this is my part for a collab with the wonderful @greatleekate !!!! please check out anticipation on her page, it is so so cute and such a great read!! i absolutely loved pulling from it for this >x)
She'll stop tkling him for, like, ten seconds because she needs to type something, and this absolute puppy of a man will actually POUT at the loss of attention, he's such a brat(/silly)
It's okay guys she enjoys it too, it's just physically unfeasible to tell 🥹
Anyway, nonchalant ler!Stratt my beloved, also it's 3am so I'm prolly gonna- 😴😴😴😴
This is a collab with the lovely @milotkls!! I wrote the fic and they drew this absolutely gorgeous drawing <33 please please go check out their work and like + reblog on their page at this link !!!
Ler!Stratt, Lee!Grace
Summary: Stratt makes a discovery and Ryland can’t take the anticipation.
______
Dr. Ryland Grace had grown up with a twin brother and two older brothers. It was no wonder he flinched like an abused dog when anyone reached past his ribs, stomach, or neck.
A fact that Eva Stratt had just discovered.
Stratt frowned. "Are you injured?"
Grace wrapped his arms more tightly around himself. "Nope. All good." His voice was higher than usual.
She raised an eyebrow at him and took a sip of the coffee she had just reached across her colleague to grab.
The conference room was suddenly too quiet. Dr. Lokken made meaningful eye contact with Dr. Lamai. Dubois and Yao exchanged a bewildered glance. Shapiro mouthed across the table at Ilyukhina—Should we be concerned?
Ilyukhina unsubtly passed her a Post-It note back: Maybe she's been kicking her lap dog.
Shapiro hid her laugh in a cough.
Grace cleared his throat. "Uh, so, what was I saying?"
"The spin drives?" Shapiro offered, feeling guilty for laughing.
"Right, thank you…"
***
Stratt found Grace in the staff kitchen later. He was staring blankly as his stale coffee spun around and around in the microwave. He startled as she sidled in next to him.
"Oh- Christmas Eve. I should put a bell on you," Grace muttered.
"That would be inappropriate," Stratt replied calmly, stirring a flavorless 5-hour energy shot into her fourth coffee of the day.
They fell silent. Grace was visibly sweating.
"What was that, earlier? In the conference room," Stratt asked quietly.
"There's no way that's good for you," Grace deflected weakly, pointing at the offending 5-hour energy bottle.
"Answer the question, Dr. Grace."
"It was nothing," Grace flustered. The microwave beeped insistently.
Stratt hummed. Grace looked at anything but her.
"You know, Dr. Grace, people will think I'm abusing you if you keep flinching like that," she muttered.
"What— no they won't." Grace took his coffee out of the microwave.
"They already think we're fucking, why not that too?" Stratt asked coolly.
Grace spluttered and coughed into his coffee.
Stratt chuckled softly. "Just tell me."
"Fine. Jeez. I grew up with three brothers, okay? My instincts are- are hardwired for constant threat."
"What kinds of threats?"
"Oh, I don't know. Flying pillows thrown at my head. Getting pantsed. Impromptu wrestling matches…"
"Being tickled?" Stratt offered.
Grace bluescreened. "Wha- um- I- no, just…"
Stratt waited patiently. Grace hated her for it.
"Maybe. Fine. Sure," he finished.
"Good to know," Stratt murmured.
"Wait—what does that mean? Eva?!"
She was already walking away.
***
Stratt watched Grace through the window of his lab as he lowered himself to the ground, lied down underneath a rack with a large gel documentation machine on top of it, and started tinkering with the bottom of it as if he were fixing a car.
Stratt frowned. She could've sworn she had told Grace that there were lab technicians at his beck and call to fix anything he needed.
She entered the lab and approached her scientist. He was listening to music on the lab's speakers and was too focused to hear her walking closer.
"Na… na na na na na nah… hey Jude…" Grace sung under his breath.
The Beatles, Stratt thought. Fitting.
She crouched next to him, examining his tools and the way he was fixing the machine. It looked like he was replacing a rechargeable battery pack.
Stratt's gaze slid down Grace's body, examining his poor, albeit open and relaxed, posture and the way his shirt was riding up from the act of raising his arms over his head.
