Saturday, December Thirtieth, 9:25 P.M…

I sighed in contentment as I relaxed in the back lounge. The week had gone by smoother than I first thought. Three days ago, Aaron had leant me my first book. I had whipped through the poems easily, quickly gaining a greater respect for the bassist.

Every so often, Aaron would seek me out and ask me my favorite poems, see if my favorite author had changed, and offered me another juice box. It was easy, it was an unchanging pattern.

We fell into a routine by Friday morning. I would wake up by six thirty, grab whatever book I was currently on, and proceed to go to the front lounge for a morning poetry/novel session with the round faced man. We would sit on the same black couch facing each other. Our bodies were twisted into the comfortable reading positions, silently engrossed in our own worlds. We would revel in the new day’s light as the sunrise struck our pages like a hammer, sneaking through the curtain to greet us.

As soon as the sunrise came up, Aaron would get up, get a juice box or coffee for each of us, and proceed to read. We left each other in silence until Alan came through the front lounge to complain that we needed more waffles, and I quote, “All up in this here bus.” He would proceed to moan for waffles until he found one, ate it frozen, and went back to bed. By then, we would set down our drinks and books, beginning to talk about what had happened to the characters, or what I enjoyed about the latest poems. I spent most of my words and energy joyously exclaiming my quims about each poet while he grumbled and griped about F451.

Austin would come in sometime while we were talking, or right after we were done and went back to reading. He would wrap his arms around my waist and silently set his chin on my shoulder, reading while I was.

The routine was easy. The routine was always there. Every day, I felt more and more comfortable with Aaron, and yes, even Austin. Aaron was easy to talk to. He would never interrupt, thoughtfully listened to my ideas, and our conversations were always filled with laughter. I had gotten to the point where I might even seek him out during the day to just…hang out!

And then there was Austin. Oh dear, where do I begin? He constantly was trying to get me to go outside with him or do something in his company. I mean, I would do it…but I don’t know how comfortable I felt around him. Sure, he was constantly hugging me from behind (and yeah, that always made me jump. I would have constant flashbacks to Ryan…), but he always wanted to fill silence with words, while I was comfortable in the stillness of a moment. He was bouncy, I was quiet. We were opposites, but just like contrasting poles of magnets, we were pulled together whether we wanted to or not.

Anyways, I was a changed person, all because of a poem, a bassist, and some sunrise readings.

But I was still shy. I recognized that now. I didn’t feel so uncomfortable, no, but I didn’t talk much more to anyone else besides Aaron. He was the only one I would really converse with. The most I talked to anyone else was the occasional, “You’re distracting me.” To Austin. He would just sit there, unmoving until I gave up and relaxed a slight bit in his arms.

My thoughts were broken as someone came through the back lounge doors. I looked up from my dreamy thoughts and saw Tino, Phil, and Alan. The three of them were in a light shirt and some comfy PJ pants. I shrunk in my seat, looking further into the open pages of my book in order to avoid their glances.

I hadn’t interacted much with these three. I mean, Alan came in the front lounge every morning to complain, but otherwise, I didn’t talk to these men very much. Tino looked kind with the messy hair swept to one side of his jaw, eyes bright and curious. Phil just looked tired and Alan had a mess of ginger hair on top of golden eyes.


“Oh hey, sorry we didn’t see you. Do you mind if we play Xbox back here?” Tino asked. I glanced up, catching his stare for a moment as I nodded. I shrunk into the furthest corner of their round couch that lined the wall. It was a tight space back here with the TV hanging over the opposing wall. The three boys all piled onto the couch, taking up a remote in their worn hands. Alan sat right next to me and I felt his glance burn into my skin. I just pretended not to notice their presence as they turned on the TV, picking up Call of Duty: Advance Warfare. I recognized the loading screen and couldn’t help but stare for a moment.

My dad used to have this game in his back office. It was really more of a man cave area with a desk pushed in the corner and a gaming space occupying the rest of the room. I would sit back there with him on late nights as the others went to bed. We’d have two hour fights, just getting on a team and annihilating our foes. I had gotten to be a pretty good sniper from the years I would spend in his back office.

