Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Ik hou van jou”

            Adam peered into her face, brow furrowed, trying to understand the absolutely awful Dutch translation that just fell out of Olive’s mouth. She could dissect each emotion in his eyes as he slowly worked to understand what she had just said. Confusion, doubt, and then…

Suddenly, she could see the whites of his eyes as he took in a sharp breath. Thank God, thought Olive. For a half second she had worried that she had truly botched it and had accidentally told him she needed a bedpan in Dutch.

His hands slid from her face and grasped her shoulders firmly. She could feel his large hands shaking, his breath far from steady.

“Do you…is that…,” he began, searching her face “...do you know what you just said?”

“Yes, I know what I just said! Unless someone at Google Translate has a nasty sense of humor,” Olive laughed brightly. She looked up at his utterly shocked expression, feeling a little thrill at being the person that made his normally serious composure break so completely.

Adam swallowed visibly, his eyes still searching through her face as if to find some sort of joke, a break in reality, or punchline. There wasn’t one -  and there would never be one.

“Say it again to me,” he said slowly to her, jaw rolling, “...please.”

“Can I say it in English this time? I’d rather not butcher your mother tongue a second time,” Olive said softly. Finally, finally - she could fully tell the truth, her truth, for the first time in months. She was absolutely exhilarated on a high that she wasn’t likely to come down from in a while. Maybe ever.

“Yes,” Adam muttered, his eyes becoming half-lidded, hands still placed heavily on her shoulders.

Olive grinned up at him, saw herself reflected in his deep brown eyes full of wonder, and said the words she had been too cowardly to say for weeks but knew to be true -

“I love you, Adam.”

All at once, she was gripped by him, his massive body encompassing all of her in an embrace. She could smell his clean dark scent as his body shuddered. She gathered her much smaller arms around as much of his torso as she could manage and squeezed him back tightly, pouring herself into him. His warmth, as per usual, spread through her body like wildfire. Truly, Olive thought to herself, trying desperately to keep back happy tears for the nth time tonight, this is about as happy as happy can get.

            Adam pulled back from the embrace, his dark eyes slightly glossier than she had seen before they had hugged. He wore an elated yet dazed expression, as if someone had hit him over the head with a dinner plate. He appeared to be trying to find the words to say, but his mouth kept working mutely.

“Listen, I know this is really quick considering we only started fake-dating a little while ago, so you don’t need to feel obligated to say it back to -” Olive started quickly, suddenly feeling like she needed to give him a lifeline.

Adam’s gaze bore into her intensely. She suddenly felt naked, like he was staring right into her soul.

“Olive, I have loved you since the moment I first saw you messing with your expired contacts in my lab bathroom. I loved you when you gave your incredible freshman poster presentation your first year here. I loved you every time I heard your name whispered from other people’s mouths, when I caught glances of you as we passed by in the hall,” he took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

 “I loved you well before you ever decided to kiss me in the biology labs’ hallway.”

Adam said the sentence with a finality that begeted a truth beyond truth. This had been the case for three years. He really had loved her all that time. It felt different coming from his mouth rather than the hearsay of Holden’s, and it fell over Olive like a waterfall. She could feel her jaw drop slightly. Adam’s brow furrowed, and she could see a rash of red blush covering his cheekbones, even in the darkness of the night.

“So,” he said, looking down for a moment, looking more bashful than she had ever seen him, “...I think I can say your feelings are not unrequited.” She took his hand at this, lifting it slowly up to her lips and kissing the tips of his fingers. She wanted so much of him, of this, and she was beyond grateful that this had somehow miraculously worked out. All of this, this whole situation, was bananas, but they had come out the other side. And in love, no less!

“Well then,” she began, looking up at him, “what should we do about that?”

He looked at her with a fondness that made her heart swell like a balloon.

“To be honest, I never thought I’d get this far. I never thought you’d ever talk to me, let alone…,” he gestured to her holding his hand and then to both of them, “...all of this. I’m just happy to be here with you. The fact that you love me too…,” the last of his words coming out as if he felt them foreign. He brought a hand and brushed it through her wavy hair,

“It’s more than I ever dreamed. More than I could ever let myself possibly fathom.” He said with a small, lopsided smile. His eyes still looked dazed and foggy with bliss. Olive gave his hand another lazy kiss and he rubbed her soft lips with his thumb, looking at her like some kind of miracle.

“Well then,” Olive muttered, giving him another smile, “how about we give real dating a swing?”

Chapter Text

“So, I know we just declared our love for one another and that was wonderful and beautiful,” Olive said, leading Adam up the flights of stairs to her apartment, “but unfortunately, our love is going to have its first trial. In about 30 seconds.” She tried hard to sound grave and serious, likely unsuccessfully.

