Chapter Text
Prologue
The woodchips crunched beneath my sneakers as I trudged forward, aimless and absolutely bored. The sound of joyous children filled the air of the small playground, with the small kids running around, climbing up the slides when they shouldn’t and laughing with each other.
Looks like fun. I found myself just watching all the kids play. Their smiles wide and toothy as they laughed together, enjoying their friend’s company. I didn’t have anyone my age who I knew and could play with.
The park seemed like a good idea at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was just a waste of time. Just a reminder that I was the only kid who didn’t have friends. Who didn’t belong.
A familiar shadow covered my frame, and a smile graced my face. “What’s up, bitch? Having a good time?” Chase said, his trademarked half-smirk adorning his features as his arms crossed in front of his chest.
I jumped up, “Where’d you go earlier? You just left, … and I was alone.” I said, trying to garner sympathy from him. He scoffed, “What? Can’t handle your boy going to the bathroom for a quick leak? Sheesh, you are a clingy kid after all.”
I shook my head, “I’m not clingy! I just want someone to play with!” I said, waving my arms wildly. His eyes pierced through me, and his presence seemed to shift. He knelt down on one knee, lifting his arm and lightly gripping my shoulder.
“Dude, I know I’m a likeable guy and shit, but come on. You’re at a park, and a bunch of other kids your age are here,” He said, gesturing to the oblivious kids as they ran around. “I think it’s about time you played with someone who’s your age and shit. Y’know, like a friend.” He said with a softness that Chase usually doesn’t give.
My eyes met the wood-chips below my feet, feeling my shoulders sink slightly. A friend? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be? Chase noticed my silence, moving his arm to nudge my chest.
He sighed, “Look, I know you have a unique situation and all, being Mecha Man’s son. But you gotta be free for a bit. And stop being a little bitch, just go find someone and talk to them like a regular person.”
I looked up at him, stealing my features, “I’m not like the other kids, though. Nobody would even want to play with me.” I said.
Chase shook his head, “Alright, enough.” His eyes zipped back and forth, scanning the public park with a focus he’d seen a few times when he’d watched Chase in action replays of him, well, in action. He looked back at me, “Pick someone, anyone, and go up to them. There’s plenty of fish in the damn sea.”
His arm extended in front of me, pointing at the general clumps of kids. I looked around the park, my eyes ghosting the many groups of children on the monkey bars, the slides and the sand box, finally finding its destination to be the swingset. It was your average swing, just a light orange piece of metal piercing the ground, with two pairs of chains coming from the overhead pipe leading down to a plastic seat connected to both. Atop the leftmost seat sat a small girl, who looked about my age.
She had her dark hair up in a ponytail, with curtain bangs sitting on her forehead, and a light purple sweatshirt with black shorts being her outfit of choice as she lightly swung on the swingset, her features aloof Her skin was caramel colored, and her hands gripped the chains tightly. Her mind was obviously somewhere else. Chase pinpointed where I was looking, and nodded.
“Her. How about you walk up to the girl on that swing and talk to her. She’s by herself, makes it easy. One-on-one.” Chase said, lightly nudging me forward.
I looked back at him, “Are you … are you sure?” I didn’t mean to come off like a bitch, but as soon as I saw the tired look on Chase’s face, I knew that was how I came off.
“Just go talk to her you loser-ass bitch before I run my ass home and eat all your damn twinkies!’’ He exclaimed, catching the attention of two plainly dressed mothers who sat on a park bench.
I nodded, and decided that I’d rather embarrass myself than lose out on my twinkies. I approached the girl, though hesitantly, like she was a wild animal. Yeah, I’m such a weirdo.
The swing-set creaked with every movement, its age easily audible as the girl kicked her feet on the ground and pushed herself forward. Her momentum swung her slightly, but not super wide. She obviously wasn’t trying to go for the highest possible single swing.
