Noah ⚡ 9:05 AM: Sup friends, I have an idea

Me 9:07 AM: I’m afraid??

Ripley 🎶 9:09 AM: Oh boy

Companion Plant 🍃 9:09 AM: God help us.

Noah ⚡ 9:09 AM: 😑 why is THIS the response to me having an idea?

Noah ⚡ 9:10 AM: ANYWAYS. There’s an electrical problem at City Hall today, Aiden linked me up w/ Gabby so I’m coming by to fix it later & I’m bringing Raj cause I need an extra set of hands

Raj 🔨 9:12 AM: Yeeeee so we wanted to see if you City Hall kids felt like grabbing lunch, since we should be done right at 1:00! And Jamie you should come too!! If you’re not working

Ripley 🎶 9:13 AM: Where?

Companion Plant 🍃 9:14 AM: Gabby showed us a place that’s only like a block away from City Hall.

Noah ⚡ 9:15 AM: Right on so who’s in?

Me 9:16 AM: I’m down, I have a late shift tonight anyways!

Companion Plant 🍃 9:16 AM: Sounds good to me.

Noah ⚡ 9:19 AM: Ripples??

Ripley 🎶 9:21 AM: Yeah okay

Me 9:22 AM: Cool so we’ll all meet at 1:00 assuming that Noah doesn’t fuck up the wiring and have City Hall burned down by then

Raj 🔨 9:22 AM: Have some faith in my boy please. He can EASILY have it burned down by noon

Ripley 🎶 9:24 AM: Anyone else smell smoke?

