Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ethan’s cover is perfect. Every detail carefully crafted, from his backstory down to his personality.

A socially awkward loser who probably was coddled too much as a kid by his mommy would be exactly how Ethan would describe his character. He plays his role so well, in fact, that he probably could have become an actor. Maybe he would have been, in an alternate universe where his brother is alive and Billy Loomis’ spawn didn’t crawl out of hell to rip his family to shreds. Their family wasn't perfect, not even close to the definition.

But maybe they had a chance, maybe it could have been fixed. 

Some parts of his backstory were accurate, but usually not regarding his family situation. A tragic backstory would do nothing but make him even more of a suspect. Therefore, “Ethan Landry'' had the perfect family. He was an only child, with two healthy and loving parents. He told Chad that his father and mother were overprotective of him, not even wanting him to move away from college. He made up stories on how his mother used to kiss his scraped knees or how his father used to comfort him during his nightmares. Ethan Landry was the only boy to his family, and they treasured him like gold. 

That couldn’t be any further from the truth. 

In truth, he was a disappointment, and every single day his father prayed and begged to whatever higher power out there that Ethan would change. No matter how he excelled, no matter what achievements he had, Ethan never did anything right. He grew up with his father and mother yelling at the top of their lungs, Quinn attempting to comfort him as he screamed and cried because he was a stupid child and didn’t understand why his daddy didn’t love his mommy like parents do in the movies. 

They hated each other so much that eventually his mom packed her bags and vanished without a trace. Maybe she realized how insane this family is, how much they are willing to burn to achieve their goals. She managed to leave before the fire consumed her… but Ethan wished she didn’t. One loud, vocal part of Ethan is furious she left. He blames her for not protecting him when he was weak and sensitive, when he couldn’t understand why Mom used to cover her injuries with makeup or why his oldest took out all his serial killer fantasies on a kid that could barely reach his shoulder (or why his father encouraged it). He hated Mom for not being there for Quinn, when Quinn was neglected and ignored by our father, and had to resort to sex to feel like she had any sort of attention or love, even if it’s by a dumb boy who wouldn’t blink twice before leaving her. 

He wonders which hurts more, downright hatred and disappointment, or blank boredom and ignorance? Would you rather be scorned by someone, looked down upon, constantly antagonizing people around you without even intending to?  Or ignored, invisible, never making an impact on anything important, never receiving attention or praise no matter what it is you have done. 

The memory of his mother is now associated with a familiar, welcome stab of rage. Any love he held for her was buried deep under the growing wrath simmering under his skin every waking moment. She’s dead now, murdered under the fiery gaze of the son she used to hold in her arms. His mother fought at first against her father, running and defending herself with random items in the apartment. But when his dad took the mask off of Ethan’s face, his mother's face crumbled. 

“Not my boy, you ruined my boy” She screamed, tears running down her face. She took shuddering breaths, a shaky hand clutching her chest like she was having a heart attack. She was bleeding heavily from her stomach, and the blood was seeping out between the cracks of her hand. 

His father handed him the knife and Ethan raised it over his head, rage taking control of his entire being. “He didn’t ruin me, Mom. You did.” Her eyes widened with shock, as her beloved son swiftly stabbed her in the eye, quickly ending her life.

A while after that Ethan felt strangely disconnected from his body. He felt numb and he walked around like a puppet on strings. It took a while after that for Ethan to push down on his feelings, to get her screams out of his head. Ethan is glad he was able to push away the guilt. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to function properly ever again.

The only good part about it all, the guilt, the anger and the pain is that his father never looked more proud of Ethan in his life. He smiled at him, for the first time in years, and patted his shoulder. Maybe it was all worth it, maybe it will always be worth it, if his father smiles at him like that again. 

“Yo, Ethan!” Ethan could recognize that voice anywhere. Quickly, Ethan snapped back into the conversation. Chad looked vaguely concerned, and Ethan felt the comfortable weight of Chad’s hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“You were spacing out, you good man?” Ethan fought the urge to curse under his breath. Ethan, a completely new member of the group, weirdly spacing out while Mindy is trying to rule out who she thinks is Ghostface? Suspicion blossomed on Mindy’s face. Mindy walked closer to Ethan, kneeling down to his level. 

“Yeah, Ethan, what were you thinking about?” Ethan blinked in surprise as Chad’s hand slowly fell away from his shoulder. Everyone’s eyes eventually traveled towards Ethan, like they knew something wasn’t quite right with him. Ethan felt panic rise in his chest. 

“Perhaps you were fantasizing about your next kill?” Ethan rolled his eyes and glanced at Chad for help only to see increased apprehension present on his face. It was a wonder how Richie or Amber let Mindy stay alive for so long, she was far too dangerous to stay alive.

“Am I going to die a virgin?” Ethan asked. Mindy and Chad simultaneously raised their eyebrows, and the rest of the group made different looks of surprise. Fuck killing everyone else, Ethan wants to blow his brain out with a AK-47.

“I’m roommates with Chad so… does that mean I’m a part of the group? That means I’m a target too, right?” The group nodded in agreement. 

“That was a… weird overshare, but it brings us to our current suspect, Ethan,” Quinn looked over to him, eyes widening slightly. Don’t fuck this up. 

“Shy dorky guy that no one suspects because he’s so shy and dorky,” Ethan could not fucking stand her. He craved to feel Mindy’s blood, a beautiful scarlet red dripping off his hands to the floor. He wanted to rip out her tongue so he wouldn’t have to hear another word coming out that annoying bitch’s mouth. He would slice into her guts until it spills out, leaving her dead bloody body out for everyone to see. If he was feeling particularly vengeful, he would leave her tongue out beside her and gleefully listen to the horrified screams from his “friends”. 

“Wha-Why am I on the suspect list? Because I’m randomly Chad’s roommate?” 

“The roommate lottery could be duked. You could have fixed it to get next to us.” Ethan fought down the urge to smirk at that moment, but kept his face neutral. She doesn't realize how close she is to the truth, it was almost humorous.

Mindy pointed two fingers at her eyes and then pointed at Ethan, sending off a “I’m watching you” gesture before turning towards Quinn. Ethan lets out a soft sigh of relief when everyone's eyes slowly turned away from him, except one pair. Ethan locked eyes with Chad and a determined look washed over Chad’s face. Realizing that Ethan was staring at him, Chad quickly looked away and paid attention to Mindy. 

Ethan so badly wished sometimes he was a telepath, maybe like Charles Xavier or Psimon, so he can finally see what Chad is thinking about all the time. He often caught Chad staring intensely at him. At first, Ethan thought it was because Chad suspected him of being Ghostface. Despite Chad's huge sculpted muscles and rock hard abs, he’s not just a meathead as one might assume. Ethan made sure to be extra careful when he’s with Chad, watching what he says and what he does. He unfortunately didn’t skip the intelligence lottery, and he already dealt with a ghostface before.

Chad has been acting strange ever since that conversation, and especially now. 

Chad and Ethan have a system set up of sorts for movie night Fridays. Every other Friday, Ethan would get to pick the movie, and Chad would have to watch with no objections. Unfortunately, this rule applies to Ethan as well, but it's his turn now. He decided between Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith or Empire Strikes Back, and, from some light nudging from Chad, picked Revenge of the Sith. Despite the fact that Chad always finds a way to complain about the movies Ethan picks, deep down, Ethan thinks that Chad loves his movies. He’s just way too stubborn and prideful to admit it. 

At first, Ethan tried his best not to get attached to anyone, especially not Chad. Ethan will betray him, is betraying him every second, there’s no point in getting close to someone who he lies to on a regular basis. His only purpose being friendly to these guys is to use them and manipulate them to his father’s wishes. They weren’t actually friends, Ethan never had a true friend in his life. He was far too weird and shy for most people to even glance at him. It’s an honest surprise that Chad caught such a liking to him with such minimal effort. 

But Chad is somewhat different. Chad managed to wiggle past his defenses, something that almost no one has been able to do. When Ethan has his protective walls up, there was nothing anyone could do to break them down, or at least he’d thought. Until Chad came into the picture. Chad somehow has this special Ethan charm that nobody else has besides his family. He could make Ethan smile, genuinely smile, in any situation. His laugh was infectious and anytime he laughed, Ethan followed closely behind. He’s the only one to distract him when he’s feeling particularly rageful, even if temporary, and he’s the only “friend” he met so far that ever made him doubt his ghostface persona. It first felt like a stupid crush, a crush that would eventually die away. Chad’s an incredibly attractive man, and Ethan was only human. But it felt more than that, like Ethan would risk something important for him. 

Going back to Chad’s behavior, he’s been glancing at him every 2 minutes, and then looking back at the TV whenever Ethan catches him. Anticipation flowed through his brain, but the fear also did as well. You think that Chad likes you? The second he finds out your ghostface, he’ll kill you with no remorse. You mean nothing to him, you’re just a roommate. You’ll be nothing but a footnote in his life. 

“Hey are you wearing my hoodie?” Chad asked, snipping Ethan’s overthinking in the bud. Ethan remembered that he was wearing Chad’s hoodie, it was the signature Blackmore University hoodie Chad “lost” a while ago.   

“Uh… possibly?” 

“Dude I’ve been looking for that for months, did you have it the whole time?” Despite Ethan stealing Chad’s hoodie, Chad didn’t seem that upset, more amused than anything. 

The hoodie was grey, with green letters spelling out the university they went to. It looked silly on Ethan, the sleeves far too big and the extra material puffing out on his chest. Ethan didn’t know why he loved this hoodie so much, but it was comfortable and soft and it smelled like Chad. 

 “I didn’t mean to- I just was- when I-” Chad’s smile grew as Ethan stammered over his words, making up an explanation that he couldn’t think up fast enough. 

“It’s alright man, it looks cute on you,” Ethan’s mouth fell open in shock, his face starting to burn. “Cute”? That had to be the most uncompliment, compliment he’s ever gotten. 

Outraged, Ethan responded. “Cute? I’m not cute. I’m a hunk of mass. I’m manly. I’m gorgeous-” Chad’s laugh was loud and strong, and it wracked across his whole body.

“You’re cute like a button,” Ethan pouted, snatching the chip bag from Chad and grabbing handfuls of chips. “Shut up, Chad,” 

“Don’t steal all my Doritos! You had your own but you ate it all,” Chad snatched it back, his laugh dying down and his eyes looking back at the tv. 

“Alright I’m confused here, can you explain?”  Chad asked. Ethan quickly paused the movie, excited that Chad was interested at all with Star Wars. 

“So what’s happening now is order 66, Emperor Palpatine already took control of the Galactic Republic, and now he’s using the clones they used during the Clone Wars to take out all the jedis. They have to also kill the padawans which is what Anakin is doing. That’s why they are all dying now, and Anakin Skywalker joined him to save his wife from dying from childbirth because Palpatine planted dreams in his head of Padme dying and Anakin didn’t want to lose anyone else. Mace Windu already fought Palpatine but now Yoda is  gonna fight Palpatine and then Obi-Wan is going to fight Anakin,” Ethan ranted, only breathing after finishing his explanation. However the whole time he noticed that Chad wasn’t quite paying attention to him, focusing on something else. Chad’s eyes were locked on his lips, and didn’t even look away when Ethan pursed his lips. 

“Chad? Are you okay?” Chad looked away from him, blinking like he was just snapped out of a daze. 

“I-I’m fine, it’s just… you have something on your mouth,” Ethan furrowed his eyebrows, trying to wipe the doritos dust away. Chad shook his head, scooching over to Ethan. He brushed his finger over Ethan’s mouth, before rubbing away the dust from the side of Ethan’s lip. Ethan felt his heartbeat quicken, and his hands felt sweaty all of the sudden. 

“Are you actually a virgin?” Chad mumbled, his fingers still on Ethan’s face. 

Before Ethan could respond, Chad continued. “Only because I… only because I remembered you saying you were going to die a virgin.” 

“I wasn’t lying, I never… done anything like that..” Ethan said, refusing to look Chad in the eyes. He never cared much about it before, but it felt weirdly embarrassing saying it out loud. 

“Is it because, um,  you don’t want to?” Chad asked, the red light from the screen reflecting onto his face. 

“No, not really.” 

Ethan’s eyebrows stayed raised, still not understanding why his non-existent sex life would be the topic of the conversation…ever. Ethan doesn’t much care about his virginity, or the fact he hasn’t ever come close to losing it. He’s only been attracted to a small number of people in his life; and usually not for long. Besides Chad, unfortunately. 

“Why?”

“You say ‘why’ as if it's incredibly easy to have sex with someone. Only someone like you would say something like that.” Ethan answered. Someone like Chad, who has a dashing smile, a football player, likable, charming, great abs, of course it’d be expected for him to find someone who would want to have sex with him. Ethan wanted to turn away from Chad, but Chad’s fingers kept his face locked in place. Chad smiled gently, rubbing his other thumb on Ethan’s leg.  

“Someone like me?”

“Attractive, alpha gym bro that everyone likes. You can be the most awkward person on campus and people would still want to raw dog you, you beautiful, attractive, you. I’m the tag along friend people tolerate so they can hang around you.” 

“Hey, you know that’s not true,” Ethan rolled his eyes and pulled his face away until Chad forcibly grabbed Ethan’s arms and pulled him towards himself. 

“I’m serious. They all like you, they’re just getting used to you. If it wasn’t for this new Ghostface uprising-”

“Which they think is me-”

“Just give them a chance. Anika and Tara like you, the others just need more time. Everyone has trust issues since… well you know who. Nobody is safe anymore.” Quickly changing the topic to something less panic-inducing, Ethan continued the conversation from before. 

“You really hurt me, Chad. Walking in here with women and rearranging their guts in the room right next to mine. I had to buy noise canceling headphones.”

“I can’t believe you are actually a virgin.  I almost don’t believe you. You’re smart, chicks dig that. You’re cute and you like all this dorky shit. There’s probably some kink on reddit specifically for you,” 

“I mean… I never really been approached by anyone before, y’know like at a party or something? You’re just biased because I’m your friend. I’m the most basic looking boy on campus.” Ethan has accepted a long time ago that he wasn’t attractive to most people. He wasn’t anything like Chad and he simply didn’t have the personality to make up for it.   

“Shit, are you serious? You’re a fucking snack. Wait, not a snack, a full Sunday evening meal. An all-you-can-eat buffet,” Ethan blushed, trying not to smile at Chad. 

Chad sighed, seeming to be fighting himself because every few seconds he would fidget, lifting his hand and putting it back down.

Before Ethan realized it, Chad’s hand was back on his cheek, warm and soft, and his breath was fanning across Ethan’s face. 

Butterflies fluttered in Ethan’s stomach, like they do in the stupid romcoms Chad likes to watch and desire hit him like a train. He wanted to lean in, he wanted to satisfy his curiosities. Would Chad kiss him slow and deep, like he’s trying to breathe him in? Or was he rough and demanding, sucking Ethan’s tongue in his mouth, biting his lip until it bleeds?

“Those people are idiots for not wanting you, Ethan.” Chad whispered in his ear, as if him and Ethan weren’t the only people in the dorm. It felt right that he whispered, because it felt like the moment would break at any second.

Ethan let out a tiny gasp when Chad used his other hand to circle his thumb on his thigh. Ethan knew he should have backed away at this moment, he was getting far too invested. 

He was already too close to Chad, even more close then the average person would be. But Chad was like a tide that pulls you in. No matter how hard you fight, you’ll be dragged further and further into the deep waters until you inevitably drown to the depths of the sea. The more he foolishly attaches himself to Chad, the more he drowns. He knows this. He tells himself this almost every night. The fury he feels whenever Chad so much as glances at Tara, the need to constantly be taking up space next to him, the pride he feels when he makes him laugh or smile. He’s been drowning ever since he met him. To kiss Chad, or even worse, sleep with him, would be willingly swimming further into the sea, leaving  all reason or thought behind him at the shore. 

Chad, not being able to hold back, brushed his lips over Ethan’s jaw and then to his neck, shocking Ethan out of his head like electricity. Ethan clenched his fists together, unsure of what to do. Words were lost on Ethan and, against his better judgment, with his father and his dead brother screeching that Chad was an accomplice in Richie’s death, he planted his lips onto Chad. 

It was the best impulsive decision he ever made. 

Chad’s lips were full and soft, and Ethan instantly wrapped his hands around Chad’s neck. Chad immediately took the lead in the kiss, pulling him in close, caressing his hip. Everything felt right. All his anxieties, all his anger and his fears, faded out of existence the second  he kissed Chad. The way their lips seemed to slot so perfectly together made the world seem to slow, the air around them growing still. Nothing else mattered in that moment but them. Ethan wasn’t nearly as experienced as Chad was, but he managed to keep up with him until Chad pulled Ethan’s jaw down gently with his hand and dove deeper into Ethan’s open mouth. His lips were firm and unwavering, not giving up his dominance in the kiss. Chad took from him, over and over and over again, and Ethan let him steal all the oxygen he had left in his chest. 

When Ethan finally parted from Chad, both trying to catch their breath, he had a good 5 seconds to breathe before Chad moved in to attack his neck with kisses. He sucked the skin into the mouth, rapidly marking up his pale neck with bruises. It’s like he wanted to mark up Ethan for everyone to see, so everyone knows who Ethan belonged to. Chad didn’t have to do that. Ethan would carve Chad’s name into his skin if he had to. 

Ethan shivered, goosebumps rising on his skin. Chad started to lightly nip his neck, before soothing it with his lips.

Chad was relentless, alternating between nipping, sucking, and licking until Ethan had to cover his mouth (to avoid any embarrassing noises to come out) but Chad roughly ripped his hand off his mouth and placed it on the couch. Chad groaned low and deep as Ethan gripped his fingers in his hair, not letting go until Ethan’s neck was covered with his teeth marks and bruises.

The next time they kissed, Chad easily lifted Ethan into his lap, and Ethan yelped in surprise. A small and genuine smile showed on his face, so small that only Ethan was close enough to see it, as he traced Ethan’s bottom lip, like he was touching the petal of a flower. Like magnets they came together but this time the kiss was more desperate and filthy, Chad biting Ethan’s lip for entrance and Ethan wanting more with every slide of their tongues. They ravaged each other like animals, and Ethan felt the growing bulge in Chad’s pants tighten even more as they kissed. Ethan’s own pants were getting tight, and it felt like it would burst at any moment. He wanted more from Chad, so much more than what they were doing.  

“You don’t know how long I’ve been wanting to do that,” He murmured, repeatedly pressing small chaste kisses on Ethan’s bitten lips. Ethan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, his mind clearing up from the haziness. Chad made it clear he had a crush on Tara, and those two made perfect sense. Tara’s mouth-dropping beauty with Chad’s handsomeness. Of course Chad would love her, Tara was beloved by practically everyone, even Amber wanted her, from what he heard from Mindy and the others. Maybe Ethan would have liked her too. If she wasn’t Sam’s sister or wasn’t the object of his crush’s affection, or he wasn’t Ghostface. But it didn’t work out that way and Ethan had to recollect on his goals until he did something to Tara before his father was ready. 

Perfect, dumb little Tara, who somehow managed to survive and even kill one of the ghostfaces. Ethan didn’t see it in her, that killing instinct, that primal rage to protect herself and those she loved. His fury burned in Ethan’s core, the thought that after this Chad would go back to pretending they were only roommates, best buds at most. Chad will go and eventually date Tara, it was inevitable. 

A dark thought passed in his mind; unless Tara doesn’t live long enough for Chad to make a move. 

It would be so satisfying, so thrilling to chase her down until she’s hysterical, tears running down her pretty, clear face. Maybe he’d purposely make her inevitable death slower, stabbing her with a dull knife in non vital areas; watching crimson spill across her olive skin and onto the ground below her. He envisioned her scream would be piercing and loud, and she would try to run even faster. Ethan would get his revenge and hold her down, the knife mere millimeters above her neck. She would kick, push, and writhe beneath him but she would fail to escape. Ethan would tear into her throat until her screaming died down to bloody gurgles. He’ll watch as she grabs her throat and desperately tries to keep the blood from escaping her artery. To watch her desperate attempts to intake air and her filling her lungs with the blood she fought so hard to keep from escaping. He wanted to laugh at the thought of it.

Chad would try desperately to save her, but she’ll be long gone. The only one left would be… Ethan. He may never know, but maybe he should. How rich Chad’s pain would be. Maybe Ethan would etch his name into her skin before she dies, blood pouring out her wounds. Chad would know that the man he fucked, the man he kissed and made out with, the man who hung around him every day, was the man that led to his crush’s brutal death. Nothing he could do could bring her back, the thought was so desirable Ethan could feel it down to his fingertips, as if it happened already. 

Ethan tried to participate in the kiss as much as he could, but the huge smile on his face ruined that for him. 

“Stop it you dork!” Chad pressed a playful kiss on Ethan’s cheek, making him laugh even more. If only he knew what Ethan was thinking about, he wouldn’t be so amused by it. 

Ethan’s smile grew wider, almost ear to ear, and he hiked up Chad’s shirt with his hands. He felt Chad's chest, curiously feeling the groves of his muscles.  

Chad throws his head back, moaning softly as Ethan drags his nails down Chad’s chest. Chad moans Ethan’s name in his ear, like Ethan was some higher power. But perhaps he is, any second he could stab Chad through the chest, splattering his blood on his face like art. He holds his life a risky balance between life or death that could easily tip the scales one side over the other. 

Chad holds Ethan under his thighs and stands up, lifting Ethan with him. He walks towards his bedroom, chuckling when Ethan grips his neck so tight that Chad almost can’t breathe. He finally lets Ethan down when they make it to the room, laughing even more when Ethan stumbles a bit after. 

“Uh, Chad?” Chad stopped mid-way pulling off his shirt, pulling it back down. 

“Yes, Ethan?” Ethan was staring at the floor, fidgeting with his hands. A smile grew on Chad’s face when he realized Ethan was nervous. Ethan was so endearing, he was like breathing fresh air in the South after breathing polluted new york air for years. Chad softly grabbed Ethan’s hand, squeezing slightly for comfort. 

“You have nothing to be nervous about, you were doing just fine before,” Chad continued, brushing Ethan’s curly hair away from his forehead. “You have nothing to worry about, I’ll take care of you, okay?” 

Ethan looked back up to Chad, his eyes bright and twinkling. “Okay.” 

Chad quickly ripped his shirt over his head and threw it over his shoulder, and smirked a bit when Ethan’s mouth hung open a bit.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that.” Ethan mumbled under his breath, gliding his hands across Chad’s rippling arms. “ Shit, It’s like you were personally crafted by a greek god or something,”

It's not like Ethan has never seen Chad shirtless before, he definitely has on multiple occasions, especially since Chad makes a point to never sleep with a shirt on, no matter how cold it is in his room. But now it felt different, especially since he just spent multiple minutes making out with Chad not too long before. It felt more personal, like he was finally seeing something he was forbidden to look at before. 

Chad softly pushed Ethan on to the bed and crawled over him, watching as the blush on his cheeks traveled down beneath his shirt. 

Chad ran a hand through Ethan’s hair again, messing up his curls even more then before. Ethan sighed softly, contently closing his eyes. 

“You… Fuck, you have no idea how much I want you,” Ethan’s owlish brown eyes shot open, taunting him with every blink. Chad wanted to wreck him to the point of tears, until he’s screaming out Chad’s name for everyone to hear. 

Ethan was always desirable, ever since he first showed up at Chad’s door, shy and wondering whether he got the right place. Sometimes when he smiled a small dimple would show, or he would fall asleep on Chad’s shoulder, snoring gently, calm and peaceful. Chad always liked Tara more than Ethan, but at this moment he wasn’t sure what-or who- he wanted. It was so easy to think of Ethan just as a friend or a roommate, but how could he see Ethan like that after seeing what his lips looked like after being kissed?

 How can he go back to normal with the noises of Ethan’s whines tattooed onto his brain?

To repeat, Ethan was always cute. But when he’s like this; looking up at him with a captured innocence only Ethan could put up, his lips a dark red from being tormented by Chad, his hair messy from Chad running his hands through it, Ethan looked beautiful. He looked so beautiful that Chad didn’t even know what he wanted to do with him. All he knew was he wanted to take care of him, he wanted him to feel good. 

“Please stop staring at me and do something about it,” Chad laughed at Ethan’s bluntness and got a pillow thrown at his face. Ethan couldn’t help but laugh with him, a real genuine laugh escaping from his rose-colored lips.

Ethan probably thought that Chad didn’t realize but he knew that Ethan has been distracted lately. He’s been far more quiet and his smiles look way too fake, like someone painted it on his face. He’s been acting like his mind was trapped in another dimension, not quite being with him even when he’s paying attention. Chad knows he’s probably scared shitless from the ghostface killings, perhaps he’s scared someone will hurt him too. A wave of protectiveness washed over Chad and he wanted even more to see Ethan naked, to see him exposed for only him to see, to look him in the eyes and tell him he’s protected and loved and nothing bad will ever come to him as long as he’s by Chad’s side. But first, he had to make sure of one thing. 

“Ethan, are you sure you want this? We don’t have to if you don’t-.” Ethan sat up a bit, so he was close enough to Chad to feel his breaths on his skin. Ethan quickly slapped a hand over Chad’s mouth before he could finish.

“I don’t think I ever wanted so badly since the lego star wars game was released,” Ethan said, slowly dropping his hand away from Chad’s mouth. Of course he would say that. Chad rolled his eyes and was about to pull Ethan’s shirt over his head, until Ethan stopped him, his panic making his smile drop instantly.

“What’s wrong, did you change your mind?” Ethan determinedly stared at his lap, his hands tightly clenched in fists. 

“No. I just can't take off my shirt.” A thousand thoughts ran through Chad’s mind. The first thing that came up was insecurity, technically Chad never saw Ethan’s shirt off, maybe Ethan actively didn’t want him to?

“Why?” Ethan’s eyes darkened. 

“I just can’t, can we move the fuck on?” Chad's eyes widened a bit in shock at Ethan’s hostile tone. What the fuck is happening?

“You know I won’t judge you.” Ethan kept his eyes locked on his lap, ignoring what Chad was saying. Frowning, Chad lifted Ethan’s head so he could look him in the eyes. 

“Do you trust me?” Are you willing to show parts of yourself that you like to keep hidden, even from the ones you love? 

“Maybe.”  Ethan responded, hurt passing across Chad’s face. 

“I’m serious.”

“...yes.” Ethan responded again, looking Chad in the eyes. 

“Then trust me that I would never make fun of you, or whatever else you’re scared of.” Ethan cursed under his breath and nodded, raising his arms over his head. Afraid of scaring him off, Chad made slow movements taking off Ethan’s shirt, giving Ethan enough time to push him off if needed. 

Once the shirt was off, Chad understood what Ethan was so afraid of showing. Scars, burn marks or basic piercing wounds littered around his torso, some way bigger than others. Chad desperately looked back in his memory if Ethan ever mentioned anyone abusive or any incidents but came up blank. Believing that Chad was judging his scars, Ethan let out a sad, watery laugh and was about to grab his shirt, until Chad traced one particularly large scar, from shoulder down to the middle of his chest, with the tip of his finger.

“You… you still look beautiful to me. Nothing changed,” Ethan nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. 

Chad had to hold back from interrogating Ethan, knowing it probably wouldn’t end well with how defensive he was not too long ago. But shit he wanted too. He wanted to know who it was so he could beat the shit out of them until they were black and blue, until they were begging him to stop. The mental image of Ethan being abused is like adding wood to the fiery protectiveness he already harbored over the man. 

Pushing that down, Chad pushed Ethan back down to the pillows, and started kissing his way up his chest. His fingers softly passed over his scars, wanting to explore and kiss them, but aware that Ethan wouldn’t appreciate it. 

Ethan cries out when Chad’s mouth circles around one nipple, abusing it with his teeth as he stroked the skin on the other side. 

“Pl-please don’t stop.” Chad chuckled, moving on to the other and doing the exact same thing. Ethan’s moans increased in volume the longer it went on, and eventually he started bucking upwards towards Chad. Chad grunted, putting a knee between his thighs. Ethan rolled his hips towards his knee, desperate for any friction to comfort his straining cock.

“You’re so responsive.” Chad mumbled on Ethan’s chest, forcibly holding his hips down with his hand. Ethan huffed out a breath, looking up at the ceiling that somehow became interesting all of the sudden. 

Ethan gripped Chad’s hair again, as Chad licked broad stripes up Ethan’s chest. Turned on but also unsatisfied with being so easily held down by Chad, Ethan whined, shaking Chad’s shoulder with his hand.  

“I want more, come on Chad, please.” When Chad looked up Ethan was pouting, his bottom lip slightly sticking out. Chad couldn’t help himself and moved back up to his lips, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth. Ethan moaned deeply, wrapped his hands tightly around Chad’s neck. Before Chad could get too excited he pulled away, smiling down at a simmering, angry Ethan. 

“Isn’t there some great saying? How does it go again? Oh right!  good things come to those who wait,” Chad responded, receiving one of Ethan’s very rare death glares. 

“You know I’ll literally kill you right?”

“No you won’t, what are you going to do without my big muscles keeping you company?”

“There will always be people with muscles on a college campus,”

“But none like me.” A look flashed in Ethan’s eyes that he didn’t recognize but it quickly passed before he could think about it too much. 

Taking this as an opportunity, Chad took the time to peel off Ethan’s shorts, leaving only his underwear on. He was so tempted to give Ethan exactly what he wanted, to spoil him rotten but another part of him wanted Ethan to beg for release, to hear all the desperate cries and screams fall out of Ethan’s lips. It was too tempting to deny himself. 

“Shit yes, finally,” Ethan moaned as Chad mouths at Ethan’s dick through his underwear, roughly holding Ethan’s hips when he tries to buck up to his mouth. Ethan fisted his hand in Chad’s sheets, delightfully aroused but painfully frustrated.

Chad kept his eyes focused on Ethan’s underwear, stroking the top of his thighs in what hopes was comfort. “Baby I need a favor from you,” 

“Yes, anything” Ethan rasped out. “I’ll do anything.” I’ll kill for you, I’ll stab and slice and maim and mutilate if you even breathe the words.

“Lift your hips up for me, and keep them lifted, okay?” Ethan nodded repeatedly, following Chad’s directions. Chad teasingly pulled his underwear off, the coldness of the air making Ethan whine a little bit. Then Chad quickly put a pillow below Ethan’s hips, making it easier for himself and Ethan. 

Ethan’s dick was hard and attentive, pre-cum leaking out of the tip and rolling down the shaft. His cock was not as thick or as long as Chad, but the perfect size, making up for the lack of width for length. It was the prettiest cock Chad has ever seen. Chad couldn’t help himself and kissed the tip of his cock. His reaction was immediate, him crying out for Chad, his fists in the sheets making the sheets rip. 

Ethan resorted to begging now, unable to move due to the tight grip Chad had on his hips. He so badly wanted Chad’s lips around him, but Chad teased him, popping the head in his mouth and quickly retreating afterward. Tears started to fill up in Ethan’s eyes, to Ethan’s embarrassment. 

“Chad, C-Chad, Chad I need you. I want you s-so badly,” Ethan sobbed, his voice cracking on some of the words. Chad pecked him on the lips once again, wiping the tears with the pad of his thumb.

“I know, I got you, just let me take care of you okay?” Chad whispered into Ethan’s ear. It was no surprise that Ethan was a pretty crier, his face was slightly flushed and his eyelashes were long and wet from his tears. He took deep breaths every now and then like he was calming himself down, but it was obvious that nothing was working. The pleasure of knowing he was almost getting what he wanted, but being teased with it is slowly driving Ethan even further down the rabbit hole of madness.

Chad loved seeing the neediness on Ethan’s face, there was nothing more fun more than watching Ethan beg and submit for him. His normal demeanor was crumbling, his thighs trembling so hard it was shaking. Ethan had no idea how badly Chad was holding back from devouring Ethan then and there but he wanted to make his first time with Ethan to be so special that he would never ever forget it. He wanted whoever had the pleasure to fuck Ethan after him, that Chad had him first. If Ghostface teleports in the room and stabs him to death, he’ll always have Ethan before anyone else. Nobody could change that, no matter what happens. He was going to have Ethan all to himself, and he just couldn’t wait.

