WARRIORS HIGH
ISLAND OF THE LOST
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE DOG ON A LEASH METAPHOR
Two Days Earlier...
Jaywhisker was not having a good day.
He had basically surrounded in stress that he had made himself. He was working so hard on the suit that he hadn't slept in four days (which Foxleap had reprimanded him for every second he was working, the house had run out of Guinness, which he called his "work drink" in private, he couldn't ask any non-procrastinating or reasonable adult for a restock and now Coalstrike was making him go back to school to pick Dusty up when he started coming home later and later after band practice.
Ugh.
Granted, it was only a twenty-minute bike ride to the Warriors High campus, so it wasn't like it was a huge deal, but seriously? Now he had to reel in the child that was their first priority of protection like he was a dog on a leash.
Why him, anyway? It wasn't like he did anything important. All he had done was play the piano, shout at Coalstrike for being overprotective and try to remind him of how Marvel was better than DC. It was like he had everyone praising him as the protagonist of their story even though he had done the equivalent of important work as a minor side character.
Was he the one remaking an Iron Man suit from scratch just to impress an eight-year-old?
He pulled into the massive parking lot of his high school, glided to the bike rack to lock his bike and headed inside.
"Alright, where is this sneaky son of a gun?" he muttered to himself as he walked through the grand entrance of the school.
He walked down the main hallway, embellished with banners and decorated tiles and glanced down the massive offshoots to the many wings of the school. Clearly hoping that he wasn;t down one of them, he only gave them a glance before shrugging them off and heading to the stairs at the end of the hallway, which connected all three floors.
Jaywhisker walked up the stairs, inwardly cursing everyone in the group for the dirty work they made him do until he heard a voice.
"So you say your kryptonite, of all things, is an F#3."
Jaywhisker peeked over the last stair to see Dusty walking down the hallway next to Axis, who he recognized as the handsome boy Dusty sat with at lunch outside. On the surface, in seemed to be a casual conversation, but quickly Jaywhisker noticed something in Dusty's eyes and posture that was...different than when he talked to him.
"Listen," said Axis, an exasperated smirk on his face, "It's literally in the middle of every scale. It's the most frustrating note to pull out of air. Plus, no one uses F# in any key well anymore."
"Excuses, excuses," said Dusty, rolling his eyes, "When will you just admit that your perfect 'perfect pitch' isn't so perfect after all?"
The boy grinned. "Never."
"Narcissist."
"Well, if I can't impress you with my amazing singing anymore…"
He abruptly grabbed Dusty under his shoulders, making him flinch, and carried him until his back slammed against the lockers and he towered over him.
"Guess I'll have to impress you some other way."
"Is that so?" said Dusty, who didn't at all seem threatened by Axis' possessiveness, "I didn't think you were a 'makeout by the lockers' kind of guy."
Axis playfully tickled Dusty right under his chin, making him visibly flare up in embarrassment. "Mmh," he shrugged, "Only for the most memorable of times."
"How charming."
"Now where have I heard that before."
Their faces were inches away.
Jaywhisker's eyes were wide in terror. There was no way Dusty knew the trouble he may be in now.
"BOYS!"
Luckily, Crookedstar's booming voice made the two break apart instantly.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Axis seemed quite unfazed by this. "Nothing to worry about, Crook. Just horsin' around, if you get what I mean."
Crookedstar continued to glower at the two with crossed arms, which Axis clearly didn't expect.
"School ended two hours ago. You better have a good explanation as to why you're here so late on campus after hours."
"Whatcha talking about?" said Axis, bewildered, "We had band! You know this!"
"My office," said Crookedstar decisively, "Now."
"But-"
"NOW."
Axis almost fought back, but Dusty gave him a shoulder bump, which made him shut up after he mumbled a pissed off "Yes sir" as the two of them walked away to the principal's office.
Jaywhisker took this golden opportunity to bolt, streaking down the stairs before he could be seen.
