When darkness turns to light *EDITED*

Chapter 24

Slash stirred on the narrow seats of the sofa and groaned, shielding his eyes from the sunlight shining directly in his face. He used the quilt as protection from the light and sat up stiffly, rubbing the left side of his back, 'Yep, definitely uncomfortable.' He thought before sounds from the kitchen caught his attention and he rose slowly to his feet, massaging his stiff muscles and leaning in the archway as Flaro busied herself making sandwiches. Slash smiled at her back, "Good morning."
Flaro smirked over her shoulder, "Afternoon."
Slash blinked, "What? What time is it?"
"12:30. Looks like you really needed that sleep." She laughed before shrugging, "Or you just really loved the couch."
"Far from it." He groaned, rubbing his eyes and back at the same time. Flaro gave him a sympathetic look, walking over and patting his shoulder, "Ok big guy, turn around." She smiled, pushing him around so his back was to her. Slash glanced over his shoulder at her in confusion, "What are you doing?" He barely had time to ask before Flaro turned his head away, "Keep your head straight." She ordered before she grabbed his wrists pulling his arms back. Before he even realised what was going on, he felt a foot where his pain had bundled and was yanked back. He gritted his teeth as his back crunched, "ARGH!!! What was that for?!" He yelped when she let go of his arms and put her foot down. Expecting even worse pain to be shooting through his back, he frowned and rubbed it before stretching. Nothing. He blushed bright red and rubbed the spot again, "Oh. Thank you."
"You're welcome." She grinned, patting his back before walking back to her task, "Hope you like sandwiches."
Slash nodded embarrassedly and sat down in a chair, "Yes. Thank you, again." There was a brief pause before he looked up at her back again, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
"Oh believe me, we tried." She laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
Slash raised an eyebrow, "We?"
"Polka and I. We were trying to wake you up for 10 minutes. I even let him jump on you. Nothing! Not even a snore or murmur, we ligitimatly thought you were dead until I found your pulse."
Slash sighed and dragged a hand down his face, "Ah. Well, my apologise. I didn't mean to take over the living room." He murmured guilty. Flaro shrugged, placing a sandwich in front of him, "Don't worry about it, you clearly needed that sleep-in and it was actually kinda funny. I think Polka kind of likes you, you know." She grinned, leaning against the table, "You can't even scare little kids anymore Slash, tsk tsk."
He rolled his eyes and pulled a face at her, "Ha ha. How did you know how to fix my back anyway?"
"Many sleepovers and falling asleep there myself a few times. You can still take up my room you know, I can stay in with Polka or something." She shrugged, "Up too you if you wanna go through that again."
"I'll consider it." He gulped before hurriedly changing the subject, "Where is your brother anyway?" He asked as Flaro quickly fixed up another sandwich, "Outside playing with the other kids." She smiled before walking to the door and poking her head out of the wide open doorframe, "Polka, lunch!" She called, earning a wave from the little boy before she ducked back into her home again and sighed, "Aaaand covered in mud. As usual."
Slash chuckled just as footsteps ran up to the house and Polka bounded in, clothes, hair and skin dyed brown. Flaro sighed, "Did you forget how hard it is too get the stuff out of your clothes?"
"Sorry." He laughed nervously, "It was an accident this time, I promise."
"Uh huh, like last time. Go get cleaned up and come get lunch." She rolled her eyes. Polka nodded before dashing off to the bathroom. Slash raised an eyebrow at Flaro, who finally joined him at the table with her own lunch, "Is he like that often?"
"Oh please, that was nothing compared to two nights before you came here. He came back here looking like some kind of swamp monster. Leaves, twigs, branches, mud and other stuff. I still don't know what it was... But it was nasty." She shuddered. Slash cringed, "Lovely." He mumbled as Flaro nodded in agreement before they tucked in.

After lunch Polka hopped down from his seat and passed his plate to his sister who was at the sink, "Mommy and Daddy wanted to know if you'd come with us for a walk after lunch."
"Yeah sure." She smiled down at him before looking over to the couch where Slash was hunched over something, "Do you wanna come with us?"
He shook his head, "No, you need to spend more time with them. And I have some work to do."
"You brought work?" Flaro raised an eyebrow and Polka peeked over the King's shoulder in curiosity, "I don't think you get the word 'vacation' very well."
"Vacation was never really in my vocabulary." He muttered back, reading over a piece of paper. The little boy began copying him while Flaro fought back her giggles, 'Aww, he does like him.' She thought happily before ruffling their heads, "Whatever you say. You gonna be ok here on your own?"
"I'll be just fine, go and have fun. If anyone tries to kill me I'll handle it." He smirked at her through his hair at her. Flaro adverted her eyes and nodded, "Ok. Well... There's food in the fridge and stuff if you get hungry." She mumbled embarrassedly as Polka smiled up at his older sister mischievously before she ruffled his hair again, "Alright, better not keep them waiting right?" She grinned at him as Polka whooped and jumped up, racing to the door. Flaro followed after him and waved over her shoulder, "We'll be back later."
"Ok." He called back, chewing on a pen as the door closed. He glanced up to the window to see the two racing towards their parents and baby brother who was soon scooped up by Flaro while Polka pulled his father's hand towards the forest. The corners of his lips perked up slightly before he realised he was staring with very strange thoughts in his head. Seeing Flaro with a baby sparked something that he couldn't explain. (Bruh.... What?) He shook his head, mumbling under his breath as he poured over his papers. (That's what I thought XD)