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When he gets to the flat, Phoebe is already there, sat in the living room with Keeley. Shes got her hair pulled up into a mirror of the one that Keeley has, both sporting feathery pink scrunchies. Roy has gotten used to finding those same ones trapped under the duvet at the end of the bed with all of the socks that Keeley kicks off in the middle of the night. He knows their her favorite kind, and she matches them by color to her wardrobe each morning—something that Roy had never known girls paid attention to, but found he appreciated the effort even more when he watched her solve her wardrobe like a puzzle each day.
She was sitting on the floor, cross-legged in front of Phoebe as she diligently wiped the makeup from her face, and pulled her eyelashes off to place on the coffee table out of the way. Phoebe watched diligently, and without flinching, but Roy couldn’t help feeling his eyes water as he watched. As much as he knew they weren’t real and that it didn’t hurt her to remove them, it still made his eyes itch to watch them come off in a neat strip like that. Fuck, the idea of glue near his eyes at all gave him the willies. Phoebe clearly didn’t share that sentiment, if her shuffling closer to Keeley was any indication. Girls had to be metal as fuck to do all that shit so easy.
He can’t help watching them, and the gentle patience that Keeley uses as she talks to Phoebe. There’s something that adults do that Roy has always hated, when they talk to children and I fantasize their words and tones, and he’s impossibly glad that Keeley has never been the type to fold into that idea. She’s bold in everything she does, and he appreciates that she doesn’t water down her personality to try and win over his niece, but instead talks to her the same way that Roy does—albeit, with less swearing, which he tries not to fault her for. Not everyone can pull it off like he can.
She’s gentle with Phoebe, sweeping stray hair back on her forehead and pinning it out of the way with the same soft fingers that she runs over his back each morning. She’s brought her makeup kit down from the bathroom, and is pulling little pots and tubes out to set in a little row between the two of them on the carpet. Phoebes fingers are splayed out in front of her in balance, and Roy realizes that Keeley must have painted her fingernails. Each one is a different color, but none lack a glittery sheen, and unlike Roys previous attempts at application, its all on her fingernails instead of smudged off and dotted haphazardly on her skin and clothes.
It’s a proper girls day, he recognizes, and feels a sharp twist of something unrecognizable, but not unpleasant, in his gut as he watches Keeley gently tie one of her gauzy headbands onto Phoebes head to keep the remaining flyaways at bay, and then begin to introduce the line of products shes laid out, excitedly explaining each ones purpose (apparently they don’t all do the same thing, and theres some kind of order to it? He still doesn’t fucking know.) and fielding questions with ease. She rubs a small amount of one on the back of her hand, and offers it forward for Phoebe to smell, beaming when she nods with enthusiasm.
He wonders if he should announce himself, but doesn’t want to interrupt their fun. Phoebe never once takes her eyes from Keeley and what they’re doing, entirely mesmerized by the entire affair, up until the point that she gets to pick which products to try, and makes a tiny pile in front of her with her favorites. Keeley applies everything with gentle care, chatting away at her while she does, and asking Phoebe questions of her own as she shows her how to use some pink roller thing that Roy thought was some kind of fidget gadget she’d found on Instagram or something but that is apparently a paint roller for your face.
It’s strange, in a good way, watching them interact outside of him. If he’d been asked a year ago where he would be now, he doesn’t think he could have guessed he’d have found someone so good as Keeley; that he would find someone that he could give his whole heart to and trust not to break it, and that same person would find a love for his niece as well. Its startling to realize just how ingrained she’s become in his life that shes let Phoebe become a part of her world, too, and not just out of some obligation to Roy, or to make him happy. She genuinely likes Phoebe’s company, and they matter to each other even apart from the crossover of his role in their lives. She’s just so…incredible—able to give love wholly and unflinchingly to everyone she meets in a way that Roy had never considered was possible outside of sappy romance films.
It’s certainly not for the first time, but it comes with the same warm breath of joy that it always does that the realization sweeps through him how much he is in love with her.