Chapter Text
Jacob awoke after being taken "prisoner" by the strange girl and further passing out in the strange cottage that they had hidden in after he caused a commotion at Priest Hole. His hands were tied and he could see the girl pacing back and forth as she seemed to have a conversation with herself. When he heard the voice of another voice he was more confused since he could not see another person.
After some amount of arguing and the dog coming to lick his face, Jacob stood up as he could not fake being asleep any longer. The strange girl addressed him and his awakening with a venomous tone. At the same time, a cup of water floated its way towards Jacob. After a little mishap at feeling a hand he couldn't see, Jacob almost dropped the cup, at which point the invisible boy spoke.
"He's clumsy," the invisible boy said.
"You're invisible," Jacob replied dumbly.
"Indeed. Millard Nullings, at your service."
"Don't tell him your name!" the girl cried.
"And this is Emma," he continued. "She's a bit paranoid, as I'm sure you've gathered."
The three heard some yelling outside just as Jacob was about to explain the confusing situation he found himself in. After a small squabble of what to do as the men outside seemed to e searching the houses for Jacob, Millard picked up a leather-bound book on a table in the room. He studied it for a second then after shutting the book, declared,
"As I suspected! We only have to wait a minute or so and then we can walk straight out the front door."
Once the commotion outside started the three walked out and walked across the street, only to have the men at the pub recognize them and start chasing them. Millard offered to trip them up and told Jacob and Emma to meet him at the bar in five minutes.
When Emma and Jacob arrived at the bar after witnessing Millard pull a rope and trip up the barmen from before, Emma started a casual conversation with the bartender. But the bartender recognized Jacob so Emma poured out the drink that the man had poured for her and started a fire allowing the two to escape the bar. Emma opened a hole in the floor and pushed Jacob inside, where they followed the tunnel and out a door into an alleyway in which Millard was waiting. They made their way to a horse-drawn cart that was nearby and stashed themselves in the back of it until it rode out of town.
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When the cart had driven past all the cottages, the three slipped out and made their way to the forest. They walked for a little while until they reached a wide lawn and the house.
It was different than how it looked earlier when Jacob stumbled upon the house in the present day. Now the house wasn't dilapidated and the lawn was covered in blooming flowers and neat gardens.
Jacob was led inside by Emma and Millard and waited in a small room that looked out on the back. Emma left to grab the headmistress, leaving Millard and Jacob alone. Millard released his hand from Jacob's elbow that he put there to assure Emma that Jacob wouldn't run. Jacob approached the window and watched as all the strange children were having fun in the yard. Some people lounging about, some kicking a ball and some running around. He was astonished by the sight as it was such a beautiful one.
The most beautiful sight of all was one of the boys that were chasing the ball that eventually got kicked into the centaur-shaped topiary. Jacob was engrossed in watching this boy in a black and white suit with a top hat and a monocle. He stared as the boy and his friend ran up to the topiary with the girl who could levitate and as the boy helped to tie a rope around the girl's waist and let her float up to grab the ball and bring it back down. He stared at him, not caring about the messy-haired girl who walked up and moved the topiary. He only stopped staring when Emma came back into the room and asked why Millard let go of him.
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Jacob was led to another room where a distinguished-looking lady sat upon a chair knitting. This was Headmistress Peregrine. They had a conversation about Jacob and her wards.
Not that it mattered what happened at this point as the only thing on Jacob's mind was the boy he saw outside earlier. He stashed away the conversation that he and Mrs. Peregrine had and continued to only think about that beautiful and well-dressed boy from earlier. Even as he spent the day at the house and washed up, all he could think about was this boy.
After cleaning up, he decided that he would approach this boy, as he had time to kill before the dinner that Mrs. Peregrine invited him to join in on.
Jacob headed out to the backyard where he saw the boy. As he walked out, he felt the intrigued looks of the peculiar children but scanned the yard for the one boy until he finally saw him. He was standing under a tree and holding a glass of water. As Jacob approached him, he figured that the boy was taking a break from playing for a bit so he made his way over to the tree to introduce himself.
As Jacob walked over, he noticed the boy staring at him. He thought about what the boy might be thinking of him and blushed slightly at the idea that maybe the boy was fascinated by him in the way that he was fascinated with the boy. When he finally reached the tree he held out his hand and introduced himself,
"Hello, I'm Jacob"
Silence followed as Jacob was unsure of how to further introduce himself or start a conversation. He was overthinking about what he said when the boy responded,
"Why hello Jacob, I'm Horace. Horace Somnusson"
Jacob felt himself blush a bit more as Horace took his hand and gave him a firm handshake with a dashing smile on his face. Not knowing what to do with himself, Jacob quickly dropped his hand and complimented Horace's outfit and his hat. This comment made Horace smile even brighter and lightly respond,
"Thank you, it's reassuring to know that there is finally another man here who has some taste in nice clothing"
This response sent Jacobs fluttering heart over the edge and although he felt as though he could not blush anymore, he felt his face turn darker, and out of sheer embarrassment, he ran back into the house leaving Horace standing under the tree.
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When Jacob went back inside, Millard approached him and asked,
"Why'd you leave him out there, he was standing in the shade so it shouldn't have been too hot? Besides, he's the one wearing a fancy suit so if anyone should be hot it's him."
Jacob stared in disbelief as he realized that Millard was absolutely terrible about reading the room.
"That's not the problem here," Jacob replied.
"Oh, well then what is the problem? I'm sure I can be of some help if it has anything to do with peculiardom."
"That's not the issue at all," Jacob finally stated before walking upstairs to cool his head.
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Jacob walked into one of the empty bedrooms upstairs and sat down on the bed to think. The bed was precisely made and the room tidy so Jacob chose it over all the other bedrooms since this one was the nicest of them all. As he sat on the bed, he put his head in his hands and allowed himself to process the emotions he was feeling as well as internally berate himself for acting like a complete idiot in front of his newfound crush.
Not long after he heard someone walk in and before looking to see who, he stood up and apologized for barging into their bedroom and further sitting on their bed. When he looked at who it was, he saw that it was Horace. When he put two and two together he blushed hard and apologized even more for acting stupid outside and sitting on Horace's bed.
"It's fine. You can sit on my bed, after all, this is your first experience in a loop."
"Thanks, Horace," Jacob sat back down on the bed and Horace sat down next to him. The two were so close that their shoulders were almost touching.
It was at this moment when Jacob and Horace were sitting next to each other that Millard had walked by, and not being able to read the room, loudly exclaimed,
"Ohhhh, I get it now. You like Horace. That's why you ran inside so red."
Jacob immediately blushed very red and ran out of the room and down the stairs. Millard followed and Horace was left sitting on his bed alone. He was slightly blushing too.
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Final Notes:
if anyone has any ideas for future one-shots of these two feel free to comment on that idea. also, feel free to give me some constructive criticism because I don't know what I'm doing and I'm desperate for validation. :)
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