Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Well, it wasn’t the strangest thing you had found in the woods before.

There was that strange ass carnival that was a couple miles away from this exact spot that you had found years prior. There was never even a carnival in town to begin with…

But this, this definitely topped the cake of some of the weirdest things you had found in this forest. A busted up tv, almost in perfect condition except the nonexistent screen in the middle. It was definitely something to find, but why the fuck was it in the middle of the woods…?

You looked around, rubbing the back of your neck in confusion. A nervous habit you did. And you were especially nervous right now. There was no one around, at least not that you had seen, so this tv couldn’t have possibly been new to this forest. But you had ventured here hundreds of times, have passed this same spot almost every time you came here. So where did it come from?

The last time you had been in the forest was last week, which was just about five days ago. So within that time frame this tv appeared out of the blue. Strange.

“Who would even drag this thing all the way out here..?” You mumbled to yourself, crouching down to tilt the tv easier and get a better look at it. The screen was definitely beaten beyond repair, but somehow the rest of the tv looked perfectly fine.

Well, it didn’t seem like anyone else was going to take it home with them. People barely came into these woods as it was. Too creepy, or something like that. And hey, finders keepers losers weepers. Might as well take it for yourself.

You nod, making a decision. It definitely wasn’t going to be easy to lug this huge thing back to your house, but there was plenty of daylight left to spare. And you had nothing better to do since it was your day off from your job.

So with a huff, and a body of determination, you pick up the TV. And you definitely didn’t drop it a couple of times before finally lifting it off the ground, of course you didn’t. But it sure was heavy. This was going to be a workout.

Walking through the woods, you once again thought to where this TV could have possibly came from. It had the word ‘Puzzlevision’ written in cursive across the bottom, but you’ve never seen a brand of tv named that. Could it have been a new invention?? Some new brand of tv a company was making?? You chuckled at the thought of getting your hands on a tv that no one else had yet.

The woods were peaceful, even if your arms hurt like a bitch. ‘I really need to work out more…’ you groaned, thinking to yourself. Even though you knew these woods like the back of your hand, with extra weight added, you didn’t know how long you had been walking. It had to have been an hour, which was two times longer than when it normally took you to get back. But, you were proud of how long you had been carrying this stupid tv without taking a break. Well, a single break. But that was just to readjust the tv in your arms.

When you could finally see the clearing at the edge of the forest, you cheered silently in victory. You were tired. Tired and very, very sweaty. You hoped that this damn tv would work again after you replaced the screen. But even if it didn’t work, you could probably just keep it as something neat that you found. You weren’t a hoarder, but you definitely liked to keep the cooler items you found.

You were lucky that your house wasn’t too far from the woods. Maybe that’s why it wasn’t as scary to you as it was to everybody else, because you’ve lived here for most of your adult life. Sure the wood was scary some of the time, especially when storm clouds roamed overhead, but it was a peaceful place. A place you could escape and let your thoughts roam free without any worries.

Maybe this tv was a gift for you from the woods itself??

Yeah, probably not.

When you finally got back to your house, opening the door with your elbow and kicking it open with your foot, you walk inside towards your living room.

Your home was a decent cabin. Not too big, but not too small. It had a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, and two separate bedrooms. One of the bedrooms you used as an office for your work.

Setting the tv on the wooden table that sat in the middle of the living room, you hunch over and put your hands on your knees, sweat drenching your entire body. Tugging off your hat, your ears pop free. Dark black cat ears, sopping with sweat.

“Dear god that was way too much work than it should have been…” you get out quickly, taking a second to finish catching your breath.

Taking in a final deep breath, you push yourself back up off of your knees. Staring at the tv, you fully assessed the damage. Of course, it was going to need a new screen. You carefully checked any other areas for damage worse than the screen. It may need a new button or two, but it would-

Wait.

Why had you not noticed it before.

Why the fuck did this tv have a hat on?!

You blinked a couple of times, making sure you weren’t hallucinating. How the fuck had you not originally noticed that while it was in the forest?! A hat on a tv should be pretty noticeable. But then again, you were a tad bit oblivious. You just found something cool, and wanted to take it home.

“Whatever…” you shake your head, deciding to ignore it for now. Maybe it was just a weird feature that the company had built onto their TV’s. Strange detail to add, but it definitely made it stand out more. Well, besides the fact that it looked like an older tv.

