Chapter Text
I blinked, the hoard of chocolate still dripping down my body. I had just been kissed by Alex. Alex Fierro. As a guy. And I felt great about that. Awesome, actually.
Now… to try and find out what the hell Alex wanted from me. Call me oblivious and dumb, but I actually had no idea.
But first, for a nice, long, relaxing bath. Or I could just lick off the chocolate myself… no, no. That would be weird. Way too weird. And then I started licking off my hands. But to be fair . There's a difference between licking one's own body and licking your hands. Obviously I was doing the socially acceptable one. But maybe I should hurry to the bath before I commit sins I'd later regret.
As dinner was nearing, I hurried into the bathroom for a quick warm shower. I always put the heat on the warmest degree, and once, when I did that in the changing room after playing 'volleyball to the death' (and miraculously survived the whole thing) TJ had called me a 'warm blooded madman'.
And if I'm being honest, I kinda like that. A warm blooded madman, why not?
Halfborn, as competitive as he is, tried to outwin me. Supposedly not his best idea, considering I've been known to withstand extreme degrees for a while, wherein Halfborn… well, let's just say he got a back burn for a little while. Until I healed him 10 minutes later.
As if that hadn't been enough, after Halfborn challenged TJ to do it, too, they both ended up burned.
And now you'll probably ask me. But Magnus, in what dimension is water so hot in a shower that you get backburns? So I'll take the liberty to ask you instead. Do you know where I've been these past 4 months? Valhalla . Valhalla as in, the hotel for the honorably dead and warriors. As in. The place with 'volleyball to the death'. Of COURSE they have water to the death, too.
But you know what? I'm just happy it wasn't mead spewing out of those shower heads.
By the time I finished my shower, I was already late to dinner. The fact that I'd started thinking about a certain Alex Fierro halfway through didn't help, either.
You know, I really did try my best, really. It's not my own fault all my thoughts kept wandering back towards him every two -seconds- minutes. And it's not like I was thinking ferocious thoughts like, for example, how Alex's lips moved in rhythm to my own. Or just how much I wanted to press our bodies together during the spawn of that kiss and- okay no-no. Let's stop there. Just thinking about it made me melt into a weird gooey puddle in a bathtub full of water. Not that I was thinking about it before. At all.
But to be fair , again , it's all Alex's fault. He didn't need to kiss me. Twice. On the lips. Beneath a jacket. While I was covered from head to toe in chocolate.
Not that I'm complaining. But all I'm saying is that it's all Alex's fault that I'm like this now.
And just what was I supposed to do during dinner? Just. Sit down before Alex like usual. And pretend that neither kisses actually happened? And joke around like usual? I did try talking to Alex… But that only led to another kiss with more unanswered questions. OF COURSE the kiss was great but that's not the point! Kind of.
I collected all of my bravery and courage (Which wasn't a lot) to open the door into the enormous dining hall. Great, now I wouldn't have any courage for the rest of the year and all upcoming battles that surely waited before me, because just opening that door was a mental task so large I could already feel my knees giving in. And what could possibly make this worse? Maybe the fact that the first thing I saw was Alex, staring straight at me, an unreadable expression on her face.
And all I could think about was the fact that sometime after she'd left my room earlier, Alex had become a she.
I always found it fascinating how she just could change her gender as she pleased. I know I'd never be able to do that. I was a male and would be stuck with that title for the rest of my life. Alex, however, changed in between female and male as if it was child's play. And honestly, that's pretty cool.
As soon as I sat down, Alex full attention was on Mallory, and honestly, I felt a little disappointed. Sam tried to ask me what the pouting was for, in which Halfborn responded with "lovesickness, obviously." In which I then in turn responded with forcing Jack onto him with his favorite Selena Gomez songs. The good thing about this was that now Halfborn wouldn't bother me during dinner anymore, although I'm pretty sure I just became his first target during Ragnarok practice. Especially when Jack started singing Bad Liar with eerie accuracy, coming from a sword I mean. I really didn't look forward to valhalla preparation for ragnarok practice. No way would I survive that with Halfborn Gunderson on my back.
As to ignore my upcoming doom, I glanced at Alex. Whatever she was talking to Mallory about, she was having fun. It could be seen by the way she smiled and how she clutched her stomach, bending her head towards the table. And then, mid laugh, Alex glanced over at me. It caught me off guard, and of course I tried something as stupid as averting my gaze. I could hear Alex snort, so I reverted back my gaze to see her sticking out her tongue. At me. Her middle finger high in the air.
Wow, I felt so loved. Really.
I contemplated doing the same thing for a couple of seconds, but I decided that I did not want Alex to aid Halfborn with decapitating me. Strangling me to death with her garrott was more than enough for a lifetime.
Other than that, dinner went by smoothly. No flying knives -at least not in our direction-, lots of mead -as usual- and almost no new einherjar. Which was a good thing in my opinion. Being an einherjar meant you died bravely in battle. But the fact that most new einherjar are teenagers nowadays always left me with a sour aftertaste.
The first thing I did when I got back out to floor 19s lobby, after a lot of confusion, was to scan for Alex. I didn't expect to actually find her, but when i did, boy did I get nervous. I've been dragged across Boston by a giant disguised as an eagle, I've fought giants, been chased by dwarfs in tanks and elfs with guns and battled Loki on a flyting match. Not so ironically, confronting Alex made me way more scared than any of that.
Okay so maybe not as scared as the flyting match… but you get the general idea.
I walked over to her, hesitated before tapping her shoulder, I wasn't sure if she would like me touching her shoulder or not, and then took a deep breath. Because that smug smile she was giving me made it pretty hard to breath.
"Alex."
"What?"
And another deep breath. "What do you think of me?"
She shrugged. "I told you, Mango." I didn't even bother trying to correct her. At least it wasn't as bad as Maggie . "I need time to sort out my thoughts, you know. All of this is just so-"
"-Really? This? Again!? "
" Don't interrupt me." I didn't interrupt her again. "And well, I told you. I need time to sort out my thoughts."
"But-But you're the one who kissed me first?? Twice ? On the mouth! "
"Well, that's just how unsure I am. May need a third one, in the future. You know. To clear things up." And then that smile again. The same damn smile she gave me as she left me alone in my room. Breathing nowadays is nothing for the unathletic, huh? And, yeah okay. Three kisses to make a decision. Seems fair. But all I could think about was the fact that 'Alex may kiss me again, in the future . Heck yes!' And so, all I seemingly managed to utter was, "Uh- I-"
"-So anyway!" Alex interrupted. Because of course she was allowed to interrupt me, and I wasn't allowed to finish. But to be fair, I wouldn't have let me finish, either. "Wanna go participate in 'theatre to the death' this afternoon?"
"Theatre to the death. Sounds deadly. Absolutely not."