“stars as you know them” — ghostsoap
731 words
WARNING: non-descriptive mentions of blood, and a bullet wound! dying??
“I’m Your Man” - Mitski
“Soap, do you copy?”
The sky is beautiful tonight. Can’t remember the last time he’d bothered to just look up, just to admire. Just to enjoy.
He didn’t know much about the stars, but he could find the dipper if he stared long enough. Easy enough to find the one that actually looks like a spoon.
He tries.
It’s getting harder to focus.
“Johnny, report!”
The voice in his ear is loud, and somewhere in the back of his head Soap knows he should respond. It isn’t that he doesn’t want to— but his tongue feels so heavy in his mouth, clumsy. The words just don’t want to form, mouth opening and closing around sounds and syllables that don’t actually make it past his lips. He feels like a fish on land.
Maybe it’s getting harder to breathe.
Tastes like copper, for sure.
He can feel his heartbeat like a drum.
Thump, Thump, Thump. Against his chest, again and again.
If someone were to find him, would they be able to hear it just as loud?
The world is strangely quiet now, and he thinks; finally, a break. His eyelids threaten to close, and he so badly wants to sleep. He deserves to sleep, after all this time. It isn’t so selfish, is it?
“Johnny— Johnny, you have— … talk to me … — are you?”
I want to. He says, but doesn’t really say at all. I want to, can’t you see I’m trying my best?
He can’t lift his hand to check, but he feels the warm sticky texture of blood between his fingertips. Coating his palm where it weakly holds against the wound in his stomach.
He can’t remember how it happened, now. Like it was so long ago, just a distant irrelevant memory to hold onto. Too much work now for his brain, for his body.
His fingers feel numb.
He gurgles out a strange, sort of laugh, at the thought. They don’t quite feel like anything, then, do they?
“Sorry.” Is all he manages to get out, tongue stumbling over the singular word. He isn’t quite sure if it came out at all. “M’sorr—“ the clumsy word is cut short by a sharp gasp, and a shaky exhale. “Sorry.”
He’s met with silence, which only further convinces him that the words he’s hearing coming out of his mouth aren’t really at all.
“Don’t apologize, don’t— don’t do that, Johnny.” Comes the harsh response.
Soap feels his lips form some sort of smile.
“You’re gonna be …” Soap doesn’t hear the next part, thinks maybe he’s missed it. Ghost starts again, “Fine. You’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna find you, we are. We’re gonna find you, and get you help, and you’re gonna be fine.”
Sounds an awful lot like Ghost is trying to convince himself, rather than Soap.
He thinks he hears other voices, a back and forth conversation, it’s muted. Somewhere in the background. It takes him a moment to realize that they’re coming from Ghost’s end of the comm, not him. Not him. No one else is here but him.
He had never thought dying would feel so lonely. Always thought it would come to him fast, that he would be one of the lucky ones that didn’t see it coming before it struck.
Never thought it would be so slow.
“We have you now. We have you, Johnny. Now you’re gonna wait— you’re gonna keep your eyes open.”
Quietly, Soap thinks this might be the kindest voice Ghost has ever directed at him. Soothing. Thinks that maybe he can keep his eyes open after all, if that’s what’s wanted of him.
There are so many things he’s wanted to say.
Always thought he might have had a little more time to say them all, or maybe just some. Never thought he wouldn’t get the chance. What a silly thought to have, in their line of work. Soap should have known better than that.
“Gh—“ his voice cracks on a gasp once again.
“We’re so close, Johnny.”
I love you.
I love you, I love you.
You have to know that.
He should respond, he should. Sleep is creeping up on him, now. Too fast. The sky seems so full of stars now, there hadn’t been that many before.
He can’t find the dipper anymore.
Can’t remember if it was ever there at all.
“Johnny?”
He thinks it’s a nice way to go, hearing the sound of his name of Ghost’s tongue one last time.
The world finally falls quiet.
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Hear me out. Boothill is absolutely obsessed with physical touch and WILL always have an arm around your waist. He will shamelessly kiss you in front of others if anyone dares to flirt with you in his presence (he promised not to shoot anyone anymore). He WILL slap your ass if you walk past him and smirk with his arms crossed when you look back at him. Why? He knows you can't really slap his ass back (this one might hurt), but you're very welcome to try, he won't stop you. Will pull your chin up with his fingers and kiss you whenever he wants. Boothill will bite you on purpose with his sharp teeth to mark you, only to kiss the purple spots better, so you can melt under his touch. Boothill thinks the sidewalk rule is very important - that's why he pushes other people on the road, so you can have more space to walk, while holding your hand. He pulls you towards him so you hit his firm, metal chest with yours while he laughs, cupping your face roughly and gently kissing your cheek. He wants you to pull on his hair when you kiss, so you can get goosebumps when he groans into your mouth and feel his cold fingers caress your soft skin further down.
PSST! boothill relationship headcanons and more thirst here!
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I am haunted by the detailed, completed map of Hell that Edwin took notes on. You don’t understand, it makes me sick. It’s one thing to have a basic layout, a vague idea, or a rudimentary map but it was meticulously detailed. Down to doors and what they do and where they go. Down to secret spaces in the walls. He even knew what ringing an innocuous bell would do. It can only mean one thing. We don’t know when Edwin began trying to escape, but assuming he started from the get go, it means that he spent all his decades in Hell trying to find a way out. He never stopped running. And that is assuming he never stopped. From his second trip, we could see he resorted to his old ways and ran. But he was eventually caught, reduced to pieces. Even when Charles showed up, he didn’t seem very optimistic about their chances. He could feel every second of those 70 years. There were likely many times he fell to hopelessness, trembling in the corner watching himself be desecrated knowing it was going to happen again and again. How long? How many times did he try to be so, so quiet, hoping he would have a few moments before the next round? How many times did he muster the ability to run, just one more time? How long did it take him to run, discovering the ends of each ring? How many times did he sprint up, down, north, south, east, west, trying to escape? And what happened when he finally escaped? How long did it take for him to be able to relax, even a little? Because he can never relax. He must always outrun Death and her constituents because he can’t count on them to be fair. How many times does he look over his shoulder, waiting for the monster to claim its eternal meal once again? His breath of fresh air, his first taste of companionship in ages not only keeps him company, but sticks by him. And then, in that blessing there comes a curse, because now you have something to lose. Because when you taste ambrosia how can you return to starvation? He feels safe with Charles. Happy and comfortable, but the threat always lingers. And he knows that Charles couldn’t fend off Death. He never considered he could fend off Hell beasts; after all, he’s just a ghost kid. He watches innocents be slaughtered on repeat, unphased by the level of violence but no less affected by it, because no one has even a clue what it takes to be this kind. Even at his most happy, he has so, so much to lose and he goes back to Hell when hope was dangled in his face like the fruit of Tantalus. When he returns, he’s subjected to Hell once again, sustaining through torture that obliterates souls, only to watch his best friend, his confidant, his platonic soulmate, die horrifically. This woman who gave him sea-glass courage, so powerful and yet so fragile. Allowed him to be himself, gave him permission to do so. Was the openness to his closed self, and now she is gone. And he retains his composure, his stiff, British posture because it is what has saved him from madness and Despair, protected him, and now the world is darker without Niko Sasaki in it. But surely he saw this coming. After all, humans are messy. And yet, he shows up for their souls, time and time again.
Edwin Payne is THE character.
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