Archive of Our Own ^beta

At about ten in the morning, there’s a knock on the door. 

It's hesitant, rather polite. 

For a moment, she wondered if it was Doctor Jekyll on the other side. He did often visit her and Helsby's lab in the mornings, either to drop off new alchemy ingredients or to half-heartedly scold Helsby for whatever mayhem he’d caused along with Griffin the night before. 

However, she quickly pushed that thought away. Jekyll always made sure to announce his presence, and whoever had knocked made sure to stay entirely silent. Maybe it was a more reserved lodger? 

(…Though, she didn't know a single lodger that didn't at least verbally specify who they needed to answer the door. It was a basic courtesy when going to any lab with more than one resident, and yet… there was only silence.)

She glanced at her friend and roommate, Helsby, who returned the action with a glare. Both of them were a bit exhausted from all the running around the night before, and neither of them really felt like talking to anyone besides Griffin. (Who, by the way, was most certainly not the one knocking on their door. God knows he wouldn't be very polite about it.) 

Another knock. Still hesitant, still polite. Ito sighed. Suppose someone had to answer it…

Carefully, she got up and walked to the door, hoping that this was going to end up being a quick conversation. 

She opened it (with the door swinging with far more force than it usually did, something she chalked up to Sinnett drunkenly messing around with some of the Society’s artifacts the night before). 

“…Good morning?” she greeted, eyes still adjusting to the very bright sunlight filling the foyer. “Is there something that Helsby or I can-”

She cut herself off. 

Standing sheepishly in front of her was-

Doctor Lanyon.  

Huh. 

He looked… nothing like he usually did. A bit, no, very frazzled. His hair was a complete mess, and he seemed to have more difficulty making direct eye contact with her than he usually did.

And he smelled alcoholic, a mix of wine and, surprisingly, vodka. 

What was he doing outside of the hangover room?

“…Good morning, Miss Ito.” Doctor Lanyon nervously swallowed. “I uh… came to ask you for a favor.” He seemed incredibly anxious, and admittedly, it made Ito a bit anxious as well. 

She kept her words as steady as possible. “Go ahead.

“Well, I-” He paused. “…Hyde’s gone missing again.”

“Oh?” 

Doctor Lanyon continued, “…I woke up, and he simply wasn't there. I’m sure he couldn't have gone far, and I would go look for him myself, but-” his speech began to speed up a bit, “apparently no one’s seen Henry and I need to figure out why he hasn't shown up at the Society because God knows if he isn't at the Society then he’s definitely gotten himself into some sort of trouble that only luck will save him from, but someone also needs to keep an eye on Hyde lest he decides to get himself even more injured than he already is because of the amount of alcohol I stupidly allowed him to consume, but I also need to look for Henry and-”

“Doctor Lanyon, please breathe.” She tried offering him a reassuring smile. 

It didn't seem to work, the doctor’s uncharacteristically frenzied look in his eyes did not disappear. 

She tried a different approach. “Hyde has gone missing, correct?”

“Yes. Yes, he has.” He stared at the ground, fidgeting with the buttons on his shirt (which weren't even buttoned up correctly, making him look even more disheveled than he already was, and probably sparking all sorts of vivid hypotheticals in Helsby's imagination). “I’m… admittedly a bit concerned for him.” 

“I know, I saw you jump out that window.” On the second storey nonetheless…

Doctor Lanyon froze, and soon his face reddened.

Ito chuckled. Suppose he hadn't expected anyone to notice how much of a ‘softie’ (Helsby's words, not hers) he was for the chaotic blond. “So, what’s the favor?”

Doctor Lanyon took a moment to recompose himself, hesitantly making eye contact with her. “…Could you keep an eye out for Hyde while I look for Hen- Jekyll? I’d ask Rachel, but I assume that Hyde would be actively avoiding her so…”

“Sure,” Helsby suddenly answered from directly behind her. “We can do that.” 

She tensed up, expecting her friend to say something most definitely out of the doctor’s comfort zone. She loved Helsby, she really did, but he wasn't the best at leaving things be. 

But to her surprise… Helsby didn't. “Seriously, doctor, stop worrying so much about him. Hyde always shows up eventually, he probably just went out looking for a snack like the little gremlin he is. I bet he hasn't even left the building.”

Finally, Doctor Lanyon seemed to actually relax a bit. “I… suppose. He most certainly didn't eat much last night.”

“Exactly.” Helsby moved to place a friendly hand on Doctor Lanyon's shoulder, but Ito (noticing the doctor tense up) quickly caught it. 

She sent him a pointed look. Helsby quickly realized his mistake and put the hand down. 

“Well… thank you, Doctor Helsby and Miss Ito.” Doctor Lanyon smiled at them, slightly more casual than Ito was used to seeing from him. The hangover almost seemed to soften him as much as Hyde did. “I shall be taking my leave now, do tell me as soon as possible whenever either of you figure out Hyde’s whereabouts.” 

“We will,” Ito confirmed. “If any of the lodgers see anything, we’ll figure out the fastest way to deliver the news.” She's rather certain Flowers would be ecstatic to have another opportunity to retest her ladybugs. “Have a good day, Doctor Lanyon.”

