Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

so u guessed it, I'm making a separate story for this so they get more attention

but uhhhhh what to expect:

☆Smut (lots of it )

♧Angst ( so fuckin angsty )

◇Sad as shit ( get some tissues )

♡ AUs ( you're welcome to make stuff   based off them!!! No need to ask, just please tag me so I can see! <3 Twitter: Dickguzzler, Tumblr & Instagram: Somasean )

♤personal requests, etc (rules are gonna be below !!)

You can also request things! Rules/things to include:

》include who you want it to be with it!

》say what you want it to be (I.E say of you want a sad fic, a smut fic, etc etc)

》 If you an AU/crossover, say what you want (please) (same if it's a song fic)

》I won't do anything where one character is under legal age (18) and the other character(s) is over the legal age. im fine with small age gaps like 20 & 22 but i feel uncomfortable writing something 16 & 18.

》I won't do any incest bc that's fuckin gross

》 I'm not gonna make the sio girlfriends abusive lmao

uhhhh that's it's, i think?

Chapter Text

"Hey babe I gotta tell you something." Cody looked up at me from what he liked to call his 'Browsing Position' and smiled a bit. He just shook his head and stared at me. Geeze, where's the fun in asking people to guess something if they won't do it?

I pouted and leaned over the arm of the sofa, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. "I don't know. You tripped over a squirrel which made you fall into an old lady who was carrying a giant case of killer bees that are infected with some sort of virus and they got lose and now we're all gonna die?"

I gigged and sat next to him. "Nope, not this time! I'm taking you out for a fancy diner. Like right now. Well not now, but in a few minutes." Cody just looked at me with his mouth agape. I don't get what was so different about it? We usually went out on fancy dates.

Cody closed his laptop and sat up. "Maxx, are you numb? We can't go out! I look like rubbish! I haven't even showered or straightened my hair! I'm not even dressed to go out to fetch the mail!" He was right about that much I guess. He was sitting on the sofa with a pair of dad sweat pants, fuzzy duck slippers and no shirt.

I shrugged and kissed his nose. "Too bad. We're leaving in like five minutes." I got up and skipped to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

I could hear Cody scrambling around to get ready, cursing at me for not telling him sooner. It would have ruined the surprise okay! The point of a surprise dinner is for it to be a surprise! I mean, I could have told him like two hours before we had to be there but oh well.

I brushed back my hair and waited for him downstairs. Let's just hope he didn't have an accident. I didn't wanna spend what was supposed to be our Valentine's Day date at the hospital.

Cody came running down the stairs a few minutes later and almost tripped because he was too busy trying to button his shirt. I rolled my eyes and helped him once he got to the bottom of the stairs. He looked amazing even for just knowing about my dinner plan.

But again, he always looked amazing.

I took his hand in mine and we got inside the taxi that had just pulled up. Most of the time we're late for them.

It didn't take too long for us to get the packed restaurant which was good. There wasn't that much of a line outside, but I knew that'd there'd at least be some sort of line inside. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long though since I made a reservation. Those mean something, right?

We walked inside and all I could smell was garlic bread. It reminded me of the meme where you're on a date at someone and you ask them a question and they reply the way you don't want them to and you shove a whole basket of bread sticks in your purse. Man, I should have brought a purse just for this.

Cody looked around at the place in awe. It was pretty fancy and packed.

The person at the front of the place looked up at us and smiled. "Table for two, Cody and Maxx Danziger-Carson?" I nodded and she led us to our table.

~

I pushed Cody up against the nearest wall and tangled my fingers in his hair. He tasted like the wine we had at the restaurant. He pulled away and started kissing my neck, his hands trailing under my dress shirt.

I'm surprised he wasn't already trying to get me to ride him already. I mean, he did get a touchy while we were at the table but I'm not complaining. We both had too much to drink anyway.

Cody pulled away and pulled me upstairs into one of the stalls. I sat on the toilet and giggled at his attempts trying to get his shirt off. I grabbed his hands and pulled him towards me. "No no. It's useless to fully get nakey, all you need is your south house and to do a jig and you've done the dirty." I slurred out. He looked at me confused. "Do you want me to suck your dick or not? Because if not I'm gonna out and eat some more fuckin garlic bread." I stood up and pushed past him a bit.

Cody nodded his head and took his pants off. That's what I thought. I giggled and pulled him towards me. He looked kind of silly just sitting there with his dick out and a dress shirt on, but I wasn't about to complain. He looked great still, but when didn't he am I right?

I giggled again and grabbed a prelubed condom from my jacket pocket. What, I always kept them on me I cases of like this. Cody took it from my hands, tossed them on the floor and went back to kissing me. I smirked to myself when I felt his hands trail down to my jeans and start to undo them. He sure was a needy boy, but I wouldn't have him any other way.

I pulled away a bit and helped him get them off of me. I could just imagine how silly we both looked like this. God forbid someone came in. I smirked and got on my knees in front of him and pushed him against one of the stall walls. He looked so pretty from this angle, but that was probably because I was usually looking at him from it.

I smirked more to myself and grabbed his dick, squeezing a bit. I loved to tease. I might be a bottom but I damn sure was controlling. I looked up at him innocently and kissed the head, making sure to swirl my tongue around a bit. I knew we could be walked in on at nay moment and kicked out, but oh well.

I smirked up at Cody and bobbed my head up and down a bit, looking him in the eye. I mean yeah, that'd be considered creepy but it wasn't for long. He threw his head back against the stall and pushed my head down more.

I whined and moved my hand up and down him. It didn't take him long to get worked up when we were drunk, but I guess that'd be the case with everyone when they were. Either that or really horny and we were both.

I moved my head faster and smirked to myself again when I heard him moan my name. I could tell he was close-ish by the way he was panting.

I pulled away and crossed my arms. "Fuck me right now. Don't you dare cum until I do." I pushed Cody him lightly onto the toilet and sat on his lap. It felt so good to have him inside me, you don't understand. I literally tried to ride his dick whenever I could.

He grabbed my butt and started to suck on my neck, leaving tiny marks. I dug my nails into his shoulders and grinded myself against him, making sure to hit my g-spot. He bit down on my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, which only made him go deeper if that was possible.

I threw my head back and groaned loudly when he grabbed my dick and started pumping it.

"Let go baby boy." Cody moaned in my ear. That was enough to make me cum all over his hand and jacket, him following close behind.

I slid off him and whined at how empty I felt without him in me. "Damn daddy..." He made a face at that. He didn't really like being called it, but I still did it to annoy him. I pointed to his jacket and giggled. "Might wanna take that off." He nodded and threw it to the ground. Hopefully nobody had heard us and we'd be able to come back again. The garlic bread here was the fucking bomb man.

I bent down and went to grab our pants when I saw something still sitting on them. I picked up the condom and glared at him. "Now I have your gooey goo in my ass!" Cody just smirked and kissed my neck.

"You know you love it you little slut." He slapped my ass and got dressed again. I mean, he was right, I did like it. But still, now I'd have his gross goo in my pants now. I just crossed my arms and stared at him. "What, is my baby upset?"

I pouted and got dressed. "No more blow jobs for the rest of the night." I slapped his butt and ran out back to our table and shoved like ten things of garlic bread into my mouth.

Chapter Text

"No time for goodbye." Cody whispered, grabbing as many things as he could at once and stuffing them in his backpack. A loud crack had caused him to drop his handful of clothes and run towards the window. He looked between the scared girl and the thin door, nearly in pieces.

"Don't put your life in someone's hands, they're bound to steal it away. Don't hide your mistakes, cause they'll find you. Burn you." He grabbed the girl's shoulders, eliciting a small squeak to come from her, and studied her face for what may be the last time. "If you want to get out alive, run for your life."

He pried open the window, stopping to grab his bag and nod goodbye, before sprinting down the fire escape and into the desolate night.

He stopped in his tracks, watching the window in case she had decided to follow him. He was met with her soul piercing scream and a flashlight being shone a few inches near his foot. He didn't have time to sit and watch her.

