Summary: The dinner with Lucy and Robert ended up frustratingly, but Damien and Ellie further the investigation… and their relationship.
Disclaimer: (most) characters belong to Pixelberry Studios. Male!MC named Allen.
Pairing: Damien x OC (Ellie)
When Eleanor Zhou woke up that Saturday, she was surprised to find herself alone in the bed. She looked at the clock. It was a little later than 9 o’clock.
“Damien?” – she asked as she walked out of the bedroom, letting her eyes adjust to the morning light. His things were there in the living room, but there was no sign of him. Or Freddie.
Then, she heard a male voice coming from her tiny kitchen.
“You can try using this trick with me all you want, but I won’t fall for it, buddy.” – Ellie just couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing. Damien Nazario was by her stove, cooking something and actually talking to her dog, that was obediently sitting next to him. Making no sound, she rested on the kitchen door frame with her arms crossed, watching the man’s broad shouldered figure. A smile tugged on the corner of her lips and she felt a warmth spreading on her chest. – “These puppy dog eyes won’t make me give you my food.”
Realizing that he wasn’t going to get any bacon from that mean human, Freddie whimpered frustratingly and turned away, noticing that his human was there. He trotted towards her, his tail wagging. Damien noticed the dog sudden content and looked over his shoulder, seeing Ellie there too. She chuckled softly as she kneeled to stroke Freddie’s ears.
“Good morning.”
“Morning. How are you feeling?”
“Still a little pissed with yesterday’s dinner. But well rested.” – she answered, walking towards him and wrapping her arms around his waist. – “So are you making us breakfast?”
“Yeah. I hope you like pancakes and bacon, because these are pretty much the only things I know how to cook well.” – she giggled.
“I love pancakes.” – and put a light kiss on the nape of his neck. If Damien wasn’t already all aroused by simply feeling Ellie’s body pressed against his, behind the thin fabric of her t-shirt, he definitely was now. – “I can’t believe you actually woke up early and is cooking. And have you already take Freddie for his morning walk?”
“Well, yeah.” – the private investigator shrugged. – “I was awakened by his whining. He was scratching the door so I figured he needed to go out. And I fed him too.”
“Wow. Maybe I should feel gloomy more often, then.” – she tightened the hug. – “Thank you for taking care of me, D.”
“It’s nothing.” – he turned to face her, cupping her face with his hands and leaning down, his lips meeting hers. Ellie deepened the kiss. – “Ellie…” – she giggled mischievously to Damien’s groan of alert. Her hand explored his stiff length, over his clothes. – “I’m going to burn the pancakes.”
“Alright, alright, you convinced me!” – she pulled out, raising her hands in a apologizing gesture, still laughing. – “Guess I’ll have to thank you for this later…”
“You don’t need to… but I’d like that.” – they shared a devilish smirk. – “Anyway, can you make the coffee?”
The pancakes weren’t burnt and they were pretty good, in fact. Eleanor felt like it had been ages since someone cooked for her.
“What?” – Damien asked as she giggled to herself. They had decided that they weren’t going after Robert that weekend; meeting with him the night before was enough of seeing his face. So, now they were binge watching to super cheesy and trashy movies. Ellie just couldn’t stop laughing to Damien’s snarky commentary.
“I was just thinking…” – she looked at him. They were both laying down on her couch, with him beneath her, one of his arms around her shoulders. – “Have you noticed that you’re always babysitting me? Since back in NY.” – she chuckled again. – “Actually, you’re always babysitting the Park cousins, aren’t you?” – Damien smirked back at her.
“Well, someone needs to look after Allen and Nadia since none of them is responsible.” – they shared a laugh. – “But with you… I don’t think this is babysitting.” – he caressed her smooth cheek with his thumb, his eyes staring at Ellie’s soft and pink lips. – “Besides, I know you would do the same to me.” – her grin widened and she raised an eyebrow.
“Oh would I? How can you be so sure about it, Nazario?” – Eleanor bent over him, their noses brushing slightly.
“Because you can’t resist me, Zhou.” – she rolled her eyes.
“Cocky.” – she whispered but kissed him anyway. He deepened it, tightening his grip around her, enjoying her weight pressing him against the small couch. – “…But maybe you’re right.” – she admitted, her forehead resting on his. – “You’re just so damn irresistible, Nazario.” – her lips travelled from his jaw to his neck, teasingly. – “You know, I still haven’t thanked you for helping me…”
She felt one of his hands on her chin, guiding her mouth back to his, kissing her demandingly and passionately. Eleanor moaned softly when their hips pressed together, letting her feel how badly he wanted her, as Damien’s calloused hands squeezed her thighs hungrily.
