A/N: Slash, Strong Language, Adult scenes.
The Dark passenger was a toddler back then. Whining...crying...irritating. Dexter was constantly babying it, trying to indulge it, feeding it little bloody treats here and there, but Grandpa/Daddy Harry always put a stop to it. While other Teenagers were bunking school or making fake ID's to get into clubs the little Dark passenger would force Dexter to beg like a child.
"Dad please..." "Dexter how many times...no" Harry would say ruffling his newspaper with an angry flick of the hand. "Your sister's pulling out the weeds, after that you mow the lawn. Got it?" Dexter nodded and slunk off to his room watching Deb every so often and hearing her curse every ten minutes.
He was watching TV listening to a cheap reality TV show about doctors at a hospital, the little dark passenger crying out to see blood. Dexter was patient. He waited listening to the doctor's drone on about the importance of saving lives while arriving home on time for their wife's Sunday Roast. "Dexter, I'm fucking done, get down here" Deb shouted. "Deborah, what have I told you about swearing in the house" Harry said from inside. "Dad...I'm not in the house" Deborah said. Dexter shook his head he wasn't going to get a papercut wound from this show, he'd have to get the gore somewhere else.
He got the lawnmower out and wheeled it out onto the lawn. No car accidents. No neighbours running amock with hedge clippers because of a mistaken chopped prize rose. Dexter yanked the cord and the lawnmover loudly sprung to life. He pushed it back and forth trying to keep it in a straight line. The cord kept getting in the way and Dexter constantly had to lean forward to keep it out of the way.
One clumsy trip and the lawnmower could shred his fingers to pieces. Dexter paused with the Dark passenger's thoughts of the crackle of bone, the screaming, the blood... "Nick you can't go out now, we've got all this shit to take out...this was your idea" "I'll move it fuck...just get off my ass" There he was. The stealthy sordid shadow that Dexter swore to himself he could be.
The shadow was human, anything less and it would probably be driven into the road. Dexter turned the lawnmover back on and emptied it, and started from the very end so he could see where this guy was going. He was running in a dark hoodie and shorts, his fists high guarding his face. Was he hiding from something? Or someone like Dexter was?
Dexter had to find out. He looked back to the woman he was arguing with, a slim brunette with curves and what seemed to be expensive taste in clothes. The dark passenger pushed Dexter for the jealously that squeezed at both of their throats. When Dexter had finished with the lawnmowing, his father treated him to a chilled can of cherry soda.
"Thanks Dad" Dexter said running the can across his forehead first. "Dexter we're going to see your mom today, so you might want to get a shower" Dexter bit his lip. "Dad...I don't want..." "Dexter it's important to your sister and your mother hasn't seen you in a while. You're gonna have to get use to it Dexter. Seeing someone pass away piece by piece in front of you, otherwise you won't even start to imagine it" "Dad I can...I do" Dexter said.
Dexter said. "Well then get ready" Harry said, patting Dexter on the shoulder. Dexter got changed and dressed in the cleanest clothes he could find. His sister was unsually quiet in the car and Dexter gave her a rough pat on the shoulder. "Chin up sis" Dexter said loud enough for Harry to hear over the traffic. "Bite me" Deborah mouthed softly.
The dark passenger was growling at the plain white walls in the hospital, but got used the somber atmosphere of eerie silence . Harry didn't need a nurse to show him around, the secretary just nodded at him and nurses smiled at Good Old Harry like a old family friend. They all got to their mothers/wife's room and and Harry patted Deborah on the arm.
"You OK?" Harry asked using a gentle tone on her that almost rocked Deborah into sleep. "Yeah, yeah sure" Deborah said bracing herself. Harry glanced at Dexter before turning around and opening the door. "Big smiles" Harry directed as both of them went in behind him. "Mom so glad to see you, I want you home" Deborah said as she wrapped her arms around her mother.
The dark passenger was quiet witnessing how still and corpse like she looked. It satisfied it for now and satisfied Dexter that she would always be off limits. He saw Deborah talking to their mother about school and how she was gonna try out for netball practise. Their mother Doris was smiling and nodded.
Dexter noticed how alike they looked, mother and daughter had the same earnest brown eyes, the same smoothness of their chins. The same nervous fluttering of the fingers, they were so in tune with one another. Dexter knew that he could never be that way with Doris, he'd missed his chance the second Harry had brought him home.
The dark passenger's eyes widened when it realised Doris's fluttering fingers were pointing at them. "Dexter..." She said slowly and Harry was at his side before nearly shoving Dexter into Doris's bed. "Remember, smile" Harry said. Happy thoughts, dark sheds, agonised screams. "Mom...you look great" Dexter said
His mom reached for his hand and he touched her wrist. His mother slid her hand around his so their fingers interlocked. Dexter's fingers hung there lifelessly. Doris...his mom was a caring kind good woman, she didn't need the dark passenger groping, her not now. Not ever.
"Come on kids" Harry said. "Kiss Mom goodbye" Deborah gave their mom a hug and a exaggerated sloppy kiss on the cheek that made their mom smile. "Bye honey" She beckoned Dexter over. Dexter hesistated leaning down and tapping his top lip on her cold sweaty forehead. "Bye" Doris said slowly with glassy look in her eyes that made the dark passenger paranoid and made Dexter sure that she knew.
To encourage normality and take Deborah's mind off things they played at a neighbours house. Dexter noticed that Deborah was running a little wild, maybe the anxiety about mom had turned into energy. She was bouncing the ball on the other side of the street. Dexter was playing soccer trying not to kick the ball when they all heard a smash.
"God...what the fuck!" The hooded stranger said. "I'm fucking sorry I didn't mean..." Deborah said. Harry came out to see what all the fuss was about. Everyone looked over the road and Dexter saw the hoodied shadow with a hood still over his face and longer trousers.
