Kane was delighted to have pizza for dinner.

She would have enjoyed her cheesy crust and perfectly circular pepperoni a lot more if their guest wasn't busy using a knife and fork to eat his dinner. It wasn't the fact he was using utensils to eat his pizza – which was a red flag and simply weird. It was the image of him holding the sharp knife and using it to cut through Solace's coronary artery. That man should not be allowed pointy objects anywhere near her, even if it was for innocent purposes such as slicing his pizza.

But it was Sage's problem to entertain their guest when she excused herself to study in her room. She ignored his wide eyes and ridiculous hand signals.

She only came out when Emi got home. It was roughly nine o'clock, and the dishes had been washed, dried, and placed in their respective cabinets thanks to Sage. For all the money he racked up, he made a good stay-at-home roommate. For the last three days, he offered to pay for lunch for the three of them, vacuum, and take care of the leaky sink. He even helped Solace question Emi about her date.

Emi had gone out with Amos for the past four days. She got nothing out of her except that they were non-binary and a genius software engineer with an obsession with silver rings. Solace wanted to meet the person who turned her roommate into a blushing mess, but Emi wasn't having it since Amos was nothing but a 'friend.' Sage and she would simply smirk at the lie.

The two of them had gone back to normal after their moment in the kitchen. No, it wasn't even a moment. More of a situation. She blocked it out of her mind and brushed it off her shoulder like a pesky bug. Solace would not waste any energy thinking about it, and it seemed like Sage wouldn't either since he never brought it up. That was exactly how she wanted it.

Like today, he picked her up from her internship. He hadn't called beforehand. Sage just showed him, waiting outside the bench, and told her to get in the car. She wouldn't dare complain. It had been a long, unusual day. Moore had actually acknowledged her when she handed him his green juice. He had thanked her when she brought him the details of his upcoming presentation at that elementary school. Miles and Wyatt were clearly shocked just like her. Everly had asked her what she did to get on the senator's good side. Solace couldn't exactly tell her the truth, so she blamed it on him having a good day. She didn't tell her that she would be attending the party either. It would make it seem like she went behind her back.

And when they got home, she had showered and locked herself in her room to study. For three hours, she studied the empirical and normative theories of politics. She memorized the concepts of sovereignty and international relationships. Her eyes were heavy, and there was a pounding headache somewhere in her brain. She couldn't pinpoint where.

Solace wasn't sure what evoked her to search through her closet and pull out her art portfolio from high school. Perhaps it was the anxiety of her exams in two days. Perhaps it was her heart telling her to finally let go of the miserable promise she made to herself to never draw again. She was sure it was Emi's words echoing in her mind about the different avenues of art and digital work. She didn't have a tablet to practice on even if she wanted to.

Her heart felt weighed down by a cinderblock as she flipped through her old work. She had it partly finished when she was originally planning to apply to art school. It was after the fear that settled in her bones from her parents' words, taunts from her teachers, and her own mind that stopped her.

Solace's hands skimmed over the painting she made when she was sixteen. It was a woman gasping for air as hands attempted to pull her back into the drowning water. One of her favorites. She had taken hours perfecting the beads of water on her dark skin and the textured slicked back coiled hair. It represented her anxiety, and how overwhelmed she felt to be perfect.

There was another of a young woman, her arms hugging herself tightly as glowing ribbons circled her. She had one of the glowing night sky, and a maple tree as a silhouette of a child swinging back and forth from a tire swing.

Her fingers tickled at the thought of picking up her paintbrush and her mind flooded with all the happy memories of her pouring her heart into her work. When people couldn't understand her or when she couldn't find the right words, her hands and oil paints and graphite pencil always found a way.

She had first started drawing when she was five. It was during pre-school, and the teacher wasted their time with naps and broken crayons. But she enjoyed it and then she started drawing everywhere. On the bus. At school. During class. Even when she didn't have her sketchbook, she drew on scraps of paper or the desks or the textbooks. Solace found inspiration from broken bicycles and torn bus passes and wind-swept flowers.

Solace despised Political Sciences. It was making her a little bitter each day. Art would dilute that feeling and fill her with purpose. Look at Sage. He lost so much time. She had the chance to take back what she wanted.

She didn't want to regret the what could have beens.

But would she do something about it? That was the real question.

She was pulled back from her reverie when someone knocked on the door.

"Solace? Can I come in?" asked Sage, his voice muffled from the barrier. "I brought hot chocolate."

A smile tugged at her lips from his clear persuasion technique. If it was any other day, she would say no. But truth be told, she wanted that warm drink and someone to talk to before she did something stupid like drop out of her major and apply to art school.

"Come in," she said, moving her scattered work to the side.

The door opened gently as Sage walked in with two steaming mugs. He took a moment to scan her room from her neat bed to the crowded desk discarded with sticky notes to her open closet and finally back to her. "I thought you were studying," he remarked as he took a seat beside her on the ground, close enough to where their shoulders touched.

