CHAPTER FIVE: HEART

Clouds, leaves, soil, and wind all offer themselves as signals of changes in the weather. However, not all the storms of life can be predicted.
-David Petersen

The nap last night really fucked me over, because instead waking at eight or any more reasonable time, I woke up at six in the fucking morning and found myself unable to fall back asleep.

See, I can get up on time and wake up feeling like those hyper, perky asses I see in high school- -who I don't like, because, why? Why choose to be happy on a Monday? Like what the fuck is wrong with them?- -but I choose to sleep in.

Because sleep is amazing.

Unless you're depressed and sleeping for more than twelve hours, then it makes you feel like absolute shit.

Something I'd know about.

But today, I also found myself pinned under Demetrius with his arms wrapped around my waist and his face pressed into my stomach.

It was oddly comfortable.

So much so that I just started playing with his hair and picked up my phone to text a good morning to my mom, who is probably already awake, and text-bomb Jae for my own amusement because I know she's definitely not awake.

She keeps her phone off during the night, because apparently it's God's problem if you have one.

That gets boring after twenty minutes of bad pick up lines, memes and one really tragic looking selfie she took in freshman year I've managed to keep.

With my interest peaked with a simple glance down, I put my phone away and lightly trace the scar going over Demetrius's nose that I have complimented on more than one occasion for looking badass.

Feeling his body tense a little against mine, relaxing into me a second later, I mumble "Morning." then make myself more awake by laughing at myself a bit. "I'm literally talking to a deaf person."

Knowing I'm talking, but not bothering to properly wake up, Demetrius just sighs and buries his face into my side.

Which in retrospect shouldn't make me giggle the way I did, but when I'm just waking up or about to fall asleep literally everything is funny to me.

Like, I could just be blinking awake and someone could shit in their hand then clap and I'd be like, "You know what? That's golden humor right there." and wheeze until I pass out.

Obviously my sense of humor is fucked.

Oh well.

Because even at that thought, I laugh.

Distracting myself via Demetrius, I wave my hand in front of his eyes and knows he can see it because of the stupid sunlight peaking in through the curtains.

Blinking more awake, he peaks at me with his left blue eye, leaving his hazel-yellow one closed.

"Good morning." I sign it again, purely to redeem myself. "Need to get up?"

"No. Too early, too comfortable." Demetrius says simply, and honestly his morning voice is really attractive and his hair is a mess. He's hot.

Which in turn poses the potential to make me a mess too.

"If you don't get up I'm going to combust." I tell him, tapping on his cheek three times while squirming a bit so even if he didn't read my lips, he gets the gist.

"Up?" Demetrius asks, and I give him two thumbs up.

He sighs like this is such a hard thing to ask before he finally sits up beside me. I follow suit and pull my legs up enough that I can bump my knees into him and bonk my head into his arm.

Grinning, I just wrap my arms around him for a quick good-morning hug.

Pulling away, I sign at him with a rather sheepish look. "Sorry if it's too early for you. I got up half an hour ago and couldn't go back to sleep. Are you tired?"

Demetrius hums in reply, nodding a good moment later. "Yes but it's okay. Okay?" Frowning at himself, I know he just finds it weird to say that word without being able to hear it. "Okay, okay, okay."

He might find it weird, but it's like a little kid discovering something they like, so they just say it all the time.

It's really cute and makes me smile despite how rather uselessly he says "Sorry." a moment later.

"Don't apologize, that was really cute. I like your voice." I tell him honestly. "You can go back to sleep, I'll just read or something."

"I really don't understand how I'm being cute. I didn't even do anything." Running a hand over his jaw, making me notice his five o'clock shadow, Demetrius sighs. "And once I'm up I can't get back to sleep. That's okay though, more time with you. Breakfast?"

"Demetrius," I say, squishing his cheeks together and try to look completely serious while meeting his eye even though he looks ridiculous at the moment. "You are the cutest, most adorablest human ever."

Flushing red a bit, Demetrius freezes for a good moment before leaning in to meet my eye more, looking as serious- -as possible in the moment- -before simply saying, "Cats."

Cats?

That's...absurdly funny for this moment.

Trying to stay serious doesn't work and I end up just fucking wheezing, bowed over in bed while trying to breathe. "That was fucking hilarious, oh my god."

It takes a good minute for me to calm down, but once I do I raise my hand up to Demetrius's jaw and make him look at me from where he was trying to hide him more than red face.

"You're cuter than cats."

"This is not fair," Demetrius tells me, moving my hand down to his throat, letting me feel how fast his heart is beating. "It's too early for compliments, Eris."

"Awh!" I squeal and put his hand against my neck in return, where a similar wild beating is taking place. "It's also too early to be that cute."

Turning over in bed to flop down on his back, Demetrius scoffs loudly.

