Chapter 1: i. you do it baby do it right
Summary:
sometimes, the monsters aren't who you think they are.
Notes:
i was gonna write this whole fic for today, but when the first part ended up 3k+ i decided against it lmao
next chapters out soon!
Chapter Text
Khun Aguero Agnis is eight years old and unafraid of monsters.
Something knocks against the underside of his bed. He ignores it in favor of wrapping his pillow around his ears. Unlike him, his sisters are hiding in the attic, safely asleep in their spare beds. In every horror movie, the monsters appear in the attic, where it's dull, dark, dusty.
This is not a horror movie.
The closet on the opposite side of the room rattles, and he leans over to toss his slipper at it with a sleepy scowl. There's a monster in the shape of a humanoid alligator locked in there - the 'Great Rak Wraithraiser' tried to 'hunt' Aguero (Blue Turtle, the gator called him), but the boy had bested him with a Snickers bar, luring the beast out from under his bed and trapping him inside the closet by hooking a broom through the handles. The gator bellows Aguero's new nickname, the closet rattling furiously.
Thankfully, Aguero is used to these monsters. He knows they make no sounds his mother and father can hear from downstairs, regardless of how loud they are next to him. It's a children thing, he thinks, monsters making scaring young humans their business. Speaking of scary, something slithers over his cheek, smooth as silk, cold as ice. He makes a sound of disapproval, eyes still squeezed shut, and rolls over. What feels like fingers tap tap tap up his back, tracing his spine to the back of his neck. Goosebumps rise over his bare skin.
"Go away," he grumbles. "I'm not afraid of any of you, you know. Whoever sends you guys here should just invest in scaring some other kid."
The tap tap tapping stops. Aguero shivers at the feeling of somebody literally breathing down his neck. "You're not afraid?"
This little monster lurking somewhere under his bed is different. It sounds young, childlike, perhaps no older than Aguero's younger sister Kiseia. Intrigued, Aguero flips back over.
The 'monster' he sees steals his breath away. It's not because he's terrifying - it's the reverse. To the naked eye, the monster is in fact a boy, and he is completely, utterly normal. Short, messy brown-black hair lies on top of his head like a mop, skin painted bronze under the moonlight filtering through the curtains. His eyes are a shocking shade of gold. If they were jewels, Aguero would've stolen them, hidden them somewhere nobody else could find. They're pure, like diamonds, sharp like them too. Something blurs in his peripheral vision. Aguero blinks, and everything changes.
Shadowy tendrils extend from his limbs, his hair, his body. Nothing about him seems solid. His eyes glow golden in the dark. Aguero can see a heart pulsing in his chest, darkness pumping through his veins. This monster is like nothing he has ever seen before. His own heart slams in his ribcage like a helpless rabbit ensnared in a trap. His throat constricts, a breath caught in his lungs. Is this what they call fear?
Ba-DUM. Ba-DUM. Ba-DUM.
Is that his heartbeat, or is it his?
Downstairs, his father shouts, and his mother screams. One of his mother's expensive vases shatters. Aguero can hear the pitter-patter of his sister's feet in the attic above his room, imagining her whisper to Kiseia that everything's alright, everything's going to be just fine, Sister's going to protect you, don't worry about Aguero, he's a big boy, he's smart and he knows what to do.
Aguero groans, rolling onto his back and throwing an arm over his eyes. He doesn't know what they argue about, just that they argue all the time, that his mother sacrifices herself to his father's wrath in order to protect her three young children. The little monster pokes his cheek with a solid finger. "Did I scare you?"
"No."
"Aw." The little monster with the golden eyes flops next to him, icy cold washing over the side of Aguero's body that's closer. "My uncle told me I could be real scary. That's what my Papa was like before he disappeared." The little monster pokes Aguero with what feels like fingers, but Aguero doesn't see him move. What is he, really? "If you're not scared of me, what are you scared of? The dark?"
Aguero doesn't answer. "Okay, not the dark, then." If he convinces himself this is all a dream, everything will go away, even the croc in the closet. "Spiders?" The blue haired boy flinches at the tickling sensation on the bottom of his feet. "Oh, so you don't like that, but you're not scared." The little monster hums, brows furrowed in thought. It's almost cute. Aguero looks away, the night hiding his pink cheeks. "Clowns! A lot of people are scared of clowns. I'm scared of clowns." The little monster nods, head propped up on his hands as he looks down at Aguero. He looks incredibly sure of himself. "Where I come from, one of the other monsters looks like a clown. He even has the ugly red paint to go with it. He likes eating souls, so that's not very nice of him."
This little monster is the least scariest thing Aguero has ever seen. Aguero decides to indulge him in conversation. Inwardly, he frowns - that's not very Aguero-like of him. "The scariest monsters are the ones downstairs," he whispers.
The little monster's mouth opens in an ohhhh. "So like my shadow?" The shadow flares, a vaguely humanoid figure wiggling its fingers. Aguero tries to shake its hand, but his hand goes right through. "Not my shadow?"
The two of them freeze when Aguero's father roars from downstairs. His mother wails. Footsteps charge up the stairs, an drunken, angry male voice bellowing a slurred version of Aguero's name. Aguero's blood turns to ice. He shuffles towards the end of the bed, blatant terror in his blue eyes. "Wait," the little monster whispers, surprisingly soft fingers grabbing onto his wrist, "where are you going?"
"I need to hide," Aguero hisses. He yanks the broom through the closet handles, tossing Rak another chocolate and climbing in next to him. He's just small enough to fit. "Father's not in a good mood. He's gonna kill me."
Both monsters' eyes widen. "Blue Turtle's getting hunted?" Rak roars as quietly as he can. "Only I'm allowed to hunt you Turtles! I will face Father Turtle-"
"No!" Aguero shouts. He claps a hand over his mouth. He can't let his father hear him. "You can't do that! You'll only make things worse!" He turns to the monster-boy. "You need to hide too, or the two of you can go and I'll deal with him myself-"
"No," murmurs the little monster. It sounds like a million voices are speaking at once, the most prominent one deep and husky. "I want to speak with him." He climbs into the closet alongside Aguero and the gator, the three of them precariously perched under the clothes hangers.
Even when the little monster closes the closet doors and traps the human with himself and the gator, Aguero feels no fear.
How strange.
"Aguero!" His father bellows from outside. Aguero tucks his legs up, hiding his face in his knees. He tries to hide the unstoppable shaking of his clammy hands when the door slams open, his father's drunken wrath less than five feet away. He can almost sense his father's rage, an electric storm in the silence. Each step sounds like the boom of thunder, each harsh breath like the crackling of lightning. Far away, his mother weeps, and his sisters hug each other tightly.
Aguero is eight years old, and the only thing he fears is his father. He has nobody to cling to, nowhere to hide.
A hiccupping whimper crawls out of his throat when his father shouts, searching for his missing son. No, Khun Eduan would not call Aguero a son - he is more a punching bag when Aguero's mother has nothing left to offer. Aguero hears his bedframe rattle as his father flips the pillows and the blankets over, stomping on the floor as if trying to lure a ghost out from under the bed. His father growls as nothing appears, and Aguero bites his fist to stop himself from screaming. Eight years of living in this house has changed nothing, terror classical-conditioned into him like Pavlov's dogs drool at the sight of a bell.
"Shh," the monster-boy whispers, a hand on the small of his back, "he's not going to hurt you, not with me and Mr Rak here." Moonlight slips through the crack in the door, illuminating the little monster's bright smile. To Aguero, the little freckles on his face look like stardust. "I have to scare someone here by tonight, but nobody said it had to be you."
"Black Turtle, stop stealing my prey," the gator grumbles. "I'm assigned to Blue Turtle."
"And you're failing," the little monster - Black Turtle - counters cheerfully. "I got assigned to this place too to make sure you did your job, but Uncle will let me off if I don't do mine."
Rak Wraithraiser harrumphs. "Boss Monster Turtle favors you. You're more like him than the rest of us."
"Shh!" Aguero hisses when his father's footsteps near their hiding place. His body trembles like a leaf in the wind, flat-out fear written all over his features. "He'll find-"
They all freeze when the closet door swings open. Aguero's father sneers down, the gator and the shadow-boy invisible to his adult eyes. "There you are, you little bïtch."
Aguero cries out when his father's hand latches onto his head, whimpering as his body falling out of the closet with an audible thump. He screams when his father grabs a fistful of his hair and yanks. "Father, please!" Helpless tears roll down his cheeks, fat with the knowledge that his mother and sisters are too scared for their own safety to help him. He's used to it. This isn't his first time. "It hurts, please stop, please-"
He finds the time to catch his breath when his father lets go, but he doesn't breathe a sigh of relief just yet. He knows his father isn't done with him. He bears scars from past experiences - galaxies of bruises litter his body, some old, some fresh. His father knows better than to go for the face. The Khun family is known for their otherworldly beauty, after all. A gasp catches in Aguero's throat when his father unbuckles the belt around his wait, pulling it through the loops. Horror and terror floods through him as his father throws him onto the bed, raising the belt like a whip.