She reached for her drink. "I was. Now, I'm not."

Sage pulled it away from her grasp. "I only made you this because I thought you were busy studying and learning. Slackers don't get hot chocolate," he fired back with a smirk.

Solace narrowed her eyes. "Give me the drink or get out."

He made a face and reluctantly handed it to her. "Only because I've never been in your room before, and I'm curious."

She blew on her drink, cautiously taking a sip with the fear of burning her tongue. The bumps from the burns were uncomfortable. Solace sighed contently when she discovered it was just the perfect temperature. "You're saying you never peeked inside?" she asked unbelievingly. He had been left alone a handful of times. He always had the opportunity.

"Never," he assured firmly. She was met with nothing but sincerity in his warm eyes.

"Why?"

Sage shrugged, drinking from his own cup. Her gaze dropped down to his mouth when he licked the excess of his bottom lip. "You take your privacy seriously. I wouldn't violate that," he said quietly.

There it was. He said something that made the organ in her chest bloom. It was like Sage brought down the sun from the sky and tucked it safely away in her ribcage. Solace never thought he cared enough to respect her personal boundaries. But here he was, drawing a line with chalk and assuring her he would never do such a thing unless she let him.

"Besides," he shrugged shyly, "I'm already trespassing your home."

"You're not trespassing," she said, surprising herself. All she had done was complain about Sage ransacking her apartment. Her entire motivation for helping him was so he could finally leave. But she was getting used to waking up with him snoring on her couch and yelling through the bathroom door so he could hurry up his shower. She no longer minded him stealing her remote or ruffling through her kitchen cabinets.

She wasn't sure when or how that happened.

Sage turned away, attempting to hide his smile, but she saw it, and it made her own lips curl up. He cleared his throat, his eyes gazing at her work on the carpeted floor. He leaned forward, grabbing one carefully and with interest. It was her self-portrait that was required for Rhodes Art School of Design. It was her hardest painting by far. Solace had spent hours and hours looking in the mirror and taking pictures. She was content with what she had.

"This is all wrong," insulted Sage. He tilted his head, inspecting it even further.

She rose a brow. "Excuse me?" she sassed.

"Don't get me wrong. It's objectively amazing," he explained, his voice almost far away. "But it's all wrong."

Solace placed her mug at a safe distance, interested in what he had to say. "What do you mean?"

Sage put down his hot chocolate and pointed at her eyes on the painting. "Your eyes are softer than that. They crinkle at the sides when you smile." He moved his finger down her face. She almost felt his touch on her face. "Your cheeks are fuller, and there are smile lines around your mouth. You don't have any of that in your drawing," he murmured, almost sad that she didn't see herself the way he saw her.

"Anything else?" she asked breathlessly.

"Your braids. You always have a little curl around your ear. It drives me insane," said Sage hoarsely as he finally met her gaze.

Her lips parted unconsciously, and this time, it was his eyes that fell to her mouth. Every inch of her body felt electric, and her mind was a flurry of questions and feelings. Sage saw her in ways she couldn't. He knew every detail of her face as if he spent time memorizing it for the fun of it. Solace looked in the mirror nearly every day, and yet, she didn't know the shape of her eyes or the fullness of her cheeks like he did.

Sage exhaled a breath, leaning back at the foot of her bed and attempting a casual grin. "I pay attention to your face. It's a nice face."

She smiled a trembling smile. "You have a nice face, too," she whispered.

He beamed. "Thank you. Other synonyms I prefer are handsome, a work of art, and exquisite."

Solace laughed loudly, smacking him in the arm and shaking her head. "You're unbelievable," she remarked.

He shrugged unashamedly, his grin only growing. "What are you doing with all of this?" wondered Sage.

"Just thinking."

"Thinking as in 'I'm a fantastic artist' or thinking as in 'screw it, I'm dropping out and applying to art school?'"

Solace sighed. "I don't know," she admitted tiredly. "Something Emi said has been stuck in my head. She was talking about digital art and getting into video game designing, which sounds fun. But I'm used to paint and canvases. It's out of my element."

"I don't want to push, but Solace, you live and breathe art. Don't let your talent go to waste because you're scared," he said softly.

"I'm not scared," she denied, but her voice came out all wrong.

Sage nudged her shoulder. "You can't appease everyone. The only person's happiness that matters is yours."

She smirked, attempting to deflect the conversation of her. "Since when did you get so wise?"

He rolled his eyes. "I've always been wise. You just never noticed."

"I'm noticing now."

And she had a feeling she wasn't just talking about his newly acquired wisdom.

***

Author's Note:

Hi everyone!

I hope all of you are having a great day so far! I'm so excited for October and the yearly tradition of watching halloween movies! What are some of your faves? I personally love Hocus Pocus!

Also, this chapter was a cute one to write! I believe we got a few more cute chapters on the way!!

Until next time - m.k.t