His Nightmare Queen (Pitch Black x Reader)

44: Scare

There are only a few chapters left. I know there’s been some loss of interest at this point. That’s ok. Things will all tie back together soon.

*November*

“Cassiopea.”

“Pass.”

“Asteria.”

“Too much like the rabbit’s name.”

“It means ‘star.’” You huffed with a roll of your eyes before turning back to the empty page at the back of the book in your hand. “Alright, nevermind.” You tapped the eraser end of your pencil against the paper a few times in thought before another lightbulb lit off above your head. “Layla or Melanie?”

“No.” Pitch flashed you a look.

The two of you sat across from one another in the library this autumn afternoon. It was not like you could do much else at this point - or so it felt that way at least. With only a few more weeks to go, even the thick material of your heavy dark cloak hanging from your shoulders was barely enough to cover the slight curve of your abdomen that showed from outside the garment coating the true roundness of the well-grown bump resting underneath. You would adjust yourself every few minutes on the cushioned chair in which you sat to shift the center of the extra weight of it, all while trying not to awaken your unborn son or daughter whose lack of movement within the last hour indicated that they were probably sleeping.

You sat with a pencil and novel in hand that was turned to one of the first extra pages for you to jot down notes. It was getting a little late to have not already picked out a name, but there was still enough time to drag your husband into this little session of yours no matter how long it would take. You would pencil in a few in different sections of a sketched-out table, making sure to keep this page separate from the other page containing your incomplete to-do list of bullet points, scribbles, and sloppy cursive. The many books on the surrounding shelves sometimes proved helpful to grant ideas as well.

“They mean ‘dark beauty,’” you pointed out. Your sigh gave away your partial annoyance. “Okay, back to space names.”

“We’re not naming a constellation,” Pitch said with crossed arms, brows knitting together.

“I thought you’d seem more fond of those kinds of names than the regular ones.” You then pointed your pencil in his direction as if to prove your point with its sharp tip when you gave your next suggestion. “Andromeda.”

The Nightmare King looked up in thought for a moment as he surprised even himself by taking the name into consideration. “...Maybe.”

“See what I mean? Putting it on the list.” You quickly scribbled the name down on your makeshift notepad. Pitch studied your motions as you balanced the paperback occasionally on the armrest of your chair and other times against your belly. He held back a chuckle at the way you stuck the tip of your tongue out when you wrote. At the same time, he was bringing himself to make note of the suggestion that awaited in his mind.  

“Estelle means ‘star.’”

You looked up to make sure you did not mishear his murmur. “Estelle or Estella?” You pursed your lips, finding you liked the way those names sounded after all. “I’ll put those down.” As you wrote, you thought to muster enough confidence to also bring light to your latest idea. “I also thought of Ravanna, but I was worried you’d think it was too simple.”

“Ravanna?” Pitch took a few seconds to think on this one as well. “I wouldn’t say I dislike it.”

“I’ll take that as a plus and put it down.” When you penciled it in, you looked over the rest of your list. “Okay, that’s enough girl names for now. Let’s find more boy names.”