Alone at last, for this Summer

Chapters

One
Two
Three
Four
Five

One

Author's Note

I’m a man of simple tastes and limited talents and the great thing about the internet is that I get to inflict the results on everyone else. It’s like the old days where people used to empty their chamber pots out the window, only I don’t even warn you first.

Never have found a proper use for Adagio, to my shame. Not even sure why I’m so fond of her. Probably the hair, probably the voice. We all have our vices.

I doubt I achieved whatever I set out to do here but words were produced and who knows? Maybe someone will find value here. Certainly, it buoyed me a little. In its way.

One

The bell above the door jangled and Thom glanced up to see a certain orange-haired somebody come sauntering in perhaps half an hour later than she was meant to.

“If there’s one thing I do like about you, Adagio, it’s your punctuality,” he said. This she chose to ignore, or at least not comment on. Instead she said:

“And how’s my favourite idiot today?”

“He’s quite alright, thanks for asking. All the better for seeing you, of course.”

“Of course he is,” she said, giving him a pat on the head and a bump with her hip as she sauntered on past into the back. Thom had to chuckle at that.

Something like this or similar to this happened just about every morning and had done for the last month or two. Thom was not wholly sure why he put up with it, but there was just something in Adagio’s delivery that made it surprisingly easy for him to tolerate. She could just pull it off somehow.

Or maybe he just had a soft spot for her. He wasn’t sure yet.

Prior to Adagio it had been Thom and his dad running the shop, Thom being able nowadays to help in a more full-time capacity what with him having finished school and all. Family business! Him getting into it! Learning the ropes! It had always been the plan.

And this had been a perfectly acceptable working arrangement up until dad had had to leave to embark on some extended travelling-around-the-country fishing odyssey with a friend of his. Thom had not delved into the details.

Apparently it was important. Bucket list sort of stuff.

Point was this had left the shop short-handed with Thom on his Tod running the place. Thus Adagio, whom dad had somehow managed to find to fill the temporary vacancy and pick up the slack. The thought process being that, in dad’s absence, she would be able to assist Thom and everything would keep ticking over nicely. So ran the theory.

In practise she didn’t do a whole lot other than show up late and sit around doing things entirely unrelated to what she was meant to do and things kept ticking over nicely anyway because, really, the place wasn’t that complicated. So things were working out perfectly fine more despite her than because of her.

Which was nice?

Most would probably have felt a little annoyed at her appalling laziness but Thom didn’t really, not overmuch. For one he just wasn’t set up that way. Getting cranky about it probably wouldn’t have done much to help it and would only leave him feeling unhappy. For another the shop was, well, it had hardly ever been a nexus of activity and so it wasn’t as though he was caving under the pressure.

For a final one see aforementioned soft spot that he might maybe have had.

Adagio was, in Thom’s estimation, a very cute girl. Not that this influenced him unduly. He merely noted it and it just might have biased him a little in a few key areas, such as extending his patience with her antics. And besides, worse things had happened that having lazy company.

At the least having her around made the time pass faster.

Adagio re-appeared from the back having shucked off her jacket and dumped her bag and now bearing a cup of coffee with her name scribbled on the side.

“What’s this?” She asked, holding it out towards Thom. He squinted at the cup then clucked his tongue. It had slipped his mind.

“Oh, that. That would have been a fresh and nicely hot coffee for you had you arrived to work on time. Instead it is a not-so fresh and unpleasantly tepid coffee. I’d rather forgotten about it, sorry,” he said.

Adagio blinked.

“For me?” She asked.

“Yes.” Thom said.

Apparently this didn’t clear things up enough for Adagio’s liking.

“You got this? For me?” She asked, holding the cup even closer to Thom on the off-chance that having it shoved into his face would somehow jog his memory on the subject and make him reveal some vital detail he was leaving out.

It did not, and he did not.

“Yes,” he said. Adagio frowned at the cup a moment and then frowned harder at him.

“...why?”

“Because I thought it would be nice?”

He really hadn’t given it a whole lot of thought beyond that. It had just been a case of himself getting something from the place on the corner on a whim before opening for the day and feeling that it would have been rude not to have thought of his work colleague at the same time. It made sense to Thom.

It did not make sense to Adagio, but then she came at things from a different angle to Thom. Adagio tended to view things in terms of actual, tangible consequences. You did this so you could get someone to do that for you, for example. The idea that you might just do this with absolutely no expectation or even desire to receive that simply didn’t register.

Checking it, she found that he had managed to perfectly remember her rather exacting and specific coffee order - the one she had explained to him at some length a few weeks back, while going over why her taste in coffee was superior to his.

That he’d remembered it was surprising to say the least.

Further evidence for Adagio that he was plainly up to something here. He wanted something!

She briefly considered throwing the drink in his face to make a statement but for that she’d have to lift the top off again and that seemed an awful lot like too much effort right then and there so instead she just slammed the cup down onto the counter and made him jump. This worked.

“No. I’m not doing it,” she growled.

“Not doing what?”

Playing dumb, eh? Adagio leaned one hand on the counter so she could get a little closer to Thom’s level - him being sat on a stool behind the till like he almost always was - and then wagging a finger under his nose.

“I’m not working late. Or reorganising everything. Or whatever it was you want me to do. I’m not doing it,” she said. Thom spent a moment warily looking at her fingertip before blinking and looking up at Adagio’s face again, flinching at just how serious she looked.

“What?” He asked.

Still playing dumb, eh? Adagio moved in even closer to Thom, at this point getting into a region of space most people would have considered impolite to enter. Those were not concerns that bothered Adagio.

“I know your game. Trying to get on my good side so you can get me to do the stuff you don’t want to. If you were smarter you would have been more subtle about it! But even then I would have seen it coming so really this whole thing was pointless. Idiot!”

Even Thom had limits, and while he could normally take her high-and-mighty attitude and laziness and calls of idiot with good grace this one was confusing enough - and delivered with enough actual venom - for his patience to wear thin. He held up his hands before him, mostly to create some kind of barrier between himself and the girl encroaching on his space.

“Adagio, I can honestly say I have no idea what you’re talking about. If you don’t want me to get you a drink next time I’m getting one, cool, done. Alright?” He said. Adagio straightened.

“What? No, I didn’t say that. Buying me things isn’t bad. You can do that. In fact, you should do that. It’s polite. I’m just saying don’t expect it to work. I’m onto you.”

Thom gave up trying to understand and just raised his hands over his head in surrender.

“You got me. No idea what you’re talking about but you got me. No use trying to outsmart you, should have known better.”

Delighted at having won an argument she’d started and appeared to be sole participant of Adagio beamed, ruffling Thom’s hair.

“Yes you should,” she said, as one might speak to a particularly dim puppy before then saying: “I’m going on break.”

The brass required for her to do this was staggering. Thom was actually, physically stunned.

Watching her disappear once again into the back of the shop with a sway in her step that he couldn’t quite work out as deliberate or not he could only shake his head at his lacklustre and ineffectual handling of the situation. Anyone else would have stood up for themselves better, Thom reckoned.

“Maybe I am an idiot,” he said to himself under his breath.

And then he laughed, shrugged it off and got back to work. Such as it was.

The day in the shop went as just about all days in the shop went: quietly. A handful of customers came in, some knowing what they were looking for and leaving satisfied, others just wandering in and finding themselves utterly bewildered by the place. One or two of the regulars - for the shop had regulars - came in to collect books they had ordered especially. The rare kind. The kind it was difficult to source. Dad knew people.

None of this was taxing and all of this was handled quite capably by Thom on his own. Adagio was elsewhere, her break having stretched on somewhat longer than it was strictly speaking meant to have done. She did that a lot.

When it finally came time to close and lock up Thom found her asleep draped across the mouldering and overstuffed armchair that took up a big chunk of space in the quote-unquote ‘staff room’, having apparently dozed off messing about with her phone.

A typical day in the shop, as said.

“Come on Adagio,” Thom said, giving her shoulder a nudge.

“Huh? Wassat? You need my help?” She asked blearily, trying to sit up but not getting very far because she’d turned sideways on the chair prior to falling asleep. This took her a fer attempts to realise, at which point she yawned and turned so her feet were back on the floor.

“No, not this time, but you can come watch me lock the doors to make sure I do it right,” he said.

“We’re closed?”

“We are closed.”

“Huh. About time! Today dragged,” she said, stretching and yawning again.

Thom smiled, maybe a touch indulgently.

“It did indeed. Come on.”

“Help me up.”

He sighed but stuck an arm out towards her regardless and this she took, hauled to her feet a moment later.

“Not as useless as you look,” she said.

“Apparently not.”

Thom - who was already ready to go - then had to stand around a hot minute while Adagio put her jacket on and got her bag, something that most people would have thought wouldn’t actually take that long. In this instance, most people would have been mistaken. Still, eventually they were outside, Adagio standing nearby deep in thought while Thom wrangled the keys and got everything locked.

Adagio appeared deep in thought because she was, in fact, deep in thought.

