Terrestrial Alien ✔

Chapter 72: A Thing or Two About Bad Memories

Seth

"Mn.... Hey." Joshua shifts groggily in my arms, fighting sleepiness by rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm.

I don't quite know how long we've been here, now... Just that the moon has shifted positions in the sky and that I'm very, very warm and comfortable here beneath Joshua. Blearily, I blink my eyes open to raise an eyebrow at him and his movement.

The air feels slightly cooler, crisper, and I know as I take in a deep, sleepy inhale, that it's going to rain sometime soon. Wonderful. Just what we need, honestly.

It's probably best that Joshua is getting us up now, since truthfully—and don't tell Joshua this—I'd fallen asleep.

"Yeah?" I reply in a voice still thick with drowsiness.

I groan complainingly as Joshua sits up, because I immediately feel the cool air on my skin in his absence, even as he doesn't move far. (Note to self: Find yourself a shirt, you big lug, first chance you get. It's cold out here without fur.)

His palm presses into my thigh for balance, and it wakes me up a little quicker. Reluctantly, I sit up a little straighter against the wall, and I take the chance to stretch my back and my legs, long and languidly. My spine pops, and ugh, I'm still pretty sore from all that running.

Stifling a yawn, Joshua shakes his head as though to force himself to wake up. His eyes shine bright in the fuzzy street light when he looks up at me again.

"Do we want to stay here?" he asks. "At this rate, we're going to fall asleep and stay whether we decide to or not. Then some shop keeper will find us in the morning or something..."

He trails off, and my imagination conjures up the picture of some person coming in for his shift in the morning, only to be greeted instead by two scruffy-looking boys asleep on the doorstep. It's funny at first, but then I think... regardless of what this guy could do, it wouldn't take long for the institution to find out about us if someone's seen us.

Joshua looks thoughtful, the lamplight casting soft angles over his face. "We can find somewhere to spend the night..." He adds, speaking his thoughts aloud.

"Mhmm..." Considering, I bring my hand up to the back of his neck, watching his face soften as I thread my fingers lazily through the curls there.

"No," I answer finally, Joshua seems to pull himself awake again. "I don't think we should stay, baby."

Baby. The word rolls from my tongue before I can think to filter it, and I immediately freeze up.

"'Baby'?" Joshua asks, his cheeks darkening a shade and his neck growing warm under my fingertips. Butterflies flutter in my stomach.

"Yeah, I—uh. Is that okay?" I remember his embarrassment the last time I tried pet names, and while it was absolutely so cute, I also don't want to make him uncomfortable..! "I was just thinking, eum... er..."

I stammer, feeling tongue-tied and at a loss for words, and oh, now I'm starting to feel warm in the face, shit—!

"No. It's uh, it's fine." Joshua says, sparing me from my verbal juggling. I stop to stare, and I'm shaken to discover a smile tugging at his cheeks. "I um, I think I like it, actually."

"You do?" My eyes widen.

He bites down on his smile and nods, uncharacteristically bashful. It drives me crazy with how much it makes me want to kiss him.

He glances back to me with that flush still on his cheeks, and I realise I'm gaping at him. I snap my jaw shut, clearing my throat.

Get ahold of yourself, Sundseth. Be practical. Joshua likes practical.