The sea of students flowed through the narrow hallways to their respective classrooms like the waves to a beach. I followed along the waves of white polos, navy skirts, and navy pants. The compact crowd had a sloth’s rhythm with bumps between the students.

Nothing had changed since middle school, the same disappointment as always just with new faces and new personalities. The only difference is all clothes are identical with the mascot imprinted on the right chest.

The heat of mid-August made my legs scratchy and wet from the sweat under my navy pants. I wish I could wear the skirts of the girls with their look of comfort and the lack of scratchy, sweaty pants.

However, I’m not a pervert.

I reached my first class, homeroom. The first day of school has an annoying system where there must be a class before your first academic period. In middle and elementary school, it made sense due to the lack of choice of courses, but in high school, it's highly vain. I slipped in any way and sat in the back row, by the window like a true main character.

I sat looking through the window. The azure sky was bright and blue, the warmth of the sun pierced through the glass and the gentle breeze drifting through an open window brought me to drowsiness.

I gradually wandered off to somber. Full of dreams and happy memories.

A person devoid of all appearance of humanity stood with arms spread out in a T-shaped pose. A rainbow of labeled tabs appeared vertically to the right of the person. Below that sat a ‘Done’ button and to the other corner appeared a ‘Reset’ button. Above and to the center of the whole thing were the words, “Character Creation.”

BOOM! The sound of thunder swiftly brought me back to the physical realm when I jumped out of my seat. Around me, students giggled and chuckled at my adversity.

A teacher stood with a giant drum on him and a smug look before chuckling, “Oh, look who came back from the land of the living.” It wasn’t a good-hearted chuckle either or so it felt. Maybe I’m just assuming.

Taking a deep breath, I nervously said: "Sorry sir, I was busy last night." As I rubbed the back of my neck.

“No doubt, you were playing around last night, hmmm? Maybe playing video games?” He quizzed suspiciously with an irritating posh attitude.

Usually, he would be right, but not this time, “No sir, my little sister was having nightmares. She’s only five and my mom had to work late last night.” It was the honest to god truth too. Suzy’s been waking me up in the middle of the night asking to sleep in my bed. When I wake up, I’m up and can’t get back to sleep.

A hint of irritation reached his face just for a moment before becoming blank, “Alright, sit back down, Mr. Adler.”

I sat back down.

Inspecting his room is like expecting something great out of a wall. The room was bare only with the inessentials, student desks, teacher’s desk and chair, and blackboard. No posters, no personality, nothing. Either this guy’s hella new or is as boringly posh as my impression of him is.

I wonder what that dream was about

It was the latter. He had such a posh attitude that there was no doubt this guy is an insider. Thank god this teacher is only my homeroom teacher.

The bell eventually rang, and I hightailed it out, back into the hall.

“HeyyouheyyouheyyouSleepyboy!!!!” A voice sang from behind and a chocolate colored boy bounced right over to me. “Hithere! I’mKennyMcQueenWhat’syourname?!” Saying the sentence with barely a pause. The bounciness of the chocolate boy is like an energizer bunny. Even when standing still, he was twitching like a meth head.

What the hell is even that last name? Is he like Irish or something? “Uh, hi, I’m Roland,” I replied taken back by his energy.

He gave me a wide grin showing his perfect teeth. They were like a flashlight in contrast to his chocolate skin. “RolandisanAWESOMEname!!!” He bounced around to exaggerate. Then he halted like someone pressed a big red emergency stop button before articulating, “I’m pretty sure that Mr. Samwell doesn’t like you.”

“He doesn’t?” Not that I’m really surprised, he was giving me glances here and there throughout class. I wonder what I did to piss him off.

Echoing my thoughts, “I wonder what you did to piss him off,” Kenny thought aloud still articulating his words with proper pauses.

“I don’t know.”

“Whatever!!!” His high energy coming back with full force.

I think I just found my first friend. I’ve never been too great with people, but I plan to change that starting with Kenny, the chocolate energizer bunny, “So what class do you have next?”

“History!”

“Me too”

“YAYIwon’tbealone.” oh jeez that got a little dark.

I point as I said “My locker is over here. So, I’ll see you in History.” As I walked away, waving bye to him.

“SEEYA!!” He waved energetically back before bouncing away.

…

I took the seat behind Kenny. Kenny is twitching around in his chair as he stared at his phone. I peered over his shoulder to see a buff guy masked in gray and wearing a black cape, smashing through a guy with power armor. Their suits being crumbled up into tight balls of twisted metal. You can almost see the blood and flesh of the wearer spurting out.

A guy baring no cape, but a tight red suit with a white fist insignia in the center falls to the surface with a feathery touch to the ground. This time the only thing masking was the white mask around his eyes. His suit showed off his body, buff and strong like gym jockey. His lips begin to articulate with no sound, but in a split second the dark guy smashed into him with a force of a bullet. Then another split second the dark cape man is grappled and smashed to the floor to have these massive handcuffs put on him.

