Auden awoke to the sound of Aster's high-pitched voice yelling his name like a broken record. He wished he could throw a pillow at the one responsible for all that racket. He groaned in displeasure and turned on his back because he was a glutton for punishment and apparently wanted to hear her at a slightly higher decibel. Some uncomfortable pain he couldn't place at the moment had also played a role, but it felt very familiar. It was difficult making his eyes open—he really just wanted to fall back to sleep with Aster as the lulling background noise.
"Daddy! It's almost noon time—you're already late!"
That got a rise out of him, enough of a jolt of energy to properly wedge his eyes open to the now bright room. Aster had taken the liberty of rolling up all the blinds so that the sunrays could pierce through with shocking intensity. It merely made him squint and groan with even more displeasure. Words were not forthcoming.
"Seriously, Dad! Did that woman poison you or something? You're supposed to be up like hours ago and I've been calling your name for like forever."
"Must you be so dramatic?" he attempted to say, but it came out far too garbled for even him to discern the words.
He moved just a little in bed, shrugging his shoulders, but his muscles felt pleasantly tired and his wonderfully soft bed felt as if it was begging for him to stay just a little longer.
"Dad?! Really?! Aren't you listening to me? Are you okay? Were you drugged or something?"
"I'm fine," he said a bit clearer, surprising even himself. Though his voice was more than a little scratchy and weary.
His eyes were just then accustomed enough to the light to finally notice his erect penis on full display beneath the covers. He sighed heavily at this. That was the oddly familiar pain from earlier—that must have been wonderful sleeping on top of. He was thankful that Aster always pretended not to see that…
Also, Chi-Chi was nowhere to be found. She wasn't in the apartment either. Somehow his senses were telling him this, but he certainly couldn't figure out why that was the case. He laid one of his arms across his forehead. Today was just going to be one of those days again.
"Dad—"
"Aster, thank you—I'm awake now. You can leave, okay?" His voice sounded almost normal.
"Alright, but you better not fall back to sleep or I'll be back!"
"I wouldn't dream of it," he said wearily.
He hadn't bothered to actually look at her the entire time. When he heard that she'd left, he let his eyes close for a few more minutes before gathering the strength to climb out of bed. As soon as he climbed to his feet, he found himself tumbling to the ground, though his hands took most of the impact, managing not to alert Aster. His muscles were apparently more worn out than he thought. It was a pleasant soreness, but it made movement a bit more difficult as he climbed to his feet with more caution. His body refused to move much faster than a snail. Luckily, he didn't have to take too many steps before he arrived at the bathroom and then quickly closed the door.
He didn't know what to make of Chi-Chi's departure and since he was not one for jumping to conclusions, he would wait until more information was available. Of course, that didn't stop his mind from wandering…Perhaps he'd admitted too much last night. He turned on the showerhead and waited for the water to warm up a little. Once his clothes were discarded, he ventured into the soft, warm rain to relieve some stress which he supposed had the added bonus of cleaning him off. The gentle pressure of the shower against his soreness felt better than expected—if he wouldn't shrivel into a raisin, he wouldn't mind staying there for hours. He decided spur of the moment, that he might attend to his still quite excited member. He could barely remember his last clumsy attempt at doing so, but it hadn't been an unpleasant activity.
Experimentally, he let some of his fingers slide down the length of it. The anticipatory, tingling sensation he felt afterwards took him by surprise with a sharp intake of breath. And he continued to tease himself further and further as he gasped and moaned, bit down on his lower lip, and leaned heavily onto the tiled wall in front of him sincerely hoping that no one was close enough to hear. Hopefully, the sound of the shower was enough to mask his panting. Then when he was ready, he forcefully grasped onto his throbbing shaft and a lightning strike of odd pleasure spread through his body as strangled noises of desperate pain and joy escaped his mouth. That was from one grasp. His forehead leaned onto the wall, his breathing a bit more ragged than usual.
Then he heard Aster's voice barely loud enough to overcome the shower. She was calling him and it sounded urgent. Of course, everything was urgent to her when it came to him. With a frustrated sigh in mid-masturbation, he turned down the shower so that he could hear.
"What, Aster?" he shouted loudly so that his voice would carry through the door.
"Daddy—your car's gone! I can't find your car!"
"What?" he called again wanting to make sure he'd heard right.
"Your car's gone!" she yelled louder.
"Okay, thanks for letting me know—I'll figure something out!"
"Did that woman take it!?"
"I don't know!"
He was already getting tired of yelling, but he was not about to step out of the shower at this point. To be honest, his mind was elsewhere. There were plenty of ways to get somewhere in this city—it wasn't a huge deal. He turned the shower back up again. Besides…he was busy. He grasped his rod once again with more force than last time and his panting continued, gasping and desperate as he finally slid his hand down the length deliberately slow. The feeling that emerged was near debilitating—he could barely stand anymore. He was only able to repeat the motion thrice more time before he heard Aster's voice again. Fuck, just go away! With another frustrated sigh, he twisted the knob back to turn down the sweet, warm shower.
"What now, Aster!"
"Are you okay in there, Dad!"
"Yeah, fine!" Now he was embarrassed.
"You're not crying, are you?"
"I said I'm fine!" he bit out trying unsuccessfully to hide his frustration.
"I'm sorry that woman left you, but it's probably for the best!"
"Aster—
"I'll stay here with you today, okay! I'll make breakfast!"
"Aster, please! Let me shower in peace!
He didn't care to hear what she said next as he turned the shower back on again. The mood was thoroughly ruined by now and his penis was too soft now to do anything with. It was more stress inducing than stress relieving. There would be other times, he supposed. That didn't change the fact that he now wanted to pound something into oblivion. He had to resist the urge to cause some property damage to the nearby wall. He wasn't sure whether he'd do more damage to himself or not, but he felt like pounding it in.