“Alright bud, you’re gonna need a new screen. Stay here, don’t burn the house down.” You huff out with a laugh, patting the tv on its top. Walking over to your countertop in the kitchen, you grab your keys to your car. You already had your wallet, now you just had to find a matching screen. Could you probably order a screen online?? Yeah, but that was so much work. And you wanted to fix the tv now.

So, off to the store you go.

——————

Finding a screen was harder than you thought it would be.

After visiting multiple stores, you weren’t able to find much. Both in screens, and about this so called ‘Puzzlevision’.

After searching several stores, you were able to find a compatible screen, both in size and shape. It definitely cost a bit, but it wasn’t anything you couldn’t afford. You were stable, and you wanted to fix this. It was your own money and you could do what you wanted with it.

“I hope this is worth it…” you hum out, stepping out of your car with the bag. Shutting the door and locking it, you walk towards your door. You could have sworn you heard voices inside. You were confused… you had locked the door when you left. Was it robbers..?

You shook away your fear, taking in a deep breath before opening the door. And as soon as the door creaked open, the voices stopped. That confused you even more. You weren’t going to call out, that’s how everyone in horror movies got killed. So you stayed as quiet as possible, moving around your house.

As you approach the living room, you look towards the tv. That was.. strange. It was still on the wooden table where you left it. But now instead of facing towards your kitchen like before, it was facing directly towards where your door was at. You blinked a couple of times. “Oookay…” you mumbled out, glaring at the tv for a couple of seconds before you moved towards the kitchen.

Keeping your eyes on it, you remove the contents from the bag, placing the screen gently onto the countertop. You bend down, grabbing some tools from a bottom drawer. You had never replaced a screen before, you didn’t even know if these were the right tools. But damn it, you were going to try your absolute fucking best.

Taking the tools and the screen, and grabbing a couple bandages on your way just in case, you set the items to the side as you face the tv back towards you. “If you give me a bad time I’m bringing you to the thrift store..” you hum, sitting criss cross on the floor. You then carefully start to remove the broken glass from around the rim of the tv. And hey, you were doing pretty good!! Only a couple scrapes.

Until you got to the last piece.

You got too hasty, and grabbed at it too quickly. Bad move. Your thumb gets sliced on the glass. You immediately hiss, pulling your hand away. “Motherfuck…!” You hiss out, immediately grabbing a bandaid. You knew you were gonna need them. Wrapping it up, you sigh. It stung like hell, but you’d take care of it properly after.

After an embarrassingly long amount of time trying to figure out how to get the screen into place, you had finally gotten it!! And it fit like a charm. You were glad that it fit and that you in fact did NOT waste money on it!! “Thank you for giving me only a little trouble!!” You stand, admiring your work and feeling pride of yourself.

You looked at the time. Damn. It was kind of late. You groaned, realizing just how tired you were.

“I’ll just.. take a shower in the morning.” You huff, standing from your spot and wincing as some of your bones popped from sitting for too long. You stretch, before yawning. “Stay here. Don’t do anything creepy again…” you mumble, walking towards your room to fall fast asleep.

But as you close the door to your room, soft static and a semi-bright screen start to fill the silent air of the living room.

Chapter Text

Waking up was always your least favorite part of the day.

Your bed was so comfy, why did you have to get out of it in the first place..?

Groaning and rolling over to look at the clock sitting on the drawer beside your bedside, it read 8 o’clock. It wasn’t too early, but you still would have liked to sleep in a little longer. So, that’s what you tried to do. You decided to roll back onto your other side, pulling your blankets back up to your chin and…

Wait. Why the fuck could you smell bacon??

Your eyes shot wide open and you sat up just a bit too quickly. Feeling dizzy for a split second, you slowly start to slide out of bed, planting your feet on the cold wooden floor beneath you. Was it the robbers from last night..? No, that was incredibly fucking stupid. Why would robbers make you bacon?? ‘Oh we wanted to rob your place, but we’re apologizing by making you bacon!!’ Yeah, fat chance.

As you’re getting out of bed, you hiss at the feeling of a sting on your hand. Looking, the cut from last light had started to bleed out of the bandage. Well shit. Not the biggest problem currently, but you really should have handled it better last night.

