Work Text:
Your deep, peaceful slumber was rudely interrupted by the piercing ringing of your cellphone.
You were half asleep and were so out of it, that you didn’t even realize your phone was ringing for the first couple of rings before you rolled over onto your side and felt around for the offending device.
You accidentally knocked over an empty water bottle in search of your phone, quickly finding it you flipped it open, brought it up to your ear, and answered the call without checking the caller ID.
“Mmhb?”
“Hello?”
“Mmw!”
“Y/N?”
“Yhs.”
“Y/N, wake up! This is important!”
“…Saul?”
“Yes, it’s me. Listen, you need to get over to the office right now!”
You rubbed your face and groaned in irritation.
“Saul, it’s my day off.”
“I know—I’ll pay you overtime!”
Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering sounded through the line. The more you strained your ears, the more you could make out what sounded like yelling.
“What was that?”
“No time to explain, just get over here!”
Before you had a chance to reply, the call abruptly ended. You pulled the phone back and checked the time. 2pm. So much for an afternoon nap.
You sighed, scooted out of bed, and threw some clothes on absentmindedly. Much of the rest of your routine was the same; you raced through brushing your teeth and fixing your disheveled hair before shutting the front door behind you and hopping into your car. You probably went a bit more over the speed limit than you’d be proud to admit, but made it to Saul’s office in record time.
You didn’t know what you were expecting, but the last thing was to see an angry mob of protestors shouting and throwing rocks at Saul’s building. The man himself was nowhere to be seen, unsurprisingly.
You made the smart decision of parking a little ways away so as to avoid any unwanted attention, although, you would undoubtably receive some walking into the property to reach Saul.
You exited the car and made sure that it was locked before heading over to the main entrance. You grew nervous as you gradually advanced toward the group, not wishing to anger them any further.
They all turned to you when you eventually approached them; their expressions ranged from annoyed to intrigued to excited and you gulped. With all eyes on you, the stage fright began to set in and you shifted your weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.
“Are you here to join us?” A woman inquired.
You rubbed your neck awkwardly and desperately racked your brain for a way out of this situation.
“U-Uh…”
“Don’t tell me you work for him?” A man sneered.
In response, you vigorously shook your head and held your hands up as if you were surrendering to the police.
The man’s question must have ignited a bomb because the small crowd went into another uproar of chanting and swinging around their insulting signs, except this time, it was directed at you.
One of the protesters reached out to grab you, but before they could get ahold of you, someone else did first. They gripped your wrist and tugged you toward the front of the building and through the door, successfully saving you from the enraged group.
Clumsily, you tripped over your own two feet and stumbled face first into your saviors clothed chest. Immediately, strong hands grasped your shoulders to steady you.
“Woah!” A raspy voice exclaimed from above you.
That voice, so distinctive, you could decipher it from a mile away. Saul.
You looked up, red in the face, and your suspicions were confirmed. There he was, the one and only, Saul Goodman.
He pulled you back and looked you up and down, “You okay, kid?”
You nodded, “Yeah, s-sorry.”
He let you go and put his hands in his pockets, “Eh, water under the bridge,” he shrugged.
Your knees wobbled, prompting you to trudge over and plop down onto one of the many chairs placed around the room. You heaved a heavy sigh and put your face into your hands, resting your elbows on your knees.
“They’re ruthless out there,” you said.
“Tell me about it,” Saul scoffed.
You uncovered your face and sat up straight against the soft cushion of the seat.
“…What did you do this time?”
“I don’t think that’s our biggest concern right now,” he stated and nervously glanced at the riot that was increasingly growing more aggressive by the minute.
You and Saul both flinched as someone attempted to, and almost succeeded, at entering the building. Saul rushed over to the door and slammed it shut in said person’s face. Locking it, he then ran a hand through his hair and leaned his back against the door.
“Well, where’s your bodyguard? Huell?” You questioned, tilting your head.
“Ah—he’s out sick with the flu,” he waved his hand dismissively and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Why don’t we just call the police?”
“No, I can’t do that,” he shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Because. I just… can’t. Okay?”
“What do you suggest we do, then?” You crossed your arms.
He stroked his chin and squinted his eyes as if he were in deep thought.
“Follow me,” he said then disappeared behind the reception desk.
You staggered to your feet and hurried after Saul, nearly tripping over a large shard of glass in your haste.
He was waiting by the back exit, holding the door open for you when you caught up to him. You were reluctant, unsure of whether or not he was leading you to your demise. When he noticed your hesitation, he nodded toward the door, signaling for you to go first.
“After you,” he smiled politely in an attempt to ease your worries.
With the extra reassurance, you stepped outside into the crispy winter air. The slight cool breeze nipped at your nose causing you to shiver and hug yourself to try and trap some warmth. It felt as though the weather had dropped 20 degrees just in the short amount of time you were inside.
Saul emerged from the room next and spun around to shut the door. He felt around in his pocket, pulled out a key and locked the door before pocketing the key once more. Afterwards, he jogged over to the edge of the building and peeked around the corner. You arched a brow in confusion and followed him. You stood there in contemplation for a moment before you slouched slightly and squeezed your head under his arm to get a glimpse at what he was looking so intently at.
Ah, right. The protesters, you should’ve known. You wondered how nobody had called the police yet.
They were barely visible from where you two stood, but they were still there, nonetheless.
You were so entranced by the violent protest, that you failed to notice Saul depart from the wall and break into a sprint in the opposite direction until he appeared in your line of vision.
Your eyebrows rose and your eyes widened to the size of saucers.
“Saul! What are you doing?!” You cried out.
Saul briefly glanced to you at your call and gestured for you to follow him, “Come on! You’re supposed to follow me, remember?”
You fidgeted in place for a second before running after him. You soon came to the realization that he was heading straight for your car.
