Blue Flames

Chapter 43

I woke up in a warm tangle of limbs and hair.

I sputtered. There was hair on my lips. Squinting my eyes open, the first thing I noticed was the sun glaring against the blinds. Then I noticed the black strands of hair occupying a part of my field of vision.

Arthur's hair was all over my face, and the two of us were a warm, twisted pretzel on the bed.

His head was buried in my neck. One of my hands was fisted in his hair. His arms were wrapped around my torso. I couldn't even make sense of our legs.

He smelled so good, I didn't even mind staying this way for a while. I took a deep breath. Now I can indulge in my creepy scent fetish without being embarrassed. There was just one little problem; he was so damn heavy I couldn't draw a proper breath.

I grunted. "Arthur? Wake up, you're crushing me."

He mumbled something and went back to sleep. Seriously? Old immortals did not need much sleep compared to younger ones. I wouldn't have pegged Arthur for a heavy sleeper.

I bore the weight for a few more minutes, then started pulling at his hair. No reaction.

Damn, he really was a heavy sleeper. I wish I had a permanent marker. I snickered at the thought of Arthur walking around the place with graffiti on his face. Hmm...maybe I could have drawn a kitten on his face, complete with pointed ears on his forehead and whiskers on his cheeks.

I laughed harder. That would be priceless.

"Stop laughing."

"You're awake!" I tugged harder on his hair.

"It's hard to stay asleep when your mind is so loud."

"That's silly." I rolled my eyes. "I thought old immortals did not sleep much."

"We don't," he said, not removing his face from my neck, "I haven't slept so deeply since... It was a very long time ago."

"You seemed pretty fine, just now."

He raised his head and looked down at me. His eyes were warm and inviting. His face relaxed to an almost smile that made him look as if he had no care in the world.

"I know," he said, and kept staring at me.

"What?" I touched my face to see if there was drool on it.

His lips twitched up. He kissed the corner of my lips. I stopped breathing. His face was so close, I could make out tiny flecks of lighter brown around the center of his pupils. I'd never known they were there. He rubbed a lock of my hair between his fingers, looking at the strands with fascination.

"Do you have a hair kink?" I asked. He chuckled and rested his forehead on mine with a sigh. It was so natural to wrap my arms around him. The bond was sizzling.

Suddenly, Arthur was no longer there. I blinked.

"Time to get to work," he said, rubbing his face, "let's go."

I sat up and gave a big yawn that would have made any hippo proud.  "What do I do?" I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees, "will you tell ...everyone?"

Charles and Kat weren't my biggest fans. And as much as I didn't care for Charles' affection, he was right. I did endanger Arthur just by being myself. If news of what happened yesterday got out... yeah, that wouldn't go well with a lot of people. It would be easier for them to just get rid of me, and Arthur was in the way. Those who wanted to get to Arthur would find me the perfect justification.

"Alright, that's it," Arthur scowled, "what did Charles tell you yesterday?"

"What makes you think he said anything?"