Chapter 9 - ...bye, Island."

The next day, Declan left Faun all alone in the house, locking the door as he did, not to keep the hybrid in but to keep other people (Isla) out.

Ever since lunch the day before, Faun was slowly taking over cooking and Declan was trying very hard to be offended.

It was just a whole lot easier, for the both of them.

He had no idea what sizes of clothes to buy for Faun or even what kind of clothes he would like. He was just going to wing it.

He tried the first store he came across, looking very out of place as he hovered at the entrance.

"Declan?" A feminine voice called out his name, a head peeking around the corner of a shelf.

Declan's eyes widened slightly in recognition. It was Lou, a friend of Isla, her short, pale purple dyed hair was a dead giveaway.

"Hello." He said politely, stepping in.

He had been so distracted that he didn't even notice that this was the store Lou owned.

She sold clothes for alternative fashion, and while Declan thought they looked cool, he had never had a reason to step into the store before.

She hurried behind the counter, looking pleasantly surprised to see him. "So how can I help you?" She asked eagerly, a smile on her face.

Declan froze, realising that walking into a store meant that he wanted to purchase something.

He looked around the store, his eyes trailing over platform shoes, chains and belts, and rows on rows of clothes.

"I um…" Declan stuttered, looking for a quick escape.

The last thing he needed was Isla finding out from Lou that he came to buy clothes not his size, he would find her prying through his house as soon as she did.

"I'm just looking for pant accessories?" He blurted out, sounding uncertain.

Lou smiled slightly at this, looking him over. She had never seen him this flustered before, it was cute.

"Sure!" She beamed, coming from behind the counter to show him some samples.

Her bracelets jingled as she moved her hands, pointing out a couple accessories.

"I'll take that one, thanks." Declan pointed at the first one she showed him

"Sure." Lou drawled, giving him a onceover and then the chain link held in her grip. "Know how to put it on?" She asked casually, packaging it up for him.

Declan gave her a blank look. "I'll figure it out." He muttered shortly, paying and immediately ducking out of the store.

Lou watched him hurry away with an amused smile on her face, wondering what all that had been about.

Declan heaved a sigh of relief, paying attention to where he was going this time.

Fortunately, getting clothes for Faun turned out to be extremely easy.

He simply told the clothing store employee what he needed and she magically came up with the right sets of clothing.

Declan had already spent enough time out so he hurried back to his cottage, praying that his arch nemesis (Isla) didn't find him.

Because explaining the bags of clothes that weren't in his size would be impossible.

Thankfully, he found the cottage just as he had left it.

Faun had come over to meet him when he stepped inside but the TV was still playing so it was easy to guess what he had been doing.

It wasn't the worst thing in the world to come home to someone, Declan decided, making his way to Faun's room to drop the bags.

"What is that?" Faun asked curiously, he had followed behind Declan.

He was wearing another of Declan's dress shirts, the outfit skimming his thin legs.

"Clothes?" Declan raised a brow.

"Did you buy out the entire store?" Faun fired back, staring down at the piles of bags on his bed.

Declan looked down as well, looking at his purchase with new eyes. He might have gotten carried away.

"It doesn't matter, you have clothes now and that's all that's important." He grumbled. "Try one on and then fold the rest in your closet, I'll order take out for lunch."

Faun watched him leave, his eyes widening. "Wait!" He blurted out, hurrying after Declan.

Declan stopped at the doorway, turning around. He was still peeved that Faun had scolded him. "What?"

"Thank you." Faun clasped his hands together, his eyes twinkling.

Declan shook his head when he was unable to look away from Faun's soft green eyes. "It's fine." He waved dismissively, hurrying out.

Faun was too distracted to notice his flurried escape, making his way over to the clothes on the bed.

They were average clothes, shirts, pants, jeans, sweatshirts and the likes but Faun stared at them with starry eyes, gingerly arranging them in the closet like Declan said.

He never really had clothes, he could always shift to his Fox form to sleep at night so there was no worry about cold or insects.

What little clothes he had were stolen off clothes lines whenever he needed them.

It made him really happy to have clothes to call his own and so many of them too, it warmed him up from within.

Faun took his time setting up his newly stocked closet and Declan couldn't be more relieved that Isla, for the first time in her life had chosen the right time for an impromptu visit.

He wasn't going to allow her to stay long so he didn't bother to tell Faun.

He could already tell by the knock on his door, no one ever came to visit and he hadn't ordered yet so it had to be her.

"D, my love! I've missed you." A bubbly blonde threw herself into his arms as soon as he opened the front door.

"I didn't, bye, Island." Declan muttered, already making a move to shut the door on her face.

Declan always teased her by calling her 'Island', Isla had long grown a thick skin to it, she thought it was cute even.

Isla already anticipated this because he did it every time she came over, she flounced right into his cottage, twirling around happily.

"Oh, it's been so long since I've been here…" She sighed blissfully, sweeping into the living room.

"You were here a couple days ago." He reminded her.

"Friday you mean? That's far longer than a couple days" Isla corrected, placing her bags on a side table. "And ever since then, I've been in a deep, dark despair." She sighed dramatically.

"It's a wonder how I'm the writer." Declan muttered under his breath. "You promised to give me a week, why are you here already?"

Isla's sharp eyes were already scanning the house. "Oh I'm not here for the novel, I just came to check up on my favourite writer…"

"Your only writer." Declan corrected with a straight face.

"Plus, Lou mentioned something to me about seeing you in town today so I thought I'd drop in, love what you've done with the place…" She hummed, making a move to sneakily snoop around.

Declan nipped her plans in the bud, stepping in front of her when she tried to leave the living room.

"I can't write if you're crawling all over my house." He crossed his arms, his arm muscles bulging visibly through his t-shirt sleeves.

Isla pouted but accepted defeat, she knew when to stop after all.

"You've checked up on me and seen that I'm unfortunately still breathing, you can rest easy now."