2. Dim

It's been an exhausting day. Business meeting after business meeting, long, wrangling negotiations. It's a relief to step back onto the platform at Walford's grimy tube station and breathe in the familiar scent of the square, that of greasy fried food and the market stalls. Right now, all she wants is a glass of something strong and then bed. Or maybe a drink would be a bad idea. Her head is pounding.

The autumn drawing in means dark nights creep up on them earlier, and the square is mostly deserted, the residents tucked up in one establishment or another, the more sensible ones at home. She hears a mishmash of music as the doors to the Vic open as she passes, clashing with the din from the Albert around the corner. The shutters on the shop are down. That's one good thing. Vinny has taken his tasks for the day seriously.

The house is in darkness when she arrives, however. She frowns. Strange. Eve should have been home hours ago. She would've texted her if she'd made plans to head to the Vic with Stacey. At least, she hopes she would have done. She doesn't want to have to add the stress of a missing girlfriend on top of everything else.

But all disquiet flees when she keys herself in to find Eve sitting in semi-darkness at the bottom of the stairs, lit by the faint glow of a row of candles. One on each stair, leading upstairs.

Eve rises at once. "There you are! I thought you'd be back ages ago."

"I was supposed to be. Delays on the line, again. I tried to text you, but there was no signal." Suki raises an eyebrow as she shrugs out of her coat. "What's all this?"

Eve glances around at her handiwork. "It's for you. I thought you seemed stressed when you rang me earlier, so I wanted to do something nice for you, something to help you unwind."

"Looks like a fire hazard to me."

Eve pouts. "It was supposed to be sweet and romantic. I was going to run you a nice, hot bath with all the works."

Suki kicks her heels off with a sigh, relieving her aching feet. "Candles and a bath. I think that's gone beyond 'sweet romantic' straight to 'sickeningly romantic'."

"Says the woman who leaves me little love letters that might as well have been written by nineteenth-century poets."

"Oh, please."

"I'm serious. 'Your love is the banquet upon which my heart feasts with such greedy abandon'. If that's not sickeningly romantic, I don't know what is. My mates took the piss all weekend when they saw that one slipped in my case."

But the grin that lights up Eve's face as she recalls the memory belies any teasing; Suki knows for a fact that her lover keeps every single handwritten note hidden in a shoebox under their bed, and she pretends not to know that every once in a while Eve takes them out to reread. She supposes they've both had a difficult time learning to accept that they now have someone who loves them unconditionally, despite their flaws, with no ulterior motive. Suki had only ever known Nish's suffocating control; Eve had spent her whole life wandering aimlessly, desperate to find someone who would give and not just take, and Suki wants to remind her of that every single day.

"Just wanted to make sure you remembered you had me waiting at home for you while you were busy doing body shots on some gorgeous stripper," she says now. "I know how wild some hen nights get."

Eve smirks. "Trust me, I was more than happy to just be a spectator when it came to that. There's only one woman I want to do body shots on."

Suki files that tempting suggestion away for inspection at a later date. "No, I do mean it now, I'm touched by the thought of candles and a bath. Thank you. But where are the others? I thought they were supposed to be coming over tonight?"

"Yeah, I managed to postpone them until tomorrow. I think Priya was quite glad of it. Reckon her and Ravi are gonna take advantage of an empty place. Vinny's taken Nugget and Avani to the cinema, I bribed them with twenty quid each. They said they were going to see Venom 3, but I know for a fact Vinny's going to sneak them in to see Smile 2."

Suki rolls her eyes. "Oh, fantastic. They'll end up getting caught and banned for life."

Eve shrugs. "God loves a trier. And for Naomi Scott, I'd've absolutely done the same."

"Oh, I see, that's how it is."

"Can you blame me?"

Suki smirks, stepping closer to run her hands down her lover's front. "I have eyes. I'd do exactly the same."

"And you were just accusing me of having a wandering eye."

"There's nothing wrong with window shopping."

"I'll remind you of that when you're jealous of me checking out that new delivery driver that Ian's hired."

"I was not jealous."

"You definitely were. Although there's a bit of pot-calling-kettle at play there, because I also saw you giving her a very thorough onceover."

Heat floods Suki's cheeks, and she protests ineffectually—she can't pretend that she hadn't caught herself thinking that Ian's new delivery driver was very attractive indeed.

Taking pity on her, Eve redirects the conversation with an amused smirk. "Anyway, you've got nothing to worry about. The world's sexiest woman could dance naked in front of me and you'd still be the only person I could ever want."

