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It’s a wet day. It may be mid-July, but ultimately the weather decides to pull in the cumulonimbus clouds overcast and pour like there’s no tomorrow. Nevertheless, Peter enjoys what many would consider a dreary day and props open his room window, having already accounted for which way the rain’s slanted and directed towards. He had pushed his desk-seat over to the tight-fit corner, plopping himself down the minute Fon allowed him some reprieve from his training once thunder cracked across the sky and they could no longer continue.
Peter allows himself to take in the earthy smell of petrichor and to feel the slight spray of water against his face when the wind blows slightly in his direction. Fon’s made himself comfortable on his lap, and Lichi is on the top part of Peter’s bunk bed, playing around with a stuffed teddy bear he’d gifted her upon their initial introduction.
Fon’s making him recite some well-known Chinese poems in Mandarin and Peter dutifully complies. The soft lull of Peter’s voice, alongside the constant pattering of rain against the asphalt down below, makes for a peaceful setting. Their bond hums and Peter picks up the overall mood of his Storm: it’s content, with a hint of joy and wistfulness finally fulfilled. While Peter still feels the emptiness of five other pieces of a puzzle not yet slotted, he can safely say, with utmost certainty, that even if Fon is all he’ll ever have, then he’d still be satisfied with the current (and only) slotted puzzle piece he has found.
Lichi yawns and the small red-faced white monkey swings down from her perch from Peter’s bunk bed and climbs her way up Peter’s chair to settle on his head. She yawns again and Peter reaches up to softly tap her head down to rest.
Fon continues to make Peter recite poems, corrects him when needed with pronunciation, and allows the kid to go at his own pace. He’s not sure how long they’re all sitting in the corner of his room, with the rain continuing its cleansing of the city, but eventually, Peter nods off with the gentle hum of his own voice and Fon’s warmth.
When Peter awakens, there’s a blanket thrown over his form, and Lichi had at one point moved from his head to the juncture between his neck and shoulders, clinging to his clothing. It’s still wet out, but it’s more of a light spray of water than the pouring it’d been while Peter had been awake. The window is also closed and it has darkened considerably outside. The brunet pets the monkey and laughs when Lichi makes a small noise of protest, before opening her maw up wide in a loud yawn.
Peter makes her hop onto his arm before standing and extending his arm upwards towards his top bed. Lichi makes a soft keening sound before bounding off and tackling the teddy bear. He stretches and winces at the cracks his body makes, especially at the crick on his neck.
“You hungry?” Peter asks Lichi after pushing his chair back to his desk. The monkey stops rolling around with the teddy bear and cocks her head this way and that, before bounding over to Peter and nodding her head. “Want a mango?”
Lichi nods once again. Peter allows her to climb back down his arm and settle on his right shoulder, and then bounds out of his room in search of much-wanted food.
His Aunt hums as he and Lichi start to search through the kitchen, and the white monkey makes a sharp whoop of joy when she finds the fruit bowl sitting on the corner of the countertop. She grabs the large fruit in her small hands and hops over to Peter who’s currently scouring the freezer for ice cream. He makes a dejected sound at coming up empty-handed.
“Uncle Ben,” says Peter. “Could we do a quick ice cream run?”
His uncle gives him an affirmative thumbs up from his position on the couch. His aunt and uncle are both cozied up against one another. “In a minute or so, we’re almost done with this episode.”
Peter makes a face at the TV but sits next to his aunt nevertheless. It’s Grey’s Anatomy and it’s not that he had anything against the show, it’s just that Murphy’s Law applied to everything in it. Peter watches with disinterest before whistling sharply, and Lichi hops her way to him, bits of mango clinging to her. She chirps happily as Peter wipes her off with his sleeve, and he smiles grandly before holding out his index fingers to her. Lichi gives a happy coo and sets out to play Patty Cake with him. She gurgles the sounds of the song as he softly whispers the words out. They continue doing so, speeding up each round until Peter messes up and Lichi cackles at him.
Peter blows a raspberry at her and the small Japanese Macaque copies him, pulling the skin beneath her eye down for good measure. Good God, why did she have to pick up Peter’s mannerisms?
Right, they ganged up on Fon, that’s why. Heh.
Speaking of Fon, where is his Storm?
Peter is about to voice that question when Uncle Ben speaks up, “Alright, kiddo, let’s go!”
Lichi scrambles her way up to perch on Peter’s head as he moves to stand and he walks towards their apartment foyer. His aunt kisses him on the forehead as he shrugs on a rain poncho and boots.
Lichi makes an impatient noise until she receives a kiss from Aunt May as well, cooing when it is all said and done.
His uncle pats his hands on his pockets, double-checking that he has everything, and Peter offers him a black umbrella once he kisses his aunt goodbye. Peter makes sure he has Fon’s gift with him as he grabs the smaller, red-and-gold Iron Man umbrella for himself and Lichi and then they’re off.
Peter and Uncle Ben walk in amiable silence for the first two blocks, seeing as the nearest grocery store is about a seven-block walk. There are some people milling about in various states of dampness, and some who are downright soaked to the bone with faces contorted in discontent. It’s pretty funny, actually, when some take a double-take at seeing Lichi peeking out from behind his hood, and Peter offers them a cheeky wave and smile, which Lichi copies. Uncle Ben shakes his head at their antics, but he’s smiling all the same.
