The smells of the decaying neighborhood marinated in the air, causing both Leeroy and Tajín's noses to crinkle in response. Whatever "extermination" was, it must've been awful. Corpses of sinners who would never come back from the dead dotted the ground, brown, dried blood cooking in the heat around them.
Tajín continued looking back at Leeroy, his eyes shifting from the road ahead to the fly. He sped up a bit when Leeroy got too close to him. Leeroy slowed a bit.
"We should be nearing the water tower soon," Tajín disclosed. "Then we'll head back, and we'll get to get back to cleaning." He continued walking at a quickened pace, his eyes never failing to shift back towards Leeroy. "I'll sleep on the couch again tonight."
"Isn't the couch uncomfortable?" Leeroy asked, catching up with the mouse. "There's plenty of room on the bed, plus I don't mind."
Tajín looked back again, raising an eyebrow. He rubbed a sore spot on his back and pressed onward. "I hope you're not thinking that anything is happening between us," he dragged.
"I wouldn't dream of it. I've already got someone special, anyway," Leeroy replied. Tajín slowed his pace just a bit. Looking up in the sky, Leeroy saw the bulky shape of the water tower. He buzzed his wings. "I could probably fly both of us the rest of the way. Climbing up that rusty ladder looks like a one-way ticket to the hospital for the rest of your afterlife."
Tajín stopped and gave the ladder a better look. Rust coated every rung on the ladder, and though it was far away, he could make out little slivers just waiting to cut into his skin. Only if he squinted, though. Leeroy didn't seem to need to squint at all to get the visual information. He just stood there with his big red bug eyes.
Another wave of soreness pushed its way through Tajín's back, and so the mouse rubbed it away accordingly. He looked back and forth between Leeroy and the water tower, evaluating his options. "I think I'll be fine getting up there by myself," he said, turning his back and walking towards the water tower.
Leeroy frowned, "I wouldn't drop you, Tajín." He followed the mouse to the base of the water tower. Tajín didn't say much as he grabbed the first rung and pulled himself up. He took care not to stab himself with the rusted metal parts that stuck out. The ladder creaked and moaned under his weight, but Tajín was dead set on doing this himself.
The entire thing would surely collapse if Leeroy added his weight to the ladder, so he flew up to the top, sticking close by Tajín to ensure he didn't fall. Tajín huffed.
"You don't need to babysit me, it's not like I've never climbed a ladder before," he finally said, wiping rust off his hands onto his open blue jacket. "It's freaky having you stare at me while I climb if I'm being honest."
"Oh, sorry," Leeroy droned, his voice small. "I'll just meet you at the top, then." Leeroy flew higher, though made sure he could still see Tajín with his super-human peripheral vision. They ascended in silence for a moment, until something snapped beneath Tajín's weight.
Tajín lost his footing, and the added weight of his unsteadiness caused the other rung he was grabbing onto to snap as well. Leeroy reacted quickly and caught Tajín before he hit the ground, though he may have overestimated how capable he was of flying with another person.
"Sorry, sorry, let me just..." Leeroy strained out, adjusting Tajín as best he could to make the position both dignified and simple. Doing so seemed near impossible, so Leeroy settled on a bridal-style where the bottom arms supported Tajín's weight while the top ones ensured he wouldn't fall out. Tajín wriggled around in protest until he realized the other option was falling a good 20 feet to a painful splatter. Leeroy worked double time to get them both to the top of the water tower, eventually reaching it with a huff.
It was then that Leeroy learned that he didn't sweat anymore. He let Tajín down and doubled over, catching his breath. Tajín's expression softened.
"Thanks for saving me," he said, reservation in his voice. "Let's just pray nobody saw you hold me like that... that was super weird."
Leeroy gave a thumbs up and coughed, the stress of the situation still pounding through his chest.
"We can wait a bit for you to catch your breath. I'm not tall enough to reach the top of that, anyway," Tajín trailed off, looking up.
"Hhhokay, I got you," Leeroy wheezed, sucking in a big whiff of air and letting it out. He straightened out and finally caught his breath. He grabbed the top of the water tower and heaved to pick it up, though once he did, he immediately dropped it. The smell of a corpse permeated the water so strongly that even Leeroy's fly instincts found it repulsive. Mold and rot dominated the water tower—no wonder the water back at the house was so disgusting.
