At first, Elaine was met with a warm cloud of steam accompanied by the lingering scent of fragrant bathing soap.
Her eyes focused on what lay beyond, and she went stiff...
The figure underneath the shower, sensing something, turned her way and also went stiff...
The two stood at a deadlock, shock written on Elaine’s face as the clouds of steam poured past her.
Brandon, stark naked, stood frozen underneath the steady stream of warm currents of water.
It wasn’t until he caught Elaine’s gaze trailing down that he finally reacted. Knees buckling, his hands raced to provide shelter to his jewels.
"What the fuck are you doing there?" he hissed between his teeth, wondering why she was still standing there. For the first time in a while, Brandon wasn’t loud... he didn’t dare to be.
If he mistakenly called the attention of others, he wouldn’t hear the end of it. The shame would be too much to bear.
A shadow of regret flashed behind Elaine’s flustered expression as she tried to explain, subconsciously stepping forward. "I-it wasn’t intentional... I-I was worried when we didn’t see you and—"
She was cut off. "The fuck? I don’t need you to explain, I need you to get the hell out!" Brandon berated, squeezing the words from between his teeth while buckling his frame lower to hide his body better.
Elaine stopped, face flushing beet red. She nodded vehemently. "I-im sorry," she whispered with a crack in her voice, before bolting out and slamming the door shut.
Leaving Brandon’s heart racing with embarrassment, relaxing his posture, he glimpsed down at his little guy. ’S-she didn’t get to see... right?’
He swallowed nervously. Somehow he felt he didn’t want to know the answer to that.
His face flushed red, shame building. "I should have locked the fucking door..."
...
Elaine rushed out of Brandon’s room, all flustered, her mind replaying a visual. She shook her head in a flurry to disregard the image as she walked down the hall, causing her to bump into someone.
Fixing his glasses, Uriel lifted his gaze from his book, glancing at Elaine. "Are you alright?" he asked, noticing her off demeanour.
"I-im fine!" she stuttered in a hurry before rushing to her room.
Staring at her silhouette until she vanished behind her room door, Uriel instinctively knew something was wrong.
The Elaine he knew had never stuttered over the years he knew her. She was his vice for over three years—he would know.
That girl was icy, bossy, and cocky. He had never seen her so flustered, even when the freaking world almost ended.
Uriel’s nose twitched, catching an after-fragrance that lingered on Elaine’s path—one not unfamiliar and confusing at the same time.
This scent his brain associated with... Brandon!
His eyes trailed to Brandon’s door at the left side end of the hallway. Uriel snapped his book shut as a smile crept on his lips. He sensed drama...
While Uriel gave the air of a strict, disciplined individual and interacted as one, in truth that was a trait forced on him by his roles, responsibilities, and expectations others had of him.
A habitual exterior he was forced to retain due to his duties and roles.
As the class president of Class A in Avalon High, he couldn’t be too friendly, he couldn’t be too lax. He had to always stay ahead, focused, and make sure not to bring disappointment to his father.
But now, that weight wasn’t on him anymore. In a way, though the Origin’s descent made their responsibilities greater and the expectations higher.
Being with peers, his equals, a team of his own made this experience seem even less taxing.
He wasn’t required to put up the same walls around his friends. He didn’t have to be a leader leading the way anymore. He didn’t have to be the cold, calculating, perfect machine required of him previously, and it was all relaxing.
Being without all that burden, Uriel began to discover more about himself as a person—things he wasn’t given a chance to find out about himself. And it seemed he had just discovered he was a sucker for drama.
...
Elaine slammed the door behind her and rested her back on it, her heart hammering against her chest violently, her face flushing into a brighter shade of red.
The image in her mind lingered longer than welcomed, refusing to fade.
She buried both palms in her face, her back on the door sliding down, her hair spreading in beautiful coils.
"What is happening to me," she whispered...
Elaine wasn’t struggling to erase the scene because of disgust or pure embarrassment. No, rather the feelings and reactions provoked by the scene just now scared her.
Why did she feel regretful and reluctant when Brandon told her to leave?
What was that sudden excitement she felt staring at a naked man?
Was she a pervert? It couldn’t be right?
Elaine was a girl with focused goals all before the Apocalypse began—a girl out to prove to the world she could be the best.
Lost in the heat of chasing her dreams, Elaine never saw gender no matter whom she interacted with. She never crushed on a boy before in her entire existence of living.
From young, her mind had been wired for success. Everything else wasn’t important; she saw it all as distractions to her goal.
Only for the Origin to descend and wreak it all. She was forced to confront how fragile her concept of greatness was.
In a single day, everything she ever worked for crumbled to dust, leaving her silently, hiddenly lost.
She did everything in her power to survive back at Avalon, but deep down she was aware that a part of her died there along with her dreams.
The Ice Queen Elaine of Avalon was dead. And what was left of her? She didn’t know.
But as she truly began to bond with her teammates, as they faced life and death repeatedly on several occasions, she did begin to realise something.
She was becoming different. She couldn’t be her former self no matter how she tried, especially when she interacted with...
Her face went red again as she thought of a certain figure...
And now she realised something: put any other guy in that scene just now, her reaction would have been averse. So why... why Brandon?
All these symptoms pointed to only one fact...
Peeking from between her fingers, she refused to believe it. ’I-it couldn’t be right...’
[Important Author Note Below Please Read Of You Have The Time...]