Now this is where the plot actually starts *rubs hands together*

"I've got myself a job."

The dinner table went silent, the sound of cutlery scraping bowls stopping so suddenly that it made Cross cringe. He raised a brow as he stared at his mother and brother, taking in Chara's amused look and his mother's wary yet proud one.

"What is this job?" The dish of takeaway Indian food lay ignored beneath Jakei's raised knife and fork, the steaming rice and saucy chicken half eaten.

"I found an advertisement for babysitting." He shrugged slightly, ignoring his brother's delighted smirk. Chara found it horribly amusing for whatever reason that Cross had to search for jobs now. Being a year older than the skeleton he already had a part time job working at Tesco's which - much to his mum's happiness - meant she got a 20% discount every time she shopped. He would work each Tuesday and Wednesday after school, and then on Saturdays as well. £13.50 an hour.

"Babysitting?" She flicked her dark and thick hair from her eyes, readjusting the slightly too small glasses balanced on her nose. She was forever saying she needed to replace them but never ended up getting round to it. "Where abouts?"

"Hillary Road." He could see as his mum's mind ticked and turned, creating a mental map of the route to get there and how long it would take him to get there.

"What's the time frame?"

"6pm to 11pm. The couple are going out on a date night and they need someone to look after their four year old little girl, that's all. I'll be payed £100."

"A hundred-?" Chara choked on his chicken korma, eyes bulging. "That's so unfair-! How come you get that much-?"

He stuck his tongue out at him and grinned. "I look for better opportunities than some run down Tesco's."

Chara looked like he might explode, swelling up like a puffer fish and opening his mouth to retort some half-assed wimpy response. But much to Cross' glee the boy was stopped by a single sharp glare from their mother.

"Boys, that's enough." She shook her head in disappointment before glancing up at the clock. "You have an hour Cross, so you better finish your food."

Nodding quickly he shoved as much rice and beans down his mouth as he could in one go, ignoring how Jakei shook her head in clear disapproval. Once he'd wolfed it all down he quickly stood, dumping his bowl and cutlery in the sink before heading upstairs to grab some stuff to keep him entertained. Kids would be easy to look after, surely?

Peeling off of the shadow of the chipped banister a figure crept after him, fingers tickling the side of his arm in a short flurry. "You won't last five seconds with a little girl."

Snorting in amusement Cross shook his head and shoved his partner, giving a tut after. "Don't underestimate me, Nightmare. If a miserable guy like you could cope with me as a baby boy, how hard could one girl be?"

"Just wait until she dresses you up for a tea party." He drifted through the half open door, his eye sweeping around Cross' room. Gone were the messy crayon drawings on his wall, replaced by band posters and the occasional picture from some film. Lego no longer pestered the floor and the stuffy carpet was gone, now varnished wood padded underfoot, highlighted by the large and incredibly fluffy rug in the centre space. A new bed had come in when Cross was twelve, and now at sixteen, he was nearing needing another one.

One thing that hadn't changed much about his room was the monochrome colour palette. The walls were a matt grey with one feature wall a paler colour that seemed to really draw the room together. His wardrobe was very much similar, a rainbow of blacks, whites and greys. A few people often questioned Cross' grayscale look, but it simply became a recognisable statement about him.

And Cross would never admit to it, but Nightmare could have sworn he'd seen their old drawings hidden carefully at the back of his closet in a cardboard box. It amused him so to see it, but he wouldn't mention what he'd seen to Cross of course, the boy might hide them somewhere else if he did.

"I'll politely refuse." He pushed the idea away as casually as he removed his shirt, tugging it off over his skull and dropping it to the floor.

"You can't refuse a child, Cross." His eye burned into the wall, the soft edge of Cross' shadow being the indication of how far done the skeleton was with his stripping. Once fairly certain he was done he tipped his head back to look at the boy. "They'll grip you with an icy glare and threats to wail to their mum."

A grin stretched across his face and he shook his head with a laugh. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"

"Never." He leaned against the wall and picked at his teeth lazily with a pointed finger.

"Oh how I've traumatised you." He pushed his hands into the deep pockets of his dark grey hoodie. It was similar in style to Nightmare's own attire, a little oversized but warm and perfect for lazing around in. It was nearly two years old now and the fabric was starting to fluff and lint after so many nights slept in it. But Cross didn't care, claiming it simply gave the old thing character. He also wore black sweatpants, their age a lot newer than the hoodie.

