Okay, maybe he had had a little too much fun. But in all honesty, could you blame him. Stuck in a strange place, suddenly thrown together with two complete strangers in a makeshift, quickly patched-together "family". Something he'd never experienced, a warmth of unconditional love that had never had the chance to reach his heart. It was scary, really. Terrifying. He had observed families, studied them. He had watched them and how they cared for each other, defended each other. How they died for each other. Was he expected to do that now? To face down death to protect these two people he'd never even met before? It was a situation that he had only experienced in his darkest nightmares. How was a person who had thrown his heart away long ago supposed to love so deeply, so unconditionally, as the way he had seen in families?
And his complete and utter fear of that warmth was what had driven him to try to break it, crack it, extinguish it entirely. And he only had one way to do that. To put on a mask, one with no seams, no faults. One where you couldn't see what was really underneath. And that's why he laughed, and laughed at the simple mistake she had made, a simple blunder of speech. Because if he was laughing he couldn't be scared. Wasn't that how it worked?
And so he laughed, laughed until she seemed sick of him and even walked away, returning shortly with two glasses full of water. And it was at that point that he forced his lungs to suck in oxygen, stifling his giggles as best he could, green eyes alight with mirth and mischief, two things that he was always reflecting. He was very good at hiding things. And very good at projecting something else, something like joy and happiness. Emotions. He wasn't supposed to have those kinds of things, anyway.
But he still had to act like he did.
"Sorry, sorry. I just haven't had a good laugh in awhile." Hands reached out for the offered glass, fingers gripping the smooth surface with easy firmness, bringing the container to his lips as he gulped down some of the liquid inside.
It was warm, but sweet, too. It helped his throat, though, which he guessed was a kindness of its own.
"How about we start over, from the beginning. I'm Lavi, though some people call me Junior..." (No one calls him Junior.) "I'll be your new... husband... from now on. Please take care of me, I suppose."
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
jbbartram-illu
germansingergirl
