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ticklishhpickle · 6 years

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Worth The Whisk (7/?)

Summary: When superhero Dan Howell gets paired up with fellow hero and arch nemesis Phil Lester for an important mission, he’s pissed beyond belief. But as the two are forced to work together to take down the evil Dr.Bickletwist, Dan finds Phil might not be as awful as he first thought…

Previous Chapter

Ao3 link

“Mate, you’ve got to be shitting me right now.” Dan deadpanned, looking at the old man with a look that would have made any sane person wither. The man just laughed.

“I am 100% serious right now, son. This is the only boat we’ve got left. We can give it a clean before you go, if that will make you feel better.” Dan turned his head to Phil, the withering look on his face slowly being replaced by one of mock enthusiasm. He shot finger guns at Phil purely because he knew it would make him cringe (and giggle).

“Well let’s get started then, shall we?”

Two hours.

It had taken them two bloody whole hours to scrub the entire canoe, stern to bow, of all residual mould, moss and… mice. Dan was bloody exhausted. He threw his lanky body onto the ground, moaning as he did so. Fisher Price simply burst into another fit of chuckles at this, not looking tired at all despite the laborious task they’d all just participated in.

Dan vaguely noticed the sound of lighter, youthful laughter and he cracked his eyes open. He didn’t even have time to react to being poked in the side before his hands were grasped by someone else’s and was gently pulled off the ground.

“Come on, Danny. There’s no time for rest when we have children to save!” The black-haired man exclaimed cheekily before plopping himself into the boat. Dan gave him one of his signature withering looks, but Phil was as unaffected as the old man was. Was Dan losing his edge?

Phil thanked Fisher for all his help, before asking him to detach the boat from the dock and to send them off on their merry way.

The boat rocked slightly as Dan rolled his long body into the canoe, cursing when his cape snagged on the dock. He stretched his legs out and realised that to sit in comfortably in this canoe, his feet would basically have to be tangled with Phil’s awkwardly. He cursed again, this time silently.

“Oh look at you two, all cuddled up! How adorable!” Fisher Price cackled, undoing the rope tethering the boat to the dock. Dan pursed his lips. Not this again.

“I’m sure you lovebirds will have a great time on your very private trip together. Snuggled up real nice on this boat.” Two oars were thrown at them which they barely caught. They looked at each other incredulously, then Fisher.

Dan wasn’t sure if he wanted to respond, and even if he had wanted to he had no idea how to. Despite his superior social skills, it seemed Phil didn’t either.

“Aha! That’s- that’s something! Thanks again for the help, Fisher!” Phil replied, voice an octave higher than usual. If Dan hadn’t been so caught up in his own feelings of awkwardness perhaps he may have noticed the blush that was dusting Phil’s cheeks.

Dan waved goodbye and mumbled in agreement, and with that, Dan gripped his oar tightly and rowed as hard as he could. He couldn’t risk hearing another suggestive comment from the eccentric fisherman.

His joints ached. His legs were numb. He felt like he was going to throw up.

“You know, Phil. It would be nice if you could get your foot out of my ass.” Dan snapped, wriggling to give himself more room but only succeeding in tipping the boat in the process.

“It’s not my fault the boat’s so small!” Phil squeaked out in defence, his bottom lip stuck out.

“Well it is your fault that we’re fucking failing this mission! We should have just busked again and gotten enough money to get a plane or something. Not just taken the first crummy boat we could find!”

“That is as much my fault as it is yours. Maybe you should have mentioned this earlier , instead of being a twat about it now.”

“Oo! A naughty word from such a pure man! Did something I say touch a nerve, ‘I-think-the-sun-shines-out-of-my-ass-man’?”

Phil gritted his teeth at this and gave Dan a look that would even have wilted Fisher Price.

“Dan. Shut up.”

“Oh what, like you did six years ago? Just started fucking ignoring me for no reason? There’s a thing called communication, Phil. Maybe you should learn it sometime.”