"Mhm." He spun on his heels and stepped to the door once more, fingers curling around the handle and pulling it open with a deep sweeping bow. "This way, my young Lord."

"Never call me that again." He scoffed and pushed him lightly as he stepped past him, phone sliding into his pocket.

"Of course." He refrained from adding a new sly title to the end of his sentence and simply glided along beside him. Cross thoroughly disliked the idea of being Nightmare's 'master' of sorts, seeing the goopy skeleton as much more as a best friend that fed him slightly dodgy ideas into his mind. We all have a friend like that. In the eleven years they'd been together now Cross had only used his ability to force Nightmare to his bidding a total of twenty four times. And most of them had been accidental or while he was a kid. The last time had been nine months ago.

Turning swiftly he pulled the door shut, his eye momentarily lingering on the waste paper basket stood in the corner of the room where the familiar print of prescription boxes poked over crumpled paper and crisp packets. Cross was yet to try a single one of the pills, forever switching them with painkillers every time his mum would request to see him take them. It was a simple trick, but it worked well - the pills were similar colours and shapes so she was none the wiser.

Padding down the stairs quickly Cross unceremoniously shoved his feet into his trainers, not bothering to undo the laces at all. Jumping to his feet after he grabbed his keys he gave one last shout to his family that he would be back before midnight.

A resounding and muffled call from his mother rang out along the lines of "stay safe and have fun!" Before Cross stepped out and pulled shut the door behind him.

Outside it was still light, thankfully. The summer months meant the days dragged out longer and sunset wouldn't bless the sky until around 9pm. The air was crisp and slightly chilly, earning a shiver from Cross as he hunched his shoulders up his neck. Often he found himself jealous of how Nightmare couldn't become cold. The skeleton had a constant temperature he always remained at and couldn't much feel hot or cold weather. Though he didn't like the sound of never being able to feel the warmth of a fire or the cooling touch of an ice cold glass of water.

He started at a brisk pace, trainers slapping against the cold concrete with each step. Nightmare trudged along beside him, already rather bored at the prospect of babysitting a child with Cross. It meant that for a good four hours he wouldn't be able to touch or pick up anything because some damn little girl would be in the same room as Cross for god knows how long. The idea wasn't too entertaining.

Slow moving cars trundled past them down the quiet winding road, steady amounts of toxic gas pumping from the exhaust and filtering up into the air. How humans were still alive, he didn't know. They were all so unbearably stupid.

"Do you know what the little girl's name is?" Nightmare glanced at him briefly, a hand poking through Cross' side. The sheer amount of cars and people wandering past made it impossible to make physical contact of course, so he had to make do pestering the boy with icy washes.

"Oh uh, I think it was Hannah? Something like that. Maybe Haley?" His brows furrowed helplessly and Nightmare laughed.

"You can't even remember her name? I feel this might be a long night."

"Shut it." He sighed loudly and paused at a crossroads, looking left and right with a certain amount of care. Upon reaching the road Nightmare seemed to perk up and jump to attention. He was always alert when it came to crossing the road, full focus on whatever might be coming his way. Much to his own relief Cross had been lectured enough by himself and his mum to know road safety and after looking each way around three times strode across the road to the other side.

Nightmare hated roads now. They gave him a certain weight of anxiety every time they came across them. Not for himself, but for Cross. He himself couldn't be physically damaged or hurt any more, but Cross was eligible to all sorts of horrific diseases or injuries. He'd been placed as the boys imaginary friend for a reason and he didn't want to know for the life of him what would happen to him if Cross died. Most likely hell would await him with open jaws.

Strangers filtered past them slowly, most of them with their faces pressed into their phones. The occasional one walked right through Nightmare without so much batting an eye, earning snarling comments and hisses from the octopus as he uselessly stabbed his tentacles through the back of their skull.

Cross tried his hardest not to snort or laugh, covering up a few with a poorly faked cough as Nightmare seethed at his side. "We simply need a new set of laws which requires everyone to stay two metres away from each other and then no one will bump through you anymore."

"Yeah yeah, like that's going to happen." He grumbled and shook out the last of the icy cold feeling, kicking at the ground.

"Wishful thinking." He yawned and stared up at the cloudy sky as they walked, eyes flicking over the different shapes they made. One bore a wobbly resemblance to a rabbit, though this rabbit in particular would have had a slightly disfigured left foot double the size of the others.

"Indeed." Nightmare glanced around as they walked, staying the usual metre behind Cross so that the boy could lead the way. They traipsed along long length of boring road, passing rather ugly looking pebbledash houses with no character. He himself had an eye for architecture, and couldn't stand the sight of an ugly house. Why people build them with such stupid designs he didn't know.

