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r0tting-rat · 2 months ago

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DCA PROMPTOBER 2024

Attention! This slasher!au belong to the lovely @wyervan, who gave me the okay to write a little drabble about their murderous guys bc I'm simply obsessed with them. I hope I did them justice :>

Day 27 - Stalker

Pairing: Slasher!Sun and Moon x/& GN reader Warning: Blood, violence and gore, choking, drug mention Words: 3800+ Summary: It's Halloween and someone stops by to pay you a visit <3

Whoever said that serial killers are the real monsters of this world has probably never worked a minimum wage job at a diner during Halloween. Teenagers were a fucking pain, there was nothing to say about it. Between stupid pranks and annoying messes, they seemed to try and find every possible way to make your living life hell, like you were some kind of lifeless mannequin and not a waiter.

You often had the closing shift during the weekends, along with a coworker of yours, who was as insufferable and as bothersome as some of the teenagers who’d come in during the day. Jake was a douche, there wasn’t much to say; he was immature and lazy, multiple times he had found ways to shove his workload on you and other people, his cigarette breaks lasted longer than your lunch and he would flirt with every woman under 20 that would cross the threshold of the diner. You and he often worked the closing shift together, which meant you cleaned the kitchen and the tables as Jake called his girlfriend on his flip phone while mindlessly sweeping the floor, only managing to move dust bunnies and used napkins from one place to the other.

You heard his voice loud and clear from the kitchen, complaining about some guy who owed him money, when your ears suddenly picked up something you regretted hearing.

-Stop worrying about it, there’s no risk of him telling the cops, he’d get into a lot more trouble than me,- he laughed, -He’s addicted to that shit, he wouldn’t survive a week without me.-

You had heard from a coworker that Jake sold drugs to highschoolers, but you weren’t the type to believe rumors without any proof, so you had never cared much about it. Your eyes glanced up from the grill you were cleaning to see if Jake had noticed you listening in on his private conversation, but the man was too engrossed into pretending to do his job to notice you. You didn’t want to have anything to do with Jake’s deals, you wanted to keep out of his life as much as you didn’t want him to become a part of yours.

Suddenly, someone began knocking on the glass door of the bar, making it rattle loudly and echo through the small diner. You stopped and waited, until a second, louder knock startled you. Jake wasn’t going to open, was he?

You peeked out of the kitchen, looking for your coworker, but he must have disappeared somewhere in the back because you couldn’t see him anywhere in the dining area. He had left the broom behind, of course.

Looking outside the diner and into the dark parking lot, you saw a tall man standing right in front of the door with a weird jester costume, waiting for someone to open the door for him. He was wearing red and yellow puffy striped pants, a yellow top with red ruffles, and a weird Halloween mask over his face—a white and golden smiling sun, with a crown of golden rays all around.

As soon as the man saw you he stopped slowly swaying on the spot, freezing, and his head tilted to the side in confusion. You had expected teenagers to come and bother you so late, considering it was the 31st, but a grown ass man wearing such a stupid costume? That was simply ridiculous. You tapped the sign on your side of the glass which read “CLOSED” in bold and red letters, but that seemed to not be enough for the clown.

-We don’t do trick or treating here,- you said, speaking loud enough so he could hear you from outside, -If you want candies how about knocking at the door of a house or something?-

The man’s shoulders shook with laughter, but you didn’t hear any sound coming from him, so you simply sighed and turned back towards the kitchen. You wanted to go home, drink something warm, and do a rewatch of the Scream trilogy, nothing else. Why couldn’t that asshole do the same?

The masked man slammed his hand on the glass, making you jump and turn back around, then he pointed towards the broom laying on the floor a few feet away from you. Something clicked in your head, and you stared at him with your mouth agape.

-Wait, are you here for Jake? Are you one of his friends or something?- you asked, and after a moment of hesitation, the man nodded eagerly. You gave him a better look, noticing exactly how much taller than you he was and his lean build—he didn’t fit the depiction of Jake’s clients. Most of them were highschoolers, as far as you were aware.

-Listen, I can’t let you in, but we’re almost closed, so you just wait a couple of minutes and he’s all yours,- you told the man, who gave you a grateful nod followed by a step back into the parking lot. Despite that, that guy unnerved you deeply, he was weird and creepy, and you didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

You decided you could tell Jake to go home and leave you the rest of the work—which you would have ended up doing even if he stayed there—just so you could get rid of the masked loser outside, but when you called his name, you didn’t hear any answer. You walked in the back of the diner, checking even the kitchen to make sure he wasn’t eating any of the leftover fries, but your coworker had disappeared into thin air.

