Her hand settles at your hip while she stands behind you, eyes locked on your parents with baited breath as you stand in front of them.

It wasn’t a secret that you and Everest were close. Even before she became your bodyguard, Everest and you had been friends for a while, and she appealed to them because of that fact. But since she has become your personal bodyguard, since she’s been by your side nearly all hours of your waking day, you two have grown… closer.

Admittedly, Everest should have known. Everest should have cut this blossoming romance off for the sake of professionalism a long time ago, even though her heart yearned just as strongly for yours as yours did for hers. You two spent way too many cycles together- even if it were only for simple sake of convenience. You were the one to confess first, after she shared your cycle with you last time. You wanted her, her of all people. The strange woman you had found wandering, lost on what purpose she could have had all those years ago. The woman who spoke stiffly at best. The woman who approached her job with you as though she was more of your attack dog than a bodyguard, who listened to you even more so than your parents- her employers.

She truly didn’t understand you.

But here she was, standing behind you in a familiar formation that you two had fallen into countless times before. The only difference? Her hand was allowed to touch you. And she was staring at your parents with silent anticipation, wishing and praying they won’t fire her - or at least, if they did, it be for the simple case of preventing a conflict of interest, rather than…

Please let them approve. Please. Please.

Her eyes slide to you, her head moving closer to your ear as her grip on your hip grows a bit tighter.

“You’re not worried?” She whispers, glancing back at your parents.