Work Text:
Emma’s eyes went wide with disbelief as soon as she opened the door. On the other side of the threshold stood two men she hadn’t seen in what felt like forever, both sporting nervously hopeful expressions and interestingly dressed in nothing but their underwear.
“Paul? ...and.....I’m sorry, what was your name?”
“Ted,” the second man replied. Ted didn’t seem too hurt by Emma forgetting his name. It’s not like they really knew each other beyond her delivering drinks to the office, after all.
“Emma, thank God you’re here!” Paul said, beaming as he pulled Emma into a tight, impromptu hug, “It’s good to see you again.”
“Woah, woah, woah!” Emma interjected, pushing Paul away. His hurt expression sent a pang of guilt through her mind, “Where the hell have you been? It’s been what? Four months? You agree to hate-watch a musical with me and then you ghost? For four months? And then show up at my door practically butt naked? What the hell is wrong with you?!”
“You agreed to watch a musical?” Ted mutter-asked to Paul, who promptly waved off and ignored him.
“I didn’t have a choice, Emma,” Paul explained, “It was Melissa. She-”
He paused for a moment, glancing at Ted, who simply shrugged back.
“This is going to sound insane,” Paul prefaced, rubbing his face and turning back to Emma, “Four months ago, I was kidnapped by Melissa and forced to pretend to be her house cat. Ted had been abducted the day before and has been living as her dog. We only just escaped from her apartment about a half-hour ago.”
“She left the door unlocked,” Ted butted in with a satisfied smirk.
“And luckily, she also decided to walk to work today, so we nabbed her keys, took her car, and got out of there as fast as we could,” Paul continued, “I brought us here because I knew I could trust you. You were the first person I thought of that could help us.”
Emma’s eyes were wide, her brows raised in disbelief. He wasn’t kidding when he said that his explanation would sound insane. Paul looked down at the ground sheepishly. Ted put a (disturbingly) mutilated hand on Paul’s shoulder in comfort before speaking to Emma himself.
“Look, I know this all sounds nuts, but I promise we’re telling you the truth,” Ted said, looking determined, “We’ve been through...a lot recently. Could...could you please at least let us inside? It’s pretty cold out here.”
Emma looked at each of them, looking in their eyes trying to find a lie. She couldn’t find one. Whether it was true or not (although based on their body language, Emma was starting to believe in their story more whether she liked it or not), these two genuinely believed that they had been trapped in a woman’s house pretending to be her pets. Emma sighed, stepping back and extending her arm to the inside of her apartment, gesturing the two inside.
“I suppose there are worse things I could do than let in a couple of strays,” Emma said with an eye roll and a sarcastic smirk.
“Too soon,” Paul commented as he stepped inside.
“Got it,” Emma corrected herself, shaking her head with disbelief as she closed the door behind the three of them.