Ethan let out a quiet whimper, bringing Chad back to reality, seeing the boy still squirming under him. Chad decided to mess with him, wanting to see just how riled he could get him; just to have some fun. He ran his fingers ever so slightly against Ethan’s thigh, slowly climbing towards his crotch but never fully touching him. Ethan’s reaction was definitely worth it.

“Chad p-please . . .” Ethan whimpered quietly, hoping Chad would have some pity on him and give him what he wants. 

“Hm? What is it, sweet boy? Is there something that you need?” Chad knew exactly what it was that he wanted, he wasn’t that dumb. It was just so fun egging him on, there’s just something so satisfying about seeing him all submissive and just sink into the sheets. 

“I need, I-I want you to-” Chad took the opportunity to lick the underside of his cock, feeling Ethan’s cock slightly twitch at the feeling. Ethan squeezed his eyes shut, painfully gripping his curly, brown locks. 

Chad presses small kiss to his thighs, and one last kiss at his ankle “You act as if you were never touched before,” 

“The only person who has ever touched me was myself,” Ethan admitted, and Chad couldn’t possibly fathom how Ethan’s face managed to get redder. 

While talking, Chad wrapped his hand around Ethan’s cock and started pumping him up and down. Ethan bit his lip, rolling his hips with the strokes. 

“Oh? What do you think about when you’re jacking off?” Ethan doesn’t respond until Chad stops his movements, making Ethan whine but not relenting his firm grip. 

“I-I think about you. Every time, I’ve only thought about you.” Chad mentally paused and had to take a deep breath before he embarrassingly orgasmed purely from words. The mental image in his mind, Ethan on his bed, or even on Chad’s bed, pumping up and down with his hand, moaning behind his hand so nobody would hear. 

“You have no idea what you do to me, Ethan.” Ethan smiled lopsided, eyes twinkling beautifully at Chad. 

“Keep your pretty eyes on me or I’ll stop,” Chad ordered. 

Chad let go of Ethan’s dick, making sure their eyes were locked together, and sucked on the head again. This time he wasn’t teasing, and slowly went deeper and deeper down Ethan’s cock. While he didn’t have much experience with blow jobs, mostly used to being the receiver then the giver, he managed to remember what felt good from all the women and men and applied it to Ethan. He stroked the parts of Ethan’s dick he couldn’t reach with his mouth, and occasionally played with his balls. 

Whatever he was doing was working, because Ethan was definitely a loud one, not that Chad minded. Curses and moans fell out of Ethan’s mouth like water and any embarrassment he had before about his noises were long gone now. All the blood rushed towards Chad’s dick, as if he wasn’t already painfully hard before, and he had to start stroking himself as well. 

Chad groaned and the vibration made Ethan jump, throwing his head back against the pillows. 

Chad immediately stopped and Ethan shot back up, looking Chad back in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to,” Chad smirked,  partly feeling bad how much he tortured this beautiful boy, but he mostly feels elated that Ethan was even more submissive than he  originally thought. 

“Hope you don’t do it again, or you might have to deal with that erection yourself.” Chad knew it was bullshit, but it's enough that Ethan believes him. Ethan nodded enthusiastically, staring down at Chad with huge bambi eyes.  

He kissed the head of Ethan’s pink and flushed cock and took him as deep as he could go. Ethan gasped, writhing from under him but not looking away. Heat pooled in both Ethan and Chad’s groins, and they both felt like supernovas were exploding under their skin. Not too long after, Ethan’s moans started to become more desperate, eventually moving his hips with the rhythm. Similarly, Chad was moaning around Ethan’s cock, the vibrations deep from his throat.     

Chad felt the familiar feeling of an orgasm approaching, his heart thumping against his chest, the world blurring out and becoming static-y, and pleasurable shocks traveling out throughout his whole body like electricity.  Immediately he pulled away from Ethan, and hesitantly removed his hand from his cock. 

Chad stood up, moving away from Ethan and walking towards the dresser.“b What? Chad, please nononono-” Chad kneeled over Ethan and brushed his lips over Ethan’s chest and neck.

“I know baby, you did so good for me,” A tear started to roll down Ethan’s face as he rolled his hips up to nothing. “You’ll have to wait a little bit longer, but it’ll be so worth it in the end,”

Chad rummaged through his drawer, pulling out the bottle of lube he always had stored there. He popped open the bottle, pouring a generous amount on his fingers, refusing to hurt Ethan in the slightest. He would never  forgive himself if he hurt Ethan. Ethan felt too precious, especially right now, to hurt.   

He patted Ethan’s knee with the back of his hand and immediately Ethan opened his legs wider. 

“This is gonna feel weird at first, but it’ll feel good eventually, okay?”

“Okay.” Ethan whispered. Chad winked playfully and Ethan responded with a nervous laugh. Chad smeared his lubed up finger around Ethan’s puckered up hole, and Ethan jumped away in shock. The sensation felt weird to Ethan, since he was never touched there in his life. Chad attempted to push the finger in, but Ethan was tight and inexperienced and on top of that, incredibly tense. 

“Baby, I need you to relax for me,”  Ethan took long deep breaths, closing his eyes, attempting to relax. Chad held Ethan’s smaller hands in his, rubbing his thumb across his knuckles. 

“You’re doing so good, love,” Chad finally was able to push his finger in, up to the first knuckle and watched Ethan for any signs of pain. 

“Are you feeling okay?” Ethan nodded, giving him a thumbs up. Chad felt a pang in his chest at how adorable Ethan truly is, and continued to thrust his finger in and out, Ethan’s tight hole sucking his fingers in. Chad licked his lips at the thought of his cock fitting in, when his finger was enveloped by the warm heat.. Ethan luckily didn’t look like he was in much pain, only letting out a whimper when Chad drags the pad of his fingers in his hole. Ethan almost looked like he was ripped out a porn star ad, legs wide open, eyes darkened with lust, mouth red and bruised. He looks so fucking wrecked, and he didn’t even get inside him yet. 

Chad eventually joined another finger with the one before and that’s when Ethan’s face started to pinch. His legs instinctively tried to close, but Chad kept one leg open with his hand. He started scissoring his fingers, trying to open him up as much as he could. 

“Shit Ethan, it's like you were made for this, made for taking cock,” Chad whispered, mesmerized at how tight Ethan truly was. A lewd thought popped in his mind. 

“Have you ever fingered yourself, Ethan?” Ethan threw his arm over his eyes, chewing his bottom lip. 

“This is embarrassing.”

“Have you?”

“I tried, but I-I didn’t know how to- how to do it and I wanted you to do it,” Ethan stuttered, and Chad had too strain to hear what he was saying. Ethan fingering himself was a thought he didn’t need to hear when he was already resisting the urge to take his fingers out and thrust inside him, unprepared and all. 

 He never thought he would ever want Ethan so badly, not in his life, but now he can’t imagine a world without wanting Ethan. Ethan was a part of him that he’ll never be able to take away, no matter what he has done. 

Deciding that Ethan was relaxed enough, he lubed up all three fingers one more time before thrusting them back into Ethan. Ethan couldn’t quite handle it this time and whimpered in pain, biting his lip until he broke the skin. 

With a bit of desperation, Chad thrusted in different angles determined to find the spot that would shoot pleasure in Ethan. Ethan started to squirm a bit more than before and Chad knew that it wasn’t comfortable for him. 

“You’re being such a good boy to me, you know that right? You look so fucking perfect baby. You take my fingers so well,” Chad praised, kissing whatever skin he could reach. Ethan squeezed back at the hand still holding it from earlier on, and kept breathing through his nose. 

Suddenly, Ethan jolted, pushing back into his fingers. Chad let out a sigh of relief, making a point of brushing past his prostate every, single, time, anything to hear the beautiful sounds escaping from him. 

Ethan looked embarrassed, as the noises coming from his mouth became louder and louder with no way of him controlling it, but he had no idea how attractive this was to Chad. How much self-restraint he had. 

Chad continued to torment that spot, brushing past it or going slow and putting pressure on it. Ethan continued to thrust his hips onto that finger, chasing his own pleasure for himself. 

“Your fingers are so much longer and- shit Chad! t-thicker than mine,” Ethan blurted out. The feeling of Chad’s fingers deep inside him, there were no words Ethan could use to describe it. 

He felt like crying, screaming, sobbing, and moaning all at once, with no idea which one he should do. He never felt so much stimulation in his life, and only really attempted to finger himself once or twice since he met Chad. 

Chad kissed up from Ethan’s belly button to the top of his chest. Ethan arched his back, wanting more attention but also feeling like he had too much. He felt overwhelmed in a way he never, ever experienced before. 

The contrast to Chad’s fingers deep inside him, pressing against that pleasure spot every time to Chad’s torment to his nipples caught Ethan off guard, and he let out noises that he’ll probably regret in the morning. 

Chad licked his way into Ethan’s mouth, and with some experience Ethan and Chad’s tongues fought for dominance, with Chad dominating it again. It was softer and gentler than the other kisses, almost as if he was trying to give Ethan a break. 

Ethan snatched the hand that Chad was using to prep him, and sucked on the digits, keeping eye contact. Chad froze in place, feeling Ethan’s tongue swirl around his fingers. A small squelching sound happens that sends shock waves straight to his cock. 

It was downright filthy, and it was even more shocking coming from Ethan. 

“Shit, you just like- damn Ethan”  Chad whispered in awe, slowly pulling his fingers away, with a small nip at the tips. 

“Chad, I want more, don’t you want to please me?” Ethan asked, tilting his head to the side, wiping the blood off his lips. He looked downright sinful and Chad was not strong enough to wait any longer. 

Chad, believing that he was ready, poured more lube on his hand, lubing up his cock as quickly as possible, desperate to be inside Ethan. Ethan stared at him with huge eyes, before staring at his cock inquisitively. 

“What if it doesn’t-”

“It’s gonna fit, I promise,” Ethan calms a bit from his high, raising an eyebrow . 

“Dude how the fuck are you carrying that shit around you every day? It looks like it brings you down,” Chad smacked his ass, and Ethan jumped in surprise. 

“S-so rude, Chad. After all we've been through together? Shame, shame-” Chad pressed a quick kiss to Ethan’s lips, his neck, and the palm of his hand, silencing Ethan immediately. 

“You look gorgeous.” Chad whispered, brushing his lips over his ear. Chad grabbed the base of his cock, rubbing the head across Ethan’s entrance. Ethan let out a strangled moan, trying to sit up and see what’s going on, but Chad pushes him back down. 

He pushed in until his head popped through immediately checking back in with Ethan. 

“You’re so big, Chad, you’re going to split me in half,” Ethan went to pull his pillow over his eyes, but Chad pushed it away, interlocking their hands. 

“I know, I know but you’re almost there.” Chad peppered his face with kisses as Ethan adjusted to the size. A few tears rolled down Ethan’s face and guilt filled Chad’s entire being. 

“Ethan, I’m so sorry  -”

“If you stop Chad, I’ll genuinely strangle you in your sleep. Just give me a second,”

“I think you ruined me for everyone else,” Chad admitted. Ethan blushed, not quite believing him but wanting to believe he was being honest
. He knows this is all temporary, Chad will forget about him and focus on Tara. He’ll ignore Ethan for a little while and move on with his life. Fuck someone more experienced and more alluring then Ethan is. The thought brings a sting in his eyes, but he manages to hold it back.

 Despite all his doubts, Chad looks at him with awe and wonder, like he just caught sight of an angel on earth. Oh how wrong that sentence was. 

But knowing that, even if it’s only in a moment of passion, Chad thought he was beautiful and perfect helped him ignore the painful pang in his heart. 

Chad started to push his way deeper inside Ethan, until he was finally sheathed in. Ethan’s hands tightened around Chad’s, sobbing out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. Chad praised him, telling how good he was, how beautiful and irresistible he was, anything to distract Ethan from the searing pain of Chad’s cock fully in. It felt so deep in him, that everytime he breathed he felt it, felt even the tiniest of movements from Chad.

Soon enough the pain dulled to a bearable throb and he nodded at Chad to continue. 

Chad pulled out, only until the tip was left inside and then slammed back in, jolting Ethan upwards. He gripped Ethan’s hips so hard bruises would be left behind, and built up a brutal and fast rhythm. 

Chad, finally feeling Ethan’s tight hole around him, felt everything in his life click in place, like Ethan was the puzzle piece missing. 

Ethan started screaming so loud that the neighbors could like they were in the room themselves, when Chad thrusted at the right angle, slamming against his prostate. 

Ethan wrapped his legs around Chad’s waist, trying to get deeper and deeper every time. 

Ethan felt pleasure like it was running through his veins, creating a cloudy haze over his brain. He couldn’t think anymore, only feel as Chad slammed into Ethan repeatedly, creating an obscene slapping sound. 

Ethan felt like his brain was melting, wanting so badly for Chad to wreck him even more than he has before. He gripped the back of Chad’s head attempting to find words without slurring them around. 

“Harder,” Ethan demanded. Chad held back his surprise, but followed his orders, pushing Ethan’s legs onto his chest until he’s almost split in half. He pounded into Ethan, with none of the restraint he had before. 

He knew Ethan could handle it now, and went as far and as deep as he possibly could. Ethan moaned in pain as his neglected cock bounced between them, getting zero friction or relief in that area. It was painfully hard, still not recovering from the mind-exploding blow job Chad gave him earlier. 

“Chad, Chad it hurts” Ethan complained, running his nails down Chad’s back.

“You really are insatiable aren’t you? Such a filthy boy once something starts filling you up. Touch yourself, but don’t cum, not until I tell you to.”  Chad ordered. Ethan nodded, wrapping a hand around himself and pumping. It didn’t feel nearly as good as Chad’s hand, but it felt good enough. 

Ethan was so tense, and wired up, he knew he was close. 

Feeling pressure tight in his core, Chad pulled out, smirking at Ethan’s confused expression.

“Chad! Get inside me right now, my threats were fucking serious,” 

“I have an idea, be patient, darling,” Chad teased, laughing at Ethan’s death glare. It’s hard to be scared of someone with their legs wide open and their bottom lip poking out. 

Chad picked up a cowboy hat off the ground, placing it on his head, laughing harder when Ethan’s glare became ten times more pissed off. 

“There’s no way you just did that,” Ethan muttered, trying to resist a smile but failing. 

“In order to ride this ride you must be 5 '11, an adorable brunette, and weirdly attached to ranch flavored veggie straws. Do you qualify?” Ethan laughed again, a beautiful and airy sound, and slapped his arm lightly. 

Chad switched their positions, easily pulling Ethan on his lap. 

“If you want it, take it like the cock slut you are.” Chad demanded, softly caressing the small of Ethan’s back. 

 Before Ethan could lower himself down, he snatched the cowboy hat away from Chad, placing it on his own head. Ethan, feeling very amused with himself, tipped the hat forward, and lowered down on his cock. 

At first Chad had to help him, pushing Ethan up and down until Ethan caught the hang on it. Eventually, Ethan’s pace became far more rough then Chad thought it would be, and he rubbed his hands on Ethan’s thighs, which were already trembling from before. 

Sweat was rolling down Ethan’s chest, his thighs not used to the exercise. Chad groaned. watching how his dick disappeared in Ethan over and over again. 

Satisfied finally, Ethan eyes furrowed in concentration, slowly losing his rhythm the closer he gets to his orgasm. Chad helps Ethan out, wrapping his hand around his cock, jacking him off. It felt like a tight coil in his guts, the pressure becoming almost unbearable to Ethan. 

“Come on baby, you’re almost there, I got you. It’s ok to let go.” Ethan blissfully closes his eyes, wanting to follow every word coming out of Chad’s mouth.

When Ethan cums, his vision whites out and he slumps over, hooking his chin over Chad’s shoulder. Chad chased his orgasm, continuing to pound inside Ethan. 

“Shit, Chad!” Ethan wants to pull away, the pain starting to more heavily mix with the pain, until he couldn’t identify which is which. 

“Just a little longer, okay?” Ethan lets Chad thrust into him, lifting Ethan up and down with little effort. Ethan lets Chad control him, using him like a sex toy. It makes him build the strength to roll down with Chad, despite his muscles feeling like complete jelly at this point. 

“Chad?” Ethan puts his most innocent face he could muster, his curls covering a little bit over his eyes as he looked down at Chad. 

“Yeah, baby?”

Ethan leaned closer to his ear. “Will you be a good boy and cum for me?” Chad let out a string of curse words, Ethan’s dirty words tumbling him over the edge. Chad and Ethan paused for a second, elated but also extremely exhausted. 

Ethan melts onto Chad, his limbs feeling weightless and also useless. Ethan whines quietly when Chad walks away and comes back with wipes, cleaning up Ethan. Ethan lets him, eyes drooping closed but not wanting to sleep without Chad. 

“Wasn’t there some rule that you aren’t supposed to have sex in a horror movie?” Ethan jokes, as Chad cuts off the lights and lays down behind him. 

“Yeah, I think Mindy mentioned that before,”

“So basically we’re both dead,” Chad kisses a chaste kiss to his cheek, wrapping his arms around Ethan’s middle. 

“I won’t let Ghostface hurt you, not ever,” Chad responded, a humorous tone not present in his voice. Guilt crawled its way up Ethan’s throat, but he was far too gone to think hard enough about it now. He closes his eyes, feeling safe and protected in Chad’s arms. 

Chapter Text

Ethan loved it when his parents were out of town. 

He never listened much to what the reason for their absence was, but he honestly couldn’t care less. His parents only had Richie and Quinn to watch over him, so he might as well be watching over himself at this point. He’s pretty responsible overall, so it’s not really a problem, except he’s only 8 and there’s no way he’s following any of the guidelines his parents had set. Going to bed very late at night, eating junk food for meals, sometimes even skipping school. He knew his sister had favoritism towards him and wouldn’t tell his parents, and he also knew that Richie was too self-absorbed to care. 

Speaking of breaking the rules, his normal bed time was 8:30, but he was still reading comics at 12:05pm. Ethan felt a little giddy at not following the rules, cutting off the light and using his flashlight to read his X-men comic to not get caught (not that Richie would care if he was still awake). He unfortunately had to re-read this comic, because he didn’t raise enough money to buy any of the recent ones. He always had to save money for his comics, because his dad thought his fascination with comics was “ludicrous” (despite the fact that he’s been encouraging his oldest son's incredibly unhealthy obsession with stab movies for more than half a decade) and his mom wasn’t around enough to ask. Quinn sometimes lent Ethan some money, but she reasonably had to keep some for herself. Ethan didn’t blame her. 

He flipped the page, and felt his stomach loudly grumble. He hasn’t eaten since lunch because the food in the house ran out, and Richie spent all the money his parents gave him for the house on himself. Knowing that there is at least ice cream left in the fridge from his parents buying it a few days ago, Ethan slipped on his beloved fuzzy pokemon slippers and opened the door, softly closing it to avoid making any loud noises. 

He tiptoed down the hall, making sure to avoid the floorboards that were particularly squeaky. When he walked past Richie’s room, he noticed his lights were shut off and let out a soft breath. At least Richie is asleep and won’t bother me. 

Ethan, not wanting to risk anything, continued tip-toeing, stealthing across the house. Mid-way of walking down the stairs, his flashlight flickered off, rapidly encasing the staircase in darkness. 

Ethan started banging his flashlight against his hand, not feeling like walking all the way back to his room, but being way too scared to continue on without light. “Dang it! Will you turn on, you stupid freaking-”

Ethan suddenly felt a strange presence behind him, like he was being watched. Ethan turned and looked around, but couldn’t see anything due to the darkness surrounding him. Panicking a little,  Ethan banged his flashlight harder against his hand. 

Gratefully, it flashed back on again at one strong hit to his hand. Ethan gripped the handrail tightly, and continued down the stairs. He made it all the way to the kitchen, and opened the freezer, hearing the familiar hum from the machine. Ethan liked his lips in apprehension, practically imagining the frozen treat in his mouth. 

He grabbed the ice cream, a bowl, and a spoon and then started to scoop the chocolate frozen dessert in the bowl. 

He was going to just take the ice cream and go, but he remembered the several varieties of toppings his house had. Chocolate syrup, gummy bears, more chocolate chips, and probably more if he searched for it. 

Desperately wanting chocolate syrup but knowing it’s at the top shelf, Ethan decided to do the very stupid thing and climb up the counter. Luckily it was the first item on the shelf but-

Someone was grabbing his ankle.

 Ethan screamed looking down to see his annoying older brother smiling at him. Except, the smile felt different, far more sinister than Ethan ever saw. He showed practically all his teeth in his smile, and his grip on his ankle was tight. He should never be scared of family, family is the only people ensured not to hurt you. Or at least he thought that back then. But against all rationality, Ethan was terrified of his brother at that moment. 

With a strong yank from Richie, Ethan fell off the counter, and a pained scream tore through his throat when he landed on his foot wrong. 

“You know, Sidney, sneaking around at night is never safe. You never know who is lurking around.” Pain shot up his leg whenever he moved his foot, and tears started to well up in his eyes. Richie has hurt him before, but nothing as serious as a sprained (or broken) ankle. 

“I-I don’t know who that is, I’m Ethan.” Ethan clarified, tears rolling down his cheeks now. He wanted his mom or Quinn or his father. Anyone but Richie. Ethan felt his heart quicken when Richie’s smile slowly dissolved into a frown. He said something wrong, but he didn’t understand what. 

Richie pulled him back up to his feet by his hair, pulling his head backwards at a painful angle. 

“Are you fucking telling me that all those times you been watching the movies you don’t remember the main fucking protagonist? My own pathetic excuse for a brother?” Ethan cries turned into loud sobs now, the pain from Richie’s grip and his ankle combining together in a horrible combination. 

“I’m sorry, I just wanted ice cream-” Richie let go of his hair to backhand him across the face. He felt his tooth move and tasted blood as it welled up in his mouth, tasting like iron. Richie made a point of throwing the ice cream bowl on the floor, making it shatter to a million pieces. Ethan couldn’t- didn’t understand what was going on. Why was Richie so mad?

“Do you think I care about the fucking ice cream? My own brother is missing out on the movies! We have to change that, don't we?” The smile creeped back on his face and Ethan never felt less safe in his life.

“I don’t want to watch the movies, I want you to leave me alone.”

“YOU FUCKING WILL AND YOU WILL LIKE IT YOU STUPID RUNT!” Ethan let out another scream when Richie grabbed him by his hair and threw him on the ground, jolting his ankle even more.

“Let’s play a game. You like games don’t you?” Ethan’s whole body was shaking, as he tried to slowly back away from his lunatic brother. 

“Richie, pl-please stop, I’m beg-begging you.” Ethan used the wall as a leverage to lift himself up, leaning on his non-injured leg.

“Do you like scary movies then?” Richie grabbed a large knife out of the kitchen drawer, light glistening off the knife in a sinister fashion. 

Scared for his life now, Ethan nodded, not being able to speak due to the sobs wracking his entire body. 

“Wrong answer, Sidney doesn’t like scary movies.” Richie progressed closer towards Ethan, pressing the knife to Ethan’s skin, pressing so strongly that blood seeped a bit out of Ethan’s neck. 

“One more wrong and you’re dead, Sidney! Isn’t that fun?” Ethan was going to die. He felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest, and his whole body was shaking violently. 

“Let’s do an easy one, for your first time… let me think…” Ethan's heart was caught in his throat. ‘First Time?’ as in… this will happen more than once?

“Who was Tatum Riley?” Ethan frowned, trying to think but feeling like any logic was racing past him, far too quick for him to understand. 

“Sh-she was… um, Ghostface’s girlfriend! Ghostface killed her.” Richie made a weird “aww” sound, pinching Ethan’s cheek. 

“So close! Which ghostface, be specific.”

“Um… um… St… no Billy! Billy was the one who killed her!” Richie sighed affectionately before frowning, hitting Ethan in the nose with the blunt of his knife. 

“Wrong fucking answer!” Richie yelled. Richie seemed weirdly excited for Ethan to lose. “Billy’s girlfriend is Sidney Presscott. However, you are correct about Billy killing her. Since you got it right, and I’m such a forgiving brother, I’ll give you 10 seconds.” Richie moved a few paces away from him.
 
“10 seconds for what?”

“10…” Realizing what’s happening, Ethan desperately looked around for some type of escape from his brother.

Get help from someone else in the house? No. That wouldn’t work. Nobody else was in the house but Richie and himself. His parents were in an entirely different state and his sister left to go to her boyfriend’s house a few hours ago. 

Hide?

But where?

Under his bed? Way too far away with an injured ankle. 

In the basement? Way too far and not enough hiding spaces. 

In a cabinet?  Richie was staring right at him, he’ll know.

He’s going to kill you. He knows where you’ll go, he’s chasing you for the fun of it. 

Everything is too far away. There’s nowhere he can go. He’s going to die. He’s injured, he can't run, he can't breathe, he’s going to die. His brother is going to wrap his hands around Ethan’s throat and squeeze until Ethan stops breathing permanently. Or he's gonna stab him until he’s painted Ethan's body and the ground below him with red. Nobody can save him.

Quinn isn’t here. His father isn’t here. His mother isn’t here. They won’t know, they won’t care, they won’t know-

“9…”  Ethan cried out, limping away from his brother. Blood dripped down Ethan’s nose onto the floor, creating a tiny trail of blood that follows him. 

“8…7…6…5…” 

He was counting faster. That’s not fair, why is he counting faster?

 Ethan made it to the door, and started to unlock it, suddenly angry that there were so many locks on the door. Ethan quickly unlocked them as fast as he could.

“4…3…” Ethan wanted to punch himself for not grabbing something to defend himself. He found a hiding spot, behind a thick tree. It was a lousy one, but it was the only place that was close enough. He kept a hand over his mouth, trying to make as little noise as possible.

“2…1… I’m coming for you Sidney!” 

All that was heard was the leaves of the tree rustling in the wind and his heart beat thumping loudly in his ears. He couldn’t understand why his brother would attack him, make up a stupid sick game just to hurt him. He knew Richie was insane, but his brain couldn’t even understand what was happening. Family wasn’t supposed to hurt family, didn’t Richie realize who he was attacking? His father nor his mother would stand for this, no matter how much favoritism Richie had over Ethan. Or maybe they would. They don’t care about you, Ethan. 

“This is so exciting! Isn’t this exciting?” Richie slammed the door loudly, like he wanted Ethan to know he was coming for him. 

“ Sidney… you sure are quiet aren’t you? You couldn’t have gone too far, I made sure of that. “ Ethan felt sick, he wanted to throw up. The pain in his ankle was starting to become excruciating, but he had to keep standing straight or Richie would see him. Ethan panicked the closer Richie got to him, trying to find any other escape routes. 

A large bush caught his eye that was not too far from the tree he was hiding behind. Hope sparking in his chest, he crawled on his knees, crawling as fast and quietly as possible. Richie was focused on a dumpster, a little bit further away from the tree. 

Small pebbles bit into his knees and hands as he-

“Got you, Sidney!” Richie yelled as he came up from behind. Ethan screamed, loud and piercing like nails on a chalkboard. Richie stabbed the back of Ethan’s uninjured leg, then twisted the knife in his leg. 

Richie then ripped the knife out of Ethan’s leg, staring oddly at the blood sliding down the knife. Richie wiped some of the blood off with a finger, pinching the blood between his fingers. 

“Game over, Sidney.” Richie yanked Ethan’s shoulder, making him face his soon-to-be killer. Ethan tried to crawl away again, but Richie slammed his foot on the leg with the stab wound.  

“Richie, I’m sorry I won’t do it again. I’ll watch the stab movies, I swear!” Ethan started to ramble, trying to still crawl away despite Richie repeatedly stomping on his stab wound every single time he moved. 

“Haven’t I been forgiving enough? The movie won’t work if I let you live, stupid boy.” Richie pressed the blade onto Ethan’s neck, slicing-

“ETHAN!”

Ethan quickly shot up with a gasp, shirt and face covered in sweat. His eyes weren’t looking at Chad, but through Chad, like his body was in the room but his mind was thousands of miles away. 

“Thank fuck you’re awake, for a second I didn’t think you would wake up.” Not quite registering his surroundings but still feeling the adrenaline pumping through his body, Ethan grabbed the pocket knife from the nightstand and pointed it at Chad. The only thing running through his brain, his heart, his lungs, and his veins is to survive. There’s a threat, someone is trying to kill you. 

“Ethan? Ethan, It’s just me.” Ethan was shaking violently, and Chad knew he could snatch the knife out of his hand any second, but he didn’t want Ethan to lash out and accidentally hurt Chad or himself. 

“Please-” Ethan’s voice cracked “Please, don’t hurt me.” 

Ethan’s lip was trembling, his eyes flooding with tears. “I don’t want to play your game.”

Chad kept his hands raised, but he wanted so badly to rush up to Ethan, to hold him in his arms, tell him nothing will ever hurt him again. 

“There’s no game here, you’re safe. I’m not who you think I am. I’m Chad, your best friend, and you’re Ethan. You’re in the college dorm, it’s the afternoon, and you just woke up from a nightmare. Whoever is in your nightmare, isn’t here.” Ethan blinked in recognition, his huge eyes staring at Chad. 

“Yeah you see? It’s just me. I will never hurt you.”  Ethan lowered the pocket knife slowly, like he wasn’t fully making his mind up on whether he wanted to or not. 

“Okay that’s good, you’re lowering it. Can I… can I hug you?” Ethan was breaking his heart. It felt like someone was actively squeezing his heart then stomping on it, and then ripping it apart. His eyes were lost and scared, darting across the room and onto Chad. He looked like prey, like someone was going to attack him at any second. His shaking and trembling didn’t stop, but finally he let the knife drop to the carpet floor. 

Ethan wrapped his arms himself, lip poking out and trembling. “I’m s-s-sorry.”

Chad kept his hands up the whole time and took small steps towards Ethan. Ethan started to back away from him at first but eventually stopped. 

“Are you okay? Wait no, stupid question I know you aren’t okay. Um, Give me two seconds, I’ll get you a cold rag and something to drink and you can tell me what happened, if that helps.” 

“You don’t have to-”.

“I’ll be right back.” Chad quickly flashed a smile at Ethan and kissed his cheek, wanting to leave him with a bit of comfort before leaving him.

Ethan smiled slightly to himself, gingerly holding the cheek that Chad kissed but not able to ignore the senseless panic he had deep in his body. 

These nightmares have been there with him ever since it happened, so as a kid he had a very hard time sleeping, because he’d always wake up screaming. Over time he learned to cope with it so the only people who know about it are Quinn and his dad. His dad said it was pathetic he was crying over “a joke” and told him to grow up. Quinn was far nicer about it, yelling at Richie afterward for “traumatizing” their little brother. He wished he could call her, someone who would understand, but it would be weird if he did. According to his friend group’s knowledge, he barely knows Quinn, and thus probably wouldn’t even have her number. 

Ethan traced the scar on the palm of his hand, feeling a tear start to escape his eye as he felt the smooth, raised skin of the scar. This scar was the fifth time Richie attacked him, when Ethan tried to defend himself and Richie stabbed him in the hand and slashed his chest. Blood was everywhere then, but when he was in the hospital, his father made up the excuse that Ethan got attacked by a raccoon. Yeah, right. 

“Hey so I got you chocolate milk, because who doesn’t love chocolate milk!“ Ethan chuckled, grabbing the batman mug with almost steady hands.

Chad sighed in relief as Ethan practically chugged the milk, wanting to soothe his burning throat. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“It was stupid, I don’t even remember what happened.” Chad held back the urge to roll his eyes, and softly grabbed Ethan’s hand, noticing the palm scar for the first time. 

“You don’t have to lie to me, you were having a panic attack. I know what that’s like.” Ethan wiggled his hand away from Chad, looking down at the cup. 

“How do you know what it's like?” 

“I was attacked by Ghostface, and so many people around me died. Ghostface wasn’t some stranger hunting us down, it was one of our own. I… I never thought Amber would hurt Tara or anyone. She was always so overprotective, it wouldn’t make sense for her to be the killer. She was barely on my suspect list until she shot my girlfriend in the head. Before that, she killed my best friend and his mom. She practically almost killed me and my sister too, if Sam and Liv didn’t come in at the right time. I couldn’t sleep well after that, I was so afraid something bad was going to happen. Every second, I was terrified that I would turn around and Ghostface would be in my closet, or the bathroom, or the kitchen. I used to walk around with a box cutter at all times. I didn’t think I would ever be okay after that. So yeah, I know what it’s like.” 

