The Guardian - A My Inner Demons AU Fanfic

Chapter Nineteen - It's Like Raising Literal Children

Hey Ava!!! I was wondering if you and Em wanted to go to the Fall Festival coming up next week?? Maybe invite some of your hunks too! ;) Just wanted to invite you, a few friends from high school will be there

!Ava sat on her bed, staring at the text message she'd just received. "Ugh, Lorelai... " she muttered, glaring at her phone. She was caught off-guard when it beeped again to alert her to a new text.

You probably are going "ugh" at this message, but you know you secretly want to go. I can tell! It's next Saturday, so if you want to go but don't want to text back, just meet us at the Festival at 2PM! Hope you and Em are doing well!

"Stupid Lorelai. Why does she keep asking if I wanna hang out?" She paused as a thought suddenly occurred to her. Something in the text messages stood out to her. "Wait... festival?" Ava gasped in shock, rising from her bed and running towards her window. "I just realized - !"

As the short woman stared at the ground below her, the obvious signs of Fall became more and more apparent: browning leaves on trees, people dressed in cute sweaters and cozy jackets, a couple holding hands while carrying what was very obviously pumpkin spiced drinks from the coffee shop.

"It... it's October!" she cried out in delight. She got dressed in record time, then raced from her room and burst into Em's without even bothering to knock. "Em, it's October!" Ava immediately brought herself to a halt as she caught sight of the veteran.

Em was lying on top of the covers of her bed in her running clothes, although it didn't look like she'd actually made it out for a run that morning. She blearily opened her eyes, looking unimpressed at the intrusion. "Uh, yeah. I know. My birthday is October 1st. I thought you already knew what month it was."

Instead of addressing the issue at hand, Ava chose to study her roommate a little closer. There were visible bags under the taller woman's eyes, her expression one of exhaustion. "Are you doing that not sleeping thing again?"

Em groaned. "Not by choice." She sat up on her bed, leaning forward heavily to rest her chin in her hand. "I would love to sleep, but there are other... pressing matters that need my attention."

Ava scoffed. "Are you talking about the guys? All I've seen them doing since we gave them the TV is sit and watch it! In fact, I haven't seen them leave... at all... " She trailed off as she realized the situation. "They've been watching the TV nonstop for two days?!"

The veteran nodded. "Just about." She covered a long yawn, blinking slowly once she was done. "I haven't even introduced them to the wonders of other channels yet." She tried sitting up a little straighter. "Did you know Daemos only need about three hours of sleep a night?"

"You know, you could just get some sleep and let them figure stuff out on their own."

A harsh shake of her head. "No way. I already told you: it's like teaching children. We can't just plop them down in front of the TV and expect them to absorb everything perfectly." She let out a breath that might have been a laugh. "They... have a lot of questions."

"Maybe we should try putting some time limits on when they can watch it?" Ava stepped forward, grabbing the veteran gently by the arm and trying to pull her up. "But we can talk about that later. For now, come help me get the apartment properly spookified for Halloween!"

Em let out another breathy chuckle, allowing herself to be moved. "Okay, okay." She stretched, then reached over and grabbed her phone from the bed. "Maybe it'll help me wake up a bit." This was the most animated she'd seen Ava in weeks, and she wasn't going to put a damper on the mood.

"See, that's the spirit! Let's get spooky!"

* * * * *

It took a bit longer than expected to even get started.