forum Under The Painted Sky (O/O CLOSED)

Started March 18, 2019 by Deleted user

tune

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Eden exhaled in relief. Her heart stopped hammering in her chest and as he held out his other arm, Eden didn’t waste a second in accepting. She stood in front of him and smiled softly before wrapping her arms around him.

Sterling let out a slow sigh as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He buried his face in her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “Ready to go for lunch, now?” he murmured softly.

”You belong to me and if you forget it— if anyone forgets it… I’ll make sure to send a reminder.”

”You’re not theirs. You’re mine. They cannot have you. I won’t let them.”

Different sentences. Different consequences. Same meaning. What was she now, a belonging to have? An accessory, an ornament?

No. Sterling didn’t think of her like that.

Then why do you feel so nervous? Why are you so uncomfortable?

“Yeah,” Eden answered quietly, ignoring the voices in her head. They were wrong. Sterling wasn’t Adrien. He would never hurt her. “Ready for lunch.”

Ironic. You say that, yet you’re starting to doubt that.

Shut up.

“You okay?” Sterling asked softly, having noticed her quiet tone. He pulled away to look at her and brushed a hand over her cheek. “Shoot… I scared you, didn’t I? I’m sorry… I don’t have very good control over my anger sometimes…”

He didn’t, either. In fact, it was much worse.

Eden tried not to flinch away from his touch, but in that moment, she thought of the time Adrien had done the same thing. Except, his had hand brushed past her cheek and straight into her hair.

Eden flinched back and then regretted it immediately, masking the panic.

“No, it’s okay,” Eden shook her head, trying to move thoughts away from her reaction. “I’m just—paranoid. A little jumpy. I’m fine.”

Sterling took a step back, seeing how she had reacted to him. All he had done was touch her cheek… And she flinched? Gosh, he was definitely doing something wrong if he scared her like that.

“No, it’s not okay. I scared you, and that’s not okay,” he insisted quietly. “If I ever start to scare you, I need you to let me know. Please. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.”

Eden shook her head, running a hand through her hair and exhaling deeply. Guilt spread through her when he took a step back from her. What was she doing? This was supposed to be a new start. And she was Eden McArthur. She did not flinch away from pain.

Because that pain is—was voluntary. Because that pain was not something to be afraid of.

“I trust you,” Eden spoke quietly, swallowing thickly.

Funny coming from someone who flinched at the slightest of touch.

“I trust you,” Eden said louder, forcing herself to meet Sterling’s eyes. “Just… not myself. So it’s okay. It’s fine. I just don’t do well with anger like that, which is really ironic because I used to live off of it.”

Sterling looked into her eyes for another moment before sighing and looking away, his hand slowly going through his hair again. “Okay… Thank you for trusting me. But I do still want you to tell me if I ever scare you. I hate thinking that I would do that to you.”

Eden’s eyes followed his hand’s movements and when she realized what she was doing, she immediately tore her gaze away. Thankfully, Sterling wasn’t looking at her. He didn’t notice.

“I know,” she responded softly, swallowing, nails digging into her wrists. “I’ll tell you. I promise.”

“Thank you,” Sterling breathed, dropping his gaze and rubbing at his forehead with his hand. “Okay… Okay, let’s go get lunch, then, yeah?”

Eden stepped forward to link their fingers together, squeezing his hand.

“Where are we going?” she asked softly, reaching up to press her lips to his cheek. “For lunch, I mean. Where are you taking us?”

Sterling smiled a little at the kiss and turned to her to return it, his lips pressing to the side of her head. “There’s a place not too far from here that has soups an salads that are supposed to be good. I thought it would be interesting to go there.”

There it was, that one feeling she never got from Adrien. The warmth. When he… hurt her, or was just angry and dangerous, no matter how much he caressed her, she never stopped being scared. But Sterling managed to do it. He’d frightened her, but that fear had quickly washed away.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Eden smiled at the kiss, leaning into him. “I could make do with chicken soup.”

“I, for once, actually think a salad would be good,” Sterling chuckled as they walked out to his car.

“So you don’t usually eat salads?” Eden questioned, playing with his fingers.

“No, they’re not exactly my favorite,” Sterling answered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “But this place is supposed to be good, so I’ll try it out.”

When they reached his car, Eden turned around to face him and rested his hands on her waist, looking up at him with large eyes. “You’re not still bothered about earlier, right?” she murmured, reaching over to caress his cheek. “Don’t let it get to you, Sterling.”

Sterling sighed and shook his head. “I am bothered by it, I always will be, but it’s not as bad as before. I’m sorry for freaking out like that,” he murmured, leaning forward to rest their foreheads together.

Eden closed her eyes, feeling his forehead against hers. Her hands rested on his biceps, fingers squeezing gently. “I like you, Sterling,” she murmured. “Thank you for being bothered like that, but it’s really okay.”

“I like you, too,” Sterling sighed, pulling back just enough that he could lean in again and peck her softly on the lips. “Ready?”

“Of course,” Eden hummed, stepping back to get to the passenger side of the car. She waited for him to unlock the car before she sat in, buckling her seatbelt.

Sterling slid into his seat and quickly kissed her again before starting the car and pulling away. “It’s not far from here.”

“It better not be,” Eden joked, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. “We just get thirty minutes of lunch, Sterling.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sterling chuckled, taking a right turn. “You know… It’s pretty cute when you do that with your hair.”

Eden blinked, swallowing and looking at Sterling. “The whole playing thing?” she murmured. “You find it cute?”