Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jeff looks down at his hands, the fresh blood coating them glimmers in the light of the sun that’s just starting to rise. Despite his love for blood, he frowns, groaning in frustration before continuing to hold a hand to the wound on his side. He feels faint, which isn't a surprise, as he’s lost a lot of blood at this point. He stumbles through a large garden, trying to assess the property through his less than ideal current state. The place seems quiet and there’s a shed at the end of the garden with its windows visibly open. Much more clumsily and less cautiously than he usually would, he just about manages to climb into the open window of the large shed. He falls painfully onto the carpeted floor inside, letting out an extremely pained sound. He figures he can tie his jacket around himself in an effort to stop the bleeding and hopefully lay low in this shed until he can somehow get out of this area. That is, if he doesn't die of blood loss. 

Just as he goes to try and assess how badly he’s hurt, he hears a sound. 

“Hello?” a voice calls, making Jeff's blood run cold. He tries not to panic and, gripping his knife, attempts to get to his feet. He’s unsuccessful and falls painfully to the ground again, just as the door to the shed opens. “Is anyone th- holy shit,” a teenage boy enters, shocked to see a blood soaked Jeff crumpled up on the ground. “Shit, shit, shit- okay, uh- fuck-” the startled and panicking boy approaches Jeff, who aggressively lunges at him with a knife. The boy recoils and takes a few steps back. “Woah, fuck, uh, calm down dude. I can help you-” He reaches for Jeff again, who again tries to attack him with the last remaining strength he has. His efforts are in vain however, as the last thing Jeff hears before passing out is his knife falling to the ground. 

Pain is the first thing Jeff registers upon waking. He squints in the bright sunlight coming from the window in front of where he lays. He sits up in a panic, remembering blacking out and having no idea where he is. 

“Uh, you shouldn't really move.” a voice speaks from behind him, the boy from before walking into view. Jeff’s eyes dart around the room. He’s in the same shed he passed out in, laying on the sofa. His shirt and hoodie are neatly folded on the arm of the sofa, he looks down to see he’s wrapped in bandages, his wound treated and dressed. 

“What the fuck is this? Who the fu-” Jeff stops talking as his eyes fall on his knife, laying on the windowsill. He quickly makes a move towards it.

“Hey, no, you really shouldn't-” 

Jeff doesn't even make it to his feet, crumpling to the ground in searing pain. 

A concerned look on his face, the stranger looks over to the knife that he’d tried to get to, walking over and picking it up. “Here,” the boy holds the knife out towards Jeff, offering it to him. Jeff holds his side in pain, not moving. He looks at his knife, then at the boy, then back to his knife. Slowly, he reaches out and takes the weapon. 

“You really really really shouldn't move, okay? You don't want to lose any more blood.” the boy says as Jeff just grips his knife and stares at him. “My name is Adrian by the way… what about you?” Jeff doesn't answer. “Look, if I was going to call the cops, I would have already. Wouldn't I?” Adrian pauses waiting for a response that doesn't come before continuing, “but I haven't, and I'm not going to. It’s chill, dude. I swear.” he walks past Jeff, towards the door. Jeff silently and intensely watches him, like a cornered animal that will attack if you make the slightest wrong move. “It’s just me here, no one else. I ain't gonna tell anyone you’re here. Please just let yourself heal, you aren't getting out of town in your condition. I’ll leave you be,” he opens the door to leave, turning back to look at Jeff, who hasn't stopped silently watching him. “Rest.” he says before closing the door and walking away, leaving Jeff alone. 

Jeff doesnt know who the fuck this kid thinks he is, but doesnt really care to think about anything other than getting away from here as fast as possible. He lays on that sofa, holding his side in pain as he waits for nightfall. 

 “That guy is fucking lucky i passed out before i could-” he mutters to himself, pocketing his knife and slowly attempting to stand. He cuts himself off with a pained grown. “Ugh fuck, shit-” he struggles to his feat in intense pain and slowly makes his way to the door. “Just need to get the fuck away from here…” he mumbles to himself, not sure where he plans to go or how he plans to get there. “Agh!” he falls into the door, holding onto the door frame to keep himself up. This might be more injured than I've ever been before… he thinks to himself as he opens the door to leave.

 Still holding onto the door frame for support, he takes a deep breath, looking out into the heavy rain and preparing himself before stepping outside, planning to disappear into the woodlands this house is backed onto. He makes it about 2 steps before intense pain forces him to the ground. He sits hunched over clutching his side, rain pouring over him as he groans. 

“Dude, seriously.” Adrian speaks from beside him. Jeff mentally cursed himself for being snuck up on, which would not usually happen. “Even if you make it off this property, you’ll hurt yourself more, die of blood loss, or someone less willing to help you will find you.” crouches down beside Jeff, who holds his knife as threateningly as someone who’s clearly unable to stand can. “Just accept the help I’m offering. It would be stupid not to.” he extends a hand towards Jeff, who growls and raises his knife as a warning. 

“I ain't exactly someone you want to be helping, kid.” Jeff speaks in a low tone, eyeing Adrian with a menacing look. 

“Pfft,” Adrian laughs, pushing a strand of wet brown hair out of his eyes. “I’m not stupid. Just have no regard for my own safety, they're two different things.” he stands back up, looking down at Jeff with crossed arms. “Plus I don't know who you’re calling a kid. You can't be much older than me.” he moves to the shed door, opening it and looking back at Jeff. “Now seriously, swallow your damn pride and go back in there. You know I'm right, there’s nothing else for you to do. I’ll bring you food and medical supplies in the morning, but other than that I’ll leave you to it.” he goes back to the house, leaving Jeff sat there in the rain without waiting for a response. 

“Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!” Jeff swears to himself still sitting in the rain, pissed off at the situation he finds himself in. After a lot of swearing and muttering to himself, he painfully starts to make his way back out of the rain. As much as he’d be dead if Jeff had his way, the guy is right. Jeff doesn't really have a choice.

Jeff wakes to the sound of the door opening. He bolts up, grabbing the knife next to him as Adrian walks in. “Sorry to wake you,” he says, placing a plate of food onto the coffee table in front of him. “Here,” he puts a first aid kit down next to the plate, “you should really clean and re-bandage that…” he speaks with concern in his voice, eyeing Jeff's side and the blood soaking through the dressing which is still wet from the rain. 

Jeff remains silent, just glaring at him from behind the messy hair that falls in front of his pale face. “Oh, and,” he pulls a small pill bottle from his pocket and tosses it onto the sofa next to Jeff. “painkillers. I googled it and they should be fine for you to take.” Adrian pauses for a moment before speaking again, “there’s a bathroom through that door there, the remote for the TV is right here…” he motions around the room, as if Jeff were his house guest. After a moment he accepts that the only response he’s going to get is a silent glare, and leaves. 

Jeff waits for a while, making sure he’s alone before moving at all. He grabs the first aid kit, opening it and laying things out on the table before starting to clean and rebandage his side. As far as he can tell it doesn't look infected, and the bleeding has mostly stopped so that’s good. When he’s done with that he lays back down, running a hand through his hair, unsure of what to do.

Jeff spends the day on edge, listening closely to every sound he hears. He resigns himself to his fate and accepts that the only thing he can do is wait until he’s able to leave. Could be worse, after all. Could be much worse. 

The next day Jeff’s woken up in much the same way, to Adrian opening the door.. He sits up and watches him closely as he enters, holding folded clothes and another plate of food. “I cleaned your shirt and hoodie,” he mumbles, putting everything down on the table. “Oh and uh, there might be people here today. In the house, I mean. They won't come down here, though. It’s just my friends.” he eyes Jeff for a reaction, but can't see one. “So uh, don't freak out, okay?” not bothering to wait for a response, Adrian picks up the untouched plate of food from yesterday and leaves. 

Just as Adrian warned, Jeff could hear that there were people in the main house that evening. Sounded like some kind of social thing, music, laughing. It put Jeff on edge. He listened very closely, eyes on the door, hand on his knife. 

Eventually the noise died down and the music stopped. By the time it was dark it sounded like everyone had left. But that's when Jeff sat up, gripping his knife. Someone was walking down the garden approaching the shed. The door opened slowly and Adrian walked in, Jeff relaxing slightly seeing that it wasn't anyone else. “Hey,” Adrian says softly, closing the door behind him. “Everyone is gone now, don’t worry…” he sways slightly as he stands there, Jeff notices and eyes him even more cautiously, trying to work out if this guy is for real.

“Are you… drunk?” Jeff asks, confused more than anything. 

“A bit.” Adrian states matter of factly, looking over at Jeff and frowning slightly. “Can i… do you mind if I sit in here with you for a while? We can watch tv..” he looks at Jeff, but when there isn't a response to his question, he slowly moves to the spot beside the sofa and sits on the ground, reaching for the tv remote. Jeff doesn’t protest, Just continues glaring at him, watching his every move very closely. 

Adrian turns on the tv and flicks through channels for a moment, before leaving it on some kind of soap opera and putting the remote back down. He sits there for a minute, just watching the screen. “Like I said before,” Adrian turns to look at Jeff. “my name’s Adrian… What's your name?” No response, just a menacing and kind of confused look. “C’mon, it doesn't even have to be your real one. Just gimme *something* to call you?” 

There’s a long pause, the only sound coming from the show on the tv. “... Jeff.” Jeff gives in and answers the boy's question, which seems to make him happy. 

“Jeff.” Adrian repeats, smiling. “Thank you.” he turns his attention back to the screen, satisfied. 

Adrian watches the tv for a while, every so often glancing over at Jeff, who doesn't stop staring at him. After a while though, Adrian gets up and leaves, only muttering a “goodnight” on his way out. Once Jeff is satisfied that he’s alone, he lays down and sleeps. 

The next morning Jeff isn't woken up, instead waking to the bright sunlight hitting his face. He manages, through a lot of pain, to go and close the blinds on the window. He lets out a sigh, relaxing back on the sofa, putting a hand to his injury and looking at it for a moment. It doesn't look like it’s bleeding through the dressing. 

Jeff lays there, staring at the ceiling, listening to the sound of birds outside. He contemplates his situation, opting to be annoyed that he’s been trapped in a weird set up with some kid who wants to play nurse, instead of thinking about where he’d currently be if he’d run into literally any normal sane person. He could have killed Adrian last night. He isn't exactly in peak shape right now, but the guy was drunk, happily sitting only a few metres away from him and literally looking the other way. Jeff asks himself why he didn’t, deciding that it would have been the wrong move to do so, at least until he’s able to get the hell out of this place. 

If nothing else, this was interesting. Adrian can’t not know that he’s a dangerous violent psycho and not just some helpless runaway to be taken in like a stray dog. If his appearance and initial violent attacks didn't give it away, the local news around here must have been completely filled with stories of the situation that got him injured in the first place and warnings of exactly what he looks like as well as the fact he’d be injured. Jeff laughs thinking about it. This seems like a normal kid, but he’s got to be completely wacko, with little to no regard for his own safety. Jeff is actually fascinated by it. 

He spends the day relaxing, knowing that he’s now just waiting on his own body to repair itself. When it starts to get dark he hears someone approaching and looks to the door in time to see Adrian open it, stepping in carrying some plastic bags. “Chinese food.” states Adrian, placing one bag down in front of Jeff. “You should really eat,” he glances at the plate of untouched food from yesterday, “and clothes, look,” he places the other bag down and takes the brand new set of clothing out, laying it neatly on the table. 

Jeff stares blankly at Adrian, expecting him to leave. He doesn't. “So, uh,” Adrian starts awkwardly, looking around the room instead of at Jeff. “You've got to be bored, right?” no response. “Do you want to maybe play xbox with me?” he motions to the games console by the tv, before picking up a controller and offering it to Jeff. Jeff looks at the controller being held out to him, Adrian thinks he sees some kind of emotion flash in his eyes but it’s gone before he can place it. Jeff looks back to Adrian, down at the remote, then back to Adrian. 

“... are you serious?” he asks, almost laughing.

“Yeah!” Adrian confirms in a cheery tone, still holding out the controller. “It’ll be fun.” 

Jeff laughs slightly, taking the controller. “Okay.” he smirks in amusement, watching intently as Adrian excitedly sets up the game. He’s much less concerned about Adrian attacking him or something, but watches the boy closely still, now out of confusion and intrigue. Just who the hell is this guy and what is his deal? What does he want? 

Adrian grins and excitedly explains the video game to Jeff, who alternates between looking at him and looking down at the controller in his hands. It’s a lot more advanced than video games were the last time he played one. Just as that thought enters his mind he shakes his head, as if to banish that thought and any memories that might come with it. 

“Okay so just go this way and-” 

“Did I just explode?” 

“Yep.” Adrian laughs, and so does Jeff. “Try again?” Adrian smiles at Jeff, pleased that he’s managed to get a normal interaction out of him. Jeff nods. The two play video games for a while, saying the odd word to each other about the game every so often. 

“How come you live by yourself?” Jeff asks, glancing from the screen to Adrian, who is shocked but seemingly pleased by the question. 

“Oh, well, my parents are pretty loaded, see. They have other houses in nicer places. They kind of just left me to do my own thing as I got older, until they stopped showing up here all together.” Adrian shrugs, not looking away from the screen. Jeff doesn't respond, satisfied with the answer. “When I was a kid, I basically lived in here,” he gestures around at the shed they are currently in. “pretty sweet setup, right?” Jeff hums in response and the two finish a level on the game they're playing. 

Adrian yawns and stretches. “I should go to bed.” he stands up. “Goodnight,” as he’s opening the door he turns back to look at Jeff, “thanks… for hanging out with me.” he says softly before leaving. 

Once alone, Jeff yawns and stretches himself. He reaches for the take out food on the table, opening one of the containers and inspecting the food thoroughly. He eats, since he is actually starving. When he’s done he turns his attention to his injury,  carefully removing the dressings, taking a look at it before cleaning and rebandaging it again. Then he slowly stands up, taking a few steps around the room. He can walk. Well, he can walk well enough. 

Carefully he gets dressed, puts his shoes on, puts on his hoodie, pockets his knife, and opens the door, walking out into the large garden. Jeff closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and enjoying the fresh air. Taking a look around, he notes that Adrian wasn't kidding about his parents having money. The garden is a complete mess, but huge. And the same goes for the house, huge and impressive, though Jeff can see the mess without even going inside. Empty bottles line the windows, and lay strewn across the ground on the patio. 

“How is this dude for real? Fucking idiot…” Jeff mumbles to himself as he approaches the house, seeing a downstairs window wide open. Someone like Jeff staying in his shed, and the guy doesn't even lock up his house? It’s like he wants to be murdered. 

Jeff grunts, slowly and carefully climbing though the window, a lot less graceful than he would usually be. Inside the house, he finds himself standing in a very large and messy kitchen. He looks around, thinking that it’s probably not nearly as bad as it could be, considering a teenager lives here alone. At least it looks like there’s some attempt to bag up all the trash. Jeff walks over to a large fruit bowl on the kitchen counter, taking an apple and putting it in his hoodie pocket. Then he notices a wad of cash, just laying on the counter. He takes that too. 

Walking further into the house, Jeff looks up at the staircase. He looks from the stairs down to the knife in his hand, then back at the stairs. He thinks for a moment. Then returns to the kitchen, painfully climbs back out of the window, and disappears into the night.

Chapter Text

"Jeff?" Adrian calls softly, opening the shed door. "Oh." There's no one there. Jeff is gone. 

The teen sighs, sitting down on the sofa. He heard someone in his house last night, so it's not too surprising to find that his new guest had regained enough mobility to leave. But he's still disappointed.

Months pass.

"But It's been so long since you came over." Adrian wines, crossing his arms with a sad expression on his face as his friend stands up. "Can't you stay at least for a while?"

"Look," the other boy sighs, not wanting to be having this conversation. "I came here to sell you this." He waves the baggy of weed in Adrian's face. "And now I'm leaving."

"Please, Danny~" Adrian moves closer to him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, their faces only an inch apart. "I'll do anything~" Adrian presses his lips to the other boys and moves even closer to him, kissing him and pressing their bodies together. Only briefly however, as Danny takes a step back, pulling himself away from Adrian.

 "not tonight, Adrian. I've got stuff to do." 

Adrian just stands there, staring at the ground. "Please." He begs quietly. Danny doesn't seem amused by this neediness. He picks up his bag and heads to the door.

"See ya, dude." And suddenly Adrian's alone. 

"Asshole!" He shouts in frustration, throwing the baggy of weed at the door. When that isn't satisfying enough, he kicks a nearby paper bin for good measure. Then he sighs, sliding down with his back to the door until he's slumped in a sad little pile on the ground. 

"Wow,” A low voice speaks with a chuckle. “What a childish little outburst." 

Adrian lifts his head, looking around the dark room but seeing no one. "Danny?" He calls, confused. 

The voice laughs again. Adrian realises that it's coming from outside of the open window. "No." 

Then suddenly, there's a person climbing through the window. He perches on the window frame casually, intense black lined eyes fixed on Adrian and an already wide grin made all the more maniacal by the gruesome scars on the pale skin of his face. 

"Jeff." Adrian realises, smiling and standing up to greet him. “Hey.”  

Jeff's demeanour falters slightly, perhaps because he isn't used to hearing his name, or perhaps because he’d usually expect fear and panic in place of the warm greeting. "Uh. Yeah." His grin turns to a slight frown and he hops down from the window. 

"I didn't think I'd see you again." Says Adrian, approaching slowly but being careful not to get too close. 

"Yeah, well," Jeff shrugs, "who am I to deprive you of such a privilege?" He asks with a playful grin. His eyes are still fixed on Adrian's, as if daring him to look away first. 

“Do you…” Adrian takes a slow cautious step towards Jeff. “need somewhere to stay?” 

Jeff's expression turns dark, almost angry as he pulls a large kitchen knife from his pocket and points it at Adrian in a threatening manner, “I am not an injured baby bird for you to nurse back to health this time, kid.” he moves closer, getting right into his face, pressing the tip of the knife to his chest. “What makes you think I’m not here to get rid of a witness?” His tone is dark and threatening, though it also seems like a genuine question. 

“Well,” Adrian remains calm despite his heart racing, refusing to move away from the knife or break eye contact. “I guess I don’t.” he speaks slowly, choosing his words carefully whilst looking up at the taller boy, trying to read his face. “But you don’t really seem the type to worry about stuff like that.” 

Jeff laughs. He lowers his knife, turning away from Adrian and taking a few steps around the room. “You are lucky I have a sense of humour.” he glances around the room, his eyes lingering for a moment on the sofa that he’d been confined to for days. Then he turns his attention down to his knife, idly fidgeting with it. “I’m being tracked. Don’t know who, or care for that matter. Point is they know where to look. I’ve been running around for weeks, can’t let my guard down anywhere even enough to sleep.” he turns back to face Adrian, though still looking down at his knife, now polishing it with a sleeve. “And I figured, d’you know where nobody would ever look for me? Being harboured by another person. Because,” his eyes shoot up to again meet Adrian's with an intense glare. “What kind of fucking idiot would do that?” 

“Well, you’re certainly more talkative than the last time you were here.” Adrian crosses his arms, looking Jeff up and down. It really was like he was a different person. 

“Tends to be the case when I'm not actively bleeding to death.” Jeff mutters bluntly.

“So,” Adrian speaks slowly, trying to wrap his head around what’s going on. “You’re here because you don’t have anyone else you can trust?”

“I’m here,” Jeff speaks aggressively, taking a step towards Adrian and again pointing his knife at him. “Because you’re insane.” he laughs slightly to himself. “And if I’m telling you that, you know you’ve got issues.” 

“Uh-huh…” Adrian contemplates for a moment, then smiles. “Well, feel free to stay here as long as you want.” 

Seemingly frustrated at that response, Jeff puts his knife away and looks at Adrian with annoyance. “I’ll be gone tomorrow.” 

Adrian leaves, figuring his unfriendly guest could really use some rest. He steps into his house, closing the sliding glass door behind him and walking through the house to the front door. He locks the front door. Uneasy, he peers out of a window into the darkness of the street outside. He wonders who would be tracking Jeff, someone who Adrian is fairly sure is at least an unhinged serial murderer, and what would make him so unsafe that he’d need to return to somewhere he never wanted to be in the first place. Then he considers some of Jeff's words. Is he insane for helping him? He’s had some pretty dangerous people stay with him over the past couple of years, though it’s apparent now that Jeff is a bit more complicated and dangerous than creepy old homeless guys and junkies. Definitely violent, unhinged, unpredictable. Adrian sighs, a slight smile forming on his lips. “But why am I into that?” 

That morning, before the first signs of daylight, Adrian quietly makes his way down the garden to the shed. He peers into the window. It’s too dark to really see anything. He walks around the small building to the door, slowly turning the handle and opening it as quietly as possible. He opens the door to find Jeff stood right there, staring at him. He yelps in surprise, jumping back. “Trying to sneak up on me?” Jeff asks flatly, face blank. 

“Uh, oh- no, no. not at all.” Adrian laughs awkwardly, “or, uh. Yeah, kind of.” he admits, stepping inside the room. “I just wanted to talk to you before you left. You know, now that you’ve slept and stuff. You did sleep, right?” Jeff doesn't answer him, just stares at him, the only expression on his face the one cut into his cheeks. “We’re back to mr menacing silence now, huh?” again no response. “Okay,” Adrian sighs, turning to switch the lights on. “I just wanted to say,” he turns back to face Jeff, who’s still standing silently watching him. “You said about someone being after you, right? Someone who wouldn't think to look for you somewhere like this? Well, if you want, you could lay low here whenever you need to. I don’t need to use this shed really, it could just be left for you to use. I don't mind, really, and it really sounds like you nee-”

“What would you get out of this deal?” Jeff cuts off Adrian's ramblings, narrowing his eyes at the boy in suspicion. 

Adrian considers the question for a moment, biting his lip and deciding to just answer honestly. “... friendship?” he holds out his hand, offering it to the other boy.

This seems to render Jeff speechless for a moment. Just a moment. Then he starts laughing. “You- you can’t be for real,” he says once he catches his breath. He looks back to Adrian, who is just standing there, looking somewhat hurt. He moves closer to him, stopping directly in front of him, looking down at the shorter boy intimidatingly. “I make no promises not to hurt you.” he states coldly, intense ice blue eyes staring directly into Adrian's soft brown ones. Adrian feels the cold tip of a knife pressing lightly into his neck. “That doesn’t scare you?” 

Adrian takes a deep breath. “Maybe I won't promise not to hurt you either.” he says, entirely too boldly for someone with a knife to his throat. Jeff’s cold threatening face, only inches from Adrian's, cracks into an amused smile.

 “Hilarious.” Jeff states, putting his knife down and stepping away from Adrian, laughing to himself. “Honestly, you’re too funny. Really.” he casually sits down on the sofa, leaning back and looking around the room. “I suppose this is a pretty appealing place to crash. Beats condemned houses and sewers, anyway…” he glances up at Adrian, who is smiling and looking entirely too enthusiastic for Jeff’s liking. “Though, I can’t say I’m used to being around people so… alive. So don’t be surprised if you wake up dead at some point.”

Adrian, completely ignoring that death threat, sits down on the other side of the sofa. Birds can be heard outside and the first rays of sunlight are shining through the window. “Well then,” he again offers Jeff his hand. “Roommates?” 

Jeff scoffs, looking at him with amusement. “Sure.” he agrees, though not making any move to shake on it. 

Chapter Text

Roommate might not have been the right description for what Jeff became.In the month since agreeing on the arrangement, Adrian had only seen him twice; quietly emerging from the trees backing onto the property and sneaking into the shed in the early hours of the morning before sunrise, presumably sleeping all day, and leaving the following night. Adrian wasn't sure how many times he’d been back as he would only see him by chance from his bedroom window. He also noticed that food would sometimes go missing from the kitchen and started making an effort to buy things and leave them on the counter. 

“Thanks for the lift, guys.” Adrian says, getting out of a car and turning back to face said car and its occupants. He intends to say something else, but the car pulls away before he can, nobody bothering to say goodbye. 

He sighs, glancing up at the sky as he runs a hand through his messier than usual brown hair. The sun will be rising soon. He had wanted to stay with his friends longer, but it got too late and they all wanted to go home. Adrian frowns to himself, remembering the days when everyone would end up staying at his house after a night out. He had always liked that. As everyone got older and started to move out of their parents houses, it happened less and less. 

Rather than going inside his house, Adrian walks around the side to the back garden. He sits down cross legged on the patio and starts rolling a cigarette. Just as he’s about to light it he hears the quiet yet distinct sound of the shed door opening, looking up and just about making out the shape of a person there in the darkness. “Jeff?” he calls down the garden. The figure seems to freeze for a moment, before disappearing into the shed and closing the door behind them. Adrian sighs and lights his cigarette. When he’s done he goes to bed. 

That morning (well, 3pm is the morning if you were up all night…) Adrian sits at his kitchen table checking his phone with his nutritious breakfast of pop tarts and red bull. Only one message, from one of his friends asking to borrow money. This particular friend had already borrowed more money than most people would lend, but Adrian agrees anyway. “You’ll come hang out soon right?” he sends after transferring the money he’d asked for. After a few seconds the response comes through. “Yeah totally, real soon bro. Maybe next week. Super busy atm.” 

He finishes his breakfast and stands up, yawning as he wonders which of his friends might be free to hang out today. “Hmm…” the memory of last night crosses his mind and he turns to look out of the window at the small building at the bottom of his garden. 

Adrian knocks at the door, purely out of politeness since his mysterious guest seems to hear him approaching pretty easily. “Jeff?” He opens the door, stepping into the room and finding Jeff sat on the sofa looking at him, seemingly having just woken up. “Morning.” Adrian greets cheerfully, closing the door behind him. “It’s nice to see you.” 

Jeff laughs slightly, his face shifting from wary to amused. “I’m sure it is.” he states in a tone that Adrian can’t quite read. 

“M-hm,” Adrian nods, walking over to the window and absently looking out and up to the sky. “I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out?” 

“Hang out?” Jeff scoffs, standing up and stretching. 

“Yeah. we could uhh… play that game again?” Adrian turns from looking out of the window and gestures to the games console. “You liked that, right?” 

Jeff makes a dismissive sound. “Simulated violence really isn't as fun as the real thing.” 

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re very scary.” the teen rolls his eyes. “But seriously, come on. It’ll be a good way to pass the time, right?” he starts setting up the game without waiting for an answer. “Plus I'm just gonna sit here and play without you if you don't, which would be annoying wouldn't it?” 

“You know, kid,” Jeff sits back down, picking up the controller that’d been tossed onto the sofa for him. “I don't appreciate the sarcasm. I am, in fact, very scary.” 

“Again with calling me a kid.” Adrian sits down on the opposite side of the sofa. “How old are you anyway?” he clicks start on the game and they start playing. 

“Uh…” Jeff thinks for a long moment. “Early 20s? I haven't been counting.” he shrugs, directing his attention to clumsily mashing the buttons on the game controller. Adrian giggles slightly at the thought of someone not knowing how old they are, glancing over at Jeff quickly and studying his face for a second. 

“Yeah, early 20s seems about right, I guess.” he agrees, though it’s kind of hard to tell with all the scars and burns. 

As far as Adrian can tell, Jeff's moods varied and could change quickly. As he seems to be chatty today, he decides to push his luck and keep asking questions. “So how do you like staying here?” 

“Like I said before, it’s better than most places I stay. Other than the annoying boy who seems to value playing video games over his own safety.” Jeff chuckles, “Dunno what his deal is.” 

Adrian laughs. “Well, I'm glad you like it here.” he says, not taking his eyes off the screen. “And I know I'm annoying. But, if you ever want company, I’m happy to-” 

“I don’t need company.” 

“Okay well I said want, not need. They’re different.”

“Fine, then I don't want company.”

“I don't think that’s true…” Adrian turns to look at Jeff. “Besides,” he smirks, “wouldn’t you just stab me or whatever if you really wanted to be alone?”

Jeff grins, looking at the teenager with violence gleaming in his eyes. “That, and so much more…”

“See,” Adrian turns back to the game, doing his best to show no reaction at all. “But you haven't.”

“You already made the point yourself that it’s a rare and valuable opportunity for me; Having somewhere to lay low where no one would suspect because of the alive and well resident. Plus,” Adrian can feel the intense gaze of the psycho’s eyes on him without having to look. “There's still time…” 

“True… but in the meantime, isn’t it nice to have someone to talk to?” 

“It’s… different.” Jeff mumbles, seemingly unsure of himself. Adrian smiles.

Chapter Text

Adrian rolls over in bed, stirred by a noise. He opens his eyes to the darkness of his bedroom and sits up. “Jesus christ!” he almost jumps out of his skin seeing someone sitting in the frame of the open window. “Jeff,” he says with a hand on his chest, “you nearly gave me a heart attack.” 

Jeff had been showing up to stay in Adrians shed for a while now. He’d managed to be friendly enough with him when he was around. The two would hang out together in the shed, watching tv and playing video games when Jeff was in the mood to be somewhat nice. Adrian had gotten into the routine now, of watching for signs of his arrival and going down to talk to him once he’d gotten some sleep. 

Jeff seems quite pleased with the initial reaction his creepy entrance caused, grinning his maniacal grin and hopping down from the window. His satisfaction turns to slight annoyance however, when Adrian’s shock completely vanishes and is replaced by a friendly smile. “Hey, though.” The groggy teen greets him before stretching and yawning. “Is it morning?” 

“Almost.” Jeff responds absently as he walks slowly around the large bedroom, examining the shelves and walls.

“You can turn the light on if you want.” Adrian speaks, lazily flopping back down onto his bed. 

Jeff does just that, flipping on the light. Adrian whines in discomfort, shoving his head into a pillow. “It’s so early” he says in muffled words. Jeff ignores him, instead getting a better look at the room. The walls are lined with posters, mostly of things Jeff doesnt recognise. There’s a desk in one corner with a quite impressive looking PC setup, a large tv facing the bed, and a big shelving unit filled with various trinkets and books. There’s also a lot of clothing and other items messily strewn across the floor. He stops at a framed photo sitting on the book shelf, and studies it for a moment. It seems to be the only photo in the room. It's a family. A man, woman, and child. The man’s wearing a formal looking suit, the woman an elegant dress and expensive looking jewellery. The child is stood in front of them, the man's hand on his shoulder. Unlike the adults, the kid doesn't have a fake looking photo smile, instead wearing a bank expression, his brown eyes looking dull and bored. This is probably a photo of Adrian and his parents. 

Bored of looking around Adrian’s bedroom, Jeff turns back to the tired teenager, who is still laying face down in bed. “You’ve sure got a lot of shit.” 

“Mhm,” Adrian slowly climbs out of his bed and makes his way over to a large chest of drawers. “You’ve been gone a while. Are you hungry?” he asks, pulling some clothes out of the drawers and starting to get dressed. 

The two go downstairs to the kitchen, Adrian taking a pizza box out of the fridge and placing it on the table. Jeff grabs a slice and jumps up to sit on the counter top. “Uh, I can heat it up, you know.” 

“Cold is good.” Jeff takes a bite of the cold pizza slice. 

“Okay, I guess.” The still quite tired Adrian doesn't feel the need to argue, instead just plating up some pizza for himself and putting it into the microwave. “Do you want to do something tonight?” he asks as he waits for the microwave. “Other than watching tv in the shed, I mean.” 

“Do what exactly?” 

“Like, go out somewhere.” the microwave beeps and Adrian takes the plate of food out. He sits down at the table. “Don't you get stir crazy when you’re just sat in that shed all day?”

“Go where? Do what?” Jeff laughs. “A face as beautiful as mine can’t exactly walk into a bar or whatever.”

“Well,” Adrian idly pokes at the food on his plate. “Neither can mine. Since, you know, legal drinking age and stuff.” he jokes. “I meant more like, somewhere quiet. I have this really cool spot I like to go to smoke. Not many people know about it…” he trails off, not knowing what else to say really. “... I, uh. I think you’d like it. It’s nice there.” 

“Mhm, sure. Yeah.” Jeff gets down from the counter. “Not like I have plans.” he doesn’t exactly sound enthusiastic, but it’s still a yes. Adrian is pleased, looking up at him and grinning. “Right now though, I'm gonna go take a nap.” Jeff leaves through the sliding glass door and heads down the garden. 

That evening, Adrian arrives home, accompanied by two other teenagers. “What should we do now?” one of them, a tall blond girl wearing all black, asks as they walk up the long driveway in front of the house. 

“I kind of fancy a drink.” the other, a boy, states. His words are slurred and he sounds like he’s had at least a few drinks already. 

“I’m actually pretty tired.” Adrian says, forcing a yawn as he stops in front of his front door. “I might just go to bed…” his two friends look at him for a moment. This is clearly out of character for him. 

“Aw man… but we don’t have any money.” the drunk boy frowns. 

“Hmm.” The girl looks at Adrian with suspicion. “You got another junkie staying in your shed, huh? Please tell me this one’s at least… age appropriate.” She laughs and Adrian shoots her an annoyed look. 

“Hey, that guy wasnt that-” Adrian starts, defensive, before giving up midway and just sighing. “This one isn't a junkie, and I'm not sleeping with him. So there.” he flips the girl off, who smiles and returns the gesture before taking the now swaying boy by the arm. 

“Well, okay then. We’ll leave you to it…” she leads the boy away, who is now complaining about not having any more alcohol. 

Adrian goes upstairs and changes clothes to something a bit warmer than the shorts and fishnets he was wearing, opting for jeans and an oversized jumper instead. He then makes his way downstairs and into the back garden “Jeff~” He calls, opening the shed door. 

“Hm?” Jeff doesnt look up. He’s sat cross legged on the floor, shirtless and examining the still nasty looking injury on his side. It looks like it’s healed quite a lot, but it’ll definitely leave a pretty significant scar. Not that the guy isn't already covered in those. 

“That’s healing well.” Adrian comments, walking into the room. “You remember promising to go somewhere with me tonight, right?”

“No,” Jeff stands up. “I remember reluctantly agreeing.” He picks up a black t-shirt from the ground and puts it on. He seems to be in one of his easier moods to have a conversation with today. Blunt, unamused, but not silent. As far as Adrian could tell this was his more lucid and calm mood.

“Well, either way.” the teen rolls his eyes. “You ready? It’s not that far.” 

“I guess so.” Jeff mumbles, grabbing his stained white hoodie. He throws it on and pulls his hood up.

“We can walk down this road and through a park, or we can actually get there this way too,” Adrian motions towards the trees behind his house. “Which would you prefer?” Jeff doesn't respond and just walks past him, towards the very bottom of the large garden and into the trees. Adrian follows behind him. 

The two walk through the small wooded area and into the field behind, Adrian using a torch on his phone to help see whilst Jeff just seems to be really good at finding his way around in the dark. He leads Jeff through a couple of fields, over a stream, and finally to an old overgrown dirt road with dense trees on either side. “Just down here,” he mumbles, glancing at Jeff as they start walking down the road. He hasn't said a word this whole walk. “I think this road used to lead out of town. Or maybe to a farm. But it’s been completely unused and forgotten about literally my whole life.” After a minute or two Adrian stops and turns off into the trees. “Here.” he says proudly, gesturing to the small grassy clearing in the trees, right on the edge of a very steep and very large drop, almost like a cliff. Down at the bottom is a big field, which backs onto a series of other fields, extending pretty far off into the distance until the lights of roads and the town were visible a while away. 

Adrian sits down near the edge, looking out at the view with a smile on his face. “It’s pretty, right?” 

Jeff’s eyes move across the scene in front of him, looking at the twinkling lights of the town in the distance and up at the dark sky filled with stars. “Nice view.” he agrees flatly, joining Adrian on the ground. 

“See, I told you.” The satisfied seeming boy pulls a joint out of his pocket and puts it in his mouth. “It’s nice here.” he mumbles around the object in his mouth as he lights it. “I come here a lot.” he takes a slow drag, exhaling and watching the smoke disappear into the dark. 

Long raven hair moves slightly with the breeze as piercing blue eyes continue to look out to the distance. Adrian peers at Jeff from the corner of his eye, realising that this is one of the only real times he’s seen the guy's face without it glaring at him with annoyance or psychotic amusement. The teen smiles lightly, enjoying seeing the mysterious man looking so calm. And he really does have quite a nice face behind all that hair, he thinks, noting that the scars and burns only add to the look. 

“You’re staring at me.” Jeff states, those icy blue eyes suddenly glaring in annoyance again. 

“Uh-” Adrian looks away, blush lightly dusting his cheeks. “No I'm not.” he takes a drag from the joint in his hand before turning to face Jeff again, who’s now looking up at the sky, not seeming to really care. “Plus, that’s rich coming from you. you stare at me all the time, mr spooky intimidating glares.” 

“It’s fine.” Jeff laughs suddenly, his energy changing somewhat. “I’d stare at me too. No doubt admiring my gorgeous face.” he grins, dramatically bringing a hand to his face. 

“Well, yeah actually…” Adrian admits, which seems to take Jeff off guard for a moment. Though he quickly just laughs the comment off and the two go back to sitting in silence. “Did you…” Adrian breaks the silence, deciding to take this opportunity to question him on the topic. “Do that to yourself?” he asks, wary that it’s probably a sensitive subject. 

“Mhm.” Jeff answers nonchalantly. 

“I like it.” Adrian affirms with a smile, not wanting to have said that if the scars and burns hadn't been by choice. Jeff seems surprised, looking at the boy for a moment, trying to read whether he was serious. Then he smiles. Only faintly, but the smile felt genuine, which Adrian hadn't seen from him before. 

“Thank you.” a wild grin returns to Jeff’s face. “Not many people appreciate my beauty.” He looks again out into the night sky, quietly admiring the stars for a long moment. “I have always enjoyed the quiet and stillness of night time. Very peaceful.” 

Adrian extends the joint out towards Jeff, offering it to him. Jeff looks at it blankly for a second. “No.” the teen smiles slightly at the blunt response, taking another drag. He finds Jeff’s personality quite interesting. He guesses that it’s a mix of his very clearly mentally ill state and his apparent complete lack of anyone to interact with socially. 

“I like the night too,” brown eyes glimmer in the starlight as they take in the beautiful night sky, before looking down somewhat sadly. “Though, I’m not sure about the quiet…” he pauses, staring down at the ground in thought for a moment. “I… really hate being alone.” he stares at the burning light of the joint in his hand briefly, before taking a final toke and discarding it over the ledge. Jeff doesn't say anything, now back to silently looking out into the night with a blank expression. And for a long while, the two just sit there, enjoying the view and the cool night air. 

“Where do you go?” Adrian asks out of the blue, turning to face the other. “when you’re not here, I mean.” 

“... where do you think I go?” Jeff looks at Adrian with intrigue, staring into his eyes with an ominous and kind of creepy smile on his face. 

“Doing something terrible, no doubt.” the teen shrugs. “You do always seem to show back up covered in blood…” 

“And it isnt my blood, I assure you. Well, for the most part anyways… what if i told you,” Jeff’s creepy smile widens. “That I go somewhere, anywhere, I pick someone, I stalk them, and when the time is right,” Cold blue eyes stare into Adrian, it’s frightening but the teen can't bring himself to look away. “I tear them apart.” violence and bloodlust drip from his words and burn in his eyes. 

“So,” Adrian starts after a moment of the two just staring at each other, Jeff seeming to be searching his face for a reaction. “You just,” he pauses before the next word. “Kill.. people. For no reason?” 

Jeff’s creepy smile disappears, replaced by a look of frustration and annoyance. “Just what the fuck is up with you, man.” he mutters, looking away. He expected and wanted fear. It’s quiet for a moment before he speaks up again. “I wouldn't say for no reason.”

“No?” 

Jeff’s mind flashes with images of blood and gore as he thinks about his violent impulses. “Wanting to is a reason, isn't it?” 

“Mn.. I suppose so.” Adrian’s response is calm and quiet as he stares up at the night sky. Jeff just keeps looking at him with annoyance and curiosity. 

“And this doesn't bother you? I just confessed to being a serial killer. Why aren't you running away or something?” All sense of trying to scare Adrian has left his tone for now, instead he just sounds frustrated. 

Adrian shrugs, looking back to the dangerous person he finds himself sat next to. “I guess I just don't know what’s good for me.” He laughs. “Nothing new there, though.”

After a while longer of the two sitting there looking out at the quiet stillness of the night, Adrian speaks up. “Should we head back?” Jeff doesn't respond, only standing and walking back towards the road. Adrian follows and they walk back towards his house in silence. 

They emerge from the trees and walk back into Adrian's garden, making their way up towards the shed. Adrian stands at the door and turns to Jeff. “so, uh..” he starts, awkwardly fidgeting with his hands. “Do you wanna maybe watch a movie? I know it’s late, but I ain't tired and you sleep all day anyway so…” Jeff stares at him blankly for a few seconds before walking past him and opening the door. Adrian frowns in disappointment before hearing Jeff respond from behind him in quiet muttered words. 

“Sure, whatever…” 

Adrian excitedly follows Jeff inside and shuts the door behind them before plopping himself down on the sofa and grabbing the tv remote. Jeff opts for sitting on the floor near the other end of the sofa, as he usually does when Adrian spends time in there with him. An animated film starts playing. Something about animals, it’s not one Jeff’s ever seen before. The two sit and watch quietly. 

By the time the credits are rolling, Jeff can hear birds outside. He yawns, looking over to the sofa, where Adrian lays fast asleep. He sighs. So much for not being tired. Jeff thinks as he just lays down on the ground to sleep.

