Nick didn’t have time to wait for the consequences. He ran to the bathroom door and grabbed the toilet paper. It was a bit of a struggle, one Grizzizzik would have won if he wasn’t using magic. Evelyn was in Nick’s room, not seeing them struggle, as she kept trying to talk to Walt. Nick glared at Grizzizzik the whole time, straining with the mage hand as he snatched the paper from the hand and threw it in the bathroom.

“What’s going on here!” Walt shouted, his head poking out of the bathroom.

Nick slammed the bathroom door shut, his chest heaving. “Nothing.”

It was the wrong thing to say. It was always the wrong thing to say. Walt practically pushed Evelyn over to get to him, his glare dark. “Why are you standing in front of the bathroom?”

Nick forced himself to raise his gaze to look at Walt. “I… don’t know.”

“Move aside.” Walt emphasized every syllable.

Nick, who had his hands behind him to keep the door shut, released the knob and stepped aside. Walt pushed the door open and saw the toilet paper drawer was open, some of them spilling out, with the one he threw in there on the ground. Walt shot him a deadly look.

“I knew it,” Walt said.

“Knew what?” Nick asked, his heart pounding.

“How much of our toilet paper did you steal for your little vandalism?” Walt marched into the bathroom.

“What are you talking about?” Nick asked.

Evelyn walked to Nick’s side, hands on her hips. “Seriously? That harmless prank that only a few people are talking about on insta? You think Nick did it?”

“It’s the park near our house, somewhere he can conceivably get to on foot. He was up, Evelyn. Nick was up during the time they assumed it happened,” Walt said.

Evelyn looked at Walt, incredulous. “That’s all you're going on?”

“The toilet paper is all messed up, and he was hiding it!” Walt said.

“That means nothing! Seriously, dad! Nick could have a small dirt smudge on his cheek and you’d be blaming him for a school fire thirty years ago when he wasn’t even born!”

“Why was he hiding the toilet paper, Evelyn?” Walt held a couple of rolls as he snapped at her.

“Because you are a dictator and Nick doesn’t feel safe in his own home!” Evelyn shouted. “I will not stand aside and watch you bully him.”

Walt turned toward Nick, gesturing at him with the toilet paper. “I’m going to cross reference all my receipts with how much toilet paper we have. Then I’m calling the school, and Mr. Morgan, to see if they’re missing any toilet paper at their places. If I get so much as one roll less, then I will call the police.”

Nick’s heart, which had never calmed down since Grizzizzik appeared, slammed against his ribcage to escape. He said nothing. It was safer that way. He turned around and went back to his room, slamming the door.

He didn’t get far. In the short time Walt had been here, he had torn it apart. His mattress was flipped over, the contents of his dresser turned inside out and scattered across the floor. His clothes were off the hangers and scattered. Even the desk drawers were pulled out, his notebooks, pens, and other junk now scattered across the floor. It looked like Walt was pulling out every single book in his bookshelf when the noise stopped him. Nick worked his jaw, then started grabbing his hangers with his clothes and stuck them back in his closet. He certainly didn’t expect Walt to clean up after himself.

The door opened, and Grizzizzik walked through. “It still wasn’t enough.”

“Like hell it wasn’t. Look at my room. The only way it could be worse is if Chaos himself came to visit.”

“You need to get caught, and the deadline is Tuesday,” Grizzizzik said.

Nick rammed his clothes back into the drawer before standing up. “I refuse. We need to do something else.”

“I’ve earned a lot of experience points that need to count toward getting a sword,” Grizzizzik growled. “Get caught, so they’ll count!”

“Chaos needs something chaotic, right?” Nick asked, his anger building.

“Yes. And getting caught is something chaotic.”

“But it doesn’t have to be getting caught, right? If I can find something else that can substitute for it, then Chaos will agree to that?”

Grizzizzik narrowed his eyes. “Something chaotic? You want to do something chaotic?”

“Yes.”

“You really think someone like you, who has been struggling under Order’s thumb, can do something spontaneous?”

“I think I can manage,” Nick said.

Then he punched Grizzizzik with everything he had.

Grizzizzik stumbled, catching himself on the wall, before his head snapped in Nick’s direction, losing three hit points. The glare was deadly as Grizzizzik wiped a trickle of blood from his chin. “Yeah. Chaos said that’ll work.”

