1
Josh can’t give a fuck, as he has no fucks to give anymore. He had his fucks ripped from him a long time ago, his childhood full of yellow-purple bruising and broken bones. It takes him coming to school so concussed he can’t stop vomiting that CPS puts two and two together. They snatched him up from one shithole and shoved him into another, full of rules and insincerity, conditional love and scolding that did butt fuck nothing to help mold him into whatever shape they wanted. He bounces through foster homes like a ping pong ball, finally landing with the Garcias who forced pills and religion down his throat until they were happy before shipping him off to sped school. Honestly, he doesn’t think he deserves to be there, but the long line of therapists he’s had slapped too many labels on him to count, so he was quickly accepted and told he’d “benefit from the attention and services”, whatever that shit means.
The only joy he gains from being there is spending time with his favorite person. Every Friday after school, he meets him outside on the Lakepoint campus, rain or shine, hell or high water.
Their little ritual begins one day when he is on top of one of the freshman, twisting his arm behind his back.
“Leave him alone,” demands Gabriel, surprisingly assertive for a motherfucker with hair that’d give Rapunzel a run for her money. (Men shouldn’t have long hair, Josh knew that much. But apparently the autistic fuck never got the memo).
“Why?” asks Josh, the boy hollering beneath him. He squirms like a worm gutted on a hook, trying to get away but he’s too small. Too weak. “This is fun! I like hurting people”
“Leave him alone and hurt me instead.”
Josh locks eyes with Gabriel and sees he’s dead serious. He releases his victim, who runs away like a total pussy.
“Why?” he says, glaring at him. He figures it’s some kind of trap, but the invitation nonetheless gives him a rush of excitement.
“Why what?”
“You’re seriously going to just let me hurt you?”
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Gabriel spreads his arms out palms up, and closes his eyes. He has a good six inches on Josh, so he waits to make sure he won’t fight back.
“If that’ll stop you from hurting others. Come at me.”
Josh’s scowl turns into a grin. He tells himself he’ll only hurt him moderately in case the bitch presses charges, but as soon as he gets him on the ground, he gets lost in the beating, anger at everything leaking out and fueling his flurry of punches and kicks. That day he goes overboard, giving Gabriel a black eye, bloody nose and two broken ribs. From then on, Josh is more careful– he only aims for the legs and arms, biting and bruising and cutting Gabriel up with his switchblade until he’s satisfied with the amount of damage.
The day of the board game, he brings a pair of rusty scissors to school, planning on giving Gabriel a surprise haircut. He doesn’t just want to physically hurt him– he wants to maim his spirit, crush the spark in his eyes until there’s nothing but wisps of smoke.
He figures Gabriel is a masochist, and hopes with all his heart that chopping his hair off will do the trick of finally hurting him for real.
2
Josh is standing when it happens– Alicia (who goes by Alex now because she’s fucking weird) turns a page and suddenly everything goes pitch black. The first sense he gains back is his sense of smell -–something foul and rotten invades his nose and lungs. Soon enough, he’s standing on a mossy rock in a bubbling black swamp.
“The fuck?” He turns around to look behind him, nearly falling into the mysterious wet muck. His eyes meet with a pair of black orbs on the body of a man the color of blood. He has ram’s horns sticking out from his head, and Josh wonders if maybe he’s dead.
The creature falls to his knees straight into the liquid, dark splatters hitting Josh’s converse and the bottom of his cuffed jeans.
“For you, my lord,” he croaks in a baritone, handing over a big black and white stick. He recognizes the decorative squid on the end as what was on his game piece.
“Who the flying fuck are you?” Josh spits, refusing to touch the objects.
“I am Azazel, Demon of Havoc and Learning,” he explains slowly. “I would personally like to welcome you to the Swamp of Skulls.”
“Yeah, yeah– whatever. How do I get back to my dorm?” he asks, tapping his right foot impatiently. The Garcias sucked ass, but they admittedly rocked at packing him snacks. Probably out of guilt for immediately sending him away. He wanted to go to his room at Lakepoint and stuff himself with Dunkaroos and chug a peach Monster.
“Unfortunately, your only way back to your universe is by Leveling Up and getting Crowned.” By the time he’s finished his sentence, Josh is kneeling down on his rock and dipping his fingers into the swamp. It’s hot, and the filthy water smeared on his finger is thick like honey.
“Okay. How do I do that?”
“You must come with me to the fortress and meet your comrades. There, we will teach you how to use your staff.”
Okay, big guy.” He stands up, wiping the gunk on his jeans. “Lead the way, I guess.”
It’s a Friday, so he wants to be back at school soon to meet up with his best buddy Gabriel and give him the ass-whooping he needs to give to keep him feeling relatively calm the following week. Beating the crap out of him is his favorite pastime, and there’s no fucking way that he’ll miss out just because of… well, wherever the fuck he landed. Maybe he died and he’s in hell, but there isn’t a barrier he won’t break to get another whack at what he wants most of all, and that’s to finally break his favorite toy.