With the radio turned up so loud

[unlaces]

Tom had brought home biscuits. He'd left the package open on the coffee table then wandered off to where ever it was Tom went. Alex was flopped on the couch, laid out in a way that probably looked uncomfortable but happened to be exceedingly comfortable at the moment. Despite the fact that she was comfortable, she looked a bit miserable and she was staring the biscuits down as if they were the entire reason for her misery.

Pro tip: They were.

Alex missed food. She missed eating and kissing and dancing until she was breathless. She missed changing clothes. She missed wiggling her toes in the grass. For fucks sake, she even missed stepping barefoot on her little brother's toys, hopping around on one leg and screaming fuck at the top of her lungs because those toys were made to put a person in agony when one stepped on them.

She heard Hal come in the room, but she deigned, instead, to continue glaring at the biscuits and quietly mourning the loss of all the things she missed.

Not to worry. It wasn't likely she'd stay quiet about it (or anything else) for long.

Comments

[notkiaora]

A breath. An internal sigh and a straightening of his already straight back.

"Do you suppose if you look at them for long enough they might do something?"

Pushing from the doorway, he stepped closer, around her, a pointed glance towards her feet on the sofa. Her shoes on the furnishing. Not that she could help that. He crouched down and brushed the crumbs into his hand, before lifting the packet, and a scan of his eyes to asess what else could be done, what order could be added to the space around them.

"It won't help to torture yourself," he told her, speaking as one who knew.

[unlaces]

She snorted at his question, turning her attention from the packet of biscuits to watch Hal. The scenery, however involved she wasn't going to get with it, was much nicer that way. At his words, the ones that were more true than she wanted to admit, the ones that reminded her they were alike in some ways even if they were different in every other imaginable way, she let out a long, suffering sigh and removed her feet from the sofa, straightening up a bit because she knew it drove him insane.

"Look it there. They got up and moved," she smirked, choosing to ignore the torture comment. "They never did that when I was human, so maybe there's a bright side."

It was her way of saying thanks. Really.

[notkiaora]

There was just the briefest pause when she moved, a glance in her direction and something that would be a smile if he tried. A thanks, of his own, for her silent aquiesce to move.

"Yes, quite remarkable," he said, his voice monotone and more than a little sarcastic.

"Alternatively, you could have done something productive with your day," he suggested, gesturing to the space around them. "This place is a sty."

It wasn't, not really. After all he'd cleaned it only that morning. But he understood a need for purpose, and he though that maybe that would help her, give her something to focus on.

"Or at least something more fulfilling than trying to start an argument with a packet of digestives."

[unlaces]

She tilted her head to the side and raised one shoulder ever so slightly in an acknowledgement of his thanks. Her mouth quirked into something that resembled a smile at his sarcasm. Secretly, she liked it when Hal was sarcastic. It made him more...Hal and less someone so carefully controlled she couldn't see anyway of ever getting under his skin in a good way.

"I spent my entire life picking up after my brothers and dad. I got no intention of spending my unlife doing it."

She grinned, the tip of her tongue coming between her teeth for a moment. "Besides, what would be your purpose then? And I spent the day tagging along with Tom. Got him to turn a brilliant shade of red when I started rambling 'bout women's knickers."

[notkiaora]

"I think the evidence around us makes that fact quite clear," he said, sounding long suffering.

"If nothing else, you could at least pick up after yourself."

It was good though, he knew that. He knew that sometimes there was a discarded magazine or some unwashed plates still in the sink, all left there on purpose for him, Tom and Alex both knowing that it was those things that gave him focus. He didn't thank them for it, perhaps because he wasn't sure how, or because if it did it would shatter the illusion. What he did know, though, was that he was thankful for it. Thankful for both of them.

"Oh, please," he cringed. "If you're intent on filling Tom's head you could at least attempt to fill it with something useful. The last thing he needs is to muse on your undergarments."

[unlaces]

"I'll have you know they're beautifully, brilliant, fucking amazing undergarments." She sighed again, flopping against the arm of the sofa while her feet stayed on the ground. "And no one will ever see them. It's a waste."

She was going to ignore the awkwardness of that fact that she'd worn those undergarments for him, in hopes that he would see them. Or at least she was going to try.

[notkiaora]

He would be lying were he to tell her he hadn't imagined. A lie to say he had never looked at her and had his gaze linger for a fraction longer than might have been appropriate. A lie also to say that it wasn't something that happened right in that moment.

There was a pause for brevity as he continued his ministrations, tidying away the mail that had been delivered, discarded, sat on, and was now making its way down the edge of the sofa.

"Indeed. Quite the waste," he said, just the smallest of glances in her direction.

[unlaces]

It's more what he doesn't say, the fact that he doesn't say anything for a moment, more than anything that got Alex's attention. Her eyes slide over to his just in time to catch that glance. She bites the insides of her lips to keep from smiling from ear to ear. She also has to take a moment to calm the teenage girl in her that's currently jumping up and down on the couch (shhhh she has a couch in her head) squealing at the top of her lungs.

That was going to take a little while. He can probably see that she's biting the inside of her lips and cheeks.

"Least we can agree on that."

[notkiaora]

The smile he hides back is small, but nonetheless present. It's a look that sits in his eyes for a moment before he pushes it aside, busying himself instead with the space around him, and the thousand and one things he could do with it.

