Work Text:
Hello, Miss! I have something to discuss with you. I’ll meet you at your office at the end of the day.
Rosa’s eyes read the message a few times, before she responds.
Mm, okay.. I get off in about two hours as long as there’s no additional work that needs to be done.
The message is followed by a thumbs up emoji, then Rosa sets her phone back on her desk.
Rosa is sitting in front of her desk with her elbow propped up and her chin resting in the palm of her hand. Her gaze is fixated on her laptop screen, but she’s not actually focusing on the slides that she is supposed to be reading for her case. The text message reeling through her head. There’s a knock on the edge of her desk and she’s brought back down from cloud nine. “Earth to Rosa. Are you here with us?” Celestine asks her with a soft chuckle.
The young attorney shifts her arm away from her chin and uses it to rub at the side of her neck nervously. “Ah, my apologies! I am. Just seems like I have drifted a bit.”
“Everything, okay?” Her superior asks in concern.
Rosa offers a reassuring smile. “Yes, everything is okay.”
“What’s gotten you so distracted?” Celestine focuses her attention on Rosa.
A bit of a blush creeps up Rosa’s neck and she doesn’t want to voice out loud that her mind had been too busy thinking about Marius von Hagen and what he could possibly have to discuss with her after work. So she tells a harmless lie: “I was thinking about what food to grab on the way home from the office today.”
Celestine’s brow raises in speculation, as if she picked up that Rosa is obviously lying. But she doesn’t call her out on it. “I suggest this Thai restaurant that I went to over the weekend with my fiancé. I believe it should be on the way to your place.” She nods her head. “I’ll send you the details once I return to my desk.”
Rosa nods her head then smiles widely. “I appreciate the recommendation! I will definitely try it out.”
“Perfect. Make sure you don’t stay in too late, okay? Get home at a decent time today.” Celestine looks at her sternly.
Rosa relaxes when Celestine turns around to walk back to her office, letting out a quiet exhale. She glances back at her phone when the screen lights up with a new notification from Marius.
Miss, what do you want for dinner tonight? I can pick it up on my way to your office.
Then a notification from Celestine pops up on top containing the address to the restaurant she just mentioned. Rosa reaches for her phone and forwards the message from Celestine to Marius.
This will do.
Almost immediately, the typing bubble popped up, then a new message popped up.
Tone down the excitement, Miss. It’s overwhelming.
Rosa can’t help but chuckle under her breath as she shuts her phone off to refocus on the task at hand. For the last two hours of the day, she tried to keep her thoughts at bay, but she was still a little preoccupied stirring up possible scenarios with Marius in her head. Could he want to discuss something Pax related? She sighs quietly. I hope he didn’t ruffle any feathers at his last function. Or is he going to want to talk about… Her cheeks warm up as her thoughts come to a halt. A few days ago, Marius had invited her to his art studio and he suggested that he would like to pursue a new painting and that she be his muse on her off day. She didn’t know how to react to such a request that she nonchalantly blew him off with an excuse that she has no days off in the near future. In which, he reacted by giving her a deep pout before muttering he would need to have a discussion with her boss.
She has nothing against being his muse, but she just wasn’t sure how she would fare off being under his watchful gaze for hours on end. It’s different when she’s in the courtroom and she has many people having their eyes on her. It’ll just be her and Marius. The atmosphere is completely different. Just the two of them would feel really...intimate. Rosa’s cheeks grew hotter at the thought and she was grounded back to reality when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Rosa, time to go home. Celestine said not to stay too late,” Kiki reminds her with a small smile, a tinge of concern in her eyes. “Are you feeling okay? You’re looking a bit flushed,” she mentions.
Rosa places her hands on her cheeks and shakes her head. “I’m fine. It must be the office.”
“Time to get you out of here before you get sick from this place!” Kiki laughs as she steps to the side so Rosa can push away from her desk.
