"Alright everyone! Today, we're going to try 'bonding'." 

Geno anxiously sat on the ground with the other kids, the crowd becoming agitated and restless. Excited murmurs and giggles were exchanged through fellow children as they all watched their teacher eagerly. Ink nudged Geno gently, both kids exchanging matching expressions of joy. Their mentor, a slender rabbit woman, smiled at them and rolled up her sleeve to show a colored tattoo. "This is called a ''Rune'." She leaned in closer to the children and showed the strange black symbol off, earning little 'oos' and 'ahs'.
"This Rune is what connects me to my familiar." She took a few steps back and rose her arm high into the air so that everyone could watch. Their mentor spoke her familiar's name, causing the Rune to glow a bright green. Then, out of the blinding light, a winged-creature slithered into view, perching on the woman's shoulder. The children were ecstatic. Geno smiled widely, just as eager as the rest, watching the winged creature clamber down her arm and cling to it like a sloth.
"Familiars can be used for a number of different things," Their mentor went on, holding out her palm. The creature crawled out onto it and sat on its hind legs. "They can help with cleaning, gardening, combat; They are simply little things which want to help you." As she listed the following examples, the creature fluttered its wings and nodded along. The rabbit woman smiled and gave her familiar a gentle pat before it retreated back into her arm, the glowing green tattoo dimming to its original black.  "They feed off of your magic as a price for their help, though, so I suggest that you all be careful on how you use them!" 

The kids nodded their head in perfect sync, every last one waiting for the last part of their teacher's lesson. She sighed, noticing their eagerness. "Now then, almost everyone has a Familiar, some even have more than one or huge ones, but let's try focusing on small ones for today." She smiled and put her hands on her hips. "Who wants to go first?"

Immediately, twenty or so different little hands shot up into the air at once. The rabbit woman laughed. "Everyone seems to be eager! Well then..."  Her eyes scanned over the crowd before she pointed. "Ink. Let's start with you."

Ink quickly scrambled onto his feet, giving his friend a happy smile before running to the teacher's side. Geno smiled and sat as they demonstrated how to call, catch, and contract a familiar. By the end of the short lecture, Ink strutted back triumphantly with a small black tattoo on his hand, plopping back down next to Geno. 

For the rest of the lesson, each kid spent most of their time admiring other kids' markings or admiring their own until it was finally Geno's turn to go. "Alright Geno," The rabbit held out her hand. "Remember what you're supposed to do."

Geno nodded, smiling, and closed his eye-sockets. He brought both hands up to his chest and clasped them tightly together, as if he was praying. Quietly, he concentrated long and hard.

If anyone is out there... He spoke softly in his head, feeling his magic build up in his soul. Please... I'd like to be friends.

Geno opened his eye-sockets to the sound of cracking. He blinked, confused, until he turned to look at his teacher. He froze, meeting the horrified expression plastered on her once soft face. He opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but coughed when he felt thick blood splatter out instead of words. The kids all gasped, terrified. Hot and heavy tears flooded from his eyes and he tried desperately to wipe them away, but stopped when his right eye-socket began to crack and drip. Searing pain wracked his young, small body and sent him falling to the ground, convulsing in pain.

Before Geno finally caught up with what was happening, he was already unconscious.

~

Bondless.

That's what every doctor Geno visited had said for years.

Bondless.

A person which can never have a familiar due to certain circumstances or conditions.

Countless professionals all said the same thing,

"Not enough magic and a weak body."

"It isn't enough to sustain a contract."

"You can never have a familiar."

Geno bonked his skull against a wall, feeling small streams of blood dripping down his face as he silently replayed this over and over in his head. Sure, when he was younger, he was a bit weaker than the others... but that didn't seem to be a serious problem. Out of everyone in his class, he looked forward to having a Familiar more than anyone.

Not because he wanted someone to do stuff for him or anything...

Not to fight in useless arenas against each other until they ripped each other to shreds...

Geno was just lonely.

He looked up when a nurse worriedly pulled him away from the wall and pushed him back into his hospital room while her familiar carefully swabbed at the blood stain with a towel. 

"Geno, please be careful." The nurse frowned in disapproval. "You're about to be discharged."

Geno bleakly watched the familiar clean up his blood quietly as she continued to fuss at him. He sighed, holding a hand up to stop her fussing. "Right. Thank you." 

She nodded firmly and smiled. "Anyways, you have a visitor."

Geno frowned. That could only be a select few people he knew... but his parents are long gone, Error is off fighting with his familiars, and Fresh is working today... so that could only be one person. He sighed. "Where is he?"