The job in the shop she’d taken because she’d overheard it being available and she’d needed the money so she’d jumped on it as soon as possible, delighted at getting it (Thom’s father operating on the highly-professional ‘This fine young lady got here first she’s perfect!’ basis). It was boring and beneath her but it was also an excellent excuse to get out of the house and was somewhere to be during the day, somewhere away from the other two...

Once work was over the sorry state of her life came creeping back again. The reality of having been defeated, robbed of her power, hitting about as close to rock bottom as she could imagine - certainly worse than she’d been before!

At work she could avoid it, put it out of her mind. After work?

Her two options looked to be, as far as she could see right then at that moment, going back to the decidedly depressing and dilapidated building she’d managed to find for her and the others to live in, there to deal with a most-likely moping and useless Aria and an infuriatingly cheerful Sonata who, most likely, had broken something new in the time that Adagio had been at work. Like another window.

The other option being continuing to hang around with the human who inexplicably did nice things for her without her even really having to get him to do them. He just did them! For no clear reason that she could work out yet. A mystery to be sure and one that gnawed at her, but one the results of which she did rather enjoy.

Decisions, decisions...

“You alright there Adagio? You’re just sort of staring into space,” Thom said and she shook her head, coming back to the then-and-there.

“Yes. Thinking,” she said before hitting Thom with one of her more artfully-crafted smiles, the kind she’d spent years perfecting to be able to undermine even the most stalwart of defences. It seemed to hit home well enough, but then again Thom had no defences. “What are you doing right now?” She asked.

He looked down.

“Standing here, talking to you.”

Not what she’d had in mind. The smile went away quickly, replaced by a look conveying just how unimpressed she was with this answer. Very expressive face, Adagio’s. Could say a whole lot without a word passing her lips. Again, that’d likely be the years of practise.

“You know what I mean. I mean what were you planning on doing now?”

“Uh, going home?”

“Oh. So you wouldn’t want to go get a coffee then?” She asked, hands clasped and leaning forward, lashes fluttering. Thom wasn’t sure what this body language meant, and the thought of coffee had not at all crossed his mind. He was confused.

“I thought we weren’t friends?” He asked.

This was something Adagio had made sure was very clear between the two of them. Something she mentioned at least once a day, if not more. Good to see that it had sunk in.

“We’re not. But we don’t have to be to get coffee, do we? And besides, this’ll give you another chance to buy me that coffee from this morning and to do it right this time. Aren’t I nice?”

More eyelash fluttering. Thom thought about what Adagio had said. She wasn’t wrong. Strictly speaking, you really didn’t have to be friends to drink coffee with someone. Her position was ironclad.

The rest of it and in particular the part about her being nice was, well, that was just Adagio.

“Did you have somewhere in mind?” He asked.

The smile came back in force.

“I did. Come on.”

And then she grabbed his hand and dragged him off down the street. Given that the place to which she dragged him was just on the corner this seemed a bit excessive to Thom, but he wasn’t really in a position to do much about it as by the time he’d thought about it they’d arrived. Though she did not immediately let go of his hand, at least not until they were inside.

“I’ll find a place to sit. You know what I like,” Adagio said, giving him a pat on the cheek and sauntering off before Thom could reply. He rolled his eyes but moved up to the counter anyway. He’d kind of seen things going this way.

There followed coffee acquisition, which passed without incident. In short order he was heading over to where he could see Adagio sitting, cups in hand, hers held out to her. She took it and did not say thank you. Thom was not surprised by this and sat down on the chair opposite the larger demi-sofa thingy that Adagio had chosen to occupy.

Conversation did not flow because interactions outside of work were new for them both and neither really had any idea what they were doing. Thom eventually settled on casting his eye out the window at the people passing by and Adagio eventually settled on eyeing Thom.

He was odd. All humans were odd in a pathetic, low-key sort of a way. Simple and easy to manipulate, were you open to doing that sort of thing, which she was. They were an indolent, selfish, grasping bunch plodding around and knowing that she was now trapped among them forever- or for however long she had left... - was enough to make her skin crawl if she thought about it too much.

Thom was really odd though. The time she’d spent with him had not really given her any real insight into him, though admittedly she hadn’t exactly been trying to get any. Normally though what people wanted and how you could nudge them about using this information just leapt out at her. With him though not so much.

And then there was that coffee thing. She still couldn’t work that out. Why would he do that? Without her even hinting it? What did he want? Why was he hiding it so well that she couldn’t work it out?

“Something on my face?” Thom asked, making her jump. Adagio had been so lost in thought she’d utterly failed to notice that he’d stopped staring out the window and looked back to her.

On the spur of the moment - for no reason that she could put her finger on had anyone been in the mood to ask her - she decided to get up and move from her seat, settling herself across Thom’s lap instead. This caught him somewhat off-guard. Adagio told herself that this had been the point. Good to keep people off-guard.

“Okay then,” he said, and he likely would have questioned it further only for one Adagio’s arms to settle around his neck at which point he figured this was just something she did. Much as her wiggling about to get more comfortable was also something she did.

“I don’t understand you,” she said once settled, flicking back that impressive head of hair the better to get a good look at him. Thom couldn’t quite think of what to say to this for a second, but after some consideration managed to come up with:

“The feeling is mutual.”

She nodded and then leaned over to pick up her drink, the arm around his neck anchoring her enough so that she could manage this. Thom found himself acting as a glorified support strut. Worse things had happened.

“Anything in particular you don’t understand?” Thom asked when Adagio made no moves to actually say anything to explain this thing she’d said, being instead focused on her drink.

Adagio considered explaining the situation to him, but didn’t really see the point so just shook her head. He wouldn’t get it anyway. He was kind of dense that way, in her experience. Poor boy.

“We seem to work well, though,” she said after taking another sip.

Thom couldn’t really tell if she was being serious or not but then he never could, so just assumed this was the continuation of some very extended joke.

“Pretty well so far,” he said.

“I’d say you were very lucky I showed up when I did.”

Thom found himself grinning just a little now, just at the edges. He couldn’t help it.

“That so?”

Adagio nodded with full sincerity.

“Otherwise you’d be having to do everything by yourself, and I don’t think you’d do very well with that, do you? All on your own?”

Thinking back on a day of doing just about everything by himself while she hung around and did nothing he had to admit she had a compelling argument. At least from where she was standing.

Or sitting, as the case may be.

“Oh no, now I see what you mean. I’d be helpless, wouldn’t I?” He asked and Adagio nodded again soberly.

“I’m glad you understand. It’s good that someone appreciates me,” she said, setting her cup back down again and tapping him lightly on the forehead with a fingertip. Thom went cross-eyed for a second but shook it off easily enough.

“Kind of implies someone doesn’t,” he said. Adagio gritted her teeth. Hadn’t meant to given away anything. Dumb mistake.

“No. Well, yes. But that’s not important.”

“I’d hate for you to feel unappreciated, Adagio.”

Was he taking the piss? Impossible to tell. He seemed earnest but then people could seem all sorts of things they weren’t. Still, he had asked, which was something. What was his game though?

Would it hurt to talk about it? Maybe. Maybe not. Thom hadn’t shown the slightest hint of having the merest clue about who she was or what she’d done, which was refreshing, so where would the harm be in opening up a little? It might increase trust, which might lead to him finally letting slip a few clues as to his own motivations which could only benefit her down the line.

Looking at that way Adagio could see the sense in being forthright. In a constructive way.

“My...sisters…” she said, picking the words carefully. She then looked at Thom’s stupid, sincere face and: “I don’t think they understand that everything I did I did for us and that everything I’m still doing I did for us. They only ever complain about what goes wrong and never notice everything that goes right. And it’s always my fault! If things are fine they don’t care and when things don’t go the way they should then they turn on me and then expect me to fix it!”

Those words had not been picked carefully and had just rushed out without being vetted. Adagio’s eyes widened once she’d finished speaking and she went very red and very quiet and looked away. Times like this having vast amounts of hair to hide behind was very useful.

What the hell had that been? Where had that come from?

For his part, Thom didn’t really know what he was meant to say here but knew he had to say something so just spun something up on the spot and hoped it would land somewhere near where it needed to:

“Oh well, you know siblings. I mean, I don’t, but, uh. Well, people can often take for granted things that they’ve got used to. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, Adagio. I’m sure they do appreciate you, they’re probably just a little lax in showing it. Speaking for myself I know I’d miss you if you weren’t around.”

That gave her a jolt. She said that sort of thing to him all the time, yes, but this was the first time she’d actually heard it back from him, and unprompted at that. She wasn’t immediately sure she’d heard him correctly.

“You would?” She asked.

“Of course! You brighten the place up no end. And - more importantly - I know that anything I give you to do you’ll do, no problem. I mean, it’s not hard stuff, but it’s a weight off my mind knowing that it’s you backing me up.”

In all honesty the few times he had actually got Adagio to do some of the things her job was nominally supposed to involve she had actually been actually quite good at them. Certainly, she hadn’t made a hash of anything which was all that Thom asked for, really, given that if she had he’d have been the one to fix it.

