Ghostly Presence|| Ghostface x Reader

A few days later you found yourself sitting at your desk tired from your research the night before. You hadn't given up on the idea of finding Ghostface you had just taken a break from how stressed you were about the article. You looked through the papers sat before you as Jed walked over with his hands behind his back. You gave him a confused look as he wiggled his eyebrows knowingly.
     "What are you hiding?" You asked as you tried to get a peak at what he was holding. Though he simply turned more to prevent you from spotting it.
     "Oh if you only knew," he playfully responded which left you even more confused. "It's out. The article," he said and your eyes widened.
     "Already?" You asked shocked. The gazette had a weekly paper and usually it came out later in the week you guessed as a way to see if Ghostface would appear in it or not. Though, to your surprise they had printed it Monday.
     "Yes, and guess who got front page?" Jed teased and you shook your head.
     "No way. Let me see," you said and he obliged. As he set the paper in your hands you couldn't believe it. There it was. The headline "Strength in Continuing," was printed in bold. The old rusted sign that said "Welcome to Roseville," had been perfectly framed and you smiled as you saw "photographed by Jed Olsen" under it. You appreciated his help.
     You smiled as you peered at the words laid out on the page before you. You read over it as you remembered that it was your work on there. That somehow you had made it to the front page. Bob hadn't mentioned anything about that. As you continued to look it over you smiled again as you read over the final paragraph feeling most proud of what you had done there.
     "As we continue to move through a time as desperate as these we must remember and focus on that which keeps us here. Keeps us fighting and hopeful for something better. Something that it seems the community of Roseville has more than enough experience in. Whether it be the lights of our shops that remain bright throughout the days and nights, our local baking events, or even coffee with a friend, we have not given up. It serves as a reminder to us, the ones that show our faces brightly displayed every day, that as we continue through our daily lives that we in the end are braver and stronger than anything that tries to terrorize us. That no matter what coward may try and hide behind the security of a mask in the end, that which we do not fear, cannot control us." 
     You looked up at Jed as you beamed full of pride that you had gotten your work there and he chuckled in response.
     "So, I was thinking I could take you out to eat in celebration," Jed said and you nodded.
     "That sounds nice," you responded.
"Somewhere new or?" Jed asked as you responded quickly.
"The diner. Their donuts are the best," you smiled and he chuckled.
"I think you mean their cinnamon buns," he said playfully.
"Ha- maybe for you yeah. Same time?" You asked and he nodded.
     Work had been quite easygoing that day as you didn't have as much to do as usual and you found yourself doing some extra organizing around the office. Some of your coworkers had congratulated you on your accomplishment including Samantha. Though, of course for others it meant they saw you as competition. Brad had given you dirty looks the whole day and you couldn't help it the one time you gave him a confident smile in return. He hadn't ever gotten the front page at the Gazette and part of you was glad to be able to rub it in his face.
     When lunch came around Jed drove you to your usual lunch place at the diner and you excitedly sat in the booth humming to yourself as Jed sat across from you.
     "Huh, I wonder what you could be so happy about," Jed joked and you rolled your eyes.
     "How did the pictures I took turn out?" You asked curiously and Jed chuckled.
     "They turned out... ok," he responded and you frowned.
     "They're bad huh?" You asked and he shook his head.
     "They aren't bad. You can just tell you're new to it," he responded.
     "That means they're bad," you frowned.
     "I'll let you see for yourself later. I have them in my work bag in the car," he said and you nodded.
     Before you could continue the conversation Bill had walked up over to the both of you and took your orders. He had also congratulated your article and said he liked the sentiment behind it. You thanked him before he walked away and smiled brightly again. Lunch was quite nice as you snacked on your usual food. Jed had talked to you about any future articles you wanted to work on before asking about your stories. You groaned as you explained how little you had worked on them with how busy and stressed you were. You really wanted to get back on those again and he encouraged you. Afterwards, he drove the two of you back to the office and you continued your work.
You rubbed your hands anxiously together as you walked towards the grocery store doing your usual run for supplies. You hadn't really spoken much to Sara and you had missed Josh's funeral. You felt horrible about it, but you also felt bad at the idea of going knowing that you knew Danny. In the end you decided it was best to just not go. Though, you didn't even know what excuse to begin using as you stared at the sign before you that hung over the entrance of the store. Part of you had hoped maybe she wouldn't be in today. Though, to your misfortune you saw her working the cash register the second you walked in.
