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1. Horace Somnusson could never get a good nights sleep. Whether he was having one of his bad dreams, or he was up all night thinking about a previous one didn't matter. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't sleep well.
However, each morning as he dressed himself in his fancy clothing that he adored so much, he put on a smile, and tried not to look as though he hadn't slept properly for the past week.
Everyone at the home knew though, no matter how hard he tried to mask it, and they all tried their hardest to help as much as they could when he was having a bad dream. That's why when Horace's screams and groans could be heard throughout the home early one morning, all the kids were standing outside his door.
They all had a worried expression on their face, but even from one look you could tell that Enoch was the most worried. He often tried to hide his feelings by always holding a sour, unimpressed expression on his face. But this was by far, one of the worst dreams Horace had had, you could tell from the screams, which were louder and more pained than ever, and as much as he tried, he couldn’t mask his emotions this time.
As the children all waited outside while Miss Peregrine calmed Horace down, Enoch sat down against the wall, the pained expression remaining on his face. The other children noticed, but before they could say anything, their headmistress exited the room.
Claire was the first to say anything, asking if he was okay, to which Miss Peregrine replied that he was quite shaken, but he had gone back to sleep. Enoch let out a sigh and was visibly less panicked, now that he knew that Horace was okay.
As the children began to go back to their rooms to sleep, Enoch rubbed his face and felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around and saw both Hugh and Fiona directing him toward them. He sighed and entered Fiona's room, where the two were. Fiona and Hugh looked at each other, trying to say something to each other with facial expressions. Enoch grew impatient and eventually just asked what they wanted. Hugh sighed and turned towards Enoch, and without any hesitation he asked what both he and Fiona had been thinking.
"Do you like Horace? like, like like him." Enoch laughed incredulously, and he, without hesitation began to defend himself. He denied it, of course, he hadn't even admitted to himself that he liked Horace, he certainly wasn't going to admit it to Hugh and Fiona of all people.
"Why do you think that?" He asked, curious to hear the answer. Fiona and Hugh looked at each other and began to talk. "It's just, you looked so concerned back there-" "and you never look concerned!-" "yeah you always just look angry, never concerned." "and sometimes when people mention Horace, your eyes kinda light up and you smile sorta-" "and you don't smile much-" "and we just thought that maybe-" "you liked him?" "like more than friends, maybe." they finished.
Enoch raised an eyebrow, and shook his head, "maybe, I was just tired." Fiona and Hugh began to talk again, but before he could really understand what they were saying, Enoch left the room.
2. When Jacob Portman first came to the loop, some of the other children suspected that Enoch was jealous. I mean, Jacob was getting all of the attention! Some kids thought Enoch was jealous because Jacob was talking to Emma, others thought it was because he was talking to Olive. Sure, he was annoyed about that, but it wasn't the real reason.
When Horace and Jacob began to talk more than Horace and Enoch did, he began to get furious, and some of the other children could tell.
At the dinner table on one of the first nights Jacob arrived, all the children were asking him to sit by them, and Enoch could feel his eyes roll into the back of his head and the expression on his face become more sour than usual.
Enoch managed to sit through everyone asking Jacob questions about the future, and asking him to tell them all about himself, but when Horace began to compliment him on his clothes, Enoch decided that he had had enough and left the table.
He could hear Miss Peregrine calling after him, saying that it wasn't time to leave the table yet, but he kept on walking towards his room. He lay on his bed and rubbed his face with his hands, trying to get himself together. Minutes later he heard a knock on his door, and got up to answer it. Emma Bloom walked into his room, her arms crossed over her chest and a look of certainty on her face.
She shut the door behind her and walked into the centre of Enoch's room. He sat back down on his bed and waited for Emma to say something. She narrowed her eyes and pointed at him, "you like Horace." she said with certainty.
"Why does everyone keep saying this?" Enoch exclaimed as he lay down on his bed, he let out a sigh. Emma laughed, "other people have suspected this?" she said. Enoch grumbled some unrecognisable words under his breath before replying, "after Horace's really bad dream that one time, Hugh and Fiona dragged me into Fiona's room and asked me."
