•Y/N: Your Name
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Author's POV:
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After giving it some serious thought, Nathan decides to begin his search for answers at the library, where his crazed roommate works, in hopes that maybe one of the other employees might have some insight on his recent change of behavior. So, the very next day, he took off work, believing that this might be more important, and went there. His gut told him that something was seriously wrong, and he had to know The reason why. Terrance was never like this. Something had to have happened that he's missing, and he was going to find out what it is. He felt a bit anxious walking into the building and went straight to the front desk, where he's greeted kindly by a lady with glasses.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Nathan answers her with a nod.
"Yeah, I'm friends with Terrance, the guy who does the puppet shows," he starts in a hushed voice to match her own. "This might be a strange thing to ask, but have you noticed that he's been acting kind of... off, lately?"
"Off how?" the woman wonders while cocking her head to the side.
"Oh, um..." Nathan scratches the back of his head, trying to come up with the best words to explain. "Well, he's been distant and a bit... eerie, I guess is a nice way of putting it. I was just wondering if anyone might know if something happened." The librarian hums in thought, but shakes her head, filling him with disappointment.
"Sorry, I'm afraid I couldn't say. Terrance isn't exactly the talkative type and always keeps to himself. I don't really know him that well. You can try asking the others working here, but they'll probably tell you the same." The blonde frowns, but thanks the woman for her time.
"Okay, thanks anyways. Have a nice day." She nods, and he continues his search, looking for other staff members to question. Sure enough, their answers were all the same. None were close enough to Terrance to even notice a difference. He smiles and puts on shows for the kids, same as always, and kept to himself, aside from the occasional, shy 'good morning' or 'hello'.
How unfortunate. This was Nathan's best bet for an answer. Oh, well, at least he could bring Terrance lunch and see if he's feeling any better. If he's lucky, maybe he'll be willing to talk to him this time. He follows the sign pointing to the children's section and has a look around. There are a couple kids around with their parents, reading picture books, but the puppet theatre holds no puppeteer, only a sign that says when the next show will be. Nathan sighs in frustration, thinking he had probably just missed him.
"Nathan, what are you doing here?" questions a soft, yet curious, voice from behind that made the blonde jump. Nathan whirls around to face his short housemate and instinctively gulped. Terrace's eyes didn't portray that dreadful look they held back when he had confronted the pink-haired male, much to his relief, however, it had not vanished fully. There is only a hint of that frightening gaze lingering within the cotton candy blue optics, but it was enough to keep him on edge. Shoving past the nerves, Nathan raised the bag he carried in his hand and wore a somewhat forced smile.
"Thought you might be hungry. Sorry if it's a little cold. You have a microwave in the break room though, don't you?"
"It's broken, but... Thanks." Terrance wears a frown as he reaches out and takes the food, as though he wasn't enthused by his housemate showing up out of the blue like this. He would've better preferred Y/N to come in with a slice of cake and a cheerful smile on her face; in fact, if he wasn't so hungry right now, he might've tossed it and went to Sweethearts instead. Then, he'd see her for sure. Oh well. Though disappointed, the obsessed man sits at one of the unoccupied tables and takes out the meal from the bag, while his housemate lingers at his side for a moment before sitting beside him with his back to the table.
"Hey, do you hate me or something? Be honest." He couldn't help but think that. What if it was something he did and he was being ignorant? He would rather just be told straight. Terrance gave no pause and answered defensively.
"I don't hate you, Nathan. Just keep out of my business. I don't like you poking your nose where it doesn't belong." He spoke with a straight face, not even sparing a glance his way. That cold tone made him uncomfortable and tense, but then, the puppeteer turns to him with a smile.
"Anyways, what made you stop by? You don't normally come to see me at work." He didn't even consider that. He thought bringing lunch would be a good enough excuse if Terrance caught him asking around, but he rarely ever came here or did anything like that. He's picked him up after work a few times, but only if Terrance asked him to himself. Nathan comes up with something fast, not wanting him to know what he's been up to, especially after that chilling response.
"Oh, I um... Waylon, Omar and I were just wondering if you wanted to try out this new Korean barbecue place for dinner tonight? I was going to just text you, but I felt like getting out of the house," he lies partially. That was the dinner plan, but honestly, they weren't going to invite him, since Terrance has been acting so weird lately. Hopefully, this would suffice. If he agrees, he'll just have to apologize to his other housemates about it later. The shorter male hums with eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Didn't you have work today?" Quickly, Nathan shakes his head, his heart beating harder in his chest.
"No." He hums again, but seemed to have bought it.
"Not tonight. Maybe some other time." Nathan thought he would faint.
"All right. If you change your mind just let me know." He couldn't get up fast enough. If he said one more wrong thing, Terrance might become even more suspicious of him, and he didn't want to risk that. "Anyways, I should get going. See you at home."
