Adversity

by UntamedTiger

Summary:

AU fic following 15-yr-old Eustass Kid who is an orphan being raised by his older brother, Killer. Kid used to be more of a handful but following his parents deaths he's tried to turn a new leaf then he meets someone new who shakes things up. Can Kid avoid returning to his old ways? What secret is he hiding? will his new friend help him open up?

MATURE RATING DUE TO SUBSTANCE USE

Notes:

Should be obvious but I'll say it anyway: this is completely different from Consumed.

Chapter 1: Start of Summer Vacation

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! The blaring alarm on the nightstand next to his bed sounded in his ears. He groaned as he brought his hand up over his eyes to shield from the sunlight that poured in through his bedroom window. Then he rubbed his eyes as he rolled over and hit the off switch on his alarm.

The first day of summer vacation didn’t mean the same for fifteen-year-old Kid Eustass as it meant for other kids. He’d be busy all summer. He’d picked up a job at a local auto repair shop, stocking car parts and doing some basic custodian work there. It wasn’t glamorous, the pay wasn’t a lot, the hours weren’t what he’d hoped for, and he didn’t expect it to be fun, but it would help pay for his school supplies in September. As a bonus if things worked out well in a few years he could get an apprenticeship in the garage.

Kid knew by some people’s standards his living situation wasn’t ideal. At least he had his own room. His older brother had sectioned off part of the living room and had a navy blue bed sheet that he’d turned into a privacy curtain for his sleeping area in the living room, which he mainly used when he had company over.

His brother was nineteen, and worked as a line cook in a bar and grill. Things took an unexpected turn for them when their parents died in a drive-by nearly two years ago… actually it would be two years exactly one week before Christmas.

His brother had been seventeen, less than two months away from turning eighteen, so he’d applied for emancipation, took a test to get his G.E.D, and got the job in the bar and grill kitchen. After that he’d applied for guardianship of his little brother and got him out of the system.

Kid was grateful for his brother but he’d be lying if he tried to say he hadn’t wished a few times that their parents were still alive. He ran his fingers through his fiery locks before standing up from his bed. He stopped by his dresser to get out a few items of clothing and heading into the washroom. He got a towel out from the cabinet under the sink and started running the water until he got it to a temperature he wanted. He stripped off his clothes and entered the shower, pulling the white shower curtain over afterwards and began by washing his hair.

After Kid stepped out he stood in front of the mirror with the towel fastened around his waist. He used the blow dryer on his hair and applied his deodorant. Then he dressed in the clothes he’d brought in with him, black camouflage print cargo shorts that his brother had found at a thrift store, they looked brand new. He pulled on a white muscle shirt. He knew the auto shop was going to be giving him a uniform today to put on over his clothes so he didn’t want to wear anything that would be too warm or fancy. Well, he didn't have very many fancy clothes anyway, so that wasn't a big issue.

Then he got to work on his makeup, he first applied the concealer to hide the redness from the acne he was experiencing, then added a thin layer of foundation before applying a bit of eyeliner and red lipstick. Some guys at school would hassle him for wearing makeup he just shrugged it off advising them to quit telling on themselves or step fully out of the closet.

If they tried to escalate things further, he was quick to lay them out on the floor. He’d been suspended for fighting twice, but his brother would usually back him up stating that the school’s zero tolerance policy should also apply to the people who got laid out shouldn’t have instigated the fight to begin with.

He’d spoken to the shop owner as well as the manager basically letting them know that he preferred to wear the makeup for mental health reasons. He wasn’t lying. He did have a bit of anxiety since his parents passed, and applying the makeup daily was a ritual he practiced to psych himself up to face the day. It was like he was hiding a bit of himself.

As he recalled having made this recent break-through in therapy he silently wondered if there’d ever be a time when he felt like he could let someone see him without makeup—well someone other than his brother. His ex might’ve been one possibility but that was destroyed when she broke up with him after his parents deaths. He was already going through a rough time between grieving his parents, and being thrown into the foster system while he waited for his brother to be approved as a legal guardian.

He shook his head a little as he realized she’d never understand. She still had both of her parents, besides it was better they part ways anyhow. He’d changed since then. He was still a hot head with a short fuse, don’t get him wrong—but his path didn’t align with hers anymore.

Leaving the washroom he went towards the kitchen of the small one bedroom apartment, noting that his brother was still asleep from his late shift last night. He quietly as possible got out a small pot and filled it halfway with water and a little bit of salt. He put it on the stove top, turning the burner on and got down the oatmeal. He added a ¾ cup of the oatmeal to the now boiling water in the pot and began stirring it with a wooden spoon.

After the water was absorbed by the oatmeal he took the pot off the heat, and poured the contents into a bowl. His brother had taught him how to cook a few things, mostly breakfast foods, oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage.

He could also pan fry a frozen burger patty pretty easily, or a steak. Anytime he tried to make fish or chicken it always came out intolerably dry so he didn’t eat those very often if his brother wasn’t cooking. He got to eat cabbage rolls once a year on his birthday, it was a treat that his brother made sure to at least make the night before and store in the fridge so he could heat them up in the oven. They hadn’t been able to find a microwave that would fit in their kitchen and they could afford.

They sometimes had fresh fruit for oatmeal, sometimes not. They usually had frozen fruit which he’d make his selection of and thaw the night before in advance. He grabbed the bowl of thawed mixed berries from the fridge and added them to the cooked oatmeal, then a dollop of peanut butter for some protein and mixed everything together.

Admittedly he preferred eggs and bacon for breakfast but if his brother was sleeping, and he normally was at this hour if he worked the night before, the oatmeal was enough. Today was his first day ever working for someone. His first day working an official part-time job, he was as excited as he was nervous. He knew he could learn a few things about auto repair at this shop, and he was going to learn everything he could. He quickly consumed his breakfast, washing it down with a glass of water. He set about cleaning up his dishes after he finished the water, wincing a little as the bowl and pot clanked together in the drain tray. He shot a quick glance over into the living room, thankfully his brother wasn't up. 'Good. He needs his sleep,' Kid thought to himself. He finished with the dishes and dried his hands. He then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and finish styling his hair with gel so it would be a bit spikey. He then grabbed his keys, pocketed a pack of cigarettes and left the apartment, locking the door to C6 behind himself.

Chapter 2: Not a game

Kid clocked out his time card, signaling the end of his shift. The first shift they’d told him would be shorter than the subsequent shifts. It was mostly just a paid orientation, getting him used to the shop, where things are kept, the procedures, safety measures, so on and so forth. If Kid was being honest he was glad they were breaking him in slowly, his feet were killing him. Now that he really thought about it, there’d never been a point in life where he just stood in one spot for a few hours straight. He was always able to move around or switch positions. As painful as his feet and legs currently were he still had to walk home, rest up, have dinner, and do it all again tomorrow.

He left the auto shop and headed towards home after he was a few blocks away from the shop he reached into his pockets, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He placed one between his lips and flicked the lighter, he was about to light the cigarette when something else caught his eye.

A group of boys were surrounding a girl, she was coughing, holding her chest and her shoulders heaved with each breath. ‘What the fuck? Those Jackals better not ha—,‘ he thought to himself then stopped mid thought when he saw they were tossing something between themselves. He placed the cigarette back in the package. Then put the package and lighter back in his pocket.

He observed for a moment while seemingly messing with his old iphone 8 to give the appearance that he wasn’t paying attention to them. After about a minute he knew the toss pattern by heart and approached nonchalantly to the area where the group was gathered.

He could hear her wheezing as she tried to plead with them to stop playing keep away with her inhaler. The boys laughed until Kid’s hand came out and caught the blue inhaler before it could go to the intended recipient. He quickly shoved his hand that still held the medical device into his pocket.

“The hell Eustass?”

“That’s my line. What the hell are you assholes doing? This isn’t a fuckin’ game,” he growled out in a menacingly low tone while side eyeing the other boys. Something between the way he was looking at them and the edge in his voice caused the others to falter in his presence. They backed away from the girl and Kid went to her, holding out his hand to her that was safe guarding her medicine.

“C’mon man, it’s funny. Listen to her. She sounds like a boiling kettle,” one of them pressed. Kid rounded on the boy, his fist catching the boy’s jaw and knocking a few teeth loose. He heard the sound of the inhaler releasing two doses.

Kid observed as the now injured boy sputtered and spat blood out onto the ground. Kid chuckled a little as he commented, “Now that’s a funny sight. A would-be murderer getting his teeth knocked out.”

“What? It was just a bit of fun,” another guy objected.

Kid’s head snapped around to meet the boy’s gaze. He got directly in front of his face while he raged, “fun? You think it’s fun to struggle to breathe? You ever have someone hold your head under water? Did you find that fun? You fucking psychopath!”

The boy held both hands up in front of himself, showing his palms to Kid as he sputtered, “O-okay, okay. We went too far.”

“There’s the understatement of the millennium,” the redhead scoffed as he plunked himself down next to the girl.

She wasn’t making eye contact with any of them, not even Kid. He on the other hand looked directly at the boy he’d punched and stated, “you all better get the fuck outta here before you end up like your buddy.”

He heard the others scrambling around them but he didn’t move away from the girl or pay attention to what the guys were doing while they left. His sole focus was on making sure the girl’s breathing resolved. Eventually her breathing evened out and Kid visibly relaxed a little.

“Sorry for troubling you,” she murmured. He was now taking in her appearance. She was cute, kinda pretty, but not beautiful. She had a slightly more peach tone to her complexion than he did. Her golden blonde hair came down past her jaw line but didn’t reach her shoulders and had a very slight wave to it. Her eyes were a light grey almost like steel. She wore a pink spaghetti strap sundress and white sandals.

Kid shook his head from side to side as he informed her, “You didn’t. I could’ve chosen to walk away if I wanted to.”

“But you didn’t because you’re nice,” she offered.

“I’m an asshole. There’s just some things I won’t ignore,” Kid corrected her.

He looked to her and asked, “Where you headin’ anyway?”

“Uhh west 15th and Main,” she answered. Kid’s eyes grew wide, that was on the other side of town. While her breathing had evened out, he knew enough to know that a silent wheeze could emerge if the constricting in her airways hadn’t fully resolved.

He gave a deep sigh before shifting so he was crouched in front of her, “hop on.”

“What?!”

“This heat, the way you were breathing before—I’m not gonna let you walk that far alone—hell even with someone with you I wouldn’t be okay with that thought,” he admitted.

She sucked her lower lip into her mouth and bit it in contemplation. Kid noticed this and suggested, “how about this then? My place is a short walk away from here. Let’s head there and get you some coffee. I’ve heard that can help clear up any lingering irritation. That sound okay?”

She smirked a little as she pointed out, “Thought you said you’re an asshole?”

“I am,” he confirmed as he glanced back at her.

“But sometimes I can put the asshole aside if a situation calls for it. I’m not the type of asshole that would take advantage of someone though. If that’s what you’re afraid of,” he offered.

“Your parents won’t mind? I mean I’m a stranger an--”

She stopped when she noticed a flash of sadness cross his face while he answered, “I actually live with my older brother. He’d off to work by the time we get there.”

“Oh, I see,” she answered.

Kid gently pressed her, “daylight’s wastin’ Pipsqueak, you comin’ with or no?”

The girl bit her lip as she walked over to Kid and wordlessly climbed onto his back. Kid locked his arms under her legs to keep her on his back as he resumed his journey back to his apartment. He was now a little irritated that he didn’t feel right smoking at this moment, even though he was desperately craving one, but he’d be a colossal asshole if he lit one up and made her sick again.

Chapter 3: Alternate arrangements

The girl soon realized that the red haired boy had been telling the truth about his place being nearby and also that they were in the slums of the city. She kept her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck as he piggy backed her up the three sets of stairs until he came to a door that read ‘C 6’. He knelt down so she could climb off his back, which she instantly did. He fumbled around his cargo shorts pockets until he pulled out a single silver key and unlocked the apartment. Sticking his head into the unit he called out, “Killer?”

‘Killer? What?! Who names their son ‘killer’? That’s a weird name,’ she thought to herself. Not hearing any response and seeing that his brother’s shoes were gone, he entered the apartment and glanced back at her, signaling with his head for her to follow him in. She did indeed follow him in and was shook by what she saw. The dining table looked like it was once a patio table and the chairs were the collapsible kind you’d use at a barbeque.

The kitchen cabinets were noticeably old, she likened them to her grandfather’s and the same with the countertop. There was a gas stove, and an old refrigerator that had paint chipping away from it.
She glanced into the living room seeing an old beat down couch she was sure came off of Craig’s list. It had multiple stains, one of which looked to be ketchup or something similar. There was no TV, but an acer laptop did rest on coffee table by the couch.

Kid scowled, feeling as if she was judging everything she saw he waited silently for a few minutes. When she was still silent he bristled and snapped, “he does his best. Our parents died in a drive by almost two years ago. It was completely unexpected and it’s been rough since then. His focus isn’t on decorating the apartment nice it’s keeping me fed and clothed.”

She looked to him, her steel grey eyes blinking as she calmly replied, “I never said anything? And honestly it seems like he has his priorities right.”

At this he seemed to relax, realizing then that she hadn’t been critiquing the furniture but had maybe been trying to figure out a way to breach the topic without coming off as mean. He rubbed the back of his neck while mumbling about getting the coffee.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed an old fashioned black, metal kettle off the counter top. He opened the lid and ran the water from the tap into the kettle.

She wordlessly sat at the table and asked, “so—you never told me your name.”

“Neither did you, Pip,” He pointed out as he put the lid back on the kettle and set it on the burner, turning the flame on underneath it.

“Well it isn’t Pip or Pipsqueak, it’s Nia,” she revealed.

“Everyone calls me ‘Kid’,” he offered as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

“That makes you sound like a child,” Nia commented, wrinkling her nose. He chuckled a little at her expression, commenting that she looked like a rabbit.

Nia crossed her arms and asked, “So what name is on your birth certificate?”

Kid raised an eyebrow, “Oh, we’re getting that personal, huh? Okay—when you tell me one thing: what’s Nia short for?”

She rolled her eyes before mumbling under her breath.

Kid moved his head a little closer, and turned his head so his ear was facing her as he pushed, “didn’t catch that?”

“I said ‘Virginia’. You can imagine why I prefer ‘Nia’,” she repeated.

A smile crept across Kid’s lips as he remarked, “I can imagine you get a lot of virgin jokes.”

This was met by her rolling her steel coloured eyes at him and demanding, “your turn. It can’t be worse than ‘Virgin-ia’.”

“Christopher,” Kid admitted. He scratched his cheek while adding, “and my brother is Killian. So he goes by ‘Killer’.”

“Okay Killer from Killian, I get--- but how do you get ‘Kid’ from ‘Christopher’? Still--- it’s a nice name,” she commented.

“Thanks, I guess? I dunno. It’s not exactly religious like it’s in the bible or anything but it does have ‘Christ’ in it, and Christ knows I’m not a believer,” Kid responded, shrugging his shoulders at the start and finishing off with an attempted joke.

He didn’t know why he was cracking jokes, he just felt like it and went with the whim. Nia smiled a little until the kettle began to whistle, signaling that the water had boiled.

He turned off the flame and poured the water into a cup, asking what she wanted in her coffee.

“Umm, sugar and milk?”

‘Okay, I think we have that,’ Kid thought to himself as he got the milk out of the fridge but found no sugar. He did however find honey.

“Is honey okay? Unfortunately we’re out of sugar,” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s okay just umm two squeezes, I guess?”

‘At least she isn’t picky,’ he thought to himself as he squeezed the honey bottle twice. He stirred the contents of the cup before taking it over to her and a cup of peppermint tea for himself. She thanked him as she took the cup from him.

He nodded a little as he sat across from her and sipped the tea. It wasn’t his favourite beverage, nor even his favourite flavour but it was a hot beverage on a hot day, and ironically the heat would help him sweat which would ultimately help him cool down.

“I didn’t see you at school last year,” Nia mentioned. He realized she was just trying to make conversation and decided to indulge her.

“Well, if you live on the other side of town that’d be one reason,” Kid pointed out.

Nia shook her head ‘no’, “I don’t actually. My Grandpa’s friend does—and I’m supposed to stay with them tonight. I don’t really want to. He’s kind weird. But Grandpa has to work so—I got nobody else I could stay with.”

“Your Grandpa, what about your parents?” he asked before realizing the irony of him asking something like that.

“My mom got sick a few years ago and she didn’t get better… my Dad—well—he couldn’t cope. So my Grandpa stepped in and got custody of me. He’s a fire battalion chief, “ she answered.

“I’m sorry. I know that whole raw deal can be tough,” Kid sympathized as his eyes became focused on the hot green liquid in his mug.

Nia nodded, “Yeah, I know you do.”

Kid nodded again and asked, “How old are you?”

“Thirteen,” was the immediate answer. Kid gave a soft laugh while answering, “that explains it. You’re in Junior High, and I’m not. I’m fifteen. Tenth grade next year.”

The blonde quickly agreed, “Oh, yeah, I guess that does explain it. But I’ll be fourteen before school starts and I’m starting in high school, so I might see you around, I guess?”

“Maybe—if so we could hang out at lunch—if you’re going to New World High, I mean,” Kid suggested.

Nia nodded as she drank down some more coffee and admitted, “I’d like that.”

Kid messed around with his phone a bit and asked, “what do you mean your grandpa’s friend is ‘weird’?”

“I might be just reading into it more than I should,” Nia replied, waving off the question.

“I’m a guy. Let me judge that,” Kid insisted.

Nia shrugged her shoulders a little and began listing the things about her grandfather’s friend that bothered her, “he tends to comment on how I’m filling out – and I don’t know I just feel creepy. It makes my skin crawl.”

‘Interesting choice of words,’ Kid thought to himself.

“I’m gonna need to hear it verbatim and I can tell you if it’s weird or not,” Kid pressed.

“Let’s see that’d be ‘you’re filling out nicely, Nia.’ ‘You’re going to make a good wife for a lucky man one day.’ ‘Too bad I’m not younger.’ ‘I’d date you if I could…’”

Kid had been taking a sip of his tea and upon hearing the last two ended up spitting out the tea, choking, coughing and sputtering. His blood was now boiling. He wanted to find this old geezer and break his jaw.

