Novels by steven

The wind roared against the side of the skyscraper, but it was drowned out by the sound of Rose’s jagged, panicked breathing. They were a pathetic sight—the high-powered division lead and the soot-stained IT guy, huddled together on the rooftop, their right hand and left wrist fused by a neon-blue, lemon-scented abomination of chemistry."Gavin, look at me," Rose gasped, her eyes darting between his soot-smeared forehead and their glued-together limbs. "You are not going to move. You are not going to lean. We are going to walk through that door, very slowly, and you are going to let me find a way to get this stuff off your skin.""Boss, I’m literally so sorry," Gavin stammered, his heart doing a frantic, arrhythmic dance against his ribs. "The, uh, structural integrity of the bond is actually pretty high-tier. My bad on the accidental trap. This is, like, peak professional embarrassment.""Professional embarrassment?" Rose’s voice was a tremor of disbelief. She stood up, pulling him w

The office kitchen was a graveyard of abandoned coffee grounds and shattered dreams at 11:00 PM. Gavin stood over the industrial stovetop, his face illuminated by the flickering, sickly yellow glow of the overhead fluorescent light. He had a beaker of industrial-grade superglue in one hand and a bottle of high-acid, lemon-scented floor cleaner in the other."Okay, be careful, Gavin. You are literally playing with fire, no cap," he muttered, his hands trembling as he poured the yellow liquid into the glue. "If this turns into a bomb, I’m literally going to be fired into the sun."The mixture hissed and bubbled, emitting a pungent, citrusy odor that burned his nostrils. He stirred it with a discarded plastic fork, watching as the slurry thickened into a semi-translucent, sticky, glowing blue paste."Yo, that is actually lit," he whispered, his eyes widening. "It’s literally the same color as the spider-bite energy. Maybe the chemistry of my body is just... influencing the world now? Am

The Monday morning light felt like a physical assault, filtered through the high-end blinds of the IT department. Gavin sat at his desk, his back aching and his ego feeling even more bruised than his ribs. He tapped away at his mechanical keyboard, the 'G' and 'H' keys feeling suspiciously sturdy under his fingers. He had spent the entire morning being a literal ghost.Jax spun his chair around, his eyes wide with a mix of pity and confusion. "Bro, you look like you got ran over by a bus. You okay? You’ve been silent as a NPC for three hours, no cap.""I’m just locked in, Jax. Grinding through the tickets," Gavin muttered, not daring to look toward the glass-walled office at the end of the hall."Rose has been staring at your cubicle for twenty minutes, man. It’s giving major 'I’m going to fire you for breathing' vibes. Did you do something? Did she find out about the squirrel costume?""She thinks I’m a coward, Jax. A total L-tier human being who hides in closets while hero stuff hap

The scent of singed polyester was suffocating, a chemical stench that clung to the back of Gavin’s throat like a physical weight. As the small ember on the squirrel tail began to glow with a menacing, orange intensity, Gavin didn't wait for the fire department—or the police—to notice the hero-mascot was about to turn into a bonfire."Abort! Abort mission! This is a total fail state!" Gavin yelped, his voice cracking.He scrambled, his fingers clawing at the synthetic fur. The heat from the lighting rig had fused the foam padding to his skin in several places, but the adrenaline surging through his veins—the same blue, static-charged cocktail of disaster—gave him the strength of a panicked rhino. With a final, desperate jerk, he tore himself free. The mascot head fell to the floor with a hollow thud, and Gavin, panting and covered in black soot, bolted toward the nearest door: a heavy, unmarked service entrance labeled Janitorial.He slammed the door shut, locking it with a trembling h

"Understood, Boss. I will be the most majestic blue bear this city has ever seen. Fr fr," Gavin muttered, his voice muffled by the thick, synthetic fur of the mascot head he was already clutching under his arm.Rose offered him a tight, elegant smile, though her eyes betrayed a glimmer of genuine worry. "Just stay in character, Gavin. The donors are high-profile, and if you start doing your weird 'desk-sliding' maneuvers, you’re fired. No cap.""Bet. I’ll be the most chill mascot you’ve ever seen. Pure professional vibes," Gavin promised, turning toward the cramped dressing room tucked behind the grand ballroom stage.He shimmied into the suit. It was a nightmare of polyester and foam, smelling faintly of stale dryer sheets and previous years of corporate neglect. The head was heavy, featuring a giant, toothy squirrel grin that made it impossible to see anything but a narrow, foggy sliver of the ballroom floor."Bruh," he whispered to himself, struggling to adjust his vision. "I look

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Gavin muttered to the ceiling fan spinning three inches from his nose. "This is highkey an L. Why am I literally gravity-defying right now? Is the simulation glitched?"He blinked, staring down at his bedroom floor. His bed was directly below him, a messy pile of sheets looking incredibly far away. His pajama top and pants were stuck flat against the white plaster ceiling, holding his entire body weight without a single sign of letting go."Jax! Yo, Jax, pick up!" Gavin yelled, desperately nose-tapping the speakerphone icon on his cell, which he had managed to wedge between his chin and collarbone. "I am literally cooked, bro! On god!""Gavin? Bro, why are you screaming? It is literally seven in the morning," Jax’s sleepy voice crackled through the phone."I am currently sticking to my ceiling like a discount Peter Parker! I can't get down, fr fr!""Bruh, you are capping so hard right now. Send a pic or it didn't happen.""I can't take a selfie! My