Young Writers Society

Bo's life was never exactly normal, but it's recently become even less so - he's been abducted by multiple otherworldly entities, dealt with more magical things than he'd ever thought was possible, and all in all has just been very overwhelmed by the sudden chaos. But now that he's back in his own world, living his own life, things are relatively calm. A new neighbor is even moving into the apartment next to his.

Télos, on the other hand, has only had his life get even more wacky than before. He's always had strange, impossible powers, but he's done a good job at hiding them his entire life. Now that he's going to be a senior in high school, he feels like he's finally got a grasp on how he's supposed to live his life - right up until two little boys show up on his doorstep, swearing that they're his long lost brothers. Télos, whose only source of income is the money his dad left for him in his will, decides that it's best to move somewhere cheaper now that he has two little kids to worry about.

The apartment he's moving into, of course, is the one right next to Bo's. And even though both desperately wish they can get a break from the chaos, it's clear that "normal" is something that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Télos felt like he had only just moved into a new home. Which he had. It had been less than two months since he started renting his own apartment, but now he was off living in some corner of LA he had never been to before. He knew he had to - it wasn't like he could afford the old one when he wasn't the only person living there - but he was already missing it. He had just been getting to know the neighbors, too! And Lex had been right down the road.

This new apartment wasn't exactly bad, but he was already questioning his decision to live here. It was older than the last one had been, and in a slightly more questionable area. Aquarius and Zephyrus loved it. They saw it as a new adventure; they had only been in the last apartment for a few weeks.

He would need to spend some time working on tidying the apartment up, but for now he'd take a break - every piece of furniture had been moved into his apartment, and he had finally gotten everything out of all of the boxes.

He suddenly felt someone tugging on his sleeve.

He turned to see Aquarius standing next to him, peeking out from behind his mask with expectant blue eyes.

"Can I have some water?" he asked.

Télos got to his feet, giving a little stretch as he stepped away from the couch.

"Sure," he said. He glanced around the room. "...Where's Zephyrus?"

Aquarius always asked his twin for help before he asked Télos. He was still learning about the two of them - and what had happened before they ended up at his house - but he knew that Aquarius would only be turning to him if his brother was preoccupied.

Aquarius thought for a moment.

"...I think Zeph's in the bathroom," he hesitantly said.

Télos gave a little nod, leading Aquarius over to the sink and filling up a cup for him. By the time that Aquarius had finished drinking, Zephyrus had emerged from the bathroom. He almost immediately made a beeline for his twin brother.

"Well," Télos said, crouching down in front of the two of them, "we should probably go say hi to our neighbor. You know what to do, right?"

Zephyrus gave a confident nod.

"We don't let them know about our magic," he said, "and we don't tell them we ran away."

Télos grinned.

"Exactly," he said.

Now that they were ready to go, Télos the two of them out of the apartment - one twin holding onto each hand. When they arrived at their neighbor's door, Télos awkwardly lifted his arm up and knocked on it with his elbow.

It was midday and Bo's day off. After a long week of working long hours, Bo was spent and had slept through the morning, waking up at 10 am like some kind of college kid (which he was far from being) and making breakfast for himself. An omelet, like usual. He was a creature of habit.

He was fortunate that all of the involuntary world-hopping and interdimensional kidnapping wasn't messing with his schedule in real-time. It wasn't like he'd dropped off the face of the earth and missed paying bills, or a few shifts at his job, or something worse. Because it could've been worse.

He could be waking up and have nothing to come back to, or just a mess to come back to. Instead, the mess was just all in his head, while everything else continued on as normal. He wasn't sure if that was something to be grateful for or not.

Bo slowly scrubbed the pan over his sink, letting his mind drift into empty thought. It was nice to stop thinking about things and just feel the warm soapy bubbles on his fingertips as the sponge cleared away grease and food caught in the crevices near the handle. He left the pan on the other side of the sink in the drying rack and dried his hands on one of the towels hanging on the handle of the oven.

He wanted to turn on music. Something to fill the void.

As he spun around the room in search of his little bluetooth speaker, he heard a knock on the door.

He wasn't expecting anyone, and he hadn't ordered anything, but there were plenty of reasons for people to go up to his door that weren't bad. Of course, his mind jumped to all of the worst-case scenarios first. Maybe it was just because a lot of weird things kept happening. He felt like he didn't use to be so... pessimistic? Skeptical?

He bent down to look through the fuzzy peep-hole. Normally, the image through the weathered glass was never clear, but he knew what the silhouettes of certain friends looked like. These people looked new. And small.

Kids? Girl scout cookies maybe? Were they selling candles? He didn't get a lot of kids like that coming to his door, in this area of all places, but anything could happen, he supposed.

He gave himself a quick once-over. Tshirt. Sweats. Bare feet. He looked... normal. Just a little like he'd been lazing around because he had. Here's to hoping I don't scare the kids with my face.

He opened the door and gave a small, tired smile.

When he got a clearer look at all of them, though, his mind was banging alarm bells.

God is testing me.

Brightly colored hair. Masks. Maybe he could blame that on the kids being cosplayers, or just quirky teens in Los Angeles. He desperately hoped it was that, but something in his gut said that something strange had rolled up to his door again.

His smile didn't falter as he took in a slow, deep breath.

Patience.

The moment the door opened, Aquarius ducked behind Télos' leg. He hadn't even seen who had opened the door - it seemed like he was more frightened by the possibility of a person than anything. Zephyrus, meanwhile, was unfazed. He looked right up at the neighbor with the kind of confident, almost challenging look that was unnerving from any child, but especially a child who looked like Zephyrus.

