Runaways (Ticci Tobi x male!reader)

Chapter 3 It's in the woods

"Yeah, but it puts me in this trance, I kinda remember what happens when it happens, but not really. Ever-rythings fuzzy..." Toby explains. It brings you back to what you were thinking about in class with Toby and Kevin. Those moments of volatility that you'd have that you don't ever remember. It may not be the exact same, considering your memory is completely wiped of the incident and Toby's isn't, but it's still quite similar... "do you get really like,-" you stop yourself as you look for the right words. "Really, unstable mood wise?". You inquire. Toby gets a slightly concerned look on their face "yeah, why?" Toby replies, his brows furrowed a bit in confusion, is this related to that 'thing' as you described it? Both seem to have happened around the same time? But then again it could just be nothing, right? You both hope it's nothing... "the same thing happens to me.." You reply, with slight concern in your voice. You are a bit afraid of whatever that eldritch being has in store for the both of you. You don't know what it is, but you know it's not going to be good... with these things, it's never good. "You're fucking w-with me-e right?" Toby asked, but he already knew the answer. You shake your head no "No, I know you don't know me well, but I wouldn't do that" you reply.

"Maybe we should stick together, maybe we'll be able to find a way to live a normal life that way. Or at least as normal as possible" you add, the last sentence being a mere whisper... you know that your life won't magically get better if the tall man were to disappear. You'd still have a shitty mom and an even shittier dad. You'd still be separated from your friends, you'd still be at this stupid school, nothing will really change, will it? Toby scoffs a bit at your comment. "My life I-isn't normal and it never will be-" Toby retorted while flinching a bit. "Oh yeah, and my life is all sunshine and rainbows" you countered sarcastically, as you rolled your eyes and sat back in your chair. It doesn't take a fucking psychologist to see that neither you or Toby were completely normal, that was obvious enough "That- thing is just another problem on a long list of shit you have to deal with, I'm sure, but we might actually be able to do something about it, and I'm pretty sure we don't want to deal with that" you say before the bell rang for lunch and you both get up and leave.

Eryk and Kevin spot you on your way to the lunch room and come up to you "hey y/n! Wanna sit with us?" Eryk says, just as cheery as they were when you walked with them. It's odd how they manage to stay so bright and happy in such a boring place such as this. You have yet to find a forest suitable to play in since you got here and most of the students here have little to no personality. "Sure, as long as Toby can come with." You respond. Eryk looks at the boy and smiles "of course!" Eryk says. "Yeah! Of course he can come, there should be more than enough room for the both of you!" Kevin adds. Toby seems almost suspicious of how nice Eryk and Kevin are. He was definitely more suspicious of Eryk's cheerful demeanor when speaking to someone like him. "U-um ok" Toby responds. Toby seems pretty uncomfortable so you try to calm him down a bit as you walk to the table "don't worry, Eryk is always that nice." You say before sitting down. "Yeah, for the day you've known them" Toby mumbles before sitting down in front of you.

Everybody is talking in the lunchroom, you can't make out any conversations except for the ones you are having. Toby stays mostly silent as everyone waits. The only person he's even had a halfway decent conversation with is you. You can't really blame him for not talking. When your table is called for food, everyone gets up and gets their food. The food is just as, if not more shitty then the food you had back at home in West Virginia. Still bland, and full of either gross or just as bland textures. It seems no matter which state of America you're in, the school food will always be the same. Only with slight differences in what label they try and put on it, but you highly doubt burgers and Mac n cheese are supposed to have the same flavor. Eryk takes one look at the slop the school had decided to serve to kids and pass off as edible and decides they aren't hungry "the food this school tries to serve us always sucks! I mean, does this even pass as edible?" Eryk says. "It's school food, no matter where in the U.S you go, it's gross." You reply to Eryk's obviously rhetorical question Eryk shrugs and says  "yeah that's true". "Was the food any better where you were from y/n?" Kevin askes "nope, it was about the same. Bland, and really fucking bad" you said pretty blankly. "Y-yeah, It's disgusting-g" Toby pops in while flinching a bit. You assume he said something just to be a part of the conversation. You feel bad because you've put him in a bit of an awkward situation, he can either sit there and say nothing the entire time and probably be bored out of his mind, or say something and seem awkward,  and clearly he chose awkwardness over boredom. "Yeah, I couldn't make something this bad if I tried, it's actually weird" you say with a dry chuckle. Toby chuckles awkwardly and Kevin and Eryk crack a slight smile at your attempt at banter.