“…Have a good day,” he repeated before turning around and heading off towards… somewhere. (It almost seemed as if he was headed towards the stairs, maybe he’d hoped that Jekyll had just gotten himself trapped in the attic. It has happened on more than one occasion…) 

They silently watched him walk away, waiting for the footsteps to fully disappear. 

Eventually, they did.

And with that, Ito was left with her very giddy roommate.

…Doctor Lanyon seriously needed to stop adding fuel to the burning hell that was Helsby's theorizing.

“…Ito.”

She sighed. “Yes?”

“You can't deny it anymore.”

Since when did she ever deny it? She wasn't blind, she just believed that everyone needed to leave them alone. “We should head to the foyer, everyone said they wanted to talk about last night, didn't they?” 

Helsby immediately perked up. “You're going?”

“…Why not? It's not like I have much to do today.” And admittedly… she was a bit curious about what everyone else had to say about last night’s rather interesting conclusion. “I heard Griffin’s going as well.”

“Oh, is he?” 

Ito smirked. “Did you hear him say otherwise?”

A pause. It took Helsby a good few minutes to think about it. 

“…That asshole lied to me.” Suddenly, and with a lot of force, he swung the door open. “Come on, Virginia! We need to save ourselves some seats before we’re forced to sit on the floor again. Be prepared to stop our friend from beating me up in the middle of the foyer.”

“No promises.”

The foyer ended up being far more crowded than she expected it to be. She wouldn't be surprised if every lodger had decided to participate (or even just decided to watch) the discussion that was about to play out. 

(In the background, Bird and Archer loudly apologize to Doctor Lanyon as they lock him inside the hangover room. She isn't sure if the neverending apologies were even necessary, he’d seemed rather resigned to his fate the second they’d swaddled him up in a blanket and then started the ten second countdown to toss him inside the room. Personally, a single, I’m sorry, would have been enough.

It was a necessary evil, Doctor Lanyon would most definitely prefer not to hear a word they had to say about him and Hyde. Hell, she wouldn't fault him for even cursing them all out for it. He wasn't a lodger, and the majority of them had seemed to have forgotten how much differently outsiders operated sometimes. 

Despite that, Ito couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. There was no doubt someone would demand to recreate it later, there were quite a few lodgers who adored being thrown around like that.)

“Alright, alright!” At Pennebrygg’s words, the foyer seemed to quiet down, just a bit. “We got all the non-lodgers out of the way, right?”

Archer and Bird rapidly nod. “Doctor Lanyon’s been taken care of,” Bird confirmed. 

“And Doctor Jekyll?”

“Missing, apparently,” Helsby answered.

“…Huh.” Pennebrygg looked over to her for clarification. 

Ito shrugged. “Doctor Lanyon went to us earlier, and told us that he was looking for Jekyll. I assume that the latter doctor lost track of time, as he sometimes does.” 

(As much as Jekyll liked to paint himself as an incredibly responsible person, even he fell victim to forgetting to check the clock every once in a while. It was a surprisingly common occurrence when he actually had the time to mentor her.)

Even if that wasn't the true reason, she still wasn't too concerned about his disappearance, not yet at least. Jekyll did randomly disappear from time to time. She turned towards everyone. “Also, if any of you find Hyde scampering around, grab him before he runs off again. Doctor Lanyon’s orders.” 

“…He’s seriously run off again?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“We should just let Penelope babysit him,” Helsby suggested. “No one's ever going to escape her, even a slippery gremlin like Hyde."

“I sincerely doubt he still hasn't figured out a way to bribe her. He’s befriended nearly every non-human in this building, someone’s going to break him out.”

“So… we have two missing persons?” Lavender received multiple responses along the lines of ’sounds like it’ and 'yeah, basically’. “We’ll keep an eye out for Hyde and Doctor Jekyll then, it wouldn't be very fun to explain ourselves to them later.” She suddenly looked towards the kitchen, raising an eyebrow. “Is… Miss Rachel allowed to be a part of this?”

They all turned around. Rachel silently waved back at them.

Helsby visibly considered it. More people meant more discussion after all. “Is she in support or in opposition?”

“SUPPORT!” the young woman in question yelled out. Ito didn't remember seeing her in the building last night, especially not during the ‘trying to figure out exactly where Doctor Lanyon's run off to while everything around them metaphorically burned’ craze, but she’d likely caught wind of the whole situation during breakfast. “Please don't lock me inside the pantry again, I already had to fight off poor Doddle!”

A few lodgers slowly turned towards him, and stared. 

Doddle nervously smiled back. “I thought the plan said to remove all non-lodgers, honorary lodgers unfortunately included.” Silence. “...The pantry was the closest room that had a lock.”

Rachel smiled, with much more confidence than Doddle. “Please? I have lots of information, I’ve known Hyde and Doctor Lanyon since before the Society!”

They all looked towards Maijabi, the oldest and by default the most authoritative member of their group. Knowing him however… there was only one response. 

He chuckled. “Let her in.”

At that, she cheered and ran into the foyer, placing herself near Ito (who, along with Helsby and Griffin, had reserved an entire sofa for themselves, but happily allowed their day manager to sit with them).

Pennebrygg cleared his throat. “So, is that everyone we needed to take care of?”

