Faun was caught at a crossroads.
He didn't want to be rude to his host and say 'yes' and he also didn't want Declan to know that he was bothered by his bare upper body.
"It doesn't matter." He mumbled vaguely, pulling away, his face redder than ever.
Declan decided that he had teased Faun enough, chuckling lightly when Faun practically raced from the kitchen when breakfast was done.
He didn't need to check to know that Faun had locked himself up in his bedroom.
Declan immediately headed to his own room to cover up. If Isla found him half naked, he would be the one embarrassed.
He wondered why she couldn't just get the document by email like a sane person.
It wasn't like they were still in the times of paper and ink, but he had stopped questioning Isla's inclinations.
As soon as he stepped out of the hallway, he heard a knock on the front door.
"You're not quite early enough, you could have camped overnight outside." Declan muttered, sarcasm heavy in his words.
"Really? You would let me do that?" Isla perked up.
"No." Declan shut her down.
Isla swept in. "Lou told me she bumped into you at the grocery store a couple days ago."
Declan gave her a blank look, shutting the front door with a gentle click. "Are you married to her?" He tossed out casually. "Because she tells you every single thing."
"W-What?! Of… Of course not!" Isla denied vehemently, crossing her arms and averting her bright red face. "W-We are just really good friends."
Declan gave her a look of pure disbelief, making no comment on that. "Besides, I had just called you to ask for a brownie recipe. Do you think I grow the ingredients in my backyard?"
"Anyway…" Isla waved that line of conversation away. "Are you done with the novel?"
Declan threw her a look. "I emailed it to you last night as soon as I was done and you responded, immediately."
Isla had already thrown her bag on a couch, heading to the kitchen. "Oh! yes, but I needed to check on you after that, your wellbeing is very important, you know." She said seriously.
"Thank you." Declan replied sincerely. Isla always had good intentions, she just had to learn how to better express it.
"So now that you're not writing, mind coming with me to…"
"I'll pass." Declan immediately cut her off, pushing a hand through his dark hair.
Isla pouted, she had been expecting that response but she was trying to guilt Declan into coming along.
He was unfazed by her tactics however.
"So…" Isla trailed off, looking around pointedly.
"So what?"
"Where are the brownies?" She asked curiously.
"I ate them all." Declan said with a straight face.
He might be lying about who actually ate all the brownies but he wasn't lying about them all being eaten.
Isla couldn't hide her shock. "You mean they were edible?"
"Did you come over to mock my brownies?" He teased with a serious expression.
"No, no, of course not." She straightened up, pouring herself a glass of juice from the fridge. "It's just been a while since we hung out."
Declan looked at her like she poured the carton of juice over her head. "What do you mean? You were here just a couple days ago."
"And you literally chased me out." She whined.
Declan nodded. "Good thing you know the drill because it's time to leave."
Isla wasn't surprised by this, she had never met a person who hated socializing as much as Declan did.
It was what made him all the more adorable.
"Oh! I almost forgot, I bought a bottle of wine to congratulate you on completing your second novel." She perked up, hurrying to her bag that she had tossed haphazardly on the couch to grab the bottle of wine.
"We should make a toast, to the completion of this book and to many more books ahead." She suggested with excitement, waving the wine over her head.
Declan winced. "There's no need for that." He muttered, snatching up the wine. "Thank you." He added nicely, placing the wine on a side table. "Now, bye, Island."
"Fine, fine…" Isla accepted defeat grudgingly. "I'm going but we will hang out soon, maybe we could go on a picnic, I could even bring Lou along…" She rambled on while Declan gently nudged her to the front door.
"Sure, just make sure to call before you come over and say hi to your girlfriend for me." He tagged on.
Isla whipped around at this, morbid horror on her face as her cheeks went bright red, stuttering to correct Declan that she wasn't dating Lou.
"Sure." Declan muttered dryly, clearly not believing her. "Be good, Isla." He said to her, shutting the door on her face.
He didn't really think she was together with Lou, firstly because as much as Isla liked to play matchmaker, she was a wreck when it came to romantic situations that involved her.
Secondly, Declan would be the first to know the moment they were.
It didn't stop him from teasing her about it though, what made it better was that it got Isla every single time.
But she would never admit to the obvious and really huge crush she had on her best friend, just like Declan wouldn't admit that he got rid of Isla so that he could take a hike with Faun.
He just didn't want the hybrid to retreat into himself again, yeah, that was it.
Like he had been summoned, Faun peeked out from the hallway, his red gold hair everywhere.
"Is she gone?" He asked curiously, his voice small but steady.
"Yes, you can come out now." He encouraged him. "Ready to go on that walk?"
"Yes." Faun agreed with barely banked excitement.
He had longed to just wander through the woods but he hadn't forgotten so quickly about how he met Declan.
Moving about as a fox in woods so close to a town was far too dangerous to try.
He wasn't about to take a walk in his human form either, what if he bumped into another horrible human? Declan wouldn't always be there to save him.
So he bounced around on the balls of his feet while Declan packed up a basket.
It was already late morning and while they wouldn't be out very long, he knew how much Faun liked to eat.
Besides, instead of just walking through the woods and back, they could spend some time in the quiet forest and just listen to the wildlife and the sounds of rustling leaves.