Persephone would never have guessed when she got up that morning that this would happen. She wasn’t sure why the hell she had never expected to see Petrov again. He was good friends with her boss and she knew they kept in touch. It would make sense that he may occasionally stop by for a chat with Vadik, not to mention Petrov still used outside assistance from aurors. Hell, she had a feeling if Petrov asked for an auror Vadik would probably send her again anyway as it seemed like everyone thought they had done an excellent job on their last detail together. She had to agree that they did a damn good job with it, but no one knew what went on behind the scenes and it was better that way. She was positive it wouldn’t be received well to tell others that a boss and his subordinate were sleeping together in a client’s home on an almost daily basis.

This was beyond strange. How did it all come to this? How could they damn near hate each other for a year, and then end up where they were now? It almost felt unreal as they had gone from fighting to be polite out in the halls, to her offering sex to him right outside of her boss’ office, and now they were in her office discussing some kind of romantic relationship snogging each other. She was sure they had never once kissed in private without having sex directly afterwards, but that first kiss in her office felt very different than all those times before. She had no idea what exactly to say about this all as it was still a blur as to how this all was happening. Her hands went into his hair as he kissed her again, allowing him to deepen the kiss, feeling herself becoming lost as one of his hands moved into her hair. They had to stop, if they didn’t stop they would never properly talk about this. No, if they didn’t stop she was sure it would end in much more than just kissing.

She groaned slightly as he pulled his lips from hers. His proximity was making it so much more difficult to keep her head about her. ”Тогда мы , вероятно, следует остановиться ...” She breathed her lips still close to his knowing she really needed to break any contact with him if they would actually talk. But that bloody smirk of his always seemed to get her making it even more difficult to stand down. She pressed a soft lingering kiss to his lips before pulling away slowly, a gesture he had never received from her. ” Я скучал по тебе.” She added quietly though she wasn’t able to convince herself to move away from him as she began to nervously play with the hair at the nape of his neck.

---

Тогда мы , вероятно, следует остановиться
Then we should probably stop

]” Я скучал по тебе.
I missed you.

Nikolai simply had to remind himself that they were in the middle of the damn ministry. Yes, the places that they had slept together weren’t exactly appropriate by any means since it had always been in the house of the family that they were protecting—that alone was incredibly unprofessional. But he was trying to convince himself that this being the ministry made it more important for him to not act on his thoughts. Besides, they had just decided that they weren’t going to just be having a physical relationship and his first reaction after figuring that out was to fuck her in the ministry—damn, that didn’t even make any sense to him. They knew they were good at that part, but they were supposed to be figuring the rest of it out. That was all that he needed to remind himself of. There would be time for this later, but he didn’t even know how to do relationships so it was pretty damn important that this was something that they figured out sooner rather than later. “хорошо,” he agreed, though he didn’t move away from her. Nikolai had a feeling that not a lot would be getting done with this close of proximity between them, but he also couldn’t bring himself to move just yet, and that was rather ridiculous of him.

He kissed her back slowly, though his mind was now certainly trying to figure this shit out even if he wasn’t all that great at actually vocalizing it. It was as if he’d never dated before or something, he thought in amusement, though casual dating and arranged marriages didn’t require conversations like this in the slightest. Really, he didn’t even know where to begin. “Я скучал по тебе,” he repeated, finally vocalizing what he had been working through since this conversation had begun. He hadn’t even known that he’d missed her until he had seen her again, and that was strange, or was it? Nikolai wasn’t exactly used to having a woman to miss though she hadn’t been… his person to miss at the time.

This conversation wasn’t exactly going all that productively yet, and he didn’t know what to say because this wasn’t a type of dialogue he’d ever had to have before. He was well aware with her playing with his hair absentmindedly, which was reminding him of her more aggressively pulling at his hair during sex and now his mind was off course again. He really just had to focus, something that apparently had never been harder for him to do before this moment. What did they really even need to talk about? Nikolai actually had no idea; were they in some kind of relationship now? That was probably something that they should be on the same page for. He began to slowly run his hand up and down her side, distractedly, though he still wasn’t sure what to say. “Так вот, если это не просто секс, что это?” He asked, figuring that she might as well tell him what she expected because he didn’t have a clue.

---

хорошо: Okay
Я скучал по тебе: I missed you
Так вот, если это не просто секс, что это?: So if this isn't just sex, what is it?

She really needed to stop kissing him, or touching him. It really was confusing in a sense that she just could not bring herself to just drop her hands from him and take a step back. She enjoyed this though her mind was trying to convince her to start tempting him to take things a step farther. It was obvious neither one of them had great impulse control when it came to each other, and this embrace was making things incredibly more difficult. She heard him agree that they should probably stop but made no move to step away from her either. While they were not shagging or anything the embrace itself was extraordinarily unprofessional. She would occasionally embrace a coworker in greeting or parting but never stayed in an embrace for more than a second or so, especially not one so intimate.