"What is it?" Tajín asked. His question got answered when the smell finally hit him, causing him to grab his nose and gag in response.
Leeroy regained his composure and loosened up. "I've got an idea, okay, there was a story about something like this happening in the human world. It was all over the news and the creepy side of YouTube," he informed, shaking off any residual disgust. "I'll hold the lid open while you get the body out, then I'll come back with some water cleaner, and before you know it, we'll have clean water."
"Are you crazy, pulgita? I don't wanna go in there and touch that," Tajín protested. "I don't even know how it got in there!"
"You could hold up the lid while I go in and get the body?" Leeroy suggested. Tajín agreed with the idea and started to find footing in dents and bumps along the side of the water tower when suddenly, they both realized that the smell had completely vanished. Or, at least, the horrid smell of death did. Mold and mildew were still present, but compared to the smell of a rotting corpse, it was nothing.
Leeroy looked back down into the water, and sure as can be, the body was gone. It just... disappeared. It had taken most of the black sludge with it, too, and left only clear water dusted by a few mostly harmless bits of mold. Stunned, Leeroy looked around, surprised that something as big as this could have escaped his all-seeing bug eyes.
Somewhere, far away, the sinner, who had crawled inside the water tower to escape extermination, respawned in hell. She rung out her hair and styled her shoes, and before long, she was back on the streets, working for Valentino. Perhaps this was none other than Tiffany Tit-Fucker herself, or perhaps this was some low-leveling prostitute who only saw the camera from a side-character's perspective. Surely, she would become important later, whoever she was.
"The body disappeared," Leeroy said, bluntly, stopping Tajín in his tracks.
"What?" the mouse inquired, not believing him.
"The water is clear now, so we can go back home and finish cleaning," Leeroy finished, setting the lid down and finding his footing back on the ground. "Do you want me to carry you down since the ladder broke on you last time?"
Tajín dropped down from where he had been positioned, the sudden impact making the entire structure shake. He nearly lost his balance but caught himself before he had to be saved by Leeroy again. He leaned over the edge and looked at the ladder. While they had been chatting about the dead body in the water, rust got the better of several more rungs, which now lay on the ground beneath them.
Tajín, reluctantly, accepted Leeroy's offer. Leeroy picked Tajín up with great difficulty (not that Tajín was fat or anything, Leeroy's arms are just the size of twigs and his ability to lift things has never been that great) and flew off the edge. Though, it was more like they floated as Leeroy put all his effort into making sure they didn't straight up fall to their dooms.
"Thanks, again," Tajín said, getting back on his feet and waiting for Leeroy to catch his breath again. Still, something bothered Tajín. He took a few steps farther away from Leeroy and just watched.
"And... I should be ready to walk back to the house," Leeroy said, his words in steadying breaths.
"Let's hit the road, then," Tajín announced, walking a few steps behind Leeroy while they made their way back. The silence was almost deafening. It was hard to hear even the loud sounds of Pentagram city from the tension that surrounded the two 20-something-year-olds.
Leeroy felt it, too. The way Tajín had been avoiding him, side-eying him, and just all-around acting strange towards him... it just didn't feel good. Leeroy slowed his steps enough to force Tajín to catch up to him.
"So, you've been acting strange. Is something on your mind? Are you worried about your dad?" Leeroy guessed.
Tajín slowed again, but so did Leeroy.
"Maybe something else?" Leeroy added.
Tajín looked off to the side before finally staring Leeroy dead-on in his buggy face. He asked, "Why are you acting so... nice towards me? You didn't answer before when I asked why you went to all that trouble of dealing with my father's cartel, or why you even bothered staying at that rinky-dink old house." He stared intensely to monitor Leeroy's reactions. Leeroy just stared at him with a confused look. "See, the problem is that I'm not an idiot," Tajín continued, "and I can tell when someone wants something from me. Nobody is that nice, nobody's that caring, especially in hell, so...."
"... so, you think I want something from you," Leeroy finished the sentence. His face relaxed. He even smiled a bit.
Tajín took note of Leeroy's reaction. "What do you hope to gain from me?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest, stopping entirely.
"Well, there's nothing I want from you. I think you're nice, and interesting, and it's just nice to have someone to spend time with, you know?" Leeroy explained, still smiling. Tajín's expression fell, his eyes becoming a sea of bittersweetness. His arms loosened. He faintly resembled a cute, little, sad kitten.
