Extremely sorry for the delay.
Chapter 6
Well, he hadn't quite expected the Slender to just disappear like that, but he wasn't going to complain, he was just going to lay there. Now what would he do? Maybe he'd just spend the night here in this house out in the cold with Jess, he might even cuddle up with the unconscious blond to share body heat. Con lifted his head up just enough to spot the flash light lying near Jess on the floor, illuminating a spot on the wall.
He could really use a hand from Slend right about now, but he knew that the slender wasn't going to show up anytime soon, so he pushed the thought of the being from his mind. Conall laid there for a moment longer with his eyes closed before he attempted to get up, but he ended up laying back down with the room started to spin. 'Would I even be able to drag Jess all the way back home? He is pretty heavy' He couldn't help but laugh a little at the thought of himself carrying the blond back home, and then let out a sad sigh.
The first thing Jess felt when he woke up was his head throbbing. He groaned, reaching up and wincing at the touch. His eyes opened and he stared through the dim morning light at tattered wallpaper. That's when it all came back to him and he gasped, sitting up and fighting back the dizziness.
He looked around frightfully for signs of the monster, but it was gone. That's when he saw Conall lying on the floor. He scrambled over to him, eyes watering as he saw all of the dried blood, bruises beginning to form around his cheek and a gash in his lip. His neck was a dried bloody mess, cuts that were unmistakably from teeth.
His hands trembled, afraid that if he touched him he would find that he was dead. It wouldn't be fair. Not Conall, who didn't judge Jess even though he himself wouldn't even smoke a joint. If he was dead, it was because Jess couldn't wait until the next day to pick up his fucking drugs. "C-Conn?" he murmured with a shaky voice, touching his face. Conall's skin was warm and Jess let out a relieved breath.
He picked up Conall's knife, stuffing it in his pocket. He checked his phone, but it was dead by now. Fuck. He looked at Conall, knowing he had to get him out of here. He struggled as he picked him up and made his way down the stairs. He kept vigilant as he walked through the woods, arms threatening to give out under Conall. He guessed it was a hell of a lot easier to carry someone in the movies.
Meanwhile, the Slenderman searched for his human. After a day of terrifying teenage girls and a crowd of drunk marines, he already wanted to see Conall again. Who would have thought anything would replace what he was designed to do? But Conall wasn't at home when he teleported in, nor was he in the library. The Slenderman slinked through town, worry starting to grow in him. Was Conall alright?
His worry was confirmed as he walked along the empty road near the woods and saw them in the distance, one of the boys carrying another. And he could see them clearly from here, Conall unconscious with his head hanging back. The boy stopped in his tracks at the sight of the Slenderman, but he had no time for sparing his fear. The boy began to run but stumbled, falling to the dirt beside the sidewalk. The Slenderman teleported to him and the blond shrieked, pulling out a knife.
"Get away!" he shouted.
The Slenderman paid no attention to it as he stared down at Conall, bruised and bloodied. And there he saw it, a bite from one of his own kind which filled him with outrage. He came forward and the boy swung the knife at him, forcing him to back off. But he came in again and the blonde struggled back, shouting at him not to come any closer.
The Slenderman hissed at the human with frustration, having no desire to deal with him. But his attention was quickly pulled as he heard a groan, and saw Conall begin to wake.
"What's with all the noise..?" He whined a bit like they were trying to wake him up to go to school. He opened his eyes after a moment of reluctantly keeping them shut, mainly because he didn't want to find out that last night actually happened, but the pain he was in was enough to let him know that the jerk slender hadn't been a dream. Con blinked the sleep from his sight and sort of just stared at the two with a blank look on his face, "…Good morning."
He greeted them with a nod of his head, then forced himself to his feet to stumble a few feet away into the woods before he collapsed once more, muttering something about wishing the forest would stop spinning. Conall was pretty done with everything at this point, he was done with Jess, done with that wretched house, and he was completely done with Slendermen. He rolled onto his stomach to get off of his bruised back and tried to get back up to his feet, but all he really did was roll onto his side, and curled up.
He wasn't even going to try to tell Jess to relax and that the Slender before him was a good guy because at this point he wasn't sure anymore. Is this what Slend did when he disappeared for days? He truly didn't want to be in a relationship with a monster that terrorized and beat up humans. At this point, Jess and Slend could both go sit and spin for all he cared.
When Conall collapsed the Slenderman tried to go to him, but the other boy was in front of him fast, knife pointed defensively.
