37: Finally Safe

                                    

                                          
^^^***Soul concept art included***^^^
Nate woke up but kept his eyes closed, a faint smile spreading across his lips as he could still feel the warmth of Nyx resting on his chest. He slowly opened his eyes and moved his head down slightly, only able to see her raven black hair. He slowly brought up his hand and smoothed down her hair, which had become frizzed from sleeping. Nyx stirred slightly and Nate stopped his hand, not wanting to wake her up. She reached over and wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed him. Nate grinned warmly, overjoyed that Nyx was finally in his arms. Nate's attention was brought to her face when it was suddenly looking at him. He smiled warmly at her sleepy face.
"Well, good morning, Hermosa." Nate whispered in his sleepy voice that always made Nyx's face feel warm.
Nyx lifted her head slightly and looked around with shifty eyes. "I...I didn't sleep for 24 hours, did I?"
Nate chuckled softly in response. "No, it's about 3 pm, I think. I only said good morning because you look so adorable when you're confused." Nate smirked at her before she scoffed and shoved herself off of him as he laughed. Nyx sat up in bed and rubbed one of her eyes as she recovered from sleep.
"Do you think the others are awake yet?" Nyx asked quietly as she stopped rubbing her eye and ran that hand through her hair.
"I imagine so. It's pretty late in the day." Nate said as he sat up and rubbed his eye with his palm.
"I'm gunna go get coffee started. I want some." Nyx said as she climbed out of bed and stretched with her arms over her head. Nate stayed in bed and just watched her, a small smile spreading across his face. "What?" Nyx asked after she finished stretching.
Nate's smile grew wider. "Just admiring you." Nate whispered with his sleepy voice, still foggy from just waking up. Nyx smiled before she left the room and went downstairs. The moment she entered the hallways she could smell something wonderful cooking. She inhaled deeply and was brought back to a time when she was little, and her mom would be making eggs and bacon and the smell would wake her up. Then, a bittersweet feeling invaded her body.
When Nyx approached the kitchen, she could hear the subtle sounds of someone cooking. She turned the corner into the kitchen and was greatly surprised by who she saw. "Danny?" She called out in surprise. He was standing at the stove, folding an omelet with a spatula. He turned towards her when she called his name and gave her a small smile.
"Morning. Even though it's the afternoon, you're only the second one to wake up. I guess everyone is still pretty exhausted." Danny said as he turned his attention back to his cooking. "Have a seat, this one's almost done."
Nyx smiled before she sat down at the table. It secretly warmed her heart that Danny seemed to have bounced back so quickly. After everything he had gone through in the past year, Nyx was surprised he was able to smile at all. "Nate's awake too, at least he was when I woke up but I wouldn't be surprised if he fell back asleep." Nyx chuckled softly as Danny placed an omelet in front of her. She leaned down and inhaled deeply before a smile spread across her face. Nyx picked up her fork and used the side of it to cut off a piece of her omelet before she jabbed it with the fork and brought it to her mouth. It tasted amazing. "I didn't know you could cook." Nyx asked in an intrigued tone.
"Oh, yeah." Danny responded with a small smile as he sat down and took a bite from his own omelet. "My parents taught me when I was young. They had to work a lot so they made sure I could take care of myself. I kind of had a habit of scaring away babysitters so they stopped trying." Danny said passively as he put another bite in his mouth.
Nyx exhaled sharply through her nose. "How the hell did you scare away your babysitters?" Nyx said with a small chuckle.
"Maybe scaring away isn't the right term, I was just a real asshole as a kid. I would always correct them on everything that they said wrong or did wrong. I hardly showed any remorse about it either. So they would always quit." Danny chuckled as he ate another bite.