#Bug is getting hard carried by goggles in coming off the way it does . . . “confidence and poise” is what it wants people to think

[gummy-worms-in-my-brain]

exploding forever!?? this is so cool?!?? everyone should go trick or treat in this guy's inbox RIGHT NOW!!!! he has cobalt-60 rods if that's anything

Bug was sent to your door for trick or treating

For the second day in a row, a figure was standing before the old submarine-style bulkhead, and once again it announced itself with a knock, what would have been a loud, hollow clang muffled by a thick pair of dark brown gloves, resulting in a dull metallic clunk.

"Trick or treat!" a rough yet polite voice called out in an enthusiastic yet contained half-shout, as if trying to make up for the weak knock but not wanting to full-on yell.

This visitor, unlike the last person to knock on that door, was not looking around confused, nor was it unsure of how it got there. It had come to the old door willingly, its trick or treating intentional rather than being commited in some sort of hazy fugue state. Indeed, this person was much unlike the last, not only in behaviour but in appearance as well, not looking at all out of place in the dimly-lit concrete hallway clad in crumbling institutional tiles, foul green slime accumulating under leaking iron pipes that snaked up and down the walls like metal ivy.

In other words, the creature standing there looked like a freaky-ass mad scientist.

It stood with its heavy-gloved hands behind its back, legs straight and chest forward with a polite grin that would have been charming if its teeth didn't look like it routinely gargled with pesto. Its broad, stout frame was clad in some sort of boxy lab jacket which hung down to its knees, made from a thick material coloured in a dull, unpleasant off-yellow reminiscent of creamed corn or rotten old wallpaper glue. Splatters of snot green something-or-other clung to its scuffed surface, long since having dried into rubbery, crusted-on stains. The jackets black buttons were fastened up to the top, a large circular collar snugly obscuring the wearers entire neck. Its sleeves were tucked into the gloves, and baggy canvas pants of army green were tucked into a heavy pair of brown leather work boots. No skin was showing below the chin, and the thick, loose-fitting nature of the entire outfit made it hard to discern much about the body underneath, aside from it being of a short and stocky sort. Its stature communicated confidence, intelligence and poise.

The thing inhabiting the outfit, of course, was a complete fucking freak.

Olive green skin clashed against ginger hair, sitting dry and frizzy against the back of the neck in a shoulder-length side part and growing on the face in thick yet uneven patches. Acne pocked the orcish humanoid's face, red pimples clashing against the earthy green and copper. The eyes were obscured behind opaque black welding goggles that rested atop a large nose and were fastened with a grey strap. With a broad rounded jaw, short forehead and prominent canines, the being simultaneously looked like a mutant created in a lab and like he created mutants in a lab, and would have looked just as natural being the monster strapped to a metal platform as it would being the mad doctor who flipped the switch, bringing the monster to life.

This goblin-like creature, reeking of formaldehyde and burning rubber, stood patiently just outside the metal door, its eyes lighting up with excitement as the valve in the center began to turn. With a series of mechanical squeaks and the creak of metal hinges, the door slowly slid open, revealing a familiar freak with wild pink hair and skin the colour of a spent fuel pool. Fitting, since he was munching on a stick of enriched uranium like it was a cucumber, glowing crumbs of neon yellow clinging to his lips as his face lit up with the joy of seeing a friend.

"Eh, Bugbug! Happy Halloween!" the blue thing said, wiping dangerously radioactive flecks of pure cancer onto his shirt with his hands, it lifting to reveal a definitionless belly with a slight nuclear glow shining through it from the inside, murky shadows of anomalous organs briefly visible before a curtain of thick green fabric obscured it once more. "It's not often you come to my door looking for a tasty treat!" he joked with a slight chuckle, the entire inside of his mouth stained flourescent highlighter yellow. Bug was less than amused, but it held its tongue. It and he both knew that it just couldn't stay mad at the little scamp, no matter how often he broke into its lab to slurp radioactive waste from sealed nuclear barrels, chug unattended beakers of biohazardous ooze, or munch on Bug's secret stash of yellowcake briquettes. The guy had a good heart, it knew, and as often as Bug grabbed him by his shirt collar to scream obscenities in his face and threw test tubes at him, it knew he was just a silly little guy, a lovable goober particularly prone to the toxic munchies, and its furious reactions were all in good fun, a slapstick game of cat and mouse that they both enjoyed.

Or at least that's what the blue thing believed. It was possible that Bug felt different, but he wouldn't know. He'd just assumed Bug hadn't really meant any of it, and fully anticipated his little snack seshies.

Pinching its nose, Bug took a deep breath and regained its happy expression. It was trick or treating, and it was out here to have fun; no use thinking about all the locks it still had to replace. "Happy Halloween, Conky!" it said, its cheery grin truly genuine. "Ah, hold on, I've got just the thing for you!" Conky said, holding up one finger as he reached behind the door, set his fuel rod down on something, and grabbed something else, plopping it down in Bug's hand with an excited grin.

It was a single breakfast sausage, cooked but cold, with little bits of dirt stuck to it.

"Happy Halloween!" Conky said, before pulling his door shut and turning the valve from the inside, leaving Bug alone in the gloomy little concrete box that Conky called his front doorstep.

After staring at its small greasy "prize" for a few moments, Bug started back up the stairs.

[dreamlikeafangirl]

Perfect [Chapter 1]

Summary: Nico has been looking forward to this skiing trip. Spending a long weekend in the snow with his friends, and, most importantly, Levi - what could go wrong? (A lot, apparently.)

