Me again. Another Amber/Hex one-shot again. If you guys get sick of reading them (because this one, as with the last, has zero action) let me know and I'll quit posting them. Anyway, this is a random idea that popped into my head whilst I was attempting to do my maths homework. Oh the joys of having an easily distracted mind... Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy!
It was all too formal in Amber's opinion – but she supposed that was just one of the many catches of working for MI5. She sat in the front row – waiting anxiously for the ceremony to begin. Not a fun ceremony, of course. In order to uphold the professionalism that was MI5, anything with any colour seemed to have been banned from the proceedings. Except for her cute yellow top that she'd paired with some jeans – she felt completely out of place.
She hoped he would turn up – it wasn't every day your best friend won a bravery award, after all. Amber summarised that this formal situation would probably be of preference to Hex, as opposed to the bombardment of balloons and streamers that would be residing here if she had been in charge of the decoration. Knowing him like she did, he'd probably be embarrassed to have to sit next to her in her obviously yellow shirt against the grey background. She checked her watch; he'd better get here soon. Whilst she was reminiscing about all this, someone slid into the seat beside her.
"Did I miss anything?"
She turned and smiled, taking in his suit and tie. Though she'd seen him in such attire many times before, it never ceased to amaze her, "Nah, nothing important... We gave the award to Ms. Pinkerton's cat instead, seeing as you seemed to have ditched your own ceremony."
"Ms. Pinkerton?" He looked at her strangely.
"Yeah, you know, the old lady that lives down the road – her cat saved her from a fire last week. Much bravery was shown." She tried her best to deliver the lines deadpan. Hex stayed silent for a few moments, knowing the laughter was coming.
Before Amber had time to laugh, it seemed the ceremony had started. A few men dressed in very military-looking outfits walked in – marching to the same silent beat. Hex groaned. He never did like people making a fuss of him. Amber giggled quietly.
There were a few speeches on the nature of bravery and about Hex's brave deeds (but, of course, in true espionage style, nothing interesting was revealed). Amber became increasingly nervous, as she knew her bit was coming up. She'd been asked by her boss to give a speech – as Hex's co-worker and friend. At this point she was wondering why she accepted in the first place.
"And now I'd like to introduce Agent Amber Middleton to the floor,"
Gulp...
Amber could tell from the surprised look on Hex's face that he was unaware of her speech. She gulped again.
She stood at the lectern – glad she had something to hold onto.
"So..." she began. Not a good start in a room full of uptight agents and journalists. She looked down at her well prepared speech and decided to just improvise instead. She could barely recognise any emotion from the little piece of paper anyway. She looked up at the audience.
"I think we've heard enough about Hex as an MI5 agent this evening," this provoked some laughter from the audience, "So I'll give you a little inside knowledge about Hex as a friend," the audience began to pay close attention when they realised that Amber wasn't reading from her script, "When my boss first came to me with the invitation to do this speech – I must admit, I was kinda nervous," she paused, trying to think of something to say that wasn't clichéd or too mushy, "I suppose I was nervous because it was Hex. He doesn't do well with all this attention," she indicated to the people sitting around the hall and the news cameras by the door. The audience laughed quietly. Amber gained confidence, deciding to just say what came to her.
"To tell you about Hex as a friend isn't an easy thing to do. I mean, don't get me wrong, a million and one things come to mind – he's funny, smart, caring, selfless... you know, all the necessary ingredients you need to make up a good person. But he's so much more than that. Please forgive me for sounding clichéd – but there really is no other way to say it. Hex has always taken care of me – whether I liked it or not, in times when the last thing he should have been worried about was my safety, but there he was – reminding me that he was there, as always."
Amber paused again; smiling, she looked at Hex.
"Hex, I know I don't tell you this often enough – but I want to thank you for being so insistently persistent when it comes to my welfare. I want to thank you for not giving up on my selfishly spoilt self all those years ago – and sticking with me through all the years in between. You mean the absolute world to me – and speaking as someone who's taken every opportunity to notice all the good things you do," she laughed as Hex made an incredulous face at her, "No really! I do notice everything. From the way you drive slightly slower when you're dropping me home to the way you come over extra early to cook me breakfast on those days when I'm sick." Hex looked at her differently now – somewhere between puzzlement and awe.
