Page 30 of Azriel
“Okay.”
***
Azriel was asleep on the floor after dinner like being up a little had already sapped his energy, but he woke up when the floor creaked.
“It’s just me.” Vali got on the floor with him. “You know, you can sleep in the bed if you want. It’s more comfortable.”
“I can’t kick you out of your bed.”
“You can sleep with me, silly, and you can cuddle me if you have a bad dream.”
Azriel stared at him for a second before the corner of his mouth twitched. “That seems a bit gay to me.”
Vali scowled. “It’s not gay. I like being around you, and we’re just two really good friends now.”
That occasionally sucked each other off.
“Okay.”
“If it’s still a bad day, we can go to bed now, or I can read to you, but we could also go somewhere in a bit.”
Azriel’s eyes widened. “Like where? People shouldn’t see me.”
“Do you have a cloak?”
“Yeah, in my pack.”
“I have an idea if you want to do it because I really think you need a break from being stuck inside.”
Azriel seemed pretty hesitant, but he agreed once Vali explained his idea, and they waited a bit. Once Mother fell asleep, she’d be out for the night. When Vali felt it was safe because the town would mostly be asleep too, they snuck outside.
Azriel had his cloak on, and the hood was up, but his horns stuck out, and his wings were through the back slits. Vali peeked outside and didn’t see anyone.
“Come on.” He led Azriel out, and after shutting the door, he took the angel’s hand and hastily took him around the back.
They didn’t have a backdoor, and the yard was small. Mother had never been into gardening, so it was just weeds and grass. The back of the house that faced the next street over was dark.
“If anybody happens to be outside, and they see something, they won’t know who you are,” whispered Vali. “It’s dark, so they wouldn’t even see much detail. If they say anything, no one’s going to believe they saw someone flying, and they’ll be told to lay off the booze.”
“Okay.” Azriel scooped him up bridal style.
“Have you done this before?” Vali should have asked that before.
“Yes, because some without wings might ask a flier to take them somewhere. You still need to hold on, and don’t panic. If you need me to land, I will.”
“All right. Face that way and just go straight when you’re up there.”
It was nothing like going up a set of stairs or climbing a ladder. Vali’s stomach felt funny for a few seconds as Azriel’s wings flapped and carried them into the air, and he tightened his grip. Everything looked so strange in the dark the higher they went, and he couldn’t help but go rigid and bury his face in Azriel’s shoulder even though the angel didn’t seem ready to drop him.
“Don’t worry. I got you. If you hide your face, you won’t see anything.”
Vali forced himself to look. Not many windows had any lights, but he caught a few flickering ones here and there from fires or lanterns. Never had he once imagined he’d see a town from above.
“That is kind of amazing,” said Vali.
“I’m used to flying, but sometimes the view really is something else.”
Before, Vali wouldn’t have thought that even a decent set of wings could lift a body that was roughly the size of his. As Azriel flapped, he didn’t seem to be struggling at all even with the extra weight he was holding.