Chapter Text
Finally,
Now everything can go back to normal.
And for a little while, things did go back to normal. Lankmann let Pastra go home, and he was finally able to sleep well knowing that he wasn’t going to be tortured the next day.
The next day, Pastra decided to just, take a break from YouTube for the day. Hey, he loves what he does, but he had been held hostage by a monster of his own making and forced to create content against his will for roughly a month. They deserve a break.
The day passed relatively uneventfully. It was a lot of making sure that people knew that they were still alive and well, and that Lankmann wasn’t a threat anymore.
Pastra walked into their room, without even turning the lights on, and flopped on the bed. It was night outside too, so it would be easy to fall asleep tonight.
Pastra cast a glance out the window. The moon was out, casting a soft glow over everything. It illuminated the trees along the street, the asphalt of the road, the figure on his neighbor’s roof-
Wait.
The what ?!
He gaped and leaned closer to the window. Sure enough, there was somebody strolling across their neighbor’s roof. At night.
The figure seemed to be wearing a top hat, giving them a very recognizable silhouette. And their limbs seemed to be more bendable than an average person. But that couldn’t be! There is only one person Pastra knows with bendy arms and a top hat, but he really shouldn’t be out here right now-
The figure turned towards Pastra. Glowing red eyes met their own. Pastra could see the figure jump, and then their foot slipped. The figure slid down the roof in a tumble of arms and legs, fell down past Pastra’s window, and tumbled to the ground in a frankly embarrassing pile.
Yup, that was Lankmann.
Pastra opened their window.
“I- Lankmann?! Is that you?” They asked. They didn’t need to raise their voice due to having a single story house, so Lankmann was sitting just outside their window.
Lankmann got to his feet, fixed his hat on his head, and remarked, “ A̵h̷,̷ ̴y̸e̸s̵,̴ ̴i̸t̸ ̴i̷s̷ ̷m̸e̶,̸ ” he chuckled sheepishly a little bit. “ Y̴o̴u̸ ̷d̵i̶d̵n̸’̷t̷ ̶h̵a̷p̵p̶e̴n̷ ̷s̴e̶e̷ ̴t̶h̷a̵t̵,̴ ̴d̷i̴d̷ ̷y̵o̸u̶?̴ ”
“I- yeah, I saw it. Are you alright?”
“ O̴f̶ ̶c̵o̶u̷r̶s̴e̵ ̶I̸’̵m̸ ̸a̷l̴r̵i̸g̸h̵t̵,̷ ̶P̴a̵s̶t̸r̸a̴.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̵ ̴s̷h̴o̶u̵l̸d̶ ̸k̶n̷o̵w̴ ̶t̸h̸a̵t̴ ̵i̸t̶ ̵t̶a̴k̸e̶s̶ ̶m̶o̴r̵e̵ ̸t̶h̴a̸n̸ ̶a̴ ̵r̴o̷o̴f̷ ̶t̸o̷ ̷h̵a̸r̵m̴ ̴m̸e̶.̴ ” Lankmann replied, projecting confidence.
“Well, that’s good. What were you even doing up there? It’s 8:00, it’s too dark for that.”
“ A̶h̶,̷ ̴w̷e̵l̵l̸,̵ ̷I̵ ̵h̷a̴v̸e̸ ̵n̷o̸w̵h̷e̷r̷e̸ ̶e̶l̸s̵e̶ ̸t̸o̸ ̶b̶e̵,̸ ̵s̴o̶ ̸I̸ ̷f̸i̸g̶u̴r̶e̶d̷ ̸I̶’̸d̴ ̷t̶a̸k̷e̴ ̵a̸ ̸l̸i̴t̶t̵l̵e̴ ̶s̸t̷r̶o̴l̸l̸ ̸a̶r̷o̴u̴n̸d̸ ̷t̵h̶e̴ ̸n̷e̷i̸g̵h̵b̷o̸r̴h̶o̴o̸d̵.̸ ̶I̶ ̴h̵o̴p̶e̴ ̶y̴o̶u̶ ̴d̷o̵n̸’̸t̸ ̴m̶i̴n̸d̷.̶ ” Lankmann answered nonchalantly.
Ok, there are several things to unpack there. Starting with the most glaring issue, Pastra questioned,
“What do you mean, nowhere else to be? Do you-“ Something clicked in their head. “-wait, you don’t have a house, do you?”
Lankmann frowned. He raised a hand as he started to say something, then paused, and lowered his hand. The silence was telling.
Pastra sighed. “Ok man, look. I don’t really want to leave you out here, so you can just, stay with me for now. Only if you want to, of course.”
“ I̷-̶ ̶w̵h̷a̵t̸?̵ ” Lankmann blinked. “ D̵o̸ ̸y̴o̶u̸ ̴m̵e̴a̶n̸ ̸t̴h̴a̸t̵?̴ ”
“Do I mean it- Of course I mean it! I don’t know where you’ve been staying, but I have a mattress in my basement that you can borrow. Now come on, it’s literally nighttime and you’re walking on people’s roofs. You’re going to fall again if you keep doing that.” Pastra said, opening the window wider and gesturing inside in an invitation.
Lankmann blinked again, then gingerly squeezed through the window. It was certainly strange seeing Lankmann in their house again, except it was stranger because Pastra actually invited him this time.
“We can talk more about this in the morning. For now, we should probably get some sleep.” Pastra said.
They pointed Lankmann to the door to the basement, then after he was down there, they crashed on their bed again. They should probably be more worried about the cryptid that they invited into their basement, but they felt surprisingly calm. After all, he wouldn’t hurt them. The two had made their agreement yesterday, and though Lankmann is many things, a liar is not one of them.
They fell asleep within seconds.