Chapter Text
Finney let out a breath. Finally,
The bullies that had been bothering him all day were finally gone, for fucks sake.
“Thank you.”
He looked up to where Robin was at the sink, washing the blood from his hands.
Poor Moose.
“You're gonna have to stand up for yourself one of these days.”
His heart sank. He hated when Robin was right.
“Yeah I know.”
There was silence, before Finney finally spoke, turning to face Robin fully.
“Hey…why’d you fight Moose?”
Robin glanced at Finney, his dark brows furrowing slightly.
“He was just shit talking. Pretty sure he’d back down.”
Robin let out a short laugh. “Nope.”
Finney grinned, laughing with him.
“I was pretty surprised when he swung, to be honest. I thought he’d back out.”
“I mean, did you really have to? It looked like you really hurt him…”
He hated how weak he sounded sometimes. He knew that Robin noticed whenever he went soft.
He didn’t really know how to fight like Robin, or even talk like him.
“I was just going to knock his ass down, wail on him a little bit. But that wouldn’t draw no blood.”
Robin got a serious look on his face, and leaned against the bathroom stall.
“In a situation like that, the more blood the better. For the crowd.”
Finney nodded. He trusted Robin with this thing.
Robin had always been the fighter and the one who defended him when he couldn’t defend himself. Robin was his best friend.
“I saw the Texas Chain Saw Massacre Friday night. You seen it?”
Finney grinned. Robin knew his dad would never let him watch anything like that.
“That movies’ rated R, you know my dad would never take me to see that.”
“My uncle takes me to the drive in all the time. We see everything. But man..thst movie. It’s the best ever, Finney.”
Finney scoffed skeptically.
“Better then Enter the dragon?”
Robin made a face, an amused grimace. “Okay….Second best. But still.”
Finney snickered. Robin was always so easy to joke around with.
“You know, I’m gonna see a Bruce Lee movie one day.” Finney said. Although he knew the chances of that were low. “Like maybe it comes on TV one day, ya know?”
“Yeah. Yeah maybe you will.”
Robin's eyes lingered on Finney’s face before coming forward, his brown eyes turning soft like they only did with Finney.
“Hey, do you have time to stop by my house?”
Finney tilted his head. “Math again?”
“Mr. Johnson talks too fast - he never explains it like you do.”
“Yeah, alright man.” Finney punched Robin lightly in the chest. “I’ll walk with you after school - we can stop by the drug store and get some snacks - I am not teaching you math again with sustenance.” Finney teased.
Robin scoffed, but rolled his eyes in amusement.
“Yeah alright. We’ll go after school.”
“Cool.”
_______________________________________________________
“No- It has to be gory, otherwise it’s not a horror movie.”
“That’s not true, plot matters-“
“Plot? What the fuck is plot?”
Finney and Robin walked along the cracked pavement, arguing about horror movies.
Finney watched Robin talk closely. He was always so focused when he spoke - if he spoke, it had to be for a reason and without sounding stupid.
He liked that about Robin.
“Whatever man, I’m just saying what I think makes the most sense. And what the entire world thinks makes most sense.”
“You're the only kid in Denver who thinks that a horror movie has to have more plot than gore.” Robin rolled his eyes, turning to the shortcut that ran to the drugstore.
Finney sighed. He hated this shortcut. It was between two buildings, and he didn’t like walking through it when no one else was around.
“Come on Robin, let’s just go the other way.”
“Come on Finn, I'm not walking an extra ten minutes. This is the quickest way.”
Finney felt a deep sense of worry as he slowly nodded and began walking towards Robin. Too many kids had been going missing for this to feel even the slightest bit safe.
Bruce was only taken a few weeks ago…
But it’s fine. Robin and him were together. Bruce had probably been alone. And Robin was the best fighter in the whole damn town - there wasn’t anyone who was going to take him down. And Robin would never let anyone hurt Finney.
Finney felt Robin's gaze on him, and turned to see him staring at him with a soft look in his eyes.
“Hey…If you wanna go the other way, we can.” He says, in a voice so soft that Finney hardly recognizes it as Robins.
Suddenly, they heard a noise, and turned to see a van. It was black, with the words:
ABRACADABRA
ENTERTAINMENT AND SUPPLIES
Finney hadn’t even noticed it parked there, nestled by the Dumpsters.
“Qué carajo es eso?” Robin muttered under his breath, and Robin didn’t really have the slightest clue what he said, ( “What the fuck is that?” For my non Spanish speaking friends - translated by my wonderful Hispanic best friend) but he got the basic idea.
The source of the noise was a tall man, dressed in all black. He had a hat on, and a mask that vaguely reminded Finney of his grandmother.
It gave him the chills.
He was carrying a bunch of things, which he had dropped all over the floor.
“Oh!”
The man cried out, and bent down to pick it up.
Finney rushed forward, to which Robin opened his mouth to say something, but then followed with a grumble.
“Uh- sorry sir, let me help you.” Finney bent down, gathering the various items strewn about. Mostly card decks and cheap plastic magic trick props.
“Oh, thank you.” The man said, and his voice was slow and calm. It unnerved Finney, and it definitely unnerved Robin, who looked at Finney with a look.
The man stood up when the last items were gathered, and Robin and Finney did as well.
“Thank you for your help, boys.” The man said, and held out both hands for Robin and Finney to shake. Finney shook it, but Robin only crossed his arms uncomfortably.
There was a small silence, then the man opened the back of his van.
“You know, I should thank you boys.”
The inside of the van was filled with black balloons.
Black balloons.
Finney suddenly very vaguely remembered the police report from the missing kids.
…black balloons found at multiple abduction sites…
Black balloons caught in trees a few hours after Bruce Yamada,
a 13 year old…
Finney heard Robin take in a sharp breath, and then the man charged forward.
Finney went first, grabbed by the arms and thrown into the back of the van. He was too light to put up much of a fight.
“NO!”
He let out a pained yelp as his spine hit the floor of the van.
Robin went net, but not without a very difficult time. He punched the man as soon as Finney was in, and had tried to grab his wrists.
It all happened in such a flash that Finney didn’t remember the man rushing into the van and pressing a sharp knife to Finney’s throat.
He only remembered the cool sting as it dug into his skin.
Finney had scrabbled at the man’s wrists, but it was like they were made of iron.
He completely froze when he heard the man’s voice so close to his ear, like a snake.
“Get in the van..or I’ll kill him.” The man said, looking at Robin.
Finney could only share in horror as his fearless best friend looked at him with… fear.
He had never seen that look on his friends face, and it scared him.
The last thing Finney saw was Robin stepping forward, up into he van, and felt a pain as something stuck him in the head.
Then everything went dark.