Work Text:
May 25, 2016
As Tyler stirred awake, he slowly opened his eyes. As his world came into focus, his body lying on its side, he identified an empty decorative shelf, and a desk just as empty on the other side of the room. Perhaps if things were different, he would have felt alienated to not recognize the place immediately as what he’d call “his room”. But he had been on the move so much, he could one day wake up in a dungeon and he’d probably not bat an eye.
Some days ago, the Michaels removed all the ornaments and boxes in the room saying that he got to decorate it as he wanted, since now it was his.
“As if...” Tyler said. The only reason he didn’t run away was because he knew he could get Alex in trouble for it. He once again started reliving the moment his previous foster family decided they wanted to do nothing with him, but as his eyes started welling, he heard a knock outside his room.
“Hey, Ty?” Ashley’s voice called him. Tyler thought maybe she could count as another reason for staying.
“Yeah? I’m awake,” he said.
“Mom said you have to get ready for breakfast. Are you decent?”
“Sure?” Tyler consented, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes with his sheets. Ashley opened the door immediately and closed it behind her. “What’s wrong?” he asked. He saw her aura, glowing blue.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” she remarked.
“Dude! I’m fine!” he lied, but instinctively turned his face, looking at the window. “It’s sunny outside! It’ll be a super cool day!”
“Ty, we have the same power. You know I can feel you.”
“Hey!” he said, jumping out of the bed. “I promise you’ll be the first one to know if I go through something, deal? I just had a bad dream, that’s all!”
Ashley sighed but cut the conversation short and simply left the way she came. Tyler felt like a jerk. He knew very well he couldn’t just lie to her, and yet he kept on doing it to her face.
He walked to the closet that was assigned to him, looking at the two closed boxes and his suitcase where all the clothes he hadn’t used yet were saved. He ignored it to grab a shirt he used three days ago, some clean boxers, and the same pair of jeans he’d been using for the past week. Ashley had also told him he should tidy up his clothes, but he saw no point in doing so.
After taking a shower and changing into his barely-clean clothes, he entered the kitchen, standing near the door, as if waiting for instructions. Katie was making breakfast, while Ashley was setting the table for them. None of them seemed to notice him until a voice spoke behind him.
“Well, then. Aren’t you going to come in?” Robert asked. Tyler jumped in place and looked at him just in time to notice he was raising an eyebrow at him.
“Oh, I—, sorry, Sir...”
“Robert is fine, and Katie, too,” Katie said, joining the conversation. Robert gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder and gestured with his head as an invitation for him to get in.
“Dude, you do this every morning!” Ashley accused, making Tyler blush as he sat at the table, and she put some cutlery in front of him.
“That was not very nice of you,” Robert berated her.
“Sorry...”
“What she means is you don’t have to wait for us to call you. You are a part of this house, now. Okay?” Katie said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Can... Can I help with the chores?” Tyler said. They had told him before he didn’t need to do that yet since he was just getting accustomed to the place.
“Would that make you feel more comfortable?” she asked.
“I think so?”
“Okay, but here is your first rule for that. You are forbidden to do everything on your own, okay?”
“Okay!” he replied. He knew why she brought it up. For the first two days, they had to stop him from going from one cleaning product to the next. He just didn’t know how else to show them how grateful he was for their help.
“Hey, kids. I’ve got an idea,” Robert said, reaching into his pocket with his hand, and taking his wallet out. “Why don’t you go to the movies after Ash comes back from school today?”
“What? On a weekday? Alone?” Katie questioned.
“Well, I think it can only do them good. Are you okay with it?” he said.
“I don’t know...”
Tyler accidentally read Katie’s thoughts:
“The kid’s only been here for a week,” she thought.
His face dropped to his still-empty plate. He was not sure he was hungry anymore. He could also feel Ashley’s stare piercing his skull, but he didn’t care that much.
“What I mean, Tyler…” Katie started, getting Tyler to lift his head to her.
“I get it,” he said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. But I get it. You don’t know me that much yet. It’s okay!” he said, smiling at her. Ashley was still looking disapprovingly at him. Katie sighed.
