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antics-pedantic · 4 years

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DYNAURA!!: PILOT PART 2

A documentary by Ciro Spirale and Tapes, the Recordobot.

Rex apologized for yesterday and obliged our request to follow him, encouraging a team-up. Nothing permanent: Rex was soured on full-time groups. But he did still enjoy meeting up with friends and allies from time-to-time. Which is why we found ourselves by the docks.

“Yeah just wait, two other super heroes are over here.”

After a moment, we caught sight of a figure dressed in black, with a pointy domino mask and short scarf. Jet black hair and outfit, with purple trim, looking off into the distance. She did not address us until someone else arrived from the sea, and more openly so.

“Hiii~!”

There was another: Resembling a golden brown-skinned Samoan woman, with a heavyset build. She was currently climbing the edge to stand on dry land with the rest of us, and she held up a small toy porpoise.

“Hey Taria. Where’d ya get that?”

“I was cleaning up some junk on the beach when someone offered me money for all the cans I collected. So I bought this from a boardwalk gift shop. I love it SO much!”

“…” the shadow warrior between the three leaned over slightly. Up close her form was rather gangly and awkward. She spoke in a low voice: “… ‘s cute.”

“I’m Taria, a warrior-mage from a community descended from Atlantis!” the aquatic woman introduced herself in a very bubbly manner. “Did you wanna hold the porpoise? Her name is Neptunia Petunia.”

Taria held up Neptunia Petunia. I studied the toy porpoise for a time—just about right for a gift shop item, or some carnival prize. When Tapes held the toy, he held it high and even gave it an affectionate stroke along its back before returning it. Taria seemed to like the moxie.

“Me and Rex have been friends as loooong as I can remember.” Said Taria, extending her arms out wide, almost as if for a hug. “But I was so busy looking out for my undersea home and studying hydro-magic we never got to play very long. But now we’re both super heroes and we can do anything!”

“Has he always been this depressed?”

“No, he used to be really vibrant. That’s why we got along! Did something happen again?”

“Ah, it’s fine. We were just worried.”

“Me too. I hope we can help answer your questions!”

Tapes and I looked to the ninja woman. She looked over at Taria and Rex, as if miffed that they put her on the spot like this. It was a few minutes of dead air before she finally spoke up.

“Hello. I am the Curious Kunoichi. No, you may not know my secret identity so please… respect that.”

“That’s—that’s okay, we’re actually here to ask about your hero work and nothing else. How did you get started? Did you lose someone and become this… brooding vigilante? Dedicated yourself to training and put on a mask, standing against those with awesome powers anyway? Do you come from a ninja clan?”

“Well I did become a brooding vigilante, but it was more like… I was really hyped to work with nonprofit organizations, government aid agencies... But growing up, some things did slip through the cracks: How these programs weren’t always doing as much as they could. Being undermined and embezzled. And as far as I know I don’t come from a ninja clan, I just like being stealthy so I trained in that. Now I fight street level baddies and corruption. And every now and then I help out with bigger problems. And then Taria and Rex help me out with the street stuff too. It’s really supportive and like, nice.”

“That’s fair. Do you find your field of expertise is in high demand, or?”

“For the most part. But some days it can be slow.”

We eventually found ourselves outside a café. Not at a table, but the three super heroes were squatting outside of the building like delinquents, poring over their phones. Looking for trouble to tackle, places and people to help. As well as googling dictionary definitions of words, plus twitter feeds. And there Tapes and I were, taking this photo in time of three casual do-gooders who weren’t really in the limelight. Waiting for various flavors of coffee and doughnuts, all fresh. That is, after they managed to pull together exact change. They wanted to save their larger bills just in case they’d need them later.

