UPDATE 01/02/2021: Minor cleaning and alterations
[Chapter 5]
To say that Ion was petrified would be an understatement.
His attention jerked onto the figure. A look of dread crashed into his face, seemingly ready to drop everything and run as far as possible from whatever that is. Just as Ion seemed about to dash for the exit and away from the non-existent threat that was threatening his life, the cluster of smoke became thicker in a blink of an eye; suddenly materializing into a quite terrified individual.
"Oh, shi—!" Said individual didn't get to finish as he fell face-first to the ground with a very loud and, at least for the twins, amusing thud. A story in two parts: some grimdark creature; a young boy splayed across the floor.
"Shit…" A muffled curse.
"Isaiah, language!" yelled Miltia, suddenly standing on her chair.
"Shut it, you brat." A near unintelligible mumble.
"Miltia, sit down."
"You ok?" asked the other twin.
"Brats," he groaned. Well, more like another mumble.
Due to his face being one with the floor.
"You're getting better at controlling it." It was a genuine compliment. Though, one which evidently, went over the boy's head as he dryly laughed.
"Funny, fun—Neo, can you not? Get off me!"
Neo pursed her lips and gave Roman a little shrug. He flashed a toothy smile at her, then turned back to the boy. "I was being serious, kid."
Irritated, poison-green orbs glared at Roman with a squint. The pair of curled ears on his head twitched. With overtly snappy movement and an out of character tone, he responded: "Gee! Really, Mr. Torchwick? I have been training a lot, so it's good that the results are showing!" The clockwork smile dropped back to an annoyed frown. He shuddered. "Blegh…"
Roman kept his smile. "Now, taking compliments, on the other hand is clearly something you haven't touched on."
Isaiah sounded as if he hissed and scoffed at the same time.
"Whatever." Running a hand through his black strands, the boy strutted past Roman and towards the kitchen.
The redhead's attention turned to the other newcomer. She walked around the table, eyeing his smile, but firstly greeting Junior.
"Hey, Scoops." He patted her hand as she kissed him on the cheek.
She then eyed to Roman's smile, copying it with her smirk.
"Hi there," he greeted as Neo approached. The woman got behind Roman and he tilted his head back, staring directly at a pair of heterochromatic eyes. Neo placed a hand on Roman's cheek and a kiss on his lips.
"Ew. Gross."
"Aww…"
The twins varied on their response.
"How's the kid been doing?" asked Roman, expecting another peck. Prying one eye open, he saw Neo pouting and smirked. "All right, all right. How've you been doing? Still stuck in that paragraph?"
In order: Neo shifted from a thumbs up to rocking her hand and then slouched down with a frown.
"Well, I can't comment on that," he chuckled, though it seemed to fall on deaf ears as Neo's attention completely turned to an unfamiliar, tiny, squishy face. "Ion, this is Neo. Neo, Ion."
The woman crouched down next to Ion and the two seemed to continue their staring contest from earlier.
"I found him yesterday," continued Roman, causing Neo to lose the match as she slowly looked over her shoulder. "It's complicated, okay? Real rabbit hole. Anyway, just go grab a chair, will ya?"
"What's complicated?" Isaiah reappeared with a plate of grilled fish. He pulled back Ion's seat—the poor boy almost falling forward—and hadn't noticed the occupant until he had placed the plate down. His lips parted with bewilderment, and his eyes squinting in either ire or extreme irritation. The older boy looked to Roman and asked: "What the hell is this?"
"Language!"
"Who, Isaiah."
Isaiah blinked. "The hell is it doing on my chair?"
"I said language!"
Roman sighed. "For gods sake, Isaiah. Just grab another chair."
"It's my chair!" he growled back.
"Boy, we're the only ones here! Just grab another and sit next to me."
He let out another restrained growl and stomped towards the vacant table, purposely letting the chair he took screech against the wooden floor. Making as much noise as possible in the process of sitting down.
Roman could only raise an eyebrow as he hadn't a clue where this was coming from. But what he did know is that Neo wasn't amused. She stood up and stared at the boy, and him back at her, though only briefly—after which he seemingly shrunk and averted his eyes to glare at anything but the petite woman.
Amused, the redhead only turned to his partner with a questioning smile and only received a smug smirk in response. Neo gently pinched Ion on the cheek before getting herself a seat.
Roman almost didn't pick up the mumble to his left. Turning to the Faunus, a little smile crept up his lips. "Isaiah, this is Ion. I met him in front of my house yesterday—"
"So you're just picking up strays now?"