“AaaaawwwwNofun!!!” Kenny whined as his leg twitched rapidly, “Pack-A-Punchdidn’teventry!”

“What were you watching?” I asked.

“Thelatestsuperherofight,Wasn’tmuchofafight.”

“Yeah, I saw. Who was the dark cape guy fighting Pack-A-Punch?” I don’t really follow hero media. We mostly put on the most PG for Sam and Suzy. They love those fights and practically anything superhero related. I even bought them action figures when I had the money. I don’t think I ever not seen those two playing with them.

He looks at his phone, “DarkStrikerHeis- well, was ahiredmuscleforthe Kobalt family andmanyotherorganizedcrimeleagues. Orsothat’swhat theherowatcheapp says.” Looking up at me. I’m pretty sure he’s talking fast on purpose because he paused to pronounce Kobalt family and well, was.

You know, I never realized that there was a hero app. Now if only I had a phone. “Ooo, do you have one of Sunflower? My little sister loves her.” Suzy is mesmerized by the hero. I swear. On her side of the twin’s room, she has nothing but posters of Sunflower.

Kenny nodded and fiddle with his phone while a leg twitching about until he shared me a video of a tan platinum blonde haired girl wearing a gold flowery skintight suit shoot a giant fucking golden laser into an enemy fortress before she turned invisible and the video stopped. It looks to be a much older video. Both his legs begin to twitch excitedly.

“When was that taken?”

“BattleofCuba.”

I whistled in surprise. The battle of Cuba was years ago when I was just a toddler I think. There isn’t a lot of video on it, especially about the major players. I must get that app on my computer, so I can show the twins.

“Who’syourfavoritehero?” Kenny asked, one leg stopped twitching.

“Hmmm, I’m not really into heroes. They’re cool and everything, but I can’t say I’m crazy about them. If I had to pick one would be Droplet. She’s pretty funny.”

“Andnottomentionshe’sthehottestnewhero.”

“Eh really?”

“Have YOU not,” He clapped his hands together. “SEEN,” he then points them at me “hermodelingdebut?”

“No?” The look on his face was one of complete disbelief.

He started going through his phone as he grumbled to himself. Then almost face bashing me with his phone. A picture of a brunette with tropical blue tips, dark aqua eyes, lips so kissable, and face so perfectly beautiful that it should’ve been photoshopped rather than real. Droplet looks to be about my age, but with supers, you can never tell. They’re known to age very well.

“You’re right, she’s is gorgeous,” I said almost nonchalantly.

“Howcanyoubesononchalant? His voice soared a whole octave. Then someone pressed the emergency stop button again, “Are you gay?”

“NO NO no.” waving my hands to exaggerate, “Definitely not.”

“Ok, but just so you know. I’m not into-”

A loud clearing of the throat was heard from the front of the classroom. I forgot that I was in class.

It was the teacher, “Thank you.” Before starting her lecture, “Good morning class, I’m Mrs. Cook, during this year we’ll be talking about topics from the 1900s to the 1970s up to the ghoul invasion.” She droned on while a note from Kenny was passed to me.

I opened it up and it read, ‘Do you like anime?’ in beautifully written letters. His handwriting and speech are so different.

I wrote ‘YES!!!’ and sent it back. He gave me a thumb’s up. Oh yeah, we’re going to be good friends. This is going to be a fun year for sure.

…

“That’s all for right now, you may go to lunch.” The teacher said before all the students crowded in a line of discord to the lunch room. The last two periods without Kenny has been boring.

I passed several students eating lunch and the stuff they were serving today looked like a pile of shit on a taco shell. Thank god I brought my own lunch.

I observed the lunch room for a good seat. It wasn’t very hard to find the ever-twitching chocolate energizer bunny. Only, he was sitting with a girl with the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen. Her long snow-white hair gleamed in the LED lights of the lunchroom, though she had her back to me.

“She’s a super.” I mused to myself. Only supers have that color hair.

I walked over just as the white-haired girl smashed a fist on the table, putting a crack into it. With a very angry masculine toned soprano voice, she seethed, “I will NOT wear a foockin’ dress, you twitchin’ buffoon!” Yep, definitely a super. Only they can do something like crack a table.

Kenny held his hands up and waved them twitchingly in surrender, “I’mjustsayingyou’dlook SUPER BEAUTIFUL ifyou’djustworeadress.”

Time to make my appearance in this episode of what the fuck, “Hey, what’s the problem here?”

Kenny looked over at me pleadingly, "Canyouagreethatheshouldwearadress?”

“I’m not a foockin’ girl! I’m a man, twitchy tard!” The white-haired boy(?) glared daggers at the chocolate energizer bunny.

Okay, if I’m looking at the whole picture right, the white-haired person is a boy and Kenny is showing one of his traits for being irritating. I know what to say, “I don’t think we should impose on someone’s dress. Especially someone who doesn’t want to wear a dress.” Boo ya. I’m so poetic.

