fiendfyreheartâ:
      restlessness keeps him up at night; itâs something that heâs grown accustomed to working around. keeping himself occupied. the layout of the house was familiar but not as much as he would like it to be, and he memorizes each door, each entryway, everything that one should know when keeping watch of a house and itâs occupants.Â
     she keeps a weird schedule as well â elliot seems to prefer retreating to his room at night, get up to find josephine occasionally. they were very close, but he understood the bond â they were all they had, despite the people who kept claiming to be forever a part of their life. he already had to hoist out one person claiming to be a relative and not understanding that didnât entitle them to money, relative or not.Â
      â just checking.  â he says, voice quiet, an echo still in the large house.  â you have a meeting tomorrow morning. perhaps you should think of sleep sometime soon.  â she had nothing to reign her in as she might once have had, nothing to guide her to take care of herself. he felt himself reminding her to sleep and to eat when she worked herself up too much and lost focus besides a single thing.Â
     she does hear him some nights. thinks of asking about it, occasionally, but that would give her away too; she pretends, for all their sakes, that sheâs not up half the night most days of the week. elliot is the real worrier, and heâs got enough on his shoulders with a new school year, making friends, still trying to navigate a city much larger than the one they left behind. it doesnât matter how much time has passed between their new york arrival to now. she expected an adjustment period. what sheâs surprised by, constantly, is how long itâs taken for herself.Â
      âprobably,â she looks up again, nudges her reading glasses further up her nose. roman doesnât look tired, but he rarely does. she nods toward the stool across from her. âyou can sit, if you want. unless you were heading back to bed, too.â

















