HURRIED FOOTSTEPS reached the front door, your hand lingered on the handle, head turned over your shoulder to look at ben, "i'll walk from here, it's not far." you sternly said, about to turn your head back to the door when your eyes caught sight of the four proxies and a man in the living room.
clearly they noticed you, toby was the first to react physically as he jumped on his feet, "y/n!" he exclaimed, running at you with full speed before lunging, his goggles and mask now long forgotten on the couch.
"woAH—" the sudden impact knocked you off your feet, he basically had trapped you on the floor. the smell of the forest and a faint scent of maple syrup was evident in his bushy brown hair, he nuzzled in the crook of your neck, making you chuckle as you gently pat him on the back, "hey tobes.."
it felt like a dog rubbing its love on you, you couldn't help but let out a bright smile as toby hugged you even tighter, him having easy access to wrap his arms around you since you used your elbows to prop your upper half of your body off the ground.
"what... what're you doing here?" the proxies had soon rounded the two, masky asking a question that shot through him when he first saw you from the stairs.
ben found himself awkwardly being there once again, though the unnoticeable tension was gone unlike when he was in slender's office.
you let out a few chuckles when toby still hugged the hell out of you, "alright, that's enough." hoodie sighed, easily picking up the brunette from under his arms away from you. kate extended a hand out for you to take, you gladly accepted and she lifted you on your feet.
"uh well, just don't kill her aight?" you wearily started with an unsure smile, scratching the back of your head. goodness, the last thing you wanted was jane being ganged up on by the proxies, if she found out the reason then you'd have more than an enemy, "jane sorta.. kinda knocked me out and brung me here on my way back home??"
silence, oh lord that wasn't a good sign.
"that's it." hoodie turned on his heel, sliding out his hand gun and cocking the weapon with a click. your mind instantly went into a state of panic as you grabbed his yellow hoodie, an attempt to try and stop him from walking.
"no no no, don't hurt her." you pleaded, finding yourself being dragged on your heels as the man still kept on walking. you're feeble attempts made you go into another stage of panic, you quickly let go and wrapped your hands around his torso, and in return, he froze like a deer in headlights, "please don't do anything to her..." your head leaned on his back, eyes shut while you let out a shaky breath.
a snap came from behind you but you couldn't care less about that at the moment, you'd rather not have an angered female trying to kill you every chance she could get than having her just hate you.
"oh t-this fucker..." toby said through gritted teeth, his head twitched in a humane angle as he slid his sleeves up to his elbows, rage boiling at you hugging hoodie.
masky cracked his knuckles, eyes widening at the sight. he and toby took a step forward, feeling hands tangle around their own as kate kept them in place, a disappointed sigh escaping her lips.
a small chuckle left ben, it was funny seeing the proxies rattled. hellen who watched on the sidelines couldn't agree more, a smile spread on his lips, kinda bewildered at the sight.
your hold on hoodie tightened slightly, you swore you felt him relax but that was probably your imagination, "she already hates me enough, don't add her reason to hate me more."
the latter's mouth twitched slightly, too stunned to say anything, much like when you had pecked his cheek beforehand. "...f-fine.." he stuttered so painstakingly obvious, he bit the lower of his lip in embarrassment, hand gripping at his gun tighter.
when you felt it was safe, you let the man go, cautiously stepping back to your spot next to ben. hoodie still had his back turned to you, he couldn't bring himself to turn around, even though he had a mask to cover his steaming face, he still felt like you could see him transparently.
a small smile engraved your lips, eyes softening slightly. that brief moment when you felt relaxed, the rest could only save the sight in their minds, you looked at ease, an unusual sight that rarely stuck with you but it went away as soon as it came.
your eyes darted to masky who was tenser than usual and toby who seemed to twitch his hands more than he actually does, raising a brow, you glanced at kate who shook her head as a way of saying 'don't ask.'
ben tapped your shoulder, he cocked his head at the door in an obvious manner which made you raise your eyebrows, "oh, EJ!" the realisation instantly crashed in and you turned to the proxies, "i have to go, i need to get to jack." you hastily explained, swinging the door open and going out onto the porch.
"hey! we're coming with." kate called out, grasping your wrist before you could sprint off, "it's not safe to be out in these parts of the woods."
you stared at her then turned your head to the sky, it was late noon yet the forest itself looked so dark. you silently gulped to yourself, they looked like they could swallow you whole.
for the first time, you kinda doubted that your fancy gadgets could help you in this situation. that never happened so with slight reluctance, you nodded at the proxies.
