Sighing, I shrugged. “I guess anything’s on the table. Aliens, mythical monsters, gods, entropy incarnate. You name it, it could be it.”

We turned the corner to approach the cloud of cigarette smoke wisping from the dark under the stairs. Only the very red glowing ember end was visible. An exasperated groan wafted from the shadows. So, this was Jye? They didn’t sound overly enthused at our arrival. Though with everything going on that wasn’t entirely surprising.

“Jesus, can’t I get a fucking break?” said a deep voice.

“We’re not clients,” Axel said. In the same breath, he slapped the cigarette from their lips. “Smoking is a disgusting habit and it’ll kill you. Now join our party.”

From the shadows loomed Jye, all muscle, and at least a head taller than Axel. I’d bet they could rip apart a coconut with their bare hands. Or someone’s head. With red hair in a mop framing their face, green eyes, and freckles, they looked every inch a lumberjack sans axe. Their square jaw and deep set eyes really sold the look despite the fact they currently wore black sports tights and a loose long sleeved shirt.

Eyes wide, I waited and watched, hoping Axel had some sort of plan after harassing this goliath. Maybe a way to cash in a life debt? Blackmail? Extortion?

“Yo, Jye, old pal. You know me, it’s Axel! We go way back. To that party in the Bahamas! You know the one where you hooked up with the DJ. Jye, this is Lee, Lee, Jye. Now we all know each other, let’s form a party.”

The muscle in Axel’s jaw twitched and I desperately tried to hide my reaction, covering it with a cough. Thankfully, Jye didn’t seem to notice. Inside, I was reeling. Why the hell would he lie about where he knew Jye from? Was Jye even their friend? Hell, did he even know Jye at all? Spiralling, I was frozen as the redhead cocked their head at an angle, somewhat akin to a dog.

Their thick red eyebrows furrowed together. The world fell away and Jye appeared to increase further in size. In the back of my head, I heard static. Then they leaned down, pressing their nose into Axel’s and growled. “The Bahamas, you say? I don’t remember seeing you there. And I have a great fucking memory.”

Was this how we died? In the back of a gym lot?

I guess there were worse ways to go. Chrissie crossed my mind. She was always there somewhere.

Axel scoffed. “You told me to take some classes with you here since we lived in the same neighbourhood after we discussed the best Hunter x Hunter arcs. Greed Island is mid as fuck, but I do concede it was a foundational moment in Gon and Killua’s friendship.”

Jye roared directly into Axel’s face, “God, you’re so wrong! Greed Island was the only time that Gon and Killua were able to have fun without worrying about the world or family. It’s the purest arc and it shows how much they truly care about each other!” They actually and genuinely growled. “You’re probably a Chimera Ant arc nerd, aren’t you?”

Axel rolled his eyes and slid a little further from Jye who was now all but frothing at the mouth. “Personally, the strongest arc, in my opinion, is the Yorknew City arc.”

Whoosh.

Jye’s roundhouse was aimed perfectly at Axel, on the square of his jaw. I was half expecting his head to explode from impact like one of those slo-mo watermelon videos. Instead, the redhead’s attack flew through empty air. Axel stood two steps to the left of where he had previously been.

What the fuck? Had he teleported? I tried to recall his abilities and his traits, but couldn’t remember what he’d said. The long forgotten rational part of my brain was screaming about the impossibility of being able to use game-like abilities to move faster than sight, but the present portion of my mind was simply scrambling to keep up with what I was witnessing.

Looking unimpressed, Jye chuckled. “Oh, you got tricks? Well, so do I. Can’t read them though.”

They couldn’t read their tricks? What did that mean? Was that their abilities? My brain leapt ahead. Was Axel’s potential recruit illiterate? A non-English native? But they spoke so fluently… Before I could think another thought, I heard the static hiss again.

Jye took a step. They were closing in on Axel. And now it was Axel’s turn to frown. He glanced quickly down in blatant confusion, then continued to stand there. What the hell was he doing? Couldn’t he do that… Was it [Swift Footed] thing again?

With a grunt, Axel pulled at his feet. They wouldn’t move. It was as if they were glued to the floor. Something was pushing or pulling them with so much force they literally wouldn’t budge.

He was stuck.

Jye had to be using an ability on him. But what was it? Some sort of immobilisation? I wanted to give Axel the benefit of the doubt. It’s not like he would’ve taunted them without having some way of dealing with them. Right?

“So, that’s what that does,” Jye said with a grin.

A panicked expression began to bloom over Axel’s face. Oh. He had no idea how to get out of this situation. Typical. It was always me cleaning up after his messes. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I steeled myself, mentally mumbling self-affirmations. Okay. You got this.

They probably won’t kill you.

Then I slipped in between the two of them. Not because Axel didn’t deserve a thorough thrashing. This was just my way of paying him back for that time in high school when he’d stopped my bully from continuously pelting into me. Though he only interfered because he thought his parents would get mad at him for not doing anything. Still, I owed him for that.

“Jye, actually Axel made me watch Hunter x Hunter with him and I agree with you about the Greed Island arc.” The giant’s eyes focused on me. “Gon and Killua’s friendship was the core of that storyline and it really showed that Gon needed Killua as much as Killua needed him.”

“You…” Jye’s finger dug deep into my collarbone. Oh, shit, this was it. I was a dead man.

Then suddenly Jye’s arm was around my shoulder, and they were squeezing me tightly. “You get it. You’re one of the good ones. Lee, was it? You’re one of us.”

The breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding sighed out of me. I wasn’t quite sure who Jye was including when they said “us,” but I was glad everything had been diffused. Perhaps we’d get out of this without any sort of physical altercation. After all, we all were supposed to work together going forward. Or at least, that was the plan.

Wiping the nervous sweat from my forehead, I opened my mouth to speak as Axel slapped a hand onto Jye’s back. “Good to hear that, now we can–”

THUNK.