Envy's Office, The Hegemony Compound, Brazil, Monday

[whenshewasnice]

It had been an unbelievably good week and a half or so. Envy had barely left Todd's side at all. It'd been almost like when they'd been kids. Except with much more kissing. But it wasn't a reunion that would last, yet. Todd still had a semester left at Vegan Academy (yes, he was a vegan and yes, that was why he could fly to the moon and punch it). Envy teared up at the train station when she was seeing him off.

Then teared up some more when they vowed to Always Be True and Never To Waver.

(Yes. Really.)

But even with the teary part, a much happier Envy returned to Ribeirao Preto today than had left it before New Year's. She couldn't help feeling lighter. Better. Pretty natural for something she'd been waiting to happen for half her life.

Everything was clicking in to place.

Well. Everything but 100% of her focus as she sat down behind her desk. She could muster up maybe 87% of it. The rest, sorry to say, was Todd.

[ooc: NFB but open!]

Comments

[whenshewasnice]

"Of course."

The requisite eye roll was there. But no further comments.

[lockestheway]

"So that's our current bush fire," Peter said lightly. "How's Canada?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Beautiful."

Was he expecting sarcasm? Because there wasn't any. In fact, she smiled, even if it was just a little bit.

[lockestheway]

It wasn't even that so much that set off red flags in Peter's head; it was that she wasn't nudging him into giving her more information.

"So I guess we're back out of the raincloud phase," he said. "The cleaners will be relieved."

[whenshewasnice]

"Please, the cleaners weren't involved." Well, it wasn't as if the water actually got anything wet. It was just an effect. "But the better weather is here to stay, now."

[lockestheway]

"I'm glad to hear that," Peter said. He leaned his shoulder against the doorway (carefully, so his suit wouldn't wrinkle too much). "I look forward to watching you shine your light on the scheduling."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'll get to it soon."

While she still could. She realized now that she hadn't really planned things out very well when it came to Brazil and the Hegemony. And Peter.

[lockestheway]

"Get some coffee first," Peter said, after a moment. "You sound like you can use it."

[whenshewasnice]

"Funny, I haven't felt this awake in months," she said, and there was that small smile again. Couldn't help it.

[lockestheway]

Peter bit back a sarcastic are you on drugs?. Barely. "Okay," he said.

The are you on drugs was actually still kind of audible.

[whenshewasnice]

Especially for someone with her ability to perceive things from outside the quotation marks.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not on drugs, Peter." Debatable, considering her endorphins were working on overtime. "I'm happy."

[lockestheway]

"I didn't say anything," Peter said.

He pulled away from the door. "I'll let you get settled back in," he said, "I'll be in my office."

Where he could go feel uneasy without anyone reading his narrative.

[whenshewasnice]

"Implied it hard enough," Envy retorted with a drawl. She didn't comment on the latter statement. Didn't really need to.

Good job making a dent in her good mood, though, Peter.

[lockestheway]

Peter was halfway into the hallway before he changed his mind and turned back around.

"I said nothing," he repeated.

Then he walked to his office.

... so he'd changed his mind twice, there.

[whenshewasnice]

"Doesn't matter!" Envy called after him.

Because I know you, was the thing she left unsaid but which hung persistently in the air anyway.

[lockestheway]

She knew him, but she'd been turning in her own direction for a while now; Peter was increasingly beginning to realize he was pulling away because he didn't want to get hurt (again) by it.

But that part had at least made sense. He wasn't so sure what was up with her now.

So Peter sat down in his office, rifled through some files, and fired off an email to Graff.

Thought about it again. Got annoyed by thinking about it again. Then thought about it a third time, and began to contemplate the option of putting his head through his terminal.

[whenshewasnice]

"I may be leaving."

She hadn't meant to announce it like this. Hell, she hadn't meant to announce it all because until now she hadn't really accepted there'd be anything to announce.

If pressed, she might've admitted she wasn't even entirely sure when she'd decided to get up and march across the hall and make said announcement, with her arms folded across her chest.

[lockestheway]

Peter would've liked to act shocked, or made some kind of argument as to why she shouldn't.

"I know," he said.

He was trying not to immediately jump to the conclusion that she was happy because she'd finally realized that, but in his still largely Peter-centric brain, it wasn't easy.

[whenshewasnice]

Envy was a little taken aback. Not shocked, but she had to pause because that hadn't been the answer she'd expected.

She came out with, "But Todd's only been back for ten days." Because after the Scott blow-up, she'd mostly been slowly settling back into the idea that she'd stay here indefinitely. Didn't really register that Peter hadn't thought the same.

(And, of course she'd counted the days.)

[lockestheway]

... And now it was Peter's turn to do a double-take.

"Wait, who's Todd?"

[whenshewasnice]

"My boyfriend." Yes, Peter, that had been fast. "And my best friend from childhood."

[lockestheway]

This time, the moment of silence on Peter's part was less a double-take and more him rifling through his mental databank of Envy's past boyfriends-or-something-like-them (most of which did not have names, and only vague images of their faces, if that) before settling on the notion he had maybe heard that name once.

"That was fast," he said. "Or the absolute opposite, based on which time scale we're using."

[whenshewasnice]

Envy shrugged one shoulder. Wasn't really the thing she was focusing most on right now.

"He came back at the right time," she said. "And he's graduating from Vegan Academy in a semester."

[lockestheway]

"Is that Ivy League?" Peter asked.

Sarcastically, yes.

[whenshewasnice]

Which Envy did not take to very kindly.

"It's better than that."