#tdwk3

[flannelpunkcalum]

The Devil Wears Kevlar - Part 3

Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

okay this is like, actually the plot igniting. so that’s exciting right??? also did you guys see the new joker trailer? nice to see the dcu is finally catching up to me... anyway sorry this is a little late it’s just that i’m a hot mess express this week love you bye! word count is about 3.5 k 

Things aren’t exactly easy, but they work.

In the next few days Aspen does start to get yelled at, in small amounts. Calum’s distinctly hungover on Monday, and she’s scared he’ll fire her for turning on the lights too bright. She’s tired some days too, and makes mistakes, or there are meetings she didn’t know about and someone shows up and Mr. Hood is double booked. He always gives her this look as he apologizes to whoever has been slighted, and he always says “new personal assistant” like it’s her fault that it wasn’t in the fucking book. He stops giving her little smiles all of a sudden, and he most certainly doesn’t tell her she did a good job in a low low voice at the end of the day.

Aspen learns to take deep breaths and count to ten and go back to her desk. She knows she’s shitty at hiding her feelings, always has been, but now that she’s a personal assistant she forces it to manifest as extra-saccharine smiles and that’s it.

Mr. Hood knows how she feels; she knows by now he’s too smart not to. It’s ridiculous, what they both know the other knows, but they’re both ignoring that. Logically, it's fucked, but if he closes his door a little too hard or she smiles with too many teeth they let it lie. It works, she thinks.

And here’s the thing; she thinks those are the bad days.

She has no idea.

It starts about a week and a half in, on a Thursday. She knows it’s a Thursday because those are the roughest days and this one is no exception. It starts out okay, actually; her roommate Mel is up in time to grab breakfast with Aspen, and they talk about normal things, goofy things, that episode of Criminal Minds they had watched last night, until they go their separate ways. She’s grinning when she hands Calum Hood his coffee and schedule that morning, and she has a happy song stuck in her head while she taps away at her keyboard. She’d like to think her good mood is infectious, because when Mr. Hood leaves his office to go to the boardroom he’s got a faint smile on too.

Things seem like they’ll be good today.

The next time she looks up from her computer it’s to glance back to the elevator when it dings open and a grey-haired man steps out. The next thing she notices about him is that his suit is nice, and the third thing is that he’s making a beeline to Mr. Hood’s empty office. That's all she has time for before she rushes up to stop him.

“Excuse me, sir?” She says, in her very best polite voice. He turns, thankfully; he may be greying but he certainly doesn’t look frail. “Mr. Hood isn’t in right now, but he should be back soon if you’d like to wait.”

The man jerks his head towards the office door, seeming confused. “Yes.” He says, and moves towards the office again. Jesus, no one goes into Mr. Hood’s office without him, not even the janitors, not even her. She moves to stop him, but before she can touch the stranger Liam’s hand is on her shoulder and he’s moving towards the man. Thank god, she thinks, before he shakes the stranger’s hand.

“I’m sorry, sir, she’s new.” Liam says, and then he turns back to Aspen. “Aspen, this is Don Falcone.” He says it like it’s big news, like this man’s important. It still means jack shit to Aspen.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Can I get you anything while you’re here in the reception area? Coffee? A magazine?” She says, with an admirable smile (considering the circumstances).

The man doesn’t move. “Liam. Talk to this pretty little girl for me,” he says, and then Liam grabs her elbow and pulls her away into his office, hard enough that she almost cries out. He pushes her inside and closes the door behind them.

They can’t treat her like that.

“Liam, I’m not gonna let you do this twice-”

“Would you shut up and listen to me?” He reaches out again, but this time Aspen is expecting it and she darts out of his reach. “Jesus. I know you’re new to Gotham, but you don’t understand- Don Falcone is the most powerful man in this city and I’m doing you a favour, keeping you out of his way.”

“Some favour, I’m gonna bruise!”

“Yeah, well, if you stood in his way you’d get worse, Aspen. Half the city works for him.”

“Wow, Liam, a CEO?” Aspen’s still in what is very nearly a fighting stance - what the hell kind of office is this? He coworker raises a hand, and she flinches, but he just brushes his hair out of his eyes. He’s still between her and the door. “Never dealt with one of those before, thank you so much-”

“He’s the head of Gotham’s biggest crime family, so yeah, you should thank me for trying to keep you safe. He could order a hit on you for less.” Liam says, all biting.

