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In the wilderness of New Mexico, under the cover of night, a brilliant rainbow light suddenly descended, tearing through the darkness.
As the light faded, a young man in a black trench coat appeared. He stretched out his arms and took a deep breath before throwing his head back and shouting to the sky, "I, am back!!!"
His voice echoed through the night for a long while as Arthur sighed in relief, "Thankfully, no one heard that."
He pulled out his phone from his Disassembler Space, and powered it on— it had a full battery and a strong signal! The next second, the phone buzzed violently like a fully charged electric motor, vibrating furiously.
After less than a minute, the buzzing finally stopped. Arthur shook his hand, which had gone slightly numb from the vibrations, and glanced at the screen. All the calls were from the same person.
"Lily…" He muttered, exhaling lightly.
Other than Lily, it seemed no one else had tried to contact him. That made sense— after all, he had been sent flying into the universe by the Tesseract.
Both Banner and Dr. Connors had witnessed it, and Tony and Pepper must have learned the truth from them. Those who needed to know would know, while Lily was left in the dark, unaware of what had happened. When her calls didn't go through, she kept trying again and again.
Arthur flipped through his messages. Besides the calls, Lily had also sent him several texts.
At first, they were filled with frustration:
"Why aren't you answering my calls?"
"Are you trying to avoid paying rent!?"
"I'll have you know, I may not be well-endowed, but I'm not to be messed with. If you dare skip out on rent, I'll make you pay!"
"Why aren't you replying? Are you really going to dodge the rent?"
"It's been days! What's going on? You're not answering your phone or texts. Even if you're living your best life, you should at least find a place to crash, right?"
"Just so you know, I'm off work tomorrow. You better be ready to face the consequences!"
"...Where on earth are you? If you're in danger, press 1!"
"Whether you're dead or alive, at least make a sound! Forget about the rent, okay?"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! You're driving me crazy!!!"
Arthur couldn't help but laugh as he read through the messages.
Further down, the texts shifted from asking about his whereabouts to everyday matters.
There were updates about school fights, who had confessed to whom... It seemed like Lily had started using his number as a place to vent, sending random messages whenever she felt like it.
Arthur wasn't sure why, but as he read, he found himself entertained. He sat down on the spot and continued going through the messages one by one.
He hadn't even finished reading when a new notification popped up.
It was from... Lily!
The message read:
"Just got out of the shower and noticed my figure has improved again. Guess you really can't hide natural beauty!"
Arthur's face darkened. What kind of message was that?
After thinking for a moment, he replied:
"Better open your eyes, you're probably dreaming!"
Less than three seconds later, his phone buzzed again with a reply:
"ZOMBIE!!!"
Arthur hadn't even thought of how to respond when his phone rang shrilly.
He answered and put the phone to his ear, and immediately heard Lily's sneaky yet urgent voice on the other end:
"Where the heck have you been???"
Arthur remained silent, unsure of what to say.
Should he tell her that he was an ambitious young man who had been flung into space by the Tesseract in pursuit of his dreams?
It sounded ridiculous to say he had been "set free by the Tesseract," not that he had just "set his dreams free."
But his silence only made Lily panic more, and she spoke quickly, "Who are you? Did you kidnap that idiot? I'm warning you, I'll call the cops! You better let him go right now!"
"Ahem, don't call the cops!" Arthur quickly said, "It's me, it's me!"
"..."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Arthur could only hear her breathing, which went from tense to calm before she gritted her teeth and said, "When are you going to pay your rent?"
Arthur couldn't help but laugh aloud, though a sense of bittersweetness crept in.
How long had it been since he last laughed like this?
"Hey, are you okay?" Lily quickly asked, concerned. "It sounds like you're crying. What happened? I'm in the dorm, but if you need to talk, I'll step outside."
"No, no need," Arthur quickly reassured her. "I'm fine. I just… had to go on a business trip. The place I went to was a bit remote, so I couldn't use my phone. Sorry for making you worry."
"Really?"
Lily was still skeptical.
"Really!"
Arthur confirmed with full confidence.
"Alright... when are you coming back?" Lily asked. "I calculated your rent... never mind, forget about the rent. Are you really coming back?"
"Of course," Arthur replied. "After all, I've lived there for so long and haven't paid rent yet."
"Good, as long as you know." Lily fell silent for a moment before finally saying, "Okay then, it's late. Get some rest."
"Yeah, you too," Arthur nodded, ready to hang up when suddenly, Lily seemed to remember something and hurriedly said, "Forget the content of those last 30-something texts!!!"
"…Th-thirty-something?" Arthur was taken aback. "I'll check them later."
"Don't you dare check!!!"
"Okay, fine. I'll think about it," Arthur teased.
"Ugh!" Lily fumed, exasperated.
Before she could explode, Arthur quickly hung up the phone. Without hesitation, he opened the messages and began reading.
She had sent texts regularly— sometimes two or even three a day. His entire inbox was filled with her messages. Focusing on the last 30 or so, Arthur couldn't help but laugh as he read through them.
Most were lighthearted, personal musings she wouldn't share with anyone else— like the earlier "natural beauty" comment. Others were minor complaints about a teacher or a review. But as Arthur continued reading, he stumbled upon one message that made him pause:
"You jerk, I dreamed about you last night."
Arthur stared at his phone, momentarily stunned, and then gazed up at the starry sky, unsure of what to feel.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the night, under the same starry sky, someone was sneaking out of bed. Lily, making sure her roommates were still asleep and undisturbed by the call, tiptoed to the window. She opened it, letting the wind blow in.
Wearing her cartoon-printed pajamas, she stretched her arms out in the breeze, a small smile forming on her lips.
Then, she bit her lip. "That guy… he's definitely going to read them, right? Hmph… what's there to be afraid of? I just dreamed about him, that's all. I've been wondering where he's been all day, and that's bound to show up in my dreams at night. It's totally normal! The only thing that was not normal was sending him that message! Ugh!"
(End of Chapter)