"We thought he was going to come out and kick our asses."
I followed behind Hunter as we walked out of the stadium. There had been a baseball game earlier, and the two of us were some of the last to leave. It was purposeful as we wanted to let the traffic die down before we tried to make our exit. We had spent the time swapping stories, and Hunter was right in the middle of telling me how he and some of his childhood friends accidentally broke a bat in half while practicing pitches. The flying half of the bat soared right across the street and through the window of the brand new house that had been built by some rich businessman who had just moved into town.
"He was angry, of course, but he was also impressed that we were able to pitch and hit at such a level that breaking the bat was possible," Hunter continued, "The guy was a total baseball nut. He played a short inning with us before saying that he did expect us to pay him back slowly over the summer for his window whenever we had some money come our way. It was the most infuriating thing having to give up my allowance when I had been one of the ones on the sides only watching, but we ended up building a good relationship with our new neighbor. After the window was paid back for, he took us to almost all of the home games for that season. We got into the VIP booths and everything. Even now, I remember that being one of the funnest parts of my life."
"From what you've told me about this and those other two stories of stuff getting majorly broken when you were around, I'm beginning to think you either have very bad luck or that you're cursed." I joked.
"Eh, well, I can't deny either," Hunter chuckled, "I wish I could, but now that you mention it practically all of the stories I like to tell to involved something breaking in some way. I either do just have that bad of luck, or seeing things get smashed to pieces are the main things this brain of mine thinks important enough to remember."
I chuckled myself, and the two of us paused after moving further away from the doors.
"What a view, huh?" Hunter said as he stared out at the tree covered hills and sparkling water down at the bottom of the small cliff on the other side of the road.
"Indeed. Bayport has a lot of great natural sights for being such a big city. I know Ethereal loves coming up here with Allium." I agreed.
"You're sure you don't mind me stealing you away from her and her parents for part of this weekend?" Hunter asked uncertainly and guiltily.
"Hell no." I said instantly and with a big smile, which made Hunter smile wide too.
I was still figuring out what I wanted to call the man next to me. Every inch within me was screaming for me to call him dad, but I had still only just met the man yesterday. The reality that I had met my father and that he was now going to be around all the time had barely sunk in. Today had been a bit better than yesterday though. There had been no tension-riddled argument for one. Ethereal was off continuing the plans we had originally made to do with Jungle and Field, and Hunter and I had drove down to Bayport to take the chance to do a bit of bonding ourselves. It was all working out for the best so far.
"Want to take a rest on that bench over there before we continue on with our itinerary?" I suggested when I noticed Hunter shifting from seemingly aching joints and muscles.
"I would like say no as I don't want to admit my age, but sitting down properly for a minute or two sounds perfect." he accepted eagerly.
The game had been very intense. As such, we had been jumping to our feet and moving about for most of it.
Once settled on the bench, a moment of silence overtook us. There had been almost no awkward pauses yet, but hints of those moments did keep popping up. I glanced over Hunter's way a few times while I desperately thought of what to say. I didn't want to discuss much of my time growing up in care as I was afraid bringing up that forced separation between us would upset him, and everything else that came to my mind was stuff that I had done with Ethereal over the years. I hardly wanted to bore him by only talking about her all the time, which was what I had basically been doing.
"It's weird, isn't it?" Hunter broke the silence himself with a comment drenched in both wistfulness and amusement, "Us two being here together like this, I mean. I only just found out I had another son a few weeks ago, and you only met your father for the first time yesterday."
"Weird, indeed, especially because for a period of time you were my inspiration for striving so hard in my studies. I wanted to see if I could win the Fielder's medal earlier than you did." I revealed.
"I'm glad I was able to still have some positive impact in your life even if I did it unknowingly. I do wish I could have been there for you from the beginning, but I will repeat what I said yesterday- you have become quite the man all on your own. It is a relief to know you are satisfied with the choices you made, and I know this grandchild I'm going to get is going to have the best kind of father."
"Tch, I was hoping I could forget about Rose's pregnancy for one day." I said sheepishly.
"Not exactly thrilled about becoming a father?" Hunter questioned curiously.