Mentally wiping away the memories, I continued trying to get into my book. Aaron had just leant me The Raven Boys. It was a fairly interesting book, although I much preferred seeing Phil be attacked by Alan and Tino. They all loudly shouted and yelled. The round ended and by now, I had my eyes peering over the top of my book, staring at the screen.

Honestly, these boys had no clue how to shoot!

A new round started. They all murmured softly in agreement, seeing that they were placed on the same team.

“Alan, please be a sniper this time!” Phil groaned as they sorted through classes. A timer was ticking down in the corner, telling them the time until the match started.

“But I’m no good about being a sniper!” Alan wailed. Tino shook his head.

“I’m not good either! Phil, you’re our best short ranged shooter, please pave the path to the flag. I can get the back, and Alan, just try not to die once you get the flag.” Tino strategized. My brain started to scream at them.

You idiots! You’re leaving all towers unprotected! Someone needs to get to a good vantage point to get up to a tower and cover the sky! Otherwise, you’ll be ducks in the water. I screamed silently to them, shaking my head softly.

The matched started up and the three were off. They bulldozed their way through enemies. Their map seemed to be in a ghost town area, an abandoned miner camp of sorts. My book slowly lowered to my lap. All three boys had their eyes glued to the screen. Alan had his legs crossed, knee brushing up against mine. Phil was leaning forward, and Tino looked like he was about to jump up in anticipation. The red flag glowed in the distance, just a dot on the corner map.

“Okay, take a turn here!” Phil encouraged. They all nodded. I bit my lip. I knew this was a bad move. They were being stupid and going on their first gut instinct. They should’ve looked at the map more!

“There’s the bridge. Get across it and it’ll be a straight shot to the flag.” Tino whispered excitedly. A broken tower stood to the right of the bridge. I looked up on Alan’s miniscreen. I saw a movement in the window. They obviously didn’t because none of them took shelter.

“There’s a man in the tower.” I warned softly. Alan looked at me.

“I don’t think there is.” He shook his head. I sighed, staring at the screen. Sure enough, three seconds later, the men were under fire. All three were obliterated in an instant.

“WHAT HAPPENED!?!?!” Phil roared in outrage. Tino cried out a strangled moan. Alan looked to me with new appreciation.

“Um guys?” He asked, still staring at me. I ducked into my book as their loading screens counted down until they could respawn.

“What, Alan?” Tino muttered.

“Rory saw the sniper up in the tower.” Alan said, patting my knee a little. I set my book down to stare at their screens. There was a new excitement in the air. I watched, eyes flickering from screen to screen as I watched them.

“Rory, how did you see that?” Tino asked as a fellow team member ran past him. The gamer tag whizzed by. Phil shot an enemy red team foe. The drummer passed a quick stare.

“Snipers see other snipers.” I shrugged, murmuring softly.

“Wait, you play?” Phil paused the game. I nodded.

“Yeah, I played with my dad.” I murmured softly, ducking my head. Phil let out a little noise of appreciation. This was the most I had talked to the three of them. I started to slowly smile out of the realization of this accomplishment. Hey, they weren’t so bad!

“Dude, join us on the next round!” Alan laughed.

“Okay.” I mumbled. They all went to their usual route. When they took the turn towards their usual path, Tino muttered something about watching out for the sniper in the tower. Right as they turned down the main road, I gasped.

“NO!” I shrieked loudly. The thing about me, is that when I get into video games, I really get into them. I yell and shriek and groan loudly.

“What is it?” They all chorused.

“Don’t be idiots! Ugh, you’re walking into a trap! The sniper saw you so he’ll call in his friends to protect the bridge! It’s too late in the game to take the obvious path! Go through the old machinery room, up the second floor, jump two roofs, and you’ll be directly overhead the flag! JUST WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T BE STUPID!” I ran out of breath, panting in the end of my sentence. They all stared at me. This was the loudest that they’d ever heard me be. Alan’s eyes were wide in fear.

“O-okay.” They all stammered, turning back to the screen, obviously shaken. They took the path that I suggested. They ran into fewer enemies since this was a far edge of the map. Soon enough, they were overhead of the flag, looking down on a tower brimming with guards.

“Alan, you should’ve been the sniper!”

