(no subject)

[takecourage]

She really doesn't know why they bother having two apartments at all, not when they're both much happier when they're in the same one. They cook together, they eat together, they sprawl on one sofa watching movies. They took the time to ward both places, with Bramford being as deeply haunted as it as. Riddled with grays. Alex feels them wash over her the minute she steps into the hallway but, in either of the apartments, she trusts him to keep her safe.

"What are you even doing?" she asks.

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[takecourage]

It's so easy to believe him when he sounds that certain, that solid. Alex finds that she trusts him in a way she hasn't trusted anyone, certainly not a man, in her entire life. Whatever else might happen, she knows that he would never knowingly let her down.

"Bring it on, Darrow," she says, raising her wine glass in a lazy toast.

[more_magic]

"Two shepherds of Lethe, far from their usual pasture," he quips, knocking the rim of his glass against hers. "Us against a pocket universe." He shakes his head, then takes a slightly larger swallow of wine. He'd abandoned the urge to write up reports on it all rather quickly--who would they be for, in this place?--but every so often he can't help thinking about the look on Sandow's face if he ever got a whiff of any of this.

"What do you want to do for dinner?"

[takecourage]

"I wouldn't want to take it on with anyone else, Daniel," she says, and, as ever, using his given name out loud feels like spilling some kind of secret. "We could go out." She looks down at herself, at the sweats that are even more comfortable than her Lethe set, a sweater that she's pretty sure is one of Darlington's. "But I don't really want to put a bra on."

[more_magic]

She does it rarely enough that he still notices when Darlington becomes Daniel--and often enough that he's started to look forward to it, when she does. Today, it brings a smile to his face, something sudden and bright.

"We could," he says, but they're already so comfortable that it's hard to think about making the effort. When Alex glances down at herself, he does too, if just for a moment. And only a moment, once she keeps talking. Had he noticed? Of course he had, on a level he tried--mostly--not to acknowledge; still, he looks away again with a faint cough. "Always direct, Alex," he murmurs. "And given how loath I am to make you do something you don't want to, I think that means takeout."

[takecourage]

"Take out sounds good to me," says Alex, stretching delightedly. And if she noticed the way that his eyes linger on her, she doesn't draw attention to it. She does kind of like it when he smiles like that, though.

"What shall we get?"

[more_magic]

"Are we looking for something to compliment the wine, or do we care?" he asks, letting a mocking shade of snobbery thread its way into the question; all that Yale, all that privilege. He lets it drop, breathing out another laugh. "We don't care, do we, Stern?"

Darlington pushes his way up from the couch, padding back into the kitchen and opening the drawer they use to store all the various menus from places around the city. "Haven't gotten anything from that Indian place downtown in a while," he suggests, shuffling through the brightly-colored stack of papers in search of options. "Or there's always your favorite place, near the boardwalk."

When he'd learned it was her favorite, he can't recall; just that he hasn't forgotten that it is.

[takecourage]

"We definitely do not care," she says and, if she watches him go then she doesn't examine the impulse too closely. "That place is great," she says, draining her wine glass and reaching for the bottle. "But they don't deliver, remember? And I'm not walking down there."

[more_magic]

"You're right," he says, finding the menu for the Indian place and setting it aside. "Can't believe I forgot." He's picked things up from there before, other nights when he happens to be in that part of town anyway--and sometimes, when he isn't--and for a moment he thinks about slipping on his shoes and heading out the door. But they're settled in already, the wine already working its way through his system, and the thought of leaving even for a short time seems a foolish one.

"Indian tonight, then." Menu in hand, he goes back into the living room, rejoining Alex on the couch. Taking the bottle from her once she's finished pouring her new glass, he tops up his own.

[takecourage]

She plucks the menu out of his hand, scanning over it even though she knows that they pretty much get the same thing every time they order from this place. Unconsciously, she leans her shoulder against his.

[more_magic]

Darlington sips his wine as she studies the menu, not expecting her to suggest anything different than their usual but happy to give her the opportunity. That gentle, unexpected pressure against his shoulder gets him to look over, taking in the sweep of her dark hair, the curve of her cheek as she leans there. The corner of his mouth lifts, nearly involuntary, and he looks away again.

"Same thing as always, Stern, or something new?"

[takecourage]

She pretends to think about it for a moment and then shakes her head.

"Same as usual," she says. "There's cash in my wallet. Just grab my share."

[more_magic]

Between the monthly Darrow allowance and the part-time job he's taken up, he's not hurting for funds. As usual, he thinks about putting up some kind of gentle but insistent argument, offering to cover it all this time around. It's only polite, only something he finds he wants to do for her. But he knows what she's like sometimes, too; knows better than to argue when she insists instead.

