Work Text:
It had been a little over a month since the break in. Things had gone back to normal pretty quickly—You were too big a fan of sleep to stay away for long, and it only took a few days to settle from the anxiety.
It had been the same amount of time since you'd seen the odd guest that you'd entertained that night.
Or, well... Since you'd seen him in person, that is. Gavril had quickly made good on his promise to send you recordings of himself playing the guitar, and frequently sent selfies of the places he was traveling. He was also amicable to video calls. You were never short of opportunities to see him, if only through the blurred resolution of his outdated phone camera and often-spotty reception.
And you'd talked. Often—More often than you had thought you would, when he danced his way out your door. In fact, you were eager for his messages—And, given his tendency to start typing almost immediately upon receiving a message, you figured he felt about the same.
You both really were lonely.
At least once a day, you found yourself talking to Gavril. Sometimes, he would start with a photo—Sometimes, you would just say hi, or send him some video you saw online. He only ever seemed to miss responding when he was sleeping or his phone was dead.
Which is why you kept glancing over at your phone, expecting to hear that buzz any second now.
The morning had started out normal enough—He'd left a photo of his rat friend Sobolan for you when you woke up. He didn't reply when you reacted to it—But that was fine. It happened, sometimes.
It was odd when he hadn't said anything by the afternoon, though.
"are you around?"
Your last message, sent when he hadn't responded by the end of lunch, sat at the bottom of the chat. Unread.
It was dark outside, now. The whole day had gone by with no signs of life from Gavril, and you were getting ready for bed. Anxiety gnawed at the bottom of your gut—And you dragged out your preparations, keeping your silent phone close.
Had he been caught? You'd asked him not to tell you of his felonies—You didn't want to be an accessory to his crimes, or leave a digital receipt for authorities. And while he'd respected that... You were pretty sure he hadn't stopped his nightly activities.
Maybe someone had better sense than you had, and called the cops immediately after knocking him out?
… You considered, only briefly, the possibility that he had started ghosting you.
You flopped into bed after you'd stalled for long enough, and groaned at the thought of trying to bail him out of jail. But you supposed that would be what you would do, as a good partner.
Partner. You sometimes forgot about that whole aspect of it—Really, Gavril didn't quite feel like a boyfriend, most of the time. And given his idea what friendship was like... You weren't quite surprised to find that his idea of romance was a little to the left of “normal”.
You appreciated it all the same. It was more than you'd had in a while—And it did feel nice when he called you darling.
All the thoughts in your head left you unable to fall asleep. You laid down in bed, trying to let all your thoughts run their course...
Until the crash of a slamming door from downstairs had you launching to your feet.
Your trusty bat and slippers had earned a permanent home beside your bed, since Gavril's break-in. The bat was in your hands and shoes on your feet within seconds before you carefully made your way down the stairs.
Déjà vu smothered your brain as you paused to tap the ground lightly at the bottom of the steps.
No goo this time. Nice.
The light in the living room was on—At least you weren't navigating in the dark this time.
Rounding the corner kind of made you wish you were, though.
Your door was flung open, letting a chilly breeze in. Dark streaks were smeared along the wall—There was a distinctly handprint-shaped mark over your lightswitch, and drag marks leading up to it. Stains dripped on your furniture, some of which had been shoved out of place, and a trail of goo slunk across the floor.
Was that your imagination, or was it writhing under the light...?
You carefully avoided stepping on or near it as you closed the front door, before following the trail of destruction into the kitchen.
Despite knowing that there was only one person it could be, you kept your bat at the ready.
The kitchen was a little better in some ways, a little worse in others.
The sticky black substance was somewhat more contained—The light switch once more, the trail on the floor, and vertical stripes dragged down the front of your fridge.
Your perpetrator was curled up on the floor in front of the fridge, a writhing mess of goop around him.
"Gavril…?" You called tentatively, gently reaching out to poke him with your bat.
