Blade isn’t very open with his emotions, but when he’s upset, or jealous, or grumpy, you can tell.
By some miracle, Ashveil had had enough cash to get takeout for two and thusly invited you over to try some of Planarcadia’s famous pizza and pair it with a movie he’d wanted to show you. He makes for fine company, and the evening is finer still.
When you get home later after the hangout, you stop in your tracks and frown.
The halls are lined with crimson spider lilies creeping up the walls, shadowy tendrils snarling around them like vines. Tiny embers flicker and flitter about.
“Bladie?” you call out, kicking off your shoes (and the shoe rack seems to be growing a few small spider lilies with every movement), and when there’s no response you cock your head. The flowers rustle even without wind, and the teeny flames seem to be flickering towards the bedroom.
Nonplussed, you follow the trail. The flowers, too, get thicker and denser as you head on, and when you push open the bedroom door—it had been hard to find the knob amidst the warm flowers—you find Blade laying in bed, his back turned to you.
All is quiet for a time, save for the gentle wisps along the walls. “…You’re back,” Blade mutters, back still turned to you.
“What happened?” You look around the room, still encased in shadow and ruby-red like the rest of the house.
Blade ignores the question and rolls over to face you. “Did that man treat you to a good dinner?” His mouth is fixed in a pout, and he seems to have trouble maintaining eye contact with you. Little flowers bloom all over him at unfixed intervals.
“I…I guess so…” A crown of spider lilies materialises on your head; startled, you make to brush them off before Blade speaks up again.
“Did he call you his prey?” He plucks a spider lily growing from the area over his heart and flicks it away, watching it disintegrate into black dust.
What? “No…?” you stammer, “whyever would he say that?”
Blade only grunts in response. The shadowy vines, for their part, seem to get thinner. “So you had fun.”
“Uh…” You blink. Now is the time to just say what he wants to hear, so you straighten up. “Nah. I would have liked to stay home with you instead.”
“Come here, then.” It’s like a veil has been lifted, because you’ve taken only one step towards him and the room is back to normal In the blink of an eye; no shadows, no lilies, just you and him with the tiniest smile on his face.
When you peer back out the door, all the blood-red flowers in the halls are gone and it’s like nothing happened at all.
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