quirkysmuse (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
quirkysmuse) wrote2009-05-07 11:34 am
quirkysmuse) wrote2009-05-07 11:34 am
Entry tags:
Fringe, "Persuasion" Peter/Astrid, (part 1/2)
Fandom: Fringe
Title: Persuasion
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairing: Peter/Astrid
Rating: PG (though the next part will be higher)
Genre: Humor/Romance
Word Count: 2248
Notes: Thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
apckrfan for the beta. This story takes place before the last episode, but kind of goes on its own.
Spoilers: up to the recent episode, "The Road Not Taken".
Summary: Astrid and Peter strike a small deal, and Astrid certainly likes the unexpected perk that comes with it.
Part One
She’d been seeing Peter more than usual at odd times around the lab. Of course, he wouldn’t stay long – just sneak in, snag something, and then with a hearty smile, he’d wave to her and leave.
She’d be deep in her work, filing something, cleaning this or that, milking the cow, and then she’d hear the door open and then those inevitable footsteps. Astrid even knew the distinctive sound and beat of his feet hitting the floor as he walked in.
On a late Friday afternoon sans Walter, he came in again quickly, just after leaving to take his father home. “Yo, Agent Farnsworth,” Peter said, announcing his presence loudly.
“Yo, Peter Bishop,” she said with light humor. Their eyes met and he cracked a genuine smile.
“A little help here?” Peter asked. Astrid poked her head out and slid the chair forward from the computer and inspected what he was pointing at.
“You’re taking that?” She was surprised, and he seemed almost giddy, like he wanted her to ask him what he was up to.
“I’ll bring it back – quickly,” he said. His grin was almost infectious. Astrid raised a single eyebrow. She kept her cool, obviously. The younger Bishop seemed to live off people’s attention toward him, feeding his ego like a gas-guzzling hummer.
“He’ll notice,” she said with a snort, cracking her own small smile. She crossed her arms and looked at the heavy toolbox. Inside Walter kept a lot of small and meticulous tools. In fact, Astrid was sort of frightened to venture in there. She didn’t know what was inside exactly, and Walter never made her do inventory. It was just as well, with his personality, for all she knew the Roswell aliens were in there. Not that she believed in such things, but after working in the Fringe division, she was trained to keep an open mind.
“So are you even going to give me a hint on what you’re working on for him? I’ve seen you swipe microscopes and computer hardware and all sorts of odds and ends. Usually Dr. Bishop doesn’t notice, but he was looking for a small microscope you had commandeered. I had to promise him the FBI would get him a new one,” Astrid said, trying to get a little more information out of Peter.
He just shook his head, smarmy grin in place. She was probably not going to get anything out of him, was she?
She nodded her head, and they stared at each other for awhile. “Uh huh, I see,” she said teasingly. “It’s a big secret.”
“You’ll just have to wait for the big reveal with the rest of the fans,” Peter said.
Astrid pouted. “Aww, not even a hint?”
Peter’s grin seemed brighter, but he wasn’t budging.
She sighed. “Well, I guess you can’t take these tools then, can you?” She walked over to them, and stood in front like a stone sentry. She tilted her head, challenging him.
“Oh come on, Astrid.” He pointed at her accusingly. “I’m disappointed. I never pegged you for someone who passed out bribes.”
She stepped a little closer to him. Her grin was as large as his. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Peter Bishop.”
“That’s for sure,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Okay, how about this,” he said. Always the bargainer. Astrid should have suspected this. “I dig into this tool box, get what I need, and for each piece I take, I’ll tell you a piece of information of what I’m working on.”
Astrid lifted her chin. She nodded slowly. “Sounds fair.” He began to reach, but she didn’t budge. He leaned in and sighed again. Peter was close, and she could almost feel his body heat as he neared her.
She whispered warningly, “Are you sure you want to go in there?”
He laughed a little. “Are you scared I might find the Lindberg baby in there?”
“Or worse,” she said. They turned around and looked at the tool box with awe and great caution.
Peter shrugged his shoulders. She realized that after she warned him, he seemed less relaxed, as if she had instilled in some irrational fear into him. This box did belong to Walter Bishop, after all.
“Well, go on!” she pushed her hand against his back, and he stood still. He turned his head and his expression seemed strained. “Second thoughts?”
“Maybe,” he said simply. Something else appeared to be on his mind. “I was just wondering…”
Astrid scrunched her brow, but her smile faded. Was something bothering him? Peter didn’t usually open up to her. On occasion, they fell into moments like this, even when Walter was around. Sometimes Astrid felt a part of the lab supplies, and not like an actual part of the team. Peter brought her back from that, made her feel less like a go-to girl and more like a member of his ‘geek squad’, as he had coined them not too long ago.
