redwritesx

[redwritesx]

Adam x Lute - A Lieutenants Loyalty - Chapter 3

AO3 LINK

Chapter summary: Lute attempts to get to know Adam a little more. He is still displeased when she continues taking charge of how the training sessions are run, and so he takes the opportunity to goad her into a little sparring session of their own.

Chapter preview: “What’s the matter, Lieutenant, scared of facing off against me?” He grinned widely as if he could hear her inner monologue. She bristled, her feathers fluffing agitatedly. “What? No. I am not scared” She spat at him, turning to face him directly, a fire lit in her chest. “Then lets see what you’ve got. What were your ~orders~ again?” He asked, the way he said 'orders' being in a patronising tone. “Unarmed first, right?” He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out straight in front of him as he cracked his neck side to side.

Lute sat at her new office desk flicking through the paperwork Adam had lumped on her that morning. Since the training session earlier she hadn’t seen the man again yet, not even when she stopped by his still unlocked office to grab the offending golden sheets.

She had come to find that her new office was on the very same floor that Adam’s office was on – a mere corridor away from his.

She supposed it made sense that she’d be near him as his Lieutenant…she couldn’t say she was thrilled about it though.

With a sigh she signed off the final incomplete incident report and leaned back in her chair. Her thoughts drifted for a moment as she stared at the marble ceiling above her.

Tomorrow, she’d likely have to deal with the morning training session with the Commander present for the entire time, unlike the luxury of him being called away this morning. She seriously doubted her ability to do so without causing him some form of harm. Chloe really had stepped in at the right moment today.

She shook her head at herself and her pessimism.

All she needed was some time to get to know him more, what motivated him, what deterred him, what she could use as ammo against him.

Maybe she could even change his mind altogether on having a Lieutenant and what tasks Lute should be responsible for managing as his right-hand.

Wishful thinking so soon perhaps, but they had a long road ahead together.

With a renewed sense of optimism she shuffled the paperwork sheets into a neat pile and hugged it to her chest with the intention to drop them off at Adam’s office and attempt to strike up some kind of amicable conversation.

She made the incredibly short trip down the hallway to his office. The corner of her lip twitched as the sight of the nameplate on his door brought back the memory of the story Chloe had told her earlier.

‘Dickmaster’…Lute had definitely heard some of her sisters in her intake telling her something about how the first man called himself that title. She imagined it had something to do with his apparent reputation with women, one that he was clearly proud of…

Lute knocked on the door.

“Yyyyyelllo” Adam’s casual voice came from the other side. She twisted the handle and let herself in, hugging the papers with her other arm.

Adam had his feet propped up on his desk, his black boots crossed over one another at the ankle, and his face obscured from her vision behind some kind of magazine that he was holding up and reading. From the cover it seemed to be music related, with imagery of guitars and other instruments speckled across the front page.

Great. Good to know he was hard at work.

“Sera, babe, for the bajillionth time I’ll get you those reports when I can” He remarked, not lowering the magazine from his face.

“’Bajillion’ isn’t a number”

Adam jolted, snatching the magazine down to look at the exorcist before him.

“Oh! It’s you sweet-tits! You and Sera got the same ominous way of saying fuck all when you enter a room!” He grinned for a beat before suddenly freezing and narrowing his eyes, only just realising what she’d said.

“Hey, bajillion is a number”

She stifled a smirk, amused at his doubling down.

“It isn’t” She argued back.

“Listen, if I say it is – it is. End of discussion” He gave her a cocky grin and Lute was reminded why having an ‘amicable’ conversation as she had hoped was going to be hard work.

She could take the bait and continue to debate the existence of a ‘bajillion’ with him, or push past it and try to move the conversation in a more productive direction.

“Sure” She deadpanned and moved closer to his desk, placing the hefty stack of paperwork down on the cluttered surface, grimacing inwardly at the lack of organisation.

“Anyway, here are those reports Sera is clearly chasing you for”

His eyebrows shot up a little, he seemed to be surprised that she’d got the reports done so quickly. Putting the magazine down he reached over to flick through the papers, his feet still up on his desk.

“Damn! You got these all done in one day AND alphabetised them? What a little teacher’s pet” He winked at her, his tone light-hearted, and she felt her face heat up instantly.

She couldn’t place whether his teasing words or playful wink was the main culprit of the blush.

“I am not a ‘teacher’s pet’” She scoffed.

“And I was simply completing the task you assigned me with efficiency…I suppose that’s something you’d personally know nothing about” She bit back before she could stop herself, arms crossing defensively.

Damn it. This was supposed to be a chance for her and him to have a nice conversation, how had it devolved to this already?

To her surprise he raised a mischievous eyebrow, his smirk dangerously playful. It was almost worse than him responding with anger…

“Oh, I’m efficient in a whole bunch of stuff babe...Just ask half the hotties in the exorcist army”

He wiggled his eyebrows with a devious chuckle, and she couldn’t help the deepening of her blush – his suggestive comment catching her off guard

“And anyways –“ He yanked his boots off the desk and leant both elbows onto the surface, resting his chin in his hands and looking at her in an almost ‘innocent’ way.

“- why’d I need to be ‘efficient’ in boring shit like paperwork when I’ve got a cute little pet like you to do it for me?”

Lute felt physically pained by how much self-restraint was required to prevent herself from instantly biting back at the remark.

But oh, did she want to. She took a moment to visualise what beating him with the stack of paperwork might look like, how satisfying it would be to jump on him and thump the sheets repeatedly over his stupid head, and with a deep breath she brought herself back to reality.

“I guess you’re right” She forced out through tight lips, and he tilted his head a little at her, still smirking.

“-Same goes for the training sessions. No need for you to worry so much about that now that you have me here, sir” She tried to strategically steer the narrative in her favour, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Mmmm, no. I always run training sessions, see, that’s big-league stuff. Commander stuff. Annoying paperwork that Sera chews my ass for? That’s Lieutenant stuff”

He couldn’t be more wrong, but she knew telling him that was pointless. She huffed which seemed to amuse him by the way his eyes glistened at her.

Her eyes flicked off to the side and she considered how to get something, ANYTHING beneficial out of this interaction. Arguing with him about her position surely wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

When her eyes drifted back towards him she noticed the discarded magazine sitting on his desk, it was open on a page about electric guitars.

Lute decided to change the subject, still hopeful to fulfil her self-set challenge of having a semi-peasant interaction with the man, maybe even getting to know him a little bit.

“You play?” She asked pretty bluntly.

He tilted his head to the side again questioningly, and then his gaze followed hers down to the magazine, his widened eyes suddenly snapped back up to hers and he looked genuinely offended.

“Do I play…?” He said slowly, in a disbelieving tone.

“Bitch, yes, I play!” He exclaimed and slammed his palms flat on his desk

“You’re telling me you haven’t heard of my band? Haven’t listened to ANY of my music?!”

“Well…I have heard about your band. The others in my intake showed me some videos and stuff. But concerts aren’t my thing, and ontop of that I have never really kept up with social media. So I haven’t seen much” She shrugged.

She also knew, only thanks to her sisters, that tickets to Adams band performances were NOT affordable on a recruit’s wage anyway - much to her sisters’ dismay.

He leant back in his chair and let out a breathy laugh of disbelief.

“Ah…of course concerts aren’t ‘~your thing~’” He made air quotes with his fingers, giving her an eye roll.

“It’s also pretty fucking predictable you’re not a social media-y kind of girl…I’m shocked you’re not still using a Nokia or something, seems like something you’d do babe” He snickered.

“How do you know I’m not?” She shot back.

“Listen, if you’ve got a fucking Nokia, I’m obliterating that ancient shit in my holy light and getting you a REAL phone” She had to suppress a snort, there was something hilarious about the oldest mortal soul ever created calling a Nokia, of all things, ancient.

“And I’ll let you off this once for not knowing the sickest band in all of Heavenly history, but you’re gonna have to come along to one of my gigs sometime. I’ll even get you free VIP entry and everything” He placed both hands behind his head casually and smirked brightly at her.

Aside from being a little egocentric, it was also somewhat endearing how much he clearly enjoyed his music and took pride in it, eager to share it with her.

“Sure” She tentatively agreed, knowing deep down she probably would never be caught dead at any concert let alone one of his. But this conversation was going well, so for once she’d hold her tongue.

He continued looking at her, his eyes studying every inch of her face while he rocked his chair a little, looking lost in his own thoughts.

“You’re weird, y’know?” He suddenly said, although his tone held no malice.

“How am I weird?” She quizzed.

“Well, most hot exorcist babes know everything about me, even the little newbie graduates like you.”

Lute thought back to how ridiculously enamoured her intake of exorcist sisters had been with the man.

Annoyingly, he was right. They knew about his band, his history of kill counts, his reputation in the army - and just about everything there was to know about him without straight up meeting the guy and playing 20 questions. They acted like schoolgirls with a crush.

Although from what Lute had witnessed so far with the more experienced exorcists from past intakes, it seemed like something most of them grew out of…maybe a ‘don’t meet your heroes’ kind of situation.

Dickmaster or not, he was definitely a special brand of annoying and childish, she could see the novelty fading fast with the women who giggled and twirled their hair at him at first.

“And usually newbies are all over my dick too, well, the ones who are into dick are anyway. So obviously you aren’t”

She lurched at that.

“What the hell are you suggesting?” Lute crossed her arms tightly.

“Uhhh, that you’re a lesbo, duh. Could spot that from a mile off”

He smirked smugly and she could tell he wasn’t joking…he genuinely believed he knew her sexuality, and based on what? The fact she hadn’t flirted with him like every other straight or bisexual female in a 15 mile radius?

“My interests are none of your concern” She hissed.

“Mmmmhm so I’m right, not that I needed you to tell me that – I’m always righ-“

“I’m straight, asshole” She interrupted him and he froze.

“Just because I’m not ‘all over your dick’ doesn’t mean I’m gay” She snapped.

His eyes widened a little at that and they sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence for a beat before he broke it with a click of his tongue.

“Well then, you really are weird babe…fuck!” He laughed heartily and Lute let out an exasperated sigh.

The feeling of her phone buzzing in her dress pocket caught her attention. She pulled it out, glad for a momentary distraction, and saw it was Vaggie, formerly Recruit172 from the same intake as Lute.

‘Hey, I’ve got a huge ass new wardrobe being delivered in an hour and could use some extra muscle. You free?’

Lute smiled a little, her and Vaggie had been the closest out of all the recruits in her intake, they had been bunk buddies back in the old door rooms and ended up naturally falling into what Lute would call a ‘friendship’.

