Both Hoody and Masky had taken of their masks during the meal and left them off when it was over, Nico found it hard to adjust to. He could recognize their masks to their names, but found it a lot more difficult to adjust to recognizing them by their actual faces. Masky had brown hair and side burns, blue eyes, a fine boned nose, and a mouth on the smaller side of proportionate. Hoody's hair was lighter, a very light brown, he was clean-shaven with brown eyes, finer brows, and a wider mouth.
"Can we play hide and seek now?" Sally asked as soon as everyone was done eating, looking back and forth between Hoody and Masky expectantly.
"Of course we can." Masky said after a glance at Hoody. "You'll have to give me and Hoody a moment first though, I need to take my meds and he needs to take out his contacts, you know that Sal." Sally was up from her chair and did a small impatient sort of dance.
"Alright but hurry please? I wanna play! Nico you'll still play hide and seek with us, won't you?" She hopped over to him and pulled on his sleeve as Hoody and Masky got up and left the room. Nico might have felt a bit vulnerable without them, but Slenderman and Sally were still there, they made him feel a bit better.
"Of course I will Sally." Nico said smiling slightly. "I said I would, didn't I?"
"Yay!" Sally said before running over to E.J. demanding that she should be allowed to feed the dog as he was getting Smiling Dog's food. Slenderman got up and started clearing the table, Nico got up to help. He doubted Slenderman needed help, but it seemed like the polite thing to do so Nico did it.
"Jeffry." Slenderman called. Nico looked behind him to see Jeff trying to sneak out of the dining room. "It is your turn to do the dishes tonight, Jeffry, had you forgotten?" Slenderman said, a cold edge creeping into his mental voice.
"Yes, I guess I must have." Jeff said scowling and storming into the kitchen. Nico got out of the way. "Why can't the new kid do them?" Jeff asked. Nico scowled, he wouldn't have minded doing the dishes very much but the way Jeff called him a kid annoyed Nico.
"Because he is new Jeffry." Slenderman said in the same cool tone "Besides, he offered his help in the preparation of the meal and set the table along with Masky and Hoody. Which is more than you ever offer of your own accord, Jeffry." Jeff scowled at both Nico and Slenderman, but stormed over to the sink and started running hot water, so at least he was intending to do them. Nico slipped back out of the kitchen and into the dining room to avoid Jeff.
Sally was just making Smiling Dog sit for his food, his long dog tongue lolling over his human teeth as he panted. When Sally put the dish down Smile leapt forward like any other dog. So far Nico had been unable to tell what had earned Smiling Dog his place here besides his teeth, maybe that was all it was. After a few more minutes Masky and Hoody came back. Masky was a little more wobbly than he had been and giggled a little, maybe the pills took a while to balance, and Hoody was wearing thin framed glasses.
"Are you ready to play now?" Sally asked practically jumping on Hoody who made a small oof noise, but didn't protest.
"Yep." Masky said smiling. "Why don't I be it first? Sally, I think you should help Nico hide before you find one for yourself okay? He doesn't know the house very well yet."
"Okay!" Sally said grasping Nico's hand tightly.
"Okay who else is playing?" Masky said and turned, surveying the room. L.J. put up his hand and surprisingly so did BEN. "Okay, so L.J. no invisibility unless Sally is it, BEN no hiding inside of electronics." Both BEN and L.J. grumbled a little but nodded. "Okay I'll start counting now then, everyone scatter." Masky closed his eyes and started counting. Nico could hear the smile in his voice as everyone hurried out of the room. Sally dragged Nico out of the room and down the hall looking around obviously thinking hard about where to put him.
"There are tons of secret passages around but Hoody and Masky know them better than anyone so no use hiding there." She mused aloud. "Most of my hiding spots are too big for you. Hmm." She ended up hiding him under the bed in L.J.'s room after promising Nico that he wouldn't mind if it was for the game. Besides no one hid in their own rooms so L.J. wouldn't find him there, Nico didn't mind, it was dark under the bed he could blend in well there.
"Ready or not here I come!" Nico heard Masky shout from downstairs. He hoped Sally had had time to find a hiding spot of her own after helping him. Nico settled himself to wait, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They passed the room he was hiding in and seemed to go up until they were right above him, then two pairs of footsteps coming down, he was willing to bet that was Masky finding Hoody right away.
