100 reasons to love our lives

Under the stars

Will

He outdid himself. Again.

Three of the four walls were completely made of glass; showing the snowy hills beneath us. The walls were white and golden, the blankets too. Fluffy golden carpets graced the floor and the podest the bed stood on.

On the ceiling were a dozen little lights, like stars on a night sky. And in a big octagon over the bed was a glass window, showing the real stars.
The milky way was a sharp contrast to the royal blue of the night; a broad river of pure silver flooding across the sky.
And these trillions of stars! Like white dust sprayed across the whole image.

I stared in awe.

Suddenly, Nico's hands were on my waist. "I landed here and thought about you."
"Are you exercising shadow travel again?", I asked curiously, and he kissed my shoulder. "I'm still a little embarrassed about after Halloween."
"Did your talk with Simon enlighten you a little?", I asked and he groaned. "No! That guy is like a mystery behind a mystery behind a mystery behind a thousand of other mysteries."
I chuckled and turned around to kiss him on his forehead.

My heart suddenly felt like a boulder in my chest. He did all that for me, and what did I do? I took his credit card and gave 100.000$ to someone else. My goodness, how did I even deserve kissing him?
I forced myself to breathe out. What I had done was good. Necessary. Right?

Nico kissed my shoulder again. "This room has a very fancy shower", he meant, his eyes twinkling cheekily. "I'm going to use it now."
"Hmm", I made, carefully avoiding more eye contact than necessary. "Have fun."
My boyfriend kissed my cheek and opened the bathroom door.

I fell on the bed and screamed into a pillow. Damn that guilty conscience! I didn't even want to know how much fun we could've had in that shower if it weren't for that.
Instead, I had to lay here and wait for him to come back.

I buried my face deeper in the pillow as I felt the mattress shifting. Soft kisses tickled my back; I squirmed away. "Hey baby, what bothers you?"
I turned my head to him. "Did you just call me baby?"
"Guess I did", he meant with a shrug. "Should I stop?"
I buried my face in the helpful pillow again. "No, no. It's alright."

"Alright, Will", he whispered into my ear. "Can I help you in some way?"
That broke me. I felt these traitorous tears forcing themselves out of me; my body shaking in the desperate attempt to keep them in. And of course he just tugged me into his arms, murmuring: "Shh, baby. Whatever it is, I'm here."
I wept openly against his chest. "St-stop being so nice", I stuttered. "Y-you're making i-it all worse!"
"What has happened, William?", Nico asked, now sounding irritated. "Have I done something wrong?"
"No, stupid!", I sobbed. "I... I have!"
He listened calmly as I explained what happened; even when my sentences were interrupted by my sobs.
I was the worst keeper of secrets ever.

"Oh, Will", he sighed and kissed my forehead. "You never stole anything before."
"A-Aren't you mad?", I asked, my voice still shaky. "Yes, I am", he admitted. "I am very mad at her."
"At.. at Celine? But she didn't do anything!"
He raised an eyebrow at me, and I fastly added: "She never told me to do that!"
"She didn't need to tell you", he said. "She knows how to use your fatal flaw."

My fatal flaw. Like Nico struggling with his deep anger issues, I always struggled with my savior complex. I would do everything to help anyone under my watch; even if it was absolutely helpless. Of course it could be helpful to some degree, at least it gifted me a wonderful boyfriend, but...
"She doesn't know my fatal flaw", I muttered.
"But she knows how to manipulate."
I sighed tiredly. "I'm sorry for letting myself get manipulated", I apologized.
A soft chuckle escaped his mouth. "Just be lucky that infinite minus 100.000 is still infinite", he meant. "Or otherwise, we would have a deep relationship crisis now."
Now we both laughed.