Simone was straightening up their common room. She was singing and humming. The telltale sign that Lewis Dusk was not home. She spun around and danced to imaginary music. She put his daggers that he kept in the common room up. Cleaned up all of their messes. Since she had arrived the place was practically spotless.

“Simone?” There was a knock at the door.

Simone’s eyes lit up as she ran over. “Jack! Good morning!”

“Good morning Simone! Is Lewis out?” Jack sounded all too happy that Lewis was gone and Simone frowned a bit but she hid it.

“Yes, Lord Raith had a job for him or so he told me. What news do you have for me?”

“Oh, the kitchen is making lamb for dinner tonight if you want to put an order in. I have a message for Lewis from a contact too. Can you… Open the door?”

“I suppose…” Simone opened the door just a slit. Jack had black hair and brown eyes. A stark contrast to Lewis. He looked into her stormy eyes and lost his breath for a moment. He was taller than she was but that wasn’t hard.

“Um,” Jack lost his breath.

“Can I have the letter?” Simone held her hand out.

“Yeah, sorry.” Jack handed it to her and Simone slammed the door shut as soon as his hand was out of the way.

“Thank you!”

Jack stood there dejected at first. Maybe she would warm up to him more if she ever left his quarters without Lewis.

It has not been a particularly hard job, but it was one that was tedious, and that put Lewis in a frustrated mood. It had taken far more energy than he had planned for as well, and that meant another tiring climb up into his tower, versus the normal method of magicking himself in.

As he approached the door to the tower, he noticed the young man, Jack, at the door. A potions brat that had been taken in for his potential. Mostly, though, he just ran around as a little errand boy for coin. If he were smarter, he could sell his potions for profit. It was doubtful that Lord Raith would keep him around for long.

“Move,” Lewis said as he pushed past the boy to unlock his door. But, he didn’t need to. When Simone heard his voice, the door opened a little. The assassin paused, looking between the two. They were…talking. “Don’t you have work to do, Jack?” With that, he pushed past Simone. “Close and lock the door.”

For some reason, he was irritated. More so than usual. That feeling was becoming more and more persistent. In fact, all of his feelings had been a tangled mess ever since the damned dream dive and that moment the two shared after. Lewis glanced back at Simone, and his mind flashed back to their heated moments. At once, his face started to turn red and he looked away.

“I….need to go out tonight. I have business to take care of.” Whenever he felt this stressed, he went to the local brothels. Emotionally, it didn’t do anything, but physically…well, it was supposed to take the edge off. That’s what he was told. But…

The young man scoffed, and went to his room, changing his clothes into something more casual and less blood soaked. He downed a potion, and started to the window. …but… Lewis stared out, and let out a sigh. Something about running to the brothel now seemed off. Almost like it’s not enough… His mind flashed back to that day with Simone, and he ruffled his hair. “Auuugghh, damnit!” He threw himself onto the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

“Damned girl…”

Jack looked a bit insulted and Simone gave an apologetic look. “Bye Jack,” Simone said it abruptly and instantly gave upon him the moment the assassin came home.

What kind of hold did he have on Simone? She had just shown up one day and at first, she was scared to talk to him. Now they held full conversations. The look in her eyes when she laughed, at least when he got the chance to see it. She was pretty and lively compared to the dull assassin that housed her.

She locked the door after she closed it. Putting the note down she missed how flushed his face was. “There is a contact for you but it isn’t for another two nights. In Mamlak it said.”

Still he left her without saying much. This was how their relationship was. She sighed a bit. Once night time came and she was sure that Lewis had left, normally he was gone. She had changed into the last clean nightgown she had left. It was a sort of see-through blue. It was pretty and looked more like the color of a sapphire. She didn’t ever wear it but when he was gone because it was embarrassing. Her hair was left down having gotten pretty long since she arrived in the tower.

She left her room and opened his bedroom door. She didn’t even see him on the bed as she had almost immediately turned to his desk. She closed the door gently even before she started to clean up her desk. Humming left her lips as she did a little dance as she cleaned. Her eyes were on whatever she was on. Finally, she spun around. Her eyes got huge as she spotted him on the bed, “Lewis.” It was barely audible. Her face was bright red. She looked down at her outfit. “Um.”

“I.”

“You.”

She was stumbling and she sounded like she couldn't breathe. “I need to leave.” She ran out and into her room slamming the door shut.

Lewis had closed his eyes, and drifted off into a semi-sleep. He must have been more exhausted than he thought, because he never heard the door open. Had it been someone sent to kill him, he would have died that night. But it wasn’t. In the half sleep dream state he was in, though, he could see Simone. A beautiful visage, entangled with him, embracing him. It was something that his body and mind wanted, even if he didn’t realize it himself.

