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"Hey Harry, where do you keep the pencils?"
"Should be in one of those drawers there." Harry replied to the girl, as
he opened the fridge for a drink.
Y/N opened the nearest drawer, finding all sorts of crafting supplies.
Now at least she wouldn't have to ask about paper, there was loads of it here.
She grabbed a couple pencils and a few sheets of paper, laying them on the
table.
"D'you want something to drink-" he offered, seeing her lay down
the supplies. He tensed.
"No thanks, I'm fine." she said. "How about we draw?"
"I...how about we just watch a show?" Harry stuttered. He'd asked her
earlier what she would like to do, he never thought she'd want to get creative.
They were only hanging out at the house, nothing serious, but he had a lot
riding on this, he liked her a whole lot. He knew what always happened when
he got creative, he turned into a damned monster. He did awful things, and
the most awful thing he could think of was if he hurt her.
"I love drawing, please Harry?" she pleaded, holding a pencil out to him.
He didn't want to tell her no, she wanted it so much, but if he laid a single hand
on her, he would probably hang himself. He walked over to her, gently pulling
her in the direction of the living room.
"You'd like my show, its on in about five minutes..." he said, praying
that he could get her mind off of making art.
"Oh c'mon Harry, won't you at least try it?" Y/N said, placing the
pencil she was still carrying in Harry's palm. The sight of the utensil in his
hand spooked Harry, and before he knew what he was doing, he threw
the pencil to the ground.
"No!" he barked, much more aggressively than he had intended.
Y/N drew back from him, slightly frightened.
"Ok..." she said, swallowing.
"No, I didn't....I'm not angry, I just..." Harry sighed heavily, she was
slipping away from him and right now he felt like he deserved it for yelling
at her. "...I can't draw with you."
"Why not?" she asked, confused and bewildered.
"I can't do anything creative."
"Sure you can, all it takes is a little prac-"
"No no, I mean...I can't...afford to do anything creative...with you." he
clarified. She cocked her head, lost.
Harry took a deep breath, "When I get creative, I...things happen. Scary
things. I never know what will happen. I could hurt you." he fidgeted with his
hands as he watched her expression. She thought this over, then bent down,
picking up the pencil from the floor.
"C'mere." she said. She took the red creature by the hand and guided
him to the table, sitting him down in the nearest seat. She placed a
blank sheet of paper in front of him, and slid the pencil slowly into his
hand, closing his fingers around it. His hair bristled slightly.
"Now, what do you see in your mind?" she asked softly. He
glanced up at her. Harry needed a good lie, he wasn't dumb enough to tell her
that she was all his mind could see.
"Errm..." he dug around for an answer, "A sandwich."
His answer tickled her, and she had to make an extra effort not to laugh.
"Ok, what kind of sandwich?" she asked. He thought for a moment.
"It's got turkey, and lettuce and tomato. And it's cut into triangles." he
decided.
"Alright, now I want you to try to draw your sandwich. Slow as you need
to." she said, staying close to him. He began to draw on the page, his lines were
a bit wonky but he managed to draw the sandwich after a few minutes. When
he finished, he breathed a sigh of relief, he'd actually done it without having
an episode.
"You see?" she said, smiling at him. Under all that hair, was a huge
grin, though she'd never know it.
"Thank you." he said, peering up at her. She gave him a pat on the
back before walking to the other side of the table, taking a seat in front of
her own piece of paper and pencil.
"Want to try another drawing?" she asked.
"I suppose..." he said, hopeful. He flipped the sheet over and began to
draw something new. Satisfied, Y/N went on to draw her own picture.
They had been drawing for about 15 minutes, and Harry seemed to be
enjoying himself, his page had doodles all over. He looked up to switch to a
fresh page when he saw something shuffling in the living room. They were
alone in the house, he was sure of it. Then he noticed it; the notepad was
gone from the shelf. Harry had shoved her in between the books after
the incident with the other puppets and she hadn't made a peep since.
But she was loose now. Harry swallowed, forcing his attention back to
his new drawing.
The lines he was drawing began to blurr, he couldn't see straight, and
he repeatedly rubbed his eyes, but no clarity came to them. His foot began to
tap quickly on the tile floor, and his hand suddenly came down roughly on the
page, making Y/N jump.
"Harry? You ok?"
"M'fine..." he lied as he struggled to draw a straight line. He suddenly
felt the need for more materials, and he got up from his seat, stumbling to the
crafts drawer.
"Glitter...hm..." he mumbled, pulling several colors of glitter out and
dumping them on the table. He plopped back down in his chair, fumbling
with the containers of glitter, popping one open and spreading a line of the
pink dust over his drawing. He began to spread it around with his hands.