Lunch as well as the rest of school felt long and painfully uneventful. Now you just wanted to go somewhere but home and do something and even remotely fun so you spot Kevin and Eryk while you're walking with Toby "oh, hey y/n! Me and Kevin are going to the woods, you wanna come with?" Eryk says happily. You stop. You should go to the woods, that's where that faceless man is and you know it... but maybe you'll be able to get away with it, like you did a couple of times back in West Virginia... it's ok to go right? "Yeah sure, why not" you say. You'll be with friends too, it should be fine, even if that thing wouldn't attack you with Kevin and Eryk? Toby looks at you like you belong in a fucking mental hospital. "I though-t you said don't look into the trees?!" Toby whisper-yells to you. "Yeah, don't look for something you don't want to find!" You whisper yell back at Toby. "O-ok then I'm coming with, I just don't want to go-o home" Toby  whispers to you. "Hey, are you two okay?" Kevin askes. "Oh, yeah we're good, Toby wants to come with too" you say as casually as possible. "Oh, Ok! We have space in the car for you so it should be fine!" Eryk says with their signature smile. Toby gives an awkward smile back.

Everybody gets in the car, Kevin sits in the front seat and Eryk sits in the driver's seat. Leaving you and Toby in the back seat. There was some casual conversation, but nothing important. Mostly Eryk, Kev and you talking about music, and other random things with Toby occasionally chiming in. He's very quiet now compared to how talkative he was when you met him in class, it's odd. But then again he may just be shy around bigger personalities like Eryk.

You all make it to the forest and everything is pretty normal. The forest is pretty and not too thick, you can hear birds chirping and you see a few common woodland creatures going about their day as you walk through the forest, you and Toby simply following Eryk and Kevin. "We usually hang out next to this abandoned cabin. It's actually in pretty good condition for how long it's been here!" Eryk says with a bright smile. "Yeah! This thing has been here since we were in 6th grade, so that's what? Around 6 years?" Kev chimes in. "It's been here 6 years and it's not completely destroyed?" You ask. "Well that's because nobody knows or at least thinks about this place, and we'd really like to keep it that way" Eryk says as you continue walking. "Yeah, ok-" Toby responds, only to be interrupted by his own tics and whistles. It clearly pisses him off. "Yeah I got you" You respond as well.

The cabin comes into view, proving that Kev and Eryk were indeed right, the cabin was in almost perfect condition. If it weren't for all the missing furniture and the overgrown plants, you'd pml someone lived here. "Huh, this place is pretty nice" I say. "Yeah that's why we like to come here!" Eryk says happily.

Everything was going perfectly, everyone was having a pretty good time, even Toby was laughing. He had a really pretty smile when it came from genuine happiness. You're all about 20 minutes into a deep conversation about music, your favorite foods, etc when you hear Kevin say quietly "who the hell is that?..". Kev points to a tall, pale white man with a suit. The color drained from me and Toby's face. It was that faceless thing... Toby and I stand still as dread falls on our faces. Shit... this is what I get for being a dumbass. It's presence was enough to give you intense vertigo and make you want to vomit so bad. It wants you to follow it but you're not stupid. "We need to leave. Now" you say in a clearly scared but demanding tone. Everyone collectively nods and runs away into the forest. It wasn't particularly dark so we could see pretty well which made it easier to run away and back to the car, but we were still four non athletic teenagers and if that thing wanted to do something to us, it definitely still could. Instead it just watched us run away, it didn't chase or try to communicate, it just sat there and stared, with its face that looked like it had white, and  in some places, almost gray skin stretched over it.

Your entire group runs back to the car and silently starts driving back to your neighborhood. You didn't even know where Eryk and Kevin were taking you, but you didn't care, and it seemed that Toby didn't either, in fact he looked like he was trying not to strangle you with his bare hands. Meanwhile you're still trying not to throw up from our little encounter with the faceless thing. You still feel so nauseous and dizzy, and the car speeding Down the road and away from the forest is not helping... god,... this is the shittiest first day of school ever...