Sorry about not posting last week, life punched me in the face harder than my sparring partner. But I'm back with a new chapter, so yay!
I don't own trollhunters... or sleep, or a life...
ENJOY!
Chapter 15: Strickler's Lie
Barbara and Strickler, though they'd been up for hours, left NTM to look at furniture for Jim and I while we sleep. Because it's apparently, 'uncivilized' to not have furniture.
"You really think that story will work?" I ask Jim.
We're laying in our blanket nest, he's curled tightly around me and purring gently.
"Strickler made it up, of course." He says, quickly falling to sleep.
"Jim?"
"Yeah."
"You know if you ever just want to stay home to sleep…"
"No, I'm not letting you go to school without me." He mumbles.
"I can't tell if that's about you, or me," I laugh.
"I'm possessive, you're my mate. I don't like not being with you," he moves a bit before licking my ear.
I give a little giggle, "Jim, that tickles."
Jim moves his arm around my waist and pulls me closer to him as he shifts, "Ok," he says.
I sigh, "Jim, go to sleep. I won't wake you. Just sleep as long as you can."
I hear him take a deep breath and feel a smile pass his lips as he presses them against the top of my head. "Ok."
"I love you, Jim."
I wait till his breathing steadies and his purr is constant till I let myself slip to sleep.
-0-
Jim's POV.
…
My eyes are heavy, but I force them open as I feel Claire trying not to move. She's fidgeting with her fingers, I hear her drop them and sigh.
"My poor mate," I whisper. "You sound so bored."
"Jim," she rolls over to face me. "You're up! Finally! I'll be right back." She quickly gets up and runs out of the room, coming back several minutes later. Her bare feet pitter pattering against the stone floor.
She slips back into her comfortable position while still facing me. She pulls her knees up to her chest and scoots closer to me, licking the tip of my nose. "Sorry, I had to pee," she snickers.
I laugh a bit, "How long was I out?"
"About 24 hours, if we get up now we can still make it to school."
"How long did you sleep?" I asked, concerned that she was laying there for a large amount of the time awake.
"Not much for the first several hours, I did for a bit, but slept through the night and woke up a few hours ago. I didn't want to wake you up by moving."
"You don't need to worry about me," I smile. "But we should head out. We don't want to miss anymore school."
"It was one day Jim, we'll be fine."
I lean forward and kiss claire's lips, she presses against mine and chills run up my spine. It's a soft, gentle kiss. One of pure bliss, neither of us is in the mood to break it. I close my eyes and place the hand not supporting me on her cheek, brushing her soft skin and she weaves her fingers into my scruff on the back of my head, and the diamond like pattern across my shoulders.
Yeah, I'll miss school for this…
"Jim, Claire, it's time to get up if you're going to make it to school!" My mom calls.
Or not. -_-
Claire and I both stop the kiss, however unmoving. Our lips still brushing each other's as we breath the other's air. I open my eyes, slowly, and nuzzle her nose with mine. "To be continued," I say.
She gives a small laugh, "Definitely."
Claire slips out of my hold, her hands leave empty, cold spots on my scruff, and makes her way to the living room. "Good morning Dr. Lake," she says. I get to my feet and stretch.
"Good morning Claire, is Jim up?" My mom asks. I walk out of pitch black room and smile.
"Morning Mom," I say. I walk up to her and give her a big hug.
"Morning Jim, how are you feeling? Got enough sleep?"
I smile and nod, "I'm feeling much better." I turn to grab a shirt from my pile, but in its place is a trunk. And not only that, there's a couch, a coffee table, a matching trunk across the room where Claire's pile was.
Claire herself was digging through the rustic looking, leather clad chest. She holds up some clothes and looks at my mom, "I don't remember having a lot of these clothes. Did you buy these?"
My mom smiles and nods, "You didn't have very many, so I went and got you both some more. I just checked the sizes on your other ones to make sure they would fit."
Claire forces a smile and thanks my mom before finding her Papa Skull T-shirt and regular leggings, and heading into the bathroom to change.
I take a deep breath and head over to my trunk, everything inside is folded neatly. Anything my mom bought me would have been just fine for human Jim. But troll Jim… Not so much, I'm a lot more… rough, then I used to be. I try not to be frustrated with her, she means well. I just pull out a plain white T-shirt, one of my usual ones with a few holes around the collar.
