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The floating bicycle shop that Yuuri worked at was both charming and well-loved. It had floor to ceiling windows on the front three walls that always let in a tremendous amount of sunshine and a beautiful view of the clouds. His family always had bikes of the brightest colors and most quirky patterns—blue with white polka dots, hot pink, and even some white ones with red cherries. They boasted the easy maneuvering and gentle float for each one. Whenever I went over to talk to Yuuri, I would walk along the racks, observing the new styles and models. It was always a nice place to be, but not because of the bikes or the view.
“Did your dad pick this building because it was floating, or did he have the shop first and then decide to sell floating bicycles?” I asked one day, idly leaning against the counter.
“It was more of a coincidence, but he developed the bikes first. Although it works out, since it’s easier to just ride them off the edge instead of pulling them up from the ground. It makes the customers think the bikes are easier to use than they really are,” he said while flipping through a magazine.
“Do you think he would design a custom one for me?” I asked with a smile.
“I’m sure he would, but you wouldn’t even use it. You have a car and you’re too lazy to exercise.”
“Rude! I would use anything your family made for—”
I was suddenly cut off by a loud rumbling noise and the floor shaking. I looked around and noticed that the plant on the counter, suspiciously, had started to rise, along with the bikes, the racks, and oh, ha, myself. For a moment, everything hung gently in the air, frozen in time. As soon as it had started, though, it had stopped, and everything fell the few inches it had risen with a loud bang.
I was a bit freaked out, but Yuuri only looked mildly annoyed.
“Ugh, sorry about that. The shop’s artificial gravity has been bugging out a lot lately. Dad keeps saying that he’ll look at it, but he never does.” Yuuri got up and started to put all the bicycles upright again.
“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, walking over to help him.
“No, not really. Just pretty inconvenient.”
“Huh. How many times has this happened?”
“Ah, this is like the fifth time this week. I think it happened like one other time a month ago, but it didn’t seem like it would be a problem back then,” he said with furrowed eyebrows.
“Well, I guess not even your dad can build anything perfectly.”
“You can say that again,” Yuuri murmured.
When we had finally straightened out all the bikes, Yuuri sighed and sat back down. “Thanks for your help.”
“It’s no trouble. You might as well get something out of me coming by to flirt every day,” I said with a wink while leaning my elbow back on the counter.
He blushed adorably, turning his head away. “It would be nice if you felt that way when I have to clean the bathrooms.”
“Ha! You got me there. Although I might consider it if you let me take you on a—”
Of course, the ground took that time to start rumbling.
“Not again. We just fixed them all,” Yuuri groaned.
However, this time there was no floating. Instead, the gravity seemed to increase on us tenfold, causing Yuuri and I to slam to the ground with tremendous force. The entire building made an ominous moaning noise and then the gravity suddenly let up only a few seconds later. I gasped for air and tried to stand only to find that my muscles still felt a bit wobbly. I was able to stand only after putting my hand on the counter for support, although I was still thoroughly shaken.
“Yuuri! Are you okay?” I looked over to see that he seemed to be standing without trouble, but that he was staring at the ceiling for some reason. I followed his gaze to see that the roof seemed to be having trouble dealing with the multiple severe changes in gravity. When the walls groaned, I realized that this was bad. This was really, really bad.
"It’s gonna collapse!” Yuuri yelled, terror in his eyes as he looked at me. “We need to get out of here!”
Yuuri hopped over the counter to pull my unresponsive ass towards the exit, but too late. A huge chunk of cement was falling towards us, and I barely had time to close my eyes.
But nothing happened.
I blinked my eyes open to see large puffs of dust and debris. Blinking again, I looked towards Yuuri.
Oh, I thought. Well wasn’t that something.
Instead of being crushed, Yuuri was holding up the tremendous weight of the ceiling with his own two arms, like Goku or something.
He was holding up the fucking ceiling.
Yuuri, to his credit, groaned and shook with the weight.
“Go!” he screamed at me, but I was distracted by his arms, which were cracking open. His legs too, and even his sides. He was cracking open and wires and sparks were spilling out of him.
“Go!” he screamed again, becoming more damaged by the second. I didn’t know what else to do, so I listened to him. I picked myself up and scrambled out the door, falling back on my ass as soon as I got far enough away.
I watched as Yuuri managed to throw the piece of the roof off of him and crumble to the ground.
Still dumbfounded, I could only stare as Yuuri was shaking on the ground. His arms and legs were still sparking, still split open. His breath was ragged and labored, but at least he was alive. When I realized that obviously, Yuuri was hurting, I managed to get up and walk over to him.
“Yu…Yuuri,” I said hesitantly.
His head snapped up to look at me, his eyes wide with…something. He used what little functionality his limbs still had to scramble backwards, and he tried in vain to cover where his… his machinery was showing through. It took me a moment to realize that he was now scared of me. Scared of my judgement, scared of what I would do with his secret.
“Yuuri,” I said again, softer this time. “I-It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you. Just…just tell me how to help you,” I pleaded.
“I-I…” he stuttered, his voice coming out with static, like a radio with bad connection. He looked so scared, so hurt, it was breaking my heart.
We both turned our heads to the sound of sirens not far in the distance. They would be coming to help, but they wouldn’t help Yuuri.
I had no idea what they would do to Yuuri.
Suddenly struck with determination, I turned back to him.
“Yuuri, I’ll take you back to my house, okay? And then… and then we can see what we can do for you there.”
He bit his lip in hesitation, but then he nodded. That was all I needed to scoop him into my arms, throw him into my car, and drive him home.
I had no idea at the time what I had gotten myself into, but to this day I have never regret it.