A/N: So here goes another one shot while I wait for my iPod to charge. Oh well. I'm hopeless.
Disclaimer: I don not own Maximum Ride or the concept of "20 Truths".
20 Truths: Ari and Jeb
1. It's definitely a truth that deserves the number one spot that Ari is Jeb's son; likewise, that Jeb is Ari's father.
2. It is also a definite truth that Jeb abandoned Ari as a small child for the bird kids. This makes Ari really pissed just thinking about it. In fact, it bothers him so much that he told all his friends that Jeb wasn't really his father; Ari was born on Mars and he was adopted by Jeb to see how well a Martian heart breaks.
3. All his friends, all none of them, had absolutely no reaction, except, later, Max II, who told him he was delusional. Ari said he could live with that.
4. She also informed him that he had lost his sanity. He said he couldn't remember ever having anything like that.
5. But before Jeb had abandoned Ari, and even before he had really become interested in the bird kids, the duo had shared something that between them was kind of like love. For Ari it was worship. For Jeb it was fascination.
6. It was unfortunate that Ari had been raised in a lab. Jeb sometimes got a nagging feeling that this was not how it happened for most kids.
7. But, there was no way around it. Jeb could hardly afford to pay the bills anymore. Jobs at the School were very popular these days, and with every new staff member they hired, his salary went down just a bit more. He could barely afford to let his son keep his baby fat, much less hire a babysitter.
8. Plus, there was the small fact that he didn't exactly have anywhere to keep Ari's babysitter. He was fairly certain that most teenage girls would run shrieking from a place like this.
9. Actually, most girls in general. His ex-wife, Ari's mother, could be listed in that category.
10. Anyway, then Jeb met the bird kids. Max, in particular. She was about seven years older than him; blond, tall, a slim physique and deep brown eyes. Her wings were gorgeous.
11. She looked just how Ari always imagined his mother.
12. Every day Ari would come home and all he would hear about was Max. His father's eyes lit up delightedly behind his glasses as he raved over the six children's amazing capabilities, what their potential was. He would never let Ari get a word in edgewise – even though all he really wanted to talk about were the experiments he'd seen that day: the cookie he'd eaten that suddenly gave him an extreme sugar high and made him feel like he could run around the world three times in approximately five minutes, but had only lasted approximately five minutes. By the time those five minutes were over, however, he had completely destroyed the lab room where they had tested him and he keeled over, out cold.
13. But Jeb wouldn't hear of it.
14. Actually, at this point, he could give a rat's ass about the other experiments. Maybe a couple rat's asses about his son. All that mattered to him now was the bird kids, and he'd be damned if he let the kid distract him from his goal. Jeb was a focused man with a very dark mind, and the six children shone like night lights in it.
15. Ari slowly became used to the nights when his father did not come to put him to bed; instead, he had to start turning the lights off for himself and then feeling his way to his bed.
16. The side that Jeb used to sleep on was now cold and empty. Ari would huddle against the side of the bed and reflect on the fact that his life was now a complete and total pile of poo.
17. True, they'd see each other during the day, sometimes; Jeb would nod at his son and Ari would keep his arms tightly locked around his chest to prevent himself from running at his father; jumping, throwing his arms around him, begging for him to come back.
18. He didn't think he would be able to stand the look of rejection in his father's eyes. Cold, steel orbs, telling him he had to get back to the children.
19. Had to get back to Max.
20. Ari was pretty sure this was not how most people's father/son relationships went.