Shay would be okay. She had to be.

-

"This is my last time." She hastily scribbled, wiping away the few stray tears. "It's hard to imagine, but One day you'll end up like me." She let her faze drift towards the arrary of items she had lain out, her eyes drifting to one in particular.

She traced the key with delicate fingers, remembering all of it's intricate details for one last time. She wrapped her fingers around it and made her way towards the rooftop, the note clutched tightly to her chest.

She ran through her head all of the possible scenarios that could unfold, who would find the note, what would happen to her family. It was, of course, better this way.

She grabbed a small rock -just heavy enough to make sure the wind wouldn't fly it away just yet- and stared out across the city. "If you want to get out alive," She muttered to herself and folded the note into a plane, walking ever so slowly to the edge.

She took a deep breath, smiled, and gently tossed the plane as she took her final step. "Run for your life." She had hoped the words he had once told her would find the same impact on whoever found the note, as they had on Her.

-

A piece of paper fluttered gracefully to a halt and landed on the front of Zach's newspaper, disrupting his current read.

He slowly opened it, nervous of what he might find. His eyes were drawn to the bottom of the page. "If I stay, it won't be long til I'm burning on the inside. If I go, I can only hope I make it to the other side."

A chill ran his body as he turned the note over, eyes scanning over the words multiple times. "If you want to get out alive, run for your life." He stared blankly at the note before folding it back up back and tossing it off into the distance.

He turned his head downwards once more, scanning the front page.

"WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: CODY CARSON
CRIME: HOMICIDE OF DANIEL CLERMONT AND MAXX DANZIGER, ASSISTED IN THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SHAY PHOX.
SUBJECT MAY BE ARMED AND DANGEROUS. DO NOT APPROACH. CALL THE NEAREST AUTHORITIES IMMEDIATELY IF SEEN."

He sighed and packed up his things, heading in the opposite direction of the café. The plane was someone else's problem now.

Chapter Text

Maxx sighed and ran a hand through his hair, staring past his laptop and out into the medium sized window in front of him. He knew that he had to get something out today, however, due to the overwhelming amount of rain this week, he was unable to even capture one clear shot. It seemed as if everything was against him recently.

Pistol stretched, kneading her claws into his pillow, and headbutted his free hand. Maxx couldn't help but smile at how precious she was. He understood why people say that their animals are like their children now. He had no idea where he'd be without her.

Maxx's phone chirped to life and alerted him that it would soon begin to downpour, near flood- like. He knew he had to get something done today otherwise he'd end up staying in this creative slump for who knows how much longer.

He pulled the strings tighter on his Dorito™ colored hoodie, grabbed his camera -ziploc baggie included for waterproof protection- and headed out, kissing his daughter on the head one last time.

Maxx looked down the hallway and squinted his eyes, unsure of what he was seeing. Maybe he should have grabbed his glasses as well since there was no way he was face to face with a 6 foot, doll -complete with blinking eyes and moving chest- replicating the beloved purple dinosaur, Barney.

Maxx opened his mouth searching for any kind of words to say, thinking that maybe one of his neighbours had gotten a job as a mascot and was coming over to tell him. He racked his brain for anywhere that was currently looking for mascots or where you could a suit that looked so real.

The doll - or was it a person?- opened it's mouth before letting out a loud "moo", slightly shaking the walls of the apartment. Its face began to melt away and distort into that of his bandmate, Dan's. It raised am oddly small hand, wait no, it's a paw?, towards him.

Maxx slowly backed away, eyes locked with whatever was in front of him, his hands feeling along the wall for the elevator call button or fire escape door. His fingers wrapped around the handle of something and he pushed back -only to find it was a pull door, of course now would be the time for Maxx to get them confused- and launched himself the flights of stairs, taking 5, 10, 15 steps a time.  He didn't question it, as long as it helped him get away from the Dan-Barney thing.

Maxx broke free from the apartment and looked around at his surroundings, confused as to why he was in, where was this? The signs around him were in a forgein language, one he had seen before but couldn't place right away under these given circumstances.

There was a disturbingly loud rumble, shaking everything around him, causing him to let out dusty a cough. He craned his neck up to look at the now Godzilla sized version of his...cat? What in God's name was happening?

Pistol -if that's what it was- stared down at him and lifted her paw, bringing it down directly on him.

It should have crushed him, he should be smushed flat into the cement right now, but he...wasn't? Maxx looked through his crossed arms, trying to figure out what was happening.

His mind was racing a 100 miles an hour, unsure of what timeline or fever dream he was currently stuck in. He grunted and pushed his arms out, sending Pistol flying back.

Maxx looked down at his hands and, for test, flung his hands out like you would do if you were shooting web from your hands. But, instead of being a master web-slinger, Maxx shot asteroid sized fireballs from his palms.

Maxx groaned and stomped his foot, glaring up at the sky. "Seriously?! Just pick a goddamn plot and stick it with! Also a giant Barney doll? How un-fucking-scary could you get? Who the fuck looks at him," Maxx gestured towards the now shapeless blob. "And goes, 'hey that's really scary!' Oh right, they don't!

"A-and!" He swallowed and pointed his finger up like a disapproving mother would when scolding her naughty child. "Tokyo? You turned my apartment into Tokyo? You couldn't have done Florida or something familiar to me?" Maxx rolled his eyes, ran a hand through his hand and walked in a circle. "And stop making me sigh and touch my hair! It's annoying, stop!"

Maxx felt his hand raise up towards his hair and screamed in frustration. "And then you fucking make me a superhero? Not even a cool one! I'm not fucking Spiderman or some shit, no I can run down stairs quickly and shoot asteroids our of my hands, which doesn't even make biological sense! Where am I hiding these?! Up my fucking ass that leads to another dimension where - Wait let me guess!- I'm fucking my best friend, Cody in the bathroom of an Olive Garden?"

Maxx looked up at the sky again, flipping it off with both hands. "Just fucking turn everything back to normal already." He crossed his arms and watched as everything slowly turned back to normal. Maxx walked back towards the fire escape door and looked up once again.

"Oh, and can you make me have something to post today? You know, I figured you can do that since you've fucked my day up today. Also, there should be a free XL pizza sitting on my nightstand with The Office in queue when I get back an-" Maxx ducked before the piece of driftwood could hit him in the head and walked off back into his room in surrender, where The Office was on queue and there was a free XL pizza on his night stand.

Chapter Text

Your breath came out in short pants as you stopped jumping. You were seeing your favorite band, Set It Off. They just finished Why Worry and Cody was doing his usual rants, or thanking of the crowd. Whichever came first.

"Aight, it's getting like...really fucking hot in here." He muttered into the mic, placing it back on the stand. His hands reached down the hem of the white tank top with black stripes. It wasn't unusual for him to lose a layer of two of clothing during a show. The only difference from today was that a fine sheen of sweat glistened off his chest.

The crowd erupted into cheers as he flashed his signature smirk. "You like that huh?" A chuckle escaped from his lips. "Sometimes I think you guys only like me for my body." With that he looked over the fans giving the effect of eye contact and smirked more.

Your heart couldn't take it. You've had a major crush on him for as long as you could remember, but it would never go past anything more than you being a fan and him one of your heroes that have helped you stay where you are now. As cheesy as it sounds, their music actually helped you when you hit your lowest point.

"How about if I do this?" Cody bit his lip catching the silver piece of metal between his teeth and chewed on it a bit, as if in a state of thought. He mumbled something that the microphone didn't pick up and flexed. That sent the crowd into another frenzy of screams. A few of the things you were still able to hear sounded like, "I love you Cody!", "Marry me!", or even from the psychotic fan, "Have my children!" It's a shame they're known for their looks instead of talent now...

"Anyways! You should know this song, because we're what? We're young, we're dumb, and forever stuck in our what?!" He shouted, holding the microphone out. All around the word "youth" rang out. "That's right! Let's get the party started!" With that the intro to Forever Stuck In Our Youth started playing as Cody jumped around acting like a monkey on meth. Zach and Dan did their usual jumping of the amps and spinning around like a fairy, while Maxx did....well whatever a Maxx Danziger did.

