Bailey glared at Zane for that.He sat his chin on Bailey’s shoulder, pretending not to notice the glare.
“Fine, not the arcade,” Bailey huffed.
“You’re the boss.”
Bailey felt that was almost an insult.He pointed accusingly at Zane.“Just because you’re hurt doesn’t mean I’m not keeping track of how much you annoy me.I will annoy you for each time after you’re healed up.”
Zane hummed.
“I’m serious.”
He hummed again.Well, wasn’t he being a brilliant conversationalist today?
Bailey would complain, but feeling Zane’s lips press against his neck made his mind turn to goo.His entire body broke out with goosebumps when Zane’s hair tickled his skin.The sound of his soft breathing filled the room, telling Bailey that Zane had fallen asleep.Even with all the rest he already had, he was exhausted.So was Bailey.For the first time in a while, he fell asleep with ease too.
When the next day rolled around, Nate and Natalia came in to visit.Bailey was fast asleep on Zane’s bed while he watched TV.When they came in, Zane gave them a threatening glare, like he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them if they woke Bailey.Nate was tempted to test it, but he didn’t feel like dying that day.
“He’s actually asleep,” Natalia whispered while taking a seat at Zane’s bedside.Nate went to poke the boy, but Zane actually growled.Nate held his hands up defensively.
“I’m surprised he still has his clothes on.Going slow, Zane?”Nate winked and earned himself a dark fist to the gut.Nate gasped.The fist disappeared, but Nate’s pain didn’t.“Asshole.”
“It didn’t work on you,” Zane said out of the blue, confusing both Natalia and Nate until he explained.“Antoine, when he attacked, it didn’t work on you.”
Natalia must have forgotten based on her wide eyes.She looked at her brother, who shrugged like he didn’t have the answer either.However, when Natalia placed her hand on his, he frowned and said, “Listen, I don’t know why it didn’t work, but I have a hunch.It shows you your worst fears.But you said yourself, it never worked with Antoine or Law.Men, who I imagine, aren’t scared of much or have already faced their worst fears.”
“When we were taken from our home, brought to a completely different country with basically no way to communicate.When they beat and tortured us, when I saw what…” Nate glanced at Natalia.She frowned, then squeezed his hand reassuringly.“I already faced all my fears and more, so what if you don’t see anything because you’ve already faced it and moved on?”
“Makes sense,” Natalia spoke up, swallowing the lump in her throat.“Antoine lost the moment you faced yourself, Zane.I’m sure it’s something Antoine would have caught onto a long time ago.”
The more Zane thought about it, the more it made sense.He always had trouble with people who didn’t seem to be frightened of anything.That was likely because, whatever their worst fear was, they had already faced it or knew how to deal with it.Like Nate said, he had already faced so many of his and learned to deal with the stress that Antoine couldn’t even crack him.Nate was almost cool.Almost.
Bailey squirmed.All eyes glanced at him.When he woke up, an audience met him.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty,” Nate said, glancing between the two of them with pursed lips.“I’m sure you slept wonderfully in the arms of this poor excuse of Prince Charming.”
Nate earned another shadowy fist to the gut.The impact shoved him out of the chair.
“Keep being annoying, Nate, and you will lose the other eye,” Zane warned.
“Ok, ok, but seriously, the ladies are digging the eye patch.”Nate sat up and pointed at said patch.“It somehow makes me more mysterious or something, like a pirate.”
“A pirate?”Zane groaned.“No wonder you’re still single.”
“Hey, don’t go for the low blows.Bailey may come back to his senses soon and dump your sorry,” Nate shut his mouth when Zane held his hand up threateningly.Pursing his lips, Nate grumbled, “Unfair.”
“You asked for it.”Natalia held out her hand for Nate to take, helping him off the floor.He brushed himself off, still grinning, which obviously made everyone else smile too.He was contagious, and maybe that was a good thing.It made Bailey feel like they were on the road to normalcy, just another kind of normalcy.
“Well, we came to let you know we’re heading out,” Natalia said, causing both Zane and Bailey to give her a curious glance.“There’s still trouble out there and we have a job to do.”
“But you’ve been on the road for months,” Bailey argued.“Don’t you need a break?”
“Heroes don’t get breaks.”Nate snapped his fingers.When he walked over to ruffle Bailey’s hair, he gave a soft smile.“Don’t worry.We’ll get it done and be home in time for dinner.”
That wasn’t true, but there was no point arguing.Bailey’s expression stated how much he disliked the idea of it, but Natalia did her best to set his mind at ease.
“Don’t worry, this time we can keep in contact.We’ll call as soon as we can.”
Natalia leaned in for a hug that Bailey happily gave.Nate did the same, handing something to Zane while he did.“You two be safe.I left something to help with that.”
