flourish_or_perish | MHA #8

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MHA #8 | Friday Morning

Faye had made a promise awhile ago, and today she was finally getting around to it. For as much of a ditz she could play at being, she was surprisingly handy.

So here she was, Friday morning while Stark was at class, casually installing a new lock on his door. A better lock. One that your average sneaky thief couldn't just get past. Not like the discarded lock on the floor over there, which had been laughably easy to get past, again.

But this new lock was pretty nice, if she said so herself. And it was nice to have a little project. Something to do with her hands besides smoking. (She was still smoking, too. Of course.)

[for the alien whose apartment she's in, but if you want to chastise her for smoking in this apartment building, the door is literally open!]

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"Oh. Was it broken?" From being broken into again? Or...

"Did you get a new lock? You mentioned that. Before." That time that lead to the screaming and ultimately to, well, all this.

He was just going to sit down next to her on the floor. It seemed like the thing to do.

"I got a new one, yeah," Faye agreed with a nod, gesturing vaguely towards the discarded lock, shifting to make room next to her. "That piece of crap caved after like, hardly anything. Again. This one's better."

And Faye was keeping a key so she didn't have to get frustrated trying to get around a superior lock should she wanted, but she was hanging onto that piece of information.

"You're still the only one who's tried getting in when they weren't supposed to," Stark pointed out.

"Not that I really minded." Eventually he hadn't minded, anyway. After the screaming and yelling had concluded that night.

"I dunno, some guy's walking around claiming he's the building manager," Faye warned him, tightening a screw and experimentally trying the doorknob. "He might try to get in."

Wasn't it nice when your don't-call-her-a-girlfriend was, like, wildly paranoid? Changing your locks was Faye's love language, Stark.

"But this thing would even keep me out," she added with a touch of pride.

"Oh. We do have one of those. Jon," Stark supplied. "I'm not sure what he does. But he lives here. Downstairs I think?"

"I don't want to keep you out," he added, looking over at her. "What if you need to get in?"

What if he was being attacked by Christmas decorations with the door shut?

"What if," Faye returned, concentrating in on making sure that all the screws were tight, "I kept a key?"

THIS LOCK WAS SO INTERESTING, OKAY? Way more interesting than making eye contact and letting Stark think this meant anything significant for their relationship!

(It did though.)

If Faye didn't look at him she would miss the total hearteyes look Stark was giving her.

"If you kept a key," he said carefully, "you could come in whenever you liked." She was always welcome. She knew that, he hoped. "Any time at all. And I'd know it was you."

So there would be no screaming!

"And you would know it was me," she agreed, finally glancing over and having to smile. That was some hearteye. "And I wouldn't have to break in. And I could shoot anyone else who tried."

Perfect solution all around!

"You could," Stark agreed. "I don't think you'll need to. But you could."

Again, one person had broken into this apartment. Ever.

"Do you think you'll need to?"

Sorry, that hearteye look wasn't going anywhere yet. This was far too obvious of a sign she cared.

"You can't tell around here," Faye pointed out. "Better to not get complacent."

But promising to protect him was an easy thing to agree to.

He was far less likely to get Banik-napped here than he had been in the Uncharteds but Stark was going to refrain from pointing that out for the moment.

"You're right." He nodded, offering a smile. "Better to be safe. Did you change your lock?"

If she needed to stay here more often, behind the good lock, that was fine too. He'd be very okay with that.

"I was thinking about it," Faye admitted thoughtfully. "But then I'd have to give you a key to that one, too. Which. I could."

Just matter-of-fact. That's how it would need to be, clearly.

Not helping the hearteye situation at all, Faye.

"You could," Stark said softly. "I'd like that. If you did. Are you nearly finished? Did you need help?"

"You can hold stuff, if you want," Faye offered, rooting around on the floor and handing him a smaller screwdriver that she didn't need at the moment, but would in a second. "I'm almost done, though. It's easy if you know what you're doing."

And while Faye hadn't precisely changed a lock on an Earth apartment building before, it was still similar enough to things she had done.

"You've changed a lot of door locks?" Stark asked, taking the screwdriver. "Or taken them apart? Or just... opened a lot of doors? I could help with yours. When you do it. If you like. Even if you don't need help. Or..."

He paused, looking at the screwdriver thoughtfully. "Or I'll think of something else to do. For you."

"I've had to get in and out of a lot of places," Faye replied vaguely. "And it's not that different from working on my ship."

She glanced over, smiling slightly. "You'd wanna help if I did mine? I mean, I could use an assistant. Or you could do something else. I like when you cook for me."

Stark let out a very quiet amused noise then stopped, looking thoughtful once more.

"I built a crypt encoder once. Magnetic. To try and open a door. Someone else opened it from the other side, first." He very much preferred doors that locked from the inside.

"And of course I'd want to help. I offered. I like being helpful and I like doing things for you." And she was making a gesture here and he wanted to reciprocate, somehow. "I could cook something, if you wanted. As a thank you for doing this."

Breaking in again to replace the locks was almost as good as the time she said she loved him too.

"Yeah, this is a little different from that," Faye acknowledged, though that did sound interesting. "Though maybe a magnetic lock would be effective?"

She leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. "You don't have to do anything to thank me. I said I'd do this eventually." It had just taken all summer and a good chunk of fall for her to get around to it. "But I'm never going to turn down you doing something nice for me, either."

That magnetic lock had been quite effective.

"I don't have to," Stark agreed, smile widening at the kiss on his cheek. "I want to do something. I'll think of something or you can think of something."

"I do appreciate this," he added. "And you. Always."

"I know you do." Faye turned the knob experimentally, letting the lock click a couple times. "Wanna test it out? Make sure it's secure?"

Do something, you know, private?

"I think it would be best," Stark said, reaching for one of her hands to tug her a little closer, "if nobody else came in here. For a while."

Not that anyone else did, almost ever.

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MHA #8 | Friday Morning

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