Ethan felt his composure starting to crumble again. 

Chad was pouring his heart out at the hardest time in his life, completely unaware that he’s talking to the very person reawakening his trauma, again. Ethan was betraying his trust. The longer he stayed around him, laughed at him, kissed him, he was leading Chad further down the rabbit hole. Ethan knew he would have to reveal who he is eventually, his father was not planning on complete anonymity, he already had a plan to dramatically unveil them in front of everyone before butchering them. 

Ethan wished he was never born to this fucked up family. He wanted to be normal, he wanted to be with Chad, he wanted to feel safe. He wanted a normal older brother. Maybe one he could read comics with or one who would teach him how to skateboard. He wanted to have friends that he could trust, that he could talk to. He didn’t want to avenge Richie, he hated him with every fiber in his being. 

He needed his father to love him. He needs his father to be proud of him. He needed his father to smile at him and tell him how much he loved him.      

Ethan held his face in his hands, sobbing into them. Ethan’s sobs wrote a song with no lyrics, a song of misery and anger and hopelessness. He was locked out of any options, trapped with no way of escaping his situation. 

He was hurting Chad, he didn’t want to hurt Chad. But he couldn’t betray his family. Ethan wished he would stop looking at him like that. Chad looked at him with a gentle look in his eyes, like Ethan has never done a wrong thing in his life. He wanted Chad to push him away, ignore him, curse his name to anyone who’d hear. At least then, when Ethan betrays Chad, it wouldn’t hurt as bad but Chad never makes anything easy for him. 

Chad wiped his tears, and held Ethan in his arms, softly caressing his arms and leaving soft kisses on his head. Ethan wanted Chad to let him go, but the comfort from Chad made him feel calm and he couldn’t help but indulge in it. As their chests pressed against each other, the beats of their hearts synchronized, as if their hearts were beating to the rhythm of the other.

“You don’t have to tell me right now but whenever you’re ready, would you want to tell me what you were dreaming about? It’s not healthy to keep this all to yourself.” Except Ethan couldn’t, he couldn’t let Chad see even more parts of himself, because Ethan doesn’t know what he’ll do if Chad stops looking at him the way he is now. 

“I-I’m sorry. I can’t. I can’t tell you right now.” Ethan added on the ‘right now’, knowing with full confidence that he was probably never going to tell Chad. 

“I understand. But if you ever want to tell me, I’ll listen.” Ethan couldn’t help it, pressing a quick and fleeting kiss on Chad’s lips.

“I know.”  A few minutes later, when Chad is 100% convinced that Ethan is okay, they go back to a more neutral position. Sitting side-by-side in comfortable silence on their phones. 

Every now and then Chad would show Ethan whatever funny meme on his phone and Ethan would laugh.

No matter how insanely unfunny it was. 

“Ethan, I’ll be right back. I'm going to the bathroom.” Ethan nodded, waving Chad away and looking back at his own phone. A notification popped up on Chad’s phone, and against Ethan’s better judgment and crumbling morality, he grabbed Chad’s phone and clicked on the notification.

It sent him straight to Instagram and to Ethan’s extreme displeasure, Tara Carpenter’s profile showed up with a new post. The new post showed Tara Carpenter with a jersey on, smiling brightly at the camera. Her eyes seem to squint a little, like they took the picture of her off guard. Her dark hair was curly in this photo, so it could be assumed she curled her hair the night before. 

She looked gorgeous. Ethan wanted to rip his hair out. 

She looked like one of those Instagram models that everyone wants to be as attractive as. And that’s exactly what he did, wishing he was her, all over again. 

Fuck. He never did learn.

He’ll never be the first choice for anyone. When will he get that through his thick head?

Despite that, there was just one thing that angered him more than anything. The jacket, the fucking jacket. The jacket had Chad’s name in big, green, bold letters in the back, like she was shoving it in his face where he belonged. Tara always knew how to one-up him, always one step ahead. Who did she think she was wearing his jacket? And so proudly? Like she was his and he was hers. Like they were already written in the story to be together, and Ethan was the side character introduced to be an obstacle in the path of their relationship.

That was all he is, all he ever will be. An obstacle, an inanimate object that has no strong connection or importance to anybody. An obstacle that can be replaced, ignored, refused. Thrown away when its use expires or becomes more trouble than it's worth. 

Was there ever a chance Chad would have chosen Ethan over Tara? After everything Chad said to him, it couldn’t have been fake, it’s just not possible. But it had to have been, because Chad has been practically in love with Tara since the first time Ethan spoke to him. He was so dumb, so fucking stupid. Why the hell did he even think there was a chance of Chad feeling the same? He would never be good enough, not for Chad, not for Quinn, not for his stupid brother, and especially not for his father. He would never be good enough for anyone. He needed to accept that and move on. 

Realizing that he was practically naked, Ethan shut the phone off and threw it across the bed, trying to find his clothes that were thrown across the room. He already found his boxers, he just needed to find everything else before Chad came back out, he couldn’t face him. 

Finally finding the rest of his articles of clothing, he quickly grabbed his own phone, storming out of the room, not wanting to even think about Chad or that post or stupid Tara.

“Wait! Ethan!” Ethan stopped dead in his tracks, taking long deep breaths. Senseless anger flooded in Ethan’s brain, making it hard to think completely clearly. His dark thoughts, the thoughts that he likes to keep locked away, peaked itself into Ethan’s brain and refused to leave. He wanted to hurt Chad. He wanted to feel Chad’s heart beat slow until it came to a stop. He wants to use a knife to slice art into his skin. He wanted to plow the knife into Chad until he sees fucking bone. 

He needed to leave. Now. 

Chad grabbed his elbow, completely unaware of how much danger he’s currently in.

“Where are you going?” Ethan ripped his arm away from Chad and continued to walk away, hoping Chad would just ignore it and leave him alone. His prayers went unanswered, no surprise there. 

“Ethan I don’t think it’s a good idea for you leaving by yourself right now, with ghostface-”

“I’m surprised you care, Chad, don’t you have more important things to focus on?” Ethan smiled in his face, the smile bringing chills to the back of Chad’s neck.

“Ethan, what is this about?”

“I don’t know, Chad. Don’t you have some other men or women in your contact list? I’m sure you can find some other people to bother you. Oh I have the perfect idea! You can talk to Tara! she is the love of your life and all. Maybe you should leave me alone and fuck her instead!.” Realization dawned on Chad at Ethan’s word choice, specifically emphasizing “Tara” and  “love of your life” 

“I don’t know what I-”

“I have a question for you, Chad. It’s simple enough that even you can understand.” Ethan knew he was getting out of control, but it felt like the thoughts in his head were running out of his mouth with no filter to hold them back. 

“How did it feel? Fucking me, I mean? Did you feel powerful? Knowing that I lost my virginity to a man who doesn’t give a shit about me? Or maybe you were just bored and wanted to see if I would show you my dick if I was pushed far enough?”

“Ethan, what the fuck is your problem? We were fine 5 minutes ago!” Ethan scoffed, walking towards the door, but before he could walk out, Chad grasped his waist and held him against the door. 

“Chad. Let me go, now.”

“No.”

“Let me go or I’ll make you.” Chad raised his eyebrow, slowly blinking like he didn’t quite believe Ethan. 

“I’ll let you go when you tell me why the hell you’re so angry at me all of the sudden.” Ethan tried to push Chad off, but it’s the equivalent of shoving against a brick wall. He barely moved an inch. 

“Ethan.” At Chad’s soft tone, Ethan felt the anger slowly fade away, until his thoughts became more clear and focused. He could have never hurt Chad, at least not right now. 

“Do you… do you like me? Do you care about me at all?” Chad went in for another kiss, but Ethan shoved his face away with his hand. 

Deflated, Chad caressed the line of his jaw with his finger. “Of course I care about you Ethan. I thought you knew that.”

“Do I? Alright then. How do you feel about Tara?” 

“Well-”

“If you lie to me, I’m walking away and never speaking to you again. I’m serious.”

“I like her. I like her a lot. But, I like you too. I like you so much.  It wasn’t just for sex, Ethan. I’d never do that to you.”

“I need some air.” Chad backed away from Ethan, and Ethan walked away, holding back tears in his eyes. Crying once in one day is already humiliating. But twice? Absolutely not. Ethan walked out of the campus, trying to figure out what the fuck he was going to do now. What he wanted to do was to go to bed and have a very long nap in his very comfy, warm bed. But Ethan couldn’t handle being in the same room as Chad. Chad had this way about him that makes it very hard to stay mad at him. 

But Ethan wanted to be mad. Being angry is far easier than being miserable. 

Ethan walked outside to the park bench on the campus, sitting down and snacking on some cheetos he bought from the vending machine.

Money he stole from Chad’s wallet. 

Feeling petty but satisfied with himself, he pulled out his phone, ignoring the string of messages from Chad and deciding to check the notifications from Quinn and Anika. 

Anika sent a photo of him during the party, caught right in the middle of his sneeze. Ethan groaned out loud, slouching on the bench. He looked downright ridiculous, his nose scrunched up and his mouth wide open. 

Anika

Yk you kinda look like a kitten when you sneeze

It’s so adorable
 
This is going to be my profile picture for you btw

             
Ykw? I want my hat back

Nope!

You said after the party I can have it

It’s mine nowwwww

 You’re a bully I want it back

TOO BAD!

Ethan Landry has changed Anika’s name to:
Ghostface Victim

WOWWWWWWW

I see how it is Ethan

Don’t ask me for money next time you want snacks

WAIT!

I’m sorry I didn’t mean it

I’m broke :/

Nope!

I thought you were my best friend

I knew you were always gonna betray me :(

“Ghostface Victim” changed Eth’s name to:

“Chad’s Bitch” 

This is low, even for you

(“Ghostface Victim” was not notified by this message because they’re in quiet mode.)

Ethan wanted to commit mass genocide. Of course Anika knew he was in love with Chad. Who else knew? Mindy? Tara? Quinn? Were they just smart or was he just idiotic when it comes to subtlety?

Probably both. 

Ethan’s thumb hovered over Quinn’s profile, deep down not wanting to know whatever Quinn had to say. 

Quinn

Ethan, we need to talk.

You know where to meet me.

For the second, or maybe third time, Ethan walked into their hideout, looking around for Quinn or his Dad. 

Not seeing anyone, Ethan walked over to the shrine of the ghostfaces, feeling uneasy at the sight of the numerous killers. Richie would have killed to see this. The shrine had the knives the murderers used, the guns, the mask, and even the clothes some of them were wearing before they were killed. 

Ethan looked at Amber’s section, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

Amber and Ethan never met, although he thinks he might have seen her in passing glance once or twice. 

Besides her being a ghostface and being Richie’s girlfriend, he only knew shit told to him by other people.

Apparently Tara and Amber were ALSO in a relationship before the Woodsboro murders occurred. Tara never talked about Amber, and when she did, she spoke about Amber like she was replaying the memories in her head, like she temporarily went back in time.

Ethan couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Amber. He didn’t give a fuck about the movies or the stupid subreddit about it. But, Amber was just a kid before his brother manipulated her to his own liking. 

Amber was obviously insane and needed urgent mental help, but she wouldn’t have started the killings if Richie left her alone. Maybe she would have ignored the urge to kill. Or maybe she could have gotten help. 

Richie succeeded in destroying almost everyone’s life around him, and he did it with pride. He even did it 6ft under in a coffin. Impressive.

“Hello Ethan, haven’t spoken to you in a while.” Ethan jumped at his sister’s voice, looking away from Amber’s shrine. 

“Shit! What the fuck, Quinn?” Quinn rolled her eyes, ruffling his hair until she froze in place.

“Uh… uh Quinn? Are you… Why are you looking at me like that?” Quinn didn’t budge a bit, staring blankly at Ethan.

“Ethan? DID YOU HAVE SEX?!” Quinn screeched, her mouth dropped wide open. 

“No! I got burned by a curling iron!-”

“You already have curly hair, you dolt! And you don’t even own a curling iron!” 

“I used Anika’s!”

“No you didn’t! Oh my gosh, my little brother had SEX!” Ethan closed his hand over her mouth.

“Our dad can still be in here, you bimbo.” Ethan warned. Quinn pulled Ethan’s hand off her face, literally jumping up and down. 

“Who was it?! I should’ve known! You limped in here like you got hit by a car!” Ethan wanted to hide in a dark corner, this had to have been the most embarrassing moment he’s had in years. 

“It wasn’t anyone! Nothing happened.” Ethan smacked his hand on his neck, attempting to hide the bruises from Quinn’s vision. 

“I’m gonna list names and you are gonna answer me.” Quinn’s voice was serious, but her face expressed the complete opposite, her smile so bright and so wide that Ethan couldn’t help but smile with her. 

“No, I won’t.”

“Tara.” Ethan’s smile dropped. 

“That is genuinely the last person I’d want to have sex with.” Ethan crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes.

“All grudges aside, that girl is gorgeous.” He didn’t need to hear this shit AGAIN. He gets it, she’s pretty. Holy fuck they talk about it more than the serial killer currently stalking and stabbing people. 

“Sure.”

“Amber?” Ethan quickly glanced at Amber’s shrine, then glared back at Quinn. 

“You’re not funny.”

“It was a little bit funny. Alrighttttt then… uh, well Anika and Mindy are out of the question.”

“Absolutely.”

“Hmm, wait.” Quinn tapped her chin, deep in thought. 

“...” Ethan stared back at her, pursing his lips. 

“It’s Chad! It’s so obvious, you always give him the goo goo eyes,” Quinn’s eyes fluttered dramatically as she tilted her head slightly. ”Oh Chad, take me in your arms, hold me tight, and never let me go. Oh Chad, let’s run away into the night and kiss under the stars’”

“I can’t stand you.” Quinn's smile grew brighter but then her smile slowly started to fade. 

“I need to talk to you about our next attack.” Ethan nodded, grounding himself for the coming conversation.

“Okay.”

“Dad wants you to attack the group at Sam’s apartment. “ Quinn’s gaze was unwavering, like she was searching for something in Ethan’s eyes.

“And?”

“And, I don’t think you’re ready.” 

“Quinn, what the hell are you talking about?” Ethan asked, slightly taken aback. “I was a Ghostface already. Jason Carvey, remember?” 

“We have… to finish... the movie.” Blood poured out of Jason’s mouth and out of his stomach, covering the fridge and floor with scarlet red. Jason was far too weak to fight against Ethan now, not like he wasn’t much of a threat before then. Ethan was quicker and stronger than him, there was no chance he would have survived. 

Ethan raised the knife high above his head, sick satisfaction filling him when Jason started to panic. A small smile made its way to his face as he watched him writhe in a desperate attempt to get away. It was almost like killing his brother, his sick brother who fucked up his entire family over a dumb franchise. Memories flooded Ethan’s head; the pain from Richie’s attacks, the permanent scars littered around his body as result. All because of those stupid fucking movies.

“Who gives a fuck about movies?” 

Ethan stabbed Jason in the head, the knife penetrating his skull and piercing his brain, instantly ending his pathetic life. 

“Yeah, a complete stranger with a idiotic motivation. This time you’re going to be attacking the people you’ve been buddy buddy with for the past few months. It’ll be different. You might chicken out, or you might get hurt. When people are fighting for their life, they’ll do anything to survive. You might not even get hurt, you could die.” 

“I can handle it.”

“No, you can’t. If you hesitate… I can’t lose another brother, Ethan.” Her eyes were softening, and she almost looked like she was gonna cry.

“I couldn’t handle it the first time it happened and I hated Richie. What will I do if it happens to you?” Ethan probably hated Richie the most out of all of them, but Quinn has been overprotective of Ethan, and she didn’t like that Richie tormented her little brother and she hated even more that there was nothing she could do to stop it. 

“What if you get hurt then?” Ethan whispered under his breath. Quinn grabbed his arms gently, pulling Ethan a little bit closer towards her. 

“Rather me than you. Please just let me do this for you.” How was Quinn dying supposed to be the second best scenario here? She’s basically the only family Ethan has left, he couldn’t let her die either. 

“If you die, I’ll kill every single fucking one of them. I promise.” Ethan knew that any time ghostface attacks there is always a chance of dying. There hasn’t been a Ghostface who has lived longer than a few weeks or months at maximum and there’s no way that his family will be the exception to the rule. Ethan’s only goal is for them to take as many as they can.  

Their father believes that he’ll succeed and get his vengeance for his son’s death but Ethan knows the targets directly. When you attack a whole friend group, one who’s the daughter of a serial killer, a football player that can easily snap your neck, and a girl who watches horror movies regularly for fun, your chance of survival is astronomically low. 

But Ethan or his dad better die first. Because if they don’t, Ethan will make them regret ever meeting him. He’ll bring hell on earth, and if his family burns, they’ll burn with them. 

“I know you will. But you won’t do it this time, right?”

“I won’t.” Quinn’s shoulder started to relax when Ethan agreed to her decision, her smile appearing back on his face again. She gave him a one-arm hug and started walking away from him. 

“Don’t worry about Father, I’ll take care of him.”

“What will you say?”

“The truth. It’s way too suspicious to have you not there when everyone else is. See you later, Eth.” 

Chapter Text

When Ethan walked back into his dorm room, he was immediately pulled into someone’s chest, so tight he could barely breathe.

“Ethan, fuck you’re okay.” Chad wanted to cry in joy. He weaved his fingers through Ethan’s hair, breathing in his scent from his neck. Ethan looked okay, no stab or slash wounds anywhere. Ethan’s arms were limp against his sides, but Chad couldn’t bring himself to care. Ethan eventually raised his arms to hug him back, and Chad felt a smile against his cheek.

His comfort didn’t last long when Ethan realized exactly who he was hugging, and wiggled out of Chad’s arms.

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to… you know… after what happened. I was just so worried about you, I wasn’t thinking.” Ethan frowned, giving Chad a completely blank look.

“Why would you be worried?” Chad pulled Ethan inside by the hand, locking the door. Chad let go of Ethan’s hand then flopped on the couch, finally relieved after hours of panicking and pacing across the dorm.

“ ‘Why would you be worried’ he says. Have you forgotten that there’s a murderer after us? You were gone for hours, Ethan. I called literally everyone, no one knew where you were.” Ethan blinked rapidly in surprise before he started to look guilty, fidgeting with his hands.

“Promise me you won’t go alone like that, ever again.” Chad demanded.

Ethan scoffed, walking towards the refrigerator. “What, are you going to follow me everywhere?”

“Yes?”

“No! You can’t protect me all the time, it’s impossible.” Ethan searched through the refrigerator, looking for something to eat. Chad quickly stood up from the couch, and in a few quick strides was standing in front of Ethan. Chad grabbed Ethan’s shoulders and manhandled him onto the wall, holding him still.

“Ethan. You will not go by yourself out there for that long ever again, do you understand me?” Ethan clenched his teeth, attempting to get out of Chad’s iron grip.

“Let me go.” Ethan’s eyes widened in horror when tears gathered in Chad’s eyes.

“Ethan, I’m begging you. Promise.” Ethan didn’t respond, wiping Chad’s tears with the pad of his thumb.

“Ethan, remember what I said to you? Last night?” Chad’s voice was wobbly, and so was his hands on Ethan’s shoulders.

“You.. You said you will never let Ghostface hurt me.” Chad nodded, brushing his hand across Ethan’s cheek.

“Ethan I lost my girlfriend to Ghostface and then I lost my best friend. I won’t lose you, too. please.” Ethan's eyes searched across Chad’s face, before sighing softly. He kissed the palm of Chad’s hand that was on his cheek, and nodded.

“I need you to say it.”

“I won’t go anywhere alone. At least until Ghostface is dealt with.” Ethan promised. Chad kissed the side of his head, circling small shapes on his hip. They were interrupted by a loud knocking on their door. Chad wiped his tears away, grabbing a pocket knife out of his pocket. He slowly walked towards the door, Ethan following closely behind him. He threw the door open, pointing the knife at whoever was there.

Tara yelled, backing away from the door. “Chad? What the fuck?!”

Chad put the knife back in his pocket, quickly hugging Tara. “I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, thanks. How are you?”

“I’m okay, found Ethan.” Tara looked away from Chad to Ethan, a line forming between her eyebrows.

“Where were you, Ethan?” Mindy questioned, raising her eyebrow at Ethan.

“How is that any of your business?” Ethan’s face started to get red and he clenched his fists, looking down at Mindy.

“Because we don’t know who Ghostface is, and it so happens that you disappeared the same time that Gale fucking Weathers got attacked.” Ethan stepped back, glancing at Chad.

“Shit, is she alright?” Chad asked.

“Yeah. She’s in critical condition but the doctors reassured us that she’ll survive.” Tara responded.

“They said that the stab wound was so severe, it almost punctured an organ. Her boyfriend was murdered as well.” Sam added on.

“I’m sorry about Gale. Glad you guys weren’t attacked though.” Chad hugged Tara again, for a few more seconds before letting go.

“You guys need to come with us, now.” Sam ordered, ushering them out of the dorm. “When Gale was attacked she was alone, the only person in the apartment was her boyfriend. We need to stay together if we’re gonna survive this.”

So far, there hasn’t been any ghostface sighting on the way to Sam’s apartment. Ethan has been silent practically the whole trip, and Anika seemed to notice, because she talked 10 times more than she usually did. Chad knew why Ethan was quiet, he was still mad at him, not that it wasn’t completely deserved. He just hopes that while they are at Sam’s apartment he will have the opportunity to talk to Ethan, maybe smooth the rough edges between them (because he literally cannot tolerate Ethan looking at him like a kicked puppy anymore).

He doesn’t mind if Ethan isn’t interested in a relationship with him or just lost feelings overall. It’ll hurt, but Chad will handle it like he always does. But he refuses to lose his friendship as well.

“Since we are gonna stay here the whole night, what’s for dinner because I am starving.” Anika asked, laying her head on Mindy’s shoulders. Mindy kissed the top of her head, then laid her cheek on top of Anika’s head. It was weird to see Mindy so affectionate with anyone. Not that she’s closed off, but she doesn’t really initiate physical contact much. Not that Chad minds, he does enough hugging to make up for the both of them.

“I’m thinking spaghetti? We still have some stuff left. I really don’t want to go to a grocery store right now.” Sam turned to the left, the force from her driving making Ethan slide a bit on Chad. Chad instinctively grabbed his thigh to steady him, and Ethan’s eyes shot up to his like a deer in headlights.

“Shit, uh, sorry.”

“Sam, can you drive any faster? You’re gonna kill us before Ghostface can even try!” Ethan did his signature pout again, crossing his arms.

“Wait, can we have pizza?” Chad asked. Mindy took her attention off of Anika, raising her eyebrow at Chad.

“Do you have ‘pizza’ money?”

“No.”

“Isn’t that dangerous though? What if the pizza delivery guy is Ghostface and he gets in Sam’s apartment pretending to give pizza? Ghostface could have a job… maybe,” Ethan said.

“Good thinking roomie,” Chad praised, knocking his shoulder against Ethan’s. Even in the dim lighting, Chad can see Ethan’s cheeks flush a bit pink.

“I guess.”

“Alright we’re here.” Sam announced. Everyone quickly got out of the car, and practically ran to Sam’s apartment, not wanting to risk anything.

“Who’s on dinner duty?” Tara asked, hooking her coat on the rack.

“Not Anika-” Mindy said.

“What? Why?!” Anika asks, outraged.

“Because you suck at cooking. Almost blew up our dorm twice making chicken nuggets, of all things.” Anika plops on the couch, holding her cheek with her hand.

“I used the wrong kitchenware, sue me.”

“You left a fork in the bowl and then you didn’t even use a microwavable bowl.” Anika sighed, pulling a book out of her bag.

“No sex until next week.” Mindy's eyes practically popped out of her skull and she rushed to Anika, pressing small kisses to the back of her neck, repeating sorry over and over again.

“Alright kitchen duty, me and Chad, everyone else, go away.” Tara started to collect supplies from the cabinet and Chad checked up on Ethan, who had his knees pulled up to his chest. He looked so… sad. He wasn’t doing anything but staring at the tv, but it was nothing but the news on. Chad wanted to wrap his arms around him and kiss him until he smiled.

“Actually, I volunteer Mindy as tribute for her various crimes committed against Anika.” Anika pointed at Chad, nodding in agreement. Mindy gave Anika one last kiss on the cheek before switching places with Chad in the kitchen. Anika immediately looked at him when he walked in the living room, then glanced at Ethan, back and forth.

“Hey, uh, Ethan. Do you um, wanna talk?” Ethan looked up at Chad from his knees, crossing his fingers on top of them.

“Why can’t we talk here?” He was being difficult on purpose. Chad looked at Anika for help, but she was already giving Ethan a very stern look.

“Fine.” Ethan relented. Chad hesitantly grabbed Ethan’s hand, but Ethan shook it off, walking a bit behind him. Shit this was gonna be painfully awkward, Chad thought.

“If you guys are gonna talk, do that in the spare room!” Tara called out, chopping some onions. Ethan hated her a bit more for that, onions suck.

When they made it inside, Ethan closed the door behind him and sat on the bed next to Chad. They were as far apart as they could be on the bed, and Ethan was already fidgeting with his hands.

Surprisingly, Ethan spoke first. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For acting the way I’ve been acting. I’ve been a complete ass lately,” Now Chad was extremely confused. Wasn’t he supposed to be the one apologizing here?

“I’ve been a complete idiot lately, so… we’re even.”

“Listen, I already know how this is gonna go. You’re gonna let me down as gently as possible so I don’t like… cry or something and make you feel guilty about it. But you don’t have to, I’m okay.”

“What? You’re not getting this at all.”

“Actually I do. You’re in love with Tara. You don’t have to explain yourself to me, we were never even together. I had no right to yell at you for that.” Chad and Ethan awkwardly stared at each other for a while after that, but for two very separate reasons.

“Listen, I know this shit is weirdly complicated and our emotions are all over the place. But, I want to be with you. Not Tara.” Ethan's eyes refused to look at Chad’s, instead preferring to look at the ground.

“But you said you cared for Tara. That you liked her.”

“Maybe I did at some point want her. But I never needed to be with someone more in my life. I’m like fucking obsessed with you, Ethan. I can barely stop thinking about you for 10 seconds, you’re always on my mind. I can’t stop looking at you either, it’s… shit it’s insane. You ruined me for anyone else.”

Ethan’s pretty blush returned, dusting his features with a light pink. Chad lifted Ethan’s chin so Ethan was looking at him, and he was so glad that he did. Due to the light coming from the lamp in the room, the brightness highlighted the hues of brown in Ethan’s eyes, varying from chestnut to copper to dark sienna. He always thought Ethan’s eyes were pretty, but now he couldn’t rip his eyes away from their beauty. Ethan’s eyes kept breaking away to look at Chad’s lips, but as usual he couldn’t help but deny him what he needed. He teased him, brushing his lips against Ethan’s, kissing the side of his mouth instead of where he wanted.

Chad lightly kissed the side of Ethan’s jaw, proud when little gasps started to escape Ethan’s mouth. Ethan backed a little from him, and then surged upwards to finally get what he wanted. Ethan’s lips were soft and warm, sliding against Chad’s own, nibbling Chad’s bottom lip.

Ethan pushed Chad’s chest down onto the bed and straddled on top of him, taking charge of the kiss for the first time. Chad racked Ethan's shirt up to press his cold hands against Ethan’s warm skin. Ethan shivered, breaking off the kiss.

“Nonono, where are you going?” Chad tries to pull Ethan back up towards him but Ethan just laughs, light and quiet, as he sinks down to his knees. Ethan Landry sitting on his knees is a vision Chad knows he’ll never get out of his head. Chad felt his pants tighten just at the sight of him.

“I want to try something.” Ethan slowly pulled Chad’s zipper down, and Chad helped him pull his pants off.

“Ethan I can’t fuck you without lube. It’ll hurt you.” Chad warns. Ethan waves him off, slowly pulling Chad’s underwear off.

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Ethan looked up at him through his eyelashes, eyes so dark and sinful it didn’t belong on his seemingly innocent face. Ethan looked down at his exposed cock, eyes widening so much the whites were showing. He had seen it before but there was still a sense of shock.

“Fuck, you’re so big. I don’t know how that fit inside me.” Ethan licked his lips, leaning so close to Chad’s dick that Chad could feel his breath fanning across his cock. He could feel himself twitch, feeling a sense of neediness coarse through his body.

Ethan hesitantly pressed small kisses down the shaft and came back to the head with small kitten-like licks. Ethan looked back up at Chad, waiting for some type of validation, or encouragement. He wanted to make sure that Chad was happy with what he was doing, that was Ethan’s main goal.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, baby” Chad reassured. It will be quite a loss, but Chad would rather die than make Ethan feel pressured or uncomfortable. One last determined glance at Chad, and he looked back at his cock.

“No. I can do this,” At that, Ethan sucked the head of Chad’s cock, making Chad almost jump up in shock. Ethan licked the underside of Chad’s cock with long, broad strokes, slowly breaking the resolve Chad had. Chad wanted so badly to grip Ethan’s hair and shove his cock past those gorgeous lips, making Ethan choke and gag on his cock. But he held back, wanting to see just how far his baby would go to make him happy.

Ethan pulled away and suddenly an idea came into his head. He wrapped his hand around Chad’s cock and heard him gasp at the warm feeling. He then grazed his thumb around his angry red tip and a spurt of precum came out when he squeezed his member lightly, letting out a quiet giggle seeing Chad’s reaction.

“F-fuck Ethan don’t be such a tease, just do what you were going to do”.There was something about Ethan’s innocent doe-like eyes staring back at him while he committed such a lewd act that made Chad just want to devour him then and there.

“Oh? Like how you were teasing me until I was crying last time?” Ethan asked, trailing his finger down Chad’s thigh. Chad’s groan rumbled out of his chest as he gripped the sheets of the bed he was on.

Ethan let out another giggle, loving the way Chad stared at him, anxious on what Ethan was going to do next. He loved having this new power of Chad, knowing he was in control of his pleasure and no one else was.

“Be patient big boy, you’ll get what you want soon.” Ethan had a feeling he’d pay for the words coming out of his mouth once he finished but it was all so worth it.

Ethan sat up slightly and started unbuttoning Chad’s shirt, wanting to see his love in all of his glory. He slowly grazed his hand against Chad’s abs, loving how it felt against his fingers and started leaving love bites all over, wanting anyone who saw Chad take off his shirt to know that Chad was his, all his. He brought his hand back down Chad’s crotch and slowly began jerking him off, moving at a deadly slow pace.

Chad let out a breathy groan, letting his head fall slightly back. “Fuck Ethan, please k-keep going…” Chad couldn’t see himself being submissive in a million years, but with the way Ethan was touching him, there was a chance he’d switch up just for today.

Ethan pulled away suddenly, looking at his work. The bruises were littered all over Chad’s chest, the small bite marks present in certain places…Ethan couldn’t help but smirk, knowing that anytime Chad will take off his shirt everyone will see. He looked up at Chad in his almost needy state and decided to keep going, wanting to tease Chad just a little longer.

He brought his hand back to Chad’s cock and started going slightly faster than before, hearing Chad let out a sudden gasp at the speed. He kept up his movements, repeatedly stroking his hard member or occasionally focusing on rubbing the tip where he was most sensitive, loving the sounds that were escaping Chad’s perfect lips.

“F-fuck fuck Ethan p-please don’t s-stop please”, Chad began to beg, needing to feel some sort of release, even if it was just from Ethan’s hand.

His precum was starting to drip down his forearm but Ethan could care less. His boy was so blissed out and his face was all he could focus on. "You close, babe?" He asked and Chad quickly nodded, gulping down a low groan that almost found its way out at the nickname.

Chad probably didn’t even have to tell him, Ethan could tell he was almost at his peak, his moans were becoming a higher pitch and louder by the second. But suddenly a perfect idea popped into his evil little head.

He quickly pulled his hand away and made sure Chad was looking at him as he licked all of the precum off his fingers.

Chad’s moan was so loud that Ethan was positive that everyone in the living room heard him, especially Tara.

