Eat Your Heart Out (Smoker X Reader)

The Bad Dream and Worse Reality

"(Y/n), I wasn't expecting a call from you." Your boss said on the other end of the line.

Dragon was a very busy man and didn't usually take calls unless they were planned but he was willing to make time for you.

"I know, I can make this quick."

You were tired after spending hours looking for information on the case anyway. There was nothing you wanted more than to relax for the evening after this.

"Go ahead."

"I need Koby taken off the case. This has been pretty gruesome and it's more than a rookie needs to see. I'd like him to want to continue this line of work without having this haunt him."

Dragon was silent as he thought. He was a pensive man, often weighing his choices but always going with the option that benefited the masses the most. He was a man of the people and took his job seriously. Now he was probably trying to decide if you could get the job done efficiently without him, if the experience was really worth Koby possibly losing a part of himself in the process.

"He's a smart kid and I don't doubt he could be useful for this particular case." You continued. "But he can't stomach the sights and frankly he shouldn't have to. Not without any prior field experience."

"As much as I don't like them, this is also a good time for him to learn how to work with the police." Dragon countered.

You sighed. Of course he was going to be difficult. He hated how the police worked, especially in Blue City, but he couldn't avoid the times working with them was necessary. He liked to call his company that provided investigative services "revolutionary". You and everyone else he had working for him were able to play detective for a whole slew of different things for the everyday Joe Blow. The goal was to give a sense of justice to the people of the city without having to go through the police. While you appreciated the idea of it, you wished Dragon would think more about how some of the work he picked up affected his employees.

"I'd be more than happy to fill him in on working with the police another time but I'm afraid this case may just scare him away before I can ever get to that. I really think he needs to either wait for this to be done and then come back to train with me or see if someone else is willing to take over."

"I don't like having such a setback..." He was starting to sway in your direction of thought.

"I promise you it'll be worth it. He's got a lot of drive and he's been picking up on things quickly, at least on the stuff outside the crime scenes."

"...Alright. I can see who's willing to work with him in the mean time. But as soon as this case is finished he's yours to train again."

You smiled. He couldn't see it but you were glad that Koby wouldn't have to deal with this anymore. It was too much for him.

"That's no problem, thank you Dragon."

"I'll make the arrangements as soon as I can. Send him back to the office tomorrow."

"Can do."

Koby wasn't going to like this, he was very keen on learning all he could even if it was as morbid of a lesson as the current case has been. But you weren't going to let him stick it out, not if you could help it.

----

The next day didn't start out well and you could tell it was only going to go downhill from there.

It started with a dream. In it, you were in the sewers by yourself, trying to find a way out. The longer you looked for an exit the more frantically you searched as fear slowly took over. You felt like you were trying to escape something, or someone- Bartolomeo. The dream had you convinced that the sewers were filled with waist high, black sludge, so that's what you were stuck trying to run though.