The goop stilled—And shifted, grabbing and yanking the bat out of your hand as it seemed to stand up.
A familiar eye stared out from the sludge, the only part of him uncovered—Sharper than you'd seen in a long time, and yet... almost glassy.
The goo moved—Almost human-like in shape, but so, so odd—And began to shift towards you.
There was no recognition in Gavril's eye, no movement. As if he were looking, but not seeing.
"... Hungry."
The voice that came out was wrong. It was Gavril’s, certainly. Muffled by the sludge, but there was more to it than that—It was almost mechanical.
Careful of where you put your feet, you backed away. Baiting the walking goo carefully away from the fridge, you circled around it, and swiftly opened the door. He was harmless when he was satisfied—What did you have?
... There was a nice brick of cheese you'd got, on a whim. You had hoped to give it to him when he came back. If he came back.
Well, this was as good a time as any, even if he wasn't quite himself—And you didn't have much time to put into thinking of an alternative, regardless.
Tearing open the package, you broke a chunk of the cheese off and chucked it at the slime, hoping for the best. There was a plop as the cheese smacked goo—Before it was enveloped and dragged in.
Creepy. But the goo-Gavril monster stopped shuffling towards you—Something about this was working. Again, that sense of déjà vu—You were lucky to be alive right now.
With quick hands, you tossed more chunks at the sludge. It began to slowly disperse as it was fed, retreating back to wherever it came from. It dropped your bat to the ground with a clunk—But it didn’t look like you needed it anymore.
You were a little worried, though—Gavril swayed as it retreated, his goo seeming to be the only thing holding him up.
It had receded enough for you to feel safe getting a little closer—Cheese at the ready to hopefully stave off any surprise attacks, you waved your free hand in front of his eyes.
"... Gavril? Hey, are you alive in there?"
His eyes moved—Finally. The dead-fish look was starting to creep you out. You sighed in relief as he blinked and seemed to focus on you.
With a tentative grin, you offered him the rest of the block of cheese in your hand. There was a moments pause, before he shifted forwards...
And immediately began falling.
Without hesitation, you shot forwards to catch him, realizing only a second too late that you'd stepped directly into that slime trail you'd been avoiding.
Gavril's body slumped against yours, his head falling against your shoulder. The remnants of the sludge brushed against you—But it wasn't sticky, like you'd remembered it being when your foot was stuck. It was more like a toy slime, cool and smooth, only the slightest bit tacky.
After the initial panic of potentially being eaten by slime, you were more worried about Gavril.
He was breathing, though—Alive enough to groan and mutter incoherently. There was a red tint to his skin that was slowly fading, everywhere except for around his eye—Everywhere the goo had been touching.
Carefully, you sat on the ground and pulled him a little ways away from the trail of sludge. Your shoe came away from it easily, and you sighed in relief.
Gavril's eyes were open and staring at you when you glanced back at him. He grinned, and you snorted as he draped his arms around your shoulders.
"... Well hello, darling. Fancy seeing you here.~"
His voice was tired, the bags under his eyes were pronounced, but... Yep. He was totally fine.
"I live here, asshole. Speaking of, you've gotta stop breaking in—I'll get you a spare key, or something." It was a lighthearted jab, but you still felt the need to soften it ever so slightly. "... I'm glad you're okay. You really startled me there."
There was a dark chuckle from him, and he leaned back dramatically. "You were worried about me! How sweet!"
For a moment, you pondered just dropping him on the ground—Instead, you dropped the rest of the block of cheese in his lap.
His eyes widened the moment he realized what it was. He was upon it in an instant, and the whole block was gone before you could blink.
"Didn't save any for poor Sobolan this time either," You commented, shifting him out of your lap and standing up off the kitchen floor.
Gavril hummed as you stood, and made grabby-hands once you were up. "I give him plenty! You just happen to keep catching me at times when I'm... Very hungry."
"Mhm. I'll have to hear it from the rat himself. You still hungry?"
