Comic Boys

Jekyll helped strap me in to my heavy lazer-tag vest/pack, which weighed my small body down like a massive cement truck. The lights on my pack flashed green, the gun in my hand also blinking with the fluorescent lights. Jekyll's pack was the same as mine which meant he was on my team (and would suffice as a human shield so I don't die, figuratively speaking), only with the player name Moonshadow taped onto the front, my own player name being AtroBoy. Go figure.

There were quite a few other players here, most of them about our age despite the few children who looked to be revved up to go 'bash some mother fuckers'. One thing I didn't understand about kids these days was how... mature, they were. I mean, when I was their age I was still running around in my mum's tights wearing underwear and a cape throwing myself off the table in an experiment to see if my mum had fed be radioactive carrots or not. Let's just say the result of that test was a broken nose, a sprained wrist and one hell of a bruised ego. Oh, and let's add a great sense of disappointment to that list too.

Soon enough we were ushered into the arena, which was pitch black, geometric shapes lining the walls and surfaces. It was like a jungle, an insane obstacle course with so many hiding places, and so many stairs and tunnels and bloody death traps for people- like me- who couldn't keep their feet working properly resulting in painful situations such as being impaled by something as simple as a rubbish bin. I was the biggest klutz known to man, but that never stopped me from a good game of laser tag. If there was one way I would love to die, it'd be in a mass laser tag game after going to an all-you-can eat buffet.

"Let's go up the stairs. We can snipe people from up there," Jekyll said, taking my hand in his as we ran up the metal stair case, our feel clunking against the bars. We ducked behind a wooden barrier, avoiding some of the red team's fire as rapid electronic music blared through the speakers. I looked at Jekyll, a wild grin on my face as he laughed, holding up one finger, then two, and then three. We both jerked up, poising our guns as we shot down some of the red team's members, the voice in our packs simultaneously saying "Oh yeah! 100 points! One hit kill!"

We ducked back down again, giggling like silly boys who just shared a lame joke with each other, before Jekyll took my hand in his again.

"Come on. They're probably going to hunt us down now. How about the tunnel over there?"

"Good plan, Commander Moonshadow," I grinned, saluting him with jest as he chuckled, the two of us screaming as we dodged lasers and the four little kids who were yelling out profanities whilst shooting down some people who were hiding inside an enclosed space. Jekyll growled as his pack made a deflating noise, signalling that he was hit as we dived into the tunnel, guns poised to make sure we were safe for the mean time whilst Jekyll's pack rebooted. It took a good five seconds before it lit up again, his gun also beeping back to life.

"Those kids are kind of scary," Jekyll said, peeping out from our tunnel to grimace, nudging me in the side. "We have got to get 'em back for killing me, though."

"Agreed... but let's wait till they've calmed down. It's like their parents spoon fed them crack or something," I commented, trying to keep my head on the laser tag game instead of the way Jekyll's body was pressed up against mine, his heat transferring onto my skin through my shirt that was slightly sweated through over the course of the night- gross, I know, and I hoped Jekyll didn't realise. I don't think he did, because a second later he had pressed himself closer to me, the smell of his hair surrounding me as he turned his head, minty breath fanning across my face.

I looked at him, his eyes speckled with the green from our packs, his soft lips curled into a half smile as his hand rested against my shoulder, moving up to cup my cheek. His thumb drew a line across my bottom lip as his eyes sparkled, my tongue darting out to lick my chapped lips as Jekyll smiled.

Easton's face flashed in front of me, but soon enough Jekyll spoke, Easton's face dispelled from my mind as Jekyll's question broke me reverie, shocking me back to the moment.

"Can I kiss you?" Jekyll asked, dead serious as I just gaped at him, my mouth hanging open most unattractively before I gulped. My hand flattened against Jekyll's lean chest, his arms wrapping around me as he pulled me closer, his lips pressing against my forehead momentarily before looking at me again. "Is that a yes?"

"I... I t-think so," I stammered, my eyes avoiding his as I drowned in embarrassment. I wasn't used to this sort of thing, and my god, when Jekyll looked at me like that rational thought just ran away from me like I was the fucking plague.

"It's either yes or no, London," Jekyll whispered, his velvety voice coaxing me, caressing me as the sounds and noises around me dulled, his voice taking over my senses.

"Yes," I replied, and then his lips were on mine.

Oh my fuck. I'm kissing Jekyll.

HIs lips moved against mine, and I found my own moving with his. His tongue parted my mouth and I gasped as it ventured into my crevasse, clashing against my own tongue as my heart raced, my stomach curled and my hands fist with his shirt. He took this as a good sign, shifting us slightly so he was straddling my waist, my hands now in his hair and his own holding my hips.

We pulled apart as I jumped, my pack making a deathly noise as Jekyll's face darkened, his gun popping over my shoulder as he shot one of the little kids, the one who had killed him before.

"I was going to let you off for killing me, but then you had to go and disturb us. You're dead, kid," I growled as the kid scampered off. I looked back at Jekyll, who just smiled and kissed my lips again.

"You're just too cute when you're blushing," he said as I blanked out again when his lips met mine.

I knew I should be happy. I knew it, I knew that I loved Jekyll. But I felt this overbearing sense of guilt that just washed over me. I knew I felt guilty because I just hurt Easton, even if he didn't know it yet.