Chapter Text
“Hey, Maeson!” Eurydice chirped, strolling up to the front desk of the institute and immediately resting both arms on the surface. She then folded her hands and rested her chin on top of them with a smile. “Could you tell my cousin that I’m going to be in his office in 10 minutes?”
Maeson blinked. “Hi, Eurydice!” she returned, pleasant enough but clearly caught off guard. “Um, did you have an appointment with him? It looks like he has a pretty busy morning.”
Eurydice waved a hand dismissively. “He’s got more time than most people.”
“Well, it certainly doesn’t look like he does today.” Maeson clicked around the calendar a bit to telegraph that she was making an effort, but no amount of scrolling was going to erase the back-to-back appointments that had Thaddeus Beck’s schedule booked solid until 3:45.
“Listen, I just need to talk with Thad about a thing, and I *will* be talking to him about it in ten” - Eurydice looked down at her watch - “actually, make that eight minutes. Either you can tell him that, or he’ll find out soon enough.”
“Is it social? You could try to catch him at his lunch.”
“It is social, but if it’s all the same to you, I will still be catching him in eight minutes.”
Maeson held eye contact with Eurydice for what felt like a good long while, until it felt less like eye contact and more like a blinking contest. She blinked first but didn’t properly give up until she’d blinked twice more. Eurydice had either timed her blinks to fall during Maeson’s or hadn’t blinked at all. The secretary sighed and finally looked back down to her laptop.
“I’m going to assume this is some kind of family emergency,” Maeson said quietly, more to justify all this to herself than for anyone else. “Just a moment.” She held the intercom button down for a few seconds until she got the confirming beep, then said, “Sir, Ms. Inchecombe is here to see you.”
After a vaguely uncomfortable pause, Beck’s static-muffled voice replied, “Tell Ms. Inchecombe that my schedule is quite full today and that we can talk after work.”
“She did tell me that,” Eurydice cut in, leaning towards the speaker.
“Excellent. I’m currently in the middle of an important meeting,” Beck explained without missing a beat.
“I figured,” Eurydice acknowledged before Maeson could even open her mouth to try retaking control of the situation. “Anyway, I’ll be up in five.”
There were several seconds of silence on Beck’s end of the speaker before he said, “Maeson, tell her she can come up in half an hour.” The speaker clicked and sizzled back to dormancy.
Maeson looked to Eurydice. “I don’t mean to interfere with your personal life or with a family dynamic I really have no insight into, but have you ever considered not doing this on a regular basis?”
“Sorry you have to deal with that guy with poise and good grace all day, and sorry I have no intention of dealing with him with poise and good grace ever.” Eurydice removed her signature hip flask from her belt and held it out towards Maeson. “Do you need a drink?”
“Not on the job, Eurydice. You know that.”
“Just trying to apologize properly.”
“But you’re not actually sorry.” There wasn’t a hint of bitterness or judgment in Maeson’s tone, even though it sounded like there should be. This was a mutually accepted fact.
Eurydice shrugged, opened the flask, and took a swig herself. “You know it,” she said. She turned to go. “Thanks, Maeson.”
“Any time,” Maeson replied, mostly by old customer service instinct. “Wait. Are you actually going to head up there in five minutes, or half an hour-“
“Not at all today. He’s clearly busy. Wouldn’t want to interrupt his meetings.” Eurydice looked over her shoulder at Maeson and winked. “But you don’t have to tell him that.”