Chuuya woke up the next morning refreshed.

He felt great.

He woke up, got dressed— being careful of his bandages— and grabbed his skateboard and headed towards the front door.

"You need a ride?!"

Paul had yelled from the kitchen, to the living room.

"Nah, I'm good! Thanks!" Chuuya yelled, slamming the front door and skating down his driveway, and to his school.

It takes a good 15 minutes every morning, but it's refreshing—to skate to school each morning. He likes it. It wakes him up and helps him with his skate skills.

"What the hell is this?"

Chuuya had yelled, brows furrowed as he marched towards a whole ass cotton candy machine in the school's cafeteria.

No, not just any cotton candy machine.

It wasn't his machine.

It was completely different.

And it may sound silly, for him to get pissed at such a thing. For his "cotton candy machine" to suddenly disappear.

But— do you honestly know how long his group had taken to work on that piece of absolute garbage?

It was so bad, but that's what made it so good. It's the fact that they aren't rich, that they had visited a scrap yard and built a whole ass working machine from scratch by utilizing things that were thrown away.

They decontaminated it, cleaned it, refreshened it, and made a whole ass machine with all those scrap parts.

And now it's gone; so yes, he's going to be mad. Really, really mad.

What used to be his little, scrappy and wired-lined machine was now replaced with a big, huge machine. A bigger, and "better" machine. A cotton candy machine.

It was a stand, basically. A tent roof hovered over a clean metal counter shining under the fluorescent café lights, and even the front of the machine was decorated. Spray painted with pastel colors: pink, blue, white, and green. "Come enjoy some candy floss!" It said. "Enough for the whole flock!" With a picture of some sort of stupid-looking chicken bird mixed with a person holding a Cotton candy stick, flashing a big beaky grin.

The entire thing made Chuuya so mad.

He kicked it, light denting the front of the machine.

"What the hell is this piece of shit doing here? My machine is gone!"

He looked back to Shirase and Yuan, who both looked just as confused as he was. They both shrugged, just as confused.

He growled, lifting his fist up getting ready to punch the hell outta the metal—

—until he couldn't.

A hand had caught his fist. Somebody was holding his wrist. Quickly, he darted his head in the direction of the hand and he made eye contact with big, dark, blackish-brown ones.

"Who the hell are you?" Chuuya instantly said, pulling his wrist down and using his other to punch the boy's stomach.

"Agh!—" The brunette yelled in pain, quickly letting go and holding his stomach with both of his... bandaged arms. Chuuya was staring for a moment, distracted by the familiar sight of bandages until Yuan ran up to his side and grabbed his shoulder.

"Is everything okay?!" She asked, confused. "I heard ruckus from the table and ran over. I know the machine isn't here but I'm sure we'll find it, Chuuya-kun."

Snapping out of his daze, he blinked his eyes. "Yeah, everything's cool. This twink just grabbed my wrist, thinking he could stop me from beating this disgusting ass machine."

"Thanks for the cute nickname, twinkerbell."

Suddenly, Chuuya's eyes darted down to the teenage boy smirking up to him— challenging him as if they were in a 1400's duel.

"The fuck, dude?" He instantly replied, stomping up to him and grabbing him by the collar, pulling him close and twisting the shirt.

Yuan immediately came to his side. "Chuuya, let go. If one of the teachers come in and see you like this, you're out of here."

Chuuya heard Yuan's words, but seeing the douchy brunette across from him smile even more cockily from those words stirred up anger in his heart. It made Yuan's words bounce right off his ears.

"Listen, kid." Chuuya grunted. "You mess with me? With my gang? You're dead." The last two words were piercingly true; he made sure of it as well. Made sure the message got over to the other's stupid brain, if he even had one.

"I was counting on it."

Chuuya dropped the kid on the floor, the guy's head hitting the concrete quite hard, he was surprised there wasn't a fracture or blood. The kid laughed when it happened, and then adjusted the bandages on his neck—whilst still laying on the floor. Chuuya took a step back, still examining the kid on the floor.

"Where's my machine?"

"It's gone." The guy said, and his voice was light. Lighter than Chuuya's. It was surprising, because the voice didn't fit his look. He was tall, lanky, messy, and skinny. You'd expect it to be rougher, shakier. But it was sort of more like honey, a smooth and manipulative syrup.

"What do you mean gone?"

It cannot be gone.

It can't.

"I mixed it with my own to make a better one. Look, it's beautiful, no?"

A sense of rage rushed through Chuuya's body, filling his toes, legs, ears, his entire head.

"You did what?"

"I took it apart, and I put it back together." The kid cough, and wiped his mouth. He continued to stand up and crack his back and cockily and then make his way to the machine.

Chuuya gave him a darting look the entire time, which would normally scare anybody in the school. But no— not this kid. This kid just kept walking, his body limp like a ballet dancer with every move he made. Comfortable and fluent. Annoying.

"See? This is your metal bowl." He pointed to the metal bowl Chuuya has found next to the abandoned school bus. It was from the culinary school's scrap yard, for cooking. It had been the perfect part for the machine. He was so happy finding it. But now, he was pissed. "And this—over here. This is the box. And," he then opened a tiny door on the stand, opening the metal box and showcasing a huge box full of wiring, cords, and fragments everywhere.

