Chapter Text
“Oh my Gods.”
Slingshot turned towards his sister, rubbing the tired from out of his eyes. “What?”
“It’s Shuriken..” She heaved out a sigh, voice strained.
By the looks of it- she was already completely done with the day before it had even started.
She turned to Slingshot, face crinkled. “He’s still not up!”
“..I got it.” Slingshot quietly laughed, getting up from his seat. He pushed his sibling’s door open, walking over to the mess of blankets that covered Shuriken’s entire bed. Despite the fact his head was submerged under all of the plush, his snoring was still as obnoxious as usual.
Slingshot pulled back the blankets, revealing that his limbs were twisted in ways that probably weren’t natural. He sighed, taking a breath before shaking him.
“Mm..” He groans, shifting away from the force shaking him. “What??”
“Did you not set your alarm??”
“I did this time!” He huffed, grabbing his phone. He scrolled through it for a moment, face dropping. “Sorry.. haha.. have you ever accidentally mistaken the calculator for the clock..?”
“No, I actually haven’t.” Slingshot huffed, snatching his phone, actually setting a proper alarm. “Now go get ready, you dummy.”
“Oww, words hurt..”
“Haven’t you heard the saying that words will never hurt me??” Slingshot backed off, letting him sit up.
“Words can hurt..” He mumbled, before shaking his hand at Slingshot. “Go make me breakfast.”
“You’re getting whole wheat toast.”
“No!!”
Slingshot closed the door behind him as he walked out, going to the counter, leaning lazily upon it. “He’s up.”
Slow days, especially on a Thursday, weren’t something uncommon to Thieves Rest. Shuriken was leaning his head into his hand, wondering if anyone else would come in, simultaneously waiting for his lunch break.
Vinestaff was cleaning— on slower days one would clean and the other would be on register— sweeping more to fill the time than to actually clean up any mess.
Once lunch thankfully came, Vinestaff wasn’t sure what to do when she saw her lousy brother fully asleep, sitting with his head down on the backroom table. She would’ve shook him awake and scolded him, but couldn’t find the vengeance to do so.
Was he not sleeping well? He always had the complaint of being rather tired, especially during the weekdays when the hours started slightly earlier, but it was unusual for him to be so careless as to not only forget to set his alarm but also sleep in, and it was even weirder to see him asleep during the work day.
She brushed her knuckles across his face, before leaving him be. Maybe she’d ask him about it later.
She quickly took back up the role of cashier, pretty unimpressed to find it was mind-numbingly boring. It wasn’t until a semi-big group came in that she perked up, a smile stretched across her face as they walked to the register.
They looked familiar, especially the red one. “Hi, welcome to—“
“Is Sling here?” One of them happily chimed in, probably not aware that they were cutting her off.
“Oh.. yes, he’s here.” She awkwardly stepped away. “Let me go grab him.”
She pushed the doors open to the back, scratching her neck. “Sling, there’s some customers asking for you.”
He shot up, glancing to the group from the back, rolling his eyes at the thought. “Mind just watching the oven?”
“Yep.” She said, sitting across from Shuriken from where he was snoozing, tucking her legs up to her chest.
What a productive day.
Slingshot pushed the doors open from the back, putting both hands on the corner. “What.”
“Hey, dude.” Skateboard smiled. “I brought my friends along!”
Boombox smiled, waving hello. Coil shot only a look in greeting.
“I haven’t forgotten you guys yet, you know.” He looked rather unimpressed. “Are you guys getting something?”
“Boom wanted to try that thing.” Skate pointed at the menu, eyes set on a confectionery.
“The macrons?”
“Yeah!”
Slingshot felt himself mellow out a little bit, a smile creeping up on his face. “Sure.”
The three ordered a drink each as well, along with a few more treats. Slingshot happily obliged, glad that they were trying a bunch of things.. stepping out of their usual boring comfort zones.
“Okay. It’ll be out soon, go have a seat.”
“This place better have good service.” Coil grinned. “Every mistake is a star off my review.”
“I’m gonna eat all the stuff you order.” Sling squinted at him, stepping off to go get their stuff ready.
“Already down to a 3!”
