"Orange, come on. You want to go to the arcade, don't you?" Red calls out from the front porch, chuckling.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I say, finally getting my other shoe on and shutting the door behind me. Why is it always a pain to get the other shoe?

Red Steve just got a new job as a manager at that new coffee shop in Sunset Shores, the little seaside town we live in. To celebrate that and school ending soon, he's taking us to the arcade on the boardwalk. It's always fun there... and about the place where the most stuff happens, other than when I get in trouble for shooting off fireworks in the woods.

Don't get me wrong, I love Sunset Shores and the rest of the county, but it's always so... boring. This county is basically made up of a bunch of small towns, where anything rarely happens. That's why I want to head out and see the world once I'm older, as early as when I'm going to college; anywhere is more exciting than here.

For now, though, I'm staying with Red and my friends. I'm not like some jerk protagonist kid from a small town like in movies, I want to enjoy what I have while I can. I'm not gonna rush to get outta town, I'm happy taking small steps, like how I'm finally old enough to get a summer job.

"Alright, let's head out to the car, buddy." Red says as he gets his keys out of his pocket.

Red adopted me when I was less than a year old, after my dad died in an accident upstate. Apparently Red was a close friend, and he trusted him with me. I never really knew my dad, obviously, but I do want to know why Red keeps talking so little about him. This crystal necklace is all I have from him.

"Head outta the clouds, Orange." Red says, ruffling my hair and snapping me out of it. "Let's go."

"You got it." I smile, walking towards the car and pulling myself from my thoughts. I tend to daydream a lot.

Suddenly, we both hear a loud noise come from behind the house. We both look back, confused and a little unnerved.

"What on earth...?" Red mumbles, looking nervous.

I know he doesn't wanna go check it out... Red Steves are more fragile than others, because of that mass alter to them a long time ago, so he's naturally more cautious. I step forward and start to head towards the backyard.

"I'll check it out, Red. Don't worry." I say. "Probably just another raccoon getting into the trash."

"Be careful, Orange..." Red says.

I round the corner and go through the back gate, already scanning the yard for what could've made that noise. Nothing here so far...

I walk further into the yard, and notice the broken spot in the fence has gotten bigger. So, something broke in... that's no good.

I take out my phone and turn on its flashlight, swinging the beam around so I can see in the dark. I check the back patio, the trees, the other side of the yard, but it doesn't seem like anything's here. I even looked past the backyard and out towards where the path to the beach is, but there's nothing, not even footprints in the sand.

Just as I'm about to give up, I hear something move in the shed right next to the back door. Carefully, I make my way over and shine my phone's flashlight into the pitch-black shed.

I see a figure huddled halfway inside an old box, shaking and... sounds like really quiet crying. I continue to carefully step closer to the shed, now inside it.

"Hello...?" I call out, concerned since I heard them crying. "Hey, are you alright? What are you doing in our shed?"

The figure looks up at me, their face shown in the bright light, and...

Oh good lord.

That's not a Steve.

...

UHHHHHHHH-

The weird figure suddenly scoots backwards further into the box, and I hold out my hand.

"Nonono, it's okay, it's okay!" I say quietly, not wanting to spook him any further. "I-I'm not gonna hurt you or anything, I swear- uh- uhm- how about I... get you outta the yard and into the house?"

The figure just looks at me for a second, then slowly scoots out of the box and grasps my hand.

Okay. This is working.

...

Right- The house-

I carefully help this poor guy up and quickly lead him into the house, him still shaking quite a bit. He's probably terrified, given how it's almost summer and it's not cold.

I hurriedly shut the door behind me, now in the tile spot in front of the door next to the kitchen, and this mysterious person immediately just drops to the tile floor and sits down, now shaking even more. I think he's panicking.

Uh- Quick, Orange- What do you do when someone's panicking?

Uhm-

I spy a blanket that's laid on the couch and rush over to grab it, then go back over to the weird non-Steve person sitting on the floor and wrap the blanket around him. He seems to be confused, for a second just looking at the soft blanket around him, but then he quickly holds onto it like his life depends on it. He's still shaking, tears now running down his face from underneath the blindfold he's wearing over his eyes. Huh, I just noticed that-

I'm interrupted by the sound of the front door.

"Orange? What's going on?" Red calls out. "I heard the back door, what happened?"

Red walks into the kitchen, and freezes when he sees me trying to calm down the strange person on the floor who now has a blanket over him.

"...Orange." Red says slowly. "What. On earth. Is that."

"I have no idea, but please don't freak out." I reply, still trying to get this weird guy to calm down. I think Red suddenly coming in made him panic more.

"I'm not freaking out, just- Why did you bring it in the house?!" Red whispers, picking up on the situation with this guy.

