Lights On
Emma Nolan/Brendon "the Shark" Park Warnings/Tags: Soft Brendon being absolutely in love with Emma Nolan
She left them on again. The lights.
Brendon wondered where she landed tonight as he toed off his shoes and placed them on the rack by the front door. He moved slowly. Making each moment last in an effort to decompress from the emergency surgery that pushed his 12 hour shift to an eighteen hour one.
It was a motorcycle wreck. The biker was hit on the left side and their leg was crushed by the impact. In a rare show of intelligence, the biker was wearing all of the necessary protective gear resulting in a salvageable limb. Still, the surgery was long and so would the recovery. But they had their life, and that counted for something.
Brendon placed the thoughts of the case in the bin with his dirty scrubs. Effectively cutting off any more before he moved further into the house. Pushing past the barrier of outside and settled into the warmth of his home.
Barefoot, he padded gently to his source of light. He came up behind the couch and found his girl sprawled on the couch sleeping. Her mouth was parted slightly as soft snores filtered into his ears. A soft smile made its way to Brendon’s face as he recalled the comment he had made weeks ago about how she snored. Of course his Emma went to apologize until she had seen the smirk on his lips and let out an annoyed huff of laughter and burrowed deeper into his sheets at his teasing.
“It’s cute,” Brendon said as she drew her hands up to cover her face in an attempt to hide from him.
“It’s not,” came out muffled between her hands.
“It is,” and before Emma could deny his claim again, he stretched his left hand towards her and gently clasped both of her wrists in his hand. He gave her a chance to resist him, but when there was none he moved her hands away from her beautiful flushed face. “It’s cute because it’s you.” Brendon said it with such finality that the gentle flush that had creeped up Emma’s cheeks had spread all the way down her neck. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought the room was on fire.
This time Emma’s hands came up to his face to cover both his mouth and his eyes. He was too much. Sometimes Emma wondered if she would combust on account of not being able to handle the way Brendon looked at her. Let alone the way he looked at and spoke of her. Unfortunately, her hands were too small to smother the intensity that seemed to pour out of him whenever he looked at her. That, and the fact that he laughed so hard at her sudden bashfulness as if they hadn’t done wicked things to each other.
Cute he thought.
He hadn’t noticed it then. Her habit of leaving the lights on while she slept. But after multiple late night shifts and the path of a soft yellow glow leading him to where she slept, he took notice of this quirk of hers.
Brendon rounded the couch and squatted down so he was only slightly above his sleepy girl. The soft light of the lamp made her brown skin glow, almost as if the light was coming from deep within her. A short amused huff of laughter escaped Brendon at the curls that managed to fight their way out of the bun Emma had placed them in before she fell asleep on the couch. Brendon moved them out of the way. Tucking them behind her ears before he began stroking her face.
“Emma. Time to wake up love,” Brendon rumbled as he watched her eyes move beneath her lids before she blinked awake groggily.
Sleepily she smiled at her giant man as she leaned into the hand that was caressing her face.
“Hey baby,” Emma rasped out. Her voice was thick with her French Creole accent he only discovered months into their relationship. It wasn’t often he got to hear her speak in her native language, but if she was tired enough or on the phone with her family back home, he would listen to the lilting speech as she spoke.
“Did you just get in?” Emma questioned softly as her big doe eyes locked onto Brendon. He was only in boxers after having stripped every other layer off before he moved further into the house. A habit he had never been able to kick after Covid.
“Yea baby. I was gonna go up for a shower, but I couldn’t go without seeing my favorite girl.” Brendon’s trademark boyish grin split his face showing off those sharp shark-like teeth that many flinched away from. Not Emma. She loved his pointed teeth, especially seeing that they could easily leave evidence of his love all over her skin.
“I was waiting for you,” Emma said as she sat up.
“I know.” Brendon’s response was met with a confused furrow between Emma’s brows that he moved to smooth out as he began speaking again. “You leave the lights on to stop yourself from falling asleep. It doesn’t really work because I always find you sleeping, but I find it incredibly endearing.”
He was met with that beautiful flush again. His Emma could never hide what she was feeling. Not with those big eyes and her penchant for getting so bashful. He loved it. He loved her.
“Come on Bambi,” Brendon uttered as he scooped her up from the couch. Emma squealed in turn, wrapping her arms and legs around him as he secured an arm under her. “Let’s get ready for bed.”
He carried them away from the couch and towards the bottom of the stairs. But not before he stopped at the lamp and turned the light off, immersing them in darkness. That was okay, seeing as he was holding all the light he would ever need in his hands.