"—and right now I'm trying to get him home." Roman turned to Ion and patted the boy's head. "Though it's proving to be a lot harder than expected… ain't it, Ion?"
"I dunno," the boy mumbled without a word.
"Well, it is. But I did promise that I'll get you home."
"Huh…" Roman pursed his lips when the boy nonchalantly continued with his food. "Tough fuckin' luck."
"Hey—hey! Language!"
"Okay, " Junior, who through all this had been busy with some papers, stopped and spoke up. "Kid, you tone it down. And Miltia, stop ruffling his fur."
"Ruffle his what now?"
Junior rolled his eyes. "You're annoying him. You kids just quiet down and finish your breakfast."
"Ohh…" The girl finished off with a little "k" before her munching resumed.
What followed was a somewhat bothersome explanation for the late arrivals concerning the events that occurred from his first meeting with Ion, to right now, and everything in between—and between all that Roman didn't hold back showing his exasperation and great ire for not being able to find anything decisive. Roman expected some sort of teasing about his competence from Neo but none came—the woman too busy giving sympathetic glances to the strange Faunus every few sentences. And Isaiah… well, he remained as uncaring as earlier. If Roman hadn't known better, he'd think the boy wasn't listening at all.
"Now," Junior took off his specs before continuing, "what's the next step you got in mind?"
"Well, I…" Roman trailed, his gaze wandering off to all directions. He really hadn't thought of anything new since last night. In his defense, he already used his best cards—and the pot that he got was more questions misleading him. "Well… actually, I'm still figuring that out."
"Oi. Mutt. Stop staring at me," Isaiah told Ion off, sticking his eyes to the food.
"Police and orphanage still out of the question?"
"Absolutely."
"Well, think of something then. This can't be a permanent solution." Junior sighed. "Hel—heck, this isn't even a solution at all.
"What? What is it? What's your problem?"
"Any input from you, Neo?" asked Roman. The woman perked up—tapping her chin, letting out a near-silent hum, but after looking back to the seemingly distracted Ion, she could only give a weak head shake. "Well, it's not like we've got a time limit or anything."
"Fuck off you little fucking freak!" The adults sprang into action at the sound of fists hitting the table.
Roman and Junior moved to restrain Isaiah and disarm him of his cutlery mid-lunge—though before anyone else even moved a muscle, Neo had already swooped Ion off his seat and retreated behind the table next to theirs. The offender of the potential assault wildly flailed as he was carried away by the two men and some of the present staff.
"The hell's wrong with you?! Calm down!" Roman tried to reason in-between Isaiah's cursing. He glanced back to see that Ion—though very much terrified—was safe with Neo; the woman bearing a deep scowl directed at Isaiah.
The boy's outburst started dissipating the further they got from the table. Now sat on the other side of the restaurant, with Junior's hands on both his shoulders and the rest of the staff just in case, the boy paid no heed to the pairs of eyes currently on him.
Roman felt like he couldn't catch a break these days. With a deep sigh, he pulled a chair and sat in front of Isaiah, their knees practically touching. Roman tilted his head and slouched over, trying to catch the boy's eyes to no avail. He instead glared out of a nearby window while biting on his cheeks; you could hear and almost see the air coming out his nostrils as he took deep, almost shaky breaths.
Roman looked over his shoulder and met Neo's eyes. She was already ushering the children to finish their breakfast and leave the restaurant. The redhead nodded at her before turning back to stare down the stubborn, troubled child once more.
After a moment of silence that he allowed to drag, Roman cleared his throat and, in an almost whisper, asked: "What happened there, kid?"
Isaiah didn't answer. Though, a bit later, as his glare softened and now directed to the floor, he responded, equally as quiet: "Little fucker kept staring at me."
"And that was your response? Mortally wounding someone you've never met before? Hell, possibly killing someone since this is you we're talking about."
"Not like I haven't before." The boy then raised his voice, "And you think I'd shank his throat just because?!"
"I don't know, kid. Would you?" asked Junior. "Cause it sure seemed like it back there."
"Just get off my tail, yeah?"
"Kid…" Roman rubbed circles on his forehead. "You're still taking your medicine, right? Please say yes."
Isaiah scoffed in response, rolling his eyes. "I am."
"All of 'em? Thrice a da—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thrice a day, half an hour after meals, yada-yada. Everyone always look sooo happy when I drink those little fucking pills; seem like the only thing that'll make you guys shut the fuck up and fuck off."
"You got something you wanna tell me?"
"Me?" He snorted. "I don't have anything to say to you. Seem like you do, though. You do a lot."
