Archive of Our Own ^beta

C fumbles with the coffee, but she says nothing except smile at him. She holds in her laugh as he coughs and scowls, handing it to her.

"Don't be late," he warns and then stalks off.

He does this every morning and it doesn't get old.

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"New York was nice," she says, kicking her feet back and forth as she sits on the top of the cement wall and nibbles on the buttery croissant she'd picked up that morning. "But I like it here."

She likes it because she knows more people in the UK-branch and she's more at home here.

C awkwardly coughs and holds onto his own croissant, sitting next to her.

"That's…good," is all he says before scowling and looking away.

She hides her smile and is glad she asked him along for breakfast in Paris, even though he'd huffed and grumbled at first —before agreeing anyway.

He tends to do that all the time, even before she noticed the pattern, and so she starts inviting him more on purpose just to see him get all flustered.

C can be pretty cute like this.

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When she's in the midst of a stack of paperwork, usually heaped on her by H, she usually resigns herself to a long night finishing the stack.

C comes around and tuts at her, shaking his head as he watches. He lectures her about getting to work promptly on them and focusing, and she rolls her eyes at the lecture and nods along while she does work on the one she currently has at hand.

Then she looks back at her stack a few moments later after he's left, finished with her current work, only to realize the stack she'd had was minimized to almost in half.

M blinks and looks after the stern agent and smiles to herself.

Pawny is on her desk and pokes her hand several times, making her look to him as he wags his eyebrows. She laughs lightly and thinks that C really can be too kind to her, even as he tries hard not to look it.

Some time later, he returns to her again, looking as stern as ever. And when he opens his mouth, she beats him to it first.

"I'm working hard," she promises. "Thank you for watching out for me, Agent C. I appreciate it."

His face flushes and he mumbles something that she doesn't catch. He waves her off and says something about being a senior agent means looking over and supervising subordinates like her, and she just hums and nods.

He stops saying whatever he tries as excuses and nods to her, turning as he makes his escape.

M wonders if anyone has ever thought of him as sweet, the way she thinks he kind of is.

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He drops by often. She never noticed it before, but as she pays him more and more attention, she realizes that he has been regularly checking in on her all along.

He also lingers around her and offers her something (a coffee, a snack, whatever on hand) whenever he can, and despite his gruff exterior…sometimes he is just plain awkward.

Especially around her.

H even notices it and teases her about it when they're out for brunch or lunch or dinner or whatever it is they fancy hanging out at.

"He likes you," H says in amusement.

M hums and thinks about it, and tilts her head, lips twitching.

"You're probably right," she agrees and thinks back fondly on the strict agent.

H snorts and grabs his mug, shaking his head as he takes a gulp out of it. M merely takes hers and sips at it thoughtfully.

C isn't normally the kind of guy she'd go out with, back before when she actually dated and wasn't part of the Agency. But…he is cute and maybe he's awkward and probably isn't used to trying to be sweet and courting someone, but she likes that and she thinks she might like him.

He fumbles a lot and tries too hard, but she kind of adores the guy.

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He comes around again, holding some papers, and he opens his mouth to say something to her. She says something first because she's never been one to not take the initiative.

"So you're cute when you're awkward," she says straightforwardly, a smile playing on her lips as she watches him, sees him sort of get flustered and out of sorts. "Are you busy this weekend?"

She's not really sure what the rules on dating were in the Agency, but it's H and he's always been sort of lax about everything (so honestly this probably wouldn't faze him a bit).

"Y-yes?" he says and then he blinks and flushes red. "I mean no! N-no, I'm not busy," he catches himself and kind of stares at her uncertainly.

But one reassuring look from her was enough to make him relax a bit.

"Are you busy now?" he asks her and her smile fully forms.

"Just some paperwork. You can sit with me, if you'd like?" M offers and he only pauses a second before he takes a chair nearby and puts it next to her table, shuffling his own papers to look through and work on.

"You're…you've always been really cute," he mumbles and a lasting red washes over his cheeks as he averts his eyes away from her to his papers.

M holds back a giggle and instead nudges him gently with her arm.

"Thank you," she says simply. "Let's be cute together then," she teases playfully and grasps the hand closest to her and holds it tight, before she goes back to her paperwork.

His cheeks darken but he also keeps his eyes on his.

So if they're doing paperwork at the same time as they sit side by side, holding hands, it is a pretty simple, sweet look if you ask M.

And if H walks by and sees them like that, only minutely pausing and blinking at the sight before he continues on, laughing loudly like a jerk…

Well, M had only just given him a look and a raised eyebrow while C steadfastly ignored him, and she knows she'll give her friend-boss a talking to later on.

Started 3/26/21 — Completed 3/27/21