Summary: Everyone wants to find somewhere they belong. Doesn't matter how old you are or who you are. After the big bang, if one was not a criminal or a hero, they were hiding, trying to be normal. Sometimes, that just is not an option, but still they look for a place to belong.
Psycho Chan's Note: Give this couple a chance…they seemed cute to us even if they never met before…really…we warned you…we're obsessed with this show, and when we get bored of a couple(as if), we make 'em up…after a long thought process of thinking logically that is. And I did think a long time about this couple! Even if Twitter Chan and I are the only one's who think these two are cute together.
Disclaimer: everything here has no claim to us what-so-ever. Static Shock and it's characters belong to DC comics and stuff and the song belongs to Three Days Grace. But I'm almost over not owning anything…almost…
…don't judge me…
Someone Who Cares
No where. That was where he seemed to belong. Absolutely no where. He heard all sorts of stories in the news about bang babies. Rather they became a hero, a criminal or just for the hell of it, he heard them. Though he didn't really like to use his anymore. Years ago, his older brother had used him. No. that changed. He was his step-brother. Aaron didn't care about him, so why should he?
Again, that was years ago. Many years ago. Now Dwayne was almost seventeen, however, he still belonged no where. Kids in school either teased him or avoided him entirely. He was called many things, a mutant freak being the kindest one. Dwayne was forced to keep to himself, stay away from people and look after himself. His mother has been overprotective over him, never allowing him outside the apartment out of fear of him being jumped.
Well, today, he was sick of it. The brunette waited until his mother was asleep before sneaking out. He hadn't been outside in ever. There was a time that Dwayne thought he would never see the streets again without fear. Until the truth was exposed to him in the news. The fact that he had powers, an that though peopled hated him and called him nasty things, they still feared him. He had powers .
As the youth wondered about the streets he had once walked upon freely, he swore that he would never forget that again.
Every street in this city
Is the same to me
Everyone's got a place to be
But there's no room for me
Am I to blame
When the guilt and the shame
Hang over me
Like a dark cloud
That chases you down
In the pouring rain
Dwayne never made friends after the big bang either. The few friends he thought he had only used him for his powers. To get stuff they wanted, using him. Never once did they bother to ask if he was okay or if he wanted to do stuff. But desperate for any sort of friendship, he stayed with them.
Up until they were arrested. Every friendship ended with an arrest. Every time the police got involved. And every time, the metahuman would tell the truth, the kids that were suppose to be his friends would lie, putting all the blame on him. It got old.
So he stopped caring for friends and only cared for himself. He learned quickly that that was a lonely lifestyle but he didn't have any choice.
However, it wasn't his choice to stay inside. He know knows that.
It's so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
But it's easy enough to find
Someone who looks down on you
Wondering. That's all he can do for now. Wondering up and down streets he use to know like the back of his hand. Now they seem new. They looked the same by he didn't have the safe feeling he did as a child. No. Here he was an outcast though the people that walk past him don't know the truth. They don't know he's a bang baby. That fact was both warmth and a burden. He felt safer, but only because they didn't care nor would they understand.
Still, Dwayne moves forward. He finds the park, quiet happy that it looks the same. Everything looked the same. As if time hadn't affected this place one bit. Liking the feel, the brown haired boy sits on a bench, sighing to himself. He'd rather be out here tonight then be at home. Home just hasn't felt like home in a long time. Long before Aaron left. Now that Dwayne thought about it, he never really felt at home.
Why is it so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
When it's easy enough to find
Someone who looks down on you
It was about god damned time. Through out all of high school he listened to that girl. That girl dictated his life in everything. She even convinced him to drop out. Well, he can't say that. After the big bang, his looks were altered, forcing him to leave school anyway. That man was Onyx. After so long, he had left Puff. He loved her like a sister, but he wasn't going anywhere in life and since she started to date Kangorr, he was more like a third wheel now.
