2015 Black Honda Pickups
...What the hell?!
Scar was currently what seemed about 15 feet away from a random guy who was lying on the sidewalk he was just about to walk across. He had come back from 8 continuous hours of tracking down and fighting The Scorpion as his vigilante alter-ego, HotGuy. When Scar had finished up his self-appointed work for the day, he decided to go on a late-night walk at his favorite non-profit park. A quick relaxing activity that would give him a quick break before going back to his apartment to rest.
Watching a blonde dude fall out of who-knows-where and not immediately bleeding out and dying was not what he was planning to do today. However, as the good person he was, he wasn't going to be a bystander and do nothing.
Scar jogs over and inspects the guy on the ground. He was wearing a dark purple skin-tight tank top with dark black sweats. There were various bits of gold hardware, including on the belt, neck, and a few bits on the pants. The hardware all resembled four-point stars. A necklace with a black stone hung off his neck. Something about the outfit rang a bell, however, Scar couldn't exactly pinpoint it.
Weirdly, the man didn't seem to have any major cuts or bruises or massive gashes from falling from what seemed to be quite a height.
"Sir," Scar called out, "you still alive down there?"
No response, of course. If this man was still alive, he was definitely out cold. Scar almost considered kicking the limp body but decided against it. That would definitely be immoral, he decided, despite not having many morals left. It's hard to have any when you have a 'job' like his.
He leans over and checks the man's pulse. His heart was still beating.
Scar wasn't in the mood to drag this man all the way to the hospital. He'd have to know this guy personally and fill out pages upon pages of paperwork. (At least he wouldn't need to pay the hospital bills.) So, he did the most reasonable thing he thought of at the time. He picks the man up bridal-style, walks the 30 minutes back to his car, and puts the man in the backseat, quickly clearing away any objects he stored back there.
He's about to start the car when he hears his phone buzz. Pulling the device out, Scar realizes that it's a message from his roommate, Gem.
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Gem Tay (Gemini):
Gem Tay (Gemini):
scar, where are you? you promised takeout remember
Scar Goodtimes (HG):
Sorry Gem! Found random guy on the ground. Bringing him back in my car.
Gem Tay (Gemini):
WHAT
YOU CANT JUST BRING A STRANGER BACK SCAR
Scar Goodtimes (HG):
I knooowwww :( But he lowkey probs got a concussion. Maybe, I dunno he looks fine. The dude fell from a lampost or something lol.
Gem Tay (Gemini):
what if he isnt a reborn tho. or if he finds out who we are. the guy'll tell the government, scar.
Scar Goodtimes (HG):
Too late, lols! I've already got him in the back of my car. ;)
Oop he's waking up. Somehow. Just hide your stuff when I get back. Don't make me put him back down on the ground :<
Gem Tay (Gemini):
if we get arrested, i'm blaming you.
wait, if he fell from a lampost how is he not dead
scar
scar????
SCAR
ANSWER ME
WHO EVEN IS THIS DUDE???
Read 15:54.
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Scar shoves his phone back into his pocket before starting the car. The stranger stirs and groans but quickly stops moving again. Scar whistles in relief before pressing down on the throttle, starting his journey back to the apartment.
Gem does have a point though. If this guy finds out that he and Gem are vigilantes or Reborns unregulated by the Government, saving this citizen might as well be a one-way ticket to jail or even execution. He shivers at the thought of standing outside the government building, bright white lights shining down on him as he's killed in some violent way.
As he shakes off the feeling thought of being killed, Scar realizes that there are only two beds in the apartment he lives in and to be completely honest, due to Scar's lack of a job and Gem working a 9-17 whenever she could, which was barely, he and Gem combined barely made a living. (No one pays people actively going against the government and harming their little heroes, alright?)
There's no way the two of them are buying a bed for a stranger. He supposes that the guy could just rest up and then go back to wherever he lived. Hopefully.
All of a sudden, a disheveled "Where am I.. Who are you?!" comes from the backseat. It scares Scar so badly that he slams on the breaks, barely stopping himself from swerving into a light pole. Luckily, the streets were particularly empty as most civilians were still working.
