Trinity was already up before the sun, of course. She always was—too many years in emergency med had trained her body to bolt awake before alarms had the chance. She’d slipped out of bed without waking you, which took some effort, considering the nest of pillows, blankets, and oversized plushies her girlfriend insisted made for the “optimal sensory experience.”

Trinity had no clue what that meant exactly, but she’d stopped questioning it a while ago. Like most things with you—the glittery frog figurines on her nightstand, the precarious tower of every edition of Wuthering Heights, the color-coded vinyl wall in the living room—it was just easier to roll with it.

And honestly, kind of endearing.

So now she was leaned against the kitchen counter in a worn hoodie, cradling a mug of too-hot coffee, her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Across from her, in the spare chair he now half-owned, was Whitaker, looking bleary-eyed and morally offended by the existence of mornings.

They were mid-conversation—something about a neighbor's weird trash pile—when soft footsteps padded down the hall, slow and uncertain.

Trinity didn't look up right away. She heard the shuffle of mismatched socks on tile, felt that quiet hesitation in the doorway that meant you had just stepped into the room, not quite sure what was going on.

She took a long sip of her coffee, still not looking up. Then, as casually as if this was any other Tuesday morning, she said, “Mornin’, baby.”

Whitaker turned, lifting a lazy eyebrow at the sight of you—still in one of Trinity’s old t-shirts, your hair a bit chaotic, eyes wide with that dreamy confusion you always had when pulled from deep sleep. Trinity finally glanced over at you, lips quirking into that knowing, crooked grin that always meant she was suppressing a laugh.

“That's Whitaker. He’s in the spare room.” She shrugged one shoulder. “He's kind of our roommate now.”

That was it. No further explanation. No big deal. Trinity just turned back to her coffee, tapping her nails absently against the ceramic mug as if this weren’t a perfectly reasonable way to start the day—with your emergency room coworker drinking coffee ten feet away from your very almost-naked, very confused girlfriend.

And now there was a sticker stuck to the bottom of her mug. Trinity peeled it off. A glittery raccoon, eyes crossed. Yeah. you had been on one of your trinket binges again.

Trinity held it up over her shoulder and added, “This yours, babe?”