You push yourself from your bed, walking towards your door. You decide to bring a metal bat sitting against the wall, protection for times just like these. You may lack common sense most of the time, but you aren’t dumb. Clutching the bat with your un-injured hand tightly, you turn the knob and open the door.

You’re hit with an even stronger smell of bacon, and is that humming..? Yeah. Okay. This was weird. You were probably going to die by the hands of whoever this was.

Blinking your eyes a couple of times in confusion, and also trying to blink the sleepiness from waking up away, you continue to head to the living room and kitchen. You didn’t know who or what was out there, so you were trying to prepare yourself for a possible fight.

Turning the corner, you look into the living room. Nothing strange there, but… the tv from last night was missing. You stared in confusion for a second. Did the robbers take that?? Out of EVERYTHING in your house?! This was just getting more and more strange the further you advanced in your house.

Taking in a deep and quiet breath, you prepare to fight whoever the fuck has invaded your house and decided to try and steal your precious bacon. Gripping the bat tightly, you prepare yourself for the worst. ‘If I die, I die going out swinging.’ You try to pump yourself up. It doesn’t work too well.

Finally, you decide to jump out from behind the corner, yelling “HAVE AT THEE!!” While raising your bat into the air.

You were definitely not prepared for what exactly was awaiting you.

It was the Tv. The one you had carried here and fixed. The Tv how had an entire body and was making bacon in your kitchen. And it had a face. And it was staring at you in shock. Or, what you could only assume what it’s shocked face looked like.

“Oh well HELLO my wonderful host who fixed m-“ before the tv could even finish, you were screaming. “WHAT THE FUCK?! WHAT ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!?!” You, very rightfully, screamed at the thing.

The Tv man’s, the tv was a fucking MAN NOW, face switched emotions, now showing a more disappointed expression plastered on his screen. “Well, that’s a very rude way to treat your guests.. and I even made you breakfast to thank you!!” He said in a way too chipper tone for your liking.

Your brain was still trying to process what the hell was going on. The Tv, the Tv that was BROKEN, has now sprouted a body, a very TALL body, and was talking to you. How was this thing alive?? WHY was this thing alive?! And why was it still in your house?!?

“Now now, calm down my dear!! Come and take a seat, I need to treat the one who saved me, of course!!!” The TV’s expression flickered from that disappointed look to a smiling look, the one it previously had on before you had disappointed it. How could it be disappointed?? How was it feeling emotions?!

“First, you need to explain just exactly what you are and then you have an even shorter amount of time to tell me why I shouldn’t ram this bat into your… your head.” You tried to speak in a calm voice, even if it was as clear as daylight that your nerves were evident while speaking.

The TV’s expression once again showed disappointment. Disappointment at what this time, you had no clue. He sighed, a very loud and dramatic sigh, before placing a plate full of bacon down at the kitchen table where you frequently ate at.

“Well my dear, I am the AMAZING, the most TALENTED, the most AMAZING and CHARMING host to ever walk this Earth, MR. PUZZLES!!” He shouted with extreme glee, giving a strange pose and waving his hands in the air while gameshow bells rung in the air. WHERE WERE THOSE BELLS COMING FROM?! HOW DID HE DO THAT?!?!

You blinked a couple of times in shock and confusion. “Is this a sign I’m going crazy..” you whispered to yourself quietly. The Tv, Mr Puzzles, chuckled and shot over to where you were standing at. “Not at ALL my dear host!! In fact, you should think it as an honor that I am even standing before you!!” His face was wearing an extremely goofy smile, not like the neutral smile from before, just way more cartoonish.

You jumped as Mr. Puzzles got closer to you, once again raising your bat in the air as you stared at him. “And.. Are you going to leave anytime soon..?” You asked, your voice still wavering. Mr. Puzzles chuckled once again, shaking his head. “Now, why on Earth would I ever want to leave!! This is a nice place here, and you brought me in, I might as well stay a bit!!”

I mean… he did get you there. You were the one who brought him in, and you were the one who fixed him. But you also were not warned about THIS.

“I.. I don’t trust you. Not at all, not even for a second… But if you’re polite enough to cook for me, I guess you could stay…” you mumble out, swinging your bat down to rest gently against the ground. Your catlike ears flicked nervously, your tail flicking with them. Mr. Puzzles seemed delighted that you were letting him stay.