"are you coming ben?" you queried, kate letting your hand fall to your side.
"i was going there anyway so yeah." he calmly nodded, "though let's not use my abilities at the moment, i'm kinda worn out." he quickly added as he floated to the grass opening in front of the house, the proxies following suit.
you smiled at them, catching sight of movement coming from the front door. your head turned and was met with the man in the living room with the proxies, he wore a mask with a painted smile, black wavy locks visible.
you gave him a small wave and in return he did so too, this made the corner of your lips twitch into a smile before the moment was ruined when toby called out for you to hurry up. a brief glance at the man at the door and you were off, catching up to the rest.
helen watched as your figure disappeared behind the trees, his hand reached his mask and he took it off, a calm expression worn.
"is that the girl?" the sound of the puppeteer's voice came from beside him, "she's a real beaut." the man confessed with a grin, fixing his grey beanie with a whistle dragging out.
helen could only hum in response, what coincidence, he was just talking about you with the proxies and there you had magically appeared. recalling on what you said, jane had knocked you out? what was she doing with you? was she looking for a new victim?
no, that wouldn't be it, if she did she would have killed you on the spot, she was never known to agonise her victims unless it was from pure rage. perhaps she had plans, surely she wouldn't be happy if helen had told her that she escaped.
"WHAT?!" speak of the devil, jane yelled out before a slam of a door rang throughout the house. helen didn't bother to turn around but pup did, the voodoo specialist turned to the sound of stomping footsteps down the stairs, there appeared an angered woman.
"you look troubled." pup smiled bittersweetly, knowing well it had something to do with the girl that had just wandered off into the woods.
the ravenette snapped her head towards the voice, raising a suspicious brow, "have you possibly seen a woman with h/c hair?" she questioned as nicely as she could, sustaining the urge to just choke the answers out of the puppeteer.
pup hummed in thoughtfulness, tapping his chin, purposely irritating the latter even more, "she went out with the proxies and ben." helen answered, not gazing back at jane in the slightest.
"and you let her??"
"why of course, if she happens to be roaming around the house then slender definitely knows of her whereabouts." the artist finally gave in, turning slightly over his shoulder, "you of all people should know this, no?"
jane froze, oh damn. that's when it clicked, she was so hell-bent on trying to kill you that she forgot slender possibly already knows about you. despite so why does her anger boil more than ever? you irritate her so much but the burden of slender already knowing is off her chest. with a grit of her teeth, she let out a frustrated groan before stomping off to her room.
"what's her deal?" pup raised a brow, squinting his eyes.
"word goes around that she thinks miss. y/n will be the cause of this manor's destruction."
｡･ﾟ𓂅ꗃ𓂅ꗃ𓂅ꗃ ﾟ･｡
pinching his chin gently, you moved EJ's head to the side so that you could inspect the wounds caused by the shattered glass. "are you sure you're ok..?" worried laced in your voice, finding the need to care since all he had been doing for the past month was care for you, be that protectively keeping you away from the rest of the pastas, he still cared for you nonetheless. it was only fair if you returned the gesture, especially when you felt like this was all your fault.
jack's lips slightly trembled at how close you were, he could feel your hot breath fanning his neck, making his face go a little red as his usual cold skin warmed up just a tad bit. your hand felt soft on his face, he closed his eye lids out of embarrassment, nodding his head slightly, "..fine, this doesn't compare to what i've gone through before." he caught himself gripping the edge of the couches cushions, jack wanted nothing more than to just push you away but then again, a part of him wanted to pull you close. you overwhelmed him and all he could do was freeze in your hold.
you frowned slightly, gently caressing his face, being mindful of his wounds before your hands made their way to his hair, attempting to tame the brown locks as best as you could. a clear of someone's throat had you turn your head to the user, dropping your hands to your sides much to EJ's dismay, already missing your touch.
hoodie stood there with his arms crossed, you couldn't figure out what he was getting at but he spoke soon after, "you're saying zalgo did this?" he questioned, looking around the messed up place. the glass shards on the floor were already cleaned up, along with any tools and objects laid about. fortunately enough, the furniture wasn't harmed, all you had to replace were the windows.
