Читать книгу The cold warmth - Victoria Goerk - Страница 11

“Why won’t you come watch me play?”

The younger whined, hovering above him and shoving his face through Braylon’s phone so that the older could only focus on him.

“Oh. You remember I’m here?” teased Braylon the ghost, turning on his side to continue scrolling through his phone.

Jaylon chuckled, lowering himself down to crush the half demon in a hug. He groaned at the sudden weight crushing him and halfheartedly tried to push Jaylon off.

“Get off kid. I’m dying here!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Jaylon rolled over to lie on his back, still holding on to Braylon so that the smaller was now lying on top of him.

Braylon was about to complain some more, but a deep voice interrupted him, “Cuddling session! Why didn’t you guys invite me?!”

Marcellus boomed out at the sight of them on the bed before jumping with intention to crash onto them, but Jaylon just whined out a “No!” and rolled over to the other side, shielding Braylon from the attack and making Marcellus fall onto the empty space.

“Ugh, what happened to gaming?”

The florist voiced out his thoughts and wriggled out of the strong hold only to land on the floor and evacuated to sit at the desk instead.

“Brat, you’re stealing him from me!” Of course Braylon was ignored and Marcellus started to fight with Jaylon by nudging him with his foot.

“You’re his childhood friend, you basically had him since you were born!”

“Okay, that’s not exactly the truth-“Braylon cut in.

“Yeah, that’s right, you’re jealous, huh?” The demon’s loud voice completely drowned Braylon’s and the two younger ones started to playfully wrestle each other, rolling around on the bed with Braylon sulking at the desk.

Just as he was about to leave- again, Jaylon jumped out of bed to pull him over and they tumbled onto Marcellus who groaned loudly. The half demon untangled himself from the mess and sat cross legged at the end of the bed.

“So… you guys finished your games?”

“Yep!” Jaylon happily answered, rolling over to rest his head on Braylon’s thigh. “We took turns playing the game and Marc really sucks.”

“No, I’m not!” The demon protests, propping his chin on Braylon’s other thigh. “We played against different enemies, you can’t compare that!”

Braylon sighed, not knowing what they were talking about. “Okay, shut up you two. I need some peace here.”

The younger ones both pouted and fell silent for a few seconds before Marcellus perked up again. “Ah, I just remembered. I was walking past your shop earlier. The shorty guy was there, staring at the door before walking off. He’s so creepy.”

Braylon lightly swatted at the demon’s head, “His name is Mykel and I said don’t call him short and creepy Marc! He was probably wondering why it’s closed.”

“Who is he?” A customer?” asks Jaylon, receiving a nod from Braylon.

“Yeah, he’s been stopping by the shop a lot these days. Charming fellow.”

“He’s creepy! I told you that I felt some weird energy from him.” huffed Marcellus.

Braylon just sighed at that and Jaylon frowned, not liking the fact that a creepy dude was lurking around his friend’s shop.

“Bray,” The ghost tugged at his sleeve and Braylon raised an eyebrow at him curiously, hearing his name from Jaylon for the first time. “Can I go to your shop tomorrow?”

“Awww the kid is worried. Don’t worry Jay, I go there all the time.” cooed Marcellus while reaching over to pinch Jaylon’s cheeks. The spirit pushed the demon away with a scrunched up face.

Braylon broke the mini fight, guiding Marcellus’ hands back to himself and turned around to give Jaylon a tight smile.

“I’m sorry, maybe someday later? I have somewhere else that I’m planning to take you to. On my next day off.”

Jaylon sat up immediately, staring at the half demon with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, unable to find any words to reply. The messenger also sat up, tilting his head in curiosity.

“Huh? Where are you taking him? Can I come too?”

Braylon stuck out his tongue at him. “It’s a secret and no, you can’t accompany us. I’ll make sure, that you have something to do that day.”

“Meanie!”

Braylon giggled, always feeling some satisfaction from teasing the young demon, before shifting his attention back to Jaylon, who scooted closer to him. His eyes were still opened widely.

“Really Bray? You’re gonna take me outside?”

“Yeah for sure. I think it’s going to help with your memories.”

The youngest sniffed, wrapping the florist in a tight hug, “You’re the best!” and the older actually felt a bit of warmth underneath the cold.

“Yes, my Bray is the best.” Marcellus agreed, snuggling into their hug too, making Jaylon grumble loudly about how it was his hug only. The demon retreated with a chuckle and announced that he has to leave for some errands, so they said their goodbyes and Marcellus was gone in a flash, leaving his laptop and the extra equipment behind for Jaylon to use.

The news of Braylon promising Jaylon to take him out somewhere left the ghost in a really good mood. He bounced around the apartment happily, helping the demon with dinner and letting him choose the movie for once. He cleaned up all the dishes and utensils by himself, also going as far as cleaning the whole bathroom, insisting that Braylon should just sit back and relax.

That night they laid side by side, hands tucked under their heads and facing each other. Braylon asked the spirit about Marcellus and the younger just shrugged, saying that the messenger was fine in his opinion. The half demon smiled fondly, knowing that the ghost was just being shy when in reality he had a lot of fun and felt really happy that Marcellus left his laptop behind for him.

Jaylon fell silent for a minute before scooting closer with a giddy smile on his face.

“Bray,” he whispered, “I think I remember something.”

Braylon perked up at those words, “What? Really?”

The other nodded quickly, “Yep, it was like- I don’t know, some flashbacks? Like in the movies? I saw myself here in this room, playing games at my desk. There was a nice looking computer, you know? For gaming. The keyboard, mouse and chair looked very cool, like there were all bought together in a set.” Jaylon explained excitedly with the other listening to every word with a genuine smile.

“That’s great Jay. You must have been quite a gamer back then.”

Jaylon smiled back sadly, thinking about his life that he used to live through but he could barely remember anything except his name. He went to university and this was his room. What about his major? Who were his friends? What about his family? Did he have any pets? There were so many things that Jaylon spent his time wondering about, but he couldn’t find any answers. Today was a good day, playing games triggered his memories and he finally got a glimpse of his past life.

The half demon seemed to understand what he was thinking about and he reached down to grab Jaylon’s cold hand, embracing it with his warmth.

“You ok?”

The younger slowly nodded, ducking his head down to look at their linked hands and tightened his hold before looking back up to the half demon.

“Can we cuddle?”

“Yeah… uh, sure.” Braylon replied softly, feeling shy all of a sudden. Jaylon quickly slid off the bed to find a spare blanket in the closet to wrap around the half demon before spooning the smaller happily, hugging him close to his chest and feeling content.