"No, it's not that. I mean, I would have rather had it happen under different circumstances, but in some ways I'm really happy Rose accidentally missed a few days of her pill," I corrected with a bit of embarrassment, "I thought I had lost too much time to have any biological children of my own. My problems about it stem more from the fact that Ethereal won't give me a moment's peace about it. She keeps teasing me by calling me a hypocrite as I was constantly on her about not getting careless if she and Allium ever did anything. She's not wrong of course as I went ahead and got careless with Allium's mother when Ethereal was nothing but responsible, but it's getting to the point where I really want her to change her tune before my head explodes."
"You two have quite the close relationship, don't you?" Hunter grinned.
"I like to think so, yes." I laughed.
I stared Hunter's way, perplexed, when that smile and stare of his lingered on me for longer than normal. He kept staring even after I noticed him, and it took several more seconds for him to explain why.
"You know, I know it probably wouldn't have happened...but if that accident hadn't happened with Apple and Sprig and I had still somehow met up with Field in that bar to have you, I think Apple would have adored you very much. Who knows if she would have stayed with me if I cheated on her, but she wasn't the kind of person who would have blamed you. She would have loved to be your mother if given the chance. She was just that kind of person, and she was enamored with children in general. We bought a big house with four rooms, but even then she was worried we wouldn't have enough space for the family she wanted to make! To be honest, I avoided sleeping with her a great amount of nights because she was giving me the impression she totally wanted to have a child every single year for as long as she could keep it up! Apple was unfailingly kind, but she was slightly crazy as well." Hunter chuckled fondly.
He continued before I could say anything.
"I wish I could say what Sprig was like, but he hadn't gotten old enough to develop a true personality. He was just a happy baby who loved baths and having tissues thrown on his face," Hunter tried to speak cheerfully, but pain soon overtook his now quiet voice, "I'm sure he would have loved to have a younger brother though."
"It would have been great to have met them both. It had to have been awful...what happened..." I spoke hesitantly, definitely not sure if I should be pressing the issue.
"I still blame myself a little bit even though I know it wasn't my fault at all." Hunter said with a shake of his head.
"It was...a building that collapsed on them during an earthquake, right?"
"Yes," Hunter nodded dismally, "I was set to attend a conference on the west coast. Apple thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a vacation. The three of us flew down to Dawn Beach in the southern part of the state as it was a place she had always wanted to visit. She and Sprig were set to relax there for two days while I attended the conference in the northern part of the state before rejoining them for the rest of the week. I got on that short flight and had barely been at the conference for half a day when the reports of the earthquake came flooding in. All of Dawn Beach's airports were closed, so I jumped into a rented car to get back south when I couldn't get Apple on her phone. I went as fast as I could, but it wasn't good enough. The workers trying to free all the trapped people from the building said Sprig's crying had stopped first. He lasted about an hour before he was practically squished flat. The heavy concrete on Apple finally broke her in two minutes before I found that shop she had gone into."
I wouldn't have been surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. I was more surprised to see that no tears were forming at all, and my heart sunk further than it already had when I realized I was looking at the face of a man who had cried so much that he had no more tears to give.
"I honestly, genuinely have no idea how I didn't follow Apple and Sprig to the grave shortly after the earthquake. I was certain with each passing day that the next one would be my last. I can't count how many nights I hung a rope from my ceiling or placed my gun on my nightstand to use at the end of the day. I suppose, however, that doing those things are part of what stopped me. The sight of them scared me enough to prevent me from using them. My parents were a large help too. They broke through the massive wall I put up around myself enough to have me realize that the last thing I wanted to do was put them through the pain I was going through. Losing Apple naturally devastated me, but losing Sprig was what crushed me. I didn't want my parents to know what losing their only son felt like as well. It was a dark and cold place I was in, and it had me doing things and thinking things I never would have considered before."
"I know the feeling." I agreed softly.
The words left my mouth before I thought about them. They instantly set Hunter's concerned and reluctantly suspicious stare on me. I mentally cringed as this was a topic I had only ever dared to talk to Blaze about before. However, the seconds ticked on by and I found my lips were burning to spill every secret in a way they had never done before.
"I wish I hadn't, but I went through a very similar struggle to what you went through. Twice too, although the first time was the worst. I had every intention of dying, and I know I would have gone through with it too had my...friend from that underground group I got involved with not contacted me the night before out of the blue."