Noah ⚡ 9:25 AM: You’re all the worst

Me 9:26 AM: See you guys soon!

~~~~

Aiden isn’t in his office. I would go down to the basement and find him, but I’m learning that it’s not the best idea to barge in on archival work in progress. I’m not sure where Noah and Raj are working, but I do know where to find someone else I can wait with.

Ripley is at his desk, his eyes on his laptop. His habitually messy green curls are falling into his face, and an open notebook sits by his elbow. He looks up when I open the door.

“Hey, man! How’s it going?” I call.

“Hey.”

I cross the waiting area and lean my hands on his desk.

“Drawing something?”

“No. Work.” He nudges the notebook at me, and I pick it up. It’s a page full of acronyms and numbers that I can’t even begin to understand, written out in Gabby’s neat shorthand.

“Um. What does any of this mean?”

“Don’t know. I just have to put it in a spreadsheet for Gabby.”

“God. How can she keep all this stuff in her head?”

Ripley shrugs. “No idea.”

“Are you gonna have to learn this? I mean - do you want to go into politics?”

“I… Sort of. But not this kind.”

Before I can ask him what he means, the door swings open again. Alix steps into the room, holding a pre-packaged salad and a thermos covered with stickers. Ripley leans back in his seat, his jaw instantly tight and tense.

“Hey, Ripley!” Alix chirps, a bright smile on her face as she starts across the room towards us. “I wanted to see-”

She catches her toe on one of the waiting chairs, stumbling and banging her knee into it. The salad and thermos both fly out of her hands and land on the carpeted floor. Ripley is on his feet before I even realize what happened, but he hesitates as Alix straightens up, gasping.

“Ow! Oh, my fucking - have these chairs always been here?”

“Um-” I can tell that Ripley is biting back a smile. “Yeah, always. Are you okay?”

Alix rubs her knee, pink in the face, then bends to retrieve her lost items. Good thing the plastic seal is still on the salad.

“Yes, but that was embarrassing!”

“No, you-” Ripley begins, then cuts off abruptly as Alix comes to a stop at his desk, smoothing her dark hair back. She has it up in a twist today, the pink streak exposed along the side of her head. Ripley’s colorful, paint-stained fingers twitch at his sides.

Alix seems to realize all at once that I’m here, too.

“Oh - hey, Jamie!”

“Hey,” I answer, but her eyes and smile are still fixed on Ripley.

“So, um, do you have someone to eat lunch with? Because I thought I’d see if you, maybe, like-” She sets the salad down on his desk and nudges it towards him. “We could go to the courtyard.”

Ripley blinks at her, surprised. “I-”

“Yo, yo, yo!” comes a call from the door, and we all turn to see Raj striding in, a giant grin on his face. “Jamie! Ripley! You guys just missed Noah getting zapped! I never knew there were so many curse words in the English language. Are we all ready for lunch?”

“Oh,” Alix says, rubbing her arm.

“Raj,” I cut in. “Ripley can’t come with us, remember? He’s - too busy.”

“What?” Raj’s eyebrows drop low in confusion. “But we planned-?” He fades off, getting an eyeful of the face I’m making at him. He glances at Alix, then back at Ripley. “Oh - right. My bad. Sorry, Ripley, I - forgot that you said you... couldn’t come?” He looks to me for guidance, and I’m trying to mouth instructions at him, but Alix turns around and I have to stop quickly.

“Ripley,” she says. “It’s totally fine if you already have plans.”

“No,” I jump in, “No, he-”

“Heyyyy, there’s the boys!” Noah says, arriving in the doorway. “What’s up, what’s up? You ready for food, Ripples? I have dibs on everybody’s leftovers. Getting shocked is hungry work. As anyone who owns an electric guitar can tell you.” His eyes land on Alix. “Who’s this? You coming to lunch?”

“Oh, no,” Alix explains. “I just came to see if Ripley - I didn’t know he had so many - I didn’t realize he had plans.”

“No plans,” I answer hastily, since Ripley is motionless and still hasn’t said a word. “It’s a casual thing, barely even a plan, we only stopped by to see if Ripley was free-”

“Is everyone here already?” Aiden asks, appearing in the doorway behind Noah. “Am I late? I thought we said 1:00.” He catches a glimpse of Alix and pauses. “Oh, hey. Alix, right? You’re from Press & Media?”

“Yeah, hi!” Alix fiddles with her name badge, and Noah squints at it.

“Parlez-vous français?” he asks, and she blinks at him.

“Um - what?”

“Oh, sorry, I thought maybe - Alix, that’s a French spelling of that name.”

“Oh! That's funny, it’s Chinese, too.” Apparently even Noah, who looks comically out of place in City Hall with his tattoos and his torn-up t-shirt, can’t hold Alix’s attention for long. She turns immediately back to Ripley, then grabs her food and thermos from his desk. “Anyways, don’t let me get in the way! I just came to see if - Ripley - the next intern lunch that I’m organizing, it’s tomorrow, at the regular time. Will you come? If you don’t already have…?”

Everyone in the room turns to look at Ripley, who looks pretty much ready to crawl under his desk.

“I…”

“You don’t have to decide right now!” Alix sets everything down again and tugs Ripley’s notebook across the desk. “Just text me and let me know?” She grabs a pen and starts writing on the page. “Here, I’ll leave you my number.”

From behind Alix, Noah throws out two thumbs up, Aiden grins widely, and Raj starts excitedly mouthing something at Ripley, who shoots all of them a warning look over the top of her head. It goes entirely ignored, but when Alix straightens up again, the silent celebration screeches to a halt. Everyone is back to normal and casual, smiling politely.

“So, let me know?” Alix asks again, and Ripley nods. “Cool, okay. Have a nice lunch!” She picks up her stuff and heads to the door. Raj, Aiden, and Noah move out of the way to let her through.

“Nice to meet you!” Raj calls.

“Oh - you, too!”

Noah shuts the door behind her, then turns to lean on the knob, putting one hand on his hip.

“Well, well, well,” he says, grinning hugely.

“She left the digits!” Raj scoops the notebook from the desk and holds it up. “You’re on the board, Ripples!”

Ripley snatches the notebook back, his face an almost alarming shade of red, but a smile turning up his mouth.

“Alright, okay! Pretty much all of the interns go to that lunch, it’s not-”

“Dude, why are you so stressed out?” Noah pops him one on the shoulder. “Is this not a good thing? What, nervous around girls, or?”

Apparently this is a very funny question, because Ripley lets out a laugh, and it normally takes a lot more to get one of those out of him.

“All of my friends are girls except for you guys.”

“Oh, I see.” Raj elbows Ripley’s arm. “Nervous around this girl.”

“Ripley,” Aiden says, from where he’s leaning against the doorframe. “I’m gonna give you a little tip.”

“Okay?”

“Go to the intern lunches she’s organizing.”

“Alright,” Ripley groans. “Now, can we please-?”

Gabby opens the door of her office and leans out through it.

“Is there a party going on out here? I didn’t get an invite.”

“Nope! We’re leaving!” Ripley grabs his phone, turns on his heel, and heads for the door. The others follow him, but I hang back. A thought has just occurred to me.

“Something you need?” Gabby asks.

“Um-” I check to make sure that the group is out of earshot, then lean closer. “This surprise project you’re planning for Ripley and Aiden to work on… we’ll probably need someone from the Press & Media department to help, right?”

Gabby is clearly surprised by the question, but she has an immediate answer. Of course.

“I thought of that, but I can’t dedicate a member of the press team to work on something like this full-time. It’s not high-priority enough, frankly.”

“So - how about an intern, then?”

“Hm. Not a bad thought, Jamie. I’ll see who I can find.”

“Actually, I think I know someone who might be interested.”

~~~~

Raj and Ripley end up walking ahead; Aiden and Noah fall behind, and I end up in the middle, busy responding to a text from Kent about scheduling stuff.

“So, did you fix whatever was broken?” Aiden asks Noah.

“Yeah, I’m gonna go back and tweak a few things, but I think I’m done getting shocked for the day. Hopefully. For the sake of my body.”

“For the sake of your body?” Aiden laughs. “This from the guy who drank a gallon of pool water trying to win ten bucks.”

“I thought the noodles would work, dude! And I had my mouth closed, for the record-”

“Ripley has photos, man. You absolutely didn’t.”

“Okay, go on, make fun.”

“I’m not making fun, Noosh, I’m just saying.”

There’s a pause from behind me.

