The Words That Hurt Me

Fifty-Four: Disappointments

Mikey and Goo rode in silence, making their way to the meeting point. They hadn't spoken since the lair. Mikey couldn't blame them one bit. 

"You're parents want to meet up?" Leon asked, "Do they...?"

"Of course they know!" Goo snapped, "That's prolly why they want to see me!"

Goo stormed off toward the kitchen, Leon and Mikey following close behind. They threw open the fridge grabbed the first thing they saw, a container of cottage cheese, and started to eat. 

"What's going on?" 

Goo had attracted the attention of the rest of the group, them following shortly after. Goo kept devouring the cottage cheese, leaving it to Mikey and Leon to explain.

"Goo's parents want to meet up with them," Leon said, resting a hand on Goo's shoulder, "And they know,"

"That's great! It'll give Goo the chance to explain things!" Mike exclaimed, "And then we can have them over for dinner!"

"I don't think it's gonna be that simple, Mike," Raphie said, "Tiger-Claw convinced them that we're the bad guys! And Goo wasn't a Yokai before,"

"Yeah, but once they see Goo is okay, everything will be fine!" Mike insisted, smiling brightly at Goo, "Right, Goo?"

Goo looked conflicted momentarily before sighing and putting on a strained smile.

"Yeah, sure. I just need to explain things to them," They said, patting Mike on the head, "They want to meet tonight though, sooo..."

"Then we go meet them!" Raphie suggested.

"'We'?" Goo asked.

"Yeah, maybe not everyone," Leo agreed, "We'll send you out with Mikey, and if it turns out to be a trap, everyone else will be waiting to jump in,"

"Why would you think it'd be a trap!?" Mike asked, crossing his arms. 

"I know for a fact that Tiger-Claw wouldn't just let Goo's parents leave," Leo said, "At the very least, he's going to have one of his goons watching them, at worst, it's a trap,"

And that was that. The rest of the team took the Shell Raiser, parking it a few blocks away and scoping out the surrounding area while Mikey and Goo hung by the bike.

"Hey, what were you doing in the lab earlier?" Mikey asked, looking to break the silence.

"Dropping off another blood sample," Goo answered, tugging at the sleeve of their hoodie, "I also...asked Tello for a favor,"

"A favor?"

"I'll tell you later," They sighed, "Just know that it may come in use later,"

"Okay..." Mikey mumbled, "How are you, then?"

Goo sighed, glancing around the area. It was an overgrown park, on the edge of the suburbs. The play set had long since collapsed, the wood chips that used to blanket the ground disintegrated into compost, dotted with patches of crabgrass and wildflowers.

"I'm not excited about this," Goo said, "I feel bad about lying to Mike, but he just sounded so hopeful. I couldn't crush that,"

"You don't think they'll believe you?"

"I know they won't believe me," Goo answered lowly, "And I know this isn't going to go well, not because it's prolly a trap, but because of my parents,"

Mikey knocked his shoulder into Goo's, offering his comfort.

"They don't respect my pronouns or my name," They sighed, "And the person they think I am isn't anything like how I actually am. I just know that they think I made a dumb decision and got mixed up with the wrong people. I mean, I definitely made a decision, but I wouldn't call it dumb,"