Chapter Text

“Oh my fuck, gross!” Adrian quickly shoves a mouldy piece of food into the bin bag he’s holding. “I really need to stop letting it get to this state…” He mutters to himself, pulling more trash out from under the large sofa in his living room. He’s doing some cleaning today; trying to make the place look a little bit more presentable. He finishes filling the bag he’s holding and brings it over to a pile of several other full bags in the kitchen before picking up a cloth and a bottle of cleaning spray. 

“What’s with all this?” a tired sounding voice asks with a yawn as the back door opens. Jeff moves the pile of bags out of the way slightly with a foot as he steps in. 

“Good morning.” Adrian greets with a smile. “Well, it’s like half three in the afternoon. But still.” he adds with a small laugh before turning his attention to the kitchen countertops, beginning to spray and wipe them down. “I’m just straightening the place out a bit. Got some friends coming over tonight.” 

“Mh..” Jeff groggily walks over to the fridge and stares into it blankly for a moment before pulling out a can of energy drink and closing it again. “I’ll fuck off before that then.” he states as he cracks open his drink. He really has no interest in being anywhere near a bunch of teenagers unless he’s murdering them.  “Needed to go out anyway…” a wicked smile flashes across his face. 

“Well no one will be here for at least a good few hours.” Adrian looks up at Jeff from the counter he’s cleaning. “And I'm totally bored of cleaning, so, d’you wanna watch something with me?” He stops what he’s doing and motions towards the living room. “There's this super gorey horror movie I've wanted to see~ that’s totally your sort of thing, right?” he giggles seeing the others' completely unamused expression. “Or you can tell me how unrealistic the blood is or whatever.” 

Jeff walks into the living room without a word. Adrian follows happily. The two watch a few films together before Jeff leaves and Adrian does some final last minute cleaning up before his friends arrive. 

Early the next morning, Adrian slowly opens his eyes and squints in the sunlight pouring into his room from the window. He didn't actually drink that much because most of his friends had left fairly early. Though he’d still been up late with the guy he’d ended up spending the night with, so he’s still not pleased to be awake early. He looks over to what woke him, that being said guy climbing out of his bed and starting to get dressed. “Are you going?” Adrian asks without an attempt to hide the disappointment in his voice. 

“Yeah.” the guy responds flatly, now sitting back on the bed to put his shoes on. He’s a tall young man with tan skin and dark hair, just one of the guys in Adrian’s group of friends. 

“Aw, come on!” Adrian whines, sitting up and moving towards him. “Stay for breakfast?” he dramatically falls down, laying with his head in the guy's lap and looking up at him with his best puppy dog eyes. He’s pushed away and his friend again stands up, now fully dressed. 

“Nah, dude. Sorry.” he makes his way to the door to leave and Adrian gets out of bed to follow him, but stops when he notices that his bedroom window is open. He stares at it with suspicion for a second trying to remember if he had opened it before going to bed, then snaps out of it and continues to follow his friend downstairs. 

“Please?” he shamelessly begs as pulls on a shirt and shorts and descends the stairs. He’s just about to say something else when he notices something on the sofa, other than all the mess from last night. The front door opens as Adrian’s friend leaves. “Later, Adrian.” 

“Uh, yeah, sure…” the teen mumbles as the door closes, no longer interested in begging him to stay. He walks over to the sofa, getting a closer look at the item he’d spotted. A blood stained hoodie. 

“... Jeff?” he calls out into the quiet house. A chuckle is heard from the kitchen before Jeff steps out into view. “Damn, hi!” Adrain walks over to Jeff and greets him, now much more cheery than he had been. “You weren’t gone long at all.” 

“I didn’t go far. I want to show you something. I would have woken you up, but then I’d have had to kill your friend.” he appears to be in quite a gleeful mood, a mischievous smile plastered on his face. 

“Wouldn't it be a bad idea to leave a dead body laying around here if you want it to keep being safe for you to hide out?” If the teen has any reaction to the idea of Jeff murdering his friend, he isn't showing it, which seems to cause a slight falter in the psycho's expression. 

“Mn..” Jeff looks away for a moment in thought before returning his gaze to Adrian, still smiling that almost threatening smile of his. “If I gave a shit about that, that would be correct, yes. Clever little criminal, aren’t you?” Adrian chuckles slightly at what he chooses to take as a complement, looking at Jeff with intrigue. He can’t read him at all when he’s like this; ‘this’ being just one of a lot of different moods that he’s come to understand Jeff can flip between. “But make no mistake, Adrian.” Jeff’s tone turns low and cold, though his smile doesn’t fade as he glares at the teenager with intense threatening energy. “I don’t care too much about that at all.”

“So what is it you wanted to show me?” Adrian glosses over and ignores the very real prospect of being murdered, as he’s used to doing at this point. 

“Check the news.” 

Doing as instructed, Adrian brings up the news on his phone, Jeff watching over his shoulder. “There.” Jeff points to the article at the top of the page. Couple found dead in park. Adrian clicks on the article and starts to skim it. “That was me. He ran away like a scared bitch when I slit her throat.” Adrian looks up from the article and at the seemingly very proud murderer. “You should have heard the screaming...” a pale white hand caked in dry blood is held out in front of the expressionless teen's face. “Look. This is their blood.” ice blue eyes stare directly into Adrians as if searching his very soul for a reaction. But there isn’t one. At least, not the one expected and so clearly desired. 

“Are you trying to scare me, or impress me?” Adrian asks slyly, a smirk breaking his poker face. 

“Ugh!” Jeff’s smile is gone in an instant and he turns, slamming his fist angrily into the wall. “What the fuck is your deal? Are you fucking with me?” his whole demeanour has changed, now aggressive and pissed off. He walks through the kitchen towards the back door. Adrian moves to follow him, but stops just as a knife is thrown into his general direction, flying past him and embedding itself into a wall. He decides to just let him cool off.

The now again bummed out teenager sits down at his kitchen table with a sigh. He looks down at his phone, again looking at the article about the couple being killed. He scrolls, looking at the photos of them. Jeff does have a great point. Why isn’t Adrian completely terrified of him? Why doesn’t he care about these people, the ones who are dead; murdered by the literal psycho who he’s not only harbouring and helping, but genuinely just wants to be friends with. “I’m completely fucked in the head...” Adrian mumbles to himself as he closes the article. And it’s true. Something has to be majorly wrong with him for him to be doing what he’s doing. He might even be more screwed up than Jeff. 

The frustrated and confused boy sighs again, opening a chat conversation with a friend. “Daytime drinking? I’m paying.” he sends the message and heads upstairs to get dressed. 

That night Adrian returns home, just about. He stumbles up the path to his house, swaying side to side and almost tripping over multiple times. He doesn’t bother with the front door, walking directly around the house and to the back garden. “Jeffff?” he knocks loudly on the door to his shed. “Jeff, are you in there?” his speech is slurred as he bangs on the door calling for Jeff, who eventually opens the door, staring at the incredibly drunk boy with confusion. “Ah, hi!” Adrian falls against the doorframe and holds it for support. “Look I know I pissed you off and stuff but I’m sorryyyyy. I can totally pretend to be scared of you if that's what gets you off dude, for real. We’re friends, right? I get you’re this big scary killer man, I do, I do. I can respect that in a way. At least you’re not some fake fuck full of lies… so many people are fake and full of lies…” Adrian drunkenly rambles whilst Jeff just stands there staring at him. Then the drunk teen stumbles into the room, Jeff moving out of his way as he does so. 

“What the actual fuck.” Jeff mutters more to himself than anyone else as he watches the boy walk into the room and instantly trip over his own feet, falling to the ground. He walks over to where Adrian is now laying on the ground staring up at the ceiling. He stands over him and looks down with annoyance. “You’re wasted.” 

“We’re friends, right?” Adrian asks again, not bothering to attempt getting up. “I know you’re gonna kill me at some point, I get that, I’m not stupid. But that don’t mean we can’t be friends. Right?” Jeff just looks down at him in silence. “Jeffffff, come on! Answer meeee!” 

“Fine! Sure. Yes.” Jeff humours him, annoyance clear in his voice. “We hang out, I talk to you, and you’re not dead yet, so that makes you the closest thing to a friend I have. Happy?” He glares down at Adrian, who does indeed seem happy with the response. “Now sleep this the fuck off before I-” 

“Kill me?” Adrian grins up at him from the floor, just annoying Jeff further. “Mmm… goodnight then.” He rolls over on the floor, still making no attempts to get up but apparently getting comfortable right there. Jeff stares daggers at him, though eventually just sighs and walks away from the drunk on the floor and over to the sofa. He sits down and runs a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m cold.” Adrian mutters from over on the floor. 

“Go get in your fucking bed then.” Jeff grumbles, though when there isn't a response he just picks up a blanket from the sofa and throws it in Adrians direction. 

Jeff lays there on the sofa, staring at the ceiling deep in thought. The more time he spends in this weird situation, around this weird kid, the more he wants to understand just what the hell the guy's deal is. Is he secretly a psychopath under the mask of a friendly teenage boy, or is there something else a bit more complicated wrong with him? It’s not just the lack of fear, it’s the lack of any apparent issues at all with Jeff and what he is. Even a mentally unstable psychotic mass murderer knows that what Adrian’s doing and what he’s apparently okay with is very not normal. Jeff is honestly fascinated by him; which is probably the main reason he’s still breathing, since the place to hide out may have been helpful short-term but could have been achieved elsewhere and won’t be needed much longer if at all anymore. Jeff glances over at the completely passed out Adrian. He really is lucky I’m such a curious guy… but that luck won’t last forever. If the boy thinks he’s not gonna end up a corpse, he’s wrong. Though Jeff does note that it will be kind of a shame. He’d be lying to himself if he didn't accept that it is nice having someone around to talk to who’s not just in his head. 

Chapter Text

It’s a calm afternoon. Rain falls outside and pitter-patters on the window. Jeff and Adrian are in Adrian’s room, Jeff sitting on the floor in front of the television watching it intently, whilst Adrian sits on his bed concentrating on drawing in a sketchbook. 

“I like this show.” Jeff states as the credits roll on the episode and he reaches for the remote to click the next one. 

“I thought you would.” Adrian smiles, not looking up from his drawing. He’s happy that he apparently knows Jeff enough at this point to pick a show that interests him. 

The next episode starts and they both continue quietly doing their things for a while, until a few minutes later Adrian notices Jeff behaving strangely. He glances up from his sketchbook and sees that Jeff is fidgeting uncomfortably and seems to no longer be enjoying the show he’s watching. His head twitches slightly and he looks away from the screen, bringing a hand up to his face and biting at a finger. Adrians eyes move to the tv screen, since he knows enough to recognise when someone with issues has been set off by something they’ve seen or heard. He recognises the episode as being when the main character’s evil brother turns up and tries to kill them. He’s not shocked at all that family is apparently a touchy subject for Jeff, who is now clearly uncomfortable and looking around the room at anything other than the television. Adrian quickly looks back down at his sketchbook when Jeff turns to face him. 

“You draw a lot.” Jeff moves over to the bed and climbs onto it, trying to look at Adrian’s drawing. 

“Mhm.. it’s something to do, I guess.” He adjusts his position slightly to let Jeff see what he’s drawing. 

“Can I look at your book?” 

Adrian smiles at the request and hands his sketchbook over to Jeff, glad to distract him from whatever was just distressing him. Jeff flips through the sketchbook looking at the drawings. Most of them are pretty dark, with lots of death and gore, though the odd page is covered in drawings of characters from cartoons making out with each other. He stops on a page and chuckles. 

“I like this one.” It's unmistakably a drawing of Jeff, brandishing a knife and grinning psychotically, covered in blood.  

“Uh, yeah. I like drawing you… very interesting subject..” Adrian laughs awkwardly and looks away. As Jeff flips through more pages he sees a few more drawings of him. Some are bloody and violent, though others have more of a sad lonely feel to them. 

“You’re good at it.” Jeff states matter of factly, seeming to quite like the pictures of him. 

Adrian looks at the tv, knowing that if it was the evil brother storyline that triggered Jeff that he probably shouldn't watch this whole episode. “The rain seems to be stopping.” he looks to the window, then at Jeff, who has now finished looking at his sketchbook and put it down. “It’ll be dark soon. we could go chill outside somewhere? That's always nice.” 

“Eh…” Jeff stands up and walks over to the window. “I’m gonna leave tonight.” he leans against the windowsill and watches as the sky starts to darken outside. 

“Oh. Fair enough, I guess.” Adrian sounds disappointed, though quickly shifts back to cheerful and stands up. “Places to go, people to- well, cut up and stuff, I guess, huh?” he giggles. Jeff doesn't respond or turn away from looking out of the window. “Do you want to sit on the patio with me while I have a cigarette before you go?” 

“Heh,” Jeff smirks, though still doesnt turn from the window. “Not particularly.” 

Adrian rolls his eyes. “Well, will you anyway?” he smiles as he rephrases the question for him. 

“Mn, I guess.” 

The rain is light and appears to be stopping as the two step out onto the patio. Jeff walks down the garden to the shed to grab his knife and hoodie whilst Adrian finds a dry patch of ground in a corner and sits to roll a cigarette. Jeff, now with that hood of his covering what his long black hair didn't already, sits down next to him as he’s lighting up. “How long do you think until you’ll come back here?” Adrian attempts to sound like he’s making small talk despite just much preferring Jeff’s company over any of his friends. 

“I guess I’ll come back if I need somewhere easy to rest. So whenever that is.” Jeff shrugs, paying more attention to looking up at the last signs of daylight in the grey sky. 

Adrian frowns. If. He hates the thought of Jeff just not coming back ever. He knows that he tends to get overly attached to people quickly if they give him attention, but he really does like spending time with Jeff a lot. He’s so much more genuine than any of his friends and is honestly such a fun person to hang out with once he actually starts talking. 

“Fair…” The teen mumbles and just takes a drag of his cigarette. 

A couple of minutes pass and Adrian finishes smoking. Jeff stands up and starts to walk off without a word. “Goodbye.” Adrian calls after him with a friendly wave. 

“Bye…” Jeff mumbles back, almost too quietly to be heard. 

2 weeks later, Adrian is with a group of friends at an old abandoned church building located on the main road leading out of town. It’s one of the popular places to hang out, drink, do drugs, and whatever else bored teens get up to. It’s also regularly populated by at least a few homeless people and runaways. The group is sitting on and around an old brick wall at the back of the church, listening to loud pop music through someone's portable speakers. 

“I’m telling you, it’s completely fucked, man.” one of the girls has the whole group's attention as she speaks. She seems shaken up and the taller goth girl next to her holds her hand as she talks. “Like, my cousin knew them! My cousin was friends with them, she told me she saw them that night! They must have been on their way home when…” the girl is talking about the couple who was murdered in the next town over a while ago. Apparently she knows a lot of people in that town and was even staying there when they found those bodies. “God. fuck. You know apparently the girls who found them, they… they're all in therapy now. Like, they were that… that horribly torn apart.” 

Adrian listens along with everyone else to the girl as she speaks, his face and emotions completely blank. He tries to think about what he would feel hearing this if he didn’t know what he knows, if he didnt know who he knows. Would he care more than he does right now? 

“Those murders are still happening, you know.” one of the older guys of the group pipes up. “They’ve happened all over the place. Most recent was only the day before yesterday. Long ways away from here though, so at least we don’t have to worry now…” 

“I’m still worried.” The girl who was telling the story stares at the ground and her friend wraps an arm around her comfortingly. No one says anything for a moment, just an uneasy silence as people glance at each other. 

“Did the police question you about it?” the goth girl asks her frightened friend.

“I don't think so?”

“What the hell do you mean you don’t think so? Did they or did they not, jesus fuck.” The rude and too loud comment comes from a tall blond boy who seems to have had more to drink than the rest of the group. 

“Shut the fuck up, Mike.” the pissed off goth girl snaps at him, defensive of the traumatised girl she holds close to her. 

“Well..” the girl moves away from her protective friend slightly, looking up to the group. “I wasn’t really involved with them or anything, so I didn't have to go and be interviewed by the police, but… Someone questioned me about it. Didn't look like a cop though.” 

“What? Who was it?” someone asks. Everyone seems interested. 

“I don’t know. Some guy with a scarred up face. Me and my cousin were with her friends hanging out at an old skatepark, still freaked out about what happened, and he just came up to us. Asked us about the murders, and a lot of questions about the area, where homeless people go and stuff, places someone could hide out. Wanted to know if we’d seen anyone weird lurking around… He told us to stay in large groups and stuff, to keep safe. We were all freaked out by it actually, because he definitely wasn’t a cop.” 

Everyone seems confused by the girl’s story and a few people murmur to each other. “Idiots.” Mike speaks again. “Clearly that was the killer!” This seems to really freak the poor girl out and she brings her knees up to her chest, covering her face with her hair. Her friend again puts an arm around her. 

“Don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot. It wasn’t, it’s okay…” 

Adrian listens intently to the girl's story. This man questioning people about the murders, he’s clearly looking for the killer. Wait. A thought occurs to Adrian. Could this be something to do with whoever was apparently tracking Jeff? Well, if this mysterious man was who was after him, it seems like he isn't very close at all. I won’t tell him that, though. Adrian thinks to himself. Selfish perhaps, but he would hate for Jeff to stop staying with him due to no longer needing the hideout. 

As the night goes on, people get tired and start leaving. Until eventually only a few people are still sitting there, now listening to music on a phone since the guy with the speakers left. Other than Adrian it’s only a girl named Lacy, her boyfriend, Felix, and Felix's older brother, Danny. 

“I’m hungry!” Lacy whines as she hangs off her boyfriend's arm. Her speech is slurred and she’s clearly had a lot to drink. 

“Mmn… we should get going.” Felix stands and helps his tipsy girlfriend to her feet as well. 

“Yeah.” his brother agrees as he gets up too. 

Adrian stands along with his friends. “Danny?” he asks the older boy whilst the younger brother is busy wrapping Lacy in his coat. 

“Yeah?” 

“Can you walk me home?” Adrian bites his lip and fiddles with his sleeve as he gives him his best puppy dog eyes, not that he’s even looking. Danny sighs and turns to him.  

“You live in the completely opposite direction, man.” 

“Please?” Adrian takes a step closer to Danny, leaning in close enough to not be heard by Felix or Lacy. “I’ll make it worth your while~” 

Danny moves away, an angry expression on his face. “Shut the fuck up, Adrian.” he starts to follow his brother, who is now leading his drunk girlfriend off down the road. Adrian just stands there being left behind. 

“People get murdered when they're out alone, you know!” He shouts angrily after them. They don’t look back. He watches them leave, feeling abandoned. All too quickly the cold empty feeling of being all alone washes over him and he’s suffocating in the heavy fact that nobody gives two shits about him. 

Sad brown eyes are fixed on the ground and tears roll down Adrians face as he slowly walks in the direction of his house. He’s walking in the middle of the road, but it’s late so he’d probably hear a car coming. Though he doesn't really care if he gets hit anyway. He’s just attempting to wipe the tears from his face when suddenly out of nowhere, he’s grabbed. His arms are restrained behind his back before he even knows what’s going on. Someone has grabbed him from behind and has him gripped tight. There’s a large knife being pressed against his throat. He can smell blood. 

The teen doesn’t struggle or make a sound, and for a long moment he’s just held there, restrained with a knife to his throat; the only sound that of his attackers breathing. 

“Are you scared yet?” a low, incredibly threatening voice rasps into his ear.

“Jeff?” Adrian speaks in the clearest way he can with a knife being pressed so harshly into his throat. “Are you gonna, uh, kill me now?” He asks in a soft calm voice. His question is genuine, though he doesn’t sound worried. 

“Ugh.” The raven haired killer grunts in frustration, his grip loosening slightly as he lowers his knife. “Do you just want to die? Is that it?” Jeff’s voice is now agitated more so than aggressive or threatening. 

Adrian turns his head as best he can towards the taller male behind him who still has him somewhat restrained. “I mean, I wouldn't say that, exactly…” 

“Well, good. Cos I refuse to be some weirdos suicide tool.” Jeff completely lets go of Adrian, who turns to face him fully. 

“Wait, so all I’d have to do is say I want to die and you wouldn’t kill me? Talk about a life hack.” he laughs. 

“Wait- no. That's not what I-” Jeff attempts to back track, but stops talking when he sees Adrian’s face and how funny he’s apparently finding this. “Shut up!” 

Adrian smiles and laughs again, amused by Jeff’s frustration. 

“Ugh, you’re so annoying.” Jeff crosses his arms and flicks some messy black hair out of his eyes, looking away from the smile on the others face that frustrates him so much. 

“It’s nice to see you, anyway. Are you headed up to mine?” 

“I guess so.” 

The two walk together back to Adrian's house, making pleasant conversation on the way. 

Chapter Text

“This is stupid.” Jeff mutters in frustration as he watches Adrian rummage around in one of the kitchen drawers. “I’m just gonna go get some sleep, I’m tired.” He decides that he isn't in the mood to be annoyed by the insufferably friendly boy at the moment, despite having just come into the house to find him after being gone for a few days. He starts to leave through the door to the back garden.

“Hey, come on,” Adrian grabs him by the arm to stop him from leaving. “That looks really nasty.'' He's referring to a cut on the side of Jeff’s forearm which has soaked his hoodie sleeve in blood and seems to still be bleeding. Jeff turns back, aggressively snatching his arm away from the unwanted physical contact. Adrian raises his hands, wordlessly apologising for having grabbed him. “Hey, just… Just please let me clean and bandage it, and, umm…” the teen thinks for a moment. “And next time I’m out I’ll pick up more of those blue drinks? You know, the ones you really liked?” he asks, or more begs, with a hopeful smile. Jeff sighs. He doesn't say anything, but doesn’t go to leave again either, instead defeatedly walking over and sitting at the kitchen table. 

“This is still stupid.” The annoyed maniac complains again as Adrian sits down next to him and sets medical supplies down onto the table. He doesn't respond to Jeff’s childish whining, just holds out his hand towards him.

“Can you, uh, give me your arm please?” he’s careful not to touch him without warning again. Jeff slowly complies, holding his injured arm out cautiously to Adrian, who gently takes him by the wrist and moves his hoodie sleeve up.  “Damn, ouch. Looks like it hurts.” he positions Jeff's arm on the table and starts to go about cleaning the deep gash. “How’d it happen?” 

“Some asshole pushed me through a window.” Jeff mumbles his response, watching with a bored expression on his face. 

“Well,” Adrian glances up for a second from what he’s doing. “I sure hope they learned their lesson.” Jeff smiles at his words.

“Oh, they did.” 

As Adrian is bandaging Jeff’s arm, there’s a sudden sound. Lady Gaga’s ‘love game’ rings out through the quiet house, and both boys turn to the ringing mobile phone on the table next to them. Adrian reaches for it, pressing a button to silence the phone but not picking it up. He then goes back to bandaging Jeff’s arm. “Don’t mind that, just a friend of mine.” he explains, despite the lack of being asked.

“Are you finished playing nurse?” Jeff asks in a snarky tone as he examines his freshly bandaged arm. He gets up without waiting for the response. 

“Yeah…” Adrian stands too, starting to gather the medical stuff from the table and put it away. Jeff is annoyed at having had to sit and let Adrian dress his wound. 

“Then goodnight.” he opens the door and heads off down the garden. 

Lady Gaga is heard again, loudly cutting through the silence Adrian is left in. He ignores his ringing phone in favour of watching Jeff out of the window until he’s completely out of sight. Then he eventually picks up the phone, still not answering it but texting the person calling. “Sorry, actually I can’t come. See you another time.” he then takes one final look out of the window before heading upstairs to bed. 

~

The next day, Adrian is cooking in the kitchen, singing along quietly to music he’s listening to on his headphones. He’s just tipping the food from a frying pan onto two plates when he notices something in the window. He puts the pan down and takes off his headphones. “Oh, damn.” he says, walking over to the window and opening it to the ginger cat sitting on the ledge outside. “Hey, mr fluffysocks. How long have you been there?” The cat meows happily and walks in and onto the kitchen side. Adrian pets it and scratches behind its ears as it purrs and rubs against him. “Hang on,” he walks over to the fridge and gets a little piece of ham for the animal. The cat is very appreciative of the treat, eating it and then rubbing its head into Adrian’s hands some more.  

“You know, little guy,” Adrian continues petting the cat though his eyes move to look out of the window at the shed in his garden. “You should probably get out of here before-” 

“Hey, a cat. Cool.” Jeff’s voice comes from behind him, making him jump. He spins around to see Jeff enter the kitchen from the next room. 

“What? How did-”

“Your bedroom window. Figured you’d still be asleep.” Jeff walks over to the cat standing on the kitchen counter and reaches a hand out to pet it, which the cat greets happily with a head bump. Adrian watches with unease. 

“You won’t.. Hurt it, will you?” Jeff looks to Adrian, still petting the very friendly cat. 

“Killing animals isn’t fun.” he almost sounds offended at the suggestion. “Ain't no animal ever been as vile as people are. I like animals.” Jeff grins, seeming quite happy as he pets the cat, who is purring loudly and leaning into his touch. Adrian’s concern for the cat is gone and he smiles watching the big scary killer being so gentle and sweet to the animal. 

Eventually the adorable furry visitor gets bored and leaves via the same window it entered through. “I made breakfast by the way.” Adrian picks up the two plates of food he prepared and puts them on the table. 

“Cool. Thanks.” Jeff sits down and starts eating. Adrian freezes where he’s standing, caught off guard by Jeff thanking him. He hasn’t done that before. The teen smiles brightly, filled with perhaps more joy than is warranted by the lazily mumbled word that was said without thought. Then he snaps out of it and quickly sits down before he makes it weird.

The two are just done eating when the sound of the doorbell interrupts Adrian midway through rambling to Jeff about something that happened on a tv show recently. As he’s walking through to the front door, he turns back and sees that Jeff has disappeared.

“Hey, man.” A short plump girl with pink hair greets him as he opens the door. 

“Oh, Emma,” he looks from the pink haired girl to the blond boy with her. “Jason. Hey guys.” He isn’t exactly pleased to see them, since he was enjoying talking to Jeff, though does his best to hide that. “What, uh.. What’re you doing here?” He asks as the two walk past him and into his house. 

“You bailed on drinks last night. Felix tried calling and you didn’t pick up.” Emma walks through to the living room as she talks. “That isn’t like you.” 

“I did text to apologise. I uh. I just wasn't feeling it, you know?” Adrian follows his two friends into his living room. 

“Yeah, that’s not like you either.” Jason says with a laugh as he casually sits down on the sofa. Adrians eyes fall briefly on the doorway to the kitchen and he frowns slightly, finding himself really just wanting his friends to leave. But it looks like they’re making themselves comfortable; Emma joins Jason on the sofa, laying with her legs draped over his. “You got any weed?” and there it is . Adrian thinks hearing Jason's question. It didn’t take the two long to show why they really came here, and it wasn’t to check in on him. He smiles at them brightly, being an expert in pretending he doesn’t see people's lack of real concern for him, as well as being more than used to it. 

“Uh, not much but I think…” He quickly opens a small box on his coffee table and pulls out a small balled up bit of tin foil. “Here. Have this.” he tosses it to Emma, who catches it and hands it to her friend. 

“Aw, cool.” Jason takes a quick look inside the foil before pocketing it. “Thanks, dude.” 

“Now, uh. I actually have to be somewhere, so.. I should be getting ready right now.” Adrian tries to get rid of them. His excuse isn't the best, but they have what they came for, so it works. The two get up and say goodbye to Adrian, though Emma stops just as they’re leaving. 

“Oh, there’s a party at Felix’s house this afternoon by the way, did you know about it?” 

“Uh, no, no one told me.”

“Yeah uh, it should be a good time. It’s been so long since we all had a proper house party, hasn't it?” she smiles before they both finally leave. 

Adrian breathes a sigh of relief. Which is actually pretty strange, since usually he’s doing all he can to cling onto whoever is willing to be around him. Trying to get rid of people is a new experience. But it’s not like there isn’t a reason to not want his friends around right now; he already has someone to hang out with today and that person isn’t exactly willing to be around others. He walks back through to the living room and is about to call for Jeff in hopes that he’s still lurking around the house, but there is no need since he finds the guy just sitting on the sofa, having reappeared from wherever he went. 

“Hey can you teach me how to work this thing?” Jeff asks without looking up at Adrian, pressing random buttons on the tv remote. “I might watch something when you’re at that lame party or whatever.” 

“I probably won’t go to that actually.” Adrian sits down next to Jeff and takes the remote from his hand, clicking onto what he assumes the clueless weirdo had been trying to find. “I’d rather just stay here. We can watch TV together? I mean, if you want…” Jeff murmurs a faint ‘sure, whatever’ and gets more comfortable where he’s sitting. 

~

Red. The colour red. It fills Jeff’s senses, his mind. Only nonsensical flashes of anything else get through. 

Screaming. He thinks he knows the voices screaming. 

Laughing. Maniacal, terrible laughing. That sound is coming from him. 

Red. Red. Red. Overwhelming him. Bloodlust. 

The screaming fades. Stops. 

More. He needs more. 

“Go to sleep…” 

He hears himself saying the words, feels them leave his mouth, but it’s like he’s just along for the ride and has no control of what he’s doing. His vision is red, he can’t feel his body, all his mind is screaming is to KILL. 

Then there’s more screaming. His name screamed in horror, betrayal, and fear. All the while, he laughs that crazed laugh. 

And then, all too suddenly, the red haze lifts from his mind. Leaving him in the harsh reality of what he’s done. 

“Liu…?” the tiny whispered voice of the terrified child breaks as he utters his brother's name, looking down at the bloodied cut up body beneath him. But of course, his brother doesn’t respond. The knife Jeff holds is dropped forgotten to the bed beside him as he reaches blood covered hands to the lifeless face, again calling his brother's name. “Liu?” eyes wide and tears beginning to pour down his face, the frightened young boy starts to comprehend exactly what he’s done. He shrieks in disbelief and utter terror, shaking his older brother's body as panic starts to set in. “Liu! Liu!?” 

Jeff clings to the body, sobbing, screaming, begging. “I’m sorry!” he repeats in panicked shrieks, over and over again. He begs Liu to wake up. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Just wake up! Please! Please!” but there’s no response, just a terribly deafening quiet, apart from his anguished screaming. 

“Jeff? Jeff, wake up.” a voice starts to bleed into Jeff’s hearing. “Jeff?” 

“Liu?” Jeff opens his eyes to the blurry sight of a boy kneeling over him in the dark. He instantly shoots up and throws himself into the figure, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face into his chest. “L- Liu- I’m so sorry- I’m sorry- Sor-ry” he speaks between sobs, gripping onto him as tightly as he can, as if afraid he will fade from existence. 

Adrian’s body stiffens and he freezes in shock, concern turning to confusion as Jeff clings to him and sobs. At first he’s taken off guard by the sudden closeness to the usually so cold and distant (and not to mention violent) Jeff, but soon follows his natural instinct to comfort his crying friend. He slowly and gently brings his arms up to hold him as he cries. 

“Jeff…” Adrian isn't sure what to say. Jeff is unstable and quick to anger at the best of times, and right now doesn’t seem to be fully in reality, even apparently thinking Adrian to be someone else. “You had a nightmare…” He speaks slowly in a soft tone, looking down at the mess of a boy he holds in his arms, hardly even able to recognise him as the intimidating dangerous criminal he’s befriended. “Do you know where you are right now?” 

The sobbing quiets slowly. Jeff lessens his grip on Adrian, looking around the dark living room, though appearing to be in a daze. 

“You fell asleep watching a movie.” Jeff faces Adrian when he speaks. Seeing the boy's face, he quickly and aggressively pushes him away. “We’re in my living room, remember? Looks like you had a bad dream…” Adrian calmly explains, despite having been violently shoved over. He raises his hands and keeps his distance from Jeff, trying his best to show that he’s not a threat. “Are you okay?” worry is clear in Adrians voice as he watches Jeff back away from him in a panic, eyes darting around the room. 

Jeff’s thoughts are a confusing shakey mess. Shadows move in the corners of his vision, echoes of his brothers screaming still run through his head. He isn't sure where he is, but slowly starts to understand that what he just went through was only a dream. It’s happened to him before, after all. The visions of that night, only a memory his mind forces him to see again, perhaps to punish him. 

Though still not fully in reality (or as close to it as he usually is anyway) or completely knowing where he is or what’s happening, Jeff does shift from scared confusion to recognising his complete vulnerability in his current situation. He searches the darkness for his knife, yet is unable to find it since it isn’t there. His attention falls back onto the teenage boy who just sits there, watching him with concern. Jeff’s face shows slight recognition, though only for a moment before twisting with anger and violence. 

Before Adrian can react, Jeff’s moved towards him with the speed of a skilled killer and punched him in the face, hard. He hits the ground, not even able to register what happened before he’s struck again. Kicked in the gut by Jeff, who now stands over him, looking down with contempt. 

The killer brings a hand to his pale scar and burn covered cheek, touching the wet skin covered with tears. He glares down and the boy on the ground below him, furious at having been in such a weak vulnerable state in front of another person. His face is hot with anger and embarrassment. Had he HELD him? Tried to comfort him?? Who does this boy think he is?

 Another kick, this time to his face.

Adrian just lays there, pained and bloody, taking the blows, only whimpering slightly as he’s hit. 

Eventually, Jeff walks away from the crumpled up mess of a boy on the floor. His mind is still all over the place, thoughts scrambled and impossible to understand. But one thing’s starting to become very clear in his head: he needs to get out of here. 

He takes one last look back at Adrian on the ground, his thoughts about him surfacing somewhat in his chaotic fractured mental state. “You’d better pray I never come back here and kill you.” His words are cold, though for some reason Jeff doesn't understand, he feels that they are a kindness of sorts. 

Adrian takes a moment to process the words. He tries to move, he wants to say something. But he can’t, whimpering in pain when he attempts to even lift his head to look around. Though, it doesn’t matter. He’s alone now.

Everything hurts. He isn't sure how many times he was struck. He can taste blood. He doesn't move. Just stays there, laying bloody and bruised on the ground.

Well done, Adrian. He thinks to himself. You fucked up. And now you lost a friend. Idiot. You fuck everything up. He concentrates on everything that hurts, telling himself that he deserves every injury, every bit of pain. If he had just known what to say, not been so useless… 

He winces, tears rolling down his face. He feels broken ribs, badly bloodied nose, horrible pains he knows are going to be severe bruises.

  I deserve this.

~

A cold wind blows right through Jeff, reminding him that he’s not wearing a jacket or even his hoodie. He doesn’t mind the biting cold too much however, since it does a lot to remind him of the physical world he walks through, pulling him away from wherever his mind had gone. He looks around. Fields, trees, what looks like a forest or woodland a ways ahead. He doesn’t know where the hell he is. 

He looks down at the ground, trying to remember details of what Just happened and why he finds himself wandering around god knows where without even his knife. He knows he came from Adrian’s place, and remembers the night terror. “ugh!” He groans in frustration, mentally shouting at himself for being such an idiot, letting himself get so comfortable around another person. Hanging around chatting and watching tv with some kid all the time? Even falling asleep in the same room? When had his curiosity about that boy turned into- into.. Trust? His face scrunches up in anger and disgust at the thought. 

Did I kill him? Jeff wonders, looking at his hands. There’s blood on him, though not all that much, just the odd smudge. He then shakes that question out of his head. Why does he care one way or the other? 

The images of clinging onto Adrian and sobbing run through Jeff’s head, playing on loop and refusing to go away. In his confused state, out of touch with reality, he’d thought it was his brother. But still, the memory of being held, comforted. The lingering feeling of warmth, of arms wrapped around him tenderly, holding him as he cried… It enrages Jeff that he can’t stop thinking about it. 

“I hope I killed that stupid little shit.” he growls angrily to himself, completely filled with hatred and disgust at the thought of how stupidly he’d ended up letting himself let his guard down around some random kid. The dumb piece of shit was fucking asking for it. Thinking he was my friend or something. Moron.

Chapter Text

Dark shades of purple, blue, and red, contrast on pale skin like the colours have been painted on. Adrian runs his hands gingerly over the bruises on his body, eyes moving slowly over the image of himself in the mirror. He’s starting to heal, but it still hurts. He doesn’t spend too much time inspecting his appearance though and soon starts to get dressed. 

He pulls on some leggings and an oversized long sleeved shirt before looking back into the mirror. A slight sigh escapes him as he thinks about what a nice day it is outside. Usually he’d wear tiny shorts and a tank top, but that will have to wait until he’s less covered in horrible bruises. 

He’s tying his shoes when his phone starts to ding with messages.

 “Where u at?”  “u left urs yet?”  “we at park.” 

Adrian smiles at his phone. It’s always nice to feel like people want you around, even if you’re more than aware that it’s only because you’re the one with the money and they can’t buy beers until you get there. He types a quick message to his friends saying he’s on the way. 

Once at the park, Adrian hands some cash to one of the older guys, who then walks off to get alcohol for the group. 

“Damn, Adrian. Your face has seen better days.” one of the girls comments with a laugh as he sits down, carefully so as to cause the least pain possible to his damaged body. He’s already given a half assed explanation of his injuries to his friends. He told everyone he got mugged. They probably don’t buy it, since this isn’t the first time someone he’s tried to help has hit him. But they also don’t really care. 

“Yeah aha.” Adrian mumbles his response, smiling as best he can with a split lip and banged up face. 

Usually Adrian would love this. Sitting with all his friends, drinking, laughing, talking. But he’s just not feeling it right now. He’s uninterested in these people and what they chatter on about. He’s quiet, just sitting there chain smoking cigarettes, only half listening to anything anyone says. Nobody seems to mind. Or notice, for that matter. 

The afternoon goes on, some people leave, some other people show up, more drinks are bought (with Adrian’s money of course), Adrian smiles and nods on the odd occasion he’s acknowledged. He winds up just staring at his phone though.

As he’s scrolling he stops suddenly on some breaking news. Murders. He reads the articles about recent killings. He reads about the victims, looks at their photos, at their families photos. Statements of loved ones, children left without parents, people mourning brutally murdered spouses, siblings, friends. 

It’s not that Adrian doesn’t feel for these people at all. It’s really not. But… images flash through his mind. Memories of Jeff, not as the intimidating psycho he’d known him as, but of him that night. Images of his pain and fear filled eyes, memories of how tightly he’s gripped onto him, the agonised sobbing, the way he’d kept saying that name with more hurt and desperation in his voice than he’d heard anywhere before. Is Adrian completely wrong for caring about that boy more than any of these people? 

~

A scream of terror is cut short as blood splatters in all directions. First from a neck wound, then the chest, then abdomen. The blade strikes the man in quick succession, laying multiple forceful blows into him before he’s even fallen to the ground. 

Jeff chuckles evilly as he stands over the body, watching blood pour from every wound and pool all over the floor. He takes in the sight for a good long moment, revelling in his kill before moving on.  

The blood splattered hunter steps over the corpse and walks further into the house. He’d assumed that there’d be other people in here somewhere, though is now doubtful since he didn’t quite manage to stop the first victim from screaming, and no one has appeared yet to see what the noise was. 

Just as he’s finishing that thought, however, he hears a floorboard creek upstairs. 

“Babe? Did you say something?” a woman's voice calls from the landing. Jeff grins. 

“Babe?” the woman starts to descend the stairs, unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows, waiting for her. 

Before she reaches the bottom step, Jeff expertly shoots his arm out through the bannister and stabs the woman in the leg. A high pitched shriek rings out before stopping as she topples down the last few steps and smashes hard into the ground. The psychotic maniac laughs at her as she makes pained noises and tries to move. Panic is starting to set in, but just as she’s trying to crawl away from her attacker, he’s suddenly on top of her. 

Terrified screeching, so loud it hurts Jeff’s ears. Though, the killer enjoys the sound as if it’s music. A pale blood covered hand grips a fistful of the hysterical woman’s hair and yanks her head back violently. 

“Keep screaming.” he speaks with glee, still laughing. “No one’s coming to help you.” Jeff knows his words to be true. This house is far from anyone who could hear. 

Taking great pleasure in drawing out this kill, Jeff starts to carve a big smile into his victims face. She’s a small woman, so it doesn’t take much to keep her still enough, especially being on top of her, his whole weight pinning her with her arms at her sides. Once satisfied with his work, he raises the blade and holds it in both hands. “Now quiet down and go to sleep.” the knife is plunged into her. He stabs her repeatedly until long after she’s stopped moving. 

Cutlery clatters as Jeff rummages around in the kitchen drawers. “No… no…ugh, no!” He pulls out knives and inspects each one briefly before tossing them behind him, each knife being thrown more aggressively as he gets more and more frustrated. “What’s the deal, you can’t own just one decent fucking knife?” he snaps, addressing the corpse on the floor. He then picks up the bloodied murder weapon from the counter, looking at it with a displeased expression. It looks exactly like his other knife (which is currently not in his possession) but for reasons he can't explain it just isn’t right. 

“Ugh. and the terrible taste just continues.” Jeff again speaks to the dead body, now glancing over to it from where he stands in front of the open fridge. The only food in there is plastic containers of weird looking slop that Jeff doesn’t want to try. “What even is this shit?” he slams the fridge door closed. 

Wait. 

Jeff narrows his eyes, glaring at the bloodied body on the ground. 

Why is he talking to the corpse? 

“Ugh.” he grunts in annoyance and attempts to shake questions from his head that he doesn’t want to think about. Questions like why he’s found himself talking to objects and bodies recently. And why he kind of wishes they would talk back. 