The boat rocked and Dan found himself clutching at the sides in desperation, scared of falling out. He looked to the horizon. There was nothing to be seen.

“Well I’m sorry I actually had social capabilities greater than that of a shoe and didn’t run away from basically everyone else at the academy.”

Dan’s jaw dropped at Phil’s words. He did not just say that. Tears welled at his eyes but Dan was quick to will them away. He wouldn’t let Phil see him like this. He was fine with Phil seeing him angry, but sad- that was something much more personal. Something Phil had lost the right to see the second he broke the best friendship Dan had ever had up.

How dare he? Phil fucking knew he got extremely anxious talking to new people, a problem he’d confided in Phil about in the days they were friends. And now Phil was using it against him.

He was brought back to his first day of superschool. Dan had been young. Twelve years old only, an actual fetus. Scared of practically everyone who wasn’t his big brother, the second he’d stepped into the academy he’d been shaking like a leaf, scared of the unknown.

“Mason, I’m scared.” He whined, nestling his head in his older brother’s embrace.

Dan had never felt particularly close to anyone in his family. No one except Mason. His dad was rarely there, seeming to be more interested in work than his own children. His mum had died when he was a small child, and as much as he hated it, he could barely remember anything about her.

Mason had always been amused, but supportive of Dan’s obsession with superheroes. And now he was the only one sending him off to superschool. As if his dad would care.

“Hey little dude, it will be okay. I have to go now, but you’re going to be the best superhero ever. I just know it.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so.”

And with that, Mason gently pulled him out of his embrace, smiled, and left him there in the Supernova Hero Academy. He was terrified.

His morning classes had passed rather slowly. He didn’t know anyone except the Ocean Liner, and even then they’d only met once for the admission interview. His familiarity with his trainer mostly resided in the fact that he was a huge fan of him, and had been following his work for years. Not actual personal contact or anything ridiculous like that.

Come lunchtime, Dan was sitting alone. That was no surprise. He’d always thought his real superpower was the ability to maintain superhuman levels of awkwardness in nearly every social situation.

He looked up from his sandwich (toasted with his own fire power) when he saw a kid about his age, black hair and glasses come sit next to him. The boy smiled.

“Hello, my nem’s Phil.” He said, sticking a hand out for Dan to shake. He has an accent, Dan noticed.

“Oh. H-hello.” Dan stuttered, looking at the boy with wide eyes before remembering to shake his hand.

“Are you alright? I noticed you looked upset during flying class.”

To say that he’d looked upset would be an understatement. Dan had been sobbing in the corner for most of the class, the Ocean Liner having to stop the class to calm him down. Dan would have liked to think that he was upset because he was bad at flying- but no, that wasn’t it. He was upset because it had felt just like the first day of primary school, where he found himself surrounded by strangers he had no idea how to talk to.

“I’m okay.” Dan lied, but his red eyes told a different story.

Phil seemed to contemplate something for a second, frowning a bit before he replied.

“Okay, but if you ever need to talk to someone I’m here, you know.”

Dan didn’t reply, but risked a peek at the boy’s face. His eyes were a brilliant blue, a hue so striking Dan could only compare it to that of the ocean. His large, but not jarringly so, nose was lightly dusted with freckles. They were so small you’d only be able to see them up close. His dark hair contrasted starkly with his pale complexion, and Dan felt himself grow calmer the more he looked at him.

“Thanks.”

Phil grinned, his smile stretching from ear to ear. The blue eyes seemed to sparkle as he did so.

“You’re welcome. It’s Dan, right?”

“Fuck. You.” Dan gritted out, fists clenched so tightly around his oar he thought it would break.

Phil simply raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, daring Dan to react, to throw a hissy fit or something of the sort.

“How dare you throw that in my face? I had no fucking friends in primary school because I was too scared to talk to anyone, and you think it’s okay to just make fun of that, you fucking prick?”

Phil’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something, probably to apologise, but Dan wasn’t having any of it.

