Overlooking Overlords

O1. Radio Silence III

05.05.25
GN!Reader x Human!Alastor
—Soulmate AU
—Angst
NOTES: This is a continuation of the previous part. Spelling mistakes made later in the chapter are intentional.

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Three weeks. That's how long your timer gave you for Alastor to fall in love. You had spent countless hours with him, doing small gestures to try and get him to at least romantically like you. That would be enough. You even did joined his show on the radio as a cohost. You had learned a lot about him: his favorite color, foods he liked, the little cues he made during a show — everything he offered you took note of.

It was late at night. Earlier in the day was spent entertaining a fly on the windowsill with the radio show. It was part of a series Alastor had started once you joined. He went through most of his usual shtick and then after about an hour changed it up to your series. It was mainly about random topics, anything that came to mind. But what made it special was the book reading he and you preformed towards the end. A book you wrote together. A book made by the flickering light of the station late at night. A book made with love.

     Love. The very thought of it made your mind race. Something which hadn't stopped since the moment your timer started. At first, it swarmed with thoughts of a future with your soulmate. The romance of it. The beauty. But now...it was desperation that your deranged mind clung to. You felt your sanity slowly slipping away. Sooner or later, you would end up worse than your father's own muddled state.

It was a burden to know when you would drop dead. That day would be difficult for all who held you dear. As lady luck would have it, the day drew closer and closer with every breath you inhaled. It was an odd thing — to be focusing so closely on your inevitable death that was approaching with rapid speed. It would be a peaceful death, you decided, just like your mother's. No remorse and no regrets.

Alastor showed no intent on returning your feelings, despite the boyish charm and shining smile he flashed every time he made eye contact with you. Looking more closely at his actions, your mind even deluded itself to make it be as if he was trying to stop himself from falling in love.

How odd would that be.

Of course, this kind of action wasn't completely unheard of. Your Aunt Lu, always the example of a failed relationship prior to her current one, was one thing. But, even with that thread of reality, it quickly turned to dust in lieu of recent thinking, it seemed that theory was disregarded too.

Alastor seemed hellbent on making sure his feelings about you didn't sway in the slightest. You had fallen in love before — a silly occurrence in your childhood. It would never had worked either way. But you knew the feeling. And that same feeling clawed desperately in the pits of your stomach for it to be returned. By one person. By him.

The same him who happened to be standing only a few feet away from you.

"Y/N, my dear," Alastor called, pulling you from the abyss of negativity that swarmed your head. It was a rescue, to some degree. The rescue would only result in you being dunked even deeper into the abyss to drown. It was habit by this point.

Your head turned towards his voice. He walked back into the shop with several boxes piled high in his hands. So many boxes full of the newest oldest antiques. He had barely made a dent in the last stock shipment he got in. But business was picking up once more as the season transitioned from one to another.