Grizzizzik then attempted to punch Nick, but he dodged it, knowing the rogue would try something like this. He tackled Grizzizzik, his shoulder rammed into his sternum. They both hit the ground, with Grizzizzik banging his head against the end table and shouting in surprise. Nick punched him again, then tried again before Grizzizzik caught Nick’s wrist. The rogue pushed him off, and he stumbled before landing on the ground. Nick knew he couldn’t stay down. It was dangerous. But his rogue was already on top of him and punched him in the face. Nick shouted in pain, then something ripped open his stomach, causing him to scream even louder. Grizzizzik about punched him again when he stopped, glancing down at Nick’s stomach. Nick’s eye was on fire, but blood began to cover his shirt.

Evelyn threw open the door, and she and Walt walked in. Evelyn gasped. “Get off him!” She grabbed his cloak and forced him off, Grizzizzik choking a bit as he tried to release Evelyn’s hold so he could breathe.

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“Nick, what happened?” Walt demanded, kneeling down next to him.

“He’s bleeding. Oh my god, Nick. You’re bleeding!” Evelyn said.

Nick gripped his stomach, steadying his breath. It was more the shock, then anything. He could almost feel the javelin enter his stomach all over again, but it wasn’t deep. At least, he was pretty sure it wasn’t deep. His eye hurt a lot worse.

Clarissa popped into existence right as Grizzizzik climbed to his feet, rubbing his throat. He froze, eyes wide, as he saw the druid princess.

“Nick, what happened!” Walt shouted.

“Grizzizzik attacked me,” Nick said, for the benefit of Clarissa and to keep his father from shouting. It wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t expecting it. Ezekiel appeared in the doorway, glancing in with worry.

“Who?” Walt asked.

Nick’s heart kept hammering, not sure what his dad heard. “Grizzizzik. Grizzizzik attacked me,” Nick said, testing a theory.

Clarissa grabbed Grizzizzik’s cloak and dragged him away. “Let Hraktar and Milo know what happened. I will have Grizzizzik tied up outside and we will sort this out.”

Walt pulled out his phone, dialing as he moved out of the room. “Yes. This is Walt Larsen. Someone just came into my house and attacked my son. He didn’t get a good look at him, but the man escaped, and he can’t be far.”

Nick was breathing deeply, trying to get up.

“He hit me first!” Grizzizzik shouted as Clarissa kept dragging him out of the house. “Ask him!”

“He is a child. You are a grown adult. Who do you think is more responsible in this situation!” Clarissa shouted back.

Nick shook his head, struggling to get to his feet.

“Nick, wait,” Evelyn said, her phone out, texting. “You… shouldn’t be up.”

“I’m fine. It’s shallow.”

He got to his feet, clearing his throat before heading toward the bathroom. He pushed past the toilet paper rolls on the ground to stumble toward the sink.

“What happened?” Evelyn asked, panicking.

“Grizzizzik keeps forcing me to do chaotic things in order to get enough experience points in his warlock class to get a blade powerful enough to kill his father. I snapped and punched him.”

Evelyn groaned, covering her face. “He can’t keep asking you to kill dad! This is so messed up!”

“You know that’s not what I said.” Nick lifted his shirt enough to see the cut across his belly. It was more than a scratch, but not deep enough for him to be worried. Evelyn scrambled to the cupboards, finding a rag before getting it wet, handing it to him. He grunted his thanks as he started washing it. The more he washed it, the more his mind cleared. No, it wasn’t as deep as he thought.

“Did you… when that dinosaur hurt you, did you…”

“Feel like I was getting stabbed and went into a bit of shock thinking I had actually gotten stabbed? But once I got a good look at it, it helped my brain realize it was just a scratch?” Evelyn asked.

“Yeah,” Nick said, almost relieved.

Evelyn frowned, looking at the cut in his stomach. “It’s a little deeper than a scratch, Nick.”

“It’s still nothing to worry about.”

Evelyn shook her head. “I’m getting some ice, then I’m going to need Clarissa and Ezekiel to stop me from punching that goddamn rogue.”

***

The police arrived, and Evelyn folded her arms, watching them work. That horrible Officer Hendricks was back. Ezekiel sat across from Grizzizzik in their back yard, as Clarissa had gone to collect Hraktar and Milo in her horse form. Grizzizzik remained silent, glaring at Ezekiel who was reading the fifth Harry Potter lounged on the patio couch, looking like it was any other day. Practically unsurprised that Grizzizzik was tied to a chair.

Walt and Lydia were inside with Nick as someone patched the stab wound on his stomach that wasn’t deep while he held an ice pack to his eye, trying to answer questions. More like telling them exactly what happened and the police writing what they heard.

Evelyn slipped outside, glaring at Grizzizzik. “I think I’ve done enough calming down that I can talk to you without punching you.”

Grizzizzik raised an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be comforting?”

“Stop telling him to kill my dad,” Evelyn snapped.

Grizzizzik’s smirk, more than anything, brought all the anger back, and she curled her fists. “I’m serious.”

