乇卩|乙ㄖ́

匚卄卂卩ㄒ乇尺 几|几乇

I spent the entire morning reading a book I had kept in my bag.

Aino had taken most of them, but now he was gone, so I depended on the ones I kept for myself.

As I was reading, a loud gasp beside me caused me to panic.

I quickly turned and went into attack mode.

That was until I realized it was just a frightened Griff.

He had an absolutely petrified look on his face as he looked around, quickly noticing me.

He calmed down a bit after seeing me awake and aware. I also calmed down a bit too, cause he had scared the living shit out of me.

"Oh, you're awake," he mumbled, rubbing the coal out of his eyes.

"Mhm, I kept my word," I smiled a bit, blinking slowly from my own exhaustion.

"I had a dream that I woke up and you were dead asleep. It freaked me out, and then we got attacked," he said in a strained morning voice.

"Wow, you're really, really paranoid then," I joked, chuckling when I said it.

I heard a small laugh from him as well, as if he found it stupid himself.

"Yeah, you could say that." he sighed, leaning on his arms for support.

"Did that sleep feel heavenly after all that time?" I asked, giving him an 'I told you so' look.

He rolled his eyes when noticing it, sighing in defeat.

"Yes... It was," he smiled a bit, covering up his laugh.

"Must be nice," I smirked, pretending to pout.

"Wow, that's cold."

"I'm just acting like you."

Griff continued to laugh before stretching and untangling his hair. He stood silent for a bit.

"What's the plan? Do you wanna pack up and head out, or stay here for a bit?" he asked me, taking his ponytail out.

I rubbed my chin for a bit, genuinely thinking about my answer.

"I'd like to stay. You still need rest, and I'd like you to sleep more," I answered, starting to yawn a lot.

He looked at me, barely reacting to what I said.

I glanced back, noticing the sides of his mouth upturning.

"Why do you care, Kama?"

I kind of liked the way he said my name. It felt like sweet honey to my ears compared to the guy that approached us a while ago.

"As someone who hasn't seen anyone for my whole life, it's not a suprise that I became attached to people that showed me even a little bit of kindness. The last person I saw was my father, and then all of Oregon was running for their lives."

I noticed him glance down with a sorry look on his face.

"That's understandable. That's pretty much how I came to tag along with Aino," he whispered, looking back at me.

I stared at him, then leaned forward to get closer to him.

"Do you miss him, Griff?"

"What kind of stupid fucking question is that."

His quick change in demeanor shocked me, getting a reply of awkward laughter.

"So, I'll take that as a yes,"

He deeply sighed and covered his face when noticing how it came out, seeming to quickly regret it.

"Of course, I do. I just don't know how to show that I care other than acts of service. I guess that's why he snapped that day," he spoke into his hands.

"Wow, is that why you offered to carry me?"

"Shut the fuck up."

I smirked, sighing now that I was done teasing him.

"That's as understandable as my reason. You could at least try to get better at it, though," I spoke honestly.

"You could at least try to grow a third arm."

"That's cruel."

"That's not as easy as it sounds, Kama. Besides, I have tried to, and I'm still trying to this day," he spoke, resting his head.

"Well, going on this entire journey would definitely show. And I personally think you are getting better." I gave him props. I honestly wasn't lying when I said it.

"Is that a joke?"

"I'm not as cruel as you,"

He laughed a bit, but he looked relieved that I said that.

"Thank you. This is the best I've felt since before Aino was taken," he sighed, finally getting up.

"Ahh, does that mean I'm finally permanent?" I smirked, knowing that I had to do it to him.

"Don't push your luck,"

I chuckled, getting up as well.

I was a bit wobbly due to the lack of sleep. I don't know how the hell Griff did it for an entire month.

I eventually found my balancing, yawning when I did.

Griff simply looked at me, seeming to notice my exhaustion from only one day.

"I'm fine," I reassured, walking past him to get the day started.

I heard him sigh from behind me, grabbing ahold of my arm to pull me back.

"Go to sleep. From now on, we'll do 1st and 3rd shifts. I'll sleep during the night while you sleep during the day. Got it?" he spoke, turning so that we were face to face.

"C'mon, I'm fine. I can totally start the d-"

"Kama, you look like a drunk person from Vegas that made a bunch of horrible life choices all night."

Ouch, but he was kind of right.

"Are you sure? The reason that I did this was so that you were alri-"

"And I'm doing this so that we're both alright. It's a reasonable solution, and I can't have you this worn out," he explained, hardly wavering from my gaze.

I could feel myself melting under his dark eyes, and I didn't know how to feel about that. All I knew was that there was no point in arguing. He was as stubborn as I was. I've come to learn that.

"Alright, I will," I muttered, feeling my eyes grow heavy now that I knew I could sleep. 

He watched me lay back down, barely hesitating to sleep like he did last night.

I heard him walk off as I shut my eyes tight.

It wasn't hard to drift off after that, all of my surroundings quickly slipping away.