take my monster cooper cooptrav with some implied jokomason and sam + logan content please and thankies
this was planned to end on a date w them but im burnt out and already writing a cooptrav park date thingy so uh..... take this half baked idea
no cws for tonight lads
title from roma - szymon
prompt; "cooper is the monster underneath travis's bed and one day, when cooper is about to scare him, travis invites him out to talk, and they become better friends."
final word count; 2.5k
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cooper isn't the scariest looking monster, but he somehow gets his job done.
not that he really understands his job, since, one day, he was taken from his lovely home under the sea and plopped down in a child's room, then taken to a grown adult's room, told to lurk under his bed and scare him whenever he gets the chance. cooper misses the ocean, misses the water and swimming, but there's a lovely thing called a bathtub that can fill with water and a thing called a swimming pool that can also fill with water.
that's a joke, by the way. cooper knows more about the human realm than he usually lets on, and his job is to simply scare the human inhabiting the bed and just vibe. his name is travis, he's twenty, very easily scared - weird, since he loves horror movies and some horror games, and he's kind of softish? cooper doesn't know the word for it. he's never gotten a good look at travis, didn't even know his name until a friend of his – eric, he thinks his name is, but travis calls him swagger sometimes – called and was talking to him. the only thing he really knows about him is that he goes to school for cyber security.
cooper hears the familiar creak of travis's feet on the stairs and grins. speak of the devil (think of the devil? does it really matter?). after a few moments, the door swings over, and travis sighs, flopping down on his bed. he sounds.. tired? sad? cooper almost feels bad for what he's about to do.
he scoots himself over to where he's just barely covered by the bed and reaches an arm up, a cold, slimy, and scaly hand closing around travis's ankle. he usually jumps immediately, maybe even screams, but today he doesn't. it makes cooper confused- has he done it so much that travis isn't scared anymore? is he having such a bad day that he's not processing his emotions correctly?
"you do know you're allowed to come out from there, right?" travis asks, voice quiet, and cooper freezes. his hand is still clasped around his ankle, loose enough that travis can easily pull away, and he reluctantly slides out from underneath the bed, sitting up cross-legged and looking at travis curiously. "my name's travis," the brunet says, "what's yours?"
"cooper." he answers, clearing his throat. travis hums in response, nodding quietly. he looks quite tired, cooper notes, pretty much dead on his feet. curly brown hair is greasy and sticking to his forehead, hidden underneath a dirty white hoodie, fingers red and rubbing his sore wrists, eyelids drooping tiredly over red-rimmed hazel eyes. "not gunna cap, you look like you're actually going to fucking die if you don't sleep." travis makes a noise, chuckles softly, shrugs.
"long day at work. i honestly do wanna go to sleep but i can't, not this early." his eyes are on cooper, looking over the monster. there are scales freckling his face, long, yet blunt, fingernails and fins where his ears should be, he's got a tail like a little fish and beach blond hair that falls in waves, stopping just above his shoulders, pretty blue-green eyes and sharp teeth lacing a gentle smile. he doesn't look scary for a monster. travis has probably come up with worse-looking imaginary monsters in his spare time.
"why can't you?" cooper asks, a little confused, and travis shrugs.
"dunno, i just was never able to. it's weird, i just can't fall asleep early." cooper hums quietly in response, thinking over ways he could possibly help. being a monster, specifically one 'created' for sleep related shit, cooper figures he could probably find some sort of way to help travis. he doesn't even know why he wants to help him – i mean, he just met the guy (formally, anyway). maybe he just feels sympathetic? oh, what's the word.. concerned? probably concerned. like he said before, travis looks like he's about to just keel over and die.
cooper will never understand emotions like he wants to, however. "that sucks," he says eventually, feeling kind of awkward, but travis chuckles. "why're you laughing? was somethin' i said funny?" travis shakes his head and covers his mouth as he laughs quietly.
"you're just- so awkward? it's so funny, even i'm not this awkward!" travis giggles, and cooper can feel his face heat up. "and i- i'm pretty awkward!" the brunet shifts, laying back on the bed, looking over at cooper with a soft smile. "what are you? sorry if that seems a bit blunt or offensive! i didn't mean it like that! it's just-"
"yeah, i know, you're good. don't worry about it, yeah? didn't offend me. i'm, like, a fish monster. i dunno what kinda fish i am, but i'm a fish." travis looks a little confused but he's hesitant to ask any more questions, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself quiet, even though cooper can tell desperately wants to ask more. the blond chuckles softly under his breath and tells him, "don't be afraid to ask anything, dude, i don't mind."
