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Kevin had been in fights before. He may not have won many of them – he wasn’t especially tall and his frame was wiry – but Kevin thought himself familiar with how it all went down. This… this was something else.
The creature that came at them through the fog was something else entirely. A hell-pincer, or so Edgar said. Kevin was already weary, had a persistent worry at the back of his mind that he wasn’t going to survive this. He’d already been injured by those roots that broke through the asphalt of the plagueround, curled around his ankle like a snake and tried to pull him down. If he hadn’t had the others with him, if Roland hadn’t pulled him free, Kevin wasn’t sure he’d have even made it this far.
Roland, Edgar and Monty were the ones doing the real work. They’d each landed blows, sent the creature staggering back and screaming in a frenzy as it snapped its claws in the air and charged them again. Kevin had only managed to hit it from a ways back, delt some damage with Silent But Deadly but it didn’t feel like enough. Not when Roland had thumped the hell-pincer with his hammer so hard he was standing there covered in lime green viscera and leftover porridge. Not when Monty was grappling with control in ways he’d never done before; let the wolf out just enough to help them without any fear of turning those claws on his friends. Not when Edgar stood there, back straight and with more confidence than Kevin had ever seen him carry.
“Kevin, you’re not useless, that was amazing!” He turned his head to see Roland grinning at him, earnest and excited.
You’re not useless…
Kevin felt his shoulders raise defensively. He bit his lip to keep from letting anything else slip. Was he really that easy to read?
The hell-pincer’s huge body moved with terrifying grace, all those legs like human fingers working together as it scuttled across the plagueround, angled its body so that it was facing Kevin. All 8 of those tiny black eyes like glass beads locked on him and Kevin felt his heart race. He clutched his tiny dagger tighter in his right hand, had his spare in his left – the one from the bottom of the bag that nobody really wanted, had passed off to him and really that was devastatingly fitting, wasn’t it? Kevin took a shuddering breath, felt very, very small as it shifted, readied itself to charge.
Out the corner of his eye, Kevin noticed Roland shuffle closer to him, step in between Kevin and the hell-pincer, raise his hammer as a threat. Monty took the silent cue as well and bound to his side. He was taller after letting the wolf in but next to the creature, he still seemed at a disadvantage.
Kevin opened his mouth, wanted to ask what they were thinking, to tell them to get away, but no words came out and he froze in place as the hell-pincer made to attack his friends.
It got to Roland first, snatched him up with devastating accuracy. Roland yelled, struggled for a moment until the human teeth that lined the creature’s huge pincers tightened around him. He whipped his head around to stare at Kevin, eyes wide and afraid, then he fell limp in its hold.
It should have been him. The hell-pincer was trying to target him.
Kevin watched as it attacked Monty next, the way it swung its body around, brought Roland with it, his head hanging back and eyes closed. Monty managed to dodge with ease. He was panting, jaw set and eyes ever so slightly lupine as he watched it, moved almost instinctively.
Kevin felt his stomach gurgle, felt afraid and anxious but knew what he had to do. He stuffed his daggers into the waistband of his trousers, needed his hands free for this. Kevin took another breath and, before he could hesitate any longer, charged for the hell-pincer, made it to the creature’s front and saw it staring down at him – caught his own terrified reflection in those inky black eyes.
Kevin set his hands on Roland, cast Cure Wounds as the pressure in his stomach finally relieved itself and Kevin heard music, saw his magic manifest as little black music notes that flowed down his arms and to where he made contact with Roland’s chest.
Of fucking course it was Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. He’d feel embarrassed if he wasn’t so worried about not being able to bring Roland back or getting grabbed by the hell-pincer’s other huge claw.
Roland snapped awake with a start and the song cut off abruptly. He looked about, saw Kevin move his hands off of him to try in vain to pry that pincer apart.
The boy struggled, still seemed unable to take deep breaths with how tightly he was being held.
“Kevin.” When Kevin looked up, Roland’s eyes were wide, frantic but full of frenzied relief. “You saved my life.”
“Not yet I haven’t.” Kevin groaned, heaved his whole weight against the pincer but it wouldn’t give Roland up.
