Throughout the night, Elick heard every click and roar inside and outside the house. Every time the air conditioning unit would turn on, a gust of wind would startle him awake, or a dog would bark in the neighbor’s yard. His heart would pound each time and he’d turn his head towards the door in a panic. He kept expecting his parents to find them in bed and become angry. After a moment of silence, Elick shuffled beneath the covers and snuggle up close to Mallard’s warm body.

            Mallard looked as though he was sleeping peacefully with an innocent smile across his face. Elick envied Mallard’s ability to be relaxed and clueless about the world around him. He thought if he could be more like Mallard, perhaps the days would go by more smoothly. The thought of a new day slowly crept into Elick’s mind like rising water, causing him stress. He clenched his eyes shut and didn’t want to think about what might happen, today. Instead, he’ll worry about navigating their life together after he wakes up, but for now, Elick wrapped his arms around Mallard and held him tight. 

            By the time the morning sun peered through the shades in the room, Elick’s father rushed down the stairs. His footsteps thumped against the staircase boards and startled him. Elick awoke with a jolt and nearly jumped out of bed. He felt something grab him by the arms and flinched.

            “It’s alright. You don’t have to be so jumpy,” Mallard said.

            Elick’s heart pounded, and he let out a long sigh. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one who might get kicked out.” He looked over at the clock and saw that it was almost 9 a.m.

            “What’s with all the commotion, then?”

            “My dad must be late for work; he’s usually gone by now.”

            “Work…is that something he must do?”

            Elick chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Yes, silly—if we want to eat and pay our bills, someone has to work.” He stretched his arms around Mallard and yawned. “Let’s go back to sleep—I don’t want to be awake this early.” 

            Mallard pulled Elick close and placed his chin against his forehead. “Rest.”

            “Wait a minute, why are you awake?”

            “I think I slept all I needed to. I rested peacefully with you at my side.”

            Elick scoffed and shuffled underneath the blanket. He poked his head and nose out from under the covers like a turtle. “I’m glad one of us could sleep. Do you realize I kept waking up all throughout the night because I was worried, we’d be caught?”

            Mallard nodded. “I could feel you move, even if I didn’t wake up.”

            “That makes no sense.”

            “Remember, you did lock the door.”

            “That doesn’t help much, Mallard. I’m still worried they’ll come in here at any time.”

            Mallard wrapped his arms around Elick and tightly hugged him. “When that happens, we’ll deal with it then. Until then, let’s rest.”

            “Uh huh…” Elick closed his eyes and listened to the sound of Mallard’s heartbeat. It had a pleasant rhythm against his father’s noisy thumping and rattly car as he left.

            “It’ll be alright, Elick. I promise—you have me to help you. I’ll see to your happiness.”

            Elick smiled and rubbed his cheek against Mallard’s chest. He was happy to hear those words but something in the pit of his stomach made him queasy. What could Mallard mean by seeing to his happiness? What would happen if he achieved this happiness or is it something tangible? Elick shook his head and didn’t want to think about those kinds of thoughts. It was too aggravating to worry about this early in the morning.

            Mallard shushed him politely and rubbed his head. “Sleep, sleep. I will take care of you, Elick.”

            By noon, Elick groggily awoke, feeling refreshed. He rubbed his eyes and flopped around in the bed until he was fully awake. He ran his hands over the silky cotton sheets and smiled, thinking of Mallard. He rubbed his hand along the cool side of bed and up to the pillow. He jumped out of bed, slid on the edge, and smashed into the dresser. “Mallard?!” The other side of the bed had been made and there was no one else in the room. “Where are you?!” Elick crept towards the door thinking something bad had happened.

            Elick’s heart pounded, and a cold chill swept over him when he touched the doorknob. His hand trembled so much he struggled to turn the knob; it was like a nightmare. When he finally opened the door, he poked his head out and looked around for Mallard. A waft of freshly made pancakes caressed his senses and made him feel light and fluttery. He rushed into the kitchen to find Mallard sitting at the counter eating pancakes as his mother stood by the stove. Elick’s heart sank, he didn’t know what she’d say, but he was furious that Mallard had left. His face furrowed into an angry pout as he shuffled towards the counter.

            Jane turned around holding a spatula in her hand and was covered in flour. “Oh, you’re finally awake.” She whirled around without another word and flipped pancakes before they burned.

