#requiros

‘ don’t put the lamp there ! ’ eve would move it herself, but her arms are full with a box stacked high with eleanor’s books & a jungly spider-plant balancing on top of it all. ‘ we need it closer to the bed. ’

‘ move in with me. ’ this is not as impulsive a suggestion as it sounds. dervla’s been thinking about this for weeks, as eleanor deals with 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐄 morning sickness alone & when dervla thinks about that hazardous isolated apartment of eleanor’s. dervla should be there for her. plus ... ‘ i want to be here for the milestones; if i telecommute we can spend more time together. ’ she pauses, eyeing eleanor’s face. ‘ the guest room’s already made up for you. what do you say ? ’

‘ mike ! ’ noah directs her best 𝐏𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐘𝐃𝐎𝐆 eyes his way. in the silence between netflix episodes, the sounds of her upstair neighbours having ... a 𝐖𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 together are incredibly audible. ‘ they’re always like this ! we have to stop them. we have to ... get revenge ! ’

things have been ... not entirely awkward, but something is off. eve can’t put her finger on what’s different ----- other than the obvious fact that they’ve seen one another 𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐃 now ------ but she doesn’t like it. ‘ should we ... talk about last night, or ... ? ’

‘ i’m pregnant. ’ she stands still, watchful, expectant. she doesn’t know how he’ll react but she’s braced for the 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐒𝐓. eve guesses that good reactions to unplanned pregnancies are pretty uncommon.

‘ riding a motorcycle now, levi ? ’ aurora’s fingers brush over the handlebars, admiring in spite of her words. ‘ i thought you liked to make an entrance in a 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 ? ’

‘ she was a total little 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋 ! we had ice cream & watched daniel tiger --- and she went right to sleep. she’s so cute. ’ noah clasps her hands together in reminiscent delight. ‘ how bout you ? how was your, uh, 𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄 ? ’

slender fingers twirl through golden locks, angel hair. ‘ honey, 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘, ’ tone is soft; some might say adoring, but there’s the hint of something SHARP beneath, if honey wants to play. ‘ where’ve ya been ? i missed ya. ’