Chapter 4 - Dinosaurs and Coffees

After listening to Taylor wail and screech about a damn peck on the hand all night, Lynan woke up far too early once again.

Unfortunately, his nerves were no less frayed now than they were last night.

Great.

On the plus side, the petty man was thrilled with the chance of winning a solo date today but now, he had holed up in one of the few big bathrooms refusing to let anyone else in.

Lynan decided to avoid the entire fiasco by trailing down to the kitchen in his pajamas and getting a coffee. He could just throw something on before they had to leave.

By some act of God, no one else had the same idea, and the kitchen was mercifully quiet.

He shuffled in still sleepy, rubbing his eyes and yawning before sluggishly moving to boil the jug and loading up a mug with copious amounts of coffee and sugar.

He wondered if anyone would notice if he stole cream instead of milk. The extra sugar sounded amazing right now.

He poured the water in, stirred in the milk, and then leaned back against the counter with eyes closed. He took a moment to just inhale the beautiful aroma of morning wakefulness.

Once the liquid was half gone, he finally opened his eyes to find that he wasn’t as alone as he thought.

Yael sat perfectly pristine in his suit, black hair in its perfect glory, with a coffee in one hand and the morning paper all spread out in front of him.

The man watched Lynan with a hint of amusement.

“Morning,” Lynan mumbled while trying to ignore the blush slowly taking over his face.

“Good morning.”

That voice was so damn nice. Deep and silky smooth. He could listen to him talk all day.

“I take it you aren’t a morning person?”

Lynan shook his head violently and nearly toppled himself over. He managed to right himself and looked up in time to catch the ghost of a smile on Yael’s lips.

The expression immediately smoothed back over and the man took a moment to appraise his appearance.

“Cute pajamas.”

He nearly groaned. He was wearing the same cartoon dinosaur pajamas from yesterday and made a mental note to see if he had anything less embarrassing for tomorrow.

It was probably too late for that now though.

He loved every single pair of pajama he had and they’re one of the first things that he had packed. He wants to make sure that if he had to endure this nightmare, he may as well be comfortable even if only in his sleep.

“They’re comfy,” he mumbled petulantly and winced as a yell erupted from upstairs followed by a bang and swearing, “And that is why I came down here first.”

Yael chuckled and the sound reverberated through Lynan’s being. It was way too early to be dealing with his own gay tendencies.

“That sounds like a smart move.”

They were interrupted by Amulet bouncing in to the room with an exclamation of ‘Yael!’.

Suddenly, more heads popped through the door and Lynan cringed at all the noise before slinking away to finish his coffee in relative peace.

He felt sorry for Yael who was now being bombarded by ‘too bright for this time’  morning people.

He glanced over his shoulder as he left and caught Yael’s gaze following him.

He bolted through the door with a blush.

Lynan really needed to wake up and get his bearings before trying to deal with that man.

His sister would probably kill him once they talked next for failing so dismally when the man was right there, virtually served up on a platter.

But it wasn’t his fault that he lost all ability to function in the mornings.

*****

Lynan had quickly decided that Liev wasn’t all that bad after spending over an hour seated next to him in the limo.

The man was a little smug and a bit too arrogant but didn’t carry on like some others and held a decent conversation once he relaxed a little.

Currently, he was trading hair care secrets with Amulet and Yui which was more than a little amusing, except for the despairing looks at Lynan’s own messy ginger hair, along with the decision to try to make over Lynan at some point when they were stuck at the mansion.

He tried to talk them out of it in horror but he wasn’t sure how successful that was. Liev didn’t help.

“You can’t really be called Sleeping Beauty with hair like THAT.”

So, feelings of great relief met their arrival at The National Museum.

Lynan fled the limo first and almost ran head first into Yael in his effort to escape. He yelped as he flailed, trying to keep his balance after coming to an abrupt halt to avoid collision.

He scrunched his eyes shut as he waited for the pain from hitting the ground but was surprised to feel arms wrap around his waist.

He opened one eye to peek up and see who caught him.

Familiar dark green eyes looked down at him in amusement and Lynan’s own brown eyes flew wide in surprise.

Yael had caught him in a mimic of a dance dip and the man was far too close for comfort.

He felt his own face burn and stuttered incoherently as he was carefully righted.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes!” Lynan practically squeaked and flailed again as he tried to break free. “Sorry about that!”

Yael held on to him a moment longer before letting go and Lynan stepped back so he once again had his personal space bubble to himself.

Those eyes were too mesmerizing to be so close to. This entire endeavour was going to be bad for his heart rate, he was sure.

Amulet and Stelle interrupted his thoughts as they linked arms while laughing and dragging him in to the museum.

Ugh, he needed to get a grip.

The event ended up being a race to find all the clues and the first person to locate Yael- who had been whisked away upon them entering the building- won a rose and the next solo date.

Lynan had been off to a good start, getting the first few clues quickly and was moving on to the next area of the museum when he was stopped by the sight of a small child looking around with tears streaming down her face.

He carefully approached before kneeling down to get on her level and spoke gently.

“Hi love, are you lost?”

She nodded, lip trembling threateningly.

He ignored the other show contestants flying past them without a second glance.

“Do you want me to help you find them?”

Another small nod.

He held out his hand and after a moment, the little girl took it.

He walked slowly, carefully prying a description of her parents and siblings as they made their way to the front of the museum to the information desk.

He passed over the information to the lady at the counter and sat by the little girl while they waited.

She opened up to him and together, they were spinning a large tale about dragons and knights and princesses when an older woman came running up with a tearful yell.

By the time they had finished thanking him, Lynan was surrounded by the other contestants of the show, all finished and sick of waiting for him.

Stelle grinned triumphantly at him from her place hanging off of Yael’s right arm.

Well, that answered who won.

“Looks like Sleeping Beauty is actually a white knight in disguise,” Kosh said with a laugh before continuing, “You came last but in reward for rescuing the princess...” he winked at the little girl who giggled at being called a princess. “I promote you to runner up. This means there will be a limo reshuffle and you can join Stelle with Yael in his limo.”

Lynan barely held back a groan at that.

Yael held out his other arm, and Lynan dragged his feet as he walked over to slip his own arm through it.

He paused for a moment, relishing in the feel of steel muscles under his hands.

Those where some nice arms, damn.

He caught Taylor’s death glare as they walked to leave the building and sighed.

Now he would have to deal with Taylor once they return to the mansion.

How wonderful.