“I fucking hate you! You know, I was actually starting to think you were okay-”

“Dan-”

“Shut up! It’s time for me to talk, because according to you I haven’t done enough of that in my life! You ignorant piece of-

“DAN!”

“WHAT?”

“The boat’s on fire!” Phil said, and suddenly Dan noticed that despite the ghostly look of fear painted on Phil’s face, his complexion was red, too red- unhealthily so.

He looked to the left of Phil and his stomach dropped as he saw the bright flames of vermillion scorching the boat that seemed even more pathetic in comparison.

“Fuck! Look what you made me do!”

Dan growled, immediately extinguishing the flames he’d inadvertently caused. His face was bright crimson now, partly from anger, but mostly due to embarrassment. (Nothing to do with the fire- he was heat resistant, after all.) Phil probably thought he was even dumber than he actually was now.

He quickly checked the exterior, then the interior of the boat. Nothing seemed to be gravely burn, shockingly. He heaved a sigh of relief, before glancing sheepishly at Phil to check that he was okay. Even though he’d been an ass he didn’t want him burnt.

Phil was leaning floppily in the opposite corner of the boat, clearly out of breath from the inhalation of smoke. Dan’s stomach twisted in guilt, and as little as he wanted to talk to Phil right now he needed to make sure he was okay (for the sake of the mission, of course).

“You alright?” He said, anxiously scanning Phil’s body for any signs of injury. “Yeah. Don’t worry.” Phil said, not looking up from the bottom of the boat. His knees were huddled to his chest and his forehead was visibly sweating. Dan frowned at this, even if Phil wasn’t physically injured he was definitely shaken up. Unfortunately for them both, Dan was in no position to comfort him. Not with the fight they’d just had.

The air was thick with tension now, and not the good, sexual kind you read about in gay fanfictions. It was the awkward, terrible kind where everyone involved knew there were things yet to be resolved, that probably were never going to be.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dan wondered if Phil really meant to hurt Dan like he did. If he really hated Dan as much as he seemed to for the past six years. Or maybe it was just something angrily spewed out in the heat of the moment, a stupid thing he would regret for days, weeks, or even months to come. Dan prayed for the latter.

He saw no further point in overthinking, and tried his best to accept the fact that the person Phil was six years ago when they were actually friends was probably long gone.

He inhaled, exhaled then hesitantly turned his back from Phil. He was still mad, the fact he’d nearly burnt Phil to a crisp didn’t change that, as guilty as he felt about it. Dan picked his oar up once again, his hands now slightly blistered from how tight he’d been gripping it during the fight and continued rowing. This was going to be just super.

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novelblujay · 6 years

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Chapter 2

Title: Breaking Walls

Genre: Fiction, Action, Dystopian Future, Original, Romance

Words: 4.6K

Rating: T

Summary: Puck is trying to have a semi-normal day, but with the new student in his class is putting his secret is in danger.

The teacher announced Sky’s arrival an hour ago, and Puck had spent that time staring daggers into the back of Sky’s head, pretending to shoot lasers from his eyes in order to set Sky’s small, messy, brown bun on fire. Suddenly, his hour long fixation was interrupted by a wad of paper hitting his face and landing in his lap. He turned towards its origin to see Wally staring at him, eyes shifting between the wad of paper and Puck. He opened up the crumpled paper, revealing a sloppily written message asking Puck to meet Wally by the restrooms.

Wally, then, quickly excused himself, took a restroom pass, and left, while Puck was still looking at the crude letter in annoyance. Puck rolled his eyes and followed Wally out to see what had caused him to rudely interrupt Puck’s staring. The teacher eyed him suspiciously as he headed towards the door, since everyone knew that Puck and Wally had a history of causing chaos together when no one was looking, but she did nothing to stop him from leaving. Puck exited the room, letting the door slam carelessly behind him. He was not in the mood for whatever Wally’s ridiculous antic might be today.

