After a full hour of steady work, Declan had more or less forgotten that he had a guest so he nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.
Faun flinched badly at this, cowering off to the side, he was still dressed in Declan's overcoat.
Declan cursed under his breath. "Sorry, you startled me." He muttered in a bland tone.
"Sorry." Faun said simply, his tone soft.
He had woken up to find that the pain he had been living with for a couple days now had drastically reduced and he wanted to thank the human that had helped him.
He was smart enough to tell that the human had no idea what he was and he knew he had to keep it that way to stay alive.
"I want to say thank you." He continued, looking everywhere but at the human who was studying him.
Thankfully, he had to hide while posing as a human so he had learned the language, granted, he was a little rusty but his speaking was passable.
"It's fine." Declan waved his words away. "How does your leg feel? Does it still hurt?"
Faun shook his head. "Better." He mumbled, looking very out of place
"Come." Declan invited him to the living room proper to sit on a couch.
His workspace was at a corner of the living room, partially partitioned to give him some semblance of privacy. There was a tall window just beside his desk which provided an ample view of the woods.
Faun sat gingerly, looking around curiously, he couldn't remember the last time he had been in a house but he could remember vividly how uncomfortable houses made him feel.
They felt foreign and wrong but this house seemed like it was carved out of the woods and a glance out any window showed him familiar views.
He was the most relaxed he had ever been inside an enclosed space.
He sniffed out Declan before he saw him, his stomach rumbling in time.
It was easy to forget how hungry he was when he was on the run for his life with a deep cut on his leg but now that those two worries had been eliminated, however temporarily, his hunger slammed back in full force.
Hunger pangs gnawed at his stomach and he bit his lower lip in worry that the human would hear how loud his stomach was rumbling, for some reason, it was embarrassing.
Declan placed the tray of food on a side table, heading back to his workspace to give the kid some privacy.
Faun managed to hold back till the human was out of sight, thankfully, the human was nice enough to give him space.
He stared down at the food with wide eyes, salivating. He was about to reach forward with his bare hands only to pause.
He glanced down at the side of the plate, there was a spoon and fork, what humans used to eat.
He didn't want to blow his cover so although he had limited knowledge of them, he had to use them.
They actually weren't terrible to use and they kept his hands clean, by the time he was done eating, he was already accustomed to them.
Faun stared at the empty plates when he was done eating, he had downed the glass of water as well and on cue, his stomach rumbled.
He was still hungry.
With narrowed eyes he glanced in Declan's direction, should he take the risk?
His body decided for him, he made his way over, peeking around the wooden partition.
Declan looked up, blinking in surprise when red curls obstructed his vision. "Faun?" He raised a brow.
"C-Can I have more food?" Faun asked in a small voice, trying to sound as polite as possible.
Declan's eyes widened in shock this time, his chest puffing out unconsciously.
Isla always said that his cooking was just short of poisonous substances but here was his guest asking for seconds, he wished he could call her tonight just to rub it in her face.
Declan had to fight the urge to ruffle Faun's hair, he couldn't be older than fifteen but his naivety made him seem even younger.
He was no babysitter though, so as soon as his leg was all healed up, Declan was kicking him out.
"Sure." He agreed almost immediately, shooting to his feet.
Faun's relief was palpable, food was scarce and hard to come by so he expected the human to be upset that he had asked for more.
He went back to sit down just as he was directed, his eyes going wide when the human showed up with even more food on the tray this time.
It would seem that humans always had more than enough food, lucky them.
The sight of the food nearly made his eyes water though, he never got enough to eat, the feeling of not being full a constant.
Declan frowned when the kid dug in before he could even leave, was he supposed to give him so much food at once?
He was a hybrid though so perhaps human rules didn't apply here.
The reason he frowned though was the way the hybrid was using the spoon, he held it like he was about to stab the food.
It was awkward just standing there and watching Faun scarf down his food so Declan decided to make himself scarce.
He would have to ask the hybrid a couple questions, he wanted to try to make sure that the hybrid was at least safe when he left.
After working for a couple hours more, Declan shut down his laptop, planning to call it a night.
To his surprise, Faun hadn't shown up again, he had considered checking up on him but then he got distracted.
He stepped out now to find the hybrid curled up on the couch, fast asleep and just as he expected, the plates were cleared out again.
For someone his size, he sure could tuck in a lot of food. Not like Declan minded, he had more than enough and the kid could use some meat on his bones.
He cleared up the plates and carried him to bed for the second time.
He was apathetic to the hybrid, same as he was to everything else but he didn't mind taking care of him, for the meantime.