WRITTEN BY: seung-ie
AU: Gravity Falls

– KANG TAEHYUN –

( PU NYHCPAF MHSSZ,
AOLYL PZ UV VUL FVB JHU AYBZA. )

"Scampfires. These spider-like beasts pose as campfires, then spring to life when you get close. They like to eat campers' marshmallows and beans, but will feed on pretty much anything combustible. Can be doused with water, but will hiss."

"Wait. We're out here for what?"

"A scampfire."

Taehyun brought up the journal towards Hueningkai, shining his flashlight on to the page. Given the way his face squinched when he saw what was on the page, some sort of fiery spider with logs for legs, ("Log legs," Hueningkai would repeat), and how he almost fell from the tree stump that he was climbing on, Taehyun took it as a motion that it had terrified him as much as it terrified Taehyun. (I mean, come on, not only did it resemble a spider, which was hands-down the most uncanny animal to ever exist, but it would also steal your food. Forget about dying. Nothing's scarier than having a sentient sort of campfire steal your smores while you were trying to have a good time). But of course Hueningkai and him had to be on opposite sides of the thinking spectrum. 'Cause instead of threatening to burn the journal like what Yeonjun did when he peeked at Taehyun when he was reading a paragraph about Leprecorns, Hueningkai snatched it out of Taehyun's hands and flipped through it, arbitrary enough to make Taehyun wonder how none of the pages have been ripped off yet in the process.

"Can't we do this?" Hueningkai attempted to steady himself up on the stump again but he ended up sliding further down on the hill, having to navigate his way back to where Taehyun was while he dusted off his shorts. They had already been soiled with the dirt underneath them on their trail to the woods, but he would rather not talk about that. (Or the mysterious wet patch on the side of his shirt when there clearly weren't any puddles where they passed). "Look at this: Island Head Beast. In my past observations, I have noticed that one of the lake's islands seems to be in a different location every morning. My conclusion is that this island is some kind of living creature and the owner of the tooth. See? If you want to go on a real adventure, you have to stop being such a scaredy-pants!"

"I'm not here to go on an adventure. I'm here to figure out if these things are real or not. And if any of them are, then I suggest we go through the safest options first." Taehyun took the journal back while Hueningkai shrugged and went back to running around the place, went back to his buffoonery, as Hueningkai would say. Not that Taehyun actually relied on Hueningkai for any wordplay. Hueningkai had the vocabulary of a pre-teen. Worse to know that he intentionally spoke like that just to drive Taehyun insane.

"Are there even any campfires out here? I mean, the chances of finding a scampfire pretending to be a campfire while it just rained is pretty slim."

"There should be," Taehyun sneered. "And there will be. We just have to find one."

"You're the boss, I guess."

There should be something out there. Taehyun would guarantee it. They've been walking through the heart of the woods, when darkness fell, by now and they still haven't found anything. No flames. No used campfire areas. No camper screaming at the loss of a decently roasted marshmallow. You would've thought that, by then, Taehyun would admit that there wasn't anything to see beyond the trees, the critters, and the occasional tree moss that Hueningkai insisted on shoving against Taehyun's face. But this was Gravity Falls they were talking about. The first time he heard about the rumors of this seemingly peaceful town in the middle of nowhere, Taehyun knew he had to see it and figure out their credibility, along with Hueningkai who promised to act out as assistant of some sorts. And when you mix that up with a journal filled page-to-page like a memoir about the oddities that he had found in some place called the Mystery Shack, there was no stopping his impulsiveness from taking over.

But where were they?

As impulsive as Taehyun would get, his impatience was just as bad. He had to pause, breathe a little, and continue walking as if he hadn't just short-circuited over some make-believe campfire creature. Emphasize on make-believe, because maybe Hueningkai was right. Maybe everything was all make-believe. Maybe this journal had been one of the products from that outrageously overpriced scam shop. But why was it crammed into some space underneath the cashier's? Taehyun wouldn't necessarily call it theft if it meant for the sake of curiosity but that wasn't the point. The point was that he was going to give up. And if Hueningkai hadn't grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him off to some corner of the woods, he would've.

"Is that it?"