Pairing: Levi Schmitt x Nico Kim (Grey’s Anatomy), side Jolex

Warnings: fluff, angst, skiing, minor injuries

Words: 4k

credit for the screencap of Levi and Nico cuddling: mygreyscaps on tumblr

Read on AO3

———

It would be a perfect day, Nico could feel it in his fingertips.

As a surgeon, the body part he trusted most were his fingertips. Not his stomach, sometimes not even his brain. And his heart? At the moment, it was pounding so much, Nico could feel it, well, right down to his fingertips.

He was looking forward to skiing, the feeling of loose snow beneath his skis, the fresh cold air in his lungs, the adrenaline and of course, intimate togetherness with Levi in the evening. Simply put: A perfect day.

They had decided to visit a Ski field over a long weekend; Nico, his mentor and friend Link, Link’s childhood friend Jo and her husband, Alex. And, how could he forget, Levi. Glasses. Or Schmitt. But in reality just Levi. Levi, his boyfriend. Levi, who seemed to constantly smile, but even more often looked as if a warm gust of wind just hit him directly in the face – adorably bewildered. Levi, who would tell endless stories about himself that were so absurdly honest and funny, Nico would have silently accused anyone else of making them up. Levi, who could make Nico laugh just as fast as he started to bug him – but in a good way, of course. In a let-me-interrupt-you-with-a-kiss way.

When the group of five doctors left the cable car that morning, the sun was shining down on them like a white spotlight. The freshly fallen snow looked like cotton and cream. And the wind blew with the (non-existent) force of a light breeze.

“The weather is great today!” Alex exclaimed. He was carrying his skis over one shoulder, and because he was a gentleman, he was also carrying Jo’s snowboard. She stuck her face out towards the sun and smiled consentingly.

“Right?” Link caught up with them, his snowboard under his arm. “I can’t wait to hit the slopes.”

“Same here!” Nico said. “I bet the pistes are fantastic, now that everything is still smooth.”

“Spoken like a true winter sportsperson” Levi mumbled while leaning on his skis for support. He was looking incredibly cute today, with his hair peeping out from under his helmet and his skis that were so much shorter than Nico’s.

Nico patted him on the back, almost throwing him off-balance in his ski boots. “Just wait, you’ll get there.” He grinned. “Two days, and you’ll talk like that, too.”

Levi shook his head. “I doubt it.”

The five came to a stop at the edge of a small hill that led from the cable car station to the first slopes. There, they began to clip on their skis. Jo was the first to finish and, while waiting, surveyed the others with narrowed eyes.

“Is something wrong?” Link laughed and put on his snowboard goggles.

Jo eyed Levi thoroughly, before answering: “I’m just not at all used to seeing you in anything else than blue scrubs.”

Nico followed her eyes with his. Levi wore a ski suit that was black, grey, white, and yellow, grey boots, and a black helmet, all of which suited him perfectly. Having heard Jo, however, he looked a little uncertain.

“Oh, don’t listen to her” Nico whispered, leaning over to Levi. “You look amazing.”

Levi laughed unhappily. Nico just now noticed how pale he’d become. He seemed shaky and nervous.

“Are you alright?” Nico asked.

Levi nodded his head unconvincingly.

Meanwhile, Alex shouted: “Guys, let’s go!” He let out a loud cheer and then pushed himself off the edge of the hill. Jo followed right in his tracks, laughing out loud as the wind caught her loose hair.

Nico couldn’t wait to go after Alex, too. The bright snow, the clear sky, it enticed him. Link, grinning widely, exchanged looks with him one last time, before boarding off. He went down the hill in wide, confident turns, and Nico pursed his lips, almost in awe. Link was not only the best surgeon he knew, he was also the best snowboarder.

“You ready?” He asked Levi, only then noticing that his boyfriend was still fiddling with his bindings.

“Obviously not!” Levi replied sharply.

Nico bent down as much as his skis would let him helped Levi secure his boots to his skis. “Don’t want you getting hurt.” He said with a playful tone when they were finished.

Levi just shook his head in silence and used his ski poles to push himself towards the edge. When he reached it, he started to slide down. Nico looked after him, stunned for a second. Briefly, he asked himself if it was something he did wrong. Then he dropped the thought. Levi was probably just a little angry at himself for appearing slow in front of his colleagues.

Finally, Nico slipped over the edge of the hill. He spotted Jo, Alex, and Link at the start of one of the slopes, waiting. Levi was about halfway down. Nico copied his turns, but after two curves decided he was going to slow. So instead, he just went straight downhill. This caused him to quickly gain speed and the pressure of the wind against his face to increase. His surroundings began to blur slightly and then suddenly it was only him and his skies. It was almost like Nico had fallen into a trance, one that caused him to block out everything but the cold air all around his body and the swooshing sounds in his ear and the speed and the adrenaline that made his every nerve tingle with excitement and joy.

Oh, how he had missed this feeling. “Whoo-hoo!” Nico exclaimed and pushed one of his fists into the air. His friends came closer way too quickly for his taste. Why wasn’t this hill longer? Sighing internally, he forced himself to slow down.

“That. Was. Amazing!” He shouted towards Link.

His mentor nodded, an excited look in his eyes. “You were right, the snow is perfect. This is going to be a great day!”

Nico noticed Jo doing impatient little feet-tied-to-the-snowboard jumps towards the edge of the next slope, and Alex staring in the opposite direction, the one they all had just come from. His gaze was fixed on Levi, who was still making his way down the hill, taking noticeably more time than the rest of the group had.

