Perma-note: In my playthrough, I renamed Hayden to Ben; so in my fics, if you see the name Ben, that’s Hayden.
Summary: A certain intern disrespects Maya and Sloane one too many times and Damien has had enough.
A/N: So I already know this couldn’t have happened bc they were undercover and all.
But dammit PB kept teasing me with Damien going on and on about wanting to punch that intern, so I just wrote a little something. I hope you enjoy!
Slightly non-canon. Inspired from the events of Perfect Match 2 Chapter 8
Also incorporates Prompt #131: “Are you doodling?“ Damien x MC
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything. Characters/canon belong to Pixelberry.
Damien Nazario wasn’t an impulsive man. He was careful, logical and always about playing it smart; especially in a dangerous mission such as today’s.
After everything that he’d been through and not to mention what had gone down at Khaan’s launch party, he hadn’t felt too keen about waltzing right back into an Eros facility in broad daylight. But to put in those new codes, it had to be done.
It wasn’t easy though.
As adorable as it was when Sloane got all dreamy-eyed over reliving her intern experience, Damien had found himself having to quiet her down anytime her squealing got a little too loud for her cover identity.
The appearance by Cecile had been a close call; it was imperative that they remain subtle – a fact that he’d gone out of his way to remind everyone.
But now, as he watched Maya talking with Brad, he was finding it incredibly hard to take his own advice.
While Ben and Leila were still working, Damien and Maya had been in conversation when Sloane approached them, begging her to distract Brad from his incessant mansplaining so that she could at least make their project halfway decent; whether their group won or not. Naturally, Maya had felt bad for her so she had gone to initiate small talk with the little twerp.
She was sitting stiffly, barely concealing the irritation on her face as she kept the conversation going.
Damien scowled. Don’t do it, Nazario. Eros’ eyes are on you. Play it smart.
He felt movement next to him and turned to find Leila sitting there. “Hey, um … I hope you don’t mind me asking …”
“Not at all. Shoot.”
“That girl with the purple hair,” she said, tilting her head in Maya’s direction. “Do you like her?”
Her question was so sudden that he nearly lost his balance on the chair in which he was leaning. Had he been that obvious? “I- uh-” Damien cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t go that far,” he said carefully, speaking according to their backstories. “We only just met.”
Good thing my cover identity can include ‘awkward idiot’.
“It’s okay, you can say it,” Leila chuckled. “You’ve been staring at her the whole time. And I think she likes you too. You should ask her out!”
This wasn’t exactly new information to him; he’d already heard it from Maya herself and they were already together. Still, Damien couldn’t help the widening grin on his face. “Good to know,” he said. “I think I just might.”
Ben called Leila over and she returned to the computer to help him with the programming.
The P.I. shifted his gaze back to Maya, only to see Brad trying to show off his smart watch features. While finding an excuse to stare at her thighs.
And just like that, Damien’s hands tightened into fists. His protective instincts warred with his logical ones.
I really need to punch him.
Damn it, we’re undercover here in a lab full of people! Don’t blow it over some stupid kid!
He still needs a punch in the face.
This is the same woman who stabbed Rowan West in the eye over dinner in the presence of armed guards. She can handle herself.
Then Damien thought back to something an old friend had mentioned to him and grabbed a post-it note from a small pile to write on. A silly action, in retrospect, but this wasn’t going to end well; not if he kept sitting here stewing.
Soon, Maya was back at their table. “Hey! We all done here?”
“Just wrapping up.” Damien nodded over to Ben and Leila, who were busy typing in the finishing touches on their project.
Maya sighed, visibly relieved. “Good, I-” her eyes fell on the post-it note, as he was still scribbling on it. “Hey, Da-” she stopped, remembering not to use his real name. “Are you doodling?”
Damien looked up, startled. “What? No! I-” He saw her leaning toward the note and quickly shoved it in his pocket.
Maya frowned suspiciously. “What were you writing?” She reached out. “Lemme see-” Damien turned his swivel chair, blocking her access to his pocket and smirking when her motion brought them closer together.
“I was just taking notes,” He said.
“Really?” She arched an eyebrow, placing her hands on her hips. “You were taking notes?”
Damien couldn’t help the amused laugh that escaped him. It seemed Sloane and Ben weren’t the only ones who were enjoying this ‘young students fooling around in class’ act a little too much.