In a less than enthused way, he washed himself, stepped out of the shower and went through several steps at the sink to groom his face. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he could already smell breakfast being cooked. Clearly Aster was having a field day in the kitchen. It wasn't something she did often, but perhaps she was feeling motivated today. Once his clothes were changed, he pulled out his phone to quickly request a cab to come pick him up from his home to work—it would be arriving in a few minutes. With that dilemma dealt with, he finally stepped out into the living room where he was met with a smiling Aster.
"Daddy, I made breakfast!"
"Thanks," he said simply. "I'm surprised you're still here though. I thought for sure you'd be out there with your friend."
"No," she said with a frown, "I'm not always hanging out with him."
It was already embarrassingly late, and he hadn't been this late to work in ages. He certainly didn't have enough time to eat a proper breakfast especially not in the five minutes he had left before his ride arrived. "Hey, I have to go, but I appreciate the thought for making breakfast."
"You're just going to leave!?" she asked in a pouty voice.
"I have to go," he said with finality in his tone.
"W-Wait," Aster said as if she was surprised to see him leave so promptly.
"Yes?" Auden asked trying to move the conversation along. She looked worried as well.
"A-Aren't you worried about your car? What if she really stole it? Shouldn't we be calling the police."
"Calling the police?" Auden asked, "You act as if someone was murdered. It's a car. Anyways, I don't see the need to start stressing out. I can easily track the whereabouts of my car. Depending on its location, there may not be anything to worry about. Either way, I can have it towed."
She actually looked even more frustrated if that was even possible—and that was more concerning than anything else. "B-But what about that woman?! You can't still trust her? She's probably—
"Let's not lose ourselves in unsubstantiated claims, shall we? I'm sure she'll call me or return. One of those. For someone who I trust, it would be silly to jump to thinking there's some foul play at work. Now, please, Aster—I appreciate your concern, but as of yet, I'm not worried and you shouldn't waste your energy being worried either. Maybe you can call your boyfriend over to help you with your breakfast. It would be a shame if all that food went to waste," he said as he walked over to the door. His poor muscles were beginning to scream at him for standing still for so long. He already couldn't wait to be done with this day, so that he could have another excuse to crawl back into bed.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Aster exclaimed clearly embarrassed.
Auden grinned at this, but he was facing the front door so she didn't see. "Right."
"I'm serious! We're just friends!"
"Just friends who hang out almost every day," he said teasing. He was enjoying this far too much.
"Oh my gawd, Dad—are you just going to keep saying that until I explode?"
"Would 'friendboy' be more appropriate?" Auden asked unable to keep the amusement from his voice.
Auden waited for another explosion of anger, but she'd grown quiet. He looked back at her curiously. She was looking to the ground as if deep in thought.
"Dad, there's something else I wanted to ask you. Did you really threaten to ruin his life if he didn't keep texting you back yesterday?"
"So he told you," he said unperturbed. "It was an empty threat. Useful nonetheless."
"He got really scared when you suddenly stopped responding—he was worried he did something wrong. I told him that I would ask you. I also told him that you would never threaten anyone like that."
"Looks like you thought wrong," he said looking at her fully. "For a while, I was overly worried about you, but that's no longer the case. You don't have to worry. Tell him that I apologize for any undue stress. I'll tell him myself later on. But, Aster, if he ever hurts or disrespects you, know that you can always come to me and I'll make sure it never happens again."
"Dad," she said slowly as if processing a lot of things at once. "Th-Thank you. Just—Thank you. I never thought of you having my back. It always seemed like the other way around. But you don't have anything to worry about. Jensen is nice. He'd never hurt me. You've met him, right? What do you think of him?"
"He's interesting," Auden said thoughtfully even though he knew he was being vague. "Be careful dealing with the Briefs. The world is already chaotic enough without bringing them into the mix."
"Yeah, I get it. You don't like them. But you never go into details as to why."
"I want you to come to your own conclusions. I would hate for my experiences to color your own. I know that I'm already extremely biased. As far as Jensen goes, he doesn't seem like the worst person to spend your time with."
"That's really relieving to hear from you, Dad. I was worried that—Well, it's nice to have your approval. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'll see you later," he said as he turned the knob on the front door to open it.
"Have a good day, Dad!" she called after him, "And don't stress. I'm sure it'll all work out!"
He closed the door deciding that she was probably being rhetorical at the moment. He could already see the car matching the description of the one specified on his phone pulling into the parking lot. Trying not to stress out while also being reminded of it was often self-defeating. He'd say he was handling the situation decently so long as his mind didn't dwell on the stressors and that would be very difficult to do.
Auden climbed down the stairs to meet the driver as the man drove slowly trying to figure out the apartment numbers.
"David?" Auden said when the driver rolled down his window to speak to him.
"Yep, that's me. Auden Tyga?"
"Correct."
With this, Auden climbed into the backseat of the car and settled down for a moderately long drive. The inside of the car was immaculate. There was the lingering scent of new car in the air mixed with the rather strong cologne the driver wore. The beige leather upholstery was completely unblemished with no signs of heavy use. Clearly, the man was not a smoker.
"So how's your morning been so far?" David asked pleasantly.
Auden sighed at this, not in the mood for small talk. "Not so great, but I'm sure it'll get better."
"Oh, sorry to hear that. You want to talk about it? I'm a really great listener. At least, that what a lot of people tell me," he said affably.
David seemed somewhat genuine but talking to a complete stranger was the last thing he wanted to do. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather have some peace and quiet for now."
"Of course, of course, man. No problem!"
Thankfully, the man was accommodating enough to then cease any attempts at conversation, though Auden felt a little bad doing that to someone who clearly thrived on that sort of thing. His eyes turned to the swiftly passing world outside. Anxiety and stress were topics that were most often brought up in his therapy sessions. They'd discussed plenty of ways to combat it and Auden would ponder on these things a great deal, utilizing these skills at work. One of the main points he took away from these discussions was the importance of focusing on the solution rather than the problem itself. It was easier said than done, but he'd been practicing this advice for some time now even if he still failed at it every now and then depending on how severe the stressor happened to be. His car was missing. Focus on how to mitigate the inconvenience. Chi-Chi left without giving him any warning. He knew places she frequented and her house phone number. There was a high likelihood that he would eventually get to the bottom of her strange behavior. Relationships required patience and understanding.
