Living Grief - Ray x Norman

𝚅𝙸. 𝙳𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔

Ray POV

It had been a week since the '20 Questions' incident. Norman and I had been more flustered around each other, but nobody noticed. Although we both enjoyed the kiss, it was awkward after it, because we didn't know what this made us.

Though we were embarrassed, we didn't stop hanging out with each other. In fact, we seemed to grow closer through it, we just didn't talk about it. Every night, before bed, he'd give me a little peck on the cheek and then we'd fall asleep and somehow wake up cuddled together.

Then there were also the nights where we'd be awake, looking out for demons but it would normally just be us taking awkward glances at each other and giggling every time our eyes met before giggles turned into cuddles and chaste kisses.

We didn't tell anybody, we didn't even discuss it ourselves. I guess we didn't need to, because we both enjoyed doing what we are now.

It was the middle of the night currently, and I had woken up from a 10 minute nap, because I heard a rustling in the bushes. I saw that the people who were supposed to be watching out for demons had fallen asleep. I shook my head at their irresponsible behaviour and untangled my legs from Norman's with a bit of difficulty; I couldn't feel my legs and they were tangled with Norman's. I managed, though.

I sat up when I had freed my leg and gently removed his arms that clung to me desperately, like I was life support.

I stood up and silently creeped to the bushes where I heard the noise. When I looked behind them I didn't see anything, so I went back to Norman. I could have sworn I heard something. I was on edge for the rest of the night and couldn't get back to sleep, despite being wrapped in Norman's warm embrace as he just grabbed me the second I was in his reach and cuddled me like a teddy bear. Maybe he wasn't asleep.

Dawn soon came, and everyone woke up. It was mandatory for us to get at least 8 hours of sleep so we wouldn't get tired if we had to run from any wild demons. We had yet to run into farm pursuers but we were unfortunate enough to meet an angry wild demon. Unlucky for us, we had lost a few of the children to the beast but that was expected out here. We weren't as protected like we were back at the farms but the forests were so beautiful. I almost didn't want to leave them, even if it meant running away from monsters, but Norman's safety is my number 1 priority and if it means leaving somewhere that made me happy, so be it.

We decided to get moving earlier than usual so by eight o'clock, we were treading through the forest, being careful to not trip over fallen logs, get caught in spider webs or step in mud. We took a water break once we found a river, but a 'break' ended up being a 4 hour mess around.

We were all in the water, most of our clothes off so they wouldn't get wet, with the exception of underwear and the girls and boys were separated for obvious reasons. A few of the younger kids had began throwing water at each other and soon enough, it turned into a water fight. The girls had come to check out what the commotion was and soon, they got involved.

We all came out of the water soaking wet and freezing. Instead of wetting our clothes, we all lay down on the river bank and let the warm sun dry us off. Everyone ended up falling asleep though, the sun was extremely warm and was even making me a little drowsy. I was sitting up against a tree, Norman next to me. Our hands brushed against each other and the both of us craved nothing more than to just grab the others hand and not let go. I turned my head to slightly to look at Norman.