Vaggie just always got Lute in a way no one else did, she also happened to be one of the few that came close to rivalling Lute in her dedication and seriousness when it came to training. Even Vaggie’s personality nearly rivalled Lute’s intensity at times…nearly.

She’d hand it to Vaggie too, she wasn’t one of the ones to annoyingly gush over the Commander like many of the others had, but that was mostly down to her being completely repelled by men in general. Or as Adam put it, ‘not into dick’.

In their time as recruits together they had always been happy to simply spend time in each other’s company, even if they weren’t necessarily chatting or doing anything, it was cozy kind of friendship.

And other times they did do things together, albeit it would usually be hitting the gym, or training outside of scheduled hours, they fell into a comfortable back and forth with each other.

They were yet to fall into a new regular schedule though, given their intake had only graduated yesterday. Which made sense as to why she was getting a new wardrobe delivered, clearly making the most of her own new apartment space.

“So, not a Nokia then” Adam's comment brought Lute’s yellow eyes back up to his LED ones.

She snorted and glanced back down at her phone, shooting Vaggie a quick message to tell her she’d be there asap.

“No, not a Nokia”

When she looked up once more Adam was now holding his own phone out towards her. Her eyes flicked between it and him.

“Go ahead and pop your digits in, gotta keep in touch with my right-hand girl. Y’know, for Lieutenant-related duties-“ He said, and she didn’t like the edge his tone had.

She wordless took his phone regardless, entering her number directly into the new contacts page he’d opened for her.

“Maybe for when I’m looking for some midnight fun too”

She paused her motions and her eyes snapped up to his, a dusting of gold rising in her cheeks as she shot him a glare.

His expression was positively smug and she gave him a hard stare, realising with a sinking feeling that revealing her sexuality might’ve been the wrong choice...

“Alright alright!....” He raised his hands defensively, still grinning. Lute looked back down to the phone, finishing typing her number in.

“I can do 11pm too…”

She glared up at him again and he burst out laughing.

“Oh sweet-tits, you’re way too easy to rile up – it’s great” He laughed to himself, leaning back in his chair.

Lute added a name to the contact and practically threw the phone back at him.

“I’m going, got things to do. See you in the morning, sir” She said curtly and turned, moving towards the door to exit.

Not before she heard Adam snicker to himself.

“Fucking smart ass...” He said quietly after looking at his phone and she smirked, feeling safe that he couldn’t see her expression as she was turned away from him.

“- yeah sure, see ya tomorrow ‘Lieutenant and nothing more’” He read out what she’d inputted her name as in his contacts.

Noises of straining and frustration could be heard just around the corner as Lute finished climbing the last set of stairs in the apartment building.

“Ugh - mierda!!” She heard her fellow exorcist exclaim after rounding the corner to see Vaggie struggling alone to shift a hefty box which Lute presumed contained the parts needed to assemble her new wardrobe.

“Looks like you really could use that extra muscle” Lute teased, catching Vaggie’s attention.

“Oh, hey!” Vaggie paused her huffing to greet Lute, a hand coming up to swipe beads of sweat from her forehead.

“…yeah, I really could, Lieutenant” She said Lute’s new title with a clear hint of pride, gleaming at her friend with kind eyes.

Lute nodded with a small smile and she shifted to one side of the box, Vaggie automatically mirroring her and taking the opposite side. Wordlessly they both locked eyes and lifted the box in sync, verbal communication being unneeded for them to work together flawlessly.

The pair shifted the box into Vaggie’s apartment, manoeuvring it to her bedroom and setting it down gently to the floor.

“You need help assembling it too?” Lute asked.

“Nah, that part should be easy, was just moving the whole lot I knew would be a struggle. Thanks though” Vaggie flicked her overgrown side-swept bangs out of her face and gave Lute a lopsided smile.

“Let me get you a drink, I’ve got a bottle of Vodka with your name on it, call it a first-day mini-celebration!” Vaggie said affectionately and Lute smirked, rolling her eyes and nodding in agreement.

For the first few years of their heavenly lives Lute didn’t drink at all, she didn’t see the point in it, and every alcohol she had tried she’d practically spat straight back out in disgust. Beer, wine, cocktails, whiskey – all of, disgusting.

That was until one night, a fair few years back, after much convincing from her drunken sisters - Lute tried vodka, an alcohol she hadn’t had before. Arguably the blandest of all alcohols that existed.

But for some reason, it was the one alcohol Lute could tolerate, even enjoy. Funnily enough it was almost ironically well suited to her personality – a drink with no need for frivolous embellishments - clean, sharp, and intense, much like the exorcist herself.

From that night on, although still very infrequent, vodka was the only drink Lute would entertain and would be her drink of choice when she’d join her sisters on occasion for a rare night out here and there.

It was a rare win – finding something that Lute enjoyed outside of training – and so Vaggie would always make sure she had some on hand just for her friend.

“So…How did things go today?” Vaggie asked open-endedly while pouring them both a small drink.

“Fine, things went fine” Lute bluffed, accepting the glass from Vaggie and immediately taking a sip and welcoming the low burn in her stomach, it was needed after today…

“Okay. Tell me everything” Her exorcist sister said, clearly catching onto the undertone in Lute’s voice.

Lute sighed, swirling the liquid around in her glass as she gazed down at it, lost in thought.

“The Commander…he’s…I don’t know”

Vaggie scoffed.

“Yeah…he is something, isn’t he?” She said, clearly having her own mind made up on the man after her first day of working under him.

“I think he’s flirted with every single girl in our intake who has so much as smiled in his general direction…So obviously that’s pretty much ALL of them…discluding you and me at least” Vaggie joked.

Lute grimaced, thinking back to how that would’ve been true, until her most recent interaction with the Commander in which she’d stupidly more-a-less shouted ‘I like men’ at him.

She could tell after she’d corrected his incorrect assumption about her preference in gender, something had shifted in his demeanour towards her.

“Yeah…” Is all Lute said.

“Well, what else? I mean, how’d it go working with him and everything?” Vaggie pressed, eager to know more.

“He is…difficult. To say the least. Argumentative, stubborn, hot-headed…” As Lute was listing off his less-than-favourable qualities she noticed Vaggie stifling a chuckle and shot her a questioning look.

“Sounds a bit like someone else I know” Vaggie said with a slight smirk causing Lute to scoff.

“I am nowhere near as bad as he is, trust me, it’s different. He has some kind of issue with having a Lieutenant as well. First Sera warned me, and then Chloe, his most recent Lieutenant, she told me about the stick up his ass too…”

“Chloe, she’s the one you went off with at the beginning of training today, right?” Vaggie asked, and Lute gave a short nod.

“Yeah, apparently Adam drove her to quit, same with every other Lieutenant before her too. I’m beginning to see why. He’s such a pain in the ass”

There was a short pause while Vaggie seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

“But-“ She started.

“-not a pain in the ass too much for the mighty 198 to tackle” She said, using Lute’s old name which stirred a comforting warmth in her chest.

“Yeah, well –“ Lute paused to take another sip from her drink.

“I don’t plan on quitting anytime soon, unfortunately for him”

“That’s the spirit, sweetie,” Vaggie smiled and raised her glass, prompting Lute to do the same. Their glasses met with a soft clink ringing lightly between them.

7:01am.

The exorcists chattered softly amongst themselves, Lute standing before them as her eyes flicked repetitively between the training hall entrance and the large clock on the far wall.

She’d give him a couple more minutes, just a couple more, but if he wasn’t here soon she’d start without him.

A part of her hated that she was even waiting at all, as Lieutenant she should be free to run training with or without his presence.

But she didn’t want to make things harder for herself when it came to their newly established and already fragile work relationship, and something told her that starting without him here would be akin to shaking a beehive before reaching into it.

That being said, she was getting rather exasperated with his consistent shitty timekeeping. The graduation ceremony, meeting at his office yesterday morning, and now today's training session too.

7:04. Fuck it.

“Ladies” Lute began, gathering the attention of the exorcists before her. They obediently quieted their chattering and all yellow eyes were on her.

“We are going to begin now. I’d like to pick up where we left off in terms of expanding your combat skills beyond what you’re used to. And what you’re used to is armed combat with your chosen weapons” Lute ensured to cast her eyes across the entire crowd as she spoke.

“That is understandable, however, limiting. You may have chosen a sword, a spear, a mace. But I want you all to practice with other weapons for once. Just like yesterday morning we uncovered a lot of you have a weakness and lack of skill when it comes to unarmed combat, perhaps today we will uncover an undiscovered talent for a weapon you have never before wielded. And over the coming weeks we will expand on this, by the end of it I want you all up to speed on a wider range of combat styles and methods-“

“Pfft, what’s the point in any of that shit?” The voice that interrupted her was like nails on a chalkboard to Lute, her eyes instantly squeezing shut in frustration.

Adam strolled to the front of the crowd joining Lute, his eyebrow quirked at her and look of general distaste on his mask face.

Not wanting to directly argue back at him while all eyes were on the both of them, Lute kept a calm demeanour and chose her words carefully.

“The point is to cover all weaknesses, sir. And in my short time here I have witnessed that all it takes to expose said weaknesses is to take away their weapons” She looked back towards the crowd once more, addressing the exorcists now.

“Do you want to be left exposed in hell? When all it would take is for you to be disarmed?” Several of them shook their heads slowly.

“Would it not make more sense for you to be equipped with the skills necessary to take on hand-to-hand combat? To pick up any weapon, regardless of what type, and wield it with efficiency?” There was a murmur of general agreement and Lute felt relieved

She had been nervous that commanding the entire crowd against Adam’s obvious opinion on the matter might not work given many of them were blindly submissive to him.

But as the crowd appeared to collectively agree with Lute’s statements, she stood a little straighter with pride, that was until Adam’s large hand patted her upper back in a condescending manner.

“Ooooookay Lieutenant, ‘fun idea’, sure. But no. We are gonna stick to our usual shit girlies. So get to it-“

“Sir, I would actually very much like to follow Lute’s suggestion” Chloe spoke up, pushing to the front of the crowd.

“In all my exorcist years I have only ever used my throwing knives, and I know I’m pretty damn deadly with them-“ She tilted her head slightly with a smug, lopsided smirk curling her lips, a hand resting on her hip.

Lute noticed Vaggie listening intently from the side, a near indetectable smile appearing on the girl’s lips in response to Chloe’s cocky remark.

“-But what if I’m even better with a sword? Or even If I’m not better, what if one day I need to know how to do more than throw small projectiles accurately at a target?”