Everyone enthusiastically affirmed that. After all, there weren't many non-lodgers, and Hyde and Rachel (both long considered honorary lodgers) made up about half of them. 

“Great.” He looked directly at Helsby and wordlessly offered him the floor.

Helsby, with clear excitement, took it. 

“Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen, and whatever else may be listening to this very fascinating discussion!” Griffin rolled his eyes at him, and Helsby returned it by adding even more flair to his already very theatrical motions. “Today, we discuss, ‘Are They or Are They Not Fucking Outside of Business Hours? Trick Question, They Absolutely Are!’”

“Oh God,” Ito mumbled.

“Outside of business hours?” Archer questioned. “Are you sure they weren't doing anything inside that hangover room last night? We all saw how disheveled Doctor Lanyon looked, didn't we?”

“Good point!” Helsby grinned. “That room is mostly soundproofed, for all we know they could have been going at it like rabbits!”

…This discussion had barely gone for a single minute, and they were already heading into that territory. There was absolutely no way this was appropriate considering that Doctor Lanyon was technically their boss. 

(Oh well. The lodgers weren't known for caring about authority anyway. 

…Admittedly though, they all cared at least a bit, or at the very least liked him a bit more than they used to. His little stunt at the museum had certainly helped with that, even if he still refused to shoot any apples sitting atop anyone's head.)

Maijabi sighed. “I can assure you, they were not doing that.”

“Prove it!”

“…I went inside the room? Neither of them locked the door.”

Ito turned around. “Maijabi, what the hell?” She'd expected this from Helsby, not Maijabi of all people.

“Hm?"

“That has to be an invasion of their privacy.” Just because the doors were unlocked didn't mean that anyone was free just to waltz in. “Did you at least knock?”

Maijabi stared at her with an unusually deadpan expression. “Of course I knocked, Miss Ito, they were both far too intoxicated to notice. I had entered to bring them both buckets, in case they’d felt nauseous enough to use them.” He motioned in the direction of one of the custodial rooms. “One bucket, the one I’d left for Mister Hyde, is currently sitting on one of the large drying racks.”

“So what were they doing in there?” Helsby asked. “If not to fuck, then…?”

“Resting.”

Helsby frowned. “That's… it?”

He sighed at him. “Is that not what the hangover room is for?”

“Well-”

“Wait,” Archer interrupted, earning himself an annoyed huff from Helsby. “When Bird and I went in there, all the pillows were on the ground. Were they resting on a pillow-less bed?"

“Oh, that can't be good for Doctor Lanyon's neck…” Lavender innocently remarked.

Pennebrygg squinted at her. “Hyde also slept on a pillow-less bed, aren't you worried about his neck as well?”

She shrugged. “Not really, I don't think he actually has any bones.”

Everyone stared at her.

“What? You've all seen the things he's done, haven't you?”

They… have. 

“And yet, somehow, he’s barely ended up in the infirmary. He might as well have zero bones.” She turned back towards Pennebrygg. “I assure you, a single night on a pillow-less bed will not be the thing that kills him.” 

“Neither of them were technically ‘pillow-less,’” Maijabi clarified, sounding a bit exasperated by them all. 

“Oh! That's good to hear, I didn't want Doctor Lanyon to break any of his bones.”

Cantilupe laughed. “Oh dear Lavender, Doctor Lanyon isn't that old.”

“He acts like it sometimes,” Sinnett grumbled, who’d been scolded by him a few days prior for setting the chandelier on fire.

Helsby glared at them all. “Let Maijabi speak.”

The lodger in question looked at him in slight confusion. “They were not interrupting anything.”

Helsby, obviously, didn't care. “Explain what you meant by not pillow-less! Please!”

“Ah, that.” He hummed, every second he wasted making Helsby visibly more antsy. “The two of them seemed perfectly content with resting on each other.”

…Oh dear.

The entire foyer, after a moment of processing, erupted in noise. 

Some loudly cooed over the admittedly adorable visual, while others like Helsby bothered Maijabi about why he didn't tell the rest of them earlier so that they could have gotten a look for themselves.

It was already chaotic enough with everyone just existing in one room, but now? With everyone moving and shouting all at once? Ito found herself putting a hand on the base of a small lamp, just in case she needed to break up a physical fight with it.

(She sincerely hoped that wouldn't be necessary. Jekyll already looked tired enough the past few times she’d broken something to prevent someone from accidentally killing a fellow lodger. And while the vases and lamps were cheaper to replace than someone’s fucking spine, Ito still felt a bit bad about the extra expense.)

At the very least, the chaos hadn't resulted in any injuries quite yet.

…And then, Sinnett pulled out a small photograph of the duo he’d managed to take (surprisingly without Maijabi noticing considering that his camera took at least a few minutes to work even under the bright artificial lights), and was immediately enveloped in a large wave of excited lodgers. 

(Poor Sinnett.)

Ito herself was beginning to question her decision to participate in this discussion in the first place. A photograph? Were they being serious?

She knew they were nosy, that just came with living and working in the same building with so many people, but God. She hadn't realized exactly how invested everyone truly was in this relationship. 