In her deep thinking, Astrid felt Peter’s gaze on her, as if he was studying her. Then she realized. His mind was in a totally different place than hers! The younger Bishop was actually checking her out, in his own crafty way.
Suddenly, she was acutely aware of the convenient dip in her tight red top.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. Though she suspected the reason for his pause in words, in reality she treated it as concern for his health. Anything to keep the heat from flushing to her cheeks…
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked; his tone substantially softer than usual.
“Me, well…it’s Friday night, so that usually means meeting my friend Dee down at Whispers,” Astrid said coyly. She would bet money that Peter didn’t see her as a dance club girl, even though she displayed that knowledge less than a week ago.
“The club? On Montague Avenue?” Astrid nodded.
“You know it?”
“Do I?” Peter said slyly. She could sense there was more to his knowledge than he was offering. Suddenly, she became insanely curious about him. The bad boy genius thing was obvious, if not trite in its overt nature, but underneath, what was Peter really like? What was his vast underground knowledge? How many people did he know? Did he play cards with terrorists and prime ministers?
Maybe she was over-fantasizing him. She’d hate to do that. Peter was… her saving grace at this place most times.
“You want to come? I’ll warn you early; Dee might jump you,” she said, cocking her head a little. “I don’t know if you’re up to it. We sometimes club hop until 4.”
He shook his head. “I am in awe of this secret identity that Agent Farnsworth is hiding from everyone.”
“Nobody’s thought to ask before.” She leaned in close, and she made a mental note on how she liked being close to Peter, and she was getting used to it.
He paused for a moment. “You still live at the same place?”
She rolled her eyes. “You were there a week ago, asking me for a spare lab key. Yes, I still live there.”
“I’ll be there at nine,” he said, his eyes shining at her.
“Make it ten,” she said. “Unless you want to kill an hour doing nothing at my house. Dee doesn’t come over until ten thirty,” she said.
He scratched his chin. “I like nine. Besides, when am I going to tell you about your end of our deal?”
Astrid blinked. “I thought you were going to tell me here.”
“Well,” he said, bending his knees and ready to tackle sifting through the box. “I got to get these tools out now. I’m a little behind on this project as it is. I want to finish it for Monday.”
“That’s pretty soon,” Astrid said, and she sat down next to him and watched as he sifted through the unorganized box. She made a face when she thought she saw something that resembled a monkey’s paw.
“Yep, I’m almost done though,” he said, making a few faces on his own as he tossed aside some strange looking doodads.
“Here, I’ll help then,” she said, reaching her hand in the box with his. He stopped and shot her a look of disbelief.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked spookily.
She rolled her eyes at him again. “Please.”
“You never know what you might find!” he said, pulling out the monkey’s paw and coming after her with it. She backed up slightly, and he must have gauged her reaction to be more of a shrieking nature, but she only leaned back slightly and gave the monkey’s paw an offended sneer. Peter, however, fell closer to her than he planned. She could feel his hot breath, and he smelled like a Snickers bar. She froze and so did he, and when the desire for her own Snickers subsided, she realized that they were sitting on a floor, and Peter Bishop was far more inside her personal space than usual. If anyone were to interrupt them, they might get the wrong idea.
Or maybe the right idea?
“Wow,” Astrid said. “You’re close,” she said bluntly.
Instead of blushing like a school boy, as many men had done toward her in the past, Peter laughed heartily. It was so very him, and Astrid found it refreshing. She had no time for the uncomfortable nature of romantic awkwardness. If she really wanted Peter she’d just kiss him now, though she was sure Agent Dunham might have some problem with that. And if Peter wanted her, she knew he was an adult. He could make that decision on his own, and she certainly wouldn’t refuse him.
“Maybe this is something we should keep for the dance floor,” he whispered teasingly. Astrid snorted when she laughed.
“Oh, but isn’t this so like us. Just two people, sitting on the floor inside the underground college lab, complete with a cow, some other strange things and scientific equipment, and we’re going through a mad scientist’s tool box that Criss Angel would run and scream from,” Astrid replied.
Peter chuckled again. “How romantic,” he droned sardonically. Astrid nodded, but before she could stick her hand back into the box and resume fishing, Peter grabbed her. She didn’t even have time to think.
