TEAM FORTRESS 2 IS A VALVE GAME

At that time, practically all the mercenaries were asleep but Pyro had the feeling she would find Engineer in his workshop working till late. And she was right. She had seen a sliver of light through the door and, when she peeked in, she saw him there, studying his papers, under the light of a simple reading lamp. He turned around quickly when he heard the door, he certainly didn't expect any visitors, but calmed down immediately when he saw it was Pyro.

"Hey, match girl" he greeted her.

Pyro closed the door behind her and deepened into the workshop. Truth be told, it was a disaster: she could barely take a step without kicking something or being close to do it. And everything was pure junk, no matter how lively her imagination was.

"Sorry about the mess, I swear I'll clean this up when I'm done" the Engineer justified himself, removing his googles.

Pyro smiled and muttered something uncomprehensible, even if the other could understand perfectly what she used to say under her mask; she had to be speaking to herself. She got close to him and hugged him from behind as she took a look over his shoulder to the papers.

"Hmm huuhm?"

"Nothing fun, I assure you. I tried to find a way to prevent sappers from hurting my machines. Some kind of anti-hacking device."

"Hmhhu hm!" Pyro pointed to herself.

"Heh, true. It ain't necessary having you around. Thanks, babe, really. You're always saving my ass."

Pyro smiled under the mask and cuddled against Engineer again, this time receiving a kiss on her forehead and a hug from him. He was truly surprised when Pyro pulled up her mask until her mouth was uncovered and could speak decently and whispered to his ear:

"C'mon, let's go to bed..."

"I have to round a couple of things off, I can't sleep if something's pen..."

"No, I don't mean that..."

Her breath was warm and still Engineer felt a shiver running down his spine.

"You won't take a no for an answer, will you?"

"Hm-Hm" Pyro replied playfully.

"Well, alright. We'd better go to your room, no one will disturb us there and mine's full of trash."

Although his tone was of resignation, Pyro could see the smile on his face. She had no doubt that amused him as much as it amused her.

They had come up with their own action plan with time, since, though the rules of the company didn't specify anything about relationships among its employees, they didn't believe the woman would like to know there was so much intimacy among the mercenaries, and that included their own partners, because Engineer wasn't very sure they could trust them in keeping that secret. Pyro left first and, before going to her room, she crossed the hallway looking for those cameras that, as Engineer had explained to her once, controlled the base, and used one of her boots to destroy them. It wasn't necessary to break all of the building, only those between the workshop and the bedrooms. Engineer had been listening with the door of the room slightly open. He feared the peers would go to see what was the noise about, he was ready to hear their voices. But the only one he heard was Spy, who had a very light sleep, and went out of his room with his revolver in hand. When he saw Pyro with one boot on her hand and a bare foot, he frowned.

"Urgh...Pyro..."

Pyro giggled. Spy was about to complain but, thinking about it, he was exhausted and didn't want to lose time quarreling with Pyro. Surely that lunatic didn't even know what they were doing so what was the use of losing sleeping hours for something that would go nowhere?

"I'm not cleaning all of this" it was all he said before leaving.

Engineer listened some more minutes but all he heard was silence. With all prudence, he abandoned the workshop and headed to Pyro's room, silent as a cat. He opened the door careful not to make the slightest noise. He had been so focused being silent that he hadn't paid attention to Pyro absolutely until, once he locked the door, he turned towards the bed. She had taken her suit off and was waiting for him. Her eyes were fixed on him, impatient. No wonder: after all that time working so close without being able to be together like a real couple, he had also been waiting for a moment of intimacy eagerly. Pretending there was only a strictly professional relationship was tiring, as much as they tried to turn it into a game.

They made love for a long while, being barely able to stifle any sign of passion that could have endangered them-Engineer had had to put a hand on Pyro's mouth a couple of times-and, shortly after that, not leaving much time for cuddles, Pyro fell asleep. Definitely, that had been a very exhausting day, so Engineer didn't blame her. Actually, he liked to see Pyro asleep; she didn't look like a deranged pyromaniac then, but it made her look innocent, beautiful, even. He thought she was beautiful. If it hadn't been for those moments when he could tell her, even if it had to be out of others' sight...He caressed her hair and gave her little kisses, always careful not to wake her up. He would have loved to be like that for some more time, maybe the rest of his life. All the times Pyro had told him she wished a happy ending like in fairytales, where they would go to live into a castle or, otherwise, in a house with a big garden, they would have lots of pets and lots of children and they would live happily ever after! In moments like those, her ideas didn't seem so crazy to him. But that, of course, wasn't possible, at least for the moment; they had to be realistic. It was time to go.

He got up silently and looked for his clothes. He dressed up, inspected the room till he was sure there was no trace of his presence before turning off the light that had been still on and walked in the dark until he found the door. Before leaving, he took a look outside. The hallway was empty and nothing apart the snores of the RED team was heard. He went out cautiously, closing the door behind him, and returned to the workshop.

Spy sighed. Seeing himself as the engineer on the metallic reflection of the machines disgusted him but he would do well keeping his disguise until he was out. He spent some minutes putting everything in its place, as the real Engineer had left it, he didn't even light a cigarette until he was done. He had done well reading those papers: now he knew what the other was intending to do and was a step ahead of him. He hadn't been able to reach the briefcase with the confidential files of the enemy but at least the travel had allowed him to find some weak spots he would use in his next infiltration...Though, if he had to be honest, the main reason why he had risked his neck that night was to be with her one more night. His speculations about what the best way out would be were overshadowed by the memory of her face when she looked at him, so full of sincere love. But she wasn't looking at him, that was the bad thing.

THE END