Hello! I just finished reading Phobos x Female Pacifist Reader and I thought what if we do some angst here?
Any angst Headcannons for Phobos if Reader dies from some sort of illness and reader accepting it just live their life to the fullest and be with him through all of it?
Til death do us part
The madness combat fandom just LOVE angst
Phobos is a man who leads projects that do what no person in Nevadas history could ever achieve, bordering on being on the same level of control as The Employers. Phobos always got his way because of this, because any problem he encounters is fixable one way or another.
So why would you let him fix you…?
Phobos is as devoted to you as you are to him, and to see you deny him the option to helping you even though he seeks you suffering every day just by trying to live your day to day life makes his heart heavy, something he hadn't felt in years of overseeing experimentation and suffering.
He starts going through the stages of grief before you even part with him, he can't handle the news that you will be leaving him sooner than later, he had already imagined what life would be like when he finally achieved his end goal at Nexus, and when the doctors told him the date was much closer than the towers progress would conclude their research and work, he left and wasn't seen until a few days later.
He pretended you were okay to the best of his ability, at first turning a blind eye to your symptoms and struggles, brushing it off as a normal illness that will pass swiftly but it was much harder to do than he anticipated.
He was silent as he held you, feeling your tears begin to seep into his clothing, warm against his skin as he his hands caressed your back, his body running on auto pilot to comfort you while his mind drowned in thoughts of the worst scenarios that could possibly occur.
Once his attempts of ignoring the obvious signs and you assuring him you have come to terms with your limited time on Nevada, he will begin to spend more and more time with you.
He books days off, cancels meetings, 'borrows' money from his budgets to get you things you need and want.
Some days he still gets angry, not at you but at your state, why are you okay with leaving him to be alone? Why do you have to pass sooner than him who has probably lived for way longer?
Now, I'm not a Phobos kind of guy myself and don't feel like being a massive suck up to the audience so heres where the route diverges between Phobos being more canon and Phobos actually accepting your condition.
In the case that he does go along and stop trying to keep you alive and revive you, I think he'd take you somewhere nice, have dinner and come home to bundle you up in blankets and kneel in front of you.
He'd be responsible, ask you how you want to pass, how you want to be remembered, what to do with your things when you're gone.
A few tears will finally be shed by the God-Emperor as he buries his face in the blanket over your lap.
He wraps you up in his cloak when you pass, giving your forehead one final kiss in the open casket before it closes, letting his employees bury you in the spot you wanted to rest in forever.
But, if we're going by canon, too greedy for his own good Phobos. I personally don't think he'd respect your wishes.
You're HIS partner. Don't get him wrong, he loves you so so much, but that's exactly why he CAN'T let you die.
His experiments are all about basically achieving godhood, and with Crackpots help he will most likely find a way to deny you the possibility of passing away. He'll find a way, maybe tether your SELF to your own body, maybe a Gen 3 so you never have to hurt again?
He plans this all without your knowledge too, not wanting you to be upset as he knows you've made up your mind. But his jealousy and greed doesn't let him accept the fact you'll be gone, and from then on you notice you're no longer allowed in his office whenever Dr. Crackpot appears.
Could you do Phobos x fem!reader headcanons? Pretty please with a cherry and sprinkles on top? 🙏🙏
Weeeell since you asked so nicely…
Been a while since I wrote for Phobos lmao, I do love this director, also I'm so sorry I've been away for so long, I got hyperfixated on other things and just been working my life really
I got a little carried away… Yall deserve something big for how long I’ve been away lol, enjoy
I still don’t know when a name ends in s if I still use ‘s or just ‘ at the end of it when merging “is” to the name…
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Phobos x Fem!Reader // [hc/fic, fluff]
You probably met while you worked as an engineer for Nexus, let's switch things around, I mostly see scientist readers or something, it's not a bad thing but I wanna explore engineers and soldats as well, buckle up
Here’s the thing that I should explain before anything, Nexus Engineers and Soldats are not yellow blooded, those were not made in the labs, alr? These are your everyday Joes who are a little more interesting than your casual grunt with their knowledge, engineers are promoted with their knowledge to fix things and good insight while Soldats are promoted with high combat skills and high ambition, endurance and shit, all of them start as normal agents, got it? Alr lets go
You probably didn't work for anyone in specific, freelancing and fixing anything you could for a quick buck, you had a good reputation as one of the best engineers around Nexus City though. Phobos caught wind of your existence while passing one of your buddies who did work for him, the Soldat was telling their co-workers about your skills and how “you could fix anything you touched”. He's really exaggerating here, but he’s always been supportive of you, we’ll call him…. Tom, for easy reference.
The Director grew skeptical of your skills, it almost sounded too good to be true, and with how highly this mortal was talking about you, you must be good, after all, this was one of his top soldats, he wouldn’t be lying if he knew what was good for him.