His kiss was that quick and encompassing, and when he pulled her closer, her surprise transformed into a satiated lull. She’d had vague thoughts about what his kiss would taste like since she’d met him. Only until recently did she ever think she’d have a chance to test out her theory, to see just how soft his mouth really was, or how rough his stubble would feel against her face. Maybe, he’d taste so good she wouldn’t even notice, but she never thought in any of this, she’d want more. She wanted more and she wanted his lips to never come off hers again.
But they did. He made a loud moan when he released her, and he mumbled before he said clearly. “Dance floor…save. Right.”
Astrid resisted the urge to giggle, and even though the air between them was slightly heavier, at least they both had aspiring thoughts of continuing this later.
“Right,” she said in affirmation. She turned to him and in his eyes he didn’t really look like he wanted to wait. “I…uh, better get back to work. I’ll let you look at the box alone.”
He looked slightly wilted, but he nodded and gave her a quick smile. For the rest of the time, she had her back turned to him, and once in awhile she turned around to look at him, only to catch his gaze every time. He tinkered in the box a few minutes more, and soon the noises of his presence faded and he was standing up with what he needed and ready to leave. She turned around, and he was grinning at her.
“Four things,” he said excitedly. “I guess that means you only get four pieces of information about my project.”
She smirked at him. “You say that now. I bet I can get more out of you later,” she said confidently. “On the dance floor.”
He snickered. “Vile temptress!” he mocked and she smiled. She watched him leave with a big smirk, and then the place was quiet again.
Then, Jean mooed at her.
“Oh, be quiet,” Astrid said, still remembering the feeling of Peter’s kiss. Her thoughts lulled in her head as she stared at the door.
“I know what I’m doing,” she said softly.
Yeah, right. She had a ‘date’ with Peter Bishop tonight at a dance club. Peter Bishop had just kissed her, and Astrid wanted more. She was sure he wanted more too. She let out a heavy sigh. She sincerely hoped she didn’t get fired for this.
Though she had a good idea that Peter would support her on this, and they would probably be fine. The thought in itself gave her hope, and with tonight she had a lot in which to look forward.
She laughed. She wondered if she really could get more information out of Peter tonight about his project. She was at the advantage here, despite what Peter might think.
There was so, so much he just didn’t know about her.
--
Part Two
Title: Persuasion
Author: Paynesgrey
Characters/Pairing: Peter/Astrid
Rating: PG (though the next part will be higher)
Genre: Humor/Romance
Word Count: 2248
Notes: Thanks to
apckrfan for the beta. This story takes place before the last episode, but kind of goes on its own.Spoilers: up to the recent episode, "The Road Not Taken".
Summary: Astrid and Peter strike a small deal, and Astrid certainly likes the unexpected perk that comes with it.
Part One
She’d been seeing Peter more than usual at odd times around the lab. Of course, he wouldn’t stay long – just sneak in, snag something, and then with a hearty smile, he’d wave to her and leave.
She’d be deep in her work, filing something, cleaning this or that, milking the cow, and then she’d hear the door open and then those inevitable footsteps. Astrid even knew the distinctive sound and beat of his feet hitting the floor as he walked in.
On a late Friday afternoon sans Walter, he came in again quickly, just after leaving to take his father home. “Yo, Agent Farnsworth,” Peter said, announcing his presence loudly.
“Yo, Peter Bishop,” she said with light humor. Their eyes met and he cracked a genuine smile.
“A little help here?” Peter asked. Astrid poked her head out and slid the chair forward from the computer and inspected what he was pointing at.
“You’re taking that?” She was surprised, and he seemed almost giddy, like he wanted her to ask him what he was up to.
“I’ll bring it back – quickly,” he said. His grin was almost infectious. Astrid raised a single eyebrow. She kept her cool, obviously. The younger Bishop seemed to live off people’s attention toward him, feeding his ego like a gas-guzzling hummer.
“He’ll notice,” she said with a snort, cracking her own small smile. She crossed her arms and looked at the heavy toolbox. Inside Walter kept a lot of small and meticulous tools. In fact, Astrid was sort of frightened to venture in there. She didn’t know what was inside exactly, and Walter never made her do inventory. It was just as well, with his personality, for all she knew the Roswell aliens were in there. Not that she believed in such things, but after working in the Fringe division, she was trained to keep an open mind.
“So are you even going to give me a hint on what you’re working on for him? I’ve seen you swipe microscopes and computer hardware and all sorts of odds and ends. Usually Dr. Bishop doesn’t notice, but he was looking for a small microscope you had commandeered. I had to promise him the FBI would get him a new one,” Astrid said, trying to get a little more information out of Peter.
He just shook his head, smarmy grin in place. She was probably not going to get anything out of him, was she?
