Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Teacher-Student Romance Robert Downey Jr.)

Sign Of The Times.

There is an elephant in the room.

A gigantic, bright pink, humongous elephant.

And it's casually standing in the middle of the apartment. Staring at me. Intensely. As if it were trying to tell me something via telepathy. Maybe it is trying to tell me something. I cannot really figure it out. Or maybe I am just slowly, very subtly, losing my mind.

When I turn around on my chair, I don't have to face it. But then I have to look at something else, something that doesn't necessarily resemble an elephant, yet gives me the same idiotic discomfort.

A steaming cup of tea is placed directly in front of me. I risk a glance.

He does look more awake now, more aware. Sluggish posture, but alert eyes. I've always liked how even though he is tired, his eyes always seemed to register everything that was happening around him. Flashing a bit of exited green. Getting darker and darker to a point when you wonder how on earth someone with such wicked eyes could have this soft of a touch.

A sigh escapes his throat. "So, what are you doing here?"

I can't help but frown and even though I know exactly what he is asking about, I stick to the original script.

"I didn't have any money, so I had to take the subway and then I took the train in the wrong direction."

"No," he replies and then I'm ready. Ready to tell him everything that's been running through my mind these past hours. Ready or- "What are you doing in this part of town at this hour?" -not.

"I went over to Hannah's hotel," I try to sound casual, "it got late."

"I can see that," Downey murmurs and then crosses his arms.

Never good when he does that. Not only does he seem unavailable and pissed, but it makes the part where his shoulder meets the rest of his arm look quite intriguing.

"Sorry," I murmur and my voice is weaker than I'd like it to sound.

Now he is the one wrinkling his forehead. "About what?"

My fingers grab the hot cup and I flinch as my palm gets a little to close. "Turning up here uninvited and I don't know, maybe being such a mess in general."

"It's fine, really. I was up anyway," he tells me, "would you have come thirty minutes later, we really would've had a problem."

That makes me smile. "Why were you up? It's like almost morning, don't you have to work tomorrow?"

"Couldn't sleep," Downey replies and then walks towards the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of water.

"Me neither."

His eyebrows lift in surprise. "Is that why you were at Hannah's?"

"Partly."

I can't tell why, but there is a swift grin that rushes hastily over his mouth.

There is the elephant again. And now it started to talk. Come on Aria, now is your chance, talk to him about your feeeeelings. It stretches out the 'feelings', like a ten year old boy and I think it did it on purpose, just to mock me.

"Do you like the tea?" Downey's face appears behind the massive pink animal.

"It's too hot."

"Sorry," he bites a little of his lip.

I shrug. "Don't be. That's the whole point of tea, isn't it? You burn yourself like three times and then you leave it too long until it gets too cold to drink. It's the avocado of the beverages."