Chapter Text
“Knock knock.” came a voice from the hall.
“Terry, I’m busy.” was his terse reply.
“Dad, I gotta go out.”
“You’re grounded, remember?”
“I didn’t start the fight!” his son whined.
“I’ll hear all about it when we meet with your counselor. Again.” Warren said. He couldn’t be interrupted now, he had to figure these files out, but the dismissal only served to rile Terry up.
“Mom would hear me out!” the boy sniped.
“You’re not living with your mom.” he said, voice tight with impatience. What Harry had given him at work was dangerous, he didn’t have time right now for-
“Don’t remind me!” yelled Terry, slamming a fist against the wall.
“That’s your problem right there!” snapped Warren, rising from his chair. “You can’t control your temper and you’d better if you expect to get anywhere in life.”
“Oh, yeah . I'll be a big success, just like you .” his son scoffed. “I’m bailing.”
“Terry…”
The boy kept walking.
“Terry, wait . Please.”
The boy paused.
Warren took a breath, held it in, released, and tried again.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” he said. Terry stood still.
“I- I’ll hear what you have to say. I shouldn't have brushed you off.” Terry was still there, back turned and shoulders taught, but there, so he forged on. “Right now though, I just need a little time. Something came up for work that’s got me on edge. Why don’t you go wait in your room? I’ll be right up to talk as soon as I’m done.”
His son sighed. “I’ve gotta go meet up with Dana and Chels.”
“Terry, please-”
“You said it yourself, dad. You have work. It’s not like I’m anywhere near as important as that.”
“Terry that’s not true. You know it’s not I just- there’s something… bad going down at Wayne-Powers. Something that could seriously harm a lot of people. It needs to be sorted out. I just need to contact a couple people and let them know, then I’ll come upstairs, okay? Just wait for me to come upstairs, then you can go out.” Warren tried to keep his voice level. Keep the fear he felt out of it, or the fear from turning into anger, but something must have bled through that made Terry think twice, because instead of storming off again he just said “Okay,” and turned towards the stairs. Warren watched him go and hoped he had said the right thing. Terry had already been driven from him once, and the man didn’t want to be the thing that pushed him away again.
--
Terry lay on his bed, glaring at the ceiling in a bored stupor. Why had he stayed? Who knew how long it was gonna take his dad to wrap up. At the rate he usually went, Terry was gonna be stuck here for an hour at least before being rewarded with a painfully awkward talk with his dad. What were they even gonna talk about? Did dad want him to apologize? He wasn’t sorry, so that wasn’t gonna work. Maybe dad would actually listen to him without interrupting for once. Un-slagging-likely, considering the guy couldn’t go two minutes without giving in to the compulsive need to point out all of Terry’s flaws, but a kid could dream.
Terry sighed and rolled over, burying his face in the pillow. Maybe he could take a nap while he waited. Dad had promised to let him go once they talked, after all. If he was asleep then he wouldn’t have to sit here and think about how pissed off he was. Who was he kidding? There was no way he was falling asleep with how pissed off he was. Look at him, second week of school and he’s already getting sent to the principal’s office. Maybe if Nash wasn’t such a dreg and if Terry wasn’t such an idiot then he wouldn’t be stuck in his room on a Friday night waiting to get chewed out by his dad who he had done nothing but disappoint since the sixth grade. Why did he even bother? It was clear to literally everyone that Terry wasn’t gonna get anywhere in life. He was stupid, reckless, had a bad temper, and never shut up- not exactly star employee material. If his dad could just come around and accept that then maybe he’d finally stop nagging Terry about “trying harder” and “doing better” and all that junk. This was him trying as hard as he could! This was his best! But his best sucked and his dad just never listened long enough for Terry to tell him that! All he wanted to do was go out dancing with Dana and Chelsea after a week of hell, but his dad had taken his phone and grounded him so he didn’t even get to do that.
Fist balling up the sheets, Terry rolled over again and resisted the urge to scream. Then he decided slag that and took a nice long breath before screaming it out into his pillow. ‘ There ,’ he thought, ‘ a nice non-violent coping mechanism. Maybe that’ll make dad proud for once .’
And things had been going so nice up until lunch today, too.
Uhg, he needed to get his mind off this. He wanted to call Dana.
Suddenly he shot up out of bed, having remembered that ‘ we have a home phone, I’ll just call her on that!’ And made his way into the hall and towards his dad’s room, where he knew one was set on the nightstand. As he passed by the stairway though, he heard a heavy ‘thump’ coming from the first floor. He paused but didn’t hear anything for a moment and was about to continue on when there came a sound that made his heart stutter to a stop and his blood turn to ice- laser fire.
