Elven Love (SAA Book 1) ✔

Part Four

Stepping into the bedroom, Oren was struck with a thick scent. It smelled different than the rest of the house; a mix of an intoxicating sweetness and musky ferret fur, with a hint of lingering sweat.

Delving deeper into the room, Oren caught a sharp note of cologne that made his form buzz with warmth. The grey carpet was soft on his bare feet, which opposed to the rough feel of pebbles etching into his skin when he ran on the sidewalk earlier. His walls were covered in art, all of which signed with Clayton's name in zipping cursive.

"Whoa.. I can definitely tell an animal lives in here." Oren jested with a soft smile as his stomach was suddenly nudged with an elbow. Clayton rolled his eyes and bent down to the cage next to his burgundy chair, looking in with a concentrated expression.

As the elf awkwardly stood there, the blond human searched for the hidden ferret. The fleece blankets that were covering the plastic ground stirred as Clayton's shoulders relaxed.

"She's sleeping. What a surprise." he murmured to himself, rising back to his feet. He eyed Oren with a caved brow. "Oren," the human said, making the elf turn his head to him. "how do you know about animals? You were born yesterday. Well, no, you were... You know what I mean." he exclaimed, glancing away with a soft string of curses falling from his lips.

He glanced back at Oren with unsteady eyes, but the elf still looked confused. Frustrated, Clayton let out a shout that made Oren jump. "Ugh! Why is this so hard?! Okay look, I just feel bad because you're helpless and.. y-you have no clothes, home or food. So if you stay here or something, I... won't... really mind."

The human tensed for a moment, heat flaring up at the apples of his cheekbones. "I'm the only child, and it gets lonely sometimes." his voice has dropped to a barely audible whisper by now, sounding winded or in other words, insecure.

Oren caught his obvious embarrassment and chuckled with bouncing shoulders and shuttering ears. "Sure! I'd love to stay, though I'm feeling nosy right now. Where's your mother? You mentioned having a mother around." he inquired with the tilt of his head.

As he turned his head, Clayton was able to see how his white hair swished along with his ethereal movements. He looked like a character out of a video game with perfectly smooth skin and wide, almost iridescent eyes. They shifted from a dark forest to a lime in less than a second if the sun was shone over them.

Clayton blinked a few times and turned away from the elf. His heart was frantically beating behind his ribs for whatever reason, which shallowed his breathing as he tried to find a distraction for himself.

Stalking over to the TV, he pressed a button at the bottom of the screen and it started to boot up. "You can borrow some of my clothes, instead of.. You know, standing there in nothing but skimpy shorts. My clothes dresser is right here, where my TV is." he tapped the surface of the dresser as he swayed on his heel.

He sat on his bed without noticing that Nutmeg was lazily shifting under the blankets at the floor of her cage. Meanwhile, Oren was fiddling with a gaming controller that he found laying on the floor. The grey rubber on one of the joysticks was scratched off to reveal plastic discs that were movable.

Then, clicking sounds emanated from the TV as he moved the joysticks playfully. "Oren, you're making the console go wild, you know. Go to YouTube if you want and pick out a video." Clayton said, causing Oren to make a startled sound as his hands gripped the controller tighter.

"S-Sorry." Oren faltered, looking at the TV screen with large eyes. As he pressed the arrows on the controller, the selected box moved along with the motion of his finger. "That's so cool.." he muttered, playing with the mechanics before going to a bright red app called YouTube. As the elf fumbled with the controller, Clayton watched in amusement. The blond reclined back onto his pillow, crossing one leg over the other.

"You know," he began, looking over to Oren. "your ears move a lot." At that, Oren's eyebrows arched sharply and, as noted, the ears to the side of his head began to spasm. The elf's gaze drilled into the TV precisely as a faint green dusted under his quiet, avocado eyes. Then, Clayton began to stand, sweeping his legs over the edge of his bed. The snowy haired boy shrunk back at the motion and his ears pressed back in alarm.

"Okay, so, uh. Anyway. Since we're going to be living here, together, might as well find out who you are.. Like your interests and stuff like that." Clayton glanced briefly to the side and brought a hand up to his neck. His palm was clammy as he rubbed it over the back of his neck. "So why don't you put the controller down first?"

"I don't know if I want to," said Oren with angled eyes as they fixated on the taller boy in front of him. "I'm still new to all of this and I want--"

His sentence was cut short by a grunt. "Ugh just -- " Clayton made a lunge for the controller in the other's grip. His hand closed around Oren's wrist, but he then tripped, knee pummeling against the bone of Oren's shin. In a hurry, the elf brought his hand up to slap the human squarely across the face, and the blond released a yelp of surprise as they toppled to the floor. Mid-way there, Oren abandoned the controller as it fell to the ground beside them.

"Oren, seriously," he groaned, knees hard, digging into the poor elf's leg.

"Ow, okay -- " Hoisting himself up from the ground, Oren pressed against the looming figure of Clayton and handed him the controller - fingers reluctant to let it go. The human gladly took it, finally releasing Oren from his cage as he sat back on his heels. After the elf was set free, he scrambled backwards and glared at Clayton from a safe distance. The human set the controller aside, looking at him with over-focused eyes that resembled the gaze of a hawk.

"Why are you so scared of me?"

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Thanks for reading Part Four!