𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 ( 𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑻𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒐)

𝒔𝒊𝒙

Spending the hours alone, waiting impatiently for Willow to return, Ethan had a burst of creativity. 

Maybe it was caused by him looking at Willow's art, her having shown him most of her sketchbooks and folders filled with different paintings, or maybe it was simply her presence. 

For a long, long time Ethan couldn't chanell his creativity, drained from his anxious thoughts he never was able to form even more than two notes in his head.

Now he has scribbled down countless notes in one of Willows notebooks.

Keeping himself busy so that he can forget about the fact that he has to leave again soon.
Cooking dinner for Willow every night, playing with Pip, chasing her through the flat, scribbling down ideas for new songs and checking up on his friends from time to time. 

He does feel incredibly bad for leaving them to deal with their management. 
All three of his friends keep reassuring him that they aren't mad at him, they are still worried and make him promise to call whenever he needs them.

His heart swells at his friend's kind words, ultimately he feels a little more relaxed. 

When the door opens and reveals a smiling Willow, he drops his notebook on the couch next to him and follows Pip, who beat him to the door and is now rubbing her head on Willow's hand purring happily. 

"Let's go for a walk tonight", Willow suggests after dinner and once she catches Ethans worried gaze she quickly explains.
"Don't worry, the sun is already setting and as soon as it gets dark people will most likely not recognise you."

"Also no offense but my neighbours are usually over the age of 50 so they won't even know who you are", she rambles on so quickly that she nearly chokes on her water.

Ethan misses going outside, he hasn't been since the incident with his fans but if he is being honest he is still worried about leaving the safety of Willow's apartment. 

As soon as he steps outside and Willow locks the door, he feels anxious again.

Any second he expects a journalist to jump in his way, shoving a camera into his face.
Or a group of fans ready to follow his every step, snapping pictures and demanding hugs or personal messages.

"You're alright", Willow places a hand on his arm and guides him down the small street, lit up by lanterns.

She was right, on their walk they don't pass a single soul.
The air is chilled, both are buried in their coats, walking close to each other to fight against the cold wind coming from the sea.

Ethan smokes his cigarettes, carefully making sure to blow the smoke away from Willow.
The end of his cigarette glows faintly, like a little firefly leading their way.

"Does it bother you", he asks her when he feels her staring at him and he hastily tries to hold the cigarette even further away from the blonde.

"No, it's fine", she smiles. Willow always seems to smile if Ethan recalls it correctly, a faint smile always plays around her lips she probably doesn't even notice.

"It suits you, the smoking kind of pulls together the vibe", she says after a few seconds of silence and then adds "Of course I would prefer if you'd stop, would kind of hate to lose you to lung cancer".

She nudges his side with her body causing him to sway a little as the impact of her body against his has surprised him.

"Thank you?", it comes out like a question, followed by a chuckle and Willow slides her arm around his.
Now both of them walk in comfortable silence again, their bodies involuntarily pressed closer to shield themselves from the biting wind that has started to pick up.

Both don't want to admit that they are cold, they can feel the other shiver and angry thoughts are thrown at the dark night sky and it's cold wind.

Eventually Willow shakes off the spell of silence again and suggests they go home, joking how she doesn't want to be responsible for him losing his career after his fingers froze off during their walk.

Ethan would like to protest, tell her that he can't get enough of the fresh air after being hidden away in her flat for that long but he sees how red her face his from the wind nibbling at it.
His face probably doesn't look any better and Willow is right, his hands are burning from the cold and the little voice of reason in the back of his head tells him that his friends would cut his fingers off himself if he'd damage them permanently somehow.

The tea kettle whistles loudly in the kitchen, announcing that it finished it's job of boiling the water.
Ethan is in the bathroom, after a small discussion with Willow about who gets to shower first you are even redder than I am.
No your hands look like they are about to fall off.

Willow had offered him various blends of herbs and fruit teas that smell like hot summer days making him smell every single one until he couldn't remember which one smelled like what.

Now his cup is perched on his lap and his hands are desperately wrapping around it, trying to absorb just as much of the warmth as they possibly can.

Pip is again curled up between them, the needy cat demanding cuddles and chin scratches from both the girl and the boy.

It feels like home.

Ethan is surprised by his sudden thought, nothing about this resembles his home back in Italy.
There the air still would be warm enough to lay shirtless around the pool with his friends, they would make inappropriate jokes, come up with new ideas for their new album and talk about upcoming shows and concerts.

Here home means safety, being curled up under a soft, knitted blanket with a cup of tea in his hands and Willow by his side.

Looking at the blonde girl his heart swells with sudden emotions that he doesn't really know where to place yet.

Willow is not just a hideaway to Ethan anymore.
Willow became his home.
Just as Ethan became a permanent mark in Willows life.