“Later tonight we might just hang out at my place or Kunoichi’s.” explained Rex, with a mouthful of chocolate doughnut, and sipping a fruity flavored milk tea after. “Usually we just sit inside a restaurant booth, but we’re not feeling it this time. Meanwhile if you’re like one of the… the Enforcers, you can go hang out in a skyscraper penthouse or a mansion. And not just here in Multiplex City, they got ‘em by Hollywood too. So… I guess, $ Cha-ching~? $”

The three finished off their breakfast before running into an explosion: Rex and Taria kicked forward. Rex quick to crack open some fire hydrants so Taria could get at the water. She naturally had an affinity for the element, and her mystical training reinforced it with magical power and her own life force alike. After that, Rex focused on blasting debris and carrying people to a safe zone. The two zigzagged across the street, through the air and bounced off of buildings in their attempts to reach every flame.

That left us with the Curious Kunoichi. She had us stay close: Her job was to try and find the source of all this, or at the very least some clue. Our journey took us indoors. Tapes had to stand close to shield me just to be safe. All the while Kunoichi mostly redirected people out of the buildings and away from the danger. But there was one straggler that didn’t run right away: A little girl, bawling her eyes out.

Kunoichi approached. The little girl backed up, before Kunoichi knelt down to meet her at eye level. Appear less imposing.

“It’s okay.” said Kunoichi. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Scary.” The child sobbed. More at Tapes and I than addressing Kunoichi. The little girl couldn’t have been older than six or seven years old.

“Only to bad people.” promised Kunoichi. “Someone must be looking for you.”

“Can’t find my nana.” the child finally sniffled. “Wanted to buy cookies and ran away again. Now everything’s bad and it’s all my fault. What if Nana’s gone forever? That happened to mommy and daddy.”

The white lenses of Kunoichi’s mask seemed to widen a little, before narrowing.

“No, that’s not true. You didn’t cause anything that happened outside. And your Nana is fine, we’ll find her.”

“I don’t wanna find out!”

I wanted to try and say something too. But Tapes put a hand on my shoulder, and whispered:

“PERCEPTIFY.”

Kunoichi glanced out the window to see that the danger was still raging outside. The source was clearly elsewhere. But she could leave it to her friends. There was something here she had to do.

“Some people I know—people that I cared about, disappeared too.”

“… And it hurts a lot.”

“Of course. But do you know what you can do about it?”

The little girl nodded her head no.

“Even if our favorite people disappear, they--” Kunoichi’s voice cracked a moment, as she searched for the words. “… They want us to keep playing and learning and all of that. And we can do that together: Be there for the people that are still around. And then nobody has to be afraid anymore.”

“Are you scared too?”

“Little bit.”

The kid gave Kunoichi a hug and didn’t let go.

“I’ll help you get outta here.” said the little girl.

Smoke in my eyes for a second. Tapes broke down a door and got us outside. Kunoichi was swift in her movements, leading us just outside where the fire department had begun setting up. We were there about ten minutes before the little girl’s grandmother was reunited with her. Tapes and I could hear them:

“Terry! Oh pumpkin, I’ve missed you!”

“Me too Nana! Don’t be scared anymore.”

“But how did you get here? Did one of those firefighters help you?”

“No, it was this nice shadow lady. She’s right here.”

But when they turned to see, there was a wisp from a fresh smoke bomb. The Curious Kunoichi had left as quickly as she’d arrived. We found Taria, who was helping to put out the flames.

“We spotted a giant monster up ahead!” Taria exclaimed. “Rex went ahead to slow it down. C’mon!”

Taria splashed ahead on a tidal wave she conjured. But as she did, police sirens and the heavy tread of tanks were ahead of us. And the firepower they laid down wasn’t far off either. But what was most astonishing was the fact that the kaiju ahead of us was scuttling away. And there was Rex, stumbling—and then diving forward to lash out at the armed force attacking.

We could hear commanding officers barking out orders, and a damning dialogue:

“ALL UNITS, OPEN FIRE ON THE ALIEN FREAK!”

Their machine guns had fifty caliber rounds. Tougher to brace against than a .45 handgun like before. And their explosive ordinance meant a hail of grenades and missiles. Just one soldier after another pouring on a storm of hammering violence. And still yet, they were assembling weapons I’d never even seen up close, including one that appeared to be a large truck carrying a long mechanical arm that extended outwards a satellite dish.

