"Y/n! Y/n! Wake up! Please!"
I slowly open my eyes and look up at Habit, and he smiles when he sees me. He's holding me in his lap with his arms supporting me. Habit has never before looked so appealing than he does now. Okay, maybe it's the shock of almost dying and having him hit me that is making me think this. I don't really know. But he seems less like a demon and more like a knight in shining armor or some shit.
Damn, I must've hit my head. Again.
"Habit?"
"I'm here, y/n. I'm here. I'm so, so sorry. That was a mistake I will never make again, I never meant to hurt you ..."
"The ... Rake ..."
"Gone. Stuck a knife in its eye."
I laugh dryly. "How many weapons do you keep on yourself?"
"Something else Evan and I have in common. Between the two of us, there's double the weapons," he says. "I honestly don't know. But I saw the Stick and freaked out. I thought you were ..."
"You're not getting rid of me that easily," I say, smiling.
"Good to know."
He teleports us back to the car and helps me buckle. I try not to look at my blood on the dash. He climbs in the driver's side door and we head down the road without saying anything.
My mind goes off into space as I think about what happened to me. All that blood doesn't just magically disappear. I'd need stitches from the Rake's attacks alone. But as I feel my back, perfect, unblemished skin is there instead of nasty gouges.
"I cleaned you up," Habit says.
"What?"
"I cleaned you up," he repeats. "I couldn't let you bleed to death on me."
"Thanks. I didn't know you could do that."
He shrugs as if it's nothing. But it's not nothing, not to me. It's him saving my life. Him proving he cares. And Habit doesn't normally behave this way. He's usually doing whatever he feels like doing, saying what he wants to say.
But he just saved my life.
What am I supposed to feel?
"It's not nothing, you know," I say. "Most people back home? They wouldn't miss me. Don't miss me."
Habit takes my hand, making me look at him.
"Then those people are stupid assholes who don't know what they're missing out on," he says. "You're a beautiful person, y/n. And you have to start believing that."
"You turned motivational speaker on me?" I tease, and he laughs.
"I don't think I'd fare well as a motivational speaker," he says.
"That makes two of us."
He laughs again as we pull into the parking lot for the local arcade. "I don't know where people go on dates, so ..."
"Sometimes it's here," I say.
"Good. I'm gonna beat you at ski ball."
"Those are fighting words!"
Habit laughs again. "Okay. Let's go."
