Late Night Walk
Tags!
fluff, mutual pining, neighborhood AU extras, not canon to neighborhood AU, gender neutral reader, robbery (yes i'm serious)
words: 2,194
The sound of the air conditioner in your room seems to be all you can focus on, brows furrowed in frustration as you glare at the ceiling like it insulted your favorite guardian figure. You'd tried everything to prevent this, yet here you are..having another sleepless night, your thoughts racing around your head like cars on a track. Eventually your anger gets the better of you and you sit up, tossing your covers aside and grabbing a thin jacket from your closet on your way outside. You'll just wear yourself out, that'll do it.
The differently colored houses of your neighborhood greet you once you open the door, each one fitting a different duo of skeletal brothers from vastly different universes. Yours, Fell, Swap, Swapfell, Horror..the list goes on. Naturally, all the lights are off apart from the streetlights since it's insanely late. Nothing out of the ordinary there. However, there is still something, or rather someone standing on his front porch, who perks up when he sees you walk out and lock your door behind you.
You shoot him a wave and a smile as he stands, grabbing his skateboard from off the side of the porch and skating right across the street to reach you. Once he gets in your yard he stops, holding it under one of his arms as he finally manages to stand in front of you.
"hey, you. what'cha doin' up this late? that's my job, i'm the tired one." His voice is low and raspy as he jokes, earning a nudge from you as you check the time on your phone.
"I couldn't sleep. My brain's doing the thing again." You sigh, rubbing your tired eyes as he lets out a hum of understanding. "So, I figured I'd go out for a walk..didn't expect to see you out here. You wanna go with?"
You offer, silently hoping he'll say yes. The city can be dangerous at this hour if you run into the wrong crowds, and you didn't really want to test your encounter luck tonight.
"yeah, sure, why not? i've been up a while, stayed late at stretch's place to hang out. he fell asleep first, so he's gonna wake up with a face covered in marker doodles." You both start walking as he begins to talk, Rus putting his skateboard down to slowly roll beside you, making sure not to go too fast for you to keep up with.
You let out a laugh at the idea. "Dude, he's gonna kill you."
"he can try all he wants, but it didn't work the last five times." He grins smugly, earning an eye roll from you as you shake your head. These two have always been such troublemakers..they fit together like puzzle pieces despite how they look from an outsider's perspective.
"You're a mess."
"i know." He smiles, keeping his hands in his pockets as you both walk along the sidewalk. "but that's what makes me so great, right?"
"Something like that." You smile, looking up at the still-moonlit sky. He grins at the fact you didn't deny it, letting out a chuckle in reply.
"Well, I guess one good thing came out of my brain refusing to shut up." You look over at him, watching with an amused smile as he tilts his head in curiosity.
"yeah? what's that?"
"I get to hang out with one of my favorite guys." You smile fondly, catching him off guard. His cheekbones flush for a brief second before he shakes it off, nudging your shoulder.
"aww, i'm your favorite? how sweet." He drawls, earning a playful (and partially flushed) shove from you, almost knocking him off balance.
"I said "one of", chill."
"still a high honor." He holds up his phone, pausing a second to take a picture of the starry sky. You stop with him, watching him as he does so. He sticks his tongue out a little, the piercing there shining when the light hits it and his eyelights narrowing while he focuses, a small thing about him you hadn't really noticed before.
"gotta catch these views and keep 'em forever. plus it wouldn't hurt to post 'em on my main." He puts his phone down, skating again.
"How's commissions on your alt?"
"eh, it's alright. haven't got a ton yet but i'm sure someone'll want some art from me someday soon. i've been working on some stuff for the comic project, at least."
You perk up at that. "The one you and Stretch were talking about?"
"yeah, that's the one. we're pretty much just in the drawing board phase right now but you'll be the first to know when it's out. that's what you wanted, right?"
"Duh! Of course I do." You smile, already excited to see what the two boneheads come up with.
"well, i'll make sure to pester him about it so he remembers." He smiles, messing up your hair with a hand despite your protests and skating away when you reach over to grab him.
"Asshole."
"you love me." He grins.
"Debatable."
He gasps, putting a hand over his chest dramatically as he moves back over to you. "oh, how you wound me..i could just die right now, my heart could just explode!" He shuts his eyes, before cracking one open to see your face.
"You'll live, I promise." You smile, walking a little closer to him and shivering when you feel the nightly cold air. You wonder what it must be like as a skeleton, not being able to feel the weather out.. sure, the guys can feel hot and cold things when they touch them, but as for the wind? Nada. Must be a weird sensation.
He comes to a stop when you both reach the entrance to the city, holding out a hand for you to either take or refuse. You appreciate his silent offer, holding his hand to stay close as you both head further in. The city lights shine over the streets, neon signs advertising this and that anywhere you look. Colors bathe the normally gray atmosphere, filling it with life.
Your eyes drift over to the tall skeleton beside you, watching as he glances over every little thing and finding it hard to focus. He looks really nice under different kinds of lighting.. A lot of colors suit him in a weird way. His eyelights drift over to you when he notices you're staring, and you freeze. He looks briefly over your face, before giving you a smirk with lazy eyes.
