all this heat is causing fires
Leila is used to living with Solomon, by now (and don't think she doesn't find it a bit weird, how swiftly she adapted in Taxon), but she still is not really used to having Ferdi there, and furthermore it's different at her own apartment in Baltimore, a place she'd previously thought she'd left behind. Although they kept talking like going home ( Read more... )
It strikes Sol as somehow absurd that after what he knows to have been months, they are home like it was nothing more than the blink of an eye and he has to go to work and tie up loose ends and not talk about any of it except the part where Leila walked in while Tonya and her parents were still screaming at him.
...but reality is frequently kind of ridiculous, so he does still have to go to work and that's where he's coming home from when he pokes his head through the bedroom door, pulling his tie loose like he is physically unable to remain properly dressed without being forced. "Hey."
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Leila brightens when she sees him, crawling forward over her papers on hands and knees, toward the corner of the bed that is closest to the door (she always prefers the side of the bed tucked into the wall, it's a thing).
"Hey," she says, smiling, "you're home. Come here."
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"You remember when I missed working? I was lying." He leans down with his tie in his fist and leans on the end of the bed to kiss her casually hello; let's see how long that lasts.
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"Aww," she makes an exaggeratedly sympathetic sound, tugging him closer by the shirt for a significantly extended hello, "poor thing. Good thing I'm stealing you away to another country and a new job soon, aren't I nice?"
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"You're so good to me." He drops his tie on the floor and himself on the bed, stretching backwards next to her and resting his hands on his midection, lazy. "Ferdi's packing up, by the way. Or he will be when he bothers to get back from wherever he is right now. Job offer."
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"Remember that next time you're mad at me- what kind of job, in photography?" She leans over Sol, one hand on the other side of him, hair falling...probably somewhat in his face, because Leila is annoying.
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"The only kind that can light a fire under his ass like that." Photography, yes. Sol runs his hand down Leila's side to her hip, shifting his head until her hair is by the side of his face instead of getting in his mouth, and grins up at her like he's had a very, very long day. (He has.) "So he and the portfolio are off our sofa."
'Our'. It's still a little odd to say outside Taxon.
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"Oh, and now who will drink all our beer." She watches Sol for a few seconds, tugging lightly at the material of his shirt like she's thinking about taking it off just out of habit but refraining because there are things to talk about. Like so:
"Are they upset with you? At work, for leaving. I bet Charlie is stunned we ever spilled the secret."
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"Charlie was enjoying being almost the only person who knew, I think. And yeah, I'm not the most popular person in the office at the moment." ...or anywhere, actually, which he doesn't say because it frankly does not need to be said.
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"Well," she says, after a thoughtful pause, "you're the most popular person with me."
...which is supposed to help, apparently. She grins at him.
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"I expect my approval rating-" dry, dry, dry, "-with you to soar once the divorce is finalized."
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"Wait until I begin wedding planning in earnest," Leila laughs, merciless, shifting to sit on his hips. "I have other things planned today, though."
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"A wedding where the only person in the bridal party I've slept with is the bride sounds fantastic, depending on exactly how many place settings you're going to make me look at. What do you have planned today and does it involve me getting a beer within the next hour?"
A pause, as Sol resettles under her. "If not, could it?"
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...Leila lifts a hand, as though requesting just a minute.
"Hold on, I'm still deciding how I feel about 'hi honey, I'm home, get me a beer,'" she says, dryly.
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"I meant are you intending on letting me move," he says, dryly, "anything else there was all you."
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"You completely did not mean that," she disagrees, on principle (she's not really offended, but she is very amused), "Anyway, maybe. We might want to be drinking for this, actually- I wanted to do that ritual, finally. I have everything I need for it, and I had to wait until Ferdi wasn't here."
She's pretty blase-sounding about it.
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