so much for watching a christmas movie
december 3 - watching holiday specials
1D fanfic/Salute extra
Harry/Piper
"What're we watching, petal?"
Piper glanced over from where she had been frowning at the television, her brows crunched together into a scowl. Harry flopped down on the bed beside her with a box of Christmas biscuits he'd found in the kitchen, courtesy of her mother who had actually shipped them in the post despite living a half hour away. They were bright green and red and white, and were embellished with a variety of sprinkles, sparkles and things that didn't even look edible. Piper had been reluctant to eat them because she knew she'd devour the whole box in one sitting. Apparently, Harry had the same idea because he'd just wolfed through two.
"I don't know how you keep your figure when you eat like that," Piper pointed out which earned her an unimpressed look from Harry. He pointedly bit the end off a star biscuit and chewed it dramatically in front of her.
"Are you actually watching 60 Minutes right now?" Harry whined as his eyes shifted back to the screen. "I thought we were going to watch something fun."
"It's about credit card fraud. It's a serious issue during the holidays. Bill Whitaker said they're going to have tips on how to protect yourself against fraud coming up - " Piper batted the remote from Harry's hand " - so don't change the channel."
"This doesn't even apply to us," Harry pointed out, although she didn't take him very seriously with his mouth full of biscuits. "This is all about Americans and their payment system which is about ten years behind ours. They still swipe credit cards there - no pin numbers or anything." Harry shrugged as if it was a none issue, swallowing down the biscuit and trying to snatch the remote back. Piper held it away. "C'mon petal! I want to watch something fun. A holiday movie."
"I want to watch the end of the segment," Piper said firmly as she tucked the remote under the pillow she was leaning on where Harry couldn't reach it. "It's not going to be much longer so can you please just shut up and pay attention."
"I will if you tell me how this is going to affect me at all."
"You have no idea, Harry. For all we know, they've found ways to read information from chips to duplicate cards. Hackers are a sneaky bunch - I mean, learning how to read stripes was like child's play for us."
"I really hope you're using the general 'us' in this situation," Harry grumbled, furrowing his brow as his eyes shifted in her direction, "and that you're not alluding to the sorts of activities you got up to in uni."
Piper averted her gaze immediately, trying to mentally stop her cheeks from flushing red and giving away her secret. There were some things about her time at MIT that it was probably best that Harry didn't know about, for his own peace of mind. After all, he was an agent, a representative of Queen and Country. He didn't stand for wrong doing and he brought down the bad guys. Piper wasn't sure how he would feel about her history.
"Oh look," she said in an extra loud voice so Harry didn't have a chance to voice the question she could see about to burst from his lips, "they're talking about dumping sites. Do you know what dumping sites are Harry? They're a place where people who steal credit card information can sell them online to buyers. Did you know about them?" Piper glanced over and nearly shrunk down at the blazing inquiry in Harry's green eyes. It didn't look like he was going to drop the issue any time soon and this was the last thing she wanted to be talking about. "Shh," she said as she turned up the volume, even though Harry hadn't said a word, "they've got a former hacker who works for the FBI now. Isn't that fascinating?"
"- most of the sellers even offer a money back guarantee if the card is frozen or reported in an attempt to lure in reluctant buyers."
Piper's eyes shot to the screen, widening until it almost hurt. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sitting across the table from Bill Whitaker was someone she recognized very well. Adam. Her first boyfriend. The guy she lost her virginity with. The guy who dumped her because she wouldn't help him hack the university servers to adjust his mark.
She'd like to say that he didn't look any better, that he'd gotten ugly and fat and had a receding hairline. In fact, he looked amazing - his hair was still that same dirty blond and he had those warm brown eyes. He'd grown into some of his stronger features and now, nearing 30, he'd reached his peak.
That bastard.
"Let's change the channel," she said hurriedly because she was so uncomfortable it was unbearable and she just never wanted to see that idiot's face ever again.
"It's just getting interesting," Harry interjected with a shake of his head, taking the remote back from her. He was frowning up at the screen, wearing his thinking face as he processed the information being shared about bank insurance and recovery funds. "This guy seems to know what he's talking about," Harry muttered as he pointed up at the screen, Adam's stupid face taking up the space. "Hey, didn't you have a boyfriend named Adam? Wouldn't it be funny if it was him, working for the FBI after graduating while you're working at MI6? That would be a crazy coincidence. He might be a bit too old to be your ex though."
"Ex-boyfriend," Piper said a little too loudly with a shake of her head. "Crazy! Wouldn't that be just crazy!" She began to laugh, forcing it out of her so of course it sounded like she'd finally lost it. Harry scrunched his face up in her direction as if he was trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her and was failing miserably. His eyes widened all of a sudden and then his mouth dropped open.
"He is your ex-boyfriend, isn't he?" His eyes drifted to the screen and then narrowed, as he scrutinized the man. "I don't like him. Seems shifty."
"You just said a moment ago that you thought he knew what he was talking about," Piper reminded Harry. "You don't have to hate him just because he was my ex."
Harry was quiet for a long moment while Piper waited nervously, ready to combust because she was so nervous of what he was going to say. Eventually he looked back at her and there was a softness to his eyes even as he frowned. "He was the one who treated you like shit, right?"
