Shadows of the Night - Brahms Heelshire x Reader [The Boy 2016]

Chapter 6: What's Next?

───⋆｡°✩His Reveal✩°｡⋆───

You whirl around, almost falling over in your drunk state and stabilizing yourself on the bedpost. The world tilts around you and not from the effects of drinking, you shouldn't be able to recognize him but somehow you do. The way he carries himself as if trying to conceal his height, he was tall even as a child, the subtle wildness of his dark hair that as a kid could never be smoothed down enough to please his mother, and the way his green and hazel eyes stare at you intensely. You remember in an instant what it was like to have those eyes on you and it steals your breath away. You instinctively step back and he follows your movement silently, inching forward.

As he moves, the moonlight shines on his face and you finally notice the porcelain mask. It startles you out of your daze just in time to hear the steps outside your door. You bolt forward and shove him back into your closet, shutting the door just as yours opens revealing a flushed-face Greta. She giggles and stumbles towards you.

"Y/n! My new best friend forever and ever, I forgot my phone with you!" she says through a fit of giggles.

You nod trying your best to rein in your spiraling mind to not give away the fact you just shoved your childhood best friend you thought was dead for the past two decades into your closet. You fish the phone out of your pocket and give it to her with a laugh. You say goodbye and hug before she leaves. You follow her into the hallway to watch as she leaves and when you hear the car start and drive off you bolt back into your room.

Brahms is standing in the middle of your room shaking in the shadows and holding the part of your outfit you took off. You stand in the doorway, your heart in your throat and eyes pricking with tears, only sobered up enough by the shock of seeing him again to kind of function. Brahms' head shoots up when he sees the light shift as you stand in the doorway. He takes a couple of steps, stumbling a bit but he doesn't get far before you speak.

"Brahms?" you ask, your voice ragged with your unshed tears.

He freezes in place before looking at you, his head tipping like it always did when he was confused or amused. After a second he nods and begins to move forward but you meet him before he can move, launching yourself into his arms. You throw your arms around his neck sobbing into his shoulder and pulling him down to your level. You are most definitely still inebriated if the outpouring of emotion is any indicator.

Brahms goes rigid at the contact but you can't bring yourself to let him go as you're terrified he will disappear, a figment borne of alcohol and loneliness, or that you will fall over as the world spins. After a minute he relaxes and you go to pull away but he reacts by tightening his arms around you. You feel your neck become wet and his thin frame shake and you realize he is crying too, albeit silently. You tighten your arms around him.

The two of you cry for a few minutes before the tears start slowing. You pull away from the reluctant man, his hands firm on your arms much to your gratitude. You look up at his masked face in disbelief. He reluctantly, almost too softly to register, reaches up and wipes the tears from your wet cheeks. You tighten your hold on him, trying to ground yourself in the face of an impossibility.

"Are you real? You couldn't really be here...right, Brahms?" you ask him, your voice a breathy whisper.

You move your hand to touch him but he flinches away from you, rigid again. You stop immediately before looking him over to figure out what his reaction means. His eyes communicate fear and you, in your drunken state, only just now start to think of the implications of the mask. You realize that his face is something he means to keep hidden and the way your hand was going towards his face must have made him think you meant to interfere with his mask.