Prologue:
Oliver liked Tao's new restaurant. It was a place where he could just watch the world around him, a flurry of movements as everyone acted and reacted to each other. It was like a good story. Every good story had its characters, all interacting with each other and learning how the others would behave to their actions. At least that was what Tao said.
She was standing in the corner of the diner, flying around in an action of serving everyone else. She seemed happy, and that made Oliver happy. He hummed in contentment as he continued to color on his piece of paper. He was making it for Tao. She was nice and read him stories. That was more than what his brother and sister did. He frowned at the thought before shaking it away. He wouldn't focus on Jaque and Olivia. They weren't worth it.
Tao was worth it though. She was his nanny, though she didn't liked to be called so. She protected him from the others who thought he was too dumb. Tao was his only friend beside the homeless people outside in the alley. All of them listened when he wanted to talk, and respected when he didn't. Tao gave him cupcakes and let him flap without screaming at him for being a freak. Yeah, Tao was nice. He had rewarded her a long time ago with his first words. The scary doctors and Jacque had said that he should be put in the white building as he was too delayed to act in society, but Tao had tried to stop them, so Oliver spoke. She had cried afterward, but she wasn't sad. She was happy, and that meant that she read him stories and kissed him goodnight like his mommy used to. But his mommy was dead and Tao wasn't his mommy. She would have been a nice mommy to have though, so Oliver decided that she was to be his mommy in thought if not in blood.
She had liked that and cried again when he told her as much.
A sudden movement from the corner of his eye drew his attention. It was just Heracles and Kiku speaking to each other, the brown haired were-cat becoming more animated with his tail as he talked to Tao's cousin. They seemed to be friends, or maybe a little more, but they didn't fit into the stories, so he didn't bother paying them any attention. "Oliver?" A sweet voice asked from his left. He looked to the left to find the owner of the voice. Her eyes were too high for him to even attempt to try and fake looking at, but her shoes gave her away. They were thick army boots, but the tops of them were covered with a dress, a long apron covered with small gingerbread stitching on the edges. Alice.
"Yes?" He asked robotically, trying to add inflection that he sorely lacked in.
"Are you alright? We've all been through quite an ordeal, I just wanted to check on you sweetheart." Oliver knew that if he was any other kid, she would be hugging him or patting his head with her leather old lady hands. But he wasn't like any other kid. And that was okay. At least that was what Tao said. As there was a long silence, Oliver remembered that he was probably supposed to answer Alice's question.
"Okay. Tao. Give. Cupcake!" He held up his cupcake for her to admire.
There was a chuckle as the old lady clucked her tongue as was her habit. "Well then, I guess you're absolutely fine!"
Oliver giggled at the weird tone she used and started to flap his hands in excitement, raising them until Alice grabbed them, and lifted him to his feet and began to dance with him. There wasn't any music, so Oliver wasn't sure if they were actually dancing rather than awkwardly shuffling with Oliver watching their feet, but that was good enough for him. Catcalls followed them as they shuffled around the tables, everyone joining in on cheering them on. Amelia was the next to ask Oliver to dance, and Oliver couldn't stop the wide smile on his face. He didn't care that he looked like the Cheshire Cat. He was just happy that everyone saw through his eyes.