Archive of Our Own

It was around 2 AM when the ARCUS went off, snapping Machias out of his work induced fugue (he couldn't for the life of him recall having completed all that paperwork yet there it was, neatly stacked and signed) and making him rub his bleary eyes as he quickly fished the the device out of his pocket. While he wasn't exactly thrilled to be getting contacted this late - or early, depending on how you saw things - he also knew from experience that calls at this hour generally weren't to be ignored. Such was the life he chose.

"Hello?"

"Hi," came the quick greeting, breathless and eager, and in spite of the hour Machias found himself shaking his head fondly. You see, not only did he know that particular voice very well, he also knew what that very specific tone happened to mean.

"... Let me guess. You started the book tonight, didn't you?"

"That I did,"  and he could just about picture Emma's enthusiastic nod in his head, her sapphire eyes gleaming with unfettered excitement.

"I see. What time?"

"Oh, about 11."

"Mm-hmm. And what time did you finish?"

A telltale pause.

"Um... a few minutes ago,"  and in his mind's eye, a blush started to creep its way across her fair complexion.

"I see. Funnily enough, I could have sworn that I advised you against starting before bed - "

"I-I was only going to read a few pages!"  Emma protested, her voice rising in the manner it always did when she didn't quite believe what she was saying but tried to compensate with volume.

Machias scoffed, reflexively adjusting his glasses in the face of her unconvincing indignation. "Please. That's how it always starts."

Emma merely grumbled in reply, though it didn't have nearly the same effect as it would have were the positions reversed; not only was she simply not the grumbling type, she lacked the wealth of experience that Machias had in the field. It was hardly fair, all things considered.

"... You don't have to make it sound like you've never done the same thing, you know."

In hindsight, he would chalk up the resulting mistake to perhaps being a bit more tired than he thought. He should have known far better than to leave an opening in his defenses, no matter how miniscule it might have seemed at first; after all, the most effective counterattacks could stem from the most innocuous origins.

"Hmph. I like to think I have more self control than that," he said with a pointed sniff as he reached for his glasses again -

"Really, now? What about that essay compilation I recommended to you at Thors? You remember, the one that you'd claimed to have already read but actually spent all night on beforehand?"

- and just like that, his hand went dead still.

Judging by the strangled gasp in her ear, he hadn't been aware that she'd known about that little white lie for ages. Live and learn.

"H-H-How - "

"Rean told me," she said casually, noting the complete lack of even token denial with no small amount of satisfaction.

"Ugh. The traitor."

"Oh, don't be like that," Emma soothed, knowing all too well that the annoyance in his voice was more for show at this point than anything else. "I don't even think he knew you were hiding anything, to be honest."

"I'm sure he didn't,"  came his reply, dry as the desert sands. "That said, would you care to elaborate?"

"If you insist. I remember seeing Rean in the dining room reviewing for the orbal science test we had later that day, and in the midst of comparing notes he happened to mention that he'd caught you staying up late the night before doing some reading of your own. He also said that he was a little startled to hear that it wasn't school related. So was I, for that matter."

Machias sniffed indignantly. "Neither of you should have been. I'd done my review well in advance, I knew that unit backwards and forwards."

"Hehe. Anyway, I asked him if he knew what you were reading; needless to say, I didn't expect to hear him repeat the title of a collection I knew very well." She paused for a moment in reminiscence, the memory still clear as day. "A collection that I'd also remembered asking you about a day or two before. I was pleasantly surprised when you told me that you'd already read it."

"U-Um, well - "

"Rean also said," Emma interrupted, her lips curving upwards into a mischievous smile, "that you seemed rather eager to get through it. Something about how I was sure to have some interesting observations, just like I always did, and that you were looking forward to hearing them at some point."

Silence.

"I remember that conversation too," she reflected, her expression turning soft with nostalgia. "If not for running into Rean that morning, I never would have known anything was amiss. You came exceedingly well prepared."

(She was willing to bet good mira he was probably adjusting his collar at this point, whether or not his shirt actually had one notwithstanding. Old habits died hard).