"I'll call it in," he says, leaning forward to grab his phone off the table before getting up again. The motion breaks that contact of how they've settled against each other, something he's almost surprised to notice as much as he does. He dials the number, rattling off their standard order and giving the address as he finds Alex's wallet in her bag. "Right, thanks," he says to the person on the other end of the line, before hanging up and coming back to settle on the couch once more.

[takecourage]

He sits down again and Alex finds that she feels isolated, sitting on her own seat of the couch as she is. Eventually, she shuffles closer, on the pretence of reaching for the TV remote.

[more_magic]

As she leans to grab the remote, the sweater she's wearing--one of his, it's almost always one of his, something he's noticed but not thought about until now--rides up slightly, exposing a strip of skin just above the waistband of her sweats. He notices that, too, and if he thinks about it it's over and gone by the time she's sitting up again.

They're a little closer now, more in each other's space, and Darlington shifts to accommodate her, stretching one arm along the back of the sofa, his long fingers splayed against the top of the cushion. "Going to see what's on?" he asks as the television clicks to life.

[takecourage]

He stretches his arm along the back of the sofa and she takes it for the invitation that it is, curling in against his side with her wine glass in one hand and the remote in the other.

"Can't hurt, right?"

[more_magic]

"Definitely not," he says. The press of her along his side, closer than it feels she's been before when they've spent evenings like this, is unexpected, though not unwelcome. They've fallen into something companionable since their reunion in this place, and this feels like another understandable phase in it.

As she starts to flip through the channels, hunting for something worthwhile, he sips his wine and just relaxes for a moment.

[takecourage]

She doesn't let her get this close to people, to men, very often but, somehow, Darlington is different. He's safe, in a way that she's never really known before. He'd never let anything happen to her - not if he could get in the way of it first.

"What are you in the mood for?"

[more_magic]

He doesn't think often about what lies in his future, that dark basement in Rosenfeld and the way he'll apparently end there, the victim of another mystery that not even Alex knows whether they solve at the new moon. But when he does, when he lets himself stray down that path, he comes away almost grateful it ends up being him, instead of her.

It's no valiant sacrifice, no defending sword in hand, but perhaps not everything has to be.

"Maybe a movie, if there's a good one on?" he says, back in the here and now where things are warm and light and comfortable; where they're together just like this, and safe. "Something easy to follow, since..." He inclines his head towards the wine bottle, already less than half-full. "And dinner's not even here yet."

[takecourage]

"It's good wine, Brent," says Alex absently as she clicks through the channels, shifting her weight against him to get a little bit more comfortable. One of the channels is showing Dirty Dancing and she leaves that on, the sound turned down low.

[more_magic]

He smiles--and, yes, rolls his eyes a bit--at the reference. "That it is." Good enough that he bought another bottle during his last grocery run. Not that they strictly need it tonight, but it's there--for another evening just like this, maybe.

They've caught the movie only a little ways into its run, and as she gets more comfortable beside him, Darlington watches the screen, already only half-paying attention.

[takecourage]

Alex hasn't seen this movie for a while, since she was a kid, maybe, and it's easy to get wrapped up in, sipping her wine, curled up against Darlington's side. He smells both good and familiar, like soap and wine and whatever he uses in the shower.

It's so good.

[more_magic]

The delivery guy calls a short time later, and Darlington gets up to buzz him in, grabbing money from both his wallet and Alex's to make up the charge. He shuffles back and forth, getting plates and silverware, laying out the foil-wrapped packet of naan and the plastic tubs of curries and rice on the coffee table. A few times, he glances at Alex, watching her as she takes in the action onscreen, somehow more relaxed in this moment than he's ever seen.

He likes the way it looks, that quiet bit of happiness.

Settling down again, he grabs the wine, dividing the last traces of it between their glasses before starting to fill up one of the plates for himself. "This place is always so good," he says, passing Alex the rice, their fingertips bumping gently in the transfer.

[takecourage]

If it had been anyone else it might have seemed like a smooth move, that brush of fingers against hers. But Darlington just doesn't work like that. Alex loads her own plate before she leans back on the sofa.

"Second best place in town."

[more_magic]

"Yeah?" he says, looking back at her as she shifts position. With their plates, they can't remain as comfortably pressed together as they'd been, but they still stay close. It seems they both want that tonight. "What do you class as the first, then?"

It'll be the place near the boardwalk, he's almost certain, but Darlington finds himself curious to hear the answer.

[takecourage]

"Boardwalk place, obviously," she says, tearing up naan bread into pieces before she starts to eat. "I have literally never had better seafood in my life. But this place is pretty solid, too. Though I do kind of miss Yorkside Pizza, not going to lie."