Pigment (Millard Nullings X Reader)

My Cousin, Heather

"You ready?" I asked Heather at the cave entrance.

"No."

I took Heather's hand, and led her through the loop entrance and into 1940. Just as I remembered it, the sky was brightly lit, and I walked over to the apple tree I found the day before.

I grabbed two apples, and threw one to Heather. We both were dressed smartly for the warm day in jeans, tee-shirts and jackets. Heather's hair was up in a tight ponytail, and she smiled as she caught the apple.

"(Y/N)!" Olive came quickling waddling over to me with her heavy shoes on, Emma right behind her.

The little girl hugged my waist, and grinned. Olive's eyes were.tightly closed, and she gave me a funny smile. I couldn't tell whether she had freckles or dirt dusted on her cheeks and ears. When Olive decided she was done hugging me, she adjusted her tiara, and waited for Emma to finally catch up. For how small Olive was, she was a quick runner.

"It's nice to see you again, (Y/N)?" Emma said happily. She then turned towards my cousin, and held out her hand. "Hullo, I'm Emma Bloom. Your cousin has told me a lot about you."

Heather shook Emma's hand. "And I could say the same about you. Although," my cousin turned towards Olive, "I don't believe I know you."

"My name is Olive Abroholos Elephanta, but everyone calls me Olive," she said poshly. "You're Heather, right?"

The blonde nodded, and curtsied for Olive. When Olive asked why, Heather said it was because she must be have been a princess, since she had a crown on. The little girl giggled, and let Heather actually look at the tiara.

"Let's go home, shall we?" Emma finally said.

The four of us walked back to the house, and visited a handful of peculiars. Some greeted me by name, and others decided just to awkwardly wave to us. Olive was happily chatting about how lonely this morning was without me, and how excited she was that we were staying.

Sooner or later, we ran into Hugh, who was in a deep conversation with a younger boy. The kid was dressed unreasonably nice, with expensive clothes materials that would have made The Queen slightly envious. They seemed to be arguing, with Hugh trying his best not to start yelling.

"Emma, (Y/N)!" Hugh said when seeing us. "Can you two please explain to Horace that staying inside isn't good for him? All he does is complain about not doing anything productive, but also won't do anything with the rest of us."

Emma just sighed, as if this was a normal thing. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and I could see her concentrate on finding something nice to say. I personally had only known this strange hodgepodge of a family for a day, but I knew who was going to win the argument.

"You can't exactly expect me to go outside and do middle-class things in these clothes!" Horace exclaimed.

"Then why don't you change?" High pressed on.

The two started arguing yet again, and didn't stop, until they saw Miss Peregrine walk in. Today, she seemed much more stressed than she was yesterday, although I didn't know why. The Bird smiled tiredly at me, and then at Heather.

"Miss Heather Brown, it is nice to finally meet you face to face. I'm Miss Peregrine, as you may already know. Would you mind following me into my classroom?"

* * *

Heather was getting a lecture from Miss P., while I was politely chatting with Bronwyn. She then introduced me to her brother, Victor, who had the same peculiarity as her.

"Are you going to be swimming with us in an hour?" He asked when finally letting go of my hand after shaking it.

"Do you guys have a pool?" I asked, curious.

"Wait, what?" Victor just raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "We just go out to the ocean for a bit, and normally bring lunch with us for after."

"Yeah, it seems fun."

I suddenly remembered Heather, and how stressed she would feel if I just left her.

Then, I asked, "Could my cousin come with us as well?"

"Of course! Anyone's allowed to come if they want. Hell, I even heard that Hugh convinced Horace to at least come to the beach with us."

We talked for a bit longer about the present, and what it was like to be in a loop. Sooner or later, Heather walked out of the classroom, talking to what appeared to be thin air.

"(Y/N)!" Millard exclaimed. "It's so nice to see you again. I mean, I knew I would see you today, since you promised to come back, but..."

There was an awkward pause, but Millard spoke once again.

"Are you going swimming?" he asked.

Heather's eyes lit up, and she gasped. "Oh my God, I didn't know you guys had a pool!"

Hugh explained to her how they just went to swim near the beach, and she seemed to become even happier. The thing about Heather is that because she was the oldest in her family (she had a younger brother) she never got time for herself to just have fun without babysitting. Her parents expected her to be the role model.

"I packed a swim suit!" She said excitedly. "(Y/N), mind coming with me to go grab our bags?"

I shrugged. "I don't see why not."

Emma suggested to walk us back to the loop entrance, and we waved goodbye to the group. Hugh nudged Millard, and whispered something to him. The two then left together, and looked to be trying to do it discretely.

So Heather, Emma, and I walked outside the house, and into the swamp yet again. I had been going back and forth so much, that I started to memorize the foot trail. And to think that I've only been to Cairnholm for three days....

Sooner or later, we got to the cave, and I was surpised to see Emma walk into the cave with us. Or at least, she tried to, before I pulled her back. She seemed kind of shocked, and Heather was straight up confused.

"Wait, I thought you aren't allowed to go to the present with us," I said.

Emma just shrugged, and responded. "Not for a long time, no. But I won't age if we're only there to grab your things."

I decided it made sense, and let her come with us. Although 'let' isn't the correct way to say it. I may love Emma, but I'm far too afraid of her to actually order her to do anything.

We went into the cave and came out into 1962 yet again. My ears popped, and Heather looked around, as if to check we were in the right place. It was much colder, which made sense with it being autumn and all.

Heather and I let Emma walk us to town, and my cousin couldn't help but gape at the surroundings. The present was much drearier than the loop was, that's for sure.

We went over to the pub, and we grabbed our stuff. Heather told The Priest Hole's manager that they would no longer need to stay, but would need to use the public phone for a bit. She wanted to call her parents one last time, and Emma and I waited by a nearby table to give Heather privacy.

"I'm so glad you are staying with us," Emma finally said. "Everyone actually holds themselves up to a higher level when you're around. You give them a reason to not fight or be sad. It's kind of scary, actually."

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrows jokingly.

Emma just snorts and rolls her eyes. "Especially Millard. He never dresses for anyone, much less his fellow peculiar peers. You're really growing on him."

Heather had apparently ended her phone call, and grabbed her suitcase. It looked as if she was crying, but still smiled. It must have been hard having to say goodbye to a family that you love dearly.

"Do you want to say goodbye?" Emma asked me.

I just shook my head, and grabbed my suitcase. We were silent the rest of the way back to the loop. I made sure never to look behind me, just in case I were to change my mind. In the back of my mind, I didn't want to leave, but my heart told me to move on. Maybe keeping my head in the literal past may help me bring up a brighter future.