The Truth
"So, your last name is Smith, huh? I wouldn't have pegged you for a Smith honestly," you joked after ordering your food.
"It's the most common last name in America, I figured it would be the most inconspicuous," he shrugged with a laugh.
"Because?"
He hesitated before responding to you.
There were too many unanswered questions, and the occurrences where he had altered your decisions and made you forget, were multiplying. It wasn't fair to you, to have you questioning your choices when they weren't even yours to begin with.
He couldn't keep lying to you, especially now with how much he'd grown to care for you.
Druig didn't want to hurt you, in fact that was the absolute last thing he wanted to do after all the trouble he'd already caused you.
But telling you the truth meant that all of this would end.
The exploring, and adventures and days spent carefree with no worries but each other. Druig couldn't remember the last time he felt so happy and free.
But morally, he'd never struggled so much with how his decisions were affecting a human and the relationship he had built with you.
"Why don't we just move on?" Druig deflected, wanting you to drop it.
You were disappointed that he would never truly let you learn about him and who he was, but you let it go as usual.
"I must say, I really feel like I'm in some Hollywood glamour era from the '30s," you said in awe, changing topics and still admiring how gorgeous the restaurant was.
"It's quite marvelous, isn't it?" he agreed, continuing the small talk.
The conversation stalled and ran dry after a bit, and you began to pick at your nails nervously. Even as your entrees were served, there was still tension in the air.
What isn't he telling me?
Druig was getting more agitated throughout the dinner as he could hear your thoughts very loudly. You were contemplating everything, and how well you knew him and what Ted Bundy shit he might be pulling behind that handsome face.
He had never met a human filled with so much worry and overthinking.
'I mean Ted Bundy? Really? I seriously need to work on how I come off to people.' He thought to himself, although he knew you really were just overthinking because he wouldn't be honest with you.
You still encompassed the very definition of worry despite trying to hide it in front of him, and Druig could hardly take it anymore.
"Look do you really want to know the truth about me?" he asked loudly, interrupting the meal.
You looked up from your plate confused.
"I can hear you," he reminded you with a dry tone.
Nodding your head, you just calmly said, "Oh right," before you stopped eating and put your fork down. Completely lost as to why he was so irritated, you tried to hide your discomfort so he would finally tell you.
"Yes. If you're willing, I want to know it all. I know you're hiding something, I just know," you finally responded.
He could feel it, he could feel just how much you cared about him. And the fear was still there, the fear of everything falling apart when the truth came out.
But deep down, he knew he couldn't go on without you knowing the truth. If he wanted any future with you, he had to be completely honest and hope you would understand.
"It's a lot. There's so much to explain, so much you won't understand fully," he tried to explain.
"I don't care, I can handle it. Please, I just-" you paused trying to find the right words. "I just want to understand you."
He took a breath before beginning.
"Okay. First of all, you should know who I am."
You shook your head confused.
"I do, I know-"
"No, you don't. There's no other way of saying it, but I've been here for thousands of years and will be here for many more. So has the rest of my family."
The words took a minute to register in your head as time seemed to come to a standstill.
"So, you're... what exactly? Are you immortal? You just don't ever... age?" you asked curiously, still very taken aback by his admittance to this actual inhuman ability.
"Yes. Not really human either," he replied numbly. "And you haven't been imagining things. I can mind control humans as well as reading human thoughts. I can affect what you think about and have you forget what I've done to you."
There was a relief you felt, as that provided a much-needed explanation as to most of the odd things he'd said recently. But it was still very difficult for you to comprehend completely, and you were getting a bit overwhelmed with all the information.
And frustratingly, as much as you combed through your memories ever since you met him, you were struggling to put the pieces together. But you saw the look on his face, and the guilt.
'What has he done to me that was so horrible?'
"Will you let me remember?" you asked quietly. "What you did to me?"
He saw the tears about to fall and heard the quiver in your voice. It was making him feel even guiltier if it was even possible.
He did as you asked, and let you remember everything that had happened since meeting him.
Even up to before you lost your papers.
When he had watched you walk all the way down the sidewalk, lost in your phone and distracted. He was immediately enamored with you and could just feel that you were the one.
The beautiful girl who had caught his eye just like that, your infectious and radiant energy shining from across the street.
You had no idea though that he had been watching you before he caught your papers.
The rush of the memories flooding back after that moment, however, were absolutely devastating. He had changed your entire life just minutes after meeting him, and you had no idea.
For his own selfish gain at that.
