salute [h.s]

the one where piper gets drunk

Snapping necks and chasing checks is what I do."

The bar was loud and dark, a combination that set Harry on edge almost immediately. He'd just spent a week undercover at a nightclub in LA waiting for a sighting of a rogue agent who'd been spotted there a few times earlier in the month. He'd had enough of loud music, shadowy booths and the smell of spilt beer to last a lifetime.

He craned his head around, scanning the bar for a familiar head of bright red hair and finally catching sight of Piper sitting at the far end of the bar. He slipped around a crowd of uni kids, heading straight in that direction, a smile already creeping onto his face.

"You know," he could hear his girlfriend saying, her voice unmistakable even over the loud music, "the spy life is not as glamorous as it seems. 'S'a lot of paperwork. The guns are cool though."

Harry stopped in his tracks, letting out a heavy sigh. Piper was drunk. Not exactly what he was expecting to come home to after a week away.

Harry decided he was going to kill Niall – not only for leaving Piper to get drunk on her own in a seedy bar down the street from Vauxhall Cross but for not giving him at least a little bit of warning when he texted Harry right after he landed at Heathrow to come and pick Piper up, claiming he had an emergency at work. Although, Niall had said she was only tipsy when he left. It seemed Piper had to shoulder some of the blame for her inebriation and her subsequent loose lips.

Which only seemed to be getting worse. She was leaning across the bar now, getting right up in the bartender's face as he watched her with a mix of amusement and annoyance.

"I've killed a man before in cold blood," she was saying, narrowing her eyes at the bartender threateningly. Harry rolled his eyes because that was not true. One Direction were classed as black ops agents, not assassins (at least, not often). If Piper had killed anyone it was purely by accident. "Snapping necks and cashing checks is what I do."

The bartender quirked a brow at Piper when she reached into her wallet to look for her SIS ID and Harry determined that he needed to get involved quickly before this turned from funny to potentially career-ending.

He stepped up behind Piper, touching her shoulder gently to catch her attention. She had her elbows propped on the bar, standing with her toes on the rung of her stool so she was practically hanging over the bar, but she craned her head around at the tap on her shoulder. Her brow was furrowed, her lips pouted, but her face lit up almost immediately when she saw it was Harry standing behind her and she practically flung herself at him. He had to hurry to catch her as her barstool wobbled beneath her, his arms wrapping around her waist to steady her as he lowered her back into her seat.

"You're here!" she cried excitedly as she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close so she could press a sloppy kiss to his cheek. "I missed you."

"Missed you too," Harry murmured into Piper's ear, dotting a kiss down onto her temple before pulling back and levelling her with a reproachful look. "Now what kind of trouble have you been getting up to while I've been gone?"

A sneaky smile flicked across her face but was quickly replaced with a scowl as she snapped her head in the direction of the bartender. "Harry, this man doesn't believe that I'm a spy. You need to tell him."

Harry smiled sheepishly at the bartender, who just shrugged as if this wasn't the strangest thing he'd heard before. He must've gotten some pretty interesting characters in the bar if Piper wasn't winning a prize for her performance tonight.

The bartender nodded toward Piper who was frowning down at Harry's shirt, playing with the top buttons like she was tempted to undo them right there in the bar. "Is she yours?" he asked.