Work Text:
Boingo flipped through the pages of his manga. His fingertips hurt a bit from all the flipping but his head hurt worse, and he didn’t care anyways because he was looking for something. There were no new pages for him, though. Just a frame of Boingo sitting next to an unconscious Oingo in a hospital bed. He glanced up at the real Oingo. Oingo’s face was bandaged up, his eyes and ears completely covered so even if he was awake he wouldn’t know his little brother was in the room with him. The longer Boingo stared, the worse the pit in his stomach got. The beep of the heart rate monitor started to sound like a countdown, and he had to turn back to his manga. There was still nothing new, no prophecy to follow, no guidance.
Boingo wandered out of the hospital. He couldn’t stay there or he would start crying. He was carrying the little money they still had from the man they took the wallet from - the thugs had shaken them down pretty well - and he was sure he had enough for bus fare. He sat on the bench at the bus stop, looking in his manga again until he could finally board a bus. He just walked on, really, no one asked him for a fare. He went right to the back and sat in a corner, near a window so he could check where he had to get off. He didn’t have the best memory, but Thoth wouldn’t lead him wrong if he was meant to go someplace.
It took him nearly an hour of walking to find the mansion. He’d been there a few times, actually, and up until a few days ago he had lived there. He slowly made his way past the gate, and up to the door. Before he had a chance to knock, the door swung open. Boingo knew the man who stood in front of him, and he waved.
“What are you doing here, Boingo? Where’s your brother?” Telence sounded curt, maybe a little tired.
Boingo just awkwardly shrugged. Telence sighed and rolled his eyes, ushering the young boy in. He walked beside the taller man silently, shaking his hands up and down in front of his chest. Telence stopped in front of a tall staircase.
“I’m not coming up with you. Go on if you want. I have a door to watch.” With that, Telence turned on his heel and left.
Boingo watched him leave, and then began to climb the stairs. The whole mansion made him shiver (he could feel people watching him and the dead bodies laid about everywhere didn’t help), but it still gave him a small sense of home. N’doul trusted this place, so Oingo trusted this place, so Boingo trusted this place. That’s all he needed.
He walked quietly down a hallway, before hearing a voice behind him.
“You’re going the wrong way, little one. I’m this way.”
A shiver ran up Boingo’s spine as he turned to stare at the shadowy figure at the end of the hallway. He hesitantly began walking towards it.
“There we go. I presume you’re here for me?”
The voice was calm, almost playful. Something about it made Boingo’s worries dissipate. He nodded, still not quite finding his voice yet.
The figure finally came into view. It was tall and broad, with sharp, glowing red eyes and blonde hair that seemed to defy gravity. Its lips were quirked in a smile, its fangs showing.
“I thought so. I don’t let just anyone enter my home, you know.”
It gestured with its hand for Boingo to follow him, and Boingo did. The pair entered a lavish bedroom, and the figure sat down. Someone on the bed stirred, but the figure didn’t actually seem to care. Boingo stood awkwardly nearby, picking at his fingers.
“Tell me why you’ve come here, little one.”
Boingo stared at the figure. His words were dried up -
-
“Sorry. Boingo doesn’t like talking to strangers.”
Boingo was hidden behind Oingo’s leg, staring up at the new, imposing figure. It stared down at him, like its red eyes were cutting into his soul.
“I see. I presume you are both still willing to work with me, however?”
Boingo looked up at Oingo, then over to N’doul, then he nodded.
-
- but he felt on the verge of tears. He noticed the figure’s eyes dart to beside Boingo, then back to his face. It suddenly turned to the other person on the bed.
“Vanilla Ice, leave us for now.”
A moment of hesitation, then, “Yes, Lord DIO.”. Soon it was just Boingo and DIO.
There was a long moment of silence between the two. They weren’t looking at each other, it was more from nerves on Boingo’s end but he felt like DIO was not looking at him on purpose. He even shifted back on the bed, making plenty of space for Boingo.
