Author's Note

Website went down between the first and second chapter, but I felt inspired to write this. Any feedback is greatly welcomed and appreciated!

Uploaded

09/16/2023

LEGEND BELOW

"Hello, no I won't eat you..." = Normal speech.

''That's a radical idea...'' = Normal thoughts.

Chapter 2

Rated-M

M rating for mature themes, mentions of suicide and depression, anxiety, romance and nudity.

Music of the day

Octopath Traveler - The Frostlands

He was only vaguely interested in the conversation currently being shared at the table, Max throwing on all his charms as he tried to woo the girls sitting opposite him.

At least, that's what he assumed the guy was doing. He was honestly way too tired to truly pick apart the intentions of this gathering.

He knew he should've assumed that the man would've been up to something so obvious, but he'd given him the benefit of the doubt in that regard.

However, he was curious as to why there were two girls opposite him instead of one. Had the second one tagged along to give her friend the courage she needed to go on a date, or was something else at play?

He'd soon find his answer.

"So, Nick, was it?" The woman sitting directly across from him suddenly asked, batting her decidedly long eyelashes at him.

So far he'd been sitting quietly sandwiched in between both Max and Britney, hands placed gently in his lap as his two friends who were taller than him surrounded him. He hadn't really added much to the conversation so far, only speaking up once to request his order from the waitress.

Seeing as he'd been addressed, he raised his deep red eyes up to hers. "Mmhmm." He decided on humming lightly, confirming her suspicion.

Her smile widened slightly at his less then vocal response, the man sitting across from her obviously the shy quiet type.

How he'd managed to befriend the two loudest most outgoing people within fifty miles was something else, and how he was still a reserved and polite guy at the same time was a mystery in and of itself.

"My name's Jessica. Max here's told me quite a bit about you, says you're the store manager at Z-Mart. That's quite a serious accomplishment for someone so young." She complimented, leaning forward a bit as she gave the shorter guy her full undivided attention. She placed her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands, a cute little smile on her freckled cheeks.

He was either oblivious to her flirtatious nature, or didn't have the energy to feed into them. Not that he would in the first place, but that's besides the point. "Oh, it's not that amazing. I've worked there since I was sixteen…" He immediately turned down the praise, making his accomplishments seem less than they were.

He missed the way her smile widened at the way he dodged the praise, but she definitely didn't miss the warmth that radiated from his pale cheeks at her words.

''A sucker for compliments? How adorable!'' She thought.

Nick was content with leaving the conversation there, but he'd suddenly received another text message.

Bing!

He glanced down at his phone, discreetly pulling it out to inspect his messages. There was another image, this time of two random people chatting at the park, while in front of them was the monster woman, pointing a claw at the people, her furry black eyebrow raised in question.

He wasn't daft…

He knew what the image implied.

He sighed, returning the phone to his pocket as he decided to humor the woman across from him.

That and if he didn't, he was sure the MalO app would continue pestering him to do so anyway.

"So…? How did you and Max meet?" He asked, not so discreetly diverting the conversation away from him and to his friend.

Jessica smiled, glancing to the redhead that was busy chatting up her friend. "Oh Max? We met the other day at that little cafe downtown, the Juice Pub. He bought me a coffee, the rest is history." She explained lightly.

"Ah, that's nice." He muttered quietly, voice nearly drowned out by Max and the other girl loudly chatting it up.

Feeling like he wasn't contributing much to the conversation, he gave the girl a once over, his vibrant red eyes glancing over her body as he tried to find something more that would help him start another conversation. His gaze eventually landed on the her necklace, a fancy red jewel hanging over the valley of her hefty bosom.

"I like your necklace, it's pretty. It brings out the color of your hair." He complimented, glancing up to her dusty red locks.

She flushed at his compliment, biting her lips as she mistook his gaze that had momentarily been deeply locked onto her chest. "Such a gentleman, you'll make my heart melt at this rate." She flirted, flashing him that smile again.

If Nick wasn't already uncomfortable being out of his zone in such a social setting, when it became apparent that the woman across from him was getting all hot and bothered by his words, he felt the need to clarify something.

Quickly.

