[IC] shadows.

[Rystelle]

Sophia took a deep breath and then let it out. She stood up, placed her hands on the table, and grinned. "Alright!" She declared, making herself sound happier than she felt. "For the rest of today no more being scared, no more crying, no more shit. If anyone else tries to bring us down, I swear I'm going to grab my bow--" she had a recurve bow in her room "--and I will shoot them in the knee." Sophia was sick of being scared and being upset. She wanted to be happy. She wanted to enjoy herself and have a good day with Tim. She would forget all about Evelyn and David, Paul and Greg. They were all assholes and she hoped that every single one of their gaming systems crashed at once. That would serve them right. Plus the thought of them crying bitter tears as their entire collection went down the drain made her feel better. "So!" Sophia continued. "I think it's about time for dinner. Shall I cook or do you want to order take out?"

[DELTED293y5gds]

"Ah, um, ooorder? Should we order? Um, like, order pizza? Sure, lets totally order." Tim was still a little interested in why the poeple upset her so much, but he decided to put it behind them for now, considering that she was now completely over whatever it was she was under. She seemed to be back to her usual, happy-go-lucky self, which was great. It was really great. He liked seeing her happy, honestly. It made him happy, for some reason. He smiled a little at her, not really realizing it at all.

[Rystelle]

When Sophia saw Tim smile she couldn't help but give a real smile--not just a forced one. It made her happy to see Tim happy. "Alright," she agreed. "We'll order pizza and watch another movie or play some games or something. I have board games too if you don't want to play video games." "Sounds good," Tim agreed. Sophia pulled out her phone and pulled up the number for the local pizza place. Before calling the number she looked to Tim and asked, "Supreme pizza and bread sticks sound good?" Tim agreed and she called up the pizza place and put in their order. About twenty minutes later the pizza arrived. Their food having arrived, Sophia and Tim grabbed some drinks and plates and filled up their plates with pizza and bread sticks. They picked out an animated movie called Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind by Hayoa Miyazaki, switched off the lights, and settled down on the couch. Halfway through the movie, having finished her food, Sophia was curled up asleep on her end of the couch.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim noticed Sophia slowly dozing off as the movie progressed. Her eyes were slowly drooping downwards, her face relaxing more and more as the plot advanced. They were more than half way through when she completely passed out, nuzzling up against the arm of the couch. She looked like a giant sleeping kitten or puppy. That made him smile. Tim pulled out his phone and checked the time, his eyes going wide in disbelief when he realized that it was already 11:40 p.m. He looked back over at Sophia, not knowing what to do about all of this. He didn't want to just leave her in the middle of the night, that felt wrong. And he didn't think he could move her from the couch to her bed without waking her up, which he desperately didn't want to do. He was also really scared to go back to his apartment, if he was being honest with himself. He was still shaken up inside about the portal, and his mother. He knew for a fact he was going to have the nightmare tonight, especially if he was alone. He was scared of what he could do when he woke up. He looked from the screen, then back to Sophia. She cuddled into the corner of the couch. He smiled again, and he decided that he was going to sleep on the opposite side of the couch. Tim got up, walking quietly into Sophia's bedroom. He grabbed two blankets and walked back into the living room, gently draping one over her as he did so. HE wrapped himself in one as well, curling up on his side of the couch. He grabbed the remote and switched off the television. He was asleep in less than ten minutes.

[Rystelle]

At some point in the night Sophia's blanket started to slip off. A chill set in and she started to toss a bit. Finally she woke up enough to grab and fix her blanket. But she was still chilly and uncomfortable from having been in one position for so long. Barely conscious and thinking she was on her bed, Sophia turned around and sought a warmer spot. She found one and curled up again. In seconds she had drifted back off to sleep. Come morning she'd wake up to find she was not in her bed but on her couch curled up against Tim.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim was in the middle of stirring in his sleep when Sophia made the move over to his side of the couch. The etchings of that nightmare he has so often were beginning to fade into existence. He could feel his arms stuck against his body. He could feel the dream beginning, flickering in and out of his conciousness. The blood. The darkness. His mother. But a few moments later... he felt it fade away. He felt everything reversing. Everything disappearing. And then, he woke up. He barely woke up more than half way, but he was ever so slightly awake. He noticed that his left side, which he assumed was against the back of the couch, was a little heavier than he usually noticed. But in his half asleep state, he couldn't quite place why. He felt warm and toasty. He felt incredibly comforted, too, for some reason. He felt a bit safe, too. Tim adjusted his body, sort of snuggling against the warmth on the couch, therefore snuggling into Sophia. He wouldn't come to realize this for another few hours. But he was, for now, sleeping soundly, without the nightmare, and that made him happy.

