𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝘁

𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕦𝕤𝕥 || 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 22

"Sure, Toby. Let's take a walk,"

The male’s usual deep tone was faint, yet his words acted as a dagger.
EJ recognized the swerve in Toby’s loquacious behaviour, making his lips twirl into a delighted smirk. Toby was just an adult boy, one that couldn’t understand or identify emotional downfall.
Of course, Jack understood sentiment and its effect on the human brain… and the heart. Yet any of the characteristics that identified passion weren’t shown, even a sliver, within the hatchet wielder. It was strange.
The way the jittery brunette slouched, the way his eyes averted from you with hatred, the way his arua always grew so quarrelsome once your presence was made known… EJ would have never connected the dots if he hadn't witnessed Toby that night. 

“You don’t have to,” You uttered sourly, sighing as your eyes darted between the two males. If the eyeless man wasn’t in the vicinity, then a brawl with Toby would have occurred. Even now you were itching to rip off the boy's head for coming between you and another person- yet again.

“I will,” Jack gave a confident, yet gentle nod towards you. His soft confidence was enough to let a tiresome sigh linger through your lips. For an almost voiceless man he carried strength that could outdo many, so he was fine if Toby unpromtedly attacked him.
But something else carried uncertainty in you.
Toby wasn’t one to be trusted.

“Th-that’s very nice o-of you, Jacky,” Toby vocalized softly with a hint of snarkiness. His eyes held a perfect mix of unwanted emotions, even some a proxy shouldn’t dare to feel.
Anyone could read he wanted to unleash the worst of these emotions on Jack.

A boy that taught you to feel in this dull world.

Yet, Toby would be begging for hellfire if he voluntarily incapacited another pasta.

Jack’s oozing sockets reamined idle on the other’s frame. Toby’s body language was well hidden from others, that’s what always made his actions so surprising. It was only until the boys emotions consumed him, that's when his emotions slipped out. Jack's black sockets closed for a moment, seeming to result in a consensus in his mind. With a slight nod, EJ turned slowly on his heel towards the towering oak doors. His pace was littered with anticipation, wanting to speed the process of what was to come.
You were unsure of the end results, but you knew it wasn’t going to be good.

You just hoped the calm would tide over a loose cannon.  

Toby's POV

Nightfall was presenting itself faster than expected. The stars danced through the leaves of the trees and blanked in random patterns at me, it was almost mesmerizing. I turned back towards the direction of the mansion, examining the distance that we had put between us and the rustic building. Our stroll was engulfed in awkward silence, although, for Jack it seemed to twist into comfortable silence. Once I thought we were at an acceptable distance, I spoke up.
I wanted to understand.

“Yo-you’re playing a-a ga-game,” I stated, halting at a small patch of grass that perfectly showed the night sky through the copious amounts of leaves in the treetops. They lit up the area nicely. Yet beautiful scenery was taken down by annoying conversation.

“And you aren’t?” He hummed, taking a few more steps before stopping in the middle of the patch. He pivoted towards me, watching as my lips moved to form his next comeback.

“I’m no-not. Yo-you’re the *tic* one fl-flaunting around (Y/N) like some pr-prize. You bar-barely said a wor-word to them si-since they ar-arrived at the man-mansion,”

“Why do you care?”

“I do-don’t! I’m just say-saying,”

“For a person that doesn’t care, you are saying a lot,” His figure gracefully slouched against the thick bark of an ancient wood and crossed one leg over the other. His arms mirrored his legs as they twisted, adjusting lightly to get as comfortable as possible. The way he thought he owned this conversation caused irritation to overwhelm me.