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“I still think this is a stupid idea.” Zolf knew he sounded petulant, but he couldn’t help it; he really believed that it was a bad idea, having him go try to charm their target into giving him the information that they needed. Since when had anyone ever found him charming?
He didn’t realize that he’d voiced the last thought aloud until Hamid responded. “I find you charming,” he said, not looking up from the two ties he was comparing just across the room. “Do I not count?” Zolf could practically hear the smirk in his voice as Hamid said it.
“You- you know me, though. You’re used to me.” Hamid snorted, putting one tie back and bringing the other one over to Zolf. “What? What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, it’s just… You always make it sound like it’s such a hardship, knowing you.” He paused, taking a moment to loop the tie around the back of Zolf’s neck before continuing. “Loving you. When really, I think it’s the easiest thing I’ve ever done.” Zolf cleared his throat quietly, trying to look away from Hamid only for him to place a hand on his cheek and gently direct his gaze back up. “Hey, none of that, love.”
(Zolf wanted to be comfortable with Hamid’s affection, verbal or otherwise, he really did. It was just… a lot sometimes, and that made it hard for him to believe that it was true, even when he knew intellectually that it was. It helped that Hamid refused to let up, that he wouldn’t move on until Zolf looked him in the eye again at the very least.)
Hamid smiled at him, and Zolf didn’t bother trying to fight down the heat he felt rising to his face. “Yeah, yeah.” Hamid’s smile somehow got even brighter when he saw Zolf’s blush, then turned mischievous as he dropped his hand from Zolf’s cheek back down to his tie. Before Zolf could say anything more, however, Hamid tugged the tie, pulling him down for a kiss.
(It was abruptly much harder for Zolf to remember all the reasons he thought this plan was a bad idea; he was much too focused on the feeling of Hamid’s mouth on his, the way Hamid chased after him when he pulled back to breathe, the appreciative noises he made when Zolf pulled him even closer.)
“Ah, Mr. Smith! How wonderful to finally meet you.” Andrea Duchenne (their target) exclaimed, her voice sickeningly sweet and filled with over-the-top sincerity.
Zolf hated her already.
Within fifteen minutes of their meeting she already seemed smitten, which Zolf would have been suspicious of if it weren’t for Hamid coaching him through saying exactly what he needed to say and how to say it (according to the research they’d done on her beforehand) through the earpiece in Zolf’s ear. If he was being honest, Zolf was still certain that this would have gone even faster if it had been Hamid charming her instead of him (Hamid would have probably been sure of his success, whereas Zolf was constantly doubting himself. People can sense that sort of thing, can’t they?), and probably would have fought harder for that to be the case if not for the fact that Andrea had invited him, specifically.
(Apparently, she’d run in the same circles as some of his old crewmates for a while and had heard a lot about him in the process. Zolf still wasn’t sure he believed her story, but it wasn’t really in his best interests to question her about it right then.)
By the time an hour and a half had passed, she was practically hanging off him, clinging to his arm as he leaned on the bar behind him.
At two hours she started playing with his beard as he fought down the urge to bat her hands away (he ordered another drink instead).
By two hours and fifteen minutes after the beginning of the ‘meeting’ (which he was no longer under any illusions about not being her attempt at a date) he’d gotten everything they needed (which he’d suspected when she’d finally let something slip but hadn’t been sure of until he heard Hamid’s quiet cheer in his earpiece). He couldn’t leave right away, however (no matter how much he wanted to). That could arouse Andrea’s suspicion, and they couldn’t risk her realizing what Zolf had been after.
“Just half an hour, Zolf. That’s all,” Hamid said through the earpiece. “Trust me, I want you out of there as much as you want to be out.”
Two hours and forty-two minutes in, Andrea latched onto Zolf’s arm once more, using her grip as leverage to pull herself up and plant a kiss on Zolf’s cheek. He felt his entire body tense at the sudden contact, and she must have felt it too, as she backed off immediately with a frown on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
A flash of panic lanced through Zolf (he was so, so close to being able to leave, she couldn’t get suspicious of him now, not now) but he tamped it down enough to repeat the words Hamid gave him in response. “Oh, nothing! You just surprised me, is all.” He paused, taking a second to clear his throat before he continued without prompting from Hamid. “I, uh… Why did you do that?”
Andrea smiled at him, murmured, “Oh, Zolf, dear,” (for once sounding completely sincere, rather than ridiculously saccharine), “You can’t possibly need to ask.”
Zolf shrugged in lieu of an answer, and Andrea made a shocked sound. “You really don’t know?” She tutted, shaking her head slowly, fondly, as she looped her arms around Zolf’s neck. “You’re handsome, and I’m not the only one that thinks that. I’m simply… staking a claim.” She laughed brightly as she said it, leaning up to kiss his cheek again, but Zolf could barely hear it over the sound of Hamid’s affronted noises.
It took Zolf another forty-five minutes to leave after that, no matter how much he’d wanted to get out faster. Forty-five horrible, agonizing minutes.
It wasn’t until late that night when they were tangled up together in their bed - Zolf’s arm wrapped around Hamid, Hamid’s head on his chest - that Hamid finally asked. “Uh, Zolf… About earlier. When Andrea kissed you.”
Zolf shuddered slightly at the memory, despite his best efforts not to, and Hamid stroke a soothing hand down his side. “I’m sorry about that. I was really hoping to avoid it.”
“No, no, it’s not that. Though I can’t say it was a pleasant experience.” Zolf snorted and Hamid squeezed his bicep reproachfully. “I know, I’m not one to talk. That’s not what I was trying to talk about though, stop distracting me. When she kissed you… You asked her why. You sounded so confused. Surprised.”
“So?” Zolf responded, his tone tight and stiff even to his own ears. He desperately wanted nothing more than for Hamid to stop talking, but Hamid had latched onto the issue (onto an insecurity that Zolf had yet to reveal in their relationship) and he would not let it go until he had answers.
Hamid pushed himself up into a sitting position, then pulled Zolf up as well so they were facing each other, eye-to-eye. “I love you. You know that, right?” Zolf nodded, was about to respond in kind when Hamid gently shushed him. “You know that I wouldn’t lie to you?” Zolf nodded again and Hamid continued. “Then believe me when I say this: you, Zolf Smith, love of my life, are incredibly handsome, and I’m lucky to have you.”
Zolf looked away from Hamid’s achingly earnest expression. “You don’t-”
Hamid cut him off, hand covering Zolf’s mouth, and shook his head. “No. No buts. No denials. You are. I think Andrea was proof enough of that.” Zolf must have looked like he was going to protest again, because Hamid removed his hand only to replace it with his mouth, effectively silencing any retorts Zolf might have had. He shifted, swinging one of his legs over Zolf’s to straddle him, pushing at his shoulders until he laid back down, whispering quiet affirmations into Zolf’s skin. After a few minutes, he pulled back to breathe, both panting slightly into the space between them. Hamid rested his forehead against Zolf’s and whispered, so quiet that Zolf almost didn’t hear, “I’ll do whatever it takes to convince you, for as long as it takes. I love you.” He leaned forward to kiss Zolf again, gentle and sweet.
“I love you, too,” Zolf murmured into it.