You leant against the kitchen worktop, a scalding hot cup of coffee in hand. You were still mildly dazed from the bizarre encounter with No-Face, and, despite getting a full eight hours of rest, you felt like you'd pulled an all-nighter. EJ had noticed at once.

'I'm going to see my cousin today,' you said, swirling the contents of the cup, 'gonna pick some textbooks are up.'

'Don't you have work today?'

'Yeah, but Annalise isn't doing a Zoom call. She lost her voice at a concert, so she's just emailed us the work. I'll do it on the train.'

'Alright then. Want me to come with?'

'No, it's fine. I wanna surprise you.' In your state of tiredness, semi-lying to him felt easy.

'Oh.' Shit, did I upset him? 'That's fine. I'll wait here for you.'

'Are you sure?' you questioned, 'you don't have to stay in the house. You can go somewhere else, you know.'

His original form was glaring at you with a fiery determination. 'No. I like this place.'

He wouldn't admit the reason why he wanted to stay and wait for you. It was silly, really, but staying in made it feel like the two of you really were together. It made him feel like he was the patient and loving boyfriend waiting for his partner to come home. Of course, there was no relationship, but he could still pretend that someone wanted him around. (Perhaps he should cook you dinner for when you get home?)

'Alright, alright, don't get salty with me, you grumbled, downing the rest of your coffee. 'I'll get going, then. The eleven o'clock train leaves in a bit.'

He nodded. 'See you later, (N/N).' Decided to be a bit bold, he added, 'Call the landline when you get there. And when you're leaving. And when you get back to the train station.

You stifled a laugh, jokingly asking, 'You gonna sit by the phone all day?'

'Of course not.' Fuck they caught me.

'Good. See you later, EJ!'

Grabbing your coat, you threw it on as you pulled on your boots before jogging out the door, shouting another goodbye as you closed the door behind you.

It didn't take long to speed-walk to the station, and you were sat on the train before you knew it, working away on the details of JFK's shooting.

You hadn't seen your cousin in person since your days at university. You were somewhat excited, and your leg vibrated constantly anytime you were sat down. You couldn't wait to hang out with him again.

From the station, you took a taxi to your cousin's workplace. You hopped out of the car, tipped the driver and hurried into the building, an arm over your head to stop the rain from dampening your hair.

The place your cousin worked at was strange and minimalistic, with hard flooring and garish white walls. The reception desk was tucked away in the corner, and your footsteps seemed to reverberate painfully around the foyer as you approached the lady sat behind the desk.

'Excuse me,' you began, 'I'm here to see Alois Braunbeck.'

The receptionist's eyes flicked over to you, and you could immediately tell she was pissed off by your very presence in the building. She opened her mouth and said, 'And what's your business here?'

'I'm coming to say hi.'

'Who are you?'

'(Y/N) (L/N). I'm his cousin.'

Her eyes turned back to the screen. 'Dr Braunbeck is not open for receiving visitors at this moment in time. Please come back in two-three months.'

You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

'He told me that I could see him today. Like, right now.'

'I didn't receive an email confirming your arrival.'

'I can prove it.' You pulled out your phone, opened the messages and showed her the texts Alois had sent you. 'See?'

The receptionist pushed her glasses up her nose, staring at the phone screen in disdain. 'Could be fake.'

It took all of your willpower to stop yourself from bashing your head against the pristine desk. Through gritted teeth, you told her: 'I can assure you that this message thread is not fake. Just let me go see my cousin.'

'No email, no visit.'

A pair of footsteps began to echo around. 'Yo, Maria, don't lie to my cousin. Not cool.'

You whirled around, glaring at the speaker. Stood at the other side of the room, leaning against the wall, was your cousin.

He was tall and slim, with incredibly tanned skin despite his lack of sunlight. He had thick dark hair which was tied up into a ponytail, and his fringe was swept to the side, one strand falling in front of the frames of his glasses. There was a small patch of stubble on his chin that obviously couldn't grow into a proper goatee.

