Flying Lorises {a modern day leviathan fic}

part ix

written by maddie, beta read by cat

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“How did you know her name?” is the first thing that leaves Deryn’s mouth as they are thrown out of the laser tag arena. 

Alek brushes his clothes off in an over-exaggerated manner, straightening the wrinkles in his sleeves. “I read her name tag, dummkopf.”

Deryn looks at him pointedly. “I don’t speak Austrian, Alek.”

“It’s not Austrian, it’s German. I’m calling you a blockhead.”

Deryn mutters something under her breath.

“What?”

“It’s Gaelic, don’t sweat it.”

“You aren’t half bad at laser tag, you know,” he says, choosing to ignore that comment.

Deryn grins. “I would hope so. I did spend my childhood playing.” Laughing, she jogs ahead, leaving Alek to process this.

Alek remembers how she nodded too quickly in asking for the rules. Of course she knows how to play. “You – !”

But Deryn has already left.  

Mr. Volger is waiting outside the car when they reach him. “You are out a little early,” he says.

Alek grimaces; Mr. Volger is his confidant, but he can be a know-it all. “We might have gotten kicked out…for physical contact.”

He can’t look at Deryn right now; the weight of her body on his still rings fresh in his mind, and the strangest part is that he doesn’t know why. It’s a foreign feeling.

“Were you?” says Mr. Volger rhetorically. He opens the door for them. “Please.”

Deryn manages an awkward smile for Mr. Volger’s sake and clambers into the car. Alek tries to follow but he’s held back. 

“May I speak with you for a moment, Aleksandar?” the older man asks and Alek has no choice but to agree. He can feel Deryn’s eyes burning into his back, he’s certain she knows exactly what they’re talking about.

“Do you really think it is wise to continue to spend time with Miss Sharp?” Mr. Volger says tersely as soon as he is sure she is out of earshot. “You didn’t even know she was a miss before yesterday. There is still time to drop her off back at Hauptbahnhof.”

There is some part of him that would like to accept his offer that sounds so very alluring, the part of him that is still hurt by her lies, the part that is still resentful that he didn’t see the truth for three whole years and that she could lie to him without a pause.

But the truth is that the other part of him is rejecting that idea, the part that admires her boldness and still remembers how face lights up when she smiles. 

“No, Mr. Volger, I’d like Miss Sharp to stay.”