World building practice! Yahoo! Prepare to cringe so badly.
Heya, my name is Cross Penaloza and I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and for the past year, I've been Mount Ebott city's one and only, spider-powered monster. It was mostly a mess at first, but then I met Ink.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!" Cross exclaimed. This superhero was in his house. Ink was known for his spray-painted iron suit, many calling him the Aluminum Artist.
"Well, you seem to have gotten an internship with me, right Cross?" Ink asked, Cross had no idea what he was talking about, but his care taker Jakai seemed rather excited.
"I'm so happy for you! Go, go! I think he wants to talk to you in private!" Jakai urged the pair into Cross's room and closed the door.
"So, MonoSpider, how do you feel about this internship?" Ink asked, opening the secret door behind his knife collection revealing his super suit.
"Uh-" Cross didn't really know what to do.
As it turns out, Ink wanted to give me an apprenticeship. The inevitable happened and eventually my care taker learned about my secret, and then Ink offered me a spot on the avengers. I accepted, and now I fight crime alongside so many amazing people with a sick suit
—————
"Revengers! Assembly!" (Kill me and do it now.) Ink said through the watches they communicated through. Ink gave the crew watches to communicate through when they joined, making things like these more practical.
"Uh- may I ask where?" Cross asked through his watch from the comfort of his room. To the public, he was formally known as Mono-Spider.
"O-oh right! Sorry bout that guys! It's on Main Street... We got an old friend on our hands." Ink said through the watch.
"Who is it?" Dream asked. Distant sounds of people putting on their uniforms could be heard, as well as cliche power ups and catch phrases from most points of the call. Luckily for Cross, his suit up was almost silent. Dream was Captain Hope. He had a bright yellow shield with a big ol' 'H' on it. He got stuck in some ice for a while. He was kinda strong so it was fine.
"The King of Nightmares" Ink replied seriously.
"Yikes... drama! Is Dreamy still pissed about how he used his brother's name? We haven't seen him for at least a year ago, right?" Lust exclaimed through the call. He was some star on some show when he accidentally got caught in a science experiment and got the ability to shrink, and on the rare occasion, get very big.
"Shut up fuckin purple anus buster." Fell snarled. He's smart, but he's angry. He's simply known as 'Fell' to the public. When he gets mad he turns into a giant Gaster Blaster beast.
"Fell! That was one Reddit post, that wasn't even physically possible to happen- that was made 10 years ago! There was absolutely no way I would've gone up Thanos' ass anyway. He's not even my type. Honestly wiping out half the universe's population is a serious turn off for me." Lust ranted, leaving his house judging by the sound of the background noises.
"Guys?! The bad guy in the square? Hello?" Blue got everyone back on track. He was known as the Blue Bloke. This was because he had W unintentional rizz.
Cross exited the comfort of his care taker's home through the window, fearlessly jumping out and using his webs to swing himself across, building to building. His suit was black and white with red and purple accents. The eyes of his mask were purple and most of his arms were red. The pattern on his suit consisted of a spider webbing.
"On my way." Cross communicated through his com. By the sound of it, a few of his teammates were already there.
"You're getting slow Cross." Geno said. He was the director of the whole superhero operation. He is a master spy, much like Blue.
"Yeah, yeah. What about Outer?" Cross rolled his eyes, smiling underneath his suit. Eventually, Cross made it to the site.
"Well, considering I was at my house, it might take a while. Especially considering my house is couple billions of lightyears away." Outer said sarcastically. Cross knew he arrived on earth before he even said it though, seeing the giant ass fucking alienate beam vomiting down from the heavens.
"Why aren't you here Mono?" Fell said with a snarl.
"Fuckin hypocrite. I can tell you're not even there either considering you haven't transformed into that dog yet." Cross argued.
"It's not a fuckin-"
"Boys. Focus. Please. There's a reason why we're all going." Ink said sternly.
"Well, actually I believe it's nothing you can't handle. But- I believe we might be able to find their rival." Geno explained- making more questions for Cross.
"What?" Said Skeleton asked, perching himself on the top of a building to observe the scene.