He squeezes his eyes shut, waiting for the lash of leather against his back. Will he bleed? Will this leave another set of shameful scars? Will his father accentuate each hit with spat-out comments of worthless boy, I wish you'd never been born?
Aguero curls himself into a ball, hiding his leaking tear ducts, the soft flesh of his belly.
It hurts less this way.
The pain never comes.
Aguero cautiously peers out between the periwinkle curtain cascading in front of his eyes. Rak holds his father by the collar of his shirt, dangling him at arms reach. He towers above the blue-haired man in his fifteen-foot form, reptilian scales a barrier against Aguero's father's useless belt. "Pathetic Turtle," he rumbles, red eyes scornful, "you are supposed to hunt your prey while they are strong, not while they are weak! There is no glory in hunting weak prey!"
Aguero's father kicks out, a sneer on his face. Rak looks equally disgusted. "Put me down, you alligator handbag," he snaps. "I know your kind. I'm not afraid of you."
"Your heartbeat says otherwise," the gator sneers right back. He opens his maw, revealing sharp, serrated teeth. "If I make you wet your pants, I'll get more bananas."
"Don't eat him," an authoritative voice commands. Aguero looks up, wiping his tear-tracked cheeks with a sniffle. The monster boy is no longer a boy, now taller, stronger. It seems like he has merged with his shadow form - a cape of night is draped around his shoulders, a halo of darkness upon his head. He sounds different, older, his golden eyes glowing an anger too ancient for his size. There is something oddly beautiful about the sight, as wonderful as it is terrifying. "I have unfinished business with him."
Aguero's father shakes and trembles at the sight of the other monster. Aguero is too busy staring in awe. "No," the older man whimpers, "impossible! I- We-"
"You killed me," snarls the monster. Power oozes from his shadowy form, his rage so thick Aguero could cut it with a butter knife. Rak, feeling as out of place as Aguero, lets the older man down, only for the shadow monster to pin him against a wall with a tendril of pure darkness. Khun Eduan chokes, scrabbling against his throat. "You saved yourself and left me for the dead."
"I'm sorry," Aguero's father gasps, wheezing helplessly. "I'm sorry, please forgive me-"
"I refuse." The monster's voice is harsh and cold, slicing through the tension. "Look at you. You're a sorry excuse for a father. A pathetic husband. How dare you call yourself a man?" Aguero is a lump under the blankets as he listens, curled up in a ball and hugging his pillow to his chest. Is this a dream? Reality? Is this monster a demon or a guardian angel here to save them all? "Your wife and children hate you. Your friends want nothing to do with you anymore."
"Stop," his father rasps, trying to keep his dignity and some sense of authority. "Get out of my house, V. You're a monster."
"Call me a monster all you want, E. Look at what you did to me." The monster must've changed his form, because Aguero's father begins to scream. "You and your friends took my wife from me. Because of you, neither of our sons will ever fit in. Yours hates the sight of himself just like he hates the sight of you. Mine will never know love and family. All because of you." Aguero's father begins to beg. He has never seen his father scared before - angry, yes, happy, yes, but scared? Never. Does he dare to peek?
Aguero lifts the blanket just a crack. The sight that greets him makes him gasp, eyes wide, a hand pressed over his mouth. Perhaps the monster had once been human, but now the body has begun to decompose, the stench of rotting flesh making him gag. One side of his head is crushed in, one arm a mutilated mess. What had happened to the man this monster had once been? New tears leak down his face, horrified, terrified curiosity taking over his mind. There is no sympathy for his desperately begging father. A part of him wishes worse, but at the same time, that man is his father. He is family, and family are the only ones you can trust, aren't they?
"You are the worst form of monster, Khun Eduan." His voice rumbles with the promise of violence. "You deserve the worst type of fear."
A quiet sob escapes Aguero, and he swallows the next one, not wanting to risk the little monster's apparent father turning his wrath to him instead. "Oi, Monster Dad Turtle," Rak grunts. "You're scaring the Little Blue Turtle. Black Turtle won't be happy."
The shadowy tendrils slither back towards their master, who collects them like pets. "I will spare your life this time, Khun Eduan, my son seems to have taken a liking to yours. If we must meet again, I'll kill you where you sleep."
Eduan's eyes roll to the back of his head, and he slumps to the floor unconscious. There may or may not be a dark stain on the front of his pants. The shadows separate from the little monster, who stumbles back, looking confused. "What- What happened?"
Aguero emerges from his cocoon of pillows to look at the two familiar monsters. "Monster Dad Turtle happened," Rak replies somberly. He nudges Eduan's limp body with a clawed foot. "Pah! You two keep stealing my prey. Dad Turtle is a good hunter, though. Being defeated by him is honorable." The two of them turn to Aguero, who is still sitting on the bed with clammy hands and cold sweat dripping down the back of his neck. "What do we do with Blue Turtle? Even Dad Turtle doesn't really seem to scare him."
Aguero's head spins - what had the little monster's father been talking about? Just what exactly had his father done before getting married? What time is it? He squints at the small clock ticking away on his desk. Two in the morning is an unearthly hour for an eight-year-old to be awake. He wonders how his mother is doing. Is she still crying? Would she be suspicious if he went down, gave her a hug, and went back to bed, only to find her husband unconscious and terrified, raving like a maniac when morning comes?
"Let's leave him be," the little monster announces. "If we can't scare him, nobody else can." His golden eyes are sympathetic. "It's been a rough night for Aguero."
"How do you know my na-" Aguero interrupts himself with a loud yawn. "Name?"
Rak snorts. "We're fear hunters, Blue Turtle. Of course we have to know our prey's names!"
The little monster furrows his brows in focus, steadily resuming a more solid form. He looks almost human, if you don't look at the uncanny sharpness of his teeth and the complete lack of guile in his eyes. "If it makes you feel better, you can call me Bam! You feel better if you know things, right?"
Aguero nods, running a hand through his hair. "Thank you, Bam." He cracks a smile. "I do feel better."
Bam grins, wide and toothy and somehow rather endearing. "I don't like scaring people either, so thank you for not being scared, I guess." His smile falls. "I'd ask if we could be friends, but I don't think we'll ever see each other again..."
The gator harrumphs. "I won't tell Boss Turtle if you stay a while longer, Black Turtle. Mother Blue Turtle is coming, though, so I will return to the wilderness." Bam's eyes widen, and he slithers under the covers right next to Aguero, flattening himself into a mere shadow. Rak waves at Aguero. "Goodbye, Blue Turtle. I'll hunt you when you're stronger."
For some reason, Aguero finds his lips curving into a smirk. "I look forward to it. Try harder next time, gator. I'll bring you more chocolate."
Rak splutters. "Why, you-"
The reptilian monster disappears into a puff of smoke as Aguero's mother steps into the room, eyes wide and hair messy. Black mascara runs down her cheeks, her make-up - her pride and joy - ruined. "Aguero! Are you-" She takes in the sight of her son sitting upright in his bed, bleary-eyed and swaying on the spot. She stares at her husband, foaming at the mouth on the floor. "What happened?" She asks weakly.
Aguero shrugs. "Dunno." He's an excellent liar. "He just fainted. Guess he saw something he didn't want to see."
"Shame on him." Aguero's mother, Agnis, smiles viciously as she snaps a photo of her unconscious husband. Her eyes hold ageless exhaustion, and Aguero hopes maybe they'll fade a little tonight. "Let's call your sisters down, shall we? Move your father onto the lawn. Maybe we'll finally get a good night's sleep without him."
Aguero nods eagerly. "You should wash your face too. If Kiseia sees you, she might faint."
His mother swats him over the head, a soft smile on her face. "Rude boy."
When Aguero drags his father's body down the stairs, through the living room and out into the backyard, he feels stronger. Bam must be hiding under Aguero's bed, but his shadow seems to prefer to follow instead, working with Aguero's shadow to lift the older man. On his way back to his room, Aguero maneuvers his shadow to high-five Bam's.
That night, Aguero falls asleep tucked into his mother's side, his two sisters curled up against each other on their mother's other side. One of his hands dangle off the bed, fingers intertwined with that of a phantom friend.
Bam is gone by morning, and just as he said, Aguero doesn't see him again for a long time.
Chapter 2: ii. all i wanna do is take you down
Summary:
aguero is never watching a horror movie in his life ever again, ever, especially not with shibisu, especially not if it involves snakes or siblings.
Notes:
it seems like i am always either super early or super late to meet deadlines smh
last chapter, we had khun eduan being a dick. this chapter, who knows? read to find out!
i love how i was like 'hmm i'm gonna end this by christmas', look where i am now smh
i'll get this whole fic done by cny tho i swear
if i don't, feel free to reach through your screen and smack me
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Khun, my love, do you believe in monsters?"
"I haven't since I was eight." Aguero flips onto his side, bunk bed rattling under him. "And I'm not your love, so stop calling me that."