She was pretty idle, actually. That was until she spoke up. “What do you want?” Her voice stung the air, the venom in her tone freezing me in my tracks. I breathed slightly, trying to work up the confidence to be normal for once.
Instead I embarrassed myself, because it’s a skill I have. “Do you want to play with me?” Really? I could have at least said it with my chest, not like a pathetic baby.
She scoffed, her feet planting firmly in the ground and stopping the swing’s momentum cold. Her head turned toward me, and her eyes found mine as she analyzed me. Her gaze swept over me from head-to-toe, just eyeing me with the stink eye.
“Look, I don’t know who put you up to this, but could you just leave me alone? I’m not trying to be annoyed, at the moment.” She said, her words final and resolute.
For some reason, I decided to keep talking. “Well, my dad’s friend actually put me up to it. Told me I should play with someone my age for once,” I pointed toward Chase, who was trying to defend himself for having such a dirty mouth when talking at a child’s park. She looked over, and then her eyes trained back on me.
“You looked like you’d be fun to play with,” the words left my mouth before I had a chance to stop my ramble, “and I thought… I don’t know. You looked like you could use a friend, too.”
She just stared at me. Long, and hard. The awkward tension was definitely at an all time high now. “So what, you’re just some weird loser kid who wants to play with some other loser?” She said, now eyeing me with caution. Like I was messing with her, playing her for a fool.
I nodded, “Uh, yeah. Except I’m not a loser. I’m just weird.” Now why did I say something so weird?
She laughed. It was small and quick, but a laugh nonetheless. “Uh huh. Okay, I definitely
agree with you there, weirdo.” She said with a hint of sarcasm. Her brown eyes scanned me one last time before she jumped up off the swing, and started to approach me.
She stopped a few feet in front of me, her hands now sitting in her pockets as she
leaned forward. “I’ll play with you, sure, But, you gotta tell me one thing,” her hand reached up toward my face, and suddenly I felt her pinch my ear. Her finger traced the outline of my ear, right where I was missing a small circle-shaped area of skin.
“What happened to your ear? It’s like, missing a whole chunk,” She asked. My face burned and turned slightly red. Now what? I can’t tell her how I actually got it, but there’s no way I’m gonna throw my one chance at having a real friend away.
I swallow hard. “What, does it make you uncomfortable or something? Do I look like a gross and disgusting freak?” I said, making my best stupid face in an attempt to deflect the question.
She laughs again. “Nah, I think it’s cool as hell. Makes you look like an action-movie star and stuff.” She said, before nudging me with her elbow. “Seriously though, how’d you get it? Crazy accident with a blender or some shit?’’
Welp, I tried. I considered my options. There was no way I could tell her the truth, that I lost a piece of my ear from my dad’s stupid mech suit because then, I’d have to tell her my dad is Mecha Man, whichI wasn’t gonna do. But I didn’t want to lose this, the chance to have a friend. Somebody to talk to or play with. Maybe I could say something true and vague?
I shrugged, “Just messed with one of my dad's tools from work. Obviously wasn’t a smart idea, given I’m now deformed and stuff.”
Her eyes widened slightly, “Dude, that sucks. Does it hurt at all?” My brows creased at the question. “Did it hurt to lose some skin, yeah, a lot. Does it still hurt? Nope, not really. Just an ugly mark now,” I slightly laughed out the words.
A small smile fixed on her lips, “Cool. Well for the record, it’s not ugly. It’s pretty badass, actually,” She stated smugly. She put her hands in her pockets, and took another step forward. “Alright, a deal’s a deal. I’ll let you play with someone as awesome as me,” I smiled. A genuine, real smile.
“Okay, you don’t gotta be so smug. You know I could have asked like any other kid, right?” I said putting my hands on my hips. She laughed, “Yeah, you could have. But now you’re stuck with me, loser. I’m Courtney.”
