Endearment

Chapter 1: Star Gazing

"Intruder? Ha! In the middle of the woods? Who'd be stupid enough to enter a creepy mansion by themselves?"

"Well, I know a couple of people."

"Well, the people you know are idiots. Obviously."

All there was was a stupid grin on Masky's face. Which kind of pissed the shorter man off. "I'll get over there and slap that stupid smirk off your face." Yet another chuckle came out from the masked-man. "Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that." Turning on his heels, he began walking back to his destination, leaving poor Toby behind. "Hey, I'm not done talking here!"

"I swear, you're probably the most stubborn person I've probably ever met in my life!" The man turned around with a small frown.

"Yeah?! Well, maybe that's a good thing!"

"Would you lower your voice? Slendy or Hoodie might hear us and then they'll wake up, and then we'll both be in trouble. We're not supposed to be up anyways, we have training in the morning."

"It already is morning, jackass." Toby folded his arms and now had the smug smirk on his face, show-able now since he hadn't had the chance to put his mouth guard on when he left his prison.

"You just have to say somethin' smart, don'cha?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

The masked man groaned and began to make his way upstairs, pausing for a second and then taking one step back to face Toby. "Where were you going off to anyways?" His fellow-proxy got a bit nervous since he did know he wasn't allowed out of the mansion after hours, and without permission of The Operator let alone. "Uh...taking out the trash..? He scratched the back of his head with a rather awkward grin on his face. "Taking out the trash. At 2am? When we don't even have trash?"

Well shit, he didn't really have an excuse this time.

"O-Oh? We don't? Pfft... I knew that. I meant I was...gonna..."

"You just wanted to leave the house." Masky smiled a bit.

"What? No! Leaving the house after-hours without permission is against the rules! I'd never disobey Slender-Man!"

"Just go ahead. I won't fib on you. Besides, I do it all the time. Was going to do it, actually. But then I saw you and thought : 'Aye, what the hell. One night without seeing the stars won't hurt.' So, go ahead."

The hooded man perked up a bit. "Y-You were going to star gaze too?" His reply was a simple nod. Pondering a bit, he was tempted to ask if he'd join him in gazing at the stars. "Well, you know what they say. Two's better than one." Tilting his head a bit confused, Masky stepped back down the stairs, back to the first level. "What do you mean?" Toby tried thinking of a way to invite his fellow-proxy to go outside with him without breaking much of his norm character. "What the hell do you think it means, dumbass? It means come with me if you want. Just try not to be too much of a nuisance." Expecting fury or annoyance from him since usually whenever he'd act like a smartass to anyone else, that's the reaction that came, however all he heard was a giggle. What the fuck was so funny? "Okay, okay. I'll join you." The taller man scruffed his hair as he passed by, making his way to the door. What? He's not angry or anything? Confused, Toby turned to his heels and caught up to Masky who was already outside making his way to a hill that was hidden well as the trees cascaded around it.

There was a narrow stone path that lead from the gated mansion into the deep and mostly fogged woods. Although the scene was rather creepy or scary, there was a small hill that differed from the rest of the land. It was almost like a bloated perfect circle with dark, dead trees surrounding it. However, even though there were clouds everywhere, in that individual spot there were none. It was always a clear night there which made it the perfect star-gazing spot. Walking there, Masky was humming a song that Toby wasn't very familiar with. 'Maybe I should make a conversation with him?' Toby thought. When he was about to mutter something out, the masked-proxy interrupted. "I didn't know you liked star-gazing," said Masky. "Ditto." Leave it to Toby to kill a conversation so soon. "Well, it's kinda unpredictable from you." Say what now?

"What do you mean?" Grunted Toby, a tiny bit annoyed and offended. "No, it's nothing. I just thought that star-gazing isn't your kind of thing. It's a bit too..."

"Soft." Now he had a frown on his face, and he stopped dead-on his track.

"Well...." Masky turned around and noticed he was a bit ahead of Toby. He lifted his arms slowly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, it seems like something a bit too soft coming from a hardcore killer like yourself."

"Is that a compliment?"

"If you want it to, yeah."

"Hey- being a smart-ass is my thing."

"Oh whatever. Anyways, do you star-gaze often?"

"Why're you so curious, hmm?"

"Just trying to start a conversation here, Toby."

"Well, if I've said it once I've said it a million times. None of your business."

Chuckling a bit, Masky continued to walk, not caring if Toby chose to follow him or not. "What is with you?!" Toby squeal almost as his voice cracked. Turning back around, the masked-man faced him as he walked backwards. "What's what?"

"You! Always chuckling- never getting angry! What's with that?! I can be complete jerk to you, hell, I could probably punch you in the gut and you'd be okay with that!"

"Yeah. Is that a bad thing or something?"

Toby twitched a bit and frowned. "It's annoying!"

"Annoying because you're unable to piss or set me off?"

"No! It's annoying because I can't get a reaction from you!"

"....so because you're unable to piss or set me off."

"..whatever!"

"I just think it's cute."

Toby froze and mouth gaped slightly. Cute? Him? Acting like a dick is cute? What the hell?!

"CUTE?! ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?! I'M A MURDER, I'M NOT CUTE!"

"Someone isn't very used to compliments, huh? Why don't you let down the tough-guy act for once and actually enjoy the moment with someone? I know you're not very tough, that it's only an act and probably just for reputation statuses. You can be yourself around me, you know." As soon as the words slipped out his lips, they'd arrived at their destination. Toby had a dumbfounded expression on his face from what had just been said, and Masky honestly didn't care to stick around. He'd had already laid on the grass and looked into the clear sky. As the crisp air breeze kicked in, the masked-man closed his eyes, and Toby, even though it was dark, had a rare moment spark. He had blushed.

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