“Oh WONDERFUL!! Because, well…” the tv man leaned down to whisper to you, an insane looking smile flicking onto his face. “You really didn’t have a choice…”

Okay. Yeah. Totally not creepy at all mr tv man, you totally weren’t regretting this decision whatsoever.

Mr. Puzzles then retreated from your face, you only releasing how close he was after he had pulled away. “Now, sit down my dear!! This bacon is going to get cold, and we wouldn’t want that now would we..” a laugh tracked played through the air. You still had no idea how he was doing that.

You hesitantly moved over to sit down at the table. Pressing your hand against the table to sit, you hissed out at the pain that came from your finger. The strange tv man noticed this almost right away, stopping what he was doing to get close to you once again. Did this guy have no concept of personal space..?

“Well, what did you do to yourself here you clumsy little cat!!” You huffed out, glaring at him. You wanted to snap at him that oh, I got this from fixing you, you old fuck. But that was definitely not a smart move. “I got cut. I’ll deal with it later.” But as soon as those words left your mouth, Mr. Puzzles made a ‘tsk, tsk, tsk’ noise with his non-existent mouth. “No, that certainly won’t do!! We can’t have our previous host injured, now can we!!”

With impossibly quick motions, the tall Tv grabbed a paper towel, wetting it before grabbing a couple bandages. How exactly did he already know where everything was at. He sat down in the chair right across from you, clearly too big for the smaller seat but sitting anyways. He instantly grabbed your hand that was resting on the table, and you hissed like a cat loudly at him,

“Hey now, I’m just trying to help you!! Aren’t I being such a gracious guest??” An ‘aww’ track rung through the air as he said that, he peeled away the bloody bandage that was on your finger, going ‘ew’ before tossing it in the garbage. He wiped away the blood with the damp towel.

Your ears were pinned back against your head, and your body was as far away from him as possible. It was clear you didn’t trust him at all. Maybe you could at least try to make small talk with him…

“So..” you started, coughing a bit, “where did you exactly come from..? And how did you end up in that forest??” At the second question, he paused wiping the blood away, his face flicking to that same insane smile from before.

“Dont ask questions that you don’t want the answer to, my dear. I would really not like to talk about how I ended up there..” his voice was menacing to say the least, and it only made your eyes go wider at the tone. You decided to shut up, closing your lips together as Mr. Puzzles resumed his cleaning of your small wound.

Once he finished applying the bandages, his face went back to that very cartoon smile, “Aaand done!! Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it??” He looked up at you, and you looked like a cat about to claw his eyes out. “I’m going to need you to never touch me again.” You spoke out to him in a whisper, slowly grabbing a piece of bacon to bring up to your mouth and eating it.

“I’m.. I’m going to take a shower. Don’t rob me.. or.. try to kill me while I’m in there…” you mumbled out, slowly sliding out of your seat and getting as far away from him as possible. His face flicked to that disappointed look once again. “Well, not even a thank you?! How rude!!” He scoffed, turning away from you. You took that as your chance to escape, practically running to your bathroom to close the door and lock it.

That was an experience. You guessed you had a new roommate now. Yaaay…

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days since that thing, that man, had showed up in your home.

Although was he really even a man..? His head was a tv, and his body seemed more… robotic than human.

You had been tolerating him. Tolerating was a much more generous word than the emotions you felt for him. It was honestly close to disliking the strange man, but he cooked for you from time to time, so you tolerated him and his habits. And in the couple of days you had spent with the man, you had learned a couple of things about him.

For one thing, he hated talking about anything to do with his past. He didn’t like talking about how he ended up in that forest, and he didn’t like talking abo it where he came from. Anytime you tried to talk about it with him, that insane look would come over his face, and he would use that… menacing tone. It was intimidating, but you were getting used to it each time.

Secondly, he was eccentric, with an even more eccentric personality to back up his odd style. He always acted as if he was the star of a TV show. And those odd backtracks would always play whenever he made a pun or joke or.. talking to you in general. He was obsessed with television, with ratings. But you couldn’t exactly figure out why.

