:September 30th, XX46; Monday.

:NEW WORLD.

•~~~~•

"Guess who's baa-aack~!"

Remy did a small twirl as he entered his bedroom, before collapsing onto his bed face-down with a dramatic sigh. Emile stared at him for a moment before giggling and sitting next to him.

"Who are you announcing that to, huh?"

"Them."

Emile blinked and looked up, at you. Remy flipped onto his back and looked up as well.

"Oh, huh."

"Yeah," Remy hoisted himself off the bed, "It's interesting, I can literally feel y'all watching me. I didn't wanna get back involved with this shithole of a plot, but... I don't know, whatever, I guess."

"You think you're gonna have main POV chapters now, then?"

"Seems like it, after what just happened this chapter is probably here to let all of them know what the fuck is going on in our lives."

"That makes sense."

A moment passed. Remy sighed and started walking to the bathroom, Emile following him. They started brushing their teeth, because yes, they felt the need to do that even though they were ghosts.

"Huh, not really sure what y'all need to know, but I'm sure there's a lot."

"Maybe you could just tell them what happened between the last book and this one?"

"Ah, yeah. You're smart, babes. Alright."

Remy abandoned brushing his teeth for that night, instead sitting on the closed toilet seat because he was also extremely lazy and had one of the shortest attention spans of anyone in this entire book series.

"Damn, wish the author would stop insulting me in the action descriptions. Anygay- uh... ah. Well, guess I should start with the fact my love and I aren't actually living in a shack anymore," he spoke, looking up at you all. "We got married- what a lovely day that was, by the way- and moved to where we are now after graduating college. Our house still looks pretty abandoned, and it is, but it's two-story, we have our therapy office on the first floor and a small living area on the second. Kitchen, living room- we got everything."

Emile finished brushing his teeth and started to wash his face. "We really don't know much about what happened with the Crofts', though- we only go by there when we're taking walks."

"Nah, but I can't imagine any weird shit has gone down. Their family is as sad and boring as my life was when I was in prison for ten years. I have encountered Patton's lovely brother a few times, and he's mostly just been a passive-aggressive bitch. He keeps accusing me of killing my husband because he's got nothing better to do with his afterlife."

"Rem, are you gonna get ready for bed or are you just gonna skip the routine tonight?" Emile asked, wiping off his face and going to stand next to Remy, carding a hand briefly through his hair. Remy hummed.

"You know, honestly, don't fucking feel like it."

"Well, at least don't wear jeans and a leather jacket to bed, honey." He smiled.

The two of them left the bathroom and got changed, in which Remy stayed silent because he didn't need passive-aggressive descriptions of himself being written while he was doing that. The two then climbed into bed and sat underneath the blankets, sides touching, Emile on his phone and Remy still looking up at you.

"Uh, what else is there..."

"What about now? With Joe?"

"Mm." He kept looking up. "Well, obviously, I wanted nothing to do with the kid at first because... ew. The Croft family. And when I found out I was related to that Logan son-of-a-bitch, my initial reaction was also ew, and then I realized that meant Joe was my nephew. Which was, also, originally even worse. But, ya know? That kid isn't traumatized yet- not extremely, at least, not that I know of. And the one thing the afterlife doesn't have that I wish it did was an adoption center, since kids who die are usually just sent to live with their closest un-living relative until they turn eighteen and can go do whatever the fuck they want. Unless they don't reach out for help, then they just wander, like Emile did- but my point is here, I have a chance to leave something else behind on this world now- and if I have a chance to have an impact on this hellscape then it's gonna be a good one this time. As his uncle, it's now my job to protect Joe from the dangers of this alternate-universe and the horrible men who are his parents."

"Do you think your overwhelming need to protect those you love comes from your heavy-set abandonment issues that you were left with after I died and our friend group broke apart, which happened during one of the most crucial times in your brain's development that it left a very large scar on the way you thought for the rest of your life?" Emile asked, not even looking up from his phone.

"I- Em, I don't need a therapy session right now, it's like... night. Or whatever."

"Well, we're gonna talk about this in the morning because I love you and I don't want you to do anything unhealthy, okay?" Emile put his phone down and leaned his head on Remy's shoulder, resulting in the latter smiling ever-so slightly. He took his sunglasses off from the top of his head and placed them on his nightstand before sighing.

"Fine, fine. I love you too."

The two of them closed their eyes for a moment. Remy wrapped an arm around Emile and laid down a bit more with a huff.

"Wonder what's gonna happen during however long this lasts," Remy thought aloud.

"Well, all we do is mostly up to the author, so..."

"And I found the book we're written into, so."

Emile sat up a bit. "Wait- what? When?"

Remy sat up too, with a chuckle. "Like, a few hours ago. I was gonna mention it but then the kid pulled us into his house." He cleared his throat. "I pretty much tried, like, the third page of Google, and I found fanfiction."

Pretty sure we're in entirely different universes, but good for you, my guy.

"Thanks. Looked more into it, though, turns out I'm the embodiment of sleep and you're a therapist that hasn't been fully confirmed to be gay yet," he continued. "The idiots are from a different series, Logan embodies Logic and Patton embodies Morality, which is ironic, since they're both stupid and murderers. And then Joe is just an original being the author made up."

"...Huh."

"Yeah. I'll probably terrorize the book's comments a bit before we go to bed. That's right, look out for me, y'all- my username is @/Gay_GhostCaffeinexx. Very original, I know. Maybe I'll leave a few comments on the second book and do whatever the fuck else with the one we're in. I'll just... comment on this paragraph, too, incase y'all are too lazy to search me up."

Emile giggled. "You have fun with that, Mocha."

"I sure will, my emerald beauty."

Emile moved a bit closer to his husband, laying down again with his head on Remy's chest, along with laying an arm in the same spot. Remy caressed his arm, noticing for the millionth time that his arms were covered in scars. That was another thing he hated about the afterlife, any marks that were on your body which came with death stayed with you. There was a knife-shaped hole in Remy's chest with a bit of the skin around it stained red, and Emile's entire torso was just... sad, to put it lightly. His neck even had a few bumps in it from his spine being put out of shape. Luckily, there were patches you could buy to put over those damaged areas, and specifically tinted skin-colored shirts and tank tops, so Emile and Remy both had a few of those lying around in their bathroom cabinets and their closet if they ever needed them.

"So... what about Joe, then?" Emile suddenly asked, taking Remy's hand in his own.

"You mean what I'm gonna do 'bout him, as his uncle? I don't know. I'll figure something out, I guess. I mean, I have access to the book so maybe I can ha- ...hmm. Well... that's an idea."

"What, hon?"

"I'll tell you later... if I can figure out how to work it."

Hmm.

•~~~~•
That's definitely not suspicious my guy,,

See ya in the next chapter!👓
~Maxx(SanderShipper)