"Machias."

A noise of acknowledgement.

"You didn't really think that you needed an excuse to talk to me by that point, did you?" she asked, the curious ring making it clear it was an actual question and not a rhetorical one.

The silence was back. A sign of his mulling away, she supposed.

"... Well, it didn't feel like an excuse at the time,"  he finally began, and the uniquely Machias blend of defensive and sheepish had never stopped being endearing to her. "I enjoyed our literature discussions as much as I hated admitting ignorance of anything, and it just so happened on the day you brought up that book my big mouth happened to ensure those two traits ended up colliding head on."

Emma giggled. "You did have a tendency to speak without thinking back then."

"Understatement. Anyway, I ended up in the library after finishing my review for the evening, tracked the title down amongst the shelves and the rest is history. Or so I thought. How is it you recall so much about this particular incident, again?"  he groused, his pride apparently still in the process of recovering.

She hummed in reply to that, her cheeks turning a healthy shade of pink as she tightened her grasp on her ARCUS. "How could I not? It's not every day that someone reads for you, you know."

By most people's standards, it was hardly a grand, romantic gesture; as a matter of fact, she doubted most people would have even viewed it as a gesture at all.

Emma wasn't most people.

"I - "

"You read for me," she repeated, the words coming in a gentle rush, her smile growing by the second. She still remembered the butterflies that erupted in her stomach when Rean (with only the slightest raise of an eyebrow, much to his credit) had told her how intent Machias was on finishing; the same butterflies that found themselves soaring freely before too long, taking a besotted witch along for the ride.

It almost made her ache sometimes, like a bruise she couldn't stop touching. She wondered if it was the same for him. He seemed much too sensible for flights of fancy like that, but then again...

"H-Honestly, it was only one book. And it was under false pretenses, at that,"  he managed, sounding for all the world like he was seventeen again and the intimate familiarity of it all conjured a warmth that happily spread throughout her entire being, a sunrise shining up and down her veins.

Goddess, he was just so easy to love.

Peals of melodic laughter echoed around the room, much to Machias' audible surprise. "Maybe so, but I happened to find those false pretenses rather charming. Lucky you."

"Hmm. Lucky me indeed."

His voice had lowered just a touch; perhaps not quite the timbre that made her breath quicken and her lips tingle, but close enough that she was really, really wishing he were in front of her right now.

"I still have it, you know." The fingers of her free hand gingerly flexed of their own accord, remembering what it was like to aimlessly run their way across heated, flushed skin.

"Of course you do,"  he sighed, the affection as clear as day. "I feel like I should consider buying a copy of my own now."

"I guess you could, but that's sort of a waste considering you could just borrow mine."

"I borrow enough of your books already."

"And I do the same with yours. What's one more? Our lack of a system's worked well enough so far."

"There's always room for improvement."

"There's also no need to fix what isn't broken."

"Incorrigible. Absolutely incorrigible."

"Guilty as charged. You love me anyway," Emma pointed out reasonably, her smile radiant enough to light up the night outside.

"And what a wonderful decision that turned out to be,"  he groused, deciding to wait until her giggles had ceased and her shoulders had stopped quivering to try and get a word in edgewise. "Emma."

"Machias."

"So, you read the book."

"I feel as though that's been established."

"Excellent. Would you like to discuss it then?"

"W-Wait, now?" she stammered, caught off guard. "But - I mean, the time - I just called because I was excited - "

"Insights are most valuable when they're fresh. I have all the time in the world if you do,"  and oh, what she wouldn't have given to reach out and touch.

"You liar," came her whisper, her mouth tenderly cradling the words; the closest thing to a kiss she could offer.

"Once upon a time. But getting back on topic; was it just me or was the writing in the prologue edging dangerously close to overly prosaic?"

She was being spoiled. She decided that she'd allow it.

"It's not just you," Emma began, her heart ablaze all the while, "but considering the shift in diction when the story switches viewpoints I'd argue that it was more of a stylistic choice than anything else. I know things like that can be very subjective, but if you go and look back at some of their previous works..."