What's wrong with these guys?

I shouldn't have asked for help in the first place. I don't get them. They are ready to take lives with a bulletless gun but they are not letting me die.

"Kal?" The taller guy asked rather than said.

How the hell does he know me? Last time I checked I definitely was M.I.A. How the hell does he know my name?

As if sensing my doubt, he removed his mask and now I realised that I had lost my sanity, for the fact I didn't recognise the familiar voice.

"Bruh, Kal, " the other guy could only happen to be Alex, he proved it by removing the mask, " your face has the topography of a person who has lost it. Buddy climb down." He inched closer to me, but I only retreated back, steering near the edge even more.

"Kal, " Elikai called, " Listen, I don't know what's going on but please, don't make impulsive decisions."

"Oh shut up. Don't pretend you know shit."

"Yes, I don't know. I would love to know. Steal my tea all you want but please calm down."

I remembered what I had done, Elikai was in the coffee shop, that's how I got his tea instead of anyone else. I know he loves tea but is he too nuts about it to follow me?

"Were you following me?" I enquired, I needed closure before I jump off.

"No? Why would I follow you? I–"

He looks at Alex, who now I noticed was way near me now.

"We didn't follow you. We didn't know it was you." Alex answered on behalf of Elikai.

"Oh, so you guys mob people now?" I climbed off the higher end of the edge and stood right in front of the duo. I really needed to know what was going on. I didn't want my ghost to haunt this place solely because Alex's stale puns were the last thing I heard.

"I have never met an outlaw before," I crossed my arms, "what's your cool gangsta name?" I had smiled at something for a long time, but the preposterous incidences happen once in a while. I'd like to witness it.

"Promise to God you won't jump, come in," Alex gestured to me to move inside. I rolled my eyes and walked in near the stairs just to shut him up. "God doesn't play dice, Padilla."

"And I don't play hangman." Alex wanted to sound cocky and cool, but his voice thickened raw panic.

"Alex," I drawled his name, lowering my gaze, "don't tell me you didn't google a cool name."

"Um...eh... It's...uh...–"

"It is?"

"Egg Man." He muttered, counting the number of stones on the floor.

"Egg man? Who are you, Lucky Luciano?"

"Hey!" He raised his voice in anxious excitement, "at least my ain't smiley like Kai!" He pointed at Elikai who seemed more concerned about where I was standing than what was going on.

"Kal, please tell me why you're here." He begged, his gaze softening and glinting in the moonlight.

"You tell me why are you mobbing? I don't remember you having outlaw tendencies–"

"And I don't remember you having suicidal tendencies." His voice quivered at the last words as if it was blasphemous to utter the s-word.

"Chances, Eli."

"And choices." He scoffed. Then with the blink of my eye, he grabbed my hand.

"Hey, hey, hey! Leave me alone!" I jerked my hand out of his, but his grip was strong enough I almost felt the fingerprints through my shirt.

"I don't have money at this moment, and I need to buy food for my cat Cleo, so I need money. Now come with me and tell me what are you doing?"

"You know you can't work like Alex? And isn't your cat's name Bathshe-"

"No!" He shouted, but took a deep breath to regain the calm in his tone," She is Cleo and don't you think I might be working two shifts already?"

"I don't know man. Come, let me buy you the food. I already owe you the tea." I removed my hand from his grip. His eyes widened at the offer I had put forward.

"Weren't you planning to jump a few moments ago?" Alex intervened, fear dripping out from his natural immature baritone.

"No dick moves right now, Alex." Elikai snapped at him, eyeing him to shut his mouth.

"That's what she said, sadly." He feigned disappointment, this is where he vouched for his composure. He was cool now that I wasn't centimetres close to the edge, but his nervousness dripped through his bad jokes.

"I won't jump, not now at least. Let's go get some cat food."

"No, I don't trust you." Elikai held my hand again, this time I didn't jerk it off. He clearly needs an answer and won't leave me until he gets it.

"I didn't ask you to trust me."

" Don't sprinkle all the salt from your fries I here, Kal, just understand how embarrassed and scared Kai is seeing the lo- his long time friend and rival being mobbed and about to die."

He looked apologetically at Elikai who couldn't stop glaring at him for no apparent reason.

" I don't like fries," I stated.

"You like volunteering for the tea heist. I'll accompany you home and you'll tell me why you stole my tea." He was firm and adamant. It was difficult for me to make him back off, it's in his nature I knew too well.

"You don't want to know why I came here?" It surprised me a little bit. I would expect any normal human being to ask that.

he paused to give it a thought, but opened his mouth to answer," No, nor I'll tell anyone that you were here. Right, Alex?"

"Huh, what?" He cupped his hands around his ears, leaning in."You came here to buy Molly? Damn, she's fine."

I looked at Elikai for the last time before making up my mind. They had shattered the headspace(or lack thereof) I required to jump down. I couldn't do it now. Might as well go home with a weird story of mobsters to sleep on. I could always tell I was hanging out with them, they are ideal kids in the eyes of them. That'll be a win-win situation.

I brought my hand forward.

