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

[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."