She tidies up her desktop before she pushes her chair in. The two walk out of the office and Kiki stops in her tracks before she pats Rosa’s shoulder. Rosa had her head turned to face her friend so she had no idea what made her stop so suddenly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Have a wonderful night~” She says after hastily walking away in the direction to the bus stop, Rosa keeping her gaze on her friend’s retreating figure.
The young woman blinks at the way Kiki said ‘wonderful’, but her curiosities are subdued a second later. “Hello, Rosa~” Marius’ voice fills her ears and a tingle goes down her back.
She slowly turns her head forward and her eyes meet with Marius’. He’s still dressed in his suit from work with a plastic bag in hand. He lifts the bag up a little and smiles cheekily. “I ordered from the Thai place you suggested.”
Rosa approaches his side and glances down at the bag. “Did you walk here?” She asks him.
Marius nods his head. “I felt like taking the scenic route by foot tonight.” But this is all he says, which Rosa finds odd because he usually followed up with a snarky comment.
Without a word, Marius starts to walk in the direction to Rosa’s apartment and she falls a step behind him. She takes the time to analyze Marius’ current stature. His shoulders are a bit slumped, his grip on the plastic bag a bit tight, and his steps are dragged.
She falls into step with Marius and peers up at him. “Marius, is everything okay?” She asks him in a soft tone of voice.
He shrugs his shoulders, the bag rustling in his grasp. “You ever just wish that you could pause everything going on around you?” He asks as his head tilts up to gaze up at the orange-hued sky.
Rosa blinks, not expecting that kind of response. “Mm, well…” She hums quietly to put some thought into her answer. “Some days, I do wish that things could stop for a moment so I could catch my breath. Especially during the time we have complicated cases. I sometimes wish that I could just pass on the case to someone else, but at the end of the day, this is the career I chose, so I have to endure it, you know?” She answers honestly.
Marius nods his head in agreement. “Today is one of those days for me. I wish my brother would just return so he could take back this huge responsibility…” He falls quiet again.
The two walk along the sidewalk, letting the sound of the city traffic fill the silence between the two of them. Rosa isn’t quite sure how to comfort Marius because his responsibilities are ten fold to what she has to deal with in the law firm. When they arrive at her apartment building, Rosa takes the lead and walks the two of them through the lobby to the elevator.
As soon as she presses the up button, the doors slide open and she takes a step into the small enclosed space. Marius steps in right next to her and once the doors slide close, he leans over to the side and rests his head on Rosa’s shoulder. When the weight of his head presses on her shoulder, she wonders if he is just putting on an act so he can receive comfort from her, but she can’t bring herself to ask about it jokingly.
“Marius?” She glances from the corner of her eyes.
“Hm?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” She questions him.
“I’m just tired, Miss. Nothing to be too concerned about. But it’s nice to know that you care enough about me to ask twice.” She can practically hear the smirk that’s playing on his lips.
She rolls her eyes, but can’t help but feel relieved that he still had enough energy to make some kind of retort. When the elevator comes to a halt on her floor, she walks out first down the hallway to her apartment. Tapping against the keypad, she unlocks the door and steps foot into her place. Marius steps off to the side to remove his footwear and sets the food down to slip off his suit jacket.
Rosa does the same before she grabs the bag of food to bring to her small dining table not far from the front door. She unties the bag then sets out all the styrofoam containers onto the table. Marius joins her from across the table and opens up everything, the water particles from the steam going everywhere. “Ah--” He grabs a paper towel and wipes his wrist, and wherever the water went to.
Rosa chuckles at him. “Careful.” She walks away to grab small plates along with eating utensils. She hands Marius his own plate with the chopsticks and spoon on top.
“Thank you, Rosa.”
Getting settled at the table, the two glance at each other then at the food. “I didn’t really know what exactly to get so I just asked if I could get a bit of everything from their specialty menu.”
“No wonder the bag was so heavy. I thought that maybe there was more than just food in the containers,” she jokes lightly.
“I was going to text you to see what you wanted, but I thought the surprise would be better.” Marius shrugs his shoulders.
Rosa raises a brow. That’s the second time he’s just shrugged something off.
