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The train soon slowed to a halt, before stopping completely and letting the passengers on board step out and onto the platform. The train was filled with your usual passengers, families or tourists, businessmen or old people.
Though he didn't fit into any of the mentioned groups above, he blended quite well into the crowd.
He stepped onto the platform, pulling his jacket's hood over his head as he surveyed the train station. He had never been here before, never even heard of this city before last month. But he could already envision it in his mind, like the back of his hand.
He had to be here. He knew he was here.
Taking a deep breath in, he put one foot in front of the other and continued on his journey
"I know, I know. I'm fine, Mom! I promise!".
The normal humdrum of the town surrounded Avery as he talked to his mother on the phone. Townsfolk passed by him chatting about their day, the sounds of car engines coming and going filled the air, and not to mention the odd kid dinging the bell on his bike or two.
And although Avery probably would've liked to have stayed home and spend his Saturday either sleeping in or playing with his friends, his mom had encouraged him to go out for some fresh air to deal with his recent nightmares.
The nightmares. The ones that had started happening since he had read that book he found in his Minecraft world. He'd been having reocurring dreams ever since then. Dreams of worlds covered in trees, of brick tunnels, of abandoned villages and of his body covered in slime and of drowning and knights in gilded armour and journals and a pair of golden doors.
He tried to brush them off, of course. They were just dreams, it's not like they could actually hurt him. But as the dreams continued and showed him more visions he wasn't sure of, he became more and more confused about them and his parents became more and more concerned as he told them about the dreams. They thought it might've been a mental health thing, but Avery turned down seeing a therapist. So the next best thing was going out on a walk and hoping it would help him clear his mind.
Of what - you may ask? Even Avery wasn't sure yet.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm walking right now. Getting fresh air like you wanted me to," Avery nodded to his mother as he continued down the street, though he had no plan on where he wanted to go, "I promise to come back safe too. Love ya, Mom!".
And as he went to finish the call and hang up, he suddenly felt a mysterious chill run up his spine. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt scared, panicked.
Like he was being watched.
He turned around to look over his shoulder, though there wasn't anything of note behind him. Sure, there were people, but there was people everywhere, and none of them looked dangerous or looked like they were stalking him or wanted to kill him.
"Huh, weird," Avery mumbled to himself, unaware that he was still walking, before he suddenly collided with the person in front of him.
He stumbled backwards a bit, hearing what sounded like a metal can hitting the pavement and a groan from the person he had just walked into. He opened his eyes to see a man taller than him, he looked a bit older than Avery. His hair was long enough to cover the left side of his face, and all he wore was a pair of jeans and a black hoodie, though it was now stained with cola.
"Ah, shit," he heard the man mumble to himself as he inspected his hoodie, brows furrowed.
"Oh my god, I'm so, so sorry!!" Avery profusely apologised to him, "I-I wasn't looking, I was on a call with someone, I didn't mean to make you spill your drink, I just-!".
"No, no. It's... fine," the man let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair, "I know it was an accident, you don't have to apologise for it".
Now that Avery could properly take a good look at the man in front of him, he could see that he had eyebags, or at least he had them under the eye Avery could see. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept in ages. And oddly attractive too...
Wait, what?
Avery quickly shook those thoughts away, though he did feel his face warm up a little. "So, umm... Are you new here by any chance?" Avery nervously chuckled to him, scratching the back of his neck, "I don't think I recognise you from anywhere, and I've been living here for a while!".
The man let out a small sigh, "Of course you don't". But before Avery could ask him what he meant by that, the man spoke up again, "You could... say I'm new here. I've seen this place before but never been here for myself until now".
"Oh! Well- umm- that's cool!!" Avery grinned to him, "I could, umm, show you around maybe? To apologise for spilling your drink on you??".
He tried his best to seem like he wasn't panicking, though he was definitely failing at that. And whether if the man in front of him noticed or not, he still offered Avery a small smile and a nod, "Sure. It'd be nice to have a guide to help me around".
"Oh! Umm- neat!" Avery replied, giving him a smile and a thumbs up back, "I actually know a pretty neat coffee shop around here, if you wanna go there now!".