It was just that she didn’t do that sort of thing that often, that was all. Thom could probably press her harder, he knew, but, well, soft spot and all...

“It is?” Adagio blinked. Then the smile came back, more heartfelt this time because it came back without her actually noticing. “Yes, yes I suppose it must be.”

“Good help is hard to find,” Thom said.

“It really is.”

Neither of them said anything immediately after this, though it took them both longer than might have been expected to realise that this was one on account of them just staring into one another’s eyes. When this was finally realised both looked away sharply. There was light blushing for both parties and a certain level of awkward throat clearing.

Neither of them said anything about this, and Adagio quickly vacated Thom’s lap.

Again, conversation became difficult, and not long after this they both finished their drinks and mutually, silently decided that their little coffee outing had come to a natural conclusion.

“So...I’ll see you tomorrow?” Thom said once they were both outside, ready to go their separate ways.

“Unless you feel like giving me the day off?” Adagio asked sweetly, rocking on her heels and clasping her hands in front of her. Thom chuckled.

“I’d love nothing more but, you know, without you where would I be?”

She tapped a finger to her lips.

“True, true. I’d be out of a job if I left you on your own too long and I need the money. I might even come in early, now we’re talking about it. You look like the sort who needs the help.”

Chance be a fine thing. Thom decided not to call attention to how unlikely this sounded.

“I look forward to it,” he said instead. Adagio shot him a warning look, lest he get his hopes up.

“Hey, hey, I said I might - ‘might’!”

Two

Author's Note

Originally this was going to be one big thing but then I finished it and I thought "Phew, that's a bit rich for my blood" so I split it up.

Not that that matters. It's still meandering nonsense.

Two

Adagio did not come in early.

Surprisingly though she actually came in on time. For this she expected some sort of reward or recognition but what she got instead was Thom actually giving her some work to do, much to her outright despair.

Despite her pleadings and eyelash flutterings and completely convincing arguments Thom remained adamant, which was why Adagio ended up in the back - as per usual - only this time huffing in irritation as she sorted through boxes of stock to see what if anything needed repairing. A thankless task that Thom should clearly have been doing.

She was doing it though. Not just because he’d asked her to, but mostly just to show him that she could do it better than he might have done, to prove the point that she was the only real thing keeping the place together. That would show him.

Meanwhile, Thom did what he always did and sat out front tending to the few customers that appeared. This was normal. What was not normal was the customer who showed up at some point who then, apparently, started talking with Thom at some great length. From the sound of things she was young. And a she.

Adagio paused, holding a book that was falling apart in her hand, and cocked her head as she tried to eavesdrop. Too far to hear anything distinct, but close enough to hear that the tone of the conversation seemed very friendly indeed.

The customer even laughed. Adagio’s eyes narrowed.

Most of the customers she’d seen or overhead - well, being honest, all of the customers - in her time at the shop had been very firmly on the older end of the scale and not a single one of them had ever so much as spoken loudly, let alone laughed. And yet now there was this one, audible even in the back, plainly young and clearly laughing.

Voice sounded terribly familiar, too. What little of it Adagio could make out...

She wasn’t completely sure why but Adagio felt compelled to go and investigate. Probably because Thom would be needing help. Yes, that would be it. He’d likely be doing something dense and making a fool of himself in front of this customer. How else could the laughter be explained? And Adagio’s timely arrival would smooth over whatever issues he’d have inadvertently caused.

And he would be appropriately grateful and would apologise for having given her the drudgework in the back and also give her the rest of the day off as the start of his penance. And maybe a raise.

Yes, that tracked.

By the time she came to investigate though whoever it was had gone, and Thom was the only person she could see. And he wasn’t doing anything, just sitting on his stool. As per usual. Amazing this place was still in business, really.

“Who was that?” Adagio asked, emerging from the back but still hanging around just in the doorway, peering into the shop proper as though seeing if anyone might be hiding. No-one was.

“Hmm? Oh, no idea,” Thom said without looking at her even as she emerged more fully to come and stand behind him, hands on her hips, frown on her face. From the tone of his delivery she could tell that he had that dumb smile on his face that he sometimes did. Why would he be smiling? He’d just been talking to some stranger and not to her.

“What did she want?” She asked, stepping closer in towards him. He shrugged.

“A book. Think she wasn’t quite expecting our, heh, variety. Says she’ll come back once she’s more prepared so she can make a day of it. If you can believe that.”

Adagio considered this answer in silence a moment or so before, still frowning but perhaps not quite as much as she had been before, moving in to just lace her arms about his waist. Thom did not react beyond squeaking in surprise. By this point he was rather used to Adagio’s utter lack of respect for his personal space and didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. It was just how she was.

“You two were talking a lot,” she said, popping her chin onto his shoulder. This was the only thing keeping him from shrugging again.

“Bit of banter with the customers is part of the job. Part of the job I like, actually.”

Adagio thought about this a second.

“I heard her laughing,” She then said.

“Well I am a notoriously funny guy. I make you laugh. Or have made you laugh, at least.”

“Hmm,” Adagio said, offering nothing else.

“You alright?”

“Hmm,” she said again, face pressing into his shoulder this time. Even by Adagio’s standards this was unusual behaviour and Thom tried to twist in place to get a proper look at her. Given that she was clung onto him this didn’t really work.

“Something wrong? You need help in the back?” He asked. Adagio’s eyes flicked up to his and she shot him a look that spoke volumes. “Right, no help, cool. Didn’t think you would. But are you sure you’re okay?”

She went back to staring at nothing in particular just over his shoulder and was quiet for a second and then released her grip on him and stepped back. This allowed Thom to finally swivel around to face her properly, finding her stood there looking very pointedly, deliberately fine and dandy.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” she said brightly. Then: “Can we close early today?”

It was barely lunchtime. Indeed, ‘barely lunchtime’ was perhaps being generous.

“Um, no. You could leave, if you want? I can probably manage,” Thom said.

And he could probably manage his father’s arcane system for keeping track of leave, too. Probably. Adagio shook her head.

“No, not like that. I kind of hoped that you and me could do something together.”

“Together? What? Like the coffee?” Thom asked, utterly at a loss. He’d apparently grasped the concept though as Adagio’s face lit up.

“Yes! Exactly like that. But something else. Just us.”

The coffee place had been nice but had in hindsight been perhaps a bit more on the crowded side than Adagio might have liked. That, and she hadn’t really liked the way that barista had waved to them - or more specifically to Thom - on the way out. A little too friendly for her liking.

“Just us?” Thom asked, not on top of the situation at all. Adagio just nodded, hands clasped before her, face on maximum innocence and light, to all appearances the single-most sweet girl on the entire face of the planet. Again, years of practise.

Thom’s simplistic attitude towards Adagio had been that she was the rather cute, usually amusing and pleasant, often infuriating and occasionally patience-trying girl his father had somehow found to help in the shop and who made the days more interesting.

She was now bleeding into his life beyond the shop - or at least attempting to, on the face of things - and he hadn’t quite settled on how he should feel about this yet.

“I...don’t see why not?” He said, hoping it was the right answer.

Adagio’s smile on hearing this was entirely, absolutely genuine and it showed. Rather like the room lit up, actually. Thom found himself smiling too without really noticing.

“Good. That’s good. After work, then,” said Adagio, with obvious restraint.

“We’re still not friends though, I take it?” Thom asked and Adagio hid a laugh behind her hand. The slightly-giddy, excited kind. It came out of nowhere and took her by surprise.

“No, we’re not,” she said. “But this is the sort of friend-ly behaviour I think should be encouraged. It’s good for you.”

“I should probably be taking notes.”

“You probably should.”

At this point another customer - one of the regulars - appeared and brought the conversation to a halt as Thom swivelled about on his stool to greet them. Adagio, for her part, slunk off to the back again to avoid having to interact with anyone who was not Thom. It was hard enough having to tolerate him, she thought.

In the back, Adagio finished her assigned task far quicker than might have been expected. It was, after all, not especially difficult for her. But since Thom had not explicitly told her what to do afterwards she took the opportunity to kick back and bask in the glow of a job well done. This she did until lunch, whereupon Thom found her lounging about. Not unusual.

Following lunch he had her man the till - under supervision - something which she felt was grossly unfair but which she did anyway. Not that she had to interact with anyone, as it was an especially quiet afternoon. Again, one had to wonder how the place stayed in business.

Adagio was under no illusions as to how simple it would be to interact with customers. She could feign friendliness with the best of them. In fact, she was the best of them. It was just the principle of the thing that galled her, really, and she spent most of her time behind the till glaring at Thom over it while he sat in a corner and smiled benignly.

And once the day was over what Thom had decided they’d do together was revealed. A film.

“Oh,” Adagio had said. She had no idea what she’d expected, but she knew she’d expected better. Still, she didn’t have any other ideas and she supposed it did constitute something for the two of them so it was nominally acceptable.

