Her Fear, His Obsession

In awe of the wonderful woman he had managed to call his

"My Queen, your music player is ready." Alia turned around to see Viraj holding a little teal blue device in his hand with her headphones. 

Looking confused, she looked up at him, "What is that? I haven't seen one of those since elementary school."

Luca sauntered into the room, watching the interaction between Viraj and Alia. He didn't love that they were talking, but he was amused that Alia was questioning him. Maybe she was getting more comfortable than she realized.

"A music player, my Queen, the King insisted that all your music be transferred on to this."

"Does that even work? It looks older than me."

"Yes, my Queen, I ensured that all 5,826 songs were downloaded and that at least 100 of them were tested to make sure they would play. It's brand new, my Queen. The slaves just built it."

"Oh...okay. Thank you!" Alia took the music player and headphones and plugged it in. After a few moments of trying to figure out how to find certain songs, she settled in on her shuffle all habits. After a few moments of shuffling it to find the song she actually wanted, she leaned against the headboard with her eyes closed. Moments later, she was asleep sitting upright.

A/N: If you want to know, Alia is currently listening to Lost by Yoon Mi Rae and Try by Pink.

Moving slightly across the room, Luca moved to lift Alia so that she was lying in bed, not seating upright. He remembered reading in her packet that she often would have back pain and he wanted her to sleep comfortably. As he lifted her, she stirred, and then jolted awake, pushing herself from away. He moved to quickly place her back on the bed and held his hands up, in a surrendering gesture. 

She ripped the headphones from her ears and hissed, backing up all the while.

"I'm sorry, my love, I just wanted you to sleep comfortably. I didn't want you to wake up with your back hurting." Luca implored to her as he kept his hands up and stood still. As much as he wanted to scoop her up and reassure her, he knew that was not the move to get her back to sleep.

Alia's facial expression changed from fear to understanding, but she gave no verbal or non-verbal response. Instead, she busied herself into looking for another song on her media player. Taking that as a sign that she was okay with him being here, Luca took a tentative step forward, slowly moving to sit at the foot of the bed. Alia stilled and was visible moving her eyes to see him, but gave no indication of her displeasure. It was his house after all, she thought.

Pleased, Luca decided to try to take it one step further, "Soooo... my Queen likes music. What kind?"

Alia shrugged. She was in no mood to indulge him at her own cost. He could sit where he wanted to but she'd be damned if she'd be talking on his terms.

Sighing, Luca asked "Can we play our game?" He moved to place his hand in front her, palm outstretched.

Wordlessly, Alia stuck her hand into his. She knew how annoyed he got at the game and while she would love to talk in general, with him, she was still terrified to saying the wrong thing. 

"Country?" Squeeze.

"Rap?" Squeeze.

"Pop?" Squeeze.

"R&B?" Squeeze.

"Dean Martin?" Squeeze.

"Taylor Swift?" Squeeze.

"Drake?" Squeeze.

"Andy Grammar?" Squeeze.

"Dolly Parton?" Squeeze. 

After what felt an entirety of squeezes, Luca looked back at her astonished. He wasn't sure if she had terrible taste in music and loved everything, or if she was so well nuanced in music that she was able to discern certain parts of all songs that she liked. She had said yes to singers his parents listened to and yes to singers that he had to painfully hear on the radio nowadays when he went into the real world. And he hadn't even asked international artists yet!

Curious, he went in to ask about international music, when she slowly slipped her hand out of his. As he opened to protest, he saw her put her headphones back in and then silently turn to lie in bed, her back facing him, and her face turned towards his couch. Understanding what she meant, he slowly moved off the bed. They would have a lifetime for his facetious questions, right now, his Queen needed rest.

Silently calling for the slaves to be right outside the door, he slipped into his pajamas and went over settling on the couch.

The last thing he saw was Alia sleeping, her lips slightly opened with a small drool pool already forming on her pillow. Satisfied, he went to bed in awe. 

In awe of the wonderful woman he had managed to call his.

A/N: Sorry, it's a bit of a filler chapter. I couldn't really get off this writer's block for this story so I'm hoping this kickstarts things.