When he walked out he saw Wally leaning against the wall near the restrooms, trying to look cooler than he was. His naturally, bright red hair was a mess today, which wasn’t that unusual, but he was wearing decently new jeans, as it only had one hole, instead of the usual extreme wear-and-tear. He was also wearing his favorite zip up, with a logo of a skull being fired from a cannon that Molly had made for him. With his hair sticking out in random directions his pierced ears were hidden, he had both lobes pierced and the left side had three upper cartilage piercings. Puck had been the one to pierce him, since piercing and tattoos were seen as forbidden and taboo in the Upper Districts, and Molly couldn't bring herself to stab her brother.

As Puck approached, a pair of heterochromatic eyes looked up at him, full of concern and anger. Puck was thrown off by the look on the shorter male, as he usually only looked overly excited, bored, or confused. Seeing him look serious in any situation was off putting to say the least.

“You all good there, hun?” Puck asked, slowing his approach.

“Are you?” Wally huffed back. “You've been super spacey all day, and do you know the new kid because I can't tell if you're trying to undress him with your eyes or if you’re imagining stabbing him in the back. It’s not like you to be so distracted”

“I am definitely not undressing that… that pompous asshat,” Puck spit out, struggling to find an insult that felt right.

“So you do know him! What’d he do? Did he hurt you? Do we need to kick his ‘pompous’ ass?” Wally asked quickly with a hint of concern. Getting excited at the idea of a potential fight, he pushed off the wall and began bouncing side to side, throwing fake punches in Puck’s direction.

Puck shook his head. A small part of him wanted to say yes, but he knew it would be wrong. “Wally, I don't know him, and nothing happened. I just…,” he paused looking for a believable excuse, “don't like his face…?”

Wally’s eyes narrowed, looking at Puck as if to say ‘really’. “Sure… y’know I can always tell when you are lying to me,” Wally stated.

Puck scoffed at that comment since he lied to Wally about work on a daily basis, “sure you do,” he said bitterly.

Wally threw one last fake punch, this time hitting Puck in the chest and causing him fall back a little. The movement caused a passing teacher to notice them loitering. The teacher frowned and began walking towards them. Noticing he had drawn unwanted attention towards them Wally started back towards the class, and away from the teacher, with his head down and his hands in his pockets. Puck fell in step behind him. Wally looked back at Puck and whispered angrily, “well, have a legit reason or get over it, because class is boring with you staring at him like that the whole time.”

Puck angrily pushed passed Wally and hurried to sit down in his seat. He knew he wasn’t really mad at Wally but that Wally was the only outlet he had for his anger at the moment. He ignored the glare from the teacher, and Wally’s death glares, choosing instead to resume his staring contest with the back of Sky’s head. Wally had every right to be upset with him. His lie was lousy, but there was no way for Puck to explain his actions without giving away his secret. He could only imagine the hate Wally, and the others, would show him if the secret got out, and with Sky here, his secret being revealed seemed inevitable. All he could do was hope to scare the kid away from himself and his friends.

With the first half of the day done, it was time for lunch, and Puck made sure to sit on the opposite side of the cafeteria from Sky. He was hopping the girls would sit with him and he could forget everything and make the day not feel like the end of the world. However, when he spotted Molly’s orange and red hair come in, followed by Summer, he was quickly disappointed. He watched as the average looking girl, if not for her eyes and hair, and her shorter curvier companion each take a seat next to Sky.

Puck dropped his head on the table, ignoring whatever Wally had started whining about, in an attempt to make Puck act normally. Puck stayed like this, enjoying not being able to see anyone, until Wally decided he didn't want to be ignored any longer. Wally poked Puck’s head so that it rocked back and forth, while making the most annoying noises he could. Puck didn't respond and let it continue, hopping Wally would lose interest and let him wallow in self pity. After several minutes the poking got harder, before it stopped all together. Puck relaxed assuming he had won the war of wills. However, his luck from the night before hadn’t gotten any better, and rather than leaving, Wally stood quickly and turned towards Puck. Then, before Puck had time to question the strange behavior, all of Wally’s weight was thrown into his side, and Puck was falling from his seat and onto the cold, dirty floor. Still sore from yesterdays fall, he struggled to get up, yelling any curse words and insults that came to mind. The recipient of the harsh words was already long gone though, running towards the table with their friends on the other side of the cafeteria, laughing as loud as he could.

