Phoenix || Malia Tate

16

He shows up three hours later drenched in sweat and struggling to breathe. He's stuttering out apologies the moment Malia is in his sight. "I'm sorry. I got held up and I had no way of contacting you and –"

"Phoenix." He stops talking immediately. Malia stands up from her place on the ground.

His shoulders roll back as his expression falls. "You're mad," he notes.

Malia shakes her head. "I'm not mad."

"You're definitely upset," he argues.

"Can you not tell me what I feel?"

He goes quiet after that.

Malia sighs. There's a tension between them now that she does not like. It's not supposed to be like this. It's supposed to be quiet whispers of deep thoughts and teasing that leads to more.

She walks forward with an outreached hand, and for a moment, Phoenix is still, staring at her hand as if she'll suddenly pull away. She doesn't. She waits until he takes her hand, and leads them to the back of the den, where they sit closely and face each other. Phoenix does not let go of her hand.

He's drawing patterns in her palm, and the feeling is so foreign yet so comforting and Malia cannot afford to get distracted by it. "Is everything okay?" She asks.

Phoenix bites his lip and she knows everything is not okay. The lip biting is a nervous or stressed out tick of his, something he does when it starts to get too much. She's only ever seen him do it once before. When he told her how his parents died.

He shakes his head. "Just something with my sister," he says. He doesn't look up at her, just remains focused on her hand.

Malia has never met her and knows very few things about Ellie Rosary, but she knows enough to know that it's just him and Ellie now, and although Phoenix deeply cares for her, she doesn't always make it easy for him

"What happened?" Malia asks softly.

"She was freaking out. I had to make sure she was okay before I left." He traces the detail of her palm again and again. Malia watches with worried eyes. "She thinks it's her job to parent me just because she's the older sibling, but sometimes she worries too much, gets a little bit controlling."

Malia instantly feels bad for getting upset. She had tried to be understanding, tried to give Phoenix the benefit of the doubt, but they had just kissed yesterday and she had told her friends about him and he was a guy and Malia knew the male reputation for hooking up and leaving and it all just got to her head.

But she understands now. She knows better now. She grasps his wrist as a sign of support. "Do you need to be at home right now?"

He shakes his head. "I don't want to be home right now."

"Phoenix –"

"Please, Malia? Can we just sit here?" His green eyes are begging as he looks at her, full of hurt and full of emotion and she softens instantly.

She squeezes his hand. "Okay."

And so they sit in the quiet until the sun goes down, and by the time the sky is dark Malia's hand tingles and Phoenix's lip is spotted with dry blood.