His therapist would always highlight the importance of information gathering. It worked in a scientific setting, it also worked in day-to-day issues. Making sure to have both adequate and accurate information helped avoid unnecessary energy being spent on things that ultimately didn't matter or didn't happen in the first place. This could be as simple as waiting to talk directly to the person rather than drawing conclusions from third-party sources or worse misinterpreting the evidence already there. Auden had gone over countless hypothetical situations with his therapist and had discussed a plethora of good ways to deal with problems that were likely to crop up in life.
Using the tools that he'd been given through repeated and long sessions with his therapist, he knew of a few ways to successfully navigate this current set of issues without falling into old habits that would get him nowhere at best or set him back severely at worst. Having his medication reduced significantly was a double-edged sword. While his thoughts were much clearer, he also had to take a more active role in his decisions as he was now more susceptible to spiraling out of control without anything being able to reel him back in. It was a somewhat scary realization, but he felt ready for the challenge.
All of this was probably unintentional on Chi-Chi's part. After all, he hadn't told Chi-Chi everything about himself or his mental state and long-term uphill battle he'd had with maintaining something somewhat normal. He was sure she suspected, but she certainly didn't know. He planned on indulging her more, but he didn't want to cause her to worry over him or her to view him as some problem to fix. He wanted her to feel free to express herself uninhibited by trying to accommodate him. To be honest, any inconvenience he experienced became less troubling if he knew Chi-Chi was the cause of it. Was that a dangerous sentiment? He couldn't be sure, but he would try his hardest to meet any challenges head-on. There was more motivation now to do so. A lot of it was simply to prove to himself that he could, but it was also so that he could experience Chi-Chi at the most intimate and authentic level possible. He closed his eyes at the mere thought of that. How lovely that would feel the moment she decided to share herself fully with him. She was still so guarded, but there were little cracks in her exterior and she was learning to trust him more and more. Any chance he got, he encouraged her to speak her mind. Did she realize how much he adored her when she did such things? She'd already snatched his phone out his very hands twice now, making his heart skip a beat each time. Though he'd be upset in the moment because it was so jarring, he secretly enjoyed her boldness.
He made it to work in record time considering. He was still quite late, but, in reality, he didn't really have a set schedule. He'd set one for himself and others were used to him adhering to it. Strictly speaking, he wasn't late, but he would have a lot of concerned employees to deal with and he'd already thought of some clever responses for these inevitable questions.
Aster found herself staring at the door through which her father had just left. He was different. He was stronger. She wasn't altogether satisfied with his response to the fact that Chi-Chi had stolen his car. She'd joyously awoken her obviously exhausted dad to declare the great news that he can finally get rid of Chi-Chi and move on with his life. It wasn't too late into his association with that woman for a sudden split to not set her dad back too much. They were at the precipice, however, of their relationship carrying on too long for her dad to properly tolerate breaking up. Judging from how unworried and unstressed he was despite all the obvious signs that he should move on, he was going to actively try to maintain his relationship with her—and that drove Aster crazy. It was as if he wanted to end up back in the psyche ward nonresponsive. It was as if he wanted her to suffer. That therapist of his was probably giving him false hope again and telling him to take more and more chances.
At the very least, she could take heart in the fact that his threats to Jensen were just bluffs. Of course they were! Though in the moment, when Jensen was the most shaken she'd ever seen him before and despite the fact that she kept reassuring him that her dad would never intentionally hurt someone, in the back of her mind she wondered if there actually was cause for alarm. Jensen was so good at reading people that she trusted his opinion more than anyone else. He'd also been right about her dad on one point—he was willing to go out of his way to protect her. He'd never directly expressed such sentiments to her, but today she'd heard him confirm what Jensen already knew. How could she be so blind to it? In the same way that she would protect him, he would protect her. Now she wondered just how much he'd helped her without drawing attention to the fact that he was. She'd been bullied quite a bit in school, but once she came to her dad about it, the bullying seemed to have come to a disconcerting stop. The main instigators eventually disappeared from her orbit—some simply ignoring her, some conveniently moving away. Surely her dad didn't have anything to do with that? Surely. Any complaint that she had, come to think of it, would eventually and abruptly be something she would no longer complain about later on. Was that her dad's doing or was she looking too far into things?
Aster eventually walked back into the kitchen to salvage all the food she'd made. She supposed it would be a good idea to follow her father's advice. Besides, he still had to let Jensen know that he was fine and her dad was just being overprotective. It wasn't a word she would usually use to describe her dad, but it seemed to fit in this case. She pulled out her cell phone and quickly told her concerned friend that the coast was clear and breakfast was waiting for him—that was enough to grab his attention.
Per usual whenever she called him, he was at her door knocking within a few minutes as if he was always a few moments away. She knew it was really because he could fly and get to places quickly. He'd flown her to enough places now for her initial surprise to have long subsided.
"See? I told you my dad wasn't that crazy," Aster said upon opening the door.
"Speak for yourself. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not do anymore mental tricks on him—for my health," he said as he closed the door and stepped further in.
"Aaaah, so you can't do anything about Chi-Chi?"
"No—and that's the end of it. Just leave it alone. I personally don't see any issues other than you being weird about your dad seeing people."
"I resent that!"
He was already making his way into the kitchen likely following the smell of hot food. She hadn't known it until now, but she liked the idea of Jensen partaking in food that she'd made herself. It was her creation and he was appreciating it. He knew where the plates were and made one for herself. And she made one too since she hadn't actually had the time to eat with her father rushing out the house so abruptly. She hadn't done her hair up yet, so her long, thick violet locks still reached down past her shoulder blades. She almost always wore her hair in pigtails with split bangs in the front or no bangs at all if she really wanted to get her hair out of the way. Like her father had complained about his own hair in the past, it took quite some time for her to dry her hair whenever she washed it. She wondered if it was time for her to get a trim. Now it was just her hair clogging up the drains these days.