He turned to his right, casting a dark red eye on his friend. "Max… Could I talk to you for a moment?" He asked quietly, jabbing the taller man in the side of his ribs to gain his attention.

"Ah! W-What's up? Oh, right now?" The redhead gasped sharply at the pointed fingernail that stabbed him in the side, before turning a glance to his friend.

Nick's otherwise carefully crafted mask of calm and quiet emotions had begun to melt into something less pleasant, and Max knew that he was going to get an earful in the next couple moments.

"Oh, leaving so soon? You wound me, Nicky." Jessica sighed playfully, winking at the white haired young man.

"Now." Nick reiterated, tone starting to show a little bit of irritation.

Max raised his hands in surrender. "Alright alright! I'm coming." He exclaimed, allowing the shorter man to drag him away, Britney having already moved out of the way. Max nearly stumbled over himself as he was pulled away, Nick way stronger then he looked for his smaller size.

As for the busty blond, she couldn't help the worried look that crossed her face as Nick dragged Max away.

She was blond, not stupid. She quickly picked up on the way the conversations had been going, despite Nick's multiple attempts to change them onto something more friendly and less intimate.

She could also tell that Jessica didn't seem to get the memo and took his shy nature and obvious disinterest in her romantically as a challenge of sorts and didn't know when to stop pushing.

"That guy's something else. I don't think I've ever seen a dude with hair that white before, and those eyes, ahh… His ears just make me want to go wild, so cute!" The woman in question sighed, imagination running wild. "I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes? It's got to be dyed right? No way anyone's got that mysterious of a thing going on naturally, he's like a damn snow fox or something." She asked, turning her attention to the blond across from her.

"Actually, he was born that way. His hair's always been that snowy white." Britney found herself speaking up in her best friend's defense, seeing as he wasn't around to clear that up for himself. "Eyes too." She added after a moment.

"Seriously? How's that even happen?" Jessica asked in disbelief, eyebrows raised in question. "Ears too?" She asked.

"Yep yep! He's very special, that's for sure." Britney said, nodding to herself.

"I'll bet. Gosh, he's so submissive, it's driving me nuts." She cooed, licking her lips.

That was the crack that finally broke the damn that was Britney's filter, as she found it impossible to hold back her words any longer. "He's not available." She added defensively, crossing her arms underneath her bust.

Jessica raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Oh? Then where's the lucky lady? Am I looking at her?" She teased, leaning forward on the table a bit.

"No, M-Me and Nicky-?! I'm not- That's not what I meant." Britney choked out, ignoring the way her cheeks flushed momentarily at the idea.

"Oh? Then where's she at? Too busy to have fun with her little man, leaving him all alone?" Jessica added playfully.

"Jessica, come on, that's not nice…" Her friend sighed, jabbing her in the side.

"Oh relax Mia, I'm just playing." Jessica waved the concerns of her friend off, before turning back to the suddenly tense blond across from her. "Where is she at anyway? Working or something?" She asked curiously, but the way the other woman's expression hardened made her feel like she'd royally screwed up.

Britney sucked in a breath, tears poking free from the corner of her big blue eyes. "She… died in a car accident three months ago…" She admitted quietly.

Immediately, Jessica's sultry dominance vibe was thrown to the wayside, her brown eyes widening in horror. "O-Oh… oh my god… I didn't know…" She whispered, feeling as if she'd been slapped in the face.

"T-That's horrible…" Mia choked out, tears threatened to burst free. She turned to look for the white haired young man in question, seeing him in an entirely different light now. "He must be so sad…" She muttered, holding her hand to her chest.

Jessica was quiet for a moment, before speaking up. "How…. How young was she…?" She asked, morbid curiosity pushing her inquiry.

Britney rubbed at her eyes to try and clear the tears. "She just had her twenty first birthday… They were both on the way home from the bar downtown when a drunk driver crashed into their taxi." She explained quietly, vividly remembering that night. "I-I… I was there with them. I remember watching them drunkenly shamble into the taxi. She was laughing gleefully as he kissed her senseless. The taxi had barely pulled into the intersection when they were hit…" She recalled quietly.

"O-Oh god… I'm so sorry…" Mia muttered, simply at a loss for words.