Somewhere, somehow, in the middle of an opening inside the woods, there was a burning remnant of what seemed to be a campfire. Almost strangely, strategically, placed in the middle of everything, from its spot inside that clearing, down to the two logs beside it. Probably where some campers might have situated themselves before they left the area. Just like that, Taehyun felt a spark (get it?) in his chest. "Oh my gosh," he gasped, turning to Hueningkai. "Quick, take off your clothes!"

"Dude!"

"We don't have any water sources and your clothes are the best thing we have to euthanize it."

"I have a water bottle!" Hurriedly, Hueningkai brought out a bottle as promised, passing it on to Taehyun who'd just nod at the random piece of Tupperware that came out of his pockets. He'd rather not ask how it was able to fit there. It seemed like Hueningkai had a lot of things that Taehyun would rather not ask about. "You almost scared me to death," Hueningkai breathed out, holding a hand above his chest for exposition. "You almost made me think that scampfires were into soggy, dirty teenage clothing. But they're not. And besides, wouldn't dry things work too?"

"Yes." Taehyun took the cap off, inching closer and closer through the bushes and towards the scampfire. Well, something he hoped was a scampfire. The grip he had on his flashlight felt tighter and tighter by the minute. "Especially if you want the flames to grow stronger. Dry things would really be useful."

"Watch me bash that log into a real campfire and prove you wrong."

Insult aside, Taehyun pushed past the shrubs and found his pacemaker failing to maintain its normal rhythmic activity. He didn't even know if that thing over there was going to be a scampfire or not but his palms were getting sweaty and it was like his brain was urging him to hurry the heck up, because he managed to throw the water across the campfire instead of dousing it. He watched as the flames bellowed with a screen of smoke that hurt his eyes, watched as the colors weakened, watched and watched until it faded into nothingness, almost wondering what sort of reaction such a creature would give them until he heard the echoes of Hueningkai's laughter from somewhere behind him. He almost got distracted, confused, even, before he realized what Hueningkai meant with his sudden burst of enthusiasm, letting his knees sink into the ground as he let Hueningkai continue on making fun of him.

"You should have seen your face!" Hueningkai's laughter soon turned into giggles, something he'd have to hide behind his sleeves as he tried to contain himself. And before Taehyun could even ask about everything, Hueningkai continued, pulling up a lighter from inside his pockets, (making Taehyun wonder if his pockets deserved a spot besides all the other oddities in the journal that would be titled something like: Pockets of Infinite Space, or something. Kind of sounded like that one Japanese animation called Blue Creature with the Pouch of Infinite Items), "Always expect the unexpected. Or in this case, expect the expected. Because that book is a scam!"

"Dude," Taehyun voiced, flipping through the journal while rechecking the status of the campfire he just burned out, "That's not cool. Maybe we scared away a potential scampfire from this."

"They're not real, Taehyun."

"They could have been."

"But they're not."

"But they could!"

"Look, Taehyun, what really happened was──"

But Taehyun wasn't listening.

Taehyun dug through the contents of the fire. The texture of wet ash not even stopping him as he scavenged through the remains, wishing to find something, anything that would have proved Hueningkai's involvement wrong, but there wasn't. There were no log legs. No half-desiccated mass of gelatinous sugar. No scampfire, as easy as that. And Taehyun couldn't believe it.

"You were right," Taehyun scoffed, throwing the journal down, bringing his flashlight down along with it. "We're just wasting our time. Everything about this place is a scam. Those rumors. This journal. The stupid campfire. A scam! Let's just go back home."

"──always bring a lighter," Hueningkai finished. Realizing that might not have been helpful for his friend, he moved towards him, shining his flashlight on Taehyun's face and making him squint. "I'm sorry," he muttered, lowering his head as he awkwardly tried to avoid Taehyun's eyes. "For, you know, tricking you. For potentially losing our chance on finding a scampfire somewhere."

"It's fine, Hueningkai."

"You're calling me by that name. Weird. You're definitely not fine."

"I'm fine," Taehyun insisted. He stood back up on his feet and kept the journal under his arm, his flashlight on his hand as he sighed. "I'm fine. It's fine. Everything's fine! Let's just go home already."