She cleared her throat.
Grace nearly jumped a foot in the air, banging his head against the lab equipment. "Fudge- I didn't see you there."
"You're aware that you can call people to come and fix things."
"I know, but, I like doing it myself," Grace mumbled, sliding out from under the machine and curling up into a protective ball.
"Why are you doing that?" Stratt asked.
"Because the battery died?" Grace answered, a puzzled expression crossing his face.
"No. Protecting yourself."
"I'm- I'm not protecting myself," Grace stuttered.
"Relax, then," Stratt said, sitting back on her heels.
"I am relaxed," Grace said defensively. "I'm the picture of relaxed."
"People who are relaxed don't need to announce it," Stratt said, scooting closer.
"What- What is this. Why are you—" his voice was awfully high. "Stratt?"
"Yes?" Stratt replied, a small smile starting to crawl across her face. She was now a foot away from him on the floor. She could see how dilated his pupils were.
"I- Eva. Come on."
"What? I'm not doing anything," she chuckled.
"You are though!" Grace protested.
"What am I doing, then? Spell it out for me."
"You're- you're…ugh!"
"What?" Stratt challenged.
"This isn't fair," Grace whined.
"What's not fair? I still don't understand what exactly it is I'm doing that is vexing you so much," Stratt said in one smooth breath.
Grace's mouth was agape and his cheeks were hot. "You're doing the… you're doing the anticipation thing."
"Anticipation of what?" She tilted her head to the side with a bemused smile.
Grace sputtered and started and stopped and couldn't get a sentence out. "Will you JUST get it over with and tickle me already?!" He finally outbursted.
"Ohhhh," Stratt hummed smugly. "That's what this is about."
"Don't pretend like that wasn't what was happening here!" Grace exclaimed.
She smiled. With teeth. Grace had never seen her do that before—only tight-lipped, hiding-her-amusement smiles. For a second he forgot his predicament because her smile was so rare. He couldn't help but feel pleased that he had coaxed it out of her.
Until she spoke, that is. "Fine, I'll bite. Your constant flinching intrigues me."
"I- why?!"
"It's cute," Stratt mused. "And it implies that you are far too sensitive for your own good."
"Wha- cute- hey…" Grace interrupted himself, warily eyeing Stratt's approaching hands. "Hey, come on, don't."
"Why not?"
"You seem to have a lot of questions today," Grace grumbled through gritted teeth. His blush had begun to spread down to his neck.
Stratt's hand stopped and hovered at Grace's side. He flinched, his elbow digging in against it, but otherwise remained still. "Jumpy," she chuckled.
"Can you blame me?" Grace squeaked.
"Why aren't you running away?" Stratt mused, wiggling her fingers. Grace's eyes were locked on them and he swatted weakly at her hand.
"I- I don't know!" He flustered. "I'm- I'm a little overwhelmed at the moment if you hadn't noticed!"
"I'm not even touching you."
"Exactly!"
"Okay, I'll move my hand," she smiled. Stratt retracted her hand fully, tucking it into her lap. Grace remained just as tense. "Why aren't you relaxing?"
"I don't know, you've gotten me all…worked up." He gestured wildly at the gap between their bodies.
Stratt started to stand up. "You do realize that could be taken out of context."
"Not what I meant—wait, where are you going?"
"To my meetings, what's wrong?" Stratt raised a sly eyebrow.
"I- I don't…" Grace puttered out with an exasperated sigh. "You know what you're doing."
"Mm, so now you want me to tickle you?"
"That's not what I said!"
"That's what it sounds like to me," Stratt smirked, quickly closing the distance.
Grace scrambled back. "W-wait, wait, hohold on!"
Stratt paused mid-reach.
"I- uh. I didn't mean—"
"Make up your mind, Dr. Grace," Stratt chuckled.
"Fine, just—just do it!"
Stratt slid closer and gently moved Grace's arms out of the way. He shimmied in place, feeling terribly exposed. She resisted laughing at him.
Stratt moved her hands even closer, just above his tummy but not touching. "Is this better?"
Grace clawed at his own collar to keep himself from pushing her away. "NO! It's nohohot…" His speech broke into wheezy giggles.