Just as Chad began to complain, he quickly wrapped his lips around Chad’s cock, almost taking all of him in that moment.

Chad let out a loud gasp and felt his hip jolt, hearing Ethan gag slightly. He saw Ethan’s eyes looking up and him and any patience he had was thrown out the window then and there.

Chad grabbed a fistful of Ethan’s hair, bringing his head all the way, loving the way Ethan tongue ran against his cock. He bobbed Ethan’s head down, making him take all of him. He felt Ethan grip onto his thighs and he pulled away once he saw Ethan’s eyes start to water.

“Fuck, Ethan, I’m sorry.” Ethan’s lips were swollen and pink, coated with saliva and pre cum. His hair was an absolute mess, probably from Chad grabbing onto it.

“Stop. Being. Gentle. With. Me.” Ethan reprimanded, taking a deep breath. “Or I will find someone else who won’t.”

Ethan knew those words were complete bullshit. The only person Ethan could see himself being with was Chad. But the possessive took over, and a dark look passed over Chad’s eyes. Excitement sparked in Ethan’s… nether regions at the pure, unadulterated anger on Chad’s face. Chad has never gotten angry with Ethan, usually just irritation or disappointment.

He painfully gripped onto Ethan’s hair, pulling him closer and shoving his cock between Ethan’s lips. He only pulled Ethan down to the head of his cock, and Ethan obediently started to suck on the head. “The only cock you have, and ever will have, is mine. Do you understand?”

Ethan nodded, but Chad pulled Ethan’s head away from his cock. “Use your words.”

“Your cock is the only cock I’ll have, ever.” Chad gripped his jaw, angling it upwards.

“Nobody will ever fuck you like how I fuck you.” Chad promised, pulling Ethan’s head back on his cock. He was relentless, fucking into Ethan’s mouth like a sex toy. He shoved all the way from the head to the base, triggering Ethan’s gag reflex every time. Ethan gripped Chad’s toned thighs, trying to make as much of an effort not to pull away. Nobody will give Chad the same pleasure he will. Ethan didn’t want Chad to hold back like how he normally would with other people, especially Tara. Even if Ethan is killed by Tara or Sam, he wants Tara to know that he fucked Chad up so royally that he will never have sex with her without Ethan plaguing his mind.

Chad was his.

Even in death.

Chad’s movements started to become unfocused and sloppy, he was very close to finishing. Chad hesitantly let go of Ethan’s hair and let Ethan continue on without his assistance. Ethan made sure to go just as fast, and as hard, as Chad was going before, hoping to bring him to his climax as fast as possible.

“Fuck, you’re a natural at sucking cock.” Chad praised, gasping when Ethan started to moan on Chad’s cock, the vibrations sending him off the edge. Before Chad could warn Ethan, he released in his mouth, forcing Ethan to swallow or choke.

“Shit I’m sor-” Ethan’s tongue darted out of his lips, trying to catch any leftover cum from his mouth. Warmth started to circulate in Chad’s stomach again, but he didn’t want to focus on himself right now.

“You did so good, baby. Do you want me to take care of that?” Chad asked as Ethan stared down at his erection. Ethan nodded frantically, still breathing harshly after Chad fucked his mouth a few seconds ago.

Chad stood up, picking up his boxers and pants and gave one last look at Ethan on the floor. Fuck he looked absolutely perfect. He would’ve taken a photo of him if he could, but he quickly shook that thought away. He picked up Ethan, forgetting he was light as a feather and switched spots with him, getting on his knees in front of him.

Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off Chad, watching every movement Chad made like a hawk. Despite being on his knees, Chad still almost reached his height while he was sitting on the bed. It had to be the hottest thing he’s seen in a while. Ethan looked slightly down at Chad’s chest, seeing all of the hickeys, hoping Chad would mark him as well. He wanted Chad’s marks to litter his torso, so he could focus on that, instead of cringe at the scars he had all over his body.

Chad looked up at his precious boy and smiled slightly, only a faint upturn of the lips, as he slowly unzipped his jeans, seeing how tight they were on his body. Affection blossomed in Chad’s chest, when he realized that Ethan was so eager to pleasure Chad he didn’t even think about pleasuring himself, no matter how painful his erection was.

“You look so pretty, you know that right?” Chad asked, wanting to get Ethan flustered again. “All flushed and eager for my touch, my perfect little cockslut.”

Ethan’s eyes widened at the possessiveness of his words, all his fantasies he’s been having since he met Chad coming to reality. He tried to hold back a quiet whimper, ultimately failing.

“Aww did my cockslut like that name? You must have if it has you whimpering like that.” Chad pulled Ethan’s pants and boxers the rest of the way down and got up, going next to Ethan’s ear.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we hear more of those whimpers” Chad whispered, making sure to ghost his finger across Ethan’s tip, wanting to rile him up.

Chad got back down on his knees, leaving a gentle kiss on the tip, feeling him harden more. He smirked at his reaction, loving how easily he could turn Ethan on.

He swiped his thumb over the bead of precum that gathered on Ethan’s swollen tip, using that as lubricant as he gently stroked down his cock. Ethan let out a small moan as he started to pick up the pace.

"So handsome. My boy is so gorgeous, he’s all mine”. Chad whispered quietly, looking up at Ethan as he said it. He is more than a little lucky that Ethan wasn’t taken yet, because who could possibly not want him? He was fucking gorgeous, he couldn’t comprehend how he didn’t notice all this time. He couldn’t blame himself, Ethan had the type of prettiness that can be passed by if you don’t pay attention, but once you take notice, you’re encaptured forever.

"T-thank-hmmph, thank you," Ethan failed to create a coherent sentence as his boyfriend brought his other hand up to ghost over his smooth chest. He shivered when the cold tips of his fingers grazed over his nipple.

"You really like that don’t you, Ethan?" He pinched the nub between his index and thumb and Ethan let out a loud moan, arching his back into his hand.

"Shh, don't want the others to hear you, right?" Ethan quickly shook his head, as much as he wanted Tara to hear him, the last thing he wanted was the rest of the group to hear him.

"That's what I thought. Now be a good boy and stay quiet for me."

Ethan leaned his head back, biting his lip so hard he drew blood. He would do anything for him, Ethan would slaughter anyone that even took a step of advance towards himself, just to prove who he belonged to. Ethan kept letting out little whimpers, not being able to stay completely quiet without covering his mouth.

"You're so needy, Ethan. Who are you so needy for, hm?"

"Fuck, fuck- Just for you," Ethan panted. "All, ah, all for you.” That was just the answer Chad wanted, as he quickened his pace, starting to be a little more rougher than before.

Chad could tell by the way Ethan’s thighs began to shake and his moans got louder, that Ethan was close to his climax. But he didn’t mind how loud Ethan was, he secretly wanted to group to hear Ethan, just as Ethan did earlier.

"Shit-Ah, Chad, c-cover- please cover-” Ethan stopped talking when Chad picked up the speed even more, letting out breathy moans in response.

“Please c-cover my m-mouth!” Ethan asked, finally able to at least let out one understandable sentence.

Chad obliged, removing his hand from his chest and pressed it over his lips. He could feel the vibrations of his high pitched moans and whimpers against his hand.

And with a last tug to his cock, Ethan reached his climax with shaking legs, spurts of cum dropping onto Chad’s hand and shirt. The moan he let out was so much louder and higher than the other ones, Chad knew that if he hadn't muffled his sounds, the group would have most definitely heard him.

Chad slowed his hand movements, still lightly stroking to milk the rest of his orgasm out of him until Ethan started to whine about the overstimulation.

"You did so good, baby. So fucking good for me," Chad praised, taking his hand away and Ethan dropped down onto his chest, his breathing uneven and ragged.

Ethan closed his eyes and let Chad rake his hands through his messy hair. "I love you. I love you so much”, Ethan let out, not realizing what he just said. Chad kissed his hair, standing up to go to the bathroom and grabbing some tissues.

After Ethan and Chad finished cleaning each other up, they went back to the living room, trying to appear as calm and neutral as possible. Ethan sat down on the couch next to Anika, while Chad made his way over to the kitchen to talk to Tara, Sam, and Mindy.

“Have fun?” Anika teased, placing her bookmark in the book and turned to face Ethan. She had this cocky, “I know everything about you” look on her face, and Ethan rolled his eyes in frustration. Privacy is lost on people these days.

“Me and Chad talked.”

“AND?” Anika practically yelled. Ethan jumped back in shock, holding his chest like he almost had a heart attack.

“Geez Anika, not everyone has to know!”

“Oh no, everybody knows. You guys weren’t really… quiet…” Ethan wanted to crawl away and die in a hole. Ethan groaned, laying his head on Anika’s lap.

“That really sucks.”

“Kinda, but you’ll be okay. I’m glad it all worked out for you. It was getting physically exhausting watching you thirst over him the whole day. I kinda wanted to just… smooch your faces together.” Ethan laughed a little as Anika started to play with random curly strands in his head.

Ethan always kinda wondered why he had such a soft spot for Anika. Besides Chad, Anika is the only one that Ethan enjoys being around. He talks with Anika the most, rather it’s because he genuinely likes her or if it’s because she’s a great conversationalist, he’s not sure. But Ethan sometimes speculates he likes her so much because she reminds him a lot of Quinn, especially before all this Ghostface Richie nonsense happened. Quinn was always a bit hyper and eccentric, but she was always kind and Ethan couldn’t quite imagine that version of Quinn becoming a murderer. I guess people change, sometimes. Ethan wanted to talk to Quinn, for hours and hours like they used to, but he knew he couldn’t, it would be far too suspicious. There'll probably be far less contact now, since their new plan is rehashing.

Quinn decided, in a smart way to get her off the suspicion roster, is to fake her death in front of the whole group, Billy Loomis style. Ethan wasn’t sure when she was going to do it, but it was probably gonna be today.

“I’m happy you’re all happy and un-single now, we can go on double dates!” Anika exclaimed

“Absolutely not. Spending more than an hour with Mindy should be classified as a torture method.” Anika let go of his hair to smack him in the head.

“Hey!” Ethan shot up from Anika’s lap, rubbing his head.

“That’s my girlfriend! Mindy can be really sweet when she wants to be.”

“Sweet to literally anyone but me.” Ethan deadpanned, looking behind Anika to glance at Mindy.

“It’s not like she doesn’t like you, she just doesn’t trust you. She thinks everyone is a suspect now, she’s sucked into her horror movie phase again.” Mindy is right. YOU know she’s right. You hate Mindy for saying the truth. Ethan shook the thought off, focusing on Anika.

“There’s… there’s a phase? Meaning that she stops?” Ethan asked. Anika tilts her hand back and forth, creating a “kinda” motion with her hand.

“It’s a part of who she is, I love her for it. But she’s usually not so intense with it.”

“You don’t say. Do you even like horror movies?” Ethan questioned.

“Yeah. I prefer other movies, but I can enjoy some horror every now and then. I heard horror movies are good for the heart.”

“I can guarantee you it’s not.” Ethan and Anika both laughed a bit, but their joyful mood is soured when Anika sees what’s on the news.

“Guys! What the hell?” Everyone from the kitchen walked into the living room, looking at what’s on the tv. Anika grabs the remote and turns the volume up so everyone can hear.

PRIME SUSPECT SAMANTHA CARPENTER was displayed in bold letters on the screen and Ethan managed to not smirk, no matter how badly he wanted to.

“That’s horrible.” Anika whispered under her breath, looking back at Sam. Ethan wanted to lash out at her, yell at her face. That woman she’s defending stabbed Richie 22 fucking times. She’s not this angel that deserved to be protected. It’s idiotic to think otherwise, she was a murderer just like Richie, Quinn, and himself.

“Yeah… horrible…” Ethan trailed off, picking at the hem of his shirt. Anika went to the bathroom and, having no one to talk to, Ethan zoned out, tuning the group in the kitchen out. The last thing he needs is to hear whatever bullshit Tara is spewing to make him blow up and ruin his entire “shy and dorky” act.

Sam felt tears burn at the back of her eyes as she watched the news. To prove its point, it showed the video of the girl throwing a drink at her and Sam lashing out, labeling her as angry and aggressive. The news reporter shook his head in mockery before explaining to the people to keep caution from Sam, that she was a violent individual that lashes out at people at random.

Sam took the controller out of Anika’s hand and turned it off, sitting at the table.

All she went through at Woodsboro, the pain and the fear, was for fucking nothing. The killers are out there, murdering and attacking innocent people and all people could ever focus on is who Sam’s father is.

If Billy Loomis wasn’t her father, people wouldn’t be so quick to label her in such a dehumanizing manner, “vicious” and “aggressive”. All she’s ever done and ever will do is bring harm to everyone around her. So what’s the point in even staying around anymore. Tara would be happy without her, the rest of the group would be safe if she didn’t exist.

If you killed yourself like you wanted to when you were 16, the Ghostface killings would never happen.

You have murder running through your veins, Sam. You were meant to hurt people. Directly or not. The sooner you realize, the better.

As soon as Gale Weathers got attacked, Sam got spam messages by random people asking her if she attacked Gale to avenge her father or if she attacked Gale for fame. Some were even saying that if they ever saw Sam, they would murder her where she stands.

Sam kinda wishes they would get it over with already.

Tara sat down with Sam a few moments after, not saying anything for a second or two. She was probably trying to think of some reassurance to make Sam feel better, but nothing could possibly make Sam feel any less shitty then she does now.

“Sam… All the shit that the news reporter was saying was complete bullshit. You know that.”

“Do I?”

“Sam, you can’t let this all go to your head. I know it’s hard, nobody here has gone through anywhere close to what you’ve been through, but those people typing on the screen haven't come anywhere close. All those news reporters and reddit accounts see is a story. They don’t care about who you are or what matters to you. All they want to see is that pig-headed Billy Loomis. But… we aren’t our parents. We make our own choices, we define ourselves by our actions.” Tara said, interlocking her fingers with Sam’s.

“I know. I know that my father being Billy Loomis doesn’t mean I’m a killer too it’s just-” Sam sniffled, wiping a tear with her sleeve. “It’s so hard being hated by everyone, so much. Everybody wants me dead.”

“Hey, that’s not true. Not at all. Nobody in this room hates you. We would probably all be dead 6 feet under without you.” Chad said.

Chad and Mindy sat down in front of Sam. “You wanna know why me and Mindy haven’t left New York yet? It’s because we are all a team, we need to stay together. You said it yourself”

“We are…the core fucking four-” Chad yelled out in excitement the moment those words left Mindy’s mouth and the other two laughed as Chad and Mindy bickered as usual.

“Okay now it's your turn to say it, Tara.” Tara shook her head, laughing into her hands.

“There’s no way I’m saying that. Yes we’re a team but-”

Sam cut her off. “I’ve been sleeping with the cute guy across the hall.”

The “core four” paused for a few seconds before the reactions started.

“I fucking knew it!” Tara yelled out, slamming her hand on the table.

“Sam this is quite scandalous behavior I was not expecting-” At the most convenient timing ever, Sam’s phone started to ring and of course, it was Derek calling her. Tara quickly snatched the phone from her, raising an eyebrow and twisting a non-existent mustache.

“Oh, it’s him! What is thoust intention with thee most beloved sister?” The rest of the group exploded in laughter again and Sam grabbed the phone back from Tara, declining the call.

“It’s not a big deal, I’ll just call him later.” Various disagreements were heard from the other 3.

“Poor guy!”

“It’s rough out here in the streets of New York”

“How cruel of you, Sam-” They all stopped when a notification popped up on all their phones at the same time. Panic spiked in Sam’s heart when she clicked the notification-

“Fuck! Quinn!”

It was a photo of Quinn being grabbed by Ghostface. She was screaming in the photo, eyes wide open and clutching onto Ghostface’s arm like a lifeline. Sam, Mindy, Chad, and Tara joined Ethan and Anika in the living room, watching the door like a hawk.

Screams and thudding was heard until it suddenly stopped.

Nothing was heard but the harsh breathing from the people around her.

Mindy tilted her head towards Anika and said one word before everything fell into chaos. “Run.”

Quinn’s dead body was thrown out of the room and fell on top of Anika, blood pouring out of her neck like water. Ghostface exited Quinn’s room not long after, blood splattered on his white mask.

Anika screamed when Quinn’s body fell on top of her and pushed her off, with some help from Mindy. Blood was smeared all over Anika, dousing her shirt in red.

Ethan quickly helped Anika back to her feet, almost slipping on the blood covering the floor.

“Guys come on!” Tara yelled, running out of the door with Chad.

Ghostface ran straight towards Mindy, attempting to slash at Mindy’s throat, but Mindy managed to save herself at the nick of time, getting her arm cut instead.

“Oh fuck!” Mindy gasped out, clutching her arm. Mindy backed away from Ghostface, eyes widening as Ghostface advanced towards her.

Anika punched Ghostface in the back of his head, hoping to distract him away from Mindy long enough for Mindy to get some space away from him.

Ghostface quickly spun around and pushed her against the wall, holding her by her neck. Ghostface then slit the knife across her cheek, trailing the knife down on her body, teasing her but not quite finishing the job.

I need a weapon, Someone is gonna die soon.

Sam ran into the kitchen, to grab the knives in the knife block. There were no knives in the kitchen, someone took them out. Sam fought a rising panic as she desperately looked around for any other weapon to use against the killer.

“Anika!” Ethan shouted.

Ethan pulled a pocket knife out of his pocket and stabbed Ghostface in the back. Ghostface punched Ethan hard in the face, a sickening crack coming from Ethan’s nose. Ethan cried out, dropping to the ground.

Ethan held his bleeding nose, pointing his knife at Ghostface. Ghostface easily grabbed Ethan’s finger and twisted it back so far it popped, forcing Ethan to drop the knife on the floor.

“SAM!” Mindy yelled from the ground. Sam whipped back around, just to see Ethan be grabbed by the throat and slammed against the table.

The table didn’t break at first, but after the fifth time, the coffee table shattered from underneath Ethan. Ethan kicked out from under Ghostface, desperately trying to break free from his crushing grip on his throat.

Anika tried to pull Ghostface away from Ethan, but he was too strong and shoved her away with one hand.

Anika fell down and cracked her head onto the floor, her ears ringing from the impact.

Ghostface pulled his own knife out, raising it above his head. Ethan used his forearms to protect himself, but the knife stabbed through his arm, sticking out from the other side.

Ghostface ripped it out of his arm and blood curdling screams ripped out of Ethan. Ghostface kept viciously slashing at Ethan’s arms, cutting his arms up even more.

Ethan tries to gasp for breath as he attempts to kick the killer away. Mindy and Anika together finally pulled Ghostface off of Ethan, punching and kicking as hard as they could.

We don’t have time for this. Sam grabbed the knife block and threw it at Ghostface’s head, making direct contact.

Anika, Mindy, and Ethan ran as far away from Ghostface as they could, varying expressions of fear written all over their faces.

Ethan was particularly doing bad, blood seeping out all the wounds in his arms, and out his nose from the punch. His neck was beginning to bruise and he was holding his broken finger gently.

“You’re okay, Ethan. Just come with me, okay?” Anika comforted, grabbing both his and Mindy’s hand. Ethan was hysterical, tears running no down his face and coughing from the choking.

Sam, Ethan, Anika, and Mindy made a break for the open door, but Ghostface cut them off, locking the door.

“What do we do?” Mindy yelled to Sam. There was only one exit, the front door. They need time to think or they can’t survive this. Sam waved them over and they rushed to Quinn’s room, locking the door behind them.

Ethan sat next to Mindy, staring at the floor and trembling in place. Anika sat down in front of them, kissing Mindy on the cheek and Ethan on his forehead, before standing back up.

“You two just hold on, okay?”

Ghostface banged hard against the door, attempting to get in with no prevail. A few seconds later, the banging mysteriously stopped.

“Why did he stop?” Anika wondered. The only reason Ghostface would stop is if he finds another way inside. Sam looked at the bathroom door and pointed at it, mouthing “close” at Anika.

Anika followed her orders, walking through the door.

There was a dead man in the bathtub, probably one of Quinn’s hookups before she died. It was a gruesome sight, the blood splattered everywhere around the tub. The man’s head wasn’t connected to his body.

Anika yelled, right before Ghostface crashed in the bathroom, pinning Anika by her neck.

Ghostface tilted his head mockingly, before stabbing her in the stomach.

“SAM! Anika needs help!” Mindy yelled, already making her way over to the bathroom. Sam rushed inside as the knife was slowly pulled upwards in Anika’s body, making her writhe and scream in pain.

Sam grabbed the closest weapon, which unfortunately happened to be a curling iron, and slammed it across his face.

Using the distraction, Mindy grabbed Anika and helped her back in the room. Ethan joined Sam in the bathroom and both of them succeeded in pushing him out the door, but not without Ethan getting slashed in the back.

Ethan hissed in pain, crashing down on his knees. Ethan’s bloody hand left a handmark on his mouth as he tried to muffle the noises of his sobs.

Sam carried Ethan to the next room, sitting him down next to Anika.

Sam closed the other door, locking it as well.

“Shit Ethan, are you okay?” Mindy asked. Ethan looked up at her in confusion, like he was confused why Mindy would care in the first place.

“J-j-just peachy,” Ethan responded, helping Anika hold a shirt against her wound. She was bleeding far too much to not raise concern.

“Sam, that’s… that’s not gonna hold.” Ethan warned. Ethan felt sick to his stomach when the blood seeped through the cracks of his fingers.

“I know, we just need time.” Sam looked around frantically before grabbing the dresser, hoping to create a barrier and keep Ghostface out the room. Mindy helped her and pushed the dresser against the door.

Sam looked out the window to see Derek waving his arms wildly at her.

“SAM!” Danny yelled through his window. Sam quickly opened the window.

“Ghostface is right outside, we’re trapped inside!” Sam looked down at the alleyway, cringing when Derek handed over the ladder. Ethan and Anika are both gravely injured, they won’t be able to get across as easily as Mindy and herself. Nonetheless, they had no other choice.

“Mindy! You go!” Sam called out.

“No! You go first, I’ll hold the door! You’ll be faster.” Sam nodded in agreement and climbed through the window, shakily grabbing onto the ladder railings.

“You got this, Sam.” Danny encouraged. Sam carefully moved as quickly as possible, avoiding looking at the ground or she feared she might freeze up. She didn’t have the time for that, Ghostface can get inside any second.

Sam successfully made it across, and Danny helped pull her in. Sam took a breath to contain her anxiety and waved out the window, urging the next person to go next.

Mindy quickly made her way over to Anika, wiping her bangs from her face. She tried carrying her to the window, but Anika was too weak and collapsed on the ground.

“I can’t! I can’t do it!” Anika shook her head desperately, as Mindy tried to calm her down. They didn’t have much time for Anika, she could barely move by herself, she needed to be in the hospital now.

“You have to. You have to do it-”

“I KNOW! You go first, I’ll go after you,” Anika promised. Mindy hesitated, looking back at the window and back at Anika.

“You need to go now, Mindy.” Mindy kissed her, one last time, before climbing through the window.

“We’re both gonna die.” Ethan mumbles under his breath. Anika shakes her head fiercely, grabbing Ethan’s hand.

“You aren’t dying today. When Mindy gets across, you’re going next.” Ethan’s eyes widened in horror as he kneeled in front of Anika.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“NO! You have to go first, you’re more injured than I am.” Anika shook her head, rubbing Ethan’s arm for comfort.

“Ethan-” Anika’s words were cut off when Ethan hugged her, laying his forehead on Anika’s shoulder.

“I can’t let you die. I won’t let you die,” Ethan cried, as Anika softly rubbed the back of his neck. Her movements were sluggy and lazy, like it took a lot of effort to even raise her hand. Ethan wasn’t much surprised by this, she lost far too much blood.

“Ethan, when Mindy gets across you have to go.”

“I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry-” Ethan lifted his head off her shoulder, shaking from the intensity of his sobs.

“It’s not your fault, Eth. You protected me as much as you could.” Anika kissed him on the forehead, wiping his tears from his eyes.

“You could still live, Anika. If you go first, I’ll go right behind you.”

“Ethan, I won’t make it to the ladder! You don’t have to be a doctor to know this-” Anika gestured to her stab wound “-is a good survival chance.”

“But…” Ethan's voice cracked as he failed to articulate words properly “You’re my best friend.”

“I know. But we shouldn’t both die. You deserve to live at least.” Ethan screamed when Ghostface squeezed past the door, not quite through but almost there. Ethan looked at Anika one last time and gave her hand a squeeze. He let go of her hand, hesitantly, wanting to go back and protect her from Ghostface, but knowing she would be pissed at him if he did.

Ethan walked towards the ladder and climbed through, holding on as tight as possible to the steps of the ladder. He had to be far slower then Sam and Mindy was, the blood on his hands making it slippery.

Mid-way through, he heard a loud crashing noise. Ethan whipped around, making direct eye contact with Ghostface.

Ethan desperately shook his head at Ghostface but he didn’t care, advancing onto Anika.

“Anika! Get out of there!” Mindy shouted, being held back by Derek. “You have to get out of there! Please!”

Anika shakily got up to her feet, using the wall as a leverage. She knew it was no use but she tried distancing herself as far away from Ghostface as possible. If she could distract him, Ethan could get across.

Unfortunately, Ghostface wasn’t wasting any time and pulled the pocket knife Ethan had. Tears gathered in Anika’s eyes when she realized that knife was her gift she gave him last christmas, to protect himself.

It was a light blue handle, the design swirling with other shades of blue. It had small little accents of gold, making the handle shine a little in the light.

Ghostface slashed across her chest, over and over again, creating a disturbing, bloody masterpiece on the wall. Anika screamed as he did so, until he stabbed her in the throat. Her screams were silenced.

Anika was dead.

“NO!” Ethan screamed the word until he felt his throat starting to burn. He sobbed, his tears making his sight blurry.

“Ethan! Ethan, I need you to come here right now.” Sam yelled. Ethan looked back behind him watching as Ghostface dropped his knife on the ground and grabbed the other edge of the ladder.

“ETHAN! Just keep moving, focus on me.” Ghostface shook the ladder and Ethan shook with it, holding as tight as he could.

“Leave me alone! Stop!” Ghostface ignored him, answering his begging by shaking even harder on the ladder.

Ethan kept moving forward, hesitantly going step by step. Sam was holding tight on the other side, hoping to keep it steady enough to get Ethan across.

One more strong shake from Ghostface almost completely knocked Ethan off the ladder.

“You got it! You’re almost there!” Sam reassured, but her voice sounded fake, like she didn’t believe her own words.

Ethan groaned in pain when the jolting from the ladder pulled uncomfortably on his bleeding back.

“I’m not gonna make it.” Ethan sniffled, the blood from his nose dripping down to the concrete below.

“NO! Ethan you will survive this, we just need you to make it to the other side.” Sam said, looking Ethan straight in the eyes.

“Don’t let the fucker get you! You’re almost there.” Danny insisted, holding his hand out for Ethan to grab.

Ethan continued forward, determination encouraging him on. If he didn’t make it, Anika died for nothing.

Ethan made it to the other end of the window and Sam quickly pulled him inside.

Mindy caught Ethan before he fell on the ground, helping him back up to his feet. Ghostface pushed the ladder out of the window, watching as it dropped to the ground.

Ethan watched helplessly as Ghostface pulled Anika into his arms and shoved her dead body out the window.

“NO!” Ethan banged against the glass, watching as his best friend’s dead body crashed against a dumpster before slamming on the ground, blood pooling from under her.

Mindy collapsed on the ground and Ethan fell with her, holding her in his arms as she cried.

It’s over now.

Chad pushed past the police officers and the medics, desperately trying to find Ethan or Sam or anyone in their group.

He needed to know if they were alive, that they were ok.

After Chad and Tara left the apartment building, Tara and Chad realized nobody was following them. Chad still felt the pounding in his heart when he realized that Mindy and Ethan were still locked in there with Ghostface.

Chad called out their names with no response.

Eventually he got closer to one of the ambulances and noticed Mindy and Ethan sitting inside. Ethan was staring into seemingly nothing while Mindy sat next to him. To Chad’s surprise, Ethan had an arm around Mindy’s shoulder. To surprise him even more, Mindy didn’t shrug it off.

“Chad?” Mindy called out. Chad rushed over to her, holding her in his arms. He felt liquid at the back of his neck as he rubbed her back comfortably.

From the side of his eye, Chad watched as Ethan scooched over as far away from Mindy and Chad as possible, hugging his knees to his chest.

Chad’s heart shattered as he continued to hug his sister, tears burning in his own eyes.

“Its gonna be okay,”

“A-Anika… She's dead. Ghostface killed her.” Mindy mumbled in Chad’s shirt. Chad froze in place, glancing at the body bag not too far away from them.

“I’m so sorry, Mindy.” Mindy finally let go of Chad, wiping her eyes off with her sleeve.

“I’m going to kill this asshole, he’s going to fucking die for killing Anika.” Mindy jumped down from the ambulance car and walked towards Sam.

Chad sighed, glancing back at Ethan again.

Ethan looked completely destroyed and lost, staring into nothing, rocking back and forth.

“Ethan?” Ethan kept staring ahead, not noticing him in the slightest. Chad walked in front of him, cupping his cheeks with his hands.

Ethan’s eyes were red and puffy, refusing to look Chad in the eyes. Gauze was put in Ethan’s nostrils, bruising covering the entire outside of his nose.

Ghostface broke his nose.

Chad let Ethan’s face go and gasped when he also saw the bandages wrapped around Ethan’s forearms, practically soaked in blood. Chad also noticed the cast around two of Ethan’s fingers on his left hand.

“Ethan, baby, I’m so sorry.” Ethan ignored him, staring at the ground.

“I know I said I was going to protect you, I’m so fucking sorry.” Ethan looked back at Chad, finally looking him in the eyes.

Chad wished he didn’t.

The spark Ethan had in his eyes was distinguished, like it was never there in the first place. It was like looking at a soldier after a war, looking thousands of yards ahead of you.

“Ethan, say something. Please.” Ethan blinked slowly at him, not registering a word he was saying. Chad went to hold him, like he did with Mindy, but he cried out in pain when Chad touched his back. Ghostface injured his back as well.

For the first time in his life, Chad had no idea how to comfort someone.

“Come back to me, Ethan. Please. You’re here, with me. You’re safe. You’re alive.”

“Anika isn’t.” Ethan whispered. Ethan’s voice was quiet but also emotionless. “I couldn’t save her.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was. It was my fault. She wasn’t meant to die, I was.” Chad cupped his cheeks again, kissing each cheek tenderly.

“I’m glad you’re alive,”

“You’re going to wish I wasn’t soon.”

“Ethan, I would never want you dead.” Chad caresses the swell of his cheeks, rubbing his hand softly on Ethan’s hip.

Ethan looked up at him with watery eyes. “I do.”

Realizing he was starting to cry, Ethan angrily wiped his eyes, balling his fists in his lap.

“It’s okay to cry, Ethan.” Ethan shook his head, leaning his forehead against Chad’s shoulder.

“I don’t want to cry anymore. I don’t want to think about it anymore. It hurts.” Chad wrapped his arms around Ethan’s waist, making sure he doesn’t press on his injury accidentally.

“I know, baby. I know.”

Chapter Text

Ethan has never wanted to sleep more in his life. 

Chad told Ethan hours before that he should try to get as much rest as he can, that if anything happens he would make sure he would protect Ethan. 

But, how could you protect somebody from themself?

His mind couldn’t handle the shoulder-crushing weight of guilt Ethan carried with him anymore. He was no longer strong enough to ignore his pain and keep pushing forward, he was breaking down. His mind was stressed and panicked, and even though he knew for certain his father wouldn't try to attack him again, that it was only for show, the throb from the cuts decorating his forearms screamed otherwise. 

Throughout the night he went through the same repetitive actions over and over again. 

He’ll first try to sleep normally, just close his eyes and wait for the inevitable unconsciousness to take hold. Unfortunately, he would just stay there for 10 minutes straight without falling asleep, so he’ll grab a cup of water from the nightstand.  

He’ll try to go back to sleep after drinking the water, but every time he did all he heard was Anika’s screaming. Her cries of pain as he tried to keep pressure on her wound or when Ghostface put an end to her misery by slashing her with his knife until she dropped. 

He would remember how she looked him in the eyes and gave her life up for a murderer. 

