Mornings

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Aubrey awoke to a sudden weight on her chest, sitting up and rubbing her still tired eyes slowly before blinking a few times and looking around. Standing by her bed was Angel, the kid already hyper somehow at 7am and holding her precious bunny gently in his arms.

"Cmon Aubs! Vance says it's time to get up or he's not leaving you any food for breakfast!", he whisper yelled while placing the white fluff ball back into his enclosure, double checking it was properly closed before turning back to the grumbling teen.

"Angel, how the hell do you have so much energy in the mornings? Like seriously, are you on drugs or something?", the pink haired girl groggily spoke, carefully standing and glancing at the middle schooler with a look of sheer confusion and exhaustion all mixed into one.

"Maybe I'm just not an old lady like some people are!", he stuck his tongue out teasingly, quickly hurrying out of her room as she shouted and chased after him. The others were already seated at the table as they heard quick footsteps fast approaching and watched Angel duck behind Charlie to hide. Not too late after, Aubrey entered the room and glanced around for the boy.

"Hey Aubs! Nice of ya to finally wake up!", Vance jokingly said as he slid freshly cooked pancakes onto one of the many plastic plates the group owned. They had started living in Aubrey's house not too soon after her mom up and left, having been either kicked out of their own houses or, in Charlie and Angel's case, deciding on their own to move in. Money wasn't really an issue, the only good thing Aubrey's parents ever did was manage to pay off the shitty house before leaving her behind and everyone in town was too scared to stop the group from just stealing food.

"Yeah yeah whatever, where'd the little shit go?" Aubrey waved off Vance, squinting and trying to see Angel. God having one working eye sucked in situations like this. A sudden voice beside her made her jump a bit,

"Ah, if you're looking for my wonderful student, he's currently hiding behind Charlie LIKE A COMPLETE COWARD!" The Maverick's voice rang out in a teasing fashion as the younger boy quickly darted out and tried to run past Kim who had just walked into the room. Unluckily for him, Kim grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him over to Aubrey who promptly smacked the back of his head (yet she used caution to not hurt him at all by doing so, sure she was used to hurting people but she'd never actually harm any of her friends ever).

"Hey hey! No fighting before breakfast! You know the rules!", Vance huffed at the two as they stuck their tongues out at each other before taking their seats. As always, breakfast was delicious. Sure, the boy usually ate candy but damn could Vance cook well! If he and Hero ever cooked together-

No. No thinking of them. Aubrey immediately shut her brain down. He had up and left them all. He was just as bad as the others.

"...boss? You ok?", a concerned looking Charlie quietly piped up, noticing the teen had gone suspiciously silent and had a look of sorrow on her face. Aubrey was never very open with her emotions anymore, she was trying to be with her friends! She really was! But emotions are hard when for two years you have no one to vent them out to. And when the rest of the world knows you as nothing but a rage filled fighter. A comforting hand was placed on the teens shoulder as she slowly looked up,

"Hey Aubs, I know you may be nervous to but you can talk to us. What's bothering you?" The unusually gentle voice of Kim spoke up before Angel chimed in,

"Yeah! Do you need me to beat someone up for ya?" The kid had a wide, toothy grin as he spoke, hands in fists at his waist and in a hero pose. The girl sighed, shaking her head and looking back at her plate before plastering on a fake smile,

"Nah, it's nothing! Just thinking of how much I want to beat Angel up for callin me old again!" The group laughed at that as Angel pouted, huffing out that it's 'not his fault she's old and cranky'. This led to even more laughter as the group teased each other all through breakfast. But one of them noticed something was wrong, and was determined to get to the bottom of it. In the corner of her vision, Aubrey watched a tangled black mass form in the shadows. A black mass she was all too familiar with. Looks like Mari decided to stop by for breakfast too

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