Embers || Ikemen Revolution || Sirius

Chapter 28 ~ Pretty

As everyone ate the cake with happy chatter, the mood of the whole headquarters changing overnight, I sat down off to the side, watching quietly. These are the times when I understood why chefs loved to watch people eat their food with a smile on their face. It really gave you a sense of accomplishment when you know that the smile resting upon their lips was of your making.

My smile faltered slightly. It wasn't just my doing though, it probably wasn't even close. They would still be this happy even without my sweets. It was just another extra treat to top off this amazing night. They were probably more happy because we got the Civic Center, and they'll be celebrating no matter what.

"What's with that frown," Sirius asked as he took a seat beside me, a slice of cake in hand.

"Nothing," I hummed, glancing at Sirius out of the corner of my eyes. "I thought you didn't eat sweets?"

Sirius shook his head, handing the small fork and plate of cake to me. "Who said it was for me. Have you tasted your food yet?"

"No," I said begrudgingly. I moved to take the cake that Sirius offered me, but he whipped it away. "Hey!"

"Who knows, maybe you'll choke on the fork," he joked as he took a small bite sized chunk on the fork and held it up. "Say 'ah'."

Even though I felt slightly irritated with how pampered I was being, I couldn't help the grin that made its way onto my face as I opened my mouth wide, munching on the cake with a smile on my face.

"What's going on here," Luka suddenly asked, coming up behind us. He held a few drinks in his hands.

"Nothing," Sirius immediately said, his face turning back to that calm and composed mask. His hand dropped from my face to rest back on the plate. "Is that my drink?"

Luka began to protest, but Sirius already took a hold of one of the identical looking glasses and took a big gulp.

"That's... for the others," Luka sighed.

Sirius frowned slightly, his face bright red. "Now that you mention it, this does taste like wine."

"No more for you then," I said, grabbing the glass and handing it back to Luka with a sheepish smile.

"That's weird," Luka muttered. "He would normally be able to tell the difference, even at a glance."

"He's probably distracted," I hummed as Sirius pulled Luka down and started braiding his hair, this way and that. "Can I join?"

Sirius blinked at me for a bit before registering my question and nodding his head. I sat down beside him and started braiding Luka's hair as well.

"I need to get the drinks to the others." Luka protested, but me and Sirius refused to let him go.

"Nuh-uh! Can't that wait? We're busy right now!"

Luka sighed in defeat, letting us play with his hair and turn it into braids and pigtails, this way and that.

"Beautiful," I announced once we were finally finished. "Do you think it looks pretty, Sirius," I asked, looking up at the tall guy.

Sirius smiled down at me goofily, that happy grin that just makes my heart flutter, coupled with that blush makes me squeal on the inside. He's so cute!!!!!

"Yes, pretty," he murmured, but he wasn't looking at Luka, instead, his eyes were fixated right on me as he tucked a strand of loose copper locks behind my ear.

"Well then," Luka said, standing up awkwardly. "I'll, uh, go and hand these drinks to everyone else then." Luka hurried away, and I saw a faint blush on his cheeks.

I let out an amused huff as I patted Sirius on the head, like a giant puppy. Since Luka was gone, he was resting his head right on my chest, and I didn't mind. It was soothing, combing my fingers through his hair. He probably won't let me if he was sober.

Speaking of which, he should probably sober up.

"I'm gonna go and get you some water, kay?" I gently pushed Sirius back and prepared to stand up, until Sirius suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"Wait," he whined, pulling me down once more and hugging me tightly to his chest. "Are you trying to leave me, Emberlynn," he mumbled into my hair. "Don't leave."

I could feel his warm breath fan across my neck, and felt a shiver go down my spine.

"Mmkay," I murmured back, snuggling up against Sirius' warm body. His warm hand in mine warmed up my fingertips, and on instinct, I clutched it to my chest, like those stuffies that I have back at home.

Sure, it's childish of me to still sleep with stuffed animals, but don't you just have a feeling of comfort, squeezing something? Even if it was an inanimate object? It just reminds you that you weren't alone, and that at least something was there for you.

It was comforting.

Maybe that's why I let myself succumb to the darkness, letting myself drift off as Sirius started playing with my hair, both of us barely awake.

*~*

After Luka handed everyone their drinks, it was pretty late. People were going back to bed, barely paying any attention to the sleeping couple on the couch. But Luka couldn't help but check up on them from time to time.

Emberlynn's face was peaceful and calm as she breathed softly, faintly. Sirius' face was smiling too, a warm, sweet smile as his fingers remained tangled in Ember's fiery red hair.

"Luka," the young man heard one of the soldiers whisper call. "Yeah," he asked, turning around from my wide eyes. Was that what love looked like?

"We're gonna head out now, get some sleep yourself."

Luka nodded my head as I grabbed a nearby blanket, letting the soft gray settle over the two. Sirius seemed to grab it on instinct, and wrapped it around Emberlynn even tighter.

He gave the two a wry smile before getting up and going to his own room. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

A/N: 

Hai! Sorry this is a bit late. I had some technical issues for some reason?? When I tried to add a new part, it said something about a story having a max of 25 tags. I also found some kind of 'texttospeech' tag that I know I didn't add. And when I tried to change it (along with some other tags cause it had some weird symbols on it that I also didn't add) it wouldn't save. I think it's okay now... I hope. Did this ever happen to any of you guys? 

Word Count (not including A/N): 1013 

2021/11/13