Milo's POV:
I sighed again as I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror, reaching to fix another strand of hair that kept falling in front of my face. I knew I shouldn't be stressing this much, since Liam had promised it would only be a simple picnic, but I couldn't help it.
What if something goes wrong, what if there's rogues or vampires, what if there's an attack while we're gone- what if everyone dies because he wasn't there?
What if he doesn't like me anymore after this?
I knew I shouldn't be thinking like that, since the bond didn't really work like that, but then again. Stressing out was something I did unconsciously.
Goddess, it was driving me crazy.
Still, I couldn't help wondering... what if?
A sudden knock at the door shook me out of my thoughts and I turned around, confused, fixating my gaze on the clock in the living room. It was still half an hour too early to be Liam, unless he spontaneously decided to show up a half hour early, but just in case, I fixed my hair again before heading to the door.
"Milo," Adriel sighed from the other side of the door as he caught my expression. "I swear, stop beating yourself up over something that hasn't even happened yet. You don't need to be so worried. Liam won't put you in danger."
That's not really what I'm worried about, I wanted to say, but a strangled noise was all that came out of my throat. It sounded like a sob yet also a plea. Adriel sighed, walking in to take me into his arms in a comforting hug.
"Hi, I'm here too," Moon said, walking in behind her son and closing the door. "Thought I'd come along."
"She insisted," Adriel muttered to me, causing light laughter to erupt from my mouth.
"I couldn't let my other, other, other, other... other other other... well, I couldn't let you go off on your first date without any teasing," she grinned, causing me to frown.
"I really don't think he needs any teasing, Mom," Adriel told her sternly. I almost didn't expect her to listen, but she just sighed and leaned back on the couch she'd plopped on.
"Why are humans so damn emotional," she mumbled under her breath with lightly closed eyes. I flinched at the swearing; I would have liked her to not while in my house, but she was also the literal Goddess so I kept my mouth closed.
Adriel sighed, turning me to look into his eyes. "You'll be fine," he told me. "There's absolutely nothing to worry about. Liam won't let anything happen, and he won't reject you. Right?" He looked to his mother for assurance.
Moon opened her silver eyes, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Well, I can't tell you the future, but I'll say that he's not planning to."
If anything, that made me feel worse.
Adriel wrapped a comforting arm around my shoulders. "You'll be fine," he assured me again. "In my experience, the main trouble with first dates is that they're so goddessdamn awkward."
"Language," I interrupted under my breath, but was ignored.
"You're supposed to get to know the person or whatever, but how? It's not like you're playing fucking twenty one questions."
"Language," I said louder.
"I mean, twenty one questions is a great game, but it does tend to ruin family game night," Moon shrugged. "I've had too many fistfights that started with that game."
"You are really not helping," Adriel sighed under his breath. Moon frowned and looked saddened, but a mask quickly overcame her expression and she turned to looking around my house.
"What do you do for fun around here?" she asked, poking her head into a cupboard.
Bubbles ran in, darting around my feet for a few seconds until I picked her up, stroking her soft feathers to calm myself. Her warmth was something I'd grown to love over the years, something I could always find comfort in.
"I like gardening, but it's still too cold to plant seeds," I replied carefully. "I like reading stories in Spanish, especially ones that were my dad's. I like making baskets."
Moon nodded. "Sounds fun, I guess. Not my favorite group of things."
"And what do you like to do?" Adriel asked scathingly.
"Meddle with the lives of mortals, mostly," she grinned, which seemed a bit dramatic to me, but my hobbies were all introverted things that I did mostly on my own, so I couldn't really judge. "But otherwise, I like singing. And piano."
"You sound like Adriel."
Moon tossed silvery hair over her shoulder, grinning broadly with sharp teeth that made me gulp.
"The singing part, or the meddling in others' business bit?" she asked teasingly, looking over to her son who shrugged.
"Both I guess?"
She feigned a gasp. "Adriel! I raised you better than this!"
"You didn't raise me at all."
"I know, that's why it's considered a joke."
"I think your sense of humor needs some work."
Silence filled the room as I sat nervously on the sofa. I could tell that most of the banter and light conversation existed purely to attempt to get me to calm down, but it really wasn't working. All I could think about was what could go wrong, how I could mess this up.
There were so many ways I could mess it up.
There was another knock at the door, and this time Liam's distinctive scent came along with it, causing me to noticeably stiffen as Adriel smiled at me and went to answer it.
Moon pierced me with a gaze sharper than one she'd ever given me before, causing me to noticeably stiffen even more. "Milo, listen," she said, "you seriously have nothing to worry about. We were talking about hobbies earlier, right?"
I nodded, though I wasn't sure if she wanted a response.
"Well- and I don't even have to read his mind to see this- his favorite hobby is spending time with you."
