Moonlit

6: Edge of Warmth 🔞

🔞Depictions of sex, violence, and self-harm

This chapter isn't as refined as I'd like, but I had a hard time writing it because I was trying to walk the line of character development that reveals a lot without being tacky or feel like it's being used simply for plot devices/shock value.

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The room echoed with uproarious laughter.

Noah's face lit up with an exuberant smile, his eyes crinkled into crescents as tears of mirth streamed down his flushed cheeks. His laughter echoed through the room, causing his shoulders to shake with each hearty laugh. Meanwhile, Callum sat on the floor beside Noah, clad in a pair of swears left behind by Riley. A towel draped carelessly over his head, forgotten in his post shower relaxation. His lips pursed, but the tug at the corners betrayed his feigned annoyance as he waited for Noah to catch his breathe.

"Yeah. Yeah," Callum sighed as their eyes met, and Noah broke into another fit of laugher. "I'm glad you find this so funny," he said with a resigned chuckle. He'd just finished telling Noah about the string of bad luck he'd experienced since leaving this room. His boots were abandoned outside the door, covered in mud and freezing water, his jacket wasn't in much better shape with fresh tears and drenched in icy water. His palms had gotten scraped, but in his annoyance, he hadn't even notice until Noah had mentioned it. After Callum finished a warm shower, Noah had demanded he take a seat and let him tend to the scrapes. Callum had initially denied the offer, they would heal on their own soon enough anyways, but when he met the worried expression his warlock wore, he complied. The warmth and care of Noah's small, delicate hands against his own larger and rougher hands had sent warm shivers through Callum. Like feeling the sunshine against your skin after an endless storm.

His resolve in confronting Noah about his conversation with Bellamy had diminished as he'd watched amusement tug at Noah's lips. As the complaints of the jinx continued Noah had burst into guiltless laughter. Callum had heard the songs of sirens and grew up listening to the hymns of Selene, but Noah's laughter was the most hypnotic sound he'd ever been blessed by. As Callum took the time to study his warlock's unrestrained joy, he understood, he would have suffered a lifetime, even two, of bad luck if it meant seeing that single dimpled imprint in Noah's cheek and the glittering joy that illuminated within his eyes.

When Callum had first arrived at Noah's door, he'd been consumed by a tangled mess of emotions, each one vied for dominance within him. The most prominent had been a seething frustration, the kind that simmered just below the surface, ready to erupt at any moment. He had been poised to unleash it all on Noah, to let out his pent-up anger in a torrent of words. But the moment he saw Noah's tear-stained face, a sudden shift occurred within him. The anger dissipated as if it'd never been there, and in its place blossomed a foreign surge of empathy and concern. Without allowing himself to fully process the thought, he'd reached for Noah, pulled him in close and held him in his arms. As he gently stroked Noah's hair, a pang of ache resonated within him, a reminder of a depth of emotions he'd long since forgotten he could feel. The moment had left him stunned yet comforted.

The lines of detachment that Callum had adamantly fought to maintain blurred beyond the gaze of his wolf. He'd mindlessly wiped away the residual tears that carved a path over Noah's cheeks, the flushed warmth tingled against the pads of his callused fingers. He'd watched as Noah nibbled on his bottom lip; his bleary eyes focused on Callum's face as his breaths shuddered. The silence had been palpable, Callum had felt that at any moment his rationality would snap, he would have taken Noah in his arms and shown him just how loved he deserved to be. Except. Callum couldn't even be certain if he'd be capable enough of such a feat.

Noah had been the one to break the silence first. He'd offered Callum a warm shower and a pair of clean clothes, clothes left behind by Riley during one of their movie nights.