Okay, so, I am officially in love with the pairing of TerraVen. It is beyond cute. And I decided that it did not nearly have enough fanfiction to do it justice. My plan is to update this every Friday, with POSSIBLE updates in between. POSSIBLE. I figure if I give myself a deadline I'll get more done. Anyway, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely diddly-squat.
Ven was determined to make the best of his new accomodations. That wouldn't be easy, of course, since all he really wanted was to move back to Destiny Island, where his friends and his school and his dad were. But it wasn't as if that was the reality. This was the reality. This tiny, cheap apartment in the city, that looked like shit and smelled like it too. He wasn't mad at his mom, he told himself over and over until the phrase became a mantra. It wasn't her fault she couldn't afford anything nicer, not with the lawyer to pay and the food to buy and the bills piling up on the kitchen counter.
However, it was her fault she couldn't find some way to put up Ven's dad, so all of them could've kept up the facade of a happy family, and Ven could've kept his life.
No, no, no, it's not her fault.
It kinda is.
In the end it didn't matter if it was her fault or if it wasn't, because there wasn't any doing-over of the past.
Sighing, Ven wiggled the top drawer of his dresser free, and stuffed it full of underwear and socks, repeating the process until his suitcase was empty and every free space was filled. His bedroom was…big enough, he supposed. It was nothing more than a rickety twin bed with a few feet of floor that wasn't half the size needed for pacing, but…it was a place to sleep, and he could always do his homework in bed, or on the kitchen table.
Ven had to wait for his mom to get out of the single bathroom, but once she had he took the opportunity to shower and brush his teeth with the off-brand toothpaste and the tap water that tasted like a crime scene. He called out a "goodnight," and disappeared into his room without waiting for an answer. He'd have to go to school tomorrow, and he wanted nothing more than some sleep.
And even though it didn't come easy, he eventually got some, only to have his cell alarm start screeching just a couple hours later, demanding he get his lazy ass out of bed and get ready. He shut it off with a groan and a grimace, and shoved aside the threadbare blankets, tumbling onto the bare wooden floor, the boards cool and unwelcoming against his bare chest and feet. Dragging himself up and into the living area, he found his mom already up and at the stove, scrambling eggs with one hand and filling out forms with the other.
"Morning sweetheart," she cooed when she saw Ven stumble into the room, scratching at the mess of blond spikes atop his head. Her hair—the same blond shade—was already perfectly done-up into a no-nonsense bun, perfect for a day spent bent over phones and files. Her make-up was perfect too, her clothes spotless and fresh.
"Morning," Ven grumbled, swaying over to the fridge and pulling out the milk, sniffing suspiciously before pouring himself a glass.
"You ready for your first day of school?" his mom asked, as she pulled down a plate and loaded it with the eggs, passing him the salt and pepper along with it. Ven heaped on both before even bothering to hunt down a clean fork.
"No," he spat, trying only a little to conceal his distaste. He knew exactly what his mom was trying to do, getting up early to make breakfast. She was begging for his forgiveness, or, at the very least, his tolerance. He, for one, was reluctant to give it.
"Oh, it'll be fine dear, don't worry about anything," she pressed, flipping off the burner and reaching over to plant a quick kiss on his forehead. "Now, I have to get going. There's a lunch for you in the fridge, and the bus should come by in about,"—she checked the microwave clock—"half an hour. Call my cell if you need anything. Love you!"
And with that she was off, in a flurry of perfume and heels, the door locking automatically shut behind her. Ven tried to chase away the feeling of emptiness by shoveling down his eggs, but it didn't help any. They just reminded him more of home, and how his dad used to always make a big breakfast on Sunday mornings.
The eggs caught halfway down his throat, and he ended up scraping more than half of them down the drain.
Twenty minutes later he was waiting down by the bus stop, clean and dressed in faded jeans and a light green hoodie, his backpack—weighed down with notebooks and pens—hanging between his shoulderblades. The ride to school was…uneventful. Intolerable, but uneventful. Ven had moved into the neighborhood where the kids are loud and the streets reek of cigarette smoke. The entire way there, the kid next to him was spilling all over both seats, eating his way through a small third world country, and slobbering a good half of it onto Ven. But even that wasn't as bad as the cacophony of cussing and screeching and laughing emanating from the far back. Ven did his best to drown it out with his iPod, but the tiny earbuds couldn't compete, not even with his loudest, roughest music pounding through them.
By the time they got to the school, the tiny blond boy was about ready to go apeshit on some delinquent ass, but he drew all the frayed ends of his self-control back inside and began twisting them back together, keeping his shoulders tucked and his head down as he hunted down the main office, weaving through the pulsing, chattering student body.
Luckily for him, the school wasn't big enough to get too seriously lost in, so he found the office in plenty of time, and got through the ritual of name, age, address, phone number with time enough to spare to memorize his schedule before class started, and he was sucked back into the monotony of school.
There'll be Terra in the next chapter, promise! This is just the set-up.
Review maybe? Please?