Work Text:
All credit goes to pe-q-liar on tumblr for the idea and Randsom Riggs for the book
Bless your soul for this amazing idea
Jacob’s eyes fluttered open moving his head slowly and looking around. Where was he?
“He must be wight,” he heard a girl's voice say. Jacob’s heart rate increased and he immediately fell limp again, pretending to be asleep.
“Why else would he be snooping around the old house like a burglar?”
“I haven't the slightest idea.” he heard a new voice say. It sounded like a boy's voice…
They continued talking for a while about “wights” and what not.
A dog (that was previously sleeping), now awake, began to lick jacobs face and he cringed. He tried to stay still for a little before shaking his head frantically and sitting up.
“Well look who’s awake!” he heard the girl say again, giving him a sarcastic round of applause
“that was quite the performance you gave earlier! I particularly enjoyed the fainting, i’m sure the theater lost a fine actor when you chose to devote yourself instead to murder and cannibalism.”
Jacob opened his mouth to protest before he saw a boy come up to him and shove a glass of water in his face. The boy had messy blond hair, huge blue eyes and...
He was naked.
Jacob blushed and tried to ignore the fact that there was a nude boy infront of him handing him a glass of water like it was actually NORMAL to walk around naked.
The boy raised an eyebrow and brung the glass of water closer.
“Have some water,” the young man said
“Can’t have you dying before we get you back to the head mistress, now can we?”
Jacob hesitated before taking the water and gulping it all down in one sip. He had not realized how thirsty he was before he drank it.
He sighed and set the cup next to him before looking up again to millard.
He….was probably a nudist…..
Well that was jacob’s headcanon, anyway.
He might as well make sure.
“a -are you…”
The boy nodded
“Indeed i am, Millard Nullings, at your service”
Jacob nearly died from that sentence.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dinner was very...awkward.
The very first thing Jacob noticed right when he walked through the door was that millard was naked...once again. He blushed harder than he had last time and Miss Peregrine looked at jacob worriedly.
“Mister Portman? Are you sick? Why are you so red faced?” she said, observing Jacob”s face.
Hugh gasped, standing up and pointing to Jacob.
“Miss Peregrine! What if he has the bloody peculiar disease?”
All the children ooed and Jacob gave Hugh a confused look.
“It’s a disease that peculiars get,” Emma came in “it makes our powers go wack…”
“Oh…” Jacob said “i’m not peculiar though…”
He saw Enoch smirk.
“Still! What if he does have it?” Horace asked, looking at Miss Peregrine.
The children went out into wild chatters and Miss Peregrine hushed them all.
“Now now children,” she said “it’s not that time yet, you have nothing to worry about. I’m sure Mister Portman is just happy to be here...right?’
Jacob nodded his head quickly, looking at Millard again and blushing harder.
“Oh goodie!” Claire clapped her hands “I remember last year, how awful!”
He saw Millard shiver
“Yes,” Olive giggled “last year milla-”
“That’s enough of that!” Millard cried, and Olive wiggled her eyebrows.
Dinner went on normal (although there were some peculiar eating habits, but what did he expect?) Jacob kept sneaking looks around the able to see if anyone else minded the whole...Millard situation. The kids seemed to chat and eat as anyone would.
‘Huh...how strange...’ Jacob thought to himself, looking a millard again, then quickly turning his head back to his food.
“So…” he said after a while of silence, looking back up to the children. The children all turned to look at him and he continued “mind telling me all of your peculiarities? I mean, i haven’t met all of you yet, so i do-”
“Sure!” Olive cut him off and unbuckled the belt that kept her glued to the chair.
“Olive wait!” He heard a brown haired girl cry. Bronwyn, he believed. Olive ignored her and reached down to take off her heavy, led shoes. She took them off and floated to the ceiling.
“Weeeee!” She giggled.
“Olive!” Miss Peregrine cried ‘You could have just told him!”
While Miss Peregrine was having her little bout with a mischievous olive, the children went around the room saying what their peculiarities
Emma could make fire with her hands
Bronwyn was unusually strong
Horace suffered with premonitory visions and dreams
Enoch could animate the dead for brief periods of time
Hugh commanded and protected the many bees that live in his stomach
Claire had a extra mouth in the back of her head
Fiona had a peculiar talent for making plants grow
Then, when it came to Millards turn, he just chuckled.
“I believe it’s quite obvious on what my peculiarity is.”
This confused jacob, but before he could speak, Claire piped up.
“Nevertheless! Continue!’ She giggled, her back mouth squealing along with her.
“I’m invisible, i t-”
“But i can see you?” Jacob blurted out before he could further stop himself, and the whole table grew silent and turned their heads to look at him. Even Miss Peregrine stopped strapping Olive to her chair to stare at him. Jacob looked around nervously, completely oblivious to the whole situation.
The whole table and Millard stayed silent, until he shifted a bit.
“Are you...certain?” he whispered afterward, and jacob slowly nodded his head.
“Yea man...i just thought you were a nudist or something…” he said looking away awkwardly. Millard’s eyebrows furrowed and he frowned, standing up from his chair and walking away to somewhere else silently, his footsteps gradually fading away.
The whole table stayed silent and jacob felt his face go red.
Olive was the first to talk. Little, mischievous Olive.
“But wasnt he naked?”
“OLIVE!” Bronwyn cried. Olive giggled and looked at Jacob, whose face was covered with his hands.
Dinner went on and pretty soon, Jacob announced that he had to leave.
“Won't you come back tomorrow?” Horace asked, smiling at jacob. The rest of the kids (except Millard and Enoch) begged along side of Horace and Jacob slowly surrendered, saying he would be back the next day.
On the way out of the home, Jacob saw MIllard, fully dressed and still frowning.
He didn't talk to Jacob for the rest of the week