Mothman and Me (Mothman x Reader)

Origins

It was strange to think of a legendary cryptid as your friend, but you had to look past all of that. Beyond all of the myths, Mothman was a person. He had thoughts and feelings. Heck, he might even have a family. As you thought about it, you figured that might be a good question to ask him, now that you had a means of communication.

"Hey, bud, can I ask you a personal question?"

The creature paused for a second, then nodded hesitantly.

"Um, do you have any other friends other than me? Or family?"

His antennae lowered and he sadly shook his head. Flipping the notebooks page, he wrote another word: "gon."

Your heart sank. Despite being nothing but a stranger that showed him kindness, you were all he had. You gently put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. If you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

Mothman let out a few dejected chirps and bunched over the table.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me if it hurts. But I'm always here if you need to talk. We're friends now."

His antennae lifted slightly at your words. He started scribbling again: "I tell frend story but make me big sad. I trust frend.

He trusted you? You felt truly honored. But then again, when you thought about it, you may have been the only person in Point Pleasant who wasn't actively hunting him or accusing him of being a monster. Your lives became entwined by chance, but you still showed him kindness. That had to be comforting. "I'll listen to your story. But if it makes you too sad, don't feel like you have to keep going."

Mothman nodded in acknowledgment. He ripped out a piece of paper and quickly jotted something down: "Story long, tak much tim. Stand bi."

"Take all the time you need."

Mothman wasn't kidding when he said it would take time. He meticulously created a series of illustrations with accompanying phrases. Rather than revealing then to you as he finished them, he organized them neatly in a stack just out of your eyesight. After about twenty minutes, he handed you the stack of torn papers. You didn't understand why he couldn't have kept them in the notebook. As you took them from his hands, he gestured for you to read. The first line took you by surprise.

"Am miss tak." You flipped the page to see a drawing of two creatures similar to Mothman. Next to them appeared to be a barrel with a toxic symbol labeled on it. "Mom and Dad. They were ex spear emints born in lab from rayd ee ate shun long ago."

Radiation experiments, huh? You weren't expecting that, but it made more sense than a demon or prehistoric creature. You remembered seeing off building in the woods while on a hike. A friend informed you that they were used during the Cold War era to store waste.

Mothman flipped the page. The drawn creatures were flying out of the window. Toward the bottom of the page was one of the creatures holding a baby creature
"1 nite they escap. Fly to woods. I am born there."

The next drawing was hard to make out, but you thought it might be glowing eyes in a poorly drawn tree. Below it were stick figure men holding guns. "Want us bak. Hunted us. Liv in feer." He hesitated to turn the next page. There you saw the two Mothman-adjacent pictures crossed out with a big X. "Fownd them. Gon now."

You felt tears well up in your eyes. His family really was gone. Lost to the selfish whims of humans. The cycle of humanity's violent unrest never ended. It's hatred often was directed at the works of its own hand, yet they took no responsibility for their actions. You couldn't even begin to imagine the fear and the pain this poor bug had been through. You rubbed the fuzz on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Mothman's antennae were pressed flush against his head. He was feeling heartache for sure. He flashed you a quick glance before turning to the next page. It was a drawing of him all alone. "Jus me. Hid from bad men. Somtims do a scare. No want troubl."

"You're not going to find any trouble here. Well, you shouldn't. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of that. If you ever feel scared or unsafe, just come find me, okay?" The offer tumbled out before you could really even process the implications it carried. You could iron out details later. The important part was that your new friend felt like he had somewhere to go.

You were handed another piece of paper: "Thank." A big heart was drawn around the word. You giggled. The gesture was kind of cute.

"You're welcome. Let's see, I don't work today, so you can hang with me today if you want to. I will have to set up some house rules though. Like I said, you're always welcome, but you can't tear up my house or attract suspicion from the neighbors. We have to keep you safe." You gave him a playful poke and a smile. The creature returned the gesture in kind, antennae now standing tall. You could hear his wings vibrating.

Although it was still hard to comprehend, you're pretty sure that you and Mothman are roommates now.