#piper | threads

she’d been a little on edge since the previous night. a message sent from a yet to be identified admirer on a dating app has left her shook. i think i know who you are. she’d laughed it off the night before, sent back a message that they there was no way they could know who she was outside of the dating app. she hadn’t received another message after that, and for some reason that worried her more than the initial message. piper did her best to just brush it off and go about her day, and for the most part she had done that. but now it was the end of the day and there she was in her office checking her phone again for any new messages. distracted by the device she didn’t notice lyonel’s entrance at first until the sound of her office door closing and locking filled her ears. looking up with a start the woman furrowed her brow, confusion evident on her features as she watched the man pull the blinds shut over each window. “um..lyonel? you wanna explain what the hell you’re doing?” piper questioned, slight amusement in her tone as she set her phone down on her desk. 

Slowly she stood, keeping herself particularly close to the man as she let a sly little smile play on her lips. A small sign that maybe, just maybe she hadn’t really lost her keys. “All set, you ready?” 

her hands itched to reach for the phone to make sure, worried that if it was and he’d managed to get into that he’d seen the things she’d been sending and doing in her personal life. it wasn’t that piper was ashamed of that side of her, but it was something she knew she had to keep hidden if she wanted to be able to do her job. no one was more judgmental than a school board and nosy parents. “if it is i’d really appreciate it if you gave it back.” piper had a strong feeling that it was her phone, the case alone was distinctive enough for her to identify.

“Oh really? Anything in particular keeping me on your mind?” She replied, obviously flirting and clearly happy to see him again as well. Granted they had just seen each other the day before in the teacher’s lounge of the high school they both worked at. “You want some coffee or did you just wander into the teacher’s lounge to see me?” It was an opportune moment, a rare one where they just happened to be the only two in the room. No other teachers looking for something to gossip about, certainly no students being nosy about what their teachers got up to in their free time. 

The woman sat in a room illuminated by candlelight, far more candles than most who knew what she was would be comfortable with. Of course he knew, and Piper could only suspect that he didn’t care. Something else unusual for her as most seemed to recoil in fear when she neared open flame. A thing most fire elementals were used to, her position as a princess the only thing that kept her from being truly persecuted for something beyond her control. “Did you tell them to leave the candles out?” She questioned as the man entered the room, her husband as of that night, a man that was feared as well. A flame danced around her fingertips, the warmth soothing her but not burning her as it would a normal person. “Or did you forget to tell them to take them away?” She finally looked up, letting the flame flicker out as she met his gaze despite all the warnings that she’d been given about behaving, being reverent, and only speaking when spoken to.