Pairing: Gargoyle!Aaron Samuels x reader
Word count: 2858
Warnings: Magic? Anxiety?
This is (a day late) for the second day of @mars-bars-stars‘s write-a-thon!
Mostly Ghostly: Ghosts, vampires, demons galore! Write a paranormal AU!
You looked forward to passing the old church on your way to school every day. The stained glass windows looked so pretty in the morning light, and the gargoyles were fun to analyze for a few seconds as you passed. You weren’t sure why, but something about the church gave you a sense that you could handle whatever the day might throw at you. It was a comfort as you adjusted to a new school and being a high school freshman.
Today, you were especially looking forward to the sense of calm and control the church gave you. It had been a rough week. You didn’t feel like you were really making friends, you had a test you didn’t feel great about the day before, and you had a presentation due today. To top it off, it was raining, and balancing your poster board and an umbrella wasn’t going well. You were ready to welcome some calm into your morning.
As you rounded the corner of the street the church was on, you were surprised to see a boy about your age sitting on the steps. What surprised you even more was that he was looking at you, too. Before you could tear your eyes away, he was on his feet and rushing over to you.
“Do you need some help?” he asked.
“You really don’t have to.”
“You’re going to North Shore, right? I’m on my way there, too. It’s really no trouble.”
You let him take the umbrella from you. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.”
“It’s the least I can do,” he said, giving you a warm smile.
You glanced at him as you continued to walk. You couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that you knew him somehow. You were pretty sure you hadn’t even seen him around school, but something about him felt very familiar.
“I’m new, so I’m still getting used to faces, but have we met before?” you asked.
“No, I don’t think so. But I’ve seen you around. I’m Aaron.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but have you made any friends, yet? It’s just that I never see you with anyone.” He shook his head like he was trying to erase his words. “I’m sorry. That was a really rude assumption. You don’t have to answer that.”
“No, it’s fine. I haven’t really made any friends.”
“Well, to be honest with you, I haven’t, either. So maybe we can be each other’s first friend? Being a freshman is hard enough. Now we at least have someone to suffer with.”
When you arrived at the front door of your school, Aaron held the door for you, then shook the water from your umbrella before closing it and following you inside.
“Thank you, Aaron. I think my project would have been ruined without you.”
He handed you back your umbrella. “What are friends for?”
Something about his reply made you want to smile and cry at the same time. You were friends, now, and that was great. You didn’t want to jump into a crush, especially so early in the year. But there was something about him. You could see yourself falling for him easily. In fact, you thought you already might be.
“So I’ll see you at lunch?” he asked.
You nodded. “Absolutely.”
You turned to head to your first class, but a “Hey!” from Aaron and his hand on your wrist stopped you before you could even take a step.
“Good luck on your presentation. You’re going to do great. I can feel it.”
You looked into his eyes to thank him and you could tell you were doomed already.
At lunch, Aaron wanted to hear all about how your presentation had gone. Normally, in friendships, you were the one asking most of the questions, but he seemed to have a knack for getting you to talk and hardly talking about himself. As lunch ended, he insisted on walking you home after school.
“Strange things happen in this town, you know?” he said. “You can never be too careful.”
Sensing the protest in your voice, he cut you off. “I just want you to be safe, and it would be my honor to ensure it.”
“What are you, some kind of knight?”
He gave you a smile that seemed far too entertained. “Something like that.”
So that became your routine. You would meet at the church to walk to school together, you would eat lunch together, and then he would walk you home after school. Some days, he would come in and you would do homework together, too.
After about a week, Aaron started to seem a bit more nervous and on-edge. It was never directed at you. He was always effortlessly nice to you. It was almost like he was on-edge about you? A man on the street would look at you on your way home, and Aaron would tense up. Some guys would be tossing around a football on the front lawn before school, and Aaron would take your arm and watch the ball flying back and forth through the air until you were safely inside. It was sweet, really, and it kind of made your heart melt. He certainly wasn’t making it easy to try not to like him. But the more time you spent with him, the more convinced you were that he was a safe and kind of perfect crush.
