Walking to the kitchen, you pour yourself a coffee from the dregs of the kettle. Glancing down to the bundle of blanket you almost shit yourself when you see only the skeleton's glowing purple eyes from the blanket. You grab the counter to keep yourself from falling and steady yourself.
"S Shite… ye s scared me b b bud." You dump your coffee in the sink, after that shock you don't need it and try to calm your racing heart. You hold your chest through your white bird onesie, managing to feel calm as you look up. You see the skeleton right in front of you and shriek, jumping away from the counter and landing on the floor with a dull thud. Lust watches as you groan and hold your head on the linoleum flooring. "Fuck." Lust tilts his head in confusion at seeing your reaction continue.
You get up shaking and feel the back of your head, great, another headache, you don't need another one. Lust stares at you still, seemingly confused at your reaction to his presence. Moving away as you stand up, he retreats to the blanket cave and watches you move around the kitchen. He isn't sure why you didn't grab him or shout at him for being too quiet. Why is there no gun being brought out? This isn't… a normal reaction is it? No force? No… pain? He's warm in the blanket but it hasn't been taken away from him… He needed more answers.
Aware he's watching you, you eat what he hasn't from the left overs and start to power on your laptop to see what's new from the boss for the coming week. Glasses on the face. Emails open. This is worse than before, you go for 5 minutes before having to get some pain medication. You glance at the blanket cave on the counter on the other side of the room. Unsurprised at his apprehension of you, you don't mind letting him approach you. Trust is something earned.
Your once alive friend a good lesson in that world.
You pause at thinking about Luna once again, it's been 2 years since you had her in your house and bedroom. 2 years since those loving coos could be heard by you, 2 years since you saw those beautiful soft feathers soar through the sky. You never kept a pet since, it hurt too much, her 5th birthday her last on this earth. Spent in emergence care at the vet clinic as she passed in your hands. Tears trickle down your cheeks from your eyes as you try to clean your face before going on that zoom call. A hiccup escapes you and you sit on the floor to cry, leaning against the cabinets.
"God damn ye, why did ye have ta die Luna?" Lust comes out the cave a little and studies you. Who is Luna? Seems like they were important. Why are they crying over this being's death? It's not like family is important… Right? He doesn't understand.
Jumping at the alarm on your phone, somehow you managed to stand up and clean your face so you look presentable. A fake smile on your face as you sit on the stool in front of your laptop, blocking the view of your kitchen to hide the blanket cave and your guest as you start talking to a client. Accent changing to be more English that Scotts, you get through the meeting while managing not to leap through the screen at the client and strangle their stupid neck. Their inability to decide on a wall colour that fits regulations killing you.
The skeleton watches and listens to you internally scream in frustration while keeping a smile on your face. Your hair rising at the glowing eyes drilling a hole in the back of your head. The placement of the colours has to be carefully done due to the land owner's restrictions and where the sun sits in the sky during the day.
After getting through the meeting, you stare at the ceiling and cool off from that annoyance. God you can't wait for this project to be over so you can be paid. Even the supervisor hates these people, oh well, money is money and this is the best job you'll get in interior design for a long time. The market has gone downhill since covid hit and you've been stuck at home.
Scratching from Lust on the counter makes you look round, seeing the bitty staring at you, just confused at your body language and pushing over an orange. Not knowing what else to do. He's encountered kids before but even then he couldn't help much as he knows how to "please" adults not children or normal people. Only the f*cked up people who used them for his pleasure. He already gets the vibe you won't appreciate that and is thankful you haven't kicked him out.
You pick up the orange once he's retreated and smile weakly. "Sorry lil guy, just frustrated wit life, ya know? Am Bobby, call me Bob. Wat's yer name?" Your eyes watch the blanket move around as the bitty shifts to be in a better position to stare at you once again. You can only guess why the skeleton is reacting this way to your presence, however you won't push it too much. Hey Luna was like that at first too.
The whispered voice from the blanket barely audible to your human ears from across the room. "Ye have ta speak up." Some quiet complaints and moving around in the cave later, the bitty is sitting on the counter with you on the other side of the room, eating the orange he's given you.
"My name… is Sans, or Lust… people call me both… I don't like them. They…" The skeleton tries to find the worse to describe the disgust he feels at hearing those names. Is it resentment? He can't remember. It makes him shiver at the painful memories the humans to hold his soul caused. The forcing sex, different favours and stuff… Why… Why is this in his head?!
"Disgustin', it triggers ye bad memories and shite, ya don like remember it. Want som' wine?" You continue to eat the orange, contemplating if the skeleton could even drink wine, let alone what you could serve it to him in if he were to say yes. A nod from the tiny skeleton as he returns to the cave and you move through the kitchen, using the shot glasses in the cupboard for his share, not using your usual glass to keep your head level. You've always been a wine person not a beer person, maybe the odd whiskey.
Sipping your glass, you finish your orange and glance at him, shot glass in the entrance of the blanket cave. The little silence between you two is broken as the bitty looks up at you and sneezes, an adorable kitten sneeze that you struggle not to 'aw' at. "Wanna get a new name?" You watch the skeleton closely, guess all those hours reading those books aunt Jeremy got you were useful. Her disapproval of your previous boyfriend and giving you surviving abuse books was something of a Christmas gift.
The bitty looks at you as you get lost in your thoughts. "Um… yes. But I don't know what to choose?" Looking at you the bitty is confused by the way you are reacting to everything, offering wine, not asking about any of his past as if to let him get used to you before he opens up to you. Wait why does he like that? Not romantic like but… happy like?
"So ye don know wat to have as a new name… how about… Dove. Less on the nose plus they're beautiful birds who are a symbol fer peace, a good person and stuff, phrase 'lovey dovey' comes to mind." A smile forms at the skeleton's eyes lighting up with a spark of happiness you thought you would never see, starting to do an excited dance at the prospect of a new name he likes.