Reverie

"Why did I even let her convince me to go to this party?" Ariel muttered to herself. "No one knows who I'm dressed as, it's too loud, too many stupid people... I wanted to stay home and gorge on pizza and candy." Then, she noticed her 'friend' chatting it up with an obviously drunk guy and walked over to her. "Hey, um... I'm going outside for a minute. I need to clear my head." The girl explained to her friend, the other girl not noticing her. "Fine. Whatever." Ariel muttered before exiting out the front door, closing it behind her and then sitting on the front steps. It's unlikely her mom was up at this time to pick her up, and her 'friend' had drove her there so she was stranded there until her friend could stop being a whore and drive her home. Ariel was tempted to just go and walk to a nearby ice cream shop and see if they were open and would take her home. Her thoughts were getting more and more enraging as every second passed until she heard the door open. Maybe her 'friend' sobered her act up, but a guy she'd never seen at the party dressed in a reaper outfit, with a notable lack of shoes came and sat next to her. The funny thing was, she'd been there longer than anyone since she had to help set up. He probably snuck in somehow.

"Hey. I just wanted to see if you were ok." He said as he pulled his knees in his chest like Ariel was doing.

"It's nothing." Ariel replied. "I'm not having fun that's all."

"How come?"

"No one knows who I am, there's so much alcohol and sex, it's too loud for me, my 'friend' that drove me here is being a fucking whore so I'm stuck here!" With every word, her hands went up and down along with her voice raising in anger as well with every swing.

"Wow. I like your outfit. You'd make a pretty good Berkut from what I know of you."

"Wait, you know who Berkut is?!" Ariel's voice went from anger to excitement.

"Yeah, and the whole FE crew."

"Sorry if I sound embarrassed, it's just I've never met anyone who knew Fire Emblem and was in my age group."

"I get that. Same for me too." He let out a little laugh. "Hey, do you want me to take you to that ice cream place near here?"

"I guess since my 'friend' 's being a thot with almost every guy there that's drunk, and there is a lot of drunk people there, why not?"

"Good. Now take my hand." He then stood up and held out his hand. Ariel then stood up and took his extended hand. Once the two were holding hands, the duo started to float off the ground.

"Is this a joke or something?!" Ariel panicked.

"I guess I forgot to tell you. I am actually a reaper. You aren't dying since I'm off duty. I'm here because I have a strong feeling there's a lot of drunk driving deaths." Ariel gripped his hand tighter in fear of falling. "If you want, you can hold on to my entire body since I can sense your terrified." Ariel then held his entire body close to her like a teddy bear, and he was as cuddly as one despite being really skinny from what she could tell under his many robes. Since she was clutching the reaper so hard, she didn't realize that they were at the ice cream shop.

"We've landed my dear." The reaper said, trying to comfort Ariel off of him.

"We are?" Ariel asked before looking down and seeing that she was on the ground in front of the ice cream shop. "Oh I guess we are." Ariel then let go of his robes. "Your robes are really soft." She muttered.

"I know right?" The reaper replied before opening the door to the shop, allowing Ariel to walk in. 

"Thank you." Ariel said to the reaper as she walked into the shop. Once the reaper walked into the shop and closed the door behind them, the owner of the shop noticed him.

"Hey Sam, who's your girlfriend?" The owner joked.

"She's not my girlfriend. Just a girl, who is my friend, and needed some cheering up." The reaper explained. 

"I was messing with you kid. The usual for ya?" 

"Yes sir, and a banana split for my friend." 

"On it. Put it on your tab as usual?"

"Yes sir." The older man then went into the backroom to prepare the desserts, leaving the two alone to score a window booth.

"Now I know who you are." Ariel said as she connected the pieces. "You're the Ichijouchi Genius. I can recognize your fluffy hair from anywhere."

"What were you thinking at first?"

"I thought you were cosplaying as the reaper version of you from my fanfictions."

"Ahh. You're the one who wrote them. It's interesting." 

"But what are you doing in this world?"

"Not sure. Got bored in my world due to the lack of deaths I can harvest their souls from, so I moved here where deaths are more common than corn in a corn field, and I haven't gotten your name yet."