The two of them stared at me before Kenny began to laugh like a hyena at me and the white-haired trap continue to just stare at me. Looking at his face now, he looked like a bunny rabbit with red doe eyes, squishy cheeks, cute full pouty lips, and a sweet round nose.

“You’resolame!” Kenny laughed holding his stomach.

I forced my lunch on the table and unpackage it to take an aggressive bite of my ham and cheese sandwich. All the while motherfucking Kenny’s laugh slowed.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up energizer bunny. At least I don’t have a fetish for heroes.” I spouted. This time Bunny boy began to laugh and snort like a crossbreed of a baby hyena and a piglet. I don’t think I felt heartache this bad since the time Suzy snuggled to sleep with our stray cat, Boots (I took lots of pictures).

Bunny boi finally looked up at us, gazing at him, “What are you looking at?!” He growled before blushing.

I need to change topics, “SOOOO, Kenny, *clearing throat* will you introduce me to your new friend?”

“Oh right,” He began his articulating session, I swear he does his high energy shit on purpose. “Roland, this is Juno, Juno this is Roland.”

“Nice to meet you, Juno.” I held my hand out to greet him.

His voice still in that masculine toned soprano, “Likewise.” He shook my hand firmly. His hands were soooo soft though.

“By the way, why in the world was Kenny trying to get you to put on a dress?”

“Iwas NOT tryingtoputadressonJu- EEE!!!” He squeaked as he found himself under the interrupting glare of Juno, the angry boi.

“Because I look like a human version of a bunny rabbit.” He acknowledged his appearance. I always thought if there was a trap in real life they’d be completely oblivious that they are traps. Apparently, I was wrong.

“I can see that. Well, Kenny, what do you say to the tra- er- man?”

“Hey hey hey, you almost said trap, didn’t you?” Juno asked irritably as his doe eyes turn fierce and his pouty lips turn smug. Oh, shit shit shit, I’m sooo dead. I closed my eyes tight as the tears began to well up as I waited for doom. He just took a breath and giggled before flicking me on the nose, “You watch anime too huh?”

I nodded then asked, “You’re not going to hit me?” Sounding like a small animal. God, I'm a wimp.

“No? Why would I hit you?”

“Youjustsoundedirritated.” I squeaked out, sounding like fucking chocolate energizer bunny who’s just is quietly twitching over there.

“Sorry, I have,” He paused as he thought about the next few words. “Anger issues. They were somewhat manageable when I was way younger, but when I manifested into this,” gesturing to his appearance, “and gained my power. I began to have a rough time in middle school." He said roughly as a euphuism. "Since then, I've been trying to control my temper. Even going to anger management classes.” Taking a sip from his glass of orange juice.

“Wow, that’s incredible.” I breathed sincerely causing the bunny boy to turn crimson.

He clears his throat, trying to hide his blush, “Would you like to see my power?”

“I would love-”

“I DO!!!” Kenny articulately declared, interrupting my answer. Well, whatever.

Juno picked up an apple and left it mid-air. It stayed there and didn’t move, “My power is the ability to change gravity on something or someone by just touching them.” The apple fell into Juno’s slender fingers before tossing the apple to Kenny to which he struggled to catch it.

“Thisisheavy.” He said before passing it to me.

It wasn’t that heavy. Heavier maybe, like five pounds too heavy for an apple. I gave them back to Juno. Who seemed hella proud. I would too with that power. Who wouldn’t?

“THAT’SSOAWESOME!!!!” Kenny exclaimed as he pushed on the table, standing up.

“I agreed with the chocolate energizer bunny. This is awesome.”

“Thanks!” Giving us a wide grin, he looked so adorable. I shook my head. He’s a guy god damn it. I’m not gay! Then again, it’s not gay if the dicks don’t touch. I hate myself. He clears his throat snapping me out of my apparent gaze, “Can we exchange phone numbers? You know if you want to hang out?” He said shyly.

I nervously rubbed the back of my neck, “Uh um, sorry, I don’t have a phone.”

“Ido!” The chocolate boy pushed up his glasses and sang.

“I wasn’t talking to you, energizer bunny.” Giggling at his own words. That is definitely NOT cute. I’m totally NOT sarcastic. He stared at me stretching a part of his mouth to the left in thought, “Hmm, what’s your last period?”

“English.”

“Cool, me too, do you have a bike?”

“Metoo!” Kenny repeated.

“Yeah?” ignoring the chocolate boy

“Would you like to come to my house and get one of my old phones?”

“Is that okay?”

“Sure, I get one every year from one of my relatives. Highly annoying.” God bless rich kids. Can’t hate free stuff. Or so I think he’s rich.

“Okay, but I need to call my mom to let her know. Mind if I use your phone?”

“Nope, but let’s do that in between periods.”

“CanIcome?” Kenny asked abruptly?