After all, what do you say to that?

"He's not looking for anyone right now, and, if I'm being honest with you, I don't think he'll ever love again. His physical appearance isn't the only thing people correlated with foxes growing up, he was married for life. I don't think he could ever replace her, even if he was pretending…" She muttered quietly.

Jessica sank into her seat a bit, the wind having been thoroughly taken from her sails. The man had just lost his wife, and was struggling to cope with life without her, and she'd done nothing but hit on him and openly flirt with him since he arrived. "I feel like such a bitch…" The dusty redhead murmured.

"It's okay, you didn't know." Britney shrugged, before her eyes narrowed as she glanced over to the far side of the cafe. She could just barely make out the coat that Nick was wearing from behind the wall he was hidden behind, the guy clearly upset with Max. "In fact, I think Max is the one at fault. He should've told you that Nicky was entirely off limits beforehand." She sighed, rubbing her temples.

Jessica started sweating nervously. "W-Well… He may have mentioned something along those lines, but I didn't take him seriously. He told me that Nick wasn't really looking for a girlfriend, but he just needed another girl-friend. I guess I didn't put two and two together…" She explained with a nervous laugh.

Britney wanted to slap her own face at the absurdity of it all.

''Leave it to Max to mess up something so important.'' Britney thought, wanting to pull her own hair out.

"That's probably what he's chewing Max out for right now, huh?" Mia asked quietly, glancing in worry over to the other side of the cafe.

"Gosh, we really messed everything up…" Jessica sighed, smiling nervously to hide how upset she felt.

Britney shook her head. "Please don't beat yourself up over it, it's Max's dumb fault for this mix up. He was probably too busy thinking with his second head to think with his first one…" She sighed, unknowingly, or perhaps, very knowingly hitting the nail on the head.

"W-We can go if you-" Mis tried to help, but Britney shook her head.

"No, please stay! I know Max messed everything up, but his heart was in the right place." Britney urged quietly, reaching out to stop the girl before she could leave. "Nicky… Nicky desperately needs some more love in his life. He'd never known his parents, raised by his grandfather until he was seventeen. We're his only friends, and I don't think it's enough to ground him without her around anymore." She sighed, rubbing her arm.

"People have tried befriending him in the past, but he's odd when it comes to choosing who he likes. If he doesn't offer you that hand, metaphorically or physically speaking, you don't really have a chance with him. He says it's a smell sort of thing, where he knows if he'll end up feeling safe around someone. It's weird, and he doesn't really know how to explain it, but he trusts his nose." The blond explained quietly, eyebrows wrinkling in question. "I'm afraid of what he might do if he's left alone for too long…" She said before she could stop herself.

Jessica's eyes widened in shock, before they softened in sadness.

Now she got it…

Now she understood why Max was so eager to get them all together. It wasn't just because he had a throbbing boner for Mia, but it was because he thought they were nice people and he was simply trying to help out his friend by introducing them.

It was just unfortunate that he was terrible at structuring a sentence in a way that would get across what he actually meant to get across.

"I wish he explained this all sooner, it would've been way less emotional if he had." Jessica sighed, rubbing her temples as she tried to stave off a headache to no avail.

"Yeah, Max trying to explain anything clearly at all is easier said than done…" Britney muttered in exasperation.

"For some reason I don't find that hard to believe." Jessica joked, smirking.

"Okay okay, man! I'm sorry, I really am! It's just a little misunderstanding, that's all." Max's voice echoed out, coming in just clearly enough over the music that anyone specifically trying to listen in could make it out.

Britney turned their way as Max began walking back to the table, brushing the back of his head nervously after the little chat he'd just had with the red eyed man. He was very aware that he'd messed up big, but he wasn't enough of a man to rectify the issue before it exploded out of his control.

Not that he had control to begin with, but that's besides the point being made.

"Hey, sorry girls, I kinda messed up…" He apologized nervously.

Jessica hummed in acknowledgement. "We know…" She stated dryly.

"You do-?" Max squeaked in surprise, before glancing to Britney. The blond woman merely raised an eyebrow, arms crossed disapprovingly under her chest. "Oh yeah, that makes sense…" He muttered.

