the sound of footsteps across the floor reached his ears as he slept. a giggling noise as he heard another pair of footsteps. he opened his eyes, the familiar surroundings of his apartment as sunbeams began to creep over his eyes. it was early. but he was late. last nights party had been too much and he had decided not to go anywhere today.

the sound of footsteps approaching his apartment. had someone broken in? for a cheap thrill? his husband wasn't beside him. long gone to whatever office meeting he had today. he could handle his alcohol better than victor after all. he reached for a pokeball but knew he'd left them in the living room, along with his belt. reached for a gun but found the night stand empty.

it must have been moved. so instead he just waited as the door pushed open, a familiar invader and one of the men he'd hired recently for his office.

his husband burst out laughing as he saw the confused look on victor's face, the young man shushing him in silence as they both began to burst out laughing. he had been made a fool of. again.

---

ruslan skye

Lana is already rubbing his eyes and hoping he’ll wake up in the alley he’d taken refuge in for the night. He blinked, taking a shaky breath and beginning to look for a way out. There seemed to be no end to the comfortable furniture. Plush love sets, nice leather recliners, colorful bean bags. And he felt the exhaustion of the night beginning to set in. How hyped up had he been at the party? How much adrenaline had coursed through him in a matter of hours as he wandered and followed his date through the hall? He’d almost watched @elliott and Victor start a fight. Over what, he wasn’t quite sure, but it’d almost happened and that had been tiring too. [break][break]

He found himself walking and walking and walking. The dream, rejected by a young man that knew better than to trust the sweet nothings of his mind, began to shift and turn. It felt disrupted and the scenery slowly morphed the further away form his lovely couch he went. “Hello? Mikey? Are you there? Can you hear me?!” he called out. Perhaps he could get his Dusclops to help him. After all, psychic pokemon were causing the disruption, right? Maybe it’d be weak to ghost or dark interference. His footsteps echo and as he veered one way, he heard the sound soft screaming, crying. Something smashed against the wall. He doesn’t flinch at the sound of glass shattering like he used to. He’s only grim as it happened. [break][break]

And then he heard giggling, laughing. But somehow, it’s not enough people to be the usual humiliation he face in his dreams. Usually that was at least five people, sometimes an entire class of kids. His class. He veered towards that instead, letting the dream move and change as it led him somewhere new and warped. Now that he thought about it, was his date lost in here as well? Had he knocked his head? No…he remembered hearing something about the inter dream zone announced before he lost consciousness. “Mikey? Are you with Victor?” he called out again tentatively. Though it felt like he wasn’t making any progress, he continued the hunt.


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+ victor evans lets explore this : )
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[attr="class","pokeclass"]

his hands gripped the sheets as his memories recalled the faded words that his ex had spoken to him, how he'd sat down on the bed to explain things to him. as if victor was an idiot and unable to grasp the fact that he was a cheater. dressing it up with pretty words and content. all while being hung on by someone else.

the shock caused something to tik in his mind. something to change. something to warp. it had been whatever had been controlled by the fact that he felt loved and safe. the things he'd kept buried inside him. the instability that danced along the edge of his mental state. it surged like a wave as he began to feel an icy chill wash over him.

until he heard something different. the sound of another voice. calling his name? a familiar voice but yet one he could not place with his head so foggy. so congested by memories of his past. but he knew that voice. he knew them.

---

ruslan skye

The nightmare continued to warp and shift. Almost like it rippled around and twisted from each step Ruslan took through the darkness. At this point he’s moving off pure instinct. He turned as windows appeared showing him a brilliant full moon, it’s big and yellow. Giant even. And then something wrapped and a big red eye opened. Any other sane person would’ve felt horror, but Lana immediately has tears well up in his eyes, relieved to see his friend again. “Mike! You’re safe!!” he sobbed reaching up to the Dusclops who carefully moved in to give him a hug. [break][break]