She died thinking she sacrificed her life for her friend. 

Her friend who is a complete fraud, using his friendship to exploit her group to Ghostface. 

One part of him wished he died that night, to put an end to everything, the easy way out. He’ll die with the rest of them thinking that he was his friend. Death would be blissful, no more murder, no fear, no nightmares, no pain, no Richie. He’ll finally be at peace, a luxury he hasn’t had since he was 8 years old. 

Another part of him was still panicking for his life. Every time he breathed, he sucked in oxygen like any second it would stop, like this is just all a dream and Ghostface still had his hands wrapped around his throat. Anytime he moved, he felt the twinge in his back from the wound, when Ghostface managed to get a swipe in before getting shut out the bathroom. 

He remembered falling on the ground, wanting to sob in the fetal position and never move again. Sometimes he would catch himself arching his back, a futile and idiotic attempt to get as far away from a non-existent knife as he possibly could. 

Now Ethan was in the…. the bathroom?

Ethan looked around the bathroom, wondering how the hell he managed to get here. He doesn’t normally sleep walk. 

He was in a bathtub, half filled with water. It pooled against his stomach with small little waves when he moved. 

Ethan stood up, groaning in annoyance when he realized that his clothes were soaked. 

Ethan paused, looking back at the bathwater. It wasn’t clear, or even cloudy from dirty pipes. It was a dark scarlet red. 

His heart lurched when he looked down at his body again. He was drenched in blood. 

Ethan felt across his entire body, his torso, his legs, and his arms. He wasn’t hurt, even his bandages from his arms weren’t there. 

When he looked back at the bathwater, it was clear again.

Ethan pulled his soaking wet clothes off his body and hung it to dry. 

He picked up a nearby towel and wrapped it around himself. 

Ethan took one last look at the water, letting out a breath of relief when it was back to normal. 

It’s just your mind playing tricks on you.

Ethan shrugged and walked out of the bathroom, not noticing anything weird on his way there. He opened the door, and grabbed random pajamas he found on the ground. He pulled them on, before laying next to Chad on the bed. He laid his head on the pillow, attempting to get some sleep again. 

Ethan….

Ethan shot up from the bed, looking at Chad. He was still asleep. 

Red was always your color wasn’t it? 

Ethan’s heart raced in his chest, and he looked back on his clothes. It was drenched in blood again. 

Ethan shot off the bed and ran to the door, locking it. 

You’re just like your big brother, aren’t you Ethan? You make me so proud. 

Dread twisted in his gut when he recognized the voice from the door. 

Ethan quickly ran to Chad, trying to shake him awake. He didn’t budge an inch. 

It’s not a big deal, he’s probably just exhausted. 

Ethan screamed when he started to hear fists banging on the door. 

Don’t you want to let your big brother in? Don’t you miss me?

“Leave me alone.” Ethan snapped.

Why should I? Why do you think you deserve peace, after all you’ve done?

You’re a monster. Just like me. 

Ethan didn’t want to bother Chad again, but he didn’t think he could mentally take this anymore. 

Chad won’t save you. In fact, go check on him now. 

Confused, Ethan shook him as hard as he could. No movement. Chad was limp, moved like he had no bones in his body. 

“Chad? I need you to wake up.” No response. Ethan picked at his lips, staring down at Chad’s unconscious body. 

“Chad? Baby, are you okay?”

How cute. 

Ethan pulled him to the other side, so he was facing Ethan. 

Surprise! 

Chad’s throat was slit, somebody cut his throat. Blood covered the entire front of his shirt, dying his white shirt red. His eyes were wide open, but they were cloudy and . 

Ethan screamed, holding his hand over his mouth. 

“Chad? Chad?! Chad!” Ethan lightly smacked his cheek, praying to whatever higher power that he would magically wake up. 

“Chad, please I need you to… I need you to wake up. I need you.” Chad didn’t respond, staring at him blankly. 

Ethan fell to his knees, gripping his hair so hard that some strands ripped out. Sobs painfully wracked through his throat, until he could barely breathe anymore. 

Chad was dead. 

Chad was dead. 

Chad was dead. 

Ethan’s heart was out of control, beating so hard in his chest Ethan knew for certain his body didn’t want to survive long without Chad. 

Maybe it was out of control because Chad’s stopped. His heart needed a beat to match to, it couldn’t survive on its own. Maybe his heart used to beat on its own, independent and capable, but not anymore. 

The door was unlocked. 

Ethan ran to the door, almost tripping over his own feet, and locked it again, but it just kept unlocking. 

His fear spiked when he realized he couldn’t lock the door. Something was stopping it. 

Ethan sat down in front of the door, pushing as hard as he could to keep whatever is out there, away from him… away from Chad. 

Don’t be such a prude, Ethan. You knew it was going to happen eventually.

“Fuck you!”

You just couldn’t let this one go, couldn’t you? 

You should have just done what Quinn did. Fuck him and slit his throat, it’s simple really. 

Oh wait, maybe you did. 

Dread curled in his stomach as he slowly looked down at his right hand. 

A knife, covered in blood. 

Not any blood, Chad’s blood.

It really runs in the fucking family doesn’t it?

More fists banged against the door, constantly knocking Ethan’s body from the force. 

Ethan screamed when blood started to seep through the crack of the door, slowly covering Ethan’s pants and eventually the chestnut colored floors. 

“Go away!” Ethan sobbed, digging his feet into the ground. 

Ethan, just let me in. 

That was Chad’s voice. 

“I’m so sorry-” Ethan wept, squeezing his eyes shut. 

It’s okay, just let me in. 

Ethan knew it was a trap. He couldn’t open it. But he knew what else he could do. Ethan grabbed the knife still in his right hand, and stabbed himself in the throat. 

Everything went black.

Chad couldn’t wake him up. 

Chad tried everything to wake him up, but Ethan wouldn’t budge. 

Chad woke up with Ethan screaming at the top of his lungs, thrashing and kicking on his side of the bed. He was yelling practically gibberish, but every now and then he would yell “Leave me alone” or “go away” or “Chad.” When he screamed his name it sounded so loud and painful, so he had a good idea what his nightmare was about this time. 

He tried shaking him awake, but Ethan almost punched him in the face for that. He knew that Ethan was dangerous, not only to Chad but more importantly, to himself in this state. Chad quickly untangled Ethan’s fingers from his hair, and sat behind him, wrapping his arms around Ethan to prevent him from moving as much. 

That worked, but on the negative side, Ethan was openly sobbing out loud, tears running down his face. A pang of hurt hit Chad when he realized how used he was to Ethan crying, it became almost an everyday occurrence. Ethan never cried at all before. 

Chad hooked his chin over Ethan’s shoulder, patiently waiting for it to be over. 

Chad has been feeling more and more helpless when it comes to Ethan, and he hated it. Ethan was already dealing with his past trauma, and now he has to cope with the death of his best friend. Chad whispered small apologies in Ethan’s ear, wishing Ethan could hear it through whatever night terror he’s experiencing. He knew it was his fault that Ethan was getting worse then he was before, that he wasn’t anywhere near him to protect him. It was the one thing he promised Ethan, and he couldn’t even stay committed to that. 

A few minutes later, the thrashing and sobbing stopped, and complete silence took over the entire room. Ethan’s head lolled backwards, laying on Chad’s shoulder. 

“Ethan? Are you awake?” He didn’t respond, but he did slowly start to sit up, not using Chad’s chest as a back supporter. Ethan sucked his breath through his teeth when he realized he re-opened his back wound with all the moving around. Ethan froze again, slowly turning around to face Chad. 

“Chad?” His voice was broken and fragile, as he traced Chad’s jawline with the tip of his finger. A smile slowly grew on his face as he started peppering Chad’s face with small, chaste kisses. 

He backed away a bit, and started touching Chad’s arms, torso, shoulders, anywhere he could reach. 

“I don’t know what you saw in your dream but I’m okay.” Ethan took a slow deep breath, looking at Chad with pretty, watery eyes. 

“Y-y-you were… you were dead. T-the blood… the b-blood was everywhere. I was s-so scared. I don’t ever want to sleep again.” Chad frowned, wiping a sweaty curl out of Ethan’s eye. 

“You’re going to have to sleep, eventually. Your body needs rest.”

Ethan shook his head. “I can’t. It’s too scary, I died in that dream too.”

“You died?” Chad asked. Ethan nodded, playing with the fingers of Chad’s hand. 

“Y-yeah.”

“We should probably talk about something more positive.” Chad stated. Ethan smiled again, letting go of Chad’s fingers and laying on his chest. 

“We should.” Chad hoped that maybe talking Ethan to sleep is the answer, but a part of him was scared for Ethan to go to sleep as well. He didn’t want Ethan’s mind to torture him anymore.

“What do you want to talk about?” 

After that, Ethan talked on and on, about Star Wars, about the decline of quality in marvel movies, and the possible progress of DC movies, then about Harry Potter. He continued until eventually he started to just mumble incoherent words into Chad’s chest, and then eventually he was out like a light. No nightmares, no screaming, and no crying. Just the blissful unawareness of sleep. 

It took a little longer for Chad to go to sleep, Chad staying awake on purpose just in case something happened. When he was comforted that Ethan was safe, he fell back to the calm darkness of sleep.

When Chad woke back up again, his arms were cold and completely empty. Chad’s hands were clammy with sweat, and he quickly sat up, launching himself in the living room. 

“Ethan!” Chad yelled out. Ethan jumped in his seat, spilling his caramel frappe all over him. 

“Shit Chad!” Chad closed his eyes, slightly bowing his head towards Ethan. 

“Sorry I was just scared, you weren’t in the room- wait.” Ethan smiled when Chad noticed it, triumphantly presenting the McDonalds with jazz hands. 

“I bought McDonalds! And I remembered your order,” Ethan smiled brightly at Chad, beckoning him over to the table. 

“First of all, Ethan, did you go by yourself?” Chad sat across from him at the table, sending him a stern look.

“Um… maybe? BUT look, It was really early-” 

“One word. Randy Meeks.”

“That’s two, dumbass.” Ethan chuckled, shoving a piece of pancakes in his mouth. Chad cringed a bit when he saw it covered in syrup. Who the hell loves syrup that much?

“Second, where did you get the money to buy McDonalds?” Ethan froze mid-chewing, blinking slowly at Chad. 

“...”

“...”

“I may have stolen it from your wallet-” In his defense, Ethan looks slightly guilty, dropping his plastic fork. Chad didn’t really care much, but it still was hilarious to see Ethan’s face expression. 

“I’m not mad, babe. Don’t worry.” Chad comforted, digging into his own food. 

“Oh, I see what this is now,” Ethan accused. Chad stopped chewing, looking away from his food to look at Ethan. 

“And what is it?” Ethan crossed his arms, pointing at Chad. 

“You want to be my sugar daddy-” Chad roared in laughter, almost tipping his chair all the way backward. Ethan joined him, pleasuring Chad’s ears with an adorable giggle. 

“Alright so what is the equivalent of 13 dollars?” Chad asked, leaning a bit over the table. 

“I’m thinking… maybe a handjob?” Ethan tapped his finger against his chin inquisitively. 

“Don’t sell yourself too short.”

“Fine, 13 dollars equate to a very steamy makeout session and maybe I’ll take my shirt off.” Chad snickers, stealing a piece of bacon off Ethan’s plate. 

“Alright so what’s the price range, I need to see if I can afford you babe.”

“A kiss is 5 dollars. A kiss with tongue is 7. A makeout session is 13. Clothes off is an additional 3 dollars. A handjob is 20 dollars, blowjob is 30, and last, but definitely not least, the entire-” Ethan makes a crude gesture with his hands, creating a circle with one hand and sticking his finger inside the circle with his other. 

“-Is 50 dollars + tax.” Chad nodded, keeping his most serious face intact. He leaned over across the table and playfully bit at Ethan’s bottom lip before kissing him fully. The kiss wasn’t meant to be particularly arousing, both of them absolutely exhausted from last night, but it was sweet and calming, and it lasted as long as it possibly could. 

“That will be 7 dollars please.” Ethan held his hand out, holding back his laughter. Chad chuckled along with him, fishing in his pocket for non-existent cash. He pulls his pocket out, sighing deeply when nothing comes out. 

“You’re a horrible man, Chad Meeks-Martin.” Seeing a notification pop up on his phone, Chad checked it out, noticing it was a message from Tara. 

Chad let out a huge breath of air before checking to see what she said. 

Tara <3

Kirby said she found the hideout Ghostface has been using. 

You and Ethan need to see it for yourself. 

Chad looked back at Ethan, who already threw his food in the trash, as he laid across the couch lazily watching some tv show Chad didn’t recognize. 

Should he tell Ethan?

Ethan finally calmed down after getting chased and almost killed by Ghostface. Would seeing the mask again freak him out? 

On the other hand, is leaving Ethan by himself a good idea? Ghostface could get inside and kill him. If Ghostface can get into a hospital, he or she can definitely get inside a barely secure college campus. Ethan is so injured, he would barely be able to fight to his best ability. 

 Ethan getting hurt isn’t an option. 

“Ethan? I have something to tell you.” Chad sat down next to him on the couch, and Ethan used the remote to shut the tv off. 

“Kirby found something. Ghostface’s hideout” Ethan frowned, picking at the bandages on his arms. Chad softly pulled them away and held them with his own. 

“That’s… great…”

“Ethan. We don’t have to go if you don’t think you can do it. It’s been a few days since Anika’s death, they’ll understand.” Chad insisted. Ethan shook his head, standing off the couch. 

“Remember what you said to Sam, that night?”

“We’re the core four?” 

“No, about us being a team. I can’t skip out on them just because it makes me uncomfortable. Let’s go.”

The whole group met up at the location Kirby sent them, and it led them to a dirty, piss smelling alleyway in New York. It wasn’t much different than practically anywhere else, and Tara would never suspect Ghostface would have a hideout here, it doesn’t seem very secure. She quickly changed her mind when Kirby pulled out a keycard to let herself inside. 

When they got through the elevator the lights flickered on, revealing a display of the entire Scream Franchise. 

Knives, books, newspapers, jackets, everything.

“How did you find this?” Officer Bailey asked, looking around the unfamiliar area. 

Tara couldn’t help but feel guilty over Quinn’s death. Officer Bailey already lost his son, but her daughter being killed too is more than cruel. The man lost his entire family, only because Quinn happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Tara wished she could reverse time, save Quinn before it’s too late. She was being murdered while she was standing in the next room. She was screaming, afraid and in pain, and nobody noticed. 

“Good question, Mr. Bailey. When I was looking into the first two shit heads, Jason Carvey and Greg Bruckner, I was just searching for anything to piggyback off of at first. Maybe some clue to get us anywhere close to identifying the new ghostface. Then I found something weird with their credit card payment history. I investigated it until I found the location where their money was getting sucked into. They went by fake names, but the money did the talking for me.” 

Tara walked towards Amber's shrine, and she walked almost as if she was being dragged by the hand by someone else. Like a ghost. 

There wasn’t much left for Amber, except a burned piece of clothing, her knife, and the gun she used. Tara felt tears burn in her eyes as she traced her finger across the glass. 

Amber lost everything, gave everything up over a stupid movie franchise. Amber threw their entire relationship away, everything they built, for some stupid man she met on a subreddit. Richie Kirsch didn’t give a fuck about Amber, and if he did, he wouldn’t have involved her in this stupid plot in the first place. 

At first, Tara couldn’t feel anything but rage about it. She hated how powerless and scared she felt when she was being chased by Amber. She wanted to bring Amber back to life and kill her over and over again until she was satisfied. Amber betrayed her, pretended to care about her, fucking manipulated her into thinking she was this protective and loyal girlfriend. 

Overtime, that anger transformed into grief. A special type of sadness, Amber told her once. Grief stays with you for years on end and never could be fixed. No matter what you do or say, you will never see that person again. That person is gone from your life forever, they will become nothing but a memory. That person will always be a hole in your heart that could never be filled. When Amber died, a part of her died too.

Amber is dead and gone, and will never come back. Tara knows this, and so does everyone else. It’s not possible to get burned alive and then shot in the head and somehow survive.

But, sometimes Tara thinks she can feel her presence around her. She will see someone smoking a cigarette and instantly be reminded of how Amber sometimes smelled like cigarettes because her dad smoked or she would walk past someone who smells like lavender and she would be instantly reminded of Amber, because her favorite shampoo and conditioner were lavender scented. 

It was worse than that too. 

Tara almost had a panic attack because she saw someone from the back with the same long, fluffy, straight hair that Amber used to always have. Tara remembered running her fingers through Amber's hair, it used to calm Amber down back when they loved each other, and it all hit her like a truck.

Despite everything she has done, the murder and the lying and the cheating, Tara will always miss Amber.                 

Tara will always want Amber. Nobody else was made for her that way Amber was, and till the day she dies she will always miss Amber. 

Tears burned in her eyes and she blinked them away, but one single tear managed to fall anyway.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            “You okay?” Chad wrapped his arm around her shoulder, looking at Amber’s shrine. Tara knows that Chad doesn't feel the same way about Amber, not that it's not deserved. Amber took a lot away from him. He almost died, for a while he couldn't even play football because of the pain. Wes, who was close to Chad and herself, was killed right after his mom was murdered. Sam and Mindy had to break the news to him on his girlfriend's death while he was still in incredible pain from the stab wounds. Tara remembered how quiet he was after, and her relief when he healed over time and went back to the Chad she knew. 

Sometimes she wishes she could go to Chad about how she felt about Amber, but she knew it would be insensitive after what he had gone through. 

“I will be, I think.” Tara squeezed his arm affectionately, smiling up at Chad. 

“Shit, they have fucking everything.” Mindy waved Chad away from Tara, pointing at the t-shirt in front of her. “This was Uncle Randy’s.”

“How the hell did they even manage to get this stuff? Isn’t this evidence?” Tara asked. 

“I wish I could say all cops were dedicated to truth, justice, and liberty and all that, but a lot of them can easily be persuaded by money, and evidence can be lost fairly easy.” Kirby responded, frowning at the Jill Roberts part of the shrine.  

Tara has always been a bit curious about Kirby since she met her for the first time.

How does she just… move on with her life after everything that happened to her? It makes sense it’s been years since it happened, but how did she eventually get over the anger and the pain after being betrayed?

No matter what Tara tries to do, push away the past and live in the present, she can’t do it. Deep down, she knows she can’t. 

But what else can one possibly do but move on?

“So… what’s the plan from here? We can’t just keep running into Ghostface, we won’t survive like this. Eventually he’ll cut us down.” Sam commented. Mindy perked up at the comment, standing up and clearing her throat like she was about to give a big speech. Knowing Mindy, that was probably accurate. 

“In all the Stab movies so far, what’s the common factor that always happens when a ghostface dies?” Mindy asked. Five seconds of silence and she responds to herself. 

“The Killer is next to impossible to kill if they’re hunting us down, right? We don’t know where they are or when they’re going to strike. But if we lock the killer in one location, with no escape, we can finish him off for good. “ The rest of the group stays silent for a while, contemplating on what Mindy said. 

It was a great idea, and no surprise the horror fanatic would think of an idea from watching the movie. But it was awfully risky. If there was no escape, if something went wrong… they’ll be screwed. 

“One small detail, Mindy. Last time we were locked together with Ghostface, we all almost died! And someone did die if you haven’t forgotten.” Ethan responded, glaring daggers at the side of Mindy’s head. 

Tara hasn’t seen or talked to Ethan much after the whole incident, not like she spoke to him much before. Tara never got to talk to Ethan much, mostly because he seemed to be uncomfortable with her at minimum and hatred towards her at maximum. Tara wished it wasn’t like that, and maybe it wouldn’t if she had a proper conversation with him. From what she saw, and heard (mostly from Chad) he was unintentionally really funny if you talked to him long enough. He seems sweet and friendly to talk to, but I guess he wasn’t very interested in Tara. 

Despite the lack of information Tara had on Ethan, even she could tell something wasn’t completely right with him. 

His eyes were sunken and shallow, like somebody sucked all the sparkle and wonder out of them. His smile seemed fake more often than not, his face was paler than usual, and even his curly hair seemed to fall out of its pattern and volume. 

He doesn’t even talk as much as he used to. He was just kinda there, and only really spoke to Chad. 

It makes a lot of sense. Ethan doesn’t seem like the type of kid who ever had to deal with grief. From what he described, he had the perfect life, perfect parents, perfect childhood. He never mentions grieving anyone, but then again, Tara wasn’t very close with him. Regardless, Anika was not only Mindy’s girlfriend but Ethan's best friend. He's going through a lot. 

The way that Mindy and Ethan are grieving reminds Tara a lot of her sister and herself. Ethan digs himself into a hole and self-destructing, while Mindy runs headlong into danger to get revenge from what's taken from her. 

“I haven’t forgotten. That’s why we need to get rid of this shithead before he kills anyone else. I’m sick of looking behind my shoulder every 5 seconds and anticipating my death. I’m fucking sick of mourning people. I want this fucker gone. If we have weapons to defend ourselves, there are 7 of us! 2 of us has fucking guns! Ghostface usually works in 2, so we can outnumber them and take them out.” 

“I think that can work but… we’re going to need your help, Officer Bailey.” Sam said. Officer Bailey paced across the floor, taking a few moments to think this through. 

“That psycho in a mask killed my daughter. I… I already lost my son. He won’t get away with this, he won’t get away with hurting all of you either.” Officer Bailey puts a hand on Ethan’s shoulder, and Ethan shrugs it off, walking towards Chad. 

“Girl with the Gun, we need you too.” Mindy said. 

“ ‘Girl with the Gun’ she says, how come he’s called Officer Bailey and I’m called ‘Girl with the Gun’?” Kirby slightly pouted, sitting on the steps. 

Tara looks back at Amber’s shrine again, tears gathering in her eyes but not being bothered enough to stop it. Seeing this, Kirby stands up again, holding her hand out to Tara. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Tara turns around and quickly gives a thumbs up to Sam before following Kirby into a random room in the theater. Kirby sat down on one of the seats and waved Tara over to the seat next to her. 

"Alright, what’s going on, kid?” Kirby sits straight, facing towards Tara. She smiled slightly, hoping to appear less intimidating. 

“It’s so… stupid, I shouldn’t be crying about this.”

“If you’re crying about it, after everything you’ve gone through, I doubt it’s ‘stupid’ but regardless, tell me anyway. I won’t mind.” 

“I miss her. Amber. Despite all she’s done, I want her back. I’m the one who killed her, and deep down I wish I didn’t.” Kirby nodded sympathetically, picking at her black painted fingernails. 

“That's not nearly as dumb as you think it is. It makes a lot of sense actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You probably already know this but, Jill was my best friend. Out of everyone in the world, she was the one I planned to stick by until the day I died. I wanted her to be by my side until I died, as well but… I guess she didn’t get the memo. At first, I was pissed when I realized I was being betrayed. I was happy when I found out she died.”

“So what changed?”

“What changed was when I was out of the hospital and integrated back into normal society, and it felt wrong. Me being there when Jill isn’t. It didn’t sit right with me. For a while I ignored it, thinking it was going to disappear eventually, that weird loneliness feeling? But it never did. It probably never will. We were friends for years, and I’ll assume you’ve been close with Amber for that long too. The only way to get past this, is by accepting your feelings instead of ignoring them. Understand them and recognize what they are, and fully accept what they are, even if you don’t like the thought of it.” Tara nodded, twirling the tip of her hair with her finger. 

“Do you… do you think if I hadn't killed her, maybe she would have gotten help? That she would have been okay?” Kirby's eyes drifted upwards, taking a deep breath.

“I wish I knew, but I never knew her, all I know about her is what I have from the police report. But, regardless of whether she could have gotten help, she could have always come to you or anyone else for help but she didn’t. She decided she wanted to murder people for fun and got exactly what was coming for her. You’re not a bad person for protecting innocent people over a murderer.” Tara nodded, wiping another tear from her eye. 

“I wish I could’ve saved her.”

“I do too, Tara.” A few seconds after, Officer Bailey and Sam walked in. 

“Sorry for interrupting, but I think we have a plan.” Officer Bailey said. 

“We all agreed that maybe locking everyone inside with the killers should be a last resort. So instead, we have one last plan to lure Ghostface in. How fast can you trace a phone call?” Kirby smirked, kicking her legs up on the chair in front of her. 

“Under 50 seconds. Why?”

“We’re gonna need that tomorrow.” Officer Bailey replied, satisfied at Kirby’s abilities.

When he left the hideout, Ethan immediately got a message from Quinn, urging him to meet him at “Captain Bailey’s” apartment. When he got there, only Quinn was there, and she reassured him that his father was coming as soon as he could. 

“Hey little brother!” Quinn ran up to Ethan, hugging him tightly. Ethan felt a smile against his cheek, and shoved her off, rage flowing through his veins. 

“Get the fuck off me.” Ethan walked past her into the dining room, sitting down on the chair. The dining room was pretty basic, even for his father’s sake. It was painted white, and the table was in the middle, with the accompanying chairs. There weren't any designs on the walls, or even any portraits like their previous house. 

“Who the hell pissed in your drink today?” Quinn sat in front of Ethan, head slightly tilting to the side. 

“You did. You and Dad.” Ethan looked away from the table and glared at Quinn, anger churning deep in his stomach. 

“What-” 

“What the fuck was that?” Ethan asked. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“You know exactly what the fuck I’m talking about. Anika?” Recognition passed across Quinn’s face but the reaction wasn’t quite what Ethan expected. 

“Oh… that’s what you’re mad about?” Quinn waved him off, giggling into her hand. “Are you mad you couldn’t kill her first?”

“Why would I ever want to do that? Are you fucking insane?” Ethan yelled, slamming his fist on the table. 

“ ‘Why would I ever want to do that’ are you a fucking idiot, Ethan? You’re being ridiculous. You’re fucking Ghostface, killing is what you do. It’s what we do. Doesn’t it feel exhilarating? Taking someone’s life away. You feel like a god, you have so much…power. Don’t you agree? ”

Ethan shot up off his chair, pointing his finger at Quinn. “I don’t find it fucking exhilarating to kill people who don’t deserve it.”

“Get over yourself, holy shit, Ethan.”  Quinn stood up as well, crossing her arms. 

That didn’t do much but piss Ethan off even more. Who was she to get angry at Ethan? She didn’t go through half of the shit Ethan went through, she doesn’t have all these injuries, she has done fucking nothing but try to kill people like a psychopath. 

“Anika did nothing wrong-”

“She’s friends with the people who murdered your fucking brother. Or are you too wrapped up in yourself to remember that. Sam gave him 22 fucking stab wounds, Ethan.” Ethan wanted to scream at her, that Richie deserved to die. That he was a heartless asshole who attacked children for fun. That he was a creep who preyed on teenage girls to do all the murders for him. That he was a whiny pussy bitch who had it coming for him miles away. 

But, his father walked in. Ethan felt like he couldn’t move, like he couldn’t breathe. All he felt was Ghostface, his father's hands practically crushing his throat with the strength. 

“Ethan. Quinn. Sit down.” Ethan followed his order like a robot, still heated but smart enough to know not to disobey his father. His father calmly walked into the kitchen and grabbed a sharp blade. Ethan’s blood froze, he wanted to run as far as he could away from his father, but he knew it was no use. Wayne stood behind Ethan, making Ethan jump in his seat.

“Now that we all calmed down. Talk.” Wayne pressed the blade onto Ethan’s shoulder, not hard enough to draw any blood, but strong enough to make Ethan panic. 

“It’s nothing-”

“I heard everything. Spit it out.” Ethan’s eyes widened, and he tried to look at Quinn for help, but she was just staring down at the table, not making eye contact. 

“Why did you kill Anika?” Ethan whispered, biting his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood. 

“I killed her, because she deserved it.” Ethan squeezed his eyes shut, wishing he was anywhere else. 

“How did she deserve it?” 

“She willingly associates with people who killed your brother. Are you so heartless that you can’t put your grievances aside and appreciate what I’ve done for you?” His father moved from his shoulder to his face, lightly scraping the knife against his cheek, not hard enough to puncture, but enough to scare Ethan. 

“Why did you attack me?” Ethan mumbled under his breath, trying to lean as far away from the knife as possible. 

“You were in my way, and I had to make it as realistic as possible. You’ll forgive me, won’t you? Like a good son? I never wanted to hurt you.” Ethan opened and closed his mouth like a fish, unable to even form words properly. 

“You almost killed me.” The knife lowered to his neck and Quinn’s eyes locked with Ethan. Both of them were terrified. 

“I could have killed you more than once but I never did. You’re my son, my intelligent and loyal son. Don’t you realize how much you mean to me?” Wayne put the knife down, and turned Ethan’s chair so they were face to face. 

“I was so scared, Dad.” Ethan’s voice cracked as tears streamed down his face. He leaned his face downwards, so his father wouldn’t see his face. 

“Don’t do that. Look at me.” Wayne ordered.  Ethan raised his face, his watery brown eyes meeting his father’s. 

“I am your father. I will always protect you. You’re my only son left. Do you understand?” Ethan nodded, a smile growing on his face when his father wiped his tears from his eyes. 

“I understand.”

“Your friends do not care about you. They don’t know the real you. I do. I’ll love you no matter what.” Ethan’s eyes drifted to the side, Chad popping up in his mind. 

“What about Chad? He… I know he was associated with them but he wasn’t a part of it. He cares about me. Can we.. Can we spare Chad?” Ethan hesitantly looked back at his father, nervously fidgeting with his hands.

“Your boy toy betrayed you. Didn’t you know?”  Ethan shook his head, anxiety started to replace the anger he previously felt. 

“What are you talking about?”

“He left you in that apartment to die. He didn’t try to get back in the apartment, he ran off to protect Tara.” Ethan shook his head, lip trembling and eyes threatened to tear up again. 

“You’re- You can’t… that can’t be true. He said he wants to protect me. He said he cares about me.”

The same Chad who held him in his arms when he was having another nightmare?

The same Chad who slammed him against the wall and begged him not to go anywhere unless he was there too?

The same Chad who sleeps next to him purposely so he can protect him if Ghostface ever tries to attack while he's sleeping?

Ethan couldn't believe it. But why would his father ever lie to him?

“Perhaps. But not as much as he cares about Tara. You’re nothing but a body for him. Someone he can use and pleasure himself with until he moves onto someone he wants more.” 

“I thought he-”

“You’re so trusting, Ethan.” Wayne comments. Ethan scrubbed at his eyes, his whole face flushed red from the tears. Wayne pulls Ethan towards himself, enrapturing him in a tight hug. 

Ethan wrapped his arms tightly around his father, crying into his shoulder. 

He wanted to stay here forever, where he’s safe and loved. 

His father softly rubbed across his back soothingly, and Ethan so badly wanted to pull away because of his injury, but he didn’t want his father to let go of him. 

“We need your help to get revenge for what they did to our family. What they have done to you.” Wayne pulled slightly away, against Ethan’s wishes, and tucked a lock of hair behind Ethan’s ear. 

“Are you still loyal to this family? Loyal to our cause?” Ethan’s face turned stone cold, and the rage returned back with a vengeance. 

“Always.”

“This plan is stupid.” Sam complained, before stopping to point a finger at Tara. 

“And you shouldn’t even be here.”  Sam continued. 

“Look, you can’t protect me all the time and I want this psycho gone just as much as you do. You can’t do all the cool, dangerous stuff and make me sideline.” 

“Well it would make sense if ONE of us were in danger, but both of us is just risky and… useless.” Tara rolls her eyes, looking around the park, hoping to catch anybody who could be a suspect. 

“I know. I’m the backup.” Sam sighs, knocking her shoulder against Tara’s. 

Suddenly, Sam's phone starts to ring. Both Sam and Tara share a look, before Sam takes her phone out of her pocket and answers it. The call was coming from the currently dead Richie Kirsch. 

“You’re gonna die, you know. Just like the rest of them.” Sam and Tara both searched across the park, but nobody seemed to be actively on their phone. 

No you’re going to die, Samantha. Choking on your own blood as I hack up your little sister. 

“Not unless we find you first.” Kirby quickly started tracing the call, trying to get the location as fast as she could. 

For a mastermind, you’re not really bright. Did you think I would fall for that? Waiting for me to call, desperately hoping I’m nearby so the police could catch me? But I’m not nearby. I’m a step ahead. You lose, Samantha. 

