DARK LONDON NIGHTS // sully from top boy

35 - promise

London
Nov. 10th

Nora woke up to the warm sunlight tickling her skin. Sleepily, she turned over when she noticed a heavy arm resting on her naked hip. Slowly she opened her eyes and after her pupils adjusted to the bright light, she saw Sully lying in bed beside her.

He had stayed.
Nora smiled.

She carefully took his hand from her hip and tentatively stroked it with her fingertips. Over each of his fingers, his knuckles, the back of his hand. While doing so, she looked at his hand and then her gaze drifted to his face. His eyes were closed, he was sleeping peacefully. There was no sign of the moody, aggressive man he was by daylight.

Nora carefully placed his hand on the mattress and got up to go to the bathroom. She quickly showered off, brushed her teeth and put on a pair of sweatpants. Back in the bedroom, she looked at Sully briefly from the doorway, his chest moving up and down at regular intervals, Nora had to smile softly. Snuggled in Nora's blanket, he looked relaxed, as if he were sound asleep.

After a few seconds, she left the room and closed the door.

She found his shirt in the living room and put it on.

Then Nora turned on a podcast on her TV in the living room and walked over to her white marble kitchen counter. She gathered some ingredients and then made French toast with fresh raspberries, blueberries and maple syrup. Nora squeezed fresh orange juice and had the coffee maker brew a pot of coffee.

"Good morning," she heard a raspy, deep voice and wheeled around. She almost knocked over the pitcher of orange juice, but Sully's morning voice had caught her of guard. It was even more growling and beautiful than usual.

"Good morning," she finally replied, smiling softly. "Sleep well?"

Sully scratched his head and yawned. "I can't remember the last time I slept this long".

Nora laughed lightly and turned her attention back to the food.

"You're afraid of what we do but you make breakfast listening to that?"

Nora quickly turned off the True Crime podcast, which was describing a bloody and extraordinarily brutal serial murder.

"That's not the same thing, you idiot", she said while rolling her eyes playfully.

He raised his hands apologetically and then stopped moving. His gaze examined her in surprise from top to bottom.

"My shirt?"

"Whose else?"

Sully shook his head with a grin and pulled a chair up to the kitchen counter. He glanced around, now looking at Nora's apartment in daylight for the first time.

"Who knew you were such a posh gyal?" he asked sarcastically, tilting his head.
Nora turned and propped her hands on the kitchen counter.

"I know you're cleverly avoiding this subject again by asking shallow questions," she interrupted him, looking directly at him with her eyes raised, "but what was that last night? Why are you here again?"

Sully returned her gaze and then looked out the window. His gentle smile was gone and his features now looked thoughtful, as if reality had caught up with him again.

"I don't know, Nora," he answered truthfully and hesitantly. Something else resonated in his usually strong voice, something unfamiliar.

"I just came here," he then slowly whispered under his breath, letting his gaze slide back to her.

He lingered on her eyes and he had that look again, that honest and vulnerable look that Nora had seen a few times now. She returned it and lost herself for a few seconds in his melancholic brown-green glowing eyes. A brief moment that felt like half an eternity.