Work Text:
Over the radio in the gas station he'd heard the weatherman say that the fog from the lake would roll in tonight, making it dangerous to drive too fast. On nights like these Toby stayed clear from any roads. He figured he'd take up a bench somewhere or maybe make a home for the night inside the plastic tunnels of the school's playground. He walked away from the gas-station and around the back, figuring that if he cut through the woods he'd make it to the tunnel before the last blue-gray tint in the sky turned to inky black. His phone - a cheap flip-phone burner thing that reminded Toby of the toy cellphones he had as a child - vibrated in his pocket. He'd had the phone for a few months now, but he still felt a small amount of excitement whenever it made any noise. During his teens he had too few friends to demand the need of a phone, but he had the hazy memories of his younger sister begging their parents for one.
As he walked along through the overgrown bush he pulled the phone out and flipped it open, the dim light of the screen showing one unread message.
J: howdy baby
He'd met Jeffrey about a year ago now, and for all that it was worth Jeff was positively one of the weirdest dudes out there. He typed back a response.
T: Hey
Toby lived the life that he lived because was -in every way possible- indebted to a ten-foot-tall eldritch being who wore a business suit and referred to him by his full name with a voice that seemed to come from everywhere in the woods. It had no mouth, and it moved too quickly and too quietly for something so tall, but it had pulled him from a raging fire and breathed the life back into his lungs. So Toby did what the monster asked. He had no home to return to otherwise. His phone pinged again.
J: what are ya up to
Jeff was just a freak. He ate roadkill and mumbled to some unseen demons a lot, smashed in the lights of police cars, the windows of police stations, and the heads of police officers. He never told any good jokes. He slipped carefully folded Playgirl magazine centerfolds into Toby's pockets. Bit people's faces off, not that Toby minded.
Toby met him the first time while he was eating a something behind a dumpster, got to see his ruined face up real close. The scars had healed a deep red color, and it remined Toby of beef jerky. Here and there the skin was pink, and Toby did not know if it was blush or infection. The busted eye socket still held some part of Jeff's eye, a white half-moon that shone under a deflated eyelid. The perpetual mocking grin tore open to reveal a set of perfect, pearl white teeth. Jeff dropped his dinner in favour of the chance to take a bite out of Toby and they had a bit of a scuffle before Toby managed to pin him down and Jeff gave out a hearty laugh.
"Awright baby, I give up."
The deep southern accent was so unexpected that it made Toby let go of Jeff's wrists then and the smiling fiend rammed his head full force into Toby's own and scampered away laughing.
Afterwards Toby sat on a tree branch as he told his boss what he'd encountered.
HE GAVE YOU A CONCUSSION, TOBIAS
"He almost ga-a-ave me rabies so all things consi-idered I think I'm okay."
The next time Toby encountered Jeff was because Jeff sought out to find him again.
"Well, if it ain't the sweet thang from the other night."
He smiled as he drawled out his words, cornering Toby up in an alley. The eye that he did have seemed to glitter in the pale streetlights. His clothes were baggy, and his hair flared out in every direction like when a cat gives itself a bath.
"Wha-a-at is it to you?" Toby frowned.
Jeff had shrugged. "I do feel quite bad for scarin' ya like I did. I'll have to ask for your pardon."
"Y-y-you tried to e-eat me."
Jeff smiled then, big and wide. The skin around his mouth twisting and turning at odd angles.
"You smelled like you got big demons an' I like that."
T: I'm about to sleep inside a tunnel cuz it's getting cold.
J: alright
J: be seeing ya then
The fog had alredy reached the playground and it was slightly difficult to see anything a few feet in front of him, but the colorful plastic of the playground structure stood out against the white ghost that enveloped the land. So much so that Toby almost did not notice the figure waiting for him at the top of the slide.
Over the course of the following months they kept bumping into each other so often that Toby relented and allowed Jeff to tag along with him for days at a time. It was nice to have company. Jeff never once lost his patience when Toby's stutter got the best of him and Toby grew to realize that Jeff called everyone 'baby' and he wasn't actually being cat-called. Jeff was three years older than him, but Toby was a full head taller. They'd eat together and stalk the woods together and sometimes even huddle for warmth, waking up the next morning pretending nothing had happened. Toby, due to his own quiet demeanor, had been surprised to find out just how talkative Jeff really was - and how much he knew about monsters in the woods.
"My friend Janey, she studies 'em typ’a things. Lots of book readin' mostly but I'll tell her about your tall friend an' see what she's got."
