It's so warm and cozy... where am I right now...? Augh, don't open eyes... light hurts...
You lay there on the carpeted floor, cocooning yourself in a blanket. You revel in the feeling of warmth and comfort. At the same time your groggy mind tries to remember the events that led to you being asleep on what did not feel like your bed.
Matt. Adam.
The night before runs through your mind again. You feel your heart skip a beat as you remember having a slightly steamy but technically platonic conversation with your unlikely friend. You replay your favorite bits in your head, noting with a twinge of shame that Matt was there for the whole thing. You just lay there, still sleepy, reflecting on it all.
You're not sure exactly, but your internal clock tells you it's late morning, maybe around 9. You don't have the energy to check your phone and make sure. Given the time you went to bed and how tired you feel, you can tell you haven't slept enough. You're accepting the fact that you'll fall right back asleep again, but you feel calm, just listening to your two friends breath deeply in sleep.
You open your eyes just a peek, squinting across the room. They feel heavy and slightly crusty, and for a moment all you can see is streaking light and color. The light gray of the carpet takes up most of your vision, and a sliver of a window that's visible from behind a couch blinds you with the heavenly sun. The shapes slowly become clear.
Adam is still laying down just a few feet from you. He now faces you, his head lolled over the edge of his pillow. His mouth is slightly open in sleep, a puddle of spit soaking the corner of the pillowcase. His brown hair is messy, sticking up at wild angles. For a long minute you just stare at him.
You had seen his face before in older photographs, but it was actually pretty hard to find. All the pictures readily available of him online are of him in the mask. You had to specifically search for it to find pictures of his real face. Before you had seen it and you were just starting to get a crush, you worried that he was secretly ugly underneath and it would kill your feelings, but you were quite pleased with what you found. Seeing him like this in person felt weird. Seeing him in person at all still felt weird, but this was especially strange. It was like a secret you were learning by accident. It seemed like he was trying to keep his appearance a secret from the rest of Heaven, although you didn't know why, and had never found it appropriate to bring it up to anyone. Adam was a kind of celebrity, although you didn't really see him that way. He was just someone strange who lived in your city. (Adam was more... known than he was liked. Everyone knew the first man and his reputation. Most people knew he had a band too, but it truthfully didn't have a lot of fans. His albums weren't selling out stadiums, they were humble local concerts with small venues, just with a lead singer who seems to think he's Meat Loaf or something.)
Oh yeah.
He was also the captain of the exorcists. A league created to defend heaven from outside threats, but most people saw that as a consolation prize to Adam. Heaven had no threats after all. It had been years since Hell ever tried to rise up, and that was reportedly brought to an end very quickly by sending the exorcists down for a quick scare. If Heaven would ever need defense, Adam would likely be of no help and it would be his soldiers who would do all the fighting anyway.
Or whatever...
Your internal monologue starts to trail off, feeling disjointed. Your eyes automatically close tighter, Adam's face becoming surrounded by a halo of blurry lights. You imagine that you're seeing him from the same bed, waking up next to him as his husband. You imagine you have to freedom to shimmy closer to him, put a hand around his body, and kiss his sweet parted lips, nuzzling into his face and just enjoying his body and his warmth touching you. You just imagine as your fantasies sing you back to sleep.
"You want butter on that?"
You wake up once more, feeling a little groggy again. You roll around a bit, trying to shake off the foggy feelings of sleep.
"No? Butter's for pussies, gimme some cream cheese."
An unwanted smile worms its way onto your face. You feel guilty again for how happy Adam makes you.
You briefly stretch and stand up, making your way into the kitchen, where you hear your friends' voices. Adam is sitting at the the small kitchen table, mask back on, applying a generous amount of cream cheese to the bagel on his plate. Matt stands over the counter, buttering his.
"Hey man." Says Matt. "Breakfast." He hands you a plate with a sliced plain bagel.
"Thanks." You nod and take it from him.
"So are you a butter guy or a cream cheese guy?" says Matt. Adam gives Matt a look that he doesn't notice, like he's suddenly paying attention.
Goddamnit. I'm about to do it again.
"Cream cheese." You sit down at the table with the cream cheese bin, right next to Adam.
"Fuck yeah this kid knows what's up."
Matt laughs. "Why do you care so much?"
Adam pumps his fist in the air as he takes the first bite of his food. "Creamers for life."
"What...?" You stare at him, letting out a bewildered laugh. "Suddenly I'm not super thrilled with being on your team here." You see Matt chuckle under his breath standing at the counter.
"Guess you'll never be a real creamer." Adam relaxes in his chair and keeps eating. It dawns on you that you have no idea how he is able to eat with the mask on.
"I'm... very okay with that." As you begin to spread cream cheese on your bagel, you feel yourself instinctively shrinking into your chair, feeling a bit flustered, as he often makes you feel. You sneak glances at him, taking him in. His nonchalant expression as he chews, hunched over the table, and what you hope is a chubby dad-bod under his robe. You feel your cheeks start to heat up intensely and you look away.
Adam glances over at you, his eyes shifting slightly in thought. He smiles. "So, you still gonna come to that rehearsal?"
"Oh, right, well um... sure. When is it?"
He stretches his neck from side to side, grunting a little. "Uh.. fuck I don't know. Can't remember." He leans in towards you slightly with a grin. "How about I give you my number? We can text about it."
You stare at him, for a moment, smiling nervously. Damn, kinda smooth. Was he trying to flirt? Is this intentional flirting? Is this just normal dude stuff? You fish for your phone from your pocket, fumbling nervously. "Y-yeah, of course." You open up a new contact and give your phone to him.
He begins to type his number into it. "Just don't go blowing up my phone, I get enough of that from all my bitches." He hands it back to you, then glances at his own phone. "Oh shit."
He suddenly stands up. "I gotta fucking, uh, meeting with Lute in like 10 minutes. I'm so fucked bro." You and Matt both look up, caught off guard by him frantically darting across the room. "See you bitches later." He yells as he runs out the door.
"Bye!" You and Matt both yell after him, still caught off guard by his sudden exit.
"Well" You say. "He sure is... something."
Matt picks up Adam's plate and his own as he speaks. "Yeah... you really gonna come to that rehearsal?" He takes the plates to the sink.
"I mean, yeah, probably. Oh, I don't think he has my number, I'd better text him."
You send a short and sweet message. "Hey, this is (Y/N). Let me know about rehearsal :)"
Matt starts putting away the butter, cream cheese, knives, and everything else that's lying around. "Need help with any of that?"
"Nah man, don't worry." He says as he throws away some crumpled up napkins.
You put your own plate in his sink as you finish the bagel. "Well, I guess I'm gonna head out then." You head towards the door. "Bye dude."
"Bye, man. Wait, hey-" He cuts you off as you're about to open the door. He looks like he's about to say something, but then just smiles and shakes his head. "Uh... have fun with Adam."
"S-sure man. Bye."
You walk through the halls of his apartment, feeling a twinge of embarrassment. Welp. Not much of a secret anymore, huh?