“And that trial is?” Olive could hear Adam say behind her, hearing the edge of amusement in his voice.

“I’m not exactly what many people would call a ‘clean freak’. In fact, many people would go so far as to say I may be trending in the opposite direction entirely,” Olive called behind him. She wasn’t proud of this fact, but if he said he loved her, he might as well see her in all her Goblin-esque glory.

“Many people say, huh? Who are these many people?”

“Malcolm. Anh. All those many people. I’m just saying, you might want to prepare yourself here.” Olive was joking up the stairs but as she went to turn the knob to her door, a wave of genuine nervousness flooded through her system.

Oh my god, she thought, what if he is actually repulsed when he comes in here? I definitely did not do the dishes yesterday, and Malcolm probably didn’t because he’s with Holden…when was the last time I did laundry? A quick inventory of the state of the apartment in her brain did not calm her fears. The living room was going to be okay, kitchen meh, but her room? Yikes.  

“I’m sure it’ll be just fine,” Adam said evenly as Olive led him into the apartment. He looked around at their Facebook Marketplace couch, the Goodwill coffee table, and Malcolm’s grandmother’s old television. A stack of textbooks had a mug of stale coffee atop it.

“Honestly, this is pretty much what I expected.” Adam said, smiling at her softly.

“Really?”

Adam gave her a sardonic look, “I know this is difficult to believe, but I too was a graduate student once. My parents were ambassadors, but I wasn’t on their dime once I went to Princeton. Holden used to try to pit the cockroaches against each other in Gladiator battles at our first graduate apartment,” he looked away, thinking of the memory with a mixture of levity and disgust written on his face.

“That’s…uh…really gross,” laughed Olive, “should I call PETA on you guys?”

“To be fair, the cockroaches would just skitter away from one another back under the floorboards. No abuses took place.” Adam jokingly assuaged, clearly enjoying the back-and-forth between them.

“Good to know, good to know!” Olive winked at him. Adam blushed and looked down at his feet. He’s absolutely adorable, Olive thought inwardly.

“So…where should I put your bag?” Adam said to her, looking around the corner to see which of the two bedroom was hers. 

Oh boy, she thought grimly, here we go. She was hoping they could have a few more minutes in the living room before Adam had to face the reality that his new girlfriend was a slob.

            “It’s the last one on the right,” Olive said, and she could hear the nervousness in her voice. Damn it. She led the way, opening the door and let him walk past her into the room.

            They were met with an unmade bed and a floor littered with Epigenetics 301 tests that Olive had halfway graded before she had gone to Boston. A pile of laundry sat idle in the corner of the room, embarrassingly overflowing onto the ground. The walls were decorated with a Women in STEM poster she got from Anh and a series of prints of songs from Folklore she got on Etsy. And of course, her glow-in-the-dark stars that littered the ceiling.

            Okay, so the room is messy, Olive thought admittedly but then resolved herself - though if he doesn’t like the art, we’re going to have to have a serious conversation.

            Adam stood in the center, analyzing the room as if it contained the answers to the all the mysteries of the universe. His eyes fell softly on each object, on all of the things she loved and touched every day. The place she slept, the place where she got dressed and put up her hair in the messy bun he loved so much.

He gave her another one of those soft smiles that turned her into a puddle.

            “I love it. This room is just an encapsulation of you,” he said and then pointed at the Women in STEM poster, “and that’s a really great poster.”

Oh thank god, she let out an exhale. She wasn’t exactly sure what his taste in interior decorating was like yet, as she had only been to his house once and very quickly, but the words Dutch minimalism came to mind. Not the kind of place where Taylor Swift’s discography would be shown proudly on the walls.

“Going to be honest here - I thought you’d be grossed out by the messiness. And maybe not appreciate the posters. I’m really happy you like them because I like them a lot!” Olive grinned up at them.

“So, you’re a little messy – it’s okay. And why wouldn’t I like the posters? I thought Folklore was a great album,” Adam looked down at her, a small line forming between his brows.

A small ball of happiness exploded in the pit of her stomach. They had never discussed music taste before. All of this was brand new, and to know that this man that she knew she loved liked the same things – she could all of a sudden see future conversations, dates, concerts – that they would spend together.

            “Me too. I loved Folklore. And pretty much everything else she’s ever made.” Olive felt herself smiling widely up at him. “Want to listen to it while I get changed? My clothes are a bit wet from the rain.”

            “Sure,” Adam said gently. He put down her bag and then made to head out the room, “I’ll just be in the living room while you change so –“

            Olive reached out and grabbed his sleeve. He stopped immediately and looked down at her, an open and questioning look in his eye.