“D…” – the woman murmured, her breath speeding up, as she started unbuttoning his shirt, still on top of him. His heart was beating as fast as hers. – “I— AAAH, FREDDIE!”
Ellie cursed under her breath as she climbed down. Damien sat up too, feeling confused.
“What happened?” – he asked, looking to where a yellow shadow headed to.
“He licked me!” – Ellie shouted, visibly annoyed.
Damien just couldn’t hold back a laugh. The moment was completely gone, again. And because of the dog. Again.
“I guess this is Freddie way of saying that he wants some attention. Or that he wants us to work.” – the man observed, still chuckling softly.
“I guess you meant that he’s such a cockblocker.” – and then, Ellie joined him, laughing at the ridiculousness of that situation.
She called the dog back a few minutes later, when they both finally stopped laughing. It was just so damn hard to stay angry at that big doofus yellow furball for too long.
A detective work takes time, but the upcoming weeks passed swiftly, with Lucy’s and Zucko’s wedding day approaching each day.
Damien Nazario didn’t accept other cases while he was working with and for Eleanor Zhou and he spent most of his time there in Northbridge. He even rented an apartment, just two blocks from hers, to facilitate their ‘meetings’ (and so they could have some private time without Freddie interrupting them all the time…).
He kept following the ‘happily engaged’ couple. Some days he would spend hours outside their mansion (he found a really good spot from a neighbor’s house, and he even didn’t had to bribe anyone to get in there. All he needed to do was use his best charming smirk and a few compliments to the old single lady who lived just across the street and she happily let him in. Turned out that she was a big fan of Agatha Christie’s novels too and found his job ‘very exciting’. She even baked some cookies for him) and Zucko’s Point. Lucy’s routine was pretty normal; she was part of the Human Resources of Prescott Industries and worked 9 to 5, from Monday to Friday. Occasionally, Robert would give her a ride, but she usually left their house around 08:15 and took a train to her work. She would always go straight at home after work and she rarely left the mansion, even on weekends.
Robert’s life, on the other hand, had anything but routine. Although he went to his pub everyday, the time wasn’t the same. Some days he would go there just at the evening. Others, he would leave his house before dawn. It was crazy and exhausting.
And about the schedule he found on the man’s office, Robert indeed received some suspicious packages. And he would always go get them himself, personally, accompanied by a bodyguard. Damien was suspecting that it was drugs, but he couldn’t have a way to prove it without risking getting caught.
But it wasn’t all just work. Although he didn’t spend as much time as he wished with Ellie – since she worked from 9 to 5, and he had to follow Zucko and his crazy schedule everywhere -, they had established a weekly meeting on Saturdays, so he would inform her about anything new and suspicious about their suspect.
…And they would spend the whole weekend together. She would even join him on following Robert sometimes. But there were some days that they would spend the time with just each other’s company, shutting the world outside. Their favorite past time was making love, obviously. But it wasn’t just it. He learned a lot of things about Ellie.
The first thing he noticed about Eleanor Zhou was that, although she was a very outgoing person – she seemed to have that natural charisma the Parks had, that made almost everyone easily like them -, she had very few close friends. In fact, only Lucy seemed to be a close friend of hers. People from her work would always invite her – and even Damien, after her friend Poppy Patel apparently gossiped about him to everyone at Mortif – to go to their happy hours – and they actually went a couple of times -, but Ellie was more of an indoors person, preferring to stay at home over than going out. She liked spending her time reading, listening to music (and dancing along with it) and watching TV. Very simple and ordinary, different from the Ellie he met in New York, who went out everyday.
When he told her about that, she said “well, obviously! When I’m on a vacation, I’ll enjoy every single minute of it. I won’t spend my time locked in some hotel room; I like to explore new places and the city… but when I’m at home, I just like spending time at my cozy little apartment. Everything that I need is right here and my idea of a fun Friday night is eating junk food, watching Netflix and squealing over my series”.
It wasn’t much different from his, to be honest. His idea of a fun Friday night was getting drunk and making sarcastic commentary on made-for-TV-movies.