Cody jumped down from the stage and jumped into the crowd with a smile plastered across his features as the family sang the words back to him. He looked down and caught your gaze, his bright blue eyes shinning with what seemed like a layer of tears threatening to fall. As he jumped back onto the stage he ran his hand over his crotch, not uncommon either.

All too soon the song ended and one of your idols stood there sweating, trying to keep his voice from cracking. "Honestly...you guys have no idea how happy it makes me feel when I get in the crowd and you guys sing the words back to us." He glanced behind him and smiled at his band mates, Dan Clermont, Zach DeWall, and Maxx Danziger. "I love hearing about how our music has helped you through rough times. I learned that every reaction doesn't come without a story. A lot of you have probably been hurt, beaten, or cheated by someone you thought you could trust. I know we all did."

The crowd feel silent as he had to grab his shirt and wipe away a few tears. "I ju-just...we love each and everyone single one of you. From the bottom of our hearts. You are not alone. You are not ugly, you are not worthless. What the hell is perfection? It's a word thrown around like pennies to the fountain floor and honestly? If you want to know something about us..."

The rest of the band set their instruments down and lined up, arms across each other shoulders. "We...we are solace. We are chaos. We are evil. We are good. We are human." They took a bow and stated in unison, "And that's all we ever wanted to be. We are Set It Off!" They raised their hands up in the greeting known to every member of the family. The Duality symbol. "Thank you for being with us during everything. Thank you guys. We love you."

They picked up their respected their instruments as The Grand Finale came on. "This is our last song of the night, but we're doing a meet and greet, signing, and photos are this. All of you better be there." With that the show went on smoothly and ended with Cody's screams.

Chapter Text

I pulled my jacket closer to me, trying to keep the freezing rain from hitting my skin. My mind was running with so many thoughts and I couldn't get it to shut up. There were so many different voices telling me to do so many different things. Every now and then one would break free from the rest, louder and more clear.

"Go back."

"Shut up and keep walking! They won't miss you."

"You need her."

"You're such a failure, you can't even die right!"

I growled and punched the nearest thing next to me. I couldn't help it. I had so much fucking pent up anger that I didn't know how to get rid of. I kept punching the tree until I couldn't feel a thing again. Ever since she came into my life, I've felt way too different.

I didn't like it. She was changing things that didn't need to be changed. I fucking hated her. I want her gone.

"No you don't." A small voice broke through the screams. I hated that voice. It's been there, lurking, ever since she showed her rainbow ass around here.

The rain was only getting worse. Both good and bad for me. Maybe if I stayed out here long enough, a bolt of lighting would finally kill me. Or I'd get ammonia or freeze to death. Honestly, I'd take anything right now.

Sighing, I leaned against the tree and let the rain run over me. My hand was starting to sting, which meant I was still alive. Gooddamn it. It was right, I couldn't even kill myself correctly. What a fucking prize I was.

I pushed myself off the ground and looked down at my hand. It was covered in blood and had a few splinters here and there. Huh, I didn't know I was capable of doing that. Maybe it'll get infected or I'll bleed out.

I could only hope.

I gave up on trying to tune out the voices, it wasn't worth it anymore. They would win. They usually always did. I sometimes wondered why I was so unfornatute to be like this. Why the hell couldn't I just be like everyone else? Normal. Liked. Not fucking crazy and wanting to kill themselves.

Oh well. I wouldn't be here much longer anyway. Let's hope that today would finally be the day it was all over.

I sat down on one of the benches beneath the school awning. Why would I come back to the place where everyone hated me? I'd say I'd have no clue or "what better a way to end it all than where it started?".

Ugh, that's some poetic ass shit right there. I could only imagine some emo kid writing that in their Death Note diary.

"Ugh, today mom wouldn't let me go to Hot Topic. >_> Doesn't she know that's my home?! I hate her! I wish she'd die.

"Some preppy bitch named Amanda pushed me in the hallway at school earlier. She and her preppy bitch cheerleader friends all pointed and laughed at me. I've had enough, I'm going to kill myself in the bathroom tomorrow. What a better way to end my miserable life than in the place where it all started?

"See you never again. Xx_Ebony_dementia_way_666_xX out."

I chuckled and leaned back more, resting my head against the wet brick. When did the rain get so hard to wet the school walls? Oh well, I wasn't going to ask questions about it. There was the question of how would I get inside though.

I walked around the building, looking for any kind of door that could be unlocked or window that was open. There was a light on in one of the classrooms at the far end of the building. Who the fuck would still be here at this hour? Janitor perhaps. That or some teacher having to stay late to grade paper.

I ducked under the windows and made my way to the back of the school. There was a door that wouldn't fully close all the way. I could get in that way. It wouldn't take too much effort actually, all I had to do was just jimmy the lock with a card. Good thing I brought my student ID today.

I managed to get the door open with a couple of minutes. I dusted myself off and stepped into the dark building. I should probably let my eyes adjust, but I was on a tight schedule. I I walked down the hallway, looking briefly at every locker. I could fuck with someone's shit before I went. I could get revenge.

I shrugged it off and kept walking. I looked over the notes pasted over the bulletin boards one last time. One had caught my eye.

It was about the football game. I remember when she had asked me to go. I really didn't want to, I just agreed to shut her the hell up. I wish she'd just leave me alone like everyone else already.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the flyer. I don't know why I did that. It just felt wrong to not take it.

I walked towards the theater and listened to my footsteps echo around the halls. I don't know how whoever was here didn't hear me already. Oh well, it was a good thing they didn't. I didn't want that kind of trouble with me right now.

I stood in front of the small theater doors. I've never really liked to watch the plays that were hosted here. They were all crap. I pushed opened the doors and looked around the dimly lit room.

I knew nobody was going to be here so why did it still take me by slight surprise? I brushed it off and walked down the long isle way, trailing my hand along the back of the chairs as I went. They weren't anything special.

Just a hard plastic chair with some cheap fabric and cotton on the other side where the guest sat. I ran my fingers over the inscription on one of them. It was the school's name along with the year the seats were made. Once again, nothing too special.

My feet carried me down to the front row almost as if they had a mind of their own. My hands found their way to a seat and pulled it down, clutching onto the handles for dear life when I sat down.

The stage still had a few overhead lights on. I guess the helpers were too busy to go home today to make sure everything was off. I'm sure it wasn't the first time it happened.

I sat back and closed my eyes. I had no idea why I had gone here. Out of every other place in town I came here. One last look before it's all over I guess? Who knew.

My thoughts started screaming again. Just when I had thought I'd gotten some peace, they come back just as bad. It's always been like this, I should have knew better.

I sat up straight and stared at the stage. My fingers clenched onto the handles even harder before, my knuckles turning white. My heart started to pick up it's pace a bit too. I looked around the now seemingly pitch black room.

It wasn't this dark when I came in.

There was a large popping sound coming from right in front of me. I felt my head snap towards the now fully lit up stage. Did someone find me and decided to give me a little scare?

A deep voice rumbled out of the speakers, bouncing all across the room. I'm not sure what it had said. It was too loud for me to understand by the time it reached my ears. The speakers seemed like a gun pointed directly at me, a duck sitting right in the open, and the words were bullets. They hadn't missed. They had just shot so the bullets would ricochet off the nearest thing, leaving me in a paralyzed state of suspense.

A figure stepped out from behind the thick curtains on stage. It didn't look familiar but at the same time it looked like someone I had grown to known fairly well. Someone I had dreaded seeing.

"Hello." I gurgled out. My throat was cut deeply and blood was pouring out of it. There was a small knife in my hand. It looked like a box cutter.

What the fuck was going on? I could feel my breaths getting shorter and shorter. My chest was getting tighter and tighter. I couldn't have a panic attack right now. As many nightmares as I had, this was fairly new to me. I had always tried to kill myself but I had never been able to.

