ESKARINA

Nova's eye's stared at me with an intensity I'd never seen before.

What did he want to say? What was so important? I was nervous, I admit. I had no idea what he was going to say to me. How should I respond to him? Even though he hadn't uttered a word,he'd already had my mind working overtime just to figure out what my response should have been.

A full minute passed, and not a word left his mouth.

Eventually,after awhile, the strangest thing happened. A smile found itself on his face. A genuine one, not the ones I'd seen so many times before. It started with a tiny giggle in his throat before he burst out laughing, and the joy he felt was almost intoxicating.

I could almost feel his happiness radiating off of him...

He wasn't lying. He was really laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked,trying my best to keep a straight face despite his overwhelming joy.

I giggled slightly while his laugh subsided to a few chuckles.

"Oh fuck, it's nothing Esk." He said,pressing his finger against the tip of my nose. "Boop."

I drew back, blushing as I hid behind my hair.

"You dick!" I joked,my face hidden behind my hair. "You said you were going to tell me something! You hyped me up!"

Nova brushed my hair away, his smile still stretching across his face,showing off his white teeth and crimson gums. "I will. In time. Just now...it's a bit early. I promise I'll tell you,when we're both ready."

I didn't understand what he meant,but I went with it.

We lay in that bed together,doing nothing but talk. When we'd get tired of laying,we sat up,crossing our legs. It was the first time I felt like I was having an actual conversation with Nova. Like for the first time,he wasn't cutting me off, being blunt, or being really cold as usual. He was smiling,giggling...for a few seconds I even mistook him for Rey.

But no...this was Nova.

"You know that's going to stick to my mind like glue now? I'm constantly gonna be wondering what you wanted to tell me."

"I know." He said, flashing me a smile again. It was strange...seeing him smile... It was like I was seeing a different side of him.

I wonder...what if he's finally...comfortable around me? Able to express himself?

"So you did it just to hype me up?" I asked,giving him a friendly punch.

"No. I just realised,I'm not exactly ready to be telling you what it is I want to tell you. So,when I'm ready, and when you're ready, then I'll tell you Esk."

I shrugged. "Whatever you say Nove. Whatever you say."

I shifted closer to him. "I never asked how you were feeling. You took a pretty rough hit right there." I said,pointing at his wound.

"I'm surviving. Almost drowned. Almost bled to death. But I was saved by a beautiful farm girl. It's like a fairy tale"

Is Nova...

"No way." I said,giggling.

"What?"

"No fuckin way."

"What is it?" Nova asked,his face starting to look a bit concerned.

"The infamous,cold hearted killer,Nova Vi Britannia,actually has a gods damned sense of humour!"

He gave me a look, and his voice went back to having that familiar monotone tone in it once again. "That joke was so funny I forgot to laugh."

I gave him another friendly punch and he chuckled under his breath.

"Dick."

"I'm not a dick,I'm a koala."

"You're a what?"

"A koala. You know,the little bear things in draconia. They're adorable as fuck."

"You...actually think some things are cute?"

What the hell is wrong with him today?

"I fucking love cute things. Puppies,kittens,and koala's."

I laughed,poking his side just for fun. To my suprise,this caused Nova to leap up with a start. He yelped in suprise,his face going cherry red.

"Hey!"

"I never knew you were ticklish." I said with a smirk.

A look of playful terror slowly fell on Nova's face. "Don't even try it. Eskarina...I'm trained in several different fighting styles,I can drop you in an instant."

"But you aren't trained in the art of tickling are you love? I have siblings that I've practiced on for my whole life..." I said,smirking.

I leapt on top of Nova,straddling him while my fingers tickled his rib cage and just beneath his arm pits. He burst into laughter,wriggling beneath me with joy. I didn't stop until he was crying. I was concerned at first,forgetting that Nova's tears were replaced with blood. Once I'd calmed myself after a few seconds of panic, I wiped his tears away, and his smile still remained.

"I now know your weaknesses."

"Oh really? Well tell me then, farm girl, what are my weaknesses?"

Ohhh you're testing me.

"You're horrified of spiders, you're extremely shy when people compliment you, and you're ticklish as fuck. I could torture you with a feather."

"Please don't."

"I won't,because why use a feather when I have my fingers?"

Nova laughed and looked up at me. "I know you're weaknesses too Esk."

"Oh really? What are they?"

"Well...I won't name all of them,but..."

His hand reached out, index fingertip gently pressing against the bridge of my nose.

My face went red and I leapt off.

"You hate it when I boop your nose."

I heard him shuffling around on the bed, then felt his weight on top of me, not crushing me, but evenly stretched out across my gut.

He pushed my hair away,smiling at me as he'd done for the past half an  hour now. "You hide behind your hair whenever you're flustered. It's cute."

He thinks I'm...cute?

"Think..."

Nova cocked his head to the side. "Hm?"

"I think I might cut my hair shorter..."

He blinked rapidly before he shook his head and laughed.

"What? You think it'd look bad?"

"No no!" He said. "The opposite actually...I know you'd look beautiful with short hair Esk."

"You really think so?"

"I don't. I know so."

A knock on the door broke our conversation. I groaned, Nova chuckling a top of me.

"Looks like break times up huh?" I said.

"Looks like it." He said. He sighed on top of me,climbing off and hauling me off of the bed. I yelped in suprise as he set me down.

"What was that?"

"It caught me off guard,dolt." I said,punching him in the shoulder. He giggled,holding his hands up in defense.

We got dressed and left our room, the bright lights of Elysium filled our vision.

"This place is beautiful isn't it?"

"It used to be so much more beautiful in its heyday."

Emperor Artemis waited outside for us, smiling as he waved.

"How was your time resting Commander?"

"It was alright." He said.

Nova's eye's looked back at me. "Actually...it was great. I needed it."

"Me too. It was nice to relax after all that tension."

I saw Nova smile slightly as his eye's moved away from mine.

"I'm glad you two had a good nights rest."

"We'd been sleeping...we still have a lot of energy to burn." I said, hopping slightly on the spot.

"I second that."

Artemis smiled. "Well,I simply wanted to check up on you two. Go on, have fun. You're free to roam the city, see what you want to see."

"All the stores are closed..." I said,looking down at the several closed store signs which hung ominously from their respective store doors.

"Then we'll just spend time together in our room?" Nova said.

His eye's met mine again. With nothing else to do, we thanked Artemis, and retreated back into our room. We climbed beneath the bed sheets,pulling the duvets over our heads while we talked. We spoke about the wildlife around us, the faeries which threw the magic dust that allowed people to fly.

"You wanna go try it out?" I asked Nova.

"Won't work Esk. The Faeries are all asleep at this time."

Nova moved closer to me,pulling me close to him. Our shoulders were pressed together, but not in any manner that made it uncomfortable.

I felt strange being so close to him. For the most part he'd turn away. Now he was trying to have me as close as possible.

"Hey Esk?" He asked.

"Yeah Nove?"

He suddenly booped my nose again, giggling as he moved away. "You're awesome..."

I giggled with him and rested by his side.

My eye's slowly began to close as fatigue took hold. I heard his breathing grow heavy beside me, and I knew instantly that he'd fallen asleep. And before I knew it, I had as well.

So much for all that energy we had to burn.