Shibisu huffs. Aguero is glad he has the top bunk so he doesn't have to watch his bunkmate roll around all night in an attempt to sleep. "Khun, my son, you're so mean! Hatz, indulge me, let me call you my love."
Hatz's response is a simple "no". The black-haired boy has his face buried into his pillow, and Aguero resists the urge to reach over and tickle him just to see how he'd react. The Seppuku Swordsman wannabe has a strict sleep routine - be in bed by eleven at the latest, fall asleep within ten minutes. "Go to sleep, Isu."
Shibisu mock-wails, shoving his pillow against the bottom of Aguero's bed. The bluenet slams his foot down so hard their bed rattles in retaliation. "I can't sleep! We just watched Ring, guys, how are you guys able to even think of sleeping?"
"Laure's asleep," Aguero drawls. Surely enough, their last roommate is snoring like the dead, wrapped up in his blanket and drooling into his pillow under Hatz like they hadn't just watched a horror film.
"He's always sleeping," Shibisu complains. "You could set the room on fire and he'd be asleep."
"Not if you set his pillow on fire," Hatz points out. It's true. The only way to wake their roommate up from his slumber is to steal his pillow, or his blankets, or both, if they're feeling lucky. Sleep-deprived Phonsekal Laure tends to be particularly emotional, let it be as a crying mess or a wide-awake ball of wrath.
Ah, how Aguero loves his roommates.
Aguero is sixteen now, nearly seventeen, and completely unafraid of anything. Sleepy Laure? No problem! The swordsman lifts weights for his fencing training, he can carry Laure the Burrito on his back without a problem. Angry Hatz? Even less of a problem! Usually, Aguero is the reason why, after all, a single taunt of "go commit seppuku" is all it takes. Shibisu is by far the most peaceful, thank god, though not particularly good looking and nowhere near as clever as Aguero but he has his talents.
His roommates are also excellent monster repellents, albeit by accident. He has only been at this boarding school for a few months, but Aguero's sleep schedule is both better and worse. He still remembers the monsters that used to visit him: Rak Wraithraiser, with his giant reptilian form; Bam, with his starry golden gaze, wreathed in nighttime and crowned with unfamiliar kindness; V, Bam's shadow father, similarly kind but dark-eyed and broken-bodied, a man-turned-monster whose death Aguero's father had played a part in. Only Rak is a regular visitor now. Aguero and Rak have a deal - chocolate for news on Bam and V, who had disappeared from the world of humans.
One monster had tried to scare Laure, only to realize Laure was fast asleep, and would continue to be fast asleep every other time they visited. Aguero had a good laugh over that, he did. The monster didn't find it quite so funny. Hatz's monster, a pasty white young man with short hair, had attempted to stab his way into the swordsman's dreams, only to realize the swordsman was dreaming about sword-fighting and thrown the monster off with an "en garde!" and a flourish of his hands. Aguero even tried to apologize in Hatz's stead, but the monster had taken a single look at him and decided not to stay any longer. Shibisu was a bit of a problem, though. He tended to be a monster magnet. But that was fine - all the monsters he attracted were rather weak, even the little green lizard girl with anger issues that reminded Aguero of his own cousin Ran. Aguero had managed to convince Shibisu it was all just a dream, and quite successfully convinced the lizard girl that Shibisu wasn't worth her time.
Besides, Rak, no monsters visit Aguero. That fateful night was a major turning point. The lesser monsters decided that if the apparently terrifying 'Lord of Monsters' couldn't scare a measly eight-year-old boy, none of them could. And it was true! It took less than a blue-eyed glare to send them scuttling away. But those were only the physical monsters, the ones nobody else believed existed, the ones nobody else could seem to see.
Not long after he'd turned eight, his mother had taken his father away to an asylum. Insanity, she called it, ranting and raving about monsters like a madman! He's a bad influence on our children, they'll do better without him. She was completely right, even though Aguero knew better. There were the ones made of darkness, summoned by the dead of night; the ones in his head, a concoction of nightmares and memories; the ones that lie dormant, elusive as a dream but harsh as reality. He knows monsters, he knows they scar just as well as they scare.
The worst monster after all, is his own father.
"Hey, Earrings," Hatz grumbles from his bed. "Shut your brain down. You're thinking too loudly, and I can't sleep."
"That seems like a you problem, and not a me problem," Aguero quips back. He'd like to sleep, he does. But for the past few nights, every time he shuts his eyes, he sees his father's face, a snake-like whip about to crack down on his fragile body. He'd like to think he's stronger now, but the monsters are always worse if you're scared of them.
Hatz splutters. "What do you-"
"Children, please," Shibisu begs from down below, "don't fight. My darling Hatz has a fencing tournament tomorrow, doesn't he?"
"I'm not your darling," mutters Shibisu's apparent "darling". "And yes, I do have a fencing tournament, so both of you, let me sleep!"
Shibisu pretends to cry. "Both my children are so cruel to their daddy."
In another world, Aguero would say he'd like to pretend to be Shibisu's son. Sure, Isu can be annoying, but it's far better than being Eduan's son, that's for sure. But anyone would be better than that abusive, horrid, rotten grape-brained man. Hatz snores loudly just to annoy Shibisu further. A while passes before Hatz's fake snores fade into real ones, steady breaths seeping out of the swordsman. Shibisu's breathing too is slowing down, on the verge of sleep despite his earlier complaints. If Aguero falls asleep, would his father pay him a visit once more?
Maybe he should've stayed home with his mother and Kiseia. They're safe together and doing well, if the letters they send him every week are true. Even his older sister is having fun in her university, making friends, living her best life. Is he the only one stuck in the past? Is he picking at the miserable scabs of a wound that should've almost healed by now?
He throws his arm over his eyes with a heavy sigh that echoes through the darkness. He squeezes his eyes shut, forcing evasive sleep to come to him. Sometimes, he hates himself as much as he hates his father.
"My dearest Aguero. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you."
His eyes snap open at the hissed voice, the sensation of cold on his body. Something that feels like a sandpapery tongue forks over his bare arm, smooth scales sliding over skin. Well, this definitely isn't Rak. The gator doesn't have a skin care routine like this. He removes his arm. Staring at him is a girl around his age, one with, pale skin and luminescent blue eyes. He holds back a groan when she blinks with a wet squelch. That second eyelid? He knows his biology. She's definitely a monster.
Also, is she hissing?
"Go away," he grunts. Aguero rolls over. "I'm not scared of you, snake monster girl, go back to wherever you came from and just fill in the paperwork or whatever. Hell, if you don't want to do it I'll do it for you. I can't sleep anyway."
Snake Girl laughs. "You're so funny, my darling Aguero. Don't you see it? I'm not here because of them. I'm here for you."
Oh. That's new. Aguero rolls back over, morbidly curious. "And why is that?"
"Look me in the eyes and try to guess." She smiles, flashing sharp fangs. She licks her lips with a forked tongue. "If I get bored of waiting, I'll just make you my pet instead."
Creepy, Aguero thinks to himself. He glances at her blue pupils, slit-shaped and snake-like, and realizes- "Hey, we kinda have the same eyes. Are we related or something?"
Snake Girl grins. "Bingo."
Aguero blinks. "Wait, I was right?" He didn't see that coming. He knew his father had played a role in V's death, which had somehow turned him into a monster. But Snake Girl? Besides their uncanny resemblance (if you don't count the snakes she has for hair and only their color, that is, or the forked tongue and the fangs), Aguero really can't connect the dots this time. Besides, she has snake eyes, and he's been told his are more like cats'.
"Brother dearest," she hisses in an amused drawl, "it's been a while."
Aguero is not so amused. "I don't even know you," he drawls right back. "I've never seen you in my life, and two sisters is more than enough for me."
Maria glares at him, and all the snakes glare too. All those shiny blue eyes are wildly disconcerting, and he tries not to pay them any mind. Maybe if he manages to get sleepy, she'll go away. "You are a brat," she snaps, "did your mother never smack you for that insolent mouth of yours?"
"My mother would never raise a hand against me or my sisters." Aguero's face twists into a sneer. "That was Eduan's job. You're probably related to me through him, and I don't particularly know or care how you died or turned into-" he waved his hands in an effort to explain, "- whatever you are now, but you should be grateful you never had to know him."
"Grateful? Bullshït!"
"He abused me for years," he seethes, "and before me it was my mother and my older sister. We barely managed to protect our little sister from him." He checks that his roommates are asleep before he lifts his shirt up, twisting to reveal a patchwork of crisscrossing scars. "Trust me, whatever happened to you, what happened to us was probably worse," he whispers.
"At least you're alive!" Maria shouts. Her snakes hiss in a wild halo around her, and Aguero can't help but flinch. It's a reflex he can't seem to kick away, jumping whenever somebody raises their voice. It reminds him of his father. "Your piece-of-shït father slept with my mother, at some point, but he never realized, even when she tried to contact him! Raising me alone drove her insane, and she ended up killing herself! And me! I died because of that man, so don't you dare try to tell me what happened to you was worse!"