"Deal."

~~~

I never had visited a pet store before. Well, I never had pets, my parents never trusted kassy or me to be mature enough to understand "parenting" an animal.They didn't want the poor being to be tortured by their own negligence.

Anyway, the store was extremely cleaned. The alleys were divided for different kinds of pets and their food. The section for cats was near the entrance itself, so it was easy for us to navigate.

"This place is an introverted hypochondriac's heaven," Alex commented. Sure, the arrangement was immaculate and it wasn't crowded. The colour-coded products on the racks would have cured OCD. Ah, I shouldn't be making stereotypical references, my bad.

Alex sprinted towards the rack and picked the first snack he saw. He examined the packet carefully and I assume he read the ingredients. "bruh, what flavour is cheery tuna? Cleo will throw up eating this pricey shit." he frowned. He was close to the cat, but considering both of them have grown tied to the hip together, it shouldn't be a surprise for me.

"It doesn't matter, cats taste things differently than us." Elikai reasoned.

"No, the flavour of food poisoning is the same across gender, race, sexuality, religion and species." He shook his head and rummaged through the rack to find the safest flavour he thought was present.

I rarely met Elikai and Alex outside competitions. Their demeanour was a shock to me. Then again, my competitiveness does bring the worst out of everyone, so Elikai had to be the worst he could be to beat me.

I giggled remembering how awkward he used to be around me. No doubt, I was a jerk too, I still am, but he didn't seem to mind. I had to ask him one time not to shy away from texting me, he would never discuss questions with me. At first, I thought it was his competitiveness but in the end, he was a tongue-tied llama who forgot how to speak.

"Is your smile being sponsored by Nike?" Alex brought me out of my chain of thoughts. "Just swoosh smile it?"

"When did you become this bad pun connoisseur?" I enquired. Alex always cheered the mood up by toxic levels of dopamine but his puns are deteriorating like my mental stability.

"You know," he placed his hand under his chin, pretending to think," there's this girl who loves my puns. so I stepped up my game."

I expected Elikai to shun him but his gaze flitted around the room, he wasn't singing out, but he wasn't looking somewhere intently either. He played with his keychain one moment, then bit his knuckles the next. Alex took notice of it too.

"Bruh, looks like a plumber drained your emotions man." he elbowed but he was irritated. "Don't bother me with your stupid puns. Just buy it and go." His irritation tightened around his neck.

Alex shrugged his shoulders, twitching his lips, "Whatever cheers your cherry tuna." He carried the packet to the checkout counter.

"What's wrong Elikai? You seem on the edge." I asked him, trying to maintain the calm.

He scoffed, trying to flash a fake smile but his expression hardened. "I guess I saw a man I know was on the edge? I wonder why I am on the edge."

"Know? Man, I thought I was more than that." I tried hard to cut the ice, but he was right, he should be agitated. But I don't understand why.

"Well, thank God you weren't, I couldn't have handled your absence well."

Ouch. "You have always been this sweet?"

He sighed. "I am sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I just couldn't... it was difficult for me to even think about...I am sorry. Just don't do it."

"Eli-"

"Not now. We will talk about this. Please don't do anything before we talk." he pointed his finger at me, breathing deeply.

"I'll not don't worry."

~~~

We walked our way back to home, I was preparing for the rapid-fire I'll face when Kassy will interrogate me. Mum never had to explicitly groom me, Kassy would make sure she did. Although she had given me love more than she could give it to herself, all mum and dada saw was a disgrace in her. She is the most graceful woman I have ever seen. She falls because of her mistakes gracefully and stands up equally well. I have people to cheer me up when I don't need it and she has people to pull her back, even if she wants to climb up. These are times when blood relation and affinity make no sense to me. You kill a living person, then wonder why the person took their life. They didn't, they just got rid of the empty shell their soul no longer resided in.

Elikai kept up with my pace and Alex followed up. He tried not to look at me while asking," Why did you steal my tea?"

"You're nothing special. It was unfortunate on your part that it belonged to you. I don't even drink-"

"tea," he cuts in," I know. I have seen you drinking coffee all the time from the refresher corner at the competitions. That's why I was surprised."

"Do you have a bucket list?"

He looked at me, trying to read what I actually meant. When he saw my indifferent face, he decided to reply. "I don't know, I haven't thought about it. What is it anyway?"

"Nothing," I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans, "just a list of things you want to do when you die. That's the first thing I did from my list. Taking someone's order by shouting "I volunteer". At least I won't die without a single thing struck off-"

"No dead talks right now." he puts his finger on my lips, which were oddly cold for a typical summer night.

By the time we had reached the gate of home, Alex had already climbed up the stairs and rang the bell.

Kassy opened the door as usual, with the brightest smile she ever owned, but it retreated to a frown as soon as her eyes fell on Alex.

"What the hell are you doing with my brother?" She almost howled at him, still blocking the doorway.

"Well here I am," Alex replied," What were your other two wishes?"

~~~
Word count: 2129

A/N

I am getting better at "that's what she said" jokes, I swear. Don't @ me.

Hope you enjoyed reading it!