Fawn's POV

I watched curiously from the couch as he fiddled with the broken pieces of his radio.

He had each piece laid out on the floor, organized. His tools were beside him and he looked completely focused on the task before him.

The concentrated expression on his face was a bit more attractive than I was willing to admit to myself.

His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his legs were crossed beneath him. He's been working at this radio since breakfast ended.

I was just fascinated with the way he so precisely put everything back where it belonged. Each spring, each screw and coil he could place perfectly.

I'm convinced he could do this with his eyes closed.

In the heat of the moment I hadn't realized how I truly decimated this poor piece of technology. The polished wood had cracks in it, now looking thoroughly abused.

I already tried to apologize to him, but he had waved me off and refused to accept it on account of me "not having done anything wrong" as he puts it.

Even though I still feel like I have done something so horribly wrong...

Shaking my head, I pushed that away. I defended myself. It was self defense, and I didn't have any other choice.

I didn't...

A soft sigh expelled from my lungs, and I finally pushed off the seat of the couch and sunk to the floor where he was situated.

He didn't even notice me...either that or he just wasn't really concerned with me.

I crawled over to where he was working and sat next to him on the side that wasn't littered with tools.

Up close, it was even more impressive watching him work because I could see just how tiny these pieces he was working with were.

He used the tweezers in his tools to carefully place a few coils back into place before he wound them and moved on to the next thing.

My invasion didn't seem to bother him, his focus still on the broken box.

"Do you think you'll be able to fix it?" I asked him, looking up at him. His focus switched to me, and he shrugged, sighing softly.

"I can try...once I get most of the pieces put back where they belong, it should be right as rain," he explained. My attention drew back to the complication that lay before us both, but I believe it's only complicated to me.

Still, I had to ask.

"How the hell do you keep up with where all this shit goes..." I nearly mumbled, my eyes tracing over the maze of metal bits.

He chuckled, and then my eyes widened when he handed me the small tweezers.

"It's not as difficult as it looks, cher...here, pick up that little piece right there," he pointed to a small coil. Hesitantly, I picked it up. It all seems so delicate and I've done enough damage already...

"I don't want to hurt it..." I stated nervously, glancing over at him. He expelled a bit of air from his nose in amusement at my statement, shaking his head.

"It's a radio, silly girl, it cannot feel pain. There's no need to be nervous...go ahead and put that little bit right there," he said, placing his finger near an empty space that had a crevice that looked to be just right for my little piece.

I had a realization then, my lips parting as a smile curled onto my lips.

"Oh, it's like a puzzle!" I said, probably sounding a bit more excited than necessary. He hummed, agreeing with me.

"In a way...everything goes in a specific place and they all work together. It's very fascinating how everything comes together in the end, creating something that can harness the power to project not just my voice, but music and other people's voices as well...truly it's a wonderful device," he said, and I'd paused to look at him while he spoke.

The admiration in his eyes as he stared at the instrument made me smile.

Glancing at me, he seemed to realize he'd been rambling, clearing his throat quickly and chuckling sheepishly. He shook his head, a bit of color dusting his face.

"Ah...but, you don't care about all that, do you?" He said playfully, but my eyes softened at his words.

I can tell no one has ever really shown as much interest in this as he does...his reaction telling me enough about how others treat his passion.

Giving him a smile, I shook my head, "no, I do. I think it's cool!" I said, watching his eyes widen slightly at my response. His lips parted and the relaxed smile on his face lifted, a bit of boyish excitement shining through.

"You do?" He asked me readily, although seemingly not convinced.

I placed the piece I was holding carefully into its place, and nodded, "yea, I mean, I don't really understand it all that well yet...but it all looks really neat! I never knew so much consideration and care went into making these things," I said honestly, and watched his eyes gain a bit of a sparkle.

"Oh! Well...I could teach you, if you're interested in learning...?" He suggested, reaching over to gently take back the tweezers in my hand.

I nearly rolled my eyes at his sheepish suggestion, but instead I just scooted a bit closer to him.

"Teach me your magic, radio wizard," I said playfully, changing the pitch of my voice to make myself sound silly.

Chuckling, he moved his arm up slightly, "ok, come here. You remember how I had you the first time I was showing you everything?"

His question made a bit of heat flood my face, and I nodded, complying with his request by crawling into his lap.

He situated to where I was seated comfortably between his legs, his arms going around me as he started working again.

As he worked, he explained each bit and piece to me and this time I was able to properly pay attention.

The utter fervor in his speech and his movements was the main reason I listened to each word carefully.

Occasionally he would offer me a tool and he would point out what needed to be done. When I would complete something, he would praise me and I found myself really enjoying this.

I should be focusing on trying to get home. This time could've been spent working on a solution to that impossible problem.

Instead, I spent the time with him, laughing and learning something new.

**

Minutes melted into hours.

Him and I sat together, just working on the radio. His soft voice would guide me through the process of what needed to be done.

Eventually he had handed me the tools, telling me that if I wanted to learn I'd need to just do it myself.

Although, he did keep me in his lap.

Right now he has his arms secured around my middle and his chin resting on my shoulder. He's still talking me through each step, and he seems really relaxed.

Reaching over, I went to grab another piece and realized there was only one left. I picked it up, looking over it.

"Is this the last one?" I asked him curiously, turning my head slightly. His hair tickled my cheek and in that moment I realized just how intimate this position was.