Nico was found third, after L.J. who was too big to find anywhere good to hide. Hoody had been found first just as Nico had suspected. Nico was really quite glad to be found though, it was dusty under the bed and uncomfortable. Besides looking for the others was a good way to learn a bit more about the house. By the end of three rounds of hide seek, the second one in which Hoody was it, the third Sally was, Nico knew his way around much better. By that time it was probably about 8:30 and Sally was starting to rub her eyes a bit and whine like most when they're getting tired.
"Sal, I think it might be time for you to go to bed soon." Masky said smiling at her gently.
"No." Sally said pouting. "I don't wanna go to bed." She hid behind Hoody, who turned to her and kneeled down to her level.
"W-why don't we watch a sh-show before you have to go to b-bed." He suggested calmly. "I can b-brush your hair if you like, and b-braid it, that always helps you c-calm down." Sally seemed to think about it for a moment then nodded and Hoody smiled.
"Good idea Hoody." Masky said grinning. "What do you want to watch Sal?"
"Umm Winx?" Nico had no idea what that was but BEN groaned.
"I'm going to be the one who has to find it online aren't I?" He said scowling and Laughing Jack started cackling. "Ya ya laugh away, Laughing Jerk." BEN said frowning at L.J.
"Whatever, you're the one who has to watch a fairy show." L.J. said in his screechy voice still cackling. "I'm going to go terrorize some parents." He wondered away. Sally pouted at BEN.
"Fine, fine I'll go find your stupid show." BEN said stomping off.
"We might as well go with BEN." Masky told Nico. "Sally's going to drag Hoody to get whatever brush she wants him to use, ribbons too probably." Nico glanced at the two and saw that Sally indeed had Hoody's hand in hers and was pulling him. "Unless you'd rather just go back to your room and read or whatever." Masky said shrugging.
"No I'll come along, though I have no clue what 'Winx' is." Nico said walking beside Masky as they followed BEN.
"It's just this kids show about a team of magic fairy's. I don't really understand it, but Sal loves it so sometimes we end up watching it with her." Masky shrugged and Nico nodded. "She'll only watch one episode before she goes to bed though so we can watch something else afterwards."
"It doesn't really matter to me, I haven't seen any movies or shows that I remember." Nico said unconcernedly as they entered a living room with a large screen that BEN was already disappearing into. Images started to flick across the screen as he messed with it. Masky froze and Nico walked right passed him. "What?"
"You've never seen any tv?" Masky asked his eyes wide. Was it that strange? Nico shook his head staring at Masky curiously. "Wow you have some catching up to do." Masky said then looked at the tv screen. "BEN how do you feel about watching the Breakfast Club after Sal goes to bed? I know you probably wanted to watch Matrix or something but I feel like Nico should start with the Breakfast Club since it's a classic.
"WHATEVER" popped up in text on the computer screen and then flicked to the beginning of a show which paused immediately. "PRESS PLAY WHEN SALLY GETS HERE. I'M GOING TO GO HACK SOMETHING." The text read then disappeared.
"Okay, he don't like this show so he almost never stays around to watch it. You said you were tired earlier will you be able to stay awake through the movie? If not we might as well wait till tomorrow to watch Breakfast Club and let BEN choose the movie." Nico had been tired, but he always got a bit of a second wind when the sun went down.
"I think I'll be able to stay awake if I'm interested in it." Nico said crossing his arms and going over to sit on the couch in front of the tv or computer, Nico wasn't sure which.
"Oh you will be it's a great movie. Not horror or anything really fun but a classic." Masky said sitting in one of the armchairs on either side of the couch. Then jumped up again. "Actually Slenderman might like to watch Breakfast Club with us if I tell him it's a classic. If Sally comes before I get back tell her to go ahead with the show without me, it's not like I'm a huge fan of it either." Nico nodded and Masky left the room.
Nico sighed and leaned back against the stuffed back of the couch, it was quiet, this was the first time he was alone in a room besides his own bedroom. It felt already like he had been there three days already. One day of just wandering around in the woods like he had been that morning, one day of fighting Toby and being dragged back here, accepted by Slenderman and introduced to everyone, then a day of the game of tag and now the movies. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, he wasn't sleepy but he was very tired, it was a good thing they were just going to watch things. That wouldn't require any effort or much attention, he could do that.
"Where did Masky go?" Sally's voice came from behind him, Nico twisted to look at her with Hoody behind.
