“I’ll never get tired of this, man. It feels like cheating. But I feel like Spiderman, it’s so damn fun.”

  Sharkz had arrived at his apartment, or at least on the apartment roof. His apartment was… typical. So were all the other buildings in the city, but that wasn’t the point. It looked like a cluster of a bunch of the same buildings—all of a similar shape but different sizes. His apartment window was close to a smaller building's roof, so it was easy to access.

  He jumped down onto the blood-red crashpad (not that he needed it) and entered his room by the window to find Ashwin laying on his bed.

  “Sup, dude?” he waved at Ashwin while stepping from the windowsill. “Carias told me you were posted up here so I came.”

  Sharkz grinned, his sharp teeth visible along with his singular mismatched tooth that stuck out of his mouth and always jutted on his lip.

  “Yeah, you told me to come here at 4. How you doin’?”

  “Fine, n you, twin?”

  They shook hands.

  “I’m aight, I guess. The dojo’s paying off pretty well and my sister’s doing well in school. So you down?”

  “I’ll always be down, man. It’s just a little bit of paint on a wall. I’ve done much worse after all.”

  ——————————————————————————————————————————————

  They were in an alley, the red color of the bricks surrounding them.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Maybe we should have chosen another wall. The little gaps between each brick are pissing me off, and the paint keeps dripping.”

  He paused for a brief moment, the distinctive spray noise breaking the silence once in a while.

  “Why am I always the one who has to finish it? I feel like the outlines are gonna be a hell of a job.”

  He showed a hint of annoyance while roughly shaking the can. “Pass the black, man.”

  Ashwin, who was scrolling on his phone, threw him the can.

  “Catch!”

  Sharkz easily caught the can without looking back, but just as he grabbed it, it burst.

  “Fuck! It’s all over my hoodie! Damn it, my favorite hoodie.”

  His black eyes were now blue and quickly flashed red. He sighed while Splotch cleaned his hoodie—the seemingly live goop enjoying the paint.

  “Thank God it was black paint, but I don’t know why that happened. I can usually control my strength just fine.”

  Ashwin wasn’t on his phone anymore and was alert, as if he had just avoided an incoming threat.

  “Maybe it’s because the wall was pissing you off and you got angry? I don’t know.”

  They sat there for a moment, the only noise being the noises Splotch made while getting the paint off of the hoodie.

  “You know what, man? I’m hungry. Let’s go get some food.”

  Splotch finished getting the rest of the paint off the hoodie and Sharkz nodded. They walked out of the alley, leaving their cans behind, wandering into the busy streets of the city.

  “What you feeling, Chinese? Sushi? Tha??”

  He stayed silent for a moment, obviously annoyed by their little ‘incident’ back in the alley.

  After a minute of the city’s ambient noise, Sharkz answered:

  “I would have said Subway, but Mason closed the shop for the day, and I’m too lazy to get the footlong I bought earlier. Plus, knowing Carias, she prolly ate it because I didn’t get her ramen. Soooo sushi I guess? I just wanna eat something with fish in it, and sushi seems fine.”

  He seemed a bit happier, but his head was still low. They walked to the sushi place amongst the crowd, unbeknownst of the little surprise waiting for them there and what was going to happen next.