And so that's how Avery ended up with a companion on his short trip around the town. He never expected to end up spending the day with someone, especially with a man so quiet and mysterious yet equal parts handsome and intriguing.
'Oh god, what the fuck am I thinking!??!?!' Avery thought to himself, quickly shaking those thoughts away. How could he be having thoughts like that about him?!
He was a complete stranger, Avery didn't even know who he was and he didn't know anything about Avery either!
==========
D3rLord knew everything about Avery. How could he not?
He knew that he lived in this town, he knew that he'd be out of his house today. He knew he'd be walking down the street then and accidentally bump into him, and then offer to buy him coffee to make up for it.
He's seen hundreds of visions of Avery. Yet actually being here with him, being able to sit across him and watching him nervously sip at his cup of hot chocolate was a whole other thing.
The two sat in the coffee shop that Avery had recommended to him, an awkward silence hanging in the air between the two as they sipped at their respective drinks. D3r could tell Avery was anxious and wondering if he should speak up and split the silence. Though whether that was because he could easily read Avery's body language - the way he kept on looking away from him and tapping his coffee cup were obvious signs of his uneasiness, or because of his infinite knowledge was up in the air.
D3r set down his coffee cup on the table, "You're nervous. Aren't you, Avery?".
Avery looked at him for a couple seconds, before letting out a nervous chuckle and looking away again. "Me? Nervous? Nahhh, no way," he replied.
"You're pulling at your shirt's collar and looking away from me. Obvious signs of nervousness,". D3r took another sip of his coffee, "You don't know what the best way to start the conversation is, right?".
"H-Hey! You don't need to say all that out loud!" Avery yelped, a bit embarrassed that he had been read so easily. D3r couldn't help but let out a small laugh as Avery pouted, "What are you? Some sort of mind reader?".
D3r crossed his arms across his chest, a smile on his face, "You could say that".
Avery glanced over at his face again, before quickly looking away. It wouldn't take a guy who had all the knowledge of the universe shoved onto him to realise Avery was nervous and embarassed.
But it did catch D3r off guard realising just how flustered Avery was.
He could hear his thoughts almost, see visions of how Avery saw him. He could hear how quick Avery's heart was beating, and how it quickened when he accidentally locked eyes with D3r or looked at his face too much. D3r never even considered himself that attractive, especially now that he wasn't taking care of himself as much as he probably should've.
He knew Avery would like him. But wow, he didn't think it would be this much.
D3r cleared his throat, catching Avery's attention. "You don't need to be afraid of asking me questions about myself, you know?" he told him, "I promise I won't find them embarrassing, Avery".
Avery's brows furrowed in confusion, "How did you...".
He shrugged. "Lucky guess," D3r replied, tapping slowly on his coffee mug, "So, what did you want to ask me?".
"Ah- umm- shit, you've really put me on the spot now!" Avery said. He looked to the ground in deep thought, before something finally came to his mind, "Let's start off with something easy! Favourite colour?".
D3r let out a small hum as he sipped on his coffee, "Guess".
"Oh, come on, man!" Avery yelped, and D3r couldn't help but let out a small laugh at his exasperation, "You're seriously not making me guess, right??".
D3r looked at him from above the rim of his mug. To any other person, he might've appeared to just be teasing him, but D3r needed to quickly test Avery, see if had any knowledge about him that he shouldn't have if he was any normal person, "If it eases you, I promise it's an easy colour to guess".
He watched as Avery thought about it for a moment, seemingly looking down and underneath the coffee table for a couple seconds before replying, "Orange?".
D3r raised a brow, "Where did you get orange from?".
"I don't know, you've got orange on your shoes??" Avery told him, "Well, it's actually more black than orange but- Wait, is it black???".
To Avery's disappointment, and to D3r's own relief, he shook his head, "Nope. Try again".
"Umm, okay, let me think..." Avery said, "What about blue?".
D3r shook his head, "No".
"Purple?"
"No".
"Is it a specific shade of blue?".
D3r's brows furrowed, "I already said no".
"I-I don't know, I wanted to see if you were tricking me or something!" Avery yelped, "Umm, what about green??".
A soft smile appeared on D3r's face, "It's a nice colour, but no".
"Dammnit! Umm...". Avery tapped his fingers on the table for a moment, "Umm, is it gold? Oh- wait- is it yellow??".
