triangular temptations. |the rookie x reader story|

chapter 16

me and tim sat in the shop on midnight shift. im trying to stay awake while tim is doing paperwork.

"You didn't nap, did you?" tim asked after i yawned.

"I didn't have time. my neighbors keep trying to yell at me about zeus. and now i'm finding a new place to live."

"No excuse, Boot. Napping is the key to midnight shift. No shorter than 20 minutes. No longer than 40. But, hey, if you're comfortable ignoring my institutional wisdom -"  i cut him off when Something catches my eye out in the street.

"What the hell is that?" i ask out loud more to myself then tim. It's a tall person with some kind of gas mask on. "What?" tim asks.

"That." i gestures out the window, but when tim looks up, the street is empty. "There was a guy standing there with a mask on. He was like seven feet tall."
"Mm-hmm."
"I saw him. He was right there." i unbuckle and get out.

"Boot, if you make me get out of this car for a hallucination -" tim follows.
we get out and walk toward the spot where i saw the man, but there's no sign of him.
"What - God, he was right here." i say.

"Make-believe time is over." tim walks back to the shop while i stay put and shine my flashlight to look around. as i look towards the woods, i see someone standing amid the trees off the side of the road. once my light is on them for a moment, they calmly walk away like fucking micheal myers'.

"Stop! Police!" i say as i start moving into the woods. i know this is horror movie 101 to getting killed but, im a police officer now and if this thing is some big and bad serial killer that i dont catch, tim will have a head on his mantel.

as i get further into the woods, theres movement behind me. "Tim?" i ask as turn around and look for him. no one. not even an animal.

i walk further and see the man facing the trees. he looks like a kid that just got put in to the corner for time out. "Step out. Step out! Hands where I can see them. Peel the mask off slowly. Slowly." The figure reaches up to pull the mask off, revealing not a face, but a bright white light pouring out from under the mask. i hear maniacal laughter, then -

i wake up. i'm sitting in the patrol car with several other patrol units shining their headlights on me and a fellow officer on a loudspeaker.

"Welcome to midnight, Officer salvatore."

"Oh, my God." i sigh then, tim leans in to take a photo. "No. No." i yell softly at him.

★ ★ ★ ★

i open the door to the station and walk in. then nolan runs up to me. "Hey. Happy to be back on days?"

"God, yes. I don't know if you heard, but it was -" he cuts me off by pulling his shirt open to reveal a t-shirt under it with my image on it. the photo tim took.

"Tim had shirts made."

"Of course he did. Well, you know, just wait until it's your turn, Officer In Bed By Ten."

"What can I say: I'm a morning person." he shrugs.

"Mm-hmm." i roll my eyes.

we walk down a hallway and encounter jackson already in uniform.

"Good morning." he smiles.

"You're here bright and early." nolan says.

"Hey, if you're not early, you're late."

"That's a stupid saying." i say.

"What's her problem?" i hear jackson ask.

"Uh -" he gestures to his 'me shirt'.