Corpse was editing a song when he received the first call. He considered answering it for a split second before remembering.

He needed to stay away from her. She was going to fall in love with him, and realize after awhile that he wasn't worth it. That's what everyone had done, and he knew she wouldn't be any different.

He let his phone buzz loudly on the table next to him, ignoring it, letting his own vocals fill his ears once more.

He saw her contact name "baby" show up three more times before it stopped. She was drunk, he knew that from her Instagram, and he wasn't going to give into this again.

Every time he saw the contact name, he wanted to scream, but for the sake of it being so late, he resisted. He didn't make any moves to change it; he wasn't quite ready for that yet, but he didn't look at his phone anymore, turning it over the desk so he wouldn't see the screen.

Nearing the end of the song, finally feeling accomplished, he received a call again, and this time, he took a peek at the caller ID.

"Toast?" he mumbled to himself before putting the phone to his ear.

It was loud, and there was screaming. Corpse could tell everyone was drunk, and he immediately wanted to hang up the phone.

But Toast never called.

Before he could falsely conclude that Madison had used Toast's phone to call him, Toast himself started speaking.

"Corpse?"

"You need to get down here...

like now..."

"No, uh, the party is over.

It has been for awhile..."

Corpse jumped at the sudden loud screaming he could hear.

"Please!" He heard Madison sob, "I just want Corpse, please.."

His heart broke at the sound. What had happened to her? Why was she like this now?

"She's been sobbing for over

an hour. Rae says she's having

a panic attack over something

that happened over her break,

and because she's drunk too...

it's not going well. She won't stop

screaming for you. We can't send

her home in a cab because every

time we try to take her to a car

she runs, saying she needs you,

and will run to you if she has to.

She refuses to spend the night

here because, well, I think you

get it, she wants you and only

you. I don't know what's going

on, man, but I think it's time to

figure it out."

Corpse huffed, but grabbed his keys anyway. He had been to the OTV house once before for a small business meeting with some of the team, and knew he wasn't far.

"It's not your fault man. We

shouldn't have let her start

drinking. We knew she was

emotional and we didn't do

anything about it. I'm sorry

that you're having to help us

with this. I'll send Sykkuno

out since he's seen you and

no one else has. I don't wanna

fuck it up for you."

Corpse was scared. Absolutely horrified. He hadn't intended to see her this soon. He hadn't even done his hair!

He tried to calm his own nerves by listening to his favorite songs in the car, taking deep breaths as he realized quickly what he was doing. This wasn't just some girl, this was the girl he had accidentally fallen in love with. He had watched her sleep, and talked to her about the stars in his room. She hadn't even seen him in person, and yet, she was still so intrigued by him. Intrigued enough to want him when she was going through a mental breakdown.

He was hesitant to admit that he was slightly honored to be in this position. Corpse was unsure how bad this situation really was, but he knew he could try his best to make her feel better.

Because he would do anything for the girl he loved.

—

imessage

here

Corpse adjusted his face mask over his nose completely, nearly letting it touch his lower lashes. He had kept his eyepatch on, trying to stick to some of his privacy rules for himself, at least while he was in front of a house full of youtubers.

He saw Sykkuno walking towards his car, holding Madison's hand while talking to her. As they neared, he got out and slammed his car door shut, walking around to open the door for Madison. She looked up at the sound, face changing completely at the sight of him.

She ran to him then, hugging him as hard as she could as she sobbed into his chest.

"Uh..."

Corpse smiled and nodded at Sykkuno, dismissing him as kindly and quickly as he could, hoping he could tell that he wasn't upset from behind the mask. Sykkuno gave him an awkward thumbs up before walking back up the driveway and into the house.

"Maddie..." he spoke softly, hoping she could hear him. "Let's get in the car. I'm going to take you to your apartment," he whispered to her.

"No! No, please. Don't leave me, Corpse, please." She began to sob again. Corpse rubbed her back gently, trying to think of an alternative option. He knew what he could do, but that was different than what he should do.

"Fuck it..." he muttered, helping Madison get settled in her seat, going as far as buckling the seatbelt for her. "We will go to my apartment, okay?" he suggested.

She nodded eagerly, staring at him with wide eyes. She was unsure if he was real, was he in front of her?

As he sat down in the drivers seat, her hand found his arm, squeezing gently. He tried not to mention it as she did so the whole ride, in silence aside from her sniffles.

Feeling her touching him was making him incredibly anxious. Thankfully he had a hoodie on, because if it was skin-to-skin, he probably would've had a heart attack.

After about 15 minutes, they pulled into the apartment complex parking. Corpse looked over at Madison for the first time the whole ride, seeing her eyes blank and silent tears continuously falling down her cheeks. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to keep his own tears at bay. This was incredibly overwhelming. He was horrified, and he had no idea what was wrong with her. He didn't want to cause more problems for the poor girl.

He urged himself to be strong, just this once. He was doing this for her, and somehow that was enough to convince himself to let her into his apartment.

"Madison, I'm going to come around and get you, okay? Then we will walk up the stairs and into my apartment."

Corpse's voice snapped her back into reality, her hand releasing his arm, and her eyes finally filling with emotion. She nodded at him, staring at the small part of his face he did have exposed. It made him have an inner panic attack, but he ignored it. She was drunk, and wouldn't remember, he had convinced himself.

He got out of the car, going around to the other side. When he opened the door, she had already unbuckled. She stumbled out, still not quite sobered.

"We will go inside now, alright?"

Madison nodded, tentatively putting her hand in his as he started to walk in front of her. She just wanted to touch him all over, make sure he was actually in front of her, and this wasn't some twisted dream. He turned to look at her, shock filling his features. She squeezed his hand gently, begging him with her eyes not to let go. He sighed, trying to calm himself down as he lead her to his apartment door. He typed in the code to the smart lock on the front door, and opened it slowly. He was slightly embarrassed for a moment, being that he didn't have much furniture, before he remembered she had already seen this before.

"Maddie, are you okay?" He asked slowly as she continued to stare off into the abyss. He squeezed her hand a few times, seeing if that would work.

Luckily for him, it did, as her eyes met his one uncovered one. She was beautiful, even with red eyes from lack of sleep, and crazy hair from her partying. She was barely wearing a full shirt, and her jeans were accentuating the best parts of curves but he couldn't take his eyes off her face, watching as the emotions played out.

She started to cry again suddenly, shoving herself into Corpse's chest. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed, squeezing him tightly again.

He stroked her hair, trying to be comforting without knowing her boundaries. "It's okay, baby, I'm here for you as long as you need." He let her cry for a few minutes before realizing how exhausted he was. It was weird for him to feel necessarily tired, but he was so overwhelmed emotionally, his brain wanted to shut down. He knew Maddie must be feeling the same.

"Let's go to bed. I'll sleep on the couch, you can have my bed."

She whined, somehow finding a way to make herself closer to him. "No," she mumbled. "Please don't leave me alone."

Corpse sighed. This wasn't happening. So many new boundaries he'd thought he would never cross are all being obliterated in a matter of a few hours.

But was it so bad? They were both going to fall right to sleep after a night like this. It's not like they would do anything.

He considered convincing Madison to talk to him about what her issue was but reminded himself that she wouldn't do it. At least not tonight.

He realized that he shouldn't let her, really. She was emotional enough as it is.

"Okay."