Sam head was pounding and there was a dull ache at the base of his neck from sitting hunched over in the same position for so long, but he absolutely refused to move. Computer science, programming, and college level math books where stacked on one side of his desk; engineering, physics, and political science books were stacked on the other side. Right now he was pouring over a nuclear science book and was struggling to remember what he just read two sentences ago. It was well past midnight and his dinner sat untouched on the floor next to him. He rubbed his sore, aching eyes but kept pushing.
He heard his window quietly slide open and close again, but he didn't have to turn around to know who it was. They had been officially a couple for almost a year now, but bonded to each other for longer. As a matter of fact it had gotten to the point where he almost thought he could sense her presence. Side effect of the bond probably.
"Hey," He mumbled still reading. "You've been gone for a while. How was it?"
"Eh," San-Li grumbled. "Things didn't go like planned so I left."
Sam debated on whether or not he wanted to push the matter. San-Li sounded like she was on the precipice of a bad mood and right now it could go one way or the other. Pushing could possibly earn him a knife or dagger to the neck. Not that she would or could kill him, but it still freaked him out a little.
"Anyways I need another target to hit." She mumbled.
"Can it wait til tomorrow?" Sam turned back a page. "I'm kinda in the middle of something."
"Funny, I don't remember asking when you can help me." She said that menacing tone coming into her voice. "I need money for rent and I want you to give me a new target. Now."
Sam bit back his reply and tried to refocus on what he was reading. Patience, he had to have patience with San-Li. But he was going through a rough time and it was beginning to stress him out. Sam bit his lip, tried to ignore the cramps in his stomach, and kept reading. The cramps steadily grow more painful. A side effect of him not fulfilling his side of the bond.
"Look," Sam sighed. "I promise I'll help you in a minute okay? Just let me finish this chapter."
There was a sharp thunk and he looked up to see that San-Li had stuck on of her daggers into the desk right in front of him.
"Hey!" Sam spun around. "Be careful with that thing! This is a library book!"
"Did you forget our bond?" San-Li asked angrily holding another dagger up to his face. "Just because I can't kill you doesn't mean I can't cut that pretty face of yours."
They glared at each other for a long moment and Sam could feel his patience starting to ebb. It downright annoyed and frustrated him when she did crap like this. This was the reason why no one, but Fred could trust her in the first place. And even he claimed that just keeping an eye out on her. But Sam also knew that there wasn't much else to do but to give in to her tantrum.
"Okay! Okay!" Sam threw his hands up in defeat. "I'll find you a target."
With an aggravated sigh he jumped up and went to his book shelf for one of his history books. He rifled until he found the page he was looking for, wrote down the information, and handed it to her. He instantly felt the cramps disappear and he went back to his desk to continue reading.
He could feel her eyes on the back of his head but he didn't turn around. He felt bad, he shouldn't have snapped on her like that. He was her boyfriend after all and it surprisingly easy to have her as a girlfriend. The watched things together that he could never watch with anyone else like House of Cards or history documentaries. He even liked watching cheesy B movies with her because she liked to make fun of them with him instead of shushing him like Fred and Joe did. As long as she didn't slip into her seductress mode everything was easy between them.
The only problem was that she sometimes switched back and forth between being San-Li his girlfriend and San-Li the psycho time pirate whom he had accidentally bonded with. She still stood there for a long moment practically buzzing with agitation before she finally seemed to calm down.
She sighed and leaned on the desk next to him. "Okay what's with you?"
Sam sighed. "Studying for an entrance exam."
"For..."
"M.I.T."
San-Li gave a low whistle. "Impressive. But aren't you only in your junior year?"
"Yeah, but I need to start getting prepared now." Sam rubbed his temples. "I failed it last year and I'll never pass at this rate."
"Well there's no way you'll retain any of that information if you're this stressed." San-Li said. "And you aren't useful to me like this. So let me help you before you have an aneurysm."
Before Sam could ask what she meant San-Li grabbed his wrist and made his stand up. When she started to pull him to the bed he panicked.
"W-what are you doing!?" Sam pulled himself out of her grip.