“Really? She’s that good?” Phobos’s voice boomed from the door to the break room, many of the grunts flinched and straightened their postures in the Director’s presence, including Tom, who scrambled to turn around — knocking over his chair in the process — singled out as the rest of the room took a step back. The soldat stammered, caught completely off guard by Phobos’s sudden appearance, tensing as the much taller grunt stepped closer.
“Answer me, Soldat, is she as good as you say she is?” He asked with a dangerously calm tone, it was threatening, as if the Soldat said one wrong word he’d be beheaded on the spot, Phobos couldn’t bother to remember his name.
Tom swallowed the lump in his throat quietly as Phobos towered over him, his glaring red monocle almost casting a red spotlight on his face, he seemed to take a deep breath before answering confidently, “Yes sir, she is the best I’ve seen in a long time.”
One of the engineers scoffed at that, unfortunately just loud enough to make the Director shoot them a glare, making their blood run cold and lower their head in fear. Phobos hummed in acknowledgment, returning to Tom “... very well.” Phobos drew in a breath, “Lucky for her, we are still in need of recruits, especially engineers, so they can help with the machines and whatever else they do around the Tower. You will bring her here tomorrow for an interview, if she’s as good as you say, she will be hired.” with the demand in place, Phobos stood back up to his full height, looking down at Tom as he slightly shook in his boots.
“... and if I don’t..?”
Phobos’s glare intensified at the question, Soldats always seemed to be curious about the most insignificant things, how dare he question Phobos’ orders.
“Then I will personally make you an example as to why you shouldn’t lie about someone’s capacities to me.” He finished sharply, turning on his heel and marching out of the room, nearly knocking Tom over with the mere force of him being hit by his cape.
As soon as the employees thought Phobos was out of earshot, he could hear many of them reprimanding Tom for not shutting his mouth when he had the chance, it did make a grin tug at the corner of his lips, thinking the way most just immediately jumped on Tom for being a little too positive about your abilities and being caught was absolutely hilarious. However, if you truly were as good as Tom claimed, then you might just earn your spot in the Tower, yet another stepping stone for his plan of achieving Godhood.
When Tom came to you with the story, you… didn’t exactly know how to feel, flattered Tom spoke so highly of you? Annoyed he dragged you into this situation? Or scared of what Phobos might do to you if you didn’t meet his expectations… Either way, anxiety shot up, you had been questioning whether to apply to Nexus Core though, maybe actually get a full-time job instead of living off freelance, so this was the best time than any other to actually get that job. Or suffer Phobos’s wrath.
You dragged Tom inside your home to explain to you how the machines in Nexus Core looked so you didn’t have any surprises when going over. It was very bare bones; Tom knew nothing of machines aside from basically what they did, but it was enough to help you through and figure it out yourself.
When the next day came, you put on your self-assigned work clothes and got a ride with Tom to the Science Tower, yawning the majority of the way there. Tom had to go in early as shit due to his status, meanwhile, you usually got to sleep in unless you had a job, you weren’t used to the early routine, but nothing a cup of coffee on the way there didn’t fix.
Going through the Tower was long-winded, to say the least, the thing looked bigger on the inside, and the number of floors… Christ, you were starting to reconsider this opportunity on the 10th flight of stairs you had to go through, and you weren't even in the middle of the tower yet. But going around the rooms you normally would’ve never had clearance to as a normal visitor to the museum part of the place was good to know which type of electronics you’d be working with; they seemed… complicated, and it made you nervous.
Tom had been leading you by the hand because he just didn’t want you to get lost, and then get yelled at for it, so before you knew it you were faced with the Director’s entry doors. The guards were cold in their tones, requesting Tom state his business before letting you both through, and honestly, you were not surprised to see how huge the office was, what you didn’t expect though was to see other scientists working around in the same room, just right there next to the Director, you wondered if these were high-rank employees or if this was a way of keeping them under Phobos’s personal surveillance.
The Soldat let go of your hand and gave you a look of reassurance before you both looked at the towering silhouette at the top desk, seeming to admire his city out the window; the scene looked like something almost out of a movie. Tom took a deep breath before marching up to his office, with you following suit, pausing only for a moment to hear the G03LMs announce your approach.
As you approached his desk, he didn’t turn to you both just yet. Glancing at the other two Soldats standing guard to his sides made you double-take; they looked almost exactly like Tom did in uniform, only these guys seemed to have more buttons and pins on their uniforms than Tom did, those must be a bitch to take off every laundry day. Tom cleared his throat lightly before bowing his head to the Director, motioning for you to do the same before speaking.
“Director, I have brought the engineer you requested.” Tom announced almost as if talking to a king.
Phobos turned from his wide window to look at you both, the light from the dawn outside highlighted very few parts of him; it almost looked like a painting if it didn’t look oddly terrifying. He seemed to take a moment to analyze you before lifting his hand and lowering it a couple of inches down. “At ease, Lieutenant. You too, Engineer.” he boomed, allowing you both to stand straight again. His tone was sharp, but not harsh, simply an order.
