#automatically i was like..ah..yes international law...

You appear before the teacher’s room.

Sweat runs down your face from sprinting here and feeling of dread as you stand before the door to it.

It’s your first time failing any test.

And you already heard a mouthful from your parents.

“Seriously?! You failed civics!?”

“Out of every other subject!?”

You have always been bad at socializing and communication.

And you either weren’t paying attention in class or drawing the time away, as you can just use common sense to pass those tests, you thought.

To your surprise, there were laws and ethical conundrums in the test, with situations that you’ve never considered the effects of the outcome before, nor their appropriate answers.

And all the homework you forget to submit that adds up to this moment.

To your efforts, you’re just a few points away from passing this exam.

It seemed like your common sense is worse than you thought,

And you were the only one who missed the first regrading opportunity, so you’re pretty much on your own.

You don’t know if he’ll deduct even more scores that you can get just because of this or make an even harder version of the test than the first one, and the first retest version.

*sniffles*

You knock on the door 2 times, before going in

“Hello… is Mr. Himejima here?”

You felt so tiny and scared in this room full of adults.

Your communication skills were bad among your peers, and even worse with adults as you tried your best to not cry abruptly from sheer intimidation that creeps up to the back of your skull.

You feel your throat painfully trying to close in on itself as you try your hardest to fight against that to not end up speaking in illiterate croaking sounds.

“Yeah? That’s me”

He lifted his head up from his desk as he seemed to be working on something… grades, maybe?

The thought makes you feel guilty and nervous, like you’ve been pricked with a thousand tiny needles under your skin.

“Yes”

You nodded haphazardly.

“What have you come here for?”

“I c-come to take- “

Your throat betrays you as you feel more eyes from the other teachers in the room land on you and you can only breathe in panic as you start to feel a bit woozy.

“What’s wrong?”

“i-I-uhhhhh…”

You felt cold sweats on the side of your forehead as you internally try to regain control of yourself.

But maybe announcing your failure to the entire room of teachers might be too much of a step to take, right now.

Your legs are shaking threatening to make you fall over at any moment.

“Hello?”

Himejima gets up and clicks his tongue near-silently to navigate with the sound that bounces off nearby physical objects as he gets up and makes his way over to you.

He scares you even worse as he’s standing in front of you, terrifying you so bad you almost faint from your own fear.

“h-ah-h- I’m- “

He waits for your answer patiently with a moderate distance from you as you try to speak again.

“I-… I failed you!”

“What?”

He’s just as perplexed as you are.

“w-wait no I mean- “

“I- It’s ok, I’m not disappointed in you.”

“Ah- “

Your low-esteem self automatically thinks that’s because he has no expectations of you since the very beginning, but you keep that thought to yourself, as you realize you can’t stop overthinking.

“You’re the last person who didn’t take the makeup exam right?”

“Y-yes!”

You nod so hard your head’s about to fall off, fearing words might’ve failed you.

“Well, you can take this open book test on the empty desk over there, since you’re the only one left.”

You let out a choked gasp in your throat with closed mouth as you heard the last part.

“N-no pressure, t- take your time.”

“Hfu…”

Hearing that made you give out a sigh that took your stress out a little.

You take out your book and a few online mind maps you printed out to memorize for the past 2 days and start to work on your make-up exam.

You spent a few minutes staring at each question with no thoughts, which made Gyomei a little worried as you seemed very on edge about this test. Granted that he couldn’t even see your facial expression, but he could tell from the taps of your foot and the sound of biting fingernails.

“…You can listen to music if that helps?”

You gasped in surprise.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

And there you were, looking between your book and the test, breathing more calmly as you listen to your earphones.

It calmed your nerves, and you even doodled on the empty space before turning it in.

“I’m done! …Sir!”

as your hands in your test papers.

You’re not sure if the ‘sir’ made things more awkward, but it felt more right to say, rather than without.

“Ah, hm”

He gently accepts the papers that were outstretched to him, the same paper you were scared to take just a moment ago.

“…”

“…”

You two exchange stares without any words, with either of you having any ideas on why the other kept staring back.

“Um…”

“Am I good?”

“What?”

“Uh… Am I good to go?”

“Oh- yeah, yeah. Did you put in your names, number, and class?”

“Yep!”

“Ok, you’re good to go.”

“Thank you! Thank you very much!”

You put a thumbs up to express your joy with a smile on your face,

And he reluctantly returns the gesture.

More fan works and fan stuffs @karczel-fanzone! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Blair wanted to make her own rules. Luckily, after presenting a well-thought-out business plan to her parents, she was able to get them to co-sign for a loan from the bank to lease a dance studio. She named her studio Just Dance because she offered different types and levels of jazzercise. Some involved use of weights, some involved a little more high intensity, and some involved a little yoga. She was grateful for the couple of marketing classes she took because she was able to really build her brand. She had an Instagram, Facebook Page, and a website. She had an online way to sign up for memberships, and she had daily drop-in prices.

It was easier than she thought to build her clientele. She had a great spot in the city, and there was a small parking lot out back behind the building. Most of her friends from school signed up, and helped her advertise. It was open to men and women, as opposed to a lot of jazzercise places that only offered classes to women. Even though Blair couldn’t afford to hire a second instructor, she was managing things just fine. She offered two early morning sessions, one lunch hour session, and three evening sessions. So, she had plenty of time to relax, stretch, and not over work her muscles. She was strategic about class offerings as well. She gave herself Sundays and Fridays off, since those seemed to be the days with the least amount of people signed up. Monday through Thursday, and Saturday, she made sure to stagger her lessons. For example, Mondays and Wednesdays were weights and yoga infused classes, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays were the high intensity days. Going into her fourth year doing this, she had it down to a science to say the least.

Business was always really good in January and February, when people were making their New Year’s resolutions, and during the summer months when people were trying to feel better about being in their bathing suits. Blair always preached positivity and inner health as the most important things. It was an inclusive space, which is exactly what she wanted it to be.

She liked working for herself. If she needed to run errands between classes, she could. If she wanted to take a nap in the middle of the day, she could. She didn’t have to answer to a single person. Her parents would sometimes ask questions, but mostly just to make sure Blair was making her loan payments on time. She had automatic withdrawals set up with the bank, so she didn’t even need to think about it. Yup, Blair had just about everything figured out, and she knew she was very lucky for that.

//

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Sullivan, we’ll get everything figured out for your son. Yes, he’s in very good hands with me. Alright, have a nice evening.” Harry hangs up his phone and sighs, rubbing at his temples to soothe the oncoming headache he could feel. It was another complicated trust fund case, but that was the job.

The Law Office of Styles and Associates was a tax attorney office. Harry specialized in cases that dealt with trusts, gifts, and various tax planning structures to reduce the burdens of income taxes and estate taxes, and he assisted in devising investment strategies. His undergraduate degree was in accounting, and he minored in pre-law. After that, he went to law school for three years and passed the bar. His father had been a tax attorney as well. Harry liked living the comfortable life he was able to live growing up thanks to his father, and he wanted the same for himself. Plus, he just enjoyed crunching numbers for people, so it was a win-win. Making nearly $150K a year wasn’t too shabby either.

“Hey, H, you ready to go?” John comes into Harry’s office.

“Yeah, just finished up for the day.” Harry stands up, puts his suit jacket back on, grabs his brief case, and heads out. “Kate, feel free to head home, I’m done for the day.” He tells his secretary on his way out.

“Thank you, Mr. Styles, have a nice weekend.” She smiles at him.

“Same to you.” He nods and keeps walking with John. “I feel terrible, she’s pregnant, you know? Her feet are the size of melons by the end of the day.”

“When’s her maternity leave start?” John asks as they enter the elevator.

“Not for a while, she’s only seven months along. She’s been trying to train some college intern to take her place while she’s gone, but no one’s as good as Kate.” Harry rolls her eyes. “Oh well, I’m happy for her. Her and husband have been trying to get pregnant for a while.”

Harry and John make their way to a bar downtown, one of their usual Friday evening spots. They usually met up with some of their other law-school buddies. It was also a great way to blow off steam from the week. Sometimes Harry would end up pulling a 60-hour week, so he thought he deserved to cut loose, and have a little fun with his friends. Maybe meet a pretty girl he could take back to her place and have a whole different kind of fun with her. Harry was a phenomenal attorney, but when it came to his personal life, well, if you looked up the definition of a playboy, his picture would be there. He fucked around, a lot, without a second thought. Actually, his only thought was to make sure he always had a condom. Harry never went bare back. The last thing he needed was someone claiming he was the father of their child, and suing him for child support. The only time he didn’t use a condom was when he was in a legitimate relationship a couple of years back.

He thought about her from time to time. He never met another girl like her, and there were times he really did miss her. The breakup wasn’t anything dramatic, the pair had just grown apart. Harry was in the process of taking over the practice for his father, and she…wasn’t quite ready to settle down. She wanted to work on her own career and make a name for herself. It hurt that she didn’t see him in her vision for the future, but he understood where she was coming from. She was a few years younger than him, and he didn’t want her to resent him for taking away her time to be young and have fun. So they ended it. Since her, he decided to have some fun himself with his friends.

//

Blair got the call right before her second morning class on Wednesday morning. She nearly collapsed on the floor in tears. Everyone rushed over to her. She had to cancel everything for the rest of the week, and her clients were more than understanding.

“How did it happen?” She asks her mother, Pam.

“He had a stroke, and…god, he just didn’t bounce back.” Pam uses a hankie to wipe her tears. “Most of everything should be all set, he was very specific, but…we’re going to need an attorney. Your father’s biggest fear is that his first wife would claim that she has a right to his pension, that she was promised money or something.”

“God, I hate her.” Blair grimaces. “All she’s ever cared about is making him miserable. She just wants money for her son. He’s not even Dad’s!”

“That’s why they got divorced! She cheated on him with his best friend and got knocked up. You can see how sticky this is going to get. I hate to ask, but…”

“I’ll go see him.” Blair sighs.

“I just think he might sympathize, maybe work the case pro bono. I’m not sure we could afford him otherwise.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mum, I’ll talk to him and figure it out. I’m not going to let Lora fuck everything up for you.”

//

Kate nearly choked on her water when she saw Blair walking towards her. She knew Harry had a meeting with a B. Smith. She should have known better.

“B-Blair, hi.” Kate says.

“Kate! Oh my goodness, you look incredible! You and Roger finally-“

“Yeah! I’m due in a couple more months.”

“That’s amazing, I’m so happy for you.” Blair smiles. “Um, I think I set up a meeting through an intern?”

“Yes.” Kate sighs. “I’m training her for when I go on maternity leave. Um, may I ask why you’re here to see Harry?”

“It’s strictly business. My…my father recently passed, and-“

“I’m so sorry.” Kate frowns. “He was always so nice.”

“Yeah, he was a good guy. Anyways, there’s a lot going on with his will and a trust he set up for my mom. Harry’s the only person I could think of when my mom said we’d need an attorney.”

“Of course.” Kate nods. “I’ll let him know you’re here.” Kate knocks on Harry’s door and opens it. “Mr. Styles?”

“Yes?”

“Your 2PM is here.”

“Ah, great.” Harry squints at his screen to check his calendar. “B. Smith? Why does that sound familiar?” He puckers his lips in thought.

“Um…it’s Blair.”

“Blair!” Harry stands up and bangs his knee in the process. “Why didn’t you tell me she was coming?!”

“I didn’t know! Maura answered when she called to set up the appointment.”

“Fuck.” Harry runs a hand through his hair. “How do I look? Is there anything in my teeth?”

“No, you’re fine. Just relax, I’m going to send her in.” Kate leaves his office and smiles at Blair. “He’s ready for you.”

“Thank you, Kate. We should catch up before the baby comes.”

“I’d like that. I miss going to your classes.”

Blair nods and goes into Harry’s office, closing the door behind her.

“Hi, Harry.”

“Hi.” He walks over to her, leaving about a foot of space between them. “To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?” Her bottom lip trembles, and his smile fades. “What’s wrong?” He asks softly.

“M…my Dad died.” She says, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Oh, sweetheart.” He pulls her in for a hug so he can comfort her. “When’s the funeral? You know you could have just called me, you didn’t have to be so formal.”

“Actually, I did.” She sniffles and steps back from him. “I need an attorney, my mom and I do…only…we can’t really afford a good one.”

“Oh.” Harry nods. “Have a seat.” He gestures, and rounds his desk to sit back down in his own seat. “Is this about his ex-wife?”

“Unfortunately.” Blair rolls her eyes, and grabs a tissue off his desk. “My mom is scared she’s going to pull some fake paternity crap with her son, even though everyone knows he’s not my Dad’s. I think my mom just wants to be prepared for the inevitable shit storm Lora’s going to bring.”

“I don’t blame her.” Harry sighs and leans back in his chair. “I…haven’t taken a pro bono case yet this year. I could help that way.”

“Only if you really want to. I’m not asking for a handout, but I don’t trust anyone else to take care of me.” Blair blinks when she realizes what she’s said. “Us, I don’t trust anyone else to take care of us.”

“Right.” He leans forward. “I’d be happy to do it. Um, does your mom want to meet with me, or-“

“I think she’s sort of hoping I’ll take care of all the legal stuff. She’s grieving, you know?”

“So are you.” He frowns.

“You know me, I like to keep busy during these sorts of things. I can get a copy of the will, and the trust information over to you via email if that works, and then we can go from there?”

“Sure, yeah. My email’s still the same, um, and so is my phone number…”

“I still have your phone number.” She rolls her eyes.

“Then why didn’t you call me about this first? Why call and make an appointment?”

“I…I thought if I called…you’d think I was calling for something else.” She blushes. “I wanted you to know it was strictly business.”

“Blair, all you had to say was that your dad died. I could have been there for you. You live alone, all you do is work…your best friend is my cousin…do you and Riley even still talk?”

“Of course we do! Just because we broke up doesn’t mean that she and I did. I met you because of her, I was her friend first. It would be really shitty to stop talking to her because it didn’t work out with you.”

“Okay, Christ, calm down.” He shakes his head. “You’re as hot headed as ever, you know that?”

“I’m sorry, my father just died and I’m trying to keep it together!” Her eyes rim with tears again. “He’s never going to be able to walk down the aisle when I get married, he’s never going to meet his grandchildren, there are so many things…he was too young.” She sniffles.

“How did it happen?”

“He had a stroke, and didn’t recover.” She looks away.

“I’m so sorry.”

“I appreciate that, but that’s not going to being him back, so don’t be sorry. Just…help me with this.”

“I will, there’s no question about it.”

“Thank you, Harry.” She stands up. “I’ll email you.”

“Blair.” Harry stands up. “Look, if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask. If you need a friend…I’m here for you.”

“I have plenty of friends.” She sighs. “And no offense, but my friends don’t fuck a ton of women weekend after weekend and treat them like shit.” She smirks.

“I don’t do that.” His face flushes. “I just haven’t met someone I’ve really wanted to continue seeing, that’s all.”

“Harry.” Blair shakes her head as she chuckles. “Not that I ask, but Riley’s told me a few things. You two are close, and when she gets drunk she loves regaling me of your many escapades.”

“I’ll have to send her a very strongly worded text after you leave.” He rolls his eyes.

“Don’t get mad at her, it’s fine. I don’t really care.”

“You don’t?”

“No, why would I? It’s not me you’re fucking, so it doesn’t concern me.” She shrugs. “That’s the beauty of breaking up, Har, I don’t give a shit where you stick your dick at night.”

“Well, obviously you do if you won’t even let me be a friend to you, Blair.”

“I just…I don’t want us getting close again, alright? It’ll hurt when we end up parting way, and I don’t wanna go through that while also grieving my Dad. Can you understand that?”

“Yeah.” He nods. “Don’t worry, we’ll get this all sorted out.” He smiles at her.