"You dumbass…" Britney sighed, struggling to keep her voice down low. "Where's Nick?" She asked in worry.

"He's in the bathroom, he's really mad at me… I screwed up big." Max sighed.

"Yeah, no shit, lava for brains." Jessica snarked, crossing her arms under her breasts. "Maybe make such a crucial detail a bit clearer next time." She grumbled, smacking up upside the head as she passed by him, making her way to the men's bathroom.

"Where are you going?" Britney asked quickly, going to stand up.

"I'm going to apologize, and start over with him. You brought us here to be his friends, and damnit if I can't have him as my boyfriend, then I'm going to settle for him being my boy-friend." She stated proudly, calling back to Max's screw up of a wordplay.

Britney watched her go, before sitting back down into her seat.

She bit her lips, hoping that despite however badly Max had screwed up, they could turn the rest of the day around…

He felt so angry, yet at the same time, after he'd yelled at Max, he felt terrible. He knew he had the right to be upset at him, but yelling at him had only made it worse.

He couldn't face them now, having retreated to the bathroom to calm down and try to gather his thoughts. He'd already felt like he could only barely keep his emotions together, and that was before he'd come to join his friend on what was supposed to be a simple one on one get together, but turned into a five person group.

He was left feeling out of place, emotionally exhausted from the night prior and everything that had led up to that point, and then he was, for a moment, lead to believe that his friend had called him there that morning to try and set him up with another woman.

He felt betrayed and angry, hurt and confused.

And his heart felt like it was collapsing in on itself in his chest.

He felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack when he was yelling at Max for being so inconsiderate, but now that Max had left, he was suddenly aware of how alone he was.

He didn't know when it happened, but it had suddenly become hard to breathe, and he'd nearly collapsed to the floor as he tried and failed to catch his breath.

His chest hurt.

It hurt so badly!

He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't focus.

Everything felt like it was surrounding him, crushing him from all sides with such intensity it prevented him from breathing.

He could hear her screaming.

He could feel the blood pouring down his face from the crash.

He could hear the sounds of sirens blaring in the distance, Britney screaming in horror.

He could feel her dying in his arms.

He felt like he was going to pass out, completely unaware of the world outside of him in that moment.

But, it was the sensation of someone wrapping their arms around him that gave him something to grab onto. He reached out to that feeling with everything he had, pulling him back to the surface, fresh air awaiting his return.

"Shh, It's okay, it's okay. I've got you, you're safe, you're fine…" A gentle voice cooed in his ear, the presence hugging him from behind.

He was only vaguely aware of the fact that he'd been hyperventilating, her calm words and soothing voice slowly calming his rapidly beating heart.

Slowly but sure, everything faded away. The memories, the sounds and the scents, the pain and the feelings.

All of it faded away, until he was left with nothing once more, sitting on the ground of the men's bathroom.

"There you go. It's okay now, I'm right here, we're right here." The voice continued, fingernails gently scratching his scalp as she whispered sweat nothings into his pointed ears.

His eyes slowly widened as he realized the scent of apples flooding his nose was from whatever shampoo was used on the long dusty red locks that hung loose in front of his eyes.

Slowly, he turned his gaze until his eyes landed on the woman he'd been speaking with previously at the table.

Only this time she wasn't casting him bedroom eyes anymore.

"Jessica…?" He murmured quietly, the black bags that hung underneath his eyes so much more apparent now than before.

"Hey there Nick, are you feeling better now?" The woman asked calmly, no ounce of her domineering attitude from before present.

He breathed in her scent, the smell of apples strong now that he was so close to her. "What's… What are you doing…?" He muttered quietly, looking every bit like he was about to pass out from exhaustion then as he felt.

"I'm just holding you. Is that alright?" She asked gently, more akin to a caring friend than a perverse stranger.

He closed his eyes, the tension in his shoulders slowly releasing as he allowed himself to find some comfort in her lap. "Mmhmm…" He hummed, cheeks flushed lightly as he realized that she'd seen him have a full blown panic attack, and had subsequently brought him down from his freak out and leveled him out. "I'm sorry you had to see that…" He apologized.