"I wanna' go to the arcade," Aster said after demolishing a good portion of her plate.
"Sounds like a plan—although you're dreaming if you think you can beat me at DDR," he said with a grin.
Anytime they went to the arcade in the mall, they would inevitably end up at that particular retro-game and hog it for hours. Aster only wished they'd update the music because they'd been through the playlist a few times over by now. Jensen was so light on his feet that she knew it was impossible to actually beat him at that game. She'd been the one to introduce him to it. On that day, it was the first and only time she won against him. After he caught his stride on the next try, her eternal losing streak began. He'd only improved since then. Though she'd watched plenty of bigshot fanatics of the game play on the weekends impressing the onlookers, their movements were robotic compared to Jensen's natural smoothness. She'd always want him to show off when there was a crowd, but he wasn't into having people gawking at his display and would make a hasty escape if he noticed too many watching. It was just as well. Maybe all that attention wasn't what it was cracked up to be.
Aster watched him carefully and methodically make his way through his food not dissimilar to the way her father would deal with a plate full of food. Once upon a time, she thought only someone as odd as her father would do such a thing. She found herself breaking into a smile despite herself which only received a raised eyebrow from him.
"Nevermind," she said dismissively. "I'm gonna' go and get ready, alright?"
"'Kay," he replied though still with some confusion on his face—he just as quickly returned to his food.
With the prospects of vigorous activities on the horizon, she decided against the bangs today. She washed herself thoroughly, brushing her teeth into oblivion. Perhaps she was feeling a bit giddier today. It would just be her hanging out with Jensen as usual, but today felt special. Maybe it was because today would be the day she'd finally steal a kiss from him—something they'd been avoiding for quite some time. They were just friends after all. Friends who knew quite a bit about each other. Friends who found the most comfort hanging out with each other than anyone else.
By the time she made it back out to the front, he was just finishing his plate. He might have gone for seconds. He smiled briefly when she returned and she did the same. She wore jean capris and a blue striped camisole.
"So, how was it back at home?" Aster asked sitting back at the dining room table. She supposed it wasn't the best thing to bring up, but Jensen had no one else to talk to about things like that and she suspected that he got some relief from opening up to her.
"I was there for a little while just to make sure the kids were safe."
Aster couldn't help but smile at the way he referred to them as kids in the same way an adult would.
"What?" he said noticing her change of expression.
She decided she wouldn't keep him in the dark this time. " 'the kids'?"
"Yeah, the kids or babies. I wanted to make sure Bra wasn't up to her shenanigans again. I'm always thinking about them. I can't believe they're actually fine having her around them. They're totally defenseless."
"It's not just Bra watching them," Aster reminded him.
"Bra in close vicinity to them is enough. I bet we could do a better job raising them."
"Us?" she said laughing. "I can't imagine being a Mom." But the idea of Jensen being at her side...Not to mention how obvious it was that he adored Machi. He knew quite a bit about taking care of them and sometimes even be in charge of watching them for days at a time when no one else was available.
"I can," Jensen said at once. "We could have some capsule house in the middle of nowhere with two rowdy children around—a real family without having to deal with obnoxious people all the time."
"Jensen! Where is all this coming from?" she said a bit too loudly and she was now reddening picturing all this with a guy she had yet to kiss. "Aren't we just...aren't we just..."
"Oh, sorry," he said looking away somewhat embarrassed, "Sometimes I get ahead of myself. The point is, we could do a better job, right?"
"I-I guess. But, I'm sure there'll be fine. We're not going to actually kidnap your own half-brother and sister in the middle of the night."
"You've asked me to do crazier things for worse reasons."
"Well, you agreed to it," she reminded him haughtily.
"Getting me to trick the bank teller into giving us a thousand dollars—"
"Shut-up."
"Or getting that pyro guy to set off some fireworks for us at the lake—"
"Shut-up!"
"It's okay," he said in calming tones, "I enjoyed myself. I'm not trying to make you feel guilty. I agreed to it, like you said. I'm just saying, whisking away kids who could be in mortal danger, isn't the worst thing we've done."
"You're really thinking about doing it, aren't you?" Aster said only lukewarm about the whole thing.
"If I had a death wish. Grandpa would kill me. Instantly."
"Well then...let's just scrap the whole plan."
"Yeah, I know, but I can't help thinking about it. Anyways, I couldn't stay the whole time. Bra was there and she was constantly trying to talk to me. I just couldn't do it. Maybe that makes me a terrible person, but I couldn't. Every time I look at her..." His eyebrows furrowed at the thought. She could tell that he was passionately angry at her. Spending anytime near her made it worse. Bra exiling herself had been the perfect situation for them—now he could barely contain himself whenever he went home. "I just flew around trying to clear my head. I slept somewhere outside faraway—"
"Jensen, you could have just stayed here."
"I didn't want to be a bother. It was really late."
"You're never a bother, okay? I thought you knew. My place is fully open to you. You can come whenever you want."
"Hm, your father really okay with that?"
"If he's not I'll make him see my way. He's fine with you though. I told you."
"Right. Guess I'll just have to take your word."
"It's fine. Trust me."
Jensen had finished his food, but they sat for a little while in silence. Clearly, he was deep in thought since he hadn't responded immediately. Aster believed she knew what was going through his mind. "What would you do to her," she asked quietly. Aster was sure he knew which 'her' she was referring to. "If you didn't have to worry about consequences, if you could put your morals aside for just a few moments, what would you do without even thinking about it?"
He looked at her surprised, but then he considered his response. "I would kill her the same way she did Dad, painfully and slowly, toying with her emotions all the while until she eventually lost grasp on her own sanity and I would give her something to ease the pain. I would give her too much of it. I would hide her body letting it rot just a little and then leave it where her loved ones would eventually find her disfigured and beyond help and let them suffer not knowing why she ended up that way, ever wondering if they could have done more to save her."
