Chapter Text
Chapter 1
It was late, in the evening. ‘At Your Service Co’ was having a meeting soon with their rivaling assassins, Quick and Easy Inc. The two companies have had a long history of rivalry, but still made the chance to catch up on each others stats. Meanwhile, Elliot, a 24 year old assassin, sat upon the rooftop of a nearby building. He was watching his coworkers as well as his boss pulling into the abandoned parking lot where they would be meeting their rivals.
He hears the door to the stairs open. It’s Lux, a 21 year-old assassin, fairly new to the job. They went to the same college and exchanged hellos once but nothing more. Elliot would be graduating this year so it wouldn’t matter. He would only have to see her at these stupid meetings. Elliot turned his head to the side, glaring at Lux from the corner of his eye “What do you want?” He asked, his left hand gently clutching the knife in his pocket.
“I would like to ask you the same.” Lux replies coldly, taking a seat next to him on the ledge.
“I asked first.” He his glare as sharp as his tone. She sighs before replying,”It gets my mint off things…..you know, with your whole job being killing people, sometimes you need a break…happy?”Elliot nods, “You eventually get used to it.” He says taking a cigarette and a lighter out of his pocket.
“You’ve been in the business for a long time haven’t you?” she asked. As she waits for response, she studies the man’s figure. He could tell he was a smoker, him taking slow puffs every couple of minutes. He was tall and a bit lanky, could be seen as good, at least in the business their in.
“Since I was 18. My father first taught me how to shoot when I was 15 and ever since then I’d been a hunter.” He says before taking a drag from the cigarette, the end of it slightly lighting his face before a puff of smoke leaves his lips. “I started out hunting deer. Then my father forced me into his business.”Lux studied his expressionless face, finding a slight hint of remorse, or maybe regret for something, but she decided not to ask. “I needed to pay the bills. They said they needed someone with quick reaction skills and i was a perfect match. I honestly am good on money now but just had stayed ever since.”Elliot pressed the cigarette bud against the rooftop, putting the small flame out. “Wait, you’re not forced to be here….?” He looked to her, his eyes dark yet have a hint of surprise.
“Well i’m pretty sure they have me under some loophole in the contract, but I never cared to look.”Elliot’s head tilted, “Interesting…. I’m surprised your company only makes you sign a contract.” He says rolling up the sleeves of his shirt.
Lux gasps in horror as she sees his compony logo practically engraved on his forearm. “W-What the fuck Elliot!” she exlaims, involuntarily picking up his arm. Elliot flinched, pulling away whilst subconsciously pulling the knife out of his pocket “Hand off!” He shouts, pointing the knife at Lux.
“Ok fine!” she yells back, landing on her back not to get stabbed. Lux hand dives into her pocket, her gun right there just in case. She looks back into Elliot’s eyes with fear, guilt, and some type of sorrow. She stammers out, “T-they did that to you?”Elliot glanced at his arm before putting his knife away and rolling down his sleeves. “That- that’s none of your business!” He said, the memories of the scars origins flooding back as he sat back down on the ledge, his legs dangling off the edge. “You should really learn to keep your hands to yourself, Newbie. One day it’ll lead to your demise.” He said, his tone cold and sharp.
Lux shifts slightly further away, still close but not as close. “Shit. Sorry.” she says, a bit colder then she wanted. “You really shouldn’t smoke, since we’re giving each other heads up about stuff. You could die from that stuff.” She says, slightly swaying her legs off the ledge, scared to make any type of eye contact. Elliot began to chuckle to himself, pressing his hands against the cement roof behind him and looking up at the staring night sky. “Did you forget my job, Lux? Were assassins remember? Our lives are always at risk.” He smiled, his face dimly lit from the stars.
“Yeah…I forget.” she says quietly. The stars twinkle dimly as the two sit in appreciated silence. The sound of cars in the background is sort of comforting to the two. Something to get their mind off the meeting.
As the silence filled the air, Elliot turned his gaze from the stars to the girl next to him. His gaze went from cold and sharp, to dark yet warm. His head was tilted slightly, remaining silent as he watched her admire the stars, unaware of how long he was staring. Lux scoots back closer to him, thighs almost touching as she points out the constellations, not knowing of his longing gaze.
Elliot, not paying attention to the stars, focuses his vision on her eyes and the beautiful reflection of the night sky in them. A small smile formed on his face, seeing how happy the stars made her, how much she loved the constellations. She looks over to him, realizing he was staring for at least a while. A faint blush paints her face as she says, “If your gonna keep staring, i’m gonna start thinking you want to kiss me.” She laughs softly, not really minding that idea.
Elliot felt his face heat up as it began to turn a bright red “I- I wasn’t- why would I be staring at you?” He stammered, looking away from Lux and avoiding eye contact. “You weren’t looking at anything else. Plus, only other thing to look at was the stars and you weren’t looking there.” Lux says smugly.