Aspen opens her mouth to say that’s stupid, that doesn’t happen, but then she takes a look around. This is Gotham; this was where you buy pepper spray at the dollar store and where crazy people dress in costumes to burn the city down. Her mother hadn’t wanted her to take this job for a reason. Someone like her, she’d probably be no trouble to kill.

She stops and closes her mouth, looking in the office’s direction through the glass walls of Liam’s office. “...I should call the police.” She says finally, moving towards the phone.

Liam gets there first. “No, you shouldn’t. This is Gotham, the police aren’t gonna do shit. You don’t have to worry about Mr. Hood, their families go way back, the Don’s not going to hurt him. You need to worry about you.”

Aspen’s still for now, but inside she feels like something’s raging, something like a storm. Liam’s hand is on the phone, holding it down. He's twice her size, she couldn't drag him away. He looks… just as freaked as she feels, now that she looks at him. His eyes are wide and his hair, which is usually perfectly gelled straight up to heaven, has let a few stands hang in his eyes. It makes him look a little younger. Aspen feels herself wavering. “What am I supposed to do, let him just- isn’t it my job to do something-”

“It’s your job to stay alive.” Liam says, firm enough that Aspen doesn’t argue.

...for long, anyway. “I thought you didn’t want me working up here.” She says, finding just a little more anger in her.

Liam scoffs. “I don’t,” he says, sitting on the corner of his desk, “but that doesn’t mean I want to see you hurt.”

“How very sweet of you.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t make it easy.”

Aspen starts to inch towards the door, but Liam’s watching and he doesn’t try to stop her. She takes that as a sign that she can leave, but right as she’s about to make her escape she makes herself stop and face him. “You know, the next time you grab me, I’m gonna break a finger.”

He laughs, but she’s not joking. “I mean it. I’ve had enough of being manhandled. Don’t try it again.” She says, and turns on her heel. She leaves stony faced, and she sits down at her desk and looks at her hands and wishes she didn’t have these fucking glass walls so she could have a fucking meltdown.

Her hands are still balled into fists when Calum arrives, and she rushes out of her office to meet him. “Mr. Hood? Don Falcone is in your office, he’s been waiting, I couldn’t-”

“Don Falcone? Wait, he’s in- why didn’t you do something?” Mr. Hood looked reluctant to be stopped, but as soon as she started to explain he turned all the way towards her and yeah, that was worse.

“You think I could stop him? Sir, I-”

Mr. Hood has a briefcase in his hand and Aspen can only imagine that he’d like to swing it at her head. “I expect you to, yes, that’s-” He stops himself and grimaces, glancing at his closed office door. “We’ll discuss this later. Don’t leave your desk until I call for you.” He adds, already walking away.

She stands in the reception area until the office door closes. Janice won’t meet her eyes.  

Aspen’s somewhere between furious and desolate.

She goes back to her desk, of course she does. Feels like she’s in a fucking time out. She’s not prepared for this. She knows science, not mob bosses or office policies, and she’s not used to being pushed around like this (because she associates with decent fucking people in her spare time).

She’s not going to let Mr. Hood get her in trouble for this. She doesn’t think she’ll get fired, but the thought crosses her mind - after all, the man goes through personal assistants like he goes through girlfriends. Anyway, if she loses this position for standing up for herself, then it wasn’t fucking worth it in the first place. In a way, she’s thankful this meeting is going into her lunch break; it gives her time to build her case, get determined.

Carmine Falcone (she did some Googling, but there’s not a lot out there) leaves after a good long time, looking unreadable. Aspen forces herself to smile and wave at him as he passes her office, which gets a nod in return (“order a hit” reverberates in her head). Calum’s office door closes before she sees him, so she grits her teeth and stays sitting down, staring at her computer monitor before the phone rings.

They maintain their polite ignorance over the phone. Mr. Hood asks if he could see her in his office, please, and she says right away, sir, and they both hang up like adults. Aspen doesn’t kid herself, though, he’s going to tear her apart in a minute.

