Seraphine

thirty seven

Seraphine 

Nico carries her into Luca's room, and Seraphine takes in the gray interior. The large bed is made perfectly, the mahogany desk pristine, with a single stack of papers and a pen resting in the middle. Gray curtains line the window, and the walls are painted to match everything. 

Seraphine thinks about how some people would call a gray room melancholy, but she feels a sense of serenity and safety. 

She grips Nico's neck tighter and rests her head on his shoulder as he follows Enzo into the bathroom.

Luca...distraught over me? Me? I can't picture it. 

Seraphine glances up at Nico, at his pursed lips, the slight bags under his eyes, and the stubble he hasn't bothered to shave. She'd noticed it the day before when she'd slipped into his classroom undetected by him, but it's only gotten worse. 

She prefers him clean shaven, she decides. She prefers all of them put together, smirks wide and confidence high, like they own the world. Not all ruined and lost because of her. 

Seraphine feels a pang of guilt that her professors are feeling this way because of her, because of the issues that she's had to deal with, but their voices float through her mind, reminding her that this isn't her fault. 

"I think the bubbles protected the water from getting too cold, but we could still add some more heat?" Enzo's lilted speech pulls Seraphine from the depths of her mind and she lifts her head to see the bathroom--painted gray, no surprise there--and Enzo kneeling next to the large tub. His arm is deep in the water, swirling around blue tinted bubbles, and Seraphine manages a smile. 

"Blue?" She asks, and Enzo's head snaps to her. He glances to the tub and stands, pulling his arm from the water and grabbing a towel to wipe himself with. 

"After our shampoo incident," Enzo chuckles sheepishly as Seraphine's smile grows, "I went out and bought bubble...concoctions. There's more blue in here." He walks to the linen closet and pulls out a big bubble bath container, tinted blue. "There's pink and yellow in your bathroom, too." 

At the mention of her bathroom, Seraphine shifts in Nico's arms, drawing his attention to her. 

"You told Luca to go fix up my room," she starts, already knowing the answer to her question but wanting to hear it from them specifically, "do I have my own room here?" 

Nico and Enzo exchange a glance before shrugging at each other and looking back at Seraphine. "Yes, dove. We made it up for you when..." Nico trails off, stopping himself, and turns to Enzo for help, who jumps in quickly. 

"When Damien called Luca," he supplies, and the other man nods. Seraphine narrows her eyes slightly at her two professors, sensing there's something she's missing, or at least not supposed to know. 

How long have they been expecting me to stay here? 

Seraphine parts her lips to interrogate them, but her nose catches whiff of the wildflower scent of the bubble bath, and her gaze softens. She turns her head to look at the overflowing tub, and a small smile settles on her lips. 

"Is it warm?" She asks, lifting her leg from Nico's grasp and trying to step down onto the ground. Nico doesn't let that happen, instead tightening his hand beneath her knee and stepping closer to the tub. 

"Not so fast, Seraphine. Let's clean up the rest of your injuries before we put you in the stinging water," Nico suggests, and Seraphine nods, shifting so he can place her onto the counter easily. She flinches as the cold surface meets her bruised thighs, but it's soothing after a moment. 

The pain brings her back to earlier that night, and for a second, Derek's smirking face is staring straight at her, but then Nico's hand is on her thigh and his voice fills the room and Derek's gone. 

Seraphine sucks in a deep breath and blinks a few times, tuning back into reality. 

"...under the sink?" Nico asks Enzo, who shrugs in response, and Nico turns his face to the ceiling, sighing dramatically before looking at Seraphine. 

"Idiot," he mutters, and Seraphine gives him a shaky smile. 

"It's not...his room?" She offers in rebuttal, and Nico narrows his eyes playfully at he, making her smile widen. Enzo chuckles from over by the tub, and Seraphine turns her gaze to him.

"Thank you, angel. Someone around here needs to keep Nico's head from getting too big," he calls pointedly, crossing his arms and glaring at Nico. 

Seraphine giggles and looks to where Nico is, or should be, only to find him kneeling between her thighs. 

Her heart stops, and she feels her eyes widen as her face flushes. 

"What about my head?" Nico pops up from under the sink, his eyes--that are thankfully trained on Enzo--level with Seraphine's core. His dark hair flies up as he huffs at something Enzo says, but Seraphine can't peel her focus away from his position in front of her. 

Holy shit. 

As if sensing her sudden realization of where he is, Nico's gaze slide over, and he makes eye contact with her before slowly trailing his eyes down her figure until he reaches her core. He stares at it for a second before his gaze dart back up to hers and he winks at her. 

"Well, Enzo, nobody's head is bigger than yours. With all that philosophical shit you store in there, you should be colored blue and taste like candy, Air Head." Nico stands, first aid kit in his hand, and sets it on the counter while Enzo's jaw drops. 

Seraphine blinks and turns to Enzo just before he throws a few colorful insults at Nico, stalking over to the pair. 

She's so overwhelmed and flustered from Nico's actions that she doesn't notice what's happening until something on her face stings and she jumps, lifting a hand to swat it away. 

It being Nico's hand. 

"Why hello there, dove. Nice of you to join us," Nico smirks down at her, and Seraphine burns a bright red before mumbling an apology. She averts her eyes from his heated gaze and turns to Enzo just as he hops up onto the counter next to her. 

"Would you like to hold my hand why he puts the antiseptic on your cut, angel?" Enzo lifts his hand, palm up, and Seraphine goes to say 'no, thank you' when Nico presses down on her cut with a wet cotton ball and she hisses, her hand flying to grip Enzo's wrist tightly. 

Both professors chuckle at her movements, and she wants to bury her most likely permanently red face in her hands, but refrains from doing so. Nico cleans her cut gently, and Seraphine lets her death grip on Enzo's arm go once he pulls away. 

"Sorry," she says to Enzo, who only smiles, jumping off the counter and stepping up to her. He extends his hand and she takes it--not as tightly as she did earlier--as he goes to help her get down from the counter. 

"Any other injuries we should know about, Seraphine?" He asks gently, his smile dimming, and Seraphine pauses, physically assessing herself. 

She reaches her free hand up and delicately probes the skin around the cut on her cheek, remembering when John slapped her and his sharp ring caught her skin. Her hand falls to her sternum, phantom hands groping her breasts and pinching her nipples but not causing anything to bleed there. Lastly, her lower half--but Enzo already took care of all the blood there, and she's sure the warm water will help soothe her abused parts. 

There are tears in her eyes when she looks back up at Enzo and shakes her head no. His free hand comes up and swipes under her eye, careful not to press too hard into the purple bruise surrounding it. 

Enzo's eyes narrow as he stares at her face, and Seraphine can sense the anger bubbling inside him. She blinks back her tears and lifts her hand once more, wrapping her shaky fingers around his larger ones and pulling his hand away from her face. 

Their hands fall to her lap, and she forces her lips into a smile for him. "I'm okay, Enzo." 

He shakes his head and brings their intertwined hands to his lips, pressing a delicate kiss to her knuckles like Damien did. 

"It's okay to not be okay, Seraphine."