Running Out of Time with You Part Two
Dan remembered the day he met 90s Kid perfectly.
It had started as a normal day in 1989. Cold, grey, dull, with Dan stumbling down the street on his way home from one hell of a party the night before. That was how he started almost every morning, coming down off a high and wanting more. But he also knew that he had to go home eventually and shower, so he was trying to get there with minimal incident.
As Dan got to his street, he noticed that the wall at the end was shaking, almost like it was made of multiple layers that didn't overlap quite right. It was probably an effect of the drugs still in Dan’s system, but he couldn’t help but walk towards it, reaching out to touch it, to see if it was real or not. His hand met the wall and shocked him.
He must have passed out, because the next thing he knew, he was waking up on a sidewalk he didn’t recognize, with a boy he didn’t know leaning over him.
“Dude,” the boy said. “Dude, are you okay?”
Dan blinked. The boy was dressed in a very odd assortment of clothes, orange cap and sunglasses with a black t-shirt under a green plaid. He was looking at Dan, and even through the sunglasses, Dan could see his concern. “Um…” Dan started. “I think so?”
The boy looked him over carefully, as though checking for injuries. Dan pushed himself into a sitting position. “I’m okay,” he insisted. “Just had a bad hit last night.”
The boy frowned. “Dude, that’s not cool,” he said.
“I know,” Dan said. “But it’s all I’ve got.”
Before the boy could say anything more, a new voice interrupted. “90s Kid, have you found anything?” A man came around the corner. He was dressed in a similar manner as the boy, but he had a brown coat over his plaid and wore a brown trilby hat and glasses.
“Think I’ve got someone who was glitched,” the boy, 90s Kid, answered. “But I’m not sure…you’re better at figuring that out.”
The man came over and knelt beside Dan. He pulled a model flintlock pistol out of his coat and pointed it at Dan. Dan almost laughed, but decided not to. Finally, the man stood up. “Yes,” he said. “Glitch in the timeline, just like you.”
90s Kid smiled. “Oh, dude, that’s…well, not awesome for you, but I’m so glad I’m not the only one!” He grinned at Dan. “My name is 90s Kid, and this is Linkara.”
“I’m Dan,” Dan said dumbly. “Um…what do you mean, a glitch in the timeline?”
Linkara shook his head. “Right, you don’t know,” he said. “Let’s start with the basics. What year is it?”
“1989,” Dan said promptly.
“You’ve come a long way,” Linkara said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that it’s 2010 now,” Linkara said. “You were consumed by a time glitch and fell into the future.”
“…What?”
“It’s totally okay, dude,” 90s Kid said. “I, like, fell through one too, in 1999. But it’s totally radical here! They have really awesome computers, and games, and guns…oh, man, you’re gonna love it!”
“90s Kid!” Linkara chided. “Give the man time to adjust. And while your assurances are very nice, he probably doesn’t need puppy dog energy right now!”
“Oh, right,” 90s Kid said. “Sorry, dude. I’m just totally stoked to have someone else who understands…”
“It’s okay,” Dan said. “I’m glad to have someone to help me adjust.” He smiled at 90s Kid.
Linkara studied Dan for another moment, his brow furrowed. “I don’t understand,” he muttered. “Time glitches don’t usually show up for ordinary people…”
Dan didn’t understand what Linkara meant. “Ordinary people?” he repeated.
Linkara waved his hand. “Nothing,” he said. “Listen…do you need a place to stay? I know a very nice lady who has a spare room…”
“Um…okay,” Dan said. “Thanks.”
*
At first, Dan had to admit he thought he was still tripping. But once it sunk in that this was real, that he really was 21 years into the future, it wasn’t too hard to adjust to the new time. Dan missed his old haunts, most of which had changed in the last twenty years, but his roommate Dolly was happy to show him around. Or at least, she didn’t complain about it too much.
90s Kid made a point of visiting almost every day, though, and he was more than enthusiastic about hanging out with Dan. Dan was grateful for 90s Kid. The boy was a never-ending flow of energy. He always had a cheerful saying and a good suggestion for what they could do. Dan was glad to follow 90s Kid’s lead and extremely happy to have a friend like him, even if 90s Kid could only spend a few hours a day with him. When Dan asked what 90s Kid did in the evenings, though, 90s Kid said something vague about training. He never said what he was training for, though.
He didn’t have to, though. Because about a week after Dan arrived, he learned.
They were walking down the street, intending to head to an arcade they both liked, when Dan saw it. A wall that was flickering just like the one he had seen in the 80s.
“Kid! That’s…that’s what it was before!”
90s Kid turned and his face hardened. “Get behind me, Dan,” he said, and Dan couldn’t remember ever hearing 90s Kid sound so serious.
“Is that…is it another time glitch?”
