Drabble:69

POV:Third Person

Guardian Tucker entered the surveillance room, expecting it to be empty as usual at dinner-time but he was met with the unexpected sight of one of his underlings frowning at his PC screen. Curios, he drifted towards the younger guardian noiselessly, ready to give him a piece of his mind if said underling was found to be playing solitaire. But no, the red-headed-youngster was busy rewinding and fast-forwarding a tape, his elbow supporting his chin and his eyebrows furrowed together. Standing right behind the boy, the older guardian coughed discretely.

Immediately the younger man stood up, almost toppling over his chair in surprise before nodding at his supervisor.

"Guardian Conway, isn't it?", the older man asked, looking at the boy's name-tag.

"Yes-yes sir", he affirmed hesitantly.

"Why are you here during dinner-time?"

"I was just….", Guardian Conway mumbled, shifting his eyes to his brown-boots.

"Come again?"

Conway took a deep breath before exhaling sharply and meeting the eyes of his supervisor. "I was just going through a tape from last night."

"Any irregularities?", the older man asked, alarm bells ringing in his head.

"Not per se", Conway answered, suddenly very interested in his fingernails.

Tucker scrutinized him a moment before ordering him to replay the tape. When Conway protested lightly, he ignored the boy and settled himself in the seat, hitting the play button.

The tape started at the loading dock, where 5 SUVs pulled up. After a few moments, Queen Vasilisa stepped out, surrounded by members of the Royal Guard, and was immediately pulled into a hug by her beau. As the tape continued, the group moved towards the palace facilities, where the monarch dismissed her guards and disappeared into her apartment with her boyfriend. The guardians dispersed, but the tape (made by combining different camera-angles) followed 3 guardians as they made their way to guardian housing. Guardian Tucker recognized them by sight, but he still didn't get why he was watching a tape of them. He spared a look at Conway-who seemed intent on melting with the walls of the room-before refocusing on the screen.

By now, the trio had reached the front desk, and after showing their badges and surrendering their guns and holsters, they received keys to their rooms. The older, grey-haired man stashed his key in his pocket and the young, French-plaited brunette spun her keys in her hand, smirking at the third guardian, who arched an eyebrow before shaking his head and leading their group to the elevator bay.

The guardians rode up the elevator together, stopping first as the grey-haired man took leave of his dark-haired colleagues. As soon as the door closed behind him, the other two slowly turned to face one another. They stared at each other impassively a moment before bursting into peals of laughter. They continued laughing, clutching their bellies and rubbing at their eyes before they left the elevator, hands reaching out to support one another. The tape continued from another angle as the duo approached an apartment, still laughing raucously and disappeared inside. And with that, the tape ended.

Guardian Tucker frowned before turning to Conway. "You know them?"

"Yes, sir. I mean, I don't personally know them, but I know of them. Well, everybody does."

"Wanna tell me why you're stalking Belikov and Hathaway?"

"I wasn't, sir!", Conway protested, flushing slightly. "I was just trying to figure out why they're laughing."

Guardian Tucker snorted softly before standing up. "Son, I'm gonna tell you something I want you to remember well".

Conway nodded, biting his lip lightly.

Tucker walked towards his office, opening the door before facing the young man again. "Dimitri used to be a level-headed man. Then he met Hathaway, who was crazy to begin with. Now they're young fools, irrational with love. The end. Now, go get me a cup of coffee. And stop stalking them, capische?".

"Yes, sir", Conway mumbled, almost running out of the room, leaving Guardian Tucker laughing to himself.

Hey, thank you for reading and please review! And yay! Happy birthday to me!

: D