She had freaked out when she heard that he was going to get the cure for the big bang. She almost killed him in fact. The cure, like it was to many others, did not work and altered his appearance once more. This time, he looked the same as he did before the big bang with a few differences. The large purple abrasions that he had as a monster where still on his skin, peach skin, not purple. His eye color and hair was violet however, and he had the same strength as before. He liked this mutation better. This way, he could blend into his surroundings. Be one of the normal people.
No one recognized him anymore.
That was for the best.
It's not what it seems
When you're not on the scene
There's a chill in the air
But there's people like me
That nobody sees
So nobody cares
Onyx kept his gang name. it was one that Puff had given him the night of the big bang. They were around the area. That night, she had an argument with her parents and she ran off. She went to the nearest payphone and called him up. They met by the docks, a place the two of them went to when in a rut. The purple haired man couldn't even count the number of rocks the two of them threw into the lake.
Those were to good days. Where the only responsibilities they had was school and avoiding parents when the time called for it. After they got their powers, they ditched school and attempted to become bounty hunters, only that didn't go so well and found themselves avoiding police and Static, which became their number one responsibility to stay out of jail.
That went on for three years.
Then Kangorr came into the picture.
Onyx quickly found himself a third wheel, however, Puff still dragged him everywhere, bossing him around and getting them into trouble. Don't get him wrong, Kangorr was a good guy if stupid for chasing after Puff the way he did. But a man can only take so much, especially when a woman is involved. Granted Puff wasn't his girlfriend, he loved her like a sister and there were just some things that a man has to do. And for Onyx, that was to leave and live his own life.
Why is it so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
When it's easy enough to find
Someone who looks down on you
Why is it so hard to find
Someone who can keep it
Together when you've become undone
Why is it so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
A bit alone, the older man wondered Dakota, relieved that Static flew past him. Everyone knew that Static and Gear had some trouble ahead of them. Any metahumans who went for the cure had changed, the cure being a bad batch. Now any deformed metahumans seemed to look normal though they still contained their powers. And for once, they were smart, not getting into any big trouble, but still, were a danger.
With a small chuckle, Onyx continues his walk. He had never really been on his own. He always had Puff. They were childhood friends, so this was going to get some getting use to. And he knew for sure that he's get into his own trouble. Especially when winter comes around. That's when the grocery stores get hit by homeless metahumans, and Onyx had a haunch that he'd be joining them.
You gotta do what you gotta do. That's what Puff had told him multiple times over the course of their lives. Of course that was usually followed with sirens shortly after that was said.
Without really realizing it, the man wondered into the park, the normally dull scenery was brightened by the moon. For some reason, the man felt at ease by the sight. Onyx thought things through, about what he was going to do. He can't go back home. Not after dropping out and abandoning his family. He could never do that. People thought of him as either an idiot or a bad guy. But in reality, he's neither. He was with Puff because they were best friends, he knew her good side. He knew the real her. She may have told him what to do but that was only because he needed direction in life. Onyx just went with the flow, and for him, that flow was a certain purple haired girl. And as far as a bad guy, he was only misunderstood. He wasn't a bad guy, just…misguided. But no one would really believe that.
Something brought Onyx out of his thoughts and memories. A brown haired boy sitting on a bench. He seemed lonely with that expression on his face. He looked about fifteen, sixteen tops. It was late, so either the kid was running away from home or he was having a rough day.
I swear this time
It won't turn out the same
Cause now I've
Got myself to blame
And you'll know when we
End up on the streets
That it's easy enough to find
Someone who looks down on you
Dwayne didn't get this. Why life had to be so damn hard. Why other metahumans had to fuck up the city so bad that they were feared or hated so much. Why he couldn't live a normal life. He hated it. Hated it so much that he had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the beginning, he had thought his powers would do him good. They were supposed to do him good. But they made his life harder. More difficult to make the right choices. It wasn't really the good or bad that was the problem. It was what was who he should please to keep them talking to him. And that was never any good anyway. So why did he bother?
Dwayne didn't know. He was beginning to believe he never would.
"Why is it so hard to find someone who cares?"
"I was wondering the same thing not too long ago."