“Why don’t we take your car?! It’s closer!” You risked a look behind you only to see the furious group chasing you both. They were already rapidly gaining distance. You grimaced.
“My car’s almost out of gas! Plus, they’ve probably destroyed it anyways, I can’t bare to look! Keys!”
“What?” You panted.
“Keys! I’ll drive!”
“O-Oh!” You fumbled to grab your keys from your pocket and chucked them at him. He caught them with one hand and swiftly unlocked the car before getting in. Not a moment later, the engine roared to life.
All the sudden, you were able to very clearly hear labored breathing coming from so close behind you that it made the hairs on your neck stand on end. You whipped your head around so fast, you could’ve sworn you must’ve given yourself whiplash, and jumped in alarm. A very determined looking man was merely inches away from seizing you by your upper arm. You yelped and snatched your arm away just narrowly avoiding him swiping at you. This in turn fueled your adrenaline and motivated you to increase your pace and speed up just enough to reach your destination.
Once you made it to the passenger side, you swung the door open with enough force to rip it from its hinges and practically leaped into the vehicle
“Go go go!” You urged and slammed the door shut as Saul slammed on the gas and veered out of the parking lot and into the street.
You looked back and saw one of the bastards from the group hurl their pathetic looking sign at your car—and miss by a long shot—as well as the man from before giving you the middle finger.
You scowled and stuck your tongue out in a childish manner. When you turned back around you suppressed a snort. Saul was frantically trying to adjust his seat so that his legs were no longer pressed up against the steering wheel and the top of his head wasn’t grazing the roof of the car.
“Jeez, how does anyone drive like this?” He muttered under his breath. When he saw you staring at him out of his peripheral, he cleared his throat and looked to you, “You alright? For a second I thought I’d have to come out there and teach those wackos a lesson,” he set his right hand on your leg where your thigh met your knee.
A light shade of pink dusted across your cheeks and you shuddered softly at his touch and squeezed your thighs together as not so PG friendly thoughts invaded your mind. Momentarily forgetting to answer him in your hazy state of mind, you nodded.
He clicked his tongue, “You’re shaking like a leaf. Can’t have that, let’s get some heat on in here, shall we?” You deflated slightly when he pulled away and started to fiddle with the buttons on the center console, “Jesus, how do you work this thing? It’s like trying to figure out how to use the shower at someone else’s house,” he chuckled at himself, “I feel like I’m looking at one of those ink blob tests that they show you in therapy here,” he bit his lip in concentration.
“Saul! Look out!” You shrieked as he unknowingly drifted onto the opposite side of the road and into oncoming traffic. You just about flung into his lap reaching for the wheel; you clutched it with white knuckles and the tires screeched as you swerved the car back onto the right side of the road, a car on the other side blared it’s horn as you did so.
You slumped in your seat and shakily clutched your chest. If you weren’t out of breath before, you certainly were now. You and Saul both let out a breath of air in unison and sat in stunned silence for a moment.
Saul was the first to break the silence, “Thanks.”
“…yeah,” you blinked dumbly.
Another moment or two of driving in silence and it was you who decided to speak up this time, “So, you wanna tell me what’s going on now, or?”
He shifted in his seat, “Look, I didn’t want to alarm you, but I may or may not have engaged in some illegal activity and now the feds are after me. And that’s all I’m gonna say; the rest is classified.”
Your jaw hung open, “What! Saul!” You smacked his arm.
“Hey! I’m driving here!”
“Oh my God… you can’t be serious,” you covered your face with your hands and shook your head in disbelief.
The pressure of it all ultimately got to you and your mind ran into overdrive, thoughts swirled around, overthinking every little thing, what if this, what if that, it was all too much. Your eyes glazed over and you sniffled.
Saul’s eyebrows shot up onto his forehead when he realized you were crying, “Hey, hey! Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay!”
“No, it’s not! I work for you, so that means the feds are after me too!” You let out a pitiful sob that shook your body.
“I won’t let them lay a finger on you—they won’t even get near you,” he took turns looking back and forth between the road and you.
You could sense his gaze on you, “P-Please,” you hiccuped, “pay attention to the road.”
“Right, right…” He focused on the road again and before you knew it, he pulled up to his place and put the car in park.
He tenderly took your wrists and removed your hands from your face, “Look at me,” you did as he said, “I’ll make it up to you. Bottom line is, I have to run and I uh… I want you to come with me… so, what do ya say?”
Your mouth formed into the shape of an ‘o’. That caught you off guard. You looked away and suddenly became very interested in your shoes. You didn’t know what to say.
He snaked an index finger under your chin and redirected your eyes to meet his. Your cheeks turned to a deep shade of crimson at the contact and you stared into his captivating, blue eyes with wonder and excitement.
“Tell me to stop, and I’ll stop. The last thing I’d wanna do is make you uncomfortable,” he promised.
He patiently waited for your nod of approval, then tilted his head and began to take his time leaning in until his lips finally collided with yours in a passionate kiss. You froze and tensed up at first before quickly melting into the kiss. Your heart was beating so fast, you feared it’d combust at any given time; and your face felt like it was on fire, so much so, you were sure he could feel the heat radiating off of it. Nevertheless, you felt like you were on Cloud 9 and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
A ‘pop’ sounded when he pulled back. He slid his hand from your chin to your cheek and wiped off a lingering tear. Your eyes glistened and you felt like you couldn’t look away, like he’d put you into some sort of trance.
“I’ll go, I’ll come with you,” you concluded.
“Good, glad to hear it,” he smiled wholeheartedly then booped your nose. He grinned when you pouted, “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself! You’re adorable, how could I not?” He laughed.
The corner of your mouth twitched into a smirk and you couldn’t help but laugh along with him.