FULL CHAPTER HERE —> A CURSE UPON THEE 3-12

One blue eye cracked itself open and Finn McHale immediately regretted it, morning sunlight blinding in all its white-gold evil. Dust floated above him, illuminated through the glass of the balcony doors under a beam of that evil aimed right at him.…okay.Evil or not, it was his wakeup call and he wasn’t going to be the one to ignore it.A yawn spread his jaw wide enough for it to pop, Finn sitting up and the blanket sliding off of him. He sat there for a moment rubbing at his eye while another yawn left him. The very same moment that the last little bits of sleep crumbs fell free, something came into focus on the low table.The egg…It was still there like it always was; pale and spotted and bigger than his head while sitting comfy inside its canister on a little glass cushion. Thing’s big enough to start paying rent. Finn rolled his eyes at the thought of that, highly doubting that whatever came out of that thing would be smart enough for that much. Hoping it’ll follow orders is probably too much, even.Hopes for the future aside, the egg and its container had become part of the furniture at some point. Not that Finn would say that out loud.Again, at least.That would incur risking an angry Mal going for her parasol.Not furniture, but it had a place now— like a lamp.Right on top of the table — the table that could be used for so much else — was where the egg sat while they waited for it to one day hatch. The table was its nighttime position but where Mal moved around the apartment, she made sure to take it with her— carrying it from room to room under her arm, like it was already hatched and mobile. Sometimes, he’d even look up to find Mal cradling it in her arms while some guy on a variety show got hit in the face with a pie. The whole ‘character development’ thing he’d planned with the egg had been more of a joke than anything else, some throwaway comment that he expected not to last longer than a couple days and rely on him to pick up the slack.Full offense to Mal, responsibility wasn’t her finest quality. Pretty sure it isn’t mine either. True as that was, to the surprise of Finn himself, they both seemed to be growing there. Hell, a couple of night ago, he’d gotten up for water past midnight and found Mal in her bedroom — the door cracked just enough — curled up on her side with her back to him and one arm wrapped around the canister.She was talking to it, too.Telling it stories, even, stories about her mother, mostly; how Maleficent had once set a duke’s entire orchard on fire because he had dared refer to her with the term madame instead of my lady or how she made Mal recite the names of every poisonous thorn plant in the kingdom for a punishment before she was allowed dinner, or even how she would sit at the roof of a tower at night with eyes on the sky saying nothing while Mal sat at her side.Most of it made the woman sound impossible and insufferable, as close to a nightmare as was possible. Even still, the way Mal told those stories…Well, she clearly loved every second of it.Yeah. Finn stood there in the dark, an empty glass in his hand. I get it. 

Even if Storybrooke had only been his for half a year, and most of it he’d spent with a head full of fog, it had still been more like home than anything he’d ever known. Even more than Kyoto Jujutsu High.I’m coming back, guys. He shook that out of his head before he could spend any more time dwelling on what he still didn’t have a solution for. The phone was still on the counter where he’d left it last night, Finn picking it up off the counter on the way to the bathroom.With a sigh, he flipped it open with one hand— the other hand going for the bathroom door.One message stared back at him before he opened the door, Finn wincing at the screen with one eye still shut against the morning light. Really? With a sigh, Finn spoke a single name over his shoulder. “...Mal.”The purple-haired lump in the blankets he’d just climbed out of let out a low groan into the pillow over her face. “Mal, we’ve got a job.”A pillow came flying his way.It missed by a mile, not even close to hitting him and instead wobbling the egg canister. Like she had eyes in the back of her head, Mal shot up from the covers and grabbed for the canister with both hands. “You made me miss.”

Finn pulled a face. “I didn’t do anything.”Those eyes glared at him, sleepiness making the fairy girl look very un-ethereal. “You moved.”The sorcerer stared back with nothing but a sigh and a few simple words. “...just get ready. I’ll put breakfast on.”

FULL CHAPTER HERE —> A CURSE UPON THEE 3-12