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The kitchen was silent like it often was before breakfast. Or was it lunchtime already? Despite the number of clocks in the house, y/n couldn’t keep track of the day. Unlike Tendy’s where every agent had to keep a tight schedule, Lockwood&Co taught her to be more spontaneous with her day. She’d been there three months already, but she still wasn’t used to the hours kept by her colleagues. They could eat breakfast at 3am or 11, sometimes had breakfast for dinner or the other way around. The only thing she knew by heart was the quietness before a shared meal. The only noises came from George’s cooking. They would soon be replaced by uninterrupted chatter, the scraping of chairs against the floor and the kettle that was kept on most of the time.
She tried to appreciate the peace before the storm but it was tainted with the heavy stillness of the room. With his back turned to her, George couldn’t see her disappointment at the lack of conversation between them. Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t managed to find any sort of anchor with him. She had tried her best to be friendly, helpful, grateful for everything he did around the house but nothing had worked. Even the best conversation starters she could find about the Problem would get shut down in two sentences or less. Once, she mentioned the conversation she had overheard between two of her ex-colleagues, theories on the best ways to stop the Problem. His eyes had lit up, eager to respond and keep the debate going. He had only taken part of the conversation to contradict whatever the agents had said, but she was glad of the progress she made. However, she had made the mistake of smiling at him which instantly turned him mute once again before exiting the room without finishing whatever thought he had started.
She had grown frustrated of the situation. Frankly, if it hadn’t been for Lockwood and Lucy, she would have given up entirely. But they kept insisting that they could be the best of friends and if she was honest with herself she felt insecure about wrecking the harmony between the three roommates. She already felt guilty enough for making Lucy share her room, no matter how much she insisted that she liked having her here. So, she attempted a new approach: instead of talking to him, she would try to help him out, be of service.
She waited patiently for him to finish whatever step he was on in his recipe to get the plates from behind him. When he rested the spoon he had in hand on the side of the pan, she stood up and went for the plates. He got there first and turned around carrying the four plates. Instead of handing them to her, he avoided her eyes and set them down himself, practically walking through her. She didn’t let his rudeness stop her from helping and opened the cupboard where sat the glasses. He was faster once more and slid his fingers inside the glasses to grab two with each hand. Refusing to back down, she took the forks and knives out and set one of each next to the plates. She went next for the napkins but was stopped in her tracks by the sound of metal hitting plates. She turned around to see George rearranging her table setting, visibly sighing as he placed attentively the forks on the left face up and the knives on the right blades in. He once again avoided her gaze and went back to his dish still cooking on the stove.
“Should I bring the napkins or do you have preferences for that too?” She tried to say on a light tone but her annoyance bled through.
“However you want is fine.”
“Apparently not…” she mumbled.
“They’re just napkins, y/n.”
“They were just forks.”
“That’s differ-“
She slammed the door behind her before he could finish. She wasn’t sure if she was hungry anymore. The front door opened and she came face to face with Lockwood who was coming back from whatever errand he and Lucy had run in the morning.
“Hey,” he said as she passed by him. “Aren’t we about to eat?” he asked, but she was already climbing up the stairs.
He and Lucy exchanged a look before the girl decided to go after her. Even though y/n hadn’t said anything, Lucy was pretty sure George had to be involved. She couldn’t really blame her. She and George had had a difficult start too. But it hadn’t taken this long for the researcher to warm up to her. And y/n was much more polite than she had been. Something was off and he had some explaining to do. She would ask him about it after she made sure y/n was okay. She climbed the stairs up to the attic and found y/n angrily fluffing the pillows on her bed. She didn’t have to ask to know whose face she was picturing while violently adjusting the stuffing of a forest green throw pillow.
“So…” she started carefully, “how was your morning?”
“He is the most obnoxious and condescending jerk I’ve ever met.”
“What happened now?” she asked cautiously, but she couldn’t help the smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
“I have tried so hard to be pleasant and helpful. I talk about subjects he is interested in, I help out on chores he does, I do everything to be nice and a good roommate and he still won’t talk to me for more than thirty seconds and he won’t under any circumstances let me help out.”
She threw the innocent pillow on her bed to punctuate her annoyance.
Lucy felt torn by the situation. On the one hand she felt bad for her. Getting used to living with George hadn’t been easy for her either, but compared to how he was treating y/n, she had had it easy. He had been irritable lately and he snapped at the slightest inconvenience. On the other hand, she might have an idea of what was really going on.