I stretch the neck and pull it over my horns first, then pull it on. I glance around and find our school bags against the couch. I scoop them up and pull out the old lunches, discarding them in the trash before making new ones.
"So mom, when are you heading back to Arcadia?"
"Today, sorry kido, wish I could stay longer, but I've got work," she says.
"It's fine, I totally understand," I assure her. "Is Strickler out?"
"Um, yeah. I think he went to talk to Neumora."
"Alright," I say as I finish making Claire's salad.
I decide to skip lunch today too, I'm not actually hungry, but I do eat a few aluminum cans before I replace Claire's lunch bag in her backpack.
Claire comes out of the bathroom with her brush, she's mindlessly running it through her hair. I've noticed her doing this over the past few weeks, a useless action when I've bathed her recently.
She places her brush on the kitchen counter and strides up to me, "Looking handsome as ever," she smiles and drapes her hands around my neck. I bend my knees to let her reach.
"Why thank you, stunning, gorgeous, and beautiful," I say to her before I flick her cheek with the tip of my tongue.
"Awe… Jim," She smiles.
"Why do you keep licking her?" My mom asks, still confused and in the dark.
Claire snickers and looks to her. "They're kisses," she says before returning my flick.
"You got even weirder," mom sighs.
I have to mentally restrain myself. There's a reason I decided not to tell her Claire is my mate, she'd freak, and she barely understands trolls. Luckily for her, Strickler can be all human so he doesn't have the same problems I do. It will be a while before she'll get anything about the new me.
"Well, If we want to make it to school before the sun's up, we've got to get going." I say, I give her a hug. "Bye mom," I scoop up my pack and head for the mouth of the cave… we need a door so bad.
"By Dr. Lake," Claire waves.
We walk quickly down the stairs, then up the crystal ones. And once we're on the sidewalk on our way to school Claire lets out a long, annoyed sigh. "I forgot how presumptuous and irritating parents were."
"At least she didn't buy us a bed," I snicker. But I fully agree with her sentiment.
"Or heaven forbid two beds."
We laugh together, our fingers laced. I give her a quick nuzzle against her cheek. "Yeah, I don't think I could sleep without you as well. It's hard enough to sleep in the rafters alone."
Claire pushes against my nuzzle and with her free hand holds my arm and lays her head on my shoulder. "I don't think I could sleep without you either."
"Never realized how much I like living alone," I smile.
"No, you never realized how much we liked living together without an adult."
"That's fair. But hey, we've got a couch now."
"It will be more comfy for both of us when you give me baths now."
"Yes it will," I nod.
We walk silently through town as the shops are opening and getting ready for the day, whenever out of sight of others, I nuzzle her. Keeping her hand in mine. We reach the school, waiting for us is four upset, saddened, and sleep deprived teens.
Claire and I freeze, unsure what to do. They all stand, looking nervous, in a line in front of the door. They must have been waiting for us for a while.
Claire and I both sigh and shrug, "What?"
"We all wanted to apologize," Maggie states in her usual confidant tone.
"Yeah," The others all murmur.
"For what?" I ask, I tilt my head sightly.
It's childish I know, but I wanna hear it.
"For pushing you about your secrets," Kyle says.
"For threatening Justin to go against you," Alex adds.
"For everything," Amanda says, her head hung.
Claire and I nod at each other. "Apology accepted," We say together.
"And I want to apologize to you guys too. I shouldn't have gone off on you. I shouldn't even be making my sounds around hu… others. I lost my temper, I'm sorry," I say.
Claire scoffs, 'I'm not,' She whispers to me. I squeeze her hand a bit tighter in mine.
"You don't need to apologize. What you did was fair," Maggie says.
"Even if you are crazy scary," Kyle laughs a little as he rubs the back of his neck.
Claire gives a small grin, "And you haven't even seen him at his scariest."
"Claire," I let a small whine slip.
"What? All I'm saying is that you can look way more scary," 'and way more attractive,' "when you don't have all…" She gestures to my face, "this going on."
I pause, "I feel like I got back handed with a compliment." my brows furrow, I look down at Claire somewhat confused.
"I don't think I want to see you more scary," Amanda states.
"I mean, if it means you'll teach me sord play sooner…"
"You are incorrigible," I say.