“It’s not that… Okay, let’s do this. I’ll drop you off, and if you move out of the building, Ash, you have to tell me. Okay, sweetie?”
“Of course, Mom!”
“As for you, young man,” she continued, “you have to promise me you’ll start telling me when you feel bad, okay?”
“What? Why do you think I feel bad?” he replied, his smile a little stiff by this point.
“I don’t need a superpower to see how troubled your face looks.”
Tyler nodded, saying he promised he would try. It was the best he could give them at the time, but he couldn’t lie, since Ashley was right there.
“So we all agree, then?” Robert said. “I’ll message Smith later about this. I’m sure he will be thrilled to know we let you out without previous notice,” he said with a smug smile slowly drawing on him. Tyler noticed Katie was not as pleased as him, but they were all settled.
“Dad, you are the coolest!” Ashley said enthusiastically.
“Oh, yeah? And you haven’t seen my final trick for your perfect afternoon yet!” he joked, getting two fifties and giving one to Ashley.
“What? No way!” she said, reluctantly raising her hands to his. Robert pushed the bill in her direction, so she took it and jumped to hug her father.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said, patting her back. Tyler saw he was smiling, golden aura around him. He had to look away to avoid thinking of his own father.
“Young man,” Robert said shortly after.
“Yeah, uh, Robert?”
“This is for you,” he continued, handing him the other bill. Tyler was even more reluctant than Ashley to take it, but he ultimately reached his hand to him and grabbed it.
“Uh, thank you,” he quietly replied.
“Wow, as cold as a rock,” Robert said, snorting.
“I’m so sorry… I’m sorry.”
Fortunately for him, the man shrugged off the subject and started talking about stuff from his job, and some random TV show he was watching. Tyler felt thankful to notice the routine he was getting used to since he moved in a week ago was back on track. He’d see how to repay them for their generosity later.
Later that day, when the kids were finally ready for action, Tyler admitted to himself being out felt way nicer than he would let out. He didn’t have to go anywhere related to the task force that week, so he wouldn’t even leave the house since he was not going to school either. Feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin and a gentle breeze on his face was sure refreshing.
The trip to the mall was a calm one. In the end, Katie had to run some errands, so she couldn’t take them, but she didn’t want to spoil their afternoon so she allowed them to go so long as they were in touch the whole time.
Ashley explained to him that by that time of the day, people were mostly going to the other side, returning home from their jobs, so the bus was almost empty. Tyler took that as good news. Ashley wasn’t on blockers, since she didn’t make a mistake like he did, so he didn’t want her to get some sort of sensory overload from her powers. Though he knew he very much liked how it felt when many people were having strong emotions. For her, the experience was different, and he understood that.
When they arrived, they decided they would wander around a bit first. It had been a while since they both hung out together at the mall, after all.
Tyler thought about how dumb it felt that this place could be the same no matter how much time passed. Just a big place full of shops. If anything, some stores would change location, or maybe they would leave and be replaced by other brands. But the general idea was always the same.
“Hey, there’s something cool to do!” Ashley blurted out so suddenly that it almost felt like a jumpscare.
“What the-! Maybe don’t do that?!”
“Do what? I was just thinking we could go there!” she continued, pointing to a photo booth.
“No way! Why would you want to do that?”
“Come on, Ty! It’s our first time out together in a while!”
“So what? No way, no!” he protested.
“Man, you are so boring. Never mind,” she replied. Tyler didn’t need his powers to know she wasn’t very happy about being rejected like that.
They walked silently to the box office, the younger one feeling very awkward about how he reacted over one “stupid picture”. But fortunately for him, Ashley seemed to be over it almost immediately. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal?
“So, what do you want to watch?” she asked him.
“Oh, let’s see… what about this one?” he replied, pointing to some rom-com being promoted.
“I didn’t picture you the romance kind. I thought you were more into other stuff,” she said while gesturing guns with her hands.
“Well, it’s just that I thought you may like that one.”
“What? Are you hitting on me or something?” she joked.
“Gross! I just mean that you are a girl, and girls are into that stuff, right?”
“Oh my God, you are so immature!” she said, punching his shoulder.