“Why don’t we go back downstairs and eat something, it’ll make you feel better.”
“And deal with him? No thanks.”
She resolutely sat on her bed, crossing her arms to mark her words.
“I’ll bring up a plate for you.” Lucy said as she made her way back down the stairs.
---
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Lucy said as soon as she entered the kitchen.
“Where should I start?” The skull countered in that invasive way he had of barging in on her conversations.
She ignored him and tapped George on the shoulder, making him look away from his cooking.
“Please, Lucy, we’re about to eat.”
“Yeah, well y/n’s not coming down because of you.”
“She’s not?” Lockwood chimed in.
“Our dear friend George annoyed her away.”
Lockwood smiled somewhat fondly. This was classic George.
“I didn’t do anything.” He said flatly.
“You didn’t let her help, you keep leaving her out!”
George took a deep breath before affirming decidedly
“I don’t like the way she sets the forks and knives.”
She and Lockwood exchanged a look. He couldn’t be serious.
“George, please,” Lockwood started, sensing Lucy’s annoyance.
“She doesn’t check if they match and she sets them haphazardly because she can’t be bothered to place them on each side of the plate, it drives me nuts!”
She looked across the table to see Lockwood smiling at her, silently acknowledging his friend’s quirks.
“George,” he started, “I can’t have two team members unable to work together over forks and knives. I’m gonna need you to make an effort, try and be friends.” He punctuated his words with one of his charming smiles.
George stood up and grabbed his plate.
“I can’t be friends with her.” He declared before going in his room.
Lockwood sighed in defeat.
“Don’t worry about it too much.” Lucy told him.
“How can I not? They’re this close to being at each other’s throat.”
Oh I don’t know about throats but something else surely. She didn’t want to say anything yet, but she had a hunch. George was rude, more so than he had ever been to her. He claimed he couldn’t stand y/n, yet he somehow always managed to be in the same room as her. If he truly couldn’t spend a minute in her company, why did she find him researching a case in the library on several occasions with y/n reading nearby instead of going in his room? And why would he spend twice as much time cleaning if not maybe to see her coming in? He may have his preferences when it came to cleaning, but her instincts told her there was something else at play here.
“Maybe we could make them collaborate more…” She told Lockwood with a grin.
They shared a complicit look.
---
George was halfway through an article when Lockwood called him down. He wondered what could be more important than being prepared for a case but with Lockwood it could be anything. Without looking up from the newspaper he was reading he went downstairs, only to be greeted with Lucy’s insistent stare. She had that look on her face. It instantly filled him with dread. Whatever they did, it obviously meant more work for him.
“What did you do?” he asked.
“Nothing!” Lucy answered too quickly. “We just…”
He left the article on the nearest table to cross his arms. He looked back at Lockwood.
“We knocked over a few boxes while training.”
“So? Just clean it up.”
“They’re yours. It’s your records and research on the Problem…”
George stormed downstairs. Dealing with Lockwood’s recklessness in the field was already a lot, but carelessness in the house they all lived in, that’s where he drew the line.
“I’m sorry George,” Lockwood chased after him, “I want to help but I don’t know your system.”
“You’d mess it up anyway. It’s fine, I’ll take care of it.” He sighed.
“At least let me get you some help,” Lucy said, already halfway back into the hall.
Before he could protest, she called “y/n! We need your help!”
The girl arrived shortly after, visibly unhappy about the situation.
“We have errands to run, but have fun you two!” Lucy said cheerfully, quickly exiting through the front door before anyone of them could protest.
George stared at the closed door with round eyes. He wasn’t mad about the files anymore. This was worse. So much worse. How was he supposed to get anything done while she was around?
“What do you need help with?” y/n asked flatly.
Without sparing her another glance he rushed back downstairs to evaluate how much damage had been done. He didn’t want to try and explain his system. Frankly, he wasn’t sure he could. He was aware of his quirks and weird habits, and he was aware that it didn’t make sense to most people. Lockwood had made that clear. And even though Lucy made efforts, his filing system was where she drew the line. He didn’t want to hear the same thing from y/n.
Papers were scattered across the office floor. The filing box labelled ‘Problem’ was upside down, balanced between two chairs and on the verge of joining its content below it. The tabs he had placed inside to keep everything organized hadn’t survived the attack. This would take hours.
“So, you’re not even going to talk to me now?” y/n’s voice resonated from the kitchen.