Even though he was supposed to be a proper, professional scientist, he wore clothes that screamed the exact opposite. Under his lab coat, he wore a baggy white shirt and light brown shorts. A silver chain glinted under the bright LED lights of the foyer, and tiny studs sparkled in each ear.

You marched up to him and flicked him in the forehead. 'Bitch.'

He poked your forehead in retaliation. 'Dickhead. Come on, I have a new coffee machine that can make lattes and cappuccinos as well as hot chocolate.'

'But you don't drink coffee?'

'I drink anything with caffeine now come on.' He snatched your hand and dragged you down the hall, sticking his tongue out Maria. She threw up a lazy middle finger in response.

'What's her deal?' you inquired once you were out of earshot.

'She thinks we need silence and no contact with the outside world for our experiments to work,' Alois replied with an eye roll, 'I dunno who told her that. All we need is two consecutive Scouting For Girls songs and we'll be fine.'

'How do you get two consecutive songs without cheating?'

'We get Lizzie to get a random number from the app she has, then Jonathon shuffles a playlist the number of times stated by the app. If the first Scouting For Girls song is followed by another, then we have a good day.'

'So no cheating?'

'No cheating.'

The two of you didn't say anything as you passed the labs, not wanting to disturb the people inside. When you arrived in Alois' office, you were pleasantly surprised.

It wasn't the largest room, but it had everything Alois needed: a desk, some chairs, some bookshelves and a coffee machine that was on a table. There was even a sink.

'I didn't think scientists got their own offices,' you commented, looking around.

'Usually we don't,' Alois said with a shrug, throwing his lab coat onto a unit. 'But our boss was kind enough to give us private rooms to do all the boring stuff in.' He gestured to the computer that sat on a cluttered desk.

'How kind.'

'I know, right? Sit down, do you want a drink?'

You plonked yourself down on one of the cushioned chairs, astonished at how comfortable it was. 'Nah, I'm good.'

'Tough shit, you're getting one.' Alois busied himself with working the coffee machine that looked ten times fancier then the one you had back in uni. 'I've got those textbooks you wanted, by the way. Gizelle's twin went to med school and was gonna get rid of them anyway. They said, "Excuse the scribbles" too.'

'You're an absolute lifesaver,' you said, 'thank you so much. I'm sure EJ won't mind the scribbles.'

Alois groaned, his head falling into his hands as he grumbled, 'You're an absolute moron. You're gonna get killed!'

'No, I won't,' you said calmly, 'EJ and I are actually really good friends, thank you very much. And I've already spoken to No-Face, who isn't planning on killing me. So hah.'

'How did you speak to No-Face?'

'Lucid dreaming. Do not recommend.' Don't cry don't cry don't cry—

'God, lucid dreams suck. Anyway, why did you wanna talk about him?'

'Well,' you began, 'I dunno if you've read the backstory, but EJ went through the same ritual I nearly went through, except his worked and now he's an eyeless demonic entity thing that eats kidneys. I've been working with his old best friend to try and reverse the ritual and make him a proper human again. I was wondering if you could help or give me any ideas.'

Alois sat back, folding his arms as he thought. After a few moments, he said: 'You did chem in senior school, didn't you?'

'Yeah, I got a B.'

'Good. Remember reversible reactions? This might be one of those cases.' He jumped up and skimmed over one of the bookshelves before pulling out a book. He flicked through it, found the pages he was looking for, and perched on the arm of your chair, shoving the book in front of you. 'Reversible reactions,' he read aloud, 'a reaction where the products can react together to produce the original reactants using the same amount of energy.'

'Are you telling me my friend becoming a serial killer is a chemical reaction?'

'Technically, no, but also yes. What if, in order to make him a human being instead of a demonic entity, you have to do the ritual in reverse?'

'But in the original ritual, they gouged his eyes out,' you pointed out, 'we can't de-gouge his eyes. He doesn't have any.'

Alois frowned, snapping the book shut and falling back into his own chair. 'Hm. Point. That's fine, I have a plan. Get your phone out, I need you to look something up.'

