Tenebris sighed as he looked outside of his window in the desolate house he lived in.
The home he lived in used to belong to his parents when they were alive. They had died in an unfortunate car crash involving a drunk driver a couple of months ago, leaving him the sole inheritor of everything they owned, being an only child. They had apparently willed everything to him and stated outright that he is to be able to live the house they lived in if he wanted to.
When Tenebris did hear about it, he did decide to stay, but some lingering pain remained in his soul; of the memories he shared with them and the good times they had.
They died on his birthday.
He sighed again as he reluctantly recalled why it took him longer than it should have to hear of his parents' death. He was kidnapped half a year prior to the accident and he had managed to escape a few days after the accident... after his birthday. He recalled being desperate for his mother's touch and his father's stern yet caring voice as he found ways back home, only for the news to completely crush him.
Ever since, he became a social introvert and dropped out of school, refusing to really interact with anyone. He was 16 years old, and he already felt, for the most part, that he had no future.
He touched the eye patch over his left eye, trying desperately not to remember why he was kidnapped in the first place. His eye flared a bit in pain and dark thoughts attempted to invade his mind again. He quickly shook them off; he was used to doing it at this point.
His thoughts were interrupted by the door bell ringing. Because he rarely went out, only four people ever came to his house. Two are the neighbors, who were friends with his parents, often came over with groceries for him to live on.
The other two...
"Hey, Tenebris!" "Hey, Tenny!"
He smiled as he beheld the other two people he managed opened up to. The 10 year old and one who called him 'Tenny', Frisk, and her 17 year old sister, Selendis. "Hey, girls. What brings you here today?"
Tenebris met them a month after the death of his parents. His neighbors had finally convinced him to go out of his house and doing something other than play games and watch anime. He wasn't even the one who approached them; Frisk saw him off on his own and talked to him on the account that he looked... contemplative and lonely. Tenebris wanted to be alone, but she was determined to become his friend, even resorting to flirting which caught him completely off guard.
It certainly made for an awkward first conversation with Selendis when she saw her kid sister flirting with a random guy. What threw Tenebris even more off guard was the fact that she was used to it; Frisk frequently flirts innocently in an attempt to make friends, with very mixed results. In the end, her determination and innocent kindness is what allowed him to fully accept her into his life.
Selendis was very kind as well, yet she always held an air of perseverance and integrity about her. While Tenebris was initially intimidated by he because of this, he realized just how relatable she was after interacting with her more. Both had also lost their parents in an accident and Selendis had to drop school in order to support Frisk as best as she could.
Tenebris had quickly developed a small crush on her, but decided that he's fine being just friends with her. He doubted she would ever see him the same way, especially if she ever found out...
Selendis shook her head. "Oh, I thought we would come visit you today before Frisk has to go to school tomorrow. You know how she is."
Tenebris snorted. "Yeah, she can be quite 'frisky'." This got a laugh out of Frisk and a groan out of Selendis. He initially lost his sense of humor when his parents died, but he was feeling better enough about himself to start making bad puns again. Frisk enjoyed the creative word-play, but Selendis...
"Okay, how many times have you used that pun? It's seriously getting old."
"Aw, come on Selendis. You have to give it some credit: it's 'finely aged'!"You could practically hear the rimshot. "And before you say anything, you're the ones who wanted to be friends with me."
She glares at him. "No, Frisk was the one who wanted to be friends with you. I was just along for the ride."
"You make it sound like you didn't have a choice."
Frisk giggled. "Aw come on, Selly. At least admit that you enjoy having him around. Besides, you're smiling."
"I am and I hate it!" She sighs before smiling. "Bus I suppose, at the end of the day... yeah, you are right."
Tenebris shook his head. "Well I'm being a bad host. Come on in and make yourselves at home." This was meant both literally and figuratively. The sisters visited him so much that his home became a second home to them.
The rest of the day was playing video games and talking about the future, with the occasional pun thrown in at Selendis' expense. Frisk did comment about being bullied at her school, but she made it sound very mild and passed it off as nothing. This got Selendis worried regardless; even if you didn't want to be friends with her, it was hard to be mean to such a sweet kid. Tenebris mirrored the worry, but ultimately passed it off; Frisk was as emotionally strong as she was kind.
Monday started out decently well. Tenebris had made himself a breakfast pizza made up of sausage, ham, spinach, and cheese on an egg 'crust'. Selendis did try to teach him how to cook, but the only thing he could make half-way decent was his pizzas. Everything else always came out inedible, though Frisk admitted to one case where it was "strangely delicious" despite that.
Heck, one time he made a dish that caused uncontrollable arm-flailing in Selendis and enthusiastic dish-washing in Frisk. None of them knew how he did it, nor could he replicate it. Selendis blames his lack of success on the fact that she makes for a horrible teacher; she gets impatient when trying to teach, resulting in rushed and random products.
Tenebris admitted to the sisters that, even after being friends with them for so long, he doesn't do much of anything until Frisk gets out of school on weekends. He always spends time playing games and watching anime, though he did rebuild his workout schedule so that he didn't gain any weight. It didn't help that his diet primarily consisted of home-made pizza.
It was in the middle of one of these work-outs in the afternoon when Selendis came to his house... without Frisk.
"H-have you seen Frisk at all?" Her voice sounded very shaky and panicked.
Tenebrus checked the clock. It read 4:30 PM, meaning Frisk should of been out of school for a while. "I haven't... what's going on?"
Her expression fell. "O-oh, her teachers called after lunch asking why she didn't come to class. At first I was confused, but I told the teacher I would look into it. School breaks and she doesn't even come home!"
Her words filled Tenebrus with dread.