The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

The Special Chapter

July 7th, 20XX

As you slowly gain consciousness, you open your eyes, seeing the ceiling above you. As you lie down, you stretch your arms out, letting out a big sigh of relief after a long, good night of sleep. You look over at your clock on the wall, and seeing that it is a little past 11:00, your body suddenly shoots up at the realization that you've overslept finally kicks in. You quickly kick your blanket off your body and jump off the side of your bed, leaving your room and rushing down the hallway to the bathroom. You slam the door a little louder than you mean to and quickly get to work on getting ready for the day. You strip all of your clothes off and jump into the shower, quickly washing your face and hair. You do a quick, thorough scrub of your body and get out, grabbing your towel and rubbing your hair with it violently, getting it pretty dry in a few seconds. You rush back over to the sink and open the cabinet, grabbing your toothbrush. You squeeze the toothpaste on it and begin brushing your teeth just as a violently as you were drying your hair. Once you finish that, you grab a small cup full of mouthwash and rinse your mouth out. As you do that, you run back to your room, putting on a fresh pair of clothes, including the t-shirt that you won at the raffle at prom. You run back to the bathroom to spit out the mouthwash and take one final look at yourself in the mirror. You make a few small adjustments to your hair by swooping your hand through it, and you're ready to go. You quickly make your way downstairs.

Once you get to the bottom of the steps, you hear the sound of guns firing rapidly, and two distinct voices chanting "Damien!" over and over. You turn the corner and see Damien playing the video game on the TV as Scott and Brian watch, cheering him on. He seems to be doing well, until the screen turns red and the bloody text of 'You Died' appears on the screen. The blood actually seeps out of the TV and drips onto the TV stand! Damien stomps his feet to the ground, saying, "God dammit! You mother fucking pussy ass bitch! I fucking hate this game!" And he throws his controller at the wall. You smirk and get behind him, patting his head like he's a child. "Now Damien, we've talked about swearing at 6-year-olds." "Actually, the bitch is 7 years old, so eat my ass, noob!" "(Y/N)!" Scott gets up from his seat and runs to you, scooping you up in his arms and spinning you around. You both laugh. Then, when he stops, you wrap your arms around him. You basically shout, "Happy birthday, Scotty boy!" He hugs you tighter, "Thank you! Are you ready to go?" You chuckle, "Yes I am!" You squish his face and kiss him on the nose. You turn your head back to Damien and Brian and say, "See you guys later!" Brian gives a thumbs up and Damien says, "You better make sure that you guys are there by 7:00, all right?" "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Catch you later!" Scott carries you outside.

After he steps, out Scott plants many kisses all over your face. He says, "You took so long to get ready! I was ready to see you 2 hours ago!" You reply, "What? You were only supposed to get here an hour ago!" He looks down, embarrassed. "I got excited..." You chuckle, "You're such a goof. You're lucky you got to see me at all today. Between working at Taco Hell, training with Damien's dads, and my therapy sessions, you're lucky I was able to get today off, let alone the whole weekend." "I know... Thank you for doing that for me." You smile, "Of course! I would do anything for you." You caress his cheek and give him another kiss. He carries you to his car. You both get in, and you ask him, "So... We going to the spot then?" "Actually... There's somewhere I want to stop by first, if you don't mind." You give him a look of understanding, "Of course." He starts his car and drives away. You look in the side mirror and watch the LaVey household shrink.

You listen to the quiet music in the car as Scott drives you to the first destination, and it's the exact place you thought. He pulls over to the side of the small road and takes a deep breath before getting out of the car. He goes around the back and grabs a box from the trunk. You follow closely behind his drooping tail as you both walk on the grass. He stops in front of the stone and turns to it. He sits down on the ground, crossing his legs. You follow suit. With shaking hands, he opens the box, revealing half a dozen cupcakes inside. He looks back up at the stone, "H-Hi, Mawmaw... It's me... Scott... Um... Today is my first birthday that you aren't around for, but I still wanted to see you, so I decided to visit. (Y/N) is here with me, too. We're still very happy together... I hope you know that. Anyways, uh... E-Every year, I would offer you a cupcake on my birthday, but you would n-never take one because you always said it was my birthday so I should be the one to eat all of them... I was never able to get you to eat one, but now... You don't really have a choice." Scott grabs a cupcake out of the box, unwraps it, and places it in front of the grave. He continues, "I've always wanted to give it to you every year because they're so good and I always want you to have one. But... I also wanted you to have one because... I love you. You're wonderful, and amazing, and smart, and pretty, and everything! I-I love you so much, s-so I always w-wanted you to have one, b-but now you can't, a-and... A-And... I'm sorry..." He lifts his hands up and covers his eyes as he starts to sob. You reach over and place your hand on his thigh, rubbing it lightly. He turns to you and pulls you into a deep embrace, holding onto you for dear life. He cries for a few more minutes and pulls away. He says, "Anyway, it was good to see you... I hope you're still thinking of us, because we're always thinking of you..." He leans forward and kisses the top of the grave and he gets up. You get up with him and take his hand. He hugs you one more time before you both go back to his car. He gets in the driver's side and takes a few more deep breaths before turning to you with a big, almost forced smile, "All right, Let's have some fun again!" He cranks his music up loud and you two drive off.

He drives you to the park and gets into the trunk once again, pulling out a basket. "I thought we could actually eat on the table. Like it's supposed to be used!" You laugh at the remark, realizing just how true it is that you've never eaten on the table. You enjoy a lovely lunch prepared by Scott, consisting of PB&J sandwiches, salt and vinegar chips, warm soda, and fresh and delicious cupcakes. Afterwards, you spend plenty of time throwing a frisbee, playing catch, feeding the ducks, going hiking, and having an overall amazing and awesome day. After hours, your alarm goes off, telling you that it is 6:30. You tell Scott, "I hate to cut our time short, but we need to get going to Polly's place. The birthday boy needs a real party." You smile and wink. Scott smiles back and his tail wags quickly. "Okie doki!" He says, grabbing your hand and running to the car. You listen to loud music again, belting the lyrics to all the songs. You pull up to Polly's house and the music is already blaring from inside. It seems like the party started a little early, but that's okay. Hand in hand, you and Scott enter the building, ready to have a great birthday party.

(A/N): Fun fact: July 7th is canonically Scott's birthday, so I had to make a special chapter for it to celebrate! I really wanted to write it after I realized it would release on his birthday. So here I am, at 4 in the morning, scrambling to get this long, 1400-word chapter written before the post time on today, Thursday! I hope you enjoyed it!

And I also wanted to take the time to let you know, once again, that I appreciate all of you who read this, whether you've been here since chapter 10, 20, 100, or just now discovering it. I hope you continue to enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoy reading all of your comments!