After Hours- Halt and Catch Fire- Cameron/Joe (M)

[TaurielRiver]

So, I am just a liiiiittle bit Lee Pace crazy right now, and may have just spent the last 24 hours few days watching S1 (now confirmed for S2!) of a series I didn’t even know existed until last week, Halt and Catch Fire. It now comes with my highest recommendations!

This one-shot can be read out of context, but I thought I’d write up a tiny intro to the series, just in case.

Set in 1983, Cameron and Joe work together at Cardiff Electric, a medium-sized technology company in the Silicon Prairie of Texas. Joe is the Senior Product Manager, Cameron his lead programmer. Joe is something of an enigma, a former employee of IBM who departed under shady circumstances, now the driving force behind his team at Cardiff in the race to outsmart IBM in the computer technology game. Cameron drops out of college to join the project, highly skilled, intensely innovative, and far from the corporate cast. Their relationship is… interesting!

After Hours

Halt and Catch Fire

Cameron Howe / Joe MacMillian (M)

.RUN ADV11

_ _ _

WELCOME TO ADVENTURE!! WOULD YOU LIKE INSTRUCTIONS?

Smiling at the familiar opening lines, Cameron slouched deep into her chair, cranking up Sonic Youth on her Walkman. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she entered lines of cheat code to skip ahead to the fourth cave in a maze of twisty little passages where she had left-off.

She wouldn’t have even looked up had it not been for the red spot of light that blinked softly from the dark foyer, indicating the elevator was slowly ascending from ground to first, second, then third floor. Killing the monitor, Cameron sank even lower in her chair, whipping her headphones from her ears and clicking off the cassette just in time. It wouldn’t be a good look to have Bosworth catch her overnighting less than a day after being told to find a legitimate residence.

But as the elevator doors slid apart, it wasn’t the Senior Vice President who stepped out, but her far more volatile superior. Unaware of her presence, Joe MacMillian scanned the dimly-lit office floor. The green pinpoints of light emanating from the ImageWriter and fax machine cast an eerie glow over his contoured features, his expression revealing nothing.

Then slowly, almost hesitatingly, his eyelids fluttered and his jaw slackened, his lips partly softly to take in a couple of short breaths, followed by-

“Hech-chhhhh!”

He caught the sneeze in his hand, then pressed the back of it against his mouth, looking faintly uncomfortable. As he straightened up, Cameron noticed his hair had flicked forward and almost covered his eyes, dripping wet. Her gaze continued downwards- his collared shirt and thin tie, usually crisp, now clung desperately to his physique. He was, in fact, drenched.

Feeling curious, if even a little devious, Cameron twisted round to watch him cross the room into the staff kitchen, pulling a styrofoam cup from the stack on the counter and filling it with lukewarm coffee from one of the plastic urns. Draining the cup in a long, continued sip, he looked neither satisfied nor concerned, gradually placing the empty cup back down and tapping the base against the laminate surface, thoughtful. Then, turning away from the neat little refreshment setup, he pressed a fist under his aquiline nose, blinking pointedly for a few seconds, but then lowered his hand, giving a low sniff instead.

Cameron made to rise from where she had been conveniently concealed. Her game of Colossal Cave Adventure could wait after all, the new game would be discovering what Joe was up to, driving all the way back to Cardiff in a storm.

As if in response to her thoughts, Joe also seemed to snap into focus. With unhesitating purpose, he strode between the open-plan workstations to the very back of the office, stopping at the door to the engineering design suite- The Kill Room. Pulling a set of keys from his pocket that likely didn’t belong to him, he located the one he needed and the flimsy push-lock clicked open effortlessly. He disappeared from view, leaving the door ever so slightly ajar.

Intrigued, Cameron weaved in-between the beige monitors after him, their low hum masking her deliberately soft footsteps. Pushing the door inwards, she saw the fluorescents had been left off, the room illuminated by streetlight filtered through the venetian blinds. Joe faced one of the filing cabinets, calmly pulling a manila folder from within.

“I thought I might run into you” he said quietly towards the files, unsurprised.

His tone was gentle, yet somehow Cameron felt she had been caught out, rather than the other way round.

“I was on a roll with the BIOS” she replied cautiously, as poor at fabrication as she suspected her counterpart was skilled.

He gave a slight incline of his head, unconcerned with any reasons she chose to give. Biting back another sniffle against his wrist, he eased the cabinet closed, then walked towards her as if to exit.

“Actually, I’ve kind of hit a wall…” Cameron admitted, eyes again flicking to Joe’s sodden shirt, his waist now clearly defined beneath broader shoulders.

Considering, Joe stopped. Placing the folder down, he leaned against the edge of the conference table. He looked at her deeply, questioning. Her approach to troubleshooting was still mostly unmapped territory, and she recognised both his interest and hesitation, though the latter perhaps not from lack of desire.