"Starving, in fact. You got any more cheese?"
Gavril was light enough to pull to his feet—He stumbled slightly, but caught himself on your shoulder. You shot him a concerned look, but he waved you off and stepped slowly over to the kitchen table—Straight into the chair he'd been tied up in those weeks ago.
"Satisfy me, darling."
With a snort, you stepped over to the fridge. The slime was still smeared on the front of it—Starting to crust, even. You wrinkled your nose as you opened the fridge.
"I've got a little sliced cheese left, if you want. Some leftovers... You should have a vegetable or something, too." Goodness knows he looked like he needed it. There was no response from behind you—And you turned to glance at him.
He was peering at you from where his head rested on crossed arms at the table, his hood down. Gavril hummed, and lifted his head up just enough to rest it on a palm.
"This is so sweetly domestic," He cooed, that characteristic smirk on his face softer than usual. As if he hadn’t just woken up from whatever just happened, and as if he hadn’t broken into your house for a second time. "I'll take whatever. I'm not picky. The cheese would be appreciated, though."
You rolled your eyes playfully, and turned back to the fridge. "Speaking of domestic—You've got some chores to do when you're done eating, helping me clean up all this gunk." The sliced cheese made its way into your arms, as well as a leftover takeout container of beef and broccoli.
"I suppose that's only fair..." He heaved a forlorn sigh, but quickly changed his tune to a delighted hum as you set the last of your cheese in front of him.
The takeout container was tucked into your microwave to cook. "So... What was that all about?" You asked, attempting to sound casual. The more you thought about it, the strange behavior and the way the goo almost looked like it was consuming him... The more the whole situation made your skin crawl.
"What was what all about?" Gavril paused, a slice of cheese in his hand. "Did I do something strange?"
You squinted at him for a long moment, trying to figure out what he meant by that... But this didn't feel like a simple misunderstanding of what was normal and what was not.
"... Gavril, how did you get here?"
"I... walked...?"
Hesitant. Too hesitant for you to quite believe. The microwave went off, and you slid the container in front of him before sitting across from him. The sludge made a reappearance, his tail (or third arm, as he preferred,) sliding over to the food. It was a little unnerving, but now that it seemed back under Gavril’s control, it wasn’t quite so scary.
"You don't remember." It was meant to be a question, but came out a little more definitive sounding. Gavril sighed as he looked away, another slice of cheese tucked into his mouth as he stalled a moment longer.
"Not... well. But, hey—It all worked out, didn't it? I got here! And we're both okay!" He grinned, but deflated slightly as you scrutinized him.
"... I guess so. Tell me what happened, though."
He sighed at your insistence, suddenly very interested in fiddling around with the suddenly-empty takeout container. "Well, I was hungry. For a while—Couldn't find anywhere good to get food. And, uh... Well, my friend here is not a fan of when that happens. And... took matters into its own hands. Or... Goo."
He gestured to the sludge arm, which was retreating back to wherever it came from.
"... And it decided to come here." You murmured, watching it disappear. "Hm..."
"Isn't that great? It must like you, too!" He beamed as he spoke, and you gave a halfhearted smile back.
You didn't want to burst his bubble, but... Well, you had your doubts. There was a chance that it really did like you. Or, at least… As much as something that Gavril had described as only seeming to feel hunger could like. But... It felt more realistic that it just remembered your house as an easy source of food.
One way or another.
"Maybe," you replied instead. "Are you feeling better now?"
Gavril grinned and tapped the table. "Fit as a fiddle, thank you." He stood up and stretched, shaking out his arms. "Cleanup time, yeah? Sorry about the mess! Let's see what we can do. I'll take care of the front of the house."
He pranced out of the room—You sighed fondly, and moved to grab cleaner. With a rough brush, the crusted goo came up easily—No marks left on your tiles, thankfully.
It was only once you finished wiping down the last streaks on the fridge that you realized your home invader hadn't asked for any cleaning supplies. He was humming away in the other room—A tune he'd played for you on guitar, but you couldn't quite remember the name of it.
