Lockwood and Co. One Shots

Je vous aime - Lockwood x Male!reader

requested by @bansheecries 

I had been with Lockwood from the start. I was the one who recommended we start an agency in the first place. After everything with his family, he needed someone who would help support him. George and Lucy came after. Sure, George knew how to file papers and get permits, but I was the motivator.

I made sure Lockwood had enough money and motivation to continue. He was quite ambitious during the first few months. We were down to our last thousand or so because he wanted to keep putting out adverts and make posters.

I never showed my emotions, never let them get the best of me. I kept my love and caring nature to myself. I didn't need to let anyone know how I felt, like how I feel when Lockwood smiles at me even when I frown at him on a cold day. Or how even when I'm absolutely grumpy and exhausted after a mission, Lockwood still makes me tea even when I can't bear to stare at his roguishly handsome face.

I was the same age as he was, but taller if that was even possible. This night in particular, we had just finished a particularly hard case that ended with me getting cut on my face and George giving me crude stitches since we were too far from hospital.

George and Lucy had gone to bed and I was still in the kitchen, drinking the now cooled tea that Lockwood had prepared for me two hours earlier. I know I should be in bed or at least sitting in a comfortable armchair, but I got lost in doodling on the thinking cloth on the table.

I heard a sort of bang from outside the kitchen and startled to attention. I was still on edge from our mission and I stumbled up with my tea cup in hand, pushing the kitchen door open. I edged my way around the corner and peered in the library where a frazzled looking lockwood was picking up a plate of fallen biscuits off the rug.

"Oh, it's just you," I sighed, frowning a bit.

"Sorry about the noise. I fell asleep and knocked the plate over," He smiled at me sheepishly. I rolled my eyes.

"You need to go to bed on time," I said flatly.

"Says the guy who is still up at four in the morning with me," Lockwood says with a sly grin, looking at the grand clock on the wall.

I yawn. "I was just lost in thought. It's not everyday you nearly get ghost touched and fall into a metal window bar trying to escape. I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a while."

Lockwood just looked at me. God, his face was so irresistible. I felt like calling him Anthony, telling him how I cared. But I just continued to stare blankly at him.

"Y/n, you can talk to me. Your safety is important to me. I want you to be able to go to sleep at night without fear," Lockwood motioned for me to sit down in the lounge next to him.

I sat down, stepping over the remnants of the fallen biscuits.

I looked into Lockwoods eyes and I felt myself soften. "I hate feeling expendable," I started. "I don't want to die, Lockwood. I don't want to be an agent. But I worry about you and your stupidly thick skull of yours that somehow manages to put you on the edge of death. You, George and Lucy are keeping me going. And as much as I hate to say this, you give me energy when I feel crabby and that's what's making me stay."

I explained as best as I could without absolutely breaking down. Surprisingly, Lockwood spoke.

"I feel the same way. We're expendable, it's all we'll ever be. Even when we've outgrown our abilities, we'll just be expendable by society. And I'm working hard with you guys so that we can make enough money to be valued. Not another name on the Remembrance Wall." He paused. "We should do this more, talk when we're overwhelmed."

And so that's what we did. After a particularly draining mission, Lockwood and I would wait for George and Lucy to go to sleep before slipping into the library with our tea and stolen biscuits and talking.

Lockwood called them "study dates" but we didn't do much studying. We took out the books as if we were going to read them, but then we just talked. We talked about life and the cases we worked on, George and Lucy and Kipps' sore loser complex.

We had study dates for two months before I started to smile more. I used to frown at the words he would say, but now whenever Lockwood made a joke, it made me grin a bit.

"I think it's nice that we have a few hours of peace before the world becomes a living hell again," Lockwood said to me.

I looked at him as I was lounging on the armchair lazily and tiredly.

"It's nice that I can stare at you freely without George taunting me. You're quite beautiful when the light of dawn hits your eyes," I said in a sleepy daze, not caring that I had said it.

"Je vous aime," Lockwood whispered under his breath.

"What does that mean?" I questioned.

Lockwood snapped out of a sort of haze he was in. "Nothing. It means nothing."

"Well it certainly means something. Just tell me. It's not like you're cursing me out or anything, is it?"

"Y/n, just forget about it, okay?" Lockwood turned away from me, frowning.

He never frowns. And I mean never.

I stood up groggily and walked three steps over to Lockwood, who looked up at me just before I sat down straddling his lap, surprising him and also myself.

"You know, you don't even know how devilishly perfect you are?" I slurred my words. I was getting tired. "I could listen to you talk for hours over absolutely nothing and I would hang onto your every word. You could talk about how The Problem started because of beans and toast trending and I'd lis-"

I was cut off by a sudden kiss. It was quick but it sure as hell woke me up like a shot of espresso.

My eyes met Lockwood's and suddenly it made sense.

"Je vous aime, it means I love you," He whispered to me.

"I love you too," I smiled, a wide smile. Something I didn't think I could even do.

Then we were kissing again. His fingers tangled into my short hair and I could feel slight stubble from where he shaved. 

He pulled me closer by my trousers and I pulled him down by his tie. We didn't bother to change after our job earlier that day so we were quite a mess.

My lips were on fire as they danced with his. Everything felt right.

We pulled away for air and I rested my head against his shoulder. 

I was tired again, but this time I was tired with a happy heart. 

"Sleep now my darling," Lockwood whispered in my ear. "Je vous aime."

"I love you too," I murmured before I dozed off in his lap, ready to dream about my happy and new tomorrow.