"I'm not sleepy."
"I heard you the first time."
"Then?"
"Sounds like a you problem."
"It's an -us- problem. You just said it, didn't you? You need me at my best."
"So?"
"So help me sleep."
"How am I supposed to do that?"
"That's a you problem."
"..."
Elisa took a deep breath in and sighed.
"What do you do when you're not sleepy?"
"I don't sleep."
"But what if it's time to sleep?"
"I still don't, if I'm not sleepy."
"So you're encouraging me?"
"You need sleep more than I do."
"Mm... True, I guess." Elisa grumbled.
The two remained silent for a bit.
"Fighting to stay on my back wasn't enough?"
"I'm sick of sleeping on the ground. It's cold, and uncomfortable."
"Huh... Surprised my scales would be comfortable to lie on."
"They're not. But... But... At least they're not cold."
"Demoted from Horse to Bed?" Mark chuckled.
With her cheek against his shoulder, he could feel that the corners of her lips had risen.
Elisa lay silently, with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.
"I like being with you. The two of you. I really do."
Mark's hand moved, but quickly came to a halt.
She disappeared-
Like a cat-
Touch it when it doesn't want you to and-
"I like being with you too." Mark admitted. He felt her cheek move, but wasn't sure what it meant. A frown? A wider smile? Mark couldn't tell. Therefore, "Krista likes being with you too. She loves you, really."
The cheek against his shoulder moved again. Mark stopped trying to read into it.nOV.elu(sb,C(0(m
"Mmmm..."
The Princess' arms, which previously stuck to her body and lay straight, started moving.
Elisa slowly bent her elbows and rested her hands against the ground, on both sides of Mark's shoulders.
Her cheek slowly rose off the white-scaled Monster's shoulder.
Her ear connected with the space between its shoulder and chest a second later.
"Is that a heart I'm hearing?"
"I've been hearing it too these days."
"It's beating fast."
"As it should."
Elisa remained silent for a couple of seconds.
Badump-
Badump-
"Where is it anyways?"
"Huh?"
"On the right side?" She softly dragged her ear across his chest. "Or the left?"
Mark chuckled.
"Or maybe at the center. Or hidden in your stomach. Or-"
"Yes, yes. I get it. I'm not sure if I can move my heart around."
"Move it around... You probably can, right?"
"Probably."
Elisa slowly spread her legs so that her knees connected with the ground on either side of Mark's hips.
She slowly pushed herself off.
"Can you stop it from beating?"
"I can. By dying, that is."
She lowered her hips until she lay on him and slowly moved her hand towards his sternum.
"It's beating fast." Elisa repeated. "You can't stop it from beating fast, can you?"
Mark blinked despite not wanting.
Her beauty shone brightly under the moonlight.
"Can you?"
"I can't."
Elisa stared silently. She brought a hand halfway to her lips, perhaps feeling the urge to bite down on her thumb nerveously, before setting back down.
"You said that Krista loved me."
"She does."
"Mm..." Elisa nodded quietly. "Since when do Monsters know about matters of the heart?"
A slight smile appeared on the white-scaled Monster's face.
A smile that revealed countless sharp fangs.
"Since their heart started beating properly, I suppose."
"So there's a proper and an improper way?"
Mark awkwardly pulled his hand closer to his face. Awkwardly, as he was trying not to move her arms which lay on either side of his shoulders.
He scratched the side of his forehead.
"There always is a proper and improper-"
"I like that." Elisa interrupted suddenly.
"Like... What?"
"You scratched your face."
"And?"
"You're nervous?"
"Am I?"
"A bit?"
"Maybe."
"That's good."
"Didn't you want me to be like Krista?"
"I'm... Not sure what I want."
"Capricious as always."
"Capricious as always..." She whispered. "Monsters aren't usually nervous."
Mark wanted to roll his eyes but didn't.
"I've heard that before."
"You have?"
"From Zephyr."
"Zephyr..." Elisa scratched her head. The subject was changing. She didn't want it to. "Your heart is beating fast." Elisa said as she moved the hand that rested on Mark's chest. "Why?"
The white-scaled Monster chuckled.
"You want me to say it?"
The brazenness in his tone caught her off-guard, which made the hand on his chest freeze.
"I'm... Not sure what I want." Elisa whispered as she pulled back. Both her hand and upper body.
"Mm." Mark nodded. With the hands that had kept his trapped gone, he bent his elbows, and pushed himself off the ground.
Just enough for the back of his head and his upper back to leave the ground.
Cautiously.
Slowly.
Slowly, and without looking away.
He was a Monster.
So slowly was the only way for Mark to go.
Balancing himself on the thin rope.
Go too quickly, and she'll run away.
Go too suddenly, and you'll scare her off.
Slowly, Mark rose and his face got closer to hers.
"What about your heart?"
"What about it?" Elisa asked. Just like him, she refused to look away.
Mark lowered his gaze towards her lips, then towards her chest, before going back to her face.
His right hand rose off the ground.
He could feel her breath, and did his best to keep his to himself.
The hand slowly moved towards her chest.
Slowly, giving himself as much time as possible to notice any change in her facial expression that would indicate that she was about to run away.
There was none.
His hand stopped an inch away from her chest.
He wanted to feel her heartbeat.
And perhaps, she wanted him to feel it too.
Elisa was shaking slightly.
His hand, an inch away from her chest.
An inch away from her heart.
She was shaking, and so was his hand.
He was a Monster.
A Monster's hand was closing in on her heart. But Elisa wasn't scared. She trusted him with her life.
Her shaking ceased.
The hand's didn't.