My throat did go dry as Hunter's expression of concern and worry deepened immensely, yet I had no choice but to press on.
"I stand by what I said yesterday about not wanting to change how my life has played out. However, that doesn't mean that I don't dread thinking about how things used to be. It was painful to grow up how I grew up. I had a few good friends, but with everything I got mixed up in once I graduated college it felt like I was completely alone. The only time I felt normal was when I was with Ethereal, and she was what prevented me from breaking down for so long. I did break down though. I wasn't powerful enough to set her free on my own. I couldn't stand the thought of watching her suffer through what was planned for her, or T.R.E.E. kicking me out because of my rebellious behavior, which they were catching onto, and not getting to see her ever again. After trying everything I could think of, the lone thing that made sense was to sneak in a knife to kill her before I killed myself. It wasn't that I exactly wanted either of us to die, but it seemed to be the one and only way to stop Ethereal from being used while allowing us to be together in safety."
Hunter still looked incredibly concerned, but he wasn't as urgently panicked as he had been.
"And the second time?" he wondered.
"It happened the first winter after Ethereal and I escaped The Company. She came down with a dreadful case of pneumonia. Her fever had been so high for weeks on end that she was constantly delirious and doing the strangest things because of it. I haven't told her this because I know it will embarrass her too greatly, but one of the times she slipped into the hallway to shove herself under the hospital gown of some poor other patient walking back to her room. Ethereal saw the gown as a tent and had it half ripped off the woman before anyone could stop her."
Hunter's chuckle returned, and mine did to for a brief moment.
"She was lucid some of the time, and during one point where I thought she was sleeping she overheard me talking to one of my 'friends' who came to see how she was doing about how looking after her was preventing me from going after my dream job, having a meaningful relationship with a woman, and that I was also at risk of going to jail because of what I had gotten involved with. Ethereal's fever-controlled brain had her deciding that the best option was to journey out into the freezing cold and the snow to find some Company member to take her back so I would have no choice but to live a normal life. She was missing for over an hour before one of our neighbors found her collapsed in an empty field at death's door. He and Rose had to give her CPR when she stopped breathing, and I spent hours just sitting there holding her hand and not been able to do anything else when she nearly flat-lined several times after being rushed back to the hospital. Oh, that day was also my birthday too. Until Ethereal stabilized, I was fully prepped to jump off the roof if I did lose her like that after having done so much to save her. It felt like fate or the world or whatever was doing its very best to make me suffer in all the worst possible ways. However, that kind of thinking quickly went away when she pulled through. The stronger she became, the more I forgot I ever thought that way at all. I was perfectly fine by the time Ethereal woke up the next day."
I flashed Hunter a bigger smile to try and get rid of the last of the frown on his face.
"I've been fine ever since. I've never thought that way again, and I refuse to either." I said confidently.
"I can tell. You've fought, and you've become strong. Much stronger than most ever will." Hunter responded proudly.
"Like father, like son then."
"Eh, well, I-I wouldn't put it quite like that," he mumbled, "I can't say that I've never thought about it again. The idea has always popped up from time to time over the years. The determination to banish such thinking like you've done only came about when...when I learned about you a few weeks ago."
"Doesn't matter to me. You've made the resolution. Why bother lingering on whether it happened weeks ago or years ago?"
Hunter scratched at his cheek sheepishly, but he kept on smiling too.
I patted him on the back.
"Ready to get going?" I wondered.
"Raring," Hunter nodded vigorously, "This was a good talk. I'm more excited than ever for what the rest of this life of mine has to offer, and it's an excitement I haven't felt in a long time. I think I might even be looking forward to joining you and Ethereal in having dinner with her parents tomorrow night now. The months until your child is born are going to drive me crazy with anticipation too. Have you thought about names, or whether you want a boy or a girl?"
"Gender doesn't matter to me. It'd be nice to try my hand at raising a boy, but at the same time I've got experience with looking after a girl so that would probably be easier. Rose and I haven't even brought up discussing names yet, but..." I said with a smirking grin as a sudden idea popped into my mind, "I have a few certain names I'd like to use, if she's okay with them."
"What are they?"
"Nope. It's a secret." I said smugly.
Hunter rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. He was about to stand up, but I held up my hand in front of him.
