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His Soul (Chapter 7)

A Taste of Freedom

Summary: After saving the abducted collectors, you were trusted with Curioso's box. What seems like a dangerous possession slowly turns into an opportunity to learn more about this creature and his curse. Can you earn his trust, and possibly, his affection?

Pairings: Curioso/Reader, Curioso/The Detective

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Upon Curioso’s radio silence, you did the only thing you could do, which was to telephone the local police and inform them of what you’d found. There was still something itching you about this case, about the missing part of the story you hadn’t uncovered. Who put a concealing spell on the house? Was there someone in town capable of conjuring magic that you didn’t know about? And more importantly, were they still a threat ? 

You didn’t know what to do. You were missing several bits of information that Curioso learned in your place. Valuable intel that he was choosing not to disclose to you. For this reason, you informed the officers that there was someone still at large - but when you mentioned spells and magic, they laughed in your face and waved you off. You felt incredibly insulted as you stormed off to your car, tossing Curioso’s box haphazardly into the passenger seat in a fit of rage. 

You took a few deep breaths to calm yourself down. This wasn’t the first time you’d been ridiculed on the job. In fact, if it weren’t for your witnesses, your case of the missing collectors would’ve been a laughingstock at the police station. You turned your head and noticed the box was tipped over. Your anger gradually simmered into guilt, and you leaned over to right your mistake and buckle him carefully into the seat. 

You let out one last sigh and started up your car, heading on your route back to the agency. You had a lot of paperwork to file with this case and you wanted to get a head start on that. You also planned to make a call to Brianna tonight, hopefully before the authorities could inform her on her wife’s whereabouts…you didn’t look forward to anything that awaited you, come to think of it. 

Your eyes glanced over to the box as you drove, noticing it was still dark and Curioso had yet to say a single word. The guilt pooled in your stomach and made you feel terrible. You ruined things, didn’t you? It had all been so promising…he was helping you with this case and even gave you the last piece to the puzzle to solve it. 

You’d have to make it up to him. But how ? 

You pulled up to the building and parked your car around back, unbuckling the box and carrying it in your hands. Once you entered your office, you made sure the sign was still closed and locked up behind you. You didn’t plan on going anywhere else unless it was necessary. You’d had such a long day…and you needed to recover from the sights you’d seen. It was all terribly morbid. 

You took a seat at your desk and moved the box to the edge of your workspace, collecting your writing utensils and the paperwork you had to file. May as well get your duties out of the way before tackling anything else. 

…

…

It was dark outside by the time you finished. The lamp on your desk was the only source of light. You stood from your chair and stretched, heading to the wall so you could flick on the light switch. It engulfed the room in artificial illumination and you moved your attention back to Curioso. Still no red or blue lights…but he had to be in there, listening and seeing. 

You approached it and leaned on the edge of the wood tiredly. You doubted anything else could go wrong today. What would be the harm in testing something with him?

“Curioso,” You spoke up, clearing your throat after having not spoken for hours. “I’m going to let you out.” 

You didn’t get a response right away, and you were about to repeat yourself until the gems of the box flashed a gorgeous blue. Then the red accompanied it, and you knew he was present again. At least he wasn’t going to make this hard…why would he pass up the opportunity to get out? The thing he’d been begging from you since day one?

“..Are you sure?” His tone was skeptical. You couldn’t blame him after your actions today.

You crossed your arms and looked away. “You were right. I hold no trust for you. Even though it was completely warranted with what happened at Andrew Collins’ house…you did nothing wrong today. You hadn’t escaped and you helped me like you promised. I was the one who betrayed you, and I’m sorry for it.” 

The colors began to dim and you worried he was going away, but it must’ve reflected his emotions. His voice sounded softer as he replied to you.

“Thank you for admitting your mistake, Detective.”

You weren’t sure you appreciated his cocky words, but it was better than nothing. At least you two were communicating again. 

“I’ll let you out tonight, but you have to promise me you won’t leave this building and do anything… crazy . Just look around and get familiar here. I figure this is your home as long as I have you, so you may as well get to know the place.” 