The cinema was still a dumb choice, obviously. All the films were rubbish and Thom’s choice of film in particular was doubly rubbish, it coming as no surprise to Adagio that he should have lacklustre taste. Given what she was going to have to suffer through for the next hour and a bit it was only fair that he should be the one buying the tickets.

All that said she couldn’t deny that it was a damn sight better than going home and it really did mean that it was basically just the two of them - the screen being more-or-less empty, the only person other than them being an incongruously old man who’d sat down right at the front and promptly gone to sleep once the trailers had started.

This left Adagio and Thom - sat right in the back - positively snug. Just as she’d wanted. Nice and quiet, the world kept at bay outside, problems forgotten for a bit. Just her and the pleasantly dense human she was forced to spend time with on account of work commitments.

If someone held a gun to her head she might admit that it was actually alright. Okay. Acceptable. Adequate.

Still, something nagged at her, even after she raised the arm of the chair separating them so she could better snuggle in to ward off the chill of the air conditioning using Thom - he was useful for heat, at least. As much as she tried to focus on the mindless drivel being projected in front of her, a concern continued to bob up. Eventually she could ignore it no more.

Once one of the more engaging, explosive parts of the film had petered out into yet more tedious dialogue Adagio decided to make use of what was obviously otherwise just going to be wasted time and turned to Thom and asked:

“So what was she like?”

Thom - who had actually been trying to pay attention to what was going on onscreen at that moment on account of its valuable expositional nature - took a second to register that he’d been asked a question.

“Who?” He asked, halfway watching, halfway twisting towards Adagio. She found this splitting of attention deeply rude, but bore it with her characteristic grace and elegance.

“That customer you were talking to. That girl.”

“Who? Oh, right, her. Uh, I don’t know. Seemed pleasant enough,” Thom said.

“But what was she like?” Adagio pressed, at which point Thom realised she was not going to be letting this go easily. Stifling a sigh he twisted properly this time to look down at her.

“I really don’t know what you want from me here, Adagio.”

“Call me Dagi,” she said, favouring him with a dazzling smile the impact of which was somewhat lost in the dimness of the cinema.

This pet name also sounded awfully clunky to Thom but he wasn’t going to take the chance of arguing.

“Um...okay. I really don’t know what you want from me here, Dagi,” he said. She started to lightly walk two fingers up his leg, which was an alarming development in Thom’s book.

“I’m just curious about her. Since the two of you seemed to be getting on so well.”

Thom took delicate hold of her hand before he headed further North than he might have been comfortable with and just as delicately put it back where it had been before, not on his leg. Adagio pouted.

“She and I just had a chat, that’s all. Customer comes in, we talked. Were you listening in or something?” He asked.

Adagio flinched on having been caught out like that but rode it off smooth.

“I overheard. Quite unprofessional, being so loud. Some of us were trying to work.”

A pause.

“So you can’t tell me anything about her?”

Thom groaned and rubbed his face. This was exhausting. Mostly because he had no idea what it actually was.

“Likes books. She also had glasses. That good enough for you?” He asked.

Adagio tried to think of anyone she knew with glasses and came up empty. Not that it made her feel a whole lot better anyway. This unknown quantity remaining a mysterious unknown quantity just meant there was more things to worry about.

Though, that said, why was she worrying again?

...there was probably a good reason. She just couldn’t remember.

“It’ll do for now,” she said, taking hold of Thom’s arm and draping it across her shoulder so she could get more comfortable as the film started getting fractionally more interesting again, things once more exploding for threadbare reasons.

Thom, baffled beyond reason, took what respite from questioning he could get and got back to watching now having thoroughly lost the plot. Not that this really held him back as far as enjoying the thing went. He was able to figure out most of the important parts.

There was no more talking from Adagio after this, as she was too absorbed in thought about who this unwanted, over-friendly customer might be, whether she knew who they might be and what she should do in order to ward her off and make her go away.

For Thom’s own good, obviously. The girl was plainly up to mischief, wanting to come back and just distract him and disrupt business activity. Some people were just like that, unfortunately. Luckily for Thom he had Adagio on hand to look after his best interests.

It was something she was going to have to think about.

“Film’s over, Dagi,” Thom said and Adagio blinked. The light in the screen were back on and the old man at the front had disappeared. She was still cuddled up into Thom and didn’t seem in a particular hurry to change this.

“It ended?” She asked, blearily, having halfway gone to sleep in the midst of all her thinking.

“It did,” Thom said.

“Who won?” She asked, yawning and stretching and sitting up. It was an unusually cute and humanising thing to see her do, or at least Thom thought so.

“The good guys,” he said and Adagio shook her head sadly.

“How unlike real life…” she said.

She then made to try and settle back down again but Thom held her off, much to her obvious, furious consternation.

“We should probably go so they can clean the place. And won’t your sisters be worrying where you are?” Thom asked.

This was an unpleasantly sour note of reality but it did do the job of getting Adagio to sit up properly and move away from him. She’d managed to quite forget all about those two up until that point.

“Ugh. Yeah. Probably destroyed the place without me there...guess I should go back…”

For the tiniest of tiny moment Adagio had the sudden, desperate hope that Thom would come up with some vapid, unconvincing excuse to try and get her to stay with him. Or, alternatively, some vapid, unconvincing reason for why he might have to come back with her. The notion made her belly lurch.

But then it passed. And he didn’t come through anyway. Idiot.

“After you,” he said, standing and holding an arm out for her down the row of seats towards the stairs. Adagio sighed, rose, and exited.

Outside on the pavement in the dark - for it had got dark - things got only the slightest bit awkward. Adagio was awkward because she was still fighting the inexplicable urge to not leave, Thom was awkward because Adagio was awkward and he wasn’t really sure how to read her behaviour.

“So...see you tomorrow, then?” He asked. She nodded but said nothing, just standing there with unreadable body language, chewing on her lip and staring at the pavement.

Thom took a chance and went in for a goodbye hug. Adagio took a sharp step back.

“What are you doing?” She asked, brows a thin line of consternation. Thom remained standing there like a sinking pudding, arms outstretched.

“I was - I thought - goodbye hug?”

Adagio eyed his arms warily and took another half step backwards.

“Since when were we on hugs?” She asked.

“You fell asleep on me?”

“So?”

Thom couldn’t really argue with this. Further awkwardness. He lowered his arms.

“Well,” he said, shrugging. “Alright. See you tomorrow then, Adagio.”

She said nothing, chewed her lip some more and then, without warning, lunged forward and hugged Thom with some considerable force. By the time he’d recovered from the shock of this enough to consider hugging back she’d already broken it off.

“See you tomorrow,” she said, beating a hasty retreat down the street and around the corner.

“The fuck…” Thom said, picking one of her hairs off his sleeve and dangling it briefly before letting the breeze take care of it. He squinted at the corner she’d disappeared around. “Can’t get a read on her at all. Man, I don’t know.”

He then looked around.

“And why am I talking to myself? I’m going home.”

Three

Author's Note

There's really no reason for any of this.

Three

Later, back in their less-than-stellar hovel on the edge of the more unpleasant and rundown side of town, Adagio was pacing back and forth across the squalid living and dining area. She’d been doing this for some time following her return now, and the other two - Sonata on the mouldering and perpetually damp sofa they’d rescued from a street corner and Aria lying flat on the floor with her jacket beneath her head - were sort of halfway watching her.

Wasn’t like they had anything else they could be doing.

“Who does she think she is? Coming in and talking to Thom - my Thom! Laughing! Thom’s an idiot, why would anyone laugh at what he says? When he makes me laugh it’s because I’m laughing at him! And I’m allowed to do that! I put the time in! I slave away in that shop. I didn’t just show up and start...talking and laughing!” Adagio said to herself.

Her storming circuit of the room brought her over to the first window that Sonata had managed to break and Adagio took a moment to glare at the cardboard she’d had to duct-tape in place over the damage.

Why Sonata had ever thought she’d ever have any talent for juggling was anyone’s guess. Just the sort of thing that happened when Adagio wasn’t around to keep them under control.

And who practises juggling with chunks of masonry, anyway?

Grunting in annoyance she turned on her heel and kept on pacing and kept on ranting.

“And she’s coming back! Probably tomorrow! To talk about books she says, but I bet it’s just to laugh some more and take up space and distract Thom. He doesn’t need distracting! And if he did I should be the one doing it!”

“You really like this guy, huh?” Sonata asked, head cocked. Adagio’s glare now fell on her instead and Sonata withered, shrinking back into the sofa.

“Of course I don’t like him! I just have to put up with him because I work with him! But he could be worse. He’s tolerable. He’s about the only one around here I can have a halfway intelligent conversation with. And that’s just embarrassing.”

“Oh. So that’s good?” Sonata tried, tentatively, confused by what direction this conversation was trying to go in, seeing as how it seemed to be going in several all at once. Adagio, still glaring, bending briefly at the waist to flick Sonata on the nose, leaving the poor girl just as confused and now rubbing the tip. So to speak.