His heart started to beat faster. With wild eyes, he started to pick up the papers mechanically while his mind reeled. What was he supposed to say? Her footsteps resonated louder as she stepped further down into the basement. The air grew thicker with tension as she did so. He wished he would break through the window and run away from this awkward situation.
“George?” she started, crossing her arms as she reached the last step.
Reluctantly, he lifted his eyes towards her, silently cursing himself for screwing up their relationship this badly. He blinked, unable to form a coherent sentence.
“Fine.” she let out, slightly louder.
The look on her face made him ache. She looked terrifying when she was angry. He froze halfway through collecting the papers at his feet. She frowned at him, probably wondering what was wrong with him. She bent down and picked the papers up for him, organizing them in neat piles on the one desk that Lockwood and Lucy had spared.
“You know,” she started, “you’re probably the most confusing person I’ve ever met.”
He still stood in the middle of the room, paralyzed by the coldness of her voice. He stared blankly as she angrily collected the papers and forcefully sorted them, creasing some of them in the process.
“I tried to help around the house, but you never let me. I clean, you clean again after me. I initiate conversation and you find any excuse to leave the room.”
She looked down at the last papers she picked up. They were newspaper cuttings about the most relevant outbreaks of the Problem. She smiled as she read the titles and it sent a chill down his spine. Whatever was coming next was not going to be good.
“I spent hours reading all I could find about the origin of the Problem. Lucy said that was how she got you to open up. I thought we could finally have something to talk about. Instead, you walked out after two minutes.”
George looked back at her, a knot forming in his stomach. Having all his mistakes lined up this way made him realize how badly he had handled the situation.
“Am I really that hard to live with?” she asked. There was a crack in her voice.
He couldn’t stay silent. Not this time. But no matter how much he wanted to find the right thing to say, he came up short.
“I’m sorry!” he blurted out.
She looked up, surprised.
“What was that?” she said, eager to make him apologize again.
“You heard me…” he mumbled.
“No, I don’t think I did,” she smiled. “George Karim apologizing? That’s more unlikely than seeing a ghost hula hooping.”
He smiled back. They stared at each other for a few seconds, long enough to make the air feel warmer in the basement. The first crumb of complicity gave him enough courage to try to make up for his rudeness. He added the papers in his hand to the pile on the desk in front of him before continuing.
“I never wanted to make you feel unwelcome.” He looked down, ashamed to admit he had badly misread the situation. “I’m just used to Lucy pushing back and when you didn’t, I thought… that maybe you were faking it? That you were talking about the Problem just to make fun, and you helped out just to annoy me and slow me down-”
“Oh, being nice is annoying now?”
“I don’t know! I’m a jerk, I see that now.”
“At least we can agree on that.”
He looked back up expecting to see her frowning.
“Why are you smiling?”
“You’re finally honest with me. I take that as a victory,” she said decidedly as she reached for the upturned cardboard box.
“So I’m guessing you have a system to organize your files?”
The question caught him off-guard. Was she really moving on from three months of feud that easily? It felt like a trick. She stared at him expectantly.
“Just… chronological.” He said cautiously.
“I don’t think you’d use that many tabs if it was just chronological. You must have subcategories, right? Like at least geographical and then maybe by source…”
Whatever trick this might be, it was working. He couldn’t resist correcting anyone about his filing system.
“I always start with the chronological order and then I file everything according to geography. For each year, I like to organize the records by city then order them by region and finally-”
“Alphabetically?”
“No,” he said with a smile. “I take the region most located South then move back up East, then North and finish West.”
“Why?”
“It’s easier to visualize on a map.”
She laughed. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you.”
---
When she and Lockwood came back from their errand, which really consisted of going to the coffeeshop closest to the house to let George and y/n have it out, Lucy was shocked to discover that her plan had actually worked. Well, not that shocked. She knew there was something there. They just needed a little push.
They had to climb down the stairs to the basement to finally find them because none of them answered their calls from the hallway. They were deep in conversation about the Problem. The files and boxes had been entirely cleaned up, everything was back on the shelves and… Wait, did George just laugh at something y/n said? How long had they been gone?