Aguero freezes. "I'm sorry," he murmurs. He can't meet any of her eyes. He has a half-sister? He'd never even thought of that. "I never knew."
"If you're sorry, let me take over your body," Maria begs. "I always thought that it's only when people become obsessed with life, they can really find themselves... But I barely even got to live!"
Aguero scrambles away from her, shoving her away with a pillow. "Hell no! I have a life of my own, and so do you!"
Maria hisses, coiling back like a snake. Her head-snakes follow. "You've made your choice, then." She looks at him almost pityingly. "I'm sorry, Aguero. Maybe we could've been good siblings in another life."
"Hey, what are you-"
Aguero yells in alarm when Maria springs forward, slamming him against the wall so hard the bed-frame rattles. He really hopes Shibisu is asleep. Laure definitely is, and the Seppuku Swordsman is still practicing his fencing skills in his sleep. He tries to push Maria away again, maybe kick her off the bed and hope that injures her, but she's as fast as a mamba and before he knows it he's being straddled and his wrists are pinned against the wall. Curving away from the snake girl has no effect.
Maria opens her mouth, and sinks her fangs into Aguero's throat.
A scream catches in his throat. Being bitten hurts like nothing he's ever felt before. It hurts worse than a simultaneous double vaccination, venom running through his veins. He can't think. Can't move. His fingers are going numb, vision blurring and swimming. His veins are on fire.
I- Is this death?
I'm not ready to die.
"I'm sorry," one of the snakes hisses in Maria's voice, "but struggling to survive is beautiful, isn't it?"
The snake waves up in his face, but he doesn't know if he's swaying or it is. It looks like a blue smudge, to be honest. Using the last of his strength, he leans over to Hatz's bed and pinches his toe as hard as he can. Even if he's going to die, he's got a plan, goddammit.
"I wish you could've really been my brother."
His neck burns. It's getting hard to breathe. Everything is painful and painless at the same time.
"I'm sorry, Aguero."
The thought strikes him with painful clarity - he's dying, and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
"Goodbye."
Everything goes black.
"Khun? Khun, my love, if you're awake, please give me a sign."
Aguero can tell that it's Shibisu talking, but for some reason, his eyes remain stubbornly shut. His body is frozen. Maybe these are the three minutes your brain still works after you die.
"Khun, I didn't wake up and sacrifice my blanket for you to die on us." Okay, having Laure by his deathbed is a little strange. Aguero thought Laure would've slept through it all. Perhaps he thought too little of the Phonsekal boy?
"Oi, Earrings, you can't die like this. It would be pathetic, even for you." Aguero is secretly flattered Hatz had woken up at his command. But who on earth is sitting on him? Something is crushing his hips down, and his arms are beginning to cramp from being pinned above his head. Does death involve cramping?
"Blue Turtle," Rak's voice wails, "you can't die! Where will I get chocolates from if you die?" Aguero won't deny he's a little insulted. Despite the gator annoying him on a regular basis, he'd call them friends. But apparently, Rak's just in it for the chocolates. "Black Turtle's going to cry if you die!"
"Rak's right." He doesn't recognize this new voice, but it sounds close, and oddly familiar. "Aguero, I know it's been a really long time since we last met, but please, wake up. For me?"
Black Turtle... There's only one person that could be. Aguero's eyes snap open. "Bam?"
Instead of the short-haired boy Aguero remembers, there's a young man hovering over him, one with long dark hair and a fringe drooping over most of his face. Aguero looks a little deeper, seeing a shadow pulse over his form. A long tendril reaches out towards Maria, keeping her down with a dark claw. She's unconscious and foaming at the mouth, and Aguero recognizes the look of absolute terror on her face as the 'fück I'm going to die' face Eduan had made before he pissed himself and promptly fainted. Maybe it's genetic, but Aguero definitely hadn't inherited it. Laure's blanket is wrapped around her head, keeping her head snakes in place.
Aguero tries not to smirk. Of course, his plan worked out perfectly. Bam was a bit of a wild-card, as Aguero hadn't seen him in years, but he trusted Rak enough to appear and bring help. A shadow in the shape of a man peeks out of the darkness, offering the blue-haired boy a friendly wave. It's V! V points to his son's long hair and makes a thumbs down, miming chopping it all off.
Aguero tries to sit up properly and wave back, only to realize that his hands are locked above his head by none other than Bam. Bam is also straddling his hips.
He doesn't know what to say except: "Uh. Hello to you too, I guess. It's been a while."
Bam scrambles off him immediately. "I'm so sorry," he breathes out, "I would've kept visiting you but Uncle Luslec found out and Dad and I both got grounded because he thinks I should be better at scaring people since I'm apparently one of the scariest monsters around but I still couldn't scare you, and I swear, I told Rak to keep me updated on how how you were doing but he looked away to get bananas and the next thing we both knew you died-"
Aguero tries to push himself back up into a sitting position, but Bam pushes him back down, keeping him flattened to the bed. "No, you just died, you need to rest! I think! I'm not entirely sure how humans work."
Shibisu and Hatz are staring at the two of them in utter shock and disbelief, Laure is about to go back to sleep due to shock, and Aguero can feel V's amusement at the sight of Aguero's roommates' suffering. "Blue Turtle," Rak grumbles, "you were so smart when you were a kid! How did you let Snake Turtle kill you?"
"Hey, I made plans-"
"You planned for this?" Shibisu screeches. "Dying? In our dorm?"
Aguero shrugged. "Well, I didn't exactly plan to die. And I'm alive right now!" He pats himself down, hissing when he feels blood clotting on his neck. His heart is beating in his chest, he's breathing normally. His back hurts a little, but maybe that's because he doesn't sleep and his bones are trying to get revenge against him. "Good enough for me."
"No," Bam insists, "that's not good! You died!"
"Yeah," Hatz grunts. "You swapped bodies with her." He jerks his head in Maria's direction. "Do you know how hard it was to try not to kill her when she was in your body? You're annoying enough as you are, but she was trying to kill me in your body and that was ten times worse." A constipated expression wriggles onto his face and he bows, his body a sharp ninety-degree angle. "Sorry I kicked your body off the bed!"
Aguero screeches. "You kicked me? Off the bed?" It doesn't hurt, but he sure is insulted. His desire to rile Hatz up wins over his desire to know what exactly had happened to him after he died. "I don't think you broke any bones, but if I even find a bruise on me I'll kill you!"
"Please," Shibisu begs, stopping the dark-haired boy from picking up his swords, "please try to get along, my sons. It's three in the morning. Khun, I don't really understand what happened, but you shouldn't exert yourself so much. And Hatz, go back to bed! You have a fencing tournament tomorrow!"
Hatz huffs, turning away. "I'm going back to sleep." He and Shibisu both seem to avoid Bam, the former stepping over and around the darkness, the latter shying away even from the shadows on the walls. Aguero, on the other hand, let himself be blanketed in darkness, his pale hair and pale skin glowing in the night. "Earrings, you should go back to your own bed and let Isu sleep."
Aguero sits up, swinging his feet off Shibisu's bed. "Maybe dying will let me get a decent night of sleep, for once."
Shibisu looks horrified. "You haven't been sleeping? I thought-"
Aguero just stares at him, completely deadpan. Laure is already snoring. "Who do you think keeps the other monsters away at night, you damn monster magnet?"
"Khun!" Shibisu has his hands on his hips like a pregnant woman. "No more of this monster business, you're going to sleep right now! We'll talk about this in the morning." The buzzcut boy all but pushes Aguero into Bam's arms, but Bam hadn't been ready for it. Aguero yelps and falls right through the shadow boy, who jumps too at the sight of the bluenet lying half in, half out of his body. "Especially you, Monster Boy, you've got a whole lot of explaining to do."
Bam laughs nervously, inching closer to Aguero. "I'll be gone by morning? Aguero will update you in the morning." Aguero's mouth pops open when Bam easily scoops him up, an arm under his armpit, another under his knees. "Goodnight Mr Isu!"
Less than a blink later, Aguero is lying on his own bed, Bam hovering by his side. "H-How did we get up here?" He peers over the side of the bed, seeing Isu crawl under the covers and lift them over his head. It's a long way down.
Bam grins, showing a little more teeth than a normal human should have. It's still as endearing as it was when Aguero was eight. "I can travel with shadows now! It's just a little draining." Just to prove it, he raises a hand to touch Aguero, but his hand goes right through. Goosebumps jump up his skin. It feels like being walked through by a ghost. "I can do a lot more now, but..." He pouts. "I guess I still can't scare you."
Bam's eyes glow in the dark, orbs of amber and citrine. Aguero is more fond of them than he'd like to admit. "I don't think you could ever scare me," the bluenet boy admits, "Kiseia got a spider and I didn't even scream at it. I thought I was scared of spiders, but apparently not!" He peers at Maria, making a face. "I don't know if I'd be scared of snakes now, or if I'd be overly willing to fight one."
