Nyctophilia

23

He'd been hurt before, he couldn't trust himself to not let that jeopardize whatever was slowly building between them. 

At the same time, he also knew that Nyx would wait for him to battle his fears, for she had let every part of him in - the good and the bad. 

While she made it clear that she had the power to caress his demons, he was still learning to fight them, to control them instead of letting them dominate his feelings and actions.

It was another one of those Friday afternoons at Auradon High where as soon as the bell screamed to announce the end of last period, students came tumbling out of their classes with such vibrant faces, wide smiles, and gleaming eyes as they joined their friends in the noisy hallways and blended in with the crowd, wanting to treat themselves to a weekend they deserved after an exhausting week at school.

Walking quietly in the sea of radiant teenagers was the lone wolf of Auradon. 

Her face was buried behind a fat, vintage book, hands clutching the old hardcover as if her life depended on it, fiery eyes dancing with the rhythm of the words tattooed onto the pages in ink, mind having gone off into a world unknown to everybody but her.

Nyx was brought to an abrupt stop when her body crashed against another, sending her a step or two back, the book dropping from her hands. 

Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized the varsity jacket the person she'd collided with was wearing. 

Troy Moore stood in front of her, sporting their school's colors, blue and bronze, proudly. 

He was the boy who'd almost been sent into unconsciousness after having his face rammed back into his skull by Azriel. 

Troy was the only person apart from Azriel who knew why he'd been beaten up, and he'd learned an important lesson that day.

Never insult the raven monster's best friend. 

Not even Warren knew that it was in his defense that Azriel had taken the matter into his fists.

"I'm sorry!" Nyx apologized. 

She was about to reach out to lift her fallen book off the floor, but Troy got to it before she could. He held it out for her to take, making her glance down at his outstretched hand. After thanking him, she went to grab it, only for him to retract his arm. He glanced down at the book in his grasp and back up at her.

Troy had always been an asshole, especially to those who weren't welcome in his circle of popular idiots that he called friends, the very people who would hesitate to step in for him. 

Nyx had thought that a bone-breaking punch from Azriel may have knocked his senses back the right way. 

But, she realized just how wrong she was the moment a smirk reflecting pure malice crept onto the boy's lips. 

Instead of placing the book in her palm to return it, he let it slip from his hold on purpose, letting it land on the ground with an echoing thud - all while he stared into the girl's eyes shamelessly, as if what he'd done was a matter of pride.

Troy stepped closer to Nyx, and his smirk only widened when he heard his friends snicker behind him. 

Holding her gaze, his chocolate eyes raked over her figure, "Who let filth walk around unsupervised like that?" 

His group of equally bad guys let out a laugh each, too loud for something that wasn't even funny. 

Taking another step nearer to Nyx, evading her personal space and making her stumble back, he hissed, "Watch where you're fucking going, loser."