I had never imagined what it would have looked like if I did. I never got that far, I just thought that I should focus on doing it first.

I, or the successful version of me, appeared in front of me. Now that I had a closer look, it wasn't an exact image of me. It's eyes were a pitch black, it reeked of death, it's skin was peeling off.

It grabbed my chin, nails digging into the flesh. I could feel a warm substance trickle down my face. It pulled me even closer to where we were mere centimeters apart. I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. I couldn't even think. I couldn't feel a thing again.

It moved it's other hand towards my arm. It pulled my arm away from the handle and dug it's nails into the flesh there too. It turned my arm upwards, palm open as if it was going to give me something. It reached into it's back pocket and placed the knife into my hand. What the fuck was I supposed to do with it?

It grinned at me. The gesture was enough to make me want to jab the object into my eyes. It just laughed a sickening laugh before disappearing. There was a loud popping sound again, followed by everything going pitch black once more.

I jolted up from the seat and spun around in a panic, surveying the room. Everything looked as it has when I came in. I reached a shaking hand up towards my neck. I felt a warm and sticky substance. Whatever had happened wasn't just a dream.

I leaned against the stage and felt a heavy weight in my hand. I slid down the small wall and stared at my hand. I hadn't opened it, but I knew what it was.

There was a deafening crack of thunder outside. I was in here long enough for the storm to get worse. I knew there was a clock in here somewhere, but it was too dark to see anything now.

As if some joke there was a strike of lighting that illuminated the room enough for me to spot and check the time. It was nearing one in the morning. I had to leave soon if I was going to end this now.

I ran out of the theater and school. Out of every place in town that I could end it, there was one just a couple of miles from here. Sure, I could hang myself in the school bathroom, jump off a hotel building, lay in traffic or anything else along those lines. But it'd be easy for someone to find my lifeless body.

I might have been heartless, but I didn't want any bystander to come across me. Why did I even care? I guess I didn't want to fuck them up just like I was. Sure, I did it to my family but they were used to it.

I ran the few miles towards the forest near the edge of town. My whole body felt numb by the time I got there, but I wasn't going to stop now. If I did, I'd fall to the ground and just end up passing out.

I stopped for a split second to catch my breath and jogged into the forest. The branches clawed at my face as if trying to keep me from going in. It was quite ironic actually. They reminded me everyone who had or tried to stop me from ending it all. I could imagine all of their faces and voices reaching out at me while I went. Each tree branch was someone telling me it would get better or some other bullshit like that.

Every scratch they gave me were their false "I love you"s or their "I care"s.

I couldn't keep going any longer. I kept pushing myself though. I wasn't deep enough.

I ended up in a peaceful clearing with a large tree in the middle. It's branches were hanging over itself. It looked depressed.

Well, that's something we both had in common. Alone and depressed.

I stumbled over to it and collapsed. My whole body was aching. It was screaming at me why did I do that. My lungs felt like they were on fire. I couldn't steady my breathing as hard as I tried.

I was soaking wet and cold. I was aching. I was sore. I was tired. I wanted to sleep forever.

I felt the weight in my hand again.

I was deep enough that they wouldn't find me. The animals would get to my body before they did.

I opened my hand and looked at the shiny blade. It seemed as if it was calling my name. I couldn't resist it any longer.

I leaned against the tree and let my body take over. I felt my hand make it's way to my throat again. There was a slight pain and it felt as if whatever oxygen was left in my lungs was being sucked out. I tried to look around one last time, but everything was blurry and fading to black. I couldn't move any part of my body anymore and the strong smell of blood mixed with the rain was starting to fade.

Not long after, I wasn't able to hear anything.

Had I finally been able to do it?

Had I finally been successful in ending it?

I thought I had felt a small smile on my face. I'm not sure any more.

I wasn't able to finish the thought before everything, and everyone, went away.

For good this time.

I wouldn't be waking up this time.

Chapter Text

"I'll see you in a few weeks baby!" My girlfriend Shay called out to me as she stood in the middle of the doorway separating the outside world and our house. I smiled and kissed her goodbye quickly, watching as she packed her bags and walked off. It was gonna be a long week without her around, but she had planned this family trip for months. I would have loved to go, but we were stuck finishing up this album and she didn't want to take me away from that.

Once Shay had drove off, I closed and locked the door tightly to make sure nobody would come busting in here. Not that there were reports of a robber around lately or that I didn't trust the neighborhood, it was just always a habit of mine I had done. It's better to be safe than sorry, right?

I groaned and threw myself down on the couch and turned on the TV, flicking through the channels for a few minutes before settling on some repeat of the Seahawks game. It would have been more interesting if I knew that this was one where they had won, but just my luck it had to be their worst game yet. I was only able to bear through a couple of minutes before I decided I had had enough and turned it off.

I never noticed just how truly silent the house is before. Usually whenever Shay is here, we're always talking or laughing about something. It's hardly silence in our house. So you could understand just how unsettling it was when I was left with nobody but myself. Hell, even on the off chances that she didn't take Mateo with her, there'd still be his tiny barks and the sound of his squeaky toys.

"What to do, what to do..." I thought aloud to myself and looked around the living room, trying to find something to occupy myself with. When I couldn't find anything, I turned to twitter. I had sent out a tweet asking people to send me some video ideas to record when someone had suggested reading my old texts with Shay or anyone else from SIO. That didn't sound like a bad idea honestly.

With that idea in mind, I had screenshot-ed the tweet, shoved my now locked phone in my pocket, grabbed the camera we had used to record and went to the bedroom we shared. It took a few minutes for me to find the tripod and set everything up, not including the kind of lighting I had wanted for the video. I wasn't able to find the green screen I had used for previous videos, but surely it wouldn't make that much of a difference. Not as long as I removed anything that the younger fans would consider "inappropriate." Who knew that 12 year olds could be so cringey sometimes? 

Once I had everything set up, I set myself down on the bed and waved. "What's up guys, Cody here. As you've probably seen by now, I sent out a tweet asking you what I should record and boy were there some good ones." I laughed and unlocked my phone, scrolling through the replies once more.

"And a few bad ones. Like this one, 'record yourself fucking a pillow.' First, why would I record that and post it here? Second off," I grabbed the nearest  pillow I could reach and looked into the camera with an offended look on my face. "What me and Sir El Macho Danziger get up to in private is none of your business. Alright, you got that?" I kissed the pillow quickly and set it behind me. "But this one here that I really like a lot is from Angel and it says to go through my old texts with Shay or anyone else from the band. Which this could either go really bad or really well." I closed twitter, turned on the screen recording app I had just downloaded and opened up the thread of texts I had with Shay. "Let's get started, shall we?"

I smiled at the camera and scrolled as far back as I could to very beginning of our conversation, dating back nearly two years ago. I had read out which ones were harmless and funny before stumbling upon the texts we had shared a few months ago when I was on tour. I should have scrolled past them and ignored them, but I was going to cut that bit out anyway so what was the point?

We had been away from each other for a while at the time and needless to say, two adults in a relationship have needs. When you're away from each other, you have to make due sometimes. And this was one of those times.

As I scrolled through the messages - and watched the videos she had sent - I could feel a wave of heat wash over me. I grabbed the pillow from behind me and used it to cover myself before scrolling past. "Some of these messages will never see the light of day. Y'all are never gonna know what kind of weird shit we send each other." I pointed a finger and the camera and laughed, hoping that they would just assume it was nothing serious.

It didn't help my problem that there were more and more of those intimate messages as I scrolled through everything we had sent each other. I wasn't sure just how long I would be able to ignore this feeling. Surely I had enough content for a video, right? Out of thousands of messages, I was sure to have some good bits in there. I'd just make a part two if people wanted it or just go through someone else's messages.

I closed my phone and set it beside me. "Alright guys, well I think that will do it for this video. If you haven't noticed, we just put out a brand new single called Killer In The Mirror, we have some brand new merch and are going on tour soon! I'll leave all of the links in the description so please make sure to tell all of your friends and who knows, maybe you'll even make some new friends at a show?" I shrugged my shoulders and shifted myself into a more comfortable position.