Juno, “Do you have a bike?”

“I have a Scooter!” Kenny proudly and articulately declared.

Juno and I glanced at each other is bemusement before falling into unrelenting laughter.

“A-a scooter!” Juno squeaked causing the both of us to laugh harder until we were clutching our stomachs, banging on the table, and tears welling up.

“Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but our teacher is leaving.” Kenny articulated with his arms crossed.

Juno glanced over, “Oh shit, you’re right.” Kenny and he picked up their stuff, “Well see ya in English.”

"Yeah see ya," I replied waving.

“ByebyeRoland!” Kenny waved energetically.

“Bye.” Waving back just as hard.

In the distance, Kenny articulated, “Seriously though, you should wear a dre-” before getting interrupted with a flick from Juno.

I chuckled at there dynamic. Damn, two friends now. Even a good friend like Juno. Then the adorable parts of him flowed into my thoughts. Before I knew it, I was banging my head against the table and saying, “He’s a guy god damn it!”

…

The bell rang and all the students including me dispersed.

Sixth period was pretty chill. Most teachers weren’t doing much on the first day anyway. I’m just glad that my art teacher is pretty chill.

I’m taking art because kind of want to learn how to draw better manga characters. As lame as that is, I am a decent drawer. Though, nothing spectacular. I wonder what Juno has as an elective. I heard that they had some type of powers 101 class.

I arrive at my last class early. The English classroom is right next to the Art classroom making the last class the easiest to get to provided I’m not given any books. I doubt it since it’s art.

I sat in the back of the classroom by the window like a true main character I am. The afternoon sun rays bounced off the clouds creating a combination of a bright shade of yellow. This is why I love the outside. The beautiful scene of the afternoon reminds me of all the interesting and fun anime I've watched.

A wild Juno appeared, sitting right in right in front of me with an adorable grin on his face. "Hi, Roland!" He said, almost with a tune.

I smiled back, “So did anything good happen to you last period?”

“Yeah, my powers 101 class is awesome.” He practically beamed.

Oh, so there it is called powers 101. I thought for the name would be more interesting. “What did you do?”

“We got to play around with our powers after the teacher went over the syllabus.”

“Oh really, what were the other kids like?”

“Nobody as cool as you.” He blushed.

Oh wow, oh my god, is this what it feels like to be in love? "I'm not that cool," I said shrugging my shoulders

“NOT THAT COOL!” He growled, oh shit, he’s getting aggressive about this, “You’re the only one who didn’t make fun of my appearance!” He takes a deep breath, calming himself down before blushing, “Sorry.”

Yep, nope, he’s a boy, definitely a boy, “Wow, thank you, I feel honored.” Trying to hide my grin. I’m smiling way too fucking much. Is this what it feels like to be a normie?

“You’re welcome!!” Giving me a sincere grin. Oh shit, don’t do that, it’s bad for my heart.

“Higuys!!!” A wild Kenny appeared.

"Oh look, it's Kenny," I said monotonously.

“Yeah, hi Kenny.” Juno also said monotonously, following my lead and suppressing a smirk.

“Whyyouguysdoingthat?” He said, being his usual twitchy self.

“Nothing,” I chuckled.

“Yeah nothing,” Juno also chuckled.

“Anyway,” Kenny changes the subject, “WegoingtoJuno’shouseorwhat?”

“Yeah, we’re still going if Roland is going," Juno said. The two of them look at me expectantly.

"I can only go if my mom lets me go," I said reluctantly. To be honest, that wasn’t exactly the case. Anytime I had a friend, they always stayed at my house, but I haven’t had one since elementary school. I didn’t think I’d be going to someone’s house so soon.

“You can use my phone to call your mom after school if you want.” Juno offered.

“O-okay.”

“STUDENTS!” The teacher announced, “Welcome to my classroom!!!” The teacher had the Cat in a hat, hat with pink-rimmed sunglasses on with a party blower thing in his mouth, “In my class, we will be discovering…" He excitedly told us all about how awesome his English class is. He was about as twitchy and energetic as our energizer bunny.

The last bell rang, and the student began their journey home.

“Ilovethatteacher!!!” Kenny declared with a twirl.

Juno, “Oh course you love him, he’s you but older.”

Me, “And vanilla.”

Kenny pouted, “Don’tyouagreethatheiscool?”

I smiled, “I can, he is pretty cool.” Then a shitty memory of another cool teacher came into my mind, “It’s the cool ones who are the worse.

“Roland’s right, I knew a couple cool teachers in middle school. When I manifested, they turned into complete assholes.”

This left a morose silence as we walked to our bikes.

“Anyway,” I broke the silence, “Can I borrow your phone. I need to call my mom.”

“Oh right!” Juno dugged into his pocket and unlocked it before giving it to me.

I said, “Thanks.” as I dialed mom’s number.

“No problem.”

The phone rang a few times before my mother picked up, “Hello?” I turned around and began pacing.