“No!” Adagio said, resuming pacing, only to stop for a second and consider. “Well, it is. Or it was. He’s okay I guess. That’s my influence. But now this stranger is coming to make things difficult and complicated!”

Pacing resumed in earnest.

“Thom doesn’t need difficult or complicated, he’s confused enough as it is. If I wasn’t there he’d be in bits. So I’m going to have find some way of dealing with this stranger and getting things back to the way they were - the way they should be!”

“You’re coming across like a toddler with a toy who doesn’t want to share it,” Aria said, staring at a stain on the ceiling and trying to work out if it was bigger than it had been yesterday. This she did until her view was blocked by Adagio looming over her, hands on her hips.

“Are you calling me jealous?” Adagio asked.

“I didn’t say that, like, at all but yeah, sure, you’re jealous. Of someone you didn’t even see. For dumb reasons. Because she talked to a guy you don’t even like.”

“I don’t have to like him that’s not the point. It was unprofessional of him and it was her fault. He doesn’t talk like that to the other customers! I’ve heard him. It’s how he talks to me and that’s how it should be.”

“So yeah. Jealous,” Aria said flatly with a smile.

Adagio glared. Aria was just trying to get a rise out of her now, she could tell.

It wasn’t about jealousy. Not at all. Not even in the slightest. It was about being the centre of attention! The undivided centre of someone else’s attention! The focus of their thoughts! The axis of their little world.

Clearly this was the case with her and Thom.

The light broke for Adagio and all clicked into place. It all made perfect sense to her now.

Their time together working in the shop had obviously caused Thom to fall head-over-heels in love with her, the poor boy. Thinking about it Adagio was embarrassed for having missed it for so long when it was just so obvious. His rampant idiocy around her and inexplicable niceness - culminating in that coffee incident - blatantly stemmed from this. There could be no other explanation.

No wonder she enjoyed being at work! She’d been basking in the warmth of his clumsy, doting affections for near-on two months now without even realising. Clearly she was off her game if she hadn’t immediately noticed. Better late than never, she supposed.

Not that it meant anything to her, of course, but it was just pleasant to be appreciated and to be the subject of someone’s concern and, of course, generosity. The generosity was the main thing. That meant stuff and stuff was good.

And Thom knew just what sort of stuff she liked. He was good like that. Despite his idiocy.

She wasn’t giving that up! She wasn’t letting some random strumpet just waltz in and upset the applecart! Ruin all her hard work! All the time and energy she’d put into making Thom an acceptable person to be around! Just when things were going her way!

“He’s a sap and an idiot but he’s my sap and idiot. I won’t be having someone just snatching him away from me!” Adagio snapped, jabbing a finger down at Aria.

“Are you sure she wants to do that?” Aria asked.

“She was laughing!”

As far as Adagio was concerned this was all she needed to say, no further explanation required. The other two were left in the dust.

“Oh no,” Aria said flatly, giving the jazz hands of absolute peril. Adagio turned away in disgust. Some people just refused to see sense.

“He’s obviously already besotted with me,” she said, folding her arms.

“Be-what?” Sonata asked, face screwed up. The other two ignored this.

“And how’d you figure that?” Asked Aria, propping herself up on an elbow the better to look incredulously at Adagio who just flounced her hair.

“How could he not be? We spend just about every day together. Anyone who spent any length of time with me couldn’t help but fall in love with me. That’s just how humans work.”

“Is it?” Sonata asked from the sofa. This time Adagio deigned to respond:

“Yes. It is,” she said.

Sonata’s eyes widened.

“Huh. I didn’t know that!” She said, full-on sincere and amazed.

“What you don’t know could fill-” Aria started only to have an enthused Sonata - buoyed by having learnt something new - cut in brightly with:

“A box?”

This was not the right answer as far as Aria was concerned, and having it just appear undermined what she’d been trying to do. Sonata, as ever, ruined everything. Aria let herself flop back down onto the floor again with an:

“Argh!”

But Adagio wasn’t paying them any attention anymore. She was thinking now and thinking with a clarity. It really was obvious. The whole situation was plain. Presumably hanging around with Thom so much had dulled her enough so that she hadn’t grasped the facts of the matter. But that had been before. Now she was onto it, now she was on top of it.

This errant customer was just a distraction and could be easily dealt with. And once that was done things could go back to the way they should be. Which was just her and Thom and Thom paying attention to her. Professionally.

Four

Author's Note

The stakes could not be lower.

Four

If there had been hopes that a nice night’s sleep might have dispelled the lingering awkwardness of the previous night, these hopes did not last long. Things were still highly, well, awkward. Neither Adagio nor Thom really knew where to look or what to say and so mostly, mutually settled on not saying anything and not looking at one another.

For his part, Thom had been looking forward to having Adagio arrive on time (which is to say on time for her, which is to say late) and be right back to her lazy, fun, full-of-herself usual and have everything back to what now apparently constituted normal for him. Instead, she came in on time on time (which is to say, on time) and was alarmingly quiet and withdrawn.

She didn’t even complain when he gave her something to do. Not so much as a put-upon sigh. It was distressing.

For her part, what grand plans Adagio had had about letting Thom know she’d worked out his immense, burgeoning, romantic feelings for her and how sweet this was but how misguided and unprofessional and how they could sort it out with her guidance all went out the window practically the moment she’d stepped in through the door.

The words she’d compiled in her head to lay it all out for him just sort of wafted away after he’d said good morning to her, and they’d then refused to come back. Just something about his friendly, idiotic face had driven them right out of her. Trust him to ruin everything. Idiot.

This uncomfortable state of affairs persisted the whole morning and through lunch. Customers popped up here or there but were nothing of note. Every time Adagio heard that bell above the door ring her head would whip up and she would feel a surge of relief on seeing that it was another of the old, doddering, unthreatening regulars.

Up until the point when it wasn’t. That time the relief did not come. Horror, however, did.

She did know this girl with glasses who liked books.

“You!” Adagio practically snarled, leaping up from where she’d been crouched by a shelf, applying pricing stickers with all the enthusiasm such a task could stoke.

The girl - who had entered and smiled on seeing Thom - jumped nearly a foot in the air and staggered back into the now-closed door of the shop, startled.

“M-me?” She stammered, hand to her chest as Adagio advanced, storming across the shop towards her.

“You!” Adagio said again. “You and your friends ruined everything! All of my plans! All of my hard work! I could be home right now! I could have put everything back the way it was! But you! You!”

She grabbed the girl - Twilight or something, maybe - by the collar with both hands and hauled her up so she was on her tiptoes.

“I’ve never met you before and I don’t have any friends but I’m really sorry me and my friends ruined your life I’m sorry!” The girl squealed.

By then Thom had finally snapped out of it and lunged across the shop to interpose himself between the two of them, breaking it up and holding Adagio at bay. It was more difficult than he might have expected.

“Hey hey hey break it up. What the hell, Dagi, what the hell are you doing?”

Him using that name did a very good job of distracting her and she tore her attention away from the still-cowering maybe-Twilight and back to Thom, stopping for a moment at least in trying to wriggle out of his grip.

“I - she - they - “ Adagio said, flustered, thinking of the best way of summing the situation up for Thom but realising quite quickly that it would take far too long.

So instead she just tried against to get at maybe-Twilight around him. And failed, because Thom had used her moment of confused hesitation to better wrap his arm around her waist and once she started up again he just lifted her up and carried her away, struggling the whole way.

Honestly, that surprised her. She hadn’t known he had it in him.

“I can come back,” the girl said quietly from the doorway, hands clutched before her.

“Or you can stay away!” Adagio all-but yelled over Thom’s shoulder at her.

“Dagi! Stop!” Thom said before turning to the other girl. “Give me a minute. I’ll be right back.”

He then carried Adagio away from the shop floor, setting her down but making sure to keep standing where he blocked her from going and continuing what she’d started.

“Not sure if I have to point this out to you but that wasn’t really great customer service. What the hell, Adagio, you can’t go around doing that. Seriously! What was that?” He asked.

“You don’t understand! She was one of them! They ruined me!”

“I don’t understand, no. And she didn’t seem to know who you were,” Thom pointed out, having heard that part.

“She - she has to be pretending! She couldn’t have forgotten,” Adagio said. Thom shrugged.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“She…”

In the quiet of the back, away from Twilight and with only Thom’s painfully disapproving stare for company, Adagio found herself reflecting. It would be very odd for Twilight to forget, also odd for her to just pretend. Wouldn’t it?

Something was different about her, beyond the different hair, the glasses and her failure to recognise Adagio. Her whole aspect was different, like she was someone else completely. It was odd, but as far as Adagio could tell it was genuine.

Maybe Thom really had put her off her game...damn Thom...

She shook her head. Not that it mattered. Adagio was meant to be a professional. That was the whole point of this, wasn’t it? That had been her whole motivation before allowing the moment to carry her away. Professionally ensure that this unnecessary influence did not disrupt business - clearly the girl had no intention of being a good customer.

It was written all over her. A pernicious and disruptive influence. Just here to cause trouble. And laugh with Thom, disruptively.