Bam giggles. Shadows sweep his hair out of his eyes, giving Aguero a full view of his face. It's so endearing, so much so that Aguero's heart skips a beat, and then the next few too. He knows his fair skin makes him attractive to most, but right now, that fair skin is damned. He's blushing, goddammit, and next to Bam, who sucks all the light out of the room, he must be glowing in the dark. "Please don't get yourself killed again, Aguero, dying once in a lifetime is enough for normal humans."
Aguero shifts to lie over Bam's lap, fluffing his hair out and making himself comfortable. He bats his eyelashes teasingly. "Does that mean I'm immortal now?"
He thinks that Bam might be blushing too by the way the darkness wavers then flares, a shock of shadows shooting out of his aura before becoming clueless about how to react now that their master is the one giving off brightness. V must be having the time of his life third-wheeling.
Rak harrumphs, still desperately trying to crawl onto Aguero's bed with the two boys despite being barely small enough to fit in the room. The gator gives up after the human boy tosses him a chocolate from his special bedside stash. "Black Turtle, aren't you going to tell him how you and the mighty Dad Turtle fixed him?"
Bam opens his mouth. And closes it. "Well," he says sheepishly, "like you said, Rak, Dad did most of the fixing. I didn't really know what was going on."
"Great," groans Aguero, "we have to listen to the gator explain?"
"I am the great Rak Wraithraiser! I am best at everything! Including explaining!" Aguero looks up at Bam. Oh boy, he mouths. Bam hides his smile behind his hands, but his eyes still glitter. "Blue Turtle was already dead by the time I got here, so I left Warrior Turtle, Tracksuit Turtle and the Useless Turtle behind to fight Snake Turtle while I grabbed Black Turtle." Aguero snorts at the gator's nickname for his sleepy roommate. "When I came back, Blue Turtle and Snake Turtle switched bodies, and Snake Turtle was fighting Warrior Turtle in Blue Turtle's body! So Black Turtle became Monster Dad Turtle! Monster Dad Turtle scared Snake Turtle in Blue Turtle's body, and when Snake Turtle and Blue Turtle were both unconscious Monster Dad Turtle switched them back! But Blue Turtle was still dead! Monster Dad Turtle gave a shadow to Blue Turtle, and suddenly Blue Turtle was alive again!"
Aguero is so glad he has the ability to understand Rak-speak. But there's one problem. "Gator, you said V gave me a 'shadow' and that brought me back to life? How does that work?"
"No, it's not a shadow. I..." Bam takes a deep breath. Aguero notices that they are connected now, a silver cord pulsating from his chest and intertwining with another extended from Bam's heart. "I gave you a fraction of my soul. I saved your life with my own. Dad warned me before he did it. He said it might be dangerous, but it was a risk I was willing to take."
"Black Turtle and Blue Turtle are soulmates!" Rak cackles.
Aguero gives the gator a dark look. He tries to touch whatever bond it is that connects him to Bam now, only for his fingers to pass right through. Soulmates, huh. He wonders how deep their connection runs. "You saved my life once, and you saved me again. But there's nothing in it for you! This is the second time we've seen each other!" He gazes up at the boy from the shadows, his voice soft with disbelief. "Why would you do that for me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Bam looks up and leans back against the wall with a quiet sigh. "Every time I try to make friends with monsters my own age, they run away and call me a freak, because I'm not like them. Most humans cry and scream after just looking at me. But you..." He looks back down at Aguero like he's too scared to even touch him. "You never treated me like I was different, and that means a lot to me."
"Pah!" Rak snorts. "Blue Turtle does treat you different! Blue Turtle is nicer to you than me, or even Tracksuit Turtle, and Tracksuit Turtle is always trying to get him to sleep because sleeping is good for healthy turtles! Blue Turtle treats you better than he treats himself!" Aguero reached over the side of the bed, blindly swatting at where Rak's voice came from. "Oi! Blue Turtle! I'm just making sure Black Turtle knows so you feel ashamed of yourself!"
Aguero sits up with a little "hup!". "Excuse me," he tells Bam with the most charming smile he can muster, "let me deal with this annoying gator." He proceeds to pick up his pillow and smack Rak with it until the alligator shrieks for him to stop.
"Black Turtle," Rak wheezes, "I don't understand you! Why, of all turtles, did you choose Blue Turtle to be your favorite?"
Aguero temporarily stops his attack on the gator, staring at Bam in shock. "I'm your favorite?" He has never been anyone's favorite before. His mother had always loved his older sister the most, and his older sister had always loved Kiseia more. Laure's priorities lay with sleep and his beloved pillow. Hatz and Shibisu were inseparable. But him? He can't think of a time when anyone had told him they liked him more.
Bam sways lightly, pure disbelief in his eyes. "You've never been anyone's favorite before?"
"No...?"
Before Aguero knows it, Bam's arms are closing around him, and his face is pressed into shadow. He can feel Bam's heartbeat, but there's no rise and fall of his chest. Aguero wonders if he had ever noticed that Bam doesn't breathe. "You're my favorite," he mumbles into Aguero's hair, "you've always been my most precious human."
Aguero's eyes grow wide. Favorite? Precious? He's too shocked at the fact that he's being hugged to realize Rak has started screaming about going back into the wild again. For years, he'd associated touch with pain, with violence, with his disgusting father. Other than his mother and sisters, he'd never dared to let anybody close to him again for years, not even Shibisu, his closest friend. None of them knew how badly he still craved the feeling of safety being held and embraced could bring. Although his body is as cold as a corpse, Bam feels soft and solid at the same time. It's comforting. Aguero breathes in the scent of fresh bedsheets and citrusy washing detergent, relaxes with an exhale. This... This is nice. He could get used to this.
"I used to be human," Bam tells him quietly. "I had a human friend. Her name was Rachel. It was a long time ago, before I even knew my Dad existed. We were both orphans. She taught me everything I know about humans. She was a mother, a sister, a friend to me. She was my everything. She always knew there was something a little bit weird about me, but she still chose to stay, even though the other kids at the orphanage used to bully me."
Aguero hums sympathetically, listening to the steady beat, beat, beat of Bam's pulsing heart. He can see it next to him, a blob of blood red. It's strange, knowing the two of them are connected now, heart to heart. He wonders if Rachel meant as much to Bam as the heart in his chest. God knows Aguero would eat his own heart before letting any harm befall his mother and sisters. "What happened next?"
"I started turning into this." He sounds disgusted at himself, and a part of Aguero aches for him. "I don't really remember what happened anymore, but I must've done something bad, because she looked really scared of me, she called me a freak, and then-" He shudders, arms winding tighter around Aguero. "And then she pushed me down the stairs. I hit my head, and I died."
Aguero freezes. "I'm so sorry," he whispers, carefully wrapping his own arms around the monster boy. Nobody should've had to go through anything like that, least of all Bam, who is arguably one of the nicest people Aguero knows. "You didn't have to tell me all that."
Bam shakes his head, brown-black hair flopping from side to side. Aguero spits shadow out of his mouth. "No, I had to talk about it." He clears his throat, and Aguero can see his heart pumping a little faster. "It was either you, or Uncle Luslec takes me to see Hansung - he's like our resident therapist, he's a monster like me but obsessed with that bitter brown stuff humans apparently like to drink and he's really annoying, and-" He lowers his voice, and Aguero can nearly feel him smiling. "I feel a lot lighter now."
Aguero can't deny he doesn't feel better knowing that Bam feels the same. Maybe one of the reasons he's trying to pursue a career in psychology is because he likes that feeling of giving people closure, even if it might take him far longer to cover up all the scars Eduan left in his head. "I'm glad you're feeling better. I still don't really get why you like me, though."
"I think you're underestimating how much I like talking to you." Is Bam playing with his hair? Bam is playing with his hair. "Also, you smell really nice. I feel so stress free."
The bluenet huffs out a laugh. "If you ever want to talk, I'll be here. My eyes and ears are always open."
"Oh!" Bam startles, letting go of the bluenet. "It's almost sunrise." Aguero stares at Bam with eyes as wide as saucers while the little - not so little now, they're almost the same size - tucks him into bed, rolling him up in the blankets just the way Aguero likes them. "I'm really sorry for keeping you up. If you're lucky, you might get three hours of sleep?"
Aguero startles himself by yawning. "It's fine. I've slept on less-"
"Sleep," Bam convinces him. Shadows fold over his eyes, and he can't help but feel very, very, tired. "Good night, Aguero."
Aguero doesn't even manage to say good-night back before sleep begins to claim him, waves of exhaustion pulling him down. Maybe something presses against his forehead, light as a ghost's kiss, but he's too sleepy to tell.
Bam disappears without a trace.