"Hi, mom."

“Hey sweetheart, did something happen?”

“No, I’m just calling you to see if I could go to a friend’s house for a bit.”

“A friend?” She sounded shocked, “Who’s this friend?”

“A friend from school.”

“Really what’s his name?”

“Juno.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect them to be a she.” Sounding more shocked than before.

“No no no, he’s a boy.”

“Odd name for a boy. Anyway, can I have an address of this boy’s house.”

What? “Mom, you sure? What about the twins?”

“They’re old enough to take care of themselves. Now don’t worry about it, now can I get an address?”

“Sure, hold on one moment.” I turn around to see Juno smash into the ground with his foot and doing martial arts. “Um, Juno?”

He froze and turned to me, “Yeah?”

“Can I have your address?”

“Oh,” flushing from embarrassment, “3467 Epsilon Road.”

What, but that’s inside the wall, I gulped before saying to my mom, “3467 Epsilon Road.”

“Wow! I didn’t think you’d meet someone who lives inside the wall. I hope you have fun, sweetheart.” She hung up.

We stood in silence. Kenny was nowhere to be seen.

“Uh wow, I didn’t know you lived inside the wall.”

“Oh yeah, it’s not a big deal.” He said dismissively.

The elites of Epsilon city live inside the wall. To everyone outside the wall, they’re known as insiders and are stereotypically posh and snooty. I guess this explains a bit of Juno’s temper. If I had to put up with them, I would have anger issues too.

A sound of the Dukes of Hazard horn comes in and behind it is Kenny sitting on his scooter with a helmet. “Heyguys!!!”

“Hey Kenny?” we both synchronized.

“Ihavetogohomedadwantstoshowmehisnewinvention.” He said and flew off on the scooter.

Juno and I burst into chuckling. We couldn’t help it, Kenny looked so lame on that scooter.

“Let’s go,” Juno giggled.

…

Riding a bike through Tristan Park is like doing it in a forest. Everything is natural and beautiful even though summer doesn’t have the pretty leaves of spring or fall, but it does have perfect weather. Hot with a nice breeze and only a small number of clouds in the sky.

Juno was ahead of me, keeping the same speed. Trying to at least. The most common power, Paragon, gave the super heighten abilities all over depending on the person. I’m guessing before is trapiffication (lol) he was stronger and fitter than the average teen.

I pedaled hard up to him when we rode out of the forest of the city and stayed on the somewhat flat paths of the city’s streets.

“Juno.” I breathed.

“Yeah?”

“What level do you have on Paragon?”

“C why?”

“Wow, you’re really strong.” That was an understatement, levels go from the weakest level, F, to the strongest level, A. The fact that he’s C means he’s very strong especially for a super his age.

“Meh, no big deal,” He smiled. He obviously was proud of his level. “I just lift.”

Yeah, just lift. I’m betting due to his elite status he had to keep in shape in both mind and body to not lose favor of the other insiders.

“What’s your family like?” I asked, considering how Juno isn’t the stereotypical Insider, I kind of want to know what’s his family like.

“My mom is pretty nice. She’s home all the time, and probably making sweets with Lilly knowing you’ll be coming. They’re really delicious! Sebastian is our house manager, he handles all the housework. He spars with me on days with little housework. It’s fun! Lilly is in college. She helps mom with the cooking. She’s like an older sister to me.”

The way he talks very gregariously about his family. I noticed he didn’t mention his dad. I don’t think. “That’s great, I can’t wait.” I know this is stupid, but it’d be fun to try, “First one to touch the wall wins.”

“It wouldn’t even be a fight.”

“You wanna bet?”

“Bet what?”

“If I win then you owe me a favor, vice versa.”

Juno thought about it for a quick second, “Okay,” He said with a smirk, “You’re on.”

We halt and line up our wheels, “Okay on three.” Juno nodded, “Three!” I yelled as I pedaled as fast as my skinny legs could go. I’m average size for my age and Juno is a little taller than me. I think if I lean in and pedal hard than I have a chance of winning. I glanced behind me to find a smirking Juno holding the back of his head.

I kept pedaling as hard as I could even when I was going down a slope. Before I knew it, the wall was almost within my grasp. Just a few seconds and I would gain a favor from an adorable bunny boi.

Then, I saw it. A blur of white zoomed passed me slide stopping by the entrance of the wall. I lost, I knew it was stupid. Then I realized. He hasn’t touched the wall yet. He was just sitting there waiting.

This was my chance, maybe he’s messing with me, but I just really want that favor. I pedaled harder than I’ve ever pedaled before.

Reaching a speed, I’ve never reached before. My legs burning from intense aerobic movement. I could feel the lactic acid being created in my thighs. I pressed on all the way, yelling and clenching my teeth to block out the pain. I soared passed Juno as I got closer to the wall. I brake as hard as I could on both front and back. I was going too fast and I closed my eyes as I was about to crash into the gigantic concrete wall.

