Sorry for the quiet period! I've been going through a bit of writer's block. I still have thoughts but getting those thoughts into words on the page is so torturous rn. I'll be back in a bit, I just need to take a breather 💜
One of the things I think is really cool about posting a series with multiple parts on tumblr is when I post a new part of something, inevitably some of the notifs I get are for part 1 and then subsequently part 2 (or 3 or 4)... I don't know, I've never posted series on tumblr before so it's just something I hadn't considered that I think is very sweet. 💜 (thank you guys for all the love btw)
Hmmmm... private investigator!reader x vincent whittman... calls to me... is this anything...?
Imagine... you're a woman in the 30s... your brother is the front man for your Private Investigator business that you've poured your blood sweat and tears into (It was easier, in the end, than putting your name on the door and fighting five or six uphill battles. Now you only have to fight two or three.) You're successful this way, but at what cost? Naturally, with your brother as the face (while you frantically keep the scaffolding held up), you're eventually hired for some pretty big ticket cases... not the run of the mill cheating husband or wife and life is... good. Not perfect, but good.
The beginning of the end, so to speak, is when you're hired to investigate this studio that's becoming a headline for all the wrong reasons...
So. You're hired to catch a murderer- or a suspected murderer, anyways... there's a very brief period where you consider that you're being paid handsomely for nothing... you're wrong. Of course. But a girl can dream, right?
In any case, this is real high-profile stuff that someone (the owner of the studio, probably) desperate for answers has dropped into your lap (Or your brothers lap, at least he thinks so.) You accept the job, obviously- desperate times and all that- and you go "undercover" as one of the girls at this studio in order to more covertly investigate. The cops aren't getting anywhere stomping around and cracking a few skulls, are they? You're convinced your more subtle approach will be the successful one... although you are fully aware it's risky. We're talking about trying to ascertain the identity of a cold blooded killer here, but you're more confident in your abilities to survive than you are in your brother's business skills... That said, you hope to wrap this case up quickly for multiple reasons.
You get hired as this flashy up and comer's assistant (Vincent)- and at first, perhaps, you suspect him too. You suspect everyone at the studio! But that thread doesn't go anywhere and you put a pin in it. That Vincent seems to take a real liking to you after you is a bonus. You can clear him as a suspect better that way, and that it continues after you've knocked him down the list is just a bonus. All you have to do is bat your eyes and play a little ball, because that'll make your real job eas- oh. Uh oh.
Time passes. You're not making as much progress as you would have hoped and you grow a little complacent with your act. You guys talk about things that don't include paperwork or scripts, you joke, you tease, gossip, flirt, spend time together. He's the one that comforts you when people start dropping like flies, not really understanding why you're so upset (This is not doing the wonders you thought it world for your business' reputation! .... Also, people have died that you could have prevented. Yeah... obviously... that's the... the main problem you're having (cough cough)).
Vincent seems to like that he's the one you go to- point in your favor... but why wouldn't you? He's practically the only person you can be something adjacent to yourself with day in and day out... a mistake, you know it is but- you actually start to like him. He's... dare you say it... attractive, passionate- obviously extremely passionate, clever. You're endeared.
It gets worse. Before you know it, you're kind of in love with him now.... damn. That sure was a blindspot you weren't expecting! Lucky for you he's crazy about you too.
Okay! That's fine. That's great. You can work with this. You'll just... clean up this case- obviously, it's just a matter of time, they'll make a mistake soon or else run out of people to kill- and then you'll... come clean to Vincent? He'll forgive you, won't he? You don't know what comes after that. You go on living as a secretary, maybe? Possibly? Oh shit... you're going to have to tell him your real name eventually to marry him, right? This guy that talks too much and too loud and could be jsut as much of an asshole as every other man you've ever met, and yet... and yet he treats you like stardust personified- something rare and precious and beautiful? Is that really all you want from your life? The white picket fence, the husband, the kids? That's what you're supposed to want, but you never have before...
Meanwhile, picture Vincent, humming sweetly (probably covered in blood, let's be real) and kicking his feet imagining having you all to himself through a series of misfortunate events... most of them are his fault, but you never have to find out about any of that! You haven't managed to figure it out when you were actively trying to, did you? So surely this will work out perfectly.
He hasn't been onto you since the start, for the record- and by the time he does catch onto your double life... well.. it's too late to just dispose of you. He likes you- loves you, perhaps- has spent so much time with you and daydreamed an entire perfect life for the both of you that he's not going to give up on for a whim. Realizing you were cleverer than you made yourself out to be was when his interest was first piqued, then he started stalking you only to realize you were something of a challenge. You know how to slip a tail?! HUH? It kind of snowballs from there... his private obsession growing and bleeding into your growing workplace friendship/flirting.
You don't really get the opportunity to choose for yourself. Life, or at least life the way you've know it to be for the past so many years sort of... ends. Unexpectedly. Messily. Tragically. Long before you figure out that the case you caught was closer to the home you're going to built from the ashes... but the question remains... what do you do after the case is closed for good or for ill?
manically trying to clean my wips up to post & fill out my queue as I am rapidly approaching my last semester and all kinds of other life shit that kills the creative goblin inside of me me deadddd!!!!!
