"Hey, Briiiiiiian," a little sing-song voice came from behind him as a certain person threw herself on the large, extremely comfortable bed. He had been sitting on the edge of the bed when she came into the room. Finishing up the email he was writing he sent it off to his little brother before glancing back at her. Naturally she was naked.

"And what can I do for you?" Brian asked with a small smirk. A small giggle made it clear that she had noticed where his eyes went.

Crawling forward, Hana dropped herself on her belly, her head next to him. As she lifted herself onto her elbows, her feet swung above her in a playful manner. When she looked up at him, with that beautiful smile, he could almost see the hearts in her eyes.

"Do you wanna take a quick shower?" Her expression went a little embarrassed as she ducked her head, blushing. She still wasn't quite used to this new phase of their relationship and it made her even more adorable, if that was possible.

He grinned at her and shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea, Hana. The last couple times we tried to take a shower together we ended up needing another shower."

"Oof, yeah. I…honestly don't think I can handle another of your showers," Hana screwed up her face a bit as she rubbed her butt with a delicate hand. Then giggled again. "I'm sorry I'm being so silly, I'm just really, really happy!"

"Are you kidding?" Brian leaned slightly and ran a hand over her head, feeling her silky hair as she gave a little purr sound, her eyes closing in bliss. "These last three days are, easily, the best days of my life."

Hana looked up at him in shock. Her large brown eyes glistened as her bottom lip trembled slightly. And just as Brian started to think he had said something wrong, Hana launched herself at him, wrapping him up in a tight hug and smashing her lips against his.

After a long, drawn out, kiss, Hana sat back on her knees and wiped her eyes. "ANYWAY,"she sniffed with a grin. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to take a shower and maybe try to go out. Maybe see a movie or something? Theaters are dark, so it'll be harder for people to recognize me."

"Uh huh," Brian gave her a side eye. "And there is no chance you want to make out, or do something else naughty, is there?"

Leaning back, Hana put her eyes to devastating effect as she batted them and looked up at him, her face downcast slightly. "Oh, no sir, Mr Brian! I would never do that…."

"Okay, okay, stop right there," Brian laughed, shifting to better hide…himself. "If you aren't careful your cute little butt may end up needing a shower."

"Tempting, but I do seriously need a break," she shifted around to sit next to him on the bed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "But…what do you think about the idea?"

"Hmm…Well, I think Hero of the Storm 2 might be playing nearby…."

"Brian!" Hana slapped his arm with a mock frown. "I never see my own stuff like that. No way. Ew. I'm already weirded out that you've seen the stupid movies. And the commercials. Ugh…the commercials…."

"Okay, but seriously," Brian laughed. "I don't mind trying to go out, but we'd have to call the security guys, right? I mean, your incredible cuteness stands out."

"Dial it back casanova," she looked at him with a sly grin that turned serious. "But I really don't want to call the others. I want to go out, just us."

Brain frowned slightly and glanced out the window. "And…I'm just asking out of curiosity, how would we even get away with that?"

"Oh!" Hana shrugged and kicked her feet. "I figured I'd go, like, no make up, even with how funny looking I am without it, put my hair up. I can lower my voice a bit. I gotta have some extra perk, right?"

"Problem with that," Brian looked at her severely before smiling. "You look amazing with makeup and without."

Hana's eyes went wide before she let her body drop forward. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted her face squarely in his chest and squealed. "Oh my god, Brian! Seriously! You need to stop! I can't handle this! I am going to literally explode!"

*vrrr*

Brian blinked.

*vrr*

"Ah, shit, that's mine," Brian rolled his eyes in annoyance as he pulled his phone from the bedside table. A small frown crossed his face as he looked at the message.

Meta, three rooms over.

S

"Fuck me…" he groaned, flicking a glance at Hana. She blinked at him, innocently "I need to take this, gimme a minute."

"Sure," Hana smiled and walked to her closet and threw it open. Presumably, to figure out a nondescript outfit.

No sooner than he put a foot into the indicated room, his vid screen turned on. Brian was not surprised by his caller.

"Sombra….." he groaned slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yes, love you too," the most powerful hacker in the world grinned back at him. She was leaning in close, her unfairly pretty face taking up nearly the entire screen. "Had to get you away from the girl, it's important."

"Sombra…" Brian groaned again, his hands going limp for a moment before bringing his phone back up. "Are you watching me?"

Putting on an offended look, Sombra leaned back, dimly glowing purple nails to her chest. "Me? Amante, I don't need to, you're all over the news in Korea."