Maggie folds her arms and grins.
Alex yawns. "Can I ask one question?" She looks at Claire and I.
"I'll decide if I answer it."
"Why do you come so early!?"
Only a few other students are in the commons, and a couple teachers delivering paperwork.
Claire smiles and holds up her index finger. "Actually, we will answer that."
"Later," I say.
"After school," Claire says.
"So we're good?" Maggie asks.
I give a single nod, "Yeah, just don't push for answers. Like I said before, there's a reason we're not telling you."
"We will tell you, but we're not ready for you to know yet," Claire adds.
"And you aren't ready to know yet, either," I say on top of that.
"Alright…" Kyle says.
"Sooo… you going to the Halloween dance?" Amanda asks.
"Halloween dance?" Claire and I ask in unison.
"Yeah, big costume party, food, drinks, the school puts it on every year. It's a lot of fun."
"Werbz DJs," Alex says.
Claire looks at me with a sly grin.
"No," I say.
Her grin grows. She turns to the others as she pulls me by my hand toward the history classroom. "We'll see you in Chem," she says leaving the others a tad confused.
"No, Claire. It's a bad idea."
"What happened to 'I hate wearing that stupid mask'?"
We walk into Mr. Cunninham's room. "I do hate wearing the mask, it's anoying, and it rubs against my tusks, and smells. But it's a bad idea, and you know it."
She sits in her seat and sighs, "I know it is, but you would have so much fun!"
"Until someone realizes it's not a costume." I deadpan and take my seat next to her.
"Fine. so, what are we doing at lunch?" She asks.
"I said to be continued, right? We can continue." I smirk.
"Ohh, I'm down."
I take Claire's hand and rub her knuckles with my thumb, switching to her left hand as soon as class starts. I hold her hand through the whole class, and when we part for our second period, I let her go with an obvious whine. She gives me a reassuring smile as she heads to english.
Math is boring, as always. But Ms. Jaxson is a good math teacher, so I've been able to keep my grades up. Who knew Ms. Janneth was such a crappy math teacher. Maybe there was more than one reason I was failing… Ha that's funny. I was failing on my own accord.
I turn in the assignment and ask permission to leave early. She likes me, so she lets me leave. I wait outside of the english classroom for Claire.
The bell rings and students file out, I struggle against the current, but make my way in. I surprise Claire with a hug from behind and kiss her cheek.
She jumps a little before spinning around in my grasp, "Jim."
"Mr. Lake," a shrill voice comes from behind me. "Come to get yesterday's assignment?"
I turn to see Mrs. Bennet glaring at me, she's the only teacher who I haven't gotten to like me. "Yes, I did. Sorry I missed. I was really sick, I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."
The stout woman sighs and shakes her head, she holds out a packet of white paper. "Make sure it gets turned in on Monday."
"Thank you Mrs. Bennet." I smile, and sigh as soon as she enters her office. "She'll like me one of these days."
"No, she won't," Claire smiles and pats my cheek. "Com'on, let's go."
I take her hand and we walk briskly to the library.
"Don't you wanna eat lunch with the others?" I ask as we make our way to the corner stacks.
She puts her bag down. "No."
I drop mine next to hers and grin. "Yeah, me neither."
"Good."
I swipe Claire off her feet and sit against the wall.
"You forgot something," she brushes her hands against my cheeks, I feel her nails pull against the mask and then it comes off.
"Maybe I didn't forget, maybe I wanted you to take it off." I smirk before I take the mask from her and set it aside. Threading my fingers into her hair and pulling her back into that soft kiss we'd had that morning.
She gives a pleasured moan and slides her fingers into my scruff, kissing back not so softly. One of her hands presses on my shoulder, she slides off my lap and brings my head with her.
My purring starts and I pull on her lip with my tusks. I slide my head past hers, and lick her cheek, and her ear.
A small chill runs through my body when she does the same, her tongue licking against my ear and the scruff around it. I push against it and give a happy whine. Claire giggles with her tongue out, "What?"
"Just… felt really good." I say shyly as she pulls away to look at my face.
"On your ear?" She asks intently.
I give a breathy laugh, nodding.
She grins and nuzzles my cheek before licking my ear again. With my hands bracing myself on the floor, I slide onto my side, and pull Claire closer. I nuzzle the crook of her neck and lick her collar bone.
