Warm sunlight on your skin, is one of the most underrated feelings in the world. It isn’t a bad way to wake up in the morning. Sun creeping through the curtains and gently caressing your face. It doesn’t hurt that Destiny is sleeping gently next to me. I can’t blame her, she took down a troll, and took a beating in the process. Then we celebrated all night. The Wererats really know how to party. Drinks, food, performances, storytelling and anything else you could ask for in a celebration. Vicki let me know I should check my bank account in a few weeks after they’ve had a chance to sell everything they took.

I roll out of bed gently and look back at Destiny. I’ve slept over her apartment before, but this is the first time we shared a bed. We still haven’t had sex, but I can’t miss what I never had. Sometimes, I ask myself why I came back. Maybe we just created something new.

Training tether and hunting criminals used to be our intimate moments, even if they weren’t so intimate. Last night, I bandaged her wounds and learned some vampire first aide. We fell asleep cuddled together, just talking about the wild day we had. I like being the big spoon. I like sharing a bed with her. I could get used to this. For a moment the thought of her killing our relationship again worms into my head. I banish the thought, because love is murdered by our unfulfilled fantasies and intrusive insecurities.

I make my way from the bedroom to the balcony and just look down on the neighborhood. It’s a chilly fall day but standing in the sun provides the warmth needed. Nobody seems to be out yet, but stores are opening and every now and then a car drives by. Nothing wrong with a slow Saturday morning. Breakfast crosses my mind. A big breakfast for a job well done. Pancakes, maybe scrambled eggs with some peppers, can’t forget orange juice, and sausage. She prefers bacon, but bacon is trash, and I’m cooking so she’ll have to live. Blood, does she have blood, I check the fridge. Perfect, she can have that instead of orange juice, it’ll help her heal up faster. A few bullet wounds would heal in a day, but she took a lot of them, a few stabbings and has some broken bones, time is needed.

After checking to make sure she’s still asleep I grab my jacket and out. I don’t bother driving, I just walk down to the corner store. I chuckle at the idea of me nursing her back to health and making breakfast this morning. Not too long ago I would have stayed up late playing video games or something, then slept until late in the afternoon.

I try to cook quietly while Destiny is still asleep. Eventually the smell of pancakes gets her out of bed. Hair unwrapped and spread out in different directions, wearing a shirt way too big for her, hiding shorts that are way too small and she’s still just as beautiful as ever. The pancake almost burns as I watch her slink into a chair at the kitchen table, still half asleep.

“Pancakes smell good Bluebird,” she says through a haze.

“My secret ingredient,” I toss the last pancake into the pile.

“Is it love,” she asks sarcastically then laughs.

“No, cinnamon. Most people mix it with the batter, but it’ll just burn if you do that. Gotta add it right before you flip, that way it only cooks for a minute or so,” I mastered pancakes at fourteen.

“You’re even nerdy about cooking,” she takes a big bite of the eggs. “Oh, this isn’t bad.”

“I don’t cook a lot, but when I do, I try to get it right,” Elias and I live mostly on takeout.

“You were going to let me serve you crispy meatloaf, and you could cook? We could have pancakes every day.”

“I can’t make a lot other stuff. Mostly breakfast foods.”

“Great, from now on you cook and I’ll do the dishes. Breakfast every day.”

“Is this a normal thing now,” I stuff a bite of pancake in my mouth

“I hope it is.”