“What?! What made me lose the first one?!”
“Eh, I just felt like it.”
Slingshot rolled his eyes. Coil was definitely a character- sometimes he wondered what Skate saw in him.
He pushed the doors open into the back, only now noticing Shuriken out like a light. He was about to go and shake him awake as well, before hesitating.
“You okay?” Vinestaff took his attention. She was staring off into the distance, eyes wide.
“Eh? Oh, yeah.” She smiled at Slingshot. “They’re good friends, huh?”
“Annoying ones.” He exhales.
“Least you have some.”
Slingshot’s voice softened. “Hey.”
Her eyes drifted off to the side. “I know.”
He didn’t want to push more, taking a pause before he mustered out a breathy laugh. “Looks like someone is asleep.”
“Hah, yeah.” Her gaze softened. “..I just have to let him.”
“Mind just watching for any customers, then?” Slingshot smiles. “Think we’re gonna be slowing down from here, though.”
“Yeah, of course.”
Slingshot only came back out to deliver his friends their treats, putting the tray up before coming back out to see their reactions.
Macarons were hard to get down. Only recently had he finally gotten out a batch without them pitifully cracking, so the thing that mattered right now was really only the taste of them. Everything else he brought out? He was totally confident..
“So?” He anxiously swayed, wringing his hands together.
“It’s really good, dude!” Boombox smiled with that same expression he always had.
“Pretty great, Sling.” Skate nudged him.
“I mean, it’s alright.” Coil shrugged.
Slingshot’s eye twitched. “..Just alright?”
One bad remark was enough to send him on a spiral.
He needed perfection.
He wouldn’t let his cafe sit on the second ring of Crossroads forever, so “alright” just wasn’t going to cut it.
“Alright?!” He huffed. “What’s only alright about it??”
“Flavor’s kinda boring.” He looked off to the side. “I might need a few more to be sure, though.”
“Be serious!” He seethed. “Are they really bad? Or are you just trying to get some free pastries out of me?!”
“I mean, the texture is good and all. It’s just boring.”
“Quit giving him such a hard time, Coil.” Boombox’s smile turned to an annoyed frown. “Macarons are really hard to make right.”
“Yeah, and Sling works super hard!” Skate narrowed his gaze at him.
“What? It’s just called honesty.” He shrugged again. “I’m not gonna lie.”
“No, he’s right.” Slingshot shook his head. “I don’t want my customers to settle for less.”
“Sling—“
Slingshot disappeared off into the back, holding his head in his hands for a moment, wanting to scream. He’d been working so hard on this stupid pastry.
It didn’t matter if everything else was perfect, it was either all or nothing.
He’d have it fixed by tomorrow.
“Hey, I think me and Shuri are gonna head out.” Vine placed her broom back where she found it. “You coming?”
It was a little past closing by this time. “No, I think I’m gonna work on a new recipe for a bit. Don’t worry about me!”
Shuri rubbed his eyes. He’d basically slept the whole day, and it didn’t even seem like he was aware of that fact. Somehow, it didn’t even really look like he was all awake either. “Don’t hyperfocus on some dumb comment someone said, cause I can tell that’s what you’re doing.”
“I’m not!” He hissed, even more annoyed that he got it spot on despite not the fact he hadn’t uttered a word about it.
“Just, get home a little early.” She waved off the things they just said. “And Shuri’s right, you’re doing just fine. Don’t fixate on the dumb things.”
He mumbled something under his breath, watching as they walked off.
Slingshot totally ignored their advice, feeling a bit worse knowing they were just acting in his best interest. He aggressively stirred a new batch of batter after the other,
He was so focused, he didn’t even notice that someone had snuck up behind him before he was tapped on the shoulder.
He shrieked and jumped, holding up the spatula he was using, before shoving off Skateboard who looked rather humored.
“Hey, Slingy.”
“You know I hate that nickname.”
Skate smiled. “What’re you doing here so late? I thought you guys close earlier on weekdays.”
“..Just, working on a recipe.” He pulled the bowl closer to him, not wanting him to fuss over him either.
“Is this over what Coil said?”