"Don't apologize, this is Max's fault. If the idiot actually said what he needed to have said, none of this would've happened." She chided lightly.

He wanted to defend his friend, but he knew she was right.

And he didn't have the energy to do anything else besides agree with her.

"Okay…" He sighed.

She smiled.

She'd take the tiny victory.

"So, Nicky?" She asked suddenly, using the blond's nickname for him. "Can we start over? As just friends, nothing more?" She asked quietly, not pushing him any more.

If he was willing to open up towards her, then she'd take the offered hand willingly.

But, if it was just as Britney said, and he wasn't comfortable offering her that hand, she'd not push.

As if to answer her question, he leaned against her chest, head falling on her shoulder. He sniffed lightly, the overwhelming scent of apples flooding his nose. "You smell nice…" He murmured, before falling asleep on her shoulder.

Her eyes widened in surprise, recalling what Britney had mentioned before about his sense of smell. Before a little genuine smile formed on her lips.

"I'll take that as a yes…" She smiled lightly, regarding the sleeping man in her lap with caring eyes. She glanced to her side as she saw Britney standing there, Max by her side.

Bing!

The sudden alert notification had scared them all half to death, attention drawn to the snowy haired man's phone rumbling in his pocket. Against her better judgment, Jessica slipped her hands down his pants pocket, pulling his smartphone out.

She glanced at the home screen, the text message that greeted her inquiring eyes was…

Well…

Odd…

"Take him to bed." The text said.

Jessica blinked in question, so thrown off by the perfectly timed text that she simply didn't know how to respond. Her only way of rationalizing the situation was that perhaps they guy had an app that sent him texts when it detected that he required certain things?

How it detected such things was beyond her, but it was his phone, so it wasn't really her place to question him…

Slowly, consciousness returned to him, deep red eyes fluttering open as he tried to gain heads or tails of his surroundings. He blinked a few times, sitting up in a delirious daze, hair falling over his face, temporarily rendering him blind.

He sucked in a slow deep breath, hoping the fresh air in his lungs would wake him up. He reached up, brushing the hair out of his face as he glanced around, regarding his surroundings with a dull tired eye.

"I'm home…?" He murmured quietly, the familiar color of his bedroom walls and dresser told him just as much.

As did the bed he was currently sitting on.

He glanced to his nightstand, finding a note left by his phone. Hoping that would clear up the gap in his memory, he reached out to grab it.

He recognized Britney's handwriting any day, even half awake.

"Hey Nicky, I'm really really really sorry about what happened at the cafe! I had no idea that Max hadn't told the girls you were off limits. The whole get together was supposed to be nice, meet some new faces, make some new friends, but Max super messed it all up! I brought you home after you passed out, you were sooo tired, we all felt terrible!

Jessica wants to apologize for how she'd not paid attention to your disinterest in her. And she really wants to be your friend if you're willing, but she completely understands why if you say no. Mia wants to get to know you too, but she won't push you. I wrote down both of their phone numbers at the end of the note, just in case!

Again, I'm really sorry about the mix up! I hope you can forgive me! I wanted to tell you all this in person, but you had no energy left, and I knew that if you suddenly woke up that you'd probably want some answers so I left this note instead.

Love you Nicky!

Talk to you later!

Ps.

If you try and go three weeks without talking to me again, I'm going to track you down and drag you to my place so we can hang out. You're my friend too, you know…"

He felt like he was going to cry after reading her note, but he stopped himself. It felt nice knowing that he had such caring people in his life, and now that he'd calmed down, he supposed that he wouldn't mind giving Jessica a second chance.

She did smell nice after all.

He'd make sure to apologize to Max some time for yelling at him.

He sighed, setting the letter back on his nightstand, instead this time grabbing his phone. He swiped it up, glancing at the time. It was night now, having apparently slept through the entire day till sunset. He couldn't bring himself to be upset about it, because he felt much better with the sleep then he would've otherwise.

He wondered if he'd received any new texts from MalO?

Bing!

His eyes widened when only moments after thinking it, she'd texted him, as if capable of reading his mind.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Feel any better?" She asked.

He blinked, rereading the text once before shaking his head.

Either he was going crazy, or this app was magical.

