"Sure, Toby. Let's take a walk,"
The male’s usual deep tone was faint, yet his words acted as a dagger.
EJ recognized the swerve in Toby’s loquacious behaviour, making his lips twirl into a delighted smirk. Toby was just an adult boy, one that couldn’t understand or identify emotional downfall.
Of course, Jack understood sentiment and its effect on the human brain… and the heart. Yet any of the characteristics that identified passion weren’t shown, even a sliver, within the hatchet wielder. It was strange.
The way the jittery brunette slouched, the way his eyes averted from you with hatred, the way his arua always grew so quarrelsome once your presence was made known… EJ would have never connected the dots if he hadn't witnessed Toby that night.
“You don’t have to,” You uttered sourly, sighing as your eyes darted between the two males. If the eyeless man wasn’t in the vicinity, then a brawl with Toby would have occurred. Even now you were itching to rip off the boy's head for coming between you and another person- yet again.
“I will,” Jack gave a confident, yet gentle nod towards you. His soft confidence was enough to let a tiresome sigh linger through your lips. For an almost voiceless man he carried strength that could outdo many, so he was fine if Toby unpromtedly attacked him.
But something else carried uncertainty in you.
Toby wasn’t one to be trusted.
“Th-that’s very nice o-of you, Jacky,” Toby vocalized softly with a hint of snarkiness. His eyes held a perfect mix of unwanted emotions, even some a proxy shouldn’t dare to feel.
Anyone could read he wanted to unleash the worst of these emotions on Jack.
A boy that taught you to feel in this dull world.
Yet, Toby would be begging for hellfire if he voluntarily incapacited another pasta.
Jack’s oozing sockets reamined idle on the other’s frame. Toby’s body language was well hidden from others, that’s what always made his actions so surprising. It was only until the boys emotions consumed him, that's when his emotions slipped out. Jack's black sockets closed for a moment, seeming to result in a consensus in his mind. With a slight nod, EJ turned slowly on his heel towards the towering oak doors. His pace was littered with anticipation, wanting to speed the process of what was to come.
You were unsure of the end results, but you knew it wasn’t going to be good.
You just hoped the calm would tide over a loose cannon.
Toby's POV
Nightfall was presenting itself faster than expected. The stars danced through the leaves of the trees and blanked in random patterns at me, it was almost mesmerizing. I turned back towards the direction of the mansion, examining the distance that we had put between us and the rustic building. Our stroll was engulfed in awkward silence, although, for Jack it seemed to twist into comfortable silence. Once I thought we were at an acceptable distance, I spoke up.
I wanted to understand.
“Yo-you’re playing a-a ga-game,” I stated, halting at a small patch of grass that perfectly showed the night sky through the copious amounts of leaves in the treetops. They lit up the area nicely. Yet beautiful scenery was taken down by annoying conversation.
“And you aren’t?” He hummed, taking a few more steps before stopping in the middle of the patch. He pivoted towards me, watching as my lips moved to form his next comeback.
“I’m no-not. Yo-you’re the *tic* one fl-flaunting around (Y/N) like some pr-prize. You bar-barely said a wor-word to them si-since they ar-arrived at the man-mansion,”
“Why do you care?”
“I do-don’t! I’m just say-saying,”
“For a person that doesn’t care, you are saying a lot,” His figure gracefully slouched against the thick bark of an ancient wood and crossed one leg over the other. His arms mirrored his legs as they twisted, adjusting lightly to get as comfortable as possible. The way he thought he owned this conversation caused irritation to overwhelm me.
“Ugh, ju-just admit you lik-like them al-already. It’s ir-irritating,” I groaned, clenching my fists in… jealousy? I swiftly unlatched my fists, realizing my interalized temper tantrum of resentment was slowly spilling out. I couldn’t even restrain my emotions anymore, they were controlling me.
EJ knew.
“That’s a very bold assumption,” He smirked, his sockets tracing the relaxation of my fist. He wanted to rile me up.
“But, I’m ri-right, aren’t I-I?” I bite my tongue, wanting to perceive as though I didn’t care; but, I trapped myself.
Having this conversation confirmed I cared.
I hated this with a passion.
“Not entirely. They are an interesting creature. However, a creature that is hard to love… for me, that is,” His voice paused while his mind thought more carefully about his words. I knew he wasn’t trying to annoy me, but the way he spoke could plunge me into an endless murder spree.
“I simply lusted over them,” His stare pierced into me while his voice bounced around my head. He tapped his finger gently upon his elbow, pondering on what to say next.
He knew what to say to push my buttons.
“But you, you love them,”
Did I?
“And if you like, or love, somebody you should tell them before it’s too late,” His words stung so badly. I remembered (Y/N) saying those familiar words once the topic was Clockwork.
I didn't even want to remember that.