“You think Schmitt is gonna be able to keep up?” Alex asked Nico.

He furrowed his brow and just let the question sit between them for a second. Then he said: “Of course he will. We’re all equals here, right Karev?”

Alex just nodded. “You can count on it.”

By now, Levi was catching up to them. When coming to a halt, he accidentally caught an edge and lost his balance.

“Whoa!” Nico quickly wrapped his arm around his boyfriend’s waist, holding him up. “Easy.”

“You alright, Schmitt?” Link asked with a grin that was half-concerned and half-amused.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Levi hissed.

Nico bit his lip. If his boyfriend wasn’t going to have a good day, he wouldn’t have one either. And he wanted to. For himself, and for Levi.

———

The group advanced to the next edge. The first piste they had picked was marked red, which meant it wasn’t easy, but not very hard either. Link had opted to start with a blue one (blue meant easy), Jo, Alex and Nico wanted to do red and Levi had stayed out of the decision.

So, red slope it was. Nico risked a glance over the edge, realizing it started off with a pretty steep section, after which it became gradually flatter.

“Well, that first bit could’ve very well been marked black.” Link said. Black was the highest difficulty.

Nico clutched his ski poles. It didn’t matter, he was ready.

“Are you still up for it?” Jo asked.

Link shrugged. “It’s our first run for today, and we all haven’t skied in a while. I still think we should do another one first, but I’ll do what you guys are doing.”

“And here I thought you were afraid.” Jo grinned.

Link laughed. “Oh, you wish. Race you down?”

“What’s the winner get?”

“Let’s say, uh, bragging rights for the whole trip?”

“You’re up!”

They both jumped to the edge awkwardly with their snowboards, and then got into their starting positions. Alex counted: “Ready … set … GO!” And then the two plunged themselves down the hill.

Nico and Levi looked after them, Nico chuckling, Levi wide-eyed.

“I’m betting on Jo” Alex suddenly said in a challenging tone.

“Alright, my money’s on Link then” Nico replied, still chuckling, and held a hand out towards his colleague. They high-fived in their thick skiing gloves and grinned at each other.

“What are we betting on?”

“Whoever loses has to buy the drinks for tonight.”

“Deal.”

Levi was already standing at the edge, ready to start. “You guys coming?”

“Right behind you, babe.” Nico smiled and pushed himself towards him.

As anticipated, the piste started off pretty steep. Nico struggled to maintain balance from time to time, even with the still flawless snow beneath him. Link had been right; this was not the ideal slope to begin the day with. But before he could think too hard about it, the difficult part was already over.

He stopped by the side of the piste and looked back for the first time, noticing that Levi was not far behind him. In fact, he caught up with him only a few seconds later.

“Wow, now that was a wake-up call” Levi said, a little out of breath.

“Yeah” Nico replied. “I don’t think it can get much harder.”

“I can already feel my muscle aches forming!” Levi laughed.

Nico joined in, and so did Alex, who had arrived last of the three. “Let’s just hope it stops at muscle aches.” He grinned. “Because one of us, lying on top of an operating table by Monday, instead of standing beside it? I can already see it in front of my eyes.”

“Bailey would kill us” Nico smirked. “Remember how she wouldn’t even let us go on this trip at first? Because ‘risk of injury’? Besides, I have surgery scheduled for Monday.” Monday was the day they would all be going back to work.

Levi gave Nico a long precarious look with, before sliding off.

Nico, a little confused, looked after him for a second before turning to Alex. “Let’s see who’s gonna get those drinks, huh?”

“Absolutely!”

The rest of the slope was no problem for Nico. It was exactly the right width, his skies were going smoothly, and not many other people were there. Perfect conditions. Once again, the piste was over way too soon, ending at the entrance point of a chairlift.

Link and Jo were waiting there with snow sticking to their ski suits. Both had red cheeks and big smiles on their faces.

“So, who won?” Alex asked after stopping next to Jo.

Jo and Link exchanged a look before bursting out into laughter. “We may have crashed into each other at the last second.” Link finally said, brushing a bit of snow off his jacket. “No one got hurt though, no worries.”

“So it was close, obviously, but there is no winner” Jo added.

Nico, who stood beside them with Levi, shrugged at Alex. “Well, I guess we’ll have to go to bed thirsty.”

“We made a bet” Alex explained to the two racers, wrapping his arm around Jo. “Looser would’ve bought tonight’s drinks.”

“Had I known that I would have put more effort into it.” She said.

Link laughed. “I thought this was all you got.”

“Oh, not by a long shot.”

“This again?” Levi mumbled to himself.

“Levi’s right” Nico said. The others turned their heads towards the two. “Let’s not waste our time standing around. You two can continue your bragging match on the lift.”

Link laughed, playfully shoving Jo. “‘Match’ would imply that we are on one level, and I don’t think so.”

“Ooh, you are moving on thin ice, Atticus Lincoln!”

One chair of the lift could transport four persons, so Alex, Link, and Jo (who were still bickering) got on one, and Nico and Levi took the next.

When they were sitting comfortably, Nico took off his ski goggles. “Levi, are you having fun? Because I don’t feel like you do.”

“Why would you think that?” He asked defensively.

“Well, you’re reserved towards the others. And me. And you’re a lot quieter than usual.”

“It’s not easy drowning out all this talk about drinks and who’s faster and whatnot.”

“I … do you want me to apologize? What do you want to talk about?”