The coffee machine had been moved off the table, and the two of you had covered it in pieces of paper that you were scribbling on.

The first piece of paper contained everything that happened in the ritual, using your own memories and the information in the backstory online. It was laid out in bullet points in your neat blue handwriting, contrasting the messy chicken scrawl of Alois on the second page, which contained all possibly ways of reversing the ritual.

In your concentrated state, you very nearly missed your phone begin to buzz, the screen lighting up with a familiar number. You put down your pen and answered the phone, tapping on Alois' shoulder to get his attention.

'I'll stand out there,' you whispered to him as the call connected. 'Hello?'

Alois shook his head and was out of the room before you could protest.

'(Y/N)!' EJ sounded relieved. 'Are you okay? I haven't heard from you all day.'

'Sorry,' you said, sitting down on your chair. 'I lost track of time. I'm fine. How about you? Are you okay?'

'Yeah. Listen, I want to talk about this morning.'

'Hm? What about it?'

'There was something off about you this morning. You just seemed...not yourself; like something was bothering you. And then you suddenly decided to go see your cousin, it just....really worried me.'

You cursed yourself for being so obvious. 'It's nothing major.'

'If it's bothering you, then it is major,' EJ replied sharply, 'please, just tell me.'

He was scared it was about him. He was scared that you were going to admit that you hated him and your efforts in reversing the ritual was just a sadistic joke you partook in due to boredom. He was scared that you didn't want him to be around anymore, or you just straight up didn't want to see him ever again.

You had no idea how terrified those thoughts made him.

'I had a lucid dream last night,' you mumbled, 'and I was talking to No-Face.'

'You were what?! What did he want?'

'He wanted to know about my memories from my childhood.' It was at that point you realised with a crash of guilt that you never told EJ you had been the sacrifice in a ritual just like his.

'Why would he want to know about that?' he asked, 'is there something I should know?'

You hesitated. 'Yeah. When I was little, I was nearly sacrificed to Chernabog—just like you. No-Face interrupted it, which is why I can see him and the proxies.' Your voice cracked, and you could feel tears welling in your eyes. 'They tried to kill me. First with a spoon, of all things, then one of them tried to stab me. I remember all of it, and it hurts so much.'

You never registered how much trauma the event had given you now that you could remember it all. It was strange, really, being able to see the masked figure charging towards you with a steak knife in your mind's eye. You remembered turning to No-Face and screaming: 'Help me.'

The tears burst from your eyes and you shoved your fist into your mouth to silence your panicked sobs and frantic (almost non-existent) breathing.

Help me.

'(Y/N)! Hey, listen to me—breathe, sweetheart. Breathe with me, okay? Just follow me. I'm going to count to five, then to two, then to seven. Inhale, hold, exhale, okay, love?'

He counted to five, and you took a deep breath, ignoring the way your breath hitched in your throat. You held it for two seconds, then exhaled for seven seconds, following EJ's counting. You did it again and again and again until you had calmed down enough to breathe on your own.

You were shaking, and your cheeks felt tight from crying.

'I'm sorry,' you rasped, 'I didn't—'

'Don't apologise, (N/N),' EJ said, 'it's okay. Do you want me to come and get you?'

'Nuh-uh.'

'Are you going to come home soon?'

'Mhm.'

'Good. I'll sort tea out, so don't worry about that. Are you sure you're okay going on the train by yourself?'

'Mhm.'

He sighed. 'If you're sure. Text me when you get there, I'll walk you back to the house.'

'Thank you.'

'No problem. See you in a bit?'

'Yeah.' You smiled, wiping your eyes as you sniffed. 'See you in a bit.'

this chapter was originally gonna be split into two different chapters but i decided 'no fuck that' and gifted you a chapter that is 7.5 pages long !!! look at me being productive.

also why am i only productive during my bad mental health days lmao thats the most normal coping mechanism

i know i said i'd pause after chpt15, but im in the mood for writing some comfort so imma do one more chapter

- gravity