Title: Close Quarters
Creator: k_lynne317
Prompt/Cliché: H22/Forced Proximity
Characters (alphabetical by last name): Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, Adrian Pucey
Pairing(s): Hermione/Theo
Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Rating: R
Warnings (Highlight to view): Adult Hermione, EWE, Post-Hogwarts, Smut with Substance, UST
Word Count: 2223
Summary: Budget cutbacks have Hermione and Theo sharing a small office together. As the months wear on, their office starts to feel smaller and smaller. Who will break first?
Author Notes: So when I was finally able to get a chance to sit down and work on this, I looked at the prompt and tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do. Then along came Mandy and her idea that helped get my brain kick-started with this tale. Thank you so much, my dear! Thanks also goes to Kat for her Alpha services, Desiree for her impeccable beta skills, and Vara for her fast and fantastic Brit picking. A big thank you also goes to the mods for hosting the fest for our favourite rare!pairs. And last, but definitely not least, many thanks goes to nightfalltwen for their wonderful prompt. I might have stumbled a bit out of the starting blocks, but the characters took over and we had one hell of a ride.

Theo was almost at his wits' end. He honestly didn't know how much more he could take. Covertly looking across the small expanse of the two desks that had been pushed together in their miniscule office, he was once again reminded that he actually owned shoeboxes bigger than this. The dark haired wizard shook his head and looked down, but then berated himself for looking away when he knew he wouldn't be interrupted. He looked back up again and took in the sight that greeted him, his co-worker of over five years.

When they asked their supervisor why they were to be sharing an office together, budget cutbacks was the response given. Their boss went on to explain that there were other departments that were expanding and that because both of them spent part of their time overseas with other members of the International Confederation of Wizards, then it would be easier for them to share an office. All of this had been told to them less than a week before the Ministry's Wizarding Relocation Services had come storming in like retired Death Eaters and practically threw both Theo and Hermione into their new office together. Theo remembered wanting to stay far away from his new office mate that day; she did NOT look happy. That was over six months ago, and they had been office mates ever since.

Budget cutbacks, my arse, he thought. Theo was pretty sure someone was out to drive him round the bend, and they were doing a bang up job of it.

His office mate shifted in her seat, looking for parchment pertaining to their current project. Theo barely covered up a groan at the quick flash of the smooth expanse of skin of her normally hidden collarbone. It had been six excruciating months. Finding the parchment she had been looking for, she shifted back into her seat and he could hear the tell-tale rustle of the crossing of her legs.

"There's only so much a bloke can take before he snaps," Theo muttered, hands tightening into fists.

A frown marred her pretty features as she looked up from her work. "Everything okay, Theo?"

He sighed as he stood up from his desk, relaxing his hands. "Yes, I'm just going to go for something to drink from the break room."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh! Would you mind getting me some tea?"

Theo nodded his head. "Of course, Hermione. Black with two sugars only?"

Hermione smiled. "Yes, please."

He quickly covered the short distance to the door and as the door closed behind him, he heard her say, "Thank you, Theo," but he missed the smirk that spread across her lips after he left.

Theo quickly made his way into the garishly decorated break room. Flicking a floating red heart out of his way, he opened the cabinet next to the sink and pulled out two mugs and started preparing tea for two.

He had only been in the room long enough to start making their tea when a voice joined him.

"How are things going, mate?"

He turned to shoot one of his best friends a glare.

Adrian laughed. "That good, eh?"

"My control is hanging on by a thread. Adrian, her clothes may be nothing but work appropriate, but Sweet Nimune, the thoughts that go through my head when I see her are far from work appropriate." He held out his left thumb and forefinger barely an inch apart. "I'm this close to taking her on our desks!"

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Then why don't you?"

"Because! She's not that type of woman, Adrian. She's the type of woman you actually take out for dinner, not make into your dinner."

Adrian needled him, "Why can't she be both?"

"Because," Theo started to say, but then his words faltered. He gazed into the steaming, swirling liquid before him.

Adrian gave him a few moments of finding the steeping tea more important than their conversion, before he stepped close to Theo and spoke. "Why can't she be both, Theo? What is stopping her from being the woman you take out to dinner and the woman you have your wicked way with on your office desks?" Adrian chuckled, resting his hand on the counter next to him. "I've seen the two of you work together for five years now. Yes, it was rocky at first, but the two of you have a chemistry that is so natural that it is impossible to duplicate."

Theo turned to look at Adrian. "Why am I such a mess?"

"Because you are a fool. A fool who is in love with a brilliant witch, and you're going to go back to your shared office, ask her out to dinner, and after she says yes, you're going to have your wicked way with her on your desks." Adrian slapped him on the back, leaving a pink confetti handprint behind. "Now, finish those teas and get back to your witch."

Theo turned back to the teas on the counter. "When did you turn into Cupid?"

Adrian's eyes widened upon seeing what he'd done to Theo's shoulder and quickly wiped the evidence away. Theo looked over his other shoulder with a raise eyebrow. Adrian smirked. "He's my alter ego, didn't you know? But don't go telling anyone, I don't want to have to fend off the ladies any more than I have to if word got out that I was matchmaking."

Laughing, Theo picked up the mugs and led the way out of the office. "Don't worry, mate, your secret's safe with me."

"Would you like me to get the door for you?" Adrian questioned as they neared the door to Hermione and Theo's office.

"That would be great."

Opening the door, both wizards stopped at the sight of Hermione perched on the edge of Theo's desk. Her navy suit jacket had been discarded in her chair, her wild, brown curls were released from the braid she normally had it in, and the top couple of buttons on her cream coloured blouse had been slipped through their holes.

Hermione turned to look at both wizards, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth. "Thank you for returning Theo to me, Adrian. I can take it from here."