"If you guys liked the video, make sure to like, comment, and subscribe. If you have any more video ideas or who I should do next, leave them below. I hope you have a lovely day, afternoon, night or whenever you're watching this and I will see y'all very soon." I held my hands up to my face, making a heart shape with both my pointer and middle fingers. "Bye!" I smiled one last time and held a peace sign for a few seconds making sure that I had the ending.

I quickly threw the pillow to the side, turned off the camera and set everything to the side. I had no idea where I had left my fleshlight. It wasn't in any of the dresser drawers or even the bag I had packed for tour. I groaned and threw my head back against the wall lightly trying to think of what I could do that would help me solve this.

There was a video online that Dan had sent me a while back about making your own fleshlight using a cup and sticking it between some couch cushions. I wasn't about to stick my dick in between some couch cushions and risk someone walking in on me, but I did have a pillow.

I grabbed the pillow and ran down the stairs, trying my hardest to remember what the video had said I needed. We still had a few plastic cups left lying around from an old party and I had plenty of condoms and such in my wallet.

As the makeshift "inside" was heating up, I cut a hole in the pillow and shoved the stuffing down in the trashcan. It wasn't the cleanest thing but it would make do.

The microwave let out a beep as I had finished cutting the hole I needed into the pillow and I grabbed it, making sure it wasn't too hot. If you told younger me that I would be standing here trying to make a fake girlfriend because texts with my real girlfriend got me too heated, I probably would have just laughed in your face and called you crazy. Yet, here I was.

I double checked that the doors were locked and windows were closed before I made my up to the bedroom we shared. I was a grown man and what happened in this bedroom was of nobody's concern yet I still felt like a teenager after his parents said they'd be out of town for the weekend.

My heart pounded in my chest as I set up the makeshift toy and bit my lip looking at the contraption I had just made.

Was I really going to stick my dick in a pillow because I couldn't wait it out? Was I willing to lose the small ounce of dignity I had left over this? Was I really going to throw away ever looking at this pillow again and not feel a horrible amount of shame for what event is about to take place?

The obvious answer to this was yes.

I stuck the cup in the pillow and pulled my pants down, just down enough to where I could free myself but up enough that if someone did walk in and they saw me lying down they'd assume nothing out of the ordinary.

"Well, here goes any ounce of self respect I had left." I muttered and pulled my member out of my underwear. I shook my head and stuck myself in the pillow, letting out a tiny gasp and how the heat felt against me. I probably could have let it cool down just a bit longer but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.

It took a few seconds for me to adjust. I could have stopped at any point and just forgotten that this ever happened but I had already stuck my literal dick inside it. I was too far into this to just throw it all away just yet.

I started to move myself in and out, gradually picking up speed. If I ignored the fact that there was nobody underneath me, I could have almost fooled myself into thinking this was a real person. Sure, it wasn't as good as what I have now, but compared to my other girlfriends this was a step above.

Moans had started to escape my lips after the first few minutes. I must have been pretty needy for this to feel as good as it currently did. "Oh fuck..." I bit my lip and buried my head down in my arms, imagining that the lump of cotton I had myself in was my precious girl. I could feel myself getting closer and closer with each passing second.

My hands balled into fists as I shoved myself deeper into the pillow and unloaded all inside of it. I laid there for a few seconds to catch my breath. I couldn't believe that I had just fucked a pillow. I wouldn't believe it.

"Nobody can ever know about this." I whispered to myself as I pulled out and fixed my pants. The pillow would have to get a good washing but all I wanted to do now was watch a movie to get my mind off what I just did.

I grabbed the pillow and pulled the cup out, shoving it down towards the bottom of the trashcan, getting a bit of ooze on my hand. I gagged and wiped it on the inside of the pillow, closing the washing machine door loudly.

When I was sure my mess was cleaned up, I laid down on the living room couch and turned on the first movie I saw.

~~~~3 months later~~~~

I pulled the pillow out of the washing machine and looked at it weirdly. It seemed like ever since the night I fucked it, it was getting bigger and bigger. I thought that maybe there the stuffing inside was all messed up since I had cut it open, so I decided to take the pillow back up to the room and cut it open again.

Grabbing a pair of scissors, I made my way upstairs with the pillow tucked tightly under my arm. Shay had left for work a few hours ago so I had plenty of time to see what was wrong with this pillow.

I closed the bedroom door, set down both the pillow and scissors and sat down on the bed myself.

As soon as I had turned the pillow towards me and went to cut it open I heard someone yell out for me to stop. I looked around confused. A quick search of the house had confirmed that nobody was inside. "Huh, must just be hearing things." I muttered and sat down in front of the pillow again.

I had gotten an inch away from it's opening when I heard the scream again. "What the fuck?" It didn't seem like anyone was outside needing help which only made me even more confused. "Okay..."

I shook my head and sat back down once again.

"Please, I'm begging you! D-don't hurt me! It's yours!" My brows furrowed when I had realized that the noise was coming from the pillow. It suddenly had a mouth and two eyes and was looking at me desperately.

"What the fuck?!" I scrambled off the bed and gripped the edge of my desk tightly, trying to process what was happening in front of me. "You're not real. This is a bad dream. I'm gonna wake up any second now." I shook my head vigorously.

I must have accidentally fallen asleep or something. There was no way in the world that the inanimate object in front of me was suddenly alive and pregnant.

"Three months ago your girlfriend left for two weeks and you were filming a video! You called me Sir El Macho Damnziger. You were going through your sexts and then you made a makeshit fleshlight!" I let out a shaky breath, wishing that this wasn't real. "Y-you got some ooze on your hand and wiped it inside of me! I-I don't know how but over the span of three months I've become alive and I'm pregnant with your child!"

I waved the pillow's words away and tried to process what the fuck was happening. "S-so... you're telling me that somehow a pillow became alive and is going to have my human-pillow child because I wiped cum inside you?!" I paced around the room and ran a hand through my hair. "Oh my fucking god."

~~~~6 months later~~~~

I couldn't believe that I was actually going to have a goddamn pillow baby. I ended up telling Shay the night she got back from work. It was just as hard to explain to her as it was for me to understand.

Thankfully, she didn't leave me for whatever the fuck monstrosity had happened and instead decided to help us try to get our life back on track.

Yet 9 months after I had accidentally knocked up a pillow, I watched it gave birth. How the fuck this was possible, I had no idea.

"She looks just like you," The pillow cooed as soon as the smaller pillow left it's opening. "Isn't she precious?" I swallowed hard and looked between it and Shay, who had a disgusted look on her face as well. There was something in her eyes that told me that the hybrid looked nothing like me, which she wasn't wrong. "What's the matter, baby? Is something wrong?" The pillow asked, it's voice laced with concern.

"Uh, yeah..." I shook my head. "That looks nothing like me. If anything, it looks more like Dan that is does me. What the hell is happening?"

The pillow turned a dark shade of red and stuttered over it's words. "N-no! I'd never! You know that baby!" I rolled my eyes as Shay put a hand on my shoulder.

"Just get the hell out of here." I rubbed my temples as the pillow picked up it's kid and left, screaming that I was being unjust.

Shay let out a sigh and kissed my cheek. "Next time, just call me okay? Because jesus christ, I don't want this happening again."

Chapter Text

"Fucking hell Maxx, if you don't shut up about your drums I'm shoving that drumstick up your ass." Cody groaned and threw his head back on the couch, waiting for Maxx's daily spiel to be over with.

"Oh he'd like that." Dan chimed in, spewing little bits of cupcake and frosting all over the front of his shirt.

Maxx shook his head at his friends' teasing. They just didn't get it. "No but guys, I just love my drums so much. You guys just don't understand the bond we have because you never bothered to actually connect with your instruments."

They rolled their eyes at me and went about their days. Zach tuned his guitar absentmindedly, Cody fucked his pillow and Dan was off either getting high or harassing someone, online or in real life.

But as for me? What was I doing?

