Just My Luck

2○ Ducks

V E R Y A N

I woke up. Unfortunately. 

I wished and I hoped for yesterday to be just a dream, a nightmare. But I laid in Landon's bed, enveloped in Landon's scent and wearing Landon's shirt. I squinted at his blurry figure sitting next to me. His image was burned into my brain. I didn't need to be able to see clearly to be able to recite every detail about him. His shaggy brown hair. Freckles plastered on his cheeks. Brown eyes that burned holes through me. His terribly perfect nose. 

I sat up, my body protesting at the movement. Everywhere ached. My stomach. My legs. My dick. The sun streaming through the curtains didn't aid with my headache either. 

"Ow! what the hell?" I said as Landon grabbed my face and shoved a pair of glasses on me. The first thing I saw with my newly restored eyesight was Landon, just as I described. Though he got bigger. His arms bulged out of his shirt and his hand was nearly two sizes bigger than my face.

His eyes stared into mine, emotionless and dull. I tried to force his hand away but he refused to let go.

"Let go of me dick wad," I muttered staring back into his eyes. How dreary they looked, as if he were a breath away from dying.

"Why'd it have to be you? It could've been anyone else. It shouldn't be you," he whispered, his eyes still torpid. These same words. Did he think I didn't feel the same way? Did he think I wanted to be here, with him, like this?

"Then reject me and be done with it," I said flatly. I felt like we had this conversation before. So long ago. A past that I locked so deep inside me it'll take all the pain I have to bring it back up again.

He sighed and let go of me, "Why did you come here? I told you to not find me."

"I didn't come to find you, you terribly dense idiot, I just happened to...be in the area," I said, not wanting to mention Torrez. I tried to stand but failed miserably. 

Landon's room was very....Landon. Bare. Somber. Even the bed was sad, crying woeful creeks when I sat back on it. 

"Right. In the area," he sighed again, "When you get back your strength, leave." He seemed to want to say more, but held back.

"I-I didn't plan-plan on staying," I stuttered out. Everything felt hazy again. The sun became loud and the silence blinding and nothing made sense. I tried standing again, this time falling into Landon's chest.

"Veryan you're..." he stopped. I threw up on him. He pushed me back onto the bed, his face draining of colour. Then I threw up on the bed. At least now I felt better. Much better.

Landon began gagging. Then I began gagging. Now was not a great time to have a gag reflex. 

"Can you-" I gagged, "-Stop gagging."

"You threw up-" he gagged, "-On me."

"No shit you arse-" I gagged, "-I can see that."

"Alpha Land-" a girl came into the room, short and small, her hair sticking out in coils. She gagged, "This is so gross. I'm not doing this. Not today. I'm going back downstairs."

"Wait-" Landon said, "Nicoletta, clean this up."

"No thank you alpha. I'll pass," she said, averting her eyes from the scene.

"This isn't-" he gagged, "-A request."

I got up from the pile of vomit I laid in and tried to walk to the door, again failing miserably. I was caught in Landon's arms, his hands wrapping around my chest. My heart quickened. This cursed bond, making my body react in such a manner.

"Nicoletta, clean this up or burn it. I do not care just...make it go away," Landon said. I heard the girl grumble before he dragged me to the bathroom across the hall. 

"...Here's a bathroom. Clean yourself," Landon said, his face still wan, and walked out the door like an undead corpse, not sparing me another glance.

He hasn't changed from the teenage Landon I once knew. Cold, abrasive, uncaring. The lack of life in his eyes, the way he stared at me, like I was nothing. Maybe he was onto something. Maybe I was nothing.

I stripped of my soiled clothing, avoiding the mirror, not wanting to see myself. I walked to the bathtub and pulled open the curtain only to see predatory birds sitting in murky water. Ducks. 

I looked at them. They looked at me. And in their eyes I saw my death. I slowly backed up. I wasn't going to die by the hands, or whatever ducks have, of ducks.

"L-L-Landon!" I screamed, eyes still on the ducks, always on edge for their sudden movements. I called out to Landon again. I heard his quickened steps in the hallway.

"What?" His monotone voice grazed my ears. 

"Ducks," I whispered from behind the door, "Ducks."

"What?" He said again, opening the door between us. He had no shirt on. His terribly perfect body was on display in front of me and in that moment I felt very self conscious, of both my own body and impending boner. He stared at my naked body backed into the corner of the bathroom and then at where my finger pointed to the beastly animals.

"Ducks," he said, "Ducks."

"Yes ducks, I'm glad you can name animals. Now do something about it." 

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked, also backing into the corner where I stood.

"I don't know, get them out. Wait. Are you scared?"

"No, I'm...simply not fond of them," his voice was still devoid of emotion but his actions said otherwise.

"Not fond? So, you're scared." He looked at me. I wasn't quite sure if he wore a glare or if that was just his face. He stood in front of me, towering like Godzilla and King Kong's love child, I hadn't realized how big he had gotten. He wasn't much taller than me but his stature was broad. It irked me that I felt inferior since I was older than him. 

The door burst open once again and in came the small girl from before. 

"You mind-linked me alpha?" She said, subtle annoyance lingering in her voice.

"Yes, a while ago," he said, blocking my body from the girl's view.

"Well, I was busy cleaning vomit from your room like I'm your maid, which I don't recall in being in the job description as your beta." A tight smile squeezed onto her face. 

"Beta?" I asked, "You're his beta?" She shifted her head to look at me, but Landon stepped in her line of sight, cutting her off.

"Yes, I am. Have a problem?" 

"No. I just feel sorry for you. Having to work with Landon must be a pain. If I had to be with this dipshit I'd quite literally die," I said. 

With him I'd die. Without him I'd die. I suppose I'd be better off dead.

He ignored my comment. "Are those...things... yours Nicoletta?" He motioned to the devils soaking in their own shit water. 

"Oh, right. I forgot about Marco and Nando," Nicoletta said, picking up the creatures and holding them tenderly in her arms, "So, you guys were scared of my children? They're actually quite docile."

"We're simply not fond of them," I responded. I could see Landon's jaw tick. 

"Sure....okay." And so Nicoletta walked out the door, ducks in hand, leaving my naked self with a shirtless Landon, a duck-free bathroom and a semi hard dick.