Work Text:
after you finished your extracurriculars, it was already past noon and sundown came early because of the winter. you were walking on the field with your phone in hand and a bottled drink in the other. but something caught your attention outside the gym court and your eyes turned from your phone to a few bullies, their victim being your neighbor, jeffrey. you didn't know what made you stop in your tracks and stare, even when you felt your friend tug your arm. “hey, let's hurry,” she whispered. almost instantly, you replied back, “you go on ahead.” and pulled your arm back from her. “what? y-you can't be thinking…” you didn't let her finish before running over to the bullies and standing between them and jeffrey, who was cornered against the wall.
the one in the middle glared at you. “who do you think you are, new kid?” he spat. you just stared at him, brows furrowed. you knew the kid to be randy, the school’s infamous bully. very typical.
after a few moments, he clicked his tongue. “outta the way.” as he was about to reach for your shoulder to push you aside, you threw your drink at his face which also splattered on the two other boys beside him, their hair flat and drenched. their screams and groans of annoyance made you chuckle in satisfaction before grabbing jeffrey’s wrist and running off outside the school gate.
though you weren’t much of a runner because after a few minutes, you panted and rested your palms on your knees, sweat dripping down onto the snow coated ground. however, jeffrey stood tall above you and avoided eye contact. not to be rude, but you were surprised. he surely didn’t seem to be the athletic type with that slender figure.
after a long deep sigh, you begin to break the silence. “thrilling, wasn't it?” you smiled, expecting one back but instead you were met with a frown from the boy. “you shouldn’t have done that.” he said as he sat on a bench beside a vending machine. you sat beside him with a comfortable amount of space in between. “why not? something worse could have happened if i left you alone."
he turned his head away. “they’ll start bothering you too.”
“they can try.” you said, never taking off your smile and your eyes off of him. your smile widened when he slowly turned his head to your direction, his eyes hiding behind his dark brown hair but you knew he was looking at you too.
after a few seconds, you felt something cold and wet on your arm. you took your eyes off of jeff and looked up at the black sky, the lamp beside the bench illuminating the glittering falling snow. you notice jeffrey mimicking your action and you took this chance to glance at him from the side, and for the first time, his eyes seemed more blue than before, a reflection of the moon on them.
a beat skipped in your chest.
just for a mere second.
in an attempt to ignore it, you stood up and jeffrey turned towards you from the sky.
“time to go home.” you said, barely a whisper. jeffrey nodded and stood up, walking closely behind you. the crunching of the thin layer of snow below both of your boots filled the silence.
jeff walked throughout the white roads of the suburbs, the few inches of snow crunching beneath his shoes before stopping in front of a particular house. this was the address that slenderman had sent him. he had to refrain from biting his lip too hard in excitement from seeing you again. he stepped onto the porch and nonchalantly twisted open the knob to the front door, which opened silently with ease. before him was a lifeless body that seemingly fell down the stairs, the corpse’s eyes still open with a pool of warm blood around the head. nevertheless, the stairs did not appear to be the primary cause of death; rather, there was a noticeable impact wound on the forehead. jeff could only speculate that their head collided with a blunt corner before being kicked off the stairs. he let out a small whistle at the sight, intrigued. his eyes were torn off the body when a scream echoed through the kitchen.
in the kitchen, you towered over a woman with a kitchen knife in your hand, gritting your teeth in anger and frustration.
she had a hand on her thigh from where you had stabbed her earlier. “i-i’m sorry! please, let me go just this once!” she pathetically pleaded. your chest heaved as you panted, however you didnt notice the corners of your mouth go up in a sickening smirk.
the woman whimpered frantically, squirming beneath you. “you sick fucking bitch! you’ll pay for this! you wont get away with this!” it was like her personality went full 180. you chuckled before bending down and grabbing a fistful of her hair, pushing her head towards the wall behind her in the process.
“you shouldn't have let me catch you for a second time, hmm? maybe you deserved this since the first time i caught you two together,” you whispered in her ear followed by a light giggle. you stared at her features in delight as she reacted to the knife barely touching her throat. maybe it was luck that you caught your partner cheating on you twice with only one person. if not, you’d have to rightfully kill every one of them. the less bodies, the less problems for you.
she stopped whimpering after a gasp, but it wasn't towards you, instead her eyes were glued to a figure behind your back. at the same time, you felt it.
a presence behind you.
you swiftly whipped your body around, pointing the kitchen knife to the figure in a white hood, dirty and stained with dry brown blood. their black hair fell messily with their hands inside the hoodie’s pocket. what caught your attention was the jagged upward cut along the sides of his mouth.
you winced as you were pushed down onto the small hospital couch, jeffrey hovering above you. “don’t lie to me.” he said with gritted teeth. you tried to steady your breathing and gently pushed him off. “i’m not lying. i just asked what made you do this to yourself.” you answered back and jeffrey’s shoulders seemed to relax as he sat before you.
“because it looks beautiful on me,” a response that didn't make any sense. but nothing seemed to make sense with him these past few days.
you sat up, your eyes never leaving the red and swollen slice on the corners of his mouth. you frowned, what happened to your best friend? what else couldn’t you protect him from?
mindlessly, you lifted a hand to cup his cheek. no reaction came from him, just an empty stare towards you.
“doesn't it hurt, jeffrey?”