"Okay, that's true," Brian admitted with a sigh. "Sorry."

"But, I am also watching you."

"Goddammit…."

"More importantly, though," Sombra's face turned serious as she leaned back in. "I'm being sent out, personally, to do a job. In Korea."

"Ah...aha…" Brian scowled darkly, pushing down his anger. "And what are you doing?"

"Stealing."

"Sombra….."

"Just playing a little!" Sombra put on a forced smile. Brian could tell. It didn't reach her eyes. "Weapons stuff. Some tech, that kinda thing is the main thing."

"Okay ...What else?" Brian's eyes narrowed slightly.

Biting her lip, Sombra shrunk back slightly. "This is the problem. I...and the partner I'm being sent out with, are supposed to contact and make her a job offer."

"What." Brian's brow smoothed out to a straight line.

"I know, I know!" Holding up her hands, Sombra leaned back, her face looking pained. "If I wasn't with this dude I'd fake it, but he's a bit of a stick up the ass type, ya know?"

"And what, exactly, are you proposing?" The anger creeped up again, showing through his voice.

"Simple, in and out. We pop in, she says to fuck off or whatever, we pop out and move on," a hopeful, wane, smile slide on Sombra's face. "Piece of cake."

"Sombra…..that never works…." Brian groaned as he rubbed his forehead. He could already feel the migraine coming.

"Oh, you have to look on the bright side Brian!"

"Sombra...I had a building dropped on me the last time your co-workers were in town," he said flatly.

"Okay, that's a fair point," she held up her hands in mock surrender. "I DO, in fact, work with a significant number of dangerous psychopaths, but have some faith in me amigo!"

"I have faith in you, Sombra. Mostly to get me in trouble."

"Okay…the other gig might ALSO involve raiding MEKA, specifically. On top of the whole thing with , I mean."

"Fuck me…."

"Anytime, lover!"

What should she wear?

Something…simple. Not flashy. But she couldn't go looking like a hobo like she did when she lounged around the house when alone. She didn't want to look too casual. Brian was amazing and deserved to have somebody cute, sexy, sophisticated, well groomed, well mannered…not….her.

"Stop it Hana," she muttered to herself. "He's here, with you. Because he wants to be. Not because you are rich and famous and only look good when you put on a pound and a half of makeup….."

She stared at the inside of her closet, unseeing for a long moment. "He loves you." She said at last. "He loves you. He's here and you love him. You'll make it work." She gave herself a stiff nod and went back to her closet. There had to be something….

"Hana….I have some stuff I need to tell you…" Brian started as he walked back into the room. Then he froze. There were clothes….EVERYWHERE. On the bed. On the floor. A short on the window sill. A pair of pants on the dresser. A pair of panties on the lamp shade…wait…no. Those were there before. And now, more clothes came flying out of the closet like a dog digging up a flowerbed.

The clothes stopped coming. "What was that?" Hana's voice called from inside the GREAT BEYOND. "I think I have the perfect outfit! I never really got to wear it out, because…you know. Me. But I always wanted to, ever since I was a little kid."

"Umm…okay," Bian sighed and dug around for his sweatpants. After a short, but violent search, he found them and slipped them on, deciding to wait on the bed patiently. He really didn't want to burst her bubble, but the…information was important. He just hoped it didn't upset their new relationship. He was already on unfamiliar ground and now he had…this to deal with. Why can't it just be easy, for once?

"What do you think?"

Brian looked up from his dark musings, only to have his mind blown away.

She was simply stunning. She wore a simple white sundress. It had little red and blue flowers along the edges of the sleeves, collar and bottom trim. It both hid and accentuated her petite form, her long, graceful legs, and delicate arms. Her smooth neck. Her face was clean and clear, not a bit of makeup, and her hair was tied up on her head in a loose ponytail. Her doleful eyes were downcast as she smiled shyly, her fingertips lightly tapping each other as she waited for what he thought.

"I..can see why you don't wear it," Brian choked out finally, only to have her face shoot up, tears starting to come to her eyes. "Ah! No! I mean…" he waved his hands as his brain tried to catch up to his mouth. "What I mean is…you are beautiful, Hana. So beautiful that the sun would be envious."

"Brian," Hana's hands went over her mouth as tears started again. "Dammit, how do you always know the perfect thing to say?"

