Shade walked slowly across the concrete pavement, headed towards his parents house.
Oh how he dreaded the thought of simply stepping on their property.
When his parents gave birth to a child with, quote-unquote, 'such odd skin,' they had thought he was a monster, some kind of vampire freak.
They accused each other of cheating immediately and had to get his DNA checked, learning that he was indeed their child.
He must've gotten it from his ancestors or something...
That would include his elemental power, he wouldn't be surprised if his parents didn't know that one of their own parents was an elemental master.
He had been so happy when he was finally able move out. Of course.. he had to get a job, which sucked because it was boring, like seriously, he had to be a stocker of all things?? All you had to do was restock the shelves accordingly, he could not think of a single way to make that fun... albeit he should be glad that it was a simple job he got and not an extremely complicated one. Plus, it was fun to mess with people when 'leading them to their destination.'
Whatever, he had friends now, one even owns a very successful noodle-house.
And jobs are much more amusing when you have chaotic friends.
Shade looked up at the house that his parents lived in, examining the exterior judgementally. His parents had unsurprisingly moved to another place since he'd moved out, after he almost burnt the previous one down as a child and left some burn marks that his parents probably thought were permanent (they weren't.)
Pfft, as if he'd ever call this a home. He thought, thinking back to the phone call he had gotten about two hours prior.
"Come home!"
His mother had said.
"Let's have dinner together!"
His father had said.
And thinking back to how they were before when he was still living with them, this was far from a home.
Unless... they changed?
Guess we'll just have to wait and see.
He considered just straight up appearing inside of the house with the use of his powers but decided otherwise and knocked instead.
A few seconds quickly turned into minutes. Shade groaned internally.
Seriously? Invite me over and not even let me inside?
He could clearly hear shuffling coming from inside the house, what's taking them so long? They just have to open a door... unless they were in the middle of planning a murder, him being the victim.
The door finally opened to reveal a woman that was absolutely buried in makeup. Her hair was long, reaching up to her waist, though it was grey now, and Shade could still remember when it was brown.
"Are you wearing contacts?" Said Shade with an eyebrow raised. What used to be dark grey eyes were now a shade of blue.
"Shane! You're home!" His mother ignored him, instead reaching out to pull him into a hug. A hug which Shade had chosen to dodge completely, taking a step back.
"No, I'm just visiting remember? For dinner?" Shade reminded.
His mother awkwardly brought her arms back down to her sides. "Right.."
His father, now standing behind his mother, looked him up and down, before grunting and walking off.
Shade rolled his eyes. "Hello to you too (a*shole)."
"Come in! Come in!" His mother exclaimed. "Please make yourself comfortable."
Shade slowly walked into the house, taking note of all the dying houseplants.
'They'd better not let Bolobo know about that.'
"Shane." His father called out and Shade turned to him as he took a seat.
"Hm?"
"I.. we've..."
Shade's eyes glimmered with a slight hope.
"Have you thought about covering up your skin?..."
Shade blinked.
"With- with makeup, your mother could help—"
"Shut up."
"Excuse me?"
"Shut the f*ck up."
"Shane, hang on–"
"NO! WHY IS THAT THE FIRST THING YOU SAY TO ME AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?"
...
His father sighed. "I—"
Shade stood up abruptly, interrupting him. "I'm leaving."
His mother gasped. "Wait!" She tried to grab him but he vanished in the shadows effortlessly.
They should probably light up the house next time they decide to invite people over instead of making it look like they lived in a storm cloud.
Shade stood outside of the house now, he sighed.
"LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"
Shade furrowed his eyebrows, turning his attention to the muffled voices coming from inside the house he was just in.
"DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY WE COULD HAVE MADE FOR TURNING IN AN ELEMENTAL MASTER?" His mother yelled.
"I WAS TRYING TO MAKE IT LOOK LIKE I WAS TRYING TO HELP!"
"WELL NOT ONLY DID YOU FAIL! BUT YOU ALSO RUINED OUR CHANCES OF BECOMING RICH!"
Shade's eyes widened. 'Were they... going to sell me?'
To who?
Villains?
The police?
Why would the police want him?
Must be villains then?
Shade glared at nothing in particular, appearing at the Elemental's House in silence. Guess they found out he was an Elemental Master.
Ash, who was simply walking by, noticed Shade and was a bit surprised.
"Back so soon?" He signed. "How was it?"
Shade looked at Ash square in the eyes. "Terrible. Absolutely horrid."
Ash's mouth shaped into a circle as a silent 'oh' before he started glancing around awkwardly.
"Want to talk about it?" He eventually signed, glad that Shade managed to catch it and hadn't moved his attention elsewhere.
"Maybe later... where is everyone?"
"Preparing for movie night, want to help?"
Shade nodded. "Sure."
And that's how he ended up wrapped in a dark blue, fluffy blanket and watching Shrek.
It was something Griffin had chosen, even though most of them had already seen the movie at least once.
Shade looked around at all of his friends around him.
Griffin begrudgingly sharing the popcorn.
Tox leaning on Pale and Chamille leaning on Tox.
Neuro sitting sensibly as he watched his surroundings and the movie somehow simultaneously, or maybe it just looked like that.
Gravis using his elemental powers to grab popcorn rather than using his hands.
Karlof and Bolobo sharing their own bowl of popcorn together.
Jacob listening to the movie with headphones because not everyone enjoyed hearing the audio description.
Skylor and Ash joking about FSM knows what.
"Heyyy, Shade you alright?" Griffin tilted his head, waving his hand in front of Shade's face.
Shade blinked, coming back to reality. "Oh‐ yeah, just thinking."
Griffin nodded, smiling. "Want some popcorn?" He asked, bringing the bowl closer.
Shade grabbed a handful and Griffin turned back to the movie.
Yeah. This... this felt like home.
*+=====+×☆×+=====+*
This was slightly... slightly incredibly rushed.
This was the first completed chapter but it was too... uh, feelings... and I wanted something else in front first
15/Feb/2023