"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked with an air of incredulity. "What are you… are you trying to be nice now?! After what you did to us? Knocked me out and did who knows what the hell to him! LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT HIS FACE! Get the fuck away from us!"
The human was gaining confidence, and the Slenderman knew he had the right to his space after what had happened. One of his kind was trespassing, and had attacked Conall. He didn't know how it could be; the odds were too small that Conall of all the humans in his territory was the one. It had to have something to do with him.
He stood up straighter and backed off until he was about five yards away, but had no plans to leave just yet. He watched the blonde hurry over to the other and finally thought of something.
"The other," he called out, raising a hand to point at his tie, "What tie did he wear?"
The blond stared at him, wide-eyed. "Eat a dick!" He turned to Conall, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You got to get up, Conn. I think there's more than one. We got to get out of here and tell somebody."
Conall's eyebrows furrowed together in frustration and he reached up to place his hand on Jess' extended arm, "Jess.." He breathed out his name and squeezed his eyes shut. "I..I need to tell you something…something important." He pulled his hand back and covered his eyes for a moment, half to prepare himself for what he was going to say, and half to try to voice back the wave of sickness that hit him. "He..is.." Con pulled his hand away from his face to motion in the general direction of the slender, "Not the one that hurt us last night. He is my..my boyfriend."
"And even if we told," He continued, "No one would believe us…they didn't believe me as a child. The fact that you do drugs won't help our case either." He rolled onto his back slowly with a wince, and then waited for his friends reaction which he prayed wouldn't be a bad one.
Jess stared at him and then nodded. "Okay, I need to get you to the hospital for sure. You're delirious." He glanced up at the monster in a black suit and rubbed his face. This was too much for him. "Listen Conall. If you can understand me, I'm going to tell them an animal attacked us. Got that? I tripped running and hit my head, and it bit you. I'll figure out specifics later. Now come on, you have to get up and I can't carry you any farther."
The being suddenly appeared in front of them and Jess fell back on his ass. "God damn it! What?"
The Slenderman ignored him, reaching down and taking Conall under the arms. Carefully he lifted him into a standing position, not letting go in case his legs couldn't hold him up. Already, he could tell he was in no position to walk anywhere. He was more furious than ever, but kept it in. "Teleport?"
Conall gave Jess a thumbs up in agreement to the story he'd come up with, "Got it." He really didn't want to get up, who didn't like lying in the dirt, and leaves in the fall? He was about to say something sarcastic to the blond, but was cut off by Jess' screaming, and then he quickly found himself being lifted up to his feet.
He wobbled a bit while standing and covered his eyes with his right hand, managing to stay up on his feet for the first time today. "Tele..what?..Oh! Yeah..yeah…um…I can't recall the area around the hospital.." Con removed his hand and looked at Jess with a tired expression, "Do you remember..?"
Jess stared, dumfounded that Conall was just fine with being picked up by the 'thing'. Was… was Conall serious? He shook off the thought, not ready to go there yet. That was above the 'scale of crazy shit that wasn't possible' right up into to 'too fucking crazy to think about'. Meanwhile the monster was taking off his suit jacket, and throwing it over Conall's shoulders. No way. Nope. He was going to ignore it.
"The area?" he finally said. "What do you mean?" What do you need to know about…"
The creature and his best friend vanished mid-sentence, leaving Jess standing alone by the woods with no idea what had just happened.
The Slenderman had thought about the hospital as the boys talked, and before the blonde had answered he remembered a small alcove near the emergency room that he had once stepped out of to terrify a nurse who was sneaking a cigarette.
He teleported Conall into the alcove without warning. They were only a few feet from the sliding glass doors, and he held Conall by the shoulders. He wanted to say something, apologize for getting Conall into whatever mess had happened, but decided against it. It wasn't the right time. He held him by the back of the head, looking him over. "Can you walk?"
Conall hugged the Slender loosely, pressing his face into the being's suit before he tilted his head up to look at his face. "I would like to have a serious talk with you once I get out of the hospital, Slend." His eyebrows furrowed and he squeezed his eyes shut while he struggled to remember the color of the jerk Slender's tie. "I can make it inside, uh…" He opened his eyes and released him, "The tie was black…I think."
He lowered his head and turned carefully, letting the suit jacket slip off of his shoulders as he moved. "It was dark, so….bye." Con gave a half assed wave and clumsily made his way out of the alcove and through the sliding doors, quickly reaching for the nearest wall to keep himself from falling over.
