What if... (hfjONE-shots)

...Airy was a Tiny Co-Host (Pt.7)

Hiya Edgelings!!

I've been very excited to write this chapter ever since I started this AU! This is probably one of the most complicated chapters to write due to the sheer amount of characters I have to keep track of. My usual comfortable amount of major characters to write in one scene is 2-3, but in this AU all of the characters are in the same place at the same time, a total of 10 characters!!

So I had to go back and edit this a few times to make sure I didn't forget anyone lol.

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The tall, narrow, tightly packed buildings of downtown San Francisco towered into the bright, clear blue sky. Even more tightly packed cars blared their horns on the highway, rush hour traffic clogging the roads like a rusty sink drain. It was shortly after six, and everyone was heading home from work.

The wide sidewalks were full of a conglomeration of tourists and workers lucky enough to live close to their jobs, so they didn't have to sit through traffic, turning what should've been a five minute drive into an hour long drive.

And in the midst of the crowds was Owen, just your average working class 24-year-old living with his roommate, Chris. The apartment that they split rent on was only fifteen blocks from his office, which was a fairly long walk but he still managed to move faster than traffic, so it was worth it. Owen liked to think of it as his 'daily exercise'.

He was considering getting a bicycle, like the one Liam had... Owen's brow furrowed as he stared at the concrete sidewalk beneath him. Wonder what happened to the guy... police still hadn't found anything other than his bike just laying on the bridge... It's been three days...

"Oof!" Owen grunted as he ran smack into someone who. "Sorry," he apologized, looking up at the tall object he had bumped into.

Owen's jaw dropped.

It was a massively tall golden lantern, with claw-like hands floating - not even attached to his body - and his head was floating, completely detached from the rest of his body, his semi-transparent feet hovering several inches off the ground. His design was far more elaborate than any object Owen had ever seen.

Tears poured from the elaborate lantern's eyes as his shocked expression molted into one of pure rage as he locked eyes with Owen. "WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING FOOL!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I COULD DO TO YOU, YOU WEAK PATHETIC MORTAL!!!!"

Owen took a step back as one of the magic floating hands curled into a fist and shook at him. How the heck was this guy floating?!?! What was his problem?!?! "Dude, I said I'm sorry, calm down."

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH!!!! NO!!! NO YOU DON'T AND YOU NEVER WILL!!!" The lantern raged on, screaming as though he wanted to murder the poor nail. The rest of the pedestrians quickly cleared a safe distance away from the irate golden figure.

But suddenly a small bronze figure burst from the crowd, running at full speed as he jumped up and tackled the floating gold lantern in a hug from behind.

"AIRY!!!" The bronze lantern child exclaimed, tears of happiness streaming down his face as he squeezed his small arms around the larger lantern's waist.

Airy froze in total shock, his floating fists gradually loosening and falling to his sides. His detached head did a full 360, much to Owen's discomfort, as he looked down at the figure clinging to his gold frame. The lines of livid rage etched into Airy's face softened instantly when he saw that familiar bronze hood, completely healed, not a dent or scratch in sight.