Using his knee to push on my side and knock me over, I simply accept it and fall down next to him but laugh nonetheless.

Grabbing his hand, I shake it and turn over on my stomach to properly face him.

"We really should get our day ready, Jae wants us to be there before twelve. Where do you want to get breakfast?"

"Diner?" He suggests, pointing out the window where a Luna's Diner sign can be seen from the split in the curtain. "Good milkshakes there."

Nodding, I push myself to sit up and stand off the bed, turning to him to sign. "Do you want the bathroom to change first, or to stay in bed a bit longer?"

"You can change," He pats my head almost teasingly. "You can wear my sweatshirt again if you want to."

"Fuck yeah!" I exclaim, turning to grab it off the chair, not wasting time before I pull it over my head. "I know I still have to actually change for the day, but I don't give a fuck. I'll be quick. Thanks."

"Welcome," He grins at me, hesitating before he signs, "You're cute too. Just so you know."

Giggling, I nod and playfully bow in his direction. "Thank you."

Putting one of my regular black skirts and fishnets, I wear a collared shirt under one of my cool band tees, and under Demetrius's sweatshirts it still looks good since it's just a soft grey.

Finishing it off with a quick makeup look, heavy eyeliner and a little star at the top of my eye, I put in silver piercings and simple studs for my ears.

And I know nobody else will be able to tell but my belly button piercing is a little silver bee.

Having finished quickly, we brush our teeth together in the bathroom to save time -allowing me to mess with Demetrius by bumping into his hip, making him scoff at me.

It being a good day out and not a long walk, we both decided to head out on foot and I even got a nice picture of some pretty purple flowers- -Demetrius told me they were violets- -to send to Jae.

After that, Demetrius let me tuck them into the fold of his hat and refer to him at least three times as a flower prince.

That was kinda cute.

Luna's Diner is a small, homey place with an older woman working as the waitress and another in the back cooking food.

There were just a few odd customers, including one definitely overworked college kid and two men who clearly worked one too many night shifts to still be conscious.

In the corner there's still a jukebox connected to the speakers, which play soft music.

The floor came in a checker pattern of pink and black, and the walls were yellow. The bar stools were a dark red, and all-in-all it felt like the kind of place I wouldn't regret stopping at twice.

"Demy," I turn to him sharply, probably not even ten seconds after taking it all in, and shake the daisy he picked for me right at him. "This place is cute! Look at the ceiling, there's flowers. Flowers!"

Literally, there's a bunch of them all painted across the surface and a giant lotus right in the middle, coming from the half-wall circle separating the bar from the back grill.

It's really pretty and I'm almost considering asking Nemesis to do the same thing to my room when I get back home.

Demetrius, with a small chuckle, follows my line of sight and ends up with a large smile.

"Oh, hello!" I chirp at the rather amused looking middle-aged woman who is holding out two menus to us, probably having approached only because we didn't get past the doorway. "Can we sit wherever? Also, I like your hair! The curls look really professional, also this doormat is adorable."

Apparently not having noticed the doormat, that has 'honey I'm home' with a few cute little bees on it, Demetrius's head instantly dips.

"Bees." The mechanic bumps into me, sounding a bit excited.

If I didn't bring this belly button piercing with me, I definitely wouldn't care this much, but it's cute to see him react this way.

Yet he still says "Sorry." for interrupting the conversation, even though he was technically adding to it.

"You're fine, sweetie, both of you can follow me."

"Yeah, no need to apologize," I add on, pursing my lips at him -it backfiring on my because- -despite having snakebites- -feeling my nose ring on my lips make me pause, apparently startled because I go crossed eyed before focusing back on Demetrius. "Bees are cute, just like you."

"Okay," Demetrius laughs out, ruffling my hair enough to make me brush it back out of my eyes. "You really can't say that when you look as cute as you do, even cross-eyed."

"Have you ever met a possum?"

"Urm..." Blinking owlishly at me at me, he moves his hands out about a foot apart, like a size of an animal. "Play dead?"

"They're bigger creatures than you think, tall man, but yes. Them. They're crosseyed and they're ugly as fuck." I declare, smiling smugly up at him. "I've just decided they're my spirit animal. I have a strong bond with them. Also fuck you, you're the one who went 'bees' all excitedly like a cute little toddler. Therefore, you're cuter, I just scared myself remembering I have a hole through my nose."

"Tinier." Demetrius pats me almost mockingly on the top of my head. "Cuter."

Gasping because of the audacity, I shove his hand away. "I am so not tinier than a possum! They're only like, three feet long. I'm five-two! And damn straight I'm cuter, they're hideous."

"You guys can sit here if you'd like." The waitress says, motioning to a booth and chuckling softly at us. "Are you on a date?"

A date?

I mean...that definitely wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, especially if it was at a place like this.

