#can’t be a nepotism hire if you’re technically adopted!

[grail-lifesupport]

Kay is just Gordon Ramsey if he was underpaid by his adopted brother/boss

[noodyl-blasstal]

Cool, Calm, and Collegiate - Chapter 7

We did it! We finished @blupjeansweek with prompt 7 - Reunion.

You can read below, or on Ao3. Missed yesterday's chapter? Catch up here. or read the whole story in one go.

-

There’s an emergency meeting in the aftermath, a lecture on press interaction and how to deal with any angry parents that might be in touch. They’re also notified that the children from the twins’ class are going to be split among them. There’s no question of Edward and Lydia coming back, especially not with the formal investigation still underway.

The rest of the summer season is blissfully dull by comparison - kangaroo shoe day has nothing on beemageddon. The kids still enjoy it, natch, but it feels safe enough, contained fun (which is exactly what it should be.) They get good grades, she gets good reviews, and the summer marches inexorably on to a blank spot on Lup’s map. There’s no plans yet, no nothing.

The worst part of all of it is the waiting. Lup’s utterly sick of it.

She’s waiting for news from jobs, she’s waiting to know where she’ll be living and what she’ll be doing, and she’s waiting to tell Barry that she’s in love with him and would like to bone down proper style about it if he’d be game actually. Not that she’d say it that way��� probably. Honestly at this point it’s a real risk - she’s nearly blurted out her feelings a few times and she definitely keeps staring at his lips at inappropriate moments, but she wants it to be good, he deserves that.

The worst part is, the worst bit of it all, she knows he feels the same. She’s seen the way he looks at her, knows that he’s felt the change between them too. It would be so easy to just say something, pop the unnecessary protective bubble that they’ve both built up around themselves and fall into the relationship they’ve been unknowingly carving out all these years. But she doesn’t. She can’t until she knows the plan, it’s not fair to him.

“Last week of summer school!” Barry says, next to her in bed.

“Yeah.” She snuggles in closer and lays her head on his chest. “And still nothing back about last week’s interview.”

“Ah… well, they’d be lucky to have you.” Barry soothed his hand across her back. “If they go with someone else they’re idiots.”

Lup sighs heavily. She knows that, she’s fucking fantastic, but hiring committees don’t always get the memo. She bodied that interview, but… nothing. “I just want to know the plan and where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing. I don’t think that’s unreasonable!” 

“It’s not.” Barry’s tone isn’t the faux-soothing one that people sometimes adopt with her when she’s complaining about the tenuous nature of taking short term research jobs, he means it. “I remember the post-doc years, it’s no fun.”

“I just want to be in one place and working on something important.” Lup nuzzles her head against Barry. “Something like the bonds research”

“Well....” Barry pauses as if he’s trying to work out exactly how to phrase what he’s about to say. “What if something like the bonds research was the bonds research?”

“What?” There’s no way.

“Well, I was thinking, you’re doing so much on the project anyway… it’d make sense for it to be formalised. I already want you to publish with me, but it would make more sense to just have you on the team.”

“You want to hire me as a post-doc?” Lup’s face scrunches up in consternation.

“No, I want Lucretia to hire you as a researcher.” Barry says as if it’s that simple. As if that’s a thing that can just happen.

“Fucking what?” Lup sits upright. “You want to nepotism me a job?” She doesn’t know whether to kiss him or kick him. Maybe she could do both, she’s talented. But she doesn’t need his help to succeed, she can do that all on her own. She doesn’t need pity.

“No! I mean… kind of.” Barry frowns. “This isn’t how I wanted to ask you… Shit. Look, obviously I know you, so it’s possibly kind of nepotism technically if you squint, but I want you because you’re a brilliant researcher who’s familiar with the project. You’ve got all the qualifications and more besides and IPRE would be lucky to have you on staff. You’ve already helped me solve like three issues this summer alone, why wouldn’t I want to work with you on this?”

Lup’s about to shout at him about not needing pity, about to push herself away, but she resists the urge. Really, he’s not wrong. She found her first post-doc through a researcher she met at a conference, there’s literally networking events for these kinds of reasons. She’s a baller scientist, she’s a phenomenal researcher, she’s the best teacher the IPRE ever saw if her reviews are to be believed, so why the fuck shouldn’t they want her… The main question was whether she wanted this.

She did.

But she couldn’t choose that fast, she should at least pretend, for salary negotiation if nothing else.

Lup jumps out of bed. “I need to shower.” 

“Uh, sure.” Barry motions to the bathroom, as if she doesn’t know where it is by now. Sweet idiot.

She’s halfway to the door before she turns back and sits down next to him again. “Thanks Bear, I really appreciate the offer.”

“It’s not just because you’re you, you know. Lucretia wouldn’t put up with any bullshit.” He says quickly before she can turn and run again.

Lup kisses him quickly on the cheek before she completely loses her nerve then near enough sprints to the bathroom. She’s calling Taako before she locks the door behind her.

“Yes, I have seen the time thank you so much… Taako… Taako… TAAKO, listen, I think I got a job… Here! With Barry… no it’s… well, yeah it is kinda like that… but listen. Research! Proper research!... The bonds project… I guess I have been, yeah, I’ve been involved since nearly  the start… Huh… No, I didn’t think about it that way… I don’t know… I haven’t had time to think about the logistics… I only just found out… He told me… In be…” She catches herself but it’s too late. “... it’s not like that!... I was here late… talking! We were talking!... No. Not about that… I haven’t figured it out yet. I will though… Don’t be gross… What should I do?... You think so?... What if something goes wrong?... yeah… good point… we’ve kinda been working on it for nine years… Thanks ‘Ko. Say hi to Krav for me… HA! I knew he was there… you can dish it but you can’t take it, you baby… I hate you too, super triple double… okay, I’ll keep posted… love you… bye!”