“Ouch! What was that for?!” he complained, rubbing the spot.
“You deserved it for deciding what girls should or shouldn’t like, so don’t whine.” She chuckled at her joke.
“Okay, okay, geez! What do you want to watch then?” he said in annoyance, trying to get the conversation over.
“Let’s go see this one!” she said, pointing to the new X-Men movie.
“Actually, that sounds pretty good!”
“See? You just gotta trust me! Besides, it’s starting in like 10 minutes so we don’t have to wait long.”
“You get how ironic it is for us to go watch that movie, right?”
Ashley chuckled. They grabbed their tickets, bought some popcorn, and some sodas while they waited for the right time, and got in.
Tyler realized then that it had been way too long since the last time he went to the movie theater. Of course, his previous foster families couldn’t care less about anything else than the bare minimum to survive, and he didn’t receive money from them like from the Michaels. He was cared for, sure, but he wasn’t ever invited to this kind of event. He never really put a thought into that fact before that day, but thinking Robert and Katie would go so far made him feel a little warm inside.
Soon the movie started, but shortly after he realized he was not at all invested in either the characters or the plot. He tried to concentrate, but he wasn’t going anywhere with it, so he started watching his surroundings. That’s how he noticed Ashley was on her phone, typing to who knows who. It seemed like she wasn’t into the movie either, so he grabbed a popcorn and threw it at her.
“You bored?” he said in thought-speech to her. She looked at him absolutely annoyed.
“What’s your problem?” she thought. Tyler smirked at her and threw another kernel.
“What’s wrong, Ash?” he continued. She grabbed a handful of popcorn, but instead of doing something to him, she just started eating it one by one.
“Watch the movie and leave me alone,” she whispered. Tyler giggled quietly and focused again on the screen. As time passed, he started getting bored again, but what he didn’t expect was to feel the quick movement of a hand stretching the neck of his shirt and letting a bunch of buttered kernels in.
“Dude!” he yelled, jumping from his seat. Ashley was laughing like a maniac, causing him to start laughing at the silliness of the situation, just as hard as she did.
“If you don’t cut that out I’ll have you thrown out!” said a man that was sitting a couple of rows behind them.
“I’m so sorry, mister,” Ashley apologized.
“I swear, kids these days. Shouldn’t you be with your parents anyway?” the man raged. Ashley continued to apologize, but he was not receding. “Do you think I care about your apology? I came here to have a nice time watching a movie but you kids…”
The man suddenly went silent. It was Tyler who caused it, imitating a very long and noisy farting sound through thought-speech to the man, who started going red, probably because he thought it came from him. Ashley took Tyler’s hand, once again apologizing and claiming they wouldn’t bother him anymore, and dragging the other kid outside the room.
Tyler knew what followed. She was going to yell at him for what he did since he knew it was as dumb as it gets. But as soon as they were far enough, she turned around to meet his face. Her serious expression turned into a smile, and then she started laughing again.
“You are the worst, did you know that?” she said, mid-cackle.
“Oh, yeah? You are not the one with popcorn in her back! It’s all stuck there!”
“That’s what you get for messing with me. You thought you were winning that one?”
“Bah! I’m hungry! And you left the popcorn inside!”
“Oh, so you are changing the subject. I’ll savor my victory then and pick what we are having. Do you like sushi?”
“Never tried it. Don’t think it’s my kind of food, though,” Tyler said doubtfully.
“Oh, come on! I know a place nearby. Let’s go and you’ll see!”
Tyler was not sure he was going to like sushi, but he definitely wanted to keep the good times rolling, so he decided to give it a shot. That’s when he noticed the photo booth was again in their path. “Completely normal,” he thought, since they were going back the way they got in. It was only natural for them to pass by it again.
“Hey, Ash?” he said but didn’t need to continue.
Ashley smiled and nodded. In less than two seconds, she started walking in the direction of the booth, stealing yet another smile from him.
“You are just unbelievable, you know that?” he said.
“What? Why?” she asked, only half paying attention. Her focus was on putting a bill in the slot.
“You keep dragging me into all this stuff!”
“Who cares?! You are having a blast, so stop whining!”