Cameron tested a step forward, followed by a more confident one, til she was almost against him. He never took his eyes from her. Slowly, she drew her hands to either side of his face, his cheekbones cool to her touch. She drew him forward til their lips brushed, and she felt the cold tip of his nose gently pressed against the side of her own. He gave an almost imperceptible shiver, and it crossed her that perhaps he hadn’t driven back to Cardiff after all, for all she knew he was as likely to have sprinted through the storm, oblivious.

Her curiosity at the reason behind his unanticipated appearance now piqued, she thought to dig deeper, but found him pulling back, sharply taking her wrists and drawing her hands down from his cheeks. Surprised, she felt strangely excited, but he shook his head swiftly in warning, eyebrows clenched and breath halting as he fought to turn away in time.

“etch-chHHHHhh!” he jerked into his shoulder, still trying to manoeuvre her more safely to his side. “sorry… ETSHHHhhh!”

Cameron was taken aback by the force of the grip that travelled through her wrists and up her arms with each sneeze, and somehow still had the impression that he must have been restraining himself.

Slowly turning back to face her, he sniffed, an apologetic frown playing at his lips. “Forgive me. That was unexpected.”

Cameron smiled quietly in return, unreadable. “So were you, turning up here. What gives?” Her fingers toyed with the tidy shirt buttons at his chest.

He exhaled, softly. “I needed some paperwork. It wasn’t something that could wait.”

Deciding she preferred this vague answer to one of his more easily spun tales, she let her fingers creep up to his shoulders, gently but firmly guiding him back onto the conference table. His wet hair fell against the polished mahogany surface, his eyes burning up at her through the dim. They almost looked to be tearing, a thought that was quickly confirmed when he muttered a terse “hold on…”

Blinking, his nostrils quivered noticeably, and she sat up a little, fascinated to see him struggling with what looked like another sneeze. As a few faltering breaths fixed her suspicion, she leaned back down impishly, keeping her hands pressed against his shoulders when he had obviously expected her to move away.

“Wha- huh- hey-” he managed, surprised, before tripping over a forceful inhalation and desperately caging a hand over his mouth.

“ETSHTtshhhhu!” It was the kind of sneeze better caught in a tissue, and his glare told her as much.

“Bless you, man what is with you tonight?” Cameron laughed, and Joe gave in to an exasperated groan and a playful shove. Clearing his throat, he pulled himself up to sit facing her, their legs intertwined.

“Hmm, pardon me. Weather… work… present company… all of the above?” his eyes, shadowed under dark brows, give the tiniest glint of a smile.

Feeling the damp of his clothes seeping into the spots where he leant against her own, her hands found their way to the arch of his spine, drawing him closer until she could feel the light touch of his breath flicker on her cheek. Pulling herself against his chest, she drew him into a slow kiss, tempted to bite his lower lip.

“heh- hey… stop…” he whispered against her mouth, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side when she took no notice.

Disregarding the uneven catch of his breath, she let her lips trail down the side of his neck, folding into the warmth of his skin.

“Cam- hih…” he started, then quickly unwrapped an arm from her waist to press a clenched fist under his nose rather urgently, a glower of fluttering concentration deepening the small frown line that sat between his brows.

Cameron responded with an indistinguishable murmur against his collar, reaching for the unoccupied hand and energetically entwining his fingers in her own, her grip already secured before he came to realise.

Unable to do anything for the wetness that was building in the corners of his eyes, his nostrils flared ever more irrepressibly, and he gave a single moist sniff in a last attempt to make the point.

“Cameron.. I , I’m..”

She took the awaiting hand down from his face, wrapping herself around him ever more snugly. “…What’s up?”

Whether his eyes narrowed in desperation or resounding comprehension, it was hard to say. “You…hii… know what!”

His brow creasing in exasperated defeat, he didn’t know whether to burst out in laughter or frustration- she was far too close now to do much to help it. He leant the bridge of his nose into her collarbone as his breath hitched unbearably.

“heh.. hi.. HuhtKTXCH!” he tried his best to contain it against her shoulder, quickly realising his mistake as this wasn’t nearly enough, but having no time for a reposition. “EhtSHHhhh!”

His frame jerked against her with such force that she almost felt she were catching him, and that it were necessary to do so. Feeling a slight dampness settling into her T-Shirt, she was taken with an unquenchable thought to kiss him again, but one look at his distracted, watery expression told her to wait.

Lowering his eyes and inhaling sharply, he had little choice but to lean back into her as the irritation overwhelmed him.

“…EHKTSHtshhhhh!”

Pulling away, Cameron’s hold had softened enough for him to finally disentangle himself. She found herself grateful for the filtered streetlight, which was enough to conceal her flushed cheeks, though not the shimmering wetness that glimmered just inside his septum. He was stretching over to the box of tissues perched at the head of the long table, managing to shuffle closer when he realised they were only just at the edge of his fingertips.

