What Little Worlds

Thirty-Two

The next few days passed by slowly. Amelie started going to the gym again during her lunch break. It was the only space she could escape to and feel some sense of quiet. It became so much of a sacred space in her life that being there around others, Adrien included, made her shut down.

She knew she should care that the Grey Man might catch her again, but she could not haul up the energy to bother caring.

Mostly she would go and just stare at the ceiling, but about a week after she began going, something strange happened. The sparks that danced across her skin whenever magic was nearby woke up. As she lay there looking at the bleak grey ceiling, her skin became alive with energy. Amelie sat up and looked around, but no one else was in the building with her.

Her eyes drifted back to the ceiling, but the odd glittering sensation would not subside. It called to her to get up and move. Release the energy.

Sadness gripped her heart as she rose to her feet and approached the pools of stagnant water, oddly flowing around as if they had been recently disturbed.

She stared at the pool and with a wisp of a thought, brought the water into a whirlpool. The swirling water memorized her for a second and her mind momentarily drifted towards thoughts that had been living behind a wall.

Adrien's finger going between her legs. Adrien pulling down her pants past her resisting arms....

She cringed to squeeze the thoughts away and her anger shot out. The water in the pool abruptly froze. Ice.

Amelie gasped.

She had succeeded in turning small pools of water cold, and had made one tiny ice cube, but never had she accomplished something of this powerful magnitude.

Maybe Theo was right. Maybe she had more power within her than she had accessed. More power than she thought.

Her hands curled and she willed the ice to melt. To her surprise, it did.

She continued playing with ice and water for the remainder of her lunch break and determined that maybe this space did not have to be reserved for pensive thoughts or tears.

____________

When she returned home that night, Brooks and Adrien were sitting on the couch immersed in a game of chess. The looks of concentration on their faces spoke volumes about how intense the game had become.

She walked over to the couch and sat next to Adrien so that their legs were touching. "How's it going, boys?" she asked.

Neither one moved. Their eyes remained fixed on the board.

"Good," Brooks murmured.

"Fine," grunted Adrien. He turned quickly to her and gave her a peck on the mouth, but was gone and looking back at the game again before she even realized he was kissing her. She chuckled softly and Brooks' face softened a touch.

She stood up and went to their bedroom to change into sweats. When she emerged five minutes later the boys had broken out of their trance and Brooks was clapping Adrien on the back. "Better luck next time, bud," he said, grinning.

"Why do I even play against you? You never lose," Adrien groaned. He noticed Amelie walking out of the bedroom and met her on her way to the couch. He pulled her into an embrace and rested his hand on her butt. She kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair a little.

"Because you love a challenge," Brooks responded.

Amelie pulled away from Adrien. "But he hates to lose," she said to Brooks and smirked, mischievously. Adrien slapped her butt playfully.

"Hey, don't go telling my secrets," he said.

"I've known you longer than she has, dude. I already know that your competitiveness knows no end," Brooks rolled his eyes.

Amelie extracted herself from Adrien's arms and walked towards the kitchen. "Are you staying for dinner?" she called to Brooks.

"No I was just here to let you know that I would meet you at your office tomorrow to show you where I live," he called back.

Amelie poked her head out from the half wall separating the kitchen and living room. "I'm sorry—what?"

Brooks looked pointedly at Adrien who sighed and walked over to her. "I didn't say anything because I knew it might upset you, but you remember I'm going away to Moore for a couple of days?" She nodded.

"With everything going on right now, I don't think it's safe for you to stay here alone so I asked Brooks if you could stay with him while I'm gone so that you're protected."

Amelie tensed, but replied "Oh, that's all? Yeah that's fine," She looked over Adrien's shoulder at Brooks. "I'm excited to see your place." He grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "I'll make sure to get all the dirty underwear off of the floor. No promises about the socks though."

"I'm not picky don't worry. See you tomorrow?" she said, trying to nudge Brooks towards the door with her voice. He squinted his eyes at her but walked over to the door.

Adrien followed him to the door and let him out, patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks bro. Take care of her for me." Brooks nodded and walked out the door, but not before looking at Amelie and offering her a soft smile. She tried to smile back but she was pretty sure it more resembled a grimace.

As soon as Adrien shut the door, Amelie spoke. "Why didn't you just ask me?"

Adrien sighed again. "Because I knew that you would react like this and resist being taken care of."

"That's not true, Adrien. I like it when you take care of me. But I also hate it when you do things without asking my permission," she widened her eyes at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you would react reasonably to this. I would have told you had I known."

"Asked me. You would have asked me. Because it should have been my choice," she said, forcefully.

"I would have asked you," he parroted. She closed her eyes and willed her mind to believe those words. The lovely, sweet boy from her childhood was just trying to keep her safe. He made a mistake, but next time he would ask her permission.

"Next time, you will ask me. Yes?" she said.

"Yes. Next time I will ask you," Adrien replied. He walked slowly towards her, concern lacing his eyes. Amelie fought her urge to cringe away from him and allowed his arms to wrap around her. She should want his comfort. Normal people don't wince away from the person they love.

He hugged her and then pulled back to hold her at his arm's length.

"I love you," he said and kissed her on the nose. She nodded and hugged him tightly.