Not to mention Demetrius is Demetrius.

So any quality time with him is a bonus.

Ending up giggling, hiding my blush a bit behind my hand, I simply say, "We're just on the way down to a friend's, it's a long drive so we stopped for food. But hey, a road trip is always better quality time than a date!"

To be fair, it's not denying it.

There's no definition to the limits of our relationship, and to say I can't see being romantic with him would be a lie.

"I agree to that dear." She smiles kindly, meeting my eye before turning to Demetrius. "Do you guys know what you want to drink?"

"Milkshakes?" Demetrius offers with a grin, pointing down at the menu.

Following suit, I topple into the booth across from him and read one word- -strawberry- -and can't help what comes next. "A strawberry milkshake! Oh my god, yes. I need that to survive! What are you getting? Preferably to live as well."

"Can I get an Oreo shake, please?" The mechanic says, sparring me a glance before turning up to the waitress.

He must already have a will to live, then.

"Course dear." The older woman looks between us, but addresses her next words to Demetrius. "You two are cute together, I have to say."

It makes me giggle again and neither of us have the time- -or really even bother- -to correct the waitress before she walks away from us.

Not addressing his now flushed cheek, Demetrius just turns to me and asks, "Why strawberry?"

"The better question is why not strawberries?"

"I don't know." He puts the salt, which he was randomly shaking, down and shrugs. "I just noticed that you liked strawberries."

"Oh, I do! I'm like, sixty percent sure it's hereditary. But mangos can and will always be superior, they just don't make good milkshakes. It's the smoothies that are great." Grinning, I grab his hand and turn it over to fiddle with his fingers, my body would have gotten bored otherwise. "When you meet my siblings, especially Triton, Cas and Adonis, you'll understand the obsession."

Demetrius tilts his head at me, looking a bit confused. "I get to meet them?"

"Yeah! When Christmas break comes around, I can have you meet all of them. Or over Halloween, since they all come over to celebrate and take the kids out, I'll introduce you to them." That will be fun. "I think you'll really like them! And I know they'll like you."

"Halloween is in two weeks."

"Woah, that's sooner than I thought. Time really does fly fast." I giggle, squeezing his hand. "That's good though, I'm actually kind of excited to introduce you to them -I don't think I've really ever brought someone to meet them. Personally, I think that you're the perfect person to start with."

"I...they might think I'm a little slow." Demetrius falsely warns.

He has just absolutely no idea just how wrong he is.

"They will not, but if any of their morals and life lessons flip on their heads, I have no problem causing a scene. I am very confident when I say I don't think a single one of them will judge you."

My family, most of it anyway, are fucking amazing people -even if they simultaneous manage to be assholes too.

"First of all, half of them are more than a little gay or their partner is a minority, so they know what it feels like to be discriminated against. Secondly, Cas and Atlas's daughter has Tourette's. And third, half of us have ADHD and sensory issues."

Me being part of that third, as well as being a female and having asthma.

"Cas and Circe's partners both have a condition where they can see sound, that's weirder than you not being able to hear it. Not to mention, one of Adonis's kids is completely deaf in one ear so his entire part of our family knows ASL and we all know a little."

For only being one family, we sure are quite fucked up in a diverse kind of way.

And our disadvantages in life can't be counted on one hand.

"Damn, natural selection really is trying us." I laugh out, smirking as I shake my head to myself. "Sucks we're all so goddamn stubborn."

Smiling at me until an idea pops back into his head, Demetrius blinks over at me with a raised eyebrow. "Wait, wait, see sound? What does it look like?"

"I don't know, like, a lot of color, sometimes ribbons?" I'm not exactly qualified to answer this question, am I? "All I know is my voice is purple, like my hair!"

Demetrius nods like this all makes sense, "You're a very P-U-R-P-L-E-Y person."

Shaking my head in amusement, I wiggle his hand a bit. "Well, I am me for me. Nothing but myself, and a little bit of mangoes."

"And me," The mechanic points up to himself. "I'm with you too, right?"

"You have no clue! Meeting you has got to be one of my core memories at this point."

Meeting him won't be something I'll ever forget.

The waitress coming back puts our conversation on pause as we have to order, and I end it by toasting Demetrius's milkshake glass with my own.

Having apparently been thinking, he just looks up to me without a hint of hesitation and asks, "Weren't you scared of me when we first met?"

"I couldn't be scared of you even if you chased me around with a stick," I scoff, swirling my milkshake around before taking a drink. "The storm is what freaked me out. When I saw you I was mostly relieved, since I knew you from school, also it was the first time I saw you up close and the other half of my reaction was basically 'he's really attractive'. Does that make sense? Sorry you thought I was scared of you, but good sir, you were wrong."

Is that too honest?

If so -is that a bad thing?

