GHOST CABIN ☆ EARTHMIX AU

Part thirty-five: the blushing game

"Blushing is the colour of virtue."

- Diogenes

"You should be alright; it's pretty warm now," Earth whispered to Mix.

"Uhmm," Mix agreed, but snuggled even more into Earth's arms... "wait!" Mix sat up straight, a baffled expression on his face, "how do you know it's warm here, already?"

Earth said nothing as he let his smile speak for him.

Mix was staring at Earth for a few more seconds before he went for it, "don't tell me—"

Earth happily nodded his head, "yes, I can feel the temperature again."

"Oh my God, yes! Since when?"

"Since now, I guess," Earth shrugged, trying to play it cool as much as possible. Which was the complete opposite of how Earth felt. Internally he was jumping like a little child. Being able to feel temperature again meant that he was another step closer to being alive again. Another step closer to having an ordinary life with Mix by his side. Even though for Earth nothing with Mix was ordinary.

Mix lightly slapped Earth's shoulder, "Don't 'I guess' me! This is huge! Aren't you happy? I'm so happy."

"Of course, I'm happy, Mix. And I'm even happier that the warmth of your body on mine was the first thing I felt after decades." Earth brushed his hands over Mix's thighs, resting them under the blanket on Mix's waist, "it's perfect."

"Now, that was unnecessary. I really didn't need that information. My heart was feeling things even without that." Mix rambled, his cheeks flushed with a pink tint and it definitely wasn't because of how hot it already was sitting right next to the fireplace.

"You look even prettier when you blush," Earth said softly.

"Yeah? Cool, enjoy it while it lasts, because I usually don't blush easily," Mix said, his blush now accompanied by a cheeky smile.

"We'll see about that," Earth said, squeezing Mix's waist.

Mix rose his eyebrow, "are you challenging me?"

"And what if I am?"

"I don't know what's your plan but you can't make me blush whenever you want to. I'm pretty resistant," Mix said, trying to ignore Earth's hand roaming under the hem of his shirt.

Now was Earth's turn to raise an eyebrow, "I find that hard to believe considering how many times you already blushed for me."

"I did not do that."

"Oh yes, you — sheriff LeBlanc is here," Earth heard, the sheriff's Jeep pulling up in front of the cabin.

"He brought groceries, as always," Mix said, standing up from Earth and making his way to the front door to open them. "Actually, now when I think about it, I need to go to the town to do some admin stuff. You can't go with me, right?" Mix asked, his smile dropping a little.

"No," Earth shook his head, following Mix to the front door.

"Can I go? Will you be alright?" Mix asked, before opening the door for the sheriff.

"I'll be fine, angel. Go do what you need to do," Earth pressed a kiss on Mix's pouting lips and gave him an 'it's okay' smile.

"Okay, then," Mix said and waited for the sheriff to knock on his door any second now.

The loud knocking was there only a moment later accompanied by sheriff LeBlanc yelling Mix's name. "Mix, your groceries are here."

Mix opened the door, genuinely happy to see sheriff Leblanc. Mix loved Earth from the bottom of his heart, but Earth was also the only person Mix saw all the time so having the sheriff come by once every week was actually refreshing. "Sheriff, it's so nice to see you. Thank you for the groceries as always."

"Nice to see you, too, Mix. No problem. Everything you wanted is there. By the way, feel free to ask for anything you need. It's no problem."

Mix put the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and returned to the door. At this point, Mix didn't even bother to invite sheriff LeBlanc inside, he knew it was pointless. "Actually I have something — would you be able to take me to the town now? I have some things that I need to do. You know, send some letters to my family, maybe visit a bookstore, just walk around the town a bit."

"Is it still so bad with the phone service here that you need to send letters?"

"Very. I tried countless times to call or text message my family, but it never worked. Honestly, at this point, I don't even need my phone." Mix said, a little bit frustrated but not as much as he would be if he was in the Ghost Cabin alone for real. But Earth was a very good companion to have to prevent Mix from even spare one thought on his phone.

 "I'm sorry, Mix. I'll try to do something about it as soon as possible. It must be really frustrating for someone your age to not have phone service and internet here. Praewa never asked me about this because I guess she didn't need it that much. She had a landline here, but that got disconnected right after she died. If nothing won't work I can at least get you the landline back, would that be okay?"

"That would be perfect," Mix's hopes got high after the sheriff's words. "Thank you. Ehmm so can you take me to town or?"

Sheriff LeBlanc nodded, "of course, of course, yes, I'll take you. Do you need some time to get ready?"

"Ten minutes, if that's okay." Mix smiled, he was excited, about the change of scenery for a few hours.

"Alright, I'll wait in the car," the sheriff ducked his head and went back to his car.

Mix ran upstairs putting on a warm cotton white sweater, black pants and long grey coat, "how do I look?"

"Too sexy for the fact that you are wearing winter clothes," Earth said, wrapping his arms around Mix from behind.

"Great, that's what I was going for. Besides those are classy winter clothes, they are supposed to look sexy, and mysterious, and intellectual...all good vibes you know?" Mix said, leaning into Earth's comfortable hug.

"For whom do you wanna look sexy when I can't go with you, hmm?"

"You can't go with me but you'll be here when I come back. Maybe I'll let you take them off of me," Mix said smirking, turning towards Earth as he wiggled from his strong arms.

"Ehmm, yeah...you should go," Earth barely get those words out of him.

"See," Mix's smirk got even bigger, "if you were alive, you'd be blushing so hard right now. I know it!"

"I would not!"

"Whatever you say, babe." Mix kissed Earth's cheek, "see you in a few hours. Be a good boy and don't get in trouble while I'm not here." With that Mix skipped down the stairs and ran towards the sheriff's car.

Blushing score: Earth 1 :  Mix 1 (of course if we assume that Earth would actually blush if he could; and that's what Mix assumes so it counts!)

To be continued...

P.S. Nothing is going to happen to Earth while Mix is gone...right? Right... 😇