————————-
After that, they were headed to lunch. As much as they’d wanted to sneak out and make their way to the office Khaan had indicated, it was still too far away. They were going to have to get closer to the area they needed before leaving so that it would look more inconspicuous.
As the interns filed into the cafeteria, Maya jogged up to Damien and sat next to him. “Seriously, what were you doing?” No matter how many times he’d told her to let it go, she just wouldn’t listen.
“Nothing, now would you just-” Her hand brushed ever so slightly against his backside, causing him to jump. “Hey, what-”
It was too late. She swiped the note out of his pocket and began to read down the list he’d compiled. “’He looks like a mushroom’, ‘his face looks like a chicken’s ass’, ‘his teeth are bigger than his mouth’,” Maya’s lips began to twitch and she pressed them together, trying to hold in her laughter. “’He probably bruises like a peach’- D, what is this?” She held the note up to him.
Damien sighed, feeling his face heat up. “There’s this friend of mine who worked at a prison,” he explained, growing more embarrassed by the second. “He had this technique he’d use on hostile inmates where they’d list out their feelings on paper so they’d let their- stop laughing at me.”
Maya’s shoulders were shaking in her fit of giggles.
He lowered his voice to a whisper as he looked around self-consciously. “We’re out in the open here. Be subtle.”
“Uh huh,” Maya rolled her eyes, waving the note in front of him. “You’re one to talk about subtlety.”
“And I stand by it.” Damien insisted. “Now give it back.” He quickly snatched the post-it out of her hands and threw it in a trash can nearby.
“You know,” she whispered, leaning closer to him. “If you really wanted to do the whole ‘bad boy writes notes in class’ thing, you could’ve gone with writing sappy love notes to me.”
Damien snorted. “As tempting as that sounds, that wasn’t the reason. I was just trying to keep myself occupied so I don’t end up punching that-”
Maya facepalmed. “Oh god, not again,” she groaned. “What is with you and punching today?”
“What else can you expect, when some pipsqueak’s hitting on my girl?”
There was a goofy smile on her face and her cheeks tinged red. “Aww D, are you jealous?”
Now it was Damien’s turn to blush. “I don’t get jealous, Maya. Especially not with Toad over there.”
“Did you just reference a Mario character to make fun of someone?”
“He has the mushroom head to go with it!”
As if on cue, a few other interns sauntered up to the table; Leila, Arjun … and Brad.
The next few minutes went by as the interns conversed with them. Arjun and Leila mainly talked with Sloane and Ben about their programming activities; it would go smoothly until Brad would butt in, ‘explaining how it really works’ and ‘showing the ropes for the delicate ladies’.
Several awkward topic-changes, more mansplaining and sleazy pick-up lines later, Brad stood up.
“Okay, I’m gonna go to the men’s room,” he said before turning to Sloane and Maya, a sly smile on his face. Damien pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing exactly what was going to follow. Ben’s jaw tightened and Maya rolled her eyes.
“By the way, either of you ladies ever kissed-”
“If the next thing you wanna see is the pointy end of a fork, by all means, finish that sentence.” Maya bit out.
“Whoa, easy!” Brad held up his hands. “No need to get feisty.”
Once he left, Sloane sighed in relief. “Thank god. I thought I was going to have to-”
“Don’t give anyone any ideas,” Maya said pointedly.
“Back at the lab, he actually told me ‘there’s no need to work so hard, sweetheart, I’ve got this covered’.”
“Ugh.”
The other interns kept chatting amongst themselves, but Damien’s attention wasn’t on the group anymore. The annoyance he’d felt before had turned into something else now and all he could do was stare at his tray angrily. Clearly that writing strategy hadn’t worked for him.
Then he glanced behind him. “I’ll be right back,” he muttered as he got up and headed in a certain direction. Maya’s eyes widened and she turned to Ben.
“Right, I’m on it.” Ben hastily stood from his chair and headed for Damien who was making a beeline toward the restroom.
—————————-
Brad was about to head inside just as Damien approached.
At the same time, Ben appeared next to him. His eyes fell on the intern and his cautious expression changed. As he exchanged glances with Damien, an understanding seemed to pass between the two.
Brad’s squeaky laughter was grating on his ears as he flexed in front of the mirror. Ben nudged Damien from behind and they both slipped inside and locked the door; the former of the two hanging back while the other walked up to the clueless intern.
