Archive of Our Own ^beta

It had been a few days since Elliot was found by Yandere and was introduced to the other egos inside the manor.
Living inside a house this big was a new experience for him, as he had previously lived with his parents and was used to his small bedroom.

Now his bedroom was the size of his parents whole apartment and it had everything he could wish for:
A walk-in closet with all the clothes he could ever want and shoes he didn't even know existed, a queen sized bed with the fluffiest pillows imaginable and a huge bathroom with cabinets full of beauty products.
He still wondered how Dark, who seemed to be the owner of this place, could afford all these things.

This must've cost a fortune.

His bedroom had one corner which he used for recording tiktoks only. This is how he used to record back then, in his bedroom with the crappiest phone imaginable. But it worked for him. Most of the time anyway.

His parents used to tolerate his passion, but Elliot wasn't blind. He had seen the looks his parents exchanged, his mom worried about her son getting bullied for wearing these outfits and his dad's almost disappointed look towards him.
He knew he wasn't the son they wished, hoped for.

But since he moved in with the other egos, it was clear that being yourself was very important in this household.
He was told that he had only met about a third of the people who live here, and yet he could already tell that these guys were no ordinary people. Nevermind that his best friend wasn't even human at all, but rather an android who loved to film himself do some pretty impressive skateboard tricks.

Elliot wasn't sure whether he missed living with his parents or not. Sure, he loved his mom, his dad too, but here he could be himself without having to hold back on who he was. If it was for his own conscience or not, he couldn't tell.

The e-boy was currently looking through his bathroom cabinets, searching for the right colored nail polish. There was no shoot scheduled for today, but he liked painting his nails anyway, no special occasion needed.
Back when he used to live with his parents he never really got to wear nail polish. Sure, he sometimes used the clear polish his mom bought for herself, but he never painted his nails with any color.

This also meant that he had no idea which to choose to fit his clothes. He knew how to complement each colored top with the fitting shoes, but nails were something entirely different.

Deciding that he needed help, he grabbed a bunch of different colored nail polishes and made his way downstairs. He needed Yanderes' advice.

xxxx

The ground floor of the manor was unusually quiet. On normal days it was pretty busy in here, at least one ego could be found in each room, the twins always together of course.

Yan was usually found in the kitchen, preparing meals for the egos or just baking for fun. They were rather talented at cooking for them and their fellow egos did enjoy the food.
But today Yan seemed to be away from the manor, the kitchen uncomfortably empty and quiet.

Elliot hugged the bottles of nail polish against his chest, almost dropping one, and made his way towards the living room instead.
He stood in the doorway when he noticed the other presence in the room.

The head of the manor himself was sprawled rather comfortably across one of the leather couches, his black dress shirt rolled up at the sleeves and a book in his hands.
The demon looked up at the sound of the others' footsteps.
"Elliot. What a pleasure to see you downstairs after some time. I take it you have been busy filming?"

The e-boy nodded, swallowing. He was still a bit intimidated by the other, but he knew that Dark knows not to go too far when it comes to scaring the other egos. He wouldn't actually hurt him, at least not without reason.

"Yeah, I was pretty busy. Actually, do you know where I can find Yan? I need some advice and they could help me."

"Yandere and Bing, as well as some of the others left the estate just a few hours ago. They are on the way to a tech convention in Europe, I believe."

Elliot would have slapped himself if he could, without dropping all the bottles of nail polish in his arms.
Bing told him about that convention days ago, how could he forget?

Dark put down the book and sat up straight, looking at the other.
"What do you need advice on? Maybe I could help?"

Elliot's eyes widened.
"What? Oh, um, I just needed Yan to help me pick out the right color for my nails. Guess I'll have to wait for them to get back. I'll be on my way then. Sorry for disturbing you."
He had already started to turn around and make his way back upstairs when a hand grabbed his and stopped him from leaving.
His head snapped around to face Dark.

"What..."
"I could help you with that. This book is boring anyway. Come, sit down."
The demon mentioned towards the seat next to him.

The e-boy nodded, before he walked around the glass table in front of the couch and sat down next to the demon.
He placed the nail polish bottles on the table and let the other take a look at the variety of colors.

After a few moments of Dark's eyes switching between his outfit and the bottles, the demon began to sort the polishes by color, pushing all light colors to the side.
At last, he decided on a dark midnight blue nail polish and pushed it towards him.

"I believe this would fit rather nicely with your clothes. Do you need any help with painting your nails?"

Elliot looked at him questionably.
He was aware of the fact that the other wore eyeliner and knew how to make it look good, but he had never seen him wear nail polish. Not that he likes to look at other people's nails or anything. Dark just never struck him as someone who knew his way around other beauty products.

"I- yeah, sure. Why do you know how to paint nails?"

Dark took the bottle of midnight blue in his hand and sighed, getting lost in memories. It had been some decades since he had done something like this. It would take some time getting used to again.

"I used to paint my nails a long time ago. I was pretty decent at it too. But, let's not dwell on the past. Let's get started, shall we?"