“Thank you. I need to go. I told my mom I’d be over to help her pack some things up. She sort of just wants to rip the band aid and put his clothes away.”

“If you need any help at all with any heavy lifting, call me.”

“Harry.” Blair sighs.

“I’ve got that nice SUV, I can help move stuff, that’s all I’m saying.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. I’ll talk to you soon.” She says, and out the door she goes. Kate waits a moment before coming into Harry’s office.

“Scotch?” Kate asks.

“Scotch.” Harry nods, and Kate goes over to his credenza to take out his good crystal and liquor to pour him a small glass.

“You’ll get through this.” She lifts her water bottle to cheers with him, and he downs the brown liquid.

//

Blair was back at work the following week. She needed the distraction. Lora had been eerily quiet. Maybe she didn’t know that Blair’s father passed, but as soon as the obituary hit the papers, she was sure that witch would be out and about to cause some trouble. At the end of Blair’s last Thursday class, she heard the sound of dress shoes on the hard wood. She turns to see Harry.

“You know there’s not supposed to be outside shoes in here. I just mopped.” She puts her hands on her hips and huffs at him.

“Yeah, I’m well aware of the rules. I used to be your best customer, remember?” He smirks. “Anyways, I looked over all the documents, I thought you might like to go over everything with me before the funeral, in case she shows up to cause trouble, you’ll have all the facts.”

“I need to, like, go home and shower…today was an intensive day, I’m soaked.”

“Perfect, I’ve got dinner in the car. We can go there, eat, and go over the documents.” He smiles.

“You’re such a weasel.” She chuckles. “But I’m too tired to argue with you. What did you pick up to eat?” She raises an eyebrow at him.

“Nothing special.” He shrugs. “Just some dumpling curry from that Thai place we both like.”

“I take it back you’re not a weasel, you’re the devil.”

Harry drives over to Blair’s apartment. He didn’t have a key anymore so he had to wait for her. He follows her up to her apartment, and makes himself at home while she goes to take a shower. She hadn’t changed much, but he definitely noticed some different pictures on her bookshelves. They used to be littered with framed photos of them, and she had a ton of scrapbooks for the two of them, but those seemed to be missing now as well. He sighs while he plates up the food for the both of them, and opens up a bottle of wine while he waits. Blair comes out about ten minutes later with her hair wrapped up in a towel, and her long, plush, pink robe around her body. She sits down next to him at the island.

“Wine?” She questions, but picks up the glass to take a sip.

“It’s been a long day, to be honest with you. I’m gonna work from home to catch up on some sleep tomorrow since I don’t have any meetings.”

“You know I have Fridays off, we could have done this tomorrow.” She frowns.

“It’s okay, I figured you’d want everything now. The funeral’s Saturday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Eat up, and then we can look at everything.”

“We can do both at the same time.”

“Does your nose still run like a leaky faucet when you eat spicy food?” He smirks, and she rolls her eyes. “That’s what I thought.”

“Thank you for picking this up.” She says as she takes a bite. “I haven’t had this in forever.”

“Me neither…I stopped going because I didn’t want to run into you there.”

“That’s why I stopped going. We should have divided up restaurants when we broke up.” She laughs, and takes another sip of wine. “Do you mind if I dry my hair when we’re done eating? I’ll get a-“

“You’ll get a headache if you don’t, I know the drill.” He takes a sip of his own wine, and eats a spoonful of rice.

“Stop remembering things about me.” She swats a hand at him.

“We were together for long enough, Blair, I can’t help it.”

“Yeah, well, quit throwing it in my face, okay? We’re not doing this to go for a stroll down memory lane.”

Harry knew he’d be waiting at least twenty minutes while Blair dried her hair. He walks around her living room, stretching his legs a bit. He was curious to see what she had filled her bookshelves with. There was a picture of her and Riley from their freshman year of college. Harry picks it up and smiles. Harry was in his first year of law-school when Riley and Blair were college freshmen. He didn’t meet Blair formally until their senior year, and he was in his first year working at his father’s firm. He was helping Riley move in after winter break, and Blair had already been there.

“Blair!” Riley exclaimed. “I missed you so much.” She threw her arms around her.

“I missed you too! I’m glad we both agreed to come back a week early.”

“Same here. This is my cousin, Harry. Harry, this is Blair.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Harry shook Blair’s hand.

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Her mouth had run dry. They held eye contact for a beat too long. “You’re in law school, right?”

“I finished last year, I’m actually working now. I’m a tax attorney.” He explains. “It’s my dad’s business.”

“And it’s super boring.” Riley rolled her eyes. “Har, could you bring everything in for me? I have a meeting with my advisor that I need to get to. We’re going over my practicum stuff.”

“Sure thing. We’re still getting dinner later, right?”

“Mhm, I shouldn’t be too long. Blair, you don’t mind if Harry hangs here for a bit, do you? You’re also welcome to come to dinner with us.”

“Sure, I don’t have a problem with it.” She shrugged.

“You’re the best. See you in a little while!”

“Is there a lot of stuff? I can help.” Blair said to Harry.

“Not a lot, no. But…I’ve never been here before, so if you could just show me upstairs, that would be great.”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

Harry brought Riley’s suitcase in, and Blair led him upstairs. She showed him Riley’s room.

“Is yours similar?” He asked.

“My room? Um, no…it’s a little different.” She swallowed. “Do you wanna see?”

“I’d love to.” He grinned, and followed her down the hall to her room. “Riley’s told me a lot about you over the years, but she failed to mention how insanely gorgeous you are.” He leaned against her wall after she closed her door.

“Well, she failed to mention how hot her cousin is, but I suppose that would be a weird thing to say about a family member.” She smirked. “How old are you, exactly?’

“I’m about to turn twenty-six, what about you?”

“I’m almost twenty-two…in May.”

“Not a huge age difference.” He walked towards her.

“Not at all.” She looked up at him with big eyes.

“Want me to kiss you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, all done.” Blair says, coming out with her all dry and pretty. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, just saw this old picture of you and Riley.”

“God, we were babies then.” Blair smiles at the photo. “We took that on the day we met at orientation.” She looks at him. “Wanna sit on the couch?”

“Sure.” Harry grabs his briefcase and takes out all of the documents he needed to go over with Blair. “So, as you can see, your father set up a trust for you that you’ll get access to a year after his passing. That’s pretty standard. Your mother has a different sum of money that she’ll be able to access much sooner. There’s absolutely nothing in his will about Lora or her son. Even if she tries to contest it, there’s nothing in here that would indicate he was hiding anything. I looked over their divorce settlement as well, she stopped getting alimony when she remarried. She literally has no case. You and your mum can take a breather.”

“Oh, what a relief! Thank you, Harry. She’ll be able to let herself relax for the first time in a while.”

“Are you going to take any more time off from work?”

“Well, I’m closed Saturday, and I’m off Sunday, and I’m closed Monday as well. Then I’ll be back to it Tuesday.”

“You’re only giving yourself a long weekend?” He frowns.

“Harry, I can’t afford to keep closing. I make enough with the memberships, but I won’t be making the extra I do from the walk-ins.”

“Look, if you need some money-“

“Don’t you dare.” She stands up. “I don’t want your money, Harry, I never have, and I never will. I’m not your goddamn sugar baby!”

“I never said you were!” He says, standing up.

“But you used to make me feel like that all the time! You were always paying for every little thing. You never let me pay for a single thing. It was like you had zero confidence in me, even though I was running a successful business!”

“You were just starting out! All I wanted to do was help you, make it a little easier for you. You’re the one that went to their parents for loan help when I would have done it in a heartbeat! You crushed me.”

“We weren’t even living together, and you were ready to drop that amount of money on me?! That would have been so weird!”

“We were both working odd hours, and we had only been together a few months at that point, moving in would have been weird! A loan is totally different, I would have been investing in something great.”

“Well, I didn’t need your investment! We were together for nearly three years, Harry, what’s your excuse for not living together after all that time, hm?”

“I would have felt guilty. I was never home, I didn’t want you waiting up for me. It was easier when I could just come here and crawl into bed with you after a long day. And you always had to get up so much earlier than me. I thought…I thought it was better that we weren’t living together. You had never lived alone before, I wanted you to enjoy the freedom.”

“Was that it, or did you just want to keep your own?” She huffs, crossing her arms. “You know what, this fight is useless, it doesn’t matter because it’s not going to solve a single fucking thing. Thank you for your help, I really do appreciate it, but now that I know everything’s fine, you can go. If I need anything else from you down the line, I’ll reach out. I’m sure Lora will make a stink, and therefore I’ll need an attorney. But it’s all professional, Harry.”

“You’ve made that plenty clear already, thanks.” Harry packs up his things, and Blair walks him to the door. They look at each other. He just sighs and heads out the door.

Blair would be lying if she said that she didn’t miss Harry. They had a really special bond that was hard to find with just any one. All they did that first day they met was kiss, have a passionate make out, but that was it. Blair didn’t want to go too far with him in case Riley wasn’t comfortable with it. But Riley was overjoyed when Harry asked if she would mind if he asked Blair out on a date. It was a whirlwind from there.

He took her on some of the nicest dates she had ever been on. Most guys would take her out for coffee, maybe a movie if they could scrape the money together, but Harry took Blair out to nice restaurants, and to the movies that had lux levels. Not to mention his condo, god, she loved his condo. He liked that she kept things simple. Crockpot dinners at her place, watching TV curled up in her little full-sized bed, and clipping coupons together on Sunday mornings. That was where they had sex for the first time, in her little bed after their fifth date. He told her he loved her for the first time on the top of a Farris Wheel during the spring carnival her campus held, and she wasted no time saying it back. After that, a deeper trust formed between the two of them. One that not a lot of people would understand. Harry didn’t quite understand it himself since he was usually the one who was a little more dominant in bed, but with Blair…well, needless to say after a long week of working cases, his favorite thing was to come home, find her in his bedroom with some lingerie on, and letting her tie him to the bed posts for a little while. It was a release he didn’t even really know he needed. And with her, having been a college student about ready to graduate and enter the real world, it felt like so many things were out of control. Harry gave her that control back.

Harry wonders if that’s why they breakup seemed so much harder on him than her. It seemed like Blair was able to let go so easily. Yes, he started fucking around afterwards, but he just couldn’t get that same high from anyone else, nor did he trust some random girl at a bar to do the things for him that Blair once did. Blair was just better at hiding her emotions. She missed Harry, she’s missed him for a long time now. She cried for weeks, feeling this undeniable ache in her heart without him around. But, she had her studio to throw herself into, a brand to keep building. It was the perfect distraction, and even though she missed Harry, she didn’t hate being single for the first time in a while. For three years, Harry had been like her security blanket. The way she looked at it, every kid eventually stops sleeping with their security blanket at some point. It was time to be independent.  

//

The funeral was a graveside service. It was cloudy, but there wasn’t rain, which was probably the only upside Blair could think of. She was there, sitting next to her mother, other family members in the row behind them. Her mother was holding Blair’s hand, but this is one the few times Blair wished someone was there for her. Just as the service was about to get started, someone sat down next to her. She looks to her right and sees Harry, dressed in black from head to toe. He doesn’t say anything, he just puts his arm around her, and rubs his shoulder. He gives Blair’s mom a soft smile before sitting back in his seat.

“Harry…you weren’t supposed to come until afterwards…” Blair says.

“I know.” He looks at her. “I just wanted to be here for you.”

Harry gave Blair his extra tissues while she cried during the service. He held her the entire time, and stayed back once it was over. Then, he offered to drive Blair and Pam back to Pam’s home. Neither of them were in any condition to drive. There were a lot of people that came back to the house afterwards. Blair was able to calm down a bit, but her mother was really taking it hard.

“We don’t have to do this today.” Harry says to Blair.

“No, we should just rip the band aid. Then she can just…” Blair’s eyes widen when she sees Lora walk through the door. “Oh, you miserable cunt.” She says.

“What?” Harry asks, confused.

“Not you, Lora’s here.” Blair storms over to her. “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too.” Lora smiles. “I’m here to grieve the loss of my first husband.”

“You weren’t at the funeral.”

“I didn’t want to upset anyone.” Lora shrugs. “So…have you read the will yet? I think I should be in on that.”

“Lora.” Pam says when she walks over. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” Pam sighs, and has everyone follow her down the hall to the guest bedroom. Harry takes out the paperwork.

“There’s been-“ He starts, but he’s cut off.

“I’m sorry, but how is it legal if her boyfriend is reading the will?” Lora asks.

“We’re not together anymore. We haven’t been for a while. He’s here as our attorney, that’s it.” Blair says.

“Anyways, been a trust set up for Blair a little down the road. Everything else, including the house, has been left to Pamela Smith. There is no mention of anyone else’s name.”

“That can’t be right.” Lora scoffs. “I was promised-“

“He would have never left you anything.” Pam says. “And I’m sick of dealing with you. He’s gone, he’s left you nothing, you have no ties to us now. It’s clear as day that Derek is not his. He owed you absolutely nothing, you gold digging bitch.” Pam steps closer to Lora. “Now, get out of my house before I have you removed. I buried my husband today, I am in no mood to be fucked with.”

“Fine.” Lora says, turns on her heel and leaves.

“Way to go, Mum.” Blair gives her a high five. “I thought she’d put up more of a fight than that.”

“With your father maybe, but not with me. I’ve ripped her cheap extensions out more than once, and she knows I’ll do it again.” She takes take a deep breath. “I think I’m about ready to be done for the day. I need to lay down.”

“Do you want me to stay tonight?” Blair asks her.

“No, honey, thank you. Auntie Fay is staying, I’ll be alright.” She looks at Harry. “Harry, I can’t thank you enough for helping with all of this.”

“Don’t mention it. If there’s anything else I can do, anything at all, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“Drive Blair home.”

“Mum.”

Pam raises her hands in defense and leaves the room.

“I can drive you back if you want. I took an uber out here as it was.” Harry says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“You’ve done enough for me today, it’s alright…I can make it back on my own. Riley’s flying back in from Chicago tomorrow and we’re gonna have a girl’s day, so-“

“Blair, I still have your keys in my pocket, I’m driving you.”

“I don’t need you to swoop in here and act like superman, Harry.” Her bottom lip trembles. “I know my dad’s not around to do it anymore, but-“

“Hey.” He takes her in his arms. “I wish I could take it all away, I really do. I wish you weren’t going through all of this, baby.”

“Harry.” She sighs heavily into his chest.

“Sorry.” He rests his chin on the top of her head. “Some habits are hard to break I guess.”

“Have you called anyone else baby in the last year?” She nuzzles in close to him.

“No.” He tilts her chin up to look at him. “I never could.”

“Okay, you can drive me home.” She sighs. “I’m about ready to pass out as it is.”

Blair takes a few minutes to say goodbye to the people still at the house before her and Harry get into her car. He keeps the music volume low, and her eyes start to droop. Harry can’t help but feel soft and warm knowing she was so easily able to fall asleep with him there still. She’d always fall asleep on long car rides.

“Blair.” Harry says, trying to wake her up. “We’re at your place, love.” She groans at him, and he sighs. “Are you really going to make me carry you up?” She groans again and he rolls his eyes. Blair would always pretend to be asleep so Harry would carry her inside. He unbuckles her, gets out, and opens her door to lift her out. “You’re killing me.” He grunts as he carries her to the front door. He keys in, and carries her up the stairs to her door. “I know you’re awake.” He says as he brings her to her bedroom.

“Mm, but you’re so strong and warm.” She mumbles.

“Okay.” He chuckles and lays her on her bed. “Are your pj’s still in the third drawer of your dresser.”

“Harry.” She sits up. “You don’t have to do all that…”

“I was just gonna grab you a shirt and get out of your hair.” He says innocently.

“God, I’m so confused.” She pinches the bridge of her nose.

“About what?” He grabs a bed shirt for her, and sits on the edge of her bed.

