[log] in the shadows of tall buildings of fallen angels on the ceilings
Most of the time, Maria can expect not to hear much out of Aloysius on a Monday. (He's always worked late, it's not that the house feels empty, just a middle-aged man and his habits.) Unfortunately, this particular Monday, when he did finally haul himself out of his office and back to the house, the first thing he did (standing in the hall with his ( Read more... )
Maria answers sounding cheerful, but she kind of has a hunch.
"Hello, you! Guess what? I was just on my way to come surprise you!"
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The tone will probably be a further clue.
"Really. Well, then, when you get here, you can tell me when exactly you lost your fucking mind-"
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"Oooh do not even start I am not having an argument over the damn phone, I hate these things. You can wait to yell at me until I get there."
...and maybe, she hopes, he'll have cooled down a smidgen by the time she gets there.
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"Lady's preference." Aloysius hangs up, before he can be corrected about 'ladies' - a helpful indicator of mood, there, as well as incredibly rude.
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She shows up at his doorstep soon enough, anyway, and maybe she is kind of concerned - she hates it when he's angry with her because Maria is a) like that and b) possibly not entirely healthy with how much she requires Aloysius to love her at all times hello crazy girl this is not even about that. Which she knows. Intellectually.
So she knocks.
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By this point, Aloysius is less 'cooled down' than he is 'simmering quietly', annoyed but not explosively so. He's also changed out of his work clothes, and his toes curl on the tiles when he opens the door and steps aside, not quite impassive, for her to come in.
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Maria abandons her coat in the hall (and hangs it up); she's dressed in a clean white pencil dress, too snug and too low-cut to be entirely proper, but it's at least not entirely risque. Possibly that doesn't help at all on the street in a big city, but don't tell her that, it's a concession on her part.
"Hi," she says, quietly.
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"There was a message from Alya when I got home," he's bitingly conversational. "Explain this to me."
For once, he really doesn't seem to notice what she's wearing.
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"I wanted to help Gates--it was just a joke, I was just trying to sell the idea to Alya and tease her a little bit about Nick. She's not that mad." Or Maria is pretty sure she'd have a lot more trouble on her plate than an angry boyfriend.
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Aloysius kindly takes this opportunity to play the message back for her.
"As it happens I've warned her about someone doing that specifically," he says, silky quiet, "and there are bloody limits to what's funny."
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Maria stares at him, genuinely confused and distressed.
"You act like it was real blackmail, Aloysius, it really was just a joke. Look, I'll call Alya later and apologize, but when we were hanging out I was pretty sure she knew the score."
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"Don't make jokes with the genuine concerns of other people, as willfully stupid as they may be-" Aloysius reins himself in, curt and irritable. "Particularly not when the punchline is any kind of blackmail. There is a line, Maria, and for God's sake, certain people ought to be on the other side of it."
...if, then, it was someone else - someone not connected to either of them - he wouldn't have given a damn?
Well, yes.
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"...okay," she says, simply, fighting an eyeroll, tucking herself back away from him to press against the wall- kind of like she's keeping that distance because his seething anger pushes her back, away. It makes her feel tiny.
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Aloysius eyes her for a moment, like he's trying to decide whether or not she's just humouring him (liable to annoy him again before he can unruffle his feathers), but he gives up on that. "What were you coming for?"
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"Uh, I wanted to see you." Although now she's reconsidering whether that was such a good plan.
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Possibly there have been better plans, in the history of plan-making. "...yes, of course." He pinches the bridge of his nose.
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