Justin tried not to cry himself at the thought of never seeing Marcos again. “I bet that Justin would miss you a ton. Don’t leave him.” It felt weird to talk about himself in third person, saying Justin all the time. “He’s probably not even mad, just confused like I said. He’ll get over it.”
“He- He won’t. You weren’t there, I said a lot of terrible things. I just wish I hadn’t even opened my mouth. I just- I hate myself. I- I had something, and I wrecked it. You know he drove and carried me to the hospital that one time I was bleeding a lot after we fought? I had passed out in an alley, but when I woke up I went home and collapsed on the bed. I could’ve died.” Marcos explained nostalgically, chewing on his lower lip as he added quietly, “Maybe it would’ve been better if he hadn’t saved me.”
“Do you regret what you said? If so he probably does too. He sounds like he really cares about you. I doubt he can just throw that all away.” Justin was really glad that he had this chance to talk to Marcos without him knowing that he was Justin. He really regrets blowing up in Marcos’ face. “Just go call him or something.”
“I regret what I said, one hundred percent. But-“ I can’t call him anymore, I’m unwanted… “He doesn’t care about me anymore. He was mad that I lied.” Marcos glued his eyes to the ground, trying not the cry again as he forced himself to turn and start walking out of the alley, “I can’t fix what I said. I wish I was just never born in the first place,” Marcos bit out, the anger directed at himself. He looked over his shoulder and finally added, “Thank you for coming Hann, it was nice talking with you. Just- Just know that Polaris won’t be around anymore to bug you.”
“He can’t stay mad for long. Just try to fix your relationship before it gets too broken to fix.” Justin got up and caught up to Marcos, standing behind him. “I can tell you for a fact that he’s not mad anymore. That he full regrets his decision.” Justin pulled up his mask slightly, leaving only his mouth uncovered. He grabbed Marcos’ shoulder and whipped him around, kissing him on the lips for a minute before using his super speed to run off, far away.
Marcos stumbled back, wide eyed from the sudden kiss. His hand ghosted over his mouth, the phantom of the action still there. It felt so familiar… Marcos swallowed, standing there for a second as he tried to even process anything that just happened. He picked up his Polaris suit, bunching it up in his arms before heading straight back to the apartment, fingering out his phone on the way there. He stared at Justin’s number for a good while before hitting the call button.
Justin ran back to where he left his bag and clothes. He quickly changed. As he was changing he heard his phone ringing. He picked it up after he finished changing. It was Marcos. It worked. He called me. Justin answered the phone, trying to sound still slightly mad. “Hello?”
Marcos didn’t know what he could say. He didn’t know what he could do. So he merely whispered in the phone, “Justin?” I just want to hear him talk, I just have to know…
“Yes…?” Justin picked up his bag and put his Hann suit inside. “You called…?”
“I’m sorry,” Then Marcos hung up. He tossed his phone in the nearest dumpster, using his powers to shatter the cellular device, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the contents. It was the money he worked so hard to save for that stupid bike. Marcos sniffling, tears leaking out again as he shoved the cash back into his pocket. It was too much to carry around in a big city, but… Marcos hailed a cab.
After Marcos hung up Justin pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it with a slight look of disappointment. What was that? I wanted to talk to him. As Justin. Justin tried to call him back, but he wouldn’t answer. He tried texting him, but all his texts were left unread.
Marcos slid into the cab as it stopped for him. “As far away from this city you can get.” Marcos told the driver, pulling out his chunk of cash. Cash he’d so precious saved up for that bike. But they driver already started, and the decision was made. Marcos curled up in the back of the seat, breaking a little when they passed the apartment building. Marcos caused the nearest street lamp to burst on accident, shower a rain of plastic on the car behind them. The cab kept going.
Justin put his phone in his pocket and decided to search for him. He stood there for a minute wondering which way Marcos would have gone. The edge of the city wasn’t too far north from here. Justin decided on north and made a run for the edge of the city, hoping to find Marcos.
Marcos watched out the window, ignoring the driver’s annoyed grumbles of how Marcos hadn’t selected a destination yet. Marcos told the guy an address -the address to the house that Marcos had loved so much- and watched at the dollars added up. He wiped at his teary eyes as he stared at the passing landscape.
