Chapter Text
Death is something many fear. Some would say that it is because we never know when it’s going to come for us, and that unknown scares us. While that is true, you’re different. You’re actually quite fond of the idea of death for reasons only you know.
Your mother had died in a terrible way, chopped to pieces by an axe, which caused your father to remarry a horrible woman who would never listen to you in the very short time you both have known each other. At least you got a nice sister out of it, you guessed.
But still, you always felt like you were alone in the world.
Except for when you were with him.
There was a man you knew who lived in the cemetery near where you lived. Well, you didn’t really know him, at least not personally. And “lived” isn’t really the right word. Maybe “laid”? Anyways, he is actually a tombstone of someone who died long ago. The tombstone itself was nameless and there weren’t any indicators of who he was back then. Still something drew you to that exact tombstone and you’ve been caring for it ever since, leaving a yellow rose to mark that you were there every day.
But at night, you were home sleeping.
Like what you were doing right now, at night.
Your family was gone for the night, watching a live show or something elsewhere, leaving you to your own devices - which you decided was to go to sleep. As you shuffle into bed, you slip under the covers and stare up at the ceiling until your eyes grow heavy and your mind goes numb.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. You sat up in your bed, wondering if you truly heard it at all. And then more knocks came. Groaning, you dragged a hand down the side of your face before forcing yourself out of bed.
“I’m coming!” You called towards the front door, but when you opened it, there was nobody there. Needless to say, you were confused. You stuck your head out of the door. You looked left, and then you looked right. There were hardly any signs of life. Your eyebrows knitted together as you shut the door.
“Stupid kids, ding-dong-ditching me-” A scream cut your words off, only realizing it was from you as you turned around and saw a figure standing right behind you.
Instinctively, you threw a hefty punch into the person’s gut. They reacted accordingly by falling over and rolling over in pain, coughing and groaning. Using this advantage, you dashed off and hid behind a nearby corner.
Though your breathing was rushed and your heart raced, you dared a single peek at the stranger in your house. The person was still on the floor but they were starting to get up. You watched, puzzled by the way they moved. Their movements were stiff and full of effort, as if they haven’t moved in years. Eventually, they stood up straight, and your eyes grew wide.
It wasn’t because they had a weapon or anything, but you were astonished to see in their shirt pocket was a wonderfully healthy, yellow rose.
You took a wary step out from your hiding place and the person immediately turned to you, yet they made no attempt to get closer. You took a step closer to them. They remained still until you were a foot away. The stranger moved their head slightly to look at you as your hand raised itself to the grimey, dirt-caked strands of grey hair and moved them away.
Behind that hair was the face of a young man - well, half of one. He was kind of missing a jaw. Still, aside from the missing jaw, what you could see was a very handsome man. He stared at you with stormy grey eyes, obviously taking you in.
“You’re him. The one I’ve been caring for.” You mutter. He doesn’t say anything, and he doesn’t move. It would have been very nice if you weren’t suddenly hit by the smell.
You pinch your nose and retch a bit as the scent of rot radiates from the man. You can’t help but let out a nervous laugh, much to his confusion.
“Oh, haha, right, you were… dead. Um, yeah, how about we get you to a shower or something? Wait, you’re covered in dirt.” Your step mom would kill you if there was a speck of dirt on the floor. You think for a moment. Then, once a brilliant idea struck you, you sprinted upstairs and came back down with an armful of towels.
“Okay, new plan! Come with me to the backyard.” Though the man tilted his head to the side, you grabbed his hand and dragged him outside to the backyard. There, you grabbed the gardening hose, uncurled it and aimed it at him.
“You ready?” When he gave you a bewildered look, you turned on the hose and released a torrent of cool clean water at him, cleaning him from the grime. When you were sure you got every inch, you swiftly turned the water off and handed him one of the fluffy towels. Though he willingly took the towel, you noticed that he was glowering at you. You gave him a pout.
“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re covered in filth! And look, now you’re clean, okay?” He only grumbled as he began to dry himself off. With his stiff movements, you opted to lend him a hand and though you were sure you would have to burn the towels later, you admired how wonderful he looked now clean.
“Wow, you’re…” Your eyes trail down a little and you cringe.
“You’re still jawless. Oh, wait! I have something that we could do for now! Come with me!” You catch him rolling his eyes but decide to ignore it for now as you drag him through your house some more.
Eventually, you get to your room and start digging through your desk. He just stands around, examining the contents of your room until you finally come to him with a box of medical masks.
“Here, these were from a bit ago. There was a whole thing about a plague and… Anyways, use these to cover up that jaw problem of yours. If they get messed up or anything, I got plenty more!” You smile at him. He stares down at the facemasks and takes one.
After a bit of fandangling, he gets it on, and it sort of works! If you don’t look at it for too long. You clap your hands together and cheer at the fact that you solve such an odd problem. Then you find a whole new problem - you don’t know his name.
“Oh, um, so… I never caught your name!” The man blinks at you before his eyelids fall to give you the look of disbelief. He gestures to his missing jaw.
“Oh, right.” You think for a moment more, tapping your own jaw in thought. Then another idea comes to you.
“Can you write it?” Before he is able to respond, you shove a notepad and a pen into him. Surprised, he attempts to grab them but they both just fall to the floor. You both stare at them for a while.
“I guess you did just get up. Can’t really move too well, huh?” You brows furrowed as you thought again. “How can I get your name?”
As you think to yourself, you hardly notice that he started to walk around your room. By the time you do notice, he’s already in front of your bookcase. You watch him as he reads the spines of the books on your case before he seems to find what he’s looking for.
Gingerly, he takes out a book and slowly makes his way back to you. When he hands you it, you skim the cover.
“‘Aesop Fables’? Do you… want me to read you a bedtime story?” You look up at him and flinch back as you see the most deadpan expression on his face. He seems to sigh before shaking his head and pointing at the name of the book, tracing a line around ‘Aesop’.
“‘Aesop’? Aesop?” With it suddenly clicking in your head, you look at him with your eyes shining. “Your name is Aesop?” When he nods, you squeal with delight. You nearly hug him, but then remember that he’s still in soggy clothes.
“Okay. Hello, Aesop.”