“Ugh!” Levi threw up his hands. “You’re not getting it!”

“What am I not getting?!” Nico asked, voice stern. Then, he took a deep breath, calming himself down. “You’re right.” He said then, slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t get it. I’m not you, I don’t know how you feel.”

The hint of a smile appeared on Levi’s lips. “I forgot. I always have to spell everything out for you.”

“Come on, that is not fair” A smile started to form on Nico’s lips, too, and he leaned his helmet against Levi’s. “But for real. What’s going on?”

“The others … I feel like they are treating me like a child. Like I’m an intern, here, too. Judging my look. Asking me if I’m alright, just because I took it a little slower on the first hill. And did you notice how Doctor Karev started talking about how one of us might end up on an operating table? It was right after I mentioned muscle aches.”

Nico frowned. “He did ask me if I thought you could keep up with the rest of us.”

Levi straightened himself in his seat. “Who did? Karev?”

“Uh-huh.”

He huffed. “I may have not skied in a while, but I am at least as good as he is!”

Nico gave him a little kiss on the cheek (which turned out a bit difficult with the helmets, but still). “I know you are.”

Their chair was slowly reaching the top station. “We can separate the group if you want to” Nico said. “Let Jo and Link have their races, while you and I get some peace and quiet on another slope.”

“Link’s your buddy. And I know you like spending time with the others, too.” Levi gave him a smile. “This is your trip as well.”

“But I’m not happy if you’re not happy” Nico replied, just as the chairlift was approaching its end.

“You’re so corny!” Levi shook his head, trying to keep himself from giggling.

Then, they got off the chairlift and joined the other three, who were standing beside a giant map of the ski field.

“Alright, guys. We are here.” Alex said, pointing towards a spot on the map with one of his ski poles. “Which means we can either take this next blue slope or go for another red one.”

“Let’s do blue.” Link suggested.

Levi agreed with him, earning them both an amused look from Alex and Jo. “Are you guys tired?”

“Come on, let’s not exhaust ourselves already. We have been here for less than an hour.” Link argued.

“Besides, if we take the red piste now, we’ll have to take another black one afterwards if we want to reach a lift of some sort” Levi said, gesturing to the map. “By taking blue, we are gaining access to a whole bunch of other slopes without having to take another lift.”

Nico nodded, smirking. “Good point.”

“So blue it is.” Link clapped his hands.

Before sliding off, Nico approached Alex. “Can you lay off Schmitt? This is supposed to be fun, not a competition. Except maybe for Jo and Link.”

———

Even though Levi did not ask for it, they ended up agreeing to split up after lunch. At noon, they stopped at a small restaurant by the side of one of the main slopes. It was furnished to look like a typically alpine chalet, and served traditionally Austrian and South Tyrolean food as well.  

Nico and Levi ended up sharing a huge plate of Kaiserschmarrn, which was basically a big pile of fluffy sugary pancake pieces served with lingonberries and applesauce. It tasted amazing and had Nico wondering if he knew any restaurants back in Seattle that made alpine food. He decided to google it later and if yes, to definitely go there one day. Take Levi. Have a nice date night, and look back on lots of hopefully amazing memories.

“Did you know this dish was named after one of Austria’s emperors?” Levi asked, still munching on his last bite. “He loved it so much that they apparently just decided to rename it to honor this guy.”

Nico smiled quietly, and gently wiped a little bit of powdered sugar off his boyfriends chin.

Alex, Jo and Link were sitting across the table from them, also still digging in on their meals. “Would you guys mind if we both went off alone for a little after lunch?” Alex suddenly asked.

“Not at all.” Link said. “What about you guys?” He looked at Nico and Levi. “Do you want to go on your own, too?”  

Levi shrugged. “Let’s decide along the way.”

“Alright.”

Back on the road – or better, on the slopes – Jo and Alex went on their ways. Meanwhile, Nico, Link and Levi decided to make a little round tour of the ski field to skim the area.

When they got on the first chairlift, the sun was still shining from the clear sky, with almost no wind and almost no people on the slopes as well. Nico could hardly believe their luck. Hopefully the whole weekend was going to be like this.

Unsurprisingly, the tour turned out to be lots of fun for him. He was with the man he loved; Levi, and his best friend; Link. Nico and Link both skied (or in Link’s case: boarded) in similar ways: better fast and a little loose than too slow. Levi on the other hand had a cautious style of skiing, which didn’t mean he was slow, just that he was taking it a little safer. Nico didn’t mind. He didn’t think the few instances he and Link actually had to wait for him were a waste of time. The others might have felt that way, but for him it was a welcome break to just catch his breath, appreciate the overwhelming view of the snowy mountains or have a quick chat with Link about the slope they just conquered.

Levi was also visibly happier than before. He got along really well with Link, the final ice breaker having been the discovery that Link was a fan of the X-Men comics, just like Levi. The next few chairlift rides they had then spend arguing whether a guy named Cyclops or a guy named Wolverine was cooler.

When the day slowly came to an end, Nico was still high on Endorphin and probably a whole bunch of other happiness hormones, too. His cheeks literally hurt from smiling all the damn time, but he couldn’t help it. He was sweaty and his limps were starting to get heavy, but still he felt like he hadn’t been this happy in a long time. But, he thought to himself, why wouldn’t he be? He’d spent the last hours with two people whose company he genuinely enjoyed, and had had probably the best skiing experience of his life. Why overthink this perfect afternoon?

Well, it was about to become the opposite of that.