She motioned to the door. "Right outside."

"Bring him in."

Soon enough, Geno gave his childhood friend an uneasy frown. "Hey, Ink."

Ink, which soon after he graduated primary school, became a familiar fanatic, inscribing almost every inch of his body (except for parts of his face) with Runes. However concerning this may seem, Ink turned out to have an almost limitless magic supply and seemed to attract Familiars like a flower to desperate bees. As soon as one of his familiars die or repeal their contract, a new one immediately seems to take its place in the form of a brand new Rune where the old one used to be. 

"Back in the hospital again, I see?" Ink chuckled, patting Geno pityingly on the shoulder. "How many times have you tried to summon one, Geno? Is this your seventy-fourth or seventy-fifth?" Ink spared a glance at the wall. "Geez, do you intend on painting the wall red again?"

"hey, Ink." Geno muttered again, his tone becoming more sour as he repeated his friend's name. 

"Hello, Geno." Ink grinned, sitting beside him on the bed. 

"Why are you here."

"I wanted to check up on you." Ink traced a few Runes down with his fingers. "You gotta give it up eventually, Geno. You're too determined."

Geno scowled down at his bed sheets. "I'll keep trying until it kills me."

Ink jumped. "What?! No! I won't let you!"

Geno glared at his friend, waving a hand. "I can't just stop, Ink!"

"Yes you can! You'll get yourself killed!"

Geno's hands balled into tight fists, resting rigidly on his lap. "Ink, our society nowadays DEPENDS on Familiars. I just- I can't be without it!"

Ink frowned, setting a gentle hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know you can, Geno. I believe that you can."

The other pulled away harshly, tracing the floor with his glare. "Surprising encouragement from someone which is covered in those damn things."

"Hey, at least I accept how I am." Ink shot back.

They didn't talk for the rest of the day.

~

Geno laid down in his bed the next night, utterly exhausted. 

That day had been tiring. Ink stuck by his side and refused to leave him alone, chaperoning him like some sort of five year old. Of course, Ink was a pretty popular summoner due to his condition, so it attracted the attention from a range of people. New summoners with their first Runes, popular summoners from entertainment, battle summoners which seemed interested in his collection, and even wise, privileged summoners stop to have a small chat with him. 

Exhausting.

Geno let out a small sigh as he heard his bedroom door creak open slightly, Ink poking his head in. "Yo, Geno, you alright?"

"For the umpteenth time today, YES. I AM FINE." He stuffed a pillow in his face to muffle his groan. 

Ink blinked before he smiled. "Just making sure." With that, the door shut.

He waited for Ink's footsteps to trail away until he couldn't hear them anymore until he sat up. He quickly relaxed his body and clasped his hands tightly together in the same pose that had sent him to the hospital more than seventy times. 

Geno couldn't give up. 

Quietly, in his head, he managed his words.

You #ssholes come here right now. I don't care what you look like, how smart or dumb you are, or how weird your stupid language is. Get your #sses over here before I beat you senseless with whatever I can find in my room.

He waited for the searing pain to spiral out from his soul and inflict another scar upon his body but nothing came.

Well, no pain had arrived. Something certainly did show up though. 

"You called, love?"

Geno felt all warmth leave him as a chilling voice cooed those three words. Slowly, his eye-socket fell open and he came face-to-face with a humongous beast made of black smoke and shadows. The air started to become thick as the room seemed to be consumed by its vantablack  darkness. He felt his soul's energy being contorted and ripped from his torso, sucked down into the void.

Yet, despite his unsettling appearance and his overwhelming aura, Geno managed to respond with a steady voice...

"You took your damn time."

Everything froze in an instant as the being went rigid. "...excuse me?"

Geno hesitated, pleading whatever god there is to help take back what he just said, but no god out there could ever stop his idiocy. Against his will, he found his body had disobeyed any rational reason as his tone elevated significantly. "I said yOU TOOK YOUR DAMN TIME!"

The creature, despite being ten times scarier than anything Geno has ever seen in his entire existence, seemed to have flinched at his words. It opened its mouth to talk but it appears that he had stolen its voice. 

Geno panicked, continuing his stupidity like an idiot. "WHERE THE F#CK WERE YOU? WHERE WERE ANY OF YOU??? WHAT THE LITERAL HELL WERE YOU ALL DOING WHEN I LOST MY EYE AND NEARLY DIED SEVENTY TIMES?!?!"

The beast shrunk back. "uh..."

Geno sprung up from his bed, pouncing on the poor creature savagely. "Bond with me."

The thing gave Geno an incredulous look. "What?"