During your search you found the staff door wide open, letting in the cold night breeze, and when you tried to close it you found that the handle wasn’t working properly anymore. Every time you pushed it closed, the door would creak open once more.

-What the fuck…?-

A sudden sound made you jump out of your skin and turn around in search of the cause, finding only the silence of the dark diner answering back. You were getting uneasy, on edge, and you couldn’t stop thinking about the weirdo right outside the door. Right as you had begun to wonder if he had found a way to get in, a hand grabbed your shoulder and you screamed.

-Jesus, fuck!- yelled Jake as you flinched away from him, -What the hell is wrong with you?!-

Your heart was beating so loud you could hear it in your chest, hammering against your sternum like a drum, but when you saw your coworker standing right behind you, you sighed and relaxed.

-You scared me!- You shoved the man away, annoyed, and he reacted by looking at you like you had gotten crazy. -Go tell your stupid friend to leave, he’s creeping me out.-

-Who are you talking about?- he asked, and you rolled your eyes.

-Sun dude, with the mask and clown outfit? Doesn’t that ring a bell? He’s waiting for you outside.-

Jake’s brown furrowed in confusion, then he pushed you away to enter back into the dining area, where you had seen the masked guy. He looked outside, walking towards the glass windows that gave a clear view of the parking lot, which revealed to be completely empty. Jake turned around to glare at you like you had set your pants on fire.

-Did you take something? Some shrooms?- he asked, and you sighed.

-No, he probably just left. That’s his van, I’m sure, it wasn’t there an hour ago.- You pointed at a white van parked not too far from the door in the parking lot. -Do you recognize it?-

Jake shook his head, still visibly confused by your behavior, and from his stance you could tell that he was also growing tense. His hands were fidgeting and his eyes were scanning the parking lot like a police car was about to pull up and arrest him any minute, but in the end he scoffed.

-Nah. Whatever, I’m going home,- he said, walking away from the window, -I’m not in the mood for this stuff.-

-I’m serious, there was a guy there!- you replied, but the man didn’t listen, -Also, next time close the door behind you after you go out for a smoke.-

-I haven’t smoked in 3 hours,- Jake retorted, -What are you talking about now?-

-So you didn’t open the back door?- you asked after a pause, feeling a sense of chill spread in your guts, creeping up into your lungs and blocking your airway, -But it’s…?-

The door had been broken. From the outside. Someone had gotten in, and you didn’t even hear it, neither of you did. You and Jake seemed to realize the same thing at the same time, but just as you bolted towards your bag and grabbed your phone, which you had left behind the counter, Jake ran for the main door, slamming it open in a rush.

-Wait, don’t!- you screamed, but the man didn’t listen to you and headed to his car, which was parked in a far corner of the parking lot. Before he could take more than two steps, the white van rumbled to life, pointing its headlights at him and blinding him in the process.

-Come back inside!- you screamed, and luckily this time Jake seemed to be willing to listen to you, because as soon as he realized he was about to get run over, he threw himself back into the diner. You grabbed him by one of his wrists and dragged him with you in the kitchen, your only safe space for now.

The kitchen wasn’t that big; the diner you worked at was just a small local business that had just enough seats for the small population of your town, therefore, there weren’t many places to hide.

-What the fuck is happening?!- screamed Jake in a panic, but you shushed him, beginning to type the police’s number until a humming sound made you freeze on the spot, -Why did you stop?! We need to…-

-Down!- you hissed, ducking behind one of the grills and bringing Jake down with you, right as light steps echoed in the dining area which you had just left. You listened carefully, kneeling on the cold floor of the kitchen with Jake shaking beside you, one of your hands coming up to cover his mouth.

Your ears picked on a masculine voice singing something reminding you of a lullaby, slow and gentle, melodic and raspy at the same time. The intruder was singing without a care in the world, entering the kitchen just to stop right on the threshold, lingering on the spot. You peeked your head out from the side of the fryer, trying to get a look at the man but only managing to see a pair of black boots and blue puffy pants covered in stars before your eye was caught by the hatchet he was holding in his gloved hand. Old, rusty, and clipped in many places around the edge, the weapon looked decades old, if not more. You saw the man swinging it mindlessly around, like he was playing with it, still humming that low tune with his deep voice.

-Someone’s hiding,- he sang, mocking, -Someone’s scared!-

Struggling to keep yourself from making a sound, you hid back behind the fryer, hoping to the heavens that Jake wasn’t about to panic and rat you both out. You sent him a warning glare, but the man was too worried about stopping his hands from trembling to even look in your direction.

