Some characters here aren’t mine! Marmaliser, Oblivion and Exciter belong to my friend @nebulagooms !!! Go check them out their art is magnificent ♥️♥️ ^w^!!
But yes, just some Oc x Oc stuff and basic story sketches ^^ Hope you enjoy !!
Flynn and Leith belong to yours truly, Silas and Philip belong to @ms-puffinywuffiny
The school looked different when it wasn’t pretending to be alive.
No fluorescent hum. No lockers being open and shut. No voices bouncing off tile and turning into something sharp. Just a building exhaling after a long day of being crowded, its hallways stretched into quiet, patient corridors, waiting for what would come the next day and the next, until Saturday and Sunday passed then repeat.
But it wouldn’t stay completely empty for long as one single window was enough to give a certain group of misfits entrance.
Silas went first, of course he did, he always did. Checking the area quickly even if others would’ve found it unnecessary and then gave the signal it was all good, safe. Behind him came Leith, slower, a bit less confident in how he entered through the window but hitting the landing. Then Philip, silent as ever even if not completely by choice, careful and with precaution..
And then there was Flynn, who quite literally jumped right in and landed with a loud thud, not the usual care she’d put into entering somewhere but this wasn’t a house nor some other important place and thus she allowed a bit of carelessness her way.
“Well,” she said, brushing dust off her shorts, “look at that. A whole building all for us.”
Silas groaned slightly. “Just cause it’s empty it doesn’t mean we can speak loudly, remember?”
“C’mon Sil this isn’t a job, it’s fine.” Leith added himself to the conversation while Philip tapped his twin’s shoulder and signed quickly, fingers flicking through practiced shapes. Relax.
Silas huffed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you, can’t believe I even agreed to this nonsense."
“You agreed ‘cause I’m a genius and this could be a shit ton of fun.” Flynn grinned.
And then.
They wandered.
That was the whole point.
Not stealing, not tonight. Not mapping exits or watching out for guards or testing locks. Just… Walking. Letting themselves exist somewhere that wasn’t an alley, a rooftop, or a borrowed corner of a world that didn’t want them.
They drifted into classrooms first, pushing open doors that whispered on their hinges. Rows of desks sat in neat lines like obedient soldiers waiting for orders that would never come.
“Y’know it’s common for schools to be haunted.” Flynn joked as they climbed the stairs. “Certain classroom, certain hour, say a name three times and then BAM the ghost has cursed you forever!!” she grabbed Leith by his shoulders, freaking him out.
“No, no, no ghosts!” He protested, and yet went into the classroom. Picked a seat, and laughed to himself “I wonder how going to school feels, I mostly learned at home.”
Flynn straddled a seat instead of sitting properly. “Probably boring as fuck, just hours sitting while some guy gives a lesson? Not my thing.”
Silas just huffed. “And yet you wanted to break into a school…”
“Don’t question my methods, Butcherson!”
Philip for his part, wandered to the front, running his fingers along the chalkboard. He picked up a piece of chalk, hesitated, then wrote something in careful, slightly uneven letters.
HELLO.
He stepped back, looking at it like it was a strange artifact.
Flynn hopped down and stood beside him, reading it. “Well now we know which twin got the prettiest handwriting.”
“Hey.”
They continued their wandering around after that, each of them leaving something on the chalkboard just because. Eventually they found the school library, looking around the different sections.
“Could we take some of these? Lucy might like ‘em…” Leith murmured, seeing there were multiple copies of one book.
Flynn ignored him, glancing around until she spotted a bookshelf in the corner. “Hang on.”
The shelf was crammed, she pulled out what she could, reading titles and flipping through pages until one in particular came into view and caught her attention immediately.
Then she paused.
“Oh,” she said softly, something shifting in her voice. “Hey. Phil.”
He looked up.
She held up a book, thinner than the others, its cover a little worn but intact. She crossed the room and handed it to him.
He read the title to himself; A Beginner’s Guide to Sign Language.
For a moment, the room stilled in a way that had nothing to do with silence.
Philip stared at the book in mild surprise, then took it from her slowly, like it might be an illusion. His fingers brushed the cover, then traced the letters. He flipped it open, eyes scanning the pages, absorbing shapes and diagrams and hands frozen mid-motion.
“Is it good? Thought maybe you could teach us with it too.” Flynn spoke while leaning over, trying to see what was his exact reaction.
Philip looked at her, then nodded once, sharp and certain.
Leith smirked. “Guess this place isn’t totally useless.”
Silas watched them, something thoughtful settling behind his usual guarded expression and when his brother looked back at him he just sighed. “Take it,” he said. “No one’s gonna miss it.”
Philip glanced at him, and smiled gratefully.
Silas shrugged like it was nothing, even if a part of him thought it was everything.
They kept moving after that, drifting deeper into the building like they were following some invisible thread. The air shifted as they went, opened some more doors, found more rooms. The gym was huge and had echo, someone had left a basketball, neither of them knew quite well how to use it and when Philip missed his shot causing the ball to make a huge sound in the empty space they scattered out of there like mice.
Until.
“YO, GUYS LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!” Flynn called over from an outside area which upon following they found a pool. Big and filled completely with its blue chlorined water.
“No way.” Leith smiled and the twins just looked in awe as Flynn became giddy with her discovery.
For a moment, none of them moved.
Then Leith celebrated, the sound jumping off the walls. “This is awesome!”
