I can find him by the name board on the wall beside his door, before suddenly disappearing in another direction, going so fast I can only assume she really needs to take a bathroom break.
I pass some more attracted lookers, who are all staring shamelessly, making me wonder where all the old, uninterested people in this building are. They'd be a fresh breath of air.
I search the place for quite a while, but despite the name boards and signs all over the place, I can't find anything. The way the hallways connect to each other is incredibly confusing and Lydia is nowhere to be found. Before I can ask someone which way to go, a woman with sleek, brown hair puts her hand on my arm and says with a husky voice, "Hey, can I ask you something?"
"Sure," I reply, not commenting on how she just keeps holding onto my arm.
"Are you Mr. Grimes' son?"
"Yes."
"I knew it!" She leans even closer. "You look just like him, only younger and with much more... spice."
Right...
In all my twenty-four years, I have never really despised my own looks, but here we go, and I haven't even been here for an hour. I know I look hot and I know my confidence attracts everyone's attention, but I'm completely done with it. It really pisses me off now, to be honest.
"Uh, yeah, thanks," I tell her vaguely, hoping she'll get the hint that I'm not interested. "Can you tell me where I can find my father's office?"
"Hmm, yes, I sure can, but let me tell you something else first."
"Okay..."
"You look like you know how to have fun. Hit me up if you feel like doing that sometime, will you?"
How bold. My eyebrows rise in surprise, and a sigh leaves my lungs. I mutter to myself, "I knew this would happen the moment I walked in here."
She frowns.
"Look," I start, "I'm taken, I'm not interested and I—"
"Mr. Grimes!"
I turn around to see Lydia coming up from the other side of the hallway and give her a thankful smile—even though she probably has no idea what she even saved me from—while discreetly shoving the woman's hand off my arm.
"I'm sorry for leaving you behind! I was on the verge of uh... wetting my pants. Please forgive me."
"It's okay. I figured. I couldn't really find it without you, though. This place is a maze."
"Ah, yes, let's get to Mr. Grimes' office now then, shall we?" To my frustration, the other woman walks along with us and she even starts a conversation.
"Hey, how was your weekend, Lydia?"
"Hi, Jennifer!" Lydia exclaims with a cheery voice, only noticing her for the first time. "It was great. How was yours?"
"Not as exciting as I hoped it would be, but who knows? Maybe the next will be more fun."
"Oh, Jen, you always with your wild nights. I have no idea how you show up again so early in the morning, looking so chipper. I'd be exhausted."
Oh, I know exactly how. I know all the tricks.
"Did you have a nice weekend?" Lydia is looking up at me with genuine interest and I answer honestly, "It was tiring."
"What did you do?" Jennifer asks.
"I was with my friends and my boyfriend."
Jennifer immediately halts in her steps, holding up her hands. "Wait, you have a boyfriend?!"
"I just said I was taken, didn't I?" I huff, slightly irritated.
"Yeah, but I didn't think you were gay!"
I look at Lydia for a second, wondering how this woman can possibly be so unprofessional and not be fired, but the assistant only has an amused smile on her face as she watches her colleague freak out. No backup from her then.
"If it... makes you happy," I say to Jennifer, "I'm not."
"But you have a boyfriend."
I resist the urge to groan at this stupid mistake that everyone always seems to make. For fuck's sake. The fact that I'm currently with a man doesn't fucking mean I'm gay, does it? "I'm bi," I explain, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Why is this the very first thing you girls talk about with me here?"
"Oh, Jennifer is a bit of a huntress," Lydia giggles.
"I know. Takes one to recognize one."
"Ha, caught you there, young Mr. Grimes!" Jennifer squeals. "I knew it. You have the aura of a hunter."
"I'm retired," I say simply. Frankly, I'm actually enjoying talking with this silly woman. She's kinda funny and she reminds me of myself.
"Wait till you meet the person that makes everyone else look a lot less appetizing," I tell her. "He'll be all you need to satisfy your hunger."
"In an odd way, that sounds kind of romantic," Lydia says.
"I've been told before."
"What is his name?"
I sigh, accepting the fact that I won't get to my father's office any time soon. Lydia's almost just as bad as Jennifer. "Mikael, but my friends and I usually call him Mikky."
"Oh, that's such an adorable name," Jennifer sighs. "Do you have a picture?"
"Is this really necessary?"
"Yes," Lydia states with a glint in her eyes. "I will show you to your father's office right after!"
"Very well." Small effort.
I take out my phone and unlock it with the mission to quickly find a decent picture of Mikky, so we can get to my father's office, but the first thing I find is the endless stream of pictures I took of him when we were in bedearlier this week. That's just great. I try to get through them as quickly as possible, but since my phone has been acting a little bit weird lately, I'm forced to swipe past every single one of them. My face is turning redder and redder by the second, and Jennifer squeaks, "Oh my God, you have dirty pictures of him! That is gold. Can I see them?"
"What?!" I gasp, swiping aside a bunch of pictures of Mikky with a very flushed face, which I took just before he noticed I was taking the pictures. "No, of course not!!"
I'm about to just give up and go find my father's office myself instead, when Jennifer plucks the phone out of my hand, which has us running down the hallways like screaming chickens. What a perfect first day.
My father simply laughs off my late arrival when he hears it involved Jennifer—apparently it's normal behavior for her—and he continues to introduce me to the world of businesses like nothing happened. His business in particular. At the end of the day, I feel like my head is bursting with information, but somehow, I feel really good. I'm sure I will definitely enjoy working like this in the future. I even had a wonderful time with my father and, for some reason, I feel like I've known him for years. It's a very odd feeling. I'd hate to say it, but Mikael was right. We can get along if we want to and I'm happy he was so adamant on trying to get us to do that. Not that I will ever tell him. I'm not a big fan of the 'I told you so' phrase.