“What?! Uhh—yeah that’s… That’s not okay,” Kid replied, shaking his head from side to side.

“I didn’t think so, but I can’t be alone at the house. The neighbour usually lets me stay with her but she’s away on vacation right now,” Nia replied.

‘Shit… well--- there’s my room. I could crash out in the living room with Killer tonight if we had to. There’s enough steak for us all to eat tonight too. Hmm,’ Kid thought to himself as he began messing with his phone and sent a text off to Killer explaining the situation.

He’d already punched a Celestial Dragon in the face earlier today, so as far as he was concerned he was walking around with a target sign on his back no matter what. Their members didn’t take lightly to one of their own getting injured, no matter why it happened. So why not sink himself in a bit deeper and get ostracized by the fire battalion chief?

Killer’s reply came quickly with: Yeah sure. See if you can get her Grandpa’s number from her—I’ll talk to him myself. There’s some money in the cookie jar in the cabinet above the fridge, should be enough for you guys to get some eggs and pancake mix, and still have a bit left over incase an emergency comes up. I don’t care if you guys end up needing to use all of it as long as it’s a necessity.

Kid looked to Nia and asked, “Well—there might be another option. How do you feel about staying here tonight, if your grandpa’s okay with it? Fair warning though, my brother works late and I work from eight to noon tomorrow. So there might be some time when you’re kinda fending for yourself here.”

“Umm I never met you before today? I doubt my grandpa has? I don’t know how he’d feel about it. I’m okay with it I mean if you wanted to hurt me you probably would have by now,” Nia admitted.

“Tell me his number, I’ll give it to Killer and he’ll talk to your grandpa,” Kid offered.

Chapter 4: Secrets

It didn’t take long after Kid gave Nia’s grandfather’s number to Killer for his brother’s name to flash up on his screen. Kid answered putting him on speaker phone, “Hey bro.”

“Hey Kid. So her grandpa’s okay with her staying there tonight as long as you don’t share a bed,” Killer stated.

“Duh,” Kid retorted while rolling his amber eyes. Nia giggled a little at Kid’s remark. Then Killer continued explaining what he and Nia’s grandfather had agreed to. He went over the basic rules which included that Nia’s grandfather was expected in about an hour with an overnight bag for her, and not to open the door for anyone else. If they say they’re the police, call 911 and check that the police are in fact outside of the apartment before opening the door.

He’d arranged to have their neighbour observing from the peephole at their door incase anything happened and they needed an adult to intervene while Nia’s grandfather was there. In addition he’d made a report anonymously about the incident as two things concerned him: first concern was her grandfather letting a thirteen year old girl to walk from one side of the city to the other unaccompanied during this heat wave with a respiratory condition, and the second was the girl’s attitude about her grandpa’s friend’s behaviour as it seemed someone was trying to condition her into believing it was normal for an adult to say things like that to a minor.

Kid nodded along with everything his brother was saying while Nia sat biting her lower lip and twiddling her fingers nervously. Kid felt his heart ache for her, yeah she didn’t have any other relatives stepping up readily but she also couldn’t put herself in danger like that. Last thing that Killer mentioned was that he absolutely wanted them to use the emergency money he told Kid about to buy some eggs and pancake mix, don’t spend the rest unless they had to. An example would be if someone got an upset stomach or they cut themselves preparing dinner and used the last of the band aids. If something like that didn’t happen he expected to see the rest of the emergency money back in the cookie jar.

Kid nodded in agreement, “alright. Any idea when you’ll be home?”

“I’m not closing tonight should be around midnight. Just leave my steak in the fridge I’ll fry it up when I get home,” Killer answered.

“Like hell! You were on your feet for eight hours cooking for how many people? Nah. I’m frying that steak for you,” Kid objected.

Nia smiled at the interaction between the brothers and even more so when she heard Killer’s voice soften a bit as he answered, “Alright Buddy, I gotta head back my lunch break’s over. Keep safe you two.”

“Yeah you too. I’m countin’ fingers when you get home,” Kid teased.

Once Kid had ended the call, Nia asked, “he doesn’t normally get hurt, does he?”

Kid shook his head from side to side, indicating ‘no’. He bit his lip a little, drumming his fingers on the table.

Nia noticed the behaviour as being anxiety related and asked, “are you okay?”

“I umm—I’m gonna step out onto the balcony for a bit,” Kid announced as he practically bolted up from the table and went to the balcony door in the living room, he opened it and stepped out, closing the sliding glass door behind himself.

Nia arched an eyebrow and went to the sliding glass door as Kid lit the cigarette that was between his lips and sucked in a drag from the smoke, seeming to relax almost instantly. He spun around, wide eyed when the glass door slid open and Nia informed him, “You could smoke inside if you normally do. My asthma doesn’t get triggered by cigarettes.”

He blinked a few times before a smile spread across his lips and he voiced, “Oh. I wasn’t sure and—well most people when they find out I smoke they think bad of Killer. So I—you know what? I’m just dropping it. I invited you to stay the night, of course you were gonna find out.”

“It’s okay. There’s worse things than cigarettes,” Nia offered as she stepped out onto the balcony with him.

He nodded his head recalling friends he’d seen shooting up and how sick they got when they stopped using. He exhaled the drag he’d been holding in his lungs and verbally agreed, “Yeah. Crack. Heroin. Cocaine—even alcohol can be worse.”

Nia nodded as she approached the railing of the balcony and Kid was quick to put his arm out to stop her, shaking his head ‘no’ once again.

She retreated back towards the glass door where he was standing. He balanced the cigarette between his middle and index finger as he pulled it away from his mouth and advised, “It’s not the most secure balcony. Slumlord’s been dragging his ass on some repairs.”

“Oh. Okay, I’ll stay back then,” she acknowledged. She eyed him momentarily before stating, “I just realized how tall you are.”

He chuckled in amusement and nodded, “Yeah. My brother’s 6’5 and we can share clothes, if that gives you a better idea.”

“You must’ve really stuck out in junior high,” she commented off handedly before regretting her choice of words. She blushed as she corrected herself, “I mean height wise. You had to be like what? The tallest in the school?”

“Pretty much all through Junior high, yeah,” Kid agreed as he put out the cigarette. He avoided looking at her as he asked, “you’re not weirded out by the fact I wear makeup?”

“It’s your face. Do what you want,” was her immediate reply.

He hadn’t been sure when he stepped in while those Celestial Dragons were bullying her, but he was definitely starting to like her as a person. She was chill about a lot of things most people weren’t. He always became anxious when meeting new people and that often translated into perceived hostility from the people he was meeting.

She was putting him at ease, but then again maybe part of that was how he’d approached her at the start. He’d been fighting against his usual hostile responses, trying to keep calm so she could calm her breathing down. It had been mentally exhausting for him but it had worked at getting her breathing controlled.

“How long have you been smoking?”

“Started when I was twelve, so three years,” Kid admitted.

He looked to her and announced, “okay your turn to spill something about yourself. You know I’m an orphan, I live with my brother, I work part-time, you know what my place looks like, you know I wear makeup although that’s not much of a secret and now you know I’m a smoker. So tell me one about you.”

Nia was silent for a while before admitting, “There is one but it’s a little dark. There’s this massive multiplayer online game my mom and I used to play—called World of Warcraft. I haven’t played since she died. I miss it. When her illness got really bad it was the only thing we could really do together that wasn’t a household chore or a doctor appointment. I cry every time I get to the log in screen. I can’t get past it.”

“That sucks,” he remarked, he rubbed the back of his neck as he added, “something like that it—I’m not surprised. Grief doesn’t have a time limit despite what some people think. I was still grieving my grandmother when my parents passed and she died five years ago. I don’t know how long I’ll grieve my parents. I mean overtime the pain isn’t as fresh – but it’s still there. I don’t think grief really stops you just adapt to it and carry on. Cause what else can you do? If you stop living, you’re disrespecting their memory—but it changes you. No matter how much you want to be the person you were before there’s a part of you that’s not gonna change back and you don’t want to because if you do it’s like saying they didn’t matter and that could never be true.”

Nia gave a faint smile and nodded as she admitted, “I get what you’re saying. I just wish it didn’t hurt so much. There was one quest we were trying to finish but—We never quite got the hang of it.”

Kid thought back to the car engine that he and his Dad had been rebuilding when his parents had been killed and nodded, “yeah. I get that. It feels like it’s unfinished.”

Nia heard a car door close and stood on her tip toes trying to see over the railing from where she was standing. Kid held back a chuckle as he stated, “you can look over the railing just don’t put any of your weight on it.”

“Um—I’m five foot nothing,” Nia pointed out. Kid rolled his eyes as he knelt down in front of her. She climbed onto his back and he moved close to the balcony railing so she could look over. She stated, “that’s Grandpa’s truck.”

“Alright,” Kid replied as he knelt down again so she could hop down. She jumped off his back and dashed back into the apartment, Kid followed her in and closed the balcony door behind himself. No sooner had he closed the balcony door there was a knock at the apartment door.

Chapter 5: Learning more

Kid walked over to the door and leaned down a little to look through the peephole, seeing a man who appeared to be in his mid fifties, with salt and pepper streaked dark brown hair, the same steel grey eyes as Nia, and the same peach toned complexion.

“Yeah?” Kid asked through the door.

“I’m Nia’s grandfather,” the man replied. Kid unlocked the door and opened it.

“I’m Kid Eustass,” the redhead introduced himself, holding his hand out for the man before him.

The man accepted Kid’s hand, giving it a slight shake as he returned, “Chief Corbin. That’s a firm hand shake, Eustass.”

Kid gave a slight small smirk and a slight nod of his head in acknowledgement. Chief Corbin surmised that the boy wasn’t much of a talker, but noting the amount of makeup on Kid’s face he relaxed more at the idea of Nia being alone with him.

He handed the duffle bag over to Kid, explaining, “there’s a change of clothes, pyjamas her asthma medicine, and I included a list of her asthma triggers as well as my emergency contact information if anything happens. I added a deck of cards, and a few movies although I see you don’t even have a TV.”

‘Asthma medicine? So it’s more than the one inhaler? Huh, didn’t realize that,’ Kid thought to himself. He nodded a little as he replied, “Alright. No, no TV but if they’re DVDs the laptop can play most of them.”

The older man regarded the teenager as he inquired, “You got first aid training son?”

Kid reached into his back pocket, pulling out his wallet and presented his level C first aid certification, it was still valid for another four months.

“I’m getting recertified through work in three months, before it runs out,” Kid added. The Chief nodded his head in acknowledgement, patting the boys’ shoulder as he stated, “Good man.”

He looked to Nia and said he’d see her tomorrow. Nia nodded in agreement as she replied, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Grandpa.”

The Chief smiled and waved to Nia as he turned and headed out of the building. Kid closed and locked the door. He glanced over to Nia and asked, “okay—so how many medications do you take for your asthma?”

“Umm well there’s the Ventolin which I always have on me—then there’s Symbicort, a pill that I can never properly pronounce, and I always have steroids and antibiotics on standby at the pharmacy in case I get a sinus infection, oh and I’m on a nasal spray,” she listed off.

Kid blinked repeatedly the most he ever took was advil for a bad headache or muscle aches, maybe Pepto-Bismol if his stomach was upset.

“Wow,” he commented, looking over the medications as he pulled them out of the bag and placed them on the counter. There was a white tubular shaped object which he learned was the Symbicort inhaler, a pill bottle that looking at the label contained ‘Montelukast’, he guessed that was the asthma control pill she had been talking about. Then a nasal spray called omnaris.

He looked at her and asked, “you take that every day, just so you can breathe?”

Nia nodded her head in agreement. Kid raised his eyebrows then shook his head in disbelief admitting, “I can’t imagine what that’s like.”

“I’ve never known anything different, so I guess that kinda helps,” she confessed as she stood next to him.

“Hmm yeah, I’d bet it does Pipsqueak,” he agreed.

He was surprised when she tried to shove him, but didn’t lose his balance. She glared up at him, her steel coloured eyes narrowed as she growled out, “I told you my name. Why are you still calling me that?”

“Well it’s either Pipsqueak or Sandcat. Take your pick,” he answered.

“How about Nia?”

He chuckled, realizing then what her issue was. He held his hand over his mouth for a moment as he quietly laughed at how innocent she was. He then looked at her and stated, “you haven’t had many guy friends lately. Maybe when you were younger, like in elementary school but I’m betting that’s gotten less since you hit double digits, right?”

“It’s that obvious?”

He nodded, still smirking as he moved his hand away from his mouth. He then advised her, “when I’m calling you ‘pipsqueak’, it isn’t to tease or insult you—it’s a way of socially marking you. Kinda like letting other guys know that we have some kind of connection between us. That if they mess with your or hurt you and you can’t handle them alone they’ll be facing me.”
He avoided her gaze while confessing, “and trust me when I say my reputation precedes me. One of the reasons I don’t have many friends. Best believe I won’t let shit slide.”

“Okay, you wanna elaborate a little?”

Kid felt a pit forming in his stomach as he contemplated about telling her the full truth or just telling her the highlights. If they kept hanging out, eventually she’d hear the truth or some warped version of it.

“I was arrested two years ago, got a juvie record for assault. It’s not a secret. Most people at school know about it and stay away from me,” he revealed.

He shrugged a little as he headed towards his room, “told you I’m an asshole.”

“Why?”

He glanced back at her, wondering which ‘why’ she was asking about. “Why’d you attack the other person?”

“I was dating a girl back then, we were at this dance and this one guy kept hassling her, she kept telling him she wasn’t interested but the dude wouldn’t listen to words, so I let my fists translate. Though not before the creep tried to cop a feel of her,” he recounted. He was omitting quite a few things but figured he’d fill her in on those parts as they came up.

He shook his head before adding, “I didn’t realize he was the son of someone affiliated with a gang though, and even worse was that gang has connections in the legal system. I mean dirty cops and the like. If it wasn’t for that it wouldn’t have been as big a deal, just some entitled snob getting a hard lesson.”

“I’m sorry, Kid,” she sympathized.

She shook her head as she added, “you didn’t deserve that.”

“Yeah well, it was a mistake anyway. She wasn’t worth it,” he rambled, then stopped himself, he apologized for continuing on and asked her to forget he mentioned that.

“Sounds like thirteen was a rough age for you,” Nia offered.

He nodded his head in agreement before asking, “So cards, movie, or you wanna get to know each other’s taste in music?”

When he mentioned music she visibly blushed, causing him to get curious. She glanced down at her shoes before mumbling something incoherently. He lent down a little as he asked, “pardon?”

“I don’t like typically ‘girly’ music,” she repeated with disdain. She wet her lips as she added, “So grandpa doesn’t usually let me listen to the music I like.”

“I’m more into rock music. Punk, Metal, Alternative sorta into hiphop but not a huge favourite,” Kid offered.

“We might like a few of the same bands then,” Nia revealed. Kid grinned, music was the winning starting point. She bit her lip before adding, "and I guess pipsqueak's not the worst. I am short."

Chapter 6: Curiosity

The next two hours were spent on YouTube listening to each other’s playlists. Kid had a collection of songs from Metallica and Judas Priest to Falling in Reverse and Citizen Soldier. She had a few on a secret playlist that only she could see, things ranging from Aerosmith and Meatloaf to Metallica and Falling in Reverse.

Then there was the public playlist that her grandfather approved of containing Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen and similar artists. Kid wondered to himself how little her grandfather actually knew her considering he didn’t even know her real taste in music.

When they noticed the time they went to a nearby grocery store picking up an 18 pack of eggs and pancake mix like Killer had told them to with the money he’d told Kid about. Kid had worried she’d ask for something else, especially when she stopped to point out a few of the snacks she liked having. She always put it back before he could say anything, which put him at ease. He realized she was just making conversation while they got what they came for. Nia seemed to understand how low income his household was and as a result she wouldn’t ask for anything that would strain the budget more.

“Hey, when we get back we should play twenty questions,” she suggested.

His brow furrowed while he asked, “Why? If you wanna know something just ask. No guarantee I’ll answer if it’s really personal but--”

He then caught a glimpse of her facial expression and gave a heavy sigh as he conceded, “Alright, I guess. But we’re keeping it PG.”

“No joke. Sorry but I’m not interested in knowing about you in that sense,” she replied.

“None needed, the feeling’s mutual,” he answered as they left the store and headed back to his apartment. He noticed she seemed distracted as they walked and asked if she was alright. She nodded her head, but he wasn’t certain he believed her.

She bit her lip a little and a thought came to Kid, “Hey umm I know your grandpa kinda monitors what you listen to—does he use parental controls on your computers at home?”

“Yes—and the TV. He basically lets me watch kid stuff, and go on kid websites. Thing is I’m not quite a kid anymore.”

At this another thought hit him as they approached his apartment, but he’d wait until they were inside before he asked. They ascended up the three sets of stairs to apartment C 6. Kid unlocked the door and held it open for her while she came in. He closed and locked the door behind her, only then asking, “you’re thirteen, so your body’s probably going through some changes umm—it’s fine if you don’t wanna talk with me but do you have someone you can talk to?”

She shook her head ‘no’, “I did have one teacher in junior high but—when Grandpa found out she was telling me things he didn’t want me learning he complained to the school board about her. He wouldn’t even look at the forum for me to take sex ed, I had to spend that time in the library.”

“I get the picture,” Kid assured her. he rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before pulling out his iphone 8, and offering it to her while explaining, “Killer doesn’t use parental controls on our stuff. If you wanna google anything you’ve been wondering about, go nuts. Just umm stay out of my emails, texts and pictures, okay?”

She hesitated before accepting the iphone from him and nodded her head. She looked at it, taking in the dents and cracks in the back glass of the phone and the edges of the casing. He briefly wondered what she was thinking about while he watched her open the safari app and then he remembered to caution her, “Oh just umm there’s a few phrases that might get some graphic results… just a heads up so you’re not totally shocked—well actually it’s kinda shocking the first time you see it.”