He is about to help himself to the food, but Rosa puts a hand over it to stop him. “Hey, I’m really concerned. It’s not like you to be this quiet and dismissive. Are you sure you’re okay, Marius?”
Marius' eyes meet hers, the deep amethyst glistening underneath the lights. His eyes hold a deep sadness that is very uncharacteristic of the usual snarky, do what he wants, president of a large corporation. “Miss, do you think I am doing a good job, right?” He asks her suddenly.
Rosa slips her hand back onto her lap as she ponders on the question for a brief moment before she nods her head. “Well, considering that you were forced to take over the family business out on a whim and the business hasn’t come crashing down in flames yet, I would say that you’re doing an exceptional job carrying out what is asked of you…”
Marius takes this opportunity to help himself to the food; transferring it over to his plate that he has in his other hand. “Today, at the meeting I was compared to my father and my brother. Some said that the way that I do things isn’t how they did it..”
“Well, they just need to adapt to the way you run things. Change doesn’t happen overnight, Marius. You just have to stay true to yourself and do things how you see fit. With time, they will be able to reshape routine, which then can be finely tuned over time.” Rosa starts to plate her own food as well. When she sets it back down on the table, she gazes at him. “Plus, you’re young. They are probably having difficulty getting used to having a younger perspective…”
“I don’t even get to enjoy my 20s and be carefree like I aspire.”
“I think you’re carefree enough with how you like to do things, Marius,” Rosa points out with a short laugh, referencing the times he has brought her along. Like when he brought her along to an arcade that was set to open, but lied to get in by saying she was his sister moving away soon just to win plushies from a claw machine. Or when he lied to a street performer that he wanted to create memories with her and play her a song to get his guitar from him.
“I like to think you just like to tag along because you like my company. I’m not as serious and uptight as your partner at the law firm, so you agree to be my accomplice to get out of your boring case work.” He winks at her before taking the first bite of his food.
“Whatever floats your boat, Marius von Hagen.” She playfully rolls her eyes and begins to eat their meal.
The two of them share their meal together and once they finish up, they move to the living room. When they’re settled on the couch, Rosa finally asks the question she’s been wanting to ask since they met up. “So what is it that you wanted to discuss? I assumed you wanted to get together to actually talk about business or something?”
“Oh, the text message? There’s no business to discuss, I just said that because I knew you wouldn’t question it and you’d accept to meet up with me.” Marius lets out a sly laugh.
Rosa gasps then grabs the pillow at her side and smacks him with it each time she says his name. “Marius! Von! Hagen!” She realizes that in the end that he was still coming up with excuses to get what he really wants and she fell right into his trap.
Marius tries to defend himself with his arms, more laughter leaving his lips. Once Rosa settles back into the couch with a huff, she shoots him a playful glare.
“What? If I said that I wanted to have dinner with you, you would have declined because I know how it makes you anxious being seen out in public with me if it doesn’t have to do with a NXX case or work for PAX.” He rests his arm on the back of the couch and gazes at her face.
Rosa ends up pulling the pillow up to just below her eyes to conceal the blush that is forming on her cheeks. I wonder if other people get to see this considerate part of Marius.. Rosa wonders in her head, her eyes averting in a different direction to avoid looking at Marius.
“Oh, come on, Miss. Are you mad at me that I lied to you?” Marius pokes at her hand holding onto the pillow in front of her face still.
When Rosa moves her gaze back to him, he has a pout on his lips and his eyes look extra sad with his brows turned down. She sighs and finally puts the pillow back down on her lap. She shakes her head. “I’m not mad, Marius. I just wish that you would have been honest. It’s better to be straightforward than to play tricks and lie just to get what you want,” she tells him and mimics his pout. “Are you capable of doing that?”
“Mm, I’m not too sure. I like it when things go my way, so I will continue to play by my own rules.” He winks playfully.
“Of course that’s how you think…” Rosa shakes her head. “So were you just putting up an act when you said all that you said on our way here and pretended to be tired in the elevator?”