They had agreed to meet up with Jo and Alex at the entrance of the cable car, which would bring them back down into the valley, where they had rented a cabin. The last piste Link, Nico and Levi needed to take was one marked black. It was short, narrow and pretty steep, and judging by the piles of loose snow all over it, it had already seen quite a lot of people today.

The three of them stared down the hill, nobody wanting to be the first to say ‘Let’s do it’ or ‘Let’s not do it’. Jo and Alex were waiting at the end of the slope, waving and calling their names.

Nico was pretty confident he could make it. A few short-radius turns, and it would be over. He just had to be careful not to hit one of the snow piles, because they had the nasty habit of slowing the skis down abruptly, causing the person attached to them to loose balance and fall – which was not a pleasant experience on a hill that steep.

He looked at Link first, who nodded, and then at Levi, who pressed his lips together, and after a short while nodded, too. After spending the day with them, Nico had no doubt either of them would make it down the hill.

“Well then.” Link said, adjusting his goggles. “Let’s do this, the others are waiting.” Then he pushed himself off the edge with a little jump and started to curve down. He was controlled, but not slow, and after barely a minute, arrived next to Jo and Alex at the end of the slope.

“Let’s not go at the same time” Levi said, still staring down.

Nico agreed. Better safe than sorry. “After you.” He smiled. “Again – I’m right behind you.”

Levi laughed, pointing a finger. “Hah, you better not be.”

He took his first turn, slow and steady. The second as well. Then, he got a little more confident and allowed himself to gain speed. Nico blinked, and the hill suddenly looked like a vertical wall. Levi seemed so tiny, his skis so short. Dusty ice was splattering out from under them when he took his next turn. The edges made a scratching sound, and Nico flinched. Oh no. Hidden under a layer of snow, he could suddenly make out floes of ice, and there were probably more all over the piste.

Levi just drove over one at a fast speed. Skis were made to slide over a surface of snow, not ice. On ice, skiers often had difficulties to maintain control. And Levi hadn’t seen it coming. He tried to slow down, but couldn’t do so without risking to loose balance. So instead he tried another turn, and barely made it.

Nico held his breath hoping for the icy part to be over. Then, he gasped when one of Levi’s skies suddenly lost its grip and slipped downwards. It pulled his foot and leg down as well, and now his balance was completely lost.

“Levi!” Nico called out. At the bottom of the hill, Link, Jo and Alex were shouting as well.

Luckily, it was just a scare. With a grunt, Levi managed to get back on his feet. Supporting himself with his poles, he was now standing still about halfway down the piste, breathing heavily from shock.

“It’s okay! You can do it!” Nico yelled, hoping his boyfriend could hear him.

Levi looked up to him, and then down to the others, who were still shouting inaudibly. With a determined look in his eye, he prepared for his next turn, gaining speed again. And while doing that, he completely missed the big pile of snow in his way. Levi’s skis got caught in the loose white powder, sending his body flying forward from the sudden loss of velocity. His helmet hit the ground with a loud cracking sound and then he started sliding downwards head-first, leaving behind a small trail of red in the snow.

“Levi!” Nico shouted again, this time from the top of his lungs. He was suddenly freezing cold. Levi was bleeding and not moving. Was he conscious? What had happened to him? A concussion? Or maybe something worse? A thousand thoughts were flying around in Nico’s head.

He saw Jo and Link running up the slope in their snowboard boots to catch Levi and only then realized that he was still standing at the top of the hill himself. But suddenly, knowing that he had to get to Levi as fast as possible, that stupid little hill didn’t feel like a challenge at all.

———

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter!

I have outlined the whole story, as of right now three or four chapters, but written only this one and parts of the second chapter. Hoping for a bit of feedback to motivate me :) But the story will definitely be continued.

Please feel free to point out any spelling/grammar mistakes I made, especially with the skiing vocabulary :) I'm always looking to improve my English :)

[the-voice-of-hell]

Rent is Theft, part 26, The End

Read from the beginning here, read the previous chapter here.  Note:  My MC is a Filipina trans woman and I am not.  If you have notes on that or anything else, hit me up.

                                                     ***

      This is pretty spoilery from the first paragraph, so...

       I went to the kids’s apartment and assessed the damage.  Olivia and Knobby had Deandre in the bedroom and used a bandana to tourniquet his leg.  I let them know the pig was dead and checked out Mike’s body.

      He still looked so alive, I dragged a blanket over him and made some half-assed sign of the cross.  By then, Momi was bringing Patrick and Perry into the room, and Olivia was standing in the bedroom door to let Deandre hear any happenings without moving him.  Marcie and Richie showed up at the door.

      Speech time.  “Alright, this is over.”  My energy started out confident, but suddenly choked.  I had been going on adrenaline from the fight, maybe, but mid-sentence I realized I had welcomed all these nice people into Hell.

      I killed Mike.  I wobbled on my legs, standing over that body, eyes searching my people - my victims.  “We need to get the hell out of here before it gets any worse.  I am so sorry I brought you into this.”

      “Bitch shut the hell up.”  Perry tried to walk away, and Patrick snagged his hand.

      I threw up my hands.  Yeah.  I’m done.

      Marcie said, “Alright, we should go.  Get anything you need and just go.  Does anybody need help with anything?  I can’t do much, but maybe we can help each other one more time before...”  She seemed to finally make sense of the lump on the ground behind me and pressed her face into Richie’s arm.