Puck stood up slowly, ignoring the majority of the room that was now staring at him. He looked towards the table were his friends were sitting along with the origin of his sour mood. He debated on whether he should sit with them, and risk being outed as a District 6 stripper, or go home early and take a nap in before work. Ultimately, he decided to risk it and sit with the others. As he got closer to the table Wally lunged over the table towards Sky, looking like he was going to kiss the new boy. Puck was thankful when Wally stopped short, to look at Sky’s face far too closely for anyone to be comfortable.

“Careful love, he might bite,” Puck announced as he reached the table. He sat next to Wally. “And I heard he might be a zombie, just look at those eyes. He is obviously dead,” Puck added, in hopes of getting the redhead away from the stoic brunette.

“Puck!” the girls yelled in unison, looking at him in horror and disbelief. The girls didn’t know about Puck’s angry fixation on the boy, and seeing outgoing, friendly, and charismatic Puck insult someone he had supposedly just met was a shock. Puck knew he was acting strangely, but he couldn't bring himself to care right now. His secret was in danger and being this close to Sky again was putting him on edge.

Sky didn’t seem to notice and/or care, he only looked over at Puck for a second before returning to stare at nothing. Wally had not moved away from his spot in Sky’s face, but started yelling when he saw the brunettes eyes move, “oo, oo, oo! Do that again Puck!”

Puck smiled slyly, sitting up and propping his chin on his hand, “you're going to have to be more specific, darling. Do you mean insult the zombie again,” he said, lazily pointing at Sky with his free hand, “or perhaps do you mean make Summer and Molly scream my name again,” he purred.

Wally whipped around to face Puck, with a face of pure disgust. “Ew! No! that's my sister, and that was crazy sexual,” he said, putting his hands up defensively.

Regardless of his previous mood, Puck couldn't let an opportunity like this go by. He sat up fully, using his extra height to tower over Wally and flash a predatory grin. “Why is poor little Wally jealous?” Puck asked. “If you would rather I give you that kind of attention, you only have to say so. I know how much you love being the center of attention,” he purred, putting a hand on Wally’s thigh.

Wally’s face and ears, quickly became as red as his hair. However, he refused to look away, and he brought his hand up to cup Puck’s face. “You can make me the center of your world, but you could never make me scream like that,” he said looking Puck dead in the eyes. Someone cleared their throat before Puck could continue, and the two boys looked at the other three at the table. Molly looked amused by her twin’s rare cleaver come back, Sky still looked dead, and Summer looked ready to rip the two apart. Wally quickly turned away from Puck and smacked the hand off his lap, focusing on his food, fearing Summer’s wrath. This only made Puck more upset than he had been before, as this was one of the rare times Wally was continuing with a comeback to one of Puck’s many attempts to fluster him by flirting, and the banter was helping him feel better. Too bad Summer was being a major buzzkill, as usual.

Summer glared at Puck, and gestured towards Sky, who had not moved or reacted in any way, and was arguably sleeping with his eyes half open. Puck knew Summer was mad about him acting like this in front of someone new, but Puck would make out with Wally - right here right now - if it meant making the brunette leave. He'd be disgusted afterwards and have to clean his mouth for hours, and Wally would definitely give him a black eye for doing that, but he'd put money on it being the best kiss Wally would ever get. However, after considering it for a moment, he decided nothing short of being held at gunpoint would make the brown haired and blue eyed boy react and maybe that wouldn’t even be enough.

