naecromanticâ:
âIsnât that a saying? Something about the devil and idle hands?â His nose wrinkles for a moment, even if thereâs no real annoyance that he canât recall the rest of it. Heâs sure one of his foster motherâs used to say something like that to him, but heâs alright with how hazy the memory feels.
âAnyway, heâs probably too busy taking over the world.â Itâs easier to just laugh at it, as if heâs as careless as the posture he adopts. Kicked back and carefree, an illusion that heâs always clung to tightly. Who he wants to be, instead of every fear and insecurity that always seems to be fighting and screaming to make itself heard above the rest. At least theyâre quieter here, quieter with Alice.Â
Thereâs gratitude for that he rarely voices, or thinks on with any real clarity. The question of where heâd be if he hadnât found her, what kind of group he mightâve fallen in with. Maybe heâd still be alone, and that seems even worse. Only the dead for company.
She puts genuine thought into it after he does, and a quiet laugh escapes him at the answer she finally comes to. Maybe theyâre not welcome here. He canât draw runes on the walls to keep them safe, she canât read her cards. Or even half the things they might do if there wasnât a man on a cross watching them just about everywhere they went. But it didnât matter much when he didnât expect theyâd be staying that long.
âThink youâll have to get in line. Already saw one dude with a bottle.â He stretches a hand out to toy with a stray lock of hair for a moment, as if in some childish retribution for the way she picks at his jeans. Not that he minds any of it. He craves those small affections more than he cares to admit, easier to breathe in his own frame when theyâre offered.
Easier for a honest laugh to escape him when she comments on Buddha, his head bobbing in agreement. âThe chillest.âÂ
She shouldnât have grinned at the comment about the devil taking over the world, but a wide smile passes across her face anyway. Itâs a morbid thing to smile at, something that should instill fear in them instead of that rebellious nature, but she canât help and sit here and think itâs funny that outside these walls the devil has taken over the world and here they are sitting in a church feeling like outsiders.Â
It was funny to her because she didnât feel at home in the apocalypse run by the devil, but didnât feel at home in a church either and if neither of those were places where she fit in, she didnât know exactly where it was she was supposed to be.Â
Probably right here. Not in this church and not in this world, but right here, next to Niko, picking at his jeans.Â
She letâs Niko play with a strand of her hair, tilts her head so heâll have easier access to it, because as much as he enjoys the affection, she enjoys it right back. Likes that thereâs someone who likes her for who she is without wanting to get in her pants. Likes that thereâs no ulterior motive to this friendship and no end in sight. That she doesnât sense that Niko will one day just grow tired of her and kick her out of his life.Â
She rests her chin on her arm and looks over at him, smile still light on her face as she watches him, just appreciating his existence here in the moment because she couldnât imagine doing this without him. Couldnât imagine any other existence for her. She would have died in that bar sheâd holed herself up. Whether sheâd drink herself to sleep or just let the monsters come and get her, she had been on a path to destruction. Then Niko had walked in.Â
She still finds it funny sheâd never seen him coming.Â
âTell me about California again,â she asks of him.Â

















