Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Days began to grow more bleak and bland for Jevin, as he knew he would just be doing the same thing, over and over again. He used to not care that he would repeat the cycle of wake up, get out of bed, get ready to see friends, and then return back home at dusk to make sure he's well rested. He used to love seeing the sun peeking through his windows so he knew exactly when he had to rise and shine, but things have changed.

It's like the others have grown more...distant to say. They always stuck with their more closer friends, rather than all together as one group. The only one who really bothered to talk with Jevin most days happened to be Tunner, and while talking with Tunner was nice, Jevin felt as if there was something missing in his life. Something that would make his life less bleak, and more enjoyable, and that's how we got to the current moment.

With Jevin sitting up in his bed, feeling groggy and unwilling to get up despite the sun beaming in his eyes. Tunner stopped showing up anyways where him and all the other sprunkis would always meet up at, so there wasn't really a point for Jevin to leave his apartment at this time. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep though, so he would get up regardless and brew himself a cup of coffee. He struggled with the coffee machine due to his exhaustion still being present, but eventually had about half a cup of coffee in his possession and didn't bother to finish making the rest of it.

He opened a cabinet and grabbed a few packets of sugar, pouring them into his coffee before making his back to his bed, making sure to not drop the cup of coffee that he just made, sitting on his bed and taking small sips of the warm drink. He enjoyed the way the caffeine entered his system, making him feel like he was wide awake and ready to actually start his day now.

He was about to pick up a book from his nightstand, but he soon heard a knock on his door. Strange...he never usually expects anyone to be at his door- and last time he checked- he didn't order any packages. He soon got up and made his way over to the front door, opening it to see no other than Tunner standing at his front door. Jevin had been in his pajamas, as he wasn't expecting any guests, so he just stood there awkwardly at the door and looked at Tunner.

"Jevin! I was quite worried about ya when me or any of the other sprunkis didn't see ya, so I decided to check the one place I knew I would find you. Turns out my assumptions were correct..you look like you haven't slept." Tunner commented, a hand brushing the hair that covered Jevin's one eye.

"I've slept, I just wasn't feeling like seeing the others. There's no point when all they do is talk to each other, you're the only real one who acknowledges my presence half the time." Jevin responded, his voice heavy and laced with a dreary tone.

"Did you..take your pills today at least?" Tunner asked, which made Jevin grit his teeth as he realized he forgot to take his medication. This made Tunner even more concerned about his friend, entering Jevin's apartment now and closing the door. "Jevin-"

"I know it's important to take my medicine, you don't need to tell me twice." Jevin cut Tunner off, and Tunner felt his heart sink. He knew his friend could have bad days, but he's never witnessed anything like this. The two of them walked back to the kitchen now, as Tunner made sure that Jevin would take his prescribed medicine as directed to, the orange pill bottle almost being empty.

"Oh dear..you're already almost low again. I'll make sure to let Gray know that you need to get a refill on your medication- unless you want to do that ye'rself." Tunner's voice showed concern, but he was also worried due to the fact that Jevin had been much more moody as of right now.

"I can do that myself, Tunner, I'm not a little kid." Jevin responded with, gritting his teeth as he swallowed down the pills, not realizing the impact his mood was having on his friend right now. "Okay..I was just making sure, have you eaten at all today? Drank anything?" Tunner asked, hoping none of his questions would cause Jevin to snap at him.

"I had half a cup of coffee." Jevin stated, still having a moody and snappy tone in his voice. This worried Tunner- no wonder his friend was so cranky- he hadn't eaten anything. "Oh, how about I make you some French toast then, and you can relax? I'm sure some food in ye'r system can help lift your mood!" The sheriff suggested, and Jevin just nodded and got himself situated at the dining table.

Tunner took that as cue to start cooking some breakfast now, as he grabbed two slices of bread and placed them into a skillet on the stove top, making sure to occasionally swirl the bread in the pan to make sure it cooked properly. Once he could tell the first side was a golden-brown coloration, he flipped the bread slices over, repeating the process for the other side now.

It wasn't long before the French toast was done, drizzled with blueberry jam and whipped cream as Tunner brought it over to the dining table, giving the plate to Jevin now so he could eat. He completely went to town on the food, which made Tunner chuckle for a few seconds, before he went quiet and resumed cleaning up the kitchen counter. He would whistle softly as he cleaned up from making the French toast, making sure to look at Jevin every once in a while to check on how he was doing.