“I know you are.” He glanced up at her as she imagined how good it would feel to punch that smirk off his face. “That’s what makes it so funny.”

Ezekiel caught her hand she didn’t realize was already in the air. “Evelyn,” he said.

“Let me go.”

“He’s getting under your skin. Don’t let him.”

“It’s not that simple for some of us,” Evelyn said. “My dad is a horrible, rotten man, but he doesn’t deserve to die.”

“Doesn’t he?” Grizzizzik asked. “Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we went back to lawlessness? Survival of the fittest?”

“It doesn’t matter, because Nick won’t do it. This is a civilized society,” Evelyn said.

“Oh, of course. But think about it. Think how many months are left before the apocalypse. You might as well kill Walt now, because he most certainly will die once monsters run amok in this realm. And then you will curse yourself for ever wasting time putting up with that lowlife. He’s holding you back from saving the world.”

“We’ll stop the apocalypse from happening without killing my dad.”

“Are you?” It was so emotionless. So collected. It made her skin crawl.

Evelyn’s nostrils flared. Ezekiel moved her further into the backyard, away from Grizzizzik. “Evelyn, you can’t be back here if you fight him like this. He has a way with words.”

“I’m fine,” Evelyn said.

“No, you’re not.”

Her phone went off, and she sighed. Ezekiel let her go so she could reach inside her pocket and saw Tyler was calling her. She cleared her throat, glancing at Ezekiel, who took a step back to give her privacy.

“Hey, Tyler.”

“I just got to my apartment. Grizzizzik and Nick got in a fight?”

“Yeah, yeah. They did. Apparently Grizzizzik asked him to kill my dad, and Nick finally snapped.”

Tyler sighed. “Probably from way too many times. This is… not good. I’ve got to go back to checking in on Nick.”

Evelyn shrugged, trying to force calmness into her voice. “Yeah. Me too. It doesn’t help that my dad tried to blame him for toilet papering the park.”

There was a pause on the other end. “That’s ridiculous. Why would Nick do that?”

Relief flooded her system, and she felt a smile cross her face. “I’m so glad you think that, too. Seriously, my dad is finding every little thing to blame on him. No wonder Nick snapped.”

Tyler sighed. “Hey, are you okay?”

The question surprised her. “Me? Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay. Why?”

“Situations like these, they’re hard. I’ll check up on Nick later, but I wanted to check up on you, too.”

Evelyn’s heart pounded, and it annoyed her. Had Tyler’s voice always sounded so… nice? Why was she even thinking about this? Tyler had a girlfriend. She didn’t find Tyler attractive at all. She had no crush on him whatsoever. Except for she always felt incredibly safe in his presence. And warm. His eyes were really pretty to look at, too.

“Fine.” She blinked, forcing herself back into the present. “Absolutely fine. Everyone… everything… I’m fine.”

What the hell was wrong with her?

“Good. Hey, you keep me updated. I don’t care what time of night. Shoot me a text, call if it’s urgent.”

“I… you’re a…” She closed her eyes, forcing herself to talk normally. “Yes. I will. Thank you.”

“Alright, I’ll talk to you later, unless there’s anything you want to tell me now?”

Evelyn closed her eyes, clearing her throat. “Nothing. There’s nothing. See you later, Tyler.”

They hung up, and Evelyn stared at her phone long after she’d pressed the button. This was stupid. Why was she overthinking this? She didn’t have a crush. At all. Not on Tyler. He was four years older than her. That’d be absurd.

She tucked her phone in her pocket and glanced up to see Grizzizzik staring right at her; the smirk growing wider across his face. Despite the pounding of her heart, Grizzizzik’s face made it sputter and die. “What?” she asked.

“Just… fascinated,” Grizzizzik said.

Evelyn wanted to say something, but there was nothing to say to make things better. She just glared at him as she marched into the house, hearing Grizzizzik chuckling as she moved past her. She wanted to punch him so bad.

She walked inside, seeing Walt in the kitchen, looking angry.

“Is Nick alright?” Evelyn asked, trying to think of a safe subject.

“Fine. A cut that doesn’t need stitches and a black eye.” Walt grabbed his cup, filling it with water. “That boy is hiding something. I know it.”

Evelyn deflated, realizing this was not the conversation she wanted to have. “Dad, come on. Give him a break.”

“What if this is exactly what he’s doing?” Walt asked, taking a drink. “What if this was all Eddy?”

“He’s in prison,” Evelyn said.

“One of his gang members, then. Trying to get Nick back into the gang. What if Nick is just pretending he didn’t see who it was?”

“I… can’t. I can’t with you tonight.” Evelyn held her hands up as she stomped toward her room.