Trapped in Forever

36 ~ A Mantra of Muffled Drums

A/N: That little GIF off to the side is of Orion. He's cute in 2D, isn't he? ;)

When the sound of someone slamming on their brakes outside, a drawled out screeching noise drawing me away from the distant, hazy dream that drifted in and out through my eyelids, vague images of sunsets melting behind horizons, spreading orange and pink colors to stain the blue ink of the sky, and jolted me awake, I felt something stirring beside me. As my eyelids flickered, blinking away the grainy images of blurred posters, beige walls, and sunlight casted against the foot of the bed, I noticed that underneath the bright, white-like square of sunlight, there was an extra pair of feet, laying overtop of the messily made covers, adorning a pair of black socks, and I slowly turned my head, my hair ruffling against the askew pillow beneath my head, and my eyelashes thick and tacky, and I found him there, lying down beside me, his head angled away from him, the sun seeping in through the window highlighting his profile and glinting against his blond strands of hair.

His eyes were closed, elongated eyelashes casting a gray, lengthy shadow down his faintly freckled cheeks, and his lips were parted slightly, releasing a tiny breath of air each time his chest sank beneath his shirt, his Batman logo smudged with my melted mascara. My hand was placed over his chest, feeling the ticking of every one of his soft heartbeats under my fingers, and one of his hands was on top of his chest as well, rising and falling with his breathing, and his fingertips were merely half an inch away from mine. His other arm was underneath my shoulders, but I didn’t realize this until I saw the sleeve of his black T-shirt snaking underneath my body, locks of brunette hair curling against the fabric. My body was tilted towards his, with my head lying in the crook of his shoulder, and his fingers grazing against my shoulder as I breathed, a tingling sensation rippling through my nerves from the area he touched, just barely, without even realizing, down to the tips of my bare toes, poking out of the deep purple fabric, slick against my shaven legs.

He looked different somehow, then, as I gazed at his profile, slanted away from me and resting against his pillow, his blond curls ruffled and highlighted in the early morning sun, turning each bright strand into a golden ray, radiating, and his dark lips slightly ajar, the sound of his breathing was the only thing to fill my ears beside the birds, perched on their budding branches, cocking their heads, and making their familiar, high-pitched calls. He looked peaceful, but not in a way I was used to seeing. Orion appeared . . . innocent, untouched, unburdened, and my hearted thumped beneath the constricted corset, engulfing my torso, and as he breathed, my hand falling with his chest as he exhaled, I lifted my hand off of his chest and then, slowly, brushed back one of the blond curls resting on his forehead, the warmth of his skin flickering past my fingertips.

I lingered there for a moment, with my body angled towards his, feeling his arm pressing against my shoulders and his fingers brushing against my upper arm, Goosebumps tingling my skin when I would feel that butterfly of a touch, and with my fingers hovering around his hairline, tousled locks of blond hair in between my fingers, the shadow of my wrist casted over his one closed eye, his nose, and then half of his lips. Then, leisurely, I eased myself away from him, pressing my palms into the rumpled, messily made comforter, and I swung my feet off of the bed, the tips of my toes grazing against the carpet, and heavy locks of my brunette hair tumbled out of my bun and fell against my bare shoulders, the ends tickling my freckled skin as they skimmed across my back.

The shadow of a bird, wings fluttering rapidly, as it they had been replaced by a brown, dark blur on either side of its body, swooped across the rectangular square patch of sunlight that fell against the carpet and the foot of his bed, his foot twitching slightly, as I reached up, grasping the bobby pins dangling from my hair, tangled, and pulled them out, one by one, until my hair fell against my cheeks, a few strands of dark hair glinting in the corners of my eyes, wavering as I breathed, and then I undid the tousled bun on the back of my head, barely held together, and I shook my head free as I wrapped the band around my wrist, black against my ashen skin, and then I heard the bed springs creaking beneath me, and his hand, fingers lazily curled and resting beside the front of the pillow, where a dent the shape of my head laid, rumpling around the rim, slowly slipped out of my view, and I heard a faint groan.