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Grace was taking her tea in the sitting room, legs curled underneath her as she balanced a heavy, hardback book in her hands. It was dark out, the sun just dipping below the horizon, and she was beginning to think that she ought to go tell Tommy and Lily that dinner would be ready soon when a loud thump, followed by a high pitched shriek, sounded from Tommy’s office.
Eyes snapping upwards, she closed her book hastily, standing and half jogging out the room and down the hall, opening the door to the office and poking her head in.
“Is everything…” she trailed off, eyes widening.
Lily was on the floor, half cowering beside the overturned chair next to her. Her eyes were staring upwards towards the ceiling in horror. Tommy was half bent over his desk, cackling.
“Stop laughing, you asshole!” Lily whined. “Where did it go?”
“The way you just…just flailed out of your chair…” Tommy wheezed, dimples appearing in his cheeks as he grinned.
“It dive bombed me!”
“It didn’t dive bomb you. It was just going for the light.”
“What’s going on?” Grace asked. Tommy shot her a wicked grin, standing from his seat and walking around his desk. He took Lily by the arm and helped to haul her to her feet. She was still looking around the room anxiously.
Something large and gray fluttered down from somewhere on the ceiling, and Lily screamed, diving behind Tommy.
“Kill it! Kill it!”
Still chucking, he reached behind him with one hand to pat Lily’s head, snatching the newspaper on his desk with the other, rolling it up. The moth disappeared back up towards the ceiling again. Lily’s head swiveled around, trying to find where it had gone. When it came fluttering back down towards them, she whined, scrambling away. Grace opened her arms to her, letting her rush into her chest, smiling to herself at the way Lily burrowed against her. There was a thwap! as Tommy slapped at the moth with the newspaper.
“There. You happy now? It hadn’t even done anything to you.” He tossed the rolled up newspaper back onto the desk.
“It could have landed on me and laid eggs in my hair!”
“I think the chances of that were highly unlikely, love,” Tommy chuckled, glancing over at Lily, still cowering against Grace’s chest. “Take a good look, Grace. The Red Demon. Feared by all in Small Health. Reduced to a shrieking mess by a tiny moth.”
Lily pouted, looking up at her with wide brown eyes. “Grace, Tommy’s being mean to me.”
Grace laughed at their childishness, giving Lily a squeeze. “He is, isn’t he, love?” She shot Tommy a playful glare.
“Oi! Who just killed the damn moth for you?” He righted the chair that had been knocked over, striding to them and giving a fond ruffling to Lily’s red hair. Lily was still sulking a little, but she blinked up at Tommy affectionately.
“Thank you, Tommy.”
“Mhm,” he was still smiling softly to himself, leaning down to kiss Lily’s temple before angling his head around to give Grace a peck.
Lily let go of her, though she continued to glance at the dark corners of the office warily. As if expecting at any point another moth to come swooping down at her.
“I didn’t know you were afraid of moths,” Grace commented.
“I’m not afraid of moths,” Lily insisted. Tommy snickered. She shot him a glare. “I’m highly and rationally concerned about moths.”
“Yes, the way you fell out of your chair at the sight of one looked very rational,” Tommy teased. Lily crossed her arms, huffing. “Aw, love, come here,” he laughed, wrapping an arm around her and squeezing her into his chest. She still pouted against him, but Grace could see her already beginning to soften, the disgruntled facade slipping as Tommy embraced her. “I’m just fucking with you.”
“We’ll kill as many moths for you as you want,” Grace concurred. Lily snorted out a tiny laugh.
“Thanks.”
Grace kissed her cheek. “Dinner will be ready soon.” Her voice trembled with the laugh she was trying to contain. Tommy let Lily go.
“Alright. We’re done with work for today anyway.”
Lily, forever easily enticed by the promise of food, eagerly took Grace’s outstretched hand. Grace glanced over her shoulder, grinning with amusement at Tommy. His cheeks stretched with his smile, chuckling and shaking his head fondly. Squeezing Lily’s fingers, Grace guided her out of the office and down the hall towards the dining room, Tommy’s heavy footfalls right behind them.