{WH-13} Sudoku
Title: Sudoku
Fandom: Warehouse 13
Date: 10/10/2012
Summary: Myka tackles some sudoku
Notes: for Sarah, whose prompt was ‘sudoku’
There was nothing Helena handled worse than silence. It made her nervous, and jittery and ache to make a noise. Any noise. There had been many a night that she had been unable to resist the urge to wake Myka, crawling so close to her that she was practically inside her skin, her mouth resting at her ear as she begged her to say something, anything, to just talk to her.
During the day, however, she was better able to cope with it. Her fretful anxiety lessening to a discomfort, to a dislike, to a mere annoyance. To the point, unfortunately, where she herself had become the annoyance. Pete had kicked her out when, having been drawn to the muffled crashes and fanfare of the television escaping from the crack between the floor and the door, she had asked too many questions. Unwanted suggestions and ‘gentle prodding’ directly over the shoulder had resulted in barely hidden sighs of frustration from Claudia and Helena had departed from her work desk for both their sakes. And as for Leena, Leena had banished her from the kitchen when her offers of making the oven more energy efficient had resulted in a pound cake that could have cracked a tooth. Knowing that there was no point in seeking out Artie’s company on a Sunday afternoon, and even more so, that there was really only one person she wanted to bother anyways, she set off in search of Myka.
Myka had hidden herself away in the library, a room that was rarely used these days except by the two of them, and so it had become their own private sitting room in a way. Slipping in quietly, Helena pulled the door shut behind her before circling smoothly around the room to lean on the back of the lounge behind Myka. Leaning as she did, the cushion of the lounge depressed and Myka fell back gently, her neck coming to rest against the curve of Helena’s arm. She didn’t look up from the booklet in her hand but simply moved slightly so her neck fit just so against Helena. Relishing the familiar touch of her skin, soft curls grazing her arm, Helena listened as the sounds of Myka’s breath filled the room around her in gentle waves.
Finally, however, Helena could no longer resist her own temptations and her wandering hands disappeared into the cascade of curls that rested before her to massage the ever-present tension in the nape of Myka’s neck. Soothing the muscles, she leant down to rub her cold nose against Myka’s cheek, something Myka always protested - but never quite strongly enough to persuade Helena to stop. Looking down over her shoulder she watched as Myka’s fingertips traced over the grid lines on the paper before her, squinting as she considered the sea of tiny numbers dotted here and there.
Reaching down, Helena traced her own hands over Myka’s, her fingers entwining with hers over the pen. Myka sighed at her, all too familiar with Helena's distraction routine, but too amused at her antics to care. She had watched all the inhabitants of the B&B go their separate ways that morning and knew it would be only a matter of time before Helena got antsy in the quiet of her own company.
"Myka, darling," Helena asked in that lilting manner that was far too guileless to ever be truly innocent. "What are you doing?"
Myka used their tangled hands to tilt the folded newspaper to an angle that would make it easier for Helena to see. "It's sudoku. A puzzle," she said, before going on to explain the concept behind the puzzle. Which was decidedly harder with a British tease lowering soft kisses on and around her earlobe.
Finding herself unable to form coherent sentences, she faded off mid explanation. In true Helena fashion it was at this point that she lessened her assault, pleased that Myka could not see the smug grin on her face from where she sat. "Are you nearly done?" she asked.
Myka smirked at the hope in Helena's voice and she showed her the remaining blank suduko on the page. "One left."
"Very well," Helena capitulated gracefully as she moved to sit by her on the lounge. "I shall just sit quietly until you are done."
Myka very much doubted that would be the case, but shifted her eyes back to the page in order to avoid the puppy eyes Helena was undoubtedly leveling in her directly.
("Excuse me, Myka, but I do not have canine eyes. Not in the slightest."
"Perhaps not, but you definitely know how to use those eyes of yours to your advantage."
"...but of course, a lady is fully aware of what charms she has in her arsenal, Myka dear.")
Her hand having been surrendered, Myka wrote a clear rounded '6' in the uppermost square.
"Were you aware that there are six steps between here and the door?" Helena asked.
Myka ignored her and placed a considered '4'.
"Speaking of four," Helena spoke up, her hand reaching out towards her. "You have four flyaway curls today, they truly are darling."
Biting down on her grin, Myka penned a '9', curious to see where Helena's distractions would lead this time.
"Ah, nine. Have you ever considered the fact that there are nine steps from the landing to our room? It has always bothered me, being an uneven number and all and I wondered if you had noticed..."
Myka turned to face her, an expression of amused indulgence fixed across her features. "Helena..."
Helena just gave her a sweet and, damn her, thoroughly charming smile, "Come now darling, you know that I won't stop until I get my way. You'll be saving yourself a great deal of energy if you just join me upstairs."
And with that she gave her an irritatingly chaste peck on the cheek and left Myka alone in the library with her puzzle.
Hearing the door snap shut behind her Myka grinned as her hand flew over the page filling in the remainder of the numbers. It appeared that Helena's patience was actually growing, she'd expected her hours ago.