I nodded, “I’m Robert. Now, what do you wanna play?” I responded eagerly. She stepped around me, “Robert? Geez, talk about spiteful parents. Can I just call you Robbie? Or, like Bob? Bobbie?” She asked. I wasn’t the biggest fan of my name either, and if she knew my full name was Robert Robertson the Third, she might actually bully me and destroy my ego.
But there was no way I was gonna go by Robbie, either. That was my dad. “Uh, I guess Bobbie’s okay. Didn’t know you would take such offense to my name,” I replied dryly.
She shrugged lightly, “Well, it’s not exactly a name that rolls off the tongue, Bobbie. Now, wanna have some fun?” She asked.
I stepped forward, “Yeah, sure. What do you wanna do?” Her eyes met mine with a small hint of mischief, like chaos brimming under the surface. “I have some ideas. Based on the little bit of conversation we’ve had, I can tell you won’t find it fun if we just run around and do random stuff,” She gestured toward the playplace. I nodded.
Her face broke into a terrible grin, “Well, good. You see those annoying little shits over there?” She pointed to her left. The destination was a band of kids all running around in the grass field beside a small bench. Their bigger bodies made it obvious that they could be about two or 3 years older than me
“Yeah, I see them. Why is this important?” I was extremely confused on whatever she was thinking, and what those randoms had to do with it.
She nodded, “They’re a bunch of jerks. Dicks, really. Said some mean stuff to me that I didn’t like too much, and I’ve been thinking about a way to get some get-back.” Her voice was pointed when she spoke.
I turned to face her, “What exactly did they say to you?” She stared forward at them, “Oh, nothing I haven’t heard before. Just made fun of me for being a loner, not having friends. Y’know, average bully shit,” She stated rather plainly, like it was a common occurrence.
“Okay, you know you cuss a lot for an 8-year old,” I glanced at her. She’s bullied for not having friends? Aren’t I the same as her in that regard? I know I’d be mad if some kids picked on me for just being by myself.
“But, I’m down for whatever you’ve got planned. So long as we don’t hurt them or something,” I gave her a reassuring smile, trying to play it cool.
She just looked at me, an expression I can only describe as a slight shock being the look on her face. Then she gave a small toothy grin, herself, “I knew you were a total loser, but it's nice to know you don’t actually suck. Alright, here’s my idea,..” She walked forward, and I found myself following absently-minded.
“Those bums got like, a whole array of sandwiches and stuff to eat. I bet they’ll get hungry soon, and because they have such foul-mouths,” Her eyes twinged with what could only be described as evil, “We put some bugs and dirt in their food.” Bugs and dirt. Ew…
“That’s just … wow. That’s messed up. But they were jerks, so what do you need me for?” I asked, now feeling self-conscious about my own sandwich in my backpack back with Chase.
She elbowed my ribs lightly, “Well, it’s not anything crazy. We’ll both find some roly-polies, crickets, whatever bugs we can. Then, I’ll go talk to them and be a super annoying distraction while you,” Her finger pressed against my chest as she pointed, “Will put the shit in their lunch. Sound good, Bobbie?” She coughed slightly after she finished her sentence.
I nodded before I processed what she had said. I’m planting the bugs? Great, real standup guy I am.
“Alright, let’s get to work then. Time to find us some creepy-crawlies!” She rushed forward, and I turned around. Chase was sitting on a pale blue park bench, the mother’s seeming to have stopped needling him. He looked at me, holding my bag, and gave me a small nod. That was it, all I needed to know that I was doing good. Making a friend.
—
“Alright, this should be good,” Courtney said, dropping another pile of dirt into my hands. So far, the ammunition for our little prank was this mound of dirt in my hand that held roly-polies, earthworms, and possibly bird crap inside.
“You mean we have enough disgusting insects to throw into their food? Cool,” I replied plainly as I tried not to drop any of our hard work. She glared at me, “C’mon Bobbie, at least I didn’t grab a spider or something. These little guys are harmless. Plus, I got the hard job. Gotta actually talk to these douches,” She replied easily.
