Chapter Text
It all started as an accident, really. Well, kinda. In college, when you had first started fooling around with Anthony House, he had upset you deeply a few months into your relationship. And you weren't mature enough at the time to think of a better way to get back at him than sleeping with his brother; Robert Edwin House.
You still remember that night. Oh, Robert was so cute then. He still was, honestly. You happened to be going to the same college as the man, but you were more focused on design rather than robotics compared to him. You ended up getting paired up with him for some project, and he'd tried to get out of it. He didn't want to work with someone else, neither did you, but the teacher was a stern, grumpy man and left no room for exceptions.
You and Robert were sitting on the floor of his small dorm room. He, being the introvert he was, requested a solo dorm. He was NOT going to have any roommates. You sat on the floor sketching out some designs for decals while he fiddled with some wires.
You don't quite remember how it happened, but you ended up complaining about your boyfriend at some point; Anthony House...and immediately noticed Robert's reaction to the mere mention of his cursed half-brother. You had never made the connection they were related to each other, until that night.
And since you were both rather mad at the man, you came up with possibly the stupidest, pettiest, most hormone driven revenge you could think of; sleeping together. You honestly didn't expect him to go along with it. Robert wasn't that type of guy. Hell, you don't know if you've ever even seen him talk to a girl or show interest in the opposite gender...but his utter hatred for his brother drove him to go through with it.
Anthony never found out, however. You two did that for nothing. You can't say you didn't enjoy it though. You were honestly pretty sure he was a virgin since you literally had to teach him how to kiss or do anything, but it wasn't bad. Kinda fun, actually. He was so smart, and you honestly him asking you for instructions and asking you questions about how things worked. You found yourself enjoying it more than any dirty talk you've ever experienced, actually.
The genuine curiosity he expressed did something to you, and you've never quite recovered from it. Also the way he'd compare certain 'mechanics of sex'- his words not yours- to things he already understood, like coding or soldering, was so damn adorable. And the way he looked at you with those deep brown eyes...ugh, you shouldn't remember it as fondly as you did. Especially considering you were now married to his brother.
It was...a rather miserable marriage, however. You don't even know why you agreed to marry Anthony...other than the fact he threatened to ruin your reputation so you could never get a job or start anew for yourself if you left him. Your future was in the hands of a mentally unstable, paranoid, rude idiot...but at least being stuck with Anthony meant keeping Robert in your life.
It was so incredibly rare you got to see him though since the brothers didn't get along in the slightest. They despised each other. Mortals enemies, basically. The last time you got to see Robert was on your wedding day, and that was five years ago. You hated that day. Anthony had been acting terribly all day and you finally had enough. You should have just run away, you should have never married him, and yet...there you were. Hiding in the damn coat closet and crying, but your favorite of the two brothers found you. Robert kissed your tears away and soothed your worries with logic...like he always did.
Oh, how you were missing his logical reassurances tonight. Anthony was obsessively working late in his study, so you were left to lay by yourself in the silence of the master bedroom. The silence did nothing to help your already spiralling thoughts this evening. Tears stung your eyes and eventually spilled down your cheeks. You didn't remember falling asleep.
When you woke up, you noticed the blankets had been pulled over you. Anthony must've tucked you in. At least he cared a little when he wasn't being all self obsessed. Speaking of your hubby, he must've already left for work since the house was so quiet. You grumpily pulled yourself out of bed and slipped on a luxurious silky robe gifted to you by your husband...but the soft material did little to comfort your misery this morning.
You walked to the bathroom to groom yourself, brushing your teeth and fixing up your hair and doing your makeup. The moment you finished painting your lips a gorgeous red that complimented your complexion well, you heard the door bell ring. You frowned, not looking forward to putting up with anyone so early in the morning.
You tiredly waltzed down the hall and descended the stairs. When you reached the front door, you found a...mail man at the door. How curious. He was holding a bouquet of flowers and smiled brightly when you answered the door. "I've got an arrangement here for Mrs. House." He said as he held the flowers out for you to take them.
You cautiously accepted the flowers into your arms, inspecting them. These weren't from your hubby, you could tell...unfortunately. Jeez, how depressing was that? You could tell it was from someone who truly knew your preferences, not just someone who married you because you had a nice ass.
The delivery man tilted his head to the side and tried to think of something to cheer you up. You seemed down...he was such a kind soul. "Whatever fella sent you those must truly be head over heels for ya, ma'am. And I can see why." He winked, "Have a wonderful day!"
How the hell was that dude so chipper so damn early in the morning?...you wondered, watching him retreat down the driveway to his truck. You shook your head, realizing you never actually replied. Where were your manners?
"Thanks..." You called out, then sighed heavily and closed the door. You padded across the floor to the kitchen and set the bouquet on the counter. Once you retrieved a vase, you maneuvered the arrangement into the water instead.
While you were doing so, a note slipped out from the petals and fluttered down to the floor. You picked it up and leaned your hip against the counter as you read it. Was that...morse code? No. Hang on, that's binary...you now knew exactly who these flowers came from.
You sighed, setting the note in the pocket of your robe as you walked upstairs to retrieve one of your old notebooks from college. You'd have to translate the note yourself.
Once retrieved, you set your dusty notebook on the counter when you returned to the kitchen downstairs and flipped through the pages until you found your alphabetic binary code key.
Let's see...