[Rystelle]

Morning came and Sophia slowly started to awaken. She yawned and stretched before curling back up again, rubbing her face in what she thought was her pillow. It was really warm but felt kind of weird--little did she know it was Tim's side. After a moment she changed to rubbing her eyes with one hand to clear them of sleep. Then she opened them, expecting to see her bedroom dimly lit by the morning sun streaming through her window. But instead she found something blocking half of her vision and she had to lift her head up to get a clear view of the room. The living room. Sophia had fallen asleep in the living room on the couch. She remembered it now, having dozed off in the middle of the movie. She wondered if Tim had left and looked around to see if he might be sleeping somewhere on the floor. But then her sleepy brain began to awake and she wondered just what she was sleeping next to that was so warm and comfortable. Certainly not a pillow. Sophia looked. And she froze. Her entire face flushed as red as a tomato as she realized she had just been cuddling up beside Tim. Okay. Slowly, slowly, Sophia thought to herself as she tried to carefully extract herself from where she had burrowed into the back of the couch besides Tim. She hoped that she could get to her side of the couch before he woke up.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim woke up slowly to the realization that he was being moved around. He was a little confused, and he opened his eyes a bit, only to see Sophia, slowly moving away. She had ended up on the same side of the couch as him over night, he realized. He felt his cheeks starting to burn, he felt his eyes go wider, but his face was completely out of Sophia's sight by this point. He didn't know what to do. Should he get up? Should he stay down? He stayed down, letting her move over to the opposite side of the couch. He shifted his weight a little, making it easier for her to move with it being too obvious that he was awake. Though, maybe it was obvious. He wasn't too sure. He wondered for a moment if he should tell her that he really liked the cuddling. That it made him feel safe, secure. He wondered.

[Rystelle]

Tim stirred a bit and Sophia held her breath and hoped that she wouldn't wake him up. She knew he was still iffy on physical contact with her. She was worried that if we woke up now he might take everything as a misunderstanding or else freak out all together. However, it seemed that Tim continued to sleep on peacefully. Having extracted herself from Tim's side of the couch, Sophia sat up on her side. She grabbed her phone from the table and checked the time. Only 5 o'clock. Still really early. Realizing why she had woken up so early, Sophia disappeared to a side room for a moment. She came back a few minutes later and lay back down on her side of the couch--good thing it was a big one. Sophia curled up underneath her blanket and tried to go back to sleep. It would be a few minutes before sleep would come again. Her side of the couch was cold and she shivered quietly until the cushions started to warm up from her body heat. She started drifting back off to sleep.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim was still lying on his side when he heard Sophia drifting off to sleep again. When he was absolutely sure that she was asleep, he sat up, looking over at her as she snuggled against her side of the couch, shivering a bit. His face was still a little red, and he wished it wasn't. For some reason... he really wanted them to be cuddling again. To be close, to be against her, to be totally with her right now. He had never felt this way about any person in his life before until now. He just stared over at her, not knowing what to do. After a few minutes of this, he fell backwards, looking up at the ceiling now, sighing a bit. "Oh..fuck me..." he said, pressing this palm to his forehead. He was confused. He didnt know the feelings he was feeling, he had never experienced them before in his life. There were thoughts rushing around in his head constantly right now, and they all lead back to her. He found it hard to fall back asleep with so much on his mind.

[Rystelle]