Surprisingly, Jevin was done with the French toast before Tunner finished cleaning up, but that was okay! He grabbed the plate that his friend had used and put it in the sink, now sitting next to him. "Are ya, you know, feeling better now?"

Jevin sighed, but the tone in his voice wasn't snappy or moody or anything like that anymore. "Yes, I'm sorry for being a complete douchebag to you..you really shouldn't have made me that French toast until I apologized.."

"Nonsense! I would be a bad friend if I didn't realize you needed some home cooked food in ya body to calm y'er attitude down." Tunner waved his hand dismissively, forgiving Jevin for the cranky attitude that he had displayed. "Now, let's get ya spruced up, I'm sure the others are dyin' to see ya!" He got up from his seat at the dining table, cueing Jevin to get out of his seat as well.

The two of them settled in Jevin's bedroom, with Tunner using a comb and brush to help detangle Jevin's messy hair, even if he didn't have that much of it. "Jevin, when was the last time you showered?" Tunner asked softly, as he could tell his friend's hair hadn't been taken care of in a while, "And- if you don't mind me asking- what about the last time you combed through your hair, or brushed it?"

"I don't remember, sorry Tunner." Jevin admitted, and Tunner sighed softly. "That's fine, Jevin, just remember to shower sometime today." Jevin nodded to show he understood that he was supposed to shower today, and Tunner smiled. It wasn't long before the two of them managed to get Jevin ready to go out, which Tunner was confident that the other sprunkis would want to see Jevin too.

"Alright, let's get going now! We don't want to leave the others waiting for too long." Tunner said, grabbing onto Jevin's hand now and holding it as the two of them made their way out of the apartment room and into bright, sunny day.

Chapter Text

Jevin and Tunner had been walking for a while as they looked for the other sprunkis, but there wasn't any sight of them present. Not even any clues on where any of them could be, until they heard heavy breathing from behind a tree.

"You hear that Jevin?" Tunner questioned, concern being present in his facial expression. Jevin nodded his head, which prompted Tunner to grip onto Jevin's hand even tighter in case anything attacked them, as they approached the tree.

While making their way towards the tree, Jevin looked down at the grass and noticed how much blood had stained it, the nice green color being turned into a brown-ish red, and he knew something wasn't right. The sight they saw too wasn't pleasant either.

There was Simon behind the tree, shivering and breathing heavily as his eyeballs appeared to be completely removed and torn out of their sockets, blood coating the majority of his face and where he was sitting underneath the tree. His antennae were also crooked and bent in irregular and unnatural shape, so his senses were reduced.

Tunner and Jevin were both mortified at the sight, and Tunner got down to shake Simon's shoulder, hoping to get some sort of explanation.

"Who's there?! Please- don't hurt me anymore-!" Simon plead, as he obviously couldn't see that it was just Jevin and Tunner.

"Calm down there partn'r, it's just me and Jevin. What happened to ye'r face?- if you don't mind me asking." Tunner quickly reassured Simon that he wouldn't be harmed further, while Jevin was frozen in fear at Simon's current state.

"T-the one with the tophat..he..he attacked us when we were setting up the picnic...he took Wenda, and Gray- and even Durple! I don't know where anyone else is- or what happened to the rest of them-" Simon explained with panic in his voice, which his words made both Jevin and Tunner raise brows at each other before focusing on Simon.

"So ye'r telling me that all our friends- or a majority of them- got attacked by Black?" Tunner questioned, wanting to make sure he correctly heard what Simon was saying.

"Yes! Yes that's what happened!" Simon exclaimed, but his breath was still heavy and he was still panicking.

"Alright, alright, take it easy. We need to get you bandaged up as soon as possible, so I suggest we oughta get to my sheriff's office so I can write everything down. I should have a first aid kit in there too, so we won't have to make two trips."

As Tunner was talking, Jevin had been thinking over everything that has just happened. He knew he wanted things to change- but not like this- he hated seeing what had happened to Simon. He didn't know what happened to the others, but he knew he didn't want to see his friends' in harm's way! He wondered why this even happened in the first place, he knew Black- or also known as Tophat- had been more of a secretive and reclusive sprunki, but this was unexpected. Maybe he should've predicted all of this- maybe he has to be involved with all of this happening- maybe-

"Jevin! Are ya there Jevin- we need to get going." Tunner shook Jevin back into reality, and Jevin quickly stood up and walked alongside the other two without a word, Tunner keeping an arm wrapped around Simon.