-Which little mouse will have its tail chopped off today, mh?- asked the intruder, beginning to walk slowly around the kitchen, -I heard someone has been behaving badly recently. The Sun told me someone was being naughty…-

Pots and pans were knocked down from the counters, making you flinch and cover your own mouth in fear of letting a sound slip out, and with the corner of your eye, you saw Jake begin crying.

-Isn’t that right, Jake?- the psycho laughed, beginning to move once more, -Did the Sun lie, or are you actually misbehaving?-

You grabbed one of your coworker’s hands and began to crawl away, forcing him to come along, attempting to get on the other side before you could be seen.

-Come out, come out, Jake, we just wanna play a game with you.- The man faked disappointment, opening any cabinet big enough to contain a human and making a mess of the kitchen around him as an attempt to drive you out of hiding. A metal lid rolled all the way in front of you, stopping right in your tracks, but being too focused on trying to understand how far the intruder was, you didn’t see it, and you hit it with one of your hands, sending it against the wall with a clang.

-Shit!- you said, standing back up, -Run!-

-There you are!- screamed the intruder, immediately running after you and Jake as you scrambled up on your feet and did everything you could to get away.

You went back into the dining area, attempting an escape through the broken back door, but just as you turned the corner you found the sun-masked man standing in your way with a metal bat in his hands. While trying to step away from him and avoid his first swing directly aimed at your head, you tripped onto Jake, falling on him and causing both of you to ruin on the ground, hitting your head against the wall in the process. Breathing heavily, you managed to back yourself into a corner, unable to see through the heavy cloud of pain blossoming in your skull as warm liquid dripped down your neck, soaking your work uniform and making you dizzy. Your every breath was painful, your throat and mouth burned dry and your heart was beating out of your chest, deafening you entirely to the screams of your coworker being slammed against the wall beside you by the man with the hatchet. You were barely conscious, enough to distinguish the sun mask kneeling in front of you to observe you better as a crunch echoed through the diner, final in the way it made Jake’s protests and cries come to an abrupt stop.

Blood began to pool on the floor next to you, dripping down the wall where the killer’s hatchet had split open his skull, and the metallic scent hit your senses like a punch in the guts. You suddenly awakened, gasping for air like a starving man, and immediately you flinched when the sun mask leaned closer to your face. You couldn’t suppress the tears pushing out of your ducts, streaming down your face in rivers, and you hiccupped when, during your struggle to push yourself back up, you slipped on the blood with your palms and found yourself face-first in it.

The murderer with the hatchet, who was wearing a moon-themed mask and a costume matching the other maniac, let go of Jake’s body and let it slide down the wall into a sitting position right beside you, making you scream and stumble back into your corner.

-Please don’t kill me!- you begged, out of your mind with fear, -P-Please, please, I beg you, please d-don’t kill me, I didn’t do anything w-wrong, I didn’t…-

-Oh, we know, sweetie,- cooed the sun mask, his amused voice so sickly sweet it made you want to gag, -We believe you!-

You couldn’t understand what was happening anymore. Were you in danger? Were they going to kill you as well? Why did they kill Jake in the first place? You were going mad and couldn’t even bring yourself to think, all you wanted to do was go home and huddle yourself into a warm nest of blankets. You wanted to wake up and find that the horrifying reality you were living in was actually nothing more than a horror film-induced nightmare.

-We believe you, really,- the sun’s voice came down to a docile whisper as one of his gloved hands brushed against your cheek, making you whine and attempt to curl away from his touch. The gloved fingers were cold—so cold. You wanted to puke. -But I’m afraid we can’t let you go away so easily after seeing what happened here.-

His thumb brushed over your parted lips, spreading a drop of blood like it was a gloss, tinting your lips of a deep crimson color, until his finger pressed on the other side of your jaw. You looked up at the man, wide-eyed, as his other huge hand also wrapped around your throat and slowly began to crush your windpipe with his strength.

-Too bad,- commented the moon-masked man as he began to lean closer. His entire “face”, chest and arms were covered by blood and brain matter, dark and gooey, drenching his white and black top with it, -Would have loved to play a little game with you, just to pass the time, you know? Unfortunately, we still have morals.-

-Yeah,- laughed the sun, -We don’t go for innocent people usually—not unless they give us a reason to dispose of them, of course. Nothing personal, ‘kay? No hard feelings between us?-

You were choking, flailing your hands around while trying to pry his fingers off and scratching yourself in the process, and as your face began to turn red and your vision began to get spotty, your eyes ran from a masked man to the other, hoping at least one of them would have mercy on you.