Kevin heard bones cracking and looked up, past the head of the hell-pincer to the stinger where two human-like hands were clasped together as if in prayer. The fingers twitched, broke apart stiffly as though the movement didn’t come naturally to them, to reveal a screaming head that was fused to the flesh of those palms. Its mouth was elongated, stretched into a perpetual scream that split the tense silence around them. Those agonising sounds became words Kevin noticed far too late.
“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry-“
It threw up, spat out a stream of poisonous energy.
It was going to hit Roland. He was trapped, unable to move, and it was headed straight for him.
Kevin leapt in front of him, squeezed his eyes shut as the poison hit him directly, splattered over his face and ran down his neck. His uniform was covered in the same mucus-like sludge, stained the white shirt a inky purple and as Kevin recoiled, tried to wipe it away, noticed that his arms just wouldn’t cooperate. They weighed him down, felt as though they were made of lead and he staggered away as the poison took effect. He was resistant to poison, knew he could handle it, so why did this feel so awful?
His cheeks and jaw felt itchy and Kevin brought his hands up, felt narrow veins of raised flesh that snaked up under his skin.
Kevin stared back at Roland, saw horror in his friend’s eyes as he took in Kevin’s weary, shivering form on the floor. He got to his hands and knees, tried to force his body to fight through the lethargy and stand.
Roland managed to wiggle his hand free as the hell-pincer looked at Kevin again, smacked its face with the flat head of his hammer and send it staggering back and away from them.
Kevin stumbled, pawed at the waistband of his trousers until he was able to get hold of one of the daggers. He sucked in a laboured breath, tried to stop swaying just long enough to take aim, then drew back to launch his dagger through the air. It fell end over end, buried its sharp point into the forehead of the screaming face in the hell-pincer’s stinger.
Kevin fell to his knees, saw Monty lunge for the creature while it was distracted. Edgar draw his short sword and scimitar to rush the thing as well while Roland heaved his hammer up so that it rested on his shoulder.
They had this. Kevin breathed deeply, felt the word around him blur, smiled bitterly as he finally collapsed.
~*~
“I will choose to build another cottage on Dumbo.”
Kevin watched as Roland passed Edgar a wad of colourful paper notes in exchange for a little plastic cottage which he proudly displayed on the area of the board he owned. Roland grinned, took a sort of malicious glee in the row of homes he was building.
“That’s not fair! I’m going to run out of money completely if I land on your street again!” Monty glanced down at his hand anxiously looked at his own two property cards.
Edgar adjusted his glasses. “T-that is rather the point of the game. He’s trying to bankrupt you.”
Roland smiled, it was just a little mean. The power had gone to his head. An hour ago Roland had only ever heard of the board game Monopoly and now he was winning in a big way and trying very hard to keep his competitive streak in check with his usual considerate nature – it was not going well.
“Don’t feel bad, old boy, I am trying to bankrupt everyone, it isn’t personal.”
Monty huffed, looked down at the two property cards in his hand: The Fox & The Hound and The Rescuers. The brown street that nobody wanted. Monty was unreasonably proud of it, though. He looked at the price of cottages and then counted the last of his money, seemed nervous.
“Anyway, I do believe it’s your roll, Kevin.” Roland passed Kevin the dice.
This was meant to cheer him up. Kevin had been out if it ever since waking up in Nurse Lenny’s office with a start. His friends were huddled around him, already healed and waiting to pull Kevin to his feet as well. The three of them seemed fine, or about as fine as they could be after their first playtime, Kevin supposed. He wasn’t sure what was wrong with him. He looked at his friends, saw them smiling – well Monty still stressed over his Monopoly money but aside from that seemed happy enough. Kevin just… felt sore in a way he couldn’t place.
They had this exact copy of Disney Monopoly at home, with the pop-up castle and everything, but this was the first time Kevin had been able to play it. None of his friends even cared about Disney; Roland and Edgar hadn’t seen a Disney film. His Mum and Dad would probably be in Disneyworld by now. Kevin’s eyes found the blue castle made of card that dominated the centre of the board, this was as close as he’d get to the real thing for a long time.