The dark-haired exorcist let out a breathy chuckle and threw one of her throwing knives up in the air, sending it into a rapid spin but catching it perfectly by the handle when it came back down.

“You’ve gotta cut the Lieutenant a break. She’s made a good point, Commander” She waved the small knife as she spoke.

Lute’s entire body was rigid with anticipation of how Adam was about to take this, being challenged not only by herself but now also by Chloe.

At the same time, it filled her with glee to be supported so unapologetically by her fellow exorcist.

Chloe continued:

“You’ve seen first-hand how many weapons we drop and leave behind during exterminations every year, think how useful it would be for us to be able to pick up any weapon and be, as you’d say, ‘sick as fuck’ with it?”

Chloe finished her speech, her smug grin ever present as she awaited the Commander’s response.

It made Lute question why the girl gave up her post in the first place. She seemed so well-versed when it came to confidently standing up to the man. Maybe she was adept in the endeavour BECAUSE of her short time as his right hand.

There was a chilling silence as all eyes seemed to fall on Adam and Lute, particularly Adam, everyone awaiting his response.

He let out a sudden bark of insincere laughter.

“Oh…you fucking Lieutenants…always thinking you know best huh?” He asked rhetorically, looking between his current and former Lieutenant.

“Think you BOTH know better than me? The first man? A man who, may I remind you, has been around for -centuries- before either of your asses existed”

Adam gave Chloe one last glare before his gaze settled on Lute now, his expression seemed to simmer with annoyance, underscored by a thin thread of condescending amusement.

“But no, fine, go ahead, let’s see how far this cute little idea of yours gets the girls” He said with a patronising tone, stepping back and waving for Lute to continue in a mocking manner.

Lute was suddenly very aware of the uncomfortable tension in the air of the room, an entire audience witness to the whole exchange.

She couldn’t afford to appear weak, not in front of all of them like this, and so without missing a beat she quietly cleared her throat - breathing out the tension from her body as best she could.

“Everyone, pair up – pick someone who has a weapon you lack experience in using. And remember, you’re helping each other here, swap weapons and give one another guidance before you practice sparing” Lute brought her hands behind her back and stood tall as she continued her orders.

“And I want you to all start with some unarmed combat too, just like yesterday. It’ll be a good reset to break you out of your usual routine again”

She gave the command with as much confidence as she could muster.

A unified "Yes, Lieutenant" echoed from the crowd as the girls swiftly moved to follow her instructions. The exorcists weaved among each other as they searched for someone to swap weapons with.

Lute observed as Vaggie made a beeline for Chloe, tapping her on the shoulder gently to get her attention. Lute wasn’t close enough to hear their quiet conversation but she could see Vaggie introduce herself, holding a hand out for a handshake which Chloe accepted with a sweet smile.

Vaggie looked…nervous. Vaggie never usually looked nervous.

The pair began showing each other their weaponry, Chloe brandishing throwing knives, Vaggie a spear, two very different types of weapons that required different skills and fighting styles. A perfect example of what Lute wanted the girls to explore with this exercise.

“Looks like it’s just you n’ me left” Adam’s smug voice jolted Lute out of her thoughts. He stood tall, looming over her with an arrogant grin.

“What do you mean..?” She asked hesitantly.

“I mean; your little idea, y’know. Practising unarmed combat, swapping weapons, all that stupid shit, you really gonna exempt yourself from your own training? That’d be lame as fuck of you, babe” The man challenged.

Lute glanced back at the exorcists and saw that they had all found themselves a partner and spread out across the hall to begin their sparring.

Her eyes shot back to the Commander, he couldn’t really be suggesting that they spar against each other…Could he?

“What’s the matter, Lieutenant, scared of facing off against me?” He grinned widely as if he could hear her inner monologue.

She bristled, her feathers fluffing agitatedly.

“What? No. I am not scared” She spat at him, turning to face him directly, a fire lit in her chest.

“Then lets see what you’ve got. What were your ~orders~ again?” He asked, the way he said 'orders' being in a patronising tone.

“Unarmed first, right?” He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms out straight in front of him as he cracked his neck side to side.

She closed her eyes for a moment and exhaled frustratedly.

“We have a training session to run, Commander. I need to oversee the girls while they spar – at least one of us should be paying attention at all times. So no, we can’t-“

“That’s such a bullshit excuse” He jeered with an eye roll before she could even finish.

“You really expect me to believe that? No, babe, you just know that I’d have you pinned to the floor in no time – wanna save yourself the embarrassment huh?”

That did it.

Sharp tingles of rage surged up and down her body, and she glowered at the man. He, on the other hand, wore a self-righteous, knowing look.

He knew she was too prideful not to rise to his words, driven by a desire to prove him wrong.

Her eyes scanned his entire frame as she assessed the situation that It seemed she was about to find herself in.

“Fine” Lute said coldly, accepting the challenge.

Without breaking eye contact with him she reached to her hip, unsheathing her sword and dropping it to the floor behind her.

He was bigger than her, much bigger. So she did have to admit he would have the advantage when it came to physical strength, but she was faster, more agile, and definitely more intelligent. Those would be the traits she’d rely on in order to hold her own against him.

“You want to do this? Then let’s do this” She said confidently and settled into a standard fighting stance

Her fists were raised and her chin tilted down, watching him carefully, ready for any sudden move. Every muscle in her body was coiled tight, ready to spring into action.

The Commander, however, stood lazily with his arms crossed, wearing that insufferably smug grin plastered on his face.

Lute’s jaw tightened, he was clearly going to wait for her to make the first move – and so she would.

She darted forward, aiming a sharp jab at his side. He shifted effortlessly, his arm uncrossing just in time to deflect her fist with a flick of his wrist.

She didn’t allow him time, moving swiftly again for another attack – another attack which he somehow saw coming and also dodged.

“Too slow” he taunted, stepping back to regain some distance between them before giving a theatrically dramatic yawn.

She gritted her teeth, refusing to let him rile her up. She darted in again with a flurry of strikes, all of which she gave her full power. But he blocked each one with maddening ease, his movements smooth and unhurried.

Lute pulled back, taking a moment to breathe. She stayed ready to defend herself though, wondering if he’d advance on her.

But he didn’t, he stayed put and allowed her the respite with a grin, and that pissed her off even more.

“Wanna tap out? You seem out of breath babe” He taunted, although he had a knowing look, clearly aware she’d never give up that easily, yet enjoying mocking her all the same.

Lute didn’t rest long before her next surge of attacks. Trying to catch him off guard by coming at him from unexpected angles, using her wings at times to jump high into the air and swoop about him in an attempt to catch him from an undefended direction.

But he saw it all coming, seeming to always be telepathically ahead of her. He turned too quickly and blocked too strongly for her to get an effective hit in.

“Come on…that’s seriously all you got?” He taunted, his grin unwavering.

It was actually surprising to Lute.

He’d given off nothing but an impression of pure stupidity and laziness in the short time she’d known him, seeming disinterested and downright arrogant. Yet under all of that, he possessed advanced skills and obvious experience.

Given the centuries he’d had to practice, she supposed it did make sense…

Yet it all begged the question of why he wouldn’t want his army to improve, to reach this kind of level.

…Or did he just think they were all untouchable, that with HIM present, there was simply no NEED to have the army be as efficient as possible?

That felt like a pretty good guess to Lute, it aligned with his clear belief that he was also too good for a Lieutenant at his side to support him and take on a level of authority beside him.

She pivoted suddenly, ducking low and sweeping her leg out in a wide arc. This time, her foot connected with his ribs with satisfying power.

A flicker of surprise replaced his smug grin as he jerked backwards

“OW- fuck” He blurted out, a hand coming up to hold where she'd struck him.

Taking the momentary lax in his defence, Lute unleashed another flurry of jabs, ducking a weaving in between each to avoid his attempts to block her.

At least three of her jabs made solid contact before he could block the next by bringing both his arms across his torso.

She wasted no time in grabbing onto them, and with one powerful jump backed by a beat of her wings, she pushed up off the floor with the leverage of his arms and brought her legs up into a kick aimed straight at his masked face.

She watched with satisfaction as the LED screen flickered with an array of colours from the impact and his head was thrown backwards with a pained grunt.

Before he could respond she flapped her wings again, releasing his arms, dashing back and landing out of his reach.

 She had narrowly avoided an anger-fueled attempt at grabbing her.

“’Too slow’” She mockingly copied the way he’d said those exact words to her moments ago, which seemed to only ignite his anger futher.

He scowled at her and reached up, adjusting his helmet which she’d kicked into a wonky position.

She took a moment to feel a sense of victory, but that victory was short-lived.

This time Adam darted at her, instead of waiting passively for her attacks like he did before. Lute dodged as many lunges as she could, retaliating with blind punches in an attempt to deter his advances.

But at some point he somehow caught her wrist mid-swing. Twisting her arm just enough to unbalance her, he swept her feet out from under her with his right leg and sent her sprawling onto her back.

Lute gasped as the wind was knocked out of her, Adam immediately straddling her frame, both of her wrists captured effortlessly in one of his large hands and pinned firmly to the floor above her head.

He leaned in close, his voice low and infuriatingly calm.

“Gotcha.”

She began attempting to wiggle free from his grasp, doing everything in her power to either slip out of his hold or make some kind of contact with his body using her knees or feet.

But he had her effectively pinned down, his grasp shockingly strong and her legs in a useless position from which she could cause him no damage.

“You put up a good fight babe, I’ll give ya that…But I told ya I’d have you pinned easy peasy, didn’t I?” He said teasingly, his voice infuriatingly calm as he held her down without effort despite her wild flailing.

She was suddenly very aware of how much of his body she could feel pressing down on hers through those oversized robes of his, a golden hue rising in her cheeks against her will.

It also occurred to her that throughout their entire sparring, he had thrown no punches, only dodging or deflecting. And even when he decided to start advancing on her, he only grabbed at her. No attempt was made to cause her harm.

It made the fact he had won the fight even more infuriating…

She was about to give him some sort of smart assed remark when the sound of a shrill cry brought both of their attention away from each other.

Both their heads snapped in the direction of the noise, seeing one of the exorcists nursing her wrist with a pained expression, a heavy mace on the floor at her feet.

The distraction gave Lute the opportunity to quickly throw Adam to the side, launching him off of her before she pulled herself to her feet and hastily approached the injured exorcist.

“What happened?” Lute asked and the girl’s partner quickly moved forward to explain.

“She swung it at an awkward angle and hurt her wrist, I’m sorry Lieutenant, I should’ve talked her through it more…I-“ Lute held a hand up quickly.