Phobos retracted his hand into his cape, you’re not too surprised he actually wears the thing, Tom’s told you about the times he accidentally or intentionally knocked people over with his cape whenever he came around for lunch.
“I will take it from here, I’d like to get to know our… Possible recruit. Return to your duties, Lieutenant.” he ordered again, your eyebrows furrowed a bit as Tom nodded and spun on his heel, giving you a pat on the shoulder before marching away. Your anxiety spiked as you were left to stare up at Phobos on your own.
Okay, I'm getting too carried away here, let me speed things up a bit.
Phobos gives you an interview himself, normally it would be someone lower in rank due to his schedule being SO busy with paperwork, but again, Tom gloated about you so much he just had to see you with his own eye, completely valid reason, right? Yea, yea sure. Also, escaping from the amount of paperwork from their projects and agreements with other companies was a little nice.
He got your basic info, you answered his questions, that he had written in little slips of paper with basic answers under them he had a handful of the engineers write, he’s by no means a “tech nerd” like you engineers, but he did his best to grab the essential answer from your longer explanations with a smile on your face, you seem to enjoy mechanics, good, the ones with more passion seemed to give better results.
After all of that, he got up from his chair and walked around his desk to you, damn he was far taller than you anticipated. He said he’d give you a tour of the place and have you fix a couple of things with the other engineers, under his monitoring; we don't need you going somewhere you don't need to be, of course.
So the whole day you followed him around, grouped with a couple of random engineers in the facility; you successfully fixed something — which as much as these machines looked complicated they had pretty standard problems to be fixed so far. Around lunchtime, he took you back to his office which was mostly empty aside from some scientists finishing up work before quickly leaving to get their food and finish it within the 2-hour break Phobos gave them, which was surprising, most jobs didn't even give an hour. You may have off-mindedly muttered about that being nice, Phobos, seeing it as an opportunity to make a better impression and gloat a bit, claimed it was because he understands how huge and time-consuming getting up and down the tower to the food court and back was, plus, he enjoyed the time to himself that the break gave.
One long and unnecessary speech about how great of an asset you’ll make to Nexus Core, how he sees great potential in you, and how he can see you climbing the ranks quickly later… You're hired! Congrats, you work for the minion look-alike now. Yippee.mp3. He gave you a handshake, let you know where you could get the proper uniform for your work, and set you free to go home, saying you’d start that next Monday. Telling the good(?) news to Tom on your way out, he took you out for a celebratory lunch at your favorite place. At least he was happy you’d get to see each other more often; work always got in the way of your hangouts.
Either way, working at the Tower isn’t as bad as you thought it would be, most of the time at least; you got to know a couple of Tom’s other friends and co-workers around your first day, setting you up with one of his most “trustworthy” engineer friend. Much to their dismay, Tom begged them to babysit you until you got the hang of things in return for like… 5 favors he’d owe them in return. We’ll call this one Kai.
Kai did as promised, giving you a more in-depth rundown of how certain machines worked and what their most common problems to fix were just to give you a heads up, claiming they were feeling generous enough to let you know. Allowing you to take the lead in fixing some of these machines similar to how Phobos did in your interview, quizzing you from time to time on the machines, what they did, or how to fix a certain problem.
As much as they were incredibly monotonous in their voice, you could tell they were just as passionate about mechanics as you were.
Something you did notice throughout the day, however, was that the Director himself was around very often.
“Yep, that’s correct once again, great job [Name].” Kai gave you a tired nod and praise as you answered their question about the cloner in front of you correctly, glad you were paying attention to their ramblings about the machine earlier. You smiled at them behind your mask, hoping they saw how your eyes squinted to know so before they began to speak again.
“Now, this one has been having some problems with faulty wiring, I’ll fix this once since this equipment is so delicate, but I need you to watch and learn how it’s fixed so you-” Their thought process was interrupted halfway through unscrewing the machine’s control panel, raising their head and looking into space for a moment before looking at the doors to the room expectantly, cycling through every couple seconds, did they hear something? You mostly just heard the beeps and scribbles from the machines and the scientists, though… you felt some slight vibration at your feet. “.. is something wrong?”
“... The Director’s coming… again… don't do anything-”
“stupid, I know.” you finished their phrase as they continued with their work, feeling the vibrations of his footsteps approaching far clearer than before, ‘there are 3 doors leading to this room, two on the east and west, and one north-east up a staircase, it doesn’t feel like the footsteps are coming from above but I can’t tell where the sound of his boots are coming from, but… I’m willing to bet the… east door?’
The sound of a door opening to your right had half of the people in the room looking towards it, mainly those who were so lost in their work to notice, including you and Kai. ‘huh, it was the east… lucky guess..?’