"This is all so wrong..why would one of our own friends do this?" Tunner thought out loud as the three of them walked, with Jevin looking away as much as possible, and Simon just following the guiding presence of Tunner. "I wouldn't say he was our friend..I mean, nobody really talked to him, did they?" Simon questioned, which Tunner looked down at Simon before answering.

"I considered him a good friend, even if he wasn't much of a talker. It's kind of like how Jevin didn't talk much to us until we really started to talk with him first, maybe Black needed that push in the right direction, and nobody gave him that. I wouldn't be surprised, loneliness can cause people to go crazy." The sheriff answered, leading the other two into the office now where he primarily worked some late nights.

Tunner pulled up chairs for both Jevin and Simon to sit down on, which the two of them sat on while Tunner searched his drawers for a first aid kit of any sort, or at least something that would help assess Simon's injuries. Silence lingered as the only noises present would be Simon's heavy breathing, and drawers closing or opening, as Tunner remained persistent on looking in his office until he found something that could help Simon.

Luckily, Tunner had found a first aid kid, supplied with multiple tools that could assess Simon's injuries, and got to work. Meanwhile, Jevin sat in the chair and stared off into one of the windows that Tunner had in his office, the previously bright blue sky had shifted into one that was gray and cloudy. He felt like he could've done something- anything- to prevent the fates of the others right now. He felt like he could've prevented Simon losing his ability to see, he felt like he could've done something to prevent Tophat's actions, could've done something-

"Jevin, did you hear me? I said I'll walk you back to your apartment once I'm done bandaging Simon up." Tunner stated, bringing Jevin back to reality for the second time now. Jevin- however- quickly refused Tunner's offer. "I appreciate it, but I can walk home by myself. I wouldn't like for Simon to be alone in this current moment, considering his condition." Jevin politely dismissed Tunner's offer, which Tunner completely understood.

"That's alright partner, just-" Tunner paused, before reaching into a cabinet and handing Jevin a small pocket knife "-keep this on you, please. I wouldn't want another friend of mine dying or getting in harm's way."

Jevin took the knife and put it into his cloak, nodding his head and saying his farewells before leaving the sheriff's office, a nagging feeling of guilt and dread running over him as Tunner and Simon's chatter grew inaudible as he left. The clouds remained dark, as rain started about halfway along Jevin's trip back home, droplets of water hitting his cloak until he was inside of his apartment, locking the door and placing his cloak on the coat hanger to let it dry naturally before he'd toss it into the dryer- if he remembered to do that.

He still felt guilty though, like this was all somehow his fault. Why wasn't he aware of this sooner? Why weren't he or Tunner warned about this sooner? Why didn't he assume that something like this would happen? He wanted things to change, but he never expected this.

This wasn't how he wanted things to change.

Chapter Text

Jevin watched as outside his bedroom window in his apartment, the storm continued. It wasn't just rainy though- water droplets were pouring and banging against his window, the wind pushing any trees that was in the way, and thunder crackled darkly- all causing Jevin to hope that Tunner and Simon would get home safely if they didn't decide to sleep in the sheriff's office.

But, as he watched the sky change from a grayish-blue to a deep, purplish-gray, it indicated that sleep was approaching, along with night. The clouds slowly breezed away as well, revealing the bright, full moon underneath the dark sky. Jevin decided to check his clock just to realize it was already 9 p.m. and he should've already been asleep an hour ago, getting himself settled into his pajamas now before turning off all the lights in his apartment room.

Once he ensured the lights were off, he got cozy in his bed and fell asleep, not expecting anything strange to happen while he slept, and his dreams kept him from worrying about such possibilities too much.

But as the night called, there was a certain sprunki that would have to change Jevin's plans- and possibly ruin the chance of him getting any sleep- and it was no other than Tophat.

He almost blended in with the night sky as he was standing outside of the apartment complex, before figuring out exactly which room belonged to Jevin. He decided to get in through the window, but how would he get up there exactly? Considering how Jevin was on one of the higher apartments- which was good, he wouldn't have a way to enter if he was on the bottom apartments without having his presence known in the complex- he had to figure something out.

His sleek, hoary tie swayed in the aftermath of the storm, as the wind hadn't yet settled down for its nap tonight, and instead remained persistent. He knew he couldn't just scale the building from the outside, especially not considering how the walls would probably be coated with the droplets of rain. He, however, figured out a way to get inside, even if it was dangerous.

