Get a Little Too Close
Booth entered Brennan's office, tapping on the door frame obnoxiously as he passed through it. She chose to ignore him for a moment longer as she continued clicking away at the keyboard in front of her. "Bones!" He called out jovially as he plopped down heavily onto her couch.
Narrowing her eyes at her partner's childish antics, she continued typing, tapping more deliberately at the keys to make a louder click than necessary. "I'm working, Booth." She muttered as he kicked his shoes off and reclined onto the sofa.
Apparently, ignoring her comment, he asked, "Are you going to this thing at Hodgins' place tonight?" she rolled her eyes to herself. The thing to which he was referring was a private screening of a new movie that wouldn't be released to the general public for several weeks, but as the Jeffersonian was used as one of the locations and both she and Hodgins had acted as scientific consultants, they had been given a screeners copy to host their own screening for family and friends. "Didn't seem like a bad movie from what I saw while they were filming." he added, seemingly trying to entice her.
"I had intended to go still, yes." she told him, closing her laptop lid and folding her hands on the top of her desk. "At least we can rest assured that the science will be correct." she commented with a smirk, recalling how she and Hodgins had been watching the filming production on the forensics platform when the actors had begun spewing nonsensical gibberish about the corpse in their story. They'd simultaneously jumped from their seats, shouting about the inaccuracies. It had caused such a ruckus that they were asked to consult on the script. "If one of my books is ever adapted for film, I can assure you, I will allow only the best scientific consultants to work on the production." she bragged.
"You mean you?" Booth challenged, and she shrugged coyly. "Yea, you mean you." he laughed. "It's just the team, right? We don't have to throw on any monkey suits to sit in Hodgins' theatre?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes. Hodgins' theatre was exactly that— small in terms of the average movie theatre, but a movie theatre nonetheless, complete with five rows of three-seater reclining chairs and an adequately large projection screen.
Brennan shook her head. "Angela has advised me that she will be wearing pyjamas and has encouraged me to do the same." She told him matter-of-factly, raising her eyebrows as she thought of her best friend's demands.
"You and Ange in pajamas?" he asked, sitting up on the couch and raising a brow at her. She felt her ears starting to turn red from the sheer look of his flirty expression. "Nighties and pillow fights? No… you're above all that camp movie slumber party stuff." he said, pointing knowingly at her. "You'll be in a pink onesie with the little footies and a bum flap, won't you?." he asked, his chocolate eyes twinkling at the way they always did when he was teasing her.
Brennan shrugged, choosing not to clarify. "Hodgins rented a popcorn machine and has acquired a selection of theatre confections, so I'm sure you will be more than accommodated." she pointed out with a look of mock disdain. She knew the promise of candy would entice him, and she had been looking forward to having a quiet social evening with their small group. "I will also be bringing a vegetable tray and my hummus dip." she told him, watching as his grin morphed into a scowl.
"I'm not eating any vegetables tonight." he informed her as she walked across the room to join him on the couch. "Not a single one." he added, and she glared at him, leaning in closer. "Not even if you paid me." he whispered conspiratorially, leaning his face in closer to hers as she continued to wear her challenging glare.
Not willing to back down from his obvious challenge, she leaned closer too, feeling the tip of her nose brush his briefly. "Your teeth are going to rapidly decay from the extensive exposure to sugar you incorporate into your diet." she whispered back, unwilling to cave. "You'll probably fall into a diabetic coma before the movie is over." she added, narrowing her eyes.
"I will die a happy man, full of candy and not vegetables." he murmured, narrowing his own eyes to mimic her expression. His breath smelled minty, like he'd been chewing gum. It was strange because he wasn't usually a gum chewer. She smirked, remembering the time her own gum had ended up in his mouth following a minty kiss under some mistletoe at the behest of Caroline Julian. She wondered if his kiss would taste like that right now, but she'd never risk closing that gap or blurring that line, not after he'd been so confused last year, waking up from his coma and thinking they were married. She had to protect him at all costs, even if it meant being a breath away from his lips and not a millimetre more.
"Kiss or get off the pot. I have test results to discuss with you, Dr. Brennan." Cam spoke with disinterest, startling them both and causing them to jump back away from each other as she entered Brennan's office.
"I don't know what that means." Brennan said, feeling slightly breathless as she glanced to Booth for an explanation. He just shook his head, an indication that it wasn't important. "Why do people always think we're going to kiss?" She asked absently as they both gave Cam their attention.
Cam gave them an incredulous expression only briefly before Booth's glare made her school her features. "You had some results, Camille?" He asked, and Brennan was thankful he'd steered the conversation back toward the professional.
Booth sat down on the far side of the three-seater chair in the row he'd claimed for himself and Bones, setting his bucket of popcorn next to him in the middle seat and flipping the arm rests dividing the seats out of the way. He held a bag of sour gummy worms in his mouth as he set his drink in the cupholder on the aisle armrest and adjusted his seat into a semi reclined position.