Geno held whatever the terrifying thing was by its sort-of shoulders and gripped so hard that the creature winced. "I said Bond with me. No way in hell am I letting you leave otherwise."

"But-" The thing tried to explain something but Geno was already slicing a part of his hand to let blood seep out for their contract. 

"Hurry up." Geno mumbled, holding out his hand. 

Hesitantly, the thing gave him an uneasy look before it slipped back to its intimidating manner. Without another word, it dispersed into black smoke and slithered into the cut. It only took a few seconds for it to enter completely, but once it did, the cut immediately healed, a new tattoo encircling the base of his left ring finger. 

Geno blinked. "What the hell kind of place is that for a tattoo."

Its black ink began to glow a piercing cyan as the creature manifested before Geno, causing him to stumble back onto his bed in shock. Well, the thing appearing in front of him wasn't what scared him, it was what the thing turned into.

Instead of black shadows and a terrifying face, the creature now looked like a handsome skeleton adorning raven-black attire. Its eyes were as empty as the abyss and its cloak drifting around it as if it was still made of smoke and shadows. The creature gave Geno a sly smile and floated- yes, actually floated- over to him nonchalantly. "Aren't you a spunky mortal~."

"Wha- huh- the hell-?" Geno looked at his ring finger then back at the man levitating in front of him. "Huh???"

"My name is Reaper." The skeleton cooed, smiling. "And you must be...?"

Geno leaned against the wall, trying to take this all in. "how- wha-"

"Familiars can take many forms, love." Reaper smirked, utterly amused by Geno's shock and confusion. "I believe this one is most suitable."

Geno sputtered. "uuh-"

"Anyways, you were quite eager to form a contract with me." Reaper drifted towards the other side of the room as he laid back on thin air, folding his hands behind his skull. "Caught me off guard, actually. No one wants to bond with lil ol' Death."

"Death? Wait-" Geno straightened out a bit, suddenly catching up with reality. "What are you?"

"What else? A Familiar." Reaper smiled too wide to be convincing. 

Geno frowned. "No really, what are you?"

"I just said what I was."

"No," Geno gestured to Reaper's getup. "What are you?"

"Oh." Reaper shrugged. "The Grim Reaper."

Geno blinked. "The Grim Reaper?"

The familiar nodded. "The Grim Reaper."

Geno ran a hand over his skull. "Wow. That's-"

"Shocking? Terrifying? Exhilarating?" Reaper flew over to Geno, smiling. "Sexy??"

Geno shoved him away. "Disappointing."

Reaper fell onto the ground in surprise. "Ibegyourpardon?" Geno frowned at him as Reaper stared at him, clearly offended. "I'm THE GRIM REAPER! Shouldn't that be- I don't know- COOL? CRAZY? UNBELIEVABLE???"

Geno tucked himself into bed and rested his head on the pillow, messing with his glowing Rune. "How do I turn you off- I need sleep-"

Reaper seized his finger harshly, growling. "Familiars don't 'turn off', they are dismissed- BUT I'M NOT DONE TALKING WITH YOU-"

Geno closed his eye-socket. "Dismissed."

"Hey!" the familiar bonked his summoner on the head, clearly mad. "HEY!"

"What?" Geno hissed.

"I expect you to respect me as your familiar!" Reaper exclaimed. "After all, I can do a lot of things normal familiars can't!"

"Like annoy the hell out of me." Geno grumbled.

Reaper opened his mouth, then closed it. He took a deep, deep sigh and relaxed, drifting to Geno's bedside. "Nevermind love, just get some rest." He mumbled quietly.

"Finally ran out of steam?" Geno asked quietly. Reaper nodded, cradling his hands in his arms as he leaned a bit on the mattress. Geno lifted the covers up a bit and pulled Reaper up into bed with him. "Good. Now shut up so we can sleep."

"Familiars don't need to rest like this- aaaand you're asleep." Reaper started but then stopped when he noticed Geno was unconscious. He heaved another sigh and pet his summoner's skull, staring up at the ceiling quietly. "What did I get myself into..."

~

Geno stared at Reaper in disbelief. "It wasn't a dream."

Reaper, sitting on the end of Geno's bed, gave his summoner a quizzical look. "What wasn't a dream?"

Geno felt like crying from joy. "You."

His familiar smiled in confusion. "Why wouldn't I be real?"

Geno leaned forward and embraced the other tightly. "Shut up and don't ask..." he mumbled. 

Reaper hugged back. "Are you crying?"

"N-No." Geno sniffled. "Just years of broken hopes catching up is all."

Reaper frowned. "Hm?"