The engineering wasn't actually all that amazing. It was just as educated as Chuuya's had been. The kid was just covering it with a pretty metal covering. Using a mask to cover such an ugly inside.

The wiring and stuff was mostly seeming to be Chuuya's work. The kid seems to have mostly just fix the machine based on "design" circumstances.

"You're an absolute asshole." Chuuya sighed, facepalming his head. "What the hell am I supposed to tell my teacher now?! I'm not gonna fucking lie to them?!"

"You could just tell them the truth."

"No."

"Okay."

"And you know..." Chuuya looked up, putting his hands into fists at his sides so he doesn't have to take his anger out on another human any longer. "...engineering isn't about looking pretty. It's about the skill. It's about the techniques. Engineering is about making a machine that works the way you want, and gives you the exact result you need in the end, doesn't matter if it's pretty or not." He took a step forward, closer to the boy. He pointed up, using his pointer finger to apply pressure to his chest. "If you wanna make pretty designs, go to graphic design school. Or else, this ain't the place for you."

The kid nodded, pinching his lips as he examined the smaller boy. "I see..." The brunette then stepped away, leaving the machine be and nodding his head to the student. "I apologize for the inconvenience. I'll make sure it will never happen again."

Chuuya quirked a brow, side eyeing his friends and then looking to the boy. "That's it?"

"..." The kid shrugged. "Yeah?"

"Okay..." Chuuya got a weird feeling from him. A weird feeling. Almost like the boy could see through him, see his pale skin and read every inch of his soul. But also he felt like they couldn't see each other at all, like they were two strangers with blindfolds and earmuffs standing in the midst of the room.

"Well, bye then. Please don't ever speak to me ever again, or else me and my friends will beat your ass."

"Splendid." Was all the dude said, until he walked away.

Weird.

Chuuya thought, shaking his head out of his thoughts and then walking back to his table of friends.

"Who the fuck was that?" Chuuya asked his friends, pointing back to the brunette kid who just walked out the door.

"I have no idea?" Yuan said, her eyes then scanning the entire lunch room. "I know all the students who attend this place, and I have never seen that kid in my life."

Shirase pipped up. "Okay," He put his hands out, one brow up. "We all agree here, that kid was strange, right?" He looked concerned.

Chuuya couldn't help but laugh, because Shirase is kind of ridiculous. "Yes, yes he was really, really weird."

"Oh no, he was a nutcase." Yuan replied, making a crazy symbol next to her head.

They all started laughing, poking fun at the strange, lanky brunette who ruined their gorgeous project.

"What do you think his name is?" Yuan asked.

"Probably Kevin."

"That's too American."

"Dave." said Chuuya.

"Too American."

"Well, duh— he's an asshole." Chuuya said, laughing.

"You're an asshole for saying that." Shirase said, shaking his head.

"I know." The ginger shrugged, taking a bite of his unbothered school pizza.

12 years ago

"Chuuya, dear… what're you doing?"

The little boy on the floor jumped up. His body was sweating, he was naked, and there was a pillow positioned underneath his body.

"Mommy, I-I…"

"What are you doing to that pillow, child?" The woman quickly furrowed her brows, gulping as she walked forward and reached out to touch her son's forehead. Sweaty, and hot. His whole body was red, very red. Like he had been exercising, and his heart was racing. "Are you… Chuuya—honey, can you explain to me…?"

"I…I-I don't know mama…" The kid looked back down to the pillow behind him and to his mom. His eyes started to tear up, and slowly hot tears started to drip down his cheeks and mix in with the sweat on his face. "Mama, I'm sorry… y-you… you weren't supposed to find out… mommy, I'm so s—I'm so sorry—" Chuuya then started hiding his face with his arms, bawling his eyes out as tears poured out of his eyes.

Kouyou didn't waste a second to lean forward, take her child into her arms and calm him down. "Hey, it's okay, you didn't know." She then pet his back, not caring of the sweat being transferred to her skin. "Shhh, don't worry. It's okay, I won't tell anybody. It's okay, it'll be a secret. You didn't know, okay? You didn't know."

"Mama, I'm so sorry!" Chuuya cried, not really knowing what was happening. "I'm so sorry, mama—you don't love me, you don't love me—"

"Hey—"

Instantly, Kouyou snapped her child out of his daze.

"Don't ever, ever, say a day on this Earth that I don't love you. Ever, you got that?"

Chuuya kept looking at his mom, his pupils dilating and undulating; showcasing the dynamic of his inner demons and thoughts battling against one another. What does he believe? Who does he believe?

Who does he follow?

"Son, I love you more than anything this World could offer me. I love you more than this world. And that's just the truth. You got that?"

Chuuya nodded, wiping his tears.

"Hey—" Kouyou lightly flicked his chin in a silly manner, and smirked at her son. "—you got that, Chuu-bear?"