But that- that couldn’t be right. He must have misheard that. His dad didn’t own any guns and had said he was looking into something bad, so maybe he was just watching a video with las-fire in it. That had to be it. He must have misheard that. It was just a recording that sounded… a lot like the real thing, if a round were to be let off in the office just down the stairs. He must have misheard that. He must have misheard that he must have .
Phone forgotten and fear roiling in his gut, Terry crept down the stairs as quietly as he could. Which was pretty quiet, considering all the sneaking out he had done. He was suddenly grateful for the practice. The only light on downstairs was the foyer light which illuminated his path to the open door of his dad’s office. Heart pounding, he peeked into the room and couldn’t help but let out a gasp of terror at what he saw.
His dad lay on the ground, motionless. There was a figure standing over him, silhouetted by the glow of the computer screen. The figure had something held in their hand- it flashed and-
--
Matt woke to the sound of his door swishing open. He squinted at the light coming from the hallway but sat up when he saw his mom. She had gotten a call right before his bedtime that had made her scared. Really scared. He hadn’t ever seen her look that scared before, and it made him scared. The feeling only got worse when she said she had to go out and wouldn’t tell him where. She got Mr. Ishikawa from next door to come and watch him before hurrying out. Mr. Ishikawa was nice and played a couple of games with him to make him feel better before tucking him into bed. That was at nine. Mom usually put him to bed at eight-thirty, but Mr. Ishikawa said being babysat was a special occasion, so they could have a little fun. Now the clock read one AM and his mom was trudging into his bedroom looking more worn and scared than when she left.
“Mom?” he called, rubbing his eyes to clear the blurriness. She didn’t say anything, though. Just sat down at the edge of his bed, gathered him into her arms, and took a shaky breath in.
Then she started crying.
“Mom?” he said, voiced raising in alarm as he tried to pull back to look at her face. She only held him tighter and cried harder. Now he was really freaking out. “Mom? Mommy? What’s wrong, mommy? What’s wrong?”
She made a sound like she was trying to say something, but it quickly turned into another sob as she shook her head and started petting his hair.
They stayed like that for a long time.
When he woke up again, bright mid-morning sunlight was peeking through the blinds and he could hear voices coming from the front of the apartment. He climbed out of bed and grabbed his favorite stuffed dolphin, Fluffy, before shuffling out to the kitchen where he found mom at the table with her head on Mr. Ishikawa’s shoulder. She sat up when she saw him. She was wearing the same clothes from last night. Her eyes were red and puffy and she wiped her nose before giving him a weak smile that she dropped almost immediately.
“Mommy?”
“Hi, baby. Could you come here?” she said, reaching out to him. He went over and let her pull him into her lap again. Mr. Ishikawa sent him a smile that was gentle and sad. It looked like he had been crying too.
“Mom? What happened? Why are you so sad?” he asked, clutching Fluffy to his chest. He had never seen his mom like this, it was really scaring him and it made him sad. He didn’t want her to be scared or sad. She sniffled and shivered a little bit. Mr. Ishikawa put a steadying hand on her shoulder.
“Matty, baby…”
Mr. Ishikawa’s hand squeezed his mom’s shoulder. “Do you want me to do it, Mary?” he asked quietly. Mom shook her head no.
“There was… an incident. Last night. At your father’s place.”
Matt waited for her to continue, but prompted with a small “Uh-huh?” when the pause went on too long. Even if he wasn’t sure he wanted her to continue. This was bad. It had to be bad, the way his mom was acting. What had happened at his dad’s place? Had dad been hurt? Was he okay? He knew his mom and dad didn’t get along anymore, but they also didn’t hate each other. He knew kids whose parents yelled at each other all the time, but mom and dad didn’t not love each other that much. They couldn’t if she was so upset about something happening at dad’s house, right?
“Mommy?” he prompted again when the questions swirling in his mind had become frantic and she still hadn’t answered.
She trembled and took hold of his hand, squeezing it tight.
“Your father and brother are... they’re- they’re-” the end of her sentence was choked by a sob as Matt’s heart sank. His grip on Fluffy tightened. Dad and Terry? What had happened to dad and Terry? Did someone get hurt? Was someone in the hospital? Was that why mom was crying? What was it? What what what?
“Mary...”
“No. No, Riku, I’ll do this.”
“Okay.”
She took in yet another shaky breath to steel herself before reaching out and placing both hands on the sides of Matt’s face. Her expression was so pained and sad when she looked him in the eye, he already hated whatever it is she was about to say.
“Matt, sweetheart, there was a robbery at your father’s house last night, but it went wrong. Dad and Terry are both… they’re both-” she had been solid for just a few moments, but now she was crumbling again. Her voice was nothing but a fragile whisper as she said the next words. “They’re dead, Matty. Dad and Terry are both gone.”