"I'm not touching you, why are you giggling?" Stratt murmured, wiggling her fingers a little to see if that got a reaction.
It did. "I'm nohot gigglihihing!"
"Don't scientists usually prefer facts and data over denial and single-mindedness?" Stratt mused, poking him lightly. He squealed, overreacting from the anticipation. She laughed this time. She couldn't resist.
"There is NOHO data, as far as I can tell no one is recording THIHIS—" Grace cut off with a shriek as Stratt clawed lightly from the center of his tummy across his sides and up his ribs.
The way Stratt tickled was nothing like Grace had ever experienced. With his brothers, it was always about squeezing as hard as possible and digging cruelly into every spot one could reach. Stratt, on the other hand, played a waiting game. And when she was done waiting, she tapped and poked and squeezed. If Grace had his wits about him, he would have complained about the way her fingers didn't articulate individually, how they stayed together (almost like flexible LEGO figure hands, Grace thought) and covered a larger surface area to tap and squeeze and crawl all over his torso.
"Have you had enough yet?" Stratt asked calmly as she gently massaged at Grace's hips. He snorted with laughter, clinging helplessly to her shoulders.
"I- whahahat- what kinda quehehestion is that?!"
"You have an excellent vocabulary, Dr. Grace, I'm sure you can use it." Stratt nudged Grace's chin up from his chest to get at his neck, scratching gently at his jaw.
Grace went nonverbal, hiding his face against her sweater. He covered his red cheeks. He didn't even care that he was exposing his neck more to Stratt's fingers.
"Hmm?" Stratt prompted, burrowing into Grace's now-open underarm.
"FU-HAHAHA- Get outta there!"
"I will if you answer me."
"YEHES! OKAY? I've had enohough!"
Stratt withdrew her hands. "Good." She stood up. "Drink some water. And try not to flinch in our meetings, it really does concern people."
Grace watched her leave, completely bewildered. He slowly stood up and brushed himself off. He looked like a storm had passed through unexpectedly: his hair and clothes were mussed, his cheeks were bright red, the corners of his eyes were wet from laughing.
As he walked over to the sink to grab some water, he noticed something in the window. He squinted, and then put his glasses back on.
Carl waved at him from the security window, an amused smile on his face.
"Gosh flipping darn it," Grace muttered, cheeks aflame again.
Ryland Grace and Eva Stratt. They're rotting my brain and I love them!!
Grace was never put on the Hail Mary.
First person POV: Ryland Grace
Pt. 2! Check page for part 1.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up on my couch, groaning as I sat up. I took a deep breath and stretched my arms far above my head. The thin blanket slipped off of my chest and down into my lap as I stretched up. I was still too half-concious to notice the smell of eggs and other foods cooking in my kitchen. Or even why I was asleep on my couch and not my bed. I went to rub my eyes, but my knuckles hit into my glasses. I grunted, resisting the urge to curse to myself for falling asleep with my glasses on.
I looked down and realized I was wearing the same outfit I wore last night after I got home. A confused look made its way onto my face as I began fully waking up.
Wait. Was that food? I sharply turned my head to my kitchen, gasping a bit as I saw Stratt standing at the stove, cooking food.
"Stratt?" I said, furrowing my brows slightly. The woman turned, looking over her shoulder at me.
"Good morning, Dr. Grace," she spoke, the usual formal tone in her voice. I stared at her for a long moment as all of the memories from last night came back to me. I remember after I... kind of absolutely wrecked her, she asked to stay here for the night. I said yes and let her stay in my room for the night as I didn't have a guest bedroom. I guess it was the thing a proper man would do, right?
"...right," I narrowed my eyes slightly, trying to go over a few things in my head. "What are you making?"
"Eggs and pancakes," Stratt responded, turning back to the stove to assumably flip an egg. I stretched once more, getting up. "There is coffee on the counter for you."
"Oh, thank you," I responded, slightly rubbing at my upper stomach under my shirt. I walked over and leaned over the counter where the warm cup of coffee sat. I took a sip.
"How in the absolute world did you remember how I liked my coffee?" I turned to Stratt with a dumbfounded look on my face.
"It's not hard to forget." She spoke.
"Where did you get pancake batter? And syrup?" I asked, looking up at her.