“No.” He shook his head, looking sadly down into the meringue he was careful not to over stir. “..But if it was, he’s right. It is flavorless.”
“Don’t listen to what he says.” He shook his head. “I’ve known him forever now. He just likes to get a reaction out of people.”
“But if he doesn’t like it, that must mean other people won’t like it, either.”
“Do you think everybody in the Inpherno has the same tastebuds?” He nudged him. “If they did, everyone would be here with how good it is.”
Sling softly smiled at his effort, before it quickly faltered. “I just really want people to like my work.”
“Hey.” Skate wrapped him in a hug. “People really do like your stuff, I promise.”
Sling smiled, leaning into his embrace. “Wanna walk me home?”
“‘Course.”
As Slingshot walked into his apartment, he was immediately confronted by darkness. Skate waved goodbye, disappearing off, and only then did Slingshot realize how long he’d been trying to work on that dumb cookie. He walked into the bathroom, deciding to shower off all the bad thoughts still lingering in his head.
Vinestaff looked up at the ceiling, relieved to hear Slingshot stomping around.
Her hair was flowing outwards, along with her arms and legs that were sprawled out. Just..
Thinking. She supposed.
Not a day has gone by where Darkage hasn’t infiltrated her mind- and once those bad thoughts start spiraling, they don’t stop. She can’t help but think about the Playgrounders, which is dumb, because she doesn’t even know why she is so bothered. They’re not even her friends, so why does it matter she’s not their first priority?
She turned over, lying her head on her hand. She’s the oldest of her siblings, but often she can’t help but feel so.. behind. She’s the one supposed to protect them, care for them, but she still can’t even find the energy to ask her littlest brother why he’s so exhausted so often.
Cast out of Darkage, cast away by customers. What difference did it make?
Vinestaff flexed her fingers, before bringing her hand to her wooden arm, beginning to pick at the greenery and stray pieces of bark.
She just had to make it to Monday, their day off.
Suddenly, she shot up, concerned upon hearing a loud noise, but chalked it down to Slingshot probably slipping.
In reality, a shadow was lurking.
Silver, was his name. He crawled out of his window, leaning back and free falling, before grappling to a neighboring building and perching upon it.
Exhaustion was already seeping into every corner of his body, but he shook his head, trying to shake off the feeling.
Maybe a little snack would help.
He crept around on the top of buildings, before falling down into an alleyway, slipping out of it into the spotlight of a nearby street lantern, quickly moving past it. He was a frequent at a local night market, and for some reason, one of the stalls favored him. He smelled grilled meat, and eventually saw steam rising from that familiar spot.
He crept through the darkness, his mask illuminated even in the dimness. His arms were bandaged, scarf spilling down his chest.
An older inphernal smiled upon seeing him, which made him feel slightly more real. “Silver! Are you doing well?”
He nodded, extremely pleased upon receiving his free nightly skewer. He always just barely lifted up his mask to take a satisfied bite, and the stall owner always seemed pleased to just seem him smile as well.
“Be good, and safe!” He pulled down his mask after feeling unable to help but chuck it down, waving goodbye. Hunger still lingered in his senses, but he had no choice but to brush it off, there were things he wanted to get to.
He climbed up a building, legs dangling off the edge. He looked down, seeing what looked like a heated, possibly one-sided, between two inphernals. Silver crept closer, watching as one snatched a bag another.
He grinned. This’d be an easy first blood.
A new trick he’d been learning, he threw his grapple to a building across the way, attaching himself to the middle of the rope before toppling all the way down, making it face to face upside down in front of the person with the stolen bag.
He dropped down, menacingly getting up in their face before snatching the stolen bag, throwing the it back to whoever it was taken from. He stood between them, waiting for the perpetrator to run off, which they did.
“Um.. thank.. thank you?” A voice called out behind Silver, nervously holding their bag to their chest.
“It’s late. You should get home.” His voice sounds distorted under the mask, a part he dislikes.
“O..Ok! Thank you…!”
Silver grabbed their grapple, before disappearing back off into the night, watching on rooftops for crime, ending the night a few hours later, crawling back inside his window to get a little bit of sleep.