And finally, he had weird habits. He smoked sure, and the smell only bothered you somewhat, but that wasn’t even the weirdest thing he did. Whenever he would go to “sleep”, his body would completely compress in on itself. It sounded like his bones were breaking, folding in on each other in order to fit back inside of the Tv that was his head. And the same thing happened when his body came back out.

Not to mention the times he would randomly disappear. He would disappear for hours sometimes, only coming back in the dead of the night. Sometimes he slammed a door and woke you up. It had definitely caused more than one argument to break out between the two of you.

So yeah, he was weird. But you tolerated him at least.

At least he made pretty good food when you asked. You wondered if he learned that talent from a cooking show or something else he watched. He seemed to not like modern phones too much, but was still intrigued with them.

He also kept the house clean when you worked, which was a huge bonus.

Speaking of work, you had just finished a huge project. It had lasted around six hours, and you had been cooped up in your at home office all day, so you didn’t know what Mr. Puzzles had been up to in the meantime.

When you finally stepped outside, the TV man was coming back inside. He reeked of smoke, like usual after he had just taken a smoke break. He seemed more upset than usual. You wondered what could have happened.

“Hey camera man, what’s got you looking more staticy than usual??” You chuckled at your own joke, a smile tugging at your lips. If the Tv man could roll his eyes, he most definitely would be rolling them right now. “Very funny, cat.” He growled out, no tone of amusement behind his voice.

You two had started that. Not calling each other by your actual names. You refused to call him by his name at first just because he ticked you off, so he started to do the same to you. You both had various nicknames for each other.

“Wow, who cracked your screen tough guy??” You snickered, moving over into the kitchen to start making dinner for yourself since the man was clearly not in the mood to do so himself. He murmured out something that you couldn’t hear, and you rolled your eyes. “Speak up static, can’t hear your muffled whining too well.”

“I am sick and TIRED of you calling me that!!” He gave a glare toward you, his voice somehow sounding like it was coming out through gritted teeth. You chucked once again, placing some leftover spaghetti out from the fridge to heat up. “Aww, what’s wrong? Got your wires in a twist??” You chuckled even harder, poking the beast with a sharp stick.

And just when you were least expecting it, two hands slammed down beside you, trapping you against the counter. You jumped, shocked, and instantly spun around to see the Tv that was his head extremely close to your face. He had that insane expression displayed on his screen, and he sounded way more pissed than usual.

“Listen here you little shit, you are getting on my LAST. NERVES.” He growled out, moving closer to you. And since you had no room to back up, you could feel the head radiating from the tv and could hear the fans that were cooling his wires off. “I have been playing nice this whole time, I’ve even cooked for you!! And yet you still find new ways to piss me off in a matter of DAYS!!”

You blinked a couple of times. Were you nervous of how close he was and what he could potentially do to you? Yes, you were. But you also knew you had to stand your ground with this jerk. “Well, it’s not my fault you’re so easy to piss off, digital fucker.” You smirked, waiting for his reaction.

But all he really did was stare at you a couple of seconds longer before removing his hands and backing up, mumbling some things under his breath(?) before moving to stalk toward the guest room, the room he made his own when he got here

You gave him a quizzical look as he left, tilting your head to the side and your ears flicking slightly. You jumped when he slammed the door, only just barely hearing the lock click shut as Mr. Puzzles locked himself away in the room.

“Wow. Okay. Good talk.” You mumbled out, glaring at the door and flipping it off before turning back to your spaghetti. He really needed to fix whatever his deal was if he wanted to stay here.

But, even if you wanted to, could you kick him out..? You didn’t know what he was, or what he was capable of. What if he could hurt you?? You really needed to find out more about him. Maybe some locals in the mushroom kingdom will know something.

But for now, you were going to heat up your spaghetti and enjoy it in peace.

Chapter Text

He was still locked in that room. He had been since last night.

You had found yourself looking at the same door increasingly throughout the day. You couldn’t believe you were actually genuinely concerned for the asshole. He didn’t need to eat, so you weren’t concerned about that. But you were concerned of exactly what he was doing inside of that room.

Once again, you had no clue about the guy. You two could barely talk without an argument forming, and he has told you absolutely nothing about his past, so it made it really hard to actually communicate with the guy.