"He's terrified, and was hiding from everything- I dunno! I just wanted to help! He is clearly not okay!" I whisper back. The strange person in front of me is now just staring at the floor, with heavy, ragged breaths being heard.

"It's alright, Orange. I get it." Red says, carefully coming over and kneeling down. "It looks like he's having a panic attack, we need to get him to calm down before he-"

At that moment, the mysterious non-Steve suddenly slumps over and almost faceplants on the tile. I catch him before he does, however.

"Aaaaand there he goes." Red sighs.

"Did- Did he just... faint? Or something?" I ask, very confused.

"Yeah, that can happen with panic attacks." Red replies. He then also grabs onto the mystery person on our kitchen floor. "Come on, let's get him over to the couch."

I help Red pick up this strange person, and we both carry him over to the living room and set him on the couch. As I just watch, Red goes back into the kitchen, grabs a cloth, and runs some cold water from the faucet over it. After wringing it out, Red comes back and places the dampened cloth on the strange person's head. We stand there in a few moments of silence.

"So uh... this is happening now." I say, fully processing what just happened.

"Yyyyep." Red says after a minute.

More silence.

"Okay, in all seriousness, you do realize what's going on right now, right?" Red asks me.

"Yeah, weird person that is definitely not a Steve (possibly an alien) just showed up in our backyard, and now he's in our house. Passed out on the couch." I say. "...And we have no idea what he's going to do when he wakes up. Or where he's from. Or how he's even here."

More silence.

"This is like some awesome movie." I smile.

"Orange." Red says, a bit annoyed. "I said seriously. This could be dangerous, think of what could possibly happen if people find out about this guy."

"Yeah, lots of press. People show up and take him. He gets sent to the government, and then probably Area 51." I continue. "Just like in a movie. So, we keep him hidden like the kids did with the alien in E.T."

"I give up, that's it." Red says, walking into the hallway next to us. "I- I'm just going to my room. Come get me if he wakes up."

Red goes into the hallway, and I'm left with the mystery guy on our couch.

Welp... so much for going to the arcade.

I pull out my phone again and go to my friends and I's groupchat. Funny's been sending memes for the last hour, with Happy occasionally joining in, Shy is asking where I am, Nerdy is scolding Funny for the meme spam, Loud has been sending TikToks to everyone, LC is telling everyone to shut up because he's trying to sleep for the track team meet he has tomorrow, Therapist (he hates that nickname, his actual name is Jade) is trying to calm Nerdy down, and our new online buddy Maroon is wondering what all of the chatter is about.

I quickly let my friends know they won't be seeing me tonight.

"Hey guys, sorry, but I'm not going to the arcade. Something came up."

I soon get a ton of answers.

"That's okay, there's always another night!"

"L"

"yeah L"

"Alright Orange, stay cool buddy."

"That sucks man. Also everyone else, please shut up. I need to be sleeping right now."

"OKAY"

"Loud, you're stuck in caps again"

"At least I'm not the only one forever alone"

"Maroon, I get it's your style or whatever, but come on man. Don't be such an emo"

"Screw you too then, I'll just go back to listening to my playlist of pure emotional art."

"MCR isn't art lol, it's emo kid cringe"

"Shut it"

I quietly laugh at my friends' antics. Still the same as ever... I'm glad they're not disappointed about me not being able to hang out with them tonight. Maybe next weekend...

Although, whatever this is might be taking up a lot more of my time.

—————————————————————————————————————

Aaand here it is, the Worldswap AU! Excited to be telling this story :3

Here's the main three's designs for all of you:

- 36 (changed his age bc 26 didn't make sense)

- Close friend of a lot of the Orange Steves

- Red Steves aren't actually hidden in this AU, just secluded

- New job is a manager at a high-paying coffee shop next to a skatepark

- More responsible one

- Dad friend

- Visits where the other Red Steves live (Rose Hills) very often, seeing his friends the Leader and the Professor (also M, when he's out of his room, and M actually stands for Maroon here)

- Writes mystery/cryptid stories for fun

- Jacket is from his highschool, given to him by an old friend, who is now the Red Leader

- 16 (High School Sophomore)

- Goofball

- Very clumsy

- Goes to school in a highschool within Sunset Shores with his friends

- When school ends, he gets a part-time job at a craft store

- Has Gerald in his room most of the time, but let's him into the backyard when need be (Gerald made the hole in the fence lol)

- Red is his adoptive dad and legal guardian, as his actual dad died before he was a year old in some type of accident, and the crystal necklace is all he has from him

- Close friends with Orange Leader, as it's a small, close-knit town

- Also has his ears pierced, just doesn't wearing earrings most of the time

- Elven/Mystical Humanoid

- Where'd he come from?

- Very pure bean

- Does not know a lot about this new world

- He also has an important necklace, although I'm not revealing what's important about it yet :)

- Doesn't speak much

- Curious boi

See you guys next chapter :>