You didn’t dare look at the Director for too long, after all, you had to focus on what Kai was doing… Kai, who was inspecting what the much taller grunt was doing with interest for a minute or so before going back to work with a light huff, sounded.. Baffled? You wondered what was wrong as you watched them mess with the wires, disconnecting and reconnecting a couple of set wires before starting to close the panel again, they worked fast that’s for sure.
“See? It’s pretty easy once you know which must be reconnected or switched around. Sometimes in a hurry some other engineers or scientists who don't know what they're doing mess up the wires and make the machine faulty.. The nerve of some people…” they muttered with a disappointed look, making you chuckle briefly before nodding in agreement, not before you felt a familiar looming presence behind you, though.
The large hand on your shoulder made you flinch as the Director’s voice nearly reverberated in your chest with how close he was, like a loud bass in giant speakers.
“Heyy, how’s the work going-... [Name]..! Liking this magnificent Tower so far?" His tone was far friendlier than you’ve heard before, a smile clear in his tone; it seemed like he struggled to remember your name for a moment but you wouldn't blame him if it was the case, with so many workers here and this being your first day…
“Oh! Uh- great! The work- well, the introduction is going great! I do.. Enjoy it here!” you answered a half-truth with a nervous smile behind your mask, you knew he probably couldn't see it but expressions die hard. “Good! Good! And- hello to you too….. Kaaaailee, yes, Kailee.'' The pause with Kai’s name was longer, and the confidently incorrect answer made it painfully obvious he genuinely didn't remember their name; it was almost charming, just a bit.
“Close yet far, sir.” Kai mumbled to themselves as they gave him a small bow “Hello, Director.”
“How’s your work?” he questioned with a small tilt of his head, his hand still firmly placed on your shoulder.
“Nearly done, sir. I’m just teaching Ms. [Name] here how our cloners work.” Kai gestured to you as Phobos nodded with satisfaction.
“Good good, delightful. Anyway, I must get back to my duties. You treat our new engineer well, Kailee, we don’t want a 2-week’s notice so soon!” Phobos’s laugh echoed through the room, sounding almost cartoonishly villainous as he gave two firm pats on Kai’s back before walking off through the west door.
You gave him an awkward wave even if he didn't see it, a hand lingering on the warm spot from his hand on your shoulder for a moment, ‘... that was weird’ you thought before turning your attention back to Kai, who looked to be in slight pain, leaning against the cloner for support.
“... you good?” your hand placed on their shoulder gently, concern starting to lace your voice, Kai let out a small groan in annoyance. “He never knows how to regulate his strength… either way, that was quite the odd interaction.” They stood back up straight.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t be clueless. You noticed him following us too, right?” You paused before nodding with an unsure look, “Yeah- well, I mean.. It could just be a coincidence, right?” Kai shrugged their shoulders,
“Maybe, but the patterns are just too convenient…”
“Patterns?” you questioned, giving them way to elaborate “Well, when he comes around, he scans the room quietly before he focuses in our direction, then tries to act natural by looking over other people before gravitating to where we are. Looking over us or- like he just did, and maybe strikes a conversation.”
“It is a little odd when you put it like that, but doesn't he monitor new people like me too? Surely this is normal-” Kai held up a hand, something you caught on to mean he wanted to stop you mid-sentence before speaking, interrupting you but not at the same time. “Not really, no, at least not that I’ve seen.. He never did that with me at least, nor with any other engineers that I’ve trained before.”
You were about to speak before another engineer passed by you, butting into your conversation.
“I think yer thinkin’ into it too much again, Kai. Yer scarin’ the poor gal.” he softly punched the taller engineer on the arm, holding a box labeled ‘parts’ under his other arm, the thick southern accent being the first thing you noticed before processing his appearance, he turned to you. “Don’t ye worry yer tiny head about it, rookie, I’ve seen Ol’ Bos monitor some other newbies more closely like that befo’. Seems he does this stuff to ones who he thinks are troublemakers or ‘ave had a bad impression o’ him or Nexus as a whole! Ye don’t seem like the trouble kind, he’s probably just tryna give you a good impression or sumthin’.” he shrugged, stealing your bonnet for a moment to ruffle your hair lightly with a laugh before handing your hat back to you and walking off without another word.
Kai sighed with a shake of his head, rubbing the spot he was punched at as you fixed your hair with a light chuckle, “he’s in good spirits at least.” you mentioned as you repositioned your bonnet on your head, “I guess… he could be right, or not, Phobos is… a bit unpredictable at times… I hate it.” Kai complained as you chuckled again, he motioned for you to follow again, your shift wasn’t over yet and there was more machinery to fix.
I love expanding like this, even if this is probably not what you wanted, I’ll try to speed this up again.
Even after your first day, Phobos kept… lowkey stalking you through your first week, especially after Kai stopped holding your hand through things; you boiled it down to just being him making sure you're not getting into any trouble by yourself, though, it started becoming a bit more obvious that wasn’t the true intention as he started ‘accidentally’ bumping into you on the halls or taking the same elevator to places, sometimes even walking into you seemingly without noticing as you tried getting to Tom and Kai, who often invited you to have lunch with them at the break room if you weren't getting food at the patio.
