"yOU DID WHAT?!"

Cross winced, leaning back a bit as Lust physically grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

Nightmare - who had just walked in - blinked curiously at the scene he was subjected too. "What did he do?"

Lust let go of the boy and let him drop to the sofa with a loud huff. "This idiot decided it would be a lovely idea to throw a KNIFE at the gamekeepers!"

"Well actually I threw it at an apple near the gamekeepers..." He grumbled, sinking his face into his scarf and crossing his arms over his chest.

Nightmare stared at the smaller before a snort escaped him. Within seconds he was wheezing, bent over with his hands on his knees. "You're officially the best person in the room here."

"This is serious Nick!" Lust cried, his voice going shrill. "They'll be outraged, furious!"

"But still- Imagine the looks on their faces!" He said before snickering and wandering off to the dining table to grab an apple. "God I wish I was there."

Lust looked like he was about to explode when Horror suddenly marched in and immediately pointed at Cross.

"You--" He stared down at Cross threateningly for a moment before breaking out into a wide grin and slapping his hand in a rather overpowering high five. "You're my golden boy."

"Oh not you too Horror!" Lust groaned, running his hands through his non-existent hair. "They could kick him out for this!"

"That's bullshit and you know it." Horror smirked down at Lust and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Once they've picked their tributes, that's final. They can't send him away and call for another one, can they?"

"I guess not..." He mumbled, glaring to the side and refusing to meet his gaze.

"The worst they'll do is give him a low score."

"Which I would have got anyway." Cross called, giving a sideways glance at Nightmare as he situated himself next to him on the large cushioned sofa.

"Yeah yeah whatever just everyone shut up and let's see what we got." He said, rolling his eye and sinking back into the sofa.

Cross immediately went silent, staring at the taller boy. He found his eyes drawn to his back, a frown on his face. How the hell did he hide those tentacles? Surely they weren't all flattened down his back or something, he'd find that uncomfortable, right?

The TV flashed to life and Cross jolted, looking over at that instead of staring at Nightmare's back. He made a mental note to ask about it later though.

Horror and Lust quickly sat down next to them, Lust having his head resting against Horror's shoulder softly. Cross had a few suspicions about those two. Whether their relationship was just 'professional' or not.

But he didn't think about it too much, looking at the screen as Lewis' familiar face and set up popped up.

"Greetings all!" He said, giving a cheery wave. "I'm sure you're all extremely excited to discover your tribute's rankings, and believe me, I am too."

Cross leaned back like Nightmare had done, watching as Lewis pulled out a sheet of paper and stared to read.

The list went as following

District 1 - Dream: 10
Abi: 8

District 2 - Reaper: 10
Geno: 9

District 3 - Fell: 7
Error: 8

District 4 - 6 and 6

District 5 - Ink: 7
Killer: 8

District 6 - 5 and 4

District 7 - 7 and 6

District 8 - 5 and 6

District 9 - 5 and 4

District 10 - Finn: 7
Sci: 3

District 11 - Dust:8
Blue: 5

Nightmare sat up a bit straighter as his fake name was called, his eyes fixated on the screen as Lewis read out his rank.

"Nine."

Cross could see a grin spread across his face and he smiled a little bit. "A not so worrying nine, huh?"

The taller glanced at him and nodded. "Yeah, just like I said."

The smaller would have answered back but his attention was torn to the TV as Lewis read out his name.

"Now last but certainly not least, Cross Penaloza, with a score of... Brace yourself--"

Cross literally did, finding himself holding his breath subconsciously.

"An eleven."

Cross froze, his brain unable to process what his non-existent ears had just heard.

An eleven?!

"aN ELEVEN?!" Both Horror and Lust shrieked, standing up in shock and staring at the screen as Lewis flashed a grin.

"Well there's a shock, seems like Cross is the star pupil in the gamekeepers in the ring. But will be be star in the arena tomorrow? I guess you'll just have to find out."

And with that the screen went black, the screening over.

Cross sat there, rigid. He got an eleven? How in God's name did he get an eleven?

It's clear Horror and Lust were thinking the same thing because they suddenly cheered, grabbing Cross' hands and pulling him to his feet. "You did it! You got the best score Cross!"

He felt slightly light headed, barely able to focus. That couldn't be right, could it? Him getting an eleven, no, that's not possible. They must have messed up the numbers. What looked like an eleven? A one? Yes, that seemed more suitable for him that a fricking eleven! There's no way he could meet those standards!

He could make out Nightmare push to his feet, giving the smaller a cold look before walking out and off into his room.