Notes:
goddamn aguero really has a near-death episode every chapter huh khundeath is otp i guess
also you know that thing on the edge of your eye? this one? yeah, it's the remnants of the second eyelid we used to have, it's apparently proof that we used to be merfolk (we're strangely hairless mammals, and we swim well... i used to be able to swim 25m in butterfly kicks without breathing maybe i was a mermaid in my past life)
(i'm looking back at this a month later and like goddamn what was i on? sleep deprivation?) anyway merry late christmas everyone! i hope you've all had a good year :D
you can kickstart 2021 with this fic and the knowledge that i'm gonna be writing an ghost / murder mystery khunbam au: toilet-bound viole sunbaenim!
hmu in the comments if you want to know the summary ;)
Chapter 3: iii. come and take me now
Summary:
in aguero's defense, his freckly blonde colleague is pretty pathetic. how was he to know she liked making powerful friends? aguero still has better friends, though, and isu doesn't count.
Notes:
i know i said 'i'll get this fic done by cny' but
oops
happy late easter?warnings: presence of rachel, presence of arie hoaqin
enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
There are very few things that Aguero can say he loves without hesitation. His new job as a therapist is one of them. He had graduated from high school with flying colors, gone on to university to do the same, and now at twenty-five, he's swamped with work but he's happy. Despite his self-proclaimed coolness, helping people is a job that suits him. Even if he can never tell anyone about it, he has years of nudging scorned monsters into the metaphorical light. They were all once humans who were wronged, after all. They deserve closure.
Anaak the young lizard girl constantly craves chicken pie to fill up the hole her dead mother left in her soul, and the bluenet is more than willing to let her eat and vent, even if it's during the middle of the night. Hatz reports to Aguero that he has found a kindred soul in Vicente, his resident monster, and Vicente admits to Aguero that his and Hatz's nightly in-dream spars remind him of the days he spent with the brother he lost. After spending a few years haunting Eduan, Maria had paid him a visit, positively glowing as she told him that she found terrorizing their father oddly therapeutic. Rak likes to eat rocks when he rants, and Aguero has an emergency stack of colorful pebbles just for that purpose.
And Bam? Aguero had told Bam that Bam could come to him anytime for anything he wanted, but no. The boy from the shadows - probably man, now, if they aged at the same speed - had disappeared into the darkness after that one fateful night, and Aguero hadn't seen or heard anything from him since. Aguero may have a part of Bam's soul buried within him, but what good is that if Bam himself doesn't show up?
He doesn't know if the ache inside him is due to the distance between their physically linked souls, or if he just misses the only person who had considered him precious.
His coworker Rachel doesn't make him feel any better, with her messy office and shrill voice and love of self-deprecation, even though Aguero is pretty sure she has a girlfriend somewhere out there. It's not the small things that are rubbing him the wrong way. She does her job well and her patients are satisfied with her help - although he has seen her in action and her patients just don't seem to hold the same trust in her that his do with him - so he has no right to complain. But there's something wrong with her, and he doesn't know what.
But Lighthouse Clinic serves to help those in need, and as long as they fulfil their goal, Aguero will leave his complaints to himself.
"Rachel," he says to her politely, "would you like a ride home? It's late, and the storm's getting worse." The last of the lights flicker out, and Rachel steps out of the clinic door. Aguero presses the key into the lock, the door clicking shut. It's almost ten at night. The rest of their therapist colleagues have already left, but Aguero wanted to finish up the last of his paperwork, and Rachel was writing down notes on her client, who had a nervous breakdown in her office.
"Sure, Khun," Rachel answers him, equally soft and polite, "that would be great. Thank you."
They make no efforts at small talk. It's dark, and although Aguero has by now befriended almost all the nightmares and monsters there are, he feels unnerved. It's not the same as when he sits through the night in complete silence, nor is it like staring into Maria's unblinking snake-eyes. He prefers not to think about it. Aguero drives Rachel home in silence, the pattering of rain against the windows drowning out any words they could've said. Aguero walks the blonde woman to the door of her apartment complex like the gentleman he is, but even after she's gone and he's back in his car, the discomfort doesn't leave.
It gets worse when he reaches his house. It feels like he's being watched.
Every time he turns around, there's nothing behind him but rain; every time he hears something, it turns out to be a faraway bird. By the time he reaches the door of his own house, it doesn't feel like he's just being watched anymore.
It feels like he's being hunted.
The unease is developing into fear. Feverishly, he does a full sweep of his house, switching on every single light, flinging open the darkest of closets and drowning it with brightness. He murders the roach that scuttles out from under his bed without mercy, heart hammering in his chest. The last one he felt this kind of overwhelming fear from was Eduan. But that's impossible. He shakily asks the flaming goldfish permanently living in his bedside drawer if it can sense anything strange - the firefish was a birthday gift from Bam, years ago. "Black Turtle wants you to be safe," Rak explained to him before, "Fish Turtle will fight for you, die for you, protect you until we get here if anything goes wrong. He would give this to you himself, but Coffee Turtle is a tattletale."
The fish blubbers nonsense at him, swimming out to the kitchen and returning with Aguero's mother's Swiss Army Knife clutched in its flippers. It doesn't make Aguero feel any better.
An hour passes, then two. Nothing happens, but Aguero stays on his guard. The knife stays tucked into the waistband of his sweatpants after a quick shower, so if anything is out to attack him, he's not completely defenseless. He knows how to fight, thank you very much, he has his tiny knife and flaming fish. Everything will be fine.
He's shirtless and blow-drying his hair when a pair of cold, cold hands grip onto his bare shoulders. He swallows down a shriek, the vanity mirror revealing nothing. "Hey," Aguero complains at the nameless, faceless monster behind him, "if you're going to scare me, could you at least wait for me to fix my hair?"
"Mmm, you already are a prize specimen without your perfect hair." A slimy tongue licks up his neck. "Delicious."
Aguero tightens his grip on his hairdryer. If necessity called for it, strangulation by wire could be an option. "I have a knife," he warns, "I will stab you if you don't back off."
He freezes when the owner of the slimy tongue giggles in his ear, the cold metal of a blade pressed against his back. "Are you going to fight me, boy?" He can almost hear the smirk. "Fascinating."
"Who are you?" Aguero grits out. "What the hell do you want?"
The view in the mirror changes to the sound of shrill laughter. Standing behind him is a man with long, silver hair, a pasty white face, and eyes lined with bloody red. He looks like Vicente's white-goth clown sibling. Vaguely familiar, but Aguero can't quite remember where he'd seen his face before. He keeps his expression carefully neutral, hoping that his body doesn't betray the mounting terror in his veins.
"You may call me Arie Hoaqin, human," the monster purrs. "One-fifth of White, one of Hell's top ten scariest nightmares." The monster licks his lips, giggling when Aguero flinches violently at the loud slurp. Aguero isn't scared. He's just... Disturbed. Yeah, that's it. Disturbed. "And I was just curious..." A hand plants itself on Aguero's cheek, sharp nails scraping over skin. "About the poor little pet the Shadow Prince left behind."
"What the fück," Aguero responds eloquently as he can. Shadow Prince? Who? Bam, his brain supplies for him helpfully, wonder how he's doing right now, wonder if he misses you. He flushes an angry red, dispelling the unwanted thoughts. "I'm not his pet. We're just friends."
"Friends?" Hoaqin laughs, loud and ugly. "Boy, monsters like us don't make friends. The most you ever were to him was probably just a toy, a passing fascination. A pretty face, maybe." His smile is pearly white and fanged, like a vampire. "Did you really think he cared about you?"
"Shut up," Aguero whispers. He clenches his fists, but they still shake. You're my favorite, Bam's voice murmurs in his head, you've always been my most precious human. For the longest time after that night, Aguero had thought of those whispered words late at night while smiling into his pillow like a fool, heart racing in his chest. It wasn't fear, but it was something that scared him nonetheless. Over the years, he thought he'd gotten over it. But now it's back, and it's biting him in the ass. "Shut up!"
Hoaqin shrieks as the magical fish dances between them, a blaze of red and gold and phantom heat. He jumps back as if he'd been burnt.
Yeah, that's right, Aguero thinks to himself viciously, you can't fück with my head like this and expect to get away with it.
He'd trusted Bam with his life all those years ago, and Bam had come to his aid, just as he'd expected. His chest pulses, strength and adrenaline pumping through his veins. He can still trust Bam. Hoaqin lunges at him, and Aguero jumps away nimbly, parrying a sword with his tiny knife. He can do this. Hoaqin is just a monster.
Everything is going well until the monster decides to up things a notch.
The malaise in the air thickens, solid fear flooding Aguero's lungs. His muscles are locked in place, his vision beginning to blur, his head spinning with too much yet nothing at all at the same time. The panic in his veins feels like death all over again. Horror fills his blood when he realizes that Hoaqin has his literal soul in a hand, examining it curiously. He claws at his throat, struggling to breathe.
