Top pic credit: unknown. Tell me if you know

Feeling an arm hook around my waist, I slowly began waking up.

Not having the energy to open my eyes just yet, I inhaled the faint, familiar aroma of peppermint, and fresh laundry. Mm, that scent is definitely Keigo's.

Keigo.

Wait.

Keigo's scent. The arm around me. Oh no. I must have fallen asleep in his room.

I forced my eyes open, only now feeling a face snuggling impossibly deeper into the crook of my neck.

Looking through glazed, tired eyes, I realized I was definitely in the guest room. The balcony window was still open, from last night, and I was laying on my side, with a soft, vermillion wing draped over my body.

As cozy as I was, I needed to get up. Luckily, it was still dark outside, so it's probably only been a couple hours since Keigo and I fell asleep.

"Hey. Keigo." I mumbled lazily, softly nudging his wing with my elbow.

"No." He uttered, pulling me closer to his body.

Fighting the sleep that threatened to take me again, I began shuffling around in the bed...attempting to wake up more.

"Yes." I countered lightly, trying to pry his arm off my body.

He groaned in tired annoyance, hooking his leg around me now to hold me in place.

I rolled my eyes...giving up for a moment, and feeling him smile against my neck.

"You're a child." I retorted in amusement, as I threw my head back into the pillows, hearing him hum in tired happiness.

"A child at heart." He countered, pulling me onto his body.

My bare chest was against his clothed one, making me realize I was still naked.

"Hey, why am I the only one who's naked here?" I pouted, propping my elbows up on his chest.

Keigo simply shrugged, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Dunno. Good question. Why, you wanna change that?" He smirked, raising his brows suggestively. His hands trailed my back under the covers, before resting comfortably on my bare butt.

"Yes I do." I whispered seductively, watching his eyes light up with lust.

Hah.

"I wanna change that....by getting dressed." I grinned, still feigning a seductive tone as he groaned in sexual frustration.

"Low blow, chicky. Low blow." He mumbled, not being able to hide the smile that crept onto his face.

I giggled softly, planting my lips on his perfect ones.

He hummed contently, pulling me closer by the back of my head.

The bird boy worked quick, already trying to touch me again. I could tell he was still very frisky right now, as I quickly stopped our kiss.

"Keigo, do you wanna die? My parents would kill you if they saw me in your bed, naked." I stated, giving him one more chaste kiss as I forced myself to climb out of the bed.

Keigo weakly clung onto my waist, trying to stop me from leaving one more time, before he finally gave up.

He plopped forward on the bed, his crazy, sleep ridden...(and pulled) hair sticking out in all different directions, like a mad scientist.

"Mmm technically I think they would kill you, because I still have all my clothes on. I'll just tell them you tried to seduce me." He stated, keeping his hungry gaze on me as I walked around the room to gather all of my clothing items.

"Stop being a smart ass and help me find my shirt." I countered, gliding my underwear and shorts back up my body. I looked around the room, not seeing my shirt anywhere.

Keigo simply smirked, resting his chin on his folded hands as he made it a point to stare at my bare chest.

"As tempting as that is...I'm enjoying the view." He teased, wiggling his brows at me playfully.

I shot him a light glare about to respond, before a piece of clothing plopped carelessly onto my head.

Quickly realizing Keigo's feathers gave me back my shirt, I tugged it back onto my body.

"You left it outside, remember?" He said, giving me a small smile as his feather floated back onto his wing.

My heart melted at his pure smile, loving how content and peaceful he looked.

I slowly walked over, sitting down next to him on the bed.

"Thanks for letting me crash here, last night." I uttered softly, already knowing he definitely didn't have a problem with it.

He rested the side of his head on the bed, lazily taking my hand in his.

"Hey, you know even though we only slept for like two hours....that was the best sleep I've had in twenty two years. Seriously, I passed out. We'll need to have sleepovers more often." He mumbled, giving me a lazy, playful wink.

I lightly caressed his face, pushing the messy blonde locks away from his forehead. Even though Keigo said he slept well, he still looked really tired.

"Good. You can continue that best sleep once I leave." I stated, ruffling his hair before standing up from the bed.

Keigo planted his head face down on the sheets, groaning in soft annoyance.

"But, I only slept well because you were here, chicky." He reasoned, his words coming out muffled from the bed.

