"I'm going out!" Adriel calls, pulling on his shoes. His mom shouts something he thinks is 'be back by eleven' but he's not quite sure and he doesn't feel like sticking around and finding out.

He steps outside and closes the door behind him, clicking on the flashlight tucked into a belt loop.

"Now which way was that thing," he mutters, walking into the forest behind his house.

Adriel walks for what feels like eternity but was probably only twenty minutes, following the few sets of footprints embedded in the ground.

"Here it is!" He looks up at a group of densely packed tree branches before cracking his fingers.

Adriel takes three steps back, then sprints towards the tree, jumping up and grabbing a low-hanging branch and swinging his legs up onto the branch just below it. He works his way up the tree slowly, smiling triumphantly when he gets through the branches and reaches a wooden structure.

"Are you serious?" Julias looks over at Adriel after he pushes open the trapdoor. "Get out. I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now."

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you either." Adriel hoists himself into the treehouse and gestures towards the trapdoor. "Out you go."

"I found this place first."

"No, I found it first."

Julias sighs and walks into a different part of the treehouse, the beads hanging in the door way clattering together.

"Are you deaf as well as stupid?" Adriel stands and steps over the trapdoor, towards the door Julias went through. "I asked you to leave."

Julias storms back into the room and launches himself at Adriel, knocking both of them out of the treehouse. Tree branches slow their descent until they hit the ground, Julias clutching Adriel's shirt collar.

"I told you to stop calling me stupid!" he shouts, pulling his arm back and curling his hand into a fist. Adriel kicks him off and jumps to his feet, rubbing his lower back.

"Did you really have to knock me out of a treehouse?" Adriel asks, straightening up and dropping his arms to his side.

"You weren't getting it through your thick head not to call me stupid!"

"So then punch me to get it into me!"

"I threw you to the ground earlier and that didn't do shit!"

"So that means your next idea is to throw me out of a treehouse? You're lucky I didn't break something!"

Adriel snaps his mouth shut as Julias winces, getting to his feet.

"Nice job," he snorts. "Didn't break one of my bones but you broke one of yours."

"It's not broken!" Julias protests. Adriel rolls his eyes and walks up to him, grabbing his hand and lifting it up. A cry of pain leaks from Julias's mouth as Adriel lowers Julias's hand.

"Yeah, it's broken."

"So?" Julias shrugs and lifts his other arm, curling and uncurling his fingers. "I can still beat you."

"You're seriously injured, Julias. I'm not gonna fight you no matter how bad I want to or how bad you deserve it." Adriel steps over to the tree he just fell out of and pulls himself up onto the lowest branch. His back hits the ground and Julias's face hovers inches above his.

"Let me make this very clear, Adriel," he hisses, grabbing Adriel's collar with his good hand. "That treehouse is mine. If I am in it, you're not. If I'm not in it, you're not."

"Did you build it?"

"Did you?"

"You don't get to set rules on something that isn't even yours!"

"It was abandoned and in terrible shape when I first found it!" Julias releases Adriel's collar and watches him get to his feet. "It's mine seeing as I'm the one that fixed it!"

"You could just use the garden shed in your back yard!" Adriel yells. "Just sneak back there like you used to!"

"Wow, stalker much?"

"I've changed my mind." Adriel reaches out and grabs Julias's shirt. "It's punishment time."

Julias leans back and narrowly avoids Adriel's fist. He grabs the hand holding his shirt and digs his thumbnail into the underside, making Adriel let go of his shirt.

"Even with my arm like this, you'll still lose," Julias taunts, lifting his left arm with his right. Adriel rolls his eyes and reaches out. Julias smacks his arm to the side and spins around on the heel of his left foot, his elbow hitting Adriel's cheek.

"Shit!" Adriel stumbles back and presses a hand to his cheek, glaring at Julias. "You're just asking for it at this point."

"All I asked was for you to stop calling me stupid! That's all I wanted, Adriel!"