He threw the dice. 7 not bad. He moved his Peter Pan playing piece around the board, landed on The Little Mermaid. Red. One of his own. Kevin only held a handful of cards and didn’t have a complete street but the properties he did have stopped the others from expanding any more. The only way chance he had at winning was sabotaging his friends by selling the cards they wanted on to them for a huge markup and then that would only keep him afloat for so long. He felt bad, refused to sell at all, unable to fend off the little nagging feeling of guilt at the back of his mind. It was a game. Just a game. There wasn’t anything else to unpack there.
On Kevin’s next turn he sold to Monty for a price that was much too low and then ended up paying Edgar what little he had left when he landed on one of his green squares. Out of the game. The others were still having fun and Monty had a decent shot at pulling some of that money back now. Kevin could watch from his spot on the sofa and not get in the way. His heart wasn’t really in it anyway and he’d only ruin their game.
Kevin picked up his Peter Pan playing piece, ran a thumb over the rounded metal edges of his character. Were his Mum and Dad enjoying the Peter Pan’s Flight ride? It was one of the ones Kevin was most looking forward too. He had been so excited to try It’s a Small World too and the Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride and Big Thunder Mountain.
“Kevin?”
He jolted, looked over to Monty, had already schooled his face into careful nonchalance.
“Hm?”
“Are you alright?” Monty’s brows were drawn together in concern as he regarded Kevin curiously.
“Yeah of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Monty shrugged. “I dunno you just seem a bit…” He struggled to find the right words.
“I’m fine, Monty.” Kevin offered him a little smile. “Thanks though.”
“Are you just upset you went out first?” Roland’s tone was teasing, it shouldn’t have hit Kevin as hard as it did. He bit his tongue. “Rodger gets like this too – you should have seen him when we played Scrabble. Have you played Scrabble?”
Monty shook his head and Roland continued.
“It’s loads of fun but you’ve got to really know your words, I bet you’d be great at it, Edgar.”
Edgar jumped slightly, seemed a little surprised to be acknowledged. He’d been doing that a lot since their first day of school, Kevin suspected he was used to being on his own for long periods of time.
“I, um, I haven’t actually.”
“We’ll have to try it sometime – I’ll bring some games from home after our summer holidays, we have loads of them. We have a weekly board game night at home.”
Edgar stared at Roland incredulously. “How do you have a weekly boardgame night but haven’t ever played Monopoly?”
Roland looked a little sheepish. “My parents said it was unholy because it promoted selfishness and greed but I’m sure Disney Monopoly doesn’t count.”
Of fucking course Roland’s family had a boardgame night every week. His parents probably never left him or any of his siblings out, either. If they booked a trip to Disneyworld all 4 of them would be invited as well because Mr and Mrs Thudberry seemed to actually make time for their sons. Roland didn’t know how good he had it and while Kevin couldn’t blame him, he could feel damn irritated about the whole thing.
He stood up abruptly, stretched his arms over his head and yawned loudly. Kevin wasn’t even remotely tired but didn’t think he could sit there and listen to how good Roland’s homelife was. Worse still was that Kevin didn’t have it bad and really he didn’t have any right to feel jealous. Edgar didn’t have a Mum at all and Monty’s family were… well, if anyone had a right to be upset it was him, but Monty was just sat there unbothered and quietly amused by the whole exchange.
“I think I’m going to head to bed now guys.”
“Really? Are you sure you’re alright chum?” Roland looked up with his brows knit together. He seemed genuinely concerned and Kevin felt even worse.
“Playtime really wiped me out and Nurse Lenny’s good but I think I’m still feeling the effect of that poison a bit.”
Roland stood up, abandoned the game. “You should have said something!”
He raised his hands, they hovered over Kevin but didn’t land. He looked to be trying to find how to heal him but wasn’t sure how.
Kevin stepped away, swallowed thickly. “Honestly, I think I just need a bit of rest.”
He took a shuffling step back, tripped over the corner of the couch with a yelp. Kevin’s body shook, couldn’t find the strength to push himself up. He hung his head, let his hair fall across his eyes as he breathed deeply. He was angry and frustrated and so tired without any good reason to be because all he’d done while the others were fighting on that playground was get in the way.
“No,” Monty said firmly. He got up to walk across the common room, crouched down at Kevin’s side and peered at him closely. Kevin turned his head away, bit back the urge to tell Monty to fuck off. His friend was concerned for him and if Kevin pushed him away he’d have nobody; he’d be all alone. Monty wasn’t deterred, seemed to have a way of looking straight through him. “You’re upset.”