“You’re taking a break, alright?” Thom said, snapping Adagio out of her train of thought. She tried to protest but Thom cut her off. “Right now. I am going to go and help the customer and kind of hope she doesn’t get us all into trouble seeing as how you basically assaulted her. Okay? Cool off.”

“But-” Adagio tried, only to be cut off again. Had it been anyone else but Thom she probably would have ripped their head off. Here though, she supposed he should be cut some slack. This time. He was probably tired and confused from having carried her into the back like that.

She was still low-key impressed with that. Really hadn’t thought he had it in him.

“But what?” Thom asked, patience plainly wearing thin.

She couldn’t work out why he was so upset with her and also couldn’t work out why him being upset was making her feel so damn bad. She slumped.

“Nothing. I’ll take my break,” she said.

“Glad to hear it,” Thom said, turning to leave.

“Thom?” Adagio piped up and Thom, sighing, stopped and turned back to her.

“Yes?”

“Don’t be mad at me,” said Adagio, lip wobbling. A nice touch, she felt, though one that came a lot more naturally than it had in the past.

Thom sighed again, deeper this time.

“I’m not mad. Just deeply confused. Enjoy your break.”

She did not. She mostly just sat and stewed and listened. The customer - this maybe-Twilight, whoever or whatever she was - had not left as Adagio hoped she might have done and so the sounds of her interacting with Thom were soon unavoidable.

Bits and pieces of their conversation drifted through to Adagio. Prattle about books. Stupid jokes that Thom made that maybe-Twilight inexplicably laughed at. Again with the laughing. Disruptive influence! Certainly didn’t sound like anything productive was happening.

Adagio sat through fifteen minutes of this torture before reaching her limit. Looking around for something she could use as a pretext her eyes alighted on a box perched precariously above head height. Perfect.

Slipping into the front of house again - and feeling an immense sense of satisfaction on seeing that Twilight’s girls eyes widen behind her glasses - Adagio found Thom standing behind the till, which was perfect. Smoothly did Adagio slink up to him and, once again, lace her arms around him from behind.

“Thoooooooommmm. I need you,” she said as he stood there, stock-still.

Maybe-Twilight looked between them.

“Oh. Are you two-” she started to ask.

“We’re friends,” Adagio said emphatically. Thom raised his eyebrows.

“We are? News to me,” he said.

“Of course we are,” Adagio growled, squeezing him about the ribs hard enough to make him wince. Strong girl, Adagio. He looked down at her and found her smiling up at him, sweetly.

Really, really could never get a read on her could Thom. One minute over here, the next over there, with no obvious indication of how she got between the two. It was like playing pinball with your eyes closed.

Or, rather, like having a conversation with someone who has whole portions of the conversation in their head then expects you to keep up. Or some combination of these two things. Point was she just kept on leaving him in the dust.

“I am sure my friend here wouldn’t object to me helping you have a look through the stock for something that might catch your eye, would my friend?” He asked her, eyeing maybe-Twilight.

“Actually, I kind of needed your help…” Adagio said, all innocence.

“What? You do? With what?” Thom asked.

Adagio had not expected Thom to press her for details. In her head he’d just accepted it, like a good boy. She had to think on her feet.

“Um...something. In the back.”

It wasn’t her best work.

“What in the back?” Thom asked.

She thought on her feet some more.

“...something.”

Definitely not her best work.

Thom scrutinised her closely for a second or two and for that second or two Adagio was genuinely worried he might actually, finally lose patience with her - though why would she worry about that? - but then he just sighed, shoulders drooping.

“Fine,” he said before turning back to maybe-Twilight. “Do you mind giving me a second while I help my colleague? I’ll be right back out. Again,” he said.

“O-oh, it’s okay, I can go if you need to do something,” said maybe-Twilight.

“Yes,” said Adagio. “You should go.” Thom shot her a warning look which she ignored completely.

“No, you can stay. It’ll be a minute then I’ll be right back out. Again. You have a browse, see if anything catches your eye, alright? I’ll be right back.”

“Okay…” said maybe-Twilight, risking Adagio’s ire by giving the tiniest of smiles. Luckily for her, Thom whisked Adagio away before this could become an issue.

And into the back they went.

“Hasn’t she bought anything yet? She’s been here nearly twenty minutes now! I think she’s deliberately wasting your time, you know. You should get rid of her. She’ll be wanting to use the toilets, next. In fact, she’s probably stealing right now,” Adagio said. Thom rubbed his face.

“Look, I still don’t know what’s going on here but I know that something is going on here and I am not a fan. How do you know her? What’s the deal?” He asked, looking distinctly nonplussed and continuing to look nonplussed even as Adagio cupped his chin.

“I just need your help, that’s all Thom. And I don’t think she’s a serious customer anyway, you shouldn’t worry about her. I bet she’ll be gone by the time you go back out. I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said.

“Seriously, what’s going on? What am I missing here?” Thom asked, not bothering to remove his chin from her hand. He wasn’t sure what the point would be.

She moved her hand to pat him on the cheek anyway, making it moot.

“You’re not missing anything, Thom. Nothing at all. You don’t have to worry about anything. Except getting that box down for me,” she said, pointing to the box. Thom looked at the box. It was such a mundane non-issue that he looked at it for far longer than he needed to. He then looked at Adagio.

“That’s it? You know there’s a ladder over there,” he said, pointing to the ladder.

Adagio sidled up and put her head onto his shoulder before asking:

“Why risk my safety when I have you?”

Again, the weight of his utterly irrational soft-spot came to bear and what burgeoning irritation he’d felt at being called back to do something so petty and stupid just melted away. More fool him.

“Heh. You’re a very, uh, unique personality you know that right, Adagio?” He asked.

“Dagi,” she said, pouting.

“Dagi, sorry.”

She stopped pouting. Then said:

“Say I’m unique again.”

“Uh...you’re unique.”

Adagio was smiling now.

“Mmm, good boy. Now, the box, please?”

Rolling his eyes he took the box down. It was such a trivial task it was barely worth describing. He then handed the box over to Adagio, who took it. She did not say thank you. Thom had not expected her to.

“Happy now? Got what you needed?” He asked.

“Oh, I don’t even know what it is. Just looked untidy up there. I’ll do something with it, don’t you worry Thom. It’s like you said - good help is hard to find. And I’m good help, aren’t I?” Adagio asked. Thom thought of saying something and got right up to opening his mouth to say it but then caught himself and stopped, grinning instead and looking away.

“You know, I wouldn’t let you get away with half as much as I do if I didn’t...nah, nevermind,” he said. Adagio again felt that odd kind of lurching sensation in her belly. Probably nothing.

“What? What were you going to say?” She asked, clutching the box close to her body.

Thom could not properly articulate his position because he wasn’t completely sure what it was. Looking at Adagio while trying to pin it down did not help, either. Chuckling at the sheer absurdity of it all he had to turn away again, shaking his head.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. And maybe just hang back here until she goes, okay?”

“Okay,” Adagio said in a small voice, not-at-all crestfallen, not one bit.

Five

Author's Note

If I'm not writing something, I go funny.

And if it wasn't this, it'd probably just be something dumb elsewhere.

Five

Some time later Thom was sat back behind the counter, flicking through a very dog-eared magazine picked at random from a stock of the same he kept underneath for just such prolonged periods of quiet. There were many such periods. Behind him he heard a floorboard creak.

“Is she gone?” Adagio whispered, loudly enough to kind of defeat the point of whispering. Thom turned a page.

“She’s gone,” he said.

A pause, during which he imagined Adagio was peering about to see whether the girl was actually hiding. She wasn’t, so Adagio didn’t see anything like this.

“Is she coming back?” Adagio asked.

“No idea. Maybe. Not today though I wouldn’t think,” Thom said.

Further pause. Then, more quietly:

“Are you still mad at me?”

He sighed and lost his place in the article he’d been reading.

“I wasn’t mad at you, Dagi, I just didn’t know what was going on. I still don’t. I’m kind of glad that she - her name’s Twilight, by the way, mean anything to you? - kind of glad she left in such a good mood. I didn’t want to have to put a complaint box together. Bumrushing customers isn’t good for the image.”

“Sorry…”

Thom stopped midway through turning to another page.

“Did you just apologise?” He asked.

“No. Why would I?” Adagio asked in return, arms folded.

“Right. Course,” Thom said, turning on his stool to look at Adagio and finding her stood on the threshold between the back and the shop proper, as though afraid to approach any closer without explicit permission. “Have fun with your box?” He asked.

Adagio blinked.

“My what? How dare- oh, that box.”

She’d quite forgotten about that box.

Rising from the stool Thom went to go stand with Adagio in the doorway, seeing as how she didn’t seem to want to move from there. He rested one arm against the frame and frowned down at her a little while Adagio had sudden, vivid flashbacks to that time not long ago when he’d carried her around like a sack of flour. She really would have to tell him off for that at some point.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Adag- Dagi, but since we’re friends now apparently I feel compelled to say that you’ve been acting a little differently lately. Is something up?” He asked.