Aster listened as his tone became darker and darker. It was better that he said those things out loud rather than keeping them to himself to fester and grow. Besides, she liked this side of him as well reckless and brutal hidden behind all his manners and effeminate tendencies. "Wouldn't it be nice to make them actually understand why you hate her so much in a way they couldn't possibly ignore?"
"And she'd finally be out of the equation as well. Two birds with one stone."
"Even better," she agreed.
But then his expression became weary. "I'm sorry," he said letting a hand run down his face, "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry...I really shouldn't have said that—"
"It's fine," she said gently as she climbed out of her chair. She made her way over to him. "It's fine."
She wrapped her arms around him and he reciprocated, turned now in the seat. He always smelled of lilacs—a soft and sweet fragrance she simply couldn't get enough of...so she held him tighter. It was he who pulled away first.
"C'mon," he began, his dark eyes kind and pensive, "let's go before we spend all day doing this."
Aster giggled. " 'Kay. Are we flying there?"
"We're flying there," he confirmed.
Time flew by while they were at the arcade. Jensen could tell that Aster had the most fun here, completely in her element. She knew more about video games and the arcade than he could ever hope to learn and she often easily destroyed him at most of the machines available—though, at the very least, he had her at the basketball shooting. Her aiming was atrocious. When it came to aiming a gun at a screen however, she was a professional. They went around to every activity imaginable at the arcade and then went back around multiple times—he was glad school wasn't in session. Spending more time with Aster was always a pleasure. To hear her laugh raucously at his clumsy jokes or giggle when she was trying to be cute, to feel utterly accepted by her, or to feel her warm touch whenever she felt like grabbing his arm or shoulder or demanding a hug...that was the best way to spend his time. It was the only way he wanted to spend his time. Doubly so in the absence of his father in which his thoughts would always turn back to. She wasn't annoyed when he brought him up too much or that his moods would switch rapidly between depressed and happy. She wasn't annoyed when he would saddle her with his crazy thoughts as if she was his own personal diary. She seemed to welcome them.
Though they'd talked about DDR earlier, by the time they got around to it near the end of their visit, there were already people there—college-aged youths hogging the console and actually playing it quite well.
"You wanna' show them up?" Aster asked.
"Not really," he said wearily, "Think I've had enough games for one day."
"Knew you'd say that. And there's no such thing as too much games!"
"Haven't you had your fill of kicking my butt already for one day?"
"I mean, no, but I guess I could use some fresh air."
Sometimes it could be difficult getting her to leave her most favorite place. Not that he couldn't also do another round of the newest Street Fighter, but doing the same thing for too long in one sitting wasn't exactly appealing. Besides, he could already feel his mood darkening. He needed a change of scenery. Maybe she could sense this because she didn't give him as much of a hard time as usual. They had to walk by quite a few crowds of people to make it outside again and he made his way to an area near the dumpster where it was quieter. He took a deep breath as his eyes looked up to the darkening skies. When he glanced over at her, he noticed she wore a strange expression—it wasn't quite pensive but something else similar. She grinned and shook her head when she saw him looking.
"Is this really okay—what we're doing?" Jensen asked after a while.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean age-wise. Is this really okay?"
"You wait until now to ask that? You told me you don't have an age. And from where I stand, I'm inclined to believe you."
"Well, at first I was told to lie about it so people wouldn't think I'm weird."
"Yeah, you told me about that."
"I go to school, but I don't feel like I fit in. Not in some edgy, everyone else is stupid kind of way. But the way that the other kids think. I feel out of place. Like some high school student who failed over and over, forced to then take remedial classes with kids way younger. It's not that I have to dumb down how I speak, but I have to think in a different way...a less complex way to seem more childlike in their presence. Otherwise, it gets a little awkward."
"I remember doing the same thing. Well, when I was bored and knew I could pass as a child between middle and high school, I just attended to have some fun and see if anything had changed. It hadn't. Different lingo perhaps, but it hadn't changed. I didn't even stay the whole time. Well, officially, I attended because my therapist thought it was the best treatment for me at the time. It was a weird time. The point being, kids really do think differently from adults—they're in a different stage of development. I've never felt that way with you before."
"At least I'm not the only one thinking that. I've never felt that way around you as well."
"It's your eyes."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
She expounded. "I can tell you have a deep understanding of people and why they are the way they are. I guess it helps that you can read people's mind whenever you want. Still, I really value your judgement when it comes to others."
"I've experienced many people's lives before—their revelations, their information in all its totality. Sometimes I feel like I've already lived a lifetime, but everyone tells me there's still much more to learn. Who knows? Only time would tell."
Aster had moved to stand in front of him as he spoke and she gazed at him intently. Maybe too intently especially as she stepped a few inches closer to him—he could practically feel her breathing. In that moment, he knew what she wanted from him but he chickened out at the last moment. He turned to look elsewhere pretending to be more interested in the sky and stepped away so that he could have a better view. It would have been so easy to simply go the rest of the way, accept her invitation, but something stopped him.
"Let's walk," Aster suggested cheerfully from behind him.
"Sure, okay," Jensen replied weary by her seemingly unaffected mood.
Aster chose a particular direction that would be leading them further behind the main entrance of the mall. They used the sidewalks that wrapped around the colossal building next to the extensive parking lots. For a while there was little discussion between the two other than Aster wondering about the time, but then answering it on her own as she glanced at her cellphone. It was a leisurely pace with neither wanting to move any faster.
There was a little trail they'd found some time ago that led to a manmade pond that could be seen on the interstate. It was a quiet place that Jensen had yet to see much traffic in likely because it was so far away from where a car could park and because most people driving to a mall want to shop rather than sit around on a bench in a wooded area. The pond could be seen right under the overpass. The sound of swooshing cars and the smell of hot cement permeated the air. It was perfect.
"I was thinking about going through with the full treatment," Aster said finally breaking the silence.
"To reverse the mutation?"
She nodded slowly, "So that I won't look like a child anymore. So I can finally go through puberty and all the stuff girls are supposed to go through to become a woman."