Y/N watched him silently, becoming more worried with each line of
glitter. He growled to himself, suddenly looking unsatisfied with his work.
"Harry, do you need help?" she asked as calmly as she could. He
stopped in his tracks, slowly glancing up at her. He said nothing for
several seconds.
"....Heart. I need...something." he murmured.
"Hm?"
"I need a heart." he said more clearly, gripping the corners of the
table roughly.
"A heart?" Y/N's voice was hoarse with creeping fear. Harry rose
to his full height, never taking his eyes off of her. He placed a foot
firmly on the table top, and hoisted himself up, walking across the table
toward her. Y/N jumped out of her chair, running to the other side of the
kitchen.
"Harry, calm down!" she commanded, her voice cracking with panic.
"But I have to finish!" he snarled, coming toward her once more. "I
need a heart, or it's not done!"
"STOP IT, HARRY!" she yelled, close to tears, "What's the matter
with you?"
"Just let me have yours for a while!" not realising what he was
proposing, he reached for her, grabbing her by the shoulders. With
hunger in his eyes, he drew his hair back from his face, showing a mouthful
of long, sharp teeth. She had never seen his mouth, let alone those teeth.
Backed up against the fridge, she had no idea how she would get out
of this, until she looked up. Hanging off the top of the fridge was the tail
of a...fish?
Not allowing herself to question it, she grabbed the fish, striking
Harry across the face with its limp body. He snorted, releasing her to
rub his stinging face. She darted past him, back to the table. She
searched the room, there had to be something here that would
calm him down. Then something on the table caught her eye.
It was his doodle sheet, covered in a collage of random images.
She swiped it up from the table. Looking more closely, she saw her own face
staring up at her from the paper.
"He drew...me?" she thought. But she didn't have any more time to
ponder this, he was drawing nearer every second. She mustered up all of
her courage, marching toward him, paper clutched tightly in her hand.
"Do you see this?" she barked, holding the page up to his face. "You
made this, all of it! You made this beautiful art on your own, without hurting
anyone!"
Harry nearly tore the page to shreds, until he saw her likeness which
he'd scrawled onto the paper. His eyes darted from her to the picture, back and
forth. Suddenly his conscious cleared and his vision stilled. When he realized what
he was doing, he merely stood there, his gaze turning from vicious to frightened.
There was nothing he could say, he had hurt her just like he knew he
would. The guilt was too much for him to bear, and he turned, running into
his bedroom. The door slammed shut behind him. Y/N set the paper back
down on the table, and followed him. She stood outside the door for several
minutes, listening. She could hear his sobs and his fists, ramming down
on the bedside table in frustration.
After he had exhausted the worst of his anguish, she slowly opened
the door. She said nothing, she just leaned down next to him and put a
gentle hand on his shoulder. He gave a hard flinch and shrunk away from
her.
"Please go away." he said, voice cracking.
"You know that won't solve anything." she spoke softly, putting her
free hand on his other shoulder. He shoved her hands away, clenching his
fists, and standing.
"Haven't you learned anything?! You're not safe with me, so do yourself
a favor and go away!" he growled. Her determination to prove him wrong
mounted, and before she could stop herself, she threw herself at the huge
creature, embracing him as tightly as she could. His entire body froze, he
dared not put his hands on her. After standing like that for some time,
Y/N glared up into his eyes. He'd still refused to return her embrace
after this long.
"You...will not...hurt me." she hissed, her voice shaking from the tears
that welled up in her eyes.
"I can't take that chance!" he said through clenched teeth. That was it,
she was going to fix this, right here, right now.
"Dammit, Harry!" she cried, grasping his shoulders and pulling him
down to her level. "Hug me."
"Don't-" he began to argue
"Hug me!" she repeated.
"...I'm scared." he whined, unable to look her in the eye any longer.
"I know you're scared, but don't you believe that we can do this
together? I watched you have fun getting creative, I know that you can
do it. I'm not going to make you draw any more, but please, at least
hug me."
His gaze returned to her, he did want to hug her, he wanted it more
than anything in the world, but could he afford to? She had that look again;
that pleading look that rendered him helpless against telling her no.
He held his breath, reaching forward and wrapping his big arms
around her. He squeezed his eyes shut, too afraid to see what he might
do. After a minute or two, he opened them to find that she was
completely safe, cradled there. She was beaming up at him proudly,
and she reached up, cupping his face in her hands. She rose up on her
tip-toes, giving him a peck on the forehead. He was once again
rendered speechless, this time from unexpressable joy. His
long, shaggy hair quivered and he could contain it no longer,
"I love you!" he chirped, hoisting her up in his arms. Just then, he
heard a familiar sound. The ending credits of his favorite show, he had
missed it. And for once, he found that he just didn't care.