“Hey, that’s not my fault! I would’ve just failed and given us away!”

“Come on, how are we going to get to the flag now?” Phil groaned. They were so close, and people on their team were scattered on the ground. Fire rained down on their pixel heads.

“Go to the mill, jump from that to the second floor of the store, and climb to the tower. You’ll be right on the same floor. You’ll have to run on foot once you have the flag, but if you can take the far edge, you should be fine.” I suggested.

“But what about the guards?” Alan complained. Tino and Phil were quietly whispering back and forth, occasionally looking to me.

“Which gun has the longest range?” I asked. Phil silently raised his hand. I held out my hand, taking control. Sometimes, it felt good to be in charge.

“I’ll take care of them.” I muttered. Focusing in on his screen, I looked at the highlighted armor dots. His gun was high tech, but nothing out of my range. I took in the zoom and focused on each dot. I systematically eliminated the five guards. The last one took notice and Alan was forced to duck behind a chimney to avoid fire. I eliminated him with a headshot.

“Hurry. You’ll have backup in thirty seconds or less as soon as you touch that flag.” I murmured. Phil’s eyes were wide at my precision and he took back the remote. Alan leaned into my side, yelling a war cry as he jumped through the building. I let out a pure laugh at his antics. They all descended into the building, quickly capturing the flag and running the hell out of there.

Once the flag was back on their base, they all cheered loud enough for Aaron to yell at them to shut up. The match was over soon after that. Alan dug through a basket beneath the couch and handed me a black remote, clicking it on.

“Rory, you HAVE to play with us! We need a sniper like you to cover our ass as we get the flags.” Alan pleaded. I looked at it for a moment before hesitantly taking it. They really want me to play COD with them?

“Okay.” I blushed and chose my class.

Another match was about to start.

A few hours later, it was well into the night, maybe even midnight, and we had won the rest of our matches. I had gotten into the game just like the rest of them. I was yelling and screaming and shouting at the little pixel enemies. As I danced around high over their heads, clearing any potential threats, I would tell them the safest routes to go on. I only was shot dead a few times by higher leveled players. Otherwise, I was the VIP member of the team for the night. When we retired back to our bunks, we were all chuckling about the funniest things that had happened. I crawled into my bunk, waving goodbye to Alan. He winked and crawled under his sheets.


Sunday, December Thirty First, 6:31 A.M….

I woke up the next morning, taking The Raven Boys book with me as I slowly stretched and crawled out of bed. With the book safely tucked under my arm, I walked slowly towards the front lounge. I had beat Aaron to it yet again. As soon as I sat down, I heard him join me, quickly taking his seat across from me.

“Still reading that? I thought you would’ve finished last night.” Aaron winked at me. I sighed, resting my chin on top of the couch, staring out to the still landscape. I think we were somewhere in Minnesota. A blanket of snow covered the ground. The heater was going on inside the bus, but I had a blanket tucked around me. Aaron reached behind him to pull out a fleece cover.

“Yeah, but I became a slight bit distracted with my war comrades trying to wade through waves of enemies.” I sighed at the memories, smiling with the faint thoughts that passed through my head.

“They do like to go through things headfirst.” Aaron noted as he picked up his book. I read the cover.

“You’re moving onto Mockingjay? I thought you had read that one already.” I changed the subject quickly as I stared at the sky blue cover of the novel. He shrugged and opened it up to the first page.

Aaron tapped the first page with his index finger, glancing up to me with a wry grin. “Some things are worth rereading twice. Besides, I’d like to relive this all over again.” With that, we were finished. We wouldn’t talk for another hour or so, maybe another half hour depending on if either of us reached to a point in our books that we just had to talk about, but when that happened, it usually ended up with one of us saying something like “Oh, I can’t believe they just did that! I mean, how could they and they just…ugh! Asdfasdf!” and it was accompanied by assorted noises of frustration common to avid fangirls/readers

“Good morning, beautiful.” A voice snuck up behind me. I was too engrossed in my own world to notice his footsteps. The heavy cloud cover made it hard to know if the sunrise had just finished, but by the time it read on the clock, I guess that my usual visitor was early today.