"Wait- Nigh-- Nick wait!" He called, wriggling past his two mentors and stumbling over to the octopus' room just as he slammed the door shut.

He slowed to a stop, biting his lip tightly and knocking. "Nightmare?" He called softly, knowing that Horror and Lust were too caught up in celebrating to hear him. In fact, when he looked back to check he saw that they'd suddenly started kissing, gripping onto each other tightly.

Tearing his gaze away from the two, he pressed against the door once more. "Nightmare? C'mon please open up!"

Suddenly the door swung open and Nightmare jerked him in harshly with a growl. "Do you want to scream my name so the whole fucking world can hear?!"

For a moment Cross' mind slipped off the innocence train and into the gutters before he quickly shook his head. "N-No! But Horror and Lust were far to busy making out to hear!"

Nightmare blinked and raised a brow before quickly glancing out the door to see that Cross was indeed right. "Huh, damn."

Cross stepped shyly, glancing around the room as Nightmare shut the door behind him again and locked it. His room was messier that his, the bed sheets being flung carelessly across the bottom half of the bed. Cross had made sure that his was always crisp in fear of ruining it.

Nightmare glanced at him briefly before tugging his oversized hoodie off over his head and throwing it in the corner of the room. He was left in a dark grey under top that showed his skeletal arms neck and skull, unlike his hoodie did.

As soon as he did that, his tentacles seemed to morph into shape and wriggle from his back, stretching out behind him till they nearly brushed against the floor, the tips curving up to avoid dragging.

Cross watched in fascination, his eyes fixated on the four black, dripping tentacles. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" Nightmare grunted, stretching his arms above his head with a loud groan.

"Hide them." Cross stepped a little closer, only to squeak as Nightmare gently poked him in the chest with one of them.

"Oh, Kieran did some special shit with that hoodie I so carelessly tossed over there so that they uh, I dunno, compress or something." He shrugged, flopping down onto his bed with a sigh.

"Oh, is it comfortable?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"No. It's as uncomfortable as hell. Imagine having four semi-heavy brick constantly being pressed against your spine all day. That's what it's like."

"Ah." Cross frowned at the thought, shaking his head.

"But it's fine, tomorrow morning we'll go up, and then I can let them free." He let out an amused snicker, closing his eye.

Cross nodded a bit before clasping his hands together nervously. "Nightmare?"

"Mm?" He didn't open his eye to acknowledge him, but tilted his head a bit to him to show he was listening.

"You're not mad at me for getting a high score, are you?"

The teen didn't answer for a moment before sighing and sitting up. "Look Cross, higher scores means you're a threat to them. Threats need to be eliminated before the weaker ones. That way you have a better chance of winning, you get me?"

Cross nodded, gulping.

"So no, I'm not mad at you, but everyone saw you in the training room and - no offence - but you're pretty shit. You're not an eleven."

"But I know I'm not!" He cried, shaking his head. "I'm nowhere near close to an eleven! I was thinking a seven at best!"

"Yeah well you're apparently not."

"I-I didn't ask for this!"

"None of us did Cross." He growled before blinking. "Well actually Dream and I did, but that's beside the point. What I'm saying is this - killing the top opponent makes the sponsors crazy for you. And seeing as everyone regards you as a weakling that definitely shouldn't have a rank that high, they'll all target you. All of them."

He gulped, taking a wary step backwards. "Y-You wouldn't g-go for me... Would you?"

Nightmare flashed him a grin, shrugging. "Who knows?"

"N-No I'm serious!" He said, suddenly feeling a ball of terror forming in his chest. "I-I don't want to be the first target!"

"Not my fault you threw that knife at the pig."

"N-Nightmare please!" In that moment he looked so desperate, fear clear in his eyes as his hands trembled.

Despite how hard he tried to ignore him, Nightmare let out a loud groan and poked him in the cheek with a tentacle. "God don't start crying on me."

He stumbled back a bit, the poke not really helping his panicked mental state.

"Okay fine!" He threw his hands up in the air, standing. "I won't kill you and you won't kill me - though I doubt you could - If I'm in trouble, you help me, if you're in trouble, I'll help you, yeah?"

The smol swallowed down the bile gathering in his throat and gave a timid nod, his fingers digging into his palms so hard that they stared to bleed.

"Good. Now go get some sleep. People that don't rest are always the ones to die first."

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A bit of relationship building? Maybe :3

Yo I wrote this all in one sitting in like, idk, under an hour

Yay me!

1,798 words

Bit of floof really :3 I liek floof :33

:333

So tomorrow they go into the arena, for sure

I S W E A R - -

uwu

-Jess-