“This is not your fault, I should’ve been paying better attention to the session” Lute quickly dismissed the girl’s worries of being in trouble.

Lute took a moment to work the injured girl through some movements to check the extent of the injury to her wrist, concluding it was a simple fracture and not a full break thankfully.

She instructed a couple of the others to walk her to the medic bay where she could receive treatment for her injury.

Lute frowned at herself as she considered how this could have been avoided if she hadn’t gotten distracted by Adam and allowed him to goad her into a sparring session.

She decided she’d let the others off, calling the session to a close for today – they’d come back to this idea another day, and Lute would give it her full concentration next time.

The exorcists were filtering out of the room when Adam approached from behind.

“Well, so much for your idea huh? Sera is going to want to hear about this, Lieutenant. How one of the girls was injured following your orders”

His arms were crossed and his tone now stern, but his smug grin made it clear he was playing the part. Eager to try and use this incident to his benefit and as some kind of way to ‘prove’ Lute shouldn’t be so involved in running their sessions.

“Accidents happen. They happened all the time in training when I was a recruit. We are training for war, sir, it comes with the territory. Besides, YOU were the one who insisted on sparing with me, I TOLD you we should always have at least one of us paying attention” Her glare hardened further.

“So unless you want to ALSO explain that last part to Sera, I see no need in bothering the woman about it”

Adam seemed to think for a moment, considering her words and grumbling to himself before he sighed loudly.

“Whatever…”

He looked down at her, his grin returning.

“You’re just being a sore little loser” He snickered and flicked her nose affectionately.

She glared at him but chose not to respond, instead turning on her heel and walking to the exit. To her dismay Adam was quick to follow falling in step besides her as they made their way through the hallway.

“Sooooo, you coming tonight?” He asked.

“Coming where?”

“Fifi’s leaving drinks, told ya about it yesterday when you and Chloe were gossiping about me”

Lute’s face heated up, did he actually know they were talking about him…or did he make an educated guess? She shot him a quick sideways glance and he had that knowing look he often got, she looked forward again still walking.

“No, I’m not coming” She said in a level tone.

“Why not? Or, let me guess, it’s ‘not your thing’” He air-quoted the last part.

She shrugged. She didn’t particularly feel in a ‘going out’ mood. Let alone to celebrate the retirement of one of the exorcists she barely knew. She hadn’t even spoken to the one called Fifi yet, it felt odd to attend her leaving drinks.

“All your little newbie sis’s are going y’know…” It was once again like he was reading her mind. She shot him a look.

“Why do you care if I go or not”

It struck her as odd, he seemed genuinely invested in her coming along. As far as she could tell so far, he wasn't her biggest fan. Any desire to be around her felt like it came more from a desire to fuck with her, or as he had put it, 'rile her up'. Yet now it sounded like he actually did want her there, for real.

“I think it’ll be good for you to loosen up, babe! Besides, I’ll never pass up a chance to see my exorcist babes out of their uniforms and in something a little more appealing” He wiggled his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

“I’ll attend in a potato sack then”

He laughed at that.

“Bet you’d make it look good” The genuine compliment completely threw Lute off.

He had called her many things in their short time together. Cute, hot, pretty, making comments that verged on flirtatious. But most of it she brushed off, chalking it up to his personality - given he spoke to everyone in the same way. But this felt different, like he wasn't just saying shit, he was genuinely complimenting her.

“I…I’ll think about it” She stuttered.

“Nope, I’ve decided for you, you’re coming. That’s an order”

She stopped in her tracks, turning to face him and opening her mouth to protest. But before she could, he brought a singular finger up to her lips, smooshing them together comically.

“Nu-uh, no arguing, I gave you an order and I expect you to follow it. If you don’t…I will find you and I will drag your ass there myself, potato sack or not” He smirked as she stood there silently, completely stumped and lost for words.

“Good talk, glad we’re on the same page, see ya there!” He stepped back and summoned a portal, leaving through it with a wink before Lute could say a single thing.

She just sighed…This man was beginning to give her mental whiplash.

[redwritesx]

My first ever attempt at drawing Adam maskless...male faces are already a challenge for me but I think I like how he turned out!

[redwritesx]

Make room for me too Lute!

OH ITS FINISHEDDD <33

[redwritesx]

Guitarspear, the brand where Adam loves teasing his top girl, Lute 🤍

Side note, this was inspired by a scene in chapter 2 of a fanfic I'm currently writing, read here on AO3 if you'd like 🤘

[redwritesx]

My fav girl 🤍🗡 (totally didn't upload this already but without her belt 🙃 have no idea how I missed that detail at first lol)

[redwritesx]

Lute and Adam redesigns ><

[redwritesx]

I love this so much omg 😭

When the ship dynamic is someone who draws them like a masterpiece and the other does a silly doodle >>>

[redwritesx]

Currently writing the next chapter of a fanfic and wondering if there is ever such thing as too much banter? 🤭 I can't seem to stop myself writing back and forths between Adam and Lute.

Eveytime I'm like 'okay time to take this chapter in xyz direction' my brain's like "BUT WHAT IF SHE THEN HAD THIS COME BACK AND HE SAID THAT AND...?!?!"

It never ends.

[redwritesx]

Just a quick little drawing of Adam from a scene in chapter 2 of my Adam x Lute fic 'A Lieutenant's Loyalty'.

Adam seems like a 'stacks as many things onto one plate as physically possible' kinda guy 🍩😆

[redwritesx]

Adam x Lute - A Lieutenants Loyalty - Chapter 2

AO3 LINK

Chapter summary: Lute begins to discover just how frustrating the commander can be as they butt heads on their first training session together, and Lute meets Adam's most recent lieutenant

Chapter preview: “O-ho babe! No no no…” He leant down a little, his hand suddenly grabbing her jaw and tilting her face up towards his. The contact sent a shockwave of tingles shooting through her face and neck, originating at the point his gloved hand made contact with her delicate skin. She didn’t let on to it though, defiantly holding his gaze with unblinking eyes. “You’re here to do as your told” His grip, somehow equally gentle as it was firm, turned her chin forcing her to look towards the other soldiers who were focused on each of their sparring partners. “Just like them”

Lute arrived at Adam’s office at 6am on the dot, she rapped her knuckle against the large door and waited to hear him call her in. But no voice came from the other side.

She tried knocking again a couple of times, but by the time a few minutes had passed it was clear no one was going to answer. She gently bit the inside of her cheek while considering what she should do.

She definitely had the right office, based on the rectangular metal plate that was hung on the door. The name ‘ADAM’ engraved in curling, elegant letters.

With no other option, she simply waited…and waited.

After a while she checked her phone just as the digital clock on her home screen flicked to 6:14am.

More waiting.

Another check again at 6:22.

A short wander up and down the halls nearby proved futile, no other angels were present in this section of the building this early.

Another check of her phone, 6:34.

She made a mental note to herself to get his phone number ahead of any future incidents like this.

Where the hell was he? She was certain she had not misheard him. His office at 6am, training begins at 7am. Her sisters would be in the training hall soon and she did not want to also be late for that.

The door knob of his office door glistened invitingly. Surely it would be entirely rude and unprofessional to let herself in…and it would be locked anyway.

She reached for the door knob for the sake of it despite the certainty it would be pointless - she imagined Adam’s office must have all sorts of highly confidential documents lying about, there would be no way he’d leave his door unlo-…

The door knob twisted freely and the door clicked open. Lute gave the door a gentle push, allowing it to swing open slowly.

“Sir?” She called out.

But no one was there, his spacious office was devoid of any soul in sight. Seriously? He just leaves his office unlocked all the time?

Lute was suddenly jolted from behind, a large mass clipped her left shoulder and pushed past her into the office through the now open door.

“Sup Lutey” Adam chimed in an easy-going tone and moved straight towards his desk carrying a plate stacked precariously high with a wobbling tower of doughnuts.

Lute had to pause for a moment, gathering her composure. His sudden appearance, the rude shove, the tower of bread…the nickname.

All of those events one after the other had thrown her through quite the mental loop.

“Sir…Good morning”

Adam took a seat behind his desk after successfully setting his plate down without destroying the doughnut tower. He glanced up at her with questioning look.

“Well watchya waiting for? Come in!”  He said, as if she hadn’t been waiting for him already for over 30 minutes.

Supressing the urge to question where he’d been, she closed the office door and moved forward to stand infront of his desk, arms held behind her back and posture straight and she awaited further instruction.

He was reclined back in his office chair, doing an incredibly impressive job of shoving an entire doughnut into his mouth in one go. The food phased through the mask screen in a manner that made Lute shudder.

She and her exorcist sisters had their own masks, similar to his, although theirs lacked the same divine magic that allowed Adam to shovel things into his mouth while still wearing it.

Adam’s eyes flicked up to Lute, he picked another doughnut off the tower.

“Sooooo you gonna sit down or what?” The man took a generous bite, crumbs catching on his mask cheeks.

She shifted a little and glanced down at the chair in front of her, situated on the opposite side of the desk to Adam. With a nod she pulled out the chair, taking a seat and folding her hands in her lap.

In the short span of time her eyes had left him he’d somehow finished the doughnut he’d just been working on and had made it onto the next.

“MMMph” He moaned, savouring the sweet treat.

“These fucking things are the only reason I agreed with Sera to start training sessions at the ass crack of dawn” His mouth was half full as he spoke.

Lute raised a singular eyebrow but said nothing. She did however make a mental note of the fact that food seemed to be a good motivator for her commander, that information might come in handy sometime in the future.

“You probs haven’t seen the food hall yet have ya? Lemme tell you sweet-tits, they got some seriously good stuff down there, swing by for lunch sometime and try the ribs – best . shit . ever”

Lute simply nodded in reply, consistently finding it hard to maintain eye contact as Adam had been waving one of the doughnuts around as he spoke, sending little crumbs flying left and right. She hated mess.

He took another smaller bite, one elbow propped up on the desk and the chin of his mask sitting in his free hand as he chewed, eyes now solidly trained on hers as if he was thinking about something.

“You don’t talk much, do ya babe?” He asked suddenly, in between mouthfuls.

“I talk…” Lute responded, unsure what more to say. She had never been all too fond of ‘small talk’, she’d rather get straight to the point with people…speaking of.

“So, shall we discuss what it was that you wanted to go over before training?” Lute attempted to drive the conversation in the right direction.

“Oh sure! Was just gonna give you this to do –“ He snapped his fingers, summoning a stack of golden papers and snatching them out of the air. He thumped them down on his desk in front of her.

