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It's been weeks since Danhausen was able to properly sleep without waking up in the middle of the night with the sound of tapping against his window, along with abnormal and very aggressive rustling on the trees nearby. Everyday since the past fourteen days this has been happening routinely; Danhausen would dress in his robes, lie down, rustling would be heard, then the tapping and small clinks of hard small sized objects hitting the ground... with occasional growls. He would always see teeth scattered about his balcony, a pleasant surprise actually! Bones and animal skulls would be there instead in the first few days, at least this was an improvement he could kind of appreciate.
But today was different, tonight, more precisely, Danhausen would stay awake - inconvenient for his beauty sleep - to catch any glimpse of this creature that might be visiting him every night, he's sure it's a fox that somehow got an infatuation for him. He's almost right on the money, he just needs to aim better.
A cup of tea eases his anxieties as he's sat down by his queen sized bed, his leg over the other as his foot shakes incessantly, a sigh coming out of the black painted lips of the strange man. His dark blue eyes darting over to his alarm clock, 11:59 PM... a groan now coming from him, groaning even louder as the empty cup was noticed. "Now where the heck is it?" Danhausen whispers to himself as he stares at the window door of the balcony, curtains shut but with a little peek open to catch the guilty perpetrator. Cheek resting on his hand, elbow resting on his leg, eyelids heavy and tired but Danhausen himself is determined to catch a glimpse of this secret admirer.
12:01 AM
Danhausen is startled by rustling, he leans in more forward, seeing something by the tree, though poorly because of the slightly open curtains.
Something lands in the balcony, without the grace of a fox, which certainly startles Danhausen, inheriting one of his surprised "ooh!"s from him... and raising a bit of concern.
This something had a human figure... very human figure, not even humanoid, just straight up the real thing, in all fours. Danhausen's eyes widen so much its almost like they might pop out of his head, through the barely open curtains... he sees... a face, one that he can barely put any words on, it's nightmarish, pale white, eyes painted black, striking irises of different colors, neon green hair that glowed in the moonlight that barely obstructed their face... it was a terrifying thing to look at, but Danhausen just couldn't look away from it. With sudden impulsivity, he takes big steps over to the balcony and swing the curtains open, he has no idea why he did that, he just... did, and he's almost glad he's done it.
This "creature" just stares up at Danhausen for a while, a small pouch in between their sharp teeth which certainly easy to presume that it was full with small trinkets for their interest... the man right before them. Before he could even say anything from his parted lips, the creature runs away right after setting the small pouch down, finding their way to climb out by some kind of athletic expertise. Danhausen momentarily looked in awe before his brain cells manage to connect and he desperately runs after his front door, cursing himself under his breath as to why this house is so huge as if he didn't chose to live in it.
He almost stumbles over as he opens his door way too quick, standing over his lawn and almost stepping in his own poor blameless petunias. "Wait!!" He yells out in his nasally voice.
The ferocity that is the secret stalker stops in their trails, both hands and feet on the dirt, its as if their shining eyes bury deep down into Danhausen's soul, as if he has one that even he himself didn't know of but they, somehow, knew. An unidentified sound resounded from their chest, a low rumbling noise, too soft to be a growl but too rough to be a purr, but certainly not a sign of aggression. After this long stare down, they trot back to the forest, but this determined ghoul won't give up, moved by this unknown and newfound determination, maybe even some deadly curiosity. Baring his teeth as he repeats "ow ow ow" over and over because of his bare feet stepping onto twigs and rocks, at least his red nail polish looks nice.
Ragged breaths come out of Danhausen, stopping right on the middle of loud mother nature as he just watches his point of intrigue sliver away from his fingers. With furrowed eyebrows, he reaches for his face, he gasps as he realizes his sweat is melting his face paint right off, his index and middle finger caked with white paint, he hated whenever this happened. His chest rising and falling rather quickly as he attempts to rest. "Danhausen… huff… should really… huff… cut the sugar..." Sugar... wait, sugar... candy... candy! It was almost like a lightbulb was floating over his head with this very nice very genius idea.
The next day comes, Danhausen could barely work properly as all he kept thinking about was the alluring figure of the woods, he didn't know what they were... were they an animal or simply a human like any other? When he thought more about the way strands of their messy green hair shone a brighter tone when hit by the moonlight it was like he was in complete auto pilot, but the way he thought about their strong curve ridden body that had the imposing figure of what seemed to be a war god certainly got him to hit total self driving mode, not realizing his matches were done right before he could be done thinking. Back home he thought even further of them, nothing he tried to entertain himself with would get his mind out of the multicolored eyes he saw in the night before, the more he thought about them the more he realizes that the creature might have been trying to speak to him with them... they didn't look at Danhausen with fear or anger or hunger like a bunny or wolf or coyote would have, it was more as if they said "come find me".
10:34 PM
Danhausen rubbed the ring he was wearing on the ring finger of his right hand, a silver ring with what seemed to be dog teeth, a little gift from the small pouch his kind stalker gave to him, he presumed it might have been made by them themself because of how it looked a bit crude and messy, but he could tell how much care it was put into it because of the nicely polished teeth, which made him smile in a way he didn't even realize he was smiling.
11:23 PM
It was time!
Well... not the time he planned, Danhausen wanted to execute his plan 12:00 AM on point, but he was way too impatient for this, which he admits its unusual for himself since he always prefers to follow plans exactly as set and intended, but he allowed himself to bail out of it this time. His heart sank heavy and he became increasingly nervous as he walked further into the forest, despite living near it and it technically being his backyard, Danhausen never really stepped foot inside of it, his first time only being yesterday, but he's certain this won't be his last time either. A small drop of sweat runs down the back of his hands, he doesn't know if it's because of how hot it is in the woods or he's just anxious, it was certainly the ladder.
