Parenting the Right Way

Unwelcome

Luffy nodded. "It'll be trial and error a bit. But you have the summer break coming up soon to have time to get a lot of practice in control." He nodded again, calming down more before he fell asleep, exhausted emotionally. Katakuri brought his poor boy to bed, sad but believing in his determination and mental strength. He had no doubt Luffy could live happily and manage - if not conquer - the issues that were to no doubt come.

-x-

"My daddy told me to stay away from you," Toma said to Luffy one day when he was on the swings. Zoro was napping against the wall. He started to get sleepy a lot and took naps in strange places. Even when he was at Luffy's house, sometimes he just went and took a nap for a couple minutes.

Luffy frowned, but said nothing. "I saw a video of you attacking a bunch of hospital workers." Luffy looked ashamed, unable to hide the reaction. "It was you, then! You're a monster!" he cried, and ran off to spread the news. Bellmere wasn't fast enough to stop him, and soon he was no longer respected by anybody in the class. They feared him.

"It was an accident! I didn't mean to!" Luffy insisted. Zoro felt his feelings and woke up, hurrying over.

"That means you can't control yourself, then!"

"It was only that one time!" He felt terrible about it. Zoro hugged him, the smaller boy facing away from the crowd of kids who hated and were scared of him. He glared at them all while Luffy cried. His emotions boiled over like they had when his home was destroyed by the floor, and the sun started to burn him, even if it wasn't noon yet.

He sprinted inside, the burns on his forehead and shoulders pretty bad. Bad enough for him to need to go to the nurses, even if they'd heal on their own eventually. Luffy was crying the whole way he was escorted to the health office. They were away from the sun inside the campus, and Luffy had bandages and burn cream put on before he had to call his papa to come get him.

Luffy was very upset on the phone over how everyone hated him, now. He felt anger through the bond while he spoke to Katakuri on the phone. At the moment, he was at the bank, so Oven said he could bring him home and stay with him until Katakuri got back. He regret being unable to pick him up himself.

The cop car was still outside. Mama hadn't shown her face, and they were considering stopping the escort, but the department had become fond of Luffy and weren't annoyed with the protection order. Smoker went there, even if he didn't interact with Luffy personally.

The helper lady brought Luffy the umbrella and his things and he went outside when Oven pulled up. He had a spare car seat with him, so Luffy was clipped inside, and when the car started, and their guard followed, Luffy started to cry. "Don't worry. You'll be in a new class soon. Those people won't know you," Oven said nicely.

Luffy said he wanted to just act normal. "You'll get there, don't worry! Things could be hard for a bit, but you'll get there. You have lots of your life to improve, right?" Luffy wanted to get better sooner. He didn't want to wait and have hard times! Oven offered to get him a smoothie, and Luffy was all for it.

So they went and got food. The back windows had screens over them so the light didn't bother Luffy. In his papa's car, the windows were all tinted dark to keep more sunlight out. They got a smoothie, and then Luffy noticed a car following them a long time. "Uncle oven, a car is following us."

"You mean the cops?"

"No, a car with a big person inside. Right there!" Luffy said, but Oven didn't see him point so he had no idea where. Then the car pulled up beside them, and Oven's eyes popped and he saw the bad woman there! But then the cop car pulled around the corner, finally catching up. The siren went on, and Luffy was scared. It was a car chase, now! And Oven had to speed up on the freeway once the bad woman's car started tailgating them. Luffy was scared when the car bumped into their bumper, moving them forward and making them swerve a bit.