again, the corner of your lips tugged deeper down, showing your displeasure at the mention of the demon's name, "yeah." a vague answer came from your lips, not finding the effort to say anything else. you were in a sour mood, a headache crawled in from the hit you took by jane and your cats were sent to the vets for a checkup. to sum it all up, you were stressed once again, not an unusual occurrence but throughout your life you faced it alone. currently you had to worry about other people now, in addition a demon was hunting for you to join his side.
kate placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing in reassurance. she probably had seen your troubled expression and decided to step in, how thoughtful, "it's ok, we'll sleep here the night for extra precautions." it was funny really, to think she started caring for you after a pool party was a switch of her attitude. she was thankful that you could bring joy to the slender manor, broken souls troubled throughout the years and you stepped in as the glue, light in the darkness. but she knew you wanted them to change and turn to society, to enter a path of good, to start anew. sadly that could never happen and you knew it too, they were too far from the path of redemption.
despite so, you still tried to at least bring happiness in their lives, treat them as humans. sure first impressions were rough but fate had forcefully intertwined yours and the pastas paths together.
although the feeling of loneliness was gone, something bad will always be around the corner to balance the good. your consequences involved your safety, your life and your career that you had worked so hard on, everything could dissipate within a blink of an eye hence the doubt you had about helping them. doubt. doubt. doubt.
just a few weeks prior, you woke up in your tower with a sorted life albeit quite lonely, and now you were surrounded by a bunch of killers at the orders of higher ups.
a sigh came pass your lips, one that held burden and troubles, "thank you, i appreciate it, really." you could only afford a small smile, a meek attempt at masking your problems. "the rooms should be the same as usual, it's getting dark so let's settle down yeah?" your smile widened just a tad bit, it looked tired, you looked tired. a pang of heartache struck the pastas, feeling sympathy as most of them could see their old selves in you.
masky frowned, seeing you upset made him upset. he watched as you drag your feet towards the LED table that had seed eater laying down on, heavy breaths coming from the beast.
"status." in an instant, holographic pictures of seed appeared, along with his monitored heartbeat and other necessary healthcare. you caught a glimpse of EJ standing besides you, he was probably worried so you decided to ease his nerves, "seed will be fine, just knocked out cold from the hard impact."
a relieved sigh escaped jack, he nodded in appreciation, hand finding their way to stroke the beast's fur. his mind wandered back to the events of how this all happened, goodness the worry he had for your pets, he couldn't imagine what you would do if you found out they could have been possibly hurt, hell what you would do if they could have possibly died.
"al, bring down the metal shields for the broken window, we don't want critters getting in." you ordered, the said shields lowering at your command with a loud rumble. this caused seed to jump awake, instantly on his feet as the beast scanned the place around him. jack tried his best to calm down the creature, though his attempts only went in one ear then out the other.
you took a step back out of caution, that small movement caused seed to snap his head at you and in an instant, he lunged, trapping you between his arms on the floor. seed let out unholy growls and other noises, you used your hands to create as much space as possible, EJ trying to pull the heavy beast off you with the help of the pastas and ben.
"seed stop!" jack yelled, finally able to pull apart the two as he stood in between you and the creature, "stop, this is her, this is the human i was talking about, please don't hurt her." the eyeless demon held out his hands in defence, afraid the beast would tackle you once again.
hoodie had hoisted you onto your feet, a hand around your waist securely as he pulled you to his chest in a protective manner. the rest being in front of you two to create barrier, your breathing was heavy and you could only stare at your hands that laid flat on hoodie's chest. adrenaline rushed through you, that all happened in a blink of an eye, feeling a bead of sweat slide down the back of your neck.
"the human?" seed tilted his head, stepping to his left to get a view of you. realisation hit the beast like a train, he had attacked you, oh goodness, his eyes widened, stepping back out of shock, "seed apologises, seed did not mean to attack the human-!" he frantically said, large hands visibly shaking.
"it's fine, you're ok, you acted on instinct." EJ reassured, offering a palm to the beast as gently as he could, "she forgives you, don't she?" the demon turned over his shoulder, awaiting your answer as you hesitantly nodded, quickly burying your face back into the crook of hoodie's neck, "see, she forgives you, all is good."
a small whimper escaped seed, followed by a sniff before he finally rested the tip of his masked beak on EJ's palm. this was an open opportunity for jack to step closer which he did, using his other hand to run a hand through the creature's fur in reassurance. "seed is bad..." he mumbled out, nuzzling into jack's dark hoodie, ashamed of himself.
jack chuckled softly, shaking his head, "no you're not, you're fine." as the two conversed, the room seemed a little less tenser now that the situation was under control, your breathing calmed a bit but your were still shaky from the sudden events. silently gulping, one casualty at a time.