"Is that really it?" Tajín asked, reservation in his voice. Leeroy nodded.
"Not to mention, you already saved my hide when your dad came in to attack us. You totally shot that guy's hand who was going to kill me!" Leeroy exclaimed. He light patted Tajín on the shoulder. "I think we make a great team." Leeroy's smile softened.
Tajín looked up at Leeroy, doubt still etched into his face. Could this guy seriously be that naïve and nice? But, at the same time, he hadn't done anything, really, to go against his claims. Maybe it was time for Tajín to accept that he needed friends.
Especially when those friends can Mary-Sue their way into murdering like eight different armed people. Tajín let a smile cross his suspicious, tense face. "Alright, pulgita. I don't know what you see in me, but we can be friends if that's what you want," he said.
Leeroy smiled wider and his wings flapped a bit in excitement. "We're gonna be the best of friends," he promised. He started walking again so they'd eventually make it back to the house instead of being stuck in the middle of the street for the rest of the story. "So, I've been curious, what exactly is the deal with your dad?"
"What do you mean?" Tajín asked, keeping pace with Leeroy. "He's pretty straight-forward; he's a rat-bastard who only cares about money and bitches. He goes around claiming territory so he can have some place to make his drugs and house his goons."
Leeroy listened, nodding his head. "What's your relationship with him?" he pried, his face turned towards the mouse.
Tajín cringed at the thought. "I'll just say that he's a terrible father. If I could redo life without him in it, I'd take that chance in a heartbeat."
His father had killed him. Leeroy blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things, as he thought he saw some aura around Tajín that told him exactly what he was feeling. Nope, it was still there. It also read off his full name, "Tajín Castaneda," as well as something dark. So dark, in fact, it couldn't be put into words... Leeroy smiled at the new information. Tajín just got a lot more interesting. But, he had to try something first.
"Hey, Tajín, what's your last name?" Leeroy suddenly questioned.
"My last name? Why?" Tajín raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just curious. Tajín is a really interesting name, so I was wondering what last name went with it," Leeroy said, making up the excuse on the spot.
"My last name isn't too special... it's just 'Castaneda,'" Tajín shrugged. "It means 'Chestnut.'"
Leeroy nodded. "That's cute," he added.
"Eh... it's fine, at best. What about you? What's your last name?" Tajín asked, nudging Leeroy's arm.
"It's nothing special, just Parker. Though, I was planning on changing it to McFly," Leeroy joked, rubbing his hands together in the most fly-way possible. Tajín laughed.
"Leeroy McFly... I think it suits you," Tajín smiled. "And since you're digging so deep into my life, let me ask you a question: Who is that 'special someone' you've met already? You've been in hell for, what, two days?"
Leeroy's face flushed. "Well, he's not exactly in hell. I just know I'll see him again when he dies," his voice drifted off, all dreamily.
"Why? Is he a bad person?" Tajín inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, no, he's wonderful," Leeroy cooed, daydreaming about his special guy. Charles Roach. Ah... he was, truly, the world's most perfect man.
"I hate to burst your bubble, but 'wonderful' people typically don't end up in Hell," Tajín said, waving a hand in front of Leeroy to bring him back to reality. Leeroy shrugged.
The two of them finally arrived at their little broken home in the middle of the broken suburban neighborhood, and they used their freshly clean water to mop the floor, scrub the walls, vacuum the furniture, and prepare a meal using the previous owners' leftover food. After all, they were dead. They wouldn't be eating it any time soon.
While Leeroy and Tajín sit at the table, digging into some culinary abomination that would make any chef weep, Tick stood in the window, watching them. She smiled, her eyes on Leeroy. She had been watching the two of them all day, and seeing how Leeroy behaved made her antsy.
The mouse and the fly finished their dinner, and Leeroy said something, then the two of them disappeared into the bedroom. Filled with alarm, Tick quickly changed her position to get a better view from the bedroom window—but they weren't doing anything scandalous.
They just climbed in on opposite sides of the bed, staying two feet away from each other. It looked like sleeping with your least favorite sibling on a family trip. Tick sighed in relief, waited until they both drifted off, and put herself to sleep on a trash heap just outside Leeroy and Tajín's home.