salute ➳ 〚h.s.〛 〚a.u.〛

chapter 10: torturous testing & foolish fights

"Did you just boil an egg in the tea kettle?"

The egg slipped out of Piper's hand as she jumped in surprise. She watched as it soared through the air before landing on the floor with a crack. It was hard-boiled so she was pretty sure the five second rule applied, but Harry reached down to snatch up before she could. She groaned when he tossed it right into the bin. "That was my lunch."

"You can eat later," he said, his voice sounding a little short. She frowned as she watched him reach into his pocket and pull out that nifty little transmitter of his. He squinted at the screen, making a displeased face, and then typed out a response to whatever he had read. With that taken care of, he glanced up at Piper. "I've booked the gym for physical testing."

Her face paled immediately at just the thought. After her atrocious exercise this morning, she was in no mood to embarrass herself in the gym. Plus, she was still in a weird sort of mood because of the whole Samson debacle this morning, plus the whole 'Clive might be a gang member' thing. "I don't think I'm up to it today," she said with a grimace.

"Well, too bad," Harry snapped at her, surprising her with his attitude. Who shoved the stick up his arse this morning? "Come on. I don't have all afternoon."

He reached over and took her hand in his, using it to pull her away from the safety of the counter. He quite literally dragged her out of the break room and down the hall. Piper was tempted to dig in her heels, just to see what would happen, but Harry was in a strange mood today and she didn't think it was a good idea to test him.

"I don't think you understand," Piper said warily as she nearly tripped over her own feet in an attempt to keep up with him as they walked through Q branch. "Something really weird happened this morning –"

"Zayn told me everything." Harry's voice was low and smooth, sounding practically disinterested which unsettled Piper a little. She would have thought that Harry would've cared more about this seeing as he was the one who was so overly concerned with her safety. "I realize that you might be a little upset but that's no excuse."

"What?" Piper said indignantly, not really believing what she was hearing from Harry. He was being a dick. She was so used to him being gentle and kind, a little bit sarcastic and an awful flirt. This, she had not seen before.

"I know you don't want to do this testing," Harry snapped at her as they stopped in the lift bay, "and I think you're trying to stall. Frankly, I don't have time for any bullshit today so buck up, get over it, and let's just get through this."

"Fine." Piper pulled her hand from his grasp viciously, narrowing her eyes at him. "Then stop pulling me around like a rag doll. I'm an adult, for fuck's sake."

Harry looked like he wanted to say a lot of things but he kept his mouth shut, his jaw set tightly. His eyes left her, landing on the up and down arrow above the lift. When the red down arrow lit up, he stepped toward that lift and waited impatiently for it to open. Piper was tempted to let the doors just shut right behind him but she sensed that it would mean a death sentence. With a sigh, she followed him into the lift, huffing as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

They were going down to the floor with the armoury, which also held the gym. It wasn't a long ride but the silence was so heavy between them that Piper felt like she could barely breathe. She didn't like this Harry, not one bit. She barely even recognized him.

When they got to the right floor, Harry strode confidently from the lift, expecting her to follow. They walked the short distance to the entrance to the change rooms, the doors to the gym on the other side. He held the door open for her to step through and then followed straight behind. "Get changed and then meet me in the gym," was all he said before he walked across the room and through the other doors.