Emma was amused, "well, what did you say?" "I said no of course, because I don't like him." He replied while staring at the ceiling of his room. "I find that hard to believe." Emma replied, and Enoch looked up at her and asked why people think he likes Horace.
"You're less grumpy around him, you're gentle with him and you smile and you talk about things he likes and you don't do that with the rest of us, I don't know. Sometimes it just seems like you do, and I still think you do, by the way." Emma sat down next to him, and placed her head on his shoulder.
Enoch looked worried, he turned to Emma "does Horace think that I like him?" he asked her. "I'm not sure, I can ask if you'd-" "no! don't do that." Enoch exclaimed as he cut Emma off. Emma laughed, and looked Enoch in the eyes "you need to tell him before I, or someone else does." And then she left his room, returning to dinner. Enoch sighed, and shook his head a little before following Emma back downstairs.
3. Enoch looked out of the window from his bedroom, most of the children were outside playing. He could see Hugh and Fiona talking and sitting on the grass, Bronwyn, Claire and Olive were all playing some game that Enoch didn't know, or care, how to play. Emma and Jacob were probably off kissing somewhere, he thought, and he couldn't see Millard, the invisible boy could be anywhere.
He saw Horace sitting under a tree reading a book, and he stared at him for a little bit longer than he stared at the other kids. "Emma told me that she talked to you about this, Hugh and Fiona too. You need to tell him, Enoch, everyone's beginning to pick up on it, the way that you stare a little bit longer at him, and how you smile more when you talk to him. Tell him before he guesses for himself." Enoch heard a voice say.
He couldn't see anyone in his room, but he knew it was Millard because of his voice. Enoch sighed, clearly annoyed, "put some clothes on Millard, and stop spying on people, it's rude."
Millard huffed, "i'm not leaving until you admit your feelings." he said. "What feelings? Why does everyone think I have feelings for Horace!" Enoch exclaimed. Even though Millard was invisible, you could tell he was smiling, "I never said a name." he said.
Enoch flopped down onto his bed with his hands on his face and mumbled a soft 'shit' under his breath. He knew that he had some kind of feelings for Horace, he just hadn't decided what kind of feelings, and he didn't really want to decide.
"No one is going tease you, Enoch. No one is going to think that it's wrong, that you like him. Trust me." Millard said sympathetically. At that moment, the door opened revealing Hugh. "Hey Enoch, do you know where Millard is?" he asked. "Right here." Millard said before Enoch could answer.
"Are you talking about the thing?" Hugh whispered to Millard, who had draped a blanket around him so he could be seen, "yes." Millard whispered back, and Hugh stepped into the room.
"Enoch, more people are starting to figure it out, someone's bound to tell Horace soon, and it really should be you." to which Enoch replied with a simple "okay."
"Wait, you're admitting it?" Millard sounded shocked, and Hugh's eyes widened. "Yup." Enoch replied, still lying on his back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "We need to go and tell Emma!" Hugh exclaimed before running out of the room, Millard dropped the blanket he had wrapped around him and the sounds of his footsteps could be heard as he left the room.
4. Screams could be heard throughout the home. Enoch was the first to wake up, leaving his room to go and see if Horace was okay. He was the first of the children outside of his room, and after waiting for a minute, he couldn't bare hearing the screams anymore, so he opened the door to Horace's room to try and calm him down himself.
He knelt down next to Horace's bed, and reached his hand out to wake him up, but immediately retracted his hand when Horace began to scream more. Emma opened the door, and entered the room with the other kids following her. Enoch woke Horace up and gently as he could. When Horace woke he looked around his room, and after seeing everyone in there he gathered that he must have been screaming louder than usual.
He looked so worried, Enoch thought. He got up from the ground where he had knelt next to Horace's bed and instead sat on the bed. "Are you okay?" Enoch asked. Horace didn't reply, he immediately wrapped Enoch in a tight hug. Enoch, who didn't expect that, slowly wrapped his arms around Horace.
"I don't know, if it's telling the future or not, but, they found us. The hollows. It was terrible, it seemed so real." he awkwardly let go of Enoch and wiped his eyes. "You all died." He whispered. "It was so vivid, I-i'm sorry for waking you all."
