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There was something touching my head.
I mean, generally, when I wake up, there would be something under my head, like a pillow or the mattress--my arm, even.
But I was sitting up. My arms were at my sides and considering how not soft the thing was, it wasn't a pillow.
I snapped my eyes open and slowly looked to the side. I was met with a mix of yellow, crimson, white, and silver.
As my eyes focused, the yellow became straw-colored hair. The crimson turned from a random blob to a recognizable random blob with pupils. White stretched and rounded into a neck and face, and silver turned into--
A mask.
My eyes widened in realization. "Whoa!" I shouted. I scrambled back to get as much distance between me and the person as I could. Somehow, I caught the side of the couch wrong and flipped off the edge and onto the floor. I stood quickly, staring straight ahead.
Kvir did the same.
My mind raced back to the night before. He had told me about his past--his family. What happened to him. After he had finished, we just sat and stared out the window.
Until, apparently, we fell asleep.
I watched him squirm from across the room. My eyes fell on a darker spot on his shoulder where my head had been.
I was suddenly very aware of the wet that went from my mouth to my chin.
Oh, please don't tell me I drooled.
Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice. He waved his hand in the air. "Uh--sorry," he stuttered.
I shook my head quickly. "Sorry about what?"
Curse my voice for being two octaves higher than it should have been.
"Me staying didn't bother you?"
"No! No, it didn't--I--well--I mean, don't do it again."
He looked away.
"Well, not that I didn't mind it," I began, trying to fix what I said. "Sleeping with you--NEXT to you." Heat rose to my face. "Next to you."
"Ah! Yeah. I know what you mean. I didn't mind it either." Kvir shuffled his feet against the floor.
We were quiet. There was enough awkward silence in the room to give to the entire kingdom.
Suddenly, I was very aware of the nightgown I was wearing. I pointed to the dresser in the corner. "I'm going to get dressed now." Before I bury myself more.
He nodded quickly. "Yeah, okay."
I stood still, waiting for him to go.
He didn't move.
I raised my eyebrows and waved my hands. "Leave. I can't get dressed with you in the room."
The tips of his ears went red. Kvir moved his hand to the door, pointed at me, then at the door again. Finally, he just gave up and turned around.
I let out a breath of relief once the door closed behind him. How much more awkward could that have gotten?
A smile tugged at my lips. As scary as he could be sometimes, it was almost worth it to see him embarrassed.
Almost.
I went over to the dresser and pulled out a pair of longer pants and a shirt. I was not in a dress mood.
Reaching down, I grabbed the bottom of my nightgown and pulled it up enough I could get the pants on. Out of habit, I turned my back to the door and started to yank the dress up the rest of the way.
A creak from the door made me drop the nightgown so the end of it fell back down to my ankles. "Knock!" I screeched.
I whirled around to see Kvir standing in the doorway. His eyes were scrunched closed.
Remember how I said it was almost worth it to see him embarrassed? I take it back.
Flames may as well have been on my face. I crossed my arms over my chest. "What do you need?"
"Gah... I was seeing if you wanted breakfast."
"I always eat breakfast. Why wouldn't I want food?"
Kvir scratched the back of his head. "No, with me."
Ah.
"I thought you didn't eat."
Great, Zara. Just great. Shut up now before you make a fool of yourself some more.
Kvir sighed. "May I join you while you are eating, Lizaveta?"
Thank goodness he made it as clear as day. I may not have caught on otherwise.
I moistened my lips. The last time we'd been in the same room at the same time with food, I'd decided to stab him, which was an incident I wasn't enthusiastic to repeat.
Slowly, I nodded. "Sure. It's boring by myself, anyway."
His eyes crinkled slightly. He nodded as if he was saying "thank you."
I grinned. "Close the door?"
"Oh, right!"
As soon as the door shut, I laughed, absolutely positive that the awkwardness I had just experienced was about to be multiplied.
*****
Boy, I wasn't wrong.
I stared down at my muffin, picking at it absently. Every now and then, I'd pop a small piece of it in my mouth and chew quickly. I couldn't help but feel like Kvir was watching me the entire time.
I looked up from the half-dissected muffin. I barely caught Kvir turn his head to look out the window. I glanced back down at the food and ate some more.
"Thank you," Kvir said softly.
I swallowed. "For what? What'd I do?"
He gulped. "Listening last night. I don't get very many instances to tell someone about that."
Oh.
I took a deep breath. "I don't mind. I like learning about people."
"Really?"
"Yeah." I nodded, still holding the muffin. "Everyone has a reason they act the way they do. You could be the most horrible person in the world, but you have to have a reason why."
He chuckled. "Unless you're crazy."
"Nope. Even the crazy people. Sometimes they have the best reasons."
He crossed his arms. "You're nosey, you know that?"
I grinned. "Ah, but I'm the unsocial type of nosey person. I'm the one who gets your information before you even speak to me."
"Mm."
"What's 'mm' about?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You must get in trouble a lot."
I waved my hands in the air. The muffin in my hand was in danger of flying across the table. "What gives you that idea?"