She tentatively picked through a few of the golden sheets. It was just a bunch of old, incomplete incident reports that needing filling in. Trivial stuff and incredibly outdated too.

“I thought we were going over….’lieutenanty things’” She quoted his terminology from yesterday’s conversation

“Uhhh yea, and those -” Adam pointed to the golden stack

“Are for you to do, lieutenant” His finger snapped up to her, his masked expression stretched out into a grin.

“This is all you wanted me here early for…to give me some paperwork?”

“Yep” He replied nonchalantly and brushed a few crumbs from his robe.

She contained the frown that threatened to knit her eyebrows together and watched as he stood from his seat and stretched with a yawn. His head swivelled back down to her.

“But we’ve got training to get to, so you can save that for later”

Lute checked her phone again, seeing that training was in fact starting soon. She let out a controlled sigh through her nostrils and nodded before she also stood, following him wordlessly as he led the way to the training hall.

She wanted to question him on his reasoning for calling her here so early to give her nothing more than some petty paperwork – not to mention him being HALF an hour late. But she resisted, deciding that giving him the benefit of the doubt might work in her favour…at least for as long as she could stand to hold her sharp tongue.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The pair entered the training hall just as the last few exorcists were filtering in. The crowd was a mixture of faces, old and new to Lute. The intake of soldiers whom she graduated, and those soldiers who had already been a part of the army.

A spike of nerves hit Lute suddenly. She didn’t doubt herself, her talents, her deservingness of the title of lieutenant – but being here now face to face for the first time with exorcists who had more on-field experience than her, it was a little nerve wrecking.

Lute had yet to even take part in a singular extermination as a brand new graduate. Some of the women in front of her could have been a part of over 100 by now.

But every exorcist starts somewhere, she reminded herself, pushing the wave of nerves back down.

Sera chose her as lieutenant, that choice was not without good reason.

“Okay, ladies!” Adam’s voice boomed, easily filling the room and commanding the attention of the entire hall.

“Some of you already know, but for those that don’t, we’ve got a fresh-brand-shiny-new lieutenant!”

Adam patted Lute’s back unnecessarily hard jolting her forward a fraction, a white lock of hair fell into her face from the force of it.

Her narrowed yellow eyes flicked across to him and she blew the stray hairs back out of her face. Then, with a steadying breath she addressed the crowd.

“That’s right. I’d like to take this opportunity to formally introduce myself, my name is Lute”

It felt foreign, yet oddly right to say her new name out loud. Introducing herself for the first time using it instead of the old, soulless numbers that used to be her name.

“-and as the commander has already explained I am going to be your lieu-“

“Right! Now that’s out of the way, get paired up, practice some fighting or whatever and lets get this shit done and dusted so we can all get out of here!”

Lute's body went rigid, her eyebrows shooting up in shock and her shoulders subconsciously hunching. She was utterly dumbfounded by the complete disrespect from the commander.

Not just that he’d not even let her finish her sentence, but the way he was about to run this session…’practice some fighting or whatever’!? He couldn’t be serious, this couldn’t be how he usually ran these sessions…right?

The girls began to do as he’d asked, those who had graduated alongside Lute seeming also a little hesitant and surprised by the casualness of the order.

Those who Lute did not recognise however, the ones who had graduated before her intake…seemed unphased, clearly used to this kind of half assed session.

Lute turned to Adam, who had leaned against the nearest wall, his phone in hand, gazing at it with a look of vague boredom.

“Sir.”

He glanced up at her. She noticed his golden eyes shift left and right a little, taking in her face in a way he hadn’t before now.

His bored expression then morphed into a smug smirk.

“Lieutenant, what part of ‘get paired up’ flew over that pretty little head of yours hm?”

She bristled at that, her feathers fluffing out. She was supposed to be lieutenant, yet he was treating her like another regular soldier.

“This isn’t how I envisioned my first training session as lieutenant going. I barley even got to introduce myself. And what training plan are we supposedly following?”

There was so much more Lute wanted to say, but she was attempting to maintain a level of professionalism with the man, even if he hadn’t offered her the same in return so far.

“Whats the prob? You got to say your piece. And the plan is for you to train however I tell you to”

He pocketed his phone and took a couple steps closer to her, the smaller angel’s neck craning to maintain eye contact with the much taller man.

The commander placed his hands on Lute’s shoulders, his smirk widening before he suddenly spun her 180° now facing away from him and towards the other angels who were following his order to spar with each other.

The smaller angel shivered involuntarily as she felt the man lean down from behind her, his masked face now next to her ear as he spoke in a lower tone.

“So, be a good girl and go find someone willing to pair up with your ass and do some combat shit”

Adam gave her a gentle push in the general direction of the other soldiers.

The ‘practicing’ going on before her eyes was without guidance, without purpose, one look and Lute could see no one here would improve on their technique like this. They were just pointlessly sparring, and it caused a wave of anger to flash through her.

It wasn’t their fault, their subpar training was only because of the subpar instruction they’d been given.

She spun on her heel, snapping back to face Adam.

With crossed arms he raised an eyebrow in a way that wordlessly challenged her to talk back. A challenge she was eager to accept.

“Even as a recruit, I have never seen such a poorly planned training session” She remarked coldly, frustration simmering beneath her tone.

“There needs to be structure, planning, and direction. This is what a lieutenant is here to support with, what I am here to support with” She continued, her voice icily low.

Adam burst out into taunting laughter, throwing his head back as his shoulders shook. He clutched his stomach with one hand and wiped a mock tear that didn’t exist with the other.

Lute’s expression turned positively deadly, chin pointed downwards as she glared up at him through her eyelashes.

“O-ho babe! No no no…” He leant down a little, his hand suddenly grabbing her jaw and tilting her face up towards his.

The contact sent a shockwave of tingles shooting through her face and neck, originating at the point his gloved hand made contact with her delicate skin.

She didn’t let on to it though, defiantly holding his gaze with unblinking eyes.

“You’re here to do as your told”

His grip, somehow equally gentle as it was firm, turned her chin forcing her to look towards the other soldiers who were focused on each of their sparring partners.

“Just like them”

Her face felt hot, a golden blush no doubt growing in her cheeks as she felt a concoction of rage with a hint of flustered frustration.

Even after he removed his hand she still felt a ghost of tingles where his fingers had just been.

“You get me?” Adam asked.

Lute’s eyes narrowed. Oh, sure, she got him.

It was making increasingly more sense now. It seemed Adam’s own arrogance refused to let him acknowledge anyone as an authority figure by his side.

Lute had already gotten that vibe from how begrudgingly he communicated with the high seraphim Sera, not at all giving her the respect she most certainly commanded.

What Lute was yet to understand was the motive behind his childish attitude.

Was it purely an ego thing? Was it because he thought he was too good to need someone to assist him? Oh-so divine and untouchable that he didn’t even need to give his army proper training?

Maybe he had a problem with people telling him what to do, telling him that his way wasn’t always the right way.

She supposed being the first ever mortal soul must naturally come with some level of pre-packaged self importance…yet in her opinion, it was proving to be an un-deserved level self-importance.

Fingers clicked obnoxiously in her face, snapping her back to reality.

“Hey! I asked you a question” He scoffed.

She straightened, matching his intense eye contact and kept her voice low as she replied, her tone intense and purposeful.

“Yes, sir. I think I’m beginning to ‘get you’” She practically growled.

To her utter delight, he looked ever so slighty taken aback for a moment from her sudden intensity. The reaction slipping through the commander’s controlled, cocky demeanour.

It thrilled her to know that she could even slightly shake the larger man.

She wouldn’t roll over and play his little game. Nor would she throw in the towel and give up her title.

No. She was going to be lieutenant and she was going to do it properly.

Before he could do or say anything more, a chirpy voice cut through the thick tension hanging in the air between them.

“Lieutenant?”

Lute’s head turned instinctively, the title still new but the natural drive to respond was immediate.

The source of the interruption was a dark haired woman, her black locks slightly below shoulder length, and her smile warm and wide.

"Yes, soldier?" Lute responded, quietly appreciating the respect for her authority – which was a stark contrast to Adam’s disregard so far.

“I had some questions to ask you about our training, if you’d lend me a moment of your time…” She asked, nodding her head towards a far exit of the hall.

“Damn Chlow-Job, already kissing the new lieutenant’s ass! Though you’d at least give it, like, pssht, a DAY” The jeering came from Adam.

“Absolutely, shall we?” Lute disregarded Adam’s comment, without even sparing him a second glance she began walking towards the exit, happy to get a break from the commander.

“Hey! Training’s not over bitches, you don’t get to just bail whenever you feel like a gossip sesh”

Oh, so now he cared about training?

“This is a training related discussion” Lute called out over her shoulder dismissively, not looking back or allowing the commander to deter her. Thankfully the soldier in tow didn’t hesitate to follow Lute despite Adam’s complaint.

They entered the hallway and Lute continued on a few paces down the hall, eager to get as much physical space between herself and Adam as possible.

Once they’d walked far enough she stopped and turned to the soldier, and to her surprise noticed a hint of amusement playing on her features.

“He’s really giving you a hard time already ey?” She chuckled and held out her hand.

“I’m Chloe, thought I’d introduce myself properly”

Lute glanced down at her hand and then back to her face before reaching out and shaking it.

“Also noticed you looked like you were about to stick your sword through the commander's face...thought I’d give you an out. It can be intense getting to know him”

Intense...that’s one way to put it.

“Yes, well- Sera had warned me working with him as his lieutenant was going to be a challenge”

“Oh yeah! I remember Sera warning me too, I thought to myself ‘Ive known Adam for years! I can handle him’ but christ, he really was insufferable. Still is actually, it’s just an easier pill to swallow when you’re a soldier than it is when you’re supposed to be his lieutenant”

Lutes eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“You’ve been his lieutenant before?”

“The one just before you, actually” she confirmed, leaning up against the wall.

“For three weeks...that’s how long I lasted! The other girls had bets out and everything” She chuckled to herself, shaking her head.

“It was just that - I’d seen a few Lieutenants try and fail to work with him over the past couple years, thought to myself I might have a shot at it, yknow? Id be ‘different’! But nope, just the same as the rest...I gave up with the man too, he drove me borderline insane”

Lute frowned in thought.

“What’s his issue?” Lute asked. The other woman snorted.

“His issue is he doesn’t want a lieutenant, thinks he’s above needing one and all that jazz” She rolled her eyes.

“But Sera says he has to have one, and what Sera says goes. So every time he gets a lieutenant, he acts like an asshole with them, like – waaaay more than usual, and he doesn’t let them have any authority-

‘You’re here to do as you're told. Just like them’ the recent memory of Adam’s words echoed in her mind.