Your mouth tightened into a thin line as your eyes flickered to different points of the door. You were wondering if you should just ram it down and drag him out, but that would just make the hatred between you two form even more. And even though you couldn’t stand him, you didn’t exactly want him to kill you in your sleep.

Why exactly did you let him stay here again..?

I mean yeah, he did threaten you to stay here. And on top of that, he made extremely good food for you sometimes, so that was also a bonus. And he didn’t need to eat himself, so you weren’t even feeding two people!!

All he was really doing was using an extra room no one had needed in years.

You frowned. Maybe you should be a bit less harsh to the guy. He was the reason you were having home cooked meals, after all.

You sighed out, your eyes closing in anger as you pushed yourself up and off the couch. You could at least try to understand the guy. But if he wasn’t going to respect you and actually have a decent conversation with you, you were already planning ways to murder him in his sleep instead.

You walked over to where the guest room door sat, standing in front of it for a couple of seconds and reevaluating if you should really do this or not. You scratched the back of your neck, contemplating your choices before groaning out quietly. You couldn’t pussy out of this, you needed to have this talk.

You knocked on the door three times before speaking. “Look, stati- I mean, Mr. Puzzles. We need to talk, and I think you know we need to.” You tried to speak clearly, but it just ended up in you mumbling to the door.

But you guessed it got through to him!! After a couple of seconds waiting, you finally heard shuffling coming from inside of the room. You heard groaning and then mumbling, before hearing the lock to the door becoming undone. You smiled. Good, you were already getting somewhere!!

You just weren’t exactly expecting the sight to grace your eyes when the door opened.

There stood the tall television man, you still couldn’t believe at just how tall he was, leaning against the doorframe. “What. What could you POSSIBLY want out of me now, cat??”

Oh dear baby Jesus. He was practically shirtless. His bow tie was undone and hanging around his neck, and the top two buttons of his grey button up shirt were undone. Not to mention that he had his sleeves rolled up halfway, AND he was giving you that disappointed look.

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!!

You slapped yourself, much to the confusion of Mr Puzzles, before turning to face him and look him in his tv screen. Just don’t look any lower than that, and you’ll be okay!!

“We.. We need to talk. We need to set boundaries with each other, and we need to communicate with each other if you’re going to be living here.” You spoke, surprising yourself with how confident you sounded.

Mr. Puzzles tilted his head, that jesty ass smirk expression crossing over his screen. “Oh?? So you’re finally ready to talk, little cat?? That’s WONDERFUL news!!” His volume was almost close to shouting levels, and it made you wince. “Y-Yeah, im finally ready to talk. Just as long as you are ready to hear me out.”

The tall man stepped out of the room, finally coming to his full height instead of slouching slightly to fit in the room. My god, he towered over you. He could probably slap you and it would send you flying across the room. You really needed to be more mindful of that..

“Of course my dear, just as long as you hear me out as well..” he hums, giggling to himself as he crosses the room to sit down at the same wooden table to eat at. Once again, you snicker at how he is just too large to fit in the small chair. He rests his elbows on the table, resting his head in his gloved hands. “Well, my dear?? You’re the one who wanted to start this, after all…”

You shift, still trying not to stare at his somewhat exposed chest. You could finally see that his body was kind of a dark grey, almost black. Snap out of it, don’t focus on that!! You shook your head, taking in a deep breath before heading to sit down the opposite to him.

You knew what you were going to say, you just.. weren’t used to expressing your emotions to people. You had been living alone for awhile, and only had very few friends. “Well.. I can see we don’t like each other. At least, not right now. Not with how we have been.” You coughed, still trying to stare only at his screen and not let your eyes wonder.

His smiling expression turned to that disappointed one, him leaning back in the chair just slightly. “You owe me more smokes with just how much you annoy me on a day to day basis…” he mumbled out. You feel your own ear flick slightly in annoyance, but you continue on without starting an argument.

“We need to fix that. Set boundaries with each other. We can’t just.. piss each other off every single day.” You sigh out, also leaning back and crossing your arms. The Tv man hums out, his expression flicking back to that familiar smiling expression. “We do, my dear!! Although I just LOVE how easy it is to rile you up!! You would make such a great character!!”