Phobos didn't understand why he felt compelled to see you, he’s monitored newbies a few times, so this shouldn't be any different, yet… it was.
Most would try to get away as soon as possible unless he actively requested to have a talk with someone, no one dared stay around for long, they feared him, it was always the intent, to be feared, respected, to be this City’s GOD. Yet you were different, you weren’t scared; nervous at most, but it didn’t seem to be directed towards his presence completely. You consumed his thoughts when he was attempting to do his work, his mind gravitating to your face, your mannerisms, your laugh… It was frustrating, what had you done to him? It’s only been a couple of weeks and he’s enamored by you, he’s been attracted to other people before, albeit before he became Director, but it never seemed to go past their appearances, but this? This was bigger, this was more.
It didn’t take long for him to make sense of his thoughts, sure, a couple frustrations didn’t go unexpressed as he seemed to be unpredictable around. One day he’d be all gleeful and conversational with you, the other he’d be distant and judgemental, you assumed he was simply having stressful days… but your gut said to ask, to figure out what was wrong with your boss, especially since some of your coworkers found themselves with the short end of his temper.
So you asked, slipping into his office after the doormen left for lunch, you knew he was in there, he said he enjoyed the time for himself. The office was empty aside from his hunched-over shadow up at his desk, he didn’t hear you slip in as your boots clicked against the floor, making your way up to him.
He had his head resting in one hand as his other held a pen to a paper he didn't seem to read, simply staring straight down, taken by his thoughts. Soon you stood in front of his desk, holding his (allegedly) favorite cup of tea you had gotten based on his orders from the cafeteria in your hands, trying to find a way to gently snap him out of his thoughts without it backfiring harshly on you. Pulling down your mask from your face and letting it lay over your upper chest as you called out his name softly.
Took about 3 times and light taps on his desk for him to see you were there, irritation shifting to surprise to see you in his office, much more without your mask, he hadn’t seen your face properly since the interview… Clearing his throat, he asked what you were doing here, you explained that you were worried about him, and how stressed he was lately, so you came to ask if he wanted to talk, to rant, anything to make him less stressed just so he doesn’t end up killing anyone for a minor mistake sending him over the edge.
… You… wanted to talk… with him? I mean of course you would, he’s Nexus’ God-Emperor and Director after all, why wouldn’t you? Your words warmed his chest, you cared? You didn’t seem like the lying kind, and he had no reason to believe you would lie to him…
Of course, your request to spend time with him was accepted with a welcome, if you were anyone else he might have thrown you out of the window though. Your lunchtime was spent listening to the Director rant about anything he felt like telling you, about the worries of a certain grunt going against his cause, the stress of his goals, and the annoyance that was needed to cater to MERC and their demands for G03LMs, the angry and poorly written emails from their manager still sat in his drafts as he tried to word an unhostile email, it was hard!
He didn’t elaborate on certain things, but you didn’t pry, maybe if you did he’d get more stressed, that wasn’t your current goal. Though you couldn’t help but feel charmed by his demeanors, obviously he didn’t pass on opportunities to gloat about himself, but after he was done ranting, he asked to know more about yourself. It surprised you he was interested in your life at all, but he insisted, so you complied.
You both lost track of time, talking and laughing about funny stories from your lives and even gossiping about things outside and in the tower. Your previous image of Phobos had been broken, that intimidation and nervousness vanishing like smoke in the air, he was just like you and the others, if not a little up his ass but he was still a grunt like everyone else; He liked to gossip, he enjoyed technology and what it could do, he enjoyed comedy, horror, and action movies.
The more you talked, the more the both of you fell for each other, at some point he had forgotten to drink his tea, by the time Lunch was over and his guards came back wondering what you both were laughing about, the tea was cold.
You were disappointed to need to go back to work but you had machines to work on, Phobos suggested you pick up your conversation again the next day. And so followed your new routine, you’d come to work, do your thing, and stay with Phobos for the lunch hour until you went back to work, he even started messaging you after a while to send you goodnights or for you to elaborate on certain things he was really curious about from your conversations earlier.
It took a few months for him to ask you out, and even longer to finally ask you to be his. He made a big deal out of it, of course, it was something private between you both but he went all out on it, flowers, tuxedo, your favorite treat, the works. You made it official on the Tower’s rooftop, watching the sunset together.
He loves you just as much as he loves himself, dare I say even more, his diamond, his queen, he wants you to rule alongside him when he achieves Godhood. He hasn’t told you the full extent of his plans though, you know it's important but he won't elaborate on what he’s trying to do.
He loves PDA, getting a kick of showing others you’re his and only his, kisses, handholding, gentle touches along your sides and shoulders, etc. he doesn’t care about who sees you together, in fact, how dare they stare in the first place.