Overall, the thirty minutes Dusty spent in the office were...pretty painless.
The two of them were forced to sit in silence as Crookedstar typed an email to their guardians. Of course, he wasn't concerned since Jaywhisker had directed all emails to a burner account and he figured Axis wouldn't be worried either, but the bartender was fuming. Never before had he seen him this pissed off.
So Dusty did something he probably would have regret in any other situation. He reached over and held his hand.
For a couple of seconds, Axis was frozen in place, not knowing how to react, before squeezing it back, accepting the gesture.
They held hands for twenty five minutes, only breaking apart when the headmaster begrudgingly let them go.
"Sorry about that," said Dusty when they were safely out of range.
"No, it's fine," said Axis, his wrist still occasionally quivering, "I should be the one apologizing. I've never seen Crook so pissed off before."
The walk finished in silence, the two walking down the stairs to the main entrance and stopping at the glass doors to the parking lot.
"Well," said Dusty awkwardly, "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
Dusty sighed after a moment and walked to the door.
"Wait!"
Dusty turned around. "Yeah?"
Before the boy could say anything, Axis leaned in and kissed him on the forehead. The touch was light and gentle, but was just enough to make Dusty gasp tightly and blush profusely.
Axis was back to character, smirking. "Just...an apology."
He walked past him, leaving Dusty right in front of the doors, silently reveling in his euphoria. After about a minute of taking deep breaths to stop his heart from beating at the speed of light, he turned out and strided out the double doors.
But immediately, he noticed a presence behind him and his high was ruined.
"How much did you see?" said Dusty, all enthusiasm drained from his voice.
"Enough," said Jaywhisker icily, "Enough to prove how much of a fucking idiot you are."
Dusty didn't respond, walking to his bike and undoing the combination lock that tied it to the rack.
"Do you even realize what you're doing?!" snapped Jaywhisker, "The entire reason we come here was to keep ourselves hidden from ARS and train up. Not even three weeks later you're head over heels for a homeless guy, so you've told me, who's done nothing but flirt with you! All it takes is a glance for you to want to drop your clothes and suck his dick!"
Dusty was getting very tired of this. "Do you ever shut up?"
"Not when I have a point!" shot back the boy, "And my point is that you're not thinking things through! You are trying to commit yourself to a relationship that has the power to make you lose track of your guard and get you killed! You can't go through with this. Not until you know he's not a threat-"
"He's not a threat!" snapped Dusty, dismounting his bike and getting into Jaywhisker's face.
"Oh yeah?" said Jaywhisker, not even flinching, "How do you know he's not a part of some bisexual Spud Posse resurrection? Or a perverted rapist? Or, dare I say, a part of ARS?! I bet that while you've been jacking off to this guy's hairline you haven't even granted a thought to this entire thing being a trap."
"You're starting to sound like Coalstrike."
"AT LEAST HE CAN SEE SOME SENSE SOMETIMES!"
Dusty opened his mouth for a scathing retort but slowly shut it when nothing came out.
Jaywhisker by then seemed to realize that he was taking this too far. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you. I've seen the way you two flirt and I can tell you really like him, but even then, it's dangerous. When we're fighting a terrorist organization that are experts at espionage, anyone could be trying to shoehorn us into a trap. I'd...I'd just rather you have a broken heart and still be kicking than not."
Dusty nodded, eyes down at his shoes.
"Look," said the boy genius, "I'll leave you alone. You can have your naked makeout seshes that you so want to have. My lips are sealed. But if he gets all suspicious behind you...I need to step in. We all do."
Jaywhisker patted him on the back and got on his bike, getting ready to head towards the house.
"Is this what a dog feels like when they're on a leash?" said Dusty suddenly, the joy from Axis' kiss now a distant memory, "Being pulled away from everything they're interested in because it's too out of the way of the final destination?"
Jaywhisker shrugged. "Dunno. I'm just doing this so I can keep mooching off of Coalstrike's beer restockings."