“I do-don’t think any-anyone co-could love (Y/N), especially not m-me,” I still didn’t want to admit I liked them. I hated to admit I liked them. Why did I have to like them? I was killing myself slowly with all these bottled up emotions.
“Yet, you reject Clockwork for somebody that nobody could love? Tell me how that works?”
“I did *tic* not!” I didn’t want to hear it. How did he know? Was I that obvious? My head was about to explode.
“You-you know ab-absolutely no-nothing,”
“I know the difference,” Jack smirked, tilting his head towards me. I was blessed that he hadn't been displaying his mask, or his features would have been impossible to read.
“The difference between lust and love,”
“I didn’t co-come out hear to an-answer rid-riddles, Jack,”
“And I didn’t come here to listen to a boy contradict his emotions,” he snapped back softly. His snaps were almost presented as snarky comments, however they acted like a defense for bull-shit.
“You act like a child. A child teases the one they like,”
“So wh-what do you th-think, Mr. *tic* know-it-all?”
“I think love is eating you up from the inside.” He uttered, sighing lightly while he scanned me.
After a while of silence the man slowly raised his chin to the sky, watching the small stars dance beautifully in the dark sky.
“Did the stars light up for you two?"
"Wh-what?”
“You heard me,”
“I…” I thought back to that regrettable night. The night I should have told (Y/N) how I felt. How I wanted to crush their skull with my bare hands, yet kiss them softly under moonlight's watch. Their heat lingered up my back for a moment. I remembered how moonlight complicated their skin so astonishingly and how they let their features rest while watching the night sky. That was the first moment they weren't tense around me.
That was the person I… couldn't stand?
Yeah, it was, but I… loved it.
“I gu-guess you co-could say that,”
EJ scoffed softly, causing me to place my gaze upon him once again. He hadn't moved an inch from his place as the conversation continued.
“I took (Y/N) outside while they were still recovering from that nasty fall. We looked at the Orion constellation. It signifies forever, you know?” EJ smiled lightly as his empty sockets stared into the sky. He soaked in the moons rays before speaking.
“It shun so dully,” He smirked, dropping his head back towards my figure.
“What an interesting way to symbolize whether it's love or lust,"
(Y/N)’s POV
“REMATCH!!” I overheard the raspy voice squawk behind the door, his poisonous holler prompted in my leaving. My hand had been steadily lingering over the doors chestnut wood, however, battling with a bleached smiley face wasn’t how I wanted my night to end. I muffled my appearance behind the continuous war cries, spinning slowly away from the door in defeat. Yeah, no.
I desired something entertaining for my mind to eat until the night's demise, nonetheless, the busy night stole numerous people from the mansion. The halls seemed endless as my steps carried me through them, humming lightly. As it was unstimulating, it was also tranquil. My thoughts proved to be my source of amusement for the night, although a faint whimpering cut through the imaginative scenarios I had played. My figure came to a halt as I heard the whimpers, remaining stationary to confirm my ears weren’t deceiving me.
Slowly, I shifted towards the sound. As I neared closer towards the numerous amounts of doors, I came to a stop in front of one.
Clockwork’s.
I contemplated for a moment whether, in her state, she would have wanted to see me. A moment of doubt was overrun by the various amounts of voices telling me to knock.
I inhaled deeply before regrettably knocking on the door. I hope I didn’t make anything worse.
“If you’re Toby, g-go away.” Her usual raspy voice was built up even raspier, and a miniature hiccup interrupted her sentence. Her sadness slipped through the cracks of her words.
“Clocky, it’s (Y/N), what’s up?” I uttered, perking up lightly as I heard a small shuffling from inside her room, followed by loud, fast thumps against her carpet. After a brief second the door had creaked open.
A figure messy appeared. Her right eye was bloodshot, causing her emerald iris to pop out. Her cheek was stained horribly with dried salt water and her lips trembled violently. Her being screamed agony.
She seemed to have gotten comfortable in my presence swiftly as another tear fell hopelessly from her waterline, and her arms found their way around my chest. Her grip was tight.
“He broke my heart,” Her sentence trembled under her breath, almost shattering as she held onto me. It was as if I was the only thing keeping her from shattering.
“Toby?” I muttered, my arms finding their way around her and, once they did, my hands smoothly grazed across her back. Her heartbreak radiated from her, almost causing me to tremble in sympathy. I’ve never found myself in her position, but I knew exactly what I was going to do.
“I’ll be back, okay? I want to ask Toby about his… feelings,” I grinded through my teeth, almost breaking my jaw from the pressure. I wasn’t going to sympathize with his emotions, he clearly didn't do that for Clocky.
“Really?”
“Of course,” I smiled, wiping away one of her tears before gently letting go. My smile seemed to reassure her greatly, resulting in a shaky smile from her trembling lips.
“Thank you. You're amazing (Y/N),"
__________________
Have a good day!
Thanks for reading!! (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)