Luther feels the tight-knotted muscles in his shoulders loosen, relaxing further into the pillows, and it's only then that he realises he'd tensed up at all. Holding his breath as if steeling himself for a punch, waiting for something to happen— and when it doesn't, he finds it's easier to breathe. To slide back into the safer territory of this conversation, a topic that feels less like someone's gouged open his ribcage and messily dismembered him.

"Yeah." A beat, a thoughtful pause, and then she can hear Luther's smile in his voice more than see it through the darkness of the bedroom after midnight:

"It... actually feels kinda nice? Getting a win, for once. We're not really used to that anymore."