Phobos can be a bit of a jealous partner, getting protective and possessive of you at times if you hang out with your friends for what he deems to be too long. Later when you're both alone, he’ll remind you of who you belong to with long, deep kisses, and hold you against him, trapped in his arms. It’s nothing too rough to overwhelm you, he’d never forgive himself if he dared hurt you, he tries to take it lightly and playfully, trying to make you giggle even if he’s serious about his words.
Regardless he just wants you well, if you’re in any pain at all he WILL just give you the day off, mayhaps he’ll even excuse himself to keep you in his bedroom, staying with you and getting you anything you need, painkillers, water, anything you crave at the time. Spoils the HELL out of you, and will cling to you as long as you're comfortable.
Speaking of that, he’s a HUGE fan of physical touch. He’ll trace his nails along your back and gently rub your thighs when cuddling, trace his thumb along your knuckles when holding hands, touch legs when just sitting next to each other, and can't hold hands, rest his head on your shoulder and hug you if you're sitting on his lap. Playing with your hair… He’ll never admit he’s a fan of romance books, he’s always wanted to do this with someone, and with you he can finally relax and be soft-ish for once.
Also, he’s big spoon when you cuddle, he enjoys holding you more than anything, but if you insist on him being little spoon he won't protest much, being held is nice too.
If you have a spot when you keep your things at the tower he’ll take the time to leave you little gifts, mainly small things that you mentioned you’d like to buy some time or something, flowers, treats, even just little notes to lift your spirits. He enjoys being romantic, and if it means it’ll bring a smile to your lovely face then so be it.
Some of your co-workers are slightly concerned about your relationship, warning you of his manipulative ways at times, others can't be bothered to say anything because you keep Phobos in good spirits, and keep them from being yelled at so whatever. But he’d never manipulate you I’m sure… right?
Nicknames! My Dear, Starlight, My Love, My Queen, anything to do with your name, usually he’ll put “My” before the nickname because he enjoys reminding himself that he somehow managed to bag such a lovely person. It’s the only thing he questions about how he got so lucky.
He loves you beyond everything. It’s really gonna sting when he dies… Hope you’re ready for that.
Also note that there is already a similar Phobos oneshot on Tumblr out of coincidence, so yeah, just a heads-up
Summary: Director Phobos does not stand for any disrespect towards Nexus Core's god emperor. Unfortunately for him, there seems to be a special case...
Scientists and guards glanced as their Director strided through the halls. He looked angry today, footsteps even louder than usual and fists clenching behind his back. Nobody dared to ask what happened, not only because of his unspoken policy of "don't speak unless spoken to or if it's important" towards the lower ranking employees, but also simply because unlike most politicians he could actually kill them before they even notice.
Besides, even if he didn't, he would still be way too embarassed to admit the source of his frustration.
A civilian.
That's it. That's all there is. Not even anyone working directly for him, just some random citizen that seemed to take pleasure in getting on his nerves.
Whether that be ignoring every speech he gives out or every rule he imposes, and they always found a technicality to go around to avoid punishement. It threatened his public image occasionally, and piereced right through his over-inflated ego everytime.
They outsmarted him in the simplest of things and if that didn't make his blood boil I tell you.
And the worst thing? He couldn't bring himself to punish them for it.
It's not like he didn't want to, on the contrary, he should have sliced their head clean off long ago, but for SOME reason, he couldn't.
"Director?"
Maybe it was them playing with legal loopholes again that made him feel like they were untouchable, maybe they were actually trying to play mind games on HIM out of all people...
"Uhm...Director Sir..."
There was just...something about them, their shitty little smile, the way they talked to him so casually...
"Directooor..."
He hated it. He hated them.
"DIRECTOR PHOBOS!"
"Gah!" Phobos whipped around, snapping out of his thoughts to angrily look at the employee whp just yelled at him.
"Who do you think you are to yell at your lord like that?!"
"This is the fifth time I've tried talking to you Sir! Do you even know where you've been walking this whole time?!"
The dictator looks around him. Huh. In fact he DIDN'T know where he was going, he was on autopilot as he was thinking about that damn grunt.
"...What do you want anyways vermin." He avoided accidentally showing his embarrassement by asking a question.
"We got a delivery at the front door."
"Get someone else to take care of it. I'm busy." Busy walking to nowhere thinking about some random ass person.
"It needs your signature."
Phobos heavily sighed.
"Fine. Now get out of my sight George."
"My name is Ben."
"Whatever. You all look the same."
Ben left as he grumbled something, leaving his boss to start walking himself to the entrance at which deliveries to the Nexus Core were, well, delivered.
On his way there, he thought about how most of his workers truly do look the same. While yes, he was the one to impose the uniform, they could at least make an effort to stylize their hair or whatever. Maybe if the employees took inspiration from HIM, they'd be a little more-
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Hi-"
"What are you doing here."
