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The double take she does when she notices Miki unbuttoning her shirt should probably be a sign, but Eddie’s gotten very good at ignoring signs.
She’s just looking around, surveying their surroundings, like any good detective. Until suddenly she’s not, because she turns and spots Miki at the Territory Rangers tent, with her fingers on the top buttons of her shirt, and now for some reason Eddie has stopped moving.
She’s still staring as Collins talks through their suspect list next to her, which she’s definitely listening to. She is! She’s just also… looking. Finds her eyes glued to Miki as she opens the shirt wider, half her tit showing as the hand applying deodorant pushes the fabric further off her body. That’s probably the point where Eddie should avert her eyes. But she doesn’t.
She can’t look away. Why the fuck can’t she look away? Oh, fuck, Miki’s seen her.
And, sure, maybe she should think about that fact that she only knows how to respond to any feelings with either aggression or jokes - or usually both - but now definitely isn’t the time for some internal therapy session. She’ll leave the naming feelings to Cath, thank you very much. So she sticks two fingers up at Miki. Looks at her like she’s the weird one, like she’s the one caught eyeing someone up. Definitely isn’t sad when Miki turns away. Obviously not. It’s nothing, and she’s got a case to focus on.
Except, as the detectives wait in a fuck-off massive line to talk to the Boys, Eddie finds her brain is still stuck on that moment from earlier.
It doesn’t mean anything. People look at people all the time. She’s looked at loads of people. She’s probably looked at hundreds of people just today, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like she wants to fuck Miki or something. Nah, when she wants to fuck somebody she shows off, she’s brazen and aggressive and says stupid things. She pushes for a reaction.
Like, whipping out a gun to shoot down the hovercunt after comandeering their boat, and then standing there hands on hips with a smirk on her face, or leaning in all close while asking stupid questions about bull sharks and childbirth, or getting all angry and complaining about the colour of their eyes because it’s way easier than recognising that maybe looking at them made her feel-
Ah. Shit. Fuck.
“So…” she turns towards Collins, “how do you flirt with girls?” What the fuck? Where the fuck did that come from? “Do you all just weather-chat? Or are there other topics that work as well?”
Where the fuck is she going with this? Judging by the look on Collins’ face, she’s wondering the same thing.
“What?”
Eddie keeps rambling, making some stupid joke because it’s what she does best, and because she’s definitely not willing to show her hand right now. Not that there’s a hand to show. Obviously.
“Well, you know, like at the camp, like you and Cath, you froth on about the weather, and then immediately you’re fiddling each other’s bits.”
“Oh, God.”
Collins is protesting now, and Eddie’s not really listening to a word she says, but she keeps talking, relieved because it means she’s played it off like it’s any other one of her jokes, teasing Collins the way she always does, so she won’t be suspicious. Again, not that there’s anything to be suspicious of.
Thank fuck for the Croc Boy she spots, giving her the perfect out once Collins is suitably riled up over Eddie’s questions about wetness and rain, just enough that she can’t stop Eddie when she runs off after him.
And when Collins calls later on to tell her that Miki’s found another body part, she totally doesn’t get excited and a little bit terrified at the thought of seeing Miki again. What? No, why would she? No fucking reason.
And she would definitely shout to clear any crime scene, it’s nothing to do with Miki. She does it all the time. The other woman said it herself, in fact - Eddie’s always shouting. She doesn’t care about the special fucking frogs, doesn’t care that Miki cares, she’s just doing her job. She sees Miki struggling to keep away the crowds and swoops in to help. Because she’s supposed to, that’s all. Not because she wants to or anything.
And maybe she feels a tiny bit bad when Miki is shouting after them to come back tomorrow, even if it was Eddie’s job to drive them away right now. But again, it’s nothing. Besides, most of these cunts couldn’t give a fuck about anything besides what’s been fished out of the river. And then Miki is telling her off for shouting, and she’s enjoying this back and forth a little too much. She likes being matched, likes the name-calling. At least when it comes from Miki.
They speak at the same time, after Collins has tried desperately to find a polite forensics-y term for the body part under the tarp. But it’s a dick-bum. They both tell Collins as much. Eddie likes the name Miki gives it. It’s the kind of thing she would have thought of herself, if she weren’t distracted. By the case, obviously, not by anything else. Miki’s looking at her now, smirking, agreeing with her, and Eddie’s heart is going way too fucking fast.
And when Miki giggles beside her, Eddie feels totally normal. Normal levels of normal feelings.
But then Collins is staring at them both, and it’s silent for a moment, and suddenly Miki is walking away. Eddie finds that she’s both immensely relieved to have some space, and immediately misses the feeling of Miki stood next to her. Or at least, she would find that, if she was feeling feelings, or naming them. Which she’s not. It’s not overly defensive to tell Collins to fuck off, it’s just Eddie being Eddie. Waving a dick stick around until Collins forgets whatever she thinks she saw.
And then the day gets busy. With Spud and Frank and Big Eyes and Leo, she almost forgets that she stopped off again at the Territory Rangers tent earlier, purely for detective purposes of course. Almost. Until her phone goes off, as they’re stood in the huge pile of metal shit dredged up from the river, and it’s from Miki.
She says this to Collins, in her most normal, casual voice. She’s pretty sure she nails it. But then Collins is asking how Miki got her number, and she’s looking at Eddie like she knows something. Like there’s something to know. And Eddie’s realising that maybe she didn’t do quite as well as she thought at playing it casual over in the meet and greet line for the Boys. Or looking at the dick-bum by the river. Or just now, when she got that text. Or maybe it’s just that Collins can see right through her. Either way, Eddie’s grateful for the distraction that the rest of the day brings. This can be a problem for another day.