Becoming the Luna

I don't get the chance to corner Yanis until it's evening, Dale is already back and he's making dinner while Shana and Virgil are helping him out. At least I hoped that was what they were doing.

"What is it?" Yanis asks nervously when I drag him into my room.

I push him on the bed and scrutinize him a bit, while he just adjusts his glass nervously.

I'm not exactly sure how to phrase my question without coming off like I had eavesdropped on their conversation, so I just try to be as vague as possible.

"What are you hiding from me?" I ask him quietly, keeping a straight face, making sure to keep my eyes close to him so that he's extra uncomfortable.

"Err, I-I don't know what you mean." He stammers lightly, refusing to make eye contact.

He's lying…

I fake a hurt gasp, pressing a hand to my chest - is that where my heart is? Is it the left or the right side again? - well, it didn't matter.

"I can't believe you're lying to me." I say in a believably hurt voice and the heavy guilt on his face nearly makes me break out of character.

"I-I…" he starts to say but I don't let him finish, jumping right in.

"Y-You're blaming my friends for Nicole's actions, aren't you?" I say quietly, looking down at my feet so I don't see his expression.

"W-What… I-I mean yes! That's exactly what happened!" He exclaims.

"What?" I murmur, looking up in surprise.

"But I understand now." He sobers up and adjusts his glasses one more time. "There's no way they could have predicted it, I guess I was terrified and needed something to project my feelings to."

I throw myself on him, grinning happily in relief at the fact that all my friends were at peace again, no wonder the car ride was so tense before.

"Hey?" I murmur, after a while of our prolonged hugging that is slowly turning into a cuddle session.

Yanis is just an oversized teddy bear no matter how he tried to come off as cold and aloof, his true self still seeped out in moments like this.

"Will you sleep with me?" I ask seriously.

It didn't have to do with anything other than the fact that I was terrified of sleeping with any of the others and there was a high chance that a stowaway would end up in my bed if I made the mistake of sleeping alone.

Shana was a scary sleeper, she would either kick my face in, roll all over me or get her blue hair in my mouth while Dale would probably give me hickies that I couldn't cover up. Those two weren't even as scary as Virgil, I couldn't even predict what he would do so just to be on the safe side...

Yanis chokes at my request and goes red in the face.

"You need a girlfriend, Yani." I tell him seriously, amusement dancing in my eyes at his reactions to little things I said or did that weren't particularly provoking.

"Stop torturing me, minou." He ruffles my hair.

"Fine, fine." I agree, separating from him. "So you'll be in my bed tonight, won't yo...oof!" I get a pillow to the face and I just rub my smarting cheeks. "And you wonder why you don't have a girlfriend yet." I mutter darkly.

He crosses his arms in a peeve, a tell tale redness on his face. "Who says I don't?"

I just level him a blank look. "You're freaking out because I asked you to spend the night with me… oof! Stop throwing me bloody pillows!" I complain in an outrage.

"Well you make it sound so weird." He fires back at me, even redder now.

I shake my head at this. "And here I thought you snuck out at weekends, what were you going to do? Get your nails painted?" I tease savagely, laughing hard.

I barely dodge the next pillow in time and at this point I had enough, I pick up one of the pillows laying at my feet and aim it at him, it smacks him in the face and somehow it turns into a full on pillow fight.

"Dale says that… oof!" Virgil gets a pillow to the face when he swings open the door and we both freeze with pillows in our hands, currently smacking each other around with it, the room is a mess and we're both red and sweaty.

"Dinner is ready." Virgil finally breaks the silence, closing the door carefully.

Yanis and I slowly drop our pillows then we burst out laughing, I throw myself on him and gasp, trying to catch my breath.

"So…" I start again, a mischievous twinkle in my eyes. I throw myself around his neck and press in close. "You still haven't given your answer, you'll…" he doesn't even let me complete my sentence before I'm getting a fluffy pillow in the face.

"Totally worth it." I pant to him, enjoying the color play on his face.

"Well, it's time for dinner." He reminds me, searching around for his glasses that he had taken off in a hurry so it wouldn't run the risk of breaking or hurting anyone. "And fine, scaredy cat, I'll sleepover with you." He agrees, finding said glasses and wiping it with the edges of his shirt.

"First we have to rinse off!" I exclaim, pulling him into my bathroom.

We manage to cool down and clean up without any further incidents and I end up packing up my hair because the edges are wet now and there's no time for a blow dryer.

I cup my small hands around his face before we start out. "I'll miss you when you go." I say solemnly, very sad. 

"Hey now, don't cry, I'm not gone yet." He says nervously and I remember that he's never been able to handle crying well.

This makes me burst out laughing. "I know." I agree. "Let's go eat." I say simply, letting him lead the way.

I wanted to ask when he would be coming back again but somehow I felt like knowing would just make me sadder, besides I liked surprises.