"Well, each one of us has a matched villain that we correspond to power with. For example, Y'know whenever there's an instance when Terminal Target attacks we usually call out Dream, yes?" Geno asked. Cross hummed, looking down at the fight scene trying to find a good time to jump in. The villain they were fighting was one he hasn't seen before. The villain used elevating themself as a strategy. He had 4 long tendril protruding from his back, the same goopy dark material they were made of covering the rest of his body, seemingly his clothes as well. His tendrils lashed out at his teammates, most of them easily dodging- however none getting close enough to land a hit. Outer had the only long distance attacks, but the tendrils on the villain's back shielded him. He gave a deep cackle. His voice seemed to be dignified by pure magic, booming off of the buildings. Cross would have found the voice intriguing if not for the fact he was supposed to beat the guy's ass right about now.
"Well, that's because he has a shield and can deflect the knives the Term throws." Geno explained.
"Oh so like Fell and Sci, Ink and Error? What's yours? Or do you not have one because you're just the man in the chair?" The young hero asked.
"Well. Not really? I'm the one that pairs them up strictly for success rates after all. Plus, I usually capture my villains first try without anyone seeing me, unlike you guys." A collection of 'hey!'s were heard through the call along with the clashing of weapons. Geno continued, "If I had to guess, my match might be the head of the villain organization... but I don't really know who he is, I would guess he doesn't know who I am either."
"Huh." The Spider-like hero shrugged. Just as his conversation finished, Cross noticed one of the tendrils aiming at Blue, he was tending to a civilian, they were too nervous to move. Cross jumped in, his small form allowing him to swing around the tendril, wrapping it in his web. He attached it to a building, the villain seemingly not noticing until after the Oreo was out of view. The villain looked around in suspicion, trying to locate the hero. When he couldn't find him, he chuckled darkly and scoffed.
"Coward." He mocked, doing a quick scan of his surroundings once more before turning back to the rest of the team.
Cross was behind the guy. He was just standing there, moving every time the villain wanted to scan the area. The other hero's mouths twitched. The villain thought he was in the clear and was about to attack again, when Cross jumped out from behind him, one by one, snatching up the tendrils in a tie, he swung around the monster, using the monster's own tendrils to trap the villain. They whipped around wildly, one even nicking Cross's leg. Nothing major. His spider DNA power shit would heal it later.
"Folks, I believe we found his counter!" Geno cheered through the coms. The villain struggled as members of the REV clean up crew were about to capture him. His tendrils burst out of the tight web Cross made, instantly fleeing the scene by turning into a puddle of goop.
"Nice going Mono!" Captain Hope cheered. The skeletal Gaster Blaster monster beside him grunted as if saying; "I could've done that." Fell turned back, his transformation leaving him shirtless.
"Thanks! Well, as much as I'd love to socialize with my fans, I got school tomorrow- So Mono, out." Cross waved with a salut and swung away from the scene. He effortlessly swung himself through Jakai's apartment window. Landing himself right onto his bed.
Ink made him a new suit that was quick to take on and off- practically coming off itself. He messed around on his phone for a bit while texting Geno and Ink about the mission and what tactics he could use in the future when he's up against that villain again. Apparently, because of Cross's webs, it gives him perfect access to subdue the villain's extra limbs. Cross loved being on the team. Aunt Jakai is wonderful, however, because his parents died, he never got the opportunity to be apart of a family. Being with Ink, and Dream, and Geno and everyone else made him feel- what he'd guess he would've felt if his parents weren't six feet under.
The monochrome smiled before turning off his phone and crashing.
—-
"Night! I'm home!" Dream announced as he entered his and his younger brother's shared house.
His brother booked it down the stairs, seemingly out of breath. He wore a purple hoodie and carried a book in his hand. His left eye light was damaged- however, it's been that way for a long time.
"Hi brother." Night greeted with a small smile.
"Now why are you so out of breath?" Dream asked teasingly.
"I was just excited to see you is all, I saw what happened on the news." Nightmare said with a sigh, looking away from his brother with a solemn look.
"Hey, it's ok. I'm alright, see? I promise you I'm never gonna get hurt too badly. I'm always gonna jump back." Dream claimed with a confident grin- yet comforting.
"Promise?" Night asked, holding out his pinky.
"Promise." Dream smiled.
"Now anyway- down to more important matters- I found a new book in the library!" The smoll cheered, holding up the book that was at his side.
