Call him crazy, but Doohickey's pretty sure Clancy's been acting weird lately. To the untrained eye it seems as though nothing's amiss, but Doohickey's eye is far from untrained; between being a detective and slowly learning all the little bits of Clancy over the years, he's almost certain his partner is pulling away from him.
It's small things: he pulls away quicker whenever Doohickey touches him, he's snappier than usual when people make comments about how 'couple-like' they apparently are. He's never outright cold to him, still leaning into his space when he laughs, still hovering over his shoulder to read a case file. But something has changed and Doohickey can't figure out what.
The current hypthesis? Clancy knows Doohickey has a crush on him, and is subtly trying to reject him.
Which, fair enough. The one problem with it is that Kit Clancy doesn't do 'subtle'. Even if he were trying to let him down gently—which he's not even 100% sure he is—Doohickey's certain he'd do something a little grander than this.
He tries to give him some semblance of space, hating to think of Clancy trying to grow the already delicate distance between them, all because Doohickey can't keep his pesky little feelings at bay. It's a difficult thing to do when their lives are so deeply intertwined, but generally, he tries not to make his... affections so glaringly obvious.
It works for a while, at least he thinks. It's hard to tell when all the 'weird' behaviour is so subtle, but Clancy's not acting any more 'weird' than usual so Doohickey takes it as a win.
But then they're out on a late night grocery store run with Doohickey pushing the cart along and Clancy dragging his feet along beside him, and Clancy's yawning into the sleeve of another stolen hoodie and nearly stumbling into him.
"Fuckin'—" he yawns again, "sorry, Jesus Christ, I didn't realise I was this tired."
"You're fine." Doohickey pats his arm and he doesn't draw away. "Just a few more things and we'll be heading back home."
A few minutes later and Clancy's lead lolls onto Doohickey's shoulder. Doohickey nearly freezes on the spot, suddenly unbearably close to Clancy after these past couple of weeks. Clancy either takes no notice or he just doesn't care, putting a hand on the cart and pressing his weight into Doohickey's side as they walk.
It occurs to Doohickey that, in the midst of everything they've done together, this might actualy be the most couple-y they've ever looked. Clancy is warm at his side, his hair splayed messily over Doohickey's shoulder and chest, heavy like a security blanket. He yawns again, and, despite the string of annoyed curses that follow, he looks adorable.
"C'mon. we'll be home soon," Doohickey repeats. "I'll tuck you into bed, read you a story."
Clancy butts his head into Doohickey's neck, grumbling. Doohickey laughs softly. Then slowly, experimentally, he raises the arm Clancy is leaning on and places his hand on Clancy's shoulder, pulling him just a little bit closer.
He doesn't fight it. Doohickey tries not to smile too obviously.
Kit doesn't know, he assures himself. And he doesn't need to know.
Just as long as Doohickey has him in his life, he's sure he'll be fine.
