Chapter 52: Betrayal Never Comes From Your Enemies

Charlotte gasped so hard it was a miracle she didn’t inhale a fly.

"You what?! You really pushed him off?!"

"Oh, of course." Yelena said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I didn’t want to waste time on coddling or comfort. I needed to make a point."

Charlotte stared in awe. "So what happened?! What happened next?!"

Mika groaned, arms crossed, voice dry.

"What do you think happened? I fell. I screamed, I cried, I flailed like a puppet with broken strings, and she just watched, just floated there with that creepy smile on her face, like she was enjoying it."

Yelena snorted. "I was supervising."

"I thought I was going to die!" Mika snapped. "She didn’t do a damn thing! I called out to her like a hundred times, and she just kept watching me fall!"

Charlotte’s mouth was hanging open in horror. "You didn’t help him at all?!"

"Oh, she helped." Mika snapped. "At the last possible second. Just when I thought I was going to become a pancake on the ground, she swooped in and grabbed me like it was all part of the plan."

Yelena shrugged, totally unfazed. "Well, it was part of the plan. You needed to know there was nothing to fear. Clearly, you turned out just fine."

"Turned out fine?!" Mika exclaimed. "I couldn’t speak properly for three days! I was in shock! My legs were shaking so much I couldn’t even walk without wobbling!"

Charlotte was in full-on giggle mode, clutching her stomach. "Oh my god! Why don’t I remember any of that?!!"

Yelena only laughed harder, not even trying to hide her amusement. "Oh, you think that’s bad? That’s not even the best part."

She leaned in secretively, as though about to deliver the punchline of a lifelong joke. "When I finally caught him and brought him back up, I noticed something."

Mika’s eyes widened. "No. No. Don’t."

Yelena grinned evily. "There was a stain. On his trousers."

Charlotte blinked. "Wait, wait, you mean—?"

"Yep." Yelena nodded. "He was so scared, he peed his pants...Just a little. But enough to make a point."

"No!" Charlotte screeched with laughter, pointing at Mika. "Oh my god, you peed yourself?! Mika?! The big, serious, always calm Mika?!"

Mika groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands. "This is so unfair. Make fun of the guy with trauma, why don’t you."

Yelena wiped a tear from her eye from laughing too hard. "Hey, trauma or not, it was hilarious. You were absolutely terrified, and it was adorable. I bet you were still peeing your pants as I caught you and who knows which poor fellow below got splashed by your ’accident’."

Charlotte wheezed between fits of laughter. "I can’t believe this! You, peed, your pants! I’ve got to tell the others as well! They won’t let this matter die down!"

"Great." Mika muttered as he looked away in embarrassment. "Next time I’m about to die, I’ll make sure to keep my bladder in check just so no one has new material to mock me for ten years straight."

Yelena saw him pout, clearly wounded by the merciless teasing, and her expression immediately softened. Letting out a guilty sigh, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Mika in a warm hug, her voice gentler this time.

"Sorry, sorry." She murmured, rubbing his back soothingly. "I didn’t think it still meant so much to you. I wasn’t trying to make fun of your trauma, sweetheart...I really wasn’t."

"I just...I had to teach you, you know? That even if you fell from the sword, even if you were in the sky with nothing but the wind below your feet...I’d be there. I’d always catch you."

She looked up at him, her brows furrowed apologetically.

"It was the only way I could think of back then to help you get over it...I really didn’t mean to scare you so badly. I’m sorry for pushing you off, truly."

Charlotte too, who had been stifling her laughter but feeling a little bad nonetheless, let out a sheepish laugh and joined in, hugging Mika from the other side.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry too, Mika." She said, resting her cheek against his shoulder. "I wasn’t trying to be mean, I swear. I just...I couldn’t help it."

"You always act like nothing fazes you, like you’re the calmest, most stoic guy around, so hearing that you were once a scared little noodle who peed his pants just makes you feel more human."

She tilted her head up to look at him, smiling brightly.

"And honestly? I think it’s good. That’s called character development!" She said proudly, as if she had written his story herself. "You went from a kid terrified of flying swords to someone who’ll now jump into danger like it’s a puddle."

"It’s kind of scary, how fearless you are now, but also...it’s cool. You’ve grown. And you’re stronger for it."

Mika let out a slow breath, closing his eyes for a moment.

"...Thanks."

He muttered. He hadn’t expected comfort after being ruthlessly roasted, but here it was, warm arms wrapped around him, soft voices trying to make up for harsh words.

And he thought to himself, ’No matter how much they tease me, they’re still my family...They care. They stick around. That’s what really matters.’

He opened his mouth, just about to say those words out loud, to thank them properly. But before he could get even a syllable out, Yelena suddenly snorted.

A tiny giggle escaped her lips...Then another.

And before long, she was shaking against him with laughter she was trying to hold in.

"...What?" Mika asked warily, eye twitching.

Yelena grinned, biting her lip. "I was going to stay quiet, but I just...I can’t help it."

Charlotte perked up immediately. "What? What is it?"

Yelena turned her head slightly to hide her giggle behind her hand. "It’s just...when I was trying to clean his trousers back then and while doing so..."

"Yelena—" Mika warned, but she kept going.

"...I couldn’t stop laughing! I kept scrubbing them and then remembering how he looked falling from the sky, flailing like a little dumpling, and just, every time I thought I was done giggling, I’d look at the stain and start all over again."

Charlotte broke into a loud laugh, but Yelena wasn’t finished.

"And, and the best part?" She said, grinning wickedly now. "I actually took a photo. I needed to preserve that moment, okay? It was a milestone in parenting."

Charlotte’s eyes lit up with manic delight.

"Wait! You mean, you have a photo?! Of Mika’s pants, the actual pee stain photo?!"

Yelena nodded, proud as ever.

"Absolutely. I still have it. I treasure it to this day. I keep it safer than my artifacts I got from my rift days."

"Everyone else’s pictures are out on the wall, but that one? It’s in a vault. Literal, magical vault. For maximum security."

Charlotte squealed. "Show me! I want to see Mika’s pee-pants! I need to see it!"

"I’ll bring it out when we get home." Yelena said sweetly. "We’ll have a little slideshow."

Mika’s face had gone blank. Completely expressionless. Both of them still clung to him in a so-called ’comforting’ hug, but the betrayal was so thick he could taste it.

"I can’t believe I almost said thank you..."

He muttered to himself. Then, louder he exclaimed saying,

"You traitors! This is why betrayal never comes from enemies, it comes from the people closest to you...The ones hugging you while laughing at your trauma. I know I shouldn’t have gone back with you two."

"Aww, don’t be like that. It’s a happy memory now."

Yelena said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek to comfort him.

"Yeah, you’ve grown so much. And besides, you were probably kinda cute as a terrified pee-pee boy, so I can’t wait to see the pictures of you then." Charlotte giggled again.

"I hate everything..."

Mika said with a tired look in his eyes like he worked at a black company, as the two of them continued to cackle and cling to him like koalas.