"So, I figure this is as good a time as any. I don't want to wait until it gets too late and it's too awkward to ask..." I started with a hint of hesitation, "I know we just met and that we haven't formed the normal parent-child relationship, but...is it alright if I just go ahead and start calling you dad?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't wait too long before asking that sort of question. Of course you can." Hunter accepted readily.
"Good."
"But now you have to go ahead and use it normally."
"What? Uhh, hell...what should I say?" I mumbled to myself, put off as if I had just been asked a question by a teacher that I had no idea what the answer to was, "Let's...get going then, d-dad?"
Hunter naturally laughed, and I laughed hopelessly along as well. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders and he gave me a pat on the back now as we stood up.
"It's weird, isn't it?" he repeated.
"Weird indeed, but it's a good kind of weird."
"That it is. And, shall we get going? That restaurant Ethereal recommended sounds great."
"You ate four hot dogs less than half an hour ago!" I remarked.
"You know, that reminds me of another good story."
"Does it involve anything breaking?" I asked with a raised brow.
"My stomach." Hunter joked back.
"It sounds like the perfect story to hear right before we eat."
"I didn't throw up that much."
"Oh joy."
Hunter lovingly pushed my shoulder, and he began to delve into his story with abnormal detail. It had us bantering back and forth in addition to making my stomach a bit queasy, but as we walked along and it began to feel as if I had known the man next to me for forever...I wouldn't have traded that time away for anything.
"It's weird, isn't it?" Hunter broke the silence himself with a comment drenched in both wistfulness and amusement, "Us two being here together like this, I mean. I only just found out I had another son a few weeks ago, and you only met your father for the first time yesterday."
"Weird, indeed, especially because for a period of time you were my inspiration for striving so hard in my studies. I wanted to see if I could win the Fielder's medal earlier than you did." I revealed.
"I'm glad I was able to still have some positive impact in your life even if I did it unknowingly. I do wish I could have been there for you from the beginning, but I will repeat what I said yesterday- you have become quite the man all on your own. It is a relief to know you are satisfied with the choices you made, and I know this grandchild I'm going to get is going to have the best kind of father."
"Tch, I was hoping I could forget about Rose's pregnancy for one day." I said sheepishly.
"Not exactly thrilled about becoming a father?" Hunter questioned curiously.
"No, it's not that. I mean, I would have rather had it happen under different circumstances, but in some ways I'm really happy Rose accidentally missed a few days of her pill," I corrected with a bit of embarrassment, "I thought I had lost too much time to have any biological children of my own. My problems about it stem more from the fact that Ethereal won't give me a moment's peace about it. She keeps teasing me by calling me a hypocrite as I was constantly on her about not getting careless if she and Allium ever did anything. She's not wrong of course as I went ahead and got careless with Allium's mother when Ethereal was nothing but responsible, but it's getting to the point where I really want her to change her tune before my head explodes."
"You two have quite the close relationship, don't you?" Hunter grinned.
"I like to think so, yes." I laughed.
I stared Hunter's way, perplexed, when that smile and stare of his lingered on me for longer than normal. He kept staring even after I noticed him, and it took several more seconds for him to explain why.
"You know, I know it probably wouldn't have happened...but if that accident hadn't happened with Apple and Sprig and I had still somehow met up with Field in that bar to have you, I think Apple would have adored you very much. Who knows if she would have stayed with me if I cheated on her, but she wasn't the kind of person who would have blamed you. She would have loved to be your mother if given the chance. She was just that kind of person, and she was enamored with children in general. We bought a big house with four rooms, but even then she was worried we wouldn't have enough space for the family she wanted to make! To be honest, I avoided sleeping with her a great amount of nights because she was giving me the impression she totally wanted to have a child every single year for as long as she could keep it up! Apple was unfailingly kind, but she was slightly crazy as well." Hunter chuckled fondly.
He continued before I could say anything.
"I wish I could say what Sprig was like, but he hadn't gotten old enough to develop a true personality. He was just a happy baby who loved baths and having tissues thrown on his face," Hunter tried to speak cheerfully, but pain soon overtook his now quiet voice, "I'm sure he would have loved to have a younger brother though."