“I think I’m just feeling vulnerable, I don’t know.” She looks away from him. “I don’t want you to go.” She mutters, and then looks at him. “But I also don’t want to get your hopes up.”

“If you need me to stay as a friend, I can do that.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’d never leave you like this.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I was just gonna pretend to leave, and then crash on your couch.”

“Well, you don’t have to do that. Got a queen sized bed now, plenty of room.”

“I can see that.” He smiles. “There was nothing wrong with your old bed. It was kinda fun when we were practically sleeping on top of each other.”

“Yeah, but your bed was better for…well…never mind.” She clears her throat. “Um, I still have some of your old pajama pants in my drawer, you can wear those if you want.”

“I’m good with just boxers if that’s alright with you.”

“Oh, um sure.” She gets off the bed to stand up. “I’m just gonna go wash up and change.”

Harry nods and gets undressed. He goes over to her bathroom door to wait his turn. Blair’s eyes widen when she sees him standing there in his underwear.

“You don’t have a spare toothbrush, do you?”

“Um, you can use one of the extra heads I have for my electric brush.”

“Thanks.” He steps into the bathroom as she leaves to go back to her bedroom.

“Oh my god.” She says to herself. He had beefed up a bit. Harry was already sort of beefy, but he used to be leaner. Had he been getting a lot of protein? She shakes her head as she crawls into bed. Harry comes in shortly after and gets in on the other side. She turns her head to look at him. “Thank you, Harry.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” He looks at her. “I’d be a pretty shitty person to leave you in a time like this.”

“Yeah, but you could be catching tail at some bar with your friends.” She smirks at him.

“You make me sound like I’m promiscuous or something.” He chuckles and turns fully on his side towards her. She does the same. “It’s a stress reliever, and I always wrap it up. M’not doing anything wrong.”

“Do you, um, do what we used to do with any of these hookups?”

“No.” He smirks. “No, I don’t think I could ever trust someone in that way again even if I tried.” He chews his bottom lip. “What about you?”

“Harry, to be honest with you…I haven’t slept with anyone since we broke up.”

“Blair, that was a year ago.”

“I’m well aware.” She rolls her eyes.

“That’s a long fucking dry spell.”

“It’s not a dry spell, it’s a personal choice. I threw myself into the studio, I worked on choreographing a ton of new dances. I was building my brand, bringing in more clientele. Plus…anytime I’d use a dating app or go out with Riley to a bar…no one was ever you.”

“I know things seemed mutual and we didn’t end in some big blow up…but I was so hurt that we couldn’t make things work.” He reaches to tuck some hair behind her ear. “I thought we were going to be together forever.”

“So did I…but I don’t know if I was ready for something so long-term yet, which I know sounds stupid because three years is a long time to be with someone.”

“It’s not stupid. I would have felt the same at that age. It was sort of selfish of me to try to lock you down the way I was.”

“You weren’t being selfish for wanting to be with me, Harry.”

“You know, the last thing I expected when I helped Riley move in that semester was falling in love with her roommate. You just looked so cute that day.”

“You remember how I looked when we first met?”

“How could I forget? You were wearing these sweater leggings that had snow flakes on them, and you were wearing this oversized sweater that was hanging off your shoulder, and you kept trying to tug it back on. You seemed so flustered around me.”

“I was.” She laughs. “I thought for sure you just wanted to fuck me and then leave with the way you pushed me up against the wall when you kissed me.”

“Yeah, you nearly shit yourself at dinner afterwards. Poor Riley had no idea I frenched you for a solid thirty minutes.”

“My lips were so swollen, she had to have known. I was more in shock when you came by a week later to ask me out. God, you were so cute, you were waiting outside my apartment with hot apple cider, and I had such a shit day at my practicum. I was in dingy sweats too, and you still told me I looked beautiful.”

“And I meant it.”

“Then you said I looked tired, and right before I went off on you, you pulled me inside and said that you were going to make me dinner so I could go upstairs and take a long hot shower.”

“Mhm, made you spaghetti and meatballs.”

“And that really yummy homemade garlic bread.” She smiles.

“Then we cuddled up and watched Ratatouille.” He chuckles.

“I was so mad that you had never seen it! And then you ended up loving it.”

“It’s a great movie, honestly.” He says, smiling at her. “Best first date ever.”

“Yeah, it was. When I went to sleep that night I couldn’t believe that a real man wanted to be with me. I don’t think any of the guys I dated in college knew how to cook.”

“Pretty sure I did a good job making you forget about any other guy you had ever been with.” He smirks, and she nudges his shoulder.

“Maybe…maybe when I’m in a better mindset…we could talk about…I mean…I’ve been thinking about you a lot ever since we started talking again, sorry, I’m rambling.” She sighs. “I don’t want you to think that I wanna give things another shot because you’ve been helping me and my mom, but it’s been hard not to think about it…especially after today.” She blinks away a few tears. “I wasn’t expecting you to come to the service. Riley felt awful that she couldn’t be there, and I felt so alone, even being with my mom. You’re so selfless.” She pouts at him.

“I would love to talk about potentially getting back together. I…I don’t think I realized how much I missed you until you walked into my office. I thought I was out having the time of my life, but I wasn’t. Nobody could ever compare to you.”

“I think I just need some time to make sure I’m not…I’m not just feeling this way because you’re being so sweet to me when no one else is.”

“Take all the time you need.” He strokes her cheek. “M’gonna turn over now. If you just so happen to feel like spooning me, I promise not to question it.”

“Please, snuggling sounds like the perfect medicine after today. Assume the position, Styles.”

He chuckles and rolls onto his other side. Blair slots a leg between his, and wraps her arm around his stomach. They both sigh, and wiggle closer to one another. Blair hadn’t felt peace like this in quite some time, and neither had Harry.

//

Blair woke up in a fog the next morning. Her eyes still felt puffy and swollen from crying, and even though the clock read 10AM, she felt like she could stay in bed for at least two more hours. She remembers Harry staying and falling asleep with her, but he wasn’t there next to her now. Where he laid was still warm, so he couldn’t have left too long ago. When she smells coffee, she wakes up a bit more. There was a coffee cup from Dunkin’ on her side table, along with a small bag that she knew had to be a coffee cake muffin. She sits up and sees a note next to the casual breakfast.

Had to rush off to the office this morning. Got a call that one of my major clients passed, and his family is already fighting over the money. Had to time to run out and get you brekkie though! I’ll call you later. – H

Blair pouts at the note, and takes a sip of her coffee, which had cooled down just enough for her to sip it without burning her tongue. She texts Harry a quick “thank you” before diving into her muffin. This was his signature “sorry for not being there when you wake up” breakfast treat. There had been many mornings Blair had woken up alone after spending the night with him. It wasn’t because Harry liked scooting out, he just usually got pulled away due to something work related, and he knew that Blair liked being able to sleep in when she could on the weekends, especially when she was still in school. She never minded because she knew he was busy. She used to just lounge around for an hour or so in his large bed before getting up and making it. Then she’d take an indulgent bath in his Jacuzzi-tub. He’d usually get back to her sometime in the afternoon, and they would snuggle up to watch a movie before he brought her back to her apartment. It worked for them.

There were plenty of times Blair had to scoot early as well. When she was doing her practicum, she needed to be at the high school no later than 7AM, which sucked because at the time she was a major night owl. It’s taken her years of discipline to get herself to fall asleep at a reasonable time so she wouldn’t be so groggy and grumpy in the morning. That was something that Harry helped with as well. He told her about this sleepy time playlist on Spotify that he would listen to on the nights he needed to go to bed early. Blair had told him she couldn’t afford the premium membership and she didn’t want to be jolted awake by ads. So what did Harry do? He bought the subscription plan that allowed for two people to be on it, helped her shift her account, and even though she protested, he insisted. The music sounded like something a masseuse would put on, and it always put her right to sleep. Harry was a genius, at least Blair thought so.

“How do you always have an answer for everything?” She had cried to him on a particularly stressful evening. It was after she graduated, and she had just gotten her business up and running. She felt overwhelmed and scared. “You always stay so calm, it’s like you don’t even care!”

“I just know that this’ll pass, baby. You just graduated from college, you’re going through a major life change. You’ve had the same routine all your life, and now it’s completely different. In a few months things won’t feel as scary.” He smiled at her, and wrapped his arms around her mid-section. “Went through the same thing myself not too long ago. I promise, it gets a lot better. Your early twenties fucking suck.”

“Yeah? How are things looking in the world of mid to late twenties?” She pouted up at him.

“Well,” he moved some hair away from her face, “I’ve got an incredible girlfriend who loves me, and I just so happen to love her, and I’m feeling settled in mt job, and I have a great place to live, and oh! Finally stopped having stress dreams about missing a big exam. Can’t complain too much.”

“I…I’m gonna be really busy at the studio. I have to choreograph all these dances, and start advertising, and-“

“Hey, I’ve got an idea.” He tugged her along down the hall to his home office.

“Harry, I’m not in the mood to fuck in your office…” She said, and Harry chuckled.

“As much as I love it when you let me bend you over my desk, that’s not what this is about.” He took her inside and took out a few sheets of blank paper and some pens. He sat down and pulled her into her lap. “Alright, this used to help me all the time when I was super stressed, still does, actually.” She watched as he drew three large circles, and wrote CHOREOGRAPHY in one, SOCIAL MEDIA, in another, and BUDGET

in the last. “Alright, so these are some rather large cookies, wouldn’t you say?” He looked up at her, and she looked down at him and nodded. “Okay, so what are some ways we can take little bites out of these?”

“Like a checklist for each?”

“Sort of, yeah.” He drew a few stems from each circle. “Almost like a backwards flow chart.”

“Is this what you do with your clients when they ask for financial advice?”

“Sometimes.” He nodded. “But more importantly, I want to help my girlfriend who is insanely frazzled. I hate when people try to be problem solvers…so hope you don’t think that’s what I’m trying to do…”

“No.” She shook her head. “This is great. I think if I have it all laid out in front of me…and can check certain things off…take smaller bites, like you said, I can handle things better.” She grabbed a pen and started writing, and making more stems, color coding a few of them. “My parents are gonna help cover the loan payments for the first year so I can save up, and start paying off my student loans.” She chewed her bottom lip. “And I can set aside some time in the mornings to do the social media stuff, and use the afternoons for choreography…evenings I can work on my website.”

“Just think of how sweet it’ll all taste by the time you finish.” He smiled up at her, and she leaned in to peck his lips.

“I love you, Harry, thank you.”

“I love you too, baby.” He kissed her again, ever so tenderly and soft. “Don’t let this stuff build up, you know you can talk to me about anything.”

“I just feel like my problems are so trivial, like, there are people that are starving, and I’m crying about being overwhelmed.”

“Your feelings are valid, don’t compare it to what someone else might be going through.”

“Do you think, um, could you just hold me for a bit?” It was so rare for Blair to be this vulnerable. Usually she was the one to hold Harry, but once in a while she just really needed him.

“Of course.” He shifted in his seat to cradle her to his chest. He was so warm and inviting, he always made Blair feel safe.

Blair sighs, and shakes herself from the memory. She couldn’t bask in the good times and act as if there weren’t also bad times. Although…there really weren’t that many bad times. She finishes up her muffin and gets out of bed. She grimaced when she saw herself in her bathroom mirror, and decided a long, hot shower would do her some good. She didn’t have the energy to wash her hair, so she grabs a scrunchie to put it up in a bun on the top of her head. As the warm water cascades over her body, she can’t help but continue to let her mind wander to other old memories.

“Harry! I told you I’d be five minutes.” Blair whispered to Harry as he entered the bathroom. He locked the door behind him and smirked. “Riley’s home! Just down the hall sleeping.” Harry pulled back the shower door, and walked into it with her. All he did was put a finger up to his lips.

“Then we’ll need to be quiet.” He whispered to her, ghosting his lips over hers.

“I…I’ve never had sex in the shower before. I always heard it wasn’t as cracked up as it looks in the movies.”

“That’s because people try too hard to do it full on.” He stepped into the water, getting his hair wet, and then moves her so she’s pressed up against the wall. He knelt in front of her, and looked up at her wet body. “Can I make you feel good, baby?”

“Y-yes.”

He grinned, and lifted one of her legs over his shoulder.

“Now, you need to stay quiet.” He pressed his lips to one of her hip bones, and kissed across her pelvis. “So, if it gets to be too much, just suck on your fingers or something, pull my hair, whatever you need to do.” She watched as his eyes darkened when he licked over her clit. His tongue moved to her slit and licked up. He moaned, letting his eyes flutter closed before looking back up at her. “You have no idea how fucking good you taste.”

“Blair!” Riley exclaims as she comes into the apartment. Blair’s taken from her thoughts just as she was whimpering out Harry’s name.

“I’m in the shower!” Blair yells back, and finishes cleaning herself up. She meets Riley out in the living room once she’s thrown some sweats on. “Hi.”

“Oh, god, I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there.” Riley wraps her arms around her friend.

“You couldn’t have known.” Blair hugs her back. “A month in Chicago, I can’t wait to hear all about it.” They let go of each other.

“Are you sure you wanna talk about all that?”

“Yeah, I need the distraction.”

“Alright. I brought coffee and doughnuts.” Riley smiles.

“Thank you, but I might save that for later. I had coffee and a muffin earlier…um, Harry spent the night last night.” Blair blushes as they both move to sit on the couch.

“Holy shit! Pleas don’t tell me you called him for a booty call.” Riley frowns.

“No, it was nothing like that. I told you he was helping with all of the legal stuff…he ended up coming to the funeral unannounced. He was there for me…he drove me home and I asked him to stay. We just slept, and he was gone before I woke up because of a work thing.”

“Ah, and he brought you the old comfort breakfast to make up for it.” Riley shakes her head. “Well, I’m glad he was there for you. I always hoped you would become friends at some point after you broke up.”

“I don’t think I realized how much I missed him. I’ve been so independent for the last year, it felt kind of nice to lean on him for a change.”

“Do you think you wanna get back together?”

“I don’t know…I was definitely feeling something yesterday, even this morning, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m just sad and vulnerable, or if it’s because I really wanna give it a second go. I don’t really know what would be different this time. He still works crazy hours, and-“

“He’s dialed back a lot.” Riley cuts him off. “Ever since he’s taken over, and once he really got settled into it, he hasn’t been working himself to the bone like he was. Are there still some sixty-hour weeks? Sometimes, but not like he was, I swear.”

“He didn’t seem to think we still spoke…so that made me think you weren’t as close with him…”

“I don’t hang out with him as much…I speak with his friend John quite a bit, though.” Riley blushes.

“Speak to or fuck?” Blair smirks.

“Don’t. If Harry knew I was messing around with one of his boys, god, I don’t even wanna think about it.”

“Oh, so he can go out with your friend, but you can’t go out with his?”

“John and I aren’t going out. We just…meet up to fuck sometimes, but we both still hookup with other people. I mean, I’m sure he slept with his share of people while I was away.”

“Did you?”

“There were a couple of people I let take me back to my hotel, yeah.” Riley nods. “Don’t say anything to Harry, okay?”

“Christ, I’m not his best friend all of a sudden. I think I was just emotional last night. I doubt we’ll even-“

There’s a jingle of keys, and then Harry’s entering the apartment. He freezes when he sees Riley.

“Hey! You’re back.” He smiles at his cousin. “How was Chicago?”

“Windy.” Riley says. “But fun, I made a ton of sales.”

“That’s great.” Harry sets the keys on the kitchen counter and then comes further into the living area. “How are you this morning?” He asks Blair.

“I’m okay, um, thanks for breakfast.”

“Yeah, of course, sorry I had to skip out. Uh, I just came back to see how you were, but I can see your girl’s day has started, so I’ll head out.”

“You can stay, Har, we were just gonna paint our nails, nothing you haven’t done with us before.” Riley says. “You don’t mind, right, Blair?”

“S-sure, you can stay, Harry…if you want to.”

