Drunken Night

It took longer for Lanius to recover than it did for your wave of panic to pass. Your breathing evened out and your heart rate slowed, but she kept you locked in her embrace, murmuring apologies and petting your hair.

God, this was right up there in contention for the most embarrassing experience of your life.

"Stop," you told her at last, pushing her away. "Enough already. I'm fine." For a long moment, a string of snot connected your nose to the front of her flannel. Gross. If she noticed it before it broke, she didn't say anything, though.

"What the hell was that?" Her voice was rough, as if she'd been the one crying.

"Panic attack," you said. "I get them sometimes. Doesn't mean anything. I'm fine." She gave you an incredulous stare, which you met steadily. "I'm fine." Your tone left no room for argument, but you knew Lanius. She could make room.

She didn't, thankfully. She hesitated, like she was thinking about it, before ultimately letting it go. There were undoubtedly conditions to her surrender, though.

"It's freezing out here. Let's get you back inside," she reasoned before herding you back towards the front door. One thing was for certain... She wasn't going to let you walk away, no matter how desperately you wanted to.

It was still worth a shot.

"I think I should go," you muttered, digging in your heels and refusing to take one more step towards the entrance.

"Nonsense! You haven't even had dessert yet!" Dessert did sound nice. Now that you had emptied the contents of your stomach out into the snow, you were actually kind of hungry again. But you had to be strong.

"The blizzard has only gotten worse, though! If I wait any longer, I won't be able to make it home."

"You already waited too long. But don't worry... You can stay here for the night."

"What?! No!"

"You don't have much choice in the matter. Roads are unsafe." You considered just sneaking out... But that's when you remembered that your keys were in your coat pocket and you foolishly entrusted Lanius with your coat when you first came in.

She gave you a brilliantly white smile, like she knew she'd won. "I don't suppose I could interest you in a slice of pumpkin-gingersnap tiramisu? Maybe a bowl of strawberry gelato? We've got a little something for everyone!"

"I guess..." You sighed, your mouth already puckering into a pout.

"That's the spirit!" She crowed before throwing an arm around your shoulders and all but dragging you inside.

...

Dessert was delicious. You never doubted it would be after how good the main meal was. But even better was the dessert wine.

You may have indulged a little too much... But who could blame you? After that minor outburst, everyone was treating you with kids gloves. They checked in on you constantly --none more so than Lanius-- and talked low and slow like you were a wild animal they didn't want to spook. You weren't a child!

They were all but driving you to drink. Eventually you stopped counting how many glasses you'd had, just wanting to let loose and have fun.

It felt like just when you were starting to feel good, the party was over. The last of the adults were only still milling about because you, as the guest, hadn't retired yet.

"Let's get you to bed, hun," Lanius murmured warmly with smiling eyes.

"But I'm not sleepy," you whined as you held your wine glass against your face, partly to cool your cheek and partly to keep it as close as possible in case someone tried to take it from you.

"Well, I am. And, since you and me will be sharing a room, I'd like it if we headed up at the same time."

"What do you mean we'll be sharing a room? Don't you have a guest room? I thought your house was huge!"

"And it is! But we've got two dozen people living under this roof. Every bedroom is filled."

Just as you were considering just sleeping on the couch, Lanius bent down to your level and picked you up in a bridal carry. You flailed your limbs around like a fish, but all she did was readjust her grip as she started climbing the stairs.

"Wait! I can walk upstairs by myself!"

"I don't think so. You barely stumbled your way to the sofa without braining yourself on the coffee table, and that was two glasses of wine ago."

She had a point there. But this was humiliating! How were you ever supposed to look these people in the eye again? You didn't struggle anymore, just buried your flushed face in your hands and pretended the muffled laughter you heard from downstairs was at someone else's expense.

Soon, you deposited into a bed. Lanius was very gentle, so if you were a baby she had just managed to rock to sleep. Once your head hit the pillow, she took a step back.

"I'm going to change into my pajamas. Do you want an oversized t-shirt and some sweatpants to sleep in?"

"No, thank you," you said, looking away as she started to undress. Instead, you examined the room. It looked like a master, or, at least, one of them. It had its own attached bathroom, which you didn't know why she wasn't utilizing now. Did she have no sense of propriety?

The bedroom was beautiful but a little scary at the same time? From what you'd seen, the rest of the house was all light and bright and airy, but this room seemed sheathed in shadows. There was a lot of dark wood and indirect lighting. It was eerily quiet, too, as if soundproofed.

You tried to keep your wandering eye in check, but eventually you got bored of examining the many dramatic woodland photographs and found yourself staring at Lanius' back.

She obviously wasn't interested in putting on a show. Her movements were completely perfunctory. She quickly shed her flannel, tank top, and sports bra before yanking a skin-tight sleeping shirt over her head.

Unable to help yourself, you crawled to the foot of the bed, where she stood facing away from you. There, you reached out and splayed a hand between the breadth of her shoulder blades, felt the muscles there tense and relax. Maybe she wasn't the only one with no manners.

Luckily, she didn't take offense. She just laughed, turned around and took your outstretched hand in both of hers, warming your cool fingertips.

"You're so handsome," you sighed dreamily. The alcohol had obviously removed your brain-to-mouth filter. "You must be an absolute lesbian magnet."

Lanius laughed so hard she ended up wheezing a little. "I wouldn't know," she said at last. "Surprise, surprise... There aren't a lot of lesbians this far out from civilization. Just you and me."

Your heart jumped up into your throat and your stomach fell out. "How did you know?"

"I've seen the way you look at me." She just gazed into your eyes for the longest time, before her eyelashes fluttered down and she leaned in to press a kiss to each of your knuckles.

"My mother would kill me if she found out," you whispered, tears already beginning to gather in.

"Why do you care what she thinks?"

"She's my mother."

"Then why did she send you off by yourself?"

"She's been through a lot. And the root of her pain is right here."

"So you should be carrying it for her? That sounds awfully unfair."

That one little comment caused a bunch of complicated emotions to tangle together inside your chest. You whimpered a little, bit your lower lip to muffle any other sound that might escape from your traitorous mouth.

Lanius cupped your face in her massive hands, brushed away your tears with her thumbs. "I'm sorry, honeybun... I didn't mean to make you cry."

You shook your head, dislodging her grip on you in the process. "I don't want your apologies. I want you to do something about it." That's when you grabbed the hem of her sleepshirt and started pulling it up.

She immediately pulled it back down, pushed your hands away with a frown. "No, Y/N. I don't think that's what you need right now. And I'm not about to do something like that when you're drunk."

Your expression instantly morphed from that of a kicked puppy dog to that of a stepped-on cat. "Aren't you just a regular white knight?"

"I take that as a compliment. Now, come on." With that, she pushed you back onto the mattress. Once you were laying down again, she turned you into a blanket burrito by wrapping you up in the thick quilt covering the bed.

You were still the grumpiest blanket burrito to ever exist, though, and your pout let her know this. It was hard to stay mad when you were so warm and cozy, though.

"Thank you, Lanius," you murmured into the dark room, once you were convinced she was asleep.

"Good night, honeybun."

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Mr Wolf, Mr Wolf, what time is it?

Seven o'clock...

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