Chapter Text
It's around eleven P.M. on a saturday night when the scratching of keys in the lock of his front door makes Tommy look up from his book.
"Ada?" he calls out after the door fell closed.
"Who else would it be?" she calls back from the hallway, hanging her coat and slipping out of her heels by the sound of it.
Seconds later she appears in the living room, dressed in a knee length burgundy dress tight enough to be undeniably sexy but not tight enough to come across as desperate. At least that's what she's told herself in front of her bedroom mirror.
"Wow, you look gorgeous."
"I know, thanks." she says, carding a hand through her curled hair but making no move to sit down.
"D'you want tea?" he asks after watching her pace the room a couple of seconds.
"Yes please."
She wanders out onto the balcony while he's busy in the kitchen, leaning on the banister and fishing a pack of cigarettes from her purse.
"You're gonna catch a cold." Tommy says, referring to her bare feet and hands her a steaming mug.
"So are you." she blows smoke to the side before taking a careful sip of tea.
"Shit date?" he asks around the smoke of his own cigarette, eyeing her closely.
"You could say that." is all she says in return, sounding more angry than disappointed.
He decides not to push the subject, she'll come round eventually, always does.
"He nibbled, Tommy." she says sometime later, clearly annoyed still. They returned to the living room, legs curled underneath her she sits on the far end of the couch.
"Nibbled?"
"On my lower lip! Like it was a fucking iced lolly!" Ada exclaims and gestures towards her mouth, red liptsick matching her dress.
"Ew."
"Yes, ew!" she agrees, tight lines appearing around her lips "Also, he wanted to know what exactly it is that I do and then he said, and I swear I'm not making this up, that I was not like other girls because I can 'keep up'." she accentuates the last words by forming quoatation marks with her fingers, voice getting high pitched with anger towards the end.
"Arsehole."
"I have two degrees, two!" it almost came out as a shout and she could still feel anger sweltering inside her chest.
"Yeah, 'cause you're brilliant." Tommy agrees matter-of-factly.
"I know! Gosh I hate men..." she trails of with a harsh sigh, picking the seam of the throw pillow on her lap.
"Understandable."
Ada huffs a laugh, then after brief pause asks "What about you?"
"What about me?" Tommy asks in return, already sensing where the conversation is headed.
"Do you wanna stay holed up all by yourself in this very," she looks around the pretty plain white and grey interiour "bachelor flat forever, or what?"
"Don't mind it, really." it's the truth, he doesn't mind. It's a carefully constructed life this, happy he's not sure about but he doesn't mind and it works too well at the moment to question "Besides, where would you go after another glorious moment of decades of female emporwement being kicked in the shin."
There's a look in her eyes, just briefly ghosting over her face, that he's seen far too often but she doesn't say anything else.
"Can I sleep here tonight?"