One night another week later, you found your thoughts drifting between him and the test you were studying for. You really wanted to focus on studying. You were determined to get a good grade on this test. But Aaron kept forcing his way into your thoughts. You decided to take a break for a minute and let your mind wander. You went to your window to get some fresh air, but as you drew your curtain back, you had to suppress a scream. You could see a silhouette in the tree in your backyard. But as you took a breath and looked again, you could see that it was...Aaron? You had been daydreaming about him, but you definitely weren’t imagining this. And he looked just as panicked as you felt. You lifted your window to call out to him.
“Aaron? What are you doing?”
“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“What exactly did you mean to do?
“I was just… I had to…” He sighed, trailing off.
You realized that him sitting in the tree in your backyard should have seriously concerned you, but you trusted him, and you wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Aaron, it’s getting cold out. Why don’t you climb down and I’ll let you in?”
He gave you a nod and an expression that seemed both scared and embarrassed.
You went to your front door and found him standing there, staring at his feet and lost enough in his thoughts that he didn’t notice you open the door.
“Aaron?” you said softly.
His head shot up and his eyes met yours. Without another word, he followed you up to your bedroom.
“I promise I can explain,” he said as soon as you closed the door. After a moment, he spoke again. “I just don’t know how.”
You sat there, patiently waiting for him to find words. It took a minute, but eventually he looked at you again.
“This is going to sound crazy, but I want you to know it’s because I don’t want to lie to you. I promise this isn’t some kind of joke.”
He took a deep breath before continuing. “I’m a gargoyle.”
“From the church. I’ve watched people for years, but something about you...stood out? I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like I felt a connection with you. You would walk by, and I would get a sort of empathy hit from you or something. I could feel when you were nervous or anxious or lonely or anything. And I just really wanted to help you. I really don’t know exactly what happened. All I know is that you had a bad week, I wanted to help you more than ever, and the next thing I knew, I looked like this and I was sitting on the steps. I didn’t know what was going on, but then you walked by, and it’s like I knew I was there for you.”
“So I’m supposed to believe that two weeks ago you were made of stone and sitting on top of a church gutter, and then all of a sudden you were human and I was your mission?”
He dropped his gaze. “I don’t expect you to believe it. But I had to tell you.”
It absolutely sounded crazy. But, even crazier, it kind of made sense. The way he was so protective of you. The fact that no one seemed to know him. How he never spoke much about himself.
He lifted his head again, and his eyes looked gentler than ever before. “You do?”
“I do. But why were you outside my window, then?”
“I was worried about you. I could feel you getting stressed, and I thought you might be in trouble.”
“I was just studying for a science test.”
“I know that, now. I get an empathy hit from you and I kind of forget that there’s a lot more that can cause stress than being in danger. But I promise you, I wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything. I just wanted to protect you. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
You had to smile at that. Even knowing the truth, now, he still made your heart flutter. “I know.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
“No, I get it. Thank you for telling me, now.”
You found it a bit hard to focus, but he spent the rest of the night helping you study for your science test. And after that, your routine stayed the same. Knowing the truth ultimately brought you closer together.
You had to admit it was a nice feeling knowing he cared enough about you that it turned him into a human. Plus, knowing how much he wanted to protect you was deeply comforting.
You didn’t talk much about him being a gargoyle. You weren’t sure how open he was to you bringing it back up. But one night, while you were working on homework together in your room, he brought it up himself.
“You know, I appreciate that you’re willing to spend so much time with me. It makes my job a lot easier. And your room is a lot nicer than that tree.”
“How could I not want to spend time with someone whose sole purpose is to protect me?”
With him having brought it up, there was one question you had been dying to ask. “I’ve been wondering…”
He nodded, ready to answer anything.
“You don’t look like a gargoyle. Not that I’m complaining.”
He let out a short, breathy laugh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I needed to blend in.”
“So you can control how you look as a human?”
“I really don’t know. Honestly, I think I just lucked out.”
“You really have no idea how you became human?”
He shook his head. “I wish I did. The closest I can come up with is that sometimes pure intentions are sort of granted, in a way. If you want something badly enough and it’s a selfless act, even though you have no control over it, it comes true.”
