Work Text:
Ugh , Yaz groans and all but slams down her phone onto the makeshift desk that most people would call a dining table.
She hadn’t been able to go out for Halloween last year because as a first-year probationer she was forced to go on duty with a more senior member of staff and had absolutely no say in it. She tried to complain and ask for the night off but “It’ll be good experience!” her manager had claimed, and he would’ve been right if Yaz was looking for experience in getting her police car egged and having drunk men shout abuse at her. It definitely wasn’t just Halloween banter when they were questioned and sobered up at the station, no matter how “spooky” they claimed it was.
This year, she’s stuck filling out online forms in her tiny flat while the rest of her friends are out clubbing once again. She loves her job but seeing everyone dancing on their Snapchat stories, while the most movement she has is getting up for another coffee, is definitely making her reconsider the decision she made to be a police officer. She’d do anything to be in a sweaty club with a mediocre-at-best costume and her best friends right now. Turns out being a 2 nd year probationer was a lot more work than she’d anticipated.
Feeling sorry for herself, Yaz presses play on her concentration playlist and lets herself be engrossed in the melodic sounds of piano as she gets back to the forms. Thankfully it’s 9pm and she only has another hour or so of work left to do.
Not even 20 minutes later, Yaz finds herself fully consumed in darkness except for her laptop screen which was now almost blinding her. Seriously? The one time she actually manages to focus, and she’s interrupted almost immediately. She checks the Wi-Fi bar and realises it must be a full power cut, mentally thanking whoever designed the auto-save function on documents. Turning down the brightness on her laptop and using her phone as a torch, she makes her way over to the front door and slips a pair of trainers on, fully aware they aren’t matching her jumper and joggers but in too much of a bad mood to care.
The only thing she can think to do is see if her neighbours are in the same predicament. It feels selfish but she secretly hopes she isn’t the only one so she doesn’t have to ring anyone about it herself. Yaz hates phone calls. Rapping her knuckles against door number 13, Yaz is shocked to say the least when the door opens immediately and a person with a torch and an over the head vampire mask steps out immediately.
“Oh, hiya there!” The muffled voice sounds female and quite chirpy at first, but Yaz is still too stunned to answer. “Ah, I’m guessing you had a power cut too. Absolutely nothing to worry about, I’ll fix it!”
The mysterious figure gently pushes past her and sets down the hallway into the darkness with her torch in hand, out of sight by the time Yaz hears footsteps running down the stairs. Whoever that was, Yaz decides without a moment of hesitation that she’s a weirdo and she suddenly has no desire to check on her other neighbours.
Padding back into her dark and internet-less flat, it’s a mere 30 minutes and 14% of her phone’s battery wasted on games before the lights flicker back on. Yaz sighs a breath of relief and her first port of call is boiling the kettle for a coffee – she knows she’s going to be up working much later now. Settling herself and a fresh brew down at her desk, she gets back to work. Her brain begs her to stop working for the night but Yaz’s drive and determination will her on. Besides, she can’t go out anyway now, so the distraction is sort of nice.
It isn’t long before Yaz is interrupted again, but this time it’s nothing electrical. No, it’s definitely human. A human scream which pierces Yaz’s ears and forces her to roll her eyes for what feels like the millionth time tonight. She knows it’s Halloween and it’s her own fault for living in a block of flats, but sometimes she really does wish that people would just shut up. Plugging her earphones in in the hopes of drowning out the noise, she starts typing up a witness report she’d taken earlier that week.
Another 10 minutes pass and Yaz slams her laptop screen shut. How can one person one make that much noise and that loudly? She gets up in a huff and strides over to stand outside her flat door to listen out for where its coming from. She’s fuming and ready to have a very passive aggressive conversation with whoever it is until she hears that the screams seem to be coming from number 13. It only takes her a split second to realise that the odd woman had looked alone during their earlier encounter, and Yaz never got the chance to thank her for fixing the power anyway. Well, she assumes it was her who fixed it. A strange, albeit brief, moment of concern washes over her and her officer instincts kick in when she realises this woman could actually be hurt, so she wastes no time in knocking on the door for the second time tonight.
Low and behold, Yaz is once again met with a vampire mask and the second she realises this woman seems to be okay, any anxiety she had dissipates back into a flood of annoyance.
“Hi again!” the chipper voice returns, and her energy already makes it hard for Yaz to stay mad.
“Hi, sorry to bother you. I’m working from home right now and you’ve been screaming for the past 10 minutes so I-”
The woman lifts her mask over her head and it suddenly isn’t just her energy that makes it hard for Yaz to be mad at her. She is cute .