            “Why would you go out in the living room? Stay with me.” Olive said with a small smile and gazed up at him.

Adam’s breath stilled as he slowly nodded and shut the door.

Chapter Text

            “So now that we’re doing this thing for real, I need to know what the dreaded Adam Carlsen’s music taste is like,” Olive said with a smile as she put on the album and Adam plopped himself on her bed. It sank deeply with his weight, and she could hear the mattress springs moaning in protest.

I’m not sure how my XL twin is going to be handle the two of us on there later, she thought to herself and then quickly caught herself. Sex? Tonight? Would he even want to, after the past few days they’ve had? She guessed she was being flirtier than she had intended by having him stay in here while she got changed. She just wanted to talk to him more, because the thought itself of him leaving her presence, even for a few minutes, made her beyond melancholy. And here he was now, on her bed, looking up at her with that sweet, kind look that he always bestowed on her.

She could play with these cards that she accidentally dealt herself. In fact, Olive thinks slyly, I can have a bit of fun with this.

            “Let me guess before you tell me,” Olive smirked at him, and then her fingers closed around the bottom hem of her t-shirt. She could see Adam’s eyes narrow in on it like it had activated a fire alarm. She whisked it off in one clean motion, revealing her black low-impact sports bra underneath. It wasn’t a lacey traditionally sexy bra, but she hoped he’d like the view regardless.

The effect was immediate. Adam took a sharp inhale and shifted himself on her bed, obviously trying to hide his hard-on. She grinned at his reaction, and his incapacity to suppress it.

            “Hm….,” she postulated loudly, “maybe you’re really into progressive rock? Any King Crimson or Jethro Tull? Maybe you tried to play bass in middle school?”

            “No to all of the above,” he said gruffly, scanning her upper torso up and down quickly and then away to a random corner of the room.

            “Uh huh! Okay, humor me with another guess then!” Olive unzipped her jeans but did not take them off. The sound echoed through the room and Adam took another deep inhale. Olive put her fingers through the belt loops and started walking around the room.

            “So no prog rock…are you into any rap? Kendrick Lamar or Run the Jewels? I bet you knew all the lyrics to Lose Yourself when you were a kid.”

            “That came out when I was in high school, but don’t age me too much – you already think I’m on the edge of death,” he said sardonically, trying desperately not to let out a grin. Hm, Olive thought, he’s getting a hold on himself a bit. She shimmied her jeans down her long, athletic legs and then kicked them off. All semblance of control left his face as she stood in front of him, clad only in the sports bra and navy-blue cotton panties. He gripped the bed, white-knuckling and jaw rolling. She smiled innocently at him, as if waiting for him to expand on his non-answer of an answer.

            “Olive,” he said lowly, his eyes skittering up her body and then into her eyes, “this is…” He looked pained. As if he was holding himself back from throwing himself on her. She walked slowly towards him until she was between his two massive thighs, finger tracing along and up his knee.

            “Yes?”

He swallowed thickly and took one of her hands in his, rubbing small circles on the back of her hand.

“Is this really what you want tonight? You’ve just been through so much these past few days and I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything you don’t –“

Before he could continue, she wrapped her hands around his neck and gave him a long, deep kiss. He moaned into her mouth and brought his hands to the top of her hips, grabbing them tightly.

            “We just confessed our mutual love for one another, so I think that gives me more than enough cause to want to fuck you, don’t you think?” Olive said, inwardly reveling at the first true dirty talk she had ever attempted in her life. Adam shook his head lightly and gave a small laugh. Wait, shit, Olive thought suddenly, why is he laughing? Does he not –

            “Well, that officially does it then,” Adam muttered resolutely, with a half-smile and a dreamy look in his eyes, “this is definitely the best day of my life. Without a doubt, hands down.”

Olive’s heart skipped a few dozen beats as his hands slid under her ass and brought her down roughly on his lap.

Chapter Text

She could see sparks, and they had barely even started.

Adam was dragging her down his lap, his hard-on nestled between her thighs as he ground into her again and again, over and over. He was hard, impossibly hard. She moaned into his mouth, holding onto his shoulders for dear life. 

“Fuck me,” Adam said, more to himself than to her, grinding her against himself. He sounded already winded, like he knew he could finish from just this act alone. She knew she could too, but she wanted much more tonight.

“I can arrange that.” Olive said, grinning into his mouth. Adam’s breath stuttered as she brought her lips to pulse of his neck. She pressed them down, down, until she met his broad shoulders.

“Can I take this off?” she asked, gripping the bottom hem of his shirt. He nodded in affirmation, eyes half-lidded, whisking it off for her with the ferver of a teenage boy. 