"I made them both. You had flour, baking soda, and sugar. As well as water and vanilla for the syrup," she responded, the absolute hint of a smile on her face. I didn't know she knew how to bake, nor cook. I was a bit surprised.
"Wow. I didn't know you knew how to cook. Or even bake."
"There are many things you don't know I can do, Dr. Grace."
I frowned a bit, "You don't need to call me Dr. all of the time, you know? Just call me Ryland. It's a bit awkward getting called Dr. Grace in my own home..." I thought back to last night when she kept saying my name while I tickled the absolute living heck out of her. I couldn't help but smile a bit at the thought. It was nice to see her so... vulnerable. I glanced at her, analyzing her face. She looks a lot more well rested than I've last seen her. I guess she slept well.... in MY bed, nonetheless. Hmph. I can't believe someone dare sleep better in my own bed than me.
"Okay then, Ryland," she added snarky emphasis to my name to tease with me. I chuckled.
"Thank you, Eva," I tested the waters with using her name. I made sure to add the same emphasis to her name as she did to mine.
Her eyebrows arose slightly, a bit taken aback at my comeback. I noticed and returned the expression. She hummed and lowered her brows, going back to cooking the food. I chuckled, my thoughts wandering to how she found the things in my kitchen without waking me up. She finally finished cooking the food and gave me a plate with eggs and pancakes.
I kept thinking about what happened last night. It was really nice hearing her laugh like that. It sounded just so... real. It was honestly a bit addicting. I chuckled to myself and took a bite of my pancakes. Wow, these were delicious.
"Holy cow, Stratt. These are really good," I smiled at her. She simply nodded at me, taking a bite of her own food. After some time, we had finished our food and abandoned our plates on the table. Stratt had gotten up to make herself another cup of coffee, assuming she made one with mine earlier and already drank it.
"So... about the uh... whole living situation. Do you need help with that? I can help you find apartments or even jobs since I know you probably don't have much money on you..." I tried to lightly bring up the conversation. Eva stood nearby, drinking the coffee. She paused slightly, a different expression shifting onto her face. She sighed.
"No places will hire a felon, Ryland," she sighed, taking a sip of her coffee.
"I mean.... you'd be shocked," I shrugged. "There are quite a few places around here who are desperate enough that they'd hire downright anybody. As long as they have the capability of doing their job—and I sure as heck know you can do your job." I teased at her, smiling as I watched her expression. She seemed to be pondering a bit.
"Yes... you do have a point," she took another long sip of her coffee. "Where would there be options?"
"I mean... there are quite a lot of places. We could pull up my laptop to browse through some places and see if you see anything you like?"
Eva slowly nodded, keeping her gaze focused on the floor. I would notice that she does that a lot, where she gets really lost in thought and fixated on one point and doesn't look away. She never even blinks when it happens; I've watched. If I try to pull her away from it, she still stays fixated until I physically snap her out of it. She's only been here for about eight hours, but I've started to pick up on some of her habits.
I dusted my hands off as I went to grab my laptop. "Here, come sit down."
I sat at the table and opened my laptop. Eva came over and sat next to me, still holding her coffee.
For the next hour or so, we sat there browsing through desperate jobs in the area. During that time, I helped her make a new resume, as she had lost her old one. She already knew everything she needed to put on there, I just put it into the digital version. She had also found a few jobs she wanted to send an application to to try it out. She wasn't the biggest fan of the options, but she took what she could get. I knew that she wasn't too fond of not having any control anymore, so I let her have full control over this part of her life. Plus, I wasn't there to guide her through everything; she was an adult, and she knew perfectly well how to do these things. I also just enjoyed helping her out because I know she probably wasn't doing the best after immediately getting fired and arrested after the project. Prison is no joke.
"We can worry about apartments later. For now, you can stay with me until you get things figured out. I have enough of a paycheck to temporarily pay for the two of us, so you don't need to worry about that," I stretched back in my chair, glancing at Eva. She stood, and on her way to the sink, she jabbed at my side with her finger. I yelped and quickly pulled my arms down, glaring playfully at her.
"Oh, cmon! I help you find a job, and THIS is how you treat me?" I playfully pout, a smile on my face. I hear a snort-like laugh from behind me where Eva is standing. She sets her mug in the sink and turns towards me.