“-which is obviously not how a lieutenant should be treated! Sure, you’re still lower rank than the commander and he’s in charge or whatever…but you’re also supposed to be in charge to an extent, especially when it comes to training! But noooo”

She waves her hands mockingly, Lute could see that Chloe definitely felt strongly about the subject which was understandable given she was the most recent victim…before Lute at least.

“The man always has to have his way, and there’s only so much arguing one angel can do with Adam before going clinically insane. So most give up, realising its easier to just be a soldier…which is of course EXACTLY what he wants”

The woman reached out, placing a comforting hand on Lute’s shoulder.

“But don’t let all that get to you! If that death glare I just caught you giving him is anything to go by, you’re already off to a great start!” She winked playfully.

“I don’t know…I wouldn’t go as far as saying me and him off to a ‘great’ start today” Lute crossed her arms defensively over her chest, thinking over all the ways he’d already pissed her off this morning.

“Listen, some of the girls wouldn’t dream of even challenging him in the first place, so you got further than them” She offered a reassuring smile

“Anyway...I just thought it’d be nice for you to get a brief overview, I know you’ve just graduated and everything so you’re not as clued up as some of us on what to expect with Adam...he really is just a bit of a childish idiot sometimes!”

Chloe rolled her eyes, smirking.

“Literally caught him the other day trying to convince Sera to let him change the nameplate on his office door to ‘Dickmaster’ because, in his words, ‘that’s my fucking legacy babe! It should be on my door’…” Chloe mimicked Adam’s voice and inflection, making exaggerated gestures with her arms as she did so.

Lute raised an eyebrow, and amused smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

“She had to explain why having anything related to his dick in the holy Seraphim Hall was unacceptable…”

Chloe laughed and Lute let out an amused snort.

“What’s the funny joke, ladies?” Adam’s tone cut their laughter swiftly short.

Lute quickly leaned to the side and peeked over Chloe’s shoulder to see the commander strolling down the hallway towards them.

“Oh, nothing interesting sir” Chloe replied smoothly while still smirking at Lute, not even turning to look back at the man. Lute liked the way that similar to herself, Chloe didn’t seem to be one to be shaken easily.

The commander reached the pair and immediately propped up an elbow on Lute’s shoulder and leant on her, using her once again like an arm rest.

Only this time he leant what felt like most of his weight onto her causing her to strain with a grunt while attempting to hold him and herself upright.

“C’mon Chlo-Chlo, spill, seemed pretty fucking hilarious. I think it might be the first time Lutey here has smiled in her entire life too” He grinned and pointed at his lieutenant’s face.

“You should smile more often babe, it’s a nice break from that usual glare you got going on” Lute responded by glaring up at him which seemed to only widen his shit-eating grin.

“We were just discussing how great of a commander you are” Chloe explained, her tone openly mocking but still light-hearted.

“Oh uh-huh, sure you were“ Adam scoffed.

“Anyways, while you ladies were slacking off I was telling everyone about tomorrow evening, Fifi is retiring and we’re getting fucked up, leaving drinks start at 6 at the HolyInn. Be there or be square bitches”

Chloe nodded and Adam leant down, lowering his face closer to Lute’s.

”You ever even been to a party babe? You don’t strike me as a party kind of girl…”

Well, for once she’d agree with him there, he had that assumption right.

“I get more of a ‘organises your sock draw for fun on the weekend’ vibe from you” Adam snickered earning a cold glare from Lute.

Before he could react Lute took a sudden step back, removing herself from under his arm. The unexpected shift left him without the support and he stumbled, crashing face-first onto the floor.

It was a satisfying parallel to how she’d been the one sprawled out on the floor yesterday.

Chloe burst out into laughter, doubled over in hysterics at the commander's expense which only made the scenario all the more satisfying.

A flash of surprise washed over Adam’s masked LED face before morphing into a chilling scowl directed at his lieutenant.

“You crazy bitch, what the fuck was that for?!” He exclaimed, still on the floor before her.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, I didn’t do anything, looks like you need to work on your balance sir” She made no effort to hide the growing smirk on her lips.

“Oh come on, as if you ‘didn’t do anything’” He flapped his wrists and imitated a girly voice.

“You totally did that on purpose…– and wipe that fuckin’ smirk off your face!” He grumbled while picking himself up off the floor.

“Hm, funny, just a minute ago you told me to ‘smile more’. Thought you’d be pleased” Lute quipped, holding his gaze with her smirk still present. Adam’s scowl deepened and his eyes narrowed dangerously, though it did nothing to intimidate Lute.

Adam opened his mouth to rebuttal, but Lute cut him off before he could get a single syllable out.

“Anyway, I suppose we should get back to training, shouldn’t we sir?” Her tone held a hint of mischief, like she was testing the waters of how much indirect disrespect the commander would allow.

He didn’t bite though, seeming eager to dismiss the situation. On this occasion, at least.

“Yeah well – Not me, bitches. Sera needs me for other shit for some reason, she’s not usually on my ass this early in the morning” He grumbled and frowned to himself. His eyes met Lute’s again.

“So…Think you can handle the rest of the session on your own?” Adam asked challengingly.

Lute could tell he was begrudging about having to leave her in charge, she wondered if Sera had called him away on purpose to give her the opportunity to lead without the commander breathing down her neck…It didn’t seem entirely out of the realm of possibility.

“Of course, I am lieutenant after all” Lute spoke with a purposefully upbeat tone.

She didn’t miss the way Adam’s animated eyes narrow a fraction more, confirming his distaste for the situation he’d been put in. Too bad.

“Alright, well, your scissor sisters get back to in then” Adam naturally had to have the last word. The last word being an order.

He he didn’t wait for a response before turning away from the pair and leaving.

Chloe raised her eyebrows at Lute and mouthed an ‘Ooooo’ which made Lute smirk once more. Maybe Chloe was right, maybe Lute did have a pretty good shot at rivalling the commander’s attitude.

And maybe Adam was right, maybe Lute should smile more, she could certainly see that happening if it would continue to be at his expense.

Lute and Chloe headed back into the training hall, and with the absence of a certain overbearing presence, Lute was able to introduce herself properly this time and proceed to structure the session in a more effective manner.

She had the soldiers start without weapons and circle through different scenarios, both unarmed, then taking turns with one armed and the other not, progressing finally to both armed.

Lute could tell instantly that it had been a while since they did anything other than basic sparring with their weapons. Their unarmed combat was lacking in technique especially when handling an opponent that wielded a weapon.

Good, that meant she had a basic starting point for the sessions ahead.

The rest of this session went smoothly and it felt like no time had passed at all when the clock ticked over to 8.30am, marking the end of their session.

“Lower your weapons soldiers” Lute announced.

“That’ll be all, you’ve all made good progress today. But I want to continue seeing even more, expect more challenges than you’re used to while training under me”

To her delight the crowd was littered with pleased nods, she was glad that despite the amount of slacking Adam had clearly been allowing leeway for, the girls were excited to push themselves rather than continuing to take it easy.

“You’re all dismissed” Lute gave a curt nod and the girls began gathering their things before making their way to the changing rooms.

Chloe sauntered up to Lute, arms crossed, and gave her a gentle bump with her shoulder.

“That was great, a real breath of fresh air, looking forward to seeing what other directions you’ll take our training in” The angel praised and Lute gave her a small smile.

“Well, depending on how much you can get Adam to clear” Chloe added and Lute rolled her eyes, she’d nearly forgotten that this half of the session went so well thanks to his absence.

“I’ll make it work” Is all Lute said, despite not having a real plan of how she was going to do that.

But she’d figure it out…eventually.

[redwritesx]

Adam x Lute - A Lieutenants Loyalty - Chapter 1

AO3 LINK

Chapter summary: The Exorcist Army recruits complete their graduation ceremony and Lute meets Adam for the first time.

Chapter preview: “’Grats on that, Lieutenant” He praised with a smirk, and another unexpected feeling hit the angel…a very different feeling, one she was equally not used to. Hearing her new title on his lips, it stirred a kind of pleasant warmth from within her. She enjoyed how it sounde….But it wasn’t to do with him! No, not in the slightest. She was just proud to hear her new title spoken into reality by her commander, that was it, nothing more. “Thank you, sir” She responded after gathering her composure.

It was Graduation Ceremony day. The recruit known simply as Recruit198 stood to attention, as did the other soldiers who were lined up along the wall of the grand hall, where they were soon to receive their angelic steel weapons.

Accepting this weapon would mean officially accepting the position of exorcist, it was an expression of their dedication and commitment to the cause – and one that 198 was thrilled to finally be making.

The recruits would also be blessed with a name today. Since their heavenly birth they had each been known only by a unique set of numbers. An exorcist had to earn their name. And earn her name Recruit198 had.

She’d been working her damn ass off for years; in her eyes, she wasn’t just here to be good—she was born for this, meant to be the best. For her, nothing less than perfect would do.

Her sisters in training were also all highly skilled individuals, she’d give them that. But none of them had ever seemed to go quite as hard as she did when it came to training and overall dedication to their cause.

They’d spend their days off relaxing, socialising, getting drunk at parties…all that pointless crap. But not 198, every moment that wasn’t spent either improving her strength, working on her technique, or resting her body between sessions was time wasted to her.

She was certain it was that relentless hard work and dedication that had earned 198 a prestigious position within the Exorcist Army—one she’d officially take on after graduating today.

The position of Lieutenant, to be exact.

The High Seraphim Sera had approached her tentatively a few weeks back with the proposition, claiming that the role had recently become vacant as the past lieutenant quit rather suddenly. And that despite still being just a recruit, 198 was by far her top choice.

198 had jumped at the opportunity, elated at the idea of having such a prestigious rank and the opportunity to lead and guide her exorcist sisters in training and in battle.

But being lieutenant wouldn’t just mean leading her sisters - it would also mean working directly under their commander, the first man himself - Adam.

None of the recruits had met him yet, and wouldn’t have ever had reason to until today, their graduation day.

That certainly hadn’t stopped her sisters from gossiping about him though Much to 198’s annoyance she’d heard far too many hushed whispers shared across the dorm rooms as the women gushed over him. His band, his impressive kill counts every year, his well-known reputation with women…

But for 198, any admiration she felt towards the commander was purely professional. The first man was an impressive and powerful figure, and of course being the leader of the Exorcist Army it was only natural she’d be in some level of awe of him.

However, she was chosen as lieutenant for a reason, and she intended to prove Sera right. Unlike her sisters, no silly infatuation existed nor ever would exist to get in the way of this opportunity.

