Henrik woke up and stretched, his back hurting a little as he tried to work out the kinks from another night spent on Roxanna's small bed. She was still fast asleep, and he leaned down to kiss her cheek softly before padding over to his bag and rummaging around for a fresh set of clothing before making his way into the bathroom, stripping off his pyjamas before folding them neatly and setting them on the counter, placing his fresh clothes at the top of the stack before stepping into the shower and quickly washing his body.
By the time he was wrapping a towel around his waist, he could hear Roxanna moving around in her room, and he smiled a little as he dried off and then dressed. There had been something so wonderful about this time they had spent together, though he had noticed that John had given them a wide berth at every class they had shared, giving them angry looks as he hurried out of class with a new group of people.
Letting out a deep breath, he went out into the bedroom, finding her half-dressed, her hips twitching to a song in her head as she stood in front of her closet, trying to decide on a shirt to pull on over her bra. He tried not to stare at the pale flesh of her back, but it was difficult not to. And then, she was turning around, allowing him to look at her torso, the smooth lines and curves exciting him. "I didn't know how much longer you'd be, Henrik," she murmured softly, her cheeks pinkening beneath his gaze.
"You're fine," he said as he stepped forward, wanting to touch her, but not certain that he wanted to invade a space he had stumbled into by accident. "And you're beautiful."
An easy smile spread across her lips as she shrugged a little. "A lot of boys think I'm too thin, that I don't have enough…" Her hands waved around her chest, and it was his turn to blush as he shook his head. "And here we are, and you look like I am some sort of supermodel." Her head tilted to one side before she closed the distance between them and kissed him softly before stepping back to the closet and pulling out the first shirt her fingers touched.
He found himself tongue tied, and she laughed lovingly as she tugged the garment over her head before taking a seat on the bed and staring up at him. "It's time to check up on John. If we do it together, perhaps it won't be quite so nerve wracking?"
Henrik nodded, knowing that she had a good point. "Do you want to get this over before we head to our seminar, then?" A relieved smile spread across her face as she nodded. "I suppose that we should head over then, since we only have ninety minutes before we need to be in the classroom."
Roxanna popped to her feet and picked up her satchel, slipping it over her shoulder before holding her hand out expectantly. He gathered up the things he would need for the day before taking hold of her hand, threading their fingers together as they walked out the door. It was a short way to the lab, and Henrik found himself content to make the journey there in silence, knowing that they would need to save all their words for John.
Stopping outside the door of the lab, Roxanna turned to him, taking a deep breath before kissing his cheek quickly. "You can do this, Henrik, and so can I. It will be like ripping off a plaster. Yes?"
"Yes," he replied as he pulled out his keyring and unlocked the door. As it swung open, he could feel that something about the atmosphere had changed, and his brow furrowed a little as he led them inside. Looking around the space, he found there were a few things missing, things that were solely John's, and instinctively his hand tightened around Roxanna's, trying to figure out what this could possibly mean.
"Did you touch my writing on the chalkboard?" Roxanna asked as she let go of him, drifting over towards the space she had claimed as hers so many months ago. "I mean, this is almost the same, but I know that's not my handwriting there at the bottom. And the chemical equation doesn't make any sense now."
He joined her there, looking at where she was pointing, and shook his head. "I know enough not to disturb your work, Roxy. Though I don't think that John had any such compunctions. That's his handwriting, I recognize it from all his scribblings on the boards. Why he changed things, I can't tell you, but I know that he did."
Roxanna frowned as she wrapped her arm around his waist, her other hand cupping her chin as she sighed deeply. "I don't know how I'm going to fix this. I took notes in my notebook, yes, but this was too new, I hadn't really solidified any of the findings as of yet, and so hadn't transferred them over." Another deep sigh slipped from her lips before she looked up at him, tears sparkling in her eyes. "I was so close to a breakthrough with this, and maybe finding a cure, a way to fix, what my mum suffered from. And now it could all be gone. I've failed her, Henrik."
He rubbed his lips together a little before shaking his head. "I don't think that you have failed, darling. This is but a temporary setback, to be certain, but I know that you'll fight your way back to the answer you've been seeking, and that this is but a small hurdle to get over."
"Even still, you find a way to cheer me up, Henrik. You're like my knight in shining armour, if you'll allow me to be romantic." The first tears dropped down her cheeks, and Henrik swept them away with his thumb before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Thank you."
He nodded before allowing her to embrace him wholeheartedly, her hands curving around his shoulders as she let her head come to rest on his chest. "You are most welcome. Now, I don't know why John has decided to abandon us in the dead of night, or so it seems, but I do know that until such time he proves otherwise, we shall consider him our absent friend, and try to think fondly of him, even as our brains try to tell us that there might be something amiss. I know that it will be difficult to overlook his scratches on your chalkboard, but until we hear from him what his intentions were, I would rather think the best of him. After all, that's what I wish you would do for me, if the situation were reversed."
Roxanna nodded against his chest, her hands squeezing his shoulders before stepping back from him and regarding her work on the chalkboard with a critical eye. "You are entirely correct, Henrik. We've all said our pieces, and it's always better to regard someone kindly. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bury myself in my notes and try to fix these things. I know it won't happen before our seminar, but I can at least start putting things to right." Henrik gave her a small smile before nodding and heading over to his own workspace, trying not to feel a flicker of doubt when he noticed his own work had been rifled through, though he did wonder what John had been up to when they had given him his space.