This is what I get for getting all buddy-buddy with some weirdo. Jeff thinks angrily, still pissed off about letting curiosity about someone not being afraid of him lead to… well, lead to him acting normal . He would laugh at himself, at the memories of actually sitting around doing normal things with someone, like he was a normal person. That is, he would laugh, if he wasn’t so annoyed with himself for being so stupid. 

Thank god I had a wakeup call before… Before what, exactly? He doesn’t know. But he’s fairly sure it would’ve been bad. Not that he has to worry about that now. Kid’s dead. Or, Jeff’s pretty sure he’s dead, anyway. He’s still quite hazy on the details.

“Stop fucking thinking about it!” Jeff mutters angrily to himself, hitting his knife’s handle harshly into the side of his head. 

But he can’t. As much as it pisses him off to no end, he keeps finding his mind wander back to memories of hanging out with that stupid fucking kid. Adrian. He should have just killed him the second he’d stopped being of use, not kept going back out of some sick need to understand why he’d wanted to help him so much. Just look where it got him. He got too used to having conversations with someone and now he’s talking to dead bodies like they’ll respond. Like he wasn’t already crazy enough.  

And then (and this is what really enrages Jeff) he can't help but try to remember whether or not he’d actually killed him. There’s foggy images of hitting the boy, of him being on the ground. But that’s about all he can remember. Well, he can remember some of what happened before that point. But thinking about that is a whole other can of bullshit. 

I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t fucking care! Jeff repeats this in his head in an attempt to banish the lingering thoughts.

Chapter Text

This is stupid. Really stupid. Jeff knows this. He knows he’s being stupid. 

Still, he does it anyway. Poor impulse control, he supposes. 

Jeff crouches, looking at the house from behind some bushes at the bottom of the large garden. No crime scene tape or anything similar, as far as he can see. Which should make it easier to do what he’s here to do. That being: grab the shit he left here stupidly. Yep, he came all the way back to this place just to grab an old kitchen knife and a ratty torn up hoodie. That’s the only reason he’s here. And the only reason he’s glad to not see any indication of having left a dead body here. Because then his shit would have been taken as evidence, of course. It all makes perfect sense, really. Or at least, it does to him.

After staying in the bushes looking at the house for a while, mentally going over the facts about how he’s here to find his knife because he just misses it a lot, Jeff walks up to the shed. The door is wide open, which causes him to take caution as he enters. But there’s no one in there. 

He looks for his items and finds that his hoodie is in a small pile of neatly folded clothes on the coffee table. It’s almost unrecognisable however, not only cleaned but appearing as though someone’s made an effort to remove the years of blood stains from the old thing. He quickly puts it on and discards the black one he’s been wearing instead (which was actually warmer and more comfortable, but what can he say, he doesn’t like change)

After searching the whole room Jeff doesn’t locate his knife, so he goes back outside. He sighs, looking up at the large house. 

Every single window is not just open, but wide open. Which is quite strange given the freezing cold temperatures. Even weirder is that the back door is ajar, making it way too easy for Jeff to just walk right in. It’s almost as cold inside the house as outside, Jeff realises as he walks through the kitchen. He stops, finding a familiar object laying in the middle of the kitchen table. His knife. He grins as he picks it up. This too has been cleaned, and it even looks like it’s been sharpened. 

Hoodie: acquired. Knife: acquired. Though, Jeff still walks further into the house. In the living room, images of the last time he was here get slightly clearer in his mind. Having night terrors and waking up in a deluded panic is something he’s accustomed to happening every so often, which just makes it more frustrating that he started being okay with sleeping around someone else. He’s still filled with this horrible kind of dread feeling whenever he thinks about how completely vulnerable he’d been. 

He looks around the spacious living room, eyes able to see well enough in the dark. There isn’t a body in here. 

Before he even questions why he’s doing it, he’s making his way upstairs. 

There’s a lot of rooms in this house. It’s a pretty big house after all. Most of the rooms are filled with old furniture and boxes of various things. ‘Storage for old crap’ as Adrian had told him at one point. Jeff knows his way around the place and doesn’t bother with any of these rooms, instead moving directly to the bedroom of the only person who lives here. What am I doing? The question finds its way to the surface of Jeff’s thoughts. He’s got what he came here for. What’s his plan now? Perhaps to take revenge for the whole stupid situation. Or maybe just to make sure that the person who’d seen him in such a state was in fact dead, out of sheer embarrassment. Whatever the reason, Jeff now stands in the doorway, peering into the darkness of the bedroom, newly regained knife still in his hand. 

Jeff is still completely unaware of his own motives, standing over the bed where an apparently not dead teenage boy sleeps.

  Maybe he’ll actually be scared this time.

  He shouldn’t be thinking that way. Those thoughts are exactly how he wound up sticking around this kid in the first place. Some weird need to scare him, to prove he wasn’t any different from his terrified screaming victims (yep, that’s the only reason. Not the conversations, friendly greetings, company of spending time with someone. none of that contributed at all.) Though, still, maybe it actually will work this time. Sure he apparently survived, but perhaps the experience of the last time Jeff was here was enough to shake the kids' infuriating fearlessness. Maybe Jeff will get to hear him scream and cry as he dies. He’d like that. 

The knife wielding home invader just stands quietly watching as the boy starts to shift in his sleep. Brown eyes flutter open and widen when they see the figure looming over the bed in the dark. Adrian jolts in shock briefly, but soon settles and just lays there, calmly looking up at Jeff. he doesn’t say anything. 

There's a long moment of silence where the two just stare at each other in the dark, both seemingly waiting for something to happen. When nothing does, Adrian slowly brings a hand up to rub his eyes, clearly still half asleep and somewhat confused. “Uh. Hi?” he mumbles as he looks back up at Jeff, who just stands over him staring down with a blank expression. 

After a few more seconds of silence, Adrian slowly kicks the blankets off of him and sits up slightly. He moves over to the other side of the bed to flip on the light on his bedside table, before turning back to Jeff, now able to see him more clearly. “Jeff..?” the tired teenager again tries to get a response, looking at the silent Jeff with confusion. “How long have you been standing there watching me sleep? Bit creepy, dude.” he laughs, hoping to lighten up the mood. And it does snap Jeff out of just silently watching him. 

“Shut up.” His tone is vacant and his face still doesn’t show any expression. 

“Make me.” The playful remark probably isn’t the best thing to say to the known murderer standing over his bed holding a knife, but does Adrian care? Not really. 

After again waiting to be attacked and nothing happening, Adrian gets out of bed. He stretches, yawns, and lazily starts to look through a pile of clothes, acting as though Jeff isn’t even there. Despite having been asleep in bed, Adrian is wearing tracksuit bottoms and an oversized t-shirt (probably due to it being freezing in the house with all the windows open) so he only pulls a dressing gown from the mess of clothing on his floor. 

“You’re alive, then?” Jeff speaks just for the sake of getting Adrian’s attention, still finding it weird and annoying to have someone turn their back on him casually like he isn’t a threat. 

“Hm?” Adrian turns to him. “I mean, you beat me up pretty bad, but surely you didn’t think I died from it?” 

Jeff looks him up and down, taking note of the bruises that still cover his face and the parts of his skin that are visible. 

“I don’t really remember the details.” 

“Oh.” Adrian looks at him with a sad expression. “Do you… want me to fill in the gaps?” 

“No. I don’t care.” Jeff states firmly, pissed off at the kindness and pity in the others words. “Clearly I beat the crap out of you, and you should count yourself lucky cos you deserve worse.” he thinks back to the events of that night, and to everything before. Adrian really is lucky that a beating is all he’s got so far. 

“Is that why you’re here, then? You did say something about coming back here to kill me.” 

Jeff looks down at the knife in his hand. He can’t really answer Adrian’s question, since he doesn’t even know himself why he’s here right now. Or why he’s again been roped into talking with the guy he should have killed months ago. 

“I came to get my knife back.” he finally answers after a long pause. 

“Right…” Adrian isn’t buying that. He climbs back onto his bed and sits cross legged, facing Jeff. “You know…”  he thinks for a moment, choosing his words carefully. “It’s okay. To be lonely. Wanting someone to talk to…” Jeff might not know why he’s here, but Adrian does. He can recognise the loneliness in him. It’s probably why he finds himself empathising so strongly with the dangerous psycho. 

“That night when I was completely sloshed, I got you to agree that we’re friends, remember?” Adrian is just talking at Jeff at this point, accepting that he’s not going to respond. “I can tell that you need a friend, even if you refuse to admit that to yourself. So kill me, don’t kill me, beat the shit out of me, whatever.” a bright smile spreads across his face. “I’m your friend. Okay?” 

Jeff stares blankly at the boy who’s smiling at him with the warmest, sunniest, most well-intentioned expression he’s ever had directed at him in his life, and he responds.  

“Okay.”  

Chapter Text

Friend? 

What does that even mean anyway? Especially when it’s said directly after acknowledging and accepting that the person you’re saying it to will possibly murder you at some point. 

“I’m your friend. Okay?” The words echo around Jeff’s head as he tries to understand what they mean. He’d agreed with them, but it wasn’t exactly phrased like he had a choice in the fact stated. No, Adrian said it to him like it was a fact either way. He said he doesn’t care if he’s hurt or killed, and he sure has been acting like that’s true, but still Jeff wonders if he’s trying to avoid harm somehow with his incessant friendliness. And fuck , if so, is it working? 

Jeff is pulled out of his thoughts when a mug is placed onto the table in front of him. “Tea.” Adrian says as he sits across the table from Jeff with a mug of his own. Adrian had come down to the kitchen after Jeff showed up in his bedroom, and too confused and lost in thought to do anything else, Jeff just followed. 

He looks down into the mug of hot liquid that’s been placed in front of him, though is too lost in scattered thoughts to really register it, instead just staring at the light shimmering on the surface of the liquid as he thinks. 

“You… okay?” Adrian asks hesitantly. “After last time you were here, I mean. You seemed pretty… distressed.” 

Jeff hears the question, but doesn’t care to think about or respond to it. He’s still much too preoccupied with the words Adrian said to him upstairs. 

“I’m not lonely.” he says quietly, seeming distant and distracted, still just staring into the mug of tea. 

Adrian rests his head on his hand, looking intently at the boy across from him. He takes a second to consider his response before speaking. “Then why are you here? And honestly, why did you come back here at all after I helped you when you were hurt?” he pauses, giving time for a response that doesn’t come. “I think it’s pretty simple. It’s been a very long time since you had anyone to talk to. You like it. That’s okay, you know?” 

Jeff laughs suddenly, now looking at Adrian. “If you think you’re safe just because I like talking to you, then you’re-” 

“I know I'm not safe, Jeff.” Adrian cuts him off. “I’m not trying to convince you that you don't want to kill me, or that you’re soft or whatever. You’re a very dangerous and very deadly mass murderer. I dig that, even.” he smiles slightly. “You know, people kill their friends all the time. Doesn’t have to mean anything other than you getting something that you clearly want. Second you’re bored of me,” he drags a finger across his neck and lolls his head to the side to dramatically mime slitting his throat. “Throw me away. Lord knows that’s what everyone else does. That’s what friendship is, really…" dull brown eyes look down, seeming to have slight sadness behind them despite the smile still on the teens lips. "Oh, and," he again looks at Jeff with a cheerful expression. "Thank you. I like talking to you too.” 

Jeff’s face heats up in a mix of embarrassment and anger. He didn’t mean to say that, and definitely didn’t mean it as a compliment. “Shut up.'' he spits out as his only response, looking away from Adrian and letting long black hair fall in front of his eyes.

Adrian smirks, incredibly amused to have somewhat flustered Jeff. "I've got to say though, man," he takes a sip of his tea. "The whole trying to freak me out thing, it's getting kinda old." His mug is placed back down and he leans over the table closer to Jeff, the psychopath still not reacting or looking at him. "So, like, next time you act like you're gonna kill me, actually do it. Yeah?" a playful smile creeps at the corners of his mouth. "Stop being such a tease." 

And with that, Adrian gets up and turns to walk out of the room. "I'm going back to bed." he turns back to face Jeff from the doorway. "I hope you're still around tomorrow? You're still welcome to stay here, whenever you want."  he yawns. "Night, dude." he heads upstairs, leaving Jeff still sitting at the kitchen table.

Jesus fucking christ what am I doing? Here Jeff is AGAIN, in this damn house getting sassed by this damn kid who's long outlived his usefulness yet is still breathing. 

Though, Jeff has to admit, he can't explain his behaviour any better than the explanation that Adrian gave. Loneliness. It only makes sense for him to enjoy social interaction when he's lived without it for so long. And as agitated by the lack of fear as he is, that is the exact kind of person it would take to give Jeff someone to talk to… 

Fuck it. It's not like he hasn't kept someone alive a little longer out of amusement before. This is just a more drawn out version of that. So yes, Jeff will go along with this. For now. Who knows, it might make the eventual kill more satisfying. 

Jeff laughs to himself. 'friends' isn't exactly a label he'd use for a relationship where one will eventually murder the other. But he quite likes the way Adrian describes the concept of friendship. Far more honest than the sugary bullshit lies most people delude themselves with. 

~

The next day, Adrian comes down to see if Jeff is still around. He doesn’t find him in the shed and returns to the house disappointed, though as he turns the corner back into the living room he’s startled when Jeff is suddenly right there. 

“Ah- hey.” Adrian greets despite the jumpscare. “I thought you wouldn’t keep trying to scare me like that?” 

“I don’t know what the fuck makes you think you can tell me what to do.” Jeff points his knife in Adrian's direction and glares daggers at him. Adrian rolls his eyes, but smiles. 

“Fair point, I guess.” he walks past Jeff and over to the sofa. “Anyways, you wanna watch tv or something?” he asks with a yawn as he sits down. 

Jeff watches him with an annoyed look on his face for a moment before responding. “Whatever.” he mumbles, sitting down as well. 

And just like that, they’re back to this; Jeff staying with Adrian between killing sprees and the two hanging out together like- … well, like friends.

Chapter Text

"Come on, tell me where we're going?"

"Nah." Jeff dismisses Adrians question for the third time since leaving his house. "You're always dragging me places. Now it's my turn." Adrian can hear the mischievous smile despite the facemask Jeff's wearing. 

The sun is starting to set as Jeff leads them to the park not far from the house. They walk through the park. It's somewhat quiet, though there are a few people around. Jeff stops in an out of the way corner and turns to Adrian, who smiles at him but looks confused. "The park? You always refuse to go anywhere so public." 

"We're here for a reason…" Jeff mumbles, not looking at Adrian but instead around at their surroundings, holding his hood and hair out of the way of his eyes. "There." he's locked onto something now and Adrian tries to follow his line of sight to see what. "See those two guys over there?" 

Adrian sees the people Jeff means, two men sitting on a bench. "Yeah…" The teen's confusion only grows and he looks back to Jeff, whose face is basically completely obscured by a combination of the facemask he's wearing as well as his hood and long hair.

Jeff takes his time before speaking again, icy blue eyes staring at Adrian from behind messy locks of black hair. "Go over to them. Convince them to follow you somewhere for me?" 

"Wait, huh? Follow me? Follow me where?" 

"That way." Jeff motions to the left of where they're standing, an exit to the park which leads to an old industrial estate. "Alley, first left down that road. Take them there." 

"wh- uhm.." Adrian takes a moment to process the request. He's kind of taken off guard by Jeff's apparent knowledge of the area; he must have scouted it out previously at some point.

 "Uh.." Adrian looks in the direction of the two men again. He doesn't need to be a genius to work out what Jeff wants with them. "How do I get them to go with me?" 

Jeff shrugs. "You’ve got social skills, use them. A meek looking kid like you doesn’t exactly pose a threat to two grown men. Charm them, tell them a sob story, ask for help, something like that. I'm sure you can work it out." he moves some hair from his face and pulls down his mask, looking at Adrian with an intense yet unreadable look in his eye. "Yeah?" he asks with an unsettling smile. 

"Um. Yeah. Yeah, I guess I can do that…" 

"Great!" Jeff grins before pulling his mask back up. "See you in a sec then." he speaks with a cheerful tone as he starts to walk out of the park and towards the spot he mentioned, leaving Adrian with his task. 

"Um, excuse me?" Adrian smiles shyly as he approaches the two men, who are smoking and drinking beers. He is incredibly thankful for the stench of weed, hoping that these guys being stoned and tipsy will make them easier to convince. 

The two look at him expectantly. "Uh-" Adrian stammers slightly before going into the lie he'd decided on. "So uh, my dog got away from me and is running around. She's friendly but she's not well behaved, can you guys please help me catch her? My mum will be so mad if she finds out I let go of her lead…" Adrian isn’t sure if he’s a very good liar, but it must be believable enough because the two guys look at each other briefly before both standing up and happily agreeing to help. 

He leads the men to the alley, just like Jeff told him to. "Um, she went down this way." Adrian scans the shadows as he walks down the dark alleyway, preparing himself mentally for the killer to jump suddenly out of the darkness and attack the two men trailing behind him. He finds himself kind of curious about what It’s like to watch something like that happen.

Sure enough, Jeff's form emerges from behind a corner ahead of them. Though he only waves. "Hey, Adrian. It's fine, I got your text." he calls in what must be his most 'trying to be normal' voice. "These guys can leave." 

Though very confused, Adrian does his best to be all smiles and apologies as he thanks and says goodbye to the two men he lured away from the park. He then turns back to Jeff, who walks over to him.

"I don't understand. Didn't you wanna, like, do your whole thing?" 

"What?" Jeff pulls down his hood and mask. "I told you to bring them here. I didn't say I was gonna do anything to them. Be stupid to do that if I'm going to keep hiding out around here." he smirks and starts to walk back the way Adrian just came from.

"Mmm..." Adrian walks with Jeff, narrowing his eyes at him in suspicion. "You just wanted to see if I'd do it." 

Jeff shrugs. "Maybe." 

"Well?" Adrian grins. "Did I pass the test? D'you trust me now?" 

"Pfft.” Jeff makes a dismissive noise, glancing at Adrian from the corner of his eye for a second before looking away in annoyance. “Not a test. And trust is stupid." 

"Then what was that about?"

"Curiosity." 

Adrian sighs. “Sure.” 

They keep walking for a minute, but before leaving the relative privacy of the quiet empty street, Adrian stops. He grabs Jeff’s hoodie sleeve to stop him walking, before quickly letting it go, reminding himself for the thousandth time that Jeff doesn’t like being touched. “Hey, uh, just so you know,” he mumbles, looking at the ground. “I’ll do that for real. If you ever want me to…” 

There's a moment of quiet before Adrian looks back up to see Jeff staring at him like he’s trying to work something out. “You really are a weird one, you know that, Adrian?” the killer laughs, but then suddenly stops as a thought occurs to him. “How can you think trust is anything other than stupid bullshit that fucks people over, when you’re happy to trick innocent people to their gruesome deaths?” 

Adrian thinks for a second. “Friends are different from randos on the street. And I’m your friend, remember?” he smiles. Jeff rolls his eyes. 

“Yeah, whatever.” he pulls the mask back up over the lower part of his face and continues walking. 

They walk in silence back to the park and through it in the direction they came from. 

“Do you get off on murder or something?” Jeff asks suddenly, breaking the silence without stopping or looking at Adrian. 

“Wh- huh? I-” Adrian stammers, shocked by the question. How is he even meant to respond to that? “I.. I don’t think so?” That's an honest enough answer, he decides. It’s actually something he’s been questioning himself recently (what with finding a certain deranged killer extremely physically attractive) but he’s sure it’s not anything like that. 

“Then what is it?” 

“What’s what?” 

“The reason you’re so eager to help me all the time, to the point of literally offering to bring me fucking victims!” Jeff stops walking and grabs Adrian by the arm, getting in his face as his words get more aggressive. “ They’re not going to kill you. I will. Why hurt them to help me?” 

“I like you more than those people?” Adrian says, as if it’s an obvious answer. Which it is. 

Jeff narrows his eyes and gets even closer, their faces now only an inch apart. He glares into Adrians eyes with even more suspicion and frustration than before, despite getting what Adrian thought was a perfectly good answer to his question. “Why?” he demands with a growl. 

The teenager looks away from Jeff's eyes and shrugs, not saying anything. 

“Ugh.” Jeff lets go of Adrian and crosses his arms. He seems less aggressive now, though still annoyed. “You want me to trust you, right?” 

“I do, yeah.”

“Well why would I trust you if I don’t even know why the fuck you’re helping me in the first place? It’s not something most people would ever want to do. You do know that, right?” 

Adrian sighs. Jeff does have a good point. “So…” he starts talking, but stops for a moment, thinking his answer through before continuing. “Yeah, you might kill me. You kill people. And you’re kind of an asshole a lot of the time. But, like… You’re not fake. If that makes sense? You don’t lie. I like that.”

There’s a long pause where he waits for a response but is only met with a silent blank stare. 

 “Plus,” Adrian smiles. “You’re getting pretty good at fortnite and damn is it hard to find someone I team up well with.” he laughs before starting to walk again. “C’mon, man. It’s starting to get cold.” 

Jeff stands there watching Adrian walk away for a moment, but soon snaps out of it and follows.

Chapter Text

~

It’s a dreary afternoon, rain is falling from the dark cloudy sky. A beat up old van pulls into the car park of a cheap hotel. The van's rusty door opens and a man steps out. Everything about him looks exhausted; his expression, his body language, the way his dull eyes glance wearily up at the dirty old hotel building before he closes the door to his vehicle. The man walks into the building and down a corridor, eventually coming to the right room and stopping outside of it to rummage around in his pocket for the key. Just as he pulls the key out, the door opens from inside. 

“You look tired.” Says a woman. Paper white skin, pitch black hair, eyes just voids of darkness. The man enters the room and she closes the door behind him. “You should get some rest, you’ve been on the road for a long time.” She speaks in a caring tone, placing a pale hand onto the man's shoulder. 

“I didn’t find anything, you know.” The man mutters in a low voice, looking down at the ground solemnly. “Just more dead ends.” 

The woman frowns. “I know.” She takes the man’s scarred hands in her own gently. “But passing out from exhaustion won’t help.” solid black eyes meet tired green ones as the man lifts his head to meet her gaze. She smiles softly, and despite himself, he does too. He always finds himself comforted by her. 

“Come now,” she pulls him towards the bed.

“Jane,” he protests. “I should really work out what to-” 

“No, you look like you haven't slept in years. Come and lie down.” She tugs off his coat. He allows it, giving in and climbing onto the bed. 

"I just don't see the point in wasting time when I probably won't be able to sleep anyway." the man mumbles as he takes off his boots and tosses them to the side. 

Jane sits next to him on the bed and places a hand lightly onto the side of his face, looking at him with sadness. "Are the nightmares getting bad again?" Concern and pity are clear in her voice. He doesn't answer, just looks away with a distant look in his eyes. "Liu." Her voice is suddenly stern and a dainty white hand with flawless black painted nails forcefully moves his head to make him look at her. She inspects his face, noting the dark bags under his bloodshot eyes. "How long since you slept?" 

Liu takes a moment to answer. "When did we check in here?" This response doesn't impress Jane, who frowns and pushes him down onto the bed. 

"Lie down." She commands, as if she didn't already force him to. 

Liu sighs and gets comfortable in the bed, accepting that he has to at least attempt to get some sleep. Jane goes to turn the lights off before climbing back onto the bed and lying down next to Liu. "Get some rest, please." She whispers sweetly and pulls a blanket over the both of them, before shuffling as close to Liu as she can and getting comfortable. Liu puts an arm around her and holds her even closer to him, a peaceful smile making its way onto his lips as she snuggles into his chest. 

Liu knows that he shouldn't let himself find comfort in Jane, that it'll only make everything messier in the end. But he can never help himself. It just kind of ended up this way; maybe it always will when two lonely people spend so much time together. Liu is sure there's a word for that even. Whatever the case, he can't pretend it isn't nice to be close with someone for the first time in… a long time. 

And anyway, Jane being here like this, it helps him sleep. Nothing else has ever helped.

As he lies there, content in the warmth of the embrace, he tries not to think about how temporary this companionship has to be. Liu’s got a goal, and he knows this will need to end before he can get to it. 

Jane awakes to the sound of papers being thrown around and frustrated typing at a keyboard. She sits up in bed and groggily rubs her eyes. 

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." Liu says without turning to face her. He's sitting at the small desk in the hotel room, notebooks and maps messily spread out in front of him and news headlines showing on the screen of a laptop. 

Jane frowns. "Did you get much sleep?" 

"Enough, yeah…" Liu starts to tap at the laptop again. “There’s another spree of killings.” 

“Fuck, okay.” Jane gets out of bed and walks over to the desk, resting a hand on it and leaning over Liu to look at the laptop screen. “What do we know?” 

“Last night. Quiet area a ways out of a city over here.” He points to a spot on one of the maps laid out in front of him which is marked with a red x. "It’s just like all the others. Completely random location, weeks after the last. No way to predict where he’ll hit next, or where the fuck he is until then.” Liu’s frustration and hopelessness starts to slip out in his voice and he angrily balls a piece of paper up in his fist. “I just don’t understand. Is he doing this because we were getting close? Where the hell is he going between sprees?” 

Jane walks back over to the bed and sits down, rummaging around in a bag of clothing. She pulls out a set of clothes and starts to take off the ones she’s wearing. “He’s hiding like the pathetic rat he is.” she spits in a dark tone, standing up and slipping on the black dress. She then steps into a pair of heels and stands in front of the mirror to look at herself. “But don’t you worry, we’ll find him.” she smiles at herself as she makes that promise, bloodlust dripping from her words. 

Jane quickly fixes her hair in the mirror whilst Liu gathers what few items they have from around the room. “You ready?” Jane asks, pulling on a jacket. 

“Yeah. Come on, it’s a long drive.” 

The two check out of the hotel and start on their way to the location of the newest murder spree.

~

“What authorities think is the last body has been discovered, bringing the victim count to 11. No official statements have been made as of yet confirming the identities of all of the victims, but expect updates as information is released.”  The droning voice of the tv news continues to go over the recent spree of murders. Adrian sits cross legged on his bed, watching. 

"What's with you and the news today? You've been glued to it since I got here." The guy lounging casually on his bed next to him asks as he ashes a joint into a cup on the bedside table. It's Danny, one of Adrians friends' older brothers. 

"Oh, yeah uh, sorry." Adrian apologises and mutes the tv. "Just, uh, you know, scares me. The murders." He fidgets with his hands and looks away from the tv.

"They're miles away." Danny states dismissively, before sitting up slightly and shooting Adrian an annoyed look. "You constantly beg me to hang out with you, and now I come over and you'd rather watch tv?" He leans over and grabs Adrian by the wrist, pulling him towards where he's laid on the bed, forcing Adrian to move over to him on all fours.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Really. Sorry…" Adrian mumbles apologies pathetically and lets himself be roughly pulled over to Danny until he's sitting in the guys lap. 

"It’s fine," Danny's grip on Adrians wrist loosens and he moves his hand to the boy's thigh instead, his other hand moving to put down the joint he was smoking. "Just make it up to me, okay?" One hand moves up Adrian's thigh and aggressively paws at his ass, nails digging into his flesh. The other grips the back of his neck and harshly yanks him down to smash their lips together clumsily. 

A little while later, Danny is sitting in the bed scrolling facebook on his phone, and Adrian is laying next to him staring up at the ceiling with glazed over eyes. Danny doesn't look at or speak to him. He never does once he's done; none of them ever do. Right now though, that suits Adrian just fine. He's busy mentally going over some questions that suddenly seem quite pressing. 

Those questions being: Is his little crush getting out of hand at this point? Should he be ashamed that he just closed his eyes and imagined that it wasn't Danny he was with, but Jeff? How bad is it that he really wanted it to be Jeff's hands touching him, pulling his hair, holding him down… Surely that doesn't mean anything, right? Adrian's sure it doesn't mean much. Jeff's just really hot is all, it's no deeper than that. He convinces himself that it's nothing. Just a little crush, and one that he probably shouldn't act on too. 

Still, the thought is quite an appealing one. Adrian finds himself wondering what those beautiful blue eyes would look like gazing down at him whilst he's pinned underneath the killer, how it would feel to be kissed by him, and-

Shit .

Adrian suddenly realises that Danny is talking whilst he’s too lost in thought to catch what he said. 

"Uh," Adrian snaps out of his spaced out state and sits up. "Huh? Sorry." 

"Felix texted me to come home." Danny repeats, now standing up and pulling clothes on. 

"Oh. Yeah, okay." Adrian watches blankly as Danny grabs his things and leaves without another word. He doesn't bother getting up, just listens to the sound of feet on the stairs and then the front door opening and closing.

He sighs to himself once alone and turns to look at his tv, which is still on mute and showing the news, though no longer talking about the murders. He takes a moment to locate the remote in the mess of blankets and clothing on his bed, but eventually finds it and switches the tv off, plunging the room into darkness. 

Curling up in his bed, Adrian finds himself slipping into a dismal mood. He always does when he pathetically lets someone use him for whatever they want and then leave him alone the second he's no longer wanted. He knows this, yet he still does it, every time. And for what? The brief bit of company? The sex? It's not like either of those are even enjoyably the majority of the time anyway. His whole life he's done whatever people want, desperate for friendship, or love, for even basic human respect. But it doesn't exactly work, only ever leaving him in the same lonely place he started, just having been used for whatever sex, money, or favours people wanted from him first. And, recently… he's starting to wonder if that will ever change. One thing is for sure: His 'friends' definitely won't ever care about him. Sometimes he wonders if anyone in the world really cares about each other, or if that's just a fantasy, a lie people tell themselves to feel better about the fact they're all just using each other for whatever they can get and calling it friendship or love. Or, alternatively, maybe that's all just what Adrian tells himself to feel better about the fact no one cares about him. 

Frustrated, Adrian turns over in bed and again grabs the tv remote. He flips it on and turns the sound back on. He puts it on a random channel with the volume set low, just to get him to sleep without depressing things running through his head. As he's drifting off, his last thoughts are to wonder what Jeff is doing right now and when he will be back.

Chapter Text

Bright lights, lots of people, the distant sound of terrible radio music. Supermarkets aren't exactly up there as one of Adrian's favourite places to be. Still though, he smiles and cheerfully goes about his shopping trip, humming along whenever a song he vaguely recognises comes on. He's just about finished grabbing everything he wanted to get and is about to head over to pay when he notices someone he knows. 

"Rita? hey!" He calls, turning into the liquor aisle, where his friend is standing looking at the shelves. 

"Hm? Oh, hey." The girl turns to him with a friendly smile.

"Fun plans?" Adrian glances down at the crate of ciders in her arms.

"Yeah just going down to the woods, hanging out, you know." 

Adrian is just about to try to worm his way into an invite, when a voice comes from behind him. "Yo, Rita, they got anything good in here or what?" Adrian's blood runs cold and his whole body freezes. That voice. Please no, please no. 

"Oh. Hi." The guy approaches him and Rita, sounding entirely unenthusiastic as he greets Adrian, who takes a moment to even bring himself to turn and look at him. He's a lanky goth guy with lots of piercings and greasy blue hair.

"Aha, Hey." Despite feeling on the verge of tears and every cell in his body screaming at him to run away, Adrian keeps a smile plastered on his face and greets the boy with as close to his usual friendly energy as he can. 

"Yeah so they don't have the brand they wanted, but-" Rita talks to her friend about gin brands, but Adrian is far too panicked to register or care about what she's saying. Every part of his mind just wants to sob, or scream, or both. He's not aware of it, but he's starting to shake. It's not like he doesn't know that all of his friends hang out with him , but being reminded of that never feels nice. And having to see him, hearing his voice, having to smile at him like he's okay, it's horrible. He zones back into reality when he again hears that voice, the one that fills him with dread and panic. 

"Yeah I'm sure whatever is fine. Let's just get it." 

I'm going to cry. Get away. Get away, right now. 

"So uh, yeah, nice seeing you both. I should go and pay now too. Bye, guys!" He grins and waves, walking away from the two without waiting for them to respond. Once he's rounded a corner, he starts to breathe heavier, unable to stop the panic attack that's starting. The basket of items he was going to buy is placed on the ground, abandoned as he makes his way to the bathroom as quickly as he can. He goes into the disabled toilets and locks the door behind him. The second that lock clicks, the flood gates break. Tears roll down Adrians face, he slides down the door and collapses onto the ground, burying his face in his knees. He sobs, uncontrollably. The sound of his crying and pathetic little pained noises echo around the bathroom. 

As Adrian sits there crying on the floor in a public bathroom, images start to flash into his mind. Memories of that voice, that face. Memories of confusion, pain , and humiliation. 

God I'm fucking pathetic. He gets to his feet and leans over the sink to stare at himself in the mirror, all blotchy red faced and covered in tears. He mutters swear words to himself as he splashes his face with water and attempts to get his emotions under control. He just needs to get out of here and get home so he can safely curl up in a ball and suffer for a while. 

So that's what he does. After waiting long enough to be sure he won't still be around, Adrian takes a few deep breaths and leaves the bathroom. Though his goal is to get home as fast as possible, he takes the time to skillfully shoplift a bottle of cheap vodka on the way out. 

~

It's the middle of the night when Jeff arrives back at Adrian's. He enters the house and quietly looks around the kitchen for something to eat. The plan is to find a snack and then go get some sleep. Before he can find anything though, a noise from upstairs catches his attention. Something smashing. Then not long after, a thud. He stares up at the ceiling for a moment before deciding to go see what that was. 

Walking down the upstairs corridor, he heads to the only room with a light on, the bathroom. The door is slightly ajar. He doesn't know what he’s expecting, but it isn’t what he finds. In the bathroom, Adrian is curled up in the foetal position on the ground, sobbing violently.  Broken pieces of glass cover the floor around him, probably from the smashed bathroom mirror. 

"Uh…" Jeff stares at the scene in front of him, not sure what his next move is here. The sobbing and whimpering mess of a person on the floor suddenly startles and sits up. 

"... Jeff.. h-hey…" His voice is shaky and quiet, and despite having now quieted down and stopped sobbing, he still sniffles and whimpers. 

"What are you doing in here?" Jeff asks slowly, looking around at all of the broken glass and generally messed up state of the room. 

"Crying." Adrian mumbles, wiping at his face with a sleeve. 

"Right, well. Enjoy yourself." Jeff goes to leave, knowing now that the noises he heard weren't anything to be concerned about. 

"Wait. Jeff-" Adrian moves to try and get up, only to cut his hand on glass. "Fuck." He gives up on standing and defeatedly slumps back over to lie on the ground. "Jeff, please don't leave." The boy begs pitifully from the floor. "Please?" Fresh tears form in his eyes. 

Jeff stops and turns back to face him. He's used to begging, he's used to tears. It’s amusing coming from someone he’s cutting up. But this is different. It's annoying . 

"Why?" He crosses his arms, glaring down with confusion and irritation. In response, Adrian starts to cry again. 

“I don’t want to be alone.”  He speaks between sobs and manages to sit up again, smearing blood onto the floor from his injured hand in the process.

“You’re a complete fucking mess…” The killer mumbles as he takes in the pathetic display. It’s apparent now just how drunk Adrian is. 

“I’m sorry.” Adrian cries harder, hanging his head and letting messy brown hair fall in front of his face as he sobs. “.. Just, please stay… please..” 

“Sitting in a bathroom watching you cry like a bitch doesn’t exactly sound fun.” Jeff stares blankly at the crying mess of a boy on the floor for a moment, who doesn’t respond. He then turns to leave the room, but does say one last thing on his way out.  “Come downstairs.” 

Jeff gets as far as the landing before he hears a thud followed by a pained yelp. He groans and mutters curse words to himself before turning around and heading back into the bathroom, where Adrian is sitting looking down at a bloodied arm. “I fell into glass.” The drunk teenager mumbles as blood runs down his arm and drips onto the floor. Jeff sighs, walking over to him. 

“Jesus fucking christ- Okay, get the hell up.” He leans down and grabs Adrian firmly by the arm in an attempt to pull him to his feet, which he manages easily. But the second he's standing, Adrian just falls over. Jeff reluctantly catches him.

 "You are such a fucking asshole." The pissed off murderer spits harshly as Adrian leans into him and he pretty much supports the boy's entire weight. Adrian makes no attempt to actually stand up properly and instead just wraps his arms around Jeff for support, quite enjoying being held. 

“Stand the fuck up, man.” Jeff shoves Adrian off of him, and this time he manages to stand, albeit unstable. “You're lucky I'm not kicking your teeth in and ramming all this glass down your stupid drunk throat. Now come on.” Jeff mutters angrily as he takes a few steps towards the door. And despite the tears still on his face, Adrian laughs. 

"I'll let you ram something down my throat if you want, Jeff." He giggles and slowly starts to move, both boys stepping over a lot of broken glass on their way out of the room. 

"Don't be fucking gross." Jeff mutters, unamused by the lewd comment and childish laughing. 

"I'll take that as a 'no thank you' then."  Adrian slurs drunkenly as he follows Jeff. 

Once in the living room, Jeff sits down on the sofa and turns to watch Adrian as he only just makes it down the last few steps without falling over. "Y'know, you should consider not drinking, since you clearly can't handle your booze." 

"Hey! That's not fair, I-" Adrian starts defensively but cuts himself off. "I just…" He unceremoniously flops down onto the sofa next to Jeff, who is sitting right next to where his head now lays, looking down at him with a blank expression. "I just drank a bit- Or, uh, a lot too much. Because I was upset." Tears start to trickle down his face as he lies there staring up at the cold blue eyes of who he likes to think is his friend. 

"Well that clearly helped, didn't it." Sarcasm and annoyance drip from Jeff’s words as he watches the teenager again start to cry. The murderer finds all of this crying incredibly annoying, as well as kind of pathetic. "Just suck it up, you fucking crybaby." He looks away from Adrian and instead leans back to get more comfortable where he sits. 

"Sorry." The drunk and emotional teen sniffles, wiping tears from his face. "Thanks, though. For being here. It helps…" He reaches a hand up and places it on the killer's arm, the impulse to seek comfort currently overriding the fact that he knows better. He expects to be shoved or threatened, but Jeff just silently moves his arm away from his touch. 

The two stay in an uncomfortable silence for a moment, until Adrian remembers what that sharp pain in his arm and hand is. "Fuck…" He mutters, sitting up and looking at the cuts in his skin. As he examines the injuries he realises there's glass stuck in his arm. He tries to clumsily dig it out, but is not exactly in the best state to be doing so and just makes it worse. 

Jeff watches as Adrian causes himself more injury for a moment before sighing in frustration and grabbing his arm without warning.

"Stay still." He mutters as he looks over the cuts and starts to expertly fish bits of glass out of him. It hurts, but Adrian does as he’s told and sits perfectly still. He watches intently, kind of in awe of how good Jeff seems to be at this. Though, he supposes it makes sense. He's probably had to pick glass out of himself a lot. 

“You should, like, probably wrap these cuts up or something.” Jeff comments once he’s done. Adrian smiles. 

“Aw, Jeff~ Are you worried about me?” 

“Do I look like I give two shits if you bleed out or not? I should have just left you upstairs, annoying fucking idiot.” 

“Relax, dude, I’m just teasing you.” Adrian giggles, amused by the quite defensive sounding outburst.

“Well, don’t.” Jeff growls and shoots him a glare that would scare the shit out of most people. But Adrian just sighs and smiles, looking at him with kind eyes. 

“You know, I’m fully aware of how terrifying and deadly you are, Jeff. So you can relax and let the ‘grrr, I’m scary’ front slip sometimes, if you want…” He idly moves a hand up and touches Jeff’s hair as he speaks, alcohol letting his usual overly touchy self ignore the killers’ very well established boundaries. 

Jeff stares at him for a second before grabbing his wrist and removing his hand from his personal space without breaking eye contact. 

“God, you’re annoying drunk.” 

“Yeah, I know. Sorry. But I am feeling better now, so, thanks for cheering me up.” Adrian beams happily and lays back down on the sofa. “And thank you for getting the glass out of my arm.” He holds his arm up to look at the cuts. He’s still bleeding, but it does hurt less without glass shards embedded in his skin. “You are right though, I should probably bandage these up.” He sits up and looks around at the darkness they’re sitting in. “Could you put the lights on for me? I’ve fallen over enough today.” Jeff silently gets up and switches the light on before following Adrian into the kitchen. 

After Adrian quickly rinses and bandages his bloody arm, he decides that he needs a cigarette and leads Jeff into the back garden. The two sit down on the grass, Adrian pulling out and lighting a cigarette whilst Jeff just enjoys the dark and quiet stillness of the night. "Ah, that's better." The now much calmer boy savours the first drag, exhaling it with a content sigh. "See, I'm chill. I just needed a good cry, a smoke, and a friend to sit with me." He smiles at the older boy, who looks at him like he’s genuinely baffled by what he said. 

“That’s stupid.” 

For a minute or two they both just sit there in the dark. Adrian finishes his cigarette and stubs it out on the ground next to him. He doesn’t get up though, he just keeps sitting there, not wanting to go inside yet.

"What was the hissy fit about anyway? Surely nothing in your spoiled little rich kid life warrants such a meltdown." Jeff asks out of nowhere, without looking up from the patch of grass he’s ripping up idly. 

"Oh- Well, I…" Adrian is caught off guard by the question, since he didn't expect Jeff to care enough to ask. But he isn't going to pass up the opportunity to tell someone about his problems, since his other friends sure as hell don't care. "I, uh.. ran into someone. Someone who hurt me when I was younger…" There's a pause, Jeff looking at him, expecting him to keep going, but he just looks down. 