Harry walked to Deborah's side and looked at the broken glass. "Don't ever swear at my daughter" Harry warned the hooded guy. "I'm sorry I didn't..." the man began. "I'm not finished" Harry said. "Get me an estimate and I'll pay for the damage, but don't talk to my daughter or my son" Harry said. Dexter could see the hooded man turn in his direction and the Dark passenger disappeared and turned away. Harry dragged Deborah off in silence and told her to stay on his side of the road.
The "hooded guy" went back in saying things under his breath. It was a shame Dexter hadn't been alert enough, with the "brother sister bonding thing/excuse" it would have made him look "normal" and the dark passenger would have been one step closer to seeing the face underneath the hoodie. After Deborah bounced back with a soccer and cursing filled playtime, Harry asked Deborah what she was playing at dinner. "It was an accident" She said. "An accident that I'm now paying for" Harry said. "You need to be more responsible, more careful, both you"
Harry said as the dark passenger's ears pricked up. Dexter waited until he saw Deborah in her pyjamas go into her room. Dad would have to be up early for work. Dexter opened the window and looked outside. For some reason everything seemed more safe in the dark, the trees waved with the wind like friendly feathers, the lamposts soothed the Dark Passenger with their welcoming glows until a visitor ruined the dark passenger's midnight party.
Dexter saw the hoodie figured and couldn't stop his urge to get up close and personal Dark Passenger to...whatever. He watched him running and something slid out of his pocket. The Dark Passenger threw him down the stairs and Dexter unlocked the door and ran outside. The street was silent except for the hooded stranger's pumps hitting the sidewalk. Dexter ran to the "thing" that dropped out of the guy's pocket and shouted. "Hey" The figure stopped, if Dexter had had a heart, it would have stopped too.
"Ummm...you dropped this" He said to him. Dexter quickly looked at the object in his hand it was a pass with the logo "UFC" and a name underneath it. "Nick Diaz" The dark passenger noted. This haunting hoodie had a name. "Here you go...Nick" Dexter said looking for any expression of anger but there was none. The man grabbed the chain linked through a punch-hole on the pass and took it out of Dexter's hand. "Thanks"
The man began to turn on his heel to run, but the Dark Passenger couldn't let that happen. "Wait" Dexter said. "You run a lot...why?" He asked. "It's my job, kinda my job...well part of it, you know, I run to keep fit, I run and like jog and sprint and bike and hike and stuff. Been doing it for years you know, It what I like to do...but I have to do it as well" "Cool" Dexter said leaving the Dark passenger to rearrange that sentence.
Dexter couldn't see the man's eyes, but saw a cut on the bridge of his nose, and a bruise under his lip. The Dark passenger asked whether this Nick liked to punish himself as well. It would be interesting to test someone, see how far they'd go, what they couldn't do and what they were excited to do. "Your sister..." The man said. Dexter turned around. "No...she's not out here...I didn't swear at her you know, it was the in the moment, at the car...your Dad was pretty pissed" " Nick said. "He's really harmless...sorry about that" Dexter said apologising for his Dad.
"It's cool..." Nick nodded a "see you later" and turned away again as Dexter was prodded by the dark passenger to make clumsy conversation. "Are you into sports and stuff?" Dexter asked. "Yeah, sort of...yeah" Nick said. "You?" He asked. Dexter nodded, if Nick was into it then they had to share a common interest, it was the only way he'd get Nick's attention and become a small insignificant part of his life and that was better being a no-one, like the Dark Passenger was.
"Well, umm...me and a few friends go to that gym round Waveview, if you wanna come you can" Nick said. "Yeah...sure, what day?" Dexter asked. "Tuesday" Nick said as he ran off back to his house. The Dark passenger turned tense. Why was Nick so desperate to get away? Did they smell? Dexter walked back over the road and quickly sniffed his armpits when the door opened.
"Dexter what the hell are you doing?" Harry asked. Taking Dexter by the arm and pushing him inside. "You want more responsibility and you're outside in the dark sniffing god knows what, go to bed" Harry ordered. The dark passenger didn't want Dexter to go to sleep, it knew what Dexter would dream about.
Tonight wouldn't be a Dark passenger preview of Dexter spooking slash nights, plunging a knife, pulling a cord or drowning any old average Joe or Joan in the Sea. As Dexter closed his eyes, the pictures of Nick's hooded covered face was all he saw like holiday slides. The Dark Passenger felt something too, he was sure of it.
Not neccersarily the same type of reaction Dexter had in his pants. The dark passenger told him to focus on Nick's possiblities, Nick's negatives, Nick's positives, how he could help them both. Dexter on the other hand was trying to picture was Nick looked like without the hoodie. Did Nick have a T-shirt on, or if anything underneath that dark cloak of wool he wore religiously.
The Dark passenger distanced itself from Dexter as Dexter wondered if Nick was getting undressed or taking a shower before he went to bed. Dexter's dick hardened as he wondered what Nick's physique was like. Nick ran for miles and went to the gym on top of it, the mystery of what Nick really looked like and what he could be hiding enticed Dexter to no end. He slid his hands into his Pyjama pants his hand shaking at the thought of jerking off to an imaginary body of a face that he'd barely seen. It was pathetic. The Dark Passenger told him that. Dexter took his hand out of his pants and the Dark passenger breathed a sigh of relief.
The Dark Passenger would play Nick's game and meet him and his friend's on Tuesday. Only if Dexter stuck to the plan and partnered up for "Work Purposes Only". Dexter agreed and guiltily slept though the night. He'd only seen Nick three times and now he was dreaming about him. Dexter really did need help. The Murderous Montages he got used to. Dreams about Nick Diaz made Dexter's stomach cramp up with shame. Dad would be far from thrilled.