Lewis’ eyes opened, and he sat up ever so slightly, a flushed look on his face. Am I still dreaming? There was a slightly shocked Simone, wearing a see through nightgown. He could see almost everything about her, and it was just as he had remembered it. This…is a weird dream though…

That was when Simone spoke, clearly shocked.

“I.”

“You.” Lewis’ eyes widened. It was actually her. Where did she get that outfit? Before he could question any of it, the girl was gone.

Lewis was up in a flash. “S-Simone?”

The door to her room was, rightfully, closed when he arrived. “Simone…what….what were you doing!?”

Simone opened the door and she had a huge blanket wrapped around her. She was so embarrassed she could die. “I clean your room this night every time you leave.” Her long eyelashes batted at him innocently. “Remember?” Her face was so red she could have been a tomato.

“I thought you said you had business tonight… Is that when you go…” She got a tad frustrated a bit but she did her best to hide it. “Go see your lady friend? Person. I don’t know.” She looked away from him. “Brothel. Whatever.” She could smell it on him when he came back from it.

She looked puffy in the oversized blanket. She had her blanket over her head and wrapped around her. She looked like a plump caterpillar.

Lewis glanced to the side. So she knew that he went to a brothel every so often. “There….isn’t a reason to go…” That was the honest truth. He felt no desire to go. “I just don’t feel like going because…” Because… There was no room for admitting the reason in his mind or heart. “I just don’t want to.” For some reason he felt like justifying the reason.

“Look…just…get changed and come out here so we can have an actual conversation. You look absurd.” Lewis crossed his arms and gave her a look.

Simone blinked, and then slammed the door.

Lewis stared at the door, which was inches from his face at this point. He took a breath. A deeper breath. Exhaled. Another. Exhaled. He turned around, and took three steps. Then, without hesitation, spun around and kicked the door down with a surprising amount of force, snapping the hinges.

As the door fell to the ground, Lewis stepped into the room. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR!”

“Oh.” She blinked a few times. Now she just felt silly.

She slammed the door shut as soon as he said he wanted to talk. It was still embarrassing and now she acted jealous for nothing. She had shed the blanket and the nightgown in record time. However, what she didn’t anticipate was Lewis kicking her door in. She crossed her arms over her chest with a scream as she jumped back to narrow avoid the door that was crashing down.

“YOU.”

“YOU!”

Her face was bright red as she closed her eyes and wiggled uncomfortably. “YOU TOLD ME TO GET DRESSED!” Now she didn’t even have a door to her bedroom. Her face was bright red and she was trying to cover herself the best she could.

“YOU SAID NOTHING AND SLAMMED THE DOOR IN MY FACE.” Lewis was pissed, but he took a deep breath, and exhaled. Yelling wasn’t going to deal with the problem right now. The real problem was that there was some error in communication. “You…didn’t say a word to me. Not one. You just…slammed the door.”

It was slowly dawning on Lewis that she was stark naked, and he blushed. She was right there, though. The object of his desires. Was she what he wanted? Was that the reason for the dreams? Was that why the brothel was useless? He took a step forward, his eyes staring into her stormy grays.

“Do you…” He paused. How was he supposed to ask this? “Do you want…to…” It was so complicated. “That thing…we did…when you woke up from Lady Angela…can we…”

“You literally slam the door in my face all the time! I didn’t know what to say! It’s all the time that you want to talk to me like an actual human being.” She said it all in one breath as she finally looked at him. “I didn’t know what to say so I slammed the door so I could get dressed so we could talk better. Because I didn’t know what to say.”

She was looking at him blushing and she wiggled again. She was sure he was oogling her. “What?” She got confused a bit but this was Lewis and he was often… awkward with how he asked about him. She squirmed a bit.

Her mind processed what he asked. Her face got bright red. Finally, she nodded, “Yeah. Sure.”

Lewis looked at the broken door, and made a split second decision. “Here…” He took her hand and led her back to his room. Unlike last time, his brain wasn’t foggy and muddled by intense magic. No, this time it was clear. Which meant nervousness and anxiety, His heart was racing, and he wasn’t sure what he was feeling or why. But he knew he wanted to be with Simone…at least for the moment.

With the door shut behind them, Lewis pushed Simone at his bed while he stripped. It wasn’t long before he was standing there awkwardly, and Simone pulled him onto the bed. With that, things became a blur of emotions and feelings.

When it was all done, Simone was snuggled up to Lewis. The young man was struggling with what he was feeling, and why, but he knew that whatever it was underneath it all, he felt…satisfied. Content. At ease. It was…so strange.

“…thanks…”