“THEY ARE EQUIPPING A MASER CANNON.”

As Tapes had informed me, Masers were for zapping giant monsters. The ordinance was beyond excessive. And instead of going after the monster, Rex was busy attacking the army, who seemed all too familiar with him. Tapes and Taria pulled me along. After the kaiju.

“Poor thing.” Taria muttered, looking up at the monster.

“But it set that street ablaze.” I pointed out. Taria actually frowned for once.

“Ciro, that’s not some size-changing supervillain. Many kaiju are just wild beasts. This one might be lost and confused. Maybe some have to be fought off, but that should only be if there’s no alternative.”

“And there is one now?”

“I think so… There’s no reason why we can’t help it and the people around here. C’mon!”

Taria moved ahead, dragging me and Tapes along. Careful to avoid antagonizing the giant monster as we tried to search for… whatever it was looking for. But we eventually did, because there were still a mass of people still within a bakery.

“What’s happening here? Don’t you know to evacuate?” I asked.

“I think you should see for yourself.” someone said. We three entered, found a pile of debris. And under it, at about the size of a motorcycle, was a creature. It resembled the one outside, albeit smaller and less developed. It cried out to its parent, while the people around it struggled to remove debris. Taria gestured for everyone to run while she dug out the baby kaiju.

“It wandered in, whimpering so I let it eat some cakes.” explained the baker who owned the place. “The big one—it showed up just after. A tank round or a missile-- grazed part of my building and trapped it. For crying out loud, it was just lost and hungry!”

“WE UNDERSTAND. WE CANNOT DO MUCH TO REPAIR YOUR BUSINESS, BUT MY HUMAN COMPANION IS CREATING A DOCUMENTARY AT THE MOMENT. WE WOULD GLADLY FEATURE YOU AND YOUR STORE—YOUR STORY, IF YOU WILL ALLOW US.”

“Of course. Thank you for the publicity—and people need to know what happened here. Will the baby be okay?”

“I BELIEVE SO. TARIA HAS BEEN VERY GENTLE ABOUT THE SITUATION THUS FAR.”

It was not long after that Taria was able to convince the kaiju to stop attacking. Tapes and I watched from a distance, but not far enough that we couldn’t see the baby kaiju ecstatic to have found its parent. The parent kaiju brought the child in close at the sound of nearby explosions, intending to shield it from further harm. The parent and child followed Taria’s path out towards the sea, wading away. The parent licking at the wounds of its young before becoming distant shapes and eventually disappearing.

We reunited with Rex after he served as a shield against one last silo of missiles. The barrage ended, the present military forces retreating for the time being. Rex was still on both feet. But Rex was leaning over, with his hands on his knees as he huffed fiercely. Out of a mix of tremendous anger and exhaustion alike.

“Have you often fought the army?” I asked, after Rex had begun clearing some debris before he’d leave again.

“Plenty. They got it out for me, worst of it was after my secret identity got out.”

“Why is that? They don’t want to work with you?”

“They don’t wanna work with anybody or anything they can’t control. Least of all an alien who might potentially be an invasion scout or something.”

“But you’re not here to invade.”

“No, but that’s the lie that got spread around after I was unmasked.”

Before we could get in more questions, Rex just rocketed off towards the skies. Tapes informed me that once Rex was over the city he’d broken the sound barrier and was currently climbing in speed until he’d cleared orbit and was on the surface of the moon.

“Why would he go up to the moon like that?” I found myself asking Taria. She and Kunoichi’s efforts to clean up were concluded and the city sanctioned services would have to pick up the rest.

“Favorite place to go when he needs to think, or he’s feeling down.” said Taria. “Sits on the edge of a crater. Sometimes Tugboat joins him.”

“Did he… go up there after his secret identity was outed too? After he was branded an invader in disguise?”

“Probably yeah. And for the longest time. But I don’t know much about that period… You should ask Kunoichi.”