"Really? And here I thought you read them all." Dream said sarcastically.
"Oh please. Oh- yeah I didn't know that Mono spider could do that!" Nightmare exclaimed to Dream- referencing the News he watched earlier.
"Do what?" Dream asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Y'know! The way he used his opponent's weight to go: Wacha! Hyiea! And bam! And tie that bad guy up all like that!" Nightmare exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Oh! I didn't even noticed he used his small size to his advantage. Thanks for the tip bro! I should really put that down in the incident sheet..." Dream praised, surprised his brother hasn't mentioned-
"So... who is he?" Night asked.
"I'm not telling!" Dream grinned.
"Aw... c'mon please? He only joined a year or two ago!" Nightmare reasoned, "it's gonna get out eventually!"
"Yes- but he just needs more time. He doesn't want to put the people he loves in danger." Dream explained, disappointing the smaller.
"Alright... you win. I'll get you eventually though! I'm heading off for bed. Night!" Nightmare waved, trudging up the stairs.
He was doing so well. But he just had to screw it up, didn't he?
—————————
Cross walked up towards his school, expecting to see his best friend by the gates. Confusion washed over his face when his friend was no where in sight.
"Where is he...?" The skeleton muttered. He scanned the area one more time before waiting by the gates. He was almost never late. In fact he was always early. It was just odd.
Cross waited for as long as he could before the second bell rang and he was forced to go in. Cross quickly stopped by his locker grabbing his books. He closed it to find his friend looking at him from the other side.
"Oh, hey!" Cross said.
"Hey Cross." The purple skeleton sighed.
"Aw man... what's wrong bro?" Cross asked.
"I just... don't like your new job. I kinda feel really bad for you... I'm pretty sure they're breaking some child labor laws by making you work so late." The skeleton looked to Cross worriedly.
"Eh not really. Hey... this isn't about me not hanging out with you yesterday, was it?" Cross sent a playful glance to Nightmare, beginning to walk to their first class.
"W-what?! No..." Nightmare pouted, blushing slightly and looking away from Cross.
"You sure?" Cross teased, budging Nightmare a bit.
"It'd make me a hypocrite if I was... I wasn't able to go anyway either." Nightmare scoffed.
"Oh why's that?" Cross asked.
"O-oh... something came up." Nightmare looked away from Cross guiltily.
"I assume your brother didn't let you leave the house because of the super villain on the loose?" Cross asked. Nightmare nodded with a shrug.
"Speaking of yesterday... did you see how MonoSpider absolutely crushed that guy?!" Nightmare exclaimed. Cross flushed a bit, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Possibly considering it as a compliment.
Nightmare admired how fluently the monster flew through the air. Every movement he made flowed. His fighting style is incredibly graceful. It doesn't even seem like it's something he got from his superpower either. Nightmare can tell. He's very observant. It simply seems like it's just the type of person he is. He also seen him in a few interviews on TV. His voice is almost as fluent as his movement. He reminded him of Cross in a way. However, Nightmare had always known Cross to be very... proper- hell he's scared of cows! He didn't seem like the type of person to go around throwing octo-villains around. Right?
"Yuh-huh. I didn't watch the news for too long- I only saw bits and pieces. Why?" Cross asked with a tilt of his head.
"Well... I noticed that he has a very intricate fighting style. I wanna know who he is." Nightmare said calmly.
"Got any guesses?" Cross asked.
"Honestly, in the entire city? Not at all. But I do have a few people in mind. So- Y'know Dream's one friend he talks about sometimes?" Nightmare asked.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah him. I think his name was Epic. His costume kind of fits his color scheme a bit. But I doubt they'd make it that obvious." Nightmare thought. Cross always loved that face. The purple skeleton's cheeks would puff out when he'd bite the inside of them.
"Oh- why weren't you at the gates today? It wasn't because of them was it?" Cross asked, clenching his fist.
"No, no. They transferred to a different school a while ago. Maybe about a year ago." Nightmare lied.
"Huh."
Nightmare killed them.
———————————————
"So, where do you wanna go?" Cross smiled. They were walking out of school. Cross had just finished Basketball. Nightmare wasn't exactly a sporty person, but he enjoyed watching Cross. He can pivot around people so easily, as if he were dancing.