"Just make this quick," you told yourself as you headed to grab the supplies. Just some stuff for the break room as per usual. Paper cups, plates, and some instant coffee. You knew where to find everything by now and you made your way through the multiple isles grabbing the things you needed. As you grabbed the instant coffee from the shelf you heard a voice behind you.
"Uh, hey," Sara said awkwardly as you turned to give her a small smile.
"Hey," you responded unsure of what to say.
"I read your article. It's pretty good," she said and you smiled as you nodded.
"Thanks, um Bob gave me the opportunity not too long ago," you said.
"Nice, that's your boss who likes the terrible coffee right?" She joked and you laughed.
"Yeah," you said as you held up the instant coffee.
"Look, I know it's been a minute but I was thinking we could hang out sometime soon again," she said and you nodded.
"Yeah definitely. I mean, I've been a bit busy with work lately but we totally can sometime," you responded knowing you would probably just make an excuse some other time.
"Sounds good, and hey I totally get why you didn't want to go to the funeral," she added and you nodded a bit surprised she mentioned it.
     "I'm really sorry about that," you replied feeling your guilt dig at you again.
     "It's fine, I just want to spend time with you again," she said and you nodded.
     You walked with her to the counter and said your goodbyes when she was done checking your thing out for you and you couldn't help the tears that started to build up as you walked back to the Gazette. You didn't have many friends and you were happy when Sara came along, but you knew that it couldn't last. Not with Danny being a constant threat in your life. It felt so frustrating knowing that he was the cause of this all. That you could've been happier recently. You spent so much of your time worried about him and he was taking everything away from you. You felt your stomach knot at the thought of the fact that you had betrayed Jed. Of course, the only person who ever understood you and you had hid all of this from him. Maybe, if you knew he would be safe you would tell him. Even if it cost you your own life. Yeah, you would tell him. If you ever even could.
     When you got back to the gazette you made sure you wiped any tear away that had managed to escape. You rushed to the break room hoping no one would interrupt you as the last thing you wanted to deal with right now was conversation with more people. As you stacked away the items you had gotten Jed walked into the break room and you gave him a small smile as he walked over.
     "You ok?" He asked as he helped you put some of the items away on the counter.
     "Not really, no," you replied as the two of you were the only ones in the break room.
     "What's wrong babe?" He asked and you shook your head.
     "Just talked to Sara a bit," you said and he nodded. "I never went to Josh's funeral and now I just feel bad. Especially because we haven't even talked much anymore. I just don't know how to keep friends," you half joked. He gave you a solemn look before he turned himself fully to look at you.
    "Don't blame yourself. Things have been tough and friendships need upkeep you know?" He said and you nodded.
    "Yeah, well I'm bad at that," you joked and he chuckled a bit.
    "Or maybe I'm just keeping all of you to myself," he joked and you smiled.
    "I'm not necessarily against that," you responded as you nudged your shoulder against his arm as the two of you continued organizing. After putting everything away he held the break door open for you as you went back to your desk and finished up on your work.
When you had gotten home you immediately started on dinner. You had learned a new recipe for some lasagna and wanted to try it. Jed had to stay at work a bit longer but he had said he was gonna come over after so you wanted to make him some food. So as you prepared the food you let the sounds of the tv fill up the background trying to focus on making sure all of the portions were correct. When he arrived you promptly went to open the door for him as he walked in with his work bag. He set it down on the couch before you headed back to the kitchen to ready the dinner.
    "Did you bring the photos?" You asked and he nodded.
    "Yeah, of course. Do you want to see them now or after dinner? I know you don't really have a lot of patience," he teased and you frowned.
    "Hey, I have... some," you joked and he laughed.
    "Do you need help?" He asked as you started to plate the food and you shook your head 'no'.
"Hey, thanks again for the photo by the way. It means a lot that you helped me with that. Plus, it just feels nice seeing your name with mine," you joked and he smiled.
"Yeah, maybe we can work on an article together sometime," he chuckled.
"Maybe with my skills and your good looks we could actually take down Ghostface," you joked and he bursted out in laughter.
"Yeah? You think so?" He asked and you nodded playfully.
