Chapter 26

26

KING

Walking out of my last final, I have an extra spring in my step. I glance back down at the paper in my head, smiling when I see the big 'A' at the top. Holy shit, I can't believe I did it! I've passed all of my finals. I've been so worried the past few weeks, thinking I was going to fail and not only lose my scholarship, but be kicked out of Creelin U.

Niko and I have spent a lot of our time together studying since the Halloween Ball. Even though our sessions would often get interrupted by one of us eventually touching the other, he still made sure I spent time on my school work. And it's obviously paid off.

Running through the quad, I pass by a N?kk and his boyfriend who are walking hand in hand. It seems as though many monsters have found their human match. I've heard tons of stories this semester, and I love seeing all the… love throughout the campus.

Bypassing the elevator in the dorm hall, I run up the three flights of stairs, huffing once I reach the door. I probably could have taken the elevator, but I'm too excited to show Niko. I've worked so hard for this, and he's the one person I want to share it with.

I open the door to the dorm room, coming to an abrupt stop when I hear giggling and laughing. Rolling my eyes, I recognize the giggle. Sam has been here almost every day since the Halloween Ball. He finally found his courage and made a move on Mateo, and they've been inseparable ever since. He's always here in our dorm room since we have a bigger space than he does. We've done the double date thing a few times, going to Zomb-Bar or Scareoke. It's been fun to hang out with them all.

Mateo's head pops up from the other side of the couch. "Hey, King."

"Hey."

Mateo gets pushed back, and Sam flies up, his cheeks a bright red. "Hey, man."

"Didn't mean to interrupt." I snicker, seeing they're both in a state of undress.

"No, it's okay. We were about to go to my room anyways," Mateo says, standing up and reaching for Sam's hand.

"Is Niko here?" I ask, hoping he's already back from the library.

"Yeah, he should be in his room."

"Thanks. Have fun," I tell them over my shoulder as I hurry down the hall to Niko's room.

I quickly knock once before pushing the door open. Closing the door behind me, I smile, taking in Niko sitting at his desk. He has headphones over his ears and he's dancing around to some music. He's facing the wall, so I take a second to admire him.

He's shirtless, with textbooks laid out in front of him. He still has one more final tomorrow, so I know he's been studying for that test. His head bobs up and down, and I smile when I see Bo and Lox dancing along to the music. Coby is slithering around, but isn't dancing like the others.

I stride over to him, leaning down and placing a kiss on his cheek. Niko yelps, turning around quickly in his seat and taking off his headphones.

Placing his hand over his heaving chest, he pushes at me with his other hand. "Fuck, you scared me."

I laugh, giving him another kiss. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. You just looked so damn adorable rocking out to your music. What were you listening to?"

Niko quickly grabs the headphones, bringing them to his chest. "Nothing, just typical music."

Raising my eyebrow, I stare him down. "Are you sure about that? You seem nervous."

"Nope. I mean, yeah, I'm sure. I'm not nervous."

"Okay."

I pretend to start walking over to his bed, and when he places the headphones back down, I snatch them. Putting them up to my ears, I laugh loudly when Taylor Swift hits my ears.

"Oh, my God. I knew you listened to her. All the shit you give me about my musical choices, and here you are: a fellow Swiftie."

"I am not." He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes darting to the side.

"Sure, sure." I put his headphones back down, smiling at him as I walk to the bed. "Come here, I want to show you something."

"What's up?" he asks, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to me.

"Look at this."

I hand him my test, and his eyes brighten when he sees my grade. "I knew you could do it!" he yells, throwing his arms around my neck. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pull him close until he's straddling my lap.

"Thank you," I tell him.

"I didn't do anything but help. This is all you, Kingston. I am so damn proud of you."

"I'm pretty fucking proud of myself, too." Resting my head against his chest, I close my eyes. I can't fucking believe I passed all my classes, and that means I get to keep my spot on the team.

"Come on, let's go celebrate." Niko says, climbing off my lap.

Niko and I decide to head to the waterfall, wanting to have another picnic. We walk away from the dorm room hand in hand, glancing around the university. A Hydra strolls past us and I smile, remembering my first day at Creelin U. I was so anxious to not only be in the first group of humans to come to the school, but to also start all over on a new baseball team.

Glancing at Niko, I grin bigger, remembering how grumpy he used to be. It seems like a completely different lifetime, when it was only a few months ago. How he fought so hard to not let me in and tried to push me away at every chance.

We make it to the path over the Lin Bridge for the waterfall. Looking at the river, I see a Merman swimming with a Loch Ness, and I smile while waving at them. They greet us back before going back to their swim.

Walking down the path, we take in the forest around us. There's chirps from the birds flying overhead and rustling from some animals walking over the fallen leaves. It's too cold for us to go swimming in the waterfall, but it'll be perfect for hanging out.

The sound of running water alerts us that we're near the falls before we see it. We walk out of the clearing, and I'm blown away. The last time we came was at night, and it's so much prettier in the daylight. There’s so much more visible for us to see. The sun is glistening off the water, causing it to look as though it's sparkling.

"It's beautiful." Niko comes to a stop, and I sidle up behind him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my chin on his shoulder.

"It really is. Come on, let's spread out the blanket."

Niko does that while I start unpacking the basket. I set everything to the side of me, then lean back on my arms. I watch as Niko sits between my legs, resting his back against my chest.

"I can't believe I've been at Creelin U for two and a half years and this is only the second time I've been here. It's magical. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it."

"Well, if it's up to me, then I plan to come here as many times as we want. I can't wait for it to get warmer, though. I bet it would feel amazing to swim in there."

"Only a few more months. Until then, I don't mind the picnics."

"Me, either. On the way up here, I was reminiscing about how far we've come. God, you were such an ass at the beginning of the semester."

Niko groans loudly, covering his eyes with his hands. "I know. Don't remind me. I hate how I acted back then. I don't know what came over me."

"I do. You were scared. Fearful of the unknown, and you didn't know how to act. So you reacted. Badly, I might add. But I like to think it was worth it. It led us to the here and now. And I, for one, would never want to give that up."

He turns around and straddles my lap, his hands sifting through my hair. "So, you're saying if we had to do it all over again, you wouldn't mind how I acted?"

"Not if we still ended up here. I'm not the same person I was then either."

"Oh, I know. I remember first tutoring you and you didn't think you were going to pass any of your classes and now look at you. Getting A's on your finals and kicking ass."

"I am kicking ass, aren't I? Who would have ever thought I would have been able to tame the grumpy Gorgon?"

"Oh, my Medusa!" he squeals, playfully swatting me.

"No, but for real, Niko. I am so fucking thankful for you. For helping me this semester, for opening your heart up to me. For falling in love with a human."

"I couldn't help it." He shrugs, his eyes tearing up. "I had no say. From the second I met you, I was drawn to you. Human or monster, it didn't matter. I fell in love with you, Kingston Porter, for who you are on the inside, and I plan to always love you."

"I love you, too, Nikolai Mahone. And good, because I never plan to let you go."

I claim his mouth with mine, kissing him and showing him how much I love him. He opens up easily, massaging his tongue with mine. Pulling back, I give each snake a pet. "I love all of you."

We lie down on the blanket, my arms wrapped around Niko tightly. We spend the rest of the day making out, taking short breaks to eat and talk of the future. Our future that we're planning together.