Lockwood had a confused look on her face, matching hers. It didn’t leave him the entire way to the client’s house that evening. There was no more tense silence, awkward avoidance or strange atmosphere in the group. The change was radical. Had she known it would have been this effective, she would have locked them up in the basement three months ago. She had been worried they would have ripped each other’s eyes out in such close quarters. In this moment though, they stared intently at each other more than they looked murderous. She smiled to herself, only making Lockwood more confused. She threw him a look. They are so gone for each other. He looked at her sideways, seemingly in disbelief. She raised her eyebrows. I swear! You’ll see. He seemed unconvinced, but she knew. “I can’t be friends with her” George had said. Yes, quite literally, she thought.
The cab came to a halt in front of their workplace for the night. 11 Hall Road. Lucy would have loved to have an exciting new case that she could add to her journal, but the truth was that most cases were plain. An old person dies, the inheritors need to clear the house before living there or selling it. Those who had become apathetical to the Problem said it was just another expense to plan alongside the funeral. She wasn’t in the mood for apathetical. Not when she had two idiotic friends practically holding hands after being at each other’s throat for the past three months. It comforted her to see them remain focused on their tasks without breaking conversation, and she almost didn’t want to tell them to stop to allow her to use her talent. A job was still a job though.
When silence hit them, so did the cold realization of all the sorrow surrounding them. Wailing filled Lucy’s ears and soon the faint outline of the phantasm haunting the place appeared in the corner of her eye. She couldn’t perceive it very well, but its screams made it hard for her to think. Lockwood stepped in front of her, rapier drawn and ready for a fight, while George tried to yell over the disembodied screams what the source could be. y/n was running through the house following his directions but to no avail. His last idea was a miniature car in the bedroom at the end of the hall.
“Found it!” y/n called from upstairs.
But Lucy was the one with the silver nets. She drew her own rapier, aiming for the stairs. The phantasm was faster. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the figure floating upstairs, so fast she doubted her mind for a second. y/n’s scream confirmed she hadn’t been dreaming. Lucy saw the girl running past her in the opposite direction, only stopped by the chest of drawers stationed on the landing. She hit her side with a definite thump, bringing her down and leaving her paralyzed on the floor of the corridor. Lucy hurried up the stairs and came to stand between y/n and the ghost, drawing intricate patterns she had practiced with Lockwood. When she heard the boys climbing the stairs, she used her other hand to take the silver nets out of her pocket. They got caught in her belt and the second she looked away was enough for the visitor to float closer to y/n, still lying a few feet behind her. Using her remaining strength, y/n threw a salt bomb, winning enough time for Lockwood to join Lucy’s side, covering George while he took care of the source.
None of them really spoke on their way back, still shaken from the close call they avoided. Y/n didn’t suffer major injuries, just a few bad bruises, which was a relief. It was enough for Lockwood to tell her to stay home for the next few days. She hadn’t protested, probably because she was exhausted from the night and the drive had rocked her to sleep. When they arrived in front of Portland Row, George didn’t let Lucy wake her up. Instead he carried her inside and despite the night they’d had, she smiled.
---
The rays of light shining on her face hurt her closed eyes, but not as much as the bruises in her side that decided to wake up as soon as she emerged from her heavy sleep. She was sore, thirsty and only managed to groan when trying to move in what was definitely not her bed. She reached over, eyes still closed, and encountered something cold. Her reflexes kicked in, knocking the glass over and effectively pouring its content on her. She jerked up and immediately screamed at the pain stabbing her side.
“Are you okay?” George asked, worried, as he crashed back into his room.
Desperately trying to get away from the cold wet blanket, she pulled herself up, only managing to hurt herself more.
“No, no, no, slow down. You’re only going to hurt yourself more if you do that.”
He gently nudged her back down, elevating her head with a pillow and removing the blanket to toss it on the floor. She shivered.
“How did you sleep?” he asked as he casually laid something else on her.
“Terrible,” she simply said as she managed to open an eye.
“Do you remember last night?” he continued while helping her sit.
“Yes… I think.” She looked around with half-opened eyes. “Why am I in your room?”
“Lockwood almost passed out after the first flight of stairs.”
She opened her second eye and stared at him dubitatively.
“Fine I wasn’t doing great either.”
She laughed lightly but it only triggered her injury again.
“Here, drink this,” he handed her a cup of tea, “and today you’re on bed rest. No work, no chores, nothing. Not even laughing.”
“I should keep you around then,” she said, before taking a sip.
He threw her a look, but even with eyes half open she could see the shadow of a smile on his face.
