Disclaimer: I do not own Human Target and intend no copyright infringement.
~ inspired by veniceit ~
"Stop laughing!"
"I'm not laughing." Not coincidentally, Winston was with his back to Chance, pouring over the stove, claiming he was boiling water for coffee.
Yeah, sure.
His complete body was shaking.
"It's not funny. People have drowned in ice fishing holes." Chance's body was shaking, too, but not from suppressed laughter.
Their now ex-client had graciously allowed them to use his cabin, but unlike most of his countrymen around here, he took the "become one with nature in the wilderness of Canada" idea seriously. So no coffee machine, no hot spring pool on the deck, the shower was a joke. At least they had found some extra blankets in the bedroom.
"I'm sorry." Winston turned around, face serious now. "It's just…"
"What?" Chance buried himself deeper in the blankets.
"You, big bad assassin and all… but can't ice-skate enough to stop himself from falling into a fishing hole… it's kind of … cute."
Winston rolled his eyes at his own wordchoice. Jeez, the cold obviously affected his brain. Cute! And that was not the worst part of his stupid comment...
Despite working together for almost two months now, they had never actually addressed Chance's past.
Huh. Awkward.
"I'm not cute", Chance finally replied.
More silence, then:
"Course not." Winston turned away from him again, busying himself with the stove.
Chance watched him thoughtfully, wondering if his new business partner had understood that the answer had been his idea of a jokingly reply or if he had just killed the mood. Judging from Winston's silence, the latter.
Six weeks… They were still getting to know each other. Sometimes Chance wondered if Winston was secretly questioning his decision to get into business with him. Lately the thought caused a knot in his stomach.
Like now, for example.
Winston wordlessly handed him a cup.
Chance wanted to make up for his idiot reply, but for the life of his couldn't think of something to say.
Just then he noticed that the cup didn't contain coffee, like he had expected.
It was filled with hot chocolate. And floating in it was a pink marshmallow.
They both started laughing.