It wasn't like Ito didn't have any interest in it, on the contrary, she had a lot. She thought they were rather adorable together, despite their seemingly conflicting personalities. They certainly looked happy with one another, drunk or sober.

However, she was also aware that neither of them would like knowing that everyone else was watching their every move.

Doctor Lanyon, obviously, was already regularly overwhelmed by the lodgers, and this behavior would probably scare him off even more. Which would be a shame, he’d been making a lot of progress with them ever since he met Hyde. He'd actually been rather friendly towards everyone, in his own somewhat distant, somewhat cautious way. It was certainly an improvement from the doctor that refused to even look at them in the past year or so, who didn't even bother calling them by their names. 

And Hyde? Well… Ito’s not entirely sure about him. Technically, he already knew of the gossip, had actually even contributed to it by laughing so hard he nearly fell off his chair. Normally, that reaction would be taken as evidence that they were in fact not together, but… it was Hyde. For all they knew, he could have been laughing because they still hadn't been able to figure it out.

Regardless, she knew Hyde wouldn't appreciate them all putting so much focus on his romantic endeavors. Rachel had mentioned once how many times he’d scoffed at the idea of a committed relationship, saying that he refused to be ‘weighed down’ by such things, and that he wouldn't be “caught dead doing sappy shit like that” (which was a damn lie by the way, practically everyone's seen the way Hyde gently tucked that larkspur behind Doctor Lanyon's ear, that man was anything but stealthy).

And if Hyde started to be genuinely annoyed by their gossiping, he wouldn't hesitate to stop talking to all of them. Hell, he might even leave. It wasn't as if he lived at the Society, he was an honorary lodger not an official one. No one can actually force him to stay, and as annoying as he could be sometimes, Ito still liked him enough to hate the idea of him leaving at all. 

…However, worse than that, whether they were or were not together, all their gossiping might just destroy whatever relationship Hyde and Doctor Lanyon did have with one another.

And Ito didn't want that. They seemed rather happy, and she’d rather swim in one of Helsby’s fish tanks than take that away from them. 

Which was exactly why she’d been so hesitant to involve herself in the gossip in the first place. Hyde and Doctor Lanyon deserved their peace and quiet (…well, as much of it as they could at least, she's not actually sure how much peace or quiet there would be with Hyde constantly being around, but she'll continue to hope for Doctor Lanyon's sanity), regardless of what was actually going on.

(…Admittedly, she did wish to take a look at the photograph everyone was so excited to look at. After all, she was nosy enough to eventually decide to participate in this discussion, she just didn't want the photograph enough to trample over Sinnett for it.)

Rachel (their lovely day manager who made sure none of these idiots, Ito included, starved) seemed to have some mixed feelings on the entire matter as well, likely because of her close relationship with Hyde. She did insinuate a few times that he was like a little brother to her (…even if he was older, older by about a decade actually, as recently confirmed by Maijabi). 

“Could we please… calm down, just a bit?” Everyone, too carried away with trampling Sinnett, did not listen to her. “…Please?”

The continued chattering made Rachel shrink into herself, her requests quieting as the crowd only got louder with every passing second.

That was… not a common sight.

Chattering,

Chattering,

Chattering,

And eventually, Rachel stopped trying to shut them all up. 

A bit concerned, Ito slowly turned towards her. “Are you… alright, Miss Rachel?”

She didn't look up at her. “They're all just-” A sigh. “Yeah, I’m alright. No one’s just listening to anyone anymore.”

“Are you trying to tell them something? I’m afraid they're all a bit distracted, at the moment.”

“I gathered.” Rachel stared at the door to the hangover room. Eventually, she looked away from it, looking rather… drained. 

Ito may not be very close to the day manager, but seeing her like that still garnered something protective in her own soul.

…Alright. Ito stood up on the sofa (ignoring Griffin's look of surprise) and prepared to shout. 

“EVERYONE, tone it DOWN!”

At last, the foyer went silent. Rachel looked very grateful.

“Thank you, Ito.” She carefully stood up on the sofa, copying Ito’s motions, and Helsby wordlessly (hell, maybe even sheepishly) offered the floor to her. Rachel accepted it. “Hello, everyone. I… know we're all excited about the relationship that might be blossoming between these two, but! Could we please treat them like the people they are and not just like a bunch of really pretty creatures to gawk at? It just feels… really disrespectful towards them. And besides that, they're both two of my very dear friends so…”

Silence. 

Eventually, and surprisingly, Helsby apologized first. “…Sorry Rachel.” (Griffin seemed very proud of him.) 

“We got a bit carried away.”

A bunch of other apologies (from everyone else) soon followed.

“Apologies accepted!” She sounded pleasantly surprised, and Ito was very proud to be the one that caused that. Rachel soon turned towards Helsby. “That's all I had to say. Continue on!”

Helsby nodded. The foyer was still quiet. “Alright, back to the discussion then. So, confirmed by both Maijabi and Sinnett, Hyde and Doctor Lanyon spent last night in the most domestic way they could: sleepily resting on each other when they could have done literally anything else. Any thoughts anyone would like to share?”

Luckett raised his hand (with a small wince that had Sinnett sending him a look of concern). “Hyde’s ability to make physical contact with Doctor Lanyon should definitely be listed as evidence they've got something going on.”