I bet you can. Adrian watched as she crossed her silk-stocking clad legs, causing her matching navy blue pencil skirt to rise dangerously close to his version of paradise. He was sorely tempted to see if he could catch a peek of her knickers to see if they matched the silver of her bra, but he was also smart enough to realise he didn't stand a chance with her.

Adrian grabbed the mugs of tea from Theo's hands and placed them on top of the short bookshelf in the office. "I'll just set these on the shelf, under a warming charm for when you're ready for them. Take your time though." Adrian grinned unrepentantly.

Theo ignored him in favour of staring at Hermione.

"Well, I will be leaving you to it then." Adrian smirked. "Looks like you won't be needing that dinner after all."

Hermione returned his smirk. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that."

Adrian laughed and closed the door. "You are one lucky bastard, Theo. One lucky bastard indeed."

He heard the lock click into place and felt the soft caress of a Silencing Charm slide into place.

Theo grinned at Adrian's comment. "I am lucky."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, setting her wand back on her desk behind her. "You won't be if you don't get your arse over here."

Theo didn't need to be told twice, in just a single step he was standing before her. He paused a moment noting the glint in her light brown eyes before he slid his left hand into her wild curls.

Smirking, he raised an eyebrow. "So about that dinner?"

Hermione growled, "If you keep stalling, then there will never be a chance for dinner."

Theo leaned forward and nipped at her jawline. "Demanding little wench."

She started to pull away.

Theo tightened his hand in her curls, stopping her movement. "Oh no you don't, I've got you right where I want you."

He grinned, savouring the pout tickling her lush, rosy lips before kissing her for the first time. Pulling his left hand out of her curls, he slid it down her neck, over her collarbone, and down between her breasts where it joined his right hand in unbuttoning the last of the buttons on her blouse.

Hermione's hands were not idle either; making quick work of the dark charcoal grey Oxford Theo was wearing.

As he slipped the last of Hermione's buttons out of its hole, Theo broke their kiss to take in the sight before him. Her silver satin clad breasts were peaking out from the opening in her unbuttoned blouse.

Theo grinned. "You were planning this, weren't you?"

As Hermione finished unbuttoning his shirt, she smiled innocently, but it quickly morphed into a decidedly more naughty smirk. "I may have been planning it."

"You, my dear Hermione, are a minx." He trailed the fingers of his left hand between the gap her shirt created, up over her stomach, and when he reached her bra, he hooked a finger in the soft material and pulled.

Hermione bit her lower lip and leaned forward willingly, shrugging out of her blouse.

Theo chuckled. "That is exactly what you are, a minx." He used his right hand to slide the strap on her left shoulder down. "You are also a tease."

"How am I a tease?" The last word fell from her lips on a breathless whisper as Theo's lips ghosted over her now bare left shoulder.

"You've teased me these last six months with your outfits," he trailed his lips across to her right shoulder, "your enticing smell," he slipped her other bra strap off her right shoulder, "and your seductive little smiles." He nipped at her collarbone.

Hermione moved to unhook her bra, but Theo stopped her, unhooking it himself.

Theo leaned back as Hermione let her bra slip down her arms. "Beautiful," he said reverently, brushing his hands down over her now bare breasts.

"Theo," Hermione whimpered. "Now who's teasing?"

Pressing against her shoulder, Theo watched as Hermione lay back on his desk clad in only her navy skirt and her hidden knickers, before removing his open shirt. He looked up into her light brown eyes, reaching for her skirt. "No more teasing, love."

Hermione lifted her hips, helping Theo to remove the dark material.

Bending down, Theo followed the path of the skirt down her legs until it caught on the navy pumps covering her feet. He quickly slipped both shoes off, letting them fall to the floor with the skirt joining them moments later. Theo looked up and grinned, seeing that her knickers did in fact match her bra. Kissing the inside of her right knee, he stood up and crooked his forefingers in her silver knickers on either side of her hips.

Sliding her knickers over her bum, he inquired, "You bought this set just for me, didn't you?"

"No, I bought them for Draco," Hermione deadpanned.

Theo nearly fell to his knees at her comment, a look of shock on his features.

Hermione grinned, winking at him. "Of course I bought them for you. I like Draco well enough, but he can still be such an arse."

Regaining his balance, Theo let her knickers fall the rest of the way down her legs to catch on her ankles and stood up. He groaned, pinching her bum. "You will be the death of me, witch."

Hermione squeaked, slapping Theo's hand before looking up at him and raising an eyebrow, she smirked. "At least you'll die a happy wizard."

Adrian had almost made it back to the department break room when someone joined him. "Have you seen Theo recently?"

"Yes, I just saw him," Adrian replied, turning to look at Draco. "He's in his office."

"Thanks." Draco turned to make his way to Theo's office.

"Uh, Draco, you might not want to go in there," Adrian warned. "He's with Hermione."

Draco shrugged. "So? I have nothing against Granger, you know that."

"No, you misunderstand me. Theo's with Hermione."

Adrian's emphasis on the word 'with' and the wiggle of his eyebrows made Draco pause. The blond's eyes widened. "You mean he finally got his act in gear and jumped Granger's bones?"

The brunet wizard laughed. "More like, Hermione got tired of waiting and jumped his bones. I had to set their tea aside under warming charms in case Theo accidentally dropped the mugs."

Draco smirked. ''It's about time! I didn't think it was going to take that long though."

Adrian shrugged. "They're both stubborn, you know that, but if either one ever finds out you were the one behind the two of them having to share an office, you're dead."

"There are only three people, you, me, and the Minister, who know that your department's office sharing suggestion came from me." Draco raised one slim blond brow. "I'm not going to say anything. I know Kingsley won't say anything, so if they find out, I know who to come to."

Adrian snorted. "Don't look at me, I'm not that stupid."