“Did you get the location?” Sam asks through the headpiece. 

“I… Ghostface is in a hospital. That’s weird isn’t it?” Kirby asked. Sam and Tara freeze, slowly turning towards each other. 

“Isn’t Gale in the hospital?” Tara asked, her heart starting to beat a little harder. 

“I don’t think you’re strong enough for this franchise.” Ghostface said, giggling manically as Tara desperately crawled away.

“We have to save her!” Tara said, looking up at Sam for agreement. 

“Let’s go.” Both Sam and Tara made a break towards the police car, until Officer Bailey grabbed Sam’s shoulder, holding her back. 

“Wait, Sam, we have to make the proper calls, we need to take a minute.” Sam turned around to face him, irritation written all over her features. While Officer Bailey was distracted, Tara ran a bit faster towards the car. The car door was wide open, so she could easily get inside. 

“Officer Bailey, with all due respect, we don’t have time for that. Gale can die any second now-” 

“The hospital has police officers on site, he won’t be able to get in-”

“I got attacked when there were police officers in the hospital, so that doesn’t mean shit-” Sam looked back at the car and fear almost paralyzed her when she saw what happened in the car. 

Tara had a gun against her head, and Ghostface was in the front seat, waving to her. 

“Let her go, you motherfucker!” Before Sam could rush towards Tara, her phone started to ring again. It was Richie Kirsch’s caller id again. 

“If you take a step closer, I will blow her brains out in front of you. Then I’ll kill you and your friends next.” Sam clenched her fists until they were white, and took a step away from the car, not wanting to risk anything.

Tara looked terrified, her hands were cuffed and her mascara ran down the sides of her face. 

“If you want her to live, meet me at the hideout. Try not to take too long, I’m not feeling very forgiving lately.”  

Chad, Mindy, and Kirby run to where Sam was, watching as the police car took off. 

“What the hell just happened?” Chad asked, looking at Sam for answers. 

"They took my sister! We have to get her, NOW!"

Chapter Text

Tara’s heart quickened as her body was thrown all over the place, slamming into the front, the back, the side of the window. She couldn’t even use her hands to properly stabilize her and stop her from thrashing around. Ghostface was driving at insane speeds, speeds that even Sam wouldn’t even attempt. Ghostface didn’t seem to care, because he didn’t even spare a glance at her, focusing purely on the road. 

Well at least he pays attention while driving.

Ghostface’s gun was in his other pocket, facing away from Tara, and she knew then it would be no escape. If she even tried to reach for the gun, Ghostface would notice. Especially since her hands are cuffed and she wouldn’t be able to shoot properly. 

When Ghostface finally made it to the alleyway leading into the hideout, he stopped the car and opened the door. When he closed it back in front of him, Tara used the opportunity to lock the doors. 

Ghostface tilted his head and walked to the other door, which Tara quickly locked instead. 

If I keep this up, he might give up. Stall long enough for Sam to come. 

Ghostface walked in front of Tara’s door again and raised his hand in front of him.. Tara cocked her head, confused on what he’s doing until one of the fingers went down.

He’s counting down… but for what?

4… 3… 2… 1…

Ghostface points the gun at the window and Tara screams, ducking down as far as possible. He shoots through the window and the glass shards explode, digging itself into Tara’s skin. Tara screams again, the shards wedging itself in her arm and leg, making it sting everytime she moves. 

Before she could do anything else, Ghostface’s gloved hand gripped her hair tightly by the root before pulling her up on the seat.

“Stop! I’ll go out by myself!” Tara shouted, desperately trying to lessen the throb in her head by moving as close as possible to the hand. 

“You had your chance, didn’t you, Tara? There are consequences to your actions.” Ghostface pulls her out of the shattered window, the leftover glass ripping into her back as he pulls. He made the process as slow as possible, so she could feel the glass cutting into her skin.

When she was out of the window finally, Tara collapsed on the ground, shaking and sobbing on the dirty concrete floor. 

Ghostface put a hand on his hip, tapping his wrist mockingly like a clock. Tara tried to stand up again, but the pain shot into her body and she fell again. Annoyed, Ghostface grabs her by her arm, and starts dragging her towards the hideout. Dirt and grime and whatever else on the concrete covered her legs as she was pulled across the floor like a ragdoll. The hard floor only pushed the glass shards deeper into her body.

Tara’s screams were so loud that everyone in the alley could hear her, but nobody went to help her. All the homeless people and drug addicts stood up as fast as they could and ran the opposite way. 

“Somebody! Somebody help me please!” Ghostface pulled his glove off and shoved it into her mouth, pulling her up to her feet. 

“Nobody is going to save you here, Tara.” Tara flinched as he dragged her to the door and opened it with a keycard. When he said Tara, he said it with so much hatred that Tara couldn’t even fathom who it was. She doesn’t remember wronging someone, and people are typically only after Sam for being Billy Loomis’ daughter. 

When she got inside, he purposely shoved her out the door and she landed on the side the glass shards were in. Ghostface let her go, watching in delight as she crawled away. Ghostface sat on the back of her legs, taking a picture with his phone before slamming her face against the ground. Tara cried out, her face planted on the dirty ground. 

Ghostface picked her up by her arm and dragged her into one of the rooms down the hallway. It was dark and gritty, only one ceiling lamp hanging above. There was one chair in the middle, with a long rope laying next to it. 

Ghostface sat her on the chair and grabbed the nearby rope. He wrapped it around her body so she was even more incapable of escaping, not like there was ever a chance in the first place. 

Tara spit the glove out, glaring as hard as she could at the man. 

“Why are you doing this?” Tara asked. Ghostface took the gun out of his pocket and started dragging his finger across it. 

“I’m doing a favor to the world and taking you out of it.” Tara laughs humorlessly, shifting a bit in her seat. 

“Okay then, why kidnap me. This is the first time Ghostface has ever done something like that. Why not kill me when you have the opportunity?”

“If I did that, your death would be quick and painless, and that’s no fun isn’t it? Plus your friends are going to be here any second now, to their death, to save you.” Ghostface replied, laughing maniacally. 

“What have I ever done to you? Who the hell are you?” Ghostface kneels in front of Tara, and grabs his knife instead of the gun. Tara gasps, trying to move as far away from him as she could, but she was way too restrained. 

“You ask a lot of questions, Ms.Carpenter, for someone who’s going to die soon.”

“Die? You’re the one who’s going to die motherfucker!” Ghostface tapped his finger onto his mask before kicking Tara’s chair to the ground. Her head slams onto the floor and she groans in pain. Her vision felt blurry and she could tell that the back of her head was bleeding. 

Stop fucking talking Tara, it only pisses him off more. 

“Maybe. But you aren’t going to be the one to do it, Tara.” Ghostface promised, kneeling down next to her. Tara cried softly, wishing Sam and the rest would hurry up before he kills her. 

“You’re fucking pathetic. What does Chad see in you? Huh? What does anyone see in you?” Tara squeezed her eyes shut, the pounding in her head making it hard to focus on what he’s saying. 

Ghostface pulled her back to her feet, circling around her like a dangerous animal. Tara hasn’t felt so dangerously vulnerable in a while. 

Ghostface quickly rushed towards her and she jumped, almost falling to her side again. 

“All you do is whine and complain and cry over your stupid dead girlfriend!” Ghostface knees her in the stomach, making her fall to her knees. Tara started to cry again, being painfully reminded of Amber and all her injuries together making every second more and more painful. 

“Your sister is a fucking psychopath that has to look after you, every. fucking. second. You’re fucking exhausting, Tara.” Ghostface holds a knife to her neck, teasingly cutting it but not going deep enough to kill her. 

“Everyone’s life would be so much easier, if you didn’t exist! Amber clearly thought so, seeing as she betrayed you the second she could. She realized you weren’t worth the effort.” 

“You know what I think?” Tara asks. Ghostface stands up, pulling Tara and her chair back up. 

“Sure. What do you think, Tara?”

“You’re fucking jealous. You’re jealous that people care about me, Chad, Mindy, Sam, all of them, and that nobody cares about you! You hate me because you wish you were me!” Ghostface whips her pistol across her face, whipping her face to the side. 

“Why would I be jealous of you? You’re so screwed up from Amber and Richie that you open your legs for ANYONE who is willing so you can feel something. I almost feel bad for you.” 

“And you’re a psychopath who kills people for fun! We’re both screwed up.”

“Maybe. But the time ran out and your friends aren’t here yet.” Tara’s eyes widen until the whites of her eyes show and she tries to get away from him, but the pain in her legs are too unbearable to stand on without assistance. Ghostface shoves her to the ground, pressing the knife against her face.

“HELP ME! HELP ME SOMEONE PL-” Ghostface covered her mouth with her hand and Tara bit as hard as she could. 

“Fucking SHUT UP already!” Ghostface punches her in the eye in retaliation, shaking his hand like he was trying to shake away the pain. 

“FUCK YOU!”

“NO, FUCK YOU BITCH!” Ghostface yelled, wrapping a hand around Tara’s throat and squeezing. Tara can’t even force his hand away because her arms are tied to her sides. 

Tara’s face starts turning red as her mouth gapes open for air. Tara can almost hear his laughter, despite the voice changer, as he adds another hand to her throat. He digs his nails in the back of her neck with the bare hand, adding another stinging factor to her pain as it is. 

“If I die, you fucking whore, YOU’RE dying with me!” Ghostface shouted, watching with fascination as her lips slowly started to turn blue. 

Tara could feel death approaching until Ghostface released her neck. 

“Oh wait… I hear something. Your saviors have come! I have an idea. Maybe I won’t kill you first, what if I kill them all first? I’ll do it right in front of you! That would be fun wouldn’t it? Wait, I can’t ruin the surprise,” Ghostface grabs duct tape off his belt and opens it, quickly wrapping it around her mouth. Tara breathed harshly through her nose, realizing that she was having an asthma attack. 

Tara would fucking kill for a inhaler right now. 

Ghostface walks to the side of the door, holding the knife close to his chest. Tara screams as loud as she could, but it was muffled behind the duct tape. Whoever would walk through that door would be stabbed instantly. 

Suddenly Chad crashed through the door and ran through, despite Tara’s screaming and thrashing. 

“Tara? Fuck Tara are you-” Ghostface stabs him in the back of his shoulder twice, before kicking him to a wall. Chad puts a hand between himself and the wall, avoiding crashing into it. He ducks under the next attack from Ghostface and punches him in the stomach. 

Ghostface lets out a strangled shout, wrapping his arms around his stomach. 

“You don’t like that do you, asshole?” Ghostface tilts his head again and Tara knows whatever happens next is going to hurt like hell. Ghostface from his lowered position punches Chad in the balls, before stabbing him in the thigh. 

Chad falls to his knees, groaning as he clutches his pelvis area. Ghostface uses this moment of vulnerability to whip him across the nose with the knife. 

Chad backs away from him, trying to look around for a weapon. 

Tara wants to yell at Chad to get out of the room but even if she could talk, she knew he wouldn’t leave her. Chad’s too fucking brave (and stupid) to leave Tara alone. 

Ghostface looks at the gun behind him and starts to run for it. Chad notices, grabbing him by the hoodie and pulls him down, slamming him back onto the ground. Chad runs past him towards the gun, but Ethan stabs him in the back of his leg, making him kneel and press his hand against the wound. 

Ghostface and Chad are both laying on the ground. 

Shit they almost knocked each other out. 

Ghostface started to crawl towards the gun again and Chad grabbed him and threw him down to the other side. With lightning quick reflexes, Ghostface rolled them around so he was on top, raising the knife high behind his head. 

Chad was going to die.

And there was nothing Tara could do about it.

Tara squeezed her eyes shut, but she didn’t hear anything happen. Ghostface froze, holding the knife above his head but not slashing downwards like Tara expected. 

Why is he hesitating?

Using this hesitation, Chad shoves Ghostface off of him, before standing up himself. Chad grabs Ghostface by the scruff of his neck and slams him against the wall, hard enough for part of the mask to break off. Chad uses one hand to push Ghostface’s… well… face and smooshes it against the wall and then the other to wrench the knife out of his hand. 

Ghostface struggles as hard as he could but Chad was far stronger than him. Ghostface manages to wiggle enough for the knife to catch Chad across the arm. Ghostface shoves Chad off of him, making some distance between them. 

Chad moves quickly towards Tara, kneeling down to her level. 

“Are you okay?”

“I wish I could say yes but…” Tara points to the glass shard poking out of Tara’s leg. 

“Alright, don’t worry we’ll get you out of here-”

“WATCH OUT!” Chad side steps Ghostface, catching him by the waist and lifting him in the air before slamming him down on the ground. Ghostface stays on the ground for a while, writhing and groaning on the ground. 

Ghostface tries crawling away, but Chad holds him against the floor with his hand before flipping him from his front to his back. Chad then wrapped his hands around Ghostface’s neck, the same way Ghostface did earlier. Ghostface tried bucking his hips, to get Chad off of him, but Chad held on even tighter. 

Ghostface scratched at Chad’s hands and Chad retaliated by grabbing his mask and ripping it over his head. 

Brown curls.

Pale skin. 

Brown eyes. 

“Ethan?” Chad looked at Ethan, horror reflecting in his eyes. Tara had Ethan high on her list, but then knocked him off after the apartment attack. Questions raced through her mind as she looked at the previous masked Ghostface. 

Did he orchestrate all the attacks? Did he let Anika die? Were the injuries real? Why does he hate her so much?

I guess she knew now why he barely spoke to her.

Ethan was badly beaten up, courtesy of Chad. His nose was bleeding, the blood running trails down Ethan’s face. Bruises decorating over his face, varying in color, most likely from Chad throwing him around. He had a cut on his eyebrow, covering his eye with blood. Chad stepped away from him, mouth wide open in shock. 

Ethan stayed silent for a while, until the maniacal look came back in his eyes. He tightened his hand over the knife and pressed it against Chad’s neck. “Surprise!”

“But you said you were…” Chad searched across Ethan’s face like he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. Frankly, Tara couldn’t either. 

“At econ? Geez, are you that gullible?” Ethan held the knife close against his neck, as Chad slowly started to back away. 

“Sit down, Chad. Before I slit your fucking throat for your girlfriend to see.” Ethan demanded. A tear escaped Chad’s eye as he sat down on the chair that Tara originally sat at. 

Ethan continued talking, despite Chad’s silence. 

“Do you mind if I sit here? Oh, of course you don’t mind! What am I saying?” Ethan sat on Chad’s lap, smiling close to Chad’s face. 

“Ethan, what’s going on? Are you okay?” Chad asked quietly. Ethan's smile grew impossible larger, stretching from cheek to cheek. 

“I have never been happier.” Ethan responded. He uses the blood from Chad’s face injury and spreads it across his mouth, creating a painting of a smile with the blood.

“See? Happier than ever!” Ethan giggled, blinking up at Chad with mock innocence. 

“Why are you doing this?” Chad asked. Ethan tilted his head to the side, his hair flopping from the movement.

Sam ran into the room, stopping when she saw what was happening. She locked eyes with Tara and they both nodded in understanding. She can’t save Tara now, Ethan was too close and could easily attack Sam if she even attempted to rescue Tara. 

“Sam is here! We got the whole crew together, we’re just missing one out of the core 4! Let’s hope it’s not the other ghostface. She’s far more brutal than I.” More tears escape Chad’s eyes as Ethan traces lines across his face with the knife. He didn't actually cut him, only teasing Chad with the possibility. 

“I guess I’ll have to explain. Now that mostly everyone’s here and all! Let me just say first, that NONE of this is as personal as you think-”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Ethan? You betrayed us.” Sam cut him off, glaring at him. 

“Yeah but my ‘motive’ isn’t personal. Well, at least not to me. The rest of my family don’t see it though, they want revenge. It’s all personal with them. I don’t care about all that.” Ethan scrapes his fingernails across Chad’s arms, creating red angry marks on Chad. He kissed the side of his jaw and Chad turned his face away, refusing to even look at Ethan. 

“Look at me you fucking asshole! That’s the least you can fucking do.”

“The least I can do? Are you kidding me?!” Chad yelled, making Ethan flinch from the sudden increase of volume. 

“You abandoned me! You fucking used me and left me!” Ethan shoved his hands against Chad’s chest, his lip starting to tremble. He started to tear up, but he wiped the tears away before they could fall. 

“What are you-” Chad began but Ethan pressed a finger against his lips, shushing him. 

“You’re next Chad, wait your turn! Anyway, my family is super pissed at you, Sam. I guess they aren’t fond of the fact you murdered a member of their family. It’s okay though Sam, I understand why you did it.” Ethan turns back to look at Sam, smiling at her. It was a delicate and soft smile, and it didn’t quite fit on the mad man’s face. . 

“I never killed anyone-” Sam said, confusion plain all over her face. 

“You did kill someone, dumbass. Woodsboro? Amber’s house? Or should I say Stu Macher’s house?” Sam frowns in recognition, bowing her head to the ground. 

“That man was a monster-”

“I KNOW! Nobody listens to me when I say that! I know far more than you do about my stupid brother. He tortured kids for fun! I was his favorite kid to fuck with, such a fun childhood!” Ethan giggled, hooking his chin over Chad’s shoulder. 

“Is that… is that where the scars come from?” Chad asked, so quietly it felt like it was only for Ethan’s ear to hear. 

“Oh! I forgot I never got to tell you. Yeah he used to chase me around as Ghostface and pretend I was Sidney. Isn’t that ironic? Since I’m Ghostface right now? I wish we could’ve swapped places, but he was a hogger.” Chad’s hands twitched, like his body instinctively wanted to comfort Ethan. Knowing Chad, it probably was. 

“Ethan… that’s-”

“Horrible? Cruel? Sadistic? Yeah I KNOW! It happened for years! It’s kinda funny isn’t it? It’s a  really cute addition to my tragic backstory.”

“Ethan, you aren’t yourself right now. What happened?”

“How do you think I’m not being myself? You barely know who I am. Nothing’s wrong with me, Chad. I’ve never felt so alive!” Ethan said, tears freely rolling down his face. It was a conflicting image, the smile painted on his face from the blood while also crying his eyes out. 

“Maybe. But I know you cared about people.” Chad said confidently. 

“It’s called a c t i n g, Chad. Was it that convincing? Maybe I should have been an actor!” Ethan’s voice started to wobble from the crying and he tried to hide it, but it was obvious even to Tara. 

“So, you didn’t care about Anika?” Ethan’s fake smile dropped and he stared at Chad, unblinking. 

Chad knew all the pain he went through when Anika died, it’s like all the fun and joy was ripped out of him that night. He knew that couldn’t be fake. Nobody can fake being so mentally destroyed, it’s impossible. 

And Ethan’s silence spoke volumes. 

“What? No smart answer this time?” Chad asked, wrapping a hand around Ethan’s waist, to prevent him from getting off his lap. 

“I… I didn’t care.” Ethan answered, but his smile he had before didn’t return. 

“So, what were the nightmares about?” Chad questioned. 

“Fuck you!” Ethan yelled, trying to move Chad’s arms off of him. Chad pulled Ethan more into his lap, two hands locked across Ethan’s waist. 

“Answer my question. It should be easy.” Ethan started thrashing on his lap, but Chad dug his nails in the back wound from the attack at the apartment. Ethan whimpered softly, trying to arch away from the pain but only bringing himself closer to the perpetrator. 

“Stop it!” He wailed, writhing in Chad’s arms. 

“Not until you answer my question.” Chad dug his nails deeper into Ethan’s back, until blood started flowing down Ethan’s back. Ethan screamed, trying to wiggle away from Chad’s arms. The knife fell out of his hand, clattering against the floor. Sam used this as an opportunity and snatched the knife from the ground. 

Sam moved Tara as far away from Ethan as possible and started cutting her out of the rope.

“Let me go! Stop it!” Ethan screeched. Chad removed one of his hands away from Ethan’s back to grip Ethan’s chin, forcing Ethan to look at him. 

“No! Not until you answer my question!” Chad demanded. Ethan sobbed harder, trying to move away from Chad’s hands. 

“How did it feel huh? Watching Anika die? She sacrificed her life to save you, you don’t fucking care, Ethan? Did you care when her body was being thrown out the window like a piece of trash?” Chad gripped his chin even harder, to the point that it would definitely cause a bruise later. 

“Stop it. STOP IT!”

“Then STOP fucking lying to me, Ethan.” Ethan looked at Chad with big watery eyes, filled with so much pain that Chad wanted to let him go. Ethan took huge big gulps of air, panting against Chad’s chest. 

Chad wanted to wrap his arms around Ethan and hold him against his chest until he stopped crying. He wanted to let him go, apologize into his ear over and over again until Ethan believed it. 

But he needed answers first. 

“Did you care about me? Did you love me?” Chad asked, sucking in Ethan’s vulnerability like oxygen. 

“I… I didn’t.” Ethan looked away from him, looking at the wall behind Chad’s head. 

“Ethan, baby, look at me. Please.” Ethan was trembling in his arms, continuing to look away from him. 

“I don’t want to.” Ethan responded honestly.

“Please.” Chad pleaded. Ethan looked at him, his eyelashes long and wet from the crying. 

“I love you. If you ever came to me, if you ever told me you needed help, I would have died to help you. You had to know this,” Ethan’s fists pounded against Chad’s chest, and it had no effect, until he punched the shoulder that had the knife wound in it. Chad yelled, almost letting go of Ethan. Instead, he grabbed Ethan’s arms, where he was slashed by the other Ghostface in the apartment. 

Ethan groaned, tilting his head back. His tears rolled down to the side of his face and hit the floor below. He was trembling even harder than before, as Chad put even more pressure on his injury.

“You’re fucking lying, you bastard!” Ethan yelled. 

“No I’m not.” Chad responded. 

“You left me, for Tara. You didn’t try to save me. My dad told me. You escaped with her and left me. You didn’t care if I survived.”

“Your dad lied to you.”

“He wouldn’t lie to me. He’s my father.” Ethan said, like it was idiotic to say otherwise.

“ I tried to break the door down to save you. When we ran out of the apartment, we thought Ghostface was still chasing us so we kept running until we realized there were no footsteps behind us. We thought you all were right behind us.” 

“I was there too… he’s not lying.” Tara hesitantly spoke, flinching when Ethan whipped his head around to glare at her. 

After a few moments of silence, Ethan spoke again “My dad wouldn’t do that. He loves me.”

“Your father let your brother torment you for years. He attacked his own son at the apartment. He almost killed you, Ethan. You had nightmares about him hurting you, I could hear it. I don’t know who he is, but he’s no fucking saint, Ethan.” Ethan clenched his jaw, blankly staring at Chad. 

Suddenly another Ghostface bursted into the room, pointing a gun at Tara. She had a few wounds around her arms and stomach area, so Chad could hope that Mindy injured her and she ran off. 

“Let Ethan go. Now. Or say goodbye to Tara.” Chad hesitantly let go of Ethan, and Ethan limped away towards the other Ghostface. Ghostface wrapped his arm around Ethan’s waist and helped him walk. 

Chad ran out the door first, chasing them down. Sam helped Tara get up and helped her walk in a similar way Ghostface did to Ethan. Chad and the rest chase the Ghostfaces until they make it to the main theater. The seats were covered by plastic with a projector screen in the middle. There was already a Ghostface there, pointing a gun at a very alive Mindy. 

“Shit, Mindy!” Chad yelled, as one of the ghostfaces pointed a knife at him and forced him to stand next to Mindy. 

“Are you okay?” Chad asked. Mindy shrugs, pointing at a red spot on her shirt. 

“Nothing fatal, I guess.”

Kirby runs into the theater not long after, but before she could do much, ghostface #1 twists around and shoots her in the stomach. 

“NO!” Tara screamed, as Sam hugged her close to her body. Kirby falls to the ground, clutching her stomach wound.

“Now that the whole entourage is here, I think it’s time to reveal ourselves, isn’t it?” Ghostface #1 said. “Sorry your reveal got spoiled, Ethan.” 

Ethan didn’t respond, staring into space. His face was blank and pale, and he didn’t look like he was fully there at the moment. Chad knows the only time Ethan acts like that is when he’s thinking too hard. 

Good. 

“Fuck, I didn't even guess Officer Bailey.” Mindy mumbled under her breath. Chad didn’t suspect him either, but then again if someone walked up to him and said either of these people were Ghostface, he would probably laugh in their face. 

“You?” Tara accused.

“Yeah it’s me. Frankly, I expected more from the two of you after all you did to us. It’s a surprise how you were able to kill someone like my son.” Mr.Kirsch said. 

“And Quinn? What the hell you died?!” Sam said. 

“Actually, I kind of didn’t. Faking my death was the best way to get off the suspicion list, so I did it. It’s way easier to fake your death than you think, Sam.” Quinn responded. 

“You guys are fucking insane.” Sam pointed out, grabbing Tara and backing her away from the deranged ghostfaces. 

“Yeah, we are. I guess Ethan ruined the surprise on our motive. Shame, shame, shame.” Officer Bailey hung his arm over Ethan’s shoulder, shaking him a bit. 

“Not only are you guys insane you’re fucking stupid. Your son and your brother was a psychopath that killed people over a stupid movie franchise-” Sam started, before Mr.Kirsch cut her off.

“He was my SON! My flesh and blood! There’s nothing like the bond between a father and his first son and you took that away from me!” Ethan finally looked up, his lip starting to tremble. He looked up at Sam, his shoulders slumping. 

“He deserved to die. Your son deserved everything he got! He was a whiny crybaby-”

“He was a strong, brave, passionate man-”

“He let his teenage girlfriend he met on REDDIT, do all the killing. He tormented your other son for his amusement. He wasn’t strong, he wasn’t fucking brave-”

“His girlfriend willingly did those killings. And torment? It was a joke, my other son is far too sensitive. He loves his brother” Ethan didn’t react, like he heard these words multiple times. 

“Oh really? Your son doesn't seem to agree with you.” Chad said, nodding towards Ethan. Officer Bailey looked at his son, who was fighting back tears with the best of his ability. 

“Ethan is loyal to his family. Isn’t that right, Ethan?” Ethan nodded, looking back at the ground again. 

“See, Ethan? They’re trying to turn you against your own father. But that would never work, right Ethan? My son is far too intelligent for that. He’s the one who turned everyone against you after all, Samantha.” Mr.Kirsch boasts. Sam frowns, looking at Ethan inquisitively. 

“It’s easy to turn someone into a villain when everyone is expecting them to. You’re Billy Loomis’ daughter, everyone expects you to snap eventually. One conspiracy theory led to another, and the world turned against you.” Ethan explained, looking vaguely bored from the prospect.

“Isn’t that just amazing? Explain the rest, Ethan.” Officer Bailey responded, ruffling Ethan’s hair. 

“W-when we kill all of you, we’ll frame Sam for the murders. Officer Bailey is a cop and everyone hates Sam, so people would believe us. We would be the heroes. We’ll do more than just kill you, we'll ruin your reputation.”

“Ethan, your father lied to you. He’s using you, I know you don’t want to do this.” Chad pleaded, taking a step towards Ethan. Quinn, enraged, kicks him with the heel of her boot, making him fall to the ground. 

“Stop fucking talking to him!” Quinn yelled, as Chad slowly started to sit up. 

“Why? Is he not as loyal as you thought?” Chad taunted, groaning in pain as Quinn kicked him in the stomach again. 

“He is. In fact, Ethan go show him how loyal you are.” Ethan’s eyes widened till the whites showed as he looked back at his father. 

Officer Bailey shoves Ethan towards Chad, making Ethan tumble and almost fall on the way there. Ethan took small steps towards Chad, like he was stalling for as much time as possible. Chad looked Ethan in the eyes, uncertain on whether Ethan would do it or not.

“Ethan…”

“SHUT UP! SHUT. UP!” Ethan yelled. Ethan sat on top of his lap, grabbing Quinn’s knife. 

“You know you can’t do this.” Chad whispered, quiet enough so Mr.Kirsch and Quinn won’t hear. 

“I have to, I can’t abandon my family.” Ethan responded, voice starting to crack. 

“You know they're wrong, you don’t believe their bullshit.”

“I.. I can’t leave them. They’re all I have.” Ethan raised the knife above his head. 

“You can. I’m right here.” Chad said, rubbing small circles on Ethan’s thighs. 

“Stop it.” Ethan said, almost dropping the knife with how much he was trembling. 

“Stop what?” Chad asked. 

“Acting like you still give a shit about me, after all I’ve done.” 

“I’m not acting, I love you. I still do.” 

Ethan’s hands were shaking as he brought the knife down to Chad. 

Chad closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come. 

It never did.

“Ethan! Stop this right now.” Ethan got off of Chad and ran to his father, hugging him tightly. 

“That’s so unfortunate, Ethan. I knew you were too weak for this family.” Mr.Kirsch said, as Ethan hugged him tighter. 

“I know. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean- I’m still-” Wayne cut him off, stabbing him in the side. 

“NO!” Chad yelled, as Ethan fell to the ground. Quinn looked shocked, and she took a step towards Ethan like she wanted to help him, but instead she stepped over his body and stood next to her father. 

“This is ALL your fault!” Quinn screamed, charging at Chad. Chad stops her in her path, hitting her with a brick. Quinn falls to the ground, blood pouring out her mouth from her teeth being knocked out. 

In retaliation, Wayne pulls his son by the hair and pulls it back, exposing his neck. He presses a knife against it, smiling at Chad. 

“You lose, Chad.” Chad shook his head desperately, and rushed towards Mr.Kirsch, trying to move him away from Ethan. He wasn’t fast enough, but luckily Kirby shot Wayne in the leg, and Wayne let Ethan go. 

Quinn grabbed her gun and tried shooting at Ethan, but Ethan managed to stand up in time, moving a bit away from her.

“It’s harder to shoot someone in close range, then it is to use a knife. Knives are better for close counter fights.” Ethan’s father told him, putting the knife in his hand

Ethan used the chair for cover as he desperately looked around for the knife. Realizing it was sitting on the other side of the aisle, Ethan patiently waited for an opening. 

Eventually, Quinn stopped shooting for a few seconds, probably starting to reload, and Ethan used this opportunity to run to the other side and grab the knife. Finally having some type of weapon, Ethan started slashing at Quinn. 

She dodged the first 2 swipes from Ethan’s knife but he managed to slice her across the face, making her tumble backward. 

“Didn’t know you had it in you, Ethan.” Quinn taunted. “You were always a weak little bitch just like our Mom.”

Ethan’s face contorted with rage as he thrusted his knife at Quinn, who only barely managed to miss it. Quinn grabbed his outstretched arm and pulled it, making Ethan crash down to the ground from the momentum.

Quinn sat on top of him and started to attempt to wrestle the knife out of his hand. 

Ethan screamed bloody murder when Quinn dug her finger in the shot wound, making him drop the knife out of his hand. 

Quinn grabbed it and pressed it against his neck, leaning close to his ear. 

“You knew how this was going to turn out, Eth. You weren’t meant to survive this story.” Ethan looked at Chad, for what he believed to be the last time, as Chad currently tried to fight off Mr.Kirsch with Sam.

“Oh don’t worry about him, I’ll make sure he’s happy and satisfied before I rip his guts out with my bare hands. His dick game must be good if he changed your entire world view, I can’t fucking wait!” Ethan looked back at Quinn, his dark eyes radiated a fierce, uncompromising rage that frightened Quinn, but her reflexes were nowhere near fast enough to react to him before he headbutted her. Her nose spurted out blood and she wailed in pain, gently holding her broken nose. 

Quinn tried to crawl away, but Ethan dragged her back by the leg. Quinn kicked out at him, but he grabbed the knife and stabbed her in the leg. 

“Ethan! Stop, I’m sorry!” Ethan rolled his eyes at her begging, sitting on top of her, and holding her face still with his hand. 

“Apology… not accepted.” 

Ethan pounded his fists against her face, not stopping for even a slight moment. His hands started to scream in pain, but he ignored it, despite the skin on his knuckles starting to tear. 

Quinn’s face continued to get more and more demolished as Ethan continued to punch at Quinn’s face, her originally pretty face turning more and more uglier over time. More of her teeth started falling out of her mouth, creating small scratches across her face. 