I nodded, “Yeah, so? Are we doing this now? They’re probably gonna eat in a few minutes, so it-” She cut me off with a wave of her hand, “Yeah yeah, I know. Look, just …” She looked around, “Go behind that tree over there, the one right by the table with all their food. Wait for me to distract them before you do anything," She practically commanded.
“Okay, I’m off. Can’t wait to see how this goes,” I said as I began sneaking towards the tree with the most covert speed walk I could manage.
The tree offered nice shade from the sun, which made it a no-brainer why the table was set up here. I turned back to where I had come from, expecting to see Courntey walking over to the group of four boys. But she wasn’t there.
She was just gone. I started to look around, scanning the park, but she had just vanished. How did she-
“Hey bitches!” A newly familiar voice rang out. I poked my head out to see the image of Courney smugly approaching the kids, hands in her pockets and all that. She moved so fast.
The boys all turned to her, one of them chuckling at her approach, another groaning.
“Heya breathless! How’s the air today?” A kid in a light green dinosaur T-shirt yelled out, causing the other kids to chuckle. Courney’s expression soured slightly. Breathless? What kind of weak insult is that?
“What do you want, now? A cookie!” Another kid wearing a navy blue sweater said, pointing at her. Courtney shook her head, stepping forward with confident strides.
“What I want right now is to embarrass the shit out of you, so keep laughing chuckle-fucks,” Her voice stabbed with such venom I physically recoiled.
Another kid laughed. His laugh didn’t seem to fit as a response to Courtney’s threat, or at least it's not how I’d react. The kid had such bright blonde hair he looked like a freaking highlighter, and it didn’t help that he was wearing an equally noticeable yellow hoodie with some weird UFO design printed onto it. His pale hands reached into his sweater’s pocket as he stopped laughing.
“Somebody’s a little angry,” he mocked, taking out what looked like a plastic tube from his sweatshirt and holding it up. “Please calm down! You don’t wanna over-do it and tire yourself out without this little toy of yours,” He waved the object around in the air.
Courtney’s face darkened, twisting into a scowl, her arms shaking and her fingers curling into balled fists. “Give that back or I’m gonna sock you in the jaw,” She practically spat out the words. Now, I was super confused. I thought these kids just said some mean stuff to her, not stole something.
Whatever the case, all the kids seemed to have their attention squarely on Courtney. Now was the perfect opportunity to plant the “bomb” in their lunch. I practically forgot about what I was supposed to be doing and only remembered because I felt a worm dig its way through the dirt in my hand and graze my palm.
As quietly as I could manage, I emerged from the tree and approached the bench, eyeing the array of plastic bags sitting on the table that kept their sandwiches inside. Carefully, I placed the mound of dirt and bugs to the side, looking up to make sure nobody was watching.
The kids were all facing Courtney, not even noticing me as I slid my hands into the bag and pulled out the meal on white bread. Not even Courtney paid me any mind, as she and the blondie had their screaming match. I wasn’t even listening anymore, too focused on grabbing a handful of dirt and bugs and lightly sprinkling it into the sandwich. A centipede curled onto the turkey as I placed the top bread back onto the sandwich.
Now, it was just a matter of repeating the process three more times, which wasn’t too hard all things considered. Their rather plain sandwiches got some added flavors, not how I thought I’d be spending my day when I woke up today.
As I placed the final sandwich back into the bag, a loud thud echoed a few feet ahead. My eyes glazed forward, watching as Courtney hit the ground, erupting into a coughing fit as the kid in the blue sweater held his face, which had a large red blotch right under his eye. The blonde kid dropped the plastic object onto the ground right in front of Courtney, and he leaned down.
“That was a dumb mistake, bitch.” Courney reached for the object, and right before her hands could grasp it, he kicked it away into the grass. “Sorry, no inhalers for friendless losers who can’t shut up,” He was smiling. Smiling. I felt something bubble inside of me, my jaw clamping tightly as I heard Courtney struggling with more coughs.