The Slenderman watched him stagger into the hospital and saw a nurse rush to his side. For a moment it made him think that Conall deserved so much better than him. He deserved someone who could walk with him inside. There were so many things the Slenderman couldn't give him that a human could.
Soon a wheelchair was brought to him and he was taken away. For a while the being stayed in the alcove, brooding over what he had said. Conall wanted to talk with him, and the Slenderman's nervousness didn't stem from having to speak. His first assumption and greatest fear was that Conall wanted him to leave. And he had every right to, after what had happened. As for what had happened… Black Tie was the only possible culprit. There were only two Slendermen with solid black ties, and Bete Noire's territory was beyond the ocean. Black Tie… The Slenderman was going to destroy that youngling.
Hours past, and the Slenderman continued to lurk around the hospital. He saw the boy's grandfather arrive, driven by the next door neighbor. And after a long while, he left again. After him came his two friends, and eventually they too had gone. The sun began to set and the Slenderman crept into the Hospital, slipping through the shadows and walls in search of him. It took a while, but at last he found the right room and went inside. The human lay asleep in a bed, IVs running from his arm and a large bandage around his neck. The bruises had worsened through the day, and even in the dim light of the room he could see them. He reached forward, gently brushing his fingers against Conall's hand.
The day had gone by smoothly enough once he was settled into his hospital room; the pain medication had definitely brightened the remainder of the day. Shortly after he was sure he wouldn't have to worry about getting any more visitors, he allowed himself to slip into a light sleep. Con laid there in bed as the hours past, his mind vaguely coming out of the light sleep every once in a while to note the changes around him, but before he knew it he was sleeping back into the light sleep. Despite the fact that it only felt like he'd been asleep for an hour, the day had ticked by, and now he became aware of something touching his hand.
Conall opened his eyes tiredly and let them wander over, then up at the Slender being that had snuck into his room. He stared blankly for a moment, the pain meds had him a bit out of it, but he managed a lopsided grin as his eyes closed again. "Hey." He chuckled out quietly, lifting his hand to his face to carefully rub his eyes. He blinked a bit few times after he lowered his hand and tilted his head to the side while looking up at Slend. "You…okay?"
The Slenderman took his hand fully now that he was awake, moving down on one knee so he could face him closer. He nodded in response to the question, which was peculiar considering the situation. It was a matter of Conall being okay, but he could see it for himself that Conall was far from physically okay. It was overwhelmingly infuriating, but the being pushed it back to focus.
What Conall had mentioned earlier was in the forefront of the Slenderman's mind. He was nervous to ask, and held the human's hand with both of his own since he was allowing it… while he allowed it. "You wanted to talk?"
Conall stared at the Slender's hand with furrowed eyebrows, then reached over, and petted the pale hand gently. He nodded slightly as it to confirm something that he'd been wondering, then looked at the kneeling being. "Yeah..yeah…uh…Do you…" He closed his eyes while struggling to remember what it was that he even wanted to ask.
"Oh," he opened his eyes once more and frowned, "Do you…beat up humans and terrify them like that other slender? Is that what you do when you go away for days on end?" That was easy enough question, but he was a little worried about the beings answer. If Slend was as mean as the black tied being, then he truly didn't want to be with him anymore.
The question left the Slenderman feeling heavy inside, knowing there was no easy answer. He hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You remember… when I frightened you? Upstairs… in the old house… and then you ran?"
Conall stared at him for a moment, mouth opening slightly before it closed once more, and he nodded his head "Yeah, I do."
"That fear, fuels us." The Slenderman pulled his hands from Conall, preferring to be separated now than to watch the human's hands pull away after the news. "What happened last night, it is not our way. Black Tie will face consequences. So... I do terrorize, but not more than I have done to you. Not since I was young, have I hurt humans." He shook his head, still unsatisfied. "Still, I should have… not left you exposed. Should have… done more… I am sorry, Conall."
Conall would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy scaring people every once in a while, but then again he wasn't a 7 foot something faceless monster. He took his time while he digested the information and tried to figure out what his final judgment would be. What Slend had done to him hadn't been all that bad, if you could look past the nightmares, and extreme paranoia that came after encountering the being. But nightmares and paranoia were a whole lot better than being sore and bruised, so maybe he'd accept it?
He shook his head and raised his free arm to covered his eyes, having trouble coming to some kind of answer for the being. "I.." He began, biting his bottom lip for a moment, "I…It's…okay." Con finally answered, lowering his hand to smile a little at the Slenderman. "I'm okay with it if that's all you do and don't beat yourself up about what 'Black Tie' did to me. He just wanted to know why I wasn't as afraid of him as Jess was and…" He trailed off, losing his train of thought for a moment before he found it again, and continued speaking. "And I was a bit rude…then I sorta stabbed him."
