Chapter Text
Though it wasn't often that he did so, Tora would shower and change at his apartment; however, he only did this if Vincent had sent him on a particularly cruel job. He never wanted for Poppy to see him covered in blood with the smell of death hanging off of him.
Which is why Poppy didn't think anything of it when he showed up at her door with his wet hair pulled in a bun, a bag of takeout dangling from his hand, and a smirk dancing on his lips.
"Alice says to say hi to ya." Tora moved silently past his girlfriend when she opened the door wider to let him in. "Says she doesn't see ya as much as she wants to. Wants ya to visit, I s'pose." Poppy's smile widened as she started to gather dishes and utensils for them and set them on the counter next to him.
"I guess I'll need to drag Erdene and Jacob down there one day. I know they'll go crazy for the food." Poppy stopped scooping out vegetables and looked up at Tora with her face pinched. "You don't think Alice will be mad at me for bringing along a few friends, will you?" Tora raised an eyebrow and went back to splitting the sushi between their two plates. "Yeah, that was a silly question."
Tora brought their food over to the table while Poppy poured them drinks. Strawberry juice for him and water for her. She smiled when she stuck a strawberry on the side of his glass. Look at her being fancy for her boyfriend.
She set the drinks down and sat across from him, really taking in Tora's form for the first time that night. She frowned when she saw that he was in a loose tee-shirt and sweatpants. If he showered at his place, he normally put on a tank top and joggers, preferring to get right into his pajamas so he wasn't bringing extra clothes with him. Maybe he just needed to do laundry and these were all the clothes he had left? No, that couldn't be it. Tora was always good with his laundry. Better than her most of the time. Maybe he couldn't stay the night? He sometimes dressed down when he had to spend the night with Quincey.
Unable to bite back the question, Poppy glanced down at her hands before back up again. "Do you have to work tonight?" Tora's head shot up, rice falling from his mouth when he did so. Poppy cracked a smile at the stunned expression on his face.
"What makes ya say that? I always spend Sunday nights here, Bobby. Made sure to tell Vincent, too." That took Poppy by surprise, completely side-tracking her from her original thought.
"Wait, you told him what?"
Tora carefully set his chopsticks down and avoided eye contact. "Told him months ago that I needed every Sunday night and Monday morning off." When he just continued to stare at the wall behind her, Poppy leaned forward, trying to nonverbally prompt him to continue. "Ah...said it was important and if he needed me, he better fuckin' wait cause I had important shit to do." He finally looked back at her. "Didn't tell him exactly what the important shit was, but he knows better than to piss me off by asking me questions."
Poppy flushed and moved a piece of carrot around on her plate. "You blocked out cuddle time for us?" Tora reached across the table and gently grabbed her face, lifting it to meet his.
"'Course I did." His face twisted in a weird mix of sadness and helplessness. "Can't have the hamster getting all lonely and depressed." Poppy half-scowled and tried to jerk her head out of his grasp before he let her go.
"Go take a shower or whatever ya do. I'll clean this shit up." Poppy looked down at the mess on the table, then towards her tiny sink.
"Oh, are you sure?"
Tora smirked and stood up. "Very. 'Sides, means we can go to sleep sooner."
Only when Poppy had walked away did she think about the words he had just said. Go to sleep? Tora didn't sleep. Tora never slept. He stayed awake until he physically couldn't anymore because of his nightmares and paranoia. Then again, maybe he really did need sleep if he was slipping with his words this much.
By the time Poppy got back to her bedroom, dressed in fuzzy pants and one of Tora's shirts, he was already lounging in bed, stretched out as much as he could on her much-too-short mattress. He was still in the clothes he arrived in, which reminded Poppy that she never got the answer as to why. Hoping to be sneaky about it, she jerked her thumb to the dresser behind her.
"I've got some of your extra clothes in the bottom drawer if you want to change."
Tora didn't move, only following her with his eyes. "Nah, I'm fine like this." Not wanting to make a big deal out of what was probably nothing to him, she climbed into bed next to him and tried to slide closer, only to be stopped by his arm.
"Not tonight, sweetheart. Ya know I love cuddling with ya, but I actually need some shut-eye tonight, and ya like to suffocate me. Don't ya have that important meeting really early, anyway?" Poppy frowned before her eyes widened. He was right. She had a meeting with a possible new client at six in the morning. Which, in her opinion, was far too early for anything. Didn't people value their sleep? Taking note of her expression, Tora nodded. "I set your alarm. Ya always stay up way later than ya should if ya cling to me like a monkey." Instead of pulling her to him, he just slipped an arm under her head and shut his eyes.
"Night, Bobby."
Poppy's expression soured before pushing it aside for later. She didn't want to fight when she had to be up in less than seven hours.