"Only closely followed by my love of researching Uno techniques and the ukulele," a familiar voice teased, and I turned red when I realized he'd heard my insecurity spoken aloud. I buried my face into my hands as the sofa dipped next to me with a familiar weight. "I was told you wanted a word?" He directed his message to Moon, but his arm snaked around my waist before squeezing comfortingly.
I didn't want to admit that I was already relaxing into his embrace.
"I'm not going to do the overused 'have him home by eight, young man, or else' thing-" Moon's smile was audible in the air- "but have fun and use protection."
"Mom!" Adriel was the only one who seemed to be able to speak. Liam was shocked into silence next to me, and I was still refusing to look up from the palms of my hands.
"You're right, you're right, that's against the law that I created." Her eye roll was audible as well- did she always do this? "Also, get home before like ten or something. Probably earlier, I don't really care." Her voice got quieter as she turned away. "Was that a good speech? Did I improve from the one I gave Sage?"
"I think they were equally as bad, but at least you didn't mention fucking protection in the last one," came the mumbled reply.
"Whatever, Adie... riel," Moon hurried to finish, either accidentally or purposefully using the much-despised nickname before being shot with what had to be a glare. "Let's get going and leave these lovebirds to it, m'kay?"
"Don't call me that and I'll go anywhere," Adriel mumbled. I felt a hand on my knee that I recognized as being too cold to be Liam's, so therefore it had to be Adriel's, and looked up with embarrassment still tinging my expression. "Good luck," he whispered when his gray eyes met mine. "It'll be great, and if it's not, I'll go and kick Liam until he apologizes. Got it?"
I nodded, a faint smile ghosting over my expression at the serious way he mentioned beating the alpha up.
"Ready?" Moon asked, and with a nod from Adriel, they both disappeared, which I was quickly learning was Moon's favorite method of transportation. Personally, it seemed like I'd get carsick... airsick?
Liam placed a gentle hand on the side of my cheek and turned my head to face him. "Hey," he whispered with a smile.
"Hi," I mumbled in response, ignoring the red blush that crept up my neck again. Without warning, his lips pressed to mine, causing me to gasp lightly. I still wasn't used to the sensation, but he seemed to take every opportunity to push me more towards the gate of familiarity.
"It's nice that they're so concerned for you," he said against my lips when we parted for air. I nodded. "But you have nothing to worry about. Tonight's gonna be great."
"I don't doubt you," I replied softly, pulling myself free from his grasp. With a small frown, he stood up and stretched before offering a hand to me. "Are you going to tell me where we're going yet?"
He contemplated it. "Not far."
"Helpful."
"Pushy."
"Annoying," I retorted as I gently pushed Bubbles inside the house and closed and locked the door. Her sad clucks were enough to make me want to bring her along, but I was pretty sure she wouldn't be welcome on our date.
"Beautiful."
I blushed. I wasn't sure where our adjective war had gone, but I was ready to stop it. Catching the redness in my cheeks before I could turn away, Liam just smirked.
"Want to run there as wolves?" he asked me, his green eyes wide with excitement. I swallowed. I was glad he'd dropped our adjective war, but being a wolf was something I hadn't done in a long time.
"Don't we have a picnic basket or anything?"
"I had Paisley bring it there a few minutes ago," Liam shrugged, wrapping an arm around my waist comfortingly.
"That's nice of her," I mumbled as a fresh blush raced across my skin.
"I promised her I'd tell her where Dad's candy stash is if she did it," he grinned down at me. "She couldn't pass it up."
"Your dad has a candy stash?" I frowned. Somehow, it didn't fit with the image of him I had in my head, though that image was half based on stereotypes and half on the few times I'd actually spoken to him.
"Well, it's more he hides our candy stash so we can't get high off of sugar. Anyway, that's not the point."
I released a soft breath. "I guess we can run there. How far is it?"
"Like five minutes as wolves."
"Okay," I replied unsurely, but neither he nor I moved.
"Are you going to shift, or..."
"I don't know, I was waiting for you," I huffed. Blinking twice at me, Liam rolled his eyes and began to shift. I turned around- shifting had always felt rather intimate- until I felt a nudge on my leg and turned to see a large tan wolf, the same color as Liam's hair, nudging me with his muzzle. I sighed. "Turn around, then."
He obeyed, looking a bit like a dog as he sat with his back facing me.
The soft sound of my bones breaking and reforming was both familiar and terrifying. I couldn't help but let out a soft cry of pain- it usually didn't hurt this much, but since it'd been more than half a year since I'd shifted, the experience was more reminiscent of the earliest shifts, but not as full of pain as the very first one.
You okay? my mate's familiar voice asked in my mind, worried.
I nudged him with my dark muzzle, prompting him to turn around and lick me all over my face. It's just been a while.
His frown deepened as I squirmed away from his wet tongue.
Let's get going?
M'kay.
We ran into the woods, Liam slowing himself quite a bit for my inexperienced self. I had forgotten how great it felt to have the cool wind in my fur, but I didn't forget how clumsy I was when I could barely see anything two feet ahead of me. We both winced every time I tripped, but we exchanged no words as we got closer and closer to our pack borders.