"He went to go looking for Slenderman, but he said to go ahead with the show." Nico told her.
"Okay." She said bouncing over to the couch but not sitting down. Hoody went and hit play on the show before coming back to sit next to Nico on the couch. Sally crawled up into his lap as she watched the introduction to the show and sang along to the theme song with rapt attention. Nico quickly understood why almost everyone else had left, this show was weird. It was easier to watch Hoody gently brushing out Sally's hair until it was completely smooth, then braiding it down her back in two pigtails. He tied it expertly with two pink ribbons, Nico wondered how many times they performed this ritual. By the time the show was over Sally's hair was done and she was leaning back against Hoody happily clutching her bear.
"T-time for bed Sal." Hoody said smiling down at her.
"Noooo." Sally protested sleepily but she wrapped her arms around Hoody's neck and let him lift her up so he could carry her to bed. Hoody chuckled as Sally made another small complaining noise as she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
"IS IT SAFE TO COME BACK NOW?" A text box appeared on the screen a few minutes after the show had ended.
"Ya it's safe, Hoody is taking Sally to bed." Nico said
"OKAY GOOD, I GUESS MASKY WILL WANT ME TO LOOK UP BREAKFAST CLUB?"
"I guess so." Nico said shrugging. "Though he must be having a hard time finding Slenderman, he hasn't come back yet."
"THE PROXIES CAN ALWAYS FIND SLENDER, MASKY JUST DIDN'T WANT TO WATCH THE SHOW." As in on cue Masky came wandering back into the room, Slenderman ducking through the doorway after him and fitting himself into one of the armchairs, Masky crossing in front of the couch to sit in the other. The tv started flickering again and this time settled to beginning of the movie quickly, BEN then slipped out of the screen coming to sit on the couch between Nico and Slenderman.
"Now we're just waiting on Hoody and how long he'll take depends on how demanding Sally is." BEN said crossing his arm and leaning against the armrest, Masky nodded.
"She's usually not that bad when she gets to watch a show before bed. Besides she almost always goes to bed at nine and it's almost nine now." He pointed out, then everyone fell silent waiting for Hoody to come back. He took ten minutes, he shrugged apologetically, BEN sighed and got up touched the screen making it play. Hoody sat on the side of the couch closest to Masky.
Nico was in no danger of falling asleep through the movie, in fact he quite liked it. It wasn't overly dramatic or anything but the character development was great. It was easy to relate to as well, Nico was sure it would be even more relatable to people who actually remembered going to a school but he still enjoyed it. Nico noticed Masky kept glancing at Nico for his reactions rather than actually watching the movie. Nico did his best to react appropriately even though emotions weren't his strong point.
When the movie ended BEN was the first to leave, disappearing back into the screen and turning it off after him. Nico stretched and looked around at the others, noticing that Hoody had fallen asleep at some point during the movie and Masky was frowning at him slightly. Eventually he sighed and shrugged.
"So what did you think of it Nico?" Masky asked curiously.
"It was good, I liked it." Nico said nodding. "Would you mind if I went to bed now though? Hoody's not the only one who's tired." Hoody stirred at the sound of his name and opened his eyes, noticing the movie was over he grimaced apologetically and sat up.
"Of course not Nico. Have a good sleep and don't forget what we said about locking your door." Masky said getting up and helping Hoody up, Nico got up on his own, glad that Masky had reminded him because he had indeed forgotten that they had told him to lock his door.
"I won't. Goodnight to you as well." Nico said, giving Slenderman a small wave and then leaving to go to his bedroom. He found his way there fairly easily this time, as he went down the hall the skeleton cat he had summoned ran over to join him, it's small fleshless paws making a clicking noises on the wood floor. "Are you ready to go to sleep or are you planning to keep me up all night?" Nico asked the cat who stared up at him and made a prrrp noise, Nico sighed, either way he let the cat into his room remembering to lock the door and put a small stack of books in front of it that would tip over if anyone managed to unlock it and tried to open it.
He locked the window as well but left the curtain open, the moon was bright tonight and he liked it. When he lay down the cat immediately jumped up and curled up on his chest. Nico shifted it so he could roll onto his side, it made a protesting noise but then settled again quickly. Nico let out a deep breath emptying his lungs and then filling them again slowly, watching shadows dance along the walls calmly till his eyes slid closed. He was too tired to think right now and there was no point, what would happen would happen, now was time for sleep.