-Unless,- whispered the moon to his companion, admiring the beautiful way your unconscious body lost all its strength and fell unresponsive on the ground—still far from death, as shown by the slow rise of your chest, -Unless we let this one leave to tell the tale.-

-There’s no tale, Moon,- replied Sun, sending his friend a glare while also parting his hands from your throat. In a few seconds you were probably going to regain consciousness, so he stood up and aimed his bat at your head, -We already talked about this, leaving witnesses is out of the picture. Also, do you mind doing this for me? I already got blood on my gloves, and you know how much I hate finishing them off.-

-But think better about it!- spoke Moon, leaning against the wall, knowing that Sun was not going to give you the final blow himself, -Everyone is town is already aware there’s a pair of fuckers going around killing people, but don’t you think it would make our job much easier if people really started to fear us?-

Sun let go of the bat just to stare at his companion, speechless, like he couldn’t believe the words the other man had said.

-No, I actually think that would make our job much more difficult,- he said, and Moon scoffed, -People will begin to think we are merciful, which could not be more far from the truth.-

-I think it would actually show everyone in this city how things work.- Moon put down his hatchet and crossed his arms over his chest, showing Sun that he was actually completely serious. -Innocents will be allowed mercy, while rulebreakers will receive the chop-chop treatment.-

Sun sighed, running one of his gloved hands through his blonde hair in exasperation.

-First of all, don’t call murdering people “the chop-chop treatment”, that’s weird. Second, you already killed innocents before, so what’s so different now? Third, do you actually believe people will understand?- It was clear, he still didn’t trust Moon’s plan, but Sun never listened to any plan that wasn’t his own, so that didn’t count.

-They will, if you allow them to live and warn them,- Moon nodded towards your limp body, -Also, the other times it was an accident, okay? Not everything can always go according to plan!-

You were beginning to regain consciousness, groaning on the floor and gasping for air.

-Shit, they’re awake!- Sun said, -Kill them!-

-No, we’re leaving them behind,- insisted Moon, grabbing his friend’s wrist and pulling him away from you, -Trust me just this once, it’ll work out in our favor.-

Sun was hesitating, looking at you, slowly waking up, then at his companion. He couldn’t figure out the best course of action, so he just groaned and let himself be dragged away.

-Alright, just this once!- he allowed, -Consider this a treat, Moon, because it won’t happen ever again!-

The duo left through the broken back door, walking into the dark parking lot and looking around for any car or passerby in sight, while you blinked your eyes open on the bloodied floor of the diner where you were mindlessly taking orders and serving customers just a few hours prior. Your whole body was in pain, your arms felt heavy and sore, while your throat felt like it had been rubbed with sandpaper both on the inside and on the outside. You finally managed to completely open your eyes and stare at the ceiling, still not believing that you were still alive. What had convinced the two killers to spare you? Which one had mellowed the other into showing mercy? You couldn’t say, there were too many things you couldn’t explain to yourself, but as you turned your head around to look at Jake’s lifeless body next to you, your eyes came to an halt on his chest, where the moon—his killer—had left a plastic bag containing a bunch of colorful pills. For a second you felt dazed, until you understood that the two clowns were leaving a clear message. They didn’t like the idea of people selling drugs to highschoolers, and that was probably the same reason why you were left alive, unscathed except for the blossoming bruises the sun’s hands had left on your neck, red and angry against your skin. They had spared you because you hadn’t hurt anyone; that explained the words the moon guy had told Jake in the kitchen and why you were still allowed to breathe, but it didn’t excuse the viciousness behind the duo’s actions.

The blood around you was expanding, soaking your hair and work shirt as well, and for some reason your first thought was that it felt incredibly warm, like there was some possibility that Jake was still breathing beside you, like his heart could still be pumping blood in his veins, like you could turn around and see him alive and well. Of course, that wasn’t the case.

You had been graced with life, and that night, on the unswept and bloody floor of a diner, you decided you were going to do everything in your power to keep things that way, in case the astral duo ever changed their minds and came back for you. They had spared you once, and you weren’t going to give them a reason to take that gift back.

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happysaddca · 14 days ago

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Nobody look at me idk how or why because human AUs of the canon DCA are not my thing and I straight up told at @wyervan that the slasher boys scare me when I was working on the fanzine layout but I

let's just say I'm very very much out of writing block cause I'm already plotting some more. Thanks for reading this over before I posted it Wyervan. As promised there's a tiny present at the end for you.

