Free Web NovelChapter 115: Chapter 115
*A/N: i had to go to the clinic but i’m getting better now, thanks to everyone who showed concern. I should resume the usual upload schedule in a few days.*
Dio just smiled and nodded, keeping his gaze fixed on Louis’ face while he did his thing. "Could you do the rest? I’m not sure I quite get it yet."
Louis looked pleasantly surprised by this but humored Dio anyway, going over the motions of making small gouges in the shell, draining the egg whites, and plopping out the yolks until he had enough.
"Do you want to..." Louis started to suggest something else for Dio to do only to catch a glimpse of the ruined eggs he had stashed away. "Or maybe not."
Dio at least looked sheepish, he had no excuses to give this time. He obediently sat down on his usual stool at Louis’ orders. Although he genuinely wanted to help Louis, he had a hard time feeling dejected by this outcome because he would get to watch Louis uninhibited.
While Louis was kneading the dough, he suddenly stopped. "Dio, my shoulder is itchy."
Dio immediately hopped to the task, contentedly returning to his seat with a cube of chocolate in his hand, a tasty payment for his assistance.
-*-
Errol woke up first, Nael still lightly dozing by his side. They had slept in due to the rain of the night before but breakfast was a necessity so they would have to get up.
He carefully got out of bed although he would have to wake Nael up too quite soon so that they could both get ready for breakfast. He wanted his boyfriend to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
He got one last look at Nael’s hair-covered face before tiptoeing to his bathroom to clean up. He splashed some water on his face and stared at his reflection in the mirror, his reflection showing that his brow was furrowed.
Errol had been out of sorts ever since the Sports Ball but Nael acted like he always did, and he treated Errol like he always did, it was the one thing that kept him grounded.
He no longer felt guilty about being unable to take care of himself because Nael had put him straight about that but he had a much harder time going easy on himself about what had happened.
Hunt had only gotten the upper hand on him because he still held tightly to a horrific past that did nothing but hurt him at every turn. Nael had asked about it but Errol had decided not to tell him.
It wasn’t because he didn’t feel safe telling his boyfriend, that was far from the truth. If there was anyone he could tell, it would be Nael but Errol felt like he would be giving that piece of his past vitality.
He wanted it to be gone entirely and he feared that telling Nael would ruin that. Also, he didn’t want to burden his boyfriend with more of his baggage, Seton was gone, and so was the past.
Errol sighed and pushed his hair back, letting his eyes drop to the sink, his eyes trailing a droplet of water which slowly fell down the side of the porcelain bowl, the single drop connecting to other smaller drops which made it run down faster.
If it was gone, why was he still so hung up on what had happened? He was constantly jumpy and jittery, painfully self-aware especially around Nael. He wondered if the other Alpha was tired of him yet, there always seemed to be something wrong with him.
He finally found a perfect relationship and a perfect Alpha who loved him but he kept self-sabotaging at every turn. And it was always at the point where things seemed to be looking up for him.
Errol’s pounding heart slowed down when he felt Nael settle his jaw on his shoulder, his pale blue eyes flicking back to the mirror.
"Something you want to tell me?" Nael asked in a drowsy voice free of accusation.
Errol sighed imperceptibly, trust his boyfriend to know him even better than he knew himself. It had been easy to avoid a conversation because of their tests but now that it was all over, he was forced to face it.
He kept his eyes fixed on Nael’s tousled dark brown hair in the mirror, his eyes gaunt. "Are you mad that I didn’t tell you?"
"About what?" Nael replied, humor in his dry voice. "Sorry, I shouldn’t joke about it..."
Errol smiled softly, "I’d prefer if you did, tense atmospheres aren’t pleasant."
"I’m not and I’m not mad that you asked either," Nael said lightly but there was no mistaking the intent behind his words. He wrapped his arms around his shorter boyfriend, "Did you ditch me in bed just so that you could dramatically overthink in front of the sink?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
Errol pouted a little, "I’m not dramatic."
"You even splashed water on your face and hair, all that’s left is a cracked mirror..."
"Don’t you have your own bathroom?" Errol interrupted him, turning his head to the side so he could catch a glimpse of him in person.
"Don’t be mean to me, I just wrote tests." Nael complained.
"So did I, now go clean up so we can make it to breakfast on time." He countered, kicking the taller Alpha out before he could come up with more protests.
Errol didn’t notice he was smiling until he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror after Nael left. Did his obnoxious boyfriend just fix him with a question and some teasing? He left the sink with a fond shake of his head.
It was easy to overthink and forget that he was overthinking in the first place, it was never that serious. Nael was maybe right about him being a tad dramatic but he would never admit that to him.
After breakfast, they returned to their shared dorm room, Nael yawning although he had only woken up a couple of hours ago.
"Are you going to your club today?" Errol asked, fishing through Nael’s wardrobe for something to wear.
Their clothes were so mixed up that he would probably find more of Nael’s clothes in his own wardrobe. Nael just took off his silk shirt and shoes before diving onto their joined beds.
"No, we’re sleeping in today." He said, a pillow muffling his voice.
Errol also had no intention of going to his club, it was highly unlikely that anyone would. He was on board with Nael’s idea, after spending several nights hunched over textbooks, he was ready to sleep some more till it was dinner time. The only thing that would make things better would be if it started to rain again.
"Make room for me, hogger." He complained from where he stood at the side of the bed.
Nael lifted his head slightly to peek at Errol, "Are you wearing my pants?"
Errol glanced down at the loose outfit, unfazed. "I’m too lazy to find one of mine, move over."
Nael glanced down his body, "I see no reason why you can’t just sleep on... oof..." He expelled his breath in a huff when Errol jumped on him, curling up slightly from the impact.
"Yeah, I deserved that." He groaned, holding Errol.
Errol was laughing but he still had the presence of mind to check up on the other Alpha, "Are you okay?"
"I can’t feel my spine," Nael replied gravely. "Do it again."
"Yeah, maybe not. Let’s get some sleep."
-*-
Louis got out the cutters and started rolling out the dough to get cutting, his eyes trailing to Dio only for him to look away quickly when he found the Alpha’s eyes fixed on him and not what he was doing.
He cleared his throat nervously and tried to concentrate on cutting out proper circles so that the biscuits would come out neatly but eventually, he cracked and snuck a peek at Dio again. Perhaps, the first time was just a coincidence-
He whipped his eyes away again, spreading out the thin circles of dough on a baking sheet. Another coincidence perhaps? The third time proved the same thing, Dio not looking away once although he had been caught multiple times now.
"Have you been staring at me this entire time?" Louis finally blurted out, astounded.
Louis had spent the entire duration of his cooking carefully explaining his steps to Dio because he thought that was what the Alpha was here for and he hadn’t even been paying attention the whole time?!
Dio brightened like Louis had offered him more chocolate. "I wasn’t supposed to?"
Louis fell silent at this, unsure of what to say. He couldn’t exactly scold Dio for looking at him but saying otherwise would only sound like he was encouraging him. "You were supposed to be paying attention to the baking process."
"But I don’t know how to bake." Dio said solemnly.
"Which is exactly why you should... stop staring at me." He cut himself off to scold when Dio still kept his mismatched eyes fixed on him, barely even blinking. "There’s nothing that interesting on my face." He grumbled, a red flush on his face as he placed the chocolate on the dough, needing something to distract himself. frёewebnoѵēl.com
He found himself thinking about all the times Dio had watched him bake or make something, had he also been staring blatantly at him the entire time? He wasn’t sure what to make of that.
