Settling In
Everyone dreams differently, whether the dreams are fantastical adventures in majestic worlds or moments from the past plaguing even the unconscious mind, every dream is different. Another fact is that not everyone remembers their dreams, there could be hazy facts or exact details, sometimes there is absolutely no recollection of dreaming at all. Now, Percival Graves, Director Of Magical Security, has never been one to relive his past through dreams, but neither has he ever been one to create complex worlds either. In fact Director Graves used to pride himself in not dreaming at all, which was completely false. Shortly after Mr. Graves had been found, the truth about his adventures behind closed eyelids came to light, but sadly his dreams consisted of past memories, all of which came from Grindelwald. So it was of no surprise that Graves found himself awake at nearly 4 a.m. instead of being awoken by his alarm at 5. What did come as a surprise to the gruff man was the fact that there was something holding down his covers, a heavy weight on the open side of the bed, which was very unusual because Graves never took anyone to bed. Of course, there were certain thoughts entertained for an approximate 0.4 seconds before being rejected. That left only one plausible course of action.
Percival opened his eyes and slowly tilted his head so that he could get a proper look. If it weren’t for his prior knowledge on the thing beside him he would have thought that this picture was very cute, but Graves already knew what the being beside him looked like when he was awake so the only comfort for him was that the thing was asleep. Director Graves nodded to himself, adding a mental note to his already long list of things. Talk to Newt about having a Nundu in his case. Also, talk to him about KEEPING THAT CASE CLOSED! The Nundu really was quite adorable when it was sleeping, it’s big imposing neck wasn’t puffed out and it was snoring really quietly, but that didn’t mean that it was harmless and watching it sleep was not getting it out of his bed any sooner.
Graves very slowly slid out of the bed, that endeavor almost landed him sprawled across the floor. Balancing himself out Graves went to go out of his room and directly to Newts so that he could have a few words with him, decidedly not calm words, but then the Director remembered that he was only in his underclothes, which shouldn’t embarrass him but this was Newt after all. Finding a dressing gown wasn’t hard, it was keeping quiet so that he Nundu didn’t wake up. Graves had no clue as to how the Nundu would react with him, Nundus are very dangerous and just because Newt tamed it enough to live in his case didn’t mean that it would be tame around him.
The floor was cold on his bare feet, Graves didn’t notice until he had reached the hallway but the floor was ridiculously cold. Graves was glad that the guest bedroom wasn’t that far from his own, he was also glad that the kitchen wasn’t that far either. As he approached his destination Graves saw that the door to Newts room, no, not ‘Newts’ room, well maybe, okay fine Newts room, was slightly opened, which didn’t feel… right. The Director didn’t think much of it, just nudged open the door to confront Newt about his Nundu, but that is definitely not what happened.
Newt was still fast asleep, his left arm curled under his pillow, his head resting on top. The blankets were artfully strewn around the lean body, a yellow bill peeking out from the blanket halfway down Newts stomach and red curls spread like a halo…. Wait just one moment. Yellow bill?? That niffler was out again, but this time it looked quite content to just lay on Newts stomach. The devilish thing was adorable, but Graves believed that the person being used as a pillow was much more of a sight to behold.
A wet, blunt object touched the back of Graves’ hand causing Graves to nearly jump out of his skin. He will deny that he screamed, men like Graves did not scream, not even a little, out of fear. Graves was so distracted from his previous activity of staring at a sleeping Newt that he didn’t notice Newt laughing at him. The Englishman was holding on tightly to the slightly perturbed Niffler, giggling at the comical way that Graves reacted to Nancy. He knew what the Aurors thought of Nundus, and it was hilarious to see grown men freak out over such a sweetheart. Nancy had been abandoned and Newt raised her, so her survival skills never fully kicked in.
Graves calmed down when Nancy decided to drop right onto his foot, purring like a content cat. After Nancy decided to settle in and not move Graves looked at Newt, a silent cry for help in eyes. Newt just giggled at him and stroked the top of the Nifflers head. The scene was domestic, without even knowing it Graves had started to just stare fondly at the man on the bed while mentioned man on the bed yawned and stretched. A moment of pure panic interrupted Newt, causing him to falter ever so slightly, how did the creatures get out and why did Nancy walk into Newts room, not out to greet the Director. How would he react? Graves was standing there, he wasn’t glaring, maybe it wasn’t a big deal as long as it never happened again. Maybe he could--
“I woke up to a cuddle buddy, I didn’t know Nundus were so friendly.” Of course, he said it with a smirk, but it made Newt realize that he wasn’t angry. It was strange that Nancy had gone to Graves instead of Newt but he wasn’t going to complain.
