❝I never know what's comin'
Forever fascinated
Hope you don't stop runnin'
To me 'cause I'll always be waitin'❞

Chapter Ten:
Post-Magnificent-Sex

Nothing beats waking up in the morning with a man's arms around your waist and his chin on your shoulder while softly snoring into your ear, especially when that man's a gorgeous specimen of humanity called Hans Castellan. The dynamics of our relationship had changed since his birthday. Although we hadn't put a label on what we had, it was pretty clear to me that Hans and I were officially 'together' (much to Jasper and Helena's delight and Tim's complete remorse). It all seemed a little too good to be true, sometimes.

He would drop by my place with Chinese food and a movie. I would swing by his in the weekends under the guise of checking in on Nozo-chan. We would cook together, and he'd fascinate me with just how excellent his culinary skills were. Sometimes, we would spend the night curled up on the sofa together, just talking. Others were spent together in the bedroom waning the hours away in each other's arms. But the prime focus of our relationship wasn't the sex, anymore. Little by little, we discovered more about each other and it wasn't always pretty and easy, especially for Hans. But he trusted me and didn't push me away anymore, which was the best part of it all.

It hadn't circulated around the office as of yet but there were rumors going around that Innovus' prodigy had 'settled down' with one girl. My floor was surprisingly hush-hush when it came to gossiping but I knew that everyone had driven to their own conclusions that this mystery girl was me. It wasn't all too hard to put together when Hans frequently dropped by, sometimes to annoy me and rattle Tim up, or to ask me out to lunch (often, it was a combination of both). No questions were asked but I didn't miss the subtle exchanges between Rina and James, or even Francesca when Hans escorted me out.

Tim hadn't taken it all too well and started distancing himself from me. When I had sent him a text telling him I wasn't escorting him to the silver jubilee, he had replied with a compassionate 'I understand'. It wasn't until the following morning when he found out why as he had showed up at my door, knocking repeatedly only to discover that I hadn't spent the night at my place but at his mortal enemy's. I think it was then that it hit him, fully, that I had chosen Hans over him, and I had done it without even telling him (which, of course, made me a total bitch). I could understand why; it was hard on him, and he needed time but it had been nearly three weeks since we had last spoken and I missed him. A lot.

But Tim was the last thing on my mind as I stirred awake in the morning. Hans had an arm lazily thrown around my waist, his face snuggled in the crook of my neck. It came as quite a shock to me that he of all people was a snuggler in bed. Before, I would wake up to an empty bed and a quickly dressing Hans at the other side of the room. It took me a couple nights of staying over at his place to realize just how much of a deep sleeper he was, and that post-sex, all he wanted to do was cuddle and snore off into dreamland.

Practice had perfected my technique however, and I slowly and carefully disentangled myself from his limbs, making sure not to wake him. I stood up, picking up his shirt which lay discarded near my side of the bed and put it on, watching his sleeping face with a smile on my own as I buttoned up.

Last night had been a little rougher than usual. I could feel the after effects of Hans still between my legs and in the way my knees slightly shook as I tip-toed out the room and toward the kitchen. If there's one thing I had come to love about our sex-life, it was that Hans could go from being a total sweetheart and gentle lover in bed to a complete animal the next. I cherished both but I couldn't deny the excitement of the latter.

As I was sorting through the fridge and cupboards for all I needed, a tiny meow sounded from the ground. I glanced down to see a flurry of ginger fur wrapping around my leg, meowing again. With a small smile, I bent down and picked Nozo-chan up, holding her in the air as she met my eyes with her sleepy, silver ones. Out of all the cats in the store, I'd chosen her for her eyes. They reminded me of Hans. Also cause she's adorable but that was just a bonus.

"Hungry, are we?" I teased, pressing a kiss on the kitten's head before setting her on the granite counter-top. She sat down on her bum, her tail wagging from side to side and watched me work.

Hans had been the one to take over the kitchen every time I even tried to cook by myself. He was oddly possessive of his kitchen space and when I insisted, watched me cook from the side like a hawk. It was one thing for a man to be king of the kitchen, attractive even, but another to be so protective of it. Today, however, I wanted to step up to the challenge and be the nice girl I was and make him breakfast in bed. I rolled up the long sleeves of Hans' shirt, pulled my hair up into a messy bun and cracked my knuckles, shooting Nozo-chan a grin.

"Let's do this!"

Fifteen minutes later and I was giving myself a pat on the back for not having blown up the place yet. The smell of bacon, eggs, and toast wafted through the air, absolutely heavenly in the morning. I had given the hungry kitten a slice of cooked bacon which sated her morning appetite as she hopped off the counter and curled herself around my leg a final time as a thank you before trotting off into the living room. She watched me, perched upon the couch, as I went back and forth from the kitchen to the dining table where I was setting up two place settings for Hans and I.

Orange juice, check. Plates and cutlery, check. Toast and bacon, check. The eggs still sizzled on the pan and I stood near the stove, spatula in hand. This was turning out to be a pretty good breakfast.

"Morning tigress."

