It’s a perfectly ordinary morning when it happens. Well, not perfectly ordinary, because they both have a day off, the same day off, and lately that’s been rare enough to take on almost mythical status. But instead of the usual rushing around, Stuart trying to get ready for work, hoping to whatever higher power looks out for him has ensured that he has a clean shirt hanging in Nina’s wardrobe, instead they’re standing in her kitchen, talking quietly, warming their hands with steaming mugs of the very expensive coffee he insisted he buy to leave in her place, the same coffee that had made her roll her eyes and shake her head and he hadn’t minded a bit.
He’s wearing boxers and a t-shirt, knows his hair is sticking up in about a thousand different directions. The tiles are cold on his bare feet but he’s not thinking about that, not when Nina’s smile is enough to warm him from the inside out. The sight of her bare legs is nothing to complain about either and the fact that the t-shirt they’re peeking out from definitely used to be one of his gives him more of a jolt than the most expensive coffee ever could. Her hair is tousled, ringlets rioting everywhere and there’s a phrase that springs to mind that he’d never use around her, no matter how true it might be - it’s taken a long time for them to recover from their first night together, he doesn’t want to screw it up now.
And that’s when it happens.
That moment, taking in her smile and her hair and her legs and his shirt, that’s the moment Stuart realises.
He doesn’t want to screw this up at all.
Something must show in his face because Nina tilts her head, narrows her eyes. “What are you thinking?” she asks, a grin in her voice and he shrugs as shock makes him go with the truth.
“That I love you.”
For a second, he thinks it’s too soon, he’s said too much. Then her smile gets brighter even as it turns impish. “Took you long enough,” is all she says.
Then, when he’s picking his jaw up off the floor, she walks by him, ghosts her hand along his shoulder as she kisses his cheek. “By the way, I love you too.”
He watches her go, speechless, then realises she’s heading for the bedroom. Which is fine with him… he doesn’t really think they need to talk.
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timeasmymeasure
FBI Scola/Nina
Date: 2022-09-29 08:46 am (UTC)He’s wearing boxers and a t-shirt, knows his hair is sticking up in about a thousand different directions. The tiles are cold on his bare feet but he’s not thinking about that, not when Nina’s smile is enough to warm him from the inside out. The sight of her bare legs is nothing to complain about either and the fact that the t-shirt they’re peeking out from definitely used to be one of his gives him more of a jolt than the most expensive coffee ever could. Her hair is tousled, ringlets rioting everywhere and there’s a phrase that springs to mind that he’d never use around her, no matter how true it might be - it’s taken a long time for them to recover from their first night together, he doesn’t want to screw it up now.
And that’s when it happens.
That moment, taking in her smile and her hair and her legs and his shirt, that’s the moment Stuart realises.
He doesn’t want to screw this up at all.
Something must show in his face because Nina tilts her head, narrows her eyes. “What are you thinking?” she asks, a grin in her voice and he shrugs as shock makes him go with the truth.
“That I love you.”
For a second, he thinks it’s too soon, he’s said too much. Then her smile gets brighter even as it turns impish. “Took you long enough,” is all she says.
Then, when he’s picking his jaw up off the floor, she walks by him, ghosts her hand along his shoulder as she kisses his cheek. “By the way, I love you too.”
He watches her go, speechless, then realises she’s heading for the bedroom. Which is fine with him… he doesn’t really think they need to talk.