"That's a big decision," he said watching her carefully. "You told me you never wanted to do it because you were afraid it wouldn't turn out well for you."
"I did. I've read all the horror stories. All the irreversible deformities that could occur, the risk of a complete organ shut-down—all those things. But I thought about it a lot and I want to do it now."
"Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Because..." she began slowly and then stopped in her tracks causing him to do so as well, "I want to grow up with you. I want to age and grow right alongside you. I don't want to be left in this child body while you continue to grow up. I mean, what kind of relationship would that be? That would be too weird even for us."
"It's already plenty weird now and to be honest, I don't really know how or when I would develop."
"I don't care. I just want to make this work and I never thought I'd say that to anybody, but here I am."
They were once again standing before one another. He could see her gaze deepening now, her face pulling closer to his. He wasn't altogether sure if this was right or wrong, but in that moment, he could no longer resist kissing her. He'd never kissed anyone before like this, but he caught on quickly to how it worked. With eyes closed, he felt her lips pressed against his and he followed her movements, tasting her in an unhurried fashion, strange and salty, foreign and beautiful.
"Hey," Aster said huskily as she pulled away. "Race you to the pond."
"Wha—"
He could scarcely reply before he was running after her down the dirt path. She'd gotten a head start so it was difficult to keep up, not to mention that he'd probably just let her win this time. As the clearing came into view, a flock of idling pigeons squawked in the distance. Their eventual intrusion of stomping feet caused many of them to take flight. She laughed at their antics reaching the shoreline, but it was cut short by two riled older women who'd likely been feeding the pigeons. Jensen didn't notice them until that moment.
"Damn kids! Look what you did! Where are your parents?" one of them yelled standing up angrily.
Aster gasped at their outburst. By then, Jensen had made it to her and stood now in front of her between her and the approaching old women. He immediately sensed that there was something wrong with the situation.
"We're really sorry," Jensen began, "I'm sure they'll come back soon if you leave more food."
"That's not the point," the woman snapped.
"C'mon, Jensen, let's go," she said tugging at his arm now.
"You kids—always going around, disturbing the peace without a care in the world," the other women began spewing, "Someone oughta' teach ya a lesson."
"That's right—I will not take this level of disrespect from anyone!" Her voice had become raspier and more threatening.
A piece of metal glinted in the dying light of the sun and that was when Jensen grabbed Aster's hand and started running for his life. From behind, two shots rang out from the gun, but they'd missed they're targets it seemed.
"What the hell? What's wrong with them?" Aster shouted.
"I don't know," he shouted back.
It was then, that he decided that it would be a good idea to take flight, but their paths became blocked by three men in suits. Jensen didn't have a good feeling about any of this. He grabbed Aster close and shot up into the air. Suddenly, his vision was blocked by a mess of rope and he felt his body being dragged down from the air.
"Take 'em both."
"Hey, who's those crazy women over there?"
"Kill all the witnesses."
More shots rang out, but the sound was closer and Jensen could tell it was from a much bigger gun. He unleashed his ki now to break out of the ropes careful not to hurt Aster in the process who was grasping tightly onto him now. In the next second, he felt a powerful force knock him to the ground again—a shot had rang out and the backlash caught him by surprise. Still partially entrapped, he once again went to work untangling himself until he felt something warm and wet on his side.
"Aster?"
She wasn't moving, she wasn't reacting.
"Aster!"
"Grab the boy."
Hands were grappling onto his shoulders dragging him away, but he struggled in their grasp somewhat though his heart wasn't in it. He was too much in shock as his eyes became laser focused on her unmoving form. Is she...? He didn't have time to process his thoughts before he was knocked out with a blunt object.
Auden grimaced as he stepped out of the building that day. He was a few hours overtime and the sun was beginning to set. His soreness hadn't gone anywhere as he'd been inundated with errands taking him to several floors that day. He'd had to reschedule other appointments for next week that occurred outside the workplace unwilling to call a ride for each instance. He wasn't nearly as efficient and it was clear his coworkers had noticed much to his to chagrin—he'd forgotten just how observant they could be. More than once, they'd suggested he go home and rest. He'd refused politely, but Auden wondered if he should have done just that. Besides, despite all the busy work he had to tend to, his mind kept returning to Chi-Chi. He had so little information about the situation that it was difficult to stop his mind from wondering and dwelling. He'd already come up with a million and one scenarios as to why she'd probably ran out and left him in utter disgust, too horrified to tell him this to his face. It would have been uncharacteristic of her, but it was much more difficult for him to come up with charitable explanations. It was difficult to even picture someone who would spend more than a day with him of their own volition without some ulterior motive. It was difficult to see why someone wouldn't simply decide to take advantage given how terrible his company was along with all that other baggage. Maybe she'd simply had enough.
He was perusing his phone now, navigating to the app that would let him know where his car was located. He'd been dreading this moment, procrastinating to the point that he decided he'd wait until after work to check, else his mind be wrapped up in its findings all day further distracting him. He knew immediately as soon as the information was revealed, that the car was back at her place. Her running away could still be a possibility along with plenty of other ones. The car had sat there for most of the day apparently. She'd driven from his apartment to her place in the dead of night rather recklessly at speeds he wouldn't even attempt. Once she reached her destination, the car had remained still. At the very least, he knew where to go next.
Instead of going home, he would follow the trail and get to the bottom of this. No matter what he found out, he was willing to face them. He would keep an open mind and wait for details before making any decisions. Michelle from the ridesharing service picked him up this time and he climbed gingerly into the back of the car.
"Oh, you can sit in the front if you want, I don't mind," the woman welcomed with a smile.
He'd already sat down and he didn't want to go through the painful process of standing up again so soon. "I'll be fine back here. This is a bit of a drive though, do you mind?"
He knew from experience that some drivers disliked trips over an hour and they couldn't see the trip until they'd actually started it. Auden knew that for the most part, these drivers got the shorter end of the stick and was deeply exploited by the company—he cut them a lot slack and left them generous tips.
"It's fine, I love long drives better than the short ones."