Startled, the brunette looks down from the sky to see a purple haired man. He hadn't seen him before. "Who are you?" Dwayne was caught off guard. "And why are you talking to me?" Now he is confused.
Onyx was silent for a moment, searching for words. He didn't want to cause problems on his first day, and scaring a teenage boy would do that. And not the kind of problem he really wanted to deal with. "I just heard you talking to yourself." The older man's low voice filled the crisp air. "And you asked the same question I did earlier today…" Slowly, he sat on the bench a ways from the kid. "I'm beginning to think that there is no answer for that."
The two remain silent for a while before Dwayne speaks. "If you haven't heard I'm a bang baby…" He felt as if he needed to warn the guy, having made the mistake a couple times by hiding that secret.
"It really doesn't matter but that's good to know. So am I." Onyx could figure it out. The teen was a bang baby and just couldn't fit in. many of them go through that stage. Some longer than others.
Brown eyes seem to lighten up by that. "Really?"
"Yeah." The purple eyed man was relieved that this wasn't as awkward as it was moments ago. "The name's Onyx."
Recognizing that name in the news, Dwayne sits up. "You're that purple guy who hangs out with that temperamental girl…"
Onyx is unable to hold in a chuckle at that. "Yeah."
"But…You look normal…"
"Went in for that cure like some other bang babies…only it only helped half way. I look normal, but I still have the same powers as before…" Dwayne could not tell the man was metahuman simply by looking at him at the moment. As long as Onyx wore a sweater, the dark purple bumps on his skin were hidden. He often wore sweaters now. He didn't care if he was metahuman or not. Not anymore. "What about you?"
"I didn't bother with the cure…people harass me about it now and I use my powers to protect myself…they'd still hurt me if I went for that cure…"
"Only then you wouldn't have powers to protect yourself…" Onyx finished for the boy. "What are you doing out here?"
"Mom locked me in the house…I needed out." Dwayne sighs. "What about you? I don't see that girl around…"
"I left her…I needed out as well…" The two shared each other's company for a while.
Why is it so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
When it's easy enough to find
Someone who looks down on you
Why is it so hard to find
Someone who can keep it
Together when you've come undone
Way it is so hard
To find someone
Who cares about you
"Why'd you leave?" Dwayne was confused. He'd kill for a chance to be with someone.
"Well…things got complicated. Decided to part as friends…we'll still see each other so it's all good." Onyx sees the confusion in the boy's eyes. "Gonna guess you don't have friends…"
"No." Those brown eyes darken. "They all use me."
There is yet another silence.
"What is your name?"
"Dwayne…"
"Okay Dwayne, do you plan on going back home?" Onyx asks. He wouldn't recommend the kid to run away, but his story was different from his own.
"I don't want to. I'm caged there…but I have no where else to go…" Dwayne sulks into the bench. "I don't seem to belong anywhere…"
That was something Onyx could relate to. "Neither do I…" Both could relate to the cold fact of life. That fight to belong and stay with others. That desperate fight to not be left behind and forgotten. They both left behind their safe word. That closed safe world.
One from the safety of a close friend, the other, a caged bird who wanted nothing more than to be free without being hunted.
It seemed odd, but for Dwayne, he felt normal by this man. Not rejected or hated. The boy had many questions. He wanted to know this man's powers, what they could do. Why exactly he left Puff, what kind of a home he grew up in. he wanted to know everything he could. However, he kept his questions to himself, looking up to the moon once more. It seemed much brighter than back in his room. So much brighter in fact.
With a yawn, Dwayne began to feel sleepy, having been walking around for hours. He wasn't use to being very active. He had spent most of his time reading comics, more so now that he wasn't allowed outside.
Onyx felt a sudden weight on his shoulder. He notices that the boy is asleep, having rested his head on him by accident. Not at all sleepy, the older man stays, resting entirely on the bench so he was comfortable.
There was no need to leave the kid alone and Onyx had no where to go after all.
Lazily, Onyx lifts his arm, bringing the brunette's head onto his chest, resting his arm on the back of the metal bench.
"Guess I belong here for the night…" Onyx speaks softly to not wake the teen, smiling.