Gun was telling Daniel about how he would use his friends instead if he refuse to create his own crew, watching in delight as the boy's eyes darkened before his face suddenly went blank. He stopped talking, a confused frown pulling at his already twisted features as the boy seemed to look right through him, as if in a trance. Slightly unnerved and a bit annoyed he threw a kick toward him in an effort to snap the boy out of his daydreaming. It worked, just not in the way that Gun was expecting. Before his foot could make contact with the boy's head it was stopped by a tight grip that made his bones creak in protest.
"What's with you now? Are you that angry about me using your friends for my crews?" He mocked, hiding just how unsettled he was by the fact he couldn't pull his leg free.
Thinking quickly, he aimed a fist at the boy, hoping to distract him enough to let go of his leg, but it backfired when Daniel grasped his arm and twisted. He bit his lip to muffle the groan of pain threatening to escape him. What the fcuk was going on? Just a minute ago he was kicking him around like a straw doll and now he was left vulnerable at the boy's mercy. Whatever had happened to cause this sudden switch in him...it wasn't natural.
"My...Jay..." he seemed to mutter under his breath, eyes glazed over, "how dare they... kill them...dare they...pay...death...too kind...bastards..."
An unexplainable sense of fear washed over Gun and he began struggling to get out of the raving boy's clutch. Terror dulled his senses and turned his movements animalistic up to the point where he couldn't think clearly. He had to get away! He had to get away from him! Run! Hide! His instincts screamed at him, overwhelming the usually composed male.
Without warning the boy went silent and his eyes snapped straight to the panicking Gun, who felt every muscle in his boy freeze under the intensity of his gaze. His throat constricted painfully and he found himself losing control of his own body when his white eyes clashed with the other's jet-black ones. He barely even registered when he was thrown to the ground, crumpling like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
Daniel's eyes reminded him of those of a predator, cold and lusting for blood. It was only later that he realized that the boy had been restraining himself from tearing his throat open with his bare hands, though even then, he couldn't tell what he had done exactly to spur this kind of anger in the usually mellow boy. It didn't make sense.
It made even less sense that Daniel just shot him another look, a mix of disgust and anger, and left without another word like nothing had happened. Like that night had just been a dream. Not real, just a figment of Gun's imagination...at least, it would've been, if it weren't for the circle of bruises in the shape of a hand around his arm and lower leg. The doctors said his tibia was almost shattered, as well as his wrist. That was the only proof he had that it hadn't all just been in his head. Something had snapped in Daniel that night.
The Workers' four affiliates were all set ablaze in the following days. Many died in the fire, while others perished under mysterious circumstances in the hospital.
Danny watched the brunette news anchor report on the situation, with one arm firmly clasped around Jay's waist as he rested on his chest. The remote snapped in his hand.
Eugene had somehow survived.
That wasn't a problem. It just meant he would have to go hunting again later. For, now he focused on the sleeping blonde in his arms, nuzzling into this slim neck and inhaling the scene of his cologne. He would never allow anyone to lay their hands on his beloved again. Never.
"Did you steal that?" was the first thing Mira asked when Daniel came into the cafeteria.
Well, not exactly came, more like rolled into his shopping cart holding Jay Titanic-style. Pushing the cart was an overly-eager Vasco and following them was a procession made up of BNC members, one of which was holding a large speaker over his shoulder.
"Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on
Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on~"
Zack bristled with rage when his girlfriend-AhEm! I mean Mira was ignored by all of them in favor of rolling near the food counter. He marched right up to where Daniel was half-crouching awkwardly, trying to balance two food trays without letting go of Jay's waist or getting down from the shopping cart, and smacked him loudly over the back of the head. He stumbled and fell over the counter, bringing his blonde down with him. The pair ended up sprawled over one another in an undignified heap on the floor, although, amazingly, the trays landed perfectly onto the counter without spilling even a single drop.
Later Danny would account this to his eternal amazingness and furiously deny that it had anything to do with sheer dumb luck whatsoever. For now, he just lay beneath his sweet Jay in the most inelegant way humanly possible, simultaneously trying to get up and not push the other boy off him.
"Zack, look what you did!" Vasco scolded the perpetually annoyed male while hauling himself over the counter with ease.
He leaned over the two checking for any injuries. Satisfied with his founding he gave them both what was supposed to be a reassuring smile before reaching and plucking the off the ground. He held them up in the air by the backs of their collars, and Danny finally discovered what it was like to be held like a misbehaving cat. Safe to say, he did not enjoy being literally thrown over the counter, though he forgave his newest minion for carefully reaching over and landing Jay over the counter safely.
"Good job minions!" He proclaimed loudly getting up and brushing the dirt off his clothes.
After careful consideration, he chose to hold his beloved instead of the trays, which he entrusted one of his minions to deliver to their table. Then he climbed back into the cart and readjusted their position back as it was supposed to be.
"Onwards!" He exclaimed pointing towards the assigned 'BNC and crazy cult leader gremlin + occasionally the man who is crazy brave enough to date him' table.
They resumed their journey without anyone in the cafeteria batting an eyelid. This was normal.
"Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on~"
Once was already too much. Twice was beyond cruelty. Thrice...thrice was not meant for the human mind to comprehend.
So when you have to do it a thousand times and then some you become rather desensitized to certain things that could make others writhe.
That's how Daniel found himself looking up at the paling faces of his friends, vaguely aware that his body wasn't supposed to be able to bend that way. There were tears, of course, pleading for him to say awake, to hold on until the ambulance arrived. The worst part though was the reassurances, because both parties knew by that point that they were just wishful thinking.