“You’re projecting,” Adagio said without hesitation.

“Am I?”

“Yes.”

He waited for to elaborate on this - perhaps explain what it was he was meant to be projecting - but instead she completely veered aside from that, unfolded her arms, beamed, and came out with:

“So I was thinking it would be nice if we might spend some more time together, but perhaps this time in a more private setting. You don’t live far from here, do you?”

It had come up briefly in conversation once or twice during their time together, just in the course of things. She hadn’t looked to have been really listening at the time and Thom was genuinely surprised that she appeared to have remembered at all.

That, and her jackknifing the conversation left him struggling to catch up.

“Um, down the road but, uh, I don’t see-” he started to say.

“Down the road? So convenient! For me and for you. That’d be a five minute walk, wouldn’t you say?” She asked. Doing his best not to be affected by the full-force, ear-to-ear smile Adagio was now giving him, Thom raised an eyebrow. Defiantly. Or as close to defiantly as someone like Thom could manage.

“It sounds kind of like you’re inviting yourself to my house,” he said.

This brought forth another pout, this one weapons-grade. Thom very nearly winced.

“Well I’m sorry if me trying to keep you company is a bad thing. I just thought that with your dad away you might be a bit lonely at home is all. Excuse me for caring,” Adagio huffed, folding her arms even harder and turning up her nose and twisting away from him.

This caused her hair to hit him in the face, and Thom reeled briefly, having to step backwards. There really was a lot of it. Probably his fault for having entered the danger zone.

“I don’t...dislike...all the time we seem to be spending together now, you know. It’s just a bit sudden is all. I always kind of, well - I always kind of got the impression you thought I was an idiot,” he said.

“You are an idiot.”

Not for the first time while being insulted by Adagio, Thom found it difficult not to grin. It really was all in the delivery with her. Just something about it made it difficult to take seriously. Or he was a glutton for punishment. Or it was that ever-expanding soft spot he was very much doing his best to ignore at that moment. Or some potent combination of all of these and more. Who could say?

“Ah. That might be why,” he said.

Adagio spared him a glance and something in the way he was looking at her must have touched a nerve as she stopped keeping her nose upturned and went a little pink, to boot.

“...doesn’t mean you’re not nice to be around. Sometimes. Okay?” She asked, pointedly. Thom conceded.

“Okay. So you want to hang out some more?” He asked.

“Yes. It’s not like you’ve got anything better to be doing,” Adagio said with a dismissive flap of a hand.

Harsh, but true. He rarely did and she knew it. Because he’d told her.

“Well you’re not wrong there. And you want to do this where I live?” Thom asked.

“Yeah. So? Don’t read anything into it. It’s just nearby!”

Adagio had this all squared away, it seemed. Almost made it sound like a reasonable request to make, like he would have been the rude, inconsiderate one to say no. Not that he wanted to say no, of course. For reasons he couldn’t quite pin down.

“True, true. Well, alright. Fine, I suppose. I’m not going to be waking up later in a bathtub full of ice short a kidney or two, am I?”

That actually almost made her laugh, but she played it off well.

“Depends on how good of a host you are,” she said, walking her fingers up his chest and flicking the tip of his nose. Thom went obligingly cross-eyed.

“I’ll make sure to use the clean glasses and scrape the mould off anything I serve you. That’s special treatment, that is. Even I don’t get that and I live there,” he said.

And that was that. For the rest of the workday - which, agreeably, wasn’t very long - the two of them had this plan hanging over them, filling them both with expectation and dread in equal measure, mostly as neither of them had any real idea of what was going to happen.

They had ideas, sure. Hopes maybe. But both were also fully of the opinion that the other was an unpredictable wild card who could and would cause trouble at the slightest provocation. Hence the dread.

Both of them, though, shared a dim, distant hope of something that they both refused to fully acknowledge. Something that was growing more obvious with every passing day but which was also so patently ludicrous it didn’t warrant further attention. It was there, they would just never admit it.

Because it was, as said silly, obviously. And ridiculous. And completely unrealistic. No point really in giving it any serious thought.

Idle thought? Well, no harm in that. A daydream of two, here and there? In the quieter moments? Well, no harm in that, either. And it’s not like anyone would know, is it?

Because, really, even if they were to confront these growing notions, grapple with them and come to understand them - which they never would, on account of how utterly ludicrous they were - what were the odds that the other person even felt anywhere remotely similar?

There just wasn’t any point. No matter how much it might look like there was a point.

And this is what both of them spent the remaining time in the day fretting over, while telling themselves it wasn’t worth fretting over. Not a word was spoken, though there were a few times where one would look at the other only to find the other swiftly turning away. It got rather awkward.

Still, the day ended regardless, and before either of them really knew it Adagio was standing waiting on the pavement outside while Thom was busily locking up, wondering to himself what on Earth the girl might do next once he was done.

In the event, what she did was grab his hand once they started walking off.

Thom looked down at this and considered asking what the deal was but, really, by now he should have expected it. At least she wasn’t putting her hand into his pocket or something. Things could have been much worse. Not much weirder, but worse. He could tolerate this, even if he couldn’t fully understand it.

If nothing else, it finally got them talking again.

“So...did you have anything in particular you wanted to do, having invited yourself over? Or what?” He asked, studiously ignoring the hand holding his, soft and small and warm as it might have been.

“I’m sure we’ll find something to do. I just wanted it to be us, that’s all,” Adagio said. She’d taken to swinging the hand holding his, just because, and when she caught sight of this drawing stares she just did it more. Thom put up with this.

“Why?” He asked.

Adagio kept on glaring at the people who’d been glancing over at them until they rounded a corner and went out of sight. She then finally answered his question:

“People are tiring to be around.”

True for many and Adagio in particular, at least of late. People proved especially tiring when she couldn’t easily get them to do what it was she wanted them to do. They insisted on doing their own thing, often harmoniously, often without her at the centre of their world. Ingrates.

“And I’m not?” Thom asked.

“You’re less tiring,” Adagio said without missing a beat.

“Nicest thing anyone’s said to me.”

Adagio bit her lip to suppress a giggle and for the next few minutes they walked in silence. These few minutes were all that were required to reach where Thom lived. Like he’d said, it really wasn’t that far.

“Well. Here it is,” he said, unnecessarily.

They then entered. All without incident.

Once inside the world all at once seemed very small indeed, seeming only to include the two of them and a hallway and a lot of quiet.

Having been so used to the rather run-down surroundings of where she’d been living lately Adagio stood and took in the interior - appreciating in particular the unbroken windows - while Thom just hovered nearby wondering what he had to look forward to next.

And also looking at Adagio. He did not notice that he was doing this. At least not until she pointed it out to him.

“Were you staring at me?” She asked, with a tone that suggested the wrong answer could have dire consequences but which also gave no hints as to what the right answer might have been. Thom took a step back and bumped into the front door of his own home, blushing furiously.

“No. Well, yes. I was waiting for you to do something,” he said.

“Sure…”

The look on Adagio’s face then was caught somewhere between a glare and a smirk and she was plainly having trouble deciding on which to settle on. Rather than letting his trip her up she instead moved onto something else instead:

“Which room is yours?” She asked. Thom found himself against at a loss, entirely at the mercy of Adagio’s conversational initiative.

“My room? Upstairs on the right. Why?”

Adagio, grinning, immediately turned and bounded up the stairs, leaving Thom standing like a sinking pudding and then scrambling to follow.

“Hey. Hey!”

By the time he’d caught up she was already through the door and, as he saw on arrival, laid out on his bed. Hadn’t even taken her shoes off. That’s just rude.

“Make yourself at home why don’t you,” Thom said with a frown that he really didn’t mean. Adagio, having moved on from grinning to simply smiling again, propped herself up on one elbow and crooked a finger at him.

“Come here,” she said.

“Pardon?”

Adagio wasn’t sure how anyone could have misinterpreted what she’d said. Not like she could have broken it down any simpler. The crooked finger turned over and jabbed down at the bed in time with each repeated word:

“Come. Here.”

That got the point across.

Moving over Thom stood beside his own bed. Adagio gave the bed a pat and him a condescending look. This also got the point across and Thom perched himself just on the edge.

“Oh for the love of-”

Rolling her eyes at his continued idiotic stubborness Adagio sat up, reached over and - demonstrating an alarming burst of strength - hauled him bodily onto the bed and in a wild tangle that Thom was thoroughly unable to keep track of somehow got him on his back on the bed and her on top of him. Straddled cross his waist.

Thom swallowed.

“Thom, we need to talk,” she said.

Experimentally Thom gave a wiggle, just to get an impression of how easy it would be to extricate himself from the position she’d put him in. Quickly it became apparent that she’d placed herself well, as nothing short of bodily launching her across the room would work, and Thom couldn’t in good conscience do that.

So he stopped wiggling. Adagio just grinned.

“Clearly,” he said.