He could go onto the trees that had accompanied the complex, and hope that they would have enough strength and height to get him up where he needed to enter. The trees lacked in high structure, but he theorized that if he could jump off one of the trees onto part of the complex walls, and then jump back onto another tree and then up higher on the walls, he'd make it up to the window that Jevin would be found.

It was about an hour or two later that he made it up onto the window's ledge, sitting on it now as he weighed little to nothing, and watched as Jevin slept. It was adorable- in a twisted, morbid way- how Jevin would sleep peacefully, as if Tophat wasn't currently watching him through the window. He could suspect that Jevin was thinking simple thoughts, experiencing simple dreams, as he would shift around in his bed from time to time.

Tophat waited until it was later in the night- mostly because he just wanted to watch his beloved sleep and make sure he didn't wake up randomly in the middle of the night- before easily propping the window open and getting into the apartment. His heavy footsteps alerting Jevin and causing him to wake up. Well shit.

"Sorry for coming in from the window, dreadful etiquette I know!" Tophat stated as he neared his way towards Jevin's bed, a glint of malice in his eyes.

Jevin, however, was exhausted as his sleep had suddenly been interrupted and his fight or flight instincts haven't kicked in yet, so he just sat up in bed and blinked wearily at Tophat. This of course, made Tophat realize that he- most likely- wouldn't have any resistance or fighting come from Jevin, and sat next to him on the bed.

"Aren't you a sleepyhead.." He commented, a hand cupping the side of Jevin's face now as the other leaned into the touch, obviously still tired and he could've fallen asleep at that moment. "See, I knew you wanted me too. I'm not going to pressure that decision on you tonight at least, though, you're too sleepy for that." Tophat chuckled after he spoke, gently rubbing Jevin's face with that hand now.

Of course, Jevin was less than half conscious, so half the things Black were saying right now just dissipated as soon as Jevin heard them. He continued to lay his head in Tophat's hand, his eyes fluttering from being shut and being awake. "Gosh..you're so damn cute-" Tophat paused, making sure he kept a filter on the things he said, "-it makes me jealous sometimes of that stupid sheriff. He doesn't deserve a sweetheart like you, and you're aware he doesn't deserve you too."

Jevin was just spaced out at this point as he was practically falling asleep on Tophat's hand, and Tophat didn't mind that. Even if he wanted to get a response out of Jevin, or maybe a little noise- like a squeak or a gasp- he knew that could wait for another time. He knew patience was a virtue, and he'd wait before he'd strike, and wait he shall. "God, I doubt he's even told you how much he loves you, which will be a shame when I finally get Wenda to wake up from her drug-induced high and get her to assassinate that sheriff."

Tophat's voice remained deep and dark, malice and ill-intent in his eyes as he looked down at the mostly asleep Jevin, who was snuggling up in his hand. "Priceless, you're already so..submissive wouldn't fit- more like-" Tophat paused, pondering for a moment, "-docile is a better word for your state. Your inability to think due to your tiredness causes you to be less hostile, and more...susceptible to my words, my influence, more placid." He couldn't help the smile that was on his face as Jevin gently snored in his hand.

"Adorable, you get your sleep. I'm sure your mind will piece together these memories when you wake up later this morning. And then, you'll remember everything I said to you. All my compliments, all my soft descriptions of you, and unfortunately- my plans. That's why I'm not going to discuss them any further while you drift into your state of unconsciousness, love. You're just going to lay in the palm of my hand, while I explain the psychological effect my words will have on your mind." Tophat cooed, before continuing his words. He made sure to remain quiet as to not alert anyone else in the apartment complex, and he made sure that if Jevin jostled around and woke up- to quickly put him back to sleep.

Words became sweet nothings as Tophat pressed soft kisses on Jevin's face, before they returned to being words again or sentences or even phrases. Everything around Jevin remained unknown and he remained unaware of the soft pecks being placed on his face, as he was out quicker than a light. It was another hour before Tophat placed Jevin back into a regular sleeping position, before kissing him one last time.

"Goodnight love, sweet dreams. We'll meet again in the morning."

And with his farewell, he left through the window, making sure to close and lock it before leaving. It felt...wrong for him to leave Jevin like that, but he had bigger plans. Plans that would truly confirm who Jevin belonged to.

Five hours later into the morning, Jevin woke up. His dreams were definitely stranger throughout the later hours of sleep, and he remembered all the details. He remembered that Tophat was in his room, affectionately touching him and complimenting him- and he made sure to write this dream log down. He was, still tired though, and sighed.

"Hopefully I still have some of that weed Vineria gave me, it's going to take a while before I forget all of that."