I was weightless.

I opened my eyes to find Juno grasping the back wheel of the bike, panting. He let go and turned flat on his back.

I stared in shock, I was saved by Juno. Had I crashed into the wall, I don't even know what would've happened. I shook my head and jumped to Juno. “Juno.” I sobbed, tears flowing down my cheeks. “Are you okay?”

He giggled, “Yeah, just took a lot out of me.” He sat up. “Hey, why are you crying?”

“I don’t know.” I sobbed even harder.

He rubbed my back, “Hey don’t worry about it, I’m okay.”

“I know *sniffle*I-I-I-I just don’t know *sniffle* if I hit the wall *sob*.” Oh god, I’m so pathetic. Why am I so sensitive?

Juno was silent before taking my hand into a gentle grasp and placing it on the giant concrete wall. I looked at him, confused, “You win.” He said, grinning.

“Wha-wha-what! bu-bu-but, I caus-caused you *sniffle* trouble.”

“Don’t worry about it, unlike me, you have to work hard to get what you want. I saw that when you were riding.”

“Re-*sniffle* really?” I sound like a girl, seriously, how pathetic. A trap is more of a man than me. I sniffled one last time before looking down, “I’m really pathetic, aren’t I? *sniff* I cry like a girl when something like this happens. I’m so weak and pathetic *sniff*. This is why I have no friends.” All of this is true. Anytime I want to try and make a friend, I'm too scared to try. Had Kenny not been so assertive, I would’ve been my lonely, self-deprecating self

His face changed from worry to fierce anger. “HOW FOOCKIN’ DARE YOU SAY ABOUT YOURSELF!!!” He gets right up in my face. His eyes were fierce and angry. “YOU’RE THE ONLY FOOCKIN’ PERSON WHO’S EVER GIVEN A DAMN ABOUT ME OUTSIDE MY FAMILY. YOU’RE KIND AND CARIN’ AND IF YOU WERE A GIRL I’D MARRY YOU!!!!” Using all the rest of his breath to say the last part out as he panted from using all the oxygen in his lungs. He realized what he said, and blushed before turning around to hide it, “So don’t be a bitch to yourself.” He mumbled.

He would marry me if I was a girl? I chuckled, it was way too funny and cute to not start laughing like a hyena. It was the gayest fucking thing someone ever said to me and the thought just made me laugh even harder.

“Why are you laughing?” Juno said looking a bit irritated.

“You said *chuckle* the gayest *chuckle* thing EVER!!!” Sending me to tears of laughter as I rolled around, holding my sides as they begin to sore.

Bunny boi’s face turned crimson, “Stop laughing at me! it isn’t funny!” he growled

I get up and pick up my bike, “Okay gay boi. Lead the way.”

Juno grumbled as he picked up his bike and began pedaling through the entrance of the wall. I followed.

…

Inside the gigantic concrete wall, it was suburbia. Nothing much different from when I lived in the suburbs except with nicer houses and immaculate gardens and yards. No building stood taller than five stories and all houses painted in a variety of drab colors.

As we delved deeper into the heart of Epsilon city, the bigger the house got. Not taller, just wider and nicer. The colors became less drab and prettier, keeping the darker colors.

Eventually, we came to the Mansions, you couldn’t see them all, but we passed by a few miles apart. We kept going.

"Um, Juno," I called.

“Yeah?”

“Where is your house?”

He smiled, “Oh, we’re not too far.”

The further you went into the heart of the city, the most prestigious of the elites. Big names like Featherfield, Harkon, and Nolan live here. The names that built this city from the ground up.

“I don’t mean to pry or anything, but what is your last name?”

“Don’t worry about it, I thought you would ask that question.” He smiled, “It’s Featherfield.”

“Ooooh,” MY FUCKING GOD!!! Juno is a Featherfield?!?! Garrett Featherfield was the famous inventor who created the first suit of power armor. Hell, he was the guy who created Feather Armory and practically turned the tide of the Ghoul Invasion. He’s also the guy who built a whole new industry and brought Epsilon from a refugee town into a thriving city it is today. He’s a guy that we hear about in history class. “Wow.”

Juno shrugged as we came across the biggest mansion I’ve ever seen. It was very modern with the whole front curved inward away from us. A reflective material covered the exterior of the house. It couldn’t be more than five stories. The circumference of the what I’m thinking to be a semi-circle must be equal to the height.

Juno faced me, “Just to let you know, the first few minutes will be overwhelming. Just let the maid and butlers do their job.”

What? Just as we walked there was a massive gathering in a stereotypical mansion entrance room, “Welcome home Master Juno and Master Roland.”

"I knew this would happen," Juno grumbled.

I got close to Juno and whispered, “Um, what’s going on.”

“Sebastian, he likes to make a big entrance of things.”

"Do you have these many servants?”

“Workers!” He hissed, “Normally, they have shifted.” Oooh, that makes sense.