Ethan stopped punching her and looked down at her with a bored expression. Blood was splattered all over her face, and she coughed as the blood continued to fill her mouth. Quinn turned her head as much as she could, small cries of pain coming out when most of her teeth fell to the ground. 

“Ethan!” Someone called out. Ethan looked at Tara who was pointing at Chad. His father had him pressed against the wall, choking him. 

“Don’t fucking move or I swear I’ll fucking kill you.” Ethan promised, getting off of her and grabbing the gun and the knife off the ground.

Ethan paced quickly towards his father and Chad, stabbing his father in the arm. His father yelled in pain, letting Chad go. 

Ethan shoved him away from Chad, kicking his father in the face in the process.

“Ethan?” Chad frowned at all the blood splattered across his face. He already knew it wasn’t his, as he looked at the body on the ground. 

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked, holding his cheek with his hand, while simultaneously watching his father for any sudden movements. 

“I’m.. I’m fine.”

“Good, please don’t-” 

“WATCH OUT!” Tara screamed, as Quinn charged at Ethan from his other side. 

Ethan turned at the nick of time, meeting her halfway and stabbing her in the stomach. Quinn gasped in pain, falling backwards. Ethan caught her before she fell to the ground, and continued to stab Quinn in the stomach until her guts started to fall out of her body.

Quinn kept screaming, tears rapidly falling down her face. Ethan shushed her, softly running his hands through her hair. 

“Eth… E-” Ethan bent down and kissed her forehead, before holding the knife to her neck and slicing it. 

Ethan pushed her dead body off of him, tearing up at the blood covering his hand. 

“Quinn…”

“Looks like you lost a daughter there, Officer.” Sam taunted. 

“Ethan… what have you done?” Mr.Kirsch asks, his hands shaking on his mouth. He realized he made a mistake when Ethan calmly started to walk towards him. He was completely silent, blood dripping down his hand. 

Not any blood, Quinn’s blood. 

Anger filled Ethan’s entire body until all he felt was the urge to kill. Ethan’s eyes locked with Mr.Kirsch’s fearful ones. 

“What I done? WHAT I DONE?! YOU ruined our family!” Ethan screamed. 

“You killed your sister-” Mr. Kirsch pointed out, glaring at his son. 

“YOU RUINED MY SISTER! You are the reason Richie is fucking 6ft deep underground! Not ME! YOU lied to me,” Ethan yelled, shoving Sam out of the way. He pointed the knife in his face, so close it would puncture his eye if he went any closer. 

“All I’ve ever done is try to protect y-”

“PROTECT me? You almost fucking killed me! YOU let your son torment me my ENTIRE life and praised him for it. Why won’t you take an INCH of fucking responsibility-”

“You DESERVED IT! You pathetic excuse for a so-” Before he could finish his sentence, Ethan slashed him across the face, and Mr.Kirsch yelled, falling on the ground. Ethan fell down with him and stabbed him in the face again. 

“IT'S YOUR FAULT!” Ethan stabbed Mr.Kirsch in the right eyeball.

“IT'S YOUR FAULT!” Ethan stabbed Mr.Kirsch in the mouth, the blood filling his mouth in a similar way to Quinn. 

“IT'S YOUR FAULT!” Ethan repeated, stabbing Mr.Kirsch in the left eyeball

Mr.Kirsch was dead, but Ethan didn’t stop stabbing into his face for the next minute, mostly everyone too afraid to get near him, and Chad not wanting to disrupt him. 

Ethan eventually stopped, dropping the knife on the ground. 

When he finally took his bearings, looking at his father’s mutilated face. Ethan looked away from him at Quinn, and finally his actions caught up to him.

Ethan screamed, falling on his knees. Ethan’s chest felt like someone shoved their hand through his chest and purposely stopped his heart from beating. Ethan clutched his stomach, screaming so loud it echoed across the entire room. 

Ethan grabbed the gun out of his pocket and pointed it at his head. 

“ETHAN! NO!” Chad stood in front of him, but Ethan backed away, his hands shaking. 

“Oh shit!” Mindy said, eyes widening at Ethan. 

“I killed my entire family.” Ethan mumbled, looking at Chad with teary eyes. “Is this just a bad nightmare?”

“It’s… It’s not. I’m sorry you had to do that.” Chad apologized, slowly making progress closer to Ethan. 

“No. It has to be. Why did I do that?” Ethan asked. 

“You were pissed and you lost control but your family was going to try and kill you. You did what you had to do to survive.” Chad consoled, panicking when Ethan didn’t seem to get any calmer from his response. 

“No… No, I shouldn’t have done that. I am a monster. Dad was right. They should’ve killed me.” 

“Everything that man has said was a lie, you know this Ethan!” Chad responded. 

“I have to kill the monster.”

Ethan hand tightened on the gun and he pressed it harder against his head.

Chad shouted Ethan’s name, trying to rush toward him and knock the gun out of his hand.

He wasn’t fast enough.

Ethan pulled the trigger. 

But nothing happened, the gun just clicked. To everyone’s relief, the gun was out of bullets. 

Ethan stared at the gun, and yelled in frustration, throwing it away from him. Chad instantly held him against his chest, not wanting Ethan to find some other way to hurt or kill himself. 

Ethan sobbed into his chest, wrapping his arms around Chad’s waist. They stayed there for a while, until the sirens from the police cars got closer. 

Ethan panicked, pushing against Chad’s chest, but Chad held him tighter, refusing to let him go. 

“Let me go.” Ethan sobbed, punching Chad’s chest. 

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” Chad responded, wiping the tears off his face with his thumb. Ethan eventually passed out, whether it’s from the blood loss or the heavy emotional stress he went through,  Chad didn’t know but it still scared the shit out of him. 

When the ambulance and cops came inside, Chad picked Ethan up from under his knees and shoulders, and softly dropped him on the stretcher. 

Chapter Text

When Ethan woke back up again, the first thing he saw was the very bright lights and the pearly white walls. He first panicked, remembering vaguely the last place he was in being the movie theater, the Ghostface shrine. He tried to sit up but the handcuff on his left arm wouldn’t let him get off the bed, which alarmed Ethan more. Finally, he looked beside him and saw the heart monitor next to him.

A hospital. 

Meaning Ethan isn’t dead, unfortunately.

He can tell he got patched up, bandages wrapped practically everywhere on his body. Around his back from when his father cruelly slashed him with his knife, around his ribs most likely from Chad slamming him down on the ground and cracking the bone. He had another patch from where the stab wound his father gave him, and new dressing from his previous arm wounds.  Ethan winced from the thought of how badly all of it hurt, the memory making his face scrunch up. He can still remember the feeling of his head pounding from knocking it onto the floor.

Ethan adjusted himself on the bed and relaxed a bit, trying to avoid thinking about what happened previously. He decided to study the intricate groves on the ceiling above him, keeping his thoughts as empty as possible. Nothing was heard but the sound of Ethan’s own breathing and the heart monitor, strangely relaxing Ethan. 

Somebody knocked on the door. 

“Ethan? Can I come in?” Someone asked. Ethan didn’t recognize the voice, the pitch and tone not matching Chad or anyone in the group.

Did you really think Chad would visit you after all you’ve done? You lost him forever. 

“No, you can not.” Ethan responded to the person, begging for the door to stay closed. 

“Too bad, I’m coming in anyway.” Ethan rolled his eyes, wanting to cross his arms but unable to do so. 

A man came in, probably in his mid-30s or early 40s. His hair was a light chestnut brown and his eyes looked gray, but Ethan couldn’t tell very well from the distance. Ethan didn’t recognize his face, except for the fact he looked a bit like his father, which immediately rung alarm bells in his head.

“If you’re trying to attempt to murder me, please know that you’re doing nothing that I haven’t tried.” Ethan said, knowing for certain that if this man tries to kill him there would be no way for him to defend himself.  

The man rolled his eyes in a similar way to Ethan, sitting down on one of the chairs besides the bed. From the closer distance, Ethan noticed a bit more quirks than before. For example, one half of his chin is more shaved than the other. He had a macaroni necklace that was probably made by some kindergartener. His eyes weren’t completely gray, one eye was partially brown, so he had heterochromia. His hair looked kinda wet, so he probably took a shower a little before meeting Ethan. 

Noticing these things, it made Ethan a bit less cautious then before.

“So… how’s it going?” The man asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously. 

“My entire family is dead and I’m probably going to jail so… I’m doing great.” Ethan responded, watching the men attentively for any signs of attacking.

It’s funny how Ethan wanted to kill himself not too long ago, and definitely still does, but the moment somebody else threatens his life he goes into defense mode. Reminds Ethan of how people panic while in the process of taking their life, no matter how desperately they wanted to end their life before. Your thoughts could kill you, but your body will always be hardwired for survival. That’s why Ethan preferred just shooting himself in the head. Quick and painless. 

Too bad the fucking gun ran out of bullets. 

“Yeah that’s… yeah. Makes sense.” The man was at a loss of words, pursing his lips and avoiding eye contact. Ethan didn’t blame him, how do you even begin to respond to a situation like that.

“Who are you?” Ethan asked. 

“I’m James.” James answered, still not quite looking at Ethan. 

“James who? And why are you here?” Ethan sat a bit up now, even more interested in the mysterious man now. 

“James Kirsch.” He responded, looking Ethan in the eyes again. Ethan's nose flared, wishing so badly he could jump off the bed and punch him in the face. He was just about to yell at him, before he realized how watery the man’s eyes were. If this were a joke, why would he get all teary-eyed about it?

“I don’t have any other family, so where the hell were you?” Ethan said, glaring at the man besides him. 

“I’ll… I’ll explain alright? I’m your uncle. Your father’s brother.”  Ethan frowned, not recalling his father telling him about a brother. 

“And I know you’re probably thinking that your father never mentioned a brother to you, it’s… there’s a reason for that. When I was younger, around 10-11 I made a stupid fucking mistake.” James took a deep breath, recollecting himself for the future conversation. Ethan frowned when James' sleeves rolled down, revealing a column of healed overlapping scars. Noticing where Ethan’s eyes landed at, James shoved his sleeves back down, shooting Ethan an apologetic smile. 

“I was getting bullied, my entire childhood I’ve been running from bullies, trying to hide in school bathrooms to avoid getting punched in the face… or worse. One day, I just snapped. I was sick of being so afraid and looking over my shoulder all the time. I was tired of being a social pariah and being alone all the time. So one day I… shoved one of them back. I didn’t realize we were in a rocky area and he fell and snapped his neck on one of the rocks.” James sniffled a little, looking up at the ceiling. 

“And he didn’t survive. Didn’t he?” Ethan asked. James nodded, wiping his nose with a tissue.

“He didn’t. It ripped my parent’s marriage apart, my mom took Wayne and ran half way across the country to California. My dad and I stayed in New Jersey. I tried to stay in contact with Wayne and my mom, but they weren’t really interested in speaking to me. I still tried to talk to Wayne, especially after our mom died, but when Wayne had Richie-” Ethan's hands started to tremble slightly at the name, the irrational panic started to seep through. 

"-He warned me not to contact him ever again after that. He thought I was dangerous and didn’t even want to entertain the idea of me visiting. The only reason I’m even here is because the hospital contacted anyone related to you, and I’m the only one left.” Ethan nodded, believing what his uncle was saying now. They both stayed silent for a while, trying to think of what to say next to the other. 

What could you possibly say to a family member you’ve never met? 

Especially after you both apparently killed people. Shit it does run in the fucking family.

“I’m sorry about what I did to… what I did to your brother.” Ethan said. 

He was conflicted about his father’s death. 

On one hand, his father was a manipulative dickhead and it’s a honest surprise that despite how “intelligent” Ethan is, he never seemed to realize it until he got literally fucking stabbed by the guy. 

Talk about subtlety. 

“From what I heard from your friends, your father was an abusive asshole that deserved it.” James said, clenching his jaw. James looked like he was holding back from saying something, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He instead sighs, rubbing his chin with his hand.

“My friends? Who?” Ethan asked.

“Well, there’s Chad? Sindy-” James said, listing them off with his fingers. 

“Mindy.” Ethan corrected, cutting him off. 

“Sorry. Um..and Sam.” James finished. 

“They must be here for Tara, then.” Ethan said, not really realizing he said that out loud. 

“On the contrary, Chad and Sam wanted me to tell them how you are, they didn’t want to come in at the same time and overwhelm you.” Ethan's eyes widened, absolutely shocked by what his uncle was saying. 

“I don’t know why they care.” Ethan mumbled under his breath, 

“Well Ethan, you made a lot of…questionable mistakes-” 

“Questionable is an understatement.” Ethan deadpanned. 

“But, you did save their life. Stabbed your father 35 times and all.” Ethan was confused why James was so unbothered by his brother’s death, but then again, they didn’t seem to have much of a brotherly relationship.

“They could have done it without me. I wasn’t meant to survive.” Ethan admitted. Ghostfaces never survive. They are the villains, people like Tara and Chad and Sam are the heroes. They were supposed to triumph and eliminate Ethan, the disease still left in the world. Ethan was supposed to die, so that Chad and Tara, the prince and the princess could have their happily ever after. 

Ethan ruins the story every second he breathes.

“I’m glad you survived, Ethan. I know you wanted to end it all, I’ve been there too, but you have so much to live for.” James said. Ethan would usually roll his eyes when adults say that, but coming from James who already harmed himself before, it met more. 

“Like what?” Ethan asked curiously. 

“Don’t you want to live life in peace? Away from your oppressive family? Do things your father didn’t let you do before, make up for your mistakes?” James insisted. 

“You don’t understand. My whole life my life has revolved around my siblings and my father. I’ve never had friends before all this shit went down, all I had was my siblings and my parents. I’m nothing without them, and now they’re dead. Every single one of them. I should have been buried with them.” Ethan responds, irritated that he was starting to tear up again. 

He isn’t allowed to be upset at his family’s death, it was his fault. Ethan watched mercilessly as his sister choked on her own blood, slamming his fist into her face until her typically beautiful looks turned ugly and damaged. He felt so horribly different than before, like he was a completely other person. He felt nothing as he cut her throat while looking her straight in the eyes.

The last thing Quinn saw before she died was the brother she loved and protected, looking down at her with fierce apathy as he cruelly stole her life from her fingertips.

His father’s death was far more quick, Ethan immediately stabbing him in the face, his rage consuming him to the point he could barely comprehend anything but the drive to kill. Ethan’s drive was insatiable, continuing to stab his father’s face until it was completely unrecognizable, even to Ethan who has memorized his face since he was a kid.

Maybe Ethan did that to protect himself from what he did. Instead of seeing the father who he desperately wanted to love his entire life, he saw a faceless dead corpse, with no significance to Ethan who had taken life before. 

Ethan felt his heart pick up and he gripped the handrails on the bed until his knuckles were paper white. Tears were forming into deep puddles near Ethan’s bottom eyelid, ready to fall at any second. 

“It doesn’t feel right to you, but I think your survival had a reason. You’ve gone through a lot, I think the universe is trying to give you a break.” James said, feeling his heart break a bit in his chest at the look on Ethan’s face. 

That expression didn’t belong on the face of a kid at his age. That was the face of a war veteran, someone who’s been fighting for years and continuing on with decades more to go. That was also the face of pure self-hatred, a copy and pasted face from James’ earlier years. 

James was even more glad at his brother’s death for what he’s done to this poor boy. 

“Are you religious?” Ethan mumbles under his breath. He wipes the tear before it could fall, looking at James with wide, innocent eyes. 

“Not really, but optimism never hurts anyone.”  James said. 

Remembering what he bought a few minutes before, James reached into the bag in his hands, pulling out a blue ‘Get Well’ teddy bear from out of it. Ethan smiled genuinely, for the first time in a long time, as he grabbed the teddy bear with his one free hand. Tears were streaming down his face, but his smile was real, James could tell by the crease in his eyes.

“You will take care of that bear until the day you die, you understand?” James demanded, giving Ethan as serious of a face as he can muster. Ethan giggled, trying to look just as serious as James. He gave the teddy bear a one-armed hug, smiling a bit wider than before

“I will, I promise.” Ethan said, linking his pinky finger with James’. James unlinks his fingers, instead, hesitantly ruffling his hand in Ethan’s hair. James smiled at the thought of Ethan’s hair, knowing that the curliness and the thickness came directly from his mother. 

“On a serious note, I have a proposition.” James said.

“I’m listening.”

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. But, when all this shit blows over, I got a good enough job offer in New York. Could you possibly think about moving in with me? I have a little boy, named Jessie. I think he would like you a lot.” Ethan’s eyes widened, his smile dropping back into the frown that James despised. 

What if Ethan killed James? Would he look at him with heartless apathy? Would he slit his throat with no remorse, walking past his dead body like the body wasn’t even there? What if Ethan couldn’t control himself? What if the other part of him, the monstrous part, came out to ruin everyone’s life. Again.

That can’t happen.

“But why? Why would you want me in the same house as you? Or your kid?” Ethan asked. 

What if I hurt Jessie? I’m a monster, I shouldn’t live with them. I shouldn’t live with anyone. Jessie deserves to be safe, he deserves to feel safe. Ethan would turn into his brother, attacking an innocent kid unable to defend himself. 

He can’t let that happen.

Youshould’vediedYoushould’vediedYoushould’vediedYoushould’vediedYoushould’vedied

“I know you think you’re dangerous, but you aren’t the uncontrollable murderer you think you are. After some treatment, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Ethan took slow deep breaths, stopping himself from having a panic attack. 

“I’m sorry… I can’t risk that. I’m not just an innocent kid, I could hurt you or anyone else, sometimes I become a whole different person, I won’t hurt you.” Ethan said determinedly, subconsciously clutching his teddy bear with his arm.

“I don’t believe you will. What you did was after years and years of manipulation and abuse from your father and even your sister. I think you are more in control of yourself than you think.” James shot back, moving to stand up.

“You weren’t there. When it happened. I can’t…I won’t-” Noticing Ethan’s panic, James stepped back, deciding to give Ethan some space to think.

“The offer will always be there, my home will always be there for you, Ethan. I think you should think about this more before choosing, maybe get some second advice.” Ethan nodded, already deciding that living with his uncle is not an option, especially with a kid in the house. 

Maybe Ethan can find a job, go under a different name? Collect enough money and manage a apartment. 

A few minutes later, Chad walked in. 

Shit Chad walked in

“Hey Eth.” Chad greeted, awkwardly standing in front of the door. 

“Hi.” Ethan said back, almost more awkward than Chad. 

“How're you feeling?” Chad asked.

“I’m okay. I think they pumped me with enough painkillers to last me a decade. How about you, Chad?” Ethan responded. 

“I’m.. exhausted but I’m ok. I’m all patched up.” 

Silence.

Complete fucking silence. 

It makes sense, Ethan felt all these emotions but it felt like he was chasing the actual memory, every time he thinks too hard about what happened his head starts to hurt.

“I’m sorry, Chad.” Ethan blurted out. “I’m so fucking sorry.” 

Chad sighed, sitting down on the chair Uncle James was previously on. “I know, Ethan.” Chad sounded exhausted, like he heard that phrase one too many times.

You’re bothering him.

Shit Ethan, you already betrayed the guy and now you’re annoying him? You should’ve-

Ethan ignored that voice in his head and continued on. “I wish none of this happened, I wish I could take back all I’ve done. I cared about you so much, I always did. I… I tried to stay away from you at first but you’re fucking-”

“Irresistible?” Chad jokes, smiling awkwardly when Ethan starts to glare at him.

“Chad.” Ethan reprimanded, frowning at him. 

“Sorry, continue.”

“I tried to stay away but I couldn’t. I never had friends before, you guys were my first and I screwed it all up. I understand if you don’t want to talk to me ever again or-”

“Ethan. I stayed up for 2 days straight, with little to no rest, to make sure you’re ok. Ethan, I couldn’t even sleep if I wanted to because I couldn’t close my eyes without worrying about you. The last thing I want to do is stop talking to you.” Chad said, tilting his head back.

“I don’t understand you, Chad. But I’m glad you’re the way you are.” Ethan blurted out again. Chad smiled at him, showing off his pearly white teeth. 

“How is… how is Tara?” Chad’s smile simmered away, his neutral expression returning back again. 

“She’s doing fine.” Chad said, watching Ethan’s face for any small changes.

“That’s good.”

“You hurt her a lot, y’know.” Ethan winced at the sentence, remembering all the shit he did to Tara. He hated how much he enjoyed it at the time, and now he feels like a fucking idiot for feeling bad afterward.

“I know.”

“What I don’t understand is why. Why didn’t you come to me if you needed help? Why did you attack Tara?” Chad attempted to make eye contact with Ethan, but Ethan glanced away, looking anywhere else but him. 

“I… I just-” Ethan sucked in a deep breath, his lips starting to tremble. 

“Ethan, I just want to understand why. At least try to explain, I deserve a fucking explanation,” Chad said, anger starting to bleed into his usually comedic tone.

“I…I know-”

“Then answer me! Ethan, please.” Chad stood up and walked in front of him, grabbing his chin. “ I need to know, for me.”

“I don’t know where to start.” Ethan admitted.

“Why did you become ghostface?”

“M-my dad wanted m-me too. He’s the cause of ev-everything.” Chad sighed softly, wiping his tears from his face with his thumb. 

“Just breathe, baby.” Ethan nodded, leaning into Chad’s touch.

“He didn’t give me much of an option, if I didn’t do it he would have killed me. He threatened to kill me so many times I can’t even count, I was… scared.” 

“Ethan. I want to know everything. I want to know what was going through your mind”

“I wasn’t just…scared, Chad. I was fucking furious. At… shit, fucking everything. I was pissed that my dad let Richie get so obsessed to the point he became a murderer. I was fucking furious that my dad tried to avenge his death. I was even more pissed that Qui… my sister went along with it, knowing what he’s done to me. I was-” Ethan sobbed into his left hand, breathing like he just ran a marathon. 

“I hated everything about me. Everything. I hated how I looked, I hated my scars, I hated that I was a fucking monster. I hated that I was so alone, that I couldn’t tell anyone how I felt, that nobody would care if I did.” Ethan said, whispering the last line under his breath.

“Ethan, that’s wrong. You have to know that. I’m fucking in love with you. Shit, even when I wasn’t, I cared about you, you were my friend. How did you not-”

“And what could you have done, Chad? My father is a police officer, he’s not some stupid teenager, you can’t fight him off. What were you-” Chad stood closer to Ethan, so close together they were breathing the same air.

“I would have FOUND a way, Ethan. I would-”

“You would have tried and you would have gotten yourself killed!” Ethan yelled, annoyed that Chad wasn’t understanding what he was saying.

“I DON’T CARE.” Chad grabbed his shoulders, trying to shake him into understanding what he was saying. “If I died-”

“Stop.” Ethan said, the thought of Chad dying making his fingers shake.

“If I was fucking… gutted somewhere in an alley it wouldn’t matter because you were okay. I would have died knowing that I was protecting you.” Chad said. Ethan punched his shoulder weakly, tears streaming down his face. 

“What about me, huh? You were one of the only people I had left, I would have shot myself in the head if I was the reason you died. You would have died for fucking nothing because I will not live without y-” Chad cut him off, smashing his lips roughly against Ethan’s. 

Ethan's head hit the bed by the force, his ears ringing from the concussion he had. He didn’t care much about the pain, focusing on the way Chad’s lips were smoothly moving with his own. Chad cupped his cheeks with his hands, tilting his head to make the kiss deeper. 

Chad kissed him like he wanted to transfer the anger simmering in his skin and the love he felt beating in his veins simultaneously. He wanted to express what he couldn’t in words, the contradicting emotions that coursed through him. 

Ethan kissed back like he wanted him to understand the pain overwhelming Ethan from the inside out. Like he wanted Chad to understand the extent of how much peace Chad offered to him by just existing. The kiss was war and peace at the same time, anger and love. 

It was everything and nothing all at once, and Ethan wished so badly he could stay in this moment for the rest of his life.

Chad eventually had to depart from Ethan, chuckling amusedly when Ethan tried to chase his lips back to Chad’s. 

“You drive me insane, Eth.” Chad said. He couldn’t resist, pressing more kisses against Ethan’s face. Ethan smiled faintly, his dimples being barely visible. 

“In a good way or a bad way?” Ethan asked. Chad stopped kissing him and raised his eyebrows. 

“Both.” Ethan and Chad laugh quietly together, Chad letting go of Ethan’s face to interlock their fingers. 

“I want to help you, Eth, but I can’t do it if you won’t let me, okay?” Ethan nodded, kissing Chad’s cheek. 

“Always want to be my knight in shining armor, huh?” Ethan taunted. Chad smiled again, flexing his biceps. Ethan rolled his eyes at his vanity, even though he could never deny Chad a laugh when warranted.

“Of course, so you’re what? A Disney princess? I’m thinking… Cinderella.” Chad pinched his non-existent mustache, thinking long and hard. 

“Absolutely not.” Ethan said, his favorite princess probably being Mulan or something.

“Fine. Rapunzel?”

“Maybe, I’ll allow it.” Chad checked the notification from his phone, and looked back up at Ethan. He looked kind of nervous, like he was afraid of how Ethan would react. 

“Ethan?”

“Yeah?”

“I gotta go, Tara just woke up, but I love you, okay? I don’t know what I have to do to drill that in your head but-“ Ethan presses his lips against Chad, far more gentle then the previous kiss, so faint that it could be described more like a brush of lips. 

“I believe you,” Ethan reassured. “Go check up on her.”

“Alright babe, get some rest. You’re still injured.” Chad exited the room and Ethan sagged a bit, looking up at the ceiling. 

Ethan wasn’t sure he was able to obey Chad’s request, after multiple minutes of staring at the screen. It’s different when someone is knocked out, the present blackness of unconsciousness doesn’t cause nightmares like normal sleeping does. Ethan kinda wished a nurse could just knock him out right now, because every nerve in his body is screaming at him to close his eyes, to relax, so the injuries Ethan sustained can heal.

But he couldn’t.

He couldn’t even begin to face what happened to him, what happened at that stupid theater, and he already knew his nightmares would be vivid. Chad waking him up and witnessing his nightmares was one thing, Ethan knew he had to care about him now. But, anyone else, especially his uncle, seeing how mentally fucked Ethan was?

It just can’t happen.

So Ethan forced his eyes to stay open, sat up, and did anything and everything to not think about what happened. To not cry again. 

An hour later, there was another knock at his door.

Ethan groaned in frustration, using his only free hand to grab the pillow and scream into it. He didn’t think anyone would even try to visit him, or even want to, so how is he getting so many within such a short time period?

“Come in, I guess.” Ethan said, slouching even more on the bed. 

Ethan instantly sat up again when he saw who it was. 

Samantha fucking Carpenter. 

Sam walked in, a completely blank expression on her face. 

Panic started to rise in Ethan’s chest when he realized how genuinely vulnerable he was. A concussion, one hand handcuffed to the handrail, multiple injuries on his back, a stab wound in the side. It would be child’s play to kill Ethan off. Especially for Sam.

“Ethan, I’m not going to hurt you.” Sam said, sitting down on the chair, leaning her elbows on her knees. She looked just as tired as Chad, dark circles under her eyes, clothes still looking dirty and damaged from the fight. 

“What if I told you I don’t believe you and I want you to get out?” Ethan asked, looking around the room for any possible weapons, but then realized that he wouldn’t be able to do it anyway, because the doctors were so afraid of Ethan killing himself that they basically baby proofed the room.

“I’ll say to you that after all you’ve done you have no right to make demands here.” Sam responded, starting to glare at him. 

“Why are you here? Don’t you have somebody else to visit in the hospital?” Ethan asked, immediately thinking about Tara and Gale. 

“I do. But Chad is looking over Tara right now, and I trust him.” Sam said, smiling a bit at the thought of Chad. 

“He’s a trustworthy guy, I’d know.” 

“You aren’t.” Sam bit back. Ethan flinched at the sentence, wishing for Chad to ditch Tara and kick Sam out his room. 

“You’re right, I’m not. But why are you here, Sam? You want to add another dead ghostface to your list?”

“I was talking to your uncle for a while, when you were talking to Chad, and he doesn’t think you’ll take up on his offer to live with him.” Sam said, matter-of-factly. “He wants you to though.”

“How do you know he wants me to be there? What if it’s just him being courteous?” Ethan asks.

“One, nobody offers for someone to live in their house unless they really want them to. Second, I know because he hasn’t spent a single breath talking about anyone but you. He’s been asking about you. He wants to know more about you.”

“And let me guess, you think I should take his offer?” 

“Despite what I may think of you right now, you betrayed your family to save us. You’re just a victim like the rest of us, and you at least deserve to be with your uncle and try to move on. Don’t you think?” Sam asks.

“I want to, I trust him… but what if I hurt him? My uncle? And he has a kid too, what if I hurt the kid? I don’t want to hurt anybody anymore. I won’t do it. When I killed Q-my sister and my father, I didn’t even realize what I was doing, it was horrifying. I felt out of place, like I wasn’t in control of my own body. What if I hurt them without realizing it?” Ethan says, chewing on his bottom lip nervously.

“Then don’t.” Sam says simply.

“You say it like it’s easy.”

“Because it is. You are in control of your own actions, nobody else is. There is no outside power forcing you to do what it wants. I used to be afraid of myself too, especially after I found out who my father is. That’s another reason I stayed away from Tara. I was.. scared of what I can do, who I am. But… My dad doesn't define me and what I can do. I finally accepted that.” Sam says, keeping eye contact with Ethan. 

“You’re missing one thing.” Ethan notes. 

“And what is that?”

“I’m way more mentally fucked then you are. You only killed people who deserved it-” 

“And I enjoyed it.” Sam starts off. “I enjoyed killing people. That’s not normal, at all.”

“I don’t think anything can be normal with us.” Ethan says. 

“Maybe. But with James, I think there’s a real chance of you getting better. I don’t think I can forgive you, at least nowhere near now. Regardless of that, I think you should be selfish, do whatever you can to improve your situation right now.” Ethan bit his lip and nodded, looking at the door. 

“Can you… can you tell Uncle James that I… accept his proposition?” Sam nodded, standing up and walking towards the door. 

“And can you tell Tara I’m sorry. For everything?” Ethan added, eyes widening when Sam glared at him, her gaze so intense and heated, Ethan thought she could have killed him if he didn’t look away. 

“Tell her yourself, Kirsch .” Sam answered. Shivers crawled up Ethan’s spine at the name, as she walked out of the room. But before she could slam the doore, someone rushed through the door, knocking into her. 

He had brown hair that was gelled back with no stray hair left in sight. His eyes were brown like Ethan’s was, but more lighter, leaning towards hazel. He wore a white buttoned up shirt, but the first few buttons weren’t buttoned, exposing multiple hickeys in various healing stages. 

“Who the fuck are you now? You better not be another family member.” Ethan said. The strange man pulled his notebook out in record speed, scribbling something down. “Are you fucking kidding me? A reporter? What happened to privacy?”

“Well your privacy only costed like… 3 grand, fuck am I gonna miss that ring.” The man dragged his chair closer to the hospital bed, looking at Ethan like he was expecting something. 

“You still didn’t answer my question, who. are. you.” The man gasped in shock, dramatically grabbing his chest like he was shot. 

“Wait a second. You’re telling me…you don’t know who THE JASON JOLIE is? I thought you were joking, are you living in fucking Utah or something? It’s an honor for me to be even talking to you right now!” Jason said, moving his hands frantically with his words.

“OMG ARE YOU SERIOUS?! JASON JOLIE?! IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU!” Ethan screamed, smiling from ear-to-ear. Jason winked at Ethan, not detecting Ethan’s obvious sarcasm.

“I’m glad it finally got through your head. It must be the concussion… or the insanity. Are you a long fan of my work?” Jason asked, gripping the handrails with his manicured fingernails. 

Ethan’s smile instantly dropped. “No. I’m not. I still don’t know who the fuck you are.”

“I’M FUCKING ICONIC! HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? Do you know who JENNIFER Jolie is?” Jason questioned. 

“Doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Jennifer Jolie is a FAN FAVORITE of Stab 3, one of the LONGEST survivors of Ghostface out of all the actors. YOU should know who she is, you’re LITERALLY GHOSTFACE!” Ethan rolled his eyes, immediately being reminded of his brother. The memory of his brother wasn’t as horrifying as the others, mostly just irritating Ethan at how childish his brother was at his grown age. 