“Help m-me find Victor, I think he’s stuck s-s-somewhere in here too.” Lana explained before they continued forward. AS they did the doors seemed to feel more real. Like instead of just painted on you could interact with them. But every single one was locked. Lana tried multiple, and even attempted to send Mikey through some of them to take a peek inside. Not these doors. Dream rules, can’t peek. Probably because nothing existed until his subconscious mind fell through that void. [break][break]

He would rather not wake up in that nice penthouse again. It’d only make him cry. He kept trying until one of the knobs finally turned. “Hello?” he called out as the door swung open revealing something surreal, but intimate. Lana tried to shrink behind Mike but he held steady and even pushed him forward a little. This was their first lead they needed to keep going so they could escape. He saw two strangers, one Victor and its unfamiliar territory from there. His Dusclops locks eyes with the older man and is certain this one isn’t a figment of dream. He nudged Lana forward again. “H-Hey, V-Victor?!” he began red eyes unable to stop from moving towards the other two men in the room with him. “WE-We need t-to r-run.” He urged, his words struggling to come out now under sudden anxiety of being watched.


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+ victor evans lets explore this : )
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[attr="class","pokeclass"]

he couldn't hear lana at first. the sound of laughter ringing through his mind and ears as he tried to cover the latter. feeling eyes on him as he felt his stupidity seem to finally become clear. he had been too trusting. too willing. too nice. all of the things he had promised that he was going to be when he fell in love with his ex. he had become the fool. and now he was being revealed as such.

his body started to move as it did before. like a beast. wild and feral as he launched himself from the bed. fury and tears in his eyes as he aimed for the throat. ready to bite and choke his way back into the rage he had felt before. ready to break himself down by breaking whatever he could get his hands on. the fist hit his jaw, exactly as it had back then. forcing him back to the bed as he roared in anger.

another lunge and the gun kept by his bedside was cocked and pointed at his head. more laughter. 'pathetic'. just as before. the voice that haunted his nightmares. 'the animal i brought in going against me? you wish.' his eyes stung with tears once more as he bit down on his lip hard. blood leaking lightly from it. he was right of course. victor had always been an animal on a leash. and now he felt like it was choking him.

---

ruslan skye

Lana’s unease is justified at what happens next. Victor doesn’t hear him, doesn’t even see him and for a moment Lana thought this was just another nightmare. It had to be. But he didn’t get why he was here. The people are cruel, and while he doesn’t have the context to understand what’s going on he can tell for a fact that Victor is distressed and the other two are assholes. But that doesn’t’ even begin to help him understand what happens next. This is clearly a nightmare, because only a nightmare would show him this. Violence erupted and Victor is on one particular man who seemed unfazed. His cruel smile, the condescension of it all. Lana didn’t know him, but he already dind’t like him.
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Victor is forced back onto the bed and before Lana can even blink his target was on him, aiming a gun at his head. “WAIT!” The protest is ripped out of him in an instant and he can barely hear whatever words the man is saying to Victor. He just saw the hurt and the hatred there. His own heartbeat thrums in his chest but he’s frozen on the spot about to be witness to some kind of horror. Lana had never seen a gun fired off, and he had an inkling he might imagine it now. “VICTOR- WAIT-” his screams are almost guttural, backed by desperation and fear at knowing he could do noting to stop this.
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Lana had never been a strong individual, and moments like these highlighted that fact. Mikey is ready to drag Lana away, but he’s certain this is real. Or at the very least, the person Lana was screaming at was real. He also knows, form the way Lana was breathing and on the verge of tears, Lana wouldn't last much longer this upset.