He smiled sheepishly and hunched his shoulders slightly, looking away from Slend to look at something else, suddenly feeling a bit like he'd brought the whole thing upon himself.
The Slenderman felt as if a weight had been lifted from him when Conall's verdict was made. He almost started to move closer but paused as the human continued, not wanting to cut him off. His surprise increased as he listened, and was finally left shocked. Conall had been rude to a Slenderbeing? Yes, he could see that. The Slenderman's presence had numbed the human to creatures like him, and to see a second couldn't be as frightening as the first. On top of it, Black Tie was crude and unfiltered and he could very well see Conall taking his antics personally. But that he stabbed him?
A jagged grin pulled over his features and he leaned in, holding Conall's hands to his mouth for him to nuzzle, "Brave Conall." But his smile blanked into nothing as he began to worry. Black Tie was more verbal than most Slendermen, and it was possible he had cut Conall with his words as well as his teeth. "Did… he say anything… disconcerting?"
Con chuckled a bit while watching Slend nuzzle his hands, "Brave…For the first few minutes I guess, but I don't think it'd be as brave meeting him a second time." Just the thought alone filled him with dread and his pleasant expression faltered for a moment, but he pulled it back together quickly. Slend was here now, so there was no reason to be afraid now. He looked from his hands and focused on the being's 'face', "…Disconcerting..?
He thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "He did ask me if I let you fuck me and maaan," Conall's smile returned and he snickered a bit, face growing red just at the thought of getting to do something like that with Slend. "That question caught me so off guard. If it were a snake, it would have bit me."
The Slenderbeing straightened upright, feeling the cold black blood drain out of his face. He didn't have words for all the things he was going to do to that piece of filth. He was going to break the bones in those gangly arms and crush his skull over and over until somehow he wouldn't be able to regenerate. He was going to bury his claws into that rotten…
He paused, watching the flush cross over Conall's face, and realized that while he raged, his human was dwelling on what the other being had said. He continued to look at the cute smile on his face. Oh, he was irresistible. No wonder the other being was asking inappropriate questions.
The Slenderman brushed a hand over the gauze on his neck, careful not to press against the wound. His hand continued up, rubbing the bottom of his earlobe. "It did bite you," he said with a teasing tone.
Conall rolled his eyes and shook his head very slightly, then tilted his head to the side to pull his ear free. "It sure did. Remind me to watch out for snakes cuz they've got a vicious bite." He took Slend by the hand and kissed the back of his hand gently, keeping his hand pressed lightly against his mouth for a few seconds longer. He looked back to the being with a thoughtful look, "Will you stay the night here?" He asked, letting go of his hand for him to do whatever with it.
He didn't really like the idea of sleeping alone in the hospital, mainly because he didn't want to wake up to BT ripping his guts out. Con sighed a little when he realized he might end up having nightmares, but he felt better knowing that if he woke up, Slend would be there with him.
Watching Conall close his eyes and feeling his warm mouth against the Slenderman's cool, white skin left the being with the sensation that everything would somehow be okay. He nodded once in response to the question and the human seemed glad of it.
They talked for a short while longer before Conall looked ready to sleep again, and the Slenderbeing closed the blinds to the brightly-lit hallway. By the time he turned around Conall had drifted back to sleep, and the Slenderman draped his coat over the hospital blanket and slipped beneath the bed to wait for morning.
By the time the nurse arrived the next morning, the two of them had said goodbye and the being was gone. He spent a few hours on the edge of town, looking for prey. The clouds had filled and were finally falling, gusts of rain soaking into the lawns and pushing small rivers along the roads and into the gutters. It wasn't easy to find prey outdoors in this weather, the school students having recess indoors and the hunters calling it a day. He finally found a few stray souls walking the streets in the rain, and had fed sufficiently by the time Conall was to be released. He returned to the hospital, just in time to see Conall leaving with his friend, Fred. Conall hurried to the boy's car, but only seconds in the heavy rain left him soaked.
Fred drove him home, and was refused by the Slenderman's human as he tried to help him to the door through the rain. Conall was definitely looking much healthier than he had yesterday. He watched from the woods as his Grandfather greeted him at the door, towel in hand. The Slenderman then teleported to Conall's room and waited for him there.
To be Continued.