Mentally sighing, Edward put the manuscript he had been reading down on the table in front of him. He suddenly found himself too distracted to fully envelope the novel's subliminal messages of the heteronormative state of society through the depiction of traveling hippogriffs. Graciela sat close next to him, writing neatly in one of her many, many notebooks. This was how they spent most of their nights. With words, on Graciela's couch in the living room. Usually this wouldn't bother Edward, he enjoyed words, and was happy that it was something he and his girlfriend could share but---

Zacharias' lack of presence was noticeable, but not deafening. What Edward noticed more was their lack of, well, utilizing upon Graciela's son's absence. Edward, of course, had no children in his life except his three year old niece but those visits were planned in advance. So it left things very... open to opportunity for them, if he would say so. But so far it had been almost a week, and nothing. Nothing!

Was there something wrong? Edward hadn't dared bring up this issue up with Derek. He knew how his friend would respond, and just thinking about it made him deeply bothered. He could picture it now: Edward desperately trying to create a black hole to jump into as Derek rolled across the floor in laughter before giving an incredibly uncomfortable speech. It was just something Edward simply could not bear. But he didn't want to say anything to Graciela either, because how incredibly forthcoming and pressuring would that be?

He pulled his lips together, torn between wanting to snap Graciela out of her writing and keeping quiet. He knew how important a writer's creative flow was, but this urge was starting to affect him! It was not good for business. But bringing--- it up was unthinkable, something Edward could never do because she would have to initiate first, by far! Realizing this, he unceremoniously picked his manuscript back up to attempt to continue.