Swooped | ✓

Chapter 17: A Pair of Lovebirds

With express shipping, our large order of Kevlar had arrived, and Gia shut herself in at home to work on my suit. Lark hadn't said too much when I went to pick up my order, which was surprising considering she had definitely looked into the package. Apparently my order of Kevlar wasn't as out-of-character as I had thought, and Lark had made it clear that she had expected much weirder shit to be in the box; dismembered body parts and niche dildos being some of her initial thoughts.

I had considered telling her about everything then and there, but Milo's nagging voice at the back of my mind told me that maybe it was better to keep something like my wings to a select few, at least until we figured out everything and were somehow able to protect me and my identity. Milo had mentioned that I had a habit of oversharing with Lark, which was a fair point. I knew she wouldn't tell anyone, but for now, the less people knew the better.

Milo had also been spending a lot of time at his home, working on my new goggles. We had bought a new pair of ski goggles, and he had spent a good time pulling them apart, working on the screen lens. I visited his place - when Felix wasn't home, of course, and with Geoff in tow - to watch him as he worked. He really was amazing; I didn't understand how he knew what to do with all of those wires and weird gadgets, but he made it look effortless. He was a genius, but I often forgot it until moments like those.

I also came to the realisation that Milo was really good with his hands.

Really good.

Manipulating those wires so delicately seemed innocuous, but somehow the fluid movement of his fingers stirred something up inside of me, and I had to excuse myself. Not to the bathroom, because Jesus, I wasn't about to jerk myself off in my best friend's family home because I imagined a very vivid image of what his large but gentle hands could do when playing with my body instead of those wires. No, I just flew onto the roof and tried to will myself to not think about Milo's hands sliding up my shirt, down my pants, palming my front and probing my back.

I ended up leaving when I saw Felix returning home from hanging out with some of his friends, and the stink eye he had given me was such a contrast to the coy smiles he had delivered in large doses that other night. 

I also hadn't talked to Milo about... whatever it was that we had to talk about. Milo called me brave, borderline idiotic, but for some reason I became a complete chicken when it came to talking to Milo about feelings. My feelings, in particular, because I was certain that Milo didn't have those kind of feelings.

But, right now, I was sitting in his bedroom on the edge of his bed, with him standing in front of me, those large but gentle hands on my face.

I had invited Geoff to come with me, and he agreed to meet me there, but for some reason had flaked when I was already loitering in front of the Schultz house. Milo had seen me from his bedroom window, and I couldn't escape. He had wiggled his finger in a 'come here' motion through the window, and I stiffly followed his instructions, having to drag my feet through his hallways and into his bedroom. 

I tried to keep my breathing even as Milo fiddled with the ties of the modified goggles he was trying on my head. Yes, he was touching my head and my face not because he wanted to caress the shit out of me, but because he was doing his job, fitting my goggles that he had worked on with a lot of care. Of course he'd be gentle; he didn't want to break all of his hard work.

"Too tight?" Milo asked, face so close to mine as he focused on my goggles. We had gone with a  reflective lens, so I could see Milo clearly, but he couldn't see anything but his own reflection. Lucky, since my eyes were wide as I stared at his handsome face, a little rough with dark stubble. His hair had grown out a bit since earlier in the semester, no doubt preoccupied with other things, like looking after my newfound powers and his own studies. Instead of being shortly cropped and shaved at the sides, the front now flopped over his head, but in no way did it make him look bad.