Said skeleton had changed out of his jeans and was now in some comfy shorts.
"How about Barnes and Noble?" Nightmare asked. Cross lit up, Nightmare immediately knew the other agreed.
"On me. I've been spending so much time at work. I need someway to pay you back." Cross claimed.
"Really? Sweet! I'm thinking... a black coffee." Nightmare said. Cross's nose periodically crinkled in disgust before he rolled his eyes with a smile.
"You're disgusting." Cross playfully nudged Nightmare who playfully nudged him back.
"Says the guy who asks for so much mocha and whipped cream it's no longer coffee." Nightmare retorted. Cross was about to push Nightmare back, but, despite being smaller than Cross, he put his arm around his friend's shoulders to prevent him from bumping into him again.
"It's called a literal mocha for crying out loud!" Cross grumbled. He put his arm around Nightmare's shoulders so they were even. Nightmare looked down at their feet, almost tripping over one another.
"Hey Cross? What's that giant gash on your leg?" Nightmare asked. It looked... familiar.
"O-oh!" Cross looked shocked at the sight himself, "I got it at my job yesterday." Cross said guilty. Nightmare hummed trying to pinpoint where he seen the gash...
"Sue 'em."
The rest of their walk was a comfortable silence, giving Nightmares the headspace to think. So... that MonoSpider truly was on his mind all day. No doubt he'd see him again. The organization seems to have a system with whatever villains attack, they always send out the same hero. Essentially pairing them. He assumed that since the hero yesterday stole quite the show, he'd finally have a match.
Now, Nightmare isn't proud of what he did. Usually his corrupted form would only show itself if he felt threatened, or let the bad thoughts in. Ever since he met Cross and got rid of the bullies, he hasn't had any incidents. Yesterday the latter happened. See, Cross hasn't been hanging out with him that often, only going to school and the rest of his time was taken up by the 'wonderful' job he got. Stars does Nightmare hate that job. He wishes he knew what it was so he could just walk in there and tear it down. Cross won't tell him. He says it's 'unimportant'.
Unimportant enough to not hang out with him? Nightmare's not buying it. He tried finding where he works yesterday. Those dumb ass Revengers got to him before he could do much.
The purple skeleton's mind wandered to the wound on his friend's leg. Where has he-
The purple skeleton had to swallow the sharp gasp he was gonna let out.
"Nightmare? Are you alright? You're quiet... we're here. Y'know... if you didn't notice." Cross said as a joke.
"U-um... oh yeah. I'm fine. Just... thinking..." Nightmare said, shaking out of his thoughts and walking into the store. He needed to act normal.
As soon as they walked in there, they nearly forgot about everything. Nearly. Cross watched in amusement from a coffee table as his bestie bustled around the shop exclaiming over each interesting summary in the back or insides of books. He sipped his coffee and occasionally conversing with Nightmare, eventually having to move as the smaller got further into the store.
"Hey... Nightmare? Do you mind if I go to the bathroom real quick? You can keep looking for a book for us to read- maybe at my place?" Cross suggested, Nightmare taking his coffee so he could go.
"Oh, yeah! Sure. I'll be here. I'll still wait for you so we can both pick one out!" Nightmare smiled.
"Alright. Be right back." Cross scurried off toward the restrooms, leaving Nightmare alone. As soon as the Monochrome left, a mischievous grin plastered onto Nightmare's face.
This was gonna be fun.
-
Cross walked out of the stall and turned on the faucet, washing his hands.
"I wonder if Nightmare picked out a book yet..." Cross muttered. He turned off his faucet and began walking to towel dispenser.
Just then, the lights began to flicker.
"The hell...?" Following Cross's confusion was a deep echoing laughter.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Cross muttered quietly under his breath. He put his watch behind his back and began pressing the emergency button, then went into 'distressed citizen mode'. Just in time for a puddle of goop to form and from it, emerge that monster he saw the day prior.
"Hello, Cross." The creature said. A wide pearly grin on his face.
"W-what do you want!? Who are you?" Cross asked fearfully. He's really happy he tried musical in 7th grade.
"You know exactly who I am Cross, but who are you?" Nightmare asked. Cross's face contorted into confusion.
