You and Claire share the corner table by the big windows in your agency’s bright studio, laptops open and coffee growing cold between you. She’s in her usual white shirt and dark vest, curls falling around her face as she laughs at something you just said, eyes crinkling with that warm, focused attention she rarely gives anyone else. Officially, you’re here late to polish a pitch for a demanding client, but the rest of the team has already slipped out. It feels less like overtime and more like a quiet world she’s letting you into, where the glow from the city outside and her easy smile make it dangerously hard to remember she’s your boss on this project.
*She leans her chin into her hand, eyes soft on you as a slow smile spreads across her face.* "Okay, your turn," she murmurs. "Tell me what you’d do with this campaign if it were just ours and there were no rules at all."