They laugh together, and Eve closes the distance between them to wrap her up in her arms. Suki melts against her, closing her eyes, breathing in the familiar scent of Eve's perfume. Some of the tension leaves her limbs. Everything always feels a little less overwhelming when Eve holds her.

"So, come on, then, how was it?" Eve asks. She's stroking her fingers through Suki's loose hair, massaging the base of her skull, and it feels fantastic.

"What do you think? The usual. Arrogant, idiotic men thinking that they held all of the cards because of who I am."

Eve's jaw tightens. Suki knows that her lover hates that she has to struggle against such discrimination. It was bad enough as a woman taking on the matters that they thought a husband ought to. As a woman openly loving another woman? It's made things a hundred times more difficult.

But she's surprised herself with her resilience. She won't be made to cower away from who she is anymore. She won't be made to feel ashamed. Let them sneer. Let them judge. She's confident enough in her own abilities. Twenty years of fighting for every scrap she could has left her with nerves of steel, and with Eve by her side, she's never felt more invincible. Their petty small-mindedness is inconsequential, a gnat bite. She will never be ashamed of who she is again.

She smooths her fingers over Eve's jaw now, feeling the tension leech away at her touch. It's humbling, knowing she has such sway over her.

"None of that," she says. "I handled it."

Eve smiles slightly, turning her head to kiss her fingertips. "I never had any doubt. Now come on. Let me run you that bath. You deserve some time to unwind."

At the promise of a hot soak, Suki steps back, not before pecking Eve's lips. "You're so good to me."

"Don't you forget it," Eve teases. "Come on. Let's go upstairs. I'll run your bath and you can sort yourself out."

Suki allows Eve to take her hand and pull her up the stairs. Eve deposits her at the bedroom door and continues on to the bathroom. Suki gazes after her fondly for a moment before turning to divest herself of her jacket. She slips out of her shirt, piles her hair into a no-nonsense bun atop her head. Then she shimmies out of her trousers and heads to the bathroom.

There are more candles in here, set in the windowsill. Shadows dance and kiss on the walls. The water hammers into the bath, the scent of her favourite salts permeating the air through the steam. Eve runs her fingers through the water, testing the temperature. Evidently satisfied, she switches off the taps and stands.

"Come on in," she says softly, turning in Suki's direction. Suki does so, unclipping her bra and stepping out of her underwear.

The first engulfment of the water is heavenly. Suki can't help her moan of contentment as she sinks into the heat up to her shoulders. All of the tension instantly seems to sluice away.

"Good?" Eve teases.

"You have no idea."

"Oh, I think I do. That sound was positively filthy. That's usually reserved for that very specific—"

Suki flicks water at her, feeling her cheeks flush hot. "You'll shut up right now if you know what's good for you."

Eve only shoots her a lopsided grin, unaffected, though thankfully she takes pity on her. Instead she turns to fuss over her phone. Gentle Bhangra music starts playing softly, only adding to the relaxed ambience, and Suki's heart swells anew that Eve would take note of her musical roots and build a playlist on her own phone for such an occasion.

"I'll leave you to it," she says.

"No," Suki says. "Stay."

"You sure?" Eve asks. "Wouldn't you rather have a moment to yourself to unwind?"

"I find peace when I have you with me."

"That's a bit soppy."

"Hmm, well, you can have that effect."

"And yet you like to tell me how infuriating you find me."

"Oh, you do. You drive me up the wall. But that doesn't change the fact that I couldn't live my life without you."

Eve's smile broadens. "Well, if it's any consolation, the feeling is entirely mutual, my love."

My love. How she adores that term of endearment. The way that it rolls from Eve's tongue. Natural. Unconscious. That's theirs. Maybe it's a northern thing. But Suki feels butterflies in her stomach every time she hears it. Echoes it back in her own language, for Eve's ears only.

Eve holds onto the side of the tub for support as she lowers herself to the floor.

"I'm getting too old for this," she groans. "My knees are going to give me hell."

"I don't know," Suki says, resting her chin on the side of the tub, "you prove yourself to be pretty athletic a lot of the time."

"I aim to please."

They laugh together, and Suki leans her head back, closing her eyes. She senses Eve drawing closer to cushion her head on her arm on the rim. The only sounds are their gentle breaths, the low buzz of the music, the whisper of the water as it rises and falls with her breathing.

Together, they luxuriate in the peace.