That set her back a bit. Piper gulped hard around the lump in her throat and then nodded. Adam had treated her like shit, stringing her along and making her get attached and then dropping her when she wouldn't help him break the law. She'd been into some pretty shady stuff back in the day but that had been a risk to her placement at MIT and school was one thing that she never fucked around with. It was the one thing that was most important to her. When Adam realized he wasn't her first priority, he had tossed her to the curb and sabotaged her graduate thesis work. She'd never forgiven him for that.
"If he was stupid enough to mess you around," Harry said softly as he reached a hand out to take hers, holding it gently in his own, "then I'll hate him with every bone in my body on your behalf." That made Piper smile. She loved how supportive Harry was, no questions asked. It was nice to be trusted unconditionally like Harry did with her. "I could have him killed for you, if you wanted. I have connections."
Piper tried to hold in the laugh but it slipped out and then she was clutching her stomach as she laughed hard. Harry watched with an amused smirk, obviously glad that he'd managed to make her happy once more. "You sound like a homicidal maniac."
"Comes with the job description, petal."
"You'd really call out a hit on one of my ex-boyfriends, just because I asked?"
"I'd do anything for you, Piper."
Fuck, she was going to cry. Why was Harry so fucking perfect? Like, one flaw. All she needed was one flaw. But he was pretty much perfection personified. She pressed her palms into her eyes to force the tears back where they belonged. "Stop it eyes," she said fiercely as she pressed so hard she saw white stars behind her eyes. "This was not on the agenda for today."
She heard Harry's bark of laughter and then she was being tugged into his arms, pulled tight against his chest. It was instinct for her body to roll up next to his, to fit against all the sticky out bits of his side, to curve around his hip and under his arm. She sprawled out on his chest, her arm wrapping across his body and her head dropping to his shoulder. She huffed out a breath, blowing away the strands of red that had clouded her vision.
A smug little grin crossed Harry's face. His arms tightened perceptibly and Piper relished it, sinking against Harry and letting out a heavy sigh. Her eyes shifted to the TV where two people from local banks were talking about how taxing it was to the American economy to replace credit cards. She decided then that she was just about done with this.
"Put on your Christmas movie," she said to Harry softly, snuggling in. He changed channels and landed on a movie almost right away (it was that time of year after all). Piper was pretty sure she recognized the little blond kid with his cute little coat and his little pom pom hat and his mittens on strings. "Is this that Home Alone movie?"
"Hmm," Harry hummed in agreement and then she felt him shake his head. "No actually, this is the sequel. Same premise but its in New York this time. I like this one better."
"If it's the same premise, what's the difference?"
"New York, of course," Harry said with a bright laugh as Tim Curry (what was Tim Curry doing in this movie?) gave Macaulay Culkin a hard time about something or other. "I love New York. Have you been?"
"We used to go over every month or so to party back in uni," Piper told him, remembering fondly the nights they would all get dressed up and catch the afternoon train to take them down to New York. It was a few hours long but worth it for a good night out.
"I'm starting to get the impression that you were a very different person back in uni," Harry said as he eyed Piper. "You've certainly changed since then."
"Not as much as you'd think," Piper corrected because Harry hadn't known her long enough to make broad statements like that. There was still a bit of that girl left in her, deep down. Very deep down, but still there.
They watched the movie in silence for a while, Harry's fingers tracing gently along her upper arm. It tickled a bit but it also felt really nice so she kept her mouth shut and just focused on the screen. He was nice and warm, like a little personal heater, and she got as close to him as she could without actually climbing up on top of him.
"You do realize," Piper said when they'd gotten about halfway through, "that this is a movie about two criminals trying to murder a little boy who is being woefully neglected by his parents, right? This is just as awful as any story on 60 Minutes, maybe even worse."
"Yeah," Harry acquiesced reluctantly, "but it's different."
"Why, because it's a Christmas move?"
"Exactly!"
"I would think that would make the movie even worse."
"Nah, it actually makes it much better."
The scene shifted, Tim Curry and friends bursting into little Kevin's hotel room trying to bust him. Piper watched confused as he played around with a movie on the TV and the group of completely grown adults went along with it, as if they didn't know it was a recording. Harry was laughing, his chest rumbling under her cheek, so she figured this must be a good part. She nearly jumped in shock when the TV figure started shooting, all the real life characters diving to the floor. Man, this movie was strange.
Harry leaned over, his mouth beside her ear, and in perfect time with the movie whispered, "Merry Christmas, you filthy animal."
"Was that supposed to be sexy?" she asked him, raising a brow in his direction. He shrugged.
"Not sure. I was going to see how it went. If you liked it, I was going to try coping a feel. Did you like it?"
"Not sure being called a filthy animal is ever sexy."
"I meant the whole thing about me knowing the lines," Harry said with a sigh. "I wasn't calling you a filthy animal. Christ, petal, I would never."
"I know that," she said with a cheeky little smile. "I was just taking the piss."
"Just for that," Harry said sternly, his hand sliding down her back to curve firmly around her arse, "I'm going to cop a feel anyway."
Piper hummed because that sure felt nice, and then shifted to hook her leg over Harry's hips, maneuvering herself over top of him. "Could you turn the movie off?"
"Hmm, why?" Harry said, already focused completely on her and forgetting the movie entirely. He looked reluctant to tear his gaze away from her for any reason.
"Because I don't feel right doing what we're about to do with little Macaulay Culkin on in the background."
Piper had never seen anyone move so fast as Harry switched the TV off and tossed the remote across the bed where it clacked on the floor. She was out of her shirt in seconds and under Harry a moment later. He sure didn't waste any time.
So much for watching a Christmas movie.