Amell closed the door and leaned heavily against it. Though it was dark, she could see that Sten stood in the middle of the room, looking everywhere but at her.
She didn't speak right away (she'd said everything earlier and she was now curious to know what Sten had to say), but she reached for a lamp and lit it, using matchsticks. It was an unfamiliar action. Not too long ago, she could have done the same thing using only a thought, but under the circumstances, setting the room on fire would have maybe sent the wrong message.
Sten remained silent and oblivious to her movements, even as the room became bathed in soft lamplight. She pulled up a chair and sat down. She could have been patient. Most likely, she should have. But it was late, she was tired and still sick from the lyrium and she wanted nothing but to get this over with.
"Sten, you're overthinking it," she said.
He looked at her, surprised.
"These are serious matters," he replied.
"Yes. Serious and complicated," Amell sighed. "But we managed to get on just fine until now."
"You're tired," he observed.
"Just a little," she said dimly, rubbing at her eyes.
"We can continue this in the morning. You should go to bed."
Amell almost nodded. She'd feel better in the morning. More equipped to deal with this. But by morning, they would have to discuss other things as well and after that, who knew when they would have the opportunity to talk about this again.
"No. I'm fine. You had something to say?" she asked, straightening her back and folding her hands in her lap, the picture of attention.
"I... am unsure of how to act. Towards you," he clarified.
"There's nothing wrong with how you've been acting so far," Amell said.
"But now we... But now the situation is different," Sten insisted.
"We'll figure it out from here," she reassured.
Sten sighed.
"This is an incredibly disorderly way of doing things."
"Oh?" Amell almost smiled. "We're not a very orthodox couple, you know. We have to make our own order."
His face softened in that almost-smile typical only to him. He approached and pulled off a glove, pressing a hand to the side of her face. Amell smiled faintly and nuzzled his palm; it was calloused and smelled of leather and steel, but there was something comforting about that.
"You have such confidence when you offer such simple solutions," he said wistfully. "Very well. I will go now." He tilted her chin up for her to meet his eyes. "Get some rest," he ordered in a voice that brooked no compromise.
Amell grinned and nodded against his hand.
"I will. Good night, Sten."
"Good night."
He lingered for a moment longer, staring as if trying to memorize every detail of her, before leaving the room.
---
Author's note: I'm going on a short hiatus. The truth is that I wrote this fic as stress-relief, mostly, and now that I am no longer strung-out because of exams, I just don't have that same nervous energy that compelled me to update every day. Don't worry, though. The second semester is starting and it won't be long before I'm bouncing off the walls once more.
In the meantime: woohoo, chapter 25! Er, it's short and it's actually only half a chapter, but I didn't want to leave you guys with a cliffhanger, no matter how good that last line was.