“jeffrey?” your eyes widened, still stuck on that familiar, fake smile.
but he smiled for real. but it was different. not like jeffrey before the birthday party. not like your best friend’s smile before the fire.
then he turned on his heel back to the front door. once again, leaving you. just like before when he disappeared out of nowhere.
a breath escaped your lips as you were forced back to reality. hastily, you scrambled on your feet to go after him. you would’ve caught on if your victim hadn’t clutched your leg and almost made you trip.
you hissed and kicked her down in the stomach. “fuck off!” you yelled in frustration and buried the knife in her throat, arterial blood squirting and flowing out. you left the knife in there before running off after jeffrey.
but he was nowhere to be seen.
your eyes followed the fresh footprints on the ground. it trails off beyond the fence between the forest and the neighborhood, and you swear you could feel your heart beat through your whole body as you jumped over the wired fence.
you begin to rethink your choices after walking slowly inside the forest. it was darker, no sources of light besides the moon. if you were to guess, it was only a few hours before sunrise. was this a good idea? how were you so sure you weren’t imagining your childhood friend standing in the entrance to the kitchen?
but it didn’t matter, nothing did, because there he was, a shoulder leaning against a tree with a smirk on his face.
he disappeared yet again. running off further into the woods. you grunted as you ran after him, a considerably far distance between the two of you. he wasn’t going to get away this time. you wouldn’t let him.
you seemed to be chasing after him for a few minutes, occasionally appearing in your line of sight then disappearing right after. it wasn’t long before you got tired and began to walk.
jeff wasn’t letting himself be seen anymore. but you knew he was close.
as you looked around, your eyes widened in fear when you realized a house standing tall a few feet in front of you. it was made of dark wood, with sharp roofs and a huge gate at the front. it almost looked like a manor. in the middle of the forest?
you completely froze in your tracks. the front door of the manor starts to open slowly, but you cannot run. at the same time, loud static starts to ring in your ears. why can’t you run? but you were able to finally lift your feet, taking a step backwards. the noise was getting louder. turning on your heel to try and run, you were suddenly pulled aside by strong hands behind a huge tree that blocked the view from the house.
your back rested against his chest and felt it steadily rise and fall. his hand covered the entire lower half of your face. you just stared at the ground quietly, the static noise fading away as you listened to the breeze whistle through the trees and tried to match your breathing with his. the door of the manor eventually shut close, sending a loud echo and making you flinch. after a few moments, he releases you from his grasp and turns you to face him.
you can finally see him up close. he looks the same as years ago, the only difference was his jagged cut had scarred and he had darker circles around his eyes. but his blue eyes remained the same with the moon reflecting onto them, reminding you of that evening where you first befriended him.
“i never expected you to turn out like me, (y/n),” he chuckles, however you didn't expect his voice to change so much. “who were those people anyway?”
you sat cross legged and looked away from him. “my shitty cheater ex. it happened during the spur of the moment.” you replied.
it was weird. the feeling was weird. you were casually talking as if this man was still your friend. why’d you chase him out here anyway? you can’t really expect him to be the same, can you?
“is that manor where you’ve been living?” you decided to ask, gazing up at him only to find that his gaze has never left you.
“you can call it that.” he shrugs and opens his mouth but you were faster and cut him off. “why did you disappear on me?” you decided to get straight to the point.
“after the murder, why did you never reach out to me?” now tears threaten to fall from your eyes but it took you all your might not to let them.
jeff could only sigh. “i dont know…”
you couldn’t help but ball your fists tightly. “seriously?” you muttered. you were obviously annoyed with his lack of words to this little unexpected reunion.
“but i won't leave you again, not this time.” he smiled at you but it looked more like his usual smirk.
“u-huh,” you replied and refused to believe him.
his smirk grew wider and pointed to the manor behind him. “because from now on, you’ll be living with me in that house.”
you tilted your head a bit to the side in confusion. jeff let out a groan and rolled his eyes. “so there’s this guy named slenderman, he owns that house, i’m kinda his proxy, and basically he knew you would snap tonight, so he sent me to come get you and you’ll become one of his proxies too. there’s nothing left for you in your normal life, and you’ll just get caught easily.” jeff explained with his hand gestures all over the place.
you only pursed your lips followed by crossing your arms. “so you only showed up because he ordered you to? so if he never did, then you won't come and find me?”
jeff clicked his tongue and scratched the side of his head. “are you seriously acting this way with me? what, you want me to say that i missed you or something?”
of course jeff would never show it, but he’d been excited to meet you since slenderman gave him the mission. after all, you meant a lot to him because of the kindness you offered towards him. it was something he’d never forget.
“like, yes?! maybe its easy for you, but it’s hard being on the other end where my best friend fucking left me out of nowhere.” you spat, feeling the heat rise up on your body from anger.
suddenly, jeff grabbed your arm and pushed you against the tree, his face inches close to yours. his eyes bore into you. “i had no way of finding you, okay? and i can’t just appear and mess up your life. it’s risky for me too. so don’t think that i never fucking thought about you once.”
his tone was so serious that it almost scared you. almost. instead, you seemed to have lit up. “so you’re saying you missed me? you think about me too, all these years?” you didn’t try to sound too happy, but in reality you were.
jeff only looked away and expressed a grunt of annoyance, knowing that it’s too late to deny.
after a few moments, the static noise rang through your head again, but it was louder this time. you covered your ears and crouched in pain, but was surprised to see jeff do the same. he seems to also hear the loud ringing noise.
when it abruptly stopped, you felt something warm and thick trickling out of your nose but before you could wipe it yourself, jeff did it for you with the sleeve of his hoodie.
“that fucking- he can’t just wait, can he?” he spat angrily and stood up. you did the same. “let’s head inside. stay close to me, everyone’s pretty excited to meet you.”
you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face.