Her laugh is the most contagious disease to exist. So Chuuya of course smiled, even through the tears and the snot sticking to his face, he smiled through it all because of how beautiful and perfect his mama is.

"Yeah, I got it, mommy."

"Good." She said, taking a relaxing deep breathe. "Now, let's go get you cleaned up and eat some ice cream, yeah? We can pick a movie to watch too, that sound good?"

Chuuya smiled even bigger, forgetting how filthy he felt, how dirty his face was, his sad and humiliated he felt a few minutes ago. Now, he felt excited. Excited to spend time with his mama.

"Yeah, let's do it."

Is it normal for infants to masturbate?

Kouyou's finger was hovering over the enter key, shaking a bit.

Chuuya was now dressed, his Spider-Man pajamas on and the death scene of Gwynn Stacy was playing on the TV. They hadn't gotten much far into the movie, and the kid had already fallen asleep. Predictable.

Oh gosh, has she already failed as a mother?

She has been trying. Trying to do it right, but it seems the more she tries, the more she fails.

Paul is already getting into weed, getting a very hot temper, starting to physically hurt her and even sometimes threaten Chuuya when he gets mad. The kid's fifteen years old.

She knows it's been hard. It's been so, so hard since their dad left them. She can't help it though, once a cheater always a cheater. She had to get him out of the house if he wasn't going to ever change. It's not like he cared for the kids anyway.

And now, finding Chuuya, her five year old, masturbating on a pillow alone in a closet?

Man… she is not doing the parenting thing right, is she?

She sighed, finally letting her finger press down as she held her breathe to prepare to read the results.

"The parents should be educated that this is a normal behavior resulting from random exploration of the body by the infant. Masturbation likely is initiated when the infant discovers that certain maneuvers can bring about a pleasant and comforting sensation."

And she exhaled, thanking God that she wasn't having to make some sort of mid-night EMR trip to the children's hospital.

So if she's getting this right… he simply just… found it? Just found out on his own?

Weird.

She tried her best to be a good mom. Okay, she tries.

But, you know, sometimes these kids need to be treated like actual humans and not little brainless freaks that constantly need to be censored with everything and from everyone.

That's why she let him watch all the Spider-Man movies, okay?! They can be graphic, but she knows some girls who let their kids watch Jigsaw at 3.

Yeah. She is not that parent.

But she's also not the parent to make her child only watch teletubbies and Daniel the tiger all day long. One—that shit gets annoying, and two— okay, her child needs to learn. Learn common sense.

And the only way to do that is to bring about the dangers of the world early into their lives in an innocent way so they don't have to experience it on their own. Trust me, she knows.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, then opening them again. She looked down, spotting the tiny little redhead laying his head on her left thigh, and her laptop sat on the other.

She smiled.

God has blessed her with many gifts, but this.

This has to be the best one yet.

She closed her laptop and set it on the side table, and then put a pillow on her lap and carefully adjusted it so that her son's head was laying on the pillow and she could rest back. She reached down, lightly caressing through her son's matching bright red locks framing his cute pale face.

My little tiger.

She's always called him, she smiled even bigger. Soft eyes stared down to her son, and slowly—

—she drifted to sleep.

"We found heroin and methamphetamine in her bloodstream. She seems to have taken an IV injection of it. We found approximately 230 milligrams of drugs in her system in total, she could be dead right now."

"I understand."

"Is this the first time she's done this?"

"No… no—it's not."

"Mhm… and when was the last time?"

"About… 2 months ago? She was emitted to the hospital, and had to go through a rehabilitation program. Also served in jail for a week for carrying illegal substances… will she have to do it again?"

"The rehabilitation?"

"Go to jail."

"Yes."

"How long will she not be home?"

"I estimate she won't be back in your home for another month or so… I'm sorry, son."

"Yeah… it's— it's cool. It's chill, I'm fine." Chuuya wiped a tear that almost escaped his eye, taking a deep breath then sharply exhaling. "It's okay, I just…" He looked through the glass window, his mother had bruises covering her eyes. Bags hung low underneath, and her bones were protruding everywhere from how skinner she was. The hospital gown was so big on her, it just looked like a huge blanket. A ventilator was birthing out of her mouth, and connected to a big machine helping her breathe since she couldn't control her body.

It was the most painful sight Chuuya has ever seen in his entire life.

He couldn't ever look away.

But he also just wanted to rip it apart. Anger boiling in his chest. Too many emotions for one little heart.

"I think I'm just gonna stay here for the night."

"How old are you?"

"18."

"Anybody under the age of 21 are not allowed beyond this point. And visitors are not allowed to stay the night. I'm so sorry, son. I know this is—"

Chuuya shook his head. "Bullshit." He said. But he was too mixed inside to yell right now. His insides were mixed like some slushie, some messed up slushie. He would usually yell, but unlike usual, he didn't have the strength. The sight of his mother took it all out of him. "Just bullshit."

He shook his head again and walked away from the scene, leaving the nurse without any words to be spoken. The nurse didn't say anything, because she knew already the tension of the air. She didn't want to disturb the pain already set in.

Chuuya rode his skateboard home, and for the first time in a long time, he didn't enjoy it.