“Especially in public,” Ito added. “Not even Jekyll gets to have as much physical contact with him, at least nothing any of us are privy to seeing, and they’ve known each other for over a decade.” She turned around. “I assume Rachel can confirm?”

“I can, Doctor Lanyon doesn't accept touch from just anyone.” A pause. “He still has some problems with giving me a pat on the shoulder sometimes, and we’ve known each other for like, ages! Jekyll’s really the only person I know that's even allowed to get that touchy with him, but Lanyon still keeps a bit of distance between them the majority of the time.”

“Right. And yet, last night, we all saw that Hyde had an arm wrapped around his waist, and Doctor Lanyon didn't seem to mind it one bit.”

“Not just that,” Luckett said. “The whole hair braiding thing that's happened recently? That's a lot of regular physical contact, but he still freezes up whenever any of us get close.”

“Wait…” Everyone turned to Pennebrygg. “The museum… the kidnapping… How long do we think these two have exactly been… together?”

…That was a good question. (Not that Ito was absolutely certain that they’re together, but if they were…)

“Well, I think they started off as just something casual, maybe they fucked like once or twice without intending on it becoming anything meaningful, and then, they actually got together sometime after the museum incident,” Helsby theorized, a theory that Ito and Griffin had heard time and time again. “Maybe they realized their feelings after running off and then fucking during our little drinking fest! Hell, their little trip to a bunch of our labs was basically a first date! And the shared dinners and the hair braiding? There's no other explanation!"

Lavender shrugged. “I don't think that was actually their first date, they seemed very comfortable with each other. They could be relatively new, but something tells me they've been together for much longer. Maybe even before we went to the museum…”

Helsby huffed. “What? You think they got together after Hyde kidnapped him?”

“Well… maybe?”

“That doesn't make any sense! Wasn't that their first interaction? I can't see Doctor Lanyon jumping into a relationship that quickly!”

(When he says that, Ito swears that she saw an odd look appear on Rachel's face. It looked… a bit like a grimace? She's not sure what it’s for, and Ito doesn't have enough time to ask.)

“I thought we already established that they were lying about that?” Pennebrygg questioned. 

Griffin scowled. “Here's a better question, what about Doctor Lanyon’s bloody wife? How does Mrs. Lanyon tie into all of this?”

Helsby narrowed his eyes at him. “Are you insinuating that you believe Hyde and Doctor Lanyon aren't together?”

“No, I’m-” He cut himself off. Griffin just… stared in the distance, just for a moment. 

For a split second, the room felt as if it was close to collapsing into itself.

But as quickly as it appeared, the room returned right back to normal, and Griffin finally continued on.

(Still, the threat lingered. Maijabi will have to check on the artifacts Sinnett messed with, Ito’s a bit tired of watching the walls sway, just a bit, forward, then backwards, and forwards, then backwards, and-) 

“You know what? I’m done with this.” At Helsby's following look of shock, Griffin scoffed. “Are we all genuinely insinuating that Doctor Lanyon committed adultery?” 

Silence. 

“Do you all think he would stoop that low?”

“…Getting with Hyde would not be stooping low-”

“Shut it, Archer. You know that isn't at all what I meant.” He then stared at Lavender. “…How come you seem perfectly fine with all of this? Weren't you the one concerned enough to call her?”

Lavender smiled despite currently being the target of Griffin’s simmering anger. “I was.”

“And now?”

That smile widened, a small show of unusual cockiness from her. “There isn't a single thing for me to be concerned about.”

“…What?” Pure disbelief was clear in that single word. “Explain.”

“Well… when I’d told her the news that Doctor Lanyon may be having an affair with someone at the Society…”

All the lodgers waited in anticipation.

“She’d laughed and asked why I sounded so worried! Apparently it's a good thing her husband has been getting ‘so chummy with that blond,’ she had actually been getting a bit worried that Doctor Lanyon had gotten traumatized by his recent visit to the infirmary!”

Huh.

“…Holy shit?” Helsby exclaimed. “Even Mrs. Lanyon supports this!” He turned towards Griffin. “Take that!”

“Tone down that cockiness, Helsby. She didn't say a single thing that signified their relationship was romantic. She said chummy, not that they were actively making out in the middle of their home!”

“…Well,” Lavender began. “That wasn't the only thing she said…”

Griffin scowled. “And is any of it actual evidence?

“None of it's entirely concrete,” she admitted, “but there's plenty of implications.”

“I don't want implications."

Helsby scoffed. “Griffin, why the hell are you so against this? Have you been listening to nothing I’ve said? I was literally the first person to see the sparks!”

“Oh, I’ve been listening, I just think you all are seeing things that aren't actually there.”

Something in Helsby seemed to crack. “And how can you be so sure?”

(Ito, as Helsby had asked of her, prepared herself to stop them from beating each other up in the middle of the foyer. With Doctor Lanyon locked up in the hangover room, and Jekyll nowhere to be seen, they had no somewhat reliable way to ensure no one actually died. 

She could only hope that the small lamp was going to be enough.)

“Because, unlike the bloody majority of you, I’ve actually had a conversation with him.”

Helsby paused. “…You what?”