You rounded the corner from the hallway to the entrance, and paused to watch him. Most of the room had been cleaned already, and your furniture moved back to where it was. Gavril was using his sludge tail and goo wrapped around his hands to clean up—Huh.
Well, that would explain why he didn’t ask for cleaning supplies. It seemed to be coming out of the fabric and walls well—Probably better than you could have done yourself.
As you leaned against the doorframe, you didn't even realize you were staring—Until he turned around.
"Just can't get enough of me, huh?"
His tongue was lolling out of his mouth, covered in sludge. You couldn't fight back a grin in response to his teasing smirk.
"Yuh-huh. I hope you're not licking my couch."
"Not technically! Really, it's not even my tongue, if you think about it."
Oh, he absolutely had been. You rolled your eyes, and shifted to fluff up the cushions. "Whatever gets the job done, I guess. Thanks for helping to clean up."
Gavril paused for a moment, his smirk dropping into a gentle grin. "... Yeah. Yeah, of course. Again—Sorry for making such a mess in the first place."
“You didn’t mean to. It’s okay. Besides, look at this—It’s like it never happened to begin with.”
He hummed as he opened the door, cleaning off the front of it and surveying the trail leading off into the dark.
“… Ugh. Guess I should clean that up, too.” He grumbled, reaching up to pull his hood back over his head. “Wouldn’t do to have people come asking you questions.”
A pang in your gut. He was leaving already?
“You really don’t stay in one place for very long, huh?”
You didn’t totally mean for it to slip out—But once it was there, it hung in the air between you two.
Gavril paused from where he’d stepped into the shadows, and stared at you for a moment. “I… Thought you were okay with long distance?”
You chewed on the inside of your lip, before taking a deep breath. “Well, sure, but… You’ve barely even been here an hour. You… could stay longer.” Even though he was keeping you away from your beloved sleep… You found that you didn’t quite mind, if it was him.
It was difficult to read the expression on Gavril’s face in the shadows—All you could see was one of his eyes, which was open wide.
What you could see shifted into a soft grin, his teeth flashing in the darkness. “Tempting as it is, darling, I really do have to cover my tracks before it gets too light out.”
You sighed softly, fidgeting with the doorknob on the front door. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught movement from the tall man—Within moments, you were encircled by warm arms…
And the awful smell of sewage.
You were pretty sure it wasn’t coming from the slime. With a sigh, you just resolved to just put up with it. He wasn’t going to be here for much longer anyways, so… You’d take what you could get. Gavril was too busy tucking himself closer to you to notice the grimace on your face. Or if he saw, he didn’t say anything.
“I’ll come back again as soon as I can.” His voice was muffled against your head, quieting his soft tone even further. You only tightened your grip on him in response, trying to savor every moment.
It was surprising, how long he let the hug last. But in retrospect, you supposed it made sense; No family save the elusive cousin he mentioned every now and again, not many human friends… You couldn’t make up for all of that, especially not with only one hug, but… Well, you could try.
It felt like an eternity later when Gavril began to pull away—And yet, all too soon. You let your fingers linger against his coat, and they tingled even after he pulled away.
“I’ll see you around then. Stay safe out there, Gavril. And make sure to keep your phone charged!” You called after him. He waved without looking back, slowly walking away. You couldn’t see the slime, under that long coat of his, but the trail disappeared as he walked.
He melted into the shadows a moment later, and no matter how hard your eyes searched, they couldn’t pick him out.
Well, at least you could go back to sleep now.
You shot him a quick text—“next time you’re here, if the shower isn’t the first thing i hear from you, i’m giving all my cheese to Sobolan”
After taking a shower yourself, you returned to a laughing emoji, a promise that next time would be a little more scheduled, and that he would bring Sobolan along to meet you.
With a warmed heart and something to look forwards to… You fell right back asleep.