And then, one night, as they watched to the newest episode of one of Ellie’s favorite reality TV shows, America’s Most Eligible, after following Robert for hours and getting no new information, Damien caught himself thinking that, hey, whatever they were having, it was nice. It was calm and simple. Ellie was right, things could be simpler.
Neither of them talked about their relationship again and, although he knew he shouldn’t be thinking about it, Damien almost had the sensation that they were indeed dating. When they weren’t working to undercover Robert Zucko, at least.
Even though they were free to get involved with someone else, both of them didn’t need or want to meet with other people. They just seemed comfortable with being around each other. There was no big stress between them; they understood each other easily and respected their lives and personal space.
And to be completely honest… Damien hadn’t felt that happy for a long time. That was… that was the life he expected to share with Allen, years ago. Be part of his mundane, boring, and everyday life.
And here he was having it with Eleanor, someone he’d known for only almost four months. And things were being great. Even thinking about Allen sharing it with Hayden didn’t hurt as much as before.
Maybe he was finally healing. Maybe… Ellie could be the one. The one that would tolerate the boring, tired and cranky Damien Nazario.
It felt like she actually wanted to know him entirely, expecting nothing in exchange. Eleanor Zhou came into his life tearing down his walls, willing to get to know him. All of his sides, his traits and flaws.
And he wanted to know hers too.
Would things finally work? Would his life finally get that good constant that he’d been looking for years?
With Ellie?
It was the ending of September, Damien Nazario was a year older and the whether already was getting a little chiller. It was a Saturday night, and he and Ellie were inside his old muscle car, parked in a side little alley across Zucko’s Point street. Damien watched the pub’s front doors with his binoculars, while Eleanor ate some potato chips to distract her from all that boredom.
“So, how long are we going to stay here?” – Ellie knew that she was the one who hired him for the case and that she volunteered herself to help him investigate her best friend’s shady fiancé, but she was feeling so bored. She thought that a detective life would be far more interesting.
He chuckled, already used to Eleanor Zhou’s impatience.
“Patience, Ellie, it’s all about—”
“I know, I know.” – she rolled her eyes, interrupting him. – “Investigating is all about patience.” – she said in a strong voice, clearly imitating him. Damien couldn’t hold back a laugh. He turned to look at her.
“This was just terrible.”
“Fuck you, I know this was a perfect interpretation of Damien Nazario! Maybe my hidden skill is imitating people. I should become a voice actor!” – he laughed again.
“You’re such a dork.” – Damien stated. Eleanor just smirked back at him and shrugged, still chewing on her chips. D could say whatever he wanted, but she knew he liked her dorkiness anyway.
Damien gazed at the woman sitting next to him with longing eyes, a small grin on his face, when a sudden light grabbed him attention. He returned to observe the street.
They saw a black van parking just outside the pub. Two men climbed down the car as Zucko himself walked out of the building. They seemed to be buddies, since they patted each other’s back affectionately. Damien focused on the guys who had just arrived.
And then, something clicked inside his head. That name that he saw on Robert Zucko’s papers. It was from a drug dealer he was investigating back when he still was an agent in NYPD. And he was there, just across the street, talking to Robert Zucko in hushed tones.
“The camera, Ellie.” – the private investigator ordered and she quickly gave it to him. – “We’ve got you, motherfucker.” – he muttered as he positioned his professional camera and zoomed in. Thankfully, Zucko’s Point neon lights illuminated the group of men talking outside. Damien took several pictures, before the two men climbed back into the car and went away, while Robert entered the pub.
“What? Who were those guys? Do you know them?” – Eleanor questioned, still feeling a little lost with that sudden meeting. It took like just 10 minutes to happen.
“The bald one is called Octavio” – she nodded, reminding of one of the guys from the super shady van. – “…he’s a drug dealer. NYPD has been on his track for years. Trying to find to whom he works.”
“Holy fucking shit! Do you think he works for Robert?”
“I can’t confirm it by just what we witnessed here, but it definitely is suspicious. And I recall that we suspected that Octavio worked for a drug trafficking organization that had networks in all the US. But this organization was very discreet and we’d never had enough proof.”
Ellie nodded, taking all that information in. So maybe Lucy’s fiancé was a drug dealer. Okay.
She definitely didn’t see that coming.
“And now what?” – she finally asked, turning to face Damien again.
He already was looking at her, a mischievous smirk on his lips.
“Now we go full offense.”