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The beginning of the legend of the spider
Shulk doesn’t think much about Reyn’s words until the next day. He’s in the middle of putting on his socks, digging around the sock drawer to find the other sock, when he feels something... off. Something in his sock drawer that’s squishy and wiggling around his hand, dipping between his fingers.
Shulk’s scream echoes throughout the house as he kicks the drawer shut and backs as far away from it as he can, scooting backwards until he’s sitting with his back against the opposite wall. He’s still staring at the drawer in shock when Dickson bursts into his room, looking like he’s expecting a mechon invasion or something.
“What the hell?” he mutters as he takes in what has to be a rather nonsensical sight of Shulk sitting on the floor and staring at his sock drawer in terror.
“There’s something in it,” Shulk whispers, pointing at the drawer in question. “It was wriggling and squishy and grose.”
Dickson raises and eyebrow and goes to investigate. He opens the drawer and pokes around there a bit. After a moment he shakes his head and grabs at something. Shulk holds his breath, still shivering from the sudden shock.
“Here’s your monster,” Dickson informs him as he pulls his hand out of the drawer, showing it to Shulk. He’s holding a big, fat, wriggling caterpillar. It seems to be partially squished from Shulk’s panicked flailing and looks to be leaking a green fluid.
“Grose,” Shulk mutters, shivering again.
“Any idea how that ended up in your drawer?” Dickson asks as he tosses the creature out the window.
“Yeah,” Shulk says, feeling his heartrate starting to return to something resembling normal as his breathing calms down. “It was Reyn.” He’s certain of it. After what happened yesterday, and the words they exchanged, it can only be Reyn’s doing.
“Any particular reason your friend in putting insects in your clothing?” Dickson questions.
“It’s his revenge for me putting Black Kiwi in his curry,” Shulk mumbles, crossing his arms as he looks down at the floor.
“And why were you putting Black Kiwi in his curry?” Dickson asks, now crossing his own arms as he looks down at Shulk.
“Because he put Sweet Wasabi in my ice cream,” Shulk says, still refusing to look at the older man.
“Kids,” Dickson sighs, patting his pockets until he finds a cigarette and a lighter. He ruffles Shulk’s hair as he makes to leave, making him let out a surprised squeak. “Try to play nice, okay? You don’t want to lose a friend because of some silly squabble, do you?”
“No,” Shulk murmurs to the now empty room as Dickson has already left. He looks at the now caterpillar-free drawer and grimaces. He doesn’t want to lose a friend, but he will get back at Reyn for that trick.
It doesn’t take long for Shulk to plan his revenge. It’s a pretty simple and straight-forward plan, really. First, he’ll just need to find a really big bug...
Luckily for Shulk, the prank he’s planned isn’t very hard to pull off. There are plenty of creepy crawly things to be found around Colony 9, and Reyn has a tendency to leave his shoes laying right next to his front door. Once the setup is complete, all Shulk has to do is wait nearby.
He doesn’t have to wait long. Soon he can hear a loud, startled scream coming from Reyn’s home, accompanied by some cursing that would get him or Fiora grounded for a week if Dickson or Dunban heard them.
The door to Reyn’s home flings open as a shoe flies through the air and lands a good distance away. A spider quickly skitters away as Reyn, only wearing one shoe, approaches with an angry, embarrassed, and wary look on his face.
Shulk starts laughing as the other boy pokes at the discarded shoe like it might explode at any moment. Reyn jumps at the sound and turns to face him. His face is red with what’s definitely embarrassment.
“You think that was funny?” he demands, poking a finger at Shulk’s chest. “I almost died when that thing started crawling around my foot!”
“Consider it payback for the caterpillar,” Shulk replies, making sure to not show any kind of nervousness. Reyn wouldn’t actually hurt him, no matter how upset he gets.
“Well, you should have considered that payback for -”
“Good morning, guys!” Reyn’s protest is interrupted by Fiora joining them. Too busy stare down, they both simply give her a quick nod in greeting, barely taking their eyes off each other.
“Anyway, you should have thought twice before messing with my curry,” Reyn says, crossing his arms as he makes his point.
“Me?” Shulk questions, crossing his own arms stubbornly. He’s not as strong as Reyn, but he’s making a point here. “You’re the one who ruined my ice cream!”
“Did not!” Reyn protests. “I just added some extra flavour.”
Shulk sees Fiora cross her arms as well as she mutters something about “dumb boys”, before turning around and walking away. He barely pays attention, too busy with Reyn’s nonsensical argument.
“Extra flavour?” he questions. “Everyone knows Sweet Wasabi doesn’t go on ice cream!”
“Anything can go on ice cream,” Reyn counters. “You’re just not trying hard enough!”
“Well, you -” Shulk is interrupted mid-sentence by an unexpected and unwelcome bucketful of water getting dumped on his head.
Shulk instinctively closes his eyes, so he can’t see anything, but judging by the spluttering sounds Reyn is making, he’s gotten the same treatment. Shulk blinks and wipes at his face with a drenched sleeve to clear his vision. Fiora is standing in front of him and Reyn, glaring at them both with her arms crossed and an empty bucket at her feet.
Shulk isn’t too concerned about getting wet. He’s not carrying any gadgets that could break, and his clothes will dry soon enough since the day is both sunny and warm. Fiora’s anger is a whole different worry, though.
“You’re both so dumb sometimes!” she exclaims, stomping her foot. Shulk and Reyn both take a small step back at the sharp tone. “Stop fighting!”
“He started it!” Shulk and Reyn both say at the same time, pointing at each other.
“I don’t care!” Fiora stomps her foot again, this time knocking the bucket over. “It’s stupid!”
Shulk has to admit, quietly to himself, that the whole thing is a bit stupid. Especially since it had all started over a spilled glass of water. But saying it out loud would feel too much like admitting defeat, so he doesn’t.
“If you promise to stop fighting,” Fiora continues in a calmer tone, “I’ll talk Dunban into buying us all ice cream.”
Shulk and Reyn look at each other.
“Ice cream sounds nice,” Reyn offers.
“Mmmm,” Shulk agrees. Then again, ice cream always sounds nice. “Maybe we can just call it even?”
He offers a hand to Reyn, who’s grinning happily despite still being soaking wet and only wearing one shoe.
“Yeah!” He’s about to take Shulk’s hand when he hesitates. “But if we fight like that again, let’s just agree to not do any more bugs.”
Shulk smiles, taking Reyn’s hand and shaking it to seal the deal. “No more bugs.”