"Thank you, Ryland," Eva says, bowing her head to me a bit. "I truly do appreciate your... grace, towards me. I will find my way to repay you back for the many things you have done to help me and humanity."
"Oh- Pffsh. You don't need to do all of that! I had.. fun working with the astrophage, if I'll he honest. It brought me back to when I was in college and doing all of those kinds of things. I really missed getting into the microbiology of things," I said, a fond edge slipping into my voice. I truly did love microbiology and chemistry. During college, my major was microbiology, and my minor was chemistry. During high school, I took multiple AP physics classes, astronomy classes, and geology classes. Any science you could really think of I took during high school or just casually studied up during my free time during the times I did school.
I looked at Stratt, and she still was staring at me. Clearly, she wasn't taking 'no' as an answer.
"I- uh. ...okay?" I said a bit sheepishly, not sure how to respond to her stare. Despite everything, she still kind of scared me. I mean, who wouldn't be afraid of her? She's terrifying!
"Good," she finalized, walking over and sitting back down at her chair. She had a very slight smile on her face—one could only notice it if they looked hard enough.
After a bit more job searching, we both got tired out. I closed my laptop and went to get up to gather the dishes, but before I could do anything, Stratt had beat me to it and gathered the dishes. She brought them over to my sink and began washing them.
"Gosh, Stratt. You don't need to do everything around here..." I spoke, raising my eyebrows a bit at her.
"It is only courtesy. You are allowing me in your home and providing shelter and sustenance for me. It is only the least I can do," Stratt responded, scrubbing off the dishes. I shook my head and chuckled, standing up. I stood in the kitchen near her, watching her clean off the plates and silverware. After a moment, I smirked as an idea popped into my head.
Stratt was wearing a loosely fitted t-shirt—one she probably found in a lost and found or from someone. It looked nice on her, but it gave me.... easy acce- no. No, that sounds weird. Grace, don't say that. It's not like that. I meant like easy access to tickle her. Oh gosh, I'm an idiot.... I'll just ignore that whole line of thought.
I slowly snuck up behind Stratt, making sure she was unaware of me. I then tested my luck and slipped my—shockingly cold—hands under her shirt and right onto her bare sides. She practically screamed, dropping a fork back into the sink. I laughed, keeping my hands where they were as she spun around, grabbing my wrists with her wet hands.
"Doctor Ryland Grace!" Stratt exclaimed, trying to pull my hands away from her sides. I laughed and began wiggling my fingers over her skin. She couldn't help but start to laugh but kept trying to push me away.
"Stop- haha-!! Ryland!" She laughed. I knew she wasn't serious despite her efforts to sound stoic. She then suddenly lightly smacked her soaking wet hand on the front of my face, smearing the dirty water across my glasses and face. I yelped and laughed, pulling away from her and letting her go.
"Good god, Grace! What has gotten into you?" She said, flicking her hands off at me playfully. I laughed nervously, wiping my glasses off. I gave her a sheepish, lopsided grin as she glared at me. I left my glasses off as gross stuff was just smeared across them, and I'd need proper cleaner to get it off. She was a bit blurry, but I could tell she.. oh no. Oh, she was planning. That was the look she had. My grin instantly dropped into a nervous wince. I could feel my ears turning pink at the simple idea.
Stratt sighed, turning back to the sink and tucking her shirt into her pants. I sighed a sigh of relief and stepped back, careful of my next moves as to not provoke her more than I already did.
"You know, Ryland. If you really wanted to be tickled, THAT badly, you could have just asked instead of jumping me at every chance you can get," I suddenly heard Stratt say from over her shoulder. My cheeks instantly turned pink.
"I- what?? I- haha- what would make you say that? I wouldn't ever do that! Haha- I mean- who would want that??" I tried my best to play it off but instead just horribly embarrassed myself. "gosh this really isn't helping my case...." I muttered to myself, burying my face in my hands.
"It really isn't, doctor." I groaned even more when Stratt smugly spoke once more. She knew exactly what she was doing, and it KILLED me.
"I'm- gonna go get ready..." I spoke, my voice low and flushed. I turned and began walking to my bedroom.
