She clacked away on the keyboard for hours at a time, usually. Lately things had gotten so busy that the electrokine didn't have a moment to think, let alone build on her book. She had shoved down some buttered toast, grabbed a can of whatever soda was handy and made for her room before someone found something else for her to do. Now, her headphones were in place and her fingers worked at breakneck speeds. No writer's block! No chores! Full belly! Surely there must have been a lunar eclipse happening somewhere.
She was laying on her stomach, her laptop before her. It faced the door, and she faced the window. It helped when you could see that trees were growing and birds were flying and life was carrying on. And with the shades pulled back, she was even getting a little sun. Better still.
Piotr had searched all of Zap's normal hidey-holes but so far turned up nothing. And no one was talkin'. Or even sure where she had been going the last time they had seen her. He stopped to think about it. Her room? No, it couldn't be.
The answer had been so obvious it had eluded him. Sure enough, Pete cracked open the door and spied the lovely lady laying on her bed typing away. It was always in the last place you look, he thought to himself. He noticed her head phones were on, so she probably wouldn't notice the door being opened. He stood in the doorway for a brief moment. Piotr contemplated leaving her be. They were all so busy, alone time was hard to come by.
Piotr decided. Nope, he'd been looking forward to spending time with Zap all day. He wasn't going to give up now. He stepped into the room and over to bed she was laying across. At the risk of electric shock, he grabbed her by the ankle and started pulling her away for the computer.
EEEEEE! MID-SENTENCE! Without even turning to see who'd caught her, her arms stretched as she was pulled away and she finished the line she was on - working until her fingertips could no longer touch the keys. She made a mad effort to flick the cursor up to 'save', but it was a futile attempt. At least the words were out of her head. After yanking off her headphones, she turned her head, slowly now, as if she'd done something wrong, or was planning on discovering the Yeti behind her. Easy does it.
Her face lit up when she saw that it was, in fact, not the Yeti. "You're so lucky you're cute," she warned. Her arm shifted and without turning back to the screen she maneuvered the cursor up to save, then flicked the little beast shut. "I was like, totally having a breakthrough," her foot (which was now hanging off the bed) rubbed against Pete's leg playfully.
"Da, I get that a lot." Pete answered, not letting go of Zap's ankle. He gave her a moment to save her work then ignored her last comment. "Come on, I'm hungry." That was an invitation in Pete-speak.
Zap narrowed her eyes, "I hope you don't get that too often." She sighed at the continued touch of his hand on her leg. "I just ate," she pointed out. It was a refusal, in Zap-speak. "You're always hungry. C'mere and hold me for a while. I'll make you something. Fair trade," she grinned, then bit it back to a sly smile. She couldn't help it. Zap felt like she'd caught doofus syndrome over the past couple of weeks. Well, months, she guessed. Wandering around with goofy grins on her face and nonsense words coming out of her mouth. Such is life.
"Deal." He said with a wink. Snuggles and food, score. He let go of her ankle but slid his hand further up her leg. Piotr laid on the bed beside her, instantly creating a black hole-like vortex in the center of the bed. It sucked Zalika in and she was laying half on top of him now. He wrapped his arms around her and let out a contented sigh. "I love you, Zuzka." His pet name for her purred through his accent.
"You deliver," she said through a soft laugh. She'd been shifted from her spot on the bed and was cozied up to her beau - whether she liked it or not. She liked it. Her sigh came simultaneously and when he spoke the infamous words, she cuddled closer still. "I love you too." What was she doing before this? Writing? It didn't seem to matter at all. Not now, not there in those big, warm arms. "So much, Piotr. I'm gonna have to go Iron Chef to make an even trade with this," she craned her neck and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then, she shifted so she was closer to his face and planted another on his lips. And another.
Love. Piotr returned her kisses and gave a few of his own. As he dropped his head back into place, he felt a thud. Her laptop had slid down and now rested under his head. He reached up and pulled it out and held it above them for a moment. "Breakthrough, huh?" He set it aside, further away on the bed. "Should I have come back later?" He asked, teasing her a bit. He was the same way when he was working on something creative. It felt nice to be the disrupter.
"Mmmm, no. Breakthroughs are overrated. Rasputins are not." She murmured another 'I love you' after her audible sentences, then nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. Her breathing had slowed to a minimum and she closed her eyes, then kissed where her mouth was nearest to. His collar bone. "Let's have seven kids, okay? It's luckier than six and better for tax purposes."
"Da." Pete said without blinking an eye. Whoa, he had said that without blinking an eye. And he meant it. He squeezed her a little tighter. He suddenly realized he needed to talk to Kurt. Piotr loved Zap so much, he wanted them to be together in every way possible. "We could start our own farm." He said with an obvious amount of sarcasm in his voice.
"We'll make our own labor." It was evident that's what their own parents had down. She shook her head, though, "I'll live on a farm, but it's gotta be within 100 miles of a real coast and have working internet. And horses. Loads of horses. I wanted a horse. I got a pig. It wasn't the same. It was pretty hairy though."
Pete gave a hearty belly laugh that shook them both.
Zap chuckled lightly at the reaction, then continued with mock-morbidity. "But then it died. It was too old to eat and too big to bury. So Dad just cooked it in a barrel for days. Cooked it away..."
Blink. Pete let out a snorting breath through his nose and relaxed back again, "That's how I plan to go. Too old to eat, too big to bury."
"Aw, God. Ew. God." Zap sneered, then laughed into his shoulder. "Gross." She squeezed her arm around his middle and rested against him again. "Then we won't need a pig. Just horses. But you, apparently, won't be able to ride one."
"Net." He nuzzled her and smiled. "I could walk beside you - I'd be even with you, I think."
"That'll do, pig. That'll do."
Piotr kissed the top of her head before relaxeed back into the bed for good. He wasn't feeling as hungry anymore. Everything he needed was close by now.