I find my way back to her lips and pull her into a long deep kiss.
Our fingers running through the others hair, and a persistent purr settles in my chest. After a while when we finally pull apart and nuzzle for several minutes. I move to lay on my side and guide Claire with me, and I begin licking her face, nose, cheek, all over repeatedly.
She sighs, tickling my horns with her fingernails. "We graduate in two years. By the time that's over, we'll both be eighteen. And we can get married."
I freeze, my purring stops my tongue hangs out of my mouth. I quickly pull it back in, and stare at my mate. "We talking about this?"
"Yeah, but we don't have to," she quickly adds.
"No. No, we can." I pause and take a deep breath. "I mean, I know what we are, we live together…"
"Yeah, and we're mates. In trollish culture, we're basically already married."
"Even if we are too young to be married, or mated."
"Mated?"
"Uh, yeah. It's when trolls get married. It's a type of ritual. I don't know much about it," I say. I push my horns against her head, "I'd like to be mated to you when we get married."
"So we are getting married?" She asks.
"Oh definitely, as long as you're up for it." I smile and flick her cheek.
"I'd better get a proper proposal," she grins. We nuzzle our noses.
"You'll get the best proposal in the history of ever! And the most beautiful ring too."
"And what about after?"
"After we're married?" Claire nods. "Well, I'd like to take you home and we'll have a door, we'll lock it. Then, we'll go in the bedroom and…"
"Jim!" Claire shrieks, putting her hand over my mouth. I laugh and lick her palm. "I mean kids." Her eyes soften and she moves her hand, placing it on my cheek.
I laugh, "I know what you meant. But do you know how protective troll parents are? Like, we wouldn't leave the cave for at least a month. And I probably wouldn't let anyone in either." I reach up and hold Claire's hand, still resing on my cheek. "If you think I'm protective of you now, just wait until you're pregnant," I laugh.
"I don't know a lot about troll parents," she shakes her head. "But I do know, you would be an amazing dad."
"Despite the flower baby?"
"Despite the flower baby," she laughs.
"How many kids do you want?"
"Hmm, three… to start. After we'll see if we want more."
"It's weird," I say.
"What is?"
"Thinking about our future. I just remember, the night I ran off, thinking about how my life would never be normal again. Never be the same, how I'd never be able to have things like a family, or going back to school and having normal friends."
"Jim, our life is anything but normal," Claire laughs.
"I know, but really. I never thought I could be doing these kinds of things again."
"Do you like it?"
"I guess I do, being somewhat normal. Now we just have to figure out who we're going to tell and when. But I think I like being a half troll."
Claire strokes my cheek with her thumb, "You know, I think you were right."
"About what?"
"On the roof, you said you weren't Jim anymore. And, you're kinda right."
A small knot ties in my chest. "What do you mean?" I whine.
"Human Jim was shy, nervous, not so outspoken. But now, now you're more confidant, sure, decisive" she presses her nose to mine and gently kisses my lips.
"Also edgy and a bit more animal." I give a playful snarl and lick her face.
She giggles and scoots closer to me.
The bell rings, but neither of us move.
I brush some hair out of Claire's face, "I know I don't say it often, but Claire, I love you."
A smile passes her lips. "I know you do, you tell me every day."
"What?" I blurt, because I don't think I've said it in a while.
"You make me lunch, and you keep me warm at night, you give me baths, and brush my hair, you constantly kiss me. You're coming to school for me, carry me. You've claimed me as your Mate. If those things don't say I love you, what does." She sits up and leans her back against me, "Now get some sleep, I'll do my homework. And keep watch." Claire leans down and kisses my cheek, then flicks it.
…
We go to chemistry, nothing eventful happens there, other than stoichiometry. Werber watched me a bit more closely than I would have liked, but that is only to be expected after you roar and yell at your mother who lives on the other side of the country. And are obviously keeping a huge secret from everyone.
After class, we waited for the classroom to clear out of students and teacher. Claire and I can feel the anticipation flowing off our four friends.
"What was the question again?" I ask with a sly grin, dragging on the suspense.
"Why you come to school so early?" Kyle states, glaring at my sarcasm.
"Ah, that's right." Claire smiles and nods.
"So?" Amanda says.
