𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄'𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐁𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐇 ~ [Darius x fem!oc]

Chapter 5

Here is the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it!!!!!!

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Nevertheless, Darius still looked very disgusted as he pulled the clothes from the garbage over his real clothes and even flinched briefly when some of the clothing touched his bare skin.

Marigold raised her eyebrows. "If you don't even want to wear them, why did you steal the clothes in the first place?"

Darius exhaled a slightly shaky breath and said, "Because- I guess I didn't think it through to the end." He looked down at his feet and his pointed ears wiggled slightly, which Marigold found really endearing, "I'm sorry."

"Oh come on. "Marigold poked him in the side and grinned, "Everyone fails to think something through once in a while. You think Eda, Raine and I would have been banned from the library if we had planned everything out."

This brought a soft smile to Darius' face before he carefully put the mask of a scout on his face.

"So, how do I look?" she asked with a light laugh.

"Deceptively real. "Darius said with a tone in his voice Marigold had never heard before, "We- we'd better get inside. We don't want them to spot us out here. I guess even with the uniforms, this could still look pretty suspicious, don't you think?"

Marigold nodded. "You could be right about that, Darius. Where exactly are we going in? What's the plan?"

Darius nodded toward a road that would lead back to the front of the library. When Marigold merely looked confused, he said, "Now that we have the disguises, it should be easy for us to just walk through the front door."

"And you don't think they want to get some kind of identification number or something from us?" she asked, putting her own mask on her face as well.

"Believe me, we don't need anything like that," he said.

Marigold raised her eyebrows, but it took her a few seconds to realize that Darius couldn't see her face. Fortunately, he couldn't see her cheeks turn red as she cleared her throat and said, "You've really prepared well for this.

"I either do something all the way or don't do it at all." And even though Marigold couldn't see his face, she could have sworn he was grinning under his mask.

~•~

At the entrance in front of the library, the scouts were everywhere. Some of them were even followed by abominations, but Marigold had to admit that she was less worried about those. With Darius at her side, a few abominations would not be a problem.

At least she hoped so. Because since they had left, Darius seemed somehow - different. He had fallen further and further behind and was constantly rubbing his arms.

Marigold suspected that this could be related to the uniforms from the garbage. Possibly this whole thing was panicking him a little, after all Marigold knew about his big problem with dirt and grime. She had witnessed this thing herself.

She stopped and waited until Darius was standing next to her again.
She wished she could see his face. Then she could at least form some kind of picture of how he was doing right now. But unfortunately, like her, he was wearing a scout mask and it was impossible to tell what he was thinking or how he was feeling. Marigold really had to pull herself together not to drag him into the next alley and check if everything was alright with Darius.

But she couldn't do that. Not because it was more important for her to get into the library. She would drop the mission immediately if it meant that Darius was no longer uncomfortable.
No, she couldn't do it because they both had already put a lot of work into this plan and it wouldn't be fair to Darius to cancel the mission without him admitting to his discomfort himself.

And yet there was this slight prick in her heart, as if something deep inside her wanted to tell her that she should help him anyway.

"Darius- "but before Marigold could finish her question, Darius shook his head.

"Don't worry about me, scatterbrain. "Darius said, but his voice sounded strained, "I can handle this." He said nothing for a moment, and then added quietly, "I need to handle this."

Marigold wasn't sure if he said that last part out loud on purpose. It seemed like something he had thought and then accidentally said.

He nodded toward the entrance. "We have to be as inconspicuous as possible now, because I really want to avoid both of us ending up in the conformatorium."

"But are you really all right?" Marigold reached out a hand to him, but lowered it when she realized she had no idea how he would react. Maybe that would only make things worse.

Darius looked like he was shaking under the scout's uniform as he said, "I have everything under control.

But his voice somehow didn't sound as confident as before, but uncertain, almost as if he was a little afraid.

Marigold felt bad already. Darius was only here because of her. It was only because of her that he had agreed to participate in something like this. She had asked him for help and now he was feeling bad and she now felt like his discomfort was in some way all her fault.

"If you don't want to, then we don't have to go in there. "she said softly, standing in front of him with her back to the library and pushing the mask up so he could see she meant it, "We can just go somewhere else and have a snack or watch a show together on the crystal ball."

But Darius shook his head, though he did not say anything.

Marigold sighed. "Alright," she mumbled and slid the mask back down over her face, "then let's go inside."