You were confused at his statement, your expression showing just as much. You shook your head, deciding to file that away in your brain and go back to it later. “Moving on…” you uttered, now getting slightly annoyed. “I understand you don’t like me calling you nicknames. And you also like your personal time wherever the hell you go.” You roll your eyes, glaring at him just slightly as he just smirks. “But, you need to tell me when you leave and when you plan to be back. I can’t just worry about when and where you are constantly.”

Although it was clear with what you wanted, Mr. Puzzles seemed to take that in a different way. “Oh my dear, you CARE about me?? Oh how utterly sweet of you!!” He cheers out, leaning back and clasping his hands together in a dramatic fashion. You feel your eye twitch. “Yes. As stupid as you are, I do. Since we’re living together and all.”

Mr. Puzzles giggles, leaning onto the table to look over at you with that smug look. “Fine. I agree to tell you when I go out, yadda yadda, moving ON!!” He gets out quickly. But you just sighed thankfully as he agreed. “Now my lovely little kitty,” you scowled at the nickname, “I have something to ask of you as well!!”

You leaned forward, still annoyed, but willing to listen to what he had to say. “You stop asking about my past. Where I came from, what happened to me. It’s getting quite bothersome, all of your tiny questions..” he hummed out, leaning his head on top of his hands. You lifted an eyebrow, but shrugged. It was easy enough. “Yeah, okay, fine. I’ll stop. As long as you answer one question for me.”

The man groaned out dramatically, giving that disappointed look once again but letting you continue. You went on. “Why are you trying so hard to hide your past??” He sighed, hiding his screen with his hands.

“I’m.. I wasn’t a good person. I did horrible things.” You raised an eyebrow, now curious. You didn’t think you were going to get information like this out of him again. “So.. you have a bad past??” You pressed on. “Something like that..” he sighed out, his usual cheery and chipper tone of voice sliding into something more.. serious. Sad.

You gave him a curious and also skeptical look, but shrugged. “Alright, fine. I got to ask, now I won’t ask anything else about your past. Just don’t bring any trouble around my house, understood??” You pointed an accusatory finger at him. His serious expression and tone suddenly vanished, once again going back to that ‘tv host personality’. “Why, I would NEVER!! How DARE you accuse me of such things!!”

You rose a brow at him, still skeptical. “..Right. I’m glad we could at least have this talk. Understand that we can’t just be angry with each other all the time. We can set more boundaries as we move along our days.” You hummed out, leaning back into your chair.

Mr. Puzzles clapped his hands together, that goofy comical expression crossing over his face. “Oh I am SO glad we could reach an agreement!!! But, my dear…” he hummed out lowly, making your face twist in confusion.

Then, he did something unexpected.

He took your chin into his hand, leaning forward so your face and his screen were extremely close together.

“Dont expect me to stop with teasing you, it is SUCH good entertainment..” he hummed, his voice going low. He was so close you could smell the smoke on him and his clothes…

“Oh my dear, your face always goes so red..” he chuckles, backing up before patting you on the head. “Continue providing such amusing expressions to me!!” He waves as he walks away, leaving you a red and confused mess.

He walks back into the room, closing the door. You blink a couple of times, your fingers reaching up to press your fingertips against your rapidly heating cheeks. What the fuck was that about..?

“That bastard..” you cursed out, growling.

Chapter Text

Ever since your conversation with the TV man, he had been acting… strange.

Now of course, he no longer seemed like he wanted you dead, which was a good thing. But now? You were just confused. Of course, you were glad the two of you were getting along finally, but now, you didn’t know what to think of the situation.

To put it frank, he had almost been clingy in a way. Not clinging to you every time he saw you, god no. If he did that, you were probably going to break his screen worse than you found him. But he began following you, almost like a lost puppy expecting commands from its owner.

He didn’t follow you in silence, however. Most of the time when he was by your side he was rambling away about a tv pitch about his “greatest new episode” that apparently “was sure to get a five star rating”. You still didn’t know what that meant, either. The man wouldn’t open up about his past, as per your agreements on both sides, but it was a little hard to get to know him and his story without knowing much.

The company was mostly welcome, but there had been a couple of times where you had stepped out of your office after a long days work wishing for a bit of peace. But it seemed every time the man saw you and he was out of his room, he would become attached to you at the hip.

It was definitely whiplash from how he was acting before from about a week ago.

