#deadly craw

Sequel to Deserted.

Feat. Deadly Craw

The fact that your new boyfriend doesn’t talk is perfectly fine with you. He’s pretty chatty when he texts, which is okay with. You’ve been on a couple of dates with him, but only in the dead of the night. He’s an urban legend, of course, which meant that it obviously isn’t a good idea for the two of you to stroll into a coffee shop on Sunday afternoons. It has to be secret.

Of course, he didn’t want you to constantly call him by his “street name”, as it were, so he gave you his actual name when the two of you started dating.

Aoi.

Tonight, you’re chilling at your apartment when you get a text from him.

Hey, are you free tonight for a date?

Since you are, you reply back in the affirmative. His next message is quick.

Great! Can you come to the park at 11.30? I’ll meet you there.

It’s 9 PM now, so you have plenty of time to eat dinner before getting ready. But you make sure to leave the house early because both you and Aoi like the dates to start on time: it comes with having very little time to spend together in general.

You reach the park fifteen minutes early to see him already waiting at the gate. He’s wearing his usual strange oxygen mask, but his silver claw has receded back into his hand for now. He always does that on your dates, and it makes you feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.

Above his mask, Aoi’s eyes brighten when he sees you. One of his eyes used to be gold, but after you met him, both have slowly faded to silver.

“Hey,” you say breathlessly, having almost run the last five minutes. “Where are we going tonight?”

After typing something, he holds his phone up. It’s a surprise. I think you’ll like it.

Aoi holds out his hand - the good one, not the shriveled-up one. You take it, and he leads you into the woods behind the park. The journey is silent, but you enjoy these moments with him: the two of you learnt quickly that words aren’t always necessary to form a strong relationship.

When you reach a certain point in the woods, Aoi stops and gestures to you to close your eyes. Once you do so, he resumes the journey, but you go only a few steps before the two of you stop again. He lets go of your hand and you can hear some rustling. What is he up to? You wonder. At this moment, your heart is beating rapidly. You can sense his scent mixed with that of the woods: the combination calms you down, although your heart is still competing with the bullet train.

In a few moments, you feel him gently touch your eyelids, and you take that as a sign to open them. You gasp at what you see: a clearing with golden fairy lights strung up all over the place, with the night sky above you so clear that you can see all the stars.

“It’s beautiful!” You laugh; you feel so happy that he’s done this for you. Aoi has always wanted you to feel comfortable no matter what, and would always do the littlest of things he thought would make you happy. “Thank you!” You throw your arms around him and hug him tight.

You can’t see his expression because your face is buried in his shoulder - even if you looked up, only his eyes would give anything away. But he hugs you back, both hands gripping the back of your jacket as though he wants to hold you forever and ever.

When he finally lets go, you guide him to the middle of the clearing and make him sit beside you. But all this while, you never let go of his hand - the shriveled one. You can see the tender expression in his eyes, but there is still a hint of wonder at the way you gently hold him, and the way you’re guessing you look at him. Considering that his usually loud breathing has gone silent, you assume he’s really taken aback.

With some difficulty, he extracts his phone from his coat pocket and types something on it. Can you close your eyes again? Just for a minute or so.

“Okay.” You nod and shut your eyes. Something nearby shuffles; it’s probably Aoi, getting out his next surprise. You’re expecting a gift, or maybe a way you can communicate more in person.

What you don’t expect is a pair of lips on yours.

They’re chapped, and something about them is odd, like they’re not proper human lips. But they’re his: You can feel it in the way he cups your cheek and deepens the kiss ever so slightly.

You want to open your eyes and see what he looks like when he kisses you. Even though you stick to your word and keep them closed, nothing stops you from placing your arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer (insert lyrics pun here). The kiss makes you feel like the world doesn’t matter: nothing matters, you don’t give a fuck about anything or anyone else besides Aoi and the kiss that you never expected (although now that it’s here, you’re not complaining).

Neither of you wants to be the first to let go, but it has to happen eventually. With one soft sigh, he forces himself to let go, but his lips linger, barely touching yours before you pull him in for another, brief kiss.

Another set of shuffling, and you open your eyes to see Aoi in his oxygen mask again, although the way his hands are moving away from his face makes it clear that he just shoved it on his face. Still, you can see him blushing, and the sight makes you laugh.

“That was…” You can’t think of how to describe what just happened, but you know he gets it. He indicates as much by pushing a few stray strands of hair away from your face and cupping your cheek again for a few moments.

Requested by @jigoku-nozomi

Feat. Deadly Craw

Your breathing is ragged and your limbs have started aching. You can’t see much, except for the occasional streetlight, and the cold wind makes you shiver, despite having a coat on.

