John pov~

I watched Alexander pace and snap his fingers, which was causing natural occurrences that should not be going on in an office, and it was interesting enough to keep my mind off the barking and growling coming from behind the door.

"So we're staying here?" I asked after a moment.

"Yeah." The Reaper nodded and continued snapping which made a few bright peonies spring up as he walked, which was interesting because he was sill wearing a black cloak and had his scythe hanging at his belt.

"Can you make magical beds show up or something, maybe some instant noodles?" I offered, watching the flowers sprout with Alexander's every step.

He stopped pacing and stared at me, blue-violet eyes filled with (almost) friendly (mainly) disappointment. "Do you see noodles and beds showing up in the forest?"

"I guess not... why does that matter?"

He snapped his fingers and suddenly a tree sprouted in the corner of the room. "Because, unless it had evaded you, I can control natural things. No beds. No instant noodles."

"That's sad."

"What even are instant noodles?" Alexander asked, furrowing his brow.

I gasped and did the hand-to-forehead-faint thing, without actually fainting because I was well aware I'd just hit the ground painfully.

"What?" Alexander questioned.

"Instant noodles are the best. They generally come in bowl things and you add water and put them in the microwave and boom! you've got a meal."

Alexander looked unimpressed by my amazing depiction of instant noodles. "Yeah no, I've got none of those."

"That's a pity." I sat down cross-legged, which was a pretty unsafe thing to do. "So what do we eat and where do we sleep?"

The Reaper scoffed. "Where do you think we are? Hell? No there's food and blankets downstairs, don't worry."

"I mean, I don't know where we are, we could be in hell."

"Well we aren't." He sighed then sat down next to me.

"But you said there were hellhounds."

"Yeah, there are hellhounds everywhere, there's like normal dogs, except they were tamed in hell so they kept the name."

"Ok...?"

There was a knock on the door and some loud barking.

Alexander got up to open the door muttering something about 'Phillip' and 'early'.

He opened the door and a huge (and I mean huge) dog ran in, barking and slobbering like a puppy. I realized that it was a puppy.

"You're early." Alexander commented to whoever was outside. "1 minute 43 seconds."

"Yeah yeah yeah, no one cares but you Alex." A female voice replied.

"Shut up Ria punctuality matters."

"You're obsessed. It's no longer just punctuality." The voice, Ria, commented dryly.

"Nice talk, goodbye." Alexander shut the door and walked over to The Huge Dog, scratching him behind the ears (he had to go onto his tippy toes because huge dog + short human-thing does not = perfect height)

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Maria." He sighed. "Dog-keeper. We have some history."

"Mhm... what's The Huge Dog's name?"

"This Phillip, my hellhound."

"He's a baby right now and you can barely reach his head." I pointed out.

"I'm not that short." He retorted, clearly catching my drift.

"Oh yeah?"

I walked over to The Huge Dog, patting Phillip on the head with reasonable ease.

Alexander crossed his arms, defeated.

"Hey Alexander?"

"Just Alex." He corrected.

"Ok." I tried again. "Hey Alex?"

He chuckled. "Yes?"

"D'you have any friends here?" I asked.

"Why do you ask?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Because you look at The Huge Dog like he's your only friend on earth."

Alexand— Alex blinked, seemingly considering how to respond.

"I had friends." He eventually conceded. "I also had a few relationships."

"Ok, what happened?" I pressed.

"Herc and Laf started dating and no longer wanted me around, like, at all, Maria decided I was insane and broke up with me and I ended my relationship with Jefferson because he was cheating on me." He sighed and sat back down on the ground.

Alex snapped his fingers and a field with long grass and pretty flowers (but somehow without the annoying spiky plant things that poke you whenever you sit down) showed up in place of the hodgepodge of things that had appeared because of his pacing.

"I'll go get some blankets and bedding (anyone get it?)" Alex told me, standing up.

"What about food?"

"I may not be able to grow instant noodles but I do have the capability to sprout natural food."

"Like.... popcorn?"

Alex sighed but a little smile slipped onto his lips and he snapped his fingers. The patch of flowers around me turned into tall corn stalks.

"That'll do." I said, reaching up and snapping off one of the cobs.

"Good. I'll be right back." He walked out the door and left me alone with The Huge Dog.

"So.... Phillip...?" I said to The Huge Dog, who turned to look at me in response to the name. "I'm John."

He wagged his tail and padded over to me, tongue hanging out with his ears perked forward. I stood up and rubbed his head.

I looked closer at the dog; he was a mix of a golden and a German Shepherd but pure black with hazel eyes. His nose was pure gold and so was his tongue, and the inside of his mouth as ears was a fiery red with gl. Phillip was an adorable puppy who I wanted to hug the daylights out of.

I stroked the dog whilst reconsidering all the life decisions that had led to this day.

It had been normal (except in the cafeteria because that had been a little bit of a catastrophe) until the end the the day when I, you know, died, met and (possibly, I'm not sure) befriended a reaper, talked to the reaper boss then met a hellhound puppy. Oh and I'm a ghost now I guess.

Whoo, great day so far.

I thought about Alex, which was a whole 'nother rollercoaster all together; he was really cute, there was nothing my gay ass could do to deny it, Alexander Whatever-He-Said-His-Last-Name-Was was so freaking cute with his red hair and his freckles and his eyes and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Adorable. Swiftly moving on, he also seemed pretty lonely and the amount people he listed as ex-friends or ex-gfs/bfs means that every time it was another blow at his... selfness...? I'd that a word? No, it's not.... and his thing with time was clearly not just wanting to be on time. I honestly don't know what I'm talking about but I think it might be some form of OCD.

I'm no doctor but... I dunno it's just the vibes I'm getting.

I remembered the first time I saw Alex and almost laughed at the fact that I thought his eyes were blue. I snuggled Phillip and he rolled over into me.

Let me say, a hellhound puppy crushing you is not the way I want to die (for a second time), but the door opened and Alex stepped in, arms filled with blankets.

"Phillip get off him." He ordered and the dog bounced over to him, leaving me the ability to sit up. "Sit boy, sit." Phillip sat and his golden tongue lolled out of his mouth.

Alex dropped the blankets and flopped down on the ground, putting his hands over his eyes.

I walked over and sat next to him. "You ok?"

"Oh yeah I'm fine." He chuckled dryly. "Just my daily mental breakdown."

"Do you.... need anything?"

"Yes."

"What do you need?"

"No clue. A hug maybe? No actually scratch that I don't want a hug."

"Too bad." I pulled Alex into a hug, trying to infect him with not-sadness.

I didn't let go of him until he hugged back loosely and held that position for a little while.

I let go and he was smiling, which made his face seem generally warmer.

"Better?" I asked.

"Better." He agreed.