      Deandre yelped in pain, dragging himself into the room, grunting in agony with each step.  He leaned on Knobby.  “It was worth a shot.  A couple months no rent, I coulda ended up this fucked up just out there on the street.”

      Patrick said, “Yeah, well, I got nothin’ nice to say, so… Let’s just get the fuck out, huh?”

      Momi held me close.  I thought of something and looked around for an answer.  “Grime.  Does anyone have a phone?”

      “I don’t think ours are gonna work,” Knobby said.  “The chargers melted, like...”

      Deandre said, “I put mines in the freezer.  Somebody wanna grab it for me?”  Knobby hurried away.

      Olivia came over to Momi and me, a scrawny cat in baggy underwear and tank top.  She wrapped her arms around us.  “Thanks mom.”

      I stifled tears, then my heart skipped a beat when I heard a distant pop.  A pop followed by a sound of glass breaking, and a mess spreading over the hall carpet.  Another pop.

      Knobby came back in a hurry, gave Deandre the phone.  “It’s fuckin’ raining eyeballs in the halls, guys.  Is that bad?  It feels bad.”

      Deandre got Grime.  “Dude.  Don’t come back.  The place is all fucked up.  Just forget it…  I don’t know!  It’s bad.  I’m goin’ to the hospital bad.”

      Patrick shushed him, shushed all of us.  Olivia let go of the group hug and bent her big ears.

      The elevator doors were opening.

      We were all so quiet we could hear Grime on the phone say, “How’s Courtney?”

      Then his words were lost under the sound of footsteps and bouncing balls, of some unknown horde spilling into the hall, marching in irregular time.

      Perry started to panic, tried to run away, but Patrick wrapped arms around him again.  “Hey man, put your hands up!  We gotta put our hands up!  There are bodies, man!”  He stepped away from his man and put his own hands up, nodded.  Perry slowly unfurled himself and complied, fell in beside Patrick, both looking toward the door in terror.

      Deandre hung up the phone and flopped into the bedroom, out of sight.  Olivia joined him in there, followed by Marcie and Richie.

      I thought about who was out in the hall.  Who was out in the hall?  Was it cops?  What would they think of the bug man’s corpse?  Momi tried to drag me toward the room, then gave up and put her hands up.

      They stood in the door.  Behind them I could see Charlie’s greasy head.  “There they are!”

      He was marching with creatures in grey trenchcoats.  Giant cicadas?  They pulled human-like hands from their pockets, loose eyeballs falling out and rolling on the carpets.  They quickly filed into the room to stand,each transfixing a single finger on a different one of us.

      Perry backed up, trembling violently, shaking his head.  Patrick stepped between him and the accusing finger.  “No!  Fuck this shit!  Back OFF!”

      The things were unmoved.  Charlie came into the room as more filed in from behind.

      “ProperCo stands for quality service, and that means keeping paying customers safe from trespassers.  You degenerates sicken me.  Take them out!”

      The last cicadas started trying bedroom doors.  They opened one, then as they approached the one with Deandre and the kids, Momi ran to block them.  “Hey!,” she yelled.  The one pointing at her wheeled in place, keeping its accusing finger trained on her, but not moving.

      I’d been paralyzed, but apparently it was go time.  I started moving, but was still in the grip.  I managed one step Momi’s direction.  No, baby.

      One got its hand on the doorknob, and she bashed it aside with both arms.  I’d seen enough bizarre things today, but this still surprised me.  The thing seemed to break apart at the joints, collapsing like bowling pins inside its coat.

      Momi looked surprised too, but didn’t have much time to react.  The remaining creatures didn’t even pause at the destruction of their comrade, another rushing to take the place of the one she demolished.  She was too close for a proper punch so she bumped it back a step with her body and then kicked it in the middle.

      Like the first, it fell to pieces.  The trenchcoat spilled its contents - more of those eyeballs, a creepy fluid like tobacco spit, and the gleaming oil-colored segments of the creature.  Some of the limbs had a comb-like fringe of sharp black spines.

      She kicked the pieces away and looked to me, ready for the next.  I grabbed the arm of the one pointing at me and immediately had to let go, fingers bleeding.  It stopped pointing and raised its hands to grab me.  But as swift as they were filing in, they were oddly slow.  I shoved it back with two fists to the chest.  It felt fragile - no more sturdy than a cheap kitchen appliance.

      Over its shoulder I could see Patrick going to town on them, encouraged by Momi’s success.  I yelled to him, “Watch for the spines!”

      “HahaHA!  Take that!”

      It was an empowering moment.  We kicked, shoved, and stomped the things apart.  But more kept coming.  What the fuck was this?  What were we supposed to do?  I got to Momi, almost tripping a trenchcoat scrap tangled on my foot.

      “Let’s get everyone to the elevator or the stairs!”

      “OK!”  She whipped the bedroom door open and gestured for everyone to come out.  One by one they came out into the unreal scene of weird horrors and had to deal with it.  I could hardly keep up with dismantling the cicadas and looking at my people.  I wished I could see how Marcie was doing.  Leimomi was the best able to carry Deandre and was taking care of that, at least.

      “Call me a fuckin’ degenerate?”  Patrick was attacking Charlie with a severed bug limb, wielding the thing like a scimitar.  Through the frantic scene I saw his expression change as blood splashed over it.  He sucked in his lips in regret and horror.  Didn’t know it would be that sharp.

      I think Charlie was one of the things I almost tripped over on my way into the hall, bringing up the rear.  Deandre and Momi were closest to me.  Deandre was glancing back into the room just as we escaped and his eyes widened in shock.  “Mike!”