Marius sighs then he scoots closer to her, placing his head on her shoulder like he did in the elevator. “No, I wasn’t lying. My mood is usually better whenever I get praised for bringing new ideas, but since I was ridiculed at the meeting today, it kills the mood and then I am reminded of the weight of all these responsibilities, making me tired.”
Rosa glances to the side when she senses movement, watching Marius loosens his tie and unbuttons his dress shirt at the top. “It’s days like this that makes me wish I had been left to my own devices to pursue my art...” He sighs, “but no, my brother had to play the disappearing act.”
He runs a hand through his hair. “The most ridiculous part is I even asked my father for some advice for today and all he told me was to be myself and do it as I have been since I took over, but that didn’t work in my favor.” He grumbles something that Rosa couldn’t pick up.
As comfort, she reaches for his hand closest to her and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “Today was just one of those roadblocks you are bound to run into every now and then. Even if a third party judges how you do things, just remember that you have those in PAX who have your back.” She rubs her thumb against his skin soothingly. “Plus, you’ll always have me as one of your supporters. I believe in you, Marius. I can be the one to remind you on your off days that you’re doing a good job.”
“Oh?” Marius then entwines his fingers with Rosa. “Like having my own personal cheerleader~” He chuckles under his breath. “Say, would you wear the uniform for me, too? To make your efforts more effective?” Marius questions in a teasing voice.
“As if. That’s not going to happen!” She is about to let go of his hand and pull her shoulder out from under his head, but he tightens his grasp around her hand, leading her to stay put.
“Don’t worry, Rosa. I’m just joking with you.” He reassures her.
“I have a hard time believing you,” Rosa says accusingly.
“You have my word, Miss.”
“Uh huh.”
The two spend the rest of their evening unwinding from their day and talking about random things. When it gets to 10 in the evening, Marius gets up from the couch. “As much as I would love to spend the night, I already know you’re going to refuse, I must return home.” He’s buttoning up his shirt as Rosa stands up beside him and goes over to the dining table. “Do you want any leftovers?” She offers.
“No, you can keep it. Bring it for your lunch tomorrow.” Marius suggests as he walks toward the front door.
Rosa meets him at the door and watches him gather his jacket and slip his shoes back on. He looks up at her and smiles warmly at her. “Thank you for listening tonight. It’s nice to know I have someone at my corner cheering me on.”
“Don’t mention it. That’s what I’m here for.”
“Also, don’t think this will be one-sided. I will be here for you whenever you need it. If Artem is giving you a hard time just let me know, I’ll stop by your office and give him an earful.” Marius nods his head matter-of-factly.
Laughing softly, Rosa dismisses his offer. “You don’t have to do that for me.”
“Oh, but of course I do. You’re my precious attorney. No one is allowed to mess with you except for me!”
“Okay, Marius.. Whatever you say.” Rosa crosses her arms over her chest and smiles at him. Her eyes suddenly widen when Marius steps close and places a kiss on her forehead.
“Thank you again, Rosa…” He says in the most genuine tone of voice, surprising Rosa. “Have a good night.”
“Good night, M-Marius,” she stutters his name, a blush creeping up her neck and tinting her cheeks red. “Get home safely and text me when you do.”
“Of course.” Marius opens the door, steps out into the hallway, and closes the door behind him when he finally leaves.
---
After almost 45 minutes since Marius left, Rosa stops washing the dishes when her phone chimes from a notification. She wipes her hands on the rag at her shoulder to pick up her phone with dry hands.
I just got home.
She watches as the typing bubble floats on the screen for a few seconds before a new message appears.
Don’t think I forgot about setting up a time and day for you to come to my studio. I’ll text you another day to see when you’re free! Maybe I’ll have you wear the cheerleading uniform for me~ ;)
She had hoped he had completely forgotten about that when he didn’t bring it up. So she replies with: Not happening!!!!
It so is!!! Good night, Rosa.
Sleep well, Marius.
Rosa’s cheeks flush once more and she quickly shuts off her phone after she replies to continue cleaning up.