The thought really struck you. He felt such a strong connection and desire to protect you that it was considered a pure intention that deserved to be granted? That was seriously amazing to think about.
“I mean, I guess that would make sense.” He locked eyes with you. “I just really care about you.”
You could feel your heart begin to race. “I care about you, too.”
But Aaron turned away from you almost immediately. “I’m sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have let us get this close.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If this is a pure intention case, I’ve put you in danger. When we’re granted these cases, we’re not supposed to let impure feelings get in the way.”
When he finally turned to look at you again, you expected him to look angry, but he just looked sad. “When we let something cloud our pure intentions, they’re no longer pure. And when they find out, they can take away our powers. Then I wouldn’t be able to protect you.”
“What hasn’t been pure? All you’ve been trying to do for weeks is keep me safe and happy.”
“But that’s not all there is to it, anymore. I want you to be safe and happy. But I also want to be what makes you safe and happy.”
“What’s wrong with that? They sent you to protect me, right? So they meant for you to be the one who did.” You reached out to place your hand over his. “Besides, you’re succeeding.”
He gave you a sad smile. “I’m glad.” He hesitated, letting himself just look at you for a few moments. “But I can’t put you in danger. We have to spend less time together.”
“Aaron, that doesn’t make any sense. Aren’t I safer the more I’m with you?”
“The more time we spend together, the more I like you. That’s the problem.”
You thought your heart might explode. “You like me?”
“If I’m being honest, I think I’ve liked you from the first day I saw you. That’s why I felt a connection to you. And I just like you more every day.”
You offered him a small smile. “Would it make things worse to tell you I like you, too?”
His eyes softened and he turned his hand over to hold yours. He just stared at your hands for a minute, watching his own thumb rub across the back of your hand.
“Yes,” he said simply. “But I’m really glad you did.”
“I still don’t understand. How is liking me a problem? I’d argue that that’s one of the most pure emotions you could have. It only strengthens your drive to protect me. If anything, I’d say it makes your intention more pure.” You paused briefly, thinking. “Or have you seen this happen to someone else?”
Aaron suddenly perked up. “I’ve only known one other case of a gargoyle becoming human in this town. He got really attached to this little kid whose dad left, but after he became human, he started dating the kid’s teacher. He still really cared about the kid, but he got too distracted by the teacher.”
“So the problem wasn’t that he fell for someone, it was that he started focusing too much on someone other than the person he became human for?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Aaron began to smile.
“So, in theory, having feelings for you would only make me focus on you more, and that’s the opposite of a problem.”
You felt a jolt of guilt. You liked where he seemed to be going with this, but you didn’t want to force him. If he thought it was too much of a risk, you would be happy to just stay his friend.
“But, if you would rather not take any chances, I understand, and I won’t push.” You began to pull your hand away, but he just held it tighter.
“I don’t think this is a chance, after all. But even if it was, you’d be worth it. I’d rather learn to protect you as a full human than distance myself from you.”
A smile forced its way onto your face. “So, you’re saying…?
“I’m all in.” And with that, he leaned forward and kissed you.
It felt perfect in a way you couldn’t have even imagined. It felt almost like you were meant to be.
Meant to be. With a gargoyle.
The thought made you laugh, forcing Aaron to pull away.
“I’m sorry. It’s just going to take a bit to get used to the fact that I’m dating a gargoyle.”
He still looked confused. “You’ve known for a while, though.”
“Yeah, but you were just my friend. This feels different somehow.”
He broke into a smile before leaning in to kiss you one more time.
It definitely hadn’t been a mistake. Something about this felt more right than you ever thought possible.
Your mind ran back through your conversation, and you realized you had quite a few questions you wanted to ask now that the main problem had been solved. Who was the “they” he had referred to, who turned him into a human? That, you definitely wanted answered, but you had one bigger question that you wanted to ask first.
“You said they could take your powers away. You have powers as a human?”
Aaron grinned, and you could see a spark in his eyes. “I have so much to tell you.”
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