The ceiling in Reid's room never changed. He felt like he knew every bump at this point, every little line and detail in how the paint had dried. It had been this way for as long as he could remember. And he looked at it a lot.
Reid's phone was balanced on his forehead. He could feel it buzzing as his friends messaged each other. Somehow, Maple had acquired Kari's number, dragging her into the mix. They had been chatting since school ended, figuring out what time they'd get online and where they would go. Reid had forwarded a bunch of info to Tim, asking him to join as well, and he had instantly agreed.
How would Issac ask?
Reid rolled to the side and his phone slid off, landing in front of his eyes. The screen was facing away so he could no longer be reminded of the endless chatter. They'd be expecting him to show up soon. He squeezed the little brick in his hand and forced all the air out of his chest, feeling it shrink down until he was just a stick. It was time to go.
Whenever he shifted over his body realigned. He wasn't lying on his side on the ground but was instead righted, standing in the middle of a street, lengthy shadows from dilapidated buildings curling around his feet. The sun tip-toed along the horizon, forever unmoving.
So much gained, so much lost in so little time.
"Shut up." Reid spat to the side. There was still too much saliva in his mouth. He spit again but it was only a couple of drops. He just couldn't shake the feeling. And he wasn't in the mood to hear Gilphorus. The more he pushed through, the less everything would push back, for now at least. His emotions could unravel some later time.
It took a bit for everyone to meet up within the game, sending each other their locations and slowly co-ordinating together. Reid had invited Tim as well, doing his best to loosely explain what was going on. Tim had been his usual eager self, showing up to do battle with the new threat of the Pariahs. He was visibly ecstatic when Reid met with him, fists punching into the air around him, eyes shining brilliantly. He had jumped right into a lengthy ramble about the new techniques he was mastering with his scythe, new ways he would chop up the next Pariah they encountered for sure. He brushed right over Reid adding him to a Flock, unphased by working with others. It was all to play the game.
Kari was her usual disappointed, especially when Tim went to shake her hand. She had to fend him off and shoo him away, though he barely got the hint and continued to bother her with constant chatter. He and Maple bounced off each other instantly, each one following the other's statement with their own in escalating excitement.
Reid watched Issac behind them, saw him laugh along them, smile at Maple. It was the little moments in between that really revealed it. Issac was almost always looking at her. Now that Reid knew it was obvious, it was frustratingly obvious. He glanced away but the only other person he could speak with was the teacher he had met before, Mr. Crawford. And they had nothing to talk about outside of school. It was weird enough having some older guy like Tim around, even stranger to have a middle-aged adult hanging out with mostly high school kids.
"The pain we feel in these types of moments," Mr. Crawford said, apparently unbothered by being with kids, "it dulls over time you know." Reid eyed him but stayed silent. "I know in the moments it feels like the biggest stuff, and it is. We all feel it just kind of doesn't matter as much when you get older." Mr. Crawford paused and Reid could feel him staring at the side of his face but he wouldn't turn. He grit his teeth together instead so he could hold on to his rage. "Maybe that will help some day."
The teacher walked away to join the group and Reid followed suit to avoid being the weird person on the fringe.
"Can we go kill Paragon?" he stated as he arrived, cutting through the existing conversation.
"No," Kari replied, shaking her head. "I already told you that's impossible."
"So we just ignore them forever?"
"Yeah, kind of." Kari folded her arms across her chest, unbending. Maple mimicked her to the side with a smile. Issac snickered. "We don't know what it takes to kill something in A tier. Maybe the whole Flock, but probably still not enough. So if nobody dies to them, they don't get any stronger, right? And if we kill everything else, we'll be stronger, right? You get it, right?" More giggles in the background. Reid felt a sharp pain in his temple. He pressed his teeth tighter together and released.
"Then what about the minions?" Reid asked. "You said he has followers, can we kill them?"
The focus of the group shifted back to Kari, their heads collectively moving to her side of the argument. The prior laughter had changed to a more intense focus. Reid could see curiosity in Maple's eyes. He was familiar with that look over the years, a twinkle that always meant you were going to be doing whatever it was she wanted. He had never seen it fail before.
"Why are you so insistent about this?"
"We have to do something. What's the point of playing in a crazy world with super powers if you're just going to stand around? I'm pretty certain I can kill these stupid B tier things if you just let me, we have really powerful Twilights from Maple and Tim, I think we could do it. I'm not just going to wait around for Paragon to show up again and try to kill me."
Reid felt the rise and fall of his chest. The skin along the tops of his ears was on fire, a heat rapidly spreading down the back of his neck. His vision blurred as he overfocused before rapidly snapping back.
"I think we can show him." Mr. Crawford stepped between Kari and Reid, a gentle smile on his face. He looked like he was in his element, settling fights between teenagers just like a high school class. It was a departure from the prior meeting on the weekend. "If they want to go fight, they'll do it on their own. So it would be safer if we were there with them to pull them back."
Kari peered around the teacher's body and sneered at Reid. "Fine. I will watch and they will die."
"Conflict resolution," Mr. Crawford said, gesturing to his sides. "All those classes for my degree weren't a total waste."
"Yeah so are we just like ok with a teacher here?" Issac chimed in from the side.
"He's not a teacher here," Kari replied, rolling her eyes. "But he's still a person so he gets an opinion or whatever. So I guess you'll get to meet Lykia or Gurn. Whichever one you want."
Nobody answered. A few of the friends exchanged confused expressions but the names meant nothing to them.
"They're Paragon's goons," Kair continued, as if this were obvious to everybody else. "They all have names, they always like introduce themselves at some point. All Pariahs are cocky."
And just like that all the pressure swung back around to Reid. He could feel it with their eyes. His prior heat had dissipated, leaving him cold and empty. It felt like he had just done a sprint and now he had nothing left. And yet he hadn't moved an inch.
Pick Lykia. I like that name. It feels fun.
Reid sucked in a breath to keep him from speaking aloud against Gilphorus. Every time he was trying to concentrate and collect his thoughts, there it was. The mocking laughter, the sour tone, it was nothing but doubt and condescension.
I don't like names that start with a g. Only mine.
"Then let's go meet Gurn," Reid said with a slight smile. He waited for the rumble out of Gilphorus at his actions, a little revenge against the voice in his head. There was nothing. He took it as its own victory.
"Whatever." Kari waved to everyone to follow her away from Reid, leaving him behind to catch up, alongside Mr. Crawford.
The teacher took out his phone and checked something on it before putting it away again. He wiped his hands on the side of his pants. "You need to think about the other people's feelings sometimes if you want to better get your point across."
"What?" Reid tried to step past him and catch up with the group but the man easily kept pace with him and stayed by his side.
"You two are similarly stubborn sometimes. Maybe you could keep that in mind."
"You don't know me. Don't act like you get it." Reid sped ahead and found Mr. Crawford let him. He looked back at him over his shoulder, watched him sigh and rub his hand across his face. He caught up with his friends again in a moment, with Tim instantly chatting to him about something in one ear while he tried to listen to whatever Issac and Maple were saying on the other side.
But he couldn't hear any of it. He just kept thinking about the stupid adult behind him preaching nonsense. The voice in his head telling him he wasn't going to be good enough anyways. Kari waving him off as some terrible player. Issac telling him he was going to ask out Maple.
All he really thought about was Gurn and how he was going to absolutely fucking kill them.