modern au, office au, CEO!Kakuzu, poc!reader, personal assistant!reader, enemies to lovers//slow burn, power kink, teasing, older man/younger woman─ age difference.
“I fuckin’ hate that piece of─”
You kicked the small trash can that sat beside your desk, watching it crash and bang down the hall, spilling the crumpled up balls of paper and water bottles on the carpeted floors.
“The fucks wrong with you?”
You huffed, stomping over to pick up the contents as you mumbled under your breath as many curse words your mind could come up with to describe your boss, “─greedy, selfish, old fuckin-”
Your co-coworker continued to put away their contents in their bag, getting ready to go home, watching you bend over and pick up the rubbish scattered on the dark carpet of the office building while mumbling curses under your breath. They shook their head in alarm, “You should watch what you say,” they hissed, eyes darting to the closed doors of your bosses office, panic slipping in their tone, “Dude has like bat hearing.”
You rolled your eyes, picking up the last empty coffee cup and throwing it in the trash can in your hand with a little too much force. You walked back to your desk and placed the can back down, watching your co-worker packing up their things opposite yours with obvious disdain and jealousy. Apparently, your boss needed two assistants, and even then, your workload was too much, and he would often choose you to torment─ or rather, keep you back with him until the work got done.
“Never do tomorrow what you can do today.”
The man would regularly remind you whenever you would ask to leave before he did─ and he never went home before 10 pm.
You crossed your arms in a huff, leaning back on your desk littered with files, reports and empty coffee cups. Your co-worker offered you a sympathetic look as they put on their coat, “At least you get paid like a stupid amount for overtime─ like I could use that extra cash sometimes,” they said with a tentative smile; when you lifted your chin up in discontent, they dropped their faux positivity and sighed, “Sorry, Y/N, guess he just likes having you around.”
“Yeah, to torment me and make sure I’m as sleep-deprived as him,” you answered with a sneer before turning around to search for your phone under the mess of papers, “Now I have to miss my brother’s birthday party cause of some bullshit project that some idiot couldn’t get done cause of their stupid─”
“If you’re done bitching─” came a low, unamused grumble from behind, making you tense with your body draped over the desk and ass in clear view of his piercing jade eyes, “In my office, now.”
You stood up straight, smoothing your skirt over your thighs quickly, missing the way his gaze lingered over the flash of brown skin that peaked beneath your stockings. Instead, you tried to ignore the way your boss’s voice─ specifically the deep command that rumbled from his every word had your cheeks burning and shuffling behind him to do his bidding. Your co-worker mouthed good luck as they walked down the hall to the elevators towards sweet freedom.
Goddammit!
Gathering your resolve, you followed him back to his office, closing the door behind you and hearing the click echoing in the soundless room─ you didn’t feel safe being alone with a man like him. The way his voice rose goosebumps on your skin and deep green eyes heated the spot between your thighs made you resent him even more.
How dare he be sexy when you hated him with every fibre (minus one) of your being?
“Drink,” he ordered with a low grunt, the sound vibrating through between your thighs despite your inner mantra of I hate him. He stood beside his desk, watching you with a sharp eye while unbuttoning the cuffs of his sleeves and pushing them up to his elbows, exposing the dark tattoos of stitches that decorated his thick arms.
You walked over to the mini cart filled with fancy glasses and crystal decanters, picking his favourite brown liquid out of all the other identical drinks and pouring him one as you stared out the high ceiling windows. An amber hue coloured the sky with wisps of dark blue teasing beyond the horizon; it was quickly becoming late, and the hope of leaving at a decent hour dwindled as you heard him take a call with his accountant.
“Does it look like I give a damn?”
With irritation laced in his tone, Kakuzu leaned back on his chair, taking the glass with his large hand brushing over your slender fingers for a brief moment that had you recoiling from his touch. A dark brow rose in question over your reaction, though you clenched your jaw and tilted your head to the side hotly, clutching onto the anger over being kept back with him.
He argued with the poor man on the other end of the line for a few minutes until he received an answer he was satisfied with, “Very well, get it done and don’t fuck this up.” Kakuzu hung up with a sharp slam then leaned back on his chair with his eyes closed, “Fuckin’ idiots,” he grumbled, raising the glass to his lips and swallowing a large gulp that ran down his throat, dark brown skin glowing in the low light of the office and─
You cleared your throat, setting his unfairly beautiful eyes on your scowling face in front of him, unable to hide your sneer, “Is there anything you need, sir?”
“Watch your tone, girl,” he gruffed, still reclining in his chair, his button-up shirt straining against his broad chest, “Your overtime will disappear if I hear any more complaints from you.”
You huffed, turning your gaze to the wall of windows over his shoulder, “Wish you would,” you muttered quietly to yourself, not noticing the way his jaw tensed.
“Repeat that for me.”
His low baritone hummed into your core in a way that only happened when Kakuzu spoke like that. Dark, hypnotic, zealous with malice laced and a hint of sin. You shuddered from the sound, muscles tensing as you stood up straight, murmuring a soft, “Nothing,” and burying yourself in random files that were in your reach. You cursed to yourself, hating the reaction to the command, wishing your sharp tongue didn’t choose now to lay limp.
“Y/N,” Kakuzu said in the same tone that had you chewing on your bottom lip, a smirk curling from your reaction, a wicked idea stirring the longer he stared at you, “Look at me.”
