cubstories

[cubstories]

First Time

The fairgrounds were alive with thousands of lights and deafening chaos. Music blasted from the rides' speakers, dissonant with the screams from the equally excited and terrified crowd. It was the kind of noise that drowned anything else.

"There you are!" Lynx shouted, before taking off towards him. In his hands, a mountain of churros that became harder to balance as more fillings ran through his fingers. "I looked all over the place for you!"

"Where's Hen?" Cub asked, uncharacteristically ignoring the pile of treats in Lynx’s hands.

"She met some gypsy girls from school and took off with them," Lynx huffed. "Left me all alone at the stand, can you believe that? Anyway—where’s Angel?"

Cub hesitated. His throat felt dry.

"She... left."

Lynx’s brows knit together. "What? Why?"

"Serena dragged her away."

Lynx knew that wasn't really an answer. His grip on the churros tightened.

"Cub, what's going on?"

"We..." he struggled to verbalize. "We... did... something."

"You did what?" Lynx pressed, in a tone of calm before the storm. And then, he saw it. The messy hair. The pink lipstick smeared all over his face. The zipper—halfway undone. The guilt written all over him.

"YOU DID WHAT!?"

For an eternal moment, the music appeared to become muffled and the screams distant. Strawberry jam dripped to the ground. Neither could break the lock between their eyes.

"HOW!?" Lynx finally cracked. "Just... how? Where even!?"

Cub stuttered on every word. "I don't know, we just... She just... She said she needed to use the restroom. Then... My arm and she... Just... Took me in there with her and..."

"Wait, wait! Into the porta-potties? PAHAHAHA! Alright bro, you got me good. I know you, you'd never go into one of those things even if you had a gun to your head."

"Lynx!" His voice cut through the laughter. The grin slowly faded from the younger one's face as he took another look at Cub. These weren’t the eyes Lynx had always known—this was the look of a feral beast.

"Holy—you're serious?" he shakily conceded. "Did you guys... kiss?"

"Yeah."

"Did you...?"

Cub nodded, still maintaining eye contact.

"Bro..." Lynx took a moment to process it himself. This time, chocolate dripped instead. "Nobody will ever believe you," he muttered.

"I know. I don't believe it either, not yet."

The siren from the bumper cars blared, announced the beginning of another ride. Lynx snapped out of it, noticing the mess in his hands.

"So… it's just us, huh? Churros?"

[cubstories]

Best Friend

"You cannot be serious. I'm calling an ambulance."

Serena's flip phone was already halfway out of her pocket before Angel swatted her hand away.

"You should really give him a chance, he's awesome!"

Serena shot her a look of pure disbelief. "He couldn't even write your nickname right on that bag. Are you kidding!?"

Angel vacillated. "Well... I... I think it looks more unique written that way."

"What, missing a letter? Looks uniquely stupid, I concur." Serena groaned, tilting her head toward the sky as if begging the heavens for patience. Then, realization struck. Her eyes narrowed. "Wait. You're making up excuses for him now? Angel, for the love of—"

"I think I like him, Serena."

Serena froze mid-rant. Slowly, dramatically, she turned to face her friend.

"...I'm calling two ambulances. I might need one as well."

Angel’s hopeful expression faltered. Serena wasn’t just teasing—she was genuinely horrified. She tried again. "Hen gets along with him, too."

Serena snorted. "Angel, Hen gets along with every single marginal in the neighborhood. What's your next argument? That he breathes air like us?"

"I wish you could see him through my eyes," Angel softened.

"You're not even listening to me, are you?"

Angel's following words sufficed as a response.

"I'll need your help."

"You definitely need help, I agree. But it’s not mine."

"I need to win him over."

Serena stared at her, as if searching for a last remnant of sense inside her skull. "Angel. Please. Focus on my beautiful face. You can have any guy you want. You're the cream of the crop. Smile at any guy you wish, and he'll fall at your feet. Anyone."

Angel met her eyes with quiet conviction. "I want him."

"I give up, you're hopeless."

"So that means you'll help me?"

Serena let out an exacerbated sigh. "Why even ask me? You could literally ask anyone else, and they'd be thrilled to indulge in your delusions."

Angel tapped her chin, seriously considering it. "Someone else...? But, like, who? Who...? Wait. He did mention his cousin. Lynx, was it? Maybe if I talk with him, he'll—"

She trailed off, her thoughts racing—until she noticed the emptiness beside her.

"Wait, Serena! Where are you going!?"

[cubstories]

Dialogue Part II - Marker Scribbles

"Who are the FeroBoyz?" Angel asked.

"Huh? How'd you—"

"On your hand."

His head snapped down to where her eyes were locked—a bold scribble right below his knuckles, the letters jagged and uneven.

"Don't tell me you're the one who has a boyband!" she teased, her laugh soft but disarming.

He fumbled, clamping his other hand over the writing like it might hide the evidence. "Oh, that’s… It’s just me and my cousin. We’re the FeroBoyz."

"It's a really cool font!" Angel's words surprised him, but even more so when he noticed she was pulling a correction fluid pen from her pink schoolbag. "Would you write my name in it, please? Right here, where it can be seen."

"On your bag, are you sure? It will be permanent on this fabric."

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't sure!"

He hesitated, but her expectant smile melted any resistance. He shook the pen without breaking eye contact, acting as if the loud rattle was a final warning. Then, reassured that the deal was sealed, uncapped it with a satifying click!.

Angel leaned closer as he began outlining the first letter. A bold uppercase that curved slightly, just like the marker lines on his hand. But as the tip of the pen moved to the second letter, his strokes shifted, veering off course.