I laughed quietly to myself as I only now noticed the sporadic, stray red feathers consuming the bed space around him. He sheds his feathers!

"Well, you better try without me. I'll see you in a few hours-" I started saying when Keigo's phone began ringing loudly.

We both jumped in surprise, as Keigo's head immediately lifted from the bed.

I furrowed my brows in confusion, looking back at the midnight black sky.

"What? It's like 4:30 in the morning. Who's calling you?" I asked in pure curiosity, as Keigo's figure shot over to the bedside table to grab his phone.

He looked at the caller I.D., gritting his teeth together in stress.

"What?! Why now?!" He hissed out automatically, glaring at the phone.

"Who is it??" I asked eagerly, becoming more interested from his irritation.

We both remained in silence for a moment, staring at the phone as it continued ringing.

"It's.....uh......Diane." He mumbled, keeping his eyes glued to the phone blankly. He seemed like he was debating whether or not he should answer the call.

I was interested now. Why would Diane be calling this early in the morning?

"Oh, really? You should answer it and make sure everything's okay." I suggested, also curious as to what Diane wanted. She was my boss, too.

Keigo closed his eyes at my words, letting out a small sigh of annoyance. It seemed like he was regretting his choice of words.

"N-No. I'm....not gonna...answer it." He muttered very unsurely, before hesitantly hitting the ignore button.

As soon as he pressed ignore, he breathed out profanities...rubbing his temples anxiously.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. What the hell is wrong with me. I shouldn't have done that." He whispered, more to himself. Unfortunately for him, I heard it.

"Keigo?! Why didn't you just answer it?! Diane wouldn't call at four in the morning for nothing! What if she knows you're here with me? What if she has an important mission for you to do? Why the hell would you ignore that call?" I asked in disbelief, not understanding Keigo's actions at all. Especially, since it seems like he regrets not answering it.

He looked up at me blankly, clearing away the secret thoughts that were obviously swimming in his head.

"Well-because I'm here with you, when I'm not supposed to be! I don't need Diane finding out about that. What if he-she traces my call to this location?!" He retorted, quickly tossing his phone on the bed.

"Why the hell would she trace your call? She has no reason to." I countered in confusion, not understanding why this call was such a big deal to Keigo.

Not even taking in my words, he quickly responded.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, you're right. She wouldn't do that, I'm just being paranoid. I will call her back. Later." He smiled stiffly, trying much too hard to dismiss the topic.

I narrowed my eyes at him, not understanding his weird, wishy washy behavior. One minute he's stressed, the next minute he's annoyed, and now he's pretending that everything's fine. What's with him? And after he finally opened up a little to me last night?

Sighing in defeat, I simply shrugged it off...briskly making my way to his door.

"Alright, whatever. I'll see you in a few hours." I mumbled lightly, hearing him let out a small sigh of relief.

"Mhmm! I'll see you soon, chicky." He called out, back to his usual, happy tone.

Weird.

.......

"What?! We're out of milk. Come on, family. I come home for two days, after working my ass off, and you people don't even have milk?!" I fake whined, laughing as Sam lightly thumped me in the back of the head.

"I'm trying to bulk up! So, of course I need all the milk I can get." Sam explained, taking another bite out of his muffin.

My mom groaned in annoyance, as she walked into the kitchen with my dad. Clearly, she heard our conversation.

"Sammy, you're drinking too much milk. You're gonna get clogged up, if you don't slow down on it." My mom said in worry, causing my dad and I to crack up.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Thanks for the tip, mom." He mumbled, rolling his eyes lightly.

My mom ruffled his hair, before turning her attention to me.

"Morning, my little booger. Did you sleep okay? Is Keigo up yet?" She asked casually, wandering over to the fridge to find something to eat.

I cleared my throat, looking from her to my dad as I tried to figure out if they were aware of Keigo and I's sleeping situation last night.

They both seemed clueless. Phew.

"U-Um, I slept great. I don't know about Keigo. You know, cause the last time I saw him was before I went to bed." I chuckled nervously, mentally face palming at my words.

Too much, Ari. Too much.

"Oh, that's nice sweetie. Well, Keigo doesn't seem like the type to stay cooped up in his room all day, so if he hasn't come downstairs, yet...it's safe to assume he's probably still sleeping." My dad said, sighing in annoyance as he found nothing to eat for breakfast.

