A World Away

8. Out of the closet

Great. Mor was now snoring on Eve's shoulder who herself was too tired to carry Mor. It was night time, she had been out the whole time and just after she had shared a kiss after months, Mor fainted. Besides, how was she supposed to climb thousands of staircases! Let alone with Mor! "Psst, wake up, wake up," she nudged Mor but with no help. She was about to give up and splash a bottle of water on her when the door opened and Azriel stepped in, his eyes instantly landing on her.

Azriel had spent his morning completing his work. He had been exhausted by the time the sky-high stack of papers reduced to two-three scattered ones. He had gone to the House of Wind searching for someone's company, which surprised him as well (he preferred being alone, what was happening?!?!). When he found not a single soul there, he went out to train for a bit followed by a short trip to Amren's place. By the time he was done, it was night and he still felt restless. And so, he made his way to Rita's where his eyes landed on pink-tinged Eve with a passed away Mor.

"What happened?" He asked curiously. "She drank... and passed away. I was just going to slash some water on her but it seems you robbed me of that chance," she said pouting. "Maybe another time," he said and sat across the two.

"How was shopping?" he asked after a minute of awkward silence. "Good, bought a couple of stuff," she hummed. "Hey, do you know where Mike is?" she asked. Azriel shook his head and only for the sake of teasing, "why? Am I not good enough a company?" he frowned.

"What! No, no. It's just that Mike is well... I wanted to talk to him, but you are great company too," Eve said enthusiastically. She just really needed to talk to Mike.

"He might be at the House of the Wind, come on, I will take you there," Az said, getting up. He would have liked spending some time with Eve but she was clearly tired and distracted at the moment. She glanced at Mor who was now snoring. "I will come back for her," he said. She nodded and took his hand. The next moment they were above the House's wards. Before she could yelp, Az smoothly stretched his wings, breaking their fall.

"Gosh, that drop reminds me of a rollercoaster every time," Eve said. "Rollercoaster?" Az asked, tilting his head to the side. Eve opened her mouth when Mike came into view hollering, "You are late!" Eve instantly brightened on seeing him, and Az felt as if someone had pricked him. "Got held up by a very drunk Mor," she said grinning.

"Without me! You are going to pay for that Evans," he said, faking a scowl. "Ayy, no need for name calling. Come on, let's go, I was going to come look for you anyway so stop with that scowl," she said and took his arm. She turned once to say bye to Az and then left.

Az watched them bicker till they went out of his view. Mike and Eve- he would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous of Mike. Their friendship was rare, so, so rare.... Eve always brightened at Mike's sight. Sighing, he left to pick up Mor.

******

"Let me get this straight, you kissed Mor?" Mike asked as they watched the sky. Eve hummed in confirmation. "It was nice to kiss someone after so long, ya know? Last one was Tristan and he was a jerk."

Eve spent almost 20 minutes ranting pessimistically to Mike who soothed her before she said she had kissed Mor as a side note.

"So do you like her?" Mike asked. "No, not like that. I mean she is great and all but I don't have the capacity to date right now," she said. Mike hummed. "Today has been one hell of a day huh?" Eve hummed. "You must be tired, spending the day bonding with Cassian needs a lot of energy," she laughed. "I am. But it was so much fun," Mike said, his eyes sparking. "Let's just sleep here," Mike said and leaned back. Eve studied him for a moment before cuddling with him.

And so, they spent the night with the only other person who understood their swirling emotions.

Mike missed his home dearly. Yes, Velaris was beautiful but it wasn't home. He missed pizza, college, technology. He was frustrated just as much as Eve but at the same time knew one day, he would return home. He knew Eve thought he was trying to catch false hope but Mike had faith still. He was sad, but he adapted well. He did feel powerless now and then but then he would go to Eve who would boost him up in a second.

Eve missed music. And books. And her family, turns out distance does make one miss their family. She always had a love-hate relation with them as after all, she was the black sheep even if well loved, a bit out of place. She missed roasting about romantic teen movies, she missed ice cream and getting a brain freeze from it. She felt useless without an aim in life, so she floated around. Yes, she had made friends whom she had become close to but what was her role here? She only remained grounded thanks to Mike and her strong will of steel.

******

Mor groaned as the light filtered through the glass windows. "Morning Sleeping Beauty, was just bringing you some tea" a chipper voice said from beside her. She turned to see Eve who was sitting comfortably on the chair. Yesterday night's memories came back to her in a rush. Mor jerked and sat up quickly. "Shit- last night-" Mor started but Eve held up her hand, making her stop in an instant.

Mor closed her eyes, maybe Eve had hated the kiss, regretted it, or blamed Mor for it. But all Eve said was, "maybe get ready, then we will talk. Refresh a bit, I will wait here if you want or outside, whatever." Mor opened her eyes to see Eve smiling a bit hesitantly. Mor nodded, that was a good idea.

"You can wait here," Mor said and left to get ready, trying not to overthink about last night and what Eve would say.

She returned to Eve humming some song while looking out of the window. When she saw her enter, Eve said, "Az brought you here last night, luckily he entered the café just as I was contemplating throwing water on your face. You owe him a thanks." Her mouth twitched.

"I will," Mor said, smiling. She was relieved Eve hadn't started shouting. Mor cleared her throat and started, she had been practicing what to say since the time she went to get ready, "What happened last night- I am sorry about that, I just got carried away and was drunk..."

"Why are you sorry? You like girls don't you?" Eve asked with a tilt in her head. Mor looked at her in surprise but nodded; she owed Eve the truth. "Then it's fine. It wasn't like I didn't want to kiss you too." Eve shrugged.

Mor looked up, "so you- you like females too?" You are like me?

"I like both, males and females." "Oh," Mor said. She was at loss for words.

Eve said, "no one knows, do they?" Mor shook her head. "I- don't know how to tell them," Mor said. Eve nodded. "I did tell Mike last night, I am sorry for that but I tell him everything that happens with me, you know? He is my support system but I am sorry," Eve said, feeling a bit guilty now.

"It's alright, I understand, just keep this between us."

"I won't tell anyone now. I didn't know that others didn't know. Mike won't tell anyone either so, sorry if I took away your chance of threatening me about that," she teased. Mor rolled her eyes but was glad for Eve lighting the air.

"But um," Eve said, coughing a bit, "I know we kissed and all but I don't like like you like that, I mean you are amazing and all but-"

"I know, it was a one-time thing," Mor assured her. Eve let out a breath. "You can come talk to me about it whenever you want alright, I won't even tell Mike," Eve said as she sighed and laid on the bed. Mor couldn't be more grateful. And so, after a few minutes Mor told her about her past loves and affairs. Eve was glad that Mor had at least one great love- the mortal queen- even if it was a long, long time ago.

"Tell me about your world," Mor said. And so, Eve did. She told her about Pride month and Mor hung onto every word. She told her stories from her childhood that had Mor laughing.

And that is how Cassian found them- lying beside each other laughing. 

Happy reading!

XOXO,

the amazing author who hopes she is doing justice to this fanfic