"Come on, just one picture with me?" Sock tilted his head, pouting his lower lip. "It'll be fun!"
"You won't even show up, Sock, there's no point. No one would even know who it was." Jonathan rolled his eyes, then focused his attention back to his phone and the pictures of a small figure he had made. It was a Sock. Literally. A small model of a lone sock painted red... with a yellow star, at the demon's request. "It's stupid to even think of it."
"But you'll know it was me! And you're the only one who even matters! Besides, you can play it off as a selfie or something." The little ghost waved it off as nothing as he grinned, rocking back and forth like a boat in the air. "What do you say?"
"If I say yes, will you shut up and let me work?" Jonathan raised a brow, sighing when Sock nodded ecstatically. He groaned, and didn't stop until they were both sitting on the edge bed, Sock hovering ever so slightly.
"Alright, one, two, th-" "You have to smile, Jonny-cakes, you can't just go with that dumb ol' gloomy expression for a picture with me." The teen grimaced at the nickname. He knew Sock loved the Outsiders, but did he have to reference it every time he wanted something?
The answer is yes, yes he did.
"Fine." Jonathan growled, plastering on a quick smile as he took the picture.
Sock, however, pouted. Again. "I wasn't ready!"
"You won't even show up, it doesn't matter." But Sock wouldn't have any of it. "It matters to me."
Jonathan Combs was at the end of his rope. "Look, if I delete the picture and take another one, I can go back to the pictures for my portfolio, right?"
Sock nodded happily. Jeez, his mood changed fast. "Alright, let me just..."
What.
The.
Fuck.
There, in the picture, was a nervously smiling Jonathan and an oddly visible, wide-eyed, open-mouthed, slightly transparent Napoleon Maxwell Sowachowski.
"Oh, hey! Would you look at that, I can see myself. Must be because I'm a demon... Jonathan?"
"I can see you too."
Sock's brows raised and he tilted his head. "Well, duh."
"I mean in the picture. I can see you, next to me, in this picture." Jonathan pointed to the screen on his phone. "What if..."
What if other people could see it. Now he could show his mother he wasn't crazy! And everyone else at his school. Lil, Zack, everyone! Maybe now he wouldn't have to see a psychologist, he could just talk to his demon like a normal person and not be deemed insane.
"Don't you dare." Sock narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Sock, don't you get it? No one will think I'm weird now, and you'll be able to talk to people other than me - As long as I translate, but still! Won't that be fun?"
"No, it won't." Sock crossed his arms over his chest. "For one I look terrible in that picture, and two I actually like it here, thank you, so I'd rather not be forced to leave."
"What's that supposed to mean? I'm not gonna make you leave." The teen rolled his eyes, standing up from the bed.
"Not you... My boss." Sock bit his lip, reaching out to Jonathan. "If anyone finds out I'm real, I'll either be assigned to a new counterpart or, worse, fired. You don't want me fired, do you?" There were hints of desperation in the goul's voice, Jonathan thought it over.
On one hand, no one would think he was crazy anymore. But that wouldn't matter if sock was gone. On the other hand...
Jonathan looked down at his tormentor and frowned- Or, more than he already was. As much as he hated to admit it, he had grown to like the little guy. Heck, he actually got kinda upset when he went off to visit hell during the weekends. He couldn't have him leave now!
Jonathan looked down at the phone and saved it to his dropbox before deleting it from his main phone. He may not have gotten rid of the picture entirely, but he still wanted it.
"There, you happy?" Sock's eyes lit up and he wrapped his arms around the blond. "Ooh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
... Maybe he should've shown the picture.
Jonathan is a sculptor because headcanons