D3r fell silent then, staring down at his reflection in his coffee before he shook his head again, "Also no".
Avery narrowed his eyes at him, becoming almost uncharacteristically quiet before he spoke up again, "It's red, isn't it?".
And when D3r gave him a nod, a look of almost exasperation and anger appeared on his face, "Oh, come on! That's everyone's favourite colour!! You had me guess for fucking red?!".
"If it's everyone's favourite colour, why didn't you just guess it first?" D3r asked him.
"I don't know, I thought my mind was pulling a reverse psychology on me!!" Avery replied, and D3r let out a soft laugh at his reaction.
It was honestly quite strange. He couldn't remember laughing this much and feeling so at peace since he had first found that cavern.
D3r took a sip of his coffee, "Anyhow, what about you, Avery? Are you going to make me guess your favourite colour?".
"Nah, I'm not that cruel, dude" Avery replied, picking up his mug of hot chocolate again, "It's green, actually. Red's pretty cool too though, but I also really like orange I guess...".
D3r let out a small chuckle. It was expected of him to be quite indecisive when it came to his favourite colours too, "It's a good choice. Green fits you very well, Avery".
Avery's eyes widened at that, a light blush covering his face before he looked away from him. "Umm, thanks, dude," he replied, pulling at his shirt collar again.
There he was again. D3r honestly found it really cute how Avery acted when he felt shy or embarrassed. He had known about it before obviously, but seeing it in person was so much more different than seeing it in visions.
Wasn't it selfish of him to think this way when he knew he wouldn't last that long?
A query suddenly appeared in his mind, digging into his mind and taking root. But before it could fully take over his mind and his focus like it usually did, Avery's voice broke through the impending chaos.
"Anyways, moving on! Next question!" he said, bringing D3r out of his spiral and back to reality. Avery took a sip from his hot chocolate, "Got any interesting hobbies I should know about, mystery man?".
D3r blinked in surprise at him, he honestly forgot this was one of the questions he would ask him, "Well, I'm not quite sure about 'interesting', but I've played a couple of games. World of Warcraft, Runescape, DND, a couple of other tabletop role-playing games".
He took a sip of his coffee, carefully looking over the rim of his mug to gauge his reaction, "I also did help with some Minecraft modding in the pa-".
"Wait, wait, pause". Avery suddenly interrupted him, a wide-eyed look on his face, "You play Minecraft too!?!".
A small smile appeared on D3r's face. "Well, I took a break from it. But yeah, I do play Minecraft," he nodded to him.
And he couldn't help just how warm he felt from the shock and surprise on Avery's face. "Oh my god, I almost never meet other people who play Minecraft too!! Well, in real life, I guess" he said, "Wait- what type of player would you classify yourself as?".
D3r raised a brow, "What type of player...?".
"Like, are you more of a builder? A redstone master? A farmer? A miner? Oh, wait- are you into PVP too??" Avery excitedly asked him, a huge grin on his face, "Wait- I shouldn't be asking you so many questions at once, shouldn't I? I'm so sorry about that,".
D3r gently shook his head. "It's alright, I find your excitement quite cute, actually" he replied, having to hold back a chuckle from seeing how Avery's eyes widened and his cheeks reddened at the compliment, "And to answer your question, I'd say I was a bit of a jack of all trades. Can't say I've ever been into PVP though. I did have a side hustle helping with Minecraft mods though".
Avery's brows raised at that, "Eh? Mods???".
"People would pay me to test out their mods. Sometimes I'd even help with the coding. It was a quick and easy way to get money," D3r replied, tapping idly on the ceramic of his almost empty coffee mug.
"Oh, wow. I'm actually in the presence of a Minecraft god!" Avery gasped, "Wish someone told me I could get money playing Minecraft instead of doing retail".
D3r let out an amused sigh. "Well, what about you, Avery? What about your hobbies?" he asked him, "You seemed pretty excited when I told you I played Minecraft".
"Oh- yeah! I've been playing Minecraft for years, but I barely ever meet people in real life who've played it too, except for the few times I've managed to attend a convention," Avery began to ramble to him, "I'm super into PVP though!! You've heard of SkyWars, right?".