A few more words stood the tip of his tongue, but lodged in his throat the longer the silence lasted, so he says nothing more. Terrance nods and waves him off with a small goodbye, so he leaves, pondering if there might be another place to ask around. When it finally came to him, the answer seemed obvious, Sweethearts. Terrance practically lived there. Surely someone there would have something to say about him.
Nathan wasted no time driving to the shop and walks inside, hopeful. There was a small line to the counter, so he waits at the end of it, taking in the delicious, sweet scents of the place. It was enough to make his mouth water, but he had other things to focus on. That didn't stop him from almost ordering right away once he got to the register. Had he not seen who worked behind it, he might've.
"Oh, Y/N," he says in surprise, and the woman returned the same look of shock before smiling kindly.
"Hello. Nathan, right?" He nods. "What can I get for you?" Nathan peers behind him to find he's the only one in line right now, which was beneficial.
"Actually, I was hoping to talk about Terrance. Honestly, I had no clue you worked here. I was just asking around in places he normally goes," he explains, not wanting her to think he was hunting her down. At the very mention of that man's name, Y/N's heart sank, and she gave a sickly look while staring down at the floor. "If you're okay with that, I mean," he adds, noting her uncertainty. Y/N's fingers tap against the counter in thought before she glances up at Nathan with a nod.
"You can find a seat. I'll ask for a break."
"Thank you." At last, he was getting somewhere. Nathan looks for an empty table and settles on a booth near the window, waiting on Y/N to come join him. He wonders what he should ask first. Should he ask about what happened at the house or have her start at the very beginning? He was so lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice the woman sitting across from him.
"What did you want to know?" she asks, staring at her fidgeting hands that gave a light tremble from the topic.
"All of it, basically. Terry has been off and has been pushing everyone away from him. He's acting like a... like a..."
"Lunatic." Her hands grip each other tighter as she draws in a deep breath.
"... Yeah. Pretty much."
"I don't know what happened to him. He came in practically every day to try something new on the menu. He was shy, but very nice. We always talked. Then, I found out he was making himself sick by coming here." Instinctively, her eyes look over to the pink-haired man's usual booth and felt her chest ache. "I took him to the back so he could throw up, and it came up that he liked me." Nathan gave a look of surprise, but silently listens to the rest of her story. She tells him everything, about the rejection, about the gift and the conversation they had at the house. It was all so upsetting. Nathan covers him mouth with a hand, looking distraught.
"Holy shit. I knew he was acting kind of weird, but not like this. He really did that? I just thought he gave the rabbit back or something, not..." He looks down at the table worriedly. "I'm so sorry. I have no idea why he's acting this way. On his behalf, I'm sorry, though that probably doesn't help any. Terry actually was a nice guy. I can't imagine why he's become like this."
"I know. He was always so sweet coming here, but lately, he's been off his rocker. It's all my fault, isn't it?" Y/N gives a small groan and holds her head in her hands, while Nathan gives her a look of pity.
"Hey, don't say that. It's not like you knew this was going to happen. None of us saw it coming. I think I'm going to try and convince him to go to therapy, and maybe get him to see a doctor about prescribing him something if that blackout thing is true. Hopefully, that can mellow him out." The server gives a nod, believing that might be helpful for Terrance's condition.
"Thank you. That would ease my mind. I would like for him to get help. I'm really upset with how things turned out."
"I get it. I'll do my best. Thank you for filling me in."
"Be safe. You live under the same roof as him. I don't know what he's capable of doing, but whatever might happen, I have this nauseous feeling that it won't be good." Funny, he felt the same.
"I'll be careful and see if maybe I can stay with my girl some nights. I don't feel comfortable around him either, but I think you're the one who should be more cautious. Don't walk around alone if you can help it, and if he comes here, well... maybe it'd be best just to pretend like nothing's happened. Treat him like a regular customer and nothing more. My guess is that he'll just get more angry and frustrated if you push him away. Though, that's what I would do. If you're more comfortable with a restraining order, then do that. Personally, I wouldn't know what to do in your situation. It's kind of scary. Sorry, that's not very comforting is it?" With a forced, bitter laugh, Nathan rubs the back of his neck. Y/N shakes her head, but smiles at him slightly.
"No, not really, but that's okay. This is pretty scary. I'll figure something out. Thank you again." The blonde nods and slips out of the booth.
"It'll be all right, I'm sure, if we're careful about it. I'll be sure to stop by again if he's making progress to let you know. Let's keep our fingers crossed."
"Bye, Nathan." He gives his farewell before taking off, leaving Y/N to head back to work.
She really hopes that he can stop Terrance from getting any worse.