“I’d love to stay.” He comes over and sits down on Blair’s other side. “Nothing like giving you a Styles sandwich to make you feel better.” He smirks. “Alright, Riles, what colors did you bring?”

The three ended up having a great day together. It felt like old times. They painted their nails, ordered Chinese, and watched Mystic Pizza. Riley was starting to get tired, so she left around six. The jet lag was catching up with her. So it was just Harry and Blair sitting on the couch watching Wall-E.

“Do you remember the first time we watched this?” Harry asks her a few minutes in.

“Mhm.” Blair smiles without looking at him. “It was that weekend we went away Hampton Beach, and it rained in the evening, so instead of being annoyed, we got all cozy and watched this.”

“After…” He looks at her, a smirk growing on his face.

“Harry.” She rolls her eyes.

“Come on, what did we do just before settling in to watch this adorable film?”

Blair sighs, but gives in, “We made hot fudge sundaes, and, um, I let you lay me on the counter and lick chocolate sauce and whipped cream off my body.” She swallows. “Then I did the same to you. We made a mess of the Air BnB.”

“We cleaned it up. Then we got into that big, comfy bed and just vegged out. Think this is one of my favorite Pixar films that you showed me.”

“You really liked Cars too.” Blair chuckles.

“Yeah, I did. That was a good one.” Harry leans back on the couch, crossing his arms behind his head.

“You don’t need to do this, you know?”

“Do what, love?” He says without looking at her, eyes focused on the screen.

“Babysit me.” She mutters.

“S’not what I’m doing.” He scoffs. “I’m enjoying spending time with you, Blair.” He looks at her. “And I’m worried about you, but I’m not babysitting you.” He puts his hand on her knee and gives it a squeeze before taking it away. “Just relax, yeah?”

“Thanks.” She pauses for a moment. “Harry…would you be taking care of me like this if you had a new girlfriend?” Her eyes start to well up with tears. “Because-“

“Why are you asking a what if like that?” He reaches to wipe her tears with his thumbs. “At the risk of sounding totally lame…I was sort of just waiting on you. Sort of hoping you’d wanna get back together at some point. I tried dating, but it’s like I told you…no one was ever you.”

“So you just kept fucking strangers?” She was so confused.

“It was all meaningless. I figured if you were out there living your life, then I should do the same.” He shrugs.

“Harry, I know you think we broke up because you thought I needed time to be young or whatever, but I wasn’t out there fucking a ton of different people. I just…I don’t know, I wanted to be on my own.”

“And I understood that, as much as it upset me. What was I going to do, beg you to stay my girlfriend?” He moves a bit closer to her. “If we were to get back together, what would you want to be different? Obviously things stopped working…”

“It’s not that they stopped working, I just…I think I just grew up a little bit. You gave me plenty of room for it, but I just sort of realized that there were other things I wanted to do and I didn’t wanna be totally tied down. If we were to get back together, I wouldn’t want you paying for things all the time, or thinking you need to fix all of my problems. Sometimes I just want someone to listen without making suggestions, you know?”

“I didn’t even realize I was doing that.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I know you always meant well, and you were just trying to help in your own way.” She gives him a reassuring smile. “It didn’t always bother me, but sometimes it did. I wasn’t perfect either, I know how closed off I could get.” She furrows her brows. “I’ve been trying to work on that. I added the yoga into my routines…so that’s been helping. You sort of inspired that.”

“I should start my membership back up.”

“Yeah…it would be nice to see you in class again.”

“Remember when I started coming on Tuesday evenings, and then we’d go to the Thai place for dinner afterwards?”

“Mhm, and then you’d take us back to your place, and set up a bath for us.” She sighs dreamily. “And then you’d massage my calves for me, ugh, I always loved that.”

“Couldn’t have my baby being sore the next morning, could I?” He pouts playfully at her, and she giggles.

“You were always so good to me.” Her face was only a few inches from his now.

“Fucking worshiped you.” His lips ghost over hers, and she whimpers.

“Kiss me, Harry.”

His lips slot over hers immediately, and cups her cheeks to pull her even closer. He sucks on her bottom lip, and she whimpers again. Blair tugs on Harry’s shirt, and then pushes his back to the couch. She moves to straddle him, and he wraps his arms around her body. They’re both grabbing at different parts of one another, and she shifts so she’s only straddling one of his thighs, rolling her hips down onto it. Harry groans, and starts kissing on her neck. She gets a fist full of his hair, and yanks his head back.

“Harry, I don’t think this is a good idea.” She admits. “I mean…we haven’t agreed to anything. I think we should take this slow, don’t you?”

“You just told me to kiss you, and then you climbed into my lap.” He smirks, and she starts laughing.

“Yeah.” She grips his chin with her other hand. “You’re always good at doing exactly what I say.”

“Always.” He agrees. “If you’re not planning on having your way with me then you should get off. You’re only gonna rile me up, and I’ve not done anything to deserve that.”

“No, I suppose you deserve a reward instead of a punishment.” She presses her forehead to his and lets her hands fall to his shoulders. She sighs heavily and then looks at him again. “I need a little more time. I wanna make sure that this really makes sense. The last thing I wanna do is hurt you again.”

“I don’t want you to feel hurt either.” He squeezes her hips. “I wanna give you the time, Blair, but you’ve also had a year to sort your feelings. You either wanna do this or you don’t.”

“I really hate it when you’re right.” She huffs. “But I know what you’re saying.”

“How about this…why don’t we go out Saturday night? We could go on a date, and see how it feels.”

“Why not Friday?”

“Because you work early on Saturday mornings, darling, and you’re just going to be getting back to it again.” He tucks some hair behind her hear. “Can’t have you being sleepy.”

“You’re so sweet.” She smiles. “Okay, yeah, I’d like that. Um, did you want to just go out for dinner?”

“If that’s what you wanna do, baby. I’m down for whatever.”

“I haven’t been to that grill we used to go to all the time in forever. Feel like I could go for a really good burger.”

“Alright, we’ll go to Benson’s. I’ll pick you up around six, how’s that sound?”

“I think it sounds like a date.”

//

On Wednesday evening, much to Blair’s surprise, Harry walked into one of her evening classes with Riley. Riley had a cheeky smile on her face, and Blair just shook her head at the two of them. It had been ages since Harry had been to one of her classes, and he had picked a yoga day.

“Good evening, everyone!” Blair says once everyone gets there. “We’re gonna start off with our warm up, and then get in to it. We’ll work a little with the weights, and then we’ll cool down with the yoga like always. Does everyone have their weights?” She hears a collective yes. “Alright!” She hops up onto the small stage and gets the music playing.

When the class is over, a few people hang back to talk to Blair. Riley would usually grab a quick bite with her after class. A guy was talking to her now.

“Hey, who is that?” Harry asks Riley as they clean up their stations.

“Hm? Oh, that’s Rich, he has a thing for Blair.” Riley rolls her eyes. “He refuses to take a hint. The second he found out she was single he was all over her. She’s nice to him, but she doesn’t like him back.”

Harry narrows his eyes, and reads Blair’s body language like a book. Her arms were crossed, and she was casually trying to step away from Rich.

“I’ll get him to leave her alone.” Harry says.

“Harry, don’t.” Riley grabs his wrist. “She can handle herself.”

“I know she can, but she looks so uncomfortable. What if they were left alone here, and he tried something. He needs to know she has some backup.” Harry walks over to the two, and Blair can’t help but smirk because she knows exactly why Harry’s walking over. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but we should get going if we want to make trivia night.”

“Right! Yeah, sorry, Rich, I need to get the studio cleaned up so I can head out.” Blair was thankful. Harry was always good at coming up with excuses for them to leave places early. Usually it was because he needed to get her home so she could fuck him, obviously now that wasn’t the case.

“Oh…alright, well, I’ll see you next week. Have a good night.” Rich looks Harry up and down before leaving.

“Thank you.” Blair sighs. “He’s a nice guy, but I’m not interested.”

“Obviously.” Harry scoffs. “Have fun with Riley.”

“You don’t wanna come with?”

“Nah, I need to get home. I have some stuff I need to do before tomorrow. Still on for Saturday?”

“Mhm.” She nods with a smile.

“Good.” He kisses her cheek. “I’ll call you Friday.”

Harry leaves and Riley helps Blair cleanup before they head out to a Panera for dinner.

“So, you two are going out on Saturday?” Riley asks her when they sit down with their food.

“Yeah, it’s sort of like a first date. I wanna make sure things feel really right with us. I have a feeling we’ll get back together officially, though.”

“Yeah? What makes you think that?” Riley smirks.

“Well…we kissed on Sunday night when he was still over. It was a really good kiss too, it was familiar, but there was still that, like, passion, you know?”

“I would love it if you got back together. I never really liked the other people he dated, and I was so excited when you both got together. He’s like the brother I never had, and I want him with someone that really cares about him. I never doubted that with you. You guys got together at a weird time in your life where you were sort of at different places. Now…well, now you might mesh better. You grew up a lot during the time you were together, I know that was tough on you both.”

“Yeah, it was.” Blair sighs, and bites into her piece of bread. “I feel like I could handle things better now. He’s been there for me during so many tough times, he’s seen me…at my absolute worst, and still loved me through all of it. I can’t wrap my head around him turning into such a playboy.”

“I couldn’t believe it myself, but I honestly don’t think he really knew how to deal with not having you around, and then…I don’t know.” Riley shakes her head. “He always wrapped it up, that’s what John told me, anyways.”

“He mentioned that to me too.” Blair rolls her eyes. “I’m not going to hold anything against him, we weren’t together. I don’t have the right to judge him about it.”

“He only wanted you, B.” Riley smiles.

“I really have missed him.” Blair smiles. “I’m really looking forward to going out with him Saturday night.” She bites her bottom lip. “Wanna come with me to Victoria’s Secret during the day? I think I should pick out something new…”

“Yeah! I’ve got a coupon to go there, actually. I need some new undies.”

“Oh, yay! We haven’t been shopping in forever.”

“I know! I hope I’m not on the road for an entire month like that again. It got old real quick.”

//

On Friday, Harry was in his office wrapping some things up, going over some paperwork. Then he looked over his calendar for Monday, just to see what meetings he had, and if he needed to do anything over the weekend.

“Mr. Styles?” Kiley, the intern training with Kate comes into his office.

“Miss Stewart, what can I do you for?” He asks, giving her his full attention. She pouts slightly at him.

“You can just call me Kiley…you call Kate by her first name.”

“I’ve known Kate for quite some time, Miss Stewart.”

“Well, we’ll get to know each other pretty well once she’s on maternity…right?”

“Most likely.” He nods. “Did you need something?”

“Yes, sorry.” She pulls a paper out of her bag. “Um, I just need you to sign off on the hours I worked this week since Kate left early. I forgot to ask her before she stepped out for her doctor’s appointment.”

“Oh, sure.” He gestures for the paper. “They’re really on you guys about the hours, huh?”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “I don’t mind, though, because I have to write a paper explaining what I did, so having an account of that will be helpful.” She shrugs. Harry hums his response as he signs the paper and hands it back to her. “Thank you…any fun plans for the weekend?”

“Just laying low tonight. I’ve got a date tomorrow, though.” He smiles.

“Oh! That’s nice.” She smiles. “Did you just meet someone?”

“No.” He shakes his head with a chuckle. “Might be starting over with my ex, which I’m pretty excited about since I’m still hopelessly in love with her.”

“Well in that case, I hope it goes super well.” She beams at him.

“Thank you, Kiley.” Her smile widens at him even more. “Feel free to head out, enjoy your weekend.”

“Thank you, Mr. Styles. I expect a full report of your date on Monday morning.”

Harry chuckles and nods as she leaves. Just when he thought his door was going to close, John enters.

“Wrap it buddy boy, we gotta meet the guys soon.”

“About that…I’m going to skip out on tonight.”

“Seriously? Why?” John frowns.

“I…I have a date tomorrow night with Blair, and-“

“You can’t be serious.” John rolls his eyes and sits down. “Why would you even entertain the idea of getting back together with her?”

“Because she seems ready for a relationship again. I still love her, and I think she still loves me. There’s still a chemistry between us, physically, so we’re going to Benson’s for a burger tomorrow to see if everything else is still there.”

“So that means you can’t come out for guy’s night?”

“You know as well as I do that guy’s night never stays guy’s night. I don’t want to be tempted by anything that could fuck me over. Besides, it wouldn’t kill me to stay in for a change. There’s a book I’ve been meaning to get back to. I wouldn’t mind just taking it easy, you guys have a good time without me.” Harry smiles at his friend. “It’s nothing personal…”

“I know.” John sighs. “You’re just fun, that’s all…” John looks down at his phone and smirks.

“Maybe you’ll meet up with that girl you see on the regular. Seems like she just texted you.”

“Maybe she did.” John nods.

“How come you don’t just date her? I’ve watched you turn down other girls to go meet up with her a dozen times.”

“It’s a little complicated. She travels a lot for work, we’re both just looking for someone familiar to hookup with right now.”

“Guess that makes sense.” Harry shrugs. “You’re pretty busy yourself”

“Exactly, so when’s around I see her more, and when she’s gone, I see other people. She does the same. We’re pretty open about it.”

“Good.” Harry smiles. “Have a beer for me tonight, yeah?”

“Alright.” John sighs and stands up. “Have fun with Blair, I guess.”

“You could sound a little more enthused.”

“I’ll be enthused if she doesn’t string you along.”

“She never strung me along.” Harry shakes his head. “We were a great team.”

“Seems like you were always doing everything for her.”

“No, she did plenty for me.”

“Babe?! I picked up a pizza!” Blair shouted as she entered Harry’s place, putting her key in the bowl by the door. “Baby?!” He wasn’t in the kitchen like she thought he’d be. She set the pizza down on the counter and walked down the hall to his home office. Her jaw dropped when she saw him knuckling at his eyes. “Harry, are you crying?” She asked softly.

“Blair.” He said, almost surprised. “Hi, I lost track of time, I’m sorry. Let’s eat.” He stood up, but she went over to him and urged him to sit.

“What happened, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, baby.”

“It’s not nothing if you’re crying. Talk to me.”

“I’m just really stressed.” His voice cracked. “I was looking forward to taking over for my dad, but there’s so much other shit that’s been added to my plate that he didn’t really prepare me for. Now he’s down in Florida living it up with my mum, and I can’t even talk to him about it because I don’t want him to be disappointed in me. He’s trusting me with everything.”

“That’s a lot.” She wipes=d his tears away. “I’m so sorry you’re feeling like this.” She chewed on her bottom lip. “Is…is there anything I can do to help? Anything I can do to help take your mind off things for a bit? I brought pizza…”

“Um…yeah, I think there is something you could do for me, but it doesn’t involve food.” He stood and took her hand, leading her out to the living room. They both sat down. “Sometimes when we’re having sex…I let you take the lead, have you noticed that?”

“A little.” She shrugged. “I mean, I like that you’re not super dominating, it makes me feel safe.”

“Right, but before you I wasn’t really like that. I was always in control, but with you…I feel really safe too. So safe…that I’m able to just let everything else slip away when we’re doing what we do.”

“What are you saying exactly?”

“I…I sometimes I think I want you to really be in control. I’m not saying all the time, but I have to be in control of so many things, and I think it would be nice to not.”

“Okay, so I could ride you more if you want.”

“Well, that would be nice.” He smirked. “But I’m talking more like…like maybe you could blindfold me once in a while, or you could cuff me to the bed?” His was flushed with embarrassment. Her eyes widened as she finally started to understand what he was trying to say. “I’ve totally freaked you out, haven’t I? I know that stuff isn’t for everyone. I was just thinking we’ve been together a while now-“

“Harry, calm down.” She smiled, squeezing his hand. “I think it’s kind of hot that you wanna explore some different things.”

“You do?”

