Page 70 of Oh, Sacred Dark
That evening, he forced himself to sit on the couch as he waited for Roman to arrive. The whole pacing thing he was doing these days was ridiculous. Nothing was wrong. Nothing was—
He jumped as the doorbell rang, his heartbeat skyrocketing.
Fuck, he was always on the fucking edge these days.
“Come in!” he called and watched eagerly as Roman stepped inside.
“Hey,” Roman greeted, taking his shoes off by the entrance.
Tyler felt his whole body relax, the tightly wrung strings threaded through him finally snapping. “Hey. You look good.” Roman had put on a little weight since returning, no longer malnourished and exhausted.
“Thanks. Diet full of healthy fats and I’m getting lots of sleep, just like the doctor ordered.”
“We have some wise people in this coven.”
“Sure do. We making the Thai-glazed chicken today?” Roman asked, heading towards the kitchen.
Tyler stood up and followed him. “Yep, got all the ingredients this morning.”
Roman sent him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Sorry I didn’t do it myself. I just…”
“I get it.” Okay, so Roman wasn’t adjustingperfectly—he still struggled to be around a lot of people sometimes, feeling unsafe.
In Tyler’s eyes, Roman was dealing with it as best as anybody possibly could. It was Tyler who wasn’t adapting quickly enough. He was used to being the strong one—the one that supported Archie when he became High Witch, the confidant that could carry all his friend’s troubles without buckling.
Now, he felt stripped of that ability, going to his knees at the very thought of something happening to Roman. It was exaggerated and weak, and Tyler had to get his shit together before he made it Roman’s problem.
Despite Tyler’s promises to himself, he kept checking on Roman as they cooked, making sure he wasn’t staring into the distance like he did while the Chaos Magic was affecting him. That he wasn’t nicking his fingers and covering himself with blood.
Everything was fine, though. Roman talked quietly about how he wanted to start looking for a job.
“I like the farm, but I’d just get in the way there—they don’t really need someone else. They can’taffordsomeone else. So. I don’t know—who should I ask?”
“Well, what are you comfortable doing? Would you be okay with a customer-facing role? Do you wanna work with kids? Animals? Wards? Curse-breaking? Do you want to be behind the scenes? And you could always study, obviously,” Tyler said.
“I don’t know. Maybe…maybe not with customers. And I wouldn’t even know where to begin if I went to college. I don’t think I’m smart enough for that.”
Tyler stopped what he was doing. “Notsmartenough? Roman—”
“I just mean that it’s been years since I went to school. I don’t know how to—I just think it’d be too much,” Roman rushed to say.
“I mean, it probablywouldbe a big adjustment, but that has nothing to do with being smart. And you would eventually adapt. If I know one thing about you, it’s that you’re resilient.”
Roman blushed, tipping his head away in order to hide it. “Thanks,” he mumbled.
“Just saying the truth.” Tyler wished he could reach out and hold him, but it’d be too much. “I mean, there’s always working with food. You’re already amazing at that.”
Roman shrugged. “I don’t have any experience, though.”
“Nobody does when they start off, Ro.”
“Yeah…” Roman sighed. “Anyway, how’s that art piece you’re making going?”
Tyler accepted the change in subject gracefully, letting the topic go.
They ended up on the couch after eating and cleaning up, cuddled together. It settled something inside Tyler to have Roman so close. He could feel him breathing, feel how relaxed the sub was, muscles unknotted, head resting against Tyler’s chest.
This was peace. Comfort. It was all Tyler’s body seemed to crave lately, his Dom instincts screaming to have his sub—however temporary that might turn out to be—in his arms.
