Topaz and Kurt || Late Night Encounters
Mar. 18th, 2018 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsTopaz runs into Kurt on her way to bed. At least this time she manages not to tank the entire conversation. More or less.
It was late enough that Topaz seriously considered sleeping in her office rather than making the trek back to the mansion. But the basement floor was stone and not exactly comfortable, so she sighed and packed up her stuff, putting her music on her phone and popping her earbuds in before making her way up the stairs and out of the church. It wasn't a long walk - it was just dark and she was tired.
She managed to make it into the mansion and was coming off the stairs onto the third floor when she saw Kurt. "Uh..." She very seriously considered just ducking her head and making her way passed him. But she wasn't completely without manners. She pulled her ear buds out. "Hey Kurt," she said quietly. Between what she had said last time they had talked and the fact that Kurt had gotten her to bed after her blackout drunk birthday "celebration", she had been avoiding him even more than she had Amanda.
He probably would have let her, if she'd tried to sneak past. Probably. But as she hadn't...
"Hello, Topaz. How are you?"
"M'alright," Topaz muttered, twisting the wire of her ear buds around her fingers. "You're up late." A ridiculous observation and hypocrisy at its finest.
He shrugged slightly. "I seem to need less sleep than most. A side effect of my mutation, perhaps... so I like to check all is well at night."
"Right. Yeah." You could just apologize, a voice in the back of Topaz' head prodded. She shook it off. No one could ever say she didn't anything she started. Even if the thing was knowingly self-destructing her life so no one would care if she...
"Guess I can't say much. Not exactly going to bed at reasonable hours myself."
"You had work to do in the library?" he guessed, because that seemed safer ground right now than asking about nightmares or insomnia.
"Uh, sorta. A library." Topaz shrugged. "I'm helping Barton and his merry team of weirdos organize their archives. If it was up to any of them they'd just spend hours digging through piles of books, and I've got some experience with libraries, so I guess I kind of volunteered to step in."
Kurt nodded. "Will you be maintaining it, in future? Otherwise I can imagine it would soon be as bad as ever."
"I'm not... really sure yet," she admitted. "Maybe. Keeps me busy and, ya know, away from people who want to kill me."
"Both good things", he said with a small smile. "As long as nothing in the archives proves to be dangerous on its own."
"Yeah, with my luck Barton has a cursed physics books that I'm going to accidentally activate when I touch it," Topaz said, rolling her eyes and for the briefest moment seeming like her usual self.
He drew some hope from that, that the front she'd been putting on was only a front.
"Nothing would surprise me, in this place."
That got him a short laugh. "Well, you know who to blame if it happens." Her shoulders hunched up suddenly, as if she'd realized what she was doing.
Kurt knew what he'd seen, though.
"Clint. I shall take note of it."
"He would somehow get his hands on a cursed physics book," Topaz had to concede. Her eyes flickered down for a moment. Just apologize. "I um...." She sighed and immediately changed track. "Thanks again. for last weekend and all."
"No need", he assured her. "You are more than welcome."
She smiled a faint, almost sad smile. "Still, I was being a hassle. Not one of my finer moments I'll admit."
"You were not being a hassle", Kurt said immediately. "It was no trouble at all."
Of course he'd say that. "Sure." Topaz hooked her bag over her shoulder, shifting a bit. "Anyways I'll let you get back to your patrol... I should get to bed." And maybe actually sleep.
Of course he would. And mean it, too.
"Sleep well, Topaz."
Topaz nodded, moving to put her ear buds back in her ears. "G'night, Kurt."
It was late enough that Topaz seriously considered sleeping in her office rather than making the trek back to the mansion. But the basement floor was stone and not exactly comfortable, so she sighed and packed up her stuff, putting her music on her phone and popping her earbuds in before making her way up the stairs and out of the church. It wasn't a long walk - it was just dark and she was tired.
She managed to make it into the mansion and was coming off the stairs onto the third floor when she saw Kurt. "Uh..." She very seriously considered just ducking her head and making her way passed him. But she wasn't completely without manners. She pulled her ear buds out. "Hey Kurt," she said quietly. Between what she had said last time they had talked and the fact that Kurt had gotten her to bed after her blackout drunk birthday "celebration", she had been avoiding him even more than she had Amanda.
He probably would have let her, if she'd tried to sneak past. Probably. But as she hadn't...
"Hello, Topaz. How are you?"
"M'alright," Topaz muttered, twisting the wire of her ear buds around her fingers. "You're up late." A ridiculous observation and hypocrisy at its finest.
He shrugged slightly. "I seem to need less sleep than most. A side effect of my mutation, perhaps... so I like to check all is well at night."
"Right. Yeah." You could just apologize, a voice in the back of Topaz' head prodded. She shook it off. No one could ever say she didn't anything she started. Even if the thing was knowingly self-destructing her life so no one would care if she...
"Guess I can't say much. Not exactly going to bed at reasonable hours myself."
"You had work to do in the library?" he guessed, because that seemed safer ground right now than asking about nightmares or insomnia.
"Uh, sorta. A library." Topaz shrugged. "I'm helping Barton and his merry team of weirdos organize their archives. If it was up to any of them they'd just spend hours digging through piles of books, and I've got some experience with libraries, so I guess I kind of volunteered to step in."
Kurt nodded. "Will you be maintaining it, in future? Otherwise I can imagine it would soon be as bad as ever."
"I'm not... really sure yet," she admitted. "Maybe. Keeps me busy and, ya know, away from people who want to kill me."
"Both good things", he said with a small smile. "As long as nothing in the archives proves to be dangerous on its own."
"Yeah, with my luck Barton has a cursed physics books that I'm going to accidentally activate when I touch it," Topaz said, rolling her eyes and for the briefest moment seeming like her usual self.
He drew some hope from that, that the front she'd been putting on was only a front.
"Nothing would surprise me, in this place."
That got him a short laugh. "Well, you know who to blame if it happens." Her shoulders hunched up suddenly, as if she'd realized what she was doing.
Kurt knew what he'd seen, though.
"Clint. I shall take note of it."
"He would somehow get his hands on a cursed physics book," Topaz had to concede. Her eyes flickered down for a moment. Just apologize. "I um...." She sighed and immediately changed track. "Thanks again. for last weekend and all."
"No need", he assured her. "You are more than welcome."
She smiled a faint, almost sad smile. "Still, I was being a hassle. Not one of my finer moments I'll admit."
"You were not being a hassle", Kurt said immediately. "It was no trouble at all."
Of course he'd say that. "Sure." Topaz hooked her bag over her shoulder, shifting a bit. "Anyways I'll let you get back to your patrol... I should get to bed." And maybe actually sleep.
Of course he would. And mean it, too.
"Sleep well, Topaz."
Topaz nodded, moving to put her ear buds back in her ears. "G'night, Kurt."