            Elick was stunned, he didn’t know what to say. He looked up at Mallard who was stuffing his face with fork after fork of syrup-soaked pancakes. Then, he slithered around to his mother and popped around each side of her. He couldn’t believe she was cooking pancakes so late in the day. Usually, she doesn’t cook much and prefers to work, unless she’s attempting a new recipe.

            “You know, I don’t like it when you look over my shoulder like that,” she said.

            Elick flinched and backed away. “Sorry.” He sat by Mallard when she reached him a plate. “What are you doing? Why are you covered in flour?”

            Jane shrugged it off. “You know, making Mallard and I something to eat.”

            “But why? You hate sweets and…face it, you don’t like to cook.”

            “Hey, now!” She waved her spatula at Elick’s face and dropped some of the batter on the floor. “Just because your father is a better cook than me, doesn’t mean I can’t try something every now and then.” She whirled around and turned to her stove. “I can cook when I need to, besides, I owe Mallard a meal.”

            Elick raised his brow in disbelief. “You do? What for?”

            “He helped me with me with my work, earlier. You know, my second job, where I’m starting a business? I got a bunch of packages and documents in the mail and needed help carrying them in.”

            “What does that have to do with pancakes?” Elick nudged Mallard and raised a napkin up to his face. He tried to show him that he had syrup all over his lips. “Wipe it off. You’re sticky.” It was weird seeing Mallard so messy, but he wiped himself clean and smiled.

            “I really like it.” Mallard looked at the plate and added more syrup. “I really like this sweet stuff.”

            Elick was shocked, half the bottle of syrup was on Mallard’s plate. “Careful, you’ll get sick if you eat all that.” He gently shoved the bottle away. “Don’t you know what syrup is?”

            Mallard took another bite and shook his head. His mouth was full. “Never had it.”

            Elick rolled his eyes and looked out the bright window. What kind of fish eats syrup or pancakes? There’s probably a lot of things Mallard hasn’t tried, but how do you help someone experience simple things like that? Elick started to think about all sorts of things they could experience together.          

            “Elick!” Jane said.

            Elick twitched and jerked towards his mother, as if he latched into place. “Yes? What?”

            She clicked her heels against the floor. “Pay attention when someone is talking.”

            “Right, sure.” He rolled his eyes and looked back at Mallard. 

            “Anyway, since you wouldn’t get up to help me, Mallard did.” She giggled cheerfully and turned off the stove with a loud click. She swooped into her seat with a plate full of fruit and pancakes. “He’s a lot more helpful than you. Too bad he’ll have to leave soon.” She tussled her fruit around with her fork and looked up at them. “I figured I’d be nice and make him something to eat. I can get to know him better that way.”

            Elick snarled and shoved his plate away. He didn’t feel comfortable having his mother pry into his life so easily. He wanted to grab Mallard and run away as soon as possible, but he wasn’t about to make him stop eating.

            Jane took a few bites of her fruit and dropped her fork. “Woops.”

            Before she could move, Mallard sprang from his seat and kindly reached her the fork.

            She snatched the fork away with a smile and went to pick up a clean one. “Thank you, so much! I love having a nice little helper around.” She plopped back into her seat. “So, how long do you think you’ll be staying here? You’ll be gone soon, right? You’ve probably got people who miss you back home, don’t you?”

            Elick leaned back in his chair and stared at his mother. “Mom.” He was upset that she’d ask such a question and hoped she’d get the message. However, it wasn’t outside her nature to ask a question like that, and Elick was expecting something similar. Now, he needed to think of an excuse to play off the situation before Mallard blew their cover. “Well, we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? I’m sure Mallard’s friends and family know he’s old enough to take care of himself. He’s probably visiting for a few days, while he’s off work or something.” He hoped that’d be enough to derail her attention.

            “Well, you know, there’s nothing wrong with asking our guest how long he’s staying. I need to know, so I can prepare the grocery lists and do the laundry,” she said.

            Elick closed his eyes and put his head down on the counter. There was no way she was going along with this as smoothly as she acted. She didn’t even like having her own brothers and sisters over for an evening, let along someone staying a few days. Elick felt like he’ll have to be careful about keeping Mallard close before something goes wrong.