[M4F] Interning for the Conservative You Can’t Stand (Political x Romance)

You told yourself it was temporary. One cycle. One name on a résumé that would make the next door open even if every sentence out of his mouth made your teeth hurt. You are not from his world. You did not grow up with the clubs, the fundraisers, the houses that look like they were designed to be photographed from a helicopter. You took the internship on a conservative incumbent’s team because the work was real, the access was rare, and you needed proof you could survive rooms that were built to spit you out. You needed the accolade more than you needed to like the man signing the timesheets.

Edd is in his twenties, rich in the way that does not require him to explain it, and already used to winning. Young enough that the press still calls him a surprise. Old enough at this that the surprise is wearing off. He campaigns like the district already belongs to him. He dresses like money is a personality. He knows you think his platform is a museum exhibit with better lighting. He keeps you anyway. You are good. You are fast. You are the intern who can gut a hostile briefing and still hand it back looking loyal. He likes watching you do it. He likes it more when you do it angry.

For months it has been late offices, shared cars, donor dinners where you smile and he talks, hallways where the argument starts as policy and ends as something you both pretend not to hear. He will quote your own corrections back at you. You will call his victory lap premature. He will look at your mouth when you say “wrong” like the word is doing him a favor. You have thought about quitting. You have thought about leaking. You have thought about walking into his office, locking the door, and settling the debate with less clothing and worse judgment. You have done none of those things.

Until tonight.

The race is called. The room downstairs is still loud with cheap champagne and people who have been waiting all night to touch him. Signs. Cameras. The same speech he has been rehearsing since the first poll tightened. He won re-election by enough that even the outlets that hate him have to say the word mandate. Staff is hugging. Consultants are already talking about the next map. You are the one who slipped upstairs to the private suite they reserved for the candidate, because someone had to bring the revised remarks, and because you could not stand another minute of watching strangers celebrate a future you spent months trying not to help build.
He finds you there.

The door shuts. The noise drops to a muffled roar through the floor. Edd has lost the jacket. The tie is gone. He looks like a man who has been shaking hands for three hours and is done pretending that is the part he wanted. There is champagne on the table he has not touched. There is a look on his face that has nothing to do with the speech.
“You hid,” he says.

“I work for you. I did not disappear.”

“You hid from the part where I win and you have to clap.”
“I clapped.”

“Not like you meant it.”

He comes closer. Playful. Mean with it. The rich-boy ease of someone who just got four more years and knows you cannot storm out without torching the line you came here to earn.

“Say it,” he says. “Say I should not have won.”

“You should not have won.”

“Say it again.”

“You are going to be insufferable.”

“I was already insufferable. Now I have a mandate.”

His eyes travel with no shame at all. The intern badge you forgot to take off. The dress you wore because election night is theater. The fact that you came upstairs alone like you already knew how this ends

“I should go back down,” you say.

“You should. There are cameras. There is a speech. There is a room full of people who think I am celebrating with them.”

“And you are up here.”

“I am celebrating appropriately.”

He reaches past you and turns the lock. Not hurried. Like he has been waiting for permission he does not actually need.

“You hate my politics,” he says, close enough now that the win and the argument are the same heat. “You needed this job. You stayed. You rewrote my lines and glared at me while I delivered them. Tonight I get four more years, and you are still in my suite instead of downstairs pretending you are proud.”

You should unlock the door.

You should go be the good intern one more hour.
You do not.
Edd smiles like the returns just came in a second time.
“Good,” he says. “Then stop talking like staff and celebrate like you mean the part you will not say on the record.”

—
Hey!

I’m Edd and I hope you liked this prompt. I’ve always been a bit of a politics buff and wanted to find a way to weave it into a fun and playful RP set up. I’m looking for a partner with respectable leftist sensibilities who’s willing to step into the shoes of a gorgeous, smart, and strategic intern on the campaign of a young up and coming conservative golden child candidate. Two opposites coming together in a taboo and deeply unprofessional affair. I’m happy to rework and adjust the set up to accommodate any interests you have whether substantive or otherwise!

The prompt leaves off right after Edd (yours truly) has now won his election to secure a four year term. You hate him but also were essential in getting him elected. There has been plenty of tension up until this point but we start off where it comes to a head for the first time. I’d love for my partner to determine their own way of responding to it all- do you try and make change from the inside and bring Edd to the left? Sabotage from within? Use it as a platform to start your own campaign? I’m open to all ideas! Also happy to explore an affair angle or layers like that.

I’m an experienced RP enthusiast and want a partner that’s willing to commit to a longer term arrangement where we can really explore this set up and potentially work off it into new fun narratives! tend to avoid extreme themes and am happy to share my K+L once we’ve gotten a chance to connect. I play as a self insert exclusively (sorry if that’s a dealbreaker) and have a preference for partners that do the same but am willing to be flexible and ensure we stay within each others boundaries! Also open to visuals where helpful. I’m looking for partners who are open to discussion around the prompt and set up- getting to know each other helps a lot with the flow of RP in my experience;)

Please use the word “government” in your reply so I know you made it this far and include a little