Page 42 of Black Onyx
Rival pauses in his doorway and turns around, frowning when he catches whatever look is currently on my face, “We normally do, but we don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable. That’s the last thing we’d want to do.”
My anxiety recedes a small amount at his gentle tone and the easy acceptance to make me feel better.
I can do this. I can tell them what’s really wrong. Despite not knowing them for very long, I trust them, surprisingly. I feel the nudge of Poca’s head against my stomach; he always appears when my anxiety starts to rise. I reach out my hand and run it through the reassuring warmth of his fur.
“It’s not that, not at all. It’s just, I don’t have pyjamas. My father considered them a luxury I didn’t need when I could just sleep in my clothes.” I shrug.
The anger that pulses through the room is not what I was expecting, and I’m immensely grateful when Loki bounds out of his room, interrupting the silence as he stops in front of me and gives me something else to focus on.
He thrusts a bundle of fabric out towards me, and I grasp it quickly to avoid it all falling on the floor, “Here, I thought you could wear something of mine.”
He knew, and he tried to fix it. My heart melts into a gooey puddle as I stare up at him.
Chapter Thirteen
He starts to shift awkwardly in front of me, running his hand through his blood red hair as the room remains silent, and all of the guys look at him with varying expressions of shock and pride. I move closer to him, place my hand on his chest as he remains statue still and then rise up on my tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, lingering longer than I should.
“Thank you, Loki. That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” I whisper sincerely before I step back, holding the clothes tightly to my chest and looking up at his mesmerising smile. His purple eyes practically glow with happiness at my words and small show of affection, and I don’t care how crazy it may sound, but I’m going to make sure I can put that smile on his face more often, even if it leaves me in a daze.
“You’re welcome, Love. Go and get changed so we can watch Notting Hill. I haven’t watched it for far too long,” smiling softly, he gently nudges me towards my room.
“You watched it last week.” Mayhem exclaims, exasperation colouring his tone.
I shut my door just as I hear Loki reply, “As I said, it’s been ages.”
My smile stays as I change into the grey joggers and huge black t-shirt that smells like Loki; I felt slightly crazy sniffing it, but no one saw me, and I’ll never admit I did. The clothes swamp me, the soft cotton shirt easily reaching my knees, I could probably get away with wearing it without the joggers, but I’m not comfortable enough for that yet, so instead, I roll up the cuffs a few times so that my feet actually appear out of the bottoms and I don’t end up tripping over them and most likely flashing my arse. I then realise that they come with a drawstring around the waist, so at least I don’t have to worry about them falling down if I do trip over them.
I rush to get back out to the sitting room and find the guys already settled down, each of them covered with blankets, what looks like hot chocolates set up on the coffee table and desserts on their laps while the rest of the puddings wait with the mugs on the table. We really did get too many for us to eat feasibly. Mayhem smiles as he points to the space next to him with a blanket already for me, and I practically skip over to it, wriggling in my seat to get comfy.
“Hot chocolate or dessert first?” Kill asks, a knowing glint in his eye.
“Dessert, obviously,” I grin.
He hands me a plate with a little bit of everything on it, and we all settle down to watch Notting Hill. Poca curled up on a pile of blankets one of the guys had obviously set up for him on the floor.
“How are they not setting on fire right now?” I ask the room, “he’s good at lowering his temperature but never enough that he can lay on something for any length of time. I have spells and things that I use to protect anything he wants to lie on.”
“We’re using a combination of our air and water to keep it cool enough and stop him from burning it up, and he seems to approve.” Rival explains.
“Impressive. Can you keep it up for the whole movie, or will it start to wear you both out?” I curiously ask.
“It’ll probably start to wear them out near the end of the movie,” Mayhem interjects.
“Wow, that’s quite a while to be holding your gifts and watching Tv at the same time.” I compliment, making pink spots appear on both of the twin's cheeks. So freaking cute. Before I get distracted by how cute they are, I remember where I was going with my line of questioning, “If you hold it for a little bit longer, I’ll put his usual spell on the blankets to save you wearing yourselves out unnecessarily.”
“How long will it last?” Mayhem asks curiously, his analytical brain already spinning with possibilities.
I concentrate for a moment thinking of the spell I want, triggering it and then answer Mayhem, “Erm, well, I haven’t had anything I’ve done it to before set on fire yet, and the first time I did it was a good few years ago. You can let go of your elements now, guys. It should be there.”
“That shows an incredible amount of power and control to do that,” Mayhem says.
“It’s as easy as breathing for me,” I admit. “It wasn’t at first, but I’ve done it so often now that it’s easy.”
Once Poca is all sorted, they settle down, getting comfortable to watch the film, and I try my hardest to ignore the fact that I am definitely feeling Storm’s absence and what his absence means. I highly doubt that he’s just talking with those women.
Deciding to distract myself, I focus on the screen; it shocks me how well the TV is working. We can get away with smaller electrical appliances from the Earth realm working over here, but Televisions tend to test that boundary, and they glitch every now and then or even turn off completely for no reason. So far though we’ve had uninterrupted movie viewing pleasure.
It's halfway through the film when the door to the apartment opens, and Storm walks in, he pauses only a few feet into the room, and his eyes flicker over us and to the screen. The others all stay resolutely watching the screen, not really acknowledging his presence apart from the head nods when he walked in. His eyes cloud with something that I’m almost certain is longing as he stands hesitantly only a few feet into the room, which is the only explanation for why I do what I do next.