“Yes,” 90s Kid. “At least…I think it is. It could be something worse. Either way, you need to stay back.”
“I’m not gonna touch it, Kid.”
“You don’t have to,” 90s Kid said. “If it’s more than a time glitch…”
A stream of pixels suddenly sprang from the wall, forming a ball of snow static that came straight towards Dan. 90s Kid yanked Dan out of the way of the incoming danger and into a doorway. “Stay here!” he ordered before he turned around, putting one hand on his hat. “What you see is what you get!”
Dan didn’t understand what was happening. All he knew was that 90s Kid was suddenly floating, glowing brightly as his body moved as though in a dance. Time seemed to stop in that moment as 90s Kid’s usual outfit transformed itself into a lightweight green armor, with one shoulder pad, an ammunition belt, and several pouches. 90s Kid reached out his hand and a large but somehow awesome gun formed out of thin air and came to him. At last, 90s Kid landed on his feet, the gun aimed straight at the glitch.
The glitch made a sound that was somewhere between a scream and white noise and seemed to grow bigger, reaching out toward 90s Kid. 90s Kid didn’t move, simply shot at it. The glitch screamed again and recoiled before launching itself at 90s Kid again. It hit him, knocking him down, but 90s Kid flipped to his feet quickly and hit the glitch with the barrel of his gun, throwing it across the street. 90s Kid shot several times in quick succession. The glitch writhed and screamed but couldn’t get across the street.
90s Kid shouted out, “Magic blast power!” and fired once more. A beam of bright green light shot from his gun and hit the glitch. The glitch made several more shrieking noises before it finally burst apart, dissolving into nothingness. 90s Kid smiled before his touched his hat again and reverted back to his normal appearance.
Dan stared at 90s Kid for several minutes before he finally dared approach him. “Kid?”
90s Kid took a deep breath. “Yeah,” he said. “That’s…what I do, basically.” He smiled at Dan. “It’s totally cool, dude.”
“What…what are you?”
“I’m a Magical Boy,” 90s Kid explained. “Basically, for some reason, I was born with the power to fight glitches…things that disrupt the natural order of the world and try to erase existence. When I turned 13, I was able to use magic…it was kind of scary at first, cause I didn’t have anyone to tell me what was happening. But then I fell through a time glitch and got here, where I met Linkara…he’s another Magical Boy. And he told me what was going on and offered to teach me to control my powers and fight glitches. So I do, and it’s awesome! Though…I’ve only really been training for a month. Before, I just kind of shot energy at things…that tended to do a lot of damage to buildings, which is totally not cool.”
“But…” Dan hesitated. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
90s Kid shrugged. “Well, yeah,” he said. “If a glitch consumes you, it can do totally bogus things to you. Time glitches are the least harmful, really. They just send you into the future. But that wasn’t a time glitch. That was a universe glitch. If it consumed you, you would have been erased from history and never even existed. That’s why we have to fight them. If we let them be, they’ll just erase the world.”
Dan breathed hard, realizing exactly what had almost happened. “So…you saved my life,” he said.
“I guess?” 90s Kid was blushing now. “Um…”
“Thank you.”
90s Kid smiled. “You’re totally welcome, dude.”
*
After that, Dan accompanied 90s Kid on patrols. Linkara wasn’t exactly happy about this, but he didn’t object. “I think it does him good to have a cheerleader,” he told Dan one night.
Dan laughed. “I’m happy to be Kid’s cheerleader,” he agreed.
He did worry about 90s Kid sometimes, but every battle he saw ended with 90s Kid and Linkara victorious and another glitch defeated. After a battle, 90s Kid liked to go back to Dan’s to unwind, and Linkara allowed it.
It was one of these times, sprawled out on the couch watching cartoons, that Dan realized what he was feeling.
“90s Kid?” he said tentatively.
“Yeah?”
Dan hesitated. “I’m…I’m really happy you found me,” he said carefully. “And that you’ve saved me so many times.”
90s Kid smiled and waved his hand. “Dude, it’s totally cool. I’ll always save you.”
“I know,” Dan said. “You’re so brave and good and I…”
“What?” 90s Kid sat up properly and looked at Dan.
Dan couldn’t help it. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to 90s Kid’s lips.
90s Kid didn’t move at first and Dan thought he had just ruined everything. But then 90s Kid was pressing back, wrapping his arms around Dan and kissing him enthusiastically, clutching him close.
They pulled back a moment later and 90s Kid smiled. “I know,” he said quietly.
*
Watching 90s Kid die was the worst thing Dan had ever done. He loved him too much, and he couldn’t stand the idea of a world without him.
It was an easy choice to make, really. And this time, it would be different. No matter what it took, Dan would save him. He didn’t care if he died in the attempt; he didn't care if his soul was forfeit. He was nothing.
90s Kid mattered. 90s Kid was worth everything.
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