Chapter Text
“Hey, loser!”
Isaac was minding his own business when he collided with the lockers. He turned to see that the offender was one of the self-important jocks from the popular group; one of the bullies from the group, to be specific. In reality, they just followed around their wonderful ‘leader’ around like a bunch of lackeys and did whatever he demanded. Whatever was happening here probably had something to do with it.
“Ugh, what do you want this time?” Isaac asked. “I’m kinda busy here.”
“Don’t screw around, you little shit,” the jock guy said. “Emphasis on the word little.”
Isaac sighed. “Reminds me of your IQ.”
The jock guy’s face twisted into an ugly piece of modern art. “I would punch out your lights right now if I wasn’t here on important business,” he retorted. “The boss is requesting for you for some reason, conscious and mostly unharmed.”
Isaac scoffed. “Requesting for me? But I’m a loser,” he said, drawing out the last word in the most annoying voice he could manage.
“Look, I don’t have the reasons, fuckin’ weirdo. You better drop what you’re doing and come with or else this isn’t going to turn out pretty.”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “Come with? Come with where?”
“To the lair.”
-
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The lair turned out to be the storage room under the stage. The popular boys had shoved the small number of boxes to the walls and decked out the place with old blankets, bean bags, posters and a mini fridge. It actually looked rather comfortable for something set up by insufferable folk. Whether this was condoned by the school or not was a mystery, but the hideout seemed to be thriving.
The jock guy shoved Isaac into the middle of the room hard enough that he tumbled to his hands and knees. A large office chair was on the far side of the small room. Isaac heaved a second sigh as the chair spun around, revealing the leader of the jock clan. Many of the cronies in the room straightened their posture, standing like soldiers in front of their king.
The king of Foxfield High: Edward, or as everyone knew him… Error.
“Well, well, well,” he said, sounding very cliché. “If it isn’t my good friend, Ink!”
Isaac grimaced. “We hardly know each other,” he grumbled, climbing to his feet. One of the cronies flailed to kick him back down.
“RESPECT THE LEADER!” he shouted.
“Screw you! Is this a joke?!”
Edward held a hand up and the room went quiet. “I always found your defiance intriguing,” he said, crossing his legs. “I never would have expected it from your type. Leave us, my men. I have something private to discuss with Ink.”
Edward’s cronies obeyed and exited the room single file without objection. Isaac rose to his feet, scowling at the boy in the chair in front of him. “What do you want, Error?” Isaac spat out the name.
“You're not what you let on,” Edward answered frankly. “I always thought you were just a sicko loner with no friends, but there’s just something weird about you.”
Isaac crossed his arms, looking bored. “Really. What are you gonna do about it?”
Edward rose from his spinning throne. “I don’t know about you…” He walked up to Isaac, but didn’t stop, making the artist back up until he hit a wall. “But I hate not knowing things.”
“What are you going on about?” Isaac asked. “You just suddenly decided that I’m weird and so you’re going to interrogate me until I admit that I’m a superhero?”
“When I get a feeling about something, I’m usually right,” Edward told him. “Of course, I don’t usually get bizarre feelings about things, but since this is the one time that it’s happened, you must have something to admit.”
Isaac let out a laugh. “Oh, maybe I’m just gay or something. Is that what you wanted to hear?” He poked Error’s nose and the other boy instantly leapt back several feet.
“DON’T touch me,” Edward hissed. He quickly shook his head, trying to regain his composure and failing miserably. “I practically rule this school and you may want to avoid messing this up for yourself.”
“Ah, about that. I might be a loser, but you just don’t scare me that much. By the way, cozy place you got here. I was expecting something more… I dunno, badly decorated and obscene.”
“You’re definitely hiding something. I know it, Isaac,” Edward declared.
“Oh, wow, must be really important if you’re using my actual name, Mr. Edward,” Isaac replied. “Here I thought that name you gave me was the only way you were willing to address me.”
“It is important! I’ve scoped out hidden weed brownies from people I don’t even know! I’ve predicted multiple parties before they happened! I knew that Fresh Graham was evil and planned to steal my place as school king before he told me himself! I was right for all of these without a shred of proof. And now, this gut feeling of mine is telling me that you’re on an even higher level than these predictions.”
“Really?” Isaac asked, feigning awe. “All right then, seems like you knew what was going on with those other people. What do you think is going on with me? Take a guess.”
Edward looked like he wanted to strangle the air. “You have supernatural powers!”
Isaac snorted. “You really do want me to admit that I’m a superhero!”
“Not exactly,” Edward snapped. “But I know someone like that when I see one. I can tell… because I’m the same!”
Isaac raised an eyebrow. “You’re gay?”
Edward grabbed the collar of Isaac’s shirt and slammed him back into the wall. “Stop screwing around! I’m being damn serious!”
“How the hell do you expect me to take you seriously?” Isaac asked. “You’re spouting nonsense about superpowers. Seen your therapist lately?”
“I don’t have a therapist, because I’m not crazy! You know how I can tell? You know how I can tell, Isaac?” Edward backed off. He raised one of his hands towards the ceiling. “I can tell if there’s something wrong with someone.”
In an instant, with a wave of his hand, bright blue strings shot from his fingertips, spreading throughout the room.
“Including myself.”
Edward swung his arm down and the mess of strings retracted back into it.
Isaac stood there for a few long seconds, processing silently. He smirked and watched the way Edward’s expression shifted at the sight. “… So that’s how it is,” Isaac said. “There’s someone else in this school who’s not quite normal.”
Edward furrowed his brow and kept his mouth shut.
Isaac scoffed. “Well, I guess I have to admit that your weird intuition was correct, then. Huh… I wonder if it means something, or if you just got lucky.” He slowly pulled his sketchbook from his bag and a pencil along with it. “I do have a power of my own.”
Edward watched intently as Isaac drew a flower on a blank page. The artist raised his hand in front of it. In a glimmer of light, it rose from the paper in its two-dimensional state. With a snap of his fingers and a breath of energy, the flower became real and fell into his hand.
“I assume we have to trust each other with our secrets?” Isaac asked, taking steps towards Edward. “Because if that wasn’t true… well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be easy on either of us.”
With a smile, Isaac reached up to tuck the flower over Edward’s ear and walked out the door.
Edward was speechless.
“What… the hell?”
He pulled the flower out of his hair and stared at it.
“… That guy’s even weirder than I thought.”