Work Text:
Artem looks at his phone too often, Rosa notices in her two months working for him. He’s not the type to waste time on social media, too absorbed in whatever case he’s working on, but those azure eyes shift their attention to that phone almost instinctively every so often. She worries he’s expecting a call, or maybe even waiting for Themis to pop up in the news.
Rosa offers to take his phone, act as liaison while he works. He thanks her, but refuses promptly. She’s too intimidated by him to press any further.
Artem looks at his phone even more so, she’s painfully aware after her first year working with him. He looks so much it’s caused kinks in his neck, his eyes to redden in annoyance.
Rosa’s gotten to know him much more in a year, she doesn’t hesitate when she hears him clicking his tongue at the sight of the damned thing.
“Is there something wrong, Artem?”
Artem lifts his gaze from the file in his hands. Icy blue eyes soften at the sight of his assistant. “What do you mean?”
“For as long as I’ve known you, you always glance at your phone but you never do anything with it.” She sets down a pile of paperwork on her desk in the corner, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Ah, that.” A light chuckle and Artem sets the file on his desk and takes a moment to relax. “Nothing serious, just always checking the time is all.”
“So much so that your eyes are turning red?” Her face turns deadpan, “you don’t have a watch or something?”
“I used to. It broke once after a trial, never had the time to replace it.”
She doubts that but figures it’s not worth bringing up. Rosa watches his gaze center back in on his paperwork, and the mental gears in her head begin to turn.
Artem’s birthday falls on a weekday that same year. She gets to the office extra early, setting aside his paperwork for the day in a neat pile. With a light hum, she sets up the coffee pot and lightly dusts around the room. It’s nowhere in her job description, but she knows how quickly Artem can get sidetracked with new theories and have the room end up a mess of papers and sticky notes. Plus, she figures it would be a nice surprise for him to start work with. Rosa doesn’t doubt he’ll come in today--a workaholic like Artem would rather forget his birthday than take a day off.
It’s seven on the dot when he comes in, on the phone, nodding a quick hello to Rosa before sitting at his desk. She watches him intently at her own, listening in to his subtle affirmations before the line ends and he takes a soft inhale, mentally preparing himself for the day ahead.
“I have a pot waiting, would you like some coffee, Artem?” Rosa addresses politely and he gives a brief nod before diving into the pile at the corner of his desk.
“Thank you for organizing the office.” He speaks quietly as he pulls out the first case file and she hums a response as she disappears into the side room.
She pours his cup first, never understanding why he takes his coffee black. Kiki always teased and said it was because of his bitter personality, a man engrossed in his work and nothing more, a man barely capable of expressing any hint of emotion no matter the type of case. Rosa could agree, to an extent. She savors any bit of praise he gives her, knowing it doesn’t come often, but she knows that he’s more than just a stiff-lipped lawyer.
Artem’s emotions don’t come out often during cases, or rather, they don’t come out openly. Through flashes of darkness in his eyes, subtle tugs of his lips in a frown, Artem is fully engrossed in each and every case he takes on. Learning under him for little more than a year, Rosa has seen each side of Artem’s devotion to his profession--the soft, awkwardness he has with kids, the parental guidance he has with teenage clients, and the prideful determination with cases that happen to line up a little too well with his own personal life.
Rosa admires him all too much.
She doesn’t realize the light flush on her cheeks as she steps out into the main room. Careful not to disturb his concentration, Rosa sets down the mug at his side.
“Thank you.”
“Of course.” A quaint nod and she turns to make her way back to her desk. She giggles softly. “Oh, and Happy Birthday, Artem.”
Rosa hears the file softly hit the desk as Artem looks up. He swallows lightly and loosens the tie around his neck.
“Oh, I had forgotten.”
Rosa snickers softly as she opens the drawer of her desk. “Why am I not surprised?”
She feels his eyes on her and the flush on her face deepens. Tiny fingers pull out a small box that fits in her palm. It’s wrapped in small blue paper with a thin golden ribbon tied off at the top.
“You really didn’t have to-” Artem coughs as he watches her place the box in front of him on the desk.
“I know.” Rosa smiles, hands behind her back as she motions her head for him to open it.
Artem complies with a sigh, lithe fingers undoing the ribbon and letting it rest gently at the side. He tears open the paper, holding a small leather box in his hands. Blinking up at her for a moment, the ghost of a smile tugs at his lips. He opens the box and in lies a black banded wristwatch, gold lines the center of the watch with a deep velvet case and dark clock hands.
Rosa circles around behind his desk, leaning down to eye her gift in the glowing sunlight of morning. She offers to help put it on, lifting it from his hands and wrapping the black band over his right wrist. She tightents it with a satisfied sigh as she glances up to meet soft blue eyes.
A beat of silence passes as the two blink at each other. For the past year, she’s used his eyes to peer into the subtle emotions he doesn’t dare express outwardly, the pain he feels whenever Neil comes up in conversations, the bitterness whenever a particularly rough case involves a child. Those soft azures are finally so close, so close she can see the sparkle of bliss at her gift, the unflinching grip of his gaze on hers.
Rosa forgets to breathe.
But it’s Artem that pulls away first, realizing he had gotten too lost in the moment.
“I’m grateful.” He murmurs softly as Rosa snaps back to reality. She opts not to play entirely flustered, swallowing her thumping heart as she nods and scurries back to her desk.
As she sits back, grabbing her case work for the day, she sends one final glance over to Artem.
And she smiles when she sees his gaze focused on his new wristwatch rather than his phone.