Chapter Text
“Think you can do another one?”
“Yeah.”
Hermione nodded, though he couldn’t see her. Tired from a long day, she needed this. The sooner it was over, the sooner the money would drop into her account. It wasn’t too bad, really.
She was just tired.
At least, he always made her laugh… among other things.
“It’s okay if you want to stop,” he said. “I won’t be mad.”
“Just start already,” she said, laughing lightly.
He cleared his throat and continued. His voice washed over her like a torrent—a cascade of warmth and tantalizing vibration.
“I missed you so much.”
A touch above a whisper, Hermione said sultrily, “I can tell, Daddy.”
“Don’t do that. Not tonight.”
“But—”
“You know how I feel about you.”
“I-I don’t think…” She left a beat of silence, then said, “Why are you here?”
“To bring you home.”
“Why?”
“I love you.”
He paused there and resumed with a sigh. “I love you,” he repeated. “Let me take you home.”
“Love me here,” Hermione replied. “I-I’m not leaving, and you know why.”
“I won’t come back after tonight. I can’t take this anymore.”
“There’s only forty minutes left in your session. Come on.”
“Fine. Tell me how much you want it.”
“Come and feel how much.”
Hermione squirmed a bit in her seat. Every word, each proclamation of love, sounded so earnest. She could almost believe it.
“Feel it, Daddy?”
“I do, sweetheart. I could make you feel like this all the time.”
“You do.”
“You love me?”
Before she could reply, an infant’s cry interrupted them, snapping her out of her mind and work. Sev, for all his professionalism, cursed and apologized. He suddenly sounded far away, clearly leaving his mic or laptop behind. He soon returned, at full volume. “I didn’t shut the door all the way.”
“Is he alright?” asked Hermione, as she saved the audio file to her computer.
“Uh… I’m not sure. She picked him up, I think. He’s cranky when he wakes up.”
“Same.”
“I don’t think I could start again,” Sev told her, yawning. It was only after nine, but he’d told her he was an early bird, and with a baby in the house, early mornings were the norm for everyone. “Tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we can do it tomorrow. I’ll text you. I have classes all day.”
“Just let me know. How was that paper you were so worried about?”
“I got an A.”
“Thought so,” he said. “Insufferable know-it-all.”
“I love it when you call me that,” she replied sarcastically.
“Why’s that?”
“It’s true. I do know it all.”
“I guess you do. You don’t mind the insufferable part?”
“I always say, ‘If I’m too much to handle, I’ll find someone else who can.’”
“Confident.”
“Sexy, right?”
He laughed quietly and replied, “If you say so… Oh, I have to go. She’s calling me. She must need help with something.”
“N-No problem,” Hermione stammered, quietly panicking because she was just flirting with her clearly married (or something close to it) colleague. Had he picked up on it and needed an escape? A baby works. He had to go take care of him.
“Tomorrow, Heaven?” he confirmed, hesitantly or distractedly. Hermione couldn’t tell which. They never talked with video on, so she had no body language to analyze. Everything was kept quite pleasant and friendly, surface-level. He didn’t even know her real name. He called her Heaven, the name she used for her voice acting work. She called him Sev, short for something she didn’t know and didn’t feel comfortable asking about.
“Yes. Tomorrow for sure.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”