Well, ya see, I was bored. And I've been wanting to try my hand at a Shades of London vignette/fanfic/one-shot/take your pick for a while. So, booyah.

Logic

Stephen Dene liked logic.

He liked to understand why things happened, and what caused them, and so on and so forth.

So, you can understand how much it frustrated him when, along with still being completely dumbfounded by how one got the Sight in general, he could not fathom why Rory Deveaux had to get the Sight of all people.

First of all, Stephen Dene was never the ladies' man. He had fancied some, sure, but he had never really given himself time to think about a social life beyond studies and, well, just not thinking. His sister's death was not something he liked to ponder over.

Why he told Rory Deveaux that of all people, who knew. At the time, he had told himself that it was because of it being late, and he was tired, and he was – in a small part of him – scared. Then, after it was all over, he began to properly consider why.

Second, she was not like most girls he knew. His girl companions barely stretched beyond that of Boo and the aforementioned Rory, but there was that stereotype of bubblegum-popping blondes. He always sort of brushed girls off as variations of that, and of boys beyond Callum as self-centered jocks of jerks.

It was judgmental, yes, but he was Stephen, and he did not like to socialize very much, so he was fully vindicated in his way of thinking.

And then, Rory had to shake that foundation all of the way to the ground.

Thirdly, why did she have to be so…so interesting? Besides shaking his long-since-established expectations of the two sexes, she also had to be…tempting, as girls often were in their own different ways.

There was that time when he picked her up from the sidewalk, both pretty much shaken from Boo being thrown into the street by the Ripper. Perfectly normal events. Then, he took her to the apartment and chose some random clothes for her to change into; his own clothes, for crying out-loud. Which, he didn't think she ever gave back. Which made the whole situation a lot worse.

Besides all of this, there was no romantic intentions behind these actions.

None at all.

Do you know how hard he had to stare at the brewing tea to not focus on her? To not focus on the different way his clothes looked on her?

He hated it. He blamed it on the male testosterone and tried to leave it at that.

And then, oh boy, she had to start crying the tears. After pretty much putting the entire future of London and England and all that lot at stake, she had to start crying.

It wasn't like he had not wanted to cry, either, but she was a girl. And he was a boy. And usually the boy comforts the girl. So, he just patted her arm and awkwardly tried to convey that it was all fine; that they were all going to be okay. A little part of him, no matter how small, also sort of - maybe - regrettedably - liked it.

Fourthly, when the Shades had to leave the room so the wounded girl's family (and probably friends) could see her, he just had to look back. It was a small look, a small glimpse of her dark hair spread across the pillow, but Stephen Dene still looked back.

...Teehee? Anyway, hope that you liked - thanks for reading - please review! :) -MythScavenger