"Yeah, in all honesty I think we could get somewhere. I've been working on trying to compile as much information I can on him lately," you said as you set the food down on the table for the both of you.
"Yeah? Like what?" He asked suddenly curious as he took a bite from his food.
"Just some general information from your articles and other news things," You said and he nodded.
"Well if you find out anything interesting let me know," he smiled.
"Will do," you replied though you felt your guilt start to pick at you again.
The rest of dinner was nice and Jed helped you clean up again before you had asked him about the photos again. You were a bit impatient, but you were excited to see how they had turned out.
"Here," he said as he handed you them. You took them quickly and groaned in annoyance as you saw your work. They had all been either underexposed or overexposed and a few had been a bit shaky leaving them with a blur. You looked through the photos you took of the sign glad that Jed had taken one for you before you got to the photos you had taken of Jed. Though some of the same problems were present the photos made you smile. Especially the one of him laughing. You looked up at him briefly and he chuckled as he saw your reaction.
"They're great," you smiled before you stood a bit taller to give him a quick kiss.
"Yeah, well you can keep those," he replied. You looked through the rest to see the ones he had taken of you and you didn't take too much interest until you saw the one that he had taken of you two kissing. "That one is for me," he said as you stared down at it.
"What?" You asked in a disappointed tone. You gave a small frown before nodding. "Fine, but we should take another some time," you smiled and he nodded.
"As may as you want. I just wanna kiss you more," he said and you beamed at him.
"That's exactly what I want," you returned before he leaned down and pressed his lips to yours again. The kiss was a lot deeper and longer than the other and you wrapped your hands around his neck as he put his on your hips. Though it didn't last as long as you had hoped when he pulled away and put his forehead against yours.
"I can't stay over tonight, but I can stay for a bit longer," he said and you frowned a bit.
"Oh ok. Wanna finish that movie we didn't get to last time?" You asked and he nodded.
"Sure, sounds good to me," he said.
He sat on the couch as you kneeled in front of your TV and put the movie back into the player waiting for it to start up. It was mainly just background noise for the both of you as you two always seemed to get lost in conversation. When it started playing you got up off the floor and headed back to the couch smiling as you caught Jed staring at you. He always had this look in his eyes when he looked at you. You couldn't quite pin it down, but it made you happy nonetheless seeing how much he liked you.

———————

     Danny smiled as he sat on her couch watching the tv as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair. He wanted to pull on it. Tug painfully until she cried out for him to stop only to continue. He wasn't very happy with what she had written. She fucking called him a coward. The same girl that fucking feared everything and kneeled down to him whenever he walked through her doors as Ghostface. Not without a fight usually. When did it happen? He thought back to the first night he had visited her. She didn't even try to fight back. She froze and just... allowed him. She thought she was going to die and she simply closed her eyes. Now whenever he visited she had stood her ground. She caved eventually sure, but she had really built up the courage against him. She was probably just getting used to it. He thought he would scare her more after what he had did to her pathetic friend and he did but he also saw the anger that flowed through her when he had appeared afterwards. In some ways it was frustrating to him, but in other ways he realized it was simply his plan in fruition.
     He felt the softness of her hair as he continued to think. This was simply his plan working. He had become everything to her. He had built her up only to break her down and repeated it. She had gotten braver but it was only because of him. Because of Jed. Jed had been so nice and supportive. In the past he would have scoffed at the idea, but now he enjoyed it. It started as a game for him and now he wasn't sure where Jed ended and Danny began. Now the game was nearing its end. He had put it off for too long. He wasn't sure why. Part of him didn't want to, but he just couldn't ever bring himself to go through with it. He couldn't imagine the perfect end to her. He had built all of it up and didn't know what he could do to her. No matter what he thought it just never sat well with him. It didn't feel... right. Maybe he just wanted more time with her, but he didn't want to risk going further. Nothing had been normal for him lately. He had been putting off his kills. He hadn't even stalked his next victim properly yet. It didn't satisfy him the same as it did before. Nothing did.
     He looked down at her as she started to drift off and for a moment he thought he could do it right there. Just get it over with and then he wouldn't be stuck anymore. He would go back to normal with his plans and he would get his perfect kill. Would anything even be as good afterwards? What if he regretted it?
Shut the fuck up, Danny thought to himself. Of course he wouldn't regret it. It was all he had planned for. It was a new excitement for him. Where had it changed?