My heart hit my rib cage a little harder than I would've liked, and I was thankful suddenly that my back was to his chest. This way, he can't see the heat rising to my face.

He chuckled, "it's the only one left, is it not?" He replied sarcastically, making my eyelids lower. I picked up one of the sharp tools.

"That's a lotta shit coming from someone who doesn't have a sharp radio pick," I hummed in a tone that I hoped came across as threatening.

His arms tightened around my waist slightly, making butterflies flood my chest and stomach before he got close to my ear.

"As if I'd need it," he whispered deeply, causing my heart rate pick up it's pace. My breath caught and I tensed under his hold, scaring him I think, because next thing I know he's backtracking.

"Oh, honey...I'm only teasing you, you know that," he said, his tone going back to normal. I let out a breath and let my body relax again.

I scoffed, "how the hell am I supposed to know the difference between you teasing me and not?" I asked him amusedly, and then pushed back against him slightly, "plus, I'd kick your ass with or without a weapon," I stated smugly.

Unbeknownst to me, this apparently ignited a fire inside of him, the need to absolutely prove me wrong coursing through his veins after my playful challenge.

"Oh really?" He basically growled, causing the hair on my neck to stand up. Slowly, I placed the final piece into the radio, chuckling nervously.

"L-look Alastor!" I said in an attempt to sway his attention, "radio's done."

He hummed, moving his hands to remove both the pick and the tweezers from my grasp slowly.

Oh boy. What's he about to do.

He moved both pieces to one hand, setting them aside as one arm secured back around my waist to ensure I don't go anywhere.

Taking his time, he placed each tool back into the case and slid it a safe distance away from us, along with the radio.

Then, before I even had any time to properly process what happened, I was beneath him.

My back hit the floor and a soft 'oof' was forced from my lungs as my hair fanned out around me. His legs were on either side of me and he was staring down at me with that psycho smile.

Except his eyes weren't dark. They were more...playful. Not threatening.

Slowly a smirk rose to my lips, and I shook my head, "you're really picking a fight with me?" I said cockily, watching as he tilted an eyebrow.

"I believe it's you who picked a fight with me, sweetheart," he said, then his eyelids lowered, "now you better back it up."

At that, I immediately slipped out from under him. I'm small enough that the loose cage his body made was easy enough to escape from.

I barely gave him any time to be surprised by that before I was on his back, giggling evilly.

He sat up on his knees, reaching back and trying to pry me off of him as he laughed. I wrapped my legs around his middle, securing them along with my arms around his neck.

"Spider monkey!" He exclaimed, "get the hell off my back," he laughed, but I only tightened my grip.

Maneuvering swiftly, I put him into a loose chokehold. He froze, feeling my forearm press against his neck.

"Well, turns out I underestimated you..." he said slowly, "this is impressive, I must say," he added, a bit too calmly for my liking.

My eyes narrowed as I tried to figured out what his angle was. Then, they immediately widened when he turned his body and then laid down on his back.

Or in this case, on me.

All the air was expelled from my lungs, and I released his neck to try and push him off of me, "Alastor!" I squeaked, "get up!"

He laughed, laying there for a moment longer before he rolled off of me, leaving me to heave on the ground as I regained oxygen.

The smug smile on his face irked me and I pouted as I looked over at him.

"No fair!" I whined, but a tiny smile worked it's way onto my face, betraying my false anger.

He gave a short laugh, turning around and facing his back to me. Immediately I got an evil idea and I quietly moved into a squatting position, coiling my body tightly as I prepared to pounce.

"All's fair in war, my dear!" He chirped, "maybe you shouldn't have let your guard dow—"

At that exact moment I launched into him, tackling him to the floor. We rolled and somehow that ended up working in my favor as we landed with me on top of him.

I straddled him and put my hands on his shoulders, pinning him down with a big smile on my face.

His expression was completely surprised, eyes wide as he looked up at me.

"Ha! What was that about letting your guard down?" I said smugly, smirking at him with narrowed eyes. His expression melted from surprise into one that matched my own.

"Hm..." he hummed, his eyes boring into me.

"I win," I stated triumphantly, squeezing his shoulders. He raised an eyebrow at that, and then shrugged before flipping us in a split second, making me gasp.

He pinned both of my arms beside my head, and chuckled darkly.

"Nice try...you're a lot stronger than you look, but not stronger than me, I'm afraid," he commended cockily, feeling me struggle beneath him. I stuck my tongue out at him and then giggled, my nose scrunching as I laughed.

The dark look on his face lightened and his smile relaxed into a calm grin.

For a moment him and I just shared a second of silence as I caught my breath and he held me down. My chest heaved slightly and his grip on my wrists loosened until he released me completely and climbed off of me.

"Not bad," he said, and I found myself missing the weight of his body against mine.

He stood up, turning away and walking towards the radio and tool case.

I stayed on the floor and watched as he bent down and collected everything, then turned towards me, amusement in his eyes.

"You planning on collecting yourself off my floor anytime soon?" He asked me, and I rolled my eyes before pushing myself up.

He then continued on his way to wherever he was going, and I watched him round the corner. My smile slowly lessened and I was just left sitting on the floor. My hand went over my stomach at the feeling of butterflies fluttering around as I remembered the last fifteen minutes.

He's really going to be the death of me...and not in the way I'd initially thought.