A/N: This is another fun AU that spawned from me commenting "the Murphys are kinda lucky that everyone knows about and believes in Murphy's Law" and then wonder "huh, what if they didn't?
Hey, Milo," Martin greeted with a smile as he wrapped a zip-tie around a bundle of wires. "How was school today?"
Instead of answering, Milo adjusted the grip on his backpack straps and turned his head away slightly. Martin noticed the lack of response and turned away from the electrical panel to see what was going on. "Milo? Is something the matter?"
Milo bit his lip slightly at the question and looked up at his dad."I told Melissa about the electrical accident last night, but she doesn't believe me… She said the Murphy's Law thing is silly…"
Ah, so that's what this was about. Martin sighed and set down his tools-he was thinking of taking a break anyway. "Why don't we go up to the kitchen and talk? Murphy's Law involves...a bit more than just everything going wrong."
Milo nodded and reached up to grab his dad's hand before they went up the basement stairs, with both of them only tripping twice each. Once in the kitchen, Martin pulled out two (plastic) glasses and filled them each halfway with milk (though he nearly ended up spilling more on the counter) before grabbing a package of Oreos, all of which he brought over to the table where Milo was sitting, picking at the bandages on his arm covering a new burn that would likely scar in the future.
The first of many…
"So what did you say to Melissa that she didn't believe?" Martin asked as he sat down next to Milo. "You said you told her about the electrical accident last night?"
"Uh, yeah…" Milo scratched at the edge of his bandages before adding, "I tried explaining Murphy's Law to her, but…"
Martin gently reached over and gripped Milo's hand so that he wouldn't make the injury worse. "I'm sorry, Milo. Unfortunately, she can't believe you… She's not a Murphy…"
Milo furrowed his eyebrows at the answer while staring at his glass. "But she's my friend… Shouldn't we trust each other?"
"Unfortunately, no one outside the family believes in Murphy's Law, no matter how much you try to explain it. That's...part of the curse."
"Curse?"
"Yes-Murphy's Law is caused by a family curse. And one of the side effects of the curse is no one believes it's true. No matter how much you try to explain it, they'll always figure out a reasoning that's 'more rational', and sometimes those reasonings can be more harmful than Murphy's Law. That's why you need to be careful. It's normal for kids your age to get hurt, but not nearly as much as you can from Murphy's Law. If people notice…" Martin closed his eyes and sighed. "You can't let them, okay?"
Milo looked at his dad's hand and used his uninjured one to trace over the scars on it. It was rare for his dad to show how scarred he was, but Milo enjoyed trying to see what pictures he could find in the repaired tissue. If no one could know about Murphy's Law, though… "Is that why you hide your scars?"
Martin let out a broken chuckle and squeezed Milo's hand again. "You're certainly astute enough to handle what life will throw at you. I promise, things will work out, though."
The corners of Milo's lips twitched up in a small smile as he looked up at his dad and said, "It has a strange way of doing that…"
A/N: There's a little prologue ^^