Scar shakily exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding, tilting his head down as his hands gripped the steering wheel for dear life. After 30 seconds, Scar slowly straightens up and almost violently whips around to face the stranger.
"Why hello there! You are currently in the back of my 2015 black Honda." He says, grinning brightly. Scar holds back a smirk from creeping onto his face when he sees the blondie jump.
Scar gets a good look at the person's face for the first time. The stranger has dark brown eyes, almost black, with a few sparkling undertones of bright purple, which seemed to shift and swirl when the person blinked.
Pretty.
The stranger's eyebrows furrow in confusion, before slowly nodding in realization.
"Erm... Okay.." The stranger, which he dubbed Swirly-Eye Man takes in his surroundings for a second. "Where are we going, exactly? What happened?"
"Found ya on the ground. Seemed you suffered a pretty bad fall so I decided to help you!" Scar's grin widened. "I'm taking you to my apartment because I have no idea where you live, by the way."
There's a beat of silence before Scar starts driving again, choosing to ignore the dirty look the driver across from him gave him. Swirly-Eye Man leans back for a second, before coming up with another question.
"You're just going to take me, a stranger, back to your apartment? What if I secretly have a gun on me?"
Scar considers this for a second before snickering. "I doubt you'd lay a scratch on me, to be frank. Also, if you were going to kill me, I'd probably be dead by now."
"True.."
Another beat of silence passes. An unpleasant, awkward tension fills the air.
"Hmm.. How about I ask you one of my own questions?" Scar asks hesitantly, trying to break the silence.
"Shoot."
"Why did you fall in the first place? What in the world were you doing?" He pauses, and a wave of confusion passes through him. "And, how are you not dead? Or critically injured at least."
Swirly should of suffered some really bad head injury or something along the lines. Scar swore he could have heard the Crack! of bone hitting pure concrete from a mile away. The way the stranger just walked the fall off like it was nothing was strange and also immensely confusing. To be fair, he's met death before, but this guy hadn't been in The Games so he couldn't have been revived.
The stranger falls silent. It takes a minute or two before he finally responds. "I was... Climbing a tree, let's say. I misstepped and fell. Also, I guess I just got lucky. Not sure how I escaped with only a few scratches, to be honest."
"Ah, I see," Scar says dubiously. "And why were you climbing a tree?"
"Don't get anywhere to live. Was just trying to pass the time, I guess."
Oh. That makes a lot more sense. Except-
"If you've got nowhere to live, what's with all the flashy clothing?" Scar prompts. No homeless person casually wears expensive clothing around town.
"It's not mine. A clothing store was throwing some stuff out and I managed to get my hands on some good, cleanish clothing."
"Okay." Good enough for the time being. Some people gotta do what they gotta do.
He looks ahead at the apartment complex steadily approaching them. "We're almost there."
"Alright."
After 5 more minutes of awful silence, Scar parks his car and leads Swirly-Eye Man to his apartment. He can see him side-eyeing broken railings and the chipping paint on the walls as they make their way up the stairs. After a bit of climbing, they make it to Door 3 of the 5th floor. Scar gently raps on the door and he can hear a voice say, "Coming!" behind it.
A few shuffling noises could be heard, and then Gem, in an oversized sweater opens the door. "Hey, Scar!"
She eyes Swirly up and down before pulling them both into the apartment. "This the guy you found?"
"Yep- Oh my gosh- Jellie!" Scar bends down and quickly gives the grey-striped cat a few pats on the head before standing up again.
Gem doesn't seem to be paying attention to Scar's cat-petting. Instead, she's walking around the stranger with a hint of suspicion in her eyes. After a while of examining him like a hunk of meat for sale, she sighs and invites him to sit down in a chair she seemingly pulled out of nowhere.
"Scar, what's his name?" Gem asks gesturing to Swirly.
"Uh.." Oops. Scar totally forgot to ask that! Dang it, he was definitely gonna get reprimanded now. By his own roommate of all people! "I dunno... Ask him himself."
