Solivagency - Empires SMP

XXVII

Joey looked over at Xornoth.

Somehow he found them both still in the kitchen, staring at each other in a not so subtle way. It was impossibly awkward, but it gave him time to go over the features of their face.

Red eyes mixed with magenta highlights. Dark crimson hair with tips looking almost purple. A face that wasn't good looking by most standards, but one he found beautiful anyway- goddamnit, now was not the time to be admiring them-

Xornoth flicked their gaze up to him and looked away. Their hand fidgeted on the edge of the table, fingers smoothing it up and down, and for a split second, he was reminded of the first time they had ever been in the kitchen. It was such an odd sensation; logically he knew that demon them and elf them were the same person, but his brain struggled to connect the dots.

Joey realised he was staring and looked away.

What did normal people talk about? Food? The food he made was shitty. Weather? It was still so cold. Hobbies? The last time he checked they… okay. The last time he checked he didn't actually know what Xornoth liked to do outside of M&M's (men and murder). Maybe they did ballet - that would be a sight.

"So-" He cleared his throat, causing them to look at him in a start. "What do you like doing?"

Their face was pretty much the epitome of confusion. "What?"

"Like, do you have any hobbies or anything?" Joey pressed on.

"...No," Xornoth admitted, cheeks tinged pink. "Not unless you count reading."

(Men, murder and reading? That was definitely Scott's twin)

Joey thought back to his living room. There were definitely some books in it, and though he never really got around to reading or finishing them, that didn't mean that he couldn't give them to them.

An inward part of him was confused. Since when did they like reading? The idea of their demon form reading the Gruffalo made him almost choke on thin air, although it was actually kind of cute- no. Shut up brain. Demons reading the Gruffalo was not cute.

He really needed coffee, huh? Joey would make himself a cup, but he quickly remembered Shrub had stolen all of his coffee and he hadn't gotten any more. The last cup of tea he made ended up burning itself, and he was kind of thankful they were awkward enough to look at him not-so-subtly pour it into the bin.

So yeah. No caffeine. But there were a few books at least. Maybe Xornoth would like one of them.

-

Xornoth could resist their face making a noticeable expression, but they couldn't stop their ears obviously perking upwards as Joey shrugged awkwardly and said that he had a few books they could read.

They also couldn't stop staring at his face.

Which wasn't helpful. Very not helpful. They didn't want to stare at him, but they just couldn't keep their eyes off him.

And then Joey grabbed their hand again, and they grabbed back, hand tightening unconsciously as he pulled them down the corridor. It was slightly embarrassing when they realised they were doing it, but they couldn't exactly let go and Joey didn't seem to have noticed anyway.

The corridor passed again and they silently wondered how many people the palace was built for. It looked like it was built for far too many than what it actually held, but there wasn't anyone else apart from Joey.

(Maybe that was a good thing. People and crowds made them anxious anyway)

(Joey made them anxious too but not in the same way)