Reverse Stockholm Syndrome

But I Can't Help

He was sitting on a swing with a scarf around his neck, it cover the bottom part of his face and rested in a messy pile on his shoulder. It was way to big for a small kid like him.

He slowly swung back on forth on the play set, staring at the ground as his tiny feet dragged against the grassy floor.

He felt someone walk towards him and he looked up, a small girl had took a seat on the swing next to him. Her facial features were fuzzy but he could tell she held a cheerful smile. Soon, both of them were swinging as high as they could go. They both laughed as the wind blew against their faces.

Nick woke up, half his body was out of the bed and on the floor, his sheets were tangled around his legs and he struggled to get up. When he finally released himself from the tangled mess, he sat on his bed and ran a hand through his messy soft brown hair.

Strangely, he couldn't remember what he had dreamt and sat there thinking, he knew it made him feel like a kid again. It made him smile and feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The door creaked open and someone walked down the basement stairs and into his blue-red room. Nar's hair was in a messy bun, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Yo, you're up already? Was just about to prank you, oh well then."

Nick shot her an annoyed look, she responded by sticking her tongue out at him before running back upstairs. He sighed, sometimes he really hated that girl.

Wait, hate is a strong word. As much as Nar annoyed him, Nick could never bring himself to hate her. He wouldn't admit it but he really enjoyed the playful conflicts between them.

The ridiculous arguments, light punching and such really amused him.

Then Nick realized those playful conflicts really reminded him of how flirting works.

He felt his face grow hot.

Nick reddened even more as his mind replayed all those times they've had fake arguments and hangouts that seemed more like dates, he grabbed his clothes and rushed into the bathroom. He really needed to wash his face right now.

Nar was cutting her waffles into stars, eating the excess parts, she smiled at her work proudly and sat there chewing slowly. Nick walked in, dressed in black with splashes of other colors, his mask had a cute bear mouth on it. It was the only mask left.

She pushed her plate of star shaped waffles towards Nick like a child showing their teacher their latest art and crafts piece. "Nick, eat these."

"No thanks." Nick poured himself a cup of coffee and lower his mask to take a sip. "Man your parents are almost never home huh?"

"Only at night yeah." Nar took her plate of waffles back and poked at them with her fork. "But it does mean I get to do shit without being yelled at."

"You're not impressing anyone." Nick deadpanned. "I use to live on the streets."

"Oh c'mon, Nick, haven't you at least had one childhood memory?" Nar hummed, stabbing a star waffle with her fork then lifting it up to Nick's face.

He shrugged and took a bite from the waffle Nar held up for him. "Maybe." He swallowed. "But I don't remember."

Nar's eyebrows furrowed, taking a bite from the same waffle she had fed Nick with. "How old did you start becoming a criminal?"

"..." Nick sipped his coffee. "I...don't remember."

"What about Ice?"

"I don't know." Nick felt his heart sting a little from the mention of his old friend.

Nar finished the last bite from the waffle on her fork. "That's strange."

Nick only shrugged in response. "I guess living on the streets really affected my brain." He joked, that's when Nar suddenly slammed her hands on the table, nearly spilling his coffee.

"You're a famous criminal right?" Nar started.

Nick nodded slowly.

"So you turn up on the newspaper a lot right?"

Nick nodded slowly again.

"Boom, we can just search you up on the internet and find the first few articles about you. I'm sure some nosy reporter probably dug deep into your backstory and published it." Nar leaned back on her chair, feeling proud about herself, she placed her legs on the table and waited for Nick to applaud her.

Instead the boy just stared at her. "That's the smartest thing I've heard from you in ages."

Nar removed her legs from the table and bowed sitting down. "Thank you- Wait, is that an insult?"

"You figure that out yourself." Nick finished his coffee and pulled his mask back up to hide his smirk.

Nar shook her head and giggled before making her way to her room, dragging Nick along with her. He tried his best to ignore the girl's smooth dark skin hand grip his pale rough one.

They both entered Nar's ever so aesthetic bedroom, it was the same as before, the pretty stars, the gradient. It almost felt like he was having a flashback of the time he tried to kidnap her for ransom.

Nar pulled out her laptop from a drawer in her study table, she sat on her bed and flipped it open, offering Nick a place to sit next to her. He obliged and leaned over shoulder to watch her search up articles about him.

He didn't like to brag that much but there were seriously a lot of articles on him, even the one about the time he accidentally killed a kid just because he needed the boy's treehouse. Not a good memory.

Nick watched as Nar used two of her fingers to swipe upwards on the trackpad to scroll down the page. After a long time, she finally found what she was looking for.

By then, Nick was already sprawled on the floor skimming through songs on his phone. Nar nudged him with her foot and gestured him to come and see what she found.

"Local boy robs convenience store with proper manners."

Nar snorted and laughed, Nick tilted his head in confusion. He doesn't remember this happening.

"A young boy around the age of 10 was reported to have robbed a local 7 Eleven by politely asking the store clerk to hand him money and some free food. The store clerk said, 'The kid pointed a gun at me like he wasn't afraid to shoot but what surprised me was that the kid asked if it was ok to point the gun.' The boy even introduced himself as Nick first before threatening the clerk."

Nar was fighting the urge to laugh the whole time as she read the article. Nick felt his face heat up from embarrassment.

"Nar this almost shows nothing about me." Nick pulled on his hood to cover his eyes.

"Of course it does, you started being a bad boy when you were 10 and you knew how to use a gun." Nar wiped a tear away from holding in the laugh.

"I mean information about me before I became a bad guy." Nick crossed his arms.

"Yeah yeah, I'm working on it alright? Don't get your panties in a twist." Nar chuckled and rolled her eyes. She went back to searching for more information.

Nick wondered how someone like her was able to capture his interest.