"Well, that's perfect."
He closed the door and she took off slightly faster than he anticipated. It was just as well. They had a long way to go. The backseat was spacious enough for him to stretch his legs. He made himself as comfortable as possible resisting the urge to just lay down on the rest of the seat beside him. Imagining doing this drive on his own right after work seemed like torture. He yawned despite himself covering his mouth politely as he did so. Michelle had on some old bluegrass tunes though it was turned down very low.
"Long day at work, huh." Her voice had a subtle hoarseness to it, something his ears found quite pleasing.
"Longer than usual," he admitted, "And somehow I barely got anything done."
"Sounds like one of those days then."
"I'd say so." He took out his phone in his usual habit. Though it probably wasn't the best idea to continue staring at bright screens right after spending most of the day doing this, it was difficult to resist temptation. "How about you? Planning to stay out much longer?"
"After you, I think I'll call it quits for today. I started out at the crack of dawn trying to get all the early birds to work or to get breakfast."
"Was it busy?"
"Somewhat. I can never tell the best place I should be. Some days are better than others. I remember I had one trip that took me way out of town and I met my quota for the day as far as money. Easiest day I've ever had. Then after the afternoon rush, it slows down a lot. If I'm in the right area..."
His eyelids were quite heavy as he attempted to follow along with whatever she was saying. Drivers loved talking about the intricacies of their job, but he'd heard similar spiels before. Even the words on the screen weren't making much sense anymore and it was giving him a headache the more he tried to focus. Finally, he set his phone on the seat and leaned his head back against the headrest. He thought he would rest his eyes for a while, but her chatty tones lulled him into sleep before he knew it.
He was drawn out of his exhaustion by Michelle as she called out his name.
"Hm—Yes?" he answered wearily.
"We're here," she said happily.
"What?" he said as he slowly became aware of the surroundings.
This was indeed Chi-Chi's place just outside the car. Time had flown by so fast!
"You weren't kidding when you said it was a long day for ya," she said with a laugh, "I was talking to myself for a while."
"Oh, sorry about that," he said out of courtesy though he wasn't exactly stoked about being jolted out of a perfectly restful nap even if hours had already gone by. He then proceeded to climbing out of the car slowly as his strained muscles screamed at him for sitting still for too long. "Have a good evening," he managed to say before closing the door behind him.
His first few steps were pitiful and small but soon he caught his stride. He spotted his car immediately, safe and sound in the driveway. One other sporty car sat in front of it near the closed garage door.
None of it made sense. Why was she here? And why had she been here the whole day without bothering to tell him at any point? What were the chances that this didn't turn out badly for him? Focus...The three steps onto the porch gave him a harder time than anticipated but he shrugged it off. Everyone always talked about how beneficial physical exertion was, but no one talked about the residual pain one would be in if their bodies weren't used to the new activity. He just wanted to relax somewhere soft and warm, but he'd be anxious until he got this entire thing sorted out.
With a sigh, he knocked on the door hoping Chi-Chi would open the door, avoiding a confrontation with...
"Auden?" Gohan said cautiously opening the door. "What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting anyone today."
"I wanted to speak with Chi-Chi," Auden replied neutrally.
"Oh, I'm sorry—now isn't a good time."
"Is there something wrong?"
"It's better that I keep her isolated right now."
Auden waited for him to expound, but he never did. "Might I ask why that's the case? She seemed fine yesterday."
"Trust me, Auden, it isn't a good time to be meeting face to face with her." He stood now with crossed arms. "Perhaps somewhere further down the line she can start receiving visitors."
"Is she sick?" Auden said steadily. None of this was sounding good and the more evasive Gohan was the more anxious he became. It made him want to see Chi-Chi again all the more.
"Like I said—not a good time."
Auden looked at him with a frown knowing that he had not come all this way just to be stonewalled at the door. He was currently trying to think of some polite way of telling him to get out of his way and that he was starting to piss him off. "I'm sure you could understand my concern right now—
"I think it would be best if you simply leave, if I haven't already made that abundantly clear."
"You know I can't do that," he replied stubbornly. It seemed like an obvious position in his head, but the moment he'd uttered the words, he wondered if that was so obvious to Gohan.
"I know?" Gohan said with a raised eyebrow. "The only thing I know is that my mom decided to randomly live at some strange man's house for the past few days. She doesn't do things like that, but for a brief moment she came back to her senses and decided to come back home."
"It seemed like she wanted to take a break from her usual humdrum routine," Auden offered. "Nothing strange about that."
"Without saying anything to her family?"
"I have no idea why that was the case."
"You two were just 'hanging out' the same way you were just 'hanging out' with my daughter?"
On the surface, perhaps it did look a bit weird and Auden wasn't exactly sure how to make it less so. "It was different," he said after a moment.
This clearly didn't satisfy Gohan in the least. "A man of your age and stature remaining unmarried at this late stage is concerning, but I let that slide before because I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt. But what my mom did was completely out of character for her. I couldn't contact her and she deliberately made it so I couldn't. I decided that I would check into your background to make sure you were as 'harmless' as you were making yourself out to be."
Auden had no idea where this was going, but he was hoping there was still a chance he could convince him to let him enter—he wasn't sure what he would do if he couldn't see Chi-Chi...
"I really couldn't find anything about you. Other than the fact that you claimed to work at CC, I still know next to nothing. No social media, no presence at all on the internet. For someone like you who's so proficient with computers who likely spends a lot of time on them, it was strange. Clearly, you've deliberately hidden or classified or even deleted any personal information pertaining to you as if you don't exist at all."
"I haven't deleted anything—it's just a bit more difficult to find information about me. I think it's a good idea to keep such personal data away from prying eyes, don't you think? People's identities get stolen every day. If there's something you'd like to know about me, you can just ask. You'll just have to trust that I'm telling the truth."
"I understand wanting privacy, but it seems to have been taken to the extreme. Like for instance, I don't even know where you were born—there's no records even of that."