After a couple more hours of sleep Sophia was finally ready to get up. She pushed off her blankets and sat up, yawned and stretched. In a rush she remembered what she had accidentally done last night. She cast a nervous glance to Tim, wondering if he might know. Even if he did he still appeared to be asleep. She hoped he didn't know. But if he did then that begs the question--why didn't he freak out or react in some way? I won't say anything about it, Sophia thought to herself. I won't say anything unless he happens to say something. But she really hoped he wouldn't. She was too embarrassed. They had only started hanging out a few days ago and already they had accidentally cuddled. Not only did that make it weird, but so did the fact that that was the type of things couples did. Suddenly David's face and words flashed through Sophia's mind and all the color seemed to drain from her face. "Shut up, shut up," she whispered quietly but angrily to the voice in her head as she ran her hands over her face and through her hair. "Fuck you, David. Asshole." Sophia hated him. Hated him a burning passion. Him and all three of the others. But she hated David most. Her asshole ex-boyfriend. She was stupid for ever dating him. Sophia tried to push those thoughts out of her mind as she headed into the kitchen. She looked around the fridge and pantry and mused to herself, "What should I make for breakfast today?" She decided what she wanted to do and plugged in her waffle maker to start heating up. Next she prepared batter and fruit for toppings. Breakfast was well underway now and Sophia had all but forgotten about David. As she worked she hummed as usual, but occasionally she would stop mid-tune as her thoughts drifted back to how comfortable she had been last night curled up next to Tim. Then she would vigorously shake her head to try to clear those thoughts and would start humming again as she returned to her work.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim had been lying awake since five in the morning, after the incident. He was trying to formulate everything, get a hold of everything that was spiraling out of his control. Everything was so much more complicated now that he was being...social. He was feeling new things, he was gaining new experiences, and honestly, he wasnt too sure he liked them all that much. But there was Sophia, too, and when he thought of her, he thought of the good things that related to her. Tim let his mind wander for a few more minutes, and then, he sat up, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He looked out into the kitchen and he saw Sophia. She was moving around a little, cooking things, being nice. He also took note that she still had his sweater on from the day before, which made him happy for reasons he was still unable to place. It didn't annoy him that he couldn't place his feelings, though. He was just happy that she liked his sweater. He pulled out his phone, checking the time. It was still early, roughly 8:00. He knew he needed to go home and do some work today. Sophia was out of school, sure, but that didn't mean that he was out of work. He could work whenever he wanted, sure, but he was required by the company he worked for to log at least 40 hours a week. He usually averaged about 90 hours a week, sure, but just because he was particularly outstanding in his field didn't mean he was allowed to slack. He sighed a little bit, swiping his thumb to the right to unlock his phone. He had no messages or emails. He rarely did, and for a while he considered just not having a cell phone. But there was some weird, adolescent part of him that felt he needed one, so he kept it around.

[Rystelle]

Sophia turned around when she heard Tim sigh and saw that he was awake, sitting up and checking his phone. "Good morning," she greeted with a smile. She acted like nothing had happened and did it well. For the most part she was over her worrying as she had convinced herself that Tim had been asleep through the whole incident. "I made some waffles," she said as she pulled the last one from the waffle maker. "Do you want butter and syrup on yours? Or strawberries and bananas with a strawberry syrup." When Sophia began to speak Tim looked up and put away his phone. He thought for a moment then replied, "Um... Waffles with the fruit and strawberry syrup. Yeah, that sounds good." "Fruit and strawberry syrup it is then. Milk to drink?" Sophia asked. Tim agreed and she made their plates. She set the plates down on the coffee table and then went and got their glasses of milk. Sophia sat down on one end of the couch and picked up her plate and started to eat. This is nice, she thought to herself. Someone to have breakfast here at home with. Of course she knew it wouldn't happen all that often, especially once school and work started back up for her--Tim had work too--but until then having Tim around to spend time with was nice. Sure, Sophia had a few other friends and her family, but most of her friends had moved away and the others were often busy. She got lonely sitting alone in her apartment. The primary reason she had approached Tim was that she often felt alone and wanted a friend. As she had hoped Tim had proved to be a nice guy and lots of fun, even if he was at times awkward. But that just made him cute. And even knowing what Tim had been through only made Sophia want to be his friend even more, but for his sake as well as hers. They both needed someone, she knew, to hang out with and encourage each other. It was a poor life to live without any feeling of self-worth, even less of one without a friend to ensure you that you were important even if you didn't feel like it. All these thoughts swirled around Sophia's head as she ate almost mechanically without even tasting her food, her gaze focused on somewhere far away in a thousand-yard stare.

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim was quick to notice the stare that Sophia was giving. It was something he did often when he was thinking. She was deep in concentration, thinking about something serious, and it was quite clear. He wanted to make her feel better, somehow. He wanted to make her stop thinking so hard about whatever it was that was so sad. "Um... so, waffles... they always make me think of 2007? When everyone on the internet was really into being, uh, random and stuff. It makes me cringe really bad, like, we were, um... we were all like that. Its so horrible." He smiled a bit near the end of his sentence, trying to get her mind off of other things.

[Rystelle]

Hearing Tim talk snapped Sophia out of her trance. It took a moment but finally her brain translated Tim's words. She laughed, recalling that odd song that went, "do you like waffles?". "Oh, geeze," she said once she had finally calmed down. "I forgot all about that waffle song. 2007? I was sixteen back then. I'm not sure I even want to remember everything that was popular back then. It'd probably be really embarrassing now." She was back to eating normally now and was actually able to enjoy the waffles she had made--they were really tasty. For a little while she had been avoiding this subject due to yesterday's scare, but now it was time to address it. "So I guess you should probably go back to your place today, huh?" She asked, setting her empty plate to the side. "I'm sure I've been keeping you from your work and everything, and I know I've been putting off my school work."

