✧❦Popularity❦✧ ➳ skephalo

.12.

Darryl groaned. The ringing of his phone echoing in his ears as he sat up in his bed. He rubbed his eyes, scooting himself over to the left side of his bed, where the nightstand was. He flipped his phone so he could see the screen, realizing that it was an incoming call from Zak. He blinked, noticing that it was 2:00AM. It's a Wednesday night... we have school tomorrow... Darryl thought to himself as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" The older asked through the phone in a groggy voice. He better have a really good reason to be calling me.

"Hi Darryl, you have to come to Westwood Park! Right now!" Zak exclaimed on the other end, his voice sounding excited.

Darryl's eyes widened. "Are you serious? It's like two o'clock in the morning!" He replied with an astonished tone.

"Come on, have a little fun with your life! You live in The Planets, so the drive here is like two minutes," Skeppy pointed out.

Zak was right, Darryl did live in The Planets. The Planets was a popular neighborhood within the North West District, a pretty big one. The houses were normal, the average family could afford to live there and that's why it was so populated. The reason behind its name was actually because of the street names. The roads were in a grid like pattern, each one the name of a planet. Mercury Drive, Saturn Street, Jupiter Avenue, Mars Road, Uranus Place, Neptune Boulevard, and Venus Alley. Some people included Moonway and Star Lane, others didn't.

Darryl often liked to tell people that he lived on Neptune, some people understood the reference and other people were confused.

"I'm so tired Skeppy," The nerd groaned into the phone, regretting even picking up Zak's call.

"Just do it... for me?" The smaller replied in a squeaky voice as a way of begging.

Darryl rolled his eyes. "Fine... but you're going to see a messy hair version of me," He grumbled, then hung up the call. He stood up from his bed, throwing on a shirt and walked down the stairs to his front door. He grabbed his keys off the shelf and left the house, locking the door behind him. Running his fingers through his messy curls, he unlocked his car and got inside, starting it up and pulling it out of the driveway.

Zak was right, after a couple of minutes he was pulling up to the infamous park. When he got out of his car, he noticed Skeppy's silhouette in the distance with a big animal beside him. Darryl narrowed his eyes, since the beast seemed very big. He approached the shorter boy anyways, trusting him.

"Hey Skeppy," He greeted as he became closer.

Zak looked up. By then, Darryl was close enough to see what the creature was. It was a dog. But... a huge wolf-looking dog. The thing was as tall as Zak's ribcage just standing there on all four legs. "Hi BadBoyHalo!" The kid replied. "This is Muffin, he's a rare breed of Wolfdog. Basically he's a hybrid between a wolf and a doggy, they're illegal in some states."

Darryl's eyes widened. "You have a wolf?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Oh my God, yes. The pound was about to kill him and he was a little puppy then, so we basically got him for free! We had no idea he'd grow this big," Zak explained, petting around Muffin's head. The dog made a pleasured purr-like noise, leaning into Zak's hand.

"His name is Muffin?" Darryl admired. "That's such an adorable name," He told Skeppy, reaching out to let Muffin sniff his palm before he began to pet the dog. "This is why you called me out at 2AM?" He asked the boy with frustration.

Zak scoffed. "No," He snapped. But then he thought for a moment. "Well... kinda, yeah. But there's another reason too! Come here!" He told Darryl, latching onto his hand and pulling him down to the other side of the park. Muffin followed, occasionally sniffing the air.

Suddenly, a loud 'bang' rang out through the neighborhood. Darryl jumped, but Zak seemed fine. "That's either a firecracker or a gunshot," The young boy explained. "It happens a lot out here, you'll get used to it."

Darryl soon noticed that Zak was leading him to an area with no trees. When they finally came across a nice area of grass, the younger laid himself down, belly facing up. Muffin laid down at the boy's feet. "Lay down!" He ordered happily, patting the spot next to him. Darryl hesitantly obeyed, positioning himself next to the boy so they were laying side by side and looking up at the sky.

That's when he noticed the stars.

Oh how they were beautiful. Out in the populated neighborhoods you couldn't see them as well because of the bright street lights, but out here in the park, they sparkled and danced across the Milky Way. Darryl started at each individual star, admiring its own unique delicacy.

"Cool, huh?" Zak asked the older.

Darryl nodded. They laid there in silence for a while, lost in their own endless thoughts and ideas. Allowing the breeze of the night to cool their bodies. Zak shivered slightly, pressing himself up against Darryl for warmth. The brown haired boy just smiled at the kid, not stopping him from doing so.

"Hey Zak?" Darryl asked.

"Hm?" The younger replied tiredly, looking like he was about to fall asleep.

"Where are the marks on your back from?" He questioned out of nowhere, hoping to get an honest and straightforward answer. Darryl should've known better than to hope for something like that, since obviously Zak didn't answer the question.

"Can I listen to your heartbeat?" The kid instead asked in return.

Unfortunately, Darryl forgot about things quickly. "What?" The older asked the younger in confusion, wondering why he'd want to do that.

Zak sighed. "I need background noise to fall asleep, it's too quiet out here," He informed Bad. "Please?" He whimpered.

Darryl rolled his eyes, but had a smile that spread across his face. "Okay," He replied.

Zak scooted his body closer to Darryl's, craning his neck over onto the older's chest so his ear could hear the light beat of his heart. The younger boy let out a happy hum of victory as his breathing slowed to sleeping pace.

Darryl began to run his fingers through Zak's black hair as a way to calm the boy. He also started to hum a soft tune, hoping to have him fall asleep. After a few minutes, his methods seemed to work as Zak had fallen into a deep slumber.

Around ten minutes later, the baseball boy had decided to reposition himself in his sleep. Shifting his body on top of Darryl's, the younger's chest was pressed up against BBH's stomach, and his head was still resting on the older's chest. Darryl tried not to let out a squeal of joy as he stared at Zak's adorable sleeping face.

When 3AM rolled around, Darryl realized he had to go home at some point to get some good rest. He lightly tapped Zak's shoulder. "Hey buddy... I gotta go home," He whispered softly, watching Skeppy stir to consciousness.

"Oh," Zak said sleepily as he lifted his head. "Did I move in my sleep?" He questioned drowsily when he noticed that he was on top of Darryl. He stood up, separating himself from the older. "Why didn't you wake me?"

Darryl shrugged. "You seemed fast asleep, I didn't want to disturb you," He replied.

Zak smiled to himself, seeing that Darryl had scrunched up his nose. There was a different reason he didn't wake me. The baseball boy thought to himself. "Okay, I'll walk home, my house is right over there," He told Darryl, sluggishly gesturing to a few beaten up houses nearby. "Thanks for answering my call."

"No problem," Bad replied with a grin. "See you in a few hours," He pointed out to Zak as he began to walk away, since school started in around four hours.

Zak nodded sleepily in return, Muffin getting up and following him to his home.

Darryl smiled to himself as he walked back to his car. I guess answering his calls at 2AM are worth it after all.