novelraw Chapter 435: Movie?
Chapter 435: Movie?
Lachlan wasn’t pacing, but he wasn’t still either.
He moved around the living room in small, precise ways—adjusting the couch cushions so they would be more comfortable is Sera chose to sit there, checking the curtains to make sure no one could see inside, nudging Luci’s water bowl a few inches closer to the wall where it wouldn’t get kicked over.
He didn’t consider any of it cleaning; it was preparation. He never went into anything, even downtime, without mentally mapping the space first.
Luci padded in after him, shaking out his thick coat and sending a few droplets of backyard dew across the floor. The wolf circled twice before flopping down near the couch with a low huff. Lachlan reached down and scratched between his ears.
"Good boy," he murmured. "Movie night, buddy. Try not to judge the film too hard."
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, light but unmistakably Sera’s.
Lachlan’s back straightened before he could stop himself—not a military reaction, not fear, just instinct. He turned slightly, waiting for her to appear.
Sera stepped into view with her white hair soaked and sticking in uneven lines to her shirt. Freshly washed strands clung to the collar of her soft, oversized pajamas. She carried Oogie Boogie under one arm, her movements easy, grounded, fully awake now that she’d had food and a shower.
Her slippers muffled her steps, making her look like something softer than she ever allowed the world to see.
Lachlan felt his chest tighten and release at the same time. She always did that to him—reset something he hadn’t realized was out of place.
"You look alive again," he said, offering her a half-grin. "Ready for cinematic excellence? Or absolute trash? Both options are available."
Sera blinked at him once. "Movie?"
"Movie," Lachlan confirmed with a nod. "Tradition. Like what we did when the ice age tried to kill us."
Aerenyx drifted into the room behind her, his presence immediate and dark like a shadow that decided to form a person.
He eyed her damp hair with that analytical stare of his, but he said nothing—yet. His gaze flicked briefly to the TV guide Lachlan had pulled up.
Zubair followed a moment later, stepping into the doorway, and the second he saw Sera’s hair dripping down her shoulders, his entire posture shifted. "You’ll catch a cold," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Then he turned and left the room before she could respond, already walking with the purpose of someone retrieving a towel.
Sera sighed softly. "I’m fine."
Lachlan shrugged. "Yeah, but try telling him that when he’s in Zaddy mode. Not worth the fight."
Sera dropped onto the floor right in front of the couch. She crossed her legs and set Oogie Boogie on her lap. Without breaking eye contact with the TV, she reached into her space and pulled out a full spread: popcorn, gummy candy, chocolate bites, and two bottles of beer.
She lined them up neatly on the table in front of her.
Lachlan stared. "Oh hell yes. I take back everything I ever said about your questionable snack choices."
Aerenyx watched the popcorn like it was a poisonous fungus. "This is the burned seed again."
"It’s popcorn," Lachlan said.
"It is wrong," Aerenyx replied.
Sera popped one in her mouth. "Taste good."
Aerenyx hesitated. Then nodded once, with all the gravity of a diplomat negotiating a ceasefire. "Acceptable."
Alexei remained in the armchair, posture relaxed but eyes constantly moving as he watched the exterior shadows through the blinds. He wasn’t tense exactly—just attuned. Ready. That was his version of resting.
Zubair returned with a thick towel folded under his arm. He sat down on the couch behind Sera and glanced at her hair again. "Tilt your head," he murmured.
She did, without pushing back, and Zubair began towel-drying her hair with long, steady motions.
He wasn’t gentle in a delicate way—he was gentle in a practiced way, the same way he handled hot pans or field bandages or anything else he refused to damage.
Aerenyx watched each movement with a slight narrowing of his eyes as Lachlan pretended not to notice.
He scrolled through the TV guide instead. "Okay, so the options are limited. We’ve got: trashy dinosaur movie, trashy martial arts movie, trashy sci-fi movie, annnnd... trashy rom-com."
Sera pointed at dinosaur without hesitation.
Lachlan barked a laugh. "No thought required? Straight to dino-garbage part ten?"
"Yes," she said.
Aerenyx stared at the screen with deep offense. "The proportions are incorrect. That is not how a bipedal predator moves."
"Big teeth," Sera said.
Aerenyx paused. "Acceptable," he repeated.
Zubair finished drying her hair and draped the towel over the couch. Sera scooted back just subtly, close enough that her shoulder brushed the front of his shin.
Zubair adjusted his position automatically, settling behind her with one arm draped across the back of the couch. Close, but not touching her unless she moved first.
Lachlan hit play.