With a deep breath through your nose, you lifted your head and stared at him head-on, squeezing your knee under the desk to keep it from bouncing from the agitation. Silence crackled as the two of you sat there; Kakuzu, your boss with the cruel eyes and equally crueller scowl, was smirking at you. Amusement shining in that usually stony expression and directed at you. A tight pressure pressed on your chest; is this a premonition? Have the gates of hell burst in search of their wayward demon with a taste of Armani suits and rich bourbon?
Kakuzu stared at you intently, leisurely sitting with his thighs open, invitingly, dark wisps of hair teasing you beneath the buttons he undid. He rubbed his bottom lip with his thumb as if he was mulling something over while his eyes raked through your body, making you feel flustered with nothing but his gaze. The prolonged silence and eye contact made you uncomfortable, but you held firm, releasing your bottom lip from your teeth, gloss ruined but now the tint of pink on your brown lips bruised from the abuse.
The ombre of colour makes you look even more enticing in his eyes.
“Let’s get to work,” he murmured after a silence that seemed to stretch all night, sitting up straight and leaving his drink to the side in favour of the glowing blue screen of his laptop.
You followed suit, biting the inside of your cheek to keep your opinions to yourself, the two of you working calmly as if that never happened.
Thirty minutes passed by slowly, agonizingly slow─ a throbbing pain started to pang between your eyes, hours of staring at the screen and sitting by a desk created a crick in your neck that made you cringe whenever you shifted suddenly.
You rolled your shoulders, arching your back to hear the clicks of your bones that were only audible to you, but the ache was still there. Your sights landed on your kidnapper opposite you, watching him tap away on the laptop, a frown tattooed on his face like those stitches that painted his arms. The urge to kiss your teeth from the situation was only dwindled by the punishment that would no doubt follow, considering the last time you made that noise, he docked your pay by 5% that week.
After you did it twice to his face out of spite, not believing his threat to be true.
Your boss was bullish, greedy, stubborn─ handsome, assertive, dominant. The way he commanded a room with just his presence and made lower men cower under his glare curled a dark desire you desperately tried to squash down beneath your heel. He had a way of making you despise him, yet you couldn’t help your body’s visceral reaction to his everything.
His voice, his eyes, his long locks always half tied in a bun, the rings that gleamed on his elegant yet rugged hands, the way his broad shoulders filled those expensive suits he constantly wore. Even you couldn’t deny how attractive Kakuzu was.
He’s keeping you hostage─ you thought to yourself, reminding yourself that you were currently missing your brothers birthday party because your boss insisted you never leave before he does. Just because he worked himself to death, he expected other people to do the same. You have missed countless birthdays, dates, nights out with friends and holidays in your two years of working with this man.
Still, your mind mused while eyeing the man hungrily, he is something nice to look at, even if he is a dick.
“Got something to say?” Kakuzu grunted, not even lifting his head to look at you, “Spit it out or stop staring. Make a choice.”
“When can I leave?” you answered boldly, then hiding your smirk behind pursed lips when he glared.
“When I allow you to.”
“When will that be?”
Kakuzu’s jaw clenched, no doubt grinding his teeth to remain calm, “Sir,” he corrected with a snarl, “Don’t forget your manners, girl.”
You rolled your eyes, “Fine, sir,” the sneer dripped from your lips, something you were proud to see made his eye twitch in irritation, “Please, sir─ may I leave, sir?”
“1 hour,” Kakuzu snarled in response.
“What?”
“2 hours.”
“W-what are you talking about?”
Kakuzu stood up, grabbing his glass and walking over to his cart, “3 hours extra,” you stared at him in confusion, standing up from your chair too, hating the power he had over you and feeling smaller being seated too. An odd tension you couldn’t place sizzled as he poured himself another drink, “You will be here 3 hours earlier,” he stated firmly with a cold bite to his tone, “You will warm up my office, pick up my dry cleaning─”
“It won’t even be open!” you cried in shock, cringing when he whipped his head and burned a glare right through you, snapping your mouth shut instantly, though that didn’t stop the anger that had you clenching your fists by your side.
“Make me a fresh pot of coffee,” Kakuzu looked around his office, “Buy me a coffee machine,” he added. As he listed things for you to do at the early hours of tomorrow, he slowly lost the malice and was replaced by wicked mirth, entertaining himself with trivial tasks to keep you running around his office for his amusement. Rearrange his office, order his calendar/meetings by each prime number, find his lucky watch, cancel his membership at the gym and sign up for a new one─
“You should be writing this down,” his voice cut through the cloud of rage that festered in your mind, suddenly veering down at you with proximity so close you could smell his cologne, “Or should I talk slower for you?”
“No,” you grumbled with gritted teeth, reigning in your anger with all the strength you could muster, unable to look away from the satisfied smirk tilting his handsome demonic face, “I got it, sir.”
“Good girl,” Kakuzu murmured teasingly, enjoying the twitch of your brow and the curl on your pretty plump lips─ the power he had over you igniting a hunger that lay dormant until he met you, “Don’t disappoint me.”
Anger swelled in your chest, thrashing, billowing, heating you up to the brim until you exhaled in a low breath, breathing in deep and feeling your senses become overwhelmed with him. The alcohol, aftershave, cologne, the subtle undertones of everything Kakuzu became drowned by the artificial scents. He was so close; your heaving chest brushed against him, you looked up at him─ your scowl never wavering, his smirk widening from the hate that flashed in your gaze.
Fuck you─ was on the tip of your tongue, but instead, you spat out, “Yes, sir,” determined not to give in to Kakuzu’s torment and dish out some of your own. He may be your boss and order you around his building, but he could never wane your pride or dignity.
#project hail mary
#lana del rey
#f1
#heated rivalry