He seemed to favor this suggestion, as a faint mist began to pool around his containment. “I won’t let you down. Not like you’ve done with me .”

“I get it. Just tell me how I can get you out.” 

You were still uncertain because you had little knowledge on how this thing worked. You’d pressed a couple of gems earlier and it altered your reality. You didn’t want to go pressing random things on it for that reason…You’d made a lucky guess earlier on how to trap Curioso back inside, but you had absolutely no idea how to get him back in . You had a feeling he wouldn’t be as willing to tell you that himself. 

“It’s simple. Press the pattern of these symbols as I show you.” 

Your eyes widened as strange markings magically presented themselves on top of the wood that protected its casing. Then, one of them lit up - holding its charge until it went dim again. You furrowed your eyebrows together as you hesitantly pressed on it with your forefinger, then heard a satisfying noise click within the box. 

Holy hell. Was it actually working? 

Another symbol lit up, but this was when you hesitated. Curioso noticed your long pause as the markings slowly faded away. He sounded confused and impatient. “Something the matter?” 

“I’ll let you out, but…” Your gaze hardened. “You also have to show me how to put you back in .” 

You could hear his dissatisfied groan. You crossed your arms, refusing to budge in this agreement. You wouldn’t be letting him out unless he showed you everything . 

“Must you worry about such trivial details? There’s no good reason for me to go back-” 

“-It’s not a punishment. I just want you in that box while I’m sleeping.” 

“I promise I won’t go through your things..! Well. Maybe I will a LITTLE, but-” 

“It’s not that I’m concerned about.”  

You were expressing your consistent worry about him escaping and leaving. He could teleport anywhere he wanted, but how far did that exactly go? He destroyed the box before, so there was no way you were letting him out without your supervision. Just…too many factors to worry about, and you still didn’t trust him completely. Even doing this was pushing your boundaries - you were way more comfortable with letting him sit in there, but…you had a feeling this would atone for the mistake you made today. 

“Ugh. Fine . To bring me back, you enter THIS pattern instead.” 

You watched as the symbols returned, a pattern flashing before your eyes. You rushed to grab a nearby notebook and pencil, demanding Curioso to repeat it so you could write them down. He seemed even more displeased with this action, but lit the markings in the correct order again. You gave him a satisfied nod and smile, still clutching the small pad in your hand so you could write down the other combination. 

“These better not be any fake or deceiving codes you’re giving me,” You warned. 

“I’m afraid there’s no way you could possibly know. You’ll just have to trust me.” 

Hmm. You’ll have to solve that predicament soon, then. You gave a reluctant nod and allowed him to show you the first pattern he was going to make, pressing it along with his instructions and writing it down afterwards. The moment the last entry was made, a bright flash came before you…much like it had in that house you were investigating several hours ago. It blinded you for a few seconds and you lifted your arm to cover your eyes while it happened. 

After a moment passed in silence, you lowered your appendage and looked forward with wide eyes. A tall jester stood before you, who was currently leaning down to properly look you in the eye. You were met with a familiar set of sharp teeth, ones that reminded you of a predator. You recalled how his mouth attempted to bite you when it replaced the handle on Andrew Collins’ door. You shivered at the memory, knowing you had barely gotten your fingers out of the way in time.

“Detective,” Curioso spoke. Despite his voice being pretty clear from the box, it had another layer of clarification to it - like you knew you were dealing with the real thing. “How kind of you to set me free .” 

You decided not to be intimidated by him. Hell, you imprisoned him twice and bested him in a game of collections. What did you have to fear? You fixed your posture and met him at your full height. You were still at least 3 heads shorter than him. He was taller than an average human, and it was almost offsetting…

“You are to look around and not touch anything,” You directed firmly. 

He tilted his invisible head at you - you could only tell by the movement of his mask and top hat. “What if there’s a really good book that I want to read?” 

“Run it by me first.” You rushed over to make sure the front door was locked. Not like that could really stop him…but still. “Try not to touch anything in the office, you can poke around upstairs in my apartment.” 