“Those stupid Stab movies were the reason my brother murdered people and ruined my childhood. Sorry I’m not such a fucking fan.” Jason bit his lip, scribbling on his notebook without looking away from Ethan. 

“Keep going, gorgeous.” Jason flirted, annoyingly trailing the tip of his pen across Ethan’s handcuffed hand. 

“GET OUT OF MY ROOM, NOW!” Ethan screamed.

“NOT UNTIL I GET MY STORY! Gale Weathers gets all the fame for the Ghostface murders, I deserve a cut. She hogs all the stories-”

“There is people who ARE DEAD, you stuck up bimbo! You reporters are-”

“NO! I have passion, don’t you see? And you’re going to help me on my bridge to fame, it’s only fair!” Ethan wanted so badly to punch Jason in the face, Jason’s behavior reminded him of a spoiled toddler throwing a tantrum.

“No, I’m not. Because YOU are going to leave right now-”

“That is not happening gorgeous. Do you know what I had to go through to get here? I had to let some women vacuum suck my neck! She’s like 87! And then I had to give this stupid fucking security guard 3000 fucking dollars! I DESERVE MY STORY!”

“ NOBODY told you to do that, you brought this all onto yourself, dumbass!”

“You’re making me SO furious right now!” Jason screamed, pointing a finger in Ethan’s face.

“ YOU’RE fucking angry?! You barged into my room, you scribbled down any sensitive information I let slip so you could write it in your shitty book that you didn’t even get permission to make!” Jason sighed, biting his lip again.

“How in love are you with Chad?” Jason asked. Ethan blinked rapidly, his rage simmering down to baseless confusion. 

“Very. How does that even come close to what I said?” Jason leaned closer, rubbing his boney fingers on Ethan’s handcuffed hand.

“So ditching football boy and dating a hot and rich celebrity is completely 100% off the market?” Jason asked. 

“…are you trying to seduce me right now?”

“Is it working?” 

“…”

“…”

“GET THE FUCK OUT!” Ethan screamed, pointing at the door. 

“You’re yelling just makes you more attractive, I love assertive men-“

“CHAD!” Ethan screamed. At record speed Chad rushed into the room, practically slamming his side into the door. Panicked, he searched across the room and let out a small sigh of relief when Ethan didn’t sustain any new injuries. 

“Eth- who the fuck are you?” Chad asked. Jason yelled in frustration, accidentally ruining his perfect gelled back hair, to Ethan’s pleasure.

“I’m fucking JASON JOLIE, WHY DOES NOBODY KNOW WHO I AM?” Ethan and Chad both rolled his eyes at his antics, with Chad trying to hold back a laugh as much as possible.

“I’m sorry for not recognizing you-“ Chad began to apologize, but Ethan shook his head, smirking at Jason.

“Don’t be sorry, baby, this gentleman is harassing me-“ Ethan's satisfaction increased tenfold when Jason’s face turned red like a tomato. Jason looked like he was going to explode any second now.

“HARASSING? You even speaking a word to me is a honor-“ 

“Nobody even knows who you are! And I don’t give a shit even if you were a celebrity which I doubt you are, I got fucking stabbed-“

“It doesn’t even look like a stab wound, it looks like a graze-“ Jason cut off, jumping in shock when Chad puts a tight grip on his shoulder, glaring at him. 

“I have a concussion and you’re interrupting my sleeping time!” 

“But my story!-“

“Find your story somewhere else before I break out these handcuffs and kick your ass!” 

“ Please do! Violent, mentally unstable Ethan Landry attacks a reporter after attempting to murder innocent college kids. It’ll do great for my marketing! You don’t understand, nobody cares about your privacy , Ethan. In fact, the moment you enter jail, which you will, puppy dog eyes or not, you aren’t seen as a person with rights anymore. You don’t matter to the public, the only thing they’ll see you as is a monster. The only thing left that people care about is your story, if it’s interesting enough.” Jason Jolie looked strangely joyous stating this, like he just won the jackpot to everything. Ethan stared down at the balled fists in his lap, angry that he was getting upset at what that stupid whore of a reporter was saying to him.

Maybe because every word he said was true.

You lost anyone and everyone that could have ever cared about you. Your father is dead. Your sister is dead. Both killed by your hands. The moment Chad and your Uncle realize you can’t be fixed, that you’re too difficult to deal with, they’ll leave.

Nobody cares about you, anymore.

“Get. Out.” Ethan demanded, rage trickling into his voice.

“What? Did you think one little redemption moment would make everyone forget-“ Chad grabbed the scuff of his shirt and forcibly dragged him away from Ethan.

“You heard him, get out.” Chad ordered, fists balled up. 

“Don’t you think I deserve one quote from-“ In a fit of rage that Ethan was not used to Chad having, he punched Jason so hard in the face that he fell on his ass, clutching his face in complete shock.

“My lawyers-“

“Your lawyers can suck my dick. Get the fuck out!” Chad yelled pointing outside. “I won’t tell you again.” 

Jason scrambled back on his feet, wiping the dust off his previously clean clothes. He practically ran out, afraid of getting punched again by Chad. 

“You okay?” Chad asked. Once again, Ethan’s rage simmered down a bit at Chad’s concerned voice and he took a long deep breath in through his nose.

“I’m fine. I… I wasn’t going to actually hurt him, I was just-“ Chad kissed Ethan’s cheek, staying close to Ethan’s ear.

“I know.” Chad walked away, knowing that at least they had some hope for the future, that Ethan will be okay and everything will eventually fall in place.

Over the next few months, things managed to turn out for the better for Ethan. To Ethan’s complete surprise, a multitude of people testified towards his favor, and he managed to win the case. One of the judge’s demands in exchange for his freedom was for him to meet up with a therapist at least every 2 weeks, preferably every week. Ethan felt a pang in his heart at what the judge said-

 “mentally unfit to realign with society without fear of harming himself or others, which requires immediate mental assistance. Until the therapist completely deems him as mentally stable and safe to be around, he will be required to live under the guidance of James Kirsch.”

-But he didn’t mind not being behind bars for the rest of his life, it’s more he could have asked for. Notably, his lawyer did everything in his power to appeal sympathy for Ethan’s case, dragging practically anyone in that accepted. It made a lot of sense to Ethan, since his uncle said that the lawyer was a huge friend of his, I guess they both have this weirdly strong determination to protect Ethan. Or, in the lawyer’s case, he’s really good at his job. 

“-Ethan, did you hear what I was saying?” Christina asked kindly. Her voice was soft and sweet like honey, not displaying any type of annoyance at Ethan’s lack of attention to what she was saying. The therapist was probably the 5th one Ethan gone through, but Ethan thinks she might be the last one he’ll have. She understands and listens, but manages to challenge Ethan beliefs pretty often. It’s like she has some type of key to Ethan’s mind and can unlock it when something happens to him. 

“I’m… I’m so sorry, I was spacing out.” Ethan admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Christina chuckled amusedly, waving him away. 

“Don’t worry about that, it happens. Do you want to talk about what you were spacing out about?”

“I was just thinking about the court case, after everything that happened I’m shocked that I’m not dead in a ditch somewhere at this point.” Christina’s face didn’t change but she did started to write down on her clipboard. Ethan always wished he could figure out what exactly she was writing. 

“Were you planning on dying from the beginning? Since you became Ghostface?” Christina asks. Ethan shrugs, biting the tip of his fingernail. 

“There hasn’t been a ghostface who survived, I’m the first to break the cycle. The likelihood of me surviving was astronomically low, my dad being a police officer or not. I didn’t care,  I was willing to die if it meant my father would be proud of me, if… if my sister was proud of me too. It meant everything to me. It meant I was worth it.” Christina cocks her head to the side, frowning a bit at Ethan. 

“Why do you believe that you needed to be worth it?”

“Well back then, my family were all I had. If I wasn’t worth it, they would leave me and I’d have nothing. But also, I loved them. I think I still do, after everything.” Christina nodded, tapping the pen against her chin.

“How do you feel now? About their deaths?” Christina asked.

“I wish I hadn't done it, I wish someone would have stopped me. Every second I breathe I’m reminded that they aren’t here anymore. I miss them so much, especially before Richie.” Ethan responded honestly. 

“And how were they before Richie came in the picture?”

“My dad was still the same, but he was a bit lighter, if that makes sense. Every once in a blue moon he’d call me downstairs for dinner, asking how I was feeling. I can count on one hand how many times he hugged me, but every time it felt amazing. I felt like I meant something to someone, that I’m not invisible. I thought he loved me.”

“Do you think Quinn cared about you?” Ethan stayed silent for a little while, thinking about his answer carefully. 

“I don’t know. I thought she did, but I’m not sure. She always protected me when we were younger, from Richie and she was my only friend, before the Ghostface shit went down.”

“Really? How does she protect you?” 

“With everything if I’m being honest. When I was younger, I was difficult to be around. She said I was oversensitive and sometimes I would lash out at people because I couldn’t handle all my emotions. She said that it makes me vulnerable to other people, that people see my weaknesses and would find ways to use them against me. That’s why I didn’t have friends when I was younger, Quinn showed me that the only people who don’t want to hurt you is your family.” Ethan said, smiling at the thought of his sister. His sweet sister who is rotting in a grave 6 feet under. The smile Ethan had dropped at the thought of his sister being dead, the one person in his life he wanted to be around for the rest of his life, was gone forever. And Ethan had no real right to be upset about this, it’s his fault. The therapist frowned at what Ethan said, scribbling aggressively on her notebook. 

“How did she prove her point to you?”

“Well, there was this one time I was talking to this boy in middle school. It was online and we talked for hours about… well anything and everything, really. We got along so well, it’s like he knew everything about me. I felt understood. And then I went to meet him face-to-face. It… It was Quinn. She told me that the boy I was talking to was fake and that I was a complete idiot for trying to hide it from her. I guess she was right, little me was kind of a dumbass.” Ethan chuckled at the memory of it. When it happened Ethan was completely heartbroken and not only that, he was embarrassed that he let himself romantically like someone he never even met before. The therapist frowns deeper, if that was even possible, and sets her clipboard down on the desk. She folds her hands in front of her as she contemplates on how to respond to this. 

“Do you think it’s normal for sisters to do this? To not allow their brother to interact with anyone but the family? To even… pretend to be someone else to teach him a lesson? Social interaction is a huge step in development for people in their younger years, which is why many parents opp for in person schooling versus online school. Do you think this impacted your social interactions to this day? That maybe your sister’s actions may be the reason you feel anxious or even angry when talking to other people?” Ethan immediately shook his head, blinking in surprise at the therapist’s questions. The questions went so fast that Ethan barely could comprehend it all. 

“It’s… It has to be normal to protect your siblings? Wouldn’t you? She might have gone overboard but, especially after Richie died, I was her only brother left. She wanted to keep me safe.”

“By making her brother believe that anyone besides herself and the family is toxic and should be avoided? By promoting a toxic idea that family doesn’t hurt family? Is that seriously what you think? Did you think she was protecting you when she allowed your father to lie about Chad?”

“I… I don’t want to continue this conversation.” Ethan said quietly, picking at the scabs littered across his arms from his dad’s attack. Sometimes when looking at them, he feels almost a phantom pain, he can feel the knife slicing through the bone and sticking the other side. It used to make him panic at the memory of the agony he felt. Now, it doesn’t effect him nearly as much, but sometimes he would feel shivers climbing up his spine when he thought of that night. 

“Are you feeling overwhelmed?” Christina asked. Ethan nodded, his posture declining rapidly from what it was before, hunching like he was trying to curl up in a ball. “Do you think it’s possible if I can get an update on your nightmares? If not, we could talk about something else.”

That weirdly seemed to bring Ethan’s energy back up to Christina’s surprise. Typically the nightmares was an incredibly sensitive topic that would take up the entire talking period. Ethan could only talk about it if he’s feeling particularly strong that day, and of course Christina didn’t want to overwhelm him too much. 

“I think I beat him. Richie, I mean.” Ethan responded, rhythmically tapping his nails against the wood of the desk, surprising Christina even more by his weird excitement considering the current conversation topic. 

“What do you mean? Can you clarify?” Christina asked.

“Well it started like this-”

When Ethan sat up, he wasn’t in the room he recognized.

His room in Uncle James house was painted a boring gray, leaning towards black instead of white. It was pretty plain and boring, Ethan haven’t spent a lot of time decorating, to distracted with everything happening in his life. 

The most he had was his bed, which had darth vader bed covers, with matching pillows on top of that. Chad made fun of him as soon as he saw them before other… things happened. Ironically, Ethan found out that his uncle was incredibly behind when it came to everything Ethan liked, and with some probing, they both did multiple movie binge watching while Jessie was at school. 

He had a desk and a chair in a corner, but it was basically useless since Ethan got expelled from Blackmore (which honestly didn’t bother Ethan as much as he thought it would). He got a few reasonable options, his uncle suggesting that online college course might be the best option if Ethan was still interested in getting a degree, which Ethan said he was. However, to his therapist’s advice, he decided to take a few months away from unnecessary stresses. 

Besides that, the only thing Ethan really focused on a lot in his room was his bookshelves. Both his uncle and Chad contributed to the half-full shelves, some comics collected from when Chad and Ethan were roommates, and others being purchased directly by the two. Ethan felt guilty about spending all their money, but both of them reassured him that it’s okay.

But this room was different.

It was painted an annoying bright teal, some of the paint chipping off in certain places. There were several posters littered across his room, DC or Marvel or Star Wars related. There was even a fake lightsaber hanging up. The desk was covered with papers, homework from school most likely. Ethan smiled a little when he saw the huge lego death star in the corner of the desk, remembering how long it took to make that when he was a kid, and how pissed he was when he accidentally knocked it over that one time. 

Right then and there Ethan understood.

He’s in his childhood bedroom. 

Ethan walked towards one of the posters in the room, that was out of place with the rest of the room. It stuck out like a sore thumb, immediately catching Ethan’s eyes. 

It was a scream poster.

The scream poster was pretty basic, just showing Ghostface mask and a text quote saying the typical line “What’s your favorite scary movie.”

It sounded like something Richie would do, placing a scream poster in his room without Ethan’s permission. It didn’t bother Ethan as much… until the text changed. 

Instead of “What’s your favorite scary movie” 

“ Hello little brother ” it read.. 

Ethan gasped, stumbling away from the odd poster. Ethan watched as the text in the poster changed again. 

“ Is that how you treat your brother? How cruel of you Ethan.” Ethan looked down at the poster and noticed blood dripping out from the bottom of the painting. It had already started to pool on the floor. 

“Is just in your head, it’s just your mind fucking with you.” Ethan said, attempting to comfort himself.

“Yeah you have quite the diseased mind there…

Ethan, I’m impressed…

Killing your own family in cold blood? 

No hesitation…

no mercy? 

How monstrous of you.” Ethan gasped, jumping on top of the bed when the blood started to rise to his ankles.

“You hate me.

You fucking despise me.

But you’re the evil one.

You’re the INFECTION that has to be TAKEN OUT!”

With the last line, the door slammed against the wall, wide open.

Ethan quickly jumped off the bed, struggling to walk with the blood rushing past his legs. Ethan almost fell into the knee-deep pool of blood, but he managed to catch himself before then. He pushed forward, closing the door with all his strength and locking it. 

Ethan stood on top of the bed, the blood starting to lick at his ankles despite his extra height. Ethan panicked, looking for any other way out, but the only exit would be the door. 

“ Are you okay, E-E-Ethan? Don’t be afraid, just open the door.” Chad managed to open the locked door enough to stick his head through. Ethan’s felt his stomach twist at the sight of Chad.

Chad’s throat was slit again, blood covering his shirt. On top of that, Chad’s eyes were ripped out of his face. Despite it all, Chad was still smiling from ear-to-ear at Ethan.

Ethan screamed, tears running down his face as he grips his hair so tightly that he could rip his hair straight out the scalp if he was any more stronger.  

Ethan backed against the wall as much as he can, his hand muffling the sobbing coming from his mouth. “Chad” managed to wiggle his arm through the small crack in the door, making Ethan jump back and slip and splash on the bed. Ethan quickly got up, holding onto the bed frame. 

“Why don’t I rip your eyes out, huh, Ethan? 

Or maybe I should kill you

The same way you killed our father. 

35 times, Ethan? That’s no where near what I’ll do to you.

No arms-” 

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to take deep breaths. “LEAVE ME ALONE!” 

“No legs. 

No face. 

No eyes.

I’ll make you suffer, Ethan, for everything you’ve done.

You deserve it.”

“STOP IT! I’m sorry. Pl-please I’m so-” Ethan’s voice cracked, begging for whatever higher power out there to pull him out of his nightmare “sorry. I-I’ll do anything, leave me alone!” 

“Oh Ethan, you’re saying sorry to the wrong person!

I’ll help you get there. 

I’ll end your misery. 

Don’t you worry, baby brother. 

I’ll make you wish for death-”

“Ethan! I’m down here!” Ethan looked around, unable to find the origin of the voice. It was so faint that Ethan wouldn’t even be able to hear the voice if his senses weren’t heightened a thousand times. 

There was a hand on his ankle.

“Game over, Ethan!” Ethan was barely able to yell before he was dragged under the pool of blood.

Noting that he had a limited amount of air, Ethan started yanking as hard as he could, trying to get his ankle free. 

Ethan felt the blood rush in through his mouth, choking Ethan who was already trying to hold onto as much oxygen as possible. 

Ethan could barely see, the thick blanket-like red covering everything in his view. His view was so clouded that he couldn’t even see who the hand was attached to. 

The person who was holding onto his ankle, finally came close enough for Ethan to see.

It was Quinn.

“Quinn” smiled at him with maggot filled teeth, eyes unnaturally wide. She cocked her head to the side as if she was taunting him. Ethan aggressively started pulling his ankle, with Ethan simultaneously punching her in the face. 

Ethan felt a headache coming on from the lack of air, and his entire body slowly started becoming more and more weak, his punches not doing much of an impact. 

A few seconds later of punching, Ethan grabbed “Quinn’s” face and dug his nails into her eyeballs until she was shrieking. In the moment, she let go of his ankle and sank to the unclear bottom. 

Ethan swam back up to the surface, taking a huge gasp of air when he made it back up. The blood was so far up that despite him standing on the bed, the blood was up to chin level. He was going to drown any second. 

Ethan hysterically splashed against the blood, looking around for any exit besides the door. 

There wasn’t one. 

He had no option. 

Ethan kicked against the blood, the room so full with blood that he was practically pressing his face against the ceiling. 

Ethan took a deep breath and swam as fast as he could towards a door. It was almost as if the blood knew exactly what he wanted to do, and wanted the opposite, pulling Ethan the other way. Despite that, he made it to the door.

Ethan’s hand slipped a few times trying to unlock the door, but eventually he unlocked it and managed to open the door enough to slip out. 

He crashed against the floor of another room, the blood splattering around all around him. He took quick breaths in through his nose and out his mouth, trying to regain the oxygen he lost while drowning in that room. 

His throat was sore from the rapid breathing and from the screaming, and Ethan gently held his throat with his shaking, bloody hands. 

“Ethan.” Ethan whipped his head around, regretting that when his head screamed in protest. 

Behind him was Richie, his brother that’s been torturing him even in his death. 

The fear he already had started peaking when he realized what suit he was wearing. 

The ghostface suit.

Except, it was heavily damaged, ripped apart with gaping holes in certain places. Richie towered over him, smiling strangely sweet at him. 

“Oh Ethan, I’m sorry. I scared you far too much. It was just a joke, only a joke.” Ethan flinched when Richie took a step towards him. Richie chuckled at Ethan’s fear, raising a hand to wipe blood off his cheeks. Ethan cowered away, stepping back from Richie. 

“You’re so sensitive, so emotional.” Richie notes, grabbing Ethan’s arm with a death grip. Ethan yelled, trying to yank his arm out. 

“Please-” Ethan begged, as Richie stared at him with a bored expression. Ethan hiccuped, hyperventilating even more then before. 

“After all you’ve done, you think I’ll just… let you go? You think that YOU are allowed to get the happy ending? I don’t think so! You’re just as evil as I am, and yet you walk free. How is that fair? Huh? HUH?!” Richie screamed, laughing a bit when Ethan fell on his knees, his arm still in Richie’s grip.

“Your father loved you. Your sister loved you, and how did you repay them? Tell me.” Richie let his arm go, kneeling down to his level. 

“Richie-” Ethan hugged his knees to his chest, staring at Richie with wide, dull eyes. His eyes shone with a light of exhaustion, terrified but not even strong enough to move away from what’s scaring him. 

“TELL ME!” Richie demanded, slapping Ethan across the face. Ethan head whipped to the side from the impact, tears collecting in his waterline again.

“I ki-killed t-them. I m-murdered them.” Ethan said quietly, his voice hoarse from his sore throat. 

“You did. And that’s okay.” Richie comforted, rubbing his thumb across Ethan’s knuckles. 

“It is?” Ethan asked, confused at the response. 

“It is. Because you are going to redeem yourself. Look where I’m looking, Ethan.” Richie says. Ethan turns around, and the first thing he sees is someone sitting on a chair. He couldn’t tell who it was because of his tears, but when he wiped it away he realized who it was. 

It’s Tara. Tara was the one tied in the chair. 

Her mascara was running down her face and she was gagged, fabric pressed tightly against her lips and tied behind her head. She started aggressively kicking away from them, but only managing to scoot away with the chair. Her arms were tied to the chair, similar to what Ethan did to her all those months ago. 

She looked like prey, frightened and cornered, no escape and no way of fighting back. 

Not that fighting back was even slightly an option, Ethan or Richie could easily stab and kill her within seconds. 

“Doesn’t she just make you angry, Eth? Her crying is just so fucking pathetic isn’t it?” Ethan felt the rage start to spark in his body, as Tara shook her head desperately at Ethan, hoping he doesn’t do what she thinks he will. 

“She would have killed you in a heartbeat if you didn’t take her out of commission. You're hesitating, but she wouldn’t. She would slit your throat and cheer about it in some stupid fucking party days later. You mean fucking nothing to her.” Richie handed Ethan the knife. The knife was still crusted with blood. 

“ Don’t you see, Ethan? She’s a threat. A basic fucking whore who wants to steal what is YOURS. Chad is YOURS isn't he? Nobody else’s. Kirsch’s don’t share what is theirs. Are you a real Kirsch?” Ethan stalked towards Tara, his blood running hot under his skin, the want-no the need to kill becoming more and more difficult to avoid. He wanted to behead her and mail her fucking head to her sister. He wanted her to fucking beg him for mercy, he wanted her to know that her death and her life is held in Ethan’s hands. 

“You’ll redeem yourself. Your father would be so proud of you. Isn’t that what you always wanted? The only thing in the fucking way is this bitch. Are you going to make Dad proud? Or are you going to let something get in the way of your happiness.” Tara’s eyes widened as Ethan leaned close to her, knife pressed against her neck. Tara stayed as stiff as possible, afraid that any sudden movement would make Ethan impulsively stab her on reflex. 

“I… I have a change to the movie.” Ethan said calmly, pulling Tara’s head back by the hair. 

“What’s the change, Ethan?” Richie put a hand on Ethan’s shoulder, ignoring the way Ethan tensed at the touch.

Ethan turned around a bit, knife in hand. He stared at him for a minute, studying his brother. 

“Don’t leave me hanging, tell-”

 With lightning quick speed, Ethan stabbed through Richie’s open mouth, stabbing him in the throat. 

“ The sequel is fucking cancelled” Ethan said, pushing the knife deeper down his throat. Richie gagged on the blood and the knife, blood dripping out of his mouth.

Richie stared at Ethan with huge unblinking eyes. 

Ethan smiled softly at him, twisting the knife in his throat and watching as Richie let out a gurgled sound of pain. 

Ethan ripped the knife out of his throat, holding Richie up by a hand at his throat. 

“ I don’t hate Tara, not nearly as much as I fucking hate you. I always did. You’re the monster in the fucking family, do you hear me? Not me. You ruined EVERYTHING, YOU are in the way of my happiness, is that clear asshole? I don’t hate Sam either, I’m fucking jealous she got to see you cry and beg for your pathetic fucking life as she kills you. There is nothing strong about you, nothing brave. You’re a limp dick little fuck who prayed on little girls that were my fucking age, you didn’t even have the guts to do most of the killings as Ghostface. If anyone is the weak link in the family, it’s YOU.” Ethan said, grabbing the knife and holding the knife to his face like he did with Tara.  

“Here’s the big fucking finale, Richie. You lose.” Ethan whispered in his ear. 

Richie tried crawling backwards but Ethan stabbed his leg, dragging it down to the ankle. 

“Not so fast, I thought we were having fun! We were always just having fun, RIGHT?!” Ethan stabbed him in the stomach and continued stabbing him, blood splattering more and more on Ethan’s face. 

Ethan slowly stood up, smiling at Richie’s corpse and walking towards Tara. 

Tara was absolutely terrified, but Ethan rolled his eyes, slowly cutting her out of her bindings. 

“I’m not gonna hurt you, I promise-”

“Ethan… that’s-” Christina laughs in shock, clasping her hands together. “That’s a huge step in the right direction, do you realize that? You faced one of your greatest traumas head on.”

Ethan blushed at the praise, smiling down at his lap. “Thanks.”

“How scared were you, from 1-10?” The therapist asked. Ethan exhaled sharply, both of them laughing at his response. 

“Maybe like 10,000, it was horrifying. I don’t know why my mind does that to itself,” Ethan admits, frowning when he checked the time. Usually their sessions only went on for a hour, but they went past a few minutes after, it was going to end soon. 

“How do you feel, despite the fear?”

“I’ve never felt so at peace in my life. It feels like a huge weight was taken off my shoulders, I felt alive.” Ethan says. Ethan stands up when he hears knocking on the door, recognizing it to be his uncle’s signature knock.

“Ethan, I know you have to go. But, off the record, not as a therapist I just want to say how proud I am of you.” Ethan feels his cheekbones starting to hurt but he doesn’t care much about that now. 

“Can I give you a hug?” Christina asked. “You don’t have to, I understand if you don’t want-”

Ethan surged up next to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, their cheeks pressed together. 

“Thank you, for helping me.” Ethan says, smiling impossibly harder when Christina hugged him tighter. 

“Anytime, Ethan.” Christina said, letting go of Ethan. Ethan opened the door and walked out, accidentally bumping into his uncle. 

“Thought you were gonna be in there forever, was it a good session?” James asked, walking with Ethan to the parking lot. 

“I think so. She said I making progress in the right direction.” Ethan said, sitting in the front seat. 

“That’s great, Eth. I’m glad you finally found your therapist, I remembered when I first clicked with my therapist. Buckle your seatbelt” James said, starting to drive off. 

“Do you still talk to them?” Ethan asked, rolling his eyes but following James’ directions. 

“Yeah, they threatened to find me personally if I didn’t. I moved away so they aren’t my therapist anymore.” 

“Hey, Jamie?” Ethan chewed his lip nervously, his legs bouncing like a rabbit.

“Yeah, Bambi?” James said, the car stopping at the light. James turned around to look at Ethan, laughing when Ethan was scowling at him. 

“Don’t call me that, I hate it when you call me that.” Ethan took a deep breath, trying to calm down his anxieties. “Do you think it would be okay if I visit Anika?”

James’ laughter seized down, a serious expression taking over. 

“Of course you can, Ethan. Do you want to go right now?”

Ethan placed the flowers on the grave, looking down at the grave but having no idea what to say.

It was weird to look down at the dirt knowing that Anika was buried 6 ft deep. He used to have nightmares about it, what if Anika was alive and she was buried alive and no one helps her?

Ethan remembers her saying that she was claustrophobic, that she hated being enclosed or feeling like she’s trapped. She would hate being down there, she didn’t belong in the dirt. 

Anika belonged in the sunlight, where she can be seen, where she can feel the warmth on her skin. She would be cold there, horrified. Ethan wanted to get her out of there to save her. He wanted to hug her and tell her nothing bad would ever happen to her, that she has nothing to be afraid of.

But he couldn’t. Anika is gone, and years from now she’ll be nothing but a passing memory for people. All she’ll be known as is a victim, nothing more.

Ethan was so angry, watching as other people walked a few paces away from him.

To them, Anika was nothing but a corpse, a dead body that has no impact on their life.

Ethan hated it.

Anika shouldn’t be forgotten about and ignored, people shouldn’t walk past her grave without a thought. She was special, time shouldn’t move on and leave her behind. 

It filled Ethan with a familiar pit of sadness knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t bring her back, he can’t reverse time, he can’t talk to her again. 

It was all hopeless. Death was hopeless and inevitable.

“You know, I was going to cut my hair earlier today. My hair is getting long, it gets kind of annoying when it’s too long. I’m keeping it for you, you always wanted me to grow my hair out to my shoulders. To be honest, I should shave it all off for you dying on me. Sweet revenge, right?” Silence. No response. What the hell did Ethan think was going to happen, that Anika would pop out of her grave and respond? Ethan sighed, listening to the leaves of the tree rustle from the wind.

“I totally disagree with you, by the way. A few weeks ago before… before you left, you told me that black looks the best on me. All it does is make my skin glow like a fucking glow stick, I’m way too pale for this shit.” The grass scrunched under his feet as he fidgeting with his hands, not knowing what to say. Ethan looked down at his pants, remembering a vague memory on how he accidentally ripped them. 

“Remember when you were shit-faced drunk at one of the frat parties you threatened me into going to? Usually you would annoy Mindy, but Chad had to practically carry Mindy back to her dorm. I wasn’t drunk, obviously, because I hate alcohol, so you ran full speed at me and jumped on my back. Obviously I fell because what the fuck is wrong with you, and I had to sacrifice my knees to stop you from like… breaking your face.” Ethan subconsciously picked at the thread from the ripped pants, smiling at the thought.

“I don’t know why I’m here, I don’t know what I’m doing Anika.” Ethan admitted. Annoyed that the wind was making his hair go everywhere, Ethan aggressively tucked as much as he can behind his ear, and tried pinning the rest back with his hand.

“I know this won’t do a lot, and it obviously cannot fix things, but I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I betrayed you, I’m sorry that I let my father k-k-kill you. That you will never get your degree and live the dream life you always wanted.” Ethan took a deep breath, pulling his sweater tighter against himself.

“I… I want to say thank you for trying to protect me, for sacrificing your life to save me. If you didn’t save me, I’d be the one in the grave. It probably should’ve ended that way, it feels wrong that it didn’t, but you’re a sacrificial idiot that has to save the day, and I’m an asshole with a shit ton of luck following me. Regardless, you sacrificed yourself to save me. I can’t stay for long, my uncle is waiting for me, but-” Ethan took a photo out of his pocket, sitting it next to the flowers. 

“I hope that I can make you proud, whatever you are. I won’t let your sacrifice mean nothing. I’ll make it worth it, I swear it.”

And with that, Ethan started to walk off, feeling lighter and calmer then before.

Chapter Text

Hey again!

Uh, this is VERY VERY urgent. I made a dumbass mistake and I'm literally going to cry right now. So, I thought that "oh I'm just going to delete chapter 7 because it has NOTHING to do with the actual fan fiction, right? RIGHT! And I stupidly forgot that when you delete the chapter, the comments are deleted as well. I'm begging you guys, is it possible if you can rewrite your prompts? I really loved them I just cannot remember all of them for the life of me and I was JUST about to start on a fanfic RIGHT NOW. 

To remind you guys, I enjoy writing Ethan x Chad the most out of everything. I CAN write Ethan with another character but preferably not romantic, I'm not the biggest fan of Ethan x Tara, for example, and most likely won't write it at all. I am okay with non-romantic fics with Ethan, like Ethan and Anika. 

Please give prompts, not just "can you write this relationship" (You guys didn't do that last time but I just wanted to remind everyone). 

I have a friend group who enjoys writing different couples like: Tara x Amber, Anika x Mindy, and (apparently one of my friends ships Quinn x Sam, which I support), so you can write prompts from them too, just know the writing style might be different and the fanfics might not come out as quickly for those. 

I AM SO SO SORRY about this and I hope you guys have an amazing day. I understand if you don't wanna write anything :)