There was a cloth in his hand that he'd retrieved from somewhere, and he swiped it over the coffee table, a happy look on his face when he wipes away a ring left from a mug.

"See," he said. "Much better."

He folded the cloth and turned back, dusting down the space on the sofa besides Alex before sitting himself next to her, leaning back a little into the cushion.

"You should come to the Hotel tomorrow," he suggested.

[unlaces]

When he smiled (however small), she nearly burst something to keep from breaking out one of those blinding, ear-to-ear grins. Despite her efforts, her smile got a bit wider. She was almost disappointed when he pushed the smile away, but then again, if he hadn't she would have wondered if he was high or something.

She watched him tidy up with an arched eyebrow and a crooked smirk. "You're right. My life is complete now. I'm expectin' that door of light any moment."

At his suggestion, the grin she'd been hiding disappeared and she shifted on the couch, pulling one leg up and turning to face him. "You find something out that needs investigatin'?" She assumed it had to do with the suicides at the hotel and the mystery they were somewhat looking to.

[notkiaora]

He chose, at least on that occasion, to ignore her heavy dose of sarcasm. It would have been easy to pass comment, of course, and he had to bite his tongue not to. But he understood, or at least tried. He knew that she couldn't have the life she wanted, he knew the world she inhabited now wasn't the one she'd ever hoped she would. It wasn't for him of all people to poke his finger into that wound.

"Well there is a rather peculiar scent emanating from room twelve. Would that satisfy your urge for investigation?"

A half smile touched his lips, teasing, or at least his method of it.

"No, but really, it would be good for you to get out the house. It can't be good being cooped up in here all the time."

[unlaces]

No, but she was trying to understand how she could sort this life that she did have out and be content with it. There were things about this life that she wouldn't trade, like Tom and Hal. She loved living here with them. She just wished she was a bit more solid while she was living here with them.

"Mmmm I think maybe peculiar scents are Tom's sorta thing," she joked, a smile racing across her face. It only falters a little when he puts out that she needs to get out of the house. He had a point.

"Tag a long with you tomorrow then?"

[notkiaora]

"I daren't ask him," he told her, "he'll only say I'm accusing him of being the origin. Again. Really, I'm learning that sometimes it's just better not to ask."

It could be hard to handle that sad puppy look that Tom so often wore when he thought he'd let someone down, or let himself down. He wanted to help Tom, but he didn't want to belittle him. It was a balance he found hard to strike at times.

"Tag along with us," he echoed back as confirmation. "And if you're lucky, I'll even show you my new filing system. Really, I'm rather proud of it."

With most people, that statement might be a joke, but sadly? With Hal? It was anything but, and he really was quite proud of it.

[unlaces]

Alex knew that look. She was well acquainted with it and she had a hard time not doing everything she could to avoid having Tom make that look as well.

"All right then. I'll even investigate the strange smell." Because she didn't have to breath. She just wasn't crazy about the things that produce strange smells. A grin curved her lips at his comment about the filing system. A sarcastic comment perched on the tip of her tongue but she quelled it because she knew Hal well enough to know that he was really proud of it.

"New filing system? Going to revolutionize the organizing world?" Assuming there was a sector of the world that loved organization the way that Hal did. Alex doubted it.

[notkiaora]

"Ah you may mock," he said, aware of the fact she really wasn't, "but everything has its place. The world works better with order, and order starts with the smallest of things. If a hotel is to thrive then order is required. I don't intend for a moment to let that slide. And nor should you."

It may have seemed over the top, but he needed it, he needed every moment of it. It was what kept him in control, and what kept others safe. Especially now, especially lately when he felt him closer to the surface.

[unlaces]

Alex can't help but laugh a bit. In fact, it was almost a giggle. She saluted him, still laughing a bit.

"Aye Aye, Sir. As you say. I'm yours to command. Or something like that."

Alex got it. She understood this was what Hal had to do to keep the darkness in him at bay. She was happy to indulge it in just about any way she could. It wasn't as if it was a hardship for her. It meant that really, she had very little to do around the house.

[notkiaora]

There was a brief raise of his eyebrow at her words. Were he a man more inclined towards making a salacious comment, then it would have most certainly been the time to do so.

As it happened, he did not. (But that didn't necessarily mean it didn't pass his mind by entirely).

"Indeed," he said, with the smallest clearing of his throat.

He was thoughtful for a moment then, something in his mind before the words were spoken.

"It's good," he told her. "I think. The Hotel. Exactly what we all needed at exactly the right time. We'd all be fools if we didn't take advantage of that."

[unlaces]

Oh it was meant to make that sort of thought pass his mind. She knew he wouldn't say anything, but that didn't mean she didn't hope that he couldn't and wouldn't think it. She was counting on there being a guy underneath centuries of repression and etiquette. It was the only hope that Alex had because she wasn't exactly Hal's sort of girl, as far as she knew. She tended to imagine Hal being attracted to some one more...fourteenth century with gowns and corsets, manners and bloodlines, but if there was a guy under there, then Alex knew guys. She'd grown up with guys. She knew how they thought and she felt like she had half a chance.

In any case, the clearing of the throat was good as far as she was concerned. She nodded in agreement with him. Hal was right, the hotel was good for them all. "Gives us somewhere to be and something to do besides rattle around in these walls."