“Hmm,” Was all you heard. 

You turned around and found him looking around your office. He had his hands clasped behind his back, exaggerating it like a child would after you told them not to touch anything. You could almost imagine him whistling innocently to accompany the action, and you wondered if he could even do that . You really couldn’t tell where he was looking, either - he had no irises you could track, and you could only judge his direction by where his mask faced. It hadn’t really bothered you before when you met him, but now it made you uneasy. 

He reached the other end of the room and stopped moving. You couldn’t help following his tracks and found him staring at your previous cases hanging around the wall - your proud memorabilia that you’d once added him to. He hadn’t moved his attention from it for a long time, and when you were about to go elsewhere, he suddenly turned around to face you.

“Can I read these ?” He pointed a mechanical finger to one of the dossiers. 

You shook your head. “No. Maybe someday I’ll tell you about them, though.” 

His figure slouched, and you had a feeling he’d be rolling his eyes if he had any. “This is so lame. If I’d have known I couldn’t DO anything, I would’ve never asked you to take me out.” 

“Oh, well,” You couldn’t hide the smirk in your voice, walking back to your desk to turn the lamp off. “I guess you’ll have to get used to touching with your eyes.” You straightened your back as the implication dawned on you. “Ah, that’s not offensive to say, is it?” 

You froze when you realized he wasn’t standing there anymore. You’d just caught the strange sight of a flash when you turned around. It was clear that he just teleported somewhere, and there were really only two places he could be under your rules right now. That was, if he was choosing to follow them… 

“ Shit ,” You swore under your breath, rushing to lock up down here and hurry up the stairs. You were not okay with the idea of leaving him by himself in your living arrangements. 

You practically ran up the stairs and threw open the door to your small apartment above. You didn’t see the place in any disarray, but you also didn’t see Curioso, either. You stepped inside and locked up behind you, moving all your focus to finding the magical jester as soon as you could. You really should’ve told him to tell you before he teleported off anywhere - there was no way you knew where he was coming and going from otherwise. 

“Curioso?” You called into your apartment. It wasn’t that big of a place, you were bound to stumble on him somewhere -

“- Detective !” His voice joyfully called back to you. You followed it to see him in your bedroom looking at the pictures you had on the wall. “Was this you in high school? Look at the size of your braces!” 

You sighed in relief knowing he was still here. It didn’t take him long to start looking through your things…but you could understand that. There wasn’t much to look at up here, all your interesting things were in your office. He’d find nothing but relics from your past up here. That fact didn’t bother you all too much. 

“Can you PLEASE tell me before you go teleporting off somewhere?” Your words came out harsher than you intended. You were still worked up over that small panic you had. “I had no clue where you went.” 

“I didn’t know that was part of the rules,” He replied, sitting on your bed and feeling around the covers. “If it makes you happy, then I will.” 

A few beats passed before he stood from your bed and looked at you standing in the doorway. You assumed he meant to leave and walked back into the living room. Curioso followed you from behind, then went to poke his imaginative nose through your kitchen. You were more wary of him being in there…having not removed any of your knives or whatever else could be used as a weapon in there- 

“You have me thinking,” His voice caught your attention. You made your way to where he was and found him reading the notes you’d stuck to the fridge. The mask soon faced you. “Am I truly free if you are to cage me here, Detective?”

“I…” Your weight leaned against the door, filled with the strangest feeling of shame. 

He was right, but things had to be this way. It just wouldn’t work if he was granted unlimited freedom - people would be shocked at the sight of him on the streets. He would cause chaos. He could trap human souls within his grasp - for all you knew, Curioso could very well be a criminal. But that was a harsh label to assign to him, you thought. It was safer for everyone if he was kept out of sight. 

“It’s just the way it has to be.” You told him with a serious look in your eyes, leaving no room for questioning with this subject. 

“I see,” His voice went quiet and defeated. 

It almost drove a knife through your heart, but you held firm. It was the only choice and you both knew it. 

But something about it made you feel it wasn’t right.