Silas exhaled, tension unwinding from his shoulders despite himself. “You’re unbelievable.”
Flynn for her part was already walking toward the edge, kicking off her shoes as she went. “What? Big guy like you scared of some water?”
“I didn’t say that.” Silas groaned.
She turned, walking backward now, eyes glinting with something mischievous and bright. “Then what are you waiting for?”
Without another word, she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head, tossing it aside like it had never mattered. Shorts followed, then everything else, each piece discarded with the same easy confidence, the same refusal to make it a big deal. She even decided to get rid of her usual ponytail.
Flynn stood there for a second, completely unbothered, the cool air brushing against her skin, her posture loose and unguarded as she realized her friends, guy friends, staring.
And she still didn’t give a damn.
“Come on,” she said, tilting her head. “Showing some skin never hurt anybody, get undressed too or else it’ll actually be weird.”
There was some silence at her lack of shame on it, and yet it made them all relaxed.
Leith laughed completely amused, already tugging off his own shirt. “Okay then let’s do this.”
Silas hesitated, just for a heartbeat. Not out of shame, he’s been shirtless many times before although the idea of being fully in the nude felt different. He couldn’t help it, old habits causing him to have his guard up.
Leith caught it immediately.
“Hey,” he said, softer this time, but no less certain. “It’s just us.”
Just us.
The words settled over them like something warm.
Philip came last, but he began to move too, setting the book carefully on a nearby bench before peeling off his layers with quiet efficiency. He didn’t rush, didn’t hesitate either, just… Existed in the moment after what felt like encouragement, reassurance this place in this moment was completely safe.
Clothes hit the tile in a scattered constellation, the four of them shedding more than fabric, dropping the weight of the outside world piece by piece until there was nothing left but skin and breath and the quiet understanding between them.
Flynn didn’t wait a moment longer.
She turned and dove.
The water broke around her with a clean, echoing splash, ripples spreading across the surface like laughter. She came up a second later, slicking her hair back, eyes bright.
“Shit, it’s cold!” She exclaimed, causing the others to burst into laughter.
“Yeah no shit is cold, Ranger, it’s the middle of the night.” Silas barked a laugh which only got him splashed in response. “Hey!”
Flynn laughed and started swimming further from the edge. “Catch me if you can, Butcherson!” She taunted.
Silas answered by cannonballing in, sending a wave sloshing over the edge. Leith followed soon after, getting incredibly into the mood his friends were setting.
Philip was last.
He stood at the edge, looking down at the dark, shimmering surface. Then at them. At his brother already trying to dunk Flynn, at Flynn shoving him back with a grin, at Leith just laughing at the whole scene helping neither party.
He shook his head, a small smile tugging at his mouth.
And jumped.
The water closed over him, cool and clean, washing away the last of the noise in his head. For a second, there was nothing but the muffled thrum of his own heartbeat and the strange, weightless quiet of being suspended.
Then he surfaced, gasping slightly, and the world rushed back in softer, kinder.
They swam.
Not in any organized way, not racing or counting laps. Just moving, drifting, splashing, letting their bodies remember what it felt like to exist without tension.
In this very moment, this very place, for once in their lives as odd as it may sound they were just…
Kids.
Teens who got to exist without a care in the world, without thinking how left behind by society they felt. Just a group of friends who decided to screw around for a bit and had the time of their lives doing so.
Just kids.
That’s all they were.
At some point, the noise faded.
Not all at once, but gradually, like a tide pulling back. The splashing slowed, the teasing softened, until they were just… There.
Four figures in a quiet pool, the water lapping gently at the edges, the air cool against their damp skin. Floating and letting themselves be carried away without interruption.
Flynn drifted onto her back, arms spread, eyes half-lidded as she trusted the water. “You know,” she murmured, “this might be the nicest place we’ve ever broken into.”
Leith snorted. “Low bar.”
“Still counts.”
Then, water from above, a drop that turned into two, then four, then eight, then… Oh, it’s raining. And unison they realized.
“OUR CLOTHES-!!”
Their united shout was followed by scrambling out of the pool and grabbing their clothes before the rain soaked them despite their efforts to not do that while swimming. Once inside and safe, they looked at each other, and laughed.
They dried however they could and found another classroom to hang out in, waiting for the rain to subside and let them go back home to rest.
Philip sat on the desk, looking through the book he had been given, flipping each page as his hands followed the instructions calmly.
Seeing this Flynn approached, dragging a chair to sit on it, chin resting on her arms on top of the desk. “Already studying?”
He glanced at her, then signed, slower this time, referencing the diagrams. Learning.
Flynn smiled and moved closer, watching his hands. “Show me.”
Philip blinked, then nodded.
He gestured for Flynn to come nearer, then began to demonstrate, shaping his fingers carefully, guiding her attempts with gentle corrections. After a few minutes, she called over to Leith and Silas who were having their own conversation. “Hey, stop flirting and come here!” She teased.
Leith paid it no mind, just getting up and going towards the desk. While Silas simply swallowed his response and ignored the redness of his face to follow. As such they all took their lesson right there, together and enjoying themselves.
The school remained silent around them, but it didn’t feel empty anymore.
Their presence for each other was enough to keep things lively.
Four kids who had never been given a safe place carving one out for themselves in the middle of the night, having fun in a pool that didn’t belong to them, learning signs in a building that would forget them by morning.
Floating, laughing, learning how to say things without words.
Learning, for a little while, what it felt like to be unafraid.