“I get the feeling you know what those phrases are,” she hinted.

This caused a tinge of pink to spread across his cheeks, causing him to be grateful that his back was currently turned to her while he was busy putting away the eggs and pancake mix while he retorted, “I’m a fifteen-year-old with raging hormones. What do you think?”

“I didn’t mean anything bad by it,” she assured him. She shrugged and admitted, “I sometimes--”

Kid knew she was trying to keep him from feeling alone or embarrassed but it wasn’t quite helping causing him to interrupt, “could we talk about anything else?”

“I’m sorry,” Nia apologized, looking like she was about to cry.

‘The hell? Why is she so sensitive? Ugh I am not used to this,’ Kid thought to himself before he apologized as well, “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
He sighed a little as he to the steaks out of the freezer to defrost them in the sink under warm water. Steak, baked potatoes and steamed green beans. An idea came to him as glanced into the living room, “Hey, you want kool-aid? I’m pretty sure we’ve got orange, cherry or blue raspberry.”

“Sure—I’m not picky about the flavour. Whichever one you want,” she replied as she scrolled on his phone. He briefly wondered what she was searching. He looked in the cupboard and took down a packet of blue raspberry.

“I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable,” she uttered, the apology was barely audible. Kid felt as if someone had stabbed his heart and was twisting the knife.
“That’s why you snapped, isn’t it?”

He shook his head a little and honestly replied, “no. It’s… to keep it simple it’s a guy thing. Okay? I shouldn’t have snapped. I was nervous about something embarrassing. You didn’t do anything wrong but if we could not talk about that stuff I’d appreciate it.”

“Okay,” she agreed simply as he mixed the kool-aid and poured two glasses, bringing them out to the living room and handing her one.

“You know you say ‘sorry’ an awful lot,” he commented.

“Uhh—I feel like I should say ‘sorry’ but that’s kinda the issue being brought up so--”

He chuckled a little as he shook his head and picked up the laptop and began typing on the keyboard. After a few seconds he announced, “okay—whenever you’re ready we can pick out a movie and after the movie we’ll get dinner going.”

“Can I tell you something kind of personal—it’s kind of an issue but I’m not sure what to do about it,” she asked.

“What’s up?”

“Well I haven’t had my umm—my uhh--” she stammered, her face becoming tinged with pink.

Seeing her uncertainty he suggested, “your monthly visitor?”

“Yeah—umm I don’t think—no, I, I’m pretty sure Grandpa doesn’t have anything like that at home—and my allowance is at home so I--” she was slightly rambling but he was getting the picture.

“Alright. Change of plan, we’re gonna have our kool-aid, head back out, grab you a few supplies and you can just pay me back the next time we chill,” Kid offered as he sipped some of the blue beverage.

“For real?”

“Yeah for real, in fact.. if you and Killer are okay with it I’m thinking we keep a smaller supply here just in case,” Kid proposed.

“You mean you really do wanna hang out with a thirteen-year-old girl during the summer? Wouldn’t guys at school make fun of you if they found out?”

Kid raised an eyebrow at her, “I’m a 6’4 human statue of a guy who wears red lipstick, eyeliner and foundation. What makes you think they don’t already talk about me? Let ‘em run their mouths.”

Chapter 7: Risky Business

Kid and Nia had gone to the nearby drug store and picked up two packs of fourteen pads. Neither of them had been sure of what to get so a woman offered her assistance, specifically after Nia revealed that her mom was deceased. While talking to the woman, Nia had been able to recall which pads her mom had used when she was alive, after which the woman suggested she get the same ones advising her, “it isn’t a golden rule but sometimes a girl’s cycle can mimic her mother’s.”

He’d noticed that Nia’s mood seemed to shift a little upon hearing this, but he wasn’t going to press it. If she wanted to tell him, she would. Unfortunately they also ran into a girl with sandy blonde hair cut into a short bob with a fringe, she had a pale complexion and freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She was stocking shelves in the drug store and seemingly hadn’t noticed them. Kid hated how his heart still skipped a beat when he saw her. This time it was Nia who noticed a shift in his mood, and had grabbed the side of his shirt to distract him from the other girl. Kid had in turn glanced down at Nia and they’d left the store together.

They had cooked together, with Nia making the mashed potatoes and green beans while Kid fried up the steaks in a frying pan.

As they ate dinner they sat in front of the laptop and watched Percy Jackson: The lightning thief. It wasn’t exactly what he’d normally watch but he figured it was a good middle ground between his taste in movies and hers. He was more into action flicks and sci-fi while she enjoyed dramas and fantasy. Her favourites were the land before time series and The Never Ending Story, while his were Alien and Rambo.

He took note of how differently they ate. While he got a bit of everything on his fork for every mouthful, she mixed her green beans into her mashed potatoes. She then alternated between a forkful of steak and a forkful of potatoes with green beans.

After that movie was done he put in another one, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. He didn’t bother to wash the dishes right away, but after about thirty minutes he noticed that she was struggling to stay awake.

“You wanna get into your pajamas? You can change in the washroom, I’ll put some clean sheets on the bed,” Kid suggested.

She nodded a little as she stood up from the couch, Kid briefly thought to himself that she looked a little pale, but then he remembered his ex would get pale if she was really tired. He didn’t think about it for long though, they did have pepto if her stomach went wonky on her.

When he heard the bathroom door close he went into his room and pulled back the curtain that lead into his closet. The door had broken a few months ago and the landlord had refused to fix it, Killer had tried but couldn’t get it to work again. So he removed it off the hinges and put up the curtain so Kid could have some semblance of privacy for his clothes.

He grabbed an old bed set that he had, based on what he knew of her preferred movies he figured she might like this bedding set. It was covered with dinosaurs. He smiled a little as he removed the fitted sheet and replaced it with the dinosaur patterned fitted sheet. Within five minutes he had the bed sheets changed over and was picking up miscellaneous laundry items.

He made a mental note as he cleaned up to put his dirty laundry in the hamper from now on. She appeared at the doorway as he was putting the items into the hamper, she looked as if she was about to fall over on her feet.

Kid watched as she got into the bed and he helped her pull the covers up over herself. As he finished tucking her in he asked, “are you alright with the lights off?”

She nodded her head a little but murmured something he wasn’t too sure of, it sounded like something about nightmares or bad dreams, but he wasn’t certain. Either way, he decided he’d forgo his usual habit of listening to music with the earphones on and instead catch up on some recent news until Killer got home. As long as one of them had an ear out he didn’t feel too bad about having the head phones on.

He lightly chuckled to himself as he realized this almost seemed like a babysitting gig than a hang out with a friend—but not really. She was capable of doing things for herself, it’s just that the law stated anyone in their area under the age of 15 had to be accompanied by someone who was at least 15 years of age or older, and children under ten couldn’t be left unattended by someone 17 or older for more than four hours.

He went back to the living room and flopped down on the couch, and sitting in front of the laptop went to the online newspaper site for his area. His phone pinged, and he looked at the screen expecting it to be Killer but instead saw a number he didn’t recognize with a message that said: Dad couldn’t cope, she’s next.

‘What the fuck is this? Who the hell would--' his thoughts were cut short however when he heard glass shatter followed by Nia screaming. He didn’t stand up but put his weight onto one arm, using it to leverage himself up and over the back of the couch and bolted for his room, he quickly noticed the busted glass and the brick that had been thrown through the window with a note attached to it.

He ran straight to the window and looked out, recognizing two teenagers climbing down the fire escape. The tall blond teenage boy he knew to be Basil Hawkins, and the other was an auburn haired man he only knew as Drake. Celestial Dragons, what were they doing in his neighbourhood? This place was jam packed with Pirates, they’d have a real turf war on their hands if any of his former buddies caught them lurking around.

He turned his attention to Nia who was quiet. He realized he’d instinctively grabbed his phone and turned the flash light on, quickly scanning the bedding and the area. Luckily there didn’t seem to be any glass in the bed sheets. He checked her hair and asked if she had pain anywhere. She answered that she didn’t.

Once he finished examining her and the bed area she sat up and threw her arms around his neck. He was taken aback for a second before he wrapped his arms around her and assured her, “you’re safe with me. I’d be scared too if I was you though. That’s quite a weird scenario, huh?”

She nodded a little, as she cuddled into him a bit more. That’s when an idea came to him, “Hey—I got an old sleeping bag… you want me to camp out in here with you? I’d be on the floor but I’ll be close by.”
Nia nodded her head a little. Kid nodded his head in agreement as he confirmed, “Okay. I should run a vacuum in here first. So, sorry about the noise, but once that’s over I’ll get changed, get the sleeping bag out and join you in here.”

Another nod of her head and he inwardly grimaced. He really hoped word of this didn’t reach her grandfather. A fifteen year old boy rooming with a thirteen year old girl, yeah that didn’t sound suspicious in the least. He knew it was innocent, Nia knew it was innocent but he was well aware that too many people thought being a teenage boy meant being an out of control hormone crazed ape. He could readily confess that he did think about physical intimacy frequently, about six to twelve times an hour if he was being honest, but that didn’t mean he lacked self control.

He was also willing to admit that the same may not be true for other boys his age though. Then again, he’d be willing to bet they didn’t have the same history as he did.

Chapter 8: Brothers

Kid had woken up to his alarm blaring at 6 am. He quickly turned off the alarm and sat up in the sleeping bag, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He glanced over at the bed and noticed the small frame still asleep in his bed. He softly smiled to himself, he’d never been left to care for someone else before. The only training he had was his first aid and CPR certification, he didn’t think he’d do well with toddlers or babies, but maybe he could babysit a few eight-year-olds?

He quickly dismissed the idea, with his past who’d hire him on as a babysitter anyway? Well except fire Chief Corbin, he didn’t seem too bothered by his history. That bit of information alone was curious to Kid, the guy was a high rank in the fire department, if word got around that he had any connection to someone like him, it could spell out a career ending event for him.

She had been scared when the brick crashed through the window last night, in truth he had been as well, but thankfully it hadn’t injured her. He’d been able to clean up the smaller pieces of glass with the vacuum, the larger pieces he picked up by hand.

Now he was in the kitchen making pancakes and suddenly realized despite everything they did discuss yesterday they never talked about how she prefers her eggs cooked. ‘Eh, hopefully she’ll wake up soon… if not Killer’ll be here when she does,’ he reasoned with himself as he placed the last pancake onto one plate. It was a triple batch, he wasn’t sure how many she’d eat, but pancakes were a rare treat in his place. He put a little more oil into the frying pan, swishing it around so it covered the surface area. Then cracked three eggs into it, as far as Kid was concerned you couldn’t go wrong with good old fashioned over easy. Sometimes he’d go for poached but that wasn’t too common.

He flipped the eggs over and let them cook yolk down for a few seconds before plating them and took four pancakes from the stack. He spread strawberry jam onto the pancakes and didn’t use any condiments for the eggs as he began eating the breakfast. After every few bites he’d take a sip of coffee.

He glanced up when he heard movement from the living room and watched as Killer got up from the couch.

“Didn’t mean to wake you, Killer,” he stated apologetically.

Killer brushed it off while admitting he hadn’t slept all that well anyhow. His brother was currently shirtless and wearing a pair of navy blue sweatpants as pajama bottoms. The blond man stretched and yawned as he entered the kitchen, grabbing a mug down from the cupboards and filling it with coffee.

“So tell me about this girl. Anything I should be cautious of with her?”

“She’s asthmatic. Far as I can tell just heat and extreme stress triggers it pretty bad, but her grandpa left a list. She took her asthma pill while we were eating dinner so she could sleep. No food allergies or other issues that I know about,” Kid relayed, as he took another forkful of food.

When he’d chewed it significantly he added, “Oh one other thing, her Grandpa keeps her under a pretty tight lock and key. Poor girl didn’t even know about periods or the changes her own body’s going though. So I let her google a few things on my phone.”

Killer was silent but looked to Kid with a knowing glance. He added milk to his coffee and took a few sips of it before asking, “so you used some emergency money to get her some supplies, I take it?”

“Yeah. Two fourteen packs of pads. Figured we keep one here, and she takes one over there. That way if her Grandpa finds them and does something with them, she’s still got some somewhere,” Kid confirmed.
Killer nodded his head a little as he replied, “I get that logic but realistically most older folks don’t have a problem with young girls wearing pads—it’s other products they have issues with because they go up inside the girl. A few even think they get pleasure from them—I don’t know cause I’m obviously not a woman but I can’t imagine having something inside you for hours at a time is comfortable never mind pleasurable.”

Kid made a face as he processed the information and shook his head, “people are fucked.”

Killer nodded his head in silent agreement as he drank down some more coffee. He set his cup down and stated, “I’m gonna have Hailey over today… if she gets here before Nia’s grandfather picks her up I’m sure she won’t mind having a talk with her if she wants to talk to a woman that is.”

Kid nodded a little again as he finished his breakfast and admitted, “I’m glad you’re not obsessed with tracking everything I do.”

“Not everything, but I do track you,” Killer reminded him.

“I know,” Kid responded as he started washing his dishes. Killer shook his head and advised him, “don’t worry about it Kiddo, I’ll get it. Hit the shower, I can smell you from here.”

“Fuck off asshole,” Kid shot back as he made his way to the washroom.

Killer chuckled, yes he was his brother’s legal guardian, but he was still his older brother, not his father. He didn’t expect to have the same level of respect as a parent would, but he did expect Kid to listen to him. For the most part his brother did listen, the odd time he didn’t and he had consequences for it when that happened. Killer wasn’t big on punishments but he was a big believer in cause and consequence. When Kid got into his whisky last Christmas the consequence was enduring a hangover while Killer blasted Atreyu on his phone.

When Kid complained that he felt sick and his head was throbbing, Killer had simply advised him, “That’s what happens when you drink.”

The one thing that Killer was angry about was that their parents had passed away when they did. He knew they were in the beginnings of a legal case against the Juvenile detention center where Kid had been serving his sentence. Until their passing he hadn’t known what the case was about, but once he found out he felt like he’d let Kid down. Although at the time he had been seventeen, if he’d been arrested on similar charges to Kid, he would’ve been tried as an adult and sent to a different prison. He couldn’t have protected him.

As his older brother it was his job to help protect him and he felt like he’d already failed to do that twice. Once leading up to his brother going to juvie, he’d never admit it to him, but he’d also found his girlfriend attractive and had a crush on her. But he lost interest when just two weeks after Kid was sent to Juvie for protecting her at a dance, Killer had seen the bimbo on the arm of another guy.

He lost respect for her in that moment, and ten weeks later Kid was granted compassionate release from Juvie after an incident while serving his sentence. His parents had sold their house to pay for the legal fees and pay the fine associated with Kid’s assault in order for him to be freed early. They were in the process of moving into a three bedroom apartment when their parents had been killed.

After that, the best that Killer could do was get a one bedroom based on his income alone. He did have some money from the insurance, but he didn’t know what post-secondary program Kid wanted to get into—and he wanted his little brother to have every opportunity he could get. If that meant investing the insurance payout until Kid was out of high school, then that’s what he’d do.

Chapter 9: Taunting

The second shift flew by for Kid, before he knew it he was punching out for the day and heading back home. He wasn’t sure if Nia would be there when he got back but he found himself hoping that she was. He almost had to physically restrain himself from running out of the building.

It was nice to have someone closer to his age to talk with again, maybe at some point they could go for a hike together. He knew a few hiking trails in the area some close by, some further away. He lamented on his financial situation, wishing that they could go bowling or something.

When his parents had been alive it was easy to find fun stuff to do with his peers. They’d go to arcades, movie theaters, coffee shops, mall shopping sprees, concerts and just generally had a good time. Then it all went to hell. First he’d met his ex, then he’d fallen in with her crowd, next thing he knew he was at the dance and the guy was hassling her—well that’s what he always told people, it was more like threatening her. Then came him losing his temper with the creep, then the assault charges and Juvie, and then—

Kid shook his head, trying to knock that memory loose before it could take hold. He didn’t want to fall down that rabbit hole today. He took out the package of cigarettes from his pocket and opened it. He placed one between his lips and flicked the lighter, bringing the end of the cigarette to the flame and taking a deep drag of it. He then continued walking.

Cooking with her had been fun, maybe they could find a few low cost or preferably free activities to do around the area. That was assuming that she actually wanted to be his friend which, he thought maybe she might.

He continued to absent mindedly smoke as he walked, seeing his apartment complex on the horizon. A few more steps and he spotted a newspaper stand, most of them did cost some money but there was one that was free. He grabbed a copy and continued on towards home, there could be some upcoming events during the summer that they could check out together.

Kid realized there was still a lot about her that he didn’t know. For starters, how’d she prefer her eggs? Did she prefer them with bacon or something else? What did she prefer on her pancakes? Killer had a tendency to put peanut butter on his, but Kid preferred jam or syrup. Peanut butter was for sandwiches and oatmeal.

“You’re smoking openly now? That’s new,” a female voice called to him from behind.

He dropped the cigarette, now down to the butt to the ground and stepped on it to extinguish it. He exhaled the smoke he’d been holding in his lungs and replied, “things change.”

The voice didn’t miss a beat before pressing, “I saw you at Crocus’ Pharmacy yesterday with that girl. She your new girlfriend?”

“Who she is doesn’t matter Victoria,” Kid stated as he turned to face her. He looked her in the eye before adding, “we haven’t been together for what? Two years and three months?”

The sandy blonde haired woman had a similar complexion to himself, with light brown eyes and freckles lightly dusted across the bridge of her nose. She was wearing denium short shorts that didn’t make it down to mid thigh paired with white sandals and a pink short sleeved crop top that showed her navel piercing.

Victoria wasn’t giving up as she pressed, “she’s a bit young though, don’t you think?”

Kid raised his eyebrows at as he reminded her, “less than the age gap between us, or was that only cool because I was younger than you?”

“Oh well, maybe she’ll get smart and stay away,” Victoria suggested.

Kid shook his head before he answered, “So you did have something to do with it. I’m only gonna say it once: anything more happens to her. I don’t give a damn if I crash and burn with you.”

