#6 husky (mercanne)

Prompt: #6 Husky
Merc/Anne

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Below the light from the candles, Annette skimmed through papers on the table. As much as she hated darkness of night creeping by the window beside her, the task at hand should be done. At least, she is permitted to bring the work to her room – she wouldn’t want to stay all by herself in the Cardinal Room in the death of the night.

The mountain of files labeled as ‘War Funds’ would only keep on stacking if not cross-examined and archived. Not to mention, around morning, sometimes Annette would be called to help in the battle, meaning not much of time there for her to delve on the paperwork.

Her concentration was unbroken, until she heard a soft knock to her door room. Annette could always, always feigned to be sleeping, pretending that she ‘let the candle on’ if asked by the next day. Then again, there would only be a particular someone who knocked her door at this time of the day – and mostly, it is because that person is worried that Annette is overworking, like, again.

Mercedes didn’t wait for any other response per usual after her warning knock, slipping in the room with lantern on her other hand. The short-haired blonde is already in her sleepwear. A familiar shawl is there hugging her shoulders. It was impolite for Annette to keep on working before meeting the worrying eyes, though their locked gaze didn’t take long than how it is intended to be.

“Mercie, sorry, but just a little more, please.” Annette drifted once more, back to the papers. She could hear a soft sigh filling the silent room.

Of course, Mercedes would stay there until Annette finally decided to stop. Any kind of coaxing won’t simply stop her hand from moving or from her eyes to scanning word per word, numbers to numbers.

Her blue eyes snuck a glance to the paper stack. It is started to thin out to the level she wanted. She only needed to keep going with her pace before she put down her pen. She would need to recheck it in the morning for errors, then handing it to the treasurer. Next, she planned on another batch if there wasn’t any War Council in session.

However, Annette didn’t know whether Mercedes will try a different approach for this night.

Annette stopped when she felt a warm embrace enveloped her. The fabric of Mercedes’s shawl is there before her embracing arms. Annette wasn’t wearing her orange top coat, leaving it hanging by the backside of the door, the shawl provided her with warmth and Mercedes’s weight stayed on her shoulder, not too overwhelming.

“Let’s stop for the day, Annie.” The residual breaths from each of syllable pauses graced her ear. Annette was sure her ears should be red, so was her face and maybe her neck. The warmth tuned out to a sudden frenzy. Her heart pounded. A lump formed in the base of her throat.
“You need your rest.”

Mercedes didn’t break free after the hug, rather, she stayed. Her chuckled reverberated through the shawl that connected them. She sounded softer, dangerous yet vulnerable at the same time.

“… You know how unfair this treatment is, right, Mercie?” it took long for Annette to form words.

“Ara, is that so?” She repeated again, whispering to the same earlobe. “Anything to make my Annie surrender, except if you want me to sing ghost stories instead.”

“Mercie.” Annette scowled. Anything but ghost stories.

“Fu fu, I’m sorry.” Mercedes didn’t sound any close to apologetic. She visibly enjoyed the whole events. “In return, I’ll sleep with you tonight.”

She wasn’t sure how to properly comment on that, but she gave in -- to the night and to Mercedes von Martritz