“She knew him then? Were they on the same team?”

“Suffering south seas, no! Those guys were jerks.”

“I was something of a jerk myself.” said Kunoichi when we’d caught up to her and Taria had left to do other things. “I mean, I say I’m a brooding vigilante now but back then. I still shudder at all the dorky, and sometimes downright cynical stuff I used to do. Like, I may try to be a lone wolf now but back then I didn’t even want to be near anybody. Just wanted to stamp out corruption and focus on that so I wouldn’t have to think about anything else.”

“And how did you know Rex back then?”

“We’d actually had to team-up even if we didn’t want to. Well, I didn’t want to. He was really excited back then. Naïve, but… welcoming. It wasn’t just about saving people, he wanted them to see the best parts of themselves. Come together to make the world a better place and all that. It was hard for me to believe in then, but I didn’t want to shoot it down either. Not like his old team did.”

“Tell me about them?”

Kunoichi must have been rolling her eyes under the mask.

“Those greasy clowns? They made me look like a sunny day by comparison. Violent, impulsive, manipulative. But they also just hung out? Like: They played video games, watched TV, just hung out. When you’re a teen who doesn’t have many friends, you might jump at the chance to be part of something. Part of a group. That’s what made it so easy for them to control their underlings.”

“But they still struck Rex down.”

“They did. Rex was too idealistic to fully give in. Maybe they could pressure him into doing things or keeping his mouth shut, push him around. But eventually enough was enough and Rex tried to stop them. Of course they outnumbered him, and weren’t afraid to play dirty. That’s why he’s regarded so poorly. And why I wish I’d done something more back then.”

“SHE HAS GROWN FROM HER EXPERIENCE.” noted Tapes.

“What?” I asked, my train of thought briefly derailed.

“He’s right.” said the Curious Kunoichi, after a moment to process Tapes’s evaluation of herself. “Ever since then I’ve been trying to make my mission more than just wasting scumbags and breaking up racketeering rings. Rex and Taria, friends like them and more that I’ve gotten to know now. They helped me realize we should be ready to stand up and fight for the right thing. But also, there has to be something after the battle worth looking forward to. Something nice.”

And she vanished before our very eyes. It was a while before we received a phone call. And not one from Rex or his friends thus far. We didn’t even know if they’d met up to hang out tonight like they planned. And after we heard the message, were wishing it was just some late night prank call.

“Hello. I’m calling on behalf of Mr. Quark, owner and CEO of Quark Industries, AKA Shootsuit, head of the Enforcers. He’s heard about your work and would like to extend an invitation to join some of his Enforcers for a firsthand interview.”

“Oh. Well, I’m not really sure—”

“Both sides of the story, Spirale. See you tomorrow morning. I’ll text you the address and hour.”

Tapes and I looked over the text. We were slated to continue our documentary with members of the Enforcers, America’s premiere superhero team. Led by the celebrity’s celebrity, industrialist Tommy Quark. But what could he or any of his people have to offer us themselves? As intriguing as this was getting, there was a terrible feeling in my gut.

#Web Fiction

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never---ending---story · 4 years

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Wallll-EEEE

Possible Triggers: Swearing

Word count:3275

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Sawyer propped his phone up against a couple of books and took a deep breath. After a moment of contemplation, he tapped the record button and stepped away.

“Hi,” he started. “My name is Sawyer Matthew Jacobs..” he paused. “I don’t need to say my full name. This is the internet, Sawyer!” He leaned forward and deleted the footage. Sawyer wasn’t quite sure what he was doing. It was 2 o’clock in the morning and he had made a decision. In the screen of the camera, he stared at his reflection. It showed him and his messy light ash blonde hair. His eyes were still a pale blue, but this time red-rimmed. Pining over his best friend had started taking a toll on Sawyer because, sure, he could act normal around him, but when he was alone he thought about him. He thought about him all too much for it to be normal. So, in a moment of desperation, he wiped away his tears, set up a camera and decided he was just going to show the internet that he wasn’t a baby. That the Sawyer Jacobs they know and love, was not, as they thought, a coward. All 20 of them needed to know. He pressed record again and leaned back. He wiped his eyes and smiled at the camera.