I locked myself in the back room of the bus, turned off all the lights, grabbed a bottle of olive oil and locked the door. Thank god this room was sound proof enough that nobody would care what I was doing back here, not that they did to begin with.

I felt my way to the big couch lining the back wall and got on my knees, feeling my heart begin to burst to with excitement and a slight bit of fear. All of the blood that would have been pumping through my body due to fear went right to where I needed it most.

I leaned forward on the couch a bit after putting pillows under my knees (stay safe you dumbasses, joint pain ain't a joke) and looked at the two items in my hands.

Now before you come at me for doing this right here where everyone can walk in and see me in all my shameful glory, know that I did think this over. Once.

And it was hot as shit.

So yeah, I'm about to do this with my very prominent ass pointed towards the door for any and everyone to see. Go do your homework before you come into my house kink shaming me.

Bitch.

I pulled my pants and batman underwear that I had stolen from Cody down, slathered the item in my right hand up with the olive oil and placed it right between my feet.

I took a deep breath to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen. Not that this was something I had to mentally prepare for really, but I didn't want to get splinters again because I jammed myself down faster than PewDiePie's channel grew.

I, carefully, lowered myself down and let out a shaky breath as I felt it hit me in the right spot. Sure, it wasn't as filling as I wanted it to be, but you can't be picky all the time.

I let out a soft whimper as I rocked back and forth on my drumstick slowly, my left hand pumping myself. I only used my left because when I was super focused, it would feel like someone else is helping me.

Who did I usually think of you're asking?

Well that's private.

And no, it's not Kody. Not all the time at least.

Like just last week, it was a really tall and ripped version of Barney the Dinosaur but with that Market Plier dude's face.

I buried my head into the rest of the pillows on the couch and bit my lip to try and keep myself from making too much noise.

It didn't work to well because just a few moments later I was panting like a dog and letting out loud whimpers and whines. I kept brushing against the tip of my most vulnerable part and rocked so hard that I thought that the bus was actually shaking because of me.

Not long after I let out one of the loudest moans, I felt myself explode all over the couch.

Oops.

I took the drumstick out and licked up the mess I made, failing to finish up before the guys unlocked the door.

"Dude come the fuck on, the fans touch those drumsticks." Zach was the first to speak up.

"Dude don't take all of that what the fuck, we'll help you." Cody pushed past the other two and landed right next to me on the couch.

Dan and Zach followed suit and we boned all night long.

And those drumsticks we fucked with?

Yeah.

You got those.

Ha bitch.

Have fun with that knowledge now, fuckin losers.

Chapter Text

They say we know more about our own Universe than our oceans. We know more about hundreds of thousands of planets, multiple solar systems, we're even finding signs of life from planets millions of light years away. And yet, we're hardly scratching 5% of our seas.

We've evolved from microscopic organisms to fully functioning humans, able to perform many things once considered impossible. We can change our whole world in a split second with a single word or even a gesture. We can abandon our identities and start anew at any given time. It's beyond fascinating what we can do.

Do you think that there's currently life festering at the bottom of the ocean as we speak? Do you think in a few million years they'll begin our process all over again? Would they be smarter than us or same the level of intelligence?

Regardless, there's one thing I'm certain of. The thought of us  being  the only living creatures in this universe is  so isolating and yet the thought of us not being alone doesn't feel me with much comfort either. If it does turn out that we are the only living things in this world, we must have passed some big hurdle for humanity right? Some giant challenge that every other planet hasn't been able to pass, and by some sheer chance we've been lucky enough to make it. That'd be one for the books, for sure.

Or maybe we're too young in the grand scheme of things for there to be life yet? Time may move differently here on Earth than it does in a galaxy hundreds of light years away. We might just be a little early for things to even form.

I'm  not   sure   which  is more comforting though.  Being  aware that we've been lucky  enough  to  survive   everything   that's  been thrown us or that we're just another planet  bound  to doom itself?

Maxx sighed and gently set his pen to the side, re-reading what he had scribbled down. It wasn't any different from his earlier journal entries, the same spew of thoughts jotted down on paper before he had to start the day. It helped him get his mind in order. The crew back Home had suggested he kept a log of some sort to prevent himself from going crazy.

He moved the small curtains to the side and stared out across the vast expanse before him. Machinery calling craters their home, giant trucks scrambling to-and-fro and broken down com towers littered his view. His gaze shifted from Sully, the current transport truck that was out and about, to the world that slowly spun below him.

He wondered how life was still going on down there. Had he missed any important advancements?  Sure, it hasn't been that long since he left Home, but he still wondered what he was going to come back to. During his first few weeks here, he laid awake in his bunk terrified of how much the world was going to change while he was gone. He'd be like an elderly person trying to figure out what the latest smart-tech does.

He chuckled to himself as he thought of his grandfather's first interaction with their smart fridge. "Now why do we need a fridge that speaks to us, Max? And what do all these buttons do?" His grandfather tapped on the fridge's screen and sighed in frustration. "Why the hell is there Net-flicks on here? What am I gonna do, stand here and watch a movie? I just want some ice! Make. Ice."

Maxx had spent the whole day trying to help his grandfather figure out what all the buttons did and where everything was. A sad smile made it's way across his face, tears prickling at his eyes. It was one of the last full moments he had with his grandfather before he became ill. He hoped that his grandfather was still doing well. Maxx knew just how happy his grandfather was to see him do something as amazing as this, he just wished that he'd still be hanging on when he returns.

A small, warm drop on Maxx's hand pulled him from his thoughts. He hadn't meant to drift off again, but he couldn't help get lost in thoughts whenever he stared out at the world below him.

He pushed himself up from the chair and quickly changed before Hal started to pester him about being late. He ran through the list of things he was sure he had to do today in his head as he gathered his things.

"Good afternoon, Max. I've already started your breakfast. Would you like me to pull up today's messages?" The AI he had became so familiar with greeted him as he set foot out of his room.

Maxx sighed and wrote down the time he had gotten up on the clipboard. "We've been over this, it's with two Xs, Hal." He closed his eyes tightly and walked throughout the ship towards the common area. "And yes please. You have today's schedule printed up I assume?"

"You've been here for years and still close your eyes when making rounds. And I do not see the difference in how many Xs I use. Is it not your name either way?"

Maxx simply shook his head, grabbed his meal, and tossed his feet over the side of his chair. "There's a very big difference. Messages and status on carrier trucks please."

The AI didn't bother to continue with Maxx's "argument" and instead, relayed any new information it had been given. Maxx watched intently on the small screen in front of him that was showcasing the data from every last piece of equipment on board, from the microchip they had embedded in his neck to old ships that hadn't been active since he arrived. To anyone else, these numbers would be enough to make their head swirl and stomach tighten. It was to Maxx as first, but he soon quickly understood once he was given a small Union Provided "handbook" of sorts. It wasn't much, just a quick rundown of which symbols mean what and how to handle on board failures.

Of course he'd never mention to a single soul that he had rooted around in the systems and made his guide, which he had filled to the brim with emergency codes and signals. He found it odd that they would keep these things from him, but figured they were from older missions and they simply forgot to purge them out.

"Hey, where did Sully go? I just saw his signal a few moments ago but now it's," He rose from his chair and set his mug down, eyes bouncing from screen to screen. "Gone? It just disappeared. Hal, can you pull up it's location manually?" Maxx swiped his key card underneath the console and pulled out a thick log book from the now open drawer.

"Attempting signal reboot."

Maxx flipped through the pages and retrieved a notepad from the console as well, pen poised over the paper waiting for Hal's response.

"Signal reboot failed."

Maxx jotted down a code from the log and let out a small groan. "Input code 1835 E.V.A. and run a system check, please. I'm going to head out and find Sully, then clear Perry's storage." Maxx put away the notepad and log book, downed the rest of his coffee and made his way to truck dock.

Hal beeped in response and noted Maxx's whereabouts, beginning to track his location. Maxx quickly suited up and taped the side of his helmet. "Alright Hal, contact me when you have any new information." Maxx took a deep breath before the doors opened in front of him.