"That's it? You saw someone who beat you up in school or whatever? You don't even flinch when I-"

"He didn't 'beat me up in school or whatever', not hurt in that way. And it wasn't even seeing him, really…" 

"What do you mean?" Jeff seems genuinely interested, which gives Adrian the confidence to explain further. 

"Well, like. So, I saw him with a friend of mine. And I had to smile. I had to smile and greet him and stand there and act like I was fine! Because my friends, they don't care what he did to me. And that's what hurts, you know? Having to act okay when I'm burning on the inside, because I know no one cares..." His voice breaks and tears start to form in his eyes again.

Jeff looks at him with confusion. He still doesn’t understand. But the thing he’s the most confused by, is that he kind of wants to. Whether it’s simple curiosity, boredom, or even a long buried urge to empathise with another person, he wants to understand Adrian. 

“... It hurts that they don’t care what this guy did?” 

“Yeah…” 

“What’d he do?”

Adrian seems surprised by the question. He looks at Jeff, biting his lip nervously. “Can I actually tell you?” 

“Well, I did fucking ask, didn’t I?” Jeff rolls his eyes at the stupid question. Why would he ask if he didn’t want to be told? 

“I- I know. It’s just, none of my other friends care, so I don’t know why you would.” Adrian is acting more scared now than Jeff has ever seen him. The boy who can poker face his way through being attacked and threatened, and makes sassy comments to knife wielding madmen who break into his house, that same boy is genuinely afraid right now. And of what? A conversation? It just makes Jeff want to know what’s going on inside his head even more. 

“Curiosity. Don’t question it, just spit it out before I lose interest.” 

“Okay, uh- I…” Adrian takes a deep breath and calms himself before continuing. “So, when I was like 15, I kinda got outed to my whole school and lost all of my friends.” Jeff has no idea what ‘outed’ means, but doesn’t bother stopping Adrian to ask. “It was fine honestly, like, I was bullied quite a lot after that, but I was fine. But yeah, uh. This guy, from the year above… Evan.” It’s almost like it’s physically difficult for him to say the name. “He, uh, came up to me one day when I was on my way home from school. He apologised for some harassment I got that day, from a group that he was part of. He said how much it sucked that I was picked on so much, and… and he asked to be friends.” he says that last word with a tone filled with such a strong mix of emotions. Sorrow, anger, regret, all blending into bile as he repeats the word with disgust. “ Friends.” He laughs slightly and a tear rolls down his cheek. “That’s all I wanted, a friend. But that’s not what he wanted. No, he wanted a toy to experiment with. He had a girlfriend, so I was never expecting it, it just… It just happened. Without warning. He didn’t ask, he just… I don’t know if I would have agreed to it or not. But I wasn’t given a choice…” Tears fall onto the ground beneath him despite his best efforts not to cry. 

Jeff tilts his head, watching Adrian face the ground and cry. “Experiment? I don’t know what you’re talking about. What ‘just happened’?” The questions Jeff asks are quickly answered when Adrian lifts his head to look at him. Somehow the look of absolute anguish on his face, the shame and agony in his eyes, it wordlessly conveys his meaning. “Oh.” Is all the killer says. Adrian looks back down and continues silently crying, just glad he doesn’t have to spell it out for him. After a few moments, he composes himself enough to keep talking. 

“It went on for a while, a few months. I let it keep going, I… I was confused. I didn’t know if what was happening was normal or not, and I had no one to talk to about it. I just had him. He would say he cared about me. And I… I thought I was in love.” He sniffles and wipes more tears from his face. “No one ever cared about me before. And I-...” He covers his face with his hands. “I was so stupid.” The words come out as muffled whimpers. Then he lowers his hands again and brings his knees up to his chest, hugging his legs close to himself. He tries his best to steady his breathing. It works somewhat, calming him down, though it doesn't stop the tears. “So, yeah. When he got bored of me, he just completely blanked me. Blocked me on everything, ignored me at school. I was so upset. Everyone just thought I had a crush on him and wasn’t taking rejection well. I guess that’s what he told people…” 

Jeff stares at Adrian and blinks a few times, processing the story. He thinks he gets the gist of it. “And that’s the guy you saw today?” 

Adrian sniffles, not looking at him. “Mhm.” 

“... Why don’t you just hit him or something?” 

At that, the tearful boy lets out a half-hearted laugh. “Is that what you’d do?” He pulls his gaze up and looks at Jeff, who takes a second to think about it before just shrugging in response. “I wish things were that simple.” Adrian sighs. 

“Things are that simple.” The pale murderer insists firmly. “Kill him. Then kill all of your stupid friends. That’s what I’d do.” 

“Yeah, I bet you would. I admire that about you.” Adrian smiles at him. “But, I can’t be like you.” He frowns and looks down again. “I can’t be alone.” 

It falls silent, neither saying anything more. The two just sit quietly for a couple of minutes. Adrian shivers slightly as he hugs his legs against himself, only now starting to realise how cold it is. He must be sobering up. 

“Jeff?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Thank you for listening to me. You’re a really good friend.” Jeff doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything. Adrian, still shivering, decides he’s finally done with sitting in the garden. “Do you want to watch a movie in the shed?” He asks, sitting up straight and stretching.

Jeff thinks for a moment before shaking his head. “You’ll just fall asleep.”

Adrian frowns. He knows that’s true, but he would really like the company. He doesn’t push the issue, though, because he’s noticed that Jeff takes extra caution to not sleep around him ever since that night terror incident. He supposes it’s for the best. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll just go to bed then.” He stands up and Jeff does the same, the killer just turning to leave as Adrian stops him with one last thing. “Really, though,” He quickly throws his arms around the taller male pulls him into a tight hug. “Thank you.” He whispers, before releasing him just as quickly and walking away towards the house. 

Jeff watches him go, blinking in slight shock. Did he just let that happen?

Chapter Text

Unnaturally white skin, rough and patchy with burns. Pale blue eyes made all the more striking by the black markings lining them. And, of course, the twisted smile carved into flesh, horrifically scarred from healing and being reopened countless times. The gruesome features of his reflection stare back at Jeff from the mirror, dull tired eyes scanning his appearance briefly as he lazily makes an attempt to comb through his wet hair with his fingers. Once satisfied that his hair is as tamed as it’s going to get, he turns away from the mirror. 

The main bathroom mirror is out of commission since being smashed to bits, so it’s a good thing this house is damn huge and the extravagantly fancy bathroom has like three mirrors. For someone who usually sees the mere access to running water and heating as a luxury, Jeff finds himself getting quite comfortable in this big rich person house. Mustn't get too used to it of course, but it sure is nice. He can almost convince himself that it’s the only reason he keeps coming back. 

As he’s pulling on a set of fresh clothes, Jeff wonders where his white hoodie is. He used to only have the one set of clothes, but recently finds himself owning more since Adrian insists on washing his. He doesn’t mind the new clothes he’s been given, or having freshly clean things to wear, but he does like to know where that ratty torn up old hoodie is. He’ll never admit it to anyone (even himself) but that thing is kind of a comfort item for him. 

Suddenly, Jeff’s thoughts are interrupted by an extremely loud shriek from the other room. Someone is screaming. Horrified, ear splitting screaming. 

What the fuck? The killer thinks, naturally going into caution mode and being as quiet as possible as he makes his way out of the bathroom and towards the source of the screaming. He steps into Adrian’s bedroom, not sure what to expect but on high alert. 

“What?” He asks, confused to only find Adrian. He was the one screaming? 

“Jeff!” Adrian, frantic and terrified , runs over to Jeff, pointing to the corner of the room. “Fuck fuck fuck, there!” Jeff can only stand there confused as the scared boy proceeds to cower behind him, shaking as he clings onto his shirt. 

“What?” He asks again, looking at the corner where Adrian’s pointing but seeing nothing there. 

The boy is genuinely horrified. It’s what Jeff has been trying to accomplish for so long that he’s nearly given up at this point. He would revel in finally seeing this reaction from Adrian, if it weren't for two things. One: He’s not the one being feared. In fact, he’s being hidden behind like he offers safety . And two: Adrian isn’t scared of him. From what Jeff can tell, he doesn’t fear death, torture, anything like that. So, what the hell is causing his current complete hysterical terror? Jeff is even kind of freaked out himself at the thought of what the hell it could be. 

Still looking intently at the corner of the room which is being pointed at in fear, Jeff just continues to be confused and see nothing. Until he stops and narrows his eyes slightly at something that moves. But no way is that what Adrian’s screaming about. “Tell me you’re not talking about the-”  

“It’s huge, do you see it?!” Adrian clings onto Jeff harder, panic still clear in his voice. Jeff isn’t sure if he should be angry or start laughing, so he opts for neither for the time being.

“You’re scared of a fucking spider ?” He asks in disbelief, only receiving a scared whimper from behind him in response.  “What the actual fuck?” Jeff, having entirely no patience for this bullshit, pushes Adrian off of him and turns to glare at the terrified boy with agitation.

“Sorry. I’m sorry. Just- Please, Jeff, can you please get rid of it?” Adian is still completely freaked out, now keeping his hands to himself instead of clinging to Jeff, but still shaking and staring at the corner where the spider is. 

“Yeah, hide from the harmless bug behind a serial killer. That’s not dumb as fuck or anything. Fucking weirdo.” Jeff mutters in annoyance as he walks over to the wall where the pretty large spider is slowly crawling up towards the ceiling. He reaches up and carefully scoops it up in his hand. 

“Ew ew ew! What the fuck, man? Just kill it!” Adrian is disgusted and horrified as Jeff calmly allows the thing to crawl up his arm.  

“I don’t kill animals. I already told you that.” Jeff lets the spider move from one hand to the other, watching it as it crawls over him. 

“But it’s a spider!” Jeff looks over to Adrian and chuckles at the sight. He’s as far on the other side of the room as he can get, watching Jeff with unease. The killer takes a step forward and, seeing the resulting twinge of panic and fear on Adrians face, he grins. 

“Hey- No, just- No, no, please-” Adrian struggles to force out words of protest and squirms uncomfortably. His legs give out under him and he ends up on the floor, pushing himself into the wall behind him as hard as he can, wishing he could disappear into it. His eyes, wide and panicked, are glued on Jeff, who has a wide grin plastered on his face as he approaches with the creature Adrian fears. “Jeff, don’t- Please-” The frightened teen shuffles to the side in an attempt to get away but is blocked by the bed, so he just cowers. Jeff laughs, enjoying this reaction. But then after a few moments, the killer's demeanour shifts from amusement to boredom and he stops laughing, as if something switches in his head. His eyes flick down briefly to watch the graceful movements of the spider on his arm before looking back at Adrian, who is shaking and looking up at him with fear and pleading in his eyes. 

“You’re ridiculous.” The killer mutters with a dull tone before turning around and walking away, presumably to put the spider outside. Adrian breathes a sigh of relief. 

When Jeff steps back into the house from the garden, he finds Adrian in the kitchen waiting for him. “Thank you.” The teen smiles sweetly at him. Jeff only grunts slightly in response. He doesn’t look at Adrian as he walks past him into the living room, where he scans the mess in the large room and starts picking things up to look under them. “What ya lookin’ for?” Adrian questions, following him. 

“Where’s my hoodie?” Jeff asks, giving up searching the complete mess that covers the entire house. 

“The grey and pink one that I’m sure must have been white at some point in its life? It’s in my room. I stitched up the holes.” 

“Really?” Jeff scoffs. “What are you, my mother?” 

“Well someone had to, the thing was literally falling apart.” Adrian shrugs. Then frowns. “Hey, does that mean you’re leaving tonight? You never leave without that thing.” 

“Mn.” Jeff nods before starting to head upstairs, Adrian following. 

An hour or so later, the two are in Adrians room. Adrian is getting ready, having arranged to meet some friends. Jeff is sitting on his bed, acting as DJ, scrolling a playlist on Adrian’s phone and playing songs he finds interesting. 

“You keep getting messages.” Jeff states, watching the notifications continue to pop up at the top of Adrian’s phone. 

“Yeah, don’t mind that, it’s just a group chat.” The teen doesn’t look up from painting his fingernails. A minute or two pass of quiet apart from the music playing.

“So it’s been a while since I interacted with people, but have they always been this lame?” 

“Hm?” Adrian looks up from what he’s doing to see Jeff scrolling the group chat on his phone, reading it with a look of interest and confusion on his face. “Ah.” the brunette laughs. “I mean, probably. Right?” He briefly focuses his attention back to his nails, but then looks back up to Jeff, deciding to take the chance to pry. “How long has it been? Like, since you were-” He pauses for a moment, not wanting to go with the ‘since you were normal’ that he was about to say. “Uh. Since you, like, had friends and stuff…” 

Jeff thinks for a moment. “Mn.. I guess when I was like 12. But, we didn’t have loads of friends or anything. Not as many as you do.” 

“We?” That really peaks Adrians interest, but he instantly regrets picking up on it when he sees Jeff’s reaction. The jolt of discomfort is clear and the look on the killer's face screams that he didn’t mean to make that slip and that he doesn’t want to talk about this anymore. So, Adrian quickly course-corrects and changes the subject. “Hey, you should let me paint your nails.” 

“What?” Jeff asks incredulously as Adrian crawls closer to him. 

“It’s a dope as hell look.” Adrian holds a hand out, showing his black painted fingernails. “C’mon, what’s the harm?” He reaches for Jeff’s hand, not actually grabbing it but waiting for Jeff to give it to him willingly. And, he actually does. A pale hand covered in scars tentatively moves to Adrians waiting touch, who takes Jeff’s hand with an excited grin and eagerly starts painting his nails like a 10 year old girl at a sleepover. 

Jeff shifts uncomfortably as he watches Adrian carefully work on his nails, not used to physical contact. Though, weirdly, he doesn’t find the feeling of touching another living person unpleasant at all.

“So, when will you be back?” Adrian asks without looking up from what he’s doing.

“Why?”  

“Cos I like having you around, stupid.” 

There’s a pause. “I don’t know.” 

“Well, I hope it’s soon.” Adrian finishes on one hand, releasing it and taking the other. “You’re kind of my best friend.” Jeff doesn’t respond to that and the conversation dries up, so Adrian just hums along to the music whilst he continues. 

By the time it’s starting to get dark, Adrian’s ready to leave. 

“Which way are you walking? Do you want to maybe walk with me part of the way?” Adrian asks as they step outside the house and into the biting cold of winter. Jeff laughs slightly. 

“I don’t think the way I go passes wherever it is you’re heading.” 

“Ah, okay.” The teen bites his lip slightly, turning to Jeff. “Well, I’ll see you, then?” 

Jeff pulls his hood up over his head. “Yeah, see ya.” 

“And, Jeff,” Adrian places a hand lightly onto the older boy’s arm to get his attention. “Be safe, okay?” He smiles warmly, moving slightly closer in order to make eye contact with the killer despite how hidden his face is. 

“Uh. Okay?” Jeff doesn’t quite understand the sentiment, but doesn’t question it. “Bye.” 

“Bye, Jeff.” Adrian smiles again and walks away, and it’s only when the slight physical touch between them stops that Jeff realises it was even happening.

Chapter Text

“Ugh.” Adrian lets out a frustrated sound as he walks into his home, closing the front door a bit too harshly behind him, the sound echoing throughout the large house. He’s not had a great day. He was ignored a few too many times, heard a few too many mean spirited jokes aimed at him, and on top of it all, had to walk home in the middle of the night from the other side of town in the rain because no one would give him a lift. 

He sighs, taking off his soaking wet jacket and mindlessly tossing it aside. As he walks through the house towards the kitchen, he checks his phone. As expected, no messages asking if he got home safe. There is one text though, which he opens after flicking on the kitchen lights and pouring himself a glass of water. 

“Of course.” The teen mutters with a roll of his eyes, leaning against the kitchen side and staring at the text message. The text is from Danny, who was at the party Adrian just came from and spent the whole time ignoring him, but is now asking to come over. 

Adrian groans in frustration looking at the text. He doesn’t know how to respond. Or, rather, he does know how he should respond. He should say no. Or, better yet, ignore him like he ignores Adrian around other people. But the frustration comes from knowing that he’s probably going to say yes and have him over, because the brief company is worth his self respect, apparently. 

He’s just about to type out his response when he notices something. He puts down his phone, smiling at the sight of a bloodied kitchen knife laying on the table. “Yeah, you can go fuck yourself, Danny.” He mumbles, putting his phone down and deciding to ignore the text. He takes a sip from his glass of water before putting that down too and leaving the room, heading upstairs to bed. He’s excited that Jeff, his favourite friend for the time being, is apparently back and that he’ll have someone to hang out with tomorrow. 

~

The next morning, Jeff can hear Adrian approaching before he knocks on the shed door. 

He doesn’t get up to open the door, or respond when his name is called. He sits cross legged on the floor, facing away from the door. Jeff’s pale hand trembles as he wipes tears out of his eyes. He wants to tell Adrian to go away, but he’s afraid of how pathetic his voice might sound. So he just does his best to steady his shaky breathing as he hears the door open behind him. 

“Jeff?” Adrian calls cheerfully as he steps into the room. “Uh-” His voice shifts to that of concern upon seeing his friend sitting facing the corner of the room. “Jeff…?” It’s obvious that he’s distressed in some way. Adrian’s first instinct is to ask what’s wrong, and even to go over to try to comfort him. But, he knows better. He knows that Jeff doesn’t react well to being seen as vulnerable and that it would only make it worse. 

“I’m not in the fucking mood. Piss off.” The killer's words are aggressive, overly so even for him. This is an attempt to mask any weakness in his voice and prevent any other emotions from showing, but it’s easily seen through and only affirms to the other that he isn’t okay. Though, there isn’t much that can be done. Jeff will only lash out at any attempt to help him and Adrian is fully aware of that. 

“Okay.” The teen does his best to speak plainly and not make his concern obvious, because he honestly understands and respects that Jeff doesn’t want what he will only view as pity. “I’ll be in the house.” He leaves and closes the door behind him. 

Jeff is glad that Adrian was easy to get rid of, despite usually being so annoying. Once he’s sure that he’s alone, he sighs and falls backwards to lay on the ground. A string of incoherently muttered swear words leave his mouth, not aimed at anything in particular; just noise being made in an attempt to distract from thoughts. 

He hates that he gets like this. 

Instability and lack of control, that’s all to be expected, it’s the norm for the deranged murderer. But it’s usually coming out through violence, anger, bloodlust. He’s usually strong . This though? A pathetic emotional wreck, shaking and crying, tearing himself apart. He doesn’t feel strong when he’s like this. And that only adds to the raging fire of self hatred. 

Jeff sits up after an undetermined amount of time laying on the floor. He’s collected himself for the most part, but still mutters to himself, unable to drag his mind away from things he doesn’t want to think about. He bangs his head into the wall in frustration. “Shut up shut up shut up!” He angrily pleads for his brain to be quiet as he stands up and looks around the room, desperate for anything to distract himself. 

He’s been in this position countless times over the years; mind fucking him over and nothing he can do but to suffer. What usually helps? His mind lands on this question and he quickly starts to look around in search of his knife, remembering times where he would cut into his arms and legs when he felt like this. It gives him something to focus on, the feeling can help ground him in reality, and he does just enjoy the sight of blood. 

But, his knife isn’t here. It must be in the house. He groans in annoyance, but leaves and heads up to the back door. He’s together enough now that he can be mostly sure that he won’t start crying again, at least. 

Jeff has his hood up and his head down as he enters the kitchen. He ignores Adrian, who is sitting at the table and looks up from his phone as he comes into the room. “Hey.” The teen greets after a moment, watching cautiously as Jeff lifts his hood slightly to look around at the kitchen sides. The killer's only response is to turn his head slightly towards the other for a second, acknowledging his existence and nothing more. “What are you looking for? Something to eat? I can make you somethi-” 

“Where’s my knife?” 

“Oh- It’s in the sink.” Adrian quickly gets up and grabs the kitchen knife out of the sink. It’s been cleaned of the dry blood that was on it. He wipes the blade on his shirt to dry it off before offering it to Jeff with a smile, who takes it without a word and looks down at it, turning it over in his hands. “You don’t mind that I cleaned it, do you? I just figured it saves you doing it, you know?” 

“... I don’t care.” Jeff responds after a pause, not looking up from the blade in his hands. 

“Good, good…” Adrian trails off and lets the smile drop from his face, looking at the hooded killer with concern and apprehension. “Can I tell you something, Jeff?” 

Jeff slowly pockets his knife, considering the request. He hadn’t planned on sticking around longer than it took to get his knife before retreating back to wallow in his misery. But interacting with Adrian seems to be distracting him, so he might as well go with it. 

“Okay?” Pale blue eyes make contact with Adrians for the first time as the older male moves his head just enough to peer out from under his hood and long black hair. The brunette smiles faintly. 

“You know when I was really upset that time? When you found me in the bathroom?” He moves back over to the table as he speaks and hops up to sit on it. 

“You mean when you were being a pathetic drunk idiot?” Jeff retorts snarkily. Adrian laughs.

“Yeah.” He pauses, looking away before continuing. “Well, I get like that a lot. What I was so sad about then, it.. It comes up in my head and I can’t get rid of it, you know?” Another pause. “Thank you again, for letting me tell you about it. I appreciate that more than I can say… But, um- My point with this is-” He looks back at Jeff and bites his lip nervously. “I’ve noticed something, since talking to you that night. You know what I noticed?” Jeff tilts his head, not knowing where this is going. “Since telling you about everything, I feel better.” The teen fidgets awkwardly with his hands. “I guess sometimes talking to someone about something makes it hurt less… Y’know?”

Jeff doesn’t take long thinking about Adrian's words before disregarding them. “Maybe for crying little fags.” He spits with a dismissive wave of his hand. 

Adrian’s heart drops. “Uh- Y-yeah.. I guess… Sorry…” He stammers in a voice hardly above a whisper as he gets down from the table. He walks out of the room, leaving Jeff standing there kind of confused. 

That was a bit strange. Jeff thinks, pretty sure that Adrian’s stammering and sudden exit was somewhat out of character. He seemed hurt by what Jeff said. Which is odd, because he isn’t usually phased by anything at all, let alone the insults and mockery that Jeff throws around all the time. Then he clocks what it was. The specific wording of what Jeff just said, he used a slur. A slur for something that he’s fairly sure at this point that Adrian actually is. 

The killer feels a sinking feeling in his stomach. He suddenly wishes he hadn’t said that. Not that he gives a shit if Adrian is upset... He doesn’t care. He doesn’t! So… why does he wish so hard that he hadn’t said that? 

Well, he successfully distracted himself from what wouldn’t leave his head earlier, at least. But now he’s just as distressed that he can’t stop thinking about that interaction with Adrian. Which has an extra layer of confusion and rage because there’s no reason for Jeff to even care! But he does . He hates that he said that, he hates that it was taken in the way that it apparently was, and he hates how he can’t stop thinking about the look of hurt that was on Adrian’s face before he left. 

Stop being fucking stupid. Jeff scolds himself mentally, incredibly frustrated and confused by his feelings of guilt. He decides that it must just be his more unstable than usual mood from being so fragile this morning and that he’s just being stupid right now. 

~

An old episode of a cartoon fills the otherwise quiet of Adrian’s bedroom. He sits on his bed, expression bored as he only half pays attention to the TV. He’s binged this show hundreds of times, so it’s mostly just a comforting noise at this point. 

At the sound of the door creaking open, the brunette turns his head to see Jeff walk in. 

“Hey, dude.” Adrian mumbles half-heartedly, turning back to watch his show. Jeff stands in the middle of the room looking at him for a moment, wanting to say something but not sure what to say. 

“What are you doing?” Is what he settles on saying finally. Adrian, who’s fairly sure that it's obvious what he's doing, glances briefly at him from the corner of his eye before responding. 

“Watching TV.”

Jeff continues to stand there looking at him for a moment, somewhat confused as to why it's bothering him so much that the teen is acting weird. He's less obnoxiously smiley and talkative, things that were annoying. But now it's annoying Jeff that he's not acting like that. 

"What is it?" Adrian asks, turning to look at the killer, who's just standing in the middle of his room looking at him with a look of frustration. There's a long moment where the two just stare at each other in silence before Jeff speaks. 

"Were you serious earlier? That talking about all that stuff made it feel better?" He fidgets with his sleeves, not making eye contact. 

"Uh." Adrian sits up straighter and faces Jeff more. "Well, yeah." There's another long silence. Jeff shifts his weight awkwardly, looking around the room at nothing in particular. He looks like he wants to speak but is struggling to find the words. "Is this you wanting to talk about what was wrong with you this morning?" The teenager asks bluntly with a raised eyebrow.

"What?!" Jeff looks at him with shock. "No!" Is all he can respond with, startled to know that he didn't hide his little episode very well. "I was just gonna say you're stupid! And a complete pussy." The insults are punctuated by him crossing his arms and looking away again. But then he keeps speaking, his voice growing quieter. "That's what I meant. Earlier…" He didn’t mean to say that last part, but he has low control generally, and their previous interaction is still eating away at his mind. “So, no, I don’t want to ‘ talk about it ’, you pathetic cry-baby.” He lets raven hair fall in front of his eyes as he spits more insults for good measure. He’s completely unaware that his attempt to sound aggressive just comes as incredibly childish. 

"Oh." The brunette looks down awkwardly. "Well.. the offer stands. If you ever want to talk to me about anything, you can." He glances up and makes eye contact with Jeff, who’s blue eyes are now peering at him from behind black tangles of hair. "That's what I was trying to say earlier." A sheepish smile makes its way onto Adrian’s lips. 

Jeff takes a moment to process. He should be pissed off at the attempt to pry into shit that isn’t any of the other’s business, but for some reason, he’s not even mad. He feels more at ease now, after being so stressed earlier. Maybe it’s that Adrian’s seemingly acting normal again, looking at him with that stupid smile on his face like he usually does. 

“Yeah, whatever.” Jeff mumbles, not having the energy to pretend to be angry about the offer. Finally starting to feel awkward just standing there, he sits down on the edge of Adrian’s bed, casually bringing his gaze to watch the TV screen with dull uninterested eyes. “Nothing to say, anyway.” 

“What do you mean?” Adrian asks cautiously, keeping his eyes fixed on the older male now sitting next to him. 

“I mean there’s nothing to say.” Jeff speaks in a dull tone, not taking his eyes off of the bright colours of the cartoon show. “I’m not like you. I’m not a victim. I’m the villain of my story, not anyone else.”

“Maybe so.” Memories run through the teens head, of the night he’d seen Jeff at his most vulnerable. Of the pain and sorrow so clear in his eyes that Adrian had felt it himself. He’d had some kind of night terror then. Adrian wonders if maybe that’s what happened this morning as well. “But, victim or perpetrator, something’s causing you pain…”   

“And?” 

“And- And I don’t know, dude. I just want to help you, I guess. Like you helped me.” 

“I wasn’t trying to help you.” 

“You didn’t have to pick me up off the floor, sit with me whilst I cried, or listen to my stupid pity party of a sob story. But you did. I know you weren’t trying to be nice, but…” Adrian looks down, knowing how pathetic he sounds. “It’s nicer than anyone’s ever been to me before.” 

Jeff glances briefly at Adrian, but doesn’t say anything. There’s a long pause before the brunette speaks again. “So.. um..” He bites his lip nervously before continuing. “Even if you don’t want to talk about it.. If there’s ever anything at all I can do to help, I’d be happy to.” The killer doesn’t respond or look at him. “But yeah. I get that you don’t want to talk about this. So, I’ll stop.” Adrian watches Jeff as he stares blank-faced at the TV. He clearly isn’t actually watching the show. “Do you wanna maybe play a game or something?” 

“Yes.” Jeff quickly agrees. He’s more than happy to accept the end of that conversation and an invitation to do something that will distract him from having to process anything he’s thinking or feeling currently. “Which game?” He asks, getting off of the bed and sitting on the floor to set up the games console next to the TV. He’s managed to learn how most of the technology in Adrian’s home works at this point. 

“Anything you want.” Adrian responds with a smile.

Chapter Text

Jeff looks around, kind of confused. Tall trees surround him as far as he can see in all directions, which isn’t actually that far with all of the thick fog. He doesn’t recognise the forest he finds himself in. He picks a direction and starts to walk, somewhat in a haze. 

Something about this place doesn’t feel right. Or maybe something just doesn’t feel right in general. An almost overwhelming sense of dread hangs over Jeff, and there’s a nagging desolate feeling in his chest. He feels as though he could keep walking through these trees indefinitely and not ever come across another person. 

After an indiscernible amount of time walking through the fog, Jeff suddenly feels someone grab him by the arm. He spins around and finds himself face to face with Adrian, his bright and sunny expression contrasting so severely with the gloomy surroundings that Jeff swears he sees literal light radiating from the boy. 

“Hey, Jeff.” Adrian chirps happily with a smile. Jeff smiles too. Adrian’s presence seems to get rid of the crushing darkness he had just felt. 

Jeff wants to speak, but finds himself unable to. He suddenly doesn’t seem to have control of his actions at all. He can only stare into those beautiful brown eyes, only vaguely aware that his body is moving now. 

Adrian’s smile doesn’t falter as Jeff raises his knife. Or when he plunges it right into his chest. 

“Jeff…” He smiles still as he speaks the killer’s name, voice hardly above a whisper. Tears start to stream down his face, mixing with the blood that now trickles from his mouth. 

Then suddenly he collapses and is on the ground. Jeff is on top of him, bloody knife gripped tightly and again slammed into his chest. And again. And again. Jeff stabs Adrian repeatedly as crimson red covers everything. It soaks Jeff’s hands, his clothing, his face. It’s as if that colour soaks into his skin, into his mind, staining every part of him. 

The grip that Adrian still had on Jeff’s arm falls as his body goes completely limp. The light and warmth fades from his eyes. Jeff stares down at the lifeless bloodied boy under him, now dead. All too suddenly, it’s bitterly cold, and Jeff feels a crushing pit of darkness and dread form in his stomach. 

The murderer reaches a blood soaked hand out and touches the corpse. “Go to sleep.” He speaks in an emotionless voice as he softly caresses the cold dead face. 

~ 

Jeff jolts awake in a panic. He sits up and looks around frantically in the darkness of the room, momentarily unsure of where he is. “Adrian..?” He calls into the dark, his voice quiet and broken. Tears are running down his face. 

It takes a few moments for the fact that it was a dream to set in, but as Jeff starts to catch up to reality, his shaky breathing steadies and his racing heart calms. He wipes tears from his face and takes a deep breath, exhaling with a sigh as he lays back down. He stares up at the ceiling, unsure what to think.

The details are already fading away, but the images of murdering Adrian stay vividly lodged in Jeff’s mind. Watching the life fade from his eyes, the feeling of his blood, the lingering sight of his dead face. 

What does it mean? Is it his mind telling him to just kill the kid already? Or… that he doesn’t actually want to? 

No, that’s stupid. 

Maybe it doesn’t mean anything. Dreams don’t have to mean anything. And neither does the fact he woke up in tears. Jeff doesn’t want to think about it anymore, so he does his best not to. 

It’s morning, just about. The first signs of sunlight are starting to appear in the sky as Jeff walks up to the house, deciding to get something to eat and find something to do to occupy his thoughts, since he probably won’t be able to get back to sleep. 

After an hour or two, Jeff is sitting in the living room playing on a tablet he found on the sofa. 

“You’re up early.” A groggy Adrian comments with a yawn as he walks in, surprised to find Jeff there. “Hey.” The teen sits down next to Jeff, meeting his gaze with a smile when he looks up from the device in his hands. 

The second Jeff sees Adrian’s face, visions of stabbing him flash into his head. He sees Adrian sitting there smiling at him, but he also sees him dead, covered in blood with a knife in his chest. Jeff quickly looks away. He doesn’t like the strong reminder of his weird dream, or the pit in his stomach and feelings of dread it brings. 

It’s immediately clear to Adrian that somethin’s up. “Jeff?” He doesn’t get a response, the killer just staying silent and staring at the wall. “Are you okay?” Jeff fidgets uncomfortably before suddenly standing up. He doesn’t look at Adrian as he leaves the room, only mumbling the word “tired” as he does. 

Adrian doesn’t put too much thought into what that was about, instead he just accepts that his less than stable friend isn’t in the best mood today. Whatever’s wrong, he hope’s that Jeff feels better soon. Though, he is disappointed that hanging out with Jeff is apparently not in the cards for today. 

~

Jeff, after attempting and failing to get back to sleep, occupies himself by playing on the old games console in the shed. He honestly just wants to just go, so he can go on a killing spree to clear his head, but he’d rather not leave in daylight as it makes it hard to get out of town without unnecessary eyes on him. 

Though he does have to admit, the mindless repetitive activity of shooting the crap out of enemies on whatever this game is called is quite an excellent way to avoid thoughts. What thoughts is he avoiding? Well, it starts with a question. One that his weird dream and the ensuing intrusive thoughts have raised. Should he just kill Adrian already? 

This whole friendship thing has gone on way longer than he’d planned. Not that he planned on it at all, but still. He’s been coming here and being all buddy-buddy with this kid for ages. Surely he’s got everything he can out of it by now. Why has it gone on this long? Maybe he’s let himself get used to having such a nice place to crash? 

The logical move is to just stop coming back to this place, after ending the life of the idiot who harboured him and now knows too much. Killing Adrian was always the plan. And yet… it’s becoming impossible to ignore the discomfort that the thought of doing so brings. And that’s what Jeff really doesn’t want to think about. He doesn’t want to process how the thought of stabbing Adrian doesn’t excite him, but makes him uncomfortable. 

The screen shows the words ‘game over’ and Jeff sighs, putting down the controller. He looks over to the window, and seeing that it’s starting to get dark, decides to start getting ready to head out. He really needs to kill something.

Jeff heads up to the house to grab his hoodie and knife. On the kitchen table, he finds a note. 

Jeff,

Went to meet some friends, will be back before dark x

-Adrian

He rolls his eyes. Adrian really left him a note? That’s kind of dumb. Though, Jeff is glad that he did that instead of coming to bother him in person. 

Jeff is getting impatient and wants to leave already, but is unable to find his hoodie. He starts off searching quietly, not wanting Adrian (who he assumes is already back and is up in his room) to come down. But by the time it’s dark outside and he still hasn’t found it, he’s throwing things around somewhat aggressively. He groans in annoyance before giving in and heading upstairs. 

He expects to find Adrian in his bedroom, but doesn’t. What was even the point of that note then? He wonders to himself, glancing out of the window and at the darkness outside. 

A search of this room confirms that his hoodie isn’t in here either. Growing increasingly agitated, Jeff starts quickly looking into the other rooms of the house, looking for Adrian. He finds nothing but the dusty old junk that’s always in the unused rooms. In the end he grabs a random black hoodie from Adrian’s room and decides to just leave before he’s lost too much of the night. 

Walking through the woodland, Jeff savours the pleasant surroundings, before he has to walk through a bunch of fields and along roads. He focuses on the sound of the wind in the trees and bugs flying around him, enjoying the sound of nature and letting it drown out any thoughts. That is, until the keen senses of a hunter start to pick up the sound of something less pleasant: people. 

Jeff hears voices in the distance and stops. The sound is coming from ahead of him, right where he needs to go. But it should be fairly easy to avoid them if he’s careful. He starts moving again, this time carefully and paying close attention to his surroundings, walking almost without a sound. You don’t live as a fugitive serial killer for as long as he has without getting very good at stealth. 

As the voices grow closer, Jeff stands behind a large tree and keeps very quiet. He hears what sounds like some teenage boys loudly and probably drunkenly talking to each other as they pass. Sounds like they’re mostly talking about drugs, sex, how drunk they are; the kind of conversation typical of teenagers roaming around at night. Though as they pass, something’s said that stands out. 

“Who invited Adrian anyway?”

“Are you stupid? How do you think we paid for everything?” 

“I know, but the guy’s fucking annoying! It took so long to get rid of him.” 

“Well we did it eventually, didn’t we? It just takes giving him enough drugs that he can’t follow you. Someone jot that down for the future.” 

The group of what sounds to be three boys all laugh and go back to a different conversation. Their voices get quieter as they pass and get further away. 

Of course the loud group of stupid teenagers are Adrian’s friends, Jeff isn’t shocked by that at all. He’s also not shocked to hear how little respect Adrian’s friends have for him. The kid really is a doormat. 

What those boys were saying makes Jeff think. Is Adrian out here somewhere? Sounded like they hadn’t long ditched him. It’s not hard for Jeff to follow the tracks of the group of boys back in the direction they came from. He tells himself that he was going that way already, which is mostly true. 

After only a few minutes of walking, Jeff notices something ahead of him. At first it looks like a bag or pile of clothing or something, but as he gets closer he realises it’s a person, someone seemingly passed out on the ground. He approaches cautiously and it soon becomes apparent that it’s Adrian. 

Jeff freezes. And for a moment, he just stands there, staring at the motionless form of the boy on the ground. A cold dread washes over him, which he's sure is because of the eerie similarities between what he's seeing now and the dream he had. 

The killer slowly walks over to Adrian, vivid images of the dream flash into his vision. He's standing over him now. "... Adrian?" He nudges the side of his face slightly with a foot. In response, Adrian jolts slightly, opening his eyes and waking up. Jeff releases a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

The dishevelled teen groans, appearing to be in a daze. He doesn't speak and his eyes don't seem to focus on anything. It's only now that Jeff notices that Adrian's wearing his white hoodie. "Asshole." He mutters as he crouches down next to him and just glares for a second, waiting for him to say something, which he doesn't. He only vacantly looks around, eyes not really focusing on anything. "Hey," The killer pokes Adrian in the arm, frustrated with the unresponsiveness. "Get up." 

"... Jeff?" Adrian finally meets the gaze of the pale blue eyes glaring down at him. "Ugh… What-" The clearly quite intoxicated teen sits up and looks around him. "Where are we?" 

"Where's it look like? Bit of an odd place to be unconscious on the ground, don't you think? Idiot. And give me that." Jeff starts to take the white hoodie off of Adrian, who quietly lets him whilst seeming to process what's going on.

"I was with my friends and… um.." He mumbles to himself as Jeff puts on the hoodie and throws him the one he was wearing.

"I must have passed out, I guess." Adrian laughs, brushing some leaves and dirt out of his hair. 

 “Ah yes, being fucking retarded enough to pass out in the middle of the woods is so funny .” Jeff scowls at the cheerful expression on the others' faces. For some reason the cheerful attitude is really pissing him off right now. 

“I mean, yeah.” Adrian stands up, despite being wavy. “People tend to ditch me given the chance, so it’s always pretty funny to wake up still wrecked and work out where I am, I guess.” He puts on the black hoodie, now starting to feel the cold. “I do feel pretty sick though, which sucks. I should probably go h-” 

“You’re pathetic , you know that, right?” Jeff shoves Adrian angrily, almost causing him to topple over, though he manages not to. He looks at Jeff with confusion and concern, not knowing what he did or said to make him so mad. He’s about to say something but the killer starts yelling at him before he can. “You’re such a stupid little doormat of a person. Do you like being treated like shit? Is that it? Because why else would you be like this?” He moves closer to the shorter male, glaring down at him intimidatingly, lost in anger. 

“Like what?” Adrian mumbles meekly, confused by Jeff’s outburst and honestly too out of it to process this right now. 

“Like this!” Jeff suddenly grabs Adrian by the hair and violently throws him to the ground. “You let people do whatever they want to you, take whatever they want from you, and you just smile and let it happen.” Adrian looks up at Jeff and as soon as he does, the angry psycho kicks him hard in the side. “It’s the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen, and that’s saying something.” Jeff jeers spitefully as the teen on the ground below him whimpers in pain. 

The anger transitioning seamlessly into violence and bloodlust, Jeff’s knife is in his hand without him consciously getting it out. He grips the handle tight, looking down at Adrian. Then in a split second, the killer jumps backwards. He looks down at the blade in his now shaking hand. Then back at Adrian on the ground, who hasn’t bothered moving or even trying to look at him again. 

The scene of blood and death that haunts Jeff from his dream, he doesn’t like it. Realising that he was close to recreating that situation in reality fills him with panic and dread. 

He doesn’t want to kill Adrian. 

He slowly takes more steps backwards, eyes wide. The revelation makes him feel sick, but he can’t ignore it now. 

So, Jeff does what he tends to do with feelings he doesn’t want to process, though a bit more literally this time. He runs. 

By the time Adrian lifts his head from the ground to look around in confusion, Jeff is gone.

Chapter Text

For months and months, Adrian goes about his days somewhat normally. He eats, sleeps, hangs out with friends, acts as his normal cheerful self. But as time goes on, he finds himself unable to ignore the growing cloud of depression hanging over him. 

It isn't only the realisation that Jeff, someone he's become very attached to and who he feels may be the first real friend he's ever had, doesn't look like he's coming back ever this time. It's also, even more so, the words his friend left him with.

That whole night is fuzzy for Adrian, but he remembers being yelled at. 

Pathetic

Stupid little doormat

Every word of what Jeff said to him is true, Adrian knows that. So why do the words echo through his head, sending waves of sadness through him?

It’s probably because the person Adrian likes and respects more than anyone he's ever met is now just another person who left because he couldn’t stand to be around him.

One thing Jeff said sticks in his head more than the rest, forcing him to think about his life harder than he ever has before. 

Do you like being treated like shit? 

Of course the answer is no. Right? Well, the more Adrian thinks about it the more he realises that it isn’t that simple. After all, he clearly always chooses being treated like shit over being alone. 

Adrian lifts his head from staring down at the ground, pulling himself slightly out of his thoughts and looking around at his surroundings. He’s sitting with his back against the wall of the old church building, a ways away from where lots of people are gathered around a small fire, loudly talking and singing and drunkenly dancing to the terrible rap music that blares loudly from a speaker. 

