Wax

Forty Five

"Y—just—ugh," I caved, setting the glass of water aside and sinking back under the covers. "We're putting this on hold; I refuse to hand you that win on a silver platter. Just you wait. Tomorrow, I shall be superior."

He snorted, fluffing my pillow and adjusting the duvet so that I was tucked in and comfortable. "Mr. White needs an excuse. I see."

His eyes were gentle with a lowered gaze, carefully brushing aside stray locks of hair covering my ears. It was hard not to stare. "Frankly, I do. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, Leroy. Sleep is vital, for me and you, both."

"Agreed," he rose from the edge of the bed, grabbing the glass of water I left aside and finishing the rest. "You feeling good enough to head back to your room then?"

I paused, faltering. Blinking twice. "W-well. Um." Naturally, I'd assumed, after all that we did, we'd be spending the rest of the night together like how we used to, back in my apartment. This caught me off guard. "I might be, but. But I suppose I'd prefer, um... prefer..."

He looked over his shoulder, smiling. "I know."

My fuzzy head came to a stop altogether before rebooting and piecing bits of the present together—allowing relief to settle and stay. Still, there was no resisting a show of grumpy sulking. "Hmph. Why ask, then?"

"Just a little tease."

"What an idiot."

"I like your pout."

"It's not a pout." I was in the mood for resistance but increasingly so, my eyelids appeared to function apart from the will of my mind—weighing heavier by the second. "Aren't you coming to bed? And was um... was Leo... well-behaved while I was away?"

I heard him hum from the hallway, dimming the lights and getting ready for bed. "Not too bad."

"He must like you very much then."

"...I had the feeling we'd be rivals." He couldn't resist a final tease before making his way to the other side of the bed and getting in. To think it'd been some time since we'd last slept in the same bed. How strange; I hadn't noticed before, but there was something about his company... something about it that felt like an extra blanket over my shoulders.

How strange it was to miss a feeling I'd never noticed. A feeling that was safe yet with nothing to hide behind; raw, and intimate.

"I suppose you were the bigger person, then. No doubt Leo must have taken a liking to you giving in to his demands," I turned sideways a little, hiding in the pillows.

He met me halfway, turning too. "...think his owner's gonna reward me?"

"Unfortunately, the reward has already been redeemed and is no longer available," I quipped, smiling under the covers. "Now good night."

________________

Hours later at the break of dawn, it was rock, paper, scissors in bed that decided which one of us got to sleep in and take their leisure time getting ready before heading to the docks where the interview set was. My local idiot had the brilliant idea of throwing 'rock' thrice, abandoning all unspoken etiquette of games like these and thereby cheating his way into a win. I say 'cheating' because really, by the end of three rounds, he had me in shambles—unable to comprehend the sheer shrewdness of his plays and complete lack of common sense. He'd laughed and said something about learning this from his crew members back at the firehouse while I scrambled to get dressed and head out.