Fear the Night

Chapter 5: The Move in

“You shouldn’t do that, Izzy,” Yukio said as they bustled around his pad. Isabella frowned at him then turned back to emptying Yukio’s small library.

“I shouldn’t do what? She asked, honestly and Yukio headed toward her, placing a hand on hers.

“Tease him,” he smirked and she looked up at him with wide eyes filled with wonder.

“I didn’t,” she insisted.

“Oh, yes you did,” he smirked again as he headed toward the box he was filling with some of his things. “When you act all cute like you did before we went for food, it messes a guy up.”

“But…I wasn’t intending---”

“You don’t have to be intending, sissy,” he replied. “You just are sometimes.”

“Aw, thanks, bro-bro,” she smiled cutely and Yukio pointed at her, approaching her with wide eyes.

“See?!” he chirped, standing next to her. “That! Right there! That cute little smile and tone you do! It’s too cute! If you don’t like the guy, then don’t do that to him!”

He wagged his finger at her, gently touched her forehead then headed back to his box. She frowned then turned to the box she was filling with books.

“Who said I didn’t like him?” she mumbled so Yukio wouldn’t hear her. He’d played matchmaker with her several times, but even if he might have set up this meeting with Maverick, she didn’t want Yukio to know she actually liked him. She couldn’t admit that he’d been right. He’d never let it go.

“I’m only packing the important books,” she told him. “Maverick’s place is small enough without our things there too.”

“Yeah, sure,” Yukio replied then threw something into his box. “Why don’t we just take this box? You and I are pretty much done with those books anyway, right?”

“You sure?” Isabella wondered with a frown.

“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Like you said, he’s only got so much room over there. Just take the important stuff.” He walked toward her and hung an arm around her shoulders. “I’ll take that box and you take the basket with the food.”

Isabella nodded and grabbed the basket sitting next to the bow of books as Yukio picked up the box filled with his belongings and headed for the door. She opened the door for Yukio and walked ahead of him down the street.

They passed by, in amazement, the spot where the dead Drone had been. The Suits had cleaned up very well. It was as if nothing had happened. They hurried through the street, not looking directly at the Suits that patrolled the streets and ducked into the alley Maverick had his trap door in. Isabella opened it for Yukio then went in after her, shutting it behind her.

“We’re home!” Yukio called, jokingly as they headed down the staircase, Maverick at the bottom of the stairs, and the younger man smirked, “Did you miss us?”

“Awfully,” Maverick retorted with a scoff then stopped Isabella by gripping the basket she was holding and when she looked up at him, their eyes locked.

“I’ll take that,” he murmured and she swallowed, letting go of the basket with a nod. Yukio glanced between them in disbelief. Here he was with this heavy box and Maverick takes a light weight little basket from her! He must have liked her, he was sure of it!

“Where do you want me to put my stuff, Mave?” Yukio asked as the other man placed the basket in front of the fridge.

“Wherever it’ll fit,” Maverick chuckled as Isabella stood at the bottom of the stairs waiting to be told what to do. “Or wherever you’re sleeping, I guess.” He turned to Isabella and said, firmly, “You’re sleeping in the bed.”

“Where will you sleep?” she asked with a frown as Yukio glanced around, trying to figure out where to put his box.

“On the floor,” Maverick shrugged as Yukio nearly slipped when he kneeled to put his box down as Isabella’s eyes widened in shock.

“No, no!” she breathed as Yukio succeeded in setting his box down and turned to watch the two. “I couldn’t ask you to do that! This is your home!”

“Well, you can’t very well sleep on the floor,” Maverick replied. “Just take the bed. I don’t sleep much at night anyway.”

“When do you sleep?” Yukio chimed in, seeing Isabella open her mouth to argue some more. He walked toward her and shook his head as Maverick scoffed.

“Right about now,” he replied. “If I were you guys, I’d get used to uneasy sleeping hours.”

“We get that already,” Yukio replied heading toward the stairs again.

“Where you goin’?” Maverick called with a frown.

“Back to Izzy’s place for her stuff,” he called, still heading up.

“Wait, Yukio, let me---!”