It’s quite a large gathering. Everyone seems to be having a great time. Not Adrian though, who no one has noticed sitting off to the side slowly sipping a beer and staring off into space. Or, if they have noticed, they don’t care enough to say anything. 

As Adrian’s dull eyes glance over to the loud group, he wonders if anyone would notice if he just got up and walked off without saying anything. Probably not. He considers the idea for a moment. He wouldn’t usually choose being alone over being with people, in fact he usually goes to great lengths to avoid being alone at all costs. But right now, he’s analysing that aspect of himself and thinking that maybe he doesn’t want to be that person anymore? Or, he at least doesn’t want it to mean letting people treat him like a joke. Which is exactly what he is to everyone. 

Though still not exactly wanting to be alone, Adrian stands up, resolved to leave. He walks off into the trees in the direction of home. 

He's only just made it to the nearby road and started walking up it towards where he lives before he hears twigs snapping, like someone's behind him. He freezes and his eyes widen as he spins around to look behind him. standing stock still, he listens, and hears definite sounds of a person coming from the dark of the woods he just exited. 

"Jeff?" The teen calls into the dark, just as a form steps into what little light there is. 

"Aha, no?" Danny mumbles, tripping slightly on a tree root as he steps onto the pavement. "Who's that?" 

Seeing that it's Danny, Adrian visibly deflates in disappointment. "Uh- No one…" 

Danny, apparently at least a little drunk, shrugs and starts to drink from the bottle of liquor in his hand. 

"Uh.. Don't you live that way, man?" Adrian asks, gesturing in the direction they've just come from. 

"Mn, saw ya leaving and figured I'd walk you home, yeah?" Danny chuckles slightly and smirks as he starts walking, motioning for Adrian to follow. 

"I, um-" Adrian blinks, not sure what to say for a few seconds. He really isn't in the mood for being a shame-fuck tonight. "I- Danny, hang on a sec-" He catches up to Danny and stands in front of him, stopping him from walking and getting his attention. "Thank you, but I'm really not up for all that right now. I'm really sorry, I just… I've been feeling really down recently, you know?" 

Danny stares blankly at Adrian for a moment, before taking another swig from his bottle. "Aw, that's too bad, love." Not too long ago, someone referring to him as such a pet name would have made Adrian's heart race. But all it does tonight, with all the rethinking his life and relationships, is make him wonder just what and how much Danny's had to drink. "I'm sure you could still do with a friend though, right?" Danny smiles, somewhat more genuinely and sweetly than is usual for him. "I'll still walk you home? Make sure you get there safely?" 

That on the other hand, does make Adrian's heart race. He instantly perks up, a cautious smile pulling at his lips. "Really?" 

"Yeah, dude. C'mon." 

The conversation doesn't progress much more than small talk as the two boys make their way to Adrian's road, though that doesn't really matter. The simple offer of being walked home with no ulterior motive, has brightened Adrian's mood a considerable amount. He smiles as he walks with Danny, feeling comforted by the fact that at least someone cares, if only a little bit, about his well being. 

When they arrive at his door, Adrian turns to his friend. "Thank you for taking me home. Really. It means a lot." He pulls Danny into a hug, which the taller boy returns. Adrian pulls away with a grateful smile on his face, one hand on the handle of his front door. "Goodnight." 

"Aren't you gonna invite me in?" Danny mumbles, hands still on Adrian from the embrace and now starting to slide their way under his clothes. 

"Uh…" Adrian freezes up for a moment, before finding the strength to stick with what he's already made clear. "Like I said," He takes Danny's hands and gently moves them away from him. "I'm really not feeling it. I'm sorry." 

"Come on, let's talk about it inside, yeah?" The older boy insists, taking Adrian by the arm with one hand and going for the door with the other. "I already walked all this way."

"I said no, dude!" Adrian snaps, feeling deceived and hurt. He keeps his hand firmly on the door handle to prevent it from being opened and tries to push Danny away. 

Ego definitely bruised, Danny looks at Adrian with sudden rage. "What the fuck?!" He again moves closer, though this time much more aggressively. "I come all this fucking way in the middle of the night and you won't even let me in? Who the fuck do you think you are?" He roughly grabs Adrian by the face and shoves him up against the door, spitting angry words directly into his ear. "You should be grateful I even want to go anywhere near you. No one else fucking does." Adrian's head is violently slammed into the door behind him, causing intense pain.

The brunette struggles, tears streaming down his face as he tries to wriggle out of the larger male's grasp. "Get off me!" He yells, attempting to push Danny away from him with all the strength he has, which isn't much. He's soon silenced by his head being smashed into the door even harder, and then a hand firmly covering his mouth.

"The least you could do is suck me off for my trouble." Danny mutters as he opens the door to the house and pushes Adrian inside, who almost falls over, his head in a lot of pain. 

Adrian, now having accepted that there's no way out of what's happening, sobs and wipes tears from his face with a sleeve, turning to look at Danny as he follows him inside and goes to shut the door behind them. 

Only, he doesn't quite get to close the door. What comes next happens so fast that Adrian struggles to process what's going on. 

Just as the door is an inch from closing, it's suddenly kicked in with so much force that it throws Danny backwards. Then before the half drunk teenager knows what hit him, he's on the ground, blood flying everywhere as a blade is repeatedly slammed into his body, so hard it hits the floor beneath him. 

Adrian, wide eyed with specks of crimson blood splattered across his face, watches as the crazed attack slows until the figure is just sat motionless atop the now extremely dead Danny. He doesn't look up at Adrian, just remains silent and unmoving, sitting on the slashed up corpse, even as he allows the knife to fall from his now limp hand and clatter onto the blood covered wooden floor. 

After what feels like an eternity of silence, save from the sounds of Adrian softly crying, Jeff finally moves. He gets off of the body, and shuffles somewhat away from it before reaching a hand up to push the door closed. He still refuses to look up, his black hair completely covering his face as he keeps his eyes firmly locked onto the ground.

"Jeff…" Adrian finally manages to speak, his voice quiet and strained. Then he's suddenly crying harder, falling to his knees and sobbing, all of the events of the past 10 minutes starting to set in. "You were right." He chokes out between sobs. "You were right, Jeff. I'm pathetic, I let people hurt me, I- I-" He loses the words and just continues to sob. When he opens his eyes again, Jeff is looking at him. Blood splatter covers the pale scarred skin of his face, which is now visible. 

"No." The blood soaked killer says quietly, before slowly turning his head from Adrian to glance down at the mess of blood and guts that were once a teenage boy. "You tried to stand up for yourself…" Jeff’s words are calm and emotionless.

"I…" Adrian looks over the gorey scene in front of him, processing what was said. It is true, he supposes, though it's not like it did him much good. His eyes linger on the morbid image of Danny's face, covered in blood, twisted into a grim expression of shock and fear. He's not seen a dead body before, let alone such a gruesome sight as the mangled corpse he now finds in front of him. 

Pulling his eyes from the body, Adrian slowly moves towards Jeff, not caring about the blood and guts he has to crawl through to do so. "Jeff…" He reaches a now bloody hand cautiously towards the motionless killer.

Adrian's hand touches softly on Jeff's shoulder, who calmly turns to look at him, no emotion showing in his pale blue eyes as they stare into Adrian's tearful brown ones. 

Then, Adrian breaks down again. More tears flow down his face, he grips onto Jeff's hoodie and collapses into the violent psycho's lap, clinging onto him and sobbing into his shirt. "Th-thank you-" He stutters between sobs. "Thank you f-for helping me- Thank you." 

Jeff looks down at the boy clinging tightly onto him, sobbing and choking out muffled thanks. He doesn't know what to do or say, so he just sits still and lets this happen.

Once Adrian's calmed down and grown quiet, Jeff shifts uncomfortably and nudges him slightly with a pale bloody hand. The trembling and sniffling boy takes the hint and sits up, getting off of Jeff with a muttered "sorry", though extremely thankful to have been allowed the brief physical comfort.

For a few minutes, the two just sit there in the pool of bloody gore, not looking at each other. It feels like ages pass before Adrian finally speaks, his voice just above a whisper, though still cutting through the silence like a scream. 

"What, um… What do we do about this mess…?" 

This appears to jolt Jeff out of whatever dissociative state he was in, and he shifts, looking again at the body and the gorey mess that covers the entire hallway. "Uh." Jeff may be a very skilled hunter, home invader, murderer, and fugitive, but the times which he's had to clean up after himself are few and far between. He tends to leave a horror scene behind wherever he goes, never needing to cover anything up, or wanting to for that matter. 

He thinks for a moment, then stands up. He takes one last look around at the extent of the mess, before stepping over the body and heading further into the house. 

“Wait,” Adrian calls, scrambling to stand up and almost slipping in blood as he does. Jeff stops, but doesn’t turn around. “Please, I don’t want to be alone…” The request comes out far closer to pathetic begging than Adrian would have liked it to. 

There’s a few seconds of silence before Jeff responds. “Then come with me.” 