A mess of blonde hair falls from the mask as she lifts it over her head, and Yaz is greeted by hazel eyes.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, I was watching this scary film because, you know, Halloween, and I just get carried away. People always tell me it’s not real and obviously I know that, but it’s still scary when stuff jumps out at you,” the blonde finally pauses for a breath, “I’m Theo, by the way. I can’t believe we’ve never actually met, being neighbours and all!”
A beat passes and Yaz is still staring at the woman before her when she sees the corner of Theo’s lips drop ever so slightly and she realises she’s ignoring the hand outstretched to her. She takes it, finding it a little strange that people still do handshakes in 2020, and returns the smile hoping it’ll put the blonde at ease again.
“Yasmin, Yaz to my friends. And it's okay, about the screaming. I just wanted to check you were okay and thank you for fixing the power earlier really, well I assume it was you?”
“Ah, just wanted to see the face under the mask? You charmer, Yasmin.” She banters and a blush creeps up Yaz’s neck, resting on her cheeks. “It was me though, actually. Kind of me who blew it on the whole floor in the first place, too.” Theo grimaces.
A million scenarios run through Yaz’s head of how one person could possibly manage to blow the fuse for 4 whole flats, but she knows she has work to get back to so no time for more questions.
“Ah, well, thanks for fixing it anyway, I guess. Enjoy your film, I can enjoy my night much more now I know you’re not being attacked next door!” she laughs. Fuck, why did I just say that?
“You could stay and watch it with me? Just to make sure my screams aren’t ones of physical pain, obviously.”
The sudden flirting was not where Yaz had expected this encounter to go, and her pulse races at the sheer thought of entering this woman’s flat.
“I can’t, sorry.” An air of disappointment flickers over Theo’s face before she brightens up again.
“Yeah, no, of course! Sorry for being so forward, I just thought- Well, I don’t know what I thought. Sorry, I’ll let you get back to your night!”
“No, no, it’s not that! Working from home, remember? I have a shit load of forms to fill out still.”
“Oh, right, yeah! Another time, maybe? No pressure though, you know where I am if you ever fancy it.” She smiles in return.
Yaz’s heart immediately swells at how kind the woman before her is and just how soft her smile looks, but she knows her work is important.
“Another time, definitely. And you know where I am now too.”
“Great, cool, sounds good!” The blonde’s smile lingers. “I shall hopefully see you soon, Yasmin.”
“Night, Theo.”
As soon as Yaz’s flat door closes behind her, she feels cut off from the other woman’s energy and her mood deflates instantly. She sits down at the table and scowls at the half empty mug of cold coffee staring back at her tired eyes and telling her it’s going to be a long night. She flips her laptop lid back open and groans at the black screen, realising she didn’t turn it off earlier so it must have died. She picks herself back up and goes rummaging around for the charger.
Shit. She’d visited her family 2 days ago and must have left it behind. Sitting down on her sofa, she sends her mum a text asking if she’s seen it and anxiously waits for the reply.
Yes, and I’m keeping it here. I know you’re doing work, Yasmin. Have a night off! Xx
Yaz can’t help but smile at the text, she knows Najia thinks she works too hard and maybe she’s right. She’s still a little annoyed that she can’t get her charger right now, but Yaz is partly glad that she has an excuse to relax for the rest of the night. She sends a quick text in reply and sits back. She did get most of her work done earlier, after all.
Staying put on her sofa, she decides to check social media for the first time in a couple of hours. As expected, all of her friends are at parties or clubs. If it wasn’t already nearing 11pm she could get ready and meet them there, but she knows there isn’t much point now and frankly she’s way too tired. After mindlessly scrolling through ASOS for way longer than she means to, Yaz finds herself wondering what film Theo was watching after all.
“What film are you watching?”
“Coraline.”
“ That’s what made you scream so loud?”
“They have buttons for eyes Yaz, buttons !”
The pair are standing in Theo’s doorway for the third time that night - Yaz having been unable to resist the temptation of turning up again, this time in her slippers.
“Fair point, still hasn’t been remotely scary since I were about 14 though, and even then ‘scary’ is pushing it.”
“Alright, alright. You gonna come in and prove how not-scary it is then or are we standing here all night?”
“Would you not be fine with that?” Yaz feigns shock.
“As lovely as you are, Yaz, my flat is a lot warmer than out here.”
Theo steps to the side and Yaz smiles to herself as she dips past the blonde and into her flat. She was definitely right about it being warm, at least 4 candles are burning and the entire dimly lit room smells like pumpkin spice and cinnamon. Yaz inhales deeply and feels at ease immediately, the flat radiates the same energy that Theo does – safe.
The layout of the flat is open plan and mimics her own – living area as soon as you walk in, a door to the bedroom on the right and the kitchen situated right at the back. The only difference is that Theo has very full bookshelves and significantly messier countertops. Despite not knowing the woman for long, Yaz can sense that the flat matches her energy completely.