Before I knew what I was doing, my body jumped onto the table, finding leverage in the wood, and launching myself forward onto the blonde. My body collided onto his with a crunch, his side landing directly on the dirt.
His body cushioned my fall, and suddenly my fists were meeting his face, a flurry of quick blows. He hadn’t even registered what was happening, his face pained and disoriented.
“Hey! What the!-” One of the other kids started rushing towards me, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. I got off the blonde kid and tackled the green shirt’s legs, his body hitting the floor loudly.
When your dad is a superhero and one of the only things he does when he spends time with you is prepare you to take over his mantle, you learn how to scrap. I loaded my arm and punched the older boy in his private area. An blue-sleeved arm reached around my neck and squeezed tightly before I could watch the kid’s reaction.
My elbow found his ribs with a jab, his hold immediately weaker. I managed to turn my body to the right, and push the kid off. My body tumbled and I almost collapsed onto the dirt, before catching myself.
The red shirt was pulling the blonde up to his feet as the navy blue sweater kid fell beside him, the green shirt groaning loudly and rolling around on the ground. My eyes shot over to Courtney, who was trying to force herself up.
I moved on instinct, rushing to her side as fast as my legs could move. My hand lightly gripped her arm as I pulled her up. She was shaking with every cough, her skin pale and her eyes shut tightly. A reflection of the confident girl I had met earlier.
Before the other kids could react, I pushed her forward and rushed her toward the direction her inhaler had been kicked.
It was obvious now that the real reason she wanted to mess with these jerks was because they were thieves. Inhaler thieves even. What kind of scum do you have to be…
My gaze searched the ground for the plastic item. Suddenly Courtney’s knees bent forward, her body beginning to fall forward. My arms snapped outward under the small of her back and her wrist, catching her just in time and keeping her stable. I held her tighter now, not allowing her to collapse. A small sky blue object caught my eyes, a plastic bent tube sat in the short grass a few feet to the right. Her inhaler.
I darted forward with as much speed as a kid holding another kid who was having a lack of oxygen problem could move, reaching down and snatching the inhaler off the ground. I gripped the square cylinder tightly as I quickly brought it to Courtney’s face. “Here, open your mouth,” I pressed the object to her lips as her hand came up and took the inhaler into her own grip. Her chest rose as she inhaled, her entire body seeming to “chill out”, as she stopped shaking.
Her eyes opened slowly, her breath still ragged and quick as she pocketed the inhaler. The color was coming back to her skin, and she was definitely coming back from whatever disorientation she was under before. Her eyes looked past me, weirdly. Like she was focused on something else- “C’mon!” Her hand had suddenly squeezed my wrist as she broke into a sprint and tugged me along. I turned my head to where she was looking before. The older kids had seemed to recover and were now chasing after us. They wore a deep scowl on their faces, an obvious indicator that they were not happy.
Courtney’s arm held my wrist in a death grip, my arm completely white from the contact as she dragged us onto the playground area running through a group of kids that looked like they were playing tag. The jerks were hot on our trail, closing in like a raging bull on one of those Mexican dudes with those red capes. We were doomed. The blue shirt kid was now only a few feet away, eyes locked with red-hot rage emanating like a blazing fire. Suddenly, we stopped moving, or rather, I slammed into Courtney because she stopped moving. My neck snacked into her neck, my nose squishing down and a sharp pain stung at its base.
I stepped back, now holding my nose which felt like I was on the verge of sneezing at any second, as I noticed the shadow stretching over us. It didn’t take much to know that Courtney had bumped into the source of this shadow, a shadow of which I knew all too well.
“What the fuck do you fuckers think you’re doing exactly?” Chase said, an edge in his voice. The boys looked startled, obviously still angry, but frozen in fear at the fact that an adult (he’s barely an adult) is now calling them out. The blonde kid glared, “She- they attacked us! We were ju-” Chase steps forward, his steps seeming to echo throughout the park, “I don’t give a shit what happened, kid!” He crouched down to get on his level, “But back the fuck off before you regret it. And I promise to God I’ll make you fucking regret it, you dumb bitches!” He cranes his head forward, getting right into the kid's face. His eyes widen, and the green shirt grabs his shoulder. “Dude, let’s just get out of here.” Slowly, he manages to pull the blonde away, the others following suit as they turn away and begin to walk back toward their bench.