Phobos interrupted as he stared at the very same person he's been thinking about the entire day, the same one that has been consistently mocking and disrespecting him for way too long, standing outside the door with a package in hand.
"First of all, it's rude to interrupt pe-"
"Answer me."
They silently stared at him with a 'bitch' expression for a second before answering.
"The usual delivery guy got sick. So I'm taking his job until he feels better. Happy little accident huh?"
He glares at them and their cheeky grin as he brutally grabs the notepad and pen out of their hands and starts signing.
...
...very long signature he has...
..................
"...Is the drawing of you on a throne really ne-"
"Yes."
"Stop interrupting me! It's rude!" Are they really talking to their god emperor as if he was a stupid child? That piece of shit!
"You're rude. Now scra- ahem. Leave at once."
The smile on their face only gets larger.
"Imagine calling someone rude and then telling them to scram. Not like it'll be possible anyway, I have like 3 other people in this building I need to deliver stuff to. So unless you want to play delivery boy to them, I'm going to have to come inside."
Phobos' eye twitches. What kind of plot convenient badly written gacha life coincidence stupidity is this?! He's not humiliating himself like this! He can just go back to his office and use the intercom!
"I'll send a message to them. Who are you looking for?"
"Huh. This is probably the most polite you've been to me so far. I've got a Christoff, a Hoffnar, and a Crackpot."
"Oh...That stupid Crackpot is never going to want to come in here..."
He heavily sighed as he rubbed his eye. They don't know who that Crackpot is, but they sure as hell make their boss sound exhausted.
He stared a little more at the subsitute delivery person, before making a hard decision.
"You're coming with me in my office. Anywhere else would disturb my employees work."
Not sure how just standing around would disturb any work, but they just shrugged and accepted it as they followed Phobos back to the top of the tower.
"...And I've tried to be polite with you before, but you insisted on being a disrespectful little fool. So you only have yourself to blame."
"I know."
They eventually reached the elevator, which was great for the director as there was no one in there to look at the two of them weirdly or to judge him when he slightly drops his fancy talk and posture. Sure, he liked it, but it's way less natural from time to time, especially when all he wants to do is curse the gods he wishes so desperately to be for putting THIS person next to him.
"...Say, why doesn't Crackpot want to go to the delivery and storage room?"
"Fuck if I know. This man never makes sense."
...
"What did they order anyway?"
Might as well make some small talk if they're going to stay at the top of a very tall tower for some time.
"Let me check...Some religious things, christmas lights, a furby, there's also a bunch of Slaughter Time merch and clown themed stuff for one of them."
"I'm not surprised. They're all clowns."
"Woah, you talk about your employees like that?"
"If you had to deal with them all day every day, you would too."
"No I wouldn't."
He turns his head when they say that. How can they know that so well? They can't just expect all their reactions to be oh so pure, when they hadn't spent even a day in the science tower!
And even if they wouldn't talk shit about anyone behind their backs that...that would....well that would be pretty impressive honestly. At least to Phobos.
But before he could say anything, the elevator doors opened to his big private office's floor (because as cool as it was to have an open office watching lower beings work for you, it wasn't the best option for privacy, even less so when you had such a DISRESPECTFUL fellow with you).
Next they go into his office, he calls the top 3 scientists to go to his office, yada yada yada not very interesting stuff, he also took the occasion to sign some paperwork with that criminally long and complicated signature of his.
"...Why didn't you just let me stand in front of the storage room. Does that Crackpot just not want to get close to it in any way?"
He suddenly stopped writing (although with that signature it was closer to drawing really).
He didn't think of that.
He didn't say anything, he just went back to his work, although he seemed a little more tense, and his eye had squinted a bit, to which they quietly chuckled before looking around the room.
It was a very impressive one at that. Large with an entire wall replaced by a red-tinted window offering view to the city, and although it was more empty than the average person would expect it to be, especially for the leader of Nexus Core, there were still a few shelves, tables and frames displaying many medals, fancy paintings of the director displaying just how self-absorbed he was, as well as some trophies, almost all gold for one plastic exception that was for some sort of school theatre club thingy. Huh, cute.
Both Phobos and the subsitute delivery person turned their head when someone knocked on the door. That someone was the main scientist of the project, who was given his package, albeit not without flashing a strange look on the two people in front of him.
And then he left. Leaving them alone in the room once again.
It took a little bit of time, but eventually, the civil started talking to Phobos. And even if the director was quiet and reluctant at first, it was surprising how well things were going after a few minutes. It started off with snarky remarks and passive-aggressive jokes, before eventually turning into more general talk about eachother's interests and how the author doesn't know how to write a good story like what the fuck is this idyat.
And then, a certain Hofnarr came by and picked up his clown objects and Slaughter Time™ merch, also giving his boss a weird look because of the errand boy standing right next to him for some reason, plus the fact the two seemed to have been having a quite pleasant conversation before he arrived, which is absolutely out of character for the dictator.
