I wasn't even going to write one this week; this just happened. It is NOT what I should have been doing tonight…

For week 9 of the weekly challenge: "Lucy is going out with a guy and Wyatt wrongly assumes she's on a date." (I saw some other versions of this prompt that include Rufus enjoying the show as it goes down, but he didn't feel like making a direct appearance here in this one. Sorry, Rufus fans.)

Feeling eyes on her, Lucy jerked her head up from the text and scanned the crowd by the bar's entrance.

No Rufus, no Jiya, n-

Wyatt.

Except their gazes met for barely half a second before she was left staring at his back as he turned and pushed his way back out the door.

She frowned.

From just beside her, a concerned voice inquired, "Was that-"

"-Wyatt," she confirmed with a deflated sigh, glancing next to her and realizing what he'd probably seen, and assumed.

"So he probably thought-"

"…yeah."

"Should you go…"

Lucy contemplated for a second, still looking in the direction Wyatt had disappeared to, but decided against it and shook her head. "No," she sighed again, "he- I'll deal with him later. We should finish this."

"You sure?"

"It's fine," Lucy assured, more resolved now given the mild annoyance at Wyatt's stupid presumption that was setting in. "Let him think it for a while. Serves him right for ditching us."

A few hours later, and a few drinks later, Lucy climbed out of the Uber she'd snagged, that same annoyance flaring again, and marched up to the apartment building. Someone was conveniently exiting just as she reached the front entrance, so she was able to forgo the intercom and go for the full effect of heading straight to his door.

One flight of stairs and half a hallway, and then she was at his door. Reaching up, she gave it a hard knock.

She waited.

Nothing.

She knocked harder.

Nothing.

She'd seen his car in the parking lot and there had been a light on when she'd looked up at the window.

Her knuckles had barely begun the rapping for the third time when the door flew open. He didn't look particularly thrilled by the intrusion at the door in the first place, but she could tell that his expression darkened even further once he registered that it was her.

"What?" he practically growled, a whisper of alcohol evident on his breath.

Still less than amused by his earlier disappearing act, Lucy crossed her arms, set her jaw, and made a show of peering behind him into the apartment. "Fire out?"

Wyatt just narrowed his eyes at her, angry confusion evident.

She nodded past him. "Figured the only reason to bolt that fast was if you got a call that your apartment was on fire."

He scoffed bitterly, even going so far as to begin closing the door on her. "You should go home. Or… wherever."

"Why'd you leave?" Lucy asked accusingly, pressing her hand to the door to stop him. "Rufus and Jiya weren't even there yet."

"Just go, Lucy," he repeated, pinching the bridge of his nose as if trying to hold in his rage.

"No," Lucy snapped. "Why did you?"

With that, Wyatt lifted his gaze back up to her, his eyes flashing in anger. "Fuck, just go home," he snarled. "I don't need you here to teach me some lesson, some lecture. I waited too long, I missed my chance," he continued, on a roll with his rant. "I get it. Doesn't mean I have to sit there like a third – fifth," he corrected, "wheel and fucking watch it happen. And I don't need you here to rub it in now."

Bingo. She'd been right. "What 'it'?" she challenged.

He just glared back; refusing to state the obvious.

Indignant, she hissed, "It wasn't a date."

"Looked pretty fucking cozy," he glowered.

"Yeah," she agreed, sarcasm dripping from her words, "squished together to read the same laptop screen. Sexy."

That clearly got his attention. It certainly didn't fully erase the irritation written all over his face, but he looked at her curiously.

Lucy shook her head in aggravation. Of course that was news to him. "Didn't even stick around long enough to see that?" she sneered.

"…No," Wyatt finally admitted, his tone cautious.

"You want lectures and lessons?" she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest again. "So do we. Me and Ken, my friend, my collaborator," she drew out, enunciating every. single. syllable. before continuing, "since we're writing a textbook chapter together."

With that, Wyatt's expression completed the transition from angry to sheepish.

"We were trying to read scribbled comments on a really badly scanned pdf from the editor," Lucy explained, only a little more gently. "That's what you saw."

"I'm-" he tried to cut in, with what Lucy assumed could be the beginning of an apology, but she wasn't finished.

"And if you had bothered to stick around," she continued pointedly, "you'd know that. You'd know that we did our post-docs together in Chicago. And you'd know that we were working on that chapter together before this stupid time shit even started. And that he decided at the last minute to come out from Boston with his husband," she stressed, "who's here for his own work conference, by the way – medical technology, so I invited them out with us. And we figured we'd work on edits before the rest of you got there so we didn't have to do it over Skype from three time zones apart. I thought it would be nice," she ranted, on a roll, "to actually have you guys meet people I knew before this stupid Mason and Rittenhouse crap. And I didn't think to mention it because I thought we were all reasonable adults." She cocked her head, glaring at him, "But you left. And then Rufus and Jiya, and Ken's husband, Mark, showed up and did stay, so I got to play fifth wheel. Thanks for that," she added, her acerbic tone scathing.

Wyatt grimaced and he ran his hand over his face. "Shit," he breathed. "I'm sorry; I'm an idiot."

"Yeah, I know," Lucy agreed emphatically, before adding a little more gently. "And for some reason, I'm still here."

That earned her an eye roll and a faint version of his trademark smirks.

Her agitated annoyance quickly fading into tired exasperation, Lucy spoke up again, her tone plaintive. "Wyatt, I know that maybe you're still not ready, but this? Tonight?" she gestured between them. "If we're going to be dealing with jealousy like we're in a relationship, can we please just be in a relationship?" She shrugged helplessly. "Soon at least?"

He looked a little dumbstruck at her words, but he collected himself relatively quickly, and with a little cough first, he stated simply, "Yeah."

It was Lucy's turn to be dumbstruck at his blunt response. Her stunned "What?" slipped out without thought.

"We can," Wyatt confirmed. "Should. And not soon," he added, swallowing hard before reiterating, "Now."

Lucy's jaw dropped. Not that she'd really thought out this conversation in advance, but if anyone had asked, she'd have put money on another round of vague 'possibilities' nonsense. Which, fine; she could be patient, if they at least talked about it every once in a while. But that's not what he'd said. "Wait," she spluttered in surprise, "really?"

He nodded. "After tonight, I'm not waiting around until I end up seeing you on actual dates."

"Oh," Lucy said, feeling her face grow warm suddenly at his directness. "I mean," she stammered, trying to assure him that dating anyone else wasn't on the agenda regardless, "I wouldn't-"

Wyatt cut her off with a vehement head shake. "Now's good," he repeated.

She was still a little taken aback, but Lucy couldn't stifle the smile that was sneaking up on her as she replied in agreement, "Ok. "

Wyatt nodded, both his smile and his words echoing hers. "Ok."

And then they both just stood there awkwardly, grinning like idiots at each other.

Until Lucy piped up, muttering, "I feel like this conversation ended up making it sound like we should shake hands to seal the deal."

With a smirk, Wyatt held out his hand accordingly. But when she played along and reached out, he just grabbed her hand, tugging so she tumbled into his arms, and pressed his lips to hers.

When they met Ken and Mark for brunch the next morning, Wyatt was appropriately contrite for his disappearing act and apologized. And Ken, though he eyed them knowingly, was kind enough not to comment on the fact that Lucy was wearing the same clothes as the night before.

~FIN~

Lucy and Wyatt both decided to be WAY more angry and snippy than originally planned. Guess they needed it. All's well that ends well, right?