IncuBUST

Breakfast

I felt something tickling my nose. 

"Chase," Sissy whispered gently brushing the tip of my nose with her index finger. 

I was cold. Where was my blanket?

"Chase, how do you use the coffee maker?" she continued poking my nose a little more forcefully. 

"Whaa?" I mumbled my left eye cracking open just enough to look at her face hovering in front of mine. She glanced away from me for a second her eyes peeking over the side of my body and then she looked back to me and there was a weird expression on her face that I wasn't awake enough to try to identify. 

"How do you make coffee?" she asked and I sighed. Seriously? I inevitably got up before Sissy-- always-- and while I didn't drink coffee, most days she did so I made it for her. The fact that she was awake before me was somewhat worrying. 

"Google it," I muttered fumbling for my comforter and finding a pair of light brown, ice cold arms wrapped around my torso instead. So that's why I was chilly. I had temporarily forgotten last night's events but as I stared at Barapha's peacefully sleeping face tucked in against my neck his frosty breath causing goosebumps to rise on my flesh I remembered everything, including what I said to Octavia. 

I sighed and rested my head back on my pillow. Sissy stood up and looked down at me and I think she looked angry...because I let Barapha stay the night or because she didn't have any coffee? I didn't know. 

"Give me a minute and I'll make you some coffee, though you should really learn how to make it yourself," I said quietly and she scoffed replying, "That's what I keep you around for." I rolled my eyes at her and tried to get out of bed without waking Barapha.

Suddenly my door slammed open and Sissy glanced over at it. After a moment she shook her head and said, "Octavia, I don't know what you're trying to say." I glanced over at Barapha, but he was still asleep despite the noise. I carefully sat up and his arms slid down my body flopping down onto the bed. If he hadn't been breathing I would have thought he was dead. 

I looked at Octavia and she glared at me for a moment before turning back to Sissy and signing, "I got the coffee maker to work." Sissy blinked at her in confusion and then looked at me. 

"She said she made coffee," I said and Sissy smiled before saying, "I guess I don't need to keep you around anymore, Chase." Octavia left the doorway and Sissy followed after and I sighed. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table and saw that it was after 11:30am. I never slept that late. I never slept that well. 

I usually went to bed starving, tossing and turning half the night, burning up from the inside out, but I just slept through the entire night without kicking off my blankets and ripping off my clothes. I could get used to that. 

"Are they gone?" 

I looked over at him and he opened one eye with a sly smile.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked as he sat up the sheets falling off his bare torso.

"Since you moved. I was quite comfortable, you know," he mumbled reaching towards me. 

"You were supposed to leave as soon as it was morning," I said and he sighed curling his arms around my body and pulling me into his lap. 

"I fell asleep. Usually I wake up around six, but I didn't. You're very easy to sleep with, Chase," he murmured before pressing his lips against my neck. I could feel the cold clawing its way into my veins and my system sparked trying to compensate. Suddenly he stopped, the ice left my veins to be instantly replaced with heat. 

"Sorry," he said pulling away from me. I all but whimpered my displeasure as red light boiled under my skin and beads of sweat sprung up on the back of my neck. He looked down at me and asked, "I usually eat in the morning. Do you mind?" I shook my head not trusting myself to speak and before he could make a move I pulled my shirt off over my head pressing my bare chest against his and throwing my arms around his body. I sighed at the instant relief. It was like going for a run in the middle of summer and coming home to lie on the cold tile floor. 

Barapha moaned softly and hunched over me, his large palms pressing flat against my back, his cold face cheek to cheek with mine. 

"I've met fire Elementals who don't burn as hot as you, Chase," he mumbled and I felt the mind-numbing ice melt into my skin soothing the wild fire that raged within. The cold penetrated deep all the way to the core, nearly taking over before my body began to keep pace. 

I touched his face with my left hand and felt the cold zing up my fingers like electricity. I moved his face away from mine so I could see it and I stared into his eyes filmed over white-blue and translucent like ice. 

"Share," I whispered and he grinned his cool breath smoking like dried ice. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine. Our mouths opened and I could taste myself in his life thread cold and hot swirling together creating a very intriguing flavor that made goosebumps leap along my spine. 

He was still feeding, sapping the warmth from my skin but I had more to give so I clasped his face in my hands and drove the roiling red light straight into his head causing his skin to glow like mine. 

His hands moved down to my lower back carving a path of ice down my spine and his fingertips played along the edge of my pajama pants. I thought about feeling uncomfortable especially considering I was sitting in his lap and could feel some very interesting things going on in the pair of sweat pants I had let him borrow after our shower last night made all the more evident by the fact that he wasn't wearing any underwear.

The thought left my mind as I continued to indulge in the first morning meal I had had in decades.