it is time 😌
tw/ FLUFF- SO MUCH FUCKING FLUFF- the odd swear word, Azula.

THIRTY

WITH A GLUM LOOK ON HIS FACE, DRUIG STARTED TO GATHER UP THE DISCARDED CHESS PIECES ON THE FLOOR. He had sat on the ground the second Elizabeth stormed off, unsure how to cope with the fact that he may have just ruined their entire friendship.

He wasn't entirely sure how long he had been sitting on the floor, staring down at the chess board Elizabeth had thrown. It must have been a while judging by the darkness in the sky and the backdoor light sensors turning on.

Druig accidentally overhearing thoughts was a rare occurrence. He's particularly good at controlling his abilities, he's an Eternal after all. But for whatever reason, he had overheard Elizabeth's thoughts. Perhaps it was because she's a witch? Maybe Azula had some part in it? Druig wasn't entirely sure.

He hadn't meant to hear Elizabeth's thoughts, he truly hadn't. It happened that day in the kitchen when she had suddenly started acting weird. Her thoughts had been quiet at first since Druig hadn't accidentally heard anything. And then she had started to panic about something and suddenly her thoughts were all he could hear. That's when he heard the words he least expected to hear.

I'm in love with Druig.

For once in his life, Druig was speechless in that moment. He didn't want Elizabeth to think he had gone through her thoughts again but he also didn't want to overwhelm the already panicky girl. And so, like an idiot, he had stayed silent and watched her rush off.

He, of course, already knew by that point that he was in love with her. How could he not? Druig had never been in love with someone before so the second this strange new feeling started to creep up only when he was around Elizabeth, he knew.

Initially, he planned to keep his feelings a secret until Elizabeth learned to control her powers properly but then he overheard her thoughts. Beforehand he had managed to contain himself, after all, he didn't even know if she had any sort of feelings towards him, but once he overheard her thoughts he found himself barely hanging on.

And thus he accidentally blurted out that he was in love with her, oops?

He knew Phastos would have his head if he came outside to chess pieces everywhere and so, despite his depressing mood, he had decided to start cleaning up. The mind reader didn't even lift his head when hearing the back door open.

Swatting the air, he assumed it was Makkari. The speedster was his best friend and annoyingly enough, she always knew when there was something wrong with him. --"I'm fine, Makkari."He signed along with his words, not glancing over to his eternal friend.

And then he lifted his head, freezing in surprise when seeing Elizabeth standing there. Swallowing uneasily, she folded her arms behind her back. ---"uh, hi."She said awkwardly. He furrowed his eyebrows. --"...hi."He responded, straightening his posture.

She glanced at the scattered chess pieces and board. --"Sorry about that."She mumbled, taking a few steps forward to pick up some of the pieces and chuck them into the box. Druig eyed her, not entirely sure how to act in this situation.

Why did she come back?

With a sigh, she walked closer to him, raising her eyebrows. --"I'm sorry I yelled."She told him, pursing his lips. Druig wasn't sure why she was apologising to him. He's not an idiot, he knows that he was in the wrong in their argument. So why was she apologising?

"no, it's okay."He nodded to her, --"I shouldn't have pushed you when you aren't ready." he admitted. Something flashed in Elizabeth's eyes for a moment as she nodded, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

"Look through my thoughts."She said suddenly, taking another step closer to him. His eyebrows pulled together. If he hadn't been confused before then he certainly was now, why would she want him to voluntarily go through her thoughts?

He must have shown reluctance on his features because she cocked her head to the side with a smile on her face. --"It's okay."His blue eyes had drifted to the side in thought but snapped back to her the moment she spoke. --"I want you to."She told him with a confident nod.

For a second, he didn't do anything. He continued to stare at her, waiting for her to quickly change her mind or tell him she was joking. She didn't do either. After several seconds he swallowed thickly and his eyes shone as he obeyed Elizabeth's commands. --"Don't hold back."She told him just before he fully let her thoughts occupy his once again.