Kevin’s head shot up, heart hammering in his chest and palms sweating against the cold flagstone floor. There was a second of panic, then he got a good grasp on it, buried it deep down and smiled.
“No I’m not.”
“You are.” Monty said with a measure of certainty that had the others worried as well and Kevin saw them get up, take careful steps to where he was sat splayed out on the floor.
“Guys, really, I’m fine. What would I even have to be upset about?”
Edgar shifted from foot to foot, seemed unsure of himself even then but unable to resist a change to string clues together. “Well, you’re hurt and tired and you…” he paused, struggled for a moment. “Lost at Monopoly?”
“Are you upset because you lost at Disney Monopoly?” Roland’s tone was light, clearly meant to lift the tension but Kevin flinched, had to bite back a groan as he saw his friends’ heads catch the motion right away.
Roland panicked, looked frantic and apologetic. “I’m so sorry, Kevin, I didn’t realise how important that was to you-“
Kevin waved Roland off and shook his head. “No, no, it’s not that… it’s just… I…”
Kevin swallowed. This didn’t come easy at all. He wasn’t even sure when the last time he’d opened up to someone was. He and his parents put up with each other but they weren’t close – didn’t know who Kevin was – and Kevin didn’t really have a friend group in Bristol. He got along with most of the kids in his class well enough but was never close enough with any of them to share secrets or a moment of vulnerability.
Kevin huffed, gave a little shrug. “I feel a bit shit about what happened in playtime, I don’t know…”
Monty tilted his head, seemed confused. “But we won?”
“Yeah we did but I was sort of useless. All I did was get in the way and you kept having to save me and I barely damaged that thing!”
“Kevin-“ Roland cut him off, shut his eyes briefly, his face twisted in some sort of bitter grimace. It wasn’t like him at all and Kevin’s shoulders rounded subconsciously as he tried to hide away. “You saved me. If you hadn’t been with us I would have died!”
Kevin shook his head, couldn’t look at Roland, just stared down at his shoes. “I almost died as well.”
“Exactly!” Roland’s voice jumped up to a shout. “So you know how dangerous the plagueround was and you still managed to survive it and help us take down that huge thing, that big scorpion or something-“
“Hell-pincer.”
“Hell-pincer, thank you, Edgar.” Roland sighed. “Kevin, you were amazing out there. You were braver than any one of us. You ran up to a hell-pincer to heal me while I was unconscious and leapt in front of it when it sprayed poison out of its mouth! That’s pretty bloody impressive if I do say so myself.”
“You also hit it in the head with a dagger even though you’ve never thrown one before.” Edgar added. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Hunter’s Mark but you didn’t even need it.”
“And you were the first to notice that we’d lost Brandon.” Monty’s eyes were steely. From that first day when he’d helped Kevin out of the lunch hall after eating their fill of beans, he’d first noticed it, that when Monty spoke earnestly, he came across as a little intense. It made Kevin smile anyway. “Your armour isn’t as effective as ours and you ran straight past that blue beacon without worrying about the danger you were in because your friend needed you.”
Kevin shrugged. “I didn’t want Brandon to feel left behind, especially when it was so dangerous out there. Any of you would have done the same.”
Monty nudged Kevin when he tried to look away, snatched his attention right back again. “But you didn’t hesitate – didn’t even think about it for a second – you just charged into danger as soon as you noticed he was missing like it was instinctual.”
“Because it was.” Edgar cut in, silenced the whole group as Kevin’s stomach twisted, his throat tight as he stared at Edgar in shock. “You’re scared of being left behind. That’s what all this is about, isn’t it? It’s what you’re most afraid of and the thought of Brandon going through that really upset you.”
“I…” Kevin choked. He felt his eyes prick with tears. Jesus please not now, he’d embarrassed himself enough. “I’m not upset, I was worried Brandon was hurt. That’s it.”
“Kevin…” Roland started, seemed like he wasn’t sure how to go on. “You’re-“
“I’m fucking what?” Kevin snapped.
