Chapter Text
On a cloudy and slightly rainy day in 2026, Eliza Moreau stood in line with her parents waiting for the doors of the venue to open. She was glued to her parents side, she rarely for out of the house, her mother never let her, deciding to homeschool and separate any social life Eliza could ever have.
Eliza was 11 years old, born June 3rd, Gemini, her parents were Christin Moreau and Paul Moreau, two very strict catholic people, believing that a woman is only good at home chores and at maternity, and that any kind of homosexuality was a sin and they made sure to push those believes onto Eliza ever since she was little. She hardly knew math, science or any kind of technology usage but knew how to clean and serve men perfectly.
She entered the venue, still slightly confused as for why she was in some kind of show of improvisation comedy from some group of guys called "Shoot from the hip", since these activities were normally attended by her parents.
Her mother was excitedly guiding them to the assigned seats, just a few rows from the front row, telling Paul all that she had see online about and took out of her purse something Eliza had never seen, some kind of magic rectangle that produced light and sounds and that at the moment displayed a video of four guys performing what looked to be a play, her parents sat next to her talking to each other not really bothering to speak to her. When Eliza was about to ask what the device was, the lights dimmed and the lights focused all on the small stage and a voice could be heard.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE TIME HAS COME, PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER AND WELCOME TO THE STAGE, IT'S SHOOT FROM THE HIP"
That had her full attention as four men jumped from behind the curtains and stepped on stage where only four chairs stood.
A guy wearing flannel and a beautiful brown hair started to present their show to the crowd, that's how she learned their names, Sam Russell, Alexander Jeremy, Thomas Mayo and Luke Manning.
"And everything you see this afternoon is completely made up on the spot, we've never done any of this before and we'll never do any of this again"
And with that the show started, a lot of interaction between the public and the performers on stage was constant, Eliza was loving it, but she had a gut feeling this day wouldn't be ending well. During the show she tried to interact with her parents but they didn't even look in her direction once, she was already used to it, they pretended not to know we in public, in the beginning it was hard but now it was just the day to day life.
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The show had ended, the boys receiving a stand up ovation from everyone except Christin and Paul that were pissed that they had paid to see "Sinful acts" as they put it, Eliza was slightly taken aback by the display of homosexuality but applauded energetically nonetheless, when she tried to stand up to join the standing ovation her father yanked her down by the arm so she would stay seated, not wanting to see their daughter celebrate something like that.
When the guys left the stage Eliza asked her parents to wait for her so she could use the toilet before leaving the venue entirely, her parents were chatting angrily with each other, her father absolutely mad at her mother for making him watch such thing as homosexuals, even though Luke was interpreting a girl in the play. Her parents dismissed her request so she went o the bathroom, she took a bit long side the queue for the bathroom was insanely long and she was one of the last ones.
Once she finally finished in the bathroom she went to the main lobby and didn't find anyone, neither her parents or other members of the public, a small feeling of fear creeped up her spine, she had ever been left alone in a public space, what would she do?
She took a deep breath and tried to think rationally, thinking that maybe her parents and might have forgotten something in the audience where they were seated earlier and went looking for it, she smiled confidently to herself after looking around one last time, making sure there was really nobody there, being pretty sure she had solved her problem.
She went through the door that lead to the front of the audience chairs and made her way down, as she walked she started to panic, she didn't see anything besides empty seats and an the four chairs on the stage, meaning that the guys were yet to pack and leave. She sat down where was her place in the audience and cried, taking her bag from her shoulder and putting it on the floor next to her so it wouldn't bother her.
He cried for about 20 minutes when she heard foot steps next to her, she looked up instantly, thinking it would be her mom or her dad but instead she saw the very tall guy from the show, Tom was his name, she immediately looked down and Tom sat in a chair ext to her, but leaving one chair between them so she would have space, she wished he wasn't here, she didn't feel like talking o anyone, she just wanted to get home.
But much to her doom Tom started to speak softly and calmly so he wouldn't scare the child in front of him
"Hey sweetie, are you lost?"
Here hands started to shake hard, she had never talked to anyone besides her parents, let alone a man.
"Hey, everything's alright, I'm Tom, what's your name?"
He tried to distract her the best he could.
She stayed silent, looking away from him, hoping that when she looked back up he would just be a figure of her imagination, as she took her eyes from him she noticed that her bag was slightly open and had a paper in it, she ignored whatever Tom was saying and unfolded the paper and tried to read it but she only wanted to cry more, she was never teached how to write or read. Her hands were shaking uncomfortably now, she didn't feel the air enter her lungs, leaving her almost gasping for air.
Tom was starting get extremely worried, he took the girl's hands in his big ones and made e look at him, trying to go through that panic attack.
"It's going to be okay, you just need to breath and listen to me, everything is going to be alright..."
He kept repeating those words as a mantra and once she had physically calmed down he tried to understand the situation.
"Are you okay? Let's try to play a game! I'll ask you some questions so I can understand how to help you? And then you just ask me whatever you want aswell. You don't have to speak if you don't want to, just nod or shake your head."
Tom had noticed her since the beginning of the show since she was almost on the front row so she was easy to see from the stage but something about her felt off, like a heavy weight dragging around, he genuinely wanted to try and help her, even her parents disapproving looks after Aj's and Luke's kiss didn't go unnoticed by him, and the way her father yanked her down to the chair when she tried to clap at their performance.
"Was it the note that upset you?" A nod followed his words
He had noticed the paper in her hand but didn't want to take it away from her without asking.
"Have you read it yet?" She shook her head.
"Can you read it for me then?" She shook her head again and decided to try to speak to the stranger.
"I don't know how to read..." Tom was shocked, she was what, 11 or 12 eleven years old and didn't know how to read?!
"Want me to read it for you then?" She nodded with a small thankful smile.
"Eliza, our daughter, if you're listening to this we want you to know that we have left you at the show willingly, please don't try to find us, we've moved homes and everything that you owned is no longer with us, please don't contact us again, we've done everything that we've needed with you and you no longer serve any use in our household. I know you'll find somewhere to live, goodbye."