WHO: Topher Brink & Lilah Yang WHAT: Apparently the world is ending, and they're both lonely.
So it wasn't love exactly. Not ... really. But it was sorta like the end of the world and that counted for something. Lilah had always had sort of a thing for Topher. The techies would all gather up for meetings a couple times a year and get to hang out while Rossum lectured them. The only thing that made it fun was going out afterward before their flights left in the morning.
But, right, anyway, thing for Topher. Lilah had one. Really hadn't meant to do anything about it, either. She wasn't some stupid lovesick twelve year old, but fuck it, everyone was doomed anyway. So Lilah was headed to the boiler room, even if that was a stupid-ass place to rendezvous. Whatever.
Topher didn't have a lot of other options. Sorry. He refused to go into the imprint room and honestly? There weren't a lot of private spots around here. He had lesbians crashing in his bedroom. He had to improvise.
The boiler room, at least, was quiet. Sort of. It was actually noisy, but ... astonishingly efficient. It was called the boiler room, but it was so much more than that. It was the hub of the entire closed system, clean and futuristic, lit with low-wattage flourescent bulbs that made everything a kind of dreamy blue. It wasn't even warm. Heat was wasted energy and no energy was wasted here.
It wasn't exactly wheelchair-accessible, though. Topher left the chair at the door and then limped heavily down the steps to get into the room. He wasn't planning on being in the chair, anyway. It was a pride thing.
This part of the Dollhouse was always interesting. It was friggin' cold sometimes, but this was just a shitton of technology that Lilah had no clue about. She did brain stuff. She didn't do stuff-stuff.
The thudding sort of gave Topher away. She turned toward the stairs, jogging over as he limped down. "We could've picked something not downstairs, y'know." Don't hurt yourself, Topher.
"It's what, like, five stairs? I'm fine." Topher was a little breathless, pained, but proud. He did it! He hadn't walked that far in ... weeks. "So, uh."
"Uh." Weird. Lilah pushed up her glasses. "...Hi."
"Hi." Topher grinned a little, breathless. It wasn't any kind of shit-eating, obnoxious grin. He could have easily swung that way in a situation like this. He couldn't remember the last time he was with a girl who showed an interest in him without it being a joke.
Lilah was a tiny, boyish-looking thing. It was hard to believe she was over fifteen, let alone twenty-one. "You wanna, like ... sit down?"
"Actually, I'd really love that," Topher said, like he was letting out a breath he'd been holding.
There were a couple of chairs down here for the maintenance people. Lilah offered her arm. He could limp over himself, or she could help him, but she wouldn't push him.
Topher took a few steps on his own, but he'd gone without painkillers for two days. He couldn't support himself on his right leg. He ended up hopping, taking her arm----or, rather, it went like this. He hopped, he tried to walk on his right leg. He fell, he grabbed Lilah's arm, and he ended up crashing to the floor and tugging her with him in an attempt to stay upright.
"Ow---!" He knocked her right over and they hit the tile hard. "Christ." Ow! "Not how I planned to roll around on the ground," Lilah admitted, rolling onto her side. "You okay?"
"Yeah----I just----ow, pain, lots of it." It didn't occur to Topher to apologize to her. He slumped on the floor beside her, a hand on his leg. "It's getting better, I swear." Wow, he was not the master of seduction he liked to think he could be if given this situation. In fact, he was almost evasive. Shy? Yeah. He was an arrogant, immoral son of a bitch, but not when it came to women.
"You took a bullet, man. Of course it hurts." Lilah settled spread-eagle on the floor, sighing. "I totally meant to be more suave."
"The floor's cold," Topher said, touching it with a hand. He had large, incredibly expressive hands, and they were never still.
"My butt hurts now," Lilah added. "...Ouch."
"Ouch." Topher glanced at her, rubbed a hand over his face. "I, uh. Wow. Alone. I don't spend a lot of time alone these days. It's so crowded." Wow, he sucked at this.
"Yeah." Maybe it was a geek thing? Fuck, maybe it was a straight thing. Tes and KG didn't seem so goddamn awkward. "It's quiet."
"Yeah... it's... really quiet." Topher gulped, his throat feeling dry. Was that why his voice sounded all husky and hoarse?
"Yeah." Weird. Weird. "So." She looked over, fidgeting.
"So... uh." One of Topher's hands rested on the floor between them, like he wanted to inch over. "So you were saying. About the end of the world."
"Right. I mean, I know you're not supposed to have sex when bad things happen, because then you're the first to die. But I figure enough people around here are banging that there are plenty of people in line for doom ahead of us." Right. Totally sound logic right there.
Topher chuckled. "Damn right, exactly... so... uh." He glanced over his shoulder, still convinced he was on candid camera here, or that Lilah had been fucked with by Alpha.
"So." Lilah fidgeted, blowing her cheeks full of air and briefly resembling a chipmunk before blowing it all out again. Propping herself up on her elbow, she started at him for a moment before leaning in for a sufficiently awkward kiss.
Topher made a little noise before settling into it, returning the kiss slowly. Their positioning was awkward, their bodies several inches apart, but Topher kissed her, tension beginning to relax. His eyes slid closed, a hand reached out to touch the hem of her shirt.
The floor was cold. Really cold. Lilah scooted over, as much for the comfort as for the warmth. So it wasn't fireworks. It wasn't hearts and rainbows. But, fuck, they'd all be dead in a week anyway, right?