Chapter Text
It was a chilly night in November. Even though Southern California never gets as cold as the New England winters, the coldness still overwhelms Sykkuno dressed in just a thin sweatshirt. California days are deceptively sunny and warm and Sykkuno had forgotten to bring an extra layer with him for the nighttime. He should have known he would be staying late at the University’s computer lab again, finishing his assignments. There seemed to be a never-ending stream of assignments. And he would still have to work on it some more once he got home. Then again, he was at a top-tier school studying an intensive subject.
With a sigh, Sykkuno hoisted his heavy backpack, weighted with the textbooks of all the courses he had today, up on his shoulders, and pushed his arms tightly against his sides, in a vain attempt to trap what remaining heat he could, and walked briskly through the community park, a shortcut that he sometimes takes to get to his apartment. He lived in a small studio alone, a little ways off campus. Even though the apartment building looked drab and rundown, the basic necessities were there, and it was a lot cheaper than living in campus dorms. Plus Sykkuno didn’t have a great time in those crowded dorms with no privacy, his first roommate was one of those jock types and although he didn’t say anything outwardly to Sykkuno, Sykkuno overheard him joke about how weird Sykkuno was to his friends. And whenever his roommate brought girls back to their room, Sykkuno had to resort to turning up his headphones to drown out the disturbing noises. At least he had a room to himself now.
Lost in thoughts about the hot shower he could look forward to soon, Sykkuno suddenly noticed some movement in the peripheral of his vision. He turned his head towards the source, although the park area was not well-lit, he could make out two or three faint figures crowded around an equally faint figure of black slumped on the ground. And they seemed to be kicking whatever it was on the ground. Worried that the rough crowd were abusing a wild animal, Sykkuno went closer to take a look. As he approached from behind, he realized the shape was too large to be a dog or cat, it was a human. Sykkuno’s blood boiled, how could anyone treat another human in this way? Without thinking, he charged towards the nearest aggressor and pushed him away from the young man on the ground. He then swung his backpack around, hitting the remaining two with the momentum of his bag, those 10 pound textbooks were useful after all, he thought grimly. The three men seemed stunned and backed off a bit. The young man on the ground looked up at Sykkuno with steely eyes, Sykkuno could see already that he was covered in bruises. “Back off! I called the police,” Sykkuno said sternly, never mind he was bluffing and afraid they would see right through him. In response, the three men backed off further but still looked at Sykkuno threateningly. With no choice, Sykkuno whispered to the boy on the ground “Do you think you can still run?” The boy nodded. Sykkuno held out his hand for the boy to take, and pulled him up off the ground. They hurriedly took off, hands still tightly grasped as they ran for their life, afraid to even look back to check if the men were following them. With nowhere else to turn, Sykkuno led the boy straight to his studio.
Still hearing the pounding of his heartbeats, Sykkuno was finally able to take a look at the younger man he encountered, within the safety of Sykkuno’s studio. The other had matted black hair, ripped black jeans and a black shirt with purple and blue bruises on his exposed skin peeking through. Curiously, he also had half of his face covered with a dark mask. The boy, noticing Sykkuno’s stare, stared back intensely. Realizing it was probably rude to stare, Sykkuno touched his head sheepishly and said “Well, this is my apartment. Are you OK? Mister- Mister…”
“Corpse” replied the younger man, with a surprisingly deep rumble.
A bit caught off guard, Sykkuno replied “Wh-What?”
“Corpse. My name is Corpse,” replied the other in the same deep voice.
“Corpse,” Sykkuno acknowledged, “I don’t know what happened back there and you don’t have to tell me, but are you OK?”
Corpse looked hesitant. “Could I have some water?” he asked after a pause.
“Yes, you can sit on my couch here.” Sykkuno berated himself for being a bad host as he went to get a cup of water for Corpse and set it on the table in front of Corpse. Sykkuno also grabs the first-aid kit thinking it might be helpful. Sykkuno opens the contents of the kit and takes out the antiseptic and reaches for Corpse’s arm. Corpse noticing Sykkuno’s movements, flinches away.
“I can do it myself, thanks” replied Corpse.
“Sorry” Sykkuno replied awkwardly, he forgets that sometimes others have more spatial boundaries than him.
Sykkuno goes to get a cup of water for himself as well and settles comfortably on his own bed. “So, Corpse, do you want me to send you home after this?” he asked, “I have a car although I don’t drive very often.”
Corpse’s movements stopped, after a long pause he replied “I don’t have a home. But sure, I can just walk back to where I was staying.”
“You don’t have a home?” Sykkuno exclaimed. “Where were you staying then, were you staying at that park?”
“Yeah” Corpse replied in a low voice, seemingly embarrassed.
“You can’t go back there!”
“I have no choice unlike privileged kids like you!” Corpse suddenly snapped back. Corpse returned to dressing his wounds, silent once more after his outburst.
Corpse stopped again, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have lashed out on you.” He continued in a low tone “It’s not your problem, in fact you helped me a ton today.”
Corpse looked down, “Th-Thank you for that” he said, after another pause.
Sykkuno scrunched up his face in thought, it’s way too cold for someone to spend the night outside, much less there were some angry men waiting for Corpse if he returned to that park. Corpse looked younger than Sykkuno yet he had to live like that, Sykkuno couldn’t help but feel worried for him. A bold thought entered Sykkuno’s mind, even though it was a bit crazy, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was the right thing to do.
“What if,” he started “What if you stayed here for a bit?”
The younger man halted his movements once more. “No. I-I can’t burden you like this,“ he continued “and aren’t you afraid that I’ll take your stuff, o-or harm you? I’m not a good person.”
“But I can’t just leave you out in the streets, now that I know. Plus, the fact that you are warning me means that you are in fact a person I can trust,” Sykkuno countered back.
“Really, I mean it. Although this apartment is small and it will be crowded, I’d be glad to have some company,” continued Sykkuno.
Sykkuno grabbed a fresh towel and some new clothes that his mom bought that was too large for him but looked like it might fit Corpse and left them in front of Corpse. “How about you think about it some more after you take a shower.”