"Relax," she rolled her eyes and grabbed him again. "I'm not going to do anything bad to you."
She made him sit on the bed and he sat on the very edge, ready to spring back up at a moment's notice. There was no point trying to fight her physically, but that didn't mean he couldn't run if he needed to. He tensed when he felt her get on the bed behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. He jumped up again and looked at her.
"Well San-Li," he said smiling nervously. "It was nice of you to stop by, but I really, really need to get back to reading now, but I promise I'll help you tomorrow."
"Sam." San-Li folded her arms and gave him a look. "I was just going to give you a massage. Calm down and get over here."
Sam bit his lip and tried to think a way out of this situation. Nerd or not he was still a guy and San-Li was... not ugly. Definitely not ugly. Scratch that, she was totally hot; a fact that wasn't lost on him. But he couldn't let himself think like that. He prided himself on thinking before acting and being logical. And that logic told him that being on the bed with San-Li when no one else was around was definitely a bad idea. Even if it was just a massage. They were a couple and he cared about her a lot but the two rarely did anything more than light kisses on the cheek.
San-Li narrowed her eyes. "Do you not like me or something?"
"What?" Sam looked at her like she was insane. "San-Li, you're my girlfriend. Why would you ask me something like that?"
"Because you don't treat me like your girlfriend." San-Li said in exasperation. "You just treat me like a friend. Even Joe and Fred don't actually believe we're dating."
Sam felt his shoulders slump a little. "They don't?"
"No," She scoffed. "They think I'm just teasing you. Honestly sometimes I think I just imagined everything."
Sam frowned. He didn't know what hurt more. The fact that San-Li didn't feel like they were in a real relationship or the fact that his two best friends didn't know that they were in a relationship.
"Alright," he sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
San-Li only huffed and wouldn't look at him so he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Okay," He mumbled. "Massage me."
"Is that how you ask?" San-Li pouted. "I'm not your personal masseuse, you know. You're gonna have to be a little nicer to me if you want a massage."
Sam felt the corner of his mouth twitch up in a smile at her stubborn, pouting tone.
"Okay," he said again. "San-Li, I'm really stressed out from studying. Would you mind giving me a massage please?"
"Hmph, that's more like it." She said scooting closer to him again.
Sam knew he made a mistake when the first sigh escape his mouth.
My goodness her hands feel amazing. He thought feeling breathless.
Sam could feel all of the tension and soreness leaving his body and it was incredible. He never had a girl touch him like this and it was throwing his mind and his body into over drive. An inner voice was screaming for him to get off the bed right now before they did or said anything that they might regret or make things awkward between them, but he was really, really enjoying this massage.
"Sooo," Sam said trying to disguise another moan. "Where did you learn how to give a massage?"
"My grandmother." San-Li said. "She was kinda like the family doctor and physical therapist. She taught me a lot about doctor stuff and yada yada."
"So how come you didn't you do that instead of becoming a time thief?"
San-Li's hands stilled for a moment before she continued. Sam mentally kicked himself. Per their albeit forced arrangement, Sam had agreed never to ask about her past and he was pretty sure that asking the reason for her becoming a time thief broke that agreement.
"Why is it so important that you get accepted to M.I.T.?" San-Li asked after a while. "Smart guy like you could probably get into any college in the country. What are you stressing about?"
Sam shrugged feeling strangely happy that she called him smart . "I really want to become an inventor someday and it's not exactly a job you apply at a company for."
"What about an engineering job? Isn't that similar enough?"
"I wouldn't mind it, but that isn't what I really want to do." Sam bit back another moan. "I don't want to just work for some random company. I want to be able to dream up something and make it happen. Better the world with my inventions and I think M.I.T will help me do that."
"How noble." San-Li remarked dryly.
Sam sighed and frowned. He hated it when she said stuff like that. When she was sardonic and cynical like that. He much preferred her when she was relaxed, excited, or better yet content. Like when she played the piano and her small fingers flew impossibly fast over the keys. Or when she gave that slow, gentle smile of hers when she thought no one was around to hear her and Fina's conversations. He shook his head and decided to change subject, but she beat him to it.