She squares her shoulders and crosses the lobby, knocking on his door before she can chicken out. “Come in,” says Mr. Hood, and she has to take a deep breath and remind herself of the overtime pay before she pushes open the door to meet her fate.

She knows he’s mad because he keeps on writing, doesn’t even look up as she enters. He wants to make her suffer for this, in some small way. He’s really fuckin’ mad, then. Still, she waits. There’s not much else she can do.

Eventually, he puts his pen down and looks up. “Is it unreasonable, what I ask of you, Aspen?”

“Is-”

“No.”

Alright, then.

Mr. Hood continues. “My orders are simple and they’re easy to follow and yet you allowed someone to stay in my office unsupervised for half an hour without so much as opening the door? Do you understand how ridiculous that is?”

Aspen knows she’s in the right, but she can still feel her face growing red. “Yes.”

“Oh, really? I don’t think you do, because certainly you allowed it to happen. I also know that’s the reason Carmine Falcone has a copy of one of my stupid paper schedules in his pocket and for the rest of the day he knows-”

This has gone too far, Aspen has to do damage control. “Sir, I think that’s-”

“Miss McMichael, you will not interrupt me.” His very tone makes Aspen feel like she's been slapped, and she closes her mouth. She doesn't think he's ever called her that before. “God knows what else he’s got on me, thanks to your negligence. I think I’ve been very forgiving of your mistakes, but this is something else.” He stands up. His jacket is off, and his dress shirt is drawn tight across his shoulders. Aspen is reminded of how big he is, but he’s not like Liam. He’s not going to grab her. Right? “Can you give me one good reason that I shouldn’t send you out of this office right now?”

“Look, Mr. Hood, I tried, but-”

“You will not use that tone with me.”

That does it.

Aspen feels lightheaded with anger. “No, you will let me speak, sir, since I’ve sat through your entire rant so far.” She says, with all the energy in her little body. She’s firm. She’s not going to get pushed around any more. “I tried to stop him, and I’m sure he told you that, but Liam wouldn’t let me and I don’t mean to blame him but he told me about - um, Falcone’s line of business, and to be frank yeah, I think it’s a little unreasonable for you to ask me to drag a mobster out of your office while you’re out.”

She almost regrets her harsh tone for a second, while Mr. Hood sits in stunned silence. Fuck, she’s never spoken to him like that. “I understand that you’re angry but this isn’t fair. I don't want to lose this job but if you want someone who’ll let you scream at them just because you’re angry you should send me back to the lab right now.” She says, finally.

Aspen knows from experience the next few moments are crucial, because she’s known to be an angry crier on occasion. If she can just keep it together for a few more seconds, caught in Mr. Hood’s agonizing gaze, she’ll be alright and able to scrape her composure back together. And this is Calum Hood they’re talking about, she’s seen him go cold on people before, but being the target of this is almost knocking her over. If she crumbles now, though, she’ll never have his respect. She can see it in his eyes.

He doesn’t speak.

This silence draws long.

It’s probably only a few seconds, but Aspen can’t stand it. “Also I think if you thought the paper schedules were stupid I think there’s a better way to tell me.” She adds quickly, and that gets a small sniff of amusement from Calum and suddenly she can breathe again.

“You’re... somewhat right.” He says, sitting back down.

That’s something.

“...next time something like this happens, I need you to call me right away. Don’t put yourself in any danger, if it comes to that. If Falcone, or anyone else won’t listen to you, just let them go and call me as soon as you can.” Aspen nods. At least that’s something she can do. “I’m sorry I was unfair. But you should know that if this happens again and you don’t alert me, your job will be entirely on the line.” It’s not the same threat he gave her earlier, but her stomach still twists. She moved for this job, she can’t lose it. Maybe Mr. Hood sees that, because his tone gets a little gentler. “How did Liam stop you from keeping Falcone out, if you don't mind me asking?”

At this point, Aspen’s just trying to calm herself down. She's not sure if she wants to tell her boss about her conversation with Liam, to be quite honest, because she's mad at him and all but… now she thinks he might have been doing the right thing. “That’s… well, he kind of pulled me into his office and had a talk with me and if what he told me is true I should be thankful for it.” She tries to make her choice of words sound neutral, but there's no reason for Mr. Hood to question her. She really doesn't want Liam to get in trouble for this.