That's when it began to hit you as you realized that all of this had in fact been some form of a sick game. As terrified as you were the whole time that this perfect dream was a cruel joke, that's what it seemingly started out as.
"I-I don't understand, why did you do this to me?!" you yelled, voice straining through the tears.
Druig was drowning, slowly succumbing to the pressure of the truth and consequences of his actions. There was a dull, deep nauseating pain building in his abdomen that he's never felt before.
The guilt was truly eating him alive.
"Answer me!" you demanded.
"I never meant for this to turn into what it has. I truly didn't." The words were strangled in his throat, as he felt his emotions rearing to a head.
"What was your intention then? Did you do this all for fun, for your own enjoyment? Breaking my phone, lying to me, having me quit my job? I thought I was fucking losing my mind because of what you were doing, and you knew the whole time!"
"No of course, it wasn't for fun! I had an intention when I first met you, I swear I did." Druig said defensively.
"Then explain it to me, because I can't wrap my head around how ANYONE could do this to another human!"
All he could do was look at you, with the most regretful and pitiful look on his face.
Your sorrow had turned to anger as you were absolutely livid now as to how he treated you. He had been a complete asshole, treating you so carelessly at first. You had been the most understanding and open-minded person and yet he still decided to change your entire life without a care. Beyond that, he never had true intentions the entire time, and he had been lying to you about how 'spontaneous' your first meeting was.
It was all so wrong.
Druig had really made you think you were crazy or maybe just a little forgetful that day over and over, for weeks now without telling you the truth.
He didn't even realize how much that messes with your head, or how confusing it is.
Through staggered breaths, you tried to slow your crying and pull yourself together. You tried to remind yourself that you didn't have the entire story yet.
Druig however was in shambles, stretched thin with the mounting emotions that he had never felt before in his life. And the fear that this would be what destroyed you two. That things would end so soon before you even had a real chance together.
You both quietly finished your meal without a word and walked out of the restaurant. Poked at your food for the most part, too sick to your stomach to actually hold anything down.
But anything was better than looking into his eyes again.
Looking into those damn eyes that put you in this mess in the first place.
"I won't let you leave without hearing the entire story," he told you as soon as you were away from people. He grabbed your arm and pulled you to the side of the dock.
"Maybe I don't want to hear it! Maybe I would rather never see your goddamn face again after how you've treated me!"
"Don't say that, please don't say that," he said seriously, holding your face in his hands. Druig had never been so scared than he was in that moment, thinking about you leaving him as unfair as it may have been to even think that.
You closed your eyes and reluctantly pulled his hands away slowly. As much as you once loved his affection, you couldn't handle it in this moment as it reminded you once more that he never had true intentions.
You ran your hands through your hair anxiously and tried to take some calming breaths so you could get through this without falling apart.
"Okay. I'll let you explain."
He led you to a small nearby bench and rubbed his hands together nervously.
"When I started all of this, I had a completely different goal. I had been looking across the world for someone, just one person to hear me out."
He looked up at the night sky and array of stars that filled the darkness.
"I had hope still that there was good in humans and that someone would take a chance on me."
"And why is that?"
"Because I almost died," he sighed, turning to you.
As mad as he had made you tonight, and as resentful as you wish you felt, you fell apart in that moment. The thought of him dead made your heart stop.
"It was... well I don't even know what to call him anymore. It was Ikaris. We fought a lot but I loved him, as much as I love every other person in my family. And he turned on us."
As Druig recalled the memories, he started to get teary eyed.
"I'm so sorry. I really am," you said intertwining your hand with his own, putting your feelings aside to comfort him in the moment. He squeezed it lovingly.
"It's okay," he whispered shrugging his shoulders and wiping his eyes with his free hand. "It just made me realize that I didn't want to die before a human actually knew me. No human alive or dead has ever truly known me or my life story."
"But you've been alive for thousands of years? And no one knows you?"
It broke your heart to think of how alone he must've felt for all of these years.
"Where do you think all the myths came from? And the Edward Cullen you so fondly mentioned when you first met me."
This time you actually giggled, remembering how offended he was with the comparison.
"Yes, they all stemmed from me. But humans come and go so easily it didn't matter, no one knew me for me," he said nonchalantly. "Before I met you."
He smiled and pushed your hair behind your ear.
"My beautiful, beautiful girl."
You couldn't help but smile back as those familiar butterflies returned and you fell for him all over again.
You would hear him out as he wished. Human or not, thousands of years old, a mind reader.
You knew no matter what he was or what he said, it wouldn't change the fact that you loved him.