What The Hell, Universe!?

Chapter 7: Way To Be Creepy, Freddy Krueger

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Landon woke feeling like something was missing. He looked around and remembered he fell asleep with Hope in his arms. She must've left without waking him.

He didn't know how to take that. Usually when she slept over, she woke him up if she woke before him. Granted, this was the first time in a while that she had fallen asleep next to him as usually he crashed in Raf's bed, but still...why hadn't she woken him?

Yesterday was a pretty big day for him. Not only had he saved Dorian, he flew—like actually flew—for the first time, with great big wings of fire. He saw the look on Hope's face when he landed too. It was that hero look he was striving for.

He knew she was probably still beating herself up over choosing to save the Saltzmans instead of him, but he had saved himself. And she did make the right choice. Though, if he was as useless as she once accused him of being while under a magical creature's spell, things would've ended quite differently. He would still have rather she save them over him anyway. He didn't think she would ever understand that—or forgive herself for her choice—but he was cool with it.

The bathroom door opened and he looked up thinking maybe it was Hope, but no. His roommate, best friend, and brother was finally back. He left the bathroom shirtless with a towel over his right shoulder.

"Hey! Did I mention last night I'm glad you're back?" Landon asked with a smile.

"Hey bro," Rafael nodded at him. "I hope it was okay, me coming here last night, what with you and Hope...?" He indicated the bed with a knowing look. "I almost left again when I saw she was here, but you were both sleeping and I didn't know where else to crash."

"Oh, no problem," Landon said, shaking his head. "We just fell asleep. Nothing like that has happened since you left or anything."

"Oh, okay," Rafael said.

"Besides, it's your room too," he swept a hand out.

"Yeah, but," he grinned. "Just remember to put a sock on the door if you need to since I'm back."

Landon nodded stiffly, shifting uncomfortably. He didn't like to talk about that stuff with Rafael when it came to Hope, not because of Rafael's feelings for her but because he and Hope hadn't even talked about it. He was content to wait until she brought it up.

Their relationship had been through too much lately to be anywhere near ready for that. He knew he loved her and she loved him. But things were far from perfect. Never mind that his memory had been wiped clean of her and she hadn't told him when she got back, there was also that little thing last year where she didn't tell him the truth about his mother. She lied by omission to him twice now, for his own protection, his own happiness, she said. It still bothered him because he wasn't sure if he trusted her to never do that again.

How could he have sex with her if he wasn't one hundred percent sure he trusted her?

Did he want to have sex with her? Yes. But, for now, he was happy where they were, which was still figuring things out. There was no need to rush into anything. He had never been in a serious relationship before so he was taking it one day at a time hoping he didn't do anything to screw it up.

Rafael gave him a teasing smile then walked across the room to his dresser.

Lost in his thoughts, Landon almost missed it but muscle memory made him glance at Rafael's side. After going through so many foster homes, he always checked on his foster siblings, especially Rafael, to make sure no new bruises showed up.