Eli29
Eli
A quiet, familiar hum filtered in through the walls as the town began to wake up. I stirred against the mattress, eyes blinking open to the dim early light that seeped through the window. With the curtains pulled, the room was quite dark, but I could still make out the clock on the wall.
A little after seven. Normally, I'd be up by now. Today, it felt too early.
I started to move but stopped when I felt a warm weight against me.
Rowan still lay curled in close, his breathing slow and even.
His head rested near my shoulder, and one hand still loosely gripped at my shirt.
My arm had gone a bit numb underneath him, but I didn't dare move it. Not when he looked this peaceful.
Last night came back in fragments. The nightmare.
His sleep talking. The way his voice cracked when he told me what he saw.
The only reason I'd even heard him was because I wasn't yet asleep myself.
I'd been lying wide awake on the sofa, but the moment I heard his voice through the door, I knew something was wrong.
I glanced down at him again. There might have still been a little tension in his shoulders, but nothing like before. His face looked softer, and the creases in his brow had eased. Hell, he almost looked younger like this.
I reached up slowly to brush back a bit of hair that had fallen into his eyes. My fingers barely grazed his skin, careful not to startle him. Then, without really thinking, I dipped my head to press a light kiss to the top of his head.
It was quick. So light that he probably wouldn't have noticed it even if he was awake. But I didn't want to disturb him. I just wanted him to know that he was safe. That I was here.
Rowan didn't stir. If he was having any kind of dream, at least it didn't turn on him this time. I let my head drop back against the pillow, content to stay exactly where I was.
Except for my arm.
It had gone from comfortably numb to sharp pins and needles over the past few minutes. I winced as I tried to adjust it just a little to coax the blood flow back. It proved a tricky thing to do without waking him up.
He mumbled something I couldn't make out and shifted in his sleep. Instead of turning over or pulling away, he somehow burrowed himself in even deeper – into the blankets and into me. Some kind of instinct drove him straight to the warmest point of contact.
I huffed a quiet laugh under my breath and flexed my fingers a bit to chase out the worst of the tingling.
Once I could feel my hand again, I adjusted my position to wrap both arms around him properly.
It wasn't the most comfortable setup, but I was fine with it if it meant Rowan could rest more easily.
I must have drifted because the next time I blinked awake, the room had brightened a little. The soft, hazy kind of light that filtered in on a cloudy morning. I glanced at the clock again. Almost 8:30.
Then I figured out what woke me up this time. Rowan was starting to move around just a little bit.
I stayed still, watching as he eased back from where he'd been curled up so tightly against me.
His nose scrunched a little bit, and he brought a hand up to rub at his face before letting it fall back down.
His eyes opened a minute later, hazy and unfocused, and his blank stare said he might fall asleep all over again.
"Morning," I said quietly.
His gaze lifted to my face, but it didn't quite find mine right away. There was a beat where I could almost see the slow realisation set in of where he was and how close we still were.
Then his eyes widened a bit, and he quickly glanced away to stare at the pillow. His face went red almost instantly. I could see the flush climbing up his neck and to his ears.
Yep. He was awake now.
A quiet snort of laughter slipped out before I could stop it. I sat up and scrubbed a hand through my hair, not even bothering to hide the grin tugging at the corners of my mouth. I didn't call out his predicament, though. He already looked like he might die of embarrassment without my help.
Instead, I stretched a little and said casually, "Looks like you slept better. That's the most relaxed I've seen you in a while."
To his credit, Rowan made a valiant attempt to play it cool. "Yeah..." was all he bothered to say, and it didn't come out much louder than the sound of the bed sheets rustling as he adjusted them around himself. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing.
Even so, a smirk fought to break through as I stood and backed toward the door. "Alright, I'll start breakfast. Come out when you're ready." I ducked out before the temptation to push my luck could take over.
I headed for the kitchen, still biting back a grin.
As fun as it was to see Rowan flustered, it didn't feel right to tease him too hard.
He'd had enough thrown at him lately without me adding to it.
Still, the image of him going beet red and pretending he hadn't just woken up practically draped across my chest would stay with me for a while.