“So, it’s, like, 2 am and surprise surprise I’ve been crying.” he chuckled, but there wasn’t a lot of humor “There’s this guy I like. I’ve liked him for a while and I saw this trend where people just kiss their crush? I guess?” he glanced at his feet and then back up “I really like this dude, and I don’t know how to tell him, so, I’m just going to hope that Tik Tok won’t let me down with their cute couples...Tomorrow is our weekly movie day. We’re watching Wall-E which I know is his favorite. So if the kiss doesn’t go well we can just go back to watching the movie. I hope.” he looked directly into the camera “wish me luck I guess?” and with that, he switched the camera off, feeling a bit more confident in his plan. Have Raffaello over, put on Wall-E, kiss him. He wasn’t quite sure what would happen after that. He hoped there would be something after that.

Eventually, he sighed and laid down once more. His fluffy white blanket never seemed so welcoming. So he slipped his shirt off and crawled into bed, falling into a not so sound sleep.

****

Sawyer stared into his closet, a frown growing on his face. He grabbed a white button-up and a blue sweater. He held the sweater over the button up and looked at it closely. A minute later he dropped it on the floor for later thought and pulled out a blue and white striped button-up. He tossed it to his pile a moment later.

The Pile of Clothes and Contemplation only grew and grew and Sawyer’s frustration grew along with it. He usually only spent a few minutes at most deciding his outfit, but today he was breaching into 30 minutes. As much as he hated to admit it, he knew why. He wanted to look nice. Not because it would make him feel better, but because he wanted to impress Raffaello. He wanted him to find him attractive and notice that he looked nice, or cute, or whatever Raffaello was drawn to. He sought his approval. He knew it wasn’t healthy of course but, he still did.

Sayer sat on the ground and buried his head in his hands. Is this how love feels? Because it sucks, Sawyer thought to himself. He gently rubbed his temples with the tips of his finger, and when that didn’t work he let out a brief scream that caught the attention of his roommate, Carson, from the other side of his apartment.

A head of red curly hair peaked in through his doorway.

“Everything alright in here?” Carson asked wearily, “It doesn’t look like it, but I feel like I should ask.”

Sawyer looked up at him and smiled gently at his cousin. “I’m okay,” he said gently, “but, I could use your help.” Sawyer pushed himself off of the ground and stood up.

Carson stepped into Sawyer’s room, returning the smile. He pushed his black, thin-framed glasses up the bridge of his nose. “What do you need?” he asked happily.

Sawyer pointed at the pile of clothes at his feet. “Pick an outfit,” he said, and he saw a mischievous glint in Carson’s eyes, “but!” he added just in case, “make me look cute. I know you’re straight, and that will be hard for you-”

Carson snorted and pushed Sawyer aside, crouching down and shuffling through the clothes “Please Sawyer, you can at least trust me in the clothing section of your life,” he picked up a plain blue shirt, looked at Sawyer, and put it back, “I dress fine.”Sawyer sighed and sat next to him “yeah, okay.”

Carson snorted and nudged Sawyer’s shoulder, “why do you want to look all pretty anyway?” he asked “is some boy coming over?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows before his face fell “if that’s the answer, please keep it down. Last time you had some guy over I was in a call with my publisher and-” Sawyer threw a hand over Carson’s mouth “I get it! Shut up!” he cried. After a beat of silence, both of them broke out into a fit of laughter.

Sawyer felt his nerves slowly drift away as he joked and shuffled through clothes with Carson. Carson Anderson was Sawyer’s favorite cousin. They got along, shared interests, and were just good friends. Both of them didn’t have siblings so, through the years they became friends. Carson was always a big help. He was smart, funny, and a trouble maker, just like Sawyer.