I would have jumped out of my skin at the puff of warm breath near my ear, if not for the arms that wrapped around my waist, securing me. I relaxed, letting out my breath as I realized it was none other than Hans as he nuzzled his face into my neck, pressing a small kiss there.

"My shirt looks good on you," he whispered, squeezing my waist in a teasing manner. I smiled and turned my head to look at him. The fact that he was so close never failed to make me blush. It didn't help that he had thrown on his pants but nothing else, his muscled, and very naked chest pressing against my back.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." His hands slid down the side to my naked thighs, fingers teasing the skin there before dipping beneath the hems of the long shirt. "Especially with nothing under it."

I would have back-handed his stupid face with the spatula if not for the little chuckle he gave, gesturing with his chin at the eggs.

"Flip 'em," he instructed authoritatively, an instant kill to my turn-on. With a tiny scowl, I did as he told, enjoying the fact that he didn't let go of me despite the mockery.

Although it didn't start off that way, Hans grew a little more appreciative of the fact that I had made him breakfast when we settled down at the dining table. His yum-yum noises were duly noted when he dug into the bacon and toast.

"Like them?" I grinned, cupping my face in my hands and watching him chew down on my cooking with such enthusiasm.

"I take it back. You make a...decent cook."

"Decent?"

He gulped down the food and stared at me, pausing mid-way to give me an irritated glare. "Fine. More than decent."

I rolled my eyes, beginning to dig into my meal happily now that I'd gotten him to admit it. "Why do you hate complimenting me? That's what a nice guy would do."

Hans scoffed, taking a drink out of his glass of juice. "I wouldn't want to spoil you, darling."

I ignored the way my heart skipped a tiny beat at the term of endearment he'd just used and fought the smile on my lips. "Yeah, whatever." Maybe it would have been more evident that I started blushing like a fool if not for the doorbell that rung. Hans stopped chewing, an eyebrow raising as his gaze flickered to the clock on the wall. It was nine o'clock. Who would be dropping by now?

"I'll get it," I said, patting the crumbs off my hands. I stood up and turned, starting to make my way to the front door when I felt Hans grab my wrist and yank me back.

"Not like that, you aren't," he interjected sharply, gesturing with a hand at what I wore. Not the first time to deal with his protectiveness, I muttered, "No one can even see anything."

"I can see your legs."

"Oh, wow. My legs. Score." With a huff, I wrenched my hand free from his wrist and glared at him, ignoring the deep frown that crossed his features. "Sit your ass down and finish eating your breakfast." Something about my tone scared him and he didn't fight me, only muttered incoherently under his breath as I walked off to the door.

I opened it and found myself looking up at a smiling Jasper.

"Tris!" he boomed, stepping in without waiting for me to move out of the doorway. I nearly stumbled back as he entered through the threshold but Jasper caught me by my shoulders, muttering a 'sorry' and making it a show of pecking me on the mouth extravagantly like he always did. I could already hear Hans standing up, no doubt shaking his head at his best friend. With someone else, the kiss would have earned a black eye but with Jasper, it was an entirely different case.

"Wow." His eyebrows raised as he slung an arm around my shoulder, gaze flying to Hans and the food on the dining table. "You two look like an early married couple. What happened to all the drama, tears and ugliness?"

I punched him lightly on the side, grinning. "Well you helped with all that."

"Shame," he pouted. "Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted."

I would never have thought that the kind, soft-spoken man I'd been introduced to at a Starbucks joint one day would turn out to be a flamboyant and dramatic nutcase (in a good way, of course). Jasper's theatrics were similar to that of Helena's and the thought of Hans' and my best friend coming together got my head spinning at the possibilities of catastrophe. One, a glamorous gay-lord and another, a bombastic bi-queen. Oh yeah, that would spell out to the next great war.

"Do I smell bacon?" Jasper's eyes widened as they zeroed in on the platefuls of food on the table. "Well, well, you two cooked up a feast, eh?" Without further ado, he let go of me and surged forward, settling down at the head of the table. I sighed, shooting Hans an already tired smile before joining the boys.

"Who cooked?" Jasper asked half-way through crunching down on some toast. Hans pointed at me wordlessly, earning a shocked, overly revealing mouth-drop from Jasper. "You let her in the kitchen?" He slapped Hans on the shoulder, glaring at him in mock anger. "How could you do this to me?"

Hans let out a huff and sunk in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "Why are you here Jazz?"

"What, I can't drop by to see a friend and your grumpy ass?"

Hans raised an eyebrow and Jasper sighed, dropping the ostentatious act for a bit.

"It has to do with business."

_____

Song: Cinema - Benny Benassi feat. Gary Go

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MY BEAUTIFUL UNICORNS - please forgive me. 

I've really outdone myself this time with how long it took to update but I've had a ridiculous 2017 so far - in the sense that I'm super duper busy I barely have time to write. Nevertheless, in the spirit of today's festivities, forgive me and do enjoy this chapter! 

Happy Valentine's Day my loves! 

P.S. In case you're wondering what the heck happened, you may have missed the previous chapter which is a restricted one. To access chapter |9.5|, make sure the story is in your library and that you're following me. It's a rather crucial scene for the plot - don't miss it!