He watched as Summer and Molly tried to have a conversation with Sky, even though he only answered with a nod or shake of his head, if he answered at all. Feeling irritated about the situation, Puck stood up dramatically, earning the attention of not three, but four sets of eyes. He glared at Sky making him look away and go back to looking dead. “I think I am going to go into work early today,” he announced. “You all have fun with that...thing,” he spit out, pointing at Sky with his chin, then turned towards the exit to leave.

Molly called out after him, but Puck was hellbent on leaving and didn’t acknowledge the call. His friends knew how stubborn he got, and that he could not be stopped when was in a mood.

He actually didn't have to be at work for another 6 hours, and even that was going to be early. He had originally been planning to be in school for the next three hours, but now that was no longer an option, so he decided to go home and take an extra long nap.

Puck woke up to his alarm blaring in his ear. He groaned loudly and sat up to silence the annoying beeping. If he went to work now he would still be an hour early, and he wasn't sure he wanted to be doted on and questioned about yesterday for that long. Instead, he decided he would stop by the black market and get a new table to replace the one that had been destroyed. Maybe that would help calm the wrath of his manager for his behavior last night. He was lucky he had been able to leave last night without getting a lecture from her.

Puck actually prefered shopping in the Lower District rather than his own district. The prices were significantly lower, but it matched the quality of the goods. However, it was a much more social place than any shops in the Upper Districts. Puck had even made friends with a few vendors, which is not an easy task. He grabbed a book Molly had lent him to read, and started walking to the market.

When he arrived at the market, he made sure he had all his valuables secured and only the amount he wanted to spend evident - he might be friendly with everyone in the Lower Districts but that didn’t mean he trusted everyone down here. He only had to wander through a few stalls before he found a table that was unsettlingly similar to the style the club already had. It was customary to bargain in the Lower Districts but, he never bothered with haggling for a lower price. He handed the greedy looking man selling the table the amount he asked for right away, hoping not to spend too much time at the stall and avoid getting swindled into buying things he didn’t need. The man was pleasantly surprised by this, so he offered to help Puck move it. Puck looked over at the large table and accepted the help, grateful for any assistance. Soon him and a group of younger boys were maneuvering the table through the crowds, to the club.

When they arrived, Puck asked them to wait out front so he could go around back to open the front door for them. The front door was always kept locked until operating hours which didn't start for another two hours, however the dancers were expected to come early for rehearsal and prep. As he approached the dark back entrance he noticed a figure sitting, slumped over next to the door. Puck assumed it would be someone who had gotten an early start on drinking and had already passed out, but the closer he got the more he started to recognise the figure. Loose brown hairs hid his face, but Puck had spent too many hours today staring at that sloppy half bun to not recognise it instantly. He quickly turned around, leaving the other there. The market boys were still out front waiting for him to open the door, but Puck just thanked them for their help and sent the confused group home.

Looking at the front entrance he wondered what his odds were that someone would answer if he knocked. With his recent luck the odds felt depressingly low. He let out a sad sigh and pounded on the door as hard as he could, not expecting an answer. However, his luck seemed to be turning around, and someone opened it soon after he knocked.

“Puck?” a small voice asked.

Puck looked down at the shorter girl, Lacy. She was one of the newer dancers, who hadn't even performed yet. “Lacy!” he exclaimed, “do you think you could get a few people to come out here and help me bring this in?” he gestured toward the table.

She gave a small nod then disappeared behind the door, letting it close behind her. Puck stood protectively over the table, trying to forget what he had seen at the back door. Sky looked like he was actually asleep for once, from how his head was hanging forward. Puck would have wondered how long Sky had been there except he wanted to forget about the boy entirely. Luckily, Lacy showed up a minute later with two of the male dancers and the supervisor. The supervisor looked at Puck in annoyance and then she saw the table beside him and burst into a loud laugh.

Puck looked at her with mild concern until he was pulled into a hug by the older woman. “First you fuck up the night and go storming off without a word. Then some boy comes looking for you, refusing to leave until he sees you, and now here you are on my doorstep with a new table.” She continued laughing and hugging the boy tightly. “You are almost more trouble than you are worth,” she said, squeezing Puck so hard he couldn't breath. “Almost.”

