chapter one
not from around here

     DANIEL dribbled the ball around, watching as Oliver tried to snatch it from him. He smirked and then faked left which caused Oliver to trip on his own ankles, sending Daniel to run towards the hoop and shoot. The basketball hit the board and then bounced off. Daniel groaned, knowing that he lost the game.

"Dude, this is the fourth time that i've missed the hoop," Daniel said with a little sigh and turned to look at one of his best friends.

The two have been close ever since Oliver tried out for the football team back in Sophomore Year. With Daniel being the head quarterback and Oliver being the receiver, they made the perfect Troy and Chad duo. As of now, they were playing basketball to get a break from tackling people to the ground. In the pitch black, because simply, why not?

"Maybe you just suck," Oliver shrugged with an amused expression before just shrugging, running over and grabbing the ball as he dribbled it for a few seconds.

Daniel rolled his eyes and went over to his bag that laid upon one of the benches, holding his gym socks and his jersey. He pulled out his phone and saw that it was almost midnight already. Did the time fly by that fast? His parents weren't home as they were on some vacation in New York, leaving him for the week. He has the total opportunity to stay out tonight and just play ball, but Daniel would just rather to be in bed and get some rest.

"Hey, man, you leaving?" He heard Oliver ask behind him as he was gathering up his things. He then took his bag and threw it over his shoulder with one hand on the strap and turned around.

"It's midnight and i'm exhausted, but I'll see you tomorrow at school," Daniel grinned and walked over to the boy as they did their bro handshake.

"Don't forget, tomorrow is Billy's party. You still going to that?" Oliver asked as they wrapped up their handshake and placed the ball by his side, looking a little sassy.

Daniel scoffed and acted offended, "Am i still going to that? Do fish live in water?"

Oliver only looked at him, not sure how to answer, making Daniel just nod and pat his shoulder. "Yes, bro, now goodnight. And don't stay out too late, i'm not getting your ass out of class again."

The two exchanged eye rolls before Daniel started to walk away and eventually leaving the basketball court, on his way home.

Meanwhile, Gold, Jackie, and Katinka were still in the same spot. Jackie had checked the pod to see if it can get them back home, but apparently it didn't get enough fuel back at the station. They were officially stuck there. And this caused for Katinka to go into panic mode.

"What's going to happen to us? Are we going to die? What if we can't live on Earth? Why would we want to live on Earth?" Katinka ranted on and on, and finally Gold was having enough of it.

He got up from rolling around on the grass and stood in front of her, laying both his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, we're going to be fine. Look, it's nighttime for these Earthlings. As long as we don't get spotted, we are perfectly safe."

Jackie came out of the pod and saw what was going on, that's when she realized that they needed some sort of plan. They had no pod to return home to, so what could they possibly do? Well, humans and the people of Zorgof don't look any different. She was sure that if anybody saw them that they won't be suspicious. That's when she got the idea.

"Guys," She said and had earned the twos attention, "We need to find someone to help us."

"What are you talking about? Humans are known for being lifeless and terrible creatures, why would they want to help us?" Gold asked with a serious expression and taking his hands off of Katinka to turn to Jackie.

"Yes, I know, but maybe we can convince someone? I mean, we're trapped on an unknown planet that we've never been to. What do you think we do?" Jackie sighed and crossed her arms, looking at Gold with impatience.

He just shrugged and crossed his arms back, putting a smile on his face. "We sit here until someone realizes that we're gone."

Katinka groaned and nudged Gold in his side, "As much as I think that humans are fucking awful, maybe we should give it a try."

Jackie smiled at her and nodded a little thank you. And soon, the three were walking down the street with their arms wrapped around their waists. It was surprisingly a bit colder than they expected, but yet again their planet had a custom built heating sky, so they were never cold. As they were walking, they passed this ally way that held some clothes. The three all figured to look inside to see what would fit them and if they should even wear it. It all looked pretty musty.

That was until Gold pulled out this letterman jacket and absolutely fell in love. He took off his metallic shirt that he had on and put his arms through the jacket. It was a bit itchy, but he could make it work. And it was a perfect fit.

"Ew, Gold, that probably has microlancers in it," Katinka said with a face full of disgust. Nothing was there that the girls wanted, but apparently someone was happy.

"I don't think humans call it that," Gold shrugged and snuggled into the jacket. "So stop talking like you're from Zorgof and start talking like you're illiterate."

While Gold was happy and satisfied, Katinka and Jackie were still dressed in metallic outfits that would be a dead giveaway that they weren't from around here. Jackie was looking around the alleyway until she saw a rat and screamed before running away.

