#{She thinks we're going to bed | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

softquietsteadylove · 5 months ago

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Can you do another wholesome moment with the contract marriage? Maybe Gil having an extra hard day and Thena finds him very exhausted in his office?

Gil startled at the sound of his office door opening. He had dozed off at his desk, like some old retiree. His body flooded with adrenaline, ready to combat whomever was stupid enough to break into his home office.

But it wasn't an enemy, it was his wife.

Of course it was Thena. He had been in here for hours after telling her it would just be one phone call. Usually, he avoided taking work calls when he was at home in the first place. But it had been urgent. And one phone call had become two, then three.

It was dark in the office. The window behind his chair offered some illumination, spilling in from the garden lighting outside. Thena was walking light as a feline, wearing a white nightdress and a light robe billowing behind her.

Gil closed his eyes again. He didn't need the temptation of his wife's beauty right now. He needed a bed time beer and to lie down on the floor and sleep.

Thena moved closer, inspecting if he was awake or asleep. She had been told to stay out of his office; he had to admit he was surprised she was in here.

But if she was breaking a rule here or there, maybe that was a good thing. So long as nothing got her hurt. She was probably bored, spending all her days in the house or waiting for him to be available to go to a market or a library with her.

"Gil?" she whispered, testing the deepness of his sleep.

He remained still atop his desk (just for fun).

"Gil!" she whispered just a little louder. She came closer, enough to put her hand on his arm. She didn't even really shake him, so much as gently push his arm a little.

He kept his smile directed down at the desk. She was so cute sometimes it was hard to keep it to himself.

"Hm," he heard her make an unhappy little grumble. He did feel bad for probably having made her wait for him to come back out all this time. "I could just wake you."

She could. It wasn't like he would get mad at her for it.

A few of his boys had asked him: "Boss, why do you have her?"

He had everything he needed already, and if he wanted women, he didn't need to have a 'wife' of all things. There were other ways to enjoy the company of a woman, to put it politely, without having one live in his own home.

But he liked having someone at home. He liked indulging Thena, and he liked even more when she refused to indulge him in return. Thena kept him feeling lively and challenged, in a way no one else did.

And, despite him telling her she could leave at any time, she hadn't yet.

"But that seems a little cruel," Thena sighed, leaving him be for the moment. She crossed her arms around herself. She had never struck him as the type to talk to herself; she really did need to get out more. Maybe he should get her a car of her own (confidential plates and tinted windows, of course).

Thena rounded the other side of his chair to continue her snooping. His head was tilted a little more in this direction, but if he kept his eyes mostly closed, she would still believe he was asleep.

"What could have possibly occupied you all night?" she huffed, indeed unhappy she had been made to eat dinner and spend her evening alone. "Your food is in the fridge, in any case."

He bit back a smile again. His wife really was a sweet one. She didn't have to save him any food. She could have just left him to order in for himself at this late hour.

Thena tilted her head at him, her long, blonde locks collecting on the top of the desk. She even reached out, just barely touching some of his hair before snapping her hand back to herself. "Handsome thing--unfortunately."

He would have to remember this for another time. He inhaled, just showing some signs of stirring.

Thena nearly jumped, hurrying to take a massive step away from him and pull her robe around herself.

"Thena?" he groaned, rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing in here?"

She cleared her throat faintly as he ruffled his hair. "I was just heading to bed when I noticed you were still in here."

He just nodded.

"Was it-"

He looked at her. He was admittedly surprised she was asking more. She - rightfully - had no interest in what he did for work. Pulling teeth and cutting off limbs was the last, deeply sardonic guess she had offered on the matter.

"Was it bad?" she managed to squeak out, her brows drawn together in concern. "I never imagined it would exhaust you so much you would sleep in here."

He inhaled. Falling asleep was an unforseen and unfortunate outcome. He was getting too old to fall asleep on the job. "It's okay, hon. Just some sudden changes the guys needed help resolving."

That was a polite enough way to put it, he thought.

Still, Thena hovered. She shifted her weight between her feet, visibly debating turning and leaving and staying with him. "But it's sorted now?"

"Uh," he blinked, curious as to what had her so determined to stand around with him. "Yeah."

She continued, too, rooted to the spot as he patted the rumpled sleeves of his suit. Her robe swayed around her legs until, finally, she stepped closer to him again. "Come on."

His eyebrows shot up as she held her hand out to him. He followed, though, because it was too tempting not to. "Isn't that my line, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes at him, assuring him she was indeed still Thena.

But she held his hand gently, leading him out of his office and away from his self-made dungeon/empire. She led him out of his office and towards the stairs.

"Uh, Thena?" he inquired, but she continued leading. She had never come anywhere near his room, either. At least as far as he knew.

Not even his room was off-limits to her; only his office was. But he was pretty sure she had wanted so little to do with him upon first arriving that she didn't even know where in the house his room was.

"Sleeping like that will kill your back. I know damn well," she muttered as she padded up the stair ahead of him.

He averted his eyes from the swaying of her hips, focusing on how softly her hair shifted on her shoulders. "Yeah?"

"I had a job in reception for a time," she confessed. This marked something she had told him of her own volition--that he hadn't learned from research or observation. "Call it keeping an eye on my father, for a time."

