╰┈➤ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧: 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥

                                        𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 - 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺

                                            ❛ But I promise you this,

                                          I'll always look out for you ❜

𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓.

It may not seem like it at times but he truly did. He looked out for others constantly whether he realized it or not. And now was the time to look out for one of his favorite people in the world.

Just don't tell her that.

Love was hopeless, honestly it would be adorable if it wasn't so pathetic. He means that with all the love he possibly could. Gwen was so obviously enamored with this girl and she was ignoring all the signs.

He was a strong believer in self identity. No one should be able to tell you who you are.

Except for him, Love was gay.

Maybe it was too early to meddle, Gwen had only been living with him for a week now. But it was better now than never.

"Gwendy I'm going out with Poppy for a bit." Hobie stepped out of his room, shutting the door behind him. Love and Gwen whipped their head around, staring at him. "That's my cue to leave." Love began to stand from the couch, punching the code for her dimension into her watch.

Hobie walked over to them, bumping into the smaller girl, causing her to stumble. Gwen caught her,l by the waist before sheepishly letting go.

"No need doll, you stay here, keep Gwendalyn company yea? We'll only be out for an hour or two, wanted to show Poppy that new cafe that opened up down the road." Love quirked an eyebrow at the older man who winked, grabbing his house keys.

"'Right then, have fun, but not too much get me?"

𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐒𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀 𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐋𝐈𝐄.

He had no plans with Poppy, in fact he hadn't spoken to her in three days. The second the door to his apartment closed, he punched in the code for Poppy's dimensionZ

A warm glow filled the hall and he prayed no one noticed as he stepped through.

"Poppy?" He called into the empty bedroom. Stray clothing items covered the floor, miscellaneous combs, clips, hair gels and a pair of pastel pink scissors littered her bed.

"Huh." He muttered, stepping into her room. "Poppy? Are you not home and I'm talking to myself? Because that would be really embarrassing."

"I'm in here." A voice called from across the hall. Hobie stepped into the hall, running his fingers over the aged floral wallpaper, tracing every bump and crack.

"I'm in the bathroom Hobie." Hobie paused, "And.. you want me to... come in?" "Yes."

Hm.

He slowly twisted the knob, peeking into the bathroom. There he saw Poppy, running a comb through her wet curls, an agitated expression painted her face.

The whole bathroom carried the heavy aroma of shea butter and peppermint oil. The angelic voice of Laufey echoed through the bathroom. Hobie chuckled, "Wash day?" "Wash day." Poppy grumbled in response.

"Want me to help you lovey?" Poppy nodded, scooping some sort of hair cream into her fingers, she rubbed it into her hair before she began to run a comb through it.

"All the hair you see that already has this cream in it? Just start doing little braids, I'm trying this fluffy Afro method." She explained, Hobie nodded.

The two sat in a comfortable silence, the soft, melodic song filled the void. His hands skillfully braided her hair, gently as not to add to irritation she was already feeling.

Poppy let out a tired sigh as the last braid was completed. Hobie smiled, "You been doing this for long?" He asked softly, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

She nodded, "At least it was just a weave removal, braids would have killed me." She leaned back against his chest.

"Let's go get you some tea yea?" He turned around, crouching down as an invitation for her to get on his back.

She groaned clinging onto him, wrapping her hands around his neck, his arms hooked under her thighs.

"You brits and your fucking tea." She mumbled, Hobie hummed in response, snatching a pick off the bathroom counter.

Poppy took slow sips of her chamomile tea, careful as not the burn her tongue. Hobie stood behind her chair, undoing her braids, using her black plastic pick to fluff up her hair as she went.

Poppy hummed into her cup, taking another slow sip. "You're such a softie Hobie." He shook his head, "I'm not." "You really are, I just don't think you realize how big your heart is."

"It's called being a decent human being." "It's called being a caring person. Whether you realize it or not that's what you are. You care for others so much." She took another sip, the clanking of her tea cup against her acrylics filled the silence.

"And I love you for it."

𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀 𝙎𝙋𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙎!

Filler chapter because I love black love y'all. And I love this book, but I haven't been sure what to write recently so here's this. Sorry it's short and half assed I just got to Manchester so I've been visiting old friends and family. Wrote this in less than an hour. Someone said Poppy would 100% listen to Laufey so I added that in. I read your comments guys be careful what you say.

Stop commenting, "but Gwen x Miles." "Nooo Gwen's supposed to end up with Miles." Because I've explained before that 1. Gwen has a new love interest in this trilogy. 2, I don't care for Gwen x Miles at all, 3. I have a Miles book up so if you want them together so bad it's going to be hinted at in later chapters. 

4. And I mean this in the nicest way possible. If it bothers you so much, go read another book I'm sick of deleting comments.

Edit: just as I posted this I hit 1k followers. That's just so wild to me, thank you so much! 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙.