The Stronghold 2: Immortals

Billy All Gruff

The door lock did indeed work, much to our relief, and we were left undisturbed until someone started knocking on the door. That sent us both into a panic and I suddenly regretted leaving my trousers halfway across the room. 

"Why is the door jammed?" the butler called.

"Shadow's fault, sorry," Brian called back, motioning for me to open the door. I gave him a look of utter disbelief and he bit his lip. 

"Open the door, please," the butler ordered.

"We'll just be a minute." I moved silently across the room and picked up my scattered clothes on the way. Tugging my top over my head only to realise it was Brian's overlong shirt I felt like either laughing or dying. Brian just grinned at me and pulled my T-Shirt over his head, laughing inside my head when the sleeves almost reached his elbows. It was tight on him, emphasising the muscles he had, and I decided that he could keep it. His shirt, however, needed to change colour if it was going to suit me. Brian raised an eyebrow as I finally found my jeans underneath the bed and stood up, wearing all black.

"Really?" he mouthed.

"Really," I replied, kissing him and whispering it against velvety lips. He smiled and I threw his trousers at him before moving back to the door. I watched him and made sure that he was dressed before opening the door, smoothly tucking in my shirt as I did so. The butler looked a little bit confused to see me in a different top but brushed it aside, beckoning Brian forwards. He followed me out of the room and we went downstairs, trailing after the butler and sharing grins every so often. 

After what felt like miles of stairs we reached the ground floor and went through a side passage to reach a long and large cafeteria. Tables were set out in neat rows, much like the house tables in Harry Potter but people that knew one another sat with one another while Brian and I stood awkwardly in the entrance wondering what to do.

"Ah, you arrived," Harry Jenkins said, hurrying over. He took in our appearance but just shook his head. He turned back to the room and spread his hands. "Ladies, gentlemen and non-binaries, we at Nightmare give to you two new agents. Introduce yourselves, gentlemen." Harry stepped aside and bowed slightly to us.

"I'm Junior," Brian said. I noticed a ripple go around the room at his accent and wondered what it was about. "And this is Shadow. He doesn't talk much." 

"Both Junior and Shadow will be doing fieldwork," Harry announced. "I expect you to make them feel welcome and to not interrogate them as soon as they sit down. There's a space for you two over there," he added, pointing to the table at the far end of the hall. "They're some of the newer agents so you should all get along." He vanished back to his seat, leaving us to walk past all the inquisitive eyes and curious murmurs to sit down at the end table. I was opposite a boy with bright blue hair that appeared to be my age or younger and Brian was opposite a grizzled old man. I and Blue Hair were right on the end of the table and I could feel eyes peering down the table to look at us. Slowly chatter started up again and the people surrounding us began to talk.

"Hello," Blue Hair said to me, holding out his hand. "I'm Tobias Lynch, Tobi for short." I shook his hand and nodded to him, cursing the fact that Brian had said that I didn't talk much. I wanted to talk! I wanted to communicate! I wanted to scream and pummel him to death for being stupid yet adorable!

"Do you really not talk?" Tobi asked. 

"I do talk, he's just a prat," I replied, elbowing Brian in the side. 

"He talks too much," Brian said. "I thought I could make him shut up that way."

"People who are quiet freak me out," Tobi shivered. "I'm like, what are you planning? Why don't you speak?"