He went back downstairs, leaving her to savor her tea, its warmth welcome after having been awakened in such a brutal way. She looked back down and noticed what George had draped over her. His own sweater, the one he wore in October when the days started getting colder, sat gently on her shoulders, smelling faintly of cedarwood. She hadn’t realized how soft it was, having only touched it with her eyes. The night after the case was a blur, but she could have sworn that only one person had carried her upstairs. She smiled to herself as she looked around his room. Papers were left scattered on his desk, some fallen on the floor. Trinkets were gathered on every shelf that wasn’t already full of books. It was messy, disorganized, but comforting in its own way. She wondered how someone who kept such meticulous files on the Problem could live in a room like this. If she tried to make sense of it, she would probably spend the day here, and she simply refused that. Staying still was out of the question. She carefully sat back up before she tried to get onto her feet. The whole ordeal took about ten minutes. This might not be the brightest idea, she thought to herself, but she was finally making progress with George, they had a semblance of connection and she certainly wouldn’t let one wound stand in the way of her friendship with him.
One painful shower and a whole hour later, y/n made her way downstairs and joined George in the kitchen. She hadn’t even made it through the door that she could already hear him telling her off for getting out of bed. He chastised her about the dangers of disregarding health and how irresponsible it was of her to push her body to its limit. She just took a seat at the kitchen table and smiled at him. He had been talking to her for five uninterrupted minutes with eye contact and everything. Technically it was to yell at her, but still. progress was progress. He gave up when noticing her smile wouldn’t budge.
“Why did you come down anyway?”
“I was hungry,” she said while grabbing an orange from the fruit bowl in front of her.
“You could’ve just told me I would have brought something for you.”
“Actually, since I’m on house arrest and you’re finally speaking to me, why don’t you let me help you out today? You know like cleaning, cooking… everything you do all the time for everyone and never let me help with?”
“No. You’re injured. You shouldn’t move that much.”
“How about research then? That’s just reading.”
“No,” he said decisively, punctuating his rejection with a pointed look.
“Stubborn idiot.”
“Well, I am not the idiot who tripped and almost shattered my hip on a dresser.”
She scoffed and threw the orange in her hand, aiming for his head. He caught it just in time before it made contact with his cheek. He stared back at her with round eyes.
“What the hell was that?” he asked with an edge in his voice. Did she just imagine his voice getting deeper? The slightest grin formed at the corner of his mouth, giving her chills. “You’re insufferable.”
“You’re just jealous because even injured I have better aim than you.” She blurted out, hoping the redness of her face wasn’t obvious.
When he didn’t respond, an idea popped into her head.
“And you probably don’t want me to help because you’re scared I’ll be better at research than you are too.”
He smiled, set the orange down on the table and turned back to the dishes he had started before she got there.
“You really think I’d fall for that? Who do you think I am? Lockwood?”
She took back the fruit and slumped into her chair.
“Can you at least let me help? I can’t stay still for so long, I’ll go mad”
She fidgeted with the orange in her hands, planting her short nails into its skin the best she could. She only managed to pull off small pieces each time.
“You’ll slow me down, and I can’t allow myself to miss a single element. I don’t want last night to happen again.”
She looked up to find him already staring.
“I managed to keep up with your files on the Problem, why would that be any different?”
He didn’t have anything to say back. She smiled triumphantly.
“You have no more arguments, I win the argument! Where should I start?”
He sighed, dried the glass he was holding and sat next to her.
“By learning how to peel an orange properly.” He retorted, snatching the fruit from her hand.
Methodically, he sunk his finger under the peel, tearing it confidently. The fruit’s sweet perfume filled the air as George dropped the peel on the table in one piece. While she studied his hands attentively, he proceeded to tear the orange apart, setting its pieces on the table in front of her.
“I can do that myself you know.”
“Can you?”
“Jerk.” She laughed. Being friends with him wasn’t exactly what she had thought it would be, but she had to admit that she liked it.
He got up and snatched a piece from her hand.
“Hey, what was that for?”
“Compensation for my efforts.” He smirked.
He disappeared into the living room and came back with piles of materials in his arms. He did a second trip to bring books and case files, then a third to get notebooks from his room. When he got back into the kitchen, he sat next to her and wrote the name of the client on the thinking cloth. He pushed back his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
“Let’s get to work.”
---
George knew that y/n was too stubborn to rest despite her injury, and she was too clever to be tricked into it. To be fair, he hadn’t tried that hard. He really was glad of the company. He gave her some context for their upcoming case and described his usual research methods. He realized he might have been explaining things too fast when he noticed her staring at him with round eyes.