Toby thought that it must have been nice to have niche hobbies. "She sou-sounds really smart."
"She sure is, and she's real pretty too. Only problem is she's got a different gal in every area code."
Toby snickered then. "That doesn't sound like a pro-problem to me-eee."
Jeff shrugged, wrapped an arm around Toby's shoulders and then he turned his awful face to him. "Maybe I'm just not the sharing kind."
Another thing about Jeff was the touchyness. He manhandled Toby to and fro without ever seeming to realize it. He grabbed Toby by the upper arm, by the hand, the knee, he'd loop their pinky fingers together.
"It's 'cause yer warm as high hell, Toby." He'd say, and place his hands on Toby's cheeks, leave them there for as long as he'd like.
Jane called Toby's business monster 'The Slenderman' and she seemed to have in-depth knowledge on all kinds of cryptic horrors similar to it. So much so that she was writing her thesis on them. What it was that she was studying Toby never figured out. He never mentioned what kind of arrangement he had with the Slenderman, but he figured that Jane must have known if she’d done her research, and therefore Jeff did too.
One day Toby slipped up and mentioned his friends to the Slenderman.
HMPH. was his only reply.
Toby did not mention them again.
He stood at the bottom of the slide and looked up to see the wretched grin he'd grown so familiar with smiling back at him. Jeff was wearing all black, which blended into his hair and made the red on his cheeks look even harsher on his pale skin.
"Howdy baby!" Jeff said. "Come on up 'ere."
Toby obliged. Jeff stretched a hand out for him to hold onto while Toby climed up the wooden ladder and Toby gladly took it. Jeff's hand was warm.
"I didn't think I'd se-e-e-e you again so so-oon." Toby said.
Once he'd gotten over the initial dearful fear that Jeff's face instilled into him, Toby had developed a staring problem. Because as it turned out, he thought Jeff was quite pretty. Not underneath the scars, but alongside them. Jeff had somehow managed to work them into his general allure- like a poisonous flower. Toby hadn't really gotten the chance to stare at anything bellow a glimpse at Jeff's collarbones every now and then when he wore a looser shirt. But he could tell that Jeff's thighs were strong and sturdy underneath his dingy jeans. He liked to imagine they were soft. He liked to imagine what lied between Jeff's thighs quite often too, even if he couldn't really guess what it might be. Jeff's shoulders were broad, and when he wasn't wearing anything baggy (like today) Toby could lock eyes with his tiny waist. There was the matter of the eyelashes too - long and dark even on the ruined eye; and the delicately painted black fingernails, and the long hair, and the curve of his jaw, and the pouty bottom lip. Remnants of the beautiful youth that might once have been, preserved forever among a sea of shipwrecked features.
"I cain't say hello to my best friend no more?" Jeff replied. "C'mon, I know you said you were sleepy but there's a cool place I wanna show ya."
The words best friend lingered in Toby's mind in a way he did not fully know. He'd figured that Jane was Jeff best friend, but maybe she was is only friend - before him. Jeff took him by the hand and led him down the other side of the playground. Toby did not say anything else, but he sighed deeply and enjoyed his best friend's warm hand in his own.
Jeff led him past the school and through the back of a few local businesses, the fog licking at their boots. When they did eventually make it to a run down building barely still within the town limits Jeff let go of Toby's hand and turned around to speak.
"It's real nice in 'ere I think you're gonna love it."
Toby allowed a small smile to crawl onto his face. "O-Okay then."
Jeff led him through a side door that Toby knew he'd broken into beforehand. They stepped through into what must have once been a kitchen now abandoned to the mice and the black mold. Jeff took Toby's hand again. "Watch 'er step."
Jeff hauled Toby in deeper into the kitchen, where the light grew dim. They exited through another door and took a left down a hallway and then another left out into a wider area of the place. Toby could only see glimpses of light and dust in the air from holes in the ceiling where the moonlight broke through.
"Wait here." Jeff said. Toby felt his hand slip out of his own. He wished it hadn't.
Somewhere behind him he heard Jeff shufling around and then he heard a snap and only three of the many long LED lights on the ceiling blinked awake.
Toby found himself in a run down, dust ridden, moth and bat inhabited saloon.
"Wow." he mumbled.
From behind him Jeff laughed. "I know right! Place musta got too many rats an' shut down."
Toby eyed the old posters that lined the walls, people danced and smiled and held hands.
"Lemme show you the best part." Jeff said. He walked over to the side of the main dancefloor where a thick sheet covered some sort of furniture.