Shuriken struggled to wake up again. Slingshot had to yell at him through his door, alongside his loud alarm, only then he was actually be able to get out of bed.
They all ate breakfast together, but they were all sort of on their own page. Vinestaff was staring off into space, barely touching her food, Slingshot just seemed bothered, and Shuriken was.. well, tired.
The cafe was immediately busy— that’s usually how Fridays were— so busy that all of them just took the sacrifice of not eating lunch. Which probably wasn’t a great idea, considering now all of them were one poke away from exploding.
By the end of the day, they agreed they’d get takeout, which lightened their spirits a bit. They all left together, stopping by a near restaurant to go get some dinner.
Once they got home, they all collapsed onto the couch, turning on a show to quietly eat and decompress.
Once all of them finished, Vine couldn’t ignore the quiet sound of her youngest brother already starting to snore. Somehow he’d fallen asleep almost immediately after finishing his meal.
“Look.” Vinestaff nudged Slingshot, pointing at Shuriken.
“Dummy.”
They did decide to call it a night, and Vinestaff carried Shuriken into his bed.
Shuriken woke up, ready to start his craft, before noticing it was, in fact, light outside.
He’d missed his duty! Ohh.. he smacked himself in the head. He’d make it up tomorrow..
At least he felt well rested.. in fact, he was up before his alarm rang.
Or maybe he just didn’t set it.
On the weekend, the cafe opened later because— well, as good as Slingshot’s food was— nobody was willing to wake up so early on Saturday or Sunday to go stop by. However, the weekend was some of their busiest time from when they did open to later hours into the night.
Which usually was more worrying than not when it came to Shuriken’s situation, meaning he had to wait painfully long for his siblings to wind down before he could disappear off into the city, free from his life for just a few hours.
He wrapped himself back into his blankets. It was nice to just have some alone time every so often, especially when he could hear the birds cooing outside and the wind breezing past his window.
..He couldn’t help but fall back asleep.
He was quickly awoken by the smell of a real breakfast, something different from their usual cereal or granola bar. Smelled like bacon and eggs.
Shuriken dragged himself beside Slingshot, leaning his head on his shoulder. “You’re making some for all of us, right?”
“Not even a good morning?” He rolled his eyes in faux annoyance. “No, Shuri, I’m only making this for myself so I can shove it down my throat in front of you.”
Shuri hugged him. “Mm.”
“Why’re you so clingy?” Slingshot wrapped his free arm around him, squeezing him. “Did you have a bad sleep, or something?”
“No.” He exhaled. “So hungry.”
“Okay, okay. Go sit down. It’ll be ready in like, 5 minutes.”
He grumbled, before melting into the table. Maybe because his body thought it finally had a full night to recover, it decided it could inflict a painful amount of exhaustion and soreness on his body.
“You okay, bug?” His sister’s voice rang out, a hand placed on his arm.
“Hungry.” He mumbled.
Vinestaff sat beside him, hand lingering on his back. He sighed of some relief, happy to know how his sibling’s were never hesitant to show their care for him.
Two plates were placed in front of them, and Vinestaff contentedly smiled. “Yum.”
“I’m only giving you guys a good breakfast cause I have a feeling today is gonna be hellish.” Sling groaned.
“Good!” Vinestaff retorted. “Don’t act like we’ve forgotten your goal. Busy days are good so we can move up to the upper ring!”
“Are you guys gonna be fine? Who wants to bus?”
Shuriken lousily raised his hand. “Me.”
“Guess that means I’m on the register.” She shrugged.
“Okay.” Slingshot cracked his knuckles. “All hands on deck!”
“You’re so dumb.” Vinestaff snickered at him, finding his enthusiasm inspiring yet.. well..
“Hey! I’m just trying to motivate us!”
The day was as they expected- busy.
Vinestaff was on the register, making good pace, and Shuriken was running out to get orders to people.
Slingshot was evidently stressed. This workload wasn’t foreign, but it totally did get overwhelming fast, and since he was really the only inphernal that had to work in the kitchen, getting everything out perfectly definitely put a strain on him.
After the morning rush, they usually had a bit of calm, before the lunch rush came and destroyed any peace they had. Vinestaff was catching her breath, before a familiar group stepped up.