It'd been a while since he had stepped out of base and his nerves still ate at him that something could potentially go wrong. "Doors are open and Luka's online waiting for you, Maxx."

"Right. Sorry." Maxx shook his head and stepped outside, the below freezing air enveloping him. The doors hissed closed as he walked towards Luka, her headlights shining just past base.

Once inside, Maxx dug through the back seat and pulled out a toolbox, only to set it in the next beside him. "Okay girl, it's just you and me until Sully either decides to come back home," Maxx input the other ship's last coordinates and unbuckled his helmet, setting it in his lap. "Or we can rescue him."

The truck roared to life as he finished speaking, moving quickly over the bumpy terrain. Maxx let himself go slightly limp as he stared out the window, transfixed by the stars above him.

On one hand he enjoyed everything being automated, it gave him moments like this to just zone out and clear his mind. However, he wasn't too fond of having to heavily rely on everything being done for him.

Maxx sighed and rested his head against the door, taking to count how many stars he could find until he had reached his destination.

He was 2,394 stars in before Luka came to a dead halt. "Rerouting. Path blocked." Maxx's brows furrowed as he stretched his neck in an attempt to view what was stopping her from going forward.

The path looked clear as day to Maxx from he could see but he still stopped the truck. He made sure his helmet was fastened before he hopped out, toolbox clutched tightly in hand.

As predicted, there was nothing but typical rocks lining as far as the eye could see. Maxx dusted off the truck's sensors and pulled himself back inside, hoping that something would have changed.

Much to his dismay, the same error flashed brightly against his visor. "Weird." Maxx chewed at his lip and input an override command, stomach turning into knots. The error had gone away but it was soon replaced with a different one.

He input the code again, carefully this time, making sure that every number was right just to have the screen stay the same.

"Hey, Hal, I'm stuck midway base and where Sully last was. Luka's saying there's something in the path and I've attempted to hard to reset the course but," Maxx's eyes drifted from the screen in front of him and out towards the window.

"Hal, I've lowered your headset communication volume. Send this data to Houston with this mornings' reports, please." Maxx's eyes were glued onto the horizon before him, hands blindly searching in the truck cabin for something, anything he could find. "Reply only when necessary. Recording in progress."

Once he found what he was looking for, Maxx cut off all communication and trudged out over the horizon.

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of years since that fateful night when Cody gave in to his most animalistic desires. Years since Shay had left for a lovely vacation out to visit her family only to come back to a nightmare.

A lot happened in the past few years. Cody had horrible nightmares the first few months after the pillow child's birth, convinced he was hearing the scrapping of soft nails outside of the bedroom windows. On his worst nights, he would see the pillow standing above him with a knife pressed onto his throat and gesturing wildly to Shay. He couldn't mention any of this to a therapist as he would likely labeled as insane. That or the goverment would run extensive tests and he was already a slave to the machine so there was no need to make matters worse.

Cody had changed every lock in the house and reinforced all the windows not long after that night.

Thankfully the landlord simply assumed it was Cody and Shay being paranoid due to the recent rash of break ins and even agreed to cover half the costs of the bill as long as it was agreed to only meant to increase the property value. Of course, once the bill did come the landlord acted as if they had no idea what was happening and even had the nerve to tack on "property damages" onto their rent.

After the pillow child was old enough to have some sort of discernable features, Cody had decided to confront Dan why it looked more like him than anything. At first Dan had freaked out when Cody walked in with a sentient pillow child before finally crumbling and admitting that he, too, had fallen victim to the pillow

They had spent weeks trying to figure out how to break the news to everyone. Of course everyone being the band members and their respective partners. After a long brainstorming session it was time.

Surprisingly it was taken well and it was agreed upon that Cody and Shay would remain the main caregivers of the pillow child. The other members of the band did their best to treat the pillow as a human child but it was clear it was difficult. It was perfect timing that the current album cycle had just ended so there wouldn't be the need to explain anything to anyone on tour.

The pillow child was only referred to as "it" or "that thing" for the first few pathetic months of it's life before a name finally stuck. It wasn't something that was even meant to be a name, but moreso something the pillow child answered to whenever mentioned.

Lillie.

It's meaning? Short for pillow. If you didn't necessarily know how to pronounce pillow or wanted to be fancy just like Haleighy. In actuality, it was easier to write off as a dog's name than anything else.

The only plus side to all of this was that the couple could always have an excuse whenever they wanred to get out of an event. "Sorry, can't come into work today. Lillie isn't feeling too well and I want to make sure she's okay."

You know, the normal thing everyone does.

It was getting more and more difficult to keep Lillie a secret as she grew older. She wasn't growing at the speed of a normal child but what seemed to be between half a year to an entire year every month. It was a scene straight out CW's hit TV show Supernatural except this was real life and not a show.

At around 5 years old in pillow age, Lillie began to throw a fit and cry at every possible chance. "I want my mommy! Give me mommy!" She would scream out, stomping around the apartment. Shay would try to console the pillow child only to have whatever toy was nearbt thrown at her. "You aren't mommy! Give me my mommy! Right now!"

There was nothing that could really be done to silence Lillie except for letting it cry itself out. Cody wasn't sure why the pillow wouldn't accept Shay as it's mother already or even why it wouldn't just take any other pillow as an answer for it's mother but luckily that was a stage that had passed quickly.

The next stage that came after that was the pillow demanding to go outside. "I see people do it all the time on TV and you guys leave me alone to do go out too! I want to leave! Outside! Take me outside!"

That was a stage that the pillow child had never fully grown out of but it was soon replaced by pillow puberty. Did you know they could even do that? Apparently sentient ones do and it was nothing like puberty for humans.

Whether that was a good thing or not was yet to be discovered.

Shay runned her temples and sighed, engagement ring catching the light. "What do we do? This is a pillow for fucks sake! Do we just act like it's nothing?" She threw her head back in mock laughter and begun to pace around the room. "How do we explain why it's-"

"Lillie." Cody interjected, head raising slightly from his lap, leg still bouncing like mad.

"Fuck off. Why It is sentient but other pillows aren't? Or are they and it's just some sort of ritual or something you have to do? This is so stupid!"

She collapsed on the bed and shot Cody an exasperated look. "I'm sorry. This is just..."

Cody unclasped his hands and rested one on her thigh, smiling sympathetically at her. "A lot. I know. I'm sorry this even happened in the firsr place."

Shay shot up from the bed and cupped Cody's face in her hands. "Don't you ever fucking apologize for this, okay? Nobody would have known this have happened. Now, you know what were going to do? Go into that spare room and talk to this pillow child about puberty." She pulled Cody into her chest in a comforting hug, hands running up and down his spine, trying to soothe any worries he had.

While it was technically his fault that he kept the sudden "gift" from Dan, it wasn't his fault it sprang to life and used either of them like this. It wouldn't be okay if the unfaithful pillow mother used any of her friends and she silently vowed to seek out some sort of revenge on it for the pain it's caused everyone.

Cody slowly pushed himself from her embrace and nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

The duo held tightly onto each other and slowly walked out of their bedroom, down the hall and arrived at the spare bedroom. They looked at each other for confirmation and knocked on the door, together, as they always will be.

There wasn't a single sound coming from the other side of the door. No shuffling, music, voices. Deadly still silent. Lillie must be giving them the silent treatment.

Cody sighed and went to open the door before Shay grabbed his wrist, shaking her head. She mouthed out that it woulf be easier to talk through the door. It made it more bearable that way and they both knew that.

"Hey," Cody's voice was above a mere whisper. He cleared his throat, squared his shoulders back and steadied himself. "Lillie. I know that what you're going through is tough. Your body is changing and your feeling different things. Things you never felt before and that's okay." Shay shot Cody a supportive thumbsup.

"You might be thinking about things like sex. That's okay and nothing to be ashamed of! I was very curious at your age. About life, my purpose, my body. All of it.