"Just--I take it you've done this once or twice."
"Possibly. What, you think I can't get away with it? That's just like a guy."
Kvir choked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
I smiled. "Back in the village, a number was your money. You'd tell the person the digits and they'd give you what you could get. The money you earned--with the exception of a few coins here and there--went to the number, courtesy of the king. Well, one day, Joshua--my brother--came home one day and found me with this huge crate of food. When he asked me where I got it from, I told him the man next door had given me his number to get food. Without me knowing, he went next door to thank the man and, um, found out that the guy hadn't known he gave me his number."
Beast sat back in his chair. "I'll bet that went well," he teased.
"Not at all. I had to give the crate back to the man. And it was big, too!" I circled my hands in the air. "It was enough food for a month, and I had to give it all--"
At the word "all", I flung my arms out. Without thinking, I spread my fingers apart. The muffin I held went flying across the room.
"--back."
And into Kvir's face.
I froze, hands still out to the side. Part of me wanted to laugh, but the other half wanted to run screaming. The muffin had mainly bounced off his face, but bits and pieces still clung on to his mask.
Carefully, he opened his eyes. His hand moved in slow motion, going up to a piece of food and plucking it from his face. He threw it onto the floor.
"Sorry?" I squeaked.
Kvir glared at me. He pushed his chair back and stood. I did the same, ready to bolt from the room.
"Lizaveta..."
I'm about to die, aren't I?
He flung his hands out in front of him. I barely and time to think to dodge before I saw the projectile-muffin fly back at my head.
I ducked. It hit the wall with a splat.
The muffin was the first to die in the food war.
I looked up to make sure of what Kvir was doing and got a bowl of porridge in my face.
Of course you know, this means war.
I wiped the slimy stuff away from my eyes. Kvir held his chin in the air. "I win."
No , you don't.
I eyed the monster pile of food on the table. I flicked my finger up and all the liquid from glasses rose into the air.
A curse came out of Kvir's mouth before he got a face full of juice.
I ran toward the table and took cover as a storm of rolls hurled to my head. Most of them hit the edge of the table, but two managed to smack my forehead.
He poked his head under the table. "Hiding won't help y--" He cut himself off by yelping. I giggled. The bagel had found its mark.
I scrambled out from under the table and searched the room for Kvir. How someone his size could manage to hid so well was just amazing.
Where did he--
An egg broke over my head. I blinked the runny yolk out of my eye and found him at the other end of the table.
With one giant swing, I threw whatever food was closest to me at him. Bits of bacon, porridge, eggs, bread, and muffin hit his body.
He held his hands up. "Stop!" he laughed. "Stop! I surrender! You win!"
Victory!
I gave a small fist pump and walked over to him, unsuccessfully trying not to step in any of the mess we had made. Egg yolks ran down his hair and toward his eyes.
I broke into a half laugh, half smile and reached up to wipe it away. His eyes met mine.
"You forgot to see if I was lying," he whispered."
Crap.
I ducked, but it was too late. Whatever food that was still partially left hit us both, covering us the rest of the way in whatever.
After the onslaught, I looked up. While my back had taken most of the food for me, Kvir's face took his brunt.
I flicked a bacon piece off his nose. "Not. Fair."
"Life's not fair. Get over it," he mumbled. Suddenly, his knees buckled from under him.
"Whoa." I grabbed under his arm and put my hand against his chest. It only succeeded in slowing his fall, not keeping him up. I backed up as much as I could and helped him lean against the table. "Are you okay?"
His hand found the edge of the table and squeezed so tightly his knuckles went white. His shoulder heaved, his breaths heavy. "Yes." He closed his eyes and shook his head. "On second thought, no." He lowered himself to the ground. "Just give me a second."
I knelt in front of him, watching. His hands shook so hard they were almost a blur.
He opened his eyes again. They were a brighter red than before. "How do you--how do you do that?" he breathed.
I shook my head, confused. "Do what?"
He leaned against the leg of the table and shut his eyes once more. "Magic. How do you use magic so easily and not get bothered by it?"
I shrugged, then realized he couldn't hear a shrug. "I don't know. It just comes."
He raised an eyebrow. "As you said so vehemently earlier, not fair."
I grinned and pushed myself off the floor. I held out my hand to help him, which he grabbed and pulled himself up.
"Life's not fair. Get over it." I tried to wipe my hands off on his shoulder, but only managed to get them nastier. "We need to go get out of these clothes," I laughed.
"What, not hungry anymore?"
I looked at the door. It was going to be fun cleaning up the room. "I think I'm good."
As I started to walk away, Kvir grabbed my shoulder.
"Oh, Lizaveta?"
I turned to face him. "Yes?"
A piece of yolk smacked my nose.
Kvir laughed. "I win."
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This chapter was a originally not part of this because it seemed pretty filler when I though of it. It was actually a surprise Valentine's Day chapter.
It still is kinda filler, but I'm not doing anything else with it other than letting it rot in WP drafts, so it's just going to be here.
Noa out. ✌