Author's note: This story deals with childhood abuse and are subtly mentioned in Lars' flashbacks. Abuse is a sensitive topic and I thought I should get the message out, even in a fanfic. I do not own Rocket Power.
To anyone who has or had gone through sexual abuse of some sort, you are strong and a survivor.
It was a typical morning at the Rodriguez household. Twister woke up rubbing his eyes and walked out of bed. Opening the door to make his way to the bathroom, he was surprised, and pretty much woken up, by a bucket of water balloons falling upon his head.
"Oh come on!" He cried out in frustration.
Twister then turned to see his brother's standing by his room laughing. He glared at him and said, "You jerk! Now I'm all wet!"
"That was funny. Oh man. You should've seen your face when all those balloons fell on you!" Lars laughed. "It was better than Th prank last week."
"Which was?" Twister asked, very annoyed he was wet.
"The bucket of brown paint? Remember that?" Lars chuckled.
"Don't you get tired of being a jerk?" Twister snapped.
"I do, but then I remember how boring life would be if I weren't there to piss you off." Lars chuckled and threw a towel at his brother. "Come on. Stop fooling around and dry off. Mom made up breakfast."
After having breakfast at home, Twister met up with his friends. They all spent the day skating and hanging out around town. After getting lunch at the Shore Shack, they went back to Mad Town where Twister told his friends about the prank.
"Doesn't he get tired of being a dick?" Otto asked.
"Clearly not," Twister said.
"You would think once he turned 15," Sam started, "he would grow up." Sam said.
"Clearly not," Twister said with an eye roll. "Whatever. He's a loser and will always be a loser."
"Don't let his stupidity ruin your day, Twist," Reggie said. "Come on. Are we going to bitch about Lars or are we going to skate?"
"Seriously. You need to see the new moves I've been trying out." Otto said, pompously.
"As if I didn't see them a billion times?" Reggie rolled her eyes.
"Shut up, Reggie." Otto snapped and made his way up the half pipe.
After spending the day with his friends, Twister went home because his mother needed him and Lars to come home. Apparently, she had a surprise for them waiting at home. Once Twister came through the door, he saw Lars watching TV and said, "Hey, what's going on?"
"How the hell should I know? Mom said we have a dinner guest." Lars spat.
"Did she tell you?" Twister asked.
"I don't know shit," Lars replied.
At that moment, their mother, Sandy walked in and said, "Boys, can you two help me by setting the table for five. We have a surprise guest tonight."
"Who is it?" Twister asked.
"Duh, she said it was a surprise?" Lars replied with a tone of sarcasm.
"I will give you a hint, Maurice." Sandy smiled. "He is someone you and Lars loved hanging out with when you were little."
As Sandy walked away, Twister and Lars looked at each other and shrugged.
Once the boys were done were setting up the dinner table, their father Raoul, came home from work. They greeted their father only for Sandy to come out and say, "Raoul, I told the boys about our special dinner guest."
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
"Looks like he is here already." Raoul chuckled.
Sandy went to answer the door only for Twister and Lars to see the face of a man they both recognized. It was their Uncle Ramon. He wasn't their uncle by blood, but he was their uncle by marriage. He married Sandy's sister and were married for a while but split up back when Lars was 8 and Twister was 6.
"No way! Tio Ramon!" Twister ran over to greet him.
Lars stood like a statue looking at his uncle. He almost looked pale.
"It's been a long time, Ramon." Raoul shook his hand. "¿Cómo estás? ¿Algo nuevo contigo?b(How are you? Something new with you?)"
"Not much," Ramon replied. "Got a job washing dishes at a restaurant and I coach boys hockey ice and field hockey on the side. It pays the bills."
Everyone except Lars chuckled. Sandy noticed Lars just standing there.
"Lars, mi hijo, come say hello to your uncle." She said.
"Hi, Ramon," Lars said coldly.
"You've gotten taller, Lars. How have you been?" Ramon asked.
"Good...I've been good..." Lars replied in the same cold tone of voice.
Raoul was detecting major tension. He broke the tension by saying, "So who's hungry? Vamos a cenar (Let's have dinner)."
That night, Lars laid in bed thinking. Dinner was rather awkward. While his family was joking and laughing, Lars sat at the dinner table playing with his food. He had only taken a few bites at most. He didn't eat dinner, eventually excusing himself to go on a bike ride around town. He was out for about three hours and didn't come home till 10:30. He got lectured on how he was "out for a long time" and "how rude he was to his uncle." If they only knew what happened during childhood.
Flashback
It was around the time Twister and Lars were little. They were both left in the care of their aunt and uncle while their parents worked. Their aunt was out grocery shopping. Lars was watching his cartoons while a two-year-old, Maurice, was taking a nap in his playpen. While watching TV, Lars saw his uncle walking towards him.
"What are you watching?" He asked, casually.
"Batman." A four-year-old, Lars, replied.
"Very nice," Ramon answered. "Can I show you something?"
Lars looked up at his uncle. Being a small child, he was curious as to what his uncle wanted. Ramon pulled out magazines and showed the young child. These magazines contained images and pictures that Lars had never seen in his life. He didn't know what to make of it.
"You see, Lars," Ramon started, "these are the kinds of magazines men read. When you are older, you will want to read them too. But I'm here to show you now, so you understand later on in life. Just promise me that you won't tell anyone I showed you these. It will be out little secret. Okay?"
Lars nodded his head to his uncle. If it was supposed to be a secret, then he won't tell.
Flashback Ends
Lars snapped out of his thoughts and he looked at his alarm clock. It read 1:35 AM. It is 1:35 in the morning and Lars couldn't sleep. Instead, he got up and quietly walked into the kitchen. When he and Twister were younger, Raoul used to wake them up if he couldn't fall asleep and they would all have a late night snack. Opening up into the kitchen, Lars found his mother's homemade flan. Awesome! She left more. Lars took out the flan and served himself a plate.
"Hey. Why are you up?" Twister asked startling his brother.
"What the hell? Why are you sneaking up on me like that?" Lars cried, his heart beating rapidly.
"Sorry...I just heard you get up and...hey can I have some flan?" Twister asked.
"Be my guest." Lars gently nudged the flan towards Twister.
Twister served himself some flan. He noticed his brother totally out of it. Breaking the silence, Twister said, "You okay? You were quiet at dinner, and you seem out of it."
"Twister," Lars started, "what do you remember about Ramon?"
"What do I remember?" Twister replied. "He was fun. He used to take us for ice cream and to the park. I remember being sad when he just disappeared without a trace. Aunt Letti was a fool for letting him go."
"Yeah, because having to support a guy who keeps getting fired from his jobs is all the reason to keep him around." Lars said with sarcasm in his voice. "So you don't remember anything else?"
"Um...not...exactly..." Twister replied. "Why? What do you remember?"
"Eh...nothing much..." Lars replied taking a bite out of his flan.
"Um...okay..." Twister chuckled nervously.
"Anyway, I'm heading to bed." Lars put his plate in the sink. "Don't forget to put the flan away before mom has a baby."
"But mom isn't pregnant...or is she?" Twister asked.
"Figure of speech, stupid! Good night." Lars snapped.
Twister watched his brother. There was something wrong, and he wanted to know.
