(me vaguely remembering Austin saying National Treasure and Gravity Falls are his favorite-

this is rushed but I wanted to do something for Austin's birthday dangit)

"Austin! Austin!" Colin drifted into the empty classroom, skirting around a lab table and catching himself on the edge before he rammed right into a stack of stools.

Austin quickly pulled back out of the way and cradled his camera against his chest. "What's with you?"

Colin righted himself, panting over the beakers piled in the sink. "I've been getting these wierd DMs and Bri told me to just block them and move on, but now they're getting really creepy and I'm honestly starting to get scared and-"

"Okay whoa, take a breath. What are you talking about?"

Colin slid his phone across the table. "So I've been getting these pictures sent to me on Instagram and you know me, I like to engage with my fans. But those have no text messages with them." He flicked over to the app, pulled up the conversation, and clicked one of the pictures. "It's some kind of graffiti I think?"

Austin glanced at it before sighing and setting his camera on the table. "You sure it's not just one of your fans trying to show you their art or something?"

"Maybe? It's just, really freaking me out and you know...Bri's starting to get worried about them too-"

Austin picked up the phone and squinted at the screen. A black dot with a down tail across white lines. "Looks like a music note," he said. He scrolled up in the conversation, studying the other images. All of them were similar, slanted pictures of spray painted music notes on concrete. Wall or floor, he couldn't. "All of these are. How well can you read music?"

"Zero. I only listen to it not play it. Wait, do you think I could get more followers from like, the music and songwriting community if I did learn to play? How do you think I'd look with a guitar?"

"Like you're trying too hard." Austin closed out of the app and swiped over to Colin's contacts. He clicked Seek's name under 'frequently contacted', put it on speaker, and waited while it rang.

"Hey Colin! How's-"

"Heeeey Seek," Colin rushed to interrupt, laughing nervously. Austin raised an eyebrow at him and he quickly smiled. Odd. "You're on speakerphone with me and Austin."

"What's with you?" Austin asked.

"Ehhh the pictures just...shook me up you know."

Austin slowly nodded. Colin was a bit of a scaredy cat. "Riiiight, uh Seek we need your expertise on something."

There was mumbling on the other end and what sounded like scrambling followed by a door closing. "Expertise, yes! What do you need?"

"I'm going to send you some pictures of music notes on Colin's phone. Think you could tell us what they are?"

"Tch, of course I can! Send them my way."

Austin easily navigated Colin's phone while the e-boy watched intensively over his shoulder. He sent the images to Seek and waited no more than a few seconds before they heard a sound of recognition. Almost suspiciously quickly, but he just chalked it up to Seek actually knowing what he was talking about. For once.

"C C B G A and C. In that order. Beat goes like this." Knock. Knock. Knock-knock-knock-knock. Sounded like he was hitting a brick wall, Austin noticed.

"Oh!" Colin snapped his fingers. "Those are the first notes of Over the Rainbow! I remember from when I was the Scarecrow in the school musical last year."

"We had a musical last year?"

"You guys literally came to see me every night. You recorded it! Seek had that crush on the girl playing Dorothy and played that awful version of If I Only Had a Heart for her."

"Hey!" Seek protested; Austin could practically hear the pout on his face. "She loved my song, you're just jealous I can actually play instruments."

Austin snorted. "You did it on the ukulele. Wait, doesn't the art room have a rainbow on the wall? I think I remember seeing it last time I was there with Bri."

Colin glanced at his phone still in Austin's hand. "You think this is some scavenger hunt?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe, could be."

"Oooh." Seek's voice came intrigued through the phone, mixed in with another distant scolding one. "Maybe it's like an ARG! You were chosen bro!"

"I don't want to be chosen!"

Excitement hit Austin's heart for the first time that day and he eagerly put his camera into his bag. "Why not? Unless this is a plan to kidnap you, it's really cool! Come on, let's go; we'll talk to you later, Seek."

Luckily, the art room was unlocked even long after clubs were over. It was the homiest and messiest place in the building. All the bricks were painted with various settings, some with names of students and the years they graduated. The art teacher's favorite senior students got to pick a brick to paint however they wanted their last semester; Bri already had hers picked out: right in the middle of the seven tiered rainbow.

They walked over, carefully stepping around pots and clay houses laying about on the floor and stared up at daunting colors. "What are we looking for?" Colin asked.

Austin scratched at the wearing paint. "I have no idea. This is your potential stalker." He investigated the wall, squinting at the different scenes people had left behind. Taking a step back, his eyes traveled up until he reached the ceiling tiles. Above the painted rainbow, Austin could see one tile's creased lines not aligned with the rest. "Look at that!"

Colin squinted up at the ceiling. "Is that supposed to be like that?"

"I don't think so. Get me the ladder from the closet."

Colin dragged the faculty-only authorized ladder from the supply closet, holding it for Austin while keeping one anxious eye on the door. He pushed up the tile, coughing on what he hoped wasn't insulation, and reached inside the ceiling. He felt around for a bit before his fingers touched something metal.

Hoping it wasn't detrimental to the foundation of keeping the ceiling up, Austin gave it a tug and pulled out a clanky metal box. It was small, square, and held closed by a padlock. He clambered down the ladder and excitedly studied the lock.

"Industrial brass. Not very secure, but still hard to pick without the key."

"Sooooo do you need like, one of the carving knives?" Colin asked, gesturing towards the crowded wall table with scattered....everything. "I saw Seek do that once, somehow."