Carson pulled out a white buttoned shirt with blue stripes and smiled “This. White, black stripes-”

“Those stripes are blue you idiot”

“Shut up,” Carson said, staring at the shirt. His eyes lit up and he looked at Sawyer “grab some jeans!” he exclaimed. Sawyer picked up a pair of loose-fitting fitting jeans and Carson rolled his eyes. “Not those ones! The ones that make your ass look nice!”

Sawyer glanced into his closet and pulled out another pair of jeans “these?”

Carson nodded and threw the shirt he had grabbed at Sawyer. “Now get dressed!” and with that, he stood up and left the room. Sawyer was left to change and that’s what he did.

Looking in the mirror, Sawyer inspected his complexion. It turned out that he could trust Carson. Sawyer felt his lips curl into a smile. He stared at himself for a little bit longer and teased his hair with his fingers. His light ash blonde fell over his eyes and Sawyer made a face. He grabbed his purple brush from his bedside table and fixed his hair. Should he curl and then brush it to make it wavier? He didn’t have time to decide because someone knocked a familiar rhythm on the door.

Raffaello.

“One sec!” he called nervously as his heart picked up speed. He picked up a tube of mascara and twisted it open.

“Well, are you dressed?” Raffaello asked through the door in his sweet Italian accent.

“Duh,” Sawyer replied “I’ve just gotta do something,” he said walking over to his desk which had a mirror on it. He pulled out the chair and sat down. He held the mascara brush close to his eye when the door crashed open causing Sawyer to yelp in surprise and smudge mascara on his cheek. He turned around angrily.

Raffaello stood in his room with a grin on his face “If you're dressed I can come in,” he said. Sawyer rolled his eyes and opened the drawer of his desk. He grabbed a pack of makeup wipes and pulled one out. As he rubbed it on his cheek he saw Raffaello appear behind him in his mirror. He was wearing a simple red shirt and jeans.

“What’s with the makeup?” he asked.

Sawyer shrugged “I dunno,” he lied “I just think it looks nice.” In reality, Sawyer was doing it for the boy he was with. Raffaello had complimented him on it once before, so maybe it would have some effect now. Once he had got whatever left was off his cheek, he tried to put the mascara on again, and this time, he was successful. He smiled at himself and the mirror. He was thinking about possibly doing a bit more, but now he didn’t have the time. He turned to Raffaello.

“Alright Raph,” Sawyer turned towards his friend, “what should we do first?”

Raffaello’s smile grew and so did the butterflies in Sawyer’s stomach. “Well, I was thinking we get some candy and watch our movie? We could go down the street and get something from the store. Or the bakery. I just want a cinnamon roll.”

Sawyer chuckled a bit “How about we go to the bakery and then the store?” he said as he stood up. Raffaello nodded “sounds great.” he put his hands in his pockets all cool as if he wasn’t the most attractive person to Sawyer. He was so oblivious and Sawyer was upset and grateful at the same time.

Sawyer slipped past Raffaello to grab his phone and wallet.

“Oh, Sawyer!” Raffaello remarked “I love your outfit. It’s cute.”

Sawyer turned around to face Raffello. He felt flustered but smiled nonetheless. “Thanks, Raph” he picked up his phone and wallet.

Raffaello shrugged “ ‘m just being honest mio amico,” he said opening the door to Sawyer’s room. Mio amico: my friend. Sawyer’s heart dropped a bit, but he still grasped onto hope because of the fact that he knew Raffaello called everyone that. Not just him.

Sawyer rushed ahead of Raffaello out the door and grabbed his jean jacket off of the coat rack. Raffaello followed him out, and soon enough they were walking down the not so busy streets of Brooklyn.

Together, Raffaello and Sawyer walked to a bakery down the road from Sawyer’s apartment. It was a chilly afternoon, but Sawyer didn’t mind. He had gotten used to the cold of fall in New York City after living there for so long. Raffaello was not so accustomed. He had grown up in Italy for most of his life. Sawyer argued that Italy’s September weather was just like New York’s but, for some reason that Sawyer would never understand, Raffaello said they were completely different. So there Raffaello was, with a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck and face. He looked ridiculous.