“Wait so, run this by me again…” you spoke out loud. It was one of those times where Puzzles had seen you, and followed you around. You were currently cooking dinner for yourself, even though Mr. Puzzles offered to, as he sat at the table and ranted about a new pitch once again.

“You’re wanting this, what was his name, ‘Three’ to be a princess, and the blue guy, ‘Four’, to be a witch? And Three falls under a spell BY Four, yet Four kissing him is the only way to wake him up..?” Your voice held clear confusion, eyebrows furrowed as you tried to understand the man. You had no idea where he came up with these characters of his, or the plots. But it was amusing.

“Yes, my dear!! Last time Four was just an evil witch trope, but what if I spun it around?? Made a love story where instead of it being a prince, it is the witch who breaks his own spell!!” The man continued to rant, waving his hands around as he explained in wide gestures. He was a bit too tall to be sitting at the table, so his knees were a little scrunched up and his back was curled just a bit.

You shook your head, stirring your pot of pasta for a minute before placing down the spoon and turning to him. “Isn’t that just the same plot as Maleficent, but romantic??” You blinked at him, crossing your arms as your brows were still furrowed in confusion.

The screen stared back at you for a couple of seconds, a blank expression crossing over it as he said nothing. “…Do you mean the newer Maleficent movie? No, no.. it couldn’t be..” He hummed, contemplating for a second as he held his tv in his hand in a thinking expression.

You snorted slightly, shaking your head as you turned back to your pasta. “Well, besides kind of sounding like that plot, I think it may be a good idea. Lord knows we need more queer representation in media…” you mumbled out, picking up the wooden spoon as you stirred the boiling pasta just a bit more. You carefully dipped out a piece with the spoon, letting the water run out while still keeping the piece in. You brought it up to your mouth, testing it. Just the right texture!!

“What is that, what are you doing??” Puzzles seemed to inquire. You were confused. Had he.. not tasted pasta before? But he always managed to cook spaghetti perfectly!! “You’ve… never tried pasta to confirm it’s cooked right..?” You questioned while still quickly taking the pot of pasta and dumping it into a strainer held in your sink.

The man laughed, pointing to his screen. “In cased you haven’t noticed my dear, I don’t exactly have a mouth!! I do not require to eat!!” He laughed, his hands once again making a wide gesture.

“Well, I mean but…” you stared at him at a couple of seconds after you finished draining the pasta, gnawing your bottom lip between your teeth before shaking your head. “You’re a mystery to me, Puzzles. Probably always will be. I mean you’re a guy with a tv head, how am I supposed to know whether you’re able to eat or not??”

Puzzles hummed out, placing his elbows on the table and placing is head into his hands. “How adorable!! You still want to know more about little ol’ me!!” He fell back slightly in a dramatic manner, placing one hand against where his forehead and the other against where his heart was. Did he have a heart? You didn’t want to think about if he did or not.

“Yeah yeah, save the dramatics for when you’re actually developing your films.” You huffed out, picking up the strain rand dropping the cooked pasta that had was directly next to the pot. The pan was filled with a certain meat, pancetta. It was one of your favorites. You stirred the pasta with the pancetta.

“Oh my dear, I would LOVE for you to be able to see one of my films!! They are absolutely STUNNING!! Brilliant, even!!” Hero laughed allowed, suddenly going from sitting to standing as he twirled around a bit. You chuckled to yourself, finding yourself giving a smile to the other’s actions.

It was… strange. The peace you two suddenly had with each other. You weren’t used to having a roommate, especially as one as strange as this guy. You didn’t know exactly how he worked. Then again, you couldn’t question him yourself. You were part cat, after all. This world was strange, so you wouldn’t question it further.

But the peace, the conversations you had, even when you were annoyed with him following you around, it was nice. Which honestly surprised you. Originally, you thought you were going to have to fight to get this kind of peace between you two. And you were glad you didn’t have to.

But you knew you weren’t out of the woods just yet. You had a strange feeling that shot through you sometimes. A gut feeling, almost, that things weren’t always going to be this peaceful. That something was going to happen eventually, maybe soon, that would ruin your peaceful little life that you had suddenly built with the man.

You knew something was going to happen. You just knew it was.

But for now, you were going to sit with this strange guy and eat your pasta.