I Am Ruined (TDA Lord of Shadows Sequel)

[ XIII ] Hide and Seek

Ty opened his eyes slowly, noting how early it still was. He mumbled, rolling over towards the edge of the bed only to see a figure sleeping soundly on the floor. It took a moment for his eyes to focus in the dark, but he could make out the golden sheen of the boy's hair. Kit. Confused, he sat up in bed. He remembered after last night he had gone to Livvy's room to go to sleep again, as he did every night. He knew he had come alone, but here was Kit fast asleep beside her bed. How long had he been there? Ty swung his feet off the side of the bed and nudged Kit gently with his foot.

"Ouch, wha- huh?" He mumbled, still half absorbed in sleep. He did finally half sit up, leaning against the bed with his hands rubbing at his eyes.

"Kit. What are you doing in here?" Ty asked, more curious than anything.

He seemed to become more alert, his sky blue eyes twinkling in the dim light of the slowly rising sun. "I- uh, I knew you were sleeping in here. I didn't want you to have to sleep in her room alone." He avoided saying her name, afraid of the sound. Ty looked at him, his gray eyes locking onto his with such sincerity it was almost odd. Kit stood up, taking a seat on the bed next to the Blackthorn now. "Besides, I miss her too. Livvy. And we need to make sure we figure out-"

Kit trailed off. Ty hadn't said anything, he was still watching him closely, his eyes surveying him. Making eye contact was never something Kit gave a lot of thought to until he met Ty. He had always thought it was just something expected, he never realized the intensity you felt with someone's gaze boring into your own until he had watched Ty interact with others. He didn't have his headphones on now and Kit wondered if he was feeling overwhelmed. He almost felt overwhelmed now.

"Tiberius?" He asked, his gaze unintentionally dropping from his eyes to his lips. He remembered once again the first time he had seen him and thought, How beautiful. He thought it again now. He flicked his eyes back up to Ty's only to see he was no longer looking at him, but at his hands.

"We should go get the Conveyance Element. Before the meeting." Ty said, standing up abruptly. He grabbed his headphones from the table and put them over his ears before he headed out of the room. Kit looked after him until he disappeared around the corner and took a deep breath before following after him.

***

"Emma," The voice was soft, lifting her from sleep gently, "Em, we have to get up." She cracked an eye open, the room still filled with darkness.

"You can't be serious. If the sun is not up neither am I." She mumbled with her head into the pillow, rolling away from Jules despite his protest.

"You know we have to be the first ones at the meeting. We need to know what to expect, what we're planning." Julian rolled over, placing a kiss on her bare shoulder blade. It was then that she realized she was sleeping with no clothes on. The thought made her blush, rosy pink creeping across her features. She buried her face further in the pillow to hide it. She was confident in her body and felt no problems walking around in a bathing suit or in her sports bras when training, but something about being completely naked made her feel vulnerable. "Emmaaaa..." Julian groaned, urging her to get up.

"You can go, I'll stay here and sleep." She murmured almost unintelligibly into the sheets. Julian stirred in the sheets for a moment before yanking all the blankets off of her. She shrieked and curled up, turning towards him. "Julian!"

"Shhhh-" He shushed her with a laugh, pressing a kiss to her lips to block the sound. "I'm not supposed to be in here remember?"

She smiled up at him, the look on his face made her entirely forget the vulnerability or uneasiness she had felt earlier. She just felt an overwhelming sense of love and completeness. "Okay. I'm up now, so go get changed. I'll meet you in the kitchen." He smiled back and went to leave. Running up to him before he reached the door, Emma wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into a deep kiss before letting him go. "I love you," She whispered.