Télos, meanwhile, couldn't help but stare. Not at his face. His little brothers wore masks almost constantly; their neighbor's scars didn't really faze him. His height, on the other hand? That was another story. He felt so small compared to him, and Télos wasn't exactly short.

He pushed the feeling aside.

"Hi," he said, grinning. He had to make a good first impression. They would be living next to him for who knew how long, and Télos didn't want to mess things up like he had at the last apartment. "I'm Télos - I just moved into the apartment next to yours with my little brothers. I, er, wanted to swing by and say hi."

Bo laughed a little, eyebrows pinching upwards. Of course. Of course, they were moving in right next to him. Life was just going to be like that now, wasn't it.

"Well, hello. It's nice to meet you, Telos. I'm Bo."

...This was awkward.

He tried to figure out what he was supposed to say. He hadn't done this the last time around, and he had been living alone back then, too. Now he had Aquarius and Zephyrus-

-who he still hadn't really introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, too," he said. He gestured down at his two brothers, even though he couldn't really move his hands - it was more like he nodded with his head in their directions. "Aquarius is hiding behind my legs right now, and Zephyrus is staring at you-"

Wait, where was Zephyrus? He could have sworn he was holding his hand a second ago. He hurriedly glanced around him, trying to find where the more impulsive twin was. Zephyrus, thankfully, hadn't gone that far. He had just gone to Télos' other side to stand protectively in front of Aquarius. He was still giving Bo the challenging look, but now he was also holding his hand out in front of Aquarius.

Bo looked down at the two boys, watching as one of the brothers rushed to practically shield the other. Bo felt a small sinking feeling in his chest. Was this how they always were? He hadn't even done anything that could've been interpreted as threatening. He was just being himself...

"Ah, well, nice to meet you guys too," he said, looking down at Zephyrus, and making brief eye contact. He wasn't sure what the boy was expecting. Bo just grinned.

"It's just me here. No brothers or sisters. Hopefully you won't find me to be a very noisy neighbor. Most you'll hear from me is pots and pans clanging together in my kitchen. I cook a lot."

Zephyrus met Bo's gaze, studied his grin, and then offered one of his own back - seeming to approve of him. He still stayed protectively in front of Aquarius, but he was always like that.

"Hopefully we won't be too noisy, either," Télos said, giving a grin of his own. There was a very small chance of them not being noisy with two seven year olds in the apartment, but he was trying to be optimistic. "I've been trying to cook more, too."

"Well, if you need any tips, feel free to ask," Bo offered. "At this point, the likelihood of me not being at least slightly familiar with something you're trying to make are slim. Assuming you're not doing anything too adventurous, though, I suppose."

He shrugged.

"Trying not to assume, though. Have you done much cooking for the three of you?"

"Not too much," he admitted. "Aquarius and Zephyrus only just started living with me. I've cooked for myself before, but I've had to change what I usually eat."

He faltered, giving a sheepish look as he rubbed the back of his neck with the hand Aquarius wasn't holding. "I, uh, ate a lot of pre-packaged and canned foods before they came to live with me."

"Well, if you ever need any food, feel free to stop by," Bo offered. "I used to make things for the neighbors who lived where you're at now before they moved. I'll have to make you guys a welcome meal, I suppose. Is there anything you kids like?"

Zephryus glanced back at his twin.

"I like whatever Rius likes," he said. He wasn't standing as protectively in front of him, but he was still partially shielding his brother from Bo's line of sight. Télos had to resist the urge to say that it wasn't always true - the two of them had very different tastes, but Zephyrus had the habit of asking for food Aquarius liked.

Aquarius shifted behind Télos's leg.

"...I like everything," he quietly said, ducking his head back out of sight after he spoke.

Télos gave another sheepish smile, and a look he hoped said that he'd tell Bo later when the twins weren't there.

"I'm not picky," Télos said, his grin becoming a little less sheepish. "If it's food, I'll eat it - though I really like pumpkin pie."

Bo laughed. He understood that he kind of put them on the spot, so he wasn’t sure what kind of answers he’d get, but anything was very broad.

“Pumpkin pie isn’t exactly a meal. But maybe I’ll make something that can go with that,” he said.

His grin grew.

"That sounds good to me."

An idea coming to him, he crouched down in front of his brother's. He just needed a minute to talk to Bo alone, and he knew exactly how to get the twins distracted.

"I need to talk to Bo about something," he said, "but you probably should go grab one of your toys from our apartment - Zephyrus, can you keep an eye on your brother for me?"

Zephyrus gave a very big nod.

A second later, Aquarius was being led by his twin back towards their apartment - which was only a few feet away.

Télos popped up.

"Sorry about that," he said, once the twins were too far away to hear. He rubbed the back of his neck again. "Aquarius doesn't like to ask for too much, and Zephyrus always wants to make sure Aquarius is happy. Both of them would protest if I tried saying what they liked when they were here, but they're not too picky. Zephyrus can't stand spicy food, but Aquarius likes spice. Zephyrus also likes anything with a lot of cheese. We haven't been living together for long, so I'm still trying to figure out what their favorite foods are."

He didn't add that his mother apparently hadn't done a great job raising the two of them, either, and that she had failed to give them decent food. That wasn't something he had even shared with Lex, so his next door neighbor wouldn't be learning about that.

Bo poked his head out the door to watch the two twins run off before looking back at Telos. He nodded slightly as he explained.

When Telos was done he put a hand on his chin, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “Hmm... well, there’s a few options I can think of. What about nachos?”