Now, that was a surprise. "Didn't stick?"

She snorted, a sound he didn't hear her make often. But the change from her usual reserved elegance was funny. It suited her, in a way. "Long hours, little pay, and I should have known my father wasn't capable of professionalism in the work place."

Gil skipped a step so he could walk more alongside her and not behind her. That was enough about her rat bastard of a dad. "Well, what job would you wanna work instead?"

She eyed him in the low lights installed close to the steps and flush with the ceiling. "I thought I didn't have to work."

"You don't," he grinned, echoing the words he had first told her upon the signing of their contract. "You never have to work a day in your life and you'll want for nothing. But I know you're bored."

Now she was the one surprised.

"You're bored here on your own, right?" he shrugged, giving her hand a squeeze as they continued on at a snail's pace. "Probably want something to do in the day?"

"Hm," she agreed, but kept the details of what and where and how to herself. That was okay with him, so long as she told him what she needed from him eventually.

"Name the time and place," he left it at that, bringing her hand up to his lips. Not that she needed him to gift her a job for the fun of it. He was pretty sure she hadn't even liked any of his other gifts.

Except that dress from their shopping trip; he knew that one was in the back of her closet.

His room was upstairs. He had considered having her room next to his, but he hadn't wanted her to feel like he was listening to her through the walls or anything. Not that he could; the walls were reinforced stone. He hadn't built this big, beautiful house just to cheap out on the architecture.

Thena didn't just drop him off at the top of the stairs and say 'see ya', though. She walked right over to his room and opened the door for herself.

Gil grinned, following her inside. "You gonna make sure I get to bed on time and everything?"

She gave him a withering look over her shoulder, leading and leaving him to the foot of his massive king sized bed. "At least change out of that suit."

It was uncomfortable to sleep in. The heavy fabric of the sleeves was still bent and wrinkled, scratching at the insides of his elbows. He shrugged the jacket off, at least. "You don't have to help me."

"No," she walked out of his closet with a clothes hanger. "I don't. You can manage it yourself like a big boy, I'm sure."

He chuckled; man, his wife was cool. He raised an eyebrow as she tossed it at him. She looked around the room, though, shamelessly examining it for her own purposes. "What do you think?"

"It looks like it does in your office." That was true. The house and even Thena's room he'd let an interior designer handle. Everything was fairly modern in a way that he hoped wouldn't look dated in a year and a half. His room and office, though, had old dark wood fixtures and black accents. "A bit grim, don't you think?"

He laughed at that. "You know what I do for work, right?"

"Doesn't mean you have to-"

She paused, and he looked at her for the reason. She didn't seem to have one, her eyes trailing over him as he unbuttoned his shirt. Their eyes met and, charmingly, she rushed to avert her eyes from him. "I thought you didn't need my help for that."

"Sorry, princess," he puffed, continuing to pull his shirt off anyway. "I thought you didn't care if you got treated like a lady."

"I said you didn't have to treat me like a maiden in a tower," she corrected with a certain bite to it. But still, she rotated herself so he could walk into his closet without her eyes on him.

"Relax, sweetheart," he called out from inside, hanging up his suit that had to be ironed anyway. "I'm not gonna strip naked in front of you."

"That's not-!" a half baked protest warbled out of her.

He shook his head to himself as he retrieved some sweatpants and a t-shirt for himself. Really, he didn't need the shirt, but this was for his wife's sake, he snickered.

Thena just barely dashed her eyes over to him as he emerged. She could play it cool as she liked, he could see how flustered she was. "I trust you can manage from here."

"Hey," he reached out before she could scurry away in horror. He pressed his thumb into her palm. "Thanks for pulling me out."

She had no idea what he meant so deeply in that simple phrase. She wasn't in the business he was in; she didn't know that pulling him out was saving him in more ways than one. So she just nodded.

He grinned, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "Get some sleep."

"Hm." Her eyes did one last sweep of him, unsure of where exactly to land. She reached for the doorknob blindly, missing a few times before she turned and hurried out of his room and downstairs again.

The sweet scent of her shampoo trailed behind her--not the expensive stuff he'd left her in her attached bathroom, some normal stuff she had bought because she already liked and used it before.

Maybe he would get some of that food from the fridge and bring it up here for himself. Or maybe he would sink into bed already. He could dream of Thena feeding it to him. He laughed at himself.

He was cooked--totally and completely done for. That was okay, though. He didn't think it was a bad thing to have a wife who made sure he didn't put out his back and slept in a proper bed.

#Thenamesh Marriage Contract AU #thank you so much for asking for more!!!!!#I really do like this au #I wanna see more of it #Gil and Thena are figuring each other out #Gil likes having a wife #a man is allowed to feel lonely #in his life as a big scary gang boss #and he really figured Thena would have gone to bed without him #in reality #Thena has been debating breaking the rules and going into his office for hours now #she's ready for bed when she's like ugh just see if he's in there #just ask if he's okay #I hope this is wholesome #but listen #Thena knows her husband is a big beefcake #and she's like uh..........hello?#Gil has made a vow though #nothing will happen between them #I do think Thena will get to a point where she's like #I know we're not really married but come on #she gets a little jealous #and is like I know you have needs but I believe we had a contract deal #the tension grows thick #I really do hope you like it thank you for the ask!

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