Chapter Text
Finney was very thankful for his friendship with Robin, that was never something he doubted. However, he felt specially grateful in the school bathroom that morning. After another boring class as he was heading to his next one, he was spotted by three of his least favorite people. Finney tried to lose them, but it didn't quite work. He was already losing hope. Wouldn’t be surprising to him though, as the three boys had been consistently bullying him for the past few months.
This time, however, Robin interfered, and they would hopefully not bother Finney anymore. Robins fighting habit might not be the best in FInneys eyes, but he had to admit it had its pros.
Now they were laughing talking about a horror movie that Finney haven’t watched yet as he washed his hands.
“Hey, Finn, could you come around my house later?” He said while tucking his improvised bandages in his fists from a fight with Moose that morning.
“Is it math again?”
“Yeah. Mr. Johnson talks too fast. He just doesn’t explain as clearly as you.”
He laughed at the other boy’s comment, although judging by his face, he was being serious.
Of course, wouldn’t be the first time they met for studying, even if half of the time of their “study” was spent watching bad movies, playing random board or card games, or just laughing at life. Not to say they didn't study, far from it, Robins grades improved significantly after they started studying.
“Sure! When?”
“You can go right after school with me if you don’t mind.” They had left the bathroom and were just leaning at one of the walls waiting for the big flux of people to cease. “Or tomorrow if it is too short notice.”
Finney pondered for a second, was Friday, he had to take care of his father as his sister wouldn’t be home. But the thought of dealing with that man left a putrid taste in his mouth.
He hesitated for a moment, but in the moment after:
“No, it's fine. I’ll wait you at the school entrance.”
Robin’ smile grew wide.
“Well, great then!” He said, but didn’t motion to leave, they just spend a moment there in comforting silence, or as much of a silence you can get at that school. It wasn't uncomfortable either. Moments passed unnoticed as they stayed there.
“We should really go to class, right?” Finney said, and Robin seamed to snap back to reality.
“Yes, of course. Sorry. See you later Finn!” He waved and left quickly.
“Bye.” His voice could barely be heard, as Finney didn’t really know why he said it, since Robin was already way out of his range.
.
The day passed swiftly, as the bathroom incident was left behind and Finney managed to go by his classes without much trouble.
To his surprise, Robin waited him after class, and not the other way around as he expected.
It was a cold day, and the wind was unforgiving on the shorter boy’s bare shoulder. Nevertheless, they had a calm walk and he pretended to be unbothered.
“Wait!” Robin said after being around five minutes away from their school. “Wanna grab some snacks before heading to my place? I know a store not far from here.”
“I didn’t bring any money tho.”
“Don’t worry, consider it payback for the lessons.”
“How could I say no to free food then?”
“Awesome! Follow me.”
It was not a place Finney had seen before; they turned an especially windy side road as he noticed that the other boy wasn’t prepared for the weather. He quietly picked a blue sweatshirt that was in his backpack. He had worn it in the walk to school that morning but took it off an hour later.
He held it after Robin’s chest and dropped it before he could argue. Robin picks it up in instinct and stopped walking for a moment but noticing that Finney wasn’t going to take no for an answer, seeing he was still walking, the boy decided not to argue.
“Thanks, Finn.” He says, taking his backpack of his back to put on the sweatshirt. Finney had also stopped and turned to look at him.
“No problem, but next time, tell me when you’re felling cold ok? Don’t leave me to guess.”
“Hey! I was one hundred percent fine!”
“Yes, yes, sure. I’ll just pretend I didn’t see you shaking a few moments ago.”
Robin crossed his arms and laughed loudly, and, clearly, faking it.
“You really think that little gust was bothering me? You got to be kidding right?”
“Lie to yourself as much as you want.”
Their little argument went on for a few more minutes. They were laughing throughout it all, pretending to be mad at each other and joking about it.
The atmosphere seemed to shift as they entered a parking lot behind a mall. There was a black van at the end of it, seemed to belong to a party magician.
Passing through was a must, since it was on the way they had to go to get to the store.
As they got close, a man carrying a box left the front door and circled the van. He put the box down with a sigh and, a moment later, saw the two boys standing there.
“Hey there kids!” He said. “I wasn’t expecting to see anyone here yet, I barely had time to set it all up! Tsk tsk, you know what? It would be great having a warmup, what do you say? Wanna watch some magic?”
The boys looked at each other for a moment.
“I, uhm, I don’t know. What do you think?” Finney pondered.
“Well, we have time, might be fun, don’t it?”
“Ha! listen you your friend kid.” The old guy said
Finney took notice of his appearance for the first time. He had a dark fedora and longish hair, he looked to be in his 40’s and a tired face. He guessed that the man probably was around 5’10 or more, all of that combined wasn’t giving Finney the best sensation, but Robin seemed exited, so he went along.
“I mean… yeah sure.”
It ended up not being half bad. They had a fair bit of fun, laughing at some silly tricks the magician could quickly prepare for them.
Robin noticed that he had a big collection of black balloons at the van and thought of how odd of a decoration choice was that, but at the same time kind of fitting, he went back to paying attention a moment after.
“Okay guys, let's play a guessing game.” The boys nodded and he took a few spray cans from one of the boxes. “In each of those lies a flavor of the more diverse kinds.” He sprayed one of them at his mouth. “This one, for example, is cheese, you think you can guess it right?”
“What do you mean ‘diverse kinds’?” Finney made air quotations at the question.
“Don’t worry, none of them taste bad.” With a hand on his heart, he continued. “I promise.”
Finney was first and guessed right the peanut butter flavor. Robin soon followed by guessing beef, then bacon, then chocolate, then tomatoes. The man shacked the next can.
“Last one, ready?”
Robin nodded and opened his mouth.
He was flooded by nausea in the same instant the spray hit his tongue. The bitter taste of the spray making his stomach flip. He fell violently to his knees, fighting with all he had to stay awake, but it was no use, he was only delaying the inevitable.
The man grabbed Finney by behind and sprayed that cursed thing on his mouth. He tried to fight back but he felled almost instantly.
Robin tried one last time to get up, his head was spinning and his arms gave up. For a moment, he thought he was dying, his vision started to fade as one last thought crossed his brain, before drifting to a deep sleep:
He is The Grabber.