Frank Woods x Reader

Eight

"Hey...", with a sorry look on his face, Mason approached.

"No.", you gifted him a deadly glance.

"Alright."

With his teeth clenched he wanted to turn away again.

You rolled your eyes and sighed.

"You're an asshole...", you said, annoyed but soft.

It was hard to be mad at him for long. He was a good guy and you loved him dearly. In the end, he was just an annoying brother to you who pushed everything into disaster by trying to do the right thing.

With a grin, he turned on his heel again.

"I'll take that one.", he let himself drop next to you. "I told Adler this was a bad idea. And I told him to respect you and at least give you an option to say no."

You shrugged.

"Too late for that...", with a bitter grin, you swallowed a bite of the noodle box that Lazar had given you as an apology. "I guess we just have to suck it up."

"Will you be okay with that?"

"Sure."

"Really?"

You sighed.

It was a shame that you were never able to develop romantic feelings for Alex. The way he cared for people made you think he was a good option to tie the knot. He would have been a lot easier than Woods, that was a given.

At the thought, your gaze darkened.

"You don't look like you'll be fine.", he noted, eyebrows raised.

"I have to.", you leaned back and threw the empty box into a bin. "But yeah... I wish he wouldn't be here. Or I wouldn't be here. Whatever."

Your eyes wandered through the room, looking for Bell.

Letting him out of sight was a rookie mistake, but you couldn't stick to him like gum to a shoe either.

Instead of the Russian, your eyes stopped as a familiar backside of pitch black hair appeared.

With his usual cocky yet grim expression on his face, Woods turned around. His head fell to the side, eyebrows drew together as he spotted Adler close to him.

He said something, but despite the persistent tone of his voice, only dull sounds reached your ears.

Adler shrugged and lit himself a cigarette.

Woods looked up. His gaze wandered into your direction.

Your eyes locked. Bright blue collided with (E/C).

He was probably just looking at Mason, his best bud, but it felt like he was trying to connect with you from afar.

But that was probably just your stupid imagination.

For a moment, something tied your throat shut. Your heart skipped a beat.

Out of reflex, your fingers twitched and a soft gasp escaped as your lips parted.

"You should talk to him.", Mason suddenly said.

Torn from your thoughts, your head snapped to the side to look at him. But your gaze went right through his face and focused on the wall behind him instead.

"What?", you asked, visibly and audibly confused.

Shaking his head, he sighed and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You two should talk.", he repeated and looked at Woods to give him a silent hint.

Grimly, Woods pulled a face and turned away. As he did so, he frowned and those cute wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

The sight made you gasp for air.

"Shit!", you cursed and jumped up. "I don't have to do shit! He fucked it up."

A disagreeing sound escaped Alex.

"I'd argue differently."

You huffed.

"Oh? Tell me everything about it, Mister lover lover."

He laughed.

"Hey, I'm not that bad with relationships."

"And yet I've never seen you with a girlfriend.", you grinned sarcastically and gave him a bump to the shoulder.

He rolled his eyes and jumped right onto the opportunity to insult each other.

"I'm sorry that I didn't fuck things up with my soulmate. You truly are my superior...", as soon as he said it out loud the grin on his face died and he bit his tongue. "My bad. Forget that one."

With your lips pressed into a thin line, you stared at the tip of your shoes and tried not to hit him in the face. But the anger that was boiling inside made it almost impossible.

Your hands clenched into fists.

Without saying another word, you turned on your heel and wanted to walk away.

But Mason grabbed you by the wrist.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay?", he tried to calm you.

With a harsh gesture and a grim face you freed yourself.

With a warning glare, you stepped closer and grabbed him by the collar to keep him close so nobody could hear the conversation.

"Listen, Alex, I don't know what wild stories he told you and I don't care if he blamed everything on me or not.", you hissed. "But he wasn't all prim and proper either, k? He had his fair share of fuck-ups and I had mine. But facts is, whatever is between us, talking won't fix shit. Nothing can fix this."

With a low sigh, Mason rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Why do you keep saying that?", he asked, frowning.

Your lips curled. Your grip on his collar loosened.

"Because I tried."

"I'm not asking you to make up and fall in love again. But we do need to work together one way or another."

"I'm a professional. I can work with him. But working with him and getting along with him are two different things."

"You're being unreasonable.", he shook his head and looked over to Woods.

Annoyed, you crossed your arms in front of your chest.

"Why am I the one who's getting blamed?", you hissed. "He could come to me as well. Why do I need to do the first step?"

"You know he can be stubborn."

A huff escaped you.

"Yeah. And I know he can be an ass. I swallowed my pride and didn't back out of this. Now it's his turn to make a sacrifice."

A shimmer lit up inside Alex's eyes. The corners of his lips twitched.

"So you're telling me you'd be willing to talk it out if he comes to you?", he asked with a smirk.

You bared your teeth.

"Go to hell, Alex!", you turned away and flipped him the bird.