“Mhm.” She nodded. “I…just don’t ask me to, like, whip you or anything. I don’t think I could hurt you.”

“No, I’m not looking for pain.” He chuckled. “I just…wanna clear my head sometimes, that’s all.”

“Okay, I think I could be into that. You know how much I love all your ties, I’d love to tie you up with them.” She grinned, and he groaned softly.

“What do you say we leave the pizza for later, and we head into the bedroom to explore a little bit?”

“I say we’re in for a fantastic weekend.”

“Whatever you say man.” John says. “See you Monday.” John leaves Harry’s office, and Harry sighs. He never told anyone about what he and Blair did, it was no one’s business. He certainly wasn’t going to let it slip now.

//

At around 10AM Saturday morning, Blair picked up Riley so they could go shopping. Riley had bags under her eyes, and a fresh hickey on her neck. Blair’s mouth fell open the second Riley got in the car.

“Don’t.” Riley mumbles.

“I didn’t say anything.” Blair chuckles.

“But I know what you’re thinking.”

“Did you meet up with John last night?”

“Yeah, I guess Harry didn’t feel like going out last night, so I met up with him at some bar, and then he came back with me to my place.”

“Oh shit, is still there?”

“No, he left at, like, seven.” Riley rolls her eyes. “But not before he fucked me again.” She shakes her head. “We’ve fucked so many times, I don’t know how he’s not sick of me yet, or how I’m not sick of him.”

“Maybe it’s a sign you two should be more.” Blair smirks.

“I mean, we’re basically just in an open relationship, that’s the way I look at it anyways.” She shrugs. “We were up most of the night.” She yawns loudly.

“You could have stayed home.” Blair frowns as she keeps her eyes on the road.

“No, it’s okay, I wanted to go shopping with you.”

The girls make their way to a Victoria’s Secret, and start shopping around. Just as Riley hoped, there was an underwear sale. Blair indulged in it as well. Nothing wrong with getting some new undies to replace some old ones.

“Oh, these are cute!” Blair says, holding up a cheeky pair of panties.

“Yeah! I’ve been way more into the lace cheeky bottoms instead of thongs lately.”

“Me too! It’s way more comfortable. To be honest, I wear boxers a lot around my apartment. They’re more breathable than athletic shorts, and they don’t ride up.”

“Of course men have more comfortable underwear than us.” Riley sighs heavily. “Oh! Look at these white ones! Can never have too many white pairs.”

“Snag me a pair, please.”

Once the girls are done picking out their underwear, and a couple of bras that were two $50 (yes, way overpriced, but necessary), they head to the part of the store where the lingerie was.

“What are you looking for exactly?” Riley asks as she looks over some babydoll nighties.

“I don’t know, nothing crazy, but if things go well tonight, which I think they will, I wanna surprise him with something fun.”

“You’d really jump into bed with him right away?” There was no judgement in Riley’s voice, more so surprise.

“I mean…I know he’s your cousin and all, but he’s pretty hard to resist, Riles. He had me wrapped around his finger from the second we met.”

“Fair enough.” Riley shrugs. “I might try one of these on…surprise John one of these nights.”

The girls giggle as they pick out different things. Blair ends up finding a black lace bralette and matching panties that she thinks will work well under an outfit. The only thing was the bralette didn’t have any support, like, at all, but she was able to adjust the straps on it a bit to give her a slight lift.

“God, I wish I danced as a kid.” Blair huffs as she leaves the dressing room to meet Riley out at the register line.

“Why?”

“Because then maybe I wouldn’t have these fucking honkers on my chest. I’d love to be able to wear a bralette without worrying. My boobs are so saggy, I look like a granny when I don’t have the proper support.”

“You’re being dramatic.” Riley chuckles.

“Easy for you to say, Miss B Cup.”

“Hey, I’d kill to have boobs like yours. I always feel like mine are too small. I have to wear pushups all the time. Besides, your boobs are not saggy, they just sit a little lower on your chest.”

“When I really started dancing I thought they’d get smaller since I was working out all the time, but nope. The worst part is, it’s all right here.” She lifts her arm slightly and rubs just under her armpit. “I’m only a C, but I feel like a double D sometimes when I put a bra on, it takes all the side boob to the front.” Blair puts her things up on the counter, and Riley goes to the next register.

“Find everything okay?” The girl behind the register asks.

“Mhm.” Blair smiles. “I have some coupons too.” She takes her phone out so the girl can scan the barcodes on Blair’s screen.

“Oh, that’s a good one! Took off 25% of your total.” The girl puts everything into a bag for Blair, and she heads out with Riley.

“So, when will John get to see that babydoll?” Blair smirks at Riley.

“When I feel like he deserves it.” Riley grins. “If he invites me over tonight, I might bring it with me.”

“Do you usually see him two nights in a row?”

“Sometimes, but not often. I think he missed me a little since I was gone for so long. Kinda missed him too. He told me he’d call me later today.” She shrugs.

The girls grab a quick lunch before heading home. Blair didn’t want to eat anything too heavy since she was going to be eating out for dinner, so she just had a salad. She spent some time doing some social media work for her business, and then spent some time putting a new dance together. Her customers had been asking for some more throwbacks, so she was crafting some choreography to a couple of Ricky Martin songs. They could be used for the high intensity days. She always recorded herself so she could go back later to review the steps.

When she was done she was drenched in sweat, so she hops into the shower to freshen up. She sort of ends up pampering herself a bit. She shaved her legs, so she massaged some lotion into them, and used some cocoa butter on her thighs because she liked the way it smelled. After that, she grabbed her electric razor to trip her bikini line, having exfoliated first in the shower, so she was plenty smooth where she wanted to be. She spritzes some perfume into the air and walks through it, then she gets to work on her hair. She had been sporting a shoulder length look lately. Her hair used to be really long in college, but in recent years she had been keeping it a tad shorter. It was up in a braid or bun most days, but she decides to wear it down tonight. She puts on some makeup, and then goes through her closet to find something to wear over her new lingerie. She decides on a pair of black jeans that could easily be word with some booties. She pulls on a blush pink tank top and a tan cardigan to complete the look. You could just see the lace top of the bralette, and she sort of liked that look. Her phone goes off just as she’s putting some lipstick on.

“Hello?” She answers brightly.

“Hey, baby, I’m downstairs.”

“Okay, be down in a sec!” She throws some makeup remover wipes into her bag, and a spare toothbrush, then she heads out. Again, she didn’t quite know what would happen tonight, but she wanted to be prepared. Harry was standing outside his car. He smiles when he sees her.

“Hi.” He says, and opens the car door for her.

“Hi, thanks.” She smiles back and gets inside. They head towards Benson’s, being silent in the car at first. “How was your week?” She asks him.

“Good, had a pretty good workout Wednesday.” He grins, looking at her for a moment before looking back at the road. It makes Blair giggle. “Work wasn’t too stressful for a change, although I’m getting anxious about Kate going on maternity leave.”

“Is the intern no good?”

“No, she just doesn’t have a lot of experience. She’ll get the hang of it.” He shrugs. “How was your week, how are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. I spoke with my mom last night, she’s doing alright. My aunt’s been staying with her, so that’s good.”

“Do you think she’ll sell the house?”

“Nah, she likes where she lives, but I think she’s going to paint and change a few things so it doesn’t feel like such a ghost town, you know?”

“Makes sense.” Harry nods. “I know I’ve offered a ton, but if she needs any help with anything, don’t be afraid to ask. I can hold my own with a paintbrush.”

“Thank you, Harry, that’s very sweet.” She gives his shoulder a squeeze. “It was really nice having you in class Wednesday.” She says shyly.

“Yeah? Would you be opposed if I started coming regularly again?”

“Not at all, I’d really like it, actually.” She smiles. “It…it made it easier to wait to see you tonight.” She blushes, and he reaches for one of her hands. He brings it to his lips to kiss her knuckles.

“You’re cute.” He tells her, resting their hands on the console, not letting go at all.

They get to Benson’s, and get seated in a booth. Harry hesitates for a moment, desperately wanting to sit next to her, but he thinks that might be too much too soon, so he sits across from her. She gives him a funny look.

“What?” He asks.

“Nothing…you’re just far away. You usually sit next to me.”

“I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

“I want you to.” Harry smiles, stands back up, and slides in next to her. She hooks her arms around his and rests her cheek on his shoulder. “Much better.” She sighs. He kisses the top of her head, and a waitress comes over.

“Evening, folks, are you expecting anyone else?” She asks.

“No, love, it’s just us.” Harry says to her, squinting at her nametag. “Becky, is it?”

“Y-yes.” She clears her throat. “Can I get you started with any drinks or appetizers?”

“Definitely two waters.” Blair begins. “And I’ll have a vodka-tonic, please.”

“I’ll have the same.” Harry says. “Do you want an app?” He asks Blair.

“No, I think just the burger will be good.”

“Right, think we’re ready to order dinner.” Harry says to Becky.

“Great! What can I get you?”

“I’ll have the turkey burger with cheddar cheese and sautéed mushrooms.” Blair says.

“And I’ll have veggie burger with avocado.” Harry says.

“Sounds good, I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Becky says, taking their menus before walking away.

“Just a veggie burger?” Blair asks Harry.

“Yeah, I’ve been craving a good one lately, and they make the best here.”

“Very true.” She nods. Becky comes back over with the drinks, and sets them on the table. “So…do anything fun last night?”

“I stayed in.” Harry says, before taking a sip of his drink. “Got caught up on a book I’ve been reading, watched a little TV, nothing special.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go out with your friends. Isn’t Friday usually your guy’s night?”

“Yeah, I just felt like skipping last night.” He shrugs. “What about you, what did you do?”

“I ran errands all day, and then went to bed early so I could get up for my early classes this morning. Then Riley and I went shopping, and then I did some work at my place. Got ready to go out with you.” She shrugs.

“What does Riley have to say about all this?”

“She’s happy that we’re entertaining the idea of getting back together.” Blair chuckles and sips her drink. “Did you tell anyone we were going out tonight?”

“Mentioned it to my intern…and to John. He wasn’t so enthused.” Harry rolls his eyes.

“He’s never liked me, and I literally have no idea why.”

“Think he was just jealous that I snagged someone as gorgeous and bright as you.” Harry grins. “You know, when we first got together a ton of people gave me shit because you were still in school.”

“I was in my last semester, and I was twenty-one, it wasn’t like I was a child.” Blair scoffs.

“That’s what I said! It wasn’t like I was looking for someone younger than me, it just happened.”

“We just clicked right away, nothing wrong with that.” She inches a little closer to him, her ankle hooking around his under the table.

“Not at all.” His lips graze over hers, but their food is brought over to the table before they can really kiss.

They both giggle and dig into their food, each moaning out at the taste. They continue to talk about things, catching each other on the last year that they weren’t in one another’s lives. It felt easy and natural.

“I don’t wanna be too forward, but would you like to come back to mine when we’re done?” Harry asks.

“I’d like that.” She nods. “Got any sweets at home?”

“Mhm, I’ve got those chewy chocolate chip cookies you like so much.”

“This night just keeps getting better and better.” She smiles. When the check comes, they both reach for it.

“Blair, let go of the check.”

“No, I wanna pay for dinner.”

“I insist, let me pay.”

“Harry, I don’t want you always paying for everything, come on.”

“Fine, can we at least split it?”

“Ugh, fine.” She slaps her card down and so does he.

“So fucking irritating when you do that.” He huffs.

“No, what’s irritating is that you think I can’t pay for stuff.”

“That’s not what this is! I just like paying for our dates, it’s gentlemanly.”

“Yeah, well, it makes me feel like shit.” Becky comes to grabs the cards, and tells them she’ll be right back. “I’m doing well for myself now, I want things to be more equal. I’m not with you for your money.”

“I know you’re not, baby…I just…I can’t help that I wanna spoil you rotten.” He presses his forehead to hers, and she sighs before pecking his lips quickly.

“There are plenty of other ways you can do that, Harry.”

“Am I gonna have the chance?” Becky comes back with their cards, and they both sign their slips before sliding out of the booth. She takes his hand in hers as they walk out.

“Yes.” She says as they both get into the car. “I…I think wanna see where this goes with you, babe. I feel like I’m really ready for you now…”

“That means the world to me, Blair.” Her bottom lip starts to quiver, and he frowns. “Hey, why are you crying?” He reaches to caress her cheek.

“I just can’t believe you basically were waiting for me all this time.” She sniffles. “I feel so shitty. And I feel even shittier because I’m jealous of all the other people you slept with that we weren’t together.”

“Baby.” Harry sighs. “I was so in love with you, still am, none of them meant anything. I’m sorry you feel hurt by it. You don’t need to worry about it now, though, I’m all yours.” Her hand grips the collar of his shirt and she tugs him close to her, only a few centimeters apart.

“Mine.” She says, eyes darkening before her lips crash against his. She nips and sucks at his bottom lip as his hands cup her cheeks, trying to get even closer.

“Fuck.” He breathes, putting his keys in the ignition. “Need to get you home.” He pulls onto the street, and zips them home. His hand grips her thigh the entire time, squeezing it occasionally.

“Thought of you last weekend in the shower.” She says, shifting on her side a little. “Thought of the first time we had sex in the shower.” Her breath is on his ear now, and she nibbles on his lobe.

“Blair.” He warns, but she keeps going, kissing on his neck.

“Made me feel so good, always make me feel good.”

“Blair, I’m going to crash the car, just sit patiently, please.” She sits back normally in her seat. “Thank you.” He sighs. “So, you really thought of me?”

“It was hard not to with you leaving me breakfast.” She pouts at him. “So sweet of you, and I haven’t had a chance to even reward you for being so good to me.”

“You’re still into all that?” He asks cautiously.

“Only for you…do you still like it?”

“Only if it’s you. I told you I didn’t do that with anyone else.”

“You still trust me enough?”

“Course I do, baby.” He reaches for her hand to intertwine their fingers. He drives a little faster to his place, and they finally reach it. “Gonna take care of you first, and then you can do me, alright?”

“Whatever you want, babe.”

They get up to his place, somehow keeping their hands to themselves in the elevator. Before she knows it, Harry’s slamming Blair against the wall of his front hallway, attacking her neck with his lips.

“Gonna mark you up.” He says as he sucks on her skin. “Then everyone will know you’re taken again.”

She whimpers as her response, and pushes his head further into her neck. She wiggles out of her cardigan, and wraps her arms around his neck.

“Jump.” He grunts into her ear, and she does so, wrapping her legs around his waist so he can carry her to his bedroom. He sets her down on the bed, letting her get her shoes off. He does the same before kneeing onto the bed. She takes her tank top off, and his mouth waters at the sight of the bralette. “Christ.” He breathes as he gropes her supple breasts. “Missed these.” He sucks on her nipple through the lace, and her head rolls back. He does the same to the other one, getting it nice and pebbled. One of his hands slides down between her legs and he whimpers. “Need to get these off you, that okay?”

“Mhm, yeah, please.”

He undoes her button and zipper, yanking the jeans off of her. His eyes widen when he sees the matching panties.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Blair. Are these new?”

“Yeah, bought them today, just for you.” She props herself up on her elbows. “Wouldn’t mind you taking them off, though.”

Harry nearly growls as he tugs them down her legs. His hands slide up and down her smooth skin, having missed the feeling of her skin on his. He spreads her legs apart, and starts leaving open mouthed kisses on her inner thighs, sucking some nasty bruises into them. Blair clutches at his blankets and grits her teeth while he has his fun marking her up.

“Can I?” He asks, looking up at her. “Can I taste you?”

“Yes, of course you can.” She reaches forward to push his hair back, and he smiles at her before licking up her slit.

He licks and sucks all around her folds before working his tongue around her clit, sucking on it briefly before bringing his thumb to it. He licks into her center, making her mewl as he essentially just makes out sloppily with the area.

