BOND

31.

And I didn't want to say it

But honestly I thought of growing older

I saw your eyes in the city lights

And almost said I want you so bad tonight

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Joey woke up with a pounding headache. He had slept after a not so enjoyable conversation with his father that left him feeling like utter shit. The aspirin obviously hadn't done anything. 

The constant ringing of his doorbell was irritating him further. After about five more, he grunted not bothering to put on a shirt and somehow managed to carry himself down the stairs in one piece. He snapped open the door, all ready to blow up at whoever it was on the other side.

"What the hell-are you doing here?" He had started out frustrated and finished incredibly confused. He eyed Elena from head to toe. Taking in all the glory of the Spider-man pajama shorts she was wearing underneath a matching T-shirt. She had a covered up plate in her hands that disoriented him more than her presence itself.

When she finally spoke, "Can I come in?" he realized that he had just been standing there, looking at her.

He quickly moved aside and waved his hand, "Yeah, of course. I just woke up so I'm a bit slow," he closed the door behind her and led her into the kitchen, assuming that she had brought him food, why, he had no idea.

Elena sat down the plate on the counter and walked back up to him. His eyes groggy, hair all over the place, he watched her attentively as she kept on walking right into his chest. When she had wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, he finally broke out of his daze and took hold of her waist, pulling her up in the process of straightening his back.

Still snuggled into his neck, her legs dangling off the ground, hands pressed against his bare back, she whispered, "Hi."

Joey grinned into her hair and set her back down, moving back but not letting go of her, "Is this how I'm going to be woken up every morning?"

Elena rolled her eyes and tried to push herself away from him. He pulled her right back in, one hand going up to her cheek as he directed her lips over to his. He kissed her softly, smiling as he felt her body go slack against his. Resting their foreheads together, feeling her heavy breath on his chest, he said, "Hi."

She, well aware of how difficult it would increasingly become to separate herself from him, put some distance between them and settled onto one of the chairs. "I brought you pancakes," she pointed to the plate which he quickly became interested in. "There was coffee but I gave it to the paparazzi standing in front of the house."

She mentioned the last detail ever so casually that he choked on the massive bite he had just taken. "There's a what?"

She passed her phone to him, the article had gone down but the pictures were still there. She watched him as he studied them ever so closely, his smile tugging more to one side. "This is a damn good photo," he pointed to the third one, the one of him adjusting the flower in her braid.

"Hugh's looking into you," she said, unsure of how much she should actually be worried about that fact.

Joey set down her phone and shrugged carelessly, "Unless he has a contact in the underworld, which I really doubt he does, he's not gonna find anything."

Elena bit down on her tongue. This was who he had been raised up to be. Unafraid of people finding about who he was, not because there wasn't anything to hide, but because it was too well hidden for situations exactly like that one.