"Ariel." She replied. "So where do you stay?"

"Where ever. Right now a bus station."

"Well you could bunk with me."

"What about your parents? Wouldn't they be concerned that there's a reaper in their daughter's room?"

"Not if we hide you."

"In your closet? Hell no."

"No. I can hide you in plain sight."

"How?"

"As a dummy."

"A what now? I'm a genius despite being dead!"

"No, a ventriloquist dummy. Your robes can hide my hand and we can make a great act!"

"Oh. I thought you were insulting my intelligence."

"What!? No! Despite being dead and technically a fictional character in my world, you still cared about me more than my actual 'friend'." Then, Ariel's phone buzzed, leading the brunette to check it. "Speak of the devil." She then answered the phone on speaker mode.

"Where the hell are you?! I promised these guys a Foursome and they're getting impatient!" Her 'friend' that was probably was only using her for sex called from the other line.

"No. I'm at the ice cream shop with a guy who doesn't even know me, but cares about me more than you, you fucking slut. Seriously! A foursome!? We're in high school! The game was to not get pregnant! Not to get pregnant!" Ariel replied, hostile in her voice. "What would your mom think? She'd be ashamed of you."

"Ugh! Ariel! I'm trying to get you a boyfriend!"

"No. You're trying to sell me to someone who only wants me for sex and not everything about me. This conversation is over." Ariel then hung up and added her number to blocked.

"Damn." The reaper said. "Also, you really think that highly of me?"

"Of course." Then, their food arrived, a banana split and a milkshake with all the components of a banana split and they ate in awe at what Ariel admitted to her friend. 

"So um... Do you want me to take you home?" The reaper asked after Ariel finished as he was already done.

"Sure. Hey, thanks for dealing with me." Ariel replied as she got up from the table. "It means a lot."

"No problem. To be honest, I thought you were Ken for a second when I went out there with you and then I had to tell myself that, despite you not being him, you're still important." The reaper said as he walked alongside her, only speeding up so he could get the door for her. Once the duo were outside, Ariel took a hold of her new reaper friend's robes and let him take her home. After he landed, Ariel got off and unlocked the front door so that they could go in.

"Alright bro, get into my arms." Ariel said.

"Why?" The reaper asked.

"Remember, the plan?" 

"Oh yeah." The reaper then got into the girl's extended arms and pretended to go limp so that no one would suspect anything. Ariel opened the door and went inside, where everyone was asleep like she suspected. The brunette headed to her room and managed to made it without waking anyone and closed the door behind her before throwing the tv on so they could have a conversation about the next days beyond.

"Alright, coast is clear, you can go unlimp now." Ariel told the bluish violet haired reaper.

"Thank the gods. I was about to pass out." He replied as he got out of her arms and sat her bed.

"Now then, what do we do about school..." Ariel asked herself.

"From what I know, puppets don't go to school so..."

"But you can't sit at home and do nothing! Wait... You can.... My mom's often running errands and my dad's at work so... You can..."

"What about food? I mean what if your mom comes home and finds me missing, freaks out, calls you and you tell her that you didn't take me to school, and then I come home with Mcdonalds and she faints?"

"I can sneak you food and then there are sometimes where you can get mcdonalds and not have to worry."

"Good." He then let out a little yawn. "I must be really tired then if I'm yawning."

"Let me get changed out of my cosplay and we can head to bed." Ariel said as she collected her pajamas.

"What do you mean we?" Ariel then left the room with her pajamas leaving him without an answer. Once she got back in only a oversized t shirt with various stains he couldn't even identify, he was about to get his answer.

"What I meant by we was you sleep with me." 

"Isn't that a little... I don't know... Sexual?"

"Not if your 'not a real guy'" Ariel replied as she got under the covers. "What they don't know won't hurt them."

"I guess, but if you get uncomfortable, let me know if you get uncomfortable, I can always sleep on the couch." He then got under the covers right next to Ariel and Ariel laid her head in his robes.

"Goodnight." She said as she closed her eyes and grabbed her Reinhardt plushie.

"Goodnight my little emperor." The reaper replied as he fell asleep as well