♡ this for wvnderkiind cause I'm mobile and you know you want to
♡ — to hear how mal says i love you without saying ‘love’
their partnership is a JOKE, their operation a bust, and she’s convinced that he’s to blame. he probably is, but he doesn’t know why he lets it get to him. the BLAME eats away at his heart, gnawing at the inside of his ribcage and it’s painful in a way that he’s never felt before. it doesn’t occur to the criminal that he WANTED her to be impressed, at the very least PROUD. the fact that he’s all but satisfied her expectation is maybe the reason he’s now unwittingly lead her like a lamb to SLAUGHTER. a scenario far too dangerous for a two-man team with no backup on the line. but he does it anyway. a show of BRAVADO that’ll likely go unnoticed, under-appreciated, just like everything else he’s done. doesn’t know why he keeps at it.
maybe because she’s the LIGHT to his darkness, the promise of renewal to his dredging, SOUR soul. there’s a light in her eyes that he doesn’t seem to find elsewhere. maybe it’s the way she laughs at his jokes when he can tell that every FIBER of her is tellin’ her not to. it’s a subtle thing, a breath that comes out a little different, a hitch in her throat and a CANT in her lips that’s gone in another blink of his eyes. he treasures those tiny victories, if they could be called such. should be, anyway, ‘cause he’s battlin’ like HELL to win ‘em. an’ here she is, outright laughin’ at his joke in the corner of the bar while they’re keeping their covers and he catches the GLINT of metal from across the room. knows that this whole thing ain’t gonna end in anything but blood-stained carpet and unfinished whiskies. his gaze snaps to hers, wide an’ more frightened than he’s EVER let her see.
“go.” he can see the PROTEST rising in her lips almost ‘fore he’s opened his mouth. he likes that about her. “go, clara. go on. call you after– i still owe you that drink, remember?”