“What did- it doesn't matter. Sometimes in Gotham you can't tell myth from fact.” Mr. Hood mumbles, face unreadable. “...thank you for being honest with me, and for… I hired you for this and not Liam for a reason, you know that?”

Aspen doesn’t trust herself to speak, so he continues. “Liam’s wonderful. He’s loyal. But you weren’t afraid to stand up to me in the interview, and you weren’t afraid now. I admire that. I just need some of that to come out next time Don Falcone comes into the building, understood?” He graces her with a rare smile and Aspen almost falls over. He was ready to fire her a moment ago, but now she watches carefully and she doesn’t see any anger seething under his skin. She hopes that’s not dangerous, but when he looks at her like that - well, it feels a little dangerous for a different reason.

Mr. Hood is waiting for her to reply, so she wets her lips and makes an effort. “To be fair, I was very afraid to stand up to you. Both times. But, uh, fortune favours the bold. As do ridiculously wealthy CEOs.”

He smiles outright at that. Aspen can’t believe she missed this feeling over the past few days, when he was just- different. She doesn’t know what it is that’s changed, but now he seems like a person, not her boss. It’s exceptional, this brief side of him.

“Indeed.” He says, picking up his pen again. “And I apologize for Mr. Falcone, if he made you feel uncomfortable. He has… old fashioned manners, I think, that’s a polite way to put it.”

Aspen thinks back to “pretty little girl” and almost pretends to gag for dramatic effect. She doesn’t, but it’s a near thing. “Does he ever, sir.”

“Don’t worry.” Says Mr. Hood. “His kind of man, their time in Gotham is coming to a close.”

Later, Aspen won’t remember what he said after that. She won’t remember exactly what she said to make a polite exit, or if Liam spoke to her after. She’ll remember the rest of the day as mostly a blur, almost like any other day.

One thing that sets it apart is that she’s starting to realize that she may have a teensy, tiny, miniscule crush on her boss. Well, not on her boss exactly, not on Mr. Hood, who is cold and inconsiderate and kind of a dick, but on Calum. She thinks she sees it sometimes; the parts of him that smile and tease and try to console her. It seems pretty superficial on her part, if she’s honest, and it doesn’t happen often so it shouldn’t be a problem, but Aspen’s fucking derailed by it right now. Her time at her desk that afternoon is infinitely complicated by it; she’s itching to get him to smile again.

Mr. Calum Thomas Hood is a complicated man, she’s coming to realize, and even though logically, she knows she wants no part in it, that doesn’t change the fact that she does. If he wasn’t her boss - if she was looking to date - if he wasn’t so stern - if she wasn’t so obviously not his type - if he wasn’t - maybe things would be different.

But here they are.

That’s what Aspen arrives at, at the end of the day. She gives herself the whole subway ride home to feel sorry for herself, but she knows she’s got to repress the shit out of those feelings if she wants to hang on to this job.

When she gets home that night, she tells her roommates about creepy Don Falcone, and they tell her that she should be grateful that Liam pulled her out of there. Paige is a journalist, Melissa is a political aide, and they both know more about Gotham than she does, so she believes them and tries not to let the cold reality of this city get to her.

That does turn out to be impossible.

When Aspen wakes up the next morning, Paige is already in the kitchen with a bowl of cereal and her laptop open. Sometimes after some major crime Aspen will find her like this in the morning, typing furiously and half-awake. It’s rarely a good sign.

“You’re gonna want to see this.” Paige says, in lieu of a good morning, and spins her laptop to show Aspen.

“...Jesus Christ.”

“I know,” says Paige, “Leslie thinks it’s the Batman, doing this, ‘cause you know how he feels about corruption, and, well, it’s Don Falcone, but the police are saying…” and she’s trying to fill Aspen in but Aspen isn’t so focused on that right this second.

She knows it’s silly, and she knows she’s paranoid, but Calum Hood had been really fucking angry yesterday after Falcone left. What he had said - his time was coming to an end, or something - he couldn’t mean…

Well, this was Gotham. There was nothing you couldn’t do with the right kind of money.

Aspen knows it’s just her being crazy, but hell, if she wasn’t planning on staying away from Calum before, she is now.