Chase turns back toward us, the edge of his lips curving into a smirk. “The hell you do to these kids, Robbie?” he asks. I cringe slightly at the question. Welp, I’m in trouble. “Just a bunch of assholes who poked the wrong bear and got what they deserved,” Courtney said with such easy nonchalance. Chase looked at her, a weird twinkling in his eyes. “Well, the girl on the swing! Looks like Robbie grew some balls after all! Nice, kid!” He clapped my shoulder. “Seriously though, you’re gonna explain this to me later. It’s time to go home.” He said.
Home? I don’t want to go home yet, weirdly. Even though I got into a fight with older kids, made a scene at a playground in front of a bunch of other kids, I made a friend. Someone I could actually talk to, connect with. I wanted to spend more time with Courtney because this was the most fun I’ve had in a long while, even if our time was spent talking and gathering bugs and dirt. It was … nice. “Already?” I replied, looking up at Chase.
He shook his head, “Kid, we’ve been here for a little over three hours! It’s time to call it. Just, say bye to … what was your name kid?” Chase turned to Courtney, who had shifted slightly since Chase had arrived. “Courtney. You?” She said, Chase shrugged, “It’s Chase, and don’t you forget it. Alright,” He turned back to me, “I’ll be right over there, so say your goodbye and stuff, and make it quick.” Chase turned and walked a few feet down the concrete pavement.
I faced Courtney, who was staring at me. I couldn’t make out what she was thinking, but there was some unknown gleam within her pupil. Her emotions were unreadable, and her expression just the same. “So, who was that, your nanny?” Courtney put her hands into her pockets. I chuckled, “I guess you could call him that, sure. More of a babysitter, though.”
She laughed, “Oh yeah? Well, have fun explaining to your nanny that you put bugs into some kids' lunches and punched him in the face for some girl you just met,” She stepped forward, “Real fascinating story. Pretty unbelievable, though.” I shrugged, “Well, he’s got a soft spot for me. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”
She smiles now. It's actually a comforting sight, her face softening as she began her next words. “Y’know, we never got to see their reaction to their messed up lunch,” Courtney sighed, like it pained her to have missed such a pivotal moment. “We missed out.” I nod, “Yeah, I’m sure we did. But, I did punch him pretty hard, so we got that.”
She glowed in the sunlight, my sight locked onto her form, some weird sensation bubbling in my chest. “True that, Bobbie.” She said, before her eyes cast downward. A beat of silence passes, before she speaks again, “Thanks. For hitting that jerk and getting my inhaler back. And … for being my friend, and stuff,” She said, her head tilting back up to look at me. Her brown eyes seemed to pierce into my very being.
“Yeah, thanks for taking me up on my offer. Not many do,” I manage to say. She grins, “Well, they’re idiots for saying no.” She replied coolly. She reached forward and nudged my chest with her elbow. “I'll see you around Bobbie,” she said, turning to walk away. I nod. I’d like that. “Yeah, no doubt.” Her form shrinks as she walks away, but it's hard for me to look away.
A voice breaks my immersion, cracking into my ears like a mosquito right flying around right next to your head. “C’mon kid! You're gonna stand there and gawk all damn day!” Chase yelled out. I turned to him, nodding in acknowledgment, turning to run toward him. Before I get to him, I look back. But she’s gone now. Completely vanished from where she once was. “Finally! The Lakers are gonna play in thirty minutes man, hurry up!”
Usually, that would be enough to get me excited to head home. But my mind is still caught onto Courtney. The girl who took a chance on me. Became my friend. I can’t wait until I see her again.