Plus, Keigo's still probably tired from last night. He did do a lot of work. A lot more work than I did-

"Michael, since he's not awake yet, why don't you and I head to the store and grab some stuff for breakfast. There's almost nothing for Keigo to eat here, when he wakes up." My mom suggested, nodding for my dad to follow.

"Sure. We'll be back, kids." My dad called out, as he and my mom walked out the front door.

"Bye." Sam and I mumbled uninterestedly, as we scrolled through our phones.

As soon as mom and dad left, Sam immediately turned to me.

"Okay. Now that they're gone...tell me all about it!" He exclaimed, hopping up on the counter to sit.

"Tell you what?" I laughed softly, sending Nejire a text.

"About you and Hawks. I want to know everything. From how it started, to how you make it work." He suggested, shrugging his shoulders casually.

I puffed my cheeks out, setting my phone down on the counter to talk with my little brother.

"Well, there's not much to it. I mean, Keigo and I liked each other for awhile. We just never acted on it because-"

"Because it's wrong." Sam quickly finished, raising his brows at me in question.

I was slightly taken aback by such a bold statement from him, yet still noticing how doe eyed and innocent he looked. It didn't sound like he was trying to intentionally slam me.

"Um....well, in the work place....yes it's wrong. But, Keigo and I are both adults. We keep things professional at work, and he's very nice to me." I explained carefully, trying my best to phrase this correctly for Sam.

He smiled softly at my words, seeming to be genuinely happy for me.

"That's really good, Ari. Hawks seems like a really nice guy." He reassured.

"Yeah, he's amazing. He told me he's really happy to be here, too. Said some nice things about you." I grinned, waiting for him to get excited and ask about what Keigo said.

Instead, I watched as his brows furrowed in concentration, already on to his next question.

Not like him to just ignore something a hero might have said about him.

"Um, so when would you say this started with Hawks? Approximately speaking." He asked, fiddling with his thumbs.

I narrowed my eyes at his actions. Sam only fiddled with his thumbs when he was nervous.

But, why the hell would he be nervous around me?

"Hm. 'Approximately speaking', huh? What is this, a business meeting, Sammy?" I asked softly, studying his face in question.

He chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair.

"Ah-I dunno why I said it like that! Just-you know what I mean. How long has this been going on?" He asked again, trying to sound a little more relaxed with his tone. But, of course his big sister noticed his falter.

"You've never been so interested in the other guys I've dated. You've never cared about my past boyfriends." I pointed out, trying not to sound so accusatory.

Sam grit his teeth, trailing his gaze up to the ceiling.

"B-But you've never dated a guy like Hawks!! That's why I'm so curious!" He exclaimed in defense.

"Yeah, but I know you, Sam. You wouldn't care about my dating life. You'd be asking me about Hawks, himself. What he's like, his go to moves, his fucking breakfast order. You don't give a shit about my dating life. So, spill it." I demanded firmly, failing to hide my accusations now.

I wanted to know why he was acting so suspicious. Sam's a horrible liar. That's an attribute we both get from our parents. I know he's lying about something, and I want to find out what it is.

"There's nothing to spill!! I don't understand why you won't just answer the damn question!" He exclaimed, clearly starting to get frustrated with me.

"Because I know it's not really your question! What are you hiding from me, Sam?" I asked, crossing my arms at him.

There's that face. That's his breaking face.

Sam quickly looked down at the floor, trying not to meet my gaze.

"I'm not hiding anything." He mumbled, causing me to lightly grab his cheeks and bring his head up.

"Yes you are. And you're going to tell me what it is."

"No."

"Sam-"

"I'm just trying to help you, Ari! She said it's to help you!!" He exclaimed in frustration, giving me the in that I was looking for.

"Who's the "she" you're talking about." I asked, narrowing my eyes at him in suspicion.

Sam looked at me blankly now, realizing he slipped up.

"Huh? I didn't say a she-"

"Who is the she you're talking about." I asked again, glaring into his eyes.

The silence was consumed with tension as Sam and I looked at each other, waiting for the other person to break.

Well, you can bet I wasn't the first one to back down.

After a few moments, he let out a sigh of defeat, closing his eyes in guilt as he uttered a single name.

"Diane."