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+ victor evans we-cant-unpack-all-this-right-now-john-mulaney.gif
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victor knew that if the trigger wasn't pulled now he would find a way to kill the other man. regardless of the ties that binded them and regardless of how he felt he knew for a fact that he would feel his hands wrapped around his throat one way or another. if he wasn't killed first. and he opened his mouth to tell him so as he heard the faintest of shouts. his eyes confused. because this wasn't how he remembered it. no one shouted his name. no one even knew that this had happened.

but he knew that voice. he knew that person. shaking his head he tried to come back to some sort of senses. to figure out why that voice was here of all places. it was too soon for him to be here. too soon for lana to see him. he would know about these horrors if he did. he would know what he had done.

the gun went off, shooting past his head and bullet grazing his cheek as it put a hole into the headboard. a warning shot. but they only ever kept one bullet in the gun. it was now. it was his time to strike while there was nothing in the chamber. but his mind screamed for his body not to move as he lunged towards his ex husband once more. internally screaming no as he felt his hands wrap around his neck and push him into the wall.

he tried to fight himself but the memory was too strong. the instinct too strong. "l-look away..." was what he uttered with a struggle as he kept his hands firmly tightened. he didn't want lana to see that he was vicious. that he wasn't behaving.

---

ruslan skye

The gun goes off and Lana flinched, closing his eyes instinctively and trembling as he opened them once more. The ringing in his ears was deafening but Victor is still alive, somehow. The dream had missed, but the nightmare isn’t over. “Ru-” Lana began to beg Victor to run, desperate to see the man survive but what happened was worse. Lana can’t breathe. He watched Victor lunge at the other man, hands clamping down like a vice on the other desk. There’s a muffled thud as he slammed the other into the wall.[break][break]

He can’t move, paralyzed at the sight. He wanted to scream but his throat was dry, and his muscles didn’t move. He couldn’t help but watch his date begin to strangle someone. And a small, hopeful part of him hopes to see him stop. It hoped that Victor would see the other go unconscious and drop him. But he doesn’t quit, and Lana is left helpless as he heard gasps and watched flailing limbs. His breath hitched when he heard Victor tell him to look away. He barely caught it, too horrified by the crime he was watching unfold. [break][break]

Hearing Victor acknowledge him for some reason made him snap. He began struggling to breathe, hyperventilating before he covered his mouth. Tears glimmered at the edge of his eyes ready to spill. But he can’t look away. And that is where his Dusclops intervened, rushing forward as Lana’s knees buckled with one step backwards. The ghost is quick to block his view and squeeze him into a hug.


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even the most loyal of dogs would eventually bite when pushed to far. when hit too hard. and as he dropped his grip and the body fell to the floor he could feel himself coming forward out of the forced state the dream had him in. his guts curling and hands aching as he realized what he had done. again.

how could he expect lana to come to him now? now that he had seen what he had done? what he was capable of? he would run. he would leave. of course he would. he would abandon him. leaving him to his own devices. back to the pit he had been in. this was why he had been so desperate not to be attached. this was why he had been so desperate to stay far away from others.

this feeling.

he couldn't help it though. now he was stuck here again. dropping to the floor he inched his way closer to lana, hand outstretched to try and grab him. to tell him that it was alright. it was just a bad dream and he didn't need to be afraid. after all that's what this was. just another one of his nightmares. never mind that the nightmare was a memory.

but he knows his eyes are still wide, and his face is still bleeding even in this dream as he reaches for him. "lana..." he needs the reassurance. he needs someone else to take hold of the reigns that have been left alone for far too long.

---

ruslan skye

His face is smooshed into his pokemon’s body, and he is acutely aware of the pressure around his back. But his eyes are wide, and wild as he heard the sound of a horrible thump on the ground. The sound of something falling to the ground. People didn’t fall like that. People flailed and struggled to catch themselves. They hated falling. It woke them up form sleep. Corpses fell like tha.t They had to. They were dead. Thy couldn’t wake up and catch themselves. The shaking gets worse, and he felt his teeth chattering through weak gasps. [break][break]

What the fuck? What the fuck was going on? Why was this happening? Mikey tried rubbing his back to calm him, but his trainer was too freaked out for that to work. And then Lana stopped breathing, breath hitching in his throat once again as he heard his nickname. He tensed in his pokemon grip turning his head to the side to look. Mikey hesitated before indulging him, moving out of the way but still steadying him. Lana peaked out from behind the ghost, locking eyes with Victor before he looked past him at what he’d done. “V…Victor…?” he whispered, his voice lost for a moment at he looked back at the man. [break][break]