“But that would destroy Killian, wouldn’t it? Knowing his little brother torched himself on his watch, after he sacrificed so much to keep you out of the system,” Victoria smirked.

She shook her head as she lamented, “You poor foolish boy. You had no idea who you were attaching yourself to. You just saw a hot body.”

Kid kept his eyes on her as he drank in her thinly veiled threat and shook his head, “Nah. I mean you do look good. You always did—but it was never your body that drew me in.”

A half smirk spread across his lips while the confession escaped them, “I always had a thing for your freckles.”

Victoria’s face twisted in confusion as she pressed, “my freckles?”

Kid nodded, the same goofy smile on his face while he revealed, “I’ve always found freckles on a girl cute. Sure all guys have a body part that they find attractive in a more—intimate sense. That one I’m not telling you. But freckles on a girl—I don’t know just something about it gets me like nothing else. Can’t explain it.”

“That new girl doesn’t have freckles,” Victoria pointed out.

Kid looked to his ex-girlfriend while he suggested, “Then maybe you should wonder if you got the wrong impression. And tell your punk ass brother to watch himself. If I hadn’t stepped in and somebody else saw him—he’d be looking at an attempted murder charge. She’s asthmatic, she was having an episode and he wouldn’t let her use her inhaler.”

Realization was reflected on Victoria’s face as she took in this new information causing her to stammer, “S-so you w-we-were--”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass less what happens to you or that stupid punk—but Juvie isn’t the extended vacation people think it is—and if he did do something that heinous, he could get tried as an adult. It isn’t unheard of. From what I’ve heard things are even worse there. Wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he clarified.

“Since he’s your little brother—do him a favour and remind him to watch himself. Ultimately nobody, not Celestial Dragon or Pirate is above the law’s reach if they reach far enough,” Kid warned.
He turned and changed direction walking off somewhere else while messing about with his phone. As he walked further away from her he called back over his shoulder, “Do me a solid in return: don’t talk to me again.”

He could feel Victoria’s eyes on him for a while causing him to change course and go into a convenience store instead of continuing on home. She had been to his house before he went to Juvie, but she had never set foot near his apartment to his knowledge. He nodded to the man behind the counter, a guy he knew fairly well to see and shoot the breeze with.

He headed towards the back, wasting time, looking at the items in the store and sent a message to Killer: ran into a former bad decision. Laying low at a store before heading home.

Chapter 10: The call

It was another hour before Kid arrived back home, after he was convinced that Victoria wouldn’t be following him. He was greeted by someone throwing their arms around his waist, their head resting just a bit higher at his side, above his left hip. He blinked in shock before he gained a smug smirk and gave her a one armed hug back with his left arm.

“Don’t tell me you missed me,” he teased.

She moved away from him stating, “okay, I won’t.”

‘I played myself there,’ he realized as he watched her disappear into the washroom. He looked over at Killer, his amber eyes meeting his brother’s blue. Killer observed his brother before asking, “So who’d you run into?”

“The biggest mistake of my life,” Kid growled before he headed into the kitchen. He wanted something strong to drink after the encounter, but he didn’t know how Nia would react to it and besides he’d been sober for the last eight months.

“You alright, Kid?”

His shoulders sagged as he shook his head ‘no’, then shrugged his shoulders as he verbally replied, “Not really but I’m not crashing over it.”

“Good,” Killer stated, he gently patted his brother’s shoulder as he moved into the kitchen and stated, “I’m not working tonight—how about I make meatloaf?”

Kid smiled and nodded his head in affirmation, “yeah that sounds good.”

Nia exited the washroom and rejoined them saying, “my grandpa should be by to get me soon.”

Killer nodded his head as he inquired, “You got everything packed up?”

The blonde-haired girl nodded her head in agreement. Killer smiled as he suggested, “Alright… whose up for go fish?”

Nia bit her lip a little as she looked through her phone messages noticing there had been no message from her grandfather last night. She nervously replied, “actually I—I really wanna go home.”

“But there’s nobody there, you’d be alone, wouldn’t you? Best to wait for your grandpa,” Killer suggested.

“But Cleo’s alone, and grandpa didn’t message me. He usually does to let me know he stopped by to feed her dinner. If he didn’t stop by she’s been alone all this time without enough food. She’s only five months old,” Nia objected.

Killer and Kid looked at her in stunned silence before Killer asked, “and Cleo is who?”

“My kitten,” Nia clarified.

Kid and Killer visibly relaxed a little before Kid grabbed his keys off of the kitchen counter and said, “Alright… you got a key to get in?”

Nia nodded her head in agreement, Killer stood up and went into Kid’s room. He grabbed the duffle bag, slinging it over his shoulder before announcing, “Alright, let’s get going then.”

The three of them left the apartment, Killer in his denim shorts and a blue muscle shirt while Kid was wearing black cargo shorts and a red t shirt. Nia was dressed in a pair of black bicycle shorts and a yellow tank top, Nia and Killer were wearing sandals while Kid wore the socks and shoes he’d worn to work that morning.

As they walked Kid and Nia talked amongst themselves. Kid found out that Nia preferred poached eggs or sometimes over easy. She preferred yogurt parfaits with chia seeds for breakfast anyhow, and that was something Kid wasn’t sure he could get behind.

As far as going on hikes, she was all for it, she’d have to keep her blue inhaler on her but she’d definitely go. Kid smiled at that idea, and she suggested they could cook a few other things together. Her mom had been a chef and taught her a few techniques but never let Nia control the stove or oven so she’d definitely need his help with that.

Kid readily agreed as long as she was willing to teach him a few things, she was enthusiastic at the idea of teaching him a couple of techniques. Killer quietly observed the interaction between the two teenagers and couldn’t help the smile that spread across his lips. It was nice to see his brother connecting with someone again. Well, someone other than himself.

As they walked they exchanged about their favourite colours, foods, and activities. Kid admitted that he liked tulips, which was something else he shared with Nia, and not something he’d told anyone else. Even Killer had been surprised to hear that one.

Nia could now see the red brick bungalow house coming into view as they continued on. Kid realized that Nia’s house was fairly close to their apartment but just far enough away that they weren’t in the slums of the city core. The house had a bay window at the front of it, the front door had stained glass that had tulips designed into it.

Nia revealed that her grandmother had been a florist, and her favourite flowers had also been tulips, so her grandfather had the stained glass designed for her grandmother. She opened the screen door and took out the key from the side compartment in the duffle bag. She unlocked the door and entered the house, Kid and Killer following close behind.

Once Killer was inside he closed and locked the door behind himself and Nia entered the code for the alarm system. Nia hurriedly made her way upstairs to the kitchen area, immediately noticing that the pet food and water dish were both empty.

‘Oh no, Cleo! I’m so sorry! I’m terrible,’ Nia thought to herself as she grabbed the bag of kitten chow from under the sink and asked, “there’s a jug of filtered water in the fridge, if one of you could fill the larger bowl?”

Kid nodded as he opened the fridge and took out the white brita water jug, pouring the water into the dish. Nia extracted a measured amount of kibble from the bag of kitten chow and poured it into the smaller bowl. As soon as the kibble hit the bowl a tawny tabby came running out, making a mad dash for the food bowl. She crouched down in front of the bowl as she ate greedily at the bowl. Nia quickly realized that Cleo hadn’t been fed dinner, which worried her.

Noticing the tension increasing in Nia’s jaw as well as her shoulders Kid asked, “what is it?”

“He never forgets her dinner. Even if he did get called out to a fire site or another incident—he should’ve been by to feed her at least once by now,” Nia informed him.

Kid gently placed his hand on her shoulder as he asked, “you would’ve heard if something had happened though, right?”

Nia sucked her lower lip between her teeth, lightly biting it as she shook her head ‘no’. She began to elaborate, “Not really. Actually the person that would’ve been informed--”

She was cut off by the sound of a ring tone filling the kitchen area. Kid looked around at the house, and realized the décor was kind of similar to their apartment. They had the similar cupboards and counters, but these ones were better maintained.

Killer picked up his phone and noticed an unknown number showing. That was odd. He connected the call and brought it up to his ear as he greeted the caller. He moved out of the room, signaling for Kid to keep Nia in the kitchen as he moved away, talking in a hushed tone with the caller. Kid didn’t like that at all, he’d seen Killer do that before when he was fighting to keep Kid out of foster care.

He turned his attention to Cleo devouring half of her kibble then moving onto lapping up water. He felt his heart break watching the kitten, she’d been so hungry and thirsty he was surprised she hadn’t been crying. He glanced over when he heard Killer coming back into the room and noted he was no longer on the phone, he had a look to him that sent a chill down Kid’s spine.

He sat down next to Nia while Killer bent down so he was eye level with her. He grasped Nia’s shoulders, his blue eyes met her grey as he began, “Nia—that was a social worker.”

Chapter 11: Extending Arrangements

Nia felt as if her legs were going to give out, her normally peach hued complexion had become ghostly pale. Kid coaxed her to sit next to him while Killer tried to coach her to breathe. Kid tried his best to reassure her that her grandfather was in the hospital, and that he would be alright.

"It's what got Grandma," Nia whispered, so faintly the guys weren't sure they'd heard her correctly at first.

It was Kid who asked, "what do you mean?"

"She had a heart attack and didn't notice. Week later she had another one. That's what took her away," Nia answered, tears pooling in her eyes.

Kid gently rubbed her back while he assured her, "Yeah—but your grandpa was at work, there's paramedics there. They gave him medicine to help stop the heart attack and got him straight to the hospital. He'll be alright."

"His friend'll know, he'll come looking for me," Nia whimpered.

Killer shook his head 'no', "that's why the social worker called me. After what happened yesterday, with you not wanting to go to his friend's—he got a lawyer to come by to notarize a change to his living will. He changed it so that if something were to happen to him and someone called Ms. Nico wasn't available, I'd be your temporary guardian until a permanent placement was found, or Ms. Nico got you."

Nia gasped as her eyes met Killer's, wordlessly asking if he was telling the truth.

"I promise it's true," he added.

"Ms. Nico is my neighbour. She's a flight attendant so she's away a lot for work, but she was on leave from work for a while. I guess that's over or will be soon—I don't know," Nia explained.

Killer nodded as he said, "alright. Well for now, why don't we pack up Cleo's stuff, pack some more things for you and get back over to the apartment? We'll see about getting you to the hospital after to see him."

Nia nodded, taking a few steadying breaths as she agreed, "Ye—yeah, okay."

Kid hugged Nia from the side, letting her bury her face into his shirt. He knew there was nothing he could say, all he could do was hold space for her. He felt his shirt dampen as her tears fell onto the fabric. At least she was able to get it out, not bottle it up like he had. Killer gently placed his hand on Nia's shoulder while her tears flowed. He didn't want to be too familiar, but he wanted her to know he'd be there for her in any way he could be.

Kid held her wordlessly for several minutes while she cried before he asked, "We were gonna have meatloaf for dinner tonight—or is there something else you'd like?"

"Meatloaf's fine," Nia replied as she wiped her eyes. Cleo sat in the girl's lap, placing her front paws up by Nia's shoulders and gave a small meow.

Nia smiled as she gently rubbed the kitten's ears. She looked to Killer as she asked, "Do you do roast veggies with it?"

He nodded before adding, "and roast potatoes."

Nia smiled a bit more then grabbed the duffle bag and pulled out her phone when it pinged. It was a message from someone who had been in her class last year inviting her to a pool party in a week. Nia bit her lip a little as she read the message. On one hand it would be a distraction from what had happened with her grandfather, but she hadn't gotten along well with a lot of the other students in her class.

She had been on friendly terms with the girl but not to the point that she considered her a real friend. If Nia was being honest with herself she'd bonded more with Kid in one day than with anyone in her class over the month that she attended Junior High in this city.

Kid observed Nia, but didn't ask, he waited for her to speak up.

"It's a girl from one of my classes—she's inviting me to a pool party next week," Nia stated.

"Hey that sounds like fun," Kid encouraged. He noticed that she wasn't smiling and even looked a little concerned as she thought it over.

"I guess—except she's not exactly a friend. We worked on a school project together once—didn't really hang out after it was over. Also she's one of the popular girls," Nia revealed.

"So you're worried about something not so genuine going on," Killer surmised.

Nia nodded her head a little. Kid was quiet for a moment before suggesting, "Ask her if you can bring someone. Don't say who."

The blonde girl bit her lip as she typed out a reply on her phone then read out, "Hey Ava, can I bring someone to the party?"

Killer gave a faint smile while Kid's expression didn't change. Soon a reply came through and Nia's shoulders sagged a little as she read it out loud, "Sure. Didn't think you had any other friends. That'll be cool to meet her."

Kid felt a vein in the side of his temple throb a little at the 'meet her' comment while thinking to himself, 'Geez, are guys my age so bad that people think we're incapable of being just friends with girls?'

Nia seemed to notice his distress and gently patted his shoulder while she replied one handed as she narrated what she was typing, "actually, he's a guy—and yeah I do have other local friends."

Her phone pinged again and Nia read the message, "Oh, my bad! Sorry! Any allergies or special diet needs?"

Kid shook his head 'no', and added that he wasn't big on curry. He watched as his friend typed out another reply before putting her phone back into the duffle bag and stood up, "Well… Cleo's litter box is in the laundry room, along with the box of litter. You know where her food is. I'm gonna go grab a week's worth of clothes and hopefully that'll be enough until Grandpa's home."

The guys nodded in agreement, then Kid asked, "how are we gonna carry everything back to the apartment?"

"Already handled it. Hailey'll be by in about an hour or so to drive us back," Killer announced. Nia headed into her room and Kid laid on his stomach in front of Cleo, offering his open palm to her. He could admit he had more experience with dogs than cats. Still the kitten sniffed at his hand before rubbing her head against the palm of his hand. He smiled as he gently rubbed the kitten's ears and commented, "well this'll be different, huh? Never had a cat in the apartment before. Nothing in the lease saying we can't have pets—but well a one bedroom's kinda small, ya know? Especially for two people as tall as me and Killer. So umm I'm gonna apologize now if I trip over you, okay? I'm gonna try hard to be aware of where you are all the time."

He'd almost swear the cat understood him, watching as the tawny tabby licked his hand. He chuckled at the roughness of the cat's tongue, realizing very quickly if the cat tried to lick his feet he'd be in trouble. That would likely tickle.

He had been feeling down at the idea of Nia going home, but now he got another week with her. He didn't like the circumstances that happened under, but at least he'd have a week of having a friend at least—he was betting once her grandfather figured out his history the man would force her to cut contact with him.

Chapter 12: Arriving At Ava's

The days passed by quickly for the three and before Nia knew it the day of the pool party had come about. Her grandfather had sent some money to Killer to help him feed and clothe Nia. Killer had asked about using some of the money to get Kid a new swimsuit for the pool party, Mr. Corbin had readily agreed, since according to what Killer had said Kid used some of his money to get antihistamines for Nia, which he confessed he'd forgotten to pack.

Killer had then taken both of the teens shopping as Nia had found that she had out grown her swimsuit as well. After the three of them spent some time in the women's swimwear with both Kid and Killer looking like they'd feel more at ease robbing a bank than waiting around while she tried on one piece suits, she finally admitted that she'd wanted to wear a two piece for a while—but her grandfather would never allow it.

Kid reminded her that he'd be there at the party too, and if a guy tried something they'd get a five finger special. That comment caused Killer to shoot him a disapproving glare and add that she could also alert an adult to the situation. Nia had lowered her head and shook her head 'no', stating that last year there boys in her class who would snap her bra through her shirt, and the teacher didn't do anything when she told him.

Kid scowled at that news while Killer sighed and shook his head, grumbling something about dinosaus, misogyny and biting butts that she couldn't quite decipher. Kid had suggested that she stay away from string bikinis but unfortunately this one did have a string bikini top. He was about to put it back when she grabbed it from him and looked it over. That was the swimsuit she ended up buying. He'd gotten a black pair of swim trunks decorated with bolts and gears. This was either going to be fun or go sideways real quick.

That had been a few days ago, he was sitting on the couch waiting for her. He was wearing his new swim trunks, black sandals and a grey muscle shirt.

His usual makeup and hair gel was absent, not wanting either to contaminate the pool with either, he was only bringing a towel and change of clothes for after which were in the black backpack sitting on the floor in front of him. Nia came out of his room wearing a black dress with thick shoulder straps to hide her bathing suit underneath. Kid stood up from his spot. He looked to her as he asked, "want me to carry anything?"

"Maybe my ventolin," Nia suggested as she held the inhaler out to him. He took it and put it in a smaller zipper compartment of his backpack. They bid goodbye to Killer who was planning to clean the apartment up a bit before going into work. It would be up to Kid and Nia to make dinner for themselves when they got back.

The two of them headed off to Ava's house, with Kid following Nia's lead, until she admitted that she admitted she didn't know where she was. Kid had chuckled a bit and looked at the address, he then was able to get them redirected so they were heading in the correct direction.

"Sorry," Nia mumbled.

Kid gently ruffled her hair while reminding her, "don't apologize, Pipsqueak. You didn't do anything wrong. Not like you've lived in this area your whole life."

"True," Nia conceded. Her eyes began to sparkle and her mouth opened into an 'oh' shape as she excitedly exclaimed, "doggy!"

Kid blinked as he watched her charge off to a fenced off yard where a grey Staffordshire terrier stood on its hind legs waiting for her. He smiled as he saw her let the dog sniff her hand before scratching the dog's head.

He quietly joined her, mimicking her actions while greeting the dog with, "hey boy."

The dog gently turned his head, licking Kid's hand and then Nia's, its tail moving like a propeller.

Nia smiled as she commented, "you're a friendly dog, huh? We gotta get going though. Maybe we'll see you on our way back home?"

The dog seemed to smile at the idea before moving away and removing his front paws from the fence. Kid smiled as he waved to the dog and kept walking with Nia.

"Well miss Cat-owner, didn't take you for a dog fan," he remarked.

"Ew. Don't use that word. You can't own something with its own mind—I'm a cat companion," Nia retorted.