"In West Capital—I went to the same high school as Bulma. I then pursued a degree in Computer Science. Later on, Bulma hired me in her company and I've worked there for many years now just like you. Nothing mysterious there."
"I imagine you've glossed over a lot details, but I suppose it isn't my place to grill you on every single thing." Gohan looked at him a while longer and then sighed. "You really want to see her, don't you?"
"Please."
He seemed to be debating with himself and Auden had to continue battling to stay completely calm—he wasn't sure if he was entirely convincing in that department. "Fine, I'll let you see her for a few minutes—she's asleep though and she's had an ongoing fever."
"Thank you. I had no idea things were so bad."
Gohan gestured for him to follow and Auden did so without hesitation. They moved slowly down the halls. "You remember what I told you about what I was studying in my lab, right?"
"The secret pandemic that has already affected the entire populace—yeah, I remember. I wish that I didn't."
"I recently found some concerning results in my tests so I decided it would be a good idea to take a blood sample from her. That permanent mutation I was telling you about—it begins to affect other things in the body like behavior and strength in more obvious ways after a certain amount of incubation. I can't pin down what that incubation period is as it seems to vary from subject to subject, but for Mom it has begun affecting her just like it has in other subjects so far—it starts with an innocuous headache that worsens over time which can sometimes trigger a fever and then..."
Auden grew cold when he didn't continue. "And then?"
"A change in behavior," he said in quiet tones.
"Something tells me that you're glossing over the details a bit."
"I'll let you see her for a few moments. It's best that we all begin to isolate ourselves from those exhibiting symptoms. Not that it's contagious—it's too late for that sort of thing. It's simply safer."
Auden wasn't sure how radical this change he was talking about would be. Perhaps having Gohan nearby was a good thing. They finally arrived at a closed door that was likely her first floor bedroom—at least she didn't have to climb stairs all the time. Gohan opened the door cautiously and peeked in. Satisfied, he opened it wider for Auden.
The temperature was quite a bit cooler in the room and a fan was running as well near the head of her queen-sized bed. She laid atop the covers fully clothed in her nightgown. Her face was flushed and she looked uncomfortable even with her eyes being closed. It was a lot to take in. It made him sick to his stomach. There was likely nothing he could do to ease her suffering. He approached the bed, but remained a few inches away.
"Auden?"
It took him a moment to realize that it had come from her—she'd uttered his name so quietly the he almost missed it. Perhaps she was simply talking in her sleep.
"You're here, aren't you?"
This time she spoke a bit louder and slowly she opened her eyes trying to seek him out.
"Yeah, that's right, it's me. I was worried about you—
"I'm sorry."
"Please, you don't need to apologize."
She decided to start sitting up and this was when he heard more footsteps from behind—Gohan moving in a bit closer as if in caution. Auden glanced in his direction but he didn't know what to make of his expression. At the very least, he wasn't telling him to leave yet.
She wore an amused grin. "I'm the one who stole your car because I was scared, you know."
"Maybe I said too much last night—
"No," she said shaking her head slowly. "I was too afraid to say it back, but I love you too. Auden, I love you—that's what I meant to say."
On some random day of the week that hadn't been all that special and while he was tired and sore all over, she had confessed to him. It was a thing he hadn't expected in a million years and he didn't have anything in mind to say back other than to stand there like an utter fool, speechless. It felt like they were the only two people in the room, nevermind if somewhere far in the back of his mind he acknowledged Gohan's presence. He stepped a little closer to her.
"Chi-Chi..." His heart was about to burst out of his chest.
She held a quieting hand up to stop whatever garbled response he could muster at the moment. "You make me feel young again," she started assuredly. Her ebony eyes drew him in effortlessly. "You make me feel like I can do anything. I know that I have you wrapped around my finger and I've never had that before with anyone. I know that I can make you do anything I ask. I know that I can fully take advantage of your kindness and endless patience."
He probably should have been alarmed, but he wasn't because he loved her and against all odds, she had reciprocated. She could have said anything and it likely would not have bothered him in the least. "Is there something you want right now?" he asked completely in a daze at this point. It was something he would say to anyone he cared about who was under the weather and couldn't do too much on their own—it was also full of double meaning.
She moved to the side of the bed and placed her feet on the ground. "I want you to fight me."
"What?"
He didn't have time to react before she lunged at him with surprising speed pummeling him onto the ground. He felt compelled to defend himself after two hefty punches to his gut. He tried to grapple her off of him, but she was too strong and relentless.
"Ugh! Fight me! Show me that glorious power of yours that you keep hidden away. Show me!"
He didn't manage to say anything back aside from a few panicked grunts as all his focus was on trying to push her off. The more he wrestled her, the more incited she became. Then suddenly she disappeared from his view as she was thrown to the ground. It was Gohan successfully tackling her to the ground, but something about his presence didn't sit well with him—he didn't like how he was handling her or how she was screaming hysterically.
"Get off of her!" he cried out barreling into Gohan to move him out the way.
And just like that the fight began as she quickly leaped to her feet and dished several hits out on him—she moved too fast for retaliation and he could feel his own ki itching to burst free in all the excitement. As another fist connected with his body, he felt his ki ripping out of him and it burned sweetly now through his veins. He cried out as a torrent of emotions washed over him. He could hear Chi-Chi's encouraging cries along with him—she too unleashed her ki and for a few moments, they both fought in earnest.
Even so, it was clear who had the advantage as he found himself getting pummeled over and over again and eventually thrown through several walls of the house only to end up in the backyard. At least there was more space there. He climbed back to his feet, eyes alight with excitement seeking her out. For reasons he couldn't verbalize he felt an incoming fist approaching from behind and he easily evaded it. He whipped around and landed a fist directly in her side—this only increased her intensity. Soon they were trading blows. Though Auden faltered and shouted at every painfully connected blow, despite the tears in his eyes, he still felt exhilaration from his own fiery ki that longed to be used to its fullest.
When he couldn't bear to take another hit and he felt his consciousness waning, a ki blast originating from an unknown source knocked him out completely before he could register what was happening.