"It would have been great to have met them both. It had to have been awful...what happened..." I spoke hesitantly, definitely not sure if I should be pressing the issue.
"I still blame myself a little bit even though I know it wasn't my fault at all." Hunter said with a shake of his head.
"It was...a building that collapsed on them during an earthquake, right?"
"Yes," Hunter nodded dismally, "I was set to attend a conference on the west coast. Apple thought it would be a great idea to turn it into a vacation. The three of us flew down to Dawn Beach in the southern part of the state as it was a place she had always wanted to visit. She and Sprig were set to relax there for two days while I attended the conference in the northern part of the state before rejoining them for the rest of the week. I got on that short flight and had barely been at the conference for half a day when the reports of the earthquake came flooding in. All of Dawn Beach's airports were closed, so I jumped into a rented car to get back south when I couldn't get Apple on her phone. I went as fast as I could, but it wasn't good enough. The workers trying to free all the trapped people from the building said Sprig's crying had stopped first. He lasted about an hour before he was practically squished flat. The heavy concrete on Apple finally broke her in two minutes before I found that shop she had gone into."
I wouldn't have been surprised to see tears forming in his eyes. I was more surprised to see that no tears were forming at all, and my heart sunk further than it already had when I realized I was looking at the face of a man who had cried so much that he had no more tears to give.
"I honestly, genuinely have no idea how I didn't follow Apple and Sprig to the grave shortly after the earthquake. I was certain with each passing day that the next one would be my last. I can't count how many nights I hung a rope from my ceiling or placed my gun on my nightstand to use at the end of the day. I suppose, however, that doing those things are part of what stopped me. The sight of them scared me enough to prevent me from using them. My parents were a large help too. They broke through the massive wall I put up around myself enough to have me realize that the last thing I wanted to do was put them through the pain I was going through. Losing Apple naturally devastated me, but losing Sprig was what crushed me. I didn't want my parents to know what losing their only son felt like as well. It was a dark and cold place I was in, and it had me doing things and thinking things I never would have considered before."
"I know the feeling." I agreed softly.
The words left my mouth before I thought about them. They instantly set Hunter's concerned and reluctantly suspicious stare on me. I mentally cringed as this was a topic I had only ever dared to talk to Blaze about before. However, the seconds ticked on by and I found my lips were burning to spill every secret in a way they had never done before.
"I wish I hadn't, but I went through a very similar struggle to what you went through. Twice too, although the first time was the worst. I had every intention of dying, and I know I would have gone through with it too had my...friend from that underground group I got involved with not contacted me the night before out of the blue."
My throat did go dry as Hunter's expression of concern and worry deepened immensely, yet I had no choice but to press on.
"I stand by what I said yesterday about not wanting to change how my life has played out. However, that doesn't mean that I don't dread thinking about how things used to be. It was painful to grow up how I grew up. I had a few good friends, but with everything I got mixed up in once I graduated college it felt like I was completely alone. The only time I felt normal was when I was with Ethereal, and she was what prevented me from breaking down for so long. I did break down though. I wasn't powerful enough to set her free on my own. I couldn't stand the thought of watching her suffer through what was planned for her, or T.R.E.E. kicking me out because of my rebellious behavior, which they were catching onto, and not getting to see her ever again. After trying everything I could think of, the lone thing that made sense was to sneak in a knife to kill her before I killed myself. It wasn't that I exactly wanted either of us to die, but it seemed to be the one and only way to stop Ethereal from being used while allowing us to be together in safety."
Hunter still looked incredibly concerned, but he wasn't as urgently panicked as he had been.
"And the second time?" he wondered.
"It happened the first winter after Ethereal and I escaped The Company. She came down with a dreadful case of pneumonia. Her fever had been so high for weeks on end that she was constantly delirious and doing the strangest things because of it. I haven't told her this because I know it will embarrass her too greatly, but one of the times she slipped into the hallway to shove herself under the hospital gown of some poor other patient walking back to her room. Ethereal saw the gown as a tent and had it half ripped off the woman before anyone could stop her."
Hunter's chuckle returned, and mine did to for a brief moment.
