Modern Family: New Life-Chapter 79: The first punishment

The video continued. Andrew documented everything from the moment they left the house, and along the way, Steve joined them—drunker than all of them.

"Come on, Hobbits! The fate of the world is in our hands!" Howard cheered in the video, stumbling down the sidewalk.

"Yeah! Let's defeat Voldemort!" Steve shouted, raising a fist in the air.

"Steve, you idiot, it's Sauron," Andrew corrected, slurring his words as he walked.

The video fast-forwarded, showing their "adventure" through the city in the middle of the night. The camera shook violently as Andrew tried to keep it focused on his friends, who were shouting nonsense and wandering aimlessly.

At one point, they arrived at a dark and rarely traveled alley in Los Angeles, illuminated only by the dim light of a flickering streetlamp. Two men were there, leaning against the wall, looking rather dangerous.

"Orcs!" Howard exclaimed, pointing at them dramatically.

The men lifted their heads, glaring at them for the interruption. "What the fuck did you just say, asshole?"

Instead of seeing this as a sign of danger, the four of them prepared for a "battle."

"Saruman is teaching the orcs bad words..." Howard said with a slight smile as he grabbed a trash can lid to use as a shield.

Andrew handed the camera to Leonard, his expression a bit more serious. He recognized these weren't orcs, but he still wasn't taking the situation too seriously.

One of the men, irritated by the interruption and even more by Howard's comment, stepped forward menacingly. "What the fuck is wrong with these kids?"

The guy threw a punch straight at Andrew, but what he didn't know was that—even drunk—Andrew was still an athletic prodigy with impeccable reflexes.

With a quick movement, he dodged the punch by tilting his head slightly. Before the thug could react, Andrew grabbed his wrist and, with a swift turn, used his own momentum against him.

The guy flew through the air and landed flat on his back with a heavy thud.

The other guy hesitated for a moment, looking at his fallen companion and then at Andrew, who was now on guard, waiting for him.

'What the hell is up with this kid?' the second guy thought, feeling a chill run down his spine as he saw Andrew's eyes locked onto him. This kid hadn't even said a word—unlike his three friends, who kept spouting nonsense about orcs.

The thug on the ground growled in anger as he slowly pushed himself up. His hand slid toward his pocket, and with a quick motion, he pulled out a knife.

But Andrew was already in action.

Taking advantage of the fact that the man was still on the ground, he delivered a precise kick to his hand.

A sharp crack echoed in the air as Andrew's foot struck the thug's fingers with force.

"AHH, shit!" the guy screamed, dropping the weapon from the pain. The knife flew several feet away, skidding across the sidewalk.

The other man watched the scene with wide eyes, swallowed hard, and without saying another word, helped his partner to his feet. Both quickly retreated, muttering curses under their breath.

In the present, Leonard and Howard stared at Andrew with expressions of awe and relief.

"Good thing you were with us, because otherwise, we'd be so screwed," Leonard said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, man. Even drunk, your reflexes are insane," Howard added, still impressed by what they had just witnessed.

Andrew just shrugged, not really knowing what to say.

The group's decisions didn't improve after that. At one point, Howard in the video mistook a man curled up on a piece of cardboard for Gollum. He walked up to him and whispered, "My preciousss," only to have the homeless man wake up startled and furious, chasing all four of them down the street while shouting threats and insults.

"I can't believe we pissed off a homeless guy at three in the morning," Leonard muttered, running a hand down his face.

At one point, Howard got separated from the group. Andrew, Leonard, and Steve kept walking through what appeared to be a park. The camera focused on a small elevated lookout with a low railing.

Suddenly, Steve clumsily climbed onto the ledge, wobbling slightly as he looked down.

"I can't go on! The journey to Mordor is too much for me..." Steve exclaimed dramatically.

"Don't do anything stupid, Steve," Leonard said, raising a hand to try and calm him.

"Don't mess with me," Steve muttered, moving his arms as if he were about to jump. "I can't take it anymore..."

"Steve, get down from there, or you're going to get hurt," Leonard continued, stepping forward.

"Nothing hurts Steve... I am invisible!" Steve declared before bursting into a mocking laugh.

"It's invincible, you idiot. And you're not. You're just a sick bastard. Get down from there or you're going to kill yourself," Andrew said, frowning.

Steve looked at them and said, "What's the point? I'll die anyway at the hands of the filthy orcs!"

And without another word, he jumped.

The camera jerked violently as Leonard and Andrew ran to the ledge, their hearts in their throats. They leaned over, only to see Steve lying on the grass, staring at the sky with his eyes closed and a peaceful expression. He had fallen asleep.

"Did you guys seriously think Steve was on some kind of cliff?" Present-day Howard asked with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up. You thought a homeless guy was freaking Gollum," Leonard snapped, uncharacteristically irritated.

In the video Leonard and Andrew decided to leave Steve sleeping there, promising to come back after finding Howard, who had gotten lost.