Frowning as she joined him in his row, Bones picked up the popcorn and moved it to the far seat, plopping down next to him with a small plate of vegetables and a healthy dollop of her weird hummus dip.
As she shifted in her seat, her outer thigh, clad in thin skeleton leggings that Angela had given her for their apparent movie night slumber party, pressed against his thigh. For a brief moment he allowed himself to relish the warmth radiating from where they were touching. "Geeze, Bones, you trying to sit on my lap?" He teased, clearing his throat as the image of that flitted through his brain and didn't actually seem like such a bad idea.
She recoiled, her brow furrowing. "What? No!" She stated adamantly as if that were the most absurd thing in the world, and she hadn't just practically done exactly that when there was a free seat directly next to her. "Sorry." She muttered awkwardly, and he instantly regretted his joke as she shifted over to the other side of the seat, moving the popcorn bucket back into the middle seat between them.
Booth opened his mouth to try to say something, anything really, to get her to move back over or at least wipe that confused frown off of her face as she bit into a baby carrot. "Show time?" Hodgins asked from his seat in the back row, interrupting before Booth had a chance to formulate a thought.
The resounding murmurs in the affirmative from Sweets in the row in front of them, and Cam and Angela from somewhere behind them, prompted Hodgins to hit play on the remote, effectively dimming the lights and starting the movie.
Trying, and failing, to quietly open the gummy worms packet, Booth glanced over at Bones only to find her frowning at him as she pushed a grape into her own mouth. Leaning over, he held the open bag out toward her and received an even more incredulous glare from his partner. "C'mon, try one." He whispered. Carefully lifting the popcorn bucket and sliding over to the middle seat before replacing it into the seat he'd just vacated. "Just one, Bones." He quietly cajoled her.
"No." She whispered firmly. "Did you even read the nutritional information on the back of that package before consuming it?" She asked accusingly, and he grinned at her, his eyes never leaving hers as he reached into the back, pulled out a worm, and pushed it into his mouth. "You won't be so smiley when all of your teeth are riddled with cavities." she muttered, holding her plate of veggies toward him.
"I will get a nice pair of dentures and eat even more candy, satisfied in the knowledge that my falsies can't rot." he told her matter-of-factly, pushing another worm into his mouth.
Shaking her head at him, she lifted a carrot from her plate and tried to push it into his mouth, but he clamped his lips together and shook his head like an obstinate toddler. "Open your mouth." She whispered harshly, but her blue eyes were sparkling with mirth, and he shook his head again, letting one side of his clamped mouth twitch with a grin. "Eat it, Booth." she demanded again, leaning in closer and holding the carrot between their faces.
Sliding his hand over his mouth so she can't take advantage of his moving lips, he unclamped his lips. "If you eat one of my gummy worms, I'll eat one of your yucky carrots." he whispered, and she paused, tilting her head to the side as she contemplated his offer. Her eyes flitted down toward the bag in his hand briefly, and he took this as her resolve crumbling. Reaching into the bag, he pulled out one of the sugar-coated colourful worm-shaped gummies and dangled it between their faces. "C'mon, Bones. Open up." he whispered soothingly, as if he were dealing with a feral animal.
"You first." she challenged, inching the carrot closer to his mouth. Grinning, he leaned forward and snatched the offending vegetable stick between his teeth, pulling it into his mouth and chomping down on it with a dramatic crunch.
Booth dangled the little worm closer to her mouth again and watched as she eyed it dubiously. "It's not like it's a real worm, Bones." he muttered, rolling his eyes as she hesitantly leaned a little closer. "Open…" he whispered as she cringed, inching infinitesimally closer to him. "Say ahhh, Bones. Down the hatch." he teased, and she finally opened her mouth, gingerly taking the worm into her mouth.
He would have been distracted by thoughts of her lips brushing his fingertips if it hadn't been for her startled gasp and pinched face as the sour candy coating assaulted her taste buds. "Boof!" she muttered when he chuckled at her, shoving him away from her as she swallowed the candy and took several sips from her water bottle. Having finally cleared her mouth of the offending taste, she crossed her arms and proceeded to cast several furtive glares in his direction.
"Bones… I'm sorry." he whispered, shifting closer to her and slinging his arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry." he said again, lifting her chin toward him with one finger. "Would it make you feel better if I ate some more carrots?" he suggested, and her ire seemed to dissolve minimally.
"Should we wake them?" Cam asked, nodding toward Booth and Brennan where they sat still in their seat, Booth's arm wrapped securely around Brennan's, and his cheek resting atop her head which had somehow found a home pressed against his chest.
Angela shook her head and smirked. "Nah, they're probably tuckered out from all the foreplay." she muttered dryly.
She laughed again, patting Sweets on the back as he, oblivious to what had been happening in the row behind him for two hours, began a rapid-fire succession of questions about what he'd missed.
