#slasher oc

“…Oh.” You stopped dead. “That kind of salacious.” 

You didn’t know how you hadn’t put that together yet. You’d heard more than enough urban legends about something horrific happening with some lonely dude working in a morgue who had too much time on his hands. But it’d never occurred to you to even think about that applying to Maxi. 

While you knew firsthand how seriously he took his work with the dead — seeing it more as his purpose, to hear him tell it, even if one he'd initially accepted reluctantly — you imagined no one in town had tried to bend your ear about anything to do with it when you’d first moved here for… other reasons.

Both because he was fairly involved in the community, always at city council meetings and donating to whatever fundraisers came around every season in the Mortuary’s name —

And because no one wanted to run the risk of mysteriously disappearing, even if the average Greymoon citizen was normally off his radar when it came to his night work.

“Yeah. High school was fun. Had a hell of a time tryin’ to find a date to prom." He grimaced.

“I guess it would be even worse if you showed up with Rora, huh?” you teased.

The Morvants had been a source of gossip for generations now, and while it wasn’t… entirely unearned, given the true nature of what was in their basement, even something as innocuous as the twins showing up together at an event with such massive social pressure would’ve been read with the worst assumptions possible. It likely would’ve caused the high school phone tree to combust with the sheer amount of whispers over the lines.

Maxi gave you a look that was downright withering, before glancing off to the side again. “…Hector had already called dibs for that one,” he mumbled. His lips flattened into a grim line as he met your eyes again. “You can imagine how that went.”

You paused, your own lips mirroring his at the thought.

Maxi was no slouch, but Hector and Rora were both too pretty for a town this small. They made no secret that they knew it, either, and you could imagine they never had. Especially as teens.

Combine that with the fact that the two of them were even more likely back then to stand in a corner and whisper judgmentally about everyone else in the room, and you could maybe, just a little, recognize the inspiration for some of the more… scandalous rumors that had spread about the two, back in the day.

You winced. “So that was a total disaster, huh?”

“Like gasoline on a house fire.” Maxi started counting on his fingers. “Hector spiked the punch with too much dark rum and half the attendees puked on the gym floor, including him. Rora followed him around all night tipsy and sulking about her ex-girlfriend being there with a new boyfriend, and finally had a full screamin' breakdown and punched a mirror in the girls’ bathroom so hard that it shattered all over the floor. But of course, it's not like she could tell anyone that at the time, so people assumed she was havin' a fit about Hex bein' himself and flirtin' with people throughout the night. And the two of them took his dad’s car, so I got stuck drivin’ the hearse there if I wanted to go at all. By the time I finally found the girl I'd wanted to ask to dance, I was so nervous and wasted that I had to run and hurl in the decorative shrubs before I could get the words out.” His smile was more genuine now, their teenage antics almost funny from the safe distance of decades. “By the end of the night, no one had time to give me shit about showing up alone, because all three of us were stuck drunk and teary in the principal’s office until Hector’s mama could come drive us home.”

You made a sound between a laugh and a horrified moan. “Oh, Maxi, honey. I thought my prom was bad. That’s just a nightmare.”

“The only reason my dad didn’t whip our asses was the group hangover the next day. He figured that was its own punishment." Maxi winced again even as he chuckled.

You caught yourself reflexively squeezing his hand, your stomach churning at the thought. Maxi spoke about Vincent's treatment of them like it was something casual, even normal, but still. The idea of anyone hurting the necromancers, especially as children, always made you queasy.

He shook his head, still amused and already past it. “I still can’t drink dark rum, even with a mixer. It’s like my stomach is bound and determined not to be embarrassed like that again," he chuckled.

“…Are there photos of you guys from Before?” you asked, trying to keep yourself from sounding too hopeful. “You know, corny poses on the front porch and stuff? Hex and Rora doing the traditional prom hug?”

“Hm. Maybe,” he mused, twirling the scalpel in his fingers again. “But Hex probably has ‘em under lock and key.” 

You blinked — that was unlike the cocky photographer you knew. “Why?”

Maxi let slip a giggle. “He says it’s ‘cause he can’t look at ‘em without rememberin’ the hangover." His voice was low and conspiratorial. “But it’s really ‘cause he still had frosted tips and doesn't want to cop to it. He thought he looked so cool."

Your belly-laugh filled the small office, and you had to put a hand on his chest so you didn’t fall off his lap from the force of it. “No, oh my god, you’re kidding me.”

Maxi shook his head, his eyes glittering at your grin. “Scout’s honor. …Not that I was one,” he added with a shrug. Then, somewhat sheepishly, he continued, “Besides, I can’t talk. I had scene bangs too early for those to be an actual Thing.”

“Oh no.” You erupted into renewed giggles, falling forward into his chest in attempt to hide them. “I’m not laughing at— at you, I swear, I’m just—“

Maxi kissed your temple before he added in your ear, his tone mock-seductive, “I’m pretty sure I was wearin’ fingerless gloves with my suit, too.”

Your giggles turned into another full laugh, which you failed to muffle behind your hands clapped to your face. “Stop,” you managed through your fingers, trying to collect yourself. “You’re gonna make me swoon.”

Maxi was giggling himself, but doing his best to hide it behind a faux suave expression. “Yep, that’s me. That’s definitely the effect I have on people. Clearly.”

He angled his head to catch your eye, and when you finally looked up, your composure mostly regained, he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

The two of you fully dissolved into laughter, Maxi half-clinging to you both so you didn’t slip away, and as if supporting himself by keeping you close to him. You leaned into the contact even as you both shook, pushing your head towards his chin as you hugged his ribs. He pressed kisses to the crown of your skull, the soft exhales of his laughter ruffling your hair as the two of you finally calmed down — only to share a small giggle again after you sighed in unison, both content and slightly exhausted.

You looked up at him to find him gazing at you over his glasses, any pretense of even joking suavity gone and replaced by wonder and affection. Like even after all this time, he was delightedly stunned to find you on top of him, sharing a moment of lightness between you about something that was once painful.

“…Hi,” he mumbled, smiling sheepishly when it finally clicked you were looking right back at him.

You felt a grin spread over your face in return, taking a hand from his ribs to cup his cheek. “Hi there.” 

Leaning forward, you closed the distance between you, and for a minute, you lost track of where the two of you started and ended outside of a soft, sweet kiss.

(like I said, it's just a snippet, but still. it made me giggle as I was writing it. :3

maybe I'll expound upon their prom one day, because I'm sure all three of them remember different things. or don't remember!! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ but this was the first time any of them had ever told me about it, so I wanted to share.