"Oh, give me some time. I'll start on more stupid stuff soon, I'm sure," Brian laughed and scooped jer up and carried her to the bed, depositing her next him. He took her hand and entwined his fingers with hers. "I have some…serious things I need to tell you. They…could be dangerous. You could end up in serious trouble. Normally, I would attempt to bail, to try to protect you, but that won't work this time." He finished quickly as her eyes narrowed.

"Brian, I trust you. And I hope…you trust me?" Hana said as she leaned forward catching his eyes with hers. "I will gladly throw away everything I have if you want me to. Hell, I'd join Talon or something, if it would make you happy."

Brian blinked at her, a little stunned. He rubbed the back of his neck as he looked uncomfortable under her gaze. "Well…funny you should mention that…"

She stared at him. She blinked. The color drained from her face. "No! Biran!" She leaned in again, trying to discern if he was joking. "Brian…No! Really?! They tried to kill you and your brother and… No! …Really?!"

"Whoa! No! No, no, no, no…I don't want you to join Talon or anything! It just has to do with them!" Brian waved his hands frantically, desperation in his voice.

"Oh…thank god," Hana sighed, a hand over her heart.

"I might have already worked for them without knowing it," Brian said, quickly, avoiding her eyes.

"What." She said flatly.

He sighed and thumped his head back against the headboard. "You remember the woman that stayed with me for a while in Nuimbani?"

"Yeah…your boss,right?" Hana was clearly displeased to have Sombra brought up. "I'm still not sure how that worked."

"Okay," Brian closed his eyes and pinched his nose. "So, my parents died and I had to figure out a way to support us, quickly. We had a legal guardian, but she…was not really the best role model for Timmy. Or a mothering type. I refused to take her money, determined to do it all myself."

"I would have helped you," Hana said quietly. "If I had known. If…I had paid attention."

"Don't start that," Brian shook his head, his eyes still closed. "I wouldn't have accepted your help anyway. I was determined to do it all myself, like an idiot. The point is, I needed a job, one that I could do from home. So web stuff it was. I did white hat hacker stuff. You know, looking for exploits in company websites and stuff and letting them know for bounties."

"Oh, that makes sense," Hana nodded. "I game a lot, but you always were good with computers."

"Thanks. Well, I followed another hacker down a rabbit hole and she turned out to be the woman you met. She was impressed with my work and started hiring me to do some jobs for her. Paid well too," Brian smiled as he thought back at all the weird jobs he did. Websites to leak data or add malware to specific computers. Once he made a program that made a vending machine spit sodas at an office party.

"Okay…seems…suspect, but I get it," Hana said, her voice sounding suspicious.

'Well…turns out she is part of Sombra. The hacker collective that does all those big jobs around the world." He wasn't exactly lying. But he sure wasn't telling her the whole truth. At least not right now. "And it also turns out they do a lot of work with Talon."

"Oh my god…Briaaaan," Hana moaned, letting her own head thump against the headboard. "They tried to kill you and kidnap you!"

"I mean…Talon didn't know I did stuff for Sombra. And Sombra didn't know what they were going to do. Weird as it sounds…I do trust her." Brian glanced at Hana, only to see her looking at him with a pout.

"She's really pretty," Hana snorted. "Did you sleep with her?"

"..."

"Brian!" Hana gasped, pulling back slightly. "Really?"

Brian's face twisted as he looked down at his lap. "I…I almost died. Timmy almost died. I woke up strapped to a table with some of the most dangerous people in the world wanting to do…things to me. After I got home, Sombra came to me in tears. She was terrified, worried about me. We talked. Then…it just…kinda happened. What's going on here?" He gestured between Hana and himself. "I could never have seen it coming, not at the time. I mean, I do love you Hana. But at the time, I was happy to be alive."

Hana was silent for a long minute. Her frown slowly eased and she nodded slightly. "I…understand. I've been in more than a few near death experiences myself. It's always…Well, afterwards, different people deal with things in different ways."

"Thank you for understanding, Hana," Brian smiled painfully as he set a hand over hers.

"I'd probably sleep with her too."

"Wait…what?' Brian shook his head and looked over to see Hana grinning at him slyly.

"I'd probably sleep with her too, in that situation. She's super pretty. And knowing how dangerously mysterious she is…woof!" Hana waved a hand at herself like she was cooling herself off.

"Jesus, Hana," Brian laughed. "I DO love you."

"I love you too," she smiled back for a moment before giving him a look. "That isn't everything is it?"

"Ah…no," Brian rubbed his neck again, awkwardly. "Let me tell you about what is happening…."