@diaboluse called: if you keep that up, i might just fall in love with you.
his breath catches around some odd fact or another, an inquisitive word about the case files in front of them. shoulder to shoulder, they cram over the kitchen table as arthur works through a soundboard of defenses that feel fragile under his tongue. he is scratching his head with the back of a pen when matt speaks. the movement stops the moment the words catch up to him.
his head turns slowly, eyes finding the red rim of the other’s glasses, the small smile on his face like he did not just say something intimate and frightening. the agent’s heart beats hard in his chest, suddenly echoing in the quiet that falls between them. then, all at once, his face illuminates in warm embarrassment.
he looks quickly away. the pen in his grasp unceremoniously slips from his fingers and clatters onto the table.
“ what are you talking about ?? ” arthur asks, suddenly very interested in the manila folder in front of him. he picks at the corner absently, irritated with his own fluster. “ i'm working. and—you haven’t answered my question about why the timeline gives our witness twenty minutes to disappear from a locked building. ” his eyes dark back to the lawyer's face, gaze soft and startled beneath the defensive line of his brow.
“ you... you cannot just say things like that while i’m trying to be useful. ”