“I do what I can, love,” Puck wheezed out.

She let go shortly after, and started barking orders to the others, telling them where to put the table and to get back to rehearsal. Everyone except Puck. Puck stood next to the older woman trying not to stare at the grey hairs hidden in her dirty blond ponytail. Once everyone was gone she dragged Puck into her office by his ear, earning a chorus childish of oohs from everyone they passed. The door was closed once they were inside and Puck instinctively took a seat in the chair facing the small, makeshift desk.

The supervisor took her seat behind the desk and rested her chin on her hands, staring at Puck in amusement. “I am still mad about the losses from last night, but since you saved me some work by replacing the table… I’m willing to let it go. But, before I completely let you off the hook, I need you go deal with the boy camping out at the back door.” she stated simply, keeping an air of professionalism about her.

Puck wanted nothing more than to never see that boy again. He debated on which was worse, having to interact with the zombie one-on-one or suffer the wrath of his boss.

“I don't even know the kid. Have someone else do it, please! What if he is here to kill me...or worse!” he gasped dramatically, hoping he could avoid the situation.

The show got him nothing more than an annoyed eye roll from his superior. “He has been sitting out there for the past hour or so waiting for you” she said, matter of factly. “Even knew your name, so I'll take my chances with your life, this time. Now get out, you clearly need rehearsal time after last night's disaster,” she shooed him, waving her hands randomly around her.

Puck left the office slowly, pouting as obviously as possibly, but he wasn't given any attention. As he was passing rehearsal, to go to the back door, he stopped and peeked back at his boss, who was staring intently at what he could only assume were bills of some sort. He looked back at the group rehearsing and got an idea. “I’m going to go rehearse first, say nothing if that’s okay” he whispered over his shoulder. Getting no response from his boss he smiled happily, and pushed Sky to the back of his mind, assuming he would leave eventually if Puck never came out.

Rehearsal ended up running late, giving everyone little to no time to clean up and prepare for the night. Getting lost in the quick pace of work came naturally, and Puck completely forgot about the boy at the back door.

The night’s performances went much better than yesterday's, maybe even one of their best night ever. Puck was going around bragging that the good fortune was due to the lucky table he had bought, causing everyone to roll their eyes and laugh at him. Not needing to clean himself up much, Puck was the first one out, and what he saw at the back door made all his happy feelings drop instantly.

Sky was in the same spot and position he had been earlier, perhaps more curled in on himself for warmth. Puck froze not knowing what to do, honestly he was surprised the well dressed, sleeping figure had not been mugged, but then again this area rarely had any traffic. Puck sighed loudly and, started to move toward Sky, stopping when he noticed the peaceful rise and fall of Sky’s body pause before being taken over by short, panicked movements. Puck quickly moved closer and crouched down to look at the brunette’s face closer, he noticed that Sky was still asleep but extreme fear had taken over all his normally emotionless features, and tears were starting to stream down his face.

Alarmed, Puck grabbed Sky's shivering shoulders and started shaking him gently, in an attempt to wake him. This only seemed to panic Sky further, as he curled in on himself tighter, mumbling incoherent phrases that sounded like pleas for something. This only made Puck worry more and having never dealt with anything like this before he started shaking Sky harder, desperate to wake the other, “wake up! It's only a dream,” he yelled.

Sky’s eyes shot open, seeing Puck’s dark outline looming over him made him freak out further. Yelling, he pushed away, falling onto his side and curling into himself. “please…. please don't hurt me,” he whispered in a small voice, closing his eyes and covering his ears, like a small child fearing injury. Puck was at a total loss for words, he was 100% sure that with Sky’s build and muscle mass there were very few that could hurt him, and Puck was definitely not one of them. He looked around him for a hint on how to deal with this, but he saw noting that would help calm a person. The foul smelling alley was dark, filled with vermin infested trash, and surrounded by walls that were covered in all kinds of questionable substances - not exactly ideal for what he was currently dealing with. For a brief second he considered going to get help from inside, but then his boss would know he had let Sky sit outside for the last several hours, it had to be 3 or 4 in the morning by now.