"Good. It gives me time to finish these up. Then I can give you your so desired attention."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't worry, don't worry, I'll post a part 3. Grace will positively get GOT.
I hope this was enjoyable!! I love writing these things it's so so fun
I had to edit this post about fifteen times because I started half of it and stopped and finished the last half later on, so there were a LOT of inconsistencies in it 💔 goodness me. And before any of you say anything; this is written with my own two thumbs. Yes, I use em dashes, Oxford commas, and semi-colons. No, I'm not AI, I promise. (Did I actually use any Oxford commas?/nsrsq I'll be honest I don't know because I barely know what those are, I just put a comma where I feel fits.)
Kinda a short one tonight, gang I do apologize... This idea just sorta popped into my head on a whim earlier so it’s not as fleshed out as my other stuff.
BIG fan of the sibling dynamic of these two, and I had to write it out. EHHEHEHEHEHEE ENJOY ENJOY
🚨 TW: mentions of alcohol/being tipsy. Not to an absurd degree, but be aware!
Lee!Grace Ler!Stratt
Grace is bored, and just a little bit tipsy. Instead of going to sleep or doing ANYTHING else, he decides to bother Stratt to entertain himself. She’s thrilled…
“Stratt.”
I nodded in greeting, pushing my way into her office, and flopping down on one of the chairs.
“Dr. Grace.” Stratt nods back, typing away at her desk.
“Im bored.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that, Dr. Would you like for me to find some more work for you to do?” Stratt’s tone was flat, and she didn’t look up from her laptop.
There was next to nothing to do on Stratt’s Vat after hours. Once the labs closed for the night, it was either drinking and shouting in the lounge, or bedtime.
I spent a little while in the lounge already tonight, but nothing particularly interesting was going on, and I had already reached my two drink limit, so here I am. Bothering the only other person I knew would be awake at this hour, and not getting wasted.
“Oops, sorry…sorry about that…” I mutter as I knock a book from the shelf in attempt to pick out another one.
Stratt sighs at her desk.
“Trigonometry… wow. Tough stuff.”
“You are an expert in physics, molecular biology, and astronomy.”
“Yeah, but trig is still… pretty tough stuff…” I slide the book back into place, but jostle the others in the process, creating a domino effect down the row. I manage to catch it before everything falls over, standing like an idiot, arms outstretched to full wingspan, holding the books together on the shelf.
“Is there something I can help you with, Dr. Grace? Or are you just planning on knocking down and rearranging everything on my shelves and making noise while I try to get world-saving work done?” Stratt’s tone snapped, slamming her laptop close and meeting me with a cold gaze.
“…you didn’t save what you were working on.” I mutter, pointing to her computer. She groans, opening it back up again, grumbling something in German under her breath. Probably something about how cool I am, I’m sure.
“No one else is awake-“
“The majority of the crew is awake, and in the lounge.”
“-Hold on! Lemme finish! I was gonna say, no one else is awake and not blackout drunk, or halfway there. I don’t feel like being in that scene.”
“You drink.”
“Yeah, okay, but like… occasionally- like one drink every once in a blue moon. I literally watched Ilyukhina drink an entire Grey Goose by herself in two hours.” I say, controlling the slight slurring of my speech while I righting the books on the shelf.
I back away slowly, making sure everything is stable, before taking my seat back on the chair.
“Well if you do not feel like being in the lounge, there is a small library and an adjacent computer lab on level two, port side.” Stratt suggests.
“Why can’t I just hang out with you?!” I slouch in my seat, rolling my head back, and spinning the chair in a circle with my legs out in front of me.
“Because, Dr. Grace, I’m busy.”
“You hate me.”
“That is not true.”
“No, I think you do.”
I sigh dramatically, continuing to spin around and around. I know I’m probably being excruciatingly annoying, but I don’t care.
“You’ll make yourself sick spinning like that.”
“So you do care about me!”
“I care about you not throwing up in my office.”
I sigh, skidding to a stop on my heels. I stand up, meandering over to Stratt’s desk.
She looks up at me without raising her head - a sort of Kubrick stare, as I lean over the front of her desk, peering at her computer from above.