Despite the fact that Jennifer loves getting to know everything about everyone in the office, she doesn't actually gossip my personal information around and I'm strangely conflicted about that, because I do very much appreciate her respect of my privacy, but it also means I still have everyone's eyes on me at all times. But as long as I don't have anyone jumping me like Jennifer, it's fine.
When my father doesn't feel the need to keep me around anymore because he has nothing left for me to do, my first day is officially done and Lydia offers to walk me down again. She has become oddly attached to me in just a few hours, but I like her. She's very nice. I say goodbye with a smile and that smile doesn't seem to want to fall off my face no matter where I go. When I get back home, it's still there.
The muscles in my face are starting to hurt, honestly.
"What did you do that has your face looking like a horror mask?" Mikael asks, when I flop down on the sofa in between him and Seth.
"Nothing. I just had a lovely first day."
"That's great!" Gray says as he's emerging from the kitchen with a plate of food, which he immediately hands over to Seth.
"How are you feeling?" I ask Seth.
"A lot better after Gray got me those pills," he replies with a smile, digging into the food Gray prepared for him. Mikky absentmindedly grabs my hand and asks, "Did anything fun happen?"
"One of my new colleagues saw those pictures we took the other day."
"What pictures?" Gray asks curiously, while I see Mikky's cheeks instantly going as red as tomatoes. He shakes his head and mutters, "Oh, you didn't..."
Suddenly, he's on me with a furious look on his face and a finger jabbing in my chest so hard I'll definitely have a bruise there later. "Why didn't you delete them in the first place?!"
"I honestly forgot about them!"
"I kinda wanna see these pictures now..." Seth says.
"You don't," Mikky argues and I stress, "No, you don't."
"Okay, apparently I don't."
Gray giggles. "This could only happen to you, Elija. You shouldn't leave pictures like that on your phone."
"I didn't mean to..." I groan. "You know what? I'll get rid of them right away. No reason to keep them. It's not like I can frame them and hang them in the living room." I immediately grab my phone to take them all off, but Mikky snatches it out of my hand and I squeak, "What are you doing?"
"Looking at them before you delete them."
"Why?"
"Because I wanna see them."
I sigh and let Mikky scroll through the pictures, while Seth gets scolded for not eating all the food on his plate and I can't help but laugh. Gray's hilarious when he puts on his stern face. He becomes a mother of fifteen children having a midlife crisis.
"Ew, do I really look like that?" Mikky suddenly asks.
"Like what?" I lean over to look at the screen and see a picture of him with his eyes half-closed and his mouth open in the middle of a moan. I glare at him and scoff, "Em, excuse you, you look beautiful."
Ignoring Seth as he laughs at our 'adorableness', Mikky glares right back at me. Uh-oh.
"Next time, I'm taking pictures of you when you don't expect it."
"Ooh, I'll pose for you!"
I secretly kept one of the pictures. I just love the way his skin glows all over and his eyebrows are pulled together in pleasure. I want to look at it all day, even if I'll probably get hard every time I do that. He doesn't even mind that much, as long as I don't accidentally or intentionally show it to anyone else, which I'm more than fine with. Mikael is mine alone.
We're lying on the bed, his arms tightly curled around my waist, and I simply watch his blond head rise and fall with my breathing. I bring my hand up to his back and softly stroke the pale skin, before asking him, "Is this what living is like?"
Mikky bursts out laughing. "W-what? Why for heaven's sake would you suddenly ask that?"
"I'm just so... happy."
He lifts his head up from my chest and stares at me. Slowly, he lifts an eyebrow, before his face breaks out in a grin. "Elija, you're such an adorable, romantic fool sometimes."
"Wow, how am I ever gonna get back to being my manly self, Mikky?"
"You're a manly, adorable, romantic fool."
"That makes it so much better."
"I know! But hey—" He quickly plants a kiss on the tip of my nose. "What if I told you I love every bit of this fool?"
I'm smiling without even meaning to and I tighten my arms around his torso, while he softly adds, "And yes, I think this is what living is like."
It must be. I feel so alive.
I used to think I was living the perfect life. I thought that was what it was all about. To have fun and not give a care in the world. To be able to fool around with anyone I wanted and not having to feel bad about any of it. But I had no idea what I was missing.
"I love you, Mikky," I murmur, burying my face in his hair. "I really, really fucking love you."
He hums and replies, "Your chances of being manly just completely evaporated."
"Don't ruin the mood, asshole."
"Sorry," he laughs, before sitting up and sliding my hands off him, taking hold of them instead. He squeezes slightly and looks down at me with a warm smile. "I love you, too, silly."
"Wow, that was so spontaneous."
He groans. "What do you want from me?"
"Nothing," I answer with a grin, reaching up to pull him down again, so our faces are only a breath away. "You tell me what I want."
He stares at me for a moment, before asking, "Do you want me to do this?" He gives me a short, chaste kiss, and I can't help but smile at the memory. Those were the exact words I said months ago.
Then he mutters, "Or do you want me to do this?" He brings his lips to mine again, and this time, I can feel so much emotion that he could tell me anything and it still wouldn't convince me as much as this kiss. No words can describe that feeling.
My heart is pounding and my head feels foggy and I'm completely out of breath when I finally answer his question. "This."
A/N: because y'all are thirstyass hoes there's still an epilogue about Seth and Gray :P