“I lost you, didn’t I?”
“Sort of…” she answered, embarrassed. “Am I wasting your time?”
“Like spending time with you could ever be wasted time” he wanted to say. Instead, he simply shook his head and started his explanation over, shaking off the thought.
He was right, though. Not only was he greatly enjoying himself, she was also a quick learner. By the second hour spent gathering material, they had already uncovered crucial elements about the history of the place and they had started narrowing in on the type of object that could be a potential source. They made a good team.
The day had gone by without any of them leaving the kitchen. They were enthralled in their work with a comfortable silence between them. They sat side by side, sharing documents and exchanging notes on the Thinking Cloth with an appeasing familiarity. Deep down, George felt guilty that they missed out on moments like these in the past because he was too focused on keeping his new colleague at arm’s length. Their knees bumped every once in a while, each moment making his heart skip a beat. Out of surprise, that is, not that he paid it any mind.
In just a day he had learned to read her smile. The soft polite one was how she asked if he wanted more tea. The shy one meant she needed his help but didn’t want to ask. His favorite one was her triumphant smile when she finally figured out what the source must be. He held his hand out high for her to high five him back. She did, her touch electric against his. She didn’t let go and wrapped her fingers around his, lingering there for another second. He stared at their tangled fingers, oddly captivated. His eyes traveled down her arm and up her face to find her already staring. His breath caught. Suddenly he couldn’t care less about the case they had been working on. Nothing mattered except for the way the warm light of the kitchen lit up her eyes. Her lips parted, catching his eye before he could stop it.
“It’s late, I should probably get some sleep,” she quickly said when their eyes met.
“Yeah,” he let go of her hand, “good idea.”
She used his shoulder to stand up and flinched. He didn’t know if it was from the contact or the effort.
“Good night,” he said gently, trying to shake off some of the awkwardness he was feeling.
“Good night. Don’t stay up too late.”
“I can’t promise anything,” he mumbled as he watched her close the door behind her.
He found it ironic that she was giving him advice when she had been blatantly ignoring everything he said about her health all day long. He returned to the newspaper he was reading, every word on the page escaping his attention. What smile had she used when she left the room? He took a pen to keep his eyes from skipping five words at a time. She had touched his shoulder on purpose earlier, hadn’t she? This was useless. He gathered up the rest of the papers he hadn’t read yet and headed back to his room, conceding defeat to the butterflies settling in his stomach.
---
y/n woke up around 2 am, her aching body forcing her awake demanding a glass of water. Everything was dark around her, but she could hear Lucy’s steady breathing on the opposite side of the room. She did her best to get to her feet silently, ignoring the pain still twisting her side. The steps creaked lightly underneath her bare feet, the sound resonating loudly in the silent house. She reached the first landing discreetly with the hope that she wouldn’t wake anyone up. Instead, she was surprised to see a ray of light coming from under George’s door. It was ajar, so she pushed it lightly to see him hunched over his desk, still reading the newspapers she had left on the table a few hours earlier.
“You’re really stubborn you know?”
He didn’t seem surprised to hear her behind him.
“You’re one to talk,” he retorted.
She knew there was no point in arguing, especially at this hour.
“I’m getting some water, do you want anything?”
“Tea would be fine, thanks.” He turned around. His hair was visibly disheveled. Even though he didn’t put that much effort into it at regular hours, it was obvious that he was tired.
When she came back a few moments later, he was still absorbed by whatever article he was reading. He hardly paid attention when she set the steaming cup next to him. She didn’t really expect him to, so it really came as a surprise when he reached for her hand without taking his eyes off his notes. The contact of his hand on the bare skin of her arm almost made her spill her water.
“Take a look,” he simply said. He pointed at an annotation he had written in the margin of a newspaper article he was reading.
She sat on the stool next to him to inspect his findings. His scribbling was already hard to read in the daylight, but in the dead hours of the night it was almost impossible. He saw her squint and read aloud. The words evaded her. She blamed the lack of sleep and not the fact that his hand was still resting on her arm, gently swaying back and forth. She stared at it, its slow movements calming her down. It made her feel peaceful, appeased. She wondered however why her heart was beating faster if she was feeling so calm.
“y/n?”
“Hmm?” She looked up and was caught off guard by the gentleness in his eyes.
“You should go back to bed.”
“No, no, tell me. I’m listening.”
