Chapter Text
"Come on! How is my hair already tangled? I just detangled it!" You yell, trying to pull on the brush of your curly hair as Soda Pop plays in your bathroom. "I knew I never should've used Shea Moisture-ugh! Fuck, my hair!"
You feel the water ripple around you, and a grey man with long black hair is standing in front of you. His mouth opens, and you scream, punching him square in the nose.
"AH! PERVERT!" You scream, covering your chest and quickly getting out of the bathtub.
The man falls into the bathtub, water covering his face, and you panic.
"Shit, what do I do? Maybe I just leave him and call in his body in the morning? Yeah-that'll work! Everything will be ok!" You ramble, sliding down the wall to the tile. "I'm going to wake up, and everything will be ok!"
You get your pajamas from the counter and lock the bathroom door behind you, quickly running to your bedroom so your adrenaline can go down.
~~~~~~~~~~
While you relaxed in your room lit by fairy lights, the local news reported on the many disappearances of people in Korea, seemingly gone without a trace.
"Damn, that's crazy. Glad I didn't book my flight to Korea...I wonder if Zoey is ok," You say, looking at the ceiling.
You hear scratches from the bathroom door, and suddenly, the man from the bathtub knocks the door down, turning his head to stare you down. You make eye contact with him, and he steps backward toward the black darkness of your office space, concealing more and more of his skin until all you can see of him is glowing yellow eyes. You blink, and there's nothing looking back at you, only the shadow of an office chair.
"Fuck this shit. I'm not dealing with this tonight," You comment, locking your bedroom door and returning to bed. "Bought this nice condo in the bougie part of Metro-Atlanta, and now it got demons. I just can't have shit! First, the rent goes up by $200, now this!"
You grumble yourself to sleep, temporarily putting all your worries aside, and when the morning sun shines down upon you, you're refreshed. You open your eyes and see the same creepy man from last night standing next to your side of the bed.
"Just so you know, I'm not attacking right now because it wouldn't be a fair fight," The man says, immediately exhausting you.
"Listen...whoever you are. There's a rehab center nearby. You can get the help you need," You reply, pulling the covers back over your head.
"What-no?! I want your soul!" He screams, beginning to get adorably upset. "Take me seriously! I'm literally about to kill you!"
"Oh yeah? And so is my rent if it keeps rising."
You hear sniffling, and you sit up to see the grey man crying with hands over his face.
"Are you crying?!" You exclaim, getting out of bed. "Are you seriously crying right now?!"
"Stop yelling at me! It's not supposed to be this hard to eat a soul!" He cries, his wails getting louder.
"You can't have my soul, but I think I can offer a close substitute," You offer, crouching down to meet his eyes and moving his hair out of his face.
"Really?" He whimpers, his hands around yours.
"Yep. Follow me to the kitchen."
~~~~~~~~~~
"Here is some soul food. If it can be good for the human soul, then maybe it can be good for you," You say, giving him a plate of collard greens, cornbread, mac n' cheese, and fried chicken. "Try it."
He nervously picks up a fork and tries some collard greens, making his eyes become wobbly like jelly.
"It tastes so good!" The grey man cries, scarfing down the rest of the plate. "It's more flavorful than the souls I usually eat!"
"I knew you'd like it...Jelly. Do you mind if I call you that? It's just that your eyes look like jelly when you're crying," You ask, drinking a breakfast smoothie.
"Sure! You can call me anything! Please tell me you have more delicious food like this?!" Jelly exclaims, food crumbs all over his mouth.
"Uhh...I have some leftovers...wait a minute! You're not going to be up in my home eating up all my food!"
"Please! I promise I'll leave some for you!"
"Can't you find this same food somewhere else? You can't teleport into a restaurant's kitchen or something?!"
"No! It'll only taste good if it's from you or I eat it here!"
"You just got here! How would you know that?!"
"I just do! Please! Please! Please let me stay!"
"Now you're trying to move in with me?!"
"PLEEEEAAASSSEEEE!"
Jelly grabs onto your legs and becomes dead weight. You can't move and immediately fall down with him crawling over you with his legs straddling you and his arms wrapped tight around your back. His tears fall onto your shirt as he rubs his head on your bosom. You sigh, stroking the back of his head, and hope what you say won't make your situation worse.
"Ok, you can stay with me. But you have to promise me you're gonna be good and contribute to the rent, Jelly," You say, making the water demon squeeze you even tighter.
"OH! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I PROMISE I WILL GET YOU LOTS OF MONEY FOR THE RENT!" Jelly yells, kissing your cheeks.
"Great, now can you get off of me," You ask, making Jelly embarrassed. "Also, do you have a pair of pants you can wear? That Saja Boys t-shirt isn't covering anything, and I can certainly feel it."
"...sorry. So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Jelly asks, getting off of you and helping you up.
"Um, I don't know about you, but I'm going to finish the bath you interrupted," You reply, walking away from him and going upstairs.
"Oh! Oh! Can I join? I know everything about how to have a perfect bath. You know, since I'm a water demon and stuff, so I practically know everything about water," Jelly boasts, his chest puffed up.
"No! Why don't you watch some TV or something? Blue Planet is on, I'm sure you'll like that," You respond, going upstairs and draining the bathtub of last night's water.
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Jelly, I'm done! Jelly?" You call out, walking into the living room.
"Ta-dah! I got some pants!" Jelly exclaims, showing off his blue sweatpants.
"Oh, they look nice. But why are there stains in some spots?" You ask, looking at the brown smudges and spots.
"They were for free! They were in large blue box on the sidewalk-"
"Did you wash these before wearing them?"
"No...I mean, they still look good so-"
"Did you sit on the couch with these pants on?"
"No. I got them a couple of minutes ago once I heard the water drain."
"Good, now take them off."
"What?"
" TAKE THEM OFF! "
"I had no idea this relationship was moving so soon!"
"IT'S NOT!"
You throw his sweatpants into the washing machine, setting it on sanitary with a mix of scented and stain detergent. The entire time the sweatpants are being washed, Jelly is clinging to your arm, rubbing his head against your shoulder.
" My head hurts. " You think, mindlessly watching TV.