It certainly makes Demetrius freeze, eyes going wide. "You-" He points to me, looking stunned. "Thought I, me," He taps his own chest. "Was attractive?"

"Are attractive, and yes." I shrug nonchalantly. "I thought I've made that blatantly obvious."

How fucking oblivious is this guy?

"Cute does correlate to attractiveness in every circumstance," Demetrius flushes more, rubbing the back of his neck. "Small flowers? Cute. Small flowers? Not attractive."

"That depends on how kinky you are," I reply amusedly. "But your point is valid. And I've called you attractive before, I'm sure... either way, I"m calling you it now."

"I don't know why I'm surprised you said that. Thank you, small human." Small human? I've average, he's just a fucking large ass humanoid from planet Awkward. "I... It's not weird to compliment you back?"

After what I just thought he better not.

"Of course not, I'm awesome!" I wink at him, grinning. "Someone saying as much is just nice, unless you're only returning the compliment because I said one first, then it's considered redundant."

"What if my compliment starts because your compliment reminded me of something I like about you? Is it still okay then?"

Nodding, I take another sip of my milkshake before smiling back up at him. "It's always okay, the difference is if it's genuine. You're you, so it will be. Hit me with it, tall man."

"Really? Okay, I'm going to say it out loud." Demetrius says, sounding a bit more excited than I thought he would be.

How long has he been holding back the compliments?

I guess not everyone is unabashedly honest like me -probably a good thing.

"Your hair, I always thought it was really pretty and unique. Not a lot of people can pull off purple hair but it looks really good on you, your style is really cool too. The way you think is really interesting and it's endearing to know you can understand so much about psychology and English grammar but math still manages to frustrate you. Your eyes are really pretty and they make me think of the first time I saw a willow tree. You make me happy and you make me think of the song 'Be' by Gnash."

Holy shit.

That's a lot and that's really fucking sweet.

And that's a love song.

"Every time I drink coffee I think of you and that's weird because I don't think I've ever seen you drink coffee. I also think that you have a beautiful soul and that I'm lucky to know you." He's the one I'm lucky to know, he's one in a million. "I... I think that's all I'm going to say, you look like you're going to cry. I-I'm sorry? I'm not good at compliments."

"No that's just, fuck," Am I actually crying? Fuck. Wiping at my eyes, I try fanning my face off of tears so I don't ruin my makeup. "That's all like, really nice and I guess I just haven't been honestly complimented like that in a while. And like, also, I honestly love that one of your favorite things about me is that I'm shit at math."

"In, in a cute way?" Demetrius says, wincing slightly but ending with a sheepish smile.

I love being dumb in a cute way.

"I um, wiggle?" He offers his hand up to me, letting me shake him until I'm smiling at the sheer stupidity of the situation, cupping my cheek once I drop his hand. "Good?"

Nodding, I know without a doubt I'm turning red, which is almost as bad as the crying. "As good as this milkshake."

Which is pretty good.

Chuckling, Demetrius brushing his thumb along my cheek and nods down to my bright strawberry milkshake. "You match."

"Did you have to point it out?" I grumble, putting my hand over his and lean into him. Time for a bit of blush revenge. "You're really attractive and your eyes are amazing. Both of them are literally my favorite color of eyes anyone can have, and you're literally the only person on earth who has exactly those two shades at once. You remind me of the song '505' and 'Knee Socks'. They're both Arctic Monkey songs, which makes them absolute bops."

Sometimes you meet someone and it's clear that you belong with them, they're your soulmate. You were always supposed to meet them. Maybe they just stay a friend, or they become a lover, or family but whatever it is, it's clear that now? They're yours.

And you protect what's yours.

"Also, I think you're really cute when you hide behind your hat, but I also think you're really cute when you don't have a hat on at all. I like the way you say my name and not only that, but I genuinely like how you sign my name. That's our private sign, which only we know, and it makes me feel all warm inside."

Pulling on his hand, I thread our fingers together and giggle at him, not dropping my eyes down from his.

"You're my soulmate whether you like it or not, so strap in for this ride because I am not leaving unless you beg me to."

"I've never believed in soulmates before." He admits.

"Will you if I can explain why I believe in it?"

Demetrius nods in reply, having no idea I'm going to explain it in the only way I know he'll accept: Scientifically.

When to me, soulmates are more about the illogical responses of humans.

"You know how there's stardust in our veins? That the iron component in our hemoglobin is literally only found in the core of supernovas? Well, I believe that our particles were by each other at the start of everything, that we come from the same supernova. I just think that there's people in my life that I'm meant to meet and love and that you're one of them."

Demetrius thinks him over for a few moments, fingers tapping along my wrist.

Moments later, a really soft look comes over his face and Demetrius chuckles at me, nodding.

"Soulmates." He says, accepting the title.

Yeah, I think, grinning back at him. We're soulmates.