The Boy Next Door

Just how I remembered

!TW! Blood/minor injury

Alastor woke up that morning to a feeling he missed so much for the past year. Anthony safely cuddled against him, wrapped in his arms where nothing could disturb them. After so long of feeling alone when he woke up, finally that safe and happy feeling returned. Smile pulling at his lips as he breathed out a content sigh, relaxing into the feeling once more.

When Anthony eventually started to stir, he sat up quickly, almost not realizing where he was. But quickly remembered and took a shaky breath. Finally back in his one safe haven. Slowly laying back down, wrapping both arms around Alastor's torso. Assuming h was still asleep his shut his eyes again. But that didn't last when he felt a hand run through this hair, eyes opening again and darting up to look at the man. "Morning darling." Alastor said with a smile. Anthony nodded, a smile of his own tugging at his lips. "Mornin..." he wasn't sure why he panicked so much at that. But either way, he wasn't in danger, so that was a relief of its own. Kissing him on the cheek and laying back down next to him. "Did ya sleep okay?" He asked, still not entirely awake. "I slept just fine love. You?" Anthony nodded his head a few times. "Better than I have in a while. Thanks to you." He said softly, pressing a kiss to his cheek. Alastor smiled, gently wrapping both arms around Anthony and placing a long lasting kiss to his lips. Both of them could have stayed like that forever, but eventually they decided to get up. Anthony followed Alastor over to the mirror, but quickly jumped back when his head jerked to the side with a bit of a gasp. Anthony stared at him, caught off guard by the suddenness of it. "Uhh, baby?" He called nervously. Alastor turned around to face him, worried expression on his face as he shook his head. "Don't worry Cher, that just happens sometimes." Anthony walked over and cupped his cheeks, staring into his eyes, one of which was just an empty blue. "Alastor, what on earth? I've never seen this happen...what's goin in with your eyes?" Alastor shut his eyes for a moment, when he opened them both eyes had returned to their normal colour. "Don't fret dear. It started while you were gone. It's simply part of my day." He said, every bit of confidence in his voice. Anthony nodded slowly, concern still on his face. "Okay..."

Elisabeth had simply been cleaning up an few things downstairs, setting down a small pile of items at the bottom of the steps to bring up later. As she turned to walk away she heard the door open on the second floor, turning around she immediately felt herself almost melt. The all to familiar sight of Alastor leaving his room, with Anthony trailing right behind him. As they walked downstairs she grabbed and hugged both of them. It was difficult to explain, but seeing it again brought this unmistakable sense of joy. After letting go of them, and a brief argument with Alastor on who would be making breakfast, Elisabeth eventually gave up and agreed to let her son do the cooking. Walking into the lounge and sitting down on the couch. Not long after Anthony joined her. "So, Elisabeth...how'd ya sleep?" Elisabeth glanced up at him. "I slept just fine..." she started, eyes wandering to his messy hair. She quickly stood up. "Stay here, don't run off." She said quickly, walking into the other room. Anthony did as she asked and remained there, eyes glancing up at his hair. "Jesus...I gotta get this cut." He muttered. Elisabeth came back with a hair brush and sat down right next to him. "Can I..?" Anthony gave her a brief nod. The second she got her answer Elisabeth started to brush out his hair. "You always had really nice hair, probably much easier to style." She said quietly. Anthony rolled his eyes at that comment. "You kiddin? It gets knotted so quickly, I can't do anythin with it." He said with a small laugh. Elisabeth shook her head with a smile. Anthony adjusted his position so he was facing away from her, this was something molly liked to do. She didn't have many friends in New Orleans since the time she was gone kept her from keeping most relationships she had. And it would have been far to much work to try and rekindle every relationship she had. So without friends to do it with, Anthony let her style his hair. She liked it a lot too. Always saying it was therapeutic or something along the lines of that. He didn't mind it, so long as she avoided calling him anything along the lines of 'cute' or 'pretty'. Such comments always bothered him when it came from his family. Yet for some reason, it didn't matter to him as much when Elisabeth called him such, which she did....constantly. He couldn't help but wonder if this is what molly felt when she would do this with their mother. He seldom spent time with her growing up, but only because she never had very much time for such things. Even when she did, she almost always wanted to spend time wit Molly, since she was her only daughter. Something Anthony just came to understand was that she wanted a daughter and that Molly would remain the favourite child in her eyes. Just as Lucio was his father's favourite. Keeping him in this uncomfortable middle child situation of mostly neglect and feeling isolated. But it didn't bother him, not anymore. That's just how his life was and he didn't let it effect his day to day. Elisabeth ran her fingers through his now slightly less messy hair. "Hm." She brought her hand round to the top of his head, quickly but gently messing is up a bit. "There we go. It looks perfect." She said with a smile. Anthony rolled his eyes and slumped back against the couch. "Thanks Elisa."

Alastor got a glass off of the shelf just to drink some water, just as he was about to put it down on the counter static filled his head to the point where he almost couldn't see, almost like a really terrible head rush. When he finally had clear vision again he saw the remaining shards of the glass that he had crushed under his grip, blood dripping off of his palm and onto the floor with the rest of the broken pieces. "Are you serious?" He asked, annoyance clear in his voice. The entity appeared sitting on the counter. "We want to kill something." It said simply. Alastor frowned, throwing the broken glass into the garbage. "I'll kill something later then. Do you have to keep doing that? There are better ways to get my attention. This is becoming less and less tolerable every time." He growled at it. Getting a cloth to wipe off the floor. The shadow shrugged before disappearing again. "Stupid demon, breaking all our damn dishes..." standing up again and walking into the lounge, his mother messing up the blonde's hair a bit. "Mama, it broke another one." He said quietly. Elisabeth looked up, frown crossing her face. "Tell that friend of yours if it keeps breaking my things I will hit it over the head with a skillet." She said simply. Alastor nodded and walked back into the kitchen. "What's that about?" Anthony asked, turning to face her. "Alastor's little shadow friend has been acting up the past few months. I recently have been struggling to get along with it after a brief realization." She explained simply. "What was the realization?" The blonde asked, leaning in a bit. "Well...when Alastor was still a teenager, fifteen if I'm remembering it right, he had a very...upsetting three months." She explained quietly. "I didn't realize what was happening at the time, but now that he's been exhibiting the same physical behaviour as back then, I've put together what was happening." Anthony glanced at the doorway to the kitchen. "As in...what?" He asked quietly. "Sometimes the little devil makes him do things, move against his will...very out of the blue. It's resulted in multiple broken dishes. I don't know why it chooses to do so when he's holding something fragile...it's very aggravating." She said, shaking her head at the thought. "He needs to get that thing under control before I have to buy more plates." She sighed, leaning back against the couch a little more. "I also find it a bit of a struggle, to get along with a creature that caused him so much anxiety." Anthony glanced at the doorway. Giving her a small nod. "Yeah...right." If he was being honest, he saw it coming. Something about having...whatever the shadow was following him around everywhere. It felt a little wrong. Even if Anthony didn't mind the entity, it was still a little jarring. Especially if it was causing some form of issue. What was it doing to Alastor? Had this been happening the whole time he knew him? Was it hurting him in any way? Was this thing somehow putting his lover in danger? Thoughts he didn't like, but had all the same. And he wanted his answers, all in good time. But first he was just going to enjoy his first morning back.
It was comforting to return to a place where almost nothing had changed. It honestly felt like no matter how much the world around them was a living hell, this place would always remain exactly how he remembered it.