“Yes, fuck.” Her hands rake through his hair. “Feels so good, Harry.” She grinds against his face, and he moans against her. “Harry, fingers, please, use your fingers.” She whines.

He lifts his head from her, and reaches his hand up to her so she can suck on his fingers. She does so happily, and then he slips two fingers inside her. She gasps and lets her body go slack against the bed.

“Baby, shit, you’re so fucking tight, does it hurt?”

“No, feels so god, m’so wet.”

“I know, you’re dripping.” He pulls his fingers out and sucks on them, moaning again before slipping them back inside to the knuckle.

“R-right there.” She whimpers. Her mouth was open, body writhing under his, having not been touched by another man in almost a year, her body was reacting on overdrive. Her back was arching, and she was pushing her head further into the mattress. “Harry, Harry!” She screams as she comes around his fingers, and he fucks her through it, sucking on her clit to prolong it. As she starts to come down he sits up, and starts taking his shirt off. “Fuck, I’m gonna give it to you so good.” She sits up and watches he takes his clothes off. She takes her bralette off, and tosses it on the floor.

“How do you want me?”

“That depends…um…what would you like me to do? Like, how…how hard do you wanna go tonight?”

“I wanna be able to touch you since it’s been so long, and I wanna be able to look at you.”

“Alright, so we can just keep it sweet and easy, save the rest for another time.”

“Yeah…work back up to it.”

“Get on your back, m’gonna ride you.”

Harry gets himself situated, sitting up against the headboard. Blair raises an eyebrow at him.

“Just wanna be as close as possible tonight, baby.”

“Okay.” She smiles, and gets herself on his lap.

“Are you still on the pill?”

“Mhm, are you okay to not use a condom?”

“Definitely don’t want to. Need feel you.”

“Need to feel you too.”

She grips his hard cock, giving it a few pumps before she guides it inside herself. Her mouth falls open as she feels him stretch her out. Harry looks down and watches as she swallows him whole. They both moan out once he’s full inside her. Her fingernails dig into his shoulders as she gets adjusted to him. His hands squeeze at her hips and ass.

“Shit, Harry.” She presses her forehead to his. “Missed you so much.”

“Missed you too.” He cups her cheeks and kisses her as she starts to slowly rock on and off him. His tongue slips into her mouth, and she grips at his back as she kisses him back. “You feel so fucking good.” He says before biting her bottom lip, sucking on it.

She whimpers and moves herself a little faster on him. She grinds herself against him, feeling the friction on her clit start to form. His arms wrap around her back, his fingers digging into her skin.

“Move with me.” She says into his ear before nibbling on it.

He groans as he starts to thrust up into her. She starts to bounce up and down him, moving his hands to her hips. He watches as her breasts bounce in front of his face, and he leans in to kiss and suck on them. Her head rolls back with pleasure. She wanted to feel his tongue all over her. She brings two fingers to his mouth, and he takes them in quickly. He looks up at her as he sucks on them, swirling his tongue around them, and nipping at the pads of them. She takes them away to rub at her clit.

He growls, and moves to pin her on her back, surprising her completely. He was never like this in bed with her. She looks up at him with wide eyes as he throws one of her legs over his shoulder, and replaces her fingers with his own. She groans at his touch. He was driving himself in so much deeper and she could barely handle it.

“Okay?” He asks her, panting slightly.

“Mhm, it’s good, so good.” One of her hands goes to the back of his neck, pulling him down for a sloppy kiss. They breathe each other in and out once they both start panting. “Harry, fuck, I’m so close.” She squeezes around him and he bites down on her shoulder.

“Blair.” He moans into her ear. “Can I come inside you?”

“Yes! Fuck, yes, please!” She screams as she’s coming again, feeling even more turned on when she feels Harry’s hot come start to fill her up. She grinds her hips towards his trying to make her orgasm last as long as possible. “Love it when you fill me up, feels so good.” She says as she continues to squeeze around him.

He slots his mouth over hers as they both start to come down. Their tongues mold together as they kiss lazily. He’s slow to pull out, but he was too sensitive to stay inside her any longer. She squeezes her legs closed to try to not make a mess. Harry scoops Blair up quickly bridal style to carry her to the bathroom, setting her down gently on the toilet, and leaving her to do her business. When she walks out of the bathroom, he’s laying on his bed in a fresh pair of boxers with a dreamy smile on his face. She climbs onto the bed and lays in between his legs, resting her head on his tummy. She buries her face into his soft skin while he starts to card through her mussed up hair.

“So…we’re really back together?” He asks after a few moment of peaceful silence. She looks up at him with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, I really wanna be your girlfriend again.”

“You have no idea how happy I feel right now.” He continues to play with her hair as she sets her head back down.

“You’ve never really taken control like that before…I kinda liked it.” She peers up at him again, grinning. “Maybe I should see what being the sub feels like sometime.”

“Oh, baby, I don’t know if I could switch like that. Don’t think I’d get much pleasure in making you wait for things. Think I’d give in the second you asked for something.” He chuckles.

“You’re so cute, Harry, but I understand what you’re saying. I don’t mind being the one to do that stuff when you really need it, babe.” She moves further up his body so she can be closer to his face. “Do you think in a bit when you’re ready to go again we could…bring out some of your ties?”

“Feel like I’m already bloating back up, fuck.” He groans, and kisses her.

“You know what I’ve really missed doing with you?” She says, moving her lips to the shell of his ear.

“What, baby?”

“Fucking that tight hole of yours.” She says lowly, and he whimpers.

“Yes.” He breathes, and she looks at him. “Still have everything, it just hasn’t been used in a while.”

“Would you really wanna get into all of that tonight? I mean, I’m game if you are…you seemed hesitant before.”

“I just wanted to feel really close with you before, but now that we’ve got that out of our system I’m definitely up for it.” He pecks her lips. “We’ve got the rest of the weekend to do all we want.”

“Mmm, and the weekend after that, and the weekend after that, and maybe sometimes during the middle of the week. Oh! Remember when I used to come to your office at work, and I’d let you bend me over your desk, god, that was always so hot.”

“Or that time we screwed in that bathroom at your studio?” His smile was incredibly mischievous.

“Or the times you sit me up on the counter in your kitchen and fuck me?”

“Or the time you bent me over my own desk her here?”

“I think it’s time we make some new memories.” She says, getting off of him, and extending her hand out to him for him to follow.

“Couldn’t agree with you more.”

Blair leads them inside Harry’s walk in closet where he kept his box of toys. It was still in the same spot as always. She pops the lid off and they both smile at each other.

“How long do you think I could edge you for?” She asks him.

“Um, I should be okay to go for a while since I already came.”

#2: In which Sokka takes Zuko into the towns outside the Caldera to show him how much the place has changed

“You know what I think?”

Zuko hums and looks over from a scroll to his friend, who’s lounging on the bed with a map held above his head.

“I think the council members are jealous,” Sokka says.

Zuko raises his eyebrow. “What of?”

“Huh?”

“What would they be jealous of?”

“Oh,” Sokka exclaims, blinking in surprise. “They only have a few supporters among the nobility. Mostly in Caldera City. The people love you and your reforms, and your latest repeal of Sozin’s marriage laws won you even more favours among them.”

“There were more dissenters,” Zuko says with a frown. “I thought it was massively unpopular, even if it was the right thing to do.”

Sokka turns over and waves a hand vaguely at him, grinning like a fool. “See, that’s what I mean. You don’t care about popularity. You saw the marriage laws and knew that you couldn’t put boundaries on love, so you changed the rules. You found out why the war was wrong, and you ended it. Not without help, of course, but you did it all. You care about your people, and they know it.”

Zuko doesn’t know what to say to this, so he resorts to throwing a cushion at his friends face for having him confront feelings. His indignant yelp is a sound that leaves him chuckling for a good minute, so he lets it slide.

But the matter isn’t done yet, at least according to Sokka. On the last day of his visit, Zuko finds that there are no meetings scheduled for the day. He thinks he’ll spend some time in the gardens with his friend, like old times, but Sokka seems to have other plans.

“You guys have fun,” Suki says with a kiss to Sokka’s cheek and a clap on Zuko’s shoulder. “I’ll catch you later.”

Sokka pulls Suki into a proper kiss on the lips before he calls out a quick goodbye and drags Zuko out of the palace.

“Have you been to the towns and villages before?” Sokka asks as they make their way down the slope of the inactive volcano housing the capital city.

“Not nearly as much as I’d like,” Zuko admits. “I’ve been around the capital and Ember Island, but there wasn’t any reason for me to go down to the rest of the Fire Nation.” By reasons, he trusts Sokka understands that he means Ozai had strict rules to stay within the city limits.

“Huh. That’s not great.”

“I went to one of the towns once with my cousin, though,” he adds, expecting the familiar pang in his heart at the mention of Lu Ten before it hits him.

“He’s one of the good ones?” Sokka guesses.

Zuko smiles sadly. “He was like an older brother to me. You know, he was the one to tell Mom and Uncle that I was good with swords?”

“No way.”

“Ozai knew that I was leaving for a change in instructors,” Zuko continues, “but he never really cared either way at the time. He only really became a problem when Uncle and Lu Ten left to fight.”

“Ah.” Sokka rests a hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly, and Zuko knows to draw comfort from the gesture. He misses Lu Ten dearly, but the sting of loss is numbed, now. He can think of his antics with his cousin during his early childhood without the accompanying sorrow threatening to overwhelm him.

They’re at the base of the volcano now, so Zuko slips up his hood. His hair is free of its topknot and falls over his scar so that he can blend with the crowd unremarkably. There’s no sign that he might be discovered, though, and no repercussions even if he is (except perhaps from his guards, but Ming won’t really mind once she understands why).

The first thing he notices are the sounds. There’s laughter, chatter, and the occasional yelling interspersed with off-key music. He’s already taken aback by how different it is from when Lu Ten helped him sneak out one night when his parents were away with Azula.

“I…”

Sokka smiles and loops an arm around his shoulders. “You haven’t seen anything yet, buddy. You’re going to love this.”

The wind blowing around them is cool enough to be uncomfortable, so Zuko tugs up his collar and raises his internal temperature to compensate. Sokka seems to be unaffected by the chill, which is only to be expected considering his friend spent most of his life in harsh southern winters. They stop every few paces to look at what the roadside stalls were selling, and more than once Sokka actively considers the merits and demerits of buying something they sell before deciding against them, moving forward, and darting back only to walk away again.

The fifth time this happens, Zuko finds a permanent solution in the fire-dancers performing in the streets. It’s his turn now to haul his friend over to them, and Sokka is all too willing to oblige as Zuko watches the performers exaggerate their movements with graceful bending.

“You know, this was pretty cool in the Fire Days Festival too – spirits, are you okay?”

From how distressed Sokka suddenly looks upon seeing his face, he automatically reaches up to touch the scar only to find his cheeks wet. He hadn’t even realised he was crying, but he scrambled for an explanation to keep the other boy from panicking.

“I used to watch the fire-dancers with my mother every year when we went to Ember Island,” he says, swiping at his eyes. “I always wanted to learn their bending style, it’s much more flowy than any other form of firebending. And… it’s been a while since the Fire Nation was this happy outside of festivals. And, well, Ember Island.”

Sokka nods slowly, but he doesn’t look any more placated.

“I guess it never really felt real to me,” Zuko mumbles, ducking his head as his eyes start to burn and glaze over once more. “I’m always stuck at meetings or fighting the council to pass a reform that would help my people, but…”

There’s a lump in his throat that stops him from speaking further, but Sokka leads him away from the crowd gently and finishes it for him.

“You never saw how your decisions impacted your people.”

Zuko manages a strangled chuckle. “They’re happy,” he whispers.

Sokka holds him an arm’s length away, hands firm on his shoulders. “That’s what I wanted to show you,” he says. “They’re healing, and they’re happy. I know most of the people you see are the ones who benefitted from the war, but when we were making our way to the capital before the eclipse, we noticed that it had left its mark on the Fire Nation too.”

Zuko nods, thinking about how he’d received news of an important weapons factory suddenly stopping production because of some problem with the river it was located on. He’d investigated it further and had declined to deliver that information to Ozai once he heard how badly the nearby town had fared.

“We’re the ones who instigated the war,” Zuko says, slumping against the wall of some building. “There were so few people who didn’t suffer for it.”

Sokka slides down next to him wordlessly. It’s not self-deprecating for him to say this – it’s the truth, and Zuko’s doing his best to make up for his ancestors’ terrible choices. They weren’t mistakes, not when each tragedy piled up on top of each other with the sickening, deliberate motive painting them red with blood.

Her, Alya, Nino and Adrien all grinned at the camera, eyes wrinkling with joy. The photograph had been taken all the way back in high school; back when Marinette was still Ladybug, when Alya and Nino were still together, when Adrien...

She looked away. She had already slept in, she couldn't keep Alya waiting anymore. After brushing her teeth and putting on some dry shampoo, Marinette left and greeted Alya at the door. Together, they drove downtown to the poste de police. Marinette stared out the window, eyes scanning over a large colourful billboard: 

EXCLUSIVE @ CLOUD NINE LOUNGE! NINO LAHIFFE LIVE DJ! 8PM - 2AM

Marinette could see Alya grip the wheel tighter. She side glanced her, carefully avoiding the event advertised outside, "You remember your phone?"

"Yes, Alya. That was a one-time thing!"

"Sure, just like the 'one-time-thing' where you showed up to work out of uniform, then five hours after your shift, then used the wrong radio code making us all think-"

"Ok! Ok!" they laughed together, settling into a comfortable silence. Eventually, the light turned green and they sped down the street. "Alya, do you ever miss being with Ni-"

"Can you turn the AC down? I'm getting kinda cold,"

"Ah, sure."

✧✬✧

Alya dropped Marinette off then drove down the road to pick up their coffees. Alya was lucky enough to have a later shift, so she had plenty of time to eat dinner and pick up their coffees.

Marinette on the other hand was not so lucky.

She quickened her pace and walked into the police headquarters, opening the door with a tug. Marinette pushed the door forward and let it slam behind her as she loosened the scarf around her neck. A young girl interning sat typing away at the computer.

"Hello Eve, is Elleanor in?" She stopped typing and glanced up at her. At the sight of Marinette, she smiled widely and pushed her glasses back up into her face,

"Marinette! Good evening! A bit chilly, isn't it?" Eve was the newest [and youngest] intern working here. Despite her short, girly bobbed hair and stylish glasses, she was a hard worker. Surprisingly positive despite the glum situation that laid in the files.

"I guess so, anyway, is Elleanor docked in yet?"

"Oh, Elly? No, she isn't inside. She had to meet her father this morning so she's coming in this afternoon, why?" Marinette waved her off,

"Don't worry about it. I'd better get to work; bye, Eve!"

"Bye, Marinette! Good luck today!" Nodding her head, Marinette hurried away to her office. Marinette fell into her chair, sighing at the stack of paperwork in her desks left corner. 

Despite it being her strong suit, Marinette despised paperwork, but someone had to do it. She cracked her knuckle and rifled through her cabinets, finally finding a working pen. "Let's get to work,"

✧✬✧

"Hey, Mari. I brought you a croissant," Marinette looked up and saw Alya leaning against her door frame. Alya threw a small brown bag in Mari's direction; practically drooling, Marinette removed the croissant and devoured it in record time.

"I'm starving! Thank you so much." Alya chuckled and sat down on the spare office chair,

"I figured. After all, you did miss your break,"

"I did?"

"Just like yesterday..." they sighed. Marinette had been too enthralled with her work yet again and hadn't realized just how much time had passed. She turned her phone on and checked the time: 11:43 AM

"I've been working for three hours? How the hell did that happen?" Alya tutted at her side,

"So dedicated. If only it was on purpose,"

"Shut up!" Marinette teased back. After checking her notifications she stood up and pocketed her phone, "You think I could get away with taking a break now?"