However, they never came back and completely forgot about him. With Howard half-asleep, they took him home, having to climb through his bedroom window using parkour.

But Andrew and Leonard were also exhausted and ended up falling asleep in Howard's room, marking the end of the video.

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"Well... this video explains a lot. Definitely a memorable night... though not necessarily for the best reasons," Howard commented after a few seconds of silence.

"Oh, really? Yeah, fantastic night. We acted like complete idiots, were fatphobic, I complained about my girlfriend and cheated on her, we harassed a homeless guy we mistook for Gollum, nearly got stabbed by drug addicts we thought were orcs... and we left Steve lying in a park without even realizing it!" Leonard said sarcastically, his tone filled with irritation.

The three of them fell silent until Andrew stood up from his chair. "This is why I don't go to parties..." he muttered with a grimace.

He was never good with alcohol. He knew that from experiences in his past life, and he never really liked drinking anyway—though most people didn't actually like alcohol itself, they just liked being drunk.

Andrew checked his phone, relieved that he hadn't lost it, only to see a ton of missed calls from his parents, Aunt Claire, and almost his entire family. Pippa had also called him multiple times.

'That's not a good sign,' he thought as he walked toward the open window.

"Where are you going?" Howard asked.

"I'm going to find Steve and take him home," Andrew replied, climbing out the window. It was nine in the morning, and Steve was probably still there sleeping.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Howard asked, and Leonard nodded in agreement.

"No need, I got it. See you at school," Andrew said, waving goodbye. He could already predict a major punishment coming his way.

Leonard and Howard thought the same. Their parents would ground them for sure—they had been missing for seven hours and never came home. Well, Howard had made it back, but his mom probably had no idea he was here.

After Andrew left, Howard glanced at Leonard, who was still staring at his phone with a grim expression.

"Relax, man. I'll delete the video. Lauren won't find out," Howard said, patting his shoulder.

"It's too late. She knows," Leonard muttered, showing him his phone screen.

"Oh, shit."

...

It was past ten in the morning, and Andrew was sitting on a park bench, talking to Pippa on the phone.

He had already woken Steve up and, after a brief explanation, Steve had gone home on his own. That left Andrew enjoying the crisp morning air in the park.

He took the opportunity to call Pippa to let her know he was okay and apologize for ditching her the night before, making her worry when she had no idea where he'd been for hours.

"Andrew, you had me so worried. If it hadn't been for that message... If you hadn't at least replied, your whole family and mine would be out looking for you. Same goes for those other two idiots," Pippa sighed. By two idiots, she meant Leonard and Howard.

Thankfully, drunk Andrew had shown some good judgment and sent Pippa a message during his city adventure, letting her know he was fine—even if he hadn't mentioned where he was.

"I'm really sorry..." Andrew said, knowing he had no excuse.

"It's fine..." Pippa said after a brief silence. "By the way, what did you guys do after leaving the house?" she asked, both curious and concerned.

Andrew hesitated for a moment but decided to tell her the whole truth in a summarized version.

Pippa listened silently, never interrupting. But when he finished, she let out a deep sigh.

"You guys are a danger... not just to yourselves, but to everyone else too. Why did it sound like you were in a simulation?" she added, shaking her head.

"Aren't you going to scold me?" Andrew asked, a little surprised by her reaction. He had expected Pippa to tell him how dangerous it was and give him a lecture.

"It's not that I'm not worried. But luckily, you were there. Otherwise, Leonard and the other two could have gotten hurt," Pippa said, knowing her boyfriend's physical abilities better than anyone.

"What about your parents?" Pippa asked.

"I already told them I'll be home soon. They're probably calling me right now, but I'm talking to you," Andrew replied.

"Oh, they seem calmer than I expected. You do know you're screwed, right?" Pippa asked, a mix of amusement and concern in her voice.

"I know..." Andrew sighed. "I already know they're going to punish me. But at least before that, I want to spend some time talking to my girlfriend... before they ground me and don't let me see you for a while."

After finishing his call with Pippa, Andrew headed home.

There, he was met with expressions on Mitchell and Cam's faces that he had never seen before. They were furious. Especially Mitchell.

They gave him a long lecture, and his first official punishment arrived: two weeks without seeing his friends or girlfriend. He couldn't play on his gaming console, and his computer was only allowed for his YouTube channels.

Andrew also found out that Haley had been punished by Claire for coming home drunk. His cousin got the same two-week punishment, even though she hadn't done anything as dangerous as Andrew.

Of course, that was because Andrew conveniently left out the part where he had wandered around Los Angeles in the middle of the night, faced off against two armed men with knives, messed with vagrants, and more.

He knew that if he had told the whole truth, the punishment would have been much harsher, and his parents would have been way more worried. Instead, he chose to simplify the story, telling them he had left the party with Leonard and Howard and walked back to Howard's house.

And just like that, Andrew earned the first official punishment of his life.

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