Chapter 18: Chapter 18 - baking gone wrong
Saturday came with bright sunlight and chirping birds, the sky was clear and blue which was perfect for laundry day.
Declan had half expected Faun to show interest in doing the laundry with him and was a little disappointed when he didn't join in.
It wasn't like he was doing anything difficult and he wouldn't have let Faun do anything either. He wouldn't admit it but he just wanted his company.
So there he was in the laundry room, sunlight streaming through the bright room as he leaned against the far wall and glared at the swooshing washing machine.
Absently, he thought about what Faun would be doing, most likely watching a show on the television.
They had already eaten breakfast and Declan had been grumpy ever since then because he couldn't convince Faun to hang out with him.
He had taken his shirt off so it wouldn't get wet, hanging out the clothes to dry in the clothesline placed at a side of the cottage.
Inside the house Faun was bubbling with excitement, he wanted to make more brownies.
The main reason was to appreciate Declan but even better he wanted to see if he could manage to bake the delicacies all by himself.
It was an almost frightening concept but he was excited by the challenge.
Besides, there was no way he could mess things up as bad as the first time he had witnessed Declan try to cook so he should be fine.
He left the television running, his usual go to when he wanted to trick Declan to think that he was quietly watching shows and not doing something else and then beelined for the kitchen.
Faun felt slightly bad about leaving all of the laundry to Declan but he would pay back with brownies, it sounded like a good deal to him.
Besides he could always help out next time, he thought seriously.
Setting up the ingredients wasn't difficult because Faun had a very good memory, although getting some of the ingredients proved a challenge. Being short was such a hassle.
After that though the baking progressed without hitches, Faun getting absorbed in his baking.
He was truly enjoying the activity, his ears and tail making an appearance was a loud testimony to that.
He was currently mixing, humming a song without lyrics under his breath as his tail flicked from side to side when he got tackled.
His scream caught in his throat when he hit the ground with a thud, a human straddling him.
"Declan! Declan!" Isla's shrill voice rang out, fear and panic lacing her tone as she looked over her shoulder. "There's a wild animal in your house! Ohh my God! How did it get in?" She rambled half to herself, constantly looking over her shoulder.
It was almost like she was terrified to look down at Faun, she caught him and then lost her bravado, barely managing to keep pinning him down.
Faun was stunned, his ears pressing flat against his face and hair as the human holding him down kept calling for Declan.
He knew he should get rid of his ears and tail before Declan showed up but he was petrified, his terror numbing him to the bone.
Declan was going to show up any moment now with how the human kept screaming like she was being flayed alive and then his entire world would upend.
It wouldn't matter what he did then because even though he tried to live a lie in a dream that wasn't his, it could never be his reality.
To Declan, he was still a random stranger that he had saved and decided to shelter, whoever this was must have some ties to him if she could just come into his cottage whenever she wished.
There was no way that Declan would believe him, no matter what he said.
Declan showed up at this point, a curse on the tip of his tongue. Why the fuck was Isla in his house at fuck o'clock in the morning screaming bloody murder?
Panic slowly set in when he realised what could have happened, the television was still running so she would have bumped into Faun.
Why was her shouting coming from the kitchen though?
He burst into the kitchen, his eyes wide in worry which slowly darkened when he took in the scene in front of him.
Isla pinning Faun to the hardwood floor was bad enough but what ticked him off was the look in those big, soft-green eyes.
It reminded him of the first time they met, it made a vein tick on his jaw.
Faun felt his world crumble around him when Declan made an appearance, too distraught to even notice that he was shirtless.
There seemed to be anger in his eyes, Faun could understand that, he had tricked him.
"See, this is why I chase you from my house." Declan took a deep breath to say in a calm voice, pulling her up with a hand.
"You broke into my cottage at sunrise and assaulted my guest." Declan scolded, helping Faun up and pushing the hybrid behind him.
He must still be in shock, it had to be why his tail and ears were still out.
He knew that Isla meant no harm but he was having a hard time keeping his cool composure.
Behind him Faun was having a mental breakdown. Declan had seen his ears and tail, right? So w-why?
"B-But I swear there was a wild animal in here." Isla stuttered, trying to look around Declan to catch a glimpse of who was behind him but he didn't let her.
Declan raised a brow, looking past her. "A wild animal, baking brownies, sure about that?"
Isla swiveled her head around to see what was of course ingredients set out for baking brownies.
"N-No… no… no, wait." She put out her hands, trying to make sense of the entire situation. "I show up at your house right, I knock but no one answers…" She started to explain from the top to try to figure things out.
"Why are you at my house anyway?" Declan bitched, flinching slightly when he felt Faun gingerly place his small hands flat on his bare back but made no move to step away.
"Not important…" Isla waved away. "Then I guessed that you'd probably keeled over dead from eating tree bark and bugs and decided to check for myself…"
"You literally just saw me yesterday." Declan crossed his arms, peeved.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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