“Oh, hi.” She got ready to take a step back. I’ll go get Sling-“
“Naw. We don’t need him.” Skate waved that off.
“You sure?” She looked at the register.
“Duh.” Skate smiled. “Okay.. hm, what do you recommend?”
“Oh, let me see!”
Vinestaff happily chatted, talking about every drink and food she enjoyed. Two out of three still seemed to be listening once she was finished, so she took that as a win.
They ordered a good amount, sitting in the booth nearest to the kitchen door like they always did.
Shuriken eventually brought out their food, doing a few more orders while he was at it, before going to nag Slingshot.
However, as he was about to do something that’d make him annoyed, he decided against it. His face was crinkled in utter focus, shoulders high and tense.
Instead, “Hey, are you okay?”
Slingshot’s head jolted, and he all of a sudden looked more present. He scratched his head. “I dunno. Just overwhelmed.”
“..Yeah. I’d probably be no help, huh?”
Slingshot smiles. “Hey, there’s no harm in trying. How many orders do we have right now?”
“I should probably go check.” He sighed. “But you can teach me when it gets quieter!”
“Sounds good, bug.” Slingshot ruffled his hair before giving him another round of pastries to go give out.
Shuriken was interrupted when he was waved over by the Playgrounders, tilting his head in confusion before going up anyways.
“Hey, you don’t need to call him over, but can you tell sling we all think his pastries are really yummy?” The green one smiled. “Especially Coil. He thinks they’re really good.”
Shuriken shrugged. “Sure.”
He giddily walks into the back. “Sling!! That table over there said they really like it! Apparently, especially an inphernal named Coil does!”
“Really?” Slingshot smiles. “I don’t believe it.”
Slingshot strided out, excitedly walking over to their table. “Really? Coil likes it?”
“Yep!!” Boombox grins. “C’mon, spit it out!”
“It’s fine.” He rolls his eyes.
Slingshot laughs, before disappearing back into the kitchen.
“?” Shuriken perks up.
“Idiots.” Slingshot shakes his head.
Vinestaff was on register, but can’t help herself from eavesdropping and watching every little thing that table and her siblings do.
She hates it, but can’t ignore the weird envy swimming painfully in her stomach. She can’t even hear what they’re saying, but they look so happy, even without her included.
She quickly brushed off those feelings when another customer walked out, putting on a big smile.
Those thoughts would just have to be dealt with another day.
Once it finally got quieter, she was more than ready to disappear off for a little while for her lunch break. As she walked past Slingshot’s station, she heard a commotion.
Her two brothers, profusely giggling as Shuriken failed to hold an icing bag correctly, the icing spilling out onto a pastry below. She wanted to walk up to them, join the fun as well, but stops herself. Instead, she walks out.
She’s hungry, anyway.
She gets some food from a local little shop, picking at her food more than she was eating it. No matter how hard she tried to push it all down, nothing could stop the build up of tears that so desperately wanted to all come out right now.
She’s looking down at her food, debating just throwing it away and getting back to work, but someone fills the seat in front of her.
One of Slingshot’s friends?
“Hey, I know we look alike, but I’m not Slingshot.”
“Seriously? The resemblance is uncanny.”
She laughs. “Still. I don’t think I’m the person you’re looking for.”
“Just cause Sling’s my best friend doesn’t mean I can’t talk to anyone else.” He leans back in his chair. “Plus. You’re his sibling, so you’re probably kinda cool too, right?”
“I mean, I’d hope so!” She clasps her hands together.
They chat for a while, much longer that Vinestaff’s break is supposed to last, only realizing halfway through their conversation, having to quickly throw away her empty meal before exhaling out a couple too many thank you’s, running back off to the shop.
“Vine!” Shuriken angrily huffed as soon as she ran back. “About time!”
“Oh, be quiet.” She flicked his shoulder as he walked by. “I only went over like, a few minutes.”
“More like twenty!”
Shuriken stomped off, but she couldn’t help but muster out a little smile to herself, walking back out to the register.
The day ended with all of them in good spirits, all cooking a nice dinner together.
