Gambit's apartment

[Shade]

"Maybe it´s because I never managed to pick a lock." Shade gave back. "so that´s why it´s interesting to watch."

[Gambit]

"Yah, but I'm doin' it wit' actual f*ckin' keys," Gambit said in exasperation aimed only at himself, not at her.

[Shade]

He was getting frustrated and Shade could see why. She had seen him open that door before and it had always been a matter of seconds, no more. She wished there was something she could say to make him feel better about it all, but she didn´t know what. That all would be fine? That his old reflexes and skills would return eventually? She was optimistic, she had always been but how could she even know if that was even a plausible thing to say.

She smiled faintly, knowing his slight anger was not directed at her and reached out to brush away a strand of hair that had fallen over his face while concentrating, not to distract him from what he was doing but because it might annoy him and she wouldn´t want that.

[Gambit]

Gambit jerked his head back from her hand, wincing since the sudden movement of the neck caused him pain. "Attende... Wait," he said, trying to compose himself. It was really starting to get on his nerves. "Don't touch me... please. I can't concentrate if you do. Jus' talk, okay?"

[Shade]

"Sorry." Shade said, slightly taken aback by his sudden reaction, withdrawing her hand. She had not meant to distract him, but then again she could have figured that it would just do that. She leant back against the wall again, stretching out her legs, making sure not to touch Gambit again. She felt the urge to help him again, but forced it back.

"What you hungry for?" she asked after a moment, changing the topic completely. "Guess your fridge is pretty much empty, so we just see what we find in the yellow pages?"

[Gambit]

"Food," Gambit said curtly. The second lock clicked, sliding back. "How long?" he asked, getting up and proceeding to the last one, the topmost.

[Shade]

She could tell he was really concentrating now and also getting kind of impatient with himself so she decided to just let him work on the locks for a moment without interrupting with some randomness. A look at her watch told her he had been quicker this time. "Faster." she said. "1:55"

[Gambit]

"Not faster," Gambit sighed, "sooner. Jus' plain luck." He looked at the key sticking out of the keyhole and for a second considered letting Shade to try and open it. He quenched that thought quickly, though; he wasn't going to give up at his own damn door. He'd let her handle the alarm inside, but that was a different matter.

[Shade]

Gambit looked determined by now, an almost stubborn look on his face. Shade had never seen him like that, so close to frustration and it made her feel bad for him. She knew if he wanted her to help, he would have asked her to, so she kept her mouth shut about it and got to her feet, still leaning against the wall as he started on the last lock.

[Gambit]

Gambit didn't look at her. Even if she had been talking at the moment, he wouldn't have noticed that. He needed to get this over with, open the door, finally get inside. It was like back when he had been a kid. His thief's training had consisted of small but painfully unavoidable exercises like 'Your breakfast, lunch and dinner is behind this door. You open it - it's yours. You don't open it - fend for yourself.' That had been more than twenty years ago. Having conquered the unspeakable number of locks since then, he would never have thought he'd find himself in a similar situation in his adult years.

His mind focused on the lock and the key, forcing his hand to almost fuse with the door, become a part of it together with the complex mechanism, sensing it as if he was sitting inside of it. The hand wouldn't listen to him, wouldn't adjust to the tiny movements he knew and felt were necessary, but he fought past it. It wasn't a ring puzzle. It was his own freaking door to his own freaking apartment, and he was going to get it even if he had to spend-

The lock clicked softly, letting go. Gambit opened his eyes, only now realizing he had shut them close, and exhaled a sigh of relief. "How long?" he asked, turning to Shade.

[Shade]

Shade had kept silent while Gambit had been working on the last lock. The tension was almost feelable, emanating from him in invisible waves and she had subconsciously held her breath releasing it only when the lock clicked. She looked at her watch again. Again he had done faster - and she stubbornly insisted on calling it ´faster´ rather than ´earlier´ - even if only by a few narrow seconds. "1:50" she said.

[Gambit]

"Okay," Gambit said. He stepped aside and made a gesture, inviting Shade to open the door first. "I don' feel like diallin' de alarm code myself," he explained.

[Shade]

"Okay." Shade stepped away from the wall and opened the door, not far, just enough so she could see the alarm and sneak a hand through to dial the code, just as she had seen Gambit do it whenever they entered the apartment. She glanced at him as she didn´t know the code. "So, what numbers?" she asked.

[Gambit]

Gambit gave her a rather long code, leaning against the wall with a grim expression on his face. If he had ever considered a list of reasons for him to ask Shade to move in with him, using her as a set of fingers wasn't on it. But he had no choice now, and he wasn't in the mood for living in a hotel room, not having his own place to hide in.

[Shade]

Shade glanced at him, then concentrated on typing in the code, making sure she got the numbers right. The expression on his face clearly told her a lot about his frustration and he surely didn´t like the fact that he could or was not willing to trust his fingers to deactivate the alarm. She didn´t mind doing it for him but knew he did. Gambit was independent, more so than any person she had ever met and restrictions like that, put upon him by his own body had to make him angry.