Work Text:
It’s another rainy day.
Dark clouds covering the sky, Eli looks at the world outside that looks black and white through the window of his office. Rain has once again fallen in the city. Thankfully the rain only fell once he finally finished his job, he no longer needed to go outside and can now enjoy his break time peacefully while waiting for his ride to go home. Eli took one of his cigarettes from the cigarette box and ignited it as he walked back to his desk.
Eli holds the cigarette between his lips with his index and middle fingers. Eli breathes in and relaxes as he feels the nicotine entering his brain. Eli leans on his desk as he moves the cigarettes from his mouth to let out smoke from his mouth and puts the cigarette box and lighter in his pocket down on the desk with his other hand.
Eli does this, breathes in and breathes out a few more, and watches as the room start to get filled with smoke since the air in the room is not so well circulated with the closed windows. He doesn’t mind since he was the only one here at the moment anyway, that is until he heard the knock on his office door. That is probably his ride home.
“Come in,” Eli said as he looked back to his desk, looking for his ashtray. As he found it, he moved the ashtray closer to where he was and he put his cigarette in the ashtray. Eli can hear the click from his office door and the door soon opens.
There stand Naib Subedar, still in his full pale blue uniform, prim and proper except a few drops of water in his hair and face and the water stains on his boots, that Eli guesses are from the rain outside.
“Smoking again?” Naib asked as soon as he entered the room filled with smoke. “You can at least open the windows, Mr. Clark,” Naib commented, Eli can hear the sarcasm in his voice.
“You probably didn’t notice, Mr. Subedar, but it’s raining outside, I can’t open the window unless I want my office to be messy,” Eli shoots back. They stand there for a bit, just staring at each other, waiting for one of them to back down first. Finally, Naib let out a scoff and just walked to where Eli was. Eli again takes the cigarette that he had put in his ashtray.
“It’s bad for your health,” Naib said as he saw that Eli was once again ready to take another breath in. He stood in front of Eli, crossing his hands in front of his chest. Eli looks at him for a second, his blue eyes challenging Naib to do something about it but then he sees that Naib is not moving. So Eli decided to breathe in his cigarette in front of Naib, Naib rolled his eyes before moving next to Eli. Leaning on the desk, next to where Eli was, hand still crossing in front of his chest. Eli breathed out a cloud of smoke.
“I know, but,” Eli paused, then he inhaled the cigarette one more time. “This is my way of relaxing after so much work these past few days,” Eli continued after he exhaled yet another smoke from his mouth. Eli put down the cigarette on top of the ashtray again after that.
By now, they have already had this conversation a thousand times and Eli knows that this is just Naib saying those stuff out of habit and one of Naib’s ways of showing his care to him, so Eli doesn’t mind doing this conversation again.
They stay there again in silence, this time it’s comfortable. It’s just them, enjoying each other's company, listening to the raindrops that hit the windows and each other breathing, sometimes a few inhales and exhales from Eli, increasing the smoke in the room. Eli notices Naib took the cigarette box on the top of the desk and took one from it, he can’t stop himself from teasing the older man next to him.
“Oh? What are you doing?” Eli asks a light teasing tone can be heard, and even without looking, Naib knows that Eli is smiling.
“Smoking,” Naib answered, short and clear.
“Didn’t a certain someone just say that it’s not good for health?” Eli asks again, this time he is fully grinning. Naib didn’t answer, knowing it’s just Eli being cheeky like always and Eli didn't mind. It’s not that Eli didn’t know about Naib's habit of smoking, he did a few smoking here and there, not as often as Eli though, particularly on time where everything was just too stressful and he needed to relax… or time like this when he’s just smoking to accompany Eli.
“Here,” Eli says when he sees that Naib is taking the lighter on top of the desk. Eli, once again, puts the cigarette between his lips, moving his head to face Naib next to him and Naib understands since they already did this more than they could count. Naib put down the lighter again and moves his head to face Eli, leaning closer to Eli as he also puts the newly taken cigarette between his lips, their faces are close now, the tip of their cigarettes touching, Eli watches through his glasses, the older man eyes focusing on the tip of their cigarettes and Naib inhales, igniting his cigarette from Eli’s cigarette.
Naib moves back as he moves the cigarette away from his mount and breathes out the first puff of smoke. They didn’t talk about anything else, as it was already the end of work hour, which meant no more stressful conversation related to their jobs. Eli enjoys time like this, where they are only smoking and enjoying each other’s company, and it’s even better when Naib was only smoking because of him, no matter how selfish that sounds, because it means Naib is not stressed to the point he needs to smoke and it makes Eli feels special that Naib is doing it for him.
Eli was the first one to turn off his cigarette in the ashtray and Naib soon followed as his purpose was only to accompany Eli.
“Ready to go home now?” Naib asks after he turns off his cigarette in the ashtray. Eli nods as he walks around his office, gathering some of his belongings and taking his trench coat from the coat rack, before preparing the key to lock his office for the day. Naib walked out first and waited for Eli in front of the building. Eli walked out of the building already wearing his tan trench coat and with a briefcase in his hand, he didn’t notice that the rain had stopped, leaving only a few puddles of water on the street.
Eli walked next to Naib.
“Move faster, Brooke Rose is already waiting at home,” Naib said as he laced his finger with Eli’s free hand and Eli smiled, because of their intertwined fingers, because of the reminder of their home and their pet.
“I know,” Eli replies as they walk faster towards where Naib parks their car.