"W-what are you talking about- I promise I have nothing to with the superheroes or whatever I swear! I'm just an overly sarcastic guy who works at a sandwich shop." Cross put his hands up defensively.
"Well, I do know that superhero's aren't exactly good at keeping promises, and you know it too. Don't you Mono?" Nightmare noticed the monochrome's eyes darting back and forth, searching for an escape. To avoid such a tragedy he grabbed the other's arm with a tendril.
Cross's breath caught in his throat. He still could get out of this.
"I- I don't what you're talking about!" Cross claimed.
"Oh, sure you do Crossy." Cross's eyes darted to the tendril on his arm and back to Nightmare.
"How did you get in here with anyone seeing you?" Cross asked, still extremely tense.
"Who said they didn't see me?" Cross tensed, only one person's name running through his mind.
'Nightmare.'
"What did you do to him?" Cross snarled. His facade immediately vanishing.
Nightmare was confused now. He's never felt so much concern for another person before. Unless they were-
He felt jealousy creep on his back.
'Who is it? It couldn't be me... could it?'
"Who is it? If I may ask." Nightmare quizzed. He strained to keep a maniacal grin on his face without a grimace.
"Why would I tell you?" Cross snarled. Nightmare had to think hard about an excuse for this one.
"I already know who you are Crossy. You don't think I won't be able to figure it out? Every difficulty for me is one more inconvenience for them." Nightmare twitched in delight at the wave of fear Cross let off.
"Before I tell you, you didn't hurt anyone. Right?" Cross asked. Nightmare's grin widened just as the monochrome's eyes did.
"No- nightmare-" Cross didn't care that his name slipped. It might've been too late. Nightmare's tendril loosened after hearing his own name. Cross cares that much about him? The villain didn't have enough time to think because the monochrome managed to slip away.
Just as Cross touched the door, a tendril wrapped around his torso, yanking him back. His feet were dangling about a foot from the ground. His arms were pressed to his sides. If only he brung his suit.
"Now, now. Don't be hasty. Now I know for sure you're a Revenger." Nightmare said. Cross was at eye level. The watch on his wrist fell with a clank to the floor. Somehow- ripped off his wrist.
"What did you do to him?!" He seethed.
"Little old me? Now why would I do that?" Nightmare asked.
"Why do you think?!" Cross exclaimed. His team should be getting here soon. Nightmare clicked his tongue.
"Cross, Cross, Cross, do you even know who I am?" Nightmare asked. Cross paused, shaking his head. The fact he knew his name and said it more than once in a sentence unnerved him.
Nightmare sighed, but there was still an anticipated smile on his face.
Cross got gently lowered to the ground, all but one tendril retreating into the villain's back. This appendage wrapped around Cross's wrists. The monochrome's arms got pinned to the wall above his head. Cross watched with a gape as the goop melted off of the unmasked villain. His breath caught in his throat when that scarred eye light was shown. The tendril around his wrist melted off, forming into a skeletal hand. Cross stood there frozen until Nightmare fully de-transformed.
"N-nightmare...?" Cross asked, his mouth was still hanging open.
"That's me Crossy. Wouldn't want a fly going in there, would we?" Nightmare added, using his free hand to shut Cross's mouth.
Cross's face got dusted with purple.
"W-why? What?" Cross was very confused.
"I don't think I've ever seen you this unsure of a word you've ever said." Nightmare mused.
"Can you um... let me go please...?" Cross asked. His face flushed some more. He still needed to process all this.
"Mmm... no. Say... why don't we read the book at my place?" Nightmare smirked. He transformed back into the goopy monster. His tendrils curled around Cross. The monochrome watched for a moment before hearing magic searing through the wall beside him.
"See you on the other side Crossy." Nightmare purred. Turning into the portal, his tendrils pulling Cross along after him.
-
Bang Bang Bang
"It's locked."
"Fell. Kick it open."
A tremor inducing roar and was then followed by the door being busted open, flying to the other side of the room and breaking the mirror it crashed into.
"He's not here." Dream stated worriedly.
"His Com says he's right here!" Ink exclaimed.
"Guys. Look." Geno bent down on the floor to pick something up. He rose and raised his hand for the team to see.
"Cross's Com!" Blue exclaimed worriedly.
"That's probably not good..." Lust said.
