Title/theme: PEST
Genre: fluff
Approx time line: Phase 26-28 of GS
Summary: She did her best to ignore him, but he was quite persistent

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He watched from the doorframe as her fingers tapped on the keyboard. He guessed that she was working on some damage report or another. The look of concentration on her tired face looked almost comical, but he dared not to laugh. He could sense that all the work that she had been thrown at due to repairs of the ship had made her short-tempered and tired.

"You're in my room again Commander," she stated without looking up as she continued tapping. He could hear a slight tone of impatience under her politeness.

"Not yet I'm not," he grinned. Then stepped uncertainly into the room. He was pretty sure that it wasn't the safest thing to do, but then again, Mwu La Flaga didn't always play it safe. "But now I am."

He detected a low growl of annoyance in her throat. "What do you want?"

The room was silent except for the light clicking sound of her tapping away at the keyboard. When he didn't answer, she looked up, and almost jumped when she discovered that he was leaning over her desk as if trying to see what she was writing.

She stopped and gave him a hard glare. "What do you want?" she asked again, enunciating every word clearly.

He just grinned, unfazed. "Just wondering how you were doing."

"Couldn't you bother me at some other time? I'm busy right now," she gave an exasperated sigh before turning her attention back to the screen.

"Well, maybe it's time for you to take a break," he replied smoothly. "Wanna go exploring with me?"

She paused mid-tap as she stared at him incredulously. "What?"

He grinned, happy that he got her attention. "You know, go outside for a bit, walk around the streets of Orb. I need some fresh air after being stuck here so long," he leaned closer, and pretended to study her features, "And apparently, so do you."

Murrue was speechless for a moment before regaining her composure. She went back to typing and answered nonchalantly, "Sorry, unlike you, I've got work to finish."

"Oh come on, you can finish that later," he tried to grab her hand to pull her along, but she pulled her hand away.

"If you want fresh air that badly Commander, find someone else to go with you," she said without looking up.

"But I want to go with you!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, like I said, I'm busy."

"Please?" he begged, pretending to look hurt.

She groaned in annoyance and decided to ignore him and concentrate on her work. However, it was rather difficult, as he seemed to try his hardest to pester and distract her. When she ignored his words, he walked around the desk and looked over her shoulder, pointing at various things on the screen and either asking what they meant, or wondering aloud what they were for. In between his ramblings and (annoying) questions, he'd whisper "Please?" in her ear. She did her best to ignore him, but he was quite persistent, until finally, she saved her work and closed her laptop with a huff.

"Will you stop that!" she exclaimed and stood up. "You're such a child!"

He gulped as he feared that he'd pushed her too far. He quickly stepped away from her, nervous grin plastered on his face.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I just thought you needed a rest…"

She heaved a deep sigh and turned to him with a defeated look.

"I'm never going to get this done at this rate," she muttered. "And you're never going to leave alone until I say yes, aren't you?"

The nervous grin turned into a triumphant one as he nodded.

She scowled. "Just this once Commander, don't push your luck."

"I won't," he chuckled as he followed her out the room. But he couldn't help but ask, "But I'm good, aren't I?"

She could feel a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, but quickly hid it.

"Unfortunately, yes. You really are a pest!"

AN: think we could use some fluff (and good ol' Mwu's antics) after all that angst... I was actually gonna write the outing, but turned into this :) guess I'll have to write that some other time...