Gem sighs again before turning to Swirly-Eye Man. "What's your name? Because Scar apparently forgot to ask. His name is Scar, in case you haven't realized by now."
"I noticed. My name's X-" The stranger stops for a second. He clears his throat before continuing. "Grian. My name's Grian."
"I see... Very well. Grian it is then. You hungry? Scar's going to buy takeout in a minute." She says placing a hand on Grian's shoulder with a smile. Gem quickly turns around, her smile dropping for a second to glare at Scar.
"Okay, okay! I'll buy it. What do you two want?"
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After a warm meal, (and $50 down the drain), Gem starts interrogating Swi- Grian again. Scar sighs, letting Jellie jump onto his lap as Grian is poked and prodded with the questions Scar had previously asked, plus other wild ones after them.
"What's your opinion on Taylor Swift?!" Gem shouted passionately, shaking Grian's shoulders.
"Who's Taylor Swift-" Grian asks. Clear mistake. Scar thinks, laughing as he watches him being shaken even harder.
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHO TAYLOR SWIFT IS?!" Gem gasps, grabbing her phone and opening YouTube. "Oh my Watchers! I have sooo much to show you!"
Four hours and many, many Taylor Swift albums later, Scar checks his phone again. 20:30.
He starts absent-mindedly scrolling on Twitter before abruptly stopping. Wait, what was the last question Gem just asked?
"Okay, on a more serious note, do you know what a Reborn is?" Gem asks, leaning close to Grian, her voice barely audible from where Scar was sitting.
"Woah- we're talking about Reborns?" Scar says, shooting up from his spot on the couch.
Gem glares at Scar, her eyes telling him to not say a word of what he wanted to say. She turns back to Grian, signaling to him to keep talking.
"Reborns.." Grian presses his lips into a straight line, seemingly thinking hard. "Yeeeaaah? I've heard of them. I've, erm.. Never seen one before, I don't think."
Gem goes silent for a second, frowning. Scar pipes up for her. "You were either born today or you hit your head really hard when you fell out of that tree. Reborns are the freaks that were chosen to go through the death games every year." Good. Even if calling Reborns freaks stung a little, all that mattered was that he was playing the average citizen role pretty well.
Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Gem giving him a subtle thumbs-up.
Scar turns his attention back to the man sitting behind him. It seems like something clicked in Grian's head as he starts nodding.
"Yes, I know what you're talking about now. They're the other half of the population that have all the... non-human features, right?" Grian asks, clearly knowing the answer himself but checking anyway. Gem nods. "Alright... What are you implying? Are you asking if I'm one?"
Scar gasps.
"What? No! Of course not. That's ridiculous." Gem says, shaking her head quickly.
The three of them sit in silence for a few minutes, each of them waiting for the other to start talking again.
After it became clear that no one had the intent of saying anything else, she checked her phone, visibly disappointed that it was still so early into the night. "Well, I gotta do some work for my job. I won't be coming out again until morning so I suppose this is goodnight."
"Oh alright! Goodnight Gem!" Scar says, happily waving as she goes into her room. Grian waves too, despite only knowing a bit about her.
"I gotta run too. Got some... private stuff to do, sorry!" Scar hums, looking around the apartment before spotting the couch he was previously sitting on. "You can sleep on the couch or something. I won't force you, though. Do whatever.. Just don't break anything, yeah?"
"No problem." Grian mumbles. He's left standing in the middle of the living room as Scar walks off into his room, shooting the blondie some finger guns before closing the door and opening the Messenger app on his phone.
Gem, in two minutes, had already sent five messages. All about different missions, she'd located while Scar was dragging an unconscious Grian back to the apartment, he presumes.
Scar puts his phone on the charging cable and spends the rest of the night staring at the ceiling, thinking about the past events that had gone down. There was a nagging feeling that something was off about their new guest. He wasn't sure what or how but he'd get to the bottom of it eventually. Scar smirks to himself. He always had.