At the beginning of the fourth block towards the grocery store, the rain, which had only been a fine mist beforehand, begins to come down heavier. Peter and his uncle open their umbrellas and they continue to trudge on down.
“All this for ice-cream, kiddo?”
Peter turns his head to face his uncle, and positively beams . “Ice-cream is always worth the hassle. Right, Lichi?”
Lichi gurgles an affirmative.
“You’ve got her wrapped around your finger.” Uncle Ben bemoans, throwing his head back for dramatics. Some passersby throw them speculative glances before shaking their heads and continuing on their way. Gotta love the constant weirdness of New York City.
“Nah,” denies Peter, “we’re just, you know?” Peter grins and holds up two fingers before bringing them together. “Partners in crime.”
He innocently whistles as his uncle laments, quite loudly. “ That’s worse! ”
They scurry into the grocery store as soon as it’s in view, and Peter makes a beeline for the frozen section, leaving his uncle to lag behind. Peter contemplates between the black cherry with chocolate bits and the cookies and cream. Eventually, Lichi chooses the flavor for him, and they go with the black cherry with chocolate bits. With the ice-cream on hand, Lichi points towards the produce section. There, she selects a rather large orange that has her dancing around in glee.
Peter’s giggles stop when Lichi slows her dancing and her fur goes on end. She snarls at someone behind him, and Peter whirls around, grabbing his kubotan from his pocket to swipe at the stranger. The stranger, a large — definite mafia-looking — man growls when Peter’s kubotan slices across his chest.
The man brings out a gun.
Peter’s eyes twitch. “Bringing a gun to a melee fight? How sad.”
The man shoots and the screaming starts with people around them yelling for help as they duck. Peter does his best job to keep the man’s focus on him, all while dodging bullets being rained on him. Peter can feel his flames wanting to arise, to set hell aflame with their fury. But Peter tells them ‘not yet.’
His flames don’t like it, but they settle just beneath his skin, ready to be called at a moment’s notice. Eventually, Stupid Mafia Man runs out of bullets and Peter surges forward. He side-steps the Stupid Mafia Man’s attack and kicks the back of his knees. The Stupid Mafia Man stumbles forward, a curse at the tip of his tongue, but then Peter pushes forward his arms, grabbing his stupid face and the man stops dead in his tracks when Peter smiles angelically up at him.
“Wha—?”
Peter’s smile turns into a truly terrifying grin and he brings the man’s head down to meet his knee. There’s a crunch of a broken nose and the Stupid Mafia Man shrieks in pain. Feeling as if he toyed with the man enough, Peter used the bluntest end of his kubotan to knock him in the temple. Stupid Mafia Man crumples down. Peter: 1, Stupid Mafia Man: 0.
Another mafia goon rounds the corner and Peter runs toward her; Fon’s lessons on feminism and denying misogyny and sexism come to mind as Peter deals with her. He’s as ruthless as he was with Stupid Mafia Man, for all genders deserve respect where it is given, but on the other hand, all genders deserve to have their asses kicked as well. Her eyes narrow and she brings out a rather large knife — a dagger, and coats it with Lighting flames. By now, the whole store is deserted, and vaguely Peter can hear a scuffle happening nearby, along with the sound of gunshots.
Peter and Mafia Lady clash, his kubotan against her rather impressive dagger. Peter’s small, but he makes up for it by being fast and getting into her immediate space. Unfortunately, Peter’s never had an interaction with a Flame-active Lightning before, and finds his attacks rather useless against her hardened skin.
She grins, believing herself to be triumphant. “It’s no use, Little Sky,” and then she flares her Flames, pressing down on Peter.
Peter blinks, feeling a prod at his restless Sky Flames, and flares his own with conviction and a touch of spite.
Give her hell, Peter tells his Flames. They roar as they surge forward, pushing the woman’s Flames back until she breaks down, a pained gasp barely choking itself out from her lips. Rejection is a powerful thing, Fon taught Peter just that. It was a miracle that Peter has strong enough Flames to sustain an Arcobaleno at his age, whereas people five-times his age have failed. Only one other than Peter has ever been successful in Harmonizing with an Arcobaleno.
The Mafia Lady screams in agonizing pain and falls, twitching on the floor.
Lichi jumps from ruminating the Stupid Mafia Man’s pockets, and she gleefully presents him with a wallet with wadded cash and a black business card with the name ‘Estraneo’ in red loopy cursive. Peter narrows his eyes, and tells himself to remember to ask Fon about this new development. Maybe a trip to Italy wouldn’t be disproportionate for the matter at hand. Goodness knows his aunt and uncle need the vacation sometime soon.
Soon, Peter ventures toward the sound of dwindling gunshots and watches as the final goon falls. A child in an expensive suit doesn’t make Peter do a double-take, but rather the green pistol aimed at his head does.
Peter waves and Lichi does the same from his left shoulder, cackling the whole while.
“Ciaossu,” says the toddler with the fedora and green pistol. “ Peter .”
He smiles. “Ciaossu, Reborn.”