Elliot opened his mouth, about to stammer something before he heard his father’s stern yell for him. “Shit-! The meeting!” He flinched before running towards the stairwell. Before opening the door he glanced at Lux “What are you doing?! Let’s go, come on!” He shouted, holding the door open for her. Lux follows closely behind him, completely forgetting about that. “Coming!” she shouts as she grabs her bag and runs to catch up to him.
* * *
As they rush into the conference room, the cold, sterile environment hits them hard. Most of everyone is already there, so they each take their respective seats on opposite sides of the table. Elliot began to collect his composure whilst sitting next to his father, the head ‘At Your Service Co’. Elliot was tense and avoided eye contact with him.
As the meeting drones on about finances and monthly kills, Lux finds Elliot’s eyes and lock eye contact for at least a minute until she breaks away, trying to focus on anything else. Elliot, continues to stare “Why am I so….. amazed by her eyes? They’re just eyes. Why do they make me feel this way….” He thought to himself, realizing how long he’d been staring at her.
Lux can feel his gaze on her, but she try’s to shake it off, but at the same time, it’s weirdly comforting to her, but not knowing why she just goes back to doodling quietly in her notebook.
The meeting ends shortly and after the building cleared out, Elliot tapped Lux in her shoulder “What are you drawing?” He asks softly. Lux jumps a bit, startled by his gentle touch. “Oh it’s nothing, just a sketch”, she says softly. Elliot takes his hand off her shoulder, looking closely at the drawing “Wow….. I didn’t know you could draw?” His gaze goes from her to the drawing.
“Yeah, my sister taught me. We used to draw everyday by the window..” Lux responds, a bit more timid then usual.
“Oh?” Elliot replied before seeing the expression on Luxs face. “Oh… I apologize for intruding.” He stood up straight.
“It’s fine.” she replies, taking a long sigh. “I..I’m gonna head home, before i leave, take this.” She hands him a crumpled piece of paper with her phone number on it. “Do what you want with that.” she says as she walks to her car. Elliot stared blankly at the phone number for a moment, contemplating what she meant.
* * *
“Hello?” Lux asked, not knowing who was on the phone, but having some type of idea of who it might be.
“Hey.” Elliot cleared his throat “It’s uh it me. Elliot?” He said somewhat nervously.
“Oh hey!” she says cheerfully. “I really didn’t think you would answer, you know, with us being rivals and all.”
“Right, uhm well I-“ he cuts himself off “I just wanted to let you know it’s me and not some stranger.” He chuckled nervously.
They sit in awkward silence for a few seconds before she says, “Well, thanks anyways.”Elliot nodded “Yeah…. We’ll sleep well.” He replied before quickly hanging up.
Lux lays back in her bed, feeling a bit relieved that it was over, but not until she gets a text from her boss, calling for an emergency meeting in the morning. Elliot dramatically laid on his bed, face first, and mumbled to himself “Ughhh…. She hates me doesn’t she.” He rolled into his back, staring at the huge window on his ceiling “I was so awkward! Why does she make me so- so awkward!” He groaned.
As Elliot’s reflects the past conversation in embarrassment, Lux gets ready for bed, doing the necessary bedtime things before laying back into bed. Elliot sits up and eventually gets into pajamas and into his bed, closing his eyes and sleeping.
* * *
Morning comes early for the both of them, having to get ready for this “emergency meeting”.
Elliot groans at his alarm going off before stopping it. “Ugh… we just had a meeting…” he rubbed his eyes whilst making his way to his shower. Lux practically rolls out of bed and goes to brush her teeth, already taking a shower beforehand. She walks to her closet and picks out something that’s breathable for once.
Elliot, showering in the bathroom across from his bedroom, hums a small tune to himself whilst washing his hair while Lux gets in her car early, having to make a quick stop to somewhere very interesting. Elliot continues humming, as the hot water hits his back, he nears the end of his shower.
Lux opens the door to the house and walks in quietly into a room. The room is covered in band posters, Metallica, Green Day, Linkin Park, Will Wood you name it. As Lux admired the poster covered room she heard the door open. She looked behind her to see Elliot, a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair was dark and wet.
“Hey! Didn’t know you would be here!” Lux says with a playful smile. Elliot feels his eyes widen and his face heat up once again”Why are you in my room?!” His left hand grips onto the towel around his waist tighter.
“Oh, Right! Well, uhhhh” Lux sits there for a minute, trying to figure out an excuse. “I..I wanted to give you a ride to the meeting this morning! Since they told both of us to come!”
“I- would you mind waiting a minute? I’m kinda……” his voice trails off, gesturing to himself only being in a towel. Her face instantly goes red as she stammers out a some-what apology and waits outside his room.
Elliot chuckled softly before getting dressed in his usual white button up, black slacks and scuffed up shoes. “Alright, where were we?” He asked, a small smirk crossing his face. Lux rolls her eyes and says “About to leave. Now come on!”
They hurriedly make their way to the car, Elliot in the passenger seat and Lux in the drivers seat.