Boingo stood there for a minute before climbing onto the bed, sitting right near the edge and leaning on one of the posts. It was completely quiet in the room. The quiet was actually quite nice. No countdown beeps, no laboured breaths…
-
Boingo woke up screaming. The second his eyes opened the nightmare left his mind, but he still felt terrified, his body tensed to run. He felt someone shift beside him.
“Hey, hey…what’s up, kid?” OIngo sounded sleepy still, but the very sound of his voice soothed Boingo.
Boingo cuddled close to Oingo, hiding his face in Oingo’s chest. His older brother just sighed, and rubbed the back of his head.
“Shh…it’s ok, it’s ok…”
Oingo sat up, pulling Boingo into his lap and rocking him back and forth. He started singing softly, rubbing Boingo’s back. Boingo closed his eyes, and for a moment there was nothing in the world but Oingo’s voice.
-
Boingo buried his face in his hands. His body was shaking with his efforts not to cry. This didn’t seem like the place to start crying, not in front of someone so important.
As he sat there shaking, something started to fill the room. It was a soft sound, barely audible but noticeably there. It was like white noise, something pleasant that rung between Boingo’s ears and made him feel just a bit sleepy. It also made the shaking stop, which he was very glad for.
-
The two brothers had been walking for a long time. The sun was setting by now, and it was getting colder.
“Oingo…my legs hurt…”
Oingo sighed, reaching down to scoop Boingo up in his arms.
“We’ll rest soon, little man. We just need to find somewhere safe.”
Boingo clung to his older brother as he walked along the sidewalk, looking for anywhere they could at least rest for a bit without getting kicked out or attacked. Oingo suddenly stopped and turned around.
“Hey! Who’s out there?”
Boingo looked up in time to see a man step closer, his cane making a rhythmic tapping on the sidewalk. He had quite a pleasant smile.
“It’s late for two people your age to be out alone. Where are your parents?”
Oingo stiffened, and hugged Boingo tighter.
“We don’t have any. We’re not looking for help, either.”
The man tilted his head slightly, like he was trying to pick up on a sound only he could hear.
“I think you do. You don’t sound to be older than fifteen,” the man straightened. “I won’t hurt you. My name is N’doul. I have some friends I am renting a basement with, you can at least stay the night.”
“And why would we do that? We don’t know you.”
“Well…you could stay outside in the cold, where someone could hurt you or your brother…or you could come with me.”
Oingo looked down at Boingo. Boingo honestly didn’t mind where they went, as long as it meant he could rest. Before Oingo could make a decision, N’doul spoke up again.
“One of my friends saw you walk off with that man’s wallet today. He said your face changed.”
Oingo tensed up yet again.
“Yeah.”
N’doul smiled again, holding out his hand. A small trickle of water ran down his finger, then wrapped around it and disappeared.
“I can do a similar sort of magic. Honestly that’s the only reason I could follow you both so far. You two are very hard to track. My friend has magic, too. All of my friends do.”
Boingo looked up and Oingo. He nodded, and Oingo nodded back.
“Sure. We wouldn’t mind a place to stay for the night.”
“Good. Good! Come on, then.”
-
“Lord DIO?”
DIO turned to look at Boingo.
“Do you know where N’doul is?”
DIO tilted his head back, pondering the ceiling for a minute.
“He’s just laying low for now, I think. You’ll see him again soon.”
Boingo smiled a little, nodding as he went back to staring at the wall. Silence fell again, a comfortable silence. Boingo didn’t get a lot of quiet in his life anymore. After a while of the silence, Boingo got up.
“Thank you, Lord DIO.”
He bowed slightly, like how he had seen the other Glory Gods do. DIO just smiled.
“You are welcome here any time, little one. Are you going to go see your brother again?”
Boingo nodded.
“That’s good. I’ll be seeing you.”
Boingo left DIO’s room feeling just…better. Like he had taken a nice long nap. Maybe today was the day he could be a bit braver for Oingo.