Chapter Text
“So… when do you think we should tell everyone?” Lucy asks, her voice penetrating the comfortable silence built around her and Tim.
A mere four weeks ago, Lucy had followed Tim out of the elevator on a whim. As the daughter of two psychologists, Lucy knew all too well that humans had the tendency to display emotions in ways that they’ll later regret. After almost watching Tim die in a moving vehicle, she was recently reminded that life is shorter than anyone could ever imagine. So, she gracefully allowed Tim to begin repaying her kindness in small doses.
Well, at least it started out that way. Takeout after work became sit-down dinners, and quick evening walks with Kojo quickly became deep conversations lasting until 4 a.m.
And while things aren’t exactly how the couple left them, they’ve slowly found themselves falling back into the intimate rhythm they were forced to abandon.
“Tell everyone what?” Tim responds lightheartedly, running his fingers through her freshly blown out hair.
She swats at him jokingly, making sure to avoid the bandaged gash along his shoulder.
“I don’t know how much longer I'll be able to keep this a secret,” Lucy sighs, “I think it’s time to hard launch.”
“Hard launch?” Tim asks, confused. Though, he rarely seems to know the language Lucy uses; a language that she’s picked up through her chronic addiction to ClipTalk.
“Yeah, like officially announcing our relationship on social media,” she calmly explains, as this is an everyday occurrence.
“Why does everything have to be so dramatic?” he scoffs jokingly, and Lucy raises her eyebrows.
“Would it kill you to have a little bit of fun in life?”
“I’m starting to think so.”
Lucy brushes off his typical sarcasm and sets herself upright on the couch. She pulls her phone out of her back pocket and ques up her instagram profile before leaning back into Tim’s side.
“Alright, our goal is to find a cute, but not too suggestive picture to post. Something that will catch people’s eyes, but still leave them grasping for more information,” Lucy announces as she swipes on her screen. She moves so fast that Tim can barely register what she’s doing.
“Luce, this is so ridiculous,” he huffs. Though, she’s so focused and doesn’t seem to hear his complaint. He shakes his head as she repeatedly clicks in and out of pictures.
“Come on, help!” Lucy demands, albeit sweetly.
“I am not going to engage in this,” Tim says firmly, throwing his hands up in the air.
“I’ve had a lot of losses lately! I just want to be the center of attention once, even just for a minute.” Her eyes are wide, like a puppy dog. Tim knows that Lucy is just trying to guilt him, but it sure as hell is working.
“At least you’re self aware,” he says under his breath while pulling out his own phone.
“Yay, thank you!” Lucy squalls excitedly, bringing a tiny smile to Tim’s face. God, he missed her sunshine.
For the next twenty minutes the couple sifts through recent pictures of themselves together. Despite the dozens of nights spent together, they find a lack of photographic evidence left behind.
Eventually they land on a blurry selfie from a dinner date last week. It was simple: their faces were blurry and half-dranken glasses of wine sat in their hands. But they knew it was clear enough to appear in the next issue of Smitty's station gossip blog.
“Now for the hard part… what song should we use?” Lucy mumbles.
“You’re telling me that wasn’t the hard part?” Tim groans.
“Hey, I’m gonna remember this lack of compliance later tonight,” she notes, her stare dead-serious.
“Enough said,” he chuckles. Tim Bradford isn’t one to sacrifice a good night in the bedroom - especially when it’s with Lucy Chen.
After another half-hour of debating and arguing, they decide that “Linger” by the Cranberries fits the overall vibe of their announcement.
“God, I remember when that song first came out,” Tim sighs, “I was just barely a teenager.”
“And I was 2 years old…” Lucy trails off.
“You make me feel so old.”
“And you make me feel young,” Lucy smiles. She brings her hand up to his cheek and runs it over his stubble, her thumb brushing back and forth.
“Ready to post?” he asks.
“Mhm,” Lucy nods. Her finger hovers over the “post” button for a few seconds, and Tim can practically see the wheels turning in her head.
“You know, maybe we should take tomorrow off,” she suggests.
“That’s not such a terrible idea.”
Before she can overthink it anymore, she closes her eyes tightly and hits the post button. Tim watches with bated breath as the picture uploads. Lucy quickly silences her notifications and throws her phone to the side.
“Hey, why did you just-” he begins, but his phone lights up almost immediately, answering his question.
Lopez: TIMOTHY. You are so dead.
Lopez: YOU AND LUCY ARE BACK TOGETHER???
Lopez: And I find out through an instagram post??
Angela might have been the first to dramatically inquire, but she sure as hell wasn't the last.
Harper: Well this is interesting news.
Grey: You know that there is paperwork to fill out for this kind of stuff, right?
“Woah, why do you have Sargeant Grey on your social media?” Tim asks, slightly uncomfortable with the lack of privacy surrounding him. Lucy shrugs her shoulders, struggling to find anything wrong with that.
Smitty: My blog has been boring lately. Always appreciate the content, Bradford.
And with this last message, Tim calls it a night and shuts his own phone off, throwing it beside his girlfriends.
“Is it too late to actually take off of work tomorrow?” he suggests jokingly, rolling his eyes.
“We’re in trouble aren’t we?” Lucy grits her teeth, holding in laughter.
“Big trouble,” Tim affirms.
“Well, at least we have one more night to ourselves,” Lucy smiles, but it isn’t her typical soft smile. It’s her suggestive smile, which has overtime become Tim’s favorite smile.
“Oh yeah? You’ve got any ideas?”
“A few… I think you’ll quite enjoy them,” she winks.
“I think I will too.”