“Whaddya doing, anyway?” My beanie slides off my head, onto her keyboard.
“You smell like vodka.”
“I had a half a glass, leave me alone.” I had two glasses… “You ignored my question.”
“So you’re drunk and you thought bothering me was better than staying in the lounge.”
“I’m not drunk!” I giggle like a fool, still leaning over the desk.
“Lightweight. No wonder you are here pestering me like a little brother. I am trying to finalize plans for the launch site pad-“
“Holy crap is that you?!” I blurt, cutting her off, distracted by a framed photo on Stratt’s desk that appeared to depict a young, teenaged Stratt standing in the front of a group of other kids, all wearing Jiu Jitsu gis.
I pick up the photo before Stratt has the chance to take it off the desk.
“No way! You know Martial arts?!”
“Yes, Judo and Jiu Jitsu, does that shock you, Dr. Grace?”
“Not in the slightest. If you told me you were an army ranger and a Kung fu master as a side job, I’d believe you.” I chuckle.
“Look how tiny you were!” I coo, pointing at the young redheaded girl in the photograph.
“Put that down, please.”
“Can you still fight?”
“If I had to, I could.”
“Who’d win, me or you?” I ask with completely unfounded confidence, setting the photo down.
Stratt looks up at me with a flicker of fire in her eyes.
“I would. You aren’t a fighter.”
“Oh come on, I’ve got a fighting chance!” I shrug. I sure did not.
Stratt stands up, closing her computer again, without saving, and comes around the other side of the desk.
“Then let’s see.” She gestures to the empty area of carpet behind me. I turn to it, then back to her.
“Wh- here? Now?”
“Yes. You’ve possed me off and now I’d like to prove you wrong. Lets go, grappling stance.” She shrugs off her cardigan, and gestures for me to assume position.
“What’s that mean?!” I put myself into a sort of movie ninja defense pose, admittedly a bit nervous.
She shakes her head, lowering herself into something of a crouched position, and gestures for me to follow suit. I do, to the best of my ability.
“It’d be smart if you took your glasses off.” She warns.
“What? AaAAH-!” She doesn’t even give me a chance.
Stratt runs at me in a few, long, calculated steps. She grabs my left arm, slinging it over her shoulder, her head under my arm.
She drops to one knee, and in a powerful yank, flips me over her back, straight into the carpet with a thump.
I wheeze, the wind momentarily knocked out of me as I lay there in shock.
“Good Lord-!” I cough out, one hand on my chest. My other arm still in Stratt’s grasp.
“You almost killed me!”
“I flipped you from a low point, you’ll be fine. I could have flipped you standing up.”
I groan, as Stratt stands up, dusting off her pants.
I take the opportunity to grab her by the shin, attempting to… flip her somehow..? Knock her down..? I’m not too clear on the objective, but it didn’t work.
She kicked free of my grip, grabbed my arm, and spun me onto my stomach, bending my arm behind my back, a leg swung over me to keep me down.
“OooowwWWWWW OW OW, OKAY!”
“Do you tap?” She droned.
“NO- nnNNEVER!” Now was not the time to be stubborn, Ryland.
I used my free arm to try and inch forward on the ground, desperate to wriggle free without giving up.
“AAAAHAHA! ThaHAT IS NOT FAIR!”
I shout as Stratt pinches me under the arm, sending my arm straight back to my side.
“It does not matter, this isn’t a teal match.” She says, pinching all the way down my side.
I sputter and snicker, kicking my legs behind me.
“IT IHIHIS A MATCH!! A-AHAHA!!”
“No, it is more like sparring with a stuffed animal.”
“RUHUHUDE-! AH AH AH! N-NOT THERE NOT THEHEHERE!” I gasp frantically, back arching off of the floor as Stratt drives a knuckle into the muscle of my low back. I let out a sort of raspy, out of breath cackle with the little air I have left.
“My god you are ticklish like a child. Your back? Seriously?” Stratt groans.
“I CAN’T HELP IT, I- AHAHA OW!! LET MY ARM GOHOHO IM LOSING CIRCULATION.”
“No you’re not, I’m not cutting off blood flow.” She scoffs, not letting up at all.
“AAAAAAAAAH IM DYING.”
“Tap out.”