“I’ll get it Izzy,” he called again, cutting her off. “No big deal! I’ll be back!”

The slam of the door followed his assurance of return and Isabella sighed as she turned to Maverick who looked back at her while a small, awkward silence passed between them before he broke.

“So---” he choked then cleared his throat before continuing, “What food did you bring?”

“Oh, just leftovers from the dinner you missed last night,” Isabella smirked, jokingly and Maverick only nodded. “Are you hungry?”

He only shook his head and Isabella held back a sigh. They stood in silence again for a few moments, the only sound around them being the steady breathing of the sleeping Drone. Isabella glanced at it then back at Maverick and shifted on her feet, nervously.

“Does ‘she’ have a name?” she wondered with a sweet smile and Maverick frowned then turned to glance at the Drone before looking back at Isabella.

“Uh, no,” he replied, his eyes wide with wonder. “I just call her…whatever I want. Never thought to give her a name.”

“Would you mind if I named her?” she murmured, clasping her hands in front of her and swaying toward him as he still stood next to the bars. Maverick frowned again and, again, turned to the bars to watch the nameless Drone. He shrugged and turned back to reply to her request.

“Yeah, sure, if you---”

He cut himself off when he turned and his nose brushed against Isabella’s. He jumped and so did she as she took a step back.

“Sorry!” she gasped. “I-I stepped too close---!”

“No, it’s ok,” he assured her and noticed her backing up toward the box Yukio had brought in. “Look out!”

Isabella let out a startled shout when she bumped into the box and almost toppled over, but Maverick grabbed her hand to steady her on her feet again. They both froze and glanced at each other’s hands as soon as she was steady and both yanked their hands away as if burned.

Maverick ran his hand through his hair as Isabella turned away, clasping her hands in front of her again and twiddling her thumbs. He glanced at her then back at the basket and decided to rummage through it. As he turned and knelt in front of it, Isabella glanced from him to the caged Drone.

She inched toward the bars, rubbing the hand Maverick had touched and still glancing at him once every few seconds. She knelt down in front of the bars to stare at the sleeping Drone.

“Well, what to name her,” she sighed, thoughtfully. Maverick said nothing as he observed her as she stared at the Drone. “How about…” she trailed off, tapping a finger on her chin as she glanced at the ceiling then looked at Maverick to finish, “How about Faye?”

Maverick looked around thoughtfully. That sounded like a human name. A name for a real person. Foe whatever reason, he’d expected her to come up with a pet name like Midnight or some silliness like that.

“You don’t like it,” she assumed when he took to long to answer and his attention was turned back to her.

“No, that’s not it,” he replied, quickly seeing her pout only subtly. She looked back at him, her eyes widening in excitement. “I was just trying to figure out…if it suits her. It does.”

“Really?” she smiled, sweetly and Maverick had to take a minute before nodding. Yukio had too right, she was beautiful.

“From now on, her name is Faye,” Maverick nodded with a smile, pulling an apple from the basket in front of him and tossing it to Isabella. She quickly caught it, but lost her balance from her kneeling position and fell on her rear. She instantly burst into laughter which made Maverick stop short from helping her.

“Are you ok?” he chuckled instead, her laughter becoming infectious. She nodded as she calmed her laughter and crossed her legs in front of her to sit and start on her apple.

Maverick couldn’t help but smile. It had been a while since he’d head laughter that wasn’t his own. Isabella’s laugh was comforting to him, not to mention it had a sort of melodic quality to it that made feel… What was that feeling? He didn’t know, and for the time being, he wouldn’t try to figure it out. One thing at time.

“How long has she been here?” Isabella asked, biting into her apple. Maverick shook himself from his thoughts and turned his mind to her question.

“Let me think…” he hummed then counted on his fingers before looking at her again and replying, “Almost a year now.”

“Really?” Isabella replied in awe. “How have you been able to feed her?”

“I go into the woods across the Barrier and gather up small animals and such,” Maverick shrugged. “Sometimes there’s not much there. The Drones hunt there more than they do in the city because we stay indoors at night.”