She nodded her head, and they stared at each other for awhile. “Uh huh, I see,” she said teasingly. “It’s a big secret.”
“You’ll just have to wait for the big reveal with the rest of the fans,” Peter said.
Astrid pouted. “Aww, not even a hint?”
Peter’s grin seemed brighter, but he wasn’t budging.
She sighed. “Well, I guess you can’t take these tools then, can you?” She walked over to them, and stood in front like a stone sentry. She tilted her head, challenging him.
“Oh come on, Astrid.” He pointed at her accusingly. “I’m disappointed. I never pegged you for someone who passed out bribes.”
She stepped a little closer to him. Her grin was as large as his. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Peter Bishop.”
“That’s for sure,” he said with a heavy sigh. “Okay, how about this,” he said. Always the bargainer. Astrid should have suspected this. “I dig into this tool box, get what I need, and for each piece I take, I’ll tell you a piece of information of what I’m working on.”
Astrid lifted her chin. She nodded slowly. “Sounds fair.” He began to reach, but she didn’t budge. He leaned in and sighed again. Peter was close, and she could almost feel his body heat as he neared her.
She whispered warningly, “Are you sure you want to go in there?”
He laughed a little. “Are you scared I might find the Lindberg baby in there?”
“Or worse,” she said. They turned around and looked at the tool box with awe and great caution.
Peter shrugged his shoulders. She realized that after she warned him, he seemed less relaxed, as if she had instilled in some irrational fear into him. This box did belong to Walter Bishop, after all.
“Well, go on!” she pushed her hand against his back, and he stood still. He turned his head and his expression seemed strained. “Second thoughts?”
“Maybe,” he said simply. Something else appeared to be on his mind. “I was just wondering…”
Astrid scrunched her brow, but her smile faded. Was something bothering him? Peter didn’t usually open up to her. On occasion, they fell into moments like this, even when Walter was around. Sometimes Astrid felt a part of the lab supplies, and not like an actual part of the team. Peter brought her back from that, made her feel less like a go-to girl and more like a member of his ‘geek squad’, as he had coined them not too long ago.
In her deep thinking, Astrid felt Peter’s gaze on her, as if he was studying her. Then she realized. His mind was in a totally different place than hers! The younger Bishop was actually checking her out, in his own crafty way.
Suddenly, she was acutely aware of the convenient dip in her tight red top.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. Though she suspected the reason for his pause in words, in reality she treated it as concern for his health. Anything to keep the heat from flushing to her cheeks…
“What are you doing tonight?” he asked; his tone substantially softer than usual.
“Me, well…it’s Friday night, so that usually means meeting my friend Dee down at Whispers,” Astrid said coyly. She would bet money that Peter didn’t see her as a dance club girl, even though she displayed that knowledge less than a week ago.
“The club? On Montague Avenue?” Astrid nodded.
“You know it?”
“Do I?” Peter said slyly. She could sense there was more to his knowledge than he was offering. Suddenly, she became insanely curious about him. The bad boy genius thing was obvious, if not trite in its overt nature, but underneath, what was Peter really like? What was his vast underground knowledge? How many people did he know? Did he play cards with terrorists and prime ministers?
Maybe she was over-fantasizing him. She’d hate to do that. Peter was… her saving grace at this place most times.
“You want to come? I’ll warn you early; Dee might jump you,” she said, cocking her head a little. “I don’t know if you’re up to it. We sometimes club hop until 4.”
He shook his head. “I am in awe of this secret identity that Agent Farnsworth is hiding from everyone.”
“Nobody’s thought to ask before.” She leaned in close, and she made a mental note on how she liked being close to Peter, and she was getting used to it.
He paused for a moment. “You still live at the same place?”
She rolled her eyes. “You were there a week ago, asking me for a spare lab key. Yes, I still live there.”
“I’ll be there at nine,” he said, his eyes shining at her.
“Make it ten,” she said. “Unless you want to kill an hour doing nothing at my house. Dee doesn’t come over until ten thirty,” she said.
He scratched his chin. “I like nine. Besides, when am I going to tell you about your end of our deal?”
Astrid blinked. “I thought you were going to tell me here.”
“Well,” he said, bending his knees and ready to tackle sifting through the box. “I got to get these tools out now. I’m a little behind on this project as it is. I want to finish it for Monday.”
“That’s pretty soon,” Astrid said, and she sat down next to him and watched as he sifted through the unorganized box. She made a face when she thought she saw something that resembled a monkey’s paw.
“Yep, I’m almost done though,” he said, making a few faces on his own as he tossed aside some strange looking doodads.