“Ha, yeah. Nancy is a sweetheart. I saved her when she was young so the natural killing instinct and such didn’t develop.”
“Well, I was coming to wake you up to find out why a Nundu decided to make my bed hers, but I think it’s cute.” Like you. “But now that you’re awake I suggest we get breakfast. Anything you can’t eat?”
“No.”
“Alright, you go to the dining room, I’ll make breakfast.”
Before Newt could protest Graves was already gone. Nancy looked confused, the foot she had been warming was gone along with the person it was attached to. The niffler, his name is William, was unusually quiet and content to be in one spot for once instead of chasing around shiny objects. Newt was suspicious of them both, neither acted like normal. Newt was also worried that other creatures had gotten out during the night, he was about to go down and check his case when Graves called him to the kitchen. Food first and then the case, if anyone else got out they would still be in the apartment, and Nancy had already bounded to the kitchen when she heard the Director's voice. Me too Nancy, me too.
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Laid out on the dining room table was the perfect breakfast. There were beans on toast, eggs, bacon, coffee and juice for the humans and more bacon piled up for Nancy. Of course, she couldn’t get away with eating only that but it was a nice treat for her. William crawled out of Newts arms and onto the table where the silverware was laid out. Graves chuckled at the Nifflers actions. What surprised Newt and Graves the most was the fact that William looked at Graves as if asking for permission, which was unusual. Of course, even though he did this his paws were still inching towards the silver fork, and all Graves did was laugh even more. Newt had hope for this arrangement, if the Director is fine with Nancy and Williams antics, he would be fine with everyone else.
“What does he eat? I would have set out something for him too but I didn’t know if he would eat it.”
“Well he sort of eats anything really, I can give him food later once i get back to my case, I need to see if anyone else escaped during the night.”
Graves was so kind to the creatures, it was amazing. The gruff American seemed to settle in just fine with Nancy insisting that she sit beside him and the Niffler stealing bits of this and that off of everyone's plates and the occasional silver piece.
Breakfast was nice, the conversation wasn’t awkward and the silence wasn’t either. They seemed to get along well, which was good. Graves cleaned everything up, ignoring Newts attempts at helping. Newt found out that Graves had a cute little quirk when he cleans things he hums a song. Newt couldn’t identify the specific tune but it was definitely something Irish.
“Oh hello there, how long have you been here?” The soft murmur stopped the humming, and Newt, missing the sweet sound, went to check out what happened.
“Okay, you can stay there until I’m done the cleaning. Then you go back to Newt so he can feed you okay?” The Occamy slid around Graves’ neck like a scarf, seemingly content with that position. Why did all these creatures seem so content to just lay on him? Must be Newts fault.
“Oh dear. I hope she’s the last one.”
“It’s fine, as long as they don’t destroy the apartment they are free to roam around in here.”
The magizoologist was definitely surprised with that response, not many people allowed regular household pets but Graves, the Director of Magical Security, was fine with magical creatures, some of them illegal, roaming around his home. Maybe he’ll like them enough that he doesn’t want me to go. Maybe I can stay until he gets a wife. It’s close enough to how I want it to be except there’s a definite end. Anyone would want to be married to him, even me. That means that I'll have a short time with him , but longer than I would have.
Graves slowly got introduced to every animal in Newts case, without stepping into it. He seemed happy to meet every one of them, except maybe a different meeting place would have been better. Every morning Graves awake to a new creature or two in the bed next to him, he thought it was cute but he would rather the one living being in the apartment that hadn’t yet climbed into his bed, Newton Scamander. After a month all the creatures had met Graves, the weirdest meetings were definitely the Graphorn and the Erumpet, and Graves was also introduced to his growing feelings of affection for Newt. He was no fool, he knew that he was close to being in love with the magizoologist. The man just seemed to fit so easily into his life.
Christmas had come and gone, the decorations with it. Maybe it was because Newt was still settling but they sort of forgot about it. Late Christmas presents found there way into each others belongings. New Years was also not a big deal. Well, kind of. A big case had caused some major damage to a warehouse on the docks and so the paperwork had been piled high. Graves hadn’t stepped foot into a pub since the night before Newt arrived, it wasn’t even a thought in his head.
Scamander seemed to enjoy the little tunes that Graves remembered, all little Irish things he’s heard from his mother and from the pub, a little door in his mind had opened and released a past hobby that Graves had abandoned. Maybe if he got Newt to stay he could impress him with more music, he seemed to enjoy it. It was nearing the end of January now, maybe he could do something in February, the sooner the better.