When he said that he missed her it didn’t feel so strange really. She guessed for a moment she was caught off guard because she wasn’t expecting him to just come out so straightforward and reciprocate her feelings. Actually she hadn’t even realized she missed him until they met again. She wondered briefly what he would do if she actually tugged at his hair or let her nails drag down his skin. Well she knew what she would expect him to want to be even more inappropriate with her. Thankfully she was still a bit preoccupied by his question on what their relationship was now. She supposed his hand running up and down her side was also distracting her a good bit. ” Ну , я думаю, что означает, что мы знакомства сейчас ...” She began looking up at him. ” Какие обычно влечет за собой проводить время вместе только потому, что мы хотим , чтобы ... и столько секса, сколько вы можете справиться.” She said the last bit with a sly smile before laughing lightly.

---

Ну , я думаю, что означает, что мы знакомства сейчас ...
Well, I think that means we are dating now.

Какие обычно влечет за собой проводить время вместе только потому, что мы хотим , чтобы ... и столько секса, сколько вы можете справиться.
Which usually entails spending time together just because we want to... and as much sex as you can handle.

Nikolai was starting to think that it would be for the best to take this conversation elsewhere now as opposed to later. Then, it wouldn’t be bad if they wanted to take a break for sex before coming back to figuring this out. Even taking that idea off of the table—which he clearly wasn’t, this just seemed like a poor choice of location for such a conversation; he knew Spiridon too well and the man didn’t know the definition of knocking. He would come right in without a second thought. Besides, attempting to hold himself back from turning his more inappropriate thoughts into actions was taking up a lot of his focus and they probably needed to actually focus on this and figure it out without being tempted by what else they could be doing with their time. Overall, he was quite sure that a location change was an order and he would be more than content with going back to his apartment, or hers, really, as it didn’t make much difference to him where they went so long as it was a place that could end with him getting her naked without worrying about if someone was about to bust in the damn door. It was just a good idea all around.

“Я думаю, мы. Кто бы мог подумать?” Nikolai answered, letting his hand rest back on her hip, as he chuckled at the idea. He never would have anticipated this happening, clearly. There hadn’t been a single point throughout their professional relationship or otherwise that he would have expected this. No one could have told him that he was going to date the woman he had a one-night stand with, as he would have called them insane. Clearly, no one could tell him that he was going to date the witch that drove him up a damn wall daily by her inability to do her job according to orders. And even when they were shagging, he wouldn’t really have believed anyone telling him how it was going to end, though he supposed that he might have been in a bit of denial by the end of their arrangement. The last night they had spent together wouldn’t have gone the way it had otherwise, as he would have just left afterward as opposed to allowing himself to fall asleep. “У нас есть некоторые догоняющего делать, то.” He added, raising an eyebrow. Now that she had brought up sex, his already unreliable thoughts were becoming even more wayward and he really did think they needed to move this talk elsewhere. Of course, moving at all didn’t sound good with her pressed against him, as he was obviously fine with them just saying like that… but no, he would much rather have her in his apartment. “Я думаю, что мы должны принять это ... разговор в другом месте.”

---

Я думаю, мы. Кто бы мог подумать?: I guess we are. Who would have thought?
У нас есть некоторые догоняющего делать, то: We've got some catching up to do, then.
Я думаю, что мы должны принять это ... разговор в другом месте: I think we should take this ... conversation elsewhere.

Persephone was extremely distracted by Nikolai and how close he was. It was almost impossible to discuss anything when all she wanted to do was make up for lost time. She wondered if it had only been a few weeks after the detail if they would have realized how they actually felt about each other. Part of her felt they would. Within a week after going back to her apartment she had realized something was wrong. On occasion that last morning together popped into her head along with confusion as to why he had still been there when one of their unspoken rules was not actually sleeping in the same bed. If they ended up in his bed she would leave before he fell asleep and vice versa. So her waking up to him had been strange on its own let alone having his arm around her as she was curled up against him. That really should have made it obvious that things had changed over the course of that year. She had enjoyed waking up to him and apparently had been mental not to have noticed that the morning it happened.

She laughed lightly. "Apparently Spiridon and half of the department." She said with a shake of her head remembering what Spiridon had said earlier. Of course those few moments before she had still been under the impression that they were just going to have sexual relationship and nothing more. She smirked at his next comment. ” Мы делаем.” Normally she was able to focus well in most situations, but right now she felt like they had already talked enough. Besides they already discussed what they wanted, or at least that they were in a relationship along with the sex. She brought her lips to his one last time after he said they should leave. They definitely needed to get out of there soon as she was sure it would be their luck that Vadik or Spiridon would just walk into her office while they were celebrating their agreement. ” Давай выбираться отсюда.” She said finally pulling away from him. The faster they could get out of there and alone the better.

-END OF THREAD-

---

Мы делаем.
We do.

Давай выбираться отсюда.
Let’s get out of here.