--Alone--

[switchaxe]

[Ash has been causing trouble more or less since the day after they cremated his mom. He was eleven and only able to keep a roof over his head thanks to his mom--the woman who was working her ass off even as she was sick--put enough aside and spoke to enough people to ensure that her son would have somewhere to stay. It was perhaps understandable that he acted out.

That was three years ago. He still has his mom's house and it's still all in one piece, but Ash only goes there to sleep anymore. He spends most of his time fucking around, avoiding anyone who might want to report him to truancy officers or whatever and beating the shit out of people who try to cause problems in the neighborhood. It's...weird, and he knows it, but he was never going to be a normal kid.

He wanders around one of the nicer neighborhoods, not looking for trouble but not going to shy away from it if it shows up. These people are idiots and throw out useful shit he can pawn.]

Comments

[infezione]

[Perhaps it's surprising, then, to see a kid being... rather forcefully pushed out a gate.

The kid's clearly upset and his knuckles are bloody, the apparent servant doing the shoving looks almost scornful, and if Ash can catch a glimpse of the couple on the porch, the man has a forming black eye.

As soon as he's thrown out, the kid curls in on himself a little.]

[switchaxe]

[Oh. He doesn't like this. Ash makes his way over to the other kid, hands in his pockets.]

Hey. What happened?

[infezione]

[For the briefest of moments, he's clearly surprised anyone's talking to him.

He looks up at Ash, then glances away.]

... 's a long story.

[switchaxe]

I got time. You hungry?

[infezione]

[He nods, starting to carefully dust himself off.]

[switchaxe]

[Ash lets the other kid dust himself off before heading out of the neighborhood to a park where there's some food trucks. He knows one of the guys who runs one, so it won't be too expensive to feed them both.]

Ash.

[infezione]

Pannacotta. [A beat.] ... thank you.

[switchaxe]

Not a problem. Whatever the hell happened back there sucked.

[Since. Yeah.]

Tacos or burgers?

[infezione]

... Yeah.

[Hoo boy.]

Oh, um. Burgers sound good.

[switchaxe]

Hell yeah, good taste.

[They go right to the burger truck. The cook heckles Ash a bit, who sasses right back while he lets Pannacotta pick what it is he wants to eat. It doesn't take much longer than that for their burgers and fries to be done, so Ash leads them to a picnic table.]

Dig in.

[infezione]

[The exchange between Ash and the cook gets Pannacotta to laugh a little bit, and his smile still lingers as they get their food and sit down.

(And excuse him as he goes slightly starry-eyed when he takes a bite of this burger.)

Once he's done with his burger...]

... according to my parents, apparently defending myself 'reflected badly' on them.

[From there, he'll tell the story--or at least enough of it that Ash gets some idea of what happened. It's a bit details-light but there's enough.]

[switchaxe]

[There's enough for Ash to be extremely pissed off on this kid's behalf.]

What the fuck.

[infezione]

I finally just said "to hell with it" and punched my dad after that.

[switchaxe]

Yeah, I saw that shiner. Your fist okay?

[infezione]

[For a brief moment, when Ash says he noticed the shiner, Pannacotta looks very proud of himself.]

It still hurts a little, but less than it did earlier.

[switchaxe]

Lemme see it.

[He knows first aid enough to help here, if it's necessary.]

[infezione]

[He holds his hand out for Ash to see, and-- okay, yeah, the state of his knuckles is definitely indicative of needing at least a little first aid.]

[switchaxe]

[Yikes.]

Let's finish eating, then we can head to my place so I can fix it up. S'no one there but me.

[infezione]

Okay, thank you.

[switchaxe]

[Ash shrugs. It's no big deal.

They finish their lunch and he leads Pannacotta down into the middle of the city, in a not-so-great part of it. How his mom managed to work it so he could keep her house for this long is beyond him, but he's glad she managed it. It's a shit house, tiny and dilapidated, but it's a place to sleep.]

Bathroom's on the right, but I keep the kit in my room.

[infezione]

[It might be tiny and dilapidated, but it's probably telling that Pannacotta looks far more comfortable here.]

I'll wait in the bathroom while you get the kit, then.

[switchaxe]

Wash your hand with hot soapy water!

[It sure does. Ash grabs the first aid kit as well as a pair of shorts he outgrew and a shirt for Pannacotta to change into. It'll probably be welcome.

He heads into the bathroom.]

Lemme see.

[infezione]

[He nods and holds his hand out to Ash.]

Here.

[switchaxe]

[Ash is careful as he patches Pannacotta's hand up, cleaning and wrapping it until he's satisfied.]

You're luck you didn't break anything. Who the hell taught you to punch?

[infezione]

Nobody did. My grandma was going to, but...

[Well, that never happened.]

My parents would've thought I didn't need to know something like that, and I didn't have anyone else who could or would teach me.