Blackest Souls, Darkest Nights

24. Priorities

"Loo."

"Huh?"

"Loo. Lucy."

Lucy blinked wearily, the beckons of slumber still drawing her closer. She looked up at Bhu'ja's face, and she couldn't help the laugh that bubbled from her throat. "What? No."

"Why?" Bhu'ja asked. He'd been awake for some time, thinking things ten times over in his mind until he grew bored of himself.

"It means toilet."

"Hmph."

It fell silent between them. Lucy wasn't sure how long she'd slept, but night had fallen by this point. Her body felt well-rested — the best she'd felt in days. No longer did her limbs feel heavy, nor did she find herself on the verge of dipping into another micro-sleep.

But it was the rumbling of her aching stomach that finally disrupted the peace. Lucy cringed as she pulled away from Bhu'ja's warmth to sit herself up. A hand rested on her middle as Bhu'ja reluctantly pulled his arms away. His hand hovered over the small of her back, unsure if he should touch her or not.

"You eat?" Bhu'ja asked. Lucy inclined her head in his direction but didn't look at him.

"Yeah." She nodded. Her chest pinched with guilt at the lie, so she turned away from him and pushed herself to her feet. Bhu'ja's palm grazed her back as she stood, and he finally dropped his arm.

"Where go?" He asked. He tried to push himself up onto his elbows, but the pain that flared in his side made him instinctively flare his mandibles. Bhu'ja's muscles briefly locked before he dropped himself back onto the ground, which rocked beneath him. For a moment, he thought he might be sick from the motion.

"Don't push yourself. You've done that enough," Lucy said. She stretched her muscles and stepped away from him. "I'm gonna go find some food."

The brunette shuffled around to pick up her guns again. She double-checked the contents of her bag before she disposed of the remaining pipe bombs into a pile. There was some wire leftover from the last snare she'd made, which she could easily tie into another one.

But before Lucy did that, she made her way back into the master bedroom and ripped all the dirty sheets off the queen-sized mattress. She then pulled the mattress off the bedframe and dragged it inch by inch across the carpet. By the time she reached the living room, her muscles were shaking.

One of the two seaters was in the way, so Lucy paused her journey to shove it closer towards the dust-covered coffee table. Bhu'ja watched, his eyes glinted with amusement, and one of his mandibles quirked as the woman moved with obvious exertion.

At last, once the mattress was beside the male, Lucy huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Fuck," she whispered, throwing her head back. She then wiped some sweat off her forehead before gesturing to their new bed. "Alright. Whenever you're ready."

Bhu'ja grunted. He wasn't ready yet. But the mattress seemed far more comfortable than the hard ground he'd been forced to endure while Lucy slept. Instead of getting up, the male just rolled over, using his elbows to keep him above the ground before he collapsed onto the mattress with a springy bounce. His body seized in momentary pain, and, slowly, his muscles relaxed as the throbs eventually died down.

In that time, Lucy moved back and forth between the rooms, bringing with her the blankets and doonas. She shook out a couple of them before draping them over Bhu'ja.

"Sleep," Lucy said quietly as she knelt by his head. This mattress was bigger than the last, and while Bhu'ja's feet still hung over the edge, he felt he was able to spread out a little more. He closed his eyes as Lucy pressed a soft kiss to the uninjured side of his head. "I'll be back," she whispered.