Chapter Text
You didn't want to come to your dad's friend's sister's Christmas party, or whatever the hell it was. You'd rather be doing literally anything else, in fact. You could be home, reading a nice book. Or taking a hot shower. Or watching reruns on the television.
You'd have even offered to shovel the driveway if you thought it'd get you out of this. But your dad was a stubborn man. So there you were, in the house of a complete stranger.
Your dad's and his friend tried to get you to hang out with the friend's daughter, Elise, down in the basement, but you found yourself wandering instead.
Elise wasn't the kind of person you would get along with, and that was fine. She went to the same school as you, the local public school, so you already knew of her.
She was the exact kind of person who would bully you if you so much as even hinted at weirdness.
So no, you were not going to hang out with Elise, even if there were a bunch of other kids. Because those kids were toddlers, basically, and it you hated one thing more than people your own age, it was people younger than you.
Or older than you. In fact, you just hated people in general. Which sucked, considering the party was packed full of people.
You were just about to call it quits and hide in a bathroom, abandon all attempts to make a presence at all, when he stepped through the door.
Never in your life had you seen a boy quite like Angus Tully, as you'd later learn was his name. You could immediately tell he was one of your kind, a misanthrope, despite his kind appearance.
Even though he was, what, roughly eighteen(?), he had the appearance of a man shut away from society. The bags, the down turned expression as soon as no one (but you) was looking.
You watched as Elise dragged him down into the basement. Whatever, you thought. You weren't going to talk to him anyway. You'd end up saying something stupid if you attempted small talk.
That was proven wrong, of course, when you ultimately did go hide in a closet somewhere. Definitely not because you didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of the most handsome boy you'd ever seen.
You say with your book in your lap and a flashlight in your hand, back against the wall. It was warm, with the coats surrounding you.
You couldn't help but wonder if anyone would noticed you even left the party. You couldn't help but wonder if anyone would notice if you took things out of their pockets, too, but you restrained yourself.
Just a page into the fourth chapter, the door creaked open. Immediately, your head shot up, eyes catching those of the boy.
He gave a smirk, one similar to the one he walked in with. "Did someone lock you in here?"
You scoff, marking the place in your book before shining the flashlight in his face. "No, asshole. I was hiding from, well..."
He turns his head, staring at the party guests. Looking back at you, he laughs. "A boy after my own heart. I'm Angus. Angus Tully."