Nocturne | ONC 2024

Twelve: Embarrassment

"Your phone is ringing."

The voice filtered through the sleep fog moments before Aaron noticed something lighting up right next to his face. He opened his eyes, bleary and unfocused, and scrambled for the phone on the bedside table.

"Bill?" he mumbled.

"Evening, Evans. Nikolai's updated me on the situation, but I wanted to hear from you myself."

Aaron sat up slowly, disorientation crowding out sense. He was sitting in a bed, but it wasn't his, and he realised dimly that he was still in Nikolai's flat. He was in the master bedroom, the curtains drawn against the dusk outside.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, looking around for Nikolai, whose voice had woken him. But he was alone in the room.

"And your father?"

And like that he was awake. "Um." He looked around again, closer this time, noted that unlike the last time he'd woken disoriented in Nikolai's flat, his clothes were scattered around the room. His face burned when he remembered what had happened.

"Evans?"

Oh, no. "Um. He's fine, Bill."

A suspicious pause. "Are you sure you're alright? I have the coordinates of your location. I can send someone out to you if you need it."

"No need. Sorry. I just woke up. Yesterday took a lot out of me." He laughed, and the sound only made him seem terribly guilty. "Have you, um...have you heard from the Nocturnes about what happened?"

He was relieved when his supervisor accepted the swerve. He doubted Bill's suspicions were soothed, but as long as he wasn't asking more questions Aaron didn't want to answer he didn't much care. "We had to contact them. They were quite happy to sweep it under the rug."

"I'm not surprised. They weren't counting on Nikolai being there at all."

"No. A strange coincidence that he was there just in time." A pause, and Aaron felt sweat prickling his brow. "Be careful with him too, Aaron. I can't figure him out, and in my book that makes him just as dangerous."

Yes, careful. I'm being so very careful.

"Er...yeah, sure. Don't worry about me, Bill, I can handle myself."

"You sound guilty, Evans."

"What? No." He cringed himself at how unconvincing that was. "I'm being careful. I'll check in again when I'm on my way back to the station. Bye, Bill."

He hung up and stared at his phone for a long second, half-expecting Bill to call him straight back after that farce of a performance. He didn't, but just as Aaron was letting out a breath of relief a text came in.

If I don't hear from you by 2 I'm sending someone out.

Aaron rubbed his face with both hands, letting the phone fall to the covers. He groaned.

"Bad call?"

He jerked his head up. Nikolai leaned in the doorway, a dish towel over his shoulder, and it was only then that Aaron noticed the smell of cooking coming in from the kitchen. His face flared with heat all over again, because of course Nikolai looked as immaculate and unruffled as always, and he was a cringing mess who hadn't found his way out of the bed yet. They hadn't even done anything and he was a state.

Well, not everything, anyway. But that thought was so embarrassing he didn't dare look at it straight on. Nikolai, however, seemed unperturbed. Aaron vaguely wondered if anyone else the vampire had slept with had panicked just before they got to the good part and had to stop.