#* short.

“Well, yeah. You were raised in a cave. I didn’t think you even knew people had first and surnames.”

       ❛   some of us were old enough to remember them               the time we realized lamplight became our new              home.

She gave him a very disgusted look that dissipated with his adjoining comment.   Moving on…    “I make the rules because I’m always right!” she nodded her head at him matter-of-factly…       “It’s coz I’m so mature.” …and stuck out her tongue.

Instead of actually helping him search (and jeopardizing her cut), she let her gun fall to her side and looked up at all the very distracting stained glass windows and vaulted ceilings.

“Who stashes guns in a church anyway?” She asked absentmindedly and spun around on her heels, still staring straight up. “Ain’t that like… A deadly sin? Thou shalt not put killing-people-thingies in Houses Of God? That sounds right, doesn’t it?”

   a protruding tongue is caught within his periphery. “right,” he replies, voice dripping with sarcasm. how his wall of restraint slowly chips away the longer he tags along with his new partner. it’s not even been half a day since they were assigned the job & his patience was being tested --- not the worst thing that could happen, she’s just fortunate their PAY hinders his tolerance from shattering completely. 

   torso hunches over a file cabinet -- one of the countless scattered in the buildings of the commonwealth. a hand sifts through stray items, a toy bear, an antique globe, but no gun. he straightens himself up, pushes in the drawer with his knee, then turns back to bobbie who finds the time to unprofessionally pirouette.  

His jokes were non-stop. Pun after pun after pun.

It wasn’t his fault she was in a bad mood. And with the barrage of jokes, it seemed like he was trying to cheer her up. She didn’t want to hit him or yell, that would just cause an argument.

So before he could deliver the punchline to his next one, she grabbed him by his scarf and tugged him to her for a firm kiss.

 rather than level with her on a sensitive level, where maybe they can meet halfway with understanding & improving henceforth, he goes along with jokes. it’s also a way to obscure himself, his attitude, his feelings; not give too much away while offering a lot. the only reason he tries so hard is because ellie needs it. & he considers them friends.

 his torso, yanked by a firm hand, draws him closer with the moment his scarf tightens at the nape of his neck. lips meet & he’s taken aback, but doesn’t draw away. eyes shut for only a second until uprighting himself again.

 now he’s left speechless. 

“This is fuckin’ terrible. Whoever sent this must be real insecure. An’ probably an idiot.”