"You sure? Because you don't look like it."

"Sure."

"Really?"

"Hueningkai."

"I'm just making──AHHH!"

Taehyun jumped back as Hueningkai was snatched into the darkness, his flashlight tumbling towards Taehyun, who was trying his best to process what just happened. "Not funny, Kai," he spat. He now had two flashlights to hold onto, flashing them both towards the space where Hueningkai had been. "I'm not falling for any of your pranks again, alright? Come back here."

No response.

"Kai?"

Again, he got no response.

"Oh crap."

Taehyun didn't give himself time to think. Instead, he ran. Hueningkai and him had always set it as an alternative: running, if they accidentally ended up finding a creature that went way against the safety protocols that they gave themselves. But instead of running away from the creature (or whatever it was), he was running towards it like an idiot, a ninnyhammer, Hueningkai would say, running towards it with no slightest clue of what he should do if he ever encountered it. (Was it Steve? Hopefully it wasn't. He didn't know what he'd do if it was). But that wasn't the priority right now. The priority was finding Hueningkai and making sure he wasn't turned into some creature's dinner. No matter if he was a bit of a jerk.

"KAI!"

"TAEHYUN!"

Bingo.

Taehyun followed Hueningkai's voice through the woods, almost slipping through the mud and the moss as he went. And Taehyun was never a runner. Halfway through the run, his thighs were beginning to burn, and the sweat that creased across his skin was beginning to feel like lava. But he couldn't find Hueningkai anywhere! From left to right, ahead and behind, Taehyun couldn't spot anyone's figure with the flashlight. Not even a silhouette. But he was sure that Hueningkai was right there. His screams made sure of it. But where was he? Where exactly was he?

And Taehyun's heart dropped.

Tilting his head up, Taehyun found him. Well, he found them.

"Kai?"

"TAEHYUN!"

Taehyun's lungs were beginning to die on him, but it wasn't because he was physically unfit to be running for that long of a time. It was because Hueningkai was suspended into the air, held by some sort of thing that was too big to be a bird, and too small to be some sort of aerial device, and too dark to be either.

That was it.

That was going to be the fruit of their labor. Some sort of undocumented entity, he supposed? Taehyun was already itching to bring out the journal that was poking into his ribs as he ran. Gosh, he wished it wasn't dragging Hueningkai somewhere to possibly feast on his entrails. But he still needed a closer look at it. A closer observation of it.

Right!

Taehyun pointed both of the flashlights towards it, hoping it was bright enough to give him a clear sketch of what the creature had looked like, what the creature was built like. But instead of a stolen view as Taehyun hoped it would, the creature snapped its neck towards him, like something straight out of a horror movie like The Mendacious or A Place Devoid of Noise, with large, empty sockets for eyes that glowed yellow under the flashlight's beams. It shrieked, shrill and sharp against the ears before it began to turn around and swoop towards Taehyun, letting go of Hueningkai in the process as it flew its figure closer towards the light. It managed to tear through Taehyun's shoulder as he ducked, rushing to catch Hueningkai who ended up crushing their figures together, one on top of the other while the creature continued crying, circling above them like an owl with a few rodents. "Are you okay?" Taehyun asked, wincing as he moved his injured shoulder to touch Hueningkai.

"I'm fine!" Hueningkai cried out, "At least, I think."

"You think?"

"I can't think straight when I'm anxious, okay!"

The oddity screamed again, beginning to fly down on them. But Hueningkai and Taehyun were quicker. Lifting themselves off of their feet, they began running, listening as the screams refused to disappear, almost catching up to them while they refused to turn around.

"Dude! What the heck is that?!"

"I don't know!"

"How do you not know?!"

"I need to read the journal to find out but I can't!"

"Don't you remember something?"

Taehyun tried to think.

Come on, he threatened himself. You've practically sold your soul for this book and you don't remember a single thing out of it? Not even the slightest clue? Overhead, he could hear the creature try to reach out to them again, and he knew that ducking and dodging wouldn't last them the night. He needed to think of something, and quickly!