"I stand corrected," Kid acknowledged as they continued down the street, eventually coming to one of the larger houses on the block. Kid surveyed the house and felt a sense of dread. Most people he'd known who were rich enough to afford a place like this were either highly educated snobs or the type of people you didn't want to get on the wrong side of.

He unfortunately had mostly encountered the later, and succeeded in doing the very thing you didn't want to do. He ran a hand over his face trying to will away the thoughts that were now invading his mind.

"You alright, Kid?"

He glanced down at the steel grey eyes staring up at him. He gave a slight smirk and nodded affirmatively. The two approached the front door and Nia knocked. Not even a minute later the door swung open and a girl with hip length raven hair, brown eyes and a slightly tan complexion stood in the doorway.

"Hey Ava," Nia greeted her.

"Hey," Ava returned, then looked to Kid and almost immediately paled as she took in the sight of him.

"Uhh—I thought you were bringing someone close to our age? Not an 18-year-old," Ava whispered.

"I'm fifteen," Kid stated, hearing every word.

He looked to her as he explained, "My older brother's my height, and our Dad was 6'7. I might be closer to my Dad's height by the time I stop growin'. I was born at the start of 2009. Missed being a new years day baby by about a week and a half."

"Oh—uhh—sorry I just—well I mean—you're so tall," Ava swooned.

Kid arched an eyebrow at her, and replied, "Yeah I get that pretty much everywhere. At a grocery store, old ladies ask me to get an item off the top shelf for 'em. Teachers when I'm gonna try out for basketball—I hate that game. Truth is I wouldn't mind being shorter—but we don't choose our genes."

"Speak for yourself. Being short sucks," Nia objected.

Ava nodded in agreement and Kid realized the two girls were nearly the same height. Ava elaborated with, "cooking at home becomes a workout because you're climbing on counters to get something on the top shelf of a cupboard. Nobody ever takes you serious they just see you as this cute talking puppet or something."

"And apparently it's 'adorable' when you're short and get angry so people rile you up intentionally just to see you explode," Nia added.

'Damn. The grass isn't greener on the other side,' Kid realized. "Challenges for both extremes," he offered. The girls nodded in agreement while Ava moved away from the doorway so the two could come in.

Kid and Nia entered Ava's home and quickly became aware of the décor. 'I didn't realize Ava was rich,' Nia thought to herself as she looked around.

'Holy crap—if the Pirates knew they'd be listing this residence as a target,' Kid thought to himself.

Chapter 13: Four Brothers

Nia and Kid followed Ava into the backyard, noticing they were early. Only three others were there. Another tall boy with freckles and black hair as well as a blond boy of similar height and age were also present, lastly there was a shorter lankier boy closer to Nia's age with black hair and dark eyes.

Kid asked Ava if she needed help setting anything up. She shook her head 'no' while stating, "my cousins came early to help with that."

She pointed to the three other boys, and Kid suddenly realized he'd seen two them from somewhere. Ava waved her cousins over and the boys climbed out of the pool walking over to them.

"Hey, I'm Ace," the dark haired freckled boy stated as he extended his hand to Kid.

"Kid," He answered as he shook the boy's hand.

"Alright so it's three boys and two princesses so far," The blond commented. Ava rolled her eyes before shooting a disapproving glare at him and groaned, "for real Sabo? Can you not be a lecher for five minutes?"

"Hey! I said 'Princesses' that means—any chumps wanna mess with one of you one of us steps in—or all of us," Sabo defended himself.

"Uh-huh—careful Nia. Sabo's a smooth talker but he's also a major flirt," Ava cautioned.

"Ah Pipsqueak can handle herself," Kid replied while shooting an aggressive glare at Sabo. She demonstrated this when she dodged Luffy's attempt at leaping onto her back, and glared at the boy stating, "well you haven't matured any, Luffy."

"Ah," was all that came from Sabo after seeing the expression Kid gave him. Ava retreated into the house to change into her swimsuit and almost bumped into someone else who was carrying a tray containing a covered pitcher of lemonade and a stack of solo cups.

"Sorry Law," Ava apologized before resuming her race up the stairs. The raven haired 18-year-old raised an eyebrow at her antics but shook his head as he headed out to the pool area and set the tray of lemonade down.

"Alright we've got some lemonade for refreshment whenever you guys get thirsty," he announced.

He glanced over at the group and stated, "So the menu is basically barbeque. There's salmon, pork sausages, beef patties and tofu dogs. I've got some green salads and potato salad in the fridge. "

Kid observed Law turning and heading back into the house before asking Ace, "Who's that guy?"

"Oh—that's Law, he's our older brother. If you hadn't guessed: Luffy, Sabo and I are adopted. So's Law," Ace answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

At this Kid blinked a few times, then his shoulders shook with a quiet chuckle that erupted into laughter.

"Sounds like the five of us all have something in common. We're orphans," Nia explained. Kid pointed to Nia and gave the thumbs up as he calmed himself down. He couldn't believe this. What were the odds of five orphans being at the same party?

"Cool deal," Luffy acknowledged, his voice squeaking a little. Kid almost blushed in sympathy for him. His voice had changed overnight, and he'd thankfully never gone through the embarrassment of his voice cracking. He hoped he never would. He knew some guys did, and he felt bad for them.

Nia smiled a bit as she sat by Kid, the tall redhead shifting a little so Nia could rest her head on his shoulder. He knew that sometimes walking in the heat would cause her lungs to feel a bit sticky, but not enough that she'd need her inhaler. Sometimes just being close to someone who knew about it was enough for her to be able to calm down from the initial panic of 'my lungs don't feel right'. Luffy observed them for a few minutes before asking, "what's the deal?"

"Friends," Kid and Nia replied in unison. Luffy stood with his hands on his hips, watching their body language before stating, "I'm not buying it. You two are pretty close together."

"So? I'm not about to steal a feel from her, she won't do that with me either," Kid retorted with a dismissive glare at the younger boy.

"Luffy, sometimes guys and girls are just friends. Kinda like me and Yamato—or Isuka," Ace offered.

"You got the hots for Isuka though," Luffy pointed out.

"Shut up about that," Ace growled out.

"Or me and Koala," Sabo threw out then looked to Luffy as he hinted, "You and Nami…. Or are you trying to say there's something else there?"

"Huh? N-no way! Na-Nami's older than me," Luffy sputtered. His brothers chuckled at his stuttering as they exchanged knowing glances with Kid and Nia.

"I'm getting back in," Luffy stated as he made a running jump into the pool. The other guys shook their heads and Nia straightened up, sitting next to Kid without leaning on him and brought her knees up to her chest.

Kid watched her shift and asked, "you good?"

Nia nodded her head in response. Ace watched her for a moment, taking in the way she was sitting, he figured Kid was thinking the same thing as he leaned down and whispered in Nia's ear. Ace watched as Nia shook her head from side to side.

Kid placed his hand on Nia's shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. The girl stood up and pulled the dress over her head. Kid hesitated momentarily before doing the same with his muscle shirt. Nia looked to Kid and gasped. Ace's eyes went wide while Sabo blinked his eyes repeatedly.

Nia sat back down next to Kid as her fingers grazed over a scar on the lower left side of his back. She glanced at Kid's face which held a look she hadn't seen before but the sadness held within his eyes prompted her to not ask the question that was trying to force itself off the tip of her tongue.

This wasn't a transplant scar, like the one she had seen on her mom when she began experiencing kidney failure from her chemo treatments. This scar was from being on the receiving end of malicious intent.

"Dude," Ace spoke.

"Don't," Kid requested. The dark-haired boy nodded in agreement while the blond suggested, "who's up for Marco Polo?"

Kid lowered his gaze to the deck before telling Nia, "I know you have questions. I just—don't want to answer questions right now. Later, okay?"

"Yeah, definitely," Nia agreed.

He grabbed the sunscreen and looked to Nia, "C'mon, I'll help you make sure your back's covered."

"You don't have to I can-" she began to protest before stopping herself. She bit her lip while admitting, "actually—I can't on my own… not all of it. My mom used to help me."

"Well, right now you've got me," Kid advised her. She looked up at him from down cast eyes.

He chuckled as he admitted, "yeah. It's a little awkward—but better a little awkward now, than skin cancer later."

He set the backpack over his lap and gestured for her to stand in front of him. He squeezed some sunscreen into the palm of his hand before holding his other hand over it to warm the lotion up a little. He then began applying it to the areas of her back he knew she'd struggle to reach effectively, namely center and lower center.

"Just so we're clear though—if you need a reapplication—come to me or go to one of the girls. Don't trust just any guy to do this," Kid warned.

Nia nodded a little while verbally replying, "Okay. I'll get your back after you're done."

"Sure," Kid agreed. 'I may need to use the washroom before I join them in the pool,' he thought to himself.

Chapter 14: Party Blunders

Kid left the washroom and rejoined the others at the pool. A couple of other guys showed up but it looked as though Ava and Nia were the only girls. This prompted Kid to ask why that was, Ava didn't know but Law answered, "Apparently some parents didn't feel right about their daughters being at a co-ed pool party."

'Makes sense. Some guys don't always think clearly at this age,' Kid reminded himself.

"Huh? We'd make sure they'd be okay though," Ace objected.

"Can't be everywhere all the time," Kid offered.

Ace had to agree there was truth to that. The two began bouncing a ball between themselves and Sabo, playfully excluding Luffy until they heard a scream. They turned towards the scream to see Nia being circled by boys that Kid instantly recognized, and the worst part was her bikini top was in one of their hands.

"C'mon, show us," the boy holding her bikini top taunted. Luffy dove under water and made his way towards the boys while Sabo, Kid and Ace swam over to Nia. Kid reached her first, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close to himself so her chest was pressed against his. He kept his eyes off of her and focused on glaring daggers at the boys who were taunting her.

Next Ace's fist connected the side of the torso of the boy who was holding her bikini top captive with enough force to make him lose his grip on it. Luffy snatched the top away, swimming over to Kid and Nia, offering it to them. Then the three brothers stood around her with their backs to her while She put the top back on, Kid helping her secure it around her neck, and this time triple knotting it.

Afterwards, Ace approached the boy who had stolen the bikini top while demanding, "what's your damage?"

"Big words coming from a pirate," the boy scoffed.

At this Kid's eyes grew wide while Ace bristled, then quickly relaxed. A smirk came over him as he replied, "Oh I get it. Cause my bio Dad was a Pirate, I must be one too? Careful—if you follow that logic you're something worse."

Nia looked to Kid and mouthed, 'Pirate?'

Kid didn't answer but held her closer to himself. He knew the other three would act as first line, but he was the last line. The boy approached Ace, and raised his fist at the same moment someone loudly cleared their throat. The teens turned to see the eighteen-year-old man standing on the pool deck with a tray full of various barbeque proteins, he looked to the boy and stated pointedly, "Looks like you're ready for your mom to pick you up."

The boy rolled his eyes, scoffing as he stated, "I'm not a baby. I walked here."

"Yeah? Too bad for you I've been filming for the last three minutes. She's on her way now. Hope you had fun, cause you just ruined the rest of your summer," Law stated. He placed the tray down on the table, glanced at the others while asking, "anybody else wanna try their luck? Hands to yourselves or else."

The boy that Kid knew to be Victoria's younger brother challenged Law, "or what?"

"Or that video gets sent to your parents—and Ava's—the one your parents fear," Law stated, narrowing his eyes at the boy.

"Careful pervert, you have explicit child content on your phone now," the boy sneered.

"Not even. You can't see her face or body in the video. The girl deserves to keep her dignity—but it clearly shows you stealing her bikini top—and with holding it, telling her to show you her body," Law explained.

He smirked before adding, "your mother asked me to send a video of you to her so she knew what you were up to. My focus was never on the girl."

The boy's face paled as a car screeched to a halt in the driveway and a car door slammed, the boy had expected his mother to appear but instead it was Victoria, her face flushed red with anger as she walked into the pool fully clothed, grabbed the boy by his arm and began dragging him out of the pool. The boy thrashed and tried to squirm away only for Victoria to grab a fistful of his hair and tug it enough to force his head back as she walked him out of the pool.

Kid blinked repeatedly, he'd seen Victoria angry before, but never to that extent. Even still, she was demonstrating restraint until they were out of the water. She then slapped the boy hard across the face with enough force for him to sprawl onto the concrete deck.

"You insufferable little maggot! Did you think word wouldn't get back to me? First you threaten that girl's life and now this? What's wrong with you? This is the kind of shit that can land you in Juvie. Do you want that? Maybe I should let you have a chat with someone I know who had a stint in there," she screamed at him.

He paled enough to match a bed sheet and looked back to Kid. Victoria grabbed a fist full of his hair again and forced her brother to look at her face as she scolded "you better smarten up or you're in for a real rude awakening, brat. I know you think I'm a bitch—but it'd be a hundred times worse behind bars with people who won't think twice of whooping your ass harder than you've ever had it."

She forced him up by his arm, then grabbed the back of his neck, forcing him to look at the ground as she carted him off. The young woman glanced back at Kid, giving him a wink of her eye before she disappeared past the gate with her brother.

Law, Ace, Luffy and Sabo stood with their mouths gaping while the boys' friends shivered in near unison. Kid however had a satisfied smirk on his face, which caught Nia's eye. She glanced up at him and asked, "what?"

"He's not gonna have a good summer now," Kid advised her.

'Why do I have a feeling he did something to cause this? Oh well, thoughts for another time,' Nia thought to herself as she pulled away from Kid and swam over to the ladder. She climbed out and headed into the house.

Kid figured she was going to get some water, what he hadn't expected was Ava running out ten minutes later to tell him, "Nia's asking for you. She's crying in the washroom."

Kid didn't hesitate to climb out of the pool, and asked Ava, "do you know why she's crying?"

Ava glanced at the boys around them and stated, "I don't know for sure—she said something about 'bring his bag', I don't know if that means anything?"

Now Kid was both curious and concerned as he picked up his backpack and headed into the house. He pulled his towel out from the backpack and wrapped it around his waist to help absorb the water. He entered the house and followed Ava to the bathroom door which he stood in front of and asked, "what's wrong?"

He heard her crying on the other side of the door. He placed his open palm on the door, but didn't push or try to open it. "Hey—Nia it's me. Whatever's going on, we'll figure out."

"It—it happened," she answered.

'It happened? What is she—oh,' Kid thought to himself as realization dawned on him. He opened one of the smaller compartments of his backpack and handed a pad to Ava, "could you? I shouldn't go in."

Ava nodded as she took the pad from Kid and knocked on the door stating, "Nia—cover up okay? I'm gonna open the door in three. Two. One."

At 'one' Ava opened the bathroom door just enough to place the pad on the counter top, and then slide it down to the toilet where Nia was. Ava then closed the door and looked to Kid as she admitted, "This is a disaster. My friend Jenesis has a crush on one of the guys here, so I thought I'd have a co-ed pool party—see if they could hit it off. Last time I go out of my way like that."

Kid nodded his head a little, he could understand that. She had done this meaning to help a friend and instead another friend got humiliated. Nia poked her head out of the washroom, wiping her eyes and asking for her dress. Kid handed it to her and gently kissed the top of her head while stating, "we don't have to stay. We can leave. Or we can just chill on the deck with our feet in the water."

Nia blushed as she looked up at Kid.

He blushed a little as he brushed off the kiss with the excuse, "okay you're the first girl I've socialized with regularily since my ex. I might be a little weird."

Nia giggled as she closed the door once again.

Next thing Kid heard was Ava's voice asking, "So—you're not into her?"

"She's my friend," Kid stated.

"Uh-huh," Ava replied in an unconvinced tone.

Chapter 15: Kid's past (part 1)

Kid and Nia had left the party soon after she left the washroom, explaining she didn't feel well. Law, who had already cooked up their portions packaged their food to go so they could eat them later and they jumped ahead to Ava blowing out her candles so they could take a couple slices of cake home with them.

As soon as they got back to the apartment, Nia went into the washroom and was sick. Kid put the food away and started boiling the kettle for a hot water bottle. Nia left the washroom and flopped down onto the couch before curling up into a ball. Kid watched her for a moment, silently wondering if what he was going to reveal to her would cause her to push away from him.

He took the kettle off the boil as it began to whistle. He poured the water into the hot water bottle, then grabbed two clean dish towels from a drawer and wrapped them around the hot water bottle. He carried it over to Nia, offering it to her while suggesting, "put this against your stomach. I've been told it helps."

Nia accepted the towel wrapped hot water bottle and held it against her abdomen while asking, "Who told you that?"

"My ex, Victoria. You sort of met her today. She's the older teenager that came and dragged her brother off calling him a maggot," Kid revealed.

Nia hummed in response. She took a deep breath and asked, "why did that kid call Ace a Priate?"

"Right- you're newer to town so you may not know," Kid reasoned with himself out loud. He took a deep breath and answered, "Pirates and Celestial Dragons are rival gangs in this part—and Ace's Dad was once the leader of the Pirates. He passed away from ALS a few months before Ace was born."

Nia's brow furrowed as she expressed, "Oh—how do you know that?"

"Well, at least that's what I heard," Kid corrected himself, silently hoping that she'd let it go.

Nia kept her steel grey eyes on him as she gently pressed, "Where would you have heard something like that?"

Kid wet his lips and found himself playing with the top of the towel around his waist before standing up from his spot on the couch and heading into his room to change out of his swimming trunks.

He quickly found a pair of basketball shorts and pulled those on, keeping the same grey muscle shirt he ran his fingers though his hair, and practiced box breathing. Inhale for ten seconds, hold for three, exhale or ten.

He could feel his stomach tensing and his heart resembled the pace of a frightened rabbit evading a predator. If it kept beating that hard and fast he was sure it would leave an imprint on his ribcage. He sat on the edge of the bed, and gently rocked himself, still practicing box breathing, but not finding any relief from it. He hadn't heard her get up off of the couch, he hadn't noticed her standing in the doorway watching him pace, pull at the strands of his hair, and utilizing the breathing technique he'd learned from his therapist in Juvie.

He hadn't noticed her approaching him until her hand gently placed itself over his, her delicate, nimble fingers easing his grip off of his hair.