Justin had run all through the town, still unable to find Marcos. He stopped to take a breath. He may be able to run really fast but when you do it for a while it wears you down. He decided he should go look at some more obvious places like the apartment or their new house that they were supposed to get together.
The cab pulled over, and the driver demanded the cash. Marcos picked up his chunk of money numbly, counting out the bills with the car door halfway open. It would take almost all of his savings. He slowly gave the money to the cab driver then stepped out of the car to view the house. Why had I come here? He tensed up, and the cab drove away leaving him stranded. This was a stupid place to go… Marcos started walking down the road, opposite of the direction to the city. Maybe I can hitchhike…
Justin ran back to their apartment and checked it. Marcos wasn’t there. He looked around the place. It was mostly the same, just a few more broken objects. Justin didn’t spend much time in the apartment, he practically left as soon as he noticed Marcos wasn’t there. He left the apartment and made a beeline straight for the house they were supposed to buy.
Marcos walked, hitchhiker’s thumb held out, while he silently cried. He knew he need to move on, but just couldn’t. He still loved Justin with every fiber of his body. And that’s why I can’t go back. Because if Justin is mad at me… I need to leave. For him.
Justin ran to the house, thoughts rushing through his head. What if Marcos isn’t there? What will I do then? He almost ran into a couple of cars on his way, avoiding them at the last minute. I hope we can get back to the way we used to be… Justin approached the house, stopping once he reached the door.
The owner of the house watched as a guy walked up to her door. Maybe it was that person who had been interested… At first she thought it had been the guy who pulled up in a cab -he matched the description of the potential buyer- but she had watched him walk down the road. She sighed, then walked to her door before the guy could knock on it. She opened the door, giving the stranger a smile, “Were you the potential buyer, by chance?” She didn’t particularly feel like pointless chit chat today.
Justin looked up, slightly surprised. “Um, yea…? Why….?” Justin said, confused. I didn’t expect anyone to be home. He wasn’t really expecting to talk to anyone, unless you counted Marcos. And Marcos wasn’t even here.
“Really? Too be honest, I thought that that guy from the cab had been the buyer, I frankly was just searching for a way to get you to leave,” The woman said bluntly, sighing, “But now that you’re here, I suppose if you’d like to talk or something…” She huffed a breath, stepping aside with the intent to let him in the house.
Justin stayed where he was, not in the mood to stretch this out. “I didn’t actually come here to talk. I was looking for someone. Wait. You said something about some guy and a cab. What did he look like?” Justin prayed for it Marcos. He was tired of looking and just wanted Marcos to stop running.
“Red head, carrying some Halloween costume or something (Polaris suit). He was crying, which I thought was kind of unusual,” The woman explained, tilting her head to the side. She was perfectly fine that the stranger didn’t want to talk too much, she just wanted to sell the house and get it over with already.
That was Marcos. “He was here? Which way did he go?” Justin looked both ways to see if he could see him. “How long ago was that?” You could see the worry in his eyes.
“Yeah, a bit ago, he went down the road,” The woman pointed as she said, “Away from the city, looked like he wanted hitchhike.” She looked down the road and studied the potential buyer. Maybe they had wanted to buy the house together or something…
A car with heavily tinted windows pulled over next to Marcos, and a window rolled down to reveal a man wearing dark clothes and an ugly expression. “You want a ride?”
“What!? Hitchhike!? That’s dangerous!” Justin ran off in the direction that she pointed in, not caring she saw him using his powers. His ran as fast as his body would until he spotted Marcos talking to someone in a car. “Stop!”
Marcos was just about to get in the car, but he heard a shout and turned to look. His eyes widened as he saw Justin running at inhuman speeds towards. His mouth parted as he stared, but the ugly man snarled, “Get in the car, kid.”
Justin ran and swooped up Marcos before he could get in the car. He continued running until he was far, far away from the city. It didn’t take more than a minute to get that far, but it was still a couple miles away. Justin put Marcos down lightly before having the full realization of what had just happened.
Marcos clutched onto Justin tightly, and at one point when Justin picked him up he had began crying again. He scrambled to get down, looking at Justin with shock, “You’re Hann,” He breathed. Of course, he had his suspicions, but to actually see it… He had been lying to me.