The movie opened with a poorly rendered dinosaur chasing a jeep that appeared to float two inches off the ground. The soundtrack blasted orchestral horns that didn’t match the shaky animation. The entire scene was so bad, Lachlan choked on a laugh.
"Oh, this is even worse than I remember," he said. "I love it."
Sera reached for popcorn, shifting back so her shoulder pressed against Zubair’s leg more firmly. She wasn’t leaning against him so much as grounding herself near him. Zubair didn’t react outwardly, but something in his posture changed—his breath deepened, his shoulders eased.
Aerenyx leaned forward, squinting at the dinosaur. "That limb structure is impossible. The creature would collapse under its own weight."
"It’s just a movie, man," Lachlan said. "Most of them are either robots or CGI."
"That excuses nothing," Aerenyx retorted.
Alexei finally shifted his gaze away from the window long enough to glance at the screen. "That’s not how physics works."
"It’s a dinosaur movie," Lachlan repeated.
"Still wrong," Alexei said.
"You know what? I’m surrounded by critics," Lachlan muttered.
Sera smirked. "Good movie."
"No it isn’t!" Lachlan said automatically.
"Good teeth," she corrected.
"...okay, you win."
The room warmed slowly—not temperature, but atmosphere.
The way Sera sat, tucked near Zubair, beer in one hand and Oogie Boogie in the other, made the entire house feel like it finally exhaled. Lachlan watched her laugh softly at a terrible scene and felt something unclench behind his ribs.
He didn’t know what to call it, didn’t try to name it. It wasn’t hope. Hope was too fragile for them.
This was steadiness, the quiet kind that settled into his ribs instead of rushing through his veins. It grounded him more than he expected, giving his thoughts a place to rest for the first time in days.
Sera’s presence always did that, but tonight it felt stronger, anchored.
Zubair took one of the beers she’d pulled out and opened it with a soft click. He offered it to her with the sort of gentle expectation that came naturally to him, and she leaned back just enough that her shoulder brushed his knee when she took it.
The small contact wasn’t deliberate, but it settled something tight inside the room.
Lachlan watched the exchange from the corner of his eye, recognizing the shape of it without feeling threatened. He wasn’t jealous or uneasy; he simply understood the shift happening between all of them. Whatever this connection was becoming, it wasn’t something he needed to fight.
They weren’t soldiers in this moment, and they weren’t running or hiding or bracing for impact.
No one was bleeding, no one was starving, and no one was holding their breath waiting for the next alarm to go off. They were sitting on the floor of a stranger’s house with snacks and a terrible movie playing, pretending like they had never seen the inside of a CDC facility.
Lachlan popped a gummy into his mouth and murmured, "Yeah. This is good." The words slipped out before he could catch them, but he didn’t regret saying them. It felt true.
Aerenyx leaned over Sera’s shoulder, assessing the screen with a clinical sort of disdain. "The creature is incorrect," he announced. "Its structure is offensive."
"I know," Sera said.
"It displeases me."
She passed him a handful of popcorn without looking away from the movie. "Eat."
Aerenyx frowned at the offering as though insulted, then ate it anyway. Alexei made a quiet sound that was almost a laugh, the kind that didn’t show teeth but softened the space around him.
The next scene revealed a velociraptor shaped more like a lopsided turkey with too many teeth. Sera let out a small, bright giggle, and Lachlan felt his heart kick hard enough that he pretended to focus intensely on the screen.
He didn’t want to understand the feeling behind the sound, so he didn’t examine it closely.
Luci stretched out beside him and placed a heavy head in Lachlan’s lap, letting out a wolfish sigh that matched his own. Lachlan scratched behind his ears, leaning in just slightly. "Yeah, buddy," he whispered. "Same. We’ve seen worse days."
Sera reached for more candy, the soft rustle of the wrapper pulling his attention back to her. "Next movie," she said. "Rom-com."
Alexei’s posture froze with immediate suspicion, and Zubair groaned quietly from behind her. "No. Absolutely not."
Aerenyx narrowed his eyes. "If anyone starts kissing, I am leaving."
Lachlan snorted. "We’ll negotiate. Maybe."
But deep down, he already knew the truth. They would watch whatever she picked, no matter how much they pretended otherwise. Sera chose the center of the room without asking for it, and all of them rotated naturally around her orbit.
For the first time in a long time, the world outside didn’t feel like it was pressing against the windows, waiting to break in. Instead, it felt distant, quiet, and almost manageable. Sera was warm, safe, fed, laughing softly at a dinosaur that made no biological sense, and that was enough to steady all of them.
Lachlan let the moment settle into him, feeling it anchor deep beneath his ribs. He didn’t need anything else tonight. Not when the pack was together, and Sera was right where she belonged.
Not tonight.