Woo! This is my first specifically JTHM fan fiction, and it combines my love of Danny Elfman with my love of Jhonen Vasquez! Huzzah! The last story I did had relatively long chapters, so I think I'm going to keep my chapters pretty short this time… if I can. Well, here I go! The part w/ Danny comes later.

Disclaimer: I'm not Jhonen. Sorry to disappoint you.

It begins…

ONLY A LAD

Chapter One—Succumb.

One… giant…cold bead of sweat…slides off one long thin clump of jet black hair… falling in slow motion toward the ground… reflected in it is the figure of a small Bub's burger boy with a fake hamburger, sitting contentedly, inanimate, on a cold wooden shelf…

SPLOOSH… it finally hits the ground. Moving up from its point of impact, we see a figure, barely visible in the darkness, a mere silhouette of a soul, glaring at the burger boy with resentment… one pale hand moves up to run fingers through damp black strands of hair… as thousands of thoughts run through the dark and twisted mind, and yet, there is only one voice resounding in it at the moment.

"Succumb to it, Nny, it is in your nature."

"…No."

"You ARE HUMAN. And as one, you're based on emotions. There is no point fighting your own foundation. Come on, embrace it."

"No."

"YES."

"NO."

"Feel, FEEL."

"NO, MEAT, NO. It's COUNTERPRODUCTIVE."

"You NEED to, Nny. Get out of this shack, go out. Go dancing."

Nny's eyes search through the room, dimly lit by nothing but the moon's cold rays, tiny beams of light sliding past the boarded up windows and illuminating small portions of dilapidated wooden floor. He scans his surroundings in search of Mr. Samsa, but there seems to be nothing in the darkness… cold, empty Mr. Samsa, probably off getting work done, no head voices, no conscience to hinder him. Oh, how Nny aspired to that tiny, emotionless insect. But he isn't around… Nny points out to himself. Somehow Nny's defences seem less strong without that embodiment of his goal in his presence… but no, he doesn't want MEAT to win this round.

"Go, Johnny," Meat says in a comforting tone…

"You need to get out more."

…Tenna says to Devi. (For all those who didn't get what just happened, that was a segway. Woo! Transition!) "Come ON, lets go to Catacomb. Or Dollhouse. I haven't been to a club in far too long. And YOU'VE been here in your apartment for AGES! Don't you MISS the outside world? Lets go out!!! It will be fun and goodlyfull."

Devi paces… listens to the sound of her footsteps… she hears them louder in her head.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Step left, step right. Pondering. Music IS good… well, music that doesn't suck, the kind that's loud, that drowns out all thoughts, with a beat so heavy it can shake the ground and one can feel it down to their very core. It makes one forget the outside world. You can live in the music, at least for that one fleeting moment, and then life crashes down on you again.

"I don't know," Devi says… "I just… I just… I…"

"Come ON."

"But…"

"You know you want to…"

…Says MEAT. Nny strikes it with a piercing glare that does not affect the inanimate object at all. "WHY ARE YOU FIGHTING ME. I want only what is right for you. You are a person, Nny. You can not deny that."

"Stop it. Stop talking to me." Nny's gaze turns toward the boarded windows… out to the empty sky. The light from the stars and the moon makes him wince. The fact that he winced makes him wince. The fact that he winced at his wincing makes him wince again. He's over all disgusted at himself. What was wrong with him? Shuddering at the sight of starlight, he feels like some sort of wannabe vampire. He feels like—wait, wait a second, DAMN. Just when he thought he had successfully started down his path for cold, he feels again. MEAT had been winning all this time, and Nny only just realizes it. Self loathing and hatred for MEAT wells up within Nny, and he realizes that that, too, is emotion. ARG. Another battle lost.

Chapter two will come soon! This writing is a bit weird, and present tense and stuff, I'm not used to that, but I'm trying out a new groove here. Mmmmyep.

Please review! Reviews give me reasons to live!!