God, his body. She could, and perhaps should, write sonnets about it. He was built like a tree, muscles roping around his shoulders and arms. All of it, so big. She straddled him as she splayed her hands across his chest, admiring the view.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever said this, but your torso is a masterpiece.” She said, feeling brave. He flushed in response.

“Specifically my torso?”

“I mean, the whole thing is unreal. Your ass is literally a copy-paste of Michelangelo’s David. I know, I cross-referenced.” 

“Please tell me my ass is not floating somewhere in an AI database,” Adam chuckled.

“It’s not, but it will forever being imprinted onto my brain,” she smiled into his mouth. 

“I think you’d be horrified to know how much of your body has changed my DNA,” Adam whispered back, kissing her neck softly. He was still rock hard beneath her, kneading and squeezing her ass. More of that, please.

“Mm, not as horrfied as you think.”

She was in control now. She peppered small, soft kisses on his chest and down to his abs. He smelled fresh and just… distilled Adam. It was a heady thing, and she felt herself clench around nothing. She started pressing his lips to his lower waist, touching the dark strip of hair leading beyond. He groaned, weaving his fingers through her hair. She unbuttoned him, enjoying taking her time kissing his hard length through his pants. His other hand not grabbing her head twitched beside her. She pulled down his pants, seeing the absolutely gorgeous sight of his cock barely constrained within his black boxer briefs. There was a small precum spot on the front of his shorts, but if was embarrassed, he didn’t show it. 

His pupils were blown wide, his face as red and flushed as she’d ever seen him. He was so tense he could shatter. They’d only had one night together despite both of them (Adam, even more so) pining for each other like it was an Olympic sport. They still had so much pent up, it would likely take a thousand lifetimes to get it all out of their systems. 

“Olive…” Adam said in a hushed voice as she took him out. He was warm and heavy in her hand as she swiped her tongue across his head. He made a strangled, choking sound as she brought her tongue flat against him again, and again. She wondered how deep she could take him in her mouth, since the first time she could barely get past the head. Inch by inch, agonizingly slow, she slid him into her mouth until she could feel him hit the back of her throat. 

Hm. She could actually do this. She kept the pace steady, letting his cock hit the back of her throat as she sucked him off. She could see the whites of his knuckles as he fisted the sheets on the bed. His eyes were squeezed shut; barely hanging on for dear life. She knew he wanted to fuck her too, but the human body can only withstand so much. He was going to cum, and fast, unless she decided otherwise. 

She gave him one last stroke and then straddled him again, watching his head jerk with the sudden change in sensation. 

“Mind if I try going on top?” she asked, grinding herself on his cock. She was already so wet, gliding up and down his lap.

“I can literally think of nothing better,” Adam muttered, pulling her panties to the side. Olive lined his cock up with her entrance, and then prepared for the tight, incredible stretch. She had never tried this position, but she had a feeling she would be decent at it. Her legs were strong, years of running making them into a product she was proud of. She watched his breathing hitch as he looked down at the place where their bodies met and lowered hereself onto him until she was filled to the hilt.

His face was unlike she’d ever seen - even on the night where they had first had sex. Eyes wide, as if memorizing every millisecond of the moment.

“I love you so much, Olive,” he whispered, breathless.

“And I love you too,” she replied. 

And then she started riding him.

Holy shit, this was insane. She loved having the control and setting the pace, smooth and slow at first while he groaned under her. She loved seeing his cock glistening with her wetness as she canted her hips. She loved feeling the head of his cock rub against the very front of her pussy, sending waves of tight, hot pleasure up her spine. His hands gripped her ass tight, and she saw he was starting shake from holding himself back. 

She started increasing the speed, hearing her ass slap again his thighs. Fuck - right there, he was hitting her right in the perfect spot, and she was starting to see spots. The pleasure exploded and streamed through her body as she fucked herself onto him through her mind-altering orgasm. She blearlily realised halfway through that he was finishing as well, his cock stiffening as he held her still on top of him. 

They both collapsed onto the bed, sweating and covered in sex. Adam had a half-amazed, slightly-insane look on his face, and Olive was sure she had one to match.

“I just want to say, I do - hypothetically - last longer than this,” Adam said, a light bit of embarrassment coloring his tone.

“Hypothetically?”

“I don’t tend to finish this fast when I’m tending to my own needs. You…just doing the things you do. It’s very distracting,” Adam said, sighing.

“Got it,” Olive said. “Well, I’ve give myself the kudos, but I do plan on practicing. Lots, and lots of practice. Because I don’t know if you noticed, but you’ve also given me a similar track record. Just two people who can’t help but cum,” she said with a grin. He nuzzled into her neck.

“Practice makes perfect,” he said seriously. But she could tell he was smiling as much as her.