I take a deep breath before starting. "I have a skin condition, goes along with my race. Sunlight, is deadly to me if I'm out in it long enough."
"And excruciatingly painful to be in," Claire adds.
"That's why they put a tint on all the windows!" Alex realizes.
Claire and I nod, "Also, in Arcadia it's sunny all the time. Where I lived before, it was kinda a safe haven, it got destroyed."
"Supernatural accident?" Maggie asks with a grin, one eyebrow raised.
"Actually yeah." Caire says. "It was brutal."
"So your home got destroyed?" Kyle asks.
"Yeah, in a sense." I try and fail to run a hand up my horn.
"THAT'S WHY!" Maggie yells. "That's why you moved here!"
"You probably have a special house, and that's why we don't know where you live!" Alex surmises.
'Strickler is really good at weaving lies that make themselves.' Claire whispers to me. I give a subtle nod in response.
"Yeah, we do have a special house of sorts. And that accident is why we left Arcadia." Sorta.
"So…" Maggie starts, "Do I dare ask why you growl and stuff? Or can I?"
I hang my head and sigh, sparing a glance to Claire.
"You told Mr. Werber, just tell them too," She smiles, her eyes soft.
I look up at my friends, "You can't tell anyone, anything, about what I tell you about me, or my race." I state firmly, somehow able to keep a growl out of my voice.
Alex looks at the others, they all give firm nods, "We promise."
"There are a lot of things that are different about me. Physically, mentally, culturally, emotionally… point is there's a lot. My vocal chords, are no exception. They're different than yours are. So I'm able to make differents sounds."
"Like growling," Maggie states.
"Snarling," Amanda adds.
"Whining," Alex folds her ams.
"Roaring," Kyle says.
"And a lot of other noises too." Claire smiles, lacing our fingers.
"Like?" Maggie asks.
I roll my eyes, forcing a purr out loud.
"Woah!"
"That's weird man."
"That is not natural."
"Purring, alright."
"Anything else?" Amanda presses.
"You want me to go through my whole vocal range?" The group nods in excitement. I shake my head. "No."
"Fine."
"Wait…" Maggie narrows her eyes at me. "Is you being different, like, why you can best everybody in P.E. And beat me in sparing?"
I give a slow nod, "Sorta, but the amount of training I've done is a good chunk of it."
"You've gotta share your training regimen with me!" She begs.
"When I teach you…"
"When you tech me sword play. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can I get an date on that?"
Claire shakes her head and sighs with a smile. "No, it's more of a… 'can we trust Maggie enough to put our lives in her hands' thing."
"WHAT?!" The four yelled.
"Wait wait wait, hold up. Maggie gets to know before we do?" Alex narrows her eyes at us.
"Well, not necessarily. But she's shown the most promise in being able to defend herself, awareness, competence…" I tick off my fingers and freeze at comitance. "Ok, wrong choice of words. Point is, Kyle peed when I yelled at you in the library, Amanda and Alex left. Maggie stayed and apologized. It's just a number of cumulative things that we consider before we tell someone anything. Namely, the name of my race."
"Race isn't quite the right word though," Claire mutters.
"The fact that she has a room full of weapons, gauges peoples strength through handshake when she first meets them, and is constantly glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one is following her. She's your best choice?" Amanda asks in disbelief.
"In my world, yes." I say, staring them down. Seriousness written across my human face.
"She's practically a well trained warrior," Claire says. Maggie gians a proud look.
"Than I'm curious why Justin knows anything," Alex raises an eyebrow.
Claire and I both sigh, and I let a audible growl slip.
"Remember the stalkling?" They nod. "Alright, so after the whole thing with Randy Cross, I had Justin show Claire and I all the sightings of the 'Jersey Devil'. Once we found out were it was, we tried sending him home. The thing was dangerous, we didn't want him getting hurt. We went into the old warehouse, and it was a freaking stalkling. Last time I fought one of those, I got struck by lighting."
"Jim killed it, and I saw Justing peeking in on the window. He saw… a lot." Claire says, she pinches the bride of her nose. "He was acting so mature like, ten minutes before too."
"Till he found out what I was," I mumble.
"Wait, what did happen with Randy Cross?"