Once they all got into bed, Shuriken lied restless for a while, waiting till he was sure everyone was asleep, before getting out to change, opening his window, and leaping out.
He grappled to a nearby building, perching night upon it. Like a shadow in the night, he crept around, before jumping down to visit that same vendor.
He felt a little bad today, especially considering he had a very good dinner, so he threw a considerable amount of cash onto their table.
“Ah, Silver.” They smiled. “Don’t make me take this!”
He shook his head, pushing it forward.
The vendor smiled, giving him his skewer. “Be safe, Silver Shadow!”
The both of them waved goodbye, and Silver continued walking on rooftops, hyping himself up to do a lot today. He crackled his knuckles, before creeping down a building to get a closer look at something going down.
He landed on the ground, seeing someone sitting in front of what looked like a shop, head held into their hands. Silver slowly approached, sitting crisscrossed in front of them.
“Is everything alright?”
The shop owner looked startled, but Silver wasn’t bothered- he wasn’t exactly know for having the most inviting presence. It looked like they shrugged though.
“I.. Well, I was closing my shop for the day, till a group of inphernals broke in and robbed all of the money I’ve worked so hard for during the week..” They cried. “I don’t know how I’m gonna pay my rent now.”
“What’d they look like?” Silver stood up, he had a soft spot for store owners, cause- well, he sort of had first hand experience.
“One of them had teal horns, the other was red and yellow spotted, and the last one had a purple gradient.” They sighed. “Looked a little younger.. But that’s embarrassing. A bunch of teenagers took me on and won.”
“Don’t worry.” He assured, lifting up his grapple. “They can’t be far.”
“..You don’t need to do this for me-“
Silver disregarded that, flying up into the air, before running on the building tops for a while trying to search out where this gang could be. Surely they weren’t the strongest group, because who would steal from a random small business like that?
He ran faster and faster, before spotting a trio, loudly laughing, what looked like bags in their hands! The description matched what the shop owner said exactly, so this had to be it.
He stalked behind them for a bit, trying to analyze anything he could about them. He quickly formulated a plan, drooping down behind to just grapple them together and knock a little sense into them.
He kept his footsteps quiet behind them, before chucking his grapple at them so intensely it wrapped around them perfectly first try. He almost laughed, jumping over them to get in their faces.
“Don’t you know? It’s quite taboo to steal from random businesses who are already doing all they can to make ends meet. They say if you do, bad things happen after.”
“We didn’t do anything! Let us go!” One of them screeched, trying to shake off the restraint.
“Give me the money you took.” He tilted his head. “I’m not in the mood to slit any more throats.”
That was more of a fear tactic than the truth- usually he strayed away from having to use violence as often as possible.
“Just give it.” One of them rolled their eyes, tossing over a bag with what little space they had to move.
“Don’t pull something like this again.” He creeped closer, getting the two other bags. “Banlands is a hot place to spend your years.”
“Yeah, yeah.” They huffed. “Untie us.”
He pulled his grapple back, before disappearing off into the night. He returned back to the shop owner, happily giving their funds back.
Silver was attacked in a hug, even more tears falling onto his shoulder. He rather awkwardly patted their back in sympathy, bowing his head, before disappearing back off again.
He insisted to himself to push past his limits this night, so.. now here he was.
Sitting in a random alleyway, patching up his side after he got a nasty stab. He sighed, before pulling down his sleeves to bandage them a little too.
He leaned his forehead into his knees, adrenaline keeping the sleepy out of his head, but his body was crying for some sort of break. His side was burning tremendously, and all the work with his grapple was starting to bruise and rip at his hands. Maybe he’d call it quits for the night.
He threw his grapple up, before being distracted.
An inphernal, scarf blowing in the wind that wasn’t there, almost tripped walking into the alleyway. “How.. how are you so fast—“
He lifted his hand, swiftly pulling himself up into the air, rolling onto a building top.
He blinked, waiting there for a while, looking up into the dark night sky, stars hidden by all the light pollution in the city. He forced himself up, knowing he needed to get home.
He lugged himself through his apartment complex, feeling weaker with every step.
But as he approached his door, he hesitated.
Before he walked past it, onto the next.