Like, no Zack, I just got hit by a truck going over 200 km/h, I'm not going to be okay! The bloodied boy tried to voice these words but they only came out as strangled moans, which elicited more sobs and, to his everlasting indignance, shushing.
"Nnnghn hngh!" (Don't shush me!)
"It's going to be okay."
"Mnghnh mnmnth nghgh ghngfngh mnghnghhtt! mnggggg hnghnght mthght." (Vasco, I adore you but I'm literally twisted like play-doh and I think I can feel my bones trying to escape my body and form their own army for world domination!!)
"Shh, just hang on."
Danny shot him a dirty look, though he had to guess which one of his friends the bald white egg shushing him was. Probably Jin, he had always been a little bitch like that. If he squinted the alien-like thing looking down on him was pretty similar to the dumbass.
"Mhnh mgthhhhh-." (Bitch if you shush me one more-)
"Shhh" Zack placed his finger on his lips, before quickly retracting his hand and massaging the bite marks on his pointer with what was supposed to be aggravation. The tears and snot running down his face ruined the image.
Finally, through the constant ringing in his ears, Daniel could distinguish the sound of sirens. People shuffled around him and someone tried to get his attention, but their voice turned to mush in his ears. He threw one last look at his friends and reached towards Jay through the paramedics.
"Mnh nhghn Macarena mngh." (Bae, you need to play Macarena at my funeral!)
And with that, the world went black. Then white, then black again. Then he came upon himself, literally.
"They did a pretty good job with my body, you can't even tell that half of these are missing" He poked at one of his limbs, his translucent finger going right through it. There was no bone, just a metal rod kipping the arm in place.
Danny shuddered and retracted his hand as if he had been burned. No matter how many times he ended up as a ghost it never got less weird touching things. He shrugged and floated upwards, passing through the lid of the casket and angling his body so that he no longer felt like he was lying down. Gravity didn't apply to ghosts, so getting his body to sit straight was really tricky until you got the hang of it.
The venue was pretty packed, with people balling their eyes out. They were all dressed in black and looking at a picture of him smiling that had been propped on a stand near his casket. In the front row was his mother, at whose appearance he cringed.
It never got easier seeing her so utter;y devastated, but that was always the way it went when he died, his bigger body would vanish without a trace, and his smaller one would remain, lifeless. His eyes scanned over the other people at the venue trying to get the image of her dull eyes and sunken cheeks out of his mind.
Next to his mother was his beloved jay. Oh, how he wanted to wrap his arms around the boy and wipe those tears that never stopped rolling down his exquisite face! Instead, he caressed his darling's cheek lovingly, making the boy shudder at the feeling of sudden coldness. He didn't dare linger, unable to bare the heartbreaking sight of his lover's grief.
If Daniel had been drinking he would have done a spit-take right then and there. (Was it disrespectful to spit at your own funeral?)
Nestled between a sobbing Crystal and a mostly-unbothered Kouji was Diego Kang himself, having a whispered conversation with an ashen-faced Gun. The latter must've taken the death of his masterpiece and the subsequent disappearance of Daniel's bigger self as quite the blow. 'He did waste a lot of time training me and seemed very eager to get taller me to be his...something, whatever that was...' the boy mused, making his way across from them and to the audio system. He didn't have time to ponder such things. He was a ghost on a mission.
Possessing humans was rather simple if tiring, but messing around with electronics had always been a favorite of his whenever he ended up as a wandering specter. The speakers, placed strategically in the four corners of the room, simultaneously crackled to life, startling the people in attendance, before:
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena, ay
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena, ay
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena, ay
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena, ay
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría Macarena Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena Hey Macarena, ay!
When Daniel first met Jay he thought he was an angel. Too many time loops to count later, he still thought he was an angel.
Jay was always kind, even when he barely knew him. He was loyal, smart, rich, and beautiful and he could fight! What was there not to love in him?!
Daniel doesn't remember when he first fell in love with the blonde. The hundreds of years that had passed already made things a bit blurry. But he remembered that no matter what time loop he was in Jay had never left his side. And no matter what loop he was in Daniel had never stopped seeking him out and falling in love with the quiet boy all over again.
"Would you stop that!" A painful blow to the ribs brought him out of his daydreaming.
He shot the perpetrator a confused and indignant look, at which Zack only snorted derisively.
"Don't even try to play dumb with me! You were ogling at him again!"
Not knowing how to respond (Because had hadn't been ogling at him, thank you very much, he had been staring admiringly at him from afar!), his gaze once again wandered to the quiet blond. Initially, it had been only to check if he had heard them, but his eyes remained pinned on his fair face. The light fell on him at such an angle that it made it seem as if his skin had turned into pure glittering snow. His hair shifted slightly with the breeze in such a hypnotizing way that the boy couldn't take his eyes off of him even if he wanted to.
Another elbow to his already hurting ribs brought him back to reality.
"Stop it already! It's seriously starting to creep me out!"
It was Daniel's turn to snort. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
"Oh please, as if you don't do the same with Mira."
The bell rang and he got up, leaving a spluttering Zack behind before the boy could get a grip and start throwing threats and glares at him.
"Hey, Jay, wait up! Let's eat lunch together, we don't need to go to the cafeteria if you don't want to." He ran after his beloved with a big smile which the blonde reciprocated.
"I swear, one day those two are going to give me diabetes with how sweet they are!" Mira told her friend playfully before her gaze landed on the boxer and she gave him a friendly wave.
Zack promptly melted into a puddle of goo on the floor, much to everyone else's amusement.