Flushing, you quickly look away, feeling yourself die a little inside as he chuckles. A little tug on your hand brings you back to reality, and you look at him again. He points up ahead, and your gaze follows his finger to a corner store.
"it's still open, must be one of those twenty four hour ones. wanna go take a look?"
"I'm honestly surprised.. sure, why not? Maybe I can find some gifts."
He gasps.
"I'm not getting you one while you're with me. It ruins the fun."
"aww! c'mooon, just this once?" He blinks his eyes, acting almost like a puppy that wants a treat you just so happen to have in your hand.
"Nope, furget it."
"hah! nice." He chuckles, letting you lead him into the store. You both say a quick hello to the cashier, who simply nods in reply. You assume they don't really wanna be here right now, which would make sense. You know you wouldn't want to be stuck working here super late.
Dragging Rus' hand, you make your way over to the first aisle you see, looking for random things your neighbors might like. Naturally you'd want to go based off of their favorite colors.. Rus finds himself getting a bit distracted, looking above you at the taller rows. When he spots something silly looking, he reaches up an arm and pulls it down to show you, earning a laugh from both of you.
You can always find yourself having fun with Rus, no matter where you are. He's always messing around somehow. Upon first meeting him, Rus is a pretty quiet guy. He wouldn't speak unless spoken to, and when he and his brother had first moved in he stuck to his side like glue. But once he got to know you, it was like he became a whole other person.
You both perk up when you hear the Cashier shouting, turning to see what's going on. Leaning past the end of the aisle, you spot someone holding them at gunpoint with their face covered. Well, that's not good. Seems someone decided to rob the store super late for..whatever reason. Rus pulls you against his side in a protective manner as one of his eyelights flashes, indicating he's Checked the suspect. Furrowing his browbones, he turns your face so you look at him, whispering to you.
"wait here, i'm gonna handle this." He sounds serious, but..
"Dude, there is no way you're gonna confront some guy with a gun on your own. That's insane. Just wait for the police to show up-"
"the police aren't gonna get here in time, by then they'll be gone. i'll handle it. you can call 'em if you want, though. might help once i'm done."
"Done with what?" You look at him worriedly, and he gives you a reassuring smile before messing up your hair and walking past you. You reach out your hand to stop him but miss before you can grab his arm, watching as he steps forwards. You decide to call the police after all, speaking quietly.
"what's all this about?" He watches as the robber points his gun between him and the Cashier, who's currently shaking in their boots.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll shatter your souls!" He warns, hands slightly trembling as he aims his weapon at your friend.
"hey now, there's no need for that. just put the gun down and let's..talk for a bit, okay?" He holds up his hands dismissively, glancing over at the Cashier.
"I need this, so just stay out of it!" He fires the gun. You gasp as the operator on the phone is asking you for the location, looking over. Rus thankfully had managed to shortcut out of the way. Letting out a sigh of relief, you explain the situation to someone and wait.
"well, that was rude."
He holds up his hand, surrounding his opponent's soul with blue magic and slamming him down onto the ground. Once he's done that, he walks over and pulls off his mask, forming a cage of blue bones around him so he doesn't try anything funny.
"i wouldn't move, if i were you..it's dangerous."
He grins down at the now shaking man, before forcefully pulling the gun from his hands and sitting it on the other side of the cage where he can't reach it. You stand against the side of the aisle, mouth gaping as he walks back over.
"we're good now. just gotta wait for the police."
"Rus, respectfully, I think that was the hottest thing I've ever seen you do."
"what?-" He laughs in surprise, feeling his cheekbones flush with a pretty shade of purple. You smile at him, feeling heat rise to your cheeks as well.
After a few minutes of witty banter between the two of you, the police restrain the suspect. Since Rus managed to deal with him, you got to get a bunch of free stuff! So that was pretty sick. Despite how scary that was, at least you could get something out of it in the end.
Walking back towards your neighborhood, you find yourself holding Rus' hand the entire way there. He doesn't seem to mind it at all, skating at a pace you can keep up with.
"You're really cool, Rus. I can't believe you handled that so well." You turn to him, adjusting the bags in your opposite hand. He smiles at you, fangs shining a bit when the moonlight hits them.
"you pick up a thing or two when you live in an underground like mine. it was full of situations like that. i'm just glad nobody got hurt. ..well, he did, but for a good reason."
You let out a little laugh, continuing to move along the sidewalk.
"soooo.." He leans over a bit, smiling smugly. "did you grab a gift for me as well?"
You roll your eyes, stopping in place. He stops skating, holding the board in place.
"You know what? I did, actually."
"wait, seriously? i was just kidding, you didn't have to-"
You cut him off with a quick kiss to the cheek. He stares in stunned silence for a moment, as his face burns a bright shade of purple. So much so he's practically glowing in the dark.
"My hero." You grin, tugging him along again. He chuckles nervously as you both reach your respective homes, before bidding each other farewell.
Rus leans against the door, holding his hand over where you'd kissed him before burying his face into the neck of his sweater.