      “I know!”  I knew it was my fault.

      “He’s still alive!”

      I heard Marcie’s voice from up ahead, “Mikey!  Oh god!”

      Momi stopped in her tracks.  Our group was jammed up in the hall, fighting cicada men for every inch of ground as more and more spilled out of the stairwell.  The elevator door was closed, which may have been a good sign.

      “Momi, pass Deandre up the line, call the elevator!”

      She looked like she didn’t know if that would all be possible, but at least hit the call button while she could.  I didn’t stick around to see how she handled Deandre.  If Mike really was alive, he probably wouldn’t survive being moved - not like this - but I had to try.

      The mindless creatures were focused on the crowd of us, so they had mostly abandoned the room.  In the riot of action I had been unable to see the consequences of this melee.  The grey light revealed a ruined world.  The ground was completely covered with spiny black corpses tangled with rough grey cloth and filthy brown viscera.  Peppered throughout were those fucking eyeballs.  Charlie’s corpse was little more than a bump underneath the mass of insect limbs.  The furniture was all flipped or smashed, every surface blistered from the heat treatment, and the air still hazy with that smoke.

      There were two dark figures inching toward Mike.  He was alive, legs paralyzed and tangled in the blanket, reaching out to me in terror.  “Courtney oh man… Oh god!”

      “I know!”  I charged through the waste, kicking up chunks of chitin that had the weight of vacuum attachments or celery stalks.  The mess thinned out closer to the windows, and closer to him.  I charged up on the monsters, did the double-fisted punch to one’s back.

      It was as effective as before - the thing’s torso ripped almost completely free of its limbs, surging out of the coat for a moment before toppling to the floor.  The other one got to mike and reached down to his face like a priest.

      I could see myself doing a jump kick, busting it apart like Jean Claude Van Damme.  A little hustle, a hop, and bam.  But the vision betrayed me.  My feet snagged in the remains of the creature I’d just smashed, and I fell down hard.  The spiny limbs ripped right into me, slicing my stomach and left arm.

      My face bounced off the floor, stars everywhere.  I was picked up, somebody strong, soft, sweaty.  Momi was dragging Mike and I over the mess.  I started catching cuts again.  Was I in shock?  I was aware of the ragged state of my arm, of the flesh around my belly wound swelling and burning, but the pain seemed remote.  I could see Mike beside me, goggle-eyed and looking like a sausage with sweat beading on his discolored, purple-pink skin.

      Ow!  Too much.  I hauled myself to my feet, all my injuries starting to throb and scream at the same time.  “I’m good, I’m...”  The end of the hall with the stairs was walled off with a teeming ruin of chitin and fabric.  Busy mindless teeming hands worked from the other side to clear the mess while Richie pressed a door against it like a shield and Marcie leapt up to smack the reaching creatures.

      Ding!  The elevator reached the floor and the doors opened, just Momi, Mike, and I facing it.  As the metal rolled back, we could see the cicada men arrayed in right rows, like black metal machine guns in a rack.

      There was only one door to get away from them - a place with no exits, no escape.  We all crowded into my apartment, Richie closing and locking the door behind us, snapping off bits of bug extremities as he did.  A scattering of eyeballs had made it through and rolled across the floor like it was a big pool table.  Marcie aggressively crushed the things.

      Richie kept his palms on the door.  “They are sooo gonna get in.”  He turned around, pressing his back against it.  “What are we gonna do?  What are we gonna do?”

      I was leaning against my bedroom door frame again, no Mae West now.  I felt cold while my wounds felt hot, the blood already thickening to warm glue, gobbing inside my robe.

      Leimomi was holding Mike close like lovers in a waltz.  His toes scraped the ground.  Probably he was already dead.  Her hair was sad dregs of what it used to be.

      Olivia and Knobby helped Deandre sit on a couch and settled in beside him, exhausted and unsure.

      Patrick held Perry close as the taller older man looked away from us pointedly, head sunk.  Patrick looked shell-shocked.

      Marcie yelped, “Richie!”

      Richie turned around, planting palms on the door again, and saw what she was freaking about.  The doors hinges were coming unscrewed, amid a furious buzzing in the hall.

      Patrick said, “What now, woman?”

      I turned away, walked into my bedroom, looked at the haze and the blisters, the pathetic remnants of my nest.  A glob of blood sucked free from my stomach and splashed on the floor.  I looked down at it curiously.  The ground puckered and warped like a black hole’s event horizon.  I felt like I was falling into it.

      No, I caught myself.  I was just staggering from the blood loss.

      “What now, woman?”

      Momi defended me, “Shut up, dude.”

      I became aware of people coming into the room behind me, but I just looked around, ahead of me.  The window.  We could go out the window.  I took a few halting steps that way, then more toward the closet.  It looked cozy in there.  Dark.  Yeah, hide, lay low until this blows over.  Why not?

      The sound of the door flying off the hinges.  Insect feet tapping their march, like goose stepping on chipmunk RPMs.  I glimpsed Richie and Marcie moving toward the bathroom, but I got their attention.

      “Hey!  Follow me, guys.  I got this.  We got this.”

      Momi closed in beside me, Patrick pulled Perry behind me, Deandre and kids were back there somewhere too.  I walked into the closet on floating steps, pushed my way in with a blood soaked left hand.  Ran it along the wall.  I knew everyone was behind me, pushed in by the crush of insect men.  I couldn’t see, could only feel the blood and the darkness, warm ahead of us.