I snicker. "Randy Cross is pissed off with me because Skinner asked me to come in, deal with the creature. I started getting locations from people, and Cross got nosey. After everyone left, I told him off, he was going to leave, then I turned my back and he tried attacking me. I caught his punch, looked him dead in the eyes and asked him 'do you really want to fight someone who's seen the end of the world?' I didn't give him room to answer. I just scruffed him and dropped him on the sidewalk outside the door."
"Scruffed?" Amanda asks.
"Yeah, I picked him up by the collar of his shirt. Kinda like a cat would with kittens." Or a troll would with their whelp.
"A grown man?" Kyle says.
I stand up out of my chair and grab the collar of his leather jacket and lift him up. I set him back down and take my seat again. "Here is one thing you should never do. Doubt me. It's a fatal mistake."
Kyle presses his lips and nods. Claire looks to Maggie, "No, he's mine you can't have him."
I glance at Maggie, she's looking at me with wide eyed wonder, and an almost wishful look. "Mags, no." I say. "You are a great friend, but I will never date you. Ever." I say, doing my best to make the point clear.
"You say that, but you should never say never," she tries.
"I'd love to tell you everything, right now, just to prove how incredibly wrong you are," Claire says, slightly dumbfounded at the girls attempts to win me over.
"Oh, please do." Maggie glares right back, a half smile on her lips.
It's an odd moment, neither is mad. But both are acting against the other.
The rest of us watch a silent battle in awkward silence. I restrain myself from moving, because I can sense a small amount of territorial vibe between her and Claire, and it's making my brain go nuts. Instead of placing myself between the girls, I simply give Mags a reason to believe she's wrong.
I press my lips on Claire's, breaking the tension momentarily. Maggie folds her ams and sighs, looking away.
"Just because I'm strong, doesn't make me attractive." I state after I break the short kiss. "Me being attractive, doesn't make me attractive. You don't know me well enough, for you to me anything more than infatuated."
"Wise words from someone who is dating their first and only crush." Claire smiles and kisses my cheek.
"I just picked really well." I smile back at my mate.
"So, are we done with questions yet?" Claire asks.
"How come we've never seen you eat?" Amanda asks.
"I don't even let Claire watch me eat. Don't feel too excluded," I sigh.
"Why?" Alex asks.
"I'm not going to answer that."
"Alright… how about…"
"How about we be done with questions for today?" I say. "Or for a while."
"How about, Who's coming to the Halloween dance?"
"What would I even whare?" I say.
"You sound like a girl, bro," Kyle states.
Maggie holds her finger up, "We all take personal offense to that."
"I don't," Clarie states. "We don't really have costumes."
"Don't you have some sort of special monster fighting gear?" Amanda asks.
Claire and I lul our heads to look at one another, "We aren't wearing those," I state.
"Definitely not," Claire adds.
"Why?" Alex asks.
"They aren't believable to have been hand made by some average high schooler. If we wore our 'gear' people would start asking questions." Claire explains.
"Questions make me agitated, and when I'm agitated…" I hold out my hand for someone to finish.
"You make crazy sounds," Maggie states.
I whip my head in her direction. "Ok first, they aren't crazy. They are natural productions of my vocal chords. Second, yeah. I make my crazy sounds." I relent.
"Why don't we do a cute group costume?" Amanda suggests after a moment in awkward silence.
"If you figure it out, sure," I say.
"Cool, this is going to be fun!"
"So, who wants to go get pizza?" kyle asks.
"We literally just had a very long conversation on why that is a bad idea, on so many levels. Were you not listening?" Maggie scolds.
"Oh, yeah, duh."
"You guys can go hang out. I'll just chill here for the next four hours or so till the sun goes down like I've been doing for the past three weeks," I deadpan.
"You've never made me so depressed so quickly," Amanda says.
"It's a skill," I say. "I can also take a dark turn in 0.5 seconds."
"It's way faster than that Jim," Claire sighs and rests her head on my arm.
"Try me," Mags grins.
"I spent a month in Hell," I say in flat tone.
"That's a joke, right?" Kyle asks.
"No."
"He had us worried sick too, trying to get him out of there." Claire scolds, playfully backhanding my chest.
"Yeah, I've learned my lesson. Never go into dark dimensions where a warlord is waiting for your head for killing their son."
"And you just got darker," Alex says.
"Like I said, it's a skill."
Review please, they mean the world to me.