“A-A-Are…a-are y-you ok?” he asked after swallowing hard. He didn’t move, squeezing Mikey to help him forward. But Lana could only hold it together for so long. “I-I didn’t mean-…” he began, voice cracking under the strain of the whirlwind of emotions he was feeling from witnessing something so awful. “H-He was-” Lana began crying, desperately rubbing his eyes so he could see victor’s hand. He was scared, and he felt so sad for him. And confused. This moment felt so intimidate in more ways than one. He shouldn’t have been here. He shouldn’t have seen that. But he had. His hand found Victor’s as he’s trying to hold back the sobs. “I’m-…I-I’m sorry-” he said squeezing the man’s hand trying to reassure him. Because while what he’d done was horrible….was it worse than having your brains blown out all over the bed?

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lana's hand in his, squeezing it as it was, happened to be a string tying them together. it was an imprint. a connection. an attachment. it was a delight for victor. he was reassured and not being pushed away. he was calmed. in his strange way anyways.

"it's okay... he can't hurt you now." never mind the fact that lana wasn't in any danger to begin with. the idea that the other man might be upset with what had happened escaped his brain at the moment. he inched closer to him, his free arm wrapping around lana's waist and pulling him closer. attempting to ignore the grip that he had on the ghost pokemon.

his forehead resting gently on lana's chest he took deep breaths. eyes closing to try and regain composure. there was nothing for lana to fear as long as he was there. the body on the floor began to fade away, and the other man was long gone. the one that his ex had brought to their former marriage bed.

all that was there now was lana with him in the room. no more guns. no more betrayal. a ribbon appeared, tying their wrists together with a bow. bright red and tightly bound it wasn't tight enough to hurt but firm enough that it was there. "lana... lana... lana..." they were there together now. and they wouldn't be separated in the dream again.

---

ruslan skye

Victor doesn’t break down like he does. Victor doesn’t cry like he does. Victor stood firm while Lana crumbled to dust. When he spoke, he sounded gentle and Lana only sobbed more, unable to control himself. He shook his head trying to protest Victor’s words. He’d never been in danger. He’d been ignored. The entire time…Victor had been the victim of something horrible, and his hand forced to do something even worse. And Victor was unfazed, and Lana couldn’t stop crying. He dind’t know if he was crying for Victor or for himself, but it wouldn’t stop. Neither did the shaking or the gasping, his body desperately trying to release the clusterfuck of emotion and also keep him breathing. [break][break]

Lana sniffed harshly swallowing hard and trying to speak. He dind’t protest as the man he’d only barely met a week ago pulled him closer. As he felt victor hold him, he slowly let go of Mikey, knowing he was steadied by someone else. “Bi-…Victor?” His voice was a mix of a squeak and a creaky door. All weirdly high pitched, praying anything coherent would out. He watched the ribbon on his wrist grow from thin air and tighten around his and Victor’s wrists. And as the other man chanted his name practically, Lana wrapped his other around them. He didn’t know what to do anymore. [break][break]

He wanted to wake up now. He had to. He was a mess. Victor was a mess. He’d been so scared. Scared of Victor dying, scared of becoming the next victim. He wished he could forget, but even with Mikey’s interference he’d seen most of it and his brain had no problem filling in the gaps. “C-…c-can we l-leave?” he managed thru soft hiccups and harsh sniffles. He was breaking down, losing it. When he stopped this…he would pass out. He knew it. He had to get somewhere safe.


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he was comfortable the way they were. resting like this. but lana wasn't. lana wanted to go somewhere else and of course victor was going to oblige. it was what he wanted.

his relationship with his ex had been a dog desperately following. and in this state victor had no problem with it being the same. he craved the stability that he once had. he craved the attention, even if it had been faked and fleeting. from nowhere the metaphorical leash and collar once more appeared in reality.

"you're the one in control lana, you can take me wherever you like." he said this, firmly placing the rope in the other man's hand and holding it there. "just tell me what you want." and he would do anything to make it so. if lana wanted to leave, then they would leave.

---

ruslan skye