Eventually we came across a clearing where a familiar young girl sat, laying on her back on a picnic blanket and holding her new phone above her head.
Liam immediately shifted to walk over to her. I followed, but it took me a second longer because, again, I was an introvert who'd rather stay in my house doing nothing than go into the wide world.
"Why are you still here, Paisley?" he greeted his sister with a smile in his tone.
"Making sure none of your food gets stolen, duh," Paisley replied, switching her phone off and rolling over to sit up.
"Who's gonna steal the food? Bunnies?"
"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you, Bambi over there got pretty close earlier." Looking around, I spotted a young deer in the underbrush, innocently chewing a few acorns on the ground by its feet. "Anyway, I'll go home now. Have a nice date."
"Thanks."
Paisley transformed into a light brown wolf and ran away.
"I don't see why she felt the need to stay. I think Bambi looks pretty content eating those acorns."
I shrugged, sitting down next to him on the red and white striped blanket. "Sometimes you want more, even if you're content with something. Just to see what it does to you."
I felt his gaze on me as he nodded, which I could see in my peripheral vision, but I stared at the deer, who was staring back until it suddenly ran away, leaving a few acorns still by its feet.
Liam opened the picnic basket and took out a plastic box of sandwiches. "So how was your day?" he asked conversationally, but I couldn't mistake the twinge of awkwardness in his tone.
"I was nervous."
"For our date?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, causing me to blush and look down as I nodded. "Milo, we've been planning this for like three months now, some more faith in my date-planning abilities would be appreciated."
"You never actually told me what you were planning, though."
"How much variable is there to a picnic?" A frown. "The types of sandwiches? I brought peanut butter, by the way, I hope that's okay."
"Thanks. And I don't know." Silence. "How was your day?"
"I was also nervous," he admitted, causing me to laugh out loud.
"So you gave me all that about how I shouldn't have been nervous just to be a hypocrite about it," I said in amazement. "Wow."
"Hey, don't pester me about it," Liam replied defensively, taking a bite of his sandwich. "Also, I had a great idea on the way here for a game we could play to get to know each other better!" He paused as though he expected me to ask 'what' or perhaps make a guess, but my mouth was full of peanut butter and I could not for the life of me figure out why I'd taken such a large bite. "Truth or dare!"
"No thanks," I laughed when I swallowed. "I'm not a big fan of that game."
"And when have you ever played it?"
"I haven't. But in books, it always ends badly."
"Hmm." His pointer finger tapped against his chin as he thought. "What about twenty-one questions? Does something bad come out of that game, too?"
"What would you suggest if I said no?" I asked, mostly because I was curious and probably going to end up agreeing to playing the game.
"I'd ask for a twenty paged essay with facts about yourself so I could memorize the entire thing and recite it at our wedding."
I tried not to blush at the way he was talking about getting married so casually.
"Unless you don't want to get married," he continued quickly with wide eyes, staring at my face. "That's okay, too. Sorry, I was just kind of spurting words that came to mind- I'll shut up now."
I stared at him, my cheeks alight with a slight blush. "It's okay," I mumbled, looking away. "I was just, um, surprised. That you said it without hesitation."
"Sorry."
"I just said it's okay." I frowned. "It just surprised me. Not a bad thing."
Liam reached for my hand and, when I gave it to him, bent to press his lips to it. "Does that mean you'd want to marry me, someday?" he teased, looking up.
I nodded, trying to keep my cheeks from lighting on fire again. "Someday. Maybe."
"Depending on what exactly? I need to know so the ring I ordered doesn't go to waste."
I poked my tongue out at him. "Please tell me you haven't actually ordered a ring."
"I haven't," he assured me. "Yet."
"That's not very reassuring, actually."
"Don't worry about it. For future reference, though, what sort of ring would you prefer?"
I didn't think he actually expected me to answer, but as I took a small bite off of a slice of pear, I knew my answer. "Something simple."
"Somehow, I could have guessed you were going to say that."
"Wait, let me guess what you'd want," I said teasingly, reaching up to scratch at my arm. "Hmm... I foresee a lot of diamonds. Ringing the entire thing, so thick you couldn't close your fingers. And in the colors of the rainbow, too, but entirely out of order. Did I get that right?"
"Not even close," he laughed, poking me lightly with his finger. "I was thinking we could get matching rings instead of all that."
"That'd be nice," I admitted, leaning into his side. A few moments later, I felt his warm arms embracing me, picking me up and setting me back down on his lap. Then his arms were around me again, myself leaning back on him and him leaning forward onto me. I could smell his scent, the soft lemongrass-lime-wildflower mix, surrounding me like a comforting blanket.
Is this what I suffered for?
In that moment, if someone asked me if it had all been worth it, I would have said yes.
--
this chapter makes me happy :]
how is everyone's week going? good? not good?
anyway hi and goodbye, see ya next week
-bloom :D