She could see the cogs turning in his head, weighing his options, whether forcing her to rest would be worth the effort or pointless from the start. He sighed.
“I found another death related to the client’s house. I’m trying to see if the haunting is caused by what we found earlier or if it’s something else entirely.”
“That’s way too much work to do by yourself in one night.”
“Someone has to do it. You should rest, I’ll tell you what I found in the morning.”
She got up, but she knew fully well she wasn’t letting him work all night alone. She took all the papers she could gather in her arms, ignoring his hushed protests, and made herself comfortable in his bed. He looked at her incredulously. She tapped the spot next to her, a large smile lighting up her face.
He sounded defeated when he said “why are you like this?”
“You look out for me, I look out for you.”
It shut him up on the spot. She got under the covers and organized the documents in piles around her while he stared silently, his mouth slightly agape.
“What? If we’re here all night we might as well get comfortable.”
His eyes were so round she thought it must hurt him. “We?”
She tapped the spot next to her again.
“Come on. You can’t tell me to rest if you’re not doing it either.”
Reluctantly, he joined her, looking like he was intruding in the sheets of a total stranger. At first, he pushed the cover aside. It was as if he was allergic to comfort. He kept his distance and even hesitated to reach over to grab a newspaper. They read in silence, the only sound coming occasionally from the turning of pages. He seemed to quickly forget about his awkwardness though, as he leaned in whenever he found something. He got closer each time and she took each opportunity to raise the blanket higher over him. He needed to sleep and he would, even if she had to sneak up on him. By the time he finished his mug, they were shoulder to shoulder, speaking in low voices in each other’s ear. Even in hushed tones, she could sense how enthusiastic he was about what he discovered one newspaper after the other. She could have listened to him talk for hours… if she wasn’t so exhausted. No matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes open, her head was drawing impossibly close to George’s shoulder. She was too comfortable to resist. When he noticed her dosing off, he spoke lower and lower before pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
She sunk into a deeper slumber, George’s even breathing rocking her to sleep, until the turning of pages disturbed her ears. He wasn’t going to sleep unless she made him. With her eyes still closed, she traced her fingers up his torso to find his neck, his chin, and finally his glasses. She took them off before turning her back on him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Forcing you to get some sleep,” she mumbled.
“Give me back my glasses.”
“Come get them yourself.”
She was certain he would concede defeat after this. What she hadn’t expected was George laying down closer against her with his arms draped around her waist. She froze. His hands traced their way down her arms and his hands locked around hers, gently trying to nudge his glasses out of her hands. She held them tighter, unable to keep herself from smiling. He had his head in the crook of her neck and she felt a smile forming on his lips too.
“You’re impossible. You’re stubborn, insufferable-”
“You used that one earlier already.”
He laughed. “You’re just proving my point.”
A light laugh escaped her too, only it made her bruises act up again. She flinched.
George let go of her hand, his fingers traveling lightly over her side.
“Does it still hurt?”
“A little bit.”
He sighed in her neck, making her shiver.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out sooner what the source was. I could have saved you the injury.”
Something clicked in her mind, clearing all desire to sleep for a moment.
“Is that why you’re staying up so late?”
He didn’t say anything back. She rolled back to face him, his hands now resting on her lower back.
“George, you’re not the reason why I couldn’t avoid running into a dresser.”
He laughed, but he avoided her eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault. Now please get some sleep.”
He looked back at her with intensity. His eyes looked dark in the dim light, almost black.
“On one condition.”
Before she could ask what he needed from her, he took it. His lips crashed against hers with a hunger she didn’t know he had. She was still in shock when he drew back, looking back at her hesitantly. He didn’t seem to know that she loved this unsuspected bold side of him. She tangled her fingers in his hair to pull him back in. He seemed surprised at first, but his hands quickly ran up her back to draw her nearer. She could have expected to feel anything from kissing George. Awkwardness, shyness, a few days ago she would have completely rejected the idea. She certainly wouldn’t have expected it to feel so right. His hands seemed to fit the small of her back like puzzle pieces locking perfectly in place. She was surprised at how quickly she had come to wanting more. She needed him, all of him, impossibly closer. She circled his hips with her leg while her hands roamed down his back. He smiled into each kiss, leaving her lips every now and then to trail her cheeks and down her neck. She looked back at him with sparkling eyes.
“So, one condition?”
“Don’t leave. Please.”
Her smile grew bigger.
“I’m not going anywhere.”