He supposed that if it was the second option, well…

It was better than the first option.

Deciding to test a theory, instead of typing out his response to this…

MalO…

He'd instead say his response out loud. "Uhm… Yeah, I feel a little better now…" He said aloud, feeling just a tad bit silly that he was talking to an empty room. Thinking quickly, and not forgetting his manners, he added. "Thank you for asking."

The reaction was almost instantaneous.

Bing!

"I'm glad! You had me so worried about you when you fainted!" The text read, a relieved emoji capping off the message.

His eyes slowly widened, not quite believing what he was reading.

''How did she know…?'' He thought in surprise, eyes widening even further when he saw the text bubble appear, alerting him that another text was being sent.

Almost as if it was in response to his very thoughts…

Bing!

"You're silly. Of course I know, I was there." The text read.

That alone was a bit alarming, but the image that was sent afterwards was even more so.

It was a picture of the men's bathroom at the cafe, him sitting on the ground in Jessica's lap with his friends watching on in concern. Yet, standing behind them all was the monster girl, MalO if he assumed her name. She was stood right behind Britney and Max, towering over them by more than a foot. He knew that the image wasn't photoshopped, because there was a real shadow that had been cast over his friends from her presence.

He felt his heart race at the image, the reality of it all a strange mix of alarming, and…

Strangely comforting.

Alarming in the fact that a giant monster girl creature was stalking him and his friends and they were none the wiser, and yet comforting, because the creature didn't seem to seek anything besides his safety and comfort.

"A-Are…" He tried, finding his voice as he struggled to formulate his words. "Are you a ghost?" He asked, immediately feeling just a bit silly.

Bing!

"No silly, I'm not a ghost. I do love your imagination though, it's adorable." She texted back, a smiling face emoji with a heart on it ending the message.

"What do you want with me?" He asked quietly, feeling a little bit of fear tickling the edges of his heart. "Are you after my friends…? My money..? …Me?" He asked quietly, airing his thoughts to her.

Bing!

"My my, you are a silly boy…" She texted. He gained the impression that she was cooing at him. "I do not want your money or your friends, I want you dummy." The words were capped off by a large red heart emoji.

He swallowed.

"To eat me?" He asked before he could stop himself, biting his tongue to try and stop the words before they could escape his lips. His sharp teeth felt like they nearly sliced his tongue in two, flinching in pain.

Bing!

"No silly. I don't want to eat you, I want to care for you. I want to help you, to hold you, shelter you from the world, to protect you. I want see you happy again…" The text ended, before another one came through, this one starting with an image.

His eyes widened when an image appeared of his bedroom, with him sitting right where he was, eyes wide in shock. Sitting at the right side of his bed like a loving wife caring for a sickly husband was MalO, sitting on her haunches, hand reaching out to him, claw brushing a few stray locks of his white hair out of his face.

He could feel the cold smooth claw brushing against his cheek, invisibly pulling away a few strands of hair. He couldn't help his wandering eyes as they snapped from the image to that exact side of the bed, but there was nothing there.

But he could feel her presence, the touch of her claws on his face, the warm breath tickling his pointed ears, her deep warm gaze staring right back at him, though he could not see it.

She was right there.

And he knew it.

He just couldn't see her.

"I love you, my dear sweet Nick. And now that you have me, I won't ever leave you…" The promise echoed out in his mind, repeating over and over on a loop.

Won't…

Leave you…

I…

Won't ever leave you…

I won't…

Ever leave you…

You have me now…

I won't ever leave you…

I love you…

My dear sweet Nick…

I won't ever leave you…

He felt flushed, face hot as he found it hard to breathe. It was so much to handle all at once, so much, so fast.

He felt his eyes roll up into the back of his head as he fell forward, towards the edge of the bed.

But something stopped him from falling, halting him before he could hurt himself. What met his head as he fell was a warm furry embrace, head resting comfortably in a soft bouncy valley as arms far larger wrapped around him.

"Sleep now… My dear sweet Nick…" A deep womanly voice breathed in his ear, a warmth so comforting that even if he'd been awake, the call of sleep would be far too strong to resist.

And so he slept, and it was the best sleep he'd had in three long months…

Chapter

2

End