"Favorite period you time traveled to." She commanded rather than asked.
"Um, that would be... 17th century Japan."
"Edo period." San-Li nodded. "Nice."
Sam smiled. "Yeah. My great grand daughter and I trained as samurai and rescued my friends from an evil general."
"Oo," San-Li breathed next to his ear making him shiver. "Sam samurai sounds kinda sexy."
Sam jumped up from the bed his cheeks burning and saw that she was laughing. Despite himself Sam found himself smiling as well.
"That's not funny." he said trying not to laugh.
San-Li smirked at him and winked. "Yeah you're probably right. I doubt that you're even really attracted to me that way."
"Of course I am." The words came out before he could stop them.
"No you aren't." San-Li scoffed. "You hardly even kiss me."
"Yes I do." Sam protested. "I totally kiss you...sometimes."
"I'm not talking about on the cheek, Sammy," San-Li sighed. "You know exactly what I mean."
She was now laying on his bed with her eyes closed making Sam frown. He hoped that she wasn't planning on sleeping over. He may have been planning on pulling an all nighter, but he still planned on eventually going to bed. He sat down next to her making sure to leave plenty of space between them.
"I just want us to be cautious," Sam said seriously. "We're both teenagers full of hormones and I know how passionate you can be sometimes. I just want us to be smart and take things slowly."
"Yeah at a crawl." she muttered.
"What do you want from me, San-Li?" Sam sighed. "To sweep you off your feet? To be as crazy and passionate as you are? I'm not good at that alright?"
San-Li sat up suddenly and stopped a mere centimeter or so away from his face. She stared at him intently for a moment and he tensed up.
"Kiss me." Her breath fanned across his lips.
"Wha-"
"Don't think, don't speak. Just kiss me." She whispered. "Or if you want, we could be just friends and I'll never try to seduce you again. And they'll be no hard feelings between us."
He shook his head slowly and kissed her softly, barely brushing his lips against hers. She started to pull away, but he leaned forward more and caught her lips in a stronger kiss. San-Li let out the tiniest moan and he was undone. His hand cupped her cheek he kissed her deeper bringing out another tiny moan from her. San-Li wound her arms around his neck and they continued kissing desperately. Almost a full year of being a couple emotionally but not physically had taken its toll on him and he couldn't stop even if he wanted to. Even though his brain was literally screaming for him to stop he couldn't help but keep kissing her and drawing her closer to him.
He froze when she gently pushed against his chest. Sam jumped away from her, his face literally burning with shame and embarrassment.
"San-Li, I am so so sorry." He pleaded with his hands in the air. "I swear I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to take advantage of you I swear."
San-Li laughed and stood up. "Oh trust me I don't mind."
"You sure?" Sam felt a little relieved. "You aren't going to dump me for being a pig are you?"
"You aren't a pig." She giggled. "You were just kissing your smoking hot girlfriend and got a little carried away."
"I'm sorry." He repeated bashfully.
San-Li vanished from the bed and reappeared directly in front of him.
"Don't be sorry," She cooed. "I like you're passionate side."
Sam blushed and looked away. Only she could make him feel this way; make his heart beat like crazy and feel like he was floating on air. She gave him a soft smile and pecked him on the lips before taking a step back.
"Soooo," She said rocking back and forth on her heels. "Back to business. I was actually wondering if you could come with me on a job. I could, um...kinda need your help."
Sam blinked at the sudden change in topic. His heart was still racing from their kissing and he wondered if it was from excitement at the thought of warping with her as well. He know he shouldn't be excited at it though. He had to constantly remind himself that she was a thief and that stealing was wrong. He should try and convince her to stop shouldn't he? Give up time thieving and go to school him maybe? She was smart almost as smart as he was. It could work.
"Please?" San-Li batted her eyes and threaded her fingers through his. "Pretty please?"
Sam melted on the spot and grinned like crazy. "Okay."
"Great!" San-Li pecked him on the lips. "Meet me at my place around five alright?"
Sam nodded and she vanished in a ripple of dark air.