"i just don't wanna seem insensitive, y'know?" travis shrugs and averts his gaze, biting back a yawn, and cooper sighs quietly. "i- i just don't wanna offend you. i dunno how this monster stuff even works."
"i don't really care about the questions. i'd explain the monster shit, but right now you need to sleep. you're pretty much dead on your feet, dude, you're so close to passing out, just lay down 'nd close your eyes 'r some shit." travis groans and shifts, nodding tiredly. "good. i'll be here tomorrow, you don't hafta worry about me leaving. i'm pretty much bound to this place."
"mm.. you're right, sorry. i should sleep, but- "
"no. no buts. sleep." travis puffs out his cheeks and nods, and cooper finds the action kind of cute (though he'll never tell travis that), and the human smiles at him. "night, trav." the monster murmurs, and travis giggles quietly, tiredness lacing his voice.
"g'night, cooper."
cooper waits until travis's breathing evens out and he's sure the man is asleep, then he slinks back underneath the bed and waits for the darkness to swallow him whole, curling into a ball as cold air seeps in between his scales, willing the darkness to take him to joko's.
as the days meld into weeks, cooper's forgotten to (purposely) scare travis. it's odd – he used to enjoy scaring him, never feeling apologetic for it, and now he feels terrible whenever he accidentally does it. currently, travis is facetiming swagger (eric? sometimes travis calls him eric, it's confusing), and he's sitting down on the floor next to the bed, out of the camera's frame. travis sees him, it's obvious he does, his eyes flicking to cooper every few moments, but he waits until eric hangs up the phone to talk to cooper. "how was your day today, coopster?"
that's a nickname he hasn't heard before. "it's been ok, trav. sam 'nd logan got into a fight over brownies or some shit, it was pretty funny. now sam's mom won't let logan come out from the closet but she told him sam can give him some brownies still," travis giggles, covering his mouth with his sweater paw (a weird thing to cooper, travis likes covering most of his hands with his hoodie sleeves, and even if cooper finds it strange, it's still so adorable). "'nd then my friend joko got punched in the face trying to scare mason and now he just doesn't wanna scare him anymore."
"what happens if you stop scaring them?" travis asks, genuinely intrigued, and cooper pauses.
"i don't actually know. 's far as i can tell, there aren't any rules saying we have to continue to scare you guys, i'm pretty sure we were just put where we are to keep you company the only way monsters know how - scaring." travis hums quietly, tapping his fingers together, and cooper braces for another scare-related question.
"who's joko? and mason and sam and logan?" is what he gets, and he snorts quietly, pushing himself up off the floor and sitting down on the edge of the bed, one knee pulled up to his chest, socked feet gently nudging travis's.
"he's this little green goblin with pink and yellow dreads. he's a little taller than me but i can still beat his ass any day. he's pretty energetic 'nd shit, but he genuinely cares about all his friends. to be honest, i think you'd really like it. mason is the guy joko's placed with, he's a little feisty and easily frustrated, and joko seems to be the person who pisses him off the most," travis grins, leans closer to cooper, interested in what he's saying, "logan is sam's monster, he's a fuckin' shifter, i think? he doesn't like talking about it too often, but he's a pretty chill guy. he mainly stays in his human form throughout the day, but he shifts into different monsters before sam goes to sleep, and sam still screams like a little kid at him. sam is a good friend of mine, super chaotic but caring all the same, he helps logan out a lot and he's just a good person."
"sounds like you have pretty good friends, coop!" travis says, though a question is lacing his voice, heavy on his tongue. cooper can tell by the tone of his voice and he sighs, which makes travis grimace, bite his cheek, then huff. "do you.. consider me a friend too?" the question surprises the monster, but he responds instantaneously.
"of fucking course i do, dude! what makes you think i wouldn't?" the brunet smiles, obviously happy with this news, and cooper smiles back.
"good! i consider you my friend too, coopie! my best friend, even!" cooper's eyes widen with shock – he thought eric was travis's best friend.