“OKAY OKAHAHAAY I’LL SAY IT. LEMME TAHAHALK!”
Stratt pauses, lifting her hand from my back, giving me a chance to speak.
I take a moment to catch my breath…
“…You forgot to save your document again.” I mutter into the carpet.
Stratt growls in annoyance, shifting her hand to squeeze my hip. Hard.
“AAAAAAAHAHAHA IM SOHOHORRY!! IM SORRY PLEASE! YOU WIHIHIN! OW, WOMAN! MY AHAHARM!”
“I don’t win until you tap out.” She moved up to the back of my shoulder, where it meets the curve of my neck, vibrating her fingers into the flesh through the thick yarn of my sweater.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ALRIHIHIGHT I TAP. I TAP.” I slam the ground with my free hand feverishly, and as promised, Stratt let go of me, sitting back, with a leg still swung over me.
“You don’t have to scream so loud, I’m not hurting you.”
“You were!”
I heaved for breath, turning my head on the ground, facing the door just as it opens.
“Everything alright in here? Heard… screaming…”
“Carl…” I wheeze.
“We are fine.”
“Get her offa me Carl…”
“He challenged me to a spar and I proved to him I can beat him.”
“She tried to kill me…”
“Oh hush, you.” Stratt drove two fingers into either of my sides.
“AaaAAH! I TAPPED. I tahahapped! Stohohop that!”
Carl chuckles, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“I’m not helping you with this. You picked this fight. I know my place.” He said.
“I could beat you if I wasn’t drunk.” I mutter into the floor.
“He’s drunk?” Carl mused.
“On ‘half a vidka’ apparently.”
“Okaaay it was twoooouh…”
“That’s all it took? Lightweight.” Carl snorts.
Stratt pushes herself up, using my back as leverage, probably just to stick it to me. I wheeze, rolling into my back as Stratt stands up.
She reaches a hand out to help me up.
“No, you’re gonna rip my arm off.” I mumble, pushing myself up with some effort. “Devil woman…” I mutter.
“What’s that?” Stratt shoots me a look.
“I’d like to apologize…” I squeak out, flinching before fully standing myself up.
I wobble a bit on my feet, standing disheveled with my sweater rumpled, one pant leg hiked up my shin, hair a mess, and glasses hanging by my chin.
Stratt tosses me my hat from her desk. It hits me in the chest and I don’t react.
“Yeesh… Carl, walk him back to his bunk please, I think he’s done for the night.”
Carl nods, waving me over. “Come on. Go sleep off those two vodkas.” He says.
I nod sheepishly, shuffling off.
“Rematch when I’m at 100%?” I murmur as I walk to the door.
Pspspsps @aleeavian, it's dinner time! This request was a delight to do ^^
For anyone who doesn't know, this is heavily inspired by an ADORABLE fic by @greatleekate called 'Doing Nothing', pls pls pls go read it if you haven't already ❤❤❤
Also I might hold off on taking any other requests at all, because I wanna have the motivation to finish my OC ref sheets lmao
Ryland Grace struggling to pay attention during a boardroom meeting, because he's had like 4 accumulative hours of sleep over the past five days, so he keeps accidentally almost dozing off
Meanwhile Stratt is sitting next to him, she takes notice and then, not wanting to just shake him awake, decides to very discreetly reach a hand over to ever so lightly spider her fingers along his side to keep him upright
For a while, it works, with Grace suddenly EXTREMELY engaged in the conversation while his leg starts bouncing to stop himself from squirming too much, lips twitching upwards into a teeny wobbly smile which he tries his best to hide by leaning it into his hand.
However, Eva then slows her movements a bit and he seems to gradually get used to the feeling, and it now unfortunately has the opposite effect. It's comforting and lulling him back into drowsiness. Alright, new tactic, Stratt shifts her method to gentle squeezing just beneath the side of his ribs. But sadly, he jerks a bit and her hand slips, ending up pinching right above his hip. Which is WAY more sensitive.
Grace shrieks and flinches away, immediately covering his mouth. His face burns as the entire room goes quiet. Stratt's hand is back in her lap like nothing happened, leaving Ryland to awkwardly excuse himself from the meeting. At least now he can go have a nap.
