Work Text:
(Carl’s POV)
I rubbed at my tired eyes. Getting the hang of these crafting mechanics was tedious work, but finally I was seeing results I could be happy with. I checked the new items in my inventory one more time before closing out the screen, satisfied. Donut, Katia, and Mordecai hadn’t returned yet from the Desperado Club. I was just thinking about reading a few more pages of the cookbook when a faint noise reached my ears.
It sounded like… singing.
I poked my head out of the craft room to listen more carefully. Definitely singing. But it wasn’t English that I was hearing.
Was that German?
A line I clearly recognized drifted to my ears:
“Von 99 luftballons… Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont…”
Yup, definitely German. A guy I used to work with used to play this one a lot. He didn’t keep his Bluetooth privileges for long.
I crept closer to the main area of our shared personal space and spotted Juliet, rope in hand with the iPod propped up on a chair nearby. She was whipping the rope around in what looked like a random pattern, but it would come back to her hand with a knot in it. Then she’d undo the knot and start all over again.
Two times.
Three times.
Four.
I’ve seen this kind of maneuver before when I was still in the service—it was called a flying bowline knot. The whole time I stood there, she didn’t stumble over a single lyric.
I didn’t even know she spoke German.
It occurred to me then that there was still a lot I didn’t know about Juliet. She’d had a whole life before winding up in the dungeon just like Katia, and Imani and literally every other crawler unlucky enough to be here. Not knowing their stories never bothered me, so why did it bother me now?
I quickly shook the thought away before it could go any further.
She turned then and our eyes met. In that one brief moment, she looked happier than I’d seen her this entire floor. Totally unburdened. With eyes that sparkled like she was amused by whatever private thought occupied her mind.
In the immediate following moment, I saw those same eyes widen in surprise. That’s when it occurred to me that I had been caught. Not just innocently walking in on her doing something private.
I had been caught actively watching.
When had I leaned up against the doorway? And why couldn’t I, even when her whole face went bright red, bring myself to look away?
I straightened my posture and gestured to the iPod. “You speak German? I had no idea.”
Juliet fiddled with the rope in her hands. Her face was still red. “Not really. I took it in high school and learned that song for extra credit.”
A memory from my sophomore year sprang to mind and I shared it without thinking first. “We had to memorize that one Billy Joel song for my American history class.”
I watched whatever embarrassment I’d inadvertently caused her evaporate in an instant, replaced instead with a broad grin. I knew that look in her eyes.
I had said too much.
***
“Oh my god, I love this song!” Donut exclaimed the moment she crossed the threshold into our personal space.
I snapped my mouth shut with an audible clacking of teeth, but Juliet continued barreling through the second chorus of We Didn’t Start the Fire unbothered by the interruption. The iPod’s speaker was doing its best to keep up with her. Donut joined in without missing a beat. I guess leaving the radio on the oldies station had an effect on her.
I knew from the look Katia threw me that I was definitely getting teased for this later, though my biggest concern was actually Mordecai. He had just caught me in the middle of an impromptu karaoke session when I was supposed to be focusing on a battle strategy. He stared at me with his unsettling toad eyes and an expression that clearly read ‘what the actual fuck, man?’
I wasn’t looking forward to explaining this one.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Juliet, smiling broadly with Donut standing proudly on her shoulders. Even Katia had joined them, but she clearly didn’t know the lyrics as well.
Watching them, I found myself starting to smile.
To hell with whatever Mordecai had to say. I realized then that I simply didn’t care.