You know he’s still following you. The man whose name puts fear into the bravest of hearts. And this time, his target is you.

Nobody knows what happens to his victims. Nobody knows where they go, what he wants, whether they live or die…although that arm of his probably provides some of the answers.

He wants you now. And if he finds you, you’re pretty sure there’s no way you’ll survive. All you can do now is hurry and find a public space, or make it home. Just leaving this deserted area - one you thought was a great shortcut home from work - will save you.

You aren’t sure if those are his footsteps you hear, or an echo of your own. But they’re there. And they’re getting louder, along with your heartbeat.

Your breathing becomes more rapid as you frantically turn one way or another, searching desperately for a way out. Your sense of direction seems to have deserted you; you can’t remember which turns you need to take to get the hell out of here.

Clutching your bag to your chest, you try to call someone on your phone only to find that the battery is dead after a long day of work. Why didn’t I charge it? You scold yourself. Why did I take this shortcut, why did the lights go out, why me why me why me why me–

The footsteps are getting louder, but you don’t dare turn to get a glimpse of what - or who - is behind you, after the first glance you took several minutes ago.

You saw his mask first, but didn’t think you’d noticed it properly until you saw the arm. Long, jet-black claws shining with the light of the street lamp he stood under. And that’s all he did. Just stood there.

You don’t want to know what he’s doing now. You’ve heard the stories. He will sense you stop before you even think of stopping, so when you turn around he is standing as though he was always there. And slowly he gets closer…and closer…and closer…and closer…and the last thing you will see before oblivion takes you is his claw raised high in the air.

It is frightening, yet beautiful, that claw. The way it shines in the air (according to rumor) is something you always wanted to see…but not like this!! You wail internally.

Before you know it, you’ve come to a dead end, with a single street light showing you that you’re all alone…except for him.

Whirling around, you see his eyes - one gold one black - and everything seems to freeze. Your legs feel numb and you find yourself falling to your knees as you continue to stare into his eyes. Your mind has stopped working, as has half your body, and all you can do is shut your eyes and hope it ends quickly.

He doesn’t raise his claw as the legends say he will; instead, he uses it to lift your chin up, making your eyes open in shock. He makes you look him in the eyes as he takes in your pale face and trembling lip.

The metal feels cold on your skin, making you shiver even more. Now that you’re just a few inches away from him, you can hear his ragged breathing through what looks like an oxygen mask. Two tubes emerge from it, leading heaven knows where. Above that are his heterochromatic eyes, shining.

The expression on his face is not something you’d expect to see in a man known through urban legends as Deadly Craw. It’s one of tenderness, making you blink once, twice, thrice to check if you’re not just imagining things.

The two of you stay like that for a while, and soon you don’t feel as scared anymore, since it’s clear he’s not interested in killing you. You don’t understand why he followed you like this, but maybe you can tell him..?

“D-don’t scare m-me like that,” you manage to get out. “P-please.”

He just stares, his expression now neutral, before nodding and slowly taking a step back. He hands you your bag and offers his other hand to help you up. “Thank you,” you say shakily getting to your feet.

He gestures for you to follow him, and he takes you into a side lane near the path you were walking on.

He shows you the body lying in the lane, covered in blood, and points to the knife, then at you, making it clear what was going on. The he points at himself, then the body.

“That was your target?” You ask, stunned. He nods. “And your target was after me?” He nods again.

You wonder when he noticed the knife on the target, or if he did at all, before killing the person. But indirectly, he did save your life, and you really are grateful you’re not dead right now.

“Thank you.” That’s all you can think of saying at the moment. “Thank you for saving me.”

He nods again, and steps forward so that he is right in front of you again. Heart beating loudly, you tense up…only to see him gently run a thumb across your lip, the soft expression returning to his eyes. His touch now makes you feel relaxed, and just that understanding shocks you.

To distract yourself, you try to focus on something else. Your attention is drawn to his non-scary hand, whose fingernails are as black as the rest of his clothing.

He moves the hand to your cheek and waits.

“Can you talk?” You ask, an idea springing in your mind.

He shrugs.

“Okay, can you text?”

He nods at that.

You don’t see the harm in having him on your good side, especially after what happened just now. And to add to it, you want to know him better…and feel his thumb on your lips again, though you would never admit that out loud.

Pulling out a paper from your bag, you write down your number and give it to him. Then, unsure of what to tell him, you gesture for him to lean his head, and you rest your forehead against his. You don’t know what you felt when you saw that gentle expression again, but you know if makes you feel safe.

Here you go!! I’ll add it to the masterlist later, I have a flight to catch soon XP