After around 45 minutes Cross made a slow turn down a nice looking lane. The level of cars petered down drastically and so did the noise. They found themselves meandering down a rather quaint line of semi-detached houses with the odd honeysuckle or vines tangling up the walls and framing the windows. They looked like the sort of homes you'd retire in, not start a family in.

"It's number 37." Cross' voice tugged him back into the real world and his head turned to inspect the numbers nailed to the wall of each home.

29, 31, 33, 35, 37.

They stopped outside a nice looking detached house with a decent sized garden full of all sorts of wild flowers. A red rose tangled up the front porch frame and bowed over the door with long and leafy fingers. A cobble path lead up to it and Cross briefly checked the information on his phone before stepping forwards. The house was larger than his own home, the evidence of a recent extension showing through the different colour bricks, some new and others old looking and worn.

The door was a deep royal blue colour and the knocker was painted silver. Reaching out slowly Cross gave three sharp taps, standing back after and straightening his posture. For a moment he glanced at Nightmare, as if the ghostly figure could be seen by the others. Even if he had there would be no worry, his posture was always sharp and straight.

"Hazel."

"Hm?" Nightmare blinked rapidly and raised a brow.

"That's her name - the kid. I just remembered. Hazel."

Nightmare went to scoff something along the lines of how that was a soft name and the kind that he himself would pick on. But before he could speak the door swung open and a skeleton stared at them both.

"Ah, you must be Cross."

He was an average height and dressed rather nicely as if for an occasion - well that was probably why they needed a babysitter. His expression was slightly smug and playful and for whatever reason Nightmare decided he disliked it instantly. He unnervingly seemed to have no pupils, simply hosting black eye sockets from which a black tar like substance dribbled in tears. Unusually his soul hovered in front of his chest in the shape of a pulsing target circle.

"That's me." The skeleton nodded quickly and managed a weak smile, shifting on his feet expectantly.

"We'll be back by eleven at latest." The man pushed his hands into his jean pockets with a hum. "Hazel normally goes to bed at around eight, but she'll tell you it's ten."

That earned a snort of amusement as Cross himself remembered how he used to try that trick on the occasional babysitter his mum would pay to look after him and his brother when she was out late nights working. They both successfully managed to scare off every babysitter they ever had with their chaotic behaviour. And because Chara was the oldest of the two of them he mostly got the blame, much to Cross' glee.

"I'll keep that in mind."

There was a moment before the skeleton sighed loudly. "Sorry about my partner- he's always faffing-"

No sooner than the words had left his mouth a voice rang out to counter. "I'm nearly ready-! Wait-"

Nightmare had been staring blankly at the row of red poppies that ran along the path leading to the house but upon hearing that voice his head snapped to stare through the open door and into the hallway, tentacles twitching. That voice..

A figure scrambled around the corner with an embarrassed expression as they wriggled into their jacket quickly. "Sorry- Hazel wanted me to turn the TV on for her."

Nightmare suddenly felt lightheaded, his vision swirling as he stared at the skeleton that joined the other, pressing a kiss lightly against their partner's cheek. He took a fumbling step back, feeling like his throat had closed up completely, blocking all the air he desperately tried to inhale.

Beside him Cross cast a brief and anxious glance at his friend, noticing his sudden horror and stumble. But he couldn't do anything about it with the couple in front it them, his eyes forcefully dragging back with a fake but hopefully convincing smile. "Your daughter is in safe hands."

"Of course." The second skeleton smiled, golden eyes locking with Cross' and brushing past Nightmare. They seemed kind and genuine, the sort of eyes you'd look at and instantly trust. "We'll be off now."

The two gave one last call to the kid inside before stepping past Cross. Both of them walked right through Nightmare but he didn't even complain, his knees feeling weak as he watched the golden skeleton be aided into a car by his partner, a playful laugh leaving him.

That smile. That attitude. That aura.

Dream.

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REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

ACTUAL PLOT TIME B O I S YEEEEEEEEE

I hope you're excited cuz I am lshshsisjsgsishsusjshzus

At what point did you realise who's house it would be? 👀👀👀👀 I tried to make it un-obvious for as long as possible lmaodjdhsisjgzusishsuskehsueisb I Hope I sh00k you all 😳

More soon perhaps maybe hopefully I dunno pray for me  🙏🏻

Consistent updates?

Always

-Jess-