With a relieved groan the bags of gummy candies are set down on the dirt ground, crushing some leaves as they did so, Danhausen following shortly after. "Ow!" He yelps as a little rock pricks his butt, he stares at it with contempt before throwing it far away. A sigh then comes out of his lips as he stares at the dark corners in between the trees, waiting for any sign of the eyes he once saw.
11:45 PM
His eyelids hang heavy, but he keeps them open by literally pulling them with his fingers, how he manages to keep unblinking for so long is both concerning and impressive. Some bags were already open in hopes that they catch the smell of these sickeningly sweet treats.
11:59 PM
It worked.
Something begins to crawl out of the shadows, something with striking eyes... it was them, it was them!
They looked the same as past night, just with some added blood around their mouth and chin and some on their body and hair, fresh from the kill, but their face having this look of pleasant surprise, they had no idea he would really come for them and their happiness was immeasurable! But as any good predator, they needed to test their grounds.
Danhausen stared and tried to remain immobile as they crawled over to him, slow and steady, this suspense killing him so slowly, all meanwhile they stared up to his eyes... he hated eye contact, but for some reason he just couldn't look away. Their hand bumps on something, breaking away of contact, they look down, their eyes immediately lighting up as dozens of gummy filled open bags grace their sight.
"Danhausen got these for you..." He broke the silence with an unusually shy tone, looking down at the bags to avoid looking at them. "They're just something that's been lying around, uhm... I suppose you'd like them" They look up at him with gleaming surprise, looking down at the assortment below and at the man before them over and over again, as if saying "all of these things, just for me?" And without further ado they took hold of one of them and with a handful of sour gummy worms they shoved it into their mouth, the taste of blood quickly dissipating as the acidic sourness dips itself into their taste buds, inheriting a ecstatic growl and giggle from them. Danhausen just looked in awe, he was near certain he was blushing.
"Uhh..." he tried to think of anything to say, but even the simplest of questions slipped out of his mind as he stared at the majestic yet feral "human" before him. "Do you... have a name?" His voice had a tone of curiosity within it, all he wanted to do right now was to talk about them and them only.
They stopped eating for a moment, chewing slowly before swallowing and seemingly being lost in thought. "A..." They attempted to clear their throat, which was futile as their voice seemed to have a hoarseness to it. "Abadon..." They seemed to have a bit of a shy tone also, but you'd have to be really attentive to notice it, easy for Danhausen.
"Abadon, huh... very nice name, Danhausen likes it" The corner of his lips slightly turned upwards as he responded with a certain softness, this comment inheriting a small growl and a happy smile from Abadon, which made Danhausen feel a bit warm on the inside.
It seemed as if he wasn't the only attentive one here, as Abadon saw something shiny on his finger, the bag fell right out of their hands as they pulled Danhausen's right hand close to their face, admiring the ring they had given to him, he was surprised by their boldness. "Ring?!" They exclaimed excitedly, fingers holding with a certain possessive grip on his hand.
His eyes are wide but have a twinge of amusement within them. "Yes!" Leaning a bit more forward, he allows them to check the jewelry out, or his hand for that matter. "I really liked the ring you've given Danhausen... you made it yourself, yes?" To which they responded with a quick nod, arranging it's position and wiping away any imaginary dust that would be in between the ridges of the canine teeth, it was a little something that prided Abadon, and they felt even more proud when Danhausen expressed his delight for this little piece of hand made jewelry.
"Well, after all your gifts, I couldn't leave you without any, it wouldn't really be very fair" He explained himself as he looked down at their hands grasping his, Abadon's hands had a certain roughness to them, strong and their sharp nails dirty with dirt and dried blood barely dig onto his pale skin, yet they have a certain tenderness to it as they try to not prick Danhausen with their nails. Until 01:45 AM hits, the both of them kept the company of each other, plastic bags of candy scattered about as Danhausen doesn't even want to see even a particle of sugar in front of him meanwhile Abadon could never get tired of even a mountain made entirely of sugar.
02:01 AM
Danhausen lies down on his bed, snug on a fluffy robe, accompanied by various superhero and villain plushies.
Abadon snuggles themself inside a cave, snuggled up with various orphaned wolf pups they care for.
Tonight they both sleep well, knowing they've made a friend.
Until this day now on, Abadon would come way more earlier to allow Danhausen his beauty sleep, at least 7 or 8 PM they would be by his doorstep with a few more trinkets for him or to give him some company or for both! Most of the time both. Each and every of their friend dates were rather fun, there was times Abadon would try to bite off the heads of some of Danhausen's figurines but he would always stop them with something more chewable like a dog toy or anything he could find lying around. There were also funny times where Abadon would put on this smarty pants act on... which disturbed Danhausen more than their usual demeanor and also made him feel a bit dumb - his own words.
There were also times when the loneliness would really affect Danhausen and he'd near beg Abadon to just stay the night with him, they would pretty much sleep together... snuggled up on the big bed without any trouble, Danhausen would always feel surprised whenever Abadon's usually corpse cold body would slowly warm up to accommodate to him, it doesn't feel voluntary from them, maybe being something that their body can just... do, you can never know the secrets a thousand souls holds.
And there's times, in these days, that Danhausen would sleep earlier than Abadon, the nocturnal creature being accustomed to the night just wouldn't sleep so easily and entertained themself in a much more simpler way... looking at him sleep, grazing a gentle thumb against his painted cheek, tracing the outline of the tattoos around his arms, sometimes feel the ridges of the still healing scars below his chest... and maybe, just maybe, he's lucky to hear a small melodic hum sweetly haunt his dreams and serenade him throughout the night.