"Roh no rooks rike re's reen rookin." Fell exclaimed solemnly. (I can't rn I'm sorry- I'll put translations later-)
"Fell. Just stop talking." Lust deadpanned.
"Rhy?"
"Fell. Shut your scooby-doo knock off giant ass mouth up. With your fucking verbal dyslexia combined with this two year old ass lisp, absolutely no one can understand you, or try to because your dumbass can't even form proper word structures without the first letter being the only one your dumbass can comprehend. This is too serious for you to talk right now." Geno scolded, grabbing Fell by the ear-hole.
"Ro-K Rorry..."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP FELL!"
(I'm legit just gonna have the entire team bully Fell while he's in his super-form all the time.)
"...Why'd you do that?" Cross asked. They were both sitting on Nightmare's bed. Their legs dangled over the edge. Well, Cross's did anyway. There was no dangling of Nightmare's feet as he was at least a foot taller in his corrupted form.
"Do what?" Nightmare rose an eyebrow. He was still in his corrupted form if you couldn't tell by the form of text. His feet were flat on the ground.
"Tell me- Y'know. Who you are?" Cross clarified. His eyes were darting worriedly to the tendrils constantly moving on Nightmare's back. Each seemed to have a different motion.
One had a calm swaying motion. The other looked like a dog wagging its tail, and the third was lying dormant- flowing slightly over the other side of the bed due to its length. The fourth one was being rather... touchy. Currently, it was wrapped around Cross's wrist, the tip stretching up to Cross's hand and playing with his fingers. It took turns with each one, wrapping around it or placing itself in between the crevices of his phalanges.
The owner of the hand found it hard to concentrate on what Nightmare was saying with all the activity of his tendrils.
"And um... hey Nightmare? Um... could you, I don't know... Change back- please? If it's ok with... I'm not exactly... used to this yet-" Cross asked, looking wearily at the tendrils on his back.
"Now, why would I do that?" Nightmare asked. The tendril playing with Cross's hand went up to his chin, the others proceeded to wrap around
Cross. Only succeeding in making the hero more uncomfortable.
"To answer your question earlier- Well, we are friends, aren't we? We should be able to tell each other anything." Nightmare explained. Cross suddenly felt a pit grow in his stomach. A pit of guilt.
"Yeah. But I didn't. You found out on your own. You could've easily manipulated me- into doing whatever you wanted. But you didn't. Your first instinct was to tell me..." Cross explained.
Before Nightmare even started to speak, a comforting manner grew to the tentacles contorted around Cross.
"Cross. You didn't have a choice. I get that. It's ok. I just thought you should know who I was, since I knew you. Plus. I was like this for way longer than you could imagine. You shouldn't have known. But now since we're probably gonna be beating each other's asses daily I thought you might want to know who I was. I mean, it's only fair. Besides. I haven't done anything villainy til yesterday after I met you... so..." Nightmare shrugged. Cross listened closely, nodding sheepishly in agreement. Nightmare and Cross sat on his bed. The only thing breaking their eye contact was the sound of someone walking through the front door.
"Nightmare! I'm home! I... need to talk to you for a moment." Dream called. Cross and Nightmare both looked to each other with raised eyebrows. Nightmare could teleport Cross home, but surely his caretaker knew of his disappearance by now.
"I got an idea." Cross whispered.
"What?" Nightmare asked, turning back to his skeletal form, the tendrils around Cross melting away- to his relief.
"Just trust me. Ok? Just play along." Cross walked down the stairs, bringing his inner theater kid out. And Nightmare had no choice but to play along.
"DREAM!" Cross exclaimed, coming down the stairs and giving Dream a big hug. The hero was- surprised.
"C-cross?! I- I thought you were kidnapped!" Dream instantly hugged him back.
"Well- yeah. I was. The big goopy dude... He- he thought I was Mono-Spider! Can you believe it?" Cross asked Dream. He couldn't have Dream knowing Nightmare knew who he was.
Dream looked up to his brother watching the interaction on the stairs.
"N-no I can't! How'd you escape?" Dream asked.
"Well... I managed to convince him I wasn't and when there was a distraction I ran here- cause this was the closest." Cross explained. Nightmare was impressed. When did Cross become so good at lying? Maybe it had something to do with him being a superhero.