D3r shook his head, "No. I've never heard of it".
That was a complete lie. He had heard of it.
But that lie gave him the opportunity to see Avery's eyes light up excitedly, and his grin widened before he started to info dump to him about the game and tactics and about how much of a pro he was at it.
And that joy and excitement on his face, it was a warm and welcome respite from the thousands of voices and visions he was hearing and seeing from before. It made him feel almost... normal again. Like he had never traversed down those tunnels in the first place.
He didn't want to admit it, but he had grown fonder of Avery than he ever expected to.
==========
"Man, I can't believe it's so late already! Could've sworn the sun was still up a few minutes ago!" Avery said, mostly to himself, as he looked down at the time on his phone. The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon now, the sky now a cascade of purples, pinks and oranges.
He looked back up at D3r, who he had spent the day showing him around the town and bringing him to all the hotspots around the area. "You said your train should be coming soon, right?" he asked him, "We should probably head down to the station now, just so you don't accidentally miss it and end up getting trapped here".
D3r let out an amused sigh, "Well, I really wouldn't mind being trapped here with you, Avery. But I guess I really should be going now, huh?".
Avery smiled back at him, before glancing down bashfully at the ground, "Heh, yeah. It really would be nice for us to spend more time together".
They soon finally reached the train station, and Avery stood beside him on the platform as they waited for his train to arrive. It was quiet today, with a minimal amount of people at the station at this time. So Avery and D3r were both left with their thoughts, a silence having settled between them. And while Avery idly tapped his foot against the ground and hummed to himself to pass the time, a sense of uneasiness and guilt began to arise in D3r's chest, before he couldn't contain it anymore.
"Avery?" D3r suddenly spoke up, catching his attention.
"Hm? What's up?" Avery asked, a bit curious.
D3r's brows furrowed slightly. His expression looked... serious. A bit worried. About what - Avery wasn't sure yet. Until he spoke up again.
"You... never told me your name, didn't you?".
Avery's eyes widened at that, "Heh, what do you mean by that...?".
"You never told me your name, never introduced yourself to me. Yet I called you by your name multiple times and you never questioned it," he told him, turning his head towards him.
And as they stood on the train platform together, the silence between them suddenly turned eery. Avery's eyes were wide in shock, looking at everywhere but him as he recalled all the hours they spent together yet Avery never even thought to introduce himself. Hell, he didn't even know this guy's name! Why the hell was he trusting him!?!
"I... If you...". Avery was completely lost for words, struggling to come up with something, anything to ask him, "How did you...".
"You found a laptop in a storage locker and realising it already had Minecraft pre-installed in it, you took it," he replied. Avery's heart dropping down to his stomach as he continued, "You found a chest in front of a mine, and found a cryptic book inside not written by you warning you not to venture into the mines, right?".
Avery's brows furrowed, and a nervous smile plastered onto his face. "You- You probably just found my YouTube, didn't you? Wanted to scare me, right?" he tried to say, tried to explain this unexplainable situation, "Wait- but I never shared my face or location online, how did you-".
"Avery, you have to listen to me". D3r gently grasped Avery's hands in his. Even though there was something in Avery that told him to run, to leave him and this confusing situation and all these conflicted feelings behind, he decided to stay put where he was.
His tired eyes looked into his, he seemed to be struggling to come up with something to say too, as he closed his eyes and took multiple deep breaths in and out, before finally responding.
"That was... my laptop," he finally said, opening his eyes to look at Avery straight on, "I had let curiosity get the better of me, let it take me where no mortal person should've gone. I saw things, Avery. Things I wasn't supposed to see, knowledge no mortal person should possess. And I saw... you".
Avery's brows furrowed, "You saw... me?"
"I saw you at that chest, I saw you about to take the same path that I once went down on. I couldn't bear to have someone else lose themselves to him. So I left that note and came out here to warn you". He held Avery's hand to his chest, he could feel the rapid beating of his heart even underneath the fabric of his hoodie, "I needed to protect you, Avery. And make sure you didn't end up like me".