So he does. Jeff leads him upstairs, where he goes through rooms, wordlessly handing Adrian things to carry. They return to the bloody mess with sheets and cleaning supplies. 

~~~~~~

A good few hours later, the first glimpse of sunlight is shining in through from under the curtains. Adrian works diligently scrubbing the floor with bleach, glancing up every so often at Jeff as he does the same. He wants to say something, but can’t seem to find anything to say. 

Danny’s body now lays off to the side, out of the way and wrapped tightly in lots of sheets. Adrian looks over at it, stopping what he’s doing for a second. 

“I’ll bury it. Far out in the woods somewhere.” Jeff states matter of factly, not stopping or looking away from scrubbing the floor. Satisfied with the answer to the question he hadn’t asked out loud, Adrian resumes cleaning. Though after another minute or so, he stops again and looks at Jeff, trying to find the words he wants to say, but still can’t. He just sits and stares for a while. 

“What?” Jeff finally asks, still not looking up from what he’s doing. 

“Uh…” Adrian fiddles with his hands nervously. “Thank you. For coming back. And for.. Saving me. And for helping me get rid of all this.” He gestures around. “I know you don’t need to… So thank you.” 

Blue eyes dart briefly up to glance at Adrian before looking away again. “That’s what you’re meant to do, isn’t it? You’re meant to help friends?” Jeff lets the mess of long black hair fall into his face and focuses again on scrubbing the floor. Adrian smiles, feeling a warmth fill his chest. He also goes back to scrubbing the floor, still smiling. 

Despite the calm energy relative to the situation, there’s still one big blaring fact hanging over both of their heads. That being how Jeff appeared at exactly the right time, and the miniscule odds of that happening without Jeff having been there, watching Adrian for at least some time already. Adrian doesn’t bring this up, and Jeff is thankful for that.

Chapter Text

Adrian blinks, his face completely devoid of emotion as it stares back at him from the mirror. The night's events have yet to really set in. Thoughts and feelings are a jumbled mess, but seem distant right now. The dissociation is probably for the best though. 

One thought at a time.

The blood is gone, successfully washed from his face and hands, and he's wearing fresh clothes. The image looking back at him from the mirror looks normal. That's good. 

Next on the agenda: go find Jeff, since apparently being alone for a minute is all it took to suddenly not feel okay at all. 

Jeff showered first and said he would be waiting downstairs, so that's where Adrian goes. He finds him casually lounging on the sofa in the living room. The killer turns his head slightly and glances at Adrian as he comes into the room, but doesn't say anything. 

Silently, Adrian walks over and sits in the arm chair, as the sofa is completely taken up by Jeff laying on it. 

"We'll deal with the body when it's dark." Jeff speaks after a long silence. "Everything else is dealt with I'm pretty sure." 

Adrian nods.

There's another beat of silence. Then Jeff shifts where he's laying, yawning and stretching. "Can't believe I was up all night fucking cleaning ." He groans. 

"Yeah…" Adrian mumbles distantly. 

There's another long pause, before Jeff turns his head to look over at Adrian. "You aren't usually so quiet." He states bluntly, before going back to staring at the ceiling. 

"... Well, I did kind of just watch one of my friends get brutally stabbed to death." 

Jeff sits up. "Right…" He looks away, raising a pale hand to run through his wet hair. "Sorry about that…" 

Adrian snaps somewhat out of the daze he was in and stares at Jeff, finding himself in shock at the killer's words. Did Jeff really just apologise to him for something? That's new. And weird. The surprise causes Adrian to take a few seconds to register how stupid and unneeded the apology even is. 

"Wh- what? Sorry? Why? If you hadn't showed up when you did, I-" Adrian cuts himself off. He looks down at his hands and fidgets with them nervously. "You really helped me. Don't apologise. I'm just a bit shaken up is all." 

He can feel icy blue eyes on him and doesn't need to look up to know that Jeff is staring now. 

"Are you scared of me?" This has been asked so many times before, but this time it lacks any emotion. The sadism, frustration, and curiosity usually present in the query are completely gone, and in their place is nothing but a simple question. 

In response, Adrian instantly looks up and meets the killer's gaze. "Of course not." 

Jeff, somewhat dramatically, slumps back down onto the sofa with an annoyed groan. "Damn."

The brunette sighs, a smile tugging at his lips as he rests his head on his hand, watching as his friend sits up and yawns again. "Really though," Jeff mumbles, starting to stand up. "I'm really fucking tired." 

"Oh- Yes, uh-" Adrian stumbles over his words, standing and following Jeff as he leaves the room, moving through the house towards the kitchen. "Everything is in there ready…" He mumbles, knowing that he's had fresh folded blankets and clothes on the sofa in the shed for months in hopes that Jeff would come back. 

"Cool. Thanks." Jeff opens the back door, but turns to face Adrian for a moment. "You should sleep too. We've got a body to bury later. That shit's a lot of work." 

Adrian can't find words to respond, just nodding as Jeff leaves and closes the door behind him. He watches from the kitchen window as the killer makes his way down the garden path and into the shed. 

The teen frowns, biting at his lip nervously. He desperately wanted to ask Jeff to stay with him. Being alone isn't his favourite thing on a good day, but right now he feels like he'll fall apart. Jeff's presence made him feel safe, and was the only thing keeping him from having to process everything. But, Adrian knows that he should let Jeff rest. He'd feel bad bothering him further. 

Besides, Jeff is right. Adrian should get some sleep too. 

~

Rain patters down onto the window of the old van. Liu leans his head on the glass, watching the raindrops, trying to let the pitter patter calm him. He's never fully right in the head after waking from a nightmare. 

He sighs and closes his eyes, just focusing on that calming sound and trying his best to erase his dream from his mind. If he listens intently enough to the rain, he can't hear what echoes in his head, haunting him from his dreams. The words that have been with him since that night all those years ago, the words that cause his insomnia. Go to sleep. 

Liu is suddenly startled by the van door opening. Jane climbs into the driver's seat and closes the door behind her. 

"Hey." Liu greets, voice quiet and tired sounding. Jane starts the van before turning to him.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"Not really." 

Jane starts to drive.

"How did it go?" Liu asks, climbing into the front seat from his makeshift bed in the back. 

"That depends if this leads anywhere." Jane pulls a crumpled torn piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to Liu whilst keeping her eyes on the road. Liu glances at the paper before handing it back. 

"And what's that?" 

"Apparently, the location of a private investigator who's hunting the same animal we are." 

"Hm…" Liu looks away, considering this information. He hasn't heard of this person existing before. It's somewhat concerning. 

After a while of driving, Jane suddenly pulls over. She turns to Liu. "You're not okay, are you?" She asks, her tone soft and caring as she looks at Liu with sadness. “Nightmares?”

"I'll be fine." Liu states after a pause, avoiding eye contact. 

"You're right. You will be," Jane grins, again holding up the piece of paper. "When we find this man, take what he knows, and finally hunt down the monster who did this to you." She laughs, her tone growing dark and the paper scrunching up in her fist. "We'll gut him and dance in his entrails, okay baby?" 

Liu cringes at this sudden slip of rage and bloodlust. He looks at Jane and frowns, now registering the fact she's covered in blood. "Did you really need to kill that guy to get this?" 

Jane's smile drops. "Some things can't be avoided, Liu…" 

"And what did you do with his family?" 

The question hangs in the air for a long moment. 

"... I spared the children." 

And, for a few minutes, the two just sit there. With only the sound of the rain. 

“It’ll be dark soon.” Jane speaks finally. She looks around at their surroundings, the side of an old road in the middle of nowhere, before turning to Liu. “Do you want to just stay parked up here for the night?” 

“I might as well drive through the night. I’m not going to be able to sleep any m-” Liu stops talking when Jane moves from the driver’s seat and climbs somewhat awkwardly over to the passenger’s side to sit in his lap, a position only just about possible in the cramped space of the vehicle. 

“Shhh..” Jane runs a hand softly down the side of Liu’s face, black eyes staring into his, her whole body pressed up against him. He welcomes the intimacy, wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling his face into her neck. She really is the only thing that’s ever made him feel better when things get bad. 

"There's lots of things we could do, other than sleep." Jane's voice is sweet and velvety soft in Liu's ear. She cups his face in her hand, turning his face to again stare into her inky black eyes. "Maybe I can make you feel a bit better, hm?" 

The couple kisses passionately, content in each other's embrace as the rain continues to pour outside. 

~

Despite mental and physical exhaustion, Adrian doesn't sleep. 

By the afternoon, all attempts at rest are long given up on. Adrian is sitting on his windowsill, window wide open and lifeless eyes gazing blankly out at the dreary grey sky, only being pulled from spacing out when the music that he hadn't really been listening to finishes. He glances down at the phone sitting next to him and quickly taps on another playlist, not really caring what it is as long as it's sound to ward off the silence. He then puts out the cigarette in his hand, discarding it out of the window before immediately rolling another. He's been chain smoking for a good few hours now. 

That's how Jeff finds him when he approaches the house. He stops just short of the back door and looks up, seeing the teen sitting in his window with a cigarette, apparently not having noticed his presence yet. 

Jeff shifts somewhat awkwardly, staring up at Adrian but making no move to get his attention. After a moment though he snaps out of it, quickly and skillfully climbing up the side of the house towards the open window. Adrian still fails to notice Jeff until he's pulling himself up onto the windowsill next to him. That's quite a bit more oblivious than he usually is.

The brunette lets out a startled shriek and almost falls off of the ledge, only being stopped by Jeff reflexively grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back from falling whilst still only clinging to the building by one hand himself. 

"Oh- J-Jeff, it's you-... H-hey…" Adrian stammers, getting over the shock and going back to staring off into the distance as Jeff sits on the windowsill next to him. 

Jeff remains silent for a moment, just staring at the jumpy teen. He's suddenly unsure of himself and doesn't know what to say, which is an unusual feeling for him. But, he figures it's suddenly being back here, after staying away for a while. He didn't even make a conscious decision to come back, in fact he specially decided not to, but he's stupid and lacks self control. He stalked Adrian, for reasons even he isn't sure of, and a split second lapse of control due to blind rage led to a whole messy situation.

A situation that absolutely nothing forced him to stick around and deal with. Yet, here he is. 

It's at about this point in blankly staring at him without responding that the brunette would usually just continue the conversation anyway, making up for the killer's lack of social skills. But Adrian only continues to smoke his cigarette, eyes not really focused on anything. 

“Morning…” Jeff mumbles after far too long, despite it not in fact being morning. 

Adrian doesn’t say anything. So for a while the two just sit there quietly, Adrian smoking and gazing out at the view, Jeff still just staring at him. 

He must have gotten more used to Adrian's company than he thought, because not only can he just tell that something is different with the kid right now, but he hates it. Why is he acting weird? It’s annoying. And not annoying in the way Jeff is usually annoyed by the talkative and peppy teen, this is way worse. The vacant expression on Adrian’s face and dull far away look in his eyes, it’s giving Jeff an unpleasant sensation in his chest and a dark pit in his stomach, like something isn’t right. 

He can’t stop thinking that he maybe shouldn’t have killed that guy. That thought is a very strange one, considering that he’s not regretted killing anyone in a very long time , and the guy definitely had it coming. Still, Adrian being like this, and knowing it’s his fault… He almost feels bad? 

Realising just how long he’s been staring now, Jeff looks away from Adrian. He sighs, frustrated with his own lack of conversational skills. He then glances down at Adrian’s phone, which sits next to them with youtube open and playing music quietly. 

“What’s this?” 

Adrian seems to come back to reality from wherever he’d drifted off to, looking down at the phone to see what was playing because he sure hasn't been listening to it. 

“Oh, um- It’s Gorillaz. I can put something else on if you don’t like it.” He goes to pick up the phone. 

“No, it’s fine. It’s good is all…” Jeff mumbles, stopping Adrian from changing the song. Then it’s back to no one talking. Fuck, Jeff really can’t carry a conversation. It’s not a skill he’s ever needed or wanted, but it sure would be useful right now. 

Jeff sighs again, now even more frustrated. He leans back and looks up at the grey cloudy expanse above them, trying to work out what’s bothering him more: Adrian being weird, or the fact he even cares about that in the first place. 

“You okay, dude?” Adrian asks absently, glancing at Jeff, who sits up and responds instantly with his own question. 

“Are you okay?” The words are blurted out fast enough to make clear that Jeff was thinking them for a while already. "You, uh- You look like shit. Like you still haven't slept." He adds, looking away. "I get you're freaked out.. but I figured you'd get over it. You let me stay in your house, and you know what I am. Are you really that affected by seeing someone die?" 

Adrian blinks, processing for a moment, before slowly putting out his cigarette and shifting somewhat so that he's sat facing Jeff. "I'm not doing too well, no. But, I…" He looks down at his hands and fidgets nervously. "I don't think that's why." It's quiet for a moment, and when Adrian looks back up, Jeff is looking at him expectantly. "It's just- It's a lot of things, really."

Jeff continues to just look at Adrian, expecting him to say more, but he doesn't. "... What things?" 

Adrian looks into those pale blue eyes that are so intently focused on him as he considers the question. Jeff seems, at the very least, genuinely interested in what's wrong with him, and that brings such a feeling of safety and comfort. He feels like he can talk about what he's thinking and that Jeff will actually listen. He likes that.

"Well, obviously theres all the panic stemming from the fact we literally fucking murdered Danny, and the fear of consequences for that. But then there's also, like, I just- ugh-" Adrian stops, frustrated that he can't communicate what he's trying to. He almost gets stressed out with himself, but seeing Jeff calmly waiting for him to continue takes away any feelings of needing to rush. He takes a deep breath and tries again more slowly. "I'm not really freaked out about the blood, the fact he's dead, seeing him die, none of it. Even in the moment, it didn't scare me, didn't even feel queasy or anything. And that's freaking me out. A normal person wouldn't be okay with those things, would they?" He bites his lip and looks at Jeff for a response to his question. 

"Uh… No, Adrian. A normal person wouldn't be okay with those things. But they also wouldn't be friends with a serial killer, so…" 

Adrian stares blankly for a moment, before laughing. "Good point." He giggles, now smiling.

Jeff grins, glad to see Adrian look a bit more like himself. "Normal people are stupid anyway." The killer mutters quietly with a smile, feeling far more relaxed now. "And don't worry. About getting into trouble. I'll deal with it." 

"Oh yeah and I'm so sorry about being all sleep deprived and stuff, I just, I really couldn't sleep. I'll be fine tho, I'll just pound a monster and-" 

"Don't worry about it, I'll just do it by myself." 

Adrian is going to protest, as Jeff has already done a lot for him at this point and he feels bad letting him do more without even helping, but the way it was said doesn't really sound like it's up for debate. 

Adrian assumes that Jeff would rather not deal with him when his mind is all over the place like this. He probably wouldn't be much help anyway. 

"Thank you, Jeff." He's fully aware of the fact that Jeff doesn't need to help him. He could have just left Adrian with a murder scene in his house. Or he could have not intervened when Danny attacked him at all.

Jeff is a psychotic, unhinged serial murderer. If he'd been able to, he would have ended Adrian's life the moment they met. It took a complete lack of survival instinct and incessant pestering to get to the point of him sticking around for anything more than convenience or curiosity. But, despite everything, it seems the killer really does see him as a friend. 

Sure, he still might get murdered at some point, but this is the most genuine friendship Adrian has ever had. 

"Jeff…" Adrian starts after a few minutes of the two just sitting there, now remembering that he missed out a large part of what's playing on his mind. 

"Mn?" 

"... Will you leave again?"

Adrian feels bad asking this, not wanting to be overly clingy or demanding when Jeff's being so nice to him right now. But, he really just needs to know. He wants to at least have the chance to mentally prepare himself for the abandonment if Jeff runs off again and doesn't come back. 

When there's no response after a moment, Adrian speaks again. 

"I'm sorry, just so you know. I really am. I know I'm pathetic. Everything you said was true, I know that. But I- I can be different- I want to be better." He's starting to ramble, and his voice is starting to break as he's clearly getting emotional. "Because, what's the point of being such a people pleaser if it makes the only person I actually care about hate me…" 

Jeff looked away from Adrian at some point as he was talking. He stares down at the garden below them, expression unreadable. 

"I don't care what you do." He says after a moment, voice quiet and monotone. "It's not like it affects me. It was dumb to get so pissed at you, I don't know why I was angry. I guess I was just in a bad mood or something…" 

Jeff means what he's saying. He really doesn't understand why Adrian's willingness to be abused by his friends made him so mad. 

"So," Adrian wrings his hands, his words coming out not much louder than a whisper. "You'll keep hanging out with me?" 

Jeff shrugs, still looking down at the ground. "I guess." 

Ecstatic to have his best friend back, Adrian joyfully hugs his arm. "That's great!" 

Jeff tenses up at the touch and closeness, but he's honestly just relieved that Adrian seems to be bouncing right back to his normal self.

"It'll start getting dark soon." Jeff notes, once Adrian lets go of him. "I'll go deal with the dead guy once the sun's down." His eyes move to Adrian. "... Then I'll come back here." 

"That sounds good." Adrian beams, ignoring all the grimness of the corpse disposal in favour of being delighted to hear that Jeff will return right after. "Do you, um, maybe wanna do something until it's dark? You've probably still got about an hour. There's like three new episodes of-"

"Don't you want to sleep?" Jeff cuts Adrian off, looking at him with slight shock. "You look tired as all fuck." 

He really does. Adrian hasn't slept since the night before last, but it might as well have been a week. 

And as if on cue, Adrian yawns. "I probably should, huh…" He mumbles, sitting up straight and stretching. "But, um…" He turns to Jeff, pausing for a second before continuing. "You could still sit with me and watch TV? I'll probably get to sleep easier with the company…" 

Jeff shrugs. "Whatever." 

A while later, Jeff is sitting on Adrians bed, the room only illuminated by the large television quietly playing cartoons, as the last signs of sunlight outside die. Next to him, Adrian is out cold, catching up on some much needed rest. 

Seeing that it's dark out, Jeff climbs off the bed. He mentally curses all the work he's got to do. Covering up murders is effort , as well as just fucking boring. 

He glances down to where Adrian lays fast asleep in bed, sighing softly as his eyes fall on the sleeping boy's face. All this trouble. Just cos I like being around you…  

Chapter Text

It's funny how even the most vivid and intense dreams often manage to fade instantly from your mind upon waking. 

Hazel eyes flutter open and Adrian blinks in the dim light of the morning sun seeping in from around the closed curtains. He lays for a moment in that bleary state of having just woken from a very deep sleep, still somewhat stuck mentally on whatever he was just dreaming about. It has slipped completely from his memory, leaving only lingering feelings of confusion and fear. 

The sleepy teen shifts in his bed, stretching his limbs somewhat before nestling into a pillow and closing his eyes again. 

"Good morning." 

Startled, Adrian sits up quickly to see that Jeff is in the room. The killer is sitting at the desk, facing away from him.

"Jeff?" Adrian mumbles groggily, squinting in tired confusion. "What’re you doing?" 

Jeff looks around, ice blue eyes somehow still bright in the dark as they meet Adrians. “Bored, looking through your stuff.” He speaks in a dull tone, before standing up and walking over to the window. He throws the curtains open, allowing light to flood the room and causing the brunette to groan and cover his eyes. “Mn- Too early.” 

“It’s like the middle of the day.” Jeff states plainly, without turning from where he’s now standing at the window looking out at the view.  

“Wait, what the hell happened in here?” Adrian asks, looking around at his bedroom. It’s usually the one room in the house he keeps semi-tidy, but now it looks like his wardrobe and drawers have all been pulled out and the contents scattered all over the place. Jeff turns from the window and glances briefly at the mess before shrugging. 

“Clothes were covered in mud so I borrowed some of yours.” It’s only now that Adrian realises that Jeff is, in fact, wearing his clothes: Some old red pyjama bottoms and an oversized band t-shirt.

“Oh okay, that’s fine. You can have those if you want.” 

“Do I like this band?” Jeff asks, pointing to the t-shirt he’s wearing. 

“I think you did, yeah.” Adrian mumbles, half remembering listening to an album with him at some point. 

After stretching and yawning, Adrian looks around again at the mess that’s been made of his room. How didn’t he get woken up? Jeff must be ridiculously good at stealth, even whilst ransacking the place. 

“You really do draw me a lot, don’t you.” Jeff’s voice pulls Adrian from his thoughts and he looks over to the psycho killer, who’s now back at the desk, idly flipping through the papers and sketchbooks that cover it. Adrian instantly feels his face heat up with embarrassment. He’d forgotten what he’d left all over his desk. That being: drawings of Jeff, and kind of an unhinged amount of them. The kind of shit that you’d only expect from a stalker, or one of those crazy obsessive kpop fans. 

Adrian hurriedly clambers out of bed and darts over to his desk, starting to gather up loose pieces of paper. “I- Uh-” He stammers, kind of humiliated by what can probably be called an obsession at this point. “... I missed you.” It isn’t the best excuse, but it’s true. Fortunately though, Jeff doesn’t seem weirded out anyway. 

“I much prefer these to any police sketch I’ve seen.” The killer hums in a somewhat amused tone, flicking through some of the more detailed drawings. Adrian laughs nervously. 

“You don’t like your police sketches?” He asks in response, hoping to divert the conversation away from his drawings. 

Jeff scoffs. “I don’t think they look anything like me. Do you?” 

“Well, I’ve not seen one. I follow all murder news stories, but-” 

“Wait. No, stop-” Jeff cuts Adrian off, turning to look at him with a serious expression. “I know nothing I’ve done for a while now has been linked to my name officially. Pretty sure they’ve marked me as dead or something. But…” He takes a moment to stare into the boy’s eyes, doing his best to search for any hint that he’s joking. “Haven’t you tried at all to look into who I am?” He’d just assumed that Adrian read about him at some point way back when they first met. 

“Uh… no? How would I even do that?” 

Jeff stares in disbelief for a few seconds. Then he starts laughing. “Would literally be the only thing you find searching for my first name and the word murder on google.” He speaks once his laughter dies down, looking up at Adrian with bemusement. 

“Oh.” Is all the brunette says in response to this information. He thinks for a moment about whether or not he’s ever considered trying to find information about Jeff and his past. He’s certainly been curious, but never would have thought it was as simple as googling it. 

“So this whole time, you’ve really not known who the hell I even am?” 

Adrian sighs. “Of course I know who you are, Jeff.” The raven haired psycho tilts his head slightly, not understanding. Adrian rolls his eyes. “You’re Jeff.” He states simply, pushing some books aside and sitting on the desk. “Don’t you think I know you by now?” 

“Better than anybody else does, I suppose.” Jeff mutters distantly after a few moments. 

Adrian smiles. “Cos we’re friends, remember? You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, in fact.” 

“That is genuinely quite sad.” Jeff deadpans, leaving it unclear if he’s joking or not. Adrian laughs regardless. 

“Maybe.” He hums in half agreement. He doesn’t actually think that’s true at all, as he feels extremely lucky to know Jeff and wouldn’t trade that for all the friends in the world, but that sounds hella gay, so he doesn’t say it. 

“So…” Jeff starts, shifting to face Adrian. He looks up at his friend with an odd expression. 

“Hm?” Adrian prods, seeing that Jeff wants to say something but is maybe struggling to find the words. Jeff looks away, and there’s a couple seconds quiet before he speaks. 

“Are you done being a baby? You seem more like normal now.” 

“Mn,” Adrian considers for a moment. “I think I’m good, yeah… I mean, still quite worried about getting done for murder, but other than that.” 

“We scrubbed this place clean. I dumped the body a while from here, and cut up his face so even if they find him it’ll definitely be marked as the ‘ominous unknown killer’, or whatever they’re calling me these days, without question. And I don’t think anyone noticed him leave with you.” Jeff rattles off all the things he’s already gone over in his head a hundred times at this point. 

“Oh of course nobody saw him leave with me. He would have made sure of that. Wouldn’t want anyone to know he’d stoop so low as to go home with me.” Adrian mutters angrily, more to himself.  “But, yeah,” He sighs, looking up and meeting Jeff’s gaze again. “I should be fine. Thanks to all your help, I mean.” 

“Hey,” Jeff frowns. “All I did is kill your friend and then cover my own tracks.” 

“Yeah..” Adrian smiles. “Thank you, though.”  

~

In the crappy part of a crappy city, Liu drops a cigarette to the ground and puts it out under a boot with a sigh, his breath visible in the cold night air. He then glances at his phone, before looking up to the rundown old apartment block in front of him. Yep, this should be the right place. 

Inside the building, after longer than he thought it’d take to find the right apartment number, Liu knocks the door, preparing his best ‘I’m a normal person’ act. He hears someone on the other side of the door, probably looking at him through the peephole, before it finally opens. 

“Yes?” The haggard looking middle aged man demands, peering at him through a cracked open door with the chain lock in place. 

“Mr Reid?” Liu asks, which seems to surprise the man. 

“I don’t know what you want or how you found me, but I can’t help you. Go away.” 

“Wait-” Liu just about manages to stop him from closing the door. “This is very important, please, I just need to talk to you.” This interaction brings up some less than pleasant memories for Liu. He’s been in this position before; pleading with detectives, bounty hunters, and yes, private investigators. Though when he was younger, it was more hopeless, because the people he begged for help were his only hope. Now, though, he’s getting what he came here for either way. The only difference between success and failure right now, is that if Liu can’t do this on his own, Jane won’t be as friendly with this guy. 

“Please.” He repeats again, trying his best to be as unthreatening as possible. This whole pity thing worked a lot easier when he was a kid. 

“I can’t help you, find someone else.” The man grumbles more sternly as he manages to close the door in Liu’s face. 

“No one else cares anymore.” Liu speaks through the door, starting to get desperate. “You’re the only person still looking.” 

Silence. Liu almost goes to walk away, defeated. But then the door cracks open again. “Looking for what?” 

Liu leans closer, speaking in a more hushed tone. “Jeffrey Woods.”  

The door once again closes in his face. But it’s shortly followed by the sound of the chain lock being undone. When the door opens again, Liu is hurriedly ushered inside by the older man. 

“You’re a victim, I’m guessing?” Reid asks after locking the door behind him, eyeing Lius quite scarred face. But Liu doesn’t care to answer, only looking the man up and down, assessing what threat he might be. He looks tired and frail, seemingly not actually as old as he looked at first glance, though definitely not as in shape as you’d expect of someone in his profession. He’s also only wearing pyjamas and a dressing gown. Yeah, not a threat at all. This should be pretty easy. 

“Sorry about this.” 

Reid goes to ask what he means, but before he gets the chance Liu has violently shoved him up against a wall and a rag is shoved into his face, filling his nose with the strong smell of chemicals. He quickly passes out.  

When he regains consciousness, he finds himself unable to move, spending a minute struggling in confusion before realising what’s happened. He’s bound with rope, tied to a chair unable to move, a gag in his mouth. Behind him, he can hear things moving around, papers and files being rummaged through. He tries to shout angrily, though it only comes out as muffled whining through whatever he’s gagged with. 

“I really am sorry.” Lius voice speaks from behind him. “But trust me, I’m doing you a favour. My associate wouldn’t be so gentle.” The young man walks into his field of vision, holding a large box of files. “So, it’s in your best interest to cooperate with me.” He places the box onto the coffee table. Reid again starts uselessly trying to shout at him.

“Look,” Liu pulls a handgun out of his pocket, pointing it at the private investigator’s head. “I don’t want to hurt you. But I will.” The muffled yelling stops, Reid just glaring up at Liu, extremely pissed off. “So are you gonna help me out, or not?” The question is punctuated by the cold metal of the gun being pressed into his forehead. Still, the man only stares up at Liu. He doesn’t show even a small sign of fear, which would be kind of admirable if it wasn’t making this more difficult. After a moment though, he nods. “Good.” Liu puts the gun away and pulls the gag out of his mouth. 

“Who the hell are you?” 

“That isn’t important. Now, I need every single thing you have on Jeffrey Woods.” Liu again walks behind Reid for a moment, reappearing again with more folders and placing them next to the box on the table. “Is this all of the files?” 

The now seemingly calmer man looks from the pile of folders to Liu, eyeing him with an odd look.  

“Vigilante justice isn’t the way, boy. Revenge won’t make you feel any better.” He’s looking at Liu with a kind of sadness, as if he feels sorry for him. 

“I asked you a question. I really would rather keep this as non-violent as possible, so don’t make that hard for me, okay?” 

“There’s more in my desk drawer. Key’s over there.” He nods towards a bookshelf, where Liu finds a small key in a little decorative bowl. As he’s going through the locked desk drawer, Reid just stares at him. “I know your face.” He mumbles, squinting at the younger man, trying to remember which case he remembers his face from. “It was a while ago, wasn’t it? Which case exactly?” His questions are ignored, Liu only glancing up at him with an annoyed expression before continuing to gather papers from the drawer. “But you can’t be that old. Was it when you were a kid? Wait-” Realisation flashes onto his face, he now knows exactly who he’s talking to. Of course he recognises that face, he’s gone over that case a thousand times. “Liu. Liu Woods?” 

Liu stands up, piles of documents in his arms, glaring at the tied up man. “I told you It’s not important.” He mutters through clenched teeth. 

“Seems like a pretty fucking important detail to me.” 

“Just shut up, okay?” Liu walks over to his pile of folders. He places most of what he’s retrieved from the drawer with the rest, but keeps hold of one file. He flips through it, feeling instantly sick when he sees old photos of himself and his brother as children, and feeling even more sick when he gets to crime scene photos of his parents' deaths. He stops for a long moment on one picture in particular, a photo of him that must have been taken when he was in hospital. It’s truly amazing that he survived those injuries. 

“Hey,” Reid speaks in a soft tone, relative to his situation, pulling Liu out of his thoughts. “I feel for you. I can’t imagine what it was like, going through what you did.” 

“What’s your point? I didn’t come here for sympathy.” 

“My point is, you shouldn’t be wasting your life chasing the past. This isn’t going to help you.” 

“I know.” Liu kneels, starting to load folders into a bag. “But I’m doing it anyway.” 

Reid sighs, watching the younger man with increasing pity, despite him being a home invader threatening him with a gun. “I’d always hoped that you’d gone on to live a normal life after everything…” Liu doesn’t respond or look up. “When did you leave witness protection?” 

“You’ve been tracking him, right? I need to know absolutely everything you do.” Liu demands, completely ignoring his question. 

“Look, I probably don’t have much that you haven’t already worked out if you’re trying to find him.” He nods towards the wall to his left, where maps and news reports are pinned messily to the wall. “Seemed to move about at random, no pattern to it, and even more obscured with the media’s refusal to even acknowledge it’s the same person doing these crimes anymore. But he could have been found, all it would have taken is a slip up, or some luck.” 

“We were close at one point, yeah.” Liu agrees, seeing that this investigator's work looks a lot like his and Jane’s efforts. 

“Until about a year ago, yeah? That’s when the locations hit get even more random, even further apart, longer between, and the body counts get far higher.” 

“Don’t you have anything helpful at all? I know all of this already.” 

“Well, what do you reckon changed?” Reid asks, now sounding more like a teacher than a captive tied to a chair. Liu’s starting to feel condescended to. 

“Clearly found somewhere he can hide comfortably.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know roughly where?”

“No.”

“Ugh!” Liu growls in frustration. “Do you not have anything helpful??” 

“... Only ideas. But I’m fairly confident that this development will actually lead me to finding his location, eventually.” 

“Go on.” 

“Well, the increased body counts clearly say that he’s having to suppress violent tendencies whilst in hiding. And, the psyche profile is pretty clear that suppressing the violence wouldn’t be easy. So he’s bound to slip up, end up killing too close to his home turf. And what would someone have to do in that situation, to avoid bringing unwanted attention to their hideout?” 

“... Cover it up.” Liu answers, starting to understand what he’s saying. 

“Right. So, in my estimations, eventually bodies will be found that match the m/o in all ways but one. There’ll be an attempt to cover up the crime.” 

“And that would lead right to where he’s hiding…” 

“Exactly.” 

Liu thinks for a long while, silently staring at the wall. This guy is right. It should only be a matter of waiting, and checking out every instance of a body being found. How haven’t he and Jane thought of this already?

“... And this is all you know?” He asks finally, Reid nodding in response. “And is this the only file that mentions me by name?” He holds up a folder. Another nod. “Okay…” He puts the folder into his coat pocket. 

“So, we’re done here? You’ll leave?”  

Liu doesn’t say anything. He knows that there’s one last thing before he can leave this place. He doesn’t like it, but it has to happen. 

“I’m honestly so sorry about this.” Liu again shoves the gag into Reids mouth. He then pulls out his gun. The bound and gagged man instantly starts to protest, extremely panicked as the gun is raised and pointed at him, but Liu ignores muffled yelling. “But, I can’t have you getting to him first...” He pulls the trigger. 

After the deafeningly loud sound of the gunshot, muffled screaming and whimpering fills the room, the bound man still very much alive. Liu shot one of his kneecaps, completely shattering it. There’s blood everywhere, Reid shrieking and yelling in what looks like an intense amount of pain. 

Now knowing that he has very little time to get out of this place, Liu quickly moves over to the injured man, cutting one of his arms free and placing a phone in his hand. “Again, I’m truly sorry. Don’t work this case any further, because I promise you it’ll lead to your death if you do.” 

Then he picks up the bag of documents and quickly makes his exit. 

Outside and a safe distance away, Liu stands on a bridge, looking down at an open file in his hands. A photo of his younger self stares back up at him. After a long while of staring at it, he pulls out a lighter, lighting the whole file on fire and dropping it into the water below. 

After a while longer, a vehicle pulls up beside him and he gets in, the van then driving quickly away. 

“Well?” Jane asks, keeping her attention on driving but managing to glance briefly at Liu with a hopeful expression. There’s a pause before Liu responds. 

“Nothing. I took all of the documents and notes, but there’s nothing new, no leads…” 

“Fuck!” Jane exclaims angrily. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” She continues to mutter in frustration, her hopes shattered. Liu rests his head on the window, solemnly watching the quiet streets as they pass through, trying to ignore the guilt he feels.

Chapter Text

“I just… I just don't understand why he wouldn't at least message me.” Felix takes a swig of the monster in his hand, before crushing the empty can and tossing it onto the grass behind him. “He fucks off all the time, but even if he doesn't tell me where he is, he always picks up my calls.” The frustrated teenager sighs, looking at the ground and starting to tear grass from it, clearly anxious about the situation. 

“I'm sure he's fine, baby. You know how he can be.” Lacy, his girlfriend, reassures him with a smile. 

“I don't know, Lace… He's never done this before. My parents are worried. Dad said if we don't hear from him today, they're gonna call the police.” 

“Maybe he found a girlfriend.” Another boy in the group suggests, shrugging. “He's always so secretive about that stuff. It would explain why he hasn't responded.” 

“Yeah, I… I don't think that's it.” Felix dismisses that notion, shifting nervously. Though, it does remind him of something, so he pulls out his phone and goes to messenger. 

~

In Adrian’s living room, he and Jeff are parked on the sofa, both with their eyes glued to the tv screen and xbox controllers in hand. Empty energy drink cans and snack wrappers litter the sofa and surrounding floor, as well as the coffee table. All the telltale signs of a long gaming session. 

“Use this.” Jeff’s character drops an item for Adrian before jumping up onto a rock to keep watch whilst he heals himself. 

“It’s just us and one other team.” 

“And they’re over there.” Jeff marks where the enemy is. “Cover me from here.” He instructs just as Adrian is finished healing, running off in the direction of the other team, leaning forwards in his seat and gripping the controller tight, full concentration on the game. As Adrian fires at them from a distance, Jeff charges the enemy and takes them out with minimal effort. 

“Fuck yeah! That's seven wins today!” Adrian drops his remote and claps in celebration as the win screen appears. “You've gotten better at this game than I am.” 

“Oh, I noticed.” Jeff smirks smugly, leaning back and putting his feet up on the coffee table. 

“That'll be the reflexes of the world's greatest serial killer, huh?”

“Mn,” Jeff shrugs. “That, or I'm just a god on earth and will kick ass at anything I try.” 

“Yeah, okay,” Adrian says sarcastically with a playful smile.  “Why don't we go a few rounds on mario kart before you commit to that theory?” 

“You're on.” Jeff grins, sitting back up and watching as Adrian goes to set up the other game. 

Ping. 

Adrian's phone lights up with a message and he stops what he's doing to pick it up. 

“... Oh shit.” He whispers, staring at the notification. “Shit shit shit…” 

“What?” Jeff asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“It's Felix…” Adrian responds without looking away from his phone. Jeff waits for him to elaborate, but he doesn't. 

“... Am I meant to know who that is?” 

“One of my friends. Danny's brother. You may remember Danny as the guy whose body you buried in the forest?”

“Ah.” 

“What should I do?” Adrian looks to Jeff for answers, clearly panicking a bit. The killer shrugs. 

“What would you usually do?” 

“Well, obviously I'd usually respond.” 

“Then there's your answer.” 

So, Adrian opens the message. 

Felix: Hey dude 

Adrian: Heya 

Felix: You okay?

Adrian: Yh, wbu?

Felix: Well actually I wanted to ask you something. Have you seen Danny recently? He hasn't been home in a few days

Adrian doesn't have time for the panic that wants to run through him seeing this question, knowing that it'll look super suspicious if he suddenly takes a while to respond. So he makes sure to reply quickly. 

Adrian: Nah not since that party on friday man 

Felix: typing… 

Felix: typing… 

Felix: typing…

Felix: Okay thx anyway 

Adrian takes a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. He puts his phone down. 

“You good?” Jeff asks, nonchalantly leaning on the arm of the sofa.

“I.. Yeah. Let's play mario kart.” 

~

Later that evening, Adrian has cooked for Jeff and himself and the two are eating in the kitchen. 

“You know, you're kind of fussy.” Adrian comments, looking over to Jeff's plate, where he's pushed anything he doesn't want out of the food and left it in a pile on the side. 

“You wouldn't say that if you'd seen some of the shit I've eaten.” Jeff chuckles, remembering some of the less than hygienic places he's scavenged for food in the past.

“And yet you won't eat mushrooms?” 

“Well, no.” Jeff states, like it should be obvious. “They're fucking vile.” 

Adrian rolls his eyes with a slight laugh. It's quite amusing how often this big scary criminal acts like a little kid. 

“Well, I'd make things you like if you ever answered me when I ask what you want to eat.” Adrian pushes his plate next to Jeff's and starts scraping the pile of discarded food onto his own meal. 

“Hey, I'm perfectly fine stealing food from your kitchen when I'm hungry. I don't need you to cook for me.” 

“Don't you?” Adrian scoffs. “You can't live on cheetos and redbull, Jeff.” 

“Fucking watch me.” 

Adrian rolls his eyes, again. “I don't try to parent you, but fuck, man, you make it hard not to.” He finishes his food and stands to put the plate in the sink, taking Jeff's empty plate as well. 

“You're the kid here, not me.” Jeff pouts, as if that's helping his point. “And what would you know about parenting anyway? Where the fuck are your parents?” 

“I mean, yeah,” Adrian sits back down opposite Jeff. “They weren't here basically ever, even when they supposedly lived here. But I was raised by some rather lovely maids.” 

“Maids?” Jeff questions, incredulously. 

“Yeah. There were a few different ones over the years. They were all pretty nice to me.” Adrian muses, remembering the women who worked in this house when he was younger. Looking back on it now, they were probably also hired as nannies.

“Fucking maids. ” Jeff laughs. “You really are just a little rich boy, aren't you.” 

“Kind of, yeah…” The teen mumbles, feeling somewhat self conscious. Of course, coming from such a well off family is nice. He isn't complaining about the huge house he lives in by himself, or the money that's transferred into his bank every month. But the kind of life he tries to live and the kinds of people he tries to befriend, they don't really align with his background. He's definitely been beaten up a fair few times for being a ‘little rich boy’. 

“It's weird that you're, like, not insufferable.” Jeff stands and walks over to the fridge, opening it and boredly looking over the contents as he speaks. “I've killed a lot of trust fund kids and rich douchebags, and I couldn't imagine spending a prolonged amount of time around those people.” Not that Jeff would enjoy spending a prolonged amount of time with any people in general. He finally picks up a can of drink and closes the fridge, turning back to Adrian and cracking the drink open.

“Not insufferable? Aw, Jeff, you're so nice to me.” Adrian giggles, but he's only half joking. He genuinely appreciates that comment, especially from Jeff. 

“So…” Adrian starts, slowly. He sees this as an opportunity to pry, but always takes extreme caution when approaching the topic of Jeff's past or family. “What was your upbringing like? With money, I mean.” 

“Mn,” Jeff takes a sip of soda, considering his answer for a moment. “We weren't poor or anything. Certainly didn't have maids though. We, uh- We actually just moved into a bigger house in a better area, before- Before everything happened…” It's silent for a long moment. 

“Uh, Jeff?” 

“Mn?” 

“You know what you said about googling you?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Well, I still didn't. I kind of feel like it'd be weird to look into your past if you haven't made the decision to tell me about it. I don't know, like invading your privacy or something.” Adrian laughs nervously, shifting in his chair and looking away. “But, uh.. if you ever want to talk about it, you can…” 

Before Jeff can respond, the two are interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. They look at each other for a moment, before making their way through the house towards the front door. 

“Wait here.” Adrian says quietly to Jeff as they pass through the living room. 

“Don't tell me what to do.” Jeff flips him off, sticking his tongue out like a child, but does stay where he's told to.

“Oh,” Adrian is shocked to find that it's Felix at his door, and alone as well. If he had time to process and think about it, he'd be freaking out. “Hey, dude.” He greets with what he hopes isn't an obviously fake smile. 

“Yeah, hey.” Felix doesn’t bother with a fake smile. There’s a rather awkward pause whilst he clearly waits to be invited inside, but when that doesn’t happen he just gets right to the point. “So, look, are you sure you haven’t seen my brother?” Adrian goes to respond, but doesn’t get the chance before Felix speaks again, tone bordering on frantic. “Because this is serious. My dad called the police. He’s missing. ” 

“I haven’t seen him, dude. Wh-” 

“I know, Adrian. That something’s going on between you two. I really don’t want to hear the details, but if you know where he is you need to fucking tell me.” 

Adrian blinks, staring in silent shock for a second. “... I haven’t seen Danny since that party.” He states as firmly as he can, which isn’t all that firm. 

“What happened? What did you do?” Felix questions accusingly, all pretences of friendliness now dropped. He clearly came here thinking Adrian was in some way related to where his brother is, and is now only more sure of that. 

“Wh- what do you mean? I didn’t do anyth-” 

“Bullshit! We all know your track record with this shit, Adrian. What, did he try to break things off? Did you threaten him? Whatever you did, he’s completely skipped town! What the fuck did you do?!” Felix’s voice grows to an angry yell, getting intimidatingly close to Adrian, him only being an inch taller yet still managing to be extremely threatening. Adrian is in complete shock for a moment, tears threatening to fall from his eyes as he’s yelled at. 

“Track record..?” He mutters with a weak voice, processing what was said to him. Then he’s suddenly much more angry than afraid. “And just what the fuck do you mean by that?!” He shoves Felix away from him. 

“I think you know exactly what I mean. Crying rape when someone leaves you is your signature move, isn’t it?” 

In that moment, the only thing that stops Adrian’s burning anger from completely exploding is the crushing sadness that drowns it. Tears now run down his face. He opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. 

“Well, you should know: that shit won’t fly this time. We all remember the stunt you pulled back in highschool with Eva-” 

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Adrian screams, suddenly finding his voice as anger encompasses the sadness. He can’t believe what he’s hearing. His friends may not be that great, may even be kind of (very) shitty to him, but he can’t believe that Felix, one of his nicer friends, would say this about him. Is this what everyone really thinks? 

Looking at Felix right now, Adrian can only think of how much he wants to see him meet the same fate as his brother. How much he wants to see his blood, to see his eyes filled with pain before the life leaves them. It’s a kind of rage, a desire for violence, that he’s never experienced before. 

“I think you should leave.” The shaking teenager states aggressively, glaring hatefully through his tears at who he once thought was a friend. 

“Oh, yes of course. I wouldn’t want to interrupt you and whatever crackhead you’ve got in there today.” Felix spits spitefully, gesturing behind Adrian to his house. “Hey bro, I’d find somewhere else to shoot up if I were you! This kid’s a fucking psycho, it aint worth whatever he’s giving you!” He calls past Adrian, into the house. 

“He’s not a crackhead! And he’s not Danny, so go and look for your prick of a brother elsewhere!” Adrian shoves him back again, this time more aggressively. “And I’ll tell you what’s going on between us: nothing I ever cared about! He’s a fucking asshole, and whatever it was it’s over! You tell him that when you find him!” He slams the door closed. 

“Fucking mental-case! And you wonder why no one invites you out unless they need money.” Felix yells from outside. “When Danny shows up, if it turns out you did try something, you’ll be fucking sorry! Freak!” Fortunately, Felix seems to leave after getting his final insult in. 

Tears streaming down his face and falling onto the floor beneath him, Adrian just stands there, shaking. 

“God, I hate your friends.” Jeff comments, leaning on the living room doorway. Adrian doesn’t respond to him, only continuing to silently stand staring at the front door. The killer watches him for what feels like forever, before slowly starting to approach him. “... Adrian?” 

The teenager’s attempt to suppress his emotions finally fails, and he suddenly yells in frustration, slamming his fist into the door. He then finally turns, his back to the door as he slides down until he’s sitting on the floor, hands covering his face as he sobs loudly. Jeff just stands there awkwardly watching this unfold, unsure what to do. He hates when Adrian cries. It’s not funny like when his victims do it. It’s depressing. And just how on earth are you meant to stop someone from crying? It’s beyond Jeff, honestly. 

Adrian starts to mumble broken words between sobs, muffled due to being hunched over talking into his hands. 

“I…” Jeff sighs, slowly dropping to his knees to sit with Adrian rather than awkwardly stand over him. “I can’t understand what you’re saying.” In response, Adrian moves his hands away from his face and takes a moment to try and calm down somewhat before speaking again. 

“... I’m pathetic, aren’t I?” He whispers between sobs, hair covering what it can of his face as he hangs his head staring at the ground. Jeff doesn’t respond. “God,” Adrian sniffles and takes a deep breath. “I wish I was fucking dead.” 

“Because of what that guy thinks?” Jeff asks in disbelief. 

“It’s what everyone thinks.” Adrian lifts his head, eyes welling up with fresh tears when he looks at Jeff. “I’m not their friend, I’m a freak they put up with when I’m useful. The second people don’t need me for anything, I’m just worthless trash. That’s all I’ll ever be to anyone no matter how hard I try.” He starts sobbing again, burying his face in his knees. 

“Why are you fucking trying?” Jeff doesn’t mean for his words to come out as frustrated growling, but they do anyway. “What’s pathetic is caring so much what those dumb cunts think.” 

“... I- I don’t know… maybe…” Adrian wipes tears away from his face with a hand, only to wince in pain when trying to use the hand that he apparently injured punching the door just now. 

Without warning, Jeff reaches over to take Adrian’s injured hand in his own and gently moves it closer to inspect. “You fucked your hand up. Idiot.” He mumbles, holding it in one palm whilst running a finger lightly over where it’s already started swelling, assessing how badly it’s damaged. He’s messed his own hands up enough times to be able to tell what he’s dealing with. “It’s not broken, it’ll probably be fine. Ice would help.” 

It takes a moment for Adrian to process that Jeff even said anything. He’s too focused on how softly the killer is holding his hand and how pleasant the gentle touch is, even though it causes pain to his injury. He stares at Jeff, completely zoning out until he’s snapped out of it by those piercing blue eyes making eye contact with him. “You got ice or something?” 

Adrian doesn’t respond. Instead, he grips onto Jeff’s arm with his injured hand, despite that being painful. “Jeff,” He speaks in a low voice, trying not to break into tears again. “Do you feel that way about me too? That you can only stand to be around me because you need something?” 

It’s quiet for a moment. Jeff stares down at where Adrian grips onto his arm, cringing slightly at the pain it must be causing his injury. “No.” He says finally, before sighing. “Adrian,” He takes the boy by the wrist and removes the tight grip on his arm. “You should be glad they call you a freak. The alternative is being like them. And you're…” He releases Adrian's hand at the realisation that he'd been holding it, his voice trailing off to mumbling. “You're better than that…” 

It’s quiet for a second, before Jeff suddenly stands up. “You probably won’t be able to use your hand normally for a while, you absolute fucking moron.” He doesn’t look at Adrian as he offers him a hand, which the emotional mess accepts gratefully, getting to his feet as well. “Come on.” Jeff drags him by the arm through the house, presumably to get ice for his hand. 

“Jeff?” Adrian asks as he presses an ice pack to his swollen skin, watching from where he’s sitting at the kitchen table as the murderer rummages around in drawers. 

“Mn?” 

“Do people call you a freak too?” 

Jeff turns to him, the bandages he’d been looking for in his hand. “I am a freak.” He states proudly, grinning that incredibly charming grin that Adrian’s grown quite fond of. A slight smile pulls at the corners of the teenager’s mouth. 

“Well then I guess it is a good thing.” 

“Oh, one hundred percent.” Jeff agrees, smiling as he sits down. He moves the ice pack away from Adrian’s hand and delicately starts to wrap bandages around him in the way that he’s found works best to support injuries like this.

Chapter Text

Maybe Jeff is right… 

That is the thought playing at Adrian’s mind as he blankly stares at the girl sitting on his sofa. Erin is one of the girls in his friend group. Adrian invited her over for a smoke and some drinks, mostly because she has some kind of long running drama with Felix’s girlfriend, so he could be sure she wouldn't bring either of those two. But, as he numbly listens to this girl prattle on and on about shallow gossip that he has nothing to do with, he asks himself: why do I care what these people think? 

“-and then she said to him, like, why the hell would I have done that for? And what the fuck, right? She’s crazy.” 

“Uh-huh. Totally.” Adrian interjects with a dull monotone voice, at least half sure that she wouldn’t stop talking whether he was responding or not. God, he hates this girl. She’s come here under the pretence of “catching up”, only to drink Adrians wine, smoke his weed, and chatter on constantly about stupid shit that happened at parties that he wasn’t invited to. Probably just to hear herself talk. All of his ‘friends’ are vapid idiots, and he doesn’t even enjoy being around them. Did he ever? 

The bored teen downs what’s left in his glass before pouring another. Even if Erin’s company isn’t doing much for him, it’s less depressing than drinking alone. And fuck does he want to drink. 

Three bottles of wine later, Erin is still talking, but Adrian is no longer listening. He’s slumped over an arm of the sofa, resting his head on a hand, watching the last drops of liquid in his wine glass as he swirls it around. His mind is now completely fixated on wondering why he’s spent his whole life trying desperately to be included by people that he doesn’t even like. People who have been nothing but horrible to him despite his efforts. At what point does he give up? Or was his aim always just to survive on the scraps of companionship he’s sometimes thrown after giving anything and everything that he can? Thinking about it, that is what he’d come to accept his life being. He was even glad to be able to do that at all. How utterly depressing. 

Jeff might just be right. About everything. Adrian has given up his dignity and self-respect for the sake of not being alone in the world, and yet, sitting here opposite this gossiping girl, he feels as alone as he would if she wasn’t there. 

Maybe meeting someone who he actually really likes has made him realise that he never liked any of these other people. Or, maybe, having a real friend for the first time has opened his eyes to how shallow and fake all of his other friendships have always been. Jeff may be an unstable psychopath who might murder him down the line (and who has kicked the crap out of him on more than one occasion) but what kindness and friendship he does offer, it feels genuine . 

