He was by no means an expert in reading people, but she was easier to read when she was actually looking at him. A mess of mixed emotions – she wasn’t yet sure of herself – he could feel the tension still in her shoulder – but he watched Irene calm herself in a way that reminded him, unwittingly, of the way the seas she’d painted had once stormed and settled before his eyes.
She must feel more at ease about it now, because she’d just lifted a hand to his jaw instead. His mouth lifted in the start of a smile, just at the corner, but then Irene’s expression changed. She started speaking again; and something had shifted in the air, and in her voice and in her gaze, and so Elias fell still, expectantly –
The crash came out of nowhere, striking him by such surprise that he visibly flinched. Irene had wrenched her hand away. Disoriented, Elias glanced through the window, face creasing abruptly. Ducking past Irene, he swore under his breath and went out, rounding to the window where she’d been looking in. Daff – Daff at the worst possible time – Daffy, who he had been half-desperate to see.
“It’s fine,” Elias assured her, with a touch of exasperation to his tone. He wasn’t sure if it stemmed from the vague frustration of Irene having been interrupted in the midst of such an important conversation, a strange sense of sheepishness that she had seen them together, some lingering resentment from the hospital scene, or mere annoyance that Daffy had decided to creep about outside instead of just coming in – but now she was hurt, so every other fact of the matter was, for the time being, irrelevant.
“Leave it,” he asserted, kneeling down to scrape the vase pieces and flowers and sweets (for him; of course she had brought him gifts) into a rough pile and then taking her by the not-bleeding hand to insist upon his next instruction. “And come inside. You’re bleeding.” He had bandages in the workshop – it would only take a moment to deal with.
And if it had torn away his attention entirely from Irene’s dilemma, he felt awful about it, leading Daffy into the workshop – but it couldn’t be helped now.
She must feel more at ease about it now, because she’d just lifted a hand to his jaw instead. His mouth lifted in the start of a smile, just at the corner, but then Irene’s expression changed. She started speaking again; and something had shifted in the air, and in her voice and in her gaze, and so Elias fell still, expectantly –
The crash came out of nowhere, striking him by such surprise that he visibly flinched. Irene had wrenched her hand away. Disoriented, Elias glanced through the window, face creasing abruptly. Ducking past Irene, he swore under his breath and went out, rounding to the window where she’d been looking in. Daff – Daff at the worst possible time – Daffy, who he had been half-desperate to see.
“It’s fine,” Elias assured her, with a touch of exasperation to his tone. He wasn’t sure if it stemmed from the vague frustration of Irene having been interrupted in the midst of such an important conversation, a strange sense of sheepishness that she had seen them together, some lingering resentment from the hospital scene, or mere annoyance that Daffy had decided to creep about outside instead of just coming in – but now she was hurt, so every other fact of the matter was, for the time being, irrelevant.
“Leave it,” he asserted, kneeling down to scrape the vase pieces and flowers and sweets (for him; of course she had brought him gifts) into a rough pile and then taking her by the not-bleeding hand to insist upon his next instruction. “And come inside. You’re bleeding.” He had bandages in the workshop – it would only take a moment to deal with.
And if it had torn away his attention entirely from Irene’s dilemma, he felt awful about it, leading Daffy into the workshop – but it couldn’t be helped now.
look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3