"It could be a Hide Behind," Taehyun began rambling, trying to remember things off the top of his head. "But it hasn't been seen before and, last time I checked, didn't fly! Same thing as the Kill Billy."

"Hurry up!"

"I am trying!" Taehyun snapped, heart pounding stronger against his ribs as he almost tripped against a branch. The near darkness of the woods wasn't helping their situation either. It was getting harder and harder to see as the exhaustion was close to blurring his eyesight. "Could be a Category Ten Ghost. Won't be so hostile when we aren't doing anything that could endanger it. Could be a Gremloblin. But same as the ghost. Could be anything, really! It could even be a──THAT'S IT."

Taehyun hastily threw their flashlights away, pulling Hueningkai by the arm. Turning a corner, Taehyun attempted to camouflage themselves behind a couple of trees, hopefully fast enough to outrun (outfly?) the creature that he had managed to identify. (Also fast enough to stop Hueningkai from saying, "Dude!" over how strong Taehyun had grabbed him by the wrist).

"Look."

"I can't see anything!"

"Just shut up and look!"

The oddity hadn't caught up to them, appearing to have found its interest on the discarded flashlights rather than the boys that were sure of being its prey. And its reaction managed to make Taehyun smile. Something of a lopsided one. It hurt to smile while being in a life-or-death situation, you know. But still a smile. "Forest Oddity No.1, at least, that's what I think it's called but nevermind," he waved his disruptions off, leaning against the tree bark as he tried to catch his breath. "The Moth Man. It's supposed to be an urban legend that the Pacific Northwest had made up, but I guess it's real."

"You're telling me that thing almost killed us and it's called Moth Man in there?" Hueningkai rasped. Like Taehyun, he was leaning against one of the trees, trying to squeeze in his breaths as he slid to the ground, legs numb and aching over the marathon they had just run. "It couldn't have been named anything better?"

"It's called the Moth Man because it's attracted to light, as moths usually are." Taehyun tried scrounging through the journal for the specific section about the oddity, but it was no use with no light source to read any of the text inside. "It's approximately 10-feet tall, feeding on stray dogs and hobos. It also supposedly turns into a flurry of 100 moths when you touch it? I don't know. I can't see anything without our flashlights!"

"Here let me help."

"Kai, wait──"

Too late.

Hueningkai took his lighter out and created a spark, strong enough to create a flame. And as easy to think it was small enough to be hidden, it wasn't. With no other light source around the area but the moon, it burned bright, illuminating the place with an orange hue, something that would have looked so mesmerizing, would have looked so beautiful, if they weren't in that situation. Because as quickly as the fire was lit, as quickly the Moth Man began to sound, alerted by the light that they had created. Taehyun managed to slap the lighter out of Hueningkai's hand as he could feel it creep closer towards them, trying to find the light source that had caught its eyes.

"We're through, Taehyun." Hueningkai's voice was getting higher by the second, and Taehyun couldn't help but look at him. "I'm sorry for burning your favorite hat. I didn't even realize it was yours until I saw that stupid pine tree logo on the front."

"You did what?"

"I burned it."

"Is that why it's been lost? How'd you even manage to burn it? With a lighter?"

"A lighter and a bottle of bug spray, actually."

"Say that again?"

"A lighter and a bottle of bug spray."

Taehyun's pulse began to quicken. He had an idea.

"And do you have those things with you right now?"

"Funny thing to mention," Hueningkai awkwardly laughed, rubbing a hand on his nape. "I do."

"Good." Taehyun breathed in. His impulsiveness has been rubbing off on him, again. "Because I have a plan."

A stupid plan, he liked to believe. A dangerous one, too. Hueningkai didn't even need to hear the rest of it to confirm, but it was the only chance that they got on defeating that thing. Who knows, they might have been able to edit the entries in the journal, finally able to note down a weakness on something that didn't have one. (And future ones if they're willing!) And although the turnabout has been everything that they never wanted, it seemed they wanted to try. Taking only a bit of luck, a bit of skill, and a whole lot of stupidity.

"It's now or never."

Hueningkai nodded and Taehyun set the plan in action.

"Hey, Moth Man!"