Isabella nodded then remembered something and asked, “If the Drones live down her…underground…why do you live down here?”

“They live deeper,” he explained, scooting closer to her after pulling an apple out of the basket for himself. “If they lived just below the surface, like we are, light could still get in and light up their tunnels and caves from the holes they dig from the surface.”

“Why is it that the light from the lamp doesn’t bother Faye?” Isabella wondered, intrigued. Maverick smiled at her interest and the use of his Drone’s new name.

“Because it’s artificial,” he explained. “Sunlight and firelight is what ticks her off.”

Isabella giggled at his choice of words and he looked at her with widened eyes, through he smirked. How could she be so cute? Her smile suddenly dropped and Maverick frowned in worry.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, scooting just a little closer to her.

“That Drone this morning,” she explained. “How did you get out of that without any more injuries?”

Maverick sighed, exhausted just thinking about last night, as he leaned back on the bars. He had hoped to tell both her and Yukio, but he’d just have to tell her first. He sat forward again as Isabella started at him with undivided attention.

“Technically,” he began, “I did get injured. See, Bell--- Can I call you that?”

She gave a small smile with an equally small nod.

“Well, it’s like this, Bell,” he continued, “that Drone bit me…hard, on my arm.”

“Oh, my God! Which one?!”

She immediately grabbed his hands and stretched his arms out to examine them, not waiting for his answer. But when she found no wounds whatsoever on his arms, only tattoos around his biceps, she looked up at him with a frown.

“Let me show you something,” Maverick murmured, then pulled his hands from her grip to scoot as close as he could next to her. He held up his left arm and touched at several pinpricks on his forearm and asked, “See those?” She nodded mutely, still frowning. “That’s where it broke the skin. I had to use a little tool to fix the dents it made in my skin.”

“I…” she breathed. “I don’t understand.”

“Here, feel this arm,” he said, offering his right arm to her. She frowned at him then glanced at his arm, feeling her cheeks flare. When she looked back at his face she saw that he wasn’t aware of what he was asking by his serious expression.

“Go ahead,” he urged and with a quiet gulp, Isabella took his hand first in both of hers. Unsure of what he wanted her do, she simply ran her hands over his forearm and jumped with a start when he yanked his arm away and held his left arm.

“Now, feel this one,” he instructed and she frowned in confusion again.

Sighing to keep herself from racing again as she took his arm in her hands again. Her anxiety disappeared when she immediately noticed a difference in the texture of his skin. Even more intrigued, she took Maverick’s other hand and held one of his in each of hers. He watched her expressions in amusement as her fingers ran over the marks he’d said were made by a drone last night and she looked up at him with wide eyes.

“A bionic arm?!” she breathed and Maverick only nodded with a smirk. She opened her mouth to ask something, but stopped when she heard the door to his secret pad open and Maverick stood to be ready for anything.

“I’m back…with a box!” Yukio called and Maverick relaxed again as Isabella stood as well, turning to him a moment.

“We’ll talk about it a little more later,” she smiled, sweetly, “after some sleep and food.”

He smiled and nodded as she headed toward the stairs as Yukio came mid-way down said stairs. She giggled at seeing him struggle with the box and took it from him.

“I’ll set up some places for me and Yukio to sleep,” Maverick announced, heading for his bed. “I have plenty of blankets and pillows. It can get cold down here.”

“No big deal,” Yukio shrugged as he and Isabella started unpacking their boxes. “We’re used to it, right Izzy?”

“You might be,” Isabella chuckled, “I’m not!”

“That’s why you’re getting the bed,” Maverick smirked from around the wall next to the staircase. “I’d rather not have a frozen woman in my pad.”

Isabella giggled and nodded in agreement that she didn’t want to become a popsicle. Yukio glanced between them and when Maverick disappeared around the corner again, the other man chuckled. Isabella whirled her head around to frown at him.

“What?” she wondered, her hands on her hips.

“Oh, nothing,” he sang back softly. “I was just thinking how much fun it’s gonna be living with you two.”

Isabella blushed and picked up a book to fling it at him but he raised an arm to keep it from hitting his head as he laughed.