"She was lucid some of the time, and during one point where I thought she was sleeping she overheard me talking to one of my 'friends' who came to see how she was doing about how looking after her was preventing me from going after my dream job, having a meaningful relationship with a woman, and that I was also at risk of going to jail because of what I had gotten involved with. Ethereal's fever-controlled brain had her deciding that the best option was to journey out into the freezing cold and the snow to find some Company member to take her back so I would have no choice but to live a normal life. She was missing for over an hour before one of our neighbors found her collapsed in an empty field at death's door. He and Rose had to give her CPR when she stopped breathing, and I spent hours just sitting there holding her hand and not been able to do anything else when she nearly flat-lined several times after being rushed back to the hospital. Oh, that day was also my birthday too. Until Ethereal stabilized, I was fully prepped to jump off the roof if I did lose her like that after having done so much to save her. It felt like fate or the world or whatever was doing its very best to make me suffer in all the worst possible ways. However, that kind of thinking quickly went away when she pulled through. The stronger she became, the more I forgot I ever thought that way at all. I was perfectly fine by the time Ethereal woke up the next day."
I flashed Hunter a bigger smile to try and get rid of the last of the frown on his face.
"I've been fine ever since. I've never thought that way again, and I refuse to either." I said confidently.
"I can tell. You've fought, and you've become strong. Much stronger than most ever will." Hunter responded proudly.
"Like father, like son then."
"Eh, well, I-I wouldn't put it quite like that," he mumbled, "I can't say that I've never thought about it again. The idea has always popped up from time to time over the years. The determination to banish such thinking like you've done only came about when...when I learned about you a few weeks ago."
"Doesn't matter to me. You've made the resolution. Why bother lingering on whether it happened weeks ago or years ago?"
Hunter scratched at his cheek sheepishly, but he kept on smiling too.
I patted him on the back.
"Ready to get going?" I wondered.
"Raring," Hunter nodded vigorously, "This was a good talk. I'm more excited than ever for what the rest of this life of mine has to offer, and it's an excitement I haven't felt in a long time. I think I might even be looking forward to joining you and Ethereal in having dinner with her parents tomorrow night now. The months until your child is born are going to drive me crazy with anticipation too. Have you thought about names, or whether you want a boy or a girl?"
"Gender doesn't matter to me. It'd be nice to try my hand at raising a boy, but at the same time I've got experience with looking after a girl so that would probably be easier. Rose and I haven't even brought up discussing names yet, but..." I said with a smirking grin as a sudden idea popped into my mind, "I have a few certain names I'd like to use, if she's okay with them."
"What are they?"
"Nope. It's a secret." I said smugly.
Hunter rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. He was about to stand up, but I held up my hand in front of him.
"So, I figure this is as good a time as any. I don't want to wait until it gets too late and it's too awkward to ask..." I started with a hint of hesitation, "I know we just met and that we haven't formed the normal parent-child relationship, but...is it alright if I just go ahead and start calling you dad?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't wait too long before asking that sort of question. Of course you can." Hunter accepted readily.
"Good."
"But now you have to go ahead and use it normally."
"What? Uhh, hell...what should I say?" I mumbled to myself, put off as if I had just been asked a question by a teacher that I had no idea what the answer to was, "Let's...get going then, d-dad?"
Hunter naturally laughed, and I laughed hopelessly along as well. His arm was wrapped around my shoulders and he gave me a pat on the back now as we stood up.
"It's weird, isn't it?" he repeated.
"Weird indeed, but it's a good kind of weird."
"That it is. And, shall we get going? That restaurant Ethereal recommended sounds great."
"You ate four hot dogs less than half an hour ago!" I remarked.
"You know, that reminds me of another good story."
"Does it involve anything breaking?" I asked with a raised brow.
"My stomach." Hunter joked back.
"It sounds like the perfect story to hear right before we eat."
"I didn't throw up that much."
"Oh joy."
Hunter lovingly pushed my shoulder, and he began to delve into his story with abnormal detail. It had us bantering back and forth in addition to making my stomach a bit queasy, but as we walked along and it began to feel as if I had known the man next to me for forever...I wouldn't have traded that time away for anything.
Okay so this ALMOST makes up for the shit you pulled on us earlier this week. Almost.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Hunter and Eden got along so well after meeting, and I'm so happy they finally have each other in their lives. <3 Can we get more happy short stories to tie us over when things get really mean and sad?