He chanced a glance at her and caught her gaze. She wasn't upset with him, but she was definitely concerned. Kid took a shaky breath but as he went to speak she cut him off, "you know—because you're a pirate, aren't you?"

Kid shook his head from side to side, "no—but I was for about a year before I went to Juvie. The guy I hit was a Celestial Dragon, and they were able to peg me as a member of the Pirates. The Judge didn't take too lightly to two gang members beating one another at a dance. So he sent me away, otherwise for a 13-year-old first offender it's usually a ten thousand dollar fine for the damages I caused."

"Damages? What'd you do, bust his nose?"

"And shatter his cheek bone, and his jaw. The dude had groped Victoria, that's when I snapped. Juvie and court mandated anger management," Kid recounted.

"But something happened," Nia realied.

Kid nodded as he confessed, "I was attacked while I was inside. That scar you saw—it was a shiv. Punctured my kidney but didn't really cause much damage beyond that. I didn't need a transplant or anything they just treated me for it in hospital for a few days and let me go home to be on bed rest for the next six weeks. I finished my sentence on house arrest with an anklet tracking my every move."

"Geez," Nia breathed. She didn't hesitate as she leaned in closer to Kid, resting her head against his neck while her arms wrapped around him as best as she could manage. Kid blinked repeatedly before returning her hug. His arms wrapping around her upper back.

"I'm okay," he assured her.

"Are you though? You were panicking when I came in here," she reminded him.

He hadn't thought of it before but maybe her Dad had some kind of mental health issue and that's why he wasn't around. He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat before admitting, "I don't have many friends. Fact is—you're it, Pipsqueak. I had to cut ties with everyone else. I was okay with that – but—it's been nice. Having someone close to my age to talk to again—I don't want to lose you. I was scared that if I told you the truth about me you'd run."

Nia gained a small smirk as she inquired, "Does it look like I'm running?"

Kid shook his head from side to side while he confirmed, "No. I was panicking over nothing."

"I wanna curl up with a movie—and ice cream," Nia commented as she pulled away from him. Kid loosened his embrace on her as he regarded her expression during the comment. This made Kid laugh a little although he nodded while suggesting, "I think there's some strawberry in the freezer. You wanna pick the movie while I get the ice cream?"

Nia nodded as she headed back to the living room with Kid following her. He entered the kitchen and got down two bowls, looking in the freezer he fished out the ice cream that they had been slowly eating since his birthday in January. Strawberry wasn't his absolute favourite but it was up there. There was enough left in the tub for two scoops each. He placed a few spoons in the bowls and carried them out to the living room.

She'd selected an older movie from the 70's, Star Wars. This wasn't objectable to Kid, but he had to admit he'd never seen it before. They sat watching the video as they ate the ice cream. When Kid saw her getting a bit groggy he placed a pillow over his lap, encouraging her to lay down. He gently played with her hair absent mindedly while he paused the movie and opened a new browser tab incognito. He didn't want Killer knowing that he was looking into this.

He carefully typed into the search engine: mechanical engineering program admission requirements. He liked cars well enough, and being a mechanic would be a good plan B, but if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to build cars and engineer new technology for them. He was well aware of how tight money was though, and he was hoping he could save up, maybe even get a scholarship to help pay for the course. If he didn't succeed in that, he felt confident he'd be happy as a mechanic.

He felt her grasp at the pillow in her sleep, and couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he read the information he'd found. Engineering school was expensive, thankfully a bachlore's was usually sufficient, but some fields of engineering required a master's degree, which was another two or three years of school ontop of the initial four.

He shook his head and closed the private tab, feeling a familiar lump forming in his throat. If only he hadn't been so stupid when he was younger.

Chapter 16: Dreams

Kid hurriedly dried the wet streaks from his cheeks when he felt Nia stirring. He knew full well he couldn't get up and wash his face so he hoped his eyes weren't blood shot from crying. He'd done his best to keep quiet while the tears had fallen. He forced a smile to his face when he saw her head beginning to turn.

Nia rubbed her eyes then looked behind her and blinked at him. He was smiling, but in her mind the smile was creepy. It was out of place, but she also realized he likely didn't want to talk about what was upsetting him. She straightened herself up next to him, then leaned in, resting her head against his arm. His lower arm wrapped around her waist while he asked, "you alright?"

"I guess. I don't really know. My stomach hurts—so does my back, my hips, my thighs hurt—is that all from-"

Kid listened to her listing off the aches and winced a little, openly admitting he wasn't sure but they could find the answer easily. He brought up google on the laptop and searched, 'can you get period cramps in your thighs?'

The two read through the results, finding a few things that suggested dehydration could cause cramping in your thighs during a period, but so could nutritional deficiencies like iron, calcium and b12.

Kid thought for a moment before getting up and offering his hand to Nia. She gingerly accepted his offer, letting him pull her up to her feet. He went into the kitchen with her and got out a frying pan. He put it on the heat and added a little bit of cooking spray to the pan. They'd both chosen the hamburgers as the protein options.

"I'll see about getting some spinach tomorrow—seems to be fairly cheap. Maybe we could make a spinach salad and do some goulash or something," He thought out loud while their food heated up in the frying pan.

The one downside to not having a microwave was heating things up wasn't quick and easy. The upside was: you had to be really sure you wanted something before you set about heating it up.

"Hey Kid?"

He didn't take his eyes off the burger patties. The boy flipped the meat over in the frying pan as he acknowledged her with a simple vocalization, "hmm?"

"Why have you always been nice to me?"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes before seeking clarification, "what do you mean?"

"I mean right from the start—you've never been mean to me. You're always protecting me and well- taking care of me," Nia stated

He shrugged his shoulders before admitting, "I said it before: I'm an asshole, but I have my limits. The way we met—what those other guys were doing, I'm not down with it. What those creeps did at the pool isn't something I vibe with either. Plus—well—back at you: why have you always been nice to me?"

Nia's brow furrowed a little and then admitted, "I guess cause—I didn't feel a need to defend myself?"

"Guess our reasons end up being the same then," he concluded while he plated the burgers. Nia smiled as she took her plate from him and nodded her head.

The two ate their food in comfortable silence, until Nia pushed her plate away, there was still some potato salad and garden salad on the plate, which surprised Kid. She was usually a good eater from what he'd seen and would clean her plate every time.

"Stomach giving you trouble?"

"A little. I feel like if I eat anymore I'll get sick," Nia elaborated.

Kid nodded as he gathered up the plate, saying he'd put it back in the fridge for her to have later. While Nia washed their dishes, Kid ducked out onto the patio for a smoke. He was half way through his cigarette when the patio door slid open and Nia stepped out.

Kid smirked a bit before commenting, "You know you don't have to be my shadow all the time, right?"

"Oh—you want me to leave?"

The redhead shook his head from side to side before adding, "stay or go, I don't mind either way. Just didn't want you think that I don't trust you to be inside on your own while I'm out here."

"Why don't you smoke inside?"

"The Landlord's rules: No smoking in the apartment. Cool with me. At least this way the furniture doesn't smell of nicotine," Kid replied.

Nia nodded as she stood by him. There was silence between them until she asked, "So what are your plans after high school?"

"Get an apprenticeship as an auto mechanic," Kid answered as unenthusiastically as he'd talk about the weather.

"Okay—if there were no obsticals in your way. Not money, not prior behaviour—what would you do after high school?"

"Mechanical engineering, still specializing with motorized vehicles. It's my dream to design and build them—not just fix them," he answered.

He scoffed a little as he looked at the remaining portion of his cigarette. He seemed mesmerized by it, as if taking in every detail from the beginning of the filter, where the paper was a bit darker to the cigarette itself.

He gave a sigh as he lamented, "but dreams aren't supposed to be for guys like me."

He sucked in another drag from the tubular object, then his eyes fell onto her, silently asking the same question. It had become an unspoken rule between them, don't ask a question you're not prepared to answer yourself.

She bit her lip a little and admitted, "I'd love to be a published author—but failing that I'd love to teach English – maybe in junior high or something."

Kid blinked a little before smiling and giving a slight chuckle as he inquired, "Do you write now?"

The blonde nodded her head while admitting, "I started writing after my mom passed. I don't know. I guess it helps to get it written out—even if it's all metaphorical."

"Yeah, I get that," Kid admitted as he put his cigarette out. He then put the butt into an empty coffee can that was out there with them.

"What kind of stories do you write?"

"Mostly fan fiction but I have one original story that I've been working on—it's kind of a dark fantasy," she answered.

"Huh—like with vampires and stuff? Oh god, please tell me it's not like twilight," he replied, pleading towards the end. Nia shook her head from side to side as she assured him, "no way! No sparkly vampires there. It's mostly about mages and werewolves though."

"If you're okay with it, I'd like to read it sometime," Kid offered.

Chapter 17: Burdens and Pillars

Nia looked up to the night sky, wishing she could see the stars. Her parents had lived in the country when she was little, and she could remember watching the clear night sky from her bedroom window and trying to count the stars. Across from her Kid briefly wondered what had her captivated. The night sky was pretty, but the look on her face wasn't from being enraptured by beauty but rather one that a person would have if in pain. He crushed out his cigarette and called to her, "Hey Pip, let's head back in?"

Nia nodded her head a little as they turned and went back into the apartment. As soon as they had entered and closed the door, Cleo began weaving between their legs and meowing. Kid grinned as he knelt down and began petting the kitten. The tawny tabby purred loudly as she brushed against Kid. His smile grew as the feline flopped onto her side then shifted onto her back, gripping his hand between her front paws and lightly nipping at him.

"Hey," he cautioned, uncertain of what she was doing.

Nia glanced back before giggling a little and announcing, "she's giving you love bites."

"Oh yeah? She likes me that much, huh? Who'd have thought I'd earn the love of a kitty," Kid mused as he lightly tickled the kitten under her chin.

Nia giggled a little as she watched the two. She observed as he gave Cleo pets starting from the top of her head and moving all the way down to the end of her tail. She then stated to Kid, "you know we never played twenty questions… kind of a good thing because I realized what I was think of was more 'this or that'."

Well that he was all in on. The male shrugged his shoulders as he responded, "so shoot me a question."

"Red or black."

Kid froze, his shoulders slumped, and he shook his head while thinking, 'Sure hit with the big guns right outta the gate. Why not ask me if I prefer breathing or eating?'

He was silent for almost two minutes before decidedly answering, "Black."

He looked to her, "cats or dogs."

Nia's jaw dropped while she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Kid smirked at her distress. If she was going to play hardball, he could match her.

"I don't know," she almost whined, biting her lower lip. Kid scooped Cleo up in his arms and looked at the feline as he teased, "you hear that? Your mommy doesn't know if she loves you more than a doggy."

"Hey! You didn't specify Cleo," Nia defended herself with mock rage.

Kid shot her a cheeky smirk while he cuddled the purring bundle of fur. Nia shrugged as she admitted, "in general I don't know but—obviously I love Cleo more than any other animal."

"Of course," Kid agreed. Cleo nuzzled into his neck, purring loudly. Nia's jaw dropped as she watched the two. She crossed her arms as she observed her cat loving on her best friend and grumbled, "furry little traitor."

Kid chuckled as he placed Cleo back on the floor. The feline launched herself off of the floor, landing on his shoulder. Nia's eyes grew wide when she saw the motion while adding, "case and point."

Kid shrugged his free shoulder before looking to Nia for the next question.

"Cabbage rolls or stuffed peppers?"

"Cabbage rolls," Kid instantly answered. He stood up, being mindful of the parrot cat on his shoulder. He almost blushed a little as he admitted, "Stuffed peppers are good too—but nothing tops cabbage rolls."

He looked to her and asked the same question, her immediate answer was, "stuffed peppers."

"Oh? I'm guessing that would be your favourite," he observed. She hesitated before nodding. Kid revealed his favourite food was indeed cabbage rolls. He marveled for a moment at how similar the two dishes were. Both involved tomato sauce, ground meat, usually beef, rice, and sometimes other vegetables like carrots and onions. The difference being the beef and rice filling in his favourite dish got wrapped up in cabbage leaves and baked in the oven. Hers got filled into bell peppers and baked in the oven. Some variations added diced peppers to cabbage rolls, and her favourite was usually topped with melted cheese.

He chuckled a little at the discovery, they had similar tastes in music, flowers and food. Nia looked to him, cocking her head to the side in curiosity. He thought it was adorable how she'd do that, often thinking she looked like an inquisitive dog or cat when she did. He had previously wondered what she was curious about but this time he didn't have to wonder and shook his head at the silent question while verbally answering, "it's nothing. Ask me another."

"Hmm Pepsi or coke?"

"Pepsi. Coke's okay but definitely not the same taste," he answered. He thought for a moment before asking her, "Pink or purple?"

"Pink," was the immediate answer. A fact he mentally noted.

"Live action or anime?"

He blinked a little in surprise before mumbling, "anime."

"Yellow or Orange?"

'Why is he obsessing over colours? Hmm,' Nia wondered to herself before answering, "yellow. Sports or theater?"

"Sports. Specifically boxing or football," Kid replied with a grin, he had an idea of what was coming soon, he sort of hoped he was wrong, but he could understand the curiosity if he wasn't.

"Truth or Dare?"

'Not what I was expecting,' he thought to himself, but still decided to play safe, "truth."

Nia hesitated as if contemplating what to ask him this time before she inquired, "is there something you're still not telling me about when you were thirteen?"

The question made his heart sink into his stomach and his stomach somersault. She could tell he was holding back something from her, but how? So many people either didn't notice or didn't mention it. His eyes became downcast as he considered how to answer. He could chance telling her, but the truth of it was pretty heavy even for adults and she had her own stuff going on. He'd definitely tell her if something came up and he had to tell her—but he didn't want to if he could avoid doing so.

He nodded his head after a while and admitted, "I'm guessing you're talking about my time in Juvie and yes. Something else did happen—but only three people: my therapist, my parole officer, and Killer know about it. I'd rather keep it that if you don't mind."

"Alright," Nia acknowledged. She walked up to Kid, and gently touched his arm as she asked, "do you think you might tell me one day?"

"Maybe. It's—it's heavy even for adults an-"

"You're not a burden. You're my friend," Nia interrupted, objecting to what she clearly believed to be his reasoning for keeping this secret. Kid's stomach calmed and his heart felt a little more right again after hearing that. It also gave him insight to why she wanted to play this back-and-forth game.

"I know we're friends, Pipsqueak—but that doesn't mean you need to share all of my weight. Especially not right now. You've got enough going on. You're not the only person I can turn to but sometimes I feel like right now I'm the only one you turn to. That's okay. I know what's going on so it's cool. I'll be your pillar as long as you need me to. Don't think you've gotta be mine in return though," he assured her.

He gently played with her hair before pulling her in close to himself for a one-armed hug. He felt her returning the embrace and basked in it for a few seconds before requesting, "can I ask you for a truth now?"

Nia nodded her head in agreement and Kid asked, "why haven't you been to the hospital? You know I'd go with you."

"I know—but the last time I was in the hospital my grandma died—before that my dad died after causing a bad wreck that involved three other cars before he wrapped his around a telephone pole. Time before that, my mom died. Just seems like it's only bad news in a hospital—or maybe I'm cursed," Nia admitted.

'Ouch,' he thought to himself. He sighed as he nodded a little.

"Grandpa knows that I have anxiety about hospitals—I don't think he'll be angry. We call and text every day," she revealed.

"Alright," Kid agreed, gently tussling her hair, which caused her to laugh a little. The sound caused Kid's smile to grow more, he still saw himself as an asshole, but she was unlocking another side to himself that he hadn't thought possible. He liked who he was around her.

Chapter 18: Nearing Summer's End

As the end of summer closed in on Kid and Nia, so did something else. Kid had been talking with Killer about making some plans for a particular day that was coming up. Killer had in turn talked to Nia's grandfather, who had finally been allowed to go home, showing promise with his newly installed pacemaker. He had tried to stick to medication and fought doctors against having the surgery, but eventually he gave in. His reasoning was Nia, wanting to see her graduate high school at the absolute least.

He'd had allergic reactions to the medications that his doctors had him try, and as a result the pacemaker had been his only option at that point, so the fire battalion chief had relented. However it came at a price, he was transferred into Arson Investigation.

Kid had been glad to have his room back, but he had a new secret that only Killer knew: he hadn't changed his bedsheets yet. They smelled like Nia, and as grateful as he was to have his own space again he did miss having her around. Between his work schedule and her helping her grandfather recover at home, they didn't get much time to hang out. They'd text and call daily, however, until Nia had to hand over her phone at eight pm.

Kid shuttered to think of how overbearing her grandfather was. He recognized where it was coming from but he had to wonder if something had happened to her that made her grandfather so hypervigilant.

He let out a small sigh as he picked up his phone and googled 'Nia Corbin' he didn't get many results, but then remembered what her full name was and searched 'Virginia Corbin', again there weren't many results.

He ran a hand through his hair, now sitting up. This was a bit strange. Nia never talked about her Dad very much. But he knew a lot about her mom. She had been a sous chef before she took ill, and taught Nia everything that the nearly fourteen-year-old knew about cooking. Kid knew that Nia got her steel grey eyes from her mom, but her mom's hair had been pale blonde.

Kid blinked. Steel grey eyes. Battalion chief Corbin's eyes were the same steel grey. He wasn't her paternal grandfather, he was her maternal grandfather, which also meant that when he took in Nia, he changed her surname.

Realizing this Kid stood up from his bed, scratching his head. Very clearly something big had happened, or chief Corbin was doing his best to protect Nia from something he perceived as threatening. It wasn't the general threat of 'online predators' or 'predatory men and boys'. No, this was something specific. What the hell had happened to her father? Was it just simple drunk driving or had something else happened? Was he connected to something dangerous? Had he gotten mixed in with some kind of syndicate?

He bit his lip a little before picking up his phone again and typing in the name that Nia had told him once, Felicity Corbin.

Instantly there were some results, mostly from New World High School when she graduated in 2002, which would've made her around twenty-six when she had Nia. Kid stopped for a moment as he realized his parents would've gone to school with Nia's mom, although his mom would've graduated the following year.