Even Dusty couldn't help but crack a smile at that.
"Thanks, Jaywhisker."
"No problem," he said, returning a smile, "You...may wanna fix your pants, though."
Dusty flinched, adjusting his jeans immediately as Jaywhisker grinned wickedly.
Present Day.
Shit.
Dusty was immediately awake, sitting in his underwear in the middle of the queen-sized bed and his phone to his ear. A glance at the clock told him it was just past two in the morning.
And Axis somehow knew that he had been in Riven.
"How do you know he's not a part of some bisexual Spud Posse resurrection? Or a perverted rapist? Or, dare I say, a part of ARS?! I bet that while you've been jacking off to this guy's hairline you haven't even granted a thought to this entire thing being a trap."
No.
There had to be a reason.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, uh…" Dusty said, hastily trying to think of something.
"Wasn't a tough question," pressed Axis, "You weren't shooting up the warehouse district, were you?"
"NO!" said Dusty, only realizing the instant after that he had said that too fast, "I...I was just…"
His eyes flailed around and eventually fell on the glass windows and glass sliding door that served as the barrier to his walk-in closet.
He had something.
"I was sizing up my violin," he said, I wanna see if it can get a better ring from the mic in my studio."
Axis was silent, seemingly comprehending the "exposition" he had just dumped on him.
"I have many questions."
"Shoot," said Dusty with a new shot of confidence.
"There's an instrument shop in Riven?"
"Yeah," he said casually, getting up and rolling his shoulders, "It;s in the middle of this big marketplace. Rumor says they're closing down soon, though."
He hadn't seen much of the market, but now he really wished he wasn't wrong.
"You play violin, too?!" said Axis, his oppressive tone replaced with a mix of confusion and budding admiration, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well, I was going to," said Dusty with a chuckle, "But I wanted it to be a surprise when I showed you my studio."
"YOU HAVE A STUDIO?!" said Axis, who was obviously smiling in disbelief.
"Well, it's technically my walk-in closet, but y'know...just put up some soundproof walls, get a mic, install the software…"
As Axis was salivating over his nonchalant reveal, Dusty's eyes widened.
This was perfect.
He could kill two birds with one stone.
"I could…show it to you...if you want…" said Dusty quietly, suddenly a lot more nervous.
"Are you kidding me?!" said Axis, his music nerdness on full display, "When are you free?"
"Tomorrow. At ten. I'll pick you up from the bar."
"It's a date."
"It's not a date…" said Dusty, blushing, "You're coming over to my house…"
Axis just laughed.
"Whatever you say."
Dusty was burning now.
"Okay, I gotta get back to work," said Axis, "See you tonight."
"Yeah," said the flustered boy as the bartender hung up.
Oh.
My.
God.
Axis was coming to his house.
He didn't care that Coalstrike and Ashtooth and Mallowleaf were going to keep him here. He didn't care that Jaywhisker was going to be extremely suspicious when he told him. None of it mattered.
Axis was coming to his house!
After pumping his fist about seventeen times, Dusty took a deep breath.
"Well," he said to himself, "I'm definitely not going to fall asleep anytime soon."
So for the next two hours, he turned on the purple LED strip lights lining the ceiling of his studio and played Caravan on the drums to celebrate.
And for once, the screw-ups he made during the solo didn't matter at all.
DUSTAXIS IS IN FULL SWING!
And things are getting steamy...
Next chapter is the final chapter of Arc 1. Axis pays a visit and I get to tease you with a glimpse of Jaywhisker's backstory.
Hopefully I'll get it in before Jay starts his final arc and fucks up all of my plans, but we'll see.
Just keep in mind that for better or for worse, it's only a matter of time before I take the wheel.
Remember to review! Seriously, I have no experience with being a co-writer of a miniverse. Reviews even and especially (fair) critical ones, are much appreciated.
Best,
~Res