A long, hard poke from the business end of a baseball bat wakes Moon from his nap. He grabs it before he can be poked again, moving to sit up. An endeavor made more fraught by the surprise stowaway in his hoodie digging her claws into the thin material of his t-shirt. One arm moves to cradle said interloper, the other keeping the bat at bay. “What?”

“You scared me!” The bat jerks free to gently bop the top of his head, Ellis’s voice pitched half an octave too high and their face flushed. When Moon grabs at the bat again, they pull protectively back. “Why are you in my bus?”

“Better place to nap.” Moon ducks in the small space as he sits up fully. “Better company too.”

Ellis’s confusion is partially masked by their tinted glasses. Moon answers by fishing the purring bundle of void out from under his hoodie, amber eyes giving Moon a wounded look at her eviction. “Oh! Eos, c’mere baby girl.” The cat changes arms, and Moon’s able to relax with the bat safely out of the way, the tension in his shoulders reducing fractionally. Ellis has chosen to ignore him entirely, face buried in Eos’s fur and mumbling nonsense.

Moon remains seated on the edge of the bed, unable to reach an escape point (window that actually opens, the emergency exit on the roof, the main bus doors at the very front) without squeezing past Ellis and making far more bodily contact than could be considered strictly professional.

Then again, he had broken into their home to sleep. Even if said home is a converted school bus.

The bus is a teal monstrosity that has made its home at the far corner of the admittedly small arcade parking lot, a DIY project Ellis affectionately called Big Sue for reasons yet unknown. The beast’s taken Ellis from coast to coast before breaking down here. Ellis had asked for a job in exchange for the parking space and enough for repairs. Just enough to keep going, they’d promised. One, maybe two months top. That’d been five months ago.

“Okay.” Ellis lifts their face from where Eos had been industrially grooming their hair, glasses shoved lopsidedly on their forehead. The absurdity of the look doesn’t take away from their smile. “If you’re here, you’re helping.”

“Helping?” Ellis leans past Moon to let Eos loose on the bed, close enough that he can smell the fresh piney scent of their soap — the same smell trapped in their pillow and blankets he’d nested in before passing out. He can’t move without getting in the way, but Ellis is out of his space just as quick, watching him with hands fisted loosely against their hips.

“Helping with dinner. You broke into my home and nearly gave me a heart attack. This is how you pay me back.” When Moon doesn’t move, Ellis grabs his hands, their grip offering no counterargument. Moon lets Ellis pull him upright and drag him to the sink to wash up.

Ellis clearly doesn’t have the same reservations about personal space as Moon, constantly squeezing behind him in the narrow walkway as he’s tasked with prepping the veggies, okra and bell peppers and onions and more. It’s not until he’s feeding Eos a stray shrimp and Ellis is stirring in garlic that something clicks.

“You’re the one that’s been cooking for us.” Moon’s voice is almost accusatory. He stands, stealing their spoon to point at them to finish the accusation. The sauce drips, a furry dark shape twining her way between their legs to lick the floor clean.

Ellis steals the spoon back, pointing it back at Moon. “And you didn’t know?” Their aim is off, poking Moon in the cheek and leaving a smear of brown and grit. “Oops.” Their serious expression breaks all too quickly. “You can’t tell me you really didn’t know.”

Moon’s own face doesn’t change, but his eyes slide off Ellis and to the gently bubbling pot of jambalaya busily making the whole bus smell delicious and Cajun. “You never signed your notes.”

“I didn’t think I needed to. You think that Star or that half-feral dude you guys keep letting into the break room can cook?” Ellis turns, ripping off a fresh paper towel from the roll kept by the stove. “Bend down.”

“Still never signed.” Moon doesn’t move, so Ellis drags him down by the hood. They’re not too much shorter than Moon or Sun, but the angle and closeness lets him see over their glasses and see the pale gray of their sclera. This close, he knows they can see the mottled texture of his skin and all the imperfections. They exhale. Their breath smells like menthol and tobacco.

“Maybe I should sign all my work moving forward.” They dab at his cheek before tracing his jawline with the corner of the paper towel. “Sign my face paint masterpieces right here. What do you think?” They meet his eyes and grin, and he straightens, the back of his neck growing hot even as he gives an answering sharp toothed smile.

“Probably not necessary. Just if you have other surprises in store.” Moon recovers the spoon where Ellis had left it and stirs the pot, the shrimp and okra appearing like icebergs in the reddish-brown roux. Ellis leaves him to it, pulling something new — cornbread — from their icebox.