His parents had Killer when they were young, his mother being twenty-one and his father twenty-two. His Dad had been a mechanic, and his mom a hair stylist. They weren't rolling in money by any means but they'd made enough to be happy. Then he had messed everything up.

He also knew he was glad that Nia had left, in a way. There was only one reason he was glad for her not living with them now; it made it easier to hide that his therapist had referred him to a psychiatrist and had that doctor had prescribed medication to him. Medication that he abhorred taking but did so anyway because that's what he needed to do to not feel like an anxious ball of tension—at least he hoped the pills would help.

He took a pill from the prescription bottle and went to the kitchen with it to get some water. He hadn't noticed any changes yet but then again he'd only been taking them for two weeks and his doctor said he could need to be on them for at least three to six weeks before he feels any change.

He took a glass from the cupboard and ran the tap before filling the glass with water. He placed the pill in his mouth and gulped it down with the full glass. Killer observed him as he asked, "How've you been feeling?"

"Not much change," Kid admitted. He looked to Killer and stated, "I'm gonna go meet up with Nia."

"Change those bed sheets yet?"

"No," Kid confessed. He blushed a little before adding, "they still smell like her."

"Someone's got a crush," Killer teased in a sing-song voice.

“Suck it,” Kid retorted.

“Incest is disgusting and I don’t swing that way,” Killer replied.

Kid smirked and nodded in agreement, he washed his glass, placed it in the drain tray and announced, “I’m gonna go get Nia for our hike.”

"Alright, I'll get busy here," Killer acknowledged. He stopped Kid momentarily, reminding him to take water with him. Kid nearly face palmed as he remembered what the doctor had told him. The new medication got excreted through his kidneys so he had to make sure he stayed hydrated or there was risk of toxic levels building up in his system.

He opened the fridge and took out the three bottles of water that were in there along with a water tumbler that Killer had gotten him from a discount store. He took the tumbler and three bottles of water. He momentarily hesitated wondering if a hike might not be the best idea. Well, if push came to shove he had a few options to answer nature's call, although he hoped to not resort to any of them.

"You haven't told her yet, huh?"

The question had hit Kid like a slap across his face. He hesitated before shaking his head 'no', and admitted, "I'm not sure how to—or when. I mean this diagnosis it's—it's life long."

"She might know a thing or two about living with a life-long condition," Killer hinted. Kid knew that his brother was referring to Nia's asthma, but it wasn't the same. He appreciated the sentiment but he was scared. He'd never had anything like this before, and the guys he was friends with before would've teased him to Timbuktu and back again if he'd been diagnosed back then and told them.

His brother and his therapist, that was his safety net. His support system. He was pretty sure Nia would be accepting of him—but then again maybe she'd get scared this time and run off. The way others in his age group feared him. It was that ever present fear that they felt for him that made him fear losing the one person who wasn't intimidated.

Chapter 19: Selfish

Kid arrived at Nia's and knocked on her door. The girl answered wearing a yellow tank top and a pair of cargo shorts. He smiled when he saw her, but his smile quickly fell as he realized she wasn't in a good mood.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah," Nia answered, the response was quick, but hollow. He wasn't going to push it, he knew better than to press her. If she wanted to talk about what was bothering her, she would.

He watched as she left the house. Kid glanced back inside and waved goodbye to her grandfather before closing the door and following her.

She was walking fast, fast enough that the normally slowed pace he had subconsciously used to walk beside her had quickened to his normal pace when walking alone. She kept up the rapid pace until she suddenly spun around and blurted out, "Where's this damned trail supposed to be anyway? I thought you were gonna lead!?"

"I would but you were walking a lot faster than normal and I figured you probably needed to blow off some steam," Kid answered, his hands now stuffed into his shorts pockets.

She let out a roar of frustration, her fists coming up to tug at locks of her dark blonde hair. Kid's eyes widened as he reached out, loosening her fists from her hair and then holding her hands. When she couldn't pull her hair she turned her fists on his chest, striking him repeatedly. He blinked but didn't stop her. He'd never seen her upset like this before and if he was honest it was a little terrifying.

Not that he was afraid she'd hurt him, he knew he could overpower her effortlessly. The top of her head barely reached his navel, and she had a very petite frame, however what scared him was the thought of what had pushed her to this level of rage or anxiety.

He waited while she lost control, letting her scream and thrash until the screams turned into sobs. He gingerly wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in close.

Kid knew he'd been distant in recent weeks, for almost a month actually, the new medication and diagnosis was weighing heavily on his mind. He pulled her in close to him, his other arm coming up to fully embrace her while her tears soaked into the fabric of his shirt. Had he done this? He'd said he'd be her pillar—but he had certainly not been a pillar for anyone lately. The new medication had made him exhausted and his new diagnosis had sent him into a tailspin.

He finally heard a strangled word escape her, "why?"

Kid swallowed hard, feeling his heart break inside his chest as he asked, "Why what, Pip?"

He braced himself for any number of questions she could ask about his distance, but instead he was surprised to hear her ask, "why is he such a selfish jerk?"

"Uhh—dunno. It'd help if I knew who 'he' is," he hinted.

Nia pulled away from Kid, wiping her face with the back of her hand, mumbling an apology about his shirt. He responded by grabbing the hem of his shirt, and using it to dry the tear streaks off her face. He smiled, gave a small chuckle and reminded her, "water dries. Don't worry about it."

He glanced around and spotted a soup truck nearby. He nodded to it and asked, "want some cocoa? Sometimes it helps."

"It's 110 degrees," Nia reminded him. Her steel eyes as cold as cold as ice.

He shrugged while asking, "so? Sometimes you want ice cream in winter—and when you're feeling crummy—a hot chocolate's hard to beat."

Nia shrugged a little but made her way towards the soup truck, Kid followed behind her. Soon as she got near the soup truck she seemed to change her mind and start walking way. Kid was quick to grab her wrist.

"Why ya leaving?"

"I don't have any money on me," Nia stated, plainly.

"I got paid yesterday—besides, remind me who's birthday it is?"

There was hesitation before she answered, "it's mine."

He placed the order for the hot chocolate, then approached Nia, handing the cup to her. She sat down on the bench for a moment before looking at his empty hands, "where's yours?"

Kid shrugged a little at the question. She raised an eyebrow at him before starting, "Chri—"

"I can afford one. So it's yours, Birthday girl," he cut her off before she could use his full first name.

Nia blinked at him before standing up and walking back to the soup truck. She returned a moment later with an extra cup. She sat down, took the lid off her cup, and poured some of the steaming chocolate into the second cup she'd gotten from the soup truck worker. When she was satisfied they were of even portions, she extended her arm towards him, holding out one of the cups. He smiled in wordless thanks as he accepted the beverage from her and sat down beside her.

They sat in silence sipping the hot beverages for a while before Nia admitted, "it's the anniversary of my Dad's death."

Kid nearly choked on the sip he'd been taking. Damn. Of all the rotten luck to have a parent pass away on your birthday."

"I'm sorry—I didn't know—"

"Of course you didn't. I didn't say anything about it until now," Nia reminded him.

Kid swirled the hot chocolate in his cup. He looked to her as she kept her eyes on the remaining hot chocolate in her own cup. He almost felt bad at what they were planning for her. It had never occurred to him that she wouldn't want to celebrate her birthday. He knew he wanted to celebrate her.

He observed her for a moment longer before asking, "what do you wanna do?"

"Hmm?"

"It's your day, and I just found out there's a shadow that hangs over it. So you tell me: what do you wanna do?"

She bit her lip a little and shrugged before admitting, "honestly? I don't think about my birthday. I actively try not to—so—I guess anything that feels like a normal day?"

Kid nodded a little in understanding as he processed, "okay… any random day, nothing special."

"Yeah—maybe if you wanted to do something for my birthday we could try in a week from now—but today—I just want to forget what day it is," she suggested.

Kid nodded, he could understand that, and he felt he now knew who she was calling a selfish jerk earlier.

Chapter 20: First Day of School

Kid had discretely called Killer and asked him to nix the cake. Just make the dinner they'd planned, because Nia didn't want to celebrate on her birthday. They agreed to reschedule for another day. The day of Nia's birthday they'd just gone along with having stuffed peppers for dinner, which Kid had learned was her favourite.

Now it was the first day of school, and they hadn't revisited the idea of celebrating her birthday yet. Kid straightened his t-shirt, displaying the band name AC/DC, it was a bit older but he liked the music, and that made the shirt cool in his opinion.

"You're not gonna be able to keep wearing my old hand me downs soon," Killer stated as he took in Kid's attire.

Kid scornfully chuckled while admitting, "I know. I'm gonna probably hit the thrift store before Christmas."

That definitely wouldn't be a bad idea, considering that his brothers Jeans and T-shirt were just meeting the minimum requirements for the dress code.

"Probably gonna have to be sooner than that. As in maybe this weekend," Killer hinted.

Kid nodded in agreement as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed out.

"I'm working the late shift, don't forget," Killer called after him.

Kid smirked a little, he hadn't forgotten. He made his way along a familiar path, stopping when he got to Nia's house.

She was by the door waiting for him, wearing white dress flats and a pink sundress with capped sleeves.

"You all set Freshie?"

Nia rolled her grey eyes as she commented, "guess you're done with calling me 'pip' huh?"

"Nah, you're still a pipsqueak," Kid assured her as they set off towards the school together.

During their walk Kid took out a cigarette and lit it, occasionally taking a few drags while they talked about what they'd been up to the last few days. Nia realized Kid had timed it perfectly so he could toss the cigarette butt before he was near school property

Nia giggled a little as she commented, "You're like a pro, you know?"

Kid quirked a brow at her and stated, "not sure if I should be flattered or terrified by that."

Nia shook her head as a sign that she wasn't sure either while adding, "just an observation."

"Uh-huh," Kid agreed. It seemed as soon as they stepped onto the school property, talk around them ceased being loud and boisterous, instead becoming hushed whispers. That is until they were spotted by a familiar freckled raven-haired boy. Ace waved as he came over to greet them, "Hey guys. How'd the rest of your summer go?"

"It was nice," Nia commented.

Kid nodded in agreement. More whispers around them were less hushed. Suddenly Nia snapped at the other students, "If you've got something to say, say it to my face or shut up!"

The two boys stared at her in bewilderment before Ace broke into a laugh, and agreed, "People who whisper behind others backs are catty gossiping cowards."

"One way to view it," Kid chimed in. He took in Ace's attire, a yellow Hawaiian print shirt that necklace he'd worn to the pool party with massive red beads, and a pair of black shorts along with a pair of combat boots.

'Weird esthetic,' Kid thought to himself as they were joined by Sabo. Far as Kid was concerned, Sabo always looked like a ghost appeared in front of that guy's face out of the blue and startled him. Mainly due to how wide eyed he was.

The four of them entered the school with the guys kind of crowding around freshman amongst their group.

"Alright, so your assigned locker number is 2442. Haha Palindrome numbers," Ace mused as he looked over the papers.

Nia quirked an eyebrow, not getting the joke.

Ace shook his head while admitting, "it's more common with numbers than with words."

"Don't mind him. Ace only gets good grades in gym," Sabo joked.

"Not true but then again you are a book nerd," Ace shot back.

"I want to be a published author someday—but failing that, I'd pursue journalism," Sabo conceded.

"Hmm," Kid acknowledged he shot a quick glance at Nia.

She waited for a moment before admitting, "I write in my spare time too. I'd like to be published one day, but if I'm not I'd teach English."

"Hmm, I haven't decided yet," Ace admitted. He glanced to Kid and nodded in his direction, "what about you?"

"Eh, Auto mechanic, or mechanical engineer," Kid revealed. Ace gave a smiled and nodded in acknowledgement as the three boys walked Nia to her locker.

"I feel like I'm a high-profile celebrity," she joked, in truth she felt slightly awkward.

"Nah, just think of it like you got three older brothers," Ace suggested as they waited by her while she put her bag in her locker and got out the books she needed for her next class.

"Or at least three friends that already know you," Sabo offered.

Ace rolled his eyes, "Don't mind him. He's got a thing for bob cuts."

Kid shot a warning glare at Sabo, who quickly raised his open bare hands to Kid while promising, "nothing like that. I'm seeing someone, I promise."

The redhead turned his attention back to Nia while asking, "Where's your first class?"

"Uhh That would be—ugh…science with Mr. Caesar," Nia replied.

"Oh, him," Ace grumbled.

"They're still letting him teach? That's surprising," Sabo agreed.

"No kidding," Kid agreed.

The girl was now exchanging glances between the three boys while inquiring, "What am I missing?"

"He's a bit—eccentric," Sabo offered.

"Punk's a loony toon triple dipped in psycho," Kid clarified as he shook his head, before stating, "I'll walk you there."

"Alright," Nia agreed as they headed off to Kid's locker, bidding goodbye to the brothers as they departed their company. Nia waited by Kid's locker while he put his bag away and got the books he'd need for his class out.

He glanced at her while asking, "we still on for lunch?"

"Yeah. Unless you've got a crush you'd rather have lunch with," she

Playfully teased.

Kid rolled his eyes, "Yeah, her name's Taylor Swift."

"Ahh you like blondes, huh?"

"Not necessarily, Darci Shaw's pretty," he retorted, naming the first brunette celebrity he could think of.

"Uh-huh, but your ex is blonde," she pressed.

He shrugged while retorting, "And dogs bark at falling leaves. So what?"

"Okay, fine. I'll drop it. I'll tell you one thing though, I don't like light haired guys," Nia volunteered.

Kid pinched the bridge of his nose, wondering where all of this was coming from. They'd never discussed their preferences, why was it a topic now?

"I like it when someone has freckles," Kid offered.

He shrugged his shoulders while admitting, "No idea why I just think it makes a person cuter."

Chapter 21: Dumb Punk

Kid sat in the cafeteria across from Nia who looked about as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

The redhead opened his lunch bag while asking, "What's wrong?"

"I knew that I'd likely get teased by the students. Didn't expect the teachers to be bullies too," Nia grumbled as she took out her tuna salad sandwich.

Kid kept his gaze on her as he took a bit of his Salisbury steak. She swallowed her bite before adding, "Mr. Caesar is a bit weird—but I can deal with weird. But Mr. Flem is an absolute nightmare. First off, how often can someone yell out 'super'? Second, if someone doesn't understand an equation repeating the exact same demonstration over again isn't helpful. Nor is asking them if they need to take a nap to figure it out."

Kid blinked a bit before nodding to her books while asking, "that why you brought your text books?"

Nia nodded, "I was hoping maybe you had a way to explain it that I'd actually understand."

"We can try," he agreed while she opened the textbook and turned to the page on trigonometry.

"Why are you taking Trig? You said yourself you're not good at math," Kid pointed out.

"Grandpa insisted," was the immediate answer.

"Of course he did," Kid acknowledged as he looked over the lesson in the textbook. He thought for a moment before breaking down the trigonometry formula and walking her through the first equation.

The two quietly worked through Nia's math homework while they ate lunch, and found they still had some time to spare in their lunch hour.

"What is this here? Hmm, looks like we've got us a new fish—and a gutter rat," Victoria's brother stated as he approached the table with his group behind him. For the first time, Nia recognized them as the group that had been tormenting her the day she'd first met Kid.

The redhead looked up from the book to meet the gaze of the four boys and stated, "nobody wants to talk to you."

"Let the new fish speak for itself," Victoria's brother pressed as pushed himself between Nia and Kid, his attention focused on Nia.

"I want you to leave," Nia was quick to answer.

"C'mon girlie, I'm not scared of that diseased freak," the boy pressed. At this Nia stood up and tried to move over to Kid's side, but the boy blocked her. His friends came around the other side of the table, blocking her in. She glared daggers at Victoria's brother.

"Back off you damned punk," Kid warned.

"Shut up, gutter rat. I'm not afraid of you," Vince shot back.

"First off, I'm not an 'it', nor a 'fish' and I don't appreciate 'girlie'. Second off, just because someone's a little different than you doesn't make them a freak. Third, even if he did have some kind of medical condition that is not your information to disclose," Nia reprimanded.

Vincent smirked as he growled at her, "Feisty—I like that."

He moved to touch her but Nia was quick to grab his hand and twist his wrist. She then spun him into the wall behind the table where she and Kid had been eating.

Kid was instantly on his feet, backing Nia to another part of the wall, standing directly in front of her while the others circled around them. As the gang closed in on them, Kid noticed others moving behind the main group, but he recognized who they were.

"Little tip here, you wanna puff out your chest and try to act tough—make sure you're not outnumbered," Ace cautioned the group.

Now other girls were joining in as well as they joined the other students encircling Vincent and his friends.

"We know the history," one girl with vermillion hair informed the group, as she stood beside Ace.

"And we're not turning a blind eye this time," added another girl with short copper blonde hair, she was standing next to Sabo who had a look about him as if he was ready to pounce.

Vincent gave a look that left no doubt in Kid's mind that the guy would try to kill him then and there if he could do so without witnesses. As suddenly as they had advanced on the two friends, Vince and his friends dispersed into the surrounding crowd of students. Ace placed his hand on Vincent's shoulder, and scowled at him menacingly as he stated firmly, "You got your answer. She wanted you to leave. So, leave her alone."

"No girls tell me what to do," Vincent snarled.

"Fine. Guess I'll just have my brother ask your sister to pick you up after school—and relay what happened here," Ace hinted.

Vincent moved past Ace, making sure to knock Ace's shoulder with his own.

Kid gathered his Tupperware and fork into his lunch bag while Nia gathered her items. She reached for her text book only for Kid to grab it instead while advising her, "I'll walk you to your locker."

Nia nodded but noticed his body language was currently different. It was a bit like he had been at the pool party after Vincent had tried to see her topless. He didn't speak much as he walked, and Nia wasn't about to poke at old wounds that the confrontation seemed to bring up.

He stopped by her locker and glanced around while she put in her locker combination and unlocked it. She then took her textbook from Kid and put it back into her bag along with her lunch bag. Kid watched while she grabbed her textbook for the afternoon and a small bag from her backpack.

