Chapter Text
“I like this look on you,” Angela Lopez blurted out one afternoon.
“What look?” Tim Bradford asked through a mouthful of food. Ever since her friend had started dating LAPD’s distinguished sunshine, Lucy Chen, Angela insisted that Tim dedicate his lunch hours to her, ensuring that she wasn’t left out of his life. That was, of course, the lunch hours that didn’t line up with Lucy’s.
Tim, of course, had assured her that nothing would change between the two of them. He didn’t understand her sudden worry. Then again, he didn’t understand the majority of things Angela made a fuss over, and he’s learned not to question it anymore.
“The look of loveeee,” Angela sings wistfully, using her fingers to draw a small heart in the air between them. She smiles at her friend, though it’s more mischievous than endearing.
“Love?” Tim sputters defensively. “I am NOT in love! Lucy and I have only been dating for a month. It’s a little too early for the l-word, don’t you think?”
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, does it?” Angela asks as she bites down on a singular carrot.
“You know,” she pauses to take another bite, “I think you guys have been in love for a lot longer than you realize.”
Tim can’t remember the last time that he was in love. Though, he remembers the last time he’d ever felt love. It was the day that Isabel left for her first undercover mission. Never in his life had he felt so worried for someone, so connected to someone else’s fate. He wished for just 5 more minutes with her, and he felt a piece of his heart break away as she walked out the door.
When she came home, though, she wasn’t the person he had fallen in love with. Slowly, he watched Isabel Bradford fade away with each UC mission, and his love went with her.
He had dated a number of girls after Isabel left, but he hesitated to really call it love. All of the girls were nice, and he enjoyed the time he spent with most of them. But there was always something missing. It was more of a like than a love.
“I guess I just… forgot what love feels like,” Tim admits, staring down at his untouched salad.
“You don’t just forget what love feels like,” Angela rolls her eyes. “It’s just like riding a bike! If you haven’t done it in a while, it may take some time to feel familiar again. But you have to put yourself back in the scary, and seemingly dangerous situation to feel the liberation again, you know?”
And well, for the first time ever, her madness was actually making sense to Tim.
“Yeah,” he shakes his head in defeat, “I guess so.”
_______
“How was your shift?” Lucy asks sweetly as she subtly skips out of the station, Tim walking by her side. She would never admit it, but she often had trouble keeping up with Tim’s confident steps. Though, she quite liked skipping along; it gave her a much-needed boost of energy.
“It was long,” Tim sighed, “And boring. But now I get to spend time with you, so it doesn’t matter.” He flashed a warm smile to her as they exited the station, the cool breeze gently hitting their dopey faces. Lucy didn’t need to do anything past merely existing to simply melt his heart.
“I’m so ready for movie night,” Lucy exclaims as they slide into Tim’s truck. “I can’t wait to finally culture you on the beauty of rom-coms.”
Tim was fairly confident that he would find Lucy’s movie choice cheesy and boring, though he failed to mention this to her. Her innocent excitement about sharing her favorite movies with Tim was enough for him to enjoy this new endeavor.
As he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, Lucy continued on about her love for romantic movies. “I’ll admit that they can be kind of unrealistic and create false hope for viewers, but I don’t think that it’s an entirely bad thing, you know? Sometimes it’s nice to believe that there’s more out there than a dull life.”
“Are you saying that your life with me is dull?” Tim asks accusingly, though a playful smirk is painted across his face. He knew that’s not what she was getting at, but he couldn’t pass up on an opportunity to mess with her.
“No, no!” she immediately stammers in defense. “That’s really not what i mean-”
“Hey,” Tim chuckles softly, “I’m just messing with you.”
“Good.” Lucy lets out a sigh of relief. She reaches her left hand out and rests it on Tim’s shoulder. She runs her fingers back and forth against his stubble as he drivers, silently admiring his handsome face. He loved when she did that.
Love. There was that word again. Ever since Angela had joked about it earlier, he just couldn’t get it out of his head. Did he really love Lucy?
“You know, we’re kind of like a rom-com,” Lucy announces eventually, breaking him out of his trance. He’s glad she did, because he was quite distracted, and she’d never let him live it down if he’d gotten into a silly accident.
“Oh yeah? How so?”
“Well, it’s pretty obvious. I was your rookie, and you were my hardass T.O. who secretly had a soft spot for me. Workplace romance, enemies to lovers, sunshine x grumpy…”
At this point, her words had become gibberish; Tim failed to keep up with the trendy slang of the younger generations. He just watched her as she rambled on, her eyes as bright as the sun. No, they were brighter than the sun. With each word, her curly hair bounced on her shoulders as if it could feel her excitement. He continued his gaze on her as she tucked the left side of her hair behind her ear.
The streetlight beside them illuminated Lucy’s face in such a way that her freckles were more prominent than usual; it was as if Lucy possessed her own little constellations right on her cheek. As his eyes trailed from one dot to another, an important realization hit Tim. Lucy was his entire universe.
It was now that Tim realized he loved every little thing about Lucy. He loved the way that she stared out of the window, admiring the bright stars in the night sky as he drove. He loved the way that she would rewind a song to her favorite verse 10 times before letting the rest of the song play. He loved the way that she would braid her hair every single night, hating when it brushed over her face while she slept.
It was quite simple, actually. To know Lucy was to love her.