"I know I'm blabbering about how much Hex means to me, but really, that's all I know. However, I'm certain that there are three other people, specifically, out there who cannot imagine a life without you, Hex.
"Anyway – what I was trying to say before – knowing Hex as I so fortunately do, I have no doubt he deserves this more than anyone. If he wasn't out there saving lives with MI5, I just know he'd still be right here with me – saving me from having to cook fried eggs when I'm dying of the flu," the audience joined her in laughing, "All jokes aside – I'm pretty certain I wouldn't be here right now without you, Hex. I don't like imagining living life without you and I hope I'll never have to. Though, if you keep going being brave like you do..." There was a short silence. Amber dreaded the thought.
"I wouldn't change a thing about you. I hope you know that, oh brave one," she smiled hugely and earned a roll of the eyes from Hex, "And on that note I'm gonna hand over to someone else before I completely humiliate myself." She smiled as she stood down from the lectern and went to sit back with Hex.
She faced the next speaker and refused to meet Hex's eye for the next hour. Eventually the ceremony finished – Hex walked out with a shiny new medal. Down the road there was a fancy new restaurant complex which was hosting the after party – all courtesy of Li. Amber walked there with Hex in relative silence – gasping when she stepped inside.
Li had certainly made up for any lack of colour back at the ceremony. It seemed the entire staff from MI5 was at this party – and for every staff member present there seemed at least three balloons. Hex groaned. Amber grabbed his hand before he could escape back outside.
"C'mon – you're the man of the hour, you have to make an appearance!" she whispered to him.
Hex just groaned again.
They were walking through the place trying to find familiar faces when they were stopped by a rather unfamiliar face – a happy looking woman a little older than the two. She seemed to be one of the reporters from the ceremony. She held Amber's unoccupied arm and said, "Just wanted to congratulate you on that speech Amber – certainly woke me up from my daydreams," the woman laughed good naturedly. Amber just smiled – about to say her thanks when the woman interrupted – looking at the both of them now, "You make a really sweet couple by the way – enjoy the party!" And with that, she walked off, waving boldly at them.
Amber stood, stunned. She was too afraid to look up at Hex and took her hand from his.
"Li probably paid her to say it," he said laughing, moving slightly closer to her, watching her expression closely.
"Sorry," Amber mumbled, head down.
"You paid him to say it?" Hex asked incredulously – but with a slight sense of understanding that Amber didn't seem to pick up on.
"No!" she responded immediately, looking up at him now, when she saw the smirk on his face, she rolled her eyes, "I just mean,"' she said – looking back down at the floor, "I'm sorry for making the speech sound so... you know... like I...was...you know...-"
"In love with me?" Hex grinned as she whipped her head up to face him. She was speechless. Since when did Hex say things like that without blushing like an idiot? Amber was certainly beginning to unwittingly do just that.
"Well... I mean... It wasn't an intention... I just sort of... well spoke... really... and, um... I guess... it's just...um..."
Hex couldn't control his grin any longer. It was so rare to find Amber so speechless. He felt uncharacteristically bold to have the upper hand for once.
"So you mean to say... You spoke from your heart and it just so happened that it came out sounding a little too honest?"
"Exactly," Amber said without thinking, she seemed to realise what she'd agreed to, however, and backtracked.
"Well... that's not to say that I... you know...erm...it wasn't necessarily... "
"Amber?" Hex said, almost absent-mindedly.
She looked up warily and found she couldn't tear her eyes away from his.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Hex shushed her by holding his finger up to her lips.
He grinned.
"You talk too much."
And with that, he leant down and replaced his finger with his lips.
He eventually pulled away, carefully.
"Sorry..." he said, "I... didn't mean for that... to erm... make you think that I'm... you know... sort of..."
Amber would have thought he was being serious if it wasn't for the huge grin plastered on his face.
"In love with me?" Amber asked grinning, before kissing him again.
See, zero action. Lol I guess I just find it easier to write meaningless fluff :D Anyway, do let me know what you thought! I plan to write a longer action fic one of these days. Until then, expect some more random one-shots. Lepi xo