DISCOVERY ➴ Chrollo x Reader

XLVI. Fantasy

The next few days were spent fixing up the house. Chrollo had called someone to fix the broken windows on our second day, after those were fixed we pulled out all the mouldy wooden flooring and deep cleaned the house. It was nice being busy, having so many different things to do. It certainly thwarted my overthinking tendencies to a point.

I didn't ask where he had got the groceries from, nor if he had paid for them. I simply let myself be lulled by the sheer happiness of having warm running water, even if I had to wait a few minutes for it to turn from a rusty colour to clear every time I wanted to shower. It was nice having a roof over my head, to be well-fed and well rested. Aunt Bertie was a mystery I wanted to figure out someday... during our first house perusal, we had made up a fake story for her entire life... But once we got to the upper floor, marked by two bedrooms and a single bathroom... I had to pick a room for myself... one I hoped wasn't her room. Both rooms had her clothes in wardrobes and dressers, both rooms had some framed pictures of her... It was just odd.

Once the house was moderately sorted out, Chrollo decided that he was going to take care of the wilderness that surrounded our house and reached to the outer walls. He seemed at peace... cutting the grass with a scythe... leafing through a book to catalogue all the plants that had been hidden by the tall grass. He looked so... so... homely, comfortable and cosy... so unbothered as he gardened.

Those were the dangerous thoughts that forced me to roam the streets of the small town. It felt out of place to wave to the strangers that greeted me as I passed them on the road, but I did it. I made sure to remember the important businesses, and even walked through the docks once, but the smell of fish was too intense and drew me away soon.

I had left the streets closer to our house for last, and I was surprised to notice that the house next to the Feathered Snail was an Inn, the Shelled Sparrow. I had stopped to inspect the matching art styles of both their signs, unable to think if I found myself feeling anything positive or negative about them, when I saw the help wanted sign attached to the pub's round oak door.

I stood there for longer than I should, wondering if I should try for it... how long were we staying? It would be good if one of us had any source of income... people could become suspicious if they noticed things disappearing and none of us, the newcomers, working... But just how long were we staying? It all came back to that simple question that Chrollo hadn't bothered answering. Gah-

Not that it mattered, Mrs. Drouff walked out of the inn and noticed my pondering self staring at the poster and hired me on sight. She rambled a fair bit about her sick wife, how they used to each manage the inn and the pub but that now she had to deal with both, and it was taking too much out of her... I simply nodded along and asked when to start.

I walked to the cottage in a daze, unable to understand just how easy it had been to get a job... Things usually never worked out for me... what was the catch?

The garden was so much better than when I had left that I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't trespassing on anyone's property. The outer walls were still barely holding themselves together, and I sighed in relief.

"Chrollo?" I called as I entered the house and unceremoniously dropped my shoes, his head popped out of the living room a few seconds later, "I got a job at the Feathered Snail."

"Really?"

"Yeah... Ah! I forgot to ask which room was Bertie's..." I rolled my eyes and closed the distance between us, "I'll ask tomorrow, it'll be my first day."

"Hmmm..."

"You did a great job with the garden, it didn't even look like our house!" I patted his arm and froze in place. What the fuck was this? Domestic moments? Complimenting him on the gardening of our place? He seemed equally weirded out, and I made my way to the kitchen, grabbing some snacks, so I could avoid dinner and the awfully addictive feeling of domestic bliss...

I woke early the next day, wore some of my most comfortable clothes, and picked up the warmest of aunt Bertie's coats. I avoided the step through which Chrollo had fallen through with a smile on my lips, it was still funny days later... I couldn't help but snicker, he had looked so helpless and embarrassed!

The first day of work went by in a blur, at first I was nervous, but Mrs. Drouff was a good teacher and had all the rules and tricks written out on a piece of paper for me. It was really kind of her. Bt the end of the shift I found myself drawing closer to her. "Mrs. Drouff, do you perhaps know which of the rooms was your aunt Bertie's?"

"Oh yes, dear, it was the one on the right if I remember correctly." Ah- shit. I faked a smile and she told me to head home, I did just that. 

Chrollo was waiting for me on the kitchen, dinner ready, and he didn't even let me compliment his helpfulness. "It's yours, isn't it?"

I groaned and covered my face with my hands, sitting on the chair opposite to him. His eyes lit up, and he gave me his most boyish smile. "I knew it!"

"This doesn't make any of your theories true! I'm pretty sure she didn't fall in love with a fisherman and picked the room closest to the sea for that reason!"

"Sore losers will be sore losers." He waved his hand as if to dismiss me and I took a spoonful of rice into my mouth, yet another mystery... there were no forks in this house... What was it that made aunt Bertie abhor them? We would never know... but we sure loved to create the most ridiculous and elaborate guesses..-

"Geh-mph-ump-ph"

"Y/N! Bertie would be appalled with your lack of manners."

I swallowed, "It is not like you are the beacon of etiquette yourself."

He laughed, and I loved it, I loved hearing him laugh. It made my heart swell, and my breath quicken...

What a wicked fate... showing me all I could have, but letting me know upfront that it is all fake... It was painful, painful to know ahead of time, and still feel myself sinking deeper and deeper into this beautiful fantasy.

Author's Note: Is this hurt or is this comfort... we will never know~