She lingers awkwardly, unsure what to do while Theo fiddles with the door lock.
“Annoying things, these locks. Swear they never work first time.”
Fortunately for Theo’s temper and Yaz’s awkwardness, it isn’t too long before the pair are sat comfortably on the purple sofa with the last 20 minutes of the film playing on the TV. Yaz can hardly concentrate, she’s watched the film so many times before that tuning in towards the end doesn’t bother her, but every so often she swears she can feel Theo’s gaze burn into her from the other side of the couch. She doesn’t dare turn her head to the side for fear of catching the blonde mid-glance, but the thought alone is enough to distract her.
The rest of the film passes quite uneventfully with Theo subtly flinching at mild jump scares but trying to act unbothered. Yaz thinks it's sweet that they’ve sat with each other’s company for a while and when she realises the film is almost finished, she realises she doesn’t want it to end.
Yaz’s feelings aren't left unreciprocated for long as the end credits roll and Theo offers her a warm drink, which Yaz knows is really just an invitation to stay a little longer. She accepts without hesitation and the blonde jumps up immediately, bouncing over to the kitchen counter and leaving Yaz to look around the cosy flat.
“You have a really nice place, by the way. I feel like I should’ve started with that.”
“Nah, you’re fine. Thanks, though! Not much of one for interior design, me, but I think I made it work.” She smiles at her then and Yaz feels her heart swell once again.
“What’s with the weird mask though? You did kind of freak me out earlier.” she laughs, gesturing to the vampire mask now left slung over another chair in the corner.
“It’s Halloween.” the blonde answers quite matter of factly, not looking up from the mugs she was now pouring hot water into.
“And?”
“And everyone has to dress up on Halloween.”
“But you stayed in on your own?”
“So did you and you’re still wearing socks with cartoon pumpkins on them.”
Yaz looks down at her feet poking out from the blanket and wiggles her toes.
“Okay, fine, you’ve made your point.” she rolls her eyes playfully.
Theo makes her way back over to where Yaz is situated with a childlike grin on her face, clearly excited about her hot chocolate. She sets the drinks down on the coffee table and grabs a fluffy cream blanket, settling it over the brunette and leaving space for her to join her. Yaz settles under the blanket and sits back into the sofa sipping her tea with her legs folded and facing her new friend. She has to stop herself from outwardly cringing when she clocks the 4 sugars being dropped into an already sweet hot chocolate but she lets it slide - she already knows she wants to see Theo again, so she can make fun of her for it next time.
“What about the power too, then? How did you manage to do that?”
“Well another one of my Halloween rules is that one must have popcorn and watch films.”
Yaz is truly baffled already.
“And that has anything to do with our electricity, how?”
“Uh, well, I’m quite the impatient type you see, and the packet said my popcorn was gonna take 10 minutes in the microwave Yaz - ten whole minutes!” she seems genuinely upset by the waiting time for popcorn and Yaz is forced to stifle a giggle at the childishness of it all. “So I did what any normal human would do and I attempted to fiddle with the mechanics of the microwave to make it cook faster! Apparently fuses don’t like that sort of thing.”
Theo emphasises a pout and Yaz doesn’t bother stifling her laugh this time.
“You interrupted my work and cut the power on our whole floor for popcorn? And I don’t even get any?”
“Well I were hungry after all that work fixing it, and I made it up to you in another way didn’t I?” Theo beams.
“Very true, nothing a film and a hot chocolate can’t fix.” Yaz returns the smile.
“Speaking of films, fancy another one?”
45 minutes later, the newly formed duo are sitting side by side under a blanket and watching Sinister - a compromise between what they each call scary. Yaz has already caught Theo yawning before being snapped out of it by a jump scare multiple times.
“If you keep screaming at almost every scene you’re gonna tire yourself out.” Yaz chides playfully.
“I absolutely will not,” Theo pouts and turns her eyes back to the screen, widening them as much as she can to prove that she’s wide awake.
The blonde doesn’t stick to her word for long and not even 20 minutes later Yaz feels a weight drop onto her shoulder. She looks down and is met with a mop of blonde hair, resting as Theo sleeps.
How is she even managing to sleep through this? Yaz ponders silently. She gently moves her arm to grab the remote and turn the TV down, not wanting to wake her companion.
Yaz hadn’t planned on falling asleep either, she had even kept watching the film for a while, but feeling the warmth of Theo and the rise and fall of her chest against her shoulder made Yaz feel so relaxed that she drifted off shortly after the blonde. Neither of them realised until Theo woke up in the middle of the night to an arm slung round her and her face buried in brunette ringlets. She smiled sleepily to herself and pulled the blanket over them both before letting her eyelids flutter shut and sleep consumed her for the second time.