Katinka and Gold looked at each other before looking at the rat. Katinka freaked out, screamed what the fuck was that, and followed after Jackie. Gold tried to stand his ground, but after the rat hissed at him, he was like a little girl running after the two.

"It had beaty eyes and pointy teeth!" Gold yelled, his face full of horror.

A block away, Daniel was walking when he heard screaming. His eyebrows furrowed and his protective-like mode kicked in, following the voices with a quick run. But when he got around the block, all he saw was three other kids looking scared out of their lives. He looked around and didn't see anybody else. That's when he started being a bit confused.

"Are you guys okay?" Daniel asked, but his voice only made them jump in response and get in defensive positions. He rose an eyebrow until he saw one of the kids wearing a letterman jacket and smiled, "Aw, sick. What school are you guys from?"

It was now their turn to be confused, but all they could focus on was how big he was. Like, this guy was fucking large, larger than Gold and he was pretty big for his planet. Were all Earthlings this enormous?

"Um, who are you?" Katinka asked like it was a threat, sending Daniel into all fits of confusion. She was threatened by him? Well, yeah, he was pretty large, but there was nothing else to be threatened by.

"Oh, um, I'm Daniel. You guys are...?" He asked back politely, not trying to be weird or anything.

The more time he looked at them, the more he realized something wasn't adding up. He's never seen that type of letterman before and he's been to all kinds of schools for games and stuff. The two girls were wearing metal like clothing, literally, as was the boy. And they seemed oddly freaked out by his presence. When they didn't answer, he took this to speak again.

"You guys aren't from around here, aren't you?" Daniel rose his eyebrows, looking at all of them with a bit is amusement.

Jackie decided to be the first one to speak. "We are lost and don't have anywhere to stay...Daniel, um, where are the homes?"

"Homes?" He repeated, making Katinka jab Jackie in her side. "You mean shelters?"

"What's a shelter?" Gold asked as his eyes widened, a bit scared as that sounded horrible. Something about that word sent tingles down his spine.

"No, we don't mean a shelter," Jackie quickly responded and said the first thing that came to head. "We are foreign exchange students from...". She had to look at Katinka for a country as she probably knew more about Earth than she did and the whispered Canada. "From Canada, right! And we realized that we have no place to stay."

"Aren't foreigners supposed to pick a family before traveling to a different country?" Daniel asked, but then shrugged it off. They all looked like they had a pretty rough day as it is and he didn't want to bother them. In fact, he wanted to help them. "Well, you guys can stay with me, if you'd like."

"Yes, that would be great, but we don't know you. So," Katinka piped up, not wanting them to get possibly murdered by some mutant sized human. Well, she guesses that Gold and Jackie could always attack and she can boost up their powers for help.

"I mean, you guys could just stay out in the cold and head to the shelter with all the homeless people, if you want," Daniel shrugged and tighten the straps of his bag, waiting for an answer. That was when he also noticed that they didn't have any other clothes besides what they were wearing. "Wait, where are your clothes?"

Gold finally decided to speak after not doing so for five minutes. It was a relief for him, let him say. "We lost them, all of them. Could you buy us some?"

"Gold, that's so rude to ask," Jackie gasped and turned to look at him before she heard Daniels answer.

"Yeah, sure."

Jackie looked back at Daniel and rose an eyebrow, "Really? Why?"

"It just so happened that my parents are gone for the week and I got a credit card with their name on it. There's a shop just a few blocks down that's open 24/7, and I don't mind, really. You guys look like you could use the help, anyway," Daniel said with a little laugh, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Okay, and what's do you want in return, you Ear-" Katinka was cut off short by Jackie who slapped her arm. After a long exhale, Katinka continued. "I mean, what do you want in return?"

"Nothing?" Daniel stated, well, more liked asked. It was a pretty relevant question, he does have to admit, but really all he wanted to do was help them. "Look, I know people from Florida get a bad rep sometimes, but you'll come to learn that I'm actually a nice guy who's not a crackhead."

It clicked to them, they were in Florida. They've heard about Florida and how it's the main problem of the North for being so problematic. But one question they had was what he said.

"What's a crackhead?"

destiny speaks!
i was going to make this SO MUCH longer,
but then it would've taken years to write and to
read. you'll just have to wait until chapter two to see what i mean.
but i hoped this was a good enough chapter and in the next, all the ocs that i have not mentioned will, well, finally be mentioned. bye!