"I have gym class this afternoon," Nia stated.

Kid nodded a bit and then asked, "are they making you keep your inhaler at the office?"

"Tried to. I explained I only have the one, so far it hasn't been a problem," Nia explained.

'That could be an issue if they make her keep it at the office,' Kid thought to himself. He watched as she closed her locker, snapped the combination lock on and spun the dial around so people couldn't guess what it was.

Kid already knew what her locker combination was. Her school profile had been updated to include that his brother was a secondary emergency contact and if anything happened on school property, Kid was to retrieve her items from her locker.

The two then walked over to Kid's locker while he got his stuff out for the afternoon and put his lunch bag away. He then headed towards Nia's first afternoon class. As they walked together, Nia asked, "are you still coming over after school?"

Kid nodded while inquiring, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"I mean—lunch kind of ended on a sour note," Nia hinted.

Kid waved his hand as if brushing off the idea, "don't let that punk get under your skin. He's an idiot. Besides—I think there's something I should let you in on."

"After school then," Nia offered. Kid nodded in agreement, watching her take a seat while he headed off to his next class. He suddenly felt a bit scornful that he had gym that morning. He could really do with some kind of exercise to burn off the anger that was still simmering below the surface.

Chapter 22: Kid's Past (Part 2)

Kid looked at himself in the mirror as he dried his hands. He placed his hands on either side of the sink and took a deep breath. He and Nia had finished their homework not even an hour ago, and now she was standing at the stove, cooking something. The smells wafted to him, and he was hit with an abundance of onion, peppers, broccoli, carrot, and steak.

Kid chuckled as he walked over beside her, "what's for dinner?"

"Steak teriyaki stir fry," Nia answered as she added the teriyaki sauce to the skillet filled with the veggies and beef. He then realized why she had been making so much rice earlier.

He quietly got down some plates and put them off to the side on the counter, then grabbed tablespoons, knives and forks as he went about setting the table for them and her grandfather.

He knew it'd be better if she heard this rumor from him instead of someone else, and he had excused himself to the washroom so he could think about how to best approach the topic. He didn't look at her while he started, "So—you remember a while back—you said that you felt I was still hiding something from you?"

"Yeah," Nia answered, not turning to look at him. He was grateful for that. He wasn't sure he could tell her if she was facing him directly.

"When I got shived—it wasn't just the object they stabbed me with. One of them put their blood on the shive before it entered me. They kept taunting that I was going to die if not from the injury—then from HIV," Kid revealed.

At this Nia blinked several times but chose to keep her back to Kid to hide her response. When she was certain her voice would be steady, she asked, "So then—what? You're HIV positive?"

"No. I told the paramedics what they'd said—the guys that attacked me all had to go undergo blood tests, one of them was HIV positive—and by the time we found that out I was already on a preventative course of retro antivirals and immunity boosters. I've been tested four times since then, tests keep coming back negative, so I'm in the clear. I didn't catch it—but that's what Vincent was alluding to. The guy that tried to infect me got re-tried as an adult. He's doing twenty to life for attempted murder—and he's our age," Kid explained.

"I'm glad you're okay," Nia stated as she turned to face him, and reached her arm out towards the redhead.

He smiled as he walked over and accepted her one armed hug. Nia cuddled into Kid for a moment before turning her attention back to the food. He thought for a moment before asking, "if I was positive—would that change anything?"

"Not really. I'd just make sure that if you ever got hurt around me that I took precautions to protect myself while I helped you," she answered.

He smiled while responding, "sensible."

"Well yeah, being sick doesn't change who you are. Even with mental illnesses it doesn't change you at your core you just have a few more challenges than most. I'd try to learn as much as I could about it—but a lot of mental illnesses can vary in terms of which symptoms, and how severe they present. Kind of like asthma or diabetes except it's in your brain, not your blood or lungs," Nia further explained her reasoning.

Kid blinked repeatedly. He'd heard that children who face chronic or severe illnesses in their early childhood often matured quicker than others. He'd considered that to be a reality with cancer, cystic fibrosis or diabetes. He hadn't thought of asthma as being one of the illnesses that could cause early maturation in someone, but now that he stopped to consider everything, her asthma was severe from what he could gather.

He'd done a bit of a dive into the disease, just so he'd be able to ensure she was safe with him, he'd learned that having one bronchodilator, or 'rescue inhaler' a long with one corticosteroid or 'maintenance inhaler' was standard treatment, but if other medications were added on, like tablets, nasal sprays and additional corticosteroids it could indicate severe asthma. Although he'd never asked.

"Nia—I never asked, what kind of asthma do you have?"

"Chronic severe, it's sometimes called 'brittle'. Basically I always have at least some mild symptoms. A cough is pretty normal for me, if I have a fever and a cough I'm likely sick with something. When I get sick, even with a cold it hits hard. I always lose a lot of my energy when I'm sick—to the point that getting out of bed feels like I scaled a mountain side when I'm healthy," she admitted.

'Damn that sucks,' he thought to himself. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his mouth becoming dry as if he'd consumed a sandwich made of sand.

"Why are you asking?"

"It's just—there's one other thing. Killer knows, and my therapist but I haven't told anybody else. I don't think they've even told the teachers, but umm I'm bipolar," he revealed.

"So the old term for that was manic depression, right?"

Kid nodded his head in agreement as he confirmed, "Yeah. So, I have a few high points and low points. When I'm not really into hanging out it's usually a low point. I just want to be alone; I don't even talk to Killer very much during those. High points—well We've been working on getting those under control because those highs also came with an explosive temper—and you can guess how bad that got. And no, I wouldn't raise my hands to you—at least not the healthy me but—if I seem to blow up at every tiny little inconvenience—it might be best to stay away from me."

"Tough break. I'm not running," Nia stated.

He stiffened a little at that and briefly wondered how he'd protect her from himself if he had another rage filled manic episode.

"Type one or two?"

"One," he answered. He looked directly at her while asking, "what do you mean you're not running?"

"Just what I said. I'm not gonna run. I might push you into going to the doctor if I notice you're having more symptoms than usual, but I'm not leaving," Nia reiterated.

Kid couldn't help himself as a relieved smile spread across his lips while tears began to cloud his vision. He quickly wiped at his eyes and fibbed, "did you have a dog in here recently? My eyes are watering."

"You're not a robot, Kid," Nia gently reminded him. He didn't trust himself to look at her without crying while she concluded, "it's fine for guys to shed a few tears when they need to. You don't have to worry about that with me."

'Yeah, I should've figured that,' Kid scolded himself internally. He did a double take when he heard Nia's voice requesting, "would you quit scolding yourself?"

He couldn't help but laugh at that. She was one of the best friends he'd ever had, and she seemed to know him almost as well as he knew himself. He wordlessly made himself a plate while hollering to her grandfather to join them for dinner.

He sat down with his plate and agreed, "alright. I won't. At least not about that."

Nia sat next to him as she inquired, "so what's it gonna take for you to accept you're human?"

"I don't know," he admitted.

"We'll have to work on it then," she suggested as she began to eat. 'Yeah—good luck,' he thought as he took his first bite.

Chapter 23: Foreboding

As the middle of October approached, Nia was less available to hang out with him. He'd asked her about it a few times but she had brushed the question off and simply hinted that he'd find out in a while.

How long was a 'while'? In general, Kid didn't like surprises, his birthday was in early January and though he wasn't a believer he found himself praying that she wasn't planning a surprise party for him.

He busied himself with his homework, picking up some extra shifts at the auto shop, he even found himself hanging out with Ace and Sabo more to fill up the time that she wasn't around.

Hanging out with the guys was cool, it was nice to have some guys around his age to call friends again, but it wasn't the same as Nia.

She had been the one to pull him out of his shell and stop freaking out over every little thing. They still ate lunch together every day at school but where she'd been an open book before she was now guarded about where she was going or what she was doing after school. Eventually, Kid changed his tactics, instead asking who her boyfriend was. He figured that had to be why she was being secretive.

At this Nia simply laughed and replied that she didn't have a boyfriend. Kid rolled his eyes, once again road blocked in his attempt to find out what was happening in his best friend's life.

Their nightly texts continued though, especially if she needed some help with her homework. Then one night Kid realized he hadn't gotten a single text from her.

It wasn't just unusual, it was out of character. Out of concern he called her number, but it went to voicemail, he left a message for her, then hung up and texted: what's wrong?

He then sat and waited near his phone for thirty minutes before racing to get his shoes and coat on.

It wasn't just the silence, he'd had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach for over an hour, it wasn't like digestive upset, it was like when he was a child and Killer had broken his arm at soccer practice. Kid had been in school but he had this uneasy feeling that he couldn't shake, and eventually it pushed him to ask to call his parents and that's when he found out that Killer had been injured.

He hadn't experienced that feeling when his parents were murdered, but then again he had been right there with them. If they hadn't shielded him with their own bodies, it would've been him bleeding out on the sidewalk.

He also had the same feeling when Killer got burned by some hot oil at work, it wasn't serious enough to warrant hospitalization, but he had considerable scar on his arm from it. Kid had also felt this way when his grandmother passed away. He knew this train of thought wasn't good, but until he knew what was going on he couldn't stop himself from thinking about every other time he had this feeling when something bad happened to someone close to him.

He was out of the apartment, the door locked and taking the stairs down two at a time. Once he was outside of the building he began running towards Nia's house, he was vaguely aware of traffic, of drivers blaring their horns at him as he ran, until one of them honked at him repeatedly.

He snapped out of his daze for a few moments to look over and saw Ace in the car with Law in the front passenger seat.

Law's window was rolled down and though Kid didn't know the man very well, he seemed to have a mixture of anger and concern on his face. His brow was furrowed, his jaw was tense, but his eyes were soft.

"The hell are you doing running through intersections like that? You're damned lucky you haven't gotten hit," Law scolded.

"I gotta get somewhere," Kid stated as he kept running.

"Ace, pull over, we're switching," Law ordered.

The younger brother pulled halfway into a driveway in front of Kid, cutting him off. Kid went to run around the car, but Law was quick to catch him under his arm and stated, "Get in. I'm driving you. I don't know what the hell's going on but it's clear you won't stop til you get where you're going. Better you get there alive than dead."

Kid scowled and tried to get around Law, who kept blocking him, eventually adding, "if you wanna get pass me you'll have to lay me out."

The redhead grimaced at the thought and nodded in resignation as he climbed into the back of the car, he was met with Luffy and Sabo in the backseat.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked.

Kid shook his head as he stated, "I don't know. Nia won't answer her phone, doesn't respond to texts—and I can't shake this bad feeling I had when my grandma died. It was a stroke so – there was no way I could've known… except I did. Just this sinking feeling in my stomach, that I'd never see her again."

Law sat in the driver's side seat and buckled himself in, Ace did the same on the front passenger side, and Law advised the redhead, "even so—I'm sure she'd rather you show up alive and intact than injured, mangled, or in a body bag."

"Yeah, probably," Kid agreed as Law pulled back onto the road and continued towards Nia's house, following Kid's directions.

The drive took less time than running would've, which Kid reasonably knew, but kicked himself for not thinking to ask Ace for help.

He bolted from the car before the engine stopped and ran over to the front door, then stopped and paled on the spot. He'd done enough breaking and entering himself to know not to go further.

Luffy was hot on Kid's heels, but Kid wrapped his arm around Luffy's waist, effectively blocking him from going any further. The red head shot a look over at Law that made the nineteen-year-old stop in his tracks. He quickly got out his cell phone and made a call while the other two worked to keep Kid calm and Luffy from running into the house.

Sabo took Luffy from Kid and suggested they race around the block to see who can come back to the house fastest. Kid couldn't hear anything else as Ace physically coaxed him to sit on the concrete steps leading up to the front door.

He was sure Ace was saying something but he couldn't hear. He kept replaying every moment he'd spent with Nia in his head trying to figure out who had done it, if any direct threats had been made, if there was anything he'd missed. He'd promised to keep her safe, and he'd failed.

Chapter 24: Adovcating and Chili fries

Kid stood outside of the Corbin’s house, at least he thought he was standing, maybe he was sitting?

His mind wasn’t focused on the present, he was replaying every interaction he had with Nia in the last two weeks. He kept wondering if he missed something. Had there been a warning he overlooked? Was it a dragon who took her? A Pirate? Someone else completely? Her father had been district prosecutor, maybe someone he’d angered in the past was looking to get revenge on Nia since her father was deceased?

He was vaguely aware of the police officer in front of him, his mouth was moving, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying. That is, until Law stepped between him and the police officer, loudly declaring, “I understand that you’re investigating a crime and he seems uncooperative—but one would think, as someone who deals with people during one of the worst days of their lives, you’d be trained to recognize shock when you see it!”

At that Kid began taking a bit more notice of what was going on around him, but what Law said next shocked him even more, “If you want him to talk, go get him some water. If he can sip on that, it’ll act as a grounding technique to keep him in the present. Right now his mind’s slipping around like it’s in a time machine. I don’t need to be in medical school to know you’ve never experienced that.”

The officer nodded and signaled to one of his colleagues to come over, “Go get the kid some water from the corner store, try to get a cold one for him.”

The other cop nodded and left the scene.

Kid’s mind wandered to that day in September in her kitchen when she had told him that even if he did have HIV, it wouldn’t change anything about their friendship.

He thought back to their time together over the summer, getting hot chocolate on her birthday. The pool party, and the trouble Vincent caused.

Watching movies together, playing with her kitten, just talking and getting to know each other. Then there was the day they’d met. The brick through the bedroom window and how she’d clung to him afterwards.

How she’d been afraid to sleep alone after that, so he’d compromised with her by sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of his room while she took the bed. But then there was also the text he’d gotten just before that brick went through his window. Had Drake known that was where she was sleeping?

He thought back to how he’d first met her, with Vincent and the other Celestial Dragon initiates playing keep away with her inhaler and he felt his blood turn ice cold. He’d looked into the house. He could see it as plain as day, that blue inhaler. Her Ventolin, the rescue inhaler. She never went anywhere without it, she needed it if she had an attack.

The cop was saying something to Law. The eighteen-year-old sat near Kid, not touching him, not trying to offer comforting words. The young adult just held space for the traumatized teenager, and somehow that was more comforting than any verbal consolation or gestures.

“There’s a guy at school that’s been hassling her since summer,” Kid offered in a tone just above a whisper.

At first the cop wasn’t sure he’d heard it.

“Don’t tell me it’s the same one from Ava’s pool party,” Law pleaded.

“Vincent Shiruton Doruyanaika,” the redhead confirmed.

The cop thought for a moment, before wondering out loud, “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“Because he’s a Celestial Dragon,” Kid revealed. He shook his head a bit before confessing, “and I used to be a Pirate. Nia’s a good friend of mine—and that may have made her a target.”

“You’re not involved in this?”

“No. There’s something else—” Kid took a deep breath before revealing, “I saw a ventolin inhaler in there. Nia’s a chronic severe asthmatic. She only has one version of each of her inhalers—and she has to take all of her medications daily—if she goes even two days without them—she could die. Something as simple as being in a room with a lit scented candle could kill her.”

He shook his head before adding, “I think it was the Celestial dragons. There’s a few things that have happened to her that she didn’t want to report to police. I thought she should—but she didn’t want to make things worse.”

Now the cop was a bit more interested, and asked, “what sort of things?”

Kid scrolled through his phone to the text message he’d gotten before the brick went through the bedroom window, and showed it to the cop.

“Just after I got that text—a brick was thrown through the window of the room she was sleeping in. I’d been babysitting her at the time. She’d been heading to a friend of her grandfather’s on her own, but Vincent and some of his friends had circled her and played keep away with her Ventolin. I intervened and stopped them,” Kid explained.

He then was surprised to hear the officer ask him, “What’s the nature of your relationship with her?”

“We’re friends,” Kid admitted.

“You’re dating her,” the officer assumed.

“No. It’s not like that,” Kid objected.

“Be honest with me, son, it’ll help your girlfriend in the long run,” the officer pressed.

“She’s not my girlfriend. She is my friend. No romance, no hand holding, no kissing, nothing like that,” Kid elaborated on his objection.

“But she’s important to you,” the officer pushed again.

Kid felt his fists clenching at his sides before he revealed, “I hadn’t had a friend in two years. In two years, I haven’t spoken to anyone I used to run with when I was a Pirate. In two years, I hadn’t spoken to anyone my own age group without schoolwork being involved, so yes—she’s important to me. But not like you’re suggesting.”

“If you think that guys can’t be friends with girls—that says more about you than him. Not to mention your prejudice is irrelevant to her disappearance and I am recording this conversation since his legal guardian isn’t present,” Law added, looking directly at the cop, who seemed to be delighting in the whole scenario.

At that last part that Law spoke, however, his grin faded. Evidently he’d thought that since Killer wasn’t around, he could get away with badgering Kid. Law, however, was taking on a big brother role for Kid at that point, acting as his advocate and refusing to give an inch.

Kid thought the cop was weird, short blonde hair, wore red sunglasses even though it was winter. Was he sensitive to sunlight or hungover? The medical student would’ve loved to have had an answer to that question.

‘What the hell’s with this guy? Why’s he obsessed with finding out if I’m dating Nia? It’s definitely weird,’ Kid thought to himself. Unknown to Kid, a green haired police officer was also nearby, and overheard most of what was being said.

The other blonde police man returned with a bottle of Dasani and held it out to the cop that Kid had been talking to, the cop Kid had been speaking with, thanked the officer, whom he addressed as ‘Bellamy’.

The officer wearing the red sunglasses handed the bottle of water to Kid, who readily took it, opened the bottle and took a sip from it. Law looked to the officer, noticing the name ‘Donquioxte’, and asked, “You want him for anything else, or can I take him to recoup?”

“You can take him. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything else,” Donquioxte stated.

Law stood up and waited for Kid to do the same, following Kid back to the car where Ace, Sabo and Luffy were once again seated in the back seat. Kid got into the front passenger seat, Ace reached over and gently squeezed Kid’s shoulder.

Law looked at his younger brothers in the rearview mirror before asking, “so—who wants chili fries?”

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Kid and Nia