“I need tea.”
As he neared his face to hers, the enchantress focused all of her attention on the fallen angel; the way his hair fell messily about his forehead, his hands leaning himself forward on either side of her. She’d asked this of him to help herself find resolve, so although each of his kisses meant something to her, this was intended to determine something, though he didn’t know that. She hoped it would determine something, anyway… That familiar flutter rose in her chest as Jev’s lids lowered to her lips, his eyes entrancing in their now close proximity. “Always…” Even his voice alone sent a shiver through her. Raven’s own violet eyes lowered in response, her lips parting slightly and gaze glassed as she remained still and expectant. Her eyes fell fully closed as he captured his lips with hers, leaving the magus at her senses’ will. The sides of their noses brushed as she softly kissed him, tilting her head slightly in an invisible motion. The kiss was silent. She’d wanted it that way. It was a completely delicate movement; as fragile as paper, but tender.
Raven’s thoughts went blank for the moment, allowing her mind to drift. ‘Don’t you ever wonder what you’re getting yourself involved with?’ But all too soon, she found herself once more, before breaking her lips from his. Her eyes remained closed, their noses grazing and lips hovering inches from each other for a still second. She could have stayed that way, or even leaned in to kiss him again, but did neither. The empath released a small sigh, still conflicted. Without another word, she leaned back from him, her eyes slowly opening again. She knew that she’d left a sense of confusion lingering in the air, which only deepened when she didn’t speak, but in truth she didn’t know what to say. Her gaze just fell to the floor as it had before, her conscious fully aware of him still kneeling beside her but not wanting to meet his green orbs just yet.
As usual, Jev felt his body heat up as their lips touched, his cheeks flushing a light pink as her nose brushed across his. This was an eerily silent kiss compared to their usual lip contact, which made Jev curious about why Raven was seeming so… Reserved today. As she broke the kiss, the boy let his eyes open, his face revealing hints of confusion about what had just occurred. He found himself following her gaze to the floor before he moved from his kneeling position to a sitting one with a simple kick of his legs. The fallen angel made sure he sat very close to Raven, his gaze not meeting hers however. Lightly, the dark haired angel bit down on his lower lip, unsure of what to stay. Instead, Jev gently moved his arm across the back of her shoulder, his hand resting on her right shoulder now as he chewed on his lip. “… What now?” He asked, giving the magus’ shoulder a gentle squeeze.
She tensed as his hand snaked around her shoulder, but relaxed slightly at his gentle squeeze. He’d picked up that something was wrong - of course he had. She could feel it. And if he hadn’t, then he would soon enough.
“… What now?”
It would be pointless for her to retreat, to avoid the subject, she reasoned with herself. If she’d learnt anything from her time with Jev, it was that pushing issues to the back of her mind, failing to confront them out of fear, wasn’t a wise solution to her problems. But she didn’t want to tell him… She really didn’t. She didn’t want to share with him her doubts, her recently-developed insecurities of them becoming a destructive couple once their pasts got involved. She couldn’t tell whether she was being reasonable in this cautiousness, or whether it was a reflex of running from her emotions and feelings for him, as she had done before. Perhaps the memory of Malchior was subconsciously having an influence; it seemed like things between them had been going a little too well to stay that way. Raven wasn’t sure whether or not she could trust her own judgement, though; whether she was just making trouble for herself. But she had to know; she wanted his opinion. To get that, she’d have to tell him…
The cloaked girl sat still, suddenly realising her mind was wandering but not physically reacting much to it. The conflict was entirely internal, with only remnants of it showing across her face, still glancing down to the carpet. She held her breath for a moment longer before responding, her voice quiet, hesitant and unsure. “… Jev. Do you ever wonder, if…” she paused again, mentally debating whether to say it. How to say it. The pause seemed like it was hanging in the air for hours. “… we’re bad for each other?” She finally said, though her tone showed her reluctance. She sincerely hoped that he knew what she meant by it.
“… Jev. Do you ever wonder, if… we’re bad for each other?”
Her words hit him like a train…
Jev seemed to instantly stiffen, his eyes glassing over as he tried to conceal his emotions from plain sight, though this didn’t stop him from beginning to tremble. Raven actually asked the question that he had been fearing most. She was his rock, his anchor, and if she thought they were a bad couple…
The fallen angel’s heart rate began to accelerate, his emotions threatening to tear it in two from her mere statement. A cool bead of sweat ran from his forehead down to his nose as his heart hammered at his rib cage, every limb of his body shaking as he slowly turned his head to look at the cloaked girl. “W-why would you s-s-say t-that?” He asked, obviously trying to keep his voice steady, but to no avail. The dark haired male slowly moved his head away from her, his breath beginning to grow more rapid. Panic was not an emotion he was used to, and he didn’t like it. In his mind, Raven and him had been perfect until she said something. Now it felt as if everything he was holding onto was crashing around him, breaking to bits as he sat there, stomach full of pancakes, with Raven to his right. Jev slowly closed his eyes as pain racked his chest, though it clearly wasn’t physical. His entire being seemed to be shutting down, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Raven hadn’t predicted he’d react so badly to her question. But her boyfriend beside her was now panicking - she could see that clearly. She should’ve known not to ask him… Nothing good had ever come from making negative feelings she harboured known to others; so why would it now? Considering his realm with the other angels forbid anything other than brotherly relationships, she was probably all he truly had; his only support and love left. But even if this were true, she wouldn’t know. She couldn’t read his mind the way she could others. Their mutual telepathy brought with it complexities that prevented her from rooting that deep. And even if she could, she wouldn’t want to… That’d be an invasion of his thoughts. She respected him more than that… So should she have predicted this? Was it her fault for even bringing it up? She’d just wanted to be honest with him… And now he looked on the verge of tearing up in a matter of moments. His physical response had been so… quick. It was like her words had cut into him the second they’d left her lips.
She mentally scolded and cursed at herself, regretting having said anything on the matter. But now she had, and he’d asked her a question of his own. She couldn’t just run away, but he looked so suddenly… lost and scared. There had been only a small few other times she’d seen him with that look: the night she’d asked about his wings, and their evening on the rainy rooftop. She hated seeing him like that. The choice she faced now was whether to continue on with the truth, or halt and cease her doubts and comfort him instead. Raven was starting to wonder whether or not the truth was the best option, now. The empath felt a lump in her throat as his breathing grew slowly heavy, his head turning away from her. “Jev, it’s okay,” she attempted to reassure him, reaching to touch his shoulder gently. “Look at me…” Her voice was still nervous and quiet, her mind debating what to say to him. She was using this minute to prioritise making him feel better, if she could, but she’d have to answer his question at some point. After all, she’d brought it up now…
Her reassuring words helped somewhat, but not enough to make his trembling stop. The fallen angel found himself shaking, trembling due to a mere statement that had been more of a question than anything. For a long moment, the boy couldn’t think, move, or even breath. But as her hand touched his shoulder, he seemed to relax slightly. Raven’s touch alone was enough to stop the trembling of his body.
Slowly, Jev turned his head back to the dark empath, his pale green eyes expressing how troubled he was more than any words ever could. He was worried, more worried than he had been in a long time. Typically being in Raven’s presence was soothing to him, but now it was panicking him. His instinct was to get up and run away, but he knew with a full belly of pancakes and a girlfriend who could potentially bottle him up in a black bubble, that running away probably wouldn’t work. The angel bit down on his lip, hard, as his troubled gaze focused on her amethyst eyes. It took him a moment, but after a few seconds he released his lower lip to speak.
“Do you want to break up with me?”