"Speaking of your body-"

Shay cut Cody off with a wave of her hand quickly filled the silence. "You may start noticing extra..." She paused and struggled to find the pillow equivalent word for breasts. "Fluffing in places. Uhm," She shifted uncomfortably and resisted the urge to walk away.

"Lillie, this is hard to explain this way. We're coming in, okay?" Shay gripped the door handle and twisted the knob, heart leaping into her throat at the sight before her.

The room was silent because there was nobody in it. This wouldn't be concerning normally yet the fact the bedroom window was fully open, curtain blowing softly due to the breeze outside, made it so.

Cody stepped out of the room and looked down the hallway. "I'm gonna check the rest of the house. Yell if you see anything." He took off down the hall and Shay could hear doors opening and shutting from here.

She let out a breafh she wasn't aware she was holding and moved further into the room. The bedroom was trashed and not like any teenager's would be.

The bedsheets were torn off the bed, large holes in the fabric, as if there were a struggle. Any decoration on the wall had been torn off and strewn on the ground. Shay lifted a knocked over trash can and sorted through the small bits of paper, sorting them into piles. Quickly enough, she noticed the confetti like pieces were made up of posters and hand drawn art.

A loud thud sounded from behind her and she shot up, spinning around the room on her heel, eyes landing on the too painfully obvious red line leading from the bed through the window. She cautiously moved closer and noticed a hastily written note pinned to the curtain.

"Cody!"

The shout ripped Cody from his thoughts and he tossed the pillows on the couch aside, running towards the sound. He tripped over his feet and stumbled into the spare room, gaze landing on Shay's unconscious body.

He fished his phone from his pocket and opened his contacts as he rushed ovrr towards his fiancé, checking for a pulse and any wounds on her. She seemed fine to the naked eye, breathing fine, skin unmarred.

As Cody lifted Shay from the ground, he noticed a piece of paper flutter down to the ground from her hand. "Huh?" Shifting her to his side, he sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall.

He carefully picked up the note and inspected it, reading it over a few times to fully comprehend it's contents.

"Hello Triple C.

I bet you thought you saw the last of me, didn't you? You thought you could just use me for your owm filthy pleasures and then toss me aside lile garbage. You're just like every other man I've met.

I thought you were better than this. But then you just had to go and change your locks. It's expensive to keep hiring locksmiths.

I thought that would be the end of you trying to lock me out of your life though. I watched you put in break-in proof windows through the hidden cameras I set up around the house.

I was hoping you were going to leave that woman you 'love' behind for me. We spent an unforgettable night together and 9 months, watching our beautiful child grow.

Sure, it might not be yours but that doesn't matter. You weren't supposed to go and blabber to anyone else about us.

But no. You just had to go and confront the true father of our child and ruin it for me. Everyone else could be a part of out daughter's life but me.

I even heard you name her.

Lillie. (whose REAL name is Ms Marie Anderson Peppermill Jackson Jones. Mappie for short.)

What a disgusting name you chose but I wouldn't have expected anything better from scum of the Earth like you.

I heard - and saw - her cry herself out for me. Her true mother.

But you want to know what happened when I finally came to her rescue?

She was frightened of me and put up a fight. A good one at that. I don't know lies you and that wonderful woman (I might be a pillow with a vengeance but women still support women. You pig.) fed Mappie, but I'm going to show her the truth.

I'm going to go the media and tell the entire world about how you left me high and dry, Everyone will turn on you and hate you for the crimes you've done.

I hope you're proud of yourself.

Fuck you.

With respect,

Sir El Macho Danziger."

Cody stared at the note dumbfounded. How was a pillow able to write, muchless fit that entire spiel on such a tiny piece of paper?

Cody snapped a picture of the note and sent it to the band's personal group chat with an audio message detailing what had happened. The guys were quick to respond with their own confused messages back.

Zach had decided to come over with Maxx to watch over Shay and keep an out on things while Cody went off to investigate. It didn't take long for them to arrive, confusion written across their faces when they entered.

Zach took a seat on the floor and laid a hand across Shay's forehead while Maxx followed Cody to the spare room.

"So let me get this right. You fucked a pillow, it got pregnant, it stalked you and now has kidnapped your pillow kid that isn't even yours but actually Dan's?" Maxx leaned against the doorfrasme and surveyed the damaged room.

"Okay dude," Cody leaned out of the window and noticed a trail of stuffing. "First off, there's a trail leading away from the house. If we follow it, we can follow them.

"And second, when you put it like that you make it sound like I'm in some weird ass fanfic. Now let's go!"

Cody pushed Maxx down the hall and grabbed his wallet and keys from the kitchen counter. "Zach, call if Shay wakes up or anything. There's a trail under the window. I'll fully explain later."

Maxx and Cody hurried down the steps of their building and followed the cotton trail. Either it wasn't a true clue or some animal had made away with the stuffing for their nest as the trail ended just short of a metal fence.

Cody let out a groan and ran a hand through his hair, silently cursing before pointing towards where his car was parked. "Get in. We're driving."

Confused yet not wanting to leave his friend in this state, Maxx followed behind and watched as Cody did the usual check every driver should when they enter a vehicle. Mirrors are clean and positioned correctly, wheels are aired up, seatbelts work, dashboard lights aren't on, the road behind you is free of any obstacles, etc.

The act of making sure everything was good took longer than the time it did for Maxx and Zach to arrive. He wasnt going to say anything about it though as he knew Cody took pride in his safe driving.

Or at least when his friends were driving with him that is.

Cody slowly backed out of the driveway while Maxx fiddled with the radio. If they were going on a rescue mission they mindswell have good tunes.

"Hey Cody," Maxx looked over at Cody who was still looking in his mirrors before putting the car into drive. "Why does this even matter that much anyway? I mean the idea is just so crazy that people aren't going to believe it. You never even liked the pillow, it made your life a living hell since then."

Cody sighed and looked at Maxx. "That's exactly why I want to find them. It's fucking absurd and it's just absurd enough that people will believe it. I can't g-"

A loud thud pulled both of the men from their thoughts and Cody slammed on the brakes. "What was that?"

Cody shook his head and stepped out of the car, a mixture of shock and relief washing over his features. Maxx undid his seatbelt, pulled the keys from the ignition and stood across from Cody.

Both of their gazes were locked onto the weirdly bloodly mess of feathers, cotton, and fabric. "Did we-"

"There's a trash bag and wet wipes in the trunk. Get them." Cody demanded as he leaned into the passenger side of the car and pulled out a pair of gloves. Maxx didn't bother to ask why he had these things in his car. It wasn't his business afterall.

Cody kneeled in front of the car and begun to pick feathers and cotton from the grill of his car, disgust written across his face. Maxx kneeled with the bag wide open for Cody to dump the mess in to.

Cody picked up pieces of the fabric and noticed the tell-tale initials in the fabric. C.C.C. and S.B.

When the last mass was dumped into the bag and it was temporarily tied off, a phone began to ring. He gestured for Maxx to get back in the car and hand him the keys then answered his phone, putting it on speaker.

"She's awake. Hey, where are you?"

"Still outside. Just made it out of the driveway. Hey, meet me outside, okay?" Before Zach could say anything Cody hung up the phone, parking the car in the exact same spot it was in before.

Zach and Shay came out of the doors not long after. "What's going on?" Zach was the first to break the silence, watching closely as Cody untied the trash bag and filled it with lighter fluid.

Cody closed the trunk, locked the car and headed to the place where the orginal trail was. Cody quickly collected it and pulled a lighter out of his pocket then threw it into the garbage bag.

"We barely got out of the driveway when they ran into the road. It doesn't seem like anyone else saw them. Sr Macho would never go to the media. If anything, I bet she thought it was Shay with me in the car and that's the only reason she jumped out with Lillie."

The group watched as the trashbag burned into a plastic mess, the fabric floating away in the wind. "Does this mean this nightmare is over?" Shay silently spoke up from beside her future husband and looked around at everyone.

"Yeah. It is." Cody smiled softly at her and his friends. "Finally."