[DELTED293y5gds]

"Oh, fuck..." Tim said, putting his hands through his hair again. "Yeah, I really need to log some hours this week, I'm slacking." He sighed, thinking about the catch up work he needs to do to meet his quota. He really didnt want to do it right now, which was a new feeling for him. Then again, he never really had anything else to do. He had a sudden flashback to Christmas, two years ago. He sat alone in his apartment while he did work. That made him feel bad when he thought about it now. "I wish I could hang out with you, though." He said, staring down at his food. "You're my only friend."

[Rystelle]

Hearing that Tim wanted to hang out with her and that he considered them friends caused Sophia to smile brightly. All awkward and dark thoughts were gone. She was simply happy. Until just a few days ago Sophia was really only around family, people at school, or cafe customers. She hadn't hung out with any of her friends in over a month. They were all so busy. The most interaction with friends she had were the ones she played games with online. And while that was fun Sophia craved face-to-face conversations and activities that could be done together. Both she and Tim had work to do, but that work was done over computers. Sophia knew Tim worked from his laptop, and all her assignments were submitted on line--which she could use her laptop for. An idea started to form in her mind. "If you want, Tim..." Sophia slowly started to venture. "All my work is done online. I know yours is too. If you want to hang out still, I could always grab my laptop and we could go to your place and work there."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim looked back up, a small, half smile on his face. He really liked that she wanted to hang out with him too, but he wasn't too sure about the idea she had. He felt like he would get distracted by her really easily if she hung around while he tried to work. He would spend a lot of time looking at her face, probably. He noticed himself just looking at her while she wasn't paying attention a lot, actually. He just liked the way she looked, it made him feel calm. "Ah, I dunno about that. I-I mean, believe me, I would love to do that, I really would, but it would just be so distracting. But, but thanks for the idea, I'm glad it's a possibility. Maybe, like, when I'm not so behind on work, we can do that?" He said, biting his lip a little. He hated rejecting the idea like this, because he really wanted her to be there, but he just didn't think it would be very helpful. "I just have so much to do, I'm sorry." He looked down a bit, feeling... some type of indescribable way. Sort of bad, sort of sad, sort of happy, a lot of things. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he didnt know what he felt. He wanted to hide everything away, but then things would start to get bad again, like they always do. He was confused, and so he just spoke what he felt. "I really do love hanging out with you, though. You're just...really nice, and understanding and... um, I'm really glad you talked to me the other day. It's great to have an actual friend. I want to hang out with you again as soon as we possibly can."

[Rystelle]

Sophia was a little disappointed, but at the same time she was extremely happy. Tim wanted to hang out with her. Just a few days ago he was holing himself up in his apartment, interacting with no one unless he had to. But now here he was, already starting to get comfortable around Sophia and wanting to be around her and do things together. It made her happy that he had already progressed so far in so short a period of time, but she was also happy to have a friend to do things with. They had been together a lot the past couple of days, just having fun and goofing off. It was time to get some work done. And Tim's work was really important because it was his job. Sophia didn't want to be a distraction. Still, the way he bit his lip was too cute. In general Tim was really adorable and Sophia just wanted to hug him and gush over how cute he was even with--or perhaps because of--all his awkward mannerisms. But that was getting off subject. "It's alright," Sophia reassured him with a smile. "If you need to do your work alone, then do what you need to do. But you have to catch up today 'cause tomorrow's Thanksgiving." She grinned, recalling last night when she had playfully threatened to kidnap Tim and drag him to her apartment for dinner. "Anyway, I'll drive you back to your place," she said as she stood up and collected the dishes. Suddenly she noticed the sleeve of Tim's sweater--the one she was still wearing, the nice and comfy one that smelled vaguely like Tim and his apartment--and exclaimed, "Oh! Your clothes. I'll wash them today so I can return them to you tomorrow. I also need to get my pajama pants from your place. I left them there yesterday morning when... You know, when we left in a hurry."

[DELTED293y5gds]

Tim had forgotten about her other clothes, which were still at his place. He didn't mind it, though. And he didn't mind that she still had his clothes, either. He liked the way it looked on her, even though it was two sizes bigger than her. He shrugged a bit, then made a dismissive gesture with his hand, "Oh, um... you can keep that sweater, if you want. You look good in it, and I don't wear it enough, so, uh, yeah. You can just take it." His face was a little red, his smile still that weird, awkward Tim-like smile. He was just trying his hardest to be a good friend, and he thought that maybe this would be a good thing a friend would do.