"Oh thank stars!" Dream looked briefly at Nightmare before looking back to Cross, "So what do you think lead him to believe that?!" Dream asked. It wasn't verbally exchanged, but Cross knew what he was asking. Well- it was more of a warning- as to what the hell was Cross doing to raise suspicions.
"I-I don't know- I haven't been to work since yesterday!" Cross said- implying he hadn't been around in his hero form since yesterday's fight. Dream sighed.
"He doesn't suspect you anymore right...?" Dream asked worriedly- almost forgetting Nightmare was there.
"He better not- I mean- THAT WAS TERRIBLE! His tendrils are so- eh..." Cross said, indirectly jabbing at Nightmare. Said skeleton had to hold himself back from playfully rolling his eyes.
"Alright... well... just for your safety... I'm gonna need you to stay here for tonight. I don't wanna risk him snatching you again on your walk home... I'll call Jakai. Just to let you guys know; I'm gonna be patrolling tonight. Just in case he's still lurking nearby." Dream stated.
"Man... I can't tell if it's weird or cool as fuck that my best friend's brother's a superhero." Cross stated. Dream rolled his eyes before putting his gloves on.
"You two gonna be ok here on your own...? Just remember Night, there's leftovers in the fridge." Dream added before opening the door and walking out.
"Huh."
"What?" Nightmare asked.
"I hate this day." Cross exclaimed.
"Honestly? Not me." Nightmare shrugged, "C'mon. There's something I've been wanting to do with you... for a while now..." Nightmare put his arm around Cross's shoulder, leading him up the stairs.
"Huh...? What?" Cross asked.
"Reading of course. I picked out a book while you were in the bathroom." Nightmare explained.
"Oh- yeah. I almost forgot about that- hehe." Cross scratched the back of his head.
The pair made it to the second floor, and Nightmare was- rather hasty while trying to get Cross into his room. As soon as they did however, Nightmare immediately turned back into his- goop.
"Uh... are you serious...?" Cross asked, slouching. He gave Nightmare's tendrils a little extra room... however that same very affectionate one still stretched its way over, pulling him back to where he was.
"Yup." Nightmare grinned, "I can't turn while downstairs because I don't wanna risk getting caught... when we're in my room however..." He looked to Cross mischievously.
"Oh. Great." Cross replied sarcastically. He exclaimed when Nightmare's tentacles wrapped around him, lifting him up as if he was no lighter than a book.
"I know right? Well- now we can do what we were intending to do... Where is that silly little box of literature anyways..." He didn't even acknowledge that his tendrils have scooped up the Oreo, searching around his room for it, until finding it on his bed. He seemed a lot more... enthusiastic about reading with Cross all the other times. He always was... but even in his corrupted form Cross was able to note the increase of it.
Speaking of Cross, he was not ok. With any of this. Like- his best friend was a villain, he was a superhero, and he's supposed to be fighting his best friend... but now he's absolutely powerless, wrapped up in Nightmare's weird tentacles he didn't even know he had.
Nightmare sat on the bed where the book was, his back leaning up against the bed frame. The tendrils still suspended Cross in the air for a moment- or well- until they plopped him onto Nightmare's lap.
Cross flushed lightly- he could tell the tendrils did have a bit of a mind of their own... maybe they've miss placed him. And so he tried to move off. This only resulted in the tentacles curling up around him, keeping him there.
"Uh-uh N-Nightmare...?" Cross asked uncertainly.
"Shh." Nightmare hushed him.
"I- th-think um..."
"Yeah. I know." Nightmare's hands went around Cross, holding the book in front of them- and his chin fit conveniently in the crook of the Oreo's neck. Now, this got Cross to shut up.
Nightmare began reading the book aloud- he could be a solid voice actor in this form - if he wasn't a super villain. This deep baritone voice could lull Cross to sleep. The corruption had somehow gotten rid of any kinks in his voice puberty had left behind. Cross didn't mind them. It was cute- but he hadn't dare say such a thing aloud.
Nightmare was ecstatic. He should really kidnap Cross more often... the thought of doing this has crossed his mind more than once. However, he didn't know how Cross would react to his corrupted form. Especially since he was a villain and all.
But now?
They're both a little different and that makes them normal.