Work Text:
“Hello and welcome to Accounting Force, how may I help you today?” Bly’s voice rings out from his desk at the front of the office, and Aayla doesn’t even look up from where her focus had been fixed for the past hour or so. The woman who runs the bakery and café across the street had asked Aayla if she could possibly maybe look over her books because she’s pretty sure she’s being over-taxed, and of course, Aayla had agreed. Bly has discovered a second love in the pastries made there. How could Aayla deny anything to the woman who puts such a genuine happy look on her lover’s face? Also, the woman is very kind, and her café has become one of Aayla’s favorite date locations.
What does catch Aayla’s attention, however, are the three flashes of green light that the small button on the corner of her workspace lets out. They mean that Bly had hit the alarm button on the underside of his desk, but that the light was green means that neither of them was in any danger. Instead, they most likely mean that the latest customer to come into Accounting Force was a separatist. Perhaps, if they were lucky, even the separatist they had come to the planet to investigate.
Aayla gently set aside the bakery’s annual earnings and expenditures report and slid to her feet. She used the mirror in the corner of the room to adjust the deep blue blazer she was wearing, and then strode out of her office into the entrance room at a confident but not rushed pace.
“I’m afraid that will have to be a question for the accountant, sir, I just work the front desk,” Bly repeats, and it’s the most monotone voice she’s heard from him in a while. She knows immediately that even though she hasn’t done anything (yet), she’s going to have to take him out somewhere very nice tonight if she wants both of them to sleep in the bed tonight.
“Well, it sounds like a problem I can help you with, then, kind sir.” Aayla says, drawing attention to where she is standing in the doorway. Aayla cannot help the rush of relief that she feels when the man turns to face her, and his face matches one of the holos they have to ID their target’s employees. This one is mid-level management, a Skakoan named Acou Nting. She’s glad he’s finally coming to her, she was running out of creative ways to remove the other accountants that he hired instead.
Aayla watches him give her the customary appreciative look that nearly every man greets a female Twi-lek with. She ignores it, but she feels a rush of protective anger filling the air around Bly. She should tell him to ignore it, but what they are is new enough that she finds herself flattered by it instead. The look drags on for a little too long though, and so Aayla clears her throat. “If you have something you’d like to talk over, come into my office and we can begin sorting out your files.” She spins in place, and struts back to her office, and revels in the sharp pang of want that Bly gives off. She tries to ignore the much slimier possessive hunger that Acou Nting is giving off.
Aayla slides back down onto the seat behind her desk, gesturing to the seat in front of her. It’s a hard metal bench that has a nice looking cushion that actually does nothing to improve your comfort. So far none of Aayla’s clients have commented on it. At this rate, Lt Galle will win the pot on it, and really, Aayla had more faith in the whininess of the Separatists. Acou Nting sits down, and Aayla privately cherishes the flash of discomfort that fills the force. It’s the little things.
“So, you… are the accountant.” The Skakoan grinds out. Aayla responds with a blinding grin, even as her lekku pick up the way he’s tapping his foot against the ground in agitation.
“Yup! I graduated from MVU. I have my diploma here if you’d like to see?” Aayla comments, batting her eyes at him. If he wants to see her as a dumb Twi’lek, then she will be the dumb Twi’lek. She’s not even lying. She does have a genuine diploma from the genuine online courses she took when she was a padawan. Master Voss was big on unflappable cover stories.
“No, that’s alright. I’m afraid I’m on something of a tight schedule today though.” Aayla sent a subtle suggestion through the force that he should keep going. “We were supposed to have this data inputted last week, but the tholothian the boss hired came down with porgpox, which spread to nearly every department, and now we’re behind schedule and understaffed, and I have to go meet with another group of subcontractors in twenty minutes.” He rambles on, and apparently this man really had some things he needed to unload. Aayla smiles at him again, and twitches her lekku in a way that she knows most men find attractive, even though it translates roughly to ‘sucks to be you’.
“Then don’t worry about it. I have my standard contract here, and as soon as you sign it, I’ll be happy to start processing your data! I’ve been told that I always finish first.” She winks at him, and his whole force signature floods with desire/pleasure/alertness. Maybe she should stop teasing him, but she’s enjoying it. Besides, it’s hardly her fault that his mind just leaps right to that.
Aayla slides the top drawer of her desk open and takes out her contact holopad. She pulls up the contract she had prepared back when this mission started for this specific customer. She slides that across her mostly empty desk to him. He clearly skims the first two paragraphs before skipping the rest of them, and Aayla cannot believe her luck. She was prepared to use the force to redirect his attention from the paragraph that allowed Aayla to legally send the entirety of his company’s files to the republic, or the paragraph that alleviated responsibility from Aayla if it turns out that she has totally altered the numbers in the whole database. Acou Nting totally ignores them. He signs the documents, passing the holopad back to Aayla.
“You are certainly a lifesaver. I have to go, but maybe I could come back?” He asks, and at the very moment, the Bly steps through the door into Aayla’s office, carrying a giant bucket of water the same way one would carry a murder weapon. Aayla thinks he might actually be growling. He doesn’t visibly acknowledge Acou Nting, and instead walks over to the giant Valor Lily which is decorating Aayla’s office. It’s on the opposite side of the desk from Aayla, and it looks far better in her office then it did in the Senate Office she liberated it from if Aayla does say so herself.
“I’m afraid I’ll be busy all night getting your numbers in. It’s just to bad.” Aayla bats her eyes at him, and then snatches up the holopad with the data on it. In a well-practiced move, just as she retrieves her prize, Bly has set down his bucket of water and catches Acou Nting around the shoulders and marches him out of her office.
“Thank you for your business!” He calls with fake cheer, then flicks him a kark-you-kindly salute.
“Excellently executed, Freykaa[1].” Aayla calls to her lover.
“Did you get what we came for, Cyare?” Bly responds, stepping closer to her.
“I think I did.” The twi’lek responded with a wink. They both lean in towards each other, meeting in a soft, chaste kiss. Aayla feels as Bly goes to deepen the kiss, and Aayla places her hands on his chest as his make their way to her lekku. A sharp jolt of pleasure bolts through Aayla as his hands close around a lek. Aayla comes up for breath, a playful smirk on her face.
“Not in front of Boc’ara, Freykaa.” She teased, placing a finger against his lips.
“Boc’ara is just a flower bush.” Bly deadpans back at her. Aayla releases her giggles into the force, gasping in mock offense.
“How dare you say such a thing about our child?” Aayla cries, pulling a hand back to her bosom and dramatically flipping her lekku back. It gets a snort-laugh from Bly, so she considers it a success.
“Aayla. Cyare. It is a Valor Lily. A very large Valor Lily, but it is still just a Valor Lily.”
“How dare you? It is the all-consuming symbol of our love, Bly!” She wiggles out of his grasp, snatching the bucket of water from where he had set it down, and pouring it into Boc’ara’s pot. The force is filled with Bly’s amusement, and also the ever-present feeling of his love for her, and Aayla is definitely a little giddy with it.
“Cyare.” Bly groans out in annoyance that she can feel is just as faked as her offense.
“I am going to send these files to the council,” Aayla responds haughtily, before leaning back in to whisper in his ear. “Then, we can see about going somewhere a little more private.” Then, she turns and then uses the Force to shift Boc’ara off to the left, revealing the door to the backroom that it had been concealing.
“Aayla, this is private!” Bly calls as she heads in to use her hidden holo.