บท 23: Chapter 23 - target practice
It took a while for Faun to realise that the reason why he didn't stand out was because Declan caught everyone's attention and now that he had realised it, he couldn't unsee it.
It didn't surprise him though that Declan paid them no mind, Declan was the type of person to prefer his own company. Which explained why the human preferred to live all alone in the woods.
He was relieved though that although everyone kept staring in Declan's direction, no one approached them. It was easy to ignore them after this.
Faun was awed when they stopped at the store, his eyes blown wide as he wandered from aisle to aisle, losing Declan in his excitement.
He didn't notice immediately that they were separated, browsing through the aisles while picking out things he wanted. When his hands were full, he turned around to put it in the shopping cart only to find out that Declan wasn't behind him.
He almost dropped the things in his hands in shock, panic bleeding through his previous excitement as he looked around nervously for Declan.
There was no sign of a tall human with black hair though so he decided to try and retrace his steps, so distracted with his thoughts that he bumped into someone at the curve.
The lady he bumped into first looked shocked but as recognition clicked in her gaze, her eyes turned malicious.
"So you're the little runt that has been clinging to Declan all day." She said harshly, leaning forward with a cruel look on her face.
Faun was about to apologise for nearly bumping into her but the apology died on his tongue. "What?" He blinked in surprise, very lost.
Who was this? Declan said he didn't know anyone and he could believe that because other than the human that came over a couple times, he hadn't seen Declan interact with anyone else.
"I don't know what he's doing with the likes of you…" She continued right on.
Faun just watched her blankly, looking past her and then upwards. "Why don't you ask him yourself?" He suggested with a straight face, still clutching the things he had picked out.
To be honest, he was just as curious, why did Declan decide to let him stay and go through so much trouble for him?
The lady turned an awful pale shade, going rigid with terror as she followed Faun's trajectory, looking behind her and then up.
Declan's expression was ice cold, his grey eyes dark as he stared her down.
She didn't even wait for him to say a word, slapping a hand over her mouth to cover her scream of terror as she dashed away, ducking around a corner and out of sight.
Faun watched her run for her life with surprise and amusement. "Why is she so terrified of you?" He couldn't help but ask.
Declan just gently nudged him with the cart. "You tell me you won't go out of sight and next thing I can't find you." He scolded, his expression softer.
Faun winced, placing the items in his arms in the cart. "Sorry, I got distracted." He apologised, rubbing his ear.
Declan wasn't upset to begin with, not with Faun anyway. He looked in the direction that the woman had run off in.
He couldn't recognise her but he could guess that she had tried to come on to him before.
He had become so accustomed to people staying away from him that he thought that would apply as well to Faun.
He couldn't let him out of his sight even more now, he didn't trust the hags that lived in the town.
"Declan?"
Faun calling his name instantly snapped him out of his thoughts.
"Mmh?" He hummed absently.
"Do you want to buy anything else?"
"No."
"Let's go then, I can't wait to try a new recipe." Faun gushed, his face bright from excitement.
Declan just quietly watched him, listening to him ramble on about the new recipe he wanted to try, he should take Faun out of the cottage often.
The hybrid's energy was boundless and he stared at everything in awe so it didn't take a lot to impress him but Declan still tried anyway.
Even though he didn't have a book to write or anything in particular to do, he was looking forward to the coming weeks, months even.
Getting to watch Faun experience the little things in life with such palpable excitement was looking more and more interesting the more time he spent around him.
Faun insisted on taking a walk in the woods much to Declan's surprise, he had been chattering nonstop about cooking the entire way back and Declan expected that he would jump right in the kitchen and lock the door when they got back to the cottage.
Declan had no complaints with this change of plans, now he could fully get a proper view of Faun running around happily.
Even though they had been doing a lot of walking while in town, Faun wasn't the least bit worn out.
Declan watched him run up and down the trunks of trees with disbelief, darting around the fallen log and the smooth rocks, rolling around in the grass.
"Must be fun to be so young." He muttered under his breath like he wasn't just 3 years older than Faun.
He almost started dozing off when something scurried across his chest, without thinking, he reflexively shot out his hands.
Faun had been chasing after a rabbit, too caught up in the chase to realise that chasing after the rabbit when it went over Declan was a bad idea.
A muffled yelp escaped him when Declan's arms wrapped around him, causing him to slam into his chest.
"Ow!" Faun grumbled, looking up at Declan. "You let it get away." He scolded, his ears twitching irritably.
Declan was frozen, staring down at Faun with a blank expression but behind that, his mental processes were short circuiting.
"You can let me go now." Faun muttered dryly, his tail swishing unhappily. "...you missed the target completely." He added on a grumble.
Declan couldn't help the little slanted smile that slipped past his mask. 'I'm not so sure about that.'
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