A silence soon settled over the pair, the only sound on the platform being the soft rustling of the wind. Avery slowly let go of his hands, before he wrapped his arms around the man, silent but warm. "I... don't know what you went through. Hell, I don't think you'd ever want to tell me," Avery softly said, "But... I trust you. And I promise I'll try to keep myself safe".
D3r was caught off guard by it for a second. Even with all the knowledge in the universe threatening to shut down his brain, he could've never predicted this. But he soon hugged Avery back, his hold tight on the smaller man. "Thank you... Avery....." he shakily breathed out, burying his face in his shoulder.
It took a while for the two to separate, neither of them admittedly wanted to let go and wanted to wait until the other let go first. But they both had to return home, so eventually D3r let go first. Despite the tiredness in his eyes, there was a softness and gentleness in his expression. Like a weary old dog who's witnessed so much throughout his life and stayed kind, except it was on a whole adult man.
"So, umm...". Avery shyly looked down at the ground, kicking at the ground on the platform, "You... never did tell me your name, didn't you?".
"Oh, right. I suppose I never did," he replied.
He extended a hand out to Avery, offering him a small smile, "You can call me Derek. But I'm fine with Der too".
Avery looked down at the hand, before taking it and shaking it. "It's nice to finally meet you, Derek," Avery smiled back to him.
That smile could set his heart ablaze, he swears.
Finally, the familiar sound of train horns sounded in the distance and drew their attention, and they turned to see the train pulling into the station. "Well, there's my ride," Derek said, letting go of Avery's hand, and he almost selfishly wished that he had held his hand for longer.
Avery looked back up at Derek, his brows furrowed in concern, "Derek? Will you be... coming back?".
Derek looked back at Avery, a forlorn look present in his eyes for a split second. "I'm... not too sure, I'll be honest," he admitted to him, "I don't think I'll return in a while, I'll be honest".
The train finally pulled up, and the doors opened to let the passengers off. Derek was just about to step onto the train, but Avery suddenly grabbed a hold of his wrist. His eyes widened as looked back at Avery, at the concern lacing his expression. "Can we at least exchange phone numbers? O-Or if Discord's alright with you...?".
Derek's eyes stayed wide for a moment, before his expression softened at him, "Yeah, sure. Discord's fine with me".
He quickly pulled out his phone from his pocket as the two exchanged their Discord information. Avery let out a chuckle as he looked back up at Derek, "Your username's d3rLord3?".
Derek let out a sigh, scratching the back of his neck, "Sounds cheesy, I know".
"No, no! I think it sounds pretty cool, actually!" Avery replied, giving him a grin, "I mean, it's definitely cooler than mine, heh".
Derek shook his head and smiled at him, "I think your username's nice. It has a certain charm to it".
The two stood there on the platform for a few seconds, simply enjoying eachother's company, at least until Derek remembered the train standing behind him. "Anyways, I'll go now for real," he said, turning back towards the train, "Stay safe for me, okay Avery?".
Avery softly smiled to him, a certain glow in his eyes that set Derek's heart ablaze, "Yeah. I promise, Der".
And with that, Derek stepped off the platform and onto the train. He turned to look at Avery right as the doors started to close, giving him a smile and a small wave. Avery wasn't the best with reading lips, but he could approximately try to guess what he was trying to say to him.
"I'll miss you, Avery"
The train soon started to leave the station, and Avery soon found his feet moving, running to try and catch up with Derek as much as possible. "I'll miss you too, dude!!!" Avery shouted to him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to hear him but wanting to express it anyways.
Derek watched from out of the train window as Avery disappeared into the distance, his waving figure soon becoming another dot on the horizon. Unbeknownst to Avery, he had heard him. He could still envision the grin on Avery's face even as the train escaped his vision, and how he still waved to him until the last second.
Derek let out a soft sigh, opting to look down at his phone where Avery's Discord profile was open on his screen. A part of him knew this was selfish of him, selfish of him to want something more with Avery while knowing he didn't have enough time.
But in the moment, amongst the visions of everything that was and could be, amongst the noises and voices and screams that plagued his dreams and wake, he somehow found a glimmer of hope in Avery. A warm flame amongst the cold dark.
Derek closed his eyes, holding his phone up to his chest. He could only hope now that that he'd heed his warning, that he wouldn't go down the safe path that he did. That he would stay safe despite him.