Blending In

I'll admit, it was hard to get this chapter out of my brain. Just some stupid stressful stuff involving my job and school, nothing much else, but it has been draining. However, I'm proud to get this one out there now and I hope you all enjoy it.

I'll see you all at the end of the chapter!

It was awkward for the next day or so. Double D knew that it was partly his fault, but there were other things that he wasn't so sure about.

It was obvious what made things awkward with Cerise. Knowing each other's dark secrets did lead to some very awkward silences and some weird glances. There's also the fact he blew up on her dad for what was technically a reasonable question. It was out of embarrassment and maybe some need to avoid needless memories, but that wasn't exactly an excuse.

Clawdeen and Maddie were also acting weird too, which he didn't have an explanation for.

Clawdeen had been friendly enough, but she'd been tense, ready to sprint at a moment's notice. Looking at him like he was a stranger. It was concerning, quite honestly. Visits to her little workshop had been short and he desperately needed a normal place to head to in these trying times.

Maddie herself didn't act too differently from her form of normal. But there was a hesitance there sometimes, as if she were remembering something every time they were talking. It wasn't big, but it bothered him too.

He didn't know what he did wrong (except for the Cerise situation), so he naturally couldn't fix it. Double D's first thought was that they were a little afraid of him, but he dismissed it as ridiculous. Clawdeen hadn't been scared of him before, and he was convinced Maddie was the kind of mad that didn't register fear.

He needed things to return to normal soon. His sanity relied on it.

"Hey."

The boy jumped a little at the voice. He'd been walking through the courtyard, alone, when Cerise had apparently decided to make her appearance. Her face remained neutral, despite the fact he almost had a heart attack.

"Good afternoon, Cerise." Double D did his best to save face, though it wasn't like he cut an intimidating silhouette on his best days. "I was just heading on over to Monster High. Is there something you need me for?"

"Yeah. Apple's helping out with that True Hearts Day party and asked me if I could find a place secluded enough so we could hide it from Grimm." She said it plainly, jerking her thumb at the forest. "Mind helping me with that? We can't use the castle again since Grimm knows about it and we might need to move some debris."

It didn't sound like a request. The boy sighed before starting to head towards the Enchanted Forest with a careful gait.

"Better get started now, then." Double D remained quiet as Cerise moved ahead of him. He mentally mapped out where they were going in his head just in case this situation devolved. "Is there anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Nothing much." Cerise was still keeping her tone level, not really giving anything away. "Just figured I'd need your help with this."

There was a moment of silence as they slowly walked into the woods. Neither seemed brave enough to actually say anything until Cerise cleared her throat.

"My dad and I are sorry about that whole thing in the classroom. We were kinda freaked out and didn't really know what to do." Cerise shrugged, the action somewhat muffled by her hood. "This wasn't exactly a great situation, and we also just out of dealing with that monster hunter..."

"It's fine." Double D waved it off. It kind of wasn't, but this whole situation was a mess from the beginning. "I may have acted a little too defensively during the conversation. I'm usually better at keeping my temper down, but a variety of factors lately made it difficult."