"Eh. We're all hyped on coffee and the chief is out right now. I say go for it,"

"Great. Cover for me!" Marinette wandered through the station, occasionally stopping to chat with a coworker. Eventually, she gave up on socializing and scaled the fire ladder to the rooftop. When she checked her phone again, she found it was now nearly 1 AM. 

The air above the station was much colder than the heated environment below. Marinette didn't have a jacket but grew accustomed to it easily. Cars drove by on the street below, honking at any small inconvenience.

A set of teens walked by, ice cream cones in hand as they laughed at something the tallest one said. Marinette felt an odd sense of nostalgia. There was once a time when Marinette and her friends had been like that, she remembered the first time they attended a party; Nino getting so drunk he vomited all over Roses shoes, then spent the entire night apologizing. Alya sticking by his side the entire time and laughing every time he called her beautiful. Marinette, when she danced and danced and danced with A-

She shouldn't think about that. The past was in the past, why couldn't she just accept that? Inhaling a big breath of fresh air, Marinette got up and stood on the building's edge overlooking the building next door.

She hadn't been Ladybug for a couple of years now. At times she desperately missed Tikki, the thrill she got as she swung across the streets of Paris. But that was her old life; she was Marinette Dupain-Cheng the police officer now. 

Tikki promised they'd see each other again, but Marinette now knew she was merely comforting the young girl. They'd never see each other again. Not as long as Hawkmoth was defeated.

But Marinette was still as strong as before. She stared at the small gap between the two buildings. If she jumped, she was sure she could make it over. Maybe she'd have to pull herself up a bit, but she'd get there. All she had to do was jump. Slowly, she let one leg dangle over the edge, then leaned forward and-

Marinette hit the hard ground, legs buckling beneath her as she hit the cement. She groaned in pain, hands automatically reaching for her stomach. Squinting her eyes at the culprit, Marinette's eyes widened. Already short on breath, Marinette gasped aloud.

"Chat?"

The leather-clad figure stood immediately, seemingly unbothered by the fall they had both just suffered, "What the hell were you doing?" he snarled.

Marinette was taken aback. For 5 years. 5 YEARS. Law enforcement had been desperate in their attempts to apprehend Chat Noir. For 5 years it had been a literal cat and mouse chase between them all. For 5 years Chat Noir had robbed the elite of Paris. For 5 years, Marinette had wondered what had happened to her kitty.

Now, here he was. Standing right in front of her.

"Answer me. What were you about to do?" a loud 'SLAP' filled the air. A tense silence followed, Marinette glaring at the man in front of her. A red, hand print stained Chat's cheek as he barred his fangs at the noirette. "What was that fo-"

"You're under arrest. Get on the ground with your hands behind your head." Chat glared at the silver pistol now pointed directly at his forehead.

"Go ahead. I dare you."

"Get on the ground! I will shoot you if necessary!"

Chat Noir scoffed, "And here I thought you'd embrace me like an old friend. You used to be the polite one between the half of us."

"Yeah well, things change when one half goes insane, don't they?" Marinette fiddled with her pistol. No way was she going to shoot Chat Noir, she doubted it would even penetrate him with his suit on. All he needed was to cooperate, and nothing would happen.

But what if he didn't?

"Still got your wits, I see. I missed our banter, Purr-incess--"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Chat's eyes widened, his once mocking smirk replaced with a tense straight line. Marinette couldn't blame him; she was shocked at the outburst herself. But no one was allowed to call her that. No one. Not even the one that started it. "Chat, please. Surrender."

"I came here to talk. I'm not turning myself in!"

Marinette pocketed her gun. It was obvious it was a simple accessory at this point, she'd have a better chance with both her hands-free. Slowly, Chat approached her. She glared at his walking figure but didn't protest as he stood right in front of her.

Blue eyes met green. Memories of puns and jokes scattered around her mind. Images of laughing faces, blonde locks and black leather clogged her vision, but she swiftly shook them away. Marinette apprehensively raised her hand, hovering it just over Chat's cheek. His expression remained cold, but his eyes softened at her touch. "What happened to you?"

They stayed like that for a while; staring into each other's eyes. Where did everything go wrong?

Loud thumps broke their trance. Like a switch, Chat pushed Marinette away and glared at the rooftop entrance. The doorknob twisted left and right, Alya's voice shouting from behind it. "Marinette? Marinette! You okay up here?"

As Alya struggled, Marinette returned her gaze to Chat Noir, "I'm not leaving without you. I'm an officer, I have duties now."

"I already said; I'm not here to sur-"

"Marinette! Is there someone else up here?"

Time was running out. Any second now Alya would get through and see Marinette casually conversing with the Chat Noir. "I'm sick of waiting, let's go." Chat Noir wrapped his arms around Marinette's waist, pulling her tightly towards him.

"What? Chat, what are you doin-" Chat seized Marinette and held her up bridal style, then took of bounding over the rooftops of Paris. Just as Chat jumped over onto their third building, Marinette heard Alya slam the door open. She's going to kill me. While bounding around Paris in the arms of Chat Noir was the last thing she wanted to do, Marinette decided against fighting back due to Chat being the only thing keeping her from falling over three stories down.

Eventually, Chat Noir paused on a particularly high building. He set Marinette down, and instantly she pushed him away, "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?"

"Yeah! I'm still on duty, you can't just whisk me away to play '20 questions'!" Marinette stabbed a finger into Chat's chest, rapidly walking faster and faster towards him, "Who do you think you are? You aren't a superhero anymore! Hawkmoth was defeated and instead of giving your miraculous in you fucking go rogue! Stealing from Paris' elite! Destroying buildings, just like the Gabriel Agre-" Marinette paused. Tears threatened to drip down her face, and Marinette didn't feel like crying in front of Chat Noir today.

He tentatively set a hand on her shoulder. Marinette hissed at his touch, but only moved her gaze towards a nearby water tower, "Princess, I-"

"No!" Marinette slapped his hand off of her, "You can't just do this! You can't disappear, go all 'Robin Hood' and rob the rich then come back! Calling me 'Princess' like nothing ever happened! Like you didn't leave me!" Marinette released a guttural moan, sobs breaking out, "You left me."

Chat watched as Marinette crumbled onto the ground, hands instantly wiping her eyes as she continued to cry. Pull yourself together Marinette. Warmth blossomed in Marinette's side, she glanced up, watching as Chat settled beside her. He held her as she cried, not once interrupting.

When she could finally speak without soaking her face, Marinette looked back up at him. Chat stared into her eyes as he replied, "I'm sorry for leaving."

"Why did you?"

Chat sighed, turning away from her, "So many things were happening. I lost control. I couldn't deal with everything."

"We all were."

"I know." Chat turned back to Marinette, who now sat silent, observing him, "I shouldn't have left. I should have said goodbye. I was afraid you'd stop me. Maybe things would have been better if you did." minutes passed as the pair sat in silence. Then, a golden glow overtook them.

Marinette couldn't help but let out a few quiet giggles, despite her still being fresh from crying, "The sun's rising. Alya's going to kill me when I get back." Chat laughed along with her.

"I guess it's time I brought you back anyway." he stood up, stretching his arms out. He offered his hand, Marinette grabbed it and pulled herself up beside him.

"I don't want you to disappear again, I can't lose you again."

"Me neither."

"I..." Marinette paused, Alya's grief-stricken face flashed in her mind. If she knew where Marinette was right now she'd freak. There was no one who hated Chat Noir more, but even so... "I live in the tall apartment building down Rue Baudin street. I room with Alya, but if you knock on my window..." she trailed off. Marinette's cheeks warmed to a faint pink, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

Chat grinned at her, eyes narrowing at the flustered girl, "Just like old times huh?"

"Just like old times,"

"Well," Chat Noir plucked Marinette and held her up bridal style yet again, "Guess it's time to go."

✧✬✧

"Marinette! Are you ok? Where were you?" Marinette stumbled down the hall, straight to Alya's office, "You're freezing!"

Alya cleared a nearby chair and sat Marinette down, covering her with a spare blanket, "I saw- I saw Chat Noir."

"WHAT!" Alya's face scrunched up and glowed a deep scarlet, "Oh my god- I'm telling Chief. You stay here." Alya rushed out the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Marinette's calm face struck Alya as she walked down the hall. She backtracked and paused outside her office door. Slowly, she cracked the door open and peeked through. Her face contorted into a sorrowful expression as she sighed. Marinette sat exactly as she left her, staring passionately at the tile ground, as her face reddened exactly the same way it did five years ago.

“There are invitations for both of us.” Tom looked at her hopefully.

“I can't, Love. I promised your Mam and Emma that I would help her mind Lucy that day. Jack's sister is getting married and Emma will only go if me and your Mam are minding Lucy, so I said yes.” She gave him an apologetic look. “And that's the Roubaix phase of the Tour as well.” She smirked.

Tom shook his head. “You're indoctrinating Lucy, aren't you?”

“Yep.” Tom chuckled and kissed her hand. “Next time.”

“I'll hold you to that.” Tom warned.

“Tennis is wasted on me. He hit the ball, the other guy hit the ball, both stayed in the box, now the first guy hit it again and so on and so forth.”

“Says she who is missing that to watch a bunch of emaciated men cycle a bumpy road for a shirt.” Tom retorted playfully.

“Yep. And a horrible bright yellow one at that. Ah, Sky will probably have it again this year with Froome.” She admitted.

“If you talk like that about it, why are you even going to watch it?”

“Because a whole race can change on one stage. One mistake and you can wipe out half the peloton. That and I love looking at the French countryside and towns throughout the Tour also.” She stated unapologetically as she stated the car so they could get back to the house.

The plan was a two week stay at first, the first week would involve the rest of the family too, Emma, Jack and Lucy, Yakov, Sarah and their Duchess and of course, Diana, all staying in one large house and the second week, only the two of them and Bobby and Mac, who Danielle and Tom had ensured would have their own spot in the house so to avoid babies if need be. Poppy, for the most part, was happy to interact with the males when it suited her but come meal and bedtime, she was more than able to inform them to leave her alone.

It was an odd sensation for Danielle to be in such a full house but she adored it. Tom seemed almost elated, having her to be by his side as his sister's partners were in events before. He told her about his different family members they would be meeting while Danielle reminded him that she had, in fact, met the majority of them before at Emma's wedding.

The dinner was pleasant, with everyone getting the rest of the house up-to-date with their goings on. Danielle had assisted Emma substantially with Lucy while Jack was forced to return to work, so both of them were knowledgeable on the other's business, but everyone was still curious to know about Danielle's new work venture and the arrival of a courier with a substantial case of documents from Safeguard did not help proceedings. Tom was elated to see Danielle accept the paperwork before placing it in a corner and commenting that she would deal with it after all the family related malarkey of the following few days.

Tom enjoyed the feeling of being surrounded by family. There, he could just be Tom again, no pretence, no public persona, they didn't care for that. To his aunts, uncles and cousins, he was simply Diana's boy who adored theatre and shows and it made him incredibly happy. He watched as again, Danielle assisted Emma with Lucy, holding the baby as Emma prepared a bottle of expressed milk for her daughter. He watched as she gently moved around so to allow Emma the time to sort herself and keep Lucy amused. At a mere six weeks, there was little thought required to make it so but Lucy seemed to like the movement and her Godmother was only too happy to oblige.

“So, when are we getting our big day out of you then?”

Tom sighed to himself at his aunt's words, having heard them a thousand times before, ever since he was twenty-five actually, had she badgered him about settling down and getting married. He also knew his mother had spoken to her sister-in-law regarding not doing so any longer, especially when Danielle and Tom confirmed they too would be coming to the family gathering. “Not yet, Aunt Delia.” He smiled politely.

“And why not, she's as good a girl as any.”

Tom laughed to himself. He knew Delia had not said more than a passing hello to Danielle yet, so her decision that she was a suitable spouse was based solely on observations from afar, in the twenty minutes they had all been at the one house. “Because Danielle is a busy woman and she hasn't time for such things at present and with my upcoming work, I am similar.”

“No one has told me yet what she does?”

Again, Tom found himself groaning internally at his aunt's assumption that she was automatically entitled to such information. “She owns a share in a safety management firm, she's a safety officer.”

“I see.”

Tom waited to see if, to Delia, that was an “acceptable” profession.

“Good.” She declared. “You need a strong woman.”

“Danielle is incredible.” Tom agreed. “She is an amazing woman. When you speak to her, you'll realise that too.” He smiled. “How is Rupert?”

On his asking about her beloved French Bulldog, Delia beamed brightly and took out her phone to show him pictures. Tom was relieved that she had moved on from keeping a bunch of pictures in her purse to show people but groaned at the knowledge that she would now have hundreds more to show. He glanced over to Danielle and gave her a small look to tell her everything he needed her to know.

Danielle chuckled to herself and nodded slightly.

“Dare I ask?” Emma questioned as she sat into a chair and taking Lucy.

Danielle handed her her daughter gently. “Tom is giving the “save me” look.”

“Are you going to save him?”

“No, not yet. You have to do it smartly. You leave it a few minutes and then do the whole 'Tom, your Mam needs you’ routine and save him from...what is she showing him?”

“Probably Rupert, her dog. She is obsessed with him. She had three kids but she loves the dog more than them or her grandchildren.” Emma commented as she put a bib on Lucy and began feeding her.

“Are you okay here? I better put the show on for her by going to your Mam.”

“I'm okay here, thank you. Buy if you see Jack, could you tell him to get me my pump from the car?”

“Of course, and if I don't, I'll grab it in a minute, okay?”

“Thank you.”

Danielle found Jack and relayed the message and then found Diana, being forced to make small talk with who she found out was Delia's husband for a few minutes before going and saving Tom.

Tom's face was nothing short of relief when he saw her coming toward them. He brightened his smile and gently leant forward. “Yes, Darling?”

“I am so sorry to interrupt but Tom, your Mam wants you for a moment, something to do with a photograph, she said you would know what that meant.”

“Darn, I hoped she would forget. Aunt Delia, I would like to introduce you to my wonderful Danielle, or as you have no doubt heard myself, Mum and Emma call her, just Elle and Elle, Darling, this is my lovely aunt Delia.”

“Oh, yes. I was speaking to your husband not too long ago, he says you have a lovely Frenchie.” Danielle smiled.

Danielle could have been the living embodiment of Satan but as soon as she mentioned Rupert with such enthusiasm, Delia deemed her worthy. “Yes, my wonderful Rupert, I was just telling Thomas about him.”

Danielle gave a slight smirk while Tom groaned at being referred to by his full name. “Yes, they're not common in Ireland, or weren't while I was growing up, but they are a big thing here. We meet two on our walks some days and they have to be one of the sweetest breeds ever. A lovely dog.”

“Oh, they are. I was just showing Thomas some pictures. Would you like to see him?”

“I would love to, as soon as I assist with this photograph that Diana mentioned. Is he brindle?” She noticed the screensaver of the phone and the dog on it.

“Yes, that's my Rupert, so handsome.” Delia smiled fondly. “I look forward to speaking with you more about him later.”

“As soon as I am done.” Danielle promised, earning a satisfied nod from Delia. “Run.” She urged Tom as soon as the older woman was out of hearing distance.

“Thank you.” He sighed as they walked through to a different room. “Aunt Delia is a lovely woman, in small doses and her obsession with that dog….it's difficult to listen to. You better find a way to avoid her later because if she thinks she has someone to listen, she will keep you for the whole evening.”

“It's boring but not the worst. I often think with people who focus so obsessively on one thing in their lives because they feel as though that one thing is all they really have.”

*

Tom and Sarah watched in awe as Delia showed what they suspected to be the thousandth picture of her beloved Rupert to Danielle who sat speaking with her as though it was only the second or third.

“How long is she there?” Sarah asked.

“Forty minutes on my last count.” Tom answered, checking his watch.

“Save her.”

“I tried to, she just asked me to get them more tea.” Sarah looked at him in disbelief. “Shit, Delia's crying, why is Delia crying?”