She would admit she was a little apprehensive at the unknown of what working as the commander’s right hand might be like. But she was committed and dedicated to serving her new commander and the exorcist army to the utmost of her ability.

198 shifted a little in her spot against the wall, itching to move on to the next stage of the ceremony. They had already gone through the more boring, customary part.

It had involved one of the Seraphim reading from a golden scroll about the history and purpose of the Exorcist Army (as if 198 hadn’t already read every book, scroll and scripture on the topic, to the point she could recite it from memory).

But now it was officially time to receive their weapons, although, there was just one thing out of place…

The commander had failed to turn up on time.

Sera did a great job at stalling the ceremony as much as she could but 198 knew that technically the first man was supposed to have been here to greet the soldiers before the scroll had even been read.

She ALSO knew that while not technically necessary for the scroll reading, the first man’s presence was imperative for the next stage as it involved him blessing the recruits with their new names.

And so the Ceremony was on hold, waiting on him, and as far as 198 could tell – Sera was not only running out of stalling options, but also patience.

The High Seraphim glanced once more at the golden clock ticking away on the far side of the hall, eyebrow twitching in annoyance. The room had fallen into a settled silence as Sera could think of no more things to say to fill it.

And it was just then, as the silence was starting to turn uncomfortable, that the heavy double doors of the room were unceremoniously thrown open before an imposing figure strolled into the room through them.

198 had seen pictures of the first man before, and against her will, videos of his brand performing that her sisters had shoved in her face trying to get her onboard with their gushing. But nothing could’ve prepared her for his imposing size.

He looked even taller in person than the images gave him credit for, and despite his body being hidden beneath a large white embellished gown, she could tell he also possessed a broad and impressive build.

He predictably wore his iconic horned mask, the golden face upon it set in a smug, almost bored expression. His gaze remained unfocused, he hadn’t even looked towards the recruits yet, the very people who were here waiting on his presence.

Everything about him radiated arrogance…198 wasn’t sure what to make of it.

He absentmindedly sipped through the straw of a drink held in his gloved hand. The sound of his slurping echoed in the otherwise quiet hall, 198 was sure the twitching of Sera’s eyebrow intensified in response.

“Adam…it’s nice of you to join us finally…” Sera drawled, the annoyance at his poor punctuality dripping from her tone.

“…Even IF you’re 20 minutes behind schedule…” She added, a little quieter.

The man took a particularly excessive slurp through his straw which ended in a satisfied sigh.

“What can I say Sera, I’m just one guy, and a busy guy at that. Had super important shit to do today” The first man finally glanced up at the recruits lined up along the wall, golden eyes scanning across the line.

“Besides, I’m sure the ladies don’t mind, isn’t that right girls?” He shot a wink and mischievous grin in the direction of the recruits.

A chorus of subdued giggles erupted and 198 rolled her eyes, unintentionally matching the response that Sera had.

“Well, now that you’re here, we can proceed with the giving of the weapons and the blessing of names” Sera announced.

One of the other Seraphim moved to the start of the line of exorcists to begin and Adam tossed the cup aside before joining her.

One by one each recruit was blessed with a weapon from the Seraphim, she would create them for each person using her divine magic. Each weapon was unique to the individual.

Spears were the most common choice, but some exorcists opted for swords, throwing knives, and other similar weaponry. At the same time, each recruit would also be blessed with a name chosen by Adam then and there.

One thing that the books 198 had read DIDN’T prepare her for was the manner in which Adam was picking these names…

Based on what she knew from the books, the giving of an exorcist's name was just as holy and meaningful as the giving of their weapons. But based on what she could hear from her place in the line…Holy wasn’t the word she’d use to describe it…

“Mmmmmmm…you’ll beeeee…..” Adam tapped a singular finger against his chin as he stared down at the recruit, deep in thought. Then, he snapped his fingers as his eyes lit up.

“‘Deedee! After those double D’s babycakes, there’s no name more fitting in my divine eyes”

Adam placed his forearm up against the wall above the newly named exorcist’s head, leaning over her much smaller frame as he grinned down at her. Of course, ‘Deedee’s’ cheeks were positively glowing golden as she giggled and twirled a strand of hair around her finger.

An exasperated sigh came from the direction of High Seraphim Sera who sat with her chin in hand, eyes half lidded in irritation. She allowed him to continue though, it gave 198 the impression any attempts in the past to stop Adam from this kind of behaviour had probably been futile.

This continued on as Adam and the Seraphim giving the recruits their weapons made their way down the line.

A spear for ‘Vaggie’.

A set of throwing knives for ‘Tittany’.

A mace for ‘Thiccola’.

Some more lucky exorcists were receiving names that were less innuendo-esque, as it seemed Adam was running out of ideas.

198 had to admit she was impressed by how many he’d managed to crank out, assuming the other intakes of recruits got this same treatment she imagined the existing army already had a plethora of names that were references to tits, ass, and vaginas already circulating.

198 happened to be at the end of the line, meaning she would be the very last to receive her weapon and name.

After a few more minutes her turn was up, and the commander stepped in front of her.

She hadn’t expected to feel nervous, but for some reason an involuntary shiver trickled down her spine as she straightened her posture, ensuring she was perfectly stood to attention before him.

She kept her head level but flicked her eyes upwards to stare up at the mask of her commander, her expression flat and unreadable.

Many of her comrades had giggled, smirked, and struggled to contain their admiration when face to face with him for the first time. But not her.

The commander's expression, however, was one of amusement. He snorted.

“And you, babe, must be little miss 198 Sera has been banging on about, the brand-new Lieutenant hm?”

Adam asked, an almost teasing edge to his tone, and before 198 could respond he glanced over his shoulder in Sera’s direction seemingly seeking confirmation. The woman straightened in her seat with a smile, nodding gently and clasping her hands together.

Adam’s gaze came back to the recruit’s and he crossed his arms, stepping back and allowing the other Seraphim to first bless her with her weapon.

“Dear child of the heavenly-born soldiers, what weapon do you request” The Seraphim recited, the same line she’d recited for every other recruit before 198.

“A Sword, Your Highness”

198 responded without hesitation, it was an easy decision.

The Seraphim bowed her head in understanding and she raised both hands with her palms facing upwards, golden magic radiated from them, beginning at her fingertips and spreading like ocean waves across the space above her hands.

It stretched and morphed until the shape of a sword was formed, at which point the gold began to give way to glistening silver. A similar process was happening at the side of the recruit’s hip, and 198 glanced down to see what appeared to be a matching sheath forming and attaching to her belt.

The sword finished materialising and the gold of the magic faded, leaving behind the weapon laid upon the Seraphim’s palms. The sheath had also fully formed, simple and white, to match her belt.

The Seraphim held the sword out towards 198, and the recruit slid her hand gently into the handle of it, twisting it back and forth just once to admire the weapon before placing it in its sheath. The way it sat on her hip simply felt exquisite, like it had always been there.

“With the acceptance of this weapon, you hereby graduate to rank of Exorcist, and Lieutenant of the Exorcist Army” The Seraphim concluded and took a step back. 198 gave a final bow of her head.

From the corner of her eye she saw many of her exorcist sisters beaming at her gleefully, some giving her small respectful claps to celebrate the moment without breaking the ceremonial vibe.

Her sisters had all been elated for her when Sera broke the news of 198’s promotion to Lieutenant a few days bacl, practically jumping on her in excitement and insisting they go out and celebrate. 198 declined that offer respectfully, but regardless, it had caused a strange, warm feeling to bloom in her chest.

She of course cared for her sisters, they had all been with each other since their heavenly birth, training together, learning together, growing together.

But 198 had somewhat been an outcast of sorts by her own choosing. She was far more focused on her training than she was on things like friendship. So to feel so appreciated, supported…wanted. It was a scary kind of emotion that she couldn’t quite put a name to.

The commander stepped in front of her once more, pulling her from her thoughts and back to the present.

“’Grats on that, Lieutenant” He praised with a smirk, and another unexpected feeling hit the angel…a very different feeling, one she was equally not used to.

Hearing her new title on his lips, it stirred a kind of pleasant warmth from within her. She enjoyed how it sounded.

….But it wasn’t to do with him! No, not in the slightest. She was just proud to hear her new title spoken into reality by her commander, that was it, nothing more.

“Thank you, sir” She responded after gathering her composure.

The first man cracked his knuckles and flexed his arms out into a stretch.

“Weeeellp, right about time I gave you a name then 198”

‘God, please nothing related to my tits or ass’ she pleaded internally.

“Hmmm…What to name you” He mused out loud as he tapped his chin in thought with his gaze locked on hers.

“Never had a girl become Lieutenant before being named before…” He ruminated out loud, the admission made 198 feel proud.

“Lieutenant…Lieutenant…Lieut” The golden eyes of his mask lit up.

“Lute! How ‘bout that?” He beamed down at her and she found herself a little flustered, not expecting him to ask for her approval.

“I uh...Yes, sir, it’s perfect” She blurted out.

It wasn’t untrue, she was genuinely rather happy with that name. Far better than being named after female genitals, that was for sure.

“Just know that if you quit I’m taking that name back, would kinda fuck up the whole point of it -yknow” The commander added, and Lute nodded, containing the small smirk that threatened to play upon her lips.

She planned to be Lieutenant for the rest of eternity, there was no such thing as ‘quitting’ in her books - so he had nothing to worry about there.

“Fantastic” Sera clapped her hands together.

“With that, you may all make your way to your new allocated apartments and get yourselves settled in. Your duty begins tomorrow at-” Adam thrust himself in front of Sera, interrupting her entirely.

“That’s right bitches, 7am sharp, be late and you’ll be running fuckin’ laps until your newbie little legs give out. Until then, you’re all dismissed” 

A unified ‘Yes sir’ rang out from the group and Sera sighed, not bothering to correct Adam’s interruption.

The newly graduated exorcists began to make their way towards the exit, the Seraphim also departing with them.

Lute was the furthest from the grand double doors, putting her at the back of the group. But just as she moved to follow, a gloved hand shot out in front of her freezing her mid step.

“Hang on there, Lieutenant” Adam asserted, and Lute’s heart rate increased.

She couldn’t quite put a finger on why. It really wasn’t like her to get nervous, yet for the second time today her new commander had stirred that irksome feeling in her.

“Yes, sir?”

“You’re to be at my office at 6am tomorrow, got Lieutenanty things to go over before morning training starts”

“Understood, I’ll be there” Lute replied without hesitation. Adam snorted just like he had done earlier.

