Lockwood & Co. Oneshots and AUs

Stress

~ A quick short story for y'all while I work on a longer, more complicated piece for you all. Enjoy. ~

It was that time of the year. When the days began to become longer than night. While the borrowed hours were helpful in the sense that they gave agents more time to prepare before a case, it also gave less time for an agent to work at night, and Lucy never liked that time limit. She had to work with clients in the past who would get quite upset if an agent spent more than one night on a case. Typically, it was because they would have to pay the agent for another night.

While Lucy was also getting use to the spring/summer sleep schedule, she was also finding increasing cases at night, often taking up two or three cases a night. This was far from recommended, more for Lockwood & Co than for any other company since they were so small. But with the increase in popularity they gained and panic since the fall of the Fitties, they were forced on these multi-case nights.

This was - to say the very least - stressful. Lucy barely had time during the day to shower, let alone do anything else a normal person would have time to do.

This included going on dates.

Shortly after the Final Battle, Lucy had worked up all of the courage in the world to do the impossible; ask her boss on a date.

And to her surprise, he said yes. Since then, she liked to believe they were an official couple. And he certainly didn't seem to disagree with the idea. Of anything, he seemed to enjoy that idea.

Of course, with the ever pressing Problem and multiple jobs a night, there's next to no time to do that couple stuff. They barely had time to give each other a quick kiss.

So perhaps they weren't an "official" couple. After all, they hadn't even come out to their friends. And Holly's persistent pestering about getting together with Lockwood was getting on Lucy's nerves. After all, she had already gotten together with him, she just hadn't gotten the time to tell her. Lucy could  imagine that Quill and George wouldn't leave Lockwood be.

"I don't understand it, Luce." Lockwood had stated once with an amused chuckle. "Why are they so concerned with our relationship?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Lucy laughed with him.

Today was no different from any other day. Rushing around the house to ready supplies, running around the shops of London for restocking used equipment, the norm for this small company. 

Holly handed Lucy a shopping list - a rather long shopping list.

"You should probably bring someone with you." Holly winked slyly at Lucy. Lucy rolled her eyes at her friend.

Lucy made her way down to the rapier room where she knew her boyfriend would be. She spotted him, sitting at his desk doing paperwork. She walked behind him and peered over his shoulder, inspecting the bland paper in his hands. The paperwork in question was a tax form.

"How long have you been doing this?" Lucy asked in a softer tone. He jumped, startled by her sudden presence.

"Oh, hey Luce." He put the paper down and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know. I've lost track of time."

"How's your vision?" Lucy teased. Doing extensive amounts of paperwork was starting to take its tole on his vision.

"Just fine. There is nothing wrong with my eyes." He assured.

Lucy placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to take a break?"

He turned, looking at her. She could read his intrigued expression perfectly.

"Holly gave me a shopping list, and it's really long. Think you could lend me a hand with the groceries?" Lucy offered. He smiled at her.

"That doesn't exactly sound like a date to me, Love." He chuckled.

"Well this is the best we're gonna get for a while." Lucy grumbled. "And you don't have to come if you don't want."

"Of course I'm going with you." Lockwood quickly stood up. He took hold of Lucy's hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, and left the rapier room with her. She smiled at his eagerness to get out of the house. They all had been antsy, trapped in the house all day for the past few weeks. Any chance to leave, even if it was to go grocery shopping. They put on their light spring jackets, grabbed their wallets and the shopping list, and left.

~

It had been about two and a half hours of walking around London, buying and dragging around groceries, the two had finally come back home, arms full of different supplies, for cases and normal items for home life. 

Lucy and Lockwood dumped the items on the table. Holly and Quill can sort this out.

Lucy's hand, once they were free, stole Lockwood's fingers. She sighed. There was no time to sit down and relax, not now anyway. Everyday has something else to it. And Lucy and Lockwood were long overdue for that date they'd planned months ago.

Lockwood gave her hand a quick squeezed. It was something they started doing normally, not just on cases. It quickly became one of their ways to tell each other they loved each other without using words. It did wonders when you were facing the restless dead, and was a simple sign of affection in the modern world.

They walked out of the kitchen, hand in hand.

George passed by them, several notes in his pudgy hands. He noticed his two friends, and their hands intertwined. Those blue eyes noticed everything about his two closest friends. He adjusted his glasses and a smirk found its way on his face.

"Why are you two holding hands?" George asked, faking obliviousness.

"We heard it relieves stress." Lockwood rationalized with his friend. By instinct, he denied the truth that dealt with his emotions.

"Oh, I thought you guys were dating." George mumbled.

"We are!" Lucy exclaimed. "We're just also really, really stressed."