“Oh, during the celebration that Helsby and I had gotten a bit distracted at?” Ito asked, hoping that her input would give Griffin (and Helsby) some time to calm down. Hopefully, the lamp wouldn't be necessary. “We’d accidentally left you to sadly drink on your own for a few hours, when suddenly, you and Maijabi started telling everyone that the hangover room was ‘occupied’ and anyone who wanted to keep themselves away from the explosives had to head up to the roof.” 

(Those changed plans had been quickly changed again after Sinnett and Luckett offered to instead drag all the explosives outside so that all the quieter lodgers could just relax on the sofas in the foyer.

Obviously, they’d all been initially a bit confused on why Griffin and Maijabi had randomly decided to change their plans… until some of them spotted a disheveled Hyde (and later a disheveled Doctor Lanyon) walk out of the hangover room.)

(In their defense, everything that the lodgers saw did support the idea that they were having sex in there. Hell, Ito briefly believed it before Griffin quickly set things straight with her.)

Griffin nodded. “He’d randomly approached me while I was drinking my… third or possibly fourth glass of vodka. As Helsby knows, I was pissed at him for not showing up on time.” 

“Oh, come on-”

“I don't give a single fuck about that anymore, you're fine.” He cleared his throat. “Continuing, I was basically being a complete asshole while Doctor Lanyon refused to explain to me why he wanted to sneak into the bloody kitchen of all places. And then, when I brought up the hangover room, he was suddenly very insistent on not letting anyone go inside. Again, he didn't tell me why, so I snapped.”

For a moment, she saw something akin to guilt on Griffin's face. It was quickly replaced with his usual scowl.

“…I don't think he was actually listening to my angry drunk ramblings. He just looked… scared.” 

And he hadn't noticed, not at the time. Ito’s heard that part of the story the most, it's the part Griffin still lingered on. 

“And yet, I continued to yell at him, to the point that he just gave up his whole not-letting-me-know-his-intentions thing.” Griffin took a deep breath. “…He told me that the reason he didn't want anyone inside the hangover room was because Hyde was feeling ill. He was just trying to get to the kitchen, to get him something to eat and drink, without any nosy lodgers trying to barge in and make him feel even worse.” A pause. “Obviously, I immediately realized how much of a bloody asshole I was being, but…”

Silence.

Helsby, hesitantly, broke it. “So… they were definitely not fucking in there…”

“No.”

“Right… but…”

Griffin scowled. “Do not-”

“Just because they weren't fucking, doesn't mean they weren't being romantically domestic,” Helsby pointed out. “Nothing you said contradicts the idea that they’re together.”

“Nothing I said so far.”

…Wait.

Ito looked at him. “There’s… more to this story?” 

A pause. And then, a sigh. “We… had a small conversation on our walk to the kitchen. Most of it’s unimportant, just a bunch of useless small talk to fill the silence. But… there was one thing.” He looked directly at Helsby. “Doctor Lanyon told me outright that he and Hyde weren't even friends.”

Huh?

Everyone else in the foyer seemed to be just as confused. 

Lovers? Sure, that was still up to debate. But friends?

They… had to be, they certainly acted like they were. Doctor Lanyon especially acted far too comfortable around Hyde, there was absolutely no way-

Griffin scoffed. “Oh quit those pitiful expressions, I didn't say they aren't friends now. …Nor am I saying they will never become lovers.”

“…So what are you saying?” Helsby, honestly looking a bit dejected, asked. 

Griffin, taking a single look at his friend and still ‘giving a damn for him’ despite everything, sighed. “I’m saying to get out of their business. You all are looking at their relationship through your eyes, which means whatever you have to say about it is probably wrong.” 

“…And?”

“There's no actual way to tell what they've got going on, Helsby. Especially with someone as unpredictable as Hyde, the only bastards that can actually tell us what's going on are the bloody bastards inside said relationship.”

And… well. Ito had to agree with him. Nothing Hyde did was conventional, and Doctor Lanyon, as surprising as it was, seemed rather content being dragged along for the ride.

The only thing they truly knew was that they seemed happy.

“…I’m still going to make theories about them,” Helsby admitted. 

“You can, just-” Griffin sighed again, “don't bother the two of them about it. Don't make it obvious that you're placing actual bloody bets on them, alright?” He turned to everyone else. “And that goes for all of you. At least pretend to be civil while either of them are around, which means: no photography of them without asking first, no obvious innuendos around Doctor Lanyon, no watching them like a bunch of weirdos, and for God’s sake no stalking. Understood?”

Everyone murmured vague words of acknowledgement, some more obviously hesitant than others. 

“Understood?” Griffin repeated, irritation very clear. 

“Understood!” Helsby cheerfully (though it was still obvious he was still a bit bitter about his theory being debunked in such a manner) affirmed. “We will keep ourselves away from the lovebirds.”

Most of the lodgers soon followed with their own, much more confident affirmations. (And even though she’d always planned on keeping a distance between herself and the duo, Ito did as well, mostly to make her friend happy.)

Griffin looked very pleased. “Good.” He looked around the foyer. “Is there anything else you idiots wanted to talk about? Or are we all free to move along? I have a stupid cat to search for.”