"I finally got it to work proper." Jeff tore the sheet off and Toby found himself staring at a neon lit Rock-Ola Jukebox, like he'd seen on TV one too many times.
Toby let out a low whistle and it made Jeff laugh. "Ain-Ain't you a handyman now, huh?"
"Anythin' for ya baby."
Toby laughed then. He watched Jeff turn around and fumble with the buttons. "Ya got any song requests?"
"Oh." Toby mumbled. "I actu-u-ually uh-can't d-d--da-a-ance." He huffed, his stutter got in the way when he got nervous.
Jeff whipped around like he'd heard a gunshot come out of Toby's mouth. "WHAT?"
Toby offered an apologetic smile. "W-Why would I k-k-now how t-t-t-t-t-t"
"Awright, awright." Jeff waved a hand at him. "Gimmie a min."
Jeff fumbled with the jukebox some more. Toby watched the vinyl inside rotate around. Jeff turned a dial and slowly the sound of music began to fill the saloon. He turned around to Toby then, singing alongside the voice that came from the jukebox.
"Whenever dark has fallen..."
Jeff held his hands out and rocked side to side, waiting for Toby to walk towards him. "Y'know the spirit of the party starts to come alive..."
Toby hesitated for a second before taking a step towards Jeff. He reached out a hand and found again the familiar warmth of his friends palm. Jeff pulled him in a bit more, nowhere near enough to get freaky, but close enough for both of them to bend their shoulders. "Here." Jeff almost whispered. "It's a disco song so ya gotta keep up." He took little steps like he was marching. "Follow the beat."
You can throw out all your blues and hit the city lights.
Toby followed suit, matching Jeff's movements. Jeff moved his shoulders from side to side, never letting go of Toby's hands. "See? It's easy as pork-pulled pie."
'Cause there's music in the air and lot's of lovin' everywhere so give me the night-give me the night.
alright, tonight
Jeff took a step back and then another forward, Toby allowed him to lead and tried to keep from stepping on Jeff's boots. He let out a small laugh. "You're really good."
Jeff smiled back at him then, wicked. "My mama taught me, she was real good at it too."
A place to dine, a glass of wine, a little late ro-mance.
It's a chain reaction...
Slowly, Jeff let go of Toby's hands, finding more room to dance freely. It seemed to Toby that he didn't have a set dance to this song - maybe there wasn't one at all - Jeff just felt the music wrap around his body and allowed it to take him wherever it wanted. Toby shook his body however it could. He heard Jeff laugh. "Get it baby."
'Cause there's music in the air and lot's of lovin' everywhere so give me the night-give me the night.
alright, tonight
Jeff returned to singing alongside the music, the deep twang in his voice making for a nice addition to the grove in the song. "So come on out tonight and we'll lead the others on a ride through paradise..."
He stepped closer again and Toby followed, keeping in check with the rythm. Jeff extended a hand again and Toby took it, slowly this time he pulled Jeff in closer. Under long lashes, a lone eye shined in his direction.
Jeff wrapped his other hand around Toby's waist, sliding two fingers through the belt-loop of his jeans and crashing their pelvises together in one strong pull.
"And if you feel alright- then we can be lovers 'cause I see that starlight look in your eyes...don'tcha know we can fly..."
Jeff let go of Toby altogether and spun around two, three times. "So give me the night-alright, tonight."
Toby laughed, watching the weirdest guy he'd ever met teach him how to disco dance. Jeff turned to him again, and motioned with a finger for Toby to come back closer again. Toby obliged, the song now seemed to wrap around him too. Jeff wrapped his arms around Toby's neck, and Toby could have screamed right there - his greedy hands finally steady on Jeff's waist. He bent down slightly, so that his mouth was right next to Jeff's ear.
"I-Is it okay if we-?"
"Baby. I'd let you screw my brains out stupid anytime-if ya'd like, of course."
Toby did not reply to that. Instead he pulled Jeff in closer and buried his face into the crook of Jeff's neck, allowing the heat of his embarrassment to flood up to his cheeks.
"Does this m-mean we're boyfriends...now?" Toby mumbled. He ran his tonge over his lips -raw and tender still. His legs dangled off the side of the playground bridge, the fog thick with leftover excitement. Jeff rested his head on Toby's shoulder.
"If ya wanna then we can be." Jeff smiled, evil grin set on the purple marks on Toby's neck. "Ya don't well-"
"N-No! I mean-yes! I do-do wanna be your boy-b-"
Jeff laughed again, loud and hearty like always. He laced his fingers around Toby's own. "Then I guess we'd better get goin."