"Whatever." Adriel lunges forward and attempts to grab Julias's shirt again. Julias lifts his leg and drives his knee into Adriel's stomach. Adriel stumbles back, coughing and clutching his stomach.

"Didn't we talk about this earlier?" Julias starts pacing back and forth in front of Adriel. "About how you wouldn't win if we fought?"

"One well-timed hit to your hand and you're done for," Adriel spits. Julias rolls his eyes and in a flash has Adriel's collar in his hand. He spins him around and pins an arm to his neck and wraps a leg around one of Adriel's.

"This isn't something I was taught while taking taekwondo," Julias whispers. "I figured this out myself. You now can only use one arm and one leg, and all it takes from me is one move and you're down on the ground."

Adriel sighs. "You can only use one arm too, and I know it's not the one wrapped around my neck. You're not that stupid."

Julias presses his arm harder against Adriel's neck. "What was that?"

"I said you're not that stup-"

Adriel cuts off with a cough, clawing at Julias's arm with his free hand.

It takes Julias a few seconds but as soon as he realizes Adriel's coughing turned into hacking he releases him and takes three shaky steps back.

"I-I'm sorry." Julias cradles his injured hand against his chest. "I didn't realize- I didn't mean to do that."

"Nope." Adriel bends over and rests a hand on his knee, the other in the air with the palm facing Julias. "I deserved that. I definitely deserved that."

"No." Julias shakes his head violently. "You didn't."

"Make up your mind, Julias!" Adriel stands up straight and looks over at Julias. "One minute you're throwing me out of a treehouse and the next you're apologizing to me."

"I'm sorry for throwing you out of a treehouse too." Julias looks down at the ground before jumping back and pulling a fist back. "Don't ever get that close to me. Ever."

"Close?" Adriel takes two steps forward for every one Julias takes backward until his back hits a tree and Adriel's inches away from him. "This close?"

Julias lifts his good hand and rests it against Adriel's face, shoving him back and to the ground.

"Wow, alright." Adriel touches his nose a few times, eyes fluttering every time he does. "You really want to fight me."

"You keep ignoring what I ask of you! It's not that hard to keep your space and not call me stupid!"

"Maybe if you would ask in less violent ways I'd be more inclined to do what you ask." Adriel springs to his feet and grabs Julias's collar. Julias grabs Adriel's collar with his one good hand.

The duo shove each other around until they fall to the ground. Adriel pulls Julias's hand off of his collar and pins it above his head, slapping Julias.

"This entire fight is your fault," Julias spits, pulling his wrist from Adriel's grip and shoving him back. "If you could do two simple things that'd be great. I didn't ask that much of you! It's not like I asked for your firstborn child, I asked you not to call me stupid!"

"What's your problem with being called stupid?" Adriel tries and fails to grab Julias's wrist again. "It's just a dumb adjective! And it's coming from my mouth, it shouldn't bother you this much!"

"It's none of your business why I don't like being called stupid." Julias manages to roll the two over so he's pinning Adriel to the ground. "The only thing you need to do about it is stop calling me it!"

"Then tell me why!" Adriel flips them over again. They lapse into silence, rolling around and getting twigs and leaves tangled in their hair.

"You're insufferable!" Julias announces, moving his hand to Adriel's shoulder and squeezing it. Adriel moves of off Julias just long enough to flip him onto his stomach, resting a hand on the back of his head and pressing his face into the pink grass underneath him.

"Have you met yourself?" Adriel asks, a bead of sweat rolling slowly down his face. "You're the insufferable one!"

"Let me up," Julias demands, lifting his head. Adriel presses it back against the ground. "Adriel, look around!"

"You're not going to trick me into letting my guard-"

"Dammit Adriel, look at the grass underneath me!" Julias exclaims. Adriel glances from Julias's head to the grass then back, then back again.

"Why is it pink?" he asks quietly, letting go of Julias and standing up. "And where'd the tree with the treehouse go?"

Julias stands and looks around.

"What's with the flowers?"

Adriel and Julias look at each other, eyes wide.

"Where are we?"