Sawyer nudged his friend on the shoulder, “How are you holding in there? No hypothermia yet?” he asked with a smirk. Raffaello rolled his eyes and muttered ‘shut up’ behind his neatly done, navy blue scarf. Sawyer only laughed at him, tugging on the ends of the scarf’s fabric, to which Raffaello hit him on the shoulder.

“You’re such a dick.” he cried when Sawyer took his scarf off, “I hate you.”

Sawyer snorted “you love me jackass.” A mother passing by cupped her hands over her child’s ears to which Sawyer snickered behind his hand. Raffello looked at the kid and the back at Sawyer.

“Your fault, not mine” Raffaello teased “I don’t understand why I’m friends with you”

Sawyer only rolled his eyes ��probably because when you were 15 you got dared-” Raffaello put his hand over the blonde’s mouth. Sawyer shoved his hand away and laughed. “You were a dick in high school. Nothing’s changed.”

***

Raffello smiled at Sawyer as he slipped into the seat across from him. Sawyer smiled back if a bit confused. In front of Raffaello, he had a cinnamon roll. Sawyer smirked and swiped his finger across the icing and licked it off his finger.

“You’re a bitch” Raffaello teased to which Sawyer stuck his tongue out at him

“I may be a bitch but at least I’m not Italian” Sawyer replied. Raffaello looked at Sawyer, wholly confused

“What the fuck does that even mean?” The other said under his breath. Sawyer snorted and took out his phone as Raffaello happily started to eat his cinnamon bun.

***

Raffaello glared at Sawyer with his arms crossed. He tapped his foot impatiently. “Sawyer, you can’t sit in the shopping cart.”

Sawyer stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. The two did this often, and with Sawyer being the smallest he always tried to get them in trouble by getting into places he shouldn’t be. While Raffaello usually joined Sawyer in his shenanigans, he didn’t want Sawyer getting banned from the only grocery store within walking distance, so he had to put his foot down. Especially because Sawyer didn’t have a car and always took the subway.

Sawyer sighed and grabbed a shopping cart. “You’re no fun,” he whined, but Raffaello only laughed. “C’mon you, dork. We can get ice cream” Raffaello bribed. Sawyer’s face lit up like a kid in a candy store “Well what are you waiting for!” he ditched the cart and ran into the store leaving Raffaello in the dust.

When they finally found each other again it was because Sawyer was throwing candy at his friend. “I found chocolate!’ he cried running up to Raffaello who was rubbing the side of his face where a chocolate bar had hit his cheek. “I can see that,” he replied, picking up candy from the floor and putting it in the cart. Sawyer laughed and set a pint of ice cream in the cart as well as other sweets. He started shuffling through whatever Raffaello grabbed as the other boy looked at coffee.

“New York has terrible coffee,” he remarked grabbing a box off the shelf, “I’ve lived here for six years and I’m yet to find something good!”

Sawyer scoffed “That sounds like a you problem. Just because you’ve only ever had fancy homemade coffee doesn’t mean that American coffee is a sin.”

“You’re only saying that because you only drink iced coffee from Starbucks.”

“I’m gay Raph.”

“I know but that doesn’t mean Starbucks has good iced coffee.”

“Seeing as I’m gay that’s precisely why I like iced coffee. You’re Bi. You wouldn’t understand.”

Raffaello scoffed and tossed a box of coffee in the cart “whatever. I’m only getting some because-”

“You’re cranky when you wake up?” Sawyer mocked and looked up from a nutrition label he was reading.

“Because I ran out of coffee at home. I get mine online.” he turned to Sawyer “I already checked the labels by the way. No peanuts, you won’t die of an allergic reaction.”

“Yes,” Sawyer rejoiced quietly, “you’re an angel. What would I do without you?”

“Probably die of an allergic reaction.”

“I’m gonna die from all your sass.”