Taehyun leapt out of his hiding place, hearing the Moth Man screech at his visibility. He couldn't say the same thing about it, though. All he could see was the bare silhouette of trees and the undeniable, lurking shadow of the creature, creeping its way towards him in an unsettling matter. And in a second, Taehyun felt it, digging its claws into his shoulders. Taehyun winced as the wound in his shoulder was torn through again. Not enough to tear off his flesh, luckily. But enough to cause scarring. Lots and lots of scarring. But Taehyun's fits of pain were replaced by bewilderment as he felt his feet being lifted off from the ground. The Moth Man was taking off, again. And if Taehyun ever dreamed of flying, this wasn't how he'd imagined it to be.

"Now, Kai!"

"Got it!"

Taehyun shot his hand through the creature, which dissolved into a hurricane of moths at the contact. He was shoved into the ground, dirt inside his eyes and pebbles against his skin as he pushed himself off of the earth. "Now, Kai!" He shouted, attempting to keep the Moth Man from returning back into its original form.

"Hasta la Vista, Bug Man!"

Taehyun ducked as a spray of fire shot towards him.

The moths began hissing, their bodies on fire as Hueningkai never stopped flame-throwing at them with nothing but the lighter and the bug spray. Thank Gosh that those repellents were flammable. It burned through the swarm and brought them all into ashes. It was like the Fourth of July came early for them. The little sparks of torturing those insects becoming a light show for the eyes that they couldn't help but stare at, despite knowing they used to be a strange sort of bug maniac that almost killed them earlier.

"So," Hueningkai voiced, approaching Taehyun and laying a hand on his shoulder, causing him to step back as the boy winced. "Not a scam?"

Taehyun nodded, still in a daze at what had just happened. "Not a scam."

"Remind me to not try to ever wish for an adventure again."

"Who says it's happening again?"

"Do you not want us to go on an adventure again?"

Taehyun laughed, and Hueningkai began to laugh with him. And they laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until they were out of breath. Taehyun didn't need to say anything afterwards. He knew that Hueningkai knew about what his answer was going to be. And so he left himself to sit, to catch his breath for a moment, and to hold the throbbing sensation in his shoulder from the scars he had just gotten over the Moth Man. (And to think about buying new clothes. Because using a bloody, torn one for a part of the summer did not inline with any of his bucket lists for the season).

"Ouch!"

Hueningkai slapped a hand against his arm, hissing before he pulled it away to check on what it was.

"Was it a moth?"

"No," Hueningkai grumbled. "It's a mosquito."

Taehyun nodded.

And for a moment, nothing was said between the both of them, letting them enjoy the glow of the moon and the hum of the forest (and some kind of screaming from some part of it but they didn't need to listen to that). Until Hueningkai suddenly gasped, pulling his arm closer to his eyes. "Something's spelt across my arm," he spoke, narrowing his eyes as he tried to focus on reading the text through the dark, while Taehyun could only raise his eyebrows at such a ridiculous thing to say. What in the world was he doing? "It says: Batch Out For Will, or whatever that means. Dude, what kind of mosquito was that?"

"Ah," Taehyun gasped knowingly. "That was a Soothsquito. They spell out messages about your future, but in typos."

"I'm done." Hueningkai pulled himself up from the ground, dusting everything off of his shorts like they could still be clean after everything. "Let's go home. I have a couple of nachos left in the refrigerator that we could snack on. You know, post-adventure meal? I even have some barbeque sauce if you don't like cheese."

"Yeah, let's go home."

And home they went; where they were able to clean themselves from the blood and the muck and the grime that stuck to their bodies from the adventure, where they were able to eat the nachos that Hueningkai had talked about, just as promised, and where they were able to talk about their crazy encounter with the best. Where Taehyun would listen as Hueningkai babbled on and on about it, editing the passages in the journal to what they had just gone through. And it was home. Everything they ever wanted, away from everything they never wanted. And they could rest easy knowing Gravity Falls was as weird as it was said to be, as crazy, as thrilling, and as frightening as it was said to be. And afterwards, they slept.

They needed more energy for their next adventure, after all.

( oaawz://pii.jv/OJ5x52a )