He whipped his head up to glare at Roalnd, couldn’t help it. He was so tired and felt sore with all this probing at those awful aching feelings he’d kept buried so far down Kevin wasn’t sure he could even find them again. But his friends did. The chipped away at those walls he’d put up and hid behind embarrassingly quickly. This was embarrassing, so unbearably embarrassing, maybe even up there with that recital after his curse had first manifested.
“You’re crying,” Roland finished softly.
Kevin scrubbed a hand across his cheeks, surprised to find it wet. “Oh. I’m not normally like this.”
Kevin was much better at not letting on how things were getting to him than this but had started crying and snapped at Roland all in the span of a minute. It was far from his finest moment.
“I know but you do need to let it out sometime, you know? You do a very good job at looking out for all of us but that goes both ways and if you’re feeling a bit blue, or well a lot blue, I guess, then you need to say so old boy.”
Kevin nodded mutely, took precious few seconds wiping away the remaining tears that has slipped out silently, ran down his cheeks as his shoulders shook. Monty reached out, went to pat him, but pulled his hand back quickly, seemed to think better of the action. Kevin sniffled, hugged his legs to his chest so he could hide his head behind his knees.
“Why…” Kevin said at last, his voice smaller than it had ever been. He sniffed, swallowed some of the mucus at the back of his throat. “Why did my Mum and Dad go to Disneyworld without me?”
“I- I don’t know.” Edgar opened his mouth and shut it again. “Maybe it was cheaper?”
“They had a free child ticket!” Kevin groaned, hid head again and when he spoke his voice came out muffled. “Do they just not want me around? Is that it? Would I ruin their trip? Would I get in the way?”
“Kevin, you don’t get in the way!”
Kevin couldn’t see his face but heard how exasperated Roland sounded. He seemed tired, maybe even a little angry, it was hard to tell. Kevin held himself a little tighter.
“I think what Roland means is that you were a valued member of the team today and you helped us more than you realise but-“ Edgar emphasised the word and Kevin flinched, knew there would be a ‘but’. Edgar let it hang between them, waited for Kevin to nervously look up before continuing. “-Even if you were useless – which you aren’t – that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t want you around. You are our friend and you just being yourself is enough. That’s, um, what you were trying to say wasn’t it, Roland?”
“It was.” Roland nodded then his eyes flicked to Kevin again. “There’s nothing you have to do to make us want you around.”
Kevin swallowed around the tightness in his throat and nodded, didn’t think he could manage to get the words out just yet.
Monty shifted, shuffled closer and reached out again. Kevin felt the weight of his hand on his back as it carefully patted him while his shoulders shook. He could feel how warm Monty’s palm was through his blazer, found comfort in the way it rubbed little circles over his spine.
“I’m not hurting you am I?” Monty asked suddenly and Kevin looked over to him, saw something nervous swimming beneath the surface of his grey eyes. Kevin couldn’t help but wonder how much Monty had kept himself from seeking out comfort for fear of hurting someone. Kevin filed that particular note away for later, he should check in on him in a bit once he’d calmed down.
“Of course not.” Kevin managed a smile, a proper one.
Monty returned it in kind, seemed relieved. He looked back at the abandoned board game then to Kevin. “For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t want to go to Disneyworld without you.”
“Same here,” Roland chimed in. “It just wouldn’t be as much fun without you.”
Kevin huffed a little laugh, wiped the last of his tears away. He knew the skin of his cheeks was still red and splotchy but he was able to talk without a lump letting lodged in his throat now and his breathing had levelled out. All things considered, he was feeling much better, even if a little embarrassed about how he’d fallen apart like that. Kevin ducked his head.
“You guys don’t even like Disney films.”
“None of us have really seen them to be honest but maybe we could all watch some together at some point?” Edgar suggested.
Kevin sniffed. “No technology works here.”
“You could come visit me during the summer holidays? My family love having guests over, you’d be more than welcome.”
“Yeah?” Kevin turned to look at Roland. “Could I?”
“Of course! I think I’m going to miss you all terribly when I go home, it’d be great if you could visit.”
“I’d like that actually.” Kevin uncurled, realised that he was actually dreading when the summer came and he’d have to leave St. Churnley’s. He’d been so scared to leave his parents behind but now… he looked up, saw Roland smiling and Edgar packing away Disney Monopoly as Monty’s hand remained a comforting weight on his back. He’d never felt more at home.