There was about ten of them, butlers on one side and maids on the other wearing the very outfits that they’re depicted in anime.

“Do they always look like that?” I whispered.

“No, normally they wear very functional clothes.”

A tall, handsome, dark-haired man walked steadily between the two lines.

“Welcome home young master!” He said gregariously then faced me, “Welcome, Master Roland I’m Sebastian, the lead butler of this humble estate. I hope you enjoy your stay!” He bowed and put a hand over his chest while the butlers did the same and the maids curtsied. It was seriously like something from an anime.

“Sebastian!” Juno seethed. Oh shit, they made the trap angry.

“Yes, Master Juno?”

Juno’s fists clenched as he gritted, “Why are you doing this?”

“Well, Master Juno, I have to cordially welcome your love interest somehow.”

“LOVE INTEREST!?!?” Juno and I harmonized our faces bright red.

“Was I wrong to assume that proposing one’s hand in marriage doesn’t make the individual a love interest?”

“YOU WATCHED US!!!” Juno shouted.

“Well, we must protect the master of this house.” He replied dismissively.

“Besides, Roland's a boy," Juno said almost as if he was prideful.

“Yeah, I’m a boy!” I agreed.

“And it’s 2018, same-sex marriage has been legal since 2015.” We both stood there dumbfounded, “Oh how our Juno has grown up so fast.” Sebastian pulled out a handkerchief to wipe a fake tear from his eye, so did the workers before they were unable to keep their amusement any longer and burst into mirth.

Most the held their sides laughing. Some of them rolled around. Sebastian just stood there and chuckled. I glanced over to see that Juno was as embarrassed at I was.

“Sorry, Juno, we thought it’d be fun to play a prank on you and your friend.” The handsome dark-haired man apologized, bowing once more. “It was Tom’s idea anyway.”

“HEY!!” A light-haired butler protested, “Andrea did the costumes!”

“Well, Freddy helped!!” A pink haired maid protest, “And wasn’t Payton the one who got us the materials?”

“That’s unfair.” A ponytailed pretty boy said, “It was-”

“Stop your bickering.” The tall dark man said, “We had our fun, now go home.” The whole staff protested before being shooed off by Sebastian. He faced us, “Well, let me change and we’ll give the tour of the place.” He disappeared into a room leaving Juno and I to ourselves.

Juno grabbed my wrist and began pulling me upstairs. “Hurry! Before he comes back. You’ll never hear the end of it with him.”

I tried to equal the speed, but I couldn’t keep with his Paragon brisk walking speed, “Slow down, Juno.” I whined.

“There is no slowing down. You’ll be caught in his trap. Sebastian knows EVERYTHING about this house and will take the whole day droning over it.” Juno checked the behind, "Oh god! There he is! Hurry!" I glanced my six to find a briskly walking Sebastian in jeans and a T-shirt.

“Mr. Alder, Juno, please come back. We must tour the estate!”

I felt weightless as I’m being dragged by a running Juno’s power. Is this a romantic comedy?

Before I knew it, I’m thrown in a room and against a wall as I feel my gravity come back as a door slammed. I laid there. The carpet felt so soft and cozy. If I die, then so be it on this nice floor staring at the ceiling of the painted bunny.

A white-haired bunny angel came to my side with a worried look, “Are you okay?” Soprano voice so cute and melodic as though it was meant to lull me to sleep.

“You’re so beautiful, bunny angel," I whispered now feeling the brunt of a headache setting in.

A loud THWAP snapped me to my senses, “Snap out of it!” Juno growled, blushing. Oh, I forget, the only this closest to a girl here is an angry bunny boi.

I sat up, investigating the area. It was a surprisingly cute room with white walls, pictures of anime bunny girls, different color bunnies in picture frames, and an assortment of other bunny-related things. “Where am I?” All of it was adorable.

“My room.” Juno whispered with crimson across his face, “I think bunnies are um cute.” He mumbled as though he was pouting about it.

“Ah.” Holy mother of fucking god, why isn’t Juno a girl? The longer I’m with him the longer I feel like I should ignore my rational thought and go gay. “I didn’t know you were this girl-” A carrot smashed into my side causing me to spasm to the ground, holding the side.

“DON’T YOU FUCKING SAY THAT!!!” He squealed angrily. Yup, won’t be going gay anytime soon. Definitely starting to think this is a romantic comedy.

“Anyway,” I rasped, “Let’s get that phone.”

“Oh right, I forgot.” Me too to be honest. Juno opened a door that was a giant messy walk-in closet. Stuff piled everywhere. He dug through it like an excavation site.

“Doesn’t the workers organize your stuff?”

Juno stopped to answer, “No, they’re not allowed to come into my room unless I give them permission.”

"Oh," I replied before he continued his excavation. I began looking around his room. It was layered with bunny related stuff. "You uh really like rabbits huh?"

“You have a problem with that?” He said without halting the excavation.