"Nah, there's a much easier way to get these things open."

Colin dropped his hands and stared at him confused. "Really?"

"Yeah see, all you have to do is jiggle this switch back here a few times to the right, turn the dial back to 0 counter clockwise, then-" Austin held out the box and slammed it into the wall, smashing the padlock onto the bricks. Colin yelped and jumped back, shielding his face.

The lock's shackle broke away and fell to the floor. Ignoring the evidence of their trespassing, Austin shouted in glee and opened the box. "Huh? Puzzle pieces?" He took one out and flipped it over in his hand. "They're all white except several with black lines. Don't you hate puzzles like this?"

"Uhh yeah? Hehe," Colin rubbed the back of his neck, taking sudden interest in the spinning wheel nearby, "w-what does that matter?"

"Well if this is meant for you, then why did they give you a puzzle?"

"You know, that's a good question! Leeet's get out of here to solve both that and the puzzle before the art teacher finds out. Seek already got me detention twice this month, anymore and they'll kick me out of Drama Club."

"Can't have that now can we. Help me put the ladder back."

They snuck out into the school courtyard where Austin spilled the puzzle pieces in the box out onto a table. He scanned the pile for a few moments before swiftly sorting them out. Edge pieces first, all with black lines over here, all white over there.

Fill out the outer first. Connect the black lines. Fail at connecting the black lines. Fix them and then...

Austin scratched his head, staring down at the completed puzzle. A plain white board with black lettering right across the center

51°01'58.7"N 114°08'58.8"W

"Are those..."Colin leaned down closer, as if a closer view would make the numbers more coherent. "Coordinates? Right?"

"For sure, but for where I don't know." Austin pulled out his phone and put in the numbers, double and triple checking. "Huh, that's the location for the community center downtown."

"Should we go?"

"...Does this not seem like an elaborate murder plot to you? Not exactly like in a horror movie but- actually that would be a cool concept. Think about it, you think it's this intricate treasure hunt for some ancient fortune but the protagonist just gets killed in the end and-"

"Uh Austin?" Colin shakingly cut off. "No offense but you're kiiinda freaking me out here."

He simply shrugged with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. But I'm just saying that maybe we shouldn't go, this could be some kind of crazy trap."

"No!" Colin suddenly yelled, startling Austin and he pulled back. "I mean, uh, if it is one of my fans then I..want to commend them for putting this all together! And politely ask them never to do it again."

"You sure? Some of them can get really out of hand and if they were able to get inside the school, inside the ceiling too..."

Colin waved him and his worries off, a complete 180 from the norm it was almost jarring. "I'm suuure it'll be fine. If not, we can call Bri for help!"

"Aww going to run scared to your sister?" Austin teased.

"Pff, of course. Like you wouldn't."

He sighed. "Yeahh. Well, let's go then. And just hope it's not a trap."

By the time they drove downtown, it was already sunset. An eerie orange dusk to create the perfect horror movie-esque setting. The scene where the unsuspecting teens ignored all the obvious signs it was a bad idea and go to the source of the evil themselves.

Maybe a bit dramatic for the situation at hand, but Austin was feeling stressed.

They parked outside of the property for safety, in hindsight a terrible idea if they needed a quick escape. The parking lot was half full of cars but the community center was dark and silent. The two glanced at each other nervously and got out of the van to stand in front of the waist-high gate.

"Looks like people are inside. Probably regular townspeople but still, we should stick together," Austin pushed on the squeaky gate and ambled into the parking lot with Colin meandering behind him. Calmly, they bypassed the cars that almost gave him an inkling of recognition and up onto the porch.

He knocked on one of the doors and at no response, peered into the glass. The sun teetering on the horizon shone right into the building, giving him light while also hindering his poor eyesight.

"What do you see?" Colin asked nervously.

"It's too dark, I can't see anything." He stepped away and weighed what little options he had. His whole two options: go inside or leave. Leaving was the best idea, the only idea that seemed sane but he knew the curiosity would kill him and he also didn't know if the messages to Colin would stop. Worse came to worst, he had Bri on speed dial.

He took a deep breath and grabbed the door handle. "Guess we're going in." Colin nodded, agreeing way too easily but he needed to focus on the task at hand. He swung open the door and stepped into the hallway, immediately reaching for the lightswitch.

"SURPRISE!"

Lights clicked on, blinding him momentarily. Austin got an armful of Sekah while Colin jumped onto his back in a hug. He instinctively hugged Sekah back and looked over his shoulder to see the entire front room decorated. People he could recognize from school, mostly film club and his history class, were gathered around laughing at his friends' antics.

The nerves pounding in his heart calmed down and he heard himself laughing along. "What is this?"

Seek let go and grinned. "Happy birthday dude!"

Bri broke away from the group of people and gave him a quick hug that sent his heart back into cardiac arrest. "Happy birthday Austin! You like it?"

"I-I love it! I just thought you guys forgot."

"Of course not, we'd never forget something this important," Colin said. He dropped off Austin's 90 degree spinal cord and joined their little huddle. "We've been planning it for over a week and Seek and Bri have been setting up all day."

"So wait, all of that was to keep me occupied or something?"

"Thaaat and as a half present from us. A nice, short scavenger hunt for our favorite nerd," Bri ruffled his hair and he had to endure Seek's punch in the arm to keep from freaking out.

Austin grinned and hit him back. "Thanks guys, really. I appreciate it and all of this is-...is that Oreo cake?"

"Yup!"

"Cake time now! Let's go!"