“Hello, Austin.” I murmured, still reading. He sat down behind me, arms sneaking around my waist to pull me against his side, or so I thought. Nope, not this time. Instead, he pulled me onto his lap, holding me against his chest. The gentle giant was surprisingly cuddly today. He managed to move me from my crossed legged position with my back to him, and moved me so that I was now sitting on his lap, still with my legs folded together. I bit my lip to yelp from surprise.

“Austin!” I shivered and grumbled disapprovingly. Aaron looked up, but didn’t say a word. The screamer’s arms snaked around my waist, holding me to him no matter how much I struggled.

“You’re so light, Rory.” I chuckled into my back. I squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp.

“Getting panicky.” I mumbled to only myself, feeling the anxiety and fear rising in me. I buried my face back into my book, hoping to hide the panic attack that was rising up. Austin pulled me down against his chest again and put his head on my shoulder. I took deep breaths to calm down. His lips pressed to the hollow behind my ear, lightly kissing me there and causing shivers to race down my spine.

Wait, did he just kiss me? I mean, was he really trying to show me affection? He had always been really cuddly and close until now. Right now, he was taking this to a more intimate level.

Thing was…I think I liked it.

“Oh dear, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just going to distract you for now.” Austin murmured against my skin. My eyes closed in pleasure. I felt the sensitive skin heat up in nervous energy that soon turned to happiness. My fears were quelled and I just had to relax and go back to my book. I leaned a little away from Austin’s chest so that I was more comfortable reading my book. His fingers traced my spine, lightly dancing across my shirt. I struggled to keep my eyes open, his touch making me sleepy and smile.

He leaned up, nuzzling against my shoulder. I exhaled slowly, my chest humming with liking to his affectionate actions. Austin moved up, lips brushing against my neck. I bit my cheek to resist a sleepy yawn.

While most people would be turned on by this type of affection, I was just sleepy. Who needs sex when you can sleep?

His hands tugged my hair gently, brushing it back into place. I had made sure to brush my hair before I came out to read. This way, I wouldn’t be so distracted by the knots and tangles of it. Austin exhaled slowly, his cool breath running against my neck.

“You’re a very distracting person, Carlile.” I grumbled softly. He chuckled, his lips kissing the hollow behind my ear again. I felt his eyelashes flutter against my skin, giving me another high sensation.

“Oh really?” He murmured. I guess my comment must’ve given him a new lease to keep on distracting me. His arms rewrapped themselves around my waist and I leaned back into his chest, giving up. Aaron chuckled.

“It’s about seven. I’ll go get Alan a waffle.” Aaron excused himself, chuckling all the way. Austin grinned, his teeth grazing my ear.

“Mm…Aaron’s just finding an excuse to get out.” He smiled. I closed my eyes, setting the book down on my lap and losing the page. My eyes were closed and I felt a yawn tingle my throat.

“Sure.” I murmured sleepily. One hand reached up to gently run his fingertips against my cheek.

“Rory?”

I mumbled some faint noise in reply.

“Why must you be so beautiful?” He asked quietly. I sighed, reaching up to his hand and pressing it against my cheek. I loved the heat that radiated from him. It was like his caring, safe, nurturing nature was giving off its own star-like heat.

There was a moment of pause before I responded. “I’m not beautiful. Must I show you the scars?”

He cupped my cheek with the hand that I pressed against my skin. His head ducked into the side of my neck, a frown burning into my collarbone.

“Those just prove how strong you are.” With that, it was closed. He left no room for argument. He just pressed his lips gently to the hollow on my side of my neck and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. I leaned further into his chest, eyelids feeling heavy.

Tino came into the front lounge and I opened one sleepy eye to look at him. Austin looked up in worry. The drummer’s eyes were wide and mouth contorted into a frown.

“Austin, we have a bit of a problem.”

Notes

So Rory is finally starting to open up, she gets to know the other boys, and her relationship with Austin is growing stronger. How many Austin/Rory shippers do we have out there? I hope there's quite a few.... ;)

Anyways, so we have a big problem. What's happening? Will Rory be safe?

Keep reading to find out! Thank you so much for all the comments and subscribers! It means the world to me that you support this story!!!