𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 || Cillian Murphy ¹

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝐸𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉

Cillian awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. The aftermath of his alcoholic binge hit him like a ton of bricks. He laid in his bed, cotton sheets tangled around him in the clothes he had worn the day before. As he attempted to sit up, his stomach churned in protest. Cillian moaned.

His mouth felt extremely dry and his eyes felt heavy as he slowly rolled over to check the time on his phone. He was immediately met with a handful of emails from his agent with possible scripts he could read and parts he could audition for. Cillian felt his blood pressure rise slightly in annoyance -finding work was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

Cillian noticed he also had a few missed calls from his (ex) wife, and a text from Auden. He quickly swiped away the call notifications before he allowed his adult obligations to irritate him and exasperate his hangover. Instead, he clicked on Auden's message.

Hope you made it home safe. Thanks for the food. - A

He smiled to himself, his lips slightly cracking from their dryness. Cillian set his phone down as his mind wandered to the night before. Admittedly, running into Auden had been his intention. Originally, he had planned to come by her office and casually claim he was in the area and wanted to check on her progress with Patrick. After that, he would casually suggest grabbing a bite to eat - totally professional and not pushing any boundaries. But when he arrived and Auden wasn't there, Cillian couldn't help but feel embarrassed at his attempt, especially because her secretary had a way with probing questions. He had convinced her to not tell Auden he had stopped by before being able to extract himself from the situation.

Later that day, while Cillian was meandering through a pile of potential roles to audition for, his wife had called him about their kids. It had ended, as it usually does, in a large argument. Their conversation soured his mood considerably. He then thought back to Auden. Being around her would make him feel better. He loved the way her lips curved into a soft smile, how her dark auburn hair curtained her round face, and the warmth in her green eyes at the shitty jokes he would tell.  Cillian made the split-second decision to head to the pub by her workplace and wait for her to leave work. On her way out, Cillian would "just so happen" to leave the pub and then he could make advances on seeing her outside of work.

Cillian had placed himself in the pub so he could watch the gallery through the window and he waited. As he waited, Cillian kept drinking. Occasionally, he caught a glance of Auden moving stuff around the gallery with her secretary.

As the evening moved into the nighttime, he began to feel like a pathetic creep. His idea of being perched up at the pub sounded decent in his head, but Cillian had realized he had been here for almost three hours watching the young woman work through a window. Cillian scoffed at himself and shook his head as he decided to call it quits. When he stood up, however, the drunkenness caught up to him. The interior of the pub began spinning slightly as Cillian's legs wobbled forcing him to sit back down. It was at this moment that the beautiful woman with auburn hair opened the front door to the gallery and stepped out onto the streets of Dublin.

Cillian mustered all his strength to get outside. He realized he would never make it across the street without possibly getting hit by a car or face planting into the sidewalk. Instead, he put all his body weight into the lamp post and called out to her.

Cillian was unsure how Auden managed to get him to the diner. She had wrapped her small arm around his waist as he leaned into her, supporting most of his weight as they walked down the street. The smell of her hair from that moment still lingered in his nose - sweet and rosy.

His mind wandered more to their time at the diner. In his drunken state, Cillian felt his body move towards her and steal subtle touches. His body moved before his mind could object. Cillian vividly remembered how her hair continued to fall in her face and how she would subconsciously tuck it behind her ear. Cillian wanted so badly to reach out and do it for her. He wanted to see her face entirely. His heart raced as he stole the chance to brush her dark hair from her face. The move felt incredibly intimate yet entirely harmless. And Cillian wanted more.

Cillian wondered what Auden's thoughts were regarding the events of last night and figured he should probably apologize for being so drunk. He cringed at the thought that Auden felt the need to take care of him, but he didn't want to ruin the moment they had shared. Cillian decided that it was safer to wait for Auden to bring it up.

Cillian picked up his phone once again and decided to call Auden and apologize. She picked up on the first ring, as if she was waiting for his call.

"Hello?" She breathed. The sound of her voice caused his chest to tighten slightly.

"I'm surprised you still want to speak to me," Cillian said lightly, his voice coming out raspy. He was half joking.

"You're not the first drunk man I've had to take care of and I doubt you'll be the last," Auden replied. He heard shuffling on the other end. Cillian pictured her in the gallery, sifting through paintings. He smiled at the thought of her face forming into a contemplating look and a crease forming in between her eyebrows as she decided what was worthy to hang.

"I wanted to apologize for being so drunk last night."

"You seem to be making a habit of having to apologize to me," Auden's voice came out flat and emotionless. Cillian began to sense that she might be upset with him.

Auden sighed suddenly before Cillian to formulate what to say next, "I'm sorry. I'm being rude. I'm just exhausted - we have to move a lot of pieces out in a short amount of time. It's just me and Brigid doing it so it's taking longer than expected."

Cillian thought about his plans for the day. Ideally, he should finally sit down and look at parts he could audition for. But seeing Auden sounded like a better way to kill time. "Let me come lend a hand. It's the least I could do."

He felt her hesitate, "I will say I am an expert at lifting heavy boxes," Cillian pushed further.

"Fine," Auden let out a small yawn. "I'll text you when to come by. Probably in the next two hours. But you have to bring caffeine."

"Deal."