The kid saw Damien’s reflection appear from behind and he turned to face him. “Need help with something?” He asked condescendingly.
“What I need is for you to back off.” The P.I. crossed his arms and took two steps forward. “We don’t appreciate the way you’ve been treating our friends.” He snapped, nodding to himself and Ben.
Brad looked at him in surprise. “I knew they were just playing hard to get!” Then he sneered. “What’s wrong, old man? Afraid of a little competition?”
Damien had heard enough. Honestly, the first thought had been to look imposing and throw in a little veiled threat.
But the stress of this mission was already weighing him down. That combined with this punk’s gross behavior towards Sloane – the most brilliant genius in this whole damn building- and Maya, whose life was more precious than his own …
Now all he wanted to do was wipe that self-assured smirk off of Brad’s face.
Screw it.
“What the-”
Before the kid could react, Damien’s fist connected with his face. Hard enough to make him stumble, but not enough to leave a bruise or injure him. Then he grabbed his collar and pinned him to the wall.
“Say that again,” Damien growled. When Brad started to stammer, he pressed forward menacingly. “Go on, don’t be shy.”
Ben cleared his throat from where he was leaning back against the wall and all eyes turned to him.
“Dude,” Brad exclaimed. “You gotta stop this crazy guy, he just punched me for no reason!”
Ben looked between him and Damien. Then he smirked, casually shoving his hands into the pocket of his black leather jacket; that combined with his height making him all the more intimidating. “Oh I’m not here to stop anything. Just to keep my friend here from doing any serious damage.”
The intern’s eyes widened. “Hey let’s not do anything hasty, all right? It was just a little locker room talk. No harm, no foul, right?”
Damien’s eyes flashed dangerously and he tightened his hold, causing Brad to squeak. “Wanna bet?”
“C’mon bro, you don’t really wanna fight here?”
Ben merely crossed his arms, glaring
Now Brad was really scared. Damien opened his mouth to say something else when a certain sound got his attention; the sound of running water. He glanced at Ben, who seemed to have heard it too. They looked to the sinks, to the stalls, none of which were being used.
Then Ben’s gaze fell on Brad. “Oh my-” he clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh.
Damien followed where he was looking and his eyes widened. “You’ve gotta be kidding. I punch you once and you wet yourself?” Now this was just pathetic.
“You know,” Ben scratched at his stubble lightly as he taunted him. “For someone bragging about being younger, you sure have no bladder control when under pressure.”
“Gah, this is one time!” Brad barely got out. His face was red with embarrassment. “Okay I’m sorry for what I said to your friends, all right? Can we just forget the whole thing?”
“Here’s what’s gonna happen, you little shit.” Damien flashed a smug grin, never breaking eye contact with the terrified intern. “You’re gonna stay away from them. From every female for that matter. Should they have to work with you again, you’re gonna behave yourself.”
Then he narrowed his eyes. “And you will not encroach them in any way, shape or form without their consent, if you want to keep what’s left of your dignity.” He cocked his head threateningly. “Do I make myself clear?”
The response was a meek nod. Damien finally let him go and Brad scampered into a stall.
As they walked out, Ben clapped him on the back, snickering. “Damn, you barely touched him and you still did a number on him.”
“Trust me, he was nothing.” Damien chuckled. “I have four sisters and I used to be a cop. I’ve confronted bigger assholes than that.”
“For a second there I thought I was gonna have to pry you off of him.”
“I figured Maya sent you to stop me.”
“She did. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t wanna do that myself.”
“Hey, nothing wrong in standing up for your friends,” Damien acknowledged him with a smile and Ben offered a fistbump that he returned. As they made their way back to the table, Maya and Sloane came running to them.
“What took you guys so long?!” There was a hint of panic in Sloane’s eyes. “We have to go see the workplace safety video and you’re off starting fights?”
“Whoa, don’t worry, everything’s fine,” Ben laughed. “We just had a little chat.” Just as he said that, Brad rushed out the restroom and past them, avoiding eye contact.
Maya was shaking her head at Damien. “Have I mentioned that you’re terrible?” In spite of that, she cracked an amused smile.
“Only for you,” He grinned broadly. “Now shall we?” He gestured ahead, where the other interns were getting ready to head to the theater room.
Damien Nazario wasn’t an impulsive man. But when it came to Maya, all logic seemed to fly out the window even during risky undercover missions requiring one to blend in among twenty-something interns.
And she was worth the risk.