“I wasn't aware she had tear ducts.” Sarah commented. “She's holding Danielle's hand so it can't be something she did.”

“Why is my mother crying?” Peter, Tom and Sarah's cousin asked as he came over to them. “Is she alright?”

“She's smiling, so I think so.” Tom responded.

They watched a time more before Frank, Delia's husband came over and suggested they go to back to their place, that Rupert would be missing them. She said her goodbyes to Danielle who smiled kindly at her before turning to her husband and heading to Tom, Sarah and Peter.

“We best get back to Rupert, he will be pining something dreadful.” She declared.

“You and that bloody dog, Mother.” Peter sighed.

Delia chose to ignore her son. “Thomas, that Danielle of yours is the most wonderful girl. If only Peter had been half as fortunate.”

“Mother, Geraldine is my wife, the mother of your grandchildren.”

“Well, she's no Danielle.”

Tom looked at his shocked cousin, unsure of what to say. “Yes... Danielle is incredible.”

“Do not let that young lady leave. You will never get the likes of her again.”

“I don't plan to.” Tom smiled, looking at Danielle, who was helping his other aunt clean a mess one of the children had made.

“Good.” Satisfied, she left.

Tom looked at Peter apologetically. “So your girlfriend gets my mother to cry and she's the second coming of Princess Diana, how does that work?”

“I genuinely have no idea.” Tom laughed. “I will have to ask her.”

“Please, if it is something I can do, let me know.” Peter sighed in exasperation before going back to his wife.

“I'm curious too.” Sarah confessed. “Go ask her “

On his sister's order, and with a healthy dose of curiosity of his own, Tom went to do so.

“I let her show me her dog, that's why.” Danielle explained plainly. “I gave her forty minutes of my time to tell me about Rupert and that made her tell me how heartbroken she is that Peter, Rebecca and Jessica don't really spend time with her anymore. Rupert needs her and loves her selflessly in return for her attention when her children don't always have time for her.”

“I hadn't realised that.”

“She brought Rupert to a photographer recently and had him professionally photographed. She'd loved to do that with her grandchildren but feels that Peter and Jessica and their partners don't want her to push too much on them and she knows she is overbearing and is trying to rein herself in but she can't help it and as a result, she puts it into Rupert. It's heartbreaking really, she gets jealous of your Mam and how we make time for her but listening and looking at her photos, it made her day.”

Tom smiled lovingly at her. “You are incredible. So caring. Aunt Delia, a woman who is, at best, overbearing, is a fan of yours.”

“She's a nice lady really.” Danielle smiled. “I know she is probably hard to have as a mother but she's not the worst. That dog gets the most of it.”

“He looks peculiar”

“French Bulldogs, they look like they've been hit in the face with a hot shovel. So ugly they're cute sort of thing.”

   Virgil stifled a yawn, keeping his grip on his gun while he raised his free hand to cover his mouth. Patrol duty. Most boring job in the roster.

   Well, that wasn’t completely true. Until recently, FBI monitoring had been fun. He only had one charge at the moment, since he was also on the patrol schedule, and he was always interesting. Whether he was searching up something crazy sounding enough Virgil almost should have called it in, or performing an experiment with his laptop open and catching every explosion and success, Logan Berry was exciting to watch.

   Within the past few weeks, however, things had drastically changed. Logan was on his laptop less and less, and when he was on, it was for mundane searches. He had even taped over his camera, leaving Virgil only to watch his search history, which sucked.

   Not that he missed seeing that cute, concentrated face- no, that would be a conflict of interest. He’d be reassigned. He was just annoyed that he couldn’t see if Logan was building a bomb or anything.

   Yep. Perfectly understandable work reasons.

   He hadn’t been on at all for the last three days, and Virgil had been trying to pretend he wasn’t, since he was his only ticket out of extra patrols. He had avoided getting more placements in the schedule, but he couldn’t hide behind his screen for forever.

   At the very least, Virgil figured, it was a historic day to be on patrol. September twentieth. The day the internet said it would storm the base. Not that he believed it, but the way some of the younger soldiers buzzed by him with nervous energy was an amusing sight.

   Virgil had just risked a glance at his watch- fifteen minutes left before his break- when he heard the squeal of warning sirens. Glancing up, he saw the lights had flashed on as well.

   He scrambled to pull out his communicator, the screen lighting up with an impossible number of red dots. Enemies on the horizon.

   Or, in this case, internet browsers who did not fear death.

   Warnings were blaring alongside reminders that this was a shoot on-sight base, and to not hesitate to pull the trigger. Numbers and codes and squadrons were listed off on where they were to go. Virgil practically deflated in relief when he heard his section was called to defend the interior of the base.

   He didn’t want to shoot anyone- Virgil was an agent who mostly watched a monitor all day and complained about walking; he could kill but he really would rather not. Keeping that in mind, Virgil picked a random hallway, heading down it until he found one that dead-ended in a huge, metal door with three different types of locks on it.

   Virgil nodded as he stationed himself in front of the door. No one would be getting down here.

   After a few minutes, the sirens shut off, the lights still flashing in warning. At the end of the hall, it was nearly dead silent as the red light bounced on and off of him. Virgil didn’t like this corner very much, but if it meant no dealing with people, he could work with it.

   Apparently, he had been too assured of his spot too soon. In the silent hall, the sound of metal cracking from above rang out like gunfire. Virgil aimed his weapon in the direction of the noise, training kicking in and stopping him from shaking as the movement stopped somewhere only a few feet in front of him. The sound of metal clanging against metal sounded loudly before a vent cover fell down and crashed in front of Virgil.

   He was proud to say he barely flinched as he held his gun at the opening.

   After a moment of silence, someone dropped down from the ducts, swinging off the edge and hitting the ground so flawlessly Virgil thought a leaf dropping to the ground would have been louder. Whoever they were, they were facing the wrong direction, allowing Virgil to only see the brown-yellow cape they were sporting.

   Virgil tightened his grip but didn’t say anything. If they started walking away, he’d call them out, but for the moment he treasured the possible element of surprise.

   The stranger stood in place for a moment, seemingly getting their bearings, before their cape began to swirl as they turned towards Virgil. He adjusted his grip on the gun one final time as they faced him, hood of their cloak in their eyes.

   “Hold still! Put your hands on your head and do not move!” Virgil barked automatically. The stranger jerked, clearly startled, before calmly doing as they were told. Virgil gestured with his weapon.

   “If it makes you feel better, sir, I’m not armed.” The stranger told him, voice surprisingly controlled. “Got a smoke bomb on my hip if you want that.”

   Virgil knew he probably should have taken it, but the stranger seemed to understand the chance of him getting shot was high enough the risk to grab the bomb wouldn’t be worth it. He gestured with his weapon. “Lose the hood.”

   The stranger nodded curtly in understanding, slowly raising his hands a few inches to hook the edge of the hood with his thumbs, flicking it off before placing his hands back down on perfectly slicked back, dark brown hair.

   Virgil’s eyes widened. “Logan?”

   Logan’s eyes widened as well. “Excuse me, do I know you?”

   “Uh, no, you wouldn’t.” Virgil responded, shaking his head once, trying to focus on the situation. “What the Hell are you doing breaking in here?”

   “Research study.” Logan responded.

   “To see how fast you can get shot?”

   “To see what technology and, possibly, what sort of life the government has access to.” Logan responded evenly. “This is a serious inquiry. I wish you’d treat it as such.”

   Virgil smirked, trying not to laugh. He knew Logan could be a little crazy sometimes when it came to his studies, but this? This was a whole new level. “I’m not the one in a dirt cape at gunpoint.”

   Logan frowned and looked almost disappointed in Virgil. “Please, agent, it’s a sand cape. Blends in with the desert outside your door.”

   “Oh, so it’s ‘agent’, now?” Virgil asked, cocking an eyebrow. “What happened to ‘sir?’”    “I realized you weren’t worthy of the title.”

   “Oof.” Virgil responded mockingly. “That hurt.”

   Logan didn’t respond for a moment, the edge of his mouth slowly turning up. “You’re not like the other soldiers here, are you?”

   Virgil scoffed. “You trying to flirt with me?”

   Logan rolled his eyes. “I just meant you seem to actually have a brain. Of the twenty other guards I’ve passed, they just shot whatever they saw. You’re asking questions. Even if they are rather moronic questions…”

   “Technically they’re just doing their jobs.” Virgil replied, marveling at the nerd’s nerve given he had a gun pointed in his (cute) face. “I’m breaking the law by not shooting you, actually.”

   “And I’m breaking the law by being here.” Logan matched in a tone that suggested Virgil should get in the rule-breaking line.

   “So I noticed.”

   Logan’s smile grew a little bit, still cocky despite the gun, and Virgil wondered if his computer camera had been dirty, because despite seeing that smile in a million different variations this one somehow seemed to be making him blush. “What are you going to do now?”

   Virgil tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

   “You can’t take me in, since I’m supposed to be shot on sight.” Logan answered. “And know I mean it as a compliment when I say you don’t look like you’re going to do that.”

   Virgil resisted the urge to curse and lose what little control of the situation he had. “Say I’m not.” He settled for after a moment. “What do I do then?”

   Logan nodded behind Virgil, where the heavy, guarded door waited. “Can I assume you don’t have the clearance to get that open?”

   “...You can.”

   “Care to see what’s behind it anyways?” Logan asked. “I’ve got all the tools we’ll need.”

   “Logan, are you asking me to betray my government?”

   Logan frowned. “Okay, it’s still weird you know my name.”

   Virgil laughed sheepishly. “Uh, let’s just say all those jokes about FBI agents watching you might not just be jokes.”

   “That’s… quite the coincidence.” Logan said after a moment. “Though I guess switching my research to a more secure device was not a mistake after all.”

   “I was wondering why you disappeared. Area fifty-one prep?”

   Logan nodded.

   “Should’ve guessed.” Virgil admitted with a chuckle. “Man, you did a lot of weird experiments over the years. You should be happy I didn’t bring you in.”

   “That might have been interesting, actually.” Logan responded. “Though I do feel I’m at a disadvantage, given you know not only my name but… well, quite a good bt about my life, I assume.”

   “If it helps, I’m new to your case.” Virgil said with a shrug. “Two years, now, I think? Still plenty of crazy crap to watch, though.”

   Logan smirked. “Ah, yes, because two years is such a short, insignificant amount of time to have been relentlessly watching someone.”

   Dammit he’s sarcastic too

   Virgil smirked back, ignoring his internal monologue. “I can offer my name, if it’ll please you.”

   “Nothing pleases me.”

   “Great, we’ll get along swell.” Virgil responded in stride. “I’m Virgil.”

   “Well, then, Virgil, now that we’re clearly so close, would you do me the honor of not pointing that gun at me and allowing me to break into your secret facility even more?” Logan asked, not even close to sounding like he meant it.

   Virgil hesitated for a moment, hefting his gun uncertainly, before he lowered it back into the ready-to-aim position. “Certainly.”

   A wide, genuine smile of curiosity and scientific excitement broke out on Logan’s face at that as he pulled his hands off his head, already brushing past Virgil as he pulled something out of a pocket within the cloak. “Glad to see you’re not completely mindless.”

   “Why is it that your every sentence is an attack?” Virgil inquired as he turned to watch the hallway, not sure what he’d do if one of his coworkers appeared.

   “Just the amount of material I have to work with.” Logan replied cheekily as something beeped. “Also, your fingerprint scanner? It’s a joke.”

   “Area fifty-one has to get its humor in somewhere.”

   Another beep. “Same goes to your card scanner. Never heard of chip replication via scant tracing?”

   Virgil was happy to be facing away from Logan, deciding he didn’t need to embrasses himself before his crus- uh, before a civilian by how utterly confused he looked. “I guess not.”

   Logan hummed, a few more quiet noises sounding before an obnoxiously wrong beep sounded. “Of course, save the worst for last…” Logan muttered.

   Virgl risked a glance backwards, finding Logan frowning at a keypad. “Need some help?”

   Logan turned to face him, raising an eyebrow. “From someone competent, perhaps.”

   Virgil rolled his eyes as he walked over to the door, examining the pad. It was simple, sleek, and not meant to leave any prints behind to help a couple of lawbreakers get in. There were no notes on it, either, so no password hints.

   Frowning, Virgil thought back to a few months ago when his supervisor had been bragging about being important enough to be trusted with programming the new keypads across the building. He tried to think of what his tool of a boss would have made the code.

   After a moment, Virgil had an idea. Punching in the numbers, he felt Logan’s eyes over his shoulder as he hit enter. For a second, nothing happened as the numbers were processed.

   And then… a happy beep and the loud click of the door’s deadbolt sliding out of place rang through the hall. Virgil grinned.

   “One-eighteen-five-one-five-one?” Logan repeated as Virgil pulled away from the door, glancing behind him once more.

   “Area fifty-one in all numbers.” Virgil explained. “I know the dude who set this system up. To put it lightly, he’s a fool.”

   “Lucky for us, eh?” Logan asked, glancing down the hall as well. “Plus, it has proven your worth to this study.”

   “You can stop calling it a study, you know.” Virgil teased. “It’s clearly just revolution with a chance to see aliens.”

   “You mock my study.” Logan replied. “That’s our mission statement.”

   Virgil snorted on reflex, covering his mouth immediately afterwards. “You don’t say?”

   Before Logan could respond, the sound of stomping boots and quietly shouted orders carried down the hall. From what Virgil could tell, its source wasn’t too far away.

   “You’ve got to hurry up if you don’t want to get caught.” Virgil warned him, taking a few more steps backwards as he raised his gun slightly. “I can try and distract them-”

   Virgil stopped when he felt Logan tugging at his arm, pulling him towards the door and forcing him to lower his gun once more. When he looked questioningly at Logan, the clever civilian just rolled his eyes. “I’ve deemed you an asset to this study, I’m not about to lose you to distraction duty.”

   Despite the seriousness of their situation, Virgil couldn’t help but smile and tease, “Aw, Logan, you care about me that much?”

   Virgil had expected another sarcastic remark, not Logan glancing away with what he could have sworn was a blush on his cheeks as he responded, “Just hurry up before I change my mind.”

   Virgil spared one last glance behind them, the sound of marching soldiers not getting any farther away. “Alright, alright, just open the door.”

   Logan nodded, grabbing the metal handle and twisting it hard as he pushed. The door didn’t budge. He briefly tried to pull it, only to find even more resistance. Logan huffed as he pushed again, putting his shoulder to the door this time, only barely getting a gap.

   Virgil looked back to see Logan failing to shove the door open. “You got it?”

   “Your… stupid government door… is excessively… heavy.” Logan responded in between grunts as he managed to get a minor gap to open. Getting worried about how loud the soldiers were getting, Virgil moved to put his shoulder against the door as well, surprised by how heavy it was.

   “You’re right.” Virgil agreed after a moment as the door slowly slid more and more open, inch by inch, the words of the general ordering the approaching troop almost close enough to be understood.

   “I know.” Logan said, somehow managing the quip despite the effort he was putting into just getting the door open. Virgil tried not to focus on that as he heard the sound of guns clicking, the steps almost right outside the hall-

   All of a sudden, Logan was tapping his shoulder as he slipped through the just barely wide enough gap, signaling to Virgil to hurry and follow.

   “Halt! On orders of the US government-”

   Virgil slipped in after him before he could hear the end of the sentence, the door slamming shut and blocking out any sound from behind. The passage they were in now was dimly lit, the lights in emergency mode, and Virgil could just barely make out the figure of an impatient Logan waiting a few feet away, waving for him to follow him deeper into the tunnel of mystery.

   Virgil took a second to turn back towards the door, it apparently as thick as it was heavy for all the noises he could hear through it (none). Turning back, Logan was waving even more demandingly.

   With another heft of his gun, the only thing currently familiar to him, Virgil acquiesced to his demands.