Malereader x Essex OneShot

The One shot

(The Image above is from subreddit r/AzurLane posted by u/AmmaarBaagu)

(Y/N' P.O.V.)

I sat in my office and sorted through random documents that were left there from last night. As I had finished all the docs that needed signing the previous evening meaning that all that was left were battle reports from the previous day.

*30 minutes later*

'There. Done for right now.' I thought to myself. I scanned my office, but there was no sign of Essex. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen her at all today. 'Weird, she's normally here at least an hour before me on a normal day.' I still thought it strange that she wasn't here. 'I suppose I should investigate.' I sighed, standing up from my chair and left my office on my way to the female dorms. As I walked to the dorms I encountered multiple of the girls, a few waved, others said 'Hi', some didn't even notice. But the closer I got to the dorms the more girls seemed to notice, until I got to the main door where Takao stopped me. "Commander, what are you doing here?" She asked, raising one of her eyebrows in a questioning manor. "I'm here on personal business, Takao." I replied simply. "Alright, commander, see you later." Takao said, stepping out of my path and continuing on her's. I stepped into the girls dorm and started my path to Essex' dorm room. The hallways were kinda bland but smelled lightly of different kinds of perfumes, if I'm honest it didn't smell terrible but not great either.

*3 minutes later*

I reached her dorm room, it had a solid oak door with a gold plate that read 'Essex'. I let out a sigh and lightly knocked on her door, I leaned in and spoke, "Hey, Essex, you in there?" I listened for any noise or movement, but, nothing. I searched my uniform pockets and found my master key, very few commanders have one and if they do have one, it most likely will never see the light of day. I inserted the key into the slot and twisted the key, the lock clicked and I opened the door. Essex' room was all together pretty clean, well, except for the documents that were scattered across her desk. I walked in and shut the door behind me. I looked around her room and there really wasn't much to see, her bed was off to the left, her clothes were around the room. Her gloves were on the desk, the jacket she wore was on the side of the desk chair, while her dress and tights were by the head of her bed, her boots on the other hand were near the foot. I was tempted to look at what documents she had on her desk, but I'll respect her privacy, if she wants me to know she'll tell.

I took off my commander's hat and placed it down on the desk before making my way to her bed where she still seems to be asleep. I sat down on the bed as softly as I could so I didn't accidentally wake her. I looked over at her and was about to wake her up but....I didn't want to, if I was honest I wanted to join her. 'No! You both have a duty to fulfill!' I shook my head. Sighing, I put my hand on her shoulder and shook 'er. I heard a light 'mmmm' come from her as she rolled onto her back. She looked up at me but didn't seem surprised that I was there, I didn't think much of it until she wacked my arm kinda like she was trying to clear a dream or illusion. As she was on her second swing she opened her eyes fully and looked at me, she gripped my arm and squeezed a few times before asking, "C-Commander?" She seemed scared or atleast shocked "Is it really you?".

I scooted back a bit and straightened my back, "Yeah, you weren't in the office today so I came to check on you. Hope you don't mind." I somewhat smiled

"Yeah, it's fine, can you get up though, I need to get ready." Essex spoke, her voice still carrying some semblance of tiredness.

I stood up and cleared the way so she could stand. Essex stood up and I saw what she was wearing which...wasn't much. She was wearing a black pair of underwear and a thin white T-shirt. "Ummmm...Essex..." I didn't want to say it out loud and kinda hoped she'd catch on.