Cameron took the opportunity to quickly flick open the manila folder that had been resting beside them on the table. Let’s see what you’re really up to. Her fingers rapidly darted through the pages inside, and found them… completely blank. Mystified, she let the cover fall back in place. Why Joe did anything still seemed far outside of her reach.

Turning back, Joe was holding a tissue to his nose, blowing softly. Looking relieved, he gave her a slight smirk and shake of his head. “Shall I say forgive me? I think I’m done.”

Slowly easing into a grin in return, she looked him over thoughtfully, then purposefully, finally edging back towards him til her lips almost touched his ear.

“You can say it, but believe me… we’re not nearly done.”

- - -

[Garnet]

Girl. GIRL. WE ARE SO on the same wavelength. I also just plowed through this series a couple of weeks ago! And subsequently wrote a drabble for it but whoops it's on the Adult board haha, I hope your pending hurries up and goes through soon so you have access to it.

Okay but back to yours. Agh. Your Cameron is so on point, all slouchy and cagey and a bit prickly but concealing a deeper, genuine sort of inquisitiveness. So many good details and word choices here, for her and Joe (um, volatile is perfect). The emphasis on how poor she is at lying, and the sense that she's the one with her hand in the cookie jar despite Joe being forever guilty of that always and she knows it. Just, yes. The undertones, I'm readin' em.

And uh, wet Joe. That was a very wise... atmospheric choice there, good job. Psyche, I am totally just in it for dripping, grumpy, shirt-clinging misery. I could rewatch the storm episode and reread this indefinitely:

Then, turning away from the neat little refreshment setup, he pressed a fist under his aquiline nose, blinking pointedly for a few seconds, but then lowered his hand, giving a low sniff instead.

Bye. The almost-sneeze alone may kill me.

“Actually, I’ve kind of hit a wall…” Cameron admitted, eyes again flicking to Joe’s sodden shirt, his waist now clearly defined beneath broader shoulders.

And this. Ohhh I know where this is going, now, and I greatly approve. I'm pleased to see they're both still kind of feeling that situation out, despite its setbacks (sneezing included).

Cameron was taken aback by the force of the grip that travelled through her wrists and up her arms with each sneeze, and somehow still had the impression that he must have been restraining himself.

Also this. Big fan of barely-controlled and obvious restraint, especially in this context. The ensuing scene is equally hot, what with fooling around on the conference table, his wet clothes seeping into hers, and Cameron being a laughing smartass ohhh I love her. And, uh, stifled sneezes against the other person's shoulder might be my very favorite thing ever, so way to hit all my buttons at once here.

Cameron took the opportunity to quickly flick open the manila folder that had been resting beside them on the table. Let’s see what you’re really up to. Her fingers rapidly darted through the pages inside, and found them… completely blank. Mystified, she let the cover fall back in place. Why Joe did anything still seemed far outside of her reach.

.

Ahahaha fucking of course they're blank. This is both funny and a little creepily unsettling, which is about the same feeling I got from the show what with being totally unable to get a read on his character. I feel you, Cameron.

Anyway. I'm still seal-clapping over here. I'm so happy someone else is even familiar with this series, much less writing sneezefic for it? And it's you? Jeez, Spoo mentioned it to me via IM and I dropped everything and bolted over to the forum to read. GOOD JOB

[Vintagedarling]

This was AMAZING!! Love the details, with each characters internal, and external POV, just WOW!!!

[TaurielRiver]

Girl. GIRL. WE ARE SO on the same wavelength. I also just plowed through this series a couple of weeks ago!

Dude, you have noooo idea how freaking EXCITED I am to hear that (a.) you appreciate the sexyintelligentAWESOMENESS that is Halt and Catch Fire, (b.) you actually WROTE a drabble for it (way to make that a mega teaser…whooo boy ) and (c.) Agh, you are totally on the same page and familiar with every single vibe that is these characters (who are crazy-inspiring me right now)!!

THAT STORM EPISODE. I think at that point I may have wondered if it was time for sleep… but no, it was just the series taking my fantasies and saying, yep, here they are… all over your screen! Enjoy!

And on the subject of enjoyment, very very cool to know you enjoyed some of the… themes. Those are definitely my major weaknesses right there!

I'm so happy someone else is even familiar with this series, much less writing sneezefic for it? And it's you? Jeez, Spoo mentioned it to me via IM and I dropped everything and bolted over to the forum to read.

And as if this isn’t the most downright flattering thing I’ve ever heard?! Um, yes. IT IS.

This was AMAZING!! Love the details, with each characters internal, and external POV, just WOW!!!

Gah, thank you SO much, I am doing my ‘no, no, it’s too much… but really, don’t stop!’ face. Really, thank you!