I fall asleep at some point, propped up against the wall with Asa pressed up against my shoulder like a cuddly stuffed animal.
I hadn't planned on spending the night or being stolen away by his older brother, but somehow it felt like I was right where I needed to be, a sensation that I hadn't experienced in a long time thanks to always moving and two very unconventional parents.
Anyway, Asa had been right about us not being bothered, because I sleep like a dead bear and roll around on his mattress a little with him sometime during the night. This means that by the time the sun comes up and the birds begin twittering outside the window, I'm holding Asa like we've been married for thirty years with five kids under our belts.
"So soft," I mumble, and I rub my cheek against something super silky soft, and warm, "Walmart really stepped up their game with these sheets, bro."
"Mmm, you're so warm," Asa whispers groggily and I feel something wriggle against me. In seconds my eyes snap open and I become aware of the fact that I was literally spooning Asa Moon in his fucking bed, both of us so close that I could see the little flecks of glitter in his eyes when he angles to look at me in confusion.
We both scream and I throw myself away from him as fast as I can, the floor thankfully only a few inches away since the mattress was on the floor.
I hit the ground and roll around a little and Asa--God, Asa panics, and it's glorious when I look up at him and I see large, speckled wings pop out from behind him and begin to flap like crazy as if on their own accord. Wings with giant feathers.
He had real-life wings.
"Hey, bird boy! Calm down!" I shout at him when the wind from his wings blows back my hair and a bunch of homework sheets and sandwich wrappers on the floor, "It's just me, Asa! It's Micha!"
Asa lowers his arms from where he's shielding his face and his wings kind of droop when he sees my shocked expression. His shirt was all askew and his hair, which he usually kept styled, was all over the place. "Micha! I totally forgot you spent the night last night!" He exclaims, "All I remember is having a hard time sleeping and then you showing up to play the guitar and that was it, I was out like a light."
"Yeah, I know," I dust myself off and crawl back over to the mattress where he kneels, "You didn't even make it through the first song."
"I'm sorry," Asa furrows his eyebrows, "I don't think I've slept this well in a long time. Mostly because I'm an owl, but also because I have really horrible, bad dreams."
I stare at the wings over his shoulders that seem to twitch when he talks. The feathers seemed to move individually, even, which was something I had only seen in birds at the zoo or the pet store. It was just crazy to me that he'd kept them hidden so well this whole time, even being an owl and all. "What's with the wings?" I ask him curiously.
"Huh?" Asa glances back curiously, "Oh! It's just leftover magic from my owl form. I'm kind of stuck this way because I--"
"Asa?" I hear his mother call from the thankfully closed door, "It's time for breakfast! Quince told us you had company last night?"
"Oh my God!" Asa shrieks quietly, and he scrambles off the bed and lunges for his closet, his wings flapping like crazy, "She knows you're here! She knows I had a boy in my room last night!"
"Dude," I tell him, and I slouch a little, "So what? We didn't do anything."
"I'm gay, Micha!" Asa yelps and he whirls around to face me, his arms open wide, "My parents are going to suspect the worst! I'm literally going to die of embarrassment!"
"You're gay?" I reply sarcastically, "No shit?"
"Asa!" His mother calls again. "Just make sure you invite Micha down for breakfast when he wakes up, and use the front door if you're going to sneak him out. I'm traumatized after your brother Soren snuck that cheerleader out of his window last year and ended up calling us to pull her out of the tree in the backyard."
Asa's mouth snaps closed and I squint at the door, waiting for his mother to come back, demanding to be let in so she could give me a lecture about sleeping with her son. That's what my mother would have done, had I actually had the nerve to come out to her.
But Mrs. Moon never comes back. She lets Asa have his privacy, even knowing there was a boy in his bedroom who had stayed the night.
I couldn't even believe it.
"Ah," Asa sighs, and he pulls a shirt out of his closet and clutches it to his chest, "I know you're probably freaked out right now, but if you want, you can stay for breakfast. Not because my mom told me to ask you, but because I actually would like you to meet the rest of my family. Even if they are weird and they do really embarrassing things."
"Promise I won't have to eat a dead mouse?" I reply, and I shoot him a smug little smile.
"That's on the second date!" Asa blurts, and then I practically see him die on the spot before he runs for the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind him.
It was shaping up to be a hell of a morning.
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