What We Left Unsaid

It was the coolest thing.

Slowly, he lifted his hand to hover over the woman’s shoulder, a dimpled grin he couldn’t be bothered to contain spreading over his lips as he did. He just couldn’t get over it; it had been months, and he was still as easily amused by it as he had been the first time he’d noticed it. It was just the coolest thing he’d ever experienced, and he was pretty sure it would always be that way.

Just as slowly, so as not to wake the sleeping woman, he lowered the hovering hand so that it ever so gently rested on her bare shoulder. His little dimpled grin grew. After the briefest of moments, he carefully lifted it back up again, and let it hover just a few inches above her, and then a foot above her. He kept the distance for another moment until he slowly lowered it right back down again and let his fingers brush over her shoulder.

He couldn’t even begin to describe the feeling he got whenever he was this close to his mate. It wasn’t anything concrete, it wasn’t really even anything that he physically felt -- there were no tingles in his fingers or sparks or anything so cliché -- but there was definitely something there. It was something he could feel in every fiber of his being, something he could feel warming his heart, and something that had the most calming effect ever on him. He wasn’t sure how much of it was because she was undoubtedly the love of his life and how much of it was because she was his mate, but he really didn’t care. All that he cared about was how freaking cool it was.

When the woman made a small noise and stirred, though, he stopped his little game, letting his hand remain where it was on her shoulder and rubbing his thumb gently over the skin there in a silent apology. She was curled up and cocooned in a blanket on the couch beside him, her head resting on a pillow in his lap, and she looked absolutely at peace. He hadn’t meant to disturb her little nap, even though half of him was wondering how she could possibly be comfortable wrapped so tightly in that blanket when the house was already pretty warm. But that was just how she always was, he knew, for he had decided a while ago that she was without a doubt the coldest werewolf on the planet.

“You can go back to bed if you want to,” he suggested softly when he realized she hadn’t immediately fallen back asleep. Her only response was a small noncommittal noise and a wiggling of her hand so that it slipped out of the blanket and covered the hand he had placed on her shoulder. He couldn’t help but smile down at her, even though her eyes were still shut and her face wasn’t even at an angle facing him anyway. “I know what you mean, Kitten; I like having you right here, too.”

Shifting, then, he lifted the redhead’s torso up a little bit, tossing the pillow away and swinging himself so that his legs extended down the couch, one on either side of her body. When he lowered her back down and she curled up onto his chest, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the top of her head, one of his hands going right to her shoulder again and then running up and down her exposed arm.

The TV was on quietly in the background, but he wasn’t really paying attention to whatever police drama was currently on. He was perfectly content to just enjoy the peaceful early morning with his mate in his arms; it wasn’t every day things were quiet enough for them to just laze around. And so, as she finally started to doze off, he just sat there happily, half listening to the murder mystery but mostly just watching her sleep.

“She’s not really taking a nap at eight in the morning is she?”

Finally forcing himself to pull his attention away from the slumbering redhead, Matt glanced up at his half-naked friend, one of his eyebrows immediately arching at the sight of the short man standing in the doorway with nothing but a pair of boxers on. It was nothing he hadn't seen a million times before, of course, but it was still a little odd; usually Johnny was willing to put clothes on in the morning before coming downstairs -- for Kat’s sake, if for no other reason.

“I mean, why not just stay in bed?” Like before, he whispered the question, having enough sense to not risk waking the sleeping alpha.

“We woke up early and went for a long run,” the vocalist answered simply, his lips pulling into a little smirk when he took a brief glance back down at the woman in his arms, “and I might have kept her up pretty late last night, so give her a break.”

The bassist was quick to stifle the his laugh, keeping himself quiet even as he rolled his eyes at his friend. “I take it the romantic evening plans went well, then?”

“Oh yeah.” Turning his focus back to his bandmate, he gave the man another quick once-over. “How are you not hungover? I know you all were out until after three in the morning, and your drunken attempts to quiet each other down were not whispers, by the way.”

The shorter man cracked a grin, giving his head a little shake at the memory. “Matt bet me I couldn’t spend a night out at the bars with everyone without having even one drink. He now owes me five hundred bucks.” His expression was smug as he straightened up a little bit in pride, and Matt could only shake his head, completely believing that the two of them would make a bet like that, but not at all believing that Johnny could have won that bet. He chose to keep that opinion to himself. “Oh! Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know where I can find the portable flood light thing?”

“Dude, what could you possibly need the flood light for at eight in the morning when you’re not even dressed?”

He gestured in the general direction of the hallway in response. “The studio room’s light’s out and I’m pretty sure we don’t have the right bulbs to fix it. And I am not going to the store this early.”

The alpha made a face at the news, because not only did that light have the weirdest bulbs that they never seemed to keep stocked, but it was a pain in the ass to get the bulbs out of the fixture in the first place and it always ended up shocking the hell out of whoever was changing it. Not to mention the fact that it was always he who was forced to change it out, since he was the only one who could reach the thing by standing on a chair. Lifting his spare hand to run at his forehead, he tried to figure out when it was that he had last seen the flood light. “I think Ava and Brain were the last to use it; they mentioned something about stealing it so that they could go through some of the shit in the attic a while ago. So... pick whichever one of them you think is going to be less hungover and hope they don’t kick your ass for waking them up so early?”

The other man cursed and let out a sigh, obviously not pleased with the answer. “I guess that’d be Ava, then,” he said after a moment’s contemplation, before making a face when he must have realized how shitty of a situation that was going to be. “If you hear screaming, please come save me?” And with that, he turned to leave, but only got two steps before he quickly spun back around. “Wait, the extension cord -- is that in the garage?”

