Bit More Than A Boss- Golden Guard x (Fem) Reader

A Grom Night Nightmare

You woke up, dreading the sun that hit your face. You'd gone to school dances before, but had skipped Grom because at the start, you were too busy with Emperors Coven training. Then later, you were formally and finally dismissed from highschool early to be in the coven. Sometimes you wondered if you'd be happier living as a normal teen. Pulling witch pranks and having parties. But alas, this was much more helpful to the boiling isles, and so it was the right thing to do.

Raine knocked on your door, startling you. You opened the door for them and they stepped in with a large white box. They sat down on the floor next to your bed at you sat with them, dreading the sight you were about to face. "Hey. It'll be okay, just, imagine you're not with him, imagine he's someone else, like, Hunter or (insert your celebrity crush but witchy)." They soothed you, trying to help you get over the fact you were going to Grom with Hollis of all people. He had asked you many times before when you were busy with trainings, and you'd thought about it a lot before you had to decline. You'd gone to other dances with him though, half because you thought it'd be fun, and the other half because you didn't want him to be mad.

You pulled off the lid of the white box and lifted out the dress.
(whatever you want the dress to look like is fine as long as it's red or black/white with red touches to match Hollis)

You looked at it with Raine, them seeing in your eyes just how much you dreaded this night. You smiled lightly, but soon stopped after catching yourself. "What're you thinking?" They smirked. "What if we switched it up a little, you know, make it interesting?" You asked. "What did you have in mind?"

"We dye it blue." You smiled. "But I couldn't, I don't want to make him mad." You frowned. "In a way, we have the coven on our side, so although I don't think I'm in a position to endorse it, what could I do if you accidentally got bleach stains, and in an attempt to re-dye it, accidentally told them the wrong number for the shade?" Raine said devilishly.

So a bucket of bleach, a trip to the shops, and a few hours later, you sat in your room with your dress and started to make yourself cry, rubbing your eyes and smearing a bit of mascara. It was funny you were crying for it, it was the most gorgeous dress you'd ever seen, tailored to fit you based on your uniform measurements.

You knocked on Belos's door lightly, pretending to try and clean yourself up as you walked in. "I spilt coffee on it, so I- so- so I tried to use the stain remover.." you sniffled. My lord if the coven thing didn't work out, you could be an actor. "But the- the remover had bleach, and so I tried to get it re-dyed, but they did the wrong c-color and I'm so sorry sir." You hiccuped through tears. "It's alright, I'm sure Hollis won't mind.
You're so brave, y/n. Thank you for telling me." You nodded and went out, quickly following with silent fist pumps in the air. It was small, but any retaliation was worth the effort. You weren't just his little puppet anymore and although this was a petty way to show it, it felt great.

You redid your makeup and your hair, feeling on top of the world. It was a natural and glowy look with a blue eyeshadow and darker blue eyeliner wing tracing it. Your hair was down, but you had a ponytail holder on your wrist in case you had to fight.

"Just imagine he's someone else"
You convinced yourself.

A spray of perfume and a few well wishes later, you were out by the gates, waiting to be picked up by Hollis. A carriage passed and you felt your heart sink. But it wasn't him. Another, your heart dropped, then sighed with relief. A few more carriages later, you smiled. Was his whole petty revenge going to be standing you up? This was great! You went to text Raine your suspicions when a carriage came to a stop. Hollis stepped out of the back, a smile so smug and wide his eyes had to squint. Then he saw you and his expression changed. He forced you into a hug which for tonight, you had to oblige with. And he held you he whispered in your ear,

"What the fuck do you think you're wearing?"

"My dress silly." You smiled, so as not to alarm the driver as you sat in the carriage, not willing to wait for Hollis to open the door. "Well yes you look gorgeous but we agreed we would match." He said bothered. "Well a little mishap happened with my old dress, now it's blue, my mistake. Belos said you probably wouldn't mind." You smiled innocently back. He was fuming. He said something to his driver, who sped up. You figured the two of you were probably late or something, not that you minded.

There were about 5 minutes of awkward silence after that. Hollis would start small talk and you would give answers so purposefully dry he couldn't follow up with any more. Then you'd wait and he'd try again. Before long you arrived at his house, confused, you said you didn't want to come in excusing it as your heels "hurting your feet". They were combat heels, extremely comfortable and durable with not much height to them. "Suit yourself." He grumbled. You had satisfaction knowing the night wasn't going how he wanted.

He returned with white flowers and a blue tie instead of the red. "I originally had red flowers but figured you might pull something like this," he smiled. He said it as if it were a joke but his eyes were painfully serious. They had one message; don't screw anything else up. He spoke to the driver again who made his way over to the school. Not only was the drive more awkward silence, but he, on multiple occasions, attempted to hold your thigh or your knee. You of course, weren't quite ready to give yourself up, especially not when you weren't threatened with anything valuable in the moment. You pushed him off, usually with a pinch or slap.

After the 20 minute ride, which felt like days and days of torture, you rode up to the front of the school. It looked just like you remembered, but with fairy lights (genuinely just glowing fairies that got paid to hover there), streamers, balloons, and a floating "Grom" sign painted in silver glitter. It would have been the perfect first Grom. If not for Hollis and the reason you were really there.

You stepped out, making a point to be outside before Hollis could open the door for you. You walked and Hollis caught up, waving at some people before using his hand yo guide the small of your back. You flinched at his touch, determined to get away, but the daggers in his eyes narrowed and you knew if you wanted hunter back while being able to keep your coven position, you'd have to be stuck. You'd heard that the Grom afterparty lasted until almost 2 AM, but you had no interest in staying past the official end, 11 PM.

It was only 8.

Hollis introduced you to his friends, most who seemed like jerks and others too awkward to make any friends other than the jerks. You tried making small talk with a few guys before being yanked back to Hollis's conversation, where he'd introduce you to a snobby girl he would want you to meet. In the corner of your eye, you say your old friends, making light eye contact with Myles before turning away. It kind of hurt to remember what you had with him.

The rest of the night when as you'd expected. Hollis would get too close and you'd just have to deal with it, he'd show you off to a few different people like you were something that couldn't hear what he was saying. You just excused yourself to the bathroom quite often.

It was finally around 10:30, after the big Grom fight. You didn't pay attention, Hollis made you stay behind to talk to some people you didn't care about. People began slow dancing, and as you and Hollis were drowned out in the crowds you couldn't help but try any measures, even the most desperate. You tried Raine's method: imagining it wasn't Hollis. You looked around, spotting Myles chatting it up with some friends near the the punch stand. You felt weird about it, but for a moment you convinced yourself it was him, and it had all worked out fine and Hollis didn't do such terrible things, that you and Myles had ended up dating. It didn't feel right though. You couldn't imagine that world, and you couldn't see yourself being happy in it. Your mind drifted away and for a brief moment, just a moment, it was Hunter. You'd imagined Hollis as Hunter. That wasn't even the worst bit though, because when you did, you felt your body at ease. You felt calm for the first time in a while, fully calm.

Soon though, you snapped yourself out of your fantasies, lightly angry at yourself for allowing it to get that far. You looked back at Hollis, now able to see, well, Hollis. "So. Where is he." You asked, impatient. "Not now." He said back, moving his hands along you. You pushed him back and excused yourself to the restroom.

A/n NEXT CHAPTER IS GONNA B BETTER I PROMISE but y'all r gonna have to wait a while for it my bad 😔