"i thought your best friend is that eric guy you were just talking to."
"psh, silly goose-" what? cooper isn't a goose. "- you can have more than one best friend! you and eric are my best friends, plural, coopie," travis says, as if he's speaking to a child (they both know travis is the real child here, he can hardly speak any english and it's his first language) and cooper scowls playfully, reaching over and swatting gently at travis's hand, the shorter laughing loudly.
"surprised you even know what the word plural means, travis," he shoots back. travis sputters and chokes down a laugh, lunging forward to smack cooper's chest, but he slips, landing in his lap. cooper's face flushes green (cooper doesn't blush red, unsurprisingly) and travis chuckles awkwardly, his own face fully red. they sit like that for a moment, just staring up at each other, until travis shoves himself away, pulling on his hoodie strings until the hood is covering most of this face.
cooper doesn't know what to say.
he doesn't know what to do.
his heart is beating faster than it ever has and the flush on his face won't go away.
instead of staying, however, he quietly slips back underneath the bed and leaves without saying goodbye, the darkness whisking him off to logan's place. as soon as he's there, he stumbles out of sam's closet, looking at the two. they're sitting cross legged on his bed, eating the brownies sam's mother baked, and as soon as he enters, sam takes a good look at him and holds out a brownie.
he reluctantly takes it, nibbling on the sweet treat, and he stays quiet as sam and logan whisper to each other. "cooper?" sam says, keeping his voice down, and cooper looks up. "what's wrong, dude?" cooper runs a hand through his hair, brushing it out of his face, and exhales deeply.
"how does it feel to like someone?" is what he asks, looking at his two friends, who're somewhat shocked he's even asking that question.
"like- romantically?" at cooper's nod, sam bites the inside of his cheek, thinking for a moment. "you want to share everything with them. your feelings, anything – doesn't matter, could be negative, could be positive, it doesn't matter – you want them to know everything about you. you feel euphoria, you feel so good, you feel- amazing, whenever you talk with them. your heart beats fast and sometimes you get this weird feeling in your stomach. you always want to hang out with them, you always want to be around them, even if you guys are just sittin' in silence, you just like being around them."
"and," logan chimes in, "you like their vibe. you feel like shit when something bad happens and your relationship with them suffers just a little, 'nd it fucking sucks when you can't talk to them or you guys have a falling out."
"mm.. what if they accidentally did something to you and you both were really embarrassed and then you just left them?" cooper asks, and sam shrugs.
"then you should go back and talk to them. you'll never know how they feel until you ask, dude, and if you truly care about them, then you'll go back soon, if not now." sam tells him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "you got this, man. go get 'em, mister loverman." cooper's face flushes and he dips his head, then he hugs both sam and logan.
"thank you guys so much." he mumbles, and his friends laugh.
"don't be a sap, cooper, 'nd jus' go!" logan says, faux-annoyance lacing his voice, though there's a huge smile on his face. cooper pulls back and goes back to the closet, keeping his eyes closed until he's surrounded by the familiar smell of pine in travis's room. he opens his eyes and pushes himself out from underneath the bed, listening to travis sniffle and choke on sobs.
cooper feels bad – he's the cause of travis feeling like this – and he sits on the bed, a shaky hand gently making contact with travis's arm. the brunet jumps and turns, looking at cooper, and his eyes widen once he realises he's there. "cooper- i'm sorry for what i did, i feel really- dumb and i'm sorry i made you run off," travis rambles, not letting cooper get a sentence in, "and i- i understand if you don't wanna come back anymore but i just wanted to say sorry."
"travis, it isn't your fault. it's mine. i didn't mind it, y'know? it was.. nice, having you in my lap like that. and of fucking course i'm gunna stay with you, there's no place i'd rather be." travis sniffles again and cooper's momentarily confused, until-
"no one's ever said anything like that to me before," travis wipes his eyes with his hoodie sleeve and sobs again, "i really like you, coopie, and i don't want you to leave me alone, ever."
"and i won't trav. swear on my life, i'll never fuckin' leave you by yourself." cooper says, and his words mean more to travis than he realises. travis tugs on cooper's hoodie, pulling him down onto the bed, and cooper – after getting over his initial shock – holds him whilst he cries.
he means what he said.
he'll always be there for travis, no matter what.