Elizabeth bit the inside of her cheek anxiously as she felt the familiar presence of the man in front of her infiltrating her mind. She wanted him to know everything, feel everything that she felt but she was scared. She had always assumed that making herself vulnerable to feelings would always be scary but she never anticipated this level of fear.

Druig on the other hand wasn't scared. He couldn't exactly describe in words what he was feeling, but he knew it was a good type of feeling. And as he looked through every square inch of Elizabeth's thoughts and memories, he could only describe what he was feeling as giddy.

Like he was a goddamn child.

The witch had a strong hold on him and his actions- at one point that would have scared Druig but he wasn't scared of this. All he knew was that he now had something precious that he didn't want to ruin.

Elizabeth's hand were resting in front of her lap, her fingers twisting together nervously. Her nerves only worsened when Druig's eyes were suddenly their normal icy blue. He didn't say anything for a moment, it looked as though he was still trying to process everything he had seen and felt in her mind.

"Y-You can..."He trailed off after a moment, she pursed her lips and nodded her head. --"Phastos helped me..."She said, her voice quiet. His steel gaze moved from her eyes to look down at her fidgeting hands.

After a moment his hand suddenly reached out to rest over hers, causing her fidgeting hands to halt. Druig almost felt the oxygen being slapped out from his lungs, his adams apple bobbed as he fully laced their fingers together.

But then Elizabeth had pulled her hands away from his and wrapped her arms around his torso, burying her face into his chest. He reciprocated the embrace almost immediately, his arms wrapped around her neck, pulling her as close as he could possibly muster without cutting off her oxygen.

The only sounds to be heard were Elizabeth's sniffles and the crickets witnessing their embrace. Soon, Druig's eyes had squeezed shut, his pale hand moving to caress the back of her head, enveloping her body against his.

They weren't sure how long they stood like that. But eventually, Elizabeth felt Druig move his hands to cup her face, forcing her to look at him. His hand were cold against her warm cheeks, only making her cheeks turn rosier if even possible.

She quickly took notice of how close their faces were, was this a dream? Perhaps it was another nightmare and something terrible was afoot. His hands were on her face. Their chests were practically touching. Maybe this was her mind playing tricks on her again.

Druig chuckled suddenly and her eyes snapped to look into his, --"You're not dreaming, love."He mumbled to her, reassuring her panic stricken brain. --"You have a really loud brain."He chuckled, his thumbs starting to stroke up and down her cheekbones affectionately.

She swallowed in response, smiling softly up at him. His eyebrows pulled together, his face moving in to get closer to hers. He suddenly hesitated, --"Is this okay?"He whispered, his minty breath fanning against her face.

A part of her almost wanted to smack him up the head for asking that. The man had literally just gone through her every thought, he should know that this is more than okay. But the other part wanted to swoon, he was asking permission in case she wasn't comfortable.

The softest smile appeared on her face as she took in every detail on his face. Despite the fear spreading throughout her entire nerve system, she leaned forward to close the gap, only hesitating for a moment due to her overwhelming anxiety.

Of course, Druig reciprocated the kiss instantly. His hand's hand moved so he could wrap his arms around her waist and pull her closer to him. It was like he knew exactly what to do in this situation despite having very little experience.

Elizabeth, however, wasn't quite like that. Her fingers had gone to fidgeting in front of her lap, not entirely sure what to do with her hands and too awkward to move them.

He chuckled against her lips and moved his hands yet again to softly grip her wrists. She kept her eyes shut as he slowly lifted her arms to hook around his neck. Instantly, her fingers ran through his dark hair, like she had been dying to do it since the moment she met him. Once he was sure she was comfortable he returned his arms around her waist, pulling her flush against him.

This was as close as they could possibly get to each other. Elizabeth was completely inexperienced in the art of kissing but luckily for her, Druig had some experience. She let him take the lead in this case, trusting that he knew what he was doing.