I kept myself busy at the hob, quietly moving around as I got breakfast going.
Nothing fancy, just scrambled eggs and toast. But the sizzle and warmth helped settle my leftover nerves from the night before.
I kept an ear tuned toward the bedroom, just in case, but I didn't expect him to show up too soon.
At some point, I finally heard soft, shuffling footsteps.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Rowan lingering in the hallway.
He hesitated for a second, then wandered in and sat at the table without a word.
His shoulders were still drawn in a bit, and he didn't look in my direction.
But he didn't seem to shut down, either.
He just looked awkward in the way a person gets when they don't know what to do with themselves.
And his ears were still faintly pink.
I turned back to the hob and focused on the eggs before I said something dumb. Tempting as it was to tease him, I left it alone. I didn't want him to think I was laughing at him. Actually, I was just glad to see a little bit of the old Rowan breaking through the fog. Pink ears and all.
I gave the eggs another slow stir, then decided to break the silence. "Oh, hey, just so you know, I can't fully feel my arm. I might've overestimated my ability to cook in this condition. If breakfast turns out problematic, you're not allowed to complain."
He didn't look up right away, but after a pause, he said, "Define problematic."
"Unidentifiable. Possibly sentient. Maybe a biohazard."
Behind me, I heard a quiet huff that almost sounded like a laugh. "So your usual, then."
There it was. I couldn't even remember the last time he managed that kind of comeback. If that didn't prove he was coming back to himself, I didn't know what did.
We didn't talk a lot through breakfast, but that was fine.
The silence didn't feel heavy like it did some mornings.
Rowan didn't flinch at every sound or freeze up when I moved past him.
Even though he was quiet, the awkward edge faded the longer we sat there.
His shoulders gradually relaxed, and his hands stayed steady as he picked at the food.
When he was finished, he stood up and carried his dishes to the sink. I watched from the table as he rinsed everything off, slower than usual, his eyes drifting up toward the window. He lingered there longer than I expected, and it became clear that something outside had caught his attention.
I set my fork down, suddenly alert. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but the way he went quiet made my pulse tick up. Marcus hadn't been at the door for a few days, but that didn't mean he wasn't loitering outside when we weren't paying attention.
"What's up?" I asked carefully.
He didn't answer at first, but then he tilted his head. "The Davises put a reindeer on their roof."
It took a second for that to register. "What?"
He stepped aside and held the curtain out of the way so I could see. Sure enough, across the road, an inflatable reindeer stood at a crooked angle on the roof. Poor thing must've been launched up there and left to suffer.
I let out a short laugh, mostly out of relief. "Well, that's... Festive. And mildly concerning."
Rowan didn't say anything to that, but he didn't move away from the window, either. He leaned forward just a bit with his arms resting on the sink edge, eyes tracking across the street and down the road like he hadn't really looked outside in a long time.
Which he hadn't.
I nudged my plate aside. "What's going on in that head of yours, Ro?"
He stayed quiet for a moment. Then he asked, "What's today?"
"Thirtieth of November. Why?"
He finally turned from the window and leaned back against the sink. "God, when did that happen? Last I checked, summer holiday was just ending."
He wasn't wrong. With all the stress and dealing with Marcus, the past few months had both flown by and dragged on. I didn't know what to say to that except, "I guess time flies when you have a lot going on."
A few more minutes passed where neither of us spoke, but I could tell by the look on his face that he was thinking about something.
I couldn't tell what that something was, and I didn't want to press, either.
He'd been doing pretty good about not having panic attacks lately, so I didn't want to trigger one.
Then, out of the blue, he asked a question I definitely didn't expect. "Do you think later... Maybe we could walk around a bit?"
I blinked. "Walk?"
"Yeah, just..." He finally looked up to meet my gaze. "When it gets dark. See who's got their lights up. Like we used to."
The significance of that wasn't lost on me. Rowan hadn't willingly stepped out of the flat since Marcus beat the hell out of him. I'd gotten so used to him hunkering down here that I wasn't sure he'd ever be able to make himself get out again.