It’s quiet save for the sound of cooking, bubbling liquids and metal scraping on metal as Ellis reheats the bread. Fingers ghost over Moon’s arm as they balance themselves on him, pulling out an extra bowl. Moon tries to protest, but they force him to sit at their narrow table, cleaning it of suspiciously striped and spangled fabric. Ellis serves him a bowl with a massive hunk of cornbread stuck in the corner.

They sit opposite, curling one leg against their chest as they tear their cornbread, using it to soak up the excess sauce. “You know, I don’t know a whole lot about you, given you were just asleep in my bed Moon. Is Moon even your real name?”

Moon shrugs an answer, copying the tear and soak method Ellis is using with his cornbread. “Don’t know a lot about you. Is Ellis your real name?” They laugh and stick out their tongue, Moon replying in kind. The mimicry makes them laugh harder, covering their mouth with one hand.

“Okay, fair enough.”

Moon switches to a spoon while Ellis continues to tear down their cornbread into increasingly smaller pieces. He glances at the counter.

“Okay, new question then. Can you guess where I’m from?”

The grin indicates this is a trick question. Moon mulls it over as he bites into a particularly spicy bite of sausage. “Florida.”

“Ew, no, why?” Ellis is coughing when Moon gives another shrug and smile. They roll their eyes in return. “I’m from Alabama you heathen.”

“Close enough.” That gets a kick in the shin from a steel-toed boot. Moon doesn’t flinch.

“If you knew anything about the South, you would not be saying that.” Now that he knows, there’s just a hint of that accent, the words hanging on a touch longer even as their speech remains relatively chipper. Ellis finally runs out of cornbread, forced to use their spoon at last. Moon’s bowl is already half empty. “Were you and Sun really clowns before?” A nod, and Moon feels a little head bumping his arm as Eos crawls into his lap to smell at his food. “You don’t really seem the clown type.”

“I don’t?” Moon quirks an eyebrow and now Ellis mimics him, but they do pause.

“I mean, obviously when you’re in character I can see it.” The next bit comes out in a rush. “I’m not trying to say you’re bad at clownery or anything.” There’s a metallic tink as they bite on their spoon, rushing to cut themselves off before they say something else stupid. It’s dark out now, and the light inside makes it all the harder to get a good read on their face. Moon remains quiet, and Ellis shifts, leg sliding down out of the seat.

“It’s just, you’re so much more chill than Sun is. If you asked me to guess what he was without seeing him in costume, I’d probably guess a discount Ronald McDonald.” That gets a laugh as Moon imagines just how Sun would react to that comparison. Maybe he’ll use it the next time Sun complains about how messy Moon gets during their second job. “And you’ve sharpened your teeth. That doesn’t seem very clown…y.”

“It doesn’t?” Moon’s grin widens and he’s satisfied to see Ellis is now the one made uncomfortable. Fair play and all that. “What about your ears?”

“What about my ears?” Their hand shoots up to touch one gauge, hiding the plain black disc self-consciously.

“Doesn’t seem very child care workery.” He gestures with his spoon. “Or the collar. Or the jacket.”

Too far, Moon realizes as Ellis shrinks into themself, hand moving down from their ear to the heavy leather jacket that dwarfs their frame. There’s a moment where he thinks he should apologize (why?) but Ellis straightens back up before he can process the fleeting feeling.

“Well, you knew what I was when you hired me,” they say, returning to their jambalaya. “And your teeth are pretty cool anyway. I don’t think I’d be brave enough for that intense of body mods.”

Moon swipes his tongue over his teeth. Cool huh? He scratches gently at Eos in his lap as Ellis turns the conversation to work, plans for the winter solstice and a wistful hope to visit the nearby state forest for a camping trip. To his surprise, Moon is invited. To the camping trip, and later, as Ellis is wrapping up the rest of the jambalaya and cornbread for Sun and himself, to nap in the bus again.

“Eos likes you,” they explain, and their gaze is back to their usual place, somewhere in the region of his chin and mouth. “And you popping up here will force me to keep the place clean.” They follow him to the door. “Just maybe tell me when you plan on it?”

“No promises.” Moon steps into the cold and looks down at the bowl in his hands. That… was definitely an odd interaction. He glances back at the bus when music starts to play. Punk, because of course it was. He goes for the car, debating what to tell Sun of what happened.

He’d keep the way their eyes changed when they smiled to himself for now.