"Now, now, what do we have here?" Hoaqin brings the silver shadow to his nose, inhaling deeply. Aguero lets out a strangled grunt. "Your life, in my head?" He looks so disgustingly delighted, and Aguero just wants to punch him, burn him, do something, but he can't move at all and his only line of defense, the magical monster goldfish is nearly out of commission, flickering flames weakly. Hoaqin shoves him down onto the bed like he's completely weightless, and the remaining breath in his lungs whooshes out in one fell swoop. He can't move and can't fight back, not even when the monster is crawling over him, grinning, looming. "I like you better like this," Hoaqin laughs gleefully, "completely at my mercy." Aguero tries to kick him, and fails miserably. "Your fear is mine to savor."
Aguero's scream comes out as silence when Hoaqin draws a line across Aguero's chest with his sword, blood welling up from the cut. He spits profanities when the monster licks across the open wound. It stings, it hurts, but Aguero is still paralyzed.
Hoaqin giggles at the sight. "You know, that Rachel girl was the one who sent me after you," he tells Aguero in a conspiratorial tone, "she's the only other human as involved with us night terrors as much as you are. She made a blood pact with me - a bit of her blood, in return for you, terrified to death. I didn't think it was a good deal, but mmm, if her blood was water yours is nectar worthy of the gods."
That brief moment of curiosity mixed with disgust is enough to provide a gap for clarity. That's why I had a bad feeling about her, Aguero thinks to himself before wondering what he had ever done to her that warranted his death. By the hands of a perverse clown no less!
"She had a hand in the Shadow King's mortal death," Hoaqin continues to speak as if they were teenage girls gossiping and not, you know, two guys trying to fight each other to the death, "she was the one who killed him. Jealous little thing, she is, always wanting things she can't have." He smiles at Aguero apathetically. "But I'm the same. If the Shadow Prince won't reclaim his little pet, wouldn't he be mine for the taking?"
"What the fück," Aguero says, completely disgusted. Now, the fear has been replaced by the red of rage. "If she's so desperate for power, tell her to pick a fight with me herself. I've been nothing but polite to her. If she wants to fight me, I'll gladly give her the punch in the face she needs." He doesn't mention that for Bam, he'd destroy her.
Hoaqin sneers. "Human, are you seriously ignoring me?"
"Clown Man, you are the least of my concerns right now," Aguero deadpans. "You're not actually that scary, you're just perverted."
Hoaqin gnashes his teeth. "Insolent brat," he snarls, claws digging into the flesh of Aguero's thighs and drawing blood through his sweats, "you need to be taught some respect. Bad boys get punished."
Aguero doesn't even have time to think of a stinging retort when fangs sink into his waist, blood welling up above the dip of his hips. Hoaqin sucks it up with long slurps. Aguero lashes out, flailing and kicking, but the monster holds Aguero's legs down. The bluenet's hands scrabble against the sheets, his head tossing and turning.
"Yes," the monster purrs, "just like that. Scream for me, pretty pet." He wraps Aguero's heart-string around his fist and tugs.
Aguero doesn't want to do anything for Hoaqin, but it feels like his heart is being ripped out of his chest, and it hurts like nothing he has ever felt before. His back arches off the bed as he convulses wildly, voice hoarse with pain. Bam, he thinks to himself desperately, I'm sorry I couldn't stay alive long enough for us to meet again I just wanna see you hear you calling me precious because you make me feel important like nobody else does and maybe I'm a little in love with you I'm sorry I don't wanna die somebody please help help HELP-
One by one, the lights in Aguero's apartment flicker shut. To anyone else, this would feel like a scene from a horror movie - footsteps echoing in a dark corridor, getting ever closer foreshadowing the appearance of your worst fears come to life. If Aguero were somebody else, he would've screamed, maybe even fainted at the sight of the man standing in the doorway, enshrouded in darkness. All the light in the room is being sucked towards his form, like a greedy black hole feeding on brightness. The shadows flicker and flare at his command, snake-like tendrils obedient to their master. His golden eyes are ablaze with rage, lips twisted into an animalistic snarl. Not as much man, but monster.
If Aguero was any other man, he'd be terrified. But he's Khun Aguero Agnis, Bam's most precious friend, and at the moment he feels nothing but sheer relief.
Alright, maybe he's a little turned on too, but who wouldn't be when Bam looks so good with his shoulder-length hair and broad shoulders and narrow waist? God, Aguero hadn't known puberty existed for Bam's kind! Aguero knows he looks pretty good himself, but damn, Bam looks good. Aguero's mind is fuzzy with pain, but he really hopes nearly dying hasn't deleted his brain-to-mouth filter. If Bam ever knew Aguero thought of him like this, he'd be done for.
"Bam!" He twists his face into what he hopes is a smile. "Long time no see."
Bam laughs sheepishly, his expression immediately softening at the sight of his human friend. "Sorry it took me so long, my Aguero. I wanna catch up with you, but first..." He scowls at Hoaqin, the frightening aura around him intensifying. A shiver rushes up Aguero's spine. "I have a pest to exterminate."
Bam stretches a hand out, clenching his fist. A shadow talon lashes out, wrapping around Hoaqin's neck in a chokehold. It almost seems like he's showing off his new skills and increased control. If Aguero wasn't woozy with blood loss, he'd be in awe. Hoaqin gags, kicking and flailing as Bam lifts him up into the air by his neck. "Arie Hoaqin." Bam's voice is ice cold, the room rumbling with the force of his rage. "How dare you harm Aguero?"
Hoaqin rasps out a laugh. "It's not like you staked a claim on him, Viole."
"He is my friend, therefore he is mine." Bam bares his teeth in a snarl. Aguero thinks he should be a little more concerned for the blood leaking out of his thigh and waist, but Bam is honestly too enthralling for him to care. "It doesn't change the fact that you crossed the line, Arie. Our kind was not born to kill."
Hoaqin laughs, but Aguero can hear the undertones of fear in his voice. Fear of Bam and what he can do. "You're just uptight," the clown man grunts, "you've never known the fun of a good hunt, the thrill of the kill, the taste of blood and contracts-"
Bam's expression darkens like thunderclouds looming over the sun. He tightens his grip on Hoaqin's throat, simply watching as the other monster struggles in his grasp. That's hot, Aguero thinks to himself. "You formed a blood contract? With a human? To kill my Aguero?" The other monster's silence is enough of an answer for Bam. "Who was it?" He asks, his voice deceptively calm. Hoaqin stays silent. Bam flicks his hand up, slamming Hoaqin against the ceiling with a shadow claw, and back down, smashing him against the ground. Hoaqin wheezes for air. Aguero thinks there might be cracks on the floor. "I'll only ask you this one more time. Who was it?"
"Your friend!" Hoaqin finally screeches. "Rachel Light!"
Bam freezes, his outstretched hand rigid. The shadows flicker as a myriad of expressions cross his face, too fast for Aguero to tell. "Rachel... Light?" Bam grits his teeth, the look in his eyes turning downright murderous. "I'll deal with her another time," he decides with a growl, "first, you."
He slam-dunks Hoaqin into a black hole like he's tossing out the trash, the latter screaming as it swallows him up.
The screams fade into the distance just as the shadows do, trickling back into light. Bam stumbles forward, dazed, and Aguero sits up just in time to catch his old friend collapsing onto his legs. "Urgh," Bam groans. "I hate this." The firefish swims towards them when Bam waves it over, healing Aguero's wounds with magical fire. "I'm so sorry you had to witness that," he mumbles, face down and voice muffled, refusing to meet Aguero's eyes in the afterglow of his bloodlust, "I always want to show you the best parts of me only, but it's like every time we meet, you see the monster first."
Aguero huffs out a laugh, patting his back. "I'm not afraid of you, you know? Never was, never will be."
Bam exhales, rolling onto his back and wriggling over to lie on Aguero's stomach. The wooziness has begun to fade, but Aguero still isn't clear-headed enough to protest. Besides, Bam is still looking rather translucent. Aguero wonders if void cats are like this too. It's rather endearing. He can't help but reach out to touch the shadows of what should be hair. Strangely enough, Bam's shadow father doesn't seem to be present today, but again, it's been eight years since they last met.
"You look good," Bam tells him honestly. Aguero knows that from Bam, it probably doesn't mean anything, but he can't stop the pink blush dusting his cheeks.
"All thanks to you," Aguero quips back playfully. Bam's head rises and falls with every breath Aguero takes. It feels rather domestic, to be frank. "Really, thank you. It's like we meet every time I have a near-death experience." He pouts up at the ceiling, knowing very clearly how petulant he sounds. "I thought you'd forgotten about me."
Bam laughs, shuffling over to lie next to Aguero. What a sight they must make - two fully grown 'men' squished side to side in a bed made for one. Aguero doesn't mind, he's warm enough for the two of them anyway. "How could I ever forget you?" Bam's eyes are so, so gold. Aguero had forgotten how intense his gaze could be, how he looked at Aguero like Aguero was the best thing he'd ever seen in his whole damn life. His breath hitches in his throat when Bam continues to stare at him unblinkingly, but even then, he can't look away.
