"HOWL!" The Future-Warden barked, poking his head into Penna's room. He looked around, a little confused at the not immediate and annoyed response he would have normally and was hoping to have received.

He stepped further inside, scowling at the mess of discarded vests and ties lying in a pile beside her bed.

"Tch... what a disgusting slob!" He nudged his foot into a loosened, pearly-white necktie, kicking it up in the air to catch it in his hand. His gap-toothed grin stretched across his face upon his success. However, his trick was not replied with the round of applause that echoed in his mind.

"Ahem." Penna cleared her throat roughly. She leaned against the frame of her bathroom door, skepticism written on her face. She arched an amused brow at him, her own smirk hiding faintly in the corner of her mouth. She had been attempting to fix that mess of a bun that wobbled on top of her head, with little progress by the look of it.

"You called, sir?" She pushed herself off, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

"There you are!" He leered at her, balling up the tie in his hands before throwing it on the ground.

"Why are you slacking off? You're supposed to be working." He matched her folded arms with his own annoyed posture, satisfied in his mind to point out her insubordination.

She rolled her eyes and halfheartedly saluted him, heaving a disgusted sigh. She made her way to the dimly lit desk. On it's surface sat her notebook, it's most recent blank pages now covered in scads of scribbled-down notes. She flashed a glare at him as she took her seat, pulling on her stool unnecessarily roughly, causing the legs to dig into the carpet.

"That's better-"

"Is that all you came here to do?" Penna interrupted him, grimacing over her shoulder. She began to twirl her pen in her fingers, trying to course her bitter mood into its form.

"I'm 'working' now, so you can leave."

"No." The Future-Warden replied flatly. He decided he would be gracious and let her snippy comment slide.

"I'm going to stand right here and watch you work, Howl." He nodded once, his brow furrowing into a stern gaze.

He knew very well how much his presence annoyed her. Hers wasn't much of a treat for him either in all honesty, and looking down at the mess of clothes only reminded him all the more of his growing hatred for her. Still, if even the slightest thing he did could annoy her, he would stop at nothing until she fired her rage at him. He enjoyed causing her to lose her temper.

Penna exhaled another distasteful breath.

"Of course you are..." She muttered, pursing her lips.

There was a moment of silence between them, broken only by the sound of her pen-strokes and the turning of pages. He could still sense her anguish, and that alone was enough to keep him entertained for the time being. Or so he thought.

"What are you doing?" He asked, peering over her shoulder. Her pen instantly stopped moving. Another wave of disgust hung in the air above her as she rolled her eyes again.

"I'm working." She snapped.

"Yes, I know but what are you writing?" He couldn't read her awful chicken-scratch handwriting, just another thing to chalk up on his imaginary board of things he hated about her.

Penna huffed, rubbing her tired eyes feverishly. "I'm trying to come up with a new past for the next person you have me interrogate."

"Why?" He grinned inwardly. He was wearing her down. Soon he would be wringing his hands in glee at her furious response.

"Because it makes for an easier and quicker process."

"Why?"

"...Go away."

"Not until you tell me why."

She clenched her pen in her fist, so very tempted at that moment to stab him in his beady little eye.

"If I do, will you leave me alone?"

"No."

She inhaled deeply, fighting to keep as calm as possible. "It makes less of a headache for me."

"Ah, speaking of that you really need to start controlling those side-effects of that...freakish ability of yours," He straightened himself up, tucking his arms neatly behind his back. His satisfied grin plastered on each corner of his mouth.

"I'm tired of hearing about these constant 'headaches'." He leaned back over, resting his chin on her tensed shoulder.

She was about to respond with a quick tongue-lashing of how little he understood what actually happens to her after she interrogates someone, when his sudden, and quite frankly surprising gesture caused her to completely forget what she was about to say.

"Uh..." She turned her head toward him, utterly confused he'd allowed himself to get this close to her. Normally, he would only approach to threaten a strike across her face or to point a warning finger at her.

"Oh, don't mind me. I'm just going to continue watching."

"Um... stop?" She was dumbfounded. She could clearly see the intent in his eye, but she couldn't find the right words within herself to make her point more adamant.

"Nah. I have a much better view from here." His chin gently dug into her shoulder as he spoke.

She scoffed. "I just bet you do." She fired back instinctively.

She turned her attention back to her notes, her eyes shooting from the pages to the ever-growing smirk of her employer. She shook her head, trying to remember what it was she was going to write next.

The Future-Warden began to rock rhythmically to and from, bumping into the side of her head with his own.

Penna ground her teeth, using every bit of strength she could muster not to give him the response he was trying to pry out of her.

"I'm not bothering you am I?" He cooed. He chuckled, so very pleased to have found yet another thing to do that would slowly, but oh-so-surely put her into a fit.

Her ears twitched as she struggled with herself.

"N-Not at all." She responded with a forced-smile, one that faded almost as instantly as it appeared.

He was thoroughly enjoying watching her anger rise higher and higher. He grabbed each of her cheeks with his gloved fingers, pinching them tightly.

"You can't lie to me Howl." He mused, jiggling her cheeks up and down.

"Get. Off. Me." She replied lowly, shoving his hands off her. She gingerly rubbed her now sore face, attempting to set fire to him with her stare. She growled before returning her pen to the page.

He stepped back, unable to control his chuckling at how ridiculous he'd made her look. He swooped back in to replace his chin, this time on her other shoulder. He began to think of something else he might possibly be able to do to tempt out that welling fury he desired.

The idea that came to him however, wasn't something he was particularly fond of, but it was the only thing he was sure would set her off. And that was precisely what he was going for, even if it made his own stomach churn.

He brought his arms around her, tucking her tightly to him. He was able to mask his scowl with another grin.

"You're terrible at head-locking someone." Penna remarked dully, her eye beginning to twitch from his touch.

"This is not a head-lock, Howl. This is a hug. I'm hugging you."

"Well stop, you're going to make me vomit."

"Nope. You're going to work while I hug you."

"Seriously, stop."

"Not gonna happen." He squeezed tighter.

"You don't know where I've been."

"I don't care."

"I don't know where you've been."

"Someplace fun. Doesn't matter, still hugging you."

"If you don't let go of me, I'm going to stab you."

"You'd really stab someone who's only trying to hug you? How heartless are you, Howl? I mean really..." He inched his face forward, his pouting lip sticking out in the far corner of her peripheral-vision.

She set her pen down gently. She refused to look at him as her mind tried to formulate a plan to get him to release her. She curled her lip, stifling the urge to hiss as she wrapped her own arms around his. She held a tight grasp to his sleeves.

"Wait, what are you doing?" He tried pulling back but her force kept him locked to her. He jerked roughly, trying to break free of her grip. She was a little stronger than he thought. No matter how he pulled away relentlessly, her firm clutch to his arms kept him in place.

"Relax Warden, it's just a hug. I'm hugging you." She replied, glancing over her shoulder to offer him a smirk.

[]A/N: Inspired by a very dear friend of mine and her piece of gift-art. That was a hug. And this is me absolutely ruining any hope any of you had of me writing a decent fanfic... These are just for fun and aren't intended to be serious, but there is no redemption for how horribly out of character Future-Warden is here /commits hara kiri. []