𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

27 ➟ In which I get asked out to dinner.

I was walking down the 16th-floor corridor of the Clover agency with an absurd amount of papers in my arms, any unexpected movement from anyone near me would send them flying and I did not want to spend thirty minutes picking up and reorganising each sheet.

"Y/n, have you got a minute?" I spun on my heel, pulling the papers close to my chest so that they wouldn't fall, finding myself face to face with my boss, Clover.

He'd done his hair differently today, slicked back, almost completely identical to the way Homura would style his hair back at the garage. I could feel my whole mood about to shift as soon as I thought about him and the garage and immediately stopped myself from falling down that rabbit hole. It wouldn't do me any good.

"I'm hoping that you're free tonight?" His hands were in his trousers pockets, accentuating this whole laid back vibe the man had going on. But even then, he stood tall over me, he could easily look intimidating if he so chose to.

How did anyone think I could be a good spy if a guy standing still scares me?

"Yes sir, I am," I answered, trying to meet his eyes in a cool, calm and collected manner, though my demeanour felt anything but that. I didn't want to imagine what I looked like.

He winked, "brilliant. I want you to come to dinner with me."

'Why?' Was my immediate first thought. Had he found out that I was a spy and 'dinner' was actually code for "I'm going to kill you?" He was probably going to turn me into dinner and eat me with his villain buddies. That's stupid, why would he want to eat me anyway? I wouldn't taste good. Why am I even thinking about that? My boss isn't a cannibal.

At least I hope he's not.

I smiled, ignoring the intrusive thoughts that my boss was a cannibal and nodded, "of course." Clover nodded holding his hands out in front of him with a flourish. I looked at him, confused, to say the least. He chuckled, grabbing the paper from my hands, "let me take that for you." Not knowing what to say in response, I simply followed him as he began to continue down the hallway.

"I would tell you that my assistant will send you the details, but I don't think that'll work out in this case."

I found myself laughing without even meaning to. It wasn't my laugh either, it sounded too high-pitched, much too fake. I quickly stopped myself, hating the sound that had just left my mouth. He laughed too, but he didn't sound nearly as fake as I had. His laugh was casual, humorous, charming.

"Well, with that," he smiled down at me, "How about I walk you to your office, seeing as it's right next to mine?" That moment was the first time I actually looked into his eyes, properly, they were green, of course, no surprises there, but there was something about his pupils that made me want to look a little closer. Not in a romantic way either, trust me, but in a curious way.

I shook myself out of my thoughts, it seemed like all I did was focus too closely on peoples eyes. First Lelija, then Clover, get a grip y/n, or at least find something less strange to fixate on.

"Of course sir," I nodded to my boss, taking up stride beside him and hoping that I was just far enough away so that he couldn't feel how fast my heart was nervously beating.

"I forgot to mention," I jumped, not expecting his voice to be that close to my ear, "Wear something nice," he squeezed my shoulder lightly before letting go, guiding me to the door without me even noticing we were there, "here you go," Clover said, confirming that we were, definitely in front of my office. He leant against the wall, beside my door, looking as if he was posing for one of those clothing catalogues no one bought anymore. "Meet me outside the building at 8 tonight," He winked for the second time during our conversation and smiled, "I'll let you off early to get ready."