part 3 of lieutenant!simon stays with sergeant!reader because his flat has mold and seeing you off-duty knocks him sideways
A week turned into two before either of you bothered to count. You fell into a rhythm neither of you had agreed to but both were reluctant to break: shared silences, quiet mornings, the low hum of the kettle at dawn. His presence seeped into the corners of your life like it had always belonged there. His mug on your counter. His jacket on the back of your chair. Boots by the door. It was domestic in a way that neither of you had any experience with— too soft for soldiers, too intimate for coworkers, too easy for friends.
It wasn’t without its moments, though. The first came one morning when he was halfway to the kitchen and you stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and dripping hair.
Simon stopped dead. You froze too, steam curling around your bare shoulders like smoke. For a moment, neither of you said a word, then his jaw tightened, eyes darting anywhere but you.
“Christ, Sergeant,” he said finally, voice rougher than usual.
You managed a laugh, quick and nervous. “Didn’t realize I needed to clear the hallway.”
He turned, walking off with a muttered, “Next time, warn a bloke.”
You shut your door with your heart in your throat and skin still flushed, though not from the shower anymore.
A few days later, he came back from a run to find his clothes washed and folded on the guest bed. It stopped him cold. You hadn’t said anything about it — no note, no offhand comment — just the small, neat stack waiting there like it was the most natural thing in the world. He stood there longer than he should’ve, hand resting on the edge of one folded shirt.
No one had done that for him in years. Maybe ever. He didn’t know what to do with it. The warmth pressed at his chest and there was a quiet ache that followed. When you asked that evening if he’d found everything alright, he only hummed something that could’ve meant anything. You didn’t push, and he was grateful for that.
By midweek, you decided to redeem yourself in the kitchen. He came home to the smell of peppers and sauce and your smug grin already waiting. “I cooked,” you said, chin high.
He eyed the pan. “Should I get the extinguisher ready?”
You rolled your eyes and served him anyway. He didn’t tell you that he hated peppers — not when you looked so damn proud. He ate every bite, and when you caught him going back for seconds, he only shrugged. “Best thing I’ve had in months,” he said, and it wasn’t about the food.
It became habit, the way the two of you seemed to orbit the same small corners of town without meaning to. You ran into him at the corner shop. Both of you headed over for the same brand of cereal, neither admitting you’ve gone out to restock for the flat.
“You’re here for milk too?” He grunts.
“Ran out.” You lift your basket.
“Funny, me too.” He huffed a small laugh, shaking his head, and that was it. You paid separately, walked back together anyway, plastic bags bumping between you.
Another night, you fell asleep on the couch with a book half-open against your chest. When you woke hours later, a blanket from his bed was draped over you, the lights were off, and your bookmark was tucked neatly between the pages. You refused to acknowledge how much you liked that the soft fabric smelt like him.
When you came into the kitchen the next morning, he was already there — tea in hand, face unreadable. “Might want to finish that chapter before you pass out next time,” he said without turning around.
You frowned. “You were up?”
He shrugged, a simple roll of his broad shoulders. “Could hear you snorin’ from the hall.”
He just smirked into his mug, and that was the end of it. No talk of blankets, or bookmarks, or the quiet way he’d stopped to watch you sleep, the same way he did his first night here.
It was the small things that continued to undo him: your laugh from the other room, the way you hummed while brushing your teeth, the sound of your bare feet on the hardwood. He’d catch himself watching you too long, lingering in doorways just to listen. It was dangerous for a man like him, closed off and alone, but he was enjoying this new kind of quiet comfort. It was the sort of thing that could make a man forget he was only meant to be a guest.
And yet, every time he thought about leaving, his chest went tight.
So he didn’t. Couldn’t. Not yet.
part. 4 here