And boy did he ever.

She found her lips curling upwards, smiling against his mouth. Everything about this moment was intoxicating to her, from the way his lips moved against hers to the way his grip would tighten around her waist every few seconds.

But alas, the moment couldn't last for eternity.

Their lips detached in a slow manner, their foreheads touching as Elizabeth struggled to hide the smile on her face. It was almost as though her heart had shapeshifted into a butterfly, she couldn't get it to slow down even if she tried.

Though her eyes were shut, Druig's were wide open. Her smile was mirrored by the boy she had just kissed, perhaps even wider than hers. Druig once again felt like a giddy child. His pupils were blown out with pure love for the shy girl in his embrace.

Elizabeth was too embarrassed to open her eyes and that only had Druig grinning wider. Using his hands to tilt her head down, he pressed an affectionate chaste kiss to her forehead, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ears with his thumbs.

"Oh god."

Elizabeth flinched in surprise and snapped her eyes open, turning her head in shock to see Azula standing there. Upon seeing the redhead, Druig tightened his grip around Elizabeth. --"Zules!!"Elizabeth spoke softly, a wide grin appearing on her face.

"My dumbass thought you were in some freaky danger because I felt a shift with your magic."Druig hadn't missed her presence. Azula then gestured to the embracing pair, --"But I now see it was because of him."She pointed a bony finger at Druig who squinted at her.

He had been on the fence about whether or not he liked the annoying girl but ultimately decided that he did not. Especially after their last encounter.

"It's great, isn't it!!"Elizabeth exclaimed, dropping her hands from around Druig's neck causing him to frown. Azula hummed and nodded her head, --"Uh, yeah!!"She replied unenthusiastically, --"Just great."She continued before nodding to Druig.

"Lover boy must be very happy."She spoke with an almost mocking grin. Pursing his lips, Druig wrapped an arm around a surprised Elizabeth's shoulder. --"Couldn't be happier, demon spawn."He told her with squinted eyes.

Azula shot him the world's quickest glare, chuckling dryly in response. --"Uh, Zules I've been meaning to talk to you about my nightmare-"Elizabeth started before being interrupted by Azula whose foot had started to tap almost nervously.

"I can't stay long, Els. I was finishing off some business before you're magic shifted."She told the brunette. Druig glanced down at Elizabeth, frowning when seeing her once chipper expression fall.

"oh..."

With one last glare sent Druig's way. Azula flashed Elizabeth an exaggerated grin. --"We'll talk later, yeah?"She said to the brunette who nodded in response.

And then she was gone again.

Druig puffed out a sigh, his tensed shoulders instantly relaxing. --"I do not know how you live with her in your brain constantly, short stack."He informed her, his gaze lingering on where Azula had previously been standing.

A hummed reply only came from Elizabeth. --"You get used to it."She said simply, glancing up at the mind reader. He turned his head down to look at her, his mood instantly lifting when catching sight of her soft smile.

Leaning forward, he captured her lips again. This one wasn't like their first one, this one was sweeter and much more natural. And yet again, Elizabeth smiled against his lips. She then hummed and pulled away, her eyebrows raised.

"You didn't see any of my weird thoughts earlier, right?"She asked curiously, her eyes squinted. Plastering on a smirk, he shook his head. --"Nope, definitely not."He lied, and Elizabeth's stomach dropped at his sarcastic tone.

"Though I am curious as to why you spent multiple years of your life calling a spatula a 'frying wand'."He said and she groaned in response, --"I forgot what it was called and I just blurted it out!!"She exclaimed, her eyebrows raised.

He only chuckled and pressed another kiss to her forehead as she started to ramble on, about why calling a spatula a 'frying wand' made perfect sense. --"Fuck, I love you."He murmured against her forehead.

----

WOOHOO, IT HAPPENED!! I really hope I wrote this well enough- leave your theories on where you think the book is going in the comments because believe me- I have so many ideas 😈