Ah, Perseus. “He's still missing?” Ito asked. “It's been what? A few weeks since you've last seen him?” She would have expected someone, someone like Maijabi (because everything seems to find the older lodger very comforting) or Flowers (because Perseus in particular likes playing with her automatons), to have found him by now. 

He waved her concerns off. “Percy will show up eventually, he's probably in Bird and Archer’s right now eating and/or being spooked by all the plants.” Griffin turned back towards everyone else. “So? Is this discussion over?”

Lavender calmly raised her hand. 

Griffin sighed, but allowed her to speak. 

“How do you feel about them?” she asked him. “If they did get together, would you…?”

A pause. 

“…Doctor Lanyon seems to like him enough.” Griffin glanced at the hangover room. “Hell, we all remember the panic on his face when he was carrying Hyde, bloodied and unconscious from God knows what.”

Luckett slowly nodded. “He spoke more words to some of us that day than he did in the past few months. Ito certainly got quite an earful.”

“I did.” She remembered being rather irritated with him then, though that was mostly because of the high stress situation, not because of the doctor himself. “But, I don't blame him for arguing with me, he was worried, so his panic was clouding up his usual sense of logic. We were all caught off guard by the situation, anyone would have acted just as irrationally.”

“…He’d compared him to Jekyll,” Rachel whispered. “He was confused why he was allowed to stitch up his close friend and not Hyde.” 

“We… shouldn't have allowed him to,” Ito admitted. “It was a foolish decision, even if Jekyll did fully recover afterwards.” Then again, no one had expected to deal with stab wounds at like two in the morning, and Archer’s instinct to call the first doctor he could think of was a reasonable one. “Though, I don't recall Doctor Lanyon being nearly as panicked.”

“Well, Doctor Lanyon’s basically just met Hyde. He hasn't had as many opportunities to see Hyde so close to death.” She lowered her voice even more, to the point that most of the lodgers were pushing each other to get closer to the sofa. “I’ve never seen him that openly terrified since Doctor Jekyll got really sick a couple of years ago.”

“He cares, a lot, doesn't he?”

Rachel, after a moment, nodded. “He does.” 

“…Hyde cares for him too,” Archer quietly added before chuckling. “He was very angry at Doctor Lanyon for basically using himself as bait at the museum, even though he was doing the same thing just a few minutes prior. They basically kept going back and forth with each other, trying to justify why their own stupidity was necessary to keep everyone alive.“

“So they bicker like an old married couple?” Helsby let out a snicker. “Fully believing that the other is a complete idiot but still dead set on keeping said idiot alive?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Maijabi smiled. “The two of them are quite the pair.”

“They… are,” Griffin reluctantly admitted. “An odd pair, but that's probably the bloody reason it even works.” A pause. Ito continued to listen. “You’ve been quiet. What do you think? The rest of the damn foyer seems to have some sort of theory about these two, do you?”

“Not particularly, but… They're certainly loved.” He hummed for a moment, seemingly ignoring the way the foyer had immediately gone silent. “They love each other, regardless of what that means to them.”

Griffin glanced at the hangover room again, eyes flickering down to the very bottom of the door. “Yeah… guess they do.” 

Despite everything he’s said so far, she fully believed that Griffin truly agreed with Maijabi. Griffin may be a grumpy bastard a good majority of the time, but he was sensible. 

“Loved,” Griffin murmured. 

Loved, the foyer seemed to repeat back, Loved.

(And with that, the discussion shifted.) 

(Griffin does not end up looking for Perseus.)

A few hours later, while everyone was off having their own conversations, someone slammed open the front door. 

That someone was one very exhausted, and one very confused, Edward Hyde.

Like the drunk man he was last night, he stumbled through the entrance once more. 

“…What the fuck?”

“Good…” Maijabi, briefly stopping his conversation with Lavender, glanced at the nearest clock, “afternoon, Mister Hyde.”

Hyde, obviously dealing with the consequences of last night's horribly alcoholic decisions, did not greet him. “Why the fuck are you all sitting in here, at once?”

“Oh, quiet down a bit,” Griffin huffed. 

“No, fuck that. What the hell are you all doing?”

“We were just taking advantage of the fact that Doctor Jekyll isn't around,” Helsby smoothly explained. “We all deserve a break from his constant nagging.” He then motioned at the (mostly) empty space next to him. “Doddle's making us a bunch of dessert right now, want to join?”

He narrowed his eyes at him. “…Dessert?”

“Cakes, pastries, the like.”

“I know what a fucking dessert is.” Hyde quickly looked around. “Where’s Lanyon?”

And as if he’d called upon the devil himself, the door to the hangover room snapped off its hinges. 

Doctor Lanyon, leaning on the empty door frame and staring at Hyde as if he was a lost sailor and the other man was the North Star, stayed entirely silent. 

Hyde stared back. “You… broke the door.”

The locked door, Ito mentally added. The door that had survived multiple attacks without even cracking, the door that she’s used to spitefully break someone's nose once. 

(Ito's immediately reminded of her past, admittedly brief, shock when she'd seen Doctor Lanyon impulsively leap out of a window for him. Sure, the doctor’s been rather restless ever since Hyde managed to escape the infirmary without anyone noticing, but she'd expected him to keep himself somewhat sane. 

