𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 - 𝑓. ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑠

030. WE ALL DIE TRYING

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WE ALL DIE TRYING ☂︎︎

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CHARLOTTE BEAUMONT LIKED THE SMELL OF FRESH AIR.

She also liked the smell of baked pastries lingering in the air and the sound of bustling sidewalks as well as the scratch of pens and flipping pages. She knew she liked them because they engulfed her as she worked diligently on her experimental research paper. The glass doors of the balcony in her apartment were open, Lyon breathing at pace with her.

Graphs, numbers, variables, words, bled out with the scratch of a pen.

A kiss to her forehead and she grinned.

Enter the permanent scent of coffee that followed the person who resided with her. A decaf coffee in his hand as he set it down on the table, watching as she didn't look up, too enamored with her own work to spare him a glance which surprisingly caused him to smile.

Of course, Five knew better than to disturb her work. He didn't typically as he liked watching her fall into the subject, furrowed brows, eyes focused and the small smirk that came over her features when she figured something out, writing it down quickly.

A simplistic kind of beauty.

"Which paper is it this time?" he asked, glancing over the messy papers sprawled across the table.

"An experimental research paper on kaon particles." she responded, eyes still glued to her work. "I think I might be onto something pretty groundbreaking. It was such an interesting subject to dive into and I'm glad the department let me spend the money on it. The lab work was beyond incredible-"

And she continued to ramble so he continued to smile.

For once, he decided to disregard her wishes, only wanting to meet her eyes. One hand fell to her waist, the other tucking the stray pieces of hair behind her ear. When she did look up at him, pink lightly dusted on her cheeks, he smirked.

"You're aware that you're dragging me away from my highly important quantum theoretical work?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

The city life grew slightly louder as though chuckling at her dedication. "I am very aware." he replied, setting his other hand on the pen she thought she was discreetly reaching for. "Maybe I just wanted attention."

"Enough to risk me losing my potentially groundbreaking train of thought?" she teased.

He rolled his eyes. "You're one of the smartest people I know. You'll rediscover it in two minutes or so."

"Smartest?" she poked.

"Second." he grinned. "Only to me, of course."

Charlotte laughed, looking at him sincerely. "Je vous hais." A loving "I hate you".

He chuckled. "J'en doute." A firm "I doubt it."

And it was then she realized all was too perfect. The wind blew into the apartment that didn't really exist. Papers were etched with theories that she'd never prove and coffee she'd never drink. They shared a kiss that was the farthest thing from real and when she broke away, she frowned as did he.

"This isn't real, is it?" she murmured.

"No." he replied honestly, eyes gazing at the sun creeping its way over the city's historic rooftops. "But it'd be nice if it was."