Infinity stones to your universe

“Oops! Did I frighten you, Mr Scarypants?”, Vansh read on the note after he had finally calmed down. The blast that sounded shook him where he stood but there was no damage visible. He checked his surroundings, patted his body once and then again, just to make sure and only after did he reach for the note with trembling hands.

He laughed awkwardly as he read the postscript, “PS – They were sound crackers”

He could imagine the writer laughing at his reaction while they planned this little trick. He laughed at himself and looked around, trying to find if somebody had noticed him being a scary baby. He was the boss, after all, he cannot act like a frightened little fool.

When satisfied that there indeed was no audience to his embarrassing plight, his curiosity rose.

With excitement bubbling in his stomach, he reached for the box that looked suspiciously like a box of watch. He opened the blue velvet box to find the same piece of fabric with red letters drawn over it, “All I ask is for your time”

He smiled as he caressed the fabric and placed it in his pocket with the rest. It was a surprisingly sweet gesture, given the scare they'd given him just a moment ago.

Under the cloth lay a beautiful silver watch shining in the harsh lighting of the parking – classy, intricately designed and the best accessory for his everyday suits. He immediately loved it. The watch on his wrist now seemed bleak and boring and he wanted to get rid of it.

He exchanged the watch on his left wrist with the new one and smiled at how good it looked. The perfect watch.

“Whoever chose it definitely has good taste”, he thought aloud as he sat in his car and started the ignition. As his foot pressed on the accelerator, the irritating sound of plastic rang in his car. Trying to find where it arrived from, he ducked low and saw used plastic bags scattered on the pedal.

Rolling his eyes, he stared at the trash, forcing it to move away from the pedal purely by will. He felt like a king wearing this watch and how he had to pick up trash with this dial shining condescendingly at him. He shook his head when he thought that. It was time he learned some humility.

He started collecting the trash one by one when his fingers felt the same fabric in the middle. He immediately pulled it out and checked to see if there was any gift hidden amidst the plastics but found none. Slightly disappointed (Okay, he was getting greedy), but still eager to find out the words of this note, he started reading the scrawled red words.

“Hoping to always find you accelerating towards me and never away from me”, said the note and he couldn’t help but ‘aww’ at the words. They were sweet though it felt a little creepy because of the anonymous card. If only he knew who the person was, maybe he could react a little better. He continued reading, “PS – Tu casa”

Thank god he knew enough of Spanish to understand what this meant without having to google it. Your place, it said, so whoever this person was, she was waiting for me at my place. He didn’t know why he used the pronoun ‘she’, for some reason he just felt like it was a ‘she’.

Barely containing his curiosity, he sped towards his home. He was going to meet this person. Ten minutes into knowing her, and he already loved her and wanted to know more about this mysterious person.

‘Is this cheating? Is thinking of love towards another considered cheating? Can it be considered cheating if he didn’t even know the person?’, he thought and before any more questions could pop, the rational side of his brain answered for him.

‘Technically, you two are not together so you CANNOT cheat, at all. For you to cheat you must first be with them, like a boyfriend, you know?’

‘But I promised her forever, so with that point, we are still together. We will always be together’, he countered, pissed at his brain for breaching this topic. Didn’t his brain know that this was sensitive? Insensitive little twat! For a supposedly high IQ, his brain was quite a fool.

He pushed the door open and jumped out of the car as soon as he reached his home. He turned around when he remembered the teddy and quickly grabbing it, started walking towards his front door.

Just as he reached the door, he saw a beautiful little green thing sitting in a white basket with a red ribbon tied over it. He smiled, another gift he thought, as he ran towards it and found that the green thing was a budding neem tree and it was beautiful. A miniature neem tree, cute! He caressed the leaves and inhaled the scent of neem and the freshness it gave.

Moving the huge teddy to his right, he picked up the plant with his other hand to find the same fabric/note under it. With curiosity and excitement shining on his face, he picked up the note and read the scrawled words – ‘Save me in your room - I’m breathing for you and thinking of you’

He somehow managed to pocket the note and carry both his gifts inside his house; however, he couldn’t manage to keep away the smile that kept creeping on his lips and the eagerness bubbling in his movements.

He shut the door behind him and giggled like a spoiled little schoolgirl who just got a boatload of presents. He had always been in the habit of giving things, he loved planning surprises for his friends and family and spoiling them continuously. He loved to see their happy faces and never expected anything in return because their smile made him happy.

But today, he found that being on the receiving end of the surprises felt good too. He felt special, he felt loved and he felt happy – like he could conquer the world.

Whoever planned these little things for him, he loved them. He absolutely totally completely ridiculously loved them. (Unless they were a murderer, of course )And that person, most likely, was waiting for him in his room.

He quickened his steps, counting the tiles until he reached his room when he saw shining bronze glove on the steps. It was beautiful, carved with patterns and six stones. There was a purple stone, a blue one, a green, yellow, red and orange. The stones were mesmerizing and the glove looked like, it looked like an infinity gauntlet from afar.

He ran toward the steps and examined the hallucinated object by pinching him 300 times.

He stared at the hand with wide eyes and then fell on the floor with an exasperated breath. This was amazing, he couldn’t believe it. A stone hand, someone bought me an infinity gauntlet. This was too much for his little heart and he had to take a minute to stable himself. The Marvel fan in him though was jumping and screaming in happiness and itching to touch the fist. He was happy, happier than ever.

After a lot of staring and doubts, he reached for the hand and found a note below it. ‘Can I be the infinity stones to your universe?’, it read and he didn’t know how to respond.

He never thought anything could shut him up from proclaiming his happiness for the newest present, but this did it.

This was a very profound statement, to be someone’s infinity stone was to be everything to them. Infinity stones were the only thing that kept the universe together and running smoothly. With a jerk he realized, this was much deeper than just a friend or a stalker and he didn’t know how he felt about it or what to think of it. So he didn’t. Instead, he grabbed a hold of the hand as well and after pocketing the fabric started walking up the stairs.

He couldn’t believe his eyes, ‘was this real?’, he kept asking himself while his fingers checked the proof in his hands. Yes, this was real, this was very very real.

He was ready to meet the person, almost entirely sure it was someone he hadn’t seen a long time or maybe just Shanaya. She was his best friend after all and probably the only person other than Ansh to know of his long-hidden hooligan-love for Marvel.

Each step he took increased his heartbeat, each step brought him closer to the person who devised this beautiful surprise, each step was one step less to curb his curiosity and though he thought he was ready to find out, he wasn’t ready for what was waiting for him at the other side of the door.

A gasp fell through his lips when he unlocked the door. And the sight inside took his breath away.

He wasn't ready at all.