Raffaello rolled his eyes and looked at the cart, “you got way too much crap.” he said glaring at the pile of junk food.

“It’s okay! Carson got a shit ton of vegetables last time he was here. I’m balancing it out!” Sawyer said happily

Raffaello snorted “fine. Let’s get going though before I change my mind”

***

Sawyer gave his friend the remote and smiled at him “I’ll be right back. I’ve gotta use the bathroom” he hopped off the bed.

Raffaello chuckled “Have fun I guess.”

Sawyer snorted and left his room, walking down the hall to the bathroom. He pushed the white door open gently but it still creaked open. He sighed and stepped inside, closing the door quickly. He didn’t actually have to go to the bathroom, he had to calm his nerves. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked at himself in the mirror. From his blue eyes to penguin patterned socks, Sawyer deemed himself presentable. Not that he was worried about that though. He knew what he had told himself to do, and he wasn’t the kind of person to let things fall through. Then again, he wasn’t the kind of person to make a bold move and kiss his best friend either. Sawyer turned on the sink and grabbed his toothbrush, running it under the water. He had already brushed his teeth, but couldn’t hurt to do it again right?

Sawyer put a small glob of toothpaste on his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. The time went by quickly as he slowly counted to 120 in his head. He spit the toothpaste out and as he looked in the mirror he realized that using the bathroom for about 3 minutes was probably suspicious. So, he wiped the toothpaste off his face and twisted the door’s lock. He opened the door and quickly walked down the hall to his room. He opened the door and prayed that Raffaello didn’t notice that he was gone for 3 whole minutes.

Raffaello was on Sawyer’s bed, laying on his stomach as he gently chuckled at something on his phone. His usual neat dark brown hair was falling into his eyes a bit and Sawyer wanted nothing more than to run his fingers through his soft-looking locks. But before he could dwell on that thought any longer Raffaello looked over.

“Took you long enough to take a fat shit,” he said, trying to hide his laughter. Sawyer barked out a laugh and walked over, sitting next to Raffaello. The boy in red nudged Sawyer’s shoulder “you know what time it is?”

“Uh, -5 pm?”

“Wall-E time!” Raffaello pressed play on the movie. Sawyer chuckled softly and laid next to Raffaello. He felt his stomach flip as he looked at Raffaello who had a look he could only describe as pure happiness. The melody of Hello Dolly played from the speakers in Sawyer’s room and Raffaello hummed right along with it.

Pure bliss Sawyer though as he leaned his head into his friend’s shoulder as he always did on Saturday evenings.

About 15 or so minutes into the movie Sawyer felt his nerves bubbling over. The sheer anxiety he felt when he thought about what he was going to do. But, what was there to be scared about? He wasn’t dumb, he knew that something like this wouldn’t ruin their friendship. Either way, he felt like chickening out.

That was before he heard a small giggle escape Raffaello’s lips. It sent him through the roof. So far so that Sawyer looked over at Raffaello, grabbed his face with his hand and planted his own lips onto Raffaello’s. The boy he kissed squeaked in surprise, but what was even more surprising to Sawyer was that Raffaello kissed him back.

Laying next to Raffaello wasn’t pure bliss. This was.

Sawyer felt the blood rush to his cheeks as Raffaello adjusted how he was laying, to pull Sawyer the slightest bit closer.

As happy and content Sawyer felt at that moment it had to end eventually. Of course, it was in the dumbest way imaginable.

Raffaello pulled away and smiled “Wall-Eeee” he mimicked the character on the screen, though it didn’t sound the same because of his accent.

Sawyer glared at him and slapped him across his cheek “Are you kidding me? I kiss you and that’s your response!”

Raffaello laughed “what else did you expect me to do?”

Sawyer felt himself blush a bit more than he already was “I dunno! Tell me that you like me back? Slap me because you don’t like me? Not say anything-”

Raffaello rolled his eyes and kissed Sawyer to shut him up. It worked, and Sawyer melted right into his touch.

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