      I led them into that place.

                                                      ***

      Graeme Wexell tried his prox key on the alley side door of the building.  It didn’t work.  Considering what that most likely meant, he quickly walked away, circled the block.

      He put in both earbuds and tried Courtney’s phone again, then Deandre’s, then Patrick’s, then Deandre’s again.  Having circled the block with no response, he leaned on the fence dividing the apartment’s alley from the next property, looked the building up and down impatiently.  It was maddeningly opaque, reflecting the overcast early morning light all too perfectly.

      He needed a better angle to stake it out without being clocked.  If the floories were perp walked out, he’d know to go look for them at a police station.  If they came out any other way, he could talk to them, find out what happened.  He could not bring himself to give up the watch.

      Casting about for a solution, he hit on something a little desperate, perhaps equally risky.  Clearly, not thinking clearly.  He went into the alley on the other side of the fence, which was adjacent to an older building with a disused fire escape.

      He rolled a dumpster under the thing, heaved himself up on top, and carefully leapt to the bottom rung.  He hadn’t climbed anything in years, but had a sort of natural strength that helped overcome his lack of athleticism.  It was still an effort he’d be feeling the next day, but he got to the lowest level of the fire escape.

      Due to the narrow old bars, he’d be poorly visible from the street but still able to see the next alley over the fence just fine.  He slouched low to avoid notice, stared intently.  Minutes passed before he started trying to call people again, to no avail.

      The morning clouds burned away into a relatively blue sky, his lack of sleep and the strain of his exertion and stress and hunger threatened to take him under.  He felt like he was going insane, like he’d just die on that rusty old rack, get discovered months later by some Law & Order styled policemen who’d crack wise about his cargo shorts.

      It was the worst experience of his whole excursion into revolutionary anti-capitalist action.  But at 9:43 AM, his patience was rewarded with a revelation.

      The back door of the apartments opened and three bizarre dark creatures in trenchcoats filed out, so smoothly and eerily that it seemed the three were unfolding from one.  One held the door and the other two flanked the opening like guard statues.  His heart vibrated in time with their uncanny movements.  The blood left his head in a rush.  He almost fainted, but instead gripped the steel bars with sweaty white-knuckled fists.

      More of the creatures filed out into the broad daylight.  No fear of discovery?  No one seemed to look into the alley, take notice.  Christ, what sorts of things happen in this world, if this is possible?  The next set were dragging the blood-drenched corpse of landlord Charlie.  They hauled him to the trash compactor and tried to heave him inside.

      But they were too weak.  They used spiny extra limbs from within their coats to start snipping him to pieces, throwing each part in the dumpster like so much meat, leaving blood and chunks all over the area.  They took something from what was left of his clothes and came back toward the door.  Meanwhile, another two had gone out to the sidewalk, grabbing a random lady off the street and dragging her toward the building.

      Graeme wanted to move, to save her, but she wasn’t resisting.  Had they instantly killed her with some sort of venom?  His mind just kept melting, slipping through the bars with his sweat.

      The things circled, dipping and weaving with robot efficiency.  One put the item from Charlie into her pocket, the others scissored away her jacket and shirt with arm spines, before slipping a corporate polo shirt over her head and shoulders.

      They filed back inside like dancers on a cuckoo clock, closing the door behind themselves and leaving the woman dazed, standing.  She took the item out of her pocket.  Keys.  She used the prox key to open the back door and disappeared inside.

      Graeme stayed in a hotel for a few weeks before transferring to a different job in Texas.  He never returned to Seattle.

                                                      ***

      The tall shining Myrmidon Apartments were clean and new - barely used.  People came in to check out the rooms, see if there was anything they could afford, sometimes just for a glimpse at a life they’d never achieve.  One such man had come in on that day, looked out the window into the void of sky while the manager blathered through the sales pitch in the background.  Room 1203.

      He put his fingers to the glass and leaned his head closer.  He could imagine passing through the membrane, losing his mind, another fish in a sea of sky.  The manager took mental note to hit the spot with Windex after he was gone.

      The manager’s phone rang.  “Just a moment, let me...”

      “Mm-hm.”  The man walked into another room - the bedroom - all antiseptically squared away in its stock furnishings and plastic plants.

      He heard a noise in the closet and came near, brow wrinkling in fear.  An animal?

      No.  The door opened from within.  I stood there, a vision in black gossamer and jewels. He fell over the bed, then quickly scrambled to his feet.

      “I’m Courtney,” I told him from the mouth on my face.  "You can go if you want, get on a waiting list for roach and bed bug infested low income housing, or try to get by with more than four hours of commuting every day while your rent rises faster than your pay.  You can do anything."

      "I can’t afford this.  How did you know?"

      "You're right, this place is a monument to automatized, mindless, bottomless greed.  It can never be a home, can only rob you blind and spit you out…  But there is somewhere you can go that won't cost you anything, I swear to god."

      The walls nearest me began to swell red and suppurate with ill fluids.  In the next room, the manager started talking to him again.  “Alright, Mr. Coral, where were we?”  Footsteps approaching.  The bed started to twist in place on the inflamed flesh of the floor.

      He looked at me, lost.  “What do I do?  What is this?”

      I beckoned, arms pulling him with invisible power, a siren with skin of turquoise and lavendar.  He staggered toward me.

      “It won’t cost you anything,” I told him from the mouth on my throat.  “All you have to do is come with me.  All you have to do is disappear.”

                                                  THE END