What he wrote wasn’t her real name—It was the name of the movie character she’d introduced herself as. Angel did not protest. In fact, she had noticed he had done the same on his own bag, adorning the name of his character with a star. For her, however, he drew a small heart instead.

"I love it," she spoke after he lifted the pen. "You're really talented, you know? You could be a grafitti artist!"

"Thank you. I'm sorry I smudged it a bit over here," he meekly said, pointing at the edge of one letter.

She either didn’t hear him or didn’t care, her attention already shifting as she tossed him another unexpected question.

"Hey, what's your email? I can add you on MSN when I get home!"

"Oh, it's... uh... It's better if you just tell me yours instead."

[cubstories]

Dialogue Part I

"Hen told me about you."

"Oh, so it was her. Should have guessed. Hen gets along with everyone. She's part of your girlband, right? The Celestials or whatever it is called?"

"It's not a girlband," she laughed. "That's just what we used to call ourselves back in 5th grade. The name just kinda stuck."

"Oh, Hen used to be in your class?"

"She was never the brightest of the three, I'd put it that way. She told me you've been helping her with the assignments. I think she might finally pass this year.

"I'm her best friend, I think. Well, one of them, at least."

"She was a bit worried about you. She told me you've been struggling lately. You know, I want to be a psychologist someday, so I was thinking… Maybe I can help you?"

"Help me?"

"Yeah! Like the other day, when you opened up to me about that series! It was brief, but you were like a completely different person from what I had seen. I couldn't look away from your eyes! That glint of excitement… That sparkling hazel…"

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to talk to me, let alone be into it as well."

"I want to see it again, you know. That smile."

The corners of his mouth slowly contorted into a misshapen grin.

"This smile?"

"No, not that at all! A true smile. The one you showed me before and haven't shown to anyone since. I feel like that's my purpose in life, you know? To make sure I can return a true smile to those who lost it. So, please, would you… let me try?"

He looked down at his overworn shoes, wondering how she hadn't been disgusted away by the smell radiating from them.

"Pff, good luck."

[cubstories]

Lynx

I feel like I should begin with an apology, Lynx. Hindsight can be a curse, especially when you come to the realization that you used to be, in fact, quite the asshole. Not you, I mean, me.

Back then, something about your "unapologetically gay" persona infuriated me, and I lashed out by constantly diminishing you. I can see it clearly now, but at the time the thought that my little cousin had his head in a bigger mess than mine comforted me, it was all subconscious. Not that excuses anything.

I hated your confidence. Your optimism. The way things just seemed to go your way when there was no conceivable reason that they should. Your smile, the way people reacted to it and embraced you so easily. I was jealous of you. I wanted to be you. But I couldn't. So I made it look like you were just some silly, goofy, clueless kid. So that being you wouldn't appear so... appealing.

But you always knew. You knew what you were and what you wanted. You weren't ashamed of being yourself. I was the one scared, terrified of admitting to myself and everyone around me that my life just wasn't what I wished it was.

I didn't even stop to consider that maybe you, too, were struggling. I took for granted your attention and affection as signs of my superiority and control. Dismissing your alcoholic mother and the nights your father would spend at the club as another part of your cool and exciting life instead of blaring sirens that I should retribute those gestures to you tenfold.

You don't need to tell me how stupid that is, I already figured it out.

Not that you would, would you?

You always stood by my side, always trying to shelter me, even from my own stupidity. Putting on full display who the immature one was. Even if I've grown distant and barely talk nowadays, I'll never forget the last words you've told me before I left for college: "I'll always be here if you need me, just call me."

The reason I haven't is, honestly, because I don't believe I deserve it. Whenever I check on you, you're always so busy with life. The load you used to carry was distributed by friends I didn't have back then, and look what it has done for you. You're free, thriving. And I'm sorry.

So, instead of dragging you back with a call, I'd rather tug on the happy memories we shared together, whenever I miss your warmth. The yearly race to wish each other happy birthday, when milliseconds mattered. The sleepovers where nobody would actually sleep. The conspiracies against the world. The summer vacations at grandma’s.

And your untainted, precious smile.

[cubstories]

Angel

When you talked to me for the first time, I was honestly a bit surprised. You looked angelical, a divine entity attempting first contact with the earthly filth which I, a gross kid sitting by myself during recess, was a part of. Your greeting was as kind as it was intimidating.

I tried to look cool and, when you asked my name, I told you the name of a movie character that I was obsessed with. I was a fool thinking I'd fool you. You saw right through the bullshit, but you did not mock me. Instead, it seemed you recognized that name.

"Oh, were you traumatized, like he was?"

You did not strike me as someone who enjoyed that kind of media, much less knowing that character specifically. Then, you told me that your name was that of another character from a different movie in that same series.

And you sat by my side.

We talked for what seemed like hours about an interest that I thought only I had amongst the school crowd. Eventually, you told me your real name, "Angel." And I told you mine, "Cub." Pointless, because we kept calling each other by our character names since that day.

The bell rang. Your classroom was in a whole different building, you told me, so you had to go before you were late "again." Up until that moment, despite being older, taller, smarter, and so much more beautiful than I was, you made me feel like we were equals.

But, after you left, it felt like you had ascended back to heaven. To a place forbidden to losers like me. It felt like I'd never be able to reach out to you again.

I couldn't even process what was going through my head at that time. For the first time, I felt some sort of... connection.

And then, I felt as if that thin wire had been snipped cold.

[cubstories]

Hello, I'm Cub. Not my real name, obviously. I had an insane childhood that caused me to imagine lots of fictional scenarios which I can no longer contain within the bounds of silence and shame. This is my safe space to break free of those shackles.

If you come across my stories and they sound familiar to you, please remember all of these are made up scenarios that never happened.