“Jesus, Sera wasn’t exaggerating. You’re like, totally all serious and shit babe” He snickered.

He slung an arm around her shoulders, taking her by complete surprise, and began steering her towards the exit, arm still in place as they walked.

Lute’s entire body went rigid as stone, she wasn’t used to being touched at all – let alone in such an intimate manner by her brand-new superior.

His frame dwarfed hers, her head barely coming up to the centre of his chest. She was practically perfect armrest height, which was ironic given her current position tucked under his bicep against her will.

“One thing that you’re gonna learn working with me - I’m a pretty chill guy. Like, don’t get me wrong or anything, I don’t put up with any of my ladies slacking off or not pulling their weight-“

Lute noticed that he was a very animated talker, waving his free hand theatrically as he drawled on.

“-But as long as my girls are keeping up with their training and getting sick sinner kill counts each year, I’m chill!”

Lute, still rigid, nodded. She wasn’t too sure where he was going with this.

They were approaching the double doors as Adam continued.

“Just make sure you can get on my wavelength is all I’m saying, y’know? The last Lieutenant…Ugh, she was SUCH a fucking bore. Wayyyy too serious and just couldn’t vibe with me, she seriously had NO chill”

“Adam-” Adam jumped ridiculously hard at Sera’s voice, unintentionally launching Lute face-first onto the floor. Luckily, thanks to her incredible reaction time, she caught herself on her hands narrowly avoiding losing a few teeth to the pristine marble beneath her palms.

The Seraphim who had been standing on the other side of the doorframe, unbeknown to the pair, gasped.

“Adam!” She repeated, this time in a scolding tone, her eyebrows furrowed in worry for the exorcist sprawled out on the floor at her feet.

“SHIT- Sera, I swear to fuck you’re always sneaking up on me like that” He complained while reaching down, wrapping a large hand around Lute’s upper arm and manhandling her back up to her feet before she could push herself back up.

“Sorry babe! Nearly sent you through the floor straight to Hell, HAH!” Adam brushed some dust off of Lute’s shoulder.

She could do nothing more than stand there in a daze, the way he’d picked her back up like she weighed no more than a singular feather had made her face heat up, a blush threatening to blossom. God damn it, get it together – she scolded herself internally. This was panning out to be a weird day for her.

“Don’t you think it’s quite too soon to be lecturing your new Lieutenant already?” Sera questioned, clearly having heard him rambling to Lute.

“Pfft, I was just telling her how I kick it back, isn’t that right, Lute?” He elbowed her.

He’d also used her new name for the first time since bestowing it upon her. She liked how it sounded, almost as much as her full title hand sounded coming from him.

“I-“ Lute barely got a word out before Sera spoke, a newfound seriousness in her tone.

“The whole point of having a Lieutenant, Adam, is to have someone to assist you in running the Exorcist army to its full potential. She is not supposed to be someone to ‘kick it back with’. I do not want what happened with the last few Lieutenants happening with this one”

Lute’s ears pricked up at that. What happened with the last ‘few’ Lieutenants, she wondered, a slight tinge of worry in the pit of her stomach. How many had come before her? Why had multiple given up the role?

“ALRIGHT Sera, don’t get your panties in a twist, jeez”

Lute still hadn’t quite gotten used to the vulgar and consequence-less manner in which Adam spoke to the High Seraphim.

Sera seemed to begrudgingly tolerate his attitude to some extent, although the way she’d warned him about the whole ‘past Lieutenants’ thing had been in the most serious tone Lute had seen the woman take with the first man so far.

Lute thought back to how Adam had described his most recent Lieutenant.

‘Boring’, ‘too serious’, had ‘no chill’…that sounded an awful lot like Lute. The realisation only worsened the pit in the angel’s stomach.

“Annnnnyways hot-stuff” He directed his golden gaze back down to Lute.

“I’ve gotta shoot. Got a gig to get to” Adam winked at her and the tips of his golden wings ghosted across her face as he brushed past her. She shivered involuntarily and had to subdue a sneeze after the fibres of his feathers had tickled her nose.

The man turned to face both Sera and Lute and began walking backwards.

“Catch ya tomorrow, Lieutenant” He raised his right hand, snapping his fingers and shooting the pair a finger gun, simultaneously summoning a portal behind himself as he did so.

And just like that he backed into the portal and it closed.

Lute felt like she let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding.

There was a brief silence, but a question that burned at the forefront of Lute’s mind drove her to quickly break it.

“What happened to his past Lieutenants” She quizzed Sera. The Seraphim let out a soft sigh, expecting this line of questioning to come.

“Well…” She paused thoughtfully, searching for the right words.

“Adam is quite the character. He can be stubborn and narrow-sighted at times” Sera smoothed a lock of hair back and continued.

“He seems to find a way to disagree with everything every lieutenant does, thinks, says...to the point most of the girls just gave up with him and abandoned their position as lieutenant”

Sera’s eyes flicked off to the side in thought and she sighed frustratedly.

“Sometime it feels like he does it on purpose, driving them to quit just to prove a point” She adds, quietly, almost as if just to herself. Her eyes met Lute’s again.

“Adam can just be…well…he is sometimes…” The Seraphim struggled for the right word.

“Overbearing? Rude? Kind of annoying?” Lute offered a few options with a deadpan expression, and Sera chuckled heartily.

“See, this – my child – is one of the many reasons you were my top choice for Lieutenant. You say things as they are, with a bold mind and a strong heart. You possess the qualities that I feel it takes to be the right hand of a man like Adam”

The angel nodded in understanding, the challenge ahead now clear. From what Lute had witnessed today, she now knew Adam was rather childish, and by his own definition, ‘chill’.

Running an army was not a ‘chill’ endeavour by any means, and so she could foresee the crossroads herself and her commander might encounter, the very same that likely strained his past Lieutenant’s patience to breaking point.

But Lute wasn’t one to break.

“I am sure I can handle him, ma’am” Lute confirmed, earning a smile from Sera.

“I’m sure you can too, Lute. I’ll check in with you later in the week to see how things have been going, until then, go ahead and get yourself settled into your new apartment, child”

Lute gave the Seraphim one final polite bow which Sera returned, and began to make her way out of the Ceremonial building. 

There was a whole lot to think about. But right now all Lute wanted to do was find her new home and plan her day tomorrow. Then she’d tuck into bed, probably around 9pm for a nice and early night so that she was well rested for her first day of service.

While still recruits, she and her sisters had lived in shared dorm rooms which had allowed for little personal space and practically no privacy. But now that they had officially graduated as exorcists they were each assigned their own entire apartment.

The upgrade was huge, and a welcome one at that. Lute relished in the idea of having her own space at last.

She found her apartment with ease on the third floor of the apartment building, fishing out the key she’d been given and letting herself inside.

It was plain and simple, but had more than what was needed. A kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. She even had a balcony with a fairly pleasant view of the glistening Heavenly city below.

She also happened to be able to spot her new primary workplace from here, the tips of the spectacular building peaking out over the tops of the other buildings around it, a little way off in the distance but not far at all.

It was the building in which the majority of Heavenly dealings took place, called the Great Seraphim Hall. Many Seraphim and other higher-up angelic beings congregated there to hold meetings on the running of their heavenly realm.

She’d only been in it once before as part of her learning about all the ins and outs of Heaven when she was a very young recruit.

The place was a maze of hallways lined with offices and meeting rooms, it was naturally where Sera and Adam’s offices were. It was also where their exorcist training halls were located, in which the soldiers would exercise, train, and work between each yearly extermination.

She thought about her day tomorrow. Adam’s office at 6am, training begins at 7am…that was sort of all she knew so far. She wasn’t a fan of the unknown, regimented lists were more her style.

But it was going to be day 1, a little bit of settling in was expected. It would be fine and she was sure her first day as Lieutenant would go smoothly. Even with the wild card that was Adam looming and threatening to throw her completely off balance.

[redwritesx]

i offer you genocidal angels being *them*

also fund fact nobody asked for: i could probably cook an egg or two on my ipad literally hotter than the sun help

ngl the ipad has my respect, been with me since 2019 and still going?

[redwritesx]

Omfg, the Hazbin leaks have me SHOOKETH...I won't spoil for anyone else but lemme jusy say, I have some big feelings about what I saw. Genuinley don't know how imma wait for S2 to drop 🥲

[redwritesx]

Hiya, hun~! Just wanted to drop in and let you know I am IN LOVE with your Adam fic over on AO3! I'm new to that platform, so I'm still trying to figure it out, hence why I'm messaging you through tumblr instead.

I'm literally frothing at the mouth over your fic! Your portrayal of Adam is spot on, and the way you wrote Reader not being entirely submissive is just- *chef's kiss* -perfection! I straight up giggle-snorted when Reader threw the cup at him, Istg 😂

Anyway, I'm hoping this makes you smile. As a fellow HH writer, I know how much it means when someone lets you know they're enjoying your fics, and I thought I'd pass a little bit of that joy on to someone else. You're doing a magnificent job, sweetie, and I can't wait for new chapters - but I will, cause it's definitely 110% worth the wait! I'm on the edge of my seat, beside myself with curious excitement to see the direction you're gonna take the plot!

I hope you're having a wonderful day/night wherever you are in the world! Best wishes, dear~! 😘💖

Hello! OKAY so this literally has made my day.

This is actually my first ever "ask" on tumblr (I'm an AO3 veteran but personally still a tumblr newb lol) but I was very excited to see a message about that fic!

I am so so glad you have enjoyed what I've written so far! It was quite a while ago now that I started that fic and looking back I have many self criticisms about my writing style. Low key kind of forgot how much of an asshole i made Adam haha!

That being said I GENUINLEY do want to continue, like I've promised every single comment on the most recent chapter hah! I also really love that YOU loved the cup throwing scene, I had myself giggling witting that because damn, Adam deserved that shit lol!

I'm just in a writers rut atm, which is incredibly coincidental timing as I've LITERALLY JUST started another Adam fic (this time Adam x Lute) in an attempt to break out of this rut and back into writing in general (and subsequently back into updating my existing fic 👀🥰)

Anyways, yes, this made my day so thank you. I do plan to write more and the Adam brain rot isn't going away anytime soon thats for sure!

[redwritesx]

I've been reading a really sweet Adam x Reader fanfic recently where reader is the first redeemed soul in Heaven and Adam is tasked with keeping an eye on them, being an unpredictable ex-hellspawn and all.

This is a quick little piece of fanart that I did. 💜

It's kinda out of place without context of the story and the author doesn't seem to be on tumblr but thought I'd share here anyways!

You can find the fanfic here on AO3 if you're intrigued.