Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā "I hope he steps in a puddle,"
Ā Ā Ā Her tone is flat and lowā murmurings that lace themselves with so much air that they might be the final wisps of her spirit dissipating into the air. Ones that catch in the fabric of Adam's sleeve as she lets her weight settle upon him, and as features hold themselves back from hiding herself among him entirely. The 'he' in question needing no introduction, no clarification. The venom behind it a weight, a history, that speaks louder than any fragment of his name could. That mayor.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā "I hope that every time he opens a push or pull door, he chooses the wrong option," A sigh pulls itself from her lips, and with an arm draping around his side, hand pooling against the surface of the couch, does Serena pull herself closer. "Noā I hope his pockets get caught on every door handle he walks past."
Adam doesnāt pull away from her weight; instead he settles into it, like itās something expected, something allowed. The fabric of his sleeve shifts faintly where her words seemed to cling, and he lets them stay there, unshaken. Thereās a quiet recognition in him, an understanding that what she offers isnāt really about puddles or doors or petty inconveniences.
Still, a small crooked smile ghosts across his face, subtle enough that it barely disturbs the calm he keeps. He wraps his arm around her in turn, pulling her close.
"I do not know..." He says lightly, a hint of amusement threading through his voice, "The pockets might be too far. That is a public hazard. He could take out a whole coat rack on his way down."
His free fingers tap idly once against the couch near her arm, an absent rhythm, as if heās thinking through the logistics of her curses with unnecessary seriousness.
"Though," He continues, tilting his head just a fraction toward her. "if weāre building a proper catalogue of suffering, I feel like we should stay consistent."
Thereās a pause just long enough to let the playfulness breathe before he softens it again.
"Doors that never cooperate. Shoelaces that come undone at the worst possible moment. Perhaps sleeves that always slide down when heās washing his hands."
The faintest exhale escapes him, closer to a real laugh this time, though it stays quiet, contained between them. His gaze lowers, not looking at her directly but aware of her all the same of the way she leans in and of the weight she trusts him to hold.
"I know itās not really about any of that." He says after a moment, voice softer, stripped of most of its earlier teasing. "But I understand, mon Ć¢me."
Thereās no push for explanation, no demand for more. Just that quiet acknowledgment, steady and unintrusive. Then almost as an afterthought the playfulness nudges back in.
"But for the record?" He murmurs. "I stand by the door one. That is diabolical."