𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐘𝐌𝐏𝐇 || ʜᴀᴡᴋꜱ

47 ➟ In which I'm ready to leave this life behind.

   Before I'd left to meet the person I'd be leading the break into the Commission building with, Takami told me that he'd be in my ear. I had no clue what he'd meant by that, considering there was no form of earpiece in my ear nor had he given me one.

He was useless. Useless at explaining, informing and simply telling me what something meant. This was surprising, considering that after he kissed me, all he could do was talk. I struggled to get a single word in at the rate he was talking. Fastest man in the world- yeah, at both flying at talking. It was a nightmare.

Anyone would think that the moments after your first kiss would be romantic, I was given a podcast, where the guy who ran it simply sat at a desk for 2 hours and rambled. Never shutting up.

Maybe I did love him, but maybe I also hated the way he talked on and on like nothing happened.

"Lost in thought there?" Clover laid an arm over my shoulders, leaning into me, despite the tensing of my back muscles. I really wanted him nowhere near me, the only thing keeping me from pushing him off me there and -much too happily- kicking his head against the curb, was the knowledge that I would do that later. Get my revenge, with no consequences.

We were in a thin, dimly lit alleyway a few steps away from the Commission building, more obvious than ever, if not for the black outfits the Librarian had provided for us, though, we were still stood out in the public eye.

"I'm just trying to remember the best way to get in without drawing too much attention," I replied simply, repeatedly balling my fists and letting them fall open in an attempt to remove the tension in my forearms.

"So you didn't listen to my briefing?"

No. That's what I wanted to say to him, I wasn't paying much attention, considering all of the events that had just unfolded. He was, really, the least of my priority. I hadn't assumed he would be the one I was paired with, but here he was, his face looking as punchable as ever. I couldn't look at him and remember what about him I'd found attractive when I'd first met him.

"Did you work for the Commission?" I bit back, much more harshly than I had intended.

He smirked, forcing a hand through his greased-back hair, looking me up and down, "Where was this attitude when I first hired you? I would have introduced you to the Librarian earlier," He scoffed, "I knew he liked you for a reason."

I didn't say anything in response, assuming that the conversation had ended, but apparently, Clover didn't like that, squeezing my shoulders and leaning his head against mine, the stubble of his freshly-shaven beard scratching against my skin like 36-grit sandpaper.

"Ah, come on? No quip?"

"Shouldn't we focus on the job at hand?" I finally responded, adamant about not allowing him to elicit any kind of response from me.

"I'm sure that's at the top of your mind," he replied. The response was slightly confusing. I couldn't fully grasp what he meant by what he was saying, but I couldn't really care too much about it in all honesty.

I don't remember when, but he did, finally, shut up at some point. Leaving the two of us alone in silence, the sounds from cars and people seemed fairly distant. No one was pulling into the Commission building. People never usually did at this time of day. They came in at a set time and left at a set time, as the Commission regulations instructed.

I watched the digital watch on my wrist, keeping a close eye on the speedy ticking of seconds passing by, counting down from 60 seconds to 30 until I got to 10, counting down the seconds one by one until the time shifted to 9 and I knew that the real mission had begun. Clover, who had spent no effort focusing on the time, was, instead, fully focused on the blacked-out window, almost completely covered in graffiti, using the small, reflective surface of the window that was left, to fix his hair. How unsurprisingly vain of him.