BEHIND THESE DOORS

28

(YALL STOP WHY DID I WAKE UP TO 107 NOTIFS I LOVE YOU ALL!! :333 THX FOR ALL THE SUPPORT, IM GONNA HAVE TO BAKE ANOTHER THANK YOU CAKE! this chapter is gonna be just seek and eyes' convo, mainly bc something they say unfolds into another thing, and bc one of my silly lil commenters asked for it :3)

Seek POV:

"So..." Eyes trailed off, stifling his awkward chuckle. "Have you been ok?... just that... you're rather distant?"

I paused, thinking it over... had I really been that uninvolved? "I... haven't meant to be."

"Huh... well... I just hope you're doing good. Don't want a redo of two years ago... I'm here for you."

I stopped for a moment, having a small flashback to back then. "Heh... you're there for me?"

He let out a dry, little laugh. "Well, I guess I am?"

"Yeah... there for me." I trailed off. "... Yknow how Jeff is all about communication and whatever?"

"Well, kinda, yeah?"

I sighed, not wanting to admit it. "Let's just talk. Have a nice little conversation... be more open. I feel like I've treated you kinda like... shit for no reason. Sorry about all that."

"Thank you... apology accepted. Promise you won't go... eh... telling anyone?"

"I know snitching does more harm than good, especially around these idiots," I shifted my position, getting comfy. "Shoot, smalls."

"Well..." he sighed. "I kinda... hate the way I look, in all honesty. I won't say I self harm, because that's not what it is... it's more body mods?"

I tilted my head. "... body mods? Like, tattoos n shit?"

"Yeah. But with scars, because they're... hot or whatever." He let out a humorless chuckle. "Sounds dumb as shit.."

I nodded, understanding. "Eh, kinda does... I've sorta been there, considering the whole...two years ago thing. Just... don't do what I did, ok?"

"I... I wouldn't..." he paused for a hot second, which made me worried, but he continued. "I do it with this... box cutter. I found out... Screech and I used the same one. It was kinda gross, honestly, but... romantic?"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Ah... I remember when I was your age. Figure and I both read twilight around the same time, got into dark romance for a while together... we would've thought that was cool as shit. You like twilight?"

"Eh... I kinda liked it... but I had to stop reading when they fucked, I got scared, didn't really like it."

I raised a brow. "Scared? You'd think the opposite, given the whole... teenage boy thing. It makes a lot of sense, though. How do you think that happened? The whole... aversion?"

"No idea..."

I thought back on all those times Halt had been paranoid, Rush had made oddly sexual comments, the... explicit books in the library... oh. I kinda got it. "Ah, you scared of the idea of it, even without any experience?"

"I... guess?"

"Not to be Jeff or anything, but I think it could've been all the paranoid Halt type stuff... remember when they'd tell you never to trust strangers, because they'd..." I trailed off, having to laugh. "Resize your holes?"

Eyes snorted. "PFFT— yeah. That fucked me up..."

"Damn... I thiiink... maybe telling kids they'll get molested by every stranger they see isn't the best thing?" I looked over at him, a half joking smile on my face.

Eyes took a second to think. "Yeah... not really. Even then, how would that go down? The only strangers I see are the humans who come in, and trust me, I don't see them for long."

I had to bite back a laugh. Oh, Eyes got my humor perfectly. It was a shame we never really spoke. "I bet you don't, huh?... it can still scare you nonetheless. People around you can take advantage of you, no? Maybe that's what you're scared of, even if you don't realize it."

"Huh... maybe I am. Thanks for helping me... at least identify it?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course!" I shrugged it off. "Just helping ya out."

He smiled, playing with the ring on his finger. "You mind if I put on a bit of background music? Helps me... relax a bit."

"Nah, nah, go ahead! What do you listen to?"

He got up and walked over to a little CD player. "Muse. Goblino gave me the CD, Screech and I have been obsessed."

"Ah, he's hooking you up like a metal head dad...?" I couldn't help but snicker at the thought. "I get it. He gave me a Slipknot CD when I was around your age." I leaned back on my palms.

"Slipknot?" He looked back at me as he slipped the CD in. "What's Slipknot?"

I gave him this overdramatic, offended look. "You haven't heard of Slipknot!? Oh, you'll love it."

He laughed and sat back down next to me. "Maybe... Ok, now that you've heard my rant, I'm hearing yours. What's up?"

I paused. My problems...? I didn't think I had a lot of problems... other than my exercising until exhaustion when I'm stressed, my rocky situationship with Figure, my kinda shit relationship with my brother, my inability to really talk to anyone— shit. Maybe I did have a problem... "... well, I guess I have a... rocky social life, if you can call it that. I don't really go out of my way to talk with everyone, I'm in a situationship, Screech and I have been kinda distant..."

"Situationship!?" He jerked his head to look at me. "I thought you and Figure were dating!?"

"It's on and off— it's weird, it's weird... but I do love them. I know they love me back... we just need... to talk, I guess?"

Eyes paused, thinking up something. "Huh. All you need to do is talk... tell me more."

"Well— that's it. Our communication is kinda terrible."

He laughed. "No, like, tell me about your other problems, shit!"

"Oh— sorry, sorry... I guess... screech and I have been distant. I've kinda blamed you... it's not your direct fault, I don't really have anything against you anymore— but he's been spending a lot of time with you... I haven't been able to talk with him." I looked down at Screech's unconscious body... "I just want him to know how much I care about him."

Eyes paused, looking down at him. "... a bit of inside knowledge. Youre taking the wrong approach."

I turned back around to look at Eyes. "Excuse me?"

"... you're coming off as overprotective, sorta. It's driving him away... you just gotta sit down and talk to him like he's a normal person."

Huh...

Just talk to him.

.

.

.

(OMG OOMFIES HOPE YOU LOVVEEEEDDDDD THAT CHAPTER, THIS IS GONNA BE A GATEWAY TO SO MUCH DRAAAMAMMMMMMMMAAAAAA— ok, not drama, more like conflict and character depth? I'll give y'all drama if you want drama, though. The whole book is just me making shit up as I go tbh, I can add a bit of spice if ya want that :3 anyways, UPVOTE THE BOOK SKSKSKS ISTGGG)