“Yeah, you are right, I’m having a good time,” he allowed.
“Now get in here!” she demanded, dragging him inside by his arm.
The pictures they took weren’t half bad. Or at least Tyler believed so. She set the machine to print two copies of it, so they could each have one. It was silly, but he was already treasuring those pictures moments after, and he knew she was the same.
Tyler had to admit the sushi place Ashley suggested was pretty cool. The exterior was just a fence, but there was a little pond in the front garden with a bamboo fountain that he thought looked very cool. He got close to it, but there were no fish inside.
“It’s too small for that,” Ashley stated. He nodded, though still a little surprised by how good she was at reading others. He wondered if one day he could be like that, too.
Once inside, it was Ashley who did all the talking, since he had no idea what to ask for. She had asked him about some preferences all the way there, but nothing seemed to be really appealing. In the end, she ordered some veggie and tuna rolls just in case he didn’t like what she called “the real stuff”.
Eventually, a tray with around twenty pieces was brought to their table. Just by looking at them, Tyler knew that he was not going to enjoy the meal, but he wanted to give it a try since Ashley was being so persistent about it. Besides, she at least had the decency to get a soda for him to drink instead of those “ocha” displayed on the menu, whatever they were.
“Come on, you almost got it!” she encouraged him, after five minutes of him fighting to get the chopsticks to work on his hand.
She had offered him to ask for a fork, or even for him to use his fingers to grab the piece. Once he had shown her he was determined, she completely shifted to keep on pushing him forward. So by this point, Tyler was more invested in doing it to fulfill her expectations rather than to enjoy the meal properly.
“Look… Look! I did it!” he said, finally waving the piece in the air after who knows how many attempts. Except, in doing so he shifted his fingers and caused the piece to fall back on the plate. Ashley laughed at the sight.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said mid-laugh, trying to keep it to herself. “You actually got it way faster than I did, you know! You’ll be a pro in no time!”
“Shut up!” he growled, though he didn’t mean it. He was happy to have her around and being so supportive of him.
“Heh heh, come on Ty! You are ready! Try your piece!” she insisted.
And so, still a little reluctant, Tyler finally put the piece in his mouth and started chewing. His face twisted into a grimace immediately, causing Ashley to start laughing once again. It was not the flavor itself, but the slimy consistency of the raw fish and the sticky rice beneath it that caused him to feel uncomfortable. He swallowed as quickly as his chewing allowed him to, followed by gulping down half of his glass of soda.
“Dude, come on!” she wheezed, fighting to breathe. “There’s no way it’s THAT bad!” she continued.
Tyler looked at her, but before he could even answer her he noticed how amused the servers looked around him. He was lucky there was barely anyone in that place, to begin with. His face turned so red, it matched the restaurant’s curtains.
“I don’t like this game anymore, Ash,” he said, this time meaning it.
“Dude! It’s a new experience. You don’t have to get the hang of it right away, it’s okay!”
“I don’t care!”
“Wow, come on. Calm down. Here, try this one instead. It’s got no fish in it.”
“I don’t want to!” he said angrily. He felt humiliated, and she didn’t seem to care.
“Dude, chill. It’s not fair to me that you are acting this way.”
Tyler looked at her and realized he was, again, being a jerk to her. She had been nothing but nice and supportive of him all day, trying to cheer him up, and yet he acted like a little brat. And what else would he be? He was just like that to everyone. No wonder no one wanted him around.
“Woah, Ty. What’s wrong?” Ashley asked, clearly concerned. He looked at her and saw a blue aura around her.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked. She was glowing gold just three minutes before.
“Are you serious? I’m worried about you, Ty. I can read you, too! Remember?”
“But why…? I don’t get it!”
“You don’t get what? Why do I care?”
“Why do you feel so sad!”
“How am I supposed to feel, Ty? I’m not going to be happy about you being around me suffering, you know that, don’t you?”
Tyler went silent. He wasn’t sure how to respond. But it didn’t matter, since seconds after one of the servers got to their table.
“Is there something wrong? Do you need any assistance?” he said, so calmly that Tyler felt like he was being mocked.