Fuck, I miss Jeff… Adrian laments, still staring into his almost empty glass. The murderer left for one of his sprees and hasn’t been around for a few days. Adrian wishes that he didn’t have to travel so far away to do that. Though, the teen thinks back to the last thing Jeff said before he left. “I’ll be back in a few weeks.”  He smiles playing the words over in his head. He had been so happy when he’d heard that, it almost completely counteracted his disappointment at his friend leaving. Jeff hasn’t ever made it clear that he’d definitely be back before, let alone an estimation of how long it would take. It’s nice. 

Adrian sighs, moving his attention back to Erin. She’s rambling about something that she heard from someone who heard it from someone else. He’s sure that even if he’d been listening, he wouldn’t care. 

“Erin,” Adrian speaks up, interrupting her. 

“Yeah I know, I couldn’t believe it either! But then he said-” 

“Erin,” Adrian repeats, trying his best to actually get a word in to the hours of monologue that this conversation has been. He’s reached a point of (only partly alcohol fueled) apathy. So he decides to make an attempt to get a real conversation out of this. Because why the fuck not? “What do I do wrong?” He asks, tone blank other than clearly being a bit tipsy. 

“Huh?” Erin tilts her head, clearly confused. 

“No one likes me. I’m not clueless, I can see it. But why? What am I doing wrong?” It’s something he’s tried to ask people before, in less direct ways. Maybe being so clear this time will result in an actual answer instead of the feigned ignorance he’s gotten before. 

“Oh, Adrian. Don’t be silly.” The girl laughs, waving a hand dismissively. “But yeah, so basically, she told me all this and then I said-” She dives right back into whatever bullshit she had just been talking about. 

Adrian rolls his eyes, safe in the knowledge that Erin is too caught up in her story to notice. 

Fortunately for Adrian, who’s been waiting for her to leave for hours now, Erin soon gets tired and decides to leave. After a goodbye with fake friendliness from both parties, Adrian closes his front door with a sigh. He wastes no time making his way up to his room to pass out on his bed whilst he’s still numbed by alcohol enough to not dwell on how depressing that entire interaction was. 

~

Morning has passed by and it's now well into the afternoon. Adrian remains in bed, staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought. He's pretty sure he's having some kind of midlife crisis. Can a teenager even have a midlife crisis? That isn't important. The point is, he’s questioning his entire life.

Well, if you can call this a life. He's an unemployed highschool dropout who spends his rich parents' money partying and trying to buy friendship from people who hate him. He's kind of a massive loser. Not that it matters. 

No, what matters is… well, that's the question, isn't it? What matters? He feels like nothing does. Not his “friends”, not the parents he never sees, not this town, nothing. 

The only thing he genuinely cares about anymore is… Jeff. 

God, Adrian is acting like he's had some kind of epiphany about the world, but it's not that deep at all, is it? All that's happened is that someone has walked into his life who he’s become extremely attached to, and now this apathetic criminal’s way of thinking is rubbing off on him. He’s just lovesick for a serial killer. 

But surely it’s a good thing that he’s starting to care less about everything in his life? After all, trying so desperately to fit in has only ever made him miserable. And yeah, it is a good thing. Until the inevitable abandonment when Jeff gets bored of him. But he tries not to think about that. 

Adrian sighs, lazily rolling over in bed and picking up his phone. He doesn’t exactly feel like it, but maybe he should see if he can get someone to hang out with him today. It would distract from all of this over thinking. So, he opens messenger and starts to think about who might be available and willing to meet up. It looks like there’s some kind of plan being discussed in a group chat that he’s in, so he opens that and quickly reads over some recent messages, only for his blood to run cold when he sees a specific name. 

“Wh- … What the fuck…” Adrian mumbles to himself in shock as he sits up in bed and starts to read over what’s been happening in this group chat today. 

Felix: Felix has added Evan to the group

Felix: there we go

Evan: heyy thx for the add 

Felix: yh it should be way easier with u in this one, saves us having to put info in the other chat too 

Evan: yeah fr fr dunno why i wasnt in this one in the first place tbh

Felix: me neither man 

Lacy: Yeah, right? So silly having two different chats! :) 

The conversation then goes back to everyone planning a house party. Adrian doesn’t continue reading. 

So, the message is pretty clear: Adrian is no longer welcome amongst his friends. Felix has made his point. That’s… That’s fine. They're all stupid fake assholes and Adrian doesn’t even like them anyway. So it's fine. He doesn’t care… 

Only, he does. 

Adrian’s phone is launched full force across the room, hitting a wall with a loud crash. And he collapses back down into his bed, shoving his face into a pile of blankets to somewhat muffle his pained sobbing. 

~

As Jeff nears town, it starts to catch up to him just how exhausted he is. He’s been walking all day, opting to keep moving rather than find shelter to sleep. He can sleep when he gets back to Adrian’s place, he’s safer there anyway, far more comfortable than the stolen cars or tents that he uses for rest whilst travelling. 

The sun is starting to rise. Jeff briefly wonders if Adrian would be awake yet or not. He then puts a stop to that thought, because the reason he’s glad to almost be back is so that he can curl up in a warm safe place and get some rest, not so that he can see Adrian. He’s stern in reminding himself of that. 

It’s daylight by the time Jeff has hiked through the woodland on the edge of town and emerged from the trees backing onto Adrian’s property. He glances up at the teen’s bedroom window for a moment before shrugging off his backpack and making his way to the shed, eager to rest after what’s got to have been 24 hours of walking since he last stopped. With his hand on the door, he stops. He can hear something. Music? 

Jeff tosses his bag into the shed and closes the door again, walking off into the direction of the sound. It’s not coming from the house, but somewhere further into the overgrown mess of the large garden. Getting closer, he’s fairly sure he recognises the song as something Adrian listens to. He’s cautious as he approaches, not wanting to be noticed if Adrian’s out here with some of his friends. He passes an ancient old greenhouse and, sure enough, finds his friend there, sitting on the ground leaning against a raised flower bed that’s overflowing with years of weeds. Fortunately, he’s alone. And seems to be… asleep? He’s bundled up in a blanket, surrounded by a few empty bottles, his phone on the ground next to him playing music. 

Jeff sighs as he takes in the scene. “You’re so fucking weird, man...” He mutters, walking over to the sleeping boy. Why on earth would he be asleep out here when he’s got that huge manor of a house filled with more comfortable places to be? “Hey,” The killer kneels down beside his friend and places a hand on his shoulder to gently shake him awake. 

“Mn..” Adrian slowly opens his eyes, squinting in the morning sunlight and seeming confused for a moment. “Jeff!” Seeing Jeff wakes him up pretty quickly and he jolts forward in excitement to throw his arms around him. “Fuck, I missed you so much.” He mumbles into the killer's shoulder. Jeff allows himself to be pulled down into the hug, gingerly wrapping his arms around Adrian as well. 

“... What’s wrong?” Jeff asks cautiously, eyes moving over the scattered bottles that lay around them. Adrian instantly clinging to him like this, and being out here drinking alone by the looks of it, he must be upset about something. The question is left unresponded to, the boy just continuing to hold onto him, burying his face in his hoodie. Jeff doesn’t really mind, though. Adrian’s warm. It’s… nice. 

Eventually the two pull back from the embrace and Jeff kneels there for a moment, eyeing Adrian warily. “Are you drunk?” 

“Not really,” Adrian pulls the blanket around his shoulders closer to him, looking around as if remembering where he is. “Pretty baked, though.” 

“Right…” Jeff shifts to get more comfortable, sitting cross legged in front of Adrian. He considers what he should say for a moment before deciding not to think about it too much. “Why are you upset?” He asks plainly, finding it pretty apparent that something has to be wrong. The teen even looks to be on the verge of tears. 

Adrian looks away. “I’m fine.” He fidgets with the hem of his blanket, glancing back at Jeff before instantly looking away again. “It’s… It’s stupid. Don’t worry about it.” 

“I-” Jeff stops the defensive “I’m not!” that starts to leave his mouth. “Okay…” 

Adrian concentrates on breathing calmly and suppressing the tears that he feels burning behind his eyes. He doesn’t need to blubber and cry to Jeff about his life yet again, it’s a wonder that shit hasn’t already made the guy sick of him. He wipes a tear out of his eye and successfully manages to choke back the rest of them. 

“Your hand’s all messed up again.” Jeff states with a sigh, seeing the bruising and scrapes that cover Adrian’s hand. It looks painful. 

“Oh, yeah,” Adrian looks down at his hands, both of which are equally injured. “I don’t think anything’s broken...” He slowly moves his fingers and winces a little bit at the pain. 

“You should really stop doing this.” Jeff grabs one of Adrian’s sleeves and pulls his hand closer to inspect it. “Eventually you’ll seriously fuck up your hands, and that shit takes forever to heal.” Jeff’s spent his fair share of time with broken hands from punching stuff, so he knows what he’s talking about. He releases Adrian’s hand and sighs again. “This about your dickhead friends again?” 

Adrian looks down. “I-… I don’t think they’re my friends anymore…” 

There’s an unpleasant sensation pulling at Jeff’s chest. He hates those people with a passion, but he also hates the look on Adrian’s face right now. “... I’m sorry.” 

“Huh?” Adrian lifts his head, making eye contact with Jeff, who looks away. “Why?” 

“Well, it’s my fault they’ve turned on you like this. I kind of made a mess of your life, huh?” The killer laughs nervously, uncomfortable with his feelings of guilt and unsure what to do with them. 

For a while the only sound is the music that still plays from Adrian’s phone. Jeff glances at his friend from the corner of his eye and then away again when he finds Adrian staring at him. It feels like forever before Adrian speaks. “Shut up, Jeff.” He tentatively reaches over to place a bruised hand onto Jeff’s cold pale one. To his surprise, he isn’t swatted away, but Jeff still doesn’t look at him. “You’re literally the best thing to ever happen to me.” 

Jeff chuckles, finally meeting Adrian’s gaze again. “That’s so gay, man.” 

“Yep. And what?” Adrian sticks his tongue out and strikes a goofy pose throwing a peace sign. The two both laugh. That tugging guilt feeling in Jeff’s chest is briefly replaced by an odd fluttering sensation that he doesn’t understand or recognise, but it isn’t all that unpleasant. 

“It’s cold.” Adrian shivers in the blanket he’s wrapped in. “Come watch TV with me inside?” 

Jeff considers for a moment. “Uh, okay. Come on.” He stands and is followed by Adrian up to the house. 

Jeff basically falls asleep the second the TV is turned on, but Adrian doesn’t mind that at all. He looks down at the dangerous psychopath curled up so comfortably on the sofa next to him, taking a moment to appreciate how peaceful he looks before carefully draping his blanket over his sleeping friend.

Chapter Text

“So, it eats parts of people and they become parts of it?” Jeff asks incredulously, raising an eyebrow at the (what he deems to be quite a silly) movie that he’s been talked into watching. 

“Yeah, basically.” Adrian responds with a grin. “Cool, huh?” 

“If you say so.” 

“Oh don’t be so cynical. Give it a chance! I’m gonna make you watch both sequels, too.” 

“Yay.” Jeff mumbles sarcastically. Not that he really minds Adrian’s affinity for horror movies; there’s definitely worse things he could be having to sit through. 

“Oh this is the best part! Watch! Watch! Watch!” Adrian excitedly shakes Jeff’s arm, earning an eye roll and a slightly exasperated “I’m watching.” from the killer, who was, in fact, already watching. 

On the screen, the movie monster casually whistles a tune whilst walking up to a severed head. He picks up the head, sniffs it, and then starts to seemingly make out with it, before pulling the tongue out with his teeth, presumably to eat. 

Jeff makes a face at the TV. “Isn’t that just the coolest shit ever?” Adrian asks from next to him, his big eyes and excited expression mirroring that of a little kid watching cartoons about princesses or ponies. 

“Kinda just messed up. And fucking gross .” Jeff doesn’t exactly see the appeal of this kind of thing, though the level of enjoyment Adrian seems to get from it is weirdly endearing, in a way. 

“I don’t get how you of all people can’t appreciate a good fucked up horror movie.” Adrian pouts, turning to Jeff, who laughs. 

“D’you think I make out with severed heads?” 

“You don’t?” Adrian feigns disappointment with a snicker.    

“Fuck you.” 

“Okay,” The brunette smirks and leans his head on Jeff’s shoulder, scooching closer to him. “Will you make out with my severed head after, though?” 

“Jesus fucking christ,” Jeff chokes, caught off guard by the comment. “You have issues, man.” He mutters, thankful that in this position Adrian can’t see the flush of heat he feels spread across his face. 

“Yeah, probably.” The teen giggles. He shifts slightly to get more comfortable, pleased at the lack of any efforts to remove him from where he’s now basically cuddled up to Jeff, his head nestled in the crook of his neck. He’s definitely trying his luck a little, but Jeff doesn’t seem to mind, so he goes with it. 

“Thought you said you didn’t have some kind of weird murder fetish.” Jeff retorts in an accusatory tone, attempting to save some face after how easily Adrian managed to fluster him. 

“Mn, I’m only joking,” Adrian hums quietly, finding himself tired all of the sudden. “... Mostly.” He adds, nuzzling his face into his friend’s hoodie. (Okay, now he’s really trying his luck.) Jeff doesn’t know how to respond, so he doesn’t. He focuses on the movie, trying his best to not think about the warm feeling of Adrian pressed up against his side. 

The movie isn’t all that bad, actually. Jeff ends up enjoying it more than he thought he would. Certainly more than some of the cheesy slashers that the rather horror-obsessed teenager has made him watch before. The credits finish and the video stops, leaving it quiet and dark. Jeff looks down at Adrian, who has fallen asleep slumped against him with his head on his shoulder. Why did he let that happen again? 

Jeff is wondering how to best slip away from Adrian without waking him, when something pulls him completely from that thought- He hears something. The back door in the kitchen; he hears the handle rattle, followed shortly by the door being opened, because of course it isn’t locked. 

In one swift motion, Jeff turns to Adrian, shaking him awake with one hand and securing the other one over his mouth to keep him quiet. The teen struggles in half-awake confusion, attempting to say something only to be met with the hand over his mouth pressing harder. “Shhh,” Jeff leans in close to him to whisper into his ear as quietly as possible. “There’s someone in your house.” He then moves back, meeting Adrian’s wide-eyed gaze, and brings a finger to his own lips in a shushing motion. When Adrian nods, the killer releases him. Leaning in close again, Jeff whispers “Who would be here?” only getting a shrug and a head shake in response. Okay, if Adrian’s just as confused as he is, that’s probably not good. 

Louder noises start to come from the kitchen, it sounds like whoever’s in there is going through drawers. Adrian looks towards the direction of the sounds with a puzzled expression. Jeff carefully slips off of the sofa and couches directly in front of the brunette, tapping him on the knee to get his attention back onto him. He mouths the word ‘knife?’ and Adrian points towards the TV stand, where Jeff’s knife is neatly tucked behind a box of old lighters. 

Adrian watches as Jeff silently retrieves his knife before returning to the sofa and motioning for him to get up and follow, which he does, not quite able to move around as quietly as the skilled home invader but doing his best as he’s led slowly towards the doorway to the kitchen. Jeff stops at the doorway, reaching back to stop Adrian and keep him behind himself. He turns, leaning in close to whisper again into Adrian’s ear. “Call out and ask who’s there, okay?” Knife at the ready, he then takes a step back, standing with his back to the wall beside the doorway, ready to pounce on the intruder if they move to attack Adrian. 

“Hello?” Adrian calls into the darkness, causing the commotion in the kitchen to instantly cease. “Who’s there?” 

There’s a brief silence. Jeff slows his breathing, listening intently for any sound of movement, fingers tightening around the handle of his knife. He wonders whether or not Adrian has the sense to get the fuck out of the way and run upstairs if it comes to him having to take down an armed burglar. Probably not, though, since he’s sure never shown that kind of self-preservation when it comes to him. That’s probably why the killer finds himself far more tense right now than he otherwise would be facing a possible threat; he doesn’t usually have to worry about anyone but himself. 

“Adrian?” A woman’s voice calls back, and Jeff breathes a sigh of relief, relaxing somewhat. “I-” The voice continues but is cut off with a thump. “ Fuck -” Whoever it is has apparently walked into something in the dark. Jeff looks at Adrian, who places a hand on his arm and smiles calmly. 

“It’s fine.” He mouths, before walking past Jeff and into the kitchen, fumbling around in the dark until he finds the light switch. Standing in his kitchen is exactly who he recognises the voice to be. A raggedy looking woman squints in the light before smiling widely and rushing over to the teen, arms outstretched to pull him into a hug, which he accepts joyfully. 

“Adrian, honey,” The woman pulls away from the embrace and looks Adrian up and down, a wide grin on her face. “You’re taller than when I last saw you.” 

Jeff listens to the interaction, concerned that this may be Adrian’s mother, which Jeff would take as a cue to leave for a good long while. He manages to get a look around the doorway. Yeah no, that certainly can’t be his mother. The ages might just about work, the woman looking to be somewhere in her thirties, but she doesn’t exactly look the part. Her dirty blond hair is matted and pulled into a messy bun, stray strands flying out in all directions and falling in front of her dirt smeared face. She’s dressed in layers and layers of grotty torn clothing and on her back she carries an old beat up camping backpack. She looks homeless. Nothing at all like the photographs around the house of an elegant lady in expensive jewellery. 

“It’s been years!” Adrian sounds happy to see whoever this is. “I’m so glad to see you, Maggie,” He pulls the woman into another hug. “I worry about you.” 

“Oh you know me, dear. I get by. I’m sorry if I scared you, I didn’t think you’d be up at this hour. I hope you don’t mind.” 

“Not at all, it’s okay.” Adrian starts to move around the kitchen to straighten out the small mess that’s been made. “What is it you’re looking for?” He asks, more than willing to give her whatever she needs. 

“Um. Just some food, anything that won’t spoil too fast. And medical supplies. Maybe a blanket?” The woman, Maggie, is clearly a bit uncomfortable asking, possibly being the reason she decided to break in and take things instead. 

“Of course.” Adrian smiles warmly at her and pulls out a chair at the table. “Sit, please. Do you want some tea?” 

Jeff decides to quietly make his way to the front door and exit to walk around the house and keep an eye on the situation from the kitchen windows, where it’s much easier to spy without being noticed. 

Maggie has stripped out of a few layers of jackets and is sitting at the table in an ratty grey hoodie, her coats and bag neatly set on the chair next to her. “How have things been?” Adrian asks, pouring hot water into a mug and setting it on the table. 

“Oh, you know, life is what it is.” She smiles, though Adrian frowns, knowing that things most likely haven’t been too great. He takes the seat opposite her. 

“Last I knew you were heading to Canada with that friend of yours?” 

“Oh gosh, yeah.” Maggie shifts uncomfortably. “That didn’t work out too well. We stayed in Toronto with a boyfriend of hers for a few months, but quickly overstayed our welcome. I haven’t seen her since we got kicked out. It got messy with the boyfriend and she was arrested, bless her heart. I don’t know where she ended up.” 

“Oh,” Adrian drops two sugars into Maggie’s tea and stirs it for her, knowing that she struggles with shaky hands. He pushes the mug towards her, which she accepts with a smile and wraps her cold fingers around it. “I’m sorry, Maggie. I’d love to offer you somewhere to stay, but my friend is staying with me at the moment, and he… he doesn’t do well around others.” 

“Don’t you worry about that, dear. I’ve got somewhere I need to be. My friend is back in the city, he’s really sick. I need to bring him food and medicine.” 

“Well, I’ll make you up a bag of supplies. I’ve got cash somewhere, too.” Adrian stands and starts to pull packets of food and bottled water out of his kitchen cupboards. 

“You’re too kind for your own good, Adrian.” She watches as Adrian starts to pack things into a bag. “So, this ‘friend’ you’ve got staying here…” She says slowly, a look of almost motherly concern on her face. “Is he nice to you?” 

Adrian stops, looking at his guest. “... Yes, Maggie.” He looks away. “It’s not- It’s not like with those other guys-” 

“So he’s not just using you as an easy fuck?” Maggie cuts in, tone definitely that of a concerned parent. 

“No, no- We haven’t even- He’s not into me like that.” Adrian stumbles over his words before looking down. 

“Oh, Adrian…” A sad and all too knowing smile rests on Maggie’s weathered features. “You should really stop letting yourself be strung along by guys who only want to use you for what they can get and fuck off once they’re done. Just look at where that’s gotten me, sweetheart.” 

“It’s not like that, though!” The teen insists, going back to packing supplies neatly into an old bag. 

“He’s not using you as somewhere to stay, then?” 

“I- Uh, no- I mean-” Adrian again trips over his words, not knowing what to say. 

Outside, something about this interaction makes Jeff feel strange. Sadness, mixed with a sudden wave of that horrible guilt feeling. This woman has only stated the exact thing he tells himself all the time: that he’s only using Adrian for somewhere to stay. But, it makes his heart hurt. Especially when Adrian struggles to deny it. For some reason, he really doesn’t like the idea of being just the same as all the people who have only used Adrian. 

“We’re friends.” Adrian says quietly, now pulling out his medical supplies and sorting through them to pack bandages and painkillers into the bag he’s filling. 

“Okay, dear.” Maggie sips her tea. “I’m glad he’s nice to you, at least.” 

Jeff’s head flashes with memories of hitting Adrian, of kicking him, of the blood and the bruises. And of Adrian agreeing with him that he’d deserved it. The guilt pulls at his chest even more painfully. 

“You wait right there, I’ll go and get you some blankets.” Adrian leaves to run upstairs to one of the many rooms filled with storage boxes. Jeff pulls his hoodie closer to himself as he watches through the kitchen window, the cold starting to get to him. He’s not even wearing shoes. He watches as Maggie sips at her cup of tea, waiting for Adrian. She puts the cup down and stretches her limbs out with a yawn. Then she casually turns her head, looking directly at Jeff with a smile and a wave. Jeff instantly ducks down into the bushes out of sight. He thinks he hears her laugh. She knew that he was there this whole time? Homeless people are often more aware of being watched, he supposes. It comes with living on the streets. 

It’s not long after Adrian returns that he’s packing the bag of supplies into Maggie’s backpack and she’s putting her jackets back on. “It’s been so nice seeing you.” Adrian beams, pressing a wad of cash into her hand. He helps her get the large bag into her back before pulling her into a tight hug. “Be safe.” 

“You too, darling.” Maggie pulls back and affectionately cups Adrian’s face in her hand. “You make sure that friend of yours looks after you, okay?” Jeff swears that she says that part louder. 

Once the two have said their goodbyes and Maggie has left and walked off into the dark, Jeff emerges and steps back into the house. “Oh, there you are.” Adrian comments, not having realised that he’d gone outside. “Sorry about that. That was just maggie. She’s harmless.” He picks up the empty mug from the table and takes it to the sink to rinse out. “I used to help her out whenever she was in town. Sweet woman. She has a kid around my age. Hasn’t seen him since he was tiny; teen pregnancy, drugs, you know how those things go. Maybe that’s why she’s always so lovely to me.” He places the clean cup onto the side and turns to Jeff, who is just standing there quietly watching him. 

“You okay, Jeff?” Adrian asks with a frown, noticing that Jeff’s staring straight through him with that distant look in his eye that he sometimes gets. It takes a few moments for the killer to respond, and when he does it’s only a slight hum of acknowledgement at first. 

“... I’m gonna… go get some sleep.” He finally mutters, still staring at Adrian with a blank expression. 

“Yeah, it is pretty late.” Adrian agrees with a gentle smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow?” 

Jeff’s only response is another slight hum and a nod of his head before he leaves. 

~ 

Jeff jolts awake with a start, dripping with sweat and breathing heavily. He frantically looks around at his surroundings in a panic. He’s on the sofa in Adrian’s shed, he was asleep, it was only a dream. Just a dream. Still, he looks down at his trembling hands. No blood. “ It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.” He chants to himself in his head, despite the images being so clear in his mind still: Adrian covered in blood, sobbing and screaming as Jeff tore into his flesh with his bare hands. He’d ripped out the boy's heart, in the dream. Because it was a dream. Definitely a dream. Just another nightmare. 

Jeff continues to stare down at his hands through the tears in his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts on how it couldn’t have been real. But his thoughts don’t often conform to what he wants, and this occasion is no different. His mind is replaying screams and sobs deafeningly loud into his ears. They stop resembling anything that could be Adrian until he’s hearing the screams that he’s so used to being in his nightmares: his brother’s screams, from that horrible night. “That was real, wasn’t it, Jeff?” A morphed and distorted version of what he remembers as his brother’s voice whispers into his ear. 

“Shut up! Shut up!” Jeff sobs and squeezes his eyes shut tight, holding his hands over his ears. Of course, that doesn’t stop him from hearing the ghosts that live inside his head; the poor boy’s grip of his own sanity is failing him more than usual and getting so distressed is only making it worse. 

Adrian shifts in his bed, stirring awake slowly. He’s cold. He pulls his limbs close to himself under the blankets, just about awake enough to start wondering why it’s so cold. At the feeling of a breeze on his face, he cracks an eye open to see that his window is open. He groans tiredly and sits up, blinking and looking around. Sure enough, he finds a figure standing in the shadows of his bedroom, watching him. 

“Jeff,” Adrian yawns and rubs his eyes before looking back at the boy standing in the corner of his room. “Are you… okay?” Jeff doesn’t respond. 

Adrian slips out of bed and into the cold air of the room. He walks over to the window and closes it before turning to Jeff. In the minimal moonlight shining into the room, he can see that Jeff is crying. “ Fuck ,” The brunette rushes over to his friend with an expression of concern. “Jeff..?” He cautiously reaches a hand towards him, only for the killer to take a step back, hitting the wall behind him. 

Adrian withdraws his hand, raising both of them in a non-threatening gesture. “Woah, it’s okay, it’s okay.” He doesn’t take any more steps towards Jeff. It isn’t smart to corner a scared animal, which is what the killer reminds him of at times like this. He takes a moment to consider what he should do. His friend is clearly extremely distressed, and he wants to help him. But, historically, that doesn’t go well. He watches Jeff, whose eyes are darting somewhat panickedly between him and various places around the room. He definitely doesn’t seem completely with it, evidenced even more by the fact he’s crying, something he’d usually rather die than do infront of someone. 

Jeff slowly moves down the wall to his back until he’s sitting on the ground with his knees to his chest. He brings his hands up to cover his ears, burying his face in his knees and sobbing. He’s muttering between sobs, but Adrian can only make out some of it. “Shut up, shut up, shut up.” Seems to be the majority of the words. Adrian, who isn’t saying anything, looks down at his friend with sadness. It breaks his heart seeing Jeff like this. He gets to his knees to kneel beside him, desperately wishing that he knew how to help. 

“... Jeff, no one’s talking.” Adrian speaks slowly, gently. “I want to help you. Can you tell me what’s wrong?” When he doesn’t respond, Adrian’s concern only grows. “Can you… hear me?” At that, Jeff finally lifts his head slightly, making eye contact through the mess of his hair. 

“I know it’s not real.” He mumbles quietly, tears still falling from his eyes. Adrian is about to question what exactly isn’t real, when he speaks again. “... Are you real? Am I awake right now?” His voice is trembling as much as he is, fear clear on his face even from behind the hair that falls in front of it. 

Adrian nods slowly, making a mental note to research how exactly you’re meant to talk to someone having this kind of psychotic episode. He’s honestly mad at himself for not having already done that at this point. 

Noticing that Jeff’s eyes are still moving between him and somewhere behind him, he frowns. “Hey,” He places his hand on one of Jeff’s, feeling just how badly he’s shaking. “Look at me, okay?” Jeff does. “I’m real. Just focus on me.” He squeezes Jeff’s hand. “You had a nightmare, but everything’s going to be okay. I’m here, I’m real. You’re awake, I promise.”  

“Okay.” Jeff breathes out, barely audibly, and shuts his eyes again. He closes his fingers around Adrian’s hand and squeezes it back. The two stay just like that for a while, Jeff holding onto Adrian’s hand like his life depends on it. Slowly, he stops sobbing and his breathing calms. 

“... Do you want to talk about it?” Adrian asks after a while. “You, uh, don’t have to. It might help, though.” Jeff releases his hand, bringing his to his face to wipe away tears. He doesn’t look at Adrian, instead staring down at the floor.

“Do you want to know what happened to the last person I gave a shit about?” He speaks in a dull monotone. 

“Uh.. Yes. Tell me.” 

“I killed him.” 

Adrian isn’t sure what to say to that. It’s not like he couldn’t have guessed that would be the answer. 

“You really think I won’t kill you too?” Jeff speaks again, voice still emotionless, and looks up to meet eyes with Adrian once more. 

“I- … I don’t care if you kill me, Jeff.”

“Yeah, well maybe I fucking do!” Jeff snaps abruptly and turns away from Adrian completely, crossing his arms and staring at the floor on the other side of him. 

“... Oh…” 

There’s a long, uncomfortable silence. 

Adrian scooches a bit closer and clears his throat. “Who was it? The person you killed.” 

“... My brother.” Jeff answers in a low mumble that Adrian only just makes out. The brunette bites his lip, unsure whether or not to question his distressed friend any further. His mind flashes back to that night when he’d woken Jeff from a nightmare; how he’d clung to him, the name he’d called him, the pained sobbing and apologising. He reaches over to place what he hopes is a comforting touch on the killer’s arm. 

“You didn’t mean to hurt him.” 

Jeff chokes out a sorrowful laugh. “That doesn’t stop him from being dead.” He instinctively brings his hands to his face to hide the humiliation of the fresh tears forming in his eyes. “And it won’t save you, either.” 

Unable to stand the sight of his friend crying anymore, Adrian gives into his nature and leans over to throw his arms around the other boy, surrounding him in a hug. Jeff whimpers, leaning into the embrace and allowing himself to be held, quiet sobbing being muffled into Adrian’s chest. “Shh, shhh, It’s okay.” The teen murmurs softly, holding Jeff close to himself. The deadly serial killer completely falls apart in his arms, the walls of threat and coldness that usually protect him now crumbled to nothing. Adrian strokes his hair, wondering how long it’s been since Jeff was this vulnerable with someone, and setting it firm in his mind not to treat that trust lightly. 

Adrian cradles Jeff in his arms and tenderly pets his hair until the sobbing and shaking slows. He wonders what time it is; it’s still dark outside. “Come on,” He pulls away from Jeff and stands up, helping the other to his feet as well. “You must be tired.” Adrian leads a fragile Jeff over to his bed. “Lie down.” Jeff obeys the gentle instruction and numbly climbs onto the bed. The brunette smiles softly and walks around to the other side, getting into the bed next to him. He pulls the layers of blankets over the two of them and lays on his side, looking at Jeff. He seems calmer now, though his eyes still dart around the room, and every so often his head twitches. “Do you want me to put the TV on? To sleep to? The noise, it helps with ignoring the thoughts you don’t want to have.” 

Jeff shifts, turning over to face Adrian. “Please.” He croaks quietly, voice weaker than Adrian’s ever heard it. 

It only takes a moment of feeling around the large bed to find the remote. Adrian flips on the television and sets the volume low, letting the sound of some random late night show fill the darkness. He then gets comfortable and settles facing Jeff again, who now has his eyes scrunched tightly shut. Under the blankets, Adrian moves a hand over to find one of Jeff’s, lacing their fingers together and squeezing lightly. This seems to help, the killer’s face relaxing and looking more peaceful. Adrian closes his eyes, and the two are both fast asleep before long.

Chapter Text

Jeff is slightly confused when he wakes up in Adrian’s bed. He shifts under the blankets, eyes open just enough to groggily take in his surroundings and glance briefly at the sleeping form of the boy next to him, before closing again as he settles back into being extremely comfortable. His comfort only lasts as long as it takes him to remember why he’s in Adrian’s bed, however, and then he’s suddenly wide awake. 

Jeff is unable to hold back the pathetic whining groan that escapes him as he remembers exactly what transpired the night before. He had a nightmare, went to find Adrian for some stupid reason, cried like a bitch, and climbed into his bed with him like a scared child. Christ, when did he get so pathetic? He brings a hand to his mouth and bites at one of his fingers in an attempt to stop himself from making another distraught noise at his own pitiful actions. Another glance toward Adrian to make sure that he’s still asleep, and Jeff is delicately getting out of the bed and sneaking out of the room as quietly as possible. 

~

Adrian rubs his eyes groggily as he steps into the living room. “Morning.” He greets Jeff, who is sitting on the floor beside the coffee table. There’s a few knives on the ground in front of him (his favourite one, as well as two from Adrian’s kitchen, and a large hunting knife) that he appears to be sharpening. “You okay?” Adrian asks when the killer doesn’t register his presence. 

“I’m fine .” Jeff snaps aggressively without looking up from what he’s doing. 

Not wanting to annoy Jeff further, Adrian keeps walking and heads into the kitchen, happy to give him some space. He fully expected him to be pissed off after last night, anyway. The guy despises being vulnerable, and lashes out as a result. Adrian’s just thankful that this time didn’t result in a beating, honestly. 

In the kitchen, Adrian lazily goes about making toast, humming quietly to himself as he does. He sets his plate on the table and is pouring himself a glass of orange juice, when the sound of combat boots on the kitchen tiles causes him to look up to see Jeff walking into the room. “You leaving?” Adrian asks, seeing that Jeff’s wearing his jacket and has a bag slung over his shoulder. The question only gets a grunt in response as Jeff walks to the back door. “I’ll, uh, see you, then… Be safe…” 

Jeff leaves without a word. Adrian sighs and sits down at the table, resting his head on a hand and staring down at the toast in front of him with a glum expression. 

~ 

In a cold damp apartment, a woman sits at her computer, the only light that of her monitor and glowing keyboard as she boredly types away between sips of off brand energy drink. Headphones blasting loud music into her ears, she’s deaf to anything going on around her. She doesn’t hear the creaking of the old window as it’s slid open, or the footsteps of someone approaching her from behind. She remains clueless of the danger she’s in right up until there’s a plastic bag over her head. And at that point, it’s too late. 

The futile struggle doesn’t last long. Once it’s over, the woman slumps over onto her keyboard, dead. Her killer just stands there for a moment, looking down at her body. Then at his shaking hands. A single tear rolls down his cheek, which he quickly wipes away, forcing himself not to dwell on what he’s done. 

Means to an end. Just focus on the goal. 

These little reminders are becoming more and more needed, the more morals he finds himself needing to part with in the name of accomplishing his objective. 

Liu sighs, once again tearing his eyes away from the body of the woman he’s just killed. That’s when his phone rings, slicing through the heavy silence and startling him. 

“Yeah?” He answers the phone, trying his best not to give away how shaken he is. 

“Nice work.” 

“Huh?” Liu is confused for a moment, before his eyes fall on the small light of the webcam attached to the monitor in front of him. “Oh.” He glares at the webcam briefly before facing away from it. “Well, there you go, I’ve held up my end of the deal.” 

“Indeed you have.” The voice on the other end of the phone seems pleased. “With payment complete, I can set everything up for you on my end. Won’t take long and I’ll have surveillance on all law enforcement communications. You’ll be contacted immediately if and when a murder victim matching the MO you described is found.” 

“And you’ll contact me directly, yes? Not my associate.” 

“Of course. Speaking of your lovely lady friend, though,” Liu can hear the guy’s creepy smile without having to see it. “Is there a reason you took care of this payment instead of her? She always seems to enjoy it, is all.” 

“We’re done here, aren’t we?” Liu grits his teeth and ignores the question. 

“Yes, I suppose we are. Excuse my interest. You see, you two are just rather intriguing compared to others I work with. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, as usual. I’ll be in touch.” The call ends. 

Liu sighs in relief. He’s never enjoyed speaking to that creep, despite him being the most useful of his contacts. “Sick fuck.” He mutters, again glancing over at the dead woman, wondering just what she did to get herself targeted by such a man. Had she even done anything at all? Or what she just selected for some arbitrary reason? He supposes that it doesn’t matter. Either way, she’s dead now. 

Jesus Christ, when did I become a hitman? Liu thinks, unable to completely bury the internal protesting of his own actions. 

Means to an end. He reminds himself, again. 

Nothing matters as long as I find him. This phrase, too, has become somewhat of a mantra. 

It’s only a few miles hike back to where the van is parked up, which Liu makes quick work of in hopes of getting back before his absence is noticed. He opens the vehicle's door as quietly as he can and slips in, thankful to find Jane still asleep where he left her. 

“Liu?” Jane stirs from her sleep, blinking tiredly at Liu as he gets into the driver's seat. “Where’ve you been?” 

“Nowhere. Just a quick walk. Couldn’t sleep.” That answer seems to satisfy Jane, who hums in response and closes her eyes again. 

Looking at the sleeping woman in the backseat, guilt starts to tug at Liu’s heart. Guilt that he forces himself to bury and ignore. 

Means to an end.

~

In the early hours of the morning, rain is coming down hard. In the middle of nowhere, the dark seems thicker, the roads empty and lonely. You can go hours without seeing a car pass. 

A man hums along to a song on the radio as he drives, making sure to keep his eyes on the road in the dark. He squints, thinking he sees something up ahead. A person, walking along the side of the road. 

The man slows, pulling up beside the stranger. He turns the radio down and opens the window of his car. “Hey!” He calls, and the stranger turns to him. He’s drenched, layers of sopping wet ratty clothing looking to be weighing him down. A hood falls into his face, that along with the dark obscuring any features from sight. “You need a ride, man?” 

Saying nothing, the stranger slowly approaches the vehicle. It’s only now that the man notices the way the guy is walking, limping and holding an arm, as though injured. “Fuck, are you okay?” A click is heard as the man unlocks his car. “Get in.” 

Slowly, the injured stranger limps around the car to the passenger side door and opens it. He gets in, throwing a backpack onto the floor by his feet. He doesn’t pull down his dripping hood, or make any kind of effort to clear his face of the long wet hair sticking to it. The man tries to get as good a look at him as he can whilst keeping his eyes on the road as he starts to drive again. 

“Where’re you heading? Do you…  need a hospital?” 

The stranger laughs, and something about it is deeply unsettling. “Oh, I’m fine.” He mumbles with a chuckle. “It’s just… been a long day.” 

Hearing the voice of the mysterious person in his passenger seat, the man frowns, turning to him with a look of concern. “How old are you?” He again tries to get a proper look at the guy’s face, but doesn’t manage to. 

The stranger laughs again. “Why? You gonna proposition me?” 

“What?!” The man chokes. “No, I-” 

“Only two types of people pick up creepy strangers on the side of the road.” The strange boy interrupts him, leaning back and adjusting his injured body in the seat, getting more comfortable. “Idiots, and perverts.”  He turns to the man, wet black hair parting just enough to flash an extremely unsettling grin. “Which are you?” 

On the side of a dark lonely road in the middle of nowhere, a car door opens, and out of it is pushed a bloodied body. The body lands on the muddy ground with a wet thud. The not quite dead yet man garbles unintelligible words and struggles to move, though only managing to aimlessly flail around. All the display accomplishes is earning a laugh from the person looking down at him from the car. “Thanks for the ride.” Jeff chuckles coldly before shutting the car door. Clumsily, due partly to being injured and partly to only just being able to drive, he speeds off, leaving the good samaritan to die in the dirt.

Chapter Text

The rain that’s been falling heavily all night finally starts to die down just as the first rays of sunlight appear in the sky. From outside of his bedroom window, Adrian can hear birds starting to sing. And with that sound, he’s forced to accept that he has indeed been awake all night. 

Sighing, the boy closes the laptop that he’s been attached to for hours, lazily letting the device drop to the ground beside his bed. He rubs his eyes and groans. He’s just in the middle of deciding whether to get some sleep or to go for a cigarette, when he hears something that instantly kills all thoughts of how to best pass another boring day: the distant yet unmistakable sound of the back door being opened. 

Jeff. He must be back, sooner than he would usually be. Fuck yes. 

Adrian nearly runs down the stairs and towards the kitchen, slowing himself down as he approaches, as he might be a bit too excited. After all, Jeff didn’t leave in the best of moods and he wouldn't want to be too full on and risk agitating him when he’s only just got here. Still though, he’s ecstatic as he turns the corner into the kitchen.

However, his joy instantly shifts to shock upon seeing the killer. 

Jeff, dripping all over from both rain and blood, braces himself against the wall for support as he staggers through the kitchen. He’s hardly even managing to stay on his feet. The guy looks like he’s been hit by a damn truck.

“Jeff, oh my god-” Adrian runs to his friend's side, offering assistance that is, surprisingly enough, actually accepted. The injured boy falls into his touch, allowing Adrian to help keep him steady on his feet. “Woah, jesus christ, um- Easy now, this way,” He leads Jeff towards the table, trying his best not to let the trail of blood being left on the floor send him into a full blown panic. “Shit- Fuck- How badly are you hurt?” Despite his efforts, his tone borders on frantic.  

“I’m f-” Jeff’s words are cut short, replaced with a hiss of pain and a string of broken swear words as he pulls his damaged body up to sit on the table, with Adrian’s help. “It’s fine- I just-” Another strained grunt as he shrugs off his wet jacket and hoodie. “I’ve just lost a lot of blood.” The killer’s eyes fall shut and he breathes a shaky sigh of relief, just glad to have made it back without passing out. He honestly hadn’t thought he was that badly hurt, until he started to get faint from blood loss whilst limping through the woods. Maybe he should have just found the nearest dingy hole to take shelter in and lick his wounds like he usually would. But, he rushed back here instead. Probably driven by some kind of natural urge to get his injured self back to somewhere he feels safe. 

The adrenalin that must have been carrying him to this point now dissipating, Jeff’s exhausted body finally gives up and he lets himself collapse into a broken heap on the table. He can hear Adrian’s voice, filled with panic, but it feels distant. Not registering exactly what the boy’s saying, Jeff just lays there, catching his breath and calmly staring up at the ceiling. 

“Jeff! Jeff! ” The warmth of Adrian’s hand on his face pulls him back to reality and he shifts his head slightly, met with the brunette's panic stricken face, big brown eyes wide with fear. “I’m going to help you, okay?” Numbly, Jeff hums a barely audible sound of agreement, no longer having it in him to speak. Adrian then says something else, perhaps a question, but Jeff doesn’t process the words. 

Every inch of his body hurts like hell, and he’s feeling more dizzy by the second. He’s only vaguely aware of what’s going on as his blood soaked shirt is cut off of him with kitchen scissors. There’s definitely a shriek and more panicked yelling from Adrian upon seeing the extent of his wounds, but he’s far past the point of words reaching him now. He just tries to keep breathing steadily through the pain. 

He must have passed out at some point, because he regains consciousness to see a terrified face hovering inches above his own, Adrian’s wide eyes brimming with tears as he stares down at him. His hand is again on Jeff’s cheek. “J-jeff.. Fuck, Jeff, are you still with me?” Jeff groans in response, not enjoying how much it feels like he’s been fed through a wood chipper. He tries to move, but Adrian places a hand gently onto his shoulder to keep him down. “Hey, slowly, okay? You’re very injured, and I’m not a fucking doctor, so who knows if I’ve treated this wound right.” Jeff shifts, getting as good a look at himself as he can. The worst of his injuries, his shoulder, is bandaged up tight, and the nastiest of the gashes on the rest of him have gauze secured over them. “I think I stopped the bleeding…” Adrian continues, biting nervously at his lip whilst looking over his work. He’s done his best, but as he said, he isn’t a doctor. Far from it, in fact.

“Here,” Adrian carefully helps Jeff to somewhat sit up and places 2 pills into his hand, which Jeff instantly throws into his mouth and swallows dry. He’s then handed a glass of water, which he takes a small sip from before handing it back. “What happened…?” Adrian asks, putting the water to the side. He’s clearly quite shaken up and still kind of freaking out, but is doing his best to mask that with a calm, caring tone.  

“Nothing all that interesting.” Jeff mumbles dismissively, attempting to sit up fully and wincing in pain at the first tiny movement of his more injured arm. He hopes that those pills were painkillers.

“Jeff-” Adrian’s voice comes out louder and more harsh than he’d meant it to be, so he quickly corrects himself and continues more softly. “Jeff, you have a bullet wound for Christ's sake.” 

Jeff looks down at his bandaged shoulder. “Yup.” Having now assessed the damages and figuring that it’s probably not that bad now that nothing’s actively bleeding, he decides to bite the bullet and try to get up. He manages to, if cursing loudly the second he puts weight on a leg injury he’d forgotten about. 

Adrian watches with concern.

“What?” Jeff asks with a questioning look towards Adrian, who’s just staring at him with an expression that Jeff can’t quite read. 

“... Are you going to be okay?” Adrian’s shaky voice comes out only just above a whisper. 

“I mean, probably?” Jeff half laughs. “I haven’t bled to death, that’s a good sign.” 

It’s then that all of the fear and stress finally gets the better of Adrian and the tears he’d only just been holding back start to pour down his face. Jeff goes to take a step towards him but struggles, Adrian quickly catching him and, still crying, helping him to walk. Slowly, they make their way out of the kitchen and into the living room. 

“Why are you crying?” Jeff asks between pained grunts as he’s helped onto the sofa, where he lays down as comfortably as he can. Adrian sniffs and wipes some tears away with a bloodied sleeve, kneeling on the ground beside him. 

“… I thought you were going to die .” 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Jeff waves a hand dismissively, “If I die, just take me out into the woods and bury me, then scrub the house clean like we did before. Should be fine.” 

“ Shut up! ” Adrian snaps, causing Jeff to look at him, confused and taken aback by a tone that isn’t usual for Adrian. “I care about you, Jeff! A lot! ” The teen shuts his eyes tight, tears falling more heavily as he fully shouts at his friend. “You show up here in this state, pass out in a pool of blood in my kitchen and leave me to fucking google how to treat a bullet wound whilst my best friend bleeds out in front of me! And now you act like that’s just fine?! Like if you died I would just bury you and be done with it?? How dare you!” 

Jeff stares slack-jawed as Adrian yells at him, and as the yelling turns into just sobbing. For some reason, it’s only now that he registers how much blood Adrian’s covered in. There’s a long moment of Jeff just laying there watching him cry, speechless. He’s never yelled at him like that before, he’s never even shown any genuine anger towards Jeff the whole time they’ve known each other. 

“I’m… sorry…” The killer speaks, slowly, unsure of his words. “I guess I didn’t think about it like that…” He carefully shifts himself to sit up as best he can. “Hey,” With no idea how to make him stop crying, he reaches a hand over and lightly pokes him on the shoulder, which at least gets him to open his eyes. “Thanks. For patching me up…”

Adrian sniffles. “Will you be okay?” 

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” 

“I was so scared…” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Wiping the tears from his face, Adrian takes a shaky breath. “I can’t believe you managed to get back here in such a state. What even happened to you?” 

“Honestly, not much.” Jeff relaxes and lays back down, exhaustion starting to catch up with him. “Just got a bit reckless…” He closes his eyes, starting to feel the effects of whatever pain medication Adrian gave him. At the feeling of a hand placed gently on his own, he slowly opens his eyes again to see Adrian looking at him with a serious expression on his face. 

“Can you be more careful in future..? Please, don’t get yourself killed…” 

“Okay,” The killer drowsily closes his eyes again. “I promise.” He mumbles, before drifting into sleep.

Chapter Text

“Shit.” Jeff huffs, pushing the laptop away in frustration. 

“You died? Where'd you die?” Adrian mumbles, not looking away from his monitor.

“The bottom of some random cave.” 

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” 

Jeff yawns and closes the laptop, causing Adrian to spin his desk chair around to face him. “You're done playing?” He asks, seeming disappointed. 

“I'm tired.” Jeff mumbles, stretching before falling back to lay on the bed. “It's late.” He waves a hand towards the window, where it's clearly gotten dark outside. “You woke me up at 6am this morning, dude.”  He finishes with a yawn, as if to illustrate his point. 

“Mn..” Adrian bites his lip, quickly picks up his phone only to look at the screen briefly before putting it back down, and then turns back around to close the game on his computer. “Still!” He exclaims energetically, standing up. “I, uh- I'm not tired.” He picks up his phone, checking it again before walking over to the bed and placing it on the bedside cabinet. “Stay up just a bit longer with me?” He makes his best puppy eyes at Jeff, though he's not sure if that ever even has an effect on the killer.

“We can watch something?” The brunette offers, climbing onto the bed and picking up the remote for the tv. 

“Sure, I guess.” Jeff agrees, shifting and adjusting the pillows behind him to get more comfortable. “What're we watching?” 

“You can pick.” Adrian clicks onto netflix on the television before handing the remote to Jeff. He then reaches for his phone. 

“What's with the phone?” Jeff asks, glancing over briefly at Adrian as he taps his phone screen on. He's been doing this all day. It's been noticeable, since he doesn't usually even bother to have his phone around him unless he's using it for something, but today it's been right next to him at all times. The constant checking started out as just every few hours, but it's progressed to the point of every couple minutes. 

“Uh.” Adrian puts the phone down and turns to his friend with what he hopes is a convincing oblivious face. “What do you mean?” 

“You keep checking your phone.” Jeff states simply as he scrolls through movies. 

“Do I?” Adrian laughs nervously. 

Jeff stops what he's doing to look at him, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Yes.” 

“Ah…” Adrian bites his lip, looking away. “It's nothing. Don't worry about it.” 

Jeff continues to stare at him for a moment, before mumbling an “Okay.” and going back to looking for a movie to put on. 

They end up watching cartoons. Though, being exhausted, Jeff just falls asleep after a while. He wakes up a few hours later, finding himself now alone. Figuring that Adrian went to the bathroom or to get a glass of water or something, he sits up and blinks groggily in the light of the tv screen. For a while he just sits there tiredly watching the episode of my little pony that's playing quietly, though after ten minutes pass he decides to go see where Adrian went. 

Not finding him in the bathroom, Jeff’s heading to go and look downstairs when he notices a door in the corridor is ajar. He pushes the door further open, revealing one of the many dusty old unused rooms in the house, filled with boxes and old furniture. 

The sound of the door creaking open startles Adrian, who’s sat on the floor amongst the mess of boxes in the room. He doesn’t turn to face the door, instead appearing to hurriedly shove something back into a box. 

“You coulda just woken me up, if I was in the way.” Jeff speaks, tilting his head in confusion. Adrian never goes into the unused rooms. 

“No, no, you weren’t in the way at all. I like when you stay in my room with me.” The boy wipes his face quickly before turning towards the doorway, where pale blue eyes meet his, staring at him with confusion, and maybe even concern. 

“Why are you in here?” Jeff asks as he slowly steps into the room, careful not to trip on any of the various piles of clutter. “Are you… okay?” 

“Oh- Um, it’s nothing. I’m fine, it’s- It’s nothing.” 

“Come the fuck on, Adrian.” Jeff grumbles, navigating further into the room. “You’ve been acting weird all day. Aren’t you the one who says talking about it helps?” He manages to make his way over to where Adrian is. There’s not enough clear floor space to sit by him, so instead he takes a seat on one of the more sturdy boxes in front of him. “Don’t be a hypocrite.” 

Adrian stares down at his hands, fidgeting nervously. “... It’s stupid.” 

“Well,” Jeff scoffs. “First it’s nothing, now it’s stupid. Can’t be both, can it?” 

Timidly looking up, Adrian finds Jeff smirking at him. And suddenly he isn’t so nervous. “No, I mean- It’s nothing, and it’s stupid to be upset about it.” 

“Wouldn’t be the first stupid thing you’ve been upset about.” The killer’s tone with that comment would sound quite nasty to anyone else, but Adrian can tell he’s teasing. He smiles weakly up at his friend, who grins back in response. 

“Sooo…” Jeff waves a hand, motioning for Adrian to speak. 

“Uh-” The teen runs a hand through his hair, looking away. “So, um… My parents haven’t lived here since I was fifteen,” He glances back up to Jeff briefly, who’s listening patiently, eyes glued on him. “And, um- They don’t really talk to me. They never talk to me, actually. Think they’d rather forget I exist.” He forces half an awkward laugh. “Other than- Well, once a year, my mother phones me. To say happy birthday. It’s usually the only time I get contact from either of them outside of money being put into my bank account.” 

“Right…” Jeff urges Adrian to continue, as he’s now just staring at the floor.

“And, uh… I don’t know, I guess- I guess she forgot this year…” His voice grows quiet and trails off, again leaving the two sat in silence for a while.

“Today’s your birthday…” Jeff mumbles more to himself as he starts to make sense of things. 

“Yeah.” Adrian grabs his phone from his pocket and flicks on the screen. “Or, it was. Yesterday.” He turns the screen to show where the time reads half one in the morning. “I mean, it’s not like I don’t already know that they couldn’t give two shits about me. I’ve known that since I was a kid.” He puts his phone away and stares down at the ground again. “It’s just…” He quickly wipes the beginning of a tear away from the corner of his eye, taking a shaky breath. “She finally forgot about me completely, I suppose.” 

