Lockwood & Co. Oneshots and AUs

The Only One I'm Not Mildly Disappointed With

~ This is a more of a story about Kipps and Lucys friendship. Originally posted on my Tumbr. ~

Quill Kipps always had a preference. If it was between Tea and coffee, he chose coffee. If it was between being an agent or being a supervisor, he chose agent. And this held true through everything else. Even when working with Lockwood & Co.

His preference on who to work with never changed. It was always Lucy Carlyle. She was the best option; Holly was too much of a neat freak, George was an ass, and Lockwood... Well, who wants to work with their ex-rival?

Lucy was sassy, sure. But she was good at what she did. And unlike George and Lockwood, her first instinct when they talked wasn't to insult him. She was remarkable in her field of work, any questions of if she was were quickly diminished after the first time he had seen her on the field. That was back when he worked in the Fitties though. Time passed, she grew, gained new skills, got even better than she already was. The way Kipps saw it was he had watched the little girl grow into a mature woman. She was still so much younger than him, but he could only feel amazed whenever he interacted with her.

He was most certainly not in love with her. Not only would it be illegal, but someone else had eyes for her (not like that would've originally stopped him) and he saw her more as a daughter than a lover. Truthfully, he felt the strange need to watch over her, take her under his wing, have her be dependent on him.

Lucy was an independent young woman. She didn't need to be taught. She didn't need to be protected. So all of what Kipps felt, he silently and subtly acted on. Small things like advice on her stance, movement, focus, and such in battle. Small things like keeping an eye on her when they went to the furnaces in the earliest hours after a long night, making sure no boy tries to take advantage of her tired and worn state. Small things like that.

But it unfortunately didn't stop with strangers.

Lockwood, a number of times, had tried to confess his feelings towards Lucy in small touches and confusing language. Kipps had been strict, pulling him away from Lucy to have a "talk".

"The hell do you think you're doing?!" Kipps almost shouted.

"What does it matter to you?" Lockwood returned.

Kipps rubbed his temples. It's too early for this shit.

Small things like that would set those two off in a full blown argument over what "gentlemanly" behavior was or how disrespectful some actions were or how Lockwood couldn't control himself.

With Lockwood's favorite physical aspect of Lucy being her hips, he'd try to snake his hand to them, just to feel how her body was so perfectly curved. Of course, this had to be done when Kipps wasn't in the room.

"Like this, Luce." He moved his hands to perfect her stance. They had been practicing in the basement on this rainy spring day. It really was the best day to focus on research and training.

He placed his hand on her hips, moving them closer to him than to floating Joe. Her back instinctively arced to push her chest out in a similar way birds do when their trying to be threatening. And being in the practice room, practicing stance, Lockwood forgot for a moment that grabbing a woman's breasts was extremely indecent. It purely had been to fix her position. His hands found her soft, round bust that was constantly compressed by bras that weren't the right size. He pushed her breasts to him, lightly and subconsciously squeezing them. When she surprisingly let out a soft-ish moan, he realized his mistake.

But he was going to have so much hell to pay.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING????" Kipps roared. He had just walked downstairs to file some papers and the first thing he saw was Lockwood gripping Lucy's breasts with her hips pressed against his.

The two teens separated quickly, both faces red.

"I-I-I was trying to-" Lockwood began. He was cut off by Kipps. He didn't speak though, no.

He punched him.

Hard.

Lockwood fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Kipps proceeded to let out a string if curses and insults directed at Lockwood. None of them could be understood. He had gotten mad enough to use his his home language - Irish. He said them in a low, hushed voice. It forced Lockwood to listen as he popped his jaw back into place. After all, when Kipps got livid, he got quiet. It forced people to listen and learn.

Lucy rushed over to Lockwood's side, checking to see if his mouth was bleeding or if his jaw was broken. Luckily, George was out at the archives and Holly was grocery shopping. And Lucy thought Kipps was as his own apartment.

"That was unnecessary!" She shouted at him.

"No," Lockwood coughed up some blood. "No. I deserved that. It was inappropriate and rude. I'm sorry Lucy." He apologized, tasting the strong tang of blood in his mouth.

Lucy would've fought him on this, but his coughing up blood had her concerned. She rushed him upstairs to help him with first aid. Kipps followed, watching Lockwood with a close eye.

After a few minutes of cleaning him up, it was discovered that the blood was coming from biting his tounge while being punched. He bit hard onto it, so the bleeding was more than noticeable. Luckily, nothing was broken and he didn't have a concussion.

It was later, the rain let up slightly. Holly was home and was really concerned as to why Lockwood had so many bloody rags. Lucy had taken the opportunity to talk to Kipps. He was out front, smoking. A bad habit he had gotten while working in the Fitties agency.

"So, what was that about?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, that was too much. I should apologize. Did he apologize to you?" He looked over at her.

"He didn't do anything to me." She defended.

He raised an eyebrow. "It looked and sounded like he might've been forcing himself on you."

She gasped, appalled. "Lockwood's not like that!"

"I'm just stating what I saw." Kipps stated.

She sighed.

A few minutes of silence settled over them as he finished his smoke.

"So why do you lash out when it's about me?" Lucy asked.

He grunted, one that asked if she could clarify.

"I mean... You get so mad. Especially when it has to do with me. Like today with Lockwood, that Steevenz agent from a few nights ago, even one of the clients. You seem to get hostile around me." She explained.

"I don't want men taking advantage of you. You may be strong, but you're still young and a female. Whether you like it or not, you're body is smaller and more fragile than mine or Tony's." He answered.

"You don't get so mad for Holly." Lucy pointed out. Kipps sighed. It was time to come out with the truth.

"No. I don't. Mostly because I don't think she needs it. It seems that she knows how to handle it, but you're pretty dense. For the past 4 or so years, Tony has been desperate for your attention, and yet you really don't notice. It also has to do with the fact that whenever you're on the field, fighting for your life, it becomes irrelevant who you're blood-related too. Those who you sweat, cry, and bleed with are your family." He looked at her. "That's always how I've seen it." He looked out at the grey street. No cars pass, no children play.

"You know, 22 isn't a long time. But its not a short amount either. I guess in that time I've learned something." He rambled.

"What's that?" She asked.

"You never do truly have a family. It always changes. You'll leave your birth family, bond with your polar opposite, despise your own kind... Who your father is today could be who your enemy is tomorrow. It's just always a good idea to keep in mind your preferences, but don't bank on keeping them the same every day." He stated.

"Am I your preference?" Lucy wondered aloud.

"The only one I'm not mildly disappointed with." He chuckled. "Yep, you are my preference."

She blushed and looked away. He chuckled again, pat her shoulder and made his way inside to apologize to Lockwood. Lucy followed shortly, feeling just a little better about life.