To be honest, Phobos himself was surprised. Just a few minutes ago, he wanted to chop this person's head off like they were french royalty, but now he was sitting there, willingly listening to their voice and responding as he was working. It wasn't normal, it just wasn't. And yet here he was, genuinely taling pleasure in hearing about whatever anecdotes this random fool had to talk about.
Although they clearly didn't stop with their attempts at teasing him in between people entering and leaving the office, reminding him of just how much they love annoying him.
Then Crackpot comes in.
Except when picking up his package, he didn't stop at a simple questionning glance.
"Hey, Sir, who is that?"
He asked his boss, making him raise his head from his work.
"Take a guess, doctor."
Oh, he seemed in a bad mood. Would usually be more professional. Well, it wasn't complivated to guess who they were, the true question really was...
"But why are they here though?"
The director slightly tightened his grip on his pen, the embarassement and realisation of how stupid this situation was from earlier coming back. He glared at his employee.
However, the intimidation that glare was supposed to inspire didn't seem to get by, as Crackpot seemed to have had another type of reaction instead.
"Oooooooohohohoho...I see...I see..."
He snickered with a voice waaay too cheeky to be having an innocent assumption.
The two people in front of the scientist stared at him with a confused look.
"See what?" Said the delivery person, Phobos just ignored it and leaned back on his work.
"Oh, nothing! Absolutely nothing my friend! Just...I guess I found the answer to my question by myself!"
He was clearly trying to keep himself from laughing.
"Leave."
The sudden and oddly loud order of the director made the two others in the room jump. But you could still hear the smile in the excentric scientist's voice as he left.
"Alright! I'll just leave you two to it now!"
And he closed the door.
"Huh. I like that guy."
Phobos turned his head to that.
"Oh, you do?"
"I just think he's neat."
They then looked back at him, a frin on their face.
"Now, should I leave or do you want to spend more time with me?"
Oh boy. Here was that stupid smile and tone of voice again.
"You shall leave now." He starts to get up as he says that, the tower is a bit complicated for newcomers to travel after all.
"Aw, that's sad. I wanted to talk a little more."
"Well I don't."
"Are you sure? You look like you could use a friend." That question seemed genuine, as their smiled dissapeared whilst asking it.
"I don't need friends. They dissapoint me."
"Are you sure it's just that no one wants to be your friend?"
He suddenly slamed his hand against the desk with a force that could have broken it if it wasn't made of some fancy strong material.
"Listen here, vermin! If you are unable to realise your place in this city, I would be happy to show you where that kind of disrespect you seem to have so much fun showing me could make you end up in!"
He loomed over them, his eye almost seeming to glow in the shadow he casted. And they simply stared.
"If I'm feeling nice, you might even be able to choose. Jail, torture or hell, which one would you prefer being put in when your attitude makes you forget who you're talking to?"
His breathing was heavy as the silence between them grew and grew before he realised what he was doing and calmed himself down and started walking to the exit of the room, signaling for them to do the same.
And they did. Completely ignoring what just happened.
In fact, they almost looked...satisfied.
They knew they were probably one of if not the first person to have made and most importantly seen the Director Phobos himself snap like this.
The walk back was quiet, still littered with strange looks at the duo passing by. Except this time Phobos had no problem with giving anyone who dared stare at him a death glare that immadiately made them cower.
Not much happened aside from that. They eventually reached the delivery entrance, and he thought that would be all. But before the delivery person got on their delivery person scooter, they turned back to him.
"It was nice talking to you, by the way."
Phobos raised his head to look at them.
"...What?"
"I spent a very good time with you."
"...But...I...I litteraly-" His hands were making little movements to match his confused face.
"Oh don't worry about that, that was mostly intentional."
They gave him that stupid cheeky grin again, although this time...he couldn't get too angry at them for some reason.
"Wouldn't have thought I could have fun with you without the teasing."
"So you- ahem. So you admit it."
He had to stop himself for a second to avoid sounding childish.
"I was never denying it. Bye Phobos!"
And without giving the director time to catch on to the fact they just called him by his name, they left. Driving away on the slightly broken road.
He had to get back to his work, but the antire time he did, that interaction...that compliment...it all kept playing in his head over and over again.
He had received compliments before. And an ungodly amount at that. It fed his already oversized ego even more than it already needed. But he knew none of them were real. He was completely aware all the praise he was constantly given was always in the praisers own gain. Either for a promotion, to avoid punishement, any reason really. But it sure as hell wasn't to show their boss their actual appreciation and feelings towards him.
So...to have a random person who not only doesn't even work for him, but actively tries to be disrespectful and annoying to him...be the first one to give a genuine compliment to him after what was probably decades...
If he had to be honest, he had to force himself to keep a straight, unsmiling face of pride while working.
Huh... His chest and stomach are feeling a little funny... Whatever. He never took a sick day, and he wasn't going to take one now. There's still a lot work to do.