Looking at a poster who looked like Juno’s twin except with boobs, “No, it just would explain why you look the way you do.”

“I guess.”

“Do you mind the way you look?” I asked hesitantly.

He paused, “Hmmm, it’s a pain that everyone thinks I’m a girl, but I hate it.” I heard somewhere that when paragons manifest, they change into their ideal body image. I guess Juno’s was the girl version of this bunny anime girl, well minus the ears and tail… and the tits.

"That's cool if I do get powers I hope that I become more handsome than I already am."

Juno giggled, “Narcissist.”

I saw a door opposite of Juno’s closet, “Hey Juno, what’s in there?”

“WHY THE FOOCK, CAN I NOT FIND IT!!!” Throwing a piece of closet junk into a wall.

Well, that's my answer, I walked hesitantly to the door and peeked inside. It was a whole room of tall grass and bushes, like a little prairie field. And in that room, I saw the biggest, fattest rabbit every. He looked like Juno but in bunny form. Around him were rabbits of a variety of color. All happily feasting on the grasses of the small prairie.

“His name is fat Freddy if you’re thinking that.” Juno came next to me. “Found the phone by the way.” He held out the device and I took it.

“Sweet, thanks! You really do love rabbits huh?”

“My first word was bunny.”

That answers my question. “Should the phone be activated?”

“No, I did that a while ago. Mostly if I ever need another phone, I would have it.”

I faced him, “Thanks, you’ve only met me today, but you’ve been so generous.”

“I’m rich, I can get anything I want, some people can’t. It’s no big deal.” He shrugged

“Still, I can’t thank you enough,” An idea popped in my head, “How about we exchange contact information?”

He smiled sincerely, “Sure.”

We did just that.

….

I stared at the contact on my phone that said, Juno Herring. Apparently, Juno kept his mother's last name for some reason. Today has been crazy. I made two friends. One of them turned out to be an incredible person.

"Roland, we're here," Sebastian said.

"Thanks, Sebastian for driving me home."

“No problem, anything for Juno’s boyfriend.”

“Wha-" He left without letting me whine, leaving me in the dust. I chuckled. He's just teasing me. I faced the apartment complex and walked. Not only that but the adventure we had. We laughed, we cried, and we laughed again. I learned a lot about Juno in a span of a day. I don't know why he's so trusting of me, but I'm glad that he is.

I opened the door to my apartment.

"Hey, sweetheart. How was your play date?” Mom said, watching TV.

I chuckled, “Mom it wasn’t a play date, I went there because my friend offered me a phone.”

“Did he now?”

I pulled out the phone, “Yeah, he’s a pretty great person.”

“We’re going to have to thank him properly soon.”

I smiled and nodded, “Where are the twins?”

“Asleep. Something you need to do.”

All the exhaustion hit me at once, “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll do just that. Good night.” I walked into my bedroom.

“Night.” I heard my mom said before I closed the door.

I faced my bed to find a lump in the sheets. I walked to it and find little Suzy sleeping soundly. I sighed and cuddled next to her and slowly drifted off to somber.

A person devoid of all appearance of humanity stood with arms spread out in a T-shaped pose. A rainbow of labeled tabs appeared vertically to the right of the person. Below that sat a ‘Done' button and to the other corner appeared a ‘Reset' button. Above and to the center of the whole thing were the words, "Character Creation."

It was the same dream as before.

The labeled tabs read race, gender, body, face, and hair. When I thought of race, the race tab opened up. Listing very generic races: Human, High elf, wood elf, dark elf, dwarf, orc, etc. All of them looked very generic, but one, beast person. I thought it and the character turning a Cat boy. I thought gender and changed the boy into a girl. Then an idea popped up in my head.

There was a character I made in a game called For Courage. It was a fantasy MMO RPG game that had a unique combat system. I didn't always have time to play it, but when I did, I had a blast. In the game, you could there was a race called beastkin. Well, I made a loli cat girl and gave her a giant hammer on there. It was pretty fun playing her.

So I tried recreating her here in this Character Creation. It is a dream, after all, no harm in making an adorable character.

The finished product had smoky black hair in a wavy bob with straight bangs. She looks old enough to be ten, but her body gives away that she much older. Her tail was long and fluffy like a Maine coon’s tail and the same color as her hair. I gave her sun-kissed skin and striking blue eyes that stood out among her dark features.

It didn’t take long to create her. The settings were pretty straightforward, but there were plenty of more advanced options. Like even changing the texture of her hair.

I pressed done and woke up in my bed with a sleeping Suzy cuddling me. I kissed her forehead and slowly squeezed off my bed.

I shuffled into the bathroom and turned on the light. I looked in the mirror to see the character I created in the dream staring back at me.

I touched where her ear would be. I could feel my hand touch my ear, they twitched. Then I moved the third limb, a tail. I touched it. God, it was so soft and fluffy. Finally, I touched my crotch. Nothing was there.

And cue the anime opening.