Roman sighed. "Isaiah… you know we'll have to talk about this next session, right?"
Isaiah glared at him and he took up the challenge. He watched as the boy's lips quiver; how he began biting his cheeks once more; the way his hands clenched the fabric of his trousers. Isaiah simply scoffed and averted his gaze.
"Do whatever the hell you want." He blew out the candle that had been on the next table. As the smoke neared them, Isaiah slowly disappeared along with it—only to materialize immediately after.
"Isaiah! Get back—" Roman had sprung from his seat but quickly stopped himself. Sighing, he massaged his temples. "Oh, for Brother's sake. Leave him be."
As the boy walked away, he looked up to the empty space to his left, smirking, as if someone who wasn't there just said something amusing. Isaiah snorted. "Exactly," he let out a small chuckle. "Exactly! What does he know?"
Junior waved off the staff and security members before occupying Isaiah's seat. The two friends sat there in the silence of pre-service hours, though one was occupied with himself more.
"Just…" Roman sighed. "Just give him some alone time."
"I know." Junior clicked his tongue. "Don't mean to spoil the moment or anything, but we should get back on topic about your new stray while the other one broods."
"Yeah… I should. I should do that." With a deep, dry sigh, Roman stood to leave. "I got an idea; doubt it'll lead anywhere… again… but at least it'll get me thinking of something else. See you later, J."
"Good luck with the goose chase, Fringes."
To a long day.
Roman walked out of the restaurant to see… no one. At least no one important. Not in the lobby nor the club floor; Roman had even gone back to gather their things and get Turk to get the car ready, yet the group of four was nowhere to be seen.
Roman was alerted by the buzz in his pocket. He opened his scroll seeing a message from Neo—she was at the usual place. Roman walked down the block, crossed the avenue, and walked half a block down again; he arrived at the more than familiar ice cream parlor, through its windows Roman could see the renegade four inside, and quite possibly bothering a nevertheless content-looking elderly man. Roman entered the establishment and all five of its occupants turned to him.
"It's nine. Ain't it too early to be eating ice cream?" he mockingly asked while walking to their table.
"Neo, you hearing this guy?" The woman only shook her head with a pout in response. "How you doin', sherbet?"
Roman rolled his eyes. "Gods, how old are you, Al?"
Al smiled as he turned to the children. "I mean just look at him; doesn't it look like he's got a melting scoop of ice cream for hair? " They laughed at his joke. Except for Ion. Ion was a nice boy. Either that, or he's too occupied with his dairy… or clueless as usual… perhaps even all three…
Roman watched as the boy scooped a piece and practically smeared the dessert on his face; it was all three then… With a sigh and the faintest smile, he approached the merry group.
"You know, Rome, this here's a weird kid you picked up," said Al as he scratched his head. "I mean, what kinda kid thinks that anything's too sweet?"
"Excellent examination, Al. Something else might be more eye-catching?"
"What? It's good, ain't it? I mean, he got them ears to listen better and that tail for balance!"
Miltia raised an eyebrow at the man. "Um… Al, those are for cats."
"Eh, well, you know what I mean. I didn't go to some fancy school like yous." The man let out a hearty laugh. "Actually, I didn't even finish school!"
Roman crouched next to Ion who only now had noticed him. He smiled. "Heia, kid. Whatcha eating there?"
Ion blinked, and then looked into his cup as if struggling to form something cohesive. "Cream? Froyo…" He moved his head around when Neo tried to clean his mouth.
"Ion, you're not eating nice!" complained Miltia. Can one call grumbling as proper response? The boy seemed irritated with Neo afterward if anything; the latter absolutely clueless as to why.
Roman stopped himself from cracking a wry smile at her. "Whaddya say after you finish eating, we go somewhere, hm? A doctor. He's a friend. He… he… well, I hope he can help because I am running out of ideas." The redhead mumbled the last bit.
"Don't do it, Ion!" A thud and the table shook when Miltia hit her hands against the table. "The last time I went to the doctor, I got the needle two times! And it hurted!"
"Well I got three!"
"You cried as much!"
"Girls, you're not helping." Roman turned back to Ion and he was certain that the boy was uncertain of what was going on. Not to undermine the boy's intelligence, but by his slow, absent nodding at Roman, it's quite possible that Ion had only registered 'finish eating', 'go somewhere', and 'friend'. He quickly finished his dessert, got his mouth sneakily wiped by Neo, and turned to look to Roman. And looked down. Then at Roman again. The man raised a brow at the third repeat.
"Ion cannae go down."
A quiet snort was heard from Neo.
