She dimpled, looking excited. He would feel her feet kicking on his back lightly as they walked into the lab. It was fairly empty, as it was lunchtime, and as it always was in the lab, the tone was subdued. A few scientists were testing experiments, their eyes large in their goggles as they worked and recorded data. In the back corner, he would see a familiar flash of auburn hair tied back as Poppy bent over a graduated cylinder, her brows furrowed in concentration. She frowned, sitting up and eyeing the experiment with a tilt of her head that would be terribly familiar to Francis. She sighed, picking up the cylinder gingerly and heading to the disposal station before it exploded in a puff of green fire and a golden smoke rose from the cylinder. When the fog cleared, Poppy had frozen, staring at the cylinder with wide grey eyes before she cheered, returning to her station to hastily jot down the details.
She didn't notice them at first, her handwriting quick and spiky. She finished jotting down the thought and looked up, jumping when she saw them. She had a smear of dust across her forehead, but her eyes were bright and her face broke into a grin when she realized who he was. "Oh, hi! What are you doing here?"
Her face broke into an even wider grin and she pulled off her goggles, the harsh lines leaving impressions in the skin around her eyes. Diana cheered, patting Francis’ back. “Mama!” Poppy kissed the top of Diana’s head before looking at Francis, slipping off her gloves and holding his face in her hand. “This is so sweet, Craw,” she said quietly. “Thank you.”
She dimpled, her fingers brushing his jaw. “The sunglasses were a nice touch too,” she said appreciatively, glancing at Diana.
“I would love to eat,” she said, pulling away and slipping off her lab coat. “I wasn’t planning on grabbing a lunch today.”
She beamed, tugging on his ear idly as Poppy extended a hand to him, picking up her notebook. "Here. Let's go to my office."
She pulled him to her place, closing the door behind them and turning on the lamp. It hadn't changed much, except more mugs of tea had accumulated. She pulled up a couple chairs for them and sat down in one of them, taking her hair down and ruffling it. "How has it been going with the two of you?"