…Apparently not, apparently he’s lost just.as many marbles as the rest of them.)

“Hyde,” Doctor Lanyon casually called out. “There you are.”

“…Yeah?”

He innocently sauntered up to Hyde, and scooped him up in his arms. 

Hyde immediately began complaining. “OI, WHAT THE HELL!? PUT ME DOWN, YOU PIECE OF-”

“You need to stop disappearing on me.” Doctor Lanyon scoffed. “Come along now, I’m forcing you to take a nap.”

“I’m not a fucking child! PUT ME THE FUCK DOWN!” Despite yelling this, Hyde didn't make any genuine attempt to force himself out of his arms.

“I’ll do that once I figure out how to convince you to stop aggravating that head injury of yours.”

“I have some sleep-inducing drugs," Ito helpfully offered. 

“FUCK NO!”

“…I’d have to say no to that, we shouldn't give him anything considering the amount of alcohol that's probably still in his system, thank you though.”

“We could let Penelope take him hostage.”

Doctor Lanyon turned to Helsby, clearly confused. “Penelope?”

“My octopus? You've met her plenty of times.”

“…Ah, her.”

Hyde tried kicking Doctor Lanyon in the face. It did not work. “PUT ME DOWN.”

Doctor Lanyon continued to ignore him. “...Maybe I should just bring him into Jekyll's office. He does have a sofa there he can use.”

“LANYON, YOU PIECE OF SHIT, PUT ME DOWN OR I’LL TELL JEKYLL YOU FUCKING KIDNAPPED ME!”

“Stop yelling, you're only worsening both of our hangovers.”

Hyde huffed. “Put me the fuck down, now.”

“Hm… no."

“Lanyon,” he basically whined. 

“Still, no. I didn't spend weeks hunting you down just for you to run off the second I let you go."

“But I want to leave.”

“Maybe it's best if you two just stay in the foyer,” Maijabi suggested, causing both of them to quickly turn towards him. “There will be plenty of people keeping Mister Hyde from running off again, and it's not often boring in here. As Helsby said earlier, Doddle is currently making everyone sweets.”

Hyde and Doctor Lanyon look at each other. 

“…Rachel's also planning on making something special for us later,” Archer added. “I saw her grab a bunch of chocolate from the pantry earlier, and we’re all hoping we're getting even more dessert.”

A pause.

Eventually, Hyde mumbled something to Doctor Lanyon, who laughed and whispered something back. 

“…Fucking fine, I’ll stay then.”

“Lovely,” Doctor Lanyon doesn't let him go. Instead, he dragged them both onto a quickly cleared out armchair (one directly across from where Ito, Griffin, and Helsby were sitting), and placed Hyde on his lap, legs dangling off the armrest.

Hyde doesn't even try to escape.

They seemed comfortable.

(Ito wondered if the hangovers were making that even more obvious than it usually was.)

“…So, what are we playing?” Hyde squinted at the hand drawn cards (Griffin, who still denies it, had allegedly pissed off some of Maijabi's ghosts, and they’d apparently stolen all their playing cards as revenge) “Are we gambling?”

Bird shrugged. “Does it count if we’re using small pouches of salt instead of coins?”

“…Salt?” Doctor Lanyon looked over at Rachel, who immediately giggled.

“I have a lot.”

Hyde looked absolutely ecstatic. “Can I have a bag of salt?” 

She looked at them both. “How about two?” 

“Give me the fucking salt, Rachel!”

“Alright, alright!” She chuckled. Rachel then tossed the bags over, one which ended up hitting Hyde's face. 

He happily grabbed one, opening it up to pour some down his throat. 

Doctor Lanyon watched in distant horror. 

Helsby snickered. “Calm down, doctor. Hyde just does that sometimes.”

“A lot of times,” Griffin corrected.

“…That cannot be healthy,” Doctor Lanyon muttered before grabbing the second bag of salt. 

Hyde tried taking it from him, but Doctor Lanyon simply held it away from him using his much longer arms. “Oi, give it!”

“You still have your first bag.”

“I need the other one for gambling!”

“No, you do not.”

“Give me.”

“No.”

“If you don't give it to me, I’m going to make you.”

Doctor Lanyon stared at him, eye to eye. “Try me.”

…Next thing they knew, Doctor Lanyon was on the floor, armchair tipped over, salt still in his possession. 

Hyde, already pining him down with an almost feral looking grin on his face, basically leapt towards it, earning himself a kick to the stomach in retaliation.

Children, literal children, the two of them. 

(But, more importantly, they were clearly happy. Doctor Lanyon, to apparently everyone else’s surprise, seemed to enjoy the roughhousing quite a bit. It was as if his earlier anxiety had completely disappeared with just Hyde’s presence.

The current scene was almost the complete opposite of the photo Sinnett had managed to take last night, with Hyde leaning on Doctor Lanyon's shoulder, and the doctor leaning on his head, both their faces flushed and their eyes half shut from exhaustion. 

One photo of gentle rest, the other soon-to-be-memory of reckless play.

Both filled with laughter.

There was only one other glaring similarity that stopped this image from being the current scene’s complete opposite.

In both, they were obviously loved.)