Gold Fever (m×m) ✔

XXVI: Such a pretty little killer

《 ELIAN PHOENIX 》

A ray of sunshine was shining right into my eyes, and I grumbled out a slew of swearwords while I lifted my hand up to shield my face from the merciless attack. I was ready to get back to sleep, when I heard Rain stirring next to me. It caused a domino effect, and soon Najwa was mumbling something in a drowsy voice.

"I'll find us something to eat." Rain ended his sentence with a big yawn. His movements were slow and cumbersome when he made his way to his backpack, looking for his hunting knife and hatchet. 

I knew this much as I was peeking from between my fingers, but I shut my eyes again. I wasn't needed yet and an extra hour of sleep sounded heavenly to me. Yet, before I could fall back asleep, Najwa spoke up.

"That Aspen guy is still out there, you shouldn't go alone." She reasoned. I heard rustling, which I guessed was Najwa sitting up and crawling to Rio. "Hey.. woah, it's me." Najwa backed up and lifted her palms up when Rio reacted to her advances by blindly swatting around with their arms. 

I was yet again peeking through my fingers, and I spotted Rain standing by the door. His gaze was fixed on Najwa and Rio, but his face remained unreadable. Sometimes I wondered how much he knew about Rio's past, and if seeing them react so violently and waking up screaming from nightmares was a logical thing to him.

"Najwa?" Rio breathed when they blinked their eyes open and returned from whatever nightmare of a world they traveled to in their sleep.

"Can you go hunting with Rain?" Najwa asked. She fiddled with a long strand of Rio's white hair. "Phoenix's attacker is still out there and we shouldn't be going out alone."

"Yeah, sure." Rio agreed, and scrambled up from the floor without further exhortation. 

Only when they were gone, did I lower my hand from my face. I tilted my head to the side to look at Najwa, who was sitting her back against the wall and applying black eye-liner with the help of a tiny round mirror. I lifted my brow as I remarked: "Rain could take Aspen down with his hand tied." 

To my surprise, Najwa grinned sheepishly and secured the cap back on her eye-liner. "I know."

"Oh, how devious." I whistled as I realized her plan. When Najwa only grinned at that, I voiced the question I had had on my mind for a while now: "Do you think they like each other?" 

Najwa stared at the opposite wall, thinking. Just as I was starting to regret bringing it up, she asked: "As in, do they like each other right now?"

It seemed like a rhetorical question, so I waited for her to go on. I had had my disagreements with Rain, but I still very much hoped he was happy and that he could work things out with Rio. If not for his sake, for Rio's.

"They don't, but I'm waiting for Rain to stop being an obstinate blockhead and apologize to Rio so that we can all move on from this nonsense." Najwa pondered, fiddling with the eye-liner bottle. "Then, as in, do they have feelings for each other? That's obvious to everyone else but them two."

"Yeah, well." I hummed, having no other option than to agree with her. "You don't mind if they end up together too?"

"I think.." A smile spread on Najwa's lips, so I knew what her answer was going to be. "I would like that."

"In that case.. I'm shipping them." I agreed with a playful grin. "Only I'm not a fan of the idea of officially being the fourth third wheel, and I'm sure as hell not gonna bang Rain."

"You seem to forget that right now no one is getting any." Najwa noted and  then bursted into laughter, more out of exhaustion than actual good humor. Her eyes watered, and the eye-liner got all smudged when she wiped at her eyes with her hand, trying to calm down but just ending up cracking up more. I couldn't help but join her, as I had missed the sound of her laughter.