He looked down at Sky and slowly sat down near him, being careful not to touch him. “Hey… hey it’s ok sweetie, I only want to help you,” Puck cooed gently.

Sky shook his head violently, rubbing his hair into the dirt and trash he was laying on.

Trying a slightly sterner voice Puck said, “hey now, don't get your nice clean hair all dirty and tangled because of me.”

Sky stayed balled up for a few more silent moments, but then he finally opened his eyes, and looked around the alleyway, seeming lost for a moment until he finally recognized Puck. He relaxed significantly and slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. “I’m sorry” he whispered, hair hanging in his face.

“It’s no problem, we all get nightmares,” Puck said gently.

Sky flinched at the word nightmare, but otherwise didn't move. “No..., I… I’m sorry for last night,” he corrected.

Puck blinked at him unsure how to respond.

“I came here today to apologize to you,” Sky tried again.

“Apologize…? For me punching that guy?”

Sky nodded, causing a leaf to fall out of his hair.

Puck had spent the past 24 hours despising this broken person before him, and he was starting to regret it. “Why would you apologize for that, you didn’t do anything wrong?” he asked.

“The man who you hit was there to meet me for business.” Bloodshot, blue eyes looked up to meet brown ones.

“Love, I am sure he would have been at the club last night even if you didn't have a meeting with him. Although, I question your idea of a business meeting location.”

Sky shook his head quickly, more hair falling in his face, “it wasn't my idea.”

Puck smiled at him, gently pushing as much hair as he could behind Sky's ear. “I don’t doubt it judging from how you looked in the club. Why didn't you come in today?”

“Didn't want to cause you more trouble…”

“What trouble did you cause before?”

“Me being their made that fight happen, bad things always happens around me…”

Puck looked at Sky in confusion, “the only thing you did last night was look dead and make people feel uncomfortable. I had hoped to change that, but I didn’t account for the the ass I ended up hitting. You are more than welcome to come inside in the future. As long as you don’t sit in center of the room looking like that, I mean really that’s like the best seat in the house. Leave it for people who actually like the show.”

Sky bowed his head lower than Puck thought was possible, “I’m so sorry! …And… that's not… I never said… I didn’t… l-like it.” The last part was mumbled so quietly that Puck wasn’t sure it had even been said, but he could see the tips of Sky’s ears turning pink.

Puck chuckled lightly and stood up, he offered a hand to Sky, much like Sky had done for him last night. “Come on, I’ll walk you home. You seem like you could use some company.”

Sky took his hand but kept is face angled away from Puck’s. Puck pulled the burnett to his feet easily, and they started walking back towards the Upper Districts in silence. Puck wanted to ask about earlier, often opening his mouth as if to speak but only letting out a sigh, when he saw how it made Sky tense up. They walked in silence, Sky staring at his feet and Puck lost in thought trying to let Sky lead the way without walking behind him. Honestly he wasn't sure if either of them knew where they were going.

Finally, after about an hour of walking, they reached the middle of District two. Puck slowly came to a stop. Sky noticed and stopped too, looking up to meet Puck's eyes nervously. “Sky...,” Puck began, feeling weird finally saying the other boys name. “Would you like to sit with me and my friends at lunch tomorrow?”

The corner of the brunettes lip turned upward for a second and he nodded slightly.

“Lovely, well it's pretty late and I have to get back to District 3, so if you’ll be alright making the rest of the way home on your own...” Puck paused and Sky nodded again. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, get some rest,” Puck said, smiling. He waved a small goodbye before walking back towards his house. He looked over his solder after a few steps to see the back of the brunettes head walking in the other direction. The sight made him smile and he walked home feeling significantly lighter than he had in a long time.

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