salute [h.s]

only a masters degree but whatever

december 23 - putting up the lights

1D fanfic/Salute Extra

Harry/Piper

*

"Ready to go, petal?"

Piper looked up from her computer with tired eyes, pushing her hair from her face was a lazy swipe of her hand. Harry was walking the last couple of feet toward her desk, looking like a fresh burst of sunshine to her overtired mind. He hadn't been working today, judging by the black jeans and red flannel shirt he was wearing under his wool coat. Her brain acknowledged that he looked good enough to eat but her tired body couldn't even manage a lazy smile.

"More than you'll ever know."

Harry gave her a simple grin as he crossed the distance between them and leaned over, his palms flat on her desk. He bent far enough that he could touch his lips to hers gently. "I'll drive you home. And feed you."

"Are you human?" Piper asked, nearly on the verge of tears because she was so exhausted. "Because I'm pretty sure you're an angel."

Harry rolled his eyes but his right cheek was dimpled with a sideways smile so Piper knew it was an endearing sort of eye-roll, not an irritated eye-roll. "You say the strangest things when you're tired."

"I think if we're being honest, I say —" she yawned loudly into her hand " — strange things all the time."

Harry was giving her that look, that fond sort of smile when he thought she was being cute. "Oh, my cuddly little bear," he said as he crossed around her desk and bent behind her, wrapping his arms over her shoulders in a backward hug. She leaned back, her head knocking against his shoulder, and let her eyes drift shut for a moment. She felt Harry ghosting his lips gently over her jaw and then he pressed his lips to the spot on her neck, just under her jaw, that always drove her wild. "I love it when you get like this, all sleepy and pliable. I just want to wrap you in blankets and hold you until you fall asleep."

Piper wasn't sure if he was joking but she jumped on the idea. "Please do," she said insistently as she spun her chair toward him, knocking him in the knees in her effort to mold herself to him. "Please do that right now."

Harry chuckled, letting one of his hands drop from around her shoulder to cup her cheek tenderly. He smiled brightly at her, his eyes crinkling a bit, the green of his irises almost grey in the washed out light of T branch. He leaned in to press his lips to hers so gently and so tenderly it almost felt like they weren't there at all, that she was imagining the whole thing. "Come on, sleepy head," he said as he took her chair in his hands and spun her so she was facing forward again. "Do all of that shit you have to do to power down and then let's get out of here."

Piper would have said something snarky about the power down process he was alluding to except that he had a point. She was totally paranoid about her computer (it was a computer scientist thing) and there was no way she was leaving for the night without securing it in at least five different ways. It did take a bit of time to get everything in place. Harry, to his credit, didn't say a word, just let her tired brain focus on the task at hand so she could get it done faster. He didn't need anything to distract himself. He just spent the five minutes it took to power down leaning against the desk in front of Piper's, arms crossed over his chest loosely, watching her closely. He seemed to like watching her work for whatever reason. She didn't mind. It was nice having him around no matter what he was doing.

"I think I'm almost done —"

Piper and Harry both looked up as someone came striding into T branch purposefully. The man was obviously a senior agent judging by the polished suit he was wearing. It took Piper a moment to recognize him as C's assistant. Something about this didn't feel good.