Adagio then her best to put on a serious face, for this was a serious talk. She rested both her hands upon Thom’s chest and drew herself up, somber, undercut somewhat by the squeeze she gave him without really thinking about it.

“I know you like me,” she said.

That gave him a little jolt, as though the situation hadn’t been full enough of those already.

All at once that soft spot he’d been nurturing and mostly ignoring was thrown into sharp relief, all at once ignoring it wasn’t really an option anymore. Because she was sitting on him.

“Uh, I’ll admit to a certain fondness,” Thom said.

Adagio giggled, the pitch and tone calculated to perfection.

“You don’t have to be coy. Not with me,” she said.

“I don’t?”

She flicked his nose again and again he went a little cross-eyed for a second.

“No. You can be completely honest with me. I kind of want you to be. I want us to be totally honest with each other. It’s important.”

“Uh. Okay.”

Thom had the distinct feeling that this wasn’t going to be as much of a two-way street as she was making it sound. He also had the feeling that a lot of the honest he’d be supplying was going to have been parcelled out to him by Adagio in the first place. Just a feeling.

Adagio, eyes closed, took in a deep and steadying breath. Clearly she was building up to some sort of earth-shaking revelation. Thom waited, deathly curious while also still acutely aware of the fact she was, well, straddling his waist. Kind of hard to ignore that. It did just keep popping up in his awareness.

She was very warm.

“Okay,” Adagio said, exhaling, opening her eyes and then looking down at him with the softest of smiles. “You have feelings for me,” she said.

Thom experienced some sort of full-body blink. He hadn’t thought such a thing possible.

“I do?” He asked. Adagio nodded as though this were obvious. She had, after all, just said it.

“You do. You’ve fallen madly, helplessly in love with me.”

This seemed a step up. Also seemed like the kind of thing he would have noticed on his own by now, surely. Thom looked to the side in case there was something there that might have cleared the situation up for him. There wasn’t, and when he looked back Adagio was still there.

“I have?” He asked.

Another nod from Adagio. Weirdly, for once, she didn’t seem to be having her patience frayed by his idiocy. If anything her smile was just getting more indulgent, as though his being slow on the uptake here was understandable and excusable.

“You have. The sooner you come to terms with this the better,” she said.

“Uh. Okay. Whatever you say, Dagi.”

He got a pat on the head for that.

“Good boy. Now, while I could never reciprocate these feelings - I’m simply too far out of your league, it’d be entirely unfair to let you think otherwise - I will admit that our time working together in the shop has been less awful than I suspected it might have been, and you are...adequate company.”

“Let me down gently, why don’t you,” Thom said, receiving a finger pressed to the lips for his trouble.

“I haven’t finished,” Adagio said. “And in light of you being adequate company I’ve given it some serious thought and I have decided that us being friends would not be completely unacceptable.”

“I thought we were friends?”

Maybe he’d imagined that bit from before.

“That was provisional. Now it’s official. Just don’t let it go to your head,” Adagio said, again flicking his nose but this time leaning down over him to do it. This brought them very close. Closer than they had been before, and they’d been pretty close before.

“I’ll do my best,” Thom said. Adagio did not sit back up again. They remained close. Thom swallowed. “What kind of friends?” He asked.

She did not immediately answer this because she found herself too busy staring into his eyes. Thom, in turn, was staring into hers. It made it kind of hard to think. Adagio shook it off first though and leaned back to put a little more distance back between them. Not a whole lot though.

“That depends,” she said with a smirk. Thom sighed and - in a moment of acute boldness - let his hands come up to rest on her legs. It seemed allowable given the circumstances. Adagio did not comment on this, which was good?

“You’re a very complicated girl Dagi, you know that, right?” He asked.

“I’m glad you think so,” she said, smiling warmly.

“Some might say...unique?”

Her smile widened, delight written across Adagio’s face.

“Now you’re just trying to butter me up. Which is good. Do more of that,” she said with a giggle. Thom made a big show of giving this serious thought.

“Well, I had been thinking about mentioning that seeing you arrive at work - on time or not - is usually one of the high points of my day, but I kind of figured you’d call me an idiot if I said that,” he said, shrugging as best he could given he was lying down and pinned.

Adagio’s look of delight became a furious blush.

“Y-you are an idiot,” she said, removing his hands from where he’d placed them only to immediately change her mind and put them back again. “...doesn’t mean you can’t...say nice things sometimes…”

There were other things that Thom might have said - things that had been sitting quite happily beneath the lid of his not-really-thinking-about-this soft spot for a while now but which were now exposed - but he didn’t have the guts, and Adagio was still too busy being red in the face to say anything herself. So nothing was said.

Adagio sat up straight again and shifted about so she was more comfortable, apparently seeing no reason to dismount from Thom. Then, chewing her lip a little, she asked:

“...is it really the high point of your day? When you see me?”

Thom noticed that she had snipped off the ‘one of the’ bits of what he’d said, but somehow he wasn’t especially surprised by this. She sounded so desperately worried that the answer might turn out to be no that he wasn’t that concerned anyway.

“‘Course. What else could compare?” He asked her and Adagio looked set to agree when a sudden doubt seized her and her expression soured.

“Now you’re just making fun of me…” She said.

Thom looked at where he was and where his hands were and where Adagio was relative to all this.

“I’m not really in a position to make fun of you,” he pointed out.

Adagio looked at where his hands were, too - where she’d put them, no less - and went redder. Her getting into his personal space was one thing. Him into hers? Quite another.

He did kind of have a point, though, which did kind of make what he’d said ring true...

“I’m the high point of your day,” she said, happily, wiggling.

That warm, deep feeling that came from knowing you form a vital, central component in someone’s life. Adored. Important. The axis of their affections. Defeated though she was the need for this feeling hadn’t really truly gone away and having it come back was like coming up for air. To be adored! Just as she deserved.

Only by one person - and an idiot, to boot - and not by everybody within reach as it should have been, but still. It was a start.

And there were worse places to start, she supposed, looking down at Thom.

He’d do.

That did leave one thing though, the other thing she’d been meaning to talk to him about.

“There was one other thing I did want to talk to you about, though. It’s important,” she said in firm and serious tones, trying to wipe the smile off her face so he’d know she wasn’t joking.

“Sounds like I’m being told off,” Thom said.

“No, just corrected. You remember that girl? The laughing one?”

This did not immediately narrow it down for Thom, who squinted at Adagio in confusion.

“What? Who? Oh, her. What about her?” He asked, getting it. He wasn’t entirely sure why she was being brought up at all, especially now of all times and places. It kind of derailed the whole rest of the conversation up until this point, as far as he could make out. Possibly he was missing something, he felt.

“I don’t want you talking to her again,” Adagio said.

This seemed extreme to Thom.

“She’s a customer, I can’t really-”

Adagio gave a forceful sigh, the kind that someone gave when they were being perfectly reasonable but everyone else in the world wasn’t and yet they were - somehow - the one being expected to compromise.

“Alright. Then I want your interactions with her from now on to be completely professional. No more jokes or laughing. It’s unbecoming. Keep that unnecessary communication to a minimum.”

“Uh…” Thom started, picking carefully what words he’d need to explain how this probably wasn’t feasible. Adagio did not give him the time to find these words.

“It’s very important,” she said.

“Why?” Thom asked. She glared and poked him hard in the chest.

“Don’t ask questions! It just is, okay? I don’t like that she - she just came in pretending to be looking for a book when all she really wanted was t-to distract you! I don’t trust her. She’s up to no good. And she’s a dead-ringer for that girl who - who - nevermind! It probably is her! She’s probably just playing some trick! I bet her friends were all outside waiting for some signal! They’re probably trying to get to me through you! Weren’t happy with just defeating and humiliating me once, they wanted to come and finish the job! No! Not with you! You’re mine!”

In the process of yelling all this at him Adagio had bent over him again, and in bending over had brought herself so close that the two of them were now nose-to-nose. This it took her some seconds to notice. Thom, on the receiving end, had noticed already.

“Uh…” Went Adagio, breath catching in her throat.

“I don’t think she was pretending to be looking for a book,” Thom said.

“Shut up,” Adagio said. Not angrily. It kind of just slipped out.

“Okay.”

Still nose-to-nose.

Out of nowhere - and certainly not an outgrowth of lines of thought she might have entertained on any number of lonely nights in that hovel she called home, not at all - came the enormous temptation to just, well, give him a quick peck. Just a little one.

They were already this close. And they were friends, after all. And it was something friends did, apparently. Maybe. Could do. Possibly. Someone had probably done it at some point. Just a friend thing. Nothing worth getting worked up over or thinking too much into.

And besides, what did it matter? No-one would know. No-one except Thom and who’d believe him? And he’d keep his mouth shut if he knew what was good for him anyway. What did it matter? Just one? A quick one. Just to see what it was like. Probably awful. But then at least she’d know.

She licked her lips. Just a little.

“You know, I’ve never kissed a human before…”

Thom didn’t really think much of this statement. But then he did.

“Wait, wha-”

He would have finished, but talking was difficult when your mouth was otherwise occupied.