Modern Monsters

Cullen the Satyr

Female Reader x Male Monster

You're sitting at your desk, showing off your engagement ring to your coworkers who have surrounded you. You hold your hand out, and they grab at it. You feel like road kill, and they are the vultures.

"Everyone is getting married these days," one of your coworkers sigh.

"First Ellis, then Dan, now even Cynric is getting married!"

You clutch your hand to your chest and look at the engagement ring again. You smile at it, but you feel guilty that you feel nothing.

"How does it feel?" You glance up and look at all their faces. They look more excited than you felt when he proposed. You force a smile as you think about the moment he got on his knee. You were shocked, but you didn't get that overwhelming feeling of joy you expected. You said yes, but there were no fireworks. It was just a moment.

"I'm still kind of in shock." You lie to yourself as well as them. Once they disperse to go back to work, you finally remove the smile and sigh. You glance at your hand, wanting to take the ring and hide it.

"Finally," you gasp and look up, seeing Culann one of your coworkers who you're often partnered with for projects. You've worked with him for a couple of years now. He's a satyr, but he's surprisingly tall. He has deep olive skin and long dark hair he keeps back in a braid. He has bigger antlers that come out in points like a deer's.

He smiles down at you, taking the extra seat at your desk. "I was waiting for the vultures to leave."

You snort and cover your mouth with your hand. "That's what I had been thinking!" You enjoy being around Cullan very much. Ever since you started working with him, you liked coming into work more. You got excited when you were both placed on a project. It was nice having someone you worked with that you looked forward to seeing.

"So..." he starts off unsurely. "Engaged, wow. That is-" he seems to strain to find words. "That's really great. I'm happy for you."

"Oh, yeah," you force a smile again. "Thank you."

For a moment, there is an awkward silence between the two of you. You fidget and fiddle with your papers and folders.

"Uhm, so here," he hands you a flyer. "This is something that Cynric told me was going to be coming up in the future so we may want to go ahead and get a start on it now."

You look over the instructions on the page and frown. "This seems like a big deal. Why would he just give it to us?"

"He's getting married, plus we work our asses off." He motions over his shoulder. "Wanna go to the conference room and order pizza?"

You smile and stand up. "Lead the way."

Around lunch, when the two of you set aside your work to eat, Cullan looks at you. "So, what are your plans for this weekend?"

Your stomach drops slightly. "Wedding stuff," you grumble. "My mom and sisters have already set me up with a dress fitting."

"Already?" Cullan furrows his brow. "You just got engaged."

You shrug. "I'm the eldest and the only one not married so," you set down your slice of pizza, suddenly not hungry.

Cullan reaches out and touches your hand. "Are you ok?"

You look at his hand touching yours, and then you see the ring. You know you should be happy, so you smile again. "I'm fine! Still just in shock." You think to yourself how nice it will be when you don't have to force this anymore.

That evening you walk to your car with Cullan. You're both silent; usually it takes an army to get you two to stop talking. But right now, you can't seem to find anything to say to one another. It was strange.