Lup starts the shower, then immediately stops it again and rushes back to Barry’s room. “Do I get an office?”

“Yes.” Barry says, he has the grace to not even look slightly startled by her swift reappearance.

“Okay. Thank you… shower.” Lup says quickly and leaves again. 

She makes it halfway to the bathroom before she turns round this time. “Is it a permanent contract?”

“Yep.” Barry nods and sits up slightly, his attempts to doze abandoned.

“Thank you.” Lup leaves again.

Temporarily. 

“Is it full time?” 

“Yes, full time and year round, no term time nonsense. Lucretia’s really fair with this stuff. There’s campus housing for a bit if you need it too.” Barry looks at her as if waiting for another question.

She never said he isn’t smart. He knows his stuff.

“And there’s proper research support?”

“Budget for research expenses, publication fees, and support to take time off to go to conferences and training.” He smiles.

She smiles back. “Huh. Okay.”

“Okay…?” Barry’s eyebrows raise expectantly.

“Okay it’s time to shower.” She gets to the door before turning back. “Oh, also, I think… No, I know, I’m in love with you… bye!” She sprints for the bathroom and locks the door behind her, only just resisting the impulse to keep running. She did it! She did it! She’s got a job! And maybe a Barry? Fuck… that wasn’t the plan. Adrenaline surges through her system as she grabs her phone again.

“‘Ko?... I’m gonna take the job… also I told Barry I love him… I don’t know… what do you mean what do I mean?... I told him I’m in love with him… I ran away… bathroom… well it wasn’t exactly planned was it?... Put Kravitz on, I can hear him saying calm and useful things in the background… Hi Kravitz… nice to meet you too… uh huh… yeah, sprinted out of there… okay… that’s a fair point… yes… no it wouldn’t… in my defence I can’t say I was thinking at the time… how did Taako tell you… really? Oh fuck… bye Kravitz!... I saw an opportunity… fine… sorry… Yes, I will…  Love you too ‘Ko, byeeeeeeeee.”

Lup laughs as she hangs up. Taako seems happy, Kravitz seems nice, now  she just needs to fix whatever the fuck mess she just created, but she’d quite like to do it clean.

There’s a light tap at the door as she’s washing her conditioner out. “Lup?”

“Who isssssss it?” Lup sing songs.

“Lup!” Barry sounds like a guy who’d just had someone confess they were in love with him and then sprint away without any follow up opportunity. Oops.

“Sorry Bear. I’m nearly done.” She feels guilt prickling at her. There’s no nervousness, she knows he feels the same, it’s so evident, but she’s had time to freak out about it with Taako and Kravitz, he’s been stewing. “I’ll be with you soon, in fact, do you just wanna come in?”

“I… uh…” Barry sounds panicked at the prospect.

Lup reaches out to unlock the door. “It’s open, you can if you wanna.”

She can almost hear the anxiety rolling off him.

“You can wait if you’d rather, it’s fine.”

The door cracks open.

“In or out, you’re letting the cold air in.”

The door clicks shut. “You’re in love with me?” Barry asks.

“Head over heels.” Lup says matter of factly. “Sorry for… you know, the sprinting. I’ve been trying to work out how to tell you and it keeps nearly slipping out and then it actually did so I panicked.”

“I know.” He says simply. “I’ve been trying to tell you too.”

“To tell me what?” Lup asks, smiling to herself.

“That I’m in love with you.”

“There you go.” 

“What?” Barry asks.

“You just did it.” Lup peeks her head out from behind the shower curtain and grins at him, not that he can see her, his glasses are totally steamed up. “We both did it!”

“Oh… yeah. I did do that. We did that!” Barry smiles, pleased with himself. “What do we do now?” He asks.

There’s a long pause, water sloughing the last of the conditioner from Lup’s hair.

“I mean… I’ve got some suggestions, but they’re not very PG.” Lup tries to sound as sultry as possible.

Barry laughs. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Now pass me my towel please?”

She knows for a fact that Barry screws his eyes shut behind his glasses when she steps out of the shower, she loves him for it. She also loves him for the way he pretends the towel is a matador’s cape as he prepares to wrap her in it, and the small kiss he plants on top of her head when he does.

“I have a suggestion.” Barry says.

“I’m willing to hear it.” Lup replies. 

Barry laughs and cups her face gently with calloused palms, she knows every scar on his hands and most of the stories behind them. She’s traced the shape of them while they talked late into the night, and now his thumb is ghosting along her lower lip. She kisses it quickly. It’s clearly enough permission for Barry and he dips his head to press their lips firmly together, stroke his thumbs across her cheeks. It’s a chaste kiss, a perfect first kiss, but Lup wants many more kisses from Barry and she plans to get them.

“When does Lucretia need to hear back from me?” She asks, kisses her way along Barry’s jaw as he answers.

“Uh… I don’t… Lup, I’m not… I can’t concentrate…” 

“Don’t then.” Lup replies.

Barry doesn’t, not on the job, anyway.

-

Bear, 

Hey office neighbour! I bet you didn’t know that there was a letter tube between our offices, but boy is there. 

I know, you’ve been thinking to yourself that seeing me at work, at home, on dates and via email just isn’t enough. Don’t worry, the carrier pigeons are in training. But hopefully for now this’ll suffice.

Thank you, not for the opportunity (though thank you for that too), but for wanting me and letting me know that. I never feel less than with you, and I hope you know how much I adore you.

Anyway, what do you want for tea later?

Love you (collegiately, we’re at work, be professional!) with my whole heart,

Lup xxxxxxx