"I spent the last eight long years going through hell of my own volition so Uncle Luslec would stop complaining every time I even thought about you. I wanted to go back to you so badly Dad detached himself and got a solid form," Bam admits. "Uncle doesn't like me forming attachments with anyone who isn't part of the core management team, but I guess I threw a big enough temper tantrum to make him allow you to be an exception to that rule."
He beams at Aguero, grin too wide and teeth too sharp. It's charming in its own way, and Aguero has to pinch himself to stop his hands from wandering over the curve of Bam's blood red lips. He swallows down the urge to lean closer. Their foreheads are almost touching, the two of them curled towards each other. "Let me guess, he gave you some requirement you had to fulfil first?"
Bam scowls. If the form he chose to take was slightly less human, maybe he would've looked scary. But Aguero has known Bam since he was eight - even though this is the third time they've officially met, Aguero has already memorized his expressions, each little smile and frown imprinted in his mind like a photograph. He knows this look is petulant. "He let Hansung - the weird coffee maniac who steals coffee from the people he haunts - do experiments on me!" Bam grumbles. "Like sure, I get that Hansung just does all this experimenting because he just wants more coffee, but those injections hurt, and they made everyone more scared of me - except you and Dad - and it sucked!" He huffs. "It's like I'm doomed never to be accepted by anyone. I don't think you've seen Hwaryun before and I honestly hope you never will, but she bullies me about you because she refuses to believe I'm not the weak little monster she had to drag kicking and screaming into the afterlife."
Aguero frowns. He has never met this Hansung before, but he would very much like to - the more he hears about the coffee maniac, the more Aguero wants to punch him in the face. Nobody deserves bodily harm more than Rachel, though. "You shouldn't have had to go through that. Not for me, not for anyone. You've already gone through so much."
Bam flicks his forehead and he yelps, gazing at Bam with a wounded expression. "Silly Aguero. Don't you see?" There's an expression on Bam's face that Aguero can't quite identify. "I gave them my permission to go through with the experiments. I was the one who said 'Yes'. It hurt, but I don't regret it one single bit."
Bam is bold enough to reach out, tucking a stray strand of blue hair behind Aguero's ear. There are no barriers between them. "If it meant that I could be by your side, I'd do it again without hesitation." Aguero licks his dry lips, taken by surprise at the gentle touch. He can't roll over, can't hide behind the safety of his hair. It's almost like he's anchored to the spot by Bam's gaze. The monster boy's golden eyes follow the movement of his tongue, and in his peripheral vision Aguero can see Bam's heart beat just a little faster. "It would all be worth it in the end."
Aguero opens his mouth, then closes it, then repeats the process. The firefish burbles next to him, a mockery of his flustered face. He licks his lips again. "Bam," he whispers, barely louder than his pounding heart, "you can't just say things like that. How do I- What do I-" A nervous laugh bubbles out of him as he forces down the urge to lean closer and let their lips touch. "What am I supposed to think?"
How am I supposed to respond when I feel like this about you and you talk about me like that?
Bam leans even closer, so close that Aguero can feel his uneven breaths. So close, the shadows in Bam's hair intertwine with his, a tiny braid of black and pale blue beginning to form. So close, Aguero feels like grabbing Bam by the collar of his ugly plaid shirt and kissing him senseless, but also being so overwhelmed by their proximity he feels like he might just pass out.
Bam has the guts to laugh at him. Thankfully, it's not a cackle or a belly laugh, it's just a little puff of breath and a wide grin. "You know, if you wanted to kiss me so badly you could've just asked."
Aguero splutters, scooting backwards and rolling off the bed in shock. Kiss? Oh shït, oh shït. How did Bam know? Aguero himself had only just realized that his feelings for Bam didn't just consist of friendship and aggressive affection! How had Bam figured it out before him?
Bam extends a hand, grinning down at him. It takes them a few tries before Bam finally solidifies his hand enough to clasp Aguero's pulling him up onto the bed and on top of him in one fluid motion. Their hearts are beating hard against each other, legs tangled together. Bam is still holding Aguero's hand, his other hand skating up and down Aguero's back in smooth, slow strokes.
"You're not as secretive as you like to think you are, you know."
Aguero responds by burying his face in the crook of Bam's neck. "Shut up," he grumbles.
"You're blushing," Bam points out gleefully, "which means I'm right!" Against his better judgement, Aguero nips Bam's neck in response. "You could bite harder, you know. I'd like a kiss first, but if you bit me I wouldn't mind."
Aguero pulls away. Bam's eyes are twinkling, stardust in the night. "Come on," Bam goads him, still smiling, "there's nothing stopping you."
Aguero takes a deep breath. There is nothing stopping him. Theoretically. He leans down, eyes closed, lips pursed, Bam's stare burning into his soul, and-
His eyes snap open. "I can't do it!" Aguero yelps. "I've never kissed anyone before. What if I break your nose 'cause mine is too long? What if I accidentally give you a split lip? What if I-!"
Bam cups his cheek tenderly. "Aguero," he says with the most serious of expressions, "shut up." Aguero duly shuts his mouth. "Good boy." Bam brushes his thumb over Aguero's cheekbone, gentle like he's scared Aguero will shatter under his hands. "I'm going to kiss you now." It sounds more like a command than a request. "Will you let me?"
Aguero exhales through his nose. "Y- Yeah."
The last thing he sees before his eyes flutter shut is Bam's soft smile.
Bam inhales quietly, Aguero staying stock still. Bam's hand is still on his cheek, feather-light and heavy at the same time. "Okay," Bam whispers to himself, "I got this."
Aguero cracks a smile. And then their lips are touching.
They're not just touching, they're pressed against each other, shifting to find that perfect angle where they slot together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and oh, there it is. Aguero grabs Bam's shoulder to stabilize himself, breaking away from the kiss with a small noise to adjust the uncomfortable position of his legs. He barely has the time to breathe or open his eyes before Bam is kissing him again, a hand curved around the back of his head and the other wrapped around his waist. Aguero hums in amusement at Bam's apparent urgency, and Bam responds by kissing him harder, a hunger Aguero had never seen in him before bubbling up to the surface.
When Bam pulls away, Aguero is breathless, lips swollen red. He takes a minute to catch his breath, collect his scattered thoughts. "Woah," he whispers. He is not capable of any other, smarter words.
Bam is staring at him again, chest heaving, arms still wrapped around Aguero. He looks awed, his hands unable to stay in the same place for more than two seconds. Aguero squeaks when Bam's freezing cold hand slips under his shirt. "Mmm," Bam says with a lazy smirk, fingers dancing over the dips of Aguero's spine, "I could do this all night."
Aguero grins down at him, a victorious flush rising on his cheeks. His lips hurt a little, but it's all just proof that this isn't a dream - Bam is really here, they actually just kissed, everything seems crazy but it's all real. "Who says you couldn't?" Bam's eyes brighten like ah, yes, now that's a thought I can get behind. A devious little thought slips into Aguero's mind. "Hey, could you leave a hickey? I want it where Rachel can see."
If Bam's eyes were bright before, now they're bright like a child's when it's Christmas, or a cat that got the cream. "Yes," he breathes, staring unabashedly at the pale, unmarred patch of neck Aguero is offering him. "Yes. Fück yes."
Needless to say, Aguero doesn't get much sleep that night, a certain touch-starved shadow monster snuggling into his side under the covers and bugging him for kisses every few minutes.
And Rachel? If Bam puts his glamour on to pick Aguero up from work the next day like a perfect boyfriend would and accidentally drops his humanoid façade and sweeps Aguero away from Rachel's side to dip him into an overdramatic kiss, there's nobody else to blame but Rachel, is there?
Aguero finds out the next day that the murderous blonde rat had resigned from her job that very night, never to be seen again.
What an end to a story spanning nearly two decades, huh?"
Somewhere in an asylum far away, a dark-eyed man decides to pay his blue-haired man a visit. "Hey, E," he crows playfully, "your son is going to be my son now, because he's kind and accepting and loyal and everything you aren't! Aren't ya proud of him?"
E - short for Khun Eduan, father of Khun Aguero Agnis - just rocks on his bed with his head buried in his knees. "I'm sorry," he weeps, repetitive and barely coherent, "I'm sorry, V, I never meant to hurt you, please go away-"
V sighs to himself, clucking his tongue. "Useless," he chides with a kick that rattles the bed, "if you were really sorry you would have confessed to your crimes and repented for your sins."
Eduan just cries harder. "It wasn't my fault, it was Ja- Ja- Jahad…'
V grins to himself. "Scaring Jahad, huh? I've always loved a good challenge." He swirls away in shadows, disappearing into the night. One pesky blonde down, one blond left to go.
High in the sky, the moon winks from behind the cover of the clouds, a perfect partner in crime.
Notes:
thank you so much to everyone who read this! kudos and comments are much appreciated, and if you liked this fic, please, please leave a comment! don't be afraid to interact with me, i overshare sometimes but i don't bite :)
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