When Aqua finally left the room, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. Inside the closet, I remained motionless, listening to the irregular rhythm of Darkness' breathing and feeling my own heart racing.
I waited a few more seconds, just to make sure that Aqua was really far away. Then, carefully, I pushed open the closet door, making as little noise as possible.
Darkness was sitting up in bed, her hands still clutching the blanket against her chest. She didn't look at me immediately, seeming too embarrassed to face the situation head-on.
I slipped out of the closet and closed the door behind me. Quietly, I approached the bed, and Darkness finally looked in my direction.
"Sorry about that." I said softly, almost in a whisper. "I didn't... I didn't expect someone to come in here like that."
"No need to apologize. Aqua is... well, Aqua. No one can predict what she'll do."
Darkness pulled the blanket tighter around himself, as if he wanted to hide from me. That sense of dominance I had felt over her minutes ago seemed to have completely faded, replaced by an aura of insecurity. This surprised me, but it also made me realize how much more complex Darkness was than anyone could have imagined at first glance.
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, trying to find the best way to lighten the mood. "Look, I think I'd better go now. I think it was a mistake for us to..."
Darkness suddenly turned his head in my direction. "Leonard... I... I don't think it was a mistake..." She said and then looked away again. That sentence, said with hesitation, made my heart leap unexpectedly.
So I took another step, now close enough to her to feel a tingle in my stomach.
"Leonard... I... I'm not very good at these things, you know?"
I moved even closer, until my knees touched the edge of the bed. Darkness raised his face, and without much thought I acted. I leaned forward, gently holding Darkness' face with one hand this time. Our gazes met for a second until, finally, the distance between us disappeared. Our lips touched.
Darkness let go of the blanket, allowing his arms to wrap around my neck, pulling me closer.
When the kiss ended after a few seconds, Darkness kept his eyes closed as if he wanted to prolong the sensation for a few more seconds.
I pulled away a little and said:
"I... I think we need to go. Having breakfast before setting off on another mission is essential for us. See you downstairs?"
"Yes... I'll be down in a few minutes."
I gave her one last look before leaving the room. As soon as I closed the door, I took a deep breath, trying to calm the turmoil of emotions that was pulsating inside me. Going downstairs, I found Kazuma already sitting at the table with a bored expression on his face as he stared at the breakfast Megumin had prepared. She, on the other hand, seemed too busy bragging about something to notice my arrival.
"Good morning," I said to them.
Kazuma looked up and shrugged. "Good morning? Is that what you call good morning? Megumin burnt the eggs again."
I looked at the plate in front of him and indeed, the eggs looked darker than usual. "
"You're complaining on a full stomach, Kazuma." Megumin said, holding a knife in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other.
"You're right. It's better than nothing." He was convinced by the knife and took a bite, then grimaced.
I laughed softly and helped myself, trying to ignore the small culinary disaster I was about to face. After some time in silence, Kazuma looked at me with an arched eyebrow.
"You're doing the dishes today, right?"
I sighed, already anticipating that this would be my fate. "Sure, sure. I'll do the dishes. It's because I'm new, isn't it?"
"Yes, it's just that winter is over and the well water is still too cold for my sensitive hands," he replied with a smug smile.
After Aqua and Darkness joined us, it wasn't long before the dishes piled up in the sink and then everyone disappeared. When I got to the sink, I started washing the dishes with automatic movements, letting my mind wander to other thoughts. Of course, the memory of Darkness and the kiss we exchanged was at the top of the list, but I was also missing Rias, Akeno and the other girls.
It was in this reverie that I noticed something strange. The water, which was falling normally from the pipe, suddenly stopped. I frowned, confused. I touched the tap to see if anything was clogged, but nothing happened. So I decided to tap the pipe twice with a closed fist. Nothing.
"Damn..."
I turned the tap again and this time the water came back in full force, gushing out with such intensity that I was wet from head to toe. I let out an involuntary curse and quickly turned away.
"What the hell is this?"
That's when I heard a loud, unmistakable laugh behind me. I turned around, and there was Aqua, laughing uncontrollably.
"You should have seen your face!" She said between giggles. "That was hilarious!"
I stared at her with my shirt drenched and water dripping from my hair.
"You did that, didn't you?" I asked.
Aqua shrugged, still laughing. "Maybe... who knows?"
"Now I'm all wet..." I said as I looked down.
"Well, maybe I can help you with that, just like Darkness helped you just now." Aqua said, which made me raise my head and look at her approaching. She had a smile at the corner of her mouth.
A smile also appeared on my face. "Did you hear us?"
"Of course I did. My room is below Darkness's room and this house, although large, has thin walls and the floor doesn't insulate sounds very well. What do you say? Do you want to help with your laundry? So that I can dry them, you need to take everything off."
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