"It's fine, Horace, we will always be here, no one is dying anytime soon." Emma said, and everyone agreed. Enoch was about to get up from Horace's bed when Horace hugged him again, burying his face in his neck. From across the room, Hugh mouthed 'tell him', to which Enoch replied by mouthing 'later'.
As the other children began to leave the room, Horace let go of Enoch once again. "Sorry, for hugging you." Horace said awkwardly. "It's alright." Enoch replied. He made sure that Horace had gone back to bed before he left the room.
Enoch shut the door behind him while trying to create as little noise as possible. "It's pretty obvious, Enoch." someone stated. "You have a crush on Horace!" A little voice laughed. Enoch turned around to see Bronwyn holding Claire on her hip. Enoch was too tired to argue, he ran his hand through his hair and whispered "yeah" before he walked back to his room.
Bronwyn and Claire were left in the hallway, not expecting that answer. They giggled before they both went back to their rooms. Enoch was sure that everyone in the house knew, besides Horace, he hoped.
5. Enoch woke to all the peculiar children (minus Horace, and Victor of course) in his room. He groaned after he opened his eyes, knowing what they were all there for, and rolled over to face the wall. He was quite sure that everyone knew, although he hadn't admitted it to Olive or Jacob, he was sure they had been told.
"Enoch, get up." he heard a voice say, he was sure it was Fiona. He rolled his eyes and sat up, wishing he had an army of homunculi to kick them all out of his room.
"What do you all want? Can't you let me sleep." He said grumpily. The kids know not to wake him up, but they figured that this was important, and that he can't be mad at all of them at once.
"You have to talk to Horace." Emma stated. "hmm, let me think.. no." Enoch replied. "Come on, Enoch. It's getting annoying. Everyone knows that you like him, just tell him!" Enoch sighed. "If I say that I'll talk to him, will you all leave me alone?" He asked. "Yes!" Claire exclaimed.
"Fine, I will talk to him. Now can you all leave me alone and let me sleep." Enoch said, this caused a large chorus of screams, 'yesses' and 'goodlucks' as all the children left his room. Enoch placed his hands on his face, trying to figure out how to tell Horace.
1. Enoch walked outside where all the children were playing, he saw Horace reading under a tree and took a deep breath went to go and sit next to him.
"Hey, Horace" Enoch said as he sat down beside him. Horace placed his book down and placed his top hat on the ground. "Hello Enoch, to what do I owe the pleasure?" he replied. Enoch had planned what he was going to say in his head earlier, but now that he was actually talking to Horace, he had completely forgotten what he was going to say.
"I-ah, I have something I have to say to you, but i'm just not sure how to say it." Enoch said questioningly. Horace raised his eyebrow, waiting for him to say something. "well, basically I have been blackmailed by the other kids to tell you this, they said if I tell you, then they will leave me alone. So i'm gonna say it but I just, don't hate me after this, please?" Enoch stumbled over his words.
"Why would I ever hate you?" Horace said reassuringly. Enoch smiled, and began to try and admit his feelings. "So, basically, I kinda really like you, like more than friends, kinda. and I-" "I know." Horace cut him off, reaching over and entwining Enoch's hand in his and resting his head on his shoulder.
Enoch let out a relieved sigh, and laughed a little bit. "How did you know? How long have you known?" He asked, slightly panicked. Horace shushed him, "word travels around this place, Enoch. There's only so much to talk about. And not too long, I promise, only like a day or so." Enoch squeezed his hand, Horace squeezed back. "Are you okay with it? I don't want to make you uncomfortable." Enoch stated. Horace leaned up and kissed his cheek, Enoch's face turned bright red. "I like you too, Enoch, in case you couldn't tell."
The other kids looked over at the two boys leaning on each other and smiled. They were happy that Enoch had finally admitted it to himself, and to Horace, they were just annoyed that it took so long. "About time!" Millard yelled over to them, Enoch smiled slightly and squeezed Horace's hand, Horace squeezed Enoch's hand back.