“Noosh? Jesus, no one’s called me that in forever. God. I just felt like we were fucking sixteen again for a second.” Another pause. “Any particular reason you’re pulling out retired high school nicknames?”

“Nope,” Aiden says, and gives Noah’s arm a shove. Noah shoves him back, grinning.

I’m struck with a sudden memory of the conversation that Aiden and I had in the abandoned church, about how it’s nice that he got to keep an old friend after everything that’s happened. I wonder if he’s been thinking about it more.

Something tells me he has.

~~~~

After lunch, I follow Aiden back to his office, shut the door behind us, and twine my arms around his neck. I can never keep my hands off of him when he’s in his work clothes. He smiles, pressing his nose against mine.

“You do know I’m still in the middle of a workday?”

“No, you’re not.”

“Just saying that doesn’t make it true.”

“Yes, it does.”

Aiden laughs, and I pull him down into a kiss, coaxing his lips apart, backing him up against the closed door.

“Jamie, I have-” His words turn to a low hiss as I give him a sharp bite on the lip. My hands are spread on his chest, and I feel through my palms the way his heartbeat stutters and starts to race. He glances back at the door, a burnt red color rising in his cheeks.

“Dude - you're getting me all - keep in mind we’re in Gabby’s jurisdiction here. She probably already knows that we’re doing this, somehow.”

I groan loudly and reluctantly let Aiden go. He laughs again, then drops into his desk chair, smiling.

“You demon. You are death to my work productivity, you know that?”

“Should I leave?”

“Well...” Aiden looks at his watch. “I do technically still have a few minutes left on my lunch break. So. No.”

I join him at the desk, check that there are no precious or fragile items laid out there, and hop up to sit on its surface. Aiden turns his chair to face me, then gently leans his elbows on my knees.

“So," I say, tracing his jaw with my finger. "Noosh?”

“As in the sound Noah once made trying to pronounce his own name while drunk.”

“Oh. Yeah, that sounds right.”

“Don’t think I missed you hanging back to secretly talk to Gabby, by the way. Is this about that surprise thing you won’t tell me about?”

“No,” I insist, and he arches an eyebrow. “...Yes. Aw, come on, don’t make me spill everything before we even-”

Aiden huffs out a quiet laugh and presses a finger over my lips.

“Okay, okay. At least now I know that something’s coming. Just tell me this, it’s not some sort of surprise party, is it?”

“No.”

“Good.”

“Not into surprise parties?”

“Um, a bunch of people unexpectedly making a lot of noise in my face? Definitely not.”

“Good to know.”

“Don’t just say that, please. I really don’t like-”

“Aiden.” I lean down and kiss him again. “Why would I ever purposely do something that would make you unhappy?”

Aiden smiles up at me, his blue eyes warm in that heart-melting way they get.

Does he really not know, by now? That what makes me happy is seeing him happy? Drawing out this sweet, perfect smile that makes my heart go cartwheeling wildly around my chest?

Someone knocks on the door. It’s a good thing that I don’t still have Aiden pushed up against it. Sort of. I guess.

“Yeah?” Aiden calls, and the door opens. “Oh, hey, dude.”

Ripley steps inside and shuts the door after himself. He’s got a piece of paper in his hands. “Hey. Did Noah leave already?”

“I think so?” Aiden glances at me, but I don’t know what this is about, either.

“Oh. I meant to...” Ripley fidgets with the paper. “Can one of you give this to him?”

I hop down from Aiden’s desk and accept the paper from Ripley.

“Sure, no problem. Can I look, or? It’s fine if-”

“No, it’s okay.”

I turn the paper over and stare. Aiden gets out of his chair and stands behind me, looking over my shoulder.

There’s a brief silence.

“Holy shit, Ripley,” Aiden murmurs, and I have to agree.

It’s a drawing. The snarling face of a snow leopard. Stylized, vaguely similar to Noah’s tiger tattoo, but with Ripley’s flair to it. I recognize things from other drawings I’ve seen in the pages of his sketchbook. There’s a mix of lines, some bold and dark, others wispy and light. A staggering level of detail, down to the feline curl of the muzzle, the graceful whiskers, the bristled fur. The fangs look sharp enough to break skin.

There’s something powerful, enduring, almost regal about it. Like it might really roar, any second now, and it would be deafening.

There’s a little mark near the animal's right eye. At first glance, it reads like a spot in the leopard’s fur, but after a moment I recognize it as a tiny geometric shape. It perfectly matches the tattoo in the same spot on Noah’s own face.

Ripley has drawn out the design by itself, but there’s also a sketch of an arm with the leopard placed on it like a tattoo. It’s designed to go right in the crook of an elbow. Ripley drew the arm both folded and unfolded: when the elbow is bent, it still looks like a snow leopard, only with a closed mouth, staring and anticipatory. When the arm is unfolded, the teeth come out.

It’s beautiful. Like his other drawings, it seems to breathe.

“Just an idea for him,” Ripley says, with a shrug. “See you guys later.”

“Ripley, this is - I mean-”

But he’s already gone, the door clicking shut behind him.