"nothing."  The summoner whispered.

They sat together for a moment more before Reaper loosened his grip and looked down at Geno. "I never caught your name."

"geno." the other answered faintly.

"Gnn? What kind of horrible parents would name their parents Gnn? It's like someone naming their kid 'Drr' or 'Fud'." Reaper went on worriedly, praying to whoever was listening that that wasn't his summoner's name. If it was, he'd be ashamed.

Geno chuckled at Reaper's fretting. He lifted up his face so that he was now looking up at his familiar and managed a smile. "Geno, you idiot."

"Oh thank the heavens." Reaper joked, wiping away a fake sweat and managing to get Geno to laugh some more through his tears. Reaper lifted a bony hand to carefully wipe away a few tears with his finger. "Are you sure you're okay, love?" he asked gently.

Geno nodded, hiccuping a little. "Why do you keep calling me 'love'?"

Reaper blinked. "I thought you knew."

"Knew what?" Geno looked at him curiously. 

Reaper smiled a little sheepishly and looked down. "Well, since we're now bonded, I saw your memories while we slept... and I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"You know the first time you ever tried bonding?"

Geno shuddered. "Can't forget it."

"Well, you see, you didn't fail in calling a spirit." Reaper continued quietly. "You called me."

"What?" The summoner looked up at his familiar, wide-eyed. 

"For someone so small and frail, you managed to call a Grim Reaper like me." Reaper leaned against the wall quietly, recounting the events from the past. "No one ever had caught my attention until I met you."

Geno gasped quietly in realization. "So the reason I was in so much pain was-" He turned to gain affirmation from the other.

Reaper nodded guiltily, not meeting the other's good eye. "I got too excited and tried to contract you as quickly as possible... you were far too weak and..." He hung his head.

They sat quietly next to each other.

Geno lifted a hand up to his bad eye-socket and sighed quietly. "I forgive you."

Reaper shook his head. "You can't. I messed up your life, you can't just forgive that."

The summoner gave him a challenging stare. "Would you prefer to serve me like a slave then?"

Reaper held Geno's gaze steadily before he closed his eyes and bowed his head. "If I must."

Geno blinked. "Wait, really?"

"I want to make it up to you." Reaper muttered, huddling closer to Geno. He carefully took Geno's left hand and held it up to his mouth, giving the glowing cyan Rune which bonds them together a gentle kiss. 

Geno's face fumed with color. He quickly withdrew his hand as Reaper smiled at him. "Well, you're not going to be my slave you weirdo."

The familiar tilted his head curiously. "Then what shall you have me do?"

Geno thought for a moment. 

Why did he want a familiar so badly?

G̴̨͠e̷̤̓n̸̖̆o̷̭̐ ̶̱̎w̸̮͊ą̷̏s̷͔̐ ̴̩̈́j̵͖̄u̷̩̚s̶̭͝t̵̯̔ ̸̝̊l̴̜͊o̷̢͆ń̶̠ẽ̵̗l̶̲̔y̴̳͛.̷̗͆

"Keep me company." he simply responded, resting his head on the other's shoulder.

Reaper blinked before a sly smile crept onto his face. "Oh~? Is that all?"

The other nodded. "That's all."

Reaper chuckled and kissed the top of his summoner's head. "Then I shall."

BONUS CONTENT! :D (or extra stuff I wanted to shove in XD)

"No, absolutely not." Reaper frowned.

Geno looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"You can't get another familiar." Reaper huffed. "You'll die from overexerting yourself.

"Oh." Geno scratched his face, shrugging. "Makes sense. Guess you're stuck with only me then."

"Good." Reaper wrapped his arms around Geno, bringing him closer. "I don't like sharing."

"Eh?" Geno looked at Reaper. Reaper simply patted his head and hugged tighter.

---

"Why is the Rune on my ring finger?" Geno asked Reaper one night. "And you never really answered why you call me love either..."

Reaper simply responded by getting on one knee and lifting Geno's hand back to his mouth, kissing it. "because I love you." He winked at him.

Geno's face grew warm and he scoffed. "Why?"

"Because the minute I saw you, I couldn't help falling in love~." Reaper purred.

"What the hell, that's not how it works-" Geno grumbled, pulling his hand away and lightly bonking Reaper on the head.

"Shall I take you to dinner first then~?"  He cooed, smiling slyly.

"Cool, free food- waIT I MEAN, NO." Geno shook his skull. "Are you really asking me out??"

"Nah, I'm asking to come in actually. Into your heart~."

"You cheesy son of a gun." Geno gave Reaper another bonk.