"let's get you to bed now." hoodie pulled away from you slightly, though he still kept his hands on some part of your body. bed, rest... sleep. you haven't heard that word in a while now, the thought of it alone seemed exhaustingly amazing, you could feel your shoulders relax of sleeping.
you nodded feebly, can't seem to find the words to voice your answers. the man led you to the stairs, footsteps of the rest followed suit as well, meaning they too were either gonna get some
shut eye or relax in their rooms. the click of the rest of the doors could only confirm your suspicion as hoodie led you to your room, his hand against the lower of your back.
the door opened and the room was dark, you faltered in front of the entrance, the sudden feeling of fear in the dark. it was soon replaced with light, making you silently sigh, you turned to hoodie, taking his hand and leading him to your bed.
"please stay here while i get ready for bed, i don't think i can be alone tonight..." you quietly requested, the latter squeezing your hand in return as a way to say ok. with that, you wandered off to the walk-in bathroom, leaning on the pearly white counters.
oh why were you acting so different, this all was so dreadfully annoying. you have yet to converse with zalgo, maybe the thought of talking to the demon made you scared, maybe the fact that he could mend your dreams to have your small meetings made you fear him. you didn't want to talk to him, you hoped he wouldn't manipulate your dreams tonight, you really did want to sleep.
brushing your teeth and everything else, you got into comfortable clothes before exiting. you were met with hoodie again, he didn't budge much to your pleasantries. you softly smile at him, seeing his mask slightly shifting, possibly indicating he was giving a smile back.
"thank you.." you gratefully said, getting into bed as you bit the inside of your cheek. you didn't want hoodie to stay in your room forever, you felt awful asking him to stay really, he probably wanted sleep too, "err.. i'm sorry for holding you up, you can—... go to your room if you want." the hesitance was clear as the hooded man shook his head, taking the blankets and tucking you in.
"i'd rather stay here with you." he softly replied, "i-if you allow it of course..-!" quickly adding in, flustered at his sudden sentence. you chuckled in return, scooting over a bit and patting the empty space.
"i don't mind, i could really use the company.." you smiled as hoodie took off his yellow hood, leaving him in a turtleneck that hugged his muscles, oh goodness, life couldn't get any better could it? you avoided staring by fumbling with your fingers, feeling the bed sink next to you.
the lights dimmed and hoodie swiftly pulled you in his chest, using his other arm to throw the covers on both of you. you tensed under the sudden movement but found yourself relaxing soon after, inhaling his scent as your forehead leaned on his chest, his chin resting on the top of your head.
"i hope this is ok." he said, you felt the vibrations of his sentence come through his chest. you could only hum with a nod, wondering if he always slept with the mask he wore but decided not to question it.
it was silent, the even breathing of the both of you soothed the atmosphere. hoodie had his arms tightly around your shoulders, rubbing patterns on your back which soothed you even further. you could get use to this, all your problems seemed to diminish with hoodie comforting you, you sighed in satisfaction, closing your eyes.
"masky was right when he said sleeping with you was heavenly." hoodie broke the silence, earning a snort come from you as you pulled yourself away from him, turning to the other side of the bed, "what? he is still right though."
"go to sleep, frowny." you couldn't help but let a chuckle slip through, your back was turned to him as you heard a laugh rumble from his throat before he shifted, pulling you close to his chest once again with your back touching his chest.
the two of you died the laughter but the smiles were still evident, a calm tension in the air, ready to drift asleep.
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more quality time with hoodie!! and more motivation for me to draw
also i might attempt to upload every day, FRET NOT im having as much breaks with Minecraft. but there may be some days where i miss an upload, that probably means im still working on it.
why? because i can't keep a finished chapter in my drafts like that 😭 the temptation to just upload it always wins, plus it's easier to write everyday now since i have a lot of ideas thus the good chapters that im satisfied with
again, thank u guys sm for the old and new support, massive shoutouts to the people who contacted me and complemented my work, be that private messages, comments or on my conversation board, those guys are the GOAT fr fr thank u ❤️