“Here, I’ll help then,” she said, reaching her hand in the box with his. He stopped and shot her a look of disbelief.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” he asked spookily.
She rolled her eyes at him again. “Please.”
“You never know what you might find!” he said, pulling out the monkey’s paw and coming after her with it. She backed up slightly, and he must have gauged her reaction to be more of a shrieking nature, but she only leaned back slightly and gave the monkey’s paw an offended sneer. Peter, however, fell closer to her than he planned. She could feel his hot breath, and he smelled like a Snickers bar. She froze and so did he, and when the desire for her own Snickers subsided, she realized that they were sitting on a floor, and Peter Bishop was far more inside her personal space than usual. If anyone were to interrupt them, they might get the wrong idea.
Or maybe the right idea?
“Wow,” Astrid said. “You’re close,” she said bluntly.
Instead of blushing like a school boy, as many men had done toward her in the past, Peter laughed heartily. It was so very him, and Astrid found it refreshing. She had no time for the uncomfortable nature of romantic awkwardness. If she really wanted Peter she’d just kiss him now, though she was sure Agent Dunham might have some problem with that. And if Peter wanted her, she knew he was an adult. He could make that decision on his own, and she certainly wouldn’t refuse him.
“Maybe this is something we should keep for the dance floor,” he whispered teasingly. Astrid snorted when she laughed.
“Oh, but isn’t this so like us. Just two people, sitting on the floor inside the underground college lab, complete with a cow, some other strange things and scientific equipment, and we’re going through a mad scientist’s tool box that Criss Angel would run and scream from,” Astrid replied.
Peter chuckled again. “How romantic,” he droned sardonically. Astrid nodded, but before she could stick her hand back into the box and resume fishing, Peter grabbed her. She didn’t even have time to think.
His kiss was that quick and encompassing, and when he pulled her closer, her surprise transformed into a satiated lull. She’d had vague thoughts about what his kiss would taste like since she’d met him. Only until recently did she ever think she’d have a chance to test out her theory, to see just how soft his mouth really was, or how rough his stubble would feel against her face. Maybe, he’d taste so good she wouldn’t even notice, but she never thought in any of this, she’d want more. She wanted more and she wanted his lips to never come off hers again.
But they did. He made a loud moan when he released her, and he mumbled before he said clearly. “Dance floor…save. Right.”
Astrid resisted the urge to giggle, and even though the air between them was slightly heavier, at least they both had aspiring thoughts of continuing this later.
“Right,” she said in affirmation. She turned to him and in his eyes he didn’t really look like he wanted to wait. “I…uh, better get back to work. I’ll let you look at the box alone.”
He looked slightly wilted, but he nodded and gave her a quick smile. For the rest of the time, she had her back turned to him, and once in awhile she turned around to look at him, only to catch his gaze every time. He tinkered in the box a few minutes more, and soon the noises of his presence faded and he was standing up with what he needed and ready to leave. She turned around, and he was grinning at her.
“Four things,” he said excitedly. “I guess that means you only get four pieces of information about my project.”
She smirked at him. “You say that now. I bet I can get more out of you later,” she said confidently. “On the dance floor.”
He snickered. “Vile temptress!” he mocked and she smiled. She watched him leave with a big smirk, and then the place was quiet again.
Then, Jean mooed at her.
“Oh, be quiet,” Astrid said, still remembering the feeling of Peter’s kiss. Her thoughts lulled in her head as she stared at the door.
“I know what I’m doing,” she said softly.
Yeah, right. She had a ‘date’ with Peter Bishop tonight at a dance club. Peter Bishop had just kissed her, and Astrid wanted more. She was sure he wanted more too. She let out a heavy sigh. She sincerely hoped she didn’t get fired for this.
Though she had a good idea that Peter would support her on this, and they would probably be fine. The thought in itself gave her hope, and with tonight she had a lot in which to look forward.
She laughed. She wondered if she really could get more information out of Peter tonight about his project. She was at the advantage here, despite what Peter might think.
There was so, so much he just didn’t know about her.
--
Part Two
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This is a fun piece, lighthearted and while 'they' seem to be cramming P/O down our throats I could see something like this happening.
Can't wait to read about their night out dancing!
~Susan
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YES, a night of dancing told from Peter's POV. ;P
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And TPTB has been giving us a LOT of Peter/Astrid scenes.
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YES. We can only hope they give us MORE. They are so cute. :3
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I should have the last part done soon. I just got bombarded with homework, so I'm getting that done as much as I can to have time for this.
Thanks again for reading.
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