There’s a long moment of quiet. Adrian doesn’t look up from where he’s staring down at the ground in front of him. “Told you it was stupid.” He finally says.

“I don’t think so.” 

“Hm?” Adrian looks up at Jeff, who’s now looking away, seeming to be thinking about something. 

“It’s not stupid. To be upset about it.” Still looking away, Jeff smiles. “You know, I was so upset that my parents didn’t love me, I stabbed them both to death.” He chuckles to himself slightly. Then looks back to Adrian. “So crying a little really isn’t that big of an overreaction in the grand scheme of things, huh?” 

“I-” A smile pulls at Adrian’s lips. “I guess not.” 

“Still,” Jeff reaches a hand towards him. “You do cry way too much.” Scarred fingers touch Adrian’s face, wiping a tear from his cheek. The touch lingers for a moment, before Jeff realises what he’s doing and pulls his hand away. 

The killer shifts awkwardly, looking around the room, eyes finding their way to a box next to him. The box Adrian had quickly shoved something back into when he came in. He reaches over and pushes the box open, the hidden object clearly being the old framed photograph laying on top of everything else. It shows a woman in a white sundress sitting in a garden of flowers, a child sitting on her lap, maybe age six or seven. Adrian with his mother, presumably.

Jeff frowns at the photo. “Stupid bitch. Let her forget about you. Her loss.” He mutters, closing the box again. “Anyway!” He exclaims suddenly, standing up and quickly starting to make his way out of the room. “Let’s get out of here, it’s dusty as fuck. And god I’m tired.” Adrian stands and follows, closing the door behind them as they leave. 

Jeff is heading down the hallway towards the stairs, planning to go crash on the sofa in the living room, when he glances back towards Adrian, who’s just stood there watching him. “What?” He asks, despite not really needing to. 

“Oh, nothi-” 

“Want me to come watch one more episode with you?” At this suggestion, Adrian’s face lights up. 

“Yes! Um- That’d be great, yeah.” The teen beams, turning and heading towards his bedroom. Jeff rolls his eyes. Though, he can’t help but to smile a little. 

“Happy birthday, by the way.” Jeff says as he follows Adrian into his bedroom. The tv is still on. Adrian climbs into his bed and gets comfortable, turning towards Jeff with a smile. 

“Thanks. I’d usually throw a big party, but I really wasn’t feeling it this year. Probably wouldn’t have been a good idea.” He laughs. 

Jeff climbs onto the bed. “Yeah, probably not.” He agrees, settling back into where he’d fallen asleep earlier. He’s definitely just going to fall back to sleep, but Adrian clearly knows that. “We could do something, I guess.” Jeff mumbles sleepily, already struggling to keep his eyes open. 

“Yeah?” Adrian asks from next to him, sounding surprised. 

“Gives us a reason to do something. ‘S boring being stuck inside injured for so long. I’ll do any stupid thing you want. Sound good?” 

“Yeah.” Adrian agrees happily, before closing his eyes, suddenly really tired himself. They’re both out cold before long. 

Chapter Text

“So, Jeff,” Adrian places a plate of food onto the table in front of Jeff, who doesn’t look up from the tablet in his hands, preoccupied with a game. “You know last night, when you said you’d do any stupid thing I wanted?” He sits down at the other side of the table with his own plate of food. Jeff rips his eyes away from the tablet for just long enough to throw a suspicious glance in his direction. 

“Is this the part where I regret saying that?” He asks, tapping rapidly at the game he’s playing. 

“Uh,” The brunette pokes idly at the food on his plate with a fork, thinking about how best to word what he’s going to say. “So, it’s Halloween in a few days, yeah? And on Halloween every year, there’s kind of a thing down at the old church building outside of town. Like, a party.” 

Jeff puts the tablet down, leaning his chin on his hand and looking at Adrian incredulously. “A party?” He repeats, scanning Adrian’s face as best he can for signs that he’s joking. 

“Yeah. Or, well, kind of a rave? Same difference.” 

Jeff just stares at him and blinks for a moment. “... And you want me to go with you?” He points to himself, genuinely not believing that Adrian would even suggest that.

“Yes.” 

“And you think that’s a good idea?” 

“I mean… yeah? It’s Halloween, loads of people will be wearing masks, I’ve got some you could use. And it’s not like we’d have to talk to anyone, we could kind of just stick together and do our own thing.” He waits for Jeff to say something, but when he doesn’t, decides to keep talking. “It’s not like you can’t handle being in public, we’ve been to the park a couple times when there’s been people around…” Another pause, again with no response. “You don’t have to or anything, I just thought it’d be fun…” 

“Okay.” Jeff says after a while. 

“Wait, really?” Adrian bounces in his seat, beaming at Jeff ecstatically. 

The killer sighs, leaning back in his chair and rolling his eyes at the pure level of happiness suddenly radiating from the excitable boy. “Sure. Yeah. Whatever.” It’s not like he’s never used halloween costumes to blend in before. This is basically the same thing, he supposes, only he doesn’t get to kill anyone. 

~

“Yeah, this’ll do.” Jeff hums, spinning idly in Adrian’s desk chair as he looks at the plastic mask he’s been handed. It’s a generic looking skull mask with demon horns, and most importantly, seems the most comfortable and easy to see through out of the options he’s been shown. “Now you grab one so we can leave and get this thing over with.” 

Adrian crosses his arms. “You could at least pretend like there’s a chance of this being fun.” Jeff looks like he’s about to say something snarky in response, but doesn’t get the chance. “And holy shit, are you kidding? I’m not just throwing on a cheap mask! I put effort into my outfits, thank you very much.” 

“Of course, how silly of me.” Jeff mutters sarcastically. 

“Don’t worry, though,” Adrian quickly pulls his shirt up over his head and untangles his arms from it before discarding it onto the floor. “I’ve got an outfit picked out already, so it won’t take long.” He undoes and starts to slip out of his jeans. Jeff averts his eyes, turning in the chair to instead watch the music video of whatever the song is currently playing from the desktop computer. He zones out like that for a while, boredly watching music videos and sometimes mumbling along to songs he likes. 

“Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.” Adrian announces eventually, standing from where he’d been sitting in front of the mirror applying makeup. Jeff turns to him, about to make a comment about it taking so damn long, when he stops. He stares at Adrian, slack jawed and speechless, for a good long moment. Then, snapping out of it, he laughs. 

“What?” The brunette questions, unsure what’s so funny. 

“Why the hell are you dressed like that?” 

“Like what?” Adrian looks down at himself. 

Jeff looks Adrian up and down, still snickering. “Like a girl.” He answers, like it’s obvious. 

Adrian frowns, looking at Jeff with slight annoyance. “I’m not.” He turns back to face the mirror, assessing his appearance. He looks, in his opinion anyway, cool as hell. He’s wearing all black, a pair of fluffy black cat ears atop his head, a large bell hanging from a collar around his neck, whiskers drawn on his face with eyeliner, a lot of effort put into detailed eye makeup and black lipstick (since he’s not really got skills for that kind of thing.) His clothes consist of an old cropped band t-shirt, denim shorts, thigh high socks, and fishnet tights. “I’m clearly dressed like a cat.” He mutters, turning slightly to look at himself from a different angle. “Do I really look like a girl?” He adds, now sounding kind of insecure. 

‘Shit.’ The killer thinks, seeing that Adrian seems genuinely offended. “Uh,” He again looks the boy up and down, meaning to reassess his observation, though finding himself staring for too long and having to snap himself out of it. “No.” He says finally, blinking. “No, not really, I suppose.” ‘It's just that only girls tend to dress like that’ He almost adds, but thinks better of it. “Ignore me, what the hell do I know about fashion anyway?” He mumbles, standing up. “Come on then.” 

On the walk down, Jeff asks questions about what exactly people even do at these kinds of things. Every answer being something Jeff certainly will not be doing. Drinking, smoking, dancing, socialising, all of those are a firm ‘no’ on his part. “Well then,” Adrian giggles. “Stand nearby and watch me have fun, I guess.” 

“Remind me why you even want me to come? I could be sleeping right now.” 

“Been ages since I went out and did something.” Adrian shrugs. “Don’t know how receptive any of my so-called friends would be to me tagging along with them right now, and they always ditch me anyways…” He trails off briefly, before turning to Jeff with a smile. ”But you won’t ditch me, right?” 

“Guess not…” 

As they get closer to their destination, more people appear walking in the same direction, most dressed up in outfits, all laughing and joking amongst themselves loudly. The sound of music slowly gets louder as they make their way down the long road heading out of town. 

“Aren’t you freezing dressed like that?” Jeff questions, glancing at Adrian. Jeff’s wearing a hoodie and can still feel the chill in the air, so there’s no way the guy mostly only covered in fishnet isn’t cold. 

“Ah!” Adrian quickly rummages around in his bag, pulling out a bottle. “That’s what this is for.” He says with a grin, opening the bottle of vodka and taking a big swig. 

“Oh, wonderful.” Jeff mumbles, unimpressed. 

“Pfft.” Adrian rolls his eyes. “Come on.” He holds the bottle in Jeff’s direction with a smirk. “Live a little?” 

“Mn, now isn’t that just such a great idea?” Jeff glares at the brunette, words dripping with sarcasm. “Let’s take this opportunity of being around a lot of people I shouldn’t be trying to stab, to find out what effect alcohol has on my famously stable mental state. What could possibly go wrong?” 

“Okay, okay,” Adrian takes another sip before closing the bottle and putting it away. “Point taken.” 

It’s pretty much what Jeff was expecting. Lots of teenagers and young adults in fancy dress, very loud music, flashing lights. The main bulk of the crowd seems to be inside the old church building, it looks absolutely packed in there. It’s pretty damn busy outside as well however. In fact, this is a much bigger event with way more people than would be expected from a little town like this. Must be people from the city, Jeff assumes. 

Suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable and out of place, Jeff’s mind starts to default to what it knows best: hunting. He’s scanning the area, taking note of where he’d best situate himself to go unnoticed whilst picking off the vulnerable to drag behind a bush and stab to death whilst all the noise masks their screaming. Still, he feels completely exposed here. He wouldn’t usually hunt somewhere so open and so intensely crowded. He’d be further from the bulk of people, perhaps out into the woods a ways, preying on small groups who wander off. This doesn’t feel safe at all; he doesn’t feel safe at all. 

Adrian’s hand touching his arm makes him jolt slightly in shock. “Just stay close to me.” The teen talks softly, leaning in close enough to Jeff’s ear to be heard over the noise around them. And Jeff relaxes. He hadn’t noticed how much he was just panicking, but apparently Adrian had. “And let me know if it gets too much, okay?” Adrian’s words actually do a lot to calm the killer down some. Something familiar amongst so much that isn’t, maybe. 

After a quick reassuring squeeze of his friend’s arm, Adrian lets go and starts to walk further into the mess of people. Not heading anywhere specific, just getting a look around, assessing what’s going on, who’s around that he knows. There’s a few select people he’d do best to avoid if they’re here. 

“Adrian?” A voice calls, followed shortly by a girl in a french maid’s outfit shoving her way through a group of people and grabbing Adrian by the arm. “Haven’t seen you in ages, come over here!” She drags Adrian through the crowd, who mumbles an “Ah- Okay?” that she doesn’t hear. He shoots a look back towards Jeff to make sure he’s following, which he is. 

The girl leads him to a less crowded area near the tree line, where a small group is sitting together, all of whom stop whatever they're doing and look up at them as they approach. “Uh, hey guys.” Adrian greets the group awkwardly, quickly looking around at who they all are and breathing a sigh of relief when none of them are Felix or anyone else he doesn’t want to see. 

“No one’s seen you around in months.” One of the girls comments in a dull tone, not exactly looking excited about Adrian’s sudden presence. 

“Yeah, I figured maybe it was about you and Felix falling out…” The girl in the french maid’s dress adds, laughing awkwardly. “Uh. Who’s this?” She looks at Jeff, who’s standing silently behind Adrian. This draws the rest of the group's attention to him as well. 

“Uh,” Adrian panics slightly, before taking a deep breath and deciding not to overthink it. It’s not like they care enough to ask too many questions. “This is, um- Jay. He’s from the city.” 

Two or three of the guys instantly start laughing, some making more attempts to hide it than others. “That’ll be the real reason no one’s seen him for a while then.” One of them comments, causing even more laughter. 

“Oh, be nice.” The french maid mutters, waving a hand in the general direction of the group. “Hi, lovely to meet you, I’m Rita!” She smiles at Jeff and then, to his horror, throws herself at him in a hug. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the whole being a hideously disfigured mass murderer thing, this kind of shit right here would be the reason Jeff stays away from people. He freezes uncomfortably as he’s hugged against his will, mumbling a less than enthusiastic “Hey.” as she loosens her grip and he’s able to pry himself away. Adrian watches this unfold, holding his breath. He half expects Jeff to fully attack the girl right here, and is so so thankful that he apparently has more control of himself than that. 

“Sit, sit!” Rita sits down with the group, motioning for Adrian and ‘Jay’ to do the same. Which they do, though Jeff is hesitant. This whole situation feels unnatural and wrong to him, and he’s really starting to regret agreeing to do it. Not to mention that he was in no way pre-warned about having to socialise with Adrian’s stupid friends. 

“We’ve been here since sunset. It’s really starting to get busy now though.” Rita looks around at the masses of people. 

“Yeah, huge turn out this year.” One of the other girls chimes in. 

Adrian smiles, mumbling in agreement. He glances in Jeff’s direction worriedly. “We, uh- We can’t really stay too long. Je- Jay is kinda shy, so we were just gonna sort of hang out together, you know?” This, again, causes a few people to snicker and laugh. Someone mumbles “Yeah, sure.” Rita, ignoring them, smiles.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” She pauses for a moment, glancing around at the others before back to Adrian. “Hey Adrian. You, uh, got any smoke on you?” 

“Mn,” Adrian hums, digging through his bag. He pulls out a joint and a lighter. This seems to please the whole group. 

“Hell yeah.” One guy says. 

“Absolute lifesaver.” Rita grins as Adrian sparks up the joint. 

Jeff resigns himself to his fate of sitting awkwardly with this group of people for a while. At least they can probably get away once they’ve had what they dragged Adrian over here for. So he just sits there quietly as they pass the joint around, thankful that no one really tries to talk to him. 

“Oi. Jay, was it?” Someone nudges Jeff’s arm trying to get his attention. He jolts away from the guy sat next to him, his indigent expression thankfully hidden by the mask he’s wearing. The guy’s holding the joint out towards him. 

“Oh-” Adrian quickly puts the vodka he’d been sipping down and reaches across Jeff to take the joint from the other guy. “He doesn’t smoke.” He explains with a sheepish smile. 

“Mn.” The guy gives Jeff a weird look. “Gotta say, Adrian. This one’s weird, even for one of your strays. Is he mute or something?” The boy leans in somewhat closer, eyeing Jeff suspiciously, trying to get a good look through the eyes of the mask. “Or, like, strung out?” 

“Or maybe, like Adrian already said, I’m just shy.” Jeff tries his best to hide the utter contempt in his voice, though he’s not sure how well that works. 

“Uhhhh,” Adrian passes the almost spent joint in his hand off to Rita, plastering his best fake smile onto his face and turning to address the guy talking to Jeff. “Yeah, he doesn’t mean to be so quiet.” He laughs awkwardly. “Anyways, um, it was nice catching up with you all, but we’ll probably go wander around for a bit now.” He gets up, and Jeff wastes no time in joining him.

“I’m sorry. I did promise we wouldn't have to talk to anyone.” Adrian apologises as they walk away. He then grabs hold of Jeff’s arm, leaning in really close to whisper in his ear. “You did really well though!” He smiles, hugging his arm tightly for a moment. 

Jeff isn’t sure how to feel about that praise. It’s patronising and ridiculous, and he isn’t sure whether or not to be offended. He doesn’t get time to overthink it however, as Adrian quickly lets go of him and excitedly runs off towards something apparently of interest.

Catching up, Jeff finds them standing near the entrance to the church building, people passing them in either direction heading in and out of the crowded nightmare that is whatever the hell is going on in there. 

“Come on, come on. Let’s go dance!” Adrian grabs Jeff’s hand and starts pulling him towards the entrance. 

“Absolutely not.” Jeff laughs, sure that Adrian can’t possibly have expected him to agree to that. And he’s right, since Adrian doesn’t look at all surprised or disappointed. 

“Ah, worth a shot.” He giggles. “Go in with me though, I want to dance.” 

Jeff takes another look at the inside of the building. It’s jam packed with drunk people, so crowded that everyone’s touching. People are screaming, throwing things, grinding on each other, and he’s sure he can even see some people engaged in some sort of fist fight. “Yeah, uh, I’m good waiting outside.” 

“Are you sure?” Adrian asks, looking around for a moment. “I don’t have to go in there actually, we can just go do something else?” 

Jeff, having had about enough of being treated like a child at this point, pulls his mask to the side to address Adrian seriously for a moment. “Have you forgotten who the hell you’re speaking to? I’m perfectly fucking fine.” He slides the mask back into place. “Go dance.” 

“Mn. Sorry.” Adrian smiles kind of timidly, apparently realising how weirdly overprotective he’s being with Jeff right now. “Meet me right here in a bit?” He grins, waiting for Jeff to nod before turning to run off. “Oh, wait,” He quickly spins back around. “Hold this for me?” He slips the strap of his bag off of his shoulder and holds it out towards Jeff, who grumbles a “Seriously??” under his breath, but does take it.

Jeff looks around for somewhere to linger, and notices a broken window on the church. He easily climbs up to it and sits there, looking in on the chaos inside with a bored expression. How anyone could find enjoyment in such a place is beyond him. Though, most things people do are kind of beyond him. 

It doesn’t take too long of scanning his eyes over the sea of people to spot Adrian. He seems to have acquired a drink from somewhere, and either made some friends or run into more people he knows. He’s standing at the far end, sipping from a beer bottle and talking to two girls. One girl is dressed similarly to Adrian, only instead of cat ears she has devil horns. The other is wearing some kind of cosplay Jeff doesn’t recognise. 

The girls seem friendly enough with Adrian, more so than anyone else he’s seen interact with the boy anyways. They’re extremely intoxicated, probably on ecstasy or something going on how they’re swaying to the music and being overly touchy with each other and with Adrian. Jeff’s killed enough girls who wandered a bit too far away from nightclubs to recognise that kind of thing. Adrian seems to be finding it rather amusing, grinning at their spaced out behaviour and happily accepting the multiple hugs each girl gives him. 

The devil girl says something into Adrian’s ear, to which he grins and quickly downs the drink in his hand, placing the empty bottle on a ledge behind him. The two girls then lead him into the thick of the crowd, and the three dance together. 

Adrian sways and bounces to the music energetically, sometimes hand in hand with one of the girls, sometimes not. He looks like he’s having a good time, he looks happy. Jeff smiles, leaning his head on the old brickwork of the building. He sits like that for quite a while, just watching. 

After an amount of time Jeff isn’t sure of, Adrian pulls the cosplay girl in to tell her something, and she responds by hugging him. He then taps at the devil girl’s shoulder, who at some point started dancing with a dude dressed like a clown, to get her attention. He waves at her, assumably signalling that he’s leaving, and she grins, waving too before going back to basically dry humping the guy she’s dancing with. Seeing him start to push through the crowd towards the entrance he came in by, Jeff starts to climb down. 

“Damn, Adrian.” Jeff appears behind the boy just as he’s starting to look around in slight concern. “Two girls all the hell over you? Impressive.” 

Adrian turns to him, laughing at the comment. “Dude, I’m gay.” 

“I know.” Jeff hands Adrian’s bag back to him. “Still though. Mad game, pretty boy.” He chuckles and starts to walk away from the entrance, somewhat out of the way of the bulk of people. 

Pretty boy? That was definitely meant as an insult, but that doesn’t stop the heat that suddenly rushes to Adrian’s face as he watches Jeff walk away for a moment, having to snap himself out of it to follow. 

“I think I need to sit down for a bit.” Adrian mutters, unsure if Jeff even hears him. He grabs the killer’s hoodie sleeve and leads him away into the trees, just far enough for the music to not be so loud and for people to not be so close to them. 

“Jesus. I haven’t done that in ages.” The exhausted teen slumps down to sit on the ground, leaning back against a tree. “Those girls were nice. I mean, they were completely off their heads on pills, but yeah.” 

Jeff sits down too, cross legged, facing Adrian. He takes off the plastic mask, figuring that they’re out of the way enough to get away with just keeping his hood up. Seeing his face, Adrian smiles. “Thanks, Jeff. For doing this.” The other boy only shrugs nonchalantly in response. “We can, uh, go soon. If you want.” Adrian pulls the vodka from his bag. “Got it out of my system, I think.” He leans his head against the tree behind him and takes a sip, still looking at Jeff. “I prefer when it’s just the two of us.” It’s clear now by his voice that he’s starting to get quite drunk.

“Mn.” Jeff hums, eyes moving warily over the people around them. “Me too.” 

More than happy to be leaving, Jeff starts to walk off into the trees. “Why’re we going this way?” Adrian stumbles slightly as he catches up, grabbing a tree for balance and giggling to himself as he sips from the bottle still in his hands. 

“Less people. Sick of wearing this thing.” Jeff holds up the plastic skull mask. He stops walking, turning to the giggling teen who seems to be having difficulty walking. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink?” 

“Pfft.” Adrian makes a point of taking a big gulp from the bottle, which now has a good portion missing from it. “No.” 

Jeff sighs. “Come on, idiot.” He continues to lead them away from the noise and out into the trees in the direction of the house. 

On the walk back, the boys talk. Not about anything of note really, mostly Adrian rambles about music and video games and such whilst Jeff listens, occasionally chiming in with an opinion. The killer was dreading conversation with an intoxicated Adrian at first, though he doesn’t actually end up minding. The boy isn't much different, just slurring his words and almost falling over every so often. 

“Oh and sorry again for those stupid assholes making us sit with them.” Adrian mumbles in a somewhat annoyed tone, tripping over a tree root and catching himself on Jeff’s arm. “God I hate them.” 

“Yeah?” Jeff asks with a raised eyebrow, standing still for a moment to support Adrian’s weight as he basically falls into him. “Thought you were all sad or whatever about them not wanting you around?” 

“Ha!” Adrian hangs onto Jeff’s arm as they continue walking. “Maybe I was, but that was dumb as hell. Fuck those people. Why would I want to be their friend anyway? You noticed how stupid and lame they all are, right?” 

“Oh, how could I not?” Jeff laughs. “Especially the girl with the red hair, the one in the maid dress. Fuck that girl.” 

“Rita? Oh my god, yesssss, so glad you see it! How fucking fake is she? Actin’ all friendly and smiles, like she actually wanted to talk to me. Wish she woulda just asked me for the joint straight up instead of forcing me into that stupid fake friendship act.” Adrian pauses for a second and then starts laughing. “She hugged you!” 

Jeff groans thinking about it. “Fuck I wanted to stab her in her stupid fucking face.” 

“I could tell.” Adrian grins, leaning his head on Jeff’s shoulder as they walk. The killer rolls his eyes at the clinginess, but he supposes that he doesn’t really mind all that much. At least this way he won’t have to pull the idiot up off the ground after he falls over and hurts himself. 

“Oh, thank god . Some good fucking music.” Jeff grins, looking down at the phone Adrian’s pulled out of his bag as a slipknot song starts playing from it.

Adrian sets the app to play through the whole album and slides his phone into Jeff’s hoodie pocket, since he doesn’t have any. “Figured you’d appreciate it after all that EDM.” 

They emerge from the trees and walk out into the overgrown mess that is the bottom of Adrian’s garden, at which point he lets go of Jeff’s arm and runs off, not towards the house but to the shed, where he starts climbing the old lattice that runs up the side. “You can barely walk even, should you be doing that?” Jeff puts a hand on his hip, watching in slight amusement. 

“I wanna sit up here and look at the skyyyy!” 

Jeff sighs. Then he walks over to the other side of the shed, making quick work of scaling the wall. He moves over to where Adrian is struggling to get up, offering him a hand and pulling him the rest of the way. He takes the phone from his pocket and turns the music up before placing it down next to them. Adrian smiles contently, gazing up at the stars.

The killer relaxes properly for the first time since leaving for that stupid party or whatever it was. He joins Adrian in looking up, taking in the night sky. He’s glad that he demanded to come up here. It’s nice. 

After a few minutes, the sound of a lighter clicking pull’s Jeff’s attention from star gazing and he glances to his side, where Adrian is sparking a joint. “What?” The teen mumbles around the object between his lips, seeing Jeff’s less than amused expression. 

“I really don’t like the smell of that shit.” 

“Fair.” Adrian takes a drag, closing his eyes in peaceful satisfaction for a moment before exhaling. 

“Great, so you blow it right at me. Thanks.” Jeff grumbles, waving a hand around in front of him to disperse the smoke that was blown right into his face. 

“Sorry.” Adrian chuckles. He then hums to himself slightly, thinking for a moment, before holding the joint out in Jeff’s direction. “Here, you should smoke with me.” 

Jeff glares at him. “No I shouldn’t.” 

“Mn. I get why it’s probably a bad idea for you to drink. But this is different, just kinda chills you out for the most part. You might like it.” He holds it closer towards him, smiling warmly. “Trust me.” 

There’s a pause. And then, slowly, Jeff reaches over and takes it. He raises it to his lips and tentatively inhales. “You’re a bad influence on me.” He smirks as he hands the thing back to Adrian, who giggles. 

“Maybe you need one.” 

“Maybe.” Jeff mumbles, leaning back on his hands and looking back up to the sky. He feels kind of dizzy suddenly, though not so much as to be overwhelming. As he’s watching some clouds pass in front of the moon, he notices that he can’t really think straight, his head feels fuzzy. He blinks, finding the only thought in his normally chaotic mind just that of how pretty the twinkling stars look in the inky black sky. It’s kind of pleasant. 

“You okay?” 

Jeff pulls himself from where he’d been spacing out, finding Adrian watching him. He stares silently at the boy for a moment, before laughing slightly and nodding. “Mhm.” 

Adrian tilts his head to the side some, watching Jeff with a little smile. “You’re adorable, you know that?” 

Jeff breaks out into laughter. “I should kill you for saying that.” He pulls his hood up to cover most of his face, as if insecure suddenly. 

“Do it then.” 

“Shut up.” The killer says quietly as his laughter dies down. “You know I don’t actually want that.” 

“Mnn,” Adrian agrees, scooching closer to him. He reaches up and grabs at his hood, pulling it back down, which the older boy allows to happen. “It was a compliment by the way.” He tokes his joint, smiling softly and not moving his eyes from Jeff. He always looks so pretty in the moonlight, and right now Adrian can't help but to stare. 

“Don’t compliment me.” 

Adrian giggles at the muttered comment, again offering the joint to Jeff, who takes it. Then he leans in closer, a playful smirk on his face. “What you gonna do about it, beautiful?” 

Jeff chokes on the smoke in his lungs, pale face turning crimson red. Once he’s stopped coughing, he pulls his hood up again. “Not funny.” 

“It… wasn’t meant to be?” Adrian is too drunk and too high to make sense of this reaction. Why would Jeff think he was making fun of him? He tries to move the killer’s hood down again, but his hand is swatted away. He frowns. “You say how beautiful you are all the time, why can’t I?” 

Jeff makes kind of a conflicted murmuring sound. He hands the joint back to Adrian and remains silent for a long while before talking. “I think that. Other people don’t. That’s… kind of the point.” 

“Well,” Adrian contorts his face in confusion, not understanding what that means exactly. “Sorry for missing ‘the point’ then, I guess.” He mumbles somewhat drunkenly around the joint held in his lips as he relights it. 

“You miss the point a lot...” Jeff mutters, distantly, more to himself. Adrian considers asking what he means, but decides against it. 

“I’m being serious though,” The teen makes another move to grab Jeff’s hood, slowly pulling it back down, this time not being stopped. “You’re fully aware how gorgeous you are, so you can’t exactly blame me for agreeing, can you?” He smiles, though Jeff isn’t looking at him, just staring off into space. 

“... You’re weird.” 

“Mn, so I’ve been told. But weird is good, right?” Adrian’s smile widens when Jeff finally looks at him, pale blue eyes meeting his with an expression that he can’t quite read. 

“Yeah.” The older boy smiles faintly, finding it hard not to return the one Adrian’s giving him. 

Adrian moves even closer so that he can rest his head on Jeff’s shoulder, the two both going back to staring off into the distance. “This is nice.” He says with an exhale of smoke. He holds the joint up to Jeff’s mouth to let him toke it, before putting it out and tossing it away. “I like how much you enjoy just sitting outside at night. It’s always been one of my favourite things to do too, but it’s always been kind of depressing. Lonely, you know?” He closes his eyes serenely, hugging Jeff’s arm close to himself and nestling his face further into his hoodie and the mess of raven hair. “But when you’re here it’s the nicest thing in the whole world.” 

Jeff mumbles quietly in agreement, though isn’t thinking enough about what he’s saying to be understood. Something about how peaceful it is to sit in the dark looking at the sky. 

“It’s been really great having you around for so long. Even if it’s because you went and got yourself shot like a total dumbass.” 

“Yeah…” The killer chuckles thinking about how stupid he was to get so hurt. “I’m starting to get all restless over not killing anyone for so long. But other than that, It’s been fun… I like it here.” 

The intoxicated teenager smiles to himself, affectionately nuzzling his face into his friend's neck. He’s never been as genuinely happy in his life as he is right now. But, that thought itself starts to lead to less pleasant ones. Worries and dread and questions that have been eating away at him for a long time now. And as those things start to worm their way into his mind, starts to think maybe now would be a good time to bring them up. Maybe it’s just the alcohol telling him that, but Jeff does seem more willing to talk openly right now… fuck it. 

“Jeff?” 

“Mn?” 

Adrian pulls himself away just enough to look at Jeff properly. “Will you, um…” He thinks for a moment, trying to get the wording right and to sound as not clingy as possible. “Will you ever get bored of me? And, like, not want to hang out with me anymore…?” Yeah, so much for not sounding clingy. 

“Uh…” Looking into Adrian’s big sad eyes, Jeff feels sad too. He thinks about the question for a moment, and then he just starts talking. “I don’t think so. You’re the only person on this stupid fucking planet who I don’t want dead. I like you. I’m comfortable around you, maybe too comfortable, but I don’t really mind. I think I’d really miss you.” He looks away, embarrassed at his own unfiltered honestly. But, he keeps talking. “And I don’t want you to be alone. Your other friends, they don’t care about you at all. You get so sad when you’re alone, and I just- I don’t want it to be that way. But-” He shuts his eyes, suddenly overcome with that horrible sinking guilt feeling. “But… I can’t be all you’ve got, Adrian… You deserve better than that.” 

There is a lot that Adrian wants to say in response to that. He wants to tell Jeff how very very much he would miss him too. He wants to thank him for caring about him, for actually giving a crap about him being alone. And he wants so much to tell Jeff that he couldn’t possibly deserve or want anything or anyone better than him, because that simply doesn’t exist. 

But, he doesn’t say any of that. He doesn’t say anything, in fact. Instead, when Jeff opens his eyes and timidly looks at him again, Adrian does something stupid. 

He reaches a hand out to push some of Jeff’s hair out of the way and delicately hold the side of his face. Then he leans in and presses their lips together. 

The kiss is soft, gentle, and doesn’t last long. Pretty much the second Adrian realises what he’s doing, he quickly pulls away. And then the panic really starts to set in when he sees the complete shock and confusion on the other’s face. 

“I- I’m sorry- Fuck, I-” Adrian tries to speak but doesn’t do a great job, the stammering and panicking only getting worse as he looks at Jeff’s face, who’s frozen in shock, just staring at him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I-” He moves backwards, clumsily shuffling away from Jeff as a string of increasingly panicked apologies pour from his mouth. God, why the hell did he do that? The first real friend he’s ever had opens up, tells him he cares about him, that he feels comfortable around him, and what does he do? He does that. He’s so fucking stupid. He just has to ruin everything doesn't he.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-” He’s fully freaking out now, knees to his chest and just repeating that he’s sorry over and over, muffled into his arms as he covers his face. 

Jeff’s brain may have just malfunctioned a little. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, now suddenly Adrian’s crying? He blinks, face slowly shifting from shock to just pure confusion. “... Adrian, you need to calm down.” He speaks slowly, trying his best to think straight through the cloudy blur that is his mind right now. 

The brunette doesn’t look up from where his face is buried in his arms. “I’m sorry. Don’t hate me. Please don’t hate me. I’m sorry.” 

“Right- Okay, um…” Jeff runs a hand through his hair, frustrated. He sure does wish he had any idea how to make someone stop crying. He crawls over to where Adrian is and almost reaches a hand towards him but stops himself. He sighs. “You’ve clearly had too much to drink. Maybe we should go inside now.” 

Adrian raises his head slightly, meeting Jeff’s gaze with sad tearful eyes. “I’m really sorry. Please don’t hate me.” He repeats again, to Jeff’s slight annoyance. 

“Jesus fucking christ, I don’t hate you, okay? Now, can you get down from here without falling?” He peers over the side of the roof they're on as he says this, only to suddenly wonder if he can even get down. Being high is sure making that seem a lot harder than it should be. 

Jeff grabs the phone and turns the music off, putting it into Adrian’s bag, which he slings over his shoulder. Then, carefully, he climbs onto the lattice on the back of the shed. “Adrian?” He says expectantly, glaring at him as he makes no move to follow. After a moment, the drunk boy crawls over. Jeff stays where he is half way down so he can help the much more intoxicated Adrian as he struggles to climb to the ground without falling. Adrian doesn’t say anything or look at him. 

They walk up to the house in silence. Jeff watches Adrian cautiously, half expecting him to fall over with how unstable he is on his feet. Inside, Jeff puts the bag down on the kitchen table. Adrian immediately opens it and pulls out the bottle of vodka. 

“Dude. No.” Jeff snatches the bottle out of his hands and places it down onto the kitchen side. “You’re going to bed.” He states, firmly, really not wanting to deal with whatever state the boy would get himself into with even more alcohol. “Come on, move.” He lightly pushes Adrian in the direction of the door. 

They walk through the house and up the stairs. On the landing, Adrian stumbles and just about manages to catch himself on the wall, where he stops moving. Jeff sighs, takes him by the arm, and leads him the rest of the way to his bedroom. 

“Now sleep it off, ya drunk.” Jeff mutters, shoving Adrian onto his bed. 

“... Promise you don’t hate me?” Adrian curls up into a ball, his words muffled into the bedsheets. “And that you won’t run off when I’m sleeping and not come back…” 

Jeff sighs again. “Adrian,” He frowns as he looks down at the depressing little heap the teen is crumpled into. “You’re an idiot when you’re drunk. I already know that. It’s fine, I promise.” He walks around to the other side of the bed and sits down, taking his boots off. “I’ll even sleep right here, if you want. Not running off, see?” He makes himself comfortable in the bed and watches as Adrian slowly kicks off his shoes and does the same. 

“You’re a really good friend, Jeff.” Adrian mumbles as he pulls a blanket over himself. “Thank you.” 

Jeff doesn’t respond, just watches Adrian as he falls asleep. He then lays there awake, continuing to just watch Adrian for a while. The events of the night replay in his head, one particular moment taking up a lot of thought. He’ll probably need to dissect some of these thoughts when he can think straight again. But not right now, he decides, as he closes his eyes and tries to think about literally anything else as he drifts off. 

Chapter Text

Adrian jolts awake suddenly. His eyes shoot open and he looks around the room in a panic, cold dread running through his body. His fear is alleviated when he finds that, contrary to what he was expecting, Jeff is actually still there, sitting at his computer playing a game. The dread feeling churning his stomach and making him feel sick, though, that doesn’t go anywhere. He stares at Jeff, too scared to say anything. 

“Hey.” Jeff mumbles, pushing off one side of the headset he’s wearing but not turning from the video game. 

“Hey…” Adrian responds cautiously, sitting up. He’s not sure how much of the nausea he’s feeling is due to drinking too much, and how much is because he didn’t quite drink enough to not remember how badly he fucked up last night. He groans and rubs his eyes. Then he falls back into his pillow, shoving his face into it and groaning louder. 

“Hangover?” He hears Jeff ask, and mumbles incoherently in response. “Told you not to drink so much.” 

Adrian lifts his head, looking over to where the killer is still just playing on the computer. “Yeah.” He speaks, slowly sitting back up. At least Jeff doesn’t seem pissed off. Apparently they’re just not going to address it, and Adrian sure doesn’t have any complaints there. “You’re right a lot, aren’t you?” He says quietly as he slips off of his bed and staggers over to the mirror, sitting down rather ungracefully in front of it. 

“Well, yeah.” Jeff laughs slightly, before starting to button mash at whatever he’s playing. 

The reflection Adrian is faced with in the mirror is a mess. His hair is all over the place and there’s smudged remainders of makeup on his face from sleeping in it. He tiredly tugs off his shirt and licks at part of it before using it to start wiping black smudges from his face. When he’s done (or as done as he can be bothered to be) he struggles back to his feet and walks over to his wardrobe. He quickly strips out of the outfit he slept in and throws on something more comfortable. He then turns to Jeff. 

“Are you hungry?” 

“Meh.” 

Jeff seems extremely focused on playing his game, not having looked away from it once. Adrian walks over and watches the screen from behind him. He doesn’t even appear to be doing anything really. Just aimlessly wandering around the map and getting into fights with enemies he comes across, and half-assing the fights too. Jeff’s better at this game than this. 

“Are you… okay?” 

“Yes.” Jeff answers flatly, still not taking his eyes off of the screen. Adrian frowns, but doesn’t question it any further. The twisting sickness in his stomach gets worse. 

“... Well, I should probably eat something. I’ll make breakfast. Come down when you’re done with… whatever you’re doing.” He waits a moment for a response, doesn’t get one, and then just walks out. 

Jeff lets out a shaky, frustrated sigh. He turns away from the computer, running a hand through his hair and glaring at the ceiling like it just insulted him. God, he needs his thoughts to stop being so messy. He needs to stop thinking at all, in fact. Actually, what he needs is to fucking kill someone. The only reason he’s not on the way to do that right now is because he promised that he wouldn’t run off. Ugh, since when does he promise things? Now he should probably wait until dark to leave, and that means staying here all day whilst he’s fighting against his own mind trying to make it shut the hell up. 

“Ughh.” Groaning, Jeff starts to pull at his hair in frustration. There’s so many thoughts and feelings rushing around inside his head, and he can’t make sense of or even recognise most of them. He just needs to leave, needs to kill. It’s the only time he can ever think clearly. 

Adrian isn’t really hungry. He feels sick. But he knows that he should probably eat anyway, and so should Jeff, so he goes about making breakfast. He’s just in the middle of pulling out his phone to put some music on (the most important step in making breakfast) when Jeff walks in. He quietly sits at the table and rests his head on a hand, not saying anything, and not so much as looking in Adrian’s direction.

“Is.. Is there anything specific you’d wanna eat?” 

“I’m not even hungry.” Jeff mutters, staring at the table in front of him. 

Adrian walks over to the fridge and takes out a can of monster; one of the flavours he buys specifically because Jeff likes it. He walks over and hands it to Jeff, who takes it without looking at him. God, Adrian could literally throw up. Jeff is clearly pissed off. Or at the very least, uncomfortable around him now. And he doesn’t know what to do about it, because saying something would probably make it worse. 

The sound of the can of energy drink being cracked open pulls Adrian from his thoughts and alerts him to the fact that he’s been staring at Jeff for too long. He quickly shuffles back over to where he left his phone to resume what he was doing. 

A few moments of Adrian tapping at his phone later, he still hasn’t put on music. He’s staring at the screen, frozen to the spot, mouth open, possibly about to have a panic attack. 

“Jeff…” He whispers, voice shaky. “ Jeff .” He repeats louder when there’s no response, clearly panicked. 

“What?” 

Adrian wordlessly walks over and just shows him his phone, open to a news article titled “ BODY DISCOVERED IN WOODS CONFIRMED AS MISSING LOCAL BOY. ” 

Jeff’s eyes skim over the screen. “Ah.” Is all he says. Adrian looks from Jeff’s face to the article and back again, not sure what his lack of reaction means. 

“How bad is this?” Adrian pulls up one of the kitchen chairs and sits down. 

“I mean,” Jeff takes a sip of monster. “It’s not ideal... But there’s no need to freak out.” 

“There isn’t?!” 

“No, not really. Just stick to the same story when the police-”

“Police?! The police will talk to me??” 

“Well. Yeah, probably.” 

Adrian slumps forwards and puts his head on the table, covering it with his arms and making unintelligible distressed noises. 

“It’s not like they’ll suspect anything.” Jeff says after a while. He then glugs about half of the can of monster in one mouthful before continuing. “They just gotta question anyone who was close to the guy.” 

“I wasn’t close to him.” Adrian snaps in an uncharacteristically aggressive tone, sitting back up. Jeff cringes slightly at Adrian’s apparent dislike of his wording. 

“... Sorry. You know what I mean though.” 

Adrian sighs. “Yeah…” He fidgets nervously, his head flooding with images of crime scene investigators lighting up his front hall and finding the mess of blood that wasn’t that long ago scrubbed away. 

“Stop panicking. You’ll be fine.” The murderer mutters nonchalantly from across the table. Adrian frowns, staring at Jeff. He considers for a while whether or not to say what he wants to say, but ends up just blurting it out. 

“How can I trust that when you won’t even look at me to say it?” 

It’s silent for a few seconds. Flickers of unreadable emotion cross Jeff’s face, before he turns and finally looks at Adrian directly for the first time this morning. 

“You’ll be fine, Adrian.” 

And, Adrian believes him. 

“And besides,” Jeff looks away again. “If you were scared of cops but not of me, I’d be genuinely offended.”

“Yeah?” 

“Mn-hm. Don’t think my ego would ever recover.” 

Jeff meets Adrian’s eyes again, and they both laugh, the mood suddenly seeming much lighter. All of the worries they each had when they woke up don’t completely go away, but no longer feel as important. 

“Right,” Adrian stands back up, his usual cheerful smile now on his face. “Breakfast!” 

As if on cue, Jeff’s stomach growls. “Y’know, maybe I am hungry…” He mumbles, watching Adrian walk back over to the kitchen sides. 

“Put something on for me?” The teen smiles and hands Jeff his phone as he passes, who goes about putting on some music whilst he starts making food. 

With the awkward start to the day (mostly) forgotten, things go on as they usually do. The two eat, and then spend the day binge watching an anime in the living room. 

And, it really is exactly what has become normal for them; lounging around watching TV and generally hanging out. Though, Jeff notices something slightly off. At first he isn’t sure what it is, but then he realises. Adrian is sitting on the other side of the sofa, leaving a lot of space between them, whereas usually he’d be annoyingly close. And that’s… bothering Jeff? He never realised it before, but he kind of likes that Adrian always tries to get so close. Even the times where he makes himself comfortable leaning right up against him. In fact, especially those times. Jeff thinks back to the couple of occasions that Adrian’s fallen asleep cuddled up to his side. He doesn’t even know when he started letting that happen, but right now he’s definitely noticing its absence. Glancing over, Jeff almost feels the urge to move closer himself…

“Hm?” Adrian meets Jeff’s gaze, who has been staring at him for quite a while. “You good..?” 

“Uh-” Jeff quickly looks away. “Yeah. Just… thinking about how much it's gonna suck getting out of town tonight with all the police around…” He mumbles before going back to watching the TV. 

“Huh??” Adrian bolts upright from the comfortable position he’d been in. “You’re- You’re leaving? Tonight?” 

“Um.” Jeff looks back to Adrian, confused by the shocked and kind of panicked response. “Yes?” 

“Uh- O-oh…” Adrian, realising how panicked he sounds, tries his best to tone it down and act casual. “But, um, what about your shoulder? Have you recovered enough?” 

“Mn,” The killer sits up more straight and stretches the arm on his injured side out in front of him. “Fairly sure.” He answers after a few seconds of experimentally moving his arm into different positions. “I, uh- Definitely can’t wait anymore. Plus, I probably shouldn't be around here for whatever investigation there’s going to be about that body, anyway.” 

Adrian is quiet for a moment. He fidgets with his hands and looks away, dread and nausea starting to overwhelm him again. “... But you’ll… come back… right?” 

Jeff blinks, staring at Adrian for a moment. “... Why wouldn’t I?” 

This answer doesn’t do much to stop Adrian’s internal freak out. In fact, it kind of makes it worse. He doesn’t respond, only staring down at his hands and trying not to cry. Jeff frowns. He thinks back to last night; to Adrian crying and apologising, begging Jeff not to hate him. Should he say that he doesn’t? He opens his mouth, almost speaking but not quite finding the words. He wants to make Adrian stop looking so sad and afraid, but he doesn’t really know how. And he already told him last night that he doesn’t hate him, not that he understands why Adrian thought that anyway. So, he doesn’t say anything; just goes back to watching the TV. 

They don’t quite get to finish the show they're watching before Jeff assesses that it’s probably time for him to leave. Adrian follows him around the house as he’s gathering his things, watching with sad eyes and a growing pit of fear in his stomach. 

“And um- About when will you come back do you think?” The teen asks, forcing a smile and doing his best to sound casual. He doesn’t do a great job at all. He’s only just about holding back tears, and it’s obvious. In his mind, he’s sure that he’s completely fucked up this friendship and that Jeff will never be back. Because that’s what he does. He makes people hate him, and then they leave. And this time it’s not just some random guy he got too attached to after a one night stand, or fake friends he tried to buy with money and drugs. It’s Jeff. The only real friend he’s ever had, and the only person in the world he’s ever felt a genuine connection with. God, it feels like he can’t breathe. His mind and body are screaming for him to cling to Jeff, to sob and apologise and beg him not to abandon him. But, that wouldn’t help. That never helps. 

“When there’s less cops around, I guess…” Jeff speaks slowly, not sure what the right answer is. It clearly wasn’t that though, because Adrian doesn’t look up from staring at the floor, or stop shaking. Jeff doesn’t know whether this is about that body being found, or about last night. All he knows is that he wishes he knew the right thing to say.

Not knowing what else to do, Jeff moves forwards and (after almost second guessing himself but resolving to do it anyway) tentatively puts his arms around his friend and hugs him. Adrian instantly melts into the embrace, returning the hug with more than enough enthusiasm for Jeff to know that he found the right answer. The killer smiles faintly, eyes falling contently shut as the hug draws out for a long moment. “See you when I get back…” He mutters somewhat awkwardly as he finally pulls away. 

Adrian, no longer spiralling, nods slightly in response. He sees Jeff off with a little wave and a soft smile.

Chapter Text

It’s a dark, cloudy night. A sharp chill hangs in the air, and harsh winds blow through the trees. 

A girl runs through the forest. Her bare feet fall painfully onto the terrain below, but she doesn’t care; she just needs to get away. Panting, crying, not thinking about where she’s going, the girl runs further and further into the trees. She throws a fearful glance over her shoulder towards what she’s running from, and as she does, smashes her foot into a rock and topples to the ground.

“Fuck-” She lets out a pained whine, holding her foot. She then scrambles to sit up, facing the way she came from to make sure that she’s far enough away. She is. The sounds of the distant campsite can still be heard, but they’re a ways off. Finally feeling safe to do so, the girl completely breaks down, shoving her head between her knees and covering it with her arms as she starts to sob and wail to herself in anguish. 

And she stays like that for a while. Until-

“Aww.” A voice suddenly comes from above her, instantly silencing her crying. Did she really not hear someone walking up to her? “What’s got you down?” The girl looks up just enough to see the boots of the boy standing over her, but refuses to move any more than that, not wanting whoever this is to see her in such a state. 

“Weren’t you there?” She asks, assuming that he’s wandered off from the same party that she just ran from. 

“Nope.” The stranger(?) responds. 

Shivering, the girl holds her arms close to herself. It’s so cold, and she’s only wearing a spaghetti string dress. “I-...” She lowers her head again and continues sobbing. “I thought- He said that he liked me-” She brings her hands to her face and muffles a distraught whine into them. “But it was-” More sobbing. “It was a dare...” 

The boy tuts as she continues to weep. “How cruel.” He seems genuine in his statement, though his tone isn’t exactly screaming empathy; more like amusement. “Not to worry, though. You won’t have to suffer cruelty anymore...” 

Sniffling, the girl raises her head. Just in time to see a knife being plunged down towards her. Her scream is cut short as the blade pierces into her neck, not that anyone would have heard her anyway. 

Crimson gushes over the girl’s body, running down her pale skin and soaking her dress. She goes dead weight, only twitching as the knife is yanked from her neck and she slumps over onto the ground. “Just go to sleep.” Jeff speaks softly as he gets on top of the girl and raises his knife again. He brings it down hard into her chest, her body jolting slightly at the impact. He stabs her until she stops moving.

A deep, satisfied sigh leaves the killer's lips. Still sitting on what’s now a corpse, he looks down at his hands, covered in warm blood. He savours the feeling for a moment, watching what little moonlight penetrates the trees above glinting across the beautiful shade of red. He then quickly wipes his hands and knife on his jacket before getting up. 

Jeff glances down at the dead (he’s guessing highschool aged) girl, before looking up into the direction of the campsite she came from. One down, however many more kids are over there to go. 

He grins. 

The next person to stray too far from the party is a tall muscular guy wearing a varsity jacket, stumbling drunkenly away from the campsite, probably looking for somewhere to piss. He’s quick work for Jeff, who leaves him twitching in a ditch as his entrails spill out of his abdomen. 

Then there’s a good hour or so where no one leaves the group. But, Jeff waits patiently. He would quite like to leave no survivors, so the move right now is to pick them off one by one until there’s only a few left. 

God, he loves this game. What a beautiful strike of luck, running into such a perfect party of teenagers on his way into the town he’d selected to be culled. 

Eventually, two more drunk teens leave the relative safety of the well lit camp site and wander off into the dark, like idiot lambs to the slaughter. Jeff makes his silent way over to where he hears them, and stalks behind them as they make their way further and further from anyone who could hear them scream.

“What the hell are we doing out here?” The girl asks with a laugh as she’s led through the trees by the hand. 

“Quieter.” The boy responds matter-of-factly, turning to face her. “What, you scared of the dark? Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” 

The girl laughs at that, and Jeff almost does too. You won’t be protecting anyone. Jeff thinks, amused. And as he’s getting into position, waiting for the perfect moment to strike, he wonders if the boy will actually try. Sometimes, very rarely, they do. 

“You’re so beautiful, you know that?” 

“Pfft. Shut up.” The girl looks away, trying to laugh off the comment. 

“But it’s true~” The boy grins and reaches towards her, taking her again by the hand and pulling her closer to him. She seems awkward about it, but doesn’t protest. “Cute, too.” He comments with a grin that gets wider at her embarrassed reaction. 

“Shut u-” The girl goes to speak, only to be cut off as the boy leans in and kisses her. 

At first the girl freezes, her body awkwardly going stiff in surprise. But then, She’s hesitantly leaning into his touch, kissing back, and even trying to pull him closer. At which point the boy snakes one arm around her waist and moves the other hand up to hold her face softly as they deepen the embrace. 

And it’s around then that Jeff realises he’s stopped watching for the opportunity to attack, and started just watching. He shakes his head, trying to snap himself out of it. He isn’t some common pervert watching teenagers make out from the bushes for god sake! Even if it is in less of a pervy way and more of a “for science” way. 

Right, anyway, on with it then. 

“Sorry to interrupt-” Jeff separates the young couple violently by yanking the girl back by the hair. 

He draws out the initial attack on the girl, waiting for the confusion and panic to die down enough for survival instinct to kick in. It doesn’t take long, Jeff can predict these things with pretty good accuracy. Still holding the girl by the hair, bloody knife raised threateningly like a horror movie villain, he waits for the boy’s reaction, genuinely curious as to whether or not he’s going to run. 

And, to Jeff’s slight amusement, he doesn’t. The kid actually makes a grab for the knife, like he thinks he has a chance. It’s almost admirable. I mean, if it wasn’t so pathetic.

A quick slash across the throat and the killer lets the girl drop, then he’s onto the brave —albeit entirely too ambitious— boy. He disposes of him just as quickly; knife right in the side of the head, he’s down like a sack of potatoes right next to his little girlfriend. 

The slasher cocks his head slightly, staring down at the girl’s body, still bleeding out and twitching down in the dirt. Then he looks to the boy’s body, then back at the girl. Had that been his girlfriend? 

Jeff shakes his head again. Why is he curious about that? He’s not. He doesn’t care about the intricacies of people and their relationships. He isn’t people.

Adrian is though.

“Shut up!” Jeff hits himself in the side of the head with his knife’s handle.