“Oh, no. Don’t worry! We are just talking!” Ashley tried to explain.
Tyler was frozen in place, so he couldn’t agree or disagree with what she said. He didn’t want to keep pushing her. Maybe if he stood quiet long enough everything would go back to normal? He saw the server nodding silently, going back the way he came, and looked in dread at her as she glared at him. Her eyes again seemingly pierced through him. She was surely now regretting getting him to live in her home, and clearly, she was going to go back and talk to her parents about it. He was speedrunning being kicked out of the house.
“Tyler, come on. Talk to me!” she said, though she sounded more desperate than anything. “You know I can read you. You know I understand, so talk to me. Please.”
And he knew she was right, but still couldn’t get himself to say anything. Not even thinking, he got up from his chair and rushed towards the exit, ignoring Ashley who he thought he could hear asking him to stop. Good thing they at least were sitting near the exit, so he wouldn’t make that big of a scene while going out. He started running.
Tyler reached a park while holding back tears as hard as he could. It’s not like he was the kind of guy who would say “boys don’t cry”, but it was at least embarrassing to be doing it in the middle of the street. Trying to keep himself from sobbing, he walked to a bench and sat down. He knew people were walking around him, but if they had any opinion whatsoever about his state, he didn’t care. He waited silently staring at the ground until Ashley quietly took his side.
“You knew I was coming to get you,” she suggested.
“And I didn’t stop to wait for you, I know. I’m six,” he said, his body cowering instinctively. He felt really small.
“You know I don’t think that.”
“Doesn’t matter, Ash. You should. Everyone should. And everyone should just leave me alone!” Despite his yelling, he was getting smaller and smaller in Ashley’s eyes.
“Come on, Ty. You’ve only lived with us for a week.”
“That’s exactly the point! I know we’ve been friends for some time now, but you don’t know what’s it like to live with me. And it’s only been a week. So you don’t know me yet. You didn’t have the time to know how much you would want to get rid of me! And when you do, we are done!”
“I told you at the restaurant. I don’t think that’s fair to me, Tyler. Let alone my parents.”
“What? What does that have to do with the sushi?” he said bluntly. He could sense her anger at what he said. She was not amused.
“It’s not about the sushi. We talked about this before: you came to live with us, and we all agreed on it, Tyler. They really like you and there is no way you haven’t noticed that because you can read them the same way I do, right?”
“Yeah, I know, but…”
“No, Ty. No buts here, okay? We’ll be here for you. I’ll be here for you! You trust me, right?”
“Yeah, you know I do, Ash…”
“Good!” she said, pausing for a second before continuing. “Now, I know this is not going to heal overnight. I don’t expect that, and I don’t expect you to believe me right away. But you gotta start talking to me when you feel like this, okay? Even if it’s not right away.”
“Okay, okay. I promise.”
“Good”, she said. Pulling him into a hug. It felt warm, and it made Tyler wonder if that was how it felt to have real friends. He thought of earlier that morning when she hugged her father; he wondered if someday he could see them as family. But of course, not yet.
Not yet.
They spent some more time on the park bench simply sitting side by side. But eventually, the night started to fall. While Ashley had been messaging her mother the whole time, it was already time for them to go home.
A new conversation picked up at its own pace rapidly between them as they made their journey to the Michaels’ place. Later that evening, when they were at home and it was finally time to sleep, Tyler picked up the photo and put it on the desk. He should get a frame for it.
He unlocked his phone and opened his conversation with Ashley. The last time they spoke that way he just sent her a meme while she was at school. He smiled at it and started typing.
“Hey, sorry I was such a downer today. I had a great time, even if you couldn’t tell!” He tacked on a few smiling emojis.
“Don’t know what you are talking about. It was the best day I had in months! We should do this again soon!” A GIF of two cats dancing together followed closely after.
Tyler opened the closet in that room, staring at his suitcase and the boxes inside, thinking he should probably put his clothes away. He stretched his arm, reaching for the suitcase and grabbing it, but as soon as he got his hand on it he got paralyzed once again.
“Not yet,” he whispered. “... but maybe tomorrow.”