It was Matt’s turn to curse and sigh, his head dropping back for a moment before he sent an irritated glower in the shorter man’s direction. “No, it’s in Ava’s closet on the top fucking shelf, behind Kat’s crystal punch bowl. And damn it, that means I have to get it for you.”

“I can try and--”

“No. It’s the only heirloom she has, Johnny, and I’m not risking you breaking it by trying to climb on the shelves or jump and reach over it. I’ll get it.” He was sure of his decision, but that didn’t make him any happier about it, especially since his mate had only just fallen back asleep. Blowing out a long breath, he pressed his face into his mate’s hair and mumbled a quiet apology, before forcing himself to lift her up again, move himself out of the way, and place her back down just as gently. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the tired growl she failed miserably at pulling off in response to his actions, as he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.

“I’m sorry, Man,” Johnny told him when they walked out of the room together.

But the alpha only shrugged. “It was this or get electrocuted by that damn light, so it’s no big deal. Just... let’s avoid a loud fight that’ll wake her up even more, okay? Why don’t you go... I don’t know, be somewhere else for a minute? I’ll ask Ava where the flood light is, because she won’t snap at me, but you... you she’ll probably attack on sight.”

The shorter man nodded his head quickly. “I’ll... get dressed, I guess. Just get me the extension cord and let me know where she says the light is, and I’ll go and get it. Thanks for the help, Bro.”

He just shrugged again, stopping by Ava’s door and watching with a contemplative look as his friend continued down the hall. “Hey, Johnny?” he started right before the shorter man disappeared into his own room. “You’re going down there to play along to some of Jimmy’s recorded tracks, aren’t you? Are you doing okay?”

A weak smile answered him as the bassist paused in the doorway and looked back over his shoulder. “I’m good, Man. It’s just... harder to listen to all of the stories when you’re sober, you know?”

He didn’t stick around for a reply, and Matt didn’t blame him, letting out a sigh and running a hand through his hair as he just stood there for a minute. He understood completely, but more than anything, he understood what it meant when Johnny wanted to lock himself away in the studio room and just play along to Jimmy’s recordings; he knew the bassist was anything but ‘good’, and he knew he’d need to pop down there after a few hours and see how everything was going. As much as they were all missing Jimmy, and as much as they were all looking at the upcoming release of the album as an exciting but bittersweet thing, he knew it was going to hit them all a little hard -- that it already was hitting Johnny hard. But all that could be done to help right then was to get the extension cord and the floodlight so that his friend could have the time he wanted, so, without wasting any more time standing there wishing for the millionth time that their beloved friend was still around, Matt went ahead and opened that door... and stood in the doorway extremely confused when he did.

She wasn’t there; Ava wasn’t in her room. Perplexed, the alpha stepped forward, making his way to the closet and getting the extension cord down like he had promised to do, glancing back over his shoulder at the well-made bed as he did. Had she really gotten up while he and Kat had been on a run? It was definitely possible, but given how early they had gone, and given how tired and hungover -- or, hell, still drunk -- Ava must have been, it just seemed unlikely. Of course, she could easily have crashed in Brian’s room, or passed out in the bonus room with the Berrys after watching a movie or something... but there was just some small, nagging part of him that was worried she might have drunkenly decided it was a good idea to to go for a run of her own, alone.

So, the second he had the extension cord in hand, he made his way over to the bed and lifted up a pillow, quickly taking a deep breath through his nose and trying to pinpoint when the last time she had laid on them was. The scent was stale and faded, suggesting she hadn’t gotten up early and tried to run off the alcohol, but that didn’t surprise him. No, what had him looking up with confusion and surprise on his face was the fact that also on the pillow, just as stale and faded as Ava’s, was Zacky’s scent. On Ava’s pillow.

Brows furrowed together, the vocalist dropped the pillow back down and left the extension cord there with it, slowly making his way out of the room and down the hallway, before very carefully and extremely quietly opening the door to Zacky’s room. And when he glanced inside this time, the room wasn’t empty. Matt’s jaw dropped a little bit.

There, lying in the middle of the bed, was a blonde he’d always be able to recognize, even though her face wasn’t visible to him. She was sprawled out on her stomach, her head turned away from the door and her hair spread pretty much everywhere, including on the forehead of the man who’s face was visible -- at least partially. Zacky looked hilariously peaceful where he was, lying beneath the woman with his mouth pressed right against the purple bruising on her shoulder, one of his arms wrapped tightly around her waist while the other was just thrown carelessly to the side.

“Well I’ll be damned,” the alpha whispered, dimples appearing as he shook his head and fought the urge to laugh, amusement clear in his hazel eyes. And, knowing the two of them were undoubtedly in alcohol-induced semi-comas, and therefore unlikely to wake at the smallest of noises, Matt went ahead and stepped into the room, making a bee-line to the little whiteboard calendar the rhythm guitarist kept on the wall, even though this particular month had been relatively slow. He didn’t feel bad erasing all of the three dates that had things jotted down on them; they had already passed and weren’t anything important anyways. Then, grabbing the marker, he paused for just a moment as he tried to think of what he wanted to write.

That’s cute, kids.

Short and sweet, and undoubtedly more than enough to piss the both of them off -- just how he wanted it. And with that done, he took one more highly amused look at the pair, snorted softly, and made his way out, careful to quietly shut the door behind him. He’d grab the extension cord and tell Johnny that he should probably wake Brian, instead.

And then he’d go and have a really good laugh with his mate.