Who You Share it With (Willy Wonka x reader)

37. In Which They Did Not Die

In which they died...

"I wouldn't be so sure about that!"

You were strides away from the light at the end of the tunnel. The paleness of the Galleries Gourmet was a stark contrast from the richness of a room bathed in milk chocolate. But you enjoyed the sight of filtered sunlight more than any death sentence. The short walk through the hall to the doorways of the cathedral felt powerful. You'd spent so long hunched between throngs of people in the shadows. Just out of view; just trying to make your way in the world with a couple of innocent sweets. In this handful of paces, a weight lifted off your shoulders, replaced with the pride of finally being able to face a crowd with your likeness on display. And you were damn proud of the orphans-turned-family that you shared the limelight with.

A chilly winter breeze flitted over your skin. Though the frost nipped at your nose until a soft pink bloomed beneath your complexion. And though the chocolate you'd just been non-consensually bathing in was plastered into every crevice of your being, the weather failed to deter you.

Willy was the first to speak, with his chocolate-flavored liberation, "Officer, would you kindly take a look at this?" As he said it, Noodle handed the ledger over to the nearest man clad in blue uniform.

"Wonka!" Slugworth yelped, as if his disbelief could somehow murder you—he'd hope successfully, that time. Alas, your next breath proved the groan fruitless.

"It details every single illegal payment these men have ever made," Noodle explained. "Thousands of them," she added as a final nail in the coffin.

And because a coffin can never have enough nails, you took the pleasure of tacking on, "At least enough for three lifetimes behind bars."

The Chief of Police merely chuckled, "Affable, don't listen to them, they're lyin'!"

"Of course she is!" Slugworth was quick to agree.

"She's not, sir." The Police Affable thumbed through the pages, looking nearly as awestruck as Slugworth just earlier. "She's absolutely right! It's incredible," he confirmed. His gaze tipped back up to the three chocolatiers—or maybe the chief, or maybe both, you couldn't tell exactly—with a disappointed set to his jaw. As if to say 'Are you seriously trying this with me right now?'

"Oh. Well. That sounds like a case for the Chief of Police." Said Chief of Police, though he looked full to bursting at that point, was quick to swoop in, "So, you give it to me, Affable, I'll uh, I'll take it off your hands. You know, save you the paperwork." He extended his arm with an eagerness that spoke of his desperation not to get caught. He was just as tangled in this operation as the businessmen themselves, wasn't he?

You bit your bottom lip, fingers twitching with anxiousness. Before you had the chance to leap out and make sure the fraud ceased, Willy's chocolate-sticky fingers threaded through your own. You shot him a look, but his entire reply was a soft stroke of his thumb against the base of your palm. "It's justice. It'll play out," he murmured to you. He leaned in then, warm breath brushing the shell of your ear. "And if it doesn't, feel free to have at it," he added, with that fiery fleck in his eyes that reminded you he'd let you go wild if things didn't pan out the way you'd hoped.

The Affable goes on, "I can't do that, I'm afraid, sir." A long sigh of relief